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 Commentary: Only right choice for Philippines is to immediately withdraw its vessel from China's Xianbin Jiao Xinhua) 08:12, August 26, 2024 BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Philippine vessel on Sunday illegally intruded into the adjacent waters of Xianbin Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao and caused a minor collision with a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship. It is the second intentional collision caused by the Philippines in a week in the Xianbin Jiao area, following a previous such incident on Monday. At 2:12 p.m. on Sunday, the Philippine vessel ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and deliberately sailed toward the Chinese ship, which was on law enforcement duty, in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, causing the collision, said CCG spokesperson Gan Yu. These latest developments have revealed the Philippines' true intent, which is to establish a long-term presence and occupy the reef. Its claim of monitoring China's coast guard and fishermen is a baseless excuse, as China has no plans to build permanent facilities on the uninhabited Xianbin Jiao. The Philippines coast guard vessel, coded 9701, entered the lagoon of Xianbin Jiao, without permission and has been there since April, which seriously infringes on China's sovereignty, violates the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and threatens peace and stability in the South China Sea. There is a well-documented history over the past two years of provocative behavior by Philippine vessels aimed at the China Coast Guard in the South China Sea. This includes aggressive maneuvers such as dangerous sailing, deliberate collision, and other forms of harassment that have put Chinese vessels at risk. "The Philippines has gone too far on the wrong path, and it seems that the time has come for Manila to decide," said Ding Duo, an associate research fellow of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, based in south China's Hainan Province. The Philippines must carefully consider whether to continue inciting provocations or change course and engage in serious consultations with China to manage and potentially resolve the dispute. China will never be deceived by the Philippines again. In 1999, a Philippine military vessel was illegally "grounded" on Ren'ai Jiao, also part of China's Nansha Qundao. China immediately made demarches to the Philippines, and the Philippines repeatedly pledged that it would tow the vessel away. But 25 years on, it is still there. Clearly, the Philippines is attempting to repeat this scenario at Xianbin Jiao. As long as the Philippines maintains its coast guard vessel 9701 at Xianbin Jiao, China will remain on high alert in the surrounding waters and cannot rule out the possibility of taking measures, including driving away the Philippine ship if it refuses to withdraw, experts say. The Philippines has no valid excuse for carrying out replenishment to its functioning 9701 ship, said Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. If the ship requires supplies, maintenance or rotation, it can independently leave and return to a Philippine port at any time. Should the ship lose power, China can provide tugboat assistance. Moreover, the long-term anchoring of such a large vessel in the lagoon is certain to cause irreversible damage to the coral reefs. Regarding the situation at Xianbin Jiao, what the Philippines should do is immediately stop infringing on China's sovereignty and making provocations, withdraw all ships, including the coast guard vessel, from Xianbin Jiao, and work with China to manage differences, rather than endlessly creating incidents and hyping up maritime affairs. Even with support from certain powers outside the region, the Philippines should not assume it can challenge China's red line. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa -- Authorities are investigating a possible drowning, after a fisherman found the body of a missing Omaha man in Smith's Bay. Gilman Cooper, 27, was reported missing to the Arnolds Park Police Department in the early morning hours of Saturday, after getting separated from his group, according to a statement from the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office. A fishermen found Cooper's body in Smith's Bay of West Lake Okoboji around 10 a.m. Saturday. Foul play is not suspected. The incident remains under investigation. Arnolds Park's dive team and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources assisted at the scene. China and India are so big. Do my countrys climate actions even matter? Posted on 26 August 2024 by dana1981 This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections At a Republican presidential debate in 2023, several candidates articulated a common sentiment about whose climate policies really matter. If you want to go and really change the environment, then we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions, said Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ultimate runner-up to Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary race. We also need to take on the international world and say, OK, India and China, youve got to stop polluting. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina agreed, saying, The places where they are continuing to increase [climate pollution] Africa, 950 million people; India, over a billion; China, over a billion. Its true that China and India are each home to just over 1.4 billion people. Both have rapidly growing economies that largely depend on fossil fuel energy. China is responsible for about one-quarter of annual climate-warming pollution, and together with India, the two countries account for one-third of yearly global emissions (the U.S. accounts for about 11%). Given the size of the economies of China and India, its understandable to wonder if the climate actions of smaller countries matter. But they do, for several reasons: because the Chinese and Indian governments are making great efforts to deploy climate solutions; because China and India are responsible for much lower per-person and historical climate pollution than many other countries; and crucially, because the climate crisis can only be averted if every country does its part. China wants to dominate the renewable age Not only is China taking dramatic steps to transition to a green economy, the countrys leaders view this shift as an opportunity to overtake the United States as the worlds economic superpower. China accounts for less than 18% of the global population but in 2023 installed 70% of the worlds added wind power capacity, 42% of all solar panels, 32% of all heat pumps, and accounted for 57% of all electric vehicle sales. China is also forecast to account for 44% of the worlds added nuclear power capacity by 2030. China installed more solar panels in 2023 than the United States has in its entire history. It accounts for almost 60% of new renewable capacity expected to become operational globally over the next five years, and almost two-thirds of global wind and solar projects under construction today are in China. As a result, Chinese climate pollution appears to have now peaked and is poised to decline. A recent report by energy think tank RMI put this shift into historical perspective. It noted that in the 20th century, the United States led the transitions to the ages of steel and electricity, oil and mass manufacturing, and information technologies. The next transition will be to the age of renewable energy, efficiency, and electrification. But this time, China is poised to lead the new economy. (Image credit: The Cleantech Revolution report by RMI) And though India isnt yet transitioning to a green economy as quickly as China, its government nevertheless recognizes the importance of doing so and has been deploying solar power infrastructure at a rapid clip. Which countries are responsible for climate change? The countries with the biggest economies like the United States and those in Europe became wealthy by exploiting artificially cheap fossil fuels for over a century at the expense of the global climate. In terms of cumulative historical climate pollution, the United States is responsible for 1.6 times more than China and seven times more than India despite having one-quarter the population of each country. In terms of per-person climate pollution, the average American today generates 1.8 times more than the average person in China and six times more than the average Indian. It doesnt make sense for people living in countries that are responsible for more historical climate pollution and more per-person fossil fuel consumption today to point fingers at China or India. In fact, the climate crisis wont be solved unless every country takes action to address it. Climate change is a collective action problem In a 1968 paper in Science, ecologist Garrett Hardin introduced the concept of the tragedy of the commons: Picture a pasture open to all, he wrote. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible in the commons. The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another. But this conclusion is reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit in a world that is limited. Eventually, the pasture becomes overgrazed, and everyone suffers from having overused the shared resource. Hardin also argued that the same principle applies to pollution. The solution to the tragedy of the commons is for everyone using the resource to agree to do so in a sustainable way and as political scientist Elinor Ostrom found, people can and do share resources cooperatively. Thats why the Paris Climate Agreement in which nearly every world country agreed to reduce their climate pollution in an effort to limit global warming to a manageable level were so critically important. Everyones emissions matter. But India and especially China are taking significant steps to address theirs, despite lower per-person and historical climate pollution than most wealthy countries are responsible for. Since she took over as the de facto and now the official Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign have been almost completely silent about Gaza, outside of a brief reference to Palestinian rights, dignity, and self-determination in her acceptance speech Thursday night. On the one hand, this makes a kind of cold political sense. Harris clearly does not want the election to be about Israels war in Gaza, and speaking about the conflict, let alone offering a clear policy vision, is a minefield that even lifelong regional experts sometimes have difficulty navigating. Over the past year, two prominent Democratic critics of U.S. policy in Gaza have been taken out in intraparty primaries. Given that Harris appears to be winning this election, albeit narrowly, it is understandable why her campaign might not want to fix what isnt broken. But the decision to exclude a Palestinian speaker from last weeks Democratic National Convention in Chicago was not just morally indefensibleit was also a sign that senior Democrats are almost completely unaware of how much their own voters have changed over the course of this century. The public-opinion transformation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict inside the Democratic Party is a huge and almost entirely unheralded victory for the activist left. Twenty years ago, at the height of the Second Intifada, Gallup found that only 16 percent of self-identified Democrats sympathized more with Palestinians than Israelis in the conflict. As recently as 2016, that number was at just 23 percent. But it has subsequently more than doubled, and now a plurality of Democrats49 percentsay they sympathize more with the Palestinians, versus 38 percent for Israelis. And yet this tectonic shift has seemed to barely register with the partys senior leadership. Advertisement Its not just the Gallup polling about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also surveys that ask about whats going on in Gaza today showing this sea change. In a May Data for Progress survey, 83 percent of Democrats supported a permanent cease-fire and de-escalation of violence in Gaza. A March Gallup poll found that a clear majority of all respondents, as well as 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents, now oppose Israeli military action in Gaza, although those numbers were a little bit lower in the most recent survey. Gallup polling also found that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus net favorability among all respondents in July was down 10 points, with just 12 percent of Democrats saying they support him. And in a March Pew study, 44 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents opposed U.S. military aid for Israel, with just 25 percent in favor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So there is a fairly strong public opinion consensus about this issue inside the Democratic Partyits just not what the Harris campaign seems to think it is. Opposition to both Israeli policy and Americas support for it is actually growing among elected Democrats just as it is among the rank-and-file, as evidenced by the fact that about half of all Democrats decided to skip Netanyahus July address to a joint session of Congress. Harris herself didnt preside over the speech, as has been customary, because of a scheduling conflict. We dont have to pretend that this is a slam-dunk issue for Democrats to see that there is room to embrace supporters of Palestinian rights. After all, among all Americans, a majority still sympathize more with Israel, although support for Palestinians is at an all-time high of 31 percent, according to Gallup. Pews research found that among all Americans, just 22 percent think that Hamas reasons for fighting are completely or even somewhat valid, as opposed to 58 percent for Israels. Only 2 percent of Americans support a solution to the conflict in the form of a single state governed by Palestinianswhich sometimes seems like what many of the most vocal campus protesters are calling for. On the contrary, a plurality of all Americans (40 percent) as well as 48 percent of Democrats support the very much not-in-vogue two-state solution to the conflict. There are good reasons, in other words, why you are not going to hear leading Democrats embrace some of the more fringe positions of the pro-Palestinian left anytime soon. Advertisement Advertisement But there is also an easily discernible normie-Democratic position here, one that could have been showcased at the convention and packaged for persuadable independents: Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace. A cease-fire, even one that means elements of Hamas survive the conflict, is preferable to the mass slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians. Democrats should no longer support selling billions of dollars in military hardware to Israel if this is how those terrible instruments are going to be used. Its not clear how the Uncommitted movement would react to such a policy shift, but these do appear to be their main asks, and they happen to be defensible in the realm of public opinion. And regardless of whether it immediately repairs fissures inside the party, a shift would be better, from both a strategic and moral perspective, than pretending that Israel is not in fact using American weapons and largesse to brutalize the Palestinian people for the crimes of Hamas in clear violation of the laws of war and basic human decency. Advertisement Advertisement Yes, Gaza is a low-salience issue even for most young voters and was not entirely responsible for Bidens troubles with young voters before he dropped out. And there arent that many potential Harris voters who are going to sit out the election if she doesnt support, for example, an arms embargo against Israel, though a nonzero number will. But the lesson of all this public opinion research is that it is possible, in theory, to get a certain number of those voters back by supporting broadly popular policy positions, and to do so without either alienating independents or embracing ideas that are too far to the left on the issue for the broad center of the American people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate The DNC Has Been a SuccessExcept for the Issue Kamala Harris Really Should Have Been Ready For Read More Inviting a Palestinian to speak at the convention should have been an even easier lift than executing a policy pivot. Wednesdays moving speech by the parents of Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin included a pointed call to end the suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians. Both Jon Polin and Sarah Goldberg-Polin have been vocal supporters of a cease-fire agreement that would bring the remaining hostages, including their son, out of captivity alive. There is no reason that the DNC could not have offered space to a Palestinian speaker with a similar messageone that calls for the release of hostages, an end to the suffering of civilians in Gaza, and movement toward a negotiated solution to the broader conflict. The Uncommitted National Movement, after all, explicitly supported the DNCs decision to give a speaking slot to the family members of hostages. Advertisement That is exactly what the speech by Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman would have done. A draft published in Mother Jones talked about her Palestinian familys suffering as part of the conflict between Israel and Palestine without using language that might upend the DNCs carefully stage-managed positioning on the issue. It referred to massacres without wading into the genocide debate. It called for the safe return of the hostages. And it positioned the pro-Palestinian coalition as firmly within the tradition of the Democratic Party. It would have been a great speech, and as Slates Aymann Ismail reported from the convention, such a low-cost compromise could have gone a long way toward mollifying uncommitted delegates and other attendees who are mystified by the Harris campaigns refusal to engage with them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead, the DNC chose to adopt a posture that would have made more political sense in the early 2000s: assuming that even talking about Palestinians as human beings deserving of the same respect, dignity, and security as Israelis is political poison, and that American voters are incapable of feeling the same sympathy for Palestinian civilians that they do for Israeli hostages. That failure to respond to the clear shifts in public opinion both inside and outside the Democratic Party would have been understandable when the nominee and party leader was an 81-year-old man who was out of touch with his own supporters. But it is much less understandable now that Democrats have lined up behind a younger candidate who had one of the most liberal voting records during her one term in the U.S. Senate. Lets hope that sometime between now and November, the Harris campaign finds a way to do better. In Californias 41st District, a showdown is taking shape that almost eerily mimics the showdown at the very top of the ticket. There, the Republican congressman is someone who was caught soliciting a sex worker early in his tenure; has consistently been deemed one of Congress most corrupt members over the years, thanks to his success securing legislative earmarks that directly benefited his properties; and even came under FBI investigation in 2010 over what media outlets referred to at the time as an alleged inside deal to buy publicly-owned land. Running against him is a former prosecutor from a marginalized background hoping to flip the seat blue. That incumbent is Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in Californias congressional delegation. Calvert is serving his 16th consecutive term, having represented his corner of the Inland Empire since Bill Clinton won the presidency, and lasting through decades of redrawn maps, demographic shifts, corruption scandals, formidable electoral challengers, and even his denial of the 2020 election results. At present, the district retains a slight Republican tilt, and he already beat his current Democratic opponent in 2022, a year that saw plenty of other Democratic upsets. So why does Will Rollinsa gay former assistant U.S. attorney who has taken on Jan. 6 insurrectionists in court and who previously worked for Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggerthink he can take out Calvert this time? One thing Rollins will tell you is that the numbers are on his side. That 2022 race was a loss but a narrow one; Calvert, usually a double-digit victor, saw his lead shrink to 4.5 points. Rollins outperformed most of the other Democrats whod run for GOP-held districts that yearplus, in that go-round, he didnt get much attention or support from the national Democratic Party. (This year, major Democratic institutions and leaders like Hakeem Jeffries have helped fundraise for him.) After a slight shift in its borders, the 41st is also a more diverse and tolerant district than ever, with more registered Democrats than Republicans and the inclusion of the LGBTQ-friendly Palm Springs. As Rollins told me, citing district analyses, tens of thousands of liberals skipped the typically low-turnout midterms cycle but may be persuaded to hit the ballot box this timeespecially given the wave of excitement ushered in by top-ticket candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About that connection. Rollins is running on an image that just so happens to align with the fellow Californian his party is nominating for president: weaponizing his prosecutorial background against a GOP that has famously nominated a convicted felon to the top of its ticket. Not only has Donald Trump been convicted of 34 felonies of falsifying business records (sentencing to be determined), found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, and banned from doing business in New York, but he also faces federal charges on a still-pending Jan. 6 case. Which is part of why, even before Harris was on the ticket, Rollins was planning to draw upon his experience prosecuting Jan. 6 insurrectionists under the Department of Justice. Advertisement As the Democratic National Convention showed us last week, theres one key frame for the overall election cycle: that 2024 is a righteous matchup between a former prosecutor and a convicted felon. (Or, as Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett memorably put it, a woman with a resume versus a man with a rap sheet.) The four-day ceremony did not, this time, invite the parents of police-brutality victims like Sandra Bland and George Floyd to speak. The party did, however, invite a Michigan sheriff who teamed up with a far-right conspiracy group for a purported antisex-trafficking operation, a Texas sheriff who has been calling for immigration crackdowns, and two officers who were present for the Jan. 6 riot. The exonerated Central Park Five did speak, but they were there primarily to opine against their historical villain Donald Trump. Everything else was relatively pro-cop: Harris, in her acceptance speech, presented herself as a prosecutor on behalf of the people. In the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge, and I said five words: Kamala Harris, for the people. And to be clearand to be clear, my entire career, Ive only had one client: the people, she proclaimed to the adoring crowd. In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It all marks a stark turnaround from a party that is still reckoning with the complex legacy of Black Lives Matter and the 2020 protests against George Floyds murder. (Normally, you could expect Republicans to platform cops like former Sheriff David Clarke.) Studies have shown that the record-breaking 2020 protests helped Democrats win the presidency and Congress that year, thanks to increased awareness of systemic racism and voter mobilization downstream of the protests. Yet the politics of backlash in 2024 have demonstrated that if Harris is elected this fall, she will have done so while proudly embracing the label of cop. Rollins is hoping for the sameand, at least according to a campaign-commissioned poll that shows him leading Calvert by 1 point, it just might work. Advertisement I first heard about Rollins in late 2023, about a year after Elon Musk had taken over Twitter and began reshaping it into the far-right cesspool it is today. For a very hot minute, there was no better exemplar of Xs dark turn than the Rollins campaign accounts mentions. Hammering on the type of pro-democracy, anti-insurrectionist messaging that helped Democrats in the 2022 midterms, Rollins had been tweeting consistently about how, in his capacity as assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California, he assisted the DOJ in pursuing the cases it eventually lodged against hundreds of Capitol rioters. Throughout October, brigades of Trumpists with paid-for blue checkslike Dinesh DSouza and Lara Loganbarraged his replies by calling him a commie or a Nazi or a soy boy or a homophobic slur, even under a campaign video in which Rollins describes a case hed worked on against a conspiracy-addled train engineer who attempted to destroy a Navy hospital ship. The flood of hatred got his campaign some attention from sympathetic liberals and inspired Rollins to call out the Big Tech and media complexes that spread the disinformation that inspired both the Jan. 6 agitators and the wannabe Navy saboteur. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In late June, just a few days before Joe Bidens career-ending debate disaster, Rollins had come to New York City for some Democratic Party business. I took the opportunity to chat with him at a Manhattan diner. Before our scheduled meeting, hed been speaking with members of the International Law Enforcement Officers Association, an organization that focuses on fostering healthier relationships between police officers and their local communities. (The association had endorsed Rollins back in April.) Rollins emphasis on his law enforcement connections and endorsementsincluding from retired Republican officerscertainly makes sense for a toss-up race in a swingier district. But, I asked him, how does one target traditional GOP voters when the majority of that party no longer blames the insurrectionists or Trump for the horrific violence of Jan. 6? Particularly at a time when tech platforms now all but refuse to vigorously counter misinformation? Advertisement I lean into the part of what is correct about their worldview, which is that the system is corrupt, Rollins told me. Trump has said its the fault of migrants, its the fault of Democrats. What we need to say is: Its the fault of a system that is fundamentally broken, and the guy whos going to fix it is not the former host of The Celebrity Apprentice. Advertisement Rollins has a whole list of policy prescriptions he sees as addressing the corruption of a GOP that, he says, has come a far way from the Republican Party of his grandparents, World War II veterans drawn to presidents like Eisenhower and Reagan. Voters like his grandparents were supportive of law and order and allergic to a government that interfered too deeply with their lives. Donald Trump and Ken Calvert have turned those values inside out, he says, evading accountability for their own lawbreaking, using their elected positions to enrich themselves, and becoming obsessed with whats happening in your kids locker room, with whats happening in your bedroom, with whats happening in your exam room. (Notably, hed referred to all this as weird culture-warring even before Tim Walz popularized the term.) Advertisement Advertisement By embracing his prosecutorial bona fides, Rollins is behaving as the perfect natural opponent of a known criminal. Before our meeting, Rollins campaign shared with me flyers from Calverts campaign and its supporters that consistently labeled Rollins as soft on crime, suggesting that his leniency with criminals has spurred an influx of fentanyl across California and allowed violent offenders to run free. Rollins campaign counters, in turn, that it is in fact Calvert who is weak on crime and unable to keep the public safe. Between the more recent soft on crime jeer and Bill Clintonera tough on crime policy, Rollins echoes a middle-of-the-road message that Harris has long touted: being smart on crime. Advertisement Advertisement I hope Calvert makes this race about crime. Hes got a lot to answer for on his own, Rollins told me at the diner. The line Rollins straddles here, at least rhetorically, is fascinating. He can sound downright progressive on the need to address root sources of crime instead of just building maximum-security prisons, to invest in public education and neighborhoods of all sizes, to attack white-collar criminals as aggressively as petty ones, and to not return to the overly punitive crackdowns of the war on drugs. At the same time, he talks up the line about how Californias Proposition 47a 2014 ballot initiative that reclassified certain nonviolent felonies as misdemeanorsincreased the rate of smash-and-grabs in the state, while defending the often-controversial Border Patrol and insisting that increased representation in law enforcement is what will heal rifts between marginalized communities and their cops. You cant have trust between the police and communities unless, first of all, law enforcement looks like the community that we are serving. And that includes not just race, gender, religion, political party, sexual orientationit includes people from all different kinds of socioeconomic backgrounds too, he told me. The far left was trying to demean Harris record by calling her Kamala the Cop. I think that its not going to be effective, and it hasnt really stuck in the way that I think Trump has been hoping it would, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Of course, the way LGBTQ communities have historically been targeted by police officersand remember that discriminatory treatment all too wellresonates particularly with him. Its not lost on me that we havent yet had an out member of Congress from law enforcement in U.S. history, ever, Rollins said. I think that my own experience growing up with stigma, and being told by your government that theres something defective about who you are when youre thinking about enlisting in the military, is something that I understand personally. So, can two Californiansone a Black and South Asian American former state attorney general, the other an openly gay former federal prosecutoropen up public safety opportunities and heal historic rifts between cops and marginalized communities by dint of beating their crooked politicians, serving in the federal government, and, quite simply, being up there in the seats of power? I followed up with Rollins earlier this month, after the BidenHarris switch-up was official. He told me the constituents of the 41stroughly 40 percent of them voters of colorare certainly jazzed to give the prosecutors on their ballots a shot. Advertisement The enthusiasm that [Harris] has generated has been unlike anything Ive seen since 2008, he said. It feels much less like we are running against something, or as a firewall against something, and more like were running for the future and for optimism and hope and making politics fun again. He also positively cited Tim Walzs Chris Farleylevel energy and noted the downstream effects on his campaign: a surge in individual contributions, a 70 percent increase in our volunteers, and even an uptick in rally attendees. The post-2020 moment, for better or worse, seems to have spurred interest in those who wont shy away from law enforcement but still continue to make it more diverseto make it at the very least look more like Harris and Rollins, as the latter has championed. In the grand scheme of things, looks might only go so far when it comes to truly reforming our criminal justice system. But the strategy could certainly place these reformers in lofty positions of power. The Republican National Convention last month was teeming with God talk. Much of it was what we have come to expect from a party that cloaks itself in faith, even while worshipping its standard-bearer as a false idol. Tim Scott, speaking on the first night of the convention, described the attempt on former President Donald Trumps life like so: Our God still saves. He still delivers, and He still sets free. Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared. U.S. Senate candidate Leora Levy offered a Jewish prayer for Trump, yet as she deployed Jewish language, a wall of screens behind her projected images of American flags flying next to Christian crosses and churches. The awkward marriage between the RNCs performance of whats known as civil religiona 1960s notion that fuses a symbolic and emotional commitment to the nation-state that mirrors traditional religious devotiontends to increasingly reflect a sectarian, white, Christian worldview that holds itself out as secular. On Monday night at the DNC, Sen. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, embraced faith from the political left in a way that was dramatically different. Warnock called out Trump for weaponizing religious symbols and speech in ways that violate core religious values and leveled blame at certain churches for a willingness to endorse Trumpism at all costs. Warnock is hardly the first Democrat to refuse to cede the language of religious faith to the GOP and to root progressive values in faith values. But these efforts still seem unfamiliar on the left. I spoke to Ilyse Hogue, a senior fellow at New America, the author of The Lie That Bindsa history of the religious rights authoritarian crusade against abortionand the first person to, in 2016, tell her own story of elective abortion for the stage at the DNC, about what a robust progressive embrace of a thick civic religion could look like. Our conversation, which took place over email, has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dahlia Lithwick: You have long said that it is a tactical mistake to simply allow the GOP to occupy the faith field for decades. How is it that this came about, and why is any effort to root progressive values in religion seen as inherently divisive and counterproductive? Ilyse Hogue: The 1980 election was a defining moment for the role of religion in party politics. Through the 70s, Jerry Falwells Moral Majority teamed up with Phyllis Schlaflys Eagle Forum to wrest power from the more dominant Rockefeller Republicans who had advanced a socially liberal, fiscally conservative framework for the GOP. This new religious right coalition was joined in common cause to reverse the significant advancements of the Civil Rights, gay rights, and womens rights movements of the 60s and 70s. Their cynical ploy was to use the candidacy of Ronald Reagana divorced actor cum politicianas a stalking horse to advance their radical vision for a white patriarchy to retain hegemonic power in America. When Reagans long-shot bid successfully ousted the overtly devout incumbent Jimmy Carter, it sent both sides reeling. That equationembedding a racist and misogynistic view of social order in a religious ideologyis recognizable as the playbook followed by Falwells descendants and disciples in the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Advertisement Advertisement The subsequent political reorganization was predictable, even if ultimately limited. Liberals across the spectrum became wary of religious doctrine as a potential tool to be weaponized and faith as specifically fraught when applied to a vision of a more pluralistic union. In searching for a counterargument to the new rights religious fundamentalism, Democrats sought to strike a balance: Recognize that many embrace religion, while neutralizing the potential risk of it to fracture their coalition. This required a delicate dance of preaching individual tolerance with an orthodox adherence to the constitutional commitment to separate church and state. Advertisement I file all this under well-intentioned and legally expedient, but it was too antiseptic to satiate a growing need for collective frameworks to make sense and seek purpose in an increasingly complicated world. The rights flattened narrative was often cruel but always clear. The GOP easily framed all Dems as godless, waging war on the religious. While many responded defensivelyand in fact the party and coalition does include many religious peoplethese were individual declarations of faith that failed to meet the need for a collective investment in a new vision. Democrats fell short of a road map to a more perfect union and relied on a chaotic hodgepodge of issues, bills, and elections, which are piecemeal at best in a country where so many people, and indeed so many liberals, seek greater purpose. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More importantly, we ceded the idea that effective politics are a vehicle for connecting people to one another in service of actualizing a higher ideal of our lives and our surroundings. Warnock told the Atlanta Voice that he was attempting to recapture the moral seriousness of Martin Luther King Jr., who was so comfortable connecting liberal political goals to faith values. I think progressives tend to forget how much religion animated the civil rights battles of the past two centuries. What would reembracing that language look like? I see it a little differently. Broadly speaking, I think there is a high awareness among progressives of the role of faith in the traditional Civil Rights Movement. I just think its viewed as a discrete outlier that fails to scale when applied to the diversity of a multifaith coalition. Advertisement The rights effective instrumentalization of religion as a tool to dominate and oppress has embedded an unease among liberal political activists about the intermingling of both. And the sheer number of religions, and belief systemsnot to mention the doctrinal rejection of bothhoused under the big tent makes organizing exponentially more complicated for Democrats than for their GOP counterpart, with its handful of more homogenous religious factions. The mental gymnastics of attempting to unify so many constituencies while engaging in transactional politics is exhausting. Once you add in the authoritarian rights often-successful attempts to wedge the Democratic coalition by pitting factions against one another, the impulse to forfeit rather than contest the faith ground is understandable even if ill-advised. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And then theres the practical matter that some of these religious doctrines are actually in tension with one another. Look at the issue of the day. While some progressive Christian denominations acknowledge legal abortion as a human right, others maintain that it is a sin. Jewish theology has a different take on when life begins. Afraid of inflaming differences, the party took this powerful issue off the table entirely for a long time, instead opting to affirm the legal right in as few words as possible. Unlocking the now-undisputed power of this issue required accepting those internal theological differences as innate to democracy and then, instead of letting them divide, asserting the higher-order value that was universal, the value of freedom. Advertisement To build durable movements for pluralistic democracy, we first need to distinguish between religion, which is defined by distinctions and differences, and faith, which is a universal component of the human experience. Simply being alive requires faith to make sense of a chaotic and often cruel world. Faith acknowledges common value in connecting disparate communities and cultures. Faith sustains individuals who often reflect on a life that struggles to measure up by individual metrics. Faith addresses primal needs for meaning and spiritual sustenance that transcend any specific religion or belief system. Advertisement Advertisement Warnocks speech on Monday night stepped into that breach. When he acknowledged his 2020 victory as an advancement for Black Georgians and in the next breath honored the victory of his friend and colleague Sen. Jon Ossoff as a first for Jewish Georgians, he bound our fates and our joys in one. He modeled that we can be proud of our distinctions while celebrating our universal humanity. He showed a refusal to yield an inch to the divide-and-conquer tactics of the right. Advertisement Advertisement Ultimately, he took two separate and individual electionspivotal, yes, but elections nonethelessand recast them as interconnected and significant milestones made possible by the collective action of a broad movement of people willing to have faith that they could advance the best in the American covenant. People dont want a thank-you for voting, but they do want that vote to amount to more than the sum of its parts. With that line, Warnock made visible the people who were investing in something larger than him. We need more of that. Related From Slate Why Kamala Harris Is Succeeding as a Presidential Candidate in a Way Hillary Clinton Never Could Read More One of the sections so many of us found most arresting in Warnocks speech was his conclusion, which also sounded a key of deep spirituality: I need my neighbors children to be OK so that my children will be OK. I need all of my neighbors children to be OK. Poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia. I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza. I need Israelis and Palestinians. I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK because we are all Gods children. Advertisement Advertisement I think this passage was so resonant because it breathed life into the liberal belief system underlying so many of our principles and policies. And we too often take for granted that voters can see that notion for themselves. The GOP vision is a clear version of Christian doctrine that pits individuals against each other in a zero-sum race for survival. Every day on earth is Daniel in the lions den, where the winner takes all and success is a mark of Gods approval no matter how its achieved. Being on edge and ready to strike is not a cruelty but a necessity in this worldview. The view that God has graced America with the cunning Donald Trump is the walking manifestation of this vision. The fact that Donald Trump has achieved wealth and power through coercion and corruption is a testament to the fact that God graced him with the cunning necessary to win in a brutal world. Any transgressions against Gods other commandments can be dispensed with through pantomimed atonement and performative prayer. Its a worldview as neat as it is twisted. Advertisement Advertisement That passage was Warnocks way of modeling that to win, we need to offer more than competing policy platforms. We need to model a compelling and clear belief system that sharply contrasts the right. One that illuminates the understanding of our interdependence as an asset and makes the application of universal rights, freedoms, and opportunities more than a feel-good aspiration or tagline. Its a mission that binds us in our collective destiny. Working for that transcends politics and becomes a spiritual act. All of this requires faith that this nation of ours can be healed. A faith that Warnock acknowledged has been profoundly shaken. But Democrats and liberals should take heed that restoring faith in our nation requires a willingness for the party and the movements that undergird it to invest in a framework that respects our individual identities and ladders up to our common humanity. Then our votes will be the kind of prayer the reverend speaks of, one for the world we desire for ourselves and our children. With more ballot initiatives ready to go before voters, supporters of reproductive rights are hoping to continue their impressive winning streak. But conservatives looking at what just happened in Arkansas are hoping theyve found a way to stop the bleeding: by using obscure rules favored by election deniers to keep voters from weighing in on reproductive rights in the first place. Arkansas law now makes abortion a felony unless a patients life is at risk. Arkansans for Limited Government was promoting a ballot initiative that would make the procedure legal until 18 weeks, with certain exceptions thereafter. The effort did not attract the support of large national groups because it drew the line relatively early in pregnancy, but the proposal still seemed poised to set a powerful example: If it succeeded, it might have created a blueprint for success in other deeply conservative states. ALG had insisted first that messages centered on reproductive justice or even the health crisis produced by Dobbs might not resonate as well in states that Donald Trump resoundingly won in 2020. Instead, the group had focused on the issue of government overreach and attacked the states existing law as too strict, without embracing more copious protections that were part of initiatives endorsed by voters in states like Ohio or Michigan. Even prior to the effort by ALG, Arkansas Republicans had already moved to make it harder for voters to initiate ballot campaigns, increasing the required number of counties represented for a successful ballot measure from 15 to 50. Now the state Supreme Court may have created a road map for conservatives looking to keep the issue from voters altogether. In July, ALG submitted more than 100,000 signatures in support of its proposalwell more than what was needed to meet the state threshold, but the secretary of state rejected roughly 14,000 signatures because the group hadnt simultaneously filed a document certifying the names of paid canvassers and confirming that they had been trained on the relevant election rules. The elevation of this obscure provision means that Arkansas voters wont have a chance to vote on reproductive rights this November. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It obviously isnt new for the GOP to leverage election arcana to further its own causes. Since Trumps attempts to undo the 2020 election, conservatives on state and local election boards have occasionally delayed certifying election results, pointing to concerns about voter fraud or various technicalities. Georgias election board recently passed new rules dictating that election results be certified only after a reasonable inquiry. A separate rule required election officials to verify vote totals before certain types of ballots would count. Election watchers fear that these kinds of strategies could be used to undermine faith in the election, sow distrust, or stoke anger or even postelection violence. Related From Slate Trumps Latest Abortion Comments Expose the Bind Hes In Read More Conservatives use of obscure election laws has now expanded to go after abortion ballot initiatives. Last week, by a vote of 43, the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with the secretary of states decision to disqualify more than 10,000 signatures, stressing that Arkansans for Limited Government hadnt bundled all the requisite information about paid canvassers together at one time. Advertisement The opinion was an odd one. The majority and dissent clashed about what the plain text of the states statute required, but the rationale for the majoritys readingthat the secretary needed all the information to be gathered together to make sure the ballot process flowed smoothlyseemed strange given that ALG had already provided the required certification on a rolling basisand most of it well before the secretary had to consider all the signatures presented. Then there was the fact that the secretary decided not to give ALG a grace period to fix any potential mistakes. The dissenting judges noted that the secretary had been far less harsh when dealing with similar issues with paid canvassers when it came to other ballot initiatives. The difference, it seemed, was that this one was about abortion. Advertisement Advertisement The courts decision wont necessarily be the end of efforts to get abortion on the ballot in Arkansas. But the decision does offer a potential strategy for other conservatives who dont want voters to have a say in abortion rights. This new scheme draws heavily on the GOPs work around election certification and voting. First, the decision outsources power to torpedo ballot initiatives to obscure election officials or state judges, who rarely lose reelection campaigns. Arkansas, which selects state Supreme Court justices in nonpartisan elections, has seen its court veer to the right after the death of a sitting justice allowed Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to choose a replacement. Incumbent state judges may be comparably hard to hold accountable, even when their rulings are controversial. Advertisement Second, focusing on opaque minutiaelike when paid canvasser certification forms were submittedmay help conservatives tamp down on backlash. That makes it easier for Republicans to play down what really appears to be going on: not an effort to persuade voters to support fetal rights but a campaign to stop voters from deciding altogether. This shift allows Republicans to reframe ballot initiatives not as part of a battle about reproductive healtha fight that the GOP is definitely losingbut as a fight about election integrity and the rule of law. And by focusing on the most arcane election rules, conservatives can hope to make it harder for voters to understand what has happened or to organize in response. It is possible that abortion opponents would have won a fair vote in Arkansas. Some states remain quite conservative on abortion, especially across the Deep South. But the courts decision is a reminder that many Republicans are not willing to take the risk of letting voters decide. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to allow a new rule issued by the Department of Education to go into effect and protect trans students under Title IX, which promises equality in education and specifically forbids discrimination on the basis of sex. In 2020 the court famously decided, in Bostock v. Clayton County, that it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex. The new rule, which is for now blocked from taking effect, has sought to apply this logical conclusion to Title IXs demand for equality. However, since the release of Bostock, two central things have changed: the courts structure and the prospect of former President Donald Trumps reelection. These developments have inspired a concerted attempt on the right side of the political map to roll back Bostock, and a detailed plan to that effect was included in Project 2025, the 922-page document detailing the blueprint for a Trump administration. Yet, as this months decision demonstrates, the groups behind Project 2025 are already executing their plan through the courts in 2024. Project 2025 directly targets Bostock, arguing that the ruling should not apply to various protections of equality outside its immediate circumstances. The New Administration, it states, should restrict Bostocks application of sex discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status in the context of hiring and firing. It further declares that the President should direct agencies to withdraw unlawful notices and guidances purporting to apply Bostocks reasoning broadly outside hiring and firing and rescind regulations interpreting sex discrimination provisions as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, sex characteristics, etc. Without waiting for Novembers election, the leaders of Project 2025 are already in courts, rehearsing this part of their playbook in a multifront war against Bostock and LGBTQ+ students, patients, and employees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate The Trump Hush Money Trial Judge Is Getting Pretty Tired of This Read More Take the courts recent 54 decision, for example. With the exception of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who penned Bostock, all the other conservative justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined Gorsuch in Bostock, affirmed the blocking of the entire Title IX rule by district courts in Louisiana and Kentucky. This latest ruling is the culmination of a line of cases in which red states and conservative advocacy groups, like the Alliance Defending Freedom, argue that because Bostock was decided under Title VII to protect employees, it cannot be used to protect LGBTQ+ students under Title IX. In a similar battlefield focused on health care, red states have attacked Bostock to prevent its reasoning from protecting trans minors access to treatments that are available to cisgender adolescents. When the minors, their parents, and supportive doctors sought preliminary injunctions against bans on gender-affirming care, they temporarily won in many district courts that found that the bans were likely unconstitutional by applying Bostock to the equal protection clauses broad prohibition on discrimination. However, a conservative majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit lifted those injunctions, holding that Bostock does not apply outside Title VII and thus is irrelevant to the interpretation of the equal protection clause. The case, L.W. v. Skrmetti, was recently taken up by the Supreme Court and will be heard in its 202425 term, probably before any new administration is in place. Advertisement Advertisement Likewise, still in the health care trenches, lawsuits have been filed to prevent another of the Biden administrations rules protecting LGBTQ+ people from going into effect. This rule was set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act, demandingbased on Bostockthat medical providers avoid discriminating against LGBTQ+ patients. In response, the ADF, which is one of the chief groups behind Project 2025, launched litigation to block the rule, recently winning nationwide and statewide preliminary injunctions issued on the same day by Mississippi and Florida courts. Again, the prevailing argument was that Bostock had no life outside Title VII. Advertisement Remarkably, a wave of litigation is now rising to castrate Bostock even within Title VII. In this battleground, Project 2025s exact words matter, and employers are now arguing that they, too, can discriminate as long as they not do that in the narrow context of hiring and firing. For example, in Texas, the group leading Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, attacks (in the courtroom of a far-right judge) Bostock-based guidance to employers by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Similarly, the ADF represents a group called the Christian Employers Alliance, arguing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that they are allowed to deny employees health care coverage based on their gender identity because deprivation of needed gender-affirming care falls outside hiring and firing. And earlier this month, the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agreed to vacate and reconsider en banc its former 21 decision that applied Bostock and held that an employer who prevented such care to a transgender employee engaged in unlawful discrimination. Although candidates on the campaign trail debate the future impact of Project 2025, much of the damage it orders is already happening in a war in the courts that seeks to hollow Bostock of any meaning. Festival tip to end summer season, Prime Minister targets Progressive Slovakia chair, and Slovak family company among European leaders. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Good evening. Here is the Monday, August 26 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes. Top intelligence agency head appointed Pavol Gaspar (left) and President Peter Pellegrini. (Source: TASR) On Monday, President Peter Pellegrini appointed the new director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS), the country's top intelligence agency. The government approved the nomination of former Justice Ministry state secretary Pavol Gaspar for the SIS post in February. Gaspar became the SIS deputy director while gaining the powers of the intelligence agency's director. Under normal circumstances, the president appoints the SIS chief. However, then president Zuzana Caputova said that she would leave this job to her successor. Her term ended in June. Therefore, to bypass the president, the government changed the agency's statute, without providing any details. Pavol Gaspar is the son of the accused Smer MP and ex-police chief Tibor Gaspar. The former faced a charge for giving false statement and lying under oath, however, the charges were later dropped on legal grounds. The public first got to know him from a leaked video recording from a hunters' lodge in which he is heard threatening to kill Special Prosecutor Daniel Lipsic. MORE STORIES FROM THE SLOVAK SPECTATOR WEBSITE If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription with no ads and a print copy of The Slovak Spectator sent to your home in Slovakia. Thank you. FEATURE STORY Among European leaders in garage business Marek (left) and Martin Choleva from the company Gardeon (Source: Lukas Klco) At the beginning of the year, The Financial Times compiled a list of the thousand fastest-growing companies in Europe, based on average annual growth between 2019 and 2022. "They sent us an email. I thought it was spam, but I forwarded it to my brother. Luckily, we filled out the details, and you can see how it turned out," recalls Marek Choleva. FESTIVAL FOR THE WEEKEND End of summer with a bang The Uprising festival. (Source: TASR) Since its inception in 2008, the Uprising festival has become a staple, an event to say goodbye to summer. This year's 17th edition will once again take place at the Zlate Piesky lakes on the outskirts of Bratislava this weekend of August 30-31. Although originally targeting reggae fans, its scope has widened, bringing ska, Latino, drum and bass, dub and more genres. Grab your tickets here. IN OTHER NEWS In July, prices in Slovakia grew 2.6 percent year-on-year. Employees and low-income households felt a stronger effect of the price growth index, namely 2.7% each, according to the Statistical Office. (SITA) Employees and low-income households felt a stronger effect of the price growth index, namely 2.7% each, according to the Statistical Office. (SITA) On Monday, President Peter Pellegrini urged the governing coalition to resolve the election of the new Speaker of Parliament. Following his meeting with Peter Ziga (Hlas), who is temporarily in charge of parliament, the president said that the its functioning has not been paralysed despite this situation. Ziga said that the coalition will hold a meeting this week regarding the issue, and reiterated that the post belongs to the Hlas party, which is not interested in revising the coalition agreement. (TASR) Following his meeting with Peter Ziga (Hlas), who is temporarily in charge of parliament, the president said that the its functioning has not been paralysed despite this situation. Ziga said that the coalition will hold a meeting this week regarding the issue, and reiterated that the post belongs to the Hlas party, which is not interested in revising the coalition agreement. (TASR) A full-scale replica of resistance fighters' bunker opened near the village of Kunerad, Zilina Region, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. The bunker was built based on WWII photographs. Although originally situated elsewhere, it was built near a hiking trail and bike route for accessibility. (TASR) A replica of a bunker that belonged to the resistance fighters during the Slovak National Uprising. (Source: TASR) The coalition's Slovak National Party (SNS) submitted a bill aimed to bolster the protection of Slovak state symbols , including the introduction of an obligation to publicly display the state flag on all state-owned buildings. (TASR) , including the introduction of an obligation to publicly display the state flag on all state-owned buildings. (TASR) Kosice airport reached the threshold of 500,000 passengers since the beginning of the year on Sunday, August 25, one month earlier than last year. The passenger was Patricia, who flew with Ryanair from Kosice to Zadar in Croatia. (TASR) WEATHER FOR TUESDAY: A few clouds here and there, but occasionally showers or storms might occur. Daily temperatures between 28 C to 33 C expected, in north between 23 C to 28 C. Level 1 high temperatures warning issued for several districts mainly in the southern part of the country, see map here. (SHMU) AUGUST 27 NAME DAY IN SLOVAKIA: Silvia Thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to us. P.S. If you have suggestions on how our news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. Follow The Slovak Spectator on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram (@slovakspectator). Some exceptions apply. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share On Thursday, August 29, all shops in Slovakia will be closed, so do your shopping ahead. The country marks the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) at the end of August. It is one of the key moments in the country's World War II history, when people rebelled against the Nazi-allied Slovak state and tried to show the world that most of the nation supported the Allies. The law states that petrol stations, shops at the airport and stations, pharmacies and souvenir shops can be open. Besides, the ban applies to the sale of goods, not services. Cafes and restaurants will be open, too. Three days later, on Sunday, Slovakia will celebrate Constitution Day. Following a change introduced by the Robert Fico's current government in an attempt to bring millions of euros into the state budget, the day remains a public holiday, but people will still have to work. Shops can be open on this public holiday. The school year will start the next day, September 2. Shops will be closed again on Sunday, September 15, when Slovakia marks the Day of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is a red-letter day. The Virgin Mary is the patron saint of Slovakia. Similar statue caused stir in the past. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Recently, a bronze bust of Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, was unveiled in Nove Zamky, south Slovakia. The event happened on the occasion of celebrations in his honour, reports My Nove Zamky. In Hungary, August 20 is a national holiday, and the Hungarian minority living in Slovakia joins the celebrations every year. The event included a light projection on the building of the local branch of the Csemadok Hungarian minority organisation, showing scenes from the wars during the history of Hungary among other things. More than 70 smart lamps and several projectors were used for this purpose and the projection was repeated twice. The projection on the Csemadok building. (Source: Anton Hrachovsky) The bust is mounted on a metre-high pedestal made by artist Janos Lukacs. It stands in front of the Csemadok building, right next to the bust of the poet and priest Gergely Czuczor. "It cost 9,360 and was financed from donations from the Hungarian community, combined with a little over 2,000 from funds from Hungary," explains Csemadok chair Jozsef Danczi. He adds that the the branch was looking for a place to lay wreaths during the celebrations on August 20 since it lacked a suitable place. Stephen I of Hungary Born in circa 975 and given the pagan name Vajk. Between 995-997 he ruled the Duchy of Nitra. He then became the Grand Prince of Hungarians until around 1000, when he became the first King of Hungary, a post he held until his death in 1038. Although there was no dispute surrounding the event this time around, the same cannot be said about a similar event in 2009 in nearby Komarno. Back then, a significantly larger statue of Stephen I was unveiled in Trznicne Namestie square, with residents contributing more than 12,000 in a public collection. The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a diplomatic note, not recommending then Hungarian president Laszlo Solyom to come to Slovakia, citing a security risk. Nevertheless, the latter came on foot to the middle of the bridge between the towns of Komarno and Komarom in Hungary. He then turned around and went back. Shortly after its unveiling, unknown perpetrators threw eggs at the base of the statue. Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2024 Sprudge Twenty honorees, please visit sprudge.com/twenty. Andrew Miller founded Cafe Imports in 1993 with a simple yet novel idea of paying farmers more and telling their stories to roasters who at the time had very limited traceability and ability to have real farm-level impact. Today our industry is shaped in large part to his vision nearly 30 years ago. Andrew is one of the kindest and most impactful mentors to me in coffee and is well-deserving of this nomination. Nominated by Noah Namowicz. How many years total have you worked in the coffee industry? 30-ish. What is your current role in coffee? I am currently the Founder and President of Cafe Imports; I work mainly with the Management Team these days. What was your first coffee job? My first coffee job was as a wait assistant at a fancy Italian restaurant in Minneapolis in the mid 80s. We were glorified bus people in white coats and bow ties responsible for the people at the table which included coffee service which was mostly off a four-group LavazzaCappuccino, Espresso, Macchiato, half-caf, decaf Cap, Mocha, decaf Espresso, etc. all night long. We had very little training and no information about the coffee or coffee in general. Did you experience a life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career? I did. When I first went to a coffee town in Brazil in 1994, and visited coffee farmers. I grew up in a blue-collar community south of Des Moines, but I spent summers and weekends working on a farm in rural Iowa. We raised cattle, corn, soybeans, horses etc. What was most remarkable for me was how the plight of the farmers in Brazil was so like that of small rural farmers in the Midwest. Weather, prices, the government, and yields were the topics of conversation but the day to was around fixing broken machinery and managing animals and people to get the work done. Farmers had the same weathered faces with seed company caps and the big gnarly-fingered hands of a farmer. They were happy outside with their fields and animals and they welcomed us into their homes, and I felt like I knew them. They seemed the same in so many ways as the people I grew up with, just thousands of miles away and in a different language and socioeconomic class (farmers in Iowa had pretty nice trucks the 90s). What facet of the coffee industry has changed the most during your career? Quality. From origin practices to roasting science to preparation styles, coffee can be remarkable today. When we started there were some regional specifications like Tarrazu and Antigua but otherwise the classifications were from the commercial industry, like SHB, EP and AA. Today you can intimately know the producer, their farm, the variety of tree and the specifics of processing and the science behind it. The efforts of ACE to discover quality and increase price potential coupled with the efforts of SCA to educate coffee people has improved the potential for delicious coffee immensely in the last 20 years. Is there a person or persons who served as your mentor early in your coffee career? How did they impact you? I didnt really have a mentor per se but we were also creating something new. I did though have some special partners on both sides of the coffee world. From the origin side, the fine people at ACE; George Howell, Susy Spindler, Paul and Silvio Leite to name a few. The work they were doing was inspirational, they taught us to search deep and hard for quality and to pay well for it. On the consumption side of it the SCAA was doing really good work in the late 90s and I started volunteering on the Education Team with Ric Rhineheart and Ellie Hudson teaching cupping classes, Crop to Cup, roasting, grinding etc. One summer we did a traveling road show across the Midwest, from MPLS to Philly, Cleveland, and New York. They were a team of passionate professionals willing to volunteer their time and talents to an industry that they cared deeply about. The classes were full of young coffee nerds, and it dawned on me how new this segment of the industry was and how hungry it was for information. Education became a core tenet of our business. What still surprises you today about coffee, or gives you joy? It gives me joy to hear about young peoples trips to origin. To hear how wonderful the experience was, and how impactful it was for them to meet the people who grow their coffee, and to see the beauty of a coffee farm and the complexity it takes to produce great coffee. Whats something about the coffee industry youd most like to see change? The disparity between the lives of most coffee producers/workers and coffee consumers in first world countries. In my thirty years of coffee work I have seen it improve in some places but not nearly as much as it could or should. What is your most cherished coffee memory? One of my favorite places to visit in Colombia is San Agustin in the south of Huila, where for years we were buying coffee from an association called Los Naranjos, maybe 30 producing families. I would visit there a few times a year to meet with farmers, cup coffee, visit their farms etc. and we encouraged them to learn to cup and to separate the coffee they thought was special and we would pay a big premium for it. They always wanted more money and we always wanted better quality so, win-win. We became friends. In 2011, I was on the International Jury for COE in Colombia and at the end of a grueling week, the producer who took first place was from Los Naranjos, Arnulfo Leguizamo. He often produced remarkable quality coffee with flavors of panela and essence of orange and was a character with a big hat, traditional poncho and a big handlebar mustache. He was from a cooperative that we had been working with and visiting a few times a year for ten years, so when he won, I had to buy his coffee, even at $41.00, we had to support them even if we lost money. After the auction, we went to visit and celebrate with Arnulfo and the members of Los Naranjos. We told him that we wanted to buy his coffee forever at a very high price and he agreed. I asked him if he wanted to sign a contract and he said, See this mustache? I am a serious man! We are still buying his coffee today. Do you make coffee at home? If so, tell us how you brew! These days Im rockin the Technivorm Moccamaster with a Baratza Virtuoso in a supporting role. If I have a coffee that I really want to get to know I shut the basket and let the grounds fill up with water then break the crust with a spoon, take a few sniffs then open the basket and let it ride. What is your favorite song/music to brew coffee to? Lately I am listening to a Minnesota band called Them Coulee Boys who are from the Coulee region of Minnesota, down south on the north shore of the Mississippi, and they play Bluegrass/Americana/Stomp Grass with a lot of gusto. I saw them live recently and he talked to the audience about mental illness and how insidious it is and how important it is to be aware and reach out if you know someone, like someone did for him. It was really brave and inspirational and the music rocks. I Wont Be Defined is my current favorite jam. What is your idea of coffee happiness? When I was working in Colombia, I traveled there maybe 6 times a year and often took roaster clients along to cup coffee and visit farms. Every once in a while, we would visit the Los Naranjos Association of producers in San Agustin which is a magical place in Southern Colombia, and we would have a Cabalgata, which is a day spent on horses with farmers riding through the hills visiting their farms. There would be music and food and a little aguardiente but the power of having a roaster meet the farmer and his family that grows the coffee that they roast was pretty cool. As was the farmer being able to meet the roaster that buys and serves his coffee. Riding through the hills in the sun with the smell of coffee trees and oranges in the air and chickens crowing in distance, that made me happy. If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? Im going to say Teddy Roosevelt; the ornithologist Teddy, because he is known for many things, but Conservation is my favorite. It surprises me that he felt a need to set aside national land in the early 1900s in the United States and I would love to hear about his inspiration and motivation. I would also love to prepare him a cup of a fully washed Pink Bourbon from Colombia. Whats one piece of advice you would give someone getting their start in the coffee industry today? The advice I would give to someone new to coffee is to make it a goal to visit to a producing country as soon as possible; to start with the farm level to learn a sense of the size of this industry, see the lives of the people at coffees starting point and the millions of lives it impacts as well as the environmental footprint. Thank you. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/african-refugees-in-us-feel-left-behind-as-ukraine--israel-are-supplemented-billions-of-dollars-1119906147.html African Refugees in US Feel Left Behind as Ukraine & Israel Are Supplemented Billions of Dollars African Refugees in US Feel Left Behind as Ukraine & Israel Are Supplemented Billions of Dollars Sputnik International The report from USA Today found that refugees and residents from the war-torn countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan feel left behind by American sentiment and spending, particularly when regarding Israel and Ukraine. 2024-08-26T05:30+0000 2024-08-26T05:30+0000 2024-08-26T05:30+0000 americas africa insight sudan ukraine israel rapid support forces (rsf) state department democratic republic of the congo refugee camp refugee policy https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/1a/1119909563_0:0:3001:1688_1920x0_80_0_0_f8b8e7aee5037396c2044a8a0300cfc7.jpg The report from USA Today found that refugees and residents from the war-torn countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan feel left behind by American sentiment and spending, particularly when regarding Israel and Ukraine.According to the report, both countries face some of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world which is believed to be driven in part by global inaction and the greed of American businesses.Some 72,000 Sudanese people live in the US, the report cites the US Census Bureaus American Community Survey as saying. Meanwhile, a smaller Congolese community is quickly growing with more than 18,000 refugees having been resettled in 2023, the report added citing the State Department.Fighting first broke out in Khartoum, Sudans Capital, in April of 2023 between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war has since killed more than 15,000 people and created what the report says is the worlds largest child displacement crisis. More than 9.2 million people in Sudan have been driven from their homes from the wave of violence, and Sudan is now teetering on the brink of a famine.Human rights groups and US officials have accused the RSF of trying to carry out an ethnic cleansing campaign.But the US has failed to fund the war-torn countries of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the same way it has assisted other countries. In fiscal year 2023, the US provided humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo worth $677 million and provided nearly $596 million to Sudan through international organizations and NGO partners, a spokesperson for the US State Department told USA Today.However, in that same time period, the US supplied more than $16 billion to Ukraine. Israel has also been the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since it was first founded and has received about $310 billion in total economic and military assistance.And since Israels war with Hamas first began in October of last year, the US has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel, according to a report from the Council on Foreign Relations which was written in May. And this month, the US approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.However, the West seems to act without caution when manipulating foreign countries, particularly in Africa, to benefit its own greed. Many of those living in Congo do not have the same privileged access to smartphones that the West has, however, the country is home to important minerals that are responsible for powering millions of phones across the globe. The report notes that over 70% of known cobalt comes out of Congos mines".In April, lawyers for Congo wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook and demanded answers regarding allegations that the US tech company may be tainted by blood minerals taken from the country at a time of humanitarian crisis.The US State Department told USA Today that they regularly engage with Apple and other US companies regarding mineral issues. Meanwhile, spokespeople for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Apple declined to comment when the outlet reached out to them. americas sudan ukraine israel democratic republic of the congo 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 africa, congo, drc, sudan, report, us, us government, gaza, israel, ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/israeli-national-security-minister-says-he-would-build-synagogue-on-temple-mount---reports-1119914827.html Israeli National Security Minister Says He Would Build Synagogue on Temple Mount - Reports Israeli National Security Minister Says He Would Build Synagogue on Temple Mount - Reports Sputnik International Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has said that he would build a synagogue on the Temple Mount (also known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound) in Jerusalem to give equal rights to Jews and Muslims, media reported on Monday. 2024-08-26T12:59+0000 2024-08-26T12:59+0000 2024-08-26T12:59+0000 world benjamin netanyahu middle east jerusalem israel temple mount muslims al-aqsa mosque https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/0d/1119756462_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_94bf28674e2555fa3608646d2ca2f0ae.jpg The minister spoke out after a video was posted showing a group of Jews praying on the Temple Mount, near the police, on Sunday, and the security forces did not take any action to prevent this. In July, Ben-Gvir already called upon the Jewish community to hold prayers at the Temple Mount, stating that "as a representative of the country's leadership", he gives his approval for such action. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Ben-Gvir's comments, stating that "there has been no change in the status quo on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." The Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem is considered the third holiest site for Muslims. Until 1967, Jews had no right to go up to the holy site. Now, members of all religious denominations are allowed to visit, however, but only Muslims have the right to pray. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230104/us-opposes-changes-to-status-quo-at-temple-mount-says-state-department-spokesman-1106022295.html jerusalem israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International israeli national security, equal rights to jews and muslims, temple mount https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/its-time-to-run-flash-flooding-in-grand-canyon-national-park-kills-1-over-100-rescued-1119907840.html 'It's Time to Run': Flash Flooding in Grand Canyon National Park Kills 1, Over 100 Rescued 'It's Time to Run': Flash Flooding in Grand Canyon National Park Kills 1, Over 100 Rescued Sputnik International More than 100 hikers and Native Americans had to be rescued in the US state of Arizona during flash flooding in the Grand Canyon National Park. Monsoon rain storms on Thursday afternoon flooded the land of the Havasupai Tribe, a group of people who are indigenous to the area, near Havasupai Falls. 2024-08-26T05:11+0000 2024-08-26T05:11+0000 2024-08-26T05:11+0000 beyond politics arizona native americans flash floods rescue search and rescue grand canyon floods floodwater us https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/1a/1119907970_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_a7b4517266d2928c7934234a9b03d0f4.jpg More than 100 hikers and Native Americans had to be rescued in the US state of Arizona during flash flooding in the Grand Canyon National Park. Monsoon rain storms on Thursday afternoon flooded the land of the Havasupai Tribe, a group of people who are indigenous to the area, near Havasupai Falls.The Arizona National Guard conducted rescue operations on Saturday after Governor Katie Hobbs made the order to deploy them in response to the flooding there. Stranded hikers and tribal members were flown out of the area by UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters during rescue efforts that were supported by various officials.We know when to run, and its time to run, said one eyewitness who was rescued from flash flooding.Rescue efforts were made easier by tribe members who were assisting rescue efforts, said a spokesperson for the Guard. A 33-year-old woman went missing on Thursday during the flash flooding event. She was hiking with her husband when she was reportedly swept up by the water. Her family confirmed on Sunday that she had died. Her body was reportedly found and transferred to a medical examiner. arizona grand canyon 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 flood, flooding, weather conditions, heavy rain, grand canyon, national park, rescued people, drowned people, dangerous flood, dangerous weather, natural disaster, natural catastrophe https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/kim-jong-un-supervises-drone-testing-orders-to-expand-production---reports-1119908215.html Kim Jong Un Supervises Drone Testing, Orders to Expand Production Kim Jong Un Supervises Drone Testing, Orders to Expand Production Sputnik International North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday supervised the testing of drones conducted by the Drone Research Institute of the DPRK National Defense Academy and ordered to actively develop and increase the production of various types of drones, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports. 2024-08-26T04:13+0000 2024-08-26T04:13+0000 2024-08-26T10:19+0000 military kim jong un north korea drone uav new uav https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/10/1117368513_0:0:900:506_1920x0_80_0_0_e45ab9e2900c16d30058cde99a7ab0c0.jpg According to the agency, the test took place on August 24. Kim Jong Un was accompanied on site by senior officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. The North Korean leader familiarized himself with the drones currently being developed and supervised the test. The drones with different ranges are designed to hit any enemy targets on land and at sea, various drones flew along predetermined different routes, accurately recognized the specified targets and destroyed them, KCNA reported. Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction with the tactical and technical characteristics of the new drones and stressed that it was necessary to "increase the intensity" of combat tests in order to put the drones into service as soon as possible. He noted that, based on combat experience and military trends, the development of various types of drones and improving their characteristics occupy "an important share in preparing for war." He stressed that due to the country's geographical location on the peninsula, it is necessary to "tirelessly" develop not only underwater strategic weapons, including a nuclear torpedo, but also underwater kamikaze attack drones, and actively introduce artificial intelligence technologies into their development. The leader set tasks for the developers and outlined ways to implement them. In January, KCNA reported that North Korea had tested the Haeil-5-23 underwater nuclear weapon system, which is currently under development, in protest of joint military exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan. North Korea has already tested the Haeil and Haeil-2 systems last year. According to state media, the "secret weapon" is the Haeil (Tsunami) nuclear-powered underwater drone, which has been in development since 2012 and has undergone more than 50 tests in the past two years, 29 of which were personally supervised by Kim Jong Un. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/photos-kim-jong-un-supervises-drone-testing-1119911144.html north korea 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 kim jong un, drone testing, production of various types of drones https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/russian-forces-conduct-large-scale-strike-on-ukrainian-defense-industry-facilities-1119911797.html Russian Forces Hammer Ukrainian Defense Industry Facilities: What is Known so Far Russian Forces Hammer Ukrainian Defense Industry Facilities: What is Known so Far Sputnik International Russia has targeted defense industry facilities of the Kiev regime with a series of sweeping strikes. 2024-08-26T06:53+0000 2024-08-26T06:53+0000 2024-08-26T07:58+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine russia ukraine strike https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/09/1117228523_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_74edfe813f118a6bd5c5c4c63456f042.jpg Ukrainian media has reported explosions in a number of regions: Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy, Poltava, Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankovsk, Lvov, and Odessa.Moscow has repeatedly underscored that in targeting Ukrainian energy, defense industry, military command and communications facilities the Russian Armed Forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/four-people-injured-after-drone-attack-on-russias-saratov---regional-health-ministry-1119908853.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian forces target ukraine's defense industry facilities, what is known so far about russia's strikes on ukraine's defense industry facilities, https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/the-undemocratic-party-1119905820.html The Undemocratic Party The Undemocratic Party Sputnik International The Democratic ticket has enjoyed a rise in the polls since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the partys candidate for president last month, but controversy remains over party leaders decision to select Harris without holding primary elections. 2024-08-26T03:08+0000 2024-08-26T03:08+0000 2024-08-26T03:08+0000 americas us kamala harris gerald ford richard nixon ukraine san francisco california democratic party cia https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/19/1119905663_0:93:2000:1218_1920x0_80_0_0_32bae571b879ef943ee36370b0baec35.jpg The Democratic ticket has enjoyed a rise in the polls since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the partys candidate for president last month, but controversy remains over party leaders decision to select Harris without holding primary elections.For the first time since 1968, the Democratic nominee will win the nomination without winning a single primary vote it would be a culmination of the elite-oriented trends that have shaped the nominating process since 1984, in which party elites have played an increasingly large role in shaping the presidential nomination, Daley warned. If Democrats truly want to make this election about democracy, they might start by looking at the recent trends in their own house.Analyst Richard Morgan considered Americas democratic deficit as demonstrated during previous presidential administrations, such as that of Gerald Ford in the 1970s. Ford was selected to be Richard Nixons vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973 then became president the following year when Nixon stepped down amid the sprawling Watergate scandal. He is notable for having served as both president and vice president of the United States without winning a single vote.Harris has also come under scrutiny for her political track record, with critics accusing her of opportunism. Her record as a [San Francisco District Attorney] sounds spotty, with her embracing two different extremes at different times from strong against drugs and crime to weak, said former US Justice Department prosecutor Ronald Sievert in an interview with Sputnik.Harris has received criticism from some in the Democratic Party who accuse her of running as a self-styled tough on crime politician in the years before Black Lives Matter and a string of high-profile police shootings brought a renewed focus to criminal justice reform. She was famously criticized by former Democratic Party Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during a primary debate in 2020 for her record as District Attorney and Californias attorney general during which she enforced heavy penalties for drug possession.When you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these peoples lives you did not, and worse yet in the case of those who were on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to [turn it over], said Gabbard during an exchange often credited with ending Harriss previous run for president.Harriss acceptance speech during the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago has been slammed by many within the party for its hawkish tone. The Democratic candidate signaled strong support for Israels military operation in Gaza and the Western proxy war in Ukraine while also receiving an endorsement from controversial former CIA director Leon Panetta.Panetta delivered a speech praising Harris during which he claimed he was proud to have served in the US Army and as head of the CIA. US military aggression throughout the Middle East during the so-called War on Terror is estimated to have caused the deaths of at least 4.5 million people while the CIA has been implicated in numerous coups and human rights violations.In her speech [Harris] was talking about how [former US President Donald] Trump supposedly coddled [foreign leaders] like Putin, and that's totally false, said CovertAction Magazine managing editor Jeremy Kuzmarov on Sputniks The Final Countdown program recently. Trump had a pretty hardline policy toward Russia. He pulled out of the INF Treaty. He ramped up weapons supplies to Ukraine. So that's just like an extreme right-wing position that they're adopting.The 2024 presidential campaign cycle represents the third in a row during which Democratic Party leaders have intervened heavily to boost their favored candidate. Leaked DNC emails revealed the extent to which party officials sought to subvert Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders candidacy during 2016s party primary while former President Barack Obama intervened to once again undermine Sanders in 2020.2024 marks the first year in decades that a major US political partys presidential candidate has been chosen without a democratic primary process, and observers worry about the precedent set by the Democrat Partys end run around its own voters. The United States will likely continue to intervene throughout the world in the name of safeguarding freedom and democracy, but its own deficit of both has become increasingly impossible to ignore. https://sputnikglobe.com/20210331/the-guy-who-didnt-talk-g-gordon-liddy-the-brains-behind-watergate-scandal-is-dead-1082498185.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240409/us-deep-state-will-call-shots-in-ukraine-not-trump-or-biden-1117816700.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240415/whither-free-speech-college-campuses-sacrifice-professed-values-to-alter-of-zionism---report-1117936015.html americas ukraine san francisco california Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 John Miles https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/01/19/1116388787_0:0:1316:1316_100x100_80_0_0_77e70d36afd983012b1c5d38ddb84156.jpg John Miles https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/01/19/1116388787_0:0:1316:1316_100x100_80_0_0_77e70d36afd983012b1c5d38ddb84156.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 John Miles https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/01/19/1116388787_0:0:1316:1316_100x100_80_0_0_77e70d36afd983012b1c5d38ddb84156.jpg ted rall cartoon, democratic party democracy, us democratic deficit, kamala harris undemocratic, kamala harris, political cartoon, authoritarian kamala, communist kamala, comrade kamala, comrade harris, kammunism, kamunism, no more democracy https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/why-did-telegrams-ceo-durov-have-a-target-on-his-back-1119912967.html Why Did Telegram's CEO Durov Have a Target on His Back? Why Did Telegram's CEO Durov Have a Target on His Back? Sputnik International Why did Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov have a target on his back? 2024-08-26T16:24+0000 2024-08-26T16:24+0000 2024-08-26T16:24+0000 world pavel durov larry johnson tucker carlson russia france telegram whatsapp freedom of speech encryption https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/1a/1119912240_0:201:2048:1353_1920x0_80_0_0_6bb9f3e46683e7fc9d494ae746d82ff0.jpg Pavel Durov faces multiple charges relating to the encrypted platforms lack of moderation, according to French media reports. Authorities claim this implicates the Russian-born IT entrepreneur and co-founder of the Telegram social network in the sharing of content related to terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, and money laundering. Accused of failing to cooperate with French police, the billionaire who has French and United Arab Emirates citizenship is believed to be facing a 20-year jail term.The US government wanted to get its hands on Telegrams code to infiltrate the system and spy on its users, Durov speculated back in an April interview with ex-Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. The entrepreneur claimed that he had been pressured to allow a "backdoor" in the app for Western intelligence, but he refused, maintaining that Telegram should not be a player in geopolitics.Why did Durov have a target on his back?The Telegram team issued a statement on Sunday that it was unjustified to blame the platform or its owners for any abuses that may have taken place on it.It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, the statement published on the official Telegram channel said. It added that Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240825/telegram-ceo-durovs-arrest-shows-west-unleashing-witchhunt-against-truth-tellers-1119902306.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240826/macron-says-telegram-ceo-arrest-in-france-not-political-decision-1119915493.html russia france Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko 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 Svetlana Ekimenko pavel durov arrested in france, durov's arrest, telegram founder, encrypted telegram app, why did france arrest durov, us intel agencies sought to create backdoor in telegram, freedom of speech, freedom of press, censorship of social media, pavel durov's interview with tucker carlson, fbi's purported attempt to recruit a telegram engineer, telegram crackdown, telegram founder arrest, pavel durov arrest, western free speech crackdown, western suppression, durov arrested, telegram founder, telegram ceo, toncoin falls, toncoin destroyed, durov carlson interview Marvin Hagler and driver Garrett Rooney established a new track record in the featured $6,000 Preferred 4 Trot named in honour of the late Hall of Fame horseman Bob McIntosh during the Sunday, Aug. 25 afternoon program at Leamington Raceway dedicated to commemorating the esteemed local trainer's significant contributions to harness racing and his lasting impact on the community. Sent postward as the 1-5 favourite, Marvin Hagler ($2.60) romped to an 8-1/2-length victory in the Robert McIntosh Memorial Trot, stopping the clock in 1:57 flat over the 'good' track for trainer Mark MacQuarrie and co-owner Mary Pedden of McGregor, Ont. The winning time was a new all-age trotting track record, besting the former mark of 1:58.2 set in 2018 by Costantino. Marvin Hagler secured the lead by the :28.2 quarter mark over last week's Preferred winner Workinitonbroadway and Don Rankin Jr. From there, the five-year-old Crazed gelding raced to the half in :57.3 and three-quarters in 1:27.4 before trotting away through the stretch for his 22nd career win. Workinitonbroadway followed in second and Hot Fudge Sundae completed the top three for Alfie Carroll. "I thought he was the best in there and he's a real nice horse, I just thought they could follow me and that's how it worked out," said Rooney of the front-end trip. "When I saw the half in :57.3, I said 'wow,' but it didn't really feel like I was at the half in :57.3, and I just said, 'Well, let's just keep going.' "It meant a lot to me [to win this race]," he added. "I started driving for Bob maybe eight years ago, and it was always a great compliment to get put down on a Bob McIntosh horse and it always gave you a great feeling." Marvin Hagler was a fitting winner of the memorial race as MacQuarrie and his wife Nicole Pedden-MacQuarrie previously worked for McIntosh. Friends and family of McIntosh joined the winner's circle for the blanket presenation. In addition to hosting the memorial race, Leamington Raceway paid tribute to the horseman who passed away last month with a memorabilia and photo display, along with a special video presentation. "He had so many great horses and his consistency year after year after year of bringing forward great horses, I think that's what added to his legacy. It brings back a lot of memories," said Doug McIntosh of being at the track where he and his late brother started their harness racing careers. "I really want to thank Leamington Raceway and the staff for the honour they've given my brother. It's been overwhelming and the family does appreciate it." Leamington also hosted a $8,000 leg of the Prospect Series for two-year-old pacing fillies during Sunday's card won by trainer Jason Libby and co-owner Ronnie MacLean's Splash Of Lemon ($11.80) in 2:02.2 by a head between Gabiella Sasso trainees Miss Baby and Gabby Seelster. Robert Doyle drove the Dancin Lou-Summer Thriller filly to her maiden-breaking victory in just her second start. To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Leamington Raceway. (Standardbred Canada) The $1 million USD MGM Yonkers International Trot would not be a true international trotting event without at least one French-bred in the mix and the tracks management team announced on Monday, Aug. 26 two additions from the country. Ideal San Leandro and Eclat De Gloire will join the growing list for the 1-1/4-mile event on Sept. 7 at Yonkers Raceway. Ideal San Leandro will arrive in New York for very familiar connections as the six-year-old is owned and trained by Richard Westerink, who has sent Etonnant, Dreammoko and Timoko to the Yonkers International Trot over the last decade. The 45-year-olds best finish was in 2015 when Timoko finished second. I love New York, thats for sure, said Westerink on returning for his third straight Yonkers International experience. Although Ideal San Leandro lacks the resume of Westerinks previous entrants, the son of Timoko comes to town sharp, with a pair of wins and a second in his last three starts while racing at distances of 1.4 to 1.7 miles in France. Most recently, he was second behind the favourite after showing good gate speed and leading the entire mile. He's in super form but he was also good in the winter. There were drivers who didnt trust the horse. I told them the horse was good and they just sat on the inside. I told them to stay on the lead and they wouldnt do it. Hes really been in good form for almost six months, said Westerink, who admits he isnt bringing the same level of horse as in the past. He's tough and I trust in him but there are faster horses in the race. But when horses are in good shape, there is always a chance. In addition to his toughness, Westerink reports that Ideal San Leandro is a smaller horse that has experience on 900 meter tracks (just over a half-mile) with right turns. I think hell be much better with the turns on the left like at Yonkers. Hes an easy horse that will love the track, said Westerink, who has secured the services of top Swedish driver Bjorn Goop for the race. Eclat De Gloire (pictured above) comes to New York with a much different profile than his French compatriot. While the 10-year-old has earnings of over 1 million Euros for trainer Loris Garcia and owner Ecurie du Vieux Chene, hes had trouble finding the winners circle of late, with his last victory coming in November 2023 in an elimination for the Group 1 Paleo di Comuni. What Eclat De Gloire lacks in 2024 achievements, he makes up for in experience, as the son of Tiego DEtang has competed throughout Europe and is the most experienced international half-mile-track competitor in the field. The pair of French horses join Jiggy Jog, Hail Mary and Castor The Star (Sweden), Vernissage Grif (Italy), and Get A Wish (Denmark) as starters in the Sept. 7 event. The previously announced Capital Mail had to drop out of the race. The final three horses for the race will be announced in the coming days and the draw is scheduled for early next week. The Yonkers International will be the centerpiece of a spectacular afternoon card that also features a pair of $250,000 USD Invitationals for older horses and the $1.8 million USD finals of the New York Sire Stakes. Post time will be 12:15 p.m EDT. (Yonkers Raceway) Former Windsor Raceway track announcer and harness racing advocate Martyn 'Marty' Allan Adler passed away peacefully on Aug. 24, 2024 at the age of 81 after putting up a long and courageous fight with cancer. Marty was born to Sol and Belle (Isenberg) Adler on July 1, 1943 in Windsor, Ont. Marty was the older brother of Cheryl and Richard. After changes to district boundaries, he attended three high schools: Patterson, Kennedy and Massey Collegiate. He then studied at the University of Western Ontario where he planned to become Marty Adler MD, but left and became Marty Adler DJ. Marty developed his work ethic during his teen years waking up at 4 a.m. to deliver baked goods for the family bakery. Marty was a huge fan of life in Essex County and promoted it throughout his life. Some will remember him as host of Reach for the Top or for his sportscasting shtick on the CBC. Besides reporting on all the pro sports, he loved highlighting the high school teams and especially enjoyed giving students their 15 minutes of fame. Later, he went on to produce commercials and corporate videos for local businesses at his production company, Great Lakes TV. Others will remember Marty as the Windsor Raceway track announcer where he spent many late nights for 40 years. He loved all facets of harness racing, including training and driving his own horses. He was a tireless advocate of the sport. In retirement, Marty moved to Amherstburg falling in love with its quaint small-town feel. He wanted his last hoorah to be for this town and after three years and numerous obstacles, CKBG The Burg, flooded the airwaves on July 3, 2023. A year later, CKBG was awarded the platinum designation for radio from the Windsor Community Voters. He last signed off the air on July 13, 2024 during his do-op dance party as Marty Adler DJ, coming full circle. Marty was just as creative and passionate in his personal life always going over the top for his children doing things in his own zany way for Marcie Howard (Jeremy), Michael Adler (Irina) and Gregory Adler and his grandchildren Russell, Alden, Sophia, Ewan, Cael and Sammy. He was also friends until the end with his ex-wife, Lynne. He will be missed by many more friends and family, including brother Richard Adler and sister Cheryl Brody, nieces and nephews Jason, Adam, Seth, Noah, Erin and Amanda, and many others. A graveside service will be held Monday, Aug. 26, 2024 at 11 a.m., Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery, 2650 Pillette Road, Windsor, ON, N8T 1R1, with Rabbi Sholom Galperin officiating. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Marty Adler. Singtel and Hitachi have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on next-generation data centers and GPU Cloud in Japan and potentially the wider Asia Pacific region under the lead of Singtels Digital InfraCo unit. The strategic partnership will combine Singtels extensive data center and connectivity expertise and technology platforms with Hitachis differentiating capability that enables end-to-end data center integration including green power solutions, cooling systems, storage infrastructure and data management. Together, the companies intend to sustainably enhance data center performance and capabilities, thereby accelerating AI adoption and digital transformation of enterprises. Notably, the agreement expands on a partnership announced by the companies in June 2024*1 to trial and integrate Singtels Paragon, the all-in-one orchestration platform for 5G, edge computing and cloud, with Hitachis AI applications for Hitachis manufacturing operations as well as enterprise customers. Through Singtels Paragon platform and Hitachis deep AI expertise, both companies aim to address the complexities faced by customers when deploying AI capabilities. Mr. Bill Chang, CEO of Singtels Digital InfraCo, said, Our strategic partnership with Hitachi, a leader in digital systems and services fields, opens up new opportunities in a strategically important and expanding Japanese market. Building a strong ecosystem of partners has always been a priority at Singtel to better serve our customers and broaden our global reach. We look forward to bringing our collective expertise, digital assets and solutions to help more enterprises innovate and transform their businesses and operations through the cloud and AI. As we scale our digital capabilities with our partners like Hitachi, we aim to become a leader in the Asia Pacific region. Singtel carved out Digital InfraCo in mid-2023 to serve as a catalyst for innovation and economic growth for AsiaPacifics digital economies. Digital InfraCos portfolio includes Nxera, its regional data center arm, subsea cable and satellite businesses, and Paragon platform which are all crucial to advancing AI in the region. Digital InfraCo plans to launch GPU-as-a- Service (GPUaaS) later this year to better support enterprise AI adoption. Mr. Toshiaki Tokunaga, Executive Vice President and Executive Officer at Hitachi, said, Since its inception, Hitachiscorporate philosophy has centered on addressing the challenges faced by customers and society. As generative AI continues to drive new innovations, the issues of environmental impact due to rising electricity demand is becomingmore prominent. Striking a balance between these two factors is a significant mission for Hitachis Social Innovation Business. We are delighted to embark on this mission through our strategic alliance with Singtel. By combiningSingtels expertise in the development and operation of sustainable data centers with the comprehensive capabilities of the Hitachi Group, ranging from green power solutions to facility and data management, we aim to enable companiesto utilize data centers in an intelligent and environmentally conscious manner; ultimately achieving continuous innovation while promoting sustainability. AI-driven data center expansion is a major opportunity for Hitachis Social Innovation business expansion and its group businesses such as Hitachi Digital Services, Hitachi Energy and others as the expansion calls for the successfulintegration of all areas where Hitachi uniquely excels: information technology, operational technology and products. The key areas covered by the MOU are: Explore next-generation data center collaboration in Japan and Asia Pacific to address AI demand: Nxera andHitachi will explore opportunities to develop data centers across Japan and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. With the continued growth in cloud and AI momentum, it is important to operate smart and environmentally sustainable data centers through high efficiency, high quality data center management. Such an initiative would draw on Nxeras expertise in data center design, building and operation along with Hitachis expertise in the production and delivery of data-center-focused equipment, next-generation energy solutions and advanced IT systems management that ensure stable operations within data center environments. Nxera is developing a platform of sustainable, hyper-connected AI-ready data centers in the region with a total capacity of more than 200MW in addition to 62MW of existing capacity in Singapore. Combine Singtels GPU platform with Hitachis AI expertise to develop enterprise applications: Hitachi will explore using Singtels GPUaaS for its internal AI applications and workloads. This effort would allow Hitachi to verifycomplementary Singtel-based benefits that can enhance Hitachis high-performance machine learning, generative AI, and other digital technologies and solutions. Subsequently, it would provide an opportunity for both companies to define more power-efficient methodologies that could advance any enterprises sustainability goals. Based on the results of Hitachis internal GPUaaS verification, the companies may also explore the co-creation ofenterprise-grade applications that combines Hitachis expertise, including its generative AI technologies and platform,with Singtels GPU cloud and Paragon platform. The aim is to further reduce customer development and deployment times as well as management and deployment overhead for AI applications. 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: Boarding numbers on NSW train and bus services relative to pre-COVID 2019 values. Credit: Data source: TfNSW Open Data Hub, CC BY Public transport ridership has taken a beating in many Australian cities since the onset of COVID. With more people still working from hometypically office workers who had been concentrated in central business districtspassenger numbers remain well below pre-COVID levels on routes serving those CBDs. In any market, when supply is largely fixed and demand drops, a natural response is to lower prices. Queensland has cut public transport fares to only 50 cents for a six-month trial. Canberra is about to offer free fares for the next couple of months. When cities elsewhere have cut fares, passenger numbers have increased. It happened in Perth when public transport was free for a month last summer. Melbourne has a free tram zone in the CBD. But it's not a simple equation. There are many factors at work. Will lower fares lead to a lasting uplift in passenger numbers? Will the results differ between free and almost-free travel? The Queensland and ACT fare cuts are fascinating experiments that could well change how public transport fares are set in Australia. What impacts do fares have? First, fares help cover the costs of the service and perhaps even generate profit. However, the "farebox recovery ratio"the share of operating costs paid by faresis low (under 30%) in most Australian cities. This means fares contribute nothing directly towards building rail lines or repaying funders, much less earning a profit. Second, fares may be set to ration use by time of day. So lower off-peak fares give people an incentive to travel at less busy times. Third, fares deter people who might otherwise use stations or vehicles as a temporary shelter or refuge. These many competing purposes can result in confusing or even self-defeating fare structures. Sydney, for example, uses concession rates for certain users, peak pricing for certain times of day and weekly caps on how much the heaviest users have to pay. For some distances, buses and light rail are more expensive than trains. For others they are not. In such cases, fares can be too low to contribute much to running the system but too high to attract enough riders to match system capacity. How sensitive are people to fare changes? For small changes, the rule of thumb from empirical studies has been that a 10% increase in fares loses about 3-4% of riders, but there is wide variance. Studies in the United States have found demand in large metro areas was less sensitive to fares than small areas in the long run. But with big fare changes, we cannot be as sure. We cannot confidently predict a 50% cut in fares will result in a 15% increase in passengers, or that free travel will lead to a 30% or 40% increase. That is, however, what New South Wales' Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) found in 2020 when studying free fares in Sydney, which it did not recommend. It's not a simple matter of price Responses to fare changes depend on context. We see sensitivity to long-term changes in fares for passengers who change from a discounted concession card, such as tertiary students, to a full-rate adult card, leading to a reduction in their use. However, other factors confound changes in demand due to price. A person's new workplace might be harder to get to using public transport than driving. They might have less flexibility to travel at off-peak times. Or having bought their own car might affect their travel choices, as might petrol prices and other costs of living. For a short-term, well-publicized cut in fares, people may take advantage of it to make trips they otherwise would not have taken, or would have done by car, on foot or on bike. In contrast, people are not going to give up their car if they expect fares will soon return to previous levels. One thing a short-run change can do is give people who have never ridden the bus or train (or haven't in many years) a taste. If they like it, it could lead to a permanent uplift in their use. What does overseas experience tell us? Several places overseas have experimented with fare structure. In the northern summer of 2022, Germany introduced a discounted 9 (about A$15) per month ticket. There was an 8% increase in travelonly a 3% increase was attributable to gaining a taste for public transport. A minority of trips replaced those that would otherwise have been made by car. Regular public transport use rose from 29% of travelers to 38% once the 9 ticket came in, then settled at 32% afterwards. Tallinn in Estonia was one of the first capital cities to offer fare-free public transport. After some years, there was a clear increase in ridership from 55% to 63%. Three points came from a shift from private cars and the other five from walking. So how do we assess the Australian experiments? The decision to make the Queensland system nearly freecharging 50 cents instead of nothinghas been justified as a way to gather information about public transport use through the tap-on and tap-off process. While this is a real benefit, it might mean the benefits of a fare-free system aren't fully unleashed. First, in-vehicle tapping on and off can increase the time users take to board and alight, causing delays and effectively reducing the speed of the service. This adds to running costs as more vehicles are needed to provide the same frequency of services. More importantly, it makes public transport less competitive with private cars. Second, it's costly to collect fares. The cost might be greater than the revenue from the 50-cent fare. On the other hand, a small price might help deter people from using the system as shelter and short-distance walkers who might switch to a free service. We won't know what would happen in Queensland if public transport were fully free, though Canberra will provide a useful counterpoint. The results of these trials may soon reshape public transport fare-setting in Australia. 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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Cloud computing has emerged as a crucial element in today's technology, serving as the backbone for global connectivity. It empowers businesses, governments, and individuals to employ and construct cloud-based services and forms the foundation for a huge range of systems we use every day, including telecommunications, transportation, health care, banking, and even streaming services. Such systems, like any hardware or software, are susceptible to failures and cyberattacks that can occur unpredictably. Cybercriminals are becoming even more determined, and their attacks increasingly sophisticated and frequent. One of the tactics these groups frequently employ are distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which flood companies' systems with more requests and traffic than their IT systems can handle. This locks legitimate users out of the service, causing significant problems for companies, including revenue loss and diminished customer loyalty. This issue can cause major difficulties for companies like Google and Amazon, which offer cloud computing services to host consumers' data, systems, and services. In our latest study, we employed several strategies to show how cloud computing systems can actually be strengthened by stress. We employed something called chaos engineering and adaptive strategies, which help the system learn from faults and cyberattacks. In their most recent quarterly analysis of cybersecurity threats, cloud computing security company Cloudflare reported a 65% increase in DDoS attacks in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter. According to Cloudflare's report for the second quarter of 2024, there were four million DDoS attacks. Besides DDoS and other deliberate attacks, companies using cloud-based software are also vulnerable to outages caused by issues ranging from connection problems to physical server failuressome of which can also result from cyber-attacks. Sometimes, even a minor issue, such a typo, can knock cloud-based websites down. On July 19 , crashes in CrowdStrike's Falcon sensor caused Windows hosts connected to the Microsoft Azure cloud computing system to crash, causing a global IT outage across the world. The Falcon sensor, designed to prevent cyber-related attacks, was not compromised by a cyber-attack. The outage was caused by a technical issue with an update. On July 31, an error in Microsoft's DDoS defenses caused an eight-hour outage in Azure. Unpicking fragility Resolving major outages like these presents significant challenges due to the cloud's complexity and its many dependencies on other systemsincluding for cybersecurity. Implementing reliable fixes can take from hours to several days or, in some cases such as CrowdStrike's, even longer. Such incidents demonstrate the fragility of our tech infrastructure in general, but particularly cloud-based systems. Solutions are currently focused on managing the effects of these incidents rather than addressing the root problems by creating more reliable and resilient cloud systems. To prevent failures, a crucial step is to integrate as standard, advanced tests of software to assess its resilience and dependability under pressure. In our research, we're helping cloud consumers withstand these threats by doing exactly this, making cloud computing better able to withstand large attacks and outages and keep functioning. Those operating cloud systems also need to adapt and learn from previous incidents to make them stronger. We have been using a technique called chaos engineeringdeliberately attacking and experimenting with these cloud-based software applicationsto look at how the system responds to such attacks. One of our most recent papers found that we can use this technique to more accurately predict how a system will react to an attack. Chaos engineering involves deliberately introducing faults into a system and then measuring the results. This technique helps to identify and address potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in a system's design, architecture, and operational practices. Methods can include shutting down a service, injecting latency (a time lag in the way a system responds to a command) and errors, simulating cyberattacks, terminating processes or tasks, or simulating a change in the environment in which the system is working and in the way it's configured. In recent experiments, we introduced faults into live cloud-based systems to understand how they behave under stressful scenarios, such as attacks or faults. By gradually increasing the intensity of these "fault injections," we determined the system's maximum stress point. Our investigation revealed a reduction in performance and the availability of services as a result. So these chaos engineering experiments uncovered issues that traditional performance measurements could not detect. Learning from chaos Chaos engineering is a great tool for enhancing the performance of software systems. However, to achieve what we describe as "antifragility"systems that could get stronger rather than weaker under stress and chaoswe need to integrate chaos testing with other tools that transform systems to become stronger under attack. In our latest work, we presented an adaptive framework to do exactly this. This framework, called "Unfragile," employs chaos engineering to introduce failures incrementally and assess the system's response under these stresses. We then introduce new, adaptive strategies to eliminate the vulnerabilities found through chaos engineering. This can include modifying the source code of the software itself to improve its performance. By introducing metrics on the performance of the system in real-time, the system can become adaptive, as potential problems are picked up early and resolved. By combining chaos engineering with these adaptive strategies to alert operators to vulnerabilities in real-time, so they can be fixed, we can teach cloud systems not only to withstand stress but to become stronger from it. This will ensure that our critical digital infrastructure becomes more robust, reliable, and capable of learning from chaos to better confront future challenges. 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: Fabrication and characterization of c-Al 2 O 3 . Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07786-2 A team of electrical and computer engineers at Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, working with one colleague from City University of Hong Kong and another with Fudan University, has developed a new two-dimensional, low-power-consumption field-effect transistor (FET) that could allow smartphones to need recharging less often. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they overcame problems with high gate leakage and low dielectric strength that have stymied other researchers looking to create smaller and thinner computer chips. Two of the team members (Ziao Tian and Zengfeng Di) have published a Research Briefing, summarizing their work in the same journal issue. Over the past several years, computer engineers have been searching for new materials that will allow further miniaturization of silicon field-effect transistors. This will enable the addition of more features in phones and other devices without making them bigger. It is also a necessity for the development of 5G devices that will come with AI applications that are still in development. There is also expected to be a need to reduce the size of devices used in IoT applications. Notably, current materials have already begun to suffer from short-channel effects. Many in the field have seen 2D materials as the future for such devices because they would allow for reducing thickness to just a few atoms. Unfortunately, most such efforts have had issues with smooth interactions between the 2D materials and other parts that must connect to them. More recently, some researchers have begun to look at thin metal oxides as a possible solution. In this new effort, the research team has used single-crystalline aluminum oxide just 1.25 nm thick. The researchers note that each of the FETs they created had an aluminum gate just 100 m wide and 250 nm long. To ensure complete insulation, they left a gap between the gates. To create their FETs, they used standard van der Waals transfer methods to properly align the materials on the underlying wafer before moving the stack over as a single step. The team describes the resulting product as a 2D FET with high-quality dielectric interfaces. More information: Daobing Zeng et al, Single-crystalline metal-oxide dielectrics for top-gate 2D transistors, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07786-2 Ultrathin sapphire synthesized for advanced 2D electronics, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-024-02634-9 Journal information: Nature 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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The Association for Computing Machinery's US Technology Policy Committee (USTPC) has released a "Statement on Mass Cybersecurity Incidents Likely to Recur." On July 18, 2024, CrowdStrike, a US-based cybersecurity technology company, released a sensor configuration update which caused a global outage affecting an estimated 8.5 million computers. Several critical infrastructure sectors including airlines, 911 emergency systems, banks, government agencies, health care, and hospitals around the world were impacted. While CrowdStrike has provided some information as to how the accident happened, ACM USTPC urges that all the details be thoroughly and publicly investigated so that system operators, technologists, and policymakers can take steps to guard against such accidents in the future. "The CrowdStrike incident underscored weaknesses in two kinds of infrastructures," explains Jody Westby, CEO, Global Cyber Risk LLC and a principal author of the new USTPC Statement. "On one level, we realized that the global technical infrastructure is fragile. Despite the fact that the latest technologies had been deployed to protect these systems, a major outage still occurred. At the same time, we also realized that our existing legal and policy infrastructure is insufficient to respond to these kinds of attacks. A great deal of work needs to be done to shore up both of these kinds of infrastructures, and we hope this USTPC Statement will bring attention to these critical needs." The USTPC Statement also notes that "the global nature of the outage highlights the need for improved international cooperation and coordination. The ability of companies globally to obtain information about the outage, government efforts, and technical guidance was largely deficient, and each country and company was on its ownparticularly if their systems were down." "The scale of the CrowdStrike accident was certainly unprecedented, and its reach into critical infrastructures was alarming on many levels," added Carl Landwehr, visiting professor at the University of Michigan, and a principal author of the ACM Statement. "But to computer scientists familiar with the underlying technology, this accident is not especially surprising, and future incidents are, unfortunately, almost a certainty. We need to learn more about how this happened to mitigate any potential repeat of this disaster. As a non-partisan organization of computer scientists who advise government leaders on technology policy, we have outlined eight key questions that should form the basis of a public investigation." In surveying what they know about the CrowdStrike incident, the ACM experts noted that while the update caused thousands of Microsoft Windows-based systems to crash, systems based on Linux, Mac OS, and other operating systems were unaffected. The core questions posed in the USTPC Statement include: How did some systems avoid the consequences of this error, while others did not? Why was the errant software released without thorough testing? What lessons can we draw concerning the architecture and implementation of systems? What best practices should be followed for automatic system updates? Why were some systems able to come back up faster than others? What were the most efficient ways to restart systems that required manual intervention? What notification should be required? In suggesting next steps, the USTPC members urged that the public investigation of the CrowdStrike incident should be undertaken by the US government's Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). In addition to principal authors Carl Landwehr and Jody Westby, USTPC members Andrew Grosso, Jim Hendler, Jeanna Matthews, Stuart Shapiro, Gene Spafford, and Alec Yasinsac provided comments during the development of the Statement. More information: The full USTPC Statement may be accessed here. Provided by Association for Computing Machinery 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 deserts around Jaisalmer district are dotted with hundreds of turbines, one of India's largest onshore wind farms. Whirring wind turbines in India's Thar desert supply critical green energy for the world's most populous nation, but those living in their shadows say it comes at their expense. It illustrates the hard balance faced as India, the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, scrambles to boost its non-fossil fuel capacity to stem the rising impacts of climate change. "The big companies have come here and built the windmills, but they're useless to us," said 65-year-old livestock herder Nena Ram, describing an age-old farming system upended by the giant turbines. The country is suffering increasing devastation from heatwaves, floods and droughts, events that climate scientists say are exacerbated by rising global temperatures. But those from areas used for renewable energy production say their needs have been sacrificed for the greater good. In western Rajasthan state, where most of the Thar desert lies, that includes the loss of grazing lands and damage to sacred groves called "orans". The desert oases, protected by the community for centuries, collect water critical for their livestock-based economy of camels, cattle and goats. But herders say heavy construction trucks damage the water sources, reducing grasslands and further drying the land. Wind turbines in India's Thar desert supply critical green energy for the world's most populous nation, but those living in their shadows say it comes at their expense. What farmers like Ram contribute to greenhouse gases is very far from the fume-belching giants of India's coal-hungry heavy industry. He is struggling from a brutal one-two punch. First he was hit by the consequences of climate change. Then he was knocked by mitigation efforts to combat them. 'Paying the price' The deserts around Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan are dotted with hundreds of turbines, one of India's largest onshore wind farms. Rajasthan is capable of providing five gigawatts (GW) of wind power to the grid, according to government figures. Many turbines are owned by Indian conglomerates, including the Adani Group and Suzlon. The companies say they are supporting India's national drive to transition to renewable power while supporting communities impacted by the construction. Suzlon says it provides "sustainable development to the villages around its wind farms", including health, education and livestock support projects. Desert oases, protected by the community for centuries, collect water critical for herders' livestock-based economy of camels, cattle and goats. Adani says it is "deeply committed" to the community, supporting schools and clean water programmes. But farmers complain bitterly that the turbines were built on community grazing land. Milk production has also slumped. "The farmers are paying the price," said Jitendra Kumar, who works in a local health clinic. "Their land was taken away. Windmills occupy the land meant for cattle grazing". 'Lives in darkness' Power lines criss-cross the desert around Jaisalmer, a district home to about 670,000 people, according to the last census But it suffers from frequent power cuts, sometimes for days at a stretch. Residents say power is channeled to feed surging demand in industrial centers and big cities. "We are leading our lives in darkness," local environmental activist Sumer Singh Bhati said. "We have power for barely two hours a day... We are desperate for light." What farmers like Nena Ram contribute to greenhouse gases is very far from the fume-belching giants of India's coal-hungry heavy industry. Power cuts are unbearable during summer. Temperatures sometimes sizzle at 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). India this year baked in its longest heatwave on record, according to government weather experts. They warn steadily more oppressive temperatures will be seen increasingly in the future. India aims to boost non-fossil fuel power capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and is committed to achieving a net-zero-emissions economy by 2070two decades after most of the industrialized West. Renewable energy plants are being built at breakneck speed, rising from 76 GW to 203 GW in the past decade, according to government figures. Around a quarter of that is from the wind. But reaching the 500 GW renewable target requires expansion on a vast scale. 'How will we survive?' Such statistics mean little to villagers living near the towering turbines, slamming them as an "incursion of the white structures". Power lines criss-cross the desert around Jaisalmer, a district home to about 670,000 people. Environmental activists say that while outsiders see the desert as a dead zone, they are areas rich in biodiversity. Locally revered species, such as the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard, are facing extinction. The once common giant brown-and-white birds fly into the mesh of overhead power lines. Parth Jagani, an environmental activist in Jaisalmer, said numbers had plummeted in the past 25 yearswith just 150 left nationally. "Once the windmills and the high-tension wires were installed, their mortality increased," Jagani said. In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered power lines to be put underground in key bird breeding zones. But the government petitioned and overturned the decision, arguing it would hinder renewable energy targets. Villagers have set up a memorial for the bird, a statue of a lone bustard. Villagers have set up a memorial for the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard, a statue of a lone bird. "If our birds and animals are taken away, what will we do?" said Ram, smoothing his sweeping gray mustache. "How will we survive?" 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: Dr. Florian Rabitz is a Chief Researcher in the Civil Society and Sustainability Research Group at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania. Credit: KTU In May 2024, Russia launched a satellite that some observers believe is a weapon system that could allow the targeted destruction of other satellites in orbit. This is not an entirely new concept. China tested a ground-launched anti-satellite weapon in 2007, destroying one of its own satellites and producing a debris cloud that continues to circle the planet to this day. India and the U.S. are believed to have similar capacities as well. The development of space-to-space weapons platforms highlights the escalatory potential in the technological arms race that we are presently seeing in space. This also applies to nuclear space weapons believed to be in the possession of some countries, which could rapidly knock out large swathes of our orbital infrastructure for global telecommunications. The dependence on orbital infrastructure has become a vulnerability The global threat posed by anti-satellite weapons is so enormous due to the broad range of human activities that today depend on satellites. Without satellites, global navigation, logistics, and communication would collapse; early warning systems for forest fires or floods would stop functioning; internet access would be limited to regions with cable connections; and international trade sanctions against North Korea and other rogue states would become harder to enforce. As the world has become dependent on satellites, it has also become more vulnerable to disruption. The so-called Kessler Syndrome is an especially significant global risk: Space warfare could dramatically increase the amount of small debris that circles the planet. These small pieces can collide at very high velocities with other objects, leading to further fragmentation and potential collision cascades that could--in theory--destroy most or all of our orbital infrastructure. And this is not everything: Armed forces worldwide, from the U.S. to China up to India and Pakistan, use satellites to monitor potential nuclear weapons launches by their adversaries. In theory, satellites allow governments of nuclear weapons states to detect nuclear attacks early enough to respond with an attack of their own. This leads to deterrencestates refraining from using nuclear weapons for the first time because they believe that their adversaries will be able to respond with a massive retaliatory strike. Best encapsulated in a Cold War military doctrine known as Mutually Assured Destruction, this is a major part of the explanation for why nuclear weapons have not been used in war since 1945. However, if satellites are switched off and early warning systems cease to function, deterrence is weakened, and nuclear instability can result. The role of satellites in modern conflicts The war in Ukraine also powerfully highlights the importance of satellites in conventional military operations. However, as Ukraine only possesses a single registered satellite that is under direct governmental control, it has become dependent on commercial satellite service providers. This notably includes the Starlink system, which is operated by a subsidiary of SpaceX owned by Elon Musk. His political views have been raising troubling questions in recent months and years. Airbus, a heavyweight of the European aerospace and defense industry, has recently been accused of providing Russia with satellite images to guide attacks against Ukrainian targets. The role of private satellite operators in the Ukrainian war is therefore a matter of some concern and highlights the dilemma of dual-use satellite technologies, as they can be used for both civilian and military purposes simultaneously. Among other issues, this dual-use challenge creates problems for technology transfers. For example, the U.S. severely restricts the export of satellite technology to China. Many other countries have similar export control measures. This limits internationalization: Most of the world, especially developing countries, do not have their own satellite capabilities. As a result, they are unable to benefit from the many important advantages that this technology can bring, not only in terms of science and innovation, but also in terms of sustainable development. The need for responsible space politics Governments must prevent the militarization of space following international agreements, such as the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They should also ensure greater transparency and accountability for the private organizations that own or control vast amounts of space technology and infrastructure. More fundamentally, the political focus should shift from military applications to the benefits that space can deliver for the common good of humanity. 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: Telegram is hugely popular in former Soviet countries. The boss of social media platform Telegram has been arrested in France, accused of allowing the sharing of illegal content. The Russia-founded messaging platform has stayed out of the limelight in the West but has hundreds of millions of users across the world, and plays a key role in the Ukraine war. Libertarian leanings Pavel Durov, arrested after landing on his private jet in Paris on Saturday, launched the platform in 2013 with his brother Nikolai. It claims to have 950 million usersup from 550 million in 2022. Durov told right-wing American journalist Tucker Carlson in April that users "love the privacy, the freedom" of the platform. Telegram has made great play out of refusing to hand over or sell user data, distinguishing itself from the business models of US rivals like Meta or Google. In Russia and Ukraine, some of its news channels are more popular than traditional media. But the platform has long been criticized for failing to moderate extreme content. Durov, who has a net worth of $15.5 billion according to Forbes, told the Financial Times in March he planned to improve the moderation mechanisms. But "unless they cross red lines, I don't think that we should be policing people in the way they express themselves," he said. Howewer, he also said the firm only employs a few dozen people, which experts said may not be enough to provide a properly secure platform. Russian origins The 39-year-old made a name for himself in 2006 when he launched the social network VKontakte (VK) shortly after graduating from St Petersburg State University. Millions joined up and it quickly became known as "Russia's Facebook", its popularity piquing the interest of the Kremlin. He said he had to fend off demands from the Russian security services to hand over details of opposition groups using VK to organize. And later he came under huge pressure to hand over the personal data of pro-European activists in Ukraine. These experiences led to him forming Telegram, and eventually selling his stake in VK in 2014 and leaving Russia. By 2017, he set up in Dubai, keeping at arm's length from tougher regulatory regimes in the European Union and the United States. Durov has citizenship of the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts and Nevis as well as French nationality, which he picked up in 2021. Legal troubles French prosecutors accuse Telegram of failing to moderate content or collaborate with the authorities. They have highlighted content involving fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, glorification of terrorism and cyberbullying. The firm has said it cannot be held responsible for what its users doa defense long used by big tech platforms. Several countries have tried to block Telegram in the past. In 2018, Iran accused it of hosting violent opposition groups. In the same year, Russia said it had failed to hand over encryption keys. Last year, Brazil blocked it briefly for failing to provide data on neo-Nazi groups and Spain acted over intellectual property violations. No profits yet Telegram was fully funded by Durov until 2018, when it raised $1.7 billion to launch its own cryptocurrency. The crypto project collapsed after US regulators refused to approve it, and the company reimbursed most of the investment. The messaging service began running ads in 2021 but insisted it would not use users' private data for targeting. A premium subscription system followed in 2022. Durov told the Financial Times his company was generating hundreds of millions in revenue and hoped to turn a profit soon. He also did not rule out floating on the stock exchange. Though he has repeatedly stated his mission is not about getting rich. "For me everything in my life was about becoming free," he told Carlson, saying Telegram was about allowing others to express their liberty. 2024 AFP Laos pilots online foreign exchange market system By Vietnam News Agency Mon, August 26, 2024 | 10:28 pm GMT+7 The Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) recently piloted an online foreign exchange market system through the Lao Forex Exchange (LFX) mobile banking application, making it easy for all people to buy, sell, and exchange foreign currencies conveniently, quickly, transparently, and with limited risks. Foreign and Lao currencies. Photo courtesy of https://laotiantimes.com. The application allows the buying, selling, and exchange of three types of foreign currencies of US dollar, Thai Baht, and Chinese Yuan. Deputy director of the BOLs Monetary Policy Department Phoutdavan Sirisombat said that the foreign exchange market is a centralised foreign currency exchange and trading centre within the banking system, which was established on the basis of cooperation between the BOL, the Lao Bankers Association, and 15 commercial banks. The foreign exchange market system started providing initial services for customers to conduct foreign exchange transactions on August 22 through the LFX application of some commercial banks. Participating banks are currently focusing on completing their internal systems so that they can soon connect to the foreign exchange trading system, which is expected to provide full services starting October. Vietnam has 3 new deputy prime ministers By Thai Ha Mon, August 26, 2024 | 4:17 pm GMT+7 The National Assembly, Vietnams highest legislative body, on Monday passed a resolution approving the appointment of Nguyen Hoa Binh, Ho Duc Phoc and Bui Thanh Son as Deputy Prime Ministers for the 2021-2026 term. Vietnam's new Deputy Prime Ministers (from left): Bui Thanh Son, Nguyen Hoa Binh and Ho Duc Phoc. Photo courtesy of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Following the appointments, the cabinet for the 2021-2026 term now includes Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and five Deputy Prime Ministers: Nguyen Hoa Binh, Tran Hong Ha, Le Thanh Long, Ho Duc Phoc and Bui Thanh Son. Nguyen Hoa Binh, 66, comes from Quang Ngai province. He is an associate professor, with a doctorate degree in law. Binh is a Politburo member for the 13th term - the current term, and a Party Central Committee member for the 11th, 12th and 13th terms; and a National Assembly member for the 13th, 14th and 15th terms. Nguyen Hoa Binh used to hold many positions in the police sector, such as deputy head of the General Department of Police and director of the Police Department for Investigating Crimes Related to Economic Management Order, both under the Ministry of Public Security. He later became deputy Party chief and Party chief of Quang Ngai province. In August 2011, Binh became head of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and held this position for nearly four years before being elected by the National Assembly to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Peoples Court in April 2016. Ho Duc Phoc, 61, comes from Nghe An province, He holds a doctorate degree in economics. Phoc is a Party Central Committee member for the 12th and 13th terms and a National Assembly member for the 14th and 15th terms. He used to work for a long time in Nghe An province, holding the positions of vice chairman and then chairman of the Cua Lo town peoples committee; and then Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Nghe An provincial Peoples Committee. In March 2013, PHoc became Nghe Ans Party chief and Chairman of the provincial Peoples Council. Three years later, he held the position of State Auditor General. Phoc has been Minister of Finance since April 2021. Bui Thanh Son, 62, comes from Hanoi. He has a masters degree in international relations. Son is a Party Central Committee member for the 12th and 13th terms, a member of the National Defense and Security Council, and a National Assembly member for the 14th and 15th terms. Son used to hold many positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such as deputy director of the Academy of International Relations, director of the Foreign Policy Department, assistant to Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In January 2016, he was assigned to be a permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Son held this position for nearly five years before becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs in April 2021. Vietnam electronic components hub Vinh Phuc province seeks more hi-tech investments By Quang Minh Mon, August 26, 2024 | 1:00 pm GMT+7 Vinh Phuc province in northern Vietnam, which has emerged as a favored destination for electronics ancillary companies, is seeking to attract more high-tech manufacturers. The province is home to around 200 companies that manufacture electronic components including a host of foreign-invested companies. Some of these are South Koreas Partron Vina with an investment of $270 million; Heasung Vina with a $165-million project; Power Logics Vinas $100-million project; and BH Flex Vinas $61-million project. A Solum Vina electronics components factory in Vinh Phuc province, northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Cong Thuong (Industry & Trade) newspaper. The Vinh Phuc government sees the electronic components industry as a major driver of the local economy. In the first seven months of this year, production of electronic components in the province soared 15.3% year-on-year. Despite global headwinds and supply chain interruptions, electronic components manufacturers in the province like Compal, BG Flex, DKT Vina, Interflex Vina and Arcadyan have managed to secure stable orders from global tech giants like Apple, Dell, Samsung and Google. Local officials say that a main competitive edge is the provinces strategic location. It is well connected by air, sea, and road with Northeast Asian countries that are home to major electronics companies. In the first half of this year, foreign investors registered to invest $436 million in this province, 9% more than the annual target. Of this, about $210 million was funneled into electronics manufacturing. FDI policy fine-tuning Vinh Phuc, which also houses vehicle majors like Honda, Yamaha and Piaggio, has adopted a strategy for foreign direct investment for the 2021-2030 period that involves exploiting its locational advantages. The province has been aggressively developing traffic infrastructure. It is close to Hanois Noi Bai International Airport and Hai Phong citys seaports. It also has 19 prime minister-approved industrial parks, of which 16 have been licensed with a combined area of 3,157 hectares. Of these, eight are operational with high occupancy rates. According to the provincial master plan, Vinh Phuc will have five more industrial parks, raising the total area to 7,000 ha by 2030 and 10,000 ha by 2050. They will be located next to crucial roads and close to the capital city. It aims to attract projects with high and advanced technologies and spill-over effects. It is focused on attracting large-ticket projects to set up core establishments that will attract suppliers and form value chains in the province. US exports momentum to continue despite Vietnams non-market economy status: WB expert By Tri Duc Mon, August 26, 2024 | 4:41 pm GMT+7 Although the United States has continued designating Vietnam as a non-market economy, it "does not necessarily change anything," says Dorsati Madani, a senior country economist with the World Bank in Vietnam. She was responding at a Monday press meet to The Investor's question about possible impacts of the move, given that the United States is a major trade partner. On August 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce decided to continue designating Vietnam as a non-market economy for purposes of calculating antidumping duties on imports from the country, along with 11 other nations including Russia and China. Madani said Vietnam has been exporting to the United States as a "non-market economy" and the bilateral partnership will continue its momentum. Vietnam knows how to export to the United States, she emphasized. However, she also clarified that a "market economy" status would benefit some sectors for Vietnam with reduced tariffs and additional export room. Dorsati Madani (left), a senior country economist at the World Bank in Vietnam, at a press conference in Hanoi, August 26, 2024. Photo courtesy of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Nguyen Xuan Thang, a Politburo member and director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, had said during a July 31-August 4 working visit to the U.S. that Vietnam was disappointed at the decision not to graduate the country to a market economy. In response, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell had expressed his support for continued bilateral engagement on the steps Vietnam can take to transition to a market economy. Vietnams total exports rose 15.7% year-on-year in January-July 2024 to $226.98 billion, up 14.5% from January-June, according to the country's General Statistics Office. The U.S. continued to be the number one buyer of Vietnamese goods with a January-July value of $66.1 billion. Anthropic Offers Cautious Support for New California AI Regulation Legislation Anthropic has announced its support for an amended version of the "Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act," California's Senate Bill 1047 (SB 1047), because of revisions to the bill the company helped to influence but not without some reservations. "In our assessment the new SB 1047 is substantially improved to the point where we believe its benefits likely outweigh its costs," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 21. "However, we are not certain of this, and there are still some aspects of the bill which seem concerning or ambiguous to us." California's proposed bill on AI regulation, SB 1047, advanced by State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat, mandates safety testing for many of the most advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to develop or those that require a defined amount of computing power. If the bill passes, developers of AI software operating in the state will need to outline methods for turning off the AI models if they go awry, effectively implementing a kill switch. The bill would also give the state attorney general the power to sue if developers are not compliant. Senator Wiener recently revised the bill to appease tech companies, relying in part on input from Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI safety and research company backed by Amazon and Alphabet. The revised bill did away with a provision for a government AI oversight committee. (See "California AI Regulation Bill Advances to Assembly Vote with Key Amendments.") In his letter, Amodei listed what he sees as the pros and cons of SB 1047. His list of pros included: "Developing SSPs and being honest with the public about them." The bill mandates the adoption of safety and security protocols (SSPs) similar to those used by top AI developers like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. Some companies haven't adopted these measures or have been vague about them, and there are no safeguards against misleading claims. "It is a major improvement, with very little downside, that SB 1047 requires companies to adopt some SSP (whose details are up to them) and to be honest with the public about their SSP-related practices and findings." "Deterrence of downstream harms through clarifying the standard of care." AI systems are more adaptable than most technologies, and SSP-like measures by companies like Anthropic can reduce misuse risks. SB 1047 ties companies' liability to their SSPs, incentivizing the creation of effective protocols to prevent catastrophic risks. "As a company developing foundational models that also invests heavily in safety, Anthropic thinks it is important to systematize and incentivize this attitude across the industry." "Pushing forward the science of AI risk reduction." AI safety is an emerging field, with best practices still being developed. While early, strict legislation may be premature, it's crucial to push AI companies to invest in safety science. By requiring Safety and Security Protocols and tying them to liability, the bill encourages companies to address foreseeable risks and develop mitigation strategies before their models become societal risks. His list of concerns included: "Some concerning aspects of pre-harm enforcement are preserved in auditing and GovOps." One of Anthropic's original concerns about the bill was the Frontier Model Division's (FMD) prescriptive guidance, reinforced by pre-harm enforcement. The company found it too inflexible for AI's early development stage. The amended SB 1047 eliminates the FMD and narrows pre-harm enforcement, though some powers have shifted to GovOps, which can now set binding requirements for private auditors. The relationship between these entities is complex, with GovOps providing non-binding guidance but influencing mandatory audit conditions. 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 (TBTCO) - Nhung tiem nang nao cua ban than ma ban chua kham pha ra? Lam the nao e nam bat nhung co hoi, trai nghiem moi trong su nghiep cua minh? ang ky tham gia ngay su kien Mega Livestream "Mo tiem nang- Vuot gioi han" uoc Prudential lan au tien to chuc, hua hen mang en nhieu thong tin thu vi, co hoi nghe nghiep hap dan va nhung phan qua gia tri cho nguoi tham gia. Prague agency offers visits to the underbelly of the Czech capital through the eyes of the citys homeless. On any given day in Prague, one of the citys many visitors might see a sprightly middle-aged man leading a group of tourists through the cobble-stoned streets of the capital. But Roman is far from your typical Prague tour guide, and this is far from your typical Prague tour. Once a meth addict living under a bridge, Roman now leads tours for Pragulic, a social enterprise that offers tourists an inside look at the homeless situation in Prague, and challenges people to fight stereotypes they may have about people without homes. This job has purpose and meaning, Roman, who prefers not to give his last name, said through a translator as he led a recent group. He wants visitors to see the real world of the desperate and dispossessed living in this city. Roman, one of Pragulics tour guides. Courtesy of Pragulic. Co-founded by Tereza Jureckova, then a Charles University graduate student, the company strives to help those without homes reintegrate into society while opening the eyes of those who might be meeting the homeless or previously homeless for the first time. Since 2012, over 150,000 people from all over the world have taken the organizations tours. The goal is to help tourists understand the different causes of homelessness of the tour guides, in that way raising awareness that homeless people are in need, and that society should be more sensitive to this situation and help them too, Jureckova said in an interview posted on the Pragulic website. Since COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, the number of unhoused people has increased because the city was not ready for migrants, according to Tereza Mala, coordinator of the Solidarity Network at Mistni mistnim (Locals for Locals), an NGO helping the homeless and others in need. Romans Past Roman, one of the roughly 24,000 individuals without a permanent home in the Czech Republic, is well-acquainted with the homeless community. On a recent tour, whether it was an old woman whom he called grandmother, or a young man smoking a cigarette, passersby couldnt help but stop and chat with the spunky, unreserved man Originally from Slovakia, Roman came from a poor family. His parents were not able to support him and his siblings, so he was sent to foster care at the age of two. Roman remained in contact with his parents until he came out as gay. After he told his mother, she severed her relationship with him. This caused tension within the family, and to this day, mother and son have not spoken. Unfortunately, that can be the experience of many others, says Olga Pek, a member of the team at Kucharky bez domova (Cooks Without Homes), a group that helps homeless women by employing them at a bistro and giving them skills to work in gastronomy. Usually, the main reason [why someone might be homeless] is a confluence of adversities coupled with the lack of an immediate social support system friends and family with resources to help, Pek said. In her work, Pek often sees poverty, discrimination, and mental health as factors in homelessness, but it is hard to pin down one concrete reason as to why someone may have ended up where they have. Up to 85% of the people on the streets have experienced what is called complex trauma multiple traumatic events at the same time, she said. The tipping point for Roman came in 2015 after shooting meth took over his life. Starting out as an occasional way to let go, it quickly snowballed into addiction. Meth was, and still is, one of the most dangerous and widespread drugs on the streets of Prague, Roman said. You think differently when youre on drugs, but at some point, I realized I would never get off the streets if I didnt put a stop to what I was doing, he said. Trash and peoples belongings were strewn across the dusty ground. Some of the people sat together on an inflatable air mattress, deep in conversation. They looked like any five people sitting under a bridge, except for their blankets and bags full of possessions. Their clothes were clean and in good condition (Roman said a center where they can shower and do laundry for free was located nearby). They even had a tent that provided some semblance of privacy. Then, a young woman, approximately 20 years old, hurled her phone in a fit of rage, shattering it on the gravel away from the group. Sitting erect and rigid, she stared back with sunken eyes, expressionless. Roman said she was most likely going through withdrawal symptoms, which can make a person aggressive and agitated. Irene Teush, a vacationer from Tel Aviv, was greatly impacted by what she saw. Ill remember the young woman lying there underneath the bridge, Teush said. She looked down and shook her head, struggling to find the words to describe how she felt. It is hard to see things like that. It is emotional. Roman (right) stopping to talk to other unhoused friends exiting a metro station. Photo by Catherine Cox. The Long Way Back Some may spend the rest of their lives without a place to call home, but for others like Roman, homelessness is a wake-up call for healing. Six years ago, he joined Pragulic, and after one year giving tours, Roman said he decided to get clean. After 10 grueling months, he battled his addiction and won. Roman said he has now been clean for five years and is living in halfway housing. He credits Pragulic for helping him get back on his feet. The company provides the guides with a way to make money as well as other helpful initiatives, like supplying a metro pass. (Roman doesnt use it, though. He enjoys the thrill of trying to evade the fare inspectors, he said.) There are other resources in Prague unhoused people can use to get help. Most of these are private organizations. Roman showed the tour group the Nadeje center near the main train station, a social services facility with a focus on young people who are without homes. Government social workers will step in during emergency cases. For example, Roman pointed out a man sitting under the shelter of a tree. While he was asleep, someone had stolen his prosthetic legs. The dismal gray sky above portended an approaching downpour. Unable to move to a more secure location, the man struggled to cover his few belongings with a soiled blue tarp. Roman said social workers had already been notified, and they were in the process of replacing the prosthetics within the coming days. The Czech government also has centers where those who are unhoused can receive free medical services, food, and clean clothes, but these are few and inadequate to the need, say aid workers. Mala says authorities should be doing more to solve the issue of homelessness. The government needs to care more for the topic of homelessness in general and make the social field more of a priority. Social support is underestimated and we cannot ask NGOs to provide professional support to the most vulnerable groups, she said. Roman says advocating for the homeless is important work. That is why he continues to give tours and speak out about his experience. Nine years on the street has changed my view on people that are unhoused. I am proud of my work. Thanks to my experiences and highs and lows, I can help others, he said. Catherine Cox is a student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville studying journalism and electronic media. She reported and wrote this story while on Transitions Going on Assignment international reporting summer course in July 2024. The UAE's non-oil foreign trade reached an all-time high of AED1.395 trillion ($379.8 billion) in the first half of 2024 the sixth consecutive half-year period of foreign trade growth. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, affirmed that the UAE under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, continues to achieve unprecedented milestones in its non-oil foreign trade, said a Wam news agency report. AED4 TRILLION AIM HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid: A few years ago, we set ambitious national economic goals, aiming for AED4 trillion in foreign trade by 2031 a goal that was seen as highly challenging at the time. "Today, the figures for the first half of 2024 show that our exports in just six months have equalled what we used to export in an entire year before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019. Our foreign trade is nearing AED1.4 trillion in these six months, with a 25 percent growth in non-oil exports. Our target is to achieve AED3 trillion in non-oil foreign trade by the end of this year. HH Sheikh Mohammed noted: Our economic relations with various countries have strengthened, with trade increasing by 10 percent with India, 15 percent with Turkiye, and 41 percent with Iraq, making Iraq the top destination for UAE exports, followed by India, Turkiye, and others. His Highness added: While the global growth rate for foreign trade is around 1.5 percent, our foreign trade has grown by 11.2 percent annually, as we continue to advance toward our goals. He concluded: The steadfast support of the Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, who has cultivated exceptional international relations with countries around the world, and through the tireless efforts of thousands of teams from both the public and private sectors. The flag rises, the nation and the region prosper, and our future is brighter, higher, and more promising. EXPORTS UP BY 28.7% The UAEs non-oil exports to its top 10 trade partners grew by 28.7 percent, while all other nations saw a 12.6 percent increase in trade. Gold, jewellery, cigarettes, oils, aluminium, copper wires, printed materials, silver, iron industries, and perfumes topped the list of the UAEs most important export categories in the first half of 2024, collectively growing by 36.8 percent compared to the same period in 2023. Other goods grew by 1 percent. Re-exports reached AED345.1 billion in the first half of 2024, growing by 2.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023, and increasing by 11.2 percent compared to the same period in 2022. Re-exports with key trading partners all grew, particularly Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India, the United States, Kuwait, and Qatar. Kazakhstan joined the list of leading re-export partners, nearly doubling its growth due to increased re-exports of telephone devices. Overall, re-exports grew by 7.6 percent with the top ten trading partners. Telephones and diamonds were the top re-exported goods, with the highest growth seen in re-exports of aircraft parts, cars, and goods transport vehicles. IMPORTS SEE 11.3% GROWTH The UAEs non-oil imports approached AED800 billion in the first half of 2024, growing by 11.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023 and increasing by 34.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022. A significant portion of these imports are re-exported. Imports from the top ten markets grew by 7.2 percent, accounting for over 48.7 percent of total imports. Other countries, which account for 51.3 percent of UAE imports, grew by 15.4 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Quarterly performance In Q4 2023, the UAEs non-oil foreign trade of goods reached a record AED710 billion ($193 billion), a 16.3 percent YoY and 12.4 percent QoQ growth. This marked the first time non-oil trade exceeded AED700 billion ($190 billion) in a quarter. Non-oil exports of goods amounted to AED132.2 billion ($36 billion), a 39.3 percent YoY and 26.9 percent QoQ increase. Since Q1 2023, non-oil exports have consistently surpassed AED100 billion (US$27.2 billion). Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, affirmed that the UAE has placed foreign trade at the centre of its economic agenda, recognising its pivotal role in driving industrial output, enhancing the global competitiveness of its products and services, as well as catalysing innovation. PHNOM PENH, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Foreign Minister Sok Chenda Sophea left here on Monday for Manila, the Philippines, where he will co-chair the fourth meeting of the Cambodia-Philippines Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Cambodian foreign ministry. His visit was made at the invitation of Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo. "The meeting will follow up and review progress in implementing agreements reached during the third meeting of the Cambodia-Philippines JCBC in 2021, and chart a new course of action to further strengthen the long-standing relations between the two countries," the ministry said. "The two ministers will also touch on regional developments and international issues of common interest and concern," it added. During the visit, Chenda Sophea, who is also a Cambodian deputy prime minister, will pay a courtesy call on Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos and attend a luncheon hosted by Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, it added. Najm for Insurance Services has signed five agreements with major automotive dealers in KSA and honoured 150 automotive dealers and certified workshop owners, as part of the Najm Repair Network Service NRN. The agreements were signed with Al-Wallan Trading Company, Al-Jabr Trading Company, Abdullah Hashim Company Limited, AlTawkilat Universal Motors, and Mohamed Youssef Naghi-Hyundai, to join the NRN repair service providers. This was part of the Integrated Partnerships forum held in Riyadh attended by representatives from the Insurance Authority, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation, insurance company leaders, major automotive dealers, as well as owners of classified repair centers and workshops from various regions, and senior officials from Najm. Future of insurance In his opening speech, Ahmed Al-Qusayr, Executive Director of Supervision at the Insurance Authority, said the partnership between the insurance sector and vehicle repair services sector represents a strategic investment in the future of insurance in the kingdom. It sets new standards for traffic safety, reducing risks on Saudi roads and protecting the rights of insured parties and beneficiaries through a comprehensive vehicle repair system according to the highest quality standards. Mohammed Y Al Shehri, CEO of Najm, said: The recently launched NRN service reflects our expansion from accident inspection to post-accident support. It represents a qualitative leap in the services provided to insurance customers and vehicle owners. The core value of this service lies in providing integrated, streamlined, guaranteed, and entirely free services to owners of damaged vehicles. This value extends to the owners of vehicles damaged by traffic accidents, partners from repair centers, and it positively impacts the community as a whole. Three main pillars The NRN service is built on three main pillars that includes empowering insurance companies and vehicle repair workshops to deliver comprehensive services, improving vehicle repair quality to enhance road safety and the safety of road users, and leveraging Najms technological capabilities to overcome all difficulties for both customers and partners, Al Shehri added. Al Shehri also expressed his appreciation for the NRN service partners and his gratitude for their trust in Najm and their cooperation in transforming this service from an idea into a reality that empowers the insurance sector, provides innovative solutions to improve customer experience, enhances road safety, increases insurance compensation efficiency, supports the logistics sector, attracts investment in vehicle maintenance, and strengthens efforts to combat insurance fraud.--TradeArabia News Service Officials of the two companies signed an MoU earlier on the partnership Riyadh Development Company has signed of an agreement with Riyadh Holding Company to establish an entity that owns the assets and plays the role of the main developer and operator of the markets in the Qasr Al-Hukm area. The total value of the assets is SAR1.521 billion ($405.37 million), according to a filing in Saudi Exchange. This partnership seeks benefit from the experience of the two companies in establishing, managing and developing commercial and service real estate projects. These assets are located on the lands owned by the two companies in the centre of Riyadh, which include Al-Taamir Markets, Al-Muaiqiliyah Center and Al-Dira Markets. The in-kind contribution of Riyadh Development Company to Al-Taamir Wholesale Commercial Center represents 46.34% of the partnership, while the contribution of Riyadh Holding Company to Al-Muaiqiliyah Commercial Center and Al-Dira Market is estimated at 53.66% of the partnership. The agreement comes in accordance with Riyadh Development Company's strategy and its eagerness to establish supportive partnerships that enable it to achieve financial sustainability and raise efficiency in operational activities and real estate management, the filing said. The agreement also aims to create investment opportunities that contribute to improving the return on the asset portfolio and entering qualitative partnerships that contribute to maximising the total return for shareholders and allows for focusing on real estate development and property management operations, it added. -TradeArabia News Service The Saudi Public Transport Company (Saptco) has signed a contract with Tabuk Municipality for the public bus transport project in Tabuk City. The five-year contract, with a value of SAR83.999 million entails operating the public transport network (First Phase) in the Saudi city, said a filing on Saudi Exchange. This contract is expected to have a positive financial impact on the financial statements of the during the second quarter of 2025, it said. The Labour Fund (Tamkeen) has announced the signing of two agreements with Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, aimed at supporting the training of Bahrainis as pilots and aviation engineers. The agreement is part of a continued collaboration between the two organisations, and aims at strengthening national capabilities in aviation by providing specialised training and creating promising and sustainable job opportunities. The support includes training 50 Bahrainis as second officers and 24 Bahrainis in aviation engineering, both specialised fields requiring a high level of technical expertise, and creating high-quality jobs in the aviation sector. This comes as a continuation of Tamkeens training support to 110 pilots at the company. Maha Abdulhameed Mofeez, Chief Executive of Tamkeen, said: "We take pride in this partnership with Gulf Air and the promising opportunities it provides for Bahrainis in the aviation sector, which offers high-income jobs and diverse growth and development opportunities both locally and internationally. This partnership aligns with our ongoing efforts on providing training opportunities that refine national talent according to the highest global standards, preparing Bahrainis to enter and succeed in the aviation sector, which is a vital and important industry in the kingdom." Jeffrey Goh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air Group, noted that this partnership with the Labor Fund Tamkeen stems from Gulf Air's commitment to preparing qualified and trained national talent in the aviation sector, which is one of the most prominent sectors offering rewarding job opportunities. "We have always been keen on developing the skills of Gulf Air's workforce according to the highest global standards. Through this partnership, we can expand the training of a larger number of Bahrainis as pilots and flight attendants, and create professional development opportunities in the aviation sector, thereby increasing our reliance on a highly competent and skilled national workforce. Tamkeens support for the private sector in Bahrain is aligned with its 2024 strategic priorities focused on economic impact and the private sector under three pillars: increasing economic participation through employment opportunities for new market entrants, expanding career development opportunities available to the Bahraini workforce, and further developing the private sector by supporting enterprises and boosting productivity through the adoption of technology. - TradeArabia News Service The 4th edition of the PPP Mena Forum is set to make history on September 10 and 11, 2024, when senior regulators from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman will convene under one roof for the first time. Besides announcing groundbreaking projects from these key regions, the forum, organised by Great Minds Event Management, will feature policymakers, investors, business leaders and other influential stakeholders dedicated to advancing PPP initiatives across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The forum's strategic importance is underscored by its role in facilitating meaningful dialogues and fostering impactful collaborations. The forum aims to showcase and announce. Diverse participants The forum will be attended by a diverse group of participants, including policymakers, investors, business leaders, and other influential stakeholders dedicated to fostering sustainable development through PPPs. These attendees represent a range of sectors, underscoring the forums broad relevance and its role in facilitating strategic collaborations. Nasser Massoud, Founder and Managing Director of Concept Realisation and WAPPP Chair for the Social Sector PPPs Chapter in the UAE, said: The 4th PPP Mena Forum is more than just an event; it's a crucible for transformative ideas and partnerships that drive the social and economic progress of our region. Bringing together such a high caliber of leaders and decision-makers under one roof not only amplifies the impact of our discussions but also accelerates the implementation of innovative PPP projects that can benefit millions. The forum will also feature a dynamic agenda delivered by a distinguished lineup of subject expert speakers who will provide valuable insights into the latest developments and strategic trends in PPPs. This gathering is a unique opportunity for attendees to network with top policymakers and industry leaders, thereby enhancing their understanding of the evolving PPP landscape and exploring new opportunities. The organisers are also proud to announce that the Khaled Alrubaian as a speaker from NCP Saudi Arabia is among the key speakers, reinforcing the event's significance. Future of PPPs Topics covered in the forum include the future of PPPs in the Mena region, Challenges and opportunities in financing PPP projects, legal and regulatory frameworks for effective PPP implementation and there will be case studies on successful PPP projects and their impact on regional development. The event is sponsored by Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), NCP Saudi Arabia and various local and international firms specialising in finance, legal, and consultancy services. The support of such prominent organisations is instrumental in driving the success of the forum and advancing the future of PPPs across the Mena region. The continued evolution of PPPs and their role in shaping sustainable infrastructure in the Mena region underscores the timely relevance of this forum. As stakeholders from across the region gather to share insights and forge partnerships, the impact of their discussions is expected to resonate well beyond the immediate future.--TradeArabia News Service Mitsubishi Power has won an order from Samsung C&T Corporation Saudi Arabia to provide its M501JAC combined-cycle (CCGT) hydrogen-ready gas turbine for a new industrial steam and electricity cogeneration project in KSA. The project is developed by a consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), one of the largest listed integrated utility companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa ,and Jera Co, Japans largest power generation company. The new plant will produce electricity and steam for a petrochemical complex located in Jubail in the Eastern Province of KSA. The new, 475 megawatt (MW) cogeneration power plant will be developed by a special purpose entity owned by Taqa (51%) and Jera (49%) and it will power the Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (Satorp) Strategic Expansion. Satorp is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies. The Satorp Strategic Expansion petrochemical complex is expected to house one of the largest mixed-load steam crackers in the Gulf region. Assembled in KSA In a historic milestone for Mitsubishi Power, the M501JAC will be the first Mitsubishi Power heavy-duty gas turbine assembled in the kingdom at Mitsubishi Power Saudi Arabias assembly centre in Dammam, aligning with Saudi Arabias localisation targets set out in Vision 2030. The 17,200 sq m facility also provides services for key gas turbine components and features a majority of Saudi employees, in line with Mitsubishi Powers Saudi National programme, which provides Saudi talent with rewarding careers pathways, and empowers them with advanced technical skills, through on the job training and knowledge exchange programmes. One of the worlds leading gas turbines in reliability, with an efficiency rate of more than 64%, Mitsubishi Power's JAC gas turbine is equipped to blend hydrogen with natural gas and will provide the Satorp Strategic Expansion power plant with flexibility, faster startup times, and load-following capabilities to help balance electricity supply and demand, ensuring a stable low-carbon power supply and supporting Saudi Arabias industrial growth and decarbonisation targets. Long-term service agreement In addition, Mitsubishi Power signed a long-term service agreement with the Taqa and Jera-led consortium for the provision of parts, repairs and services, to ensure high availability and sustained reliability of the equipment, which will be supported by Mitsubishi Powers service centre in Saudi Arabia, located close to the plant site, enabling localised support as well as fast response time. Dr Frank Possmeier, Chief Business Development Officer, Taqas Generation business, said: Taqa and its partners are pleased to partner with Mitsubishi Power to harness the efficiencies and benefits of its J-class gas turbine technology to drive operational excellence and sustainability in our new plant, which, once operational, will provide highly efficient power and steam for the Satorp Strategic Expansion petrochemical complex. Developing the most efficient and reliable utility projects is a priority for Taqa; as we look to offer best-in-class generation plants for our partners and build on our existing track record of success. We believe that the Najim Cogeneration Plant will exemplify a world-class facility once it is operational. Izumi Kai, Managing Executive Officer, Head of the Platform Business Division, Jera said: Jera is excited to partner with Mitsubishi Power for the Satorps Strategic Expansion. This new cogeneration plant, based on advanced J-class gas turbine technology, is designed to optimise energy efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, we believe that the plant will ensure reliable and efficient power and steam generation, setting new standards in operational performance and sustainability. New milestone Khalid Salem, President of Middle East & North Africa, Mitsubishi Power, said: "We are proud to partner with Taqa and Jera on this landmark project which will play a pivotal role in the kingdoms ambition to fast track its economic growth and meet its decarbonisation goals, aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. Today heralds a new milestone in our journey of growth with Saudi Arabia. With the provision of Mitsubishi Powers cutting edge CCGT technology that will be assembled for the first time locally in the kingdom, we are accelerating our ability to deliver clean, reliable and efficient power generation solutions that support our customers in powering the lives of communities in Saudi Arabia and across the region. With a rich heritage in Saudi Arabia spanning over fifty years, Mitsubishi Power works with key energy stakeholders including the Ministry of Energy, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC). The company began operations in Saudi Arabia with its first supply of boilers to Aramco in Abqaiq in the 1960s and has since been active in power projects with major utilities and industrial companies in the kingdom.--TradeArabia News Service German lithium-sulphur battery pioneer theion has opened a representative office in the UAEs commercial hub of Dubai. From the UAE, theion will expand across the Gulf region, bringing its lithium-sulphur battery technology to markets committed to energy innovation. Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, theion makes use of sulphur, a globally abundant industrial waste product and byproduct of the regions oil industry. By using sulphur for its batteries, theion turns waste into value, avoiding the environmental and societal harms that come from the opaque supply chains typical of mining traditional materials like cobalt, manganese, and nickel. At a price of just AED1 ($0.270) rather than AED100 per kilogramme, sulphur is about 99% cheaper than conventional active battery materials, resulting in highly competitive cell-level prices. theion targets a three-times-higher energy density and is determined to disrupt the battery market. Crucial gateway The company also aims to meet the fast-growing global demand for electric flying and other emerging use cases, pioneering new battery technology to support these innovations. theions Dubai office a crucial gateway to the Gulf region will directly contribute to regional energy agendas, forging partnerships with industry, academia, and relevant authorities throughout the Gulf states. Renewables have an essential role to play as the world works toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 acting on findings from the first Global Stocktake conducted during COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference, which the UAE hosted in late 2023. As renewables are more volatile, energy storage is especially important, making innovative battery technology such as theions key to powering the energy transition, which is a GCC priority. Dr Ulrich Ehmes, Chief Executive Officer at theion, said: Opening an office in the UAE is the logical next step in our expansion to the Gulf region. Not only is the energy transition a central focus of the Gulf states, but the business environment is excellent; regional economies continue to grow as well as talents and resources are being available. Here in the Gulf, we see a compelling vision for the future, the drive to make that vision a reality, and sulphur in abundance. Key partnerships Since participating in GITEX Global and speaking at the Bloomberg conference at COP28 in late 2023, the theion team has immersed itself in the Gulfs energy industry from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to the UAE. In view of regional opportunities, theion has sought out industry leaders, forging strategic partnerships, and set the stage for its expansion. Through the opening of its Dubai office the company is ideally positioned to further its longtime commitment to advancing sustainability. Matthias Fengler, Chief Financial Officer at theion and Managing Director for theion Middle East, added: We are excited to extend our global footprint by opening an office in Dubai, a hub for our engagement in the Gulf region. Our highly innovative sulphur-based battery technology is a perfect fit for the region, since sulphur is widely and readily available here. We are confident that we can significantly contribute to building a sustainable and innovative energy ecosystem supporting the energy transition in the Gulf region. Among the latest innovations of theions pioneering battery technology is a durable lightweight anode, which enables over 2,000 charging and discharging cycles and was validated by one of Germanys leading research institutes. From its new strategic home in the UAE, theion will bring its knowhow to the Gulf. In collaboration with universities, the team will contribute to Research and Development, work with industry on streamlining sourcing, and align itself with leading corporates to scale cell production. By accelerating battery innovation from the Gulf region, theion will also foster talent growth and job creation and help make the energy transition a reality.--TradeArabia News Service The Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (Asry) recently hosted a group of Lamea Junior Programme participants at the companys facilities that introduced Asry activities, operations, development stages and competitive capabilities. The visit included a number of introductory sessions aimed at highlighting a variety of professional specialties as well as sharing the inspiring success stories of Asry national competencies. The programme was concluded with a tour of Asrys facilities and repair docks. Diverse career pathways The visit was organised to introduce the participants to the diverse career pathways offered by the company and to expand their understanding of the crucial role of education in empowering future workforce and creating a generation capable of shaping the future of the nation. Fatema Al Majed, Asry Corporate Communications Manager, commented: The visit comes in line with Asrys continues endeavour to provide the possible means to support, guide, and prepare the youth to serve the public interest and society. The young participants were introduced to the key role Asry plays in the national development as a global maritime pioneer, with distinguished competencies, advanced repair docks & workshops and qualified national cadres, she added. --TradeArabia News Service Bahrain will take centre stage for digital skills development as it prepares to host the prestigious International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Digital Skills Forum from September 17 to 19, 2024. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) will host this gathering, which will bring together global leaders, policymakers, industry experts, and training practitioners to discuss the critical role of digital skills in driving sustainable development. TRA General Director, Philip Marnick, said: "Bahrain is committed to fostering a digital-first economy, and the ITU Digital Skills Forum aligns perfectly with our national priorities. By bringing together experts from around the world, we aim to help everyone develop the skills they need to succeed in the digital world. The 3-day forum features a comprehensive agenda focused on developing skills for digital transformation. Topics include bridging the digital divide, the impact of emerging technologies on skills, the green and digital transition, skills for secure digital use, and industry perspectives on skills gaps. These sessions will provide valuable opportunities for industry professionals to discuss key digital skills issues, exchange insights, and build networks. Pressing challenges This flagship event for ITU members and partners provides a platform for discussing and creating solutions for the most pressing challenges surrounding the digital skills divide, including digital skills adoption. Representatives from ministries, regulatory authorities, telecommunications companies, national education bodies, and international and regional organisations, along with leading experts and researchers involved in digital skills development initiatives, are all invited to participate.--TradeArabia News Service Edge Group will showcase its industry-leading smart weapons, including advanced guided-glide weapons, mission-proven precision-guided munitions and advanced air defence missiles at Egypt International Airshow. The group will also showcase a range of multirole unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) tailored to meeting the region's unique security and operational requirements at the show to be held at the El Alamein International Airport in El Dabaa, Matrouh, Egypt, from September 3 to 5, 2024. Smart weapons In the smart weapons domain, Edge Group will display the Desert Sting family of guided-glide weapons, the Thunder and Rash lines of cost-effective precision-guided munitions, the Al Tariq range of modular, all-weather, day/night precision-guided munitions, and the rapidly deployable Skyknight inner-layer air defence missile system. Edge Group will also display the QX series of quadcopter loitering munitions and the Shadow family of rapid-strike loitering munitions. Under the autonomous systems domain, Edge Group will display the Reach-S multirole medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV, and the Garmoosha light unmanned rotary-wing aircraft.--TradeArabia News Service Engineers from China's Sichuan Road and Bridge Group and local Tunisian engineers check geological survey samples near the Bizerte Canal in northern Tunisia on Aug. 12, 2024. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua) TUNIS, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bizerte, a Tunisian city located on the Mediterranean Sea, is famous for its long and flat beach which attracts many tourists each summer. However, the local people will remind the tourists that a bridge may "affect your mood." The bridge is the only one across the Bizerte Canal which divides the Bizerte city into two parts. Built in 1980, the bascule bridge has to be closed to road traffic regularly every day, as it has to lift the bridge deck to provide clearance for ships sailing on the canal. During the peak tourism season, vehicles to cross the bridge have to line up in long queues. In order to save time, many locals have to detour 60 km to reach the other side of the canal. The locals have been eagerly looking forward to a new bridge to alleviate their daily traffic difficulties. The long-held dream finally came true in March, when China's Sichuan Road and Bridge Group (SRBG) signed a contract with Tunisian Ministry of Equipment and Housing for the construction of a new bridge in Bizerte. The residents of Bizerte will see a new bridge in 38 months, Minister of Equipment and Housing Sarra Zaafrani Zanzri told Xinhua after the signing ceremony, noting that Tunisia chose the Chinese company in light of its excellent experience and technology, as it has built many large bridges in such countries as Norway, Turkiye and Egypt. Now, the new bridge in Bizerte is under construction as scheduled. Chen Junfeng, the deputy general manager of SRBG's Tunisian company, told Xinhua that the new bridge is designed to be 56 meters high, the maximum span between the two piers in the water is nearly 300 meters. The new bridge will be the largest in Tunisia, and will allow ships passing through the canal easily without frequently lifting its deck as the old bridge does, said Chen. The employees of the SRBG from China are warmly welcomed by the local people. They served the Chinese engineers with fruits and desserts when they were inspecting the terrain around the project area. And when Chinese employees dressing in yellow construction vests walking on the street, the locals gave them a thumbs-up, said Chen. Hermann Rosario Sakponou, an engineer from Benin, has been working for the new Bizerte bridge project since half a year ago. Sakponou is very proud to participate in the project, voicing confidence that the Chinese technology and construction quality can make this bridge a landmark in Tunisia, as well as in North Africa. Sakponou, who once studied at China's Southwest Jiaotong University, said he is happy to use the engineering knowledge he learned in China for infrastructure construction in Africa. In Tunisia's August, with the outdoor temperature reaching over 40 degrees Celsius, Chokri Maatoug, a 55-year-old Tunisian civil structural engineer, worked together with young Chinese engineers, examining and analyzing the soil structure sampled by the drill every day. Maatoug said he understood how important the new bridge project is for the Tunisians, so he is happy to work for it no matter how hard it is. He believed that the rich experience of Chinese companies in building large infrastructure projects will ensure the smooth progress of the project. "What impressed me even more was the dedication shown by Chinese employees, and the pride they showed in being a global leader in the engineering industry," he added. The design drawing of the bridge looks very beautiful, Maatoug said, noting that on top of easing traffic pressure in the area, this beautiful bridge will become a famous tourism attraction, which will bring a fresh source of income to the area. Laamar, a cafe owner in Bizerte, said that talk among locals of a plan to build a new bridge has been going on since 2013. Now they are feeling relieved when they saw the Chinese company is here starting the new bridge project. The Chinese manager Chen said the SRBG is confident that this bridge will contribute a lot to the wellbeing of the Tunisian people when it completes. This photo taken on Aug. 12, 2024 shows a view of the Bizerte Canal in northern Tunisia. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua) The UAE National Pavilion is set to take part in the first Egypt International Airshow in Al Almain city from September 3-5, with a dedicated exhibition space showcasing the emirates defence capabilities and technological innovations, a report said. Held under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the exhibition aims to accelerate the pace of manufacturing, digitalisation, and globalisation within the aerospace sectors of the Middle East and Africa, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said. It serves as a premier platform for space agencies and satellite operators to discuss advancements in space exploration, satellite communications, and civil and military applications of space technology. Egypt International Airshow will provide an ideal platform to showcase a wide range of aircraft models (civil, defence, and unmanned) in an open-air display area, along with professional air shows presented by a select group of world-class aerobatic teams. Supported by the Ministry of Defence and Tawazun Council, and organised by Emirates Defence Companies Council (EDCC), the National Pavilion will feature a wide range of advanced defence technologies and products, by leading UAE-based companies such as EDGE group, Calidus Aerospace, Sanad, Remah International Group, and AAL Group, as well as Al Jundi and Capital Events, with the extensive participation of 300 major international aircraft and aerospace manufacturers from 100 countries worldwide. The pavilion's participation is part of a broader international presence, with 300 companies from 100 countries taking part, reflecting the capabilities of national companies in developing and manufacturing advanced defence solutions, and highlighting their ability to compete effectively with global industries. The UAE National Pavilion will offer the visitors an opportunity to explore the latest advancements in air defence systems and showcase more than 50 made-in-UAE products, which reinforces the countrys position as a regional and global hub for cutting-edge defence and aviation industries. Mona Ahmed Al Jaber, Chairwoman of EDCC, said: "The UAEs participation in this prestigious event emphasises its keen interest to fostering fraternal relations with Egypt and strengthening regional cooperation in the defence sector. We are eager to facilitate technology transfer and knowledge sharing within the defence industry. By taking part in this event, we aim to demonstrate the advanced technologies developed by our national companies and explore opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration with our Egyptian and global partners. We are confident that this exhibition will provide an ideal platform to highlight our achievements in the defence industry and to build fruitful partnerships with various players in these fields." Mansoor Janahi, Managing Director and Group CEO of Sanad, said: "Sanad is proud to be part of the UAE National Pavilion at the Egypt International Airshow 2024. This event is a testament to the UAE's leading role in the Aerospace industry and its unwavering commitment to innovation. We look forward to showcasing our innovative Engine MRO and Financing solutions and exploring new avenues for collaboration that will enhance our regional ties and contribute to the advancement of the MRO sector in the region, including Africa." Olga Martyshchenko, CEO of AAL Group Ltd., said: AAL Group participation at the Egypt International Air Show highlights our commitment to cultivating strong partnerships within the region. We are proud to be part of the UAE pavilion to showcase the cutting-edge solutions and services offered by AAL Group, contributing to the UAEs and the regional defence sector. This event presents an invaluable opportunity to engage with our Egyptian and international counterparts, exchange insights, and explore new avenues for collaboration. We look forward to strengthening our ties and further advancing the shared goals of safety, security and innovation in the aviation industry. TradeArabia News Service Bentley Systems, the infrastructure engineering software company, has announced the finalists of the 2024 Going Digital Awards, with MCC Capital Engineering & Research Incorporation, WISDRI Engineering and Research Incorporation, and PowerChina ZhongNan Engineering Corporation being finalists for the Process and Power Generation category by creating projects that demonstrate digital innovations in the entire lifecycle of industrial process or power generation facilities. The annual awards event honors the work of Bentleys global users, showcasing how innovative software enables the advancement of the worlds infrastructure for better quality of life. This year, 36 finalists, across 12 categories, were selected from over 250 nominations submitted by organiSations in 36 countries. Representatives from the finalist organizations will present their projects to a panel of 34 independent judges, to determine the award winners. Winners will be revealed on October 9, during the 2024 Going Digital Awards event, held at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. Infrastructure is essential. It connects us locally and globally, supporting our society and economic growth and development, said Kristin Fallon, chief marketing officer, Bentley Systems. This years Going Digital Awards finalists represent an impressive mix of international projects that are pushing the boundaries of whats possible on land, at sea, and underground. These programs highlight engineering genius; they showcase the teams of infrastructure professionals that are unlocking the power of data with AI, digital twins, immersive visualizations, and more, to make modern life possible. We applaud and celebrate each finalist for their outstanding achievements to make better, more resilient critical infrastructure for an improved quality of life. The finalists in the 2024 Going Digital Awards are: Process and Power Generation MCC Capital Engineering & Research Incorporation Limited Integrated Application of BIM Technology in the Design, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of the Worlds First Hydrogen Metallurgy Engineering Demonstration Project, Hebei, China WISDRI Engineering and Research Incorporation Limited Digital Innovative Applications throughout the Process of Iron and Steel EPC Projects, Wuhan, Hubei, China PowerChina ZhongNan Engineering Corporation Limited Digital Twin of Shandong Energy Group Bozhong Offshore Wind Farm Site A, Dongying, Shandong, China Bridges and Tunnels JMT Digital Experience for I-95 Rappahannock River Crossing Construction Project, Fredericksburg, Virginia, US QK4. Going Digital Survey with Bridging Kentucky, Kentucky, US Tecne Systra-Sws Advanced Tunneling Srl Digital Implementation in Tunnel Assessment and Rehabilitation, Italy Construction PT Hutama Karya (Persero) Navigating the Complexities of Jakarta MRT Phase 2A CP203 with Digital Solutions, Jakarta, South Jakarta, Indonesia Webuild 4D Modeling and Construction Management for a Pedestrian Steel Bridge Erection in the New ENI Headquarter Complex in Milan, Italy, San Donato Milanese, Lombardia to Milano, Italy Proicere SPRS Retreatment (SRP) Sellafield, Seascale, Cumbria, UK Enterprise Engineering Arcadis A Blueprint for Transforming Project Delivery Through Automation, Birmingham, England, UK Mott MacDonald and HDR Ontario Line Information Management, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Amey Core Valley Lines (CVL) Transformation - South Wales Metro, UK, Cardiff, Wales, UK Facilities, Campuses, and Cities Guangdong Airport Authority Digital Innovation Application of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Phase III Expansion Project, Guangzhou, China PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Nusantara Presidential Complex, New Capital City of Indonesia, Nusantara, Indonesia China ENFI Engineering Digital Construction Project of Comprehensive Garbage Treatment Facilities in Xiongan New Area, Beijing, China Rail and Transit SPL Powerlines UK Midland Main Line Electrification, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and South Yorkshire; UK Transport for London The Elizabeth Line, London, England, UK INECO Master Design Stage RBDTD-LV-DS3 North Latvian Section, Latvia Roads and Highways China Road and Bridge Corporation, China Highway Engineering Consulting Corporation Phnom Penh Bavet Expressway, Phnom Penh, Cambodia WISDRI Engineering & Research Incorporation Limited Wuhan Gaoxin 4th Road Comprehensive Reconstruction Project, Wuhan, Hubei, China Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Digital Twin Implementation for NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project, Caloocan to Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines Structural Engineering Hyundai Engineering New Physical Modeling Method for Plant Steel Structures Using STAAD API, Seoul, South Korea Arcadis Advanced Analysis and Design of Flood Protection Structures through Automation, New York City, Indianapolis, and Dallas; New York, Indiana, and Texas; United States Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Enhancing Urban ConnectivityThe Punjabi Bagh Interchange, New Delhi, Delhi, India Subsurface Modeling and Analysis Dataforensics USACE Ground to Cloud Enterprise Data Management Migration, Washington, District of Columbia, US Spark and WSP North East Link Central Package, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia PT Hutama Karya (Persero) Integrating Subsurface Model for Efficient Geotech Data Management in Trans Sumatera, Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia Surveying and Monitoring Monir Precision Monitoring - Samantha Ford 31 Parliament Street Urban Infrastructure and Excavation Shoring Monitoring, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Water Supplies Department Digital Twin of the Ex-Sham Shui Po Service Reservoir, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China China First Metallurgical Group Application of Intelligent Construction Technology in the Construction of Comprehensive Improvement Project for the Outlet Reach of Fuhuan River, Wuhan, Huebei, China Transmission and Distribution Southwest Electric Power Design Institute of China Power Engineering Consulting Group Full Life Cycle Digital Applications of Butuo 800kV Converter Station, Liangshan, Sichuan, China COPEL Distribuicao Implementation of BIM Modeling for Medium- and High-voltage Substation Projects, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil Exo Ohio Falls River Crossing Towers, Louisville, Kentucky, United States Water and Wastewater Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Wanhua Chemical (Penglai) 300,000 Tonnes/Day Seawater Desalination Project of Wanhua Chemical (Penglai)., Yantai, Shandong, China L&T Construction Uttar Pradesh Tube Well Project under Jal Jeevan Mission, Uttar Pradesh, India Basic Sanitation Utility Company of the State of Sao Paulo - Sabesp INTEGRA 4.0 Cultural Transformation Through Digitalization, Sao Paulo, Brazil --OGN/TradeArabia News Service The hunting tourism and safari sector will be the highlight of the 21st edition of Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (Adihex) that will take place from August 31 to September 8, 2024, at Adnec Centre in Abu Dhabi. Adihex 2024, which will be the biggest edition to date, will showcase several brands across 11 diverse sectors, providing a dynamic platform for discovering new business opportunities. To be held under the esteemed patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Rulers Representative in Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the Emirates Falconers Club, and in collaboration with first-time organisers, Adnec Group, the much-anticipated event will present a rich fusion of Emirati cultural traditions and cutting-edge innovation and technology. The exhibition offers visitors a chance to explore the realms of falconry, hunting, equestrian sports, veterinary products, fishing and marine sports, environmental preservation, cultural heritage, arts and crafts, and the latest in technology and innovation. The hunting tourism and safari sector is an area that appeals to adventure seekers and travel enthusiasts, and exhibitors ranging from leading tour operators specialising in global hunting expeditions to safari organisers. Visitors will find a wide array of premium products on display, including state-of-the-art hunting gear, camping essentials, and specialised safari vehicles. Destination management companies will also be present, showcasing luxurious safari destinations, hunting locations, and unique packages that combine both adventure and cultural enrichment. Conservation-focused organisations and wildlife reserves will also feature prominently, highlighting ethical practices and sustainable tourism opportunities. These exhibitors will demonstrate how safari tourism and hunting can coexist with conservation efforts, helping to preserve wildlife and natural habitats for future generations. With the UAE establishing 43 protected areas spanning 14% of the country, the hunting tourism and safari sector will underscore the nations ongoing commitment to environmental protection and sustainable practices. With its desert landscapes, authentic Bedouin camps, and unique experiences like falconry demonstrations and stargazing, the UAE is attracting more global travellers than ever before. According to a report by Grandviewresearch.com, the Middle East safari tourism market, valued at $929.9 million in 2023, is expected to grow at a rate of 7.1% annually, reaching $1.48 billion by 2030. From luxurious night safaris to thrilling dune bashing and quad biking, visitors to the UAE are treated to encounters with exotic wildlife such as oryxes, hyenas, and even lions in some tours. This growing market appeals to couples, families, and groups of friends alike, offering a blend of adventure and luxury, with a strong focus on culture and sustainability, a statement said. One of the prominent exhibitors in this sector at Adihex is the Namibian Pavilion, representing Namibias stunning landscapes, including the rolling sand dunes of the Skeleton Coast and the breathtaking wildlife of Etosha National Park. Alongside this, Fujairah Adventures Centre will showcase the best of outdoor tourism in the UAE, offering thrilling activities such as mountain biking, hiking, and kayaking against the stunning backdrop of Fujairahs mountains and coastline. Another key exhibitor, Tamreem, specialising in knives and outdoor camping gear, will offer a wide range of premium items for hunting enthusiasts. Visitors can expect to see top-quality equipment from leading suppliers, catering to all their adventure needs. Enthusiasts will have the opportunity to participate in live demonstrations and workshops that provide hands-on experience with precision shooting techniques. Mamluk Archerys Archery Feature will be another exciting highlight, offering a safe setting for visitors to hone their archery skills. Tickets are now available for the largest edition of Adihex. TradeArabia News Service The UAE's national carriers are expanding their destinations, driven by a strong growth in global tourism and business, and the resurgence in travel demand, with the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) projecting passenger traffic to reach 140 million, a report said. Official data indicates that UAE national carriers now serve approximately 606 destinations worldwide, including joint and cargo routes, marking a 3.4% increase from the 586 destinations served at the end of 2023. The breakdown of destinations by carrier is as follows: Emirates with over 144 destinations, Etihad Airways with 79 destinations, flydubai with 125 destinations, Air Arabia with 218 destinations, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi with 40 destinations. Etihad Airways Etihad Airways, in particular, has been expanding its route network with the goal of reaching 125 destinations by 2030. The airline aims to leverage its strategic location between Asia and Europe and increase its annual passenger count to 33 million. Etihad Airways has been strengthening its network since the beginning of this year, with plans to expand to over 125 destinations by 2030. This expansion strategy leverages its strategic location between Asia and Europe, aiming to increase its annual passenger count to over 33 million. The airline expects to introduce several new destinations this year after launching 15 new routes last year, including Lisbon, Copenhagen, Calcutta, and Osaka. Additionally, Etihad will increase its flights to Thailand to 41 per week starting in October and will resume flights to Nairobi on December 15. In the first seven months of 2024, Etihad Airways carried 10.4 million passengers and expanded its fleet to 93 aircraft by the end of July, compared to 78 aircraft in July 2023. The airline also added 10 new destinations to its network this year. In the first half of 2024, Etihad recorded a net profit after tax of AED 851 million, a 48% year-on-year increase, with revenues growing by 21% to AED 11.7 billion. Emirates Airlines Emirates currently operates a network covering 144 passenger and cargo destinations across six continents, continually working to increase seat capacity to meet rising travel demand and provide flexibility and choice for travellers passing through Dubai. Emirates Airlines is set to fly its upgraded Boeing 777 aircraft to Zurich and Riyadh in early October and will add the same aircraft to its operations in Geneva and Brussels. Emirates is completing the modernisation of 80 more Boeing 777 aircraft as part of its more than $3 billion programme to deliver the best products and services in the industry and elevate the passenger experience in the skies to unprecedented levels. flydubai flydubai flies to 125 destinations in 58 countries across Africa, Central Asia, Central and South East Europe, the GCC, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia, served by a fleet of 88 Boeing 737 aircraft. flydubai recently launched regular flights to EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, four times a week, becoming the first national airline to operate direct flights from Dubai to this destination, growing its network in Europe to 29 destinations, including Budapest, Catania, Krakow, Milan-Bergamo, Prague, Salzburg and Zagreb. The airline expects to take delivery of seven aircraft by the end of the year and plans to hire more than 130 new pilots to support its network expansion, adding Basel, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius to its destinations. Air Arabia Air Arabia Group operates an extensive network with 218 destinations across six strategic hubs, including 113 from the UAE, as well as locations in Morocco, Egypt, and Pakistan. In the first half of 2024, the airline reported a net profit of AED 693 million and served 8.9 million passengers, marking a 16% increase from the previous year. The seat occupancy rate remained strong at 81%. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has a portfolio of 40 destinations and continues to expand its operations to meet growing demand with a modern and sustainable fleet, supporting the airline's ambitious plans to launch flights to new destinations. TradeArabia News Service The teamLab Borderless Museum in Al-Balad, also known as Jeddah Historic District, a prominent city in Saudi Arabia that is steeped in rich history, and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is bolstering the kingdom's status as a centre for arts and culture, both regionally and globally. The selection of Jeddah to host this groundbreaking museum, aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and Jeddah's strategic goal of becoming a top global destination for culture and tourism, Saudi Press Agency, SPA, said. The project is part of an initiative to develop infrastructure for cultural exhibitions, in line with efforts to increase cultural offerings in the kingdom. The museum is a significant component of the Quality of Life programme, contributing to the development of Saudi arts and culture in accordance with the kingdom's Vision 2030. Featuring over 80 interactive digital art installations spread across a vast 10,000 sqm, the museum offers visitors an immersive and unforgettable experience. The Borderless Museum is the inaugural teamLab museum and the first permanent museum of its kind in the Middle East. This further strengthens Jeddah's allure as a hub for culture and tourism, capturing global attention. Saudi travellers have been exhibiting a rising interest to travel a trend that is supported by increased flight booking in 2024, Wego, a leading travel app, and the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), said in a report. Summer has often been a peak travel season for Saudi travellers and the numbers are likely boosted by Eid Al Adha holiday that fell right at the start of the summer break. Wegos data revealed a remarkable 16.39% year-over-year (YoY) increase in international flight bookings originating from Saudi Arabia. Domestic flight bookings also witnessed a substantial growth of 16.58% compared to the same period last year. Mamoun Hmidan, Chief Business Officer, Wego said: This years summer bookings in Saudi Arabia beat the flight bookings recorded during the busy Ramadan and Eid al Fitr travel period a few months ago by 23.20%. "The surge in bookings is a testament to the growing appetite for travel among Saudi residents," said Mamoun. "Moreover, the use of travel apps and online platforms for booking and planning trips has significantly increased, highlighting the importance of digital channels in the Saudi travel market" he added. Key Insights Average Spending on the Rise Saudi travellers demonstrated a notable increase in spending this summer, with an average of $465.49 (SAR1,747) per user allocated to flights and hotel stays in June and July, according to insights from Wego. These months marked the peak spending period for travellers in 2024 thus far. Nearby and Familiar Destinations This summer, expat families and locals from Saudi Arabia opt for the nearby and the familiar to capitalize on the long school holiday. Egypt, India, United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, and Pakistan are the most booked international destinations on Wego from Saudi Arabia this season. The data revealed a trend towards spontaneous travel planning, with a majority of Saudi travellers making bookings within a two-week window of departure. Experts at Wego point to Egypt as a case that supports this suggestion. Egypt accounts for almost half of all trip bookings on Wego from Saudi Arabia between June and August. The countries close proximity to each other, coupled with plenty of daily flights serving the routes, mean that the huge Egyptian community in Saudi can easily hop on a plane to visit their families. Meanwhile, Saudi nationals looking to visit Egypt can opt for either Egypt e-visa with its short approval time or Visa on Arrival, making trip planning a breeze. Five-star Hotels Preferred Accommodation Wegos findings showed that luxury hotels are Saudi travellers preferred choice of accommodation when travelling abroad this summer. Five-star hotels constitute 41.09% of all international hotel bookings from Saudi Arabia on Wego, trailed closely by 4-star hotels at 34.73%. Alternative stays favoured by Saudi travellers also include resorts and aparthotels. TradeArabia News Service stc pay, one of Bahrains most innovative and accessible mobile wallet, announced a strategic partnership with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) to enhance the onboarding experience for new expatriates arriving in the kingdom. As part of this initiative, new expat employees arriving at Bahrain International Airport will be provided with an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) number, linked to stc pay mobile wallet. This innovative solution is set to facilitate wage payments and streamline the onboarding journey, making it easier for expatriates to settle in their new resident country. It also enables Bahrain to ensure safe working conditions for labour, most notably: easy access to services, the high level of security and stability in the Kingdom, as well as advanced digital readiness and the availability of electronic government services. stc pay is the strategic partner, offering an all-in-one financial solution for various transactions. With a comprehensive range of features and value-added benefits that go beyond traditional payment methods, the mobile wallet makes every day digital payments simpler, faster, and more rewarding. stc pay also offers a payroll processing solution compliant with Wages Protection System simplifying salary payments for businesses. Nibras Talib, CEO of LMRA and Chairman of the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP), emphasised the authority's commitment to continuing its partnership with the private sector to enhance mechanisms that contribute to improving the work environment and safeguarding the rights of all parties involved. He noted that the collaboration with stc pay, the digital wallet of stc Bahrain, to issue an optional IBAN for every expatriate worker in the Kingdom, will help provide accessible banking solutions for paying workers' wages and documenting procedures, thereby protecting the rights of all parties. "At stc pay, we are committed to leveraging our technology together with our banking partner Khaleeji Bank, to provide innovative solutions that simplify the lives of the local community and our customers. Eng. Khalid Al Osaimi, Chairman of stc pay and CEO of stc Bahrain, said: This partnership with LMRA is a testament to our dedication to enhancing the expatriate experience and supporting the countrys digital transformation. Through this partnership, stc pay will support LMRA in settling new expatriates, making the country a top-rated place to work. This initiative will enhance Bahrain's digital infrastructure, facilitate seamless transactions, foster entrepreneurship, and support businesses. TradeArabia News Service Wyoming firefighters have made significant progress on a nearly 175,000 acre wildfire southeast of Buffalo but fires still rage across eastern Wyoming. Fires broke out last week near Gillette following suspected lightning strikes and the wildfires rapidly grew in size causing Interstate 90 between Gillette and Buffalo to close for some time. The nearly 175,000-acre House Draw fire is reported to be at 88% containment as of Monday morning. The Flat Rock fire, west of Gillette, has burned roughly 52,599 acres and is at 35% containment while the Constitution fire, north of Gillette, has burned roughly 24,594 acres and is at 28% containment, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center. The Remington Fire, near the border with Montana above of Gillette is at 0% containment and has exploded in size. The fire burned over 30,000 acres in Wyoming and has pushed into Montana, burning nearly 200,000 acres in total. The Fish Creek Fire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest has burned over 11,000 acres of land and is at 23% containment. Wyoming is experiencing an average number of wildfires but an above average amount of acres burned, according to a press release from the Gov. Mark Gordons office. Wyoming has had 522 wildfires that have burned approximately 327,700 acres. Unique to this fire season is the fact that the majority of the wildfires have burned on private rather than federal lands, the press release states. Gordon on Friday issued a statement that he has marshaled all available resources to fight fires this summer focusing on preservation of life, property and containment. Fire resources provided include a Wyoming State Forestry helicopter and helitack firefighters, two Single Engine Air Tankers, Wyoming Smokebusters and numerous state staff who are providing operational and administrative support. Confronting fires of this size and battling against Mother Natures forces takes significant dedication from those on the frontlines. Thank you to all who are fighting these fires both volunteer and full-time firefighters you are protecting our livelihoods, homes, and landscapes, Gordon said in a statement. Li Ganjie, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Organization Department, meets with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Civil Service Minister Hun Many in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Li Ganjie, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Civil Service Minister Hun Many in Beijing on Monday. Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Organization Department, said that China and Cambodia are true friends who share weal and woe, and good brothers who trust each other sincerely. Li said that China attaches great importance to developing relations with Cambodia and stands ready to work with Cambodia to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two parties and countries, push forward the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, and deliver more benefits to the two peoples. Hun Many thanked China for its valuable long-term support to Cambodia. He said Cambodia firmly supports China's core interests and is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields, including civil service affairs. Homicide detectives are at the scene of a double murder in Barrackpore where a woman and her PHOENIX A lawyer for Rudy Giuliani said Monday that the charges against his client in Arizonas fake elector case should be thrown out because Giuliani did nothing criminal in contesting Joe Bidens narrow 2020 victory in the state over Donald Trump. An indictment said 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. Attorney Mark Williams said Giuliani was exercising his rights to free speech and petition the government. How is Mr. Giuliani to know that, oh my gosh, he presided over a meeting in downtown Phoenix, Williams asked sarcastically. How is he to know that thats a crime? Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen is hearing arguments over whether to dismiss charges against Republicans who signed a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona and others who are accused of scheming to overturn the presidential races outcome. Cohen hasnt yet issued decisions on the dismissal requests. Arguments over whether to throw out the case will continue Tuesday. While not a fake elector in Arizona, the indictment alleged Giuliani pressured Maricopa County officials and state legislators to change the outcome of Arizonas results and encouraged Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. At least a dozen defendants are seeking a dismissal under an Arizona law that bars using baseless legal actions in a bid to silence critics. The law had long offered protections in civil cases but was amended in 2022 by the Republican-led Legislature to cover people facing most criminal charges. The defendants argue Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes tried to use the charges to silence them for their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions taken in response to the races outcome. They say Mayes campaigned on investigating the fake elector case and had shown a bias against Trump and his supporters. Prosecutors say the defendants dont have evidence to back up their retaliation claim and they crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes office also has said the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider charging the former president, but prosecutors urged them not to. Dennis Wilenchik, an attorney for defendant James Lamon, who had signed a statement claiming Trump had won Arizona, argued his client signed the document only as a contingency in case a lawsuit would eventually turn the outcome of the presidential race in Trumps favor in Arizona. My client, Jim Lamon, never did anything to overthrow the government, Wilenchik said. Prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said the defendants actions dont back up their claims that they signed the document as a contingency. One defendant, attorney Christina Bobb, was working with Giuliani to get Congress to accept the fake electors, while another defendant, Anthony Kern, gave a media interview in which he said then-Vice President Mike Pence would decide which of the two slates of electors to choose from, Klingerman said. That doesnt sound like a contingency, Klingerman said. That sounds like a plan to cause turmoil to change the outcome of the election. In all, 18 Republicans were charged with forgery, fraud and conspiracy. The defendants consist of 11 Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona, two former Trump aides and five lawyers connected to the former president, including Rudy Giuliani. So far, two defendants have resolved their cases. Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino also became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation. The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their trial is scheduled to start Jan. 5, 2026. Former Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows is trying to move his charges to federal court, where his lawyers say they will seek a dismissal of the charges. Trump was not charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator. In a filing, Mayes office said as grand jurors were considering possible charges, a prosecutor asked them not to indict Trump, citing a U.S. Justice Department policy that limits the prosecution of someone for the same crime twice. The prosecutor also didnt know whether authorities had all the evidence they would need to charge Trump at that time. 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. Eleven people who had been nominated 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 claimed Trump had carried the state in the 2020 election. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document later was sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored. ULAN BATOR, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- An academic conference focusing on the nomination of the Great Tea Route, which spans China, Mongolia, and Russia, for the UNESCO World Heritage List was held at the Chinese Cultural Center here in the Mongolian capital on Monday. The conference, sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia and the Cultural and Tourism Department of central China's Hubei province, was co-organized by the Chinese Cultural Center in Ulan Bator and the Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Center, among others. "Today, we are not only discussing the revival of an ancient trade route but also embarking on a new chapter of friendship and cooperation among China, Mongolia, and Russia. The Great Tea Road, a golden ribbon weaving across the Eurasian continent, has witnessed the historical integration and interaction of civilizations from China, Mongolia, and Russia, as well as between the East and the West," said Li Zhi, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia and director of the Chinese Cultural Center, during an opening ceremony. Li emphasized that the Great Tea Road is not just a trade route for tea and other commodities, but also a vital bridge for cultural exchange, sharing of ideas, and emotional connections. "The Great Tea Route and its surrounding things symbolize the history of our past cooperation, the successes of our current collaboration, and the potential for future development and partnership," said Byambasuren Davaatseren, head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Department at the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia. In addition, a cultural tourism event titled "Tea for Harmony -- Mongolia Tour" was held, featuring tea tasting and an exhibition of photos that showcase the history of the Great Tea Route, along with China's tea culture and tourism destinations, at the Chinese Cultural Center on the same day. Things to Know About Using Zink Lake/Wave Park Rules - Curfew 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. - No lifeguards on duty - No swimming or wading - No alcohol (unless otherwise permitted) - No dogs allowed in the lake or in the wave park (dogs are allowed on watercraft in the lake) - Leash law applies everywhere but on watercraft - Fishing allowed from watercraft on the lake or from banks of the lake - No fishing allowed from Williams Crossing (pedestrian bridge), Zink Dam or Tulsa Wave Park (whitewater recreational flume) - No use of combustion engines on watercrafts - No campfires For the complete list of rules, go to www.cityoftulsa.org/zink Access Points The city has designated four areas from which visitors can access the lake: On the west bank, River West Festival Park and near the old skate park south of the 23rd Street Bridge. On the east bank at approximately 17th Street and Riverside Drive and at Tulsa Wave Park. Parking Options The city has added parking lots on the east and west sides of the lake. In Case of Emergency: Call 911 Water Quality Testing The city of Tulsa is regularly testing the water in Zink Lake and posting the results on its online water quality dashboard at www.cityoftulsa.org/zink. The testing results can also be accessed on site using a QR code. The city is testing for, among other things, water temperature, water flow rate, E. coli measurements, pH and dissolved oxygen rates, and cadmium and total petroleum hydrocarbons. There is a 24-to 48-hour lag between the time the tests are conducted and the results are posted. The information is provided to give visitors to the lake the information they need to decide whether or not they want to use watercraft on the lake or wave park. Source: City of Tulsa, River Parks Authority Cynthia and her husband spent an ordinary day in December 2022 driving to their retirement home, planning to clean it out after the holidays. Then, her phone buzzed. Where is my f-ing money your son caught out owing me, the text read. Ill send word wherever he goes if you try and call (a prison official) and tell on me. I want the 250 Im owed or Ima have him hurt. Cynthia faced a dilemma: pay or risk her son getting assaulted, maybe killed. Her son was imprisoned at the Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility at the time. The extortion threats started in 2017 when her son was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Cynthia suspects gangs are orchestrating the extortion. The first time it happened, within the first week he arrived at the jail, Cynthia said she drove to Walgreens and spent more than $500 on reloadable debit cards. She texted the card details, thinking the payment would stop the threats. It didnt. She said her son, who is serving an 11-year sentence, suffers from mental health issues and drug addiction and is indebted to the gangs who sell to him. When Cynthia refuses to send money, interest is added and her son is assaulted. He told her he had been raped. Less than a month after the first threat, she said another inmate sent her a photo of her address and threatened her life. Cynthia, a 65-year-old mother of two who lives in Oklahoma City, estimated she has spent at least $40,000 on reloadable debit cards and $10,000 in digital payment services to respond to the threats. Oklahoma Watch interviewed six people with almost identical extortion stories, their names have been changed or withheld to protect them and their incarcerated family members from retaliatory violence. Many cases go unreported for fear of gang retaliation according to more than a dozen Oklahoma correctional experts, prisoner advocates and district attorneys which makes it difficult to pinpoint how many people are affected. Former Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh said extortion of family members by gangs from inside the prisons was widespread while he held the position from 2016 to 2019, though DOC does not track those cases. He conceded that he could not tackle the problem. Its another one of these things that keeps me, personally, up at night, Allbaugh said. I failed. Investigators come up with few answers Sylvia started receiving text messages from suspected gang members less than a month after her son was booked into the Lawton prison in April 2023. His age, only 21 when he arrived there, makes him vulnerable, she said. The 39-year-old mother of three from Mississippi tried to ignore the calls from her son approximately 20 per day begging for money to pay the blackmailers. In May 2023, she gave in and sent $180. She now sends at least $100 weekly. My cellphone rings, and when I see the name of the prison, I want to throw up, Sylvia said. I am a walking zombie; I am a shell of myself. Once, when she could not get a payment made on time, her son was stabbed. Although she has sent more than $13,000 since last summer, Sylvia said if she is ever late on her payments, her son says inmates working as food runners in the cafeteria deprive him of meals. He is terrified to leave his cell because he is frequently attacked, even when escorted to the showers. The issue isnt limited to the Lawton prison, a sprawling 2,697-bed medium-to-maximum security facility that incarcerates some of the states most violent offenders. Those interviewed have been extorted by gangs at Mack Alford Correctional Center, Allen Gamble Correctional Center, Dick Conner Correctional Center and others. Dorothys son was incarcerated at John Lilley Correctional Center, a minimum security prison in Boley, when the extortion began. In July 2022, a suspected gang member threatened to assault her son if he didnt receive $1,000. Like Cynthia, she rushed out to buy reloadable debit cards in response to the threat. A mother of four from New Mexico who works two jobs, Dorothy has since spent more than $8,000 through digital payment services to try to protect her son. She said his unwillingness to join a gang or partake in drugs makes him a target. Dorothy ran out of money one day last year and could not send the money in time. That night, her son was stabbed. Cynthia, Sylvia and Dorothy reported the extortion to law enforcement, from local sheriffs offices to the Department of Corrections and the FBI. Finding those responsible, however, is not so easy. After Cynthia filed a complaint, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation. Investigators confiscated four contraband phones, forensically examined them and interviewed several inmates across the prison system, who denied being involved. After two months, investigators were unable to determine who sent the messages. Instead, they concluded that her son was partially behind the extortion; one investigator emailed Cynthia and asked if she wanted to press charges against him. The investigator said if she continued sending money, she could be in violation of several state statutes for knowing the money was going toward drugs. Cynthia said she felt totally abandoned. Cellphones make crime possible for prisoners Contraband cellphones are the principal means through which inmates extort the family members of other inmates, Oklahoma Department of Corrections Inspector General Jacob Wheeler said. In 2022, the Department of Corrections collected 5,247 of them across all of its prisons. There are all kinds of threats and coercion to people bringing them in, said Chuck Sullivan, the district attorney of Pittsburg County, home to Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Girlfriends on the outside are equipped to hide phones in body cavities and bring them in, and thats what you see most often. Phones are also smuggled via duffel bags thrown over fences into the prison yard, flown in by drone, or correctional officers may be paid off or coerced to smuggle them in. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections cannot use cellphone jammers, a technology that blocks all cell signals within the surrounding area, because they are banned by the Federal Communications Commission. The Commission deems jammers a threat to public safety because they shut off cell signals beyond where they are installed. A cellphone detection wristband pilot program was launched by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in 2020. The program failed after gang members threatened to assault anyone who wore the wristbands. The other problem is staffing. Oklahoma has 45% fewer correctional officers now than it did six years ago, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The inmate population has only decreased 20% during that time. With staffing problems so rampant, it is extremely difficult for correctional officers to monitor the flow of contraband, said Shad Hagan, a former case manager at Dick Conner Correctional Center. According to Department of Corrections records, Dick Conner Correctional Center had 89 correctional officers on staff in 2017. As of July, it has 43. Dick Conner is at 99% capacity with 1,209 inmates. Potential solution cost-prohibitive for prisons The Federal Communications Commission legalized a potential alternative to jammers in 2021: Contraband Interdiction Systems. The systems identify and disable illegal phones but do not disrupt the cell signals of phones outside the prison. Two Oklahoma prisons, the Dick Conner Correctional Center and Oklahoma State Penitentiary, have received authorization from the Federal Communications Commission to install them. But the technology is expensive. One contraband interdiction system can cost $3 million to $4 million, said Todd Craig, the former chief of security at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections invested in less expensive technology at North Fork and Mack Alford prisons in 2020 with a $420,216 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance. They purchased SIM card detectors and a small-scale contraband interdiction system that does not require Federal Communications Commission authorization, U.S. Department of Justice reports show. Those systems fall short in some areas. SIM cards are being phased out in newer cellphones. Craig, an expert in contraband interdiction systems, said he is not aware of any data proving SIM card detectors reduce the number of phones that enter prisons. The small contraband interdiction system installed by the department is portable, so its ability to monitor the flow of contraband is limited. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is confiscating fewer phones annually at the facilities using that technology. North Fork Correctional Center confiscated 659 phones in 2021 and 481 in 2022, a 22% decline. Mack Alford Correctional Center saw a similar trend with 664 in 2021 and 592 in 2022, an 11% decrease. Craig said the multimillion-dollar interdiction systems are the most effective technology, but states have been slow to adopt them due to their high price. South Carolina bucked the trend in August, allocating $11 million to start a cellphone interdiction system at several state prisons. The funding came after years of negotiations between the director of South Carolinas Department of Corrections and federal and state lawmakers. It takes commitment from the director and his staff working with all these external stakeholders to get the job done, Craig said. Advancements in technology may offer hope, but for Cynthia the damage has already been done. This year, she reached a breaking point. She ran out of money. In February, she sold her retirement home and has been balancing her familys medical bills, all while being extorted from a prison some 90 miles away. When she called her son through the prison phones, inmates screamed demands for money in the background. Cynthia stopped calling. She hasnt hugged her son in seven years and is now too afraid to even speak with him; her son is still accruing debt but she cannot give anymore, knowing that her son will likely be harmed as a result. She now spends every day petrified that he will not make it out alive. If he does, she fears the mental and physical abuse he has endured will change him into someone she no longer recognizes. His humanity is not gone, she said. But if hes in there much longer, it will be. About Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state. Hezbollah, Israel clash in significant border escalation, heightening regional tensions Xinhua) 08:15, August 26, 2024 This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. CAIRO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a woman standing in a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was "successful." In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows." After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have canceled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollah's main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollah's actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt "the Israeli aggression." Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and de-escalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanon's stability and prevent a state of "comprehensive instability" in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt's chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) TRIPOLI, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Stephanie Koury, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Officer-in-Charge of the UN Support Mission in Libya, on Sunday stressed the role of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission to uphold the ceasefire agreement in the country. Koury made the remarks during a meeting of the Commission in the city of Sirte, which is located some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli. "Today, I joined the 5+5 Joint Military Commission at their headquarters in Sirte to discuss the ongoing developments and challenges in Libya, notably on the security front. I emphasized the Commission's crucial role in upholding the ceasefire agreement," Koury tweeted. "We also discussed ways to further implement the ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries. Peace and stability are essential to Libyan citizens as they strive for a lasting political solution," Koury said. The 5+5 Joint Military Commission is a group composed of five representatives from the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and five representatives of the eastern-based national army. It was formed to oversee and implement ceasefire agreements and military arrangements between rival factions in Libya. In October 2020, the Commission signed a UN-sponsored ceasefire agreement that ended a war in and around Tripoli between the eastern-based army and the Western-based authorities. Libya remains politically divided between eastern-based and western-based governments. The eastern-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, is allied with the eastern-based government. Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has been plagued by escalating violence and political instability. Research and development (R&D) is the formula that creates the strength of Vietnam's leading antibiotic brand. Firmly holding leading position in antibiotics market According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance is posing many challenges to humanity. It is estimated that by 2050, about 10 million people will have died from antimicrobial resistance annually. In order to mitigate these risks, Imexpharm Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company has made substantial investments over the years in a high-quality antibiotic production line utilizing enzymatic technology. This innovative approach does not use solvents and chemicals during the production process, giving Imexpharm's antibiotics advantages in terms of purity, stability, high safety for patients, and environmental friendliness. Imexpharm's high-tech antibiotic factory IMP4 meets EU-GMP standards. Photo: Imexpharm Imexpharm offers a range of high-quality antibiotics, recognized for breakthroughs in purified raw material sourcing and production technology. This brings outstanding effectiveness in treatment, as seen in products like Claminat (effective in treating ear-nose-throat and respiratory infections caused by sensitive bacteria), Bactamox (effective for patients with acute community-acquired respiratory infections), and Biocemet DT (effective for children and adults who have difficulty using drugs with upper respiratory infections), among others, the company said. In 2023, this enterprise led the antibiotic market with a nine-percent market share, logging sales of about VND2,113 billion (US$86 million), an increase of 26 percent compared to 2022. Popular antibiotic groups such as cephalosporin and penicillin, which account for more than 70 percent of the value in the Vietnamese market, are also the company's main products. Following a period of investment with EU-GMP standards, the firm has begun planning to expand its antibiotic exports to the European market. Research and development at Imexpharm's EU-GMP quality pharmaceutical factory. Photo: Imexpharm Since 1977, Imexpharm has prioritized quality, research, and development in its investment strategy. We have continuously invested in factories and production lines, growing into a leading pharmaceutical company with the largest EU-GMP factory clusters in Vietnam, comprising three EU-GMP factories and 11 EU-GMP lines, said People's Doctor and Pharmacist Tran Thi Dao, who is the general director of Imexpharm. The company's leaders reflect on its transformation from Dong Thap Pharmaceutical Union Enterprise in the early 1980s to Dong Thap Pharmaceutical Company. In 1997, the company invested in the non-beta-lactam oral medication factory as the first meeting the GMP-ASEAN benchmark in Vietnam with the consulting support of Dr. Hartmut Haulth, a leading European expert on quality management and technology systems from Sandoz Group in Switzerland. In 1999, the firm established a GMP-ASEAN beta-lactam factory for oral medication. By 2000, the company had successfully promoted franchise production cooperation with the Austrian Biochemie Multinational Group, currently Novartis-Sandoz. Since 2001, following its transition to a public company, Imexpharm has achieved remarkable development with a pioneering strategy in technological advancement. In 2023, the company allocated five percent of its revenue to R&D activities, resulting in 93 research and development projects, with 15 products already launched on the market. By July 2024, the company had registered an additional 11 EU marketing authorizations (MAs), bringing the total number to 28 EU MAs for 11 products. Promoting pharmaceutical inventions, entering global supply chain The current investment trend in the pharmaceutical sector has shifted toward a focus on innovation, clinical trials, and technology transfer. Imexpharm is at the forefront of this trend, cooperating with Genuone Sciences, a prominent pharmaceutical company from South Korea to transfer technology for the production of diabetes and cardiovascular drugs. In addition to its parentship with Genuone, Imexpharm has established franchise production agreements with several leading multinational pharmaceutical corporations such as Sandoz, Robinson Pharma, DP Pharma, Galien, Pharmascience Canada, Sanofi Aventis, and more. Imexpharm has signed a cooperative agreement with Genuone Sciences, a big pharmaceutical company from South Korea, in order to transfer technology for the production of diabetes and cardiovascular drugs. Photo: Imexpharm With this vision, Imexpharm is planning to expand its non-antibiotic product lines and construct a new IMP5 factory in Quang Khanh Industrial Park, Dong Thap Province, southern Vietnam. In addition to traditional dosage forms, Imexpharm is capable of developing new dosage forms such as lyophilized, dispersible tablets and multi-dose powders. By adopting advanced technologies in pharmaceutical production, the company ensures its products are rigorously monitored for hard-to-control hazardous impurities like nitrosamines (carcinogens), residual solvents, and heavy metals. These strategies provide a strong foundation for Imexpharm's 2030 vision, which aims to triple revenue growth and solidify the company's position in the global, regional, and Vietnamese markets. Currently, 80 percent of Imexpharm's staff hold a university degree or higher, including four masters of pharmacy, one specialist pharmacist I, and one PhD in pharmacy who graduated in France. In addition to research and formulation equipment, Imexpharm has invested in a dedicated lab outfitted with advanced technology for research and product testing, ensuring quality from the initial design stage. Moving forward, the company will continue to invest in and apply WHO Good Practices for Research and Development Facilities to enhance its product research and development efforts. According to Imexpharm's leaders, Vietnam needs supportive policies for innovation in the healthcare sector, specifically in pharmaceuticals. "We believe that Vietnam can completely aim to improve healthcare and become a center of science and innovation in the region," said the firm's leaders. Vietnam should improve its policies to support the development of bonded warehouses and invest heavily in logistics infrastructure, including data management technologies, in order to give a push to locally-made products on e-commerce platforms amid an influx of Chinese goods into the local market via these channels, said Nguyen Xuan Hung, an expert from the Vietnam Logistics Business Association. Given the development of e-commerce, it is vital for Vietnam to invest in logistics infrastructure and improve related legal frameworks if the country hopes to compete with regional and international rivals, Hung said in an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Bonded warehouses needed According to Hung, Chinese goods are typically stored in warehouses in Pingxiang and Hekou, both of which are on the border with Vietnam, allowing for short transport distances into Vietnam. Since most orders fall below VND1 million (US$40), they are exempt from import taxes and specialized inspections, which significantly cuts costs and reduces transport time. These warehouses also employ automatic logistics processes, enabling them to minimize errors and increase productivity. The average cost for a container truck to carry 15,000 orders from China to Vietnam is VND20 million ($800), putting the cost for each order at VND1,400. Vietnam's e-commerce landscape remains fragmented, and logistics firms serving domestic e-commerce traders are still underdeveloped. While Vietnamese traders have successfully embraced new technologies like live-streaming promotions, their logistics capabilities lag behind. This shortfall forces businesses to hire additional employees to fulfill orders, often delaying completion by several days. In contrast, e-commerce platforms in countries like China can process thousands of orders within an hour. Transport costs in Vietnam are also higher compared to China, further exacerbating the challenges for local traders. Chinese logistics companies, including Best, SF Express, and J&T Express, have been quick to capitalize on the Vietnamese market, establishing warehouses and automatic sorting centers that give them a competitive edge over local rivals. These bonded warehouses significantly speed up delivery times. Amazon has similarly expanded its global reach by opening bonded warehouses in various countries, allowing for quicker order fulfillment and reduced costs for both sellers and buyers. Currently, Vietnam lacks regulations for establishing bonded warehouses specifically for e-commerce platforms. Existing policies only allow bonded warehouses for the re-export of imported goods within industrial and export processing zones. Hung suggested that the government revise these regulations to support the development of bonded warehouses, emphasizing the need to standardize production and operation processes. He also called for increased collaboration between enterprises and tech firms to optimize supply chains. Moreover, government support in the form of tax incentives and land use fee reductions is crucial for fostering growth in this sector. The volume of Chinese goods sold to Vietnamese consumers via e-commerce platforms has soared. Photo: Bong Mai / Tuoi Tre China's strong logistics industry Hung acknowledged that China's support policies for its logistics enterprises and e-commerce platforms have significantly lowered product prices and boosted the competitiveness of its logistics sector. Many warehouses receive government incentives if they meet specific criteria. As a case in point, in Shizhong, a district in Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province, the local administration subsidizes 10 percent of overseas warehouse costs if a warehouse developed or leased by a cross-border e-commerce enterprise exceeds 500 square meters and the annual investment surpasses 300,000 renminbi ($42,032). Similarly, Yunhe District in Zhejiang Province offers incentives for the construction of bonded warehouses. Enterprises that secure more than two million orders annually and report a year-on-year growth rate exceeding 15 percent receive a subsidy of 0.5 renminbi ($0.07) per order, with the total annual subsidy capped at 150,000 renminbi ($21,016) per enterprise. According to Hung, China has posted outstanding growth in logistics over the past two years, especially with the Direct-to-Consumer model where brokers have been gradually eliminated. One method of doing this is by connecting with digital marketing companies to host live-streamed sessions on Facebook and TikTok. Goods from China are classified at a sorting center in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Bong Mai / Tuoi Tre Vietnams scattered logistics systems Hung acknowledged that Vietnams logistics systems are fragmented, with orders often passing through multiple intermediaries before reaching consumers. Most Vietnamese businesses only ship orders once or twice a day, leading to delays for any orders placed after those shipment times, which are then deferred until the next day. Vietnamese logistics enterprises also face significant challenges, including high land rental costs, complex regulations, and a lack of government incentives. Hung suggested that one potential solution to these issues is for local enterprises to collaborate and create a large-scale centralized logistics model that could share infrastructure and reduce costs. Vietnam's e-commerce sector has enormous potential, with over 70 million Internet users, 75 percent of whom are online shoppers, which presents a significant opportunity for the growth of e-commerce platforms and online shopping apps. The Vietnamese market is highly competitive, with platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, and TikTok Shop dominating the landscape. Vietnamese consumers shop online an average of four times per month, twice the rate in 2023 and double the monthly supermarket visit frequency, according to a report by measurement and data analytics company NielsenIQ Vietnam. On average, they spend over eight hours per month on online shopping. Sales on e-commerce platforms in Vietnam were projected to reach nearly $30 billion this year, a 45-percent increase from the previous year. This would account for approximately 14 percent of the countrys total retail sales of consumer goods and services, according to the Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Many Vietnamese air passengers have been surprised to receive compensation for their delayed flights thanks to flight delay insurance coverage. Flight delay or cancelation insurance is becoming more and more popular in Vietnam. Reimbursement for flight delay insurance purchased through e-wallets is processed more quickly than for that bought directly from airlines websites. T., a Ho Chi Minh City resident, shared her experience of a two-hour flight delay for which she received VND888,000 (US$35.6) in compensation. She had purchased her VND800,000 ($32) air ticket along with flight delay insurance for VND38,500 ($1.5) through a local e-wallet. "The compensation amount was very satisfying," she said. Another traveler was similarly impressed when she received VND1 million ($40) in compensation after a delay of over four hours. "The compensation was paid so swiftly," she remarked, noting that she, too, had purchased her insurance via an e-wallet platform. Many insurance providers have begun automating the compensation process, allowing passengers who experience delays to receive payouts from their flight delay insurance more conveniently and faster than before. In contrast, Hoang who bought an air ticket for a flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on a website found it hard to access compensation for a delay, though the insurance was purchased unintentionally. This means that the ticketing system defaults to flight delay insurance when passengers buy an air ticket. After checking his previous transactions, he found that other tickets included the insurance, priced from VND37,000 ($1.48) to VND70,000 ($2.8) each. These insurance packages cost him millions of Vietnamese dong. "I experienced flight delays but didn't know how to receive compensation," he said. Meanwhile, many others have expressed frustration, saying that when they contacted insurers to claim compensation for delayed flights, they were met with evasive responses from insurance employees. Local airlines and e-wallet suppliers have cooperated with insurance companies to offer flight delay and cancelation insurance to air travelers. For instance, national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines is offering flight delay or cancelation insurance, known as Fly Pro, provided by Post And Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corporation. The insurance is charged at VND60,000 ($2.4) per ticket and gives maximum compensation of VND1.5 million ($60.2). Airlines Vietjet and Bamboo Airways are not exceptions, offering passengers insurance packages with different fees and benefits. Passengers can receive reimbursement within 15 days after a flight delay. Meanwhile, if passengers buy flight delay insurance provided by Bao Viet Holdings via e-wallet MoMo at the price of VND35,000 ($1.4), they will receive up to VND888,000 in compensation in their e-wallet accounts for a delay of two hours or longer. Minh Son, director of an online platform that provides tourism and air ticket services, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that compensation for flight delays should be made automatically. AirAsia teamed up with Tune Protect Group, headquartered in Malaysia, to offer flight delay insurance and automate compensation processes. If an AirAsia flight is delayed for over two hours, the affected passengers will be automatically granted 200 Malaysian Ringgit ($46). The automated compensation process is aimed at raising trust among passengers and calming down frustrated air travelers. A representative of a local airline said that the air carrier has worked with an insurer to offer insurance packages to passengers. The insurer will pay compensation if customers who buy insurance coverage experience a flight delay. The representative said that insurance companies should adopt digital technology for compensation to improve consumer services, moving toward building a sustainable insurance climate and boosting Vietnams aviation and insurance industries. Statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam showed a rise in flight delays in July. Vietnam Airlines operated 11,066 flights last month, while Vietjet and Bamboo Airways conducted 10,551 and 1,423 flights, respectively. Of these, 9,114 flights were delayed, representing 36.8 percent of the total and marking an increase of over six percent from the previous month. According to Circular 19/2023 issued by the Ministry of Transport, a flight is considered delayed if it departs more than 15 minutes later than its scheduled time. When delays are not caused by passengers, airlines are required to apologize to those affected and cover the costs of meals, lodging, and transportation. For postponements lasting five hours or more, airlines must refund the cost of tickets upon passenger request. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the investor of the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City, has proposed building a second runway for the airport and leveling the site for the T3 terminal in the first phase instead of the second phase as earlier planned. According to the ACV, the first phase of the big-ticket airport project is underway and is expected to be completed in 2026 with a runway, a passenger terminal, and auxiliary items, meeting the capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million metric tons of cargo per year. In its first phase, Long Thanh International Airport will have a capacity comparable to that of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Da Nang International Airport in Da Nang, and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, each of which currently operates with two runways. The two runways at Long Thanh International Airport will ensure uninterrupted operations in the event of incidents or maintenance needs for one of the runways. The ACV stressed the importance of constructing the second runway to accommodate growing airport demand and ensure safety. Building the second runway promptly will be advantageous, as contractors can utilize the facilities established during the first phase, and the construction will not disrupt airport operations. The ACV suggested building the second runway spanning 4,000 meters parallel with the first one. The runway, together with taxiways and signal lights, will cost an estimated VND3.5 trillion (US$140 million), which will be mobilized by the ACV. The second runway will be developed inside the 1,810-hectare cleared and leveled land for the first phase of the airport project. If the second runway for Long Thanh International Airport is approved, it will be constructed between the second quarter of next year and the last quarter of 2026 and put into operation in early 2027. Once completed, it will serve landings, while the first runway will serve take-offs. The leveling of the site for the T3 terminal at the airport is also crucial, according to the ACV. It explained that dust from the construction of the second runway and the leveling of the site for Terminal T3 could impact airport operations. The ACV proposed clearing 181 hectares for the terminal, with an estimated cost of nearly VND2 trillion ($80.4 million) to be funded through public investment. The first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project is budgeted at VND110 trillion ($4.4 billion). The entire airport development, spanning 5,000 hectares, is projected to require a total investment of VND336.63 trillion ($13.5 billion). Upon completion, Long Thanh International Airport will become the largest in Vietnam, with an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million metric tons of cargo. The project was originally scheduled to be executed in three phases, with the first slated to last from 2020 to 2025 as stated in the prime ministers decision to approve the project. However, the first phase may not be completed until 2026. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A pig farm run by Hoang Anh Agricultural and General Service Cooperative, based in Ky Anh District, Ha Tinh Province, north-central Vietnam, has been fined VND285 million (US$11,444) for operating without an environmental permit and causing surface water pollution. Phan Cong Vus cooperative was fined VND160 million ($6,424) for operating without the necessary environmental permit and an additional VND125 million ($5,020) for polluting surface water with pollutant levels exceeding technical standards by more than ten times, the sub-department of natural resources and environment in Ky Anh said on Thursday last week. The pig farm was also ordered to cease operations for nine months and adopt environmental remediation measures within 60 days. It was required to cover the costs for analyzing surface water samples, as per prevailing regulations. Previously, dozens of local inhabitants gathered at the cooperative on June 28, expressing their objections to the pig farm for having caused pollution in the neighborhood. Local residents claimed that the release of sludge and water from the farm's reservoir into a nearby stream on June 5 had caused unusual fish deaths. On June 27, the cooperatives renovation of its sedimentation pond produced foul odors, prompting the residents to report the issue to authorities. On the following day, leaders of the Ky Anh administration inspected the pig farms operations and held discussions with the locals to address their concerns. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! In Da Nang, a new trend is sweeping through the coastal city as young people gather as early as 4:00 am to sip coffee and enjoy breakfast while watching the sunrise over the iconic Han River. Trinh Cafe, a popular coffee chain with four locations across Da Nang, which is the hub of central Vietnam, has quickly become the go-to spot for this early morning ritual, particularly at its stand on the Bach Dang pedestrian street in Hai Chau District. The cafe now opens its doors at 4:00 am, but many young people arrive even earlier to secure the best seats before dawn breaks. Some customers go to great lengths for this experience, waking up as early as 2:00 or 3:00 am to select their outfits, apply makeup, and travel more than 10 kilometers for their morning coffee, despite still feeling half-asleep. Phan Thanh Vuong, an 18-year-old local, recounted his experience of arriving at 4:00 am with friends, only to find a line already forming. "Its a unique and fun experience to sit here, sip coffee, and watch the sunrise, though I do feel a bit sleepy," Vuong said. For many, this early morning coffee run has become a trendy ritual worth altering their schedules for even if it means being late to school or work. Others choose to catch up on sleep after their early breakfast and coffee. Cao Ngoc Truong Thinh, a 20-year-old student at Duy Tan University in Da Nang, was among those already at the cafe before 4:00 am. With no classes the next day, he planned to nap later. "As students, we have plenty of free time, and we want to experience the latest trends," Thinh said. "During exam season, were often up all night studying, so skipping sleep for coffee and sunrise isnt too difficult." The cafe owner noted that the new early hours and Early Bird stickers have drawn many young locals and tourists to join this dawn phenomenon. By 4:00 am, young people are already lining up for their morning brew at a cafe in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre Many young people are willing to stay up all night just to go for early morning coffee in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre This cafe has caught the attention of young people by opening at 4:00 am and handing out Early Bird stickers to customers in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre For many young people in Da Nang, central Vietnam, it is an exhilarating experience to wake up at 4:00 am for coffee and a sunrise view. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre Many people arrive very early to secure a good spot to watch the sunrise by the Han River in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre Young people are drawn to this cafe because of its beautiful view in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre Many young people capture the moment as they watch the sunrise over the Han River in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Nguyen / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on X to get the latest news about Vietnam! Media Watch last night weighed into the speculation about the unexpected resignation of ABC Managing Director David Anderson. It added fuel to the media fire that Andersons departure is linked to changes in the ABC Chair. David Andersons resignation after a career that started in the post room 35 years ago is no great surprise. Even though he had four years left on his contract, host Paul Barry said. Running the ABC and defending it against attack, from friend and foe, is a relentless, high-pressure job that has taken its toll. And its no surprise if he wants his life back. But Anderson is also a casualty of Kim Williams crusade to restore the ABC to its former glory, with the new chair calling publicly for a harder approach to news and digital content, more Australian drama and arts, revitalising radio, and for the ABC to rediscover its corporate purpose, which is to offer national leadership and excellence. It follows Williams calling publicly for a harder approach to news and digital content, more Australian drama and arts, revitalising radio, and for the ABC to rediscover its corporate purpose. Barry observed, My understanding is Anderson did walk and wasnt pushed. But its not quite as simple as that. Most of what Williams is criticising happened on Andersons watch. Last week Anderson denied his departure was linked to changes at the top of the ABC Board saying people will seek to see a story and draw a conclusion. We are 100% aligned on the organisation, what it needs to be, what it needs to do for the Australian people. And hes actually quite delightful to work with. We really enjoy each others company, and weve spent a lot of time together. And if anything, Kim being there is one of those reasons that you want to stay on. But that cant be the only reason, he told ABC Radio National. I find Kim to be delightful, and Ill continue to say that. I think he will be terrific and go on to be terrific as Chair for the ABC. Barry, who is also outgoing from another chair, is convinced Williams will get his way in running the broadcaster. And even if he says he wont take on the MDs job and lets not forget David Hill made that switch 37 years ago he will be the power, especially now. It was supposed to be a fun stunt to excite Seven staff for the upcoming Alinta Energy Christmas Pageant, but the four Sexy Santas dancing to Mariah Careys All I Want for Christmas resulted in female staff members walking out of a company Town Hall meeting and subsequent headlines. The Australian Financial Review first published this live stream screenshot of the moment Sevens Perth news director, Ray Kuka, addressed staff last Friday. A Seven spokesman told the AFR the dancers were part of the pageant, dubbed a Perth institution. The Age also noted no official complaints were filed. But it also reported several women walked out of the address, returning to their respective offices. One staffer at the town hall said, speaking on condition of anonymity said, Its the contrast. Four men talking about business, then four women come in, dolled up and scantily clad. What is the role of women at this company? The staffer said the performance was inappropriate, adding It felt like the 80s (the single was released in 1994, so not quite). Its a sensitive time for Seven after recent allegations were aired on Four Corners around work culture and recent comments by Ryan Stokes around Seven and the media sector more broadly. We need to focus on what our issue is, but it has been an industry-wide problem. And we just need to make sure the industry is making changes, he said. Islamist death threats compelled the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday (Aug. 22) to remove part of a ruling recognizing an Ahmadis religious freedom, a move that will lead to more persecution of religious minorities, sources said. The courts surrender to Islamist demands came in an appeal by Mubarak Sani, member of the Ahmadi Muslim group that Islamists consider heretical in the Muslim-majority country. Sani had been convicted under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act enforced in 2021, though hed claimed the accusation related to an incident in 2019, before the law came into effect. In its verdict, the court noted that Article 20 of Pakistans Constitution guaranteed citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion, and that Sani had not committed a crime by publishing religious literature. The Supreme Court then ordered Sanis release on bail. The verdict led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa infuriated Islamist groups, particularly the extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which started a campaign against Isa. Some TLP leaders announced bounties of up to 10 million rupees ($35,790 USD) for any Muslim who killed the chief justice. Fearing unrest, the Punjab provincial government filed a review petition under Article 188 of the constitution, but on July 24 the Supreme Court declared it had not deviated in any way from the decisions of Federal Shariat Court and Supreme Court in approving the bail. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up The verdict favoring Sani led to outrage in Islamist circles and a debate in the National Assemblys Standing Committee on Law and Justice, where both the treasury and opposition benches agreed that the federal government should file a petition in the Supreme Court. Besides the Punjab governments plea seeking omissions of certain portions from the courts July 24 revised verdict, the federal government also filed a miscellaneous plea on Aug. 17 under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs directives. In the Punjab governments petition, it maintained that some leading Islamic clerics and members of parliament requested the federal government to approach the top court and highlight some portions of the verdict that they said merited correction. It further maintained that certain conclusions and observations made in other parts of the judgment seemed to be a mistake and were inconsistent with previous rulings of the highest court. Under immense pressure and threats, the Supreme Court announced that it was ready to review its verdict for a second time, a first in the countrys judicial history. On Tuesday (Aug. 20), hundreds of activists belonging to Islamic extremist parties, including the TLP and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), breached security and reached the Supreme Court building, where speakers openly threatened judges to withdraw the verdict. They said the judgment had hurt the sentiments of the entire nation and pledged that they were ready to render any sacrifice for the protection and sanctity of Islam and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad. Surrendering to the Islamists demand, the three-member bench headed by Isa and including Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan on Wednesday (Aug. 22) ordered the exclusion of the paragraphs from the verdict, including the one related to freedom of religion, asserting that the deleted portions cannot be cited as precedent in any judgment. I dont want to say [it] but am helpless; I pray in every prayer that may God prevent me from making any wrong decisions, Isa said during the hearing in Islamabad, according to media reports. Some veteran reporters who attended the hearing said that all three judges were visibly fearful and under immense pressure. Many people in Pakistan, including a former governor and a high court judge, have been murdered for speaking in favor of those falsely charged with blasphemy, they said. No Hope Left The Supreme Courts second review of its verdict shocked rights activists and church leaders, who said the surrender to Islamist pressure does not bode well for Christians and other minorities. We were not expecting the Supreme Court to capitulate to extremist forces in this manner, said Church of Pakistan President Bishop Azad Marshall. When the highest court of the country fails to protect the guarantees given by the constitution regarding religious freedom for all citizens irrespective of their faith affiliations, there is no hope left for any improvement in our situation. The church leader expressed fears of an increase in blasphemy cases and violence against Christians. Religious forces have instilled more fear in the judiciary, he said. In such circumstances, I doubt we can expect any justice for those falsely accused of blasphemy. Marshall said that by deleting its observations regarding the freedom to profess any religion, the Supreme Court has shown its helplessness in safeguarding the constitution. Minorities Alliance Pakistan Chairman Akmal Bhatti termed the courts decision a big blow to freedom of religion in Pakistan. It's very sad, he said. The extremist forces first successfully harassed trial courts, then high courts, and now the Supreme Court. Who would take the bails of Christians and others charged with blasphemy now? Attorney Yasser Latif Hamdani, a progressive Muslim rights activist and author, said he had lost faith in Pakistan. Jinnah [the countrys founder] certainly didnt imagine that one day the same people who called him Kafir-e-Azam [infidel] would be forcing the Supreme Court to change its decision a simple decision that says that a citizen of Pakistan can pray how he or she likes within the confines of his/her home or place of worship, Hamdani wrote on his Facebook page. If Qazi Faez Isa can be forced to change his decision, this country will never go forward. It seems that Jinnah made a terrible mistake giving these idiots a country. 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. Welcome Guest! You are here: Home Meet 4 Gaza Journalists nominated for 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Four Palestinian Journalists, who reported from war-hit Gaza, have officially been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, highlighting their courageous work in the face of adversity Monday August 26, 2024 9:13 PM , ummid.com News Network Four Palestinian Journalists, who reported from war-hit Gaza, have officially been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, highlighting their courageous work in the face of adversity. The Palestinians Journalists who have been nominated for the Nobel Peace are Motaz Azaiza Wael Al-Dahdouh Hind Al-Khodari Bisan Odeh (Bisan Owda) The Palestinian journalists' nomination comes in recognition of their dedication to reporting on the ground in one of the most challenging environments in the world. 1. Motaz Hilal Azaiza Motaz Hilal Azaiza is a Palestinian Photojournalist from Gaza. He is known for covering the IsraelHamas war, and has a large social media following. He works for UNRWA. His work provides a window into the lives of those affected by the ongoing conflict, shedding light on stories that might otherwise go untold. Motaz Azaiza himself announced on social media about his nomination for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. 2. Wael Al-Dahdouh Wael Hamdan Ibrahim Al-Dahdouh, known as Wael Al-Dahdouh, is a veteran reporter from Gaza, Palestine. Born in 1970, Wael Hamdan has been a prominent voice in Palestinian journalism for over two decades. Wael Hamdan began his career in 1998, contributing to local newspapers such as Al-Quds and the Voice of Palestine radio channel. In 2003, he briefly worked with Al Arabiya before joining Al Jazeera in 2004, where he became a central figure in reporting from Gaza. His reporting has consistently focused on the humanitarian impact of the current genocide, covering cruel Israeli military operations against Gaza. 3. Hind Al-Khodari 29-year-old Khoudary, while reporting from Gaza, has contributed to publications like Middle East Eye and Ankara based Anadolu Agency. Her reporting often focuses on political, humanitarian, and social issues, with particular attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the impact of military operations on Palestinian communities. 4. Bisan Owda Bisan Owda, is a Palestinian Journalist, Filmmaker and Activist. The 26-year-old Palestinian TV Reporter is born and grown up in Beit Hanun - a Palestinian city in northeast Gaza Strip. Bisan Owda and Aljazeera's AJ+ had in June 2024 won Peabody Award for coverage of the devastating impact Israels war on the Gaza Strip has had on Palestinians in the besieged enclave. She has recently been nominated for News and Documentary Emmy Award for her poignant storytelling and reporting from Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Palestine war. Owda has earlier worked with the United Nations on gender equality as a member of UN Women's Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum. An EU Goodwill Ambassador, Owda has also worked with the European Union on climate change. Bisan Owda's award winning Its Bisan from Gaza and Im Still Alive series brings light on the daily struggles of Gazans who have been victims of Israeli aggression amidst its genocidal war started on October 7 2023. (With inputs from Sinar Daily) Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. Welcome Guest! You are here: Home Outrage as Shivaji statue inaugurated by Modi collapsed Angry reactions followed after a statue of Maratha Hero Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj installed at Rajkot Fort in Maharashtras Sindhudurg district, collapsed Monday August 26, 2024 Monday August 26, 2024 8:20 PM , ummid.com News Network Mumbai: Angry reactions followed after a statue of Maratha Hero Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj installed at Rajkot Fort in Maharashtras Sindhudurg district, collapsed Monday August 26, 2024. The 35-foot statue collpased today around 1 pm. Angry reactions followed after a statue of Maratha Hero Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj installed at Rajkot Fort in Maharashtras Sindhudurg district, collapsed Monday August 26, 2024. pic.twitter.com/NhmYdNj44j ummid.com (@ummid) August 26, 2024 The statue was unveiled by PM Modi on December 4 last year as part of Navy Day celebrations at the fort. Angry Reactions The collapse of the statue within eight months of unveiling has led the Opposition leaders to criticize the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra, accusing them of using poor quality materials to build the statue. It is disgraceful that this government has allegedly siphoned off funds even in the construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajs statue, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar said. Wadettiwar also called the collapse of the Maratha warrior's statue a shameful example of a government mired in corruption and demanded a thorough investigation. Slamming the Modi and Shinde governments, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former MP Vinayak Raut called the incident a "humiliation" of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Maharaj, please forgive us We cannot bear to witness your humiliation at the hands of traitors", he said. Nationalist Congress Party (Pawar) working President and Baramati MP Supriya Sule said the construction quality is guaranteed when any project is inaugurated by prime minister. "The collapse of the statue within a year clearly indicates that the work was of inferior quality. This situation represents a betrayal of both the Prime Minister and the public. "There is an urgent need for a thorough investigation into the reasons behind the substandard work and other related issues, she said. Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, the 13th Direct Descendant of Shivaji Maharaj, said that the statue was hastily erected for inauguration by the Prime Minister. He said he had warned about the poor quality materials used for the statue. We had written to the Prime Minister, urging the replacement of this statue, which was poorly crafted, lacked proper form, and installed in a rush", he said. Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. Welcome Guest! You are here: Home Ukrainian drone crashes into tallest building in Saratov, Russia A residential complex in the Russian city Saratov was damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia's air defence systems, regional Governor Roman Basurgin said on the Telegram messaging app. Monday August 26, 2024 3:41 PM , ummid.com World Desk A residential complex in the Russian city Saratov was damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia's air defence systems, regional Governor Roman Basurgin said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian drone crashes into tallest building in Saratov, Russia pic.twitter.com/womd1fMHdx ummid.com (@ummid) August 26, 2024 The debris from the intercepted Ukrainian drones crashed into the 38-story 'Volga Sky' complex in Saratov injuring at least two people and damaging several apartments. "Falling debris from drones launched by Ukraine and intercepted by Russian air defense systems has damaged homes in two cities in Russia's Saratov region", Basurgin said. Basurgin said emergency services had fanned out at affected sites in Saratov and Engels, key cities in the region several hundred kilometres southeast of the capital, according to news agency Reuters. Russia has a strategic bomber military base in Engels that Ukraine has attacked numerous times since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022. There was no immediate information on damage at the base, or the scale of the Ukrainian attack on the region, which is several hundred kilometres distant from the border with Ukraine. Video posted by the Russian news channel SHOT on Telegram showed the high-rise building with damage to its side and several windows blown out across three floors. In Engels, the top floor of a residential building was also reported to be damaged. Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. With the aim of establishing Ho Chi Minh City as a premier regional trade and commerce hub in Asia, the 2nd Vietnam ASEAN International Furniture & Home Accessories Fair (VIFA ASEAN 2024) will be officially inaugurated from August 27 to 30 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This event will be held concurrently with the Vietnamese Typical Goods Fair 2024. VIFA ASEAN 2024 is co-organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCCI HCM), Lien Minh Company, the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Associations (HUBA), the Vietnam Association for Building Materials (VABM), and supported by the Vietnam Coconut Association (VCA), the Ho Chi Minh City Advertising Association (HAA), and the Vietnam Investment Construction - Services in Agriculture and Forestry Association (VICSAFA). Features various exhibitors from Vietnam and 13 countries and territories VIFA ASEAN 2024 is the pioneering and leading export event for furniture in the Asia region in August 2024, featuring: VIFA ASEAN (Vietnam), KOFURN (the Republic of Korea), MFFM (Malaysia), MAISON SHANGHAI, FURNITURE CHINA SHANGHAI, CIFF (China), and IFFINA (Indonesia). This global event will bring together over 200 exhibitors from Vietnam and 13 other countries and territories, including China, Hong Kong (China), the Republic of Korea, the US, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Cambodia, as well as pavilions from Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Taiwan (China). It will showcase a diverse range of products, including furniture, outdoor furniture, handicrafts, home decor, machinery, hardware, tools, and support services. Prominent among the exhibitors are many renowned furniture brands, including Hiep Long Furniture, Santang Furniture, Fukui Vietnam, Mega Home (Condor), Savimex, Latitude Tree, Eurofar International, Wood Concept, Hang Lam Furniture, Fortune Home, Fine Scandinavia, and Lam Duong. VIFA ASEAN 2024 has received enthusiastic support from both domestic and international agencies, organisations, trade offices, and economic associations. This includes the participation of collective booths from various departments of industry and trade, trade promotion centres, associations, and organisations in Vietnam. VIFA ASEAN 2024 and Net Zero As part of the fair, an industrial seminar titled "Green-Eco with Net-Zero" will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on August 27, 2024. The seminar will feature experts from FSC and specialists in the energy and carbon credit markets. It will cover topics such as FSC certification and sustainable development goals in the furniture and wood processing value chain, carbon credits and their role in the green economy, and green transition solutions towards achieving Net-Zero for businesses in the furniture and wood processing industry. VIFA ASEAN 2024 and Global Buyers VIFA ASEAN 2024, the leading furniture fair in Asia this August, is the ultimate destination for international buyers looking to source quality products. To ensure a seamless experience for global buyers, VIFA ASEAN 2024 offers a range of support and complimentary services, including: airport support at Tan Son Nhat International Airport; discounts of up to 40 per cent when booking at official three- to five-star hotels; a free shuttle bus service between Wink Hotel, New World Hotel, and SECC; a free factory visit tour in Binh Duong province; and a 20 per cent discount on eSIMs booked through Gohub.vn. Visitors will also have the chance to receive a cute gift from the organiser when checking in at the ASEAN HOUSE, Booth No. AA26 (Hall A2). Explore more about VIFA ASEAN: www.vifafair.com and www.vifaasean.com HA NOI The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) is pushing all credit institutions to go green in terms of banking and credit. They have issued a decision (Decision No 1663/Q-NHNN) aimed at making it easier to access green capital for green projects and the SBV requires all credit institutions to participate. According to Nguyen uc Lenh, Deputy Director of the SBVs HCM City branch, under the decision, the requirement to develop green banking and green credit is not only the task of commercial banks but also the task of all credit institutions, including non-bank credit institutions including finance companies, financial leasing companies and people's credit funds. This helps to enhance responsibility and initiative of the entire credit institution system in developing green credit, Lenh said. More credit institutions are already implementing environmental and social risk management in their credit granting activities and are gradually approaching international standards in this activity. Therefore, the SBV's decision is a necessary step for the entire credit institution system to join them in promoting sustainable financing activities. According to Tran Tuong Van, Consulting Director of EY Consulting Vietnam, banks are currently ready to lend green and are eager to find suitable customers. However, in order to expand lending, credit institutions need to be reassured about concerns about green classification criteria and capital sources for green lending. Therefore, the decision will create a unified legal basis for credit institutions to implement in practice as it regulates the SBV to periodically update the list of green projects and set out specific responsibilities for management agencies, such as issuing guidelines on green credit and environmental risk management, issuing guidelines for preparing reports on green credit and developing reference documents for credit institutions on green credit, environmental and social risk management. In addition, experts believe as regulations on green credit and green bonds have been supplemented and specified in the Law on Environmental Protection and Decree No. 08/2022/N-CP of the Government, the SBV's regulations on support mechanisms for credit institutions to encourage the development of green banking, such as considering prioritising capital sources for green credit development through refinancing and rediscounting policies; and supporting commercial banks with a high proportion of green credit loans in accessing capital sources from international organisations and development partners, will also help credit institutions boldly deploy new products such as large-scale green credit packages and green bond issuance activities. Dr. Can Van Luc, chief economist of BIDV, said in order to have investment capital for green development sectors, Viet Nam would need to mobilise about US$368-380 billion by 2040, equivalent to $20 billion per year. A complete legal framework would open up opportunities for the credit institution system to exploit the full potential in the green sector, especially creating initiative in diversifying capital mobilised for the green sector, investing more deeply in designing green credit products and specific green bonds. VNS HA NOI While digital transformation is a priority for manufacturers, around 30 to 40 per cent of global and Asia Pacific (APAC) respondents recognise achieving it is fraught with obstacles. Those barriers include the cost and availability of labour, scaling technology solutions and the convergence of information technology and operational technology (IT/OT). The information was released at the findings of 2024 Manufacturing Vision Study from Zebra Technologies Corporation, a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets and people. The study showed that globally, 61 per cent of manufacturers expect AI to drive growth by 2029, up from 41 per cent in 2024. In APAC, 68 per cent of manufacturers expect AI to drive growth by 2029, increasing from 46 per cent in 2024. This surge in AI adoption, combined with 92 per cent global and 87 per cent of APAC survey respondents prioritising digital transformation, underscores manufacturers intent to improve data management and leverage new technologies that enhance visibility and quality throughout the manufacturing process. In Viet Nam, the Government has consistently set ambitious targets for the manufacturing sector, with it expected to contribute 30 per cent to the overall GDP. The sectors contribution to GDP is expected to grow by more than 8.5 per cent per annum, while labour productivity is forecast to grow 7.5 per cent per annum. To achieve these goals, Vietnamese businesses must embrace the need for reskilling and retraining their workforce to stay competitive. Adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies is crucial for enhancing productivity, improving quality and streamlining operations. Christanto Suryadarma, Sales Vice President for Southeast Asia (SEA), South Korea and Channel APJeC, Zebra Technologies said foreign investors had increasingly been investing in Viet Nam. In 2023, the manufacturing sector alone attracted US$20 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), which represents over 60 per cent of the total FDI in the country. This underscored the significant development potential of Viet Nams manufacturing industry. The country has successfully established a stable and sustainable manufacturing base, encompassing sectors such as textiles, footwear, electronics, machinery and food processing. Viet Nam had positioned itself as a major manufacturing hub in Asia, particularly in electronics and textiles, he added. He suggested that to sustain this growth, Vietnamese businesses needed to focus on retraining and equipping their workforce with new skills to stay competitive. Embracing AI and advanced technologies would be crucial for enhancing productivity, improving quality, and optimising operations. He also highlighted that digitalising manufacturing processes, implementing smart manufacturing technologies and modernising and automating production were key factors driving economic advantage. Currently, many manufacturing sectors in Viet Nam were rapidly advancing in digitalisation and adopting cutting-edge technologies to optimise their operations. While ambitious goals are important, they can be achieved by starting on a smaller scale, making the implementation process more manageable, according to Suryadarma. According to the survey, overall, the quest for quality has intensified as manufacturers across segments must do more with fewer resources. The manufacturing leaders say todays most significant quality management issues are real-time visibility keeping up with new standards and regulations, integrating data and maintaining traceability. Visibility is the first step to transformation through adopting AI and other new technologies. This enables manufacturers to leverage data more effectively to identify, react and prioritise problems and projects to deliver incremental efficiencies across the manufacturing process, ensuring the greatest impact upfront. Manufacturers struggle with using their data effectively so they recognise they must adopt AI and other digital technology solutions to create an agile, efficient manufacturing environment, said Christanto Suryadarma. Zebra helps Vietnamese manufacturers work with technology in new ways to automate and augment workflows, to achieve a well-connected plant floor where people and technology collaborate at scale. Zebra empowers manufacturers with strategic insights and technologies to advance the connected factory by boosting visibility, optimising quality and augmenting their workforces. Technological innovations, such as machine vision and deep learning OCR solutions, are opening doors for manufacturers to excel in an era marked by rapid technological advancement and growing requirements for speed, safety, and precision, said Tan Aik Jin, APAC Solutions Lead for Manufacturing and Singapore ZEC, Zebra Technologies. Beyond just adopting technology, businesses need to be prepared and equipped to continually transcend current capabilities. The future of manufacturing demands a symbiotic relationship between technology and human expertise to redefine the essence of manufacturing. VNS HA NOI Indonesia has increased its rice import demand by 30,000 tonnes in August compared to the previous month, bringing the total to 350,000 tonnes, according to the latest tender announcement from the Indonesian National Logistics Agency (Perusahaan Umum BULOG). The tender invitation specifies that Indonesia is inviting bids for 350,000 tonnes of 5 per cent of broken white rice and will favour suppliers to Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan. In the first half of 2024, Indonesia averaged tenders for about 300,000 tonnes of rice each month. Since July, Bulog increased the tender quantity by 20,000, bringing the total to 320,000 tonnes. However, the tender results fell short of expectations, with the country purchasing only 200,000 tonnes. To meet its demand, Bulog has set an unprecedentedly high target of 350,000 tonnes for the August tender. Indonesia's call for larger rice tenders is a major opportunity for rice exporters, particularly those from Viet Nam, given the current uncertainties in the global rice market "Indonesia's increased invitation to bid for rice is a positive signal for Viet Nam's rice export industry. In the bidding round last July, Vietnamese enterprises won the most bids with seven out of 12 lots, accounting for 185,000 tonnes of rice, the General Director of Can Tho Rice Export Joint Stock Company Nguyen Van Nhat said. This shows that Vietnamese rice still maintains a strong competitiveness compared to other sources. Although Viet Nam's rice export price is currently the highest in the world, reaching US$578 per tonne, we believe that the increase in demand from Indonesia will create opportunities for us to continue exploiting this market," he said. He added that the current supply of Vietnamese rice is constrained due to the nearing end of the summer-autumn crop and the autumn-winter crop not yielding a large quantity. As a result, rice prices will remain high, which could affect price competitiveness. However, the large demand from countries like the Philippines could alleviate some of the price pressure. Given the current market conditions, Vietnamese rice exporters are approaching tenders with caution to avoid "selling more and losing more" he said. "We are carefully weighing the pros and cons before bidding, especially considering the premium prices of our rice in the global market." In the first seven months of 2024, Viet Nam exported nearly 5.3 million tonnes of rice, earning $3.34 billion. The figures set new records for Viet Nam's rice industry compared to the same period in previous years, including 2023. According to forecasts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam is expected to have another successful year of rice exports, with a target of exporting 7.5-8 million tonnes of rice and exceeding five billion US dollars in export revenue. VNS According to the World Health Organisation, about 70 percent of people in the world suffer potentially traumatic events in their lives. This offers an opening for the Church to come alongside those suffering, share the gospel and witness healing, according to SIM (Serving in Mission), a mission organization that has responded by setting up a trauma healing ministry. Jennie Girard who coordinates the developing SIMs trauma healing network across France trains facilitators, runs recovery groups and arranges resources helping trauma survivors on their healing journeys. Girard leads the Healing the Wounds of Trauma (HWT) training program created at the Trauma Healing Institute by the American Bible Society. The training combines biblical and practical mental health principles to bring Jesus healing to spiritual and emotional wounds from all sorts of traumatic events including the effects of war experiences and abuse encounters, according to a report shared through SIM Australia. SIM mission workers in many countries are faced with the trauma of the people they were called to work with: including wars, epidemics, natural disasters, social disasters and personal suffering, said Girard. They are not necessarily equipped to recognise the effects of trauma on people, nor know how to help. It is also vital that mission workers themselves be aware of how trauma affects them and how to deal with it since many experience their own trauma through life, including while serving on the field. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Girards overall aim is supporting those needing restoration through the Holy Spirit. The healing ministry helps both participants needing healing and also equips mission workers supporting traumatized people on mission fields. With a heart for France, Gerard previously taught SIM mission children in West Africa and completed a theological diploma in a French Bible college where she met her husband, Pascal and chose to remain in the country to serve French churches. As a trained Christian counselor, Girard heard about the Healing Wounds of Trauma program through SIM. I heard about the very positive results it was having in helping parishioners heal from their suffering and moving on with God, she explained. People going through the program are able to restore their relationships on all levels, to forgive and to grow spiritually again. Healthy Christians create missionally healthy churches. Girard completed her training in 2017 to enable her to lead healing groups and train others the same. HWT is a journey together, sharing our personal experiences and understanding of the dramas we have been through, said Girard. It is suitable for helping with all kinds of traumatic experiences and designed to be used as a ministry tool for churches and Christian organizations. SIMs trauma healing ministry could expand and involve trained leaders running more program groups in global regions, according to Nancy Writebol, SIM Global Trauma Healing Coordinator, who has supported people in Liberia for many years. Our vision is to overcome gospel-barriers through biblical, compassionate trauma care and see every person experience healing in the Lord Jesus Christ, said Writebol. Not only do we desire to train SIM leaders but to help the churches SIM has planted address the effects of trauma and loss with resources that integrate biblical and mental health principles. The trauma healing ministry offered by SIM is designed to help believers utilize biblical and mental health pragmatics to help trauma survivors in local communities. We must become representatives of our Lord to suffering people, added Writebol. The total number of those suffering from trauma is staggering. People who are suffering long for help and comfort. It is an open door for the church to bend down, like our Lord bent down for us, and to enter into the great traumas of this world with real help and companionship and comfort. Such work often opens the hearts of people to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. HA NOI The stock market faced increased selling pressure on the last Monday of August, leading to significant losses in major stocks, while foreign investors extended their net selling. The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed the day at 1,280.02 points, down 5.3 points or 0.41 per cent. On the southern bourse, the market breadth was negative, with 203 stocks declining, while 109 increased and 53 ended flat. Liquidity improved significantly to VN18.3 trillion (US$735.2 million), an increase of 8.9 per cent from the previous session. The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation on the HoSE, also dropped 2.55 points or 0.19 per cent, to 1,318.6 points. The number of decliners surpassed gainers in the VN30 basket by 21 to 6, while three stocks remained flat. Large-cap stocks in the manufacturing and banking sectors led the market's downturn, with Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM) posting the biggest fall in market capitalisation, down 2 per cent, contributing to a decrease of more than 0.75 points in the VN-Index. It was followed by Masan Group Corporation (MSN), whose shares fell by 2.18 per cent, reducing the VN-Index by more than 0.58 points. Losses were mitigated by gains in some pillar stocks, led by Vin Group stocks. Vinhomes JSC (VHM) increased by 1.89 per cent, Vingroup Joint Stock Company (VIC) rose by 1.44 per cent, and Vincom Retail Joint Stock Company (VRE) gained 1.79 per cent. The gains continued with Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB), which rose 1.33 per cent and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TCB), which increased by 0.45 per cent. According to experts from Viet Dragon Securities, the rise in liquidity compared to the previous session indicates that market support efforts are ongoing as supply gradually increases. Although there has not been a clear distribution day, the market's hesitation suggests a retest of the 1,275-point resistance level. The market is expected to continue receiving support as it retreats, with the potential to reach the 1,305-point peak in the near future. Therefore, investors may consider short-term buying opportunities during market adjustments, particularly in stocks showing positive performance from strong support levels. The Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) index also finished slightly lower on Monday, down 0.46 per cent to 238.97 points. During the session, more than VN1.2 trillion worth of shares were traded, equivalent to a trading volume of over 65 million shares on the northern bourse. Foreign investors continued their selling spree, with a net sale of over VN389 billion on the HoSE. VNS Compiled by Yen Vi HA NOI The land market is facing great risks from unsustainable land fevers with auctions in suburban districts of Ha Noi becoming 'hotter' than ever. All land auctions over the past month were sold out and prices in the following sessions continuously broke the records of the previous sessions. More than 500 customers participated, registering 1,100 sets of documents at the auction of 19 land lots in Long Khuc area, Tien Yen Commune, Hoai uc District, Ha Noi. This auction was tense, exciting and tiring for both the organiser and the auctioneer. After nine rounds of auctions, the highest winning price was VN133.3 million (US$5,500)/m2, the lowest price was VN91.3 million/m2. Many economic experts commented that the recent land auctions in the suburbs of Ha Noi attracted the attention of so many investors, partly because some suburban districts were about to be upgraded to districts. That will mean additional investment in social infrastructure. There has also been a marked shortage of land supply recently as it has been a while Ha Noi hosted any land auctions. Along with that, the pressure to increase prices from the apartment and inner-city land segments has made suburban areas the choice of many investors. However, in reality, at auctions in Thanh Oai and Hoai uc districts, winning bids were recorded to be twice to three times higher than the common land price range in the surrounding area, which many experts consider unusual. The Suc khoe & oi song (Health & Life) newspaper quoted Dr. Tran Xuan Luong, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation, as saying that land auctions were becoming an issue, as land prices were often pushed up much higher than their actual value. There were many reasons for this situation, with many tricks behind the auctions, he said. "One of those tricks is the strategy of speculators from other places. These groups participate in auctions with the goal of pushing up prices, then quickly reselling them at a large difference. They do not intend to develop on the land, but only wait for opportunities to make short-term profits, causing market fluctuations and making it difficult for those with real needs," said Luong. inh Minh Tuan, Director of the Southern region of Batdongsan.com.vn, was concerned that with high land auction results like the recent auctions in Hoai uc, Thanh Oai districts and suburban districts of Ha Noi, the cost of site clearance for new projects might become more expensive. In addition, with the winning auction price being many times higher than the average, it might lead to people owning land in the surrounding area having the mentality of pushing up the selling price of their land, he said. With the 'fever' from the sudden high prices, it might become a bubble of land speculation, when many people rush to buy land in the hope of making a profit from the continued increase in land prices, he added. "The fact that many people rush into real estate in the hope of making a profit can cause the cash flow to stagnate in land, instead of being circulated in other economic activities," said Tuan. Experts said that uncontrolled land auctions could distort the market and cause many consequences for the economy and society. The heat in the situation not only affected the healthy development of the real estate market, but also put the biggest risk on investors with legitimate needs to buy houses to live in, said experts. Dr. Tran Xuan Luong commented that when land prices were pushed up unreasonably, the real estate market could easily fall into a speculative bubble. Land values were inflated far beyond their actual value, creating the risk of the price bubble bursting when the market adjusted, he said. At this time, all risks from the "virtual price trap" would be borne by investors. Investors needed to be extremely careful before spending money to buy land at this time and must research carefully to avoid falling into the trap, he added. The real estate market in Ha Noi, with its dense population and supply not meeting demand, easily attracts speculators in auctions. Therefore, it was possible that in many land auctions, there were investors colluding to push up prices to increase the value of neighbouring land for profit, he said. In the context of the increasingly scarce real estate market in the city centre, suburban areas with abundant land funds and development potential were becoming new targets for investors, he said. The recent continuous surge in land prices in the suburbs of Ha Noi required caution from investors. Investors should consider carefully before participating in land auctions in suburban areas, especially those with unusually high prices, said Luong. PM requests to rectify land auctions In response, the Prime Minister issued a telegram on Wednesday directing relevant agencies to promptly rectify the work of auctioning land use rights. In particular, the Prime Minister requested the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, Minister of Construction and the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and cities to urgently review and inspect the organisation of land use rights auctions in cases showing signs of abnormality. The Prime Minister requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of centrally-run provinces and cities to direct functional agencies and units to review the organisation of land use rights auctions in their localities to ensure compliance with the law, publicity and transparency. At the same time, he directed them to promptly detect and strictly handle violations of legal regulations in land use rights auctions and prevent acts of taking advantage of land use rights auctions for profit and disrupting the market. Strictly implementing this direction, Chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh signed an official dispatch on Thursday requesting relevant departments, branches and units to inspect, detect and handle violations of the law related to unusually high land use rights auction results in the capital. The Ha Noi Department of Natural Resources and Environment must preside over the synthesis of implementation results, draft documents of the city people's committee reporting results and recommendations, proposals to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment before August 28. Specifically, the Ha Noi Department of Natural Resources and Environment will preside over and coordinate with the departments and branches of justice, finance, inspectorate, police to inspect all land auctions in Thanh Oai and Hoai uc districts in the recent past and promptly detect and resolutely handle violations of the law (if any) and report to the city people's committee before August 25. At the same time, the Ha Noi Department of Natural Resources and Environment will preside over and coordinate with the departments and branches of justice, finance, inspection, police to review the process, procedures, regulations on land use right auctions of districts, towns. Report to the city people's committee to direct the implementation of measures to ensure the organisation of land use right auctions strictly according to legal regulations, to be completed before August 27. In addition, the city also requires the people's committees of districts, towns and cities to review all land use right auctions in the area to organise implementation in accordance with legal regulations and report to the city people's committee on difficulties and problems beyond their authority. VNS HCM CITY The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta is entering its annual flooding season and many rice farmers in upstream provinces have opened their field sluices to let the floodwaters and aquatic creatures in. The floods are caused by the rising level of the Mekong River during the rainy season, and they bring sediments and fish and other creatures. The countrys rice granary is expected to have higher levels of floodwaters this year compared to the last two because the forecast is for plenty of rain. In the upstream provinces of An Giang and ong Thap, where the first floodwaters enter the delta from Cambodia, the floods have started. Farmers in An Giangs An Phu District have begun to catch aquatic species in their fields and rivers and canals. Nguyen Van Hien in the districts Vinh Hoi ong Commune said in recent years flooding had been minimal and late and receded quickly, and so there were few fishes. In recent days there have been plenty of rains, rivers have been rising rapidly, and he could net lots of fish, he said. I catch 5 7 kg of fish a day and sell them at a local market, and earn VN200,000 (US$8), and this is enough to cover my family expenses. Linh fish (Cirrhinus jullieni) and other speciality flood season products such as ien ien (Sesbania sesban) flowers are sold in many markets in An Giangs An Phu District. The flower is used to cook sour and sweet soup and to make fermented pickles. Phung The Vinh, head of the An Phu District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, said flooding has occurred in Phu Hoi, Nhon Hoi and Phu Huu communes bordering Cambodia. This year floodwaters are higher than at the same time last year. We are waiting for farmers to complete harvesting their summer-autumn rice and will work with the three communes to set up a plan to let floodwaters flow into rice fields to wash the alum out. In ong Thap Province, after harvesting their summer-autumn rice, farmers in the upstream district of Hong Ngu District have opened the sluices of their fields to let the floodwaters in. The floodwaters wash alum out of fields and destroy pathogens. Hong Ngu District has designated 13 concentrated farming areas for growing rice and other crops that cover 9,357ha and have embankments to protect them from the floodwaters. It will open sluices to let the waters into 12 of them over the next two months, according to its Peoples Committee. Duong Van Thuong, a farmer in the districts Thuong Thoi Hau A Commune, said if paddies are not flooded, they require more fertilisers and have weeds and diseases. According to the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research, storms in the East Sea in late July brought plenty of rains to southern Laos and Cambodia, causing the Mekong to flow higher than in the last several years. But the flooding reduced to average levels this month. It is expected to peak in the first half of October. The flooding has been declining in recent years due to the impacts of climate change and the construction of hydroelectric dams upstream the Mekong River by other countries. VNS AN GIANG The Mekong Delta province of An Giang will host a trade fair to introduce its culture, tourism, and cuisine to lure tourists during the upcoming holiday to celebrate National Day on September 2. The week-long event will attract craft villages, export processing enterprises, food companies, eateries and tourist agencies in An Giang and other southern provinces. The fair will include 180 stalls displaying the provinces specialties, craft products, and tourism services. The event will set up a corner to highlight mam (fermented fish) processing, which has existed in Chau oc City for more than 100 years. Located along the Hau River, the city has rich natural fish resources. It has brought to the market diverse types of fermented fish such as Siamese mud carp, snakehead fish, climbing perch, crab, and shrimp. Chau oc, also known as the kingdom of fermented fish of the region, was recognised as the locality having the most southern fermented fish processing facilities in Viet Nam by the Vietnam Book of Records in 2022. The fair will also set up an area to introduce the life, culture and cuisine of the Cham ethnic minority people in the province. In addition, the event will set space for other provinces to showcase their speciality products and signature dishes. The organisers will offer live cooking shows to instruct visitors how to cook with fermented fish. The provinces famous dish of fermented fish hot pot will also be introduced. The hot pot has a broth made of fermented fish paste and lemongrass, served with eggplant, signature kinds of vegetables in the region, fish, shrimp, squid, and roasted pork. The fair will introduce tourism products and services, and connect with tourist agencies in other provinces to launch tours to explore An Giangs cuisine, landscapes and destinations. Apart from fermented fish, the province is popular for its bun ca (fish noodle soup), which originated from Long Xuyen City, beef cooked in seven different ways from the Sam Mountain in Chau oc, and banh bo thot not (steamed rice cake with palm sugar paste and coconut milk). It is also one of the most famous destinations in the region with beautiful nature and a rich history and culture such as Tra Su cajuput forest in Tinh Bien District, Bay Nui (Seven Mountains), and the Ba Chua Xu (The Lady of the Realm) Temple on Sam Mountain. In addition, the fair will present traditional music and dance performances by the ethnic minority groups in the region. According to Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, vice chairwoman of the provinces People's Committee (administration), the fair aims to introduce and promote the lifestyle and culture of the province to visitors in the country and abroad. It also creates an opportunity for An Giang to boost cooperation and share experiences in trade, tourism and investment with other provinces and businesses nationwide, and learn more about domestic and international markets to improve the product quality and expand to new markets. The fair will take place at the square of Chau Phu A Ward in Chau oc City from August 29 to September 3. VNS Dr Mattias Larsson* No case of mpox has been diagnosed in Viet Nam so far. This story is written about a fictional character in order to illustrate and clarify some of the causes, symptoms and treatment for Mpox. William woke up in a morning with fever, headache and muscle pain. He took some paracetamol that relieved the symptoms to some extent. However, as blisters and sores began to develop on the trunk, arms, legs, hands and feet he became worried. He also noted that he had swollen lymph nodes. As he came back from a work trip in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) two days earlier, he thought he needed a check-up, especially as he had seen some people with blisters in the area he worked in. When he came to the clinic and presented his symptoms, the staff rapidly moved him into a single room and explained that as he had an unknown infection, he had to be isolated to prevent transmission. The doctor and nurse came in dressed in protective gear covering the whole body, to prevent them from being infected. Blood samples were taken as well as liquid from the blisters with a swab. The doctor asked more in detail about his travel to DRC and if he had been exposed to any disease. He also asked about Williams contacts since he came home so they could be assessed for symptoms and possibly tested. The doctor explained that there was currently an outbreak of mpox in central Africa and that the symptoms he presented were similar to mpox. Mpox is a zoonosis, a disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans, but also between people. The first was first discovered in monkeys, but has mainly been found in various types of rodents in Central and West Africa. It was first detected in humans in 1970. Mpox, caused by the monkeypox virus, has two main types: Clade 1 and Clade 2. Clade 1 is highly contagious, particularly affecting children and leads to more severe symptoms with higher mortality rates. In late 2023, Clade 1 was rapidly spreading in central Africa, notably in the DRC. Transmission occurs primarily through close physical contact, such as within families or through sexual contact. The incubation period is typically 6 to 13 days and there have been rare cases of indirect transmission through items like bedding and towels. Additionally, mother-to-child transmission can occur during childbirth. Clade 2 primarily spreads through sexual contact among men who have sex with men (MSM) and caused a global outbreak in 2022. Symptoms of mpox vary based on the transmission route. Common symptoms include blisters or sores on the trunk, limbs, hands and feet, along with fever, headache, muscle pain, and swollen lymph nodes. In cases of sexual transmission, blisters or sores can occur on the face, around the mouth, throat, genitals and anus. While mpox can be painful and uncomfortable, most cases resolve within two to four weeks. Young children, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems, such as from conditions like HIV, face a higher risk of severe illness if infected. This year, over 15,600 cases of mpox have been reported, resulting in 537 deaths, primarily affecting children. Within the last month, more than 100 confirmed cases of Clade 1b have emerged in four neighbouring countries of the DRC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Experts suspect the actual number of cases to be higher due to many untested but symptomatic cases. Notably, the first case caused by Clade 1 outside Africa was diagnosed in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 15. Additionally, recent cases have been identified in Pakistan and Thailand. Two WHO-approved mpox vaccines are currently available but face challenges due to limited availability and high cost. This impedes widespread immunisation efforts crucial for halting further transmission. Last week, WHO initiated Emergency Use Listing for mpox vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access for low-income countries. Compared to COVID-19, mpox is caused by a known virus that spreads through close physical contact rather than respiratory means. Vaccines are already in existence, though currently limited in supply, so the risk for a mpox pandemic is considered low. What happened to William? He received treatment for fever and discomfort at the clinic, after two weeks he had recovered, none of his contacts had contracted mpox. Family Medical Practice *Dr Mattias Larsson is a paediatric doctor at Family Medical Practice and associate professor at Karolinska Institute and has a long experience in research on infectious diseases. He has worked with the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit and the Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. He is fluent in English, Swedish, Vietnamese, German and speaks some Spanish. Family Medical Practice - FMP Healthcare Group operates medical centres in major cities including HCM City, Ha Noi and a Nang, offering consultations with international doctors, check-up centres and emergency ambulance services. In HCM City, we have clinics in Districts 1, 2, and 7, along with the Care 1 - Executive Health Check-Up Centre and internationally accredited *9999 emergency ambulance services. HA NOI - Hundreds of ethnic dancers and musicians will be putting on shows for visitors over several days to celebrate the national holiday. Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism welcomes visitors to join a series of activities celebrating National Day on September 2. Activities will be held from August 31 to September 3 at the village in Ha Nois suburbs aiming at honouring and introducing the culture and customs of Vietnamese ethnic groups. Visitors to the village will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich culture of the ethnic groups through the programme entitled Vui Tet oc Lap (Happy Independence Day). The programme will highlight the khen (panpipe) dance of those of the Mong ethnic group, le cap sac (maturity ritual) of the Nung and the head washing ceremony of the Thai ethnic people. Playing khen and khen dancing is a musical form that expresses deep feelings and connects this life to the spiritual world. Mong people will play and dance khen at festivals and New Year celebrations. It expresses love, community and nature and making contact to the world of the dead. Young Mong men play the khen and dance to show off their strength, sensibility and skill. The Cap sac is a rite of passage declaring the coming-of-age of Nung men. The cap sac ritual is an indispensable part of the life of every Nung male as it helps him earn recognition as being mature enough to join in the communitys major activities. Cap sac ritual is a unique ritual, handed down through many generations in the community. The Vui Tet oc Lap programme promises a dazzling showcase of the rich traditional cultures through highland market, with enchanting folk dances, regional cuisines and other festive performances. The northern province of Bac Ninh will have around 30 booths during the event to introduce its culture and architecture to visitors, along with folk games, traditional crafts and the UNESCO recognised quan ho (love duet). There will also be quan ho pictures on display. Three hundred artisans and artists are set to participate in the event. - VNS HA NOI President Ho Chi Minh, a hero of Viet Nam, is one of the most important revolutionary leaders in the history of humanity, stated Secretary General of the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) Juan Castillo. He made the remark while speaking to the Viet Nam News Agency on the sidelines of a recent workshop themed President Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Nam Latin America relations in Buenos Aires. Castillo said during his 60-year revolutionary career, including 30 years abroad, President Ho Chi Minh actively engaged in the progressive movement in the world. He was a founding member of the French Communist Party and later founded the Communist Party of Viet Nam. The late Vietnamese leader creatively developed Marxism - Leninism in terms of both theoretical and practical aspects. His contributions to the fight against imperialists for national liberation, independence, freedom, democracy, and socialism building were extremely significant. He was a critically important factor of the building of the great national solidarity the centre of every revolutionary process, the PCU leader emphasised. He praised the revolutionary ethics and profound ideology of President Ho Chi Minh, who pointed out that revolutionaries must always stand on the peoples side, protect the people, and ensure happiness and peace for the people. His teachings remain valuable and significant today. Ho Chi Minh is definitely the best historical part of revolutionaries as well as the entire humanity, Castillo opined. Mentioning the Vietnamese leaders testament 55 years ago, the Uruguayan official hailed Ho Chi Minhs spirit of international communist solidarity, noting that realising his teachings, Viet Nam has been exerting constant efforts to contribute to peace, stability, and solidarity among nations, along with development in the region and the world. In the volatile 21st century, he went on, the steadfastness in the goal of peace, stability, equitable development, and social equality is more necessary than ever. Nowadays, Viet Nam is pushing ahead with implementing Ho Chi Minhs teachings by building socialism through oi moi (Renewal) to generate prosperity and happiness for people and establish itself as one of the 20 most dynamic economies in the world. With the school of bamboo diplomacy, it has expanded diplomatic and trade relations with the whole world while substantially helping with stability in Asia and peace around the globe, according to Castillo. In May, the administration of Uruguays Montevideo capital adopted a resolution on the establishment of a Vietnamese space, and the building of a monument to President Ho Chi Minh on his 134th birthday occasion. Castillo considered these as symbols of solidarity between the two peoples, and also places for honouring Uruguayan progressive people and left-wing forces great support for the Vietnamese peoples resistance war against the US in the past. Highlighting Ho Chi Minh as the one who laid the foundation for bilateral ties, the PCU Secretary General expressed his belief that with the long-standing solidarity, relations between the two countries and the two communist parties will develop and be solidified further in all spheres, from politics, trade, culture, education, and learning. VNS BAC NINH President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines on Monday visited the KOTO humanitarian vocational training centre in Tien Du District, the northern province of Bac Ninh, as part of her official visit to Vietnam. The Australian guest engaged in discussions, and joined several activities at the centre. Founded in 2001 by Jimmy Pham, an Australian of the Vietnamese origin, the KOTO centre is a unique non-profit social enterprise in Viet Nam and globally. Over the recent times, the Australian government has shown considerable interest in and provided support for the centre's humanitarian and social activities. The centre provides vocational training for nearly 120 students. It covers 100 per cent of the living and training expenses for disadvantaged youth, ethnic minorities, and those at risk or marginalised. More than 1,700 students have graduated from the centre since its establishment, with many of them becoming head chefs, sous chefs, hotel and resort general managers, and business owners. The Australian official highly valued training activities of the centre, expressing her hope that the establishment will continue to better its humanitarian and training efforts to support more disadvantaged youth, thereby spreading positive values and contributing to families and society. Earlier in the morning, she laid a wreath and visited President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in Ha Noi. VNS HA NOI Viet Nam and the Republic of Korea agreed to actively implement cooperative security activities on the seas. The details were outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023, with a focus on exchanging delegations at various levels and sharing information and experiences in combating transnational crime. This agreement was reached during talks held on Monday in Ha Noi between Luong Tam Quang, Member of the Politburo and Minister of Public Security (MoPS) and Kim Jong-Uk, Commissioner General of the Korea Coast Guard (KCG). Welcoming Commissioner Kim and the KCG delegation to the MoPS, Quang emphasised that this meeting provided an opportunity for both sides to discuss and firm up cooperation directions between the two agencies. He expressed his pleasure at the strong development of Viet Nam-RoK relations, noting that the bilateral relationship has flourished since the establishment of diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. This cooperation has continued to expand comprehensively in all areas following the upgrade of their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022. Building on the positive cooperation between the two countries, security and police cooperation has become a key pillar of their bilateral relations. Quang noted that by regularly maintaining important cooperation mechanisms, the partnership between the MoPS of Viet Nam and the KCG has been further strengthened, leading to substantive and effective collaboration. He also appreciated the KCG's support in providing coastal patrol vessels to the MoPS, as well as their assistance in training and instructing underwater special forces and sharing expertise in operating and managing jet skis, high-speed boats and large coastal patrol vessels. Quang expressed confidence that these vessels will be effectively used, enhancing the combat capabilities of the waterway police in their duties, particularly in patrolling, controlling and handling administrative violations, as well as in combating crime on inland waterways, conducting search and rescue operations and responding to natural disasters. The MoPS is committed to building a regular, elite and modern waterway police force with the capability to meet mission requirements, including cooperation with international partners, especially the KCG, he noted. Quang also requested that RoK provide further training and instruction for Viet Nam's special forces and sailors, as well as in managing, operating and maintaining patrol vessels and underwater combat techniques, counter-terrorism and search and rescue operations at sea. In response, Kim affirmed that RoK would work to complete the key areas of cooperation between the two sides and proposed that the RoK government provide technical support and maintenance for the patrol vessels already delivered to the MoPS. On the same day in Ha Noi, General Luong Tam Quang, Member of the Politburo and Minister of Public Security, presided over the ceremony to award the 'For the Security of the Fatherland' medal to Kim Jong-Uk, Commissioner General of the Korea Coast Guard. VNS HA NOI The National Assembly on Monday afternoon has approved the Government's proposal for the selection of three new Deputy Prime Ministers Nguyen Hoa Binh, Ho uc Phoc and Bui Thanh Son, for the 2021-26 term at the extraordinary session on personnel matters in Ha Noi. Following this development, the Government leadership for the term comprises Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and five Deputy Prime Ministers (three new ones alongside Tran Hong Ha and Le Thanh Long). Nguyen Hoa Binh, 66, from the central province of Quang Ngai, has served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Viet Nam since June 2016. Ho uc Phoc, 61, from the central Nghe An Province, was Auditor General of the State Audit Office since 2016, before assuming the role of Minister of Finance in April 2021.As a local leader, he acted as Nghe Ans Peoples Council Chairman and Party Secretary from March 2013 to April 2016. Bui Thanh Son, 62, from the capital city of Ha Noi, has been serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since April 2021, following many positions in the ministry, including standing deputy minister since January 2016. Ho uc Phoc will continue to serve as the finance minister until the parliament approves a succeeding one, while Bui Thanh Son will serve as both Deputy PM and the foreign minister. Tran Luu Quang was officially relieved from the Deputy PM position, as he will serve as head of the Party's Central Economic Commission. In the same session, the parliament also approved two new ministers, along with the heads of two top judicial bodies. Khanh Hoa Provinces Party Secretary Nguyen Hai Ninh and Yen Bai Provinces Party Secretary o uc Duy have been respectively approved as the new Minister of Justice and Minister of Natural Environment and Resources. Ninh was the deputy chief of the Central Party Office from March 2019, before being assigned the role of Khanh Hoa Province's Party Secretary for the term 2020-25. Le Thanh Long, the previous justice minister has been appointed as a Deputy Prime Minister at the NAs seventh session in June. He had held both positions before the NA relieved him from the role of Minister of Justice on Monday. Duy was the Deputy Minister of Construction in 2015, before assuming the role of Yen Bai Provinces Deputy Party Secretary in 2017 and then Party Secretary in September 2020. Le Minh Tri, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy, was appointed to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court in place of his predecessor Nguyen Hoa Binh. Nguyen Huy Tien, Vice Party Secretary of the Supreme People's Procuracy, succeeds Tri as the Prosecutor General. VNS After destroying lands and burning the church building of Protestant Christians in a village in Mexicos Oaxaca state earlier this month, local tribal leaders notified the government that they will expel them, according to the state secretary of government. Jesus Romero Lopez, secretary of government of Oaxaca state, said at a press conference on Tuesday (Aug. 20) that area leaders in the predominantly tribal community of the village of San Isidro Arenal, San Juan Lalana municipality in the northeast part of the state had notified him that they had decided to expel the Protestant Christians. On Wednesday (Aug. 21), while most of the Protestants were at a meeting with Oaxaca officials, area tribal Catholics looted and destroyed homes of the evangelicals in the Cerro Cajon area of San Isido Arenal, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Three women, Maximina Contreras Antonio, an 83-year-old paraplegic, and mother and daughter Esmeralda Antonio and Cristina Hernandez, were abducted and had their mobile phone confiscated before being forced onto a truck and later abandoned on a roadside hours away from their homes, CSW reported. On Aug. 6, more than 300 village Catholics looted evangelicals properties, destroying cacao and mango fields and destroying homes and their church building in Cerro Cajon, according to CSW. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Two pastors, Moises Sarmiento Alaves and Esdras Ojeda Jimenez, on Aug. 16 went to the community accompanied by two other men, Pablo Gomez Sosa and Nabor Ojeda, to attend a meeting with the Oaxaca state prosecutors office, according to CSW. Pastor Alaves was to interpret for Chinanteco-speaking tribal villagers, and the other three men planned to deliver food to the persecuted families. However, the planned proceeding never took place, and the four men were attacked by a mob, CSW stated. They were stripped, beaten, arbitrarily detained for over six hours, and forced to sign a document which they did not have the opportunity to read. A representative from the states prosecutors office eventually arrived by truck to San Isidro Arenal but did not take witness statements regarding the Aug. 6 attacks as tasked and departed without any action on behalf of the four men, Pastor Geraldo Hernandez, legal representative of the San Isidro Arenal Protestants, told CSW. [Catholic] Members of the community blocked the entrances to San Isidro Arenal, preventing anyone else from entering, CSW stated. The four men were ultimately freed by the police later that same day. Local officials also targeted rights advocates, on Aug. 18 issuing an ultimatum to leave the area in eight days to Lucia Antonio, who is not an evangelical but had expressed support for the Christians religious freedom and disagreement with the actions of the local authorities. The previous week, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oaxaca Pedro Vasquez Villalobos on Aug. 11 had denounced the attacks in his Sunday sermon. After the Protestants met with state officials on Tuesday (Aug. 20), they were informed that their livestock would be returned to them only on the condition that they pay a daily fee of 1,000 pesos (about $50 USD) for grazing rights, backdated to Aug. 6, according to CSW. Roots of the aggression go back to November 2023, when local leaders began enforcing a 1993 community accord stating that Roman Catholicism was the only religion permitted in San Isidro Arenal, according to CSW. Following this move, 13 families belonging to the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church (ICIAR) began to experience threats and acts of violence encouraged by community leaders, despite the fact that they were fulfilling all of their community responsibilities, including participating in Roman Catholic activities even though they are not members of that religious group, CSW stated. One month later, in December 2023, three religious minority families were forcibly expelled from the community and took refuge in Playa Vicente Municipality, Veracruz state. Tribal Mexicans commonly cite the constitutional Uses and Customs to justify actions against Protestants who do not practice their blend of Catholic and native beliefs and rituals. The Uses and Customs article is meant to protect the rights of indigenous communities to practice their cultural traditions but is frequently misused by local officials such as those in San Isidro Arenal to justify persecution of Protestants. The Mexican constitution guarantees FoRB [Freedom of Religion and Belief] and other human rights to all citizens, CSW noted. However, in practice FoRB violations are common among indigenous communities governed under Uses and Customs, and the Mexican government at the federal, state and municipal levels does little to ensure that these protections are upheld. As a result, in many communities a religious majority attempts to enforce religious uniformity with consequences ranging in severity for members of minorities who wish to practice a religion or belief of their choosing. State Secretary of Government Lopez said talks to resolve the conflict are continuing between officials of San Isidro Arenal and local Christian leaders. The Ombudsmans Office of the People of Oaxaca issued a statement on Thursday (Aug. 22) calling on the state secretary of government, the Oaxaca attorney general and the president of San Juan Lalana to protect the human rights of the Protestants of San Isidro Arenal. This human rights organization has documented that, because of professing a religion other than Catholicism, residents of San Isidro Arenal, San Juan Lalana, have deprived a group of people of their freedom, including women, children, and an elderly person with a disability, in addition to entering their homes with the aim of destroying them and finally expelling them from the community, under the argument that due to customs and practices, it is not permitted to profess any faith other than Catholicism, the ombudsmans office stated. Also in Oaxaca state, on July 20-23 married couple Tito Mariano Mendez and Esther Abigail Perez Ramirez, were arbitrarily detained in Montenegro village, the San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional Municipality, after local leaders learned they had submitted a complaint to the Oaxaca State Ombudsmans Office regarding FoRB violations as Protestants, according to CSW. HA NOI National Assembly's Secretary General Bui Van Cuong said that the election for the new State President will take place during the National Assembly's October session, according to the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. He made the remarks on Monday afternoon at the press conference announcing the results of the 8th extraordinary session of the 15th-tenure National Assembly. To Lam is currently serving as both the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and State President since the election on August 3 following the passing of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in July this year. Further elaborating on this matter, Nguyen Thanh Hai, head of the National Assembly's Committee for Deputy Affairs and deputy head of the Party Central Committee's Organisation Commission, stated that, according to the Party Central Committee's plans, from now until the end of 2024, the focus will be on consolidating senior leadership positions and the administration at all levels. According to Hai, this effort aims to strengthen the Party's leadership role in tasks such as socio-economic development, culture, national defence, security, foreign affairs and preparing for the Party Congresses at all levels leading up to the 14th National Party Congress. Hai stressed that the consolidation of personnel is to ensure that the political system operates more efficiently, cohesively and robustly, fostering better conditions for socio-economic development, improving people's living standards, enhancing the bond between the Party and the people, and strengthening the people's trust in the Party and the State. At a meeting with former leaders of the Party and State on August 15, General Secretary and State President To Lam stated that the National Assembly's October 2024 session will complete the consolidation of senior leadership positions. VNS HA NOI General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee and State President To Lam on Monday presented appointment decisions to three new Deputy Prime Ministers, and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, and Minister of Justice for the 2021-26 tenure. Authorised by the President, Vice Chairman of the Presidential Office Pham Thanh Ha announced the Presidents decisions on the appointment of Nguyen Hoa Binh, Ho uc Phuoc, and Bui Thanh Son as the Deputy PMs, o uc Duy as Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, and Nguyen Hai Ninh as Minister of Justice. Party General Secretary and President To Lam congratulated the officials, affirming the appointment demonstrated the Party, National Assembly, and Governments recognition and acknowledgement of their contributions and devotion to the domains that they have been in charge of. He asked the officials to continue promoting the noble revolutionary tradition, and upholding their moral qualities, stay absolutely loyal to the Party, Fatherland, and people, wholeheartedly serve the Fatherland, and the people, keep studying and following President Ho Chi Minhs thought, morality and lifestyle, and try to excellently complete all assigned tasks, making positive contributions to the cause of national building and safeguarding in the new situation. Lam said the newly-appointed Deputy PMs must promote the Governments valuable experience, harmoniously, drastically and effectively carry out the Governments missions in accordance with the Constitution and regulations, while proposing and leading the Party building work, and completion of the law-governed socialist State which is of the people, by the people, and for the people, and led by the CPV. As for the two new ministers, Lam asked them to make concerted efforts, overcome challenges, and complete missions entrusted by the Party, State and people. Affirming that the Party, State and people have high confidence, and pin high hopes on the Government in the national development cause in the coming time, the top leader expressed his belief that with the tradition of solidarity, as well as support from ministries, sectors, localities, and the whole people and military, the five officials will excellently fulfill their assigned tasks. Deputy PM Nguyen Hoa Binh, on behalf of the newly-appointed officials, promised to make all-out efforts to promote the achievements that the Government has obtained, remove bottlenecks, overcome difficulties, and make contributions to the concretisation of the resolution adopted at the 13th National Party Congress. Binh said he hopes to receive more attention, direction, and support from leaders of the Party, State, ministries, agencies and localities. VNS HA NOI Fulbright University Viet Nam (FUV) is a result of educational cooperation between Viet Nam and the US, particularly in the field of high-quality human resources training, said spokeswoman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministrys spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang on Monday. In response to a reporter's query about Fulbright University Viet Nam's activities, Hang said Viet Nam welcomes its activities, as affirmed in the Joint Statement on upgrading Viet Nam-US relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023. We hope and believe that Fulbright University Viet Nam will continue to make practical contributions to the development of the growing friendship and cooperation between Viet Nam and the US, Hang stressed. The two countries' leaders -- the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and US President Joe Biden -- "applauded the work of Fulbright University Viet Nam (FUV) and its growing role as a regional hub for public policy training, recognising the vital importance of investing in human capital as a critical resource for future prosperity, security, stability, and development," as per the joint statement in 2023. - VNS HAI PHONG The Indonesian Navy's ship KRI Bima Suci on Monday docked at Tan Vu Port, starting its four-day courtesy visit to the northern city of Hai Phong. During the visit, the ship's officers and crew members are scheduled to pay courtesy visits on leaders of the Naval Region 1 Command under the Viet Nam Peoples Navy and the Hai Phong municipal People's Committee. At his reception, Vice Chairman of the Hai Phong People's Committee Hoang Minh Cuong expressed his pleasure at the visit, saying that it takes place at the time the two countries are making preparations for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties (December 30, 2025). He briefed the guest that the city has welcomed some Indonesian working delegations, including a mission of the Indonesian Ambassador to explore and promote cooperation between Hai Phong and Indonesian localities and partners, and another of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to make a field trip to VinFast electric vehicle manufacturing complex as part of his state visit in early this year. Hai Phong, as Viet Nam's largest northern port city, has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI), including an US$11 million investment from Indonesia's IML Technology Viet Nam, he added. For his part, Rear Admiral Supardi, Governor of the Indonesian Naval Academy, expressed his admiration for the city's outstanding development achievements. He hoped that the visit would enhance cooperation between the Indonesian and Vietnamese navies. VNS HA NOI General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and State President To Lam hosted a reception for visiting Commissioner General of the Coast Guard of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Kim Jong-uk in Ha Noi on Monday. The top Vietnamese leader highlighted that Kims visit demonstrates the sentiment and friendship between the two nations, and took the occasion to extend his sincere thanks to President Yoon Suk-yeol who has made great contributions to the Viet Nam RoK ties. He stressed that late Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong had paid due attention to building the bilateral relations, and hoped both nations to bolster the ties to develop in a more robust manner, bringing benefits to both sides' people, and for peace and stability in the region and the world. Lam expressed his delight at the comprehensive development of the Viet Nam RoK relations across all domains, particularly after the two nations upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in December 2022, and welcomed the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) and the Korea Coast Guard (KCG)s implementation of their signed agreement, with various effective and substantive cooperation activities. In a bid to enhance their cooperation, Lam requested the two sides to regularly exchange delegations to pen specific cooperation plans, making the collaboration on par with their potential, as well as exchange experience, and improve capacity for the waterway police force. Kim, for his part, stated that security and police cooperation has become an important pillar in the key cooperation between the two nations, affirming he will work to promote the completion of the main areas between the two sides. He said he will do his utmost to contribute to enhancing the bilateral ties, and cooperation between the MoPS and KCG in particular, in a more effective and practical fashion for peace and benefits of the two countries peoples. VNS HA NOI Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called for the early conclusion of negotiations on the Viet Nam-United Arab Emirates (UAE) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) at a reception in Ha Noi on Monday for UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and leaders of 19 major UAE corporations. Welcoming the Minister of State and business leaders from sectors such as logistics, energy, minerals, food, investment funds, finance, and banking, PM Chinh commended the progress in CEPA negotiations and highlighted the role of Al Zeyoudi as the UAE's chief negotiator. Congratulating the UAE on its remarkable achievements, particularly in economy, the PM expressed Viet Nam's eagerness to learn from the UAE's experiences. Viet Nam values its multifaceted friendship and cooperation with the UAE, one of its leading economic partners in the Middle East, he said. Both sides expressed their delight at the recent positive development of the bilateral ties, with regular exchanges of all-level delegations and two-way trade estimated at nearly US$4 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 47 per cent year on year They expressed determination to further bolster comprehensive cooperation and elevate the bilateral relations by finalising and signing the CEPA. PM Chinh suggested facilitating cooperation and investment between businesses of both countries, considering the possibility of reducing tariffs on certain goods to leverage complementary strengths of their economies, aiming for a two-way trade target of $10 billion. Both sides need to work closely to realise the agreements already reached, well prepare for the 6th meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee in 2025, and step up cooperation in the energy, oil and gas sectors, he said. They should also enhance collaboration in developing the Halal food industry, promoting the Vietnamese export of Halal products, seafood, fresh fruits, and processed foods to the UAE and the Middle East, PM Chinh said, encouraging the UAE to support the establishment of an international financial centre in HCM City and invest in other sectors. As both sides should enhance collaboration in labour, culture, sports, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges through easing visa requirements and launching direct flights, he said Viet Nam would step up its efforts to train human resources to meet the UAE's needs. PM Chinh noted that Viet Nam is ready to serve as a bridge for the UAE to strengthen cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while considering the UAE as a gateway to foster collaboration with the Middle East. Al Zeyoudi updated the PM on the CEPA negotiations, assuring that UAE ministries and agencies are actively working with Vietnamese counterparts to finalise and sign the agreement. The UAE wants to strengthen collaboration with Vietnamese firms to produce and process Halal food, he said, adding that the UAE plans to establish a council of business cooperation with Viet Nam to deepen and improve the effectiveness of Viet Nam-UAE cooperation, particularly in trade and investment. VNS HA NOI Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting in Ha Noi to congratulate and assign tasks to newly-appointed Deputy Prime Ministers Nguyen Hoa Binh, Ho uc Phoc, and Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment o uc Duy, and Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh. Attending the meeting were Politburo members: National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man; Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and Chairman of the PCC's Commission for Internal Affairs Phan inh Trac; and Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang; together with Secretary of the PCC and Chairman of the PCC's Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung; Chairman of the PCC's Commission for Economic Affairs Tran Luu Quang; and incumbent Deputy PMs Tran Hong Ha and Le Thanh Long, among others. The PM expected that the newly-appointed officials would seriously follow the directions given by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam when he handed down appointment decisions to them earlier the same day. He urged them to leverage their strengths and work experience to collaborate effectively with the Government so as to uphold its rich traditions and past successes. The PM called for their unity, discipline, integrity, innovation and drastic actions to join hands with the Government to effectively accomplish assigned tasks, especially meeting the goals set by the 13th National Party Congress, providing dedicated service for the nation and its people. This, he said, would ultimately contribute to the interests of the Party and the nation, the development and prosperity of the country and the well-being and happiness of the people. Speaking on behalf of the newly-appointed officials, Deputy PM Nguyen Hoa Binh said these are their great honour as well as their huge responsibility before the Party, State and people. He pledged to continually strive to maintain and uphold unity and consensus, and join hands with the Government to excellently fulfil assigned tasks and contribute to the successful implementation of the 13th National Party Congresss Resolution. VNS HA NOI Viet Nam is still in the ageing population process and is one of the countries with the fastest ageing rate in the world, said Minister of Health ao Hong Lan. She said that a prolonged low birth rate would lead to many consequences, such as labour shortages and impacts on social security. Recently, voters in HCM City suggested having specific measures to increase the birth rate in urban areas. Minister Lan answered that Viet Nam officially reached the replacement fertility rate since 2006, but the replacement fertility rate was not really sustainable. The total fertility rate nationwide is showing a downward trend below the replacement level, from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 2.01 children per woman in 2022 and 1.96 children per woman last year. It was the lowest decline since 2006 and is forecast to continue. The decline is concentrated in certain urban areas with advanced socio-economic conditions and high urbanisation: In urban areas, the birth rate has been below the replacement level for the past 20 years and is consistently lower than in rural areas. Two out of six socio-economic regions (Southeast and Mekong Delta) have birth rates below the replacement level. The Southeast region, including HCM City, which has the highest per capita income in the country, also has the lowest birth rate, with an average of 1.47 children per woman. Out of 63 provinces and cities, 21 have low birth rates, accounting for approximately 39.37 per cent of the national population. Most of these provinces are located in key economic regions of the southern area, characterised by high urbanisation and rapid economic growth. According to the Ministry of Health, a prolonged low birth rate will lead to various consequences such as a rapidly ageing population, labour shortages, and impacts on social welfare. The decreasing birth rate not only affects population size but also results in a lower proportion of children under 15 years old and a higher proportion of elderly people. Solutions On April 28, 2020, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued Decision No 588/QD-TTg approving the Programme on Adjusting Birth Rates to Suit Regions by 2030. Under the decision, localities that have reached replacement fertility and have low fertility rates need to support and encourage people to have two children. Localities will analyse and evaluate policies on labour, employment, housing, social welfare, education, health to develop and implement appropriate intervention models. Provinces and cities should found friendship clubs to encourage young people to make friends, provide health advice before marriage, encourage them to marry before the age of 30 and have children early, while women should have a second child before 35 years old. They should pilot and expand worker-friendly services such as child drop-offs and pick-ups, babysitting, breast milk banks and family doctors. Localities should focus on building childcare centres and kindergartens, especially in economic and industrial zones and urban areas. Women will be supported during pregnancy, childbirth and giving birth, including infertility screening, prenatal and postnatal screening and malnutrition prevention. Couples with two children will be helped to buy social housing or to rent, they will get priority admission to public schools and help with children's education costs. Provinces and cities will promote communication about the benefits of having two children, the disadvantages of getting married and having children too late or of having too few children for socio-economic development and for the family itself. One noteworthy item that the health minister recalled from the Prime Minister's decision in the list of policies is to "step by step pilot increasing the responsibility to contribute to society and community to individuals who don't want to get married or get married too late," although this has not been clearly defined. VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Health (MoH) has unveiled a proposal in its latest draft amendment to the Law on Health Insurance (HI) that would provide one hundred per cent coverage for patients diagnosed with rare and serious illnesses, including cancer, stroke and paralysis. This proposal, part of a broader set of amendments, is currently open for public consultation until October 12. The amendments aim to adjust HI benefits to better align with contribution levels and healthcare needs. Under the new policy, certain patients would receive full coverage for medical examinations and treatments without needing to follow the usual procedures or obtain referrals between HI-affiliated healthcare facilities. Patients diagnosed with rare or serious conditions, or those requiring complex surgeries or advanced medical techniques, would be allowed to seek treatment directly at higher-tier specialised healthcare facilities. The ministry believes that this policy could reduce unnecessary expenses for the HI fund by cutting down on repeated lower-level consultations and reducing the overall number of medical visits. This would not only streamline the treatment process, but also save patients the cost of travel and payments for higher-level care. MoH has identified 42 conditions, including cancer, coronary artery surgery, stroke, hearing loss, Parkinsons disease and paralysis, that would qualify for this expanded coverage. Patients with these conditions would bypass the standard HI procedures while still receiving maximum coverage within the eligible range. However, the Health Insurance Department clarified that this does not mean HI will cover all treatment costs indiscriminately. Coverage will still be subject to the payment rates defined by the current HI law, which range from 80 per cent to 100 per cent depending on the case. For example, patients with blood disorders or cardiovascular diseases that can only be treated at specialised facilities will no longer need a referral. They can directly access the necessary care and receive full coverage within the eligible scope. Similarly, patients with rare and serious diseases will benefit from 100 per cent coverage without needing to follow the usual referral procedures. The department stressed that the new coverage proposals for out-of-network patients would only apply to specific cases and conditions to prevent an overload of higher-tier facilities with patients seeking treatment for more common illnesses. In addition to these changes, MoH has also proposed extending the age limit for HI coverage of eye conditions, such as strabismus, myopia and refractive errors, to 18 years. Currently, HI only covers these conditions for children under six years old. The ministry argues that these treatments are most effective for patients aged six to eighteen years and the current age limit is therefore medically inappropriate. As of December 2023, over 93 million people in Viet Nam are enrolled in HI, representing 93.15 per cent of the population. The quality of HI-funded medical services continues to improve. Patients now have access to modern medical technologies and effective new medications, helping many overcome serious illnesses. The HI fund has remained balanced and is becoming an increasingly important financial resource for healthcare facilities, ensuring that HI participants are financially protected when they fall ill. In 2023, the HI fund disbursed approximately VN123 trillion (over US$4.9 billion) for medical services, eight times more than in 2009. Over the past 15 years, the HI fund has paid out nearly VN1 quadrillion ($40 billion) for medical services, establishing itself as a crucial financial resource for public health. The scope of HI benefits, including the list of covered medications, medical supplies and technical services, continues to expand, meeting the evolving needs of participants. VNS HA TINH The People's Court of Ha Tinh Province handed down a six-year prison sentence and two years' probation to a local man for making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents or materials aimed at opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, at a first-instance trial on Monday. According to the indictment of the provincial People's Procuracy, Phan inh Sang, 57, a native of Huong Long Commune, Huong Khe District, created and managed five Facebook accounts to engage with reactionary groups and forums online between 2016 and 2023. Driven by discontent with the regime while living and working in Laos, he posted, shared and disseminated numerous articles, images, and videos that distorted historical facts and defamed the administration. Sang was prosecuted and placed under detention on March 12, 2024 by the Investigation Security Agency under the provincial Department of Public Security. He was previously sentenced to four years in prison by the People's Court of Gia Lai Province for embezzlement of assets at the Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Banks Branch in Chu Pah District. VNS World renowned physician-geneticist and apologist Francis Collins called on Christians to re-anchor their worldviews on biblical principles in the midst of turbulent political times. As people of faith, we need to re-anchor our worldview, not in political arguments or messages, but in biblical principles, he said. Collins gave the keynote address for the BioLogos Faith & Science Conference 2024 held in the Raleigh Convention Center, North Carolina, which was publicized this month (August) on the BioLogos website and social media. Speaking on the topic Come Let us Reason Together: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust, Collins said, Christians should be in the best position to advocate against divisiveness and animosity and in favor of love, grace and truth, especially when it comes to the admonition to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, because our faith is the source of our hope and from which we draw our strength. He pleaded for fellow Americans to regain respect for each other and institutions, as he spoke on four topics: truth, science, trust and faith. After referring to extremist elements at play in American society, he appealed to the under-appreciated, exhausted majority to support efforts to gain societal stability again. Collins opined that post-modernism in the present era had unraveled from taking a subjective approach to art and literature, followed by the same in the field of science, and now emerging individualistic attitudes within political discourse. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up This meant people could be easily offended if they dont like certain messages, or even the messenger. And for Collins, finding such signs of this anger and division in church communities was troubling. We really need to call ourselves back to our foundations to be part of the solution, he said, calling for churchgoers to regain a sense of trust because you can have truth, and you can have science and faith but unless we figure out what information to trust, what institutions to trust, were going to continue to slip into a more chaotic environment. On the matter of truth, Collins outlined four circles for discerning truths. Firstly, he said there were necessary truths, such as math sums, followed by established truths, such as the Earths circumference which dont care about how you feel. Its a fact. Next is a zone of uncertainty, such as the somewhat enigmatic nature of dark energy: We seem to think that its a real thing, because the physics point to it. But we dont know enough about it to say with any great clarity what that is. Finally, there are opinions. For example, saying dogs are better than cats. For Collins, the societal issue is that people dont know which circle to discern for political truths in American society. The problem I think were having right now is not distinguishingwhich category are we in here? And if we could be more clear about that, I think it would help our discourse a lot, he said. Scientists were distrusted by people in the Covid pandemic, alongside uncertainty about the vaccines. Collins said four times the number of unvaccinated Americans (200,000 people) died compared to those killed in the Vietnam War. Some of the scientists, myself included, didnt do a great job of communicating the facts of the matter in a way that explained our uncertainties as this was blowing up in front of us. The bottom line is somehow the enemy, the virus, was replaced by other enemies of people around us; it must be their fault. And were still there now. And that is deeply troubling. Climate change was another scientific issue confusing people. Yet for Collins, the facts were clear: Thermometers dont really care what political party you belong to. He referred to a graph showing an upturn in temperatures on Earth since 1850. However, he believed that positive action by individuals and governments could change the situation. Some of the goals out there are not pie in the sky. Collins said that studies showed a decline in trust by the public of American institutions, with the military as an exception. People queried competency, expertise and humility when looking at whom to trust. Yet a fourth question of whether a political figure's values aligned with an individual troubled the scientist. He called for differences to be recognised without demonizing others. Collins is respected in his field as a former leader of the international Human Genome Project. He was once thanked by fellow scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, who felt very grateful after the expert in disease genes and his team kept atheist and ardent debater Christopher Hitchens alive for another six to nine months after an oesophageal cancer diagnosis, thanks to genomic analysis resulting in targeted therapy. At the end of his BioLogo talk, Collins himself shared some poignant news. After the event he would undergo treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. However, he voiced publicly his trust in medical staff looking after him and more than anyone, his savior Jesus Christ. I trust, certainly, in my surgeon or I wouldnt have picked him. Ive trusted the rest of the medical staff that will be taking care of me. I trust in all the people whove done the work up until now to assure me that this is probably going to be curable. But mostly, I have trusted Jesus will be right there beside me. And that gives me the greatest comfort of all. As of the end of June, Vietnam had around 304,700 F&B stores, down 4 per cent compared to the same period last year. More than 30,000 stores have closed nationwide, with a limited number of new openings, according to market analysis by iPOS.vn. The report on Vietnam's F&B market in the first six months of the year surveyed nearly 1,000 restaurants and cafes, alongside more than 2,300 diners and 1,307 F&B employees with different ages and occupations. Ho Chi Minh City has been the most heavily affected, with a 6 per cent decrease in the number of stores across the city. In Hanoi, the number of stores rose by about 0.1 per cent. "The first six months of the year were difficult for the economy in general and the F&B industry in particular. We have witnessed a growing number of stores with a short lifespan (less than three months) in big cities," said a representative of iPOS.vn. However, Vietnam's F&B market still generated nearly VND404 trillion ($16.2 billion) in revenue in the given period, equivalent to nearly 68 per cent of the revenue for the whole year 2023. This is a surprise in light of the challenging economic environment. The significant growth of the total transaction volume is attributable to various promotions launched by F&B stores to stimulate customer demand. Businesses said they are becoming increasingly cautious about expanding their operations in the last six months of the year. The report by iPOS.vn reveals that 60 per cent of surveyed businesses are trying to maintain their current operational scale, while only 34 per cent plan to expand. Amidst fierce competition in the food market, businesses are looking for ways to attract and retain customers. Findings show that promotions are an effective tool to increase customer volume for 25 per cent of businesses. Regarding the impact of Decree No.100/2019/ND-CP on the beverage industry, less than 11 per cent of businesses believe that customers have become accustomed to not driving after drinking alcohol. This shows that changing consumer habits can take time and requires coordination among authorities, businesses, and consumers. Seizing opportunities in F&B With an average annual growth rate of over 10 per cent, the food and beverages (F&B) market in Vietnam is a dynamic sector. Director of Consumer and Marketing Insights at NielsenIQ Dang Thuy Ha discussed with VIRs Oanh Do the latest consumer trends helping businesses achieve success in the market. F&B businesses reluctant to embrace franchising Despite franchising being a hallmark choice in the F&B sector both domestically and internationally, many enterprises remain hesitant to adopt this model. While some brands have established their names through franchise chains, others have chosen to steer clear. President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines (with scraft) and National Assembly Deputy Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh visit the Trang An ecotourism site in Ninh Binh province (Photo: VNA) Ninh Binh - President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines and her entourage made a tour of the Trang An eco-tourism site, part of the Trang An landscape complex, in Ninh Binh province, approximately 100km south of Hanoi, on August 25 as part of her ongoing official visit to Vietnam. Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh expressed her joy to welcome Senator Lines, hoping the trip to Trang An will leave an deep impression on the Senator and her entourage. Senator Lines said the tour of Trang An is a highlight of her visit to Vietnam this time, while highly appreciating Australian agencies coordination with Ninh Binh province in improving the localitys Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI). While visiting the site by boat, the Senator hailed the natural beauty of Trang An with majestic mountain system, and friendly hospitable locals. She spoke highly of the way Ninh Binh develops tourism, attracting a lot of tourists, especially those from Australia. She expressed her hope for more Australians to travel to Ninh Binh in the near future. The Trang An Landscape Complex was recognised as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site in 2014. The site ps 12,252 ha in 20 communes and wards in five districts and cities of Ninh Binh, comprising the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, the Trang An-Tam Coc-Bich Dong Scenic Landscape, and the Hoa Lu Special-Use Forest. Conference on Ninh Binh UNESCO titles and sustainable development opens An international conference on harnessing the values of UNESCO titles for sustainable development in Vietnam opened at Bai Dinh Pagoda in the northern province of Ninh Binh on July 3. Ninh Binh ranks 4th in top 10 less-visited wonders of the world Touted as Vietnam's secret, Ninh Binh ranks 4th in top 10 less-visited wonders of the world, according to the United Kingdom's Daily Mail. As of mid-2024, Ba Ria-Vung Tau attracted over $33 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and VND400 trillion ($16.7 billion) in domestic investment. These projects hail from 30 countries and territories, as well as leading Vietnamese conglomerates and financial institutions, featuring advanced technology, low labour intensity, high productivity, and environmental friendliness. At a conference on implementing the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial planning for 2021-2030 and promoting investment held in late March, the province unveiled a list of 92 projects to promote and attract investment through to the end of the decade. These large-scale projects are set to play a crucial role in the province's comprehensive and sustainable long-term development. 15 of the projects received investment approvals or adjustments, with 10 of them being domestic investments, with several projects boasting capital of VND800 billion or more. 15 projects received investment approvals, with several projects boasting capital exceeding VND800 billion The Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial planning for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, approved in 2023, emphasises the goal of becoming a key growth engine in the southeast region, a national maritime economic hub, and ranking among Vietnam's top five localities for marine economic development. Additionally, the plan defines the target of transforming the province into a centrally run city by 2030, with a regional GDP per person ranging from $18,000 to $18,500. Before green and sustainable development During a seminar themed 'Towards carbon neutrality by 2050' held in mid-July in Vung Tau, Huynh Trung Hai, deputy head of the Energy Management Department at Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Industry and Trade, said, "Ba Ria-Vung Tau province has set out a direction for synchronous, rational development and diversification of energy types, prioritising the thorough and efficient exploitation and utilisation of renewable, new, and clean energy sources." Modern seaport infrastructure serves the offshore wind power industry and other types of marine energy and industries Specifically, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has implemented comprehensive programmes to tackle climate change, promote green growth, ensure efficient energy use, protect the environment, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, the province saved 173.38 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to almost 2.75 per cent of commercial output, cutting CO 2 emissions by over 117,300 tonnes. To achieve such results, Ba Ria-Vung Tau aims to spearhead Vietnam's green transition. Leveraging its wind, solar, and gas-based power potential, the province will become a hub for renewable energy, hydrogen, and green ammonia linked to the national energy industry. We're not just relying on natural advantages but creating breakthroughs in our development strategy. We've established two new industries: chemicals and renewable energy equipment manufacturing, particularly wind power, Pham Viet Thanh, Secretary of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Party Committee and Chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau People's Council told VIR. Ba Ria-Vung Tau plans to green its economic sectors, develop a circular economy based on science, technology, and digital transformation, and promote a green lifestyle. The province also aims to lead in developing green, smart, and modern port systems. Creating more attraction for investors Last year, Ba Ria-Vung Tau's economy reached over VND366 trillion ($15.2 billion), contributing 3.5 per cent to the country's total GDP. Gross regional domestic product reached over $8,000 per person, nearly double the national average. Ba Ria-Vung Tau aims to implement good planning to create good development spaces to attract investors The province is set to develop into a maritime economic hub, a national and Southeast Asian maritime service hub, a world-class tourism destination, and one of the Southeast region's largest industrial centres. Thanh stressed that the province has been positioned as a key growth pole, consistently ranking in the nations top five for economic scale, budget contribution, and provincial competitiveness index. The province's economy is undergoing a shift towards industrialisation, modernisation, and urbanisation, and it boasts the highest regional GDP per person in Vietnam. "Good planning creates good development space, attracting good investors who bring good projects. Therefore, developing and implementing the provincial planning scheme is crucial. We must seize this opportunity to create a model for allocating development space, remove bottlenecks, renew growth drivers, and create new ones, combining three strategic breakthroughs: multimodal transport infrastructure, digital transformation linked to administrative reform, and improved public governance capacity," said Thanh. Ba Ria-Vung Tau's leadership has committed to accelerating administrative reform linked with digital transformation to foster a favourable investment environment. This includes ensuring transparency in information and long-term policy direction, guaranteeing security, and pledging to create optimal conditions for investors. In April, Ba Ria-Vung Tau launched the 'BR-VT Smart' application on the Zalo platform, aiming to guide citizens and businesses through administrative procedures and online public services. The application offers guidance on online document submission processes, status enquiries for document processing, online payments, and instructions for using the land management information system, iLand.BRVT. It also provides information on the province's construction planning and other relevant details. Ba Ria-Vung Tau to become a global logistics hub The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has implemented solutions to modernise its seaports and logistics infrastructure, as well as improve its investment climate by streamlining its administrative procedures in the hope of attracting further investment. Ba Ria-Vung Tau showing enormous potential for development The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has ramped up efforts to open Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway on schedule by 2025, as directed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on his field visit to the project site in mid-February. According to the banks updated list of shareholders, as of August 20, Tianhong Vietnamese Market Equity Launched QDII Fund now holds more than 91 million shares of VPBank (HSX: VPB) or a 1.14 per cent of VPBank's stake. According to Bloomberg, Tianhong's fund is an open-ended fund incorporated in China. The fund is actively managed and tracks the VN30 Index. The fund invests at least 80 per cent of total assets in equities, at least 80 per cent of non-cash assets in Vietnam related stocks and depository receipts, and at least five per cent of net assets in cash and government bonds. A new shareholder, Composite Capital Master Fund LP, holds more than 135 million VPB shares or 1.7 per cent of VPBank's stake as of August 20. Composite Capital Master Fund LP is a hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands. According to the bank's list released on July 19, there were 13 individuals and four institutional shareholders owning nearly 5.1 billion shares, accounting for more than 64 per cent of the bank's stake. Among them, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is the bank's sole foreign strategic investor, owning a 15 per cent stake. In the first six months of the year, VPBank recorded pre-tax profit of VND8.67 trillion ($348.6 million) and after-tax profit of VND6.77 trillion ($272.2 million), up 65 per cent on-year. As of June 30, VPBank's total assets reached nearly VND864.4 trillion ($34.76 billion), up 18 per cent compared to the end of 2023. In 2024, VPBank plans to earn pre-tax profit of VND23.2 trillion ($933 million), up 22 per cent on-year, with the bank having achieved 37 per cent of the profit plan after the first half of the year. VPBank highlights SMBC deal at AGM Nguyen Duc Vinh, CEO of VPBank, spoke of the significant strides made last year at the bank's AGM on April 29, despite the challenges. A highlight of the year was VPBank selling a stake to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), infusing nearly $1.5 billion into the bank and positioning VPBank for growth as the economy recovers. VPBank and IFC to offer $150 million to coffee exporters A major Vietnamese bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have collaborated to provide $150 million in supply chain financing for coffee-exporting companies in Vietnam. Flash floods and landslides hit the Indonesian eastern province of Maluku on the morning of August 25. (Photo: Antara) Hanoi - At least seven people were killed, two others were injured and some were likely to be missing after flash floods and landslides hit the Indonesian eastern province of Maluku on the morning of August 25, according to the localitys disaster management and mitigation office. Heavy rainfall, which began on August 24, has triggered the disasters in Ternate city. Many local residents are in urgent need of support, authorities said. Soldiers, police, local search and rescue personnel, disaster management staff, and volunteers are all involved in the ongoing rescue efforts, which include evacuating those trapped by the landslides and recovering materials from homes swept away by the floods. Meanwhile in Thailand, local authorities reported that the death toll from a landslide in the popular resort province of Phuket on August 23 has risen to 13, including a Russian couple. Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat said that torrential rains last week triggered landslides near the Big Buddha statue, a popular tourist destination in the province. Among the dead were nine migrant workers from Myanmar and two Thais. The landslides also injured about 20 people and affected 209 households. Thai authorities are contacting the victims relatives and embassies of the countries with dead victims to discuss what to do next. Indonesia pilots flying taxis in new capital Nusanta The Nusantara Capital City Authority (OIKN) has tested the flying taxi prototype at Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Airport in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Indonesia tightens management of foreign tourists to Bali Bali authorities have tightened the screening of foreign nationals entering the Indonesian resort island in response to a surge in tourist arrivals this year. Production at Optrontec Vina Co. Ltd., at Binh Xuyen Industrial Park in Vinh Phuc province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi - The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is gathering ideas on a draft project to promote human resources development for the semiconductor industry until 2030 with a vision to 2050, destined for the approval of the Prime Minister. MPI Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc said that the building of the project is crucial, especially in the current period. She said that the ministry has collected opinions from ministries, sectors, localities, research institutes, and universities while listening to ideas from domestic and foreign experts. Its objectives include ensuring that by 2030, the Vietnamese semiconductor industrys human resources participate in the process of designing semiconductor microchips to meet the actual needs of the market. The sector will also engage in packaging and testing semiconductor microchips, and gradually grasp the technology in the semiconductor manufacturing stage. By the end of the year, Vietnam aims to train at least 50,000 engineers and bachelor's degrees to serve the semiconductor industry in all stages of the value chain. By 2050, Vietnam expects to become an important link in the global semiconductor industry value chain with a contingent of engineers and experts capable of meeting the development requirements of the Vietnamese semiconductor industry in both quality and quantity. To continue perfecting the draft project, Ngoc called on ministries, sectors, localities, institutes, universities, and experts to contribute direct and specific ideas on the draft. They should review project funding, standard laboratories, private sector participation, the scope, and the renaming of the project. Vice Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Da Nang City Ho Ky Minh said the budget will serve as the basis for implementing the objectives of the project, meeting the urgent needs of the industry. At the same time, the inclusion of the number of standard laboratories will create the foundation for developing investment policy proposals to submit to competent authorities for approval, enabling the investment procedures to be carried out following the law. He also supported the encouragement of private sector engagement to persify resources for the building and implementation of the project, especially from State-owned and private enterprises. Representatives from several universities asserted that during the projects implementation process, it is necessary to continue to have the active participation of relevant parties, especially the cooperation and consensus of institutes and training facilities. Ngoc said that developing the semiconductor industry is an objective requirement and a strategic choice, stressing that developing high-tech science will promote the country's growth. Training for the semiconductor industry will educate high-quality human resources, she said. The process must be synchronised with developing the semiconductor industry ecosystem and associated with training in specialised sciences following the roadmap and fields in which Vietnam has strengths. Strengthening Vietnam-Japan cooperation in ICT and semiconductor sectors Vietnam and Japan are strengthening cooperation in ICT and semiconductors to tap into the two countries' potential, and to boost bilateral ties. US enterprises follow through on semiconductor pledges More US companies are expanding their semiconductor workforce in Vietnam in a bid to contribute to the development of the countrys chip engineers. Vietnam developing quality semiconductor workforce Building a semiconductor industry ecosystem must go hand in hand with developing the workforce, based on Vietnams strengths and development roadmap. 172 authors and clubs received awards, including two first prizes, five second prizes, 15 third prizes, 25 fourth prizes, 120 promising prizes, two club prizes, and three popular vote prizes. Nguyen Van Duan, deputy general director of Muong Thanh Group, delivered a speech This increase highlights the growing quality of the paintings and Muong Thanh Group's commitment to supporting the younger generation and national art. Two first prizes were awarded to Le Huy from Phu Yen and Nguyen Le Tuong Vy from Hanoi. Their paintings depicted a Muong Thanh hotel reaching international standards, while conveying aspirations for development and maintaining traditional values and community spirit. Le Huy and Nguyen Le Tuong Vy received first and second prize At the award ceremony, Nguyen Van Duan, deputy general director of Muong Thanh Group, said, This is the third consecutive year we've organised this contest, underscoring Muong Thanh's commitment to social responsibility. The contest serves as both a playground for children and a way to ignite their love for their homeland. Through their paintings, the children share stories of their culture, history, and joyful memories. This effort aligns with Muong Thanh Group's 30-year mission to preserve and uphold Vietnamese identity. Five candidates were awarded second prizes Nguyen Thi Anh Xuan, mother of first prize winner Le Huy from Phu Yen, shared, This is the first year my son has participated in this contest, so winning first prize was a surprise for our family. This experience has been invaluable for him. I am very happy to see him honoured at the ceremony and grateful to the organising committee and Muong Thanh Group for creating such a meaningful and professional platform. We flew from Phu Yen to Hanoi for the ceremony and to give him a special trip before the new school year begins. Nguyen Huu Hanh, head of the judging committee said, The quality of paintings this year is outstanding, with deep content and strong emotional portrayals of love for people and life. The contest is attracting more young talents, marking a significant success for the organizing committee. I hope it continues to be a platform that helps children shine and explore new artistic horizons. 15 children received third prizes 25 children received fourth prizes The third season of the painting contest, launched in mid-May, attracted nearly 2,000 contestants from across the country, especially children from remote areas such as Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum. 120 promising prizes were awarded Travel with Muong Thanh - Dream Vacation contest features emotional paintings by children The third season of the "Travelling with Muong Thanh - Dream Vacation" competition is upon us, and the judges gathered on August 7 to recognise the creative works of Vietnamese children and their personal travel experiences. The move is part of the company's efforts to refocus its portfolio, amid ongoing political upheaval in the Southeast Asian country and uncertainties over the company's development path. Equinor has decided to end its business development in Vietnam and close its Hanoi office that was geared to offshore wind, its spokesperson told Reuters. The company has already withdrawn from more than a dozen fossil fuel projects to concentrate on renewable energy and low-carbon systems. Despite the abundant potential, offshore wind power projects in Vietnam face hurdles due to legal uncertainties and ambiguities. Last year, Danish offshore wind giant rsted A/S also paused its multi-gigawatt offshore wind plans in Vietnam due to regulatory challenges. To date, Vietnam has not initiated any true offshore wind projects and has only developed intertidal wind projects situated near the shore, thus the target of installing 6GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 presents considerable challenges, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Measures for offshore wind must be carried out rapidly Vietnams ambition to achieve 6GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 is increasingly adrift, with not enough work carried out on legalities and developer support. MoIT report addresses offshore wind project concerns Despite the ambitious targets set out by the Power Development Plan VIII, no offshore wind projects have yet been approved or assigned to investors. The 2024 SCG Sharing the Dream initiative is in collaboration with the Central Youth Union and Ho Chi Minh City Student Assistant Centre (SAC). Marking its 17th consecutive year, this scholarship scheme reaffirms SCG's unwavering commitment to its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy. The scholarship aligns with the company's ESG-centric vision, aiming to nurture Vietnam's green generation and build a sustainable future by instilling these crucial values in the leaders of tomorrow. There has been a significant shift in the mindset of the youth as young people are demonstrating heightened awareness of their social responsibility, actively engaging in environmental and social projects to give back to their communities. In acknowledgment of this, the SCG Sharing the Dream scholarship has advanced beyond providing mere financial support. It now encompasses a comprehensive suite of activities aimed at equipping students with critical ESG knowledge and skills. One of the main components is the ESG Ambassador competition, which challenges students to create inventive initiatives that benefit their local communities. The competition encourages creativity and problem-solving skills and prompts students to apply their knowledge to real-world issues. The winning team will have the honour of representing Vietnam at the ASEAN regional competition, offering them valuable international exposure. In addition, the scheme includes interactive workshops led by industry experts, factory tours showcasing sustainable practices in action, and networking events with ESG professionals. These activities are carefully designed to provide students with hands-on experiences and opportunities to shape and develop a sustainable mindset. This holistic approach is designed to empower students with a strong ESG mindset, enabling them to realise their potential. By investing in their education and promoting a commitment to sustainable practices, SCG is cultivating a new generation of leaders prepared to advance Vietnams sustainable development and shape a responsible future. Praween Wirotpan, general director of SCG Vietnam, said, "SCG aims to provide Vietnamese students with a strong foundation in green mindset and life skills, drawing upon its wealth of sustainable development experience and its network of specialists cultivated over many years. By facilitating connection between students and SCG's extensive resources and knowledge base, we aim to cultivate a generation that is environmentally conscious and equipped to promote Vietnam's sustainable growth." Nguyen Pham Duy Trang, secretary of the Central Youth Union and chairman of the Central Council of Young Pioneers, said, "The Central Youth Union and the Central Council of Young Pioneers greatly appreciates SCG's innovative scholarship scheme, which uniquely combines financial support with sustainable development education. We believe that this comprehensive scholarship will serve as a powerful springboard for students from challenging backgrounds, inspiring Vietnam's young generationthe future leaders of the nationto work hard in their studies, and develop strong moral character." The long-standing commitment to education in Vietnam spans more than a decade and strongly affirms SCG's efforts in contributing to building a greener and brighter tomorrow. SCG named in top 1 per cent in S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment SCG has been honored as the Top 1 per cent S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment in the Sustainability Yearbook 2024 by S&P Global Inc. SCG announces Q2 operating results with sustained growth SCG announced its operating results for the second quarter of 2024 on August 1, highlighting increased sales and profit compared to the previous quarter, driven by the economic recovery in Vietnam and Indonesia. The scam situation in Singapore has worsened (Photo: The Straits Times) Hanoi The scam situation in Singapore has worsened, with the number of cases rising 16.3 per cent to 26,587, and victims losing a record high of over 385.6 million SGD (294.79 million USD) in the first six months of this year. According to the polices mid-year scam and cyber-crime statistics released on August 22, if the trend continues, scam losses could exceed 770 million SGD by the end of 2024, setting a new record compared to the annual high of 660.7 million SGD in 2022. In 86 per cent of the cases, the scammers did not gain control of the victims accounts but had manipulated them into transferring money to the criminals. Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, scammers were the consistently over-represented among the platforms used by scammers in the period. In more than 7,700 cases in where scammers contacted victims via social media, Facebook was used in 64.4 per cent of them, and Instagram 18.6 per cent. Meanwhile, in more than 8,300 cases where scammers reached victims via messaging platforms, Whatsapp was used in 50.2 per cent of them, and Telegram 45 per cent. At a media briefing, Singapore's Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling said the figures are worrying, adding investment and government official impersonation scams were of particular concern. During January-June, the police worked with banks, and prevented over 204 million SGD of potential losses to scams. The polices Anti-Scam Command deleted 2,700 scam-tainted accounts, and took down suspicious advertisements in the period. A pilot programme to verify the identity of risky sellers on Facebook Marketplace and risky advertisers on Facebook began in June. The programme is believed to be the first globally. Singapores venture capital funds covering all bases Singapore venture capital funds remain the most active investor in Vietnam, with ongoing investments into local startups and potential targets ranging from renewable energy to electric vehicles. Cooperation scales up with Singapore Vietnam and Singapore have long enjoyed a robust bilateral relationship, characterised by deepening cooperation in economics, trade, and investment, strengthening political and people-to-people ties. Pang Te Cheng, consul-general of Singapore in Ho Chi Minh City, explains how both countries have strategically positioned themselves to leverage various developments for mutual growth. Trade boding well for Singaporean upgrade The flourishing trade and investment ties between Vietnam and Singapore are expected to make bigger strides when the two countries elevate their strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic one in the near future. Malaysia, Singapore offer unique approaches to cryptocurrency supervision: experts The growth of financial technologies, including blockchains and cryptocurrencies, depends on how well the legal system can adapt. Globally, as the legal status of cryptocurrencies remains ambiguous, Malaysia and Singapore offer unique approaches to cryptocurrency supervision. Singapore strengthens security in finance sector The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has cooperated with banks to seek solutions on quantum security in finance sector. Missionary Jonathan Brenneman Shares How Believers Can Walk in an Abundant Supernatural Lifestyle NEWS PROVIDED BY Propiv Press Aug. 26, 2024 GOIANIA, Brazil, Aug. 26, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- Jonathan Brenneman encourages the body of Christ to move into a new realm of God's power, miracles, and revival. Believers can understand the dynamics of God's power and increase their capacity to carry God's manifest presence. In The Mechanics of Miracles, Jonathan Brenneman shares nearly one hundred supernatural testimonies, numerous Scriptures, helpful metaphors, and a detailed study of how God's invisible Spirit manifests tangibly among his children. (ISBN-13: 979-8329117837 ) Jonathan Brenneman says, "I heard God shout, I have a new normal for the church! It should have been normal all along.' It is a normal in which the church does the works of Jesus." After years of powerlessness in prayer, Jonathan Brenneman's thinking changed radically. In nearly twenty years, he has experienced miracles thousands of times. Many Christians believe these are mysterious superpowers or spiritual gifts. Others think miracles happen occasionally if God chooses to move. Jonathan views these supernatural events simply as manifestations of Jesus's Spirit released through a believer's words and actions. The Holy Spirit manifests God's invisible nature in tangible power through our communion with him. This happens by certain dynamics, The Mechanics of Miracles. Paul wrote that he didn't want the Corinthians to be ignorant about spiritual matters. Many fail to experience heaven's abundance due to ignorance. But when we understand how to partner with the Holy Spirit, we can see God's love and compassion manifest in power through our lives. "Whether you've never seen Jesus heal someone through your hands or you've been ministering healing and deliverance for years, I want you to experience these miracles beyond what you've ever imagined!" At the age of nine, Jonathan Brenneman experienced a miraculous healing that convinced him of God's existence. As a teenager, he dedicated his life to missions, went on his first mission trip, and began learning languages. He has traveled across the US, Canada, Europe, and Latin America, praying for thousands of people of all ages. A radical shift in his thinking launched him into an abundant life of God's supernatural power when he was twenty. He has written eleven books on Christian living. He moved to Brazil in 2012 and is currently a missionary in Goiania with his wife and daughters. Connect with Brenneman Website: www.gotoheavennow.com Facebook: @quierofuego YouTube: @JonathanBrenneman Title: The Mechanics of Miracles: How God's Invisible Spirit Manifests Tangibly | Release Date: September 1, 2024 | Retail: $13.99 | ISBN-13: 979-8329117837 | Binding: Trade Paper | Size: 6" x 9" x .46" | Page Count: 202 | Hometown: Goiania, Brazil | BISAC Category: RELIGION / Christian Living / Prayer, RELIGION / Christianity / Pentecostal & Charismatic, RELIGION / Christian Theology / Pneumatology To interview Jonathan or for a review copy, please contact jonathan@gotoheavennow.com SOURCE Propiv Press CONTACT: Jonathan Brenneman, +55 62 99241 0178, jonathan@gotoheavennow.com In contrast, global trends are increasingly focused on curbing emissions by adopting alternative energy sources and enhancing internal combustion engine tech. Le Xuan Nghia, president, Consultancy on Development Institute Addressing GHG emissions in the automotive industry involves focusing on two key energy sources: batteries and hydrogel. While recent studies on hydrogel have demonstrated promising initial results, its widespread adoption as an energy source remains challenging due to significant hurdles in storage and transportation. Hydrogel is not only difficult to store and transport, but also comes with high costs and a substantial risk of fire and explosion. For example, a 40-foot container, typically capable of holding 40 tonnes of goods, could only carry 360kg of hydrogel, requiring a large, heavy steel tank for safe transport. Despite these obstacles, the global transportation industry continues to explore hydrogel, hoping it will emerge as a key clean fuel for the automotive sector in the future. Electric vehicles (EVs) are currently being developed rapidly and have a significant market share in the US, Europe, and China. The advantages of these vehicles include their lightweight design, suitability for both short and long-distance travel, and the ability to set up charging stations or mobile battery-swapping stations. However, the biggest drawback of this energy source is the environmental impact of disposing of used batteries, which can cause significant pollution. To address this, many countries are now researching technologies to produce electric vehicle batteries with a lifespan of 20-30 years. As a result, EVs are seen as a highly promising solution for reducing GHG emissions in the coming decades. Vietnam is the worlds second-largest holder of rare earth reserves, representing around 19 per cent of global supply, comparable to Brazil and half of Chinas reserves. This positions Vietnam as a key player in automotive battery production, contingent upon substantial investments in technology for the extraction and refinement of these critical elements. Therefore, Vietnam is well-positioned to capitalise on its significant market potential for EVs and motorcycles, backed by a plentiful supply of materials for manufacturing high-durability batteries. However, both government and industry must implement comprehensive, long-term strategies to cut GHG emissions while fostering a strong machinery and manufacturing sector that supports transportation, logistics, and defence needs. To overcome the challenges in advancing the automotive industry, it is essential to implement effective solutions that demand coordinated efforts from both the private sector and government. Firstly, in the development of the automotive industry, certain countries rely on robust banking systems capable of financing heavy industry, or the government provides loan guarantees to support enterprises in advancing the sector. Secondly, the full liberalisation of the automotive market presents a substantial challenge for the domestic automotive sector. Although this reflects the demands of globalisation, lessons from other countries show that targeted government policies can alleviate competitive pressures. Such measures might include subsidies related to land costs, requirements for public procurement to favour domestically produced EVs, or incentives for consumers to choose local EVs and products from domestic industries. South Korea exemplifies this approach, having successfully fostered a culture of supporting local businesses across multiple sectors, including automotive. Thirdly, developing public transportation systems that run on low-emission fuels or electricity, as seen in Thailand and other countries that use natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas, is a viable strategy. The government can subsidise fare prices to encourage consumer adoption of these modes of transport. Furthermore, additional supportive policies could include special consumption taxes, VAT adjustments, toll fees, and the development of infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations. Such measures would facilitate the establishment of charging points in accessible locations at reduced costs, thereby aiding electric vehicle companies in minimising expenses related to charging infrastructure, maintenance, and battery repairs. Deploying vehicles designed to cut GHG emissions contributes to environmental preservation by reducing carbon particulate matter and noise pollution. Nevertheless, the required investment for this sector is significant. To complement the efforts of businesses operating in a competitive landscape, strategic government support is crucial. This includes fostering the development of both the automotive and dual-use machinery industries, which will benefit both consumer markets and defence sectors. Simultaneously, this initiative seeks to cultivate a highly skilled engineering workforce for both the industrial and defence sectors, focusing on areas critical to advancing technology and national security. For example, fields such as robotics and AI are built upon a robust mechanical technology base, requiring a cadre of proficient engineers capable of innovating, researching, and advancing technology tailored to Vietnams needs. Conference on reducing emissions in the automotive industry: All Roads Lead to Net Zero Reducing carbon emissions from motor vehicles, particularly within the automotive sector, has been recognised as a critical strategy in Vietnams pursuit of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 - a goal to which the Vietnamese government remains firmly committed. This priority is also emphasised in the automotive industry development strategy through 2030, with a vision toward 2045, which the Ministry of Industry and Trade is in the final stages of completing. The strategy, slated for submission to the government by the end of 2024, explores various mechanisms aimed at fostering the growth of eco-friendly and energy-efficient vehicles. These initiatives are designed to phase out fossil fuel-dependent vehicles, while attracting and encouraging investor participation in this transition. To provide additional insights and recommendations, VIR will host the conference Reducing Emissions in the Automotive Industry: All Roads Lead to Net Zero on the morning of August 29 at VIR headquarters (47 Quan Thanh, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi). The event will be livestreamed on vir.com.vn, baodautu.vn, and tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn, and on the Facebook fanpage and YouTube. The conference will include participation from association representatives, prominent industry businesses, top experts, and officials from key regulatory bodies such as the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The event is supported by organisations such as BYD Automobile, Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, Truong Hai Group, Hyundai Thanh Cong Vietnam, Vietnam Electricity, Southern Power Corporation, and Ford Vietnam. Six Vietnamese sectors obliged to keep greenhouse gas inventories The energy, transportation, construction, industry, agriculture, and waste sector are now legally required to establish and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to relevant authorities since January 18. Vietnam operates greenhouse gas reporting system online A reporting system for facilities to upload their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data online has been completed, and will be updated when the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Transport issue detailed guidance for their respective areas, according to a recent consultation meeting. IFC launches greenhouse gas emissions inventory and reporting manual Companies in Vietnam will find it easier to log and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions thanks to the manual published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Energy sector plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17-26 per cent by 2030 Vietnam's energy sector plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17-26 per cent by 2030 and around 90 per cent by 2050 compared to the normal development scenario. Vietnamese steel products certified to meet greenhouse gas inventory standard BSI - the UK's leading international certification organisation - has just certified ISO 14064-1:2018 standard on greenhouse gas inventory for steel products of Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company. Seventy-four per cent of survey respondents from Vietnam said their business or employer had a digital strategy, compared to the Asia-Pacific average of 63 per cent. This is contributing to Vietnamese businesses having good levels of technology adoption, with the key benefits being improved operational efficiency, enhanced employee satisfaction and improved cybersecurity, according to the 2024 Business Technology Report. CPA Australias regional head for Southeast Asia, Priya Terumalay, said, "Better business outcomes far outweigh any hesitation over technology adoption despite the financial cost and low return on investment remaining a key challenge, especially for smaller businesses." An impressive 98 per cent of Vietnamese businesses cited improved operational efficiency as a key benefit from their technology investment, while improvements to cybersecurity stand at 91 per cent and improvements to the customer experience at 87 per cent. "Vietnamese businesses place a high level of importance on the accuracy, security and privacy of the financial data they hold," said Priya. Close to three quarters of businesses gave this the highest level of importance. Data security and privacy are essential to a businesss reputation, and data quality is critical to the effectiveness of AI and other technologies. One of the key barriers to technology adoption in Vietnam is the shortage of technology talent. "Many local businesses are responding to the talent shortage by upskilling and reskilling their existing employees and investing in automation rather than adding new employees," Priya added. Forty-six per cent of respondents invested in upskilling the technology capabilities of their entire team, including the board, against the survey average of 40 per cent. Nearly eight in 10 Vietnamese businesses said they used AI in the last 12 months, compared with the survey average of 69 per cent. While most businesses only use AI some of the time, this is likely to change in the coming 12 months as local businesses nominated AI as the technology they are most likely to increase their use of. "Its not surprising that Vietnamese businesses are looking to increase their use of AI. Most users say that it improves their business by increasing productivity, automating repetitive tasks and improving the accuracy of those tasks." "Change is everywhere in Vietnam as more investment pours in. Businesses must be quick to adapt and improve their capabilities to take advantage of this environment, and technology, especially AI, is fundamental to that." Vietnams Top 10 digital technology companies named for 2023 Vietnams Top 10 digital technology companies in 2023 were announced at a ceremony in Hanoi on September 22. Business and tech that will shape 2024 Advancements in AI shaped 2023, and the past decade saw the breadth of use growing by the day. Bee Kheng, president of Cisco ASEAN, explains how public availability of generative AI tools has brought greater attention to the new possibilities of AI. Telegram chief Pavel Durov arrested at French airport: officials, Source: youtube/ BBC news The Franco-Russian billionaire, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport north of the French capital on Saturday evening, one of the officials told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. He had just travelled from Baku, in Azerbaijan, another source close to the case said. Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday. France's OFMIN, an agency tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as the coordinating agency in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, one of the sources close to the case said. Durov is suspected of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform. "Enough of Telegram's impunity," said one of the investigators, adding they were surprised Durov came to Paris knowing he was a wanted man. Established in 1973 and elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2018, the relationship between Vietnam and Australia has experienced significant and comprehensive growth across all areas. During Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Australia from March 7-9, the two nations further upgraded their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Vietnam - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, source: VNA By VNA Nearly all of Nike footwear and apparel products are manufactured outside the US by independent contract manufacturers, many of which operate multiple factories. Nike is also supplied, primarily indirectly, by a number of materials, or 'Tier 2' suppliers, who provide the principal materials used in footwear and apparel finished goods products. As of May 31, Nike had 169 strategic Tier 2 suppliers. Regarding footwear, Nike's contract manufacturers operated 96 finished goods footwear factories located in 11 countries. Nike brand footwear finished goods were manufactured by 15 contract manufacturers, many of which operate multiple factories. Among them, factories in Vietnam manufactured approximately half of all Nike brand footwear. China and Indonesia come in behind with 27 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. Similarly, Nike's contract manufacturers operated 285 finished goods apparel factories located in 33 countries. For fiscal year 2024, Nike brand apparel finished goods were manufactured by 68 contract manufacturers, many of which operate multiple factories. Factories in Vietnam, China, and Cambodia manufactured approximately 28 per cent, 16 per cent, and 15 per cent of total Nike brand apparel, respectively. Vietnam became Nikes largest manufacturing hub last year, producing 50 per cent of the companys footwear, more than any other country in the world. Vietnam is also the largest producer of Nike apparel, contributing 29 per cent to the brands global output. Footwear giants a step ahead in production restart Foreign footwear producers are maintaining their commitment to sourcing products from Vietnam as factories enjoy resumption of production following heavy delays and restrictions. Nike and Adidas maintain supply chain operations in Vietnam Rumours that Nike and Adidas would move production out of Vietnam in August and September were rebutted by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) as the brands do not own any plants in the country. The event, AI4VN 2024, was organised under the direction of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and served as a networking platform for managers, experts, scientists, businesses, and investors interested in AI, both domestically and internationally. In his opening remarks, Bui The Duy, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology said, "AI4VN 2024 marks a significant milestone in the seven-year journey of these events to promote the development and application of AI in Vietnam." Duy expressed hope that AI4VN would help Vietnamese businesses find solutions in AI applicable to daily life and connect with international organisations to seek suitable technological solutions, contributing to the development of a sustainable AI ecosystem and positioning Vietnam as a regional and global AI development hub. Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said, "AI has become a key technology of the fourth industrial revolution and will play a crucial role in transforming the world." Recognising AI's importance, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued a national strategy for AI research, development, and application towards the end of the decade, aiming to make AI a vital technological field in Vietnam. "I call on all of us to collaborate and share information, experiences, and solutions regarding policy development and management. This includes sharing best practices in promoting AI research and applications, as well as experiences in forming and developing a high-quality workforce. These efforts will contribute to the advancement of a sustainable AI ecosystem in Vietnam," DPM Quang said. DPM Tran Luu Quang delivering a keynote address at the event The morning session featured four workshops focusing on AI solutions in various aspects of life: AI Automation; Generative AI applications for small- and medium-sized enterprises; Data Centers and AI Cloud; and AI applications in Healthcare. The aim was to gather suggestions and proposals from businesses and research institutions, providing policymakers with insights to develop solutions and guidelines for fostering a sustainable AI ecosystem in Vietnam. Dinh Ngoc Minh, deputy dean of Science, Engineering and Technology and director of the Master's course in AI at RMIT University Vietnam, believes AI applications in healthcare and agriculture will be two major trends for Vietnam. "Vietnam needs to focus on sustainable development, and smart agriculture is one of the key areas. At the same time, AI applications in healthcare will be a significant driver in the future," Minh said. The afternoon plenary saw speakers addressing the latest AI advancements, from workflow optimisation to developing innovative solutions for complex problems. Presentations clarified how AI is becoming a crucial tool in achieving goals and creating significant impact across many fields. From a practical business perspective, speakers from Vingroup, FPT, and VNPT delivered talks on issues such as pursuing AI independence and preparing Vietnam for the Generative AI era. Le Hong Viet, CEO of FPT Smart Cloud, believes that Vietnam has the opportunity to catch up with the rest of the world and create a new AI industry. Vietnamese businesses currently compete primarily through cheap labour and productivity. However, Vietnam needs to leverage human capital, automation, and technology to achieve higher productivity. "Competitiveness will come from both human talent and AI. We must focus on developing both to create superior productivity and services to compete globally," said Viet. Prof. Vu Ha Van, scientific director of VinBigdata, said, "To ride the generative AI wave, Vietnam should focus on developing three AI pillars: people, resources, and tools. This involves training high-skilled human resources, encouraging research and development in generative AI, and building a national database for shared use while ensuring data security." AI4VN 2024 included an AI Expo featuring booths showcasing exemplary AI products currently available on the Vietnamese market. The event concluded with the AI Awards, recognising those outstanding AI products, solutions, and applications that have made significant contributions to society. GenAIs effect on governance, risk, and compliance The domain of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) has been experiencing an increase in complexity from multiple angles, and rightly so; but, until recently, the domain wasnt technologically disrupted. Generative AI (GenAI) has opened a plethora of possibilities for its utilisation in conjunction with GRC, and the industry is racing towards its democratisation. Google's chief scientist to attend Generative AI summit in Vietnam Jeff Dean, recognised globally as "The God of engineering" at Google, will visit Vietnam in a landmark event this month. This event will be held concurrently with the Vietnamese Goods Fair 2024. VIFA ASEAN attracts a large number of visitors VIFA ASEAN 2024 is co-organised by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industrys Ho Chi Minh City branch, Lien Minh Company, Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Association, and the Vietnam Association for Building Material. It is also by the Vietnam Coconut Association, Ho Chi Minh City Advertising Association, and the Vietnam Investment Construction-Services in Agriculture and Forestry Association. The event will see participation from VIFA ASEAN Vietnam, KOFURN from South Korea, MFFM from Malaysia, Maison Shanghai, Furniture China Shanghai, and IFFINA from Indonesia. This global event brings together over 200 exhibitors from Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the US, Italy, Holland, Thailand, and Cambodia, as well as the pavilions of Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Taiwan, showcasing a diverse range of products such as furniture, outdoor furniture, handicrafts and home decor, machine, hardware, tools, and support services. On display will be diverse renowned furniture brands, including Hiep Long Furniture, Santang Furniture, Fukui Vietnam, Mega Home, Savimex, Latitude Tree, Eurofar International, Wood Concept, Hang Lam Furniture, Fortune Home, Fine Scandinavia, and Lam Duong, among others. VIFA ASEAN 2024 has received enthusiastic support from domestic and foreign agencies, organisations, trade offices, and economic associations, with the participation of collective booths from departments of Industry and Trade, trade promotion centres, associations, and organisations in Vietnam. As part of the fair, an industrial seminar Green-Eco with Net-Zero will be held on the afternoon of August 27. With speakers from the Forest Stewardship Council and experts in the energy and carbon credit markets, the seminar will provide information on FSC certification and sustainable development goals in the furniture and wood processing value chain, carbon credits and their role in the green economy, and green transition solutions towards net-zero for businesses in the furniture and wood processing industry. International buyers and exhibitors at VIFA ASEAN VIFA ASEAN 2024 aims to be the ultimate destination for international buyers looking to source quality products. To ensure a seamless experience for global buyers, the event offers a range of support and complimentary services, including airport support service at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, to 40 per cent discount up when booking at hotels of 3-5 stars, free shuttle bus from Wink Hotel - New World Hotel - SECC, free factory visit tour in Binh Duong province, a 20 per cent discount when booking travel through Gohub.vn, and more. Visitors will have a chance to receive a gift from the organisers when checking-in at ASEAN HOUSE, Booth No.AA26 (Hall A2). Explore more about VIFA ASEAN at vifafair.com and vifaasean.com. Vietfood & Beverage-Propack Vietnam 2024 to open in Ho Chi Minh City in August The 28th Vietfood & Beverage - Propack Vietnam 2024 will take place from August 8-10 in Ho Chi Minh City, expecting to attract 900 participants from more than 20 countries and territories. Pride Summit 2024 fosters inclusion, diversity, and equity in Vietnam On July 12, Pride Summit 2024 themed "Meet the IDE Champions" brought together diverse voices to share challenges and successes in fostering inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE) within the workplace. IOWA CITY In an unassuming building on the University of Iowa campus that could easily be mistaken for a residence hall, aerospace engineers, graduate research assistants and professors are recreating the conditions of space as they build and test miniaturized sensors and instruments to help NASA better understand and explore the cosmos. Wow, Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said after peering inside what looks like a giant iron lung. The thermal vacuum chamber can simulate extreme temperatures, from minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit to 120 degrees, and a hard vacuum with atmospheric pressure about 10 billion times less than atmospheric pressure, mimicking space conditions. The chamber is used for testing spacecraft components under extreme conditions, with cycles of heating and cooling to simulate real-world conditions. Miller-Meeks was led to another room where she stood in front of what UI researcher Jasper Halekas, a professor in the physics and astronomy department, playfully called the worlds largest subwoofer. The vibration table is used for testing spacecraft components under a simulated controlled environment to reproduce events such as a rocket launch. STEM funding Miller-Meeks visited the University of Iowa on Friday to highlight $1.5 million in federal dollars she helped secure for STEM development and space research within the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The funding will be used for the purchase of advanced manufacturing equipment, new semiconductor fabrication tooling and satellite communications hardware to enable technology development and research in support of NASAs exploration missions. I just think its a great opportunity for the University of Iowa, for Iowa City and for our state, Miller-Meeks told reporters after touring the top floor at Van Allen Hall, which is being renovated into a single, unified space flight laboratory for instrument design and build spaces. Additionally, the University of Iowa will augment an existing educational program giving undergraduates in STEM fields science, technology, engineering and math hands-on experience with flight hardware. Miller-Meeks said the investment will enable the UI to produce graduates with the engineering, mathematics, programming and data analysis skills needed to support Iowas continued growth in technical sectors like advanced manufacturing and aerospace/defense. Its an ability for us to attract talent to the University of Iowa, she said. I think being able to give that opportunity to people to see space not just way out there, but here, I think, is really important to attracting scientists here. Miller-Meeks, who is running for re-election to a third term representing southeast Iowas 1st Congressional District, secured the earmarked funding through the annual process in which members of Congress apply for funding for community projects back in their district. Each House member can submit up to 15 eligible projects to receive federal funding for fiscal year 2025. NASA mission Miller-Meeks spoke with engineers and researches working on NASAs TRACERS mission. The mission, which is being led by the university, will launch a pair of small satellites to study interactions between the sun and Earths magnetosphere. UI researchers and other participating institutions have been designing, building and assembling the instruments, hardware and software in preparation for a scheduled launch in April 2025. Antonio Washington, a UI aerospace project engineer, is among those working on the mission. Washington is part of the team creating and testing miniature sensors crucial to studying how Earths magnetic field interacts with external forces in low Earth orbit. The instruments will determine how powerful winds from the sun are able to cleave through the Earths magnetic field and potentially affect satellites, telecommunications and energy grids. He called the federal funding essential for expanding the research beyond specific mission deadlines, enhancing innovation and efficiency. Van Allen legacy Casey DeRoo, associate professor in the physics/astronomy department, said the federal investment recognizes Iowa as a national leader in space instrumentation since before NASA was founded. That legacy originated with James Van Allen, the Iowa physicist and space pioneer whose successful launch of the first American satellite into space in 1958 is generally recognized as the beginning of U.S. space exploration. You see students who come (into the classroom) who think of space essentially as this abstract concept, DeRoo said. And youre able to essentially, through the unique position of University of Iowa and our state, show them this science was born here. Space physics was born at the University of Iowa through the legacy of James Van Allen. And you can let them hold and touch that history, which is really a special thing to be able to do. Applications DeRoo said the new federal funding will lead to new equipment that can fulfill a host of needs for future space missions furthering NASAs mission and supporting STEM education and the training of future scientists. Both he and Miller-Meeks highlighted the potential of broader applications of the Iowa-made equipment beyond specific research areas, and the opportunity to partner with commercial aerospace and advanced manufacturing companies in the state, such as Collins Aerospace, SpaceX and Blue Origin. Advanced manufacturing is a major component of the state economy, and the kind of area that wed like to grow, DeRoo said. Those businesses are going to need STEM-educated individuals coming out of places like, you know, the University of Iowa to be able to essentially expand and grow their workforce and do the work that they need to do. Photos: Northern Lights dance across Montana's Big Sky Benny Ford drives back to Benro Pump and Supply after picking up a downhole pumping unit from a well site on Aug. 14 near Goldsmith. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune GOLDSMITH Its Friday, which means its hamburger day at Benro Pump and Supply. Employees of this family-owned company gather around the grill outside the garage. In the background are endless rows of pipes, tools and other equipment that help lift the vast oil supply in the Permian Basin. A year ago, the shop that makes custom oil pumps was busy. So while owner Ben Bilbrey, his wife, Corinna, and their team, enjoyed the peaceful afternoon in July, anxiety loomed. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Its not usually this quiet. Its been an unusual year, Bilbrey said. You do get a little nervous, but you just gotta get through it. In his lifetime, Bilbrey has seen the oil and gas industrys ups and downs. And yet, the current up has him down. While the industry is posting record profits, there are fewer locally owned and family-operated companies like his in West Texas. The bustling industry is changing and contracting. Corporate mergers mean fewer customers for oil field equipment companies like Bilbreys. And technological advances enable big oil to do more with fewer people and less equipment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad To be sure, the 10-person company established in 1984 is still making a profit 40% last year. But the phone isnt ringing like it used to. Six years ago, Bilbrey installed and serviced pumps for big names like Apache Corp., Blackbeard Operating and ConocoPhillips. He lost their business during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when oil production briefly slowed. Bilbrey has tried unsuccessfully to convince them to use his services. He hopes to lock in a deal soon. When the phone does ring, companies bargain for lower prices. They want Bilbrey to meet the cost of a wholesale pump. But such lower prices are not realistic if he wants to keep the company afloat, he said, adding that his pumps are expensive because they are meant to last as long as the industry does. Corinna Bilbrey stays positive. Were in it for the long haul, and we know the life of that pump, she said. Even when there is a downturn in the market and there is none in sight Pumps are still pumping. Advertisement Article continues below this ad One less pump needed Earlier in the day, one of Bilbreys employees, Benny Ford, drove to an abandoned lot. Scraps of a pumpjack and old pipes were strewn all over the place. A ditch was filled with a rank chemical liquid. A customers well had dried up after four years. And because the company had no use for it, Ford was sent to collect the 24-foot pump. Benro Pump and Supply assistant foreman Benny Ford, right, waits for a service rig crew to pull a downhole pumping unit from a well on Aug. 14 in West Odessa. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune Rig hands help Benny Ford, assistant foreman for Benro Pump and Supply, load a downhole pumping unit on the side of his truck on Aug. 14 in West Odessa. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune Days before Ford arrived, a crew of rig hands dug out the pump. The workers, employed by a well-servicing company, came with a truck with a rig mounted on its bed. Inside the rig, a long frame called the derrick lifted the steel tower until it stood upright above the wellhead. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The workers used large tongs to pull up the pump and other equipment from underground. One excavation can take hours. Once the pump is out, the company must seal the well. By the time Ford drove up to the site, all he needed to do was retrieve the pump. ALSO READ: Texas will have to cut methane emissions from oil fields under federal climate rule The 25-year-old assistant foreman clipped the pump onto hooks on the passenger side of his truck and began the 15-minute drive back to the office. Ford was hired at Benro Pump in 2019. In his previous job, the Oklahoma native helped build electrical substations in the oil fields. It was a good-paying gig, he said. But the 14-hour shifts with no holidays were terrible. After a year on the job, he took a break. When it was time to go back to work, he saw a job listing at Benro Pump. Ford knew nothing about pumps when he was interviewed but said he was a quick study. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Quality and costs Much like Ford, Bilbrey, the companys founder, didnt know much about pumps when he started working the oil fields. Bilbury was 19 when he took his first job in the oil fields, manufacturing, delivering and servicing pumps that draw fossil fuels from thousands of feet underground. Like his father before him, he learned the trade. Benro Pump and Supply owner Ben Bilbrey stands in his shop on Aug. 14 in Goldsmith. Bilbrey founded Benro in 1984 and ran it until his retirement in 2014. He returned five years later after management issues began to arise. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune In 1984, he decided he had enough experience to open a business. He took on $300,000 in debt to buy materials and equipment and hire employees. He named it Benro, a blend of his name and that of his ex-wife, Rodine. The name stuck. So has the business, despite the winding economic downturns in the oil and gas industry that followed. The companys custom-made pumps are simple yet foolproof machines that oil companies rely on to continue withdrawing oil from wells drilled years ago. Where there are drilling rigs, a pump follows. Bilbrey retired in 2014, but he said that management issues festered during his retirement. He returned five years later and recruited his wife, Corinna, to sort out the companys books. His daughter manages federal workforce guidelines. By 2021, it was a full-fledged family business. Corinna Bilbrey manages the front office of Benro Pump and Supply on Aug. 14 in Goldsmith. Bilbrey, a career nurse, left her job in 2020 to help her husband return to the family business after his retirement in 2014. She now manages the businesss finances and operations. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune Together they oversee laborers who build pumps that can endure the strain of lifting fossil fuels thousands of feet from below the ground for years. Bilbrey prides himself on the quality of the pumps. The company builds different models that range widely in price. A so-called Cadillac pump, built with high-grade metals and parts, can go deeper and cost up to $17,000. These pumps last up to 20 years. His team will service the equipment and replace parts quickly. Bilbrey also sells a more generic pump, which costs $4,000 to $6,000 and is expected to last about a year. Bilbreys overhead is about $200,000, he said. Costs add up quickly. And this year, the company will spend roughly $170,000 on insurance, almost double what it cost in 2022. Thats because larger oil companies require more expensive liability protections. They are bracing for an additional increase in insurance costs next month. Its hard for us because we dont sell the lowest-price thing. We sell the best service, and we sell high quality, Corinna said. And thats hard when your customers are driven by numbers. Despite changes in drilling, companies still require pumps to collect oil from wells. Bilbrey said companies need to be persuaded to spend that kind of money on a quality pump when they can get one for 10% to 15% less from a wholesaler. Though it is not much of a difference, Bilbrey said larger companies of which there are more than 30 in the area dont offer the continued dedicated service that Benro Pump does. Consolidation and demand The industry is changing how it drills. Companies are drilling with fewer rotary rigs, the towers of steel that crews mount to drill. Fewer rigs mean fewer holes in the ground and, over time, less demand for pumps. The change is due in part to horizontal fracking, a practice that enables companies to reach further distances in the layers of rock containing fossil fuels without having to drill deeper. A service rig crew pulls sucker rods from an oil and gas well as they work to bring a downhole pumping unit to the surface on Aug. 14 in West Odessa. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune Data shows the number of wells is declining. According to Baker Hughes, which has tracked rig counts for decades, there were more than 370 rigs in Texas operated by oil companies at the end of March 2023. That number fell to fewer than 300 in March 2024. The number of exploration and production companies that find and drill for oil is also decreasing. There are 16% fewer producers than in 2021, as approximately 116 companies have been bought or merged into larger ones, according to data provided by Rystad Energy. Thomas Jacob, senior vice president of oil field services and data research at Rystad Energy, said mergers contribute to fewer rigs as consolidated companies dont always maintain all the rigs that the pre-merger companies operated. At least six companies merged or absorbed others in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. The companies which included Chevron Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Diamondback Energy Inc. spent $234 billion on mergers and acquisitions. Jacob said that mergers affect the way big oil companies do business. Larger companies may prefer to work with vendors and contractors whose businesses are as large as theirs, while smaller oil field supply companies must compete with wholesalers who carry much more product, charge less and employ more people. Also, some smaller companies cant afford the expenses that come with working for a big company, such as higher insurance costs. We are seeing these smaller companies lose work. Theyve had to significantly slash prices to see if they can keep going, Jacob said. A few of them have started to declare bankruptcy. Used to instability The drive south from the lease roads to the shop took Ford about 15 minutes. There, he debriefed his co-workers. Benro Pump waits for the phone to ring. Echoing through the normally loud and rowdy shop is the creak of swiveling chairs and the sizzle of searing meat. The grilling cools their nerves. A well service rig, operated by Maverick Natural Resources, is seen on Aug. 14 outside Goldsmith. The 15-year-old well, which produces 6 barrels of oil and 150,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day, was being serviced to replace its downhole pumping unit. Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune The workers cant help but think about what the oil and gas industrys future holds, how the presidential election in November will affect production, and whether the consequences will impact their business. Ben Bilbrey is used to the industrys instability. Hes seen its highs and lows. Ford hasnt. Tech Bloc will hold its annual Tech Fuel startup pitch competition in September and October. Application are being accepted through Sept. 15. Robin Jerstad / Robin Jerstad Tech Bloc, San Antonios technology industry advocacy group, is looking for startups from across the nation to compete for more than $100,000 in its annual Tech Fuel pitch competition. Applications are being accepted through Sept. 15 for the seventh running of the contest, which aims to provide resources for early-venture startups, as well as exposure to fellow innovators and investors. Tech Bloc CEO Ileana Gonzalez said San Antonio area startup founders often arent as strong as others around the country when it comes to pitching their businesses or communicating how they plan to scale and meet their goals. Advertisement Article continues below this ad With $50,000 from Bexar Countys Innovation Fund, the Tech Fuel competition will help close that gap with two workshops for local startups that are focused on pitching, fundraising and scaling their businesses. This is not for us to give you a participation sticker because you are a San Antonio company, Gonzalez said. This is a real pitch competition, and its a real example of what its going to be like when you go out there and raise [capital] because no startup has been able to raise from just one city. Ileana Gonzalez is CEO of Tech Bloc, San Antonios nonprofit technology industry advocacy group. University of Texas at San Antonio Tech Bloc is bringing in outside experts including representatives from Massive VC, a venture capital firm in Boulder, Colo., Antler, a group that invests in startups and TechStars to help local founders compete at the national level. TechStars is the most active seed stage investor in the world, according to Crunchbase. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Gonzalez said the workshops will help local founders really hone in on their pitches so everybody understands them. The competition offers a $50,000 grand prize, $20,000 innovation award, $10,000 audience award, $7,500 honorable mention and $2,500 for each of the five finalists. Participants will also receive Tech Bloc startup memberships, which include access to more than $350,000 in cloud credits from various vendors, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and others. The workshops will occur on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Twenty-five semifinalists in five brackets will present their pitches on Oct. 3 and 4. The winners of each bracket will compete in the finals on Oct. 8. Gonzalez said the competition had received eight applicants as of midday Friday since the window opened Aug. 19. Last year we had 55, she said. Hope its over 100 this year. In addition to competitors from across the U.S., Gonzalez is hoping some international companies compete. Since assuming the Tech Bloc CEO role last year, shes led trips with community leaders to Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Its for us to also advocate for the ecosystem nationwide and even worldwide, which is what weve been doing the whole year by visiting Monterey, visiting Guadalajara, she said. Were inviting them over to Tech Fuel, and some of them might even compete. Comedian Maria Bamford will perform at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre. Bruce Smith Whenever comedian Maria Bamford wants to try out new material, she turns to her fans for help. She'll put out a call on X, offering a T-shirt to anybody who has the time to meet for a cup of coffee or over Zoom and listen to her go through her act. Comedian Maria Bamford will perform at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre. Robyn Von Swank "The great thing about human beings is that if you give people an opportunity to be delightful, they are often delightful. So any time Ive met with somebody, it has been really fun," Bamford said in a telephone interview. "And also its a public forum, so theyve said in some way, 'I would like to do this and Im a fan.' Its not like its been pushed upon them, which is my least favorite kind of comedy. Which is ambush comedy." Advertisement Article continues below this ad Bamford, who will perform at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre on Aug. 30, is aware that her material might strike some as an acquired taste. So she strongly urges those who haven't experienced her oddball take on things to sample it online. Maria Bamford When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30. Where: Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary's. Tickets: $27 to $120, majesticempire.com. "Do not put yourself in harm's way," she said. "There's no need to suffer on behalf of the arts. You can find out by Goggling whether you will enjoy something or not." She noted that some might be misled by her looks "I'm a white, cis hetero woman in my 50s" into thinking they might relate to her point of view. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Maybe not," she said. "You might want to Google it. "I am the used bookstore of comedy. I probably wont have what you want. But I am pleasant, and Ill try to find you who you might want. And I bet its someone else." It's pretty easy to figure out if Bamford is your kind of thing. There's "Local Act," her 2023 special, which ends with her giving audience members a chance to try their hand at stand-up; and the loopy delight that is "The Special Special Special," in which she performs a set for her parents, the comedy interrupted briefly so she can give her dog his eye drops and pull cookies out of the oven. There's also her Netflix sitcom "Lady Dynamite," as well as all kinds of snippets from her act on YouTube on her X page. Bamford often talks about her lifelong struggles with mental health. She wrote about some of that in "Sure, I'll Join Your Cult," her 2023 memoir told through a look at the various 12-step programs she had joined in her life, including Overeaters Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "My mom, whos since passed, she would have loved it and that I got on the New York Times bestseller list," she said. "She maybe wouldn't have read the book, but she would have been delighted." She has a second book, as well. She and her husband, artist Scott Marvel Cassidy, collaborated on "Hogbook and Lazer Eyes," a graphic novel released this summer. It describes their relationship from the perspective of their dogs. "It's a beautiful sort of memorial to all of the dogs that weve had over the course of our relationship and how they supported us," she said. The couple has come up with backstories for their pets, which factor into the book. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Max was a Marine and then he got into private detective work, and thats why he did the perimeter of whatever room he was in hed go around the perimeter to make sure everything was safe," she said. "Then there was Arnold and Betty; they were a bonded pair and they were just completely in love with each other." They typically have taken in older dogs, even though it's a setup for heartbreak, she said. "You know they're going to pass away, but I prefer an older dog," she said. "Because I think thats what I am I like to sit down, I like to eat." Cassidy is working an another comic, she said, and she's continuously working on new material and inviting folks to listen to it one at a time before bringing it to bigger audiences. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Boerne All-Stars baseball team will get a welcome home party after its fourth-place finish at the Little League World Series on Sunday. The celebration starts at 4:45 p.m. Monday in downtown Boerne. Team supporters are encouraged to arrive early. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press The Boerne All-Stars are expected to receive a big welcome home Monday when they arrive from the Little League World Series, where the team played to a fourth-place finish. The city has announced plans to host a celebration and parade at Main Plaza, 100 N. Main St. in downtown Boerne. Festivities are set to begin at 4:45 p.m., though it could be delayed depending on the team's arrival in Texas. The team is returning from South Williamsport, Pa., after losing to Lake Mary, Fla., in a 10-7 loss Saturday. That loss meant the team played for a third-place finish on Sunday, when the Boerne team fell 4-3 to the Cardenales Little League, the Latin America Region champion from Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Boerne community has been cheering on this incredible team as they made their historic run to Williamsport, PA, City Manager Ben Thatcher said in a news release. We want to welcome them home with a party worthy of their hard work and determination that has captivated all of us. People are invited to start lining Main Street from Main Plaza south to Theissen Street around 5 p.m., the city said. Main Street will be blocked off as the team is escorted by Boerne police and fire departments from Main Plaza to River Road and back, ending at Main Plaza, the city said. After the parade, people can make their way to Main Plaza, where a celebration will be held. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The team will be recognized by Mayor Frank Ritchie of Boerne, Mayor Greg Maxton of Fair Oaks Ranch, Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk, Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kim Blohm and Boerne Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Kristen Craft. German firms ramp up investment, not to miss out on China's growth opportunities 08:18, August 26, 2024 By Li Hanlin ( Xinhua BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- German businesses are growing increasingly optimistic about China's innovative vitality and open market benefits, leading to a surge in their investments in the Chinese market. German investments in China have shattered records, reaching an unprecedented 7.3 billion euros (8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2024, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Germany. This momentum continues unabated, highlighting the deepening economic ties between the two countries as they mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Germany comprehensive strategic partnership. An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 20, 2023 shows a view of Volkswagen (Anhui) Automotive Company Limited in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua/Guo Chen) BOOMING INVESTMENT Several prominent German companies have demonstrated their long-term commitment to China through significant increases in investments. Volkswagen is investing 2.5 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) in the Chinese city of Hefei to establish its largest R&D center outside Germany. BMW is boosting its investment in its Shenyang plant in northeast China by 20 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) to upgrade production capacity and boost innovation. Bayer revealed a 600-million-yuan (84.2-million-dollar) investment for a new supply center in Qidong in coastal Jiangsu Province. This consistent increase in investment not only acknowledges China's vast market potential but also reflects confidence in its infrastructure, comprehensive industrial chain and business environment. During the 7th China International Import Expo Germany Roadshow in June, Wu Zhengping, deputy director general of the China International Import Expo Bureau, emphasized the strong participation of German companies in the expo, noting the number of exhibitors and the space they occupied were the highest among European nations. This robust involvement signals the high level of confidence that German businesses have in China's economic prospects. "Over 90 percent of German leading global companies have partnerships with China. Any company aspiring to lead in the global market must collaborate with China," said Walter Doring, chairman of the Academy of German Hidden Champions, adding that German firms embedded in the Chinese market face bright prospects and continued growth opportunities that will enhance competitiveness worldwide. Zhai Qian, minister of economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Germany, noted that Germany's strengths in traditional sectors like machinery, automotive and pharmaceuticals complement China's advances in green development and the digital economy. This synergy injects new dynamism into bilateral economic ties and pushes cooperation to new heights. A staff member of German company Karcher displays a product at the fourth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu) DRIVING FACTORS Behind the sustained increase in German investment in China lies confidence in the country's long-term economic prospects, positive signals emanating from China's high-level opening-up and a continually improving business environment. Tobias Wahl, board chairman of the Hawk brand at Karcher Group, highlighted how his company successfully introduced deep-cleaning concepts to the Chinese market, yielding impressive results. This success further strengthened Karcher's commitment to the Chinese market, with the company now investing 2 billion yuan (280.7 million dollars) to advance its localization strategy. "German companies approach investment decisions with a strong focus on market potential and profitability, carefully analyzing global markets to identify regions with the highest opportunities and growth potential," said Zheng Chunrong, director of the German Studies Center at Tongji University. The sustained growth of German investment in China highlights the market's significant scale and promising prospects. For many German companies, China remains a preferred hub for global supply chain layouts. Michael Schumann, chairman of the Board of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, emphasized that what previously had to be imported from Germany or other parts of Europe is now sourced from China. This shift has led to the creation of production models such as "In China, For China" and "In China, For the World." China's growing innovation leadership is fostering greater synergy between China and Germany. "China's significance surpasses mere consumption; it has become a hub of innovation, leading the transformation across various sectors such as electrification, smart mobility, artificial intelligence, digitalization, and energy efficiency," said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Schumann echoed this sentiment, stating that China's innovation leadership is gradually strengthening, and more German firms are investing strategically in the country to participate in local innovation. In the automotive sector, for instance, German manufacturers are increasingly benefiting from China's expertise in electric vehicles. According to the 2024 Global Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index published by global management consulting firm Kearney, China has risen from seventh place last year to third this year, ranking first among emerging markets. Loosened visa policies have helped facilitate business between China and Germany. "German employees can now easily travel to China for business," said Willi Riester, chief technology officer of Chiron Machine Tool (Taicang) Co., Ltd. "Our German engineers can swiftly travel to China to repair equipment and return to Germany within a week, significantly improving company efficiency." "Over 500 German companies have chosen Taicang as their base in China," noted Wang Xiangyuan, Taicang city's Party chief, citing the strong partnerships between local businesses and German companies as a reason. This photo taken on April 22, 2024 shows the booth of Taicang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, at Hannover Messe 2024 in Hannover, Germany. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) WIN-WIN COOPERATION Most of the 7.3-billion-euro (8.2-billion-dollar) German investment in China this year consists of reinvested profits earned by German companies in the Chinese market, according to the German media Welt. "German entrepreneurs generally have a very clear sense of reality, are guided by facts rather than fiction, and make sober decisions after weighing up all advantages and disadvantages," said Schumann. "Many of them still see their future in China and are not blinded by the ideologically motivated statements of some who are calling for the German economy to withdraw from China. We need more engagement and more cooperation instead of withdrawal and confrontation," he added. Partnerships remain of utmost value for German companies. "In China's dynamic and competitive energy vehicle market, it is of great importance that we continue to strengthen our strategic partnership with SAIC and drive forward the electrification of SAIC Volkswagen's portfolio," said Ralf Brandstaetter, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, referring to one of Volkswagen's partners in China. "The Chinese market for us becomes a very, very important one," said Norman Goldberg, CEO of Tesa SE, a German manufacturer of adhesive products. "We're very glad to have one of the most innovative R&D organizations here, one of the most innovative production sites, and we will continue to invest in the future and the local Chinese set-up." As China deepens its reforms and pushes forward high-level opening-up, new opportunities will emerge for foreign enterprises. The success stories of German companies investing in China are set to continue. "Economic and trade cooperation plays a crucial role in China-Germany relations," said Zhai from the Chinese Embassy in Germany. "It is vital to remove obstacles, enhance collaboration, find common ground, and maximize the benefits of cooperation, allowing both nations to partake in the economic gains from China's growth." (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Jessica Hofmann sits in a field of flowers with her son Antares Hofmann. Hofmann was homeless when she died Thursday. She was found on a San Antonio sidewalk. Her family said she died of a heat stroke. Courtesy Jemmy Coleman Jessica Hofmann, left, smiles with her son Antares Hofmann, center and her sister Jemmy Coleman. Hofmann was homeless when she died Thursday. She was found on a San Antonio sidewalk. Her family said she died of a heat stroke. Courtesy Jemmy Coleman Jessica Jill Witzel Hofmann was homeless and suffering from schizophrenia when she died of heatstroke in the Five Points area, north of downtown, her friends and family say. Bystanders found the 46-year-old mother unresponsive about 4 p.m. Thursday on a sidewalk in the 120 block of East Fredericksburg Road, according to a San Antonio police report. There were no signs of physical trauma. The temperature that day reached a record-setting 106 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Hofmann's friends and activists say it was hotter than 106 degrees in the Five Points area where Hofmann died. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office hasn't publicly released a cause and manner of death, but her sister Jemmy Coleman said the medical examiner called Friday to tell her the office had identified Hofmann by her fingerprints and that she died of heatstroke. It was a grim end that Hofmann's loved ones had tried to prevent. Marisol Cortez had been trying to get funds to Coleman so she could continue helping her sister. Through tears, Coleman, who lives in Houston, said she'd traveled to San Antonio to find her sister living on downtown streets. She begged her to seek treatment and she had been working for more than a year to help her find it, Coleman said. Coleman reached out to every homeless outreach service she could, from nonprofits to city, county and state agencies, she said. But Hofmann was turned away from various city, county and nonprofit services for numerous reasons, Coleman said. Hofmann had dozens of citations, including some arrests, from San Antonio police, including for camping in a public place and smoking outdoors where prohibited, according to Coleman, who shared them with the San Antonio Express-News. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Hofmann's family and friends say she was banned from local shelters. The Express-News reached out to local shelters for comment. A Haven for Hope spokesperson said Hofmann was never banned from its facility. Coleman obtained a mental health warrant for Hofmann. She was kept in emergency detention for three weeks. Coleman said a doctor called the family and said Hofmann was very sick and needed a lot of help. "Everybody judged her in the end," Coleman said. Cortez, co-editor of deceleration, a nonprofit news website, wrote about her childhood friend in an essay, The Woman Who Died in the Texas Heat on a San Antonio Sidewalk Was My Friend. She cited climate change, a lack of resources, and slow response times on the part of city and county departments. Cortez said they met when they were kids at Bulverde Elementary. As adults, they lived in a fourplex across from San Antonio College. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "The more vulnerable you are, the more medical needs you have," Cortez said. "Plus if you're unhoused, all of these vulnerabilities stack up on one another." Hofmann resisted getting treatment, which was her right. But Coleman and Cortez said someone with schizophrenia does not realize he or she has the mental illness, and they are often unable to accept help. "She has a right to get tickets 3 feet long," Coleman said. "But she doesnt have a right to be put into a hospital, to get on medication and really be helped." Coleman was trying to secure guardianship for her sister. After more than a year of reaching out to various organizations for help, a judge had just signed a guardian ad litem to investigate her mental health condition and make a determination of incapacity. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Hofmann's condition was deteriorating. In the last several months of her life, she had lost 50 pounds, Cortez said, adding that Hofmann had been sexually assaulted, beat up and hit by cars. Cortez said a judge told her that the city and county have a lack of psychiatric providers and hospitals. As Coleman makes funeral arrangements, she's grappling with many unanswered questions. "Our system is broken," Coleman said. "What happened to the programs that used to be in place, why is a state hospital not available, why is there not another hospital being built?" Friends and family described Hofmann as a loving mother and aunt who loved to surprise her loved ones and friends with small gifts. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "She was not a judgmental person, she was very loving," Coleman said. In April, Coleman and her daughter sat with Hofmann along the Riverwalk and just talked. Hofmann shared treats with her niece that she received from a former homeless gentleman, who visits other homeless five days a week giving out goodie bags. Mary Rose Brown, a San Antonio business executive who served on the board of the Haven for Hope homeless services campus and was instrumental in its founding, has died. She was 68. The organization said on Facebook it was heartbroken by the loss and that Brown had passed away Friday at her home surrounded by her family. Energy executive and philanthropist Mary Rose Brown of San Antonio died Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. She was 68. Courtesy of the Brown family Mary Rose Brown at the Greater Chamber of Commerce Women Business Leaders awards luncheon in 2013. File Photo/LELAND A. OUTZ/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS As the largest emergency shelter in San Antonio, Haven for Hope plays a critical role housing homeless individuals and families. Mary Rose Brown, who was instrumental in the founding of the nonprofit, has died. Bob Owen, Staff / San Antonio Express-News The impact and legacy she had on Haven for Hope cannot be overstated as she gave her time, talent, and treasure to ensure the clients we serve had everything they needed to address the root cause of their trauma, the post said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Brown died after an illness, her family said. We spent more quality time together the past few weeks, said Browns oldest son, Taylor Brown, recounting stories his family shared during a time he described as filled with joy. Among the recollections shared, he said, were memories of family trips to the beach and stories of his mothers early childhood on San Antonios South Side, where her commitment to community service took shape. Brown said his mother was raised with the principles of a strong work ethic, a devotion to faith and a love of service. Advertisement Article continues below this ad One of our mom-isms that she got from her mom was, Work hard, accomplish much, Brown said. It gets repeated in my house weekly. Mary Rose Brown was born July 26, 1956, in San Antonio. She attended Lee High School, where she was a member of its Rebel Rousers dance team a feat that filled his teenage mother with pride, her son said. When Mom made that team, she thought shed made it big, he said. Brown attended what was then Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos (now Texas State University) and started a career in public relations after graduating. She spent 14 years at the Atkins Agency, where she directed public relations campaigns for a variety of clients, including Valero Energy Corp., the City of San Antonio, Broadway National Bank and Ernst & Young. Brown also worked in human resources and corporate communications, including at Valero, and joined NuStar Energy in 2007, where she served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Advertisement Article continues below this ad She worked alongside energy entrepreneur and philanthropist William Bill Greehey, who founded and chaired NuStar, to create Haven for Hope. Greehey began formulating plans to address homelessness in Bexar County in 2006. Haven, designed as a one-stop campus where transformational services for the homeless are easily accessible, became fully operational in 2010. It is regarded as a national model. A chapel on the Haven campus west of downtown recently was renamed the Mary Rose Brown Chapel of Hope in honor of Brown. Its a tribute that was especially meaningful to his devout Catholic mother, Taylor Brown said. She always lived to serve Christ through serving others, he said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Many in the community familiar with Mary Rose Browns work at Haven offered remembrances on social media. They recalled her compassion and advocacy for the homeless, describing her as someone with a servants heart who always showed up for others. Besides her duties at Haven, Browns volunteer service included work with the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County and the San Antonio Parks Foundation. Her numerous honors include the Girl Scouts Trefoil Award and induction into both the San Antonio Womens Hall of Fame and the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame. Nominating her for the latter in 2022, Greehey wrote: You would be hard pressed to find a nonprofit organization in San Antonio that Mary Rose has not supported by donating her time, talents and treasure. Mayor Ron Nirenberg expressed gratitude for Browns service to the community. I will treasure her friendship and fierce advocacy for the city and all of its residents, especially those who counted on her to be their voice, he wrote on X. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Despite her numerous career accomplishments and the many accolades given to her over the years, Taylor Brown said his mother was most proud of the children she raised and the grandchildren she welcomed into the family. She taught us to savor life, to be so appreciative of our life, to enjoy life, he said, recalling the simple pleasures his mother enjoyed a day on the beach, the smell of rain and the taste of fresh-baked cookies. I grew up thinking I had the best mom ever, and I did, he said. Brown is survived by her sons, Taylor and Garrett; daughter Kirsten; and eight grandchildren. The fire that killed five young adults at the Iconic Village Apartments in San Marcos in July 2018 started when a discarded mattress was set ablaze, investigators determined. Express-News file photo Hays County's district attorney said he will oppose a move to ease bond conditions for the man accused of setting the 2018 fire that ravaged an apartment building near Texas State University in San Marcos and killed five people. Jacobe De Leon O Shea Ferguson, 31, of Austin, has been free on a personal recognizance bond for almost a year. He is charged with arson causing bodily injury or death in the fire at the complex then known as the Iconic Village Apartments. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Three months after Ferguson's arrest, Hays County prosecutors said they were not prepared to present the case to a grand jury, and that more investigation was needed. Ferguson still has not been indicted, and it is unclear when or if he will stand trial. This month, his defense attorney, Kristin Dow, filed a motion asking a judge to allow Ferguson to remove a GPS ankle monitor he's been required to wear to track his movements and requesting that Ferguson no longer be subject to house arrest between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily. The motion also seeks to lower Ferguson's $400,000 bail. District Attorney Kelly Higgins told the San Antonio Express-News on Monday that his office will fight the defense motion. Our office will oppose any such modifications should they reach a hearing, Higgins said. Jacobe De Leon O Shea Ferguson, 31, of Austin, is charged with arson causing bodily injury or death in connection with the Iconic Village fire. Courtesy photo/Hays County court records RELATED: Burn victim returns to scene of deadly San Marcos apartment fire Advertisement Article continues below this ad A judge will make the final call. A court hearing on the matter has not yet been scheduled. In her motion, Dow said the bond conditions and the bail amount were unreasonable. She noted that Ferguson has complied with all the conditions and argued that he's not a flight risk and presents no danger to the public. In an attached affidavit, Ferguson wrote that the ankle monitor and 8 p.m. curfew were causing him "mental health issues." "I live in continuous fear due to the pendency of this case," Ferguson wrote. " ... I appreciate and cherish my freedom and will do whatever is necessary to continue on bond and follow any conditions that are ordered." Higgins said the district attorney's office has received "dozens" of emails from members of the public about Ferguson's request to lighten his bond conditions. Some were from families of people killed or injured in the fire. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The blaze at Iconic Village, located at 222 Ramsay St., several blocks from Texas State, erupted shortly before 4:30 a.m. on July 20, 2018, as most residents of the building were asleep. The catastrophe started when someone ignited a mattress that had been discarded in an outdoor breezeway on the ground floor of a building within the complex. The inferno spread rapidly and killed Dru Estes, 20, of San Antonio; Belinda Moats, 21, of Big Wells; James Phillip Miranda, 23, of Mount Pleasant; and roommates Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, of San Angelo, and David Angel Ortiz, 21, of Pasadena. All of them lived in upstairs apartments in the building where the fire started. Their bodies were recovered from the rubble over several days. Zachary Sutterfield, now 26, suffered third-degree burns to almost 70 percent of his body and a traumatic brain injury when he leaped from the second-story apartment to escape the flames. He survived and now lives with his mother in San Angelo. He was at the apartments staying with his friends Frizzell and Ortiz. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Dow works for Neighborhood Defender Service, a nonprofit that serves as the public defender's office in Hays County. The organization said it does not comment on active cases. Ferguson, who is originally from Tyler, earned a degree from Texas State. He lived for a time in Building 500 at Iconic Village, where the fire started. He later moved to another part of the complex. An affidavit in support of his arrest accused him of setting the mattress ablaze because he was depressed about his life circumstances and angry at a woman who lived in the complex and who had "rejected" him after the two went on a date. Ferguson was arrested in Austin on July 5, 2023, and spent almost three months in jail. He was released on a personal recognizance bond in September by a joint motion of the prosecution and defense because the district attorney's office wasn't ready to take the case to a grand jury. Under Texas law, a felony defendant cannot be held for more than 90 days without a grand jury indictment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The parents of Frizzell, a Texas State student killed in the fire, oppose more lenient bond conditions for Ferguson. I 100% agree that losing your freedom is horrible, but not having a chance to get your degree because of somebodys stupid act not having a chance to follow your dreams because of somebody doing something stupid is much worse, said the slain student's father, Brian Frizzell, 53, of Austin. We dont sleep well at night either. The 9th edition of the prestigious IndIAA Awards presented by the India Chapter of International Advertising Association saw the finest minds of advertising converge to celebrate creativity and excellence in the industry. OPEN was the Associate Partner, while Teads, Mobligent Media Pvt Ltd, The Indian Express, Dinamalar and Bobble AI were Supporting Partners for the illustrious event. An annual endeavor to identify, encourage and honor storytelling at its unique and creative best, the IndIAA Awards 2024 once again set the benchmark for unearthing stellar campaigns from the advertising industrys finest. Spread across 19 different segments and categories, more than 15 agencies were rewarded for their bold ideas, fresh concepts and gripping content during the event. Chosen from a select list of more than 300 nominees, the years awards saw a tough fight in many categories, with judges also awarding joint awards in one special segment. Creative agencies like Ogilvy fetched 4 trophies, while Moonshot fetched 3. Other agencies to win were MullenLowe Lintas, tgthr, Talented, Manja, Enormous Brands, Toaster, BBH India, The Script Room, Havas Media and McCann Worldgroup. On the brand side, Colgate-Palmolive snagged an award in the Personal Care category, while Swiggy won in the Online Classifieds, Commerce and Services segment. Google fetched a trophy for its Dhoondenge Toh Milega campaign, while TVS Motor Company won an award for its Protect Little Riders campaign. IndIAA Awards Voice of Change category saw two joint winners take home the trophy as Ogilvy and Talented shared the coveted trophy. Tempest Advertising was honored with the esteemed IAA Cause Related Award for their compelling and transformative Awareness Campaign on Autism. IAA IndIAA Awards Chairman, Abhishek Karnani said, This is the 9th edition of the IAA IndIAA Awards, an unique creative award show that recognizes advertising excellence. The esteemed presence of the country's top marketers, creative agencies, media agencies, production houses, PR agencies and industry leaders here tonight is a testament to the significance of this occasion. Unlike traditional award shows, the IndIAA Awards do not rely on entries. Instead, the work has to speak for itself, just as it speaks to the consumers it aims to persuade. Another distinguishing feature of the IndIAA Awards is that the judging is carried out by senior marketers who own and invest in the brands. This brings a valuable perspective from those who truly understand the challenges and objectives of effective advertising. As we gather to recognize the best from July 2023 to June 2024, lets also celebrate IAAs unwavering commitment to demonstrating how creativity can be a force for good. Rohit Jawa, Jury Chairman, and CEO & Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever Limited, said, As we celebrate the ninth year of this remarkable event, I am truly honored to have served on the jury. The IndIAA Awards continue to stand out for their commitment to recognizing campaigns that genuinely impact consumers. Todays marketing landscape is brimming with dynamic and fresh creative thinking, and its inspiring to see how big ideas and storytelling drive not only commercial success but also cultural influence. Also Read: Celebrating excellence at the seventh edition of IndIAA Awards in Mumbai The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on Friday (August 23, 2024) submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court recommending one Self-Declaration Certificate for all media. MIB has sought exempting ASCI members, ad agencies, print media as well as start-ups from the SDC mandate. The affidavit has been filed by Senthil Rajan, Joint Secretary in the MIB. On July 9, 2024, the Supreme Court had directed the MIB to submit an affidavit within next three weeks, highlighting the recommendations on the SDC mechanism. Seeking exemption for members of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the MIB said that they already comply with the ASCI code, which covers most of the advertising laws in India. Print media, too, is governed by the Press Council of India rules as well as ASCI, the MIB pointed out. The affidavit also sought exclusion of programmatic ads, user-generated content and online advertisements from the SDC mechanism. MIB stated that the SDC mandate might not be feasible for programmatic ads as they follow a real-time bidding process and are carried through network agencies. The affidavit stated, Creative agencies focus on developing ads based on the advertisers mandate and claims about their products or services. Media agencies handle media planning and purchasing. Performance agencies use data, technology, and expertise to achieve success in the digital space. Therefore, these agencies should not be compelled or made liable to upload SDC because one advertiser can have multiple agencies. Also Read: Cut GST on digital news subscription from 18% to 5%: MIB to Revenue Dept Srinath Rajendran, the acclaimed director known for his hard-hitting Malayalam thrillers, is set to make his Bollywood debut with a film inspired by the life of Dhani Ram Mittal, Indias most notorious conman and master forger. Rajendran, who gained widespread recognition for blockbuster hits like Kurup featuring Dulquer Salmaan and Koothara starring Megastar Mohanlal, is ready to bring his unique storytelling to the Hindi film industry. The upcoming film is based on the book "MoneyRam," co-authored by Preeti Aggarwal and Chetan Unniyal. The book delves into the extraordinary life of Dhani Ram Mittal, also known as "Junior Natwarlal," whose criminal career spanned an astonishing 45 years, from 1969 until his death in April 2024. Mittals life story, filled with daring cons and forged documents, is a true example of how "fact is stranger than fiction." Srinath Rajendrans previous film, Kurup (2021), became one of the most successful Malayalam films of all time, grossing over 112 crores worldwide. The film was based on the real-life story of Sukumara Kurup, one of Kerala's most infamous fugitives, who has been on the run since 1984 after being charged with murder in an attempt to fake his own death and claim an insurance sum of 8 lakh. Renowned for his mastery in the thriller genre, Rajendran has once again chosen a compelling narrative for his Bollywood debut. He expressed his excitement about the project, stating, Cinema today transcends borders and languages. I am thrilled to embark on this new journey in Hindi cinema. Dhani Ram Mittal, or MoneyRam, is arguably the most fascinating conman in modern Indian history, and I cant wait to bring his story to the big screen. The screenplay for the film is already in progress, with plans to begin shooting in early 2025. The film, produced by Insomnia Media and Content Services Limited, in association with Pretty Pictures, will be shot in Hindi and released in Hindi, Malayalam, and Telugu, aiming to captivate a Pan-Indian audience. Also Read: HiveMinds Appoints Srinath Kotamaraju As Regional Director-South Marking Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram app, was arrested at Paris' Le Bourget airport on Saturday and has had his detention extended by French judicial authorities. Durov was detained upon arrival from Baku on his private jet in connection with allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promotion of terrorism, and cyberbullying. French investigators issued an arrest warrant for Durov accusing him of failing to adequately address the criminal use of his platform. Telegram, in a statement, defended its compliance with EU laws and its moderation practices. The company insisted that Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels within Europe. Telegram's statement said: Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Russian authorities criticized France for its lack of cooperation and requested access to Durov. Durov's arrest marks a significant turn in the career of the tech world's influential figure. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with Kremlin demands. Telegram has since become a major source of information and disinformation about the Ukraine war. Elon Musk criticized European authorities following the arrest of Pavel Durov, labeling it an assault on free speech. Musk took to social media to call for justice for Durov. In response to a post by American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who warned, "It's Telegram today. It'll be X tomorrow," Musk agreed, affirming, "He's right." Also Read: Telegram casinos - a new trend or a waste of time Earlier this month, Bata India launched its latest campaign, Stronger Inside, to unveil the revolutionary latest Power Energy Collection, designed in Canada and backed by global technology. The campaign is built on the insight that the Power Inside is always stronger than any challenge outside, thus, when the world says maybe tomorrow, you say Power-through today! The latest performance footwear range with Power XO Rise technology is said to have the most responsive midsole ever and gives 25% more energy rebound. These shoes are designed for training, running and workout. The range starts at Rs 2,999. Watch the ad film: In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Deepika Deepti, Head of Marketing, Bata India, delves into the concept and thought behind the new campaign Stronger Inside, how Bata India is leveraging digital media, technology for promoting the campaign, the glocal strategy behind the new campaign, its marketing objectives, and more. Could you share the concept and thought behind the new campaign Stronger Inside for the launch of Batas brand new Power Energy collection? Power is our fastest-growing brand. We truly want to democratize fitness technology by making it accessible to all. We believe that the right sporting gear acts as a motivational partner in the pursuit of an active lifestyle. Through our latest campaign, Stronger Inside, we want to empower active enthusiasts by motivating them to overcome challenges, persevere in their fitness journey, and provide them access to the right sport and fitness technology. Power serves as a supportive partner in their pursuit to feel stronger from within. With the growing demand in the athleisure segment in India and the inclination of customers towards adopting a healthy lifestyle, the Stronger Inside campaign captures the insight that when it comes to consistency in fitness, the Power Inside is always stronger than any challenge outside. The latest range of Power Energy shoes is truly transformative, packed with global technology that offers 25% energy return, breathable upper mesh, and starts at just Rs 2,999. We have also re-launched the Power EasySlide collection in a new avatar, which has already become one of our best-selling ranges, appealing to those who value both convenience and comfort in their footwear. If you look at the current offerings in the market in the fitness segment, Power carves its niche attracting active lifestyle enthusiasts who believe in the pursuit of physical activities as a means to enhance overall well-being, fostering stronger mental and physical health. We want to encourage progression over perfection and boost confidence as individuals take on their fitness journey. Who is the TG for the campaign and the Power Energy Collection by Bata? All active enthusiasts! Individuals who want more from their lives, the ones who are always on the go, juggling between responsibilities yet are looking to explore the world of fitness. People who are health conscious and prioritize a healthy lifestyle and overall well-being. These are the people who are seeking comfortable yet stylish products that seamlessly integrate with their active lifestyle. These individuals are often influenced by fitness influencers, health trends, technology, and social media. They believe in demonstrated technology and are looking for affordable options to complement their fitness journey. How is Bata leveraging digital media and technology to promote the campaign? Bata has employed a full-funnel media strategy to amplify the campaign, with significant investments across Digital channels. Ahead of the campaign, we collaborated with wrestler Nisha Dahiya, supporting her in her Olympic journey. Bata is also collaborating with fitness trainers across the country like Yasmin Karachiwala, Anshuka Yoga, and others to enhance our campaigns reach and to position Power Energy as a preferred choice of fitness enthusiasts. Which creative agency has conceptualized the campaign? The global campaign has been conceptualized by our creative agency FCB India. What is the message that the film is trying to convey through the campaign? Batas new Power Energy collection debuts with the latest tagline Stronger Inside. The campaign is built on the insight that the Power Inside is always stronger than any challenge outside. It aims to convey that true strength lies within you. This perfectly translates into our revamped brand purpose: to unlock the power inside every individual. We want to create a deeper emotional connection with our consumers and want them to see Power as their fitness partner for activities like running, walking, or working out. What is the USP of the Power Energy collection designed in Canada, backed by global technology? Bata is taking a Global approach. The technology in the shoes is truly transformative as it has stemmed from years of research in Powers Canadian research institutes. The latest Energy collection is designed keeping in mind the needs of Indian consumers who are looking forward to adopting an active lifestyle. The Power Energy Collection features performance-based shoes that are incredibly lightweight and engineered to enhance every step of your fitness journey, starting just at Rs 2,999. The collection brings the best of three culture, a blend of style and comfort, and seamless performance. The Energy Pro model stands out with its SuperCritical XORise+ technology, offering 25% more energy return through the brands most responsive midsole, making it perfect for those seeking a fast-paced shoe that delivers a spring in every step. For everyday runners, the Energy 500 blends comfort and energy return with a durable, breathable 4D-engineered tech mesh upper. The Energy 300 is the ideal choice for active enthusiasts needing stable and responsive training shoes, incorporating Ortholite and XORise+ technology for versatile workouts. Additionally, the latest EasySlide launch redefines convenience with a design that allows effortless sliding in and out of the shoes without using your hands, all starting at Rs 1,699. What is the global strategy and marketing objective behind the new campaign and the Power Energy collection? The global strategy is to democratize fitness by making cutting-edge global technology accessible to all, offering breakthrough products at low price points starting at Rs 2,999. What makes the Power Energy Collection unique is our Glocal approach leveraging the right materials, implementing technology, and designing at our Canadian labs to create a collection that meets the diverse needs of Indian consumers. There is a burgeoning passion for fitness among Indian consumers and we want to be their partner in this journey. The marketing objective is to position Bata as a leader in the fitness footwear category, empowering consumers with innovative, high-performance products that are both affordable and accessible. What kind of research went behind the introduction of the Power Energy Collection by Bata? The introduction of the Power Energy collection by Bata was driven by extensive research into the rising athleisure market in India. While there is a rising demand, there is a significant gap advanced technology footwear is often priced out of reach for many consumers. The same technology is offered at double or triple the price points by other international brands in the country. Recognizing this, Bata focused on developing a collection that brings cutting-edge technology to Indian consumers at affordable prices, fulfilling the need for accessible, high-tech fitness footwear. What are the recent developments and innovations at Bata? There is always something exciting happening at Bata. We have opened our first two Exclusive Brand Outlets for Power and plan to take the count up to 15 stores by the end of this year. We have also launched Power Apparel in over 70 Bata stores across India. Bata is on an expansion journey. Did you know that Floatz, one of our fastest-growing brands is truly made and designed in India? It has seen great results in just 2 years of its launch crossing the 150 crore+ mark. One of the most exciting launches this year has been the launch of Nine West at Bata India. Nine West, born in New York City and thriving globally, is one of the most loved footwear brands in the world. With its entry in India exclusively in partnership with Bata, we will continue to make truly off-the-runway styles accessible to all. And, we are working on an insightful and forward-looking campaign for the festive season so stay tuned! Also Read: The many hats that Arista Mehta wears at just 16 National Cyber Security Centre Bern, 26.08.2024 - The increasing interconnectedness of systems along the supply chain provides cybercriminals with many different ways to attack an organisation. It is therefore important for companies and public authorities to understand their supply chains and be aware of the cyber risks they face. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched a pilot project together with Planzer Transport AG so that companies, authorities and organizations in Switzerland can easily implement their cyber security requirements in the supply chain. A simple cycle was designed to demonstrate protective measures against cyber attacks in the supply chain. The pilot project also provides specific tools that are published on the NCSC website. At the Online Brownbag Lunch on 5 September 2024, the NCSC and Planzer Transport AG will demonstrate how organizations can correctly assess cyber risks in their supply chains. A software supply chain survey by Anchore shows that 62% of organisations worldwide were impacted by a cyberattack in 2022. Only 19% of these organisations actively work with their suppliers or subcontractors. Cyberattacks on suppliers or subcontractors can have a serious impact on the companies they work with. Understanding your organisation's supply chains and the risks they face is therefore essential. Preventive measures and tools With this in mind, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is currently running a pilot project with Planzer Transport AG to bring together industry and cyber security expertise and resources. The aim is to raise awareness of cyber risks along the supply chain and develop practical tools for organisations to use. The simple process and tools are available on the NCSC website. Feedback on this pilot project is also collected on an ongoing basis through a feedback form in order to improve and expand the tools. Registration Online Brownbag Lunch "Cybersecurity in the supply chain" The NCSC is hosting an online lunch meeting on 5 September with Simon Kuhn, IT Security Officer at Planzer Transport AG, and Sandra Luthi, NCSC Awareness and Prevention Expert, to discuss how organisations can properly assess cyber risks in their supply chains and the questions they should be asking themselves and their suppliers. The event is in German. Address for enquiries NCSC Communication +41 58 465 53 56 media@ncsc.admin.ch Publisher National Cyber Security Centre https://www.ncsc.admin.ch/ncsc/en/home.html General Secretariat DDPS https://www.vbs.admin.ch/ Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: IMA Announces Withdrawal of Services for 24 Hours on August 17 2 A nationwide withdrawal of services has been announced by doctors of modern medicine starting from 6 am on Saturday, August 17 to 6 am Sunday, August 18, per the official statement released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday. Notably, the strike has been called by IMA amid the ongoing protest in Kolkata over the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College. In its official statement, IMA stated that routine OPDs and elective surgeries will not take place during those 24 hours; however, other essential services will be maintained. All essential services will be maintained. Casualties will be manned. Routine OPDs will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted. The withdrawal is across all the sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing service. IMA requires the sympathy of the nation with the just cause of its doctors, the release stated. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) also announced a protest against the incident at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on August 16. To voice our protest against these acts, we (BMC MARD, IMA, IMA JDN, ASMI) are organising a peaceful protest at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, on 16th August 2024 at 1 pm. We urge our fellow medical colleagues, doctors, medical students, resident doctors, senior doctors and other associations to join us in this protest against the injustice, MARD stated in a press release. Meanwhile, people from the Bengali film and television industry have also joined hands with protesting doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered on duty at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, which led to nationwide strikes and protests by the medical fraternity. The incident triggered massive protests. On Wednesday, the protest ground and the hospital campus at RG Kar were vandalised by a mob, forcing the security personnel to disperse the crowd. Hope you enjoyed that tiny taste of fall last week. This week summer returns in full force. The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures to again climb to near 100 degrees in parts of Alabama starting today. And highs in the mid- to upper 90s will be possible through the week. The weather service noted that models have backed off ever so slightly with their temperature forecasts, but it will still be very warm, even warmer than average for late August. Parts of the state will initially have a little drier air to help deal with the heat. However, the weather service isnt ruling out the chance for a stray shower of storm, especially the farther south you go. Humidity levels are expected to rise statewide by the end of the week, and more places will have low chances of seeing those stray showers starting on Wednesday and increasing more over the weekend. There were no heat advisories in effect on Monday, but that could change later this week. The hottest part of the state today is expected to be on the west side, where areas from Muscle Shoals to Mobile are expected to reach the mid- to upper 90s. Eastern Alabama will be slightly cooler, with highs expected to reach the low to mid-90s (todays forecast is at the top of this post). The weather service thinks temperatures will stay lodged in the mid- to upper 90s across a large part of the state through the week before backing off a bit in time for the Labor Day weekend. Highs on Saturday will be a bit more reasonable, only in the lower to mid-90s statewide. Below is the forecast for Saturday, Aug. 31: Highs will be a bit closer to average by Saturday.NWS The weather service also expects the chance for typical, scattered afternoon showers and storms to increase over the weekend for more of the state. Will the hotter-than-average temperatures hang around past this week? Forecast trends are suggesting they could. The six- to 10-day temperature outlook from NOAAs Climate Prediction Center shows there will be a higher probability of above-average temperatures across Alabama going into the first few days of September: Above-average temperatures are favored for Alabama through Sept. 4.CPC But, there is some hope for relief after that. The eight- to 14-day temperature outlook shows that a change could be coming: North Alabama has slightly elevated probabilities of below-average temperatures in the first week of September.CPC The temperature outlook for Sept. 2 through Sept. 8 shows slightly increased chances for below-average temperatures for north Alabama, with near normal conditions for the central part of the state. South Alabama will still be facing chances for above-average heat, however. Democrat Michelle Vallejo, left, and Republican Monica De La Cruz are running in Texas 15th Congressional District. JOEL MARTINEZ / MCALLEN MONITOR In 2022, Michelle Serrano and her South Texas nonprofit helped get the word out about a progressive Democratic candidate trying to win the vacant congressional district in her area of the Rio Grande Valley. That candidate, Michelle Vallejo, hosted community events at her familys flea market decrying what she called the hyper-militarization of the border due to an increased presence of law enforcement and the construction of a border wall. But Serrano said she didnt recognize Vallejo in her first major political ad of this new election cycle where she stood shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement officials criticizing the chaos at the border and saying it was time to get serious about fixing the issue. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Everybody has this idea that Michelle was pro-immigrant and pro-community and instead were getting pro-police, Serrano said. Its totally against what people expected. Thats why the anger is there. Serrano isnt the only one who feels betrayed. Vallejos social media channels are filled with angry posts from people accusing her of pandering to Republicans with her new ad. Some are threatening not to vote for her if she doesnt pull it down. Vallejo, who is running against U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, again this November says her messaging has been consistent on border security and legal pathways for unauthorized immigrants to become citizens: She wants both. I have always advocated to make sure we have the resources we need to make sure our border region is safe and secure and to make sure our families have the opportunity to live their American Dream, Vallejo said in an interview. We can both recognize theres a problem in border security and immigration, but we can and must treat people with dignity. She said she plans to listen to all constituents Democrats, Republicans and independents and work on border solutions even if that means working across party lines. She supports the policies laid out in the U.S. Senates Bipartisan Border agreement earlier this year, which fizzled after House Republicans refused to consider it. That bill would have put more Border Patrol agents on the ground and expanded capacity in detention facilities, as well as provide more resources for immigration courts to process asylum-seekers more quickly. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That legislation reflects the reality and complexity of the issues facing border communities, she said, while criticizing her opponent for not advocating for its passage. While the border ad surprised some of her past Democratic supporters, it wasnt exactly a pivot in her politics as she was similarly centrist on the border in her 2022 campaign. In that election, she echoed border policies that other South Texas Democrats like McAllen Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and Laredo Rep. Henry Cuellar have advocated for years. She supported funding to update the ports of entry and for Border Patrol agents facing low-morale, in a recognition that many of her constituents are employed by the federal agency. But to her critics, theres a clear change in tone. Its a clear shift in messaging, Serrano said. I dont believe for a second that this is what she always believed. Had that been the case, I dont think so many people would have put in so many volunteer hours and the show of support (from last cycle). Advertisement Article continues below this ad Meanwhile, De La Cruzs campaign called Vallejos latest border ad a disingenuous about-face. Its no surprise that even her own allies recognize her dishonesty, and that Democrats no longer take her campaign seriously, Andrew Baughman, De La Cruzs campaign manager, said in a statement. Our community has rejected her before and will do so again because South Texans know Congresswoman De La Cruz is doing a great job fighting for a strong border and a thriving economy. The Republican incumbent says she is the true border security candidate and touts her support for Border Patrol agents and border infrastructure including a wall and has called for the return of Trump-era immigration policies like the Remain in Mexico policy that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their asylum applications were processed. Congressional District 15, which stretches from the Rio Grande Valley to Seguin, northeast of San Antonio, is one of the few competitive congressional districts in Texas. The district was redrawn in 2021, taking out reliably Democratic voters and replacing them with rural conservative voters in the northern part of the district. Under the old district lines, voters in 2020 favored President Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump by 2 percentage points. Under the new district, voters in the district would have preferred Trump by 3 points. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Those changes helped boost De La Cruz to Congress in 2022, after the districts former representative, Gonzalez, ran in the neighboring and more favorable Congressional District 34 and opened up a vacancy. De La Cruz defeated Vallejo by 8 percentage points in their first face-off. The Cook Political Report rates the competition this year as likely favoring Republicans. Those election results may explain why Vallejo is trying to tackle immigration head-on, said Alvaro Corral, a political science professor at the University of Texas at the Rio Grande Valley. Her and her campaign are probably trying to shore up some support in the northern part of her district, he said. You might not win those but losing by less margins in the northern parts of CD-15 would probably be their game plan. Corral said the ad seemed like a sensible approach to border security and immigration especially given their importance to voters, who consistently rank those issues as the first or second most important in Texas voter surveys. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Corral noted that the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Dallas Rep. Colin Allred, also is emphasizing his bipartisan approach to border security and running ads with law enforcement praising how tough he would be on the border. The Democratic messaging is a calculated risk, said Jeronimo Cortina, a political science professor at the University of Houston. Vallejo may anger some of her more progressive and young supporters but appeal to independent and moderate Republicans who have higher patterns of voting. The strategy here is you need to have a coalition that has core supporters but also need to have some people from the middle, Cortina said. Thats how you have to build that coalition and fight for those true independents who may be issue voters. That approach appeals to voters in the district like George Ramon, who identifies as an independent and has supported Democrats as well as Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the past. He will be voting for Vallejo in November. Ive always said that the immigration system is broke, and in order to fix it, its going to require bipartisan support, he said. Its going to require a sensible approach. You cant just be security only. Cant be Democrat or Republican. Its gotta be a bipartisan issue. Many of Vallejos supporters were drawn to her because of her progressive values. During her first campaign, she ran on Medicare for All and was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. For those voters, the ad was off base. It sounded like a Republican ad, said Amanda Elise Salas, a political activist in the Rio Grande Valley. It shocked me because she had a very different stance on border security. Salas said Vallejo not only hosted events against border militarization at her business but also participated in them and was seen as an ally to those activists. Thats the reason why its so jarring to them, she said. Because people saw her and her space as a place to talk and show resistance to the militarization of the area. De La Cruzs campaign highlighted Vallejos participation in an arts festival where participants held signs with the message (expletive) ICE, short for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. They also flagged her consulting work for Trucha, a progressive multimedia platform, which previously has called for defunding ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration. They also knock her for past comments Vallejo has made about being afraid to go to a local park near the Rio Grande for Easter celebrations because there are too many border agents on patrol. But Vallejo is getting reinforcement from some high-profile supporters, like U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a progressive Democrat from El Paso. I, like Michelle, live in a more realistic world, a more pragmatic world where we have to compromise in order to ensure we can achieve most of our goals, she said. Michelle, like me, believes that one of the best ways to secure the border is through legal pathways and that the best way to reach that is to compromise with Republicans in order to end the status quo. Escobar said fellow Democrats should not hold out for someone promising to deliver everything they want because that is not realistic. They have to work within the confines of the two-party system, which Vallejo is promising to do. And importantly for Democrats, Escobar said, replacing De La Cruz with Vallejo could help the party win back the U.S. House, which would drastically change the immigration conversation. We have to look at this issue through a lens of wanting to get to a solution, she said. Vallejo said the border ad is only the start of her messaging to voters and she wants them to look at her entire policy platform, which includes improved access to affordable health care and bringing high-paying jobs to the district when they make a decision between her and De La Cruz. Authorities have released the name of a man shot to death early Saturday in west Birmingham. The Jefferson County Coroners Office Monday identified the victim as Rodrigo Renteria Bravo. He was 34. Birmingham police responded to the Exxon gas station in the 1100 block of Third Avenue West at 2:40 a.m. Saturday after the citys gunfire detection system Shot Spotter indicated multiple rounds fired. Once at the gas station they found Bravo wounded in the parking. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead on the scene at 2:58 a.m. The Exxon was closed at the time of the shooting, but is across the street from El Centenario nightclub, which was open. Officer Truman Fitzgerald said detectives were canvassing the area for witnesses and clues. Bravos death marks the citys 107th homicide this year. Of those, eight have been ruled justifiable and therefore arent deemed criminal. Two of the homicides happened in previous years, but the victims died in 2024. In all of Jefferson County, there have been 134 homicides including the 107 in Birmingham. No arrests have been announced. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Democratic candidate Shomari Figures and his Republican opponent, Caroleene Dobson, will participate in a live online debate in October that will be broadcast on AL.com as well as AL.coms Facebook and YouTube channels. The Figures campaign, in a statement, said, We are looking forward to the debate on October 10. The people of District 2 deserve to hear the vision for the place they call home from the candidates that want to represent them. Dobson, in a statement, criticized Figures for supporting policies that she says have caused prices to increase, and allowed drugs like fentanyl to come across the U.S.-Mexico border due to lax immigration laws under the Biden Administration. Voters in Alabamas Second Congressional District have a choice between two very different candidates, Dobson said. I look forward to contrasting my vision for our district and nation with his. Related: Who are Shomari Figures and Caroleene Dobson? 5 things to know about Alabamas competitive District 2 race The one-hour debate, beginning at noon on Oct. 10, will be moderated by AL.coms Ivana Hrynkiw. Candidates will be given debate topics ahead of the debate but not specific questions. Questions may also be asked from online participants. AL.com is the essential town square for Alabamians to get trusted news to stay informed about the issues that matter most to them, said Hollis R. Towns, editor-in-chief of AL.com, the states largest media company. This all-important debate will provide readers an opportunity to hear these candidates unfiltered, and it demonstrates how AL.com provides information readers can count on. The debates sponsor is AARP Alabama. AARP is the nations largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health and financial security, and personal fulfillment. The debate will focus on issues of importance for voters in the 2nd congressional district and will feature two candidates running for political office for the first time. Figures, 39, is a Mobile native and an attorney who worked in the Obama administration and in the Justice Department under President Joe Biden before returning to Alabama to run in redrawn 2nd district. Dobson, 37, is an attorney from Montgomery, who grew up in Monroe County in the south part of the district. The contest represents a rare competitive general election race between a Democratic and Republican candidate for a congressional seat in Alabama. A federal court redrew District 2 after ruling that Alabamas previous congressional map most likely violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it packed too many Black voters into one majority Black district, District 7. The district, currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Moore of Enterprise, was drawn to benefit a Democratic politician after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower courts ruling that Alabamas congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act. As a result, the newly redrawn map includes the 2nd district that gives Black voters a better opportunity to electing a candidate of their choosing. The new District 2 takes in all or part of 13 counties from Phenix City to Mobile. Its about 50% Black, giving Democrats a chance to flip the seat and add a second Democrat to the states seven-member U.S. House delegation. Both national Democratic and Republican parties are involved, and the stakes are high in this close race. Republicans hold a narrow 218 to 213 majority in Congress, and polling shows the race for the House majority will be tight in November. The National Republican Congressional Committee made the Alabama contest a priority after it included Dobson as one of 26 Republicans to its Young Gun list in July. The program provides mentorship and support for Republican candidates for Congress. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced its involvement in the race in late May when, for the first time in 18 years, it added an Alabama congressional district race to its Red to Blue program. A 177-year-old Demopolis church has sued the Alabama-West Florida Conference arguing that it should be allowed to leave the United Methodist Church and take its property with it. The First Methodist Church of Demopolis, founded in 1847, says it has owned its own property throughout its history and has never signed a trust clause giving ownership to the denomination. Demopolis First was one of more than 40 churches in a group lawsuit last year that went all the way to the state Supreme Court. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that those churches would have to take their case to the churchs court, not state courts. The Demopolis congregation, one of the plaintiffs in that case, filed its new solo lawsuit on Aug. 16 in Marengo County. Its now one of at least three churches to file individual lawsuits. Harvest Church in Dothan sued individually and also argued that it could prove its historic ownership had never been signed over in a trust clause. The state Supreme Court sent that case back to a lower court for a ruling, denying the conferences request that the lawsuit be dismissed. Harvest voted to go independent in 2022. Guys Chapel, a 114-year-old church in Bay Minette, last month sued the Alabama-West Florida Conference in an effort to leave, saying it could prove its historic ownership of its property had never been relinquished by signing documents for the denomination to hold it in trust. On Friday, the state Supreme Court rejected a rehearing request in the group case of Aldersgate of Montgomery, Armstrong, Baggetts Chapel, and Black Creek churches, et. al., vs. the Alabama-West Florida Conference, affirming its May 31 decision saying it was a matter for church courts. The United Methodist Judicial Court is in the process of hearing points of church law raised by churches that have so far been denied disaffiliation, which would allow them to negotiate to leave the denomination and take their property with them. The judicial court of the United Methodist Church will take up the issue of clarifying how Alabama churches that want to leave may still be allowed to depart the denomination. In response to lawsuits filed against it last year, the Alabama-West Florida Conference issued the following response: The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church is aware of several churches in our conference that have filed a lawsuit requesting the court intervene in the disaffiliation process. These churches have not met the eligibility requirements for voting to disaffiliate under the Book of Discipline. The Board of Trustees of the AWF Conference has worked diligently since Annual Conference 2023 to process local churches seeking disaffiliation under Paragraph 2553 of the Book of Discipline in preparation for the November Special Called Annual Conference. We are saddened by this litigation, but we are confident the process we have adhered to is fair and just. Our primary focus continues to be on the mission of The United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. That is unchanging. We pray for all involved and will model grace, love and kindness throughout this process. The exit allowed under Paragraph 2553 expired at the end of 2023. Churches that filed the group lawsuit argued the conference was trying to run out the clock on them by not allowing them to leave by the end of the year. The denominational Judicial Council will now have to rule on whether they can be allowed to leave and take their property through another provision, such as shutting down churches and letting congregations negotiate to buy their property. United Methodists had been in a decades-long decline losing several million members from the 1968 through the 2020 pandemic before debates over whether to embrace LGBTQ rights finally split the church in 2022-23. The United Methodist General Conference earlier this year voted to allow same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ clergy, reversing longstanding policy. A breakaway group, the Global Methodist Church, will maintain those prohibitions. Statewide in Alabama, more than half of United Methodist congregations disaffiliated about 555 churches. Most of those departures have taken place since 2022. Nationwide, 7,600 churches, about a quarter of the denomination, left. An Alabama State Trooper has resigned following his arrest on child sex charges. Senior Trooper Ryan Christian Rhodes, 26, of Tallassee, was arrest Aug. 23, according to court records made public Monday. He is charged with electronic solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a child for sex and resisting arrest. He is one of nearly a dozen people arrested during a two-day sex trafficking operation last week led by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office. The operation was carried out Aug. 22 and 23. The U.S. Marshals Service, ALEA, the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office, the Montgomery Police Department, and the Covenant Rescue Group assisted in the effort. Sheriff Derrick Cunningham has scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference to talk about the operation. Charging documents against Rhodes state he was arrested in the early-morning hours of Aug. 23 at a Montgomery hotel. When law enforcement officers tried to handcuff him, records show, he refused to put his hands behind his back and continued to fight them. ALEA Lt. Jeremy Burkett said Rhodes resigned on Friday. Hoover city officials Monday said they were pleased with a ruling they say will pave the way for the city to continue seeking authorization for a proposed health care center. Alabama Administrative Law Judge Ryan deGraffenried recommended issuance of a Certificate of Need (CON) for the proposed Riverwalk Health & Wellness Center, an ambulatory surgical and treatment center in a mixed-use development, which would be located on a 90-acre tract near Riverchase Parkway. The ruling came after a series of public hearings contesting the certificate that began back in May. According to the ruling, the hearings featured testimony from 42 witnesses totaling 2,593 pages of testimony over ten days, along with 198 petition signatures and 158 letters of support. The Hoover Healthcare Authority expects to make a presentation to the states Certificate of Need board on Sept. 18. The certificate is a state-mandated step needed for healthcare providers to expand services. This evidence demonstrates a substantial unmet public need for outpatient surgical and diagnostic care services in the Riverchase community and broader Shelby County, deGraffenried wrote in his 147-page ruling. HHCA Chairman Alan Paquette said he is very grateful for the ruling. I felt all along that the testimony given and the evidence presented to support our position was overwhelmingly positive, he said. It is time to make up for the ground we lost from being put through this proceeding. Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said the city is excited about the possibilities from the overall development. Improved access to healthcare is a top priority of this administration and the Riverwalk plan will provide new outpatient medical care along with the latest in diagnostic and imaging services for our citizens, Brocato said. Opposing the project was the Forest Park Group, which is being led by Loree Skelton, the sister of former Hoover Mayor Brian Skelton. Loree Skelton is also CEO of South Haven Nursing Home in Hoover. The hearings led to several allegations about the nature of the opposition to the project. Hoover city officials charged that the opposition was unwarranted and politically motivated, in a statement released Monday. The nature of the opposition touched on a possible medical facility at another of the citys mixed-use developments. One aspect of the second phase of Hoovers Stadium Trace Village development is a 50,000 sq.-ft. surgical hospital with 25 beds, along with 20,000 square feet of space for medical offices. Brocato said during a May hearing dealing with the certificate application that he has never contested a surgery center for Stadium Trace Village. He also testified that Pat Lynch, a lobbyist for developer Broad Metro, which backed the Stadium Trace project, had told him in March the opposition could go away if he supported an incentive package for Stadium Trace Village. In an affidavit, Lynch said Broad Metro had never sought to intimidate, extort, or blackmail any Hoover city official. Lynch died earlier this month. Will Kadish, the developer of Stadium Trace Village, later released a statement saying he is not behind the challenge to the city seeking a certificate of need. Kadish, developer and manager of Broad Metro, said he sees no reason why two quality surgical centers cannot coexist 12 miles apart from one another. The Riverwalk development would also feature housing, retail and wellness areas. Riverwalk Village will part of a larger healthcare district running between Interstate 65 and west to U.S. 31, from the north at the Cahaba River to Valleydale Road in the south. Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Ross announced his resignation Monday, just months after he was permanently appointed to the position. Ross joined the office in 2014 as a federal prosecutor, and then rose to first assistant U.S. Attorney before being named Acting U.S. Attorney following the 2021 retirement of Louis V. Franklin Sr. Ross will be entering private practice in Birmingham. It has been an honor to serve the people of the Middle District of Alabama over the past ten years, Ross said. I am thankful to all the federal, state, and local law enforcement partners for their support during my time with the Justice Department. These agencies, in addition to the professional and talented staff at the U.S. Attorneys Office, are responsible for any achievements I had as a federal prosecutor and United States Attorney, he said. During his tenure as a federal prosecutor, Ross prosecuted a variety of cases, focusing primarily on white collar offenses and illegal opioid distribution cases. From 2019 through 2022, he was as the offices Senior Litigation Counsel, responsible for facilitating training for both new and experienced attorneys. As U.S. Attorney, Ross said he prioritized the prosecution of violent offenders, including those who possessed machine gun conversion devices, and narcotics dealers. Beginning Tuesday, First Assistant Kevin P. Davidson will serve as Acting United States Attorney. A native of Birmingham, Davidson has served with the U.S. Attorneys Office since 2012, prosecuting a variety of crimes with a focus on violent and drug crimes. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorneys Office, Acting U.S. Attorney Davidson served as a Deputy District Attorney in Montgomery County for eight years. He is a graduate of Auburn University Montgomery, and received his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law The Middle District of Alabama covers 23 counties, and includes the cities of Alexander City, Andalusia, Auburn, Clanton, Dothan, Enterprise, Eufaula, Greenville, Montgomery, Opelika, Ozark, Phenix City, Prattville, Troy, and Wetumpka. Nearly 10,000 cases of apple juice sold in Walmart stores across the U.S. have been recalled, after the juice was found to contain potentially harmful levels of inorganic arsenic, according to the Associated Press. Alabama, along with several other states in the southeast, are included in the recall. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration upgraded the recall of Great Value brand Apple Juice to Class II, after the initial announcement of a voluntary recall on August 15. Under the new classification, the affected product may cause temporary adverse health effects but is unlikely to cause serious medical issues, the AP said. In total, Florida-based manufacturer Refresco Beverages US Inc. is recalling 9,535 cases of the apple juice sold in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The recall applies to Great Value brand apple juice sold in six-packs of eight-ounce bottles. The manufacturer voluntarily recalled the bottles after discovering levels of inorganic arsenic that exceeded industry standards (13.2 parts per billion), according to the FDA. Refresco and Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the AP. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element in found throughout the earths crust, according to the National Institutes of Health, and can be found in certain foods. The FDA tests food for arsenic, prioritizing food that might be eaten by young children. Studies have shown inorganic arsenic is more toxic to humans than organic arsenic, and the health effects from exposure are more severe, according to the NIH. Inorganic arsenic is considered a human carcinogen, or a substance that causes cancer. However, the FDA does not expect the levels of inorganic arsenic found in the Great Value apple juice to cause severe health consequences, according to the AP, and the agency has not shared reports of possible illnesses associated with the apple juice recall. Read the AP story. Here are the states affected by the recall: - Alabama - Connecticut - District of Columbia - Delaware - Florida - Georgia - Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky - Massachusetts - Maryland - Maine - Michigan - Mississippi - North Carolina - New Hampshire - New Jersey - New York - Ohio - Pennsylvania - Puerto Rico - Rhode Island - South Carolina - Tennessee - Virginia - Vermont - West Virginia The Semmes Police Department is investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred Sunday morning, according to WKRG. Semmes police responded to a home on Bermuda Drive off Schillinger Road around 10 a.m. Officers found a man in the yard with cut wounds on his neck and shoulder. The officers attempted to call for a medical helicopter, but the victim died before it could arrive, Semmes Police Chief Todd Freind told WKRG. Police said they know the identity of the victim but arent releasing it at this time. WKRG said it was unaware of any arrests or any additional information about the incident. The Mobile County Sheriffs Office was also at the scene to assist in the investigation. Read the WKRG story. Alexis Tovar, center, is shown with a photo of her mother, Melissa Perez, who was shot and killed by three former San Antonio police officers. Seated with Tovar are her aunt, Daisy Nieto, left, and her husband, Adrian Tovar. William Luther/Staff Former San Antonio police officers Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos, charged in the death of Melissa Perez on June 23, 2023, will go on trial together. Testimony is expected to begin Sept. 24. San Antonio Police Department A judge has set a trial date for three former San Antonio police officers charged in the death of a mother who relatives said was in a mental crisis when police responded to her Southwest Side apartment in 2023. The three officers, Eleazar Alejandro, Alfred Flores and Nathaniel Villalobos, were terminated after they shot and killed Melissa Perez, 46, inside her apartment on June 23, 2023. Alejandro and Flores are charged with murder, according to court records. Villalobos is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. They were fired soon after the slaying. Advertisement Article continues below this ad COURTS & CRIME: Murder charges filed against 3 San Antonio police officers after a woman was fatally shot Friday All three men will be tried together. The officers appeared with their defense attorneys Monday morning in the 187th District Court. They requested a continuance and a delay of the trial to schedule expert witnesses for their clients, but state District Judge Stephanie Boyd did not grant the parties any more time. Boyd told defense attorneys and Jeff Mulliner, the new head of the Bexar County District Attorney Offices civil rights division, and prosecutor David Lunan, that the trial would move forward. She set the jury selection for Sept. 20 in the central jury room to accommodate a large panel, with testimony beginning Sept. 24. In the wee hours of the morning on June 23, 2023, officers responded to the Rosemont at Millers Pond apartments in the 6200 block of Old Pearsall Road. A neighbor had called 911 because Perez had cut wiring that powered the complexs fire alarm system. Advertisement Article continues below this ad When authorities arrived, Perez was talking to San Antonio firefighters. She was cooperative at first, providing information the police requested of her. Perez told them she cut the wires because the FBI was listening to her and eavesdropping. The woman became upset when police asked her to go with them to a patrol car, and she ran back to her apartment and locked the front door. Thats when officers tried to kick the door in. An unidentified officer jumped the fence onto Perezs patio around 1:40 a.m. and tried to take the screen off the back window. The officer drew his weapon when Perez allegedly grabbed a hammer, and notified dispatch that he was holding her at gunpoint. Youre gonna get shot, an officer warned Perez, according to SAPD body camera footage. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Shoot me, you aint got no warrant, Perez said. Perez threw a glass candlestick at one of the officers, striking him in his arm. The officers retreated. Police waited for 22 minutes to again attempt entry into the apartment as Alejandro, Flores and Villalobos arrived at the scene. Court records indicate that as Alejandro spoke to Perez, Flores and Villalobos hopped the fence and got on Perezs patio, and the woman charged the closed patio door while swinging the hammer and hit the window. The three officers fired between 12 and 16 rounds at Perez, hitting her twice, investigators said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The shooting was investigated by SAPD homicide detectives, who concluded that Perez did not pose a threat to the officers because she was on the other side of a locked glass door. All three men are out on bond as they await their trials, court records indicate. Alejandro, 29, worked for five years with SAPD. He hired defense attorneys Mario Del Prado and Ben Sifuentes to represent him. Flores, 46, who was an SAPD sergeant and 14-year veteran when he was fired, retained David Christian and Thom Nisbet for his defense. Villalobos, 28, an officer for two years before his termination, is represented by Jason Goss, former Bexar County District Attorney Nicholas Nico LaHood, and Patrick Ballantyne. Advertisement Article continues below this ad If convicted of murder, a first-degree felony, Alejandro and Flores each face up to life in prison. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony. If convicted, Villalobos faces two to 20 years in prison. Viewers of the four-day Democratic National Convention were treated to more than a political gathering. They saw a spectacle that has been the equivalent of a four-day-long religious retreat. The services proved that the religious impulse never dies. It just takes on new shapes and forms reflecting the core values of devotees. Observers saw a number of quasi-religious ceremonies, including a liturgical procession of pilgrims dressed in white costumes symbolizing abortion pills. Potential converts also were invited to visit a small chapel in the form of a van placed by Planned Parenthood. There, disciples of the religion/political cult could observe the initiation rites deemed necessary for entrance into the realm of the 144,000 chosen of the left. The Planned Parenthood high priests offered initiates the modern-day equivalent of cults promoting castration and child sacrifice in the form of free vasectomies and abortion pills. Women got on stage and offered testimonies about the salvation abortion had afforded them. Many of the female congregants wore white, a symbol of purity of mind and heart. History has seen thousands of cults appear and reappear. Nearly every one reached an apogee characterized by absurdities and extremes so ridiculous that the cult lost momentum and stalled. Disciples fled, looking for inspiration elsewhere. It is fair to say the DNC reached the height of absurdity and extremism indicative of a dying religious cult. How many voters in a party devoted to death rituals are going to retain loyalty? How many are going to imitate the plastic joy of Kamala Harris, devoted as she is to the extinguishment of all that gives life to civilization? It might be wise to think about the fate of death cults, both recent and from the past. Most cults in the Christianized West have fallen into two categories: either they directly attempt to repudiate Christian doctrine and ethics entirely or they take one tenet, wildly distorting and overemphasizing it, thus attempting to make it nearly the entirety of the Christian religion. For instance, the long-lasting flagellant cult took the scourging of Christ to mean that individuals should imitate the wounding of Christ by whipping themselves. The disciples of the movement were known for wearing pointed hats and flowing robes and for carrying a flagellum. The cult, vividly portrayed in Goyas The Flagellants (1808-1812), persisted in various forms for centuries. Followers still occasionally appear in some countries such as the Philippines during Holy Week. During the Middle Ages, these roaming bands of penitents sought by self-flagellation to atone for and ameliorate what they saw as the wrath of God visited on Europe via the Black Death. Personal and societal sins were seen as perhaps responsible for the plague, with scourging seen as an efficacious imitation of the salvific wounds of Christ. But despite the bizarre excesses of the flagellant cult, followers were at least seeking to turn death aside, seeing death by plague as destructive of family and society. They prayed for Gods mercy, asking that death be turned away. They called on Christ to save lives. The flagellants beliefs and motives, distorted as they have been, still represent a contrast to the political/religious procession at the beginning of the DNC, in which death was celebrated. Not only was the extinguishment of human life promoted, but the prevention of even the seed to fertilize the beginning of life was seen as a sacramental means of regeneration and vivification of the Self. Such a distorted idea of human salvation and well-being is why the left celebrates what Rush Limbaugh truthfully named its sacrament of abortion. The abortion pill is a sacramental wafer offered by priests and priestesses devoted to death. It is the means through which budding life is flushed from the body in order for a womans life to be saved from an unfulfilled destiny. By taking and eating it, the body is rid of a toxic encumbrance. The ritual promoting death is in direct contrast to the Christian sacrament of the Lords Supper, so recently mocked during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. For Christians, receiving the eucharistic wafer mysteriously but truly imparts the life of Christ to the recipient. It is taken in obedience to the words of Christ to his disciples recorded in Matthew 26. For the believing Christian, it gives renewed life. What a contrast between the eucharistic wafer and the abortion pill that ensures death, not life. But those who will not permit the spiritual self-laceration that true introspection and repentance requires will turn instead to the laceration and death of human life as a sacrificial offering to the gods of Self. Those gods are to be worshiped by the expulsion of innocence, not sin, from the body. In this manner, women believe the ancient lie told Eve: Ye shall be as gods. But as St. Augustine pointed out in the City of God concerning the depravity of ancient Rome, worshiping and conciliating gods in degenerative fashion ultimately drives all virtue from the human spirit. He doubtless would say to the DNC that a propitiation such as abortion is so foul, so detestable, that it erases every elevated feeling, including the religious impulse. A dark, empty, and conscienceless shell is the result. He also might well ask, Are those representatives at the convention the best lights the Democrat party has to offer? Is their advocacy of mutilation and death the way to personal and societal salvation? Thinking Democrats as well as all other citizens must ask themselves the same questions. Fay Voshell has been a frequent contributor to American Thinker and other online publications. She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. A long time ago, Charles Martel, uncrowned ruler of the Franks, led his Christian army to victory over the forces of Arab commander Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi at the Battle of Tours (October 10, 732 C.E.). The defeat of the Muslim invaders, especially dreaded for their heavy cavalry, marked a turning point in the long-standing war against the Umayyad Caliphate. After crushing the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete (July 19, 711 C.E.), they had earned a reputation for being invincible as they expanded their dominion toward the north of the Iberian Peninsula, founding the province of al-Andalus. At one point, it seemed inevitable that they would march on Paris. It is stated by historians, however, that the Frankish infantry finally succeeded in stemming the Islamization of Western Europe. At least for the time being. It may very well be that present-day migrants, who traverse entire continents to reach the post-Christian, liberal, and affluent societies, landing on south-facing shores of Spain or crowding at border posts in the Balkans, are not armed and organized in ranks on arrival in the West. However, they are far more numerous than the saber-wielding cavalrymen that ravaged Christendom in the past. They make a formidable invasion force. The fact that migrants, whatever their origin, single out the West as the destination of their perilous journey is due to the expectation of prosperity rather than admiration of Western values. Of course, they are indifferent to the exhortations of the Gospels, the critical thinking of the Enlightenment, and freedom of speech. Inadvertently, they are the invaders and spearhead colonizers of our time, driven by basic motives such as envy and greed. What infidels have in the West, they also want for themselves. Including a large element of illiterates from packed out, nefarious rogue states, the enormous crowds of migrants, though invaders, do not behave in the orderly fashion of Roman legions marching off to war as in the days of the Republic. On the contrary, they are barbarians on the move. Infinitely many at that. In every sense, they represent the antithesis of Western civilization. Accordingly, the impression of their somewhat protracted, disorganized invasion is more like that of Goths, Vandals, and Franks pushing through Limes Germanicus as a prelude to the fall of the Roman Empire. Muslim migrants, who tend to concentrate in the suburbs, like yielding to a sense of shared destiny, are civilian invaders with a distinct culture of their own. Although poor and needy at the outset, they may soon grow a disparaging view of those who take them in and provide for them. Inspired by homeborn leaders trying to set them against the West, they may convince themselves that it is inappropriate to show signs of gratitude. In their view, accepting funds from those of another and inferior faith is only to assert their right. It is like collecting the traditional tax from dhimmis: Jizya. The plentier the migrants become, the stronger the cultural impact on Western society. Properly speaking, Islam has behaved like an invasive alien culture outside the Arabian Peninsula. Wherever this faith has been introduced by invading armies and migrating masses, followers of other faiths have been persecuted, forcibly converted, and massacred. At first glance, the invaders may look like venerable, peaceful nomads. The narrative goes that they are simply in search of a better life. A favorite pastime of the progressive elite, it is tempting to romanticize and pity the young men entering the West from sinking boats or dusty roads. Without personal cost, telescopic philanthropy may yield a social media return. Even as the invaders break the laws, committing theft, robbery, and rape on a warlike scale (e.g. events at New Years Eve in Cologne, 201516), their apologists turn the charge against their own countrymen for being bigoted and unreasonably judgmental. (In retrospect, it might dawn on Western opinion that a specific pattern of offenses gave it the first hint of a supremacist contempt for non-Muslims.) It is rumored around the world that the West has become decadent and vulnerable to blackmail. France, formerly the home of academic-artistic refinement, is a truly despairing case of its own. Inasmuch as he betrayed his pied noir compatriots in Algeria when making the irrevocable decision to withdraw from Africa in 1961 (following a murderous campaign costing the lives of as many as 500,0001,000,000 Algerians), Charles de Gaulle may have realized that France would eventually be absorbed by the former colony, whose birth rates were at the top, rather than the other way around. For cultural reasons, Algeria would never become another French province. Though sharing a common past as Roman provinces, France and Algeria had gone their separate ways in the meantime; matters of faith now stood in the way of cultural and social integration. At any rate, the French already had the demographic destiny against them back then. Therefore, it looks like the height of imprudence, indifference, or (deliberate) betrayal of the nation that subsequent governments should liberalize immigration laws and allow Algerians along with other North Africans to invade France massively and take possession of its cities. Seen in this perspective, the predictable absorption of France a tragedy of titanic proportions has merely been transferred to the European theater, neither prevented nor delayed very much. Nowadays, French cities, ancient centers of architectural beauty and learning, are surrounded (and besieged) by hostile suburbs the so-called banlieues: Arab-dominated satellites serving as hotbeds of (a) organized crime, (b) civil unrest, and (c) terrorism (i.e. jihad in other words). Compared to the invading Arabs and Berbers from the south, the Frankish forces under the command of Martel were technically and numerically inferior at Tours. However, his footmen had faith and fought with confidence. To the great relief of Christian Europe, they walked away victorious. So far, France has retained the technological advantage of the nineteenth century. Industrialism combined with an unshakeable belief in civilization gave the Western powers the edge that allowed them to dominate world trade. In principle, France has the necessary weaponry to win the war against the old enemy. Yet, it has chosen to give up the chance to crush him. The thing is that the invaders have long since crossed the border into France and set up camp everywhere. Their ongoing conquest is a chilling reality. Not only have they been met with nothing but passive resistance along the way, despite historic grievances, they have also been invited to settle in the country by its treacherous rulers. The reason, why the enemy is allowed to intrigue and operate unhindered in our time, is that the French have lost faith in both God and themselves bereft of the will to prevail, agreeing to the arbitrary conditions of invaders willing to rule. The moral challenge for those with a conscience that extends beyond themselves here and now is that largely ignorant, pretentious, and irresponsible legislators make far-reaching decisions that cannot be undone. They will call down darkness upon posterity and force it into slavery indefinitely. As strange as it sounds, the French are now ready to approve their alien masters and suspend allegiance to liberty, equality, and fraternity, tantamount to the end of state secularism (laicite). However, they have chosen their own destiny and should not be pitied. Failed by their leaders from the progressive elite, they are beyond salvation. Ideological rigor and submission comprise their future. In their own way, they have been preparing for the new era for a hundred years. Ever since the interwar period, the French have been busy ridiculing tradition, breaking down the remains of Christian piety and aesthetic ideals handed down from antiquity. What has been left behind after the deluge of modernism following waves of malignant ideology (e.g. socialism), egotistical philosophy (e.g. existentialism), and fake science (e.g. sociology) is a nation of godless, desperately pleasure-seeking, and impuissant souls without any sense of community; a nation given to mindless consumption, superficial-ecstatic fashion whims, and degenerate artistic expressions. Others are waiting to fill the power vacuum, though. Milestones in the long march of the French nation towards its self-inflicted doom have been the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan massacres. However, it does not stop there. The world has only just seen the beginning of what is to come. Image: Public domain. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was clear at his first press conference after withdrawing from the presidential race. Three major issues compelled him to leave the Democratic Party and endorse Donald Trump for president: Free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children. Trump, he explained, has adopted these issues as his own to the point where he has asked to enlist me in his administration. The party two of his grandfathers helped build has become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big money, Kennedy said. History will judge the Ukraine war as an Obama and Biden liability. It was initiated by a U.S.-engineered coup in 2014, perpetuated by deliberately forestalling peace talks two years ago and costing the lives of 600,000 soldiers. Ukraine is a victim of this war, and its a victim of the West, he said . Now that the much-anticipated event has occurred, one question that needs to be asked is: Will RFK Jrs exit and endorsement actually benefit the former president and how much? Surveys are clear that most of Trump's third-party defectors have been picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on test ballots where there are more choices. Polls show that a Kennedy withdrawal would benefit Trump. And even if it turns out that the numbers are not substantial (and no one knows for certain) small margins have ended up deciding recent presidential elections. One truth that is clear from the national NBC News poll is that Republicans have a stronger preference for Kennedy than Democrats. In July, Kennedy held net-positive ratings from Republicans (+11), while he was negative among independents (-18) and Democrats (-38). Republican voters clearly view RFK Jr. more positively. Moreover, Kennedy attracts almost all of Trumps third-party defectors. Julys national NBC News poll also shows how the ballot changes from one with just the two major nominees to an expanded ballot that includes Kennedy. When third-party candidates are included in polls, Trumps lead grows to 3 points, 40% to 37%, with Kennedy getting 10%, Jill Stein (Green Party) 3%, Chase Olive (Libertarian) 2% and Cornel West 1%. In that six-way ballot, Trump kept 87% of the voters who backed him in a head-to-head contest, while 10% of his voters went to Kennedy, 1% went to Stein and 1% went to West. Over the past 72 hours in America, things have changed in the landscape of national politics. Kamala Harris's odds of winning the 2024 presidential election have seen a reversal among leading bookmakers. Perhaps the most important disclosure came August 10th when Polymarket, often described as the "world's biggest prediction market," forecast that Harris would receive 52 percent of the presidential election vote against the former presidents 45 percent. As of 5 a.m. ET on August 21, Trump had regained the lead, with 52 percent of support versus Harris's 47 percent. A crucial ingredient in the electoral mix mentioned above is the independent vote. Their numbers have continued to rise, tying a high of 43% last year, according to a Gallup telephone survey. (Democrats and Republicans by contrast each reflect only a 27% constituency.) With such numbers involved, the undecided figure can amount to enough votes to make a difference in a close race as in 2020 and what appears to be shaping up in 2024. From the results above, it still looks like two factors are in play. Harris's star has started to diminish the more America (and Americans) learn who she actually is and what that would mean for them personally and America generally, and with RFK Jr. on board, Trump's chances are enhanced measurably. But the real issue or concern if you will, is twofold: Can Trump use RFK Jr. effectively, and will Trump tone down the hyperbole and rhetoric so as to appeal to not only RFK Jr.s supporters (whose interests are not necessarily those of Trump's), but that significant contingent of as yet undecided independent voters? If Trump's numbers continue to edge upwards or stabilize, the election in November is, at this point, Trump's to lose -- as was the case after the assassination attempt and before Biden withdrew from the race. I say it this way, because a nationally televised debate and subsequent election is approaching. And Trump and his team (including RFK Jr.) need a demeanor in speech and public persona that is inviting to RFK Jr. s supporters and those undecided independents. (The ones Oprah Winfrey is in overdrive attempting to hard sell into Harris's camp.) We all (and this includes Donald Trump) need to understand that irrespective of how we may feel about Harris, she is not (contrary to Trump's rhetoric) dumb. To the contrary, she has already demonstrated an agile ability to use (or allow) the media to create a national image for herself. The media continues to fawn over Kamala Harris while the latter steadfastly refuses to sit for interviews or stand for press conferences. Her handlers know how important perception, the optics, can be -- aesthetically and psychologically -- portraying her in a positive, pleasing light. One can readily see this in her attention to apparel -- towards a more presidential appearance. Time magazine is a case in point. Its latest issue features a dramatic portrait of Kamala Harris on the cover bearing the engaging caption Her Moment. The magazine offered minimal substance on Harriss performance as vice president. But it gushed a fountain of ink alluding to the virtual carnival atmosphere which accompanies Harriss political events. And in an almost laughable fashion an effort was attempted by the interviewer to place Harriss performance on the same level with last years blockbuster summer for women of Barbie, Beyonce, and Swift. The Lefts hypocrisy knows no limits. Time also invited political support from Senator Cory Booker, who invoked Star Wars characters to argue for Harris. She has gone, he said, from being a Padawan to a Jedi master. Apparently the Force was not with her when it came to helping working-class Americans (especially women she is supposed to care so much about) survive some of the worst economics the U.S. has experienced in decades. It should be noted that Time also interviewed Trump for a cover story in April, but it didn't look like Kamalas. The former presidents was an 83-minute read, while the ridiculous post interview fact checking took at least 20 minutes to get through. Trump was virtually interrogated about his prosecutions, the January 6 insurrection, his dictator for a day joke. The inquisition was ended with questions about the possibility of right-wing violence if Trump loses the election. Clearly, the intent of the interview was to provoke the former president. Americans are going to only hear and see what they are shown through the lens of the media. Trump needs to present a countervailing force and image of stability and confidence (not arrogance). In other words, he must remain calm and responsive, not agitated and reactive. With those optics, Trump will prevail. Many people want to vote for him because of the practical, American common sense he espouses (whether they admit it publicly in polls or not). The American public (which includes Republican and Independent voters) demonstrated that in 2016 and 2020. Let us hope (and pray) Trump and his advisors (including RFK Jr and his team) are savvy enough to understand this. Eight years is a long time to endure damage to America and Americans at the hands of modern liberal nonsense from two people who should never be allowed anywhere near Pennsylvania Avenue. To be efficient and save time, I believe we can roll all the tactics and strategies of a given political campaign into one overarching objective: Can we seize the moral high ground? Before we get into the meat of this offering, it is appropriate to admit that the information herein is one-sided. You could say I am picking on the Democrats, because I am. I have voted for both in the past, but I will no longer do that. Readers who take a deep dive into the history of the GOP will undoubtedly find some nefarious activity. It is just that Republican activity is not nearly as dark, devious, or destructive as is the historically bad behavior of the Democrat party. The evidence is inarguable. Lets review the bill of particulars. In 1830, the Congress passed, and an American president signed, The Indian Removal Act. More than 50,000 Indians were forced to leave their homes east of the Mississippi and move west. The Trail of Tears, perhaps the most egregious government-sanctioned action against Americas native population, forced 16,000 of them, under military threat, to travel on foot nearly one thousand miles in the middle of the winter to the West. About 4,000 of these people died en route. Who controlled Congress at the time? Who was the president? Well, what was then called the Modern Democrat Party controlled both houses of Congress, and the partys standard-bearer, Andrew Jackson, was the president. Until very recently, Democrats were celebrating Jackson Days. Fast-forward thirty years to 1860. At the time, there were four million slaves in this country, and Democrats owned virtually every one of them. The Republican Party had coalesced in the previous decade as the anti-slavery party. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln, the fellow whose day Republicans still proudly celebrate. It was Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. In 1865, every Republican 100 percent of them ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery throughout the United States. Fourteen Democrats voted for it as well. Many of those were bribed with government jobs. The Democrats have always had their price. In 1868, 94 percent of Republicans ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave all who were born in America, or who were naturalized citizens, equal protection under the law. The primary benefactors of this amendment were freed slaves. Zero percent of the Democrats signed on. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment gave the newly freed black Americans the right to vote. Again, 100 percent of the Republicans and zero percent of Democrats voted to ratify. Does a pattern seem to be emerging? In response to these amendments, one political party began to implement what are known as Jim Crow laws throughout the South. These laws were intended to deny black Americans full access to the American Dream. Yes, of course, it was the Democrats once again who put their boots on the necks of their fellow citizens. At roughly the same time, a vigilante group emerged to intimidate black Americans and, if need be, execute them. Yes, of course, the Ku Klux Klan was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. Into the mid-twentieth century, many Democrat members of Congress got their political start in the KKK. One of them, Sen. Robert Byrd, of West Virginia, the Senate minority leader, had been the Exalted Cyclops of his local chapter. Upon his death in 2010, then-senator Joe Biden gave his eulogy. Inarguably, the most overtly racist president was Woodrow Wilson. Elected in 1912 after promising blacks equal treatment, one of Wilsons first acts was to mandate the segregation, by race, of the federal workforce. This led to a substantial reduction of the black Civil Service workforce and a significant increase in the wage gap. Wilsons actions eroded gains made by blacks since Reconstruction. The systemic racism that the Democrats frequently refer to was energized by Wilson and has yet to be fully resolved for a significant number of black Americans, especially those who live in Democrat-controlled cities. Wilson also ran on the promise to keep us out of war, and then he took us into WWI. Speaking of war, in 1942, Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the relocation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, many of them American citizens. In its 1944 decision Korematsu v. United States, Roosevelts hand-picked U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the removals. Some have tried to claim that there was a titanic shift in 1960, arguing that Democrats became the supporters of equal rights for black citizens and the Republicans their oppressors. The facts say otherwise. Some 80 percent of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but only 63 percent of Democrats did. Through their control of the media and the educational establishment, Democrats have tried to seize the moral high ground these last sixty years, but that claim makes sense only to those who dont know their history, which includes, unfortunately, most Democrats. As American philosopher George Santayana famously reminded us, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Image via Pexels. On August 26, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11241, which terminated the marriage deferment. President Johnsons executive order made it so that childless men who were married after August 26, 1965 would be considered the same as single men when selecting and ordering registrants to report for induction. Fifty-nine years ago today, LBJ was already running out of young, single men to send to Vietnam. He had escalated, or Americanized, the war in the first six months of 1965. Working class boys were being drafted fast and furiously, but not those who were married or in college. They were 2-S; deferred from the draft until age twenty or graduation from college. Until that day in August, 1965, married men were exempt. When LBJ made his announcement that day, ending the deferment for married men, many thousands of young people flocked to Las Vegas, Nevada, the only state that did not require the three-day waiting period or blood tests. They stood in line for hours at every wedding chapel in the city until midnight when they would not make the cut. At that point in the war, 35k men were being drafted each month! Before August 26, 1965, those eligible registrants who were married and did not have children would be selected third, after the supply of delinquents, volunteers, and single non-volunteers had been exhausted as a local board filled its quota. It was only nine months later when those with children were no longer able to be deferred without proof of paternity. That is how fast the war was both expanding and losing soldiers. The executive order decreed: Executive Order No. 11241, of August 26, 1965, changing the Selective Service Regulations, is now as follows: Delinquents who have attained the age of nineteen years in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first. Volunteers who have not attained the age of twenty-six years and in the sequence in which they have volunteered for induction. Non-volunteers who who have attained the age of nineteen years and have not attained the age of twenty-six years and who (A) do not have a wife with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes in the order of their dates of birth, with the oldest being selected first; or (B) have a wife with whom they married after August 26, 1965, and with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first. Non-volunteers who have attained the age of nineteen years and have not attained the age of twenty-six years and who have a wife whom they married on or before August 26, 1965, and with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes, in the order of their dates of birth, with the oldest being selected first. Non-volunteers who have attained the age of twenty-six years in the order of their dates of birth, with the youngest being selected first. Non-volunteers who have attained the age of eighteen years and six months and who have not attained the age of nineteen years in the order of their dates of birth, with the oldest being selected first. By 1967, graduate students were no longer granted deferments. Then the lottery system was put in place. Every date of the year was a date to be randomly drawn fromfrom what? A big cylinder full of every date of the year? All nineteen year-old men without a deferment were, if their birthdate was drawn, drafted immediately. Their number was up. For the families of nineteen year-old men, it was like waiting for a probable death sentence. By the end of the war, which was lost to the communists, fifty-thousand young men had been killed in Vietnam. For what? The world has learned nothing from the horrors of the Vietnam war. Consider the lives lost in Ukraine and Russia since Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine in 2022. The number of lives lost on both sides is in the hundreds of thousands. To what end? Is it any wonder that Ukrainian parents are spending thousands of dollars to get their surviving sons out of the country? That war is just a vast killing field on both sides, just like the war in Vietnam. Countless Vietnam draft dodgers fled to Canada. The draft in America ended on January 27, 1973 after twenty-five years of uninterrupted conscription. We have had an all-volunteer military since then. The House has passed the proposed Defense Authorization Act of 2025 which again automatically registers all males between the ages of 18 and 26 for the draft. The Democrats wanted to include women. It seems our overlords are expecting another senseless war. The Senate, however, has not yet passed the bill. May wiser heads prevail. Johnsons executive order of 1965 justifiably pitted the working classes against the privileged, college student class and initially, married men. The anti-war protests of the 1960s were far more about the unfairness of the draft than the war itself which was far away. Once the draft ended in 1973, the anti-war protests ended. Traitors like John Kerry, who served only four months in Vietnam, and then accused American service members of all manner of crimes, will be forever known for his backstabbing and his stolen valor. What is it about these men who claim to have fought for their country when they have not? Kerry, Blumenthal, and of course, perhaps the worst offender, Tim Walz. How on earth do these liars end up in Congress or as a governor? Because the American voters do not do their homework. Walz, like LBJ, will revel in sending our young men to war. Electing Harris and Walz guarantees there will be a WWIII. They are LBJs warmongering redux, slaves to the military/industrial complex because that is how they line their pockets. Image: Public domain. (See the UPDATE at the end of this post.) The American system worked for over two centuries because, for the most part, people played by the rules, which meant trying to make the more persuasive arguments that would result in honest election victories. However, socialism isnt a play by the rules ideology. It is a win at any cost ideology. That brings us to Wayne County, Michigan (i.e., Detroit), which may be making up the rules as it goes along when it comes to poll watchers. Memorably, during the 2024 election, when Republican poll watchers tried to keep an eye on the ballot countingwhich had shut down on election night only to resume for days afterwardpoll workers covered up the windows. They claimed it was to protect the counters privacy, but it was hard to see in that move anything other than an attempt to make cheating possible: Never forget "safe and secure" at the Detroit absentee ballot counting center for the 2020 election included windows being covered up. pic.twitter.com/G9CpYwqJKO KC (@KCPayTreeIt) March 27, 2024 Republicans were told that everything was kosher, so shut up and dont ask for further information. This was not comforting, nor was it the kind of openness one would expect from people with nothing to hide. In this election, it seems that Detroit is once again putting the pieces in place that will make cheating easy. Im not saying theyre going to cheat; Im just saying that if youre planning to cheat, this is one way to do it: In a recent development in Wayne County, Michigan, more than 700 Republicans applied to be poll watchers for the upcoming elections. However, out of the 2,350 poll watchers hired, only 50 of them were Republicans. This stark contrast has raised concerns among the Republican community about fair representation and transparency in the polling process. The discrepancy in the number of Republican poll watchers has sparked a debate about the integrity of the election process in Wayne County. Republicans argue that having a higher number of poll watchers from one party could potentially lead to bias and unfair practices during the voting and counting process. This means that only 7% of Republican applicants were accepted, and only 98% of poll watchers will be Democrats. New Yorks Boss Tweed and the USSRs Joseph Stalin understood something important: Its not who votes that counts; its who counts the votes that counts. Things are shaping up in Michigan that make it appear as if those who are counting the votes want to maximize their privacy and minimize the opportunity for Republicans to see them at work. And I say, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...well, its probably not a hamster. Image: Thomas Nast cartoon, 1871. The pedestal states, In counting there is strength. Beneath the cartoon, it says, Thats whats the matter. And beneath that, Boss Tweed states, As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it? say? UPDATE: We are being wronged. We the people are meekly watching as our God-given rights are being stripped away by a government of men. Hypocritical and controlling men. In far too many cases, evil men. During and after the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Founders were split on whether to add a Bill of Rights to the end of the Founding Document. Those who did not want this separate Bill of Rights still believed in these rights wholeheartedly but thought that they were so obvious and inviolable that there was no need to spell them out specifically and apart from the main text of the Constitution. Thankfully, the Bill of Rights was eventually added to the Constitution in the form of the (first) Ten Amendments. Lets have a look and see if these essential and natural rights are still self-evident, inviolable, and universally honored. (I intend to make this a series, proceeding to address the Bill of Rights Amendment by Amendment, starting, naturally, with the first one.) The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof? Or abridging the freedom of speech? Or the right of the people peaceably to assemble? And to petition the government for a redress of grievances? The government has effectively established leftism, meaning itself, as the official religion of the United States of America. And that government sure as hell prohibits the free exercise of Christianity. As some who have prayed next to an abortion mill well know. Government tells religious organizations what they can and cant do, tells the private owner of a small bakery that he or she must make a proLGBTQ (or transgender) cake or be run out of business, threatens priests and pastors who read anti-gay passages from the Bible, typically refuses to allow benign and nominally Christian-themed flags, such as An Appeal To Heaven, to fly over public buildings but has no such compunctions regarding LGBTQ or often even Palestinian -- banners. Freedom of speech? Say or write something anything that goes against The Agenda, and prepare to be shamed, counseled, cancelled, or worse. Increasingly, anything that doesnt completely comport with leftist dogma is simply branded misinformation and/or hate speech. Sadly, fewer and fewer Americans, apparently, even want freedom of speech, the cornerstone of any free society, to be protected. As for the right of the people to peaceably assemble? Remember the pandemic lockdowns? Most folks werent even allowed to peacefully assemble in their churches. For a family members wedding or funeral (unless you were with Team George Floyd). Or host Thanksgiving for their extended family and friends. In Minneapolis, under the benevolent rule of Tampon Tim Walz (The Joy Bringer), neighbors who were loosely gathered outside, on their own property, were told to get insidenow!and were subsequently shot at (light em up!) with paintball guns if they didnt react quickly enough to the dictates of the stormtroopers surging down their streets. What do you think has been the result of petitioning the government for a redress of grievances pertaining to the crimes government(s) committed against humanity during their COVID-1984 orgy of authoritarianism? Only (big) government would try to turn our natural rights into wrongs and attempt to strip us of our innate and unalienable protections and dignity. Only big government could. As has been proven many times over by communist -- and other tyrannical -- regimes throughout history. The more rights the people possess, the fewer the government does. And vice versa. Governments know this. Which is why they want to strip them from you. The Founders knew this, too. Which is why they did everything conceivable to direct power to the people rather than to their rulers. (Limited government, of the people, by the people, for the people.) Tragically, we the people seem to have forgotten this. So it is not surprising that we and our rights are being wronged. Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License There was a time only a few decades ago in the '70s and '80s when politics wasnt as divisive in that the other side could at least admit what they were and what they wanted to do. A time when it was Democrat or Republican instead of left versus right and we werent that far apart from each other. We could disagree without being disagreeable and still be friends. But unless youve been living under a rock, or only getting your news from the national socialist media, you know thats all changed. These days the un-Democrat party has gone so much to the dark side of red (as in communistic red) that they have to work constantly to keep it hidden. And you are having to go into full damage control mode when Comrade Kamala reveals too much. But consider that all of what is going on right now should be seen positively for the cause of individual liberty. RFK, Jr.s campaign suspension, Trump endorsement, and speech, along with the freedom illusion projected at the DNC (a.k.a., commie con) and their dire direction off a cliff are all signposts of a dying political party. There is the bad news in that the national socialist media is marching in goose step with the un-Democrat party, so its going to be up to the pro-freedom community to spread the word to counterbalance the commies. Now, consider the seismic shift referenced in the headline of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announcing on Friday that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Donald Trump. Even though many conservatives disagree with RFK, Jr., his epic speech made some exceptional points, particularly about what used to be the Democrat party: I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of 6 in 1960, and back then, the Democrats were the champions of the Constitution and of civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism, and unjust wars. We were the party of labor, of the working class. The Democrats were the party of government transparency and the champion of the environment. Our party was the bulwark against big money interests and corporate power. True to its name, it was the party of democracy. As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with. It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money. When it abandoned democracy by canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an independent. These days, its now the un-Democratic party and it works day and night to come up with new ways of shredding the Bill of Rights all in the name of safety or diversity. Starting with free speech, the common-sense human right of self-defense, due process, etc. They used to be the party of labor, of the working class, and now theyre the party for the rich. Just as weve already pointed out the far-left ruling class has been running this scam called collectivism (or communism, fascism, Leninism, Maoism, socialism, etc.) in which the ruling cabal redistribute wealth to themselves but some still fall for it. It makes those folks running those Nigerian Prince rackets look like real amateurs. Just vote for us and well give you free health care and $25,000 for a new home, while they promise to go after grocery stores for 'Price gauging (sic).' The grandiose promises always seem too good to be true to those who are informed, and somehow, its only the ruling cabal that ends up with yachts and multiple homes, go figure. The dramatic and recent changes in the Un-Democrat party have been such that most of their supporters are unaware of what has happened. EXCLUSIVE MRC POLL: Most Dem Voters Dont Know About Harriss Radicalism. The famous economics book The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek from 80 years ago is eerily prophetic on todays circumstances in that one side running for the highest office in the land isnt talking to the press, or providing interviews or setting out their policy agenda: What is promised to us as the Road to Freedom is in fact the High Road to Servitude. For it is not difficult to see what must be the consequences when democracy embarks upon a course of planning. The goal of the planning will be described by some such vague term as the general welfare. There will be no real agreement as to the ends to be attained, and the effect of the peoples agreeing that there must be central planning, without agreeing on the ends, will be rather as if a group of people were to commit themselves to take a journey together without agreeing where they want to go: with the result that they may all have to make a journey which most of them do not want at all. It is even more curious that while they are concealing their move to the far left reaches of the political spectrum, they are co-opting the liberty language of the pro-freedom community. So, while they are going full authoritarian, they pretend to be freedom-oriented. That means they know their ideas wont sell and they have to fake being far-right. Its all a grand illusion, and they feel confident in it with the media as their marketing arm. Except that scams, magic tricks, and illusions can only take them so far. Van Jones has already expressed concern that Comrade Kamala isnt way ahead with the steady onslaught of positive media coverage. The un-Democratic Party is stuck with their far-left radicals, and they cant hide them forever, and the political earthquake of the RFK, Jr. moves means that normal and sane people are moving away from them. The DNCs marketing arm is doing all it can to push their candidates, so when Comrade Kamala starts sinking, theres nothing they can do. There is only one way for them and its down. D. Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, former director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a long-time contributor to conservative websites. Find him on Substack. Iran has a new "reformist" president, Masoud Pezeshkian, from Tabriz, sworn in in early office. The selection of his cabinet members came on August 21, after five days of chaos and disagreements in the Majlis, or parliament, over whom he proposed to sit in his cabinet as his ministers. But in the end, the Iranian regimes Majlis approved all ministers and appointees. This approval came only after the regimes president repeatedly and shamefully emphasized that all ministers were chosen by the regimes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself. This stands in sharp contrast to his claims of being a reformer on cultural matters as well as friendly relations with the West. Khamenei doesn't have a moderate or reformist bone in his body. A look at what Pezeshkian said during this session reveals a clear picture of the absolute dictatorship under the Supreme Leader. We did not choose these individuals without coordination; we coordinated with the committees and the higher bodies, Pezeshkian said, referring to the ministers of key ministries. We did nothing without coordination, whether with the lower committees or with the higher committees [Khamenei]; we coordinated with everyone we needed, including the security services, the IRGC, the Intelligence Organization, and everyone else we had to agree with. Pezeshkian explained that under the rule of the Supreme Leader, the parliament, government, elections, and other institutions are completely hollow and artificial, serving as nothing more than a cardboard facade to hide the reality of a medieval absolute dictatorship. In response, MP Hamid Rasaei wrote on his X account: After the unprecedented cost that Pezeshkian incurred from the Leader to approve his government, the entire proposed government was approved by the parliament. The infighting among the members of parliament highlights the scandal even further: It is my duty in this position to defend the choices I have made, provided that I reject sedition, said Abdolvahed Fayyadhi, referring to Khameneis orders. Another MP, Rahim Zare, mocked Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and gave him a constitutional reminder not to cut off MP Mohammad Bagheris microphone when he let slip the truth by saying, Mr. [Iskandar] Momeni [the proposed interior minister] was brought in to engineer the upcoming elections, and the next accusation is that there is a deviant faction in parliament planning this. MP Abbas Goudarzi also issued a constitutional reminder and said: Some say that not voting for a proposed minister means disrupting unity, and this is wrong and even deviant. MP Ali Khazarian referred to the 2009 elections that were followed by a popular uprising, and said: If it was decided from the beginning that only one person would emerge from the ballot box, why are they mocking the people? Why are they imposing all these costs on the regime? The same sentiment was expressed in the previous session of the regimes parliament by Amir Hossein Sabati, who rejected Pezeshkians claim that Khamenei had approved all members of the government and said: If that is the case, we must vote for all ministers and members of the government. Shut down the parliament. It is worth noting that the so-called reformists within the regime, who were disappointed with Pezeshkians proposed government, have been complaining in recent days, asking: What kind of government is this? It is just a continuation of Raisis second administration, until former President Mohammad Khatami, the godfather of this group, intervened, calling for understanding the current complex and critical situation and dealing realistically with what has happened and what will happen. After the approval of the proposed government by the parliament, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (who is not a member of parliament, but in fact, the authentic Iranian democratic opposition in exile), said: Nothing has changed in the government and leadership of the mullahs, and nothing will change. Regarding his new government, Pezeshkian said what he was not supposed to do and admitted that Khamenei personally selects and approves the ministers, and everything is done in coordination with the security services, the IRGC, the Intelligence Organization, and everyone we have to reach. The agreement with Pezeshkian initially stipulated that he would join the administration because he saw the regime in danger, and his agenda was to implement Khameneis policies. However, the agenda of the Iranian people is to dismantle Khameneis apparatus and the entire Velayat-e Faqih system. The 124 executions carried out in the past month alone speak volumes about the state of the regime and its new president, she said. Saeed Abed is a member of the NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee; a human rights activist, and an expert on Iran and the Middle East. Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License Today is the third anniversary of the suicide bomb that killed 13 American troops, during Joe Biden's and Kamala Harris's chaotic pullout from Afghanistan. One presidential candidate is acting presidential: BREAKING: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden skip Arlington Memorial Ceremony for the 13 troopers who died in Afghanistan on the 3rd anniversary Only 1 former president showed up His name is Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/x1msiHjWjO Jack Poso (@JackPosobiec) August 26, 2024 This is what leadership looks like: President Trump honors American service members at Arlington National Cemetery- while Biden is on the beach in Delaware pic.twitter.com/TLvbIhhi77 George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) August 26, 2024 And the actual president has gone missing -- as has his designated successor candidate. According to Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics: Biden's schedule is absolutely blank. Meanwhile, Emily Goodin reports Biden was "visibly shaking" as he exited AF1 in CA on Tuesday morning, and needed a boost from Secret Service agents just to get into his SUV. Who is running the country? https://t.co/bZb8ZjfmpM pic.twitter.com/BrRVme9xCC Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) August 26, 2024 In other words, nothing on his schedule, and he can't make time to honor the brave fallen troops who lost their lives based on his generals' incompetence. The Biden-Harris exit from Afghanistan will go down as one of the most disgraceful failures in Americas historypic.twitter.com/pdYXGIkM9N Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) August 26, 2024 So unhonored they go, until the real president steps forward -- President Trump. It's a strange specter indeed, given that seems like a no-brainer for Biden, who has made so much of his claims that President Trump hates the troops and calls them suckers and losers. Yet here we are. President Trump is honoring the memory of the fallen. Biden has "better" things to do. His designated successor, Kamala Harris, is no better. She didn't turn up to this ceremony either, she who insisted she was the "last person in the room" when the disastrous pullout as initiated, and she feels 'comfortable,' as she told a reporter. In fact, she cackled about it. The only known thing she is doing right now is attempting to change the rules of the Sept. 10 debate with President Trump after agreeing to the previous rules, which had been set by CNN. BREAKING Kamala Harris wants to change the rules for the ABC debate, she wants a cheat sheet Since Kamala got destroyed by Tulsi in her last debate, shes panicking about facing Trump I AM LOVING EVERY MOMENT OF THIS pic.twitter.com/Kgouj2HGhj Marjorie Taylor Greene Press Release (Parody) (@MTGrepp) August 26, 2024 Troops? Who needs troops? She's not there to honor them. And beyond Biden's and Harris's unconscionable absence from the ceremony, Victor Davis Hanson points out that there's a lot going on in the world right now, for there to be a missing chief executive of the United States. There are three current hot or cold wars: on the Ukrainian border, in the regions surrounding Israel, and in the strategic space between Taiwan and mainland China. All three conflicts could not only expand within their respective theaters but also escalate to draw in the United Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) August 26, 2024 And with Biden AWOL, there's a lot of danger for us: In conclusion, we are entering a very dangerous five-month period. Joe Biden has been judged by the American people in the polls as too enfeebled to be reelected and declared by his own party to be too cognitively challenged to remain its nominee. That may suggest to foreign risk-takers that the U.S. president is deemed unfit by Americans themselves and thus conclude there might be a vacuum of rapid-response leadership at the White House. The unspoken corollary is that the American people and both their political parties are certain that, while Biden is incapable of continuing as a normally engaged president through the last half-year of his tenure, he will nevertheless inevitably do so. And that conclusion is likely shared by enemies abroad, who may surmise that if there ever was a time to alter the current geostrategic map or the relative balance of power, that rare occasion is now on the horizon. Who's really in charge here? And who is running the country? Update: Hours after President Trump attended the Arlington ceremony and left, Slow Joe Biden, or whoever runs his Twitter account, put out a ... tweet. Harris did so four hours earlier, but only on her official @vp Twitter site, not her personal one with campaign news and a bigger audience. Somebody looking at polls? Image: Twitter video screen shot The Rev. Herman Price Jr., left, talks to Deborah Porcher-Maxwell at the St. John Baptist Church monthly food distribution at 6800 Evers Road in Leon Valley on Aug. 10. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Gracie Baylor, left, and other volunteers stack bags of food for distribution at St. John Baptist Church on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Chelsea Burt, from left, Karen Mills and Monica Burt fill bags with produce for distribution at St. John Baptist Church on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Sandra Stroud checks in cars at the St. John Baptist Church monthly food distribution Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Stroud helped start the event in 2016. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Vehicles wait for their turn at the St. John Baptist Church monthly food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Vehicles wait for their turn at the St. John Baptist Church monthly food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Volunteer Ida Terrell tries to stay cool at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Ida Terrell signals for the next car to advance at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Rahjanaye Bailey, left, stacks bags of soft drinks at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Rahjanaye Bailey, right, fills a bag with soft drinks at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The Rev. Herman Price Jr. watches vehicles arrive at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The Rev. Herman Price Jr., right, and Deborah Porcher-Maxwell help direct traffic at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Darrell Burt loads bags of produce into a car at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The Rev. Herman Price Jr., right, talks with Deborah Porcher-Maxwell as vehicles pass through the food line at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The Rev. Herman Price Jr., right, enjoys a moment with Deborah Porcher-Maxwell at the St. John Baptist Church food distribution on Aug. 10 in Leon Valley. Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, the event helps an average of 1,000 people every second Saturday of the month. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Every second Saturday, before sunrise, long lines of vehicles form at St. John Baptist Church. Its early enough to see the blur of deer darting past new housing construction nearby. By 6 a.m., more than 30 volunteers, from youngsters to retirees, are stationed at food pickup points and storage tents outside the chapel in Leon Valley, where the Rev. Herman Price Jr. leads the distribution of food. About the author A 22-year veteran of the Air Force, Vincent T. Davis embarked on a second career as a journalist and found his calling. Observing and listening across San Antonio, he finds intriguing tales to tell about everyday people. He shares his stories with Express-News subscribers every Monday morning. He waves each driver forward along winding orange-and-white-striped cones. White plastic bags, heavy with food, are placed in back seats or loaded into trunks. Often, Price is the one who bids them farewell until, for many, their next visit. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Drivers have pulled through the line more than 240,000 times in five years, Price said. He was surprised to see such a need on the Northwest Side, but the numbers have gone up, not down. The church now feeds on average 1,000 people each month, the pastor said. Out here in the suburbs, we see families still need help, Price said. Its a real problem. There are families hurting all over San Antonio. This is just one way we get to demonstrate the love of God. In the St. John sanctuary, he recently huddled with Percy Edwards, 57, a congregation member and youth outreach mentor, to go over church humanitarian efforts. The food distribution program falls under their nonprofit group, Working the Work While Its Day. In 2016, the church began partnering with the San Antonio Food Bank. becoming one of 500 charitable groups helping address hunger across Southwest Texas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Price has been pastor of St. John Baptist Church for 30 years. Founded in 1910, the churchs first home was on West Olmos Drive on the near North Side. In 2006, after nearly a century as a community anchor, the congregation relocated to Leon Valley at 6800 Evers Road. Price has long been active within San Antonios faith community, first in the COPS/Metro Alliance, a coalition of congregations, nonprofits and unions that worked to improve conditions for San Antonio families in historically underserved neighborhoods, then in the Community of Churches for Social Action, founded by the late Rev. E. Thurman Walker. As chairman and vice chairman of the group, he worked with local corporations to raise more than $2 million in scholarships for African American high school graduates. The pastor led the 2006-2007 San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, which organizes the citys MLK March, one of the largest in the nation. Its, How do we bring inspiration and hope to people on their way to heaven? Price said of his mission. For me, thats been how the church operates in the world. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Price grew up in New Orleans, where he became a disciple of scripture and the gospel. In 1974, he enlisted in the Air Force. He retired as a master sergeant after 20 years in the service. His next assignment leading the St. John congregation and its community ministry. Price said the church is proud of the nonprofits Supplies for Success program that has adopted two Title 1 campuses in the Northside Independent School District to help children have good outcomes. In 2019, it first partnered with Leon Valley Elementary School, starting a food pantry and clothing/winter coat donation and back-to-school supplies programs. This year, the group extended those services to Oak Hills Terrace Elementary. Price said the coat program accumulates a range of sizes, so on a cold day, students without winter outerwear and any school-age family member can quickly retrieve one. Edwards works with Bright Futures, the youth mentorship program of Working the Work While It's Day. One Saturday each month, mentors meet with youth at the church for a daylong session on education, moral values and community service. The program for boys, kindergarten through 12th grade, is called Lions Pride. Girls, 4th through 12 grade, are members of the Daughters of Deborah. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Its characteristics we know theyll need in this world we live in today, Edwards said. Our goal is equipping them to be better adults in the future. This year, the programs first participant is graduating and going to college. If he remembers just one thing that one of us told him, its a success, Edwards said. We see the evidence of our labor. During the food distributions, Edwards oversees traffic in the overflowing parking lot. Cars line up 10 in a row. Before the morning ended at a recent one, hed helped a visitor jump a dead battery. Advertisement Article continues below this ad What I get out of this the most is seeing the recipients faces, Edwards said. Theyre very gracious and appreciative of what were doing. By midmorning, Edwards and his team had channeled a second wave of arrivals to Price and the volunteers. Bagged food covered wooden pallets. Volunteers had to take breaks under vinyl canopies from the sweat-inducing heat. Waiting for the signal to go, Elizabeth Sparks, 73, and her sister Catherine Stolz, 71 both retired, caught up with family happenings in the air-cooled cabin of her SUV. The sisters said they came because they need the assistance, and it wasnt their first time. Both said high grocery costs have caused them to make hard decisions on what to buy. It helps, Sparks said. We share it with our kids. If we get an abundance of something, they benefit from it too. Everybodys hit hard. Within minutes they were waved toward congregation member Sandra Stroud, who halted drivers at the pickup point. She recalled sharing the idea for the event with Price during a volunteer meeting there had been a time when Good Samaritans helped her put food on her own table. I continue to carry the torch, Stroud said. I know what it means to be on the line. I know how the people feel. Price says he preaches consistent compassion. He believes caring isnt just something to do around the holidays and Christmas. Samsung is one of the companies that offers longer software support across multiple product lines. Recently, Samsungs latest smart TVs inherited the 7-year update policy of its Galaxy flagship phones. In line with this, the company will also update products like the older Galaxy Watch 4, whose latest One UI 6 beta build brings Global AOD. What is Global AOD on Galaxy Watch devices? Samsung debuted Global AOD on the latest Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra. Normally, when the watch falls asleep and the AOD appears, the screen only shows your watch face in a low-power mode. However, Global AOD allows the watch to display the latest screen you were viewing before the AOD was activated. That is, you can continue checking useful data without having to touch the watch screen, which is especially useful if you have your hands busy working out or doing other things. Global AOD also uses a low-power mode and integrates a clock overlay that shows you the time, which is essential in a watch. This AOD advanced version is one of the main improvements in One UI 6 for Galaxy Watch devices. Industry sources suggest that the Wear OS 5-based stable update will arrive in the next few weeks. Even though the Galaxy Watch 4 is a few years old, Samsung wont leave it without Global AOD and other new features. Samsung is rolling out the new beta build (ending in ZXH4), which will be the first in South Korea. The company also integrated the feature into the latest One UI 6 beta builds of the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 6 series. Its always pleasing to see devices from years ago still receiving updates, especially when the updates include useful new features instead of just bug fixes. Its noteworthy that the Galaxy Watch 4 is practically a twin of the new Galaxy Watch FE. Both wearables share most of their internal components. So, the FE model will probably also get Global AOD in the near future. It doesnt matter the technology or industry, theres always going to be a battle between open-source and closed-source technology. This remains true for the AI industry, Right now, there are open-source AI models and there are closed-source models. Well, Metas and Spotifys CEOs are urging the EU to embrace open-source AI models. While many of the AI models we use nowadays perform similar tasks, theres a pretty wide gap in between them. Some are open-source and some are closed-source. Closed-source models include OpenAIs GPT models, Googles Gemini models, Anthropics Claude, and others. Open-source models include Metas Llamas models and xAIs Grok models. Just like with other technologies, there are benefits and downfalls for each side. Right now, the EU is not too keen on allowing open-source AI models into the continent. The EU is really strict with what technology it exposes its people to, and its blocking open-source models due to security issues. Metas and Spotifys CEOs want the EU to embrace open-source AI Since the EU doesnt want open-source models in the area, this leaves Meta out in the rain. It cant distribute its Meta AI features to folks in the EU. The EU is a pretty big market, and it could mean a bunch of potential revenue if Meta eventually monetized its technology. Metas CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Spotifys CEO Daniel Ek issued a joint statement expressing their concerns about this situation. Though Spotify and Meta use AI in different ways, we agree that thoughtful, clear and consistent regulation can foster competition and innovation while also protecting people and giving them access to new technologies that empower them. This statement could be true. Right now, many of the most powerful AI models have their source code locked behind closed doors. The only people who have control over the models direction are those within the company. However, open-source models allow other entities to contribute to the source code. This way, it will keep major players from controlling the market. This is something that were starting to see already. The EU hasnt responded to this statement yet. Were not sure were going to see a change anytime soon. Hopefully, we will, as open-source technology might be a step toward ensuring safe AI. A new wave of Android NFC malware is making headlines as cybersecurity experts uncover its sophisticated method of stealing payment card information. Researchers at ESET identified this malware, which exploits the Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities of infected smartphones to capture and relay payment data to cybercriminals. Discovered in early August 2024, the Android NFC malware, dubbed NGate, represents a novel threat in the mobile security world. NGate Android malware uses NFC technology The NGate malware operates by taking advantage of the NFC functionality on Android devices. NFC technology in infected phones becomes a vulnerability typically used for contactless payments and data transfers. When a victim unknowingly installs the NGate app, it turns their phone into a conduit for payment information. The malware captures the data transmitted between the victims card and NFC readers, then sends it to the attackers in real time. Cybercriminals behind the NGate malware have demonstrated a troubling advancement in their tactics. The malwares ability to siphon payment data from NFC-enabled cards allows hackers to clone cards and execute unauthorized transactions. This advancement highlights a growing sophistication in the methods used to exploit mobile technology for financial gain. The malwares detection and analysis by ESET involved monitoring how the NFCGate toolkit facilitated the manipulation of NFC data traffic. The Czech polices recent crackdown on a gang utilizing similar methods underscores the severity of this threat. Arrests made during this operation revealed that suspects were withdrawing funds directly from ATMs using cloned cards. Preventive measures and Googles response In response to the emergence of Android NFC malware, Google has reinforced its security protocols. Based on our current detections, no apps containing this malware are found on Google Play. Android users are automatically protected against known versions of this malware by Google Play Protect, which is on by default on Android devices with Google Play Services. Google Play Protect can warn users or block apps known to exhibit malicious behavior, even when those apps come from sources outside of Play, the search giant said. However, NGate malware has been found in apps downloaded from third-party sites, bypassing Googles Play Protect safeguards. Between November 2023 and March 2024, six such apps were identified in the wild, targeting users of three major Czech banks. This incident highlights the need for vigilance beyond official app stores. Staying safe from Android NFC malware Avoid clicking on suspicious links or downloading apps from unknown sources. Be cautious of urgent messages or emails requesting personal information. Verify the authenticity of such requests by contacting the company directly using a known phone number or website. Keeping your Android device and apps updated with the latest security patches is crucial. Additionally, consider using a reputable antivirus or security app to provide an extra layer of protection. By adhering to these guidelines, Android users can significantly reduce their risk of falling victim to the NGate malware and other similar threats. Google lost over $100 million to Russia, revealed US filings. It appears Googles Russian subsidiary had to declare bankruptcy owing to the seizure of its funds in the country. Google files lawsuit in the US after losing $100 million in Russia Google recently filed a lawsuit in the US claiming Russia seized more than $100m. Google has also filed a similar lawsuit in the English courts. Russian authorities also seized Googles assets after the companys Russian subsidiary declared bankruptcy. Specifically speaking, the tech giant has claimed it lost more than 76m after having to pay fines in Russia. Google crossed Russia and its oligarchs after it banned the YouTube channels of RT, Tsargrad, and NFPT. The search giant also deleted their Google accounts. As a countermeasure, a Russian court ruled that Google must pay damages to three Russian TV channels. Needless to say, these broadcasters are closely linked to the Russian administration and are owned by Russian oligarchs. As a result, Googles Russian arm declared itself bankrupt back in 2022. Google had indicated that the Russian administration had seized its funds. However, back then, the American business hadnt declared any specific amount. Is Russia consolidating funds by grabbing money? Last week, Google filed lawsuits in the American and English courts. The filings claim Kremlins bailiffs seized tens of millions of dollars. Russia then handed out large sums to the aforementioned Russian TV channels. The bailiffs seized more than $100m of Google Russias assets, even though the amount purportedly due under the judgment at the time was less than $12.5m (one billion roubles). Russian courts levied unprecedented fines and arbitrary legal penalties against Google in an attempt to limit access to information on our services and as a punishment for our compliance with international sanctions against Russian individuals and organizations. It appears Russia could be trying to seize foreign currency and raise capital to fund its ongoing war in Ukraine. This is because after Russia seized funds and released the same, Tsargrad reportedly confirmed it would support Russia with the money, Tsargrad received one billion roubles from the seizure, which it said it would use to support Russias war in Ukraine, Google has claimed. Google is now trying to block Russian broadcasters from going after its assets in foreign jurisdictions. Specifically speaking, Google is concerned Russia could try and seize its funds in South Africa, Turkey, and Serbia in a very similar manner. The search giant is already facing a potential ban on its products in Russia. French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in Paris on Saturday. The tech entrepreneur was detained at Le Bourget airport after arriving on his private jet. Officials have stated that the CEOs arrest was made under a warrant related to alleged offenses related to the messaging app. Soon after the arrest, Telegram released a statement saying its CEO has nothing to hide. France extends Telegram CEOs detention after the arrest on Saturday night The French authorities arrested Durov on Saturday night for alleged offenses related to the Telegram app. Durov, who has dual French and UAE citizenship, was detained as part of a preliminary police investigation. It is looking into alleged criminal activity taking place on the messaging platform. The investigation reportedly centers around Telegrams purported lack of content moderation. The authorities reportedly believe the lack of moderation has allowed criminal activities to flourish unchecked on Telegram. Notably, France on Sunday extended the detention following the arrest earlier. French media reports that the magistrate overseeing the case decided to extend Durovs detention beyond Sunday night. Under the French judicial system, this initial questioning period can last for up to 96 hours. Once it is over, the magistrate can decide whether to file charges and keep the CEO in custody or release him. Telegram says its CEO has nothing to hide The French police inquiry is into accusations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism promotion, and cyber-bullying on the messaging platform. Soon after the arrest, Telegram pushed back strongly against any suggestion of wrongdoing and released a statement on Sunday. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving, the company said in a statement. Furthermore, Telegram said its CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owners are responsible for abuse of that platform. The arrest receives criticism from free speech advocates, including Elon Musk Elon Musk and many free speech advocates have expressed their disapproval of European authorities after the arrest. The billionaire tech tycoon used his platform, X, to repost clips of an interview with Durov by Tucker Carlson in April. Notably, Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who sought asylum in Russia, also condemned the arrest. Snowden called it an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. Jan Choinski became the first British casualty of the US Open after falling to an agonising five-set defeat to Roberto Carballes Baena. Choinski, ranked 276 in the world, had earned himself a 100,000 US dollar (75,730) payday by coming through qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time. And he looked to be heading for a swift exit as he found himself two sets and a break down to the world number 55. But the British number 10 rallied to send it to a decider, only for Carballes Baena to regain control and earn a 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-7 (5) 6-3 victory. Jan Choinski battles hard before losing out in an epic at the @usopen Good to see Jan in the main draw after coming through qualifying #BackTheBrits | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/Pm83qaJCdO LTA (@the_LTA) August 26, 2024 Choinski said in the build-up to his first-round match that, even with his hefty prize money, he would stick by his trusty Volvo car, which has racked up the miles. But this defeat would have driven him mad, having shown tenacity and grit to get back into the match. And when he forced five break points in the opening game of the decider, he might have thought it was going to be his day. But the Spaniard saved them all, then broke to love in the next game to break Choinskis heart. Pavel Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport, just outside Paris, on Saturday evening. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire co-founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested in France in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement, prosecutors announced on Monday. Durov, who has French citizenship, was detained at Le Bourget airport, just outside Paris, on Saturday evening after arriving from Azerbaijan on his private jet. His surprise arrest has sparked debate over free speech worldwide and led to an outcry in Moscow. The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said the investigation concerned crimes related to illicit transactions, child sexual abuse, fraud and the refusal to communicate information to authorities. Earlier in the day the French president, Emmanuel Macron, gave the first confirmation that Durov had been arrested as part of a judicial inquiry in relation to Telegram. In a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights, Macron wrote on X, adding that the arrest was in no way a political decision. It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law, he said. A senior official at Ofmin, a French agency set up last year to prevent violence against children, said Durovs arrest was linked to Telegrams failure to properly fight crime on the app, including the spread of child sexual abuse material. Ofmin issued the arrest warrant for Durov. At the heart of this case is the lack of moderation and cooperation of the platform (which has almost 1 billion users), in particular in the fight against crimes against children, Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the secretary general of Ofmin, wrote on LinkedIn. Beccuau said Durov was arrested as part of an investigation into X meaning a person or persons unknown that was opened on 8 July following a preliminary investigation by officers of the National Jurisdiction for Combating Organised Crime (Junalco). Specialist cybercrime and fraud detectives are looking into 12 alleged offences linked to organised crime, including complicity in the possession and distribution of images of children of a pedo-pornographic nature, drug offences and fraud. It is not clear which, if any, of the alleged offences police are questioning Durov over. On Sunday the investigating magistrate extended Durovs detention from 24 to up to 96 hours. By that deadline, the magistrate must either charge him with a crime and continue his detention or set him free. In a statement on Sunday evening, Telegram said Durov had nothing to hide. It said: Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Durov, a self-styled libertarian often cast as Russias Mark Zuckerberg, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with Kremlin demands to shut down opposition groups on the VK social network that he founded when he was 22. He was forced to sell VK after a dispute with its Kremlin-linked owners and turned his focus to Telegram, the app he founded with his brother Nikolai in 2013. Durov, who lives in Dubai, obtained his French passport in 2021 through a special procedure for high-profile foreigners exempting them from the usual legal requirements, including having lived in the country for at least five years. Telegram has long been used by pro-democracy activists in countries including Belarus, Hong Kong and Iran. In Russia, the Kremlin was forced to lift a ban on the widely used app after unsuccessfully trying to curtail it for years. But it has also become a haven for extremists and conspiracy theorists. The app was also widely used by far-right agitators plotting anti-immigration rallies in England and Northern Ireland after the stabbing of three children at a dance class in Southport last month. Telegram has denied allegations that its platform facilitates illegal activities such as terrorism, fraud and child exploitation. Related: Who is Pavel Durov? Billionaire founder of Telegram remains a mysterious figure Although Durov had previously clashed with the Kremlin, his arrest has provoked anger in Moscow and has been portrayed by Russian officials as a case of western hypocrisy regarding free speech. The arrest of Pavel Durov confirmed that there has been no European or even global (pro-western) freedom of speech, said Sergei Mironov, a veteran Russian ultra-nationalist politician and ally of Vladimir Putin. Maria Butina, a Russian lawmaker who spent 15 months in a US prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent, said Durov is a political prisoner a victim of a witch-hunt by the west. The Russian embassy in France said it had requested consular access to Durov but his representatives reportedly did not respond, according to Russian state media. Durovs arrest has renewed debates about the responsibility of social media tech companies for the content shared on their platforms and whether they should prioritise safety and cooperate with authorities over upholding free speech. Elon Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, condemned Durovs arrest, claiming free speech in Europe was under attack. Multiple pro-Palestine groups gather on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin for a May Day protest this spring. The University of Texas System announced it will amend its free speech policy to bar its institutions from adopting political or social positions unrelated to their operations. The change doesnt apply to students or individual faculty or staff. The change comes during the start of the fall semester at many of its campuses, the first time students are back to school after its flagship, the University of Texas at Austin, became ground zero for clashes over the Israel-Hamas war. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer The University of Texas board of regents has amended its free speech policy to prohibit the system and its 14 universities and health-related institutions from adopting political or social positions unrelated to campus operations. Institutions should not, in their official capacity, issue or express positions on issues of the day, however appealing they may be to some members of the university community, reads the new language that was added to the systems statement on freedom of speech and expression and approved by the board during its meeting last week. The policy does not apply to individual faculty, staff or students and only relates to official university statements, functions, ceremonies, and publications. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In a statement, Paul Corliss, associate vice chancellor for external relations and communications, said the new policy is an extension of the principles put forth in the Kalven Report from the University of Chicago, a 1967 report on the universitys role in political and social action that concluded institutional neutrality is necessary for the university to fulfill its core mission and create a campus environment were all students, faculty and staff have the freedom to take their own political or social views. In 2022, the UT System adopted a version of the Chicago Statement, a set of principles affirming an institutions commitment to free speech. It calls for the protection of speech even if it is considered offensive, unwise, immoral or wrong-headed, with restrictions on speech that is illegal, defamatory or harassment. The UT Systems policy change comes during the first week of the fall semester at many of its campuses, the first time students are back to school after its flagship, the University of Texas at Austin, became ground zero for clashes over the Israel-Hamas war. The Middle East conflict has tested free speech policies at universities in Texas and across the country as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students engage in protests and heated discussions. School leaders have struggled to strike a balance between their roles as moderators and facilitators of intellectual debate on campus. After the war began Oct. 7, UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell issued two statements to the university community related to the unfolding conflict. In his first message, he laid out safety measures in place for Jewish students on campus. In the second one, Hartzell said the university refrains from issuing statements in response to major events unless there is a connection to the campus community or a matter of public safety, but said he has zero tolerance for any antisemitism toward Jewish students or hate-filled actions toward Muslim communities. Advertisement Article continues below this ad During the spring semester, tensions exploded on U.S. campuses in response to the war, including UT-Austin and the University of Texas at Dallas. In April, hundreds of students walked out of class at the flagship university, leading to the arrest of 57 people after police ordered them to disperse. A few days later, nearly 80 more people were arrested after protesters tried to set up an encampment on campus. Protesters were also arrested at UT-Dallas after students set up an encampment on campus, demanding the university divest from U.S. corporations that have ties to Israels war in Gaza. Other universities, including the University of North Carolina System and University of Wyoming, previously have adopted positions to remain neutral. Since the Israel-Hamas war, others have joined them, including Stanford University and Northwestern University. Harvard University said in May it would no longer make political statements at the recommendation of a faculty committee, though they stopped short of fully embracing institutional neutrality. Nubbles is a very special cat. But he needs someone to see how great he is and bring him home ASAP. The cat is currently at Benton-Franklin Humane Society in Kennewick, Washington and now the shelter is hoping that someone will come take the cat home. Video of Nubbles waiting by the door has gone viral online. All he wants is for someone to love him. Nubbles has been at the shelter for 28 days. But for a shelter animal, 28 days can be an eternity. The poor cat's former owner had health issues and could no longer care for him. Now all he can do is hope that someone will find him at the shelter and want him to be their pet. Related: 18-Year-Old Cat Recently Surrendered to NYC Shelter Breaks Our Hearts "POV you're visiting the animal shelter and see this cat staring at the door and waiting patiently for his family," the video's text overlay. Commenters were pulling for Nubbles. They wanted him to find a new family fast. "His owner is probably hurting having to make that decision too, its so sad," wrote one person. "Looks just like my boy. I can't imagine..." someone else added. "Boosting for Nubbles, the unconditional love of a cat is truly magical," a third person wrote. "Guys Oranges are the best cats. Someone give this baby a new home pleaseeeee," one commenter pointed out. Adopting From Benton-Franklin Humane Society Anyone would be lucky to bring Nubbles home. And you can if you adopt from Benton-Franklin Humane Society. There are so many animals looking for a forever home at the shelter. By acting today you can save a life. Available at the humane society are cats and dogs of many different breeds, so there's bound to be the right kind of animal for every pet owner. There are several ways to go about adopting from Benton Humane. You can either go to the shelter in person or browse their animals online. Then you'll meet with an adoption counselor and book time to have a one-on-one with your potential pet. The counselor will help determine if you and the animal are a good match. Then you'll fill out an application and see if you're approved. All pets will be spayed or neutered before leaving Benton Humane. If your pet has any medical conditions, you'll get a consultation with medical staff. Adopting a pet is something that can change their life and yours. 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. Former England centre Manu Tuilagi will have to wait before he can debut for new club Bayonne in the Top 14 after he suffered a broken hand in pre-season. Tuilagi brought his international career to an end after 60 appearances earlier this year when he decided to leave Sale and sign for French outfit Bayonne. The 33-year-old, who suffered a string of injury issues during his 13 years in the England set-up, featured for Bayonne in Saturdays 42-5 pre-season victory over Biarritz Olympique, but injured his left hand and is set for a spell on the sidelines. A recovery time of six-to-eight weeks has been predicted by Bayonne, which would rule the ex-Leicester centre out of their Top 14 opener with Perpignan on September 7 and potentially delay his competitive debut until October. Following the preparation match against Biarritz Olympique, some players are returning to the infirmary (hospital), a Bayonne statement read. Manu Tuilagi, with a broken hand, will be out for between six and eight weeks. We obviously wish a good and speedy recovery to all of our players who are currently unavailable. Tuilagi left Sale after their Gallagher Premiership play-off loss to Bath in June. Forty fire engines and around 225 firefighters are battling a blaze at a block of flats on Freshwater Road in Dagenham, East London. More than 100 people were evacuated from the building, the BBC reports. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was called at 2.44am on Monday with crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations at the scene. The flat fire in #Dagenham is producing a large amount of smoke please keep windows and doors closed if you're in the local area whilst we work to bring the fire under control https://t.co/y3z7P1LeIQ pic.twitter.com/MBUdNTAxir London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) August 26, 2024 The brigade said parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the ground floor and the roof, were alight. Station Commander Alan Bendell, who is at the scene of the fire, said: The fire is producing heavy smoke and were advising local residents to keep windows and doors closed. Two of the Brigades 32-metre turntable ladders are being used at the scene as aerial water towers to assist with tackling the fire from height. Freshwater Road is closed to traffic, so please avoid the area where possible. Belarusian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries on manoeuvres in 2023 - BELARUS MINISTRY OF DEFENCE/AP Belarus is massing troops and equipment along its border with Ukraine under the guise of military exercises, Kyiv has warned. Ukrainian officials urged the Kremlin-allied nation not to make tragic mistakes and ordered it to withdraw its forces. The build-up in the Gomel region, near Ukraines northern border, is said to include special forces and former Wagner mercenary fighters, along with tanks, artillery, air defence systems and engineering equipment. Ukrainian government sources told The Telegraph that its intervention was not meant to be seen as a warning of imminent danger at the border. However, Kyivs foreign ministry said in a statement that if Belarus violated its territory, Ukraine would defend itself and every group of troops, military facility, and military supply route in Belarus will be legitimate targets. The warning came during Ukraines incursion into Kursk and Russias advance into eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said they had intelligence that Belarus was concentrating a significant number of personnel, including special operations forces, weapons and military equipment under the cover of military drills. We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscows pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraines state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belaruss systems, they added in a statement. Belarus, which is politically and economically reliant on Moscow, allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a launchpad for their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Kyiv has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people. They added that military exercises in the region posed a global security threat because of their proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Forces ill-equipped Last week, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, claimed Ukraine had earlier this month sent more than 120,000 troops to the border between the two nations - a claim denied by Kyiv. He said that Minsk had deployed nearly a third of its armed forces to the region in response. Konrad Muzyka, a defence analyst at Rochan Consulting, said it was unlikely Belarus is considering offensive action against Ukraine at this stage. He added: Our long-term assessment is that the Belarusian armed forces primarily function as a mobilisation force, which would require a significant increase in manpower through mobilisation to conduct any offensive operations. Even then, their forces primarily rely on post-Soviet equipment that has seen minimal modernisation, leaving them ill-equipped for contemporary battlefield demands. Mr Muzyka said Kyiv had heavily fortified parts of its border with Belarus and it was unlikely Minsk could muster the force to break through. Mathieu Boulegue, a consulting fellow at the Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera that Belarus was a vassal state to the Kremlin and more valuable as a launchpad for operations than for it to enter the war itself. He added: The moment they do that, it creates much more instability than necessary, with the risk of losing regime stability in Minsk, and forcing a hard international response. Russia meanwhile launched its largest drone and missile barrage in weeks, again striking Ukraines battered energy grid and triggering more blackouts. Hundreds of drones and missiles forced state-owned electricity supplier Ukrenergo to announce emergency power cuts to stabilise the system. Top Kyiv officials again urged their allies and arms suppliers to allow long-range strikes into Russia. Mr Zelensky also redoubled his call for allies to join the country in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drones and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields. Click here to view this content. Tory leadership candidates (clockwise from top left) Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride, Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly. Photograph: AP Out of power, and with no one paying them much attention at the moment, the Conservative leadership contest may seem fairly irrelevant to UK climate policy. But the winner could make a significant difference. In opposition, there are two approaches the Conservatives can take on environmental issues. One route is to champion their own green legacy; ending coal power, massively expanding offshore wind and passing legislation including the Environment Act and net zero. They could push for faster decarbonisation and hold ministers to account on nature policies. Sam Hall, who leads the Conservative Environment Network and used to advise Michael Gove, thinks this is the right way forward: The polling suggests that for those switching from Tory to Lib Dem and Labour there was high support for net zero. Not downplaying our achievements on the environment could have retained some of those votes. I also dont think it was the right strategy to downplay our environmental achievements to win back Reform voters as their main concern was immigration, not net zero. The other route favoured by Rishi Sunak during the general election is to label environmental issues as expensive and woke, and to attack Labours green measures and new onshore renewables. So which direction have the candidates chosen? The former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has made the most emphatic move away from the Tory net zero legislation signed into law by Theresa May. He recently told Politico that the UK did not need to be a climate leader, saying: The UK is only 1% of the worlds emissions. Theres no prizes for being the first country in the world to decarbonise. We should be working towards net zero 2050, but we shouldnt be decarbonising faster than our major competitors in the world. (When flights and imported fossil fuels are taken into account, UK emissions are actually much higher; and if measured by capita, Britain is ranked 13th among individual G20 nations for greenhouse gas emissions, and 11th for just CO 2 emissions.) The former net zero tsar and ex-Tory MP Chris Skidmore seems to think Jenrick was the worst of the bunch, telling the Guardian: If the Conservatives are serious about remaining in opposition for as long as possible this is exactly the sort of positioning that will keep them out of power for another decade. Having already abandoned mainstream politics and lost seats across the country to Labour and the Lib Dems, Robert Jenrick seems determined to be the Tory partys undertaker and gravedigger combined, burying them even further beneath the scorched earth. The shadow secretary for housing, communities and local government, Kemi Badenoch, has not made her position clear yet, but when she stood for leader in 2022 she tried to mark herself out from the other contenders by pledging to row back on net zero commitments and branding climate targets arbitrary. As the MP for rural North West Essex she has consistently campaigned against pylons in her area that are being constructed to bring renewable energy from offshore wind turbines on the east coast to urban areas inland. Also leading the charge against green infrastructure is her East of England neighbour Priti Patel, the former home secretary. She has accused Labour of bulldozing the countryside for its green plans and demanded ministers pull the plug on these awful pylons. But Patel has lobbied for more support for the farming sector. Labour has refused to commit to a budget for the nature-friendly farming fund, which replaces EU subsidies for land managers. The budget is crucial if the UK is to meet its biodiversity goals and Patel is perhaps among the contenders most likely to hold the party to account on this. She was recently seen in discussion with the president of the National Farmers Union, Tom Bradshaw, at an event where he outlined his concerns over the budget. The former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has made the clearest commitment to maintaining the UKs climate targets and said during the campaign that the UK should lead on the world stage. The shadow security minister, Tom Tugendhat, has said that environmentalism is a core tenet of Conservatism and that it is a principle that needs to be rediscovered in the party. He has also said tackling climate breakdown is a key global security concern: Drought ruins crops, destroying livelihoods and pushing people into the arms of people smugglers and criminals. Better climate security improves regional stability, which helps strengthen our security in the UK. James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, has indicated he will stick to targets but will emphasise a different way of meeting them to Labour. Rather than state-supported renewables such as via the publicly run GB Energy, he said he would try to unlock private investment. Hall agreed with this, saying: There is a role for Conservatives to argue that a more market- and competition-based approach to environmental solutions can have less burden on taxpayers and deliver targets more effectively. On the world stage, Cleverly has supported UK investment in the international Green Climate Fund, and unlike Sunak would probably be enthusiastic about attending international summits such as Cop. Some candidates are going back to what Conservatives should stand for, a clear idea of what a Conservative is, said Hall. Support for the environment and our natural heritage is a core Conservative instinct. That should be one of those principles the party tries to unite behind. Wreaths were sent out to sea in a tribute to the victims - Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse/Shutterstock Hundreds of people in the Sicilian town close to where the British superyacht Bayesian capsized and sank with the loss of seven lives held a poignant candle-lit vigil for the victims on Sunday evening, almost a week after the tragedy. On a sweltering night in the fishing community of Porticello, a large crowd attended a special Mass at the Church of Maria Santissima del Lume, or Most Holy Mary of the Lamp, where the altar is decorated with a giant image of Christ in marine blue robes hovering over fishermen pulling up their nets from two boats. A solemn procession, led by teenagers holding a silver crucifix, then proceeded through the streets of the town to the seafront, clutching candles and intoning blessings and prayers. Passersby made the sign of the cross and bowed their heads in respect. It was a heartfelt gesture of grief and mourning from a town that lives off fishing and knows all too well the dangers of the sea. The hundreds of locals stopped at a point on the esplanade that was just a couple of hundred yards from where the bodies of multi-millionaire British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah and the other victims were brought after being recovered from the wreck by specialist divers. Mike and Hannah Lynch had been holidaying on the luxury yacht when a storm hit - PA The luxury yacht sank barely half a mile off shore, within plain sight of the town. In a moving ceremony, Father Vincenzo Buscemi, the local priest, read out the first names of all seven of the victims of the tragedy. We are here to pray for the victims, who have concluded their earthly journey, he told the large crowd, which included fire service divers, coast guard officers dressed immaculately in white and local volunteers. The seven victims: Mike and Hannah Lynch, Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, Chris and Neda Morvillo, and Recaldo Thomas As the crowd recited the Lords Prayer, four lavish wreaths were laid on the water, the waves gently pulling them out to sea, towards the spot where the Bayesian went down in an intense storm in the early hours of last Monday. This is a moment of prayer for the community to remember the victims. Ours is a community that has in the past felt the pain of tragedies like this. Many men have lost their lives while working at sea, Father Buscemi told The Telegraph. For a lot of locals, the tragedy of the Bayesian brings back memories of past losses, it reopens wounds. There is huge sympathy for the victims and their relatives. People here want to show solidarity with them. The tragedy has shocked local communities - Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse/Shutterstock Anna Maria Vella, 51, said: My husband is a fisherman. I know the anxiety of seeing him go out to sea and wondering if he will come home. Giuseppe DAgostino, the mayor of Porticello, said: We are a town of about 12,000 people and half the population relies on fishing. Its the main employer here. The tragedy has hit people hard. Italian prosecutors announced on Saturday that they had launched an investigation into the tragedy, looking into the potential crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a deadly shipwreck. They said the investigation was still at an early stage and stressed that nobody has yet been charged. The captain of the 30 million yacht, 51-year-old James Cutfield from New Zealand, was interviewed by prosecutors last week and is likely to be questioned again, along with the rest of the crew. James Cutfield, 51, was the captain of the Bayesian The surviving passengers, including Angela Bacares, Mr Lynchs wife, left the hotel they had been recovering in on Saturday, reportedly flying home on private jets. Prosecutors said that the passengers were under no legal obligation to remain in Italy. Post-mortems on the victims, who include Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and the ships chef, Recaldo Thomas, will be carried out at a clinic in nearby Palermo. Prosecutors are investigating whether the captain and crew failed to alert their passengers that the yacht was sinking when it was hit by a violent storm. There are questions about how six passengers died in the disaster while all the crew survived, with the exception of the ships Canadian-Antiguan chef. Data from the ships Automatic Identification System or AIS reportedly shows that there was a 16-minute period between the storm hitting the 184ft-long Bayesian at 3.50am on Monday and the vessel sinking at 4.06am. Israeli police stop a Jewish worshipper from entering Temple Mount in the Old City - Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Israels hard-Right national security minister has been accused of making reckless comments after he invited Jews to break a longstanding agreement and pray at the sacred Temple Mount. The hillside compound, in Jerusalems Old City, is one of the most sensitive locations in the Middle East, holy for Muslims and Jews, which has caused repeated conflicts. A 1967 agreement between Jordan and Israel stipulates that Jews can visit the Temple Mount but that they cannot pray there. Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has long advocated for a change in the status-quo, told Army Radio on Monday that there will no longer be a discriminatory policy at the Temple Mount. Mr Ben-Gvir said if it were up to him the flag of Israel would have been raised there long ago ... a synagogue would also be established on the Temple Mount. The comments enraged several of his coalition colleagues who see them as counterproductive to ceasefire negotiations to stop the fighting in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, also issued a statement shortly after, saying there is no change in the status quo. Undermining the status quo on the Temple Mount is an unnecessary and irresponsible act, said Yoav Gallant, the defence minister. Ben-Gvirs actions endanger Israel, he added. Lack of wisdom could cost lives Ultra-orthodox leaders, who prohibit their supporters from visiting the Temple Mount, have previously condemned Mr Ben-Gvirs position on the holy site, along with his frequent visits there, which they consider to be in violation of halacha [Jewish law]. Moshe Arbel, the interior minister, from the ultra-orthodox Shas party, called on Mr Netanyahu to immediately act to correct Ben-Gvirs comments, claiming that the ministers irresponsible statements put Israels strategic alliances with Muslim countries, which are part of the coalition in the fight against the Iranian axis of evil, to the test. His lack of wisdom could cost lives, Mr Arbel added. The Temple Mount is the holiest place in the world for Jews, whereas the Al-Aqsa mosque is considered the third holiest for Muslims. The holy site is seen as one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, often being a flashpoint for violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. Click here to view this content. Kim Jong-un inspects a demonstration of a drone crashing into a target - KCNA via KNS North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the development of more suicide drones to boost his regimes war readiness. Kim was quoted by state newswire KCNA as saying: It is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones. His comments were made during a weekend visit to the Drone Institute of North Koreas Academy of Defence Sciences, when the authoritarian leader watched as new suicide drones took off and destroyed designated targets including a mock tank after flying along preset routes. A target pictured exploding during a performance test of a drone, organised by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences - STR Suicide drones should be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, such as underwater suicide attack drones, said Kim. He also urged researchers to develop artificial intelligence for unmanned vehicles. Loitering munitions, which remain airborne preparing to strike until a specific target is located, before crashing into it with a warhead, have been widely used in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Photos released by state media show Kim, dressed in a baggy all-white outfit and cap, inspecting blurred out drones while appearing to give instructions to senior officials. Local reports pointed to at least four different types of drones, some of which were launched with small rocket engines. Kim Jong-un pictured during a visit to construction sites at various North Korean industrial factories - KCNA The development is likely to cause disquiet in neighbouring South Korea, which has recently been shown to be vulnerable to airspace incursions from the North. The two countries are still technically at war after the 1950-53 war that split the Korean Peninsula ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and North Korea has previously used small commercial drones to infiltrate the area in and around the Souths capital, Seoul. The North Korean leader inspected the construction sites - STR In December 2022, five North Korean drones crossed into the Souths airspace, prompting the military to fire warning shots and deploy fighter jets, but none of the UAVs were destroyed. On Monday, South Koreas joint chiefs of staff said more analysis was needed to determine the similarities between the newly-unveiled drones and Russias ZALA Lancet and the Iranian-designed Shahed, reported Reuters. Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, have recently pledged to step up military cooperation, and Pyongyang has been accused by the US and South Korea of supplying munitions for Moscows war machine in Ukraine in exchange for high-level technology. We understand that some gifts (drones) were given in an exchange between North Korea and Russia in the pastWe need to analyse various measures to see if those have improved performance, a JCS spokesperson said in a briefing. Last month, South Koreas National Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) announced plans to deploy new Star Wars lasers to melt drones dispatched from the North out of the sky. The new laser weapons, which would melt the surface of the drone causing its internal components to catch fire, would be in place by the end of the year, DAPA said. A huge missile and drone attack launched by Russia across Ukrainian territory has left at least seven people dead, including four children, officials have said. Power cuts and water outages were reported in numerous parts of the country including in some districts of the capital, Kyiv, as a result of the strikes, which targeted mainly civilian energy infrastructure. In a video address on Telegram, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, described the attack early on Monday as one of the biggest combined strikes on Ukraine over the course of the war. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as base, targeting critical civilian infrastructure, he said. The commander of the Ukrainian air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said Russia launched 127 missiles, of which 102 were intercepted. He added that Russian forces had also launched 109 drones. In central Kyiv, air defences were audible during morning rush-hour, forcing many people to take shelter in underground metro stations. In the western city of Lutsk, a block of flats was damaged and there were reports of fatalities in five regions. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said 15 regions had sustained damage during the strikes, and Zelenskiy said the energy sector had suffered a lot of damage. A senior Ukrainian official said Russia had also targeted a hydropower plant in the Kyiv region. Todays Russian attack targeted Ukraines civilian infrastructure, including Kyiv HPP, the Ukrainian first deputy foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, said on X. Russias defence ministry in a statement said it had launched a massive precision-guided weapons strike on critical energy infrastructure facilities. Moscow has been targeting this infrastructure for months, leading to blackouts, rationing and a fear of power shortages over the coming winter. The attack came two days after Ukraine celebrated its Independence Day. The US embassy in the country had warned of an elevated risk of a Russian attack around the date. Zelenskiy responded to the attack with a familiar call to western allies to provide more by way of air defence support for Kyiv, and to lift restrictions on using western weapons to strike deep into Russian territory. We could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence, he said. In recent weeks, Kyivs surprise incursion into Russias Kursk region has changed the mood and dynamic in the conflict, although it remains unclear what Kyivs long-term plan for the area of Russian territory it controls is. The Kremlins spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Russia would make an appropriate response to the incursion. He also dismissed increasing chatter that some form of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv may be on the cards in the near future. There are a lot of reports about various contacts in the media, and not all of them are correct Peskov said. The topic of negotiations at the moment has pretty much lost its relevance. Ukraine remains on the defensive in the east of the country, where Moscow is rapidly advancing toward the strategically important city of Pokrovsk. After a meeting with his senior commanders on Monday evening, Zelenskiy announced that he has ordered a further strengthening of defences in the direction of Pokrovsk. Ukraine continues to deploy long-range drones to strike military facilities and oil refineries within Russia. Russias defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed nine drones over the southern Saratov region, which lies 560 miles (900km) from the border with Ukraine. Ukraine has made significant investments in drone technology, developing advanced attack drones capable of flying long distances and hitting targets deep inside Russian territory. On Saturday, Zelenskiy touted a newly developed Ukrainian missile-drone, the Palianytsia, that he said was designed to strike Russian military airfields and destroy the enemys offensive potential. Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have said work to remove dangerous cladding from buildings has been painfully slow after a huge fire at a tower block in east London with non-compliant cladding. More than 80 people were evacuated and two taken to hospital after the blaze at the building in Dagenham in the early hours of Monday morning, London Fire Brigade said. LFB said it was called to the blaze in Freshwater Road at about 2.45am. Twenty people were rescued in a significant search and rescue operation as 45 engines and around 225 firefighters responded to the incident. New drones were deployed to tackle the blaze, along with turntable ladders used to douse flames from above. A major incident was declared by the LFB, which was stood down at 11.03am. Crews will remain at the scene on Tuesday. Later on Monday, a fire broke out in a 45-storey building in Blackwall, also in east London. There were no reported injuries. Click here to view this content. Grenfell United, which represents survivors of the 2017 tragedy, said there had been a lack of urgency about building safety. It comes ahead of the release this week of the final report into the disaster, in which 72 people died. Grenfell United said in a statement: Although we do not have all the details, it seems work was under way to remove non-compliant cladding, and the building had a number of safety issues. This highlights the painfully slow process of remediation across the country, and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole, including the implementation of personal evacuation plans for disabled residents which needs urgently addressing. We are a week away from the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 report. The fact that when a fire happens, and the best we can hope for at the moment is a near miss, speaks volumes of the progress made since 14th June 2017. The Dagenham property was undergoing remedial work to remove and replace non-compliant cladding on the fifth and sixth floors containing flats, according to a planning application document. The FBU said the incident exposed the national scandal of flammable cladding and deregulation in the building industry. Click here to view this content. An investigation has begun, during which questions about the role of cladding will form part of the probe, Patrick Goulbourne, the LFBs Assistant Commissioner, said. Asked by reporters at the scene how big a part cladding had played in the fire, and how close the incident was to a bigger disaster, Mr Goulbourne said: What I wouldnt want to do is pre-empt an investigation. This was a very, very dynamic incident, and clearly its going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause, but to get to an understanding of the fire spread so its its too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days. London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out, and a significant search and rescue operation took place. I am pleased to confirm that everyone has been accounted for. A resident of the building said the incident felt like a nightmare and that she felt frightened to be on the street starting from zero. Irina Vasile, a 46-year-old healthcare assistant who lived on the second floor, said she was woken by her partner at about 3am, telling her there was smoke. Speaking outside the Becontree Heath Leisure Centre, where residents have been relocated, she told reporters: [There was] such a dense smoke all over the apartment. When we wanted to open the window, another smoke hit our face, on the throat and the eyes. Flames rise from the Dagenham building at the height of the fire - UKNIP Ms Vasile said she was spotted by firefighters after shouting for help and calling 999, adding that she did not hear a fire alarm go off during the evacuation. She said: We didnt grab nothing we lost everything. The firemen brought us outside, and while I came outside, Ive seen a big fire come from the building on the ground floor, and when we went further, Ive seen another big fire on the top. My partner is devastated as well. We try to encourage one another because we lost everything. We are scared, frightened to be on the street starting from zero. Another resident described the incident as very terrible and said he was coughing up black from the smoke. Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor, told reporters: I opened my main door, smoke was coming in from the window I live at the back. I saw it [the fire]. Very terrible, very terrible. Ive never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I dont know what to do. Im not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. When I cough, you see the black. Mr Ogbeide later told the Press Association news agency he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, but did hear a fire alarm. Another witness living near the building said he heard people screaming as the incident unfolded, telling PA: When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming. Firefighters at the scene of the Dagenham blaze on Monday morning - Leon Neal/Getty Images In a statement on Monday, Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, criticised MPs for putting the interests of big business above human life by repeatedly ignoring warnings related to deregulation in the building sector and building cladding. He said: Hundreds of thousands of people continue to live in buildings like it, with various failings in fire safety. This is a national scandal. For decades, the FBU has warned of the risks of deregulation in the building sector. Politicians have put the interests of big business above human life. As we saw at Grenfell Tower, this can have horrific and tragic consequences. Time and time again, these warnings have been ignored by public authorities and by central government. The British Red Cross said a team of the charitys volunteers was providing emotional support to evacuated residents at a local rest centre. 01:01 PM BST Thats all for today Thanks for following our live blog. Thats all for today. 01:00 PM BST London Fire Brigade looking into buildings history, including cladding London Fire Brigade Assistant Fire Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne said they were looking into the buildings history, including cladding, as part of the investigation into the fire. He said the fire was no longer considered a major incident and had been brought under control. He said 80 residents had been evacuated including 20 who had been rescued from the building. Mr Goulbourne said: Im pleased to say everyone is accounted for. Four residents had been treated at the scene, with two residents taken to hospital for treatment. He added: The fire is now under control. We will now begin a full investigation. This was a very dynamic incident. He would not confirm the fire started on the ground floor, as claimed by some residents, and that cladding on the outside of the building helped spread the flames to other floors. There had also been earlier fire safety issues with the building and cladding in the process of being removed. Its too early to tell, he said. We are looking into the history of the building. Assistant Commissioner Goulbourne would also not comment on conflicting reports about whether the fire alarm system was working. The state of the fire alarm is part of the investigation, he said. 12:49 PM BST Everyone has been accounted for following Dagenham fire Everyone has been accounted for following a fire at a block of flats in Dagenham, London Fire Brigade said during a press conference. Andy Roe, London Fire Commissioner, said: I am pleased to confirm that everyone has been accounted for. More than 80 people were evacuated with firefighters leading residents out to safety and carrying out 10 rescues including using fire escape hoods, which can provide 15 minutes of clean, filtered air in smoke-filled environments, helping individuals stay safe until they can be rescued or reach safety. Four people were treated on scene by London Ambulance Service crews, with two taken to hospital. He added: I am immensely grateful to the crews and officers who have operated in the most dangerous conditions to both rescue people and bring the incident under control despite being faced with a significant building failure. Mr Roe said: We will now begin a full investigation into the fire and its cause. This was a very dynamic and challenging incident, and we know there will undoubtedly be concerns around the fire safety issues present within the building and this will form part of our report. Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected and we will remain present in the local community throughout the coming days to provide support where needed. 12:33 PM BST Major incident stood down, says Sadiq Khan Sadiq Khan has said the major incident regarding the fire in Dagenham has been stood down and thanked the emergency services who worked tirelessly through the night. In a post on X, the Mayor of London wrote: My thoughts are with all those affected by the fire in Dagenham overnight, and I remain in close contact with the @LondonFire Commissioner and emergency services who worked tirelessly through the night to gain control of the fire. A major incident was declared which has now been stood down. A rest centre has been set up in the area to support residents, and I urge people in the area to follow LFBs advice to keep windows and doors closed, and for people to avoid the area where possible. 12:32 PM BST Resident was coughing black owing to smoke One described the incident as very terrible and said he was coughing up black from the smoke. Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor, told reporters: I opened my main door, smoke was coming in from the window - I live at the back. I saw it (the fire). Very terrible, very terrible. Mr Ogbeide said it was very busy in the buildings stairwell with fellow residents who didnt bring anything when evacuating, with some still naked. He said: Ive never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I dont know what to do. Asked if he felt OK, the resident added: Im not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. When I cough, you see the black. The resident later told the PA news agency he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, but did hear a fire alarm. 12:22 PM BST People were screaming as incident unfolded, says resident A resident living near the building which caught fire in Dagenham said he heard people screaming as the incident unfolded. Ahmed, 44, of Kemp Road, which is a few hundred yards from the property, told the PA news agency: When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming. 12:20 PM BST Resident woken by the smell of smoke Another resident said he was woken by the smell of smoke as the fire spread throughout his building. Sam Ogbeide now fears all of his belongings will have been destroyed in the blaze. Wearing green pyjama bottoms and red socks with no shoes, he told The Telegraph: I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I know everything will be 100 per cent destroyed. He added: I was asleep and saw smoke coming through my window. 11:57 AM BST Family woken by banging on their front door A resident has told of how his family was woken by banging on their front door in the early hours of the morning as a fire engulfed their building. Monty Singh, his pregnant wife and two children, aged three and eight, then rushed outside to escape the smoke. He claimed the fire had started on the ground floor of the tower block where there was a childcare centre. The children were very worried and panicked, Mr Singh told the Telegraph. A woman on the first floor had smelled smoke and was then running around banging on doors to get people out. Mr Singh and his family have lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the building for the past six years. For the moment he and his family are at the Beacontree Leisure Centre where the rest of the 100 evacuated residents were taken at 6am this morning. We dont know when we are going to get back in. I just hope our stuff is ok, he said. 11:39 AM BST Pictured: Fire teams fight to extinguish major blaze in apartment block Fire teams attempt to extinguish major blaze in apartment block on Monday - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe 11:11 AM BST Smoke still billowing from tower block Smoke was still billowing from the top floor of the six-storey flats in Dagenham which was engulfed in flames overnight. Dozens of fire crews filled up their tankers from nearby hydrants in surrounding streets before returning to the blaze on Freshwater Street which started in the early hours of this morning. More than 100 residents were evacuated and have been taken to Beacontree Health Leisure Centre. A local ambulance officer said there was no update on the four residents taken to hospital. 11:09 AM BST Recap: What has happened so far? Here is a recap of what has happened so far: A fire broke out at a block of flats in Dagenham at around 2.44am on Monday London Fire Brigade declared a major incident as it deployed 45 engines and around 225 firefighters It emerged that non-compliant cladding was in the process of being removed from the tower block when the fire broke out More than 100 people have been evacuated and two taken to hospital 10:40 AM BST Watch: Damage to London tower block following fire Click here to view this content. 10:32 AM BST Pictured: London Fire Brigade firefighters called to incident in Dagenham Fire prompts large-scale response from emergency services - UKNIP 10:07 AM BST Yvette Cooper thanks emergency workers for their bravery Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, thanked firefighters and other emergency workers for their bravery and swift response to the Dagenham fire. She said: My thoughts are with all those affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham. I thank London Fire Brigade and all emergency services on the ground for their bravery and swift response. She said ministers were being kept updated on the incident. 10:06 AM BST Damage to cladding seen at the block of flats in Dagenham A view of the damage at the high rise building in Freshwater Road which was undergoing works to remove unsafe cladding. Firefighters tackle the tower block fire from a crane - Leon Neal/Getty Images 10:02 AM BST Drone footage shows firefighters tackle blaze Drone footage shows the tower on fire, as firefighters try to extinguish the flames. Click here to view this content. 09:50 AM BST Non-compliant cladding was being removed from tower block Work had been underway to remove non-compliant cladding from the building, called Spectrum House. Valcan, a company in architectural cladding systems, said in a Facebook post on August 19: We recently popped over to Dagenham to see the progress on Spectrum House. This project consists of remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors, removing the non-compliant cladding. 09:32 AM BST Barefoot residents evacuated from the block of flats More than 100 people have been evacuated and two taken to hospital after a fire broke out in the building in East London. The London Fire Brigade said they are carrying out a significant search and rescue operation after being called to the blaze on Freshwater Road at 2.44am on Monday. Barefoot residents wrapped in a sheet are evacuated as firefighters work at the scene at a high rise block of flats - George Cracknell Wright 09:25 AM BST Emergency services are on the scene on Freshwater Road in Dagenham Commissioner Andy Roe from the London Fire Brigade said: The first crew arrived within five minutes and the second crew arrived within six minutes. An aerial appliance also arrived in under six minutes. To allow us to focus our resources on the incident, we have declared a major incident. The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. The Brigades control officers have taken 16 calls to the fire, including successfully giving vital fire survival guidance to a number of people using our fire survival guidance app. We are also using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene. They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above. Emergency services, including over 250 firefighters and 40 fire engines, continue to battle the blaze on Freshwater Road in Dagenham - UKNIP 09:24 AM BST London Fire Brigade declares a major incident London Fire Brigade has declared a major incident amid an ongoing significant search and rescue operation. Commissioner Andy Roe said: We were called to the incident at 02.44 this morning. The first crew arrived within five minutes and the second crew arrived within six minutes. An aerial appliance also arrived in under six minutes. To allow us to focus our resources on the incident, we have declared a major incident. The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. The Brigades control officers have taken 16 calls to the fire, including successfully giving vital fire survival guidance to a number of people using our fire survival guidance app, which allows information to be exchanged between control and the incident ground in a timely, accurate and consistent manner. We are also using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene. They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above. The brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents. 09:20 AM BST We have no clue what happened A father whose daughter was at a sleepover in the building was alerted to the fire at 3am. Dinesh Raj told Sky News: I got a call around 3am, so I came and picked them up. I managed to take my daughter and my friends to my home. Theyre all safe. I think they started smelling smoke around 3am, and learned there was a fire. They had a six-month-old baby as well, so they managed to grab the baby and my daughter and get out the building. I think the majority [of residents] managed to step out before the fire started spreading. But everything they have is back in the building and we have no clue what happened. 09:17 AM BST Grenfell United post on X Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families from the Grenfell Tower disaster, posted on X: Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the fire in Dagenham this morning, we hope all residents are safe and adequately cared for by the authorities Grenfell United (@GrenfellUnited) August 26, 2024 A report covering the second phase of the Grenfell Tower inquiry is due to be published next week. 09:13 AM BST Residents urged to keep windows and doors closed Barking and Dagenham Council said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: Were aware of the fire on Freshwater Road and were supporting the London Fire Brigade and Police. All roads in the surrounding area are closed and due to the smoke, we urge you to keep your windows and doors closed. 09:06 AM BST MP praises swift response to fire The terrible scenes as a fire engulfed a building in Dagenham, east London had resulted in only minimal injuries owing to the swift response of the emergency services, the local MP said. Dagenham and Rainhams Labour MP Margaret Mullane said on X: Terrible scenes in Dagenham this morning as @LondonFire tackle the blaze at Freshwater Rd. Thanks to their rapid response injury was minimal. I will be visiting the rescue centre today to see what help and support I can offer the residents and businesses who have lost everything. A person walks by the UT-Rio Grande Valleys Edinburg campus in this file photo. Three of the universitys masters degree programs made top 10 lists in the Washington Monthlys latest national rankings, which compare graduates debt and earnings. William Luther, Staff / Staff People make their way through the student union on the UT-Rio Grande Valleys Edinburg campus in this file photo. Three of the universitys masters degree programs made top 10 lists in the Washington Monthlys latest national rankings, which compare graduates debt and earnings. William Luther, Staff / Staff The Washington Monthlys new analysis of masters degree programs has elevated the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in ways that prompted the magazine to showcase its nursing program, comparing it favorably to Yale Universitys. A masters degree in nursing from Yale will leave you $118,849 in debt, on average, whereas youll borrow only $23,302 for the same degree from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and earn slightly more five years later ($133,871 versus $128,563 for Yalies), the magazine said Monday in an emailed newsletter pushing its latest edition. A nonprofit, liberal publication with a focus on national politics, government and public affairs, the Washington Monthly has been ranking colleges and universities since 2005. The new list of best colleges for masters degrees is the first ever to compare median debt to median income five years after graduation for popular masters programs, it said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad UTRGV also ranked in the magazines top 10 for masters degrees in social work and in communication disorders. Texas State University in San Marcos made the top 10 for its masters in public administration. The Washington Monthly doesnt merely imply that it has a better ranking system than the one everyone thinks about first, the one by U.S. News and World Report. It takes deliberate shots at it, accusing it of relying on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige. The Monthly, on the other hand, evaluates colleges on their commitment to three goals: social mobility, research, and public service, which naturally places regional and state universities higher in its national rankings. To be fair, U.S. News tweaked its criteria last year in response to growing criticism from many quarters, eliminating alumni giving, a stand-in for relative wealth. That seemingly minor change significantly rearranged some of its rankings, pushing the University of Texas at San Antonio up 92 places, to No. 280 out of 439 national universities. The newsmagazine has a separate ranking for social mobility, and UTSA was No. 47 for that. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The latest Washington Monthly rankings have UTSA at No. 93 in its national universities list. Washington Monthly quoted its editor, Paul Glastris, warning about the obsession with elite colleges warping our politics by aggravating the large and growing political divide between those with a college education and those without. But, he noted, there are hundreds of great schools out there, many of them regional public universities, that are achieving the real purpose of college: helping students of modest means earn affordable degrees that lead to good incomes and encouraging them to be informed and active citizens of our democracy. Delegates vote on a motion during the Michigan Republican party convention on Saturday in Flint, Michigan. Photograph: Katy Kildee/AP A messy Michigan Republican party gathering this weekend to nominate candidates for office illustrated the diminished sway of two high-profile Michigan election deniers and highlighted longstanding divisions within the party. Matthew DePerno, who faces charges for allegedly assisting in a scheme to improperly access voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election, withdrew from the race for Michigans top court hours before the state party convention. In a statement, DePerno said that instead of running for state supreme court, he would use my knowledge about how elections work to get Republicans elected. DePerno, a rightwing attorney from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was a vocal proponent of Donald Trumps false claims of a stolen election in Michigan after Trump lost in 2020 to Joe Biden, appearing on rightwing media to promote the claims of widespread fraud and helping fund Arizonas sham election audit. DePerno ran for Michigan attorney general in 2022 but lost decisively to Dana Nessel whose office has charged him for his role in allegedly tampering with voting machines. In 2023, he lost his bid to chair the state party to Kristina Karamo an outspoken elections conspiracy theorist who was ousted from her role earlier this year amid accusations that she had mismanaged the partys already dwindling finances. During the convention, Karamo faced a more dramatic setback of her own when she was escorted from the venue by police officers. Karamo reportedly entered with an all-access pass, which was revoked during the convention. Pete Hoekstra, the party chair, told the Detroit Free Press it had been granted in error. The Michigan Republican party has for years been beset with chaos and divisions caused by the influence of Christian nationalism, election conspiracies and extremism. When a faction within the party moved to oust Karamo earlier this year, the longstanding intra-party brawl came into national focus. This weekends convention proved that those divisions remain as present as ever. Look at the convention. People yelling, booing why? said Karamo, flanked by her supporters, as local police and event security guided her out of the building. Because of corruption in the party. During the convention, Republicans nominated six fake electors from 2020 to serve as presidential electors this year. After DePerno dropped out, they chose Patrick OGrady, a circuit court judge, as their nominee for the state supreme court. Lack of agreement on how social care would be paid for was the most common reason cited for delays. Photograph: Sergio Azenha/Alamy More than 14,000 NHS hospital beds are being occupied every day by patients who are well enough to be discharged, figures show, as experts urged ministers tackle the crisis. The data emerged as a damning report revealed that almost a fifth of care providers were waiting weeks for people to be transferred into their care. A survey of 568 care homes and homecare providers across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland found huge regional variations, with a lack of agreement on how a persons social care would be paid for the most common reason cited for delayed admission to a care provider. Others said wrong or insufficient information provided by NHS hospital staff, a lack of communication, waits for patients to have care assessments or a lack of transport also contributed to delays in patients being able to leave hospital. Seventeen per cent of respondents said the average length of time for a person to be discharged into their care from hospital was one to two weeks, while 7% said it was three or more weeks. The East of England performed best when it came to people being discharged, with 96% of patients admitted to a care provider within a week. Half of providers surveyed in Scotland said discharges took more than a week; 15% in the West Midlands and 10% of those in Yorkshire and the Humber said it took more than three weeks to get a patient admitted into their care. Autumna, a care directory service, which carried out the survey, said samples from Wales and Northern Ireland were too small to provide reliable regional findings. The latest NHS figures for England show an average of 12,326 hospital patients a day were medically fit and ready to be discharged to a variety of settings in July, but were not. The latest NHS figures for Scotland showed the average number of beds occupied per day by those who should have left hospital was 1,983 in June, a rise on 1,942 in May and the highest figure ever recorded. Prof Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, said the report outlined a system that was failing and would only get worse unless remedial action is taken. He added: Care providers are frustrated and angry by the lack of a clear and strategic approach to discharge, and the fact that nobody is delivering a national perspective. We are constantly hearing about bottlenecks within hospitals, the root cause of which is often a lack of a clear and strategic approach to appropriately discharge patients. The pressure on the NHS was often self-made, he added, and was a symptom of a system obsessed with process that had forgotten patients should be the priority. Mike Padgham, the chair of the Independent Care Group, which represents social care providers in Yorkshire, said the report was the latest in a long line to paint a bleak and unacceptable picture. Enough is enough, he said. The system is in need of reform so that people can get the care they need, when and where they need it. Debbie Harris, the founder of Autumna, said the findings were a wake-up call to Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting that the system was broken and urgently required reform. The pressures are only going to get worse as our population gets older, so we need to fix the system now, before it completely breaks down, she said. The NHS said it recognised that the number of delayed discharges was unacceptable and was working to improve the system. The government said it was committed to reforming the social care sector and building a National Care Service but did not specify when this would happen. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has said that 'deportations will be made easier' - Shutterstock Refugees who arrive in Germany will be denied benefits if they do so from another country in the European Union, Olaf Scholz has announced. The chancellor will deny these asylum seekers cash payments and payment cards if they flout EU rules demanding that they claim asylum in the first member state they reach. They will only be provided with the bare essentials of bed, bread, and soap, he said. The policy was announced after a Syrian asylum seeker killed three people with a kitchen knife at a street festival in Solingen last week. The suspect, who arrived in Germany in 2022 after being registered in Bulgaria, had been on a deportation list for over a year. After the terrorist attack in Solingen, we are determined to draw the necessary conclusions deportations will be made easier, the authorities will be strengthened in the fight against violent Islamism and gun laws will be further tightened, Mr Scholz said on Thursday. Scholz addresses the media following the attack in Solingen - Ina Fassbender/AFP Via Getty Many migrants continue their journey to Germany and other northern European nations after arriving on the Mediterranean coast, despite the Dublin rules prohibiting them from doing so. For the past decade, Berlin has largely ignored the Dublin regulation, out of which the UK opted after Brexit, and allowed migrants to file a second asylum application in Germany. When Berlin has tried to enforce the rules, it has been impeded by the German courts, which have ruled that countries such as Greece fail to meet the EUs basic requirements for migrant care. Attempts to deport migrants back to the first EU member state they arrived in have been hampered by the reluctance of other countries to take them back. Last year, Berlin suspended its participation in an EU pact to take in quotas of migrants from Italy, citing Romes refusal to implement the Dublin rules. It came as, for the second day in a row, more than 500 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK, the British Home Office revealed on Thursday. A total of 20,433 people have made the journey so far this year three per cent higher than at the same point last year. In 2015, with huge numbers of people crossing Europe during the migrant crisis, Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor, threw open the countrys borders to more than a million Syrian refugees but attitudes have hardened. Germanys new security crackdown also prohibits knives on buses and trains and bans refugees from returning to their home country for a holiday. Asylum seekers who go home without a moral reason, such as a relatives funeral, will lose their status under the rule, which does not apply to Ukrainians. The package introduces stricter gun regulations, including tighter ownership rules, a general ban on switchblades and an absolute ban on knives at public events such as folk festivals, sporting events and trade fairs. Berlin will also tighten asylum and residency laws and procedures, including lowering the threshold for severe deportation, when the deportee has committed a crime involving a weapon or dangerous tool. Criteria for excluding individuals from asylum or refugee status will be tightened, including harsher penalties for serious crimes, including for youth offenders. The government will push for reforms to the Common European Asylum System, simplifying transfers and deportations, and will also seek to enable the deportation of individuals who have committed serious crimes or are considered terrorist threats to Afghanistan and Syria. The package also outlines measures to combat violent Islamism, including giving law enforcement authorities permission to use biometric data from publicly accessible online sources for facial recognition to identify suspects. Disgraced BBC DJ Jimmy Savile often boasted about being a member of Mensa - Max Mumby/Indigo A row has erupted in Mensa over plans to ban members with criminal convictions more than a decade after disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, who belonged to the group, died. Members of the elite intelligence society are understood to be opposed to the plans because of the fact it went against Mensas founding ethos of accepting anyone who passes the necessary threshold on an IQ test. For decades, the society has only required successful applicants to achieve an IQ score that sits among the top 2 per cent of the general population. The Telegraph can reveal that British Mensas Board planned to ban members convicted of serious crimes from the organisation in order to protect members and uphold the reputation of Mensa following a 2021 review on its governance. It comes 12 years after the death of former BBC DJ Savile, who frequently boasted of belonging to Mensa. The serial sex offender and rapists crimes were only uncovered after he died in 2011. There is no suggestion that Savile committed any offences at Mensa events or that the organisation was aware of his crimes, or any allegations against him. Documents shared with members ahead of Mensas next annual general meeting, which is set to take place in October, read: The board recently proposed introducing a new code of conduct and disciplinary policy for members. One of the ideas floated in this proposal was that applicants could be denied membership, or existing members expelled, due to their conduct outside of the society being deemed inappropriate. Member feedback on this proposal was very negative and the proposal was taken away by the Board for further consideration. Later on in the paperwork, which has been seen by The Telegraph, a summary of a members Zoom call which took place last month, read: There was a suggestion that the draft disciplinary policy (which, for example, could restrict people from becoming or remaining members if they had criminal records) would be a move away from the original ethos of Mensa that everybody could join if they obtained a suitable IQ test score. The original proposals would have seen both new applicants and existing members excluded if they had committed serious crimes. These would include, but not be limited to offences such as murder, manslaughter, terrorism and rape, according to an inside source. It was also claimed that under the proposals, members would not only have been expected to tell the board of their own previous convictions, but also to inform on other peers if they had prior knowledge that they may be banned under the new terms. Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, a barrister, and Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer, who wanted to form a society for people with a high IQ. Mensa has over 110,000 members worldwide and members of its British arm are granted access to exclusive member-only events as well as specific special interest communities. Adults pay 65 a year for adult membership, with additional Mensans in a household paying just 30 and under-19s paying 50 annually. Upset among members The new policy was the latest in a series of changes which The Telegraph understands has caused upset among Mensas 18,000 UK members. Notes detailed in the same documents also referred to revisions made to British Mensas memorandum and articles of association, which moved a number of matters which could previously have been decided by members, to the control of the board. The documents propose an article which ensure members can directly influence decisions taken by directors if a 75 per cent majority of members feel it is appropriate to do so. A spokesman for Mensa said the board of British Mensa commissioned an independent review to ensure its governance aligned with the best practice in the sector. They said: Following that review, members have been consulted on all proposed governance changes and their feedback welcomed via member-wide consultation meetings and in writing. The spokesman added: The changes the board proposed are designed both to protect members and uphold the reputation of Mensa. They are entirely consistent with current good practice both in membership bodies and in relation to safeguarding across all sectors. However, in response to member feedback, the introduction of a new disciplinary policy has been set aside with changes proposed to the existing dispute resolution policy instead, subject to member consultation as outlined above. The number of people living with dementia globally is forecast to nearly triple to to 153 million by 2050. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA Scientists are to analyse more than a million brain scans using artificial intelligence with the aim of developing a tool to predict a persons risk of dementia. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Dundee will examine CT and MRI scans of patients from Scotland captured over more than a decade, as part of a global research effort called NEURii. The team will use AI and machine learning to match the image data with linked health records to find patterns that could help doctors better determine a persons risk of developing dementia. The number of people living with dementia globally is forecast to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050, and researchers warn this presents a rapidly growing threat to health and social care systems. Health and social costs linked to dementia already exceed $1tn (780bn) a year, research shows. The scientists aim to create digital tools that radiologists can use when scanning patients to determine their risk of dementia and diagnose the disease and related conditions earlier. The tools could also help speed up the development of more precise treatments for dementia, they said. Prof Emanuele Trucco, an expert in AI and medical imaging at Dundee, said: This new data set will be of great use to neurological researchers. Should we establish a successful proof of concept, we will have a suite of software tools that are smoothly and unobtrusively integrated with routine radiology operations that assist clinical decision-making and flag the risk of dementia as early as possible. Up to 1.6 million images will be scanned, with the approval of the public benefit and privacy panel for health and social care, part of NHS Scotland. The data will be held in the Scottish National Safe Haven, commissioned by Public Health Scotland to provide a secure platform for the use of NHS electronic data for research. The project co-leader, Prof Will Whiteley from Edinburghs Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, said: Better use of simple brain scans to predict dementia will lead to better understanding of dementia and potentially earlier diagnosis of its causes, which in turn will make development of new treatments easier. Currently treatments for dementia are expensive, scarce and of uncertain value. If we can collect data from a large group of people at high risk, who then give their consent to take part in trials, we can really start to develop new treatments. Murdo Fraser said the Scottish Tories should not try to 'embrace the Farage agenda' - Andrew Milligan/PA The Scottish Tories must not lurch to the Right to win back Reform UK voters, leadership candidates have warned after a poll showed they are on course to lose MSPs to Nigel Farages party. Murdo Fraser cautioned against trying to embrace the Farage agenda, saying the Scottish Tories would lose more moderate voters than the number of Reform supporters they would gain. Arguing that many Reform voters were disillusioned Tories, he said the key to winning them back was to listen to their concerns and to demonstrate that the COnservatives were willing to change. Russell Findlay, another frontrunner in the contest, said the seven per cent support for Reform in last months general election was a cry of frustration and a demand for change. He argued that the Scottish Tories needed to fully reconnect with those traditional Conservative voters by demonstrating their values and winning back their trust. We must not vilify the people who voted Reform, Instead we need to recognise that they have legitimate concerns which need to be addressed, he wrote in the Scottish Daily Mail. Mr Findlay warned against trying to chase Reform voters with a lurch to the Right, pointing to polling data showing that many hold mainstream views. Russell Findlay said his party needed to 'fully reconnect with those traditional conservative voters' - James Chapelard Meghan Gallacher, who is also standing for the leadership, referred to a West Lothian council by-election last week in the Armadale and Blackridge ward, in which Reform won 18.9 per cent of first preference votes compared with only 8.2 per cent for the Tories. She said: If the general election result wasnt a wake-up call, this should be. The interventions came after a poll at the weekend gave Reform ninr per cent support on both the constituency and regional list votes for the 2026 Holyrood election. The latter uses a system of proportional representation to allocate seats. That would be enough for Mr Farages party to win eight seats, mostly at the expense of the Tories, whose tally of MSPs would drop from 31 to 18. The Norstat survey for The Sunday Times said that the Tories would be pushed back into a distant third place in the Scottish Parliament, with 12 per cent support. Mr Fraser, the shadow business secretary, said: There is no doubt that the rise in the Reform vote presents a challenge to the Scottish Conservatives, although it would be wrong to assume that all their votes come from us. It would be unwise, in my view, to embrace the Farage agenda in response, as that risks losing more moderate voters. In my experience many Reform voters are disillusioned former Conservatives who just expect us to have honesty and integrity and deliver on our promises. The key to winning them back is to demonstrate as a party that we are listening to their concerns and are willing to change, not carry on as we are. Support for Nigel Farage's party at the general election 'was a cry of frustration and a demand for change', Mr Findlay has claimed - Jeff Gilbert Photography/www.jeffgilbert.co.uk Mr Findlay warned against writing off Reform as a flash in the pan, saying that would be complacent and a naive mistake to make. He noted that the polls showed Reforms support was not far behind that of the Tories in Scotland and acknowledged this was partly thanks to voters concerns about immigration. But the shadow justice secretary said that there were also uniquely Scottish reasons for Reforms strong showing in the election, including voters frustration that Holyrood is not addressing their bread and butter concerns. They see a world evolving around them that is out of step with their values and which, in too many instances, dismisses them and their concerns as being old fashioned or worse, he added. Mr Findlay said the Scottish Tories could win them back by focusing on our shared values of aspiration, ambition, opportunity, a just reward for hard work, the offer of a hand up not a handout, effective law and order, and championing the stability of family life. He said: We need to only make promises we can keep, and we must in all instances deliver on those promises once they are made. We shouldnt spend our time pondering how Right-wing or not we should be we just need the resolve to simply do whats right. Grenadier Guards Capt Robert Nairac talking to children in the Ardoyne area of Belfast in February 1977. Photograph: PA A search is to begin for the remains of a British army captain and undercover officer who was kidnapped, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1977. Capt Robert Nairac was kidnapped by the IRA while on an undercover operation in The Three Steps pub in Dromintee in south Armagh close to the border. After a struggle he was taken across the border to a field in Ravensdale woods area in north Louth where he was beaten up and questioned before being murdered. His body has never been found and the Grenadier Guard is considered to be one of 17 people known as the disappeared who were killed and secretly buried by the republican paramilitary group during Northern Irelands Troubles. In 2019, a preliminary examination of a site at Ravensdale Forest in County Louth was carried out. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), which has located the remains of a number of the disappeared, said it would be its first search for Capt Nairac. It is to take place in the Faughart area, also in County Louth. Jon Hill, the lead investigator of the ICVR, said that while Capt Nairac was one of the highest profile of the disappeared, they have had very little to go on. We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search, he said. It is unclear what new information has been passed on to the commission but former paramilitary members can give details to the ICLVR without fear of legal consequences under the terms of legislation that was enacted in both the UK and Ireland when the body was set up. The commission is not saying where the search is taking place other than it will be on less than an acre of private farm land in the vicinity of the Hill of Faughart 14th-century battle site in north Louth. As a result, the ICLVR said the search for Capt Nairacs remains may result in finding other historical and archaeological items. Hill said: I want to make it clear that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection whatsoever with our decision to search in this particular location. Capt Nairac was born to an English mother and a father of French Mauritian origins, and was educated at Ampleforth and Oxford and graduated from Sandhurst. He did four tours of duty in Northern Ireland and his high-profile kidnapping and murder gave rise to all sorts of rumour and speculation including falsely that his remains were put through a meat grinder. In 1979, Nairac was posthumously awarded the George Cross after reportedly refusing to break during his torture. Three men were convicted of his murder, a fourth man was convicted of manslaughter, a fifth of kidnapping and a sixth for withholding information. A seventh man wanted in connection with the murder fled to the US and never returned to Northern Ireland. There have also been several unproven allegations that he colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of three members of the popular Miami showband in 1975 and in the Dublin-Monaghan bombs in 1974 in which 34 people lost their lives. But the late Geoff Knupfer, the previous lead investigator of the ICLVR, said there was no evidence of Capt Nairacs involvement in collusion. The Catholic archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, earlier this year at a special mass for the disappeared reiterated his call for those with any information to help the families of Capt Nairac and three other men whose remains have yet to be found to come forward so that the murdered men can have a Christian burial. Capt Nairac was survived by two sisters and the ICLVR says the Nairac family was being kept informed about developments. The ICLVR said the search would not be time limited but it did not anticipate that it would be protracted. The three other men whose remains have yet to be located are Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire. The commission has again appealed for anyone with information to contact it, saying anything they reveal would be treated in the strictest confidence. Jack Karlson, pictured earlier this year. On Monday a funeral service was held in Sumner, Brisbane for the larrikin crook, who died aged 82. Photograph: Jamila Filippone/The Guardian When, on Monday afternoon, an 82-year-old man was buried in a cemetery on Brisbanes south-western suburbs, one of the three burning questions for those not in the know was: which name would mark his final resting place? Would it be the name he was given at birth: Cecil George Edwards? Would it be the name by which he was known during his stints in Australias most notorious prisons, from Brisbanes Boggo Road to Sydneys Long Bay to Melbournes Pentridge Prison: The Hun? Would it be any of the various aliases he adopted on the run from the law: Chick Edwards, Jack Edward Menchau, Helmet Markson, Peter Alan Marsh or George A Reece? Would it be the secret name revealed until now only as John X under which he had been going in recent years from his hideaway home in the hilly scrub between Gatton and Esk west of Brisbane? Or would it be the name under which he shot into modern Australian folklore with the video of his arrest in 1991 while eating a succulent Chinese meal in a Fortitude Valley restaurant in which he delivered what must rank as one of the great pieces of improvised guerrilla theatre of our times: Jack Karlson? The second question: would any of the phrases he bellowed bombastically in his 80 seconds of fame now etched into the modern Australian vernacular be enshrined above the resting place of his earthly remains? The obvious contenders were, of course, those most signature lines: Gentleman, this is democracy manifest! or: What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal? Related: A succulent Chinese meme: the real story behind Australias most bombastic arrest But dark horse contenders might also be his initial response delivered with regal indignation to a detective informing him he is under arrest (Im under what?) or his cheery, parting words before being manhandled into a Ford Falcon by three uniformed police officers and two detectives: Ta-ta and farewell! The answer to both those questions will have to wait, as Karlsons family are yet to decide. But early indications are the old crook will, as always, have a surprise in store. His memorial service in Sumner a quick dash through bush away from the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol was held to remember the life of John Christopher Midson, a.k.a Jack Karlson, a.k.a Cecil George Edwards. Who was this Midson character? Its a long story, film-maker Heath Davis, who is shooting a documentary on Karlson, said. While the epitaph in the order of service, below a painting of Karlsons infamous arrest done by the brush of the man himself, read: Just keep laughing. Tata and farewell. Love you all. The third question was: who would emerge on that hot, sunny day at the end of winter to mark the passing of this enigma of a man? Carnage, the book by journalist and historian Mark Dapin from which much of the information in this article and many others will and have been drawn, charts Karlsons connections to some of the darkest figures in Australias modern history, as well as a barely credible assortment of immensely talented playwrights and painters. Karlson had a long association with Christopher Dale Flannery, a man known as Mr-Rent-a-Kill and Australias most notorious hitman Dapin believes Flannery might have shot Karlson through the leg. He also had a tragic association with Barry Quinn, the psychopathic convicted killer known as Australias Charles Manson, whose trail of carnage included the murder of Karlsons wife, Ivanka Karlson. As well, Karlson shared a cell and a deep bond with celebrated playwright and armed robber Jim McNeil and had a connection to the painter Charles Billich, whose works have hung at the White House, the UN headquarters and the Vatican, and some of whose backgrounds Karlson claimed to have started. The first of those three are dead now and the fourth did not appear, but what of the other 80 or so people paying their farewells to Karlson? Among an old crim or two, hard men who had lived tough lives, was the delicate Astrid Dahl a painter who tutored Karlson in Pentridge decades ago the restaurateur of the China Sea and a retired police officer who plucked Karlson from its succulent meals. But front and centre, full of smiles and tears and wisecracks, was Karlsons family. Rest in peace Daddy Cool, his daughter Heidi said. He certainly put on a good show, niece Kim said, revealing Karlsons favourite Keno numbers and yet another alias: Uncle Cheque. Thats what we knew him as, she said. This afternoon we shall have a flutter for Uncle. Rest in peace Uncle and keep laughing. Then, to Kenny Rogers The Gambler and beneath a photo in which his arms are spread wide as if in prayer, he wears a poncho, clutches a beer and has a sombrero haloing his head like a religious icon, Karlsons family carried away his coffin, the question of the words and name on his plaque, like so much of his life, still shrouded in mystery. 26 August 2024 at 0:05 am Festival fans young and old were out in west London on Sunday to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Notting Hill Carnival. Sundays focus was children and families, with hundreds of youngsters dressed in bright colours dancing along the parade route to the sounds of the steel drums. Every Sunday of the August bank holiday is dedicated to children and families (Jeff Moore/PA) Hours are spent creating the lavish and eye-catching designs (Jeff Moore/PA) Feathers were a key component of many of the costumes (Jeff Moore/PA) The carnival is Europes biggest street party, with around a million people expected to attend over the bank holiday weekend. The festival celebrates Caribbean culture (Jeff Moore/PA) A collective of angels showed off their blue and white wings (Jeff Moore/PA) A group of dancers had silky wings to create a spectacle (Jeff Moore/PA) Music is a big part of the festivities, with steel drum and brass bands providing the music for the dancers along the parade route. Kinetika Bloco taking part in the Childrens Day parade (Jeff Moore/PA) The Metropolitan Police have said it will be using greater search powers to prevent further violence after a man was stabbed at the Notting Hill Carnival. The force said on Sunday night a section 60 order had been issued after a man was stabbed at the west London event. The victim is a man, believed to be in his 20s, and his injuries are not life-threatening, the force said. Police have made 38 arrests across the carnival and four knives have been recovered. Participants taking part in the Childrens Day parade (Jeff Moore/PA) A police spokesman said: While the majority at todays event have come to enjoy themselves, a number of people regrettably have not. In light of the seizures of knives and the stabbing, a section 60 has been authorised for the carnival area from 6.05pm to 2am. A section 60 gives officers greater search powers to prevent further violence. The carnival is Europes biggest street party and is billed by organisers as the greatest community-led event on the planet . Around a million people are expected to attend over the bank holiday weekend, with about 7,000 officers on duty across the celebrations. The police said the order also gives officers the power to demand the removal of face coverings being used to conceal a persons identity and anyone refusing can be arrested. Children dance along the parade route (Jeff Moore/PA) Earlier on Sunday, the streets of west London came alive with colour, costumes, dancing and music and thousands of revellers enjoyed the celebrations. During Sundays Children and Families Day youngsters were dancing in the streets along the parade route wearing bright and intricate costumes. The annual celebration of Caribbean heritage, arts and culture has been running for more than 50 years. The main parade is held on Monday, described by organisers as the climax of the carnival with party vibes. State Senator Jose Menedes speaks during a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton who sanctioned the raids. Robin Jerstad State Senator Roland Gutierrez speaks during a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton who sanctioned the raids. Robin Jerstad Lidia Martinez, who's home was raided by by agents speaks during a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National President Ramon Palumares speaks during a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad League of United Latin American Citizens Texas State Director Gabriel Rosales speaks during a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National President Ramon Palumares speaks during a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad State Senator Roland Gutierrez speaks with attendee's to a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad A spectator holds up an American flag during a LULAC rally to bring attention to the voter fraud raids that happened last week. The peaceful rally was in front of the San Antonio offices of Texas Attornaey General Ken Paxton. Robin Jerstad Roman Rena, center, waves a flag at a news conference where Officials with the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, held a news conference to respond to allegations by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Eric Gay/Associated Press Lydia Martinez, a volunteer and great-grandmother whose home was searched, left, stands with LULAC National President Roman Palomares, right, at a news conference where officials with LULAC responded to allegations by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Eric Gay/Associated Press Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens on Monday slammed a series of voter fraud raids last week by the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying they are part of an effort to intimidate Latino voters ahead of the 2024 election. LULAC will not stand idly by and allow our members to be targeted, LULAC National President Roman Palomares said. This is point-blank voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for the right of every Latino to exercise their right to vote. Paxton announced the searches as part of a two-year investigation into allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting that date back to the 2022 elections and were referred from the local district attorney, who is a Republican. The targets included elderly volunteers, longtime Latino political operatives and a Democratic state House candidate, Cecilia Castellano. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Paxton has not publicly discussed the specifics of the investigation, but according to a copy of an affidavit obtained by Hearst Newspapers, the searches involve an alleged mail ballot harvesting scheme in which someone filled out mail ballots without disclosing that they had assisted a voter and were paid by candidates for their work. Castellano and Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old who has helped seniors and veterans register to vote for more than 30 years, said Monday that they had done nothing wrong. Latino civil rights activists and Democratic lawmakers have called for a federal investigation into the attorney generals probe. The Justice Department has not commented publicly on the request. Martinez on Monday described how nine officers entered her home early one morning last week, questioning her for over two hours and confiscating her cellphone, computer and documents related to her work as a deputy voter registrar. They had her stand outside in her nightgown as neighbors looked on. I said, I'm not doing anything illegal. All I do is help the seniors, Martinez said, adding that at the time she had just been released from the hospital where she was recovering from COVID. I said, I had five brothers in the military. I said, and I do it in the name of my brothers. My youngest brother was killed in Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star. And we're supposed to live in the greatest country in the world. This is a free country. This is not Russia. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Mary Ann Obregon, the mayor of Dilley, southwest of San Antonio, described a similar scene. She said officers made her feel afraid and offered her very little information about why they were there. Obregon, like Martinez, said she was not sure if shell continue her voter registration work because of the searches. My kids now dont want me to keep doing politics, Obregon said in Spanish, adding that she never directed any senior citizens to vote for particular candidates. Everything we did was fine. Everything. Gabriel Rosales, Texas state director of LULAC, said Paxton is using his office to determine the direction of the election in Texas House District 80, where Castellano is locked in one of the most competitive state House races. Castellanos opponent, former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, could be a deciding House vote in favor of private school vouchers, a top priority for Republican leadership. We're here to let the community know of what this gentleman is doing and using his office to come in and terrorize our community, terrorize grandmothers, terrorize, you know, little old ladies that are only doing nothing, nothing, but trying to help our community get to the polls, Rosales said. This is unacceptable. Castellano said she saw the raids as an attempt by Paxton and his allies to harass and intimidate individuals for their own political gain. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Do not get distracted by this nonsense, Castellano said. Despite the challenges, I refuse to be silenced. It is time for accountability and transparency from our leadership. McLaughlin said Monday that Castellano was dodging responsibility and twisting the truth to avoid scrutiny. Cecilia needs to come forward, take responsibility and tell the truth, McLaughlin said. Our citizens deserve at least that much, but ultimately, they deserve a representative who will fight to make your vote count, not someone who undermines it with lies and manipulation. In addition to the federal request, state Sens. Roland Gutierrez and Jose Menendez, both San Antonio Democrats, said they plan to send a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick demanding a Senate investigation into voter intimidation of Latinos. Too many families have lost young men and women defending this nation, Menendez said. It is deplorable and disgusting that you want to take away the rights to vote of our community." Advertisement Article continues below this ad According to the affidavit Hearst obtained, dated March 2024, the claims were brought to 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Louis from a candidate who had lost a Democratic primary race in Frio County in 2022. The candidate said they believed that a person hired by their opponent had filled out and signed voter registration applications for others without disclosing their role, which would be illegal in Texas. Under state law, a person who assists a voter with filling out a ballot by mail application must sign their name and state their address, and the person requiring assistance must have a physical disability or illiteracy to be eligible. Hearst is not naming the person identified by the candidate because they have not been charged with a crime. In a recording later provided by a witness, the person identified by the candidate offers to fill out mail ballot applications for voters and then collect their mail ballots in exchange for compensation from Manuel Medina, a Bexar County political consultant who works for Castellano. The affidavit doesnt include any direct quotes from the recording. Records later obtained by state investigators showed transactions between the person and several candidates, some of them labeled elections. Gerry Goldstein, Medinas lawyer, declined to comment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad This story contains mention of suicide. If you are at risk, please stop here and contact 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for support. A 59-year-old man is suspected of killing his siblings and niece in their childhood home before turning the gun on himself on the front lawn in an apparent murder-suicide over the weekend at a Long Island residence, according to police. On Sunday at 11:58 a.m., police arrived at a house in Syosset, New York, after they received reports of shots fired, according to the Nassau County Police Department. They discovered a man outside the home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Police later found four victims with multiple gunshot wounds in the back of the house. "(In) 41 years, that is probably one of the most horrific scenes I've ever seen," said Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder at a Monday press conference recorded and shared by Fox 5 New York. 5 dead: Suspect, victims identified The 59-year-old man was identified Monday as Joseph Delucia, according to the press briefing. The victims were the suspect's siblings and niece, according to Nassau County Police Department Homicide Squad Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick. They were identified as: Joann Kearns, 69, sister, who lived in Tampa, Florida Frank Delucia, 64, brother, who lived in Durham, North Carolina Tina Hamnond, 64, sister, who lived in East Patchogue, New York Victoria Hamnond, 30, Hamnond's daughter and the suspect's niece, who also lived in East Patchogue. USA TODAY reached out to the Nassau County Police Department for more information. Shock and heartbreak Neighbors were shocked by the events that unfolded at the home, according to reports from News 4 and Fox 5 New York. "This is really heartbreaking. This is such a quiet little neighborhood they used to call it a bedroom community. Its shocking," a neighbor told Fox 5. Original home owner died a week before The original homeowner was Theresa Martha DeLucia, who died on August 19, reported News 4. She lived in the home with her adult sons, Wendy Paisner, a neighbor who lives across the street from the house, told the outlet. The family had gotten together the night of the shooting to discuss possibly selling the home, according to Fox 5 New York. Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Long Island murder-suicide: 5 found dead at Syosset home, police say CHICAGO - Actor Wendell Pierce, known for his roles on The Wire and Suits, told USA TODAY that Vice President Kamala Harris is offering voters something different this election: the ability to propose solutions. "A lot of new voters are going to give Kamala Harris a look," Pierce said in an interview at the Democratic National Convention. He believes the difference comes down to policy solutions versus the "cult of personality" that former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party offer. "But [Harris' campaign] is really for working people. People want to feel better about their lives. People want to be able to know that someone is going to be in the office and going to help them exercise their right of self-determination."Throughout the convention, Harris, along with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, ensured that voters walked away with a better sense of the Democrat's policies, especially in the face of a nominee who only joined the race a month ago. Harris paid special attention to her policies on immigration and the economy two issues the Republican Party continues to hammer her on. Pierce praised Harris' ability to bring voters together on policy solutions, saying it was similar to his rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina struck his neighborhood in 2005. "When I was rebuilding my neighborhood in New Orleans post-Katrina, the one thing I always told my neighbors - I was president of the neighborhood association - I said, 'You can come and complain, but the price of complaining is bring a solution to the table.' "That's what it feels like here, that there's a clarion call for people to come together and bring some solutions to the table," Pierce said. Pierce will star as the formidable editor-in-chief Perry White of The Daily Planet newspaper in James Gunn's much-anticipated Superman movie, which is expected to be released in July 2025. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Wire' actor Wendell Pierce puts his support behind Kamala Harris Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild A dog, a family cattle ranch, and the cutest little carnivore you ever did seethese are the beginnings of the incredible recovery story of the black-footed ferret of the American prairie, an animal once thought extinct. As it unfolds, we learn what people from all corners can do when they work together and how cloning is offering new hope for the future of wildlife conservation. Its the subject of a recent episode of Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, as well as its new companion podcast that dives deeper into topics covered on the show. After all, the show, which is a revival of the original long-running and beloved Wild Kingdom series that first aired on NBC in 1963, is a mere 22 minutes after three, four, and sometimes up to 10 days of filming for each episode. Hearst Owned Country Living sat down with the show and podcasts co-hosts, Peter Gros, a wildlife expert and educator who you might remember as a co-host on the original Wild Kingdom series in the 80s, and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, a wildlife ecologist who was inspired by the series and other wildlife shows as a child, to talk about this bona fide country comeback. It all began in 1981 on a ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming, home to generations of the Hogg family for more than a century. According to Allen Hoggs telling on the show, his father found a small, deceased animal in the yard, apparently killed by the ranchs dog. He brought it inside to show Allens mother at breakfast, and she found the creature curious indeedand she was right. The animal was a black-footed ferret, once abundant in the American West with a range that stretched into Canada and Mexico, but by the 1980s the species was believed to have been wiped out. Yet, sure enough, a small colony of black-footed ferrets was found on the Hogg ranch. And so it was that Shep the dog turned the conservation world on its head, and a new recovery effort began. If it hadnt been for a good old Shep, that canine companion bringing home a gift to the ranch house, who knows what would have happened to those few remaining ferrets, Peter tells Country Living. Today in Meeteetse, the town that he put on the map with his discovery, Shep is a bit of a legend. Domesticated ferrets kept as pets are not native to the U.S., but black-footed ferrets have been part of the American prairie ecosystem for about 100,000 years, according to fossil records, and are the only ferret species native here. Still, the two species have a lot in common. Both are adorable and charismatic, and they look quite similar except for their markings on their face and feet. But dont be fooledunlike any pet ferret, black-footed ferrets are formidable predators for their size and have the biggest teeth in relation to their body of any carnivore. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild Whereas you might feed a domesticated ferret small mice, the black footed ferret in the wild is going to eat prey that is larger than its body [specifically, prairie dogs], which is just pretty freaking incredible, Rae tells Country Living. The wild behavior is something that youre not ever going to see in a domesticated ferret, and thats something thats just super fascinating and very, very necessary in these wild landscapes. Prairie dogs, rodents in the squirrel family, are not only a primary food source for black-footed ferretstheir burrows provide a habitat for them too. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild If prairie dogs didnt have predators like black-footed ferrets, Peter says, the population would become out of control, and that would lead to a breakdown of wild plants that they eat, lead to erosion around rivers and make them shallower. Shallow water gets hotter than the deep water and causes evaporation. So you have water loss, and then the fish cant survive in it and other animals lose their food source. So its a very complex web. That web worked well for thousands of years and in harmony with indigenous tribes, until everything changed. As the U.S.s westward expansion progressed in the 19th century, prairie dogs became unwelcome on the ranches and farms that moved in (like cows, prairie dogs eat grass). The effort to eradicate prairie dogs had a devastating effect on the black-footed ferret that relied on them for food as well as habitat. Disease and plague also took their toll on the species. Today things are turning around, and some private landowners like the Hogg family, whose ranch stretches over an expansive tract of prairie, are now an essential part of the black-footed ferrets recovery and conservation. On the show, Peter takes us to the Hogg ranch where we see black-footed ferrets thriving in their natural habitat. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild On the podcast, guest Jeff Ewelt, executive director of ZooMontana, explains that the Hogg family and their neighbors understand the importance of the conservation project. They understand how to rotate their livestock so well to ensure recovery times for grasses for prairie dogs, which then support the black-footed ferret, he says. Landowners can be understandably concerned about what it means for (their) livelihood, he adds, but he wants them to know it doesnt have to be invasive. You can work with the U.S. government, the wildlife experts. You can make a difference with little effort. Of course, private landowners are only one part of the solution. In 1987, after disease took the original colony on the Hogg ranch down to only 18, the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado was founded to take in the last remaining ferrets and breed them in captivity, with the goal of reintroducing them into the wild. Working with the center to make the project a success is a broad network that comprises AZA accredited zoos (zoos that meet the high standards of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for conservation, research, education, and animal welfare), government agencies, private landowners, volunteers, and tribal communities, such as the Standing Rock Sioux. Reintroduction efforts are happening in multiple states, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Kansas, as well as Canada and Mexico. Peter recalls one person they interviewed for the episode observing that it takes a family to save an endangered species. In this case, it truly did, he says. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild Now for the final puzzle piece: the cutting-edge science happening at the Frozen Zoo, a research center within the San Diego Zoo in California. The Frozen Zoo houses living skin cells for hundreds of nearly extinct animal species. Until recently, every known black-footed ferret alive in the 21st century carried the DNA of just seven ferrets from the colony on the Hogg ranchthat is, those who were taken into captivity at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center and also went on to reproduce. Recently, that number went up to eight. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild Number eight is Willa, one of the original ferrets brought to the conservation center. Though she never reproduced in her lifetime, in 1988 before she died, some of her cells were collected, frozen, and stored at the Frozen Zoo. In 2020, a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann was born, cloned from Willas genetic material. The event was history-making: She is not only the first clone of a North American endangered species, but also she brings a fresh bloodline to the recovery effort. With it comes invaluable genetic diversity and potentially added disease resistance. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild Since then, two more clones of Willa, Noreen and Antonia, have been born, but the Frozen Zoo banks much more than just that one DNA source. Every single ferret that has ever lived since Willa, which is not very many, their DNA has been captured, Rae says, and often multiple copies of a single individuals DNA. Its an invaluable backup for a delicate recovery. After all, we learn in the podcast, there was a previous black-footed ferret colony discovered in the 1970s, but conservation efforts failed and that colony died out. The effort to save and greatly expand the colony discovered on the Hogg ranch in the 1980s has been successful so far. But should the worst happen, the genetic material housed at the Frozen Zoo could save the day, not only for the black-footed ferret but for hundreds of other critical species too. How can you help? Of course, not everyone lives on a large tract of land or within the black-footed ferrets potential range, but there are many ways to get involved in wildlife conservation. Thats what Peter and Rae hope to convey on the show and in the conversations happening on the new companion podcast. I think one of our biggest goals for the podcast is to reinforce how all different kinds of people are conservationists, Rae says. Its not just people like me and Peter who work day in, day out, hosting a show, or the scientists that we have on it, but it can be someone whos just minding their business on their ranch, playing with their dog. It can be someone who just takes a peek into their backyard and notices something different. For those who do have a large amount of land, Rae wants them to understand that they have a lot of power as landowners. For them to think of their land as potential sites for wildlife conservation could be really empowering, she says. It might encourage people to make small changes, maybe they reduce pesticides, change out their mainstream grass for native grass species, maybe they reduce some fencing. Theres all kinds of things people can do that encourage wildlife to rebound in a lot of these critical areas, and thats a way that lots of your readers can think of themselves as conservation heroes as well. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild And if you dont have a parcel of land, even if you just have a small outside patio area, Peter says, You can plant things that attract pollinators or food for migrating butterflies or shelter wildlife. Any place that you live, be it in the city, or the country, or on a large ranch, there are certain things that you can do to learn about how to participate and help give wildlife a helping hand. Two sources he recommends to get started: Go to wildkingdom.com, he says, and if theyd really like to learn about wildlife, go to NBC on Saturday mornings and watch Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild on NBC is TVs no. 1 weekend wildlife series, reaching an average of more than 1.1 million weekly viewers. It airs Saturday mornings on NBCs The More You Know programming block and is available on NBC.com. Find to Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom The Podcast on the Audacy app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere podcasts are available. New podcast episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays through October 1. You Might Also Like James Montiver, 70, was relaxing on his sofa early Sunday evening when he suddenly heard a loud roar and saw a bright flash of light. The whole house was shaking like a roller coaster. It all happened so quickly, next thing I knew I was flying in the air, he told CNN from his hospital room. Montiver was thrown into the ceiling of his home as the structure collapsed on itself in the force of the landslide sweeping through his Ketchikan neighborhood. He suffered four fractured ribs and a dislocated shoulder but, protected by a small triangle of space created by the sofa, he escaped the destruction with his life. He was one victim of a 1,100-foot landslide in the coastal city of Ketchikan in southern Alaska on Sunday that left one person dead and three others injured. Some residents have been ordered to evacuate as officials warn another slide could strike nearby. It took Montiver about 20 minutes to work his way out of the wreckage, during which he said he was shouting for his husband nonstop. I was so worried. I just had to get to Bill. I just had to, he recalled. The couple have been together for 42 years, he said. Bill Montiver, 65, was standing in the kitchen when the slide swept through the house. He was trapped in a pocket of space created between the refrigerator and the dishwasher. It took first responders about an hour working with chain saws to free him. My husband was knocked on the noggin, Montiver said, but added he escaped serious injury. The Montivers home pancaked, eventually coming to a rest in the basement and encroaching on the property next door. Our house pushed our neighbors house off its foundation by about 2 feet, said Montiver. Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer said, In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude. The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes, he added. The City of Ketchikan identified the deceased as Sean Griffin, a senior maintenance technician at the City of Ketchikan Public Works team. He had responded to a call for assistance during scheduled time off and was cleaning storm drains with a coworker when they were caught in the landslide. A news release from the city described Griffin as a beloved husband, father, son, neighbor, and coworker who spent 17 years working his way up through the ranks of the Public Works department. Multiple homes, businesses and roadways were significantly damaged when the landslide tore down a hillside around 4 p.m. Sunday, the city said. At least four homes were critically damaged and flooding has impacted several homes and businesses downhill of the slide area, the city said in an update. All residents have been accounted for, the city noted. But about 60 homes in the area were ordered to evacuate Sunday as city officials grew concerned another landslide could be triggered south of the initial slide. The slide area remains unstable, the city said in an update Monday. While residents in the vicinity are evacuated, state and local geologists will be in the area of the landslide Monday to assess the area for potential secondary slides. There will be no activity allowed in the slide area until after the area has been cleared by geologists, according to the citys update. The landslide is attributed to heavy rainfall, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. Between 5 and 9 inches of rain fell in the higher elevations of the Ketchikan Range over the span of about 30 hours, the weather service said. The Ketchikan airport received 2.5 inches over the same timespan. Ketchikans average rainfall for the entire month of August is typically 8 inches. Significant downpours are waning, though some light to moderate showers could still affect the region through Monday afternoon, the weather service said. Residents of First Avenue were able to return to their homes Monday night, but homes on Second Avenue and and West Third Avenue were still under evacutuation orders. We lost absolutely everything Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster emergency declaration for Ketchikan, saying in a post on X, All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed. My thoughts and prayers are with residents of Ketchikan tonight, the governor added. Montiver hopes the emergency declaration helps. We lost absolutely everything, said Montiver. The only possession he still has is a pair of pants. I have no shoes, no glasses, no phone. Even his shirt had to be cut off in order to treat his injuries. The Montivers had just sold their house overlooking the Pacific Ocean and were slated to close on the deal this week. A house in Puerto Rico was awaiting them but they fear it too is gone after their insurance agent told them their policy wont pay for anything as flooding and landslides were not covered. I would cry if I could. Its not going to do any good, he lamented. In the meantime, the couple remains hopeful their two dogs - Cassie, a mini long-haired dachshund and Alani, a Maltese and Shih Tzu mix - survived the destruction. Emergency shelter is available at a local high school and response crews are standing by in case another slide strikes, the city said. A worker clears debris after the landslide. (Anna Laffrey/Ketchikan Daily News via AP) - Anna Laffrey/Ketchikan Daily News/AP Kiffer, the city mayor, and Rodney Dial, the borough mayor, also issued a joint local disaster emergency declaration Sunday. As we work through this, please keep the affected families in your prayers and know we will do everything we can to recover from this event as quickly as possible and help those in need. We sincerely appreciate the first responders, medical personnel, volunteers, businesses and others offering assistance, Dial said. The slide sent a dense wave of snapped trees, toppled power poles and dirt crashing into a row of hillside homes. Images shared by the city show a wall of debris crashed against the side of several homes. Power, phone and internet outages occurred in the area, according to local utility KPU Electric. The city warned of lines on the ground immediately after the slide. Though service had been restored to many homes and businesses by Monday night, debris was still preventing crews from repairing some power poles, the city said, estimating full power restoration could take several days. Photos shared by the utility showed a road blocked by a tangle of downed trees and what appears to be a power pole. The aftermath of a landslide in Ketchikan, Alaska, on Sunday. - Ketchikan Gateway Borough KPU Customer Service and City Hall offices were closed Monday due to the slide, the city said in a Facebook post. Residents are also likely to experience traffic delays as multiple roads are closed near the evacuation area, the city said in another post. A temporary flight restriction has been implemented in the airspace above the landslide to allow geologists and drone operators to continue their damage assessment, the city announced. Ketchikan is a popular stop for cruise ships exploring Alaska. Carnival Corporation has ships from its namesake brand, along with Holland America and Princess Cruise Lines, making a stop in the city this week. Our cruise lines are working directly with the borough government on how we can best help as well as any changes we should make in our planned visits, the company said in a statement. Ships are still expected to dock at the Ketchikan port, but some shore excursions will likely be changed or canceled. Float planes and tours operating outside the slide zone will be allowed to continue, the city noted. Alaska is on the front lines of climate change, facing a rapidly changing climate as it is warming more than twice as fast as the planet as a whole, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Thinning glaciers, melting permafrost, warming oceans and less sea ice make it a frequent victim of floods and landslides. Ketchikan, with a population of about 14,000, is nestled along the southern portion of Alaskas Inside Passage a water route famed for its stunning landscapes, fjords and glaciers. The city claims to be the salmon capital of the world. This story has been updated with additional information. CNNs Brandon Miller, Jillian Sykes, Amanda Jackson and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Theres something uniquely pure and joyful about dogs and the ocean. They take in the sights, sounds, and smells with a childlike wonder, and slowing down to watch them can be a calming therapy for humans. If you love dogs, especially Golden Retrievers, this waterfront meetup is an event you may want to join. These cheerful dogs frolicking in the surf are enough to make any weekend memorable. Check out this Charleston, SC, beachside play party in a video shared on July 29: This may be what heaven looks like, at least for those who love dogs! Handsome Brooks (@goldenboy.brooks) joined his pals at this Charleston beachside monthly meetup for Golden Retrievers. Its fondly referred to as Golden Hour (@goldenhourchs). It sure looks like the happiest hour of the month as dozens of Goldens played together in the waves. They are so excited to be together! As Brookss mom points out, it is essential to watch your dog because many pups look very similar, making it hard to keep track. No doubt! She also questions whether these dogs know they are all the same breed and that they were each so kind and loving. At the very least, they seem to recognize the joyful personalities within each other. She reveals that shes unsure who had a better time, her or her beautiful pup. It sure looks like a great day for everyone. Related: Golden Retriever Brothers on Jersey Shore Have Magical Way of Meeting for a Play Date Where to Find Dog Meetups If this sounds like your idea of the perfect weekend, dog meetups are held regularly throughout the country, and Wag reports, its easy to find an event near you. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and Meetup can be terrific resources for local happenings. For example, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, hosts regular meetups for Golden Retrievers, and there is also a large annual event in Austin. Besides these Golden Retriever hours, there are events for other breeds, such as Huskies and Corgis, as well as meetups for dogs of all breeds, both large and small. These gatherings are an excellent way for dogs to socialize, exercise, and receive plenty of mental stimulation. People expressed their fondness for this concept. One person shared, Wow! What a great get-together. I think that is a definite win for everyone. Friends, family, bystanders, and, of course, all the beautiful pups. What an amazing time! I love it! It's a sensational idea. Viewer @beaglenamedhoney responded, We have a Regal Beagles club in San Diego. Yes, Beagles recognize their breed. I have seen my Beagle cross a street on a leash to greet a Beagle she does not know. Thats interesting to learn. Viewer @henris_mom3 reported, There is a Golden Day in Golden, Colorado. A big crowd gathers with their dogs. I mean hundreds. Its not just an hour, but the whole day. You can Google it. That sounds like a lovely day! Few things are better than seeing our dogs having the time of their lives. After a hard work week, this is the perfect way to recharge and affirm our efforts have been worthwhile. The chicken chain's innovative two-story restaurant has four drive-thru lanes Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A opened a new drive-thru only restaurant in Georgia last week Chick-fil-A is testing out a new method to get food to customers. On Aug. 22, the fast food chain opened an innovative restaurant, the latest of several new restaurant concepts the brand has tested this year. The new, two-story restaurant, located at 2155 Jodeco Road in McDonough, Georgia, does not use its space for dine-in seating. Instead, the drive-thru-only restaurant houses a kitchen twice the size of one typically found in Chick-fil-A locations to service four drive-thru lanes, per a press release. Even better? The amount of lanes can support three times more vehicles than a standard Chick-fil-A restaurant. Two of the drive-thru lanes are dedicated to picking up online orders placed ahead and the other two are for customers to place orders with Chick-fil-A employees. Chick-fil-A There are four drive-thru lanes to cater to customers The concept uses conveyor belts to get the food from the kitchen to the employees who then deliver meals to customers. Per a press release, the system can get food from the upstairs kitchen down to employees every six seconds. While just one spot may be testing out this concept, Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country are bringing back some fun menu items. The fan-favorite banana pudding milkshake is available nationwide after a 13-year hiatus starting Aug. 26. Made with real banana vanilla ice cream and vanilla wafer cookies, the frozen treat is topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Related: Subway Is Slashing the Price of Footlong Sandwiches to $6.99 for 2 Weeks Banana flavor is coming to more items than just the shake. Chick-fil-A is also rolling out a new banana-frosted coffee that combines the same elements of the milkshake (ice cream, banana and wafer cookies) with cold brew coffee. The chain's fan-favorite honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich is also back but with a twist. It's now available with original chicken or spicy chicken and topped with honey, pimento cheese and pickled jalapenos and served on a toasted bun. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. WASHINGTON A Colorado man has been arrested by the FBI and charged with making threats against election officials, a judge and federal law enforcement agents. Teak Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, was arrested Friday and charged with transmitting interstate threats . He will make his first court appearance Monday. Teak Brockbank. An FBI special agent indicated in a redacted affidavit that investigators had been looking into made on two right-wing social media websites Rumble and Gab and determined that Brockbank went by the username "Teakty4u" and made threats against numerous officials. Brockbank, federal prosecutors wrote, also has a lengthy history of illegally possessing firearms, and the FBI affidavit refers to slogans associated with the fringe QAnon movement. The names of Brockbank's alleged targets were sealed at the request of the government. "As alleged, Teak Brockbank threatened the lives of multiple public servants on social media. Among other threats, he allegedly claimed that it was time to put two state election officials to death and that he was obligated to put a bullet in the head of a Colorado state judge," Nicole M. Argentieri, who heads the Justice Departments Criminal Division, said in a statement. "Public servants must be able to do their jobs without fear. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who target public officials with threats of violence." Teak Brockbank. Brockbank wrote about his belief that people in Colorado and Arizona needed to be executed, authorities said. "The people have to take matters into their own hands," he is alleged to have written in a Rumble post in July 2022. "We are gonna have to take care of these people ourselves. Our law-enforcement are incompetent our judges are incompetent George Soros paid for funded puppets are running our state," he is alleged to have written on Gab in July 2022. "Its time for the American people to take matters into their own hands start eliminating those that we know are guilty!! There is no other way! Mark my words. We have to go to war with these people right now!!" After they identified Brockbank through subpoenas, authorities determined he had access to weapons even though he banned from owning them because of a previous conviction for attempted theft by receipt of stolen property, according to the FBI affidavit. He was blocked from purchasing a gun in August 2023 after he failed a background check, and he was notified that his appeal had been denied in September, according to the FBI. More recently, the FBI said, Brockbank had shown "continued interest in violence toward public officials as well as his ongoing and recent illegal possession of firearms." It cited a message he sent to his stepfather in December. Four judges in Colorado have removed President Trump from the ballot in Colorado. their names have been added to my list their names have been moved to the front of my list, Teak Brockbank is alleged to have written in the message cited by prosecutors. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that states could not remove Trump's name from the ballot. Court records did not show that Brockbank had an attorney. The Northern Virginia community that rallied to raise awareness and demand answers when a 28-year-old woman was reported missing earlier this month is now coming together to remember the young mother, while her husband faces charges in connection with her disappearance. Naresh Bhatt was ordered held without bond during a Monday morning hearing, CNN affiliate WUSA has reported. Bhatt faces accusations he killed his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, inside their home and dragged her body outside in late July. Bhatt is facing a felony charge of concealment of a body, according to Manassas Park Police. He is due back in court October 24, state court records show. We all stand here feeling very relieved, Holly Wirth, a friend and colleague of Kafle Bhatt, told reporters after the hearing. Were all here with a tremendous sense of relief that Naresh Bhatt remains where he needs to be, which is in custody. CNN has reached out to the public defenders office, which is representing Bhatt. The Office of the Commonwealths Attorney for Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park, Amy Ashworth, declined to comment Monday afternoon. On or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt, a preliminary criminal complaint obtained by CNN affiliate WJLA states. Police escorted Bhatt from the couples home in handcuffs Thursday morning, according to video from WJLA, a day after police said a search warrant was served at the residence. Authorities carried an infant out of Bhatts home after they took him away, video shows. A makeshift memorial filled with pictures, flowers and candles has continued to grow in front of the house since that day, WJLA reported. Mamta Kafle Bhatt - From Mamta Kafle Bhatt/Facebook Hundreds of friends, fellow nurses and community members gathered Saturday at Signal Hill Park Saturday to honor Kafle Bhatt, CNN affiliate WTOP reported. The parks pavilion soon filled with supporters, so organizers shifted participants to a hill in the park. Mamta has a big, emotional family. We care about her. She is loved. And, also, we have a big responsibility to take care of Mini Mamta, event co-organizer and former co-worker Sunita Basnet Thapa told WTOP. Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem joined the community Saturday to show support and acknowledged the women who knew something was wrong immediately and really, really raised their voices consistently and persistently. Kafle Bhatt was seen July 27 at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, where she worked as a registered nurse in the medical surgical unit. The next day, she spoke with a friend and July 31 was the last day her husband claimed to have seen her, according to police. Kafle Bhatts colleagues requested a welfare check when she didnt report for work, WUSA reported. Bhatt initially declined to declare his wife missing when police conducted the welfare check on August 2, then did report her missing three days later, authorities said in a news release. After Kafle Bhatt was initially reported missing, friends and community members took to social media to raise awareness about her disappearance and share updates in the investigation. The Nepali American Community Center in Manassas said it established a line of communication with police to stay on top of updates in the case. Friends of Kafle Bhatt also helped launch a GoFundMe to support search efforts. The health system said it is cooperating with investigators. UVA Health is heartbroken to learn the devastating news that Mamta Kafle Bhatt is presumed deceased, UVA Health Prince William Medical Center spokesperson Eric Swensen said in a statement to CNN on Friday. First and foremost, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Mamtas loved ones, friends and colleagues, and we grieve together with our community and all who knew Mamta. Community rallies behind mother and child Basnet Thapa has been more than a former colleague and mentor to Kafle Bhatt shes been her didi or di her sister, in South Asian culture. The pair met last June and quickly became close, Basnet Thapa told CNN on Monday. Even though the two women worked opposite schedules, Kafle Bhatt would make sure Basnet Thapa was fed often bringing her breakfast or lunch. Then last February, Kafle Bhatt mentioned she was in a domestic violence situation with her husband, Basnet Thapa told CNN. I gave all the resources, I told her leave that house immediately, I offered my home to come, or go to shelter, I offered all help, Basnet Thapa said. But later on, she sent me a message saying, Di, Im gonna go to family counselor, and wanted to give him one chance. And I realized how much I love him and I want to give him a chance, hoping he could be a better father, better person. Just I did not want to put him in problem. Thats what she said to me. Bhatts court-appointed counsel argued in court Friday his client should be released on bond, saying theres no evidence Bhatt did anything wrong, according to Inside NoVa. They actually havent released a shred of evidence that he did anything wrong, said the attorney, whom the publication did not name. He has no violent history he has no allegations of abuse. Basnet Thapa described Kafle Bhatt as a humble, hardworking, independent, innocent person excited about her future who enjoys cooking, loves music and is a devoted mother who loves her daughter more than anything in the world. Some members of the community have said they werent surprised to see Bhatt charged in connection with his wifes disappearance. The mother wouldnt leave her baby. Definitely wouldnt miss her first birthday, a neighbor, Ivy Freedman, told WUSA. And community members are making sure Kafle Bhatts young daughter isnt being forgotten in the tragedy. We are Mamtas voice, Wirth said Monday. We are here for Mamta, but even more importantly is making sure that their daughter is cared for. A memorial for Mamta Kafle Bhatt is seen Saturday outside her home in Manassas Park, Virginia. - WJLA Members of Kafle Bhatts family, who live in Nepal, have obtained visas and are in the process of the traveling to the United States to try to get emergency custody of the baby, who was in the care of the Department of Social Services, said Bandita Sharma Dhal, an immigration attorney working with the family, on Friday to CNN. The baby is innocent in any circumstances, a community member, Adrian Pokharel, told WUSA. We got to protect her. Thats our baby. Thats our community baby. Thats the way I look at it. Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Naresh Bhatts first name. CNNs Emma Tucker contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Donald Trump would probably like to think theres no bad blood between him and Taylor Swift. Photograph: Julia Nikhinson/AP When Donald Trump shared a slew of AI-generated images this week that falsely depicted Taylor Swift and her fans endorsing his campaign for president, the former US president was amplifying the work of a murky non-profit with aspirations to bankroll rightwing media influencers and a history of spreading misinformation. Several of the images Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, which showed digitally rendered young women in Swifties for Trump T-shirts, were the products of the John Milton Freedom Foundation. Launched last year, the Texas-based non-profit organization frames itself as a press freedom group with the goal of empowering independent journalists and fortifying the bedrock of democracy. The groups day-to-day operations appear to revolve around sharing engagement bait on X and seeking millions from donors for a fellowship program chaired by a high school sophomore that would award $100,000 to Twitter personalities such as Glenn Greenwald, Andy Ngo and Lara Logan, according to a review of the groups tax records, investor documents and social media output. The John Milton Freedom Foundation did not respond to a request for comment to a set of questions about its operations and fellowship program. After months of retweeting conservative media influencers and echoing Elon Musks claims that freedom of speech is under attack from leftwing forces, one of the organizations messages found its way to Trump and then his millions of supporters. Trump distanced himself from the images in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, saying: I dont know anything about them other than someone else generated them. I didnt generate them. Disinformation researchers have long warned that generative AI has the ability to lower the bar for creating misleading content and threaten information around elections. After Musks xAI company released its largely unregulated Grok image generator last week, there has been a surge of AI content that has included depictions of Trump, Kamala Harris and other political figures. The Milton Freedom Foundation is one of many small groups flooding social media with so-called AI slop. Related: Trump posts deepfakes of Swift, Harris and Musk in effort to shore up support A niche non-profits AI slop makes its way to Trump During the spike in AI images on X, the conservative @amuse account posted the images of AI-generated Swift fans to more than 300,000 followers. On the text of the post, which was labeled satire, was a watermark that stated it was sponsored by the John Milton Freedom Foundation. Trump posted a screenshot of @amuses tweet on Truth Social. The @amuse account has considerable reach itself, with about 390,000 followers on X and dozens of daily posts. Running @amuse appears to be Alexander Muse, listed as a consultant in the investor prospectus of the Milton Foundation, who also writes a rightwing commentary Substack that includes posts exploring election conspiracy theories. The @amuse account has numerous connections with Muse. The X account is connected to a Substack posting the same articles that Muse publishes on his LinkedIn page, which also has the username amuse, reflecting his first initial and last name. Muses book on how to secure startup funding, which includes examples of him asking ChatGPT to pretend its Musk and offer business advice, lists that same Substack account as its publisher. Prominent accounts including Musk have shared and replied to @amuses posts, which recently have included AI depictions of Trump fighting Darth Vader and sexualized imagery of Harris. Its banner picture is currently an AI-generated photo of Trump surrounded by women in Swifties shirts. The account posts misleading, pro-Trump headlines such as claiming Harris turned hundreds of thousands of children over to human traffickers as border czar. The headlines, like the AI-generated Swifties for Trump images, come with the watermark sponsored by the John Milton Freedom Foundation. The John Milton Freedom Foundation, named after the 17th-century British poet and essayist, has a small online footprint: a website, an investor prospectus and an X account with fewer than 500 followers. The team behind it, according to its own documents, consists of five people based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with varying degrees of experience in Republican politics. Muses daughter, described as a 10th grade honor student on the non-profits site, serves as the Milton Foundations fellowship chair. The foundations stated goal is to raise $2m from major donors to award $100,000 grants to a list of fellows made up of rightwing media influencers. These include people like the former CBS journalist turned far-right star Lara Logan, who was cut from Newsmax in recent years for going on a QAnon-inspired rant that claimed world leaders drink childrens blood, as well as the author of an anti-trans childrens book. The organization believes that this money would allow these already established influencers to increase their reach by more than 10x in less than a year, according to its investor prospectus. While only one of the fellows listed on the foundations site mentions the organization on their X profiles and none follow its account, the @amuse account has a prominent link to the groups community page and the foundation often engages with its posts. It is not clear that the foundation has any money to give and if all the media influencers listed as its 2024 fellowship class know about the organization. One Texas-based account that posts anti-vaccine content lists itself as a JMFF fellow in their bio, but none of the others advertise any connection. The most recent tax records for the Freedom Foundation place it in the category of non-profits whose gross receipts, or total funds received from all sources, range from $0 to $50,000 far below the millions it is seeking. Related: Democrats use AI in effort to stay ahead with Latino and Black voters The organizations board includes its chair, Brad Merritt, who is touted as an experienced Republican organizer with claims to have raised $300m for various non-profits; its director, Shiree Sanchez, who served as assistant director of the Republican party of Texas between 1985 and 1986; and Mark Karaffa, a retired healthcare industry executive. Muses experience in digital media appears to be far more extensive than the non-profits other members. In addition to his blog, he claims to have worked with James OKeefe, the former CEO of the rightwing organization Project Veritas, who was known for hidden camera stings until he was ousted last year over allegations of misplaced funds. Muse, who is described in the prospectus as a serial entrepreneur, also blogs about how to make money from generative AI. The body of a missing Canadian woman was identified using modern forensic tests, nearly two decades after her remains were found in 2005 about 2,500 miles away from her home. Tammy Eileen Penner was last seen early that year, with an official missing person report filed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Feb. 7, according to Othram, a U.S.-based company that works with law enforcement to help resolve unsolved murders and disappearance cases by identifying victims through investigative genetic genealogy. Canadian authorities used the company's services to identify Penner, whose remains until recently were known only as Rockwood Jane Doe. Citing law enforcement involved in the case, Othram said Penner's body was originally found in August 2005 in the picnic area of a rest stop off of a highway between Guelph and Rockwood in the Canadian province of Ontario. At the time, authorities determined the remains belonged to a woman who was potentially as young as 25 or as old as 45 when she died. They said her left cheek, nose and eye socket had all been broken before her death and had time to heal while she was still alive. Investigators didn't and still don't know what caused Penner's death. But the circumstances around it were deemed suspicious. Othram said her body was discovered under a sleeping bag at the rest stop. She wasn't wearing jewelry or carrying identification, and authorities believed the clothing she wore when she died had been purchased somewhere in or around Montreal, which is almost 400 miles from Rockwood. Authorities back then created and released composite images showing what the mysterious woman may have looked like, hoping a member of the public would recognize her. / Credit: Othram Despite their efforts, she remained unidentified for years until the Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto Police Service reviewed the case in 2023 and sought out Othram for genetic genealogy testing. The company uses DNA from a victim or crime scene to build a genetic profile that can then be compared with profiles of other people, with the goal of finding potential matches and, in turn, possible relatives. The genetic profile for Rockwood Jane Doe allowed Toronto police to develop new leads in the case, ultimately confirming that the remains were those of Penner, who had lived before she died in British Columbia, on the opposite side of Canada. She was 41 when she died. Randy Gaynor, a detective inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police, told the Canadian news organization CBC News that he has been in touch with Penner's family. He said he hopes people who may have known the woman during her life will come forward with tips that could aid the investigation into what happened to her. "We're hoping that people will recognize and name Tammy Penner as being in Ontario or even being in British Columbia and coming to Ontario with someone, and we're hoping that anyone that has information will come forward with any information they have that will assist us in determining her cause of death," Gaynor said. "Beg-Knows America:" Stories of kindness and courage White House marks 3 years since terrorist attack at Kabul Airport H.R. McMaster reflects on time as Trump's national security adviser in new book Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. Rick Scuteri/AP The claim:Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told union workers in Los Angeles that a Trump-Vance administration would harm unions and diminish workers paychecks. Former President Donald Trump "cut overtime benefits for millions of workers," Walz said at the Aug. 14 convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. PolitiFact ruling: Mostly False. When contacted for comment, the Harris-Walz campaign pointed to news articles showing that former President Barack Obama proposed to extend overtime pay eligibility to more workers, but a judge blocked it in November 2016, just before it was slated to take effect. The Trump administration did not challenge the judges ruling and instead set its own overtime rule, which extended overtime pay to millions fewer people than Obamas rule would have done. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Obama rule was not in effect at the time Trump took office, so Trumps administration did not cut an existing benefit. Discussion Most employees are eligible for time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours a week. But there are exceptions for white-collar workers. To be considered a white-collar worker by the federal government, an employee has to make more than $455 per week; be paid a salary rather than an hourly wage; and work in an administrative, executive or professional position. The Obama administration sought to boost the baseline amount salaried white-collar workers could earn and still qualify for overtime. So, in 2016, the administration said it would extend overtime eligibility to white-collar salaried workers earning less than $913 a week, or $47,476 a year. This was about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $455 per week, or $23,660 a year. (Hourly workers were already guaranteed overtime pay regardless of their earnings level). Advertisement Article continues below this ad The change would have extended overtime pay eligibility to 4.2 million additional Americans, the Obama administration said. (Economists generated their own estimates, lower or higher, but still in the millions.) Republican-led states and business trade groups challenged the rule. A federal court in Texas halted Obamas rule in November 2016, a week before it was to take effect. Because the judge threw out the rule, the overtime threshold annual pay reverted to $23,660, said Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. A few months after the judge struck down the Obama rule, Trump took office. Trumps administration did not defend the Obama-era rule change, dropping the governments appeal in 2017. The Trump administration proposed its own rule in 2019, with an earnings cutoff lower than the Obama rule but higher than the status quo. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Trump Labor Departments overtime rule became effective Jan. 1, 2020, and raised the overtime pay eligibility to salaried workers earning $35,568 per year. The department estimated that 1.2 million additional workers would be eligible for overtime pay. So it wasnt the case that millions of workers previously qualified for overtime pay and then Trump changed that. The Trump administration did not defend the Obama-era legal case. "By abandoning the 2016 rule and eventually introducing a new one with a significantly lower salary threshold, the Trump administration excluded millions of workers who would have benefited from the 2016 rules new or strengthened overtime protections," said Jenn Round, director of Beyond the Bill, a program that advocates for labor standards enforcement at the Rutgers University Workplace Justice Lab. The president of the Economic Policy Institute, Heidi Shierholz, who served in the Obama administration as chief economist at the Labor Department, wrote in 2019 that the Trump administrations rule left millions of workers behind. "At its heart, the Trump administrations rule is based on the notion that someone making $35,568 a year is a well-paid executive who doesnt need or deserve overtime protections," Shierholz wrote. Rather than defend the Obama rule, "Trump has sided with the interests of corporate executives over those of working people." Advertisement Article continues below this ad However, the notion that this represents a cut presumes that the courts would have upheld the Obama rule, which was far from a certainty. "I cannot think of any way in which actions that the Trump Administration took could be construed as cutting overtime benefits," Greszler said. After the judge threw out Obamas rule, the overtime threshold remained at $23,660, Greszler said. When Trump established a rule that increased the salary threshold to $35,568 "this increased the number of workers subject to overtime rules," Greszler said. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak on the African continent in the short term as well as provide help to the affected countries, said a government spokesperson on Monday. The government will provide the World Health Organization with flexible financial resources via various instruments to combat mpox and also support its partners in Africa through the GAVI vaccination alliance, added the spokesperson. Germany has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army after Berlin procured it in 2022. It will keep a minimum amount of stock, to protect travelling authorities, for example, said a defence ministry spokesperson on Monday. A separate decision would need to be made when it comes to reordering vaccines, he added. The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to neighbouring countries and a new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered concerns about the speed of transmission. The government was looking at the quickest way to get the vaccines to the affected countries, primarily the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi and neighbouring countries in East Africa, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson. (Reporting by Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Seythal) Vice President Kamala Harris speaks Thursday on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. WASHINGTON The Harris campaign announced Sunday that it and its allies raised a combined $40 million on the heels of Vice President Kamala Harris' speech Thursday at the Democratic National Convention. The windfall brings the total raised for Harris' election efforts to $540 million since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed her, according to the campaign. NBC News cannot independently verify the numbers because the next round of Federal Election Commission data does not become available until Sept. 20. A third of donations last week were from first-time contributors, campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a campaign memo. She also noted that just after Harris spoke Thursday night, the campaign and its allies saw "our best fundraising hour since launch day." Fundraising numbers reflect an accumulation from the Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, O'Malley Dillon said. She called the convention a "galvanizing moment," adding that the campaign was "taking no voters for granted and communicating relentlessly with battleground voters every single day between now and Election Day all the while Trump is focused on very little beyond online tantrums and attacking the voters critical to winning 270 electoral votes." Volunteers supporting Harris' election bid have signed up for "nearly 200,000 shifts since Monday," which O'Malley Dillon said was the "biggest week of organizing since the start of the campaign." Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are preparing to head to Georgia for a bus tour Wednesday. Harris will head to Savannah on Thursday for a rally, which was postponed this month by Tropical Storm Debby. Speaker after speaker at the Democratic convention urged voters to get involved in Harris' election effort. "If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, weve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our faces and do something!" former first lady Michelle Obama said in a rousing speech Tuesday night. "Join me in promising your whole heart to this effort thats where my heart will be," Biden said on the first night of the convention. Campaign finance reports from last month showed that the Democratic presidential campaign raised $204 million in July. Biden was at the top of the ticket until July 21, when he bowed out and endorsed Harris. Data from ActBlue, a platform that processes online donations to Democrats, indicated that Harris' election bid raised nearly $40 million the day Biden dropped out. Former President Donald Trump's campaign had one of its best months yet in July but still raised less than a fourth of its opponents' windfall, taking in $47.5 million, according to a campaign finance report. Although the dangers of so-called forever chemicals are well-documented, these harmful substances have been detected in a range of personal care products used by consumers on a daily basis. For example, flossing your teeth is good oral hygiene, but some flosses are coated in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, which can make consumer products more durable. Ample research has linked PFAS to some cancers, infertility and other diseases. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration said it found 31 different PFAS, in 570 cosmetic products, over the 12 months ending in March 2023. That begs the question, "How can I know if my personal care products contain forever chemicals?" Cosmetic companies are required to disclose their product ingredients, including PFAS, according to FDA regulations, which state "The ingredient declaration must be conspicuous so that it is likely to be read at the time of purchase." The problem is the toxins are often present even when they're not intentionally added in the manufacturing process. Consequently, consumers are in many ways flying blind when it comes to identifying products that are safe and won't expose them to PFAS, according to experts. Unintentional, but still present A 2021 study by researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University and the University of Toronto, found PFAS in a wide variety of cosmetic products, including lipsticks and mascaras. Even so, "there isn't a strong correlation between the listing of these chemicals on ingredient lists and the total PFAS content in the product," David Andrews, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, told CBS MoneyWatch. More than half of 231 U.S. and Canadian cosmetic products tested by the researchers contained PFAS, yet most of those products did not list any PFAS compounds on their ingredient labels, the study found. "So, that highlights some of the difficulties for consumers in terms of completely avoiding exposure to chemicals," Andrews said, adding that the chemicals' presence could be traced back to contamination during manufacturing or storage of the products. It's concerning, he said, and sheds light on the limitations of what individual consumers can do to protect themselves. "It's a place where there should be more testing and regulatory oversight from the FDA of cosmetics manufacturers and their supply chains to eliminate any potential source of PFAS finding its way into the final product," Andrews said. Until then, there are steps consumers can take to try to ensure they aren't exposing themselves to forever chemicals that may be inadvertently present in products without being disclosed in their ingredient lists. Look at ingredient labels For starters, check product labels for the presence of any added PFAS, or fluorinated compounds. "There are PFAS that do show up in ingredients. Perfluoro is an indicator of the use of these forever chemicals in cosmetics," Andrews said. Here are ingredient names to look out for, according to the EWG: Perfluorononyl DimethiconePerfluorodecalinC9-15 Fluoroalcohol PhosphateOctafluoropentyl MethacrylatePerfluorohexanePentafluoropropanePolyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Difluoroethyl Peg PhosphateMethyl Perfluorobutyl EtherAsk for testing data Go one step further by asking the product manufacturer to share PFAS testing data, Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO of Kudos, a 100%-cotton diaper brand, advised consumers. "Testing methodology matters, as the reality is that PFAS is everywhere from clothing to furniture to cleaning products," she told CBS MoneyWatch. "So even if you were to open and test a product that did not have any detectable PFAS as manufactured, there is a chance the test results would show a trace amount of PFAS picked up from handling." Environmental cross-contamination often leads to small amounts of PFAS showing up in products, emphasizing the importance of thorough product testing for the presence of PFAS by reputable, third-party labs, she added. "A sloppy testing company can make it seem as though there is PFAS in any product, even those that don't have any," Saigal said. Avoid these products altogether Stay away from nonstick cookware, long-lasting mascaras and some waterproof clothing. "PFAS are generally very good at repelling water, stains and grease. Hence you tend to see them in products such as traditional nonstick cookware, raincoats and mascara," Saigal said. Instead, choose products made from natural materials like cotton and wool, which are less likely to contain added PFAS, she advised. Graham Peaslee, a University of Notre Dame physicist and one of the researchers behind the cosmetics study, urged consumers to avoid products that claim to have a "miraculous property," or are described as "long-lasting." Of the products his team tested, about nine in 10 waterproof mascaras contained PFAS, whereas only one in 10 ordinary versions of the beauty product contained the toxic chemicals. Shop small Peaslee added that larger companies that manufacture thousands of products and have robust supply chains are often slower to completely eliminate PFAS from the manufacturing process than smaller companies. "Smaller brands don't have tens of thousands of products, so it's easier to test them," Peaslee said. "The bigger brands are also testing their supply chains and removing PFAS form their formulations, but it takes years to do that." Also, because PFAS are expensive, products that contain them tend to be priced accordingly. Sometimes, noted Peaslee, a low price can indicate that a product is PFAS-free. New Hampshire confirms death of person with mosquito-borne EEE 2 workers killed at Atlanta Delta facility after reported tire explosion Veterans and spouses find strength through bakery fellowship program N Universe // Shutterstock As the U.S. housing market cools following a sour jobs report, data suggests a growing trend of price cuts across the country. However, Benzinga reports some industry experts argue that more reductions are necessary to restore balance and affordability to a market marred by high prices, rates, and low inventory. According to a new report from Realtor.com, the share of home listings with price reductions reached a two-year high in July, increasing by 3.4% compared to the previous year. That brings the total share of listings with price cuts to 18.9%, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com, attributes the trend to a combination of factors. "First, rates remain higher than expected, which means there is less buyer activity," McLaughlin said. "Second, the prospect of lower mortgage rates coming this fall may have induced some buyers to wait." The report found regional variations in price reduction trends. Of the 50 largest metro areas, 47 saw an increase in the share of price reductions compared to last July. Tampa, FL, led the pack with a 9.7% increase, followed by Charlotte, NC, at 9.5% and Phoenix at 9.4%. While the price cuts may offer hope for potential buyers sidelined by affordability concerns, some industry watchers argue that the current adjustments fall short of what's needed to meaningfully improve market conditions. Nick Gerli, CEO of Reventure Consulting, says that more price drops are necessary to reinvigorate buyer demand. "One thing that people in the housing market need to get prepared for is no bounce back in buyer demand from lower rates," Gerli said on X, formerly Twitter. Gerli said that despite recent declines in mortgage rates to around 6.4% (the lowest level in 16 months), the typical monthly house payment for buyers remains around $2,700. He argues that to see a real return of buyers to the market, the monthly payment needs to drop to the $2,100-$2,200 range. "In reality, prices need to drop 15% and mortgage rates need to go to 5.5% to bring buyers back," Gerli said. That decline, he calculates, would lower the monthly house payment to $2,100, bringing the mortgage payment-to-income ratio down from its current 40% to a more sustainable 32%, in line with the long-term 40-year average. Gerli's perspective challenges the notion that modest price cuts and slight decreases in mortgage rates will be enough to reinvigorate the market. Gerli suggests that sellers, realtors, and mortgage lenders may be in for a shock if they expect buyers to return en masse without better improvements in affordability. The disconnect between seller expectations and market realities is evident in the experiences of real estate professionals on the ground. Sam Fitz-Simon, a real estate agent in Danville, CA, notes the difficulty in conveying the new market reality to sellers. "Telling them that they missed the mark and have to settle for less is never a fun conversation," Fitz-Simon told Realtor.com. Bruce Ailion, a real estate professional and attorney with Re/Max Town & Country, echoes the sentiment. "Even when presented with the most recent pricing statistics, many sellers were optimistic their home would sell for more than their neighbor's home did last summer," Ailion said to Realtor.com. "The new reality begins to sink in only after a few showings and 20 days on the market with no offers." As the market adjusts, the gap between seller expectations and buyer affordability remains challenging. While price cuts are becoming more common, executives argue they are insufficient to bring the market back into balance without more dramatic corrections. For now, many potential buyers appear to be adopting a wait-and-see approach. With the Federal Reserve expected to potentially cut rates as early as September and the upcoming election adding another layer of uncertainty, the housing market's path forward remains far from clear. As the correction plays out, industry watchers like Gerli will monitor key indicators like the mortgage application index, which he notes is still "scraping at the lowest level in 30 years," down 13% year over year and nearly 50% from pre-pandemic levels. The coming months will likely prove important in determining whether the current trend of price cuts will accelerate to meet the level some experts believe is necessary or if the market will find a new equilibrium through more gradual adjustments. This story was produced by Benzinga and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media. Bill Maher said the lack of Republican National Convention speeches from former presidents or vice presidents indicates the GOP has made a clean cut with its past. Its a little odd, isnt it? That the Republicans had no former president, vice president. There was no Mitt Romney there, no Bush, no Dick Cheney, Maher said Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher. Maher compared the GOPs break from its past to actor Tom Cruises relationship with his daughter, from whom Cruise is reportedly estranged. Its a little like Tom Cruise with his daughter, Maher said, to laughter from the studio audience. You know, I dont know you anymore. I feel like Ive never seen a convention where the party just disowned its complete past like that, Maher added. The discussion took place on a panel with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Democratic strategist James Carville and Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw (Texas). Crenshaw started to push back, noting it doesnt really matter if Republicans put on the best show, adding, I know we have better policy. Maher shot back, Its an indication that you have made a clean cut with what Republicanism was up until Trump. Democrats concluded their four-day gathering in Chicago last week, which saw a wave of momentum that some pundits have compared to former President Obamas historic 2008 nomination. Trump and his allies have criticized the Democrats for not focusing enough on policy during the convention and instead relying on vibes to fuel campaign momentum. In a Sunday interview, Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump defended Republicans approach to their convention and criticized Democrats, saying, It seems like theyre attempting to run on hating Donald Trump, on platitudes, on vibes, and on emotion. We were very proud of the Republican National Convention. I think what people saw with our convention is that you actually saw a path forward for this country. You saw Donald Trump, and people every single night of our convention lay out how we are going to make life better for you. I didnt hear a single night of anybody talk at the [Democratic convention] about that, said Lara Trump, who is the former presidents daughter-in-law. The Hill has reached out to Trumps campaign and to the Republican National Convention for comment on Mahers remarks. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. For nearly a month, people in Lebanon and Israel braced for a wider war. A deadly rocket strike from Lebanon last month on the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was followed by an Israeli retaliatory strike that killed Hezbollahs top commander, Fuad Shukr, in southern Beirut. The powerful Iran-backed group vowed to respond. The threat triggered a slew of flight cancelations on both sides of the border, a chorus of governments imploring their citizens to leave Lebanon and Israel, and a breathless diplomatic effort to avert an escalation that Western governments feared would spark a regional conflict. On Sunday morning, Hezbollah said it had delivered its anticipated response by launching hundreds of drones and Katyusha rockets, Soviet-era short-range projectiles. The swarm of airborne weapons, it said, sought to overwhelm Israels vaunted air defense systems and pave a path for its targets: 11 Israeli military sites in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said all of Hezbollahs drones were intercepted. Israeli officials said the military pre-emptively struck Hezbollah targets in the early hours of Sunday to prevent a much wider attack, adding that it hit many rocket launchers in Lebanon. Hezbollah dismissed this. What happened was aggression, not preemptive action, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Sunday night, referring to the Israeli strikes that began around half an hour before Hezbollahs attack. Three Lebanese fighters were killed in those Israeli attacks, Hezbollah said. The cross-border fire on Sunday morning marked a significant escalation after nearly 11 months of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. But it appears to have dampened fears of a wider war, for now. In Israel, authorities soon lifted security restrictions in the countrys northern-most territory, known as the upper Galilee. In Lebanon, Hezbollah said it had concluded attacks on Israel for the day. Nasrallah declared the groups retaliation for Shukrs killing meticulously completed. With both sides declaring victory, the region appears to once again have walked back from the brink of all-out war. But while Hezbollahs promised response appears to be largely out of the way, Israel must continue to wait for another threat to transpire: Irans vowed revenge for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which it blamed on Israel. The low-intensity conflict at the Lebanon-Israel border is set to resume. Netanyahu said on Sunday that what happened today is not the end. Nasrallah meanwhile struck a similar tone, reinforcing a widely held view that the fighting on the border is a war of attrition, where each side aims to wear down the other. A region on a knifes edge After the attacks in Beirut and Tehran at the end of last month, Western and Israeli intelligence officials, diplomats and analysts scrambled to figure out what the retaliations promised by Iran and its most powerful non-state partner might look like. It sparked shuttle diplomacy with the United States, the United Kingdom and France urging Hezbollah and Iran to exercise restraint. This appeared to expedite another round of talks over a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, in a bid to ward off another escalation by the Iran-led axis, which has repeatedly conditioned stopping its attacks on Israel and its allies on an end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The talks to end the war continue to move at a glacial pace, despite intense diplomatic efforts by mediators including the US, Egypt and Qatar. High-level talks in Cairo ended on Sunday, giving way to the resumption of lower-level technical negotiations. But even as the US expresses optimism, with one official describing the weekends talks as constructive, there are no signs of progress on the major sticking points. This raises the stakes for a potential showdown between Iran and Israel. But Tehran may be inclined to pay lip service to the talks. While it has vowed to respond to Israel, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly said that it wants to avoid action that could adversely impact the negotiations. And the latest escalation has shown that neither Iran nor its allied non-state fighting groups in the region can stomach the prospect of a wider war. Hezbollah had repeatedly vowed to retaliate to any Israeli strike in Beirut with an attack on major urban centers in Israel. Yet, whether by design or due to Israels claimed pre-emptive strikes, it fell short of that threat. Most of the areas it targeted on Sunday were within the border area that has been the site of the hostilities since October and the short-range Soviet-era rockets it used have been a mainstay of Hezbollahs attacks on Israeli forces for decades. The risk of an all-out conflict appears to be significantly lower in the aftermath of Sundays crossfire. Yet Irans open-ended threat will continue to contribute to the war of nerves that has defined much of the low-grade conflict between the Tehran-led axis and Israel. The region will remain on a knifes edge for as long as the war in Gaza goes on, at the mercy of the next miscalculation, no matter how low the warring parties appetite for conflict might be. This article has been updated. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com National Dog Day, held annually on August 26, is a great time to start researching whether or not you should adopt a furry, four-legged bestie. But which is the perfect pup for you? Experts say it depends, but here are 2024's top dog breeds. Rover.com, an online market for pet care, teamed up with Ancestry to find out which dog breeds are the most popular across the country and what their personalities are like. It's the sixth time they've conducted the survey. Dogs are our companions from the time we learn to crawl to the time we take our last breaths, so it's no wonder that around 65.1 million Americans own a dog, making them the most popular pet in the country, according to Forbes. "Almost anyone who has had a dog knows the joy of getting home at the end of the day and being greeted by a wild wagging tail," Phil Tedeschi, a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver who runs a program focused on human-animal connection, told USA TODAY. In July 2024, Rover surveyed 1,000 U.S. pet parents to learn more about which dog breeds are popular and what personality traits each breed is likely to show. USA TODAY trending reporter Julia Gomez's dog, Lola, 7, a Belgian Malinois. Flights for life: Doctor uses plane to rescue hundreds of dogs from high-kill shelters What are the most popular breeds in America? The eight most popular kinds of dogs are, according to Rover, the following: Non-designer mixed breeds Labrador Retrievers Goldendoodle Golden Retriever German Shepherd Chihuahua French Bulldog Dachshund USA TODAY trending reporter Gabe Hauari with his dog, Lola, a 2-year-old chocolate lab. Personalities and connections over breeds Around 88% of the dog parents that were surveyed said understanding their dog's mix of breeds would help them better understand their dogs, and 56% said knowing more about their dogs' genetic makeup would help "strengthen their bond." Another 62% of those surveyed said that breed was also an important factor for them when considering which dog to add to their family. While a dog's breed is important when deciding if a dog would fit into a person's lifestyle, it's also essential to get to know the dog's personality, Tedeschi, who is also a Rover Pet People Panelist, said. The breed can give you clues as to what environments dogs thrive in, but it doesn't give you the whole picture. USA TODAY National Trending Desk Editor Jay Cannon's dog, Ella, a 4-year-old Siberian husky. Get to know your pup It's essential to get to know the individual dog and their personality instead of stereotyping them by their breed. Yes, dog breeds are unique from one another, but individual dogs have their own characteristics and needs. "So often, these are companions that [we] spend some of our most high-quality recreational time," said Tedeschi. This bonding time often takes place when people are just able to relax. Building a relationship with a companion animal, whether it be a dog or cat, whose company you enjoy, is responsive to your moods and emotions, and that helps you feel a connection plays out frequently in the "human-animal connection." USA TODAY data and graphics reporter Sara Chernikoff's dogs Frankie, a 3-year-old Mini Sheepadoodle, and Walter, 2-year-old Mini Bernedoodle. "There's this level of connection, social support, and enthusiasm that really kind of transcends or maybe even defines healthy relationships," said Tedeschi. "And people really noticed this during the pandemic [when] people who were feeling isolated and had lost aspects of their social support system were really finding these [connections] to be very important." Common personality traits The following are some of the top personality traits people and dogs share: Loyalty - 71% Playfulness - 65% Intelligence - 61% Friendliness- 61% Around 62% of parents also said they and their dogs are also socially anxious. Pictured are USA TODAY senior reporter Natalie Neysa Alund's "nephew and third 'niece,'" Dobermans, Leo and Lettie Lopez. Which dogs are more likely to have separation anxiety? There are obstacles dog parents might have to overcome, and separation anxiety is one of them. Around 42% of dog parents said their dog's separation anxiety is a challenge. Breeds that were most likely to have separation anxiety were: Dachshunds Yorkshire Terriers USA TODAY Trending Reporter Julia Gomez's dog, Penny Lane, 5, a Belgian Malanois/American Bull Dog mix. While these dogs are more likely to have separation anxiety, any dog can get anxious when they're away from their owners. It can lead to dogs barking and crying, showing destructive behaviors or soiling the the house as their owner is leaving or shortly after they leave, according to American Humane. Loyalty and other traits The most loyal dog breeds, according to the survey, are: American pit bull terriers German shepherds Chihuahuas Kimmy Bavuso of San Francisco, USA TODAY senior reporter Natalie Neysa Alund's dog, who was adopted during the pandemic. German shepherds are big, usually have a lot of energy, and are constantly looking for something to do, according to the Golden State German Shepherd Rescue. Meanwhile, pit bulls are also high-energy, and according to Dogster, daily exercise is crucial to ensuring they stay healthy. Still, due to a controversial past, Pit Bulls can be stigmatized and are banned in certain counties or cities. For example, after a 7-year-old girl was attacked by a pit bull in 1989, a ban made it illegal to own pit bulls in Miami-Dade, according to the Miami Herald. In 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that barred local governments and public housing officials from banning dogs of a specific breed, weight, or size. So, what dog should you get? Sorry to complicate it, but there isn't a single correct answer that applies to everyone. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years, and each breed was created to do a different task, according to the study. People should think about the survey as more of a guide than a shopping list, said Tedeschi. Just because mixed dogs and Labradors are the most popular doggy companions doesn't necessarily mean they are the best dogs for everyone. Hypothetically, a chihuahua might be the best companion for a single woman who lives on the 19th floor of a 20-story building, while a 5-year-old mixed rescue from a shelter is an older gentleman's best pal, and a Goldendoodle is the perfect playmate for a young family with three kids. Everyone's situation is different, so it will take some research and time to figure out which dog would fit best in your life. Good luck! Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Dog Day 2024: Top dog breeds, common personality traits SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria will hold a snap parliamentary election, its seventh in just three years, on Oct. 27, President Rumen Radev said on Monday, following the failure of its political parties to agree a coalition government. Radev said a caretaker government led by Dimitar Glavchev would be sworn in Bulgaria's parliament on Tuesday to steer the Black Sea nation until the election. "Tomorrow I will also issue a decree about holding early parliamentary elections on October 27," Radev said after Glavchev presented his interim government to the president. Bulgaria, a member of the European Union and NATO, has been plagued by revolving-door governments since anti-graft protests in 2020 unseated a coalition led by the centre-right GERB party. GERB, currently the largest party in parliament, the reformist We Continue the Change (PP) and the small ITN parliamentary group each failed to build a stable coalition following an inconclusive June 8 election. June's vote was triggered by the collapse in March of a coalition comprising GERB and the PP party. Both parties are broadly pro-EU and pro-market, but have been dogged by persistent bickering and personal rivalries. Bulgaria sorely needs a period of stable government to improve the flow of EU funds into its creaking infrastructure. The political stalemate is also hampering its plans to join the euro and to fully participate in Europe's open-border Schengen area. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Stoyan Nenov; Editing by Gareth Jones) PHILADELPHIA (AP) A pack of four-legged therapists got a break of their own on Monday when they were honored at the airport where they dutifully work to ease stress and calm travelers. The event at Philadelphia International Airport marked five years since the 23 members of the Wagging Tails Brigade began greeting people and serving as therapy dogs. Several of them were presented with birthday presents and a customized cake while passersby were invited to eat cupcakes and sign an oversized birthday card. Members of the brigade and their volunteer human handlers are at the airport for at least two hours a week, impressing people with their tricks and doing what they can to raise the spirits of road-weary passengers. Dogs wear vests asking people to pet me. Alan Gurvitz, a volunteer with Hope, a Labrador retriever, said their goal is to make travel a bit more pleasant. I like to refer to the airport as the land of cancellations and delays. So people tend to be very stressed out here, Gurvitz said. Jamie and Victoria Hill, on their way to their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, turned to pet Bella while trying to stay positive after their flight was delayed. It's reminded us of our dog back at home," Jamie Hill said. We miss him. Back in June, Nancy Mittleman recalled, she was at the airport with her German shepherd Tarik while bad weather snarled air traffic. The two of them spent several hours entertaining stranded children and their parents. Soon enough, I had an entire crowd around me," Mittleman said. "There must have been 10 kids sitting around him and they were talking to each other. And the beauty of it was before that, there were a lot of stressed out parents and a lot of unhappy children. Volunteers try to coordinate to have at least one brigade member at the airport to greet travelers, especially on days with significant delays or disruptions. ___ This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a volunteer's first name to Alan Gurvitz, not Allan. LULAC leaders and others whose homes were raided protest Monday in San Antonio. SAN ANTONIO Raids on the homes of several Democrats in South Texas, in what the state attorney general said is an ongoing election integrity investigation, has set off a showdown with the nations oldest Latino civil rights group. The Aug. 20 raids targeted Manuel Medina, chair of the Tejano Democrats, several members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a state House candidate and a local area mayor. Lidia Martinez, who volunteers for LULAC and also does voter registration, questioned the search of all her belongings. The raids have triggered outrage and accusations of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against its citizens of Mexican descent, which gave rise to LULAC in 1929. On Monday morning, LULAC leaders, state legislators, activists of other Latino groups and supporters and some of the people whose homes were raided protested outside the San Antonio office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican. This is point blank voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for the right of every Latino to exercise the right to vote, said Roman Palomares, LULAC's national president. A copy of a wide-ranging search warrant left with one of the people targeted, LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez, 87, of San Antonio, offered a window into the investigations interests. The warrant ordered the seizure of all electronic devices at her home, allowed for the opening of documents that were business-, organization- or election-related, and authorized swabbing for DNA. According to the warrant, the purpose of the search was to look for evidence of violations of the Texas election laws regarding vote harvesting and identity fraud. Medinas home was also forcibly entered in the early morning of Aug. 20. According to a filing from his attorney, officers woke up Medina, his wife and two young daughters, and rummaged through the residence for seven hours, the attorney said, searching through the living spaces, closets, kitchen, bathrooms, garage and the familys bedrooms. Officers seized 65 cellphones and 41 computers and storage devices, the filing said. Two Democratic consultants who werent knowledgeable about Medinas business or the investigation said someone running an election phone banking or canvassing operation can have multiple phones and computers for volunteers and staff. Medina's attorney was granted his request for an injunction to block the attorney general or any other state officials from reviewing the documents or disseminating them. A hearing on the search and seizures was set for Sept. 12. In his filing requesting the injunction, Medina's attorney said authorities seized almost 65 cell phones and 41 computers, digital and other storage devices, papers, documents and family and other photographs. The attorney and Medina declined comment when reached Friday by NBC News. There is no poll tax. There is no white-only primary. There is no going back. We will not go back, Domingo Garcia, LULACs former president, said during Mondays protest. Garcia now heads a recently formed LULAC political action committee that endorsed Kamala Harris. Paxton, who announced the raids Thursday in a news release, has been outspoken in advancing baseless claims about voter fraud particularly about noncitizens voting in the upcoming election. Theres a reason Joe Biden brought people here illegally, Paxton said on a radio show earlier this month. Im convinced that thats how theyre going to do it this time, theyre going to use the illegal vote. Why were they brought in, why did he bring in 14 million people? He brought them here to vote. Paxton falsely claimed that immigrants were being given Social Security numbers at the border as part of the scheme, too. Theres no evidence of that, or that noncitizens cast ballots in any significant numbers. In the release announcing the raids, Paxton said his office would have no further comments on the investigation. NBC News reached out Friday and has not received a response. But the release did state that the raids were the result of a two-year investigation based on allegations of voting and election violations from Audrey Gossett Louis, a district attorney for five area counties. Latino leaders have called on the Department of Justice to investigate and are alleging the raids are a political move to suppress Latino votes. A Justice Department spokesperson said they are aware of the matter but declined to comment. It is disgraceful and outrageous that the state of Texas, and its highest-ranking law enforcement officer, is once again using the power of his office to instill fear in the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic engagement, said Gabriel Rosales, Texas state director of LULAC, which focuses on Latino economic, political and civil rights. I have been contacted by elderly residents who are confused and frightened, wondering why they have been singled out. Attorney General Paxtons actions clearly aim to suppress the Latino vote through intimidation and any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies, he added. Cecilia Castellano, a candidate for state House District 80, said she was served a search warrant for her phone just after 6 a.m. on the same day as the others. Medina is working on Castellano's campaign. I was still asleep and I was woken up by my doorbell and then a hard knock, she told NBC News later. I went to the front [door] and I have these flashlights flashing into my home. The officer shared a copy of the search warrant with Castellano and left with her work phone. Castellano said she felt the search was political intimidation, adding that shed been told two other people who had volunteered for her campaign were been served warrants. She said shes never helped people to register to vote or vote by mail, and wasnt sure for what she was being investigated. Nine armed officers at the door Up early as usual to water her plants, Martinez answered a knock at her door at 6 a.m. and in walked a group of armed men and women with police badges and riot shields and a search warrant, she told NBC News. Still in her nightgown, Martinez asked to change clothes. Instead, she said she was forced to sit in her dining room answering questions while the agents rummaged for four hours through just about everything in her two-bedroom home. Two of the officers stood guard over her. They searched everything. My underwear, my brassieres, my nightgowns, everything, said Martinez, a 35-year LULAC member. They went into my garage. They opened up my car. They went through my whole car, my whole garage, my refrigerator, my kitchen cabinets, everything. At the news conference, Martinez said that for about half an hour she was made to stand outside her home, still in her nightgown, where neighbors could see, while the officers searched her dining area. She said they would not tell her what they were looking for, and questioned her for four hours, asking her about Manuel Medina and when she joined LULAC. They left with her appointment book, cellphone, laptop, blank voter registration cards and her certification for completing a voter registration course. At the news conference, Martinez said nine people had shown up at her door to execute the search warrant. She said her family asked her to stop her volunteer work with LULAC, as well as any voter registration efforts, because they're afraid she'll go to jail. "I grew up on the west side of San Antonio. My dad had two grocery stores and he taught us the right to vote," said Martinez, a San Antonio native. She added she had five brothers who served in the armed forces, including one who was killed in Vietnam and earned the Silver Star. Martinez is a commander with the American Legion. "They're trying to stop us from registering voters, and helping, especially the seniors," she said. "If I don't go out there, and their voter registration is expired, some of them are in wheelchairs. They don't have a way to be going to the elections office" to get registration forms, Martinez said. Mary Ann Obregon, mayor of Dilley, about 71 miles south of San Antonio, said her dogs' barking alerted her to two officers who showed up at her home and demanded her phone when she went outside. She said on Monday she wasn't shown a search warrant until after they followed her in while she retrieved her phone. After they left, "I got very emotional," she said. "I was crying." China's capital opens arms to global entrepreneurs Xinhua) 08:35, August 26, 2024 This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a view of the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- HICOOL, a startup ecosystem established in Beijing in 2020 to support entrepreneurial talent, has seen its initial vision become a reality. Over the past five years, HICOOL has nurtured 16 unicorn companies and 127 enterprises that use specialized and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products. Meanwhile, it has attracted 32,000 entrepreneurial individuals and 24,000 projects from 145 countries and regions worldwide. By doing so, HICOOL has extended an invitation to global entrepreneurs to convene in Beijing, showcasing the Chinese capital's efforts to become an international science and technology innovation center as well as a high-level talent hub. As one of the unicorn enterprises that emerged from HICOOL, Agile Robots from Munich, Germany, participated in the HICOOL 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Competition and secured an award. With the support of various levels of government agencies in Beijing, the company has set up a state-of-the-art factory spanning nearly 5,300 square meters in the suburban area of Shunyi District. "We have evolved from a small team of just over 10 individuals to a globally recognized high-tech enterprise with a workforce exceeding 2,800 employees, realizing a market valuation of more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars and annual sales surpassing 1 billion yuan (about 140 million U.S. dollars)," noted Chen Wei, the company's deputy general manager. Chen added that the company currently holds over 100 patents and has essentially achieved independent research and development of core technologies. A highlight of this year's HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit, held from Aug. 23 to 25, is its focus on new quality productive forces, creating a platform to empower technology-based startups and encouraging innovation through value creation. This year's session has drawn extensive attention from Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs. A total of 9,700 outstanding players and 7,406 entrepreneurship projects from 124 countries and regions participated in this year's global entrepreneurship competition during the summit, with overseas projects accounting for 63 percent of the total. "Beijing is vibrant and brimming with innovation," remarked Zhang Xujia, founder of QL Biopharm and a first prize winner at this year's competition. Specializing in the production of recombinant protein drugs using Escherichia coli, Zhang said the enterprise has taken root in the Zhongguancun Life Science Park, where it has pioneered innovative biopharmaceuticals for chronic metabolic diseases. The company has also constructed a pivotal platform for independent innovation, with multiple technologies, including long-acting technology and fusion protein technology, all achieving a leading position on the global stage, Zhang added. Rafael Suchan, a German entrepreneur and founder of Vastalta Circular Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., held the trophy in his hands as a third prize winner at this year's competition, acclaiming China's inclusive and open innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs. "Establishing our company in Beijing has provided us with a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between German engineering excellence and China's vast market potential. We are committed to contributing to the development of Beijing's circular economy and are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead," he said. Wang Xiaodong, founder of BeiGene, a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes cancer drugs, explains why entrepreneurship is important at the summit by using a set of data. "Only around 10,000 people in China could afford a particular cancer drug in the past. But thanks to the rise of our homegrown companies, that number has soared to 1 million. That's what entrepreneurship is all about," Wang noted. A boy plays chess with a robot at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a painting robot at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) People visit the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) A visitor experiences robot painting at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 24, 2024 shows a view of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a humanoid robot at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a firefighting drone at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) A visitor takes photos at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a view of the opening ceremony of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit and the Global Entrepreneurship Competition Awards Ceremony in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2024 shows a view of the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) A visitor plays chess with a robot at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 23, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) People visit the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) People visit the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) A visitor experiences a MR multi-person collaboration system at HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) An exhibitor introduces agricultural products at the exhibition area of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 23, 2024. The global entrepreneur summit was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday he hoped they could have "honest" discussions about thorny issues as they held the first call between leaders of the countries in over two years. The formal conversation was the first between the pair since Starmer won power last month, and was also the first official call between a British leader and Xi since March 2022. The chat comes amid a period of strained relations between London and Beijing over espionage allegations and Beijing's tightening control over former British colony Hong Kong. The two remain major trading partners, however, and are both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. According to a Downing Street readout of the call, Starmer noted hope that he and Xi "would be able to have open, frank and honest discussions to address and understand areas of disagreement when necessary". Such issues include "Hong Kong, Russia's war in Ukraine and human rights," the readout said. China was Britain's fifth-largest trading partner as of 2023, according to UK statistics, but diplomatic relations were icy under Starmer's predecessor Rishi Sunak. Soon after taking office in October 2022, Sunak declared an end to the so-called "golden era" of UK-China relations trumpeted by former prime minister David Cameron. Sunak characterised China as a "systemic challenge" to UK values. Espionage allegations have since presented additional hurdles to repairing relations, with Beijing saying in June that MI6 recruited Chinese state employees to spy for the UK. That came after British police in April charged two men under the UK's counter-espionage Official Secrets Act, accusing them of spying for China. Xi emphasised to Starmer that China aimed to "make mutual benefits and common wins the fundamental tone of China-UK relations", according to state broadcaster CCTV's report of the phone call. His comments also appeared to call for resetting the relationship. "China is willing to conduct equal dialogue with the UK side on the basis of mutual respect... (and) expand cooperation in the fields of finance, green economy, artificial intelligence, etc," Xi was quoted as saying. Xi also congratulated Starmer on becoming prime minister following his Labour party's thumping general election win over the Conservatives on July 4, CCTV said. Chinese Premier Li Qiang was the first senior leader from the country to publicly congratulate Starmer, two days after the Labour leader entered office. Friday's phone call -- which CCTV said came at Starmer's invitation -- is the first to be reported between top Chinese and British leaders since Xi spoke with former prime minister Boris Johnson on March 25, 2022. Xi told Starmer that "China attaches great importance to the UK side's wish to strengthen contact and dialogue", CCTV said. He added that China is "willing to maintain exchanges with the United Kingdom at all levels, promote the steady and long-term development of China-UK relations, and work together to promote world peace and development". The Downing Street readout said the leaders discussed "potential areas of cooperation... including on trade, the economy and education" and "agreed on the importance of close working in areas, such as climate change and global security". The statement added they also agreed "on the need for a stable and consistent UK-China relationship, including dialogue between their respective foreign and domestic ministers". The Guardian newspaper reported earlier this month that Britain's top diplomat, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, is planning to visit China in September. Shutterstock // PeopleImages.com - Yuri A Strong sales talent can make or break a company in an economy where consumers have unlimited options. Sales workers are among the most common in the country, with 8.8% of workers nationally employed in sales and related occupations. In six states, sales workers comprise more than 1 in 10 jobs. Sales jobs encompass a wide range of professions, including cashiers, street vendors, telemarketers, and corporate business-to-business sales representatives. Xactly utilized Bureau of Labor Statistics data to identify areas with the highest concentrations of workers in sales and related occupations in 2023, delving into their economies and major areas of employment. Florida has the country's highest number of sales professionals: 10.8% of Florida's workforce is in sales and related occupations, leading the national average by 2 percentage points. Tourism, a bedrock of Florida's economy, and real estate, the largest industry in Florida by gross domestic product, are crucial to the state economy. Real estate agents and brokers, along with retail salespeople and service sales representatives, are among the most common sales jobs in the Sunshine State. The other five states with the highest concentrations of sales workers are less obvious: Colorado (10.6%), New Hampshire (10.5%), North Carolina (10.2%), South Carolina (10.2%), and South Dakota (10.1%). Real estate agents and brokers were at the forefront in most of these states; other prominent industries were manufacturing and professional, scientific, and technical services, necessitating wholesale and business-to-business sales representatives in many cases. South Dakota was a major outlier among the states with large sales workforces. Its top industries are finance/insurance and agriculture. In addition to having higher-than-average numbers of cashiers and retail salespeople, South Dakota also has more insurance sales agents and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, including those who sell crops and manufactured food products to grocers and companies around the world. Canva Areas of decline and growth in sales jobs across the nation As e-commerce continues to replace brick-and-mortar shopping, retail jobs will likely continue declining over the next decade. Retail sales and cashier jobs, which employ millions of Americans and make up over half of the sales occupational group, will be particularly impacted as American consumers flock to online shopping and cashiers are increasingly replaced by self-checkout and contactless ordering. Despite this decline, the BLS projects hundreds of thousands of job openings annually in retail sales. Shifting consumer priorities is also leading some retail segments to grow. For instance, a heightened focus on green living is driving expansion in the secondhand store industry, resulting in job growth in thrift store sales roles. Sales workers will find opportunities in other facets of the economy, too. BLS projects ample growth among insurance sales agents, real estate agents and brokers, and wholesale and manufacturing sales repsall important areas in the state economies highlighted in this analysis. Due to the complexity of real estate transactions, real estate brokers are more protected from some of the automation and computerization that retail sales workers face. Real estate agents and brokers are critical in property transactions, which include carefully orchestrated negotiations, lengthy legal documents, disclosures, and more. The current real estate market is characterized by limited inventory and escalating demand, resulting in more bidding wars over available homes. Real estate brokers are often critical in these exchanges, negotiating between sellers and multiple buyers who are trying to put forth the best offers. Insurance agents will also remain in demand. Although people can source insurance quotes online, policies can be challenging to understand and compare. Many Americans would rather trust an insurance broker to explain and distill this information than parse it out on their own. What's more, people are seeking insurance for many more aspects of their lives, including pet health and event tickets, elevating insurance sales to both consumers and companies. In a changing world shaped by climate change and a global pandemic, insurance agents also play an increasingly important role in providing people with "financial safety nets," according to a 2024 Deloitte report. Sales representatives in this industry are tasked with helping customers prevent and minimize potentially significant losses. Job prospects remain steady for wholesale sales representatives. In this role, workers manage sales to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. These salespeople earn more than twice as much annually as those in retail sales and typically don't need an advanced degree unless they sell technical products like industrial and medical equipment. For tens of thousands of salespeople whose jobs will likely disappear in the coming years, these growth areas present opportunities to build upon existing experience and earn more money. In some cases, shifting to a different area of sales won't require additional education or training. For instance, most insurance and real estate agents don't need a college degree, though they require training and licensure to practice. Some companies will invest in new talent by sponsoring licensing for budding real estate and insurance agents or providing training for entry-level wholesale salespeople. Ultimately, employers and salespeople can benefit from expanding their ideas of the future of sales roles. Companies and workers can adapt to the shifting nature of sales in mutually beneficial ways. Employers can seek out emerging talent in areas with high concentrations of sales employees and can help them develop the necessary specialized skills. Workers, meanwhile, can leverage their existing abilities to move into growingand often more lucrativefacets of sales. Story editing by Alizah Salario. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. This story originally appeared on Xactly and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. An Arizona judge has set a trial date of January 5, 2026, for allies of former President Donald Trump charged for a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. If that date holds, it means the Arizona case will go to trial close to five years after the alleged crimes were committed and take place six months later than the timeframe originally proposed by prosecutors. At the same time, the Arizona case is now the only criminal case related to the 2020 election at either the state or federal level to currently have a trial date on the calendar as other separate efforts to similarly prosecute Trump and his allies in other jurisdictions all face uncertain futures. Several defendants, including conservative attorney John Eastman and multiple Arizona Republicans who served as fake electors, were present in the courtroom for a hearing Monday. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Christina Bobb, who serves as the top lawyer for the RNC on election integrity, joined the hearing virtually. This is the first high-stakes hearing since a grand jury handed up criminal charges against the fake electors from Arizona. Trump himself was not charged. Lawyers for Trump allies and the Arizona Republicans who served as fake electors from that state have argued that the actions detailed in charging documents do not amount to crimes and accused prosecutors of pursuing a politically motivated case against them. Arizonas attorney general has charged the Trump allies with committing multiple felonies on the same occasion a designation under state law that means a conviction would likely carry prison sentences rather than a lesser penalty afforded to first-time offenders. Some defendants have argued in court filings that prosecutors are seeking to use the prospect of an overly harsh punishment to coerce cooperation from some of those charged. Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who was appointed in 2005 by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, acknowledged that the trial date is a moving target. Cohen also said Monday that he wants to set a trial date that appropriately takes into account concerns about the amount of time defense attorneys need to review discovery and interview roughly 80 witnesses prosecutors plan to call. The pivotal hearing comes just days after Trump, who has not been charged in the Arizona case but is described in court documents as unindicted co-conspirator 1, held a rally in the key swing state as part of his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump has avoided having to stand trial in either of the two criminal cases where he was charged for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, but Mondays hearing in Arizona underscores how many of those who sought to help the former president remain in power still face significant legal exposure as a result. Most members of the grand jury in Arizona that indicted the 18 Trump allies for their alleged roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election had also expressed interest in charging the former president. The interest was strong enough that it prompted the states lead prosecutor to request that the grand jury not indict the former president and give a PowerPoint presentation to explain his reasoning, according to court documents. Trump has been charged at the federal level for his efforts to upend Joe Bidens legitimate 2020 election victory by special counsel Jack Smith and in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Prosecutors will point to their request that the grand jury not indict Trump during Mondays hearing in an effort to push back on claims by defense attorneys that the case is politically motivated and should be dismissed. While Trump has not been charged in the Arizona election subversion case, the investigation remains ongoing and prosecutors have not closed the door on potentially indicting more people, including the former president, should evidence emerge to support making that decision, sources tell CNN. In the meantime, prosecutors in Arizona are forging ahead with their case against the 18 others who have been charged and are eying a potential trial date in early 2025. Arizona prosecutors secured their first victory earlier this month when former Trump 2020 campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis agreed to cooperate in exchange for the charges against her being dropped. Ellis is expected to testify against other defendants in the criminal case as part of her deal. She was originally charged with multiple felony counts related to her alleged role in the effort to put forward fake slates of electors as part of a broader conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results on Trumps behalf. One of the Arizona fake electors facing state level criminal charges also reached a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this month. Loraine Pellegrino, who signed the fraudulent document at the center of the state attorney generals case, agreed to plead guilty to the false document charge against her and the rest of her charges were dismissed. Like the other Arizona fake electors and Trump allies charged in the case, Pellegrino was facing multiple felonies for her alleged role in the alleged conspiracy. The other defendants in the Arizona case, including several prominent state Republican party members and Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trumps closest advisers, have pleaded not guilty. Meadows hearing next month Separately, attorneys for Trumps former chief of staff Mark Meadows say the Arizona indictment squarely relates to Meadows official conduct as Trumps last chief of staff and therefore his case should be moved to federal court. Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se. Rather, it consists of allegations that he received (and occasionally responded to) messages from people who were trying to get ideas in front of President Trump or seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the Presidents campaign, they wrote in a federal court filing. This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal officials duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits, and that the removal statute shields from adjudication in a state court, the attorneys argued. US District Judge John Tuchi scheduled a hearing for September 5. Tuchi was a nominee of then-President Barack Obama. Meadows is no stranger to the legal gambit. Last year, he mounted a similar effort in Georgia after he was indicted in Fulton County on similar 2020 election subversion state charges. This story has been updated with additional developments. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Trump and Harris campaigns are in disagreement about whether microphones should be muted during a scheduled upcoming debate, prompting former President Trump to raise questions about his participation. The Trump campaign has argued each candidate should have their microphone muted when its not their turn to speak, similar to the rules used during Trumps June debate on CNN with President Biden. The Harris campaign, however, has noted it was not the party that agreed to those rules and has pushed for microphones to be left open throughout the event. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast, Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon said in a statement. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trumps team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they dont think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button, he added. The Vice President is ready to deal with Trumps constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button. Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said in a statement that the former presidents team had rejected any changes to the rules agreed upon for the CNN debate. This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign, Miller said in a statement. They wont allow Harris to do interviews, they wont allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that theyre looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump. Questioning the vice presidents motives, Miller pointed to an Aug. 15 statement in which the Harris campaign asserted the debate about debates was over. Clearly theyre seeing something they dont like, Miller said. Miller claimed the Harris campaign had asked for a seated debate with notes and opening statements, something the Harris campaign has denied. Trump himself made similar claims about Bidens request for a seated debate with CNN. Politico first reported on the disagreement over the microphone muting. Trump was asked during a stop at a restaurant in Virginia about the latest hang-up over microphones. The former president was adamant that the two sides agreed to the same rules that covered his June debate with Biden before conceding he would be fine if the microphones were left unmuted. We agreed to the same rules. I dont know, doesnt matter to me. Id rather have it probably on, Trump said. The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. Some Biden allies have suggested that muting the microphones during the June debate aided Trump, as viewers were unable to hear the kinds of interruptions that have hindered his past debate performances. The issue over the microphones has prompted fresh discussion over whether the Sept. 10 debate will take place, after the two sides had appeared to come to terms on a debate. Trump had agreed to an ABC News-hosted debate with Biden for Sept. 10. After Biden was replaced atop the Democratic ticket by Harris, Trump initially withdrew from the ABC debate and cast doubt on whether he would debate Harris at all. The two sides eventually agreed to hold the debate with ABC News. While Trump had pushed for additional debates on Fox News and NBC News in September, the Harris campaign said it would only agree to the ABC News event before discussing a potential second presidential debate. But Trump late Sunday raged over the networks broadcast of This Week, which included critical panelists and an interview between host Jonathan Karl and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that Trump deemed biased. Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Trump asked on Truth Social. The debate is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, and will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, the network said. Updated at 11:23 a.m. EDT Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Former President Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to mark the three-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as he sought to turn the chaotic pullout into a resonant line of attack against Vice President Harris. Trump was joined by family members of some of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a bombing at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The former president descended the steps alongside family members to lay a wreath, listened to taps, then returned to the top of the steps and repeated the process twice more for others being honored Monday. Trump and his campaign have repeatedly attacked President Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal, referring to it as the most embarrassing moment in the nations history. Trump and his allies have continued those attacks since Harris replaced Biden atop the Democratic ticket, pointing to Harriss own comments that she was the last person in the room with Biden as he finalized his decision on the withdrawal. This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country, Trump posted on Truth Social. Gross Incompetence 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND. You dont take our soldiers out first, you take them out LAST, when all else is successfully done, he added. Russia then invaded Ukraine, Israel was attacked, and the USA became, and is, a laughing stock all over the World. Family members of the 13 service members killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal spoke on stage at the Republican National Convention, where they criticized Biden and said Trump had shown more sympathy for their loss. Both Biden and Harris issued statements Monday marking the three-year anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones, Harris said in a statement. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe. Harris reiterated Biden made the courageous and right decision to end Americas longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones, she said. I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Monday that Congress will award the families of those killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal the Congressional Gold Medal. Trump sparked controversy earlier this month when he said during a reception that receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, may be better than receiving the Medal of Honor. Updated 12:21 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. In todays world of autonomous cars, keyless ignitions and charging ports, its hard to imagine just how big the tiny, two-door Volkswagen Beetle once was. But in Mexico, where the last Beetle rolled off the production line at Volkswagens flagship factory in Puebla in 2003, the plucky car lives on. Reinvented and reinvigorated by its cultural legacy, Mexico is one of the few remaining places where a taste of Beetle-fever still exists. The cars curvy, colorful exterior and air-cooled, rear engine propelled it to a level of fame and cult status which no petrol car will achieve again. While fond stories of the lovable vehicle roam in our memories, what was once the worlds best-selling car has all but disappeared from American roads, consigned to automotive museums and collectors forecourts. Patrolling the sprawling streets of Mexico City, traversing hair-raising mountain roads in Oaxacas Sierra Norte, and operating as a converted food truck serving Mexican delicacies, the Vocho, as the Beetle is known in Mexico, never left the stage. A sky blue "Vocho" (as the VW Beetles is known in Mexico) is part of the family during a weekend camping trip in central Mexico. - Mirja Vogel Moments before he was interrupted by the signature rumble of a Vocho arriving at the largest Volkswagen event in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, President of the Ixmi Volks Club, Jesus Delgado told CNN: When I hear a Vochos engine, I see my wife waving goodbye to me on her way to the shops. I see the excitement on my sons face as I took him for his first driving lesson. Delgados wife died of Covid in 2020, and his sons are all grown up, but according to him, the emotional memories feel even more real when hes around the car. The first Beetle arrived on Mexican shores in 1954 as part of an exhibition to showcase Germanys industrial growth. Sales were increasing slowly in the United States, but Volkswagen was battling against post-war anti-German sentiment for the car, which had been conceived under Adolf Hitlers direction in 1934. Hitler had entrusted the job of manufacturing a small, affordable car to carmaker Ferdinand Porsche, but the outbreak of World War II halted commercial production. It didnt restart until 1945, when allied forces discovered the bombed-out remains of a car factory in northern Germany, where a lone Volkswagen Beetle was parked amongst the rubble. It took a spark of brilliance from Jewish-American advertising executive Julian Koenig for Volkswagens tides to change. Alongside his team of sharp-suited Madison Avenue ad-men, he launched their legendary minimalist advertising campaign Thinking Small, which shifted the American public away from expensive family wagons to a new reality of small, more fuel-efficient and affordable cars for the masses. But nobody could have predicted the Beetles improbable evolution into a counterculture symbol and talisman of the flower power movement in the US. Two festival goers who found Woodstock too much lie passed out on the hood and roof of a Volkswagen Beetle in August 1969. - Three Lions/Getty Images A convoy of "Mad-Max style" Vochos arrive at the largest Volkswagen club event in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo. - Mirja Vogel As the Vietnam War raged, the Beetle had grown to embody a powerful social movement spawned from anti-war protests across America, and then continued to represent peace and love throughout the era, as Beetles arrived in droves at Woodstock Festival 1969. It was an underdog, unapologetically simple and a symbol of anti-capitalist structures lovingly embraced by hippie countercultures. It had, in many ways, grown to represent everything that Nazi Germany would have hated. A vibrant heritage By 1972, it was the worlds most-produced car benefiting from the mainstream fame of Disneys The Love Bug and a strong supply chain which included a new factory in Puebla, Mexico, from where it was shipped around the world. By the time Volkswagen called time on the cars production in 2003 due to declining sales and a desire to build more modern alternatives, the Beetle had been manufactured in Mexico for more years than it had in Germany. Shortly after the announcement, BBC News reported that it has become obvious that its heritage will remain vibrant. A Texas Beetle proudly presents its rear, air cooled engine, a staple of the Beetle's design. - Mirja Vogel Two vibrant, carefully-remodelled Vochos with their signature curved bonnets in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico. - Mirja Vogel But since then, tougher air pollution laws and rising fuel costs have gradually taken it off the roads of Europe and in the United States, where the car is serving its final stately chapter away from the public eye, holding its own as a toy for the rich and famous. Actor, Chris Pratt restored his own 1965 Beetle back in 2016 describing it as a dream to roll through the Hollywood hills in. In the same year, comedian, Jerry Seinfeld sold his white 1960 model, equipped with a 36hp engine for $121,000, setting a world record for a Beetle sale. Three years later, fellow Hollywood star, Ewan McGregor spent over $30,000 to convert his Beetle to become fully electric. But in Mexico, youre never far from catching a glimpse of the original car signatures curves and rear engine growl. Jose Luis, who has been restoring Vochos for 40 years, described how he was deeply saddened when the decision was made to stop producing the car. He argued, that although parts are now more expensive and much harder to find, the appetite for people to own and drive them in Mexico remains unchanged. Acclaimed Mexican visual artist, Betsabee Romero designs her latest project - a bridge comprising five Beetles - currently on show at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. - Mirja Vogel For world-renowned Mexican visual artist, Betsabee Romero, the car has been instrumental in her career. In her studio in the outskirts of Mexico City, Romero is perched next to one of five hollowed out Vocho shells she will shortly meld together to create a bridge representing the migrant journey. The Vocho is a symbol of our heritage and one we can all relate to, she said. Every car is a piece of design history; it is uniquely democratic Many people might have a favorite building but not know the architect or enjoy a style of art but couldnt tell you about who or when it was created. Thats not the case with the car. We all have a favorite, and we each have a story to tell about it. Modern carmakers face a huge challenge in creating a car which can garner a similar level of global attention, but whether it will ever be possible to recreate the Volkswagen Beetles unparalleled cult-status remains to be seen. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com 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. J. Edgar Hoover When Jamie Bernstein told me about her fathers FBI file and its disclosure of hate mail and picketers generated by the FBI in 1970, in the wake of the Bernsteins Black Panthers fundraiser I was impressed but unsurprised. A year before, J. Edgar Hoover had called the Black Panther Party the greatest threat to the internal security of the country. The FBI responded with a covert counter-intelligrance program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance and infiltration. I claim no expertise about the Black Panthers. But I did live through the sixties and seventies, including momentous years in Berkeley and Oakland. Before that, in 1970, I graduated from Swarthmore College, where my last two years were tumultuous. One day a gentleman in his thirties turned up and participated in a meeting at which he ludicrously suggested that our student demonstrations were insufficiently violent. Nobody paid any attention to him or thought twice about it. Some time later a nearby FBI office was raided in Media, Pennsylvania. Those files disclosed FBI agents infiltrating Swarthmore student meetings both on and off campus. We also learned that the campus switchboard operator was an FBI informant. Someone should write a book about the relationship between the intelligence community and the American arts during the Cold War. At Tanglewood, an informant another switchboard operator fingered Aaron Copland with no idea who he was. The same was true of Joe McCarthy, when he interrogated Copland in 1953; his ignorance was risible. My book on the cultural Cold War, The Propaganda of Freedom, is a study in mutual incomprehension. The White House, the CIA, and the State Department relied upon Nicolas Nabokov as their in-house expert on the state of the arts in Soviet Russia. As General Secretary of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, Nabokov enjoyed access to limitless funding, covertly furnished by the CIA. He also wrote widely about Soviet music. He was a minor composer of consequence, a cosmopolite, a charming and well intentioned raconteur. He was also a man disinherited by the Russian Revolution and traumatized by exile. He could only view the Soviet Union as a cultural and intellectual wasteland. He particularly demonized Dmitri Shostakovich, whom he considered a lesser composer than his friend Vittorio Rieti. And notwithstanding the achievements of Shostakovich or Tarkovsky or Solzhenitsyn this became the counter-factual American propaganda line: that absent freedom, creativity was inconceivable. Any reasonably informed observer of Soviet music in those years (I even include myself) could have told the CIA that Nabokovs Orwellian USSR was a fantasy. Soviet Russia was no North Korea. Relying on Nicolas Nabokov for insight into Soviet culture was kindred to relying on Cuban exiles for advice on the Bay of Pigs invasion. Or thinking that the Bernsteins were a threat to American wellbeing. To read a follow-up blog, click here. In Lebanon's biggest public hospital, nurses are busy honing their life-saving skills as the spectre of all-out war looms, 10 months into intensifying clashes between Hezbollah and Israel over the Gaza war. "We are in a state of readying for war," nurse Basima Khashfi said as she gave emergency training to young nurses and other staff at the hospital in Beirut. "We are currently training employees -- not just nurses, but also administrative and security staff. "With our current capabilities, we're almost prepared" in case of a wider war, she told AFP. Lebanon has been setting in motion public health emergency plans since hostilities began, relying mostly on donor funds after five years of grueling economic crisis. The threat of full-blown war grew after Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement vowed to avenge the killings last month, blamed on Israel, of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in south Beirut. "We're training to handle mass casualty incidents and to prepare for disasters or war," said Lamis Dayekh, a 37-year-old nurse undergoing training. "If war breaks out, we'll give everything we have." The cross-border violence has killed nearly 600 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 131 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, army figures show. In a building next to the hospital, where the emergency operations center is located, health ministry officials are busy typing away, making calls and monitoring news of the war in Gaza and south Lebanon on large television screens. "This is not our first war and we have been ready every time," said Wahida Ghalayini, who heads the center, active since hostilities began in October. She cited a massive 2020 Beirut port explosion, Hezbollah and Israel's 2006 conflict and Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. The health ministry's plan includes a helpline for those already displaced by war, an assessment of hospital needs, disaster training for staff and a mental health module. The emergency room coordinates with rescue teams and hospitals in Lebanon's south. The plan prioritises hospitals based on their location. The "red zone", at high risk of Israeli strikes, comprises Hezbollah's strongholds in the country's south, east and Beirut's southern suburbs. But despite Lebanon's long history of civil unrest and disasters, the public health sector now faces an economic crisis that has drained state coffers, forcing it to rely on aid. "We need lots of medical supplies, fuel, oxygen... the Lebanese state has a financial and economic problem," said Ghalayini. The state electricity provider barely produces power, so residents rely on expensive private generators and solar panels. Most medical facilities depend on solar power during the day, she said, pointing to panels atop the adjacent hospital's roof and parking lot. Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the country had enough drugs and medical supplies to last at least four months in case of a wider war. "Efforts to increase readiness follow the (Israeli) enemy entity's threat of expanding its aggression," Abiad said in a statement. Last month's strike that killed a top Hezbollah commander targeted a densely packed residential area, killing five civilians and wounding scores more. It tested the readiness of Beirut hospitals in the high-risk Hezbollah stronghold, Ghalayini told AFP. As Israel threatens full-scale war, Lebanon is also looking to health workers in Gaza for emergency planning strategies, she said. "We are observing the Gaza emergency centre... to learn from them," she said, pointing at television footage of bloodied patients at a hospital in Gaza, where the death toll has sparked mounting concerns. For 25-year-old nurse Mohamed Hakla, the prospect of war is frightening but "our job is to help others. I will not deprive people of this (help) because of fear". Today's news: an increase in mpox (monkeypox) virus infections in the Philippines; Hamas rejects ceasefire conditions set by Israel in Cairo; Kim Jong Un witnesses war tests while visiting the Academy of Defence Sciences, new kamikaze drones unveiled by Korea; At least 22 dead in Thailand from flooding and mudslides caused by monsoon rains. PAKISTAN Early this morning at least 23 people from Punjab were killed in the Musakhail district of Balochistan after gunmen unloaded passengers from trucks and buses and fired at them after checking their identity. This is the second attack by separatist militiamen on people from Punjab this year, in April there were nine victims. PHILIPPINES The Philippines confirmed two more mpox (monkeypox) virus infections of the milder clade 2 variety, bringing the number of infections to three. The newly confirmed cases are a 37-year-old man from Metro Manila who had a rash on his body last week and a 32-year-old man from the capital who had skin lesions on his body. GAZA - ISRAEL Hamas rejected new conditions set by Israel in Gaza ceasefire talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, casting further doubt on the chances of a breakthrough in the latest US-backed effort to end the 10-month war. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after meeting with mediators. NORTH KOREA Kim Jong Un visited the Defence Science Academy's Drone Institute on Saturday and witnessed a "successful test" of the drones that "correctly identified and destroyed designated targets after flying along several predetermined routes," the state-run Korean Central News Age agency reported. North Korea also unveiled new kamikaze drones, some of which look similar to those used by Russia in the released photos. THAILAND Flash floods across Thailand caused by monsoon rains have killed 22 people and injured 19, authorities said. Some provinces are at further risk, with 30,000 families unsafe. A Russian couple and nine migrant workers from neighbouring Myanmar were among the 13 people killed in a mudslide on the southern island of Phuket. UKRAINE - RUSSIA The Ukrainian Armed Forces hit with Neptun missiles, fired from the Odessa area, a tanker ship in the port of Kavkaz in the Krasnodar region, which was supposed to unload fuel on a railway line, triggering a huge fire that also blocked passage from the Kerc bridge, one of the main Ukrainian military targets. GEORGIA The Prime Minister of Georgia, Iraklij Kobakhidze, insisted on the prediction that in the autumn parliamentary elections only the Georgian Dream and the opponents of the National Movement will pass the 5% barrier to enter parliament, but the latter will be declared 'unconstitutional' and there will remain in the country 'only one democratically elected party'. On 4 September, the Pope will meet 200 Indonesian students at the Grha Pemuda Youth House. The organisation - wanted in Argentina by Bergoglio - will launch the Scholas Citizenship programme, in collaboration with the Indonesian government and the Global 5P Movement, to train young people through its educational methodology, promoting a culture of encounter. Rome (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis' imminent apostolic journey to Asia and Oceania - from 2 to 13 September, with stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore - will also be an opportunity to inaugurate the first headquarters in the region of Scholas Occurrentes, the global educational project dedicated to young people, set up in Buenos Aires in 2001 on Bergoglio's initiative and which became a foundation of pontifical right in 2013. On Wednesday 4 September in Jakarta, the Holy Father will in fact visit the Grha Pemuda Youth House, to personally meet 200 specially trained Indonesian students from different islands in the country, from various educational institutions and from multiple ethnic groups and religions, to emphasise the values that underpin the organisation's work, including unity in diversity and the Culture of Encounter. Scholas will in fact launch the Scholas Citizenship programme for the first time in South-East Asia, implemented through a collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia and with the support of the Global 5P Movement (governed by five fundamental principles: Peace, Prosperity, People, Planet and Partnership). It is outlined as an educational action whose objective is to train a group of university students and young teachers to implement this methodology later in their communities. This approach aims to give meaning to young people and to respond to the current needs of Indonesian society, says the organisation. A fundamental purpose in a country with a high percentage of young people, which is constantly growing. When Scholas Occurrentes was founded in Argentina at the instigation of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, it had the name Escuela de Vecinos and School Sisters. The project involves students from public and public schools, of all religions, to educate young people in commitment to the common good. Today it is a public international organisation, led by the Pontiff himself, which works with schools and educational communities of different religious and secular denominations to restore the educational pact. Scholas Occurrentes promotes a culture of encounter for peace through education, art and sport, with a focus on low-income communities. Since 2013 its headquarters has been in Rome, at Palazzo San Callisto. Its network includes almost 450,000 schools and educational agencies worldwide. Its dream is to transform the world into a classroom without walls, where all children are integrated and peace is achieved. Over the years, Schola Occurrentes has won several international awards, even reaching as far as Indonesia. In 2022, it attended the G20 Summit in Bali, where it met with world leaders in the political, educational and social spheres to present its innovative model of education. Later invited to the Tri Hita Karana Forum, Scholas discussed with the Indonesian Minister of Education the possibility of expanding its activities in the country and strengthening ties with stakeholders in Asia. In line with Pope Francis' mission to promote a culture of encounter and peace, Scholas representatives visited the village of Genggelang in Lombok, sharing moments with local youth and planting an olive tree as a symbol of peace. In order to better understand the Indonesian context, Scholas finally sent a dedicated team and developed a plan to promote global citizenship among young Indonesians by offering intensive training on the Scholas methodology to selected young people at the headquarters in Granada, Spain. Champion local news. Join our community of readers who value daily beat reporting and in-depth stories alike. Your membership allows us to continue the legacy of local, independent journalism in the Roaring Fork Valley. With your support, we can remain a free and accessible source of news for everyone, always without paywalls or corporate influence. Together, we can ensure that vital local stories are told. Berlin Zoo said Friday its resident panda Meng Meng had delivered twins for the second time, hailing the rare births as a boost to the endangered creatures. The cubs were born on Thursday, weighing 136 and 169 grams (around five and six ounces), and measuring just 14 centimetres (5.5 inches), the zoo said. They are both doing well and are being cared for by their mother and panda experts, although the zoo added the next few days would be "critical". "I am relieved that the two were born healthy," zoo director Andreas Knieriem said in a statement. "With fewer than 2,000 adult giant pandas in their natural habitat, every single cub is an important contribution to the conservation of this endangered species." The gender of the cubs has not yet been determined. Pandas are born naked, deaf, blind and pink, and it takes some time for the creatures' typical black and white markings to develop. Zoo visitors will not yet be able to see the new arrivals, who will spend their early days hidden from public view in the rear area of the panda enclosure. Meng Meng and male panda Jiao Qing arrived in Berlin in 2017 on loan from China. Famed for its "panda diplomacy", China has dispatched its national treasure to only about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations. In 2019, Meng Meng delivered twins called Pit and Paule, which were the first of the animals to be born in Germany. As part of such loan agreements, pandas born overseas must be returned to China, and Pit and Paule were sent to live in Chengdu last year. China had previously given three pandas to Germany but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world. Environmental group WWF says about 1,860 pandas remain in the wild in China. 26 August 2024 08:30 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Many experts contend that current climate policies lack the robustness required to effectively address the scale of climate change. Existing measures frequently fall short due to inadequately set targets, insufficient enforcement, and an incomplete focus on critical sectors such as agriculture and aviation. While the Paris Agreement's objective to limit global warming to 1.5C is ambitious, many countries' commitments remain non-binding and are not sufficiently urgent to drive substantial change. The disparity between pledged commitments and actual emissions reductions underscores the limitations inherent in the current policy framework. Political efforts to combat climate change have frequently been criticized for their ineffectiveness. This criticism can be attributed to several factors: fragmented international cooperation, inconsistent policy implementation, and the influence of powerful industries resistant to change. While there have been notable successes, such as the European Union's Green Deal, overall progress remains slow, and many countries struggle to balance economic interests with environmental goals. The unintended consequences of some climate adaptation strategies are becoming apparent. For example, the excessive use of air conditioning and heating can lead to higher energy consumption and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Urbanization strategies, such as building more reflective surfaces, can sometimes exacerbate heat island effects. These paradoxical outcomes underscore the need for holistic approaches to adaptation that consider both direct and indirect effects on the environment. While the global treaty to combat plastic pollution is a significant step forward, it may fall short if it does not address associated emissions. Plastic production and disposal are major sources of greenhouse gases. Focusing solely on reducing plastic waste without tackling emissions from plastic production and incineration could undermine the treaty's effectiveness. Integrating emissions reduction strategies into plastic pollution management is crucial for achieving comprehensive environmental benefits. Previous Conferences of the Parties (COP) have seen varied success. COP21 in Paris was notable for its landmark agreement to limit global warming, but subsequent events have struggled with implementation and commitment. COP26 in Glasgow, for example, produced promising pledges but faced criticism over the lack of concrete progress and the challenge of holding countries accountable. The effectiveness of COP events often hinges on the political will of participating nations and the mechanisms in place for monitoring and enforcing commitments. Azerbaijans commitment to climate change Azerbaijan has made strides in addressing climate change through various national policies and international commitments. The countrys efforts include investments in renewable energy and participation in global climate agreements. However, the effectiveness of these commitments is subject to scrutiny, as the real impact depends on the scale and implementation of these initiatives. Azerbaijans role in regional climate cooperation could also enhance its contributions to global climate goals. Azerbaijan is establishing itself as a dependable energy partner and a committed player in the global effort to combat climate change. Leveraging its rich renewable energy resources, the country is actively engaging in extensive climate action initiatives. Azerbaijan's renewable energy potential is substantial, estimated at 27,000 MWcomprising 23,000 MW from solar power and 3,000 MW from wind energy. Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2016, an extension of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Azerbaijan has been dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The country submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in October 2015, committing to a 35% reduction in emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels. At COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, Azerbaijan further pledged to cut its climate impact by 40% by 2050, reinforcing its role in global climate initiatives. Central to Azerbaijan's clean energy strategy is the development of renewable energy sources. By the end of 2027, the country plans to inaugurate nine solar and wind power plants with a combined capacity of 2 gigawatts. An additional 10 power plants, also using solar and wind energy, are slated for construction by 2030, with a potential output of up to 5 gigawatts. As Azerbaijan prepares for COP29 in November, there is a strong focus on climate finance, a key topic expected to dominate the discussions. State representatives have emphasized their high expectations for the outcomes of this pivotal event. America's plan to renew a nuclear power plant in Armenia The renewal of a nuclear power plant in Armenia by the United States is a complex issue. Nuclear power, while low in carbon emissions, poses environmental and safety risks, including potential harm to natural ecosystems and concerns about radioactive waste. The U.S.'s decision may be influenced by strategic, geopolitical, or energy security considerations rather than purely climate goals. Balancing the benefits of reduced greenhouse gas emissions with the risks associated with nuclear power is a critical challenge. Banned weapons and their impact on climate The use of banned weapons, such as chemical or depleted uranium weapons, has adverse effects on both human health and the environment. These weapons can cause long-term environmental damage, including contamination of soil and water, which can indirectly affect climate stability. While the direct link to climate change might be less apparent, the broader environmental degradation associated with such weapons contributes to overall ecological harm, including potential climate impacts. Addressing the use of such weapons is important for both humanitarian and environmental reasons. In conclusion, the current global climate policy framework faces significant challenges in effectively addressing climate change. Despite the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement, many nations' non-binding commitments and insufficient urgency hinder substantial progress, revealing the limitations of the existing policy approach. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 16:37 (UTC+04:00) Elnur Enveroglu Read more Almost 30 years ago, when Azerbaijan needed support during the former Garabagh conflict, the US enacted Section 907, banning all direct aid to Baku. Instead of recognizing the rights of a country whose territories were under occupation, putting pressure on it was a clear example of hypocrisy and double standards. This theory of the West has always existed and continues to this day. For example, let us take the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) attitude towards the nuclear crisis in the world. About two weeks ago, a fire broke out at the Nuclear Power Station in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine as a result of a shootout between the parties (Russia-Ukraine). The seriousness of the incident is obvious, and if it is a nuclear threat, there is no need to make any comments or arguments about it. Although a message of protest came from Rafael Grossi, the IAEA head regarding the incident, the cause of the fire was not identified and the matter remained as it was. The United States has been talking about the danger of Iran's nuclear reactors for years and tries to explain the situation in such a way that all regional states neighboring Iran should be evacuated from their territories. The seriousness of the nuclear threat cannot be doubted, but if there is prejudice, it leads to some misunderstanding... The United States is reviewing Armenia's application to join the 123 Agreement, which would allow Armenia to access American civilian nuclear technology, according to the State Department. The information states that, under US federal law, the US government must sign Section 123 of the United States Atomic Energy Act, which sets out the terms of the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to other countries. According to the State Department's 2022 update, the US has such agreements with 48 countries and territories. If Armenia joins the 123 Agreement, it could pave the way for the development and construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia using US technology, replacing the Soviet-era Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. It is very interesting that this station, which was put into operation for the first time in the South Caucasus in 1976 during the time of the Soviet Union, after being unused for a long time, was put on the agenda again based on the interests of the United States. The nuclear complex, which consists of two units, was stopped by the decision of the former Soviet government after the impact caused by the earthquake in Spitak (Hamamli / historically was part of Western Azerbaijan) in 1988. After the fall of the USSR, Armenia had a period of energy scarcity and the government decided to reopen the plant, and subsequently unit 2 restarted on 5 November 1995, six years after being shut down. The location of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in a seismic area of approximately 10 points is not discussed today either in the IAEA or in the US State Department. Here, it is a clear fact that Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia and other states close to the region face danger. In addition to all these dangers, nobody cares if the station opens the door to illegal nuclear trade. There are more than 200 radioactive sources in the territory of Armenia. These sources include various types of isotopes. There have also been cases of smuggling of radioactive isotopes in Armenia. This increases the possibility of using radionuclides for terrorist purposes. Ecologically, the damage caused by this station to the environment is without exception. Liquid waste from the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is ultimately discharged into the Araz, a trans-boundary river. The plant is located in a water-scarce area, drawing water from deep wells to cool its aging reactor. During earthquakes, it is possible to change the level of underground water and the direction of flows, which is a clear evidence of the unreliability of the cooling system. Thus, the West, which uses Armenia as a dangerous weapon in the South Caucasus, caused serious concern in the region with its next weird decision. With this decision, the United States demonstrated that its interests are more important than any certain security procedure. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 16:16 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Pakistan and Azerbaijan are advancing their economic and trade relations, focusing on expanding bilateral and multilateral cooperation across various sectors. During a recent meeting at the residence of Pakistans Deputy Chairman of the Senate, Syedaal Khan, Azerbaijani Ambassador Khazar Farhadov and Khan discussed strategies to strengthen economic ties and address regional issues, Azernews reports, citing Pakistani media. Khan highlighted Pakistans commitment to deepening cooperation with Azerbaijan in sectors such as trade, investment, energy, defense, agriculture, and natural resources. He stressed the importance of overcoming existing obstacles to enhance trade and investment and suggested that parliamentary and institutional collaboration could further bolster public relations between the two countries. The Deputy Chairman emphasized the potential of Balochistans mineral wealth in transforming the region's economic landscape and urged global investors to seize opportunities in Pakistan. He also underlined the shared cultural and religious values that underpin the Pakistan-Azerbaijan relationship and the crucial role of parliamentary efforts in promoting peace and development. In response, Ambassador Farhadov expressed Azerbaijans eagerness to advance its partnership with Pakistan. Both leaders agreed on the necessity of an early action plan to facilitate the exchange of business delegations and enhance institutional cooperation. Khan also condemned human rights violations in Kashmir and called for international action against ongoing brutality in Palestine, advocating for a unified Islamic response to support Palestinian freedom. He reaffirmed the commitment of Pakistani leadership, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N Leader Nawaz Sharif, to the nations development and prosperity. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 17:14 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more On August 30, the Ministry of Energy will host a comprehensive webinar on the "Energy Auditor" certification, Azernews reports. Ali Salmanli from the Ministry's Energy Efficiency Department will present an in-depth overview of the qualifications required to become a certified energy auditor and will address any related questions. The webinar will take place at 15:00 and can be accessed via the Ministry of Energys Facebook page. Interested participants are encouraged to join for valuable insights and guidance on energy audit certification. This upcoming webinar offers a valuable opportunity for those interested in pursuing a career as an energy auditor. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 17:35 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more Productive meeting today between COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Azernews reports, citing the post shared by COP29 on its official "X" account. "Together, were working to amplify the voices of Pacific Islands and build a more resilient, sustainable future ahead of COP29," the post reads. Productive meeting today between COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev and UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres at the @ForumSEC in Tonga. Together, were working to amplify the voices of Pacific Islands and build a more resilient, sustainable future ahead of #COP29. pic.twitter.com/kQDEqDwxp2 COP29 Azerbaijan (@COP29_AZ) August 26, 2024 Recall that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will host the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) for the first time in the region from November 1122, 2024. The decision was made at the plenary session of COP28 on December 11. Azerbaijan successfully participated in the COP28 held in Abu Dhabi last year. Azerbaijan will take the opportunity to bring heads of state and governments, civil society organisations, business, and international institutions together in the South Caucasus to discuss climate change, measures to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and focus on long-term climate strategies and goals. It is worth noting that Azerbaijan confirmed its commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 and increase this target by 40 percent by 2050. Fulfilling the commitments under the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 and actively working in this regard are priority issues for the government of Azerbaijan. The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been held annually since 1995. The event aims to assess the progress made in combating climate change around the world. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 15:19 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more On August 26, Lachin City celebrates its inaugural City Day with a ceremonial opening held at Flag Square, Azernews reports. The event was organized by the Special Representation of the Culture Ministry and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Lachin district with the support of the Baku Abadlig Service LLC. First, the National Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan was played by the Military Orchestra of the Defense Ministry. Special Representative of the President in Lachin district Masim Mammadov welcomed the guests of the event. The ceremony was attended by various officials, renowned cultural figures and numerous guests, alongside the people of Lachin who returned to their homeland. Lachin City Day is set to be vividly painted with purple hues, symbolizing the enchanting and rich natural landscape of Lachin district. The festivities commemorate the second anniversary of the city's revival and are designed to create lasting memories not only for the residents of Lachin but for all Azerbaijani people. The holiday program features a variety of colorful activities along the picturesque terrace of the city. Throughout the day, visitors can participate in master on traditional folk arts, including network creation, mat-making, ceramics, and coppersmithing. Moreover, visitors can also enjoy art exhibition "Lachin is mine" and the photo exhibition "Wings of Time - Lachin", both taking place at Lachin Cinema. The celebration will continue with Can Lachin Fair, highlighting the unique flavors of Lachin's culinary heritage. Poetry enthusiasts are invited to take part in poetry hour reflection the spirit of the mountains. Furthermore, a variety of fun-filled activities for children will be organized along the banks of the Hekari River, including kite flying, mask-making, balloon games and face art. Note that August 26 was officially recognized as Lachin City Day last year, marking a new event in Azerbaijan's calendar of significant days. Lachin City Day was established by President Ilham Aliyev's decree "On the establishment of city days in the liberated territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan", dated on July 31, 2023. ---- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 20:51 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The deadlocked process of peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia is reigniting tensions as well as making a dangerous hotbed in the South Caucasus region. It is no longer necessary to recall that Armenia has been the only party delaying these negotiations. Since the Almaty meeting in May, Yerevan has been postponing discussions related to peace and avoiding bilateral meetings. It should be noted that Azerbaijan has supported all negotiation platforms involving the West, the EU, and regional states like Russia. However, experience shows that trilateral talks have not been sufficient to achieve any positive results in the meeting before. Undoubtedly, continuing negotiations directly between the two countries appears to align with the interest of Baku, despite Yerevan's sway by its Western patrons. The failure of trilateral discussions as in recent practices can be attributed to some contradicting opinions of the mediating party due to its national interests. It is no secret that many platforms have been organised so far, and the majority of them exhibited bias in matters between Baku and Yerevan, especially evident in James O'Brien's unfounded accusations against Azerbaijan, which cast doubt on the U.S.'s ability to serve as a mediator between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The discussion of peace issues and Russia's goodwill to support peace talks during Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Azerbaijan are suitable for Azerbaijan. However, the Pashinyan administration, which leans more towards the West, openly shows an unwillingness to sit at a round table with its ex-ally. This is evidenced by the recent polemic between the foreign ministries of both Russia and Armenia, regarding the Kremlin's insistence to open communication lines as agreed in the November trilateral document. This situation escalates tensions in the region, particularly concerning issues around the Zangazur corridor. From Russia's perspective, Putin's request to Pashinyan aims to find a common ground in the region that suits both Baku and Yerevan's interests. But his proposal to open the passage between Azerbaijan and its exclave Nakhchivan, which indirectly implies ensuring Russia's presence in the corridor, does not align with the interests of Pashinyan and his Western allies. It was expected that Armenia, seeking to distance itself from Russia as well as oust all Russian troops from its territories, would be unwilling to re-engage in peace talks mediated by Russia. However, the main reason appears to be the interests of the West rather than Armenia itself. Western elements aiming to reduce Russia's sphere of influence and establish their foothold in the region would first seek to sideline Russia and attract Armenia's attention. Armenia's complete withdrawal from peace negotiations, the lack of discussion on transferring mine maps to Azerbaijan, and the absence of information provided to official Baku about nearly 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis indicate that these forces have been somewhat successful in implementing their sinister plans. The Armenian side is well aware that relations with Russia are in crisis. This is precisely why, just a few hours after the phone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan called Tehran and sought to establish initial contact with the newly appointed foreign minister. The timing of this call suggests that Armenia intends to use Iran's support against Russian pressure. While the deterioration of relations between Armenia and Russia may, to some extent, benefit the Western forces, the growing rifts between Yerevan and Moscow promise no more than crisis and disruption of stability in the region. It is anticipated that Yerevan's Western allies will not remain silent in response to Russia's pressure on Armenia. Subsequently, provocations are already ongoing in the region and Armenia's shelling of the Azerbaijan Army positions along the border is expected to increase. In this context, escalating inter-country tensions in the region do not serve the interests of any party. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called last week's deadly knife attack an act "terrorism against us all" and pledged swift action to tighten weapons controls. The violence Friday at a street festival in western Germany's Solingen, which killed three people and wounded eight, was allegedly carried out by a 26-year-old Syrian man with links to the Islamic State (IS) group. The events have shaken Germany and fuelled a renewed debate about immigration ahead of key regional elections set for Sunday. "This was terrorism, terrorism against us all," Scholz said at a press conference in Solingen. The attack threatened "the way we live together", the chancellor said. Flanked by regional political leaders, Scholz laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims and spoke with emergency service responders. "We will now have to tighten up the weapons regulations... in particular with regard to the use of knives," Scholz said, adding that "I'm sure this will happen very quickly". Germany would also have to "do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and must not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported," Scholz said. The suspect in the attack, a 26-year-old Syrian man, gave himself up to authorities late Saturday after a day on the run and confessed, police said. German anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation and the man, named as Issa Al H., has been detained on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and belonging to a "terrorist group". The Islamic State group said in a statement on Saturday that one of its members had carried out the attack in "revenge" for Muslims "in Palestine and everywhere". "The perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State," said a statement from the jihadists' Amaq news agency on the Telegram messaging app. The claim could not be immediately verified. According to the Bild and Spiegel news outlets, the suspect arrived in Germany in December 2022 and had a protected immigration status often given to those fleeing war-torn Syria. He was meant to have been deported to Bulgaria, where he had first arrived in the European Union, but the operation failed after he went missing. The suspect was not however known to German security services as a dangerous extremist, according to officials. The attack has reignited a debate around immigration in the EU's most populous country ahead of regional elections next weekend in Saxony and Thuringia, two states in the former communist East Germany. The far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party, which is aiming for gains in the state polls after recent electoral wins, has accused successive governments of having caused "chaos" by allowing in too many immigrants. The co-leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, on Monday called for a "stop to immigration, admission and naturalisation" for five years. Meanwhile, Friedrich Merz, the head of the conservative CDU, Germany's main opposition party, urged the government to stop taking in refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. A complete stop to asylum applications from those countries would not be in keeping with Germany's constitution, Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said at a regular government press conference on Monday. On the other side of the equation, Scholz's government was already under pressure to resume deportations to both countries, after a halt of several years. Members of Scholz's ruling coalition had called for tougher deportation measures after a 25-year-old Afghan stabbed a policeman to death in Mannheim in May, in an attack that targeted an anti-Islam rally. German security services have been on high alert for Islamist attacks since the Gaza war erupted on October 7 with the Hamas attacks on Israel. Germany has been hit by several such attacks in recent years, with the most deadly being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people. 25 August 2024 23:42 (UTC+04:00) "I want to express my deep gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. He sent a plane to put out the fires. We put out fires very effectively with this plane." According to Azernews, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said these words in his speech after the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to him, the number of fires in the forests of Turkiye increased by 53 percent and reached 5,540. "27 planes, 105 helicopters, and more than 5,000 land vehicles are involved in extinguishing fires. Between August 15 and 19, 306 forest fires occurred. The relevant ministers are always on the ground. I also regularly receive information from them." It should be noted that in accordance with the instructions of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the "BE-200CS" amphibious aircraft of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) aviation unit was sent to Turkiye in order to help the brotherly country in the fight against the strong forest fires that occurred in Turkiye. The plane is currently engaged in firefighting measures in the forest toward Usak-Eshme. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 11:52 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has extended his congratulations to Azerbaijan's First Vice-President, Mehriban Aliyeva, on the occasion of her birthday, Azernews reports. The congratulatory message states: "Your multifaceted state and socio-political activities are directed towards the well-being of the people, and your professionalism, organizational talent, boundless energy, and charm have rightfully earned you respect both in the Republic of Azerbaijan and beyond its borders. I value the high level of mutual trust, close contacts in various fields, and the strategically significant partnership between Minsk and Baku." A. Lukashenko also expressed confidence that the implementation of extensive plans for the development of Belarus-Azerbaijan relations fully serves the interests of the brotherly peoples. "Dear Mehriban Arif gizi, I sincerely wish you and your loved ones robust health, happiness, and success in your future endeavors. May joy, love, and harmony always reign in your family," the message concluded. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 16:23 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more As of today, 3,069 local residents (828 families) have been relocated to the Lachin district, Azernews reports. Extensive reconstruction and restoration work has been carried out in the city over the past two years. Communication and infrastructure lines have been updated, and modern infrastructure has been established. To date, 2,031 local residents have returned to their native city. The resettlement of former internally displaced persons in the newly rebuilt Zabukh and Sus villages in the Lachin district has been ensured. The State Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population reported that employment has been provided for more than 950 residents in Lachin so far. "As part of the Large Return program, work continues to cover residents relocated to their native landsLachin city and the Zabukh and Sus villageswith active employment programs. In the first stage, the employment opportunities for these residents are assessed, and the employment programs they will be involved in are determined. Employment has already been provided for 954 residents relocated to Lachin. This includes the establishment of small businesses under the self-employment program for 32 residents. Vocational training courses have been organized for 39 residents. Support for the employment of an additional 255 residents is currently underway. To increase the accessibility of employment services for residents relocated to Lachin, the Lachin Service Department of the State Employment Agencys Eastern Zangezur Regional Employment Office has also been opened, the statement emphasized. It should be noted that Lachin was liberated from occupation on August 26, 2022. According to President Ilham Aliyevs decree on the establishment of City Days for the liberated territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, August 26 is commemorated as Lachin City Day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 18:01 (UTC+04:00) Pakistan's one of the leading media outlets has published an article about the multifaceted humanitarian activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation headed by the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva. The article entitled "The Humanitarian Footprint of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Pakistan" published as the main article on the front page of the "Islamabad Post" newspaper of Pakistan touched on a number of contributions made by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. "The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, under the leadership of Azerbaijans First Lady Her Excellency Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, has made significant contributions to the welfare and development of communities in need, not only in Azerbaijan but also in various friendly countries, including brotherly Pakistan. Through a wide range of projects and charity programs, the Foundation has played a crucial role in enhancing healthcare, education, and social services in Pakistan, thereby strengthening the bond between the two brotherly nations," stated the article. Azernews presents the full article: The Humanitarian Footprint of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Pakistan The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, under the leadership of Azerbaijans First Lady Her Excellency Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, has made significant contributions to the welfare and development of communities in need, not only in Azerbaijan but also in various friendly countries, including brotherly Pakistan. Through a wide range of projects and charity programs, the Foundation has played a crucial role in enhancing healthcare, education, and social services in Pakistan, thereby strengthening the bond between the two brotherly nations. One of the notable initiatives by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Pakistan was the vaccination campaign against the hepatitis B virus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, which aimed to improve public health and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Additionally, the Foundation organized a free examination at the Akbar Care Cerebral Palsy Institute in Peshawar, demonstrating its commitment to supporting individuals with special needs and disabilities. Furthermore, the Foundations support for medical facilities in Pakistan, such as the Kulsum Hospital in Islamabad, where open-heart surgeries were performed, has undoubtedly saved numerous lives and improved access to quality healthcare services. The donation of an ambulance equipped with modern blood transfusion equipment to the Hamza Charitable Fund highlights the Foundations efforts to enhance emergency medical services and blood transfusion capabilities in the region. Education has also been a key focus of the Heydar Aliyev Foundations initiatives in Pakistan. Projects like the construction of the Rara High School for Girls in Muzaffarabad in 2007 after the earthquake in Pakistan, have provided children with better learning environments and educational opportunities. Moreover, the Foundations support for the Thalassemia Center in Islamabad and the Al-Farabi Special Education Centre for Physically Handicapped Children Home in Islamabad has had a positive impact on the lives of individuals with special needs. In addition to healthcare and education, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has made significant contributions to infrastructure development in Pakistan. The construction of the Heydar Aliyev Water Supply System in the Dera Ismail Khan region, along with the provision of electricity infrastructure, has improved access to clean water and reliable electricity for local communities, thereby enhancing their quality of life. The Foundations humanitarian efforts have extended to various social welfare institutions in Pakistan, including orphanages and centers for individuals with disabilities. By providing financial assistance for the repair and equipment of the Anemia Center of Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal, as well as organizing events at the Edhi Homes orphanage in Lahore, the Foundation has demonstrated its commitment to supporting vulnerable populations and promoting social inclusion. Overall, The Heydar Aliyev Foundations extensive humanitarian work in Pakistan, spanning healthcare, education, infrastructure development, and social welfare, has had a profound impact on the lives of countless individuals and communities. Through its unwavering dedication to serving those in need, the Foundation has strengthened the ties between brotherly Azerbaijan and Pakistan. It should be noted that the exemplary above-mentioned works of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Pakistan have not gone unnoticed, earning accolades and recognition for its outstanding contributions to society. In 2013, H.E. Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva was honored with the Martyr Benazir Bhutto Woman Perfection Prize 2013, a testament to her unwavering commitment to humanitarian causes. Subsequently, in 2015, she was awarded the prestigious Hilal-e-Pakistan order, the state award of Pakistan, in recognition of her exceptional efforts to strengthen the bonds between Azerbaijan and Pakistan. This distinguished honor marked a significant milestone, as Her Excellency Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva became the first-ever First Lady to receive this esteemed award, underscoring her remarkable dedication to fostering international cooperation and goodwill. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 08:00 (UTC+04:00) The World Health Organization secretary general has said that the new mpox virus can be halted and brought under control, Azernews reports citing to Anadolu Agency. This new mpox outbreak can be controlled and stopped, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing of members of the WHO, a UN agency. Doing so requires concerted action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and you, our member states, he added. Stating more than 100,000 confirmed mpox cases have been reported to the WHO since the global outbreak began in 2022, he also reported an unprecedented increase in cases in Africa. Transmission is now centered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 90% of the reported cases in 2024. There have been more than 16,000 suspected cases including 575 deaths this year alone, he said Telling how the virus was declared a public health emergency of international concern, Tedros said that last month, cases of the Clade 1b strain of the virus were reported not only from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, which neighbor Congo, but also from Thailand and Sweden, where cases had not been previously reported. Noting that the WHO and its partners have developed a Global mpox Virus Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to stop the outbreak through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts, he said: The plan focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures; minimizing zoonotic transmission; and empowering communities to actively participate in outbreak prevention and control. Saying that the WHO has been working with a wide range of international, regional, national, and local partners to improve preparedness against the virus and enhance coordination in key areas of responses, he also noted that the WHO Regional Office for Africa will jointly lead the coordination of mpox response efforts in the African region, in collaboration with the Ethiopian-based Africa CDC, where the need is greatest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 August 2024 22:34 (UTC+04:00) Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has signed a pardon for 17 prisoners, 13 of whom have been fully released from serving their sentences, Azernews reports citing Georgian media. This information was released by the Georgian President's press service. "Today, the President of Georgia pardoned 17 convicts. Thirteen of them, including two women, have been completely freed from serving their sentences. The remaining sentences of four convicts, including one woman, have been reduced," the statement said. The names of the pardoned individuals have not been disclosed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Dave Chappelle courtesy Punch Line Comedy Club is giving Houston the superstar treatment for its grand opening. The renowned venue has booked Dave Chappelle as its first guest. Chappelle will perform Sept. 6 and 7 at the new location. Tickets are on sale now. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Punch Line announced earlier this summer it was coming to Houston at 1204 Caroline, inside the former House of Blues restaurant space. The venue has a capacity of 250 people. Consider yourself lucky if you snag a ticket to see Chappelle. His last show in Houston was at Toyota Center. Before that, he did a string of dates at the tiny House of Blues Bronze Peacock Room that sold out in seconds. Amanda Thompsen, Punch Line's head of comedy operations, said "seeing a comedic icon in this incredibly intimate venue will be a memorable experience for Houston comedy fans." The first Punch Line opened in San Francisco in 1978 and was a training ground for many future superstars, including Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Ellen DeGeneres and Drew Carey. The club also hosted early performances by Zach Galifianakis, Amy Schumer, Hannibal Buress, Ali Wong and Margaret Cho. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Chappelle once performed a six-hour set there and has called it "the best comedy club in the U.S.A." Dr. Jeff Moss - some may recognize this name as he was superintendent of our BCS for 5 years before becoming the superintendent Lee County NC. An incident occurred during one Lee County meeting where Moss took personal offense by a citizens concern over a mismanaged budget. I wonder why he got so worked up? https://www.wral.com/amp/11702164/ Moss was later superintendent of BCS SC, where many of his skeletons fell out the closet. He was accused of and reprimanded for nepotism, cronyism, and unethical conduct, thus he resigned. https://www.fitsnews.com/2020/08/14/former-beaufort-county-superintendent-reprimanded-by-scde/ Moss hired Hite Associates for school construction during his tenure in 2 different NC districts. He then hired them for the new construction of 2 schools in SC. He seemed to hire them no matter what district he worked for. Hite Associates is the firm we hired for new school construction. Actually, it seems Hite Associates had the job before the funding ever occurred, with no competition from other firms. Hite Associates, as far as we know, is still involved in an ongoing FBI investigation. https://www.blufftontoday.com/story/news/2018/02/07/beaufort-school-board-subpoenaed-fbi/14098492007/ Jimmy Hite - owner of Hite Associates. Is a board member of the private Oakwood School in Greenville. https://www.theoakwoodschool.org/about/leadership The Oakwood school boasts about the outstanding success of their students, contributing it to their small class sizes among other things: Small class sizes and an engaging curriculum help facilitate the growth of each student and ignite a fervent curiosity for the world around them. https://www.theoakwoodschool.org/why-oakwood/whyoakwood Should a man who is on the board of a private school, be in charge of constructing public schools? It would appear he believes in small class sizes but at the same time he builds mega facilities for public students. If he is invested in the success and profitability of a private school, then isnt it a conflict of interest to be building public schools? If we think 10 million is all the tax money it will cost for school construction, we may be gravely mistaken. According to the reports, Hite has a tendency to go over budget. Another matter of ethics is Cheesemans standing as a National Advisor of the RTM Group. The same group that awarded him super of the year. https://www.rtmbgevents.com/advisory/west-education%2C-cio-%26-special-education-congress RTM, simplified, is a marketing organization that sells educational resources to teachers and professionals. Is it not a conflict of interest, when a person who has some authority over spending public money to purchase educational resources, also is the lobbying salesman for the educational resources bought? There is a lot here, let us keep a close eye. A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to his role in a $7.8 million durable medical equipment fraud and kickback scheme. From December 2017 to March 2021, Jesse Foote conspired with overseas telemarketing call centers, DME suppliers, telemedicine companies and physicians to submit fraudulent claims to healthcare benefit programs, the Justice Department said in an Aug. 21 news release. Mr. Foote ran a marketing company where he purchased patient leads, which consisted of Medicare information and pre-written physician orders for DME, from overseas telemarketing companies. The call centers targeted Medicare beneficiaries to bribe them into accepting DME without medical necessity. Mr. Foote paid bribes and kickbacks to telemedicine companies, which paid bribes to kickbacks and physicians to obtain physicians orders for DME based on the leads. Along with his conspirators, Mr. Foote caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims totaling more than $7.8 million for DME. A Los Angeles man has been accused of impersonating a physician and performing a surgery in July 2021. Cristian Perez Latorre, 53, allegedly performed an unlicensed cosmetic surgery on a patient and twice medically treated the patient for infection and other complications related to the surgery, according to an Aug. 23 news release from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. The release also alleges that Mr. Latorre inflicted "great bodily injury," which could carry a sentencing enhancement. Mr. Latorre faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of battery causing serious injury, and six counts of practicing medicine without certification. If convicted as charged, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. David Anderson, MD, a physician in Morgantown, W.Va., admitted to filing a false tax return. Dr. Anderson filed tax returns that understated his taxable income, leading to a loss of $143,599 to the Internal Revenue Service, according to an Aug. 26 news release from the Justice Department. Dr. Anderson is responsible for paying back the balance, plus penalties and interest. He faces up to three years in federal prison. A judge will determine his sentence, taking sentencing guidelines and other factors into consideration, the release said. Insurance giant Cigna has maintained its position as a leading payer nationwide, despite both positive and negative events over the last two months. Here are nine updates on Cigna, as reported by Becker's since June 21: 1. Cigna Healthcare promoted Marlene Matsuoka to general manager for its group employer business in Northern California. 2. Cigna earned profits of $1.8 billion in the second quarter of this fiscal year, up 6% year over year. It was the fourth-most profitable payer in the U.S. that quarter. 3. EncircleRx, a Cigna program helping employers control the cost of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, hit 2 million enrollees in its first six months. 4. San Francisco-based Dignity Health's Arizona locations will be out-of-network with Cigna's commercial and Medicare Advantage plans Sept. 1 if an agreement is not reached between the two groups. A Cigna spokesperson told Becker's the insurer will continue to work with Dignity to reach a contract. 5. The Cigna Group will allocate $9 million toward health equity initiatives over three years. Houston and Hartford, Conn., will be the first communities to receive funding. 6. Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health reached new multi-year agreements with Cigna and Aetna. Each agreement includes all payer lines of business, including commercial, exchange, Medicare and Medicaid. 7. A group of 24 federal lawmakers expressed concern Cigna's pharmaceutical benefit manager Express Scripts could be limiting Tricare beneficiaries' choice of pharmacies. In a letter to the director of the Defense Health Agency and the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, lawmakers accused Express Scripts of abusing its market position and asked the agency to provide information on its pharmacy network and the prices Express Scripts charges. 8. Texas fined Cigna $600,000 for failing to comply with multiple independent claims dispute resolution requirements under state law. The state required Cigna to develop and implement a corrective action plan by 2024, which it failed to do. Since then, Cigna said, "it has properly assigned resources to its IDR program" and will achieve full compliance by Aug. 15. 9. The Cigna Group promoted Jamie Kates to chief accounting officer. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of physicians who were self-employed dropped to 42%, according to the American Medical Association. This marks a clear shift from independence to employment but where do gastroenterologists fall? Gastroenterologists are slightly more likely to be practice owners, at 42.7% self-employed. According to data from career site Zippa, 88% of gastroenterologists work in private practice the second highest of any specialty. But the line between independence and employment for gastroenterologists may be growing thinner. "Many young gastroenterologists are running away from private practice," Adam Levy, MD, a gastroenterologist in Macon, Ga., told Becker's. "This is due to the high cost of educational loans and an environment where hospitals are offering large salaries to graduates. It is difficult for private practice to compete upfront due to declining reimbursements." However, gastroenterologists also earn more in self-employed settings. Median compensation for gastroenterologists working at hospital-owned groups or MSOs increased 4%, compared with a 15% increase for those at physician-owned groups, according to the Healthcare Appraisers' 2023 GI "Industry Outlook" report. For those with "an appetite for risk," private practice could still prove beneficial in the long run, Gabriel Oinescu, MD, and gastroenterologist at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York City, told Becker's. "The challenge is that each physician is trading in a comfortable [employed] position, albeit with limited autonomy, for potential financial risk," he said. "Keeping a practice open will take more effort to comply with government regulations and reporting, so reducing the burden may help. Eventually, building and monetizing the equity of the practice should be enough to incentivize physicians to seek alternatives to employment." Starting this fall, NYC Health + Hospitals plans to cut primary care visit times for new patients from 40 minutes to 20 minutes. The change will address growing demands for care at the nation's largest public health system, according to internal documents obtained by Gothamist and Politico. During an internal presentation to staff, officials said halving visit times will allow new patients to access care faster. Over the past year, the average wait time for primary care appointments increased from 11 days to 22 days for adults, according to a report from New York City's mayoral office. For children, the wait time grew 40% from 15 days in the first four months of 2023 to 21 days over the same period this year. The increases are based on the third next available appointment time, a commonly used metric to gauge healthcare accessibility. NYC Health + Hospitals has added nearly 50,000 primary care patients since 2021, which has pushed up wait times, a spokesperson for the health system told news outlets. "As more New Yorkers want to seek care in our system, it is our mission to make primary care available for them, with our cornerstone being that we treat healthcare as a human right for every New Yorker," a spokesperson said, adding that the health system is bringing on more physicians assistants and other staff to its care teams to allow physicians to spend as much time with patients as possible. "Under this new plan, doctors will spend more time with patients and less time doing things like prior authorization which is a key contributor to doctor burnout," the health system said in a statement. The 20 minute appointment-length time refers to direct time spent with physicans, a spokesperson said in a statement to Becker's. "New patients will still have visits longer than 20 minutes as they see all care team members they need to," such as social workers, behavioral health workers, nurses and clinical pharmacists. Some physicians have criticized the directive, saying it's too rigid and doesn't account for the complexity of patients' medical needs. "Part of what makes the 20-minute patient visit an issue is that it's a blunt policy that's [being implemented] across the board," Andrew Goldstein, MD, a primary care physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, told the Gothamist. Warren (Ohio) City Hospital, a collaborative group of business and community leaders, has raised enough money to acquire Dallas-based Steward Health Care's Warren, Ohio-based Trumbull Regional Medical Center, a spokesperson for the organization told Becker's. Steward shared plans Aug. 21 to close both Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Warren-based Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital on or around Sept. 20, resulting in nearly 1,000 layoffs. Warren City Hospital shared plans in early August to purchase and upgrade the hospital prior to Steward's closure announcement. Now that the group has secured the funds to purchase the hospital, it is working to raise enough money to keep the facility operational. John Woods, secretary of Warren City Hospital, told WFMJ he estimates that it will cost around $9 million per month for the first 60-90 days. The move to purchase Trumbull Regional Medical Center comes as Steward, which sought Chapter 11 protection May 6, is working to offload the majority of its other hospitals. The for-profit health system's Dorchester, Mass.-based Carney Hospital and Ayer, Mass.-based Nashoba Valley Medical Center are set to close Aug. 31, which will result in the laying off of 1,243 employees. Steward also pushed back the bid deadline to Sept. 9 for its Arizona hospitals, Odessa (Texas) Regional Medical Center and Texarkana, Texas-based Wadley Regional Medical Center, according to an Aug. 25 bankruptcy court notice obtained by Becker's. The sale hearing date has also been "adjourned to a date to be determined." An Aug. 26 bankruptcy court notice, also obtained by Becker's, revealed that the Aug. 27 hearing scheduled for Steward's Arkansas, Louisiana and Massachusetts hospitals has been pushed back to Sept. 4. Steward did not have a comment for Becker's regarding Warren City Hospital's push to purchase Trumbull Regional Medical Center. Editor's note: This story has been updated as of Aug. 26 at 12:43 p.m. CT. Renton, Wash.-based Providence saw a $600 million swing in operating performance between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024. In the first six months of fiscal 2023, Providence reported an operating loss of $547 million (-3.9% margin). In the first half of 2024, the health system posted an operating income of $53 million (0.3% margin), according to its Aug. 21 financial report. "First and foremost we've been very focused on reducing our agency spend," CFO Greg Hoffman told Becker's. Agency contract labor decreased 40% in the first half of 2024 compared with the first six months of last year, according to the report. Mr. Hoffman said the reduction is being led by "increased and improved retention of our caregivers as we ensure that we continue to provide career paths for many of our caregivers." Providence's improved operating performance has also been guided by diving "head first" into its transformation initiatives, which Mr. Hoffman said "comes in a few different flavors." "For example, in the area of AI, we found a partner that has a scheduling tool that allows us to proactively release block time," he said. Providence began rolling out iQueue for Operating Rooms by LeanTaas at its Washington state and Montana hospitals in 2023 and has since expanded to other regions. Providence executives told Becker's in July that the system has achieved a 30% reduction in unused and unreleased block time after the implementation of the AI scheduling tool. "There's a lot of pent-up demand in our communities, and it has allowed us to serve more with the same infrastructure that has been in place," he said. Mr. Hoffman said Providence is also exploring a co-caring model, where virtual nurses, working from home, support bedside nurses and technicians by helping with administrative tasks like admissions, discharges, preprocedural checklists and medication reconciliation. "It's been a game-changer for us as well," he said. Providence has also received additional Medicaid funding for its Washington state hospitals through the Safety Net Assessment Program. The system's unpaid Medicaid costs totaled $533 million for the first half of 2024, "a significant decrease" from $726 million over the same period last year, Providence's financial report said. Elangovan, 45, and his sons Nitish, 9, and Thashan, 4, visit the newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god Hanuman. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The Sugar Land Hindu community is celebrating a local temples towering new 90-foot-tall statue of Hanuman, the god of wisdom, strength, courage and devotion. But the massive new monument has attracted what the local Hindu community has called unwanted attention of from some conservatives on social media and faith groups, culminating Sunday when about 25 members of a local church showed up to protest what their leader called the demon god in a Facebook video. The demonstrators gathered near the statue, praying and proselytizing until one temple leader threatened to call the police. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Initially we thought the group was there to see the statue, because they had read about it on the internet or something, Dr. Ranganath Kandala, joint secretary of the Ashtalakshmi Temple where the $8 million Statue of Union stands, said Monday. So, nobody confronted them. The group attracted little attention at first, then they began praying and walking in a counterclockwise circle around the statue. Eventually, some of the demonstrators left. Those who remained began approaching temple visitors, asking if they knew about Jesus Christ, insisting that Jesus was the only god, Kandala said. A faith based group protests the new statue of Hanuman at the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Some in the group could be heard saying, May all the false gods burn to the ground, to members of the temple, including children. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I told them, our teachings say that worship your own, but respect all. I respect your God and you and I expect you to respect us, Kandala said. Some of the people who felt they were being intruded upon spoke back, saying What do you know about our Bhagavad Gita and Vedas that youre lecturing me? Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Kandala said the group left when he threatened to call the police. The Rev. Greg Gervais, leader of the three-month-old Awakening Generation Church, said Monday that he and his congregants had gone to pray peacefully, not to protest. We were there as a ministry to pray for the salvation of the people in Sugar Land, he said, We were just praying on our own; there was no protesting at all. We do believe that Jesus is the only way, and that (the statue) is what you would call representative of a false idol, which has spiritual implications. But that doesnt mean were not peaceable with everyone. Gervais he and his wife, of Humble, serve as senior pastors at the church, which has a congregation of 180 people. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Who is Hanuman and what is the Statue of Union? The newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god, Hanumanon, is photographed on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 in Sugar Land. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Sravya K, 23, and Rasagna Arja, 23, come to see the statue. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god, Hanumanon, is photographed on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 in Sugar Land. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god, Hanumanon, is photographed on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 in Sugar Land. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Elangovan, 45, Sundari, 34, and their sons Nitish, 9, and Thashan, 4, visit the newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god, Hanumanon, is photographed on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 in Sugar Land. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple, of the Hindu god, Hanumanon, is photographed on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 in Sugar Land. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Elangovan, 45, and his sons Nitish, 9, and Thashan, 4, visit the newest statue at Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Pastor Gregory Gervais and a faith based group speaks to a member of the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple after protesting the new statue of Hanuman. The group prayed, marched around the statue for several minutes and offered prayer to members of the Hindu temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer A member of the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple records a faith based group as they protest the new statue of Hanuman. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer A faith based group protests the new statue of Hanuman at the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer A faith based group protests the new statue of Hanuman at the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The copper-colored statue of Hanuman, unveiled last Wednesday, was paid for by donations from Hindus in the Houston area and across the U.S. It is made of panchdhatu, an alloy of five metals gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron, Kandala said last week. The god Hanuman is a central figure in Hindu mythology, known for uniting families, protecting the vulnerable and building bridges feats he famously accomplished in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The temple leader, Sri Chinna Jeeyar, wanted to create something to serve as a unifying symbol as well as a guardian, Kandala said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It is coated with a varnish that will prevent oxidation and help maintain its coppery color, said Dr. Vijay Sreenarasimhaiah, a Houston-based nephrologist who serves as vice president on the board of the Ashtalakshmi Temple. Hanuman is someone who values merit and is a good citizen, ready to risk his life for the sake of his country; those are the values we seek to foster in this community, Sreenarasimhaiah said. At the heart of this vision is the belief in valuing individuals for their character and achievements rather than their background, he said. The grounds behind the statue can accommodate up to 600 people, and temple leaders hope it will become an event venue and draw for tourists, Sreenarasimhaiah said. Almost everybody whos come in there various vendors, contractors theyve been like, wow, how did this statue get here? Weve never such a beautiful shining thing, showing up like a huge shiny penny, Sreenarasimhaiah said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A Houston resident for more than 15 years, Kandala said neither he nor the temple had ever experienced responses like that of the protesters or some of the social media commentary. Media company AF Post shared a photo of the statue on X, calling Hanuman a Hindu demon. Newsweek reported that conservatives on the platform echoed the demon comment, as the viral post sparked backlash from many users stating Hanuman is not a demon. Weve seen some things on the internet calling the statue a half-monkey demon god; that obviously comes from an ill-educated standpoint, Kandala said. Theyre not aware of Hanumanji or know what he stands for. Its unfortunate that some people are taking that stance, because were a tolerant society and our principal has always been worship your own but respect all. FORT BEND INSIDER: Never miss a story with our bi-weekly newsletter How was the statue of Hanuman built? How big is the new Sugar Land statue of Hanuman? Ken Ellis/Houston Chronicle In Spring 2023, the temple began the process of securing permits from the city of Houston, which holds jurisdiction over the temple. During Hurricane Beryl, the statue was already in place, covered and enclosed in scaffolding. It was a huge process, the structural engineering part of it, Kandala said. We are in a unique situation being in the hurricane belt. They had to structure the statue to make it withstand wind speeds of above 180 miles an hour. Hurricane Beryl was our biggest test; our hearts were pounding, but fortunately nothing happened. The statue was constructed by stapathis (Hindu temple sculptors) and brought to the U.S. in pieces in giant shipping containers, Kandala said. Houston is home to taller religious monuments. The giant cross at Sagemont Church, which can be seen from the Gulf Freeway and Beltway 8 in Southeast Houston, stands at 170 feet. There is also a 125-foot-tall cross in Tomball. What is the Ashtalakshmi Temple? The Sri Ashta Lakshmi Temple, located at 10098 Synott Road, opened in 2010. Ashta means eight in Sanskrit. The temple is dedicated to the worship of the eight forms of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity and abundance. A lawsuit is currently pending against the temple after a father, Vijay Cheruvu, accused temple leaders of branding his minor son during a religious ritual. Litigation is still in progress, and Kandala said the temples lawyers advised against commenting on the case. Cheruvus attorney, Andrew Williams, stated in a phone interview last week I hope justice will prevail. Along with celebrating festivals and conducting worship services, the temple also offers music and dance classes, as well as lessons on the Vedas, the sacred texts that form the foundation of Hinduism. Some employees at East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Ohio, did not receive their latest paychecks on time due to a processing issue. Bernie Albertini, administrator and COO of the hospital, told Becker's that the wire team at the local bank failed to process the hospital's wire to the payroll company Paylocity on time, meaning the money was in the bank, but it was not sent by the cutoff. "We encountered an issue with Unified Bank, and it resulted in a delay in processing our wire transfer to the payroll company Paylocity," Mr. Albertini wrote in a memo to employees, which was shared with Becker's. "Unified Bank has acknowledged their error and will cover any late fees associated with this situation." He added that some employees who bank with larger national institutions were paid on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, while others at smaller banks had their funds deposited on Aug. 26. "Please be assured that the payroll was submitted by EORH as usual and in a timely manner. We will be addressing this issue with the leadership of Unified Bank on Aug. 26," Mr. Albertini told employees. Unified Bank acknowledged the one-time delay in processing a wire transfer request from the hospital on Aug. 23. "Unified is currently working with East Ohio Regional Hospital's administration to determine who was impacted by this delay," the bank said in a statement shared with Becker's. The bank's statement added that Mr. Albertini has asked employees who incur fees because of this delay to submit details to the hospital's human resources department, and that Unified "is working diligently with EORH to provide relief to any of their employees impacted by this matter." East Ohio Regional Hospital is a 140-bed facility. Editor's Note: This article was updated on Aug. 26 to include the bank's statement. Pennsylvania state Sen. Tim Kearney has raised concerns about the lack of transparency and details around the planned sale of Upland, Pa.-based Crozer Health and has called on the state attorney general to step in and conduct a thorough analysis of the deal, the Daily Times reported Aug. 22. Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings and CHA Partners signed a letter of intent for CHA to acquire Crozer. The proposed deal would involve transitioning Crozer's four hospitals back to nonprofit status. "Prospect's proposed sale of Crozer to CHA Partners LLC exemplifies the need for state oversight of hospital sales, as both entities appear to have histories of burning public partners despite demanding hefty subsidies," Mr. Kearney said in a statement shared with Becker's. Unlike many other states, Pennsylvania's Attorney General lacks statutory authority to deeply evaluate these deals, according to Mr. Kearney. "While the AG's legal settlement with Prospect gives them some oversight of this deal, the legislature needs to provide the AG with greater authority to protect hospitals and the communities that depend on them," he said. "If the choice is CHA or closure, then we need some assurances that they will be a responsible organization and not just a profiteering speculator." Prospect, a for-profit company, plans to sell nine of its 16 hospitals in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Connecticut and is also being investigated by the Justice Department for alleged violations of the False Claims Act. A spokesperson for Prospect told Becker's the system will continue to cooperate with the investigation, but feels that the allegations have no merit. CHA did not respond to Becker's request for comment. Health systems are increasingly adopting AI-powered ambient clinical documentation tools, but the high costs associated with these technologies pose challenges. Organizations such as Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, Stanford (Calif.) Health Care and Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham are expanding their use of AI tools to alleviate administrative burdens on providers. However, not all health systems can afford these advanced solutions. Daniel Yang, MD, vice president of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies at Kaiser Permanente, expressed concerns to The Wall Street Journal about the growing divide in AI adoption. "The AI 'haves' will be large, well-resourced systems like Kaiser Permanente that invest in testing, evaluating, and responsibly deploying AI technologies for the benefit of our members," Dr. Yang said. "The AI 'have-nots' will be health systems like county hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and rural hospitals that lack the infrastructure or expertise to deploy these technologies effectively, or that do so without fully understanding their capabilities and limitations." Nuance Communications, owned by Microsoft, is a key player in partnering with health systems to implement AI tools. In June 2023, Epic Systems partnered with Nuance to integrate GPT-4-powered clinical documentation technology into its EHR software. When asked about the pricing of these tools, a Microsoft spokesperson told Becker's that their AI-based solutions for hospitals and health systems are competitively priced. "Over 400 organizations are already using DAX Copilot to alleviate administrative burden and enhance clinician and patient experiences," the spokesperson said. The company did not disclose how much it is charging healthcare providers for this tool. "We have to be able to address the cost of these technologies," Rebecca Mishuris, MD, chief medical information officer at Mass General Brigham, told Becker's. "They're currently very expensive and are probably pricing out some health systems and providers as a result. If this has an opportunity to truly be an inflection point in provider burnout, we don't want to leave health systems out because of the cost. And so I'm hoping that we see the cost come down dramatically." Anthony Powers, BSN, RN, was named chief administrative officer of two Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals in Illinois. Mr. Powers will join HSHS Good Shepherd Hospital in Shelbyville and HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham, according to an Aug. 26 news release. Mr. Powers will begin Sept. 16, focusing on localized leadership and overseeing operations, nursing and the hospitals' organizational functions, the release said. He comes from Baptist Health Corbin in Kentucky, part of Louisville, Ky.-based Baptist Health, and most recently served as market president and CEO. Physicians said consulting them on organization and policy decisions is the most important factor as employers look to build a strong culture, a recent Medscape report found. The "Seeking an Energizing Environment: Medscape Physician Workplace Culture Report 2024" report surveyed 1,240 physicians across 29 specialties between Jan. 8 and March 6. The survey asked about a number of factors in culture and how much they mattered to physicians. Here are the areas of culture that physicians said employers need to improve: Note: Participants could select more than one option. Consulting physicians on organization and policy decisions 42% Commitment to work-life balance for physicians and staff 38% How management treats staff 37% Maintaining a positive atmosphere 32% Teamwork 20% Creating core organizational values that align with physicians' own 18% Offering enough promotion opportunities 17% Providing physician mentors/leadership programs 12% Ease of access to mental health programs 8% Other 7% Columbia University will receive a $400 million donation to its medical school, specifically aimed at advancing biomedical science research and enhancing education, the school said in an Aug. 22 news release. The gift from Roy and Diana Vagelos is the largest single donation ever to the New York City medical school, the statement said. The money will be used to expand the Vagelos-funded institute created last year. Roy Vagelos, MD, is the former CEO of Merck & Co. He earned his bachelor's degree and his medical degree from Columbia University. His wife, Diana Vagelos, graduated from Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University. The couple have donated a total of $900 million to the medical school, according to Bloomberg. This makes them the most generous donors in Columbia's history, the school said. The $400 million gift will also go toward the construction of a new biomedical research building on the university's medical campus. The facility will be known as the Vagelos Innovation Laboratories and provide more than 55,000 square feet of new laboratory space. Additionally, the gift "provides major support for the medical school's programs in cell engineering and gene therapy and will expand innovative collaborations that harness recent breakthroughs and new technologies," the school said. More information about the donation is available here. Northwell Health and Nuvance Health have reached an agreement with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong to secure the continuation of labor and delivery services at Sharon Hospital in Connecticut. This agreement concludes an antitrust investigation into the proposed affiliation between New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell and Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance. As part of the deal, Northwell Health, which operates 21 hospitals across New York, and Nuvance Health, which includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals in Connecticut along with three New York facilities, have committed to a series of enforceable conditions designed to uphold competition in the healthcare market and ensure affordable access to care, according to an Aug. 26 news release. Key provisions of the agreement include: Maintaining and expanding women's health services at Sharon Hospital, including the preservation of maternity and labor and delivery services. Investing in a unified electronic medical records system to improve IT infrastructure and data security at Nuvance Health facilities. Ensuring independent rate negotiations for reimbursement services in Connecticut and New York, in compliance with Connecticut's new law prohibiting anti-competitive practices in network agreements. The agreement, which has been endorsed by the attorneys general of Connecticut and New York, will be monitored for compliance over the next five years. Additionally, the transaction awaits approval from Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy through its Certificate of Need regulatory process. The University of Texas System plans to merge UT Health San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio to form a unified institution in 2025. UT Health San Antonio, the largest academic health research institution in South Texas, ranks in the top 3% globally for NIH funding while UTSA educates 35,000 students across seven colleges and interdisciplinary schools. The proposed merger aims to advance the potential of both institutions and transform South Texas into a global hub of academic and research excellence. The transaction would form the third-largest research university in Texas, with annual research expenditures nearing $470 million. "It is time to marshal the talent, size and scale of UTSA and UTHSA to multiply their roles as global leaders in education, healthcare and innovation," UT Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltife said in an Aug. 22 news release. "By bringing together all of their complementary and unique strengths, we will give Texans access to the best education, discoveries and healthcare imaginable, while accelerating the university's trajectory as a top U.S. and global university." UT Health said it aims to become a global public research institution with comprehensive academic and health science centers, such as the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California at Los Angeles. Hospitals and health systems continue to strike artificial intelligence deals and other IT partnerships with Big Tech. Here are seven collaborations Becker's reported on in the past month. 1. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health has partnered with Google to "improve our speed and velocity," the health system's top IT executive told Becker's for an Aug. 16 story. 2. Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine said Aug. 15 it plans to deploy generative AI-powered clinical documentation from Microsoft's Nuance across the health system and its Epic EHR. 3. Microsoft said Aug. 15 it is partnering with health systems to develop an AI tool to streamline nursing documentation, including Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health, Jacksonville-based Baptist Health, Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health, Denver-based Intermountain Health Saint Joseph Hospital, St. Louis-based Mercy, Northwestern Medicine, New York City-based NYU Langone Health, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care, and Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. 4. Amazon is collaborating with health systems such as Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care, Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham and New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System to investigate how AI can improve patient experiences and outcomes, the tech company said Aug. 7. 5. Microsoft said July 30 that sales of its DAX Copilot from Nuance have taken off as health systems have embraced AI for clinical documentation, citing deals with Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health, Northwestern Medicine, and Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. 6. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare is using Google's AI-powered nurse handoff tool, which is gaining positive traction from its workforce, Bloomberg reported July 30. 7. Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare was one of the first health systems in the U.S. to implement Epic on a large scale on Mac platforms, allowing the health system to recover quickly from the CrowdStrike IT outage, Becker's reported July 29. Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine is bolstering staff at five of its outpatient pharmacies as Rite Aid closes all its stores in the state, according to an Aug. 25 report from MLive. The pharmacies are located in Lansing, Carson City and Saint Johns. The move comes after Rite Aid announced it would be closing all 186 locations in Michigan by the end of September due to the company's 2023 bankruptcy filing, according to an Aug. 14 report from the Detroit Free Press. The health system said each pharmacy would be hiring five additional staff members and implementing changes to the technology and physical layout of the pharmacies. The health system also opened a pharmacy at University of Michigan Health West Hospital in Wyoming, Mich., according to the MLive report. Houston Chronicle front page from Aug. 26, 1924. Houston Chronicle file Buffalo Bayou is the waterway that gave Houston life. Without it, we wouldn't have a port. It wouldn't be the town where "seventeen railroads meet the sea." Heck, we wouldn't even be the Bayou City. As useful as it has been to the city, the bayou has also been a source of grief. Like flooding, for example. Then, on occasion, you have stories like the one that dominated the Houston Chronicle's front page on this day 100 years ago. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The body of man was found floating in the bayou a few days earlier. His hands were tied and he had some kind of injury to his head. What seemed like foul play turned out to not be the case. Instead, Charlie Koeing, a former stagehand at the Majestic Theatre, died by suicide, authorities concluded. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the front page was a story with a curious headline: "City's Jim Crow Law Is Declared To Be Invalid." This centers on a case involving Milton Curtis, a Black youth who was arrested earlier in the month for refusing to give up his seat on a Lyons Avenue streetcar. Curtis said when he boarded the nearly empty streetcar he sat three seats from the back. Eventually, more people boarded the streetcar, which led the conductor to move a sign denoting the segregated section further back. Soon enough, Curtis found himself sitting in a section of the streetcar designated for white passengers. Advertisement Article continues below this ad According to Chronicle reporting, Curtis said he would leave the streetcar if his fare was refunded. The conductor refused and police were called. Curtis was tried three times for violating the city's Jim Crow law, and the case was appealed three times as well. He was eventually fined and ordered to pay costs totaling more than $100. The Houston Post noted that it was one of the first trials on Houston's Jim Crow law in a long time. (In a side note, an earlier Chronicle article noted that Curtis' face "was beaten almost beyond recognition" during a grand jury appearance following his arrest. The panel was looking into claims of police brutality at the hands of the Houston Police Department.) In other news, there were no less than four front-page stories on the Ku Klux Klan that day. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Johnson & Johnson plans to end upfront discounts for two drugs sold to disproportionate share hospitals under the 340B program, replacing them with a rebate application process, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 23. The drugmaker sent a letter to hospitals Aug. 23 notifying them of the new rebate system for its blood thinner Xarelto and anti-inflammatory drug Stelara. The change, set to take effect Oct. 15, will require 340B hospitals to buy the drugs at commercial prices. Once the drugs are administered, hospitals will need to submit claims data via an online portal to qualify for a rebate. The hospital advocacy group 340B Health immediately challenged the rebate plan in an Aug. 22 letter to the Health Resources and Services Administration. The advocacy group argues that the 340B statute does not permit compliance through rebates and said the process would create more financial strain for hospitals, especially safety-net facilities. The American Hospital Association also condemned the plan, telling the Journal it is an "example of big drug companies taking unilateral actions to advantage themselves at the expense of hospitals that care for Americas most vulnerable patients." A spokesperson for HRSA, which oversees the 340B program, told the publication that J&J's rebate plan does not align with the 340B law and has not been approved by federal officials. An HRSA spokesperson said it would take appropriate action but did not specify what that may entail, according to the report. Johnson & Johnson defended the rebate plan in an Aug. 22 statement to the Journal. "Patients are not realizing the full benefit of the 340B program because of rampant abuse and misuse," a spokesperson said. "To help the 340B Program better serve vulnerable patients, J&J is implementing reasonable, standard business practices used across other government programs and contracts." Read the full article here. A church has been sprayed with graffiti in Co Down. Police are investigating reports of criminal damage caused to a number of premises and vehicles in Ballynahinch. The PSNI said: Sometime between 3am and 4am yesterday, Sunday, graffiti was sprayed on a number of commercial premises in the High Street, Lisburn Street, and Main Street areas of the town. Graffiti was also sprayed on a church in the Main Street area, and a number of vehicles in the Belfast Road area were spray painted. An investigation is underway, and we are appealing to anyone who say any suspicious activity in these areas, or who has any information or CCTV footage which might assist our investigation, to get in touch. Brian Welsh, H&W Operations Manager with his team of apprentices (with the DCDR's David Crone, underframe designer, at the back) with the marked-out steel for the new underframe. The No 33 carriage which is being restored The Downpatrick & County Down Railway (DCDR) has partnered with Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff to help restore a Victorian railway carriage the first railway vehicle to be built by the shipyard since the Second World War. The project will not only serve as a unique training opportunity for Harland & Wolff apprentices showing them vital heritage skills of fabrication and engineering but will also help rebuild links with the iconic shipbuilding firm and Northern Irelands railways. In the 1930s, Harland & Wolff diversified their manufacturing expertise beyond shipbuilding to produce diesel locomotives that were used locally at Downpatrick and Ballynahinch, and as far afield as Canada. The Downpatrick & County Down Railway operates on part of the former Belfast & County Down Railway route, which closed to passenger traffic in 1950. The carriage they will be restoring called carriage No.33 was first built in 1862 and is the sole survivor from Northern Irelands first railway company the Ulster Railway. The carriage was retired from railway service in 1920 and the body was removed from its wheels and used as a railway office, and later a farm shed, until it was rescued by the DCDR in 1987. This was the first railway vehicle built by H&W - Belfast & County Down Railway "Harlandic" locomotive No. 2 at Ballynahinch. It is only one of a handful of Irish railway carriages to survive from the dawn of the railway era into modern times and, as such, the carriage is actually closer in age to Stephensons Rocket than it is to most other railway vehicles in Northern Irelands railway museums, according to DCDR chairman Robert Gardiner. We are thrilled to partner with Harland & Wolff on this historic project, he told the Belfast Telegraph. Their enthusiasm for the project to recreate this Victorian gem has completely knocked us over and is wonderful against the backdrop of our recovery from the devastating floods in November 2023. It is truly appreciated. The railway museum in Downpatrick has been closed to the public since Halloween 2023 due to extensive damage caused by the flooding, but is hoping to resume operations within the next year. The heritage railway, which has charitable status, first teamed up with Queens University Belfast on their latest project, with students undertaking research and design work into the frame of the No.33 carriage as well as stress calculations and braking systems. Brian Welsh, H&W Operations Manager with his team of apprentices (with the DCDR's David Crone, underframe designer, at the back) with the marked-out steel for the new underframe. In addition to severe wood rot and structural problems, a major barrier to restoration was the prior removal of the chassis or underframe in the 1920s. However, a century later, the recreation of this underframe now serves as a major educational tool, marking a major milestone in the heritage railway sector in Northern Ireland. Harland & Wolff will now come on board to move to the fabrication stage, with the required steel provided by another Co Down company Walter Watson Ltd Steel Stockholders in Castlewellan. A spokesperson for Harland & Wolff said they are proud to collaborate on the project. This project not only allows our apprentices to gain hands-on experience in heritage skills but also revives a historical connection between our shipyard and Northern Irelands railways. We are excited to contribute our expertise to preserving this important piece of history. Onlookers from the Europa Hotel were greeted with the sight of dogs abseiling down the side of the hotel on Sunday The volunteers from K9 Search and Rescue who have taken part in a charity abseil down Belfast's Europa Hotel Sixteen volunteers from K9 Search and Rescue have taken part in a charity abseil down Belfast's Europa Hotel Sixteen volunteers from K9 Search and Rescue have taken part in a charity abseil down Belfast's Europa Hotel Meet the daring dogs who reached new heights by abseiling down one of Belfasts tallest buildings. The K9 Search and Rescue team became the first ever canines to descend the Europa Hotel. Sixteen volunteers alongside five search and rescue dogs abseiled down the famous hotel front on Sunday, despite rain and wind threatening to stop the challenge. The dogs were hooked onto each volunteer. The entire effort, helped by Belfast Activity Centre, raised money for K9 Search and Rescue NI, a volunteer group which helps locate missing or vulnerable people, particularly in treacherous surroundings. The fundraising total is currently sitting around 2,500 with plans to keep it open for the next few days as more reaction comes into the dogs vertical venture - which took place on International Dog Day. Ryan from K9 Search and Rescue during the abseil Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Ryan Gray, the leader and founder at K9 Search and Rescue, said he wanted to reassure people the dogs involved in the fundraising effort were fully trained and prepared for the event. He said their trip down the hotel attracted a lot of attention. It all went really well, there were actually zero glitches involved, he said. It wasnt a case of us just rocking up with the dogs to do the abseil, the dogs were fully trained and prepared for it. Obviously the dogs are at the forefront of the charity, they dictate everything we do as a group so it is important that they are involved in everything we do. So we just went ahead to do the abseil with them. But they had trained for it, going off a height is something theyre used to, and fully prepared for, he added. Sixteen volunteers from K9 Search and Rescue have taken part in a charity abseil down Belfast's Europa Hotel Ryan, who took part in the abseil with his search dog, Max, admitted the activity did attract some strange looks from onlookers, given how the dogs were lowered down just below the volunteer who was abseiling down the hotel. Theres probably around 2,500 raised so far, its really great. People came from across Northern Ireland to watch us do this, he added. There were also people in the hotel, so we had a lot of people taking photos from us from their rooms. A lot of Americans wanted to take pictures, and they came and greeted us in the lobby. Onlookers from the Europa Hotel were greeted with the sight of dogs abseiling down the side of the hotel on Sunday He said the hardest part was just taking the leap of faith over the edge. Like us doing the abseil, which lots of us had done before, its all about getting yourself off the edge. Its the hardest part, but once youre over its fine, but like I said we do lots and lots of training before we even get to that point. The dogs were brought up beforehand so they can familiarise themselves with the roof and the height. There was no stress involved for them thankfully, I think we were actually a lot more nervous than them. K9 Search and Rescue NI is still accepting donations for the abseil. The link for their fundraiser is here. A plea for Northern Ireland councils to be allowed to fine people for leaving their bins out on the street for too long has been rejected by elected reps. Councillors at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council environment committee last week unanimously rejected a request by Ards and North Down Borough Council to support a plea for new local authority powers on bins causing undue obstruction for prolonged periods. The Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is currently considering the request from Ards and North Down, for councils to issue fixed penalties to house occupants who fail to remove their bins following informal requests. Ards and North Down Council contacted Stormont over a year ago to make an appeal for powers similar to those in England where local authorities can issue fixed penalty notices after written warnings. Councils in Northern Ireland can only appeal for residents to be considerate in their bin usage. Rowallane SDLP cllr, Terry Andrews said: I have a number of points of concern. There have been instances when bins have not been emptied in my constituency for six weeks due to parking issues where bin lorries couldnt get through. Also, there are many houses that the only access for them is to actually take the bin through the backyard into the living room and onto the street. So, many residents will leave the bin out to save the hassle of bringing bins through the house every time it has to be collected. Slieve Gullion Sinn Fein rep, Oonagh Magennis added: We will definitely not be supporting this proposal. Just for the fact, some people just dont have anywhere else to put their bins. Cars parking on the streets is a bigger hazard issue. Residents cant win in this situation. To be honest we dont think this proposal should have even got this far and it should have been just binned. We are totally opposed to this. It would even be a waste of time, as how could it be enforced? Dancers prepare to take part in the Notting Hill Carnival (Lucy North/PA) Carnival-goers are preparing to dance into the night as Europes biggest street party reaches its climax. Thousands of revellers turned out to enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival, flooding the streets with colour, costumes, dancing and music. A heavy police presence was also visible after three people were stabbed on Sunday. Some attendees were made to walk through metal-detecting knife arches as they arrived at the west London event. Officer standing in pairs were dotted along the streets, while a police helicopter hovered above throughout the day. Officers also walked through the crowds in groups, ready to respond to reports of trouble. Thousands of people thronged the area for Adults Day on Monday afternoon, billed as the culmination of the annual celebration of Caribbean culture and history. After months of preparation, dancers showed off their flamboyant costumes and floats blasted music for the spectators who blew whistles and horns. Participants in the Adults Day parade (Lucy North/PA) Away from the parade route, vendors cooked up a mix of food on open barbecues, while sound systems played everything from rare groove to house, samba, reggae and ska. Earlier on Monday, a senior Metropolitan Police officer said he was tired of saying the same words every year after a woman attending the carnival with her child was stabbed. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is in charge of the policing operation for the event, said his officers very narrowly avoided a fatality and are tired of seeing crime scenes at the street party. Calling for carnival-goers to report crime, Mr Adelekan said: Yesterday we saw the first day marred by unacceptable violence. Three people were stabbed and we only very narrowly avoided a fatality. The 32-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in hospital, the force said. Police officers in Ladbroke Grove (Lucy North/PA) A 29-year-old man who was also stabbed remains in hospital in a non-life-threatening condition, and a second man, aged 24, who was stabbed discharged himself from hospital. There were 103 arrests on Sunday and 18 officers were assaulted, Scotland Yard said. The carnival is billed by organisers as the greatest community-led event on the planet. Posting on X, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, described the carnival as part of the very fabric of our city and an amazing way to bring communities together. Around a million people were expected to attend over the bank holiday weekend with about 7,000 officers on duty. The annual celebration has been running for more than 50 years. A man looks at a damaged window of a house following an attack from Lebanon, in Acre, north Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP) A round of high-level talks in Cairo meant to bring about a ceasefire and hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ended on Sunday without a final agreement, a US official said. Talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days to bridge the remaining gaps. The official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the talks, said lower level working teams will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in hopes of addressing remaining disagreements. The official called the recent conversations, which began on Thursday in Cairo, constructive and said all parties were working to reach a final and implementable agreement. Mourners chant slogans as they carry the coffin of Ali Ahmad Mousawi, who was killed early Wednesday by an Israeli strike, during his funeral procession in Nabi Sheet village, in Lebanons eastern Bekaa Valley, (Bilal Hussein/AP) The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israels Mossad intelligence agency. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations. The end of the talks came as Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early on Sunday. Hezbollah claimed it had hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, while Israel claimed its dozens of strikes had been pre-emptive to avert a larger attack. Neither offered evidence. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attack, a response to Israels killing of a top militant commander in Beirut last month, had been delayed to give the Gaza ceasefire talks a chance, and so fellow Iran-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether to attack Israel all at once. We will now reserve the right to respond at a later time if the results of Sundays attack arent sufficient, Mr Nasrallah said, adding that allied Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran had yet to respond. He told the Lebanese people: At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax. Irans foreign minister said the country will retaliate over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated, Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it unlike Israel. Israel and Hezbollah said they aimed only at military targets. Israel said no military target was hit by Hezbollah but that one soldier with its navy was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor for incoming fire or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the centre of the country. I repeat this is not the end of the story, he said. Israels military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said about 100 Israeli planes struck 270 targets, 90% of them rocket launchers aimed at northern Israel. He said they were investigating the percentage of incoming rockets and drones intercepted but said the vast majority were thwarted. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a large number of drones. Lebanons caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam, after an emergency government meeting, said officials were feeling a bit more optimistic about a de-escalation after both sides confirmed that the operations had ended. President Joe Biden was closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon, according to Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council. The Pentagon said Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and ordered both U.S carrier strike groups in the region to stay after a build-up of forces across the region in recent weeks. 33-year-old Stephen McKee has been sent back to prison following his suspected involvement of very serious reoffendingMcKee was just 16 went he murdered greengrocer Harry Holland in west BelfastThe murder shocked the community and left a family devastated The BelTel Podcast teaser: Allison Morris on the murder of Harry Holland and his family's fight for justice The well-known west Belfast greengrocer was just on his way home from a pub quiz when he came across a group of drunk and drug-fueled young people engaged in anti-social behaviour. In an attempt to still Mr Hollands van, 16-year-old Stephen McKee stabbed Mr Holland in the head with a screwdriver. Mr Holland was left for dead just yards from his home, dying in hospital 22 hours after the brutal attack. This utterly senseless murder shocked and enraged west Belfast. McKee was later found to have sent a text message boasting about the murder to his then girlfriend. He was given 12 years behind bars for the murder, but was eligible for a pre-release scheme in 2016, despite showing no remorse for the grandfathers killing. The now 33-year-old has been sent back to prison following his suspected involvement of very serious reoffending. Harry Hollands family have said they are relieved that McKee is back in Maghaberry Prison, insisting that he was a danger to the public then and still is. Ciaran Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph crime correspondent Allison Morris to discuss this heinous murder and the Holland familys fight for justice. Drunk Belfast mum who called cop a 'big nose black c**t' avoids jail There is no suggestion of a racial element to the offence Natasha Hagans John Toner Mon 26 Aug 2024 at 11:00 A thug mum with a history of violence has avoided prison after assaulting two police officers and calling one of them a big nose black c***. Houston Chronicle A defense attorney was arrested Monday at the Harris County criminal courthouse after authorities accused him of smuggling drug-laced paper in the guise of power of attorney documents to a defendant in the building, authorities said. Jason Terrel Johnson, licensed to practice law in Texas since 2008, was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and bringing a prohibited substance into a correctional facility. Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office accused Johnson, 42, of giving the drugs, in this case synthetic marijuana, to a client in the 228th District Court earlier this month. The scheme came to light during a review of jail calls in which an inmate discussed a potential deal between an attorney and a murder defendant in his cell block scheduled days later for court, according to court records. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Investigators reviewed attorney visitation logs and determined that Johnson visited the defendant in jail after having represented him since 2022. Johnson went to court for a bail hearing and was handed documents potentially laced with methoxy dimethyl oxobutane inside the courtroom around Aug. 5, according to sheriff's office surveillance detailed in the charging papers. An investigator, who watched Johnson's movements in the courtroom's gallery, said Johnson entered a holdover area for inmates with the documents. He emerged without the documents. Another investigator followed Johnson to the elevator and noted that he "appeared nervous and frequently looked around," court documents show. Johnson's client handed over the documents to bailiffs during a post-court search. Charging papers described the documents as having "a noticeable discoloration and an odor," which sheriff's office officials have characterized as a common trait in drug-laced papers. Prosecutors plan to ask that Johnson be held on $75,000 bail and have no contact with his client as part of his bail conditions. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The lawyer is due in court Tuesday, when the Harris County District Attorney's Office was scheduled to discuss the case at a news conference that was later canceled. Johnson's attorney, Vikram Vij, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The attorney's arrest follows a nearly yearlong crackdown on drugs in the Harris County Jail that has led to the arrest of another attorney on similar allegations. A jailer has also been charged in connection with the smuggling scheme. Inside the jail, inmates have also been scrutinized. In one recent case, prosecutors accused a man of using his commissary fund to launder around $30,000 made from selling drug-laced paper. This wasnt happenstance," said Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, noting the creativity that has gone into drug smuggling at the courthouse amid an investigation into contraband. "It's been part of our proactive and aggressive efforts to really eliminate the flow of contraband coming into our facilities. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While court documents identify two other people, the inmate and a woman who allegedly delivered the power of attorney documents to Johnson at court, neither has been charged in connection with the alleged scheme. The woman told police that she was paying Johnson as part of a payment plan for his client's case. After the seizure, Johnson warned the woman that she would be arrested and urged her to "leave immediately." He also demanded more money from her as he became part of a public corruption investigation, according to documents. The sheriff said Johnson's alleged actions likely happened independently of attorney Ronald Lewis, who was also accused of smuggling drug-laced paper into the jail last year. Deputies found that some inmates had drug-laced paper on them after visiting with Lewis. His case is pending. Joe Vinas, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, said the allegations, if true, would further limit the access defense attorneys can have with their clients. "It not only affects (Johnson's) ability to practice law but also all of our lawyers and all of our clients," Vinas said. "The sheriff has already limited our ability to communicate with our clients after the first time of this happening. Our fear is that our access to our clients will be further diminished." The sheriff's office nailed shut slots in attorney booths at the Harris County Jail last year to prevent paperwork from being passed from lawyers to inmates, an action that defense attorneys have decried, as most people in jail typically are awaiting trial or a court date and have not been sentenced to prison. Vinas said the association's conversations with the sheriff's office over their limited access to clients continues. Advertisement Article continues below this ad PITTSFIELD Abigail Percy chose Berkshire Community College so she can focus on her nursing degree, instead of worrying about the thousands of dollars in debt that would otherwise shadow her adult life. She didnt know then that her education wont only be cheaper it will be free. I feel like I can focus on things that are important to my future, said Percy, 18. I dont have to study for this test and do this homework and, on top of that, [worry that] Im in debt. I can give myself to school. Gov. Maura Healey signed a nearly $58 billion state budget bill July 29, which includes $117 million to cover tuition and fees for the more than 90,000 students attending the states 15 community colleges. In Berkshire County, that means students can now attend BCC for free. To be eligible for MassEducate, students must be pursuing a degree from one of the states public community colleges and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a state equivalent. Students must also be residents of Massachusetts, attend school at least part time and not already have a bachelors degree. Before MassEducate, some students would have gone to community college for free anyway through financial aid programs, said Adam Klepetar, BCCs vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. But not everyone knew that, and Klepetar said it deterred many potential students from applying. People have had access to federal and state aid before these programs came, but the messaging has really driven home for folks that community college can be free for them, he said. Massachusetts residents who did not qualify for financial aid previously paid $238 per credit. A student attending BCC full time (taking 15 credits) paid $3,570 per semester. Over the past few weeks, the message has gotten out. Enrollment for the fall semester is still ongoing, but Klepetar said, as of Aug. 23, the number of students enrolled in classes and the number of credits theyve registered for both are up 31 percent from this time a year ago. BCC also saw increased enrollment last academic year, after MassReconnect, a program that makes community college free for students 25 and older who have not yet earned an associate or bachelors degree, was instituted in August. Klepetar said enrollment of students over 25 increased by 7 percent last year, with strong retainment between the fall and spring semesters. That number has risen again this fall by 4 percent. Enrollment among students of color also rose last year, Klepetar said. It was up by 27 percent for Latino students and 3 percent for Black students. Coupled with funding from the states SUCCESS Fund, the programs have been a game changer for BCC. Ive never seen these increases in success rates and Ive been working in enrollment since 2001, Klepetar said. Honestly, this is the highlight of my career. We have the ability to bring students into our college and we also have resources to serve our students. Theyre a game changer for students, too. Victor Reyes-Pagan, 32, is starting his freshman year at BCC this fall, where he will major in mechatronics. He has plans to later pursue degrees in computer science and engineering, a goal MassEducate has made more possible he said. Education matters. Thats a top priority for myself to have for my daughter," Reyes-Pagan said. "I want her to focus on that, so I am going to focus on that for her. Through MassEducate, students can also access an allowance of up to $1,200 per academic year to cover books, supplies and other expenses, based on their household income. As enrollment numbers increase, Klepetar said the administration is adding new course sections and hiring additional full-time and adjunct faculty to maintain the cornerstones of a BCC education small classes, individualized guidance from professors and high-quality programs. The fourth cornerstone affordability theyve already achieved. The professors want to teach people stuff, but the money stops a lot of people, Reyes-Pagan said. I feel like now that that new system is in play, a lot more people will be encouraged to come to school and get to whatever theyre trying to do. LENOX When Fiesta Latina kicked off at The Mount on Sunday, 17-year-old Leslye Bautista-Cruz was there to satisfy with sweet heat and treats. A Sheffield resident and incoming senior at Mount Everett High School, Bautista-Cruz is the owner of Leslyes Chucherias, a candy, fruit and juice stand that shes operated for the past two years. Along with her friends Lezly Solis Lopez and Yaritza Cruz-Bravo, she spent the afternoon doling out juice and dousing cantaloupe and watermelon in chamoy and Tajin. Bautista-Cruz began the business at Festival Latino of the Berkshires in Great Barrington, where her mother is an organizer, and has since grown it to provide sweets at birthdays, private events, quinceaneras and baptisms, among other things. She hopes to keep the business going through college, where she plans to study business with a possibility of law school down the road. One of her biggest motivations to keep going is simple: she loves her Mexican American heritage, and she wants to share it with people. Im very proud to be Mexican, and thats how I kind of got started with this, Bautista-Cruz said. I just love the culture, showing people new things, bringing people into new things, having people try and tell me their opinions. That made her an excellent fit with Fiesta Latina, an event organized by The Mount, which aimed similarly to welcome members of the Latino community to the museum and grounds at 2 Plunkett St. and showcase Latino culture for attendees. The celebration ran from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Last year, the event was held under the name "Baile de Musica Latina festival." This year, the 12-piece outfit Alex Torres & His Latin Orchestra took center stage, playing swinging salsa while the crowd danced feverishly underneath a tent set up by the entrance to the museum. Outside the tent there were food vendors, like Bautista-Cruz, and community organizations such as Berkshire Community College, 18 Degrees, the Pittsfield Health Department, the Literacy Network of Southern Berkshire and more to provide residents with resources. Deisy Escobar, community outreach coordinator at The Mount, said that the resource fair and community vendors were part of an effort to incorporate feedback from last year. In particular, Escobar said the biggest changes were a greater showcase of up-and-coming businesses, like Leslyes Chucherias, and more spaces and activities for kids and families. A lot of them are safe havens for immigrants in our community, Escobar said of the community organizations present. Theyre the first place people reach out to for help or just resources. Giving people the opportunity to connect with those resources during a busy but joyous event was the goal, Escobar said. Bautista-Cruz certainly appreciated the opportunity to be part of it. I think its actually a really great honor that they invited me this year, Bautista-Cruz said. Im really excited to come up in Lenox and show what we have hopefully it grows bigger every year and I can come back every year. Jackie Christensen, assistant director of programs at The Mount, said Fiesta Latina was an extension of the increased programming at the museum for the Latino community rather than a single event, this year's Fiesta Latina was a crescendo for workshops and seminars over the last few months. "Weve had a series of events building up to a culmination today, Christensen said, noting that the goal was to make The Mount more accessible to the Latino community. It began with a workshop to teach Latina women more about empowering themselves in the workplace in March. Then, in June, a somatic therapist came to give a group of Latinas more tools for managing trauma and calibrating their nervous system so they can take on more challenges. The last few events were more lighthearted, Christensen acknowledged: salsa classes, to get everyone ready for Sunday's dancing. Christensen said that The Mount chose to host more holistic events for the group that participated over workforce development and resume building programming, noting that there were other programs offering those services, but few offering a reprieve from stress. Thats where we thought to segue off into a more therapeutic workshop where these Latina women could just relax and support one another and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of The Mount, Christensen said. That also is empowering in a different way. For Maria Mejia of the English Learners Parent Advisory Council of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, the celebration offered an opportunity to inform more community members about their mission. Mejia said the organizations main goal was to support families who have a language barrier, both by determining how to support students and improve the schools themselves to make them more accessible for example, providing school forms and communications in Spanish, she said. While the organization provides services for Spanish speakers right now, Mejia said that they hope to expand soon to help families who speak Portuguese, Creole, French and other languages in the future. Fiesta Latina came just in time for Berkshire Community College to secure a few enrollments for its English for Speakers of Other Languages program. Ana Suffish, director of the adult learning program for BCC, staffed a table at the event that helped to give people a chance to get involved before classes start on Tuesday. By 4 p.m., Suffish had spoke to enough people to say confidently that the ESOL program would have no empty seats soon enough. Theres no question that we will be full before the end of the day, Suffish said. God shares the Gospel in story. The first line of Genesis says, In the beginning, and the canon culminates with Revelation, the final redemption of all creation when Jesus deals with the Devil, his lies, and the corruption of the world once and for all. The four books we call the Gospels dont list the doctrine of salvation or the Romans road but tell the story of Jesus while explaining what it all means for those who would believe. Since God tells a redemptive story, he invites us into the epic, biblical arc as individuals and the church. It shouldnt surprise us that were drawn to stories. God created us to live within his grand story. Movies still hold a primary place for modern storytellers. And great stories reflect Gods redemptive story, at least to some degree. Many churches have teaching series based on movies for this reason. Popular films can be a great place to begin spiritual conversations. Here are five movies that give us a glimpse of the Gospel. With these picks, I purposefully included different genres and even ratings. Yes, a couple are rated R. You may not personally watch these movies, but millions in our culture have and enjoyed them. I dont share these to encourage you to watch them, but to use these themes to engage others around you in conversations that point back to Gods story. 1. Pinocchio (1947) The 1947 film Pinocchio tells the story of a wooden puppet brought to life by a fairy who promises to make him a real boy if he proves himself brave, truthful, and unselfish. Throughout the film, Pinocchio faces numerous temptations that lead him away from his goal first fame and then the allure of Pleasure Island, where boys indulge in destructive behaviors that ultimately turn them into donkeys. The film reveals the Gospel theme of transformation through Pinocchios journey from a selfish, naive puppet to a selfless, brave boy. This transformation is mirrored in the Christian concept of sanctification, where believers are gradually transformed into the image of Christ through their actions and choices. Ultimately Pinocchio rejects the pleasures destroying him and others. He then chooses to save his father, Geppetto, from the belly of a whale (symbols of death and the grave). In doing so, Pinocchio demonstrates a willingness to lay down his life for the sake of another, reflecting the ultimate act of love that Jesus speaks of in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down ones life for ones friends. Pinocchios transformation is completed when, after his act of self-sacrifice, the fairy turns the dead wooden child into a living real boy, a supernatural event. This transformation symbolizes the spiritual renewal of death to life, becoming a new creation through faith in Christ. The film thus serves as Gospel allegory, illustrating how the path to true transformation involves resisting temptation and embracing sacrificial love. 2. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) The 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory follows Charlie Bucket, a poor boy who wins a golden ticket to tour the eccentric Willy Wonkas magical chocolate factory. Along with four children, Charlie embarks on a fantastical journey through the factory, where the other children fall victim to their flaws and greed, while Charlies humility and innocence ultimately win him the grand prize: ownership of the factory itself. This film teaches how God the Creator shares the kingdom of heaven with those who possess the heart of a child. Throughout the story, the other children symbolizing various vices such as gluttony, greed, and pride are disqualified from receiving the factory because of their selfish behaviors. In contrast, Charlie approaches the experience with wonder, gratitude, and a pure heart, so Wonka chooses him to inherit the factory. As Jesus taught in Matthew 18:3, where he says, Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Charlies childlike faith, humility, and trust set him apart and make him worthy of the incredible gift that Wonka offers. Just as God the Creator shares the kingdom of heaven with those who come to him with the heart of a child full of faith, innocence, and humility Wonka shares his factory with Charlie, who embodies these qualities. The film thus reminds viewers that the greatest rewards come to those who maintain a pure, childlike heart on lifes journey. 3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Terminator 2: Judgment Day details the story of Sarah Connor and her son John as they attempt to prevent a future where machines take over the world. A reprogrammed Terminator, sent from the future, protects them from a more advanced, relentless Terminator sent to kill John. Throughout the film, Sarah is driven by the trauma of knowing the future and her determination to save humanity, but this drive pushes her to the brink of losing her own humanity. The film shows how we can become an inhuman machine emotionless and heartless in the face of crisis and trauma. Her obsession with preparing John and stopping Judgment Day leads her to adopt a cold, calculating approach, almost mirroring the very machines she fights against. We see her transformation when she contemplates assassinating Miles Dyson, the man unknowingly responsible for Skynets creation. However, she hesitates, realizing her heartless violence isnt salvations path. The story echoes Ezekiel 36:26, where God promises, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. To remain human, made in Gods image, we must maintain compassion, even in dire circumstances. Sarahs decision to spare Dysons life represents her choice to resist becoming a machine like her enemy. This film powerfully illustrates the danger of losing ones humanity in the face of trauma, reminding us that the fight to save the world must not come at the cost of our own hearts. 4. Shawshank Redemption (1994) The Shawshank Redemption explores the events of Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongfully convicted of murder, who is sentenced to life in Shawshank Prison. Despite the harsh realities of prison life, Andy maintains his sense of hope and inner freedom. Over time, he becomes a beacon of hope for his fellow inmates, particularly Red, a man who has resigned himself to the bleakness of prison life. The film symbolizes inner freedoms power, showing how true freedom is not dependent on external circumstances but on ones inner state of mind and spirit. Although Andy is physically imprisoned, he lives with a sense of purpose and hope that transcends prison walls. He educates his fellow inmates, helping them discover their own inner freedom. For example, through small acts like playing music over the prisons loudspeakers or creating a prison library, Andy teaches the inmates, especially Red, that their minds and spirits can remain free in captivity. By the end, Red embraces the hope Andy instilled in him, realizing that, as Galatians 5:1 says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Andys unwavering hope and inner freedom serve as a powerful metaphor for spiritual freedom, teaching that even in the darkest of places, the human spirit can remain unchained, as we see when Paul wrote letters to churches while in chains. Through his influence, Andy liberates not just himself but also the minds of those around him, particularly Red, who ultimately steps into a life of hope and freedom. 5. Elf (2003) Elf tells the story of Buddy, a human raised by Christmas elves at the North Pole, who travels to New York City to find his biological father. Unfamiliar with the ways of the human world, Buddy brings his childlike innocence, joy, and unwavering belief in Christmas magic to a skeptical and hopeless city. Despite facing cynicism, Buddy remains true to North Pole values, ultimately transforming the people around him. Buddys journey mirrors Jesus, who came from heaven to Earth to share the love and truth of God with humanity. In Elf, Buddys pure-heartedness and joy contrast sharply with the jaded, self-centered attitudes of those around him. He must resist becoming like the broken world he encounters, refusing to let go of his belief in the magic and goodness of Christmas. Through Buddys unwavering spirit, those around him begin to change. His father, initially dismissive and career-driven, eventually embraces the joy and love Buddy brings, reflecting a transformation similar to Romans 12:2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Buddys influence brings about a renewal of spirit, showing that staying true to the values of his heavenly home can inspire others to rediscover joy and love. Like Buddy, Christ calls us to be in the world but not of it, bringing the love and truth of our heavenly home to those around us, no matter how broken the world may seem. Related article - How Do We Find Elements of the Gospel in Movies? Photo credit: Getty Images/Roman Valiev Britt Mooney lives and tells great stories. As an author of fiction and non -iction, he is passionate about teaching ministries and nonprofits the power of storytelling to inspire and spread truth. Mooney has a podcast called Kingdom Over Coffee and is a published author of We Were Reborn for This: The Jesus Model for Living Heaven on Earth as well as Say Yes: How God-Sized Dreams Take Flight. The Harris County Jail at 701 N. San Jacinto in downtown Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer A 49-year-old man died in a Houston hospital last week, two days after suffering an unspecified medical emergency inside Harris County Jail. Mark Mills, 49, died on Aug. 22, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. Mills had been rushed to Ben Taub Hospital two days earlier after suffering an emergency in his cell block, according to the sheriffs office. Officials didnt describe the emergency in detail. The results of a medical examiners review of his death was still pending as of Monday afternoon. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Mills is the seventh Harris County Jail inmate to die this year. MORE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Thunderstorm triggers billowing black smoke from TPC Group chemical plant in East Houston Mills death is being investigated by the Houston Police Department, which is typical after an in-custody death. The sheriffs office is also conducting an internal investigation into Mills death. Mills had been in jail since June 10, when he was arrested on domestic violence charges. He was accused of violating conditions of his release following a guilty plea to a 2018 charge of bodily injury of a elderly person, according to court records. Jail deaths trending down Mills is the seventh person to die in the jails custody this year. Five of the deaths have been blamed on unspecified medical emergencies, and one on an inmates terminal illness. Another death, of 29-year-old Jalen Anderson, is being investigated by Louisiana authorities. Anderson died in April after he was outsourced to a correctional facility in LaSalle Parish in central Louisiana. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science has determined the cause of death for three of the seven people who died this year. Joseph Trahan, 65, died April 17 from sepsis related to a gunshot wound he suffered to his abdomen, according to medical examiner records. Harold Shell, 71, died April 9. Shell suffered from terminal lung cancer and other chronic medical issues, according to the medical examiners office. The February death of 32-year-old Adam Simmons was blamed on a methamphetamine and heroin overdose, according to the forensic institute. Simmons death was initially described by the sheriffs office as an apparent medical emergency. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The sheriffs office has faced multiple lawsuits in recent years over the deaths and injuries suffered by jail inmates. The latest lawsuit was announced earlier this month by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, over the 2023 death of inmate Robert Terry. BillOReilly.com is not available in this country. We apologize for any inconvenience. Four of the 36 new F-35 fighter jets from US manufacturer Lockheed Martin are to be fully assembled by the Swiss Ruag Group - such collaborations are recommended by experts from the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen. (archive picture) Keystone The University of St. Gallen and ETH Zurich have each published a study on possible improvements to Swiss armaments policy. In both studies, Switzerland should focus on international cooperation to strengthen its position. SDA In one study, experts from the University of St. Gallen make ten recommendations for action to close any gaps in future armaments requirements. Among other things, they recommend using direct offset transactions on a larger scale in order to establish a supply-relevant armaments industry in Switzerland or to create dependencies with foreign companies. Offset transactions are agreements between procurer and supplier that ensure that part of the contract value is offset by transactions in the country of procurement. Experts from ETH Zurich write in the other study that what is needed above all is to position domestic research and industrial players within cross-border arms supply chains and to skillfully exploit interdependencies. SDA 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. Former school nurse Patricia Cook recalls stories of her work as she walks past Stevens Elementary School Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, where she retired from in May. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Former school nurse Patricia Cook recalls stories of her work as she walks past Stevens Elementary School Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, where she retired from in May. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Former school nurse Patricia Cook recalls stories of her work as she walks past Stevens Elementary School Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, where she retired from in May. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer About 20 Houston ISD school nurse jobs need to be filled, the district said Monday, despite ongoing recruiting efforts, including a virtual career information session hosted by the districts health and medical department the week before classes started. Thats around triple the number of openings at this point last school year, after former Superintendent Millard House II prioritized making sure each HISD campus had a nurse prior to the state takeover in June 2023 a regime change that some fear might be making it harder to attract and retain qualified employees. School nurses help administer medications to students, have a role in maintaining automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and can assist in an emergency, like the one the first week of school that resulted in the death of a Marshall Middle School student. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Securing a qualified nurse on every campus is a priority for the district, HISD said in a statement Friday. The District is actively recruiting and interviewing qualified nurse applicants. The district is currently securing temporary registered nurses to support campuses with these vacancies. There were 248 HISD school nurses at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year and 226 school nurses at the end of that year, with more separations (55) from the district than hires (36) during that period. HISD said it has hired 57 school nurses since June. HISD said Monday in a statement it has 28 nurses prescreened and eligible for principals to interview, and another 16 nurse candidates undergoing screening that week. Board policy requires every campus to have at least two people trained in emergency response, including CPR and AED training, HISD wrote. What is true, regardless of the staffing configuration at a campus is that every school has more than one staff member trained in CPR and other emergency protocols who are prepared to respond to medical emergencies, the district wrote Monday. The ongoing hunt for nurses is not unique to Houston ISD, said Loree LaChance, a doctor of nursing practice, registered nurse and certified nurse educator at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. Advertisement Article continues below this ad NEW GUIDELINES: Houston districts scramble to adapt to new guidelines that bar nurses from giving meds like Advil I know that a lot of school districts in the area that I live in now (Central Texas) and other places its a constant hiring, LaChance said, adding that when she was a director of an Austin area program, that program hired year-round until April. But it typically is an all-year kind of thing. Continuous. Because its that kind of shortage and that kind of turnover. Some of the schools listed without a nurse at the end of last year share a campus with another school. For example, Las Americas did not have at least one school nurse at the end of year, while Jane Long Academy did. Project Chrysalis Middle School, which shares a campus with Cage Elementary, was also listed without a nurse at the end of the year. 'It was becoming very stressful' Nurses address accidents and illnesses that come up but also conduct screenings and oversee immunizations, said Patricia Cook, a retired school nurse from Stevens Elementary School. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Her job became more stressful in her last year, Cook said. She said she had to wait longer than usual for supplies she ordered for her clinic, and she also saw an uptick of stress- and anxiety-related issues among children and teachers coming to her, contributing to her own stress. When you have third-graders having panic attacks, it takes a while to bring them down, Cook said. Youve got tools to do it, but youve got to take the time out of your day to help them cope. Cook tied the rise in stress for teachers to an increase in classroom observations, which ramped up under state-appointed leadership to evaluate and critique teachers, and to teacher turnover for students' stress. Well, in elementary school, you have to understand, children really work well when they can have the same teacher on a regular basis and the schedule stays the same, Cook said, giving examples of teacher turnover and reassignment. It was constant, constant movement of teachers through the campus. Former school nurse Patricia Cook recalls stories of her work as she walks past Stevens Elementary School Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, where she retired from in May. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer I think that the upheaval thats going on in HISD certainly is a compounding factor in anxiety and the mental health issues, but this is a trend that we have seen an increase, even pre-COVID. It certainly is post-pandemic elevated, LaChance, a Bellaire High School alumna, said. There is a lot of social anxiety with children, and that translates over into the school setting. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Challenges to retaining school nurses State law doesnt require schools to have a nurse, and goals for school nurse staffing vary by district, said Yvonne Clark, president of Texas School Nurse Organization Region IV. Clark declined to comment on Houston ISD specifically. Clark said that, generally, ongoing and comprehensive training for school nurses and good relationships with supervisors help retain nurses. Even though people may think, 'Oh, Id like to be a school nurse,' they think it might be easier or less demanding than working in a hospital, it is a specialty practice, Clark said. And you may not be doing the 12-hour hospital shifts, and you may not be doing IV pushes and things, but it has its own demands that come with any specialty practice. So you use a different set of tools or skill set when you are a school nurse. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The school nurse job is complex not only because school nurses often cannot turn to a nursing peer on-site and ask questions, but also because of increasingly complex health issues at schools, LaChance said. And a school nurse may see this wide range of health issues without the resources and equipment of a hospital. It certainly has increased over the 20 years that Ive been a school nurse, LaChance said. We are seeing children in school with more complex health needs. We are seeing children in school that dont have access to regular health care, and so something that normally would be taken care of at a doctors office or a clinic, or even be prevented to start with, comes into the health office. Gardai are warning of misinformation being spread over a public order incident in Dublin on Sunday evening. Gardai are investigating a number of public order incidents on Cappagh Road and Cardiffsbridge Road in Finglas. Advertisement Gardain say no incident of attempted child abduction or similar activity has been reported to An Garda Siochana nor has An Garda Siochana any information to substantiate such claims. An Garda Siochana appeals to anyone who directly observed any attempted abduction or inappropriate approach to a child, who has direct knowledge of any attempted abduction or inappropriate approach to a child occurring in the Finglas area to contact Finglas Garda Station at 01 666 7500. Gardai say they are very conscious of the volume of misinformation, disinformation and fake news circulating on this incident, and in general, particularly on social media and direct messaging platforms. An Garda Siochana appeals to all members of the public and the media to independently verify any information published on social media and/or messaging apps. Monday's front pages focus on a range of stories from Israel striking Hizbullah targets in Lebanon to average rents in Cork city costing 2,000. The Irish Times reports both Israel and Hizbullah have claimed significant achievements after the biggest Israeli attack against the Iranian-backed group in south Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war in October. Advertisement The Irish Examiner reports the average rent for homes in Cork city has passed 2,000 per month for the first time, with tenants across the country facing ever-rising accommodation costs. The Echo leads with comments from Taoiseach, Simon Harris, who said he will raise with Cabinet colleagues the issue of restoring therapists to St Killians's Special school in Cork. Advertisement Good morning , here's the front page of Monday's Irish Independent pic.twitter.com/eMViWathPv Irish Independent (@Independent_ie) August 26, 2024 Advertisement For all the big news, pick up Monday's Irish Daily Mail pic.twitter.com/B9vhMTw4Uv The Irish Daily Mail (@irishdailymail) August 25, 2024 Today's front page of The Irish Sun pic.twitter.com/IlhNWtwqOf Advertisement The Irish Sun (@IrishSunOnline) August 26, 2024 Morning, readers. Here's a look at today's front page of the Belfast Telegraph.https://t.co/pvY76hO6uo Stay with us for all your breaking news today. pic.twitter.com/8jdRJMiKKH Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) August 26, 2024 Advertisement In the UK, talks on a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the latest news from Westminster take centre stage on the front pages of Mondays newspapers. The Independent, Daily Mirror, and The Guardian all lead on Israels words of warning to Hezbollah amid fears of a widening conflict despite ceasefire discussions continuing. INDEPENDENT: Israel tells Hezbollah this is not the end #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/yKfRHxTlkj Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 25, 2024 GUARDIAN: Airstrikes on Hezbollah not the end of the story says Netanyahu #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/8f0uV9ip5Z Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 25, 2024 The decision to give Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli a 10 Downing Street security pass is deeply concerning, according to the Conservatives with the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph leading with the story. The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph: 'PM under pressure over No 10 pass for donor'#TomorrowsPapersToday Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/Y1gTdusP20 The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 25, 2024 Labour comes under more fire in the Daily Express and the i over the axing of winter fuel payments. I: Cabinet split as Labour MPs fear voter backlash #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/qXs6I2xUdm Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 25, 2024 The Times focuses on Keir Starmer saying it will take a decade to rebuild Britain after taking over from the Conservatives in government. The Financial Times reports that private equity firms have slammed on the brakes for dealmaking with China. FT UK: Private equitys appetite for China fades #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/km76Dg4ter Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 25, 2024 Lastly, the Daily Star leads with suns out, tums out with the chance of good weather for the bank holiday. Russian forces unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage on Ukraine early on Monday, and at least three people were reported killed in the attack, which appeared to target energy infrastructure. The attack began at around midnight and continued after dawn in what appeared to be Russias biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks. Advertisement Russian forces fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions more than half the country, Ukraineian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday morning. The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists, h2 said. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of regions. A building damaged in a drone attack on the city of Engels in the Saratov region of Russia (Saratov region governor Roman Busargin official Telegram channel/AP) Advertisement He added that Ukraines state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilise the system. He called on Ukraines allies to provide Kyiv with long-range weapons and permission to use them on targets inside Russia. In order to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the place from which the Russian missiles are launched, he said. We count on the support of our allies and will definitely make Russia pay. According to the Ukrainian air force, there were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles. Advertisement Drone attack damage to a building in the Russian city of Saratov (Saratov region governor Roman Busargin official Telegram channel/AP) Explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, and power and water supplies in the city have been disrupted, the citys mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, said. At least three people were killed one in the western city of Lutsk, one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and one in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in the south-east, according to local officials. Advertisement Thirteen others were injured one in the Kyiv region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, five in Lutsk, three in the southern Mykolaiv region and four in the neighbouring Odesa region. Blackouts and damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were reported across the country, from the region of Sumy in the east, to the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, to the region of Rivne in the west. In Sumy, a province in the east that borders Russia, local administration said 194 settlements had suffered a full power blackout, while 19 others had a partial blackout. Ukraines private energy company, DTEK, introduced emergency blackouts, saying in an online statement that energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians. Advertisement In neighbouring Poland, the military said Polish and Nato air defences were activated in the eastern part of the country as a result of the attack. Saratov region governor Roman Busargin, right, speaks with residents of the building damaged by a drone attack on the city (Saratov region governor Roman Busargin official Telegram channel/AP) Meanwhile, in Russia, officials reported a Ukrainian drone attack overnight and on Monday morning. Four people were injured in the central region of Saratov, where drones hit residential buildings in two cities. One drone crashed into a residential high-rise in the city of Saratov, and another hit a residential building in the city of Engels, home to a military airfield that had been attacked before, local officials said. Russias Defence Ministry said a total of 22 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight and in the morning over eight Russian regions, including the Saratov and Yaroslavl regions in central Russia. President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, days after the most prominent leader from a nation that maintains a neutral position on Russias invasion of Ukraine visited Kyiv. Mr Modi, in a post on X, said that he spoke to Mr Biden about Indias full support for early return of peace and stability in Ukraine. He said the leaders also discussed Indias concern about the safety of Hindus and other religious minorities in neighbouring Bangladesh after this months ouster of the countrys long-serving prime minister. Advertisement The White House said it welcomed Modis engagement with Ukraine. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability. We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 26, 2024 Advertisement White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters: We welcome any other country that wants to help President (Volodymyr) Zelensky work towards this just peace, and any country thats willing to come at that discussion by starting with President Zelenskys perspective, by hearing him out. Mr Zelensky and Mr Modi discussed at length Ukraines peace formula during their meeting last week, which prioritises territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops, according to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Advertisement We say it very loudly and clearly that we support the respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, Mr Modi said during the meeting. Its our highest priority. The Kyiv visit came after Mr Modi met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) Advertisement Mr Zelensky had criticised Mr Modi for the visit with Mr Putin, which came on the same day Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, killing scores of people. India, which has a long-running relationship with Moscow, has largely avoided weighing in on the Russian invasion. The country began building a strong relationship with the then-Soviet Union in the mid-1950s during the Cold War, then strengthened those ties over conflicts with neighbouring Pakistan. The Soviet Union helped mediate a ceasefire between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 war over control of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Then, during Indias war with Pakistan in December 1971, the Soviet Union used its veto power to support India at the United Nations, while the US ordered a task force into the Bay of Bengal in support of Pakistan. Advertisement Protests in Bangladesh led to the resignation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File) Mr Modi said he also discussed the situation in Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India this month. Her ouster was triggered by student-led protests against a quota system for government jobs. After clashes between protesters and government forces that led to hundreds of deaths, the movement grew into a broader rebellion against the leader and her government. Dozens of attacks against Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh have been reported since Ms Hassinas ouster. Mr Modi said during the call with Mr Biden that he underscored the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh. Mr Biden took part in the call from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is on holiday with family. Gunmen killed at least 37 people in separate attacks in south-western Pakistan on Monday, officials said, while security forces killed 21 insurgents, marking one of the deadliest days of violence in volatile Baluchistan province, with reports of other shootings and destruction in the area. Twenty-three people were shot dead overnight after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. Advertisement The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. People look at burnt vehicles, torched by gunmen after killing passengers, on a highway in Musakhail, in Pakistans volatile Baluchistan province (Rahmat Khan/AP) In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passers-by, in Baluchistans Qalat district, authorities said. Advertisement The bodies of six people were found in Bolan, where insurgents also blew up a railway track, attacked a police station in Mastung, and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, all districts in Baluchistan. No casualties were reported in those attacks. The military said 14 security forces were martyred while responding to the attacks. Those appeared to be included in the overall death toll. Sanitisation operations are being conducted and the instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly acts, targeting innocent civilians, will be brought to justice, the military said in a statement. Baluchistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on security forces. Advertisement The separatists have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted. Relatives gather around the body of a passenger who was killed by gunmen on a highway in Musakhail (Arshad Butt/AP) Advertisement The attack in Musakhail came hours after the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group warned people to stay away from highways as they launched attacks on security forces in various parts of the province. But there there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings. In a statement on Monday, the BLA only said it inflicted heavy losses on security forces in attacks in the province. Pakistans military and government did not immediately comment on that claim. The group often provides exaggerated figures of troop casualties. Advertisement Separatists are known to ask people for their ID cards, and then abduct or kill those who are from outside the province. Many recent victims have come from neighbouring Punjab province. Uzma Bukhari, a spokeswoman for the Punjab provincial government, denounced the latest killings on Monday, saying the attacks are a matter of grave concern and urging the Baluchistan provincial government to step up efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that security forces in Baluchistan responded to the latest attacks on Monday, killing 12 insurgents. He said authorities would reveal who was behind the latest attacks after completing an investigation, but noted that terrorists and their facilitators will have no place to hide in the country. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Mr Naqvi in separate statements called the attack in Musakhail barbaric and vowed that those behind it will not escape justice. Later, Mr Naqvi also condemned the killings in Qalat. A man comforts another over the death of a family member killed by gunmen in Musakhail (Arshad Butt/AP) In May, gunmen fatally shot seven barbers in Gwadar, a port city in Baluchistan. In April, separatists killed nine people after abducting them from a bus on a highway in Baluchistan, and the attackers also killed two people and injured six in another car they forced to stop. The BLA claimed responsibility for those attacks at the time. Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the latest killings of non-Baluch people are an attempt by separatists to harm the province economically. He told the Associated Press that most such attacks are carried out with the aim of economically weakening Baluchistan, noting that the weakening of Baluchistan means the weakening of Pakistan. He said insurgent attacks could hamper development work being done in the province. Separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the countrys eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province, which for years has experienced a low-level insurgency. Most such previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed group and others demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. The Pakistani Taliban also have a presence in the province, and they are closely connected to the BLA. In a separate attack on Monday, in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a roadside bomb killed four people and wounded 12 others in North Waziristan district, said local administration official Abid Khan. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as US and Nato troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war. More than 100 people were evacuated and two taken to hospital as a fire engulfed a building in Dagenham, east London, with known safety issues. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it is carrying out a significant search and rescue operation after being called to the blaze in Freshwater Road at 2.44am on Monday. Advertisement Forty-five engines and around 225 firefighters are responding to the blaze that has engulfed the whole mixed-use commercial and residential building, including scaffolding surrounding the property and the roof, the LFB added. The fire brigade said the building had known fire safety issues (Lucy North/PA) The building was undergoing remedial work to remove and replace non-compliant cladding on the fifth and sixth floors containing flats, according to a planning application document. Advertisement A resident of the building described the incident as very terrible and said he was coughing up black from the smoke. Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor, told reporters: I opened my main door, smoke was coming in from the window I live at the back. I saw it (the fire). Very terrible, very terrible. Mr Ogbeide said it was very busy in the buildings stairwell with fellow residents who didnt bring anything when evacuating, with some still naked. Advertisement He said: Ive never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I dont know what to do. Asked if he felt OK, the resident added: Im not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. Advertisement When I cough, you see the black. Mr Ogbeide later told the PA news agency he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, but did hear a fire alarm. Another resident living near the building said he heard people screaming as the incident unfolded. Advertisement A local resident said he heard people screaming as the fire unfolded (Lucy North/PA) Ahmed, 44, of Kemp Road, which is a few hundred yards from the property, told PA: When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming. London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the LFB has declared a major incident to allow the service to focus its resources on the fire. He continued: The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. A full, simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. My thoughts are with all those affected by the fire in Dagenham overnight, and I remain in close contact with the @LondonFire Commissioner and emergency services who worked tirelessly through the night to gain control of the fire. Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) August 26, 2024 The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents, he added. At 12.16pm, London mayor Sadiq Khan posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the major incident had been stood down, and thanked emergency services who had worked tirelessly through the night to control the blaze. Local MP Margaret Mullane said the fire had resulted in minimal injuries because of the swift response of the emergency services. In a post on X, the Dagenham and Rainham MP wrote: Terrible scenes in Dagenham this morning as @LondonFire tackle the blaze at Freshwater Rd. Thanks to their rapid response injury was minimal. I will be visiting the rescue centre today to see what help and support I can offer the residents and businesses who have lost everything. Forty-five engines and around 225 firefighters responded to the blaze in Dagenham, east London (Lucy North/PA) At around 7.30am, the fire service said the blaze was producing heavy smoke and advised local residents to keep windows and doors closed New drones are being deployed to tackle the blaze, along with 210ft (64m) and 105ft (32m) turntable ladders that are being used as vantage points to assess the scene and to douse the flames with water from above, Mr Roe said. Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are in attendance at the scene, while Freshwater Road remains closed to traffic. The LFB are urging people to avoid the area where possible. The cause of the fire is not yet known. First batch of Malaysian fresh durians enters Chinese market Xinhua) 08:44, August 26, 2024 ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of 15 tonnes of fresh durians from Malaysia arrived in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province on Saturday evening, marking the first batch of Malaysian fresh durians to enter the Chinese market. The durians will be distributed by the cold chain from the Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport to cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Shenyang. This batch of Malaysian fresh durians, including ten varieties such as Black Thorn and Musang King, was sourced from nine Malaysian export companies. The Zhengzhou airport customs have established a 'green channel' for cold chain goods -- ensuring quick inspection and expedited clearance upon arrival. Currently, the air route for transporting durians between Zhengzhou and Kuala Lumpur is served by a B737-800 freighter, allowing for same-day round trips with flexible scheduling. The direct flight between the two cities takes as little as five hours. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) The Polaris Dawn team is set to fly to space this summer. Polaris Program / John Kraus The historic Polaris Dawn mission will soon be on its way to space. The SpaceX-operated mission will see a four-person crew to space for a five-day mission. Led by Polaris Program leader and Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn has multiple goals and hopes to set several firsts for spaceflight along the way. The quartet will head farther into space than any other group of people since the Apollo program. They will reach an orbital altitude of about 870 miles from the Earth's surface, according to Polaris Dawn. The International Space Station is about 250 miles from the Earth's surface. Advertisement Article continues below this ad What is Polaris Dawn? Polaris Dawn is the first of three scheduled missions to space as part of the Polaris program. It is a five-day commercial spaceflight mission featuring a crew of four people. How are SpaceX and Polaris Dawn connected? Isaacman and SpaceX are the backers of the program. Isaacman purchased the three spaceflights with SpaceX tasked to run the operations. The Polaris Dawn crew will fly to space thanks to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Two members of the crew, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, also work for SpaceX. When is the Polaris Dawn launch date? The targeted launch date for Polaris Dawn is currently Aug. 27. That is subject to change. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Who is the crew for the Polaris Dawn mission? The Polaris Dawn mission has a four-person crew: Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Pilot Scott Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon. Who is Jared Isaacman? Jared Isaacman, the 41-year-old mission commander for Polaris Dawn, is a billionaire funding the Polaris program. He is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a payment processing company. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Isaacman first went to space on Inspiration4, the first all-civilian flight into space. SpaceX launched that mission, which Isaacman also financially backed, in 2021. The Polaris program was announced a few months later in early 2022. ISAACMAN'S FIRST MISSION: Splashdown marks mission success for first amateur SpaceX crew Who is Anna Menon? Menon is a Houston native who currently is a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX in addition to her role with Polaris Dawn. She said her job on the mission is to make sure everyone stays healthy and helps the team complete its goals. Before joining SpaceX, she worked at NASA helping out with the International Space Station. She said her work at NASA and SpaceX in mission control rooms should be able to help bridge the gap between her crew members and the team on the ground while Polaris Dawn is in space. Menon will also be reading her children's book from space to young people all over the world during the mission. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Her husband is NASA astronaut Anil Menon. What are Polaris Dawn's goals? The Polaris Dawn website lists four objectives they are working toward during their time in space: high altitude, first commercial spacewalk, in-space communications and health research. Isaacman and Poteet are the two crew members who will be stepping outside the spacecraft, making them the first private citizens to do a spacewalk. They are wearing special SpaceX suits for the task, which SpaceX hopes is a step toward mass-producing space suits for people living on the moon and Mars. Reuters said the spacewalk should last about 20 minutes. There are three dozen research tasks set for the crew members to help with and conduct. Researchers will also be able to gather data about traveling deep into space from the crew members themselves. When is Polaris Dawn expected to return to Earth? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets, state media said on Monday, as the US and South Korea engage in joint military drills. North Korean test photos showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Koreas main K-2 battle tank. Most combat drones stand away from targets and fire missiles. Advertisement The Norths official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturdays test involved various types of drones built to fly different ranges to attack enemy targets on land and sea, and flew along various routes before accurately hitting test targets. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a demonstration of an exploding drone crashing into a target at an undisclosed location (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP) After the test, Mr Kim pledged to spur the development of drones that explode on impact, conduct reconnaissance or attack targets underwater to boost his countrys war readiness, saying the Norths military should be equipped with advanced drones as early as possible, KCNA said. Advertisement The drone test came as the US and South Korean militaries carry out the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which continue until Thursday. The exercises focus on enhancing their readiness against North Korean threats and include computer-simulated war games and live-fire training, with a combined aerial drill involving 60 warplanes that began its three-day run on Monday. South Koreas air force said the drill, which kicked off with precision-bombing demonstrations that included South Korean F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, is aimed at coping with North Korean threats posed by drones, cruise missiles and artillery. Also on Monday, the US and South Korea also began a separate amphibious landing drill involving dozens of aircraft and vessels from their navies and marines, including US F-35 fighters and amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. Advertisement South Korean soldiers aim their machine guns as part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise with the US in Seoul (Ahn Young-joon/AP) South Koreas military said the Ssangyong Exercise, which will continue until September 7, is aimed at sharpening combat interoperability. Lee Chang Hyun, spokesman for South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that South Koreas military is closely examining North Koreas drone capabilities and that the Souths military is equipped with systems to detect and intercept them. He did not provide further details. Advertisement Some analysts suggest the North Korean drones shown in state media photos resemble Russias Zala Lancet-3 drones, and Mr Lee said the South is looking into the possibility that Russia had helped North Korea acquire its drone capability. We are aware that during the past exchanges between North Korea and Russia that some (drones) were given (to North Korea) as gifts, he said. We would need to analyse various aspects, including whether (North Korea) would have modified to improve their capabilities or other possibilities. South Koreas police special operations unit carries out an anti-terror drill as a part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise with the US in Seoul (Ahn Young-joon/AP) Advertisement North Korea and Russia have been aligning closely in the face of their separate confrontations with the US. Mr Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin held summits this June and in September last year. Washington and its allies have accused the countries of expanding an alleged arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Mr Putin with badly needed munitions to prolong Russias fighting in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and technologies to upgrade Mr Kims nuclear-armed military. Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high as Mr Kim uses Russias war against Ukraine as a distraction while he strengthens his nuclear-armed military and issues verbal threats of conflict toward Washington and Seoul. While most of the international attention has been focused on his long-range missiles designed to reach the US mainland, he has also been expanding weapons targeting rival South Korea, most notably short-range missiles and artillery systems the North has described as nuclear-capable. Earlier this month, Mr Kim staged a huge ceremony in the capital, Pyongyang, to mark the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units and called for a ceaseless expansion of the militarys nuclear programme. The South Korean armys K-9 self-propelled howitzers take positions in Paju, near the border with North Korea (Ahn Young-joon/AP) This added to concerns as he demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the Norths border with South Korea and claimed his military could react with pre-emptive nuclear strikes if it perceived the leadership was under threat. In a closed-door briefing to politicians on Monday, South Koreas spy agency said it is unclear whether North Korea is currently capable of producing enough missiles to fill up those launch vehicles, which are each designed to fire multiple missiles with potential range to cover most of South Koreas greater capital area and central regions. The agency said the North has been focusing its manufacturing capacities on producing missiles and other military equipment that are being supplied to Russia, according to the office of politician Park Sun-won, who attended the briefing. Analysts say Mr Kim may seek to dial up pressure in a US election year as he advances his long-term goals of forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. Police in Iceland have called off a search at a collapsed ice cave, saying they now believe no one is missing. Icelandic authorities say they called off the search after examining the tour operators records and determining that all 23 people on the trip had been accounted for. Advertisement Police previously had begun the search for two people they believed were missing because they initially were told there had been 25 people on the expedition. Four people were struck by falling ice when the cave collapsed, killing one person and injuring another (STOD2/ Vilhelm Gunnarsson via AP) One person died and one person was seriously injured when an ice cave at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in south-eastern Iceland when the incident happened shortly before 3pm on Sunday. Advertisement A moment ago, the police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved, police said. It has come to light that no one was hidden under the ice. Rescuers had worked by hand to cut through the remnants of the collapsed ice cave as they searched for those they had believed to be missing. The search, which was suspended overnight when conditions made it too dangerous, had resumed at about 7am, Icelandic broadcaster RUV reported. Video footage showed rescuers working inside two large craters surrounded by sand-blackened ice. Advertisement By the end of the day, rescuers were satisfied that a mistake had been made in record keeping and that no one else was missing. Police said there had been misleading information about the number of people on the trip. Based on what initially was available, it was deemed necessary to continue the search until rescuers could be assured no one was under the ice, police said. Three teams of rescuers are working to scoop and break down the ice while others continue to figure out who is trapped beneath the ice (STOD2/ Vilhelm Gunnarsson via AP) Advertisement Ice caves are a popular destination for visitors to Iceland, with tour operators offering customers the chance to explore the insides of glaciers and see the blue colour and stunning patterns in the ice. This is a terrible event that you dont want anyone to go through, Gardar Hrafn Sigurjonsson, the associations vice-chairman, told local news site Visir. We regret this terrible accident on the Breidamerkurjokull, both me personally and the association. Visir said the group that was at the cave during the collapse was on an organised tour accompanied by a guide. Most of the visitors were outside the cave when it came down, it reported. Glaciers cover about 11% of the territory of Iceland, an island nation in the north Atlantic that sits on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle. Advertisement The largest is Vatnajokull, which covers 3,050 square miles (7,900 sq km). Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of Vatnajokull that ends at the Jokulsarlon Lagoon, where icebergs constantly break off from the glacier. Moving rescue equipment and personnel up to the glacier is difficult due to the rugged terrain, and rescuers had to cut through the ice using chainsaws. The glacier is about 185 miles (300km) from a volcano that erupted on the Reykjanes Peninsula in south-western Iceland on Friday. Anthony Evans - "Praise" | Merge PR LOS ANGELES, CA. / NASHVILLE, TN. (AUGUST 23, 2024) Renowned Gospel artist, producer, performer, philanthropist, and author Anthony Evans releases his version of the No. 1 song "Praise" available today. Listen to his version of the hit song here. "This new reimagined arrangement of 'Praise' is my take on a worship song that I believe will stand the test of time," shares Anthony Evans. "Written by some of my dear friends, 'Praise' reminds us that perspective within our circumstance is a choice. Although hard at times, the choice to 'praise' leads to a peace that passes all understanding." As one of the GMA Dove Award nominated songs of the year, "Praise," has spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart, where it has been on the chart for 65 weeks. Originally released by Elevation Worship, "Praise" is also nominated for Worship Song of the Year. The timely release of this reimagined and unique version of the song from Evans will surely be well-received by listeners. Earlier this year, Evans released his new full-length studio album Revive, which debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart. This new album features a mix of inspiring new original songs and soulful worship songs he drew on to survive a time of immense trials. As the title states, this album is a testament to Evans's painstaking return to a strong, enduring faith after a long season of loss, heartache, and doubt. Evans will also continue his philanthropic work with Food For The Hungry as he will be appearing on Kirk Franklin's "The Reunion Tour," which will hit 29 major markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, New York City area, and more. ABOUT ANTHONY EVANS: Anthony Evanss deep faith has been the foundation of everything he has set out to accomplish in his life and ministry. Growing up the son of influential pastor, Dr. Tony Evans, among siblings Chrystal Evans Hurst, Priscilla Shirer, and Jonathan Evans, all of whom have become impactful speakers, authors, and spiritual leaders themselves, Anthonys path is unique and all his own. From Billboard charting artist, worship leader, producer, author, and actor, everything Anthony does comes from a heart of faith and his desire for that faith to make an impact inside and outside of the four walls of the Church. As an accomplished vocalist, Anthony has produced 11 solo projects, two of which have hit the No. 1 spot on Billboards Gospel Album chart. His newest release, Revive, is infused with Anthonys refreshing re-commitment to God after a devastating, extended period of loss, unanswered questions, and heartache. Sustaining him through dark times, Anthony has learned to be grateful for the opportunities God has provided him to share his talents in unconventional ways not normally afforded to a Christian artist. Opportunities like performing and starring in Disneys Hollywood Bowl Production of Beauty and the Beast, appearing as an artist, and later becoming a talent producer for NBCs hit show, The Voice, and producing and arranging music for major Hollywood networks and production houses. In addition to his music, ministry, and global travel as a worship leader, Anthony has authored/co-authored three books, Unexpected Places, Divine Disruption, and When Faith Meets Therapy. In everything, Anthony desires to share his life and authentic faith with transparency and honesty, ...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in him will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6 Influence Music - "Day & Night - Live At Influence Church" | Merge PR ANAHEIM HILLS, CA. (AUGUST 23, 2024) Today Influence Music, a worship artist collective birthed out of Influence Church in Anaheim Hills, California, releases their new album, Day & Night - Live At Influence Church. With a combined following of 200K on socials and more than 400K monthly Spotify listeners, the new album was birthed from a remarkable season in the church. Listen to the new album here. Influence Music's Melody Noel shares, "We have seen a true revival in our men's ministry, incredible evangelism through our high schoolers hosting 'Jesus Clubs' at public high schools, and a real hunger from our congregation for more of God. Our prayer is that this album will carry the same spirit that we get to experience every Sunday." In 2018, the group experienced breakout success jumping to No. 2 on Billboard's Christian Albums chart as well as No. 1 album on iTunes with their debut EP Touching Heaven. Since then the group has released two live albums and two studio albums with songs ranking in the CCLI Top 500. Influence Music has also experienced radio traction with the song "Mistakes" charting in the Top 25 on the Christian Radio Airplay chart and "Spirit Lead Me," climbing into the Top 20 on Billboard's Christian Hot Tracks. They have also shared collaborations with acclaimed worship artists such as Kim Walker-Smith, Mack Brock, Christine D'Clario, and more. Day & Night - Live At Influence Church Track Listing: 1. All In - Jonathan Traylor, Whitney Medina 2. Blessed - Melody Noel 3. Make Me New - Melody Noel, Jonathan Traylor 4. They Always Do - Anjin Teal 5. Day & Night (Throne Room Song) - Melody Noel, Zach Johnson 6. From The Inside Out - Jonathan Traylor 7. House of God - Zach Johnson 8. Speak To The Mountains - Whitney Medina Staff at Sevens Perth office are waiting on a response from the media company after some walked out of a town hall meeting on Friday during a performance by four women dressed as sexy Santas to Mariah Careys All I Want for Christmas. A screen capture from a live stream of the event shows four women with linked arms, dancing in front of Sevens Perth news director, Ray Kuka, standing at a lectern addressing staff. 7News Perth news director Ray Kuka addresses staff behind four women dressed up as sexy Santas. Credit: AFR The appropriateness of the performance was raised with management, this masthead was told, however no official complaints were filed. The image, first published by The Australian Financial Review, has raised more questions about the culture at Seven, which has been the subject of intense scrutiny this year over the behaviour of its senior talent and executives. The government will review all taxpayer-funded flights made by the countrys politicians and public servants following concerns that default bookings with Qantas have reduced competition in the skies. Politicians and public servants have long been banned from collecting frequent flyer points, but they do accrue status credits which provide access to airline lounges and flight upgrades. Qantas frequent flyer program is one of the biggest in the world with more than half the countrys population holding memberships. Transport Minister Catherine King committed to a review of government bookings by the end of the year by the finance department as part of the aviation white paper released on Monday. More than 80 per cent of federal politicians, judges and government departments travelled with Qantas last year despite its average ticket price being more than $280 higher, according to travel booking data provided to the government. Colin Huangs reign as Chinas richest person only lasted about two weeks. A slump in shares of PDD Holdings, the parent company of e-commerce giant Temu, sent Huangs fortune tumbling by $US14.1 billion ($20.8 billion), his biggest one-day loss ever. Huang, 44, is now the fourth-wealthiest person in China with a net worth of $US35.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Pinduoduo founder Colin Huangs fortune tumbled on Monday. Credit: Bloomberg Its a dramatic drop for the founder of PDD, who on August 8 became the first tech tycoon to top Chinas wealth rankings in more than three years, displacing bottled-water billionaire Zhong Shanshan. Zhong retook the No. 1 spot on Monday with a fortune of $US50 billion. PDD reported quarterly revenue that missed analyst estimates and warned that sales growth will slow. Chief executive officer Chen Lei repeatedly told analysts in a call after the earnings release that the firms current trajectory wasnt sustainable, at a time when competitors such as ByteDances TikTok and Alibaba Group are vying for budget-conscious shoppers. The companys US-listed shares fell 29 per cent, the most ever. In a statement, Gillham said he was waiting for the MSO to respond to his lawyers, and that he was keenly interested in ensuring that the review they have announced is broad enough to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure that no artist will be treated in the same manner in the future. In the MSO statement, Garrett said he hoped his review might also guide other arts organisations. Peter Garrett will lead an independent review into the MSO. Credit: Getty Images Performing arts organisations are facing complex issues around freedom of expression whilst maintaining long-term sustainability in a dynamic and increasingly highly charged environment. If we get this right, the review may also serve a broader purpose for others who will inevitably face similar challenges, Garrett said. The MSO also acknowledged the tumultuous period following Gillhams performance. It said: The board recognises the past few weeks [have] been a difficult experience for many of our people. There is a clear understanding that we need to learn from these events to ensure the MSO is best positioned to continue offering world-class cultural experiences for our valued audiences. Loading The MSO saga is the latest in a string of splits among local arts organisations over the Gaza conflict. Last year, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art had a board member resign after complaints about her social media posts critiquing artists supportive of Palestine. Law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler withdrew its support for the National Association for the Visual Arts and arts precinct Collingwood Yards over pro-Palestine sentiments. The decision by three actors in the Sydney Theatre Companys The Seagull to wear keffiyeh scarves to support Palestine also caused a storm at board level, as donors backed away. Arts advocate Esther Anatolitis said the MSO internal review was a step in the right direction but underscored that it was what happened next that mattered. Anatolitis, a National Gallery of Australia council member, Meanjin editor and a Melbourne deputy mayoral candidate, said reviews should examine an arts organisations specific structures and needs. The key questions at stake here are not generic to just any corporate workplace environment, she said. Arts organisations employ artists [and] artists challenge us to think differently. Art is about asking questions and challenging us to do the same. Anyone who engages and employs artists works in a political space. Arts advocate Esther Anatolitis says the review is a step in the right direction. Credit: Sarah Walker There is also no such thing as a politically neutral position, and this is something that were constantly seeing some organisations butting up against, she said. Every public position that we take expresses our values and either champions constructive ways of being in the world, of engaging with people, or can risk condoning or supporting values and forces that are regressive, objectionable and destructive. For the MSO review to be successful, Anatolitis said, it had to consider what systems should be in place rather than what was currently in place. Its a different question to, Have we got A, B and C policy? Its what are the most appropriate, constructive and really nation-building policies that an arts organisation of this scale and scope should have. Loading Anatolitis said it was vital the MSO heard from the right people: specialists in arts governance and policy, whove got a real depth of experience working with artists. Garretts appointment was welcomed by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Although we have yet to see the terms of reference, the review is a step forward after the debacle caused by the former managing directors decision to cancel Jayson Gillhams performance on August 15 and to ban political expression on the MSOs stages, alliance chief executive Erin Madeley said. As a former arts minister and a member of one of Australias most respected bands who has never shied away from using his music to articulate a political viewpoint, Peter Garrett is highly qualified to conduct this review. His review must reaffirm the musical and artistic integrity of the MSOs musicians, of freedom of expression and of the centrality of the artist. Justin Stein has been jailed for life without parole for the murder of his partners nine-year-old daughter Charlise Mutten in the Blue Mountains, which a judge labelled a shockingly callous crime of very great heinousness. Stein, 33, was found guilty by a jury in June of killing the schoolgirl, whose body was found in a barrel next to the Colo River in January 2022 with gunshot wounds to her face and back. Justin Stein has been sentenced for the murder of his partners nine-year-old daughter Charlise Mutten. Charlise, who lived with her grandparents in Tweed Heads, had been visiting her mother Kallista Mutten and her fiance, Stein, for the school holidays. Prosecutors said Stein shot Charlise at his familys Mount Wilson estate, Wildenstein, while her mother was staying 1 hours away at his caravan in Lower Portland. In the NSW Supreme Court on Monday, Justice Helen Wilson sentenced Stein to life imprisonment. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has refuted reports the polyphagous shot-hole borer has been found in the Shire of Harvey, castigating the Liberal Party for what she described as irresponsible rumour-mongering. During a press conference on Monday, Jarvis revealed Shire of Harvey officers appeared to have mistaken the European house borer a well-known and established pest for the South East Asian pest responsible for destroying 3000 trees in the Perth metropolitan area. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis. Credit: Hamish Hastie The rumour is understood to have arisen just over an hour after the state announced millions in funding to combat the shot-hole borer. It was later republished by The West Australian newspaper. Caroline Wilburn is a breaking news reporter for the Houston Chronicle. A May graduate of Texas A&M University, Caroline worked as an election stringer for the Associated Press and as a breaking news fellow at the Texas Tribune. At the Tribune, she got a crash course in interpreting data, distilling complicated policy and following statewide trends on a tight deadline. Shes also a skilled video editor and podcast producer. She won a first-place award for audio news production at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should be banned from Mardi Gras, a top LGBTQ campaigner has argued, after his government opted not to record the number of gay and trans people in the next census. Three Labor MPs told this masthead they were upset by the decision, which contradicts federal Labors policy platform, which commits to ensuring the 2026 survey would ask new questions to capture the true number of sexually and gender diverse Australians. Anthony Albanese last year became the first sitting prime minister to march in the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Credit: Nikki Short The Australian Bureau of Statistics had considered including topics on gender, sexual orientation and variations of sex characteristics in the 2026 census after a complaint was made to the Australian Human Rights Commission. On Monday, the bureaus chief statistician, David Gruen, confirmed plans to test the new topics had since been scrapped. Singapore Airlines will launch direct flights to Sydneys new airport after it opens in 2026 under a deal that commits the first overseas airline to the $5.3 billion project. Western Sydney Airport will add the Singapore flights to its existing plans for Qantas and Jetstar domestic flights, in a big win for the project as it nears 80 per cent of construction. Western Sydney International Airport is currently under construction at Badgerys Creek. Credit: Wolter Peeter Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Transport Minister Catherine King are expected to confirm the deal on Tuesday morning after months of work to gain an international flag carrier as an anchor supporter for the new airport. The commitment promises to heighten competition one day after King backed the idea of a new federal agency to stand up for passengers in disputes with airlines over cancelled flights, delayed arrivals and problems getting refunds. A young independent who caused something of a political sensation when he transformed a western Victorian blue-ribbon Liberal electorate into a marginal seat at the last election has launched his third attempt to wrest shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan from federal parliament. Alex Dyson, 36, was supported by the independent teal member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, when he launched his bid for the seat of Wannon in his home town of Warrnambool at the weekend. Zoe Daniel and the candidate for Wannon, Alex Dyson, in Warrnambool. Credit: Tony Wright Daniels presence and upbeat speech to a crowd of several hundred supporters suggest Dyson is considered a serious chance among the tide of independents who have upended federal politics recently. Daniel referred to the mantra of the woman who pioneered community-based politics in Australia, Cathy McGowan, in encouraging Dysons supporter base. Hundreds of union officers were stripped of their positions, which some members viewed as overreach given most representatives had not been directly accused of improper conduct and because all claims were yet to be tested. Attack on one is an attack on all, the Victorian branch of the plumbers union said on Facebook. We will not stand for what the federal government has done. Former CFMEU boss John Setka. He quit before the Building Bad investigation was published. Credit: Chris Hopkins The Electrical Trades Unions Victorian branch said royal commissions into other scandals had not amounted to much compared to action taken against the CFMEU based on a handful of rumours and allegations. We call on all jobs to stop at 10am this Tuesday to support the CFMEU and attend a rally Lets fight for our wages and conditions! Lets fight for our future! Lets all stand together! The Fair Work Ombudsman on Monday reminded employees, unions and employers of their obligations and warned it would monitor and investigate any potential breaches of workplace laws. This includes allegations of people engaging in or organising unprotected industrial action, or employers breaching their obligations around employee rights and protections, a spokeswoman said. Please be aware that if an employee fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the Fair Work Act. Setka, in an interview with Sevens Spotlight program on Sunday night, accused the federal government of betraying him in a secret deal. He claimed the Commonwealth had promised not to put his union into administration if he resigned as Victorian secretary. Loading He claimed this was agreed after talks between the union, former workplace relations minister Tony Burke, and I assume [ACTU secretary] Sally McManus. Senator Murray Watt, who took over as Workplace Relations Minister last month, told ABC Breakfast this was absolutely fanciful. This idea from John Setka is utterly ridiculous, and its another desperate attempt from John Setka to distract attention away from the problems he has caused for his union and his members, Watt said. McManus also rejected the suggestion there had been a secret deal. John Setkas statements are not accurate, she said in a statement on Monday. The ACTUs position on this matter was clear and consistent both publicly and privately. Anyone accused of serious wrongdoing needed to stand aside. This was the counsel given to the CFMEU at the time. In this case, John was not the only person accused of serious wrongdoing. Senator Michaelia Cash, the federal oppositions spokeswoman for employment and workplace relations, said Setkas allegations were alarming. Mr Albanese needs to come clean about what he, his office, his ministers or anyone in his government knew about this alleged secret deal with John Setka or anyone else in the CFMEU, Cash said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed claims he had trembled in fear in a lift with Setka. Yeah, he was scared, Setka told the program. When someone starts trembling, you know theyre scared. But I hadnt even said a word. Albanese told ABC radio in Sydney that this was nonsense. Construction on the West Gate Tunnel Project in July. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui Master Builders Victoria chief executive Michaela Lihou said workers should be at their building sites as normal on Tuesday. Supporters of the union could have organised a rally at another time, outside working hours or on the weekend, Lihou said in a statement. Loading Disappointingly, the rally will lead to disruptions and lost productivity on various construction sites. And, at a time when we have work programs under pressure and at risk of being behind schedule and over budget, the timing could not be worse. Weve communicated with our membership that employees who down tools to attend the rally may be taking unprotected industrial action. Unless they are authorised, employers will need to withhold pay for workers that attend in accordance with industrial laws. Victorian government minister Gabrielle Williams said the state was working closely with its Big Build partners to monitor and manage the impacts on its projects. We will be keeping an eye on these actions, Williams said. She said everyone had a right to protest but emphasised the need for all actions to be peaceful. Jerusalem: For weeks, Israelis have waited in trepidation for a major attack by Hezbollah in retaliation for Israels assassination of a senior commander of the Lebanese group in Beirut last month, amid widespread fears that a cross-border escalation could spiral into an all-out regional war. But much of Israel woke up Sunday to find that at least for the immediate term, the long-dreaded attack appeared to be over almost before it started. People listen to a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah broadcasted on Hezbollahs al-Manar television channel, at a coffee shop in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: AP Israel and Hezbollah quickly claimed victories of sorts: Israel for its predawn preemptive strikes against what the military said were thousands of Hezbollahs rocket launcher barrels in southern Lebanon; and Hezbollah for its subsequent firing of barrages of rockets and drones at northern Israel, which the Israeli military said killed a naval officer. By breakfast time, the two sides were employing the language of containment. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Crew Dragon capsule the same spacecraft that takes NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, or ISS into an elliptical orbit that swings much further away from Earth. Polaris Dawn astronauts will pass through regions of intense radiation, and risk bombardment from tiny space rocks as well as bits of human-made debris that could puncture the spacecraft. The upside of the journey is that it will test new technologies and gather data on the effects it has on the human body when people venture deeper into space. This is a mission that sets out to accomplish a lot of things in a very short period, Isaacman said. We have some pretty ambitious objectives. For this flight, SpaceX developed a new spacesuit to be used for the spacewalk, and will also try sending communications via laser pulses, instead of radio signals, between the Crew Dragon and SpaceXs Starlink constellation of internet satellites. Polaris Dawn is scheduled to lift off from NASAs Kennedy Space Centre early on Tuesday, during a four-hour launch window that opens at 3:38am. While Isaacman led and financed Inspiration4 he essentially chartered a flight using a Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon capsule from SpaceX Polaris Dawn and two subsequent missions are, in Isaacmans words, a joint effort between Isaacman and SpaceX. Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot, during training for the Polaris Dawn mission. Poteet underwent surgery to implant a device that would measure the pressure of the fluid in his skull. Credit: John Kraus/Polaris Program via The New York Times Isaacman declined to say how much he or SpaceX has spent. We dont ever get into the costs on all this, he said. I would just say that there is obviously a lot of contributions that are coming from SpaceX, and myself, in this. Two members of the Polaris Dawn crew are SpaceX employees: Anna Menon, a lead space operations engineer, and Sarah Gillis, who oversees astronaut training. The other two crew members are Isaacman and Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot and long-time friend of Isaacmans who served as the mission director on the ground during Inspiration4. Polaris Dawn will travel further from the planet that anyone since the Apollo moon landings ended more than 50 years ago. The first few orbits will pass through a dent in the Earths magnetic field known as the South Atlantic Anomaly; this magnetic weak spot allows high-energy charged particles from regions known as the Van Allen belts to come much closer to Earths surface. Within a few hours, the Polaris Dawn crew will receive a dose of radiation equivalent to what astronauts on the ISS absorb in three months. After the Crew Dragon completes about eight orbits, the spacecrafts thrusters will fire to push the apogee, or furthest point of the orbit, to 1400 kilometres above the planet. That will be about 27 kilometres higher than the 1372-kilometre altitude NASA astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon reached during the Gemini 11 mission in 1966, still the record for astronauts on a space flight that did not head to the moon. After about six of these high orbits, the Crew Dragon will fire its thrusters again to drop the spacecraft down to a lower, elliptical orbit, with an apogee of 700 kilometres. The highlight of the five-day journey is scheduled for the third day: the spacewalk. During the two-hour operation, the astronauts will put on their spacesuits before all the air is let out of the Crew Dragon; the inside of the spacecraft will become part of the vacuum of outer space. Then two crew members Isaacman and Gillis, connected by umbilical cords that will provide power, air and other life support needs will move outside the spacecraft to conduct tests on the spacesuits. Poteet and Menon will remain inside the capsule, keeping an eye on the displays and managing the umbilical cords, but taking all the same risks we are in the vacuum of space, Isaacman said. When Isaacman first announced a series of three space missions in February 2022, he said Polaris Dawn would take place by the end of that year. But the date slipped repeatedly as SpaceX engineers studied how to make the flight as safe as possible. Loading At this point, there is no stone that they havent turned to make sure that were thinking about absolutely everything we can, Gillis said. The new technologies needed for Polaris Dawn went through numerous iterations and tests. Isaacman recalled that he and Gillis had gone to NASAs test facility at White Sands, New Mexico, to observe small projectiles fired at the spacesuits to see how they would stand up. We obviously werent in them, he said, but to see how the suit performs in a micrometeorite environment. To help ensure that the spacewalk will go smoothly, the entire Crew Dragon capsule was placed in a large vacuum chamber, simulating the emptying of air that will be performed before the spacewalk, and then refilling the capsule with oxygen and nitrogen after the hatch was closed again. Crew members acknowledge that risks remain, but said that they and the 14,000 employees at SpaceX had done everything they could to be ready to handle them. The first time we got into the simulator and we had to work as a crew, it went horribly wrong, Gillis said. We had so much to learn because we werent able to yet work as a team. She added, One of my most favourite parts of this journey is actually figuring out how we bring together these incredible skill sets to build a team that can go execute on these objectives and be successful as a team. The crew will conduct about 40 experiments, including obtaining magnetic resonance images of the astronauts brains and attempting to take X-ray images without an X-ray machine by using the natural showers of radiation that stream through outer space. Were going to spend every waking moment on orbit addressing these issues so we can capitalise on this opportunity, Poteet said. Poteet even underwent surgery to implant a device that was to measure the pressure of fluid around his brain. As astronauts float in orbit, fluids within their bodies shift upward, which may increase pressure inside their skulls, a potential cause of the squashed eyeballs, swollen optic nerves and blurred vision some astronauts have experienced. However, the device was removed. It was an experimental surgery, Poteet said. That particular device just didnt work out. The five-day mission will end with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. The crew will be thinking about their families during the voyage. I think often they have the hardest job while were on this endeavour, Menon said. One way that I have been connecting with my family on this journey is I wrote a childrens book named Kisses from Space. Boost for credit and payment services Osborn said that the new funding will fuel Shifts ambition to solidify its position as the leading provider of credit and payment solutions to Australian businesses. The company plans to invest further in its proprietary data models and platforms, aiming to enhance credit decisions and improve the overall customer experience not only for Australian businesses but also their network of commercial brokers. Cars try to get onto the I-10 ramp despite the rising water near downtown on Friday, July 26, 2024 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer August has been a hot and dry month across the Houston area following last week's streak of 100-degree days. For those looking for a little variety in their daily forecast, this week may provide a pleasant treat. Daily chances for storms give way to temperatures closer to what's normal for late August in Houston. Some days may even feature high temperatures below normal, shocking as that may sound to you. Of course, while rain is appreciated, it comes at a cost. That cost could be slower commute times and weather-related headaches for commuters across Southeast Texas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Monday commute woes Get ready for messy commutes each day this week across the Houston area. While washout commutes aren't necessarily expected, it does appear that each afternoon and evening will feature fairly widespread downpours. Let's first get you prepared for what lies ahead Monday morning. An area of low pressure tracked across the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend and looks to move into Texas Monday morning. This low pressure isn't associated with any tropical disturbance, but it does come with a surge of tropical moisture. The North American Mesoscale model shows the potential for morning showers will exist mainly south of Houston along the coast. Downpours will work inland by the afternoon, making their way toward Houston for the evening drive Monday. WeatherBELL Areas along the coast, especially closer to Matagorda Bay, are most likely to see morning downpours. If you have to hit the road in Houston early Monday to head in that general direction, you'll want to leave a few minutes early and plan on a few rain-related delays. Houston commuters may even deal with a few isolated downpours Monday morning as well, though the highest rain chances early on will be south of the city. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Daytime heating will bring the potential for more numerous storms closer to the I-10 corridor. Storms that develop later in the day will be found along sea and bay breezes that manage to work inland, so they should dissipate fairly quickly after sunset. Daily storm risk Rain chances through Wednesday will be between 40 and 60% each day and could go even higher by Thursday. Despite the high confidence that rain is likely across Southeast Texas at times this week, timing out storm chances will be tricky. Generally, areas along the coast are likely to see downpours early in the day. Houston will see storms approach during the afternoon. Any storms that survive the trek north of I-10 will likely do so after 6 p.m. or so before mostly tapering off after sunset. Are we expecting widespread issues with flooding? No. Street ponding or localized flooding cannot entirely be ruled out in areas of poor drainage with stronger storms. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Are we expecting severe weather? No. A few storms may pack gusty winds of 30 to 40 mph in addition to plenty of lightning, but large hail or damaging winds aren't expected. Tropics remain tranquil We are just about two weeks away from the climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. Despite that, the Atlantic basin is eerily quiet as we round out the month of August. It's doubtful anyone in Southeast Texas will bemoan a tropical weather outlook that features no chance of development over the next week, especially as some residents are still dealing with post-Beryl cleanup. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Anil Ambani, one of India's best-known businessmen and chairman of Reliance Group, was banned from the securities market for five years and fined about $3 million by the country's markets regulator last week on charges of diversion of funds. Anil Ambani said he was reviewing the order and will take appropriate next steps as legally advised. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp Once ranked sixth-richest person in the world in 2008, Anil Ambani has faced numerous legal and financial hurdles, leading him to announce bankruptcy in a UK court in 2020. Here is timeline of events that led to the latest blow to his crumbling empire: 2005: The Ambani family reaches settlement to split the Reliance group between Mukesh Ambani, now Asia's richest person, and his brother Anil Ambani. Anil Ambani starts leading a group which included Reliance Communication and Reliance Infrastructure, while Mukesh Ambani leads Reliance Industries with major businesses in oil and gas. 2014-17: Within 10 years, Anil Ambani's power and infrastructure firms start accumulating significant debt. Soon afterwards, one of his other firms - Reliance Naval and Engineering - faces insolvency proceedings. 2017-19: Reliance Communications takes a loan from Dena Bank of Rs 250 crore, which remained unpaid for several years, leading to the initiating of a sale of telecom assets worth Rs 24,000 crore to reduce debt. Anil Ambani faces several legal challenges, which included the possibility of imprisonment for failing to pay Ericsson AB while also being sued by Chinese banks over defaults. Meanwhile, auditor PwC withdraws from the audit of a group company - Reliance Capital -- after not receiving a "satisfactory response" to its queries on certain observations in its assessment of its fiscal 2019 accounts. Reliance Communications also goes to bankruptcy court to resolve its debt burden. August, 2020: The Delhi High Court halts insolvency proceedings against Anil Ambani in a matter pertaining to a roughly Rs 1200 crore-personal guarantee he had given to State Bank of India for loans to his companies. November, 2021: India's central bank says it will initiate bankruptcy proceedings against Reliance Capital. February, 2022: In an interim order, Sebi bars Anil Ambani and other company management from associating with any listed entity, acting as their directors and from associating with any market intermediary till further orders on charges of alleged diversion of funds. March, 2022: Anil Ambani steps down from the boards of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power. August 23, 2024: Sebi bans Anil Ambani from the securities market for five years on charges of diversion of funds. Source: regulatory filings, media reports Houston firefighters rescued a man Monday morning after his vehicle became stranded in Beryl floodwaters at Highway 288 and 610. (Courtesy ABC13). Houston firefighters rescued a man Monday morning after his vehicle became stranded in Beryl floodwaters at Highway 288 and 610. (Courtesy ABC13). Yet lawmakers charged with keeping an eye on the grid still managed to convince themselves they had done all that was needed to shore up the states power system. Perhaps the biggest surprise of Beryl is that so many keep getting surprised. The fact that another powerful weather event had flattened yet another part of the states power grid also seemed to have surprised many Texas political leaders, despite ample recent warnings. It was only three and a half years ago that the states entire grid came within minutes of crashing thanks to a slow-moving winter storm that froze power generators. It had been less than six months since electric poles and lines toppled by high winds ignited the largest wildfire in Texas history . Carl Johnson sits in his living room, still with no power to his MacGregor neighborhood home a week after Beryl. Living without lights and, importantly, air conditioning was inconvenient, uncomfortable and costly for residents and businesses, many of whom waited more than a week for the current to start flowing again. For the nearly dozen people who perished from hyperthermia , the stifling temperatures of a Houston summer without power became a death sentence. The areas primary electric delivery company, CenterPoint Energy, appeared unprepared as well, having failed to adequately harden its poles and lines to withstand the wild new climate. Nearly 85% of the companys customers lost power. Still, Julys Hurricane Beryl somehow managed to catch the Houston area off guard. A modest-sounding Category 1 hurricane by the time it hit Texas, the storms tear through an already weather-fatigued Harris County seemed to ambush many residents braced for a more manageable event. After passing a flurry of laws to ensure cold weather didnt collapse the system again, many lawmakers acted as though such problems were behind them. Bottom line is that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said at the time. Texas political attention to its grid, meanwhile, had wandered. In February 2021, a brutal winter storm had lingered over the state, freezing energy companies ability to generate power. Hundreds of Texans died in the cold and dark. Other corporate weaknesses lurked out of public view. The derecho had knocked out the companys outage tracker a real-time feature customers depend on to follow power losses and recovery projections and CenterPoint had yet to fix it. CenterPoint, which delivers electricity to about 2.7 million Houston-area customers, appeared to be emerging from a low period. In 2020, state regulators had rejected the companys requested rate increase after grocery giant H-E-B complained it had to buy backup generators because CenterPoints reliability was so bad. It had since sold off blocks of its business to concentrate on electricity delivery. Drone footage shows a fallen tree that crashed into a home on Annunciation Street in Houston's Hartwood neighborhood during Hurricane Beryl. Drone footage shows a fallen tree that crashed into a home on Annunciation Street in Houston's Hartwood neighborhood during Hurricane Beryl. At the same time, the state is ever more dependent on electricity. Texas regulators predict demand will double over the next six years . Houston uses more electricity than all but three U.S. cities. A recent study of anticipated hurricane behavior and local power grid conditions projected Harris County residents could see 70% more power outages if the system werent strengthened. The storm hits Peak hurricane season runs August to September, but warming oceans mean Atlantic hurricanes form sooner and strengthen faster. Beryl became a tropical storm on a Friday. By Monday it was the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. The storm initially tracked toward San Antonio but took an unusual turn east. Harris County sustained more or less a direct hit, its first in decades. In addition to the high winds several areas saw more than 10 inches of rain. Beryl also spun off dozens of tornadoes, which created additional damage. Advertisement Article continues below this ad CenterPoint wants to assure our customers that we are prepared for the 2024 hurricane season, a June news release promised. Yet the vast majority of the companys local customers lost power during Beryl. Thousands of CenterPoints utility poles broke, with wind-tossed trees causing much of the damage. With 4 million residents on the verge of a boil-water order because of lost power at treatment facilities, desperate Houston officials sent a panicked email to CenterPoint, which they said was unresponsive. As the storm moved out, the company said it had mustered 12,000 field resources to clean up. It boasted of restoring power for 1 million customers within 48 hours. Yet for hundreds of thousands more, the lights and air conditioning stayed off considerably longer. CenterPoint struggled even more with communications and optics. One CenterPoint executive was on the junket with Abbott in the Far East when Beryl hit. CEO Jason Wells waited three days to give a public statement during which he was photographed in an office with a working thermostat set at a cool 70 degrees. CenterPoint Energy CEO Jason Wells speaks to a reporter on July 11 at a CenterPoint Energy office in Houston. The thermostat behind him is set to 70 degrees. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Customers noted CenterPoints glitchy outage tracker also was displaying inaccurate i.e. useless information. Desperate for updates, many turned to Whataburger, whose online app let people see if the restaurant nearest them had power. Advertisement Article continues below this ad With outages dragging on, frustrated citizens railed against the power company, which, thanks to its government-granted monopoly, they had no choice but to use. Tempers flared, prompting anti-company graffiti, threats, vandalism and even violence against line workers. Three days after Beryl, Mayor John Whitmire said the hurricane had exposed the citys lack of preparation, while emphasizing his commitment to improving "neglected" emergency resources and infrastructure. (Editor's note: Days later, the mayor said, We were better prepared than ever.) Less than a week after the storm, Abbott declared CenterPoints storm prep unacceptable and ordered an investigation. U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2018. Technical Sgt. John Chapman was posthumously awarded the medal for conspicuous gallantry, after being part of a joint special operations team that voluntarily returned to a snow-covered mountain peak in Afghanistan to rescue a stranded teammate when their helicopter had been shot down by al-Qaida forces in March 2002. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg Yuri Gripas / Bloomberg News Service Its hard to imagine Donald Trump played by Andy Griffith. The late actor gained international fame as Mayberry's lovable and trustworthy sheriff. Then again, if you saw him in A Face in the Crowd, a searing movie satire released in 1957, you'd realize he could have nailed a portrayal of Trump. Griffith, in his movie debut, plays Larry Lonesome Rhodes, a blues-warbling drifter who becomes a national phenomenon as a radio show host who combines guitar-strumming, cornpone humor and politics. Lonesomes improbable rise is orchestrated by an ambitious young radio reporter named Marcia Jeffries who discovers him sleeping off a drunk in a small-town Arkansas jail. She helps him parlay his folksy humor and good ol boy persona into becoming a national TV star who can sell anything to a gullible and adoring public. Whether hes hawking a worthless sugar pill as a proto-Viagra virility enhancer, or a dull and timid politician as a down-home personality, a vast audience is eager to buy what the drawling, guitar-picking scam artist is selling. Jeffries, who becomes Lonesomes lover along the way, eventually orchestrates his demise when she realizes she has created a monster. Angry and disillusioned, she allows an open mic to pick up what hes saying as the credits roll at the conclusion of his live show. Unbeknown to Lonesome, viewers hear what their hero really thinks about them. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Those morons out there? he says, I could take chicken fertilizer and sell it to em as caviar. I could make em eat dog food and theyd think its steak. I got em like this, he says, making a fist. You know what the publics like? he continued. A cage full of guinea pigs. Good night, you stupid idiots. Good night, you miserable slobs. Theyre a lot of trained seals. I toss em a dead fish and theyll flap their flippers. The last we see of the raving megalomaniac his vast audience gone hes trying to lull himself to sleep in his high-rise Manhattan penthouse. The raucous applause of a taped laugh track echoes through the empty rooms. Obviously, the young actor in A Face in the Crowd is a long way from Mayberry. (The Andy Griffith Show would debut three years later.) Hes not so far away, though, from a real-life penthouse dweller whose improbable rise from TV reality-show star to the White House unsettles the nation to this day. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Our modern-day scam artist, hoping to move back into the White House, recently experienced something similar to Lonesomes devastating open-mic reveal. Stephanie Grisham, former press secretary to both the president and first lady Melania Trump, stood on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and revealed what Trump really thinks of his MAGA followers. I saw him when the cameras were off, behind closed doors, Grisham said in brief remarks. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. Grisham, whos far from the only former White House staffer to reveal Trumps contempt for his MAGA followers, recounted a story about a hospital visit the former president made during the COVID pandemic. People were dying in the intensive care unit, she recalled. He was mad that the cameras were not watching him, she said. He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, It doesnt matter what you say, Stephanie; say it enough and people will believe you. But it does matter. What you say matters, and what you dont say matters. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Grisham recalled that on Jan. 6, 2021, while a violent mob rampaged through the U.S. Capitol, she asked the first lady for permission to tweet that, while peaceful protest is the right of every American, theres no place for lawlessness or violence. She replied with one word, Grisham said. No. Grisham resigned that day. I couldnt be part of the insanity any longer, the woman who described herself as a one-time Trump "true believer" told her audience of Democrats. Longtime readers of Chronicle editorials may recall that we once compared a local radio talk-show host who trades in vicious stereotype and crude generalization whether he believes them or not to Lonesome Rhodes. Compared to the former president, the talk-show host is a veritable Mr. Rogers. Trump cannot or will not stop the cascade of vicious and demeaning insults. Unlike Lonesome, Trumps mic is often open, whether hes obsessing about crowd sizes at his rallies or, now, Kamala Harris looks. (Im a better-looking person than Kamala.) The latest absurdity as of this writing is his offhand remark comparing the Medal of Honor, the nations highest award for acts of military bravery, to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian award. Praising Miriam Adelson, the widow of his friend Sheldon Adelson a Las Vegas casino magnate and GOP megadonor Trump said the Medal of Freedom that he awarded Adelson in 2018 is actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, theyre soldiers. Theyre either in very bad shape because theyve been hit so many times by bullets, or theyre dead. Advertisement Article continues below this ad This is the same man who said that the late Sen. John McCain, a recipient of the Silver Star after surviving imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese, was only a war hero because he was captured. He added, I like people who werent captured, OK? Trump, of course, was never captured. The recipient of five draft deferments four for college, one for bone spurs in his heel he did not serve in the military. In nearly a decade since Trump descended the golden escalator, weve grown accustomed to his logorrheic affliction. We really dont hold him accountable anymore for the outrageous and offensive comments, the looping rants, the insults not the way we hold any other political figure, Republican or Democrat, accountable. Thats a mistake, we believe, particularly since hes offering himself yet again as a candidate to lead this nation. Its been 70 years since a bullying U.S. senator named Joe McCarthy was finally called to account during Senate hearings the Wisconsin lawmaker had called to ferret out alleged Communists in the U.S. Army. Army counsel Joseph Welch, responding on a June day in 1954 to McCarthys attack on a young attorney in Welch's Boston law firm, had a question for the senator. In words that echo through the decades, he asked, almost plaintively, Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? Advertisement Article continues below this ad It was a rhetorical question for Welch. He knew the answer, just as the American people know the answer if asked of Trump. But perhaps we should slightly rephrase the question: Have we no sense of decency? In the midst of a presidential campaign, why do we tolerate a candidate Republican or Democrat who does not respect the American people, who traffics in absurdity and insult rather than issues that affect their daily lives? Thats basic decency, as we define it. We are decrying one mans disrespect, his lack of decency, and yet the issue transcends partisan politics. The casual cruelty, the childish mockery, the personal insults and the relentless negativity that Trump has injected into the body politic are themselves an insult to the citizenry. They would be insults regardless of the source. We deserve better. During this campaign season, we must demand better. A democracy that thrives on heated debates and honest arguments among its citizenry has no need for a latter-day Lonesome Rhodes. On August 19, the Joe Biden administration announced a new initiative offering a pathway to legal status for an estimated 500,000 spouses of US citizens without requiring them to leave the country. The announcement quickly led to a backlash, with sixteen Republican-led states suing to end the federal programme on Friday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton didn't hold back, declaring on X (formerly Twitter), "I am suing the Biden Administration for their unlawful 'parole in place' policy that incentivizes and rewards illegal immigration." Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk jumped on the anti-immigration bandwagon, responding to Paxton's post with, "As Ive said before, the Dems are importing voters." But what is the policy thats being criticised so fiercely? The policy, which began accepting applications last week, allows many spouses without legal status to apply for "parole in place." This offers them permission to stay in the US, apply for a green card, and eventually pursue citizenship. Named the "Keeping Families Together" programme, it aims to remove barriers that have long troubled non-citizen spouses of US citizens. Ur Jaddou, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), explained, "Too often, non-citizen spouses of US citizens many of them mothers and fathers live with uncertainty due to undue barriers in our immigration system. This process to keep US families together will remove these undue barriers for those who would otherwise qualify to live and work lawfully in the US." The programme isn't just about granting legal status; its also about improving the efficiency of the immigration system, focusing on non-citizens who have deep-rooted connections within American communities. Who is eligible for the programme? The programme, announced in June, allows spouses who have lived in the US for at least ten years as of June 17, 2024, to apply. It also extends eligibility to approximately 50,000 children under the age of 21 who have a US-citizen parent. To qualify, immigrants must have lived continuously in the US for at least ten years, pose no security threat, and have no disqualifying criminal history. They must have been married to a US citizen by June 17 and pay a $580 fee to apply, along with providing extensive documentation. What impact could this have on families? The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted that without this process, hundreds of thousands of non-citizen spouses of US citizens could remain in the United States without lawful status, leading to fear and uncertainty about their futures. DHS also pointed out that forcing spouses to leave the country would be "disruptive to the family's economic and emotional well-being." Once granted permanent residence, eligible spouses can apply for citizenship after three years. During this time, they can also obtain work authorization. Why are Republican states upset? The Republican-led states argue that the Biden administration bypassed Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for "blatant political purposes." In their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tyler, Texas, they claim, "This action incentivises illegal immigration and will irreparably harm the Plaintiff states." Ken Paxton said in a statement, "The plan violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country." The lawsuit accuses the Department of Homeland Security of attempting to parole spouses "en masse," which the states argue is an abuse of power. How are others responding to the lawsuit? Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody echoed Paxton's concerns, stating in a post on X that her state is challenging the policy because the Biden administration "is illegally using parole' in a systematic way to advance their open-borders agenda." On the other hand, the bipartisan immigration and criminal justice organisation FWD.us defended the programme, saying it complies with the law. They also pointed to the timing of the lawsuit, which came as Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president. "The only motivation behind this lawsuit is the cruelty of tearing families apart and the crass politics of hoping a judge might do the bidding of the anti-immigrant movement," the organisation said in a statement. Karen Tumlin, founder and director of the Justice Action Centre, described the legal challenge as "unsurprising yet extremely disappointing and cruel." She reassured that "nothing changes for now, and the process is still open and accepting applications." What are the concerns of the Republican states? The lawsuit contends that states will bear the burden of additional immigrants staying in the country. Texas, for example, claims that it spends tens of millions of dollars each year on a programme that provides health insurance for children, including those in the country illegally. The state also argues that the programme will lead to increased crime, unemployment, and social disorder. The lawsuit further claims that the additional workers, granted work authorization through the programme, will "drive down the wages of Texas residents, directly harming the State and its citizens." Prior to the two deaths, Roy Angira (21), also from Jharkhand, died on Saturday | (Photo: PTI) The toll rose to three in the flash fire at a pharma company in Anakapalli district as two persons succumbed to burn injuries, an official said on Monday. A chemist and three workers from Jharkhand sustained serious injuries in the accident on August 23 at Syngene Active Ingredients Pvt Ltd, located at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JN Pharma City) in Parawada. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp "Two more injured persons died. One person died yesterday night and another person died today (Monday) morning," Anakapalli Superintendent of Police M Deepika Patil told PTI. The lone survivor, Oybon Khora (23) is in a critical condition, she said. Lal Singh Poorthy (22) succumbed to the injuries on Sunday night and the chemist K Suryanarayana (35) died on Monday morning, she said. Prior to the two deaths, Roy Angira (21), also from Jharkhand, died on Saturday. The flash fire occurred around 12:30 am on August 23 when a chemical powder and a chemical liquid were being mixed without following standard operating procedures, generating fumes and static electricity igniting the blast. Headquartered at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, Syngene Active Ingredients runs two units and Jaahnavee Life Sciences in JN Pharma City, employing around 600 people. There are now a significant number of rumors that suggest that Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro is coming soon, and many are suggesting that the console's arrival is imminent. This latest set of rumors come after those that have claimed that a mid-cycle console is in the works, one that will be a more powerful console. Should a PlayStation 5 Pro be released, this will be similar to PlayStation 4, which also has both Slim and Pro versions that were released on the market. Sony PS5 Pro is Coming, Says Rumors that many developers who attended the recent Gamescom 2024 event in Cologne have been vocal about the PS5 Pro. WCCFTech revealed, according to a scoop from a developer, that PS5 Pro's specifications that can run Unreal Engine 5-based games with ease. It was revealed by Italian publication Multiplayer that a developer mentioned that they were given the specs of the new console and claimed that it is better than the original PlayStation 5. This report from Multiplayer corroborates what WCCFTech revealed, but the latter claimed that they believe this is not the same developer. The Italian publication's source also claimed that one developer shared that they delayed the release of a game because of PS5 Pro's rumored release date. PS5 Pro Release Date: When? There are rumors about the PS5 Pro's release date, but a more important detail may give clues as to its possible showcase. According to ComicBook Gaming, Sony's return to the 2024 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) takes place this September, and this may be the chose time to announce its PS5 Pro. It was later noted by WCCFTech that Sony may announce the PS5 Pro by September and release it by November, based on the PS4 Pro's 2016 timeline. Sony's PS5 Pro Rumors The PlayStation 5 was released as the successor of the PlayStation 4 and brough about upgrades to the console, particularly in terms of looks, performance, capabilities, and more. However, if the rumors prove to be true, there is a better version of the PlayStation 5 that's coming. It is believed that the PlayStation5 Pro has the capability to deliver "constant 60fps" performance that will work with optimized games for the new console. Additionally, rumors have claimed that it the console will have a larger system memory that will help accommodate bigger sized titles and ensure that the console will run as expected. With the public now accepting that Sony's next console release will take place in 2024, there is now strong belief that it will be the PlayStation 5 Pro. It remains to be seen if it will really be announced next month during TGS. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning that Gujarat is expected to continue experiencing heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over the next two to three days. Alongside Gujarat, regions in Rajasthan and Madhya Maharashtra are also expected to face extremely heavy downpours starting Monday. Flooding caused by the downpour has already had a devastating impact in Gujarat, where at least seven people are still missing after a trolley carrying 17 passengers was washed away. Heavy rains in western regions of India On Monday, very heavy rainfall is forecast for areas including West Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Coastal Karnataka, Jharkhand, Konkan & Goa, and South Interior Karnataka. Moving into Tuesday, Rajasthan, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka, and Konkan & Goa will face similar weather conditions. By Wednesday, extremely heavy rainfall is anticipated over Saurashtra & Kutch, while Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands will likely experience very heavy rainfall. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The IMD has also issued an alert for "high flash flood risk" over a few neighbourhoods in the met subdivisions of east Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat in the next 24 hours. According to the IMD, surface runoff and inundation may occur in some fully saturated soils and low-lying areas due to the rainfall. Gujarats flooding crisis, seven missing The ongoing heavy rainfall has already caused significant flooding across parts of Gujarat, displacing hundreds of residents who have been moved to safer locations. Navsari district has been particularly hard hit, prompting the IMD to issue a "red alert" for the area on August 26. Gujarat's Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel, has instructed officials to evacuate residents from low-lying areas as a precautionary measure. The districts most affected by the intense rainfall include Valsad, Tapi, Navsari, Surat, Narmada, and Panchmahal in South Gujarat. The heavy rains have severely impacted daily life, with many areas submerged under water. In Morbi district, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) search operation is still underway to locate seven individuals who were swept away with their tractor-trolley while attempting to cross a flooded causeway. Data from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) indicates that Khergam taluka in Navsari district recorded the highest rainfall over the last 24 hours, with 356 mm measured up to 6 AM on Monday. Several other districts, including Narmada, Saurashtra, Rajkot, Tapi, Mahisagar, Morbi, Dahod, and Vadodara, received more than 100 mm of rainfall during the same period. IMD issues alert in Gujarat With the continued heavy rainfall, Gujarat has seen water levels rise significantly. The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dams water level has climbed to 135.30 meters. The state's 206 reservoirs now hold 364,000 million cubic feet of water, representing 65 per cent of their total capacity. As a result, 72 reservoirs have been put on high alert, while 15 are on regular alert. Given the potential for further disruption, the Gujarat chief secretary has advised local administrations to stay vigilant, especially in areas expecting large crowds for upcoming festivals during the Shravan month. Officials have also been directed to ensure that any roads closed due to flooding are reopened quickly and that electricity supply interruptions are minimised. (With agency inputs) The government has withdrawn the lateral entry scheme under pressure from political forces complaining it would reduce opportunities for backward classes to serve in higher levels of government. In its defence, the governments supporters point out that lateral entry had been proposed by the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era. Also, the Congress has been appointing lateral entrants on an ad hoc basis at very high levels whenever it was in power. The aim of the lateral entry scheme of the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission, which the current government has followed, was As the first Indian head of government to visit Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established in 1992, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to demonstrate Indias strategic independence in the war between Russia and Ukraine by engaging with both warring parties. In the past, Indian PMs avoided former Warsaw-Pact countries out of respect for Indo-Russian ties. Visiting Poland and Ukraine has altered those equations. The optics of the visit, for which Mr Modi travelled to Ukraine from Poland by train, were designed to suggest that India had succeeded in inserting itself into the peace process as a credible Last week, the Union Cabinet approved a new pension scheme for government employees, called the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), which will come into effect on April 1, 2025. This will benefit government employees who joined after January 1, 2004, and are part of the New Pension System (NPS). Under the UPS, a central government employee will get an assured pension worth 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months service, provided the employee has served for at least 25 years. This will be lower for employees with fewer years served but The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has officially distanced itself from recent statements made by actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut regarding the farmers movement. In a press statement issued by the BJP Central Media Department on Monday, the party clarified that Ranauts remarks do not reflect the partys views and stated that she is neither authorised nor permitted to speak on the partys policy matters. The statement made by BJP MP Ms Kangana Ranaut in the context of the farmers' movement does not represent the party's view. The Bharatiya Janata Party expresses its disagreement with Ms Kangana Ranaut's statement. On behalf of the party, Ms Kangana Ranaut has neither been granted permission nor is she authorised to speak on the partys policy matters, the party said. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The statement emphasised that the BJP disagrees with Ranauts comments and has directed her not to make similar statements in the future. The party reaffirmed its commitment to the principles of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas, which focus on inclusive growth, trust, and social harmony. What did Kangana Ranaut say about the farmer's movement? This clarification comes after Kangana Ranaut, a first-time BJP MP from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, made controversial remarks comparing the farmers protests in India to potential Bangladesh-like anarchy. In an interview, she suggested that outside forces, with the help of insiders, were attempting to destabilise India under the guise of the farmers protests. Her comments have sparked widespread criticism, particularly in light of her previous statements on the farmers movement. Ranaut doubled-down on her comments by resharing the interview clip on her social media account. It came with the caption: Kangana Ranaut: Bangladesh like anarchy could have happened in India also like in the name of farmers protest. Outside forces are planning to destroy us with the help of insiders. If it wouldnt have been the foresight of our leadership they would have succeeded. Previous comments on farmer movement The actress-turned-politician had been involved in controversy when a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was transferred to Bengaluru from Chandigarh after allegedly assaulting Kangana Ranaut last month. The incident occurred shortly after Ranaut was elected to the Lok Sabha. A video circulating on social media shows the agitated constable, upset over Ranauts comments on the protests, expressing frustration, particularly because her mother had participated in the farmers protests. Ranaut had attempted to undermine the farmers movement by calling out an elderly woman, who she claimed only sat in the protest for money. She later deleted the post after being called out for spreading misinformation. The BJPs decision to publicly distance itself from Ranauts statements highlights the sensitivity of the issue and also tries to minimise the fallout, especially as the party prepares for the upcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. A resident of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, Tushar Saxena was baffled when he received a Rs 1,000 fine from the Noida traffic police, citing a violation for driving without a helmet, according to a report by NDTV. The unusual part: It was in relation to Saxena driving a car. Moreover, Saxena said he has never driven his car in Uttar Pradeshs Gautam Buddh Nagar district, where Noida is located. Initially, Saxena dismissed the text message informing him of the fine, assuming it was a mistake. However, when he received an email and another message, he decided to contact the traffic police. To his surprise, he was informed that the fine was for driving his four-wheeler without a helmet. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The challan was issued on November 9, 2023. If you are violating traffic rules, then it is common to receive a fine but that is not my case. I have never driven my car to the NCR area. And if theres any rule that says we have to wear a helmet inside a car, then the authorities must give this to me in writing, Saxena told NDTV. Saxena, who purchased his car in March of the previous year, got the vehicles registration transferred from Ghaziabad to Rampur. He has since appealed to the Noida traffic police to investigate the matter and revoke the fine. Strange fines - not an isolated incident This is not the first time such a mistake has occurred. The Hindustan Times had reported on a similar incident that happened in Jhansi, where Bahadur Singh Parihar was fined Rs 1,000 by the citys traffic police for not wearing a helmet while driving his Audi car. Parihar approached the authorities but was told the matter would be addressed after the Lok Sabha elections. Until then, he resorted to wearing a bike helmet while driving to avoid further fines. In June of the previous year, Gautam Buddh Nagar traffic police issued a Rs 1,000 fine to a government school teacher in Noidas Hoshiyarpur locality for driving her car without a helmet, despite her not owning any bike registered in her name. Similarly, in 2017, a man in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, was mistakenly fined for not wearing a helmet while driving his Maruti Omni minivan. The man, Vishnu Sharma, also resorted to wearing a helmet while driving his car to protest the fine, even though the constable later admitted the mistake, stating he had intended to issue a fine for not wearing a seatbelt. Tushar Saxena, like others before him, hopes that the authorities will rectify the mistake and prevent similar errors in the future. Google has announced a new artificial intelligence-powered chat assistant for YouTube creators, designed to assist with recovering hacked YouTube channels. According to a blog post detailing the new tool, Google stated that the support assistant will guide affected users through the process of re-securing their login details and help them recover their account. The support assistant is currently in its testing phase and is available only to select YouTube creators. Google has assured that efforts are underway to extend the feature to all users. At present, the AI assistant supports only the English language. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp ALSO READ: YouTube updates audio eraser tool to help creators deal with copyrights YouTube support assistant: How to recover a hacked YouTube channel Open the YouTube Help webpage at support.google.com/youtube. Log into your Google Account, if you have not already done so. Open the Help Centre menu and scroll down to either "Fix a problem" or "Manage your account and settings." Under this section, eligible accounts will find a new option, "Recover a hacked YouTube channel." This new page includes a "Chat with our hacked channel assistant" button, which opens a chat window for the AI assistant. Google mentioned that the tool will guide you through a series of questions about your account and YouTube channel to secure your login details and reverse any changes made by the hacker. Additionally, Google advises users to check for signs of account compromise before starting the recovery process. If you notice changes such as an altered profile picture, channel description, AdSense settings, or videos that you did not post, it is likely that your Google Account has been hacked or compromised. At least 50 people were injured in Dhaka on Sunday when students clashed with hundreds of paramilitary personnel during a protest for job regularisation. The clashes began around 9:20 pm near the Secretariat when Dhaka University students, responding to reports that several students, including Nahid Islam, a student leader and advisor in the caretaker government, had been detained by members of Ansar, a paramilitary auxiliary force, attempted to disperse the Ansar protest demanding permanent employment. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp Both groups hurled bricks at each other during the confrontation, leading to the involvement of police and military forces to restore order. Earlier in the day, the Ansar members had ended their protest after receiving assurances from Lt Gen (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the interim government's home affairs advisor. However, tensions escalated as students accused the Ansar force of reneging on the agreement. Student protest coordinator Hasnat Abdullah later posted on Facebook, blaming former Ansar director general Maj Gen AKM Aminul Haque for the continued blockade of the Secretariat despite the demands being addressed. "The autocratic forces are trying to make a comeback through the Ansar force. Even after their demands were met, we were kept locked in the Secretariat," Abdullah said. The news of the ongoing blockade sparked further unrest as over a thousand students and others, many carrying sticks, gathered at the Secretariat. Violence broke out when they encountered members of Ansar. Following the clashes, reports emerged that scattered Ansar personnel had been attacked. Nahid Islam, the advisor for information and broadcasting, accused the Ansar protest of being part of a broader conspiracy. "We will take legal action against those involved," Islam said. Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud, the director general of the Ansar and Village Defence Force, defended the actions of his force in a statement to The Daily Star. He claimed that those persisting in the protest were not Ansar members. "They are outsiders. They came with an additional set of clothes, and their intention was different," he said. Mahmud vowed to take "legal action" against those responsible for the ongoing protest. (With agency inputs) Days after Nasa gave the responsibility of bringing back stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) due to issues with the companys Starliner space capsule, Boeing employees have expressed frustration, according to a report from The New York Post. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were originally scheduled to complete an eight-day mission aboard the ISS in June, now face a six-month wait for a SpaceX Crew Dragon to safely return them to Earth. Their intended return vehicle, the Starliner, has been grounded by a helium leak and thruster malfunctions. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp The report quoted a Boeing employee, based in Florida, as saying that the situation was another setback for the aerospace company, which has already faced criticism due to commercial aviation incidents earlier this year. Weve had a string of embarrassments, and this has only intensified the scrutiny were under, an employee told The Post. Its shameful. Im embarrassed, Im horrified, the employee added. Why has Nasa chosen SpaceX over Boeing? Nasas decision to return the Starliner capsule without its crew, announced on Saturday, is due to continuing issues with the propulsion system. CNBC reported that the setbacks have led to Boeing facing estimated losses of over $1 billion in its Starliner program. Astronauts Wilmore and Williams are now scheduled to return aboard SpaceXs Crew-9 spacecraft in February 2025 after an extended stay on the ISS. Their initial nine-day test flight was delayed because of problems with the Starliners thrusters. A disagreement between Nasa and Boeing over safety measures contributed to the decision, with Nasa opting for SpaceX to handle the astronauts return. Despite Boeings assurance that the Starliner was still viable for an emergency return, Nasa opted for caution. Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson voiced confidence in Boeing, stating that he believed Starliner would fly with a crew again. Boeing reaffirmed its dedication to safety and pledged to follow Nasas guidance while preparing for the Starliners uncrewed return. SpaceXs Crew-9 mission, originally set to carry four astronauts, will now accommodate Wilmore and Williams by reducing the crew size. In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Boeing emphasised its commitment to crew and spacecraft safety, stating that the company is preparing for Starliners safe return without its crew. The Starliner capsule, nicknamed Calypso, has remained docked at the ISS since June, with its mission extension tied to persistent thruster issues. What was once seen as a pivotal flight test for Boeing has instead become a significant hurdle for the company. Participants of cross-Strait journalism camp visit CNAPC in Beijing Xinhua) 08:53, August 26, 2024 Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A participant of a cross-Strait journalism camp takes photos at the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Participants of a cross-Strait journalism camp visit the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 24, 2024. A cross-Strait journalism camp for university students opened on Tuesday, with approximately 200 students from both the mainland and Taiwan in attendance. The students are from 10 universities on the mainland and eight universities in Taiwan. (Xinhua/Li Xin) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) The Kremlin said on Monday it did not know what Telegram founder Pavel Durov, arrested by French police on Saturday, was accused of, and said Russia would wait for an official statement on his detention before commenting further. Durov, the Russia-born billionaire owner of the Telegram messaging app, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside the French capital shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday, three sources told Reuters. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp "We do not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing. "We have not yet heard any official statement on the matter, and before we say anything, we should wait for the situation to be clarified. "With what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov? Without (knowing), it would probably be wrong to make any statements," Peskov said. Durov was still in detention on Monday and was being questioned by police, French media reported. Paris has not officially confirmed his arrest. Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes to be committed using his platform due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a French police source told Reuters over the weekend. The encrypted Telegram app, based in Dubai, has close to 1 billion users and is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. Durov himself left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on the VKontakte social media platform, which he also founded and has since sold. Discover Global Network, a leading global payment network, released the second portion of its 2024 Payment State of the Union, the most comprehensive study of its kind, with key insights in the commercial payments landscape. This portion of the research study, which is commissioned by Discover Global Network and conducted by 451 Research of S&P Global Market Intelligence, surveyed thousands of decision-makers at corporations and small and medium sized enterprises within APAC and globally to understand their commercial payment priorities, challenges, and future adoption plans. At Global Fintech Fest, Discover Global Network will share further insight into emerging trends from a regional and global perspective. The following results are key takeaways from respondents in the APAC market. Traditional Payment Methods Remain Prevalent, APAC Businesses are Increasingly Looking to Digitize Their Commercial Payments. Credit cards (61%), ACH/EFT/Wire/Direct debit (54%) and cash (47%) are the most used payment methods for business expenses. (61%) of APAC businesses are actively investing or open to investing in commercial payment solutions. Over the next 12 months, businesses envision increasing the use of digital payment methods for employee business travel (50%), employee compensation (46%) and payments to suppliers (45%) While commercial payments are increasingly adopting digital solutions, the transition is not progressing at the same pace as seen in consumer payments due to the complexities of expense management, said Chris Winter, head of international markets (APAC) at Discover Global Network. As technology continues to advance across the industry and region, it is important that businesses seek to improve the security of their commercial payments programs to defend against fraudulent activity of all kinds. As Payment Approaches are Modernized, APAC Businesses are Prioritizing Expense Management, Strong Security and Fraud Features Expense management tools (47%), providing a greater variety of payment options to business providers (39%), and streamlining account receivable processes (39%) are the most important commercial payment initiatives to APAC businesses. Within commercial payments solutions, the most important features are business travel expense management (92%), strong security features (91%), and fraud prevention services (90%). Digital Transformation of Commercial Payments is Ongoing, but Challenges Remain Lack of visibility across expense types (35%), difficulties tracking/managing expenses (34%), and waiting on outstanding receivables to make payments (33%) are APAC businesses greatest pain points when making payments and managing expenses. Travel expenses not aligning with in-trip costs (38%), timely reimbursement for employees (38%), and the inability to track, manage, and forecast employee travel (34%) are the most challenging when it comes to managing employee travel expenses. Integrating data from a variety of sources (47%), too much time spent on data cleaning/formatting (47%) and integrating relevant business systems (44%) are the most challenging when managing commercial payments data. Expense management and business travel are some of the top priorities for APAC businesses; however, these areas present significant challenges. Virtual Card Numbers (VCN) are Poised for Substantial Growth 53% of APAC businesses dont currently offer or use VCN and 66% of APAC businesses dont use VCN to pay for business expenses. VCNs have one of the highest rates of future implementation as (29%) of APAC businesses plan to invest in VCN or are currently in the discovery phase of implementation. Businesses that have implemented VCN have benefitted from improved transaction security and reduced risk (65%), greater business efficiencies (64%), and improved expense reconciliation (59%) the most. Virtual card numbers provide businesses with opportunities to enhance their payment capabilities and better serve their business needs and employees. Its great to see so many businesses looking to adopt VCN solutions, said Winter. Whether businesses are exploring VCN for increased security or to improve their expense reconciliation capabilities, Discover Global Network can help businesses of all sizes benefit from our solution. Global Fintech Fest Chris Winter of Discover and 451 Researchs Sophia Furber will host an in-depth mainstage discussion about the dynamic world of commercial payments and findings from the Payments State of the Union. When: Wednesday, August 28 10:50 AM Local Time Wednesday, August 28 10:50 AM Local Time Where: Jasmine1, Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai India Jasmine1, Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai India What: Commercial Payments Progressing Towards a Digital Future: With the rapid evolution of technology, opportunity rises for the commercial payments sector. From enhancing security solutions to improving user experience, the possibilities are endless. This years survey found interesting trends in the APAC region with businesses underscoring the importance of partnering with financial institutions that prioritize fraud prevention as much as they prioritize innovation. Businesses are aware of the risks if they dont focus on security, said Sophia Furber, Research Analyst at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. A key consideration for businesses now, and in the future, is partnering with financial institution that is identifying future forward trends while staying committed to security. For a deeper dive into these findings, visit (or download) the full study. Survey Methodology A global survey of 2,706 director-level or higher respondents across small to medium-sized enterprises and corporations was commissioned by Discover Global Network and conducted by 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, an independent research firm, in Q1 2024. Markets surveyed include Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Japan, South Africa, Spain, UK and the US. About Discover Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a digital banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company issues the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers personal loans, home loans, checking and savings accounts and certificates of deposit through its banking business. It operates the Discover Global Network comprised of Discover Network, with millions of merchants and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance around the world. For more information, visit www.discover.com/company. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240825227113/en/ Rustomjee Group, an esteemed real estate developer in Mumbai, announces the launch of Verdant Vistas, a luxury residential project located in the prime location of Thane, in partnership with Keppel. This premium property intends to redefine luxury living by integrating Thanes natural beauty with modern amenities. Rustomjee Group is expecting a positive response for this project similar to its premium projects at other upscale locations like Bandra, Prabhadevi, Juhu amongst others across Mumbai which will further strengthen its position as a real estate leader, inviting homebuyers to embrace a new standard of elegant living.This launch marks Rustomjees introduction of its luxury portfolio in Thane, completing its portfolio range in the region. With offerings ranging from Urbania for affordable homes, La Vie and La Familia for aspirational buyers, Rustomjee is now setting a new benchmark in the region with Verdant Vistas.Verdant Vistas is inclusive of two buildings, Tower A with 176 flats and Tower B with 264 units ensuring a sense of community amidst natural beauty. Notably, the project addresses a gap in the market by offering spacious 4BHK apartments, seldom available in this region. The 3BHK units range from 1100 to 1300 sq. ft., while the 4BHK units range from 1750 to 2250 sq. ft., ensuring ample living space for residents. Each residence boasts expansive decks offering forever creek views along with providing additional outdoor living space. The project is equipped with 25+ luxurious amenities spread across 3 floors, including a swimming pool, gymnasium, amphitheatre, kids play area, club house, and senior citizen area, designed to enrich community interaction.'Verdant Vistas' is designed to blend in with Thane's natural terrain, utilizing the hills, valleys, and its distinctive characteristics to create a serene living environment. The residential phase includes these natural components into the design of the homes whereas the commercial and multi-sports phases offer Ullas Creek, a dynamic water feature that enhances the surroundings. This thoughtful layout incorporates water as a connecting feature, symbolizing development and transformation throughout the environment intending to provide a peaceful and comfortable lifestyle.Coen, a renowned landscape consultant from Singapore, has meticulously crafted the landscaping for 'Verdant Vistas'. Coen's philosophy aligns perfectly with Rustomjee's commitment to authenticity and thoughtfulness, ensuring that the project enhances its natural surroundings while offering residents a serene living environment through landscape architecture. Additionally, MOD architects offers idea-driven architecture and design expertise and Architect Hafeez Contractor, known for unique design concepts and bold execution, enriches the project with an added layer of luxury and comfort, further enhancing the living experience.Located strategically in Thane, this project provides families with a perfect living space as it provides easy access to Mumbai's major social infrastructure. Residents of this sprawling 127-acre township enjoy close proximity to schools, retail areas, and community amenities, all of which are meant to improve convenience and quality of life. The project's location assures seamless connectivity to public transportation networks, making commuting easier for residents. Furthermore, the adjoining spiritual center enriches the community's cultural experience, increasing the project's appeal. By incorporating these aspects, this project hopes to create a peaceful and fulfilling environment that fosters family well-being and a harmonious lifestyle.As part of the launch of Verdant Vistas, Rustomjee is pleased to introduce its state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center in Thane. This facility offers prospective buyers an immersive preview of the Verdant Vistas projects distinctive features and amenities. With personalized tours and expert guidance, visitors will have the opportunity to experience Rustomjee's commitment to excellence and innovation.We are excited to announce the launch of our newest cluster, Verdant Vistas, at Rustomjee Uptown Urbania. This project offers the luxury of space with larger apartments, large sundecks and verdant green views along with every conceivable amenity.At Rustomjee, we believe in creating luxurious lifestyles centred around you. We use cutting-edge technology, innovative construction methods, and the finest materials to meet your needs. We are also committed to sustainability, ensuring that our development minimizes its carbon footprint through energy-efficient systems, high-performance windows, water conservation, use of eco-friendly & non-toxic materials wherever possible, strategies to minimize construction waste, waste management, and the incorporation of ample green spaces. These are just some of the many efforts we are undertaking in our ongoing commitment to sustainability.Partnering with award-winning international experts, we create spaces that are not only innovative and inspiring but also enrich lives. Verdant Vistas is a testament to our dedication to enhancing lifestyles, fostering well-being, and enriching the community through thoughtfully crafted residences.We are pleased to build on our partnership with the Rustomjee Group, following our earlier successful projects in Thane. Our latest project, Verdant Vistas, will set new benchmarks in luxury for Uptown Urbania and Thane. With our extensive real estate experience across Asia, combined with Rustomjees deep market insights, we look forward to bringing new benchmarks of quality in urban living to residents and the greater community."Thane boasts exceptional connectivity with its strategic location bridging Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, complemented by its proximity to major highways and the upcoming metro lines. The enhancement of its transport infrastructure, including the Thane-Diva-Kalyan metro extension and the proposed Thane-Borivali corridor, is set to further elevate its accessibility and integration within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. CAMEROUN :: The rarer the jobs, the higher the amount of bribes and the price of Corruption :: CAMEROON In Cameroon, immoralism has reached unbearable limits. Most civil servants and bureaucratic elites no longer hesitate to promote corruption and or maintain permanent networks for collecting prebends. One of the sources of the development of corruption in the country is undoubtedly the development by the Yaounde regime of mediocracy (or promotion of mediocre, incompetent and undeserving people to positions of administrative responsibility or at the head of public institutions) to the detriment of meritocracy (or promotion of men and women, well trained, seriously prepared and competent in the right place). A very significant example of what is happening in general in Cameroon was the promotion a few years ago of Mr. Bertrand Pierre Soumbou Angoula, a nephew of Madame Chantal Pulcherie Biya, first lady of Cameroon, as general director of the National School of Administration and Magistracy (NSAM/ENAM). This appointment at the time was a great curiosity. Many citizens still have difficulty understanding the reasons for such a decision by the highest authority of the State. The person appointed to head this institution was simply someone who had just obtained a magisterial diploma from the school one to two years before. He had no other qualification or professional experience. How can we explain, for example, that a student who has just obtained his secondary education baccalaureate diploma is immediately appointed as director of a college or principal of a high school! The harmful consequences of such actions were not long in coming. The bribes demanded for the unofficial ''sale'' of a place in the Cameroonian government entrance exam to the NSAM/ENAM - the most prestigious public institution of professional training for senior civil servants in territorial administration, the judiciary, customs, finance and taxes, labor, social affairs, according to certain columnists in a local media outlet in Yaounde -, now represents a prohibitive amount ranging between 15 and 30 million CFA francs (i.e. 30,000 and 60,000 US$)(Statements by Messrs. Ayissi Etoa Perfait, Pierre Blereau Nymeck and Bernard Owona, Espaces Mines, Info TV, August 22, 2024). A few years ago the place sold for between 3 million and 5 million CFA Francs (i.e. 6,000 to 10,000 US$). This means that the rarer the jobs, the higher the amount of bribes and the price of corruption. Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 8:38AM Photo: Meta Meta has supposedly abandoned plans for a premium mixed-reality headset designed to compete with Apple's Vision Pro. The decision, according to internal sources, came after a product review meeting attended by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The headset, codenamed "La Jolla," was slated for a 2027 release and was touted to feature high-quality micro OLED displays, similar to those found in the Vision Pro. However, the high cost associated with these displays proved to be a significant hurdle in achieving a price point below US$1,000 (around CA$1,350). The cancellation of the headset can be seen as a strategic move given the lukewarm reception to Apple's Vision Pro and Meta's own premium Quest Pro. Both devices have faced criticism for their high price tags, suggesting a limited market appetite for expensive headsets. While Meta is scaling back its ambitions for a high-end device, the company supposedly remains committed to virtual and augmented reality. The upcoming Quest 4, along with a more affordable version of the Quest 3, are expected to be key components of Meta's future AR/VR strategy. Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, emphasized that the company constantly explores new ideas and prototypes. The decision to cancel specific projects is a common occurrence in the tech industry, he added. In addition to hardware development, Meta is also exploring partnerships with third-party manufacturers. The company's Horizon OS platform is reportedly being considered by Indian tech giant Jio. However, a potential deal with LG has fallen through. As the AR/VR market evolves, Meta may revisit the idea of a high-end headset in the future. For now, the company is focusing on delivering more accessible and affordable VR experiences. Source By Rebecca Black and Cate McCurry, PA A painstaking search for the remains of Disappeared soldier Robert Nairac is taking place close to an historical site near the Irish border. The British Army officer is believed to have been abducted by the Provisional IRA while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and taken across the border to Flurry Bridge in County Louth where he was killed. The remains of the Grenadier Guards captain have never been found. Capt Nairac is considered to be part of a group of 16 people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups. ICLVR lead investigator Jon Hill said the commission believed it had enough credible information to undertake a search. Photo: Niall Carson/PA. It will be the first search for Capt Nairac, and will be carried out by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), which has located the remains of a number of the Disappeared. Jon Hill, lead investigator for the ICLVR, said that information about the location of Capt Nairacs remains had been passed to the commission over the years. Mr Hill told a press conference on Monday that the commission had reached a point where it believed it had enough credible information to undertake a search. While investigations got under way on Monday, a geophysical survey of the area has been taking place since the beginning of the year. The land is farmland and is on the Hill of Faughart, which some people might know as an old battlefield site, Mr Hill said. That has introduced into our thought processes, and reasoning, a number of factors we have had to take into account. Not least because there will be or may be archaeology there or may be remains that we may come across. We have had conversations with National Monument Ireland for advice and support in what we are doing. He said archaeologists would assist at the search site. Having looked at the mapping, we know that there has been human remains discovered in and around all of that area, particularly when the motorway (M1) was being built, he added. He said that the discovery of other remains isnt beyond the realms. If there is archaeology that is discovered, if it doesnt impact where we believe the remains to be, it will be left in place as is the instructions, the investigator said. Mr Hill said Captain Nairacs family were aware of the search. Photo: Niall Carson/PA. We should get a good indication as to where Robert Nairacs remains might be and then we will recover them in the normal fashion. Mr Hill said that while Capt Nairac was one of the highest profile of the Disappeared, they had had very little to go on. In almost every other case, we have (had) engagement with the republican movement, former people who have supported (us) throughout the process to recover all of the disappeared, he said. Unfortunately, they havent been able to in relation to Robert Nairac. There are a number of reasons why that might be, because some of the significant people who might have been involved would now be dead. It might equally be the case that some people dont want to talk about it for various reasons, or it may be that peoples memories are fading and their recollection is not as good. Mr Hill said that Capt Nairacs family were aware of the search, which he described as a lengthy process. The family are aware, and they are philosophical, he added. They are very private people, and they have no wish to make any comment other than they hope Robert can be found and brought home for a Christian burial. He said that the search should not last beyond a few months because the ground was stable. Im not 100 per cent confident of finding his remains, but its more a case that we are hopeful. We have the skills and ability and the experience to be able to recover his remains if he is there, Mr Hill added. The lead investigator also said he was hopeful that the publicity around a television adaptation of a book based on the case of Jean McConville who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972 would encourage people to come forward with information. The ICLVR has also reissued an appeal for information about other remaining Disappeared cases, including Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire. All information is treated in the strictest confidence, it said. The ICLVR can be contacted by telephone on 00353 1 602 8655, by email at secretary@iclvr.ie or by post at ICLVR PO Box 10827. Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 or the untraceable anonymous online form can be found on crimestoppers-uk.org. A 16-year-old has been charged in the incident in which four youths were found dead Saturday night in Whitfield County. Sheriff Scott Chitwood said the victims were a 21-year-old and 19-year-old from Dalton and an 18-year-old and 17-year-old from Rome. He said it is believed that robbery was the motive. The sheriff said contraband was found at the scene along with multiple shell casings. He said multiple weapons were involved. The Whitfield County Sheriff's Office was dispatched at approximately 11:14 p.m. to Pleasant Grove Park in reference to shots fired. Upon the deputies' arrival on scene, four deceased Hispanic males were found. The Sheriff's Office initially said it was looking for an SUV type vehicle and a dark-colored hatchback vehicle. The vehicles are likely to have sustained gunshots. Sheriff Chitwood said it is not believed the incident was gang-related. He said there was no indication that those involved are illegals. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the investigation. A student has been arrested in connection with a threat against Red Bank High School. On Sunday, Hamilton County Sheriffs Office personnel were made aware of a tip via Hamilton County Department of Education School Safety Officers that was submitted anonymously through the Hamilton County Department of Education. The tip concerned a threat of mass violence at Red Bank High. An investigation was immediately begun, and the School Resource Deputy assigned to the school and other deputies located an address for the student who was named in connection with the threat. The student was located, arrested, and transported to the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center. The student was charged with threat of mass violence at a school. Sheriff's officials said, "By promptly responding to the anonymous tip, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office was able to quickly identify and arrest the student, thereby preventing any potential harm. "The swift investigation and involvement of the School Resource Deputy, along with our partnership with the HCDE and their SSO Program, underscore the importance of vigilance and the established protocols for addressing threats within the school system. The charge of threat of mass violence at a school is serious, reflecting the severity with which such threats are treated." An unidentified donor sometime ago gave me a copy of the 308-page historical fiction novel of what would eventually become a well-written documentation of the past history of Chattanooga before and after the Civil War up to the first reunion of Rebel and Yankee surviving veterans. It is also a striking comparison and similarity of the events that occurred during that era: They were akin to what is happening on our city/county today in 2024. Written by acknowledged Tennessee authority, Alfred Leland Crabb (1884-1979) for Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1950 it includes real as well as fictional characters strongly suggestive of the true identities of other carpetbaggers, scalawags, and founders from that era. The coincidence of the past and present necessitate several individual articles on various topics that are eerily connected to the growth and development of our community. The names of Wilder, Ochs, William Lewis, Chamberlain, McCallie, Montague, Whiteside, etc. are readily mentioned through the eyes and voices of the fictitious Grandma Blevins family and others. The work also includes short songs and biblical passages that connect to the topic under discussion. The dedication of the Forward to Edward Young Chapin sets the stage for the local story! Whose citizenship in Chattanooga for more than three core years has greatly blessed both him and it! Beginning with the yellow fever plaque that struck the small town in 1878, a similar health and economical impact to that of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2019-2023 occurred. The last person to die of the plague in 1878 was Chattanooga, Mayor Thomas Carlile and after his burial no new case of yellow fever allegedly developed. His home on West Ninth Street near East Terrace on the far side of Cameron Hill was built in 1875 and occupied almost an entire block. It would eventually serve as the Carver Memorial Hospital beginning in 1947 and was said to have been the first municipally-owned tax-supported hospital in America which was staffed by Negro doctors, nurses, and other personnel for care of Negro patients! (Chattanoogan.com 7/18/2022) It like many stately but often rundown historical homes and buildings fell victim to the Urban Renewal Plan that was implemented in 1962 and the classic structure was demolished. (Future comparison articles between 1878-1890 and the present will follow as described in the Reunion at Chattanooga historical novel. Although it is 74 years old anyone interested in a comparative history of our community should search for a copy.) ---- If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact him at jsummers@summersfirm.com) We just enjoyed a lovely cool snap and a hint of fall teasing us all. I had to wear a sweatshirt on the porch during dinner, and the outdoors was absolutely welcoming. I felt like I could get a full breath of clean, fresh air when I opened the front door, and wandering around the yard was a treat instead of a discouraging duty of noting what plants were suffering the most. That was mean. We shouldnt even be thinking of fall yet. Its my husbands fault; last week on one of those crisp, invigorating days when the 16-year-old dog darted around the yard like a puppy, he said this was his favorite time of year. The dog days of August, I asked, knowing full well what he meant but giving him a chance to save himself, save the good weather. No, the hint of fall! he exclaimed, jinxing whatever chance we had of cooler, desirable and enjoyable temperatures. As you are well aware, we are in another heat wave. Earlier this summer, just before our brief respite, all folks could talk about was the heat. Intense, it pressed down on us from the sky, surrounding our bodies with a heat so intense and air so thick we could scoop it up and toss it aside. Except we couldnt. It radiated up from the pavement, so that it felt like the sidewalk was electric, and someone had left it turned on high. Right around this time, the city of Lookout Mountain, Ga., led by Mayor David Bennett, City Manager Kenny Lee and Public Works Manager Ashley Keck, decided it was time to beat the heat and they pulled out all stops. For one brief, shining afternoon, the lawn in front of the Fairyland Mountain Hall was green and lush and begging to be trod upon by bare feet, and the fire engine was summoned with a request that was non-emergency for once. Folks of all ages gathered at FMH on a Thursday afternoon. Most were dressed in swimsuits and lathered with sunscreen, but even folks watching from the sidelines ended up taking off their shoes and spreading their toes in the wet, somewhat cool or at least not burning, sidewalk. The firetrucks made their presence known, and the fine misty spray of cool water hosed away more than the unmitigated heat. Instead of complaints of the heat and the beating sun and the scarcity of ways to cool off, everyone shrieked and hollered and laughed as the glee and joy and relief saturated more than the green grass on the common. Despite the heatwave, for two wonderful afternoons, just when the temperature reached its peak, the entire community was treated to a wonderful, waterful romp at the Fairyland Mountain Hall. And it looks like we are in dire need of another. * * * Ferris Robinson is the author of three childrens books, The Queen Who Banished Bugs, The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds, and Call Me Arthropod in her pollinator series If Bugs Are Banished. Making Arrangements is her first novel. Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity is a collection of true tales about mans best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror. In just a few short weeks we will elect from among us those people we will place in positions of authority over us. This is a civic tradition we have faithfully repeated for almost two hundred fifty years. Regardless of whom we elect, and regardless of whether we supported or opposed them, we rely on them to follow the rule of law. THE RULE OF LAW The rule of law is one of the great hallmarks of the American legal and governing system. As a people, we have a deep belief in the rule of law and the importance of adherence to the rule of law. The rule of law in essence means that we are a society governed by laws and not just by the whims of those we periodically place in positions of authority. Having a standard beyond reliance on the good faith and benevolence of elected and appointed officials means we are treated by law based on neutral principles, not our status in society or who we are. Instead, we are all equal before the law. RULERS RESPONDING TO DESIRES OF SUPPORTERS CAN BE ARBITRARY Those we elect run on platforms and agendas and make promises to gain support from those they wish to represent. Once elected, officials attempt to enact their platforms, agendas, and promises. It is only understandable that, once in office, officials fill their policy positions with people who agree with their platforms and agendas. And once elected, officials constantly strive to demonstrate how in touch and in tune they are with their constituents. But it is also tempting for those in power to go further, using their discretion to benefit their supporters and disadvantage their opponents. Equally tempting is for leaders not to be bound by the same rules and laws that apply to ordinary citizens. Even well-intentioned leaders will be tempted to give their supporters what they want by ignoring or slanting the rules that stand in the way. This undermines the rule of law. The founders understood that whenever a person is given power, there is a risk that person will abuse power. They would have agreed with the adage from Lord Acton: Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. They understood that even good leaders over time will tend to become bad leaders. THE RULE OF LAW PROTECTS AGAINST ARBITRARY RULE The rule of law protects against arbitrary rule by our leaders. It provides stability, predictability, and reliance in our daily lives. With written and widely known rules and laws, we can plan our lives without the fear that at any moment our plans may be disrupted and thwarted by sudden turnover among those in authority or by abrupt decisions by those in authority. Leaders responding to the whims of their supporters will sometimes act arbitrarily and inconsistently. The rule of law protects against this by providing consistency and long-lasting rules. COURTS ARE INDISPENSABLE TO THE RULE OF LAW The federal courts are indispensable to the effective operation of the rule of law. The courts do not have platforms or agendas and do not make campaign promises. A federal judge swears an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and to administer justice equally and impartially. Courts ensure that the laws are applied fairly and uniformly. It is the courts role to enforce the rule of law. They do not cater to constituents and do not change policies with the turnover of elected officials. Courts provide neutral arbiters, applying the law to the facts of disputes without bias. Courts need not cater to those with whom they agree nor seek to disadvantage those with whom they disagree. By being neutral arbiters of the law, the courts help ensure that the rule of law is maintained and that individuals, including government officials, are held accountable. Courts protect individual rights and liberties by interpreting and enforcing constitutional provisions. This role is essential for ensuring that laws are applied consistently and that individual rights are not infringed upon by those in power. Lastly, courts provide an essential check and balance to the other branches through judicial review. With this power the courts review laws and executive actions to ensure that they comply with the Constitution. In all these ways, the federal courts help secure to us the benefits of the rule of law, protecting us from the unpredictable law of rulers. Curtis L. Collier United States District Judge Chair, Eastern District of Tennessee Civics and Outreach Committee Carrie Brown Stefaniak Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier Rachel Elaine Noveroske Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier The city is launching an ambitious project to "supercharge" the Moccasin Bend Sewage Treatment Plant with an aim of producing a marketable fertilizer from the sludge. Mark Heinzer said the new less moist end product "should be able to be sold at Home Depot or Lowe's." He said it will also cut down on the number of sludge truck trips leaving the plant. Now, about 12-15 trucks go out from the facility daily. Mr. Heinzer said the sludge is now distributed to 196 farmers in Tennessee and Alabama. Cost of the project is estimated at between $130 million to $150 million or more. Mr. Heinzer said he would bring the project back to the city Industrial Development Board next month for approval of a contract with a design/builder. He said about 49 percent of the work will be covered by a Water Infrastructure Finance Program (WIFA) loan, and the city has the remainder of the funds set aside. Mr. Heinzer said fertilizer sales from the much improved product would contribute toward recouping the project's cost. He said the "pressure cooker"-style method has been used in Europe for about 20 years, and all those facilities are still in operation. The process is beginning to be used in the U.S. as well. He said Franklin, Tn., has been using this method for about a year. The WIFA loan has a cutoff date of the end of 2028. The project schedule shows it being completed in November of that year. The four victims in a shooting in Dalton have been identified. They are Joshua Pedro Pelico, 19, and David Antonio Delgadillo, 21, both of Dalton, and Daniel Segura-Cruz, 17, and Robert Valencia, 18, both of Rome, Ga. Preliminary investigation of the scene of the shooting indicated that Segura-Cruz and Valencia had traveled from Rome to meet with Delgadillo and Pelico at the Pleasant Grove Park, for the purpose of obtaining contraband. Evidence also suggests that both parties arrived at the location with firearms. As a result of this encounter between the two parties, gun shots were exchanged between the subjects. Based on evidence collected at the scene, the people from Rome arrived at Pleasant Grove Park with items that are commonly used for concealment and these individual(s) used other methods to conceal their location and identity. A 16-year-old has been taken into custody and charged with four counts of felony murder. Anyone with information is asked to contact at the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office at 706 278-1233 or Georgia Bureau of Investigation (OBI) at 800 597-8477. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have always enjoyed touring new countries, but after facing backlash for their Colombia and Nigeria trips, the royal couple is unsure how to properly grow their brand. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not taken on any royal duties since they left the family back in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex then relocated to Montecito, California, where they are raising their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Still, the two are working on building up their own brands, and they recently took two trips to different countries in 2024 with the hopes of not only doing philanthropic work but also helping their reputations. Now, though, one source claims the two are unsure of how to move forward after facing backlash for their travels. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Joshua Sammer/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markles recent tours leave them questioning their next move Harry and Meghan have been a public-facing duo since before they tied the knot back in 2018. And even after stepping back from royal duties, the two continued to remain in the public eye. In May 2024, Harry and Meghan took a trip to Nigeria, which had all the makings of a royal tour, and their August 2024 trip to Colombia felt the same way. Those close to the couple said the tours were not only a way to do charitable work but also a way to bring positive publicity to two people who have long-struggled to build up their reputations. But now, a source close to the Sussexes said that Harry and Meghan are struggling with the backlash they faced from their trips. It seems some people arent pleased with the costs associated with hosting the two (though there have been claims that Harry and Meghan helped foot the expenses associated with their arrival), and not everyone is buying into their all-smiles attitude. Both Meghan and Harry are keen to do more of these tours as thats what they love doing and what they enjoyed most about royal life, a source told OK!. But theyve been left embarrassed by this latest backlash, especially as they faced similar comments when they went to Nigeria. The source said that Meghan and Harry wanted to raise awareness of some of the issues plaguing these countries. They also know that these trips help elevate their status in Hollywood and in turn help their brand. They dont want to stop doing them but are unsure of what to do next to win everyone over again. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are struggling to win over the public Harry and Meghan have been trying to rebuild themselves since moving to the United States in 2020. However, it hasnt been that easy. There are still many people who dont think the two handled their royal exit as well as they could have, and with Meghan and Harry both having public-facing brands (Meghans lifestyle brand and cooking show plus Harrys Invictus Games Foundation), its necessary that their public rating improves. Its unclear what the next steps are for the duke and duchess and whether theyll re-evaluate future trips. When combined with antifungal drugs, synthetic polymers are particularly effective against Candida albicans. This is what a German-Australian research team found out and also clarified the mechanism of action behind it. The international collaboration came about by chance during an unplanned research stay that initiated the study at the Leibniz-HKI in Jena. Candida albicans Hyphe (colored blue) penetrates human cells. Ricardo Almeida/Leibniz-HKI Every year, over two million people are affected by invasive fungal infections, which are often caused by Candida species and are associated with high mortality rates. The development of new therapies is progressing very slowly. However, the need is increasing, especially as drug resistance is developing more and more frequently. An interdisciplinary research team led by Dr. Sascha Brunke from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) has now investigated the mode of action and therapeutic potential of synthetic polymers. These long-chain chemical compounds mimic naturally occurring peptides and inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The exact mechanism of action was previously unclear. However, the mystery has now been solved - thanks to the coronavirus pandemic of all things. From Australia to Jena PhD student Sebastian Schafer, who was working on the development of antifungal polymers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in chemical engineering, was in Germany when Australia closed its borders due to the pandemic, preventing Schafer from returning to UNSW. But the biotechnologist made a virtue of necessity and temporarily moved his research to the Leibniz-HKI in Jena, where he added a chemical facet to the Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms and turned his attention to pathogenic fungi. This not only led to new research approaches, but also to a very successful collaboration between natural product researchers and infection biologists from Germany and Australia. New synthetic polymers with strong efficacy The unexpected team developed several synthetic polymers from the polyacrylamide family that showed strong efficacy against Candida albicans , even against resistant strains. In particular, the polymer called LH, together with the drug caspofungin, was extremely effective against the fungus and significantly improved the survival rate of infected moth larvae in laboratory tests. All-round strike against fungal cells In the study, the team also uncovered the exact mode of action of the compounds for the first time. "The synthetic polymers attack the fungal cells in different ways at the same time. They also use new target structures and are therefore very efficient. This is the difference to conventional antimycotics, which only have a one-sided effect," reports Raghav Vij, who is one of the authors of the study alongside Sebastian Schafer. The compounds caused stress in the fungal cell and weakened it by hindering glycosylation on the cell surface. In this chemical process, sugar chains are bound to proteins, which is important for the stability and function of the cells. The polymers also damaged the walls and membranes of the fungal cells, causing them to die. In addition, the polymers also supported immune cells in the destruction of fungal cells, as was discovered in interaction tests. Hope for resistant fungi "It was also remarkable that LH together with antifungal agents did not lead to the development of resistance in C. albicans in the laboratory. This indicates that such combination therapies are not only more effective, but also more sustainable than previous therapies and can therefore lead to better treatment success," explains Vij. Another plus point: "The production of synthetic polymers is relatively inexpensive. They are also stable and storable compared to conventional active ingredients. They could therefore make a significant contribution to public health, particularly in low-income countries," summarizes Sascha Brunke. After hundreds of years, the closely guarded secret of a family of Jamestown colonists has been spilled, thanks to a DNA study. Researchers examined two human skeletons that were buried at the church in Jamestown and found a 400-year-old case of illegitimacy in the family. The church at Jamestown stood from 1608 to 1616. The chancel refers to the space around the altar. Jamestown was founded in 1607 and was the first permanent English settlement in North America. It was the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699 when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. Today, the historic site is located in what is now Williamsburg, Virginia. Based on where they were buried, the human remains of the two individuals were thought to be some of the earliest Jamestown colonists. These graves were purposely buried near the altar in the Church chancel, said William Kelso, a co-author of the study and emeritus director of archaeology at Jamestown Rediscovery. This prominent location suggests the graves contained the remains of high-status individuals. To determine the identities of the individuals, researchers from the Reich Lab at Harvard University decided to perform a DNA analysis of the remains. According to the Smithsonian Institution, it was the first time that ancient DNA was successfully used for identification at the colonial site. After analyzing the DNA, the research team cross-checked the test results with historical records, archaeological findings, and skeletal evidence. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. Thousands of years after their creation, the inscriptions on a set of four clay tablets have finally been deciphered in full. The clay tablets were from the ancient Near Eastern civilization of Babylonia. They contain text written in cuneiform and represent the oldest omens about lunar eclipses in the world. Cuneiform is a script that is considered to be the earliest known writing system. It was developed by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, an ancient region located in modern-day Iraq and other nearby regions. The script was initially created to write the Sumerian language but was later adapted for other tongues, such as Akkadian, another language of the Near East, which was spoken by Babylonians. Previously, a researcher summarized the contents of the tablets in the 1980s, but they have never been thoroughly analyzed and translated until now. The tablets are thought to date back to the early 2nd millennium B.C., putting them at around 4,000 years old. They feature more than 60 omens regarding when and how lunar eclipses occur. Most of the omens were predictions of doom and gloom. For example, one of the omens said that if an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once [and] clear all at once: a king will die, destruction of Elam. Another omen read, An eclipse in the evening watch: it signifies pestilence. Its possible that these omens were based on past experiences that actually happened or derived from common fears. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. Illustration by Mallory Rentsch Tlapek / Source Images: Getty Its said you should never meet your heroes. But Joni Eareckson Tada is different. I first heard Joni speak when I was 15 years old, sitting in the balcony level of the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. I had heard her story from my mom. I had watched the movie about her life. I knew that she had been in a wheelchair for decades as the result of a teenage diving accident. I had read about how she continued to follow Jesus, sharing the gospel and serving others. Now here she was, in my little home city. I was struck by how much joy she had in the Lord despite everything she faced every day. It was a special night. I wouldnt meet Joni for another decade, when we were introduced at a conference in Nashville. Right away, she set me at ease, expressing genuine interest in my work. As soon as she could, she gathered some people around and started to lead us in hymns. Ive come to realize that this was a very Joni thing to do; I dont remember a time with her since when she hasnt got us singing. I left that night hoping very much that Id get to know her more. 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. By that time, Joni was in her 50s. She had been in her wheelchairand in constant painfor more than three decades. Born in 1949 in Baltimore, the youngest of four girls, she was confident, outgoing, and sporty. But everything changed on that day in July 1967 when she dived into shallow water, hit her head on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, and was instantly paralyzed. The two years that followed brought a degree of struggle thats difficult to imagine. Joni was strapped to a hospital bed. She was often alone. She quickly became aware that there would be no recovery. In this dark night of the soul, she wrestled with her faith in a God who had allowed this to happenand who was not answering her prayers for healing. And, crucially, Joni read her Bible. She chose to trust the promise that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28)the kind of verse that gets a nod on good days, is difficult to trust on harder days, and requires the Spirits supernatural work to believe on the darkest days. Joni believed it. She still does. Her confidence propelled her out of the hospital and into a series of programs that have transformed hundreds of thousands of lives. Joni and Friends, established 45 years ago, includes a radio ministry that teaches the Bible and helps people understand what its like to live with a disability. The Wheels for the World initiative sends wheelchairs to parts of the world where they are scarce and expensive. Many of us are familiar, at least in part, with these biographical details from Jonis life. They are inspirational. But, of course, the people we admire from a distance can often seem very different, maybe even disappointing, up closehence that never meet your heroes admonition. Joni doesnt deserve that warning. After that conference, I did indeed get to know her more. And she remains one of the most genuine, faithful people I have ever spent time with. One evening at Jonis home in Pasadena, California, as we waited for our Chinese take-out to arrive, the doorbell rang. Everyone was hungry. Ken, Jonis husband, answered the door. Instead of simply thanking the delivery man and taking the food, he started a conversation with him. He grabbed one of Jonis books about Jesus, kept close to the door for this exact purpose, and gave it to him. As Ken closed the door, he said to me, You have to take every opportunity you can to tell people about the Lord. That could be a motto for both Ken and Joni. Joni views her limited mobility, which could be seen as a barrier to living for Christ, as an opportunity. She has used her wheelchair to share Jesus with people who perhaps would listen to no one else. When I started writing a book for young kids about Jonis life and faith, I knew I had to include an anecdote from when our daughter, Eliza, was a little girl. It was another visit with the Tadas; Eliza, with that glorious guilelessness that children have, decided to ask Joni a very direct question. Joni, she said, will you ever walk again? Joni smiled. Yes, I will, she said. When I go to heaven, Jesus will give me new legs. There are insights only the eyes of suffering can see. There are cuts so deep that only faith can mend them. There are true things that are best proven by a simple, steadfast trust in the Lord. And there is a confidence we all need that grows when we see the Lords bright promises piercing the darkness. These are some of the otherworldly insights Joni Tada brings to all our lives. She would, of course, tell you, and anyone who will listen, that this is all the Lords grace. And it is! But it is beautiful to see that grace at work in and through Jonithat grace that is sufficient for and made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). Elisabeth Elliot, another woman who was no stranger to navigating difficult paths, once wrote, The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances. This is Jonis open secret. Joni Tada is living proof of the promise she believed in the hospital all those years ago: that the Lord truly does work for the good of those who love him, and really does conform his people into the image of his Son, evenperhaps especiallyin suffering, when his plans are most opaque. She teaches us how good it is to pray, in the words of a hymn we sang together years ago: Good Shepherd of my soul, Come dwell within me; Take all I am and mold Your likeness in me. Before the cross of Christ, This is my sacrifice: A life laid down and ready to follow. Kristyn Getty is the founder, along with her husband, Keith, of Getty Music. She is an award-winning hymn writer, as well as the author of Sing! and a childrens biography, Joni Eareckson Tada: The Girl Who Learned to Follow God in a Wheelchair. Home News Man accused of killing Texas pastor ordered to stop sending letters to court Mytrez Woolen, the 25-year-old man charged with the capital murder of Pastor Mark McWilliams during a 2021 church shooting in Texas, has been ordered by the court to cease sending letters that outline his version of events leading to the pastors death. Prosecutors in Smith County stated Friday that Woolen, who's awaiting trial set for Sept. 16, has sent multiple letters to the 7th District Court and the district attorneys office. These communications have prompted the state to request a scene reconstruction to challenge Woolens narrative, as detailed by Assistant District Attorney Heath Chamness, CBS 19 reported. Woolens attorney, Jeff Haas, said the defense has advised him against contacting the court or DAs office directly. Judge Kerry Russell told Woolen that any letters sent could be viewed by the prosecution if channeled through his lawyers. 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 In 2021, Woolen was charged after a fatal confrontation at Starrville Methodist Church in Winona, where he fatally shot McWilliams and injured another church member, William Mike Sellars. The tragic events began when Woolen, evading police after a separate incident involving a firearm, sought refuge in the church. Pastor McWilliams, preparing for Sunday service, confronted Woolen, who was armed and demanded the pastors vehicle keys. A struggle ensued during which Woolen disarmed and fatally shot McWilliams and then fled in a stolen pickup truck. He was arrested after the vehicle was disabled by ONSTAR on Interstate 20. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith earlier recounted that Woolen had been chased by police after brandishing a weapon the day before the shooting. His escape into the woods ended at the church where the deadly encounter took place. The pastors wife, Rosemary, injured during the incident, and Sellars, who survived the shooting, have both provided accounts that corroborated the violent series of events leading to the pastors death. Our hearts are with the victims and the families of those killed or injured in this terrible tragedy, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement at the time. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who apprehended the suspect, and I ask Texans to join Cecilia and me in praying for those affected by this horrific shooting. The State of Texas is working closely with first responders and local officials to ensure that justice is served and that the Starrville community has the resources it needs during this time. Despite his actions, the state has opted not to seek the death penalty due to Woolens diagnosed mental illness. His competency to stand trial was recently reaffirmed after treatment at Vernon State Hospital, allowing the case to proceed, according to KLTV. Home News Anti-Israel activists target pro-life pregnancy center after DNC: 'The dead babies are in Gaza' Anti-Israel activists at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago targeted a pro-life pregnancy center that provides housing and other free services to women by cementing the doors shut to prevent staff from serving pregnant clients. Aid for Women operates multiple centers and two maternity homes in the Chicago area. The nonprofit offers a wide range of services, including free ultrasounds, pregnancy consultations, and parenting classes to pregnant women in need. Mary FioRito, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and an Aid for Women board member, shared photos of the damage in a Friday post on X. 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 activists vandalized one of the nonprofits offices on Thursday evening after the closing of the DNC. Vandals wrote Fake clinic and The real dead babies are in Gaza on the front entrance, and put cement in the locks to stop clients and staff from entering the building. "If you think you are somehow hurting those responsible for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, you're wrong," FioRito said in a statement to The Christian Post directed at the vandals. "You are hurting pregnant women, many of whom are struggling with difficult circumstances, by cutting them off (even temporarily) from the services they were freely seeking out," she continued. "You cut them off from the free diapers and baby wipes they might have needed for the weekend. From food and clothing. That's what you did." Gina Marie, a former Aid for Women client who spoke with CP in September 2022, credited the nonprofit with saving her life. Marie had been homeless and struggling with addiction when she discovered she was pregnant, and she sought help from the organization. Aid for Women provided her with housing at one of its maternity homes and helped her find employment by driving her to and from job interviews. Marie told CP about a time she felt the need to refute a blog post that referred to pregnancy centers as fake, remembering all that Aid for Women had done for her. Critics of pregnancy centers often accuse them of masquerading as medical centers and using deceptive practices to trick pregnant women into visiting them. "I was like, 'Anyone and everyone who thinks that pregnancy centers are not real, they are very real, Marie recalled writing once on Facebook. My children and I would not be here today; we literally would not be here today. I would either be dead or in prison if it wasn't for Aid for Women. As The Daily Signal reported Friday, one of Aid for Womens security cameras caught four vandals defacing the office at around 3 a.m. At the time of the report, Aid for Women had temporarily stopped seeing clients because the staff could not enter. In a statement to the outlet, FioRito said that Aid for Women had contacted the FBI and reported the vandalism as a possible FACE Act violation. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits the use of force, obstruction, or property damage intended to interfere with the services of a facility providing reproductive health services. While the FACE Act subjects anyone who engages in this type of conduct at an abortion facility to federal charges, the law also applies to churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. The Department of Justice under the Biden administration has faced criticism from some pro-lifers who contend that the DOJ has largely used the law to prosecute pro-life activists instead of pregnancy center vandals. Following the leaked draft of the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization and the subsequent overturning of Roe v. Wade, pro-choice activists engaged in a wave of violence and vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers. The activists firebombed pro-life clinics and spray-painted the exterior of several buildings. The recent attack on a pro-life pregnancy center comes after Planned Parenthood parked a mobile van near the DNC to offer free abortion pills and vasectomies. Pro-life groups, including Democrats for Life, responded to the corporations mobile van initiative by holding a diaper drive that raised over $6,000. 40 Days for Life, a pro-life group that organizes prayer vigils at abortion facilities throughout the country, filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint last week against Planned Parenthood. The pro-life organization argued that Planned Parenthood engaged in partisan political activity by offering free abortion drugs, emergency contraception and vasectomies at the DNC. "Planned Parenthood's mobile clinic(s)' presence and provision of free services juxtapose its/their tax-exempt privilege against a politically charged environment," the letter explained. "They are clear indicators of political endorsement or opposition of particular candidates and parties." The letter requested that the IRS review whether Planned Parenthood engaged in conduct that could result in the revocation of its tax-exempt status. Home News 'Flawed judgment': Australian court rules against women-only app, claims sex not merely a biological concept The Federal Court of Australia has determined that the term sex transcends mere biological classification, which the legal advocacy group ADF International has called a flawed judgment. The court held that the female-only networking app Giggle indirectly discriminated against a man who identifies as a woman and goes by the name Roxanne Tickle by barring him from joining. In the case of Roxanne Tickle v. Giggle for Girls, the court awarded Tickle 10,000 AUD (roughly $6,800) in compensation for what it recognized as indirect discrimination. 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 Tickle, who has legally amended his birth certificate to identify as female, argued for access to spaces designated exclusively for women. Giggles defense, supported by ADF International, contended that women have a right to single-sex spaces, a principle extending to both physical and digital realms. However, the court dismissed this defense, stating that disqualification based on male sex constituted unlawful discrimination. The judgment states that sex is not confined to being a biological concept referring to whether a person at birth had male or female physical traits, nor confined to being a binary concept, limited to the male or female sex Katherine Deves, representing Giggle, expressed significant concern during the hearing, noting, The stakes are high in this case. Womens international human rights will be lost if woman now includes any male who identifies as such. This decision matters not just in Australia but also to the watching world. Sall Grover, CEO of Giggle and respondent in the lawsuit, emphasized the original intent behind her app. For decades, womens movements have fought for the right to have female spaces in society. Yet today, the clock is being wound back. Grover continued, I designed my app to give women their own space to network. It is a legal fiction that Tickle is a woman. His birth certificate has been altered from male to female, but he is a biological man, and always will be. A womans-only app isnt about discrimination. Its about freedom of speech, belief, and association. Robert Clarke, director of Advocacy for ADF International, described the ruling as a severe setback for womens rights. In ruling that Tickle, a biological male, was a victim of discrimination when prevented from joining a womans app, the court has delivered an egregiously flawed judgment that removes protections for women. Contrary to what the judge held, sex is never changeable. The judgment is a severe setback for women and girls, failing to uphold the basic truth of biological reality that men cannot become women. Tickle did not experience unjust discrimination, but was simply disqualified from membership on the Giggle app because he is not a woman. The court also found that section 5b of Australias Sex Discrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination on the ground of gender identity, aligns with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, despite the ICCPR only specifically prohibiting discrimination based on sex, not gender identity. Further controversy stems from the courts dismissal of the argument that the amendment of the Sex Discrimination Act to include gender identity was unconstitutional. "The judge has read in a faux right to protection on the basis of gender identity in international law where none exists. The ICCPR is clear that discrimination is to be prohibited on the basis of sex. There is no mention of gender identity in the treaty, Clarke said. The ruling is not only anti-women and disingenuous, but also it creates a dangerous precedent for conjuring up false rights to the detriment of real rights. Here the real rights in jeopardy are those of women. By ignoring Australias obligations under CEDAW to protect womens rights, the court is positioning Australia in direct violation of its basic human rights obligations toward women, Clarke added. Tickle v. Giggle is just one of the several challenges to protections for women that are ongoing across Australia. Canadian advocate Chris Elston, known as Billboard Chris, has voiced his opposition. The judgment turns back the clock on womens rights and exposes the deep ideological distortions that have permeated our societies and our legal systems, Chris said. It is a fiction that Tickle is a woman. While his birth certificate may have been altered, no man can ever become a woman. Home News Churchgoers may never attend another if theirs closes, poll finds A poll conducted by the National Churches Trust has revealed concerning trends about the future of in-person church attendance in the U.K., particularly if local churches were to close. The survey, engaging 2,667 Christians in the U.K., found that church closures could lead to a nearly 30% reduction in in-person attendance. Twenty-two percent of those who attend services in person expressed that they would be unwilling or unable to attend a different church if their own was to close, according to the poll. This sentiment was augmented by additional findings: 7% of the respondents stated they would shift their practices to online worship exclusively, and another 7% said they would attend a different church but do so less frequently than they currently attend. 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 demographic most likely to withdraw from regular attendance is the elderly, specifically those aged 65 and older. Only 19% of this group stated they would seek out and attend a new church as often as they do now. This is slightly higher among younger adults aged 18 to 24, with 28% indicating a willingness to find and frequent a new church. Eddie Tulasiewicz, the head of policy and public affairs at the National Churches Trust, commented on the findings, describing them as disturbing, according to Premier Christian News. He said church closures not only reduce the number of worship options but deeply affect those who are older and less mobile, a segment of the congregation that might find traveling to new locations particularly challenging. Tulasiewicz also pointed out an increasing trend in the rate of church closures, which he described as stepping up. The Rev. Alisdair Laird, area dean and vicar to the 20 rural parishes of South Holderness deanery in East Yorkshire, said, Once a church building closes, particularly in villages and small towns, it often feels like the historic heart of the community has been abandoned not just for those who share the Christian faith, but for everyone, according to Christian Today. His insights followed the closure of All Saints Church in Burstwick, a significant Grade One listed building in his deanery, which occurred last year. The closure left many parishioners feeling a profound sense of loss, disrupting their spiritual lives and community connections. Despite this, Laird noted a positive development, that an increasing number of people in his area have begun making the effort to attend neighboring churches. He stressed the importance of these churches in welcoming newcomers and providing transportation for those who dont drive. Home News Gaza doctor cited as media source praised Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, prayed for fire to fill Jews' homes Several news outlets have cited a Gaza hospital director as an official source in their coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, despite the directors public celebration of Hamas Oct. 7 attacks and his hosting of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at his daughters wedding, according to a media watchdog group. Dr. Fadel Naim works for Al-Ahli Hospital, which the Israeli military was initially accused of striking at the start of its operations in Gaza. However, it was later determined that a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad likely caused the explosion. HonestReporting, a media watchdog group that monitors news outlets for bias against Israel, reported last Thursday that The Associated Press quoted Naim in an article this month about a recent Israeli airstrike on a school serving as a shelter. 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 AP reported that Palestinian health authorities said the attack killed 80 people and cited a witness named Abu Anas who claimed the strike occurred as people were praying. According to HonestReporting, Naim also goes by the name Abu Anas on Facebook. In a statement to the AP, Naim said his hospital received 70 bodies, along with body parts from 10 others, following the airstrike that was initially blamed on Israel. The hospital director claimed the site was witness to the most serious injuries during the war. Outlets such as Reuters and The Guardian have also cited Naim as a source in their reporting on the Israel-Hamas war. In a statement to The Christian Post, a spokesperson for Reuters referenced the wire service's quoting of Naim in an October 2023 article about the Al-Ahli hospital explosion. The spokesperson noted that the article included comments from multiple witnesses at the scene, as well as remarks from Israeli and Palestinian officials. "Reuters is committed to reporting on the Israel-Hamas war fairly, accurately and independently, in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles," the spokesperson concluded. The Associated Press and The Guardian did not respond to The Christian Post's request for comment. HonestReporting questioned Naims reliability as a source, highlighting a Facebook photo that shows Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, at the wedding of Naims daughter. Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month after attending the swearing-in ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. While some news outlets and wire services have described Haniyeh as moderate, the Hamas leader praised God for the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel while watching news reports of the mass slaughter of civilians. Haniyeh also implied that deaths in Gaza are necessary to defeat the "occupier," a reference to Israel. In an X post last week, HonestReporting pointed to a photo Naim shared on social media on Oct. 7 of paragliders flying over a map of Israel. One of the ways Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7 involved paragliding into the country. In another social media post, the Gaza hospital director appeared to urge civilians to ignore evacuation warnings issued by Israel. Former Staff Sergeant Eitan Fischberger shared an image of a 2018 post by Naim expressing admiration for Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. In another post from 2014, also shared by Fischberger, Naim prayed for Allah to fill the homes and graves of Jews with fire. AP is arguably the most influential news agency in the world, with its news copy read by millions globally. If only those readers knew who AP gets its information from: a man who has glorified violence, advocated for the death of Jews, encouraged innocent Palestinians to remain in harms way, and knowingly spread false information, HonestReporting stated. According to Israeli state broadcaster KAN, which cited military sources, the Israeli Air Force conducted a precision strike on a Hamas command center based on information from the Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) and Shin Bet. The Israel Defense Forces reported that the strike killed at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and likely killed Ashraf Juda, commander of the Central Brigade of Islamic Jihad. The IDF and Shin Bet stated that the Israeli Air Force took measures to minimize the impact of the strike on civilians sheltering inside the school. Israel has repeatedly reported that Hamas frequently violates international law by using civilian infrastructure to conduct its terrorist activities. Israel has been at war with Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after the terror group slaughtered at least 1,200 people and took around 240 others, including 31 Americans, as hostages during its Oct. 7 attacks. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza, but this has not been verified. Home News Megachurch Pastor Apollo Quiboloy in standoff with Philippines police over alleged child-sex trafficking Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte criticized leaders of the Philippine National Police Monday after some 2,000 officers raided the 74-acre compound of fugitive televangelist and Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy in a bid to arrest him on charges of child abuse and human trafficking, which he and his followers have denied. Quiboloy, who is also on the FBIs Most Wanted list for similar charges, including conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, and the sex trafficking of children, remains on the run as his members continue to wage public protests and accumulate charges as they seek to prevent his arrest. At least one person reportedly died during the raid and several others were injured. We sympathize with the members of the KOJC for having become victims of political harassment, persecution, violence, and abuse of authority. This certainly puts a dark stain on the hands of those involved in todays incident, led by no less than the top police official of the region, the former Philippines president said in a statement Saturday cited by Inquirer.net. 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 Some 18 members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church were arrested Monday during a protest in front of their compound in Davao City, GMA News Online reported. Ferdinand Topacio, a lead attorney for Quiboloy, told Bilyonaryo News Channel that the church is considering filing a human rights complaint to the United Nations regarding the police raid, arguing that the country is under a virtual dictatorship and no local court or institution can help them. Duterte, who is the designated administrator of the churchs frozen assets, said in his statement that police forced their way into the churchs compound, causing the death of a member but police say the victim died from fatigue. An indictment from the Department of Justice in 2021 charged Quiboloy and two of his top administrators with trafficking young women and girls in the U.S. who were coerced into having sex with him under threats of eternal damnation. The controversial megachurch pastor allegedly claimed that sex with him was a privilege and Gods will. Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators coerced pastorals (personal assistants) into performing night duty that is, sex with defendant Quiboloy under the threat of physical and verbal abuse and eternal damnation by defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators, the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice alleges. Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators told pastorals that performing night duty was Gods will and a privilege, as well as a necessary demonstration of the pastorals commitment to give her body to defendant Quiboloy as The Appointed Son of God. The 2021 charges were an expansion of allegations made in early 2020 against three Los Angeles-based administrators of the church and names nine defendants, including the now 74-year-old Quiboloy, and his two administrators, Teresita Tolibas Dandan, also known as Tessie, and Sis Ting, now 62, of Davao City. The international administrator was one of the top overseers of KOJC and the Glendale-based Childrens Joy Foundation in the United States. The other top administrator, Felina Salinas, also known as Sis Eng Eng, 53, of Kapolei, Hawaii, allegedly collected and secured passports, and other documents from KOJC workers in Hawaii. She also allegedly directed funds solicited from church members to church officials in the Philippines. Quiboloy, Dandan and Salinas are charged in count one of a superseding indictment, which alleges the sex trafficking conspiracy. Each of them is charged in at least three of five substantive counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. Quiboloy, who claims to have 4 million tithing followers in the Philippines, 2 million more overseas, and reaches 600 million viewers worldwide through his TV station, is a former member of the United Pentecostal Church. He founded the Restorationism church in 1985 after he claimed to have received a calling from God. According to Asia Times, Quiboloy claims that God came to his mother in the form of a cloud after he was born, and declared, "That's my son." Home News Muslim extremists wielding swords slay Christian evangelist in Uganda NAIROBI, Kenya Muslim extremists with swords in eastern Uganda killed a Christian for leading Muslims to Christ, sources said. The assailants attacked Yowabu Sebakaki on Aug. 19 as he was returning home by bicycle to his native Nyanza village, Nyanza North Zone, Nyanza Parish, Mugiti Sub-County in Budaka District, Uganda. He was 52. In June and July, Muslims had sent threatening messages to Sebakaki, including one that read, We are aware of some secret meeting you are undertaking. You have to stop preaching as well as converting our faithful Muslims to Christianity, and if not, then soon we are coming for your life, according to his wife, Nambaluka Sebakaki, who had copied the messages to her phone. 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 After leading a discipleship class at 5:45 p.m. for new converts at a Christians house, Sebakaki was being transported home by David Nkomba on Nkombas bicycle. Just when we were 5 kilometers (3 miles) from reaching the homestead, at around 6:20 p.m. a motorcycle came up just behind us, and in no given time Sebakaki was struck with an object which happened to be a panga [long Somali sword] on the back near the neck, Nkomba told Morning Star News. He fell down and then was cut by another panga on the head. Sebakaki became unconscious due to too much bleeding. Nkomba jumped off his bike, he said. Other attackers were shouting, Your time a has come, and pray hard if your God will save you you have been deceiving people about life after death given by Issa [Jesus], Nkomba said. I took off, but I managed to recognize one of the attackers as Rashid Siriman, a well-known radical Muslim youth from Mbale. Neighbors arrived at the site and rushed Sebakaki to a hospital in Mbale, but he died on the way, his wife said. Police in Budaka were searching for the assailants. Sebakaki was trained in apologetics and had engaged in Gospel outreach in the predominantly Muslim areas of Dhoho, Namatala, Kamonkoli, Sekulo and Mugiti, his pastor said. While in Kamonkoli in January, Sebakaki had survived an attack by Muslim extremists after speaking convincingly in a debate with Islamic scholars, said the pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons. Radical Muslims got hold of Sebakaki and started beating him with blunt objects, but he was rescued by Christians who were in attendance, the pastor said. Since then, he avoided debates with Muslim scholars but instead began open-air preaching and initiated a discipleship class. Sebakaki had continued holding open-air events in Kamonkoli and parts of Ikiki town in Budaka District, he said. The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented. Ugandas constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate ones faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Ugandas population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country. Originally published at Morning Star News Home News Pope Francis expresses concern over Ukraine's ban on Russian-linked church Pope Francis has expressed concern over a newly passed law in Ukraine that bans groups with historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, seeing it as an attack on religious freedom. In official remarks on Sunday, the head of the Roman Catholic Church said he was thinking about the laws recently adopted in Ukraine regarding Orthodox churches. I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all, said Francis. A person does not commit evil because of praying. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe If someone commits evil against his people, he will be guilty for it, but he cannot have committed evil because he prayed. So let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their Church. Please, let no Christian Church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched! On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law banning groups that had ties to Russia, claiming that it's part of a national security measure. The law effectively bans the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historic ties to the Moscow patriarch but announced that it was severing those ties in May 2022 in opposition to the war. The new ban does not apply to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was officially recognized by most global Orthodox Church leadership in 2019 and is independent of Russian influence. Ukrainian orthodoxy today is taking a step toward liberation from the devils of Moscow, stated Zelensky in an address made Saturday evening, according to CNN. The new law will give entities like the UOC nine months to sever ties with Russia or be shut down. While the UOC already technically did so in 2022, Ukrainian authorities claim that the links remain. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, multiple allegations have surfaced of UOC-affiliated clergy and facilities helping spread pro-Russian propaganda. Last week, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraines Legislature, passed the bill, with lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko calling it a historic vote that bans a branch of the aggressor country in Ukraine. Wesley J. Smith, chair of the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism, contends that the new law violates the religious freedom of churches that want to remain with the UOC. "The dispute about whether the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Ukraine legitimately represents Ukrainian Orthodoxy is a matter for the Orthodox Church to work out," wrote Smith for National Review. "But the government of Ukraine should not decide which church is 'legitimate' and which is not, which can operate openly and which should be suppressed." Home News Christian whistleblower nurse fired from Texas Children's Hospital talks spiritual war A Christian nurse who claims she was recently terminated from her job at Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) in Houston for exposing alleged Medicaid fraud related to transgender procedures for minors says she sees her situation as part of a spiritual conflict. "I am a Christian, and my faith is the foundation of everything," Vanessa Sivadge told The Christian Post. "That's the reason why I've spoken out as I have." Sivadge claimed TCH fired her on Aug. 16 for exposing alleged Medicaid fraud at the country's largest children's hospital, which she said was using federal funds to cover cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors in violation of Texas law, according to an exclusive statement provided to journalist Christopher Rufo. EXCLUSIVE: Texas Children's Hospital has fired Vanessa Sivadge, the nurse who exposed alleged Medicaid fraud at the hospital's child sex-change program. TCH denied Sivadge's request to transfer, then terminated her employment after she blew the whistle. pic.twitter.com/j6yxBA7B9s Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) August 19, 2024 Sivadge came forward to Rufo last year to claim TCH was pushing "gender-affirming care" on young patients while ignoring their underlying psychological problems. Sivadge approached Rufo following his May 2023 story about Dr. Eithan Haim, who leaked medical records suggesting that TCH continued to prescribe puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria despite claiming otherwise. The U.S. Department of Justice slapped Haim with four felony counts in June for obtaining "personal information including patient names, treatment codes and the attending physician from Texas Children's Hospital's (TCH) electronic system without authorization," according to a DOJ press release. 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 Haim and Rufo claim the patient names were redacted from the documents he leaked. In her most recent statement, Sivadge told Rufo that she requested a religious accommodation at the hospital on May 31 that would have transferred her out of the endocrinology clinic, where she alleges she was forced into "indirect participation in the care of children on cross-sex hormones." She asked to be transferred back to her core competency at the cardiology unit, where such ideology was not prevalent. "This past Friday on August 16, TCH fired me effective immediately," Sivadge wrote. "This is unlawful for two reasons: it is retaliation for my coming forward with information on TCHs egregious pattern of deception and Medicaid fraud, and this action also illegally disregarded my request to transfer due to my belief that these procedures bring irreversible harm and lifelong regret to children confused about their sex." Sivadge said she doesn't know Haim and that her situation differs from his because she hasn't yet faced federal charges, though she noted that federal law enforcement have shown up at her home. Two weeks after Rufo published Sivadge's anonymous whistleblowing last year, two FBI agents appeared at her door, according to footage Rufo posted to X in June. The video shows special agents Paul Nixon and David McBride showing up at Sivadge's home while sporting blue jeans and telling her they wanted to speak about "some of the things that have been going on at [her] work lately." They quipped they hoped they were not "interrupting dinner." This is where we are now: The Biden Administration sent two FBI agents to intimidate a nurse who told the truth about the child sex-change program at Texas Children's Hospital. The regime is mobilizing to threaten and imprison anyone who opposes "transgender medicine." pic.twitter.com/XbtZVnp5Kw Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) June 18, 2024 Sivadge told CP she never could have imagined that the federal government would ever go after her, and she believes federal law enforcement has been politically weaponized. "I never thought that [my identity] would come to light, and that I would be ultimately visited by the federal government, wanting to intimidate me into silence," she said. "And so I think that instead of investigating medical institutions and organizations in my case, a hospital for wrongdoing and for illegal activity, the federal government was weaponized to come after people exposing crime and whistleblowers like me," she said. "And so that's egregious. It's something I never imagined in a million years would happen to me," she added. Sivadge said she also fears that the political weaponization of federal agencies against people of faith will continue under a potential Kamala Harris administration. "I believe that the Department of Justice has been weaponized against people of faith and people who expose wrongdoing and illegal activity not just in my case, but in many others," she said. "And so I am deeply concerned that if she gets elected, nothing will change in that regard." Sivadge presented her case to CP in the context of spiritual warfare, and she suggested she fulfilled her duty as a Christian by exposing wrongdoing. "Ephesians 5 says to have nothing to do with the worthless deeds of evil and darkness but instead expose them, and that everything exposed by the light becomes visible," Sivadge told CP. "So that was really the foundation and the motivation for me to do what I've done, to speak out like I have." "Because we have, I believe, a responsibility as Christians to bring to light what's been done in the darkness," she added. Even so, Sivadge said that she has "absolutely" sensed God's presence in her situation. "Not just that, but I've felt tremendous support from the people of God," she said, adding that "people in the community who have reached out, have sent so many messages, have donated to my GiveSendGo, have ultimately made me feel like I'm doing the right thing, no matter what comes down the pike." "And that's ultimately the greatest encouragement that I receive, is from people who have donated and who have prayed for me," she added. Sivadge's GiveSendGo has raised nearly $50,000 of its $500,000 goal as of early Monday morning. Home News Apollo Quiboloy, Megachurch Pastor Who Claims to Be Appointed Son of God, Detained With Piles of Cash Apollo Quiboloy, a controversial megachurch pastor from the Philippines who boasts some 6 million tithing followers in that country and worldwide, was detained by federal agents in Honolulu, Hawaii, last Thursday after some $350,000 in cash and parts to assemble military-style rifles were discovered on his private jet. Quiboloy, who leads the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church, was among six people on his Cessna Citation Sovereign when Customs and Border Enforcement agents boarded it just before departure and found the cash and gun parts, Hawaii News Now reported. The cash was all neatly folded $100 bills stuffed inside socks in a suitcase. Felina Salinas, 47, of Makakilo who was the only U.S. citizen on the jet, told authorities the cash was hers and she was arrested. It is against federal law to take more than $10,000 out of the country without declaring it. Salinas, who appeared in court on Wednesday, is the business manager of a branch of Quiboloy's church in Hawaii and a loyal supporter. She only declared $40,000 so she was charged with attempted bulk cash smuggling. 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 pastor's jet, said to be worth at least $15 million, remains in Hawaii and the federal government is reportedly working to seize it. Quiboloy, who was reportedly in Hawaii for a concert, returned to the Philippines on a commercial flight. Salinas was released on $25,000 bond and she is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 27. Quiboloy, who is a former member of the United Pentecostal Church, founded the Restorationism church in 1985 after he said he received a calling from God. According to Asia Times, God came to his mother in the form of a cloud after he was born, and declared, "That's my son." "When the Father called me, He isolated me in two mountains. He let me go through some spiritual experiences that I never had before. He said, 'I'll give to you the spirits of these ministries: the mosaic, solomonic and the prophetic ministries.' And in those visions, I (and many others) saw myself standing, as three, big, spirit-like men entered my body. The interpretation was of the three ministries the mosaic, the solomonic, and the prophetic ministry entrusted to me by the Father," he notes on the church's website. He calls himself the appointed son of God. Since his calling, Quiboloy has grown wealthy and is a longtime friend of controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He claims to have 4 million tithing followers in the Philippines, 2 million more overseas, and reaches 600 million viewers worldwide through his TV station, Asia Times said. In a 2010 interview with ABC News, Quiboloy said every member of his kingdom shared his wealth and is welcome to stay at his mansion. He further noted that God revealed to him in 1983 that he should own a jet and argued that everyone should accept what they get from God in life, even if it is poverty. "If it is not God's will for me to have these things I have, you can take it away," he said. "It is God's will that we follow. ... If he wanted me to live like a rat, if he wanted me to live in wealth or in poverty, it does not matter to me. Put me there and I'll be happy as long as it's God's will." Home News Christian infantry officer stripped of position, accused of expressing 'hatred' for LGBT people Liberty Counsel urges Idaho Nat'l Guard not to implement 'No Christians as Commanders Policy' An infantry officer who expressed Christian views on human sexuality and other LGBT-related issues faced pressure to resign from the Idaho National Guard and was stripped of his commanding position following a complaint from a subordinate who identifies as homosexual. Liberty Counsel, a public interest law firm, announced last Wednesday that it had notified Gov. Brad Little earlier this month about the alleged First Amendment violation. While the infantry officer is represented by R. Davis Younts, LLC, Liberty Counsel has added its voice to the mans case, requesting a response by Friday to avoid further legal action. According to Liberty Counsel, a subordinate senior enlisted man who identifies as homosexual filed an Equal Opportunity complaint last year against the infantry officer. The officer reportedly expressed Christian viewpoints on human sexuality and expressed opposition to pernicious practices, which include prescribing puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones to children suffering from confusion about their sex. 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 subordinate who filed the complaint claimed that the officers speech showed just how much [the officer] truly hates the LGBTQ community. Liberty Counsel disagreed with this assessment, arguing that the officer believes everyone is made in Gods image and cares for those under his command, regardless of religious or political differences. Soldiers who identify as LGBTQ are required to tolerate Christians in the military workplace and may not file false EO Complaints or other charges against superior officers (or subordinates) because they disagree with protected religious or political speech, Liberty Counsel stated in its lengthy letter to the governor. False charges like these interfere with good order and discipline. Here, the dichotomy between speech for me, but not for thee could not be more evident: the baseless and discriminatory AR 15-6 investigation stems from a false EO complaint filed against the Officer by a subordinate senior enlisted man, because the officer had the temerity to speak his religious and political beliefs in public outside of the military context. Following the complaint, the Idaho Army National Guard removed the officer from command and initially agreed to lift the flag on the officers file, allowing him to resign without penalty and fulfill his duties in Wyoming. The Idaho Army National Guard did not lift the flag before the Wyoming position became unavailable, according to Liberty Counsel. In addition, the Idaho Army National Guard allegedly used Bible verses to mock the officer for not keeping a promise to leave by a certain date. Among its list of recommendations, Liberty Counsel requested the restoration of the officers career and the dismissal of what the firm described as the meritless EO complaint. In addition, Liberty Counsel recommended a rejection of the No Christians as Commanders Policy, referring to recommendations made by the Idaho Army National Guards investigating officer. The investigating officer reportedly encouraged the Idaho Army National Guard to adopt a policy of scrutinizing future full-time National Guard Duty candidates religious and political beliefs. If concerns about the candidates beliefs are substantiated, then the National Guard would report them to the Department of Defense Counterintelligence as an example of Extremist and Insider Threats for adjudication by subject matter experts at the Pentagon. In a statement to The Christian Post, a spokesperson for the Idaho Military Division confirmed that leadership is aware of the allegations and is investigating the matter. We take this matter seriously and in accordance with all federal and state laws regarding discriminatory behavior, we have initiated an unbiased investigation to address the issue thoroughly, the spokesperson stated. The investigation is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further on the matter at this time. Discriminatory practices and hostile work environments have no place within our organization. The Idaho Military Division is committed to maintaining a work environment free from discriminatory behavior, where every employee is treated fairly with respect and dignity. The spokesperson promised that if the investigation uncovers violations of the Idaho Military Division's anti-discrimination policies, those responsible will be held accountable in accordance with state and federal law. Home News Church of Englands net-zero carbon push risks damaging ancient cathedrals artifacts A historic church in England faces severe structural and aesthetic damage, putting medieval artifacts at risk due to the diocese's refusal to replace broken-down gas boilers so it can adhere to the Church of England's strict net-zero carbon policy. The historic church of St. John the Baptist in Tideswell, Derbyshire, England, also known as The Cathedral of the Peak, has been left without heating since October 2023 when three gas boilers stopped during a storm flood, sources told The Telegraph. Although the flooding caused by Storm Babet was the initial trigger of the problems, the CofE environmental directives have thwarted subsequent efforts to replace these boilers. 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 Churchwarden Peter Robinson and Assistant Churchwarden Mike Burrell told the newspaper the Diocese of Derby denied all requests to replace the old gas boilers. The wardens' frustrations are compounded by the lack of viable green alternatives suitable for the ancient structure. In February 2020, the CofE General Synod voted for the denomination to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, calling the "global climate emergency" a "fundamental injustice." An action plan was approved in 2022. The prolonged cold has permeated the church walls, causing dampness that threatens the integrity of historic carvings and valuable books, the overseers say. The congregation, many of whom are elderly, have endured services in extreme cold, dressed in layers and using insufficient personal heaters to find some relief. "We are still in an absolute stalemate. Of course, what is concerning us all is the duty of care towards the parishioners. Quite a lot of them are over 80. I am 92," parishioner Joy Bramley told The Telegraph. "But we are more than concerned about the fabric of the church because it stood there for all these hundreds of years. It's now getting to look quite damp and it's affecting some of the beautiful carvings." With the summer coming to a close, the congregation is not looking forward to what the winter months might bring after what they endured last winter. Visitor numbers have drastically fallen from the annual high of 33,000. The harsh conditions have deterred tourists and reduced the church's income. "You should have seen us all: mufflers, two layers of coats, boots, socks. We did try to put little heaters into one or two pews but all they did was warm our toes slightly because the building is so vast," Bramley said. "People come to weddings and to funerals, and they're all cold. Imagine going to a funeral, being frightfully sad and having to sit in a cold, cold church." The church has explored various heating technologies, including biomass, solar, electric and air source heat pumps, Robinson said. However, logistical challenges and inadequate infrastructure, such as insufficient village electricity supply, have stymied these alternatives. The National Grid told the church leaders the power supply in the town will not accommodate a strong electric heating system in the church. Yet diocese officials have suggested that direct negotiations with the Grid might yield a different outcome. Between 2023 and 2031, the Church of England plans to distribute 190 million ($250 million) to help churches reduce carbon emissions, according to CofE's "Routemap to Net Zero Carbon by 2030." "The 2030 target is hugely ambitious, but the process is as important as the target," the document notes. "Every month or year that we delay our progress towards net zero carbon will lead to suffering and even death for our human neighbours and the rest of God's creation. It is thus a matter of justice that we act now and is a key part of our obedience to God's call to care for creation that the transition to net zero carbon takes place as rapidly as possible." Home News Keyboard warriors shouldn't be sentenced to prison, Church of England bishop says A prominent bishop in the Church of England contends that "keyboard warriors" shouldn't be jailed for commenting on social media about the spate of riots that broke out in the U.K. after a man murdered three young girls in a mass stabbing. The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt. Rev. Rachel Treweek, said she believes the individuals jailed for allegedly inciting the riots by commenting online shouldn't be punished with prison time. Treweek, who speaks for the Church of England on prison issues, said that while she believes there must be "consequences for all of our actions," the prison sentences for alleged online incitement were "not right." 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 I understand people immediately want that person to be punished, but if you want that person to be changed and not incite that hatred and not cause broken relationship in our communities, we have to be asking what sort of intervention will actually enable us to help that person be changed, to look upstream at some of the underlying issues, she said, as quoted by The Telegraph. Sending someone to prison for a number of months or years, and expecting that that person will come out and suddenly come back and contribute to a stronger community, if theres been no appropriate intervention, is just foolish. The bishop was also hugely concerned with the idea that streets would be safer if more people were imprisoned, saying that there was no evidence to show that locking more people up for longer makes our streets safer. Indeed, our rates of reoffending are extremely high, she said. And if we want to create communities which are good for the victims of crime, for those whove offended, for families in the wider community, we do have to be asking that long-term question about, what do we think we are doing and what is prison for? Instead, she said, many offenders, including those who incited hate online, should receive probation sentences and championed more appropriate community sentencing. One of the people recently sentenced for allegedly inciting online hate was a 53-year-old woman named Julie Sweeney, who responded to a post on Facebook about the cleanup from the riots by saying: Its absolutely ridiculous. Dont protect the mosques. Blow the mosques up with the adults in it. So-called keyboard warriors like you must learn to take responsibility for your disgusting and inflammatory language, Judge Steven Everett said when sentencing her to 15 months, The Telegraph reported. In circumstances such as these, even people like you need to go to prison because a message must go out that if you do these terrible acts the court will say to you, you must go to prison. Late last month, a teenager named Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, a second-generation Rwandan immigrant, fatally stabbed three young British girls aged 6, 7, and 9, and attempted to kill 10 others in Southport, England, which is about 17 miles north of Liverpool. The mass stabbing sparked violent protests across the U.K. after false reports claimed Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker. Approximately 600 people were arrested, with over 150 reportedly charged since July 30. Some have been accused of targeting mosques and immigration centers. Muslim men armed with knives and machetes were also out in the streets and attacking protesters. In response to public comments on social media, London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley threatened to extradite U.S. citizens for making incendiary posts. Earlier this month, a group of religious leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, signed a joint statement sent to The Times of London denouncing the violence and commending those working to repair the damage. Other signatories include Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, Chief Imam and Director General of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society Sayed Razawi, and Imam Qari Asim, chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board. "Over the last few days we have watched in horror as a small minority has brought hatred, violence and vandalism to towns and cities across the country," read the statement, in part. "We have seen anti-Muslim hatred and the targeting of mosques; asylum seekers and refugees attacked; violence directed towards the police and private property, all of which are a stain on our national moral conscience." Home News Megachurch Pastor Apollo Quiboloy allegedly smuggled over $100K out of the US Controversial Filipino megachurch Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who was arrested by federal agents in Honolulu, Hawaii, last year after weapons and $350,000 were found on his private jet, has been accused of previously smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the country. Quiboloy, who founded the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church, which he claims has 4 million tithing followers in the Philippines and 2 million more in other countries including the United States, allegedly smuggled money out of the country on two separate occasions in 2013 and 2014, Hawaii News Now reported. Former church member Kristina Angeles said she witnessed Quiboloy and Felina Salinas, a manager for the Hawaii branch of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church, order church members [to conceal] U.S. currency in black socks, during the noted time frame, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Albanese wrote in court documents. The socks were packed in a suitcase which was transported to the Philippines. 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 Salinas, who was arrested with Quiboloy and four others in February 2018, was charged with trying to smuggle more than $300,000 in cash which she claimed at the time of her arrest was hers. Officials say no one from the church had declared the cash even though it is against federal law to take more than $10,000 out of the country without declaring it. Salinas attorney, Michael Green, argued that Angeles has given conflicting accounts about the amount of money that was allegedly smuggled. I have a woman who says she saw $100,000 go from California to the Philippines, then she said it was two or three million," Green said. She says it was put in socks. They must have parishioners with size 18 feet because the socks must have been really big. Albanese further alleged that Angeles was charged in state court for sexually abusing a young girl who was a member of the church. A federal prosecutor argued that the state charges might be based on perjured testimony from the mother of the alleged victim cited in text messages. Both the mother and alleged victim are also members of the church. Please sis do something everything in your power to speed this up Please deport her ASAP," Salinas said in one text message, urging the victims mother to prosecute Angeles. I cannot sleep thinking I have to lie in federal court I have never done that ever in my life," the mother responded in what the prosecutor argues appears to be an acknowledgement that she gave false testimony. Quiboloy, who is a former member of the United Pentecostal Church, founded the Restorationism church in 1985 after he said he received a calling from God. According to Asia Times, God came to his mother in the form of a cloud after he was born, and declared, "That's my son." Since then he has grown wealthy and counts Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a longtime friend. He argued in a 2010 interview with ABC News that every member of his kingdom shared his wealth and is welcome to stay at his mansion. He further noted that God revealed to him in 1983 that he should own a jet and said everyone should accept what they get from God in life, even if it is poverty. Home News RFK Jr. says he loves his family despite siblings' accusations of 'betrayal' Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently emphasized the love he has for his family despite their public denunciation of his political views. After Kennedy suspended his campaign last week and removed his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states to endorse former President Donald Trump, five of Kennedy's siblings issued a statement accusing him of betraying their father's legacy. "We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride," said the statement that was signed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy. 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 believe in Harris and Walz," the statement continued. "Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story." I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brothers announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) August 23, 2024 Kennedy took flak from other members of the Kennedy clan who piled on to the criticism. Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nephew, retweeted the statement, writing simply: "Well said." Jack Schlossberg, who is the only grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, also ripped into his cousin, saying he has "never been less surprised in my life" by his decision to back Trump. "Been saying it for over a year [RFK Jr.] is for sale, works for Trump," the 31-year-old Schlossberg tweeted. "Bedfellows and loving it. Kamala Harris is for the people the easiest decision of all time just got easier." Kerry Kennedy, who was married for 15 years to former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also appeared Sunday on "Inside with Jen Psaki" to further blast her brother, accusing him of trying to tarnish their father's memory. "So Im outraged and disgusted by my brothers gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump," she said. "And I completely get out and separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. in this flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my fathers memory, Kerry Kennedy said. .@KerryKennedyRFK on RFK Jr.s Trump endorsement: I completely disavow and separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my fathers memory. pic.twitter.com/6ar5J30CaB Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) August 25, 2024 Speaking on Sunday to Fox News anchor Shannon Bream, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged that his family members are troubled by his decisions, but said he still loves them. "My family is I understand that they're troubled by my decisions," he said. "I love my family. I feel like we were raised in a milieu where we were encouraged to debate each other and debate ferociously and passionately about things and still love each other." "They're free to take their positions on these issues," he added. "There are many, many members of my family working at my campaign and who are supporting me." "I think we all need to be able to disagree with each other and still love each other," he added. Kennedy also noted that five of his family members work in the Biden administration. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responds to his family's criticism after endorsing President Trump. I love my family we were encouraged to debate each other, and debate ferociously and passionately about things and still love each other. Classy. Despite the backlash, Kennedy pic.twitter.com/bN1bcqn0PR Vigilant News (@VigilantNews) August 26, 2024 On Friday, Kennedy also revealed that his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, was "very uncomfortable" with his decision to suspend his campaign and endorse Trump, but that their love for each other is unconditional. "I am so grateful to my amazing wife Cheryl for her unconditional love, as I made a political decision with which she is very uncomfortable. I wish this also for the country love and unity even in the face of disagreement. We will need that in coming times," Kennedy tweeted. During his speech Friday announcing the suspension of his campaign, Kennedy tore into the Democratic Party for becoming what he described as "the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big AG, and big money." Kennedy emphasized that the most important political issue to him is solving the epidemic of chronic disease in the United States, which he noted is unprecedented in history. "Ultimately, the only thing that will save our country and our children is if we choose to love our kids more than we hate each other," he said. Home News Whistleblower who exposed Texas hospitals trans surgeries on kids indicted by DOJ The United States Department of Justice has indicted a surgeon who blew the whistle on a Texas hospital secretly performing trans surgeries and gender medicalization of minors. Dr. Eithan Haim, a surgeon at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston, who leaked evidence of the body-mutilating procedures to journalist Christopher Rufo, was indicted earlier this week on four felony counts of allegedly violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Haim is scheduled to appear in court on June 17, the National Review reported Thursday, with his legal team reportedly being unaware of the full nature of the charges. 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 My client is anxious to get to trial to get his side of the story told, Marcella Burke, an attorney for Haim, told National Review. I am confident this will result in the correct decision being made. The Christian Post reached out to both the law firm representing Haim and the Department of Justice for more information. This article will be updated when their responses are received. In February 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a formal opinion that described sex-change procedures being performed on minors as "child abuse," with Gov. Greg Abbott later issuing an order instructing state agencies to investigate them as such. Although Texas Childrens Hospital announced in March 2022 that it was ending the practice of performing such procedures on children and youth in response to the state government, Haim leaked evidence that the hospital was doing so in secret. Based on the leaked evidence provided by Haim, Rufo wrote an article in City Journal that was published on May 16, 2023, which claimed that the hospital "secretly continued to perform transgender medical interventions, including the use of implantable puberty blockers, on minor children." In response to the story, a state investigation was launched into Texas Childrens Hospital, with the facility finally shutting down its practice of gender medicalization of minors suffering from gender dysphoria. In June of last year, Abbott signed Senate Bill 14 into law, which banned cosmetic and irreversible sex-change surgeries and hormonal interventions for trans-identified youth. Even before outing himself as the whistleblower in January, Haim was the subject of a federal investigation, with him reportedly being labeled a target of an investigation soon after the Rufo story ran. "These people are corrupt," Haim told CP in an interview published in January. "And the only way to expose it is to not play into this Kabuki theater, like these people are practitioners of justice. Because if we were to collude with them, we would be sanctioning our own destruction." "Because these people are just petty tyrants and neurotic bureaucrats. And what that boils down to is that these people are simply bullies. When you're fearful, when you're afraid, that's when they're most effective. So to be fearful and scared is to seal your own death warrant." Home Opinion Understanding the Christian divide in politics It's no secret that many Christians are divided about politics: One argues, How can Christians vote for Trump? Another shoots back, You cant be a Christian and vote Democrat! And yet another grumbles, How can you vote for either one? To truly understand the division, we must remember three things: 1. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian. 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 2. Many Christians have quenched and grieved the Spirit for so long that they lack discernment. 3. When we fail to make Scripture the final authority, we view politics through different lenses based on experience, ethnicity, faith, priorities, etc. When it comes to understanding the divide, three groups stand out: Christians for Kamala These people are often liberal, and although they claim that they are personally against abortion, they dont think it is the government's job to interfere. I doubt that God agrees with this position. They also claim that loving your neighbor means opening the border. But what about loving your family enough to protect them? This group claims that they supposedly put character over policy. Trump is a felon! is their constant mantra. However, those supporting Trump point out that if he was a Democrat none of this would be happening because the Biden family criminal allegations (all of which are worse than Trump's charges) are being completely glossed over. Conservatives for Trump This group understands that God uses imperfect people. As to the charges against Trumps character, they realize that they are not electing a Pastor-in-Chief but a Commander-in-Chief. They know that Trump is not a racist or a real felon, and that he is exposing the Lefts wickedness. They believe that Trumps character is not as important as the Lefts approval of killing the unborn, allowing men to enter womens locker rooms, and turning a blind eye to trafficking children. They say, Although character traits should be considered, we are not following people, we are endorsing policy to protect and to defend the nation. This group also looks at the solid Christians that Trump surrounds himself with versus Kamala who supports drag queens. Angry MAGAs This group shares the same concerns as the conservatives, but they can be more filled with anger than the Spirit. Most are simply tired of the Lefts rhetoric such as, Trump will destroy democracy and go after his political opponents. Ironically, thats exactly what the Biden administration did, and is doing, to Trump. Like conservatives, they know that the nation is in serious trouble and that something must be done. This group understands that America is weak and woke, and that we are drowning in a cesspool of moral filth. And if something isn't done soon, the hope of regaining lost ground is over. This is where Trump comes in from securing our borders to protecting us from attacks. The silent minority To those who say we should stay out of politics, we must remember that God has given us the political process to make change. If there were no people making a difference, we would be no different than North Korea. Yes, obviously God is our help but He often calls us to take action; hence the political process. We need to thank God for those who are making a difference versus shaming them. God gave every King a prophet in the Old Testament, for this very reason to try and make a difference in the land. We all compromise to some degree All sides are guilty of wanting their candidate in office so much so that they will overlook their shortcomings. For instance, a black Republican pastor I know who is voting for Trump told me that he must remain silent about his views, or hell lose his congregation. He added, My members elect those who are best for our people. But, shouldnt we vote for the one who is best for all people? And are you certain that voting for the Left is the best for your people? Approval of the apostates None of us has perfect political views, myself included; but from my experience, it seems that most people in the Christians for Kamala group are either quenching the Spirit because of compromise or they are not looking at things through a biblical lens. In this group, many are not genuine believers. They have never repented of their sins and surrendered to Christ. The Bible refers to them as apostates, especially the pastors who support abortion and the LGBT platform. Second Peter 2:2-3 says that many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute (e.g., think drag queen story hour, and rainbow flags on churches). And, In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Peter concludes, Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. God will not be mocked. We will reap what we sow. Religion, not relationship The other two groups also have unbelievers in their midst who have religion but not a relationship. They too must repent and genuinely seek God. This is the main reason that we are divided we are not united with the Spirit. God may be allowing this divide so we can apply His Word to our daily lives: Quick to listen and slow to speak, as well as being gracious in our words and actions. Political views bring out the best and the worst in us. I know Im a work in progress myself. Jesus warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We are witnessing this very thing happening in America. Christians must repent of their pride and anger, and the church must unite in submission to God before our country faces devastating damages from which it may never recover. The message of the prophets applies to us today: Return to Me, and I will return to you. Home Opinion Why we should celebrate the King James Bible With another school season gearing up, debates about curriculum content arise. Should the Bible be included in any way? Years ago, TIME magazine (April 2, 2007) covered why the Bible should be taught (with caution) in public schools. TIMEs David Van Biema wrote: Should the Holy Book be on the public menu? Yes. Its the bedrock of Western culture. And its constitutional as long as we teach but dont preach it. 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 He also notes: Simply put, the Bible is the most influential book ever written. Not only is the Bible the best-selling book of all time, it is the best-selling book of the year every year. One man who would agree was the late Reid Buckley, brother of the late William F. Buckley, Jr., who used to train professional speakers. Reid said this about the worlds most beloved book: Any born English-speaking son or daughter of the Christian West, who has not savored, indeed, soaked him or herself in the King James Version of the Holy Bible is irreparably ignorant and culturally deprived. The Bible is the best-selling book in the history of the world. And the King James Version (1611), in particular, is the most widely published and distributed book of all time. For our Coral Ridge Ministries television special, What If the Bible Had Never Been Written? (based on the eponymous book by Dr. D. James Kennedy and me), author Bill Federer observed, If they were to [include it in] the New York Times bestseller list every month, all top ten would be the King James Bible. It is the world's bestselling book ever It made a tremendous impact on Western civilization. Ironically, King James I set out to publish a new translation of the Bible in order to dethrone the Geneva Bible which was popular with the Puritans and other dissidents. But the king did an excellent job in producing this book. There were six different translation groups, two from Westminster Abbey, two from Oxford, and two groups from Cambridge. And they were assigned different parts of the Bible to translate into English. They ended up producing the greatest masterpiece in the English language. Indeed, to this day many common idioms and phrases in the English language get back to the King James Version of the Bible. Such as: Let there be light. The golden calf. Chariots of fire. Seek and ye shall find. The straight and narrow. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Love thy neighbor as yourself. And so on. Several years ago, the leading book promoting atheism by a prominent skeptic was Richard Dawkins The God Delusion (2006). The retired Oxford professor doesnt believe the Bible is the Word of God because he doesnt believe there is a God. But he nevertheless says you are culturally illiterate if you dont know the Bible. Dawkins writes, The King James Bible of 1611 the Authorized Version includes passages of outstanding literary merit in its own right, for example, the Song of Songs, and the sublime Ecclesiastes (which I am told is pretty good in the original Hebrew too). But the main reason the English Bible needs to be part of our education is that is a major source book for literary culture. Dawkins goes on to cite scores and scores of phrases from the Bible, similar to the examples I listed above, that are common everyday idioms that come from the KJV. This does not mean he in any way respects the Bible as holy writ. He wrote: We can give up belief in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage. Obviously, I dont agree with him. But I mention it to say that even atheists can appreciate the Bible as literature and even view it as a treasured heritage. In the aforementioned television special on the impact of the KJV, Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family commented, I think it's fair to say that without the King James Version of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, the cadence, the language, the beauty, we would never really understand the creation of America and the political rhetoric and oratory and life of our great nation. The Bible as literature and the Bible as history should have a renewed place in our schools. Back when it was the chief textbook in one way or another, literacy was widespread. As author and former Yale professor William Lyons Phelps observed: Our civilization is founded upon the Bible. More of our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, our ideals come from the Bible than from all other books combined. Pope Francis meets Italian man freed after 33 years in prison for wrongful triple murder conviction Pope Francis held a private meeting on Friday with Beniamino Zuncheddu, an Italian man exonerated earlier this year after spending 33 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. The encounter took place in the library of the Apostolic Palace. Zuncheddu, now in his 60s, was convicted in 1991 for the murder of three shepherds on the Italian island of Sardinia. The crimes occurred at night in a remote mountain area, and Zuncheddu was implicated by the only eyewitness, who initially stated he could not identify the killer. The witness later accused Zuncheddu, reportedly under much pressure from a police officer. Despite the lack of solid evidence, Zuncheddu was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He remained incarcerated for over three decades, enduring harsh conditions and sharing crowded cells with up to eleven other inmates. During his imprisonment, Zuncheddu maintained his innocence and drew strength from his faith in God, even as he lost what should have been some of the best years of his life. Describing his time in prison as an inhumane experience, Zuncheddu said he survived day by day by helping others who were worse off than himself. He also found resolve by trusting in God's enduring love and thinking of his family. In January 2024, the Italian Court of Appeals overturned Zuncheddu's conviction, citing insufficient evidence and questions surrounding the reliability of the witness testimony. His release brought an end to a wrongful imprisonment that spanned more than half of his life. During the meeting with Pope Francis, Zuncheddu presented the pontiff with a copy of his book, 'Io Sono Innocente' (I Am Innocent), which he co-authored with his appeal lawyer. The book, published in May 2024, recounts his ordeal and the role his faith played in helping him survive the experience. Holding firm to his Christian beliefs, Zuncheddu has publicly expressed forgiveness for the individual who falsely accused him, despite the long years of suffering that followed. 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. Sign up for The Media Today, CJRs daily newsletter. On Thursday, the Democratic National Convention wrapped up in Chicago, and the echoes of 1968so often invoked in media coverage ahead of timehad, we were told, fallen silent. Sure, there were dozens of arrests at street protestsincluding those of three journalists who were covering a demonstration at the Israeli consulatebut those were mostly peaceful, and the journalists arrests seemed to stir less media concern than annoying logistics (and annoying TikTokers) inside the venue. On Friday, a police officialwho had earlier scolded the arrested journalists for being too close to protesterssaid that, contrary to what everyone had been saying, Chicago had shown that this is not 1968. The same day, another echo of 1968the presidential candidacy of a Robert F. Kennedyfell silent, too. Well, sort of. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.whose father was famously assassinated during the 1968 Democratic primaries, and who had been running as a third-party candidate this yearinsisted that he was not terminating his campaign and that he could still, theoretically, end up in the White House; a spokesperson, meanwhile, said that contrary to a court filing, Kennedy had not endorsed Donald Trump in the race. But Kennedy did say that he was suspending his campaign and would seek to remove his name from the ballot in a number of battleground states. And it soon became clear that he was endorsing Trump. Later on Friday, the pair appeared together at a rally in Arizona, where Kennedy walked onstage to a (literal) heros welcome and flaring pyrotechnics. Trump told Kennedy that his father and his uncle John F. Kennedy are looking down right now and they are very, very proud. If the story of the younger Kennedys candidacy was an echo of the past, it was one distorted by the screeching, dystopian noise of the twenty-first century. Kennedy is known as a leading anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist; when he got into the race last year, he seemed motivated, in no small part, by using his status as a candidate to circumvent what he described as censorship of his views. (Indeed, Instagram, where Kennedy had been banned, soon reinstated his account, citing his active candidacy.) As his candidacy gathered steam in the pollsfirst in the Democratic primary, then as an independenthe became increasingly visible in both new media and its traditional counterpart: as I noted last year, he toured podcasts (a medium that he predicted would decide the 2024 election) and was profiled by seemingly every prestige magazine. Earlier this year, he enjoyed another sustained burst of coverage, fueled, one outlet speculated, by political reporters boredom with the ossified state of the race between Trump and Joe Bidenand, perhaps, by growing confusion as to which of the two main candidates Kennedys presence in the race stood to hurt more. After I wrote about that burst of attention, in early April, Kennedy continued to cut through in the news cyclethough in many of these instances, he found himself (sorry in advance) dogged by weird stories about animals. In May, a journalist at the New York Times reported that Kennedy once testified that a worm ate part of his brain. (At least one expert sounded skeptical about the eating part.) In June, another journalist at the Times heard cawing during an interview with Kennedy, learned he kept pet ravens, and went to visit them. (They proved somewhat camera shy.) In July, a journalist for Vanity Fair published a photo showing Kennedy with the barbecued carcass of what he had reportedly suggested was a dog. (He said after the story came out that the animal was actually a goat.) Earlier this month, a journalist at The New Yorker recounted a storythough not before Kennedy recounted it himself, in a not-quite-prebuttal video that for some reason featured Roseanne Barrabout Kennedy dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park and making it look like it had been killed by a cyclist. (Maybe thats where I got my brain worm, Kennedy said, of the bear.) This past weekend, an old article resurfaced online in which Kennedys daughter Kick recalled her father driving to New York with a whales head strapped to his vehicle. (Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, Kick Kennedy said. It was the rankest thing on the planet.) Fauna aside, however, the RFK news cycle seemed to slow down in this same periodparticularly after Biden bombed in a debate for which Kennedy didnt qualify and eventually ceded his place atop the Democratic ticket to Kamala Harris, un-ossifying the race and alleviating journalists boredom in the process. Kennedys poll numbers declined, as the narrative that he was the vigorous change candidate in the raceat a spry seventy with a body even Rocky would admire, as CNN memorably once put itgrew increasingly untenable. Even the whale-juice story resurfaced less as a consequence of anything Kennedy himself had just done than a Page Six gossip item pegged to the much bigger story of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez splitting up. (Vulture: Thank You, Bennifer Divorce, for Giving Us One More RFK Jr. Dead Animal Story.) Over the weekend, coverage of Kennedys Trump endorsement had a valedictory quality. In a statement that was widely reported, various members of the Kennedy family described it as a sad ending to a sad story. As Kennedy suspended his campaign on Friday, he bashed the pressin particular, what he described as the DNC-aligned mainstream media networksfor not interviewing him live. Observers on both the left and the right concurred that his message had been shut out. Sign up for CJRs daily email Overall, of course, this latter claim was preposterous, as various journalists pointed out; the mainstream media may not have covered Kennedys campaign on terms that he would have liked, but he got loads of coverage, and had ample opportunities to disseminate his message. (Shortly before bashing the major networks on Friday, Kennedy himself noted that, unlike Harris, he has been doing as many as ten interviews a day.) Andeven if this coverage did decelerate recently, before taking on a finalistic airit will likely now continue, at least to some extent: Kennedy will purposely remain on the ballot in many states and seems unlikely to be able to extricate himself from some of the battlegrounds where he does plan to withdraw; whether Harris or Trump will benefit most from the suspension of his campaign remains to be seen, as does the nature of any deal he may have struck with Trump in exchange for his support. This sad story, in other words, may not yet be at its end. Still, this does in many ways feel like an appropriate moment to take stock of how we covered Kennedys campaign. Assessing its early stages a year or so ago, I argued that it was, on the whole, getting far too much coverage; fast-forward to now, and that conclusion still broadly applies. Last year, I suggested that allowing early polls to dictate coverage was a bad ideaand that Kennedys numbers, in any case, looked soft; by the time he suspended his campaign, he was registering in the midsingle digits. To the extent that Kennedy attracted so much coverage as an avatar of our anxious, conspiratorial age, our instincts were also askew; as I wrote last year, this zeitgeist might be overcovered, and even if it isnt, Kennedy was never the key to unlocking it. To the extent that Kennedy attracted so much coverage because he is a Kennedy, we can indict a media culture that is unhealthily obsessed with celebrity. Maybe the RFK and Bennifer news cycles arent so separate after all. As I also wrote last year, none of this is to say that we havent seen some sharp coverage of Kennedys candidacy, grounded in solid reasoning; there was back then, and there has been since. As a candidate for president, its appropriate that reporters would interrogate Kennedys views and character, and many did. (The same Vanity Fair article that pictured Kennedy and the dog/goat included an allegation that he sexually assaulted a nanny. Kennedy trashed the story but reportedly apologized to the woman; when asked whether more such stories might come out, he replied, Well see what happens.) Even sharp coverage of Kennedy, though, has made me feel uncomfortable: if paying attention to presidential candidates is often democratically desirable, otherwise irrelevant rich people know that they can win attention by running for president. Its hard to avoid the conclusion that Kennedy effectively hijacked the public discourse via his campaign, buttressed by his name and the fact he is a compelling characterwhich may, ultimately, have juiced his coverage most of all. Coverage of Kennedys environmentalismhe has long championed various such causes, while presenting himself as something of an outdoorsmanmight be a case in point. Some of it has interrogated his positions in this area, or even used it as a gateway to talk about climate change as a campaign story (during a cycle in which it has often been underplayed); after Kennedy suspended his campaign, a couple of stories in major outlets centered the apparent absurdity of a self-professed environmentalist endorsing a candidate who has embraced fossil fuels and called climate change a hoax. But other storiesof the worm, dog, or bear varietyhave gotten more attention, precisely because of their absurdity. The New Yorkers Clare Malone broke the bear story deep into a thorough recent profile of Kennedy. Higher up in her article, she included a different story related to Kennedys work with Riverkeeper, a clean-water group in New York State, and co-authorship of a similarly named book. According to Malone, the Times described the book, in a review, as tedious in its recounting of Kennedys engagement with the mainstream media. No doubt gaining press coverage is an important tactic, the review continued, but it is treated almost as an achievement in itself. Some echoes of the past are not so silent today. Other notable stories: The dust continues to settle from last weeks DNC, and the news medias experience of covering it. Late last week, Politicos Calder McHugh went deep on the social media influencers who scored credentials for the event and the bad blood between them and traditional journalists. (Journalists care about fact-checking, one journalist said. The medias obsolete asses are being replaced and they hate it, an influencer countered.) On the same theme, Semafors Max Tani spoke with the moderators of Pop Base, a viral news aggregator account on X that dispatched an editor to cover the DNC in personthe first time it has ever done as much. And The Atlantics Mark Leibovich (briefly) interviewed Pete Buttigieg, a fixture of media coverage who did thirty interview hits from the DNC across TV, radio, and TikTok. For Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Pete Brown reports on Star Spangled Media, a company with a quasi-local news site that sought a news media exception to dodge campaign finance regulators but has emerged as a vehicle to promote down-ballot Democratic candidates in districts targeted by a liberal dark-money group. The weaponization of local news by political influence operations is a practice more commonly associated with conservative groups, Brown writes. But this tactic has gained popularity across the political spectrum, polluting local information environments with untrustworthy, sensational, and/or polarizing propaganda that risks undermining faith in legitimate local journalism. CNNs Liam Reilly looked at how the Las Vegas Review-Journal is covering the trial of Robert Telles, a local official who stands accused of murdering Jeff German, a Review-Journal reporter. While most newsrooms face their own discrete challenges, offering objective coverage of a colleagues murder in a publications own backyard is a tall order, even for the most seasoned professionals, Reilly writes. Yet for the Review-Journal, this tightrope walk has become the norm over the last two years. (Last year, Pesha Magid went deep on the case in an article for CJR.) And Selena Coppockwho, in 2015, created a viral social-media account that parodies articles from the Vows section of the New York Timesmade the section herself after getting married. I could just hear the voice of this section in my head, and it cracked me upthe constant name-drops of Ivy League schools, elite country clubs, and Mayflower descendants, she said. But her parodies always came from a place of reverence and fascination. Coppock never thought I would make the cut. ICYMI: Third Party in the USA Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop. Cryptocurrency platform Kraken must face a US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing it of operating an unregistered securities exchange, a judge ruled. The SEC has plausibly alleged that at least some of the cryptocurrency transactions that Kraken facilitates on its network constitute investment contracts, and therefore securities, and are accordingly subject to securities laws, US District Judge William H. Orrick wrote in an opinion published Friday in San Francisco federal court. Kraken had asked the judge to dismiss the case filed by the SEC in November. The ruling comes after Bloomberg News reported in early June that Kraken, one of the oldest crypto exchanges, was considering raising a final funding round ahead of a possible initial public offering. The judge said the SECs labeling of Kraken tokens as crypto asset securities is unclear at best and confusing at worst. Orrick went on to say that hes reading the agencys claims to be focused on assets offered as part of investment contracts, and not as allegations that individual cryptocurrency tokens are themselves securities. Krakens chief legal officer hailed the ruling as a finding that none of the tokens trading on Kraken are securities. This is a significant win for Kraken, for the principle of clarity and for crypto users everywhere, Marco Santori said in a post on X, the social media platform. It also confirms Krakens long-standing position that it does not list securities. An SEC spokesperson said the ruling confirms that the framework used to identify securities for nearly 80 years still applies, regardless of the labels used. Investors in crypto assets offered or sold as securities should get the same protections as investors in other securities, even when they are traded using intermediaries, the spokesperson said in a statement. The SEC under Chair Gary Gensler argues most digital tokens are unregistered securities that should be subject to its oversight. Gensler is highly critical of crypto exchanges and the digital-asset industry for alleged noncompliance. But the question of whether digital tokens are securities has divided courts. A Manhattan federal judge ruled last year sales of Ripple Labs XRP token werent subject to SEC jurisdiction when offered to the public on exchanges, while other judges reached the opposite conclusion in the regulators cases against Terraform Labs Pte. and Coinbase Global Inc., the largest US crypto exchange. The Ripple ruling, which found XRP was covered by securities law only when sold to institutional investors, was hailed as a major victory for the industry. Earlier this month, Ripple notched another win when it was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $125 million for the sales to institutional investors a fraction of the nearly $2 billion in penalties the SEC had sought. Kraken had argued, like Ripple, that the SEC doesnt have jurisdiction over digital assets. At a June court hearing on Krakens motion to dismiss the SEC suit, the exchanges lawyer urged Orrick not to apply the Terraform and Coinbase rulings to the case. Terraform offered tokens directly, whereas Kraken is an exchange or secondary market subject to different regulations, the lawyer told the judge. With regard to Coinbase, the Kraken attorney said he disagreed with that judges ruling, arguing it was inconsistent with precedents in the US Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the intermediate court for West Coast states. The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Payward Inc., 23-cv-06003, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco). Top photo: The Kraken logo on a laptop computer arranged in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, US, on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. Kraken will pay $30 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it broke the agencys rules with its cryptoasset staking products and will discontinue them in the US as part of the agreement with the regulator. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg. Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it is negotiating with plaintiffs lawyers who have opposed the companys proposed settlement of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products caused cancer, seeking to eliminate holdouts to the deal. J&J has announced plans to finalize a $6.48 billion global settlement through the bankruptcy of a subsidiary company, after earlier efforts were rebuffed twice by federal courts. J&J says the majority of claimants support its settlement offer. But it has paused a vote count for a short time so that it can gather additional votes from plaintiffs who have until recently opposed the deal. Related: J&J Eyes Texas as Venue for Next Round of Baby Powder Fight We have agreed to a short extension of the certification timeline, said Erik Haas, J&Js worldwide vice president of litigation, in a statement. This will allow these plaintiffs attorneys time to speak to their claimants to now consider supporting the plan. Andy Birchfield, a lawyer who has led opposition to J&Js proposed bankruptcy settlement, said he welcomed negotiations with claimants but is prepared to resist another Chapter 11 filing. Our ultimate objective is fair compensation in a timely manner for ovarian cancer victims. If J&J is becoming more reasonable by negotiating with some claimants, we applaud that, Birchfield said in a statement. Related: J&J Gets Plaintiff Backing for $6.5 Billion Baby Powder Accord For now, we are continuing to fight for our clients and if J&J chooses the bankruptcy route for the third time, we will oppose it and we believe the company will fail. J&J plans to place a subsidiary into bankruptcy if it gets at least 75% of the talc claimants to vote for its settlement proposal. The bankruptcy settlement would end all talc lawsuits alleging that J&J products cause ovarian cancer, and it would prevent similar cases from being filed in the future. Related: J&J Loses Latest Legal Bid to Revive Talc Bankruptcy Strategy J&J faces lawsuits from more than 62,000 plaintiffs alleging that its baby powder and other talc products were contaminated with asbestos and caused ovarian and other cancers. J&J denies the allegations and has said that its products are safe, do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer. The current proposed bankruptcy settlement focuses on claims involving ovarian and other gynecological cancers, building on the companys previous settlement outside of Chapter 11 proceedings of most lawsuits alleging that its talc caused mesothelioma, a deadly cancer linked to asbestos exposure. By using a subsidiarys bankruptcy to file for bankruptcy, J&J seeks to force all plaintiffs into one settlement without requiring J&J itself to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy judges can enforce global settlements that permanently halt all related lawsuits and forbid new ones. Outside of bankruptcy, any settlement J&J reached with some clients would still leave holdouts or future plaintiffs with the right to sue and leave the company exposed to potential multibillion-dollar verdicts that encouraged it to pursue a bankruptcy settlement in the first place. J&J has prevailed in many of the ovarian cases tried to date, but the litigation has also resulted in some large verdicts for plaintiffs, including a $2.12 billion award in favor of 22 women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in J&J talc. (Reporting by Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Marguerita Choy) CLEVELAND, Ohio Investigators are actively searching for Brenna Swindell, the daughter of former Cleveland pitcher Greg Swindell, who was reported missing by her family on Thursday. Swindell, 29, is a single mother of three and could be in the company of her ex-boyfriend, Morgan Guidry, according to a Facebook post by her sister, Sarah. Brenna Swindell was last seen in Austin, Texas. Her family reached out to authorities after realizing that her cell phone had been turned off. Swindells white Kia Carnival is also missing, according to authorities. Swindells vehicle was reportedly sighted on Interstate 25 in Colorado on Friday. More possible sightings were reported near Colorado Springs on Sunday. Reports out of Austin indicate that as of Monday, Swindells last known location was in Boise, Idaho. Police in Austin are leading the investigation and have made an effort to activate the GPS device on Swindells vehicle. Greg Swindell, who pitched for 17 major league seasons including the first seven with Cleveland, is a Houston native and is said to be actively involved in the search for his daughter. According to click2Houston.com, Swindells family is urgently seeking information and has emphasized that Brenna would never willingly abandon her children. They fear she may be in danger. Brenna Swindell is 5-foot-5, 120 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair often worn in a high ponytail. She has distinctive tattoos, including a sleeve with flowers on one arm and a spider web on her other shoulder. bet365 BET $5, GET $150 BONUS OR $1,000 FIRST-BET SAFETY NET CLAIM OFFER Promo Code: CLEXLM GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL OR TEXT 1-800-GAMBLER (AZ, CO, IN, KY, LA, NC, NJ, OH, VA) or 1-800-BETS OFF (IA). 21+ only (18+ in KY). Must be present in AZ/CO/IA/IN/KY/LA (select parishes)/NC/NJ/OH/VA. Deposit required. Paid in Bonus Bets. Bonus Bets wager excluded from returns. New Customers only. T&Cs, time limits and exclusions apply. NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- In response to the loss of 152 lives to overdose in Stark County in 2023, the Stark County Health Department is launching a week-long #TogetherWeCan campaign to coincide with International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31. The initiative aims to educate the community about overdose prevention and provide vital resources to those in need. The campaign emphasizes recognizing the signs of an overdose and the importance of knowing where to obtain naloxone, a life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an overdose. The health departments Save Stark page offers a locator resource to help residents find naloxone distribution points. The #TogetherWeCan campaign also raises awareness about the dangers of xylazine, a non-opioid sedative often mixed with illegal drugs like cocaine, fentanyl and heroin. The health department encourages those struggling with substance abuse to reach out for help by calling the Coleman Crisis Hotline at 330-452-6000 and reminds individuals to never use alone. In addition to the campaign, the Stark County HealthMobile continues to provide overdose education and naloxone distribution to the community. Residents can stay informed about the HealthMobiles upcoming locations by texting CARE to 1-855-640-8285. The Stark County Combined General Health District is the ninth largest in Ohio and serves more than 250,000 people across 17 townships, 12 villages and the cities of Louisville, North Canton and Canal Fulton. This story was written with the assistance of AI. European airlines suspend flights amid escalating Israel-Hezbollah conflict Xinhua) 09:03, August 26, 2024 Stranded passengers wait at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Some major European airlines, including Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, suspended their flights to and from Israel and Lebanon on Sunday, with some extending the suspension until Wednesday. BRUSSELS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Several major airlines in European countries announced the suspension of flights to and from Israel and Lebanon Sunday following escalating hostilities between the two Mideast countries. According to French news channel BFMTV, Air France has decided to suspend its flights to Israel's Tel Aviv and Lebanon's Beirut until at least Monday due to growing tensions in the region. "Today's and tomorrow's flights are canceled," an Air France spokesperson said, noting that the suspension could be extended after the company conducts a new assessment on Monday. Similarly, British Airways announced a suspension of flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv until Wednesday. "Due to the escalating situation in the region, Wizz Air is temporarily suspending flights to and from Israel on the 25th of August," Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air also posted on its website. This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines canceled several flights to Israel and Beirut on Sunday. Its official website listed three flights to Tel Aviv and two flights to Beirut, including one scheduled for Monday, as canceled. German airline giant Lufthansa extended its suspension of flights to Beirut until Sept. 30, and to Tel Aviv and Tehran until Sept. 2. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah claimed that it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows the building of the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Following the most severe exchange of fire between the two sides in the Middle East, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey both called their respective counterparts in Israel on Sunday, urging for an immediate ceasefire in the region, according to their posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. In early August, as tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border began to mount, many European countries urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Meanwhile, some European carriers, including Air France and Romania's national airline TAROM, suspended their flights, although they later resumed services before this latest escalation. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Luca Maestri speaks to newly graduated students during the visit of the President of the Council, Giuseppe Conte, to Apple and Cisco Academy. Apple announced Monday that it will replace Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri on Jan. 1 with current Apple insider Kevan Parekh. Maestri will continue to lead teams focusing on IT, security and real estate development, Apple said. Parekh, the incoming CFO, had been a top Maestri lieutenant as the company's vice president of financial planning and analysis. "For more than a decade, Kevan has been an indispensable member of Apple's finance leadership team, and he understands the company inside and out. His sharp intellect, wise judgment, and financial brilliance make him the perfect choice to be Apple's next CFO," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. Maestri was named Apple CFO in 2014 before the stock began a torrid run, partially powered by strong demand for iPhones. Apple stock is up more than 800% since Maestri became CFO. During his tenure as finance chief, Apple more than doubled annual sales and net income and expanded its gross margin. In 2014, Apple's annual sales were about $183 billion. Last year, Apple reported $383 billion in revenue. Maestri oversaw Apple's record-breaking capital return program, and appeared alongside Cook on quarterly earnings calls. Maestri, 60, started his career with General Motors and spent two decades at the automaker, helping to establish its operations in the Asia Pacific region. He then served as CFO at Nokia Siemens and Xerox before joining Apple as corporate controller in 2013. He was promoted to CFO the following year. Parekh joined Apple in finance and product marketing in 2013 after four years at Thomson Reuters. Similar to Maestri, he previously worked at GM, including in overseas operations. Apple is not the only Silicon Valley giant experiencing a shake-up in finance. At Alphabet, Ruth Porat announced in July 2023 that she was leaving the CFO role to become president and chief investment officer. In June, the company finally announced a replacement, bringing in Anat Ashkenazi, who had been leading finance at Eli Lilly. A year before Porat's move was made public, Meta named Susan Li as CFO, replacing David Wehner, who was becoming chief strategy officer. A screen displays the Nikkei 225 Stock Average figure on the trading floor at the Nomura Securities Co. headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 11, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East with Israel and Hezbollah trading strikes, while investors assessed dovish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Over the weekend, Reuters reported Israel's Air Force struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, shortly before the Iran-backed armed group launched over 320 rockets toward Israel. Hezbollah said this was in retaliation for Israel's assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior commander, last month. However, the group signaled it was not preparing for more strikes, while Israel's foreign minister said the country did not want a full-scale war, Reuters added. Oil prices climbed following the strikes, with Brent crude up 0.85% at $79.59 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rising 0.87% to $75.69. In Asia, Singapore's manufacturing output surprised economists, climbing 10.1% month on month in July, a sharp reversal from the revised 4.3% decline in June and beating expectations of a 5.3% increase. On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's manufacturing output climbed 1.8%, beating expectations of a 1.1% decline. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.66% to 38,110.22, while the Topix lost 0.87% and closed at 2,661.41. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.42% to trade at 143.5, its strongest level since the Aug. 5 stock sell-off. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.14% to end at 2,698.01, and the small cap Kosdaq slid 0.84% to 766.79, marking its fourth straight day of losses. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.76% and finished at 8,084.5, just 30 points away from its all-time high. Hong Kong Hang Seng index rose 1.11% as of its final hour of trade, but the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index inched 0.09% lower and ended at 3,324.22. The market appears to be too confident in Nvidia heading into its earnings report this week, and that could result in a wider market sell-off, according to Bank of America. Derivatives strategy analyst Gonzalo Asis said in a Sunday note to clients that investors should consider using a defensive options trade to guard against a disappointing earnings report that triggers a sell-off. "NVDA results have been a key driver of equity indices and investors may be underpricing the risk of a disappointment. We think S & P put spreads offer better protection than NVDA-based hedges against this risk and its impact on the broader market," the note said. Asis identified a put spread on the SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) as a smart way to position for this potential result. Nvidia is the second-largest holding in the SPY, at more than 6% of the fund, and has become a key sentiment indicator for the broader market during its dramatic rally. A put option gives the holder the right to sell the underlying asset at the preset strike price. The put spread trade identified by Asis would involve buying the $555 strike put, and selling the $545 strike put. By owning the $555 strike put, the trade is effectively a bet that SPY will fall below that level. Selling the $545 put helps to lower the upfront cost of the trade, but it does limit the total upside if the market has a major sell-off that results in both options being exercised. SPY 5D mountain The SPY closed at about $562 per share on Friday. The index-tracking exchange-traded fund closed at $562.13 per share on Friday, meaning that the first put option would already be "in the money" if the SPY fell just 1.4%. That is less than half the 2.9% decline for the fund on Aug. 5, a day that also saw the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX , spike to its highest level since 2020. "The VIX 65 episode of 5-Aug highlights the return of fragility for the broader equity market and the S & P has often remained fragile after such events," the note said. Nvidia is set to report its earnings on Wednesday. Bank of America recommended the put spread that expires Sept. 6, which would also cover the jobs report and other economic indicators that come out in the first week of September. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference following a cabinet shuffle, at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 26, 2023. Blair Gable | Reuters Canada said on Monday it would impose 100% import tariffs on China-made electric vehicles, following in the footsteps of the U.S. and the European Union in slapping taxes over concerns related to unfair subsidies. Canada already imposes 6.1% tariff on EVs manufactured in China and imported into Canada, the government said on Monday. The 100% tariff will come into effect from Oct. 1. The country will also put a 25% tariff on China-made steel and aluminum imports, effective Oct. 15. China is the third-largest country for steel imports into Canada, according to the Canadian Steel Producers Association. Canada's EV, steel and aluminum industries face "unfair competition" and trade practices from China, the government's finance department said. The U.S. and EU have made similar allegations, citing China's "overcapacity," which China has called "groundless." Canada said the new measures seek to "level the playing field for Canadian workers" and allow Canada's EV, steel and aluminum producers to compete domestically and globally. These steps will be reviewed one year from their effective dates and may be extended or supplemented with additional measures. This comes as the Biden Administration in May announced a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs. The EU also hit China-made EVs with higher tariffs in July, though it slashed some of the planned tariffs on China-made Tesla EVs as well as other Chinese EV makers last week. Vincent Chan, China strategist at Aletheia Capital, told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Tuesday that Canadian tariffs could hurt China's EV growth momentum but "will not entirely eliminate it." watch now Wall Street is on edge ahead of Nvidia 's earnings report this week. Even companies that do business with the leading AI chipmaker are getting swept up in the nervousness. Shares of Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys both makers of software used in the chip-design process each fell more than 2% in Monday's session, and CNBC's Jim Cramer traced the selling to Nvidia's quarterly release set for Wednesday night. "These are two partners of Nvidia. They're another way to play Nvidia, so to speak ... and the bets are being made right now, and the bets are very much against Nvidia," Cramer said Monday on "Squawk on the Street." Cramer's Charitable Trust, the portfolio used by the CNBC Investing Club, has long owned shares of Nvidia. For its part, Nvidia also fell about 2% Monday, on pace for its third decline over the past five sessions. Nvidia's looming report is once again being touted as a make-or-break moment for the artificial intelligence trade, which has been a key tailwind propelling influential parts of the stock market for nearly two years. Nvidia, as the dominant seller of chips used in the development of AI applications, has become the poster child of that investment theme. Its sales and profits have soared since the start of last year, along with its market value and its influence on investor sentiment. After more than tripling in 2023, Nvidia's stock price is up more than 150% so far in 2024. It's now one of three companies worth more than $3 trillion, alongside fellow Investing Club holdings Apple and Microsoft . Investor expectations for Nvidia seemingly get higher and higher each time the Santa Clara, California-based company reports quarterly numbers, but it doesn't have to be that way, Cramer contended Monday. "Can we just deemphasize Nvidia?" Cramer asked rhetorically, referencing a central theme in his Sunday column for Investing Club subscribers . Cramer argues the quarter-to-quarter hype can obscure Nvidia's long-term opportunity, which he believes remains bright because AI adoption is early and its software business is not fully appreciated. "I'm steadfast that you own Nvidia, not trade it," Cramer said Monday on CNBC, noting he's been a fan of the company for many years. In 2017, when the stock traded just under $4 a share on a split-adjusted basis, Cramer gave his dog Everest the last name "Nvidia." Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys are two of the best-known players in semiconductor design, working with firms across the industry. But as Nvidia's influence has grown, so too has the spotlight on their relationships with the company. At Nvidia's hugely anticipated GTC conference in March, Cadence announced an expanded multiyear collaboration with the company. Synopsys also disclosed fresh details on its work with Nvidia at GTC. U.S. crude oil futures gained 3% on Monday for the best day in two weeks, amid reports of a production halt in Libya and after Israel and Hezbollah traded a barrage of strikes across the Lebanon border. Libya's eastern government in Benghazi said Monday that oil production and exports in the North African country would shut down, amid a dispute with the internationally recognized western government in Tripoli over who should lead the central bank. The U.S. benchmark hit a session high of $77.60 per barrel, the highest level since Aug. 16. Here are Monday's closing energy prices: Libya produces about 1.2 million barrels per day, with more than 1 million bpd exported to the global market, said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler. "The force majeure on Libyan production and exports has the potential to have a significant impact on global markets," Smith told CNBC. U.S. crude will likely be the biggest beneficiary from the shutdown, with Europe buying U.S. shale oil to replace lost Libyan supply, Smith said. Israel launched a major wave of airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday, describing the operation as a preemptive strike to prevent Hezbollah from firing a barrage of missiles. Hezbollah said it had launched hundreds of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of one of the militia's senior commanders in July. The Middle East has been on edge for weeks after the assassinations of the Hezbollah commander in Beirut and a Hamas leader in Tehran, Iran. Iran has also vowed to retaliate against Israel, but so far the threatened attack has not materialized. Oil and natural gas will still make up more than half the world's energy mix in 2050 despite efforts to transition away from fossil fuels, according to a forecast published by Exxon Mobil on Monday. Fossil fuels currently represent about 80% of the world energy mix, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Oil demand will plateau after 2030 but remain roughly at current levels of more than 100 million barrels per day through 2050, according to Exxon's forecast. Stubborn oil and gas demand jeopardizes the goal of achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. The IEA has said the pathway is narrowing to achieve the world's climate goals. Demand for oil to make gasoline will decline over the next 25 years, but fuel for cars is only a portion of total crude consumption, according to Exxon. The majority of crude is used for manufacturing, chemical production and heavy transportation such as aviation, according to the company. This will also be the case in the future, according to the forecast. The oil major projected that oil demand would remain at 85 million barrels per day in 2050 even if every new car sold in 2035 is an electric vehicle. That is roughly the same level of demand as in 2010. Renewable energy sources are growing quickly, with global capacity increasing 50% in 2023 compared to the prior year, according to the IEA. Electric vehicle sales could reach 17 million this year, according to the organization. The oil industry has pushed back against curtailing production to meet climate goals. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in March that the energy transition is failing, calling the idea of phasing out oil and natural gas a "fantasy" as demand continues to rise in emerging economies. Exxon said investments in new projects are needed to keep pace with global demand. The shift to extracting crude from shale formations, which decline more quickly, means production would naturally fall at a rate of 15% annually, according to the oil major. Exxon warned global oil supplies would fall dramatically if investment in new production comes to a halt. This would cause a supply shock, soaring energy prices and an economic crisis, according to the company. With no new investment, global oil supplies would decline more than 15 million barrels per day in the first year, according to Exxon. Morgan Stanley says a cyclical downturn in global tech is almost certain next year. "Our base case is that a cyclical downturn is a near certainty in 2025," it said in an Aug. 20 report, adding that it will be caused by a "likely reversal" in the rate of change of revenue growth and tight supply-demand conditions. "Certain segments of tech such as semiconductor materials and the AI supply chain could be hit the hardest in view of higher volatility in pricing and operating leverage," said the bank. However, it added that the effects are likely to be felt across all sectors of tech. Playbook for a potential peak cycle Morgan Stanley says the semiconductor industry is in the late cycle, moving "from optimism to euphoria," with the risk-reward not being as attractive anymore. Chips have been riding the artificial intelligence boom but the next leg of the AI trade "may not be quite so simple," the bank said. "The key question is the 'pull forward' on AI demand going into 2025-26, as no one would debate the obvious near-term demand for [graphics processing units]," it added. Over time, applications for the use cases of AI will have more value than infrastructure, it said. "Despite the current shortage of AI computing chips, we have to remember that this is not a train that will run forever eventually AI chips will catch up to demand, become cyclical and more difficult to sustain the current pace of gains," Morgan Stanley wrote, adding that it expects topline growth will start to moderate into 2025. "In our view, it is always better to avoid overpaying for stocks late in the cycle, even if this does not allow us to precisely time the top. Once we move past the peak, it becomes the same as any other cycle," it concluded. To position for such tech downturns, Morgan Stanley said, go for quality names with strong free cash flows, as well as stocks with cheap valuations. It says companies with revenues that have proven to hold up better during recessions have been more resilient than the tech sector and broader market. "This also includes companies where the demand for their products is steady and repeatable," the bank said. Stocks Several areas of tech, as well as individual stocks, have a combination of defensive, countercyclical and growth opportunities that should help them outperform in the event of a correction, it added. "Eventually the storm will pass and the traditional leaders Samsung, TSMC and Apple, for example will have pole position for the next tech growth curve," it said. Here are U.S. stocks Morgan Stanley still likes. U.S. semiconductors Nvidia has been the go-to stock to play the AI trade, but Morgan Stanley says it might be too early to call the top. AI spending continues to be resilient, and Nvidia is well positioned to monetize those investments at an even higher rate than before, said the bank. "And should the AI cycle be coming to an end we would favor NVDA over its suppliers and competitors," it said, explaining that an inventory correction could be more severe for secondary components. U.S. IT hardware Historically, IT hardware upcycles last four to six quarters and the segment strongly outperforms the S & P 500, the bank said. Right now, it's only two to three quarters into an upcycle, which could last close to six quarters. Stocks that the bank likes in this space are Apple , Seagate and Dell . U.S. networking Morgan Stanley says ethernet names with exposure to AI can outperform, referring to a type of networking standard. Networking in normal tech terms refers to a network of devices that can transmit and share information over physical or wireless communications. In AI, however, the requirements are higher because of large language models and other AI applications that require very high bandwidth and low latency. It sees Arista Networks as best positioned to capture this opportunity, calling it the "highest performance networking name." Here are some global names Morgan Stanley listed as its "fundamental top picks." Samsung Electronics : The "quality rotation" that occurs during downcycles will begin to favor Samsung's more defensive properties, such as earnings stability, rather than growth, said the bank. TSMC : Morgan Stanley likes TSMC's "quality and defensive" nature during a downcycle for semiconductors. Quanta : The bank says the laptop maker has a strong balance sheet and generates strong cash flow, with growing exposure to data center AI infrastructure. CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, exits court in New York, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. A New York federal judge on Monday ordered notorious "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli to surrender any copy he retains of a rare Wu-Tang Clan album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," which he previously forfeited to the U.S. government after being convicted of securities fraud in 2017. The order came in response to a lawsuit by the one-of-a-kind album's owner, PleasrDAO, which accused him of retaining digital copies of the hip-hop rarity and playing it online for listeners in violation of the forfeiture order. PleasrDAO, a Cayman Islands-based company, had paid $4.75 million for "Once Upon a Time Shaolin" in two separate transactions in 2021 and 2024. Brooklyn federal court Judge Pamela Chen last month barred Shkreli, who was released from prison two years ago, from streaming or disseminating the album. Chen on Friday held a hearing on a preliminary injunction request by PleasrDAO. In a written order Monday, Chen wrote that the company had raised "sufficiently serious questions going to the merits of its claims" against Shkreli for violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act, misappropriation of trade secrets and unjust enrichment. The order bars Shkreli from possessing the album or its contents, and that by Friday he turn over any copies of it that he now has. Chen also ordered him by Sept. 30 to "file an inventory and account" signed by Shkreli detailing "the nature and volume of the copies of the Album's data and files that Defendant retained; (ii) the names and contact information of the individuals to whom he distributed the data and files; (iii) the date and method of such distribution; and (iv) the amounts, source, date, and nature of any proceeds, revenues, profits, or other financial benefits made by Defendant from his distribution or playing of the Album or its contents." Chen's order will remain in effect pending the outcome of PleasrDAO's lawsuit. This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over north Israel on August 25, 2024. The Israeli military announced early August 25, 2024 that it was conducting pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon after detecting preparations for "large-scale" attacks by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it had launched more than 320 rockets at Israel overnight, targeting a string of military positions, even as Israel's military said it was carrying out pre-emptive strikes against the group. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.75% at $75.39 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 0.67% to $79.55. Oil prices rose on Monday after Israel's Air Force struck targets in Lebanon with over 100 fighter jets before the Iran-backed group fired more than 320 rockets into Israel. Tensions in the Middle East and the risk of a wider conflict will keep oil prices elevated, said Vivek Dhar, mining and energy commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Iran-backed Hezbollah said the strikes were in retaliation to Israel's killing of senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last month. Israel said its pre-emptive strikes were aimed at foiling a bigger attack by the Hezbollah, Reuters reported. "While market expectations are centered on Iran's attack hurting Israel without triggering a wider regional conflict, Israel's response will be equally important. And Israel's response may include an attack on Iran's oil supply and related infrastructure, which would put at risk 3 - 4% of global oil supply," Dhar said. Cedric Chehab, managing director and head of global risk at research firm BMI said the exchange of fire on Sunday does not mean that an "all-out war" is imminent. Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia," Chehab said that "what Hezbollah wanted to do, what Iran wanted to do, was to essentially allow for deterrence. So, [to] exercise that deterrence, and they've done that." While there is a risk that the confrontation spirals out into a wider conflict, there is still room for de-escalation, he added. Both Israel and Iranian leaders "do not want this to get out of hand and to escalate ... don't forget, Iran has a new president who's untested, and the idea is to apply pressure on Israel, but not necessarily engage in direct confrontation." While Dhar agreed with Chehab's view that the events on Sunday are unlikely to be the catalyst for an all-out war in the region, he pointed out Iran has yet to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas, in Tehran last month. Dhar also said the progress of Gaza truce talks will be an indicator of how Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas interpret the events over the weekend. This photograph shows smoke rising over buildings in Kyiv, following a Russian air attack on August 26, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman Pilipey | Afp | Getty Images Russia launched about 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine on Monday, killing five people and striking energy facilities nationwide, Kyiv said, while neighboring NATO member Poland reported a drone had probably entered its airspace. Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in many areas, including parts of Kyiv, as officials said the attack - two and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion - targeted power or other critical infrastructure in at least 10 regions. Russia dramatically stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looked like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of next winter when people need electricity and heating most. Monday's missile and drone salvo was Russia's most intense in weeks, coming as Ukraine is claiming new ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russia's southern Kursk region while Russian forces steadily inch forward in Ukraine's east, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk. "It was one of the biggest combined strikes. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shahed drones. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram. Poland said an "object" had entered its airspace, that it may have landed on Polish territory and that searches were underway. "Most likely it was a drone and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile," Jacek Goryszewski, spokesperson for the Polish army's operational command, told Reuters. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 Ukrainian regions sustained damage from the missile and drone barrage. Zelenskyy said the energy sector had suffered "a lot of damage". Top Kyiv officials urged its Western allies and arms suppliers to allow long-range strikes into Russia. Zelenskyy also redoubled his call on allies such as Poland to join Ukraine in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drone and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields. Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had developed a new "drone missile" that had been used to attack Russia and was more powerful and faster than other hardware in Kyiv's arsenal. Russia's defense ministry said on Monday its forces used high precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine which it said supported the military-industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons. Damage confirmed The regions reporting strikes on power or critical infrastructure included Rivne and Volyn in the northwest, Khmelnytsk in the southwest, Zhytomyr in the north, Lviv in the west, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast and Odesa in the south. Neighboring Moldova, whose grid is linked to that of Ukraine, reported small disruptions to its power network. Ukraine's foreign ministry said a hydropower plant in the Kyiv region had been targeted too. A video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a damaged dam and a fire after an apparent strike at a hydropower plant. A separate clip, also verified, showed a missile hitting a water reservoir. The Kyiv region governor Ruslan Kravchenko said in televised comments there was no critical damage to the dam. People crowd on the platform during an air raid alarm at the Osokorky metro station during the massive Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 26, 2024. Ukrinform | Nurphoto | Getty Images While most student loan borrowers have returned to repayment by now, time is running out for those not making payments to avoid further consequences. After Sept. 30, student loan servicers will once again be able to report missed or incomplete payments to borrowers' credit agencies. That means missing a payment could potentially damage your credit score or be a blemish on your credit report for years to come. Federal student loan servicers resumed charging interest in September 2023 and began collecting monthly payments in October, nearly four years after former President Donald Trump started the pandemic forbearance in March 2020. During the forbearance, borrowers were not required to make monthly payments and interest did not grow on their loans. Since payments and interest resumed in fall 2023, servicers have not been reporting missed payments to credit agencies due to President Joe Biden's student loan payment "on-ramp" period. The goal was to give borrowers a bit of breathing room as they worked student loan payments back into their budgets after three and a half years of not making them. Interest still accrued on their loans, unlike during the Covid-19 forbearance, but missed payments did not impact their credit scores. Nearly 7 million borrowers were at least 30 days late on their loans at the end of March, according to Education Department data. More borrowers who hadn't been paying their loans were automatically transferred into forbearance after three missed payments during the on-ramp period. Unfortunately, borrowers don't have many options if they're struggling to make their payments as the on-ramp period expires. Tesla displays Optimus next to two of its vehicles at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2024. Cao told CNBC he expects the next milestone for humanoid development will occur in the next year or two: a commercially viable use case in manufacturing in which the robots can move around and know how to prioritize a series of tasks. Total investment into China's robotics industry in the last decade has exceeded 100 billion yuan ($14.01 billion), said Wei Cao, partner at Lanchi Ventures. He said the firm has around 15 billion to 20 billion yuan in assets under management. Meanwhile, the World Robot Conference that began Wednesday in Beijing claimed 27 humanoids debuted at the event, a record. Similar to the country's rush into electric cars a few years ago, money and resources are now flowing into the development of humanlike robots. Elon Musk has claimed Optimus can fold laundry , and one day cook, clean or teach children tech he touts can give Tesla a value of $25 trillion . Musk says Tesla plans to test out the humanoids in its factories next year. It's unclear how well they can perform right now. BEIJING While Chinese companies last week showed off humanlike robots playing the zither or grabbing sodas, Tesla displayed its Optimus humanoid inside a clear box, motionless next to its cars. That's more sophisticated than repeating a single task, such as grabbing a water bottle, which the robots can already do, Cao pointed out. He noted how artificial intelligence, including such as models from OpenAI and Alibaba , has significantly improved how successful robots can be at processing information for performing tasks. Lanchi Ventures is an investor in Shanghai-based Agibot, a humanoid startup founded in February 2023 by a one-time Huawei recruit. A few days before the World Robot Conference, the startup revealed five new robots, some available for preorder with a 5,000 yuan deposit. Agibot aims to begin some deliveries in mid-October, followed by a batch of 300 robots starting in November. Its advertisement for the available humanlike robots showed they could act as sales people, gallery guides or pickers of factory parts. Some were on display at the conference. Also in attendance was Stardust Intelligence's Astribot S1 humanlike robot, which in late April had appeared in a promotional video folding a shirt and pouring wine. A few of the robots on display at the conference performed intricate Chinese martial arts moves, played the zither and wrote Chinese brush calligraphy. Shenzhen-based Stardust was founded in December 2022 by a former member of Tencent and Baidu's robotics projects. The startup says it uses artificial intelligence to support the robots' imitation learning, where the machines can replicate actions after watching them. Other humanlike robots, from lesser-known companies Galbot and Turui, put products into baskets or brought individual soda cans from a shelf to another table. Some of the actions were stiff and slow. It's not always clear whether the actions are being remotely controlled, or done autonomously. Demos don't reveal everything about a product's capabilities. Compared to last year, the number and kinds of demos at the World Robot Conference increased significantly, Lanchi's Cao said, noting that many students and young people also attended. In his assessment, robot tech from Tesla and other U.S. companies are likely one to two years ahead of that in China. But Cao pointed out that China has self-sufficiency in more than 95% of the humanoid supply chain. As for why Tesla didn't showcase Optimus in action at the conference, Cao said the promo videos already show it has high capabilities and he understands if the company did not want to invest resources in having an engineer to operate demos. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jeff Burnstein, president of the U.S. Association for Advancing Automation (A3), spoke at the conference via a recorded video and showed some virtual demonstrations of humanoid startups such as Agility. "These are demos, but they as well as others are now in pilot programs, and some companies we believe actually started using them more than just a pilot," he said, noting the association is having its own humanoid conference in Tennessee on Oct. 7. Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Chihine near the border with Israel on August 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. The escalation that long felt inevitable arrived in a blaze of cross-border attacks over the weekend, but a Middle East on edge woke Monday having escaped all-out war for now at least. The intense exchange between Israel and Hezbollah followed weeks of threats that stoked fears a wider regional conflict. And on Sunday the U.S. ally launched what it said were pre-emptive strikes on southern Lebanon after detecting preparations for a "large-scale" attack by the Iran-backed militant group. Hezbollah then launched hundreds of rockets and drones and claimed to have hit a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv revenge, it said, for the assassination of a senior commander last month in Beirut. It was the heaviest fire the two sides have traded in ten months of simmering conflict. But both Israel and Hezbollah quickly signaled they were happy to leave things there, for now. Tehran, reiterating its own vow of "definitive" retaliation against Israel, touted the Hezbollah attacks as a success. And Washington voiced continued hope for efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza. "The exchange of fire alongside the Israeli-Lebanese border ... and the post-strike messages from both Israel and Hezbollah seemingly indicate neither is interested in an all-out war," Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and negotiator, said in an analysis shared with NBC News on Sunday. He said the round of violence could bring some "calm to the region" and "bring an end to the anxious period of waiting for rounds of retaliatory strikes that could very well have led to an all-out war." The escalation came amid ongoing talks in Egypt's capital, Cairo, to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas that would end the fighting in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. The high-level talks in Cairo ended on Sunday without any final agreement, though they're expected to continue at lower levels over the coming days in an effort to close remaining gaps in the negotiations. The talks "have been constructive and were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement," a U.S. official told NBC News. In an address to Lebanese civilians on Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group had delayed its response to commander Fuad Shukr's assassination in order to allow negotiations to continue, and had no intention of targeting civilian infrastructure. Now, Nasrallah said, "Lebanon can rest." But he warned that if the results of Sunday's operation were "not sufficient, we reserve the right to respond." Hezbollah, which has the largest missile arsenal of any non-state actor in the world according to weapons watchdogs, has previously said it would halt its attacks on Israel if a cease-fire deal is struck. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah's attack might have appeared more subdued due to what Israel has described as its pre-emptive strike carried out by dozens of fighter jets. "That's part of why their attack seemed smaller than what it was and our readiness in our aerial defense systems," Shoshani told NBC News. Hezbollah said it ultimately fired around 320 Katyusha rockets toward 11 Israeli bases and military sites. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at the beginning of a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv that Sunday's hostilities were "not the end," however, Iran, which has vowed its own retaliation against Israel for the assassinations of Shukr and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, has yet to act. Israel, which typically remains silent on targeted assassinations, has not publicly claimed responsibility for the killings, but is widely believed to have carried them out. The country's new foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said late Sunday that Iran's response "is definitive and will be measured and calculated." And early Monday his spokesman praised the Hezbollah attack as highlighting that Israel has lost its "deterrence power." "Despite the comprehensive support of states like the United States, Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani wrote on X. Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an event following his arraignment on classified document charges, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on June 13, 2023. Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday urged a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court's decision to dismiss the criminal case charging former President Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in a stunning move in mid-July threw out that case on the grounds that Smith's appointment violated the U.S. Constitution. Smith in Monday's court brief argued that Cannon's ruling strayed from binding legal precedent, "misconstrued" the laws authorizing the appointment of special counsels and "took inadequate account" of the history of those appointments. Cannon's ruling "conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court," that the U.S. attorney general is empowered to appoint special counsels, Smith wrote in the filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. "This Court should reverse," Smith wrote. He also asked for the case to be remanded to the U.S. District Court in southern Florida. But he did not ask the appeals court to remove Cannon, a Trump appointee, from the case. Lawyers for Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Smith's brief. Even if the appeals court grants Smith's request to reverse Cannon's decision, there is virtually no chance that Trump would face trial on the charges until well after the Nov. 5 presidential election. Before she dismissed the case, a growing chorus of legal critics and others had accused Cannon of needlessly slow-walking the pretrial proceedings. A federal grand jury had charged Trump with illegally retaining hundreds of highly sensitive classified records at his Mar-a-Lago resort home after he left the White House in January 2021, then trying to obstruct the government's efforts to get them back. Smith's Monday afternoon brief pointed out that the Supreme Court, in its landmark 1974 decision United States v. Nixon, determined that the attorney general had authority to appoint a special prosecutor. That determination has been upheld by every other court to consider the question except for Cannon's, the special counsel wrote. Smith's filing also argued that the logic of Cannon's ruling "needlessly casts doubt" on longstanding DOJ practices, and that it would suddenly call into question the validity of hundreds of appointments across the executive branch. "The implausibility of that outcome underscores why the district court's novel conclusions lack merit," Smith wrote. Republican Presidential nominee, former president Donald J. Trump remarks during a campaign event at Precision Custom Components on August 19, 2024 in York, Pennsylvania. A New York federal judge has ordered U.S. probation officials to investigate the recent arrest of a convicted drug dealer who was released from prison in early 2021 when his 10-year sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump. The order raises the possibility that the drug dealer, Jonathan Braun, could be sent back to prison for his federal marijuana-related conviction because of his arrest last week in Nassau County, New York, for allegedly assaulting his wife and father-in-law. It also raises the prospect that Braun could become an issue in the 2024 presidential election, where Trump is trying to paint Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, as soft on crime. Braun, a 41-year-old who has also worked in the predatory lending industry, remains on supervised release for his conviction in Brooklyn, New York, federal court for conspiracy to import marijuana and commit money laundering. "Probation shall continue to investigate this matter and apprise the Court of your findings and appropriate recommendations shall be offered at that time," Brooklyn federal court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto wrote in an order docketed in Braun's drug case, following news reports that Braun had been arrested on state charges in Nassau County. The document containing the judge's order is sealed from public view. When CNBC asked Braun's lawyer, Marc Fernich, about Matsumoto's order, the attorney ignored the question. Instead, he said in an email to CNBC, "Mr. Braun was arrested in Nassau County in connection with an alleged domestic disturbance." "He was released on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty and will address the allegations judicially," Fernich said. John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office that prosecuted Braun in the drug case, declined to comment on the order. After an intense weekend of negotiations in March 2023, Swiss banking giant UBS agreed to buy its embattled rival Credit Suisse. Despite the attractive purchase price of $3.2 billion, investors were concerned about whether UBS would manage to turn around Credit Suisse's investment banking business an old source of problems. UBS had also become one the biggest banks in Europe, raising political and regulatory fears. At the time, investors were "very concerned" about the complexity of the deal and whether UBS would make it work, Bruno Verstraete, founder of Lakefield Wealth Management, told CNBC by email. "When a healthy individual is sleeping next to someone with a severe flu, they are likely to contract it as well," he said. The acquisition was so complex that UBS decided to change leadership and bring back former CEO Sergio Ermotti to the bank's helm to oversee the merger. "Given the market conditions, political dynamics, and time constraints under which the deal was executed, investors were acutely aware of the significant risks associated with acquiring unknown liabilities," Verstraete added. Lakefield, which provides wealth management services, holds a position in UBS on behalf of a client. Now, 18 months later, that sentiment is changing, and many agree this is the deal of the decade. "The merger with Credit Suisse currently goes along the planned milestones and timelines, and the UBS leadership under CEO Sergio Ermotti has been absolutely right to push ahead ambitiously," Beat Wittmann, chairman at Porta Advisors, told CNBC by email. Realtor.com ranked the top 10 housing markets where buyers have the most power right now. Buying a house in today's housing market isn't easy as asking prices are only getting higher, and mortgage rates continue to fluctuate. But despite those factors, some metro areas across the United States are actually friendly to those looking to buy this year. This month, Realtor.com released its report on the easiest and hardest housing markets for homebuyers right now. The report defines the easiest places as those where buyers have more power and the hardest as places where buyers lack that leverage. To rank the metro areas, Realtor.com looked at the following metrics for the 200 largest in the U.S.: Year-over-year shift in median list price Year-over-year shift in the share of listings that saw price reduction Year-over-year shift in active listing count Median days on the market Change in active listings levels between July 2019 and July 2024 Florida's housing markets reigned supreme in Realtor.com's report, with nine out of the top 10 in the Sunshine State. "Buyers in the easiest markets tend to be relatively slow-moving as supply outpaces demand," Hannah Jones, Realtor.com's economist, stated in the report. "Many of these markets saw prices and competition climb significantly during the early days of the [covid-19] pandemic, but the combination of high prices and climbing mortgage rates tempered demand, leading to building inventory." Buyers have the most power in: Lubbock, Texas Median home list price: $253,500 Median days on the market: 55 Lubbock, Texas, is ranked as the metro area where buyers have the most power. Jones states that because there were 80% more homes for sale in the Texas city than a year before, properties are sitting longer on the market, which is a good thing for buyers. "In response, eager sellers have brought prices down, suggesting that buyers are in a good position to negotiate," Jones says. Lubbock, Texas Davel5957 | E+ | Getty Images Lubbock is located in the heart of West Texas. It is known as "The Hub City" because of its rich cotton farming industry. The city is also known for its rich musical heritage, especially in country and rock music. Lubbock, Texas, is home to Buddy Holly and Mac Davis. 10 U.S. housing markets where buyers have the most power right now Lubbock, Texas Punta Gorda, Fla. Lakeland, Fla. Crestview, Fla. Tampa, Fla. North Port, Fla. Miami, Fla. Port St. Lucie, Fla. Gainesville, Fla. Orlando, Fla. Punta Gorda, Florida, is ranked as the No. 2 housing market where buyers have the most power right now. The median home list price is $425,000, and the median days on the market are 90, according to Realtor.com's report. The analysis also says Punta Gorda is one of the cities in Florida experiencing "price corrections after overheating during the pandemic housing boom." Punta Gorda, Florida Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images 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. While the term Open Source AI has been used extensively in recent years, exactly what it means has never been clear until now. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has released a proposed definition it hopes the tech world will accept. According to the new definition, it involves AI systems that consist of components that can be examined and studied. It must also be possible to freely modify the systems for any purpose and share them with other users, according to MIT Technology Review. By that definition, the AI models from Open AI, Anthropic, Google and Meta cannot be classified as Open Source AI because users are not allowed to do what they want with them. The only two presidents to have seen a UFO campaigned against each other UFO sightings are nothing new for Americans. In fact, the first one dates back to 1639, centuries before humankind could even conceive of non-bird flight. But for some reason (ahem, Nazis), they really ramped up in the 1940s. What started out as a major headache for Harry Truman has turned into a neat little passion project that preoccupies modern presidents between drone strikes. Here are a few Commanders in Chief who dreamed of little green men 6 Harry Trumans Lament A couple of years into Trumans presidency, the U.S. was absolutely plagued by UFOs, or what military aid Col. Robert Landry called way-out reports of sightings. By 1948, the sightings had only increased, and America was starting to freak out a little bit. Truman decided he had to respond, and so, he pressed Landry to give him quarterly updates on the whole alien situation. Don't Miss Landry dutifully kept Truman up-to-date, but there are only so many ways you can say the Nazis made some crazy shit. This apparently drove Truman a little bit insane he was the most powerful man in the world, for crying out loud! If anybody on the planet knew about aliens, he had a right to know too! By 1952, Truman had secretly wiretapped Landry so he could eavesdrop on his conversations with Air Force personnel. But nothing juicy was ever discussed. 5 Gerald Fords Career-Long Nemesis The fine people of Michigans 5th District elected Ford to Congress to look out for them, and dagnabbit, he was determined to deliver. When UFO fever hit the Mitten State in the 60s, Ford lept into action. As House minority leader, he spent his political capital calling for an official congressional investigation: In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. What was his beef with the Air Force? An astrophysicist consulting with the Air Force had issued a complicated, yet condescending, explanation for two high-profile sightings in Michigan. Made famous decades later in Men in Black, Dr. J. Allen Hynek confidently asserted the swamp gas theory gas bubbling up from swamplands spontaneously combusted, causing a bunch of country bumpkins to panic and start babbling about aliens. Advertisement Fords investigation never materialized, but he did manage to hold the first-ever official hearing on UFOs in 1966. 4 Jimmy Carter Saw One With His Own Eyes In 1969, several years before he entered the Oval Office, Carter and some chums were hanging outside of a small-town Georgia Lions Club on a cold, clear January night. A dozen men all saw the same bizarre phenomenon: a bright disc seemed to be zooming toward and away from them, flashing red and blue. Carter later filed an official report of what he witnessed, but he didnt go full-blown Alex Jones, instead conceding it was probably an electrical current of some sort. But you can tell it vexed him for almost a decade, as he promised during his campaign that if I become president, Ill make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and the scientists. Advertisement Well, he never made anything public. But in a crazy twist, an ex-Air Force scientist was able to pinpoint the exact phenomenon that Carter witnessed, almost half a century later. In 2016, scientist Jere Justus read Carters report and knew what he was describing: a high-altitude barium cloud, intentionally farted out by an Air Force rocket. He looked up some records, and quickly found the precise launch that caused Carters bright, confusing celestial fireworks show. 3 The Gipper Has the Gift of Gab Advertisement Advertisement In 1974, seven years before he took office, Ronald Reagan reported seeing a UFO while flying over Bakersfield, California on an Air Force training mission. The pilot of the mission later described the phenomenon: It was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate. Then it appeared to elongate. Then the light took off. The UFO went from a normal cruise speed to a fantastic speed instantly. If you give an airplane power, it will accelerate but not like a hot rod, and thats what this was like. Reagan himself described it more like a slack-jawed six-year-old at a county fair: It went straight up into the heavens! Cool man, glad youre in charge of everything. While tumbling around in his oatmeal brain, this harrowing ordeal seems to have blended with a few sci-fi films hed acted in, because he became obsessed with aliens and outer space for the rest of his career. He chucked a bunch of sci-fi authors onto a space advisory council, and came up with a missile defense system (to which the press basically responded You mean like Star Wars? You sound like youre talking about Star Wars). And he once tried to break the ice with his Cold War frenemy Mikhail Gorbachev by asking him, What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us? Advertisement Masterful gambit, you Swiss cheese-brained bigot. 2 Bill Clinton Annoyed the Shit Out of His Coworkers At one point early in his White House tenure, Clinton turned to his old pal Webb Hubbel and said, Webb, if I put you over at Justice, I want you to find the answers to two questions for me. One, who killed JFK? And two, are there UFOs? Hubble, for his part, has said, I had looked into both, but wasnt satisfied with the answers I was getting. During a trip to Ireland in 1995, a little kid asked Clinton about Roswell. His answer betrayed a deep disappointment in the U.S. governments collection of mushy green space corpses (or lack thereof): No, as far as I know, an alien spacecraft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. And Ryan, if the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies, they didnt tell me about it, either. And I want to know! Advertisement Advertisement Colin Powell grew quite sick of Clintons shit. Whenever it came up, Powell would roll his eyes and say, Here come the little green men again. The blizzard of missiles, rockets and drones blasted from Lebanon into Israel in the early hours yesterday may have been no more than a preliminary. This shelling could have been worse but for a series of earlier Israeli air strikes designed to pre-empt plans by Hezbollah to launch an even bigger wave of the rockets. Israels air force struck at thousands of rocket launchers and bunkers housing everything from ancient Soviet Katyusha systems to modern Iranian missiles. Many of the missiles fired from Lebanon can do serious damage if they hit a target, but they are mostly easy for the Israeli air defences to detect and destroy. This Hezbollah drone was blown up by an Israeli jet Nevertheless, this latest fusillade serves to further deplete Israels defensive capability, notably the Iron Dome system, thereby improving Hezbollahs chances of hitting major targets with more powerful missiles in the future. The Islamist leadership is claiming to have damaged buildings deep inside Israel, as far south as the outskirts of Tel Aviv hitting a military base and patrol boat further north. We cannot be sure of this Israel has banned publishing pictures of bomb damage, both on TV and via social media, to stop Hezbollah making a damage assessment. A state of emergency has also been declared. Whatever the case, Hezbollahs attack has been expected for weeks, as payback for Israels double assassination of one of its commanders and the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in the Iranian capital Tehran last month. The revenge strike was delayed because of the Shiite holy festival of Arbaeen, when up to two million pilgrims travelled overland from Lebanon and Iran to Karbala in Iraq. Many observers believe that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on a constant state of conflict to keep him in power Now their journey is over, the head of Irans Revolutionary Guard Hezbollahs real masters has warned the war will commence in earnest. Israel is well-prepared, but its pre-emptive strikes yesterday may not be enough to deflect the onslaught. Its estimated that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets in its well-hidden arsenals. This escalation also seems certain to put paid to American efforts at brokering a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Central to this is the release of the surviving hostages seized during the Hamas rampage on October 7. Both sides say they dont want all-out war. But neither is willing to be the first to turn the other cheek and stop retaliation so war is looming. If that happens, it will be on a scale that dwarfs the unfathomable civilian cost of Israels assault in Gaza over the past ten months. Many observers believe that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on a constant state of conflict to keep him in power. As long as theres no ceasefire in Gaza, an uneasy truce will continue within Israeli politics. If the fighting stops, Netanyahu will be ousted by his rivals, and will face prosecution and perhaps prison on corruption charges. America is pledged to support Israel in any war against Iran. Already it has deployed vast naval forces, including three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, to seas around the Middle East. Thanks to our military bases in Cyprus, a little over 100 miles from the nearest missile launchers in Lebanon, the UK would be drawn into the war, too. Not only our armed forces but expats and holidaymakers in Cyprus would be in danger. Last Friday, Hamas announced that Israelis in Europe and elsewhere, and by extension all Jews, were now regarded as targets for terrorist attacks abroad. Meanwhile, schools in northern Israel are closed and up to 100,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the border with Lebanon. The threats to peace continue to loom beyond Israel and Lebanon, and fears grow that the vortex of escalating violence could drag us and many others into the conflict. The warning lights were flashing red well before Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. And there are few reasons to believe the world is going to become more stable or more safe any time soon. Authoritarian regimes are not just looking to expand their borders by force, they are increasingly and collectively trying to undermine our way of life. From North Korean cyber attacks to Iran supplying Russia with weapons, the freedoms we cherish and the international rules-based order are under threat. As a former foreign secretary and home secretary, national security has long been at the forefront of my mind. I have seen the threats first-hand, in Ukraine, on the Baltic border with Russia, at Israel's border with Gaza, Lebanon, and the Gulf states bordering Iran and Taiwan. I have looked the Chinese and Russians in the eye. We cannot take peace for granted. Increased defence spending must be a national priority. Instead of Keir Starmer's dithering, I would move heaven and earth to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence as soon as possible. 'I have seen the threats first-hand, in Ukraine, on the Baltic border with Russia, at Israel's border with Gaza, Lebanon, and the Gulf states bordering Iran and Taiwan,' writes James Cleverly. 'I have looked the Chinese and Russians in the eye. We cannot take peace for granted' North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (front centre)is pictured inspecting a performance test of drones organised by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences at an undisclosed location in North Korea on August 24, 2024 The warning lights were flashing red well before Vladimir Putin's (left, pictured on August 26, 2024) invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. From North Korean cyber attacks to Iran (right, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on August 25, 2024) supplying Russia with weapons, the freedoms we cherish and the international rules-based order are under threat Despite what Labour and the other Left-wing parties say, the UK is a vital actor on the international stage and we must play our full role. We are one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, we are a nuclear power and the cornerstone of European defence within Nato. The world is watching, and what we do next matters. To protect the United Kingdom, deter international aggressors and steer our allies to a safer time, we should invest now. By spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence, we can increase the size of our fighting forces, invest in new technologies, backfill our support to Ukraine and put our nuclear defence programme on a sustainable footing. You can't penny-pinch your way to peace. We spend a quarter of GDP on health, welfare and pensions, and less than 2.5 per cent on defence. To those who say we can't afford more defence spending, I say we can't afford not to. Starmer is ducking the tough decisions. Scrapping Tory welfare reforms and civil service efficiency programmes gobbles up money that should properly fund our national security. This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over north Israel on August 25, 2024 CGI IMAGE Undated handout computer generated image (CGI) issued by BAE Systems of the latest concept model of the UK's next generation combat aircraft, the Tempes In the same week that he sided with Labour union paymasters to hand out bumper pay rises to militant strikers, he has undermined our support to Ukraine. It's a national embarrassment. In the interest of our allies and ourselves, we must take defence seriously and that means funding it properly. The days of celebrities adopting expensive exotic pets are over with many now opting for the humble farmyard animal, the duck, instead. Rather than filling their homes with dogs, cats, or the more luxurious pony pet, a number of famous individuals have chosen to rescue and raise pet ducks. From Olympians to chefs, TV hosts and actors, the beaked pond goers are rapidly becoming one of the most popular household pets. One of those hopping in the trend pond is Stacey Solomon, who recently took to Instagram to share some sweet snaps of families latests tenants - a pair of ducks. The mother-of-five revealed that she had adopted one white and on brown duck, called Daisy and Delilah, to join her in her home at Pickle Cottage alongside her husband, Joe Swash. Pictured: Stacey Solomon took to Instagram to share some sweet pictures of her pet ducks, Daisy and Delilah Solomon-Squash Stacey wrote on her Instagram: 'POV... you've been away from your soul mates for two weeks and finally get to see them in real life instead of FaceTime' In the picture shared to social media, Stacey's web toed pets are perched cosily on one of the pets in her Essex cottage Taking to Instagram, she wrote: 'Daisy & Delilah Solomon-Swash. So our ducks are gorgeous feather girlies & now finally we can name them. Honestly these little duckies have brought so much joy to our lives. They're so loving and cuddly and just the most amazing addition to our family! 'Can't wait to complete pickle cottage pond & maybe adopt some more feathered friends. Things are starting to get a little more even around pickle cottage. 6 boys 5 girls now counting all dogs ducks and humans.' In the picture shared to social media, Stacey's web toed pets are perched cosily on one of the pets in her Essex cottage. Another to have found themselves the owner of a pair of duckling is the Italian chef, Gino D'Acampo, who recently took to Instagram to share a clip of him lying on his sofa with two fluffy ducklings scampering around on his chest. He captioned the picture: 'My two ducklings have finally hatched Any name suggestions?' to which several took to the comments to offer their suggestions for duck names. One suggested 'Vino and Gino' while another offered 'Fred and Gordon'. A third jokingly said 'Pecorino and Pecorina?' In the clip, while several clamber over his chest, he strokes their fluffy heads while saying 'look over that' towards the camera in fatherly like gesture. Another to have found themselves the owner of a pair of duckling is the Italian chef, Gino D'Acampo, who recently took to Instagram to share a clip of him lying on his sofa with two fluffy ducklings scampering around on his chest He captioned the picture: 'My two ducklings have finally hatched Any name suggestions?' to which several took to the comments to offer their suggestions for duck names Others to have found friends in the pond swimmers are the TV presenter and equestrian, Luisa Zissman, who recently has previously shared pictures on social media where she is cuddling up to her adult sized ducks The former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is another to have had his home invaded by ducklings after his wife, Carrie Johnson, adopted two butter yellow babies into their home (pictured) Others to have found friends in the pond swimmers are the TV presenter and equestrian, Luisa Zissman, who recently has previously shared pictures on social media where she is cuddling up to her adult sized ducks. The former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is another to have had his home invaded by ducklings after his wife, Carrie Johnson, adopted two butter yellow babies into their home. Boris and his three children with Carrie, presented her with a series of duck eggs and an incubator for her 36th birthday present in April earlier this year. Carrie was given expert advice from her friend, Luisa Zissman, on how to take care of the ducks. Writing on Instagram, she wrote: 'Day 2 of ducklings. Weve got 3 and theyre all still alive! And Im exhausted. 'Daff and Wally seem to be thriving while Donny is plodding on slowly but surely! With special thanks to @luisazissman for all the expert duckling advice. We might not quite have Quackington Palace here, but Im doing my best to give these wee ducklings the 5 star treatment. Pray for Donny!' The mother-of-three took to the app to share a picture of Daff and Wally perched in a single mug with their tiny heads popping out the top. The family are already an owner of five ducks: Twiglet, Gherkin, Black Head, Turbo and Pickle, who live with them in their 3.8million home in Oxfordshire, complete with a sprawling pond. After Australian skateboarder, Arisa Trew won gold at the Paris Olympics earlier this summer, she insisted that the only thing she wanted as reward was a pet duck. The youngest Australian to win gold in Paris, when was asked after her win what she wanted as a reward for her win, she said: 'Ducks are really cute and I really wanted a pet duck'. Though it's not clear yet whether the 14-year-olds dreams have yet come true. Across the pond in the US, the Mama Mia actress, Amanda Seyfried is the proud owner of a number of ducks where she lives on a farm in the Catskills Mountains of New York In 2021 , Amanda Seyfried said her dog, an Aussie-Border Collie mix, called Finn, had even befriended one of the ducklings on her her husband, the actor Thomas Sadoski's farm in the mountains The youngest Australian to win gold in Paris, Arisa Trew (pictured middle) was promised a pet duck by her parents if she reached gold. When asked after her win what she wanted as a reward for her win, she said: 'Ducks are really cute and I really wanted a pet duck' The business woman and author, Martha Stewart, pictured in the Hamptons in July 2018. She was previously the owner of several geese Martha Stewart carries a basket of eggs from a chicken coop, outside of which wait a number of geese, on the grounds of her home, Westport, Connecticut in 1976 Across the pond in the US, the Mama Mia actress, Amanda Seyfried is the proud owner of a number of ducks where she lives on a farm in the Catskills Mountains of New York. In one picture uploaded to the actresses Instagram, she is sen cuddling up to her pet duck. In 2021, the actress said her dog, an Aussie-Border Collie mix, called Finn, had even befriended one of the ducklings on her her husband, the actor Thomas Sadoski's farm in the mountains. The actress said the two were such good friends that the ducking was often seen perched on the top of Finn's head. The couple are owners to a multiplicity of pets including horses, donkeys, cows, ducks, dogs, goats, and many more. The American business woman, Martha Stewart, is also the owner of a number of animals including cats, dogs, horses, peacocks, ducks, geese, chickens, canaries. Martha is a lifelong lover of animals and has owned previously owned a gaggle of geese when she was younger. A mom-of-nine has showed off the impressive salad bar she installed in her kitchen after she grew tired of watching her kids munch on unhealthy lunches. Melanie Cade, 37, is no stranger to a packed home as she is welcomed by her nine children and her husband when she walks through the doors of her Alabama house. And while she loves the rowdiness that comes along with having a large brood, having to pack her kids nutritious lunches in a pinch has left her overwhelmed. After growing tired of constantly planning healthy meals, the mom decided to install a sprawling salad bar in her kitchen - complete with more than 10 topping options. Most recently, the mom-of-nine took to Instagram to boast about her newest addition as she lifted the lid on the healthy meal options she gives her children. A mom-of-nine has showed off the impressive salad bar she installed in her kitchen after she grew tired of watching her kids munch on unhealthy lunches She shared footage of herself restocking her salad bar in a clip shared online, which has so far garnered more than 419,000 views. Melanie revealed she decided to install it to help her kids eat better meals on a daily basis. She and her spouse share nine children together: Anita, 19; TJ, 17; Nathaniel 14; twins Mason and Madison, 12; Zachary, 8; Jacob, 5; Noah-James, 4; and Charity, 10 months. In the clip, she showed off the $1,300 salad bar that she purchased two years ago from a restaurant supply store. She explained that she wanted her kids to be more self-sufficient and healthier. The video saw her restocking the salad bar, which she does once or twice a week. Melanie chopped up lettuce and vegetables as she put shredded cheese, turkey, boiled eggs, peppers and more in plastic buckets. The bottom part of her salad bar was filled with various dressings as well as fruits and cheese sticks. Melanie Cade, 37, is no stranger to a packed home as she is welcomed by her nine children and her husband when she walks through the door of her Alabama property The mom-of-nine said: 'I fill the top once or twice a week, depending on how busy we are that week and what our needs are for that particular week. 'The bottom has two refrigerated sides. I keep salad plates and bowls on one side so that they are chilled and ready for use. 'If one of our children doesnt care for what we have planned for lunch or dinner, he or she is welcome to partake from the salad/sandwich bar. 'As a reminder, before upgrading to this stand-alone salad bar, I incorporated the same concept in a drawer in our fridge using plastic containers from Walmart. This is totally doable, you just have to be a bit creative with your own space and budget.' The mom - who homeschools her children - explained that the idea for the salad bar came to her during the pandemic. She told Today: 'I run a tight ship. My kids eat cookies and chips but during the pandemic, I saw an unhealthy dependency on pre-packaged snacks because they were readily available. 'I saw my kids developing bad habits that were convenient and easy for both them and myself.' The mom-of-nine admitted that the family spends about $100 per week on items for their salad bar such as seasonal fruit and vegetables and whole cuts of meat. Melanie told the outlet that she quickly learned that her children ate with their eyes so she knew she had to make healthier foods look more appealing. She explained: 'Ive learned that kids eat with their eyes so making food aesthetically pleasing feels, "Wow," to my children. 'They see the beautiful colors and textures and the variety to choose from.' The mom-of-nine noted that by sharing her day-to-day life online she wanted others to realize their 'potential.' But when she went to pick it up - she discovered the shop was shut down A bride-to-be was left out in the cold after the store that she'd bought her wedding dress from suddenly shut down just two weeks before the big day. Akila Yejide Mwongozi, of Pittsburgh, California, worked three jobs to save up enough money to afford to pay for her wedding. She'd picked out a dress at Bellisima Couture, located in the city's downtown area, last fall, and her final fitting was in July. But when she went to pick up the gown earlier this month - she was horrified to discover the shop was completely empty and shut down, ultimately resulting in her losing $1,000 and being stuck with no gown. The owner had instructed Akila to meet at her home to get the dress on August 20, but when she arrived, no one was home. Akila Yejide Mwongozi had picked out a dress for her wedding at Bellisima Couture in Pittsburg, California, last fall, and had paid for it in full Akila then drove to the store, but was baffled to discover that it was apparently shuttered, and the space emptied out. A resident of the neighborhood told local channel KTVU that she'd witnessed the owner moving everything out of the store two weeks prior. The last time she'd been by the shop, it had been packed with dresses and jewelry, she added. 'And [now] there's nothing there,' Akila exclaimed. 'Kind of felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. It's just weird.' A Google Maps Street View image of the storefront shows ornate dress displays through its windows as of October 2022. Along with her dress, the shop had been holding onto her veil and a flower girl's outfit. She'd already put down $1,000 for the items. When Akila wasn't able to successfully track down the shop owner, one of her bridesmaids, Carlina Williams, posted for help on social media - and strangers instantly began reaching out. But when she went to pick up the gown earlier this month - she told local channel KTVU that she was horrified to discover the shop was completely empty and shut down A Google Maps Street View dated October 2022 shows a shop that's fully in business Along with her dress, the shop had been holding onto her veil and a flower girl's outfit The last time she'd been by the shop, it had been packed with dresses and jewelry, she added. 'And [now] there's nothing there,' Akila exclaimed. The empty shop is seen 'Who does this to someone?' Carlina told ABC7. 'It's disgusting to me.' Akila and her bridal party were pleasantly surprised when people started responding to Carlina's social media posts with offers of other dresses ahead of the wedding, which will be held in San Diego on September 1. 'I have one person that didn't even know me, that saw a post on Facebook, and sent a dress to UPS in San Diego. So if I can fit [in] it, that may be the dress,' Akila told ABC7. 'And then I have a friend who has two dresses. So we're working with those three dresses. 'I don't know if I can fit [in] them. I'll have about three days to figure it out once I get to San Diego.' Akila also expressed relief she didn't also take her groom's tux and her goddaughter's dress to the same business to be altered, given that the Bellisima Couture owner 'was already taking a while' with Akila's dress. In the end, Akila added that details like her dress wouldn't really matter in the long run when it came to her marriage. 'I'm getting married. Two years, three years, dress is not going to be important. The marriage is going to be important, and how I'm going to build my family,' she told KTVU. DailyMail.com has reached out to Bellisima Couture for comment. When youre unwell and make an appointment to see your GP, its not unreasonable to assume that the person you end up in a consulting room with is a doctor. Yet, increasingly, that might not be the case. In fact, you may well be unwittingly discussing your symptoms with someone who doesnt even have a medical degree. Im talking about Physician Associates (PAs for short). A poll last week, conducted by Ipsos, found 57 per cent of people had either never heard of PAs, or had heard of them but had no idea what they actually did. Yet Im sure that many of those polled will have been seen by a PA, without even knowing. At medical school, I was taught that the most dangerous thing for a doctor isnt not knowing something: its failing to realise that you dont know it To be clear, a Physician Associate is not a doctor. Their widespread use in the NHS is relatively new, the original idea being that they would assist doctors. However, with the health service becoming increasingly stretched, they have started taking on more and more clinical responsibilities. This is despite them never having attended medical school but, instead, after achieving a science-based degree, completing two-year post-graduate training. I find this deeply troubling. In my view, it is unethical and flies in the face of informed consent if youre under the impression that the person you are discussing private medical concerns with is a doctor. Theres no doubt that physician associates can be a great help to doctors, but too often they are being used to plug gaps and the NHS is planning to employ 10,000 of them by 2037! At medical school, I was taught that the most dangerous thing for a doctor isnt not knowing something: its failing to realise that you dont know it. When people are unaware of the limitations of their knowledge, its all too easy to make mistakes. And this is precisely my concern with PAs. It generally takes a minimum of 10 years to train a GP. They will have done five or six years at medical school, two years as a foundation (junior) doctor and a further three years in GP specialist training. How can a PA compare with that level of experience? Its no wonder that so many are concerned at the boom in PAs, with the Royal College of General Practitioners recently calling for a halt in their recruitment and deployment. Two years of training cannot equip a PA with as much knowledge and skill as a doctor. This isnt medical snobbery, its just a fact. Ive had personal experience of the risks PAs can pose to patients. A year or so ago, my mum was called into her GP surgery to discuss her medication as part of a review. I was impressed that they were taking a pro-active approach and checking her medication, as Ive seen too many people who have been put on repeat prescription inappropriately. Afterwards, she called me to say that shed seen a lovely doctor who had advised her to stop taking her anticoagulant medication. I was astonished. She has had multiple strokes and it has been impressed on her by several consultants that she must take her anticoagulants for the rest of her life. It seemed extraordinary for a GP to go against the specific advice of specialists. I was very worried and asked Mum to hold off making any changes and to call the surgery for clarification. She hadnt seen a doctor at all, it transpired, but a PA. Hed been diligently following national guidelines on anticoagulants in older people, but had totally failed to understand that you cannot apply a one size fits all approach, especially in patients with complex medical histories. Mum was promptly put back on her medication. But what if her son hadnt been a doctor? What if she hadnt told me about it or I hadnt thought to question who she had actually seen? For many years now, specialist nurses and advanced nurse practitioners have been seeing patients, but they have nursing degrees and years of hands-on experience. More pertinently, the nurse part of their title makes it clear they are not doctors. The same cant be said for physician associates. While PAs can be good at assessing and treating routine problems, they dont prescribe and cannot request certain diagnostic tests, such as X-rays. Theyre currently unregulated and must always work under the supervision of a senior doctor. NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines make it clear that medical professionals should introduce themselves by giving their names and profession, but this rarely happens. If you want to be certain that the person you are speaking to is a doctor, then my advice is to ask them outright. If you have specifically asked to see a doctor and it turns out that you havent been given an appointment with one, then you are well within your rights to complain. Transparency in medicine is vital. You are entitled to know how qualified the person you are telling your problems to is. Steer clear of your ex After months of speculation, its now official that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have split. Again After months of speculation, its now official that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have split. Again. But why risk getting back with someone (JLo and Affleck were first engaged in 2002) when it all ended so badly before? For some people, self-sabotage is a big factor. They know theyre wrong for each other and that, perversely, is the appeal. For others, its because theres something comforting in familiarity. There can even be something intoxicating about being with someone who already knows you. Sure, the first throes of love, the buzz and excitement, are wonderful, but theres something to be said for the perceived safety and security of a partner who already gets you. But getting back with an ex is often a sign that weve struggled to connect with anyone else, so we try to reconnect with an old flame rather than face life alone. Yes, occasionally people make it work the second time around. But mostly theyre just repeating the mistakes they made before. Ralf Schumachers ex-wife has broken her silence after he came out as gay, saying she feels used and has wasted her best years being with him. When we hear about men who have been married to a woman and then come out, were supposed to cheer and call them brave for being so honest. We rarely think about the woman left behind, who can be left wondering if the entire relationship was a ruse a lie to cover up his true sexuality. I say this as a gay man, but I dont think its brave to marry a woman and then, years later, finally disclose your sexuality. I get that it can be hard to come to terms with being gay, but dont drag others into your inner turmoil. Dont ruin someone elses life because you dont yet have the courage to be out. I once had neighbours who were partners for nearly 60 years before they died in their 90s. They lived together, and for decades pretended they were brothers, because it was illegal then to be gay. One was a surgeon, and when a theatre nurse found out he was gay, he was blackmailed until he finally resigned, his career in tatters. But he and his partner remained in a loving, loyal relationship their entire adult lives, despite enduring crushing stigma and prejudice for much of that time. Those two men were brave. The new Alzheimers drug, lecanemab, wont be prescribed by the NHS as the benefits are too small to justify the huge cost. But people are desperate and I hate the idea of families getting into debt to pay for this drug privately. DR MAX PRESCIBES: THAI TONIC Sanuk is the Thai concept of achieving a joyful life. This book shows how to use Sanuk as a guiding principle in our everyday lives, leading to improved happiness all round! An Aussie visiting the US was struck by one 'wild' difference between those in Sydney and New York - and it's to do with how they talk about themselves. Anaita Sarkar, an entrepreneur from New South Wales, said that Aussies will only support you on one condition: that you present yourself as an underdog. 'In Australia we really downplay our success, and we don't even talk about our goals in a really positive way,' she said. 'Australia really values the underdog, when you consider yourself an underdog and promote yourself as an underdog, people really root for you. 'The minute you consider yourself top dog, no one goes for you.' Anaita contrasted this with the New York mentality where if you speak about your success and goals in 'a positive light', people are 'here for it'. 'They're so excited for you, they'll connect you with other people , they'll say you need to talk to this person because if that's your goal I know someone who can help you get there,' she said. Ms Sarkar isn't the first person to call out her home country for suffering from tall poppy syndrome, and many Aussies were quick to agree that it's a lonely place to pursue your goals. 'Tall poppy syndrome is savage in Australia and we grew up believing that if you had the smallest confidence in yourself then you are conceited and up yourself, it's taken me so long to change my mindset,' one said. Anaita Sarkar from Sydney said that New Yorkers are more likely to talk about themselves and their success positively The Sydney entrepreneur said that Aussies will only support you if you promote yourself as the underdog 'We all have tall poppy syndrome in Australia. It's non existent in the US,' another added. Another said Australians drove them 'crazy' with the 'small' mindset and accused the country of hating successful people. Another man from Down Under who had lived in America agreed that The Big Apple has a much more 'expansive energy' and embraces people who are reaching for the stars. One man believed that having dreams and speaking about them made you a 'try hard' Down Under, and that the country only likes people who 'fit in'. 'So true, it's cool not to try too hard in Australia. Whilst the US rewards ambition and chasing a dream and doing your own thing,' he said. Another argued that the mindset of the nation had nothing to do with it, and it was simply down to the type of people you choose to surround yourself with. 'It's changing nowadays. People here network, pass on helpful contacts and do encourage others,' he said. The reunion that Oasis fans long hoped for (but never believed would happen) could be on the cards, with former frontman Liam Gallagher and his songwriter-guitarist brother Noel dropping hints about a potential upcoming tour on social media. One of the world's biggest bands in the 90s, the Manchester group broke up in 2009, with warring between the siblings believed to be among the key reasons, after Noel walked out on the group following a row in Paris. Despite relentless questioning about a potential reunion tour, the band has not graced the stage together since their breakup, but now, an announcement is expected tomorrow, after Liam whipped up a frenzy last night as he closed his headline set at Reading Festival having earlier dedicated the band's track Half The World Away to his brother Noel, 57. The feuding siblings have buried the hatchet after reportedly being promised a 50million payday to reform for a global tour with gigs at Wembley Stadium and the prospect of a Glastonbury headline slot. In recent years, Liam, 51, has been keen to make amends with his brother and reform the iconic Britpop band, but his older brother poured cold water on the idea. Liam famously doesn't get along with Noel's ex-wife Sara MacDonald and has had a slew of public rows with the PR exec in the past. Noel Gallagher and Sara Macdonald (pictured attending an after party celebrating the re-opening of the Louis Vuitton New Bond Street in October 2019) filed for divorce in December 2022 with the split being made public in January 2023 It is said that one of the reasons Oasis have not yet reunited is that Liam did not get on with Noel's ex-wife Sara (pictured L-R: Noel Gallagher; Sara Macdonald; Nicole Appleton; Liam Gallagher) He even hinted she was the reason that an Oasis reunion wouldn't be happening, with Noel furious over Liam's name-calling about Sara. But after Noel's 20m divorce from ex-wife Sara last year, the elder Gallagher is said to have been persuaded of the financial merits of getting the band together for dates at Glastonbury and Wembley Stadium. Noel and Sara revealed their split in January 2023, after nearly 12 years of marriage. In a statement released to MailOnline at the time, announcing their separation, they said that their two sons 'remain their priority'. The couple, who met in 2000 at an Ibiza club named Space, share Donovan, who was born in 2007 and Sonny, born in 2010. Noel also has a daughter Anais, born in 2000, who he shares with his first ex-wife Meg Matthews. Noel was married still wed to his first wife when he and Sara met, and following the split, it was reported the rocker had an affair with Sara during his four-year marriage to Meg. But Noel and Sara have strongly denied this claim, with the star releasing a statement in 2001 which shared that he didn't cheat and 'left Meg because I could no longer tolerate her behaviour.' The elder Gallagher and Sara went on to tie the knot in 2011, marrying at the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest in a 60,000 ceremony, with guests including Russell Brand watching on - but according to brother Liam, he wasn't invited. 'He goes on about how he wasnt invited to my wedding. No one was at my wedding but Nics [his ex-wife Nicole Appleton] mum and my mum. Get over it, mate. Ive not been invited to his wedding,' Liam told the Chicago Sun Times. Noel Gallagher (pictured, right) is snapped with then-wife Sara Macdonald (pictured, centre) and actor Matt Smith (pictured, left) leaving the Chiltern Firehouse in London in December 2018 In 2019, the couple moved to an 8million South Downs mansion near Hampshire's town of Petersfield with their two children. But the good times were not to last, and the couple confirmed last January that they were going their separate ways. This followed what was reported by some to be a family holiday to Spain instigated by Noel in mid 2022, during which he allegedly hoped could save the marriage. Photos from the trip show Noel appearing pensive on a luxury yacht off the island of Formentera, meanwhile, Sara was seen bounding across the boat, seemingly without a care in the world. One of the reported issues between the couple was Noel's growing obsession with a new studio complex he had built in North London, which he would refer to as his 'potting shed'. The 57-year-old was said to be far more passionate about the project than his wife, four years his junior. Described by one friend as 'the ultimate man cave', the studio boasted original artwork by Noel's famous friends, including a painting by John Squire, guitarist of The Stone Roses. Noel would reportedly wile away entire days at the studio, 'fiddling with ideas and technical production equipment'. Although the musician was seen spending time with fellow celebrities (pictured here with David Beckham at the premiere of the rocker's new Oasis film in 2021), he was reportedly starting to enjoy a slower paced lifestyle He would also be joined by friends including Paul Weller, who was a regular and recorded his own album there. The space was described as boasting a lounge area decked out with personal mementos, and a relaxing sofa area with a fully stocked booze fridge (though Noel was said to prefer a cup of tea). Although images show the couple enjoying events including a double date with actor Matt Smith, and other evenings out in London, it appears they may have wanted different lifestyles. Speaking about how the couple had started to go in divergent directions, a friend said around the time of the split going public: 'They were once both wild. But Noel wound down his excesses and limits himself to social drinks in the evenings.' As a result, in late 2022, the couple filed for divorce, with the break-up becoming public in January 2023. Noel went on to issue a candid statement which read: 'When you get to your mid-50s, you do come to some kind of crossroads in your life. 'It's not uncommon for people who have been in long-term relationships to go their separate ways in their 50s. 'I know a lot of people in the same boat as me and Sara. Particularly after the pandemic. The midlife crisis thing is true for men and women.' The split was costly for Noel, with Sara reportedly receiving a payment of 20 million, as well as the couple's 8million mansion, and ongoing maintenance payments. Noel and Liam have been embroiled in a well publicised spat for years, but are rumoured to be reuniting for a tour in 2025 (pictured in London in 2008) During an interview on the Matt Morgan podcast at the end of last year, Noel intimated that the split may not have been as amicable as initially thought, noting how much the break-up had cost him. Addressing the fact that he would soon be living in North West London, Noel said: 'I can get on the bike and go outside my wonderful ex-wife's house and give her a little wave and go, "you didn't take this from me".' However, one upside following the split is that it reportedly helped end Liam and Noel's bitter years-long feud. Last December sources who know the siblings said that the split had an 'instant impact' on relations between Liam and Noel, who are now 'closer than they have been for years'. Liam is said to have clashed repeatedly with Sara throughout her relationship with his brother - which is said to have contributed to the vicious and often public rift between the brothers. In response to a message on X (formerly Twitter), Liam hinted that Sara was a factor in Oasis not reuniting. A fan tweeted the younger Gallagher asking: 'Hi Liam, do you know why Noel hates oasis reunion so much??????' To which Liam replied: 'I've told you before he's rite up for it but you know who wont let him as she doesn't like oasis music [sic].' Following the divorce, a source said: 'Liam did not have the best relationship with Sara. There were many reasons for the bitter feud that erupted between Noel and Liam after Oasis split up. 'It was never going to be easy for any woman caught up in the middle of this spat to have to deal with Liam. But Sara and Liam both blamed one another, often for things that were sparked by factors outside. 'It [the divorce] made Liam and Noel confront some of the issues that they were constantly clashing over, rather than blaming somebody else. The pair of them are now closer than they have been for years. 'I wouldn't rule out some kind of announcement that Liam and Noel are ready to perform together again after that. There is already loose talk about a possible Oasis stadium tour in 2025.' Indeed, following Noel's costly divorce from Sara, the elder Gallagher is said to have been persuaded of the financial merits of getting the band together for dates at Glastonbury and Wembley Stadium. On top of Liam's hints at Reading last night, social media posts suggest an announcement will be made tomorrow about the band. A short clip of the date '27.08.24', in the style of the Oasis logo, was shared to both of their Instagram and X accounts on Sunday night, as well as on the official Oasis accounts. The black sign flickered and changed to read '8am'. Liam dropped a hint of a reunion to add fuel to the rumours by writing on X: 'I never did like that word FORMER' And Liam fuelled the rumours with a further post on X yesterday saying: 'I never did like that word FORMER.' A reunion could prove highly profitable for the musicians, with Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE, chairman of talent agency InterTalent, telling The Sun they could make more than 400million from the tour and any residual deals. He said: 'With tickets, sponsorship, merchandise and filming, I would predict an income for Noel and Liam of over 50million each. This is a tour that could easily gross over 400million.' According to reports, Oasis has been promised a payday of 50 million to reform and embark on a global tour, and the eye-watering sum could see Liam and Noel perform together 15 years after they last appeared on stage with each other. A music insider said Liam and Noel had secretly been back in touch and both had agreed to the reunion, 'much to the surprise of people around them'. There may be a new It Girl in town as one of Europe's hottest young royals heads to the UK to begin her university studies next month. Dutch Princess Alexia, the daughter of Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, will enroll at University College London from September to begin her bachelor's degree in science and engineering for social change. Ahead of her move overseas, the 19-year-old Princess, who is the second child of the royal couple and second in line to the throne after her sister Crown Princess Amalia, attended the Dutch Grand Prix with her parents this weekend. She looked stylish in a knitted black asymmetrical shoulder top paired with a pair of smart navy trousers and a white trainers as she stepped out at Circuit Park in Zandvoort on Sunday. As she returns to the UK, where she previously studied at Wales's 'Hippy Hogwarts', UWC Atlantic College in South Wales, she has admitted it was a last-minute' decision. Princess Alexia spent time with her family to watch the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix ahead of her move to London at the end of September During a press conference, she admitted she was 'a bit stressed about choosing' but was widely expected to study at the University of Groningen, according to the NL Times. She will study for the three-year BSc degree, which promises to teach students 'in-demand skills needed to solve key challenges of society'. The course includes a placement or project module in its third year and likely careers include corporate, charity or government roles after graduating. Alexia will spend 13 'contact' hours with staff a week on top of 27 hours of independent study. She is coming towards the end of her gap year, which she said was full of 'travelling, working and all sorts of things.' Studying at UCL means Princess Alexia will be fully immersed in London life with its Gower Street location around the corner from the British Museum and within walking distance of Oxford Street. Although it has not been confirmed where the Dutch princess will reside, the most convenient halls of residence, Astor College, which are just 1.5 metres from the UCL Quad, Bloomsbury, could set her back 16,000 for a 39-week term in a large studio. She will likely enjoy more freedom during her studies than her sister and heir to the throne, Princess Amalia, who was forced out of student accommodation just two weeks after she began her studies at the University of Amsterdam following kidnapping threats. Ahead of her move, princess Alexia spent time with her parents and cousin Count Claus at the Grand Prix, however it is not believed her sisters Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, or Princess Ariane joined the family on the outing. The 19-year-old's decision to return to the UK is a last-minute one for the princess, who admitted in June she'd applied for several courses and didn't know what she wanted to study Princess Alexia at the balcony of Palace Noordeinde at Prinsjesdag in The Hague Ahead of her move, princess Alexia spent time with her parents Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander and cousin Count Claus at the Grand Prix , however it is not believed her sisters Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, or Princess Ariane joined the family on the outing She opted for natural makeup like her mother and wore her fiery red locks down in a wavy blow-dry. Alexia, who is second in the line of succession, seemed engrossed in the race, filming the drivers whizzing around the track on her smartphone while chatting with her father. Princess Alexia previously spent two years in the UK, graduating from UWC Atlantic College in South Wales in May last year, with her parents travelling to the prestigious school to celebrate. The school is often referred to as 'Hippie Hogwarts' thanks to its progressive approach to education and picturesque castle setting, with European royals often attending. The college is for pupils aged 16 to 19 years of age and students from all over the world, 150 countries to be exact, live and study together. It is based at St Donat's Castle, south Wales in a 12th century castle set in 122 acres of woodland and farmland with its own valley and seafront. It was founded by German educationalist Kurt Hahn and is situated at the 12th century St Donat's Castle on the country's south coast. It costs a whopping 67,000 per year for courses including Tai Chi, the theory of knowledge and Tibetan literature. She opted for natural makeup like her mother and wore her fiery ginger locks down in a wavy blow-dry Princess Alexia previously spent two years in the UK, graduating from UWC Atlantic College in South Wales in May last year, with her parents travelling to the prestigious school to celebrate During her year out, she made her first official solo public appearance at the naming ceremony of the VOX Alexia in Rotterdam The princess is coming towards the end of her gap year, which she said was full of 'travelling, working and all sorts of things.' During her year out, she made her first official solo public appearance at the naming ceremony of the VOX Alexia in Rotterdam. She also appeared on the balcony for the opening day of Dutch parliament, debuting her royal order for the first time. Alexia wore The Order of the Netherlands Lion after being appointed it when she turned 18. Her elder sister Princess Amalia is studying psychology, law and economics at the University of Amsterdam, but was forced to live in Madrid for a year following kidnap threats. The heir to the Dutch throne said she was 'very grateful' to everyone who helped protect and keep her safe from kidnapping threats from organised crime gangs. Amalia was forced to abandon plans to live in student halls over security fears, just weeks after she started at Amsterdam University to study politics, psychology, law and economics in October 2022. The 20-year-old said her time in Spain made her life in the Netherlands 'somewhat possible' again and thanked everyone who helped her make the swift move possible. After her under-the-radar stay in Spain, the future queen was reportedly later able to resume her studies in the Netherlands. 'Of course, it was strange circumstances that made me go there,' Princess Catharina-Amalia later reflected to the press, according to Bild. 'I'm still very grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to walk around there in freedom. I managed to find a little more freedom there than was possible here.' Known affectionately as 'Chief Mouser,' Downing Street's most beloved resident may not rule over the country, but he certainly rules over the nation's hearts. Larry the Cat has been a permanent resident at Number 10 for the past 12 years, and has seen six prime ministers come and go, from David Cameron to current occupant Sir Keir Starmer - who has recently moved his rescue cat Jo Jo in/ Larry's journey at the famous address began in 2011 when he was adopted from Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, initially as a pet for Cameron's children. Over time, however, the brown and white tabby has become synonymous with Number 10, not only for his mousing skills but also for his endearing antics, tense stand-offs with four-legged rivals and occasional brushes with international stardom. As the 17-year-moggy now faces the challenges of old age, including a battle with arthritis, Downing Street officials have begun quietly preparing for his eventual passing. While his funeral plans remain shrouded in mystery, there's no doubt that Larry's legacy will be honoured in a manner befitting his long and distinguished service. FEMAIL has compiled a tribute to Number 10's longest reigning ruler and looks back at Larry the Cat's most most hilarious and famous moments. Known affectionately as 'Chief Mouser,' Downing Street 's most beloved resident Larry may not rule over the country, but he certainly rules over the nation's hearts 1. Meeting Barack Obama During a state visit to London in 2011, former U.S. President Barack Obama took time out to meet Larry, then just four years old. Photos show the then US President and his wife Michelle meeting the Queen, David Beckham and Larry himself. In another photo former Prime Minister David Cameron looks on as the the former President, his shirt sleeves turned up, strokes the feline. While Larry acted a bit shy during the meeting, Obama openly expressed his admiration for his own pet dog Bo's across-the-pond counterpart. During a state visit to London in 2011, former U.S. President Barack Obama took time out to meet Larry, then just four years old 2. Photobombing news broadcast In November 2018, Larry made headlines when he photobombed a live Sky News broadcast, demanding to be let back inside Number 10. The amusing spectacle of a police officer knocking on the famous black door - since it can't be opened from the outside - was a perfect example of Larry's knack for stealing the show. A member of No10 staff had to come and open it from the inside, allowing Larry to slip back in to the warmth. In November 2018, Larry made headlines when he photobombed a live Sky News broadcast, demanding to be let back inside Number 10 Larry was eventually let in by a Downing House staff member 3. Upstaging Theresa May's speech As reporters gathered outside Number 10 for Theresa May's resignation speech in May 2019, Larry was spotted sunbathing and patrolling the premises. Before May could announce her departure, Larry was gently scooped up by a staffer, but not before ensuring that all eyes were momentarily on him, rather than the outgoing Prime Minister. As reporters gathered outside Number 10 for Theresa May's resignation speech in May 2019, Larry was spotted sunbathing and patrolling the premises While a political storm brews inside 10 Downing Street, Chief Mouser Larry is soaking up the sun and enjoying all the attention pic.twitter.com/NvHyFYChj8 Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) May 24, 2019 4. Starring in an advert Larry's star power was recognised when he was cast in a 2023 advert by Battersea Cats & Dogs Home. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about microchipping pets, a cause Larry personally endorsed by appearing on screen, reminding pet owners of the upcoming legal requirements. In the video that's was shared to X (Twitter) for International Cat Day by the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), we see two members of the Battersea team knock on the door of number 10 and ask to see Larry. A voice then says 'excellent, come inside' and we see the much-loved cat getting some fuss from the team. 'Hi Larry, we've just come to check your details - are you up to date with your chip?' they ask. After checking that he's microchipped and even giving him a cheeky treat, the team explain that the law is changing and from June 2024, all cats will need a microchip. A microchip is a tiny device inserted under the skin of your pet which contains a unique code that links your pet to you through an online database 5. Larry takes on a fox In 2022, Larry the Cat came to blows in a fierce scrap with a fox on Downing Street before intimidating it into vanishing into the distance. The tense encounter between the Downing Street Chief Mouser and the urban fox saw the two hostile animals clash as they fought for territory outside the Prime Minister's house. Despite being around half the size of the fox, the 17-year-old tabby was able to force his counterpart into retreating into nearby bushes. But things didn't stop there. The famous cat made it clear that the fox is not welcome on Downing Street as it darts towards its rival who does well to dodge out the way. The persistent cat once again had another bite of the cherry, spinning around and this time chasing the fox back out the bushes along the iconic London road. In 2022, Larry the Cat came to blows in a fierce scrap with a fox on Downing Street before intimidating it into vanishing into the distance Despite being around half the size of the fox, the 17-year-old tabby was able to force his counterpart into retreating into nearby bushes The persistent cat once again had another bite of the cherry, spinning around and this time chasing the fox back out the bushes along the iconic London road 6. Larry botches attempt to catch pigeon In 2020, Larry caught the attention of politics watchers awaiting an update on the post-Brexit trade deal as he pounced on a pigeon outside Downing Street. The tabby stalked the bird outside the Prime Minister's official residence as members of the Press who were waiting to hear from Boris Johnson watched on with their cameras poised. Despite Larry catching his unsuspecting victim, the pigeon managed to fly off seemingly unharmed after a brief scuffle. In 2020, Larry caught the attention of politics watchers awaiting an update on the post-Brexit trade deal as he pounced on a pigeon outside Downing Street Despite Larry catching his unsuspecting victim, the pigeon managed to fly off seemingly unharmed after a brief scuffle 7. Larry scraps with rival Foreign Office cat The feisty feline feud between the pets of Westminster intensified in 2016 as Larry squared off with his arch-nemesis Palmerston, who belonged to staff at the Foreign Office. In August 2016, Larry was seen exchanging vicious blows with Palmerston on the steps outside No10 during the latest bout in their ongoing war. The scuffle saw Larry, a brown and white tabby, suffer a bite to the face as his acrobatic rival leapt into action, with Palmerston following his rapid attack with a swiping paw to the face. Such was the ferocity of the clash that Larry lost his purple collar in the process, with Palmerston suffering a number of deep scratches from his Westminster rival. Larry was also seen thrown on his back and his collar swiped off during the clash as Palmerston ended the bout on top. The feisty feline feud between the pets of Westminster intensified in 2016 as Larry squared off with his arch-nemesis Palmerston 8. Larry's bitter feud with George Osborne's cat Larry previously had competition from George Osborne's cat Freya, with the two frequently spotted fighting on the pavement in Downing Street. Larry, the Prime Minister's moggy, and Freya, who lived next door with Chancellor George Osborne, clashed outside Number 10 in 2012, just feet away from police officers. The fight had to be broken up by officers and Larry was then ordered indoors in an attempt to stop the fur fight. Freya moved with the Osbornes from their Notting Hill home to Number 11 and had taken over most of Larry's mousing duties. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'I am not going to get into commenting on the adventures of our feline friends in Downing Street.' Asked about how well the felines get on, the spokesman added: 'They co-exist.' TikTok has undoubtedly changed the way Gen Z consume content, encouraging the return of subtitles in films and TV and slicing up films - but now even the world of opera has been affected by the generation's preference for everything in bite-size. Giacomo Puccinis operatic masterpiece La boheme, a four-act production which follows a bohemian seamstress living in Paris with her artist friends, will debut a shorter version onstage in Perugia, Italy, next month - in a bid to appeal to the TikTok generation. The shortened version of Puccini's opera slashes the run time from two hours and forty minutes to just ninety minutes, The Times reports. It is thought the play has been cut short in order to appeal to the TikTok generation's shortened attention span - however opera fans are said to be in uproar over the 'operacorto' (short opera) format. The writer of the shortened version, Gianluca Terranova, who will also play the main male role of Rodolfo, has explained he wanted the play to help people understand opera if they were new to the format. He also fears younger audiences will be put off by the nearly three-hour run time of the original play. Giancomo Puccini's operatic masterpiece La boheme has received the TikTok treatment as it is set to debut a shorter version 'This is the first time an abridged version of an opera will be performed in a theatre,' he told the newspaper. He added: 'This is an introduction to the opera and the idea is that you will then want to see the whole thing.' However, operatic puritans have hit back at the abridged version of the masterpiece and voiced scepticism over the decision to cut it short. Opera critic Alberto Mattioli said Puccini's work is 'sacred' and taking away even a few words of his works would be to the detriment of the impact of the opera. Instead, he suggested a contemporary version of La Boheme would be a better option, to help younger people relate to the plot. Gianluca Terranova (pictured) who has created the abridged version of the opera, hopes it will encourage people to go and see the full production The row comes as TikTok changes the way Gen Z consumes content. Last year, on October 3, the streaming platform carved up a millennial film favourite, Mean Girls, for fans to watch in celebration of the Lindsay Lohan flick on 'Mean Girls Day'. Instead of showing the 98 minute film in one full viewing, the movie was cut into 23 bite-sized clips and posted on the official Mean Girls TikTok page. It's also possible to watch a clip-by-clip version of Mel Gibson's 2000 rom-com What Women Want. And season one of US hit comedy series Killing It was made free to watch on TikTok in August, after NBCUniversal announced it would release five clips, each between three and eight minutes long, on the platform beloved of Gen Z. Editor-in-chief at Total Film magazine, Jane Crowther, told MailOnline that social media is currently the most powerful promotional asset available to studios. 'Influencers and TikTok are increasingly the way studios sell films. Engagement starts with fast, quick clips that entice punters into the cinema. 'On TikTok, theres are lots of films that (illegally) reside in this format there. You can watch a number of films in tiny bursts if you want - and now studios are just mimicking whats already happening there. It's very much a case of, if you cant beat them, join them.' Despite Mean Girls being almost 20 years old, there's plenty of life in the franchise yet, says Crowther. Additionally, it is believed that the TikTok effect has also influenced Gen Z to watch TV and films with the subtitles on. In a recent YouGov study, 61% of viewers aged 18-25 said that when they sit down to watch TV, they choose to switch on the subtitles - even if they do not have a hearing impairment. With more detailed subtitles being added to TV programs and films all the time, including sound effects and names of songs featured, viewers are including the option when tuning into their favourite show. As the trend becomes ever more popular, TikTokers have been mocking their own viewing patterns, joking about how they cannot concentrate on what they are watching unless subtitles are on. Among those who jumped on the trend was former X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Fleur East, who posted a video on TikTok of herself watching TV with subtitles on - however, the minute she turned her vision away from the TV, the audio turned to inaudible nonsense. London-based psychologist Giulia Bianchi told FEMAIL that younger people are more inclined to opt for subtitles because their brains are more attuned to multitasking. She added that, overall, using them as an aid to your viewing experience helps you increase your comprehension of the program, helping you to process background noise or a line delivered in a quieter tone you may otherwise have missed. 'Younger people watch TV with subtitles on [because] they are better at multitasking,' Giulia said. 'The human brain is more maneuverable in our 20s. So, watching TV while following subtitles or texting or browsing the internet is usually possible for many young people.' She added that the improvement in detail of subtitles is also enhancing viewing experiences for people who are hearing impaired (for whom the method was originally intended), making TV more accessible. 'Subtitles promote improved retention, accessibility, better comprehension, and cultural exposure, she said. 'In my opinion, these all have a positive impact on the viewer experience.' So, as debate rages on over the abridged version of La Boheme, perhaps even more changes to its format may be in the works for the future. McDonald's Australia has shocked customers by revealing it ordered more than 150million kilograms of potatoes and 80million kilograms of beef last year. The popular fast-food restaurant chain shared its billion-dollar shopping list for 2023, which included everything from meat and chicken to milk, eggs and salad. Despite an egg and potato shortage and the cost of living crisis the fast-food giant sold millions across the nation. In the last year alone, McDonald's contributed more than $1billion to the local supply chain by using Australian produce, products, and ingredients from over 15,000 farmers in its food. More and more foodies are choosing to eat at McDonald's and other bargain restaurants as the cost of living continues to go up across the country. Australians previously revealed the various 'luxury' supermarket foods they were forced to give up due to the rising prices, such as ice cream, steak, and fresh berries. In the wake of expensive groceries and restaurants rising their prices, Aussies have turned to fast-food restaurants and cheap menus to fill their bellies instead. The fast-food chain purchased a whopping 150million kilograms of potatoes in 2023, up from 137million kilograms in 2022. McDonald's Australia has shocked customers by revealing it sold more than 150million kilograms of potatoes and 80million kilograms of beef last year In the last year alone, McDonald's contributed more than $1billion to the local supply chain by using Australian produce, products, and ingredients from over 15,000 farmers in its food McDonald's also purchased more than double the amount of Aussie beef last year - with customers consuming 80million kilograms of the popular beef burgers. Surprisingly, Australians demanded less chicken than the year before, with Macca's only needing 20million kilograms for its chicken McNuggets and burgers instead of 26million kilograms the year before. McDonald's also used 79million eggs to make its popular breakfast McMuffins. The restaurant's commitment to the local agricultural industry over the last 50 years has bolstered its ability to 'serve up the highest-quality ingredients for our customers to enjoy', Tom Mahony from McDonald's Australia told FEMAIL. McDonald's sources its beef, chicken, potatoes, apples, milk, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, wheat flour, eggs, and onions from all around Australia. Matt Vela, a third-generation lettuce grower from Camden, is one of the dedicated farmers behind McDonald's mouth-watering food Matt Vella, a third-generation lettuce grower from Camden, is one of the dedicated farmers behind McDonald's mouth-watering food. 'We've proudly partnered with McDonald's for over a decade, supplying 3,000 kilograms of fresh, crisp iceberg lettuce each week, totaling more than 156,000 kilograms per year,' he said. Matt's lettuce is delivered to restaurants in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia. What was on McDonald's shopping list in 2023? Cheese is now a 'luxury buy' for many as the cost of living crisis grips Australia, but those who attempt to extend its life by slicing off mould may pay the price. American surgeon Dr Dana Brems has warned against removing visible mould from cheese and eating the rest, even though many have done so for years to save money. While it might be tempting to take a knife to a mouldy wedge of cheddar or brie - there are a few things to keep in mind if you don't want to end up with nausea, vomiting or allergic reactions. American surgeon Dr Dana Brems has warned against removing visible mould from cheese and eating the rest, even though many have done so for years to save money 'Mould is like an iceberg where there are some bits you can see on top, but deeper is more mould hiding that you can't see with the naked eye,' Dr Brems said. She said those looking to salvage their dairy to distinguish between the softer and the harder varieties of cheese. 'If you have a hard cheese like cheddar, you can cut at least once inch (almost three cm) around and below the mouldy spot... the cheese should be okay to eat because the mould doesn't penetrate as much in these dense cheeses,' she said. But the medical expert advised that you'll need to wash the knife between slices if you want to avoid any cross contamination issues. She said those looking to salvage their dairy to distinguish between the softer and the harder varieties of cheese Dr Brems said that softer cheeses such as blue cheese, brie, camembert and gorgonzola are much harder to save once any unsightly mould spores appear. 'For softer cheese such as brie or cottage cheese, if you see mould there's no telling how deep it really penetrates,' she said. 'Plus these cheeses are higher in water activity so you can have hydro-bacteria growing along with the mould. 'If you see mould on soft cheese, the whole thing goes right in the trash.' The doctor said that any pre shredded or sliced cheese that had gone mouldy also needed to be disposed of immediately, and not eaten. Dr Brems said that mould growing on softer cheeses carried a larger risk of causing nausea or vomiting, and that any soft cheese with visible mould needed to be disposed of and not eaten Dr Brems added that if you're immune compromised or allergic to mould it's best not to take any risk with eating cheese that had turned, and to just throw it away. Australian food scientist Gary Kennedy agrees with Dr Brems about soft cheeses becoming dangerous once mould forms. 'Mould is like a blue bottle, the bit you can see a the top is okay to touch, but the bits underneath are the poison,' he said. Dr Kennedy added that it's the same for any soft food such as jam and tomato sauce; it's never safe to remove the mould and just eat the rest. He explained that bread falls into the middle category between soft and hard food. He said if a slice of bread is showing signs of mould - remove a few slices on either side to make sure you've gotten the roots, and the rest should be safe to consume. Dr Kennedy cautioned that repeated exposure to mould can have similar effects on the body as chemical poisoning, and isn't something to take lightly. Many Europeans and Aussies were outraged that they were being advised to dispose of mouldy cheese. 'This is an entirely American view and not correct. If the mould is black, red/orange, then yes its trash. You can absolutely cut away white, blue, green and yellow mould and its fine, if not better,' one cheese monger said. 'In France, we eat a lot of mouldy cheese. Food Legislation in Europe is also very rigorous and I never heard of a medical case of food poisoning due to mouldy cheese,' another agreed. But Dr Kennedy argued that the mould we have in Australia is different from mould in other parts of the world - and it's not worth messing with. Queen Mary of Denmark has been pictured days after a horse-riding accident left her with painful scrapes along her jawline. The Australian-born queen matched her Band-Aid to her skin tone carefully - but its rough texture was hard to miss as she arrived at the funeral of former court chief Per Thornit in Copenhagen. The large bandage covered a graze which palace insiders claim she got while riding. Mary has been forced to show her resilient nature recently after a string of accidents and near-misses. The horse riding incident, which happened at home between royal tours of neighbouring countries, comes weeks after she was knocked to the ground in Greenland. The 52-year-old was greeting fans in the country's capital Nuuk when she was hit by a scooter ridden by an elderly man. Mary's youngest children, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, were just metres away when the monarch was knocked to the ground, horrifying onlookers. King Frederik was also greeting fans nearby when the dark grey scooter struck his wife, causing her to lose her balance. Queen Mary of Denmark has been pictured days after a horse-riding accident left her with painful scrapes along her jawline The Australian-born queen matched her Band-Aid to her skin tone carefully - but its rough texture was hard to miss as she entered the funeral of former court chief Per Thornit in Copenhagen She appeared to hide the injury when she walked into the funeral The popular royal cried out as she fell and looked frazzled after the incident, but managed to maintain her composure after regaining her feet. Her security guards quickly leapt into action and stopped the scooter from moving any further. The driver of the scooter appeared more shaken than the queen following the incident, saying he 'did not know what happened'. The elderly man said he had meant to extend his arm toward Queen Mary, hoping she would take it, but hit the accelerator instead. The Palace media team confirmed Mary was not hurt during the incident and she was able to continue on her planned schedule of events. A spectator said the crowd was left in shock following the incident. 'I could see how much it hurt her, her eyes watered immediately. It must hurt to be hit at that speed. The police immediately barricaded and removed her from the situation,' he said. More than 13million Americans will have dementia by 2050, estimates suggest more than double the number today. The disease robs patients of their mental faculties, leaving them struggling to talk, express themselves and understand others. And while communicating with someone suffering from the disease can be challenging, experts are seeking to help families connect with their loved ones. Researchers have now revealed a list of 16 things you should never say to a dementia patient because they could cause them stress or confusion. More than 13million Americans will have dementia by 2050, estimates suggest more than double the number today (stock) Dana Eble, outreach manager for the Alzheimer's Caregivers Network in Detroit, Michigan who was not involved with the list, told Fox News: 'Most people do not have regular interactions with those living with dementia, so it can be hard to know the do's and don'ts of what to say and how to behave. 'Unfortunately, even the most well-meaning of interactions can lead to stress or confusion for someone experiencing cognitive decline.' The complete list, mostly published in January this year, is revealed below: 1. Don't you remember Experts placed this at the top of the list of questions never to ask a dementia patient. They warned it could force a sufferer to acknowledge that they don't remember an event or conversation, making them feel uncomfortable, stressed or embarrassed. The Alzheimer's Society also warned online that it could make them feel like 'they are being tested'. Instead of posing this question, experts recommended starting a statement with 'I remember when' before continuing. That way, a sufferer can search for a memory calmly without any feelings of stress or embarrassment the experts said. 2. 'I've just told you that' The second most important thing never to do with a dementia sufferer is to remind them that they have asked the same question, experts said. Patients may do this because of short-term memory loss or as they are struggling to express a particular emotional need or desire. Dementia sufferers may struggle to remember events, or express a memory Experts warned that reminding them they have just asked the question earlier will not help them remember next time, but will remind them of their condition which can be distressing. They add: 'Bear in mind, that for them, it is likely to feel like the first time they have asked the question.' Instead, families were recommended to answer repeated questions calmly and patiently with an even tone of voice. In cases where someone feels they need a break, the experts said it would be best to remove themselves from the conversation. 3. 'Your brother died ten years ago' A hallmark of dementia is struggling to remember events, including deaths within the family that happened years or decades ago. 'Reminding them of a loved one's death can be very painful, and they may react as though hearing the news for the first time all over again,' the Alzheimer's Society said. Instead, they recommended talking to them about the person they are talking about and then distracting them by moving on to a new topic. It could also be worth asking the individual how they are feeling, especially about a particular person or family member. 4. 'Let me do that for you' Experts say that one of the hardest parts of dementia sufferers is the realization they can no longer do tasks that they used to complete with ease. Christina Chartrand, Florida-based vice president of Senior Helpers a home care company, said: 'Often, well-meaning individuals might prematurely take over tasks without asking or assessing if they need to, which can diminish the person's sense of autonomy. 'Instead of assuming that they can't do something, it's more respectful to offer help and let them tell you if they need it and allow them to still do the things they can for as long as possible.' Experts have suggested that dementia rates are set to rise in the US. But a study published in November 2022 suggested the opposite, saying the country's dementia rates had actually fallen by a third in the last decade But the researchers, from the California-based RAND organization, did see a slight rise in cases among women 5. 'You're wrong' Dementia sufferers can often get facts, events or words mixed up because of their condition. But experts say you should never tell a sufferer that what they have said is incorrect, adding that trying to correct them will only likely cause anger. Instead, families are advised to keep the peace and not correct them. 'Keep the peace,' said Dr Elizabeth Landsverk, a California-based geriatrician, 'people with dementia do not need to be corrected when they believe it's Tuesday the 13th and not Monday the 1st.' 6. 'Lets have a cup of tea now, then after that we can go for nice walk and get lunch and something else to drink in that cafe you like next to the big church in town.' Long and complex sentences are a no-no with dementia sufferers, say experts. They can often be difficult to grasp, even for someone without the disease, and be challenging to process because they express several ideas at once. Instead, people should use short and simple sentences to clearly express their ideas or give directions or instructions. The Alzheimer's Society adds: 'Avoid speaking too much in loud or busy environments, and wait until you have the person's full attention before you start. Some well-meaning comments can upset dementia sufferers, experts suggest 'During a conversation, give the person enough time to process what you are saying.' 7. 'What did you do this morning?' People should avoid asking sufferers open-ended questions about the past, experts said. 'It could be stressful for a person with dementia if they can't remember the answer,' says the Alzheimer's Society. 'While it might seem polite to ask somebody about their day, it's better to focus on what's happening in the present.' Instead of asking the question, experts said that you should speak briefly about your own day and then leave time for your relative to respond. 8. 'You seem fine' Symptoms and experiences of dementia can vary greatly among sufferers, experts say. 'Society often has a preconceived notion of what dementia looks and acts like, and if someone doesn't fit that stereotype, it might seem tempting to use this phrase as a compliment, said Massachusetts-based licensed speech-language therapist Adria Thompson. 'However, this phrase can belittle the individual's daily struggle and experiences with it.' 9. 'Do you recognize me?' It can be distressing for dementia sufferers when they are asked whether they remember someone, especially if they have a close relationship. The Alzheimer's Society says online: 'Remember that it is likely to be upsetting for them to not recognize people around them too. 'Asking the person if they know who you are can make them feel guilty or anxious if they don't remember or offended if they do.' Instead, they recommended greeting a dementia sufferer with a 'warm hello' and keeping it friendly. Someone could also say their name and relationship to them, they said, to help the patient. 10. 'I'll just help you use your little spoon there, love?' Speaking to a dementia sufferer like they are an old person or a child should generally be avoided, experts said. This includes taking a high-pitched voice with them, and using words like 'love' and 'deary' which can be patronizing and infantilizing. Instead, they said it may be better to speak slower than usual or lower your tone if that will help the family member. 'Some people may like to be called "love" or "dear",' the Alzheimer's Society said, 'but unless you know the person it is usually best to use their name instead. This helps keep their dignity intact.' 11. 'You're not making any sense' It is important not to criticize a dementia sufferer's communication because this can damage their self-esteem, experts said. Instead, they suggested people should be patient and make an effort to understand their perspective. 12. 'You're being difficult on purpose' This phrase can be seen as being hurtful and dismissive by a dementia patient. Experts also warned that labeling a behavior as 'difficult' could increase frustration. Instead, they recommended using 'empathy and understanding'. 13. Using words like "bib" or "diaper" As the disease worsens, some patients may end up needing around the clock care. This may include using products for patients to help them with incontinence or to make male times easier. But, to avoid any child-like connotations, experts recommended using positive language for these products, instead calling them 'protective underwear', 'cloth' or 'apron', for example. 14. 'That's not how it happened' This can also lead to a confused atmosphere in the home and increase distress or discomfort for a patient. Instead, experts again say it is better not to correct their mistakes. They recommend gently guiding them towards the right answer, if possible. 15. 'Do you want [insert activity]?' In some cases, dementia sufferers can feel bamboozled when activities are phrased as questions. Kate Granigan, a geriatric social care worker in Boston, told FOX News: 'If you're the primary caregiver in charge of your loved one's toileting, showering, feeding or sleeping schedule, you should lead with "Let's go to the bathroom, shower, kitchen". 'Adding that bit of direction will help maintain their schedule.' 16. 'What would you like to wear today?' Open-ended questions may be distressing to dementia sufferers. Instead, they recommended laying out two options in front of them for the patient to choose from. For example, laying out a red and a blue sweater and asking: 'Which one would you rather wear?' England's child obesity crisis is laid bare today in a sobering interactive map revealing the areas where kids are too heavy by the time they start secondary school. Stark figures show 47 per cent of Year 6 pupils in Knowsley, Merseyside, are classed as either overweight or obese. For comparison, this is nearly twice the levels logged in leafy areas such as Surrey and Richmond-upon-Thames, according to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Experts labelled this significant variation across parts of England, a 'postcode lottery', with the government forced to admit that Britain was in the grip of a 'childhood obesity crisis'. Your browser does not support iframes. Nationally, the rate still stands at over a third 36.6 per cent despite having fallen slightly since Covid began. However, this is an increase of three per cent since 2015, according to official figures. More a million children have their height and weight measured under the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) every year. Among Year 6 pupils, national obesity fell from 23.4 per cent in 2021/22 to 22.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of youngsters deemed either overweight or obese also dipped, from 37.8 per cent to 36.6. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels. But when broken down by local authorities, data commissioned from the House of Commons library by the Liberal Democrats showed 47.2 per cent of Year 6 pupils were either overweight or obese in Knowsley. This was followed by the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Newham with rates of 45.7 and 45.5 per cent respectively. Barking and Dagenham also took the obesity top spot with almost a third (31.7 per cent) of kids aged 10 to 11 classed as obese. Outside of London, rates combining overweight and obesity stood at 45.2 per cent in Sandwell and 44.8 per cent in Wolverhampton. In Surrey, conversely, obesity and overweight accounted for 24.9 per cent, with 25.1 per cent in Richmond-upon-Thames. Cambridge saw the largest rise in overweight children since 2015, with a spike of almost 68 per cent in the proportion of Year 6 youngsters classed as overweight. Over a million children had their height and weight measured under the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among children in Year 6 stands at over a third, despite having fallen slightly since Covid began Areas in Nottinghamshire also reported significant rises in childhood obesity over the past nine years, including Rushcliffe (67 per cent rise), Mansfield (65 per cent rise) and Bassetlaw (57 per cent rise). Dr Adam Briggs, senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation, told The Times: 'Tackling childhood obesity will require much tougher action on the marketing and sales of unhealthy food. 'Our latest polling with Ipsos also shows there is broad public support for taxes on unhealthy food, with the revenue used to fund healthy food for low-income families. 'Failure to invest in vital preventive services will mean worsening health and widening health inequalities, which will be felt across society and the economy.' Childhood obesity has been a growing issue for years, with easy access to fast food, more screen time and sedentary lifestyles blamed for spiralling rates in some parts of the UK. The NCMP, responsible for today's data, was established in state-funded schools in England in 2006 and was considered a key element of the former Government's war on childhood obesity. The NCMP measures the height and weight of children which are then used to generate a Body Mass Index. This is compared to a national scale to determine whether that child is underweight, normal, overweight or obese. But last year, researchers from Queen Mary University of London warned the programme may do more harm than good and potentially encourage eating disorders in kids. Parents of slim children have even complained about their kids wrongly being labelled fat. Responding to the figures today, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'We face a childhood obesity crisis, setting up kids for an unhealthy life and greater pressures on the NHS. Your browser does not support iframes. 'This government will tackle it head on. 'We have commissioned Lord Darzi to establish the state of the nation's health service. 'His findings will inform our ten-year plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future and able to confront the obesity crisis head on. 'We will shift our focus from treatment to prevention to ease the strain on the NHS and help people to live well for longer.' Labour ministers have pledged to introduce tight restrictions on advertising junk food, alongside a ban on children being able to purchase sugary, high-caffeine energy drinks. It comes as the World Health Organization last year also revealed 37million children under the age of five are now overweight globally four million more than at the turn of the century. Australia ranked second in the table of 198 countries, with 21.8 per cent of children there classified as overweight. Britain was 22nd (11.3 per cent), while the US claimed 52nd spot (7.9 per cent). The WHO has warned obesity globally is 'moving in the wrong direction' and shows 'no immediate sign of reversion'. Obesity doesn't just expand waistlines but health care costs, with the NHS spending an estimated 6.1billion annually on treating weight-related disease like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. She is the movie star the internet can't stop talking about. Blake Lively, 37, has sparked controversy with the press tour of her recently released movie, It Ends With Us, due to her 'offensive' and 'inappropriate' comments said to downplay the severity of the film' subject matter, domestic violence. Viral clips show the actor, who is married to Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, encouraging people to watch the dark and 'triggering' film by saying, 'grab your girls and wear your florals!' But it's not just Lively's attitude that's attracted attention; cosmetic surgeons have been focused on her face, too. Or rather, how its changed over the years. In a hugely popular video that's been viewed nearly 150,000 times, top cosmetic doctor Dr Jonny Betteridge has highlighted the series of procedures that may explain her transformation. Dr Jonny Betteridge of London clinic JB Aesthetics has voiced suspicions that the mother-of-four has undergone procedures to change the appearance of her eyes, nose and lips. Dr Betteridge said he suspects she's undergone cosmetic treatments to change the appearence of her upper eyelids, nose, lips and teeth. Contrasting an image of Lively early on in her career, with a recent picture taken almost two decades later at the It Ends With Us premiere, he said: 'Treatments to achieve this transformation would involve Botox to soften fine lines and wrinkles. 'Upper eyelid surgery to reduce the appearance of hooded eyes, a nose job to create a narrow nose bridge and sharper contour and lip filler to increase the size and volume of the lips.' He added that the mother-of four has likely also undergone 'intricate dental work' including 'gum contouring and veneers' to achieve the perfect smile. Gum contouring is a procedure that lasts around one hour, and involves using a laser or surgical instruments to remove gum tissue so it looks more in proportion to the teeth. Dr Betteridge is complimentary of Lively's cosmetic work, adding that it looks 'natural and proportionate. There has been speculation about potential changes to her face over the years, though she's never confirmed them; (L) seen August 6, (R) seen in 2005 Dr Betteridge is not the only expert to have commented on the star's suspected procedures. Earlier this year, Dana Omari-Harrell, who runs a popular plastic surgery-themed Instagram account @IGFamousByDana, also claimed the star may have undergone a rhinoplasty. Sharing a number of photos featuring Blake over the years, she wrote, 'a little birdie told me Blake Livelys gorgeous rhinoplasty was performed by Dr. Thomas Romo in NYC (who graduated from Baylor Medical in Houston).' 'Obviously this post isnt a full breakdown of what I believe she's had for the amazing and natural-looking glow up. I have talked about Blake's nose job and her bleph before, but never a full breakdown.' 'Anyway, just wanted to share her (alleged) plastic surgeon responsible for this gorgeous rhinoplasty,' she added. Lively has never publicly confirmed or denied having a rhinoplasty. She has also never shared whether she's a fan of non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as fillers or injections like Botox. Though she glams it up for the red carpet, the star previously told Vogue that she keep her make-up casual for her everyday life. On a day-to-day basis I just normally wear sunscreen, tinted moisturizer and nothing else really. Nothing really make-uppy,' she shared. It's also been reported that she's a fan of facial steamers, as per Women's Health. In 2011, pictures of the actress surfaced from her time at Burbank High School in California. The blonde bombshell's evolution from baby-faced teen to Hollywood A-lister is a testament to her undeniable star power; seen on Tuesday On Thursday, Dana Omari-Harrell, who runs a popular plastic surgery-themed Instagram account @ IGFamousByDana, claimed the star may have undergone a rhinoplasty; (L) seen on August 8, (R) seen 2005 Sharing a number of photos featuring Blake over the years, she wrote, 'A little birdie told me Blake Livelys gorgeous rhinoplasty was performed by Dr. Thomas Romo in NYC (who graduated from Baylor Medical in Houston)'; Blake seen in 2006 Lively has never publicly confirmed or denied having a rhinoplasty; (L) seen in 2005, (R) seen in July, 2024 Though she glams it up for the red carpet, the star previously told Vogue that she keep her make-up casual for her everyday life; seen in 2007 In 2011, pictures of the actress surfaced from her time at Burbank High School in California. Her yearbook picture from 2002 shows the star with crooked teeth that were soon straightened out with braces Images from her later school years clearly show her blossoming into the confident actress we know today. In one frame, the star can be seen striking a pose in a figure-hugging formal dress Seen in 2008 in Brooklyn during her Gossip Girl days Of course, the actress is now in darling on the red carpet, with designers queuing up to dress her; (L) seen in 2014, (R) seen in 2018 The star has never shared whether she's a fan of non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as fillers or injections like Botox; Pictured August 4 Her yearbook picture from 2002 shows the star with crooked teeth that were soon straightened out with braces. She also experimented with her long blonde locks during her youth, trying out tight curls during one cheerleading competition. Images from her later school years clearly show her blossoming into the confident actress we know today. In one frame, the star can be seen striking a pose in a figure-hugging formal dress that is slashed to the thigh. Of course, the actress is now in darling on the red carpet, with designers queuing up to dress her. Nowadays Lively is a busy mom to four kids; James, nine, Inez, seven, Betty, four, and Olin, one. On Thursday, she looked stunning in another elegant floral gown while attending the It Ends With Us premiere in London. The movie follows Lily, a floral designer who falls in love with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (portrayed by Justin Baldoni), years after losing touch with her first love, Atlas (played by Brandon), after he joined the military. Blake rose to fame starring on the hit show Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. She went on to star in films like The Town (2010), Green Lantern (2011), and The Shallows (2016); seen in 2014 The mom-of-four has also experimented with different hairstyles throughout her career; seen in 2019 But things get dramatic after Lily reconnects with Atlas after running into him at a restaurant, just as her romance with Ryle starts to turn abusive. Lively rose to fame starring on the hit show Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. She went on to star in films like The Town (2010), Green Lantern (2011), The Age of Adaline (2015), The Shallows (2016) and A Simple Favor (2018). In the Age of Adaline, Lively plays Adaline Bowman a woman who miraculously remains 29 for nearly eight decades following an accident. A mother-of-three has issued a stark warning against energy drinks after her husband suffered a deadly cardiac arrest as a result of glugging 'two to three cans a day'. In a social media video that has now amassed five million views, store manager Meagan Shreve explained how her husband's caffeinated soda habit caused his 'heart to stop'. Doctors had to perform chest compressions on Aaron Shreve, 34, to resuscitate him, resulting in broken ribs, claimed his wife. Shreve remained in hospital for 'five to six weeks' while cardiologists monitored his heart. Doctors ultimately concluded his attack was a result of 'dehydration and he was having too many energy drinks.' Meagan Shreve, from Colorado Springs, USA, says her husband suffered a shock cardiac arrest one January evening, which she believes was caused by his energy drink habit In comments beside the video, Mrs Shreve clarifies that her husband was drinking 'two to three' energy drinks per day, plus coffee. 'This can be extremely, extremely dangerous...I watched this 105 pound [47 kilograms] woman drag my husband out of a chair and start chest compressions so hard that she broke his ribs,' said Mrs Shreve, who is based in Colorado in the US. 'I saw everybody flood in. I was pushed against a wall not knowing what to do. So if you're not gonna [sic] do it for yourself, do it for the people in your life so they don't have to witness something like this.' The ordeal began in January this year, Mrs Shreve said. 'One night, at the beginning of January, my husband woke me up in the middle of the night and said he was not feeling great. 'His heart was racing, his hands and feet were going numb and he just didn't feel right. Aaron Shreve suffered broken ribs after medics had to restart his heart following a cardiac arrest. 'I thought he was having a panic attack...he was like, I think you need to call 9-1-1, I think I need to go to the hospital.' Mrs Shreve claimed that 'in less than a minute' of seeing a hospital doctor, her husband had collapsed. 'All these alarms started going off...his heart stopped.' She added that a staff member 'yanked' him out of his chair and began chest compressions in an attempt to restart his heart. 'She called the alarm, people were basically coming to revive him.' Thankfully the doctors were able to restart Mr Shreve's heart and, after six weeks of monitoring, he was able to return home. Although at first, medics had 'no answers', as there was 'essentially nothing wrong with him', they eventually concluded the arrest was a result of Mr Shreve's consumption of 'Red Bull'. One can contains around 80mg of caffeine - 20mg less than the average cup of coffee. Mr Shreve is said to have consumed 2-3 cans, up to 240mg, prior to his heart problems. 'The emergency room doctors said they were attributing it to the Red Bull,' she said in a follow-up post. The drinks were said to exacebate the effects of dehydration, according to Mrs Shreve. A number of studies have linked energy drinks to heart problems, including irregular heartbeats and cardiac arrest. In June, findings from a Mayo clinic analysis found that out of 144 cardiac arrests studied, seven patients had drunk an energy drink shortly before the deadly event. The seven individuals were all prone to cardiac arrhythmias due to genetic heart disease. The risk is thought to lie with the mega doses of caffeine in some energy drinks. While the average cup of coffee contains around 100mg of caffeine, energy drinks like Monster contain up to 160mg. One can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine. Drinking caffeine promotes the release of the hormones noradrenaline and norepinephrine, which can increase heart rate and blood pressure. Experts have also raised concerns about other chemicals found in energy drinks, such as taurine, which some suggest has stimulant properties. For most people the caffeine is well tolerated, but others experience palpitations or extra beats from the heart. The Food Standards Agency says 400mg per day is safe for adults. However experts say those with a rare heart problem called long QT syndrome (LQTS) may be especially vulnerable to even small doses of caffeine. The condition, whereby the heart struggles to recharge between beats, doesn't always cause symptoms, which means many sufferers may not be aware they have it. 'The magnitude and the combination of the chemicals in energy drinks can catch the vulnerable heart off guard and send it into a potentially lethal heart rhythm that leads to sudden cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death,' said Dr Michael Ackerman, genetic cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He added that while the absolute risk of danger is 'very low' for those without heart defects, the potential for harm to a 'fragile heart' is higher. 'For my patients with long QT syndrome or any genetic heart disease that is associated with sudden cardiac death, the appropriate dose of a highly caffeinated energy drink is 0,' he said. It comes days after it was revealed that a 'fit and healthy' Oklahoma 18-year-old died of a shock heart attack linked to his energy drink consumption. Zach Doran had been in the habit of using both pre-workout - a stimulant powder added to water, and energy drinks, before his gym session. Doran's girlfriend, Libby Gilmore, said his death had made her 'want to show how harmful these drinks and ingredients can be'. Meanwhile in May last year, experts in the UK called for a ban on energy drinks in school after a young, Welsh pupil suffered a cardiac arrest following a binge on the soda. 'Drinking caffeinated drinks too quickly may lead to breathing trouble, changes in alertness, agitation, confusion, hallucinations and even convulsions (seizures),' pharmacist Abbas Kanani told MailOnline. 'Caffeine also stimulates the gastrointestinal tract, which can lead to an upset stomach, nausea and diarrhoea.' Schools in two states experiencing a rise in Covid cases announced they were closing facilities and switching to remote learning. Alabama and Tennessee announced the closure of two schools affecting more than a thousand children just days into the new academic year, with officials saying the virus had forced them to shut and carry out a 'deep clean.' At one of the schools, children had to abandon their desks and revert to remote learning for two days a move reminiscent of the early days of Covid. The closures both in Republican states came despite a mountain of evidence suggesting they hamper children's learning, social interactions and ability to develop natural immunity to common infections. And there are fears that more disruption could be in store for students in the coming months with many schools, in states like New York, New Jersey and Michigan, returning after the Labor Day weekend. Johnson-Abernathy-Graetz (JAB) high school in Montgomery, Alabama, closed for two days and switched to remote learning just four days into its new term amid a surge in Covid cases Stigall elementary in western Tennessee also closed for a day just a week into its new term for deep cleaning Johnson-Abernathy-Graetz (JAB) high school in Montgomery, Alabama, which has 1,500 students in grades 9 through 12, made the decision to switch to virtual classes just four days into its new academic year after 15 teachers caught Covid. There was no data on how many students were infected. Staff and children were told to stay home on Wednesday, August 14 and Thursday, August 15 and attend lessons via remote learning while a deep clean was conducted in the school buildings. The school has now re-opened with masks and disinfection wipes available in every classroom. Masks have not been made mandatory. At Stigall Elementary, part of the Humboldt school system in western Tennessee, a one-day closure was announced just a week into the new term amid an 'uptick' in cases. The 246 students through first grade had to stay home on Tuesday, August 13 as their school was cleaned, with parents forced to either skip work or hire a babysitter. A spokesperson for the school did not reveal how many staff or children had tested positive, only saying they had recorded an 'uptick.' Jessica Williamson, a mother of a first grader at the school, told FOX13: 'Everyone is like, "Covid is back, Covid is back." 'Those are little kids. They're most prone to put things in their mouths, to touch each other, to just share germs.' She had to find a babysitter for her daughter for the day, but said she preferred that to her child catching Covid which could lead to her being at home for multiple days. Teachers will now also be required to wipe down desks and desktop surfaces with disinfectant every time students move from class to class. Masks have not been made mandatory, and no other pandemic-era policies like social distancing have been brought back. Covid cases have increased across the US in recent weeks, thought to be driven by summer travel and gatherings. Eighteen percent of swabs were positive for the virus in the week to August 17, the latest available up 40 percent from a month earlier. But these levels are far below those from the most severe days of the pandemic, when the proportion of tests detecting the virus surged over 30 percent. Hospitalizations and deaths are also much lower than at earlier periods of the pandemic, although rising slightly with experts saying most people now only suffer from a mild illness because of previous immunity from vaccines or infections. Covid cases have risen in recent weeks, which experts say is likely being driven by summer travel and gatherings The Covid hospitalization rate - 4.4 per 100,000 people - is also far below the peak of 35.4 per 100,000 people in 2022 when the Omicron variant was spreading. It is also lower than the of 10.9 per 100,000 and 7.7 per 100,000 at the start of 2024. Data also shows there were 696 deaths involving Covid recorded in the week to July 27, the latest available, well-below the tally from previous waves and less than a third of the level in January this year when 2,500 fatalities were being recorded every seven days. Several studies have been published since the pandemic warning how remote learning harmed children's development. They include the Education Recovery Scorecard paper from researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins among others which analyzed data from 7,800 school districts to determine the impact of remote learning. It found students in districts where remote learning was in place for most of the 2020 to 2021 school year fell, on average, more than half a grade behind in math. For comparison, those who had remote learning in place for just over a third of the year fell behind by just over a third of a grade. Another study published in early 2022 found children were performing worse in math and reading in 2020 and 2021 than before the pandemic began after analyzing the results of 7.3million exams. In the UK, experts have come forward to say lockdowns caused 'long-lasting and era-defining' harm to the education of children which could have been prevented. Takeaway coffees bought from popular High Street outlets contain up to three times as much caffeine as ground coffee brewed at home, a study shows. Consumers who drink just three or four cups a day may exceed the safe daily limit for the stimulant of 400mg, researchers warned. Tests on more than 200 coffees bought from popular chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee revealed Americanos had the highest caffeine levels averaging around 140mg per drink. Home-made coffees made with one teaspoon of ground coffee per person had the lowest levels around 23mg. Caffeine is a stimulant which can cause insomnia, nausea, rapid heart rate and headaches when drunk to excess. Tests on more than 200 coffees bought from popular chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee revealed Americanos had the highest caffeine levels averaging around 140mg per drink Caffeine is a stimulant which can cause insomnia, nausea, rapid heart rate and headaches when drunk to excess The findings, published in the journal Nutrients, come just days after a separate team of scientists from Zydus Medical College and Hospital in India found drinking more than 400mg of caffeine a day is linked to higher blood pressure a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Caffeine is thought to be the most widely-used stimulant in the world. Millions rely on it to kick-start their day and shake off the morning slumber. But the NHS recommends limiting daily consumption to 400mg due to the potentially dangerous side-effects of over-consumption. For pregnant women, the limit is just 200mg. But scientists from the National Institute for Public Health in Warsaw, Poland, set out to test caffeine levels in takeaway coffees after becoming concerned that many consumers might be drinking too much. They analysed samples of espresso, cappuccino, latte and Americanos from Starbucks and Costa Coffee, as well as branches of McDonald's, petrol stations, grocery stores and bakeries. They found a huge variation in caffeine content some had just 12.8mg per serving, others had more than 300mg. On average, researchers discovered, just two to three Americanos was often enough to exceed the daily caffeine limit. They said shop-bought coffees tend to be served in much larger quantities than those drunk at home, adding to caffeine intake. Coffee bean strength was also a factor. Research suggests British consumers now spend more money than ever before on takeaway coffees at an average 530 per person a year. In a report on their findings, researchers called for coffee lovers to be given more practical information on caffeine content. They said: 'High caffeine intake is not harmless to health - it can cause muscle tremors, insomnia, upset stomachs and tachycardia (rapid heart rate). 'We found coffees served in franchise shops had significantly higher caffeine levels than home-made ones. 'It would be advisable to have more practical guidance to avoid the regular intake of high doses of the stimulant.' Taco Bell will stop offering breakfast to its customers in a handful of stores, the chain has confirmed. Popular menu items such as the Breakfast Crunchwrap and Breakfast Burrito will no longer be sold in a 'small minority' of the fast-food locations from October this year. But Taco Bell fans hit out at the decision on social media this week labelling it 'criminal' and 'a nail in the coffin' for the business. A spokesman for Taco Bell told DailyMail.com it had given its franchises the option to stop offering breakfast to 'streamline' their menus. It is unclear which of the restaurant's 8,500 will be affected but the 500 company-owned stores are guaranteed to keep offering the service. Select Taco Bell restaurants in the US are removing breakfast items in October to 'streamline' its menus 'Taco Bell is constantly evolving our menu to better serve our franchisees, team members and fans,' a spokesman said in a statement. 'With that said, breakfast will continue to be served in the majority of Taco Bell restaurants as only a small minority have opted out of serving breakfast.' The decision to eliminate breakfast came as a surprise as sales of the menu item had 'improved' in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent earnings call. 'Our Breakfast Crunchwraps and Breakfast Burritos are simple yet craveable,' Taco Bell said. 'That's why we are continuing to serve breakfast in the majority of our restaurants, including all company-owned restaurants,' The company's breakfast elimination announcement also came just two weeks after Yum Brands confirmed that Taco Bell's US same-store sales rose by 5 percent in Q2 2024, according to its August 6 report. However, Yum's CEO David Gibbs credited its recent menu changes and Cravings Value Menu items rather than breakfast while speaking with Restaurant Dive. Taco Bell features 19 breakfast menu items, one being special salsa and six being burritos. The restaurant chain also has two and 12-pack Cinnabon Delights treats for Taco Bell customers who are looking to start their day with a cinnamon treat. Its Breakfast Salsa is free, while its other breakfast items are worth $1.69 to $7.19 depending on store location. Taco Bell does not offer breakfast items all day, and its locations usually serve items off this menu anytime between 7:00 and 11:00. Taco Bell currently has three breakfast quesadillas starting at $3.99. It's also has a Breakfast Quesadilla Combo order starting at $6.49 Social media users were unhappy to learn Taco Bell would remove its breakfast items from select locations, and one person called the company's controversial change 'criminal' Besides burritos and Cinnabon delights, Taco Bell offers customers special breakfast crunchwraps, quesadillas, and a hashbrown. Now that breakfast items will be removed from select Taco Bell locations, the company plans to focus on their menu additions like its new Cantina Chicken Menu. The restaurant chain also plans to 'ramp up' its coffee program and test other breakfast items in company stores in response to its 'breakfast reset moment.' Various X users were unhappy to learn of Taco Bell's decision to eliminate breakfast after many praised its items over the last two weeks. 'The @tacobell worker just told me that all Taco Bells are going to stop selling breakfast in September. Please don't, you'll ruin my Saturday morning tradition,' an X user wrote. The @tacobell worker just told me that all Taco Bells are gonna stop selling breakfast in September. Please don't, you'll ruin my Saturday morning tradition. #SaveTacoBellBreakfast pic.twitter.com/h9TxxgjCTO Mitchell Monroe (@ClockworthClone) August 24, 2024 Meanwhile Reddit users described the decision as 'criminal.' 'The breakfast Crunchwraps are S-tier fast food breakfast items, and they're pretty much the only breakfast item I order from there. I would be bummed to see it go, a Reddit user wrote. Another wrote: 'Their breakfast Crunchwrap is straight up better than a regular Crunchwrap. This would be devastating.' Others claimed the breakfast items were the only reason they went to the restaurant chain anymore, and at least four commenters refused to eat at Taco Bell if the company goes through with the menu removal. 'This will seriously be the nail in the coffin for me. Between getting rid of all my favorites and jacking up prices on anything else, the occasional breakfast Crunchwrap is the only reason I go anymore,' a Reddit user wrote. Theresa May followed our first Fat Cat Files report on the pay and perks showered on FTSE 100 chief executives with an attempted clampdown on boardroom excess. She ordered a list be compiled of firms where there had been a significant shareholder rebellion against over-generous rewards. The idea was to name and shame companies she described as 'damaging the social fabric of our country'. The register, which still exists, is a table of companies where at least one in five investors protested against pay at the annual meeting. The hope as it transpired, a vain one was that this would put the brakes on executive rewards. In control?: The new Labour government seems disinclined to bother much about top pay Our latest Fat Cat pay report shows that although pay has gone up, there are fewer rebellions by shareholders. Perhaps big City investors, who are the owners of the businesses on our behalf, have simply lost the will to object, faced as they are by the granite stubbornness of the high pay culture. We have not reached the extremes here of the US, where coffee chain Starbucks offered its new chief executive Brian Niccol a deal where he could earn up to $100m (76m) in his first year. The ludicrous arrangement includes the use of the company's private jet to commute 1,000 miles from his California home to the office in Seattle three days a week. That level of largesse would still be considered obscene this side of the Atlantic.Particularly so in a company such as Starbucks where ordinary baristas are paid very modestly and tax payments, at least in this country, are tiny. If Niccol receives his full performance-linked package, it would dwarf the Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) tax payment of just 7.15m last year, compared with sales of 548m and gross profit of 149m. During Covid, a number of Footsie bosses decided to forgo bonuses in solidarity with their struggling customers and staff. They are now making up for lost time: pay has ballooned and their perks are as shameless as ever. Why is it so hard to stop the greed? The market for talent is international and some FTSE 100 chiefs agitate for US-style packages, despite the companies they run tending to be smaller and less cut-throat. Niccol's predecessor, the former Reckitt Benckiser chief executive Laxman Narasimhan, was brutally ousted after a very brief tenure, which is less common here. A big boss who tries to forswear mammon would not be popular with the next tier of senior managers, as his or her rewards set a ceiling on theirs. My suspicion is that is the reason Chris O'Shea, the CEO of British Gas owner Centrica, started accepting his bonuses after a couple of years doing without. Those at the top of the pay league, Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, Tufan Erginbilgic at Rolls-Royce and Charles Woodburn at BAE Systems, have performed well and delivered handsome rewards for investors. The same cannot be said of others. And can individuals be credited with share price rises that are influenced by factors outside their control, and performance that is a collective achievement? The new Labour government seems disinclined to bother much about top pay, saying it is purely a matter for shareholders. Theresa May was closer to reality when she said excessive rewards are corrosive to society. Perhaps Labour is too busy surrendering to union barons to pay attention to boardrooms, but it seems odd to be so complacent. An influencer has been slammed for 'fangirling' the Taliban after an 'appalling' Instagram post as she visited Afghanistan on a trip that coincided with a woman being sentenced to death by stoning. 'Solo female traveller' Geenyada Abdi said visiting the war-ravaged nation was a 'dream come true' as she posed smiling next to AK-47-toting terrorists in a post that is now pinned to the top of her social media. Other videos showed her 'exploring life under Taliban control' as she strolled through Kabul - gushing that the male-dominated streets are 'incredibly friendly'. It comes as a woman called Madina has been sentenced to be executed by stoning after having an extramarital affair, Afghan newspaper 8AM Media reports. The lady is said to be 'rural and illiterate', with questions raised over the 'ambiguous and questionable' wording of the Arabic sentences used in her alleged confession. The Taliban regime announced that it would resume publicly stoning women to death in March - with their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada responding to furious responses by saying: 'I represent Allah, and you represent Satan.' Abdi has been slammed by women's activists in Afghanistan, who have branded the image she presents of the terrorist organisation as 'appalling'. 'Solo female traveller' Geenyada Abdi said visiting the war-ravaged nation was a 'dream come true' as she posed smiling next to AK-47-toting terrorists Other videos showed her 'exploring life under Taliban control' as she strolled through Kabul - gushing that the male-dominated streets are 'incredibly friendly bdi has been slammed by women's activists in Afghanistan, who have branded the image she presents of the terrorist organisation as 'appalling' Taliban security personnel of Afghanistan military's 205 Al-Badr Corps sit atop a military vehicle during a parade to celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban's takeover of the country The influencer captioned the post: 'Met with the Tali*an #Afghanistan #afghan #kabul #travel #explore #viral #viral2024' Nilofar Ayoubi, who is the former leader of the Women Movement and wrote the 8AM article about Madina, said: 'An Afghan woman has been sentenced to be executed by stoning death while Miss Madow fan-girling on the Taliban. 'While her visit to Afghanistan and her content creation about our country and culture are highly appreciated, what is not welcomed and, in fact, appalling, is the picture she's painting of the Taliban!' Abdi has travelled across the world on her own, visiting Somalia, Malaysia and India among others. She entered the country from Dubai, saying the country is 'misunderstood' and that she wanted to 'go experience what it feels like to be a Muslim woman in this Muslim country'. She said the image of the Taliban being terrorists is based on a 'Western... mindset' which is 'not true', before setting foot in the country. But after meeting with men from the proscribed terrorist group, in commentary dubbed over a clip of her beaming as she talks, she said she was 'super nervous'. The conversation was not recorded - with Abdi claiming it was because they would not allow her and her battery died. She said: 'I said can I ask the questions freely? And he's like, sure. You don't have to be afraid to ask questions. I said yes, but I want to be respectful. 'I was like - how come women don't have the same rights? How come women are not getting education past seventh grade, how come they can't work. Abdi has travelled across the world on her own, visiting Somalia, Malaysia and India among others. Pictured: In Egypt 'Honestly, guys, from the reactions of their faces, it's almost like they expected this question because I'm a woman and some of them were giving different answers and then that showed me that even within them they have different opinions on this. 'And the only answer that made sense that came out of one of their mouths was you know what, we're a new country, we're a new government and things will change. Everything takes time. 'I was like ok, is that it? He was like, yeah. That's it. They were like, what do you think about the government? 'I said, I can't say much about the government because if your people are ok with this government then who am I to say anything? I'm a foreigner. There's nothing I can say.' Photos from her trip show her raising her arms out at her sides as she overlooks the Afghan hills and talking with locals as she walked through Kabul. Captioning one clip, she says: 'I walked around Kabul, and the people were incredibly friendly. Though it's mostly men everywhere, they showed me great respect. 'They were curious about this Black Muslim girl so, they came to talk to me. Afghan people are hospitable; despite the language barrier, we still managed to laugh and interact.' Responding directly to fury following her photo with the Taliban, she added: 'I ended up asking for a photo and I did take a photo with them and I posted it on Twitter and it's just outrage - like people are going crazy, shame on you, you're against women's rights, women's education, women's jobs. 'That's not the case - this photo was just to simply say this is my experience, this is what I saw, this is how they treated me. Footage allegedly from 2015 shows the Taliban stoning a women to death, six years before their return to power in Afghanistan 'I am for all women's rights and I would love to see one day women getting educations and working and everything and I do understand my privileges, you know, but please don't take everything out of context. 'I'm posting so many beautiful things about Afghanistan, the culture, the people - don't judge me for one photo.' But, less repentant as she commented on Twitter, she replied to one person who said she had made 'the right kind of people mad' by saying she was 'dead' - Gen Z slang for finding something hilarious - with four laughing emojis. Another comment added: 'I'm not deleting anything. They love to twist narratives and take things out of context.' And in a third, when she was asked if people are still 'tripping over that Taliban pic', she responded: 'Lmaoo, yes. While so many YouTubers took selfies with them. Not only that, did whole interviews with them but are upset with my picture.' In another picture, she accepts that it is a country where 'men dominate many aspects of life' but says visiting it is 'a dream come true'. In one comment responding to a critical viewer, she conceded 'I don't agree with everything they do but I didn't see any issue being there.' A further clip sees her celebrating picking up her passport, as she says: 'Excuse me if I scream! Come on! Come on! Guess who's going to Afghanistan! Me! Me! Wow! Afghan burqa-clad women sit in front of a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Jalalabad on December 13, 2021 Afghan women take part in a protest at Shahr-e Naw in Kabul on December 16, 2021, demanding the right to education, jobs and political representation from the Taliban government Hundreds of Afghans gather in front of the governors office to requests humanitarian aid, in Qala-e-Naw, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021 Taliban fighters in a vehicle patrol the streets of Kabul on August 23, 2021 'Bro I've been dreaming of this trip for the past two years and finally I got my visa to Afghanistan.' The Taliban retook the middle eastern country in 2021, two decades after a US-led force removed them from power. The hardline Islamist power raced across the country before storming Kabul, with western forces leaving behind $7billion in equipment as they fled. Shortly after they returned to power, restrictions again began to be placed on women with Afghan society. By December, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice banned women from travelling more than 45 miles unless they were escorted by a male relative. They said transport could only be offered to those wearing Islamic hijabs and TV channels were banned from showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors. The ministry had also called on women TV journalists to wear hijabs while presenting. Akhundzada halted girls' education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade and imposed growing restrictions on women's participation in public and private workplaces, including barring them from employment with the United Nations and other aid organisations. Women are restricted from visiting public places such as parks, gyms, and bathhouses. In March, the Taliban further said that they would continue publicly stoning women to death for adultery. The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public shortly after coming to power Pictured: Taliban fighters patrol Kabul A member of the UK Armed Forces taking a rest at Kabul airport as they took part in the evacuation of entitled personnel Akhundzada took to the Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan to call Western human rights defenders horrifed at the acts 'representatives of the devil'. 'You say it's a violation of women's rights when we stone them to death. But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery,' he told the West in his harshest comments since taking over Afghanistan in 2021. 'We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,' he announced. 'These are all against your democracy but we will continue doing it. 'We both say we defend human rights we do it as God's representative and you as the devil's,' he added. 'You are treating women like animals, are these your rights?' In a further affront to international advocacy for women's rights, Akhundzada criticised the calls for such rights as contradictory to the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public shortly after coming to power. The punishments are similar to those during their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s. Akhundzada called on the Taliban foot soldiers to be resilient in opposing women's rights and said the war against Western democracy and values will continue for decades to come. In June, the Taliban held a horror mass flogging for 63 people at a sport stadium for offences ranging from 'fleeing from home' to 'disrespect'. The disturbing punishment event was held on Tuesday in Sar-e-Pul, northern Afghanistan and saw 48 men and 15 women lashed between 15 to 39 times. In addition to the sickening physical abuse, some victims were locally reported to have also received prison sentences lasting between six months and five years for their crimes. A woman took 16 different holidays in six months while using just 11.5 days of annual leave in the process. Ella Brown, 24, from Hockley, Essex, refused to let her job stop her from travelling and was keen to maximise the best ways to make use of her annual leave. In the first six months of the year, she visited 16 different countries - including Croatia, Italy and Germany - by using bank holidays and cramming in short breaks where possible over weekends. She also visited Turkey in August - using up a further nine days of her annual leave. Ms Brown said: 'It's a nice way to continue see the world and making the most of weekends and time off. Ella Brown, 24, from Hockley, Essex, refused to let her job stop her from travelling and was keen to maximise the best ways to make use of her annual leave In the first six months of the year, she visited 16 different countries - including Croatia, Italy and Germany 'I'll click on anywhere on my chosen dates on Skyscanner and it will come up with all the solutions. 'Don't turn your nose up at places you might not know. You don't realise how many lovely cities there are until you go there. 'I look at the time to see where I could strategically book dates. I'm always attaching it to weekends. 'This year is the first year I've really planned out what I wanted to do. It's all quite logical.' Ella first garnered a desire to travel around the world after taking a gap year in September 2021 - which saw her spend three months in the United States. After returning in September 2022 to start work, she was still keen to 'pursue travel' and looked at guides on how to maximise her 25 days off a year. Having planned a varied itinerary in December 2023, she chose to fly out to Malaga, Spain, in January with her boyfriend, Sam, 24, a physiotherapist - by using a half day one Friday and flying back on Sunday. Although their return flight was diverted, this actually worked in their favour, as they ended up spending a day in Paris on the way back. Ella continued: 'We made the most of it. Malaga was incredible. The UK is depressing as a place in winter and it's nice to get a bit of winter sun.' After returning in September 2022 to start work, she was still keen to 'pursue travel' and looked at guides on how to maximise her 25 days off a year. Pictured: Ella with her boyfriend Sam Keen traveller Ella is seen here at the world-famous Colosseum in Rome Then, in March the couple went to Nantes, France, for a weekend - using up no annual leave in the process, which cost them 170 each in total. In April, Ella and her family went inter-railing over the Easter weekend - taking four days of annual leave. She said: 'We did Rome, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Capri in Italy. I did love Sorrento - we stayed at an Airbnb on a lemon farm.' Ella then went to Zadar, Croatia, for a weekend away with friends - taking just one day of annual leave - for what she said was one of her 'favourite' experiences. Ella and Sam then booked five days off for a 10 day trip - using up a bank holiday to maximise their time off. They travelled around Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Munich and Nuremberg. Ella said: 'Hallstatt is the village which inspired Frozen. It was a hectic 10 days but we saw so much. 'We were getting up early and going to bed late. As soon as you get a focal point in Europe it's so easy. She has also visited Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Munich and Nuremberg Reflecting on her whirlwind year to date, Ella said: 'There is no point putting your love of travel on hold for work' 'Some of the trains were cheaper than my daily commute costs.' The keen traveller then booked nine days off for a trip to Turkey in August and has booked a trip to Mallorca in October, which will see her take three more days off. She started the year with 27 annual leave days, after carrying two over, and using a day for a hen do and one other to attend a Taylor Swift concert. Ella now has three annual leave days left - which she says she may save for a trip to Australia in January. She said: 'You can do it for a lot cheaper than people realise. We noticed if me and my boyfriend were home for a weekend we spent 100 to 150 on dinner, brunch, shopping. 'That money would pay for us to spend time in a different country. There is no point putting your love of travel on hold for work.' The parents of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son's assassination attempt on the former president, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. The development comes as one family member shared with DailyMail.com that the FBI, 'still very much has questions' regarding how much the killer's parents knew while revealing that his father Matthew Crooks, 53, is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past. Speaking to DailyMail.com, the family member who asked not to be named said, 'The FBI still very much has questions about how much they knew and how he [Thomas] slipped through the net.' The idea that someone may have assisted Thomas Crooks was given new credence on Thursday by Florida US Rep. Mike Waltz. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com he questioned whether the 20-year-old acted alone. The parents' choice of law firm suggests that they are bracing for possible criminal charges as well as potential civil action from the families of their son's other victims. Quinn Logue, the Pittsburgh-based law firm that Matthew Crooks and his wife Mary, 53, have retained, describe themselves as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits including wrongful death and personal injury. The parents of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son's assassination attempt. His father Matthew Crooks, 53, was spotted outside his home on Wednesday The Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, home where the parents of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks live Thomas Crooks, 20, attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 13 Founding attorneys John Quinn and Matthew Logue have both been recognized among the 'Top 50 Lawyers in Pittsburgh' and the firm consistently appears in publications such as Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. Exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com on Tuesday and Wednesday show Matthew Crooks for the first time since it emerged that his son had been quietly cremated ten days after the shooting. Crooks, 53, clutched a mystery manila kraft clasp envelope both times. Dressed in a flatcap, blue t-shirt and khakis on Wednesday, he walked swiftly from his truck into the family's bungalow home in a quiet neighborhood in Bethel Park. He did not respond to DailyMail.com's attempts to elicit any comment on his son's possible motives or the events leading up to the shooting. Crooks was also seen outside the home on Tuesday, wearing a dark t-shirt with blue jeans and the same flatcap as Wednesday. It has been six weeks since his 20-year-old son opened fire on Trump's rally on July 13 at Butler Farm Show Grounds at 6.11pm and came within a quarter of an inch of ending the former president's life as he made his bid for re-election. Crooks was 'neutralized' by a Secret Service sniper 26 seconds after he first shot. By then he had already fired eight bullets. He hit Trump, 78, in a grazing shot to his right ear, struck retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, in the head, killing him, and grievously wounded audience members James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, who suffered 'life altering' injuries as a result of the attack. Troubling details have emerged since the attempted assassination which is also being investigated by a House task force consisting of 12 lawmakers. Among them is Republican congressman Waltz, who says he is not convinced the shooter acted alone. Speaking to DailyMail.com on Thursday, Waltz cast doubt on federal law enforcement's assertion that he was the sole perpetrator, pointing to their failure to answer other questions like why he had foreign encrypted messaging accounts. Crooks was also able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raised Waltz's eyebrows. 'You can't tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone?' the Florida Republican questioned. 'You can't get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone?' 'So, I don't buy that yet.' According to CNN, Crooks's parents had attempted to reach their son when they could not find him earlier that day, but he did not respond. They then called law enforcement to tell them that their son was missing. It is not known whether they were aware that he was armed. Matthew Crooks, the father of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks, is seen outside his Bethel Park home in exclusive DailyMail.com photographs Quinn Logue, which is based in an office building in downtown Pittsburgh describe themselves as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits including wrongful death and personal injury Newly released images show Thomas Crooks walking calmly at the Trump rally before he tried to kill the former president Shooter Thomas Crooks in the hours before he attempted to assassinate Trump Trump's right ear was grazed by a bullet shot by Crooks, who killed one man and seriously injured two more Secret Service agents rushed to the aid of former President Trump as he rose from the ground and raised a fist in defiance after one bullet shot by Crooks hit him In the weeks since the attack investigators have focused on Crooks's online activity in the months and days leading up to it in a bid to gain some sense of his state of mind. Intriguingly it has emerged that he searched online for information on Michigan mass-shooter Ethan Crumbley and his parents. Jennifer and James Crumbley were both found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a landmark case which saw them deemed culpable for failing to act on clear signs that their 15-year-old son was plotting the 2021 High School shooting in which he killed four classmates. An image of Crumbley's arrest along with information on his parents' prosecution was found on Crooks's primary cellphone. According to the relative who spoke with DailyMail.com, guns were very much a part of the Crooks household. They revealed that the family 'didn't really take part in family holidays or gatherings' but that Crooks's father is a gun enthusiast who had sold guns to other family members in the past. Crooks left home on the day of the rally armed with an AR-15 style rifle that was bought legally by his father in 2013 and transferred to him in 2023. He was an enthusiastic member of Clairton Sportsmen's Club which he visited the day before the incident to practice on the rifle range which offers high powered rifle benches with targets up to 187 yards roughly the distance Crooks was from Trump when he shot him. Thomas Crooks searched online for information on Michigan mass-shooter, Ethan Crumbley and his parents (pictured above), before his assassination attempt The FBI is continuing to probe just how much Matthew Crooks, the father of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks, knew ahead of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania six weeks ago. Daily mail.com also pictured Crooks outside his home on Tuesday According to a relative who spoke with DailyMail.com, guns were very much a part of the Crooks household Cops scoured the area outside the home of Thomas Crooks in Pennsylvania the day after he shot former President Donald Trump Former President Trump was clipped in the ear by one bullet fired by Thomas Crooks at the Butler rally Immediately after the attack the FBI removed 14 firearms from the small family home as well as explosives, a second cellphone, a laptop and a hard drive. In addition to the arsenal recovered from his home investigators recovered rudimentary explosive devices from Crooks's car, a bullet-proof vest, additional magazines bought both online and the previous day from Allegheny Arms & Gun Works and a drone. So far, no clear motive for the shooting has emerged with FBI profilers speculating that Crooks may simply have wanted to commit a mass shooting and found a convenient target for his dark fantasy in the timing and geographical proximity of Trump's rally which was held just 40 miles from where he lived with his parents. In April, Crooks searched websites for information on major depressive disorder and depressive crisis treatment. Speaking shortly after the shooting one family friend told DailyMail.com that they had been aware of a decline in Crooks's mental health in recent years and assumed he was either bi-polar or schizophrenic. Dressed in jeans, a dark T-shirt and a cap, Matthew Crooks wore a cross at his neck as he walked swiftly from his truck into the family's bungalow home in Bethel Park Matthew Crooks, 53, did not respond to DailyMail.com questions about whether he knew anything about his son's plans to assassinate the former president Republican firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed as he tried to protect his wife Helen frm, the flying bullets But they did not know if he had received any official diagnosis or treatment for behavior that they considered to be, 'off.' The friend said, 'In the past couple of years he started suffering what we all suspected was mental health issues. 'We never knew for sure if he had been diagnosed or if he was being medicated but he started growing his hair long, he withdrew. 'There was nothing super alarming but looking back of course you question what was missed? His father was a psychologist. 'I'm not blaming the parents, but did he suppress something? Was there some denial there? Was there anything hidden?' When approached for comment by DailyMail.com a spokesman for Quinn Logue declined to comment, as did the FBI. Tucking into a stacked burger that is oozing with sauce and full of flavour is a joyful experience for millions of Brits. While a classic burger is a go-to meal for many, the virtual guarantee of being able to find one anywhere you go makes it extremely difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff - and that's just concerning the quality of the bun! Fortunately for anyone who is keen to find the ultimate British burger, five different chefs and food connoisseurs have shared their favourite patties - with a mixture of unknown and well-established names on the list. Read on below for their top recommendations and check out to see if you are local to any of the spots to have been pinpointed by chefs for their top-notch burgers. This map shows the best burgers across the UK, as chosen by some of Britain's leading chefs and food experts Whole Beast, The Montpelier pub, Peckham, south London George Wood, head chef at Brix and Bones in Norwich, said: 'My best ever? The aged cheeseburger at Whole Beast [Sam and Alicja Bryant's residency at The Montpelier pub in Peckham, south London]. 'It's made with Norfolk wagyu mixed with dry-aged rib cap, which has loads of marbling. They press the meat hard, but it's not quite smashed. 'Then it's American cheese, bread and butter pickles, diced onion and fermented chilli burger sauce. One of those rare food moments that almost brings a tear to your eye, it tasted so good.' The Meat Shack, Birmingham Meanwhile, Stu Deeley, head chef of Smoke at Hampton Manor in Solihull, West Midlands, recommends The Meat Shack in Birmingham city centre. Mr Deeley said: 'They get the ratios and seasoning right every time, and every bite is as delicious as the first. 'That's a skill. Go for the Dutch Piggy a good char, then they flip, add Edam cheese and streaky smoked bacon, pickles and sauces, top with the bun. 'Their blue cheese sauce is my favourite, and the bread is like milk bread, bouncy and light.' Danny's Burgers, Bristol Barbecue expert and food writer Melissa Thompson chose a spot in the south-west of England when plumping for her favourite burger. She said: 'One of the best burgers I've ever had was at Danny's Burgers in Bristol. A mixture of chefs and food experts have shared their top recommendations for burgers across the UK 'It was their take on an Oklahoma smashed burger where fresh onions are smashed into the patty as the meat is pressed into the grill, making the beef and onion as one. 'It had the perfect crust, the taste of lovely dry-aged beef shone through, and it was all brought together with American cheese because a burger isn't the time to get fancy with cheese. Pickles too, for hits of acidity. 'I prefer a simple burger which means the basics the beef, bun and accompaniments need to shine. And this one shone brightly.' Smash N' Slide, Northolt Mursal Saiq, chef and co-founder Cue Point London, picked out a takeaway burger business that opened during the coronavirus pandemic. He said: 'I can't get Smash N' Slide burgers out of my mind. It's a takeaway on an industrial estate in Northolt, a lockdown project run by husband and wife Zubair and Shanaz Rahim. 'Three patties, onions, cheese, pickles, perfect seasoning and a stunning crisp edge every time. Pictured: File image of a traditional pub-style burger with a large patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce and a side of fries 'Amazing. So simple, so tasty, zero gimmicks. The beef is native-breed, grass-fed and halal. I don't get there as often as I'd like but I honestly can't stop thinking about them.' Bleeker, London Last but by no means least, David Carter, the chef and founder of London-based Smokestak, opted for a big-name brand that is hugely popular with burger fans across the capital. David said: 'A good burger? You need a damn good bun and a damn good patty made with proper meat from a proper animal, with proper dry-ageing. 'For me it needs to be a one-hander, not too fiddly or everything just spills out. Bleecker Burger nails it mines a bacon double cheeseburger [which holds the current title of National Burger of the Year].' Traffic was at a standstill along Florida's interstates this morning after officials in the Tampa Bay area warned residents to 'flee or die' as Hurricane Milton closes in. However, some residents have claimed they cannot follow evacuation orders because it could be 'more dangerous' to hit the roads, alleging traffic is too congested and gas stations in their communities are 'out of fuel'. Other concerned locals have said they are unable to afford the cost of either driving or flying their way out of the state ahead of the storm, which is expected to be massive and bring devastation to Florida's Gulf Coast. Milton's centre could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century. Mayor Jane Castor issued a stark warning to residents that if they don't evacuate, 'you are going to die'. This is the horrific moment two people drove their motorbike onto the pavement before hacking at a shop door with a machete-type knife. The footage, filmed on Sunday on London Road in Thornton Heath, shows the motorbike go up onto the pavement. They drive by the shop twice before coming to a halt, with the person filming saying one had a 'machete'. The person with the large knife jumped off the bike and ran while crouching to the shop door. They hit the metal with the knife three times before peering in and kicking it six times. The footage, filmed in Thornton Heath, shows the motorbike go onto the pavement They hit the metal with the knife three times before peering in and kicking it six times They appear to try and force the door open unsuccessfully before jogging back to the bike and driving away. A third person tries to climb out of the shop, but their leg gets stuck. They managed to get out and limp to the other side of the road, with shocked people looking on in concern. They picked up a bike which lay discarded on the pavement and tried to ride it unsuccessfully - then resorted to using it as a crutch as they went down the street. The Met Police confirmed they are investigating the incident after the video began circulating on social media. Officers responded to the scene after being alerted to the situation but arrived to find that the suspects had already fled. They appear to try and force the door open unsuccessfully before jogging back to the bike and driving away The third person picks up a bike which lay discarded on the pavement and tries to ride it unsuccessfully - then resorts to using it as a crutch as they go down the street According to the police, 'details remain unclear' as to what happened and the unidentified suspects are on the run. There have been no arrests at this time. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said, 'We are aware of a video circulating online of an incident on Sunday, 25 August, in London Road, Thornton Heath. Officers responded to the incident, but the suspects had left the scene prior to their arrival.' Potential witnesses are asked to call 101 and quote reference number CAD4437/25AUG. Alternatively, those who wish to provide information anonymously can contact Crimestoppers at 0800 555 111. Conservative US commentator Candace Owens has slammed calls to have her banned from visiting Australia with a 10-word 'reality check'. Her planned tour in Australia and New Zealand in November is now in jeopardy after politicians and organisations urged for her visa application to be knocked back. A ticket for her show in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide costs $95 - but it can cost as much as $1,500 for a VIP dinner with Ms Owens. Having grown to fame during the Trump presidency, Ms Owens has drawn outrage for her controversial comments on Israel, the Holocaust and LGBTQI issues. Home Affairs minister Tony Burke, who has the power to block or refuse a visa, said he would oversee a brief of Ms Owens' application once it has been made. 'My opposition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia has always been on the record,' he said on Friday. Ms Owens likened the first time reading Mr Burke's comments to a 'Wizard of Oz "Dorothy we're not in Kansas anymore" moment'. 'It deeply underscored how different politics can be from one country to another,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'In America, freedom of speech is quite sacred. Im a Catholic mother to three young toddlers, not a criminal.' Far-right US political pundit Candace Owens (pictured) has hit back at Aussie politicians and organisations calling for her visa into the country to be denied Australia's Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke (pictured), said on Friday that he would personally oversee Ms Owens' application for a planned tour of her live podcast Speaking to 2GB's Ben Fordham on Monday, Ms Owens delivered a 10-word 'reality check' to Mr Burke: 'It's not going to harm you to hear different ideas.' The far-right commentator said she was 'genuinely surprised' by the ministers comments and the prospect of having her visa denied for the first time. 'I travel all over the world and have never had any opposition or issues, ever,' she said. Ms Owens added that Australia's approach to freedom of speech and debate appeared very different to the United States. 'The American mindset remains in accordance to Evelyn Beatrice Hall's famed quotation: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it",' she said. Ms Owens has previously claimed Israel was founded by a 'cult' and labelled some of the Holocaust atrocities as 'completely absurd'. She has also taken aim at minority groups and claimed there was a link between trans people, 'clinical insanity' and a rise in mass shootings. Ms Owens responded on Sunday by accusing the media of negatively portraying her for what she argued are reasonable political views. 'It was deemed 'extreme' that as a black woman, I did not submit to the Black Lives Matter narrative,' Ms Owens said in a statement. 'I instead called out the movement for weaponising the smear of racism to avoid criticism and laud criminality. For my contribution, I was labelled a "black white supremacist". 'Similarly, when I took the "extreme" position that forced lockdowns and vaccination run counter to individual freedom and happiness, I was labelled ''dangerously misinformed' and accused of promoting death.' She hoped to be able to be let into Australia for her live events so people could question her beliefs 'to their heart's content'. 'I am ecstatic to come to Australia and I hope I have the chance to meet politicians, people, and organizations from both sides of the political aisle,' Ms Owens said. 'Conversation is the only way we grow.' Ms Owens shot to fame during the Trump presidency and has drawn outrage for her controversial comments on Israel, the Holocaust and LGBT issues Ms Owen's statement claimed controversy over her opinions has been exacerbated by clips of her show being taken out of context. 'Any person who listens to my show outside of media snippets knows fully well that I love Jewish people,' Ms Owens said. 'They have always been a huge part of my life, and I will continue to use my platform to call out the people and groups who are using Jewish pain and Jewish history to obfuscate their own bad behaviour.' Independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender is among Ms Owen's critics who have called for the US commentator to be barred from the country. 'Ms Owens is a media provocateur, who makes her living generating controversy, division and hatred,' she said. 'We don't need her input to public discussion in Australia a time when we must preserve social cohesion. I welcome the minister's call to review her visa application.' Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan added: 'There is no place in Australia for people who spread hateful messages and undermine social cohesion.' Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said Ms Owen's views meant she failed the character test under the Migration Act. 'At a time of unprecedented strains on the cohesiveness of Australian society, which is very largely the outcome of ignorant and malicious comment on social media, the last thing we need to be importing into our country is yet another so-called celebrity who has made racist and bigoted comments about Jews and other vulnerable groups,' he said. 'Our new Minister for Immigration now has an opportunity to show the leadership needed to affirm that principle,' he said. A judge has unleashed on Charlise Mutten's killer, Justin Stein, as she sentenced him to life in jail without parole after he fatally shot the little girl in the face before dumping her body in a barrel. Justice Helen Wilson delivered the sentence in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, where a thin and nervous-looking Stein appeared in person. Justice Wilson said Stein, 33, was 'completely without remorse' and 'without humanity or morality'. She said the shooting that took place at Stein's lavish family home in the Blue Mountains in January 2022 was 'unspeakably vicious and murderous'. 'These were deliberate acts, and the second shot was an execution shot. He undertook these actions intending to kill her,' she said. 'He sought to blame Charlise's mother for his own indecent conduct. 'Charlise was not just a child; she was a very young child at nine years and five months of age. 'Charlise had come to refer to the offender as "Daddy". This crime represents an egregious breach of that trust.' Justin Stein is being sentenced for doer murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten (above in December 2021, at her last Christmas) and then dumping her body in a barrel Justin Stein shot Charlise Mutten in the face after drugging her and then dumped her body in a barrel in the bush Charlise was murdered after she was drugged with Stein's schizophrenia medication. An adult dose of the drug would have a profound sedating effect on a child, the court heard. 'She would have been in a state of pronounced drowsiness; she had even less capacity to defend herself and flee from danger,' Justice Wilson said. Justice Wilson described Stein's supposedly tearful account of Charlise's death during the trial as 'false' and said the tissue he used was dry. 'From where I sat I could see very clearly, he was completely dry-eyed and did not shed a single tear,' Justice Wilson said in disgust. Charlise had been visiting her mother and Stein for Christmas from the Gold Coast, where she lived with her grandparents. She spent the night of January 11 alone with Stein at a property in the Blue Mountains, while her mother stayed at a caravan about a 90-minute drive away. The same day Charlise's body was found, investigators charged Stein with her murder after using location data from his phone to pinpoint where the barrel was dropped. Justice Wilson said Stein likely shot the girl once in the back while she was trying to flee, before approaching her and firing another shot directly into her head. 'This was a shockingly callous crime,' Ms Wilson said. 'The offender approached Charlise and discharged the second shot at close range. 'He shot Charlise twice with a stolen gun,' Justice Wilson said. 'It was not survivable and was not intended to be.' Justin Stein tried to blame Kallista Mutten (above with Charlise, at Christmas 2021) for murdering her own daughter while in a drug-induced state Stein's lawyer, Carolyn Davenport SC, said it would be 'very cruel and unusual punishment' to send a man of Stein's age to prison for the rest of his life. 'There was no motive that we know of,' she said. Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten broke down in tears during a recent hearing and told her former fiance: 'I hate myself for trusting you'. Ms Mutten read a victim's impact statement via audio video link. Her voice shaking, Ms Mutten told Stein: '[Charlise] just longed for you to be her dad. I just hate myself for being so wrong about you. 'I am forced to live with fact I trusted someone and because of my trust I put my daughter in harm's way.' Stein blinked rapidly and then closed his eyes for several seconds, his leg shaking restlessly as he listened to statements by Ms Mutten and her father. 'I won't get to see her grow up, have her first boyfriend and get married,' Charlise's mother said. 'More than anything I miss being Charlise's mum and having her say I love you. 'Charlise was my biggest fan and would always say I was the best mummy in the world.' Ms Mutten said that since Charlise's murder, she had been harassed in public, abused by people on public transport and followed by media to the extent she couldn't go outdoors. Only Charlise's grandfather Clinton Mutten (above), who along with his wife Deborah was the nine-year-old's legal guardian, turned up for Justin Stein's sentencing Justin Stein shopping for sand at Bunnings to weigh down the barrel he has put Charlise's body in Detectives found Charlie's body in this barrel (above, in situ, with the little girl's remains inside), dumped by Stein on the banks of the Colo River She said that the last time she saw Charlise, she had told her she was pregnant, and Charlise was excited about becoming an older sister Ms Mutten added: 'My life is never going to be the same.' She said Charlise 'loved being a nerd and reading books'. A week after the shooting, detectives found Charlise's 33.5kg body wrapped in a tarpaulin, bound with tape and placed head first inside a industrial barrel on the banks of the Colo River. During a five-week trial in May-June, Stein tried to blame Charlise's mother, then a severe intravenous methamphetamine addict, for murdering her own daughter. The court heard that Kallista was injecting a massive '17 points a day' of ice, and had undergone psychotic episodes when she lay on the ground, babbling and incoherent. But in traumatic testimony at the trial, she said she had not been with Stein or Charlise on the night when the murder took place and believed his story that her daughter was being minded by another woman. On June 19, after deliberating for for 35 hours over eight days, a jury found Justin Stein guilty of Charlise's murder. Stein had already admitted to disposing of the corpse, after police produced CCTV of him driving the tarp-draped barrel around Sydney, collecting sand from Bunnings to weigh it down, and then off to the river bank 100km north-west of Sydney. Stein had claimed that after Ms Mutten shot her daughter, secretly placed Charlise's body in the barrel and secured it on the back of his ute without his knowledge. But the jury didn't believe him. Stein driving oyut of the Lane Cove tunnel with the barrel in the back covered by a blue tarp Charlise Mutten at school in 2021, the last year of her short life, and the barrel she was placed in when Stein disposed of her body in January 2022 Ms Mutten denied having any involvement in her daughter's death and broke down in tears when she faced the accusation in court. Stein appeared as the defence's only witness in the trial, spending two days going over his version of events. Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC said Stein gave Charlise his schizophrenia drug Quetiapine 'by design or accidentally'. Stein denied giving Charlise the medication, and said he had gone along with a plan by Charlie's mother to cover up the murder, including lying to police about leaving the girl in the care of an imaginary woman who was valuing items at the Mount Wilson estate. A feud has broken out between wealthy New York City influencers over a man they both dated - whom their fans have brutally roasted. The drama between Halley Kate McGookin, 24, and Sophia LaCorte, 23, began back in December 2023 when LaCorte was caught on a date with McGookin's ex-boyfriend, Reed Williams. McGookin later claimed that LaCorte - whom she said was once a 'friend' - went through her follower's list on Instagram and sent Williams a direct message. Things with LaCorte and Williams never wound up working out, and McGookin confirmed in a video in March that she and Williams have rekindled their relationship. But TikTok users say Williams is not worth all of the drama - with one fan taking to Reddit to share Williams' apparently AI-generated LinkedIn profile picture, writing: 'Imagine fighting over a man and it's literally him.' A feud has broken out between wealthy influencers over a man they both dated (Sophia LaCorte pictured) Halley Kate McGookin (pictured) also alleged that LaCorte 'went through my following and DM'd him on IG while standing next to me' at an influencer event Many fans have said the boyfriend, Reed Williams, is not worth feuding over 'Wait, but he actually looks alive in this picture,' one Redditor commented on the photo of Williams, which another said 'has to 100 percent [be] AI-generated.' A third wrote they would 'kinda understand if he looked like he did here, but he doesn't.' The comments come amid renewed interest in the drama between the two influencers - despite Williams' and McGookin's rekindled relationship. The two first got together in early 2023 after meeting on Hinge, the Independent reports. They then dated for nine months, before McGookin revealed on her TikTok that they had split. The drama between McGookin (right) and LaCorte (left) began way back in December 2023 Then, on November 13, McGookin shared a video of herself crying and wrote in the caption that 'not even three weeks after dumping me out of the blue,' Williams had gone on a date with 'someone I considered a friend and [was] with the night before, buying shots.' 'Her bag is literally sitting in my closet because we dropped it at my apartment before going to the bar together,' she claimed in the now-deleted video, a screenshot of which was shared to Reddit. She also alleged that LaCorte 'went through my following and DM'd him on IG while standing next to me' at an influencer event. On November 13, McGookin shared a video of herself crying and wrote in the caption that 'not even three weeks after dumping me out of the blue,' Williams had gone on a date with 'someone I considered a friend and [was] with the night before, buying shots' McGookin and Williams were dating for nine months before they broke up In another deleted TikTok video, McGookin said she was not planning on speaking about the drama, but people started making videos about LaCorte's date with Williams. She also said she 'tried to handle it offline' by texting Sophia 'multiple times' but never received a response. McGookin then detailed the drama even more in a December episode of her Delusional Diaries podcast. 'This just hurts me really bad because I don't want to hurt him in turn by having to make this a public thing,' she said at the time. 'It was shocking, just in general, that he would be on a date because when we broke up, he did tell me he didn't think I was the love of his life. 'But he also [said]... "I need to be single right now [and[ I have a lot I need to do on my own.'" By January, LaCorte decided to respond to the allegations, as she said some of McGookin's fans started harassing her. By January, LaCorte decided to respond to the allegations in her own podcast She claimed on her Out of Touch podcast she was 'never friends' with McGookin and doesn't 'know who the girl is.' LaCorte pointed out that there's no photos on either of their social media pages showing them together, and insisted: 'I would never stab one of my friends in the back. 'I would never drag a woman online and I would never talk poorly about another woman,' she said. 'I defend other women.' From there, it seemed that the love triangle had died down, and in a TikTok video on March 31, McGookin confirmed she and Williams rekindled their relationship as they were seen kissing at a Drake concert. 'We are good and I'm happier than ever,' she told her 1.3million TikTok followers. She explained that she 'needed to take a beat and figure out my feeling and the situation before putting it online. 'This was my first actual relationship and I was so excited to have a boyfriend and share that with you guys. Obviously that meant I had to tell you guys when we broke up too, and that sucked. 'I'm 23 and navigating my life the best I can,' she continued, announcing that she and Williams 'have been back together for a little while now.' McGookin revealed in a TikTok video in March that she and Williams got back together 'I'm not gonna share the details of everything but in our time apart we both realized and learned A LOT,' McGookin claimed. Still, she seemed to hit out at her influencer rival, writing: 'I just want to make tis clear one time - as for the situation that happened amidst the breakup, absolutely nothing with that situation changed.' McGookin then asked her followers to 'respect my decision and just know I'm doing what is best for me.' In the months since, McGookin has resumed posting photos of her and Williams together - and even featured him in a since-deleted episode of her podcast. In the months since, McGookin has resumed posting photos of her and Williams together - and even featured him in a since-deleted episode of her podcast In clips of the podcast posted to TikTok this week, Williams was asked about why he decided to get back together with McGookin. He paused for a moment before he spoke. 'When we first got together, it was fast-paced and we kind of met and started dating right away,' Williams finally said in a monotone voice. 'I had kind of just moved to the city also, so I was still kind of figuring out who I was after college. 'When it started getting really serious between us, I just needed to take a step back and do my own thing. 'I learned a lot about myself during that time,' he insisted. 'I just realized I'm a better person when I'm around her and she makes me happier than anyone else has, so I didn't want to lose that.' Many online slammed Williams for his delayed response in the video, which has been viewed nearly 12million times since it was first posted on August 18. 'This is an extremely hard watch,' one person wrote. 'She deserves so much more,' another said, while a third commented: 'Oh, so he's like ACTUALLY the worst.' LaCorte posted her own response in the form of a get ready with me-style video in which she spoke about 'the time a girl I met maybe three times canceled me and got me destroyed on the Internet' Just a few days later, LaCorte seemed to have posted her own response in the form of a get ready with me-style video. In it, she spoke about 'the time a girl I met maybe three times canceled me and got me destroyed on the Internet.' She described Williams as 'very sweet' and 'super talkative,' and admitted that the morning after their date she received a text from McGookin - who had to introduce herself because LaCorte did not have her number - but did not respond. 'I've never had a one-on-one conversation with her,' LaCorte explained. 'I've met her maybe three times through work.' She also claimed in a follow-up video that she would 'never DM anyone while I'm standing next to anyone' and argued that Williams 'planned our date probably about a week before I happened to run into her at a work event.' LaCorte concluded by noting they were all single at the time, and she and Williams went on 'four or five dates' before she realized he 'was maybe not the one for me, and it just kind of dwindled.' McGookin addressed the backlash in a cryptic TikTok video McGookin then addressed the backlash in her own cryptic TikTok video. 'Just letting y'all know, I'm a real person just trying my best at life and I try to be as authentic about that as possible,' she said in text overlayed on a video of her fixing her hair. 'I get on this app everyday to make people smile. I used to come on and be so excited to check my comments and now I dread opening my phone and readies lies, rumors and hate. 'And I hate that because this app has given me everything good in life nd I'm so grateful for it and all of you!!! 'But I feel defeated sometimes if I'm being honest. I love all of you who support me so much and I really try to just ignore the noise because there are so many amazing people on here. 'We just have to rise above,' she said. An independent toxicology report has been ordered into the case of a man who has spent 35 years in jail for a murder which may not even have happened. In the wake of a series of Daily Mail revelations, the beleaguered body which investigates alleged miscarriages of justice has commissioned new scientific analysis of the death of vagrant Alexander Hardie. The move, seen as significant, could pave the way for the case to be referred to the Court of Appeal. In 1989, Clive Freeman, an ex-polo-playing landowner, was convicted of murdering Mr Hardie, 49, with a suffocation technique dubbed 'burking', which was used by 19th-century 'body-snatchers' Burke and Hare, who sold corpses to doctors for dissection. But, as revealed by this newspaper, eight leading pathologists and forensic experts reject the theory. Cancer-stricken Clive Freeman (pictured) was convicted of murdering Mr Hardie and has spent 35 years in jail for a murder which may not even have happened According to a prosecution pathologist, Freeman (pictured) used a suffocation technique adopted by body snatchers Burke and Hare in Edinburgh in 1828 Many say the most likely cause of death was the mixture of alcohol and prescription drugs in his body and suggest the most appropriate cause of death is 'unascertained'. The new toxicology report has looked into the original analysis of Mr Hardie's death by the Crown's pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd, which initially concluded that the Scot was not murdered. The Mail has previously revealed that in a 2017 report Professor Nicholas Birch, a respected consulting pharmacologist, was very critical of Dr Shepherd's work. He said: 'I understand that the contemporaneous notes of Dr Shepherd made at the post-mortem were not disclosed to the defence at the time of the trial. 'Subsequent consideration of them has disclosed that at the post-mortem of April 16, 1988, Dr Shepherd concluded: "COD [cause of death] prob alc [alcohol] + acute pancreatitis".' Also, in the first two examinations, there were no reports of bruising on Mr Hardie's back despite an examination in that area. Professor Birch wrote that these notes were not disclosed. 'He found a more melodramatic cause of death but one which is not based on the facts of the Burke case. However, this may have influenced the jury,' he added. An artist's impression of the victim, Alexander Hardie Ex polo-playing landowner Freeman was convicted in 1989 of murdering Mr Hardie in what prosecutors said was part of a planned 300,000 insurance swindle Amid claims that key police evidence was withheld from Freeman's lawyers ahead of his Old Bailey trial, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now acted to retrieve the original prosecution case files. This is also seen as potentially crucial. Freeman, 81, has advanced prostate cancer and is far from his family in South Africa, said Tony Thompson, a former police chief leading his quest for justice. Dr Shepherd has not replied to repeated requests for comment. A CCRC spokesman said a review was being 'prioritised' due to Freeman's age and ill-health. At least two thirds of vice chancellors at cash-strapped universities took pay rises last year, new analysis has revealed. Of the 66 institutions known to be making redundancies or taking cost-cutting measures, 43 gave their vice chancellor a pay bump. Some were awarded massive pay package boosts of up to 26 per cent, with many pocketing total deals well over 400,000 a year. The average salary increase across these institutions between 2021/22 and 2022/23 the latest available data was 8.3 per cent. It comes after Universities UK, which represents vice chancellors, said some sector finances had deteriorated 'fast' and called for Government help. And on Thursday, the consultancy Public First called for a 2.5 billion fund to provide state-backed loans for universities to avoid them going under. It warned ministers must make a plan to prepare for the threat of at least one university collapsing due to financial woes. Of the 66 institutions known to be making redundancies or taking cost-cutting measures, 43 gave their vice chancellor a pay bump (Stock image) Teesside University's vice chancellor Paul Croney saw his total remuneration package rose by a staggering 17 per cent, from 312,139 in 2021/22 to 364,305 in 2022/23 Last night, a spokesman for the University and College Union (UCU) said: 'The public will rightly be appalled when they see the engorged salaries vice chancellors are raking in, despite presiding over a broken sector. 'Thousands of staff are at risk of being made redundant, tens of thousands more are on insecure contracts. 'Vice-chancellors urgently need to reign in their own pay packets and start protecting jobs, courses and student provision.' John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: 'Taxpayers will be bristling at the brass neck of university bosses who come cap in hand demanding a bailout while their own wallets get wider.' The figures were revealed by Daily Mail analysis of pay rise data compiled by Times Higher Education, and separate data published by UCU academics. In one stark example, Teesside University, in the North East, announced a 'university-wide voluntary severance scheme' earlier this year in the face of 'current challenges'. Despite this, the vice chancellor's total remuneration package rose by a staggering 17 per cent, from 312,139 in 2021/22 to 364,305 in 2022/23. Meanwhile, Bradford University is facing a funding black hole of 10 million and announced job losses in March. At the beginning of the year, Leeds Beckett University (pictured) opened a voluntary severance scheme Leeds Beckett University's vice chancellor Professor Peter Slee (pictured) saw his total remuneration jump by 6.5 per cent to 313,000 in the year to 2022/23 Despite its financial difficulties, its vice chancellor's total pay package increased by more than 11 per cent to 290,000 between 2021/22 and 2022/23. Swansea University is haemorrhaging 200 staff in cost cutting measures brought in by vice chancellor Professor Paul Boyle, who saw his total pay package increase by more than 9 per cent to 359,000 in 2022/23. At the beginning of the year, Leeds Beckett University opened a voluntary severance scheme. But its vice chancellor Professor Peter Slee saw his total remuneration jump by 6.5 per cent to 313,000 in the year to 2022/23. Meanwhile at Nottingham University where the vice chancellor's package rose by 8.4 per cent to 361,181 a year hiring freezes, budget cuts, the axing of hundreds of fixed-term contracts and a redundancy scheme have been ushered in as the university hurtles towards an end of year budget deficit. Wolverhampton University has just announced a voluntary redundancy scheme, following a similar plan in 2022 which saw jobs axed to tackle a 20 million deficit. Its accounts show that the vice chancellor package in 2021/22 was 28 per cent higher than in 2022/23, going from 345,000 to 443,000. During that time, the university had two interim vice chancellors. The vice chancellor at Coventry University, Professor John Latham, has received a bonus in every year of his tenure since 2014, including almost 200,000 over the last three years and 80,768 in 2022-23. Teesside University, in the North East, announced a 'university-wide voluntary severance scheme' earlier this year in the face of 'current challenges' but its vice chancellor Paul Croney (pictured) received a pay rise SOAS (pictured) said that the total package in 2022/23 included the VC's accommodation as a taxable benefit across two academic years and did not represent an increase That comes despite the institution warning that it must make nearly 100 million in cuts over the next two years. Professor Adam Habib, president of London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where 34 English language and study skills support staff are at risk of losing their jobs received a total package worth 410,061, up from 324,074 in 2021/22 a 26 per cent increase. SOAS said that the total package in 2022/23 included the VC's accommodation as a taxable benefit across two academic years and did not represent an increase. It also included a retrospective payment of 21,660 to cover tax paid. 'Excluding these payments, the VC's basic pay increased by 4.7 per cent from 2021/22 to 2022/23 from 223,773 to 234,204,' a spokesman added. A Teesside University spokesperson said: 'The university met all financial indicators in the academic year 2021/22 and 2022/23 and remains in a robust financial position. Following developments in several key areas, a review of operating models was undertaken and a voluntary severance scheme opened as part of this. Senior management pay is set in line with UCEA sector benchmarking and is determined by the Remuneration Committee, of which the Vice-Chancellor is not a member.' Bradford University said vice chancellor pay was set by the remuneration committee. A spokesman said: 'It is made up of members external to the university and which takes multiple factors into account to ensure pay awards are comparable with the sector and representative of performance.' A spokesman for Leeds Beckett University said: 'The University returned a small surplus in 2022/23. 'We meet the requirements for financial stability and sustainability set by the Office for Students (OfS). 'To put ourselves in the strongest possible position to meet the future financial challenges facing the wider sector, we have taken action to reduce our costs including offering a voluntary severance scheme.' A spokesman from Universities UK said: 'Vice chancellors' pay is set by their institution's governing body, and reflects the level of responsibility which comes with running a large organisation with multiple significant responsibilities.' The other universities mentioned were contacted for comment. It comes after the Office for Students (OfS) watchdog warned 40 per cent of England's universities are expected to run budget deficits this year. Universities are struggling with a drop in lucrative international students, capped UK fees, rising running costs and pension contributions. Earlier this year, the UCU said its own independent consultant had identified three unnamed universities which 'would be close to financial collapse and would benefit from state intervention and support'. Meanwhile, Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK (UUK), said the financial position for universities has deteriorated 'very fast' in the past year. She said: 'So what we've said is if a university is viable, most of them are, but needs a bit of help to get through a rapid deterioration of their financial position, that Government should be ready to stand as a kind of lender of last resort to enable them to get through that.' He's one of the most well-known figures in the Labour Party, but Lord Alli is among the least prominent peers in the public eye. For decades, the millionaire has been in the background of politics a 'yoof TV' tycoon who Tony Blair would call when he wanted to know what young people thought. Yet as a life peer, the 59-year-old has spoken only occasionally in his almost 30 years in the House of Lords. Instead, he has let his money do the talking handing more than 500,000 to Labour over the years. But the revelation that Sir Keir Starmer handed him a pass to Downing Street has thrust Labour's age-old problem of 'cash for access' back into the spotlight. For decades, the millionaire Lord Alli (pictured) has been in the background of politics a 'yoof TV' tycoon. (Waheed Alli attends the launch of new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery) Pictured, Brian Paddick DAC Metropolitan Police (top left), Simon Fanshawe Journalst (top right), Sir Ian McKellen (bottom left) and Lord Waheed Alli Lord Alli was encouraged to join Labour by his next-door neighbour, Emily Thornberry Lord Alli wins the Hero of the Year at the Stonewall Awards in 2013. (Lord Alli is the first openly gay peer in Parliament) The peer was once described as the man who 'perfected TV presented by morons for morons' He ignored his school's careers adviser, who encouraged him to become a bus conductor. (Lord Alli pictured with journalist Grace Dent) Lord Waheed Alli and Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill pictured watching demonstrations for and against gay marriage in Westminster Tony Blair (pictured) would call Lord Ali when he wanted to know what young people thought. (Mr Blair speaking at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference) Lord Alli was encouraged to join Labour by his next-door neighbour, Emily Thornberry, in east London in the early 1990s. They have been good friends since Lord Alli and his partner were best men at her wedding and he is godfather to her son. His proximity to power is a long way from his humble beginnings. The son of first-generation immigrants, Lord Alli left his south London comprehensive at 16 to support his parents. He ignored his school's careers adviser, who encouraged him to become a bus conductor, and got his first job as a 40-a-week researcher on a magazine called Planned Savings. Finding he had a natural aptitude for figures, he excelled at the job and was headhunted by Save and Prosper as head of investment research. He went on to become a publisher, then a financial consultant earning 1,000 a day. But despite his success, he wanted to do something more creative and he formed a TV production company in 1992 with his partner Charlie Parsons and The Boomtown Rats' Sir Bob Geldof. Successes included Survivor, one of the first big hits of the reality TV era with the format sold around the world. They won the commission to make Big Breakfast after Lord Alli submitted a proposal on the back of a Cornflakes packet. While the peer was once described as the man who 'perfected TV presented by morons for morons', he was nominated to the 'committee for cool' Panel 2000 which advised the Government on how best to promote Britain around the world ahead of the millennium. In 1998, he was made a life peer at the age of 34, becoming the youngest and first openly gay peer in Parliament. He was seen as the antithesis of an 'Establishment' figure, but his ennoblement was criticised as having more to do with his New Labour connections than his political talent. He made his first major contribution to the Lords in a debate on lowering the age of consent for gay relationships from 18 to 16. In his most recent contribution, he said: '[A Labour victory] has been far too long coming for me, but it is here now. Let us not waste the opportunity to implement change'. Brits are tipped to enjoy the bank holiday Monday in glorious sunshine after being battered by Storm Lilian showers last week - but they should make the most of it before more 'mixed' conditions hit later this week. Storm Lilian caused chaos across the UK last week, with flights cancelled, Leeds festival forced to close several stages, railways blocked by fallen trees and thousands of homes left without power. Thankfully though, most of the UK will be dry and sunny this bank holiday Monday before conditions become warmer but more unsettled in some parts of the country through the week, forecasters have said. The Met Office said there will be a 'mixed start' to Monday, with morning showers in parts of Scotland and northern England, but the cloud cover is expected to quickly clear. Temperatures will be generally warm, with highs of 23C expected in London, 20C in Plymouth and 17C in Glasgow. Brits enjoyed the return of some sunny weather on Sunday. Pictured: A mother and her son look at the sunflowers at Mundles Farm in East Boldon, south Tynesde People enjoy a breezy but sunny day out at the beach in Bournemouth, Dorset, on Sunday People out punting on the River Cam in Cambridge on Sunday morning enjoying the warm weather A woman clinging onto her umbrella as Storm Lilian brings gusts of winds to central London last week A railway line in Manchester was blocked by a tree that had fallen due to the harsh winds A Jet2 aircraft was blown sideways as it took off from Leeds Bradford airport last week They said the 'warming trend' will continue for Tuesday and Wednesday, although showery rain is forecast in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said Monday afternoon's good weather is thanks to a 'brief ridge of high pressure' moving in from the west. In an online forecast, he said: 'Showers will be few and far between. 'Most places will be dry and - in the sunshine with lighter winds - it will feel warmer as well, with temperatures higher for many.' Wet and windy weather is expected to spread across parts of Scotland, north-west England and Northern Ireland throughout Monday evening with strong winds in the west. Central England is expected to see the most summer sun, Mr Dewhurst added. On Tuesday, London could see peaks of 25C with temperatures in the high teens expected further north where rain and strong winds is also likely. Mr Dewhurst said: 'It's a wet day ahead for parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland as this weather system just slowly pushes a little further south and eastwards, bringing rain into north-west England as well as Wales and perhaps northern coasts of Devon and Cornwall as well. Revellers in Leeds haven't let the rain ruin their fun as they headed out on the town on Sunday night People in Leeds gather outside in the rain and use their jackets to shield themselves from the showers 'To the south-east of this, the southerly winds will draw in some quite warm air.' This band of showers is expected to slowly move away eastwards, ushering in drier conditions on Wednesday. The Met Office said temperatures should be even warmer, with 28C possible in London, 24C in Cardiff, 20C in Edinburgh and 19C in Belfast. Over the weekend, the aftermath of Storm Lilian brought scattered downpours in northern and western areas. Mr Dewhurst said: 'Sunday was quite an unsettled day across the UK - cool and cloudy with outbreaks of rain pushing eastwards and quite windy too.' They were tricked by an phony email from their 'solicitor' A couple who lost almost $50,000 to scammers after purchasing their first home have blasted their bank for compensating them only $500. Jessica Greentree, 25, and Will Clinton, 27, spent years scrimping and saving to afford their dream home in Camden, south-west Sydney. The couple unwittingly had their settlement funds drained after scammers tricked them into sending across $48,925. The pair had received an email that appeared to come from their solicitor, asking them to send the money to an NAB account. There was nothing suspicious about the request because they had talked to their solicitor the day before and he told them that he would be needing the money soon. By the time their bank, Macquarie Bank, confirmed they had been scammed the couple's money was already unrecoverable. The bank initially refused to reimburse the couple, arguing Mr Clinton had 'authorised' the transaction. Ms Greentree and her partner refused to back down and took the matter to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Jessica Greentree, 25, and Will Clinton, 27, were scammed out of $48,925 by criminals who impersonated their solicitor in the run-up to buying their first home The couple were then offered a 'goodwill' payment of just $500 from their bank. 'We thought that was disgusting,' Mr Clinton told The Project. Fortunately, a deal was struck by their real solicitor who lowered the property's deposit amount from 10 per cent to 5 per cent so that they did not lose the house. Now the couple have been forced to rent the property out to so they can afford the mortgage while they work to recoup the lost money. Mr Clinton, who works as a draftsman, said losing the money had been 'absolutely devastating' after working so hard to save it in the first place. 'Jess and I were both working full-time jobs,' he said. 'I was running my own business trying to get extra money [and] Jess started selling fire wood on the side.' When Mr Clinton found out they had been scammed, he called Ms Greenwood, an occupational therapist, while she was at work to tell her what had happened. 'I just went into tears A year-and-a-half worth of savings just gone in an instant. [It was] probably the worst day of our life,' she said. Mr Clinton said he had no reason to believe the phony email was a scam since all the details were correct and it had his solicitor's letterhead. He now claims that it has been 'incredibly frustrating' trying to get help from anyone since nobody wants to accept the blame. Ms Greentree and Mr Clinton revealed they are also trying to plan their upcoming wedding. Experts warn these kinds of cybercrimes are growing increasingly sophisticated and are so easy for scammers to pull off that it's like 'shooting fish in a barrel' There are more than 150,000 active 'mule' bank accounts in Australia and experts are warning that scammers methods are becoming more sophisticated. Mule accounts are operated by criminals who scam people into depositing money into them which is then immediately funnelled overseas. Cybersecurity expert Gabor Szathmari said the 'ruthless professionalisation' of cyber crime is being enhanced by AI and a growing number of criminals are taking part. 'Unfortunately, crime pays, and technology allows criminals to carry out scams on a large scale over the internet,' he told Domain. 'For instance, phishing emails can be sent in bulk, and robocalls can be made without human interaction.' Australian banks are not required to name-check or confirm the payee for bank transfers despite the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommending they do so in 2022. Mushrooms are not just for cooking as it seems they can be a secret weapon against wayward hair. Tech company Dyson, known for bagless vacuum cleaners and bladeless fans, has come up with the idea as it moves into the beauty products market. It is using fungal chitosan, from the cell walls of oyster mushrooms, as the active ingredient in hair serum. Researchers have found that chitosan, which is already popular in skincare, can also tame frizzy hair. Each bottle of the product named after its star ingredient contains the equivalent of up to eight oyster mushrooms. Chitosan will be available in Dyson stores and online from tomorrow costing from 50 Researchers have found that chitosan, which is already popular in skincare, can also tame frizzy hair. Pictured is a woman applying hair serum Dyson is using fungal chitosan, from the cell walls of oyster mushrooms, as the active ingredient in its hair serum (file photo) Dyson is not alone in looking to fungi with mushroom-based items more common in the health and beauty sectors (file photo) The substance creates bonds which support each strand individually, giving users a 'delicate yet strong' flexible hold. Each bottle of the product named after its star ingredient contains the equivalent of up to eight oyster mushrooms. Chitosan will be available in Dyson stores and online from tomorrow costing from 50. Company founder Sir James Dyson told The Guardian: 'The complex macromolecule helps create flexible bonds that support hair strand by strand, for twice the hold, with movement and shine.' The firm has ventured into haircare with the Supersonic hairdryer and the Airwrap styling tool. It is not alone in looking to fungi with mushroom-based items more common in the health and beauty sectors. EXCLUSIVE The senior detective who pursued former Outback cop Zach Rolfe for murder has been fired for allegedly impersonating a female colleague - and trading fake nude pictures purporting to be her - on a dating app. Daily Mail Australia can reveal former detective senior sergeant Wayne Newell was summarily sacked from the Northern Territory Police Force on Friday afternoon. Mr Newell's dismissal comes after an intensive, weeks-long investigation following complaints of serious professional misconduct by the former top cop. NT police would not comment directly on Mr Newell's dismissal, citing concerns about 'privacy and confidentiality of all individuals involved'. However, the force confirmed a senior detective had been fired following an internal investigation into allegations of serious inappropriate conduct. 'A 52-year-old police officer has been dismissed from the Northern Territory Police following serious breaches of discipline under the Police Administration Act 1978,' a spokesman said in a statement. 'An internal investigation was promptly launched after the allegations were made, leading to the officer's dismissal [on Friday] afternoon.' Former detective senior sergeant Wayne Newell has been sacked from the Northern Territory Police Force following an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct Mr Newell led the murder investigation into former decorated NT constable Zach Rolfe, who retained the full support of his parents Debbie and Richard right through to his acquittal The investigation related to allegations Mr Newell had set up a fake dating profile under the name of a junior female police colleague and used it to interact with would-be suitors. It is understood police allege Mr Newell was trading sexually explicit images with an unnamed male victim during some of the online interactions. Sources said the female officer reported the existence of the fake profile to Mr Newell after a man arrived at the NT's police headquarters with flowers for her, claiming they had been exchanging romantic messages via the app. It is understood she sought out Mr Newell's advice on how to best handle the matter as he was a trusted, senior colleague - and the head of the NT's Special References Unit, which investigates these types of crimes. She also confided in him that the fake profile had been soliciting and exchanging sexually explicit images with the male victim. Mr Newell was suspended on full pay throughout a lengthy internal investigation before he was ultimately dismissed. However, no charges against him have yet been laid. The former detective played a central role in the criminal investigation and failed prosecution of former NT constable Zach Rolfe for murder following a fatal shooting in the heart of the Australian Outback five years ago. Mr Rolfe was found not guilty of murdering Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest in the Outback Police body camera vision captured the moment Mr Rolfe fatally shot the 19-year-old in 2019 Mr Rolfe shot dead Kumanjayi Walker after discharging his service-issued semi-automatic Glock pistol three times during an arrest at the remote community of Yuendumu, about three hours north-west of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019. He was controversially charged with the 19-year-old's murder just four days later, before being sensationally acquitted in 2022. Mr Rolfe's lawyers filed a complaint about Mr Newell's conduct during the investigation into Mr Walker's death - codenamed Operation Charwell - with the NT's acting police commissioner, Michael Murphy, last June. In the complaint, they accused Mr Newell of manipulating the evidence of a critical independent criminologist and allegedly withholding crucial information from the defence team. Mr Murphy subsequently referred the matter to Victoria Police for an independent review last September, saying they took 'any complaint very seriously.' While it is understood that investigation has since been completed, the findings will not be made public until Coroner Elisabeth Armitages inquest into Mr Walker's death is finalised. Marks & Spencer is launching a clothing-only store to target younger shoppers. The new standalone shop, set to open this autumn at London's Battersea Power Station, will feature a curated selection of women's and menswear, alongside beauty products. The store, located in the recently revitalised shopping destination, represents a shift in M&S's strategy as it capitalises on a resurgence in fashion sales. If successful, the retailer plans to open more clothing-only locations across the country. M&S chief executive Stuart Machin described the store as a place to 'showcase the best of M&S clothing and beauty at outstanding value.' Marks & Spencer is opening a boutique-style store which will only sell select items of clothing and beauty products M&S chief executive Stuart Machin (pictured) described the store as a place to 'showcase the best of M&S clothing and beauty at outstanding value' The new standalone shop is set to open this autumn at London's Battersea Power Station (pictured) The boutique-style shop will be smaller than typical M&S stores and will offer personalised styling advice. Retail analyst Richard Hyman supported the move, telling The Times that most customers no longer shop for food and clothing in the same visit, making the concept of a clothing-only store logical. Under the leadership of chairman Archie Norman and Machin, M&S has reversed the decline in its clothing business, which saw a 5.3 per cent rise in sales to 3.9 billion in the last year. Shares in M&S have surged 56 per cent over the past year. Parents should not buy smartphones for children under the age of 11, one of Britain's largest network providers has warned in new guidance. The EE advice recommends that primary school children are not given smartphones with access to the internet and social media sites, but limited capability devices which only allow them to text and call. When parents choose to give smartphones to children aged 16 or below, the company advises enabling parental control features and, if under 13, restricting access to social media. EE said these steps aim to 'safeguard children in the digital world'. Recent reports have suggested that excessive smartphone use could be linked to mental health issues among teenagers and unrestricted internet access might expose young children to online harm. The network giant EE recommends that primary school children are not given smartphones with access to the internet (stock photo) The new guidance comes as campaigners and MPs have urged tougher action to be taken on the issue The new guidance comes as campaigners and MPs have urged tougher action to be taken on the issue. EE said it will also introduce updated in-app controls and has launched a national school campaign aimed at educating young people about responsible digital behaviour. Almost a quarter of five to seven-year-olds now own a smartphone, a study by communications regulator Ofcom found in April. Mat Sears, corporate affairs director for EE, said: 'While technology and connectivity have the power to transform lives, we recognise the growing complexity of smartphones can be challenging for parents and caregivers. 'They need support, which is why we are launching new guidelines on smartphone usage for under 11s, 11 to 13-year-olds, and 13 to 16-year-olds to help them make the best choices for their children through these formative years.' Children aged 11-13 should have family sharing capabilities installed on their first phone, the guidance says. This allows parents to monitor screen time, track app usage and set time limits for specific applications. Children aged 13-16 should be allowed to join social media, but the guidance suggests this should be linked to a parent or guardian account. Children aged 11-13 should have family sharing capabilities installed on their first phone, the guidance says (stock photo) More than four in five (83 per cent) of parents said in a survey by charity Parentkind in April that they feel smartphones are 'harmful' to children (stock photo) Parental controls should also be used to manage access to inappropriate sites, content and platforms, the advice says. Staff will be trained on the new guidance in the coming days and weeks, although smartphone sales will not be age-restricted, EE said. More than four in five (83 per cent) of parents said in a survey by charity Parentkind in April that they feel smartphones are 'harmful' to children and young people, and 58 per cent support a mobile phone ban for under-16s. The House of Commons Education Committee said in May that the Government should consider a total ban on phones for under-16s and that tougher action is needed to limit screen time and combat online harm. But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in July that he does not support 'simply banning' phones for children under 16, adding that the Government needs 'to look again' at what content children are accessing online. Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, has campaigned for an age limit to smartphone usage and stricter controls on access to social media apps. In February, the previous government gave schools in England non-statutory guidance intended to stop the use of mobile phones during school hours. Carolyn Bunting, chief executive of online safety group Internet Matters, said: 'This initiative is timely and much-needed. 'Parents and guardians want their children to be able to stay connected with them and to experience the benefits of digital technology, but they are also concerned about online safety and wellbeing. 'Our recent research showed that parents want to make their own decisions about their children's use of technology, but that many would value guidance to help them in doing so. 'It is fantastic that EE is supporting parents with age-specific advice to support children's diverse technology needs.' An underworld identity known as the 'Angel of Death' was shot dead in a hail of bullets in Western Sydney this morning, as police admit there are 'too many suspects and too many motives' for the gangland hit. Tarek Ayoub, 29, was peppered with up to seven bullets on Harold Street in Parramatta around 3.30am on Monday. NSW Ambulance paramedics could not save him. A manhunt has been launched for at least two gunmen who allegedly fled the scene in a stolen Audi sedan before setting it alight on a street around 4km from the crime scene about 3.45am. Witnesses saw them run from the burning car before fleeing in a white SUV. Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Ayoub was visiting an associate when he was shot a large number of times in the car park. He said Ayoub was a known underworld associate with an extensive criminal background and his demise came as no surprise to detectives because he 'lived and died by the sword'. It was a targeted shooting. He had a long history of violence,' Detective Doherty told reporters. Tarek Ayoub (pictured), 29, was peppered with up to seven bullets on Harold Street in Parramatta around 3.30am on Monday. Detectives said his death came as 'no surprise' as he was an underworld figure known as the 'Angel of Death' Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Ayoub was visiting an associate when he was shot a large number of times in the car park Pictured: friends and family members console one another in the aftermath of the shooting This was a message sent to Tarek Ayoub. It was very loud and clear they meant to kill him. 'Hes connected to several organised crime groups. He was known in the underworld as the Angel of Death.' Police are hunting for Ayoubs killers, with more than one person seen leaving the scene. Asked whether detectives had any theories for the murder, Superintendent Danny Doherty said there were too many suspects, too many motives as he was someone who was well known to police. Witnesses reported hearing at least eight gunshots, with the victim allegedly being attacked in a garage of an apartment block (pictured: police at the scene) Police are hunting for Ayoubs killers, with more than one person seen leaving the scene. Pictured: a police officer searches underneath a car Ayoubs brother Najm was spotted at the crime scene on Monday morning. Najm was charged by police over his alleged involvement in another shooting in June. Najm allegedly dropped Thikran Hachem, 23, to Bankstown Hospital in the early hours of June 25 after Mr Hachem suffered a bullet wound to the stomach. It is believed the pair had been travelling together when the car they were in was shot at, The Daily Telegraph reported. But Najm was arrested after he allegedly refused to tell police what had happened or where the shooting took place. Ayoubs brother Najm was spotted at the crime scene on Monday morning (pictured) Police have launched Strike Force Juno to investigate his brother's death, and have urged anyone with information to come forward. They are particularly interested in anyone who may have been in Harold Street area of North Parramatta area between 3.30am to 3.45am. We want to know who was responsible for this, Detective Doherty said. The family have been informed and are trying to absorb information. 'That person is associated with that block of units. It was an innocent meeting, so a catch up. He was shot when he came back to his vehicle.' One local resident said he heard 'several bangs', while another said it was shocking to have a shooting happen so close to home Asked whether detectives had any theories for the murder, Superintendent Danny Doherty said there were too many suspects, too many motives as he was someone who was well known to police Pictured: forensic officers arrive at the scene A resident of the complex told Daily Mail Australia he heard seven loud bangs as Ayoub was shot downstairs below his window. It woke my two year old up. It was pretty scary, he said. About ten minutes later, all the police arrived. The 29-year-old was previously charged for his involvement in the aftermath of the 2017 shooting murder of teenager Braydon Dillan. Ayoub pleaded guilty to concealing details about the offence. He had reportedly been a player in Sydney's criminal networks for many years. More to come. The messaging app firm Telegram has lashed out over the arrest of its billionaire owner at an airport in France, insisting he has 'nothing to hide'. Telegram slammed the arrest of its chief executive Pavel Durov as 'absurd' after he was detained over allegations that he failed to curb criminal activity on the messaging app. The company said in a statement published via the app: 'Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act - its moderation is within industry standards. 'Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,' it added. 'It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.' Pavel Durov is a social media mogul arrested over allegations that he failed to curb criminal activity on the messaging app Telegram Durov founded the app in 2013 along with his brother Nikolai (Stock image) People walk past paper planes referring to the logo of Telegram, which were placed during a gathering in support of freedom of expression following the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, near the French embassy in Moscow, Russia August 25, 2024 The 39-year-old was held under a warrant at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday. He is in custody. The Russian-born technology mogul, who lives in Dubai, reportedly stands accused of failing to take action to curb drug trafficking, cyber-bullying, fraud, organised crime and terrorism. But the move caused outrage, with supporters of the Telegram chief including X owner Elon Musk calling for Mr Durov to be freed and demanding the protection of free speech. Telegram has 950million users worldwide and the company says it is 'committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of speech and assembly'. In a recent TV interview, Mr Durov, who fled Russia a decade ago, insisted Telegram was 'neutral' and 'we apply the rules equally to all sides'. Western governments have often criticised Telegram for lack of content moderating on the messaging service. Questions are being asked over why Telegram CEO Pavel Durov (pictured), arrested last night at a French airport, would risk travelling knowing he would likely be detained Speaking about disputes with governments, he told US broadcaster Tucker Carlson: 'Politicians and societies know what to expect from social media platforms and where the red lines are. I don't necessarily believe that things are going to get worse.' Telegram is an encrypted messaging app that is 'secure and free'. It has committed to never disclosing information about its users or passing data on to third parties. Intended as a rival to WhatsApp, Telegram users can have 'secret chats', in which messages are stored on devices rather than the cloud, and messages can also be set to self-destruct after a certain time period. Telegram's determination to remain 'neutral' and not take sides has opened it up to criticism, with terrorists, criminal gangs and extremists using the app as a means of communication. It has faced criticism over suggestions of being used by far-Right extremists in the recent violent protests across England. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov delivers his keynote conference during day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira Gran Via complex in Barcelona, Spain on February 23, 2016 Telegram messaging app founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested at a French airport A Telegram spokesman told the Mail that 'calls to violence are explicitly forbidden' and that the app used AI, proactive moderating and 'user reports' to remove content that breaches its terms. Mr Musk hashtagged one post 'FreePavel' and wrote: 'It's 2030 in Europe and you're being executed for liking a meme.' US politician Robert F Kennedy Jr posted on X: 'The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent.' In Moscow, paper planes, representing the Telegram logo, were placed near the French embassy as a form of protest. A motorist was left confused after managing to dodge a $1,028 fine and five demerit points despite being caught speeding on a motorway. The driver was clocked driving more than 20km/h over the speed limit on Dukes Highway in Keith, South Australia, on August 13. The motorist, who was travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide, was pulled over after failing to reduce their speed as they left an 80km/h zone and entered a 60km/h one. They were informed they should expect to receive a fine in the mail - but were left stunned when they got a formal warning in their letterbox instead. The confused motorist shared a photo of an expiation notice to Reddit, revealing they wouldn't have to pay a fine. 'There is no due date and amount is $0, am I supposed to do something or what?' they wrote. Social media users were shocked the driver was let off without a penalty. 'In QLD they'd slap the max fine, max demerits and they'll be combing for something else,' one person wrote. The confused motorist uploaded a picture of an expiation notice (pictured) to reddit after they received the letter in the mail indicating the offence didn't incur a financial penalty 'A caution notice for 20-29kph over the limit? You guys in SA are living in heaven! It's a few hundreds in WA,' another wrote. 'This is the way they formally log your caution on their system,' one wrote. 'If you do something similar again and the police see this on your record, you're definitely getting the book thrown at you.' Exceeding the speed limit between 20 to 29km/h carries a $1,028 fine, which includes the expiation fee and the adult levy under South Australian road rules. The offence also incurs a penalty of five demerit points. A South Australia Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the letter was a formal warning. 'Police have used discretion in these circumstances and issued a caution to the offending driver for exceed speed,' the spokeswoman said. 'The issuance of the notice is a formal way of recording the caution'. A former police officer revealed how drivers could increase their chances of receiving a warning rather than a fine. 'Driving record and attitude are the number one and two factors for whether a non-traffic cop gives a ticket,' they wrote. Not all states and territories across Australia hand out expiation notices that caution drivers over speeding offences. Exceeding the speed limit between 20 to 29km/h carries a $1,028 fine, which includes the expiation fee and the adult levy under South Australian road rules (stock image) A Queensland Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail the warning is not enforced in the Sunshine State. A Victoria Police spokeswoman said expiation notices are not issued in the state, however infringement notices are handed when speeding offence are committed. 'Victoria Police only issue an infringement notice with the penalty and demerit points as prescribed,' the spokeswoman said. 'If a speeding infringement is received for an alleged speed of less than 10km/h and the driver has a good driving history, they can apply for an official warning'. A Tasmania Police spokesman said the state does not issue the notices. A NSW Police spokesman said officers due to issue expiation notices to drivers in the state. Motorists are issued with a warning if they are caught exceeding the speed limit for the first time before being issued with fines for subsequent offences. A WA Police spokesman said officers do not issue letters to caution drivers about speeding offences. Officers may issue a verbal warning to drivers for low-level offences. Daily Mail has contacted all state and territory police departments for further comment. New efforts to protect passengers' rights will be spearheaded by an 'ombud', not an ombudsman, the federal government's Aviation White Paper has revealed. The gender neutral shift appears to be the first of its kind in an official government communication, a departure from other 'ombuds schemes' such as the Fair Work Ombudsman. The term, which has Nordic roots, does not feature in any major Australian or international dictionary. The new 'ombud' will police Australian airlines and airports under a new scheme to protect passenger rights. The change has sparked criticism with social media users labelling it 'woke' and 'ridiculous'. 'Labor are calling it an "Ombud" instead of an Ombudsman to be gender neutral. This is getting ridiculous!' one wrote. Another added: 'It should be simply Om as bud has male overtones.' 'Absolutely ridiculous,' a third added. The Albanese government's long-awaited aviation white paper was released by Transport Minister Catherine King (left) on Monday 'They are so left wing, what a woke joke! How weak are these people!' another said. The Albanese government's long-awaited Aviation White Paper, released by Transport minister Catherine King on Monday, comes two years after the government flagged plans to review the aviation sector and set long-term policies and reforms for the industry's growth. Under the scheme, an independent agency will be set up to resolve disputes between airlines and passengers by 2026. The new body will have powers to compel airlines and airports to provide remedies to customers and will be tasked with publishing reports into their conduct. It will also be called on to establish a framework of traveller's rights, including when passengers are entitled to cash refund for cancelled or delayed flights. Ms King said prior to the release of the documents the government was focused on bolstering the rights of passengers. 'We know customers of airlines and airports have struggled to enforce their rights under Australian Consumer Law and this sets up a new independent ombudsman scheme to establish a charter of rights,' Ms King told the ABC. 'What has been happening for people is they have struggled to actually get anyone, often hours on phones trying to struggle to understand what it is they are entitled to and the ombudsman scheme allows that independent look - a complaints mechanism and it sets out clearly what the expectations are for the conduct of airlines and airports when it comes to customer rights.' Under the scheme, an independent agency will be set up to resolve disputes between airlines and passengers by 2026 (stock image) She said the ombudsman would be legislated and have powers to dish out and enforce penalties. While it would not be able to take complaints until next year, Ms King said her department would appoint an interim ombudsman to kick things off while parliament mulled over the legislation. 'We want this to start as soon as possible,' she said. 'We have heard loudly and clearly that the experience of people at our airports and on our airlines hasn't been what it should be or what they have paid for.' She said the interim ombudsman would begin work immediately on developing a 'charter of customer rights' for passengers, with the 'scheme up and running next year'. China's youth AI innovation challenge finals attract 7,000 participants Xinhua) 09:44, August 26, 2024 Visitors look at a robot during the 2024 World AI Conference in Shanghai, east China, July 5, 2024. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The finals of China's seventh national youth artificial intelligence innovation challenge opened on Saturday in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The two-day event involves nearly 7,000 participants from 31 provincial-level regions, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, who are competing for top honors, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. This year's competition has attracted over 120,000 entries and includes 17 specialized contests. Finalists will showcase their innovative ideas and skills in areas such as intelligent robot application, intelligent program and algorithm design, smart chips and comprehensive AI technology innovations. Since its inception in 2016, the annual challenge has engaged over 280,000 young people, aiming to nurture innovation and advance creative thinking among youth. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A woman left paralyzed in a shooting at a park where people had gathered to protest a police officer-involved incident two years ago has died after deciding to forgo further treatment. At the woman's request, a medical professional unhooked the ventilator that had been keeping the 32-year-old - identified only as 'Deg' - alive on July 1, allowing her to die the next day. The decision saw the Portland woman become the second person to die at the hands of Normandale Park gunman Benjamin Smith, who shot five people at the protest on February 19, 2022. Despite dying at home more than 850 days after the attack, Deg's death certificate names her cause of death as complications from a gunshot wound to the neck. The manner of death was deemed a homicide after the victim, who was rendered a quadriplegic, made the choice after suffering through three bouts of pneumonia and being entirely reliant on others for even the most basic of needs. A woman left paralyzed following a shooting at a park where people had gathered to protest has died last month after deciding to forgo further treatment. The unnamed woman's mother, identified only as Leslie, is seen testifying in Multnomah County Circuit Court last year The decision saw the Portland woman become the second person to die at the hands of Normandale Park gunman Benjamin Smith (pictured), who shot five people at the protest on February 19, 2022. He is currently in the midst of a life sentence 'She had lost so much control,' her mother, Leslie, told The Oregonian Friday, as it broke the story of the shooting's latest victim. 'This was something that was her decision. I couldn't argue with her,' the mourning mom continued, more than a year after appearing in court to give an impact statement. '[W]e miss her desperately.' Back in April 2023, Leslie appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court at Smith's sentencing, describing how her daughter was paralyzed from the shoulders down when the right-wing mass shooter opened fire around 8pm. At the time, she expressed gratitude for her daughter's life some six months after she was finally able to leave a local hospital, while also providing insight as to her precarious condition. Smith, 44, was later convicted of second-degree murder during a sentencing hearing a few weeks later. At the time, Leslie proudly touted the victim as 'a remarkable young woman' and her 'daughter.' 'She was struck in the neck, as you know, by a bullet last year,' she told the court. She had previously told court attendees: 'The majority of my coping skills are no longer accessible... it has only been through intensive speech therapy that Im able to speak today. I used to love to sing and I miss the sound of my own laugh. Ive lost the future I saw for myself' 'And except for the lingering trauma that infuses her every moment whether awake or asleep, she cognitively remains the same - smart, strong-willed funny, and the kind person who spent the bulk of her 20s working and traveling across the globe 'She now needs assistance in almost every aspect of her physical life - breathing included,' Leslie continued. Recalling the state in which she arrived by ambulance to the hospital on February 19 2022, the mother said, 'she was frightened, vulnerable, in shock, and in critical condition, terrified of being left alone. 'I stayed with her every day,' she added, visibly emotional. 'Her dad stayed with her every night. Six months later, after a month in the ICU and a month in rehab, her daughter 'had no voice', with another six months needed for her just to relearn to talk, she said. To do so, she had to time her speech to the pulse of her ventilator, after which she and her husband began the undertaking of learning how to be her caregivers. 'We advocated for her offered her love and encouragement and eventually learned as best we could how to care for her ourselves,' she said, asking neither her name nor her daughters be used for privacy purposes given the politically charged nature of the attack. 'In our spare moments, we tackle the mountain of administrative tasks - HealthCare, disability, legal power of attorney, withdrawal from school finding and hiring contractors to make our home accessible for our daughter's homecoming,' she added They were protesting to protest the police shooting of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old black man who was shot earlier that month during a search warrant. Leslie's daughter was not a protester, her mother said 'The financial impact on this has been significant.' The mom-of-three went on to recall how she and her spouse spent upwards of '$120,000 to make our home wheelchair accessible and equipped to care for our daughter. 'The purchase of a used but reliable van for transport was an additional $60,000,' she stated, citing how the Oregon State Victim Compensation Fund only provided $20,000, the maximum allowance permitted. 'It did not come close to covering actual costs, but it is helping with the cost of counseling and trauma therapy,' she said at the time. Leslie went on to lay out how caring for Def was an 'Around the Clock commitment' and how even sleep became 'an interrupted process for all of us most nights. '[Deg] may need to be turned or a blanket may need to be added or removed,' she told the court. 'She may need to be sectioned - a mechanical procedure to clear her airway, as she isn't able to cough.' She further described how her daughter had been left unable to even scratch an itch on her own face, forced to 'lie in the darkness [to be] awakened by yet another nightmare that's left her too shaken to return to sleep.' She also mapped out the litany of medication that had to be dispensed to keep her alive in addition to the ventilator, which could not be removed for more than an hour - or risk her dying as she did last month. 'Over 12 medicines at five intervals during the day and evening,' Leslie detailed at the time, adding that oftentimes even more was needed 'if the side effects of her spinal cord injury cause[d] her blood pressure and or her body temperature to fluctuate.' These facets, she said, required constant, round-the-clock monitoring, all to prevent her daughter's death. Smith, meanwhile, was present but declined to speak, as his attorney said he had unfathomable remorse for maiming Deg and three others, and the murder of 60-year-old activist June Knightly (pictured) 'She needs to be turned every few hours to keep her skin healthy, [her] muscles need to be exercised a minimum of twice daily, [though] more is better,' the mother went on at the time, before describing the dangers of respiratory infections during the treatment. 'Being on a ventilator, our daughter can't fight off respiratory infections to keep her lungs clear,' she said. 'Every visitor to our home - friends, family, health care workers, everybody, without exception - must wear a mask to help for prevent any virus even a cold from threatening our daughter's health.' She added how finding a professional caregiver had also become 'an ongoing challenge', before revealing that a combination of her family and that of fellow victims had 'generously stepped up to assist for several hours every week. 'Without them we would be on our own,' she said. '[My husband and I] are in our late 60s, and like many, retired at the start of the pandemic due to health concerns of our own.' 'How long will we be able to care for our daughter and what happens when we're no longer able to?' she went on to ask, calling attention to the air of uncertainty surrounding her daughter's future. 'Above all we are grateful every day, that our daughter is with us.' When the shooting started, Knightly stepped forward to block the barrel of Smith's .45-caliber handgun, before he shot Deg and wounded three others. A protester with a rifle was able to sprint across the park to shoot Smith in the hip. The crime scene is seen here shortly thereafter Two months later, at Smith's sentencing, Deg managed to issue a statement as well. She told onlookers over Zoom, while still using a ventilator: I feel I am alive because of the sacrifice she made in that moment 'The majority of my coping skills are no longer accessible,' she continued, her speech still somewhat broken. 'It has only been through intensive speech therapy that Im able to speak today. 'I used to love to sing and I miss the sound of my own laugh,' she lamented. 'Ive lost the future I saw for myself.' Smith, meanwhile, was present but declined to speak, as his attorney said he had unfathomable remorse for maiming Deg and three others, and the murder of 60-year-old activist June Knightly. Knightly, along with Deg, had been part of a group of traffic safety volunteers tasked with protecting the marchers, who convened at the park to protest the police shooting of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old black man who was shot earlier that month after cops executed a no-knock search at an apartment where he was staying. When the shooting started, Knightly stepped forward to block the barrel of Smith's .45-caliber handgun before he shot Deg and wounded three others, before a protester with a rifle was able to sprint across the park to shoot Smith in the hip, disarming him. Her mother on Friday went on to frame their actions as heroic, but also specified that Deg 'was not there as a protester... [or] as a martyr.' Smith, still saying nothing, went on to plead guilty to a single count of second-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder, before being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 55 years. Over the next year, deterred by the prospect of getting deathly ill another three times and living the rest of her life in a bed, Deg slowly arrived at the decision that saw her pass peacefully at her home surrounded by loved ones on July 2. After deciding earlier this year, Deg told her mom, who in turn told the paper Friday how she respected her daughter's desire. The mourning mother then recalled how before that, Deg was able to celebrate her birthday with family and friends one final time, where the family at last did not have to go through the strict procedures to keep her safe. 'For the first time in 2 years she was able to enjoy her loved ones without a mask. There was no fear,' she said. Deg died after spending months researching Oregons Death with Dignity program, in the home where she had grown up, Leslie revealed. As for Smith - who lived near the park and had been previously reported to local and federal law enforcement for his threatening behavior before the shooting - he is currently in the midst of his sentence. Aussies have been left divided over a controversial call to split a state in half - and create a completely new one. Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan announced that he wants North Queensland to be its own state in an opinion piece published on August 23. Mr Canavan said it only makes sense to form a new state as the population of North Queensland continues to balloon and the needs of the people remain unmet. 'More than one million people now live in North Queensland, double the number in Tasmania,' he wrote in the Courier Mail. 'North Queensland generates 25 per cent more economic output per person than southern Queensland. Yet we are ruled by a government focused on 50c fares and an Olympics to be held thousands of kilometres away from us.' He explained that Australia's founding fathers envisioned future populations creating new states and that they worked that assumption into the constitution. Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman said he likes the idea of separating the 'woke inner city' of Brisbane from its regional counterparts. Mr Newman stopped shy of endorsing Mr Canavan's proposal but did say that it was worth considering. Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan has said that he wants North Queensland to become its own state Mr Canavan wrote an opinion piece on the matter and explained that it only makes sense since North Queensland has a bigger population than Tasmania 'Queensland's a very big place and geographically they've always felt up north that they're not being listened to by Brisbane,' he told Sky News. 'I know it might sound like more politicians and more government, but actually, I think the people in the north see it as liberating themselves from the constraints of the people in the south.' Independent Senator Gerard Rennick, who quit the Liberal National Party (LNP) in August, also found 'no problems' with the idea of creating a North Queensland state. 'The regions definitely need more support and return on the wealth they generate,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, who lives in Gladstone, accused the LNP of being divisive. 'Unlike some other regionally based Queensland senators I dont pit people in the cities against regional, rural or remote communities, or pick and choose which Queenslanders I fight for,' Sen Allman-Payne said. 'The LNP should stop creating division and try working for the interests of all Queenslanders, no matter who they are or where they live.' Social media users similarly slammed the proposal. 'Here we go - another State to require billions for more politicians to run amok with our tax payer funds and spend it without controls - God Help us,' one wrote. 'This guy has gone mad, why do we need ANOTHER state,' a second wrote. Queenslanders are divided by the idea with some saying its a waste of taxpayer money and others suggesting it could help regional populations (stock image) There was a lot of support for the idea amongst rural voters who were sick of feeling left out and underappreciated. 'No money in North Queensland, cant wait to see the back of [premier Steven Miles] and his corrupt mates,' one person said. 'North Queensland should be its own state!' In his article Mr Canavan, who lives in Central Queensland, criticised politicians from the city who make up a large part of parliament. 'All of our premiers and the prime minister are from capital cities. When the [National Cabinet] meets, there is no representation from regional Australia,' he wrote. He explained that the House of Representatives is based on population which results in two-thirds of its members being from capital cities. In the Senate 'it is even worse' with more than 80 per cent of senators living in capital cities, he added. He also slammed Anthony Albanese for cracking a joke over his shutting down of the live sheep trade on August 19. While 'thousands of West Australian farmers face ruin' the Prime Minister was sitting in the Lodge 'laughing about it', he said. Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Canavan for comment. The family of a five-year-old Utah boy is in utter shock after the child was found dead from accidentally shooting himself in his parents' bedroom. The boy - identified by family as Brooks Thomas Wilson - found a 9 mm handgun in the back room of his house Thursday afternoon and fired a single shot to the head, police said. The boys parents, and possibly one of his siblings, were inside the home when the shooting happened but were not with him in the room. The father went into the room as soon as he heard the gunshot and started CPR, but the boy died at the scene. Authorities do not suspect foul play, and charges against the parents are not currently being pursued. The family of 5-year-old Utah boy Brooks Thomas Wilson is in utter shock after the child was found dead from accidentally shooting himself in his parents' bedroom The boys parents, and possibly one of his siblings, were inside the home when the shooting happened but were not with him in the room Lt. Mike Wall with the Santaquin Police Department declined to say if or how the weapon was secured. The investigation, which will include a report by the medical examiner, could take several months. Kristin Wilson, the boy's mother, is a local pre-school teacher. Her and husband Bryan have four children including Brooks. A statement released Friday and attributed to the 'Wilson and Hunsaker families' described the shooting as 'an unimaginable tragedy' that serves as a reminder to take precautions to ensure the safety of children. 'This heartbreaking incident has taught us difficult lessons, and we deeply regret that it unfolded this way. Our hearts are shattered, and we hope that our familys loss serves as a poignant reminder of how quickly life can change,' the statement read. They described young Brooks as having 'lived his life to the fullest and always wore his heart on his sleeve' in an obituary. The tight-knit town of about 14,000 people 60 miles south of Salt Lake City is one of the best anyone could ask for when it comes to support, Wall said. 'The family obviously is devastated. ... Obviously it's a shock to the community. It's always a good reminder of how quick things can happen and how fast accidents can take place,' he said. Kristin Wilson, the boy's mother, is a local pre-school teacher. Her and husband Bryan have four children including Brooks Neighbors hug after a 5-year-old boy accidentally shot himself with a handgun he found in his parents' bedroom, in Santaquin, Utah The Wilsons have started a Gofundme to 'support our family during this time, any contributions will go towards covering funeral expenses'. Utah does not have any laws to penalize someone for failing to secure an unattended firearm and leaving it accessible to an unsupervised minor, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The state also does not require unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way or require a locking device to be sold with a firearm. A scientist has claimed to have pinpointed the 'perfect hiding place' for Malaysian Airlines MH370, more than a decade after it disappeared. VIncent Lyne, an adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania, believes that the evidence available of the flight's disappearance suggests that the plane was deliberately flown into a deep 6,000m (20,000ft) deep 'hole' in the Indian Ocean's Broken Ridge. Lyne, who works at the university's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, described Broken Ridge as 'a very rugged and dangerous ocean environment... with narrow steep sides, surrounded by massive ridges and other deep holes'. 'It is filled with fine sedimentsa perfect hiding place', suggesting the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, deliberately crashed the plane which had 239 people on board at the time. Lyne wrote on Linkedin: 'This work changes the narrative of MH-370's disappearance from one of no-blame fuel starvation at the 7th arc, high-speed dive, to a mastermind pilot executing an incredible perfect-disappearance in the Southern Indian Ocean. 'In fact, it would have worked were it not for MH-370 ploughing its right wing through a wave and the discovery of the regular interrogation satellite communications by Inmarsata brilliant discovery also announced in the Journal of Navigation.' University of Tasmania researcher Vincent Lyne is challenging the theory that Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 dropped into 'an uncontrolled high speed gravitationally-accelerated dive following fuel starvation' (Pictured: A CGI rendering of MH370 from a National Geographic documentary that shows an apparent crash) Lyne (pictured) argues that newly-discovered signals received from the missing Boeing 777 and debris analysis suggests the pilot made a premeditated decision to make the plane vanish with 239 people on board The most persistent theory has centered on the pilot - Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured) - and suggestions that it was a deliberate act because he was facing personal problems VIncent Lyne, an adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania , believes that the evidence available of the flight's disappearance suggests that the plane was deliberately flown into a deep 6,000m (20,000ft) deep 'hole' in the Indian Ocean's Broken Ridge He goes on to argue that the damage to the plane's wings, flap and flaperon were similar to those US Airways Flight 1549 experienced when Captain Chesley Sullenberger engaged in 'controlled ditching' in January 2009. Others have previously also suggested that pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, was responsible for deliberately crashing MH370 in a murder-suicide of a shocking scale, which he committed because of problems in his personal life. Shah had allegedly split with his wife Fizah Khan, and was said to be furious that a relative, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, had been given a five-year jail sentence for sodomy shortly before he boarded the plane for the flight to Beijing. The pilot's wife, however, has angrily denied any personal problems, while other family members and friends said he was a devoted family man and loved his job. Yet, Lyne says the evidence points to the fact that the pilot did intentionally crash the plane saying it 'justifies beyond doubt the original claim, based on brilliant, skilled and very careful debris-damage analyses by decorated ex-Chief Canadian Air-crash investigator Larry Vance that MH-370 had fuel and running engines when it underwent a masterful "controlled ditching," and not a high-speed fuel-starved crash.' A few fragments of the aircraft have since been discovered over the years, with this piece being found on Saint-Andre de la Reunion, eastern La Reunion island, France, 29 July 2015 Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Puri beach in eastern Odisha state on March 7, 2015 The missing aircraft - a Boeing 777-200ER plane - is seen taking off in France in 2011 He also argued that his research provided a clear location for where the plane may have crashed - urging future searches for the wreck site to focus on a specific section of the Southern Indian Ocean. 'Encouragingly, we now know very precisely that MH-370 is where the longitude of Penang airport (the runway no less) intersects the Pilot-in-command home simulator track discovered and discarded by the FBI and officials as "irrelevant,"' Lyne wrote. 'That premeditated iconic location harbors a very deep, 6,000 meter [6561.68 yard] hole at the eastern end of the Broken Ridge within a rugged and dangerous ocean environment renowned for its wild fisheries and new deep-water species. 'With narrow steep sides, surrounded by massive ridges and other deep holes, it is filled with fine sediments - a perfect "hiding" place.' He added: 'That location needs to be verified as a high priority. Whether it will be searched or not is up to officials and search companies, but as far as science is concerned, we know why the previous searches failed and likewise science unmistakably points to where MH370 lies. In short, the MH370 mystery has been comprehensively solved in science! 'The proof awaits, as do many who have lost loved ones, and further lost in the confusing theories, wild speculations, and failed confident-assurances based on flawed science.' The plane's parts have been found across the world over the years since it crashed in 2014 Family members of passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airline MH370 shout slogans demanding the return of their relatives at a security cordon near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, Friday, March 8, 2024 A girl stands in front of a condolence message board during a Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 3, 2019 The plane has now been missing over a decade, despite authorities from all over the world conducting extensive searches covering an area of 46,332 square miles. A few fragments of the aircraft have since been discovered and a number of theories have emerged around what - and who - caused the flight to change course in March 2014. More than a year later, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak says that a wing part which washed up on Reunion - a French island east of Madagascar - came from MH370. In the two following years, another 17 pieces of debris were found and 'identified as being very likely or almost certain to originate from MH370' while another two were 'assessed as probably from the accident aircraft.' But Lyne is now urging officials to search the area he pointed to as a 'high priority.' 'Whether it will be searched or not is up to officials and search companies, but as far as science is concerned, we know why the previous searches failed and, likewise, science unmistakably points to where MH-370 lies,' he concluded. The theory has previously been floated by British pilot Simon Hardy. Hardy previously said he believes that the plane was sunk into the ocean at a spot that has never been searched before. His work was noticed by the official search team, and so he was invited to join the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and a team of experts in 2015. He gave his expert opinions and scrutinised his theories using high tech flight simulators until the search ended in 2017. Mr Hardy's calculations have put the resting place of the plane just outside the official search area, but he was never given the opportunity to prove this theory. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has claimed in an interview with Dr. Phil that his team has data suggesting at least 57 percent of his voters will choose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. Kennedy, the nephew of late Democratic President John F. Kennedy, said Friday he was suspending his campaign, withdrawing from the race in swing states because, 'I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.' Speaking to the popular talk show host, Kennedy said that the decision is data driven. 'What we recognized from our polling is that if I stayed in the race, it would've almost certainly swung the race to Vice President Harris,' he said. 'I did not wanna give the election, I didn't think it would be right to give the election to her.' Kennedy, who says he's been driven away from the Democrat Party, told Dr. Phil he disagrees with Harris on all the major issues, including censorship, war, chronic disease and the border. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview with Dr. Phil that his team has data suggesting at least 57 percent of his voters will choose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris Kennedy, the nephew of late Democratic President John F. Kennedy said Friday he was suspending his campaign , withdrawing from the race in swing states because, 'I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues' He then cited his team's polling numbers: 'From the beginning showed pretty consistently that if I got out of the race, 57 percent of the people who were supporting me would vote for Trump.' 'Me staying in the race could've very likely thrown the race to Harris,' Kennedy added. Kennedy says that he thinks it's 'much more likely that President Trump will get elected' now that he's suspended his campaign. He noted that he still heavily disagrees with Trump's 'environmental stances' but says he agrees with him on the most important issues in this election. Kennedy added: 'Our conversation, my conversation with President Trump, was very amiable. He talked about starting a unity party, about President Lincoln and his team of rivals.' 'I can come in and support him because of these existential issues that I feel strongly about, he feels strongly about, that Kamala is on the wrong side.' While many predicted that RFK Jr. would be disastrous for Joe Biden, it's an open question whether he has the same impact on Harris based on polling numbers. DailyMail.com polling suggests that RFK Jr.'s exit could give the Republican a boost. Speaking to the popular talk show host, Kennedy said that the decision is data driven and doesn't want to throw the election to Kamala Harris Kennedy says that he thinks it's 'much more likely that President Trump will get elected' now that he's suspended his campaign Our latest poll with J.L. Partners, conducted from August 7 to 11, found that of 1,001 likely voters only five percent would vote for Kennedy if the election were tomorrow. He was far behind Trump on 43 percent and Harris on 41 percent. But when that poll was combined with a second survey to ask whether they lean more to Trump or to Harris the results appear to be decisive: More than half (51 percent) said they leaned towards the former president. About a quarter (26 percent) said they leaned more to Harris. That could swell Trump's voter base by a point or two. Previous J.L. Partners polls had shown he had picked up more support from the left than the right. 'The data also show there is a small but significant group of voters who opted for Biden in 2020, moved to RFK Jr, and are now leaning Trump,' said Johnson. 'These voterswho used RFK Jr as a sort of gateway drug to backing Trumpcould make all the difference in states on a knife-edge, and RFK Jr's dropping out will give Trump a boost in these states. 'It is a more significant development than anything out of the DNC this week.' J.L. Partners conducted two surveys of more than 1000 likely voters on voting intention and political attitudes. By combining the data, it is possible to see which way RFK Jr voters lean when the choice becomes Trump or Harris, and more than half lean towards the former president. The polls were conducted from August 7 to 11 Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats and independents to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%). However, Kennedy also struggled to endear himself to political independents. Although he was running as an independent presidential candidate, polling showed about 4 in 10 independents did not know enough to form an opinion. Those who did were divided equally between favorable and unfavorable opinions. Expert pollster Nate Silver also said that while Trump made slightly more gains in his election model than Harris did after Kennedy dropped out, Harris is still a slight favorite to win. Kennedy's appeal largely rested on being an alternative to the match-up many Americans dreaded when Biden was facing Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election won by Biden. A Pew Research Center poll from July found that about half of voters who were supporting Kennedy said the main reason they backed him was because he was neither Biden nor Trump, compared with about 3 in 10 who listed Kennedy's characteristics or policies. Harris move to the top of the Democratic ticket may have further harmed Kennedys prospects. An August Pew poll suggested that Harris had gained support at Kennedys expense. DailyMail.com polling suggests that RFK Jr.'s exit could give the Republican a boost She appeared to have received the support of some women and non-white voters who previously were considering Kennedy. The confusing announcement Friday was the latest chapter in a 16-month saga that brought brain worms, dog-eating and dead bear cubs into the political vernacular. Kennedy went scorched earth on his former party, the Democrats, during his Phoenix remarks - but didn't immediately reveal his plans. 'I began this journey as a Democrat, the party of my father, my uncle, the party I pledged my allegiance to long before I was old enough to vote,' he reminded the crowd. Kennedy then blasted the Democratic Party for 'canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president.' He later added that the Democrats 'ran a sham primary that was rigged to prevent any serious challenge to President Biden.' Once Biden, he said, 'predictably bungled' the debate against Trump, a 'palace coup' took place. 'The same shadowy DNC operatives appointed his successor, also without an election,' Kennedy charged. The data can also be used to see what happens to people who voted Biden in 2020 but said they backed RFK Jr. now. More than a quarter say they lean towards Trump 'They installed a candidate who was so unpopular with voters that she dropped out in 2020 without winning a single delegate,' Kennedy said. Kennedy also slammed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for not engaging in a sit-down interview yet. 'My uncle and father both relished debate. They prided themselves on their capacity to go toe-to-toe with any opponent in the battle over ideas,' Kennedy said. 'They would be astonished to learn of the Democratic Party presidential nominee who, like Vice President Harris, has not appeared in a single interview or an unscripted encounter with votesr for 35 days.' 'This is profoundly undemocratic,' Kennedy said. 'How are people to choose when they don't know whom they are choosing?' He blasted the Democrats for being extra critical of Trump, noting that the GOP nominee was mentioned 147 times during the first day of the just-wrapped Chicago convention. 'Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate?' he asked. During his remarks, Kennedy pushed that he had been cheated out of a victory by the system. 'In an honest system, I believe I will have won the election,' he claimed. A young Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) with his uncle, President John F. Kennedy (left) in 1961. RFK Jr. left the Democratic Party in October and on Friday endorsed the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump He also told supporters that there was still a chance he could win - as the election could be tossed to Congress if Harris and Trump tie in the Electoral College count. But Kennedy explained that he started to consider partnering with Trump when the Republican nominee asked to speak to him about his No. 1 issue - solving chronic disease. The two met the next day, and then later Kennedy met with Trump and his family members while in Florida. 'I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues,' Kennedy said. 'That arrangement would allow us to disagree publicly and privately and fiercely if need be on issues over which we differ, while working together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance.' Ahead of Friday's big announcement, a court filing beat Kennedy to the punch. In Pennsylvania, Kennedy put in writing that he planned to endorse Trump, according to the Associated Press. He also requested to be removed from Pennsylvania's ballot. A woman who attended the Democratic National Convention last week was filmed revealing that she prefers Republican men to their Democratic counterparts. The exchange went viral after satirist Lionel McGloin, who infiltrated the political event in Chicago, posted it on his YouTube channel, No Cap on God. McGloin asked the unidentified woman, 'Who are the cuties in the Democratic party that are speaking?' But she responded, apparently a native of the capital: 'Oh I don't know. Talk to anyone who lives in DC - it's hard to find a cute Democrat.' The woman, hinted at why she found Republican men more alluring as she started laughing and said: 'Republican guys are hotter but they're evil.' Scroll down for video: A woman who attended the Democratic National Convention over the weekend was filmed describing why she prefers Republicans over Democrats in terms of looks The exchange, captured by a prankster who infiltrated the event Friday, can be seen in full on the YouTuber's YouTube page, No Cap on God. In it, satirist Lionel McGloin asks the blonde attendee what Democrat 'cuties' were poised to speak during the event's fourth dayT McGloin, playing up to the moment, said: 'We kind of love evil, you are so bad,' as the young woman laughed along, appearing to agree. The woman says: 'Yeah but they're evil. So like, I don't know! 'I don't know!' she repeats, raising her voice to a comedic pitch, while happily playing along with the trope that women are attracted to 'bad boys.' McGloin then tells her suggestively 'You are so bad,' as she hysterically laughs along. The moment was one of several wild clips that McGloin filmed at the DNC which helped his video go viral. It remained unclear how McGloin gained access to the event, as his videos often come at the expense of those being interviewed even when they aren't necessarily famous. Such was the case with the female attendee and several others interviewed, for a creation that evidently sought to spoof the 'brat' theme that surfaced amongst Kamala Harris supporters and young, mostly female social media users. 'You are so bad,' McGloin tells her before being met with a laugh on the event floor - one of several exchanges that helped his video go viral 'Crazy video on YT: I got on the floor of the DNC and played my favorite game of Yass Queen or no queen,' an animated McGloin wrote on Instagram after the fact, adding, 'I totally won for most brat.' Utilizing more of the latest lingo to perhaps pan the attendees, he added: 'I was all in for the vibes but I dont know if I can forgive the national committee for the Beyonce and Taylor Swift bait and switch.' Both were no-shows at the event, despite multiple rumors suggesting otherwise. 'Like I could understand not having them, but the vibe was that both were coming - which left me extremely upset and definitely triggered my trust issues around women following through,' a noticeably sarcastic McGloin continued. 'I love all women obviously. Everyone was very demure,' he went on, using more buzz words. 'The radio doesnt count. Kamala is very hot and confident in person shes definitely ready for the moment. My bio is where you can meet the democratic national brat.' He went on to advertise some of the interviews he was able to secure despite being a comedian, with people like Rep. Jerry Nadler, James, Cuomo, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Buttigieg, Michael Cohen, JJ Abrams, Kellyanne Conway, Sen. Ed Markey, Harry Sisson, and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. He went on to advertise some of the interviews he was able to secure despite being a comedian, like with Chris Cuomo, who told him his best pickup line is 'I'll pay' He also interviewed AG Letitia James, with whom he conversed about Donald Trump potentially 'weaponizing the justice system when he gets in power', a concept that she agreed with At one point, he asked an attendee whether she'd want free abortions and gender-affirming care for migrants. 'She's brat,' he said repeatedly throughout, in reference to the Charli XCX album that has become a meme among the left When questioned, Cuomo, who was fired from CNN for flouting journalistic standards when he helped his brother Andrew, provided his best pickup line for obtaining a girl: 'I'll pay.' With James, he conversed about Donald Trump potentially 'weaponizing the justice system when he gets in power', a concept that she quickly said could happen. She went on to label Trump as 'dangerous', six months after the New York State Supreme Court ruled in her favor in her office's civil fraud case against the aspiring president, who has since appealed that verdict. Meanwhile, McGloin, seemingly embracing the femininity of many of Harris's followers, went on to engage in a series of other escapades - like asking another woman a series of 'yes queen' or no queen' questions about whether she'd want free abortions and gender-affirming care for migrants. The host at one point even appeared to get Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey to consider legalizing cocaine. He also repeatedly classified things as being 'brat', in reference to the Charli XCX album that has become a meme among the left. Qantas sold hundreds of discounted first class airfares to customers by mistake with flights on a popular international route offered for less than $5,000. The national carrier sold the low cost tickets for return flights between Australia and the United States on August 22. Around 300 customers made bookings during the eight hours that the tickets were being advertised on the Qantas website. Flights from Sydney to Los Angeles were advertised for $2,191 while flights from Los Angeles to Sydney were available from $2,108. The airfares were being offered for January 10, 2025 and January 30, 2025. Daily Mail Australia understands the first class tickets were sold due to a coding error. The fares that were advertised were up to 85 per cent lower than the normal cost of first class tickets. The discounted prices were also around 65 per cent lower than usual cost of business class flights. The national carrier sold the low cost tickets for return flights between Australia and the United States on August 22 (pictured) Flights from Sydney to Los Angeles were advertised for $2,191 while flights from Los Angeles to Sydney were available from $2,108 The fares were quickly shared online, including on popular discount website OzBargain. A customer who uploaded a post urged travellers to book while they can - even though they admitted the sale appeared to be 'clearly an error'. 'No guarantees it will be honoured by Qantas, but worth a try,' they wrote. The post claimed the flights could be booked from September 2024 to June 2025, including dates during the busy Christmas holiday period. Social media users claimed they had managed to secure seats on some of the flights. 'I booked two and one already got approved see you guys at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport]' one person wrote. 'Amazing. Just tried a dummy booking for April and the cheap fare is correct,' another person wrote. 'Thanks bought 10,' a third wrote. A Qantas spokeswoman confirmed the airfares were created by a system generated error and told Daily Mail Australia staff are assisting customers impacted by the sale. 'Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true,' the spokeswoman said. 'As a gesture of good will, we're rebooking customers in Business Class at no additional cost. Customers also have the option of a full refund.' The latest issue comes after Qantas was ordered to pay $120million in fines and compensation for misleading thousands of customers over flight cancellations. Qantas confirmed the airfares were created by a system generated error and staff are assisting customers impacted by the sale (stock image) Around 86,000 customers were sold tickets for flights that had already been cancelled between May 2021 and August 2023. The airline also agreed to pay $100million to the ACCC for breaching Australian Consumer Law. New CEO Vanessa Hudson said the airline would work hard to revive its battered reputation. The airline illegally sacked almost 1,700 workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and hit customers with expensive airfares. Ms Hudson, who took over from Alan Joyce after he resigned in September last year, apologised for letting customers down. 'We haven't delivered the way we should have and we've often been hard to deal with,' she said. 'We understand why you're frustrated, and why some of you have lost trust in us.' Five relatives were shot dead in a tragic murder-suicide as the family gathered at their mother's Long Island home following her funeral. Police say they responded to a call about shots fired in the quiet cul-de-sac on Wyoming Court in Syosset where they found a man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn just before noon on Sunday. Officers then found another four victims dead inside the tiny blue home - which they were planning to sell following their mother's death last week, Newsday reports. The victims have not been identified as of Sunday evening, but property records show the home most recently belonged to 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia, who was buried on Friday. It is now believed that one of her sons, who lived in the house with DeLucia, killed his siblings and family members before shooting himself in the front yard over a dispute about the sale of the home, according to News 12 Long Island. Officers found a man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn of this Syosset, New York home on Sunday - and four other victims inside 'The mom just died, and they were selling the house,' real estate agent Mary Macaluso told Newsday. She noted she was supposed to be meeting relatives at the home at around noon - but by the time she arrived, authorities had already closed the street. 'The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come look at the house,' Macaluso said, explaining that one of DeLucia's children asked her to meet with the family so they would know what to do before listing the home, which is estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 on Zillow. The family wanted the assessment done quickly because two of the family members came up from Florida for the funeral, and were headed back soon, she noted. Property records show the house most recently belonged to 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia, who was buried on Friday But the suspect, believed to be in his 60s, had lived in the house his entire life, and neighbors say losing the home was just too unbearable for him, according to ABC 7. 'I didn't think that he'd take his whole family, his siblings,' one neighbor told Fox 5 New York. 'I thought maybe he was distraught and he did this to himself only.'. Other neighbors noted that they heard gunfire, as they remained shaken up by the grisly scene. 'At first I heard it was a murder-suicide, and that's pretty bad,' Mike Steffens told ABC 7. 'And then I heard four people murdered and then a suicide, so it was something you don't hear very often, let alone in your own town.' Another resident, Wendy Paisner, called the murder-suicide a 'tragedy for the family' in her remarks to NBC 4 New York. Nassau County police say they are not identifying any of the victims, the shooter, a possible motive or whose gun was used in the shooting. They will release more information about their findings on Monday. Neighbours of the man found dead in a surfboard bag say they are shocked he was allegedly murdered by a woman who rented a room at his home. Lisa Marie Cummings, 35, had only moved in a month ago to share Mark Myers' home in Nambucca Head in northern NSW, locals told Daily Mail Australia. His body was found dumped 70 km away in a surfbag on the driveway of a home in Darkwood, near the Bellinger River National Park, on Thursday evening. Cummings was arrested for the alleged murder at their shared four-bedroom home on Friday and appeared in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Monday. Residents on his street described the alleged victim as 'an excellent neighbour' and 'a good friend', who had lived in the nearby house since he bought it in 2010. They said what is alleged to have unfolded was 'unbelievable'. Cummings was allegedly in a relationship with Mr Myers, on top of paying him rent, with police saying they had a 'domestic' association. Lisa Marie Cummings had only moved into the house owned by Mark Myers a month before she is alleged to have murdered him and dumped his body in a surfboard bag 70km away The four-bedroom home on Loftus Street, Nambucca Heads had been bought by Mr Myers in 2010, and he rented out rooms to help support his lifestyle the reported. NSW Police sources allege Cummings had been paying rent to Mr Myers and that she was in a relationship with him, Daily Telegraph reported. Detectives will allege Mr Myers is believed to have died elsewhere before his body was found on the Darkwood driveway. Police set up a crime scene, however the property was cleared out days later with no officers spotted at the house on Saturday. Inspector Vince Nicholls said Mr Myers' family were distressed and had been in contact with officers in the wake of the death. He urged anyone with information to come forward to police, as well as anyone with dash cam footage from the area around the crime scenes. Lisa Marie Cummings, 35, was arrested after Mark Myers, 62, was found dead at a Darkwood home near Bellingen, on the NSW north coast, at 7pm on Thursday A major incident has been declared and a 'significant search and rescue operation' is underway after a huge blaze engulfed a London tower block with 'non-compliant cladding' in the middle of the night. Some 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters have been sent to battle the fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham, east London, which saw more than 100 people evacuated and two people taken to hospital. The London Fire Brigade (LFB), which was called at 2.44am, said parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the ground floor and the roof, were alight. The London Ambulance Service said it treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to hospital but did not clarify their condition. Dagenham and Rainham's Labour MP Margaret Mullane said the 'terrible scenes' resulted in only 'minimal' injuries due to the swift response of the emergency services. Those who fled the building have told of being woken up to 'piercing screams' as huge flames ripped through the residential and commercial building. Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets. The cause of the blaze, which has resulted in thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, is not yet known. Some residents living on the sixth floor claimed that they did not hear any fire alarm go off. The tower block, called Spectrum Building, has a 'number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade'. Work was also underway to remove 'non-compliant cladding' on the building, which is why it was covered in scaffolding. Valcan, a non-combustible cladding supplier, posted on Facebook six days ago that it had 'popped over to Dagenham' to check on the progress of 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding'. A planning application to carry out this work was approved on July 3 2023. Cladding is typically fitted to the outside of high-rise buildings to improve their insulation and appearance. But since the Grenfell tragedy seven years ago, campaigners have been calling for the Government to fix Britain's building safety crisis by replacing unsafe cladding. More than 100 people were evacuated from a high-rise block of flats which became engulfed in flames in the middle of the night Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets Some 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze on Freshwater Road, which has left two people in hospital Firefighters work hard to try and put the terrifying blaze out after a fire broke out in the night Nearby residents have been told to shut their windows and doors due to smoke billowing into the sky Firefighters are seen attempting to put the soaring flames out on the roof of the building Damage from the terrifying blaze was visible on Monday morning, with firefighters still at the scene A close-up of the damage that the fire has caused to the cladding on the outside of the building in Dagenham Images from this morning shows burnt out parts of the building, with firefighters attempting to calm down the blaze Just six days ago, Valcan, a leading company in architectural cladding systems, said it was carrying out 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding' In June 2017, a fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in west London, killing 72 people, with the blaze spreading rapidly allegedly due to the cladding on the block's outside walls. A public inquiry into the disaster is still ongoing. Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families from the disaster, posted on X: 'Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the fire in Dagenham this morning, we hope all residents are safe and adequately cared for by the authorities.' London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the LFB had declared a major incident in Dagenham to allow the service to focus its resources on the fire. He continued: 'The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. 'A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. 'The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. 'LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.' New drones are being deployed to tackle the blaze, along with 64-metre and 32-metre turntable ladders that are being used as vantage points to assess the scene and to douse the flames with water from above, Mr Roe said. Those who fled in the early hours have told of their dramatic escape. Martin Perry-Taylor, 44, described smoke engulfing the building with 'piercing screams' waking him up. He said: 'It was madness. I woke to all this screaming and alarms and just chaos. 'It was dreadful. There were piercing screams. Smoke was everywhere. Shocking photos show the burnt out building with smoke billowing out of the top Firefighters spent the night tackling the huge blaze which started just before 3am Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane as efforts to put the blaze out continued into the morning LFB said 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters were sent to the scene. It has declared a major incident Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane 'It was unreal. I got out straight away and there was just mayhem with people fleeing and getting out. It was my worst nightmare.' Another said: 'I'm in a state of complete shock and disbelief. How an earth did this start?' Dinesh Raj's six-year-old daughter was having a sleepover with friends in the flats when the fire broke out. He told Sky News: 'I got a call around 3am, so I came and picked them up. 'I managed to take my daughter and my friends to my home. They're all safe. I think they started smelling smoke around 3am, and learned there was a fire. 'They had a six-month baby as well, so they managed to grab the baby and my daughter and get out the building. 'I think the majority [of residents] managed to step out before the fire started spreading. 'But everything they have is back in the building and we have no clue what happened.' Kaisa, who has lived in the building for six years, said she did not hear a fire alarm go off as she fled. 'I got out of bed and looked out the window and I saw flames climbing up toward our balcony,' she told Sky News. 'I woke my partner and said there's a fire it's spreading quickly.' She added: 'There was no fire alarm, nothing went off, when we ran out the flats we just saw some neighbours, smoke coming out the door, we looked at each other, and said 'are you okay?' and tried to wake up a few others, but no fire alarms. Nothing.' As she tried to knock on doors, Kasia said she 'couldn't hear one neighbour' and added: 'I hope they had gone away for the long weekend.' Mohammed, another resident on the sixth floor, also told the broadcaster that he didn't hear the fire alarm and left the building only with clothes on his back. Block Management UK, who said they had taken over the management the Spectrum Building in 2019, has been approached for comment by MailOnline. Ahmed, 44, of Kemp Road, which is a few hundred yards from the property, told the PA news agency: 'When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming.' Dagenham and Rainham MP Ms Mullane said on X: 'Terrible scenes in Dagenham this morning as @LondonFire tackle the blaze at Freshwater Rd. 'Thanks to their rapid response injury was minimal. I will be visiting the rescue centre today to see what help and support I can offer the residents and businesses who have lost everything.' A paramedic with a face mask as firefighters work at the scene of a large fire The London Ambulance Service said it treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to hospital Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene Hundreds of firefighters have spent hours trying to tackle the blaze in Dagenham Firefighters at the scene of the devastating fire at an east London tower block LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. Pictured is the building this morning Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted: 'My thoughts are with all those affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham. I thank London Fire Brigade & all emergency services on the ground for their bravery and swift response. I and Home Office Ministers are receiving updates on the incident from operational partners.' Station Commander Alan Bendell, who is at the scene of the Dagenham fire, said: 'The fire is producing heavy smoke and we're advising local residents to keep windows and doors closed. 'Two of the Brigade's 32-metre turntable ladders are being used at the scene as aerial water towers to assist with tackling the fire from height. 'Freshwater Road is closed to traffic, so please avoid the area where possible.' Several ambulances are parked nearby to the blaze and an air ambulance was also dispatched. A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We were called at 2:52am today (26 August) to reports of a fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham. 'We sent a large number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, incident response officers, an advanced paramedic in critical care, emergency planning officers, a command support vehicle and members of our hazardous area response team (HART). 'We also dispatched London's Air Ambulance.' 'We treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to a hospital.' Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. The BBC reports that more than 100 people were evacuated. The body of a woman missing for three days has been found after she was swept up in a flash flood near the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was discovered by a commercial river trip on the Colorado River about 20 miles downstream of where she disappeared, the US National Park Service said in a statement Sunday. Nickerson, from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, was swept into Havasu Creek without a life jacket on Thursday, the park service said - describing how she was swallowed by the tributary of the Colorado River, around where it it enters the National Park. The aerial, ground and rescue vehicle search Sunday saw more than 100 other successfully pulled from the floodwaters, and was concentrated where Havasu Creek and the Colorado River meet, the park service said. The creek also runs through Havasupai tribal lands where tribal leaders had asked Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs for flood assistance, after which the the state provided assets such as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to get the job done. Scroll down for video: The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was found by a commercial river trip on the Colorado River Sunday The hiker was swallowed by rising water near Havasu Creek without a life jacket on Thursday. The floodwaters are seen tearing through the area here The Arizona National Guard confirmed on Saturday the Blackhawk helped evacuate 104 tourists and tribal members out of a canyon, after which he Havasupai Tribal Council said it had closed its lands to tourists until further notice. 'The Council is actively engaged in safely evacuating those tourists that were in Supai at the time of the flooding,' The Havasupai Tribe, which gives hikers access to the area where the falls are located, said in their statement. They added how the tribe was still working to evacuate the hikers affected by the flash flooding. As for Nickerson's family, her mother and sister have yet to comment on the discovery, but had been appealing for information about the hikers whereabouts for the past several days. In one post to social media, her mom wrote: 'Does anyone have a list of names of the hikers that are with the SAR after the flash floods yesterday? Her sister Dena, meanwhile, said: 'Chenoa and her husband Andrew Nickerson were hiking in the Havasupai area on 08/22/24. 'Andrew reached out to his father via satellite phone on 08/22/2024 at 18:16 reporting that Chenoa and him were caught in a flash flood and that they were both swept away and that Andrew was rescued. 'He said he is at a safe spot camping with a rafting crew who rescued him and that NPS SAR was on sight as of last night. Please help us. We are desperate.' Her husband Andrew, seen here with Nickerson, was found by local rafters, along with more than 100 others who were swept up by the water The creek runs through Havasupai tribal lands where tribal leaders had asked Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs for flood assistance, after which the the state provided assets such as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to get the job done. Nickerson was found on around 11:30 am Officials over the weekend confirmed that Andrew was among those found by local rafters an retrieved from the floodwaters, before the search for his spouse ended tragically. She was found on around 11:30 am about 18.7 miles from where her husband lost track of her, the NPS said. 'The victim was discovered by a commercial river trip near river mile 176 in the Colorado River,' the agency said. 'Park rangers responded and recovered the body, which was transported to the rim by helicopter and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner.' The NPS and Coconino County Medical Examiner said they are both still investigating the incident and Nickerson's death. ABC investigative reporter Louise Milligan has blasted claims managing director David Anderson quit the broadcaster after a row with chair Kim Williams over a Four Corners expose. Anderson quit suddenly last week just one year into his second five year term in the role, triggering a tsunami of speculation about the real reason for the decision. Rumours have since spread that Anderson and Williams had a bruising 'difference of opinion' about Milligan's Four Corners doco on the workplace culture at Seven West Media. Sources told Daily Mail Australia Williams reportedly told Anderson the episode of the hard-hitting series was 'weak as p***' and had reservations about it going to air. But Anderson is alleged to have ignored Williams' concerns and took the decision to broadcast the episode, despite the testimony of one former employee having to be edited out because of legal issues. The speculation was published by journalist James Madden in The Australian's Media section on Monday, triggering a furious reaction from Milligan on social media. '[The] Australian is happy to publish fiction. Again,' she posted on X. 'Their story this evening is as fake as the fake private investigators they once said on page one that we hired. Investigative reporter Louise Milligan took to X to vehemently deny a falling out with outgoing managing director David Anderson ABC managing director David Anderson has announced he's stepping down from the top job 'It's happened so many times now in their creepy, weird, obsessive campaign I shouldn't be surprised.' She added: 'The same journalist, who printed this latest fiction, wrote 3 years ago I was 'at war' with the ABC MD when I'd only had positive dealings with David Anderson, & I was instead, in fact, in bed 24-7, recovering from a major operation. 'I don't understand. It's all so deeply weird.' In a later tweet, she revealed that she and Madden were one-time cadet colleagues 24 years ago, recalling him as a 'nice, normal, laid back kind of guy back then'. 'I feel sad about how he's taken to printing false stories about a former colleague who never did him any harm,' Milligan wrote. The ABC addressed the Australian's report on Monday afternoon by branding the article as 'false' in a public statement. 'The ABC informed the journalist before publishing that the unsourced claim was baseless but The Australian went ahead and published it anyway,' the statement on the broadcaster's website read. The tweets come days after Anderson resigned but he will stay on into the new year before collecting a bumper penion payday. According to the ABC's annual report from the 2022-23 financial year, the corporation's top executive received a total remuneration package of $1,156,969, increasing year-on-year by $120,000. Under the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme, Anderson, who first joined the public broadcaster as a bike courier in Adelaide in 1989 and enjoyed a 35-year career at the ABC, is entitled to an annual CPI-indexed pension of at least 37 per cent of his final salary. That would put the outgoing ABC boss's total taxpayer-funded annual pension at almost $430,000 more than four-and-a-half times the nation's average income. However, sources within the ABC have hinted Anderson may have negotiated an even higher pension package. Meanwhile, highly regarded former Foxtel and Nine executive Amanda Laing is already being touted as the hot favourite to succeed Anderson after he winds up next year. Anderson was appointed to a second term in the role in 2023 but will step down once a replacement is found. Louise Milligan called out The Australian on X In a note to all ABC staff on Thursday, he said he expected to remain in the role until at least the start of 2025. Anderson said he was grateful to new chair Williams and the board for their support and efforts to persuade him to stay on for a full second term. 'Their unabashed enthusiasm for the importance and future of the corporation makes this decision easier,' he said. 'I am confident the timing is right for both me and the ABC.' Williams, a former News Limited chief executive who took over from Ita Buttrose as chair in March, said the delayed resignation would ensure a smooth transition. Prosecutors in Italy have launched an official investigation into the captain of the 30million Bayesian superyacht which sank off Sicily last week, killing British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, his daughter and five others. Captain James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealander, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, Italian dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera are reporting today. Magistrates spoke to Cutfield yesterday for the second time in a week, it is claimed, questioning him for more than two hours. It said prosecutors may also investigate a crew member who was on duty when the storm hit and survived the incident. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. Six passengers - including Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah - died alongside chef Recaldo Thomas after the British-flagged pleasure yacht capsized and came to rest on its side 164ft below in the early hours of last Monday. Hundreds of people in the Sicilian fishing community of Porticello, held a poignant candle-lit vigil for the victims last night, as a former marine who guarded Mr Lynch while he was under house arrest said the experience was 'life-changing'. A weather phenomenon known as a downburst - a violent downward explosion of wind that then expands outwards as it hits the ground, often produced in thunderstorms and mistaken for tornadoes - is believed to have played a part. James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealander, was in charge of the Bayesian when it sank off the coast of Sicily during a storm A handout photo made available on August 19 by Perini Navi Press Office shows the 'Bayesian' sailing boat, in Palermo, Sicily, Italy British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah both died in the Bayesian tragedy when the superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily Recaldo Thomas, chef on the Bayesian, was the first person to be recovered after the yacht sunk on Monday Judy and Jonathan Bloomer died on the Bayesian as it keeled over in the water The bodies of Neda and Chris Morvillo, pictured in 2018, were also retrieved last week While the yacht had been hit by the very sudden meteorological event, it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed, chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday. Who died in the Sicily yacht disaster? Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley and past chairman of Mike Lynch's software firm Autonomy Judy Bloomer, Jonathan's wife and a lifetime psychotherapist Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance and Mike Lynch's lawyer Neda Morvillo, Christopher's wife and a jewellery designer Mike Lynch, British tech tycoon who had just been cleared of fraud charges in the United States Hannah Lynch, Mike Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Recaldo Thomas, a chef working on board the Bayesian yacht Advertisement Maritime law gives a captain full responsibility for the ship and the crew, as well as the safety of all aboard. Prosecutors in Italy have previously questioned Cutfield, who they said had been 'extremely cooperative'. Other Bayesian crew members have remained in Italy voluntarily to assist the investigation. It comes after Italian prosecutors held a press conference on Saturday, where it was revealed the victims were unable to escape as they may have been asleep. They had scrambled to one side of the ship in search of air pockets in a desperate attempt for survival, with Hannah - who had won a place at the University of Oxford - dying alone in a cabin. At the Termini Imerese Courthouse in Palermo, Mr Cartosio did not rule out homicide charges. One line of inquiry being pursued by prosecutors is whether the nine surviving crew members raised the alarm before escaping. Mr Cartosio vowed to establish each crew members' responsibility as he warned: 'For me, it is probable that offences were committed - that it could be a case of manslaughter.' He said there were 'behaviours that were not perfectly in order with regard to the responsibility everybody had', before adding: 'There could be in fact the question of homicide. But this is the beginning of the inquiry, we cannot exclude anything at all.' Who are the nine surviving crew members Captain James Cutfield, 51, a New Zealander Sasha Murray, 29, from Ireland Kyaw Htun Myin, 31 from Myanmar Matthew Griffith, 22, from France Leo Eppel, from South Africa Onboard hostess Leah Randall, 20 from South Africa Hostess Katja Chicken, 23, from Germany Tus Koopmans, from the Netherlands Eaton Parker, believed to be from the UK Advertisement A vigil for the victims of the disaster was held last night in the fishing community of Porticello in Sicily. It comes as tributes continued to pour in for the victims, with the security guard who ensured Mike Lynch remained under house arrest during his trial in America revealing the mogul treated him like a member of his family. Rolo Igno, a court-appointed armed guard, said: 'As an executive protection agent, the number one rule is simple, don't ever get close to the principal. 'They aren't your friends, they're a client and the relationship is strictly professional. But with Mike, that didn't fly with him and for me that rule quickly dissolved.' Describing the first time he escorted Dr Lynch and his daughters to lunch, he said: 'I opened the door for them and told Mike, ''If you need anything at all sir, I'll be right at this table by the entrance''. He chuckled and in his confident way, Mike replied, ''No, no, no, you'll be sitting with us''. 'When I hesitated, not wanting to disrupt their family time, he insisted, saying, 'Rolo, do you want me to tell my beautiful daughters that the tough and handsome security guy, who was a former marine, didn't want to sit with us because he was intimidated by them?' How could I possibly say no to that? 'So, I joined them, sitting at the far end of the table, feeling out of my element but gradually realising how genuine and loving they all were.' Italian prosecutors held a press conference on Saturday where it was revealed the victims were unable to escape as they had been asleep during the storm Hannah was found dead in her own cabin 50 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean Rolo Igno, a court-appointed armed guard, is in the left of this picture German yacht hostess Katja Chicken (in green) survived the yacht disaster last Monday On-board hostess Leah Randall, 20, from South Africa, was also able to escape Sasha Murray, who also worked onboard the yacht Your browser does not support iframes. Search vessels returning to shore on Friday after Hannah Lynch's body was discovered The victims' bodies were tragically found in 'tight spots' with furniture on top of them and brought ashore one-by-one by dive teams last week, who had carried out 120 trips to the wreck on the seabed. Fifteen of the 22 people on board the ship - including Hannah's mother Angela Bacares, 57 - managed to escape in a liferaft. Italian prosecutors have admitted they did not conduct alcohol and drug testing on the vessel's crew - all but one of whom survived - because they needed treatment and were in shock. They have vowed to question the sailors intensively. Who died in the Sicily yacht disaster? Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley and past chairman of Mike Lynch's software firm Autonomy Judy Bloomer, Jonathan's wife and a lifetime psychotherapist Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance and Mike Lynch's lawyer Neda Morvillo, Christopher's wife and a jewellery designer Mike Lynch, British tech tycoon who had just been cleared of fraud charges in the United States Hannah Lynch, Mike Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Recaldo Thomas, a chef working on board the Bayesian yacht Advertisement The coastguard says no tornado warning had been issued that night, contrary to previous reports, and the ship's captain Mr Cutfield reportedly told Italian newspaper La Repubblica of the sudden weather change: 'We didn't see it coming.' Mr Cartosio previously said he thought it was 'probable that offences were committed' surrounding the sinking of the yacht. He opened a case of shipwreck and manslaughter that was not initially directed at any individuals. Mr Cutfield is now being investigated for shipwreck and manslaughter. According to a live translation provided by the BBC, Mr Carosio told reporters that the sinking could have been the responsibility of the captain, crew, individuals in charge of supervision, the ship-builder, or others. He added: 'We will establish each element's responsibility - that will be done by the inquiry, so we can't do that prematurely. 'For me, it is probable that offences were committed - that it could be a case of manslaughter - but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate. 'Media timing is completely different from that of a prosecutor. We need a minimum amount of time to come to a proper scientific conclusion.' Mr Cartosio, while stressing that enquiries remain at an early stage, appeared to suggest there were questions for the crew to answer. He added that it would be 'painful' if, theoretically, 'this tragedy, this terrible tragedy, was caused by behaviours that were not perfectly in order with regard to the responsibility that everybody had to have (on) the ship.' He added: 'Individuals or people would potentially be culpable, negligent, lack of prudence, lack of responsibility... We can't just deal with this quickly.' People gather outside the church as Don Vincenzo the parish priest of Porticello in the municipality of Santa Flavia, celebrated mass for the victims of the Bayesian shipwreck in Porticello An emotional vigil was held for those who lost their lives in the superyacht tragedy Mourners gather to pay tribute to the victims of the Bayesian Flowers were sent out to sea as a tribute to those who died in the superyacht accident Lead prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano added of the crew: 'We are going to discover how much they knew or to what extent all the people were warned. 'This event was completely unexpected so the inquiry which as the prosecutor previously said is going to be based on recovery of the wreck, when we'll be able to examine the wreck and possibly get some answers to questions that at the moment cannot be answered.' The disaster killed six passengers and one member of crew. Among the survivors are six other passengers and nine members of the crew, including Mr Cutfield, and the first officer. Questions remain as to whether those who died had been warned the boat was in trouble - and how long it took for the Bayesian to sink while the 15 survivors were rescued after a passing ship sent out a lifeboat. Stephen Askins, a partner at maritime law specialists Tatham & Co, previously told MailOnline the forecasted bad weather likely meant the crew were already up and working when the Bayesian sunk, allowing them to quickly escape in a liferaft. The time it took the boat to sink, combined with the actions of the crew as it became apparent it was in trouble, will likely form the core of any manslaughter inquiry. The yacht is believed to have sunk at the stern after being upset by a downburst that spread out with force, coming to rest on its right-hand side as it hit the sea bed. Hannah Lynch and her father Mike Lynch (both pictured above) were on the yacht celebrating Mr Lynch's acquittal on US fraud charges The press conference was assembled on Saturday as prosecutors said Italian civil codes prevented them from sharing too much information too soon Rescue workers standing by after recovering the body of Hannah Lynch off the coast of Porticello yesterday Rescue chiefs said it was apparent to divers that victims had tried to seek shelter in one side of the upturned boat, where there may have been air bubbles, as it sank. Hannah was found alone in her cabin while five others, including her father, were found in a separate compartment. Fire service commander Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra told reporters at a conference in Termini Imerese, close to the sinking site at Palermo: 'You may want to know where we recovered the bodies of the victims. I can tell you... that the ship sunk and was laid onto its right hand side at the bottom of the sea. 'It's quite clear that the people were trying to hide in the cabins on the left-hand side and we found the first five bodies in the first cabin on the left-hand side and the final body in the third cabin on the left-hand side. 'There were six cabins: three on the left-hand side and three on the right-hand side. We found them on the highest part of the ship going towards the surface.' One person had been on watch in the cockpit when disaster struck. They have been interviewed and are not required to remain in Italy - but authorities say they expect them to fully cooperate with the probe. Prosecutors say they want the Bayesian to be raised from the water so the wreck can be examined but responsibility for this lies with the ship's owners. Firefighter commander Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra revealed Hannah Lynch had been found alone in a cabin on the side of the yacht facing the surface Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, maritime director of western Sicily (right), suggested there was a desire to raise the wreck of the Bayesian from the sea bed The press conference was arranged to brief the international media due to the global interest in the Bayesian's sinking The 185ft British-flagged yacht sank in the early hours of Monday after, investigators believe, it was struck by a downburst, a violent downward plume of wind often mistaken for tornadoes and commonly created during thunderstorms. The emergency services were alerted shortly after 4.30am - but by the time they had arrived, the ship had already sunk. The time taken by rescue services to reach the wreck will also form part of the investigation - though authorities said today the sinking had been extremely rapid. The crew of a nearby Dutch sailing ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, were able to send a liferaft to rescue 15 of the 22 people on board. Among the survivors was British woman Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter, who she held aloft in the water. Mr Cartosio added that it quickly became apparent to those who witnessed the disaster it would be 'impossible' to save those still trapped in the yacht as it sank to the sea bed. He told reporters: 'The Public Prosecutor's Office of Termini Imerese has registered a file with the state against unknown persons, hypothesising the crimes of negligent shipwreck and multiple negligent manslaughter.' He added: 'Generally a prosecutor is never satisfied to give this information at this stage, precisely because developments could change. 'We cannot exclude anything at all but what, there has been a lot of media interest with regards to the people who were involved. But at the same time I believe it is right to anticipate developments of this inquiry can be very variable.' There had been questions as to why it had taken so long for Italian authorities to inform the public in detail of its rescue operations. Mr Cartosio told reporters Italian civil codes had prevented him from releasing more information about the search while it took place, highlighting that he personally believed it created 'notable obstacles' to transparency with the public. However, the press conference was staged because of the major international interest in the disaster - and because of the high-profile identities of the victims. The press conference took place in the town of Termini Imerese, a town close to Porticello where the boat sank The operation was made more complex by the depth of the wreck - 50 metres below the surface - and low visibility (pictured: rescue workers on Thursday) Divers searched for a total of 72 hours underwater to find the bodies of those who died during the disaster (pictured: diving equipment used by the search teams) The coastguard deployed helicopters to assist with the search throughout (pictured: search parties on the water on Wednesday) Mr Lynch and his daughter, alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were lost when the yacht sank at around 5am local time on Monday. The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the superyacht, was recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday. Their bodies were taken to the nearby village of Porticello, about 11 miles from Sicilian capital Palermo. Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, maritime director of western Sicily confirmed Thomas' body was found close to the ship. Mr Fiandra, the fire service commander, added that it had taken time to find the other bodies because of the complexities of reaching a ship 50 metres below, the size of the yacht itself, and the lack of visibility so far from the surface. 'Over four days to have obtained the result we have obtained? Let's say that represents how professional these divers were,' he said. There is no timeline for when the yacht may be recovered from the water to assist with the ongoing investigation. 'We want to be able to recover the wreck in coordination with the prosecutor because there will be inquiries and they have shown the will to recover the wreck,' Rear Admiral Macauda said. 'We carried out an extraordinary operation and everyone worked in an amazing way. But this is a very sad moment as seven human lives have been lost.' He later added: 'What of course we wanted to do is save human lives at sea. That's why we carried on with the search from the surface. We were still hoping to find somebody alive.' Both the hull and the superstructure, the part above the main deck, were made from aluminium Divers heading into the water on August 23 to find Hannah Lynch's body in a handout picture from the Italian coastguard Your browser does not support iframes. The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed 'unsinkable' by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. A total of 27 divers, including 11 cave experts and eight deep sea divers, were called in to aid with the search across 72 total hours of searching underwater across 123 dives. In a statement, the family of Mr Lynch and Hannah said: 'The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. 'Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy. 'They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue. 'Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief.' The Lynch family also issued a photograph of Mr Lynch and Hannah alongside their tribute. Hannah's sister Esme paid her own tribute, saying: 'Hannah often burst into my bedroom and lay down with me. 'Sometimes beaming with a smile, sometimes cheeky, sometimes for advice. 'No matter what, she brought boundless love to me. 'She was endlessly caring, passionately mad, unintentionally hilarious and the most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend to me. 'And on top of all this, she had even more love to give endlessly to all her friends and passion to give to her incredible studies and goals. 'She is my little angel, my star.' Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, said the search for Hannah was not 'easy or quick', comparing the sunken yacht to an '18-storey building full of water'. The bodies of all six missing passengers have now been brought to shore in the small fishing village of Porticello, around 11 miles from the Sicilian capital of Palermo. Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued after escaping on to a lifeboat. She owns the yacht through a private company. The boat trip was a celebration of Mr Lynch's acquittal in a fraud case in the US. The businessman, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion dollar (8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard. The Mail reported last night that Hewlett Packard has refused to rule out pursuing Mr Lynch's family over a legal case. His death last week means his family could be liable for any payout decided by the judge, who is expected to rule on damages before the end of the year. A source close to the case said: 'It is with the judge. We are waiting to hear from him. There is no decision to be made until he makes his decision.' A spokesman for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, asked if it would rule out pursuing Dr Lynch's estate for damages, said: 'We do not think it appropriate to comment on legal matters in these tragic circumstances.' Russia this morning launched one of its most brutal bombing raids on Ukraine in the war so far, pounding Kyiv and other cities with waves of drones and missiles and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for the help of European warplanes. Nationwide air raid alerts were triggered in the early hours as Ukraine's air defences sprang into action to shoot down a torrent of drones, which were launched as Moscow seeks revenge for Ukraine's invasion of its Kursk region. The attacks kept coming, and hours later Ukraine's air force warned that Russia had deployed almost a dozen Tu-95 and six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers which let loose salvo after salvo of missiles during Monday morning rush hour. MiG-31K warplanes - capable of firing fearsome Kinzhal supersonic missiles - and four naval vessels were also involved in the bombardment. At least three people were killed in the strikes and more were wounded, with casualties reported in the northwestern city of Lutsk, eastern Dnipro and the southern Zaporizhzhia regions. The death toll is expected to rise sharply as rescuers begin combing through the rubble. Following the attacks, Zelensky urged European leaders to permit their air forces to help down drones and missiles over Ukraine. 'In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence,' he said in a post on social media. A residential apartment block was destroyed in the northwestern city of Lutsk, where one person is reported to have been killed Video shows explosions, reportedly in Kyiv, as Russia launched a bombardment of Ukraine this morning An explosion can be seen as a Russian projectile, believed to be a drone, smashed into a building in Lutsk Smoke rises over a building in western Ukraine amid one of the aerial attacks by Russia of the country since the war began Thunderous explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lutsk and Zaporizhzhia. Pictured: Smoke trails following a strike on Dnipro A visibly enraged Putin is seen in a muted video from a weekend meeting with top military chiefs Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that more than half of the country's regions - fifteen in total - had been struck by missiles and drones, with thunderous explosions also heard in the capital. Major blasts rang out this morning in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Kremenchuk, Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, officials and eyewitnesses reported, with the extent of the damage still unknown. A residential apartment block was destroyed in Lutsk, with rescue teams now working to evacuate survivors, the city's mayor said. Ukraine's grid operator Ukrenergo has ordered emergency blackouts across the country as areas of Kyiv, Odesa and the president's home town of Kryvyi Rih were left without power. Water supplies were also hit in Kyiv and elsewhere. Zelensky said Russia had carried out strikes on Ukraine using more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones, imploring Western partners to deploy their own air assets to protect his nation from further Russian attacks. 'It was one of the largest strikes - a combined one. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred ''shaheds'',' Zelensky said in a video message posted on Telegram, referring to attack drones. 'Like most Russian strikes before, this one was equally insidious, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. The energy sector has sustained significant damage, but in every area affected by power outages, restoration work is already in progress. 'Our defenders cannot be restricted in their weapons when Russia deploys its entire arsenal, including ''shaheds'' and ballistic missiles from North Korea. America, Britain, France, and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now,' he said. Meanwhile, NATO ordered its warplanes to fly over Poland and elsewhere on the alliance's eastern frontier as the far-reaching attack unfolded. The Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said on X that Polish and allied aircraft had been activated after Russia launched the attack which also targeted regions in Ukraine's west and near the Polish border. Rescue workers inside a building in Lutsk after it was hit in a Russian drone attack Video what Russian Telegram channels SHOT and Mash identified as a high-rise residential building in the city, with a damaged side and several windows blown out across three floors The Ukrainians have been expecting a major Russian missile attack for some time. The US embassy issued a warning last week of an elevated risk of attack around Ukrainian Independence Day, which Ukraine marked on Saturday. Russia launched two waves of drone attacks earlier on Monday, Ukraine's military said, with initial information showing no damage or casualties, before the major assault unfolded later in the morning. Up to 10 drones were destroyed on their approach to the city in the region around Kyiv at about 0230 GMT, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukraine has itself stepped up its long-range drone attacks on Russia to try hit back at Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 'The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly: their infrastructure,' Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said on Telegram, apparently vowing retaliation. Moscow today claimed that a Ukrainian drone attempted to strike an oil refinery deep inside the country in the city of Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, this weekend. The Russian defence ministry added that its air defence systems had taken down 20 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Kursk region, where Zelensky's forces launched an incursion almost three weeks ago. A residential complex in the southwestern city of Saratov had also been damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia's air defence systems this weekend, regional governor Roman Basurgin said on the Telegram messaging app. A residential complex in the city of Saratov had been damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia's air defence systems, regional governor Roman Basurgin said Reuters journalists were staying at Hotel Sapphire when the Iskander-M Russian ballistic missile hit on Sunday Ukrainian recuers take a break during a search and rescue operation among the rubble of a destroyed hotel after a strike in the town of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on Sunday Video posted on Telegram by the Russian news SHOT channel showed what it identified as a high-rise residential building in the city, with a damaged side and several windows blown out across three floors. In Engels, the top floor of a residential building was damaged, it added. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to the other's war effort. A list of Australia's top politician property investors as been revealed amid rising pressure for the government to fix the country's housing crisis. While many Aussies are struggling to find somewhere to live and afford increasing rent prices and mortgages, it was recently revealed the top 15 politician property owners own 88 homes between them. Analysis of the Register of Members' Interests of the 47th parliament completed by Realestate.com.au found 95 per cent of Australia's 227 federal politicians are homeowners. Only 10 MPs or senators had no properties under their name. While Queensland-based Fisher MP Andrew Wallace technically has no property tied to his name, his wife owns homes in Wurtulla on the Sunshine Coast, and Kelowna, Canada. Two of his companies - Wallco Property Group and QHF Properties - also host an extensive property portfolio with the former alone involved in more than a dozen real estate deals. Wallco currently owns land in Monkland and Bli Bli, both in Queensland. The second home is currently listed for sale, accepting 'best offers'. Mr Wallace also sold a five-unit property in Bargara in south-east Queensland last year for a $1.295million profit. A list of Australia's top politician property investors as been revealed with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre right) failing to crack the top 15 Andrew Wallace's company Wallco Property Group is involved in over a dozen property deals and currently owns this Bli Bli home on Queensland's Sunshine Coast listed for sale, accepting 'best offers'. Western Australian-based Forrest MP Nola Marino held the largest property portfolio on the register with eight properties totalling 380-plus hectares. Almost all are farms used for the production of dairy, beef and hay as well as sales, breeding, racing and leasing thoroughbred horses. They have been owned alongside her spouse for decades with the couple only owning one residential property. Labor's Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Victoria), Labor's Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, VIC) and Liberal National Karen Andrews (McPherson, Queensland) each own seven properties. Mr O'Connor's properties are in Niddrie, Keilor, Fitzroy and Lorne while his partner owns homes in Euroa, Longwood and Creightons Creek. Dr Ananda-Rajah co-owns real estate with her partner in Porepunkah,North Melbourne, North Carlton and Canterbury in Victoria, Beaumaris in Tasmania and two properties in Brisbane Mrs Andrews recently sold one of her seven properties in Ayr in Queensland's Burdekin region but quickly made up for the missing real estate through the purchase of another investment in Toowoomba. She also co-owns property in Deniliquin in the NSW Riverina, the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie, two on the Gold Coast and another in nearby Mudgeeraba. While Andrew Wallace (pictured), member for Fisher - Queensland, has no property directly tied to his name, his wife owns homes on the Sunshine Coast and in Canada Forrest MP Nola Marino primarily owns real estate in Western Australia for farming, including this property Three more members own six properties each. Tasmanian-based Liberal Gavin Pearce owns four properties in Lapoinya, one in Myalla and another under his partner's name in Arthur River. Labor's Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, SA) has real estate in Canberra's Cumberland, as well as five properties in South Australia. Anthony Burke (Watson, NSW) properties are in Punchbowl - NSW, Meander Valley - TAS, Belconnen - ACT, Port Phillip - VIC, and in Tasmania Sorell and Huon Valley. Seven members - Labor's Antonio Zappia (Makin, SA), Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Senate), Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, NSW), Catryna Bilyk (TAS, Senate), Andrew Willcox (Dawson, QLD), Gerard Rennick (QLD Senate), Colin Boyce (Flynn, QLD) - each own five properties spread throughout Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has a slightly less impressive portfolio with just three properties- all located in some Australia's rapidly growing suburbs. Mr Wallace's company also sold a five-unit property in Bargara (pictured) in south-east Queensland last year for a $1.295million profit The prime minister owns a residential property in Canberra, another residential in Marrickville and an investment property in nearby Dulwich Hill in Sydney's inner-west. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton owns two properties - one residential/farm in rural Dayboro and an investment in Brisbane. He is also listed as co-owning another investment property in Brisbane with his wife, Kirrily. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ramped up concerns of an all-out war in the Middle East after a ferocious exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military this weekend. Israel and the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets and drones at each other a day after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7, but the aggression has been mostly limited to border skirmishes. That is until a rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut last month killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, prompting the group to vow retaliation. Israel's air force sent squadrons of fighter jets to conduct bombing raids on targets across southern Lebanon in a pre-emptive strike early on Sunday morning, with Hezbollah in return launching 320 missiles and wave upon wave of kamikaze drones into Israel. As the dust settled, regional observers breathed a sigh of relief last night when diplomatic sources claimed the two sides had exchanged messages that neither wants to escalate further. But a stonefaced Netanyahu declared: 'We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows... whoever harms us, we harm him,' before later warning: 'This is not the end of the story.' The Prime Minister's vow comes as his citizens continue to brace for a retaliatory strike from Iran in exchange for the assassination of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month - all while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the presence of two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East. Now, MailOnline examines what a new full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could look like, what might happen in the event of another Iranian attack, and how the US would be forced to get involved if the tinderbox region sparked the world's next major war. This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over north Israel on August 25, 2024 A view shows smoke and fire on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on August 23, 2024 The Israeli military stated yesterday that Israeli Air Force fighter jets (left) conducted bombing raids on targets belonging to the Hezbollah organisation (Hezbollah drone right) War with Hezbollah Hezbollah, or the 'Party of God' in Arabic, is a Shia Islamist political and military organisation based in Lebanon that is believed to be the most heavily armed non-state actor in the world. Hezbollah and Israel last engaged in a major conflict in 2006, when a month-long battle ended in a draw. But the risks of a new war that could spread violence across the region are now far greater. Lebanon has struggled with years of political and economic crises that left it indebted, without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and with rampant poverty. The year 2020 brought yet more woe, with the Covid-19 pandemic further battering the economy as the devastating Beirut port explosion flattened several neighbourhoods in the heart of the capital. Yet Hezbollah has evolved into a much graver military threat than it was 18 years ago, and a new war would be far more destructive and prolonged. Hezbollah in 2006 reportedly had some 15,000 rockets in its arsenal, 'but more recent unofficial estimates suggest this number has multiplied by almost 10 times,' said Dina Arakji, associate analyst at UK-based risk consultancy firm Control Risks. Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) corroborates that assessment, estimating that the group's arsenal counts 150,000 to 200,000 rockets, including 'hundreds' of precision missiles and thousands of drones. Hezbollah also boasts a range of anti-tank and anti-air systems, a fleet of thousands of drones, and dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles - not to mention up to 100,000 active fighters. And, like Hamas, Hezbollah has an extensive tunnel network along the Lebanese-Israeli border which serves as a strategic asset for clandestine movement, storage, and guerrilla warfare. A snapshot of some of Hezbollah's weaponry Grad rocket systems are seen in this Hezbollah training footage Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are seen riding on motorbikes and carrying Chinese QM-18 man portable air defence systems. Hezbollah has purchased Chinese tech in recent years to compliment its extensive Soviet built arsenal of air defence weapons Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, Sunday, May 21, 2023 Ultimately, Israel's military capability is still superior. It has long been supported by the US with $3.3 billion in congressionally mandated annual funding, plus another $500 million toward missile defence technology that protects its skies from rockets and drones. The Jewish state also spends more than 5 per cent of its GDP on the IDF. Its air force includes the advanced American F-35 fighter jet, missile defence batteries including the American-made Patriot, and the famous Iron Dome system. Israel also boasts a massive fleet of armoured personnel carriers and tanks, along with 170,000 troops typically on active duty - not to mention hundreds of thousands of extra reservists that have been mobilised since October 7, plus around three million people who are fit for military service. As of Sunday night, tensions seemed to have abated. Hezbollah's aerial assault appeared to be aimed only at Israeli military targets with just one Israeli military casualty reported, while Danny Citrinowicz, an expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, said Hezbollah may have been trying to 'balance the equation (for the assassination of its commander Shukr) without escalating into war.' 'We will now reserve the right to respond at a later time' if the results of Sunday's attack aren't sufficient, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, adding: 'At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax.' Israel's foreign minister also said his country did not seek a full-scale war, but Prime Minister Netanyahu warned his cabinet last night that 'this is not the end of the story' and said he is 'determined to do everything we can to defend our country... whoever harms us - we harm him.' Should exchanges of missiles and drone strikes between Israel and Hezbollah continue, as indicated by Netanyahu, another explosive, large-scale conflict is more likely to occur. While Jerusalem would assuredly emerge victorious thanks to its technological capabilities and raw numeric advantage in terms of firepower and manpower, Hezbollah would be able to inflict massive damage. Its terrifying missile and drone arsenal is large enough to quickly overwhelm Israel's air defences if deployed in earnest, and the thousands upon thousands of Hezbollah fighters that could stream into northern Israel would be continuously supported by well established air and ground supply routes from its chief backer Iran via Iraq and Syria. Such a war would also spell disaster for civilians in both Israel and Lebanon - particularly citizens of the latter, many of whom have long been mired in poverty. UN agencies estimate an 'uncontrolled conflict' between Israel and Hezbollah would displace up to one million people - almost a fifth of Lebanon's population - and the country is already reliant on meagre stockpiles of food and fuel. Israel's air defence system intercepted hundreds of Hezbollah's drones and missiles this weekend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (2nd R) are pictured at a military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 25, 2024 Iran plots revenge as the US moves in While Israel's air force battered Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon over the weekend, millions of Israeli citizens were still anticipating a fresh strike from Iran. The Islamic Republic is the chief backer and financier of both Hezbollah and Hamas and represents Israel's greatest threat. It has already launched one serious strike on Israel since October 7, sending a salvo of some 200 missiles and drones soaring towards Israeli targets in April following an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. Almost all of those projectiles were intercepted by Israel's air defence systems, and analysts at the time largely agreed the Iranian attack was merely symbolic - designed to display Tehran's willingness for military engagement without causing real damage. But hopes that Iran would not seek to punish Israel further were erased on July 31, when former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated as he lay in his bed hours after attending the inauguration of Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. Israel never took credit for the explosion which killed the Palestinian group's leader in the Iranian capital, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed to take revenge. Messaging from the Islamic Republic has since been mixed, with diplomats claiming Iran is not seeking an escalation of tensions while simultaneously warning that Israel would not escape retribution for the explosion in Tehran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi yesterday said: 'Iran's reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated. 'We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it - unlike Israel.' But international observers, including the US, believe Iran is still preparing to exact its revenge. Speaking on the prospect of an Iranian strike, US national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a briefing call last week: 'It's still a very perilous situation. I can't predict what Iran's going to do or not going to do. 'We believe they're still prepared to do something if, in fact, they choose to do something, and that's about as far as I'll go.' Iranian state television screening showed what it claimed was the launch of the first missile to be sent towards Israel in April The Islamic Republic has already launched one serious strike on Israel since October 7, sending a salvo of some 200 missiles and drones soaring towards Israeli targets in April Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vowed to punish Israel for the death of former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month Iranians take part in a memorial ceremony for late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Mosallah mosque in Tehran, Iran, 09 August 2024 Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on August 23, 2024 Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry today declared off the back of Hezbollah's missile attacks yesterday that Israel had lost its power to deter and that the strategic balance in the region had shifted against Jerusalem, further suggesting that Tehran could be encouraged to strike soon. 'Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance. Israel has lost its deterrence power,' Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani wrote on X. Kanaani added that Israel 'now has to defend itself within its occupied territories' and that 'strategic balances have undergone fundamental changes' to the detriment of Israel. With tensions between Iran and Israel close to boiling point, the US is now manoeuvering to discourage the Islamic Republic from taking any action that could trigger a major conflict. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups - the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Theodore Roosevelt - to deploy to the Middle East, and they are now thought to be in or around the Gulf of Oman off Iran's southern shores. An Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron has also arrived in the region along with cruise missile submarine the USS Georgia, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh announced on Friday. Hours before Hezbollah's attacks this weekend, Austin also spoke with Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant and reiterated Washington's 'ironclad commitment to Israel's defence against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies,' according to a Pentagon statement. It remains to be seen whether the reinforced US presence in the region dissuades Tehran from following through with its threat of revenge. A Palestinian man walks near an apartment hit in an Israeli strike, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, August 26, 2024 Destroyed area during an Israeli military operation in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 25 August 2024 Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups - the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Theodore Roosevelt (pictured) - to deploy to the Middle East It remains to be seen whether the reinforced US presence in the region dissuades Tehran from following through with its threat of revenge Hopes of an Israel-Hamas cease-fire to calm tensions are flickering The best hope for avoiding a large-scale conflict in the Middle East rests on desperate diplomatic efforts between representatives of Israel and Hamas, aided by international mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US, to reach a cease-fire in Gaza. But latest round of high-level talks held in Cairo that aimed to hash out an end to the 10-month Israel-Hamas war and bring about the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza ended Sunday without a final agreement. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week travelled to the region for the ninth time since October 7 in a bid to meet with leaders and key decision makers before returned to the States without having secured any deal. But US officials, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, said talks will continue in the coming days in an effort to bridge remaining gaps. They said 'working teams' will remain in Cairo in hopes they can address remaining disagreements between Israel and Hamas and remove the roadblocks to 'a final and implementable agreement'. Such diplomatic efforts are seemingly central to avoiding the spread of war in the region, with Hezbollah having claimed on several occasions that it will halt its strikes on Israel if a cease-fire deal for Gaza is reached. Hezbollah leader Nasrallah also said that Sunday's attack had been planned in advance, but was delayed to give the Gaza cease-fire talks a chance. But Netanyahu, in addition to warning of further conflict with Hezbollah, has repeatedly said the IDF will continue its operations in Gaza until Hamas is eliminated. He has also insisted on Israeli forces maintaining a lasting presence in the strategic Philadelphi Corridor between the Egypt-Gaza border even in the event of a total cease-fire - a demand that has been rejected by Hamas and Egypt. These demands from Netanyahu, supported by the hard-right elements of his government that keep him in power, are seen as a key factor blocking a cease-fire deal from being sealed. Police held a teenager at a gunpoint over a fake pistol after a costume party got out of hand. Officers were called to a home in Forestville on Sydney northern beaches about 8.30pm on Saturday night following reports uninvited teenagers had gatecrashed a house party. It's understood the host contacted police for assistance in removing the gatecrashers. Police were allegedly confronted by 150 people mostly teens in the street when they arrived at the scene The group were allegedly uncooperative and began to throw glass bottles at officers, prompting calls for specialist officers and police back-up to be deployed to the scene. During the confrontation, police approached a 17-year-old male after they were alerted to a suspected firearm tucked inside his waistband. The teen complied with their directions, a NSW Police spokesperson said. Officers removed the item from his waistband, which was confirmed to be a toy pistol. It's understood that the teen was an invited guest at the party. It's not illegal to own a toy gun in NSW but it was not immediately apparent to police that the gun was not a real firearm. Officers treat all guns as real until proven otherwise, a police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. Footage of the incident obtained by the Manly Observer, shows the teenager with his hands behind his head and surrounded by armed police. Police can be seen moving towards the boy with their weapons raised. What is going on its a costume,' one person can be heard yelling. Video shows officers surrounding a 17-year-old in a commotion caused by a toy gun Another added: Its a fake gun.' Police said the crowd dispersed about an hour later, and that no officers were injured. Inquiries into the incident are continuing. A tourist has described hearing a terrifying 'crash' when the ice cave collapsed, killing one foreign visitor as the desperate search for two more missing at the Icelandic glacier continues. The man, who did not want to be named, told local media that he had visited the cave just minutes before an ice wall collapsed and buried four tourists at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in Iceland's southeast at 3pm on Sunday. He said that ten minutes after leaving the cave, which he described as being three to five metres deep, him and his tour group heard a 'crash' but did not think any more of it until they arrived back at their hotel and saw news of the collapse. Four tourists were buried under the ice, while the other 21 visitors 'of various nationalities' in their group managed to get away unscathed. Two people were found, but one of them - an American man - was pronounced dead at the scene and the other, the American woman he was travelling with - was seriously injured. She was taken to hospital and is said to be in a stable condition. This morning, the desperate search for the two tourists still missing resumed around 7am local time after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in. Breidamerkurjokull's caves are famous for their 'crystal blue' ice, which get their colour from the glacier blocking out other wavelengths of sunlight. They were even featured in the opening scene of the James Bond film A View to a Kill. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 This morning, the desperate search for the two tourists still missing resumed around 7am local time after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in File image of The Crystal Cave on the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in southeast Iceland A map shows where the Breidamerkurjokull glacier sits in south-eastern Iceland, about 286 miles across the country from the capital Reykjavik The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline that no British nationals were affected by the ice wall collapse on Breidamerkurjokull. Sveinn Kristjan Runarsson, chief police officer, told local news website RUV last night that all rescue work was being carried out by hand with chainsaws as authorities were struggling to bring special equipment to remove ice to the remote cave. 'It's tight to get to, so it's done in short shifts. This is a lot of manual work. We will have three or four teams who will take turns working: shoveling and breaking ice,' he added this morning. So far, no contact has been made with the two missing persons, whose rough position is known by rescuers, Runarsson added. 'Four people got stuck under the ice, two people have already been rescued from the ice and are seriously injured,' Sudurland police previously said in a statement. 'The search is still on for the two people trapped in the ice cave,' the statement continued. Runarsson later said that the tourists were not inside the cave but instead in a ravine between the cave mouths when the ice wall collapsed. When asked this morning who the tourists trapped under the ice were, Runarsson said that rescuers knew but 'didn't want to reveal it at the moment' as they are trying to reach the relatives of those involved. But he revealed that among the 25 on the tour were 'tourists from many countries'. 'Two to four together in smaller groups who joined together and bought this trip from a company,' Runarsson said. Around 100 people are reportedly working on the rescue operation, including all rescue services in Sudurland and the capital area. Jon Por Viglundsson, spokesman for the local accident prevention association, said this morning that rescuers were working in groups of ten to fifteen at a time to crush the ice. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 A group of 25 'foreign tourists of various nationalities' and their two tour guides were exploring the Breidamerkurjokull glacier (pictured in the background) in Iceland's southeast when the canyon wall collapsed around 3pm, according to local media Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 File image of emerald blue ice in The Crystal Cave, which is part of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier Two tourists remain trapped under the ice and rescuers are due to resume their search today after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in 'A mobile control station, a special control station vehicle, was moved from Reykjavik last night and tents have been set up in the area for rescuers to have shelter,' he told local outlet Visir. 'Likewise, a communications team was sent to the location to improve communications in the area, which are not good.' Three helicopters from the Coast Guard and Danish Navy had been called out at the site along with all rescue services. Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, communications manager for the Icelandic Civil Defence, also said the conditions on the glacier are 'extremely difficult' due to the rugged terrain. An emergency aid centre was opened in Hofgard in Orafi yesterday evening. Steinunn Hodd Hardardottir, a national park ranger in Iceland, told local media that cave trips and glacier walks are allowed on Breidamerkurjokull all year round and that tour companies are trusted to 'use their best judgment in assessing the [conditions]'. The Breidamerkurjokull glacier is near the glacial lagoon Jokulsarlon, one of the Iceland's more popular tourist destinations. Hezbollah in return sent 320 missiles and waves of drones across the border Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned 'this is not the end of the story' after his nation launched air strikes into Lebanon on Sunday in a pre-emptive attack on Hezbollah. The Lebanese militant group in turn launched more than 320 missiles and wave upon wave of kamikaze drones at Israeli military targets in what constituted the biggest exchange of fire between the two sides since fresh conflict broke out following Hamas' October 7 attacks. A soldier in the Israeli navy was killed in combat and two more wounded, the military said, while at least three people are said to have been killed in Lebanon. Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces throughout the Gaza war, in what Hezbollah says is support for its Palestinian ally Hamas. But fears of a wider regional conflagration soared after attacks in late July, blamed on Israel, killed Iran-aligned militant leaders including the Hamas political chief and a top Hezbollah commander. Diplomats said yesterday that both sides had sent messages to signal this round of hostilities was now over. But Netanyahu last night told his cabinet the strikes were 'not the final word' in the campaign against Hezbollah, while Israel continues to brace for a potential attack from Iran in retaliation for the killing of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over north Israel on August 25, 2024 Israel's air defence system intercepted hundreds of Hezbollah's drones and missiles The Israeli military stated yesterday that Israeli Air Force fighter jets (left) conducted bombing raids on targets belonging to the Hezbollah organisation (Hezbollah drone right) A view shows smoke and fire on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hit the Zibqin town in southern Lebanon on August 25 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (2nd R) are pictured at a military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 25, 2024 Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah giving a televised address from an undisclosed location, August 25 Hezbollah said its militants launched 'a large number of drones' and 'more than 320' Katyusha rockets targeting 'enemy positions' across the border in a major aerial assault yesterday. The group's leader Hassan Nasrallah named the 'main target' as the Glilot military intelligence base near Tel Aviv, which Israeli media reported is home to the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency. Israel's military said there were 'no hits' on the base. A secondary target, said Nasrallah, was Ein Shemer, a military airport used by Israeli drones. He also appeared to suggest Hezbollah's retaliation for Shukr's killing was over, saying 'if the result is satisfactory' then its response 'has been accomplished'. An AFP photographer in Acre, an Israeli city 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, reported damage to three homes from a Hezbollah rocket that struck a roof, with shrapnel smashing windows and destroying a bed. 'There were explosions in the area of Haifa,' said Abigail Levy, a resident of the coastal city further south. 'I was stopped and was told not to go to the beach.' Footage from early Sunday showed dozens of interceptor rockets being launched into dense clouds above the Upper Galilee in northern Israel. Another military spokesman, Nadav Shoshani, said Hezbollah's strikes were 'part of a larger attack that was planned and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning'. The fighting disrupted air travel in Israel and Lebanon, with both British Airways and Air France among those suspending flights to Tel Aviv. A US defence official said Washington had helped track the Hezbollah barrage although it was not involved in shooting down any drones or rockets or in the strikes on Lebanon. The Flightradar24 tracking website on Sunday afternoon showed a US Navy surveillance drone had been flying over nearby Mediterranean waters. Yemen's Houthi rebels, one of several Iran-backed groups that have been drawn into the Gaza war's periphery, hailed the Hezbollah attack and declared that their own retaliation was 'definitely coming'. Hamas meanwhile hailed Hezbollah's Sunday attack as 'a slap in the face' for Israel, and the Palestinian movement on Sunday night said it fired a rocket toward Tel Aviv. Israel's military said it landed in an 'open area' south of the city. An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border, as seen from northern Israel, 25 August 2024 Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, August 25, 2024 The sister of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourns during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024 People look at the damage at a residential building following a direct-hit from a projectile, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel in what the Iranian-backed movement said was a response to the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, in northern Israel August 25, 2024 Britain and Jordan were among those to appeal on Sunday for an end to the escalation and a ceasefire in Gaza. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also called for the UN Security Council to take 'deterrent' and 'effective' measures against Netanyahu and his ministers who 'kill all chances of achieving peace'. Iran does not seek to increase Middle East tensions, its Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani. But the Iranian diplomat added that his nation's retaliation for the killing of the Hamas chief in Tehran will be 'definite and calculated'. Amid the escalating regional tensions, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the presence of two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East. In the leadup to Sunday's major exchange, Western and Arab diplomats had sought to head off regional retaliation, stressing the urgency of reaching a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose officials have been mediating Gaza truce talks for months alongside the US and Qatar, 'warned of the dangers of a new front opening in Lebanon' and called for progress in the talks to enable a 'path to calm and stability in the region' his office said. A Hamas official said on Sunday the group's delegation had left the Egyptian capital after meeting with mediators. In Gaza, witnesses said battles raged in the area of Deir al-Balah, in the territory's central region. Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,405 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not break down civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children. Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in their attack, 105 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Kirstie Allsopp has hit back after being slammed for letting her 15-year-old son go on a Europe trip - which led to probe being launched by child social services. The TV star, who has been under fire for a week, compared the distance her youngest Oscar travelled to a regional journey in Australia. Ms Allsopp wrote last week on social media about how proud she'd been of her teenager for heading off on a three-week interrail trip with just one other pal. She shared details of his journey on X, formerly Twitter, saying: 'If we're afraid, our children will also be afraid. If we let go, they will fly.' Ms Allsopp was quickly hit with criticism - and then contacted by social services after someone reported her for child neglect. TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp defended her 15-year-old son's unsupervised interrailing trip around Europe because he planned the route himself with his friend Allsopp's critics claimed that she would not let a 15-year-old daughter take part in the same trip (pictured: Kirstie Allsopp (C) and her sons Bay and Oscar attend the VIP Preview evening of Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in 2021) She said though she was envious of her son Oscar (pictured), but 'at no point' worried if he was old enough to go travelling across Europe Ms Allsopp has hit back at Labour Councillor Andy Croy last night after her critisised her saying 'If we lived in Australia the distance my son travelled would barely have made it out of a region' She yesterday wrote in Mail On Sunday, telling of how angry she was that a social worker had got in touch saying - 'Have they nothing better to do?' And she's now still being forced to defend herself online. The TV personality said she'd been overwhelmed with people telling tales of their travels when they were younger than 15 - but she was also still being met with resistance. She took to X and wrote: 'Constant chats with mates, and online, about how much we all travelled unaccompanied; to school, to grandparents, to pen pals, to babysitting gigs, now its all (shocked face emoji). What the heck has happened? Is this all 24 hour news? Because the stats are very clear, travel is safer than ever.' Ms Allsopp's page was quickly flooded with comments from people who travelled longer trips when they were younger - and she reposted their travels. One wrote: 'When I was just 12 I travelled alone from London to Sofia in Bulgaria by train. And back again - six days in all. 'No mobile phones, no internet. My parents reckoned I was up to it. Kirstie Allsopp reckoned the same about her boy and she was right.' Another said: 'From 11 I travelled an hour to a school by bus in NI during The Troubles. Regularly we were put off the bus due to bombs / bomb scares and other events all over the place. Closed roads etc. Ms Allsopp defended Oscar saying that he and his friend independently organised the nine-stop trip around Europe In defence of allowing her young son to travel without parents, Ms Allsopp said she had travelled at the same age The Location, Location, Location presenter added that 'if we're afraid our children will also be afraid, if we let go, they will fly'. 'I didn't have a mobile phone. Wed been brought up to be sensible and resilient.' But one Labour councillor replied to her post - and a debate ensued. Workingham leader Andy Croy wrote: 'I imagine thinking these are like Inter-railing. Amazing.' Ms Allsopp bit back: 'Ill take a lot of sh*t on this platform but being attacked by a Wokingham Labour councillor is a step too far (or an SNP or Tory councillor) my son is bright, brave & capable, he wanted to travel, he saved up, he did it safely & sensibly and Andy Croy is well out of order.' Mr Croy then added: 'As if a 16 year old is any sort of security. It's stupid beyond belief. And the "late birthday" schilling is absurd. FFS.' To which Ms Allsopp added: 'This man is a public official attacking someone for enabling a young person to safely and legally explore their own continent. 'If we lived in Australia the distance my son travelled would barely have made it out of a region, never mind the whole way across the country.' MailOnline has contacted Andy Croy for comment. The saga kicked off on Monday last week after Ms Allsopp posted to X, telling of her 'little boy' returning from his travels with a 16-year-old pal. She added: 'I'm proud of him and my loss is nothing compared to his gain and the encyclopaedic knowledge he now has of the differences between one McDonald's and another.' Labour Councillor Andy Croy slammed Ms Allsopp online The Workingham Councillor said it was 'stupid beyond belief' The TV personality was also reposting people's stories of their travels from when they were younger, including solo travel from London to Bulgaria One person told of hitch hiking to the Rolling Stones at the age of 12 Another told of travelling alone at the age of 11 during the Troubles One told the mother-of-two on X, formerly Twitter, that 'if things had gone wrong, you would have taken responsibility and never forgiven yourself'. Another added: 'You can't wrap them up in cotton wool but it can be a dangerous world and 15 is not mature enough for all encounters.' But it snowballed when someone reported her to social services. The Mail on Sunday yesterday reveal how, in an extraordinary intervention, a social worker contacted the TV presenter to inform her that a file had been opened after child protection concerns were raised over her youngest child. To the 52-year-old's fury, the social worker demanded to know what 'safeguards' had been put in place when she allowed Oscar to travel for three weeks on the continent alongside a 16-year-old friend. Astonishingly, she was told that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), her local council, could keep the file open 'in case there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further'. Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Ms Allsopp branded the council's actions 'Orwellian' and 'absolutely outrageous'. She said that officials had failed to understand she had been targeted by a 'malicious' complaint from someone falsely alleging neglect. 'I just felt sick absolutely sick,' she said. 'Then I was cross. I was very, very cross. It was just so extraordinary. I was in a parallel universe where they were actually taking this seriously. 'I have broken no law and nothing about allowing my child to travel around Europe is neglectful.' Last night the shocking case sparked accusations of a 'nanny state' and threw a spotlight on how councils can be hoodwinked into opening probes into neglect on the basis of 'vexatious' complaints. Sir Alec Shelbrooke, a Tory MP and former minister, said: 'This is the nanny state gone mad. Any parent thinking of allowing their teenagers to travel will be terrified by this Orwellian development. 'Surely, these council officials must have better things to do than intimidate a mother who knows best how she can trust her son?' Dame Karen Bradley, a Tory MP and the mother of sons aged 18 and 20, added: 'It seems like the worst kind of box-ticking and a waste of effort and time by council officials who should be focused on children who are at genuine risk. 'Kirstie knows her son and what he is capable of and took the same decision that many other parents would take for a child who wants to celebrate the end of his exams.' Stores including Sainsbury's and Tesco have been forced to recall batches of Oreo cookies over fears they could contain peanuts due to a major labelling error. The treats sold by Whatever Brands pose a major health risk as nuts are not mentioned on the label and it could cause those allergic to go into anaphylactic shock. It has led to Sainsbury's and Tesco pulling the Oreo items, typically priced at 1.99, from their shelves and recalling those already sold. The affected products include dark and white chocolate, strawberry cream, blueberry ice cream, cream chocolate cookie and vanilla cookie variants. Stores including Sainsbury's and Tesco have been forced to recall batches of Oreo cookies over fears they could contain peanuts due to a labelling error The treats sold by Whatever Brands pose a major health risk as nuts are not mentioned on the label and it could cause those allergic to go into anaphylactic shock The Oreo products may contain peanuts and it is not mentioned on the label. Government health watchdog the Food Standards Agency issued a statement following the alert and said: 'Whatever Brands is recalling several Oreo products because they may contain peanuts, which are not mentioned on the label. 'This only affects products sold in the UK with a Whatever Brands label. They pose a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to peanuts.' Those with nut allergies who come into contact with the cookies can see their throats balloon and they might choke to death. Their immune system starts to collapse, blood pressure drops and their airway can tighten so they can't breathe and lose consciousness. Less severe reactions include hives, eczema or swelling and rashes on the skin, runny nose and sneezing, red or watery eyes, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea. The Anaphylaxis Campaign, which helps sufferers, said 'Anaphylaxis is a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction affecting more than one body system such as the airways, heart, circulation, gut and skin. 'Symptoms can start within seconds or minutes of exposure to the food or substance you are allergic to and usually will progress rapidly. It has led to Sainsbury's and Tesco pulling the Oreo items, typically priced at 1.99, from their shelves and recalling those already sold 'There may also be a dramatic fall in blood pressure (anaphylactic shock). The person may become weak and floppy and may have a sense of something terrible happening. 'This may lead to collapse, unconsciousness and - on rare occasions death.' The product alert from Whatever Brands read: 'In the UK we are recalling a limited number of Oreo Dark & White chocolate, Strawberry Cream and Blueberry Cream Ice Cream flavour, Cream Chocolate flavour and Vanilla Cookie from Indonesia as they are not labelled correctly. 'The products being recalled because they may contain traces of peanut, which are not mentioned on the label. 'If you have purchased an affected Oreo products, please do not consume the product and contact our careline team for further guidance.' MailOnline has contacted Whatever Brands for comment. An expert witness who Lucy Letby's defence team failed to call has said he is 'troubled' by not being able to evidence and believes his participation could have led to a different outcome. Neonatologist Dr Michael Hall said he has wrestled 'for some time' with the nurse's case and 'did not consider that the jury had heard the whole truth'. Although Dr Hall was hired by Letby's defence lawyers as an expert witness, he was not called to testify at Manchester Crown Court. Across two trials, Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others while she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She was given whole life sentences for her crimes, meaning she will never be released from prison, but some have raised questions around the evidence put forward to the initial jury. Neonatologist Dr Michael Hall said he has wrestled 'for some time' with Lucy Lety's case and 'did not consider that the jury had heard the whole truth' Although Dr Hall was hired by Letby's defence lawyers as an expert witness, he was not called to testify at Manchester Crown Court Dr Hall said he would have challenged some of the prosecution's assertions, telling The Times: 'I would have given different answers to those given by the prosecution's medical expert witnesses, and different interpretations for some of the cases. 'That's not to say that I know all the answers, or that I know that Lucy Letby is innocent. There were certainly some events which were difficult to explain.' The medic said he believed expert witnesses called by the prosecution 'overstated the degree to which some of the babies were ''completely stable'' before they collapsed'. He suggested the evidence backing the prosecution's contention that some of the young victims were injected with air was relatively weak. Dr Hall also insisted the majority of the evidence was 'circumstantial' with 'little forensic evidence' to support the prosecution case. The neonatologist said he does not know why he was not called by the defence despite being one of their expert witnesses. Solicitor Mark Solon, who runs a training firm that teaches expert witnesses how to work within the legal system, said there were several potential reasons. One possible explanation is the defence may have felt Dr Hall would not have done well under cross-examination, perhaps because he would not have fully backed Letby's innocence, or they may have felt they had already made their case. A photo showing Letby during a night out that she shared on her social media Letby, who worked at the Countess of Cheshire Hospital, giving evidence in court Letby ranks as Britain's most prolific baby killer in modern times after killing seven babies and attempting to kill a further seven between June 2015 and June 2016. Cheshire Police are still investigating her for other possible crimes against babies even earlier in her nursing career. Officers are currently sifting through the medical notes of 4,000 babies at two hospitals where Letby worked between 2012 and 2016 the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital. In August 2023, Letby refused to come up from a holding cell to hear him impose no fewer than 14 whole life orders. Last month, Letby was found guilty of the attempted murder of a premature girl known as Baby K after the jury failed to reach a verdict in the original trial. She was later sentenced to a 15th whole life term for the offence. The youngster, born at 25 weeks' gestation and weighing just 692g, was said by the prosecution to be the 'epitome of fragility'. About 90 minutes after her birth, Letby dislodged the breathing tube through which she was being ventilated with air and oxygen. Letby was caught 'virtually red-handed' trying to murder Baby K by the lead consultant on the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit, Dr Ravi Jayaram, in the early hours of February 17, 2016. Judge Mr Justice Goss KC told Letby: 'It was another shocking act of calculated, callous cruelty'. Body worn camera footage issued by Cheshire Constabulary showing Letby's arrest The neo-natal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby worked He said she had 'betrayed the trust of Baby K, her parents, and all those at the hospital'. 'You have coldly denied responsibility. You have shown no remorse. There are no mitigating factors,' he added. Baby K's mother said in a victim impact statement: 'Baby K is not here, never will be, we will never have what would give us peace, closure, or a feeling of being complete family unit. 'However, you Lucy Letby, will never hurt another child or have the privilege and joy that children give.' The killer's repeated denials have helped spark a wave of conspiracy theories among people convinced of her innocence. At times during the re-trial Letby supporters were queuing to get into both Court 7 and the overspill annex in Court 16. A 16-year-old girl who is fighting cancer has been forced to fundraise for her own treatment after being told she is both too young and too old to be eligible for it on the NHS. Faith Shone suffers from leukaemia, which was caused by the heavy doses of chemotherapy she received two years ago to treat a leg tumour. Doctors say heavier doses of chemotherapy could cause her heart to fail, which means her only options are stem cell and CAR-T therapies as part of a trial. But 16 and 17-year-olds are not eligible for any medical trials for treatments for illnesses - because they are neither classed as an adult nor a child. Faith Shone, 16, is fundraising for her own cancer treatment after being told she is both too old and too young to be eligible for NHS trials If Faith was under the age of 16 or over 18 she would be able to have the trial, but instead her family now need to raise 70,000 to get the treatment privately. Faith's father, Tim, 43, said: 'It is a race against the clock and, in many ways so unfair. 'If Faith were any younger, or 18 and over, we'd immediately be putting her through for a free trial. 'But due to this crazy anomaly of 16 and 17-year-olds not having them, we have got a fundraising emergency to contend with first. 'And if doctors hadn't dismissed her symptoms for months, she would also have been eligible and caught the illness sooner. 'This blind spot is ridiculous and it must affect a lot of teenagers, given how many children have cancer these days.' Faith, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, was 13 when she discovered a lump on her leg and tests discovered it was a rare sarcoma that required intensive chemotherapy. She also underwent radiotherapy and an operation removing the tumour, which meant she was cancer-free. But the schoolgirl then started to feel exhausted and dizzy when she woke up and she also began bruising easier than normal. Faith, pictured with sisters Isla, 10 (left), and Skye, 13 (right). Faith was found to have developed leukaemia caused by intense chemotherapy she had when she was 13 Her family were told by doctors not to worry and she was eventually given some folate tablets, as her vitamin B9 levels were low. A bone marrow sample was put in her spine and in April this year, she was diagnosed with leukaemia - which was caused by the intense chemotherapy she had aged 13. Tim says that if doctors had first listened to the family's concerns, then she could have had treatment on a medical trial as she was still 15. He said: 'We had been asking the consultant for months because something wasn't right. She was bleeding and bruising. 'They didn't believe this was what the symptoms were, so they didn't investigate further.' Doctors have offered her intensive chemotherapy, but there is only a 10 per cent chance that it would work and a 80 per cent chance it would make her worse. They've also offered Faith, who will be studying fine art at college in September, palliative care but the family are still fundraising for the stem-cell therapy. Tim said: 'We went in last Friday. 'A consultant from London said they did not want to give Faith any more chemo because of the damage it would do to her immune system. 'All they could do now was offer palliative care. Her family is now hoping to raise 70,000 for Faith to receive the treatment privately 'I asked Faith what she wanted to do and she said that she didn't want more chemo and end up bed-ridden and die. 'Better to have fun if she's not got much time left. 'But we still have this chance of stem cell therapy which is where the fundraising comes in. 'It is still massively frustrating though that this could all have been diagnosed and more easily dealt with months ago when Faith was still 15.' Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/bsm9h-saving-faith. A gang who hid millions of pounds worth of cocaine inside raw chicken pallets as part of a drug-smuggling operation have been jailed. Detectives found that the Birmingham-based group had transported more than a tonne of cocaine, resulting in ten members being jailed for a combined total of more than 80 years after they pleaded guilty to multiple different offences. The operation included 225kg of cocaine that was set to have been exported to Australia before it was uncovered by West Midlands police. The gang members are believed to have communicated with one another via EncroChat, a messaging platform that was often used by criminals due to being encrypted, until it was infiltrated by police in 2020. The group members, who lived in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire, and London, were all arrested in a 10-day period in July 2020. A gang who hid millions of pounds worth of cocaine inside raw chicken pallets as part of a drug-smuggling operation have been jailed Detectives found that the Birmingham-based group had transported more than a tonne of cocaine, resulting in ten members being jailed for a combined total of more than 80 years Maninder Dosanjh, 39, of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, (left) and Amandeep Rishi, 42, from Birmingham, (right) were arrested having being found with over 150kg of cocaine hidden in frozen chicken pallets while the pair were driving back to Birmingham from Essex Maninder Dosanjh, 39, of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, and Amandeep Rishi, 42, from Birmingham, were arrested having being found with over 150kg of cocaine hidden in frozen chicken pallets while the pair were driving back to Birmingham from Essex. Detectives also found 1.6million in cash, some of which had been hidden inside vehicle tyres and van machinery disguised as mechanical service vehicles. Detective chief inspector Pete Cooke, from West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: 'We were able to expose the gangs' activities, which were both sophisticated and on a commercial scale, with them using a network of highly trusted individuals and a fleet of vehicles with hidden compartments,' according to The Times. 'We believe they were responsible for importing hundreds of kilos of cocaine, estimated to be over a tonne, resulting in them making huge sums of cash, thought to be over 10 million. 'But all this enterprise was illegal and was putting large quantities of drugs, which we know destroy many lives and blight many communities, on to streets both here in the UK and overseas. 'Our teams were able to trace the activity, identify the criminals, and ultimately put them behind bars with considerable jail terms'. Dosanjh was given the largest sentence of any gang member, as he was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to supply drugs, money laundering. He was also charged with conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the exportation of drugs. His accomplice Mr Rishi was sentenced to 11 years and two months in jail. Peter Masih, 44, from Halesowen, (left) and Mandeep Singh, 42, from Wolverhampton, (right) were sentenced to eight years and seven years and two months respectively for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering Mithab Hussain, 31, from Sandwell, (left) was sentenced to seven years and two months for his role, while Rizwan Ali, 34, (centre) from Sandwell, and Kamran Hussain, 34, from Birmingham, (right) were each sentenced to more than nine years in jail Mohammed Usman, 29, from Oldbury, (left) who collected wheels and tyres containing almost 500,000 in cash, was jailed for nine years and eight months. Sayeed Hashemyan, 38, from London, (right) was sentenced to two years and three months for handling the wheels. Mohammed Usman, 29, from Oldbury, who collected wheels and tyres containing almost 500,000 in cash, was jailed for nine years and eight months. West Midlands Policed added that Sayeed Hashemyan, 38, from London, was sentenced to two years and three months for handling the wheels. Peter Masih, 44, from Halesowen, and Mandeep Singh, 42, from Wolverhampton, were sentenced to eight years and seven years and two months respectively for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering. Mithab Hussain, 31, from Sandwell, was sentenced to seven years and two months for his role, while Rizwan Ali, 34, from Sandwell, and Kamran Hussain, 34, from Birmingham, were each sentenced to more than nine years in jail. Ashtiaq Ahmed, 45, from Walsall, was sentenced to two years and seven months for money laundering. All ten members of the gang pleaded guilty to the offences - which took place between March and August of 2020. She believes a man was following home at midnight Father shot while trying to protect daughter A father is in a coma after being shot by a man he believed was following his daughter late at night. Blessing Valla, 21, called her father about 12.25am on Monday, saying she believed an unknown man in a white station wagon was trailing her car in Melbourne's south-east, according to police. Victor Valla, 58, told his daughter to return home in Cranbourne East, where he waited for her at the front. When she pulled up to the house five minutes later, the station wagon also stopped. Mr Valla approached the car and became involved in an altercation with the driver. The man got out of the vehicle and pushed Mr Valla before pulling out a handgun and shooting him in the abdomen. He then fled the scene as neighbours rushed to Mr Valla's aid. Blessing stayed by her father's side until he was rushed to hospital, where he remains in a critical but stable condition. Victor Valla, 58, was allegedly trying to protect his daughter when he was shot in the abdomen Blessing Valla, 21, was driving home at midnight when noticed a car following behind her 'She was saying, 'Dad, Dad, don't go'. My daughter was left holding her dad's hand,' Mr Valla's ex-wife Cecilia told reporters. 'She [told me], 'Dad almost lost his life for me', it's crazy, it was a young boy with the gun.' It's understood that Mr Valla has lost a kidney and will undergo surgery on Tuesday. Police are treating the incident as a random attack. No connection has been established between Mr Valla or his daughter and the gunman- who remains on the run. 'When a man just comes out to protect his daughter to be shot in the street is distressing,' Detective Acting Superintendent Mick Daly told reporters on Monday. The shooting was captured on CCTV before the gunmen fled the scene in the white station wagon 'We don't know why she was targeted herself and why the offender shot the father. 'It's very concerning, firearms in the community is a concern.' Detectives are ramping up their investigation in the area, and spent Monday afternoon canvassing CCTV and talking to locals. Police would also like to speak with anyone from the area who may have CCTV or dash-cam footage. Pavel Durov is a billionaire tech boss with a difference - the Telegram CEO rejects the usual trappings of wealth, such as yachts and luxury property, saying he prioritises his 'freedom' above all else. Durov's Instagram is full of pictures flaunting his physique and jetset lifestyle, and he has proudly stated that he is a vegetarian who enjoys 'getting up early' and speaks nine foreign languages. The 39-year-old says he likes living alone and is believed to be single, but also claims to have fathered more than 100 children after suggesting women want his 'high-quality' genes. He has drawn comparisons with fellow tycoons Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, whose takeover of Twitter was lauded by Durov in a recent interview with US TV host Tucker Carlson. But now the Russian tech wizard could face prison for failing to prevent the misuse of his platform for criminal activities, with French police detaining him when he landed at an airport near Paris on Saturday night. He is expected to face charges of complicity in drug trafficking, crimes against children and fraud, due to a lack of moderation controls on Telegram, and his failure to cooperate with French law enforcement. Durov, who had been living in Dubai, was in self-imposed exile after a run-in with the Kremlin in 2014 over his refusal to hand over data on pro-Ukraine protesters to the FSB security services. A vocal advocate for free speech, he has resisted calls from governments around the world to take down content from his platform, insisting: 'I would rather be free than take orders from anyone.' Pavel Durov's Instagram is full of pictures and videos of him flaunting his physique A very different-looking Durov seen in his 20s. He set up VK, dubbed the 'Facebook of Russia', when he left university at 21 Russian-born billionaire entrepreneur and Telegram messenger founder Pavel Durov, 39 (marked) pictured in Kazakhstan days before he was detained in France World's richest man Elon Musk, who also claims to be a free speech absolutist, has come out in support of Durov on his platform X, sharing footage of the interview along with the hastag 'Free Pavel'. 'We love the fact that Elon bought Twitter. We thought it was a great development for a number of reasons,' Durov said in the clip. He said he has a 'few hundred million' in his bank account but no major assets - 'no real estate, jets or yachts' - 'I don't think this lifestyle is for me. 'My number one priority in life is my freedom. Once you start buying things, first it will tie you down to a physical location... the second is I like to focus on what we are doing at Telegram.' 'I would rather make decisions that would influence how a billion people communicate rather than chose the colour of the seats in a house that me, my relatives and a bunch of my friends would see.' Durov was forced to flee Russia ten years ago after refusing to hand over data on pro-Ukraine protesters to Vladimir Putin's FSB security services. He was quoted by TechCrunch in 2014 as saying: 'I don't have any business in Russia and have no plans to return there. I have no Russian citizenship anymore.' He helped to turn Moscow into an IT hotspot to rival Silicon Valley, but was forced to flee when VKontakte (VK) - the platform he started in 2006 - ran into ownership difficulties he blamed on the Kremlin. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council, responded to the news by mocking Durov, saying he wanted to be a 'brilliant man of the world' but had 'miscalculated' by leaving Russia and trusting the West. Irina Bolgar, 44, (pictured, centre) a Russian woman based in Switzerland, claimed he fathered her daughter and two sons born in 2013, 2016 and 2017 'For all our common enemies now, he is Russian and therefore unpredictable and dangerous,' he said. 'Durov should finally realise that one cannot choose one's fatherland.' The Kremlin has accused the West of double standards on free speech, with foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying 'Do you think this time they will appeal to Paris and demand Durov's release, or will they swallow their tongues?' Police swooped on the billionaire shortly after landing at the Bourget airport, outside Paris, following a flight from Azerbaijan, French outlet TF1 info reported, citing an unnamed source. Sources suggested he was fully aware that law enforcement in France had questions for him, and could move against him, with the tech tycoon described as a 'persona non grata' in France. 'He made a mistake tonight. We don't know why... Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he's in custody,' said the source. Despite this he was put on the wanted list only during his flight, say French reports. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov delivers a speech at a conference in 2016 There are suggestions he could cooperate with the French authorities but he has previously been careful not to travel to jurisdictions where he could be detained, including his own adopted country, France. France's President Emmanuel Macron has since confirmed the arrest and denied that there is a political motive behind it. The lack of official confirmation had led to speculation about the reasons behind his detention. Macron said he had read 'false information here regarding France following the arrest,' adding France was deeply committed to free speech. 'The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,' Macron wrote. 'This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.' Russia has demanded consular access to Durov, TASS reports, but he is a French citizen and this is not likely to be granted. His last video before his arrest shows him driving freely in Azerbaijan shortly before leaving for Paris Pictures have emerged showing Durov in Azerbaijan just days before his arrest, surrounded by his entourage as he goes up an escalator. The last video of him shows him driving in Azerbaijan shortly before leaving for Paris. It is unclear why the entrepreneur was in the country, and the fact that his visit took place on the same week that Putin visited has given rise to speculation. Durov reportedly landed in Baku on August 17 for business meetings, while Putin travelled there for an official visit to meet with President Ilham Aliyev. Observers suggested the pair might have met secretly, with former Kremlin scriptwriter Sergey Markov saying the pair may have had an 'accidental meeting'. The Kremlin-linked Baza Telegram channel reported that Putin had refused a meeting with Durov, saying 'the reason is not clear'. Durov has previously denied that he retains any links to the Russian government. Durov has dual French and Emirati citizenship and had been living in Dubai before his arrest Durov's Instagram is full of pictures flaunting his physique and jetset lifestyle Born in Russia, Durov spent many of his childhood years in Italy before returning to his homeland when his father, a scholar in ancient Roman literature, landed a job at St Petersburg University. He and his brother mastered computer code and programming from an early age, and a very different-looking Durov set up VK, dubbed the 'Facebook of Russia', when he left university at 21. The tech tycoon founded Telegram in 2013, saying the absence of any secure form of communication in Russia gave rise to the idea. Together with his 'genius' brother Nikolai, who Durov said did the coding for a the platform, he launched what would become one of the world's most popular messaging applications. It has garnered more than 950 million users over the past decade, making it one of the world's biggest social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The tech tycoon founded Telegram in 2013, saying the absence of any secure form of communication in Russia gave rise to the idea Despite the site's sheer scale, Durov has proudly stated that he retains complete control, as Telegram's 'sole owner, director and product manager'. His tight grip on the app's operations even sees him work directly with engineers, he told Carlson, adding that his unconventional approach to running his business also means that its HR department is 'zero'. Durov has dual French and Emirati citizenship and had been living in Dubai after he abandoned attempts to settle in Berlin, London and San Francisco because of the 'bureaucratic hurdles' which he said had been put in his way. Durov recently claimed in a Telegram post to be the father to more than 100 children worldwide after becoming a sperm donor. In a post on the app, he claimed it was his 'civic duty' given his 'high quality donor material'. Mr Durov also recently claimed to have fathered more than 100 children as a sperm donor. In a Telegram post, he wrote: 'I was just told that I have over 100 biological kids' According to Russian news site E1. RU, Durov's sperm can still be purchased from a clinic in Moscow, for 35,000 rubles (303). He is known to have had a daughter and son with ex-partner Daria Bondarenko, who is now based in Barcelona. And recently Irina Bolgar, 44, a Russian woman based in Switzerland, claimed he fathered her daughter and two sons born in 2013, 2016 and 2017, insisting they were 'conceived and born naturally.' A picture appears to show Durov with Bolgar and three children celebrating one of their birthdays. Following Bolgar's claims, Durov revealed in a post on Telegram last month that he was a prolific sperm-donor. He did not comment on Bolgar's claim specifically, but said: 'I was just told that I have over 100 biological kids. 'How is this possible for a guy who has never been married and prefers to live alone?' He claimed that 15 years ago a friend approached him with a 'weird request'. 'He and his wife couldn't have kids due to a fertility issue and asked me to donate sperm at a clinic for them to have a baby. 'I laughed my ass off before realising he was dead serious.' He said: 'The boss of the clinic told me that 'high quality donor material' was in short supply and that it was my civic duty to donate more sperm to anonymously help more couples. 'This sounded crazy enough to get me to sign up for sperm donation. 'Fast forward to 2024, my past donating activity has helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids. Recently Irina Bolgar, 44, a Russian woman based in Switzerland, claimed he fathered her daughter and two sons 'Moreover, many years after I stopped being a donor, at least one IVF clinic.still has my frozen sperm available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids.' It is unclear if his children might claim later to be heirs to his wealth. But, he said: 'Now I plan to open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily. 'Of course, there are risks, but I don't regret having been a donor. 'The shortage of healthy sperm has become an increasingly serious issue worldwide, and I'm proud that I did my part to help alleviate it. 'I also want to help destigmatize the whole notion of sperm donation and incentivise more healthy men to do it, so that families struggling to have kids can enjoy more options. Defy convention redefine the norm.' Kyiv has warned Putin-allied Belarus to pull its troops back from the Ukrainian border or risk making a 'tragic mistake'. Ukraine's foreign ministry accused Belarus of 'concentrating a significant number of personnel on the countries' in the Gomel region near Ukraine's northern border 'under the guise of exercises' in a statement last night. It warned Belarus 'not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure' and urged the country ruled by the iron fist of Putin-ally Alexander Lukashenko 'to cease unfriendly actions'. Kyiv said Belarusian special forces and former Wagner mercenary fighters were among the troops at the border. Their equipment included tanks, artillery, air defence systems and engineering equipment. The increased Belarusian activity near Ukraine's border has led to mounting fears that Lukashenko may order an invasion after he had allowed Russian troops to use his territory as a launchpad for their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, (pictured together in July 2024) earlier this month urged Russia and Ukraine to agree a peace deal to avoid the war spilling over into his country A still image taken from an undated handout video made available by the Russian Defence Ministry Press-Service on August 23, 2024 shows Russian servicemen firing a 122-mm howitzer D-30 towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured on August 24, 2024) said Kyiv forces had made small advances into Russia's Kursk region, more than two weeks after launching their surprise incursion, and taken two more settlements under their control Ukraine's statement last night said that it 'has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people'. Belarusian President Lukashenko said on August 18 that Ukraine had stationed more than 120,000 troops at the border with Belarus, and deployed nearly a third of its armed forces along the entire border. Belarus said on Monday that it sent aircraft, air defence forces and armour to its border with Ukraine. Kyiv accused Belarus of building up equipment and troops on the border, saying it had recorded the presence of Wagner fighters - some of whom are being hosted by Belarus after their leader's failed rebellion last year. Ukraine warned that military exercises in the border area pose a 'global security' threat due to how close the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant - site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. The foreign ministry's statement said: 'We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraine's state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus' systems.' 'We emphasise that Ukraine has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people,' the foreign ministry added. Belarus has been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. In 2022, he had allowed Russian troops to station in Belarus during what Russia and Belarus called 'drills' before they launched their invasion in February. The statement came as Kyiv mounts an incursion into Russia's Kursk region and as Russia continues its advance into eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country's forces had made small advances into the Kursk region yesterday, more than two weeks after launching their surprise incursion, and taken two more settlements under their control. A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a damaged building in the city center of Sudzha, in Ukraine-controlled territory of Russia's Kursk region on August 21, 2024 Russian servicemen, in footage released by the by the Russian Defence Ministry Press-Service on August 23, are seen firing a 122-mm howitzer D-30 towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location Footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on August 24, 2024, reportedly shows Russian servicemen, who were released by Ukraine, on a bus at an undisclosed location in Belarus, where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance He said in an evening address last night: 'I have just spoken with commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, and there is an advance of our troops in the Kursk region. From one to three kilometres. Two more settlements were taken under control.' He added that 'active actions are underway in one more settlement'. Earlier this month Lukashenko urged Russia and Ukraine to agree a peace deal to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus. Lukashenko, a key ally of Putin, in an interview with Russia state television on August 16 said he feared Kyiv's troops were planning an incursion into his nation after they launched their cross-border offensive in Russia. Lukashenko claimed that only 'high-ranking people of American origin' wanted the Ukraine-Russia war to continue. The West, he said, was encouraging Kyiv to fight because it wants Ukraine and Russia to 'destroy each other'. He suggested in the interview, without providing evidence, that Kyiv could have plans to attack Belarus and Minsk would not allow Ukrainian troops to 'trample on our country'. Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin echoed Lukashenko's comments at the time, saying there was a high probability of an armed provocation from neighbouring Ukraine. Khrenin added that the situation at their shared border 'remains tense'. He said: 'Given the presence of Ukrainian armed formations in the border areas, there is a high probability of preparing and carrying out armed provocations on our territory, as well as high-profile actions, including with the involvement of Belarusian nationalist formations'. Russian servicemen, who were released by Ukraine, wave from a bus at an undisclosed location in Belarus, where they are provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance in footage released on August 24, 2024 Russian servicemen that were released from Ukraine, after their aircraft landed at Moscow airport on August 25, 2024 Belarusian soldiers attend a training by mercenary fighters of the Wagner private military company who relocated from Russia to a location near Tsel, a village about 90 kilometers southeast of Minsk, on July 14, 2023 Minsk also said earlier this month that it was sending troops to reinforce its southern border with Ukraine after accusing Kyiv of violating its airspace with drones. Kyiv said it had seen no signs of such a buildup. Lukashenko repeated the claims about airspace violations and said the Belarusian troops were being despatched to the border to 'prevent a breakthrough.' He said Minsk saw no reason to use Russian nuclear weapons, deployed on Belarusian territory last year, unless its borders were violated. 'We are not going to use any weapons until you step on our state border,' he said at the time. Mike Lynch's security guard has said he was treated like 'family' by the tech mogul, as he vowed to watch over his wife and surviving daughter 'forever' following the Bayesian tragedy. Rolo Igno also described 'the memory of a beautiful soul' in Mr Lynch's daughter Hannah, 18, after she died alongside her father in the sinking of the luxury superyacht off the coast of Sicily. Mr Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, and was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 8.64billion sale to US company Hewlett Packard, after a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California. In a heartwarming tribute, Mr Igno said he had the 'privilege' of spending 'almost every waking moment' with Mr Lynch while he was in custody in San Francisco, describing the detail as 'life changing' and unlike any other he had ever worked. Rolo Igno, a court-appointed armed guard, is in the left of this picture as Mike Lynch arrives at a San Francisco court in March Hannah Lynch with her father. Both tragically died in the sinking of his superyacht Hannah was a pupil at Latymer Upper school in West London and had won a place at Oxford to study English Literature 'As an executive protection agent, the number one rule is simple, don't ever get close to the principal,' he said. 'They aren't your friends, they're a client and the relationship is strictly professional. But with Mike, that didn't fly with him and for me that rule quickly dissolved.' He told a story about the first time he escorted Mr Lynch and his daughters, Hannah and Esme, to lunch. 'I opened the door for them and told Mike, 'If you need anything at all sir, I'll be right at this table by the entrance',' Mr Igno said. 'He chuckled and in his confident way, Mike replied, 'No, no, no, you'll be sitting with us'. 'When I hesitated, not wanting to disrupt their family time, he insisted, saying, 'Rolo, do you want me to tell my beautiful daughters that the tough and handsome security guy, who was a former marine, didn't want to sit with us because he was intimidated by them?' How could I possibly say no to that? 'So, I joined them, sitting at the far end of the table, feeling out of my element but gradually realising how genuine and loving they all were.' Work started to feel less like work, Mr Igno said, as he described being excited to get back to San Francisco after his days off 'just to be around Mike'. 'The year I spent living with him allowed me to experience first hand his loving and caring heart,' he said. 'The security team became less of a detail and more like a family.' He described their shared time in Ravello, Italy, earlier this month, calling it one of his 'most cherished memories', adding: 'Overlooking the stunning Amalfi coast, Mike came up to me and said, 'Rolo, I feel so much better knowing you will always have my family's back'. 'He was right, and Mike, if you're listening, I will always have your back. I will forever be here for Angela and Esme.' Mr Lynch with his wife Angela, who survived last Monday's disaster Hannah was found dead in her own cabin 50 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean Angela Bacares, Mr Lynch's wife, was rescued after disaster struck the Bayesian. 'Mike, I will forever cherish our short time together,' Mr Igno said. 'My family will miss your masterful storytelling, and we will forever regret not seeing you do the robot dance that night, we were so close. 'Hannah, my family and I will miss your beautiful smile, your loving soul, and your calming presence. My daughter Emma will never forget the time you two shared.' He added: 'I don't know what everyone's beliefs are, but I believe that Mike and Hannah woke up in a far better place. 'Till we see each other again. Hannah, take care of your daddy up there for me. Down here, I've got your mum and sister.' Mr Lynch was celebrating his acquittal in the fraud case with a voyage on the Bayesian when it sank, killing seven people in total. Hannah was a pupil at Latymer Upper school in West London and had won a place at Oxford to study English Literature. Sasha Murray, chief stewardess of the Bayesian, said: 'Those who knew her will know that Hannah was a diamond in a sea of stars. Bright, beautiful and always shining. 'What most people may not have seen was the extraordinarily strong, deep and loving relationship she shared with her parents, whom she adored more than anything. 'While swimming with them she often said, if anything ever happened she would save them. 'I have no doubt that the Irish, Latina fire that burns in her soul kept that spirited determination alive.' Search teams leave for the wreck site of the Bayesian Today, it emerged Italian prosecutors have launched an official investigation into the yacht's captain, 51-year-old New Zealander James Cutfield. The New Zealander is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, Italian dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera are reporting today. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. Hundreds of people held a poignant candle-lit vigil for the victims last night in the Sicilian fishing community of Porticello. A weather phenomenon known as a downburst - a violent downward explosion of wind that then expands outwards as it hits the ground, often produced in thunderstorms and mistaken for tornadoes - is believed to have played a part. A bride has been left devastated after her groom-to-be and his cousin were tragically killed by a hit-and-run driver just hours before their wedding. Kirk Walker, and his cousin, Rob McLaurin, were killed by a wrong-way driver on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem in the early hours of Saturday morning, as they were coming back from his bachelor party. Walker, a 38-year-old father of three from Manhattan, was meant to get married to devastated fiancee Shauntea Weaver, 40, at 5pm on Sunday at the Royal Manor wedding venue in Garfield, New Jersey. But Walker and McLaurin, 40, were killed when their Dodge Challenger was hit head-on by a pickup truck barreling down the wrong way of the parkway at 2:20am. Walker and McLaurin both died at the scene of the horror collision, which turned their car into a mangled mass of black and orange metal. Kirk Walker (pictured, right) was set to marry his partner Shauntea Weaver (above left) on Saturday Walker was killed alongside Rob McLaurin (pictured) as they made their way back from his bachelor party The pair tragically died at the scene of the crash in Harlem (pictured) The driver reportedly ran away from the collision, and has not been caught as of Monday. A passenger who was in the pick-up truck was taken to a local hospital for treatment. It is not currently known if the passenger has been arrested or charged in relation to the crash. Despondent Weaver told the New York Post: 'He died 24 hours before our wedding. It's devastating, and not just for me. He has three children that loved him immeasurably. They are heartbroken that their father's been taken.' 'He was such a generous, hard-working man. He had a heart of gold and would do anything for anybody. Such a hard worker.' The couple worked at a successful car rental business they started together, which Weaver said was all thanks to her late fiance's dedication. 'He put his blood, sweat and tears into it we both did.' She says all she wants now is justice for Walker. The couple worked at a successful car rental business they started together, which Weaver said was all thanks to her late fiance's dedication The driver reportedly ran away from the collision, and has not been caught as of Monday Father Kirk Walker Sr. said of the crash that killed his son and nephew: 'My heart aches so much, and I'm really angry. I'm angry.' At a vigil for the two men, Walker's mother (pictured) was seen wearing a 'mother of the groom' shirt, which she said she would've been wearing at her son's wedding 'Nothing will bring him back. But we are seeking justice. The detectives looked me right in my face and said that they were going to do everything they could to get justice. 'They told me the driver left his DNA on the airbags. So they have that. Also the passenger is in the hospital with broken legs and he needs to speak up. 'Two lives were lost in a reckless car crash,' she continued. 'They need to pay for killing two innocent people.' At a vigil for the two men, Walker's mother was seen wearing a 'mother of the groom' shirt, which she said she would've been wearing at her son's wedding. 'This is what we're supposed to be wearing today ... But they took my baby. He wanted this wedding so, so much. And my nephew, they took my nephew, too', Susan Walker said. Father Kirk Walker Sr. said: 'My heart aches so much, and I'm really angry. I'm angry.' He said he had a message for the hit-and-run driver: 'I want them to see my face. I just want them to know, it ain't over. It's not over.' A grumpy male lion snarled at his three cubs after they woke him up while play fighting with each other. He was getting some rest at Masai Mara National Park in Kenya when he was rudely disrupted by the young cubs. Their play fighting got a little too aggressive and they ended up on top of their father who quickly woke up and showed his displeasure. The male lion bared his canines at the cubs as they tried to get him to join in on the playful action. A grumpy male lion snarled at his three cubs after they woke him up while play fighting with each other He was getting some rest at Masai Mara National Park in Kenya when he was rudely disrupted by the young cubs The three cubs were seen wrestling and rolling around on the grass while they played The three cubs were seen wrestling and rolling around on the grass while they played. They tried to pin each other down with forceful tackles to the ground before they ventured over to the male lion. The trio jumped on him to get him to join in but he was left angry at being woken up and bared his sharp teeth. Camilla Malvestiti spotted the encounter on her safari and captured photos of the moment the playful cubs annoyed their father. 'The cubs woke up the male lion, jumped on him and tried to get him to play with them,' she said. Their play fighting got a little too aggressive and they ended up on top of their father who quickly woke up and showed his displeasure They tried to pin each other down with forceful tackles to the ground before they ventured over to the male lion The trio jumped on him to get him to join in but he was left angry at being woken up and bared his sharp teeth 'The male lion's expression was funny and cute, almost the same reaction that would a human dad have if his kids had abruptly woken him up. The tour operator added: 'Play-fighting is an important part for growing cubs as they learn skills that will be helpful when they'll become adults. 'Seeing animals interact with each other is interesting as it teaches you something about their behavior.' Lion cubs practice their hunting techniques, improve their coordination, and strengthen their muscles while playing which are crucial for their survival skills. She pleaded for help before her daughter passed A mother says her desperate pleas for hospital staff to help her ailing daughter were ignored before the eight-year-old died about 21 hours after being admitted to emergency. Amrita Varshini Lanka died from lymphocytic myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, at Monash Children's Hospital on April 30, 2022. The girl presented at the emergency department with stomach pain and a fever - only for a doctor to tell her after a series of tests 'it's all good'. Initial assessments ruled out appendicitis, with nurses instead believing Amrita had gastroenteritis. But the child developed breathing issues before going into cardiac arrest a few hours later and could not be revived. During an inquest on Monday, Satya Tarapureddi accused hospital staff of ignoring her pleas for help after her daughter began complaining of stomach pain. When Amrita and her mum were taken to the hospital ward, about 3pm, a nurse showed her the emergency call button which she could press to get assistance. Ms Tarapureddi said she pressed the button about seven times during the 21-hour ordeal, but no one came. A distraught mother said hospital staff ignored her pleas for help before her daughter passed 'Nobody was responding. They were ignoring me. I don't know the reason,' she told the Melbourne Coroners Court. She asked a hospital cleaner for help who confirmed the button was working. Ms Tarapureddi said she approached the nurse's desk to tell them of her daughter's pain and the lack of response after pressing the button. 'The nurse told me I had to wait because they were having a conversation,' she said. A nurse arrived about 20 minutes later with Nurofen and then left. Hours later, Amrita began experiencing difficulty breathing to which a doctor told her it was because she hadn't eaten anything. In the early hours of April 30, Ms Tarapureddi expressed concern after seeing Amrita's pulse rate spike to more than 200 beats-per-minute. But she said doctor Patrick Tan, the emergency department registrar on that night, told her the machine was not working. Eight-year-old Amrita died of heart inflammation after going to ER for stomach pain and fever Amrita continued to complain of pain and an electrocardiogram to test the electrical signals in her heart was performed. Amrita's mum said Dr Tan provided her the report and said it was 'all good', despite him noticing there were abnormal results. Hours later, Amrita's heart stopped for about two minutes before she was revived. She died after experiencing a second cardiac arrest while waiting to be transferred to the Royal Children's Hospital. 'It's not easy to lose a daughter. It's very hard. They just ignored her,' Ms Tarapureddi said. 'They lost my daughter. They killed my daughter.' Dr Tan gave evidence on Monday where he conceded there were oversights in Amrita's care. He had 18 patients handed over to him that night, up from the usual 10 and said he didn't appreciate the extent of the girl's condition having attended to another category one patient. Amrita Varshini Lanka died from lymphocytic myocarditis , inflammation of the heart muscle Assessing Amrita's abnormal heart report, Dr Tan said he felt it was 'reassuring and not a significant abnormality'. 'At the time, in context of a significant clinical load, I didn't not recognise the interpretation,' he said. 'It would have changed upon realising the dissociation.' Lawyers for Monash Health said staff failed to appreciate the seriousness of the condition and Amrita's blood pressure should have been monitored more regularly. The inquest will investigate whether the care provided was reasonable, if the family's concerns were responded to adequately and if any resource constraints or competing demands contributed to her death. Outside court, Amrita's parents hoped the inquest would provide answers to the 'many questions we have about what went wrong ... and how it could have been prevented'. This video is no longer available This video is no longer available Liam and Noel Gallagher's mother Peggy had 'always urged' her two sons 'to stop arguing' and will be 'thrilled' they have finally made up. The doting Irish mum, 81, had pleaded since their public falling out in 2009 for the warring siblings to put the past behind so they could play together again. And now Peggy will have her dreams come true with Oasis expected to confirm Liam, 51, and Noel's, 57, reunion in an announcement tomorrow morning. Former Oasis guitarist Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs was also reportedly a central figure as he took on the role as peacemaker to step in and urge the warring brothers to make up. Noel 'caved in' after a string of late night phonecalls between the brothers with the promise of a reported 50million payday said to have persuaded the eldest Gallagher to bury the hatchet. Peggy Gallagher, 81, (seen here in Liam's 2019 As It Was documentary) had 'always urged' her two sons 'to stop arguing' Peggy pictured with her Noel pictured at The Irish Post Awards in 2000 is said to be thrilled that the warring siblings have buried the hatchet Yesterday, a source close to the Gallaghers told The Mirror that Peggy 'would love to see them back playing together and has always urged them to stop arguing and put the past behind them'. 'She will be thrilled too with what has happened,' they said. Peggy had told Liam as recent as last year to mend his rift with Noel during a mother and son spa break at the five-star Cliveden House in Berkshire ahead of her 80th birthday. An insider told The Sun last January: 'In recent years there has been distance within the family, especially with Liam and Noel at war. 'Peggy has told Liam to mend the rift and she is hoping there will be genuine reconciliation. 'Peggy was in a reflective mood and it would be the best birthday present if they'd finally make some steps towards patching up their feud.' In Liam's 2019 As It Was documentary, she opened up about her hopes of a reconciliation. Sitting beside her youngest son, Peggy is bullish as she declares how they are all going to get along and 'that's it'. Sitting beside her youngest son, Peggy is bullish in the As It Was documentary as she declares how they are all going to get along in the New Year and 'that's it' As Liam begins to say how he gets on with his other brother Paul so 'two out of three ain't bad', she says: ' No, but the way I look at it, darling, life is very short and if anything happened to either one of you, you'd never' Peggy (pictured in 2000) had told Liam as recent as last year to mend his rift with Noel during a mother and son spa break at the five-star Cliveden House in Berkshire ahead of her 80th birthday After 15 years, the feuding siblings have finally granted their mother's wish to reconcile (Peggy pictured with Liam in 2001) As Liam begins to say how he gets on with his other brother Paul so 'two out of three ain't bad', she says: 'No, but the way I look at it, darling, life is very short and if anything happened to either one of you, you'd never' That year, Noel hinted he was finally willing to sort things out with Liam for the sake of his mother. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Noel said: 'Our family has never been close. I dont know one person, one single person, in my life who is living in the perfect family. Not one.' He then added: 'Reconciliation is a good thing.' The Mancunian brothers have been estranged since 2009 - enduring a number of rows during their time in Oasis before the band finally split that year. Tensions reached their peak in August when the siblings endured a fierce row backstage in Paris, which reportedly saw Liam throw a plum and smash Noel's guitar. Their appearance at the Rock en Seine festival that evening was cancelled minutes before it was due to begin, leaving thousands of fans disappointed. Two years later the row ended up in court in a bitter libel case leaving Peggy distraught. She told her sons to 'sort it out themselves' and when quizzed at her Manchester home over whether she was upset, Peggy simply said 'yes'. Wednesday will mark 15 years since Noel quit Oasis 'with great relief' following a backstage bust-up in Paris saying: 'I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer' (pictured in 2008) During a 1994 showcase gig in Los Angeles, infamously known as one of the band's most chaotic gigs, Liam started to fling insults at the band, and chucked a tambourine at his brother (pictured in 2001) Liam (pictured performing at Leeds festival in 2024) insisted an Oasis reunion was 'happening' in March Noel (pictured performing in America in 2023) had previously claimed that he'd turned down 100 million to reform Oasis. During his headline slot at Reading on Sunday night, Liam performed a number of Oasis hits from their debut album Definitely Maybe to celebrate its 30th anniversary The reported promise of a 50million payday is said to have persuaded Noel to put their differences aside following his 20million divorce from Sara MacDonald (pictured) last year But after 15 years, the feuding siblings have finally granted their mother's wish to reconcile with the prospect of an eight-figure sum said to have been too good for Noel to refuse. The High Flying Birds frontman - who once said 'I liked my Mum until she gave birth to Liam' - has been persuaded to put their differences aside following his 20million divorce from Sara MacDonald last year. A source close to the negotiations confirmed the 'reunion is definitely happening', after former Oasis guitarist Bonehead and Liam's fiancee Debbie Gwyther stepped in and urged them to make up. The source told The Mirror: 'Liam and Noel are talking again and the reunion is definitely happening. It has been a long time coming but things are back on track. 'For years, Debbie has been trying to get Liam and Noel to patch things up. Bonehead is one of the few people they are both pals with and he has recently been trying too and it's finally paid off.' Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stood in solidarity with detained Russian billionaire Pavel Durov, after he was arrested in France on Saturday in connection with crimes against minors. Durov, the CEO of Telegram, was arrested Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday, after OFMIN, a French government agency responsible for protecting minors from violence, issued an arrest warrant for him. He was accused of facilitating organized crime, drug trafficking, fraud, cyberbullying, and the promotion of terrorism on his platform, which has around 950million users worldwide. Musk has joined critics of the arrest who accused authorities of cracking down on free speech, tweeting last night '#FreePavel' with a short clip of Durov speaking with Tucker Carlson. The interview, which first aired in April, showed Durov praising X for 'seemingly becoming more freedom of speech.' 'It's a great development and things are starting to change, it seems.' Elon Musk (pictured during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024) has joined critics of the arrest who accused authorities of cracking down on free speech Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, (pictured)was arrested Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday Musk tweeted '#FreePavel' with a short clip of Durov speaking with Tucker Carlson Referring to the national motto of France, Musk also posted: 'Liberte Liberte! Liberte?' Over the weekend, he also posted 'Dangerous times' in response to claims that much of Europe was cracking down on free speech.' During an appearance in the Hamptons at the Prostate Cancer Foundation gala, Musk doubled down and told the audience about Durov's case, saying he was arrested because 'he refused to censor what the French authorities wanted him to censor.' Telegram is an encrypted messaging app that is 'secure and free'. It has committed to never disclosing information about its users or passing data on to third parties. Intended as a rival to WhatsApp, Telegram users can have 'secret chats', in which messages are stored on devices rather than the cloud, and messages can also be set to self-destruct after a certain time period. Telegram's determination to remain 'neutral' and not take sides has opened it up to criticism, with terrorists, criminal gangs and extremists using the app as a means of communication. It has faced criticism over suggestions of being used by far-Right extremists in the recent violent protests across England. Telegram slammed the arrest of its chief executive Pavel Durov as 'absurd' after he was detained over allegations that he failed to curb criminal activity on the messaging app. The company said in a statement published via the app: 'Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act - its moderation is within industry standards. Questions are being asked over why Telegram CEO Pavel Durov (pictured), arrested last night at a French airport, would risk travelling knowing he would likely be detained Durov founded the app in 2013 along with his brother Nikolai (Stock image) Pavel Durov is a social media mogul arrested over allegations that he failed to curb criminal activity on the messaging app Telegram 'Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,' it added. 'It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.' In a recent TV interview, Mr Durov, who fled Russia a decade ago, insisted Telegram was 'neutral' and 'we apply the rules equally to all sides'. Western governments have often criticised Telegram for lack of content moderating on the messaging service. Speaking about disputes with governments, he told US broadcaster Tucker Carlson: 'Politicians and societies know what to expect from social media platforms and where the red lines are. I don't necessarily believe that things are going to get worse.' A Telegram spokesperson previously told the Mail that 'calls to violence are explicitly forbidden' and that the app used AI, proactive moderating and 'user reports' to remove content that breaches its terms. As tech billionaires with particular visions of how the future of the world ought to be, Musk and Durov are often compared and contrasted to each other. The greatest uniter between the two tech moguls is their penchant for hair transplants. While Musk is worth an eyewatering $247.2bn, largely thanks to the massive value of Tesla, a publicly traded company, Durov is worth a comparatively paltry $15bn, making him the 120th richest person in the world. The pair also appear to have a similar attitude to children. Durov has candidly spoken about the amount of sperm he has donated across the world, and is believed to have fathered over 100 children. Musk, meanwhile, is believed to have had at least 12 children. Their attitudes to marriage appear to be different, however. While Musk has been in three marriages, Durov is still a bachelor. But the greatest uniter between the two tech moguls is their penchant for hair transplants. Both of them were seen with fairly shocking hairlines in their youths, which mysteriously reversed course after they each began taking home huge sums of cash. Noel Gallagher once claimed it would take 'half a billion pounds' for him to reunite Oasis. But now, ten years after making that statement, the demand for the band's comeback has become so financially lucrative that the 57-year-old rocker is finally coming to the table. Indeed, the Brit pop icons' return is now closer than ever after Liam, 51, teased an official reunion during his set at Reading Festival last night. It's believed a series of late night phone calls between the warring brothers sealed the deal on what would be one of the music events of the decade. But according to music insiders, the long-running feud between the brothers has only barely simmered and the key fact behind the band's hotly-anticipated comeback is purely money. Liam Gallagher teased an official reunion during his set at Reading Festival last night Noel and Liam Gallagher have not shared the same stage since a backstage fight in 2009 A source told MailOnline: 'Noel would only ever consider sharing the stage with Liam again if the money was astronomical and that's what convinced him. 'They haven't buried the hatchet and Noel will always have huge reservations about being in a band with Liam as he's so unpredictable - both on and off stage. 'Certain conditions will have to be put in place in regards to safeguarding Noel's presence in this comeback because he really can't handle Liam's form for being a liability. 'But the sums of money being offered will obviously help through any potential ordeals. It's life changing cash - even for somebody already very rich.' The Manchester Evening News has reported that tickets could go on sale within the next seven days, and are expected be priced at over the 100 mark. Liam Gallagher performed a number of Oasis hits during his headline slot at Reading last night As he closed the set, Liam suggested an announcement could be made on Tuesday at 8am Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds performing in Clarkston, Michigan, on July 6 last year Music experts believe the Manchester band could earn up to 400million courtesy of a series of comeback gigs, which could include Knebworth and Glastonbury, plus the possibility of a global tour. Promoters SJM Concerts and Live Nation are believed to be in the running to land the tour. Liam has been driving the reunion efforts for a number of years and ramped up speculation by dedicating a performance of the band's hit Half The World Away to his brother during his headline set on Sunday, while also dedicating a rendition of Cigarettes & Alcohol - a song written by Noel from the band's debut Definitely Maybe - 'to people who hate Oasis'. But more tellingly, after the performance Liam suggested an announcement could be made on Tuesday at 8am. A short clip of a sign in the style of Oasis logo was projected on a large screen above the stage and subsequently shared to Oasis, Noel and Liam's official Instagram and X accounts. The white rectangular box with a black block in the centre had the date '27.08.24'' written in the middle where the band's name is usually seen. It then flickered and changed to read '8am''. Noel and Liam Gallagher on the 'Che Tempo Che FA' TV Programme in Italy in November 2008 Liam and Noel Gallagher, Andy Bell and Gem Archer in 2006 at the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival The brothers haven't shared the same stage since 2009 when a backstage fight in Paris led to Noel leaving the band. They've traded insults ever since, Liam typically the most savage having mocked Noel's ex-wife Sara McDonald, 52, which his brother reacted angrily to. Indeed, in 2014 during an interview with talkSPORT, Noel uttered the infamous line that it would take 'half a billion pounds' to reunite with his brother. But their fallout has thawed slightly over the past 12 months, as Noel paid tribute to Liam's success as a solo star, recognising his achievement of selling out stadiums and landing headline sets at festivals. Last Thursday, a video was released to mark the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe and Noel was again unusually complimentary about his little brother. He said: 'When I would sing a song, it would sound good. When he sung it, it sounded great.' Noel added: 'I can't sing Cigarettes & Alcohol, Rock'n'Roll Star and all that. I don't have the same attitude as him. My voice is half a Guinness on a Tuesday - it's all right. Liam's is ten shots of tequila on a Friday.' This video is no longer available This video is no longer available Rescued hostage Noa Argamani told loved ones 'we should celebrate every moment' in a 'Return to Life' celebration yesterday. The 26-year-old who was saved from captivity in a 'miracle' mission spoke emotionally of the need to 'appreciate every day'. She was seen dancing on friends' shoulders alongside her father Yaakov after they both suffered indescribable torment. Noa was kidnapped on October 7 on a motorbike from the Nova music festival as her boyfriend Avinatan Or had to watch on. He has not been seen since. Noa was rescued in June just in time to say her final goodbye to her mother, Liora, 61, before she died from brain cancer. Footage shows Noa dancing at the party in Israel on Friday, with the 26-year-old telling her friends and family: 'I'm happy to celebrate life itself with all of you' Noa became the face of the attack on October 7 after a powerful Mail on Sunday front page captured those final seconds as she reached out to Avinatan while screaming at her captors: 'Don't kill me!' But Noa, who spent 246 days in captivity before being rescued by the Israeli Defence Forces on June 8, also acknowledged that while she was having a party, hostages were still being held by Hamas - including her partner, Avinatan Or (pictured with Noa before the October 7 attack) Rescued hostage Noa Argamani told loved ones 'we should celebrate every moment' in a 'Return to Life' celebration yesterday. She is pictured, left, dancing with her father She has now become one of the fiercest advocates for the remaining hostages and this week spoke at the G7 meeting in Tokyo. She revealed how she feared every night in Hamas captivity was 'going to be my last night alive'. 'It's a miracle that I'm here,' she said. 'Avinatan, my boyfriend, is still there, and we need to bring them back before it's going to be too late,' she told the delegation. Yesterday Noa addressed whether it was suitable to party while over a hundred hostages were still being held by the terror group in Gaza. '246 days I've waited for this moment,' she said. 'It's not ideal to have this party while there's still a war going on, with our soldiers still on the battlefield, and 109 hostages still in Gaza, including my partner who we miss dearly.' A huge banner with Avinatan Or's photo with 'We will dance again' was displayed on the dancefloor. 'We must appreciate every day of this life, and we should celebrate every moment we are here. We need to celebrate all the time,' she told the crowd. Her mother Liora (right), who had stage four cancer, feared she would not live long enough to see her daughter again, and pleaded with Hamas to free her and the Israeli and US governments to bring her home Her father Yaakov, who also attended the party on Friday, said that he and his family, including Liora, had 'really waited' for Noa until 'God granted our wish' (pictured: Yaakov and Noa embracing after she was rescued) Her mother Liora died a month ago from brain cancer, but was able to spend time with her daughter before she passed away thanks to the dramatic rescue of four hostages by elite forces Yamam. According to one of the commandos her first question was whether her mother was still alive. 'I told her yes,' he said. 'She looked right and left at us and asked again if we were sure. We told her yes, 'that's why we came, to bring you back to your mother'.' In an interview with Mailonline the parents of Hero Arnon Zmora who died rescuing told Noa 'to live every day like it's the last'. Meanwhile Israeli media reports that the Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials on the latest hostage-ceasefire proposal. Egypt, the United States and Qatar have been mediators in months of stop-start negotiations to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. Noa Argamani, a rescued hostage embraces her father, Yakov Argamani, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on June 8, 2024 A father who begged police to help his daughter before she was killed by her abusive ex has slammed the force - asking where they were when his girl lay dying in her bedroom. Dave Tierney, 54, was speaking out in the wake of daughter Regan's inquest, where it was found authorities missed chances to save her. The 27-year-old mother was killed by her former partner and father of her two children, Daniel Patten, at her house in Salford, Manchester in June 2019. The 31-year-old was also found with critical injuries and died shortly later in an apparent murder-suicide. Just days prior he had threatened to put her 'head on a spike' and 'throw acid in her face'. Regan Tierney was stabbed to death in a murder-suicide by her former partner in 2019 Daniel Patten (pictured) stabbed the 27-year-old to death and was then found with critical injuries, before dying shortly after Regan's dad Dave Tierney has now slammed Greater Manchester Police over his daughter's death Bolton Coroners Court last month heard how Regan reported the threats to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), but it was not deemed a high risk situation. And now Dave has blasted the force, who he said he'd tried to get to help his daughter before she was murdered by Patten. The 54-year-old father, who found his daughter dead in her bedroom, slammed: 'Where were police when my daughter was being murdered by her abusive partner?' Dave told the Mirror: 'My daughter spent years asking for help. I even called Greater Manchester Police myself and begged them for support. I printed out the forms for a non-molestation order. They were still in her home when she was murdered.' The father, who has spent the past five years campaigning for victims of domestic abuse, said he promised Regan he wouldn't confront Patten after she threatened to never speak to him again. Dave continued: 'Now, I would trade that in an instant. Id accept her never talking to me again if only she was alive.' The memory of finding Regan's body in a pool of her own blood would 'always' haunt him, but the memory of officers swarming the street does, too. Dave said: 'I remember asking them: "Where were you when she needed you? You are too late now".' The father-of-three claimed he'd heard nothing from GMP since the inquest finished on July 20, nor had he received an apology. Regan's sister Shannon (left, with Regan) pleaded with victims of abuse to 'stand up' and 'speak out' after the inquest last month A report concluded there were 'missed opportunities' to protect Regan Tierney, 27 (pictured), before she was stabbed to death by Daniel Patten Forensics officers at the scene where Regan was found dead in a semi-detached house in 2019 Pictured: The 27-year-old's funeral where her life was celebrated in an emotional service MailOnline has contacted GMP for comment. Dave said Regan brought Patten home when she was 17 and he was 21 and the father 'instantly didn't like him'. In the years that followed the couple moved in together and had two children of their own, and Dave said Patten became increasingly abusive. He said he was worried about Regan, so encouraged her to go to the police - before he and his other daughter Shannon too contacted the force. Incidents dated back ten years, with Regan's mother calling police in August 2009 - just after they had met - to tell officers he had 'held Regan by the throat'. At the time, Regan denied this, but later told officers he had 'strangled' her early into the relationship. There were also missed opportunities to protect the young mother by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust A&E after she presented with a broken nose in October 2012, a report found. Patten eventually received a suspended sentence for an attack on Regan, the court heard and the physical abuse appeared to stop for some time. But Shannon told the inquest 'there was a lot of mental abuse' that followed. 'He would send her messages telling her she was fat, she was horrible and no other man would want her.' Shannon said the relationship with Daniel was 'on and off'. In June 2019, she updated her Facebook relationship status to say she was dating someone new. She told Daniel as she 'did not want to lie to him'. She said he had asked calmly if she was seeing anyone else and when she confirmed she was, he sent her a chilling message that read: 'He is dead.' PC Stephen Roxburgh, who visited Regan after she'd filed a complaint, told the court there were no signs she was in 'grave danger.' Regan called GMP and told the call handler: 'He said he's going to kill me. Have my head on a spike. Kill whoever I'm with. It's getting quite scary.' In footage of the meeting played to the court, Regan is heard saying to an officer: 'My ex-partner has been threatening me constantly. 'He follows me around the house swearing and screaming. I wanted to know my options, what I can do to stop it. 'He says he is going to put my head on a spike, to end my life, to throw acid in my face.' The threats came just 11 days before Regan's body was found. Following her death, GMP made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). At the time the Domestic Homicide Review was published in September 2021, the IOPC's report had not been published. Regan was described by her family as a lovely young woman who had 'everything to live for.' In a statement released following her death, they said: 'She was a loving mum who loved family life, she will be greatly missed by her two children and family. 'Regan was taken from our lives too soon. She was a beautiful daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, and an amazing mother. We will forever cherish the memories.' If you are experiencing domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline at any time of day or night for confidential, non-judgmental support and information at 0808 2000 247. You can also find help by calling the UK police non-emergency number on 101, if you need support or advice and it is not an emergency. If you're in immediate danger, always call the police on 999. Three Romanian women who targeted make-up and beauty counters in a 40,000 month-long crime spree as part of a professional shoplifting gang have been jailed. Ancuta-Alexandra Ion, 28, Grama Zorila, 31, and Ana Iosif, 28, struck at supermarkets and high street stores across East Anglia, travelling from their homes in London. In one outing, they escaped with a haul of goods worth 12,000 which are believed to have been stolen to order as part of a wider criminal network. The gang were caught when police stopped their car and found cosmetics and clothes stuffed in the footwells and boots of two cars they were driving. Beauty products are a popular target for shoplifting gangs because of their small size, high value and ease with which they can be resold. Zorila and Iosif both received 23-month jail terms and Ion was locked up for 20 months after they admitted conspiracy to steal between May 1 and June 1 last year. Romanian women Ancuta-Alexandra Ion, 28, (left) Grama Zorila, 31, (centre) and Ana Iosif, 28, (right) who targeted make-up and beauty counters in a 40,000 month-long crime spree as part of a professional shoplifting gang have been jailed Accomplice Denisa-ionela Simion, 21, also from London, admitted three counts of shoplifting in Essex and was ordered to take part in a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and wear an electronic tag for six-months. The women shed tears as Judge David Pugh, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, handed down the sentences. He told them they had come to East Anglia with the specific purpose of stealing large amounts of cosmetics and it was a highly professional and planned conspiracy. Prosecutor Stephen Spence told the hearing that the professional group of thieves took part in a sophisticated operation in which they were targeting specific stores and specific items during raids. On May 30, the women struck at Next, Sainsburys and Boots in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, taking around 4,000 worth of products from each. Other raids included a Boots in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on May 26, a Sainsburys in Thetford, Norfolk, on May 18, and another Sainsburys in Cambridge on May 8. They were brought to justice when they stopped on the A10 in Kings Lynn in a Ford Mondeo and VW Passat filled with stolen items. The women struck at supermarkets and high street stores across East Anglia, travelling from their homes in London The gang were caught when police stopped their car and found cosmetics and clothes stuffed in the footwells and boots of two cars they were driving Mr Spence said the multiple occasions of theft were planned from start to finish and were part of a larger and ongoing conspiracy. Arrest warrants were issued for Ion and Zorila in May after they failed to attend court for an earlier hearing. Abdul Kapadia, defending, said mother-of-three Zorila was struggling for money at the time and was desperate for funds. Iosif, also a mother-of-three and who had four previous convictions for theft, had made a mistake and was sorry, he added, explaining she planned to move away from the lifestyle. Mr Kapadia said Simion had no previous convictions and had just given birth to her second child. She was desperate when she committed the offences and deeply regrets what happened. Rich Hodges, for Ion, told the hearing on Thursday that his client had made a serious error of judgement but makes no excuses. She became involved after losing her job and benefits. Britain is in the grip of a shoplifting epidemic, with police figures last month showing offences soared by 30 per cent in a year to the highest level in two decades. Almost 444,000 crimes were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March, up from 342 in the previous 12 months. Retails experts warned underreporting meant the situation was actually much worse. Many businesses have stopped reporting thefts because they know police dont take action where items worth less than 200 have been taken or unless violence has been used. After the figures were released, Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said the problem was being fuelled by the perception that it is a risk-free crime. One person was killed and three others were injured in a massive Alaska landslide that prompted a mandatory evacuation. Several homes, businesses, and roads were destroyed by the landslide in the coastal city of Ketchikan when rock and debris plummeted down a hill around 4 p.m. on Sunday. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and city Mayor Dave Kiffer issued a separate emergency declaration. Images show the devastation in the small town of 14,000 people with trees smashed into homes on the hillside and fallen electrical wires on top of cars. 'In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude. With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our State geologist,' Kiffer said. One person was killed and three were injured in a landslide in the coastal city of Ketchikan, Alaska on Sunday Images show the devastation in the small town with trees smashed into homes Three people were transported to Ketchikan Medical Center following the landslide and one person was found dead. Two of the victims were admitted to the hospital and one was treated and released. 'Friends, is with a heavy heart we relay that a landslide in the city has taken a life, caused several injuries, damaged homes and impacted our community,' said Dial. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of Third Avenue and nearby streets, while a shelter was set up at Ketchikan High School. Ketchikan has a population of 14,000 and is known as the Salmon Capital of the World Several homes, businesses, and roads were destroyed when rock and debris plummeted down a hill around 4 p.m. on Sunday Electrical wires fell on top of cars and trees crashed through homes A potential secondary landslide area was identified to the south of the original slide location and crews were standing by. Power was restored to some affected areas by 8:15 p.m. Other areas will remain without power while the landslide is cleared and broken power poles are replaced, the borough and city said in a joint statement. A Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Response Specialist and federal Department of Transportation personnel are expected to travel to Ketchikan on Monday, Dunleavy said. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of Third Avenue and nearby streets Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while the borough mayor and the city mayor issued a separate emergency declaration Damaged roads and fall trees are left in the aftermath of the deadly landslide 'I have directed state agencies to make available all resources and staff for the response effort,' Dunleavy said, noting the city was receiving assistance from the State Emergency Operations Center. City and borough facilities including the White Cliff Building, City hall and City offices and KPU public-facing offices are closed on Monday. Ketchikan is known as the Salmon Capital of the World and is accessible only by air or boat. Dramatic footage shows the moment a California man accused of decapitating his parents and their dog started singing 'What's Love Got To Do With It' while covered in blood on the ground - before being shot by police. Joseph Gerdvil, 41, belted out the hit as he lay bleeding out after Orange County Sheriff deputies shot him several times in the torso outside San Juan Mobile Estates on July 9. The disturbing interaction came moments after the cops discovered the headless bodies of his parents - Ronald Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, along with their mutilated dog inside their mobile home. Grisly footage shows cops intercepting Gerdvil in the middle of a road as he charged toward them on foot while babbling incoherently and holding an unidentified object. An officer shouted at him several times to get on the ground, but Gerdvil didn't listen. Dramatic police bodycam footage shows cops intercepting double murder suspect Joseph Gerdvil, 41, in Orange County California on July 9 Joseph Gerdvil, 41, was shot by Orange County Sheriff deputies outside San Juan Mobile Estates on July 9 after he allegedly decapitated his elderly parents and their dog Joseph Gerdvil is accused of decapitating his parents, Ronald Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, inside their mobile home on July 9 The first three bullets had little effect on Gerdvil, who continued appraching them. The fourth floored him - he dropped to the ground with blood pouring from his abdomen. Cops shouted at Gerdvil to roll onto his stomach. Finally, he obeyed. Moments later, Orange County Sheriff deputies rushed over to render aid. Gerdvil continued muttering, saying: 'I love you. I'm sorry you're going to have to die. Then, he made a sad plea. 'Just finish me off,' the 41-year-old muttered moments later. 'Put one in my head, please. I beg of you.' As cops rushed to cover his wounds, Gerdvil started belting out love songs. 'What's love got to do with it, got to do with it? What's love but a second-hand emotion?' he sang from the 1984 Tina Turner hit, before starting a Stevie Wonder song. 'I just called to say I love you,' he sang from the track of the same name, also from 1984. Cops intercepted Gerdvil after he allegedly attacked a maintenance worker following the murders of his parents, and he threw a heavy shovel at cops moments before the bodycam footage begins, police said. The shovel can be seen lying on the ground nearby. Orange County Sheriff's Department said he was taken to the hospital and stabilized. He has been charged with homicide over the deaths of his parents. Gerdvil is accused of decapitating his elderly parents inside their home at San Juan Mobile Estates on July 9. He has been charged with two homicide counts Gerdvil continued muttering after the shooting, saying: 'I love you. I'm sorry you're going to have to die', as police secure handcuffs around his wrists Neighbors at San Juan Mobile Estates described the family as friendly and quiet A motive for the brutal decapitations remains unclear. But neighbor David Desmond said he saw Joseph fighting with his father the day before. He described to Fox 11 how the younger Gerdvil was 'in his face' and 'looked angry' while confronting his father on Monday. Another neighbor, Bob Demario, also claimed Joseph 'had a drug issue.' 'That's why he lived there and they kept him there,' Demario claimed. Online, Joseph made a number of unhinged posts about Jehova's Witnesses and posted dissonance music on YouTube - including one on Monday entitled Shots Fired and another named Pope on a Rope, with a picture of the pope being hanged. Others described the family as friendly and quiet. 'The lady that lived there walked her dog all of the time in the neighborhood,' Tammy Pavese said. 'Everybody knew who he was.' Victoria Alford also said Antoinette and Ronald were a 'very sweet couple. 'And at that age to tragically be murdered by your own son is just tragic, period,' she said. Families who fled from a burning tower block in the early hours of this morning have spoken of their fury after Grenfell Tower-style cladding had not been removed from the building. Some 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters have been battling the fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham, east London, which saw more than 80 people evacuated in the middle of the night and two people taken to hospital. The London Fire Brigade (LFB), which was called at 2.44am, declared a major incident after the ground floor, roof and parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, were set alight. The major incident was stood down just after 12.30pm. Four patients were treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service, two of whom were taken to hospital. 20 people were saved during a 'significant search and rescue operation' and everyone has now been accounted for. Those who fled the building have told of being woken up to 'piercing screams' as huge flames ripped through the residential and commercial building. Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets. The cause of the blaze, which saw thick plumes of smoke billow into the sky, is not yet known. Some residents on the sixth floor claimed that they did not hear any fire alarm go off. Others in the block said they did not see water sprinklers. The tower block, called Spectrum House, has a 'number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade'. Work was also underway to remove 'non-compliant cladding' on the building, which is why it was covered in scaffolding. Valcan, a non-combustible cladding supplier, posted on Facebook six days ago that it had 'popped over to Dagenham' to check on the progress of 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding'. A planning application to carry out this work was approved on July 3 2023. Questions around the role of cladding in the fire will 'form part' of the investigation into the incident, LFB has said. When asked by reporters at the scene 'how big a part did cladding play' in the fire, and how close the incident was to a 'bigger disaster', Assistant Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne said: 'What I wouldn't want to do is pre-empt an investigation. 'This was a very, very dynamic incident, and clearly it's going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause, but to get to an understanding of the fire spread - so it's it's too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days.' When asked about whether the fire alarms went off, he added: 'The state of the fire alarm or whether it was actuating is part of the investigation. And its too early, but the fire investigation team are looking at the actuation of the fire alarm and information from residents as part of our investigation. Cladding is typically fitted to the outside of high-rise buildings to improve their insulation and appearance. But since the Grenfell tragedy seven years ago, campaigners have been calling for the Government to fix Britain's building safety crisis by replacing unsafe cladding. More than 100 people were evacuated from a high-rise block of flats which became engulfed in flames in the middle of the night Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets The smoke and flames are seen rising from a a charred block of flats with blackened windows, smoke-stained walls in Dagenham Some 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze on Freshwater Road, which has left two people in hospital Firefighters work hard to try and put the terrifying blaze out after a fire broke out in the night Nearby residents have been told to shut their windows and doors due to smoke billowing into the sky Firefighters are seen attempting to put the soaring flames out on the roof of the building Damage from the terrifying blaze was visible on Monday morning, with firefighters still at the scene A close-up of the damage that the fire has caused to the cladding on the outside of the building in Dagenham Images from this morning shows burnt out parts of the building, with firefighters attempting to calm down the blaze Just six days ago, Valcan, a leading company in architectural cladding systems, said it was carrying out 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding' In June 2017, a fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in west London, killing 72 people, with the blaze spreading rapidly allegedly due to the cladding on the block's outside walls. A public inquiry into the disaster is still ongoing. Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families from the disaster, posted on X: 'Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the fire in Dagenham this morning, we hope all residents are safe and adequately cared for by the authorities.' Families who fled from the burning block of flats in the early hours of this morning spoke of their anger today. Adding to local fury is the fact that the block had no sprinkler system nor any working communal smoke alarms in the corridors of the six-storey building. Civil servant Emmanuelle Perraud, 54, escaped her third floor flat with 17-year-old daughter Maliha Baig, 17 and sister Alexandra Perraud, 56. She said: 'I'm angry and concerned that the cladding hadn't been removed faster because the plans were in place to do so last summer and it's taken nearly nine-months for them to start taking it down as we've had scaffolding around the building since January. 'The residents complained about it being there because we all remember what happened with Grenfell Tower. Whether it was a factor in this fire, we don't know yet but it should've been removed long ago. 'I woke up around 2.30am this morning because I could hear people shouting outside. 'I looked out the window and there was a lot of smoke. I knew we had to get out quickly. 'My sister was staying with me so I woke her and my teenage daughter and headed out. 'But when I opened my front door the whole corridor was engulfed in thick smoke, which then drifted into my flat. 'At no point did I hear any smoke alarm in the corridor - the only one that went off was the small battery-operated one I have in my kitchen - and there was no sprinkler system in the building either. 'None of us could see a thing and we couldn't breathe which was the scariest thing. My daughter and I inhaled some of the smoke which was really unpleasant. 'Fortunately, there was little smoke in the fire escape so we were able to get to the ground floor and out of the block. But we were one of the last residents to escape as there was a crowd of people gathered outside along with fire crews, police and ambulances. 'We stood watching the building burn for about three hours before we were put in buses and taken to a shelter.' Ms Perraud and her family were evacuated to the nearby Becontree Health Leisure Centre with other residents. Clutching a small bag of items handed out by the Red Cross, including towels, soap, a bottle of water and a wash bag, she added: 'It is fortunate that nobody was seriously hurt or killed but there's some 60-flats in the block and nobody knows where or when we're all going to be re-homed. 'None of us know how bad the damage is to our homes or what's happened to all our possessions.' Ms Perraud's sister, Alexandra, came to visit on Friday from her flat in Purley, South London. She said: 'We had about two and a half minutes to get out. I didn't panic because I've been evacuated from my flat twice due to fire. In fact for me this morning was a case of deja vu. 'I was evacuated from my flat in Purley when a fire broke out only a month ago. It followed a previous fire in 2021. 'After the first fire, a sprinkler system and communal smoke alarms were fitted and regular safety checks were made. 'I didn't see any of that here in what is a more modern block of flats. I was really shocked by that and the fact that the cladding had still to be removed completely.' Dal Singh, 35, raced home from her night shift at a pharmaceuticals factory after being called by worried husband Balvinder, 38. He managed to flee their home with the couple's nine-year-old daughter. Ms Singh told MailOnline: 'The only reason they escaped is because my husband woke up in the early hours to use the bathroom. 'He smelled smoke and initially dismissed it as coming from the roadworks outside but the smell was growing stronger and stronger. 'He went to the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke billowing from the building so rushed to get our daughter up and then went outside into the landing and despite the choking smoke, he banged on the doors of neighbours alerting them. 'No smoke alarms in the communal areas went off apparently. Had my husband not woken up when he did, I dread to think what could've happened. 'When I came home, he and my daughter were already outside and the block was by then well alight. 'I've had no sleep. I'm absolutely shattered. 'We only moved in in June but the upkeep of the flats hasn't been great. There's been scaffolding around the block for months. 'That's to get rid of the cladding on the outside of the building but I'm furious that it hasn't been taken down months or even years ago, given what we know about how flammable it can be.' Vasu Mabudura 28 and wife Rashmi Gupta, 27, fled from their fifth-floor flat and are now planning on staying with a friend at his house. Mr Mabudura saw the blaze from his window and said: 'We got out as quickly as we could. 'What caused it we don't know. There was smoke coming from the top and ground floor. 'Some of the cladding - which was supposed to have been cleared - is still up and the fact that its removal had been delayed is annoying because it's potentially very dangerous.' London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the LFB had this morning declared a major incident in Dagenham to allow the service to focus its resources on the fire. He continued: 'The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. 'A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. 'The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. 'LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.' New drones were deployed to tackle the blaze, along with 64-metre and 32-metre turntable ladders that are being used as vantage points to assess the scene and to douse the flames with water from above, Mr Roe said. Others who fled in the early hours also told of their dramatic escapes. Martin Perry-Taylor, 44, described smoke engulfing the building with 'piercing screams' waking him up. He said: 'It was madness. I woke to all this screaming and alarms and just chaos. 'It was dreadful. There were piercing screams. Smoke was everywhere. Firefighters continue to search Spectrum House after a devastating fire swept through the building Shocking photos show the burnt out building with smoke billowing out of the top Firefighters spent the night tackling the huge blaze which started just before 3am Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane as efforts to put the blaze out continued into the morning LFB said 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters were sent to the scene. It has declared a major incident Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane 'It was unreal. I got out straight away and there was just mayhem with people fleeing and getting out. It was my worst nightmare.' Another said: 'I'm in a state of complete shock and disbelief. How an earth did this start?' Dinesh Raj's six-year-old daughter was having a sleepover with friends in the flats when the fire broke out. He told Sky News: 'I got a call around 3am, so I came and picked them up. 'I managed to take my daughter and my friends to my home. They're all safe. I think they started smelling smoke around 3am, and learned there was a fire. 'They had a six-month baby as well, so they managed to grab the baby and my daughter and get out the building. 'I think the majority [of residents] managed to step out before the fire started spreading. 'But everything they have is back in the building and we have no clue what happened.' Kaisa, who has lived in the building for six years, said she did not hear a fire alarm go off as she fled. 'I got out of bed and looked out the window and I saw flames climbing up toward our balcony,' she told Sky News. 'I woke my partner and said there's a fire it's spreading quickly.' She added: 'There was no fire alarm, nothing went off, when we ran out the flats we just saw some neighbours, smoke coming out the door, we looked at each other, and said 'are you okay?' and tried to wake up a few others, but no fire alarms. Nothing.' As she tried to knock on doors, Kasia said she 'couldn't hear one neighbour' and added: 'I hope they had gone away for the long weekend.' Mohammed, another resident on the sixth floor, also told the broadcaster that he didn't hear the fire alarm and left the building only with clothes on his back. Block Management UK, who said they had taken over the management of Spectrum House in 2019, has been approached for comment by MailOnline. Ahmed, 44, of Kemp Road, which is a few hundred yards from the property, told the PA news agency: 'When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming.' Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor, told reporters: 'I opened my main door, smoke was coming in from the window - I live at the back. I saw it (the fire). Very terrible, very terrible. Mr Ogbeide said it was very busy in the building's stairwell with fellow residents who 'didn't bring anything' when evacuating, with some still 'naked'. He said: 'I've never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I don't know what to do.' Asked if he felt OK, the resident added: 'I'm not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. 'When I cough, you see the black.' The resident later told the PA news agency he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, but did hear a fire alarm. Irina Vasile, 46, a healthcare assistant who lived on the second floor, said she was woken by her partner around 3am telling her there was smoke. Speaking outside the Beacontree Heath Leisure Centre where the residents have been relocated, she told reporters: '(There was) such a dense smoke all over the apartment. When we wanted to open the window, another smoke hit our face, on the throat and the eyes.' Ms Vasile said she was spotted by firefighters after shouting for help and calling 999. She said: 'We didn't grab nothing - we lost everything. The firemen bring us outside, and while I came outside, I've seen a big fire come from the building on the ground floor, and when we went further, I've seen another big fire on the top.' The resident said she did not hear a fire alarm go off during the evacuation. She added: 'My partner is devastated as well. We try to encourage one another because we lost everything. We are scared, frightened to be on the street starting from zero.' Dagenham and Rainham MP Ms Mullane said on X: 'Terrible scenes in Dagenham this morning as @LondonFire tackle the blaze at Freshwater Rd. 'Thanks to their rapid response injury was minimal. I will be visiting the rescue centre today to see what help and support I can offer the residents and businesses who have lost everything.' A paramedic with a face mask as firefighters work at the scene of a large fire The London Ambulance Service said it treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to hospital Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene Hundreds of firefighters have spent hours trying to tackle the blaze in Dagenham Firefighters at the scene of the devastating fire at an east London tower block LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. Pictured is the building this morning Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted: 'My thoughts are with all those affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham. I thank London Fire Brigade & all emergency services on the ground for their bravery and swift response. I and Home Office Ministers are receiving updates on the incident from operational partners.' Jennifer Frame, from End Our Cladding Scandal, told MailOnline: 'First and foremost, while there is a significant search and rescue operation ongoing, the number one priority is that the residents affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham are all safe and well and that they are given the support and answers that they need in the weeks and months ahead. 'It is very concerning that this building was known to have had serious fire safety issues, including unsafe cladding which had still not been removed. Seven years after Grenfell, there are still many thousands of buildings across the country with life-critical fire safety defects and the pace of remediation has been shockingly slow. 'Being 'in negotiations' about remediation or having 'plans in place' counts for little when dangerous cladding or other construction defects that enable fire to spread rapidly remain on people's homes. Today's incident demonstrates why action remains so urgent. Fire won't wait while the legal and administrative battle rumbles on for years at each individual building. 'Residents' safety must be our number one priority, and we need to see the new government step in and urgently get a grip of the spiralling cladding and building safety crisis.' Giles Grover, from the same campaign group, added: 'As soon as you rely on any leaseholder for funding, that is going to delay the works. 'It's like the Post Office scandal, they are still trying to blame the victims and make them pay. Ultimately we want full protection for all our leaseholders, that's our unwavering line. 'From what we have seen online, the remediation in the Dagenham flat block was ongoing, with some of the work already being started, which means it could have been much worse. 'Some of the most dangerous stuff looked like it had been removed but obviously you have still got thousands of buildings across the country where work has not even started yet. 'With the Grenfell Tower inquiry report we hope that will be the starting point for the successive Government's role in this mess will be uncovered. 'We have said to ministers and to the many secretary of states we have met that fire does not wait and fire does not discriminate, but it's up to the Labour Government to crack on and directly do something now, we have been warning them for so long.' Station Commander Alan Bendell, who was at the scene of the Dagenham fire, said: 'The fire is producing heavy smoke and we're advising local residents to keep windows and doors closed. 'Two of the Brigade's 32-metre turntable ladders are being used at the scene as aerial water towers to assist with tackling the fire from height. 'Freshwater Road is closed to traffic, so please avoid the area where possible.' Several ambulances are parked nearby to the blaze and an air ambulance was also dispatched. A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We were called at 2:52am today (26 August) to reports of a fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham. 'We sent a large number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, incident response officers, an advanced paramedic in critical care, emergency planning officers, a command support vehicle and members of our hazardous area response team (HART). 'We also dispatched London's Air Ambulance.' 'We treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to a hospital.' Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. The BBC reports that more than 100 people were evacuated. This video is no longer available This video is no longer available A question about the benefits of 'multiculturalism' in Australia has caused a stir on ABC's Q+A program. Audience member Jenny Carroll told the panel on Monday night that it was drummed into her children when they were at school in the 1990s that diversity is one of the nation's greatest strengths. However the mother-of-two said she believes those who have descended from European settlers are now being 'demonised' by people from other backgrounds. 'My children, now almost 30 and 34, went to the local state public school and were dictated to that multiculturalism is a great thing,' Ms Carroll said. 'I don't believe it is as I feel the culture of the original British and Irish majority has been demonised constantly for the last three decades. 'Case in point - frequent vandalism of memorials to Captain Cook. How does democracy fit into this atmosphere of beat up the white guy?' Host Patricia Karvelas immediately handed the question to Federal Youth Minister Anne Aly - the first Muslim woman to be elected to federal parliament - which sparked tense laughter from the audience. Ms Aly was born in Egypt and moved to Australia with her parents as toddler. She staunchly disagreed with Ms Carroll's views on the controversial subject. Jenny Carroll (pictured) claimed her children were 'dictated' to about multiculturalism by teachers and questioned how their education made 'democracy fit into this atmosphere of beat up the white guy?' 'I know multiculturalism isn't a thing. It's what we are. It's the character of our nation and it's not a policy that was forced on anyone,' Ms Aly begun. 'Take a look around you. We are multicultural. It's who we are.' Ms Aly drew on her experience as an immigrant growing up in Australia to better explain her perspective to Ms Carroll. 'I think multiculturalism has brought immense benefits,' she said. 'I'm not talking about being able to have some soy sauce on your sausage roll or being able to wear a sari or any of those things - I'm talking about democracy is more resilient and is better when there are diverse idea, diverse thinking, diversity of faith, diversity of cultural backgrounds. 'I don't think we bash the white guy as you might say, and perhaps if we were to trade places for a day you might think differently, because I get quite a bit of racism. 'I think if we were to trade places and if we had the opportunity to walk in each other's shoes, you might think differently.' Former Liberal Senator George Brandis was the next panellist to address the question. He regarded himself as a strong defender of multiculturalism during his time in parliament. Q+A host Patricia Karvelas (pictured) was left shocked by the Boomer's question and it as 'a debate that's being had worldwide' 'But I don't think it's an either or all question. I think we can accept that Australia is a multicultural society,' Mr Brandis said. 'It's not of whether we should be. We are. That's the reality and that's not going to change. 'So we want to be the best multicultural society that we can be.' Mr Brandis pointed out that Australia's British heritage shouldn't be disrespected either. 'So many of the fundamental features of Australian society we owe to our British heritage and rather than be ashamed of that, we should be proud of that,' he said. 'I think we can see the good in all dimensions of Australian society. 'To have reached the point we have now reached where we're proud of our very, very ancient Indigenous heritage. 'We're proud of our more modern British institutions that go back to 1788 and we're proud of the society that is evolved from those institutions that both sides of politics as a joint endeavour have created which is I think one of the world's most successful multicultural societies.' He told Ms Carroll that he doesn't think that the antithesis implicit in her question really exist. Ms Carroll clarified she didn't believe migration was to blame for the her views, but instead a failure to make peace with Australia's complex colonial history. 'It's that we haven't reconciled, maybe, to the Aborigines sufficiently,' she said. Youth Minister Anne Aly (pictured) drew on her own experience as an immigrant in Australia 'I think that might be underlying a lot of it, that we can't really look at those types of heroes in our background and say, 'Thank you for what you did'. 'He was just doing a job, Captain James Cook, he was told to navigate and find the Great South land. 'So if he is made to blame, I think that's so wrong.' Karvelas also weighed in while inviting English academic and podcaster David Runciman to share his views. 'Obviously, this is a debate that's being had worldwide in places that have been colonised,' she said. 'But there is a kind of rejection of it and there is a tension.' A Pakistani web developer accused of spreading disinformation about the Southport knife attack that triggered widespread rioting across the UK has been cleared. Farhan Asif walked free from a court in Lahore today having escaped charges of cyber terrorism less than one week after his arrest. The 32-year-old is reported to have worked for news aggregation website Channel3Now, which a Daily Mail investigation revealed started out as an obscure Russian YouTube channel ten years ago and spread disinformation to millions online. That outlet falsely claimed that the Southport knifeman - whose identity could not be published at the time due to his age - was a Muslim migrant who arrived in the UK via boat and was on an MI6 watchlist. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were tragically killed in the July 29 attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class by a British teenage suspect, who turned out to be British. Asif told the judge that he was simply reporting the information that he had seen elsewhere and deleted his post on social media after only six hours when he realised it was not correct. Federal investigators told the judge that they had no evidence to prove that he was guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation, Rana Rizwan, a defence lawyer, told reporters. Farhan Asif, a freelance web developer who was charged with spreading misinformation that helped spark widespread rioting in the U.K, talks to the media after his acquittal from court, in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024 Farhan Asif, a freelance web developer who was charged with spreading misinformation that helped spark widespread rioting in the U.K, arrive to talk with media after his acquittal from court, in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024 A burnt out police van near a mosque in Southport as shocking riots broke out Bebe King, six, was killed in the horror attack in Southport last month Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was another victim of the knife attack at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died in the early hours of July 30 after being rushed to hospital following the attack Police in Pakistan had charged Asif with cyber terrorism, in relation to the disinformation thought to have fuelled the widespread rioting. He was charged under Section 9 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, which outlaws creating 'a sense of fear or insecurity in society'. Federal investigators in Pakistan were given a day to question Asif by a court on Wednesday prior to his court appearance one day later. An unnamed police officer told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn: 'The allegations should not be taken lightly as they can have a far-reaching impact on the Pakistani community in the UK in particular and Muslims in general.' According to the New York Times, he admitted during a police interrogation to sharing false information. But he claimed that he had only reported the story from another source without verifying the information. Farhan Asif, whose identity was concealed until after his court appearance, was pictured for the first time as he was led away from court in handcuffs He was charged with cyber terrorism after his news site Channel3Now allegedly spread mass misinformation about the Southport stabbing Channel3Now reported that the suspect was a '17-year-old asylum-seeker' called Ali al-Shakati, who allegedly arrived in the UK by boat in 2023 and it claimed he was on an MI6 watch list. But the actual suspect was Axel Rudakubana, now 18, from Banks, Lancashire, who will stand trial next year after being charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Channel3Now was one of the first accounts on X to share incorrect details about the Southport suspect. The first mention of the name came from the account of Bernie Spofforth, an anti-lockdown activist and Cheshire businesswoman. He has been charged under Section 9 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, which outlaws creating 'a sense of fear or insecurity in society' According to The New York Times, he admitted during a police interrogation to sharing false information He claimed that he had only reported the story from another source without verifying the information Farhan Asif allegedly worked for news aggregation website Channel3Now, which published false articles about the identity of the Southport stabber More than 50 police officers were injured as up to 1,000 people gathered outside a Southport mosque after the fake news over the identity of the suspect in the killings was shared online. Asif was uncovered as a significant figure in the Channel3Now website in an ITV News investigation, which found that he ran the website - which has since been shut down - from his luxurious housing estate in Lahore. 'I don't know how such a small article or a minor Twitter account could cause widespread confusion,' he told ITV News after being confronted about the fake news the website spread. 'Channel3Now mentioned that [the suspect was] a Muslim and an immigrant, but this has no connection to the chaos, which is being caused by people in his own country. King Charles is pictured in the background of a floral display for the Southport victims, which also includes a number of balloons and cuddly toys The huge display has been left in the wake of the tragic killings of three girls who were stabbed during a Taylor Swift-themed summer party in the town last month 'If there was misinformation, it could have been addressed calmly. Why was there such an uproar?' A senior official in the local Pakistani police force told The Telegraph Asif had been detained over allegedly spreading fake news that resulted in violent riots. Asif denied writing the article about the Southport knifeman and told ITV News that he understands that the article was deleted a day after it was posted and that an apology was issued. He claims that four people from the information search team were fired over the fake news article. A police van set alight on July 31 as trouble flares during a protest in Southport, after three children died and eight were injured in a 'ferocious' knife attack during a Taylor Swift event Dawn said their own investigation into the fake news showed that Asif was not the source of the information and had simply copy and pasted it from a social media post. Besides the three children who died, ten other people were seriously injured during the attack on the dance class at the Hart Space Community Centre in Southport a the end of July. A 17-year-old male, who the police said was born in Britain, was charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one of possession of a bladed article. The UK's worst unrest in more than a decade led to some 1,100 arrests. The government pledged that rioters who hurled bricks at police, looted shops and attacked mosques and hotels used to house asylum-seekers would feel 'the full force of the law.' Advertisement Notting Hill was awash with colourful outfits today as tens of thousands blew whistles and horns and cheered on dancers on the carnival's last day. Revellers watched on as the 56 masquerade bands paraded through the streets of west London in colourful outfits as this year's festivities are brought to a close on its 'adult's day'. Meanwhile the sweet, smoky scent of jerk chicken filled the side streets where sound systems played everything from rare groove to house, samba, reggae and ska. An estimated two million people are expected to attend the festival, one of the largest of its kind, over the weekend. Notting Hill is one of the longest-running street parties in the UK and celebrates Caribbean culture with vividly costumed performers taking part in a parade through the streets with dancing and music. Notting Hill was awash with colourful outfits today as tens of thousands blew whistles and horns on the carnival's last day. The carnival celebrates Caribbean culture with it culminating today on 'adult's only' day. Pictured here a dancer holds a Coca-Cola bottle as a reveller bends over in front of her Notting Hill is one of the longest-running street parties in the UK and celebrates Caribbean culture A reveller poses in a bikini top and knee-high black boots from her window during the Notting Hill carnival procession Revellers watched on as the 56 Masquerade Bands paraded through the streets of west London in colourful outfits as this year's festivities are brought to a close on its 'adult's only' day A reveller in a sequined costume with glitter on her chest holds a lollipop as she attends the Notting Hill Carnival This year 7,000 police officers have been deployed onto the streets of Kensington to keep order during the festivities. Yesterday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed the 'fantastic scenes' as thousands come out in force to celebrate Caribbean culture. He wrote on X: 'Carnival is part of the very fabric of our city and an amazing way to bring communities together.' In an update at lunchtime today, the Metropolitan Police said a section 60 order, that provides police officers with additional powers to search people, had been authorised until 2am. A Section 60AA order is also in place - which allows officers to order the removal of face coverings being used to conceal a person's identity. It came after three people were stabbed - including a 32-year-old mother who was rushed to hospital where she remains in a critical condition. She was attending the carnival with her child when she was knifed and narrowly avoided being killed. the Met said in an update this morning. Two men, aged 29 and 24, were also taken to hospital with knife wounds. The former has non life-threatening injuries while the former discharged himself from hospital this morning. No arrests have been made in relation to the stabbings. A reveller with a sign reading 'Who Stole My Pants?' holds a can of Red Stripe Jamaican lager Revellers pass through metal security at Notting Hill carnival the largest street festival in Europe which is expected to attract two million people over the bank holiday weekend A Samba dancer in feathered costume poses with two smiling police officers ahead of the carnival parade at Notting Hill Performers in costume take part in the main parade of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London today A performer wears a colourful headset as dancers take part in the main parade of Notting Hill Carnival A reveller wears earrings with 'chocolate cutie' written inside as she attends the Notting Hill Carnival's adult's parade Police officers march past Westbourne Park Underground station heading for the Notting Hill Carnival Revellers attend Notting Hill Carnival today. The adult parade takes place on Monday featuring floats and dancers The climax of the carnival sees Mas Bands being judged on their colourful outfits and dances by officials with the winner being announced later on social media Vividly costumed performers taking part in a parade through the streets with dancing and music Performers in costume pose for a photo as they prepare to take part in the main parade of the Notting Hill Carnival A dog wears a scarf in the colours of the Jamaican flag at the Notting Hill Carnival today Meanwhile, dancers got to to the rhythm as sound systems played everything from rare groove to house, samba, reggae and ska A performer takes a selfie during the Notting Hill Carnival parade today while clutching onto a bottle as the sun beamed on bank holiday Monday Tribo drummers wearing handmade costumes inspired by indigenous Amazonian tribes people showcase the authentic samba reggae rhythms The colourful parade is the climax of the annual Carnival held over the August Bank Holiday weekend A performer shows off her colourful red, blue, orange and green outfit during the adult's parade of Notting Hill Carnival Yesterday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed the 'fantastic scenes' as thousands come out in force to celebrate Caribbean culture Scotland Yard said 103 arrests had been made yesterday with 18 officers being attacked. The force detailed the offences for 101 of the arrests which were: four sexual offences; 15 assaults on police; 18 possessions of an offensive weapon; nine possessions of class A drugs; 13 possessions of class B drugs; six possessions of other drugs; four possessions of nitrous oxide; eight possessions of drugs with intent to supply; two theft; two violence with injury; five 'other violence'; five robberies; one public order offence, and; nine 'other offences'. The Met said in a statement posted on X last night: 'Hundreds of thousands of people came to Notting Hill Carnival today to enjoy a fantastic celebration. 'Our officers have been on duty working to keep them safe as part of a very carefully planned policing operation. 'Regrettably, a minority came to commit crime and engage in violence.' There were eight stabbings and 275 arrests at the 2023 event. Speaking ahead of the carnival, Commander Charmain Brenyah, the Met's spokesperson for this year's event, said she wanted people to have 'happy memories'. Three revellers enjoying the party atmosphere gyrate and pose for the camera at Notting Hill Carnival on bank holiday Monday A reveller raises both of her arms in the air as she enjoys the parade on the final day of Notting Hill Carnival Crowds pictured today on Ladbroke Grove, west London, during the Notting Hill Carnival celebration This year 7,000 police officers have been deployed onto the streets of Kensington to keep order during the festivities Revellers can be seen in tops in the design of Barbados' flag with a man at the front wearing a blue top which reads 'Iza bajan', slang for 'I'm a Barbadian' Participants of Notting Hill Carnival are seen in west London Musicians and dancers are making their way through the streets of west London as the party atmosphere gets into full flow The streets of Notting Hill are full of brightly coloured costumes with music being played in a joyous celebration of Caribbean culture Tribo drummers take part in the adult's parade, part of the Notting Hill Carnival celebration in west London Performers in costume take part in the main parade of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London The Notting Hill Carnival celebrating Caribbean culture has taken place over the summer bank holiday most years since 1966 'Sadly, however, we know that for a minority of people, Carnival is an opportunity to commit crime or to seek out violent confrontation,' she said 'As a police officer on duty in previous years I've seen both the Carnival I experienced in my youth, but also the other side of the same event when, later in the day, the atmosphere changes in some parts, with floats and costumes giving way to serious violence. 'It was a challenging environment to work in and one which over the past two years has seen more than 500 arrests, 15 stabbings including one that was fatal, and more than 125 police officers assaulted. These incidents can't be downplayed or dismissed. 'It is for that reason that anyone going to Carnival will see a very significant policing presence. We're there to keep you safe - if you see us say hello - but we're also there to intervene decisively against those intent on violence.' Commander Brenyah continued: 'The location of Carnival is deeply rooted in its history and we recognise the significance it holds for many. But numbers have grown so significantly over the years that the scale of the modern day event is unrecognisable compared to that which began decades ago. 'Any event of this size that takes place in a constrained residential area, particularly if un-ticketed, will present a potential safety challenge. In recent years we've seen a number of occasions where the movement of huge crowds in already tightly packed residential streets has given us serious cause for concern. 'In the coming days we'll be putting out important guidance for actions that those attending Carnival can take if they feel unsafe in a crowd. I'd urge everyone to read and do their best to remember them.' An American man was deported from Colombia after he attempted to force himself inside a closed aircraft because he had missed his flight. The passenger, whose name has not been released, went berserk at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota on Friday after he arrived late for his LATAM flight, according to the Colombian Air Workers Association. After he was told that he couldn't board Flight 4090 to Cartagena, he allegedly assaulted the staff and made his way down the jet bridge and approached the closed aircraft. Shocking video filmed by a male passenger on board showed the crazed passenger kicking the door being to be let in. 'Don't you dare,' he told a concerned flight crew member, 'You just remain calm and breathe.' An American man was deported from Colombia on Friday after tried to kick down the door of a closed LATAM flight at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota. The passenger, whose name hasn't been released, allegedly arrived late for his flight to Cartagena and tried to force his way inside the aircraft before he was arrested A worker at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia followed the American passenger after he evaded security protocols and walked down the jetbridge before he tried to kick down a LATAM airplane's door An airport worker could be seen in the background waiting for police assistance to arrive while the passenger paced around and then hit an airplane window. He continued to kick the plane's door and then directed his anger by kicking a wall with his open toe sandal. After another series of kicks at the airplane door and nearly breaking a control panel, he approached the window and shouted 'I want to get in.' His strange behavior went further as he knelt and begged, 'I want to get in please,' while he held his passport and boarding pass on one hand and banged on the window with the other. An American passenger lost his temper and kicked a wall on the jetbridge while he attempted to break down a LATAM airplane door after he was told he couldn't get into the flight because he had arrived late The passenger pressed his face on one of the airplane windows while pleading to be let in The man was eventually restrained by the police, airline personnel and security and taken to an immigration office. He attacked one of the agents during the proceedings and was later deported. 'This disruptive passenger initially assaulted ground staff after being informed that the flight had already closed and he had arrived late,' Daniel Gallo, president of the Colombian Air Workers Association, said in a statement. 'He forcibly attempted to enter the boarding bridge and, failing to do so, punched the main door and windows of the aircraft.' Gallo urged the Colombian government to consider enacting stricter laws to prosecute unruly passengers. 'This man had aggressive behavior that put the staff and other travelers at risk, and he also did not comply with travel regulations,' he said. 'We continue to call on the National Government and Congress to take urgent and severe measures against these passengers, who are becoming more frequent every day.' LATAM declined a DailyMail.com request for comment. The Colombian National Police didn't respond to a request for comment. Keep up to date with the developments in politics in our LIVE BLOG The members of the bipartisan Trump assassination task force are heading to Butler, Pennsylvania, to demand answers after the Secret Service continues to 'slow walk' information. Speaker Mike Johnson previewed the trip on Fox & Friends Monday morning, saying he is 'confident' in the task force's leader Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who is 'doing a great job.' 'They've been digging in, getting the answers and requesting documents. They have been slow walked, so that's the concern. So we're pressing go to get the answers to the American people,' said the speaker. DailyMail.com has learned that Kelly and Democratic ranking member of the task force Jason Crow (Colo.), are planning to meet with local law enforcement to gain 'firsthand knowledge' relevant to their expansive probe. Their trip to Butler comes days after multiple Secret Service agents have been put on leave during the investigation into the Donald Trump assassination attempt. The massive security failure that led to the horrific has sparked probes from a wide range of government agencies that are ongoing after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the former president on July 13 Multiple Secret Service agents have been put on leave during the investigation into the Donald Trump assassination attempt, reports suggest According to NBC News, four Pittsburgh field agents, including the head of the division, and one Trump agent have been put on leave. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told DailyMail.com in a statement Friday that 'there must be accountability' for the Secret Service's 'historic failures.' 'Holding negligent employees accountable is the first step. I look forward to the Task Force's findings of its investigation. We must ensure the Secret Service does not fail again.' Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi did not comment on the reports that the agents have been put on leave because due to it being a 'personnel matter.' But he told DailyMail.com that they are still 'examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure.' 'The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action.' The suspended agents are expected to still be working for the Secret Service and getting paid. They were most likely moved to an administrative role while the investigation continues. Crooks' plot sparked the resignation of the agency's director Kimberly Cheatle and led to a slew of questions, including how he was able to get on a roof in clear sight of where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania. The would-be assassin was spotted by witnesses before the shooting and Secret Service and law enforcement were warned of his presence. Yet he was still able to open fire at least eight times with the AR-style rifle he got from his father. Republican Rep. Mike Waltz told DailyMail.com earlier this week that he wasn't convinced Crooks acted alone. He said the gunman's motivation is still unknown and he is worried a foreign entity or other third-party could have been involved in the attack. Waltz queried how federal law enforcement can confidently say Crooks was a lone wolf if they can't answer other questions like why he had multiple foreign encrypted messaging accounts. His comments came after it was revealed that Iran was also plotting an attempt on the former president's life around the same time that Crooks carried out his plan. 'The more we get into it, the more questions I have,' Waltz said. 'It's really what's coming out around it that is so disturbing. 'And for me, the thing that's most disturbing is that we have ongoing plots from Iran to take out a former president, leading candidate, and that a Pakistani national was just arrested after making a down payment for hitmen, and it's barely even being covered in the news.' Crooks, 20, was able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raised Waltz's eyebrows and makes him wonder whether he had help. Thomas Matthew Crooks pictured at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire on the crowd and former president Crooks, 20, was shot dead on site by U.S. Secret Service after he killed a rally goer, critical injured two other supporters and was able to barely graze the side of Trump's ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 As the FBI, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and Department of Homeland Security conduct their investigations into the massive security failure, Waltz and 12 other lawmakers on a House task force are also looking into the attempted assassination. 'I don't understand, and I don't have any answers yet to help me understand how the [Secret] Service and DHS came out so quickly and said and I think the FBI as well, but I'll have to check that and said, he operated alone,' Waltz said when speaking with DailyMail.com at Trump Tower in Chicago on Wednesday. 'How do you know that mere days into your investigation?' The Florida congressman added: 'You can't tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone? You can't get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone? So, I don't buy that yet.' A bullet fired from his AR-style weapon, bought legally by Crooks' father, grazed the former president's right ear. Crooks' parents have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son's assassination attempt. A family member shared with DailyMail.com that the FBI, 'still very much has questions' regarding how much the killer's parents knew while revealing that his father is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past. Quinn Logue, the Pittsburgh-based law firm that Matthew Crooks , 53, and his wife Mary, 53, retained describe themselves as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits including wrongful death and personal injury. Crooks killed one rally-goer and critically injured two others before he was taken out. The FBI also found explosives in Crooks' car, which was parked near the rally site. And upon raiding his parents' house, where he lived, they found more bombs. 'I don't know of many 19-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own,' Waltz told DailyMail.com. 'Why didn't that get picked up if he's searching that online or buying literature on how to do that?' The Harris campaign claimed on Monday Donald Trump's team is pushing back on leaving the microphones on for the blockbuster debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to keep the Republican presidential nominee from embarrassing himself. It comes as the ex-president is sowing doubt over whether he would show up at all for the showdown. Harris and Trump are set to go head-to-head in their first debate in just over two weeks on September 10 on ABC News. But it appears the campaigns are at odds over the rules with the Trump team agreeing to those set in June when President Biden was the presumptive nominee while the Harris campaign wants a change. 'We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,' said Brian Fallon in a statement. 'Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,' Fallon continued. The Harris campaign is claiming Trump's team wants mics muted when it's not a candidate's turn in the September 10 debate as Trump raises questions over whether he'll even show up The response is the latest in a series of testy back and forth negotiations between the campaigns over debating after Harris replaced Biden at the top of the ticket. Trump and Biden were originally set to debate twice, first in June and then again in September. But Biden's disastrous debate performance on June 27 was a catalyst for him exiting the race less than a month later amid mounting concerns from Democrats over the 81-year-old's ability to serve a second term. After Harris became the nominee, she said she was ready to keep the debate with Trump on September 10 and was open to later debates, but their one agreed upon matchup now appears to be in jeopardy. In a post on Sunday night, the 78-year-old questioned whether he would debate Harris on ABC News in just over two weeks. 'I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?' Trump wrote. The ex-president went on to blast on of Sunday's ABC News panelists Donna Brazile suggesting she would give the questions to Harris after she leaked CNN town hall topics to the Clinton campaign back in 2016 while she was a political analyst there. He also pointed out that Harris' friend heads up ABC and questioned whether anchor George Stephanopoulos would be involved. 'Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!' Trump wrote in his post. Earlier this month, Trump claimed he would go head-to-head with Harris and had agreed to three debates including the one on ABC News as well as one on Fox News on September 4 and another on NBC in late September. The Harris campaign hit back after his late-night post in their statement Monday morning. They said they suspect the Trump campaign has not even told their candidate about the microphone dispute 'because it would be too embarrassing to admit they dont think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.' Fallon said the vice president is ready, and Trump should 'stop hiding behind the mute button.' Speaking on Monday morning in Virginia, the ex-president said he wanted to have a fair debate but suggested that couldn't happen on ABC News. When asked about the mics being muted, Trump signaled he was open to the change. 'Doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on,' he said. 'But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time.' The ex-president also accused the vice president of trying to get out of the debate. He claimed she is not a 'good debater' or a 'smart person.' Harris has not formally accepted any additional debate offers besides September 10, but she did tell reporters while speaking on the tarmac in late July that she was open to it. Former President Trump and President Biden appeared for a debate on June 27 in Atlanta. The head-to-head matchup set of alarms over whether the 81-year-old president was up for a second term Trump said unmuting the mics doesnt matter to me. Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally. With this resolved, everything is now set for Sept 10th. https://t.co/l98QiTD9lh Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 26, 2024 The dispute over the mics being muted carries some irony as it was a rule the Biden campaign originally had pressed for when he was still the candidate before the June debate. But the move appeared to backfire for the president who came across on camera as slow to respond and was unable to call Trump out for false statements in real time. It set off an avalanche of criticism that continued to mount until Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. After Trump said on Monday it did not matter to him, Fallon posted on X that the issue had been resolved and everything is set for September. A woman has mysteriously died on the first day of the Burning Man festival just hours after thousands crowded into the desert camp. She was found unresponsive at 11.29am on Sunday and 'life saving measures were immediately attempted but were unsuccessful', festival organizers said. The Pershing County Sheriff's Office arrived and confirmed the woman's death, and began investigating 'until a cause and manner can be determined'. A woman has mysteriously died on the first day of the Burning Man festival just hours after thousands crowded into the desert camp 'The name of the participant is being withheld at this time, until the decedent's next of kin can be notified,' Jerry Allen with the Pershing County Sheriff said. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the decedent. 'This is the first reported death on the playa this year and unfortunately it has happened on day one.' How the woman died and the circumstances around her death are not yet known. Burning Man organizers said there were counselling services available at the festival for anyone who needed them. Festivalgoers check in for buses going to Burning Man at Civic Center Plaza on Sunday 'The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident,' it said. 'The Pershing County Sheriffs office investigates all deaths that occur in its jurisdiction. 'Out of respect for the privacy of the grieving family, we will not be providing further details at this time.' Last year, festivalgoer Leon Reece, 32, from Truckee, California, died of a suspected drug overdose. A second London tower block has been caught in a raging inferno just hours after a house fire sparked a major evacuation in a set of Dagenham flats. Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters are currently tackling a flat fire in a high rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) say half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building is alight. Footage shows thick black smoke has been seen pouring out of Charrington Tower, which is a part of the New Providence Wharf delvopment complex, as locals have been advised to keep windows and doors closed. The LFB said it was first called to the blaze at 1.28pm and that crews from Millwall, Plaistow, Shadwell and surrounding fire stations were in attendance at the scene. The fire service added that it had received more than 100 calls regarding the blaze and that the cause is not yet known. This inferno comes less than 24 hours after a huge blaze engulfed a tower block in Dagenham, east London, which saw more than 100 people evacuated and two people taken to hospital. Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters are tackling the flat fire in a high rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London The London Fire Brigade (LFB) say half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building is alight Happening now in Blackwall New Province Wharf E14 pic.twitter.com/LdJwvktaRs GabrielM (@JohnWickMG) August 26, 2024 A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said: 'Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters are tackling a flat fire in a high rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall. 'Half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building is alight. 'The fire is producing a large amount of smoke. Those in the local area are advised to keep windows and doors closed and avoid Biscayne Avenue if possible. 'The Brigade's 999 Control Officers have taken over 100 calls to the blaze. The Brigade was first called at 1328. Crews from Millwall, Plaistow, Shadwell and surrounding fire stations are in attendance at the scene. 'The cause of the fire is not known at this time.' Two of the Brigades aerial ladders, including a 64 metre turntable ladder, were deployed to support firefighters as they carried out their response. Dylan Lee, 28, who saw flames and smoke billowing from the structure while he was in his apartment in Canary Wharf opposite, said he felt 'dread' at the sight. The designer and VFX artist said: 'Around 1.25pm an alarm rang out when I noticed smoke billowing from the apartment. 'Debris and pieces had fallen from the balcony, glass shattered and caused the fire to expand and engulfed the space, with flames reaching out as the wind carried the smoke. 'I felt dread, especially considering this is the second apartment fire in 24 hours in East London alone. 'I'm hoping the residents made it out ok and the firefighters are in one piece. This was somebody's home.' Thick black smoke has been flowing out of the building and locals have been advised to keep windows and doors closed @EveningStandard fire at tower in Blackwall in E14 pic.twitter.com/TBZtQcIx1N JohnLetizia (@john_letizia) August 26, 2024 More than 100 people were evacuated from a high-rise block of flats in Dagenham which became engulfed in flames in the middle of the night This is not the first fire emergency to hit the New Providence Wharf delvopment complex. In 2021, the 19-storey building next to the waterfront became engulfed in flames, leaving many residents trapped inside and screaming for help from balconies. More than 125 firefighters in 20 vehicles spent hours battling the inferno and men were taken to hospital after being exposed to toxic fumes, while a further 38 adults and four children were treated at the scene for shock and breathing in smoke. But many families weren't alerted to the blaze by the fire alarm for more than half an hour, with one homeowner claiming they only noticed when they woke to the smell of smoke, while others were completely oblivious to the danger until messages started appearing in a neighbourhood group chat. Others found out via the news. The fire service was also called at 2.44am this morning to tackle another multi-storey building fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham. LFB crew members said parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the ground floor and the roof, were alight. The fire service said 45 engines and around 225 firefighters responded to the blaze that engulfed the whole building. Four people were treated at the scene. All of the building's occupants have now been accounted for, the fire brigade said. The property was undergoing 'remedial' work to remove and replace 'non-compliant cladding' on the fifth and sixth floors containing flats, according to a planning application document. An investigation into the fire has begun, during which questions around the role of cladding will 'form part' of the probe, the LFB's Assistant Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne said. Some 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze on Freshwater Road, which has left two people in hospital Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets Firefighters work hard to try and put the terrifying blaze out after a fire broke out in the night Those who fled the building have told of being woken up to 'piercing screams' as huge flames ripped through the residential and commercial building. Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets. The cause of the blaze, which saw thick plumes of smoke billow into the sky, is not yet known. Some residents on the sixth floor claimed that they did not hear any fire alarm go off. Others in the block said they did not see water sprinklers. Families who fled from the burning block of flats in the early hours of this morning spoke of their anger today. Adding to local fury is the fact that the block had no sprinkler system nor any working communal smoke alarms in the corridors of the six-storey building. Civil servant Emmanuelle Perraud, 54, escaped her third floor flat with 17-year-old daughter Maliha Baig, 17 and sister Alexandra Perraud, 56. She said: 'I'm angry and concerned that the cladding hadn't been removed faster because the plans were in place to do so last summer and it's taken nearly nine-months for them to start taking it down as we've had scaffolding around the building since January. 'The residents complained about it being there because we all remember what happened with Grenfell Tower. Whether it was a factor in this fire, we don't know yet but it should've been removed long ago. 'I woke up around 2.30am this morning because I could hear people shouting outside. 'I looked out the window and there was a lot of smoke. I knew we had to get out quickly. Nearby residents have been told to shut their windows and doors due to smoke billowing into the sky Damage from the terrifying blaze was visible on Monday morning, with firefighters still at the scene A close-up of the damage that the fire has caused to the cladding on the outside of the building in Dagenham Images from this morning shows burnt out parts of the building, with firefighters attempting to calm down the blaze 'My sister was staying with me so I woke her and my teenage daughter and headed out. 'But when I opened my front door the whole corridor was engulfed in thick smoke, which then drifted into my flat. 'At no point did I hear any smoke alarm in the corridor - the only one that went off was the small battery-operated one I have in my kitchen - and there was no sprinkler system in the building either. 'None of us could see a thing and we couldn't breathe which was the scariest thing. My daughter and I inhaled some of the smoke which was really unpleasant. 'Fortunately, there was little smoke in the fire escape so we were able to get to the ground floor and out of the block. But we were one of the last residents to escape as there was a crowd of people gathered outside along with fire crews, police and ambulances. 'We stood watching the building burn for about three hours before we were put in buses and taken to a shelter.' Ms Perraud and her family were evacuated to the nearby Becontree Health Leisure Centre with other residents. Shocking photos show the burnt out building with smoke billowing out of the top Firefighters spent the night tackling the huge blaze which started just before 3am Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane as efforts to put the blaze out continued into the morning Clutching a small bag of items handed out by the Red Cross, including towels, soap, a bottle of water and a wash bag, she added: 'It is fortunate that nobody was seriously hurt or killed but there's some 60-flats in the block and nobody knows where or when we're all going to be re-homed. 'None of us know how bad the damage is to our homes or what's happened to all our possessions.' Ms Perraud's sister, Alexandra, came to visit on Friday from her flat in Purley, South London. She said: 'We had about two and a half minutes to get out. I didn't panic because I've been evacuated from my flat twice due to fire. In fact for me this morning was a case of deja vu. 'I was evacuated from my flat in Purley when a fire broke out only a month ago. It followed a previous fire in 2021. 'After the first fire, a sprinkler system and communal smoke alarms were fitted and regular safety checks were made. 'I didn't see any of that here in what is a more modern block of flats. I was really shocked by that and the fact that the cladding had still to be removed completely.' Former President Donald Trump dropped a hint that he might skip the upcoming ABC News debate set for September 10, accusing the network of housing 'Trump Haters' even as he works to whittle Kamala Harris's new polling lead. Trump tore into the network after 10pm on Sunday night in a post on Truth Social, where he gave bad reviews to the network's weekend programming before raising the threat. 'I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls (K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?' he wrote. He was referencing the network's Jonathan Karl, who questioned Trump at the White House during his presidency. Then he went on to go after members of the network's 'This Week' panel, including Donna Brazil, a member of the DNC who parted ways with CNN after hacked emails posted on WikiLeaks in 2016 revealed her shipping debate questions to the Hillary Clinton camp. 'Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamalas best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!' Trump wrote. Former President Donald Trump took on ABC News in an online post Sunday and asked why he should do a debate with Kamala Harris on the network. He blasted the network again on a visit to Virginia, where he appeared with Senate candidate Hung Cao Stephanopoulos apologized in July after he was caught on video speaking to a passerby about President Joe Biden. 'I dont think he can serve four more years,' the host said, days before Biden decided to get out of the race. Trump was at it again during an appearance at a shopping center filled with Vietnamese shops and restaurants in Falls Church, Virginia. 'I think it's disgraceful, and I think ABC is a disgrace,' Trump said. 'I think having Donna Brazile sitting on that panel, she's the one that gave the answers and the questions to Hillary Clinton before a debate. I think ABC is really, should be shut out. I'd much rather do it on NBC. I'd much rather do it on CBS, frankly, I think CBS is very unfair, but the best of the group, and certainly I'd do it on Fox. I'd even do it on CNN,' Trump said. He again complained about the ABC roundtable, saying the 'hostility is crazy.' Trump called Harris a 'dummy.' The two camps continue to haggle over the terms of the upcoming debate, the only one left that both sides have agreed to. Harris advisor Brian Fallon said both candidates should have their mics kept live throughout the broadcast. 'Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,' he said in a statement. The Trump camp, meanwhile, says Harris wants a seated debate that allows for notes and opening statements. The Harris camp disputes this. 'All three parties (Trump, Harris and ABC) have agreed to standing and no notes, and we never sought otherwise,' said Fallon. Trump raged at an interview that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) did on ABC Sunday, claiming the network was biased Trump tore into ABC's Jonathan Karl for his handling of a recent interview, called VP Kamala Harris a 'dummy,' and said he would 'probably' prefer to have mics remain on while the rival candidate in the debate is speaking Trump said he would 'probably' rather have the mics remain hot, but said 'I think it should be the same,' meaning the pre-negotiated rules without a hot mic should remain in place. Whatever Trump's criticisms of the network, he may feel pressure to show up. Trump's June 27 contest with Biden began the cascading events that forced the 81-year-old president to end his campaign. And next month he will confront a Harris campaign that is on the move after her political convention and a fresh fundraising haul. Harris has also turned around the race in 'Blue Wall' battleground states while evening the race in others. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have moved to 'lean Democratic', according to the latest NPR analysis out Monday, while while Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina have moved to 'tossup' status. Karl clashed with Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton on Sunday's 'This Week,' after he blasted Kamala Harris for her past support of Mecicare-for-all. Cotton compared it to 'taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans.' 'What do you mean taking away health insurance? What are you talking about?' Karl shot back. 'I mean, that is not her position now,' Karl continued. Harris has since walked back her position from the 2020 primary, and is now in line with the Biden administration on health policy. "How do you know that is not her position now?' countered Cotton. Trump has threatened to bail out on debates in the past, including earlier this month, when he threatened to hold back from the ABC debate, preferring an earlier one on Fox that Harris has not agreed to. Parents in a Boston exurb have reacted angrily to revelations that schools are axing buses for local children but keeping them running for the kids of migrants and asylum seekers. Some 150 students at Stoughton Public Schools are scrambling to find ways to get to school from September 4, after the district cut services due to a lack of funding. Controversially, the hundreds of migrant and asylum seeker families living in the town of Stoughton will still get school-buses, thanks to funding from the state. The scrapping of buses for local kids comes amid fears that Massachusetts is going broke and will lose $1.8 billion over the next two years due to migrant costs. Boston radio host Jeff Kuhner said the Democrat-run state was 'prioritizing illegals over citizens' and that the busing change amounted to 'treason.' Parents in the Boston exurb of Stoughton are furious that 150 students are losing their school bus service when term starts next month Stoughton schools chief Joseph Baeta cuts buses for American kids but keeps a special service for migrants running Others complained that the town of 30,000 people was 'losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue' from its hotels being crammed with migrant families instead of tourists and business visitors. 'It's wrong on so many levels that taxpayers' children can't get the bus,' posted an X user. The town's Superintendent of Schools Joseph Baeta told parents about the change in a letter earlier this month. 'Unfortunately, for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, 150 secondary students who signed up to ride a bus were not able to be placed on a bus,' says the letter. 'We understand the feelings of disappointment and frustration this caused for the families who did not receive bus transportation.' Baeta said the bus system was overloaded by 160 more students seeking transport compared to last year. At the same time, budget cuts mean organizers have one less buss than last year, and drivers are hard to find, he added. Though cutting services for some students, Baeta said two buses would serve migrant children living in the town's hotels and shelters. Unlike for American grade 7-12 students, this was required for migrants under Massachusetts law and was financed through separate funds, Baeta added. 'It is inaccurate to suggest that these children receiving busing is the reason yours did not,' says the letter. 'If we were not receiving the funding from the state for the students living in hotels/shelters, we would not be able to have these two additional buses.' Still, others note that all services are ultimately funded from taxes, and that running buses for migrants while denying legal US residents is problematic. The superintendent had previously warned that an influx of migrant kids was straining the system. In March, he wrote that 'unprecedented pressures in special education, transportation, and services for English Learners' were leading to 'financial pressures.' The school district educates some 3,500 in the leafy Boston commuter town Hundreds rallied for an end to border crossings, sanctuary cities, and housing for undocumented immigrants in Boston, Massachusetts, in May This would lead to 'adjustments throughout the budget,' he warned. The school district did not answer The Mail's request for comment. The controversy has heightened fears in the town, 17 miles south of Boston, and elsewhere in Massachusetts, that an influx of migrants is straining social services. A recent report from the for the Center for Immigration Studies, says migrants will cost the wealthy state a staggering $1.8 billion over the next two years. The 50,000 non-legal migrants who've entered the state since Joe Biden became president are putting a costly strain on schools, healthcare, and other services. Even though some non-legal migrants will work and pay taxes, this revenue will not come close to the cost of social services for all 355,000 of them, says report author Jessica Vaughan. Migration expert Jessica Vaughan 'These migrants represent a looming fiscal disaster for taxpayers in Massachusetts,' Vaughan told the Mail. 'Even if they are working, they are not equipped with skills and education to avoid being a drain on public coffers.' Her report comes amid a testy 2024 presidential race, with Republican nominee Donald Trump using immigration as a weapon against his rival, the Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Republicans dub Harris a failed 'border czar,' as she was tasked with tackling the root causes of migration from Central America, even as illegal border crossings smashed records. Still, the number of illegal entries has dropped in recent months to levels not seen since the Trump administration, and it remains unclear how the issue will drive voting in November. Trump, for his part, has vowed to launch mass deportations if he returns to the White House. Though more than 2,000 miles from the southern border, Massachusetts has seen some 50,000 newcomer illegal migrants since January 2021, says the study. Some joined relatives, others sought jobs in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and other big cities. Others used buses provided by officials at the frontier, and a few dozen were controversially flown to the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard by Florida's Republican Gov Ron DeSantis. They were at first greeted with open arms by a Blue state that affords 'sanctuary' protections to migrants. Migrants are no longer allowed to sleep overnight at Boston's Logan Airport A taxpayer funded class in computer skills for the influx of migrants in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston More than half of Americans want to see mass roundups and deportations of undocumented immigrants In recent months, however, the mood has changed to frustration. Gov. Maura Healey recently announced that migrants would no longer be allowed to sleep overnight at Boston's Logan Airport, after dozens of families had been bedding down there for months. Migrants slept at the emergency department of Boston Medical Center until last year, when they were told to stop. Still, newcomers keep on showing up at the facility and have been seen resting outside on benches. Poll Does the Biden administration have a grip on immigration? Yes No Not sure Does the Biden administration have a grip on immigration? Yes 390 votes No 17480 votes Not sure 148 votes Now share your opinion Plans for a shelter for migrant families on Cape Cod have met stiff opposition from residents, who called the proposal a 'nightmare.' The Republican-led city of Taunton was so vexed by state officials sending migrants to an emergency shelter in its 155-room Clarion Hotel that it sued the owners for safety violations. Vaughan's report also documents the outrages committed by law-breaking migrants in Massachusetts. They include a cocaine-smuggling Dominican, a Russian fraudster, and a Guatemalan man who was arrested for child rape. But the most shocking case involves Haitian migrant Cory Alvarez, 26, who is behind bars fighting charges that he raped a disabled teen girl at his shelter in the Comfort Inn in Rockland. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, has called for action at the border and money to servuces running on in her cash-strapped state A few dozen migrants were controversially flown to the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard by Florida's Republican Gov Ron DeSantis. Some 30 migrant families were bedding down in the Terminal E at Boston's Logan International Airport in January The influx of migrants has further strained social services in a state that was already battling troubling levels of homelessness Massachusetts already spends $1 billion each year on emergency shelters, but Vaughan says this masks the real cost on taxpayers. The influx of newcomers under Biden, including some 10,000 children, 8,500 of whom travelled without an adult, is further straining education, healthcare, and other social services, it adds. Over the next two years, the combined cost of food stamps, schooling, health care, and public safety could reach a jaw-dropping $1.8 billion, says Vaughan. That 'fiscal time bomb' represents a sizable chunk of the state's $58 billion budget. Gov. Healey, a Democrat, in January joined eight counterparts from other migrant-hit states, asked the White House and Congress for action at the border and billions of extra dollars to keep services running. But, according to Vaughan, even an emergency grant won't solve Massachusetts' spending woes over the coming years. Instead, state lawmakers need to cut welfare payouts to migrants and get tough with employers who hire those without papers, she said. They should also end sanctuary policies that stop immigration officers from launching deportation raids, and even 'tap into' the remittance flowers migrants send back to their families overseas, she added. The Governor's office did not answer our request for comment. The White House and other migration experts have argued that newcomers often work hard, pay taxes and help to grow an economy. The mother of murdered schoolgirl Charlise Mutten has made a candid admission of what she thinks of the man who killed her. Kallista Mutten was 12 weeks pregnant when her then-fiance Justin Stein, 33, shot dead nine-year-old Charlise execution-style before putting her body in a barrel at his family's Blue Mountains estate and dumping it near the Colo River in January 2022. After Stein was sentenced to life without parole on Monday, Ms Mutten revealed that she has forgiven him. It comes after she previously told the court in a victim impact statement that she hated herself for trusting Stein. 'As hard as it is, I do forgive Justin, not for him but for me, so he has no hooks on me and will never have control of me,' she told the Daily Telegraph. 'People say I was in the relationship for money I was in it for love and belonging I thought it would be a fairytale.' Ms Mutten gave birth to a baby boy six months after Charlise died. Her 'beautiful' son, who turned two last month, remains in the care of relatives as she continues to receive treatment for drug addiction. Kallista Mutten (pictured with Charlise at Christmas 2021, two weeks before the schoolgirl was murdered) has announced that she has a two-year-old son Charlise was a bright student who loved books and reading. She received an achievement award in literacy prior to her death Ms Mutten said she was going to try and turn her life around for the sake of her son. 'I might not of been there for my daughter as I should've been, and regret it a lot, but I have to live with that,' she said. 'I won't let (the boy) down too, he deserves me to fight for him, and he deserves my love.' She has already completed a stint at a rehabilitation centre and is continuing outpatient treatment. She has many vivid memories of her smart daughter and recalled how Charlise had read 150 books in the 12 months prior to her death. Charlise's school now has a literacy award in her honour. Mr Mutten also recalled how Charlise told her that she was the 'best mum in the world' after being within earshot of people talking badly about her and Stein. Ms Mutten said that since Charlise's murder, she had been harassed in public, abused by people on public transport and followed by media to the extent she couldn't go outdoors. It comes after Justice Helen Wilson unleashed on Stein as she sentenced him to life in jail in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney. She said Stein was 'completely without remorse' and 'without humanity or morality'. She said the shooting that took place at Stein's lavish family home in the Blue Mountains was 'unspeakably vicious and murderous'. 'These were deliberate acts, and the second shot was an execution shot. He undertook these actions intending to kill her,' she said. 'He sought to blame Charlise's mother for his own indecent conduct. 'Charlise was not just a child; she was a very young child at nine years and five months of age. 'Charlise had come to refer to the offender as 'Daddy'. This crime represents an egregious breach of that trust.' Kallista Mutten has admitted that she has forgiven Justin Stein (pictured) over Charlise's death Charlise Mutten (pictured in December 2021, at her last Christmas) had been visiting from the Gold Coast when she was murdered by her mother's then-fiance Charlise was murdered after she was drugged with Stein's schizophrenia medication. An adult dose of the drug would have a profound sedating effect on a child, the court heard. 'She would have been in a state of pronounced drowsiness; she had even less capacity to defend herself and flee from danger,' Justice Wilson said. Justice Wilson described Stein's supposedly tearful account of Charlise's death during the trial as 'false' and said the tissue he used was dry. 'From where I sat I could see very clearly, he was completely dry-eyed and did not shed a single tear,' Justice Wilson said in disgust. Charlise had been visiting her mother and Stein for Christmas from the Gold Coast, where she lived with her grandparents. She spent the night of January 11 alone with Stein in the Blue Mountains, while her mother stayed at a caravan about a 90-minute drive away. The same day Charlise's body was found, investigators charged Stein with her murder after using location data from his phone to pinpoint where the barrel containing her body was dropped. Justice Wilson said Stein likely shot the girl once in the back while she was trying to flee, before approaching her and firing another shot directly into her head. 'This was a shockingly callous crime,' Ms Wilson said. 'The offender approached Charlise and discharged the second shot at close range. 'It was not survivable and was not intended to be.' Only Charlise's grandfather Clinton Mutten (above), who along with his wife Deborah was the nine-year-old's legal guardian, turned up for Justin Stein's sentencing Stein's lawyer, Carolyn Davenport SC, said it would be 'very cruel and unusual punishment' to send a man of Stein's age to prison for the rest of his life. 'There was no motive that we know of,' she said. A week after the shooting, detectives found Charlise's 33.5kg body wrapped in a tarpaulin, bound with tape and placed head first inside the barrel on the banks of the Colo River. During a five-week trial in May-June, Stein tried to blame Charlise's mother, then a severe intravenous methamphetamine addict, for murdering her own daughter. The court heard that Ms Mutten was injecting a massive '17 points a day' of ice, and had undergone psychotic episodes when she lay on the ground, babbling and incoherent. But in testimony at the trial, she said she had not been with Stein or Charlise on the night when the murder took place and believed his story that her daughter was being minded by another woman. Justin Stein shopping for sand at Bunnings to weigh down the barrel he put Charlise's body in Detectives found Charlie's body in this barrel (above, in situ, with the little girl's remains inside), dumped by Stein on the banks of the Colo River On June 19, after deliberating for for 35 hours over eight days, a jury found Stein guilty of Charlise's murder. Stein had already admitted to disposing of the corpse after police produced CCTV of him driving the tarp-covered barrel around Sydney, collecting sand from Bunnings to weigh it down before travelling to the river bank 100km north-west of Sydney. Stein had claimed that after Ms Mutten shot her daughter, she secretly placed Charlise's body in the barrel and secured it on the back of his ute without his knowledge. But the jury didn't believe him. This is the nail-biting moment a ferry slams into boats at a port on Italy's Amalfi coast in front of shocked tourists. Footage shows the vessel entering the port of Sorrento, near Naples, and ramming two moored vessels in the marina before moving forward and smashing into more boats. A person can be heard saying (in English) 'What the f**k?' as the large ferry called 'Isola di Capri' slams into the smaller vessels in the bay. The ship eventually comes to a stop, with the person filming turning the camera towards themselves and saying 'Incredible' as if they are scarcely able to believe what they are seeing. Local media reports said that the vessel was out of control before causing the accident and that the port authority then arrived on the scene to investigate. Footage shows the vessel entering the port of Sorrento, near Naples, and ramming two moored vessels in the marina before moving forward and smashing into more boats A person can be heard saying (in English) 'What the f**k?' as the large ferry called 'Isola di Capri' slams into the smaller vessels in the bay Local media reports said that the vessel was out of control before causing the accident and that the port authority then arrived on the scene to investigate It is currently unclear why the large vessel, owned by the shipping company Caremar, rammed the boats but local media speculated that a mechanical failure preventing the captain from reversing could have been the cause. Other rumoured causes include human error or adverse weather and sea conditions, although reports say that the weather was clear at the time of the incident. Several videos of the ferry entering the port were posted on social media and widely shared, like by Italian MP Francesco Emilio Borrelli. The coast guard in Sorrento has opened an investigation into the incident, which happened in the afternoon of August 22. No injuries were reported. After ramming the other boats, the Isola di Capri was able to continue its journey to Capri as planned. This comes after a large ferry packed with more than 200 shocked passengers has crashed into a popular pier in Australia. The Lady Cutler vessel was trying to dock at Yanonung Quay at Docklands in Melbourne when it smashed into a concrete wall in January 2023. Dozens of police and paramedics rushed to the scene where they remained for at least an hour speaking with and assessing the large crowd. All 210 passengers on board were from a local Somali community group as witnesses recalled the 'scary ordeal'. A ferry caused extensive damage when it smashed into a pier at Docklands on Saturday night A shocked passenger revealed some of the 220 on board were injured, including a pregnant woman It's understood a pregnant woman was among several injured after hitting her head and suffered concussion as a result. 'A lot of people broke their teeth and someone was pregnant and hurt themselves, one shaken passenger told Nine News. 'A lot of people are just hurt.' The busy precinct was packed with families who saw the crash unfold. 'We saw the boat come in pretty fast and we see it's about to dock and we thought there was no way he was going to save it, even if he puts it in reverse,' a group of young onlookers told Seven News. A 'painstaking' search for the remains of a British soldier who is thought to have been abducted by the IRA has begun close to a historical site near the Irish border. Army officer Robert Nairac is believed to have been taken while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and moved across the border to Flurry Bridge in County Louth where he was killed. The remains of the Grenadier Guards captain have never been found. He is considered to be part of a group of 16 people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups. The first search for Captain Nairac will be carried out on the Hill of Faughart by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR), which has found the remains of a number of the Disappeared. A 'painstaking' search for the remains of British soldier Robert Nairac who is thought to have been abducted by the IRA has begun close to a historical site near the Irish border Army officer Nairac is believed to have been taken while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and moved across the border to Flurry Bridge in County Louth where he was killed The search efforts at the Hill of Faughart, near the Irish border were underway on Monday August 26 Jon Hill, lead investigator for the ICLVR, said that information about the location of Captain Nairac's remains had been passed to the commission over the years. Hill told a press conference on Monday that the commission had reached a point where it believed it had enough credible information to undertake a search. While investigations got under way on Monday, a geophysical survey of the area has been taking place since the beginning of the year. 'The land is farmland and is on the Hill of Faughart, which some people might know as an old battlefield site,' Hill said. 'That has introduced into our thought processes, and reasoning, a number of factors we have had to take into account. 'Not least because there will be or may be archaeology there or may be remains that we may come across. We have had conversations with National Monument Ireland for advice and support in what we are doing.' Archaeologists will be at the site to help with the search for Captain Nairac's remains. 'Having looked at the mapping, we know that there has been human remains discovered in and around all of that area, particularly when the motorway (M1) was being built,' Hill added. The first search for him will be carried out near the Hill of Faughart by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR), which has found the remains of a number of the Disappeared Captain Nairac's family are aware of the search, which is described as a 'lengthy process'. Pictured: Nairac's parents Maurice and Barbara and sister Rosemonde with his George Cross in May 1979 Jon Hill, lead investigator, said that information about the location of Captain Nairac's remains had been passed to the commission over the years The soldier is considered to be part of a group of 16 people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups He said that the discovery of other remains 'isn't beyond the realms'. 'If there is archaeology that is discovered, if it doesn't impact where we believe the remains to be, it will be left in place as is the instructions,' the investigator said. 'We should get a good indication as to where Robert Nairac's remains might be and then we will recover them in the normal fashion.' Hill claimed that while Captain Nairac was one of the highest profile of the Disappeared, they had had 'very little to go on'. 'In almost every other case, we have [had] engagement with the republican movement, former people who have supported [us] throughout the process to recover all of the disappeared,' he said. 'Unfortunately, they haven't been able to in relation to Robert Nairac. There are a number of reasons why that might be, because some of the significant people who might have been involved would now be dead. 'It might equally be the case that some people don't want to talk about it for various reasons, or it may be that people's memories are fading and their recollection is not as good.' Mr Hill said Captain Nairac's family were aware of the search, which he described as a 'lengthy process'. 'The family are aware and they are philosophical,' he added. 'They are very private people and they have no wish to make any comment other than they hope Robert can be found and brought home for a Christian burial.' He said that the search should not last beyond a few months because the ground was stable. 'I'm not 100% confident of finding his remains but it's more a case that we are hopeful. We have the skills and ability and the experience to be able to recover his remains if he is there,' Mr Hill added. The lead investigator also said he was hopeful that the publicity around a television adaptation of a book based on the case of Jean McConville - who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972 - would encourage people to come forward with information. The ICLVR has also reissued an appeal for information about other remaining Disappeared cases, including Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire. The distraught son who killed four relatives in a horrifying murder-suicide 'didn't want to move out' after his mother's death - so he shot dead his entire family. Joe DeLucia Jr, 59, opened fire with a shotgun inside the family home on Wyoming Court in Syosset, on Long Island, just before noon on Sunday. Neighbors heard anguished wailing, crying, and screaming before DeLucia fatally shot himself in the chest on the front lawn minutes after the massacre. His mother, family matriarch Theresa Martha DeLucia, 95, died on August 19 and was buried on Friday, which he was still greatly distraught about. Distraught son Joe DeLucia Jr (left) killed four of his family before turning the gun on himself as they met to discuss winding up his late mother's affairs His mother, family matriarch Theresa Martha DeLucia, 95, died on August 19 and was buried on Friday, which he was still greatly distraught about DeLucia, who has mental health issues, is believed to have been unable to handle the prospect of moving out of the family home, where he lived all his life. He grabbed his mother's favorite old white-painted metal chair she always sat in on the patio and dragged it to the lawn, where he sat down and shot himself. The chair still sat where he left it on Monday morning. Neighbor Randi Marquis said her door camera filmed DeLucia coming out of the house and shooting himself. 'I saw everything. He just cried out loud - it was an ugly sound - it sounded like a bird being eaten alive,' she said. 'He knew what he did. He had the gun, he shot himself in the heart and then fell forward.' Real estate agent Mary Macaluso was asked to come to the house on Sunday to discuss selling the property, but arrived to find a crime scene. Marquis told DailyMail.com that Theresa's will declared the house should be sold and anyone living there had to move out. 'He was afraid that he was going to be homeless... His sister told me that he stopped taking his medicine on Saturday, and once he stops taking the medicine, that's it,' she said. 'He had this planned. I don't know where he got the gun from.' Police said psychiatric medicine was found in the home during a search, along with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun that was legally bought by DeLucia. Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick said neighbors claimed DeLucia told them: 'If you hear gunshots, don't bother calling 911, it'll be too late'. DeLucia opened fire inside the family home on Wyoming Court in Syosset, on Long Island, just before noon on Sunday The victims were DeLucia's brother Frank DeLucia, 64, who flew in from North Carolina, sister Joanne Kearns, 69, from Tampa, and another sister, Tina Hammond, 64, from Long Island, along with her 30-year-old daughter Victoria. All four were found shot to death in the den at the back of the house when police went in after finding DeLucia's body outside. One of the sisters was said to have offered to DeLucia in at her home and look after him, and it is not clear why he turned her down. Marquis explained that the gathering was supposed to double as a birthday party for one of DeLucia's sisters. She was at home organizing food for the party, intending to come after Macaluso was finished discussing the house sale, when she realized something was wrong. 'When I saw the ambulance I just knew,' she said, though she initially only thought DeLucia only took his own life. 'When I went over to the neighbor and a neighbor said, "he took all of them"... It was selfish. DeLucia's sister Tina Hammond, 64, still lived on Long Island and helped look after her mother and brother Oldest sister Joanne Kearns, 69, from Tampa, was in town for the funeral 'I didnt see this coming. God forbid I was going to be there. I was going to go there and sing happy birthday and I told them not to eat I was going to bring a lot of food.' Marquis said DeLucia was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and was deprived of oxygen during birth. She said he was a retired paramedic who worked as a mechanic in Hicksville and drove himself to work, then home right away to look after his mother. 'He loved his mom. He was always there. He was there every day in the hospital,' she said. Marquis said DeLucia's sister, Hammond, with whom she was close friends, told her she was worried about her brother in the days after their mother's death. She said she visited Hammond on Saturday night and gave her birthday presents, along with her daughter Victoria who turned 30 last month. 'Randi, he is not taking his medicines,' she said Hammond told her. Hammond told her she was concerned her brother may take his own life but thought he was 'all talk', but Victoria said, 'no he is going to do it'. 'I was there on Friday and I was looking at pictures in the house and I asked Joe how he was. He looked at me with this eye like dont talk to me,' Marquis said. Victoria Hammond, 30, was Tina Hammond's daughter and DeLucia's niece Victoria, pictured with her boyfriend, was killed along with her mother, aunt, and uncle She said on Friday the house was packed and DeLucia could carried out his mass murder then, but said 'he waited'. 'He knew what he was doing,' she said, as he was aware of the meeting with the real estate agent. 'I miss her Tina and her daughter Victoria. I am angry he took his whole family. 'You have issues and you may be homeless, but dont take anyone else's life or your own. Marquis said she tried to explain to DeLucia many times after his mother died not to harm himself, and that he could live with Hammond. 'He was sitting in the front yard and said, "I'm going to be homeless". It's very unfortunate and I can't imagine,' she said. Marquis said on Wednesday she went to his auto body shop, and tried to reason with him. I told him your mom would never approve of this she did not teach you this and he said you dont understand,' she said. 'I told him in the Catholic religion you dont do that... now is not your time. All your sisters and brothers are here.' DeLucia' grabbed his mother's favorite old white-painted metal chair she always sat in on the patio and dragged it to the lawn, where he sat down and shot himself DeLucia grabbed the chair from here on the house's patio, next to another rusted chair and table where his mother often sat Samuel Landsman, a psychologist, who lived across the street for the past 30 years recalled one incident when he saw DeLucia completely unhinged. 'While working on his car he got really really upset. I guess he made some type of mistake and started screaming,' he told DailyMail.com. 'I was certainly surprised he killed other people. I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen - that he would kill his family.' Marquis said Theresa had a bad fall in April and her daughter said her health began to decline after she stopped going to physical therapy. 'I was close with Terry, I took care of her sometimes, visited her, cooked for her, her children used to play in my backyard,' she said through tears. 'I was also very close with one of the daughters and I met all of her siblings again [at the funeral] on Friday.' Marquis said the 30-year-old woman was Theresa's oldest grandchild, who had just finished university and was figuring her life out. 'She was also like a daughter to me, since I have four boys but never a daughter,' she said. DeLucia posted this number plate as matching his state of mind, though it was not clear if it was his car or just one he saw Officers found DeLucia with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn of this Syosset, New York home on Sunday - and four other victims inside DeLucia's social media posts painted a picture of a deeply unhappy man who was frustrated with the world and his place in it. On August 18, the day before his mother died, he changed his Facebook cover photo to an image of a car number plate reading 'DEPRSSED'. Other posts complained about friends trying to get mechanical work, the struggles of the New York Jets NFL team, and the standard of paramedic training. 'If you do not like my price and feel that I am too expensive then go to another shop. I am not running a charity,' a post from last September read. 'I have bills to pay. tools and equipment cost money. Even if I am looking at your vehicle that takes time.' Another post declared Bad Day by Daniel Powter to be 'my theme song for work'. DeLucia used this 12-gauge pump-action shotgun that he legally bought, to gun down his family The inside of DeLucia's car, still parked at the house Police said they responded to a call at 11.58am about shots fired in the quiet cul-de-sac where they found a man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn. Fitzpatrick said police spent 10 hours combing through the property trying to make sense of the massacre. 'The perception of Joseph Jr was he was being cut out of the will and was going to be displaced without a place to go,' he said He said his siblings tried to assure him this was not the case, and he would be moved out of the house and looked after, but he didn't believe them. 'Because of that perception, he decided that day to get a loaded, Mossberg shotgun, 12 gauge, approached them in the rear area of the house, and from the kitchen, fired 12 shots, striking all four of them multiple times,' he said. Fitzpatrick said there was a welfare check on the home in 2022 but DeLucia 'was not displaying any signs of anything that we would take action'. 'He had past mental issues, psych issues, that were reported to us,' he said. Police said they responded to a call about shots fired in the quiet cul-de-sac Police said DeLucia took a loaded shotgun and approached them in the rear area of the house, and from the kitchen, and fired 12 shots, striking all four of them multiple times "He was kind of a hoarder, spent all his money on his tools and stuff. The house was pretty much packed with tools and stuff involved in auto mechanics. 'He lived there all his life, never lived on his own. So you can see the mindset where his world was now changing, at 59 years old, and he was panicking.' Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said it was 'probably one of the most horrific scenes I have seen in 41 years'. 'Walking into the backroom of that house with these four victims lying after being shot multiple times and also the shooter being on the front lawn committed suicide,' he said. Ryder chastised those in the community who knew DeLucia was distressed, but didn't say anything. 'There was talk in that community about the distress of this shooter that he decided he did not want to leave his residence after his mother died,' he said. 'We are asking our communities not to sit back, be our eyes and ears and let us know what is going on.' Nassau County Police investigators probe scene, spending 10 hours looking for clues The mailbox with the family name outside the house Ryder red flag laws that allowed police to seize weapons if someone was considered a threat to themselves or others 'exist for a reason'. Fitzpatrick added: 'We're not saying this incident could have been averted, but maybe it could. But if he was reported to be mentally unstable, this may be illegal to possess.' Landsman said he was working in his office when his ring camera recorded when DeLucia shot himself. I was really shocked. I never expected this to happen but when I saw the police and ambulances the first I thought, "Oh my god I wonder if Joe killed himself",' he said. Macaluso said she was supposed to be meeting relatives at the home at around noon - but by the time she arrived, authorities had already closed the street. 'The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come look at the house,' she said. The house is is estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 by Zillow, and Theresa wanted it sold Cars in the driveway of the home that will never be retrieved by their owners She explained that one of Theresa's children asked her to meet with the family so they would know what to do before listing the home, which is estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 by Zillow. The family wanted the assessment done quickly because two of the family members came from out of town for the funeral, and were headed back soon. DeLucia lived in the house his entire life, and neighbors said losing the home was just too unbearable for him. Other neighbors noted that they heard gunfire, as they remained shaken up by the grisly scene. 'At first I heard it was a murder-suicide, and that's pretty bad,' Mike Steffens told ABC 7. 'And then I heard four people murdered and then a suicide, so it was something you don't hear very often, let alone in your own town.' Another resident, Wendy Paisner, called the murder-suicide a 'tragedy for the family' in her remarks to NBC 4 New York. Akshata Murty has shared a touching glimpse of family life as she enjoyed a holiday with Rishi Sunak and their children. The Indian businesswoman posted an image to her 322,000 followers on Instagram showing her with her ex-PM husband while walking in California with daughters Krishna, 13, and Anoushka, 11. She captioned the picture 'rediscovering family time', a nod to the fact that Mr Sunak has a lot more time to spend with his family since losing the election on July 4. The family spent some time on the US West coast earlier this month before returning to their North Yorkshire home in Kirby Sigston, near Richmond. The family have a second home in Santa Monica and also vacationed there last year, the first proper family holiday that had had since before lockdown. The couple met in California while studying at Stanford University and lived there while he worked for a hedge fund and has previously described it as 'very special to us'. Ms Murty had earlier used Instagram to quell rumours that the family might decamp to the US permanently, with a picture of her daughters taken in Yorkshire, describing it as 'my home'. The Indian businesswoman posted an image to her 322,000 followers on Instagram showing her with her ex-PM husband while walking in California with daughters Krishna, 13, and Anoushka, 11. She captioned the picture 'rediscovering family time', a nod to the fact that Mr Sunak has a lot more time to spend with his family since losing the election on July 4. Ms Murty had earlier used Instagram to quell rumours that the family might decamp to the US permanently, with a picture of her daughters taken in Yorkshire, describing it as 'my home'. Mr Sunk is due to remain as caretaker Conservative leader until a permanent successor is announced in November. Six MPs have announced they will run for the job: Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Mel Stride, Robert Jenrick and Priti Patel. A series of hustings events will be held among Conservative MPs when they return to Westminster after their summer recess in September. A ballot of MPs will then narrow the field to four candidates, who will be offered the chance to woo party members at the Tory conference in Birmingham between 29 September to 2 October. Further votes among MPs on 9 and 10 October will slim the four remaining contenders to a final pairing, with party members then being balloted on their favourite candidate up to 31 October. The final result will be announced on 2 November. The French authorities have refused to hand over evidence during a trial into an alleged cocaine smuggling ring due to concerns over national security. Officials in France have refused to share information about a software they used to spy on the encrypted messaging service Encrochat - which the gang allegedly used to communicate. James Stevenson and his co-conspirators are accused of smuggling the Class A drug into UK via Ecuador, the court heard. The 59-year-old is accused of 14 charges, including money-laundering, which span from January until September 2020, and relate to consignments of bananas shipped from Ecuador to the Port of Dover in Kent in 2020. Co-accused David Bilsland, 67, Garry McIntyre, 43, Gerard Carbin, 44, Paul Bowes, 53, and Ryan McPhee, 34, face fewer charges, including being involved in the production and supply of Class C drugs, and being concerned in the importation of cocaine. James Stevenson and his co-conspirators are accused of smuggling the Class A drug into UK via Ecuador on trial at the High Court in Glasgow (pictured) All six men deny the charges, with Stevenson lodging a special defence of incrimination, at a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. National Crime Agency (NCA) investigating officer Michael Miller gave evidence regarding his part in examining the drugs at a Home Office location in the South of England, between September 28 and 30 2021. Mr Miller said he had worked in law enforcement for around 32 years, and worked closely with Police Scotland in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire. Former detective Mr Miller was assigned to the case to see if boxes seized at the Port of Dover in September 2020 all contained the same packaging. Over three days in September 2021, he and several police officers examined the Class A drug, which was packaged in brown cardboard boxes addressed to Glasgow Fruit Market. A bag of cocaine was shown to the jury, along with images of the hoard. Giving evidence, Mr Miller said: 'There had been a seizure of cocaine in 119 packages but we had only seen one. We wanted to open every single package to see if there was any size difference, if there was any difference in packaging.' A joint minute was read to the court regarding Encrochat - an encrypted messaging service compared to WhatsApp - including usernames ShaggyGoat, TrendyMutant, and SilverJaguar. The Port of Dover (stock image) where the gang is accused of attempting to smuggle cocaine into Britain from Ecuador Another NCA officer, Wayne Johns, created a Powerpoint presentation explaining how the messaging service worked - using 'dummy' Android phones, which could be used to message other users on the same network, for around 1,200 for a six-month contract. Mr Johns told the court he had no knowledge of it ever being used for legitimate business. Prosecutor Alex Prentice said: 'In April 2020, French authorities placed an implant on Encrochat allowing French authorities to access the data.' The court heard that the NCA launched an investigation into Encrochat in 2017, but the network had not been accessed by law enforcement before April 2020. Prior to the French investigation, the NCA was informed and given time to prepare for processing information, the court was told. Defending Stevenson, Tommy Ross KC said English courts 'were exploring the reliability of the data'. Mr Johns said: 'If it's a foreign state's equity we would not ask for it; it's protected by French national secrecy.' During cross-examination, Mr Ross said: 'The courts in England were exploring the reliability of the data.' Mr Johns said: 'Yes, I believe so.' Mr Ross said: 'In short, the French refused to share that info.' Mr Johns said: 'That's correct. It's protected by national secrecy.' The trial, in front of Judge Lord Ericht, continues. Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to pay tribute to the 13 Americans killed three years ago in a bombing outside the Kabul airport during the Afghanistan evacuation. The former president laid a series of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then paid a private visit to section 60, the area of the cemetery where those killed in Afghanistan are buried. He was joined by family members of some of the U.S. soldiers who were killed in a bombing at Abbey Gate. He was also was accompanied by two Marines who were injured in attack: Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, who was paralyzed in the attack and now uses a wheelchair, and Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right arm and left leg. The visit also enabled him to tie his rival Kamala Harris to what he calls 'the most embarrassing moment in our history.' Trump has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden was in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday, starting the second week of his summer vacation. The visit also allowed Trump to counter reports he doesn't respect veterans and has previously referred to slain World War II soldiers as suckers and losers, reports Trump has denied. Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.), who was injured at the Abbey Gate Bombing The former president laid three wreaths at the tomb, two honoring Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee - two Marines killed in the bombing - and another wreath dedicated to all 13 service members who were killed in the attack. He also took flowers to the grave of SSG Ryan Knauss - a Marine killed in the attack - and spoke to Knauss' parents who couldn't be there, according to his campaign. Spotted with Trump at the event was Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who is now helping Trump with his debate prep. Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. 'This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Gross Incompetence 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND.' Some of the relatives of those killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month, saying Biden had never publicly named their loved ones. After Biden ended his re-election bid, Trump has endeavored to tie Harris to some of the administration's most-criticized moments. He's noted Harris has said she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan. The Biden administration conducted a two-year internal review of the evacuation and found that U.S. officials should have started the evacuation earlier, but placed extensive blame on Trump, Biden's predecessor in the Oval Office. Biden's team cited an agreement Trump made with the Taliban to pull forces from Afghanistan. The White House took a swipe at Trump's visit to the cemetery, seeming to indicate it was merely for the television cameras. 'There are many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abby Gate, and Mr. Trump was invited by at least one, I think maybe several of the families, to lay a wreath at Arlington and that is certainly a way to recognize the sacrifice and the loss. But it was a personal invitation by fans,' White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. 'Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work' every day to 'make sure that the families of those of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20 some odd years that we were in Afghanistan, had the support that they need,' he added. President Biden lays flowers at the tomb of SSG Ryan Knauss Bob Quackenbush, top left, deputy chief of staff for Arlington National Cemetery, and Donald Trump watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at Arlington National Cemetery The White House released separate statements Monday by Harris and Biden on the attack. Harris said she mourns the 13 U.S. service members who were killed. 'My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,' she said. She said she honors and remembers all Americans who served in Afghanistan. 'As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America's longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,' she said. 'I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people.' Biden also paid tribute to the fallen. 'Three years ago, an ISIS suicide bomber launched an attack of deliberate evil at Abbey Gate outside of Kabul Airportkilling 13 American service members and more than 100 innocent Afghans. Today, and every day, we honor our fallen,' he said. 'These 13 Americans - and the many more that were wounded - were patriots in the highest sense,' Biden said in the statement. A window cleaner who inherited a painting from his father is convinced it's the only portrait of William Shakespeare from his lifetime - and that it's worth a staggering 200million. Steven Wadlow, 58, has spent years trying to prove the 16th-century painting that has been in his family for decades is a genuine portrait of The Bard. He says he's had experts look over it and even been told it's worth the massive nine-figure sum. And while the 58-year-old is yet to be given a definite yes - or no - he's on a mission to get answers. Steven says that's not because he wants to pocket the hefty sum, but because he's become 'a bit obsessed' with finally finding out the truth. Father-of-two Steven Wadlow is convinced the portrait that's been in his family for decades is William Shakespeare - and worth 200million He says experts have looked over the art, and believe it was painted in the right period Steven said his father bought the painting from the Great Tew Estate (pictured) in Oxfordshire in the 1960s The Aylesbury man said the portrait used to hang on a wall above the television at his parents' home in Bucks. - until one evening his father, a collector and an antiques dealer, recognised the face of Shakespeare from a history documentary. And in the years that have followed Steven has worked tirelessly researching the playwright, art history and consulting experts who later confirmed the painting was done in 1595 - when The Bard was 31 years old. Steven told MailOnline: 'I'm not some mad person hoping to get money - it's about teasing people's interest enough so that more people look into it. 'I just want it to be out there and talked about. We get more mysteries as it goes - but I think it warrants being one of the proper contenders like the others that are being discussed.' The painting, which Steven keeps hidden away in storage, was bought by his father Peter, now aged 92 years, in the mid-1960s from Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire for 700. He continued: 'This was quite a lot of money at the time - you could have bought a whole new van for that money. 'But my father stored it under a bench in his workshop for years before hanging it on the wall of his living room.' The story took a turn in 2012 when Peter, who was watching an episode of Tony Robinson's Time Team on Channel 4, thought he recognised a young Shakespeare in the portrait hanging above the television from a picture of the playwright that came up on the screen. Steven says the painting use to sit in his home, but now he keeps it locked up in storage The Droeshout portrait of William Shakespeare circa 1623. Several other portraits from the 17th century allegedly show the playwright during his lifetime Steven recalled: 'My father phoned me and said: "Can you look this up on the internet? We may have a portrait of William Shakespeare". 'And it's going to sound horrible but at first, I thought: so what? I'm not interested in Shakespeare, never have been and there must be thousands of pictures of Shakespeare out there.' But then, a couple of weeks later, a lecturer in art history and English literature visited Steven's parents' home and complimented them on their 'copy of William Shakespeare' when she saw the portrait on the wall. The window cleaner said: 'My father told her it was a real painting and he took it off the all and handed it to her so she could have a closer look. 'She started shaking and said: "This could be a really important painting".' Since then, the married father-of-two has been determined to get the painting seriously looked at by experts - and the public. Steven said he took the painting to several experts who X-rayed and analysed it, and they were able to confirm it was a genuine 16th-century portrait thought to have been painted around 1595. An art dealer later told Steven the painting, if proven to be a genuine portrait of England's most famous playwright, could be worth 200m. Steven said: 'That did spur me on - but what spurred me on more than anything is: I don't like giving up. 'It became a bit of an obsession.' He stressed that his endeavour was a lot less about money than recognition and fruitful debate. Steven continued: 'If somebody came along and offered multi-millions, I'm not suggesting I would not give up then and enjoy the money instead - but it's not about the money. It's about proving myself right. 'I want to get it out there because it's very difficult to ever prove that it is Shakespeare. There is a chance that we might be able to prove that it is William Shakespeare, but it's unlikely we ever will.' He added: 'If they prove me wrong, they prove me wrong. But to prove me wrong, they need to prove that it's somebody else in that portrait - and nobody in 12 years has done that.' Two years ago, Steven set up a website called 'Is this William Shakespeare?', where he writes about his research surrounding the painting. When asked whether family and friends think he's mad, the father laughed: 'My family get a bit fed up with it sometimes, but I think they also admire the fact that I persevere with it. 'They don't think I'm mad as in I'm flogging a dead horse because I am wrong - I think they might be concerned that I'll never get anywhere. 'That would be a fair assumption but it's not done me any harm - it's been a journey and I've enjoyed it. I've learned more than I ever did at school with this painting. 'I've become more interested in art as well, which makes me appreciate it all the more.' The number of firefighters in the UK has fallen by 12,000 since 2010, according to a new study. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) claimed the reduction had left the UK without the resilience needed to guarantee public safety. One in five firefighter jobs across the country have been axed in the last 14 years, as well as one in three fire control staff, who take emergency calls and mobilise crews, said the union. Meanwhile, response times to life threatening fires have slowed by three minutes, from 6.11 minutes in 1995 to 9.13 minutes in 2023, it was claimed. England was the worst impacted, with 10,000 jobs cut, accounting for 22% of the total workforce. The number of firefighters in the UK has fallen by 12,000 since 2010, according to a new study (File image) In the same period, Scotland lost 1,400 firefighters (18%), Wales lost 500 (13%), and Northern Ireland lost over 200 (12%), said the FBU. The union added that it also found that 4,000 firefighters have both a full time and an on-call contract, meaning that they will be counted as two firefighters in official data. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: 'Fourteen years of austerity have devastated the fire and rescue service. Every region has been hit, with 12,000 firefighters lost to cuts across the UK. 'With flooding, wildfires and storms on the rise as a result of the climate emergency, firefighters are being asked to do more with less. '999 response times are slower than ever before, putting homes and lives at risk. 'To protect the public, Labour must invest in the fire and rescue service as a matter of urgency.' The new figures come in the wake of London being rocked by two separate large-scale blazes on Monday, which saw tower blocks catch fire. 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters were sent to battle a fire on Freshwater Road, which occurred in Dagenham, east London, in the early hours of Monday morning and saw more than 100 people evacuated and two people taken to hospital. The London Fire Brigade (LFB), which was called at 2.44am, said parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the ground floor and the roof, were alight. 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters were sent to battle a fire on Freshwater Road, which occurred in Dagenham, east London, in the early hours of Monday morning Then, at 1:28pm on Monday afternoon, ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters were required to tackle a flat fire in a high-rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London Then, at 1:28pm on Monday afternoon, ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters were required to tackle a flat fire in a high-rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London. The LFB said that half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building was alight. Footage showed thick black smoke has been seen pouring out of Charrington Tower, which is a part of the New Providence Wharf development complex. The LFB added that crews from Millwall, Plaistow, Shadwell and surrounding fire stations were in attendance at the scene. A 21-year-old man drowned to death after saving a teen girl in a Texas lake - just an hour after getting baptized in the same water. Lincer Lopez, 21, drowned in Lake Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday afternoon when he rushed to save the girl. The heroic act came shortly after Lopez had 'dedicated his life to God' in a baptism ceremony with his church group at the lake. Tributes have poured in for the 'hero' victim who was enjoying the water following his ceremony when the incident happened. Waxahachie Police Department responded to reports of a drowning at Boat Dock Park around 12:45 pm. They discovered that Lopez had tragically lost his life while attempting to save the girl. Lincer Lopez, 21, drowned in Lake Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday afternoon when he rushed to save a drowning teenage girl The heroic act came shortly after Lopez had 'dedicated his life to God' in a baptism ceremony with his church group at the lake The teenager, who was in the same church group as Lopez, was pulled from the water by a passing boater who miraculously revived her with CPR. However, Lopez did not make it was pronounced dead at the hospital. Jacob Bell, the boater who helped rescue the girl, told WFAA: 'I haven't really begun to, it hasn't sunk in yet. It's hard.' Bell, whose own brother drowned at just three years old, called Lopez a 'hero.' 'He was a hero, he had just been baptized and gave his life to the lord,' he said. 'Our family, we pray for his family, and we pray for the little girl's family. And he was a strong boy, they should be very proud of him,' he added. Lopez's uncle Lincer revealed the young man had been so excited about his baptism that he couldn't sleep the night before. He also shared that Lopez worked tirelessly in construction to support his seven younger siblings in Mexico, where they live along with his parents. He said his nephew was a hero who selflessly put others before him. 'He was a hero. He didn't think twice about rescuing someone else,' he told the outlet in Spanish. 'He didn't think about the risk that he could die. And he did risk his life to save somebody else's.' Lopez's uncle Lincer revealed the young man had been so excited about his baptism that he couldn't sleep the night before A nearby boater, Jacob Bell, whose own brother drowned at just three years old, pulled the girl from the water and miraculously revived her with CPR Lopez's uncle shared that Lopez worked tirelessly in construction to support his seven younger siblings in Mexico, where they live along with his parents A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Lopez's family return his body to his parents in Mexico, where they live. As of Monday afternoon, the fundraiser has reached $8,985 of its $25,000 goal. 'We ask for your help from the community and friends of the Mejia Lopez Family, we need to raise funds to transport his body to Chiapas Mx, his hometown where his loved ones await him,' the description reads. The Waxahachie Police Department expressed their condolences on Facebook. 'The Waxahachie Police Department, along with the entire community, would like to extend our deepest condolences to the victim's family,' they wrote. A dramatic video shows the moment a Hungarian tourist repeatedly cut his neck before sprinting away from emergency workers at an airport in Colombia. The 48-year-old visited the immigration offices at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota on Saturday to file a complaint that he had lost his money and luggage, authorities told DailyMail.com The man, identified as Veselin Hristov by Colombian news outlet El Colombian, arrived August 21 on a flight from Turkey and became further enraged when he was unable to withdraw the money that his sister had deposited into his account so that he could purchase his return flight. After noticing that the money wasn't available in an ATM machine, Hristov broke a bottle and held a piece of broken glass to his neck. Shocking footage shows Hristov draw blood from his neck before a paramedic rushed towards him to prevent him from further injuring himself. Hungarian tourist Veselin Hristov suffered non-life-threatening injuries after cutting his neck at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia on Saturday. The 48-year-old lost his cool after he was unable to withdraw money he sister had deposited into an account after he claimed to agents that he had lost his luggage and money Veselin Hristov was hit with a luggage bag by a passenger at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia on Saturday as police tried to stop him and render him aid moments after he cut his neck Cops frantically chased after him and tasered him. Hristov appeared to be jolted by the taser and managed to remain on his feet when a bystander threw a luggage bag at him. Despite being hit in the face with the bag, Hristov collided with a woman at an ATM and kept running. Another bystander could be heard shouting, Stop him, knock him down. Hes going to kill himself, damn. Hristov ran through the crowd before a cop and a security guard ran after him. Veselin Hristov runs away from a police officer while trying to add pressure to a self-inflicted wound on his neck Veselin Hristov collided with a woman near an ATM as he ran away from first responders who wanted to treat his neck wound He was rushed to an area clinic, where he received treatment for his non-life-threatening wounds and was discharged Sunday, the Colombian National Police airport division said to DailyMail.com in a statement. The incident took place just one day after an American man breached El Dorado airport security portals and tried to storm inside a closed LATAM airplane. The individual, whose name wasn't released, arrived late for his fight to Cartagena and was upset that he wasn't allowed to board the flight. The man ran down the jet bridge and walked up to the aircraft and repeatedly kicked its door. The passenger begged the crew members to be allowed in the plane before he was restrained by airport cops, airline personnel and security. He attacked an immigration agent during the proceedings and was deported after several hours. Mormons in Arizona could play a key role in who wins the crucial battleground state come November in an extremely tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, have long been a largely reliable voting bloc for Republicans, but that has changed in the era of Donald Trump. It could be problematic for the GOP this fall as the Republican presidential nominee looks to flip Arizona back from blue to red in order to win the White House. President Biden won the key state by just over 10,000 votes over Trump in 2020 after the ex-president carried the state in 2016. The race between Trump and Harris appears to be razor-thin with just over two months to go before the election. Trump and Harris have both campaigned in Arizona this month as the battleground state could help decide the election. Now The latest Real Clear Politics average shows the race neck-and-neck with Trump up by less than half a point in the state over Harris, meaning members of the Mormon Church could play a major role in who wins. There are more than 442,000 Latter-day Saints in Arizona, according to the church. That's the largest number of the church's members in any presidential battleground state by a long-shot. Biden gained 18,000 votes among Latter-day Saints in the state in 2020, according to Y2 Analytics, meaning if Harris can pick up an even greater share in the 2024 election, it could help her win the state and its 11 Electoral College votes. While Trump is viewed somewhat or very favorably by more than 65 percent of White evangelical protestants. Only 48 percent of Latter-day Saints have a favorable view of the GOP presidential nominee. Earlier this month, the group Latter-day Saints for Harris held an national organizing call which had more than 1,400 participants. It was inspired my multiple other groups holding online events for the Harris-Walz ticket and had people tune in from 49 states and Washington, D.C. On the call, participants heard from Mormon members including one in Arizona who had been a lifelong Republican but supported Biden in 2020 and would support Harris in November. Republican Mesa, AZ Mayor John Giles speaking at the Democratic National Convention. He was also on a recent Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz call The group believes there are an estimated 73,500 Latter-day Saints in Arizona that could break for Harris in November and help keep the state blue. Democrats also had an Arizona member of the Latter-day Saints speak at the Democratic National Convention last week in Chicago. Republican Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles was one of multiple registered Republicans to speak on the convention stage. He is a member of the Republicans for Harris as well as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 'I feel more at home here than in todays Republican Party,' he told the crowd. He was also on the Latter-day Saints for Harris call on August 6. While on the call, he encouraged those in Maricopa County, AZ to help 'duplicate' the Democrats' victory in 2020 again this fall. Both Trump and Harris recognize the importance of Arizona and are campaigning heavily in the state. Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale on August 9 Former President Donald Trump campaigned at the same arena in Glendale, AZ on Friday Trump was there just last week during the Democratic National Convention where he had a rally on Friday in Glendale. Harris swung through Glendale for a rally with running mate Tim Walz earlier this month as well. A Florida teenager is in custody charged with killing his girlfriend's father after they got into a heated argument over 'inappropriate' social media photos. Lawan Jr. Jones, 18, turned himself into cops three days after going on the run last Monday. His girlfriend's father, 44-year-old Keith Poole, was shot several times out the front of his own home in Pompano Beach, Florida. Witnesses later said Mr Poole was shot in front of his three children. Jones was in a relationship with Mr Poole's daughter, Jessie, and lived in the home with Mr Poole and his family. Jones' Facebook page includes several pictures of and references to Jessie. Police say the father was outraged about photos in which Jones posed with a gun Victim Keith Poole, left, seen with one of his daughters. He was shot several times out the front of his own home in Pompano Beach, Florida Authorities said witnesses recalled an argument between Jones and Mr Poole, after the protective father saw social media posts which he thought were inappropriate. According to the arrest affidavit, seen by DailyMail.com, the witness told police on the scene that Mr Poole 'became aware that the suspect had posted photographs on social media of himself holding a firearm.' 'She said the victim told Jones that it was not appropriate for him to do that while living in his house, and that he would have to leave.' The witness went on to tell police that Jones was incensed by the confrontation and 'threatened that he could have his friends come over and ''take care of the problem''.' Lawan Jr. Jones, 18, turned himself into cops three days after going on the run last Monday Jones' Facebook page includes photos taken on a 'baecation' from December 2023 This prompted Mr Poole to once again insist Jones leave his home, guiding him to the front door and standing at his doorway. The affidavit states: 'The witness stated that Jones took several several steps away from the front door, then turned around, pulled a handgun over a satchel slung over his right shoulder and pointed it at the victim. 'Jones then fired two shots, hitting the victim in the face and chest. The witness noted the victim was not being aggressive and posed no physical threat tot he suspect.' The arrest affidavit reveals police on the scene saw 'an open front door with blood inside and outside the immediate area of the door.' Jones' Facebook page includes several pictures of and references to Jessie. This includes photos taken on a 'baecation' from December 2023, along with a more recent trip to Beachwood, Ohio which includes videos of the couple and a picture of a drawing in the snow of a heart with the letters 'L + J' in the middle. Tributes have been pouring in for the dedicated father, who has been remembered as an 'amazing human' who people gravitated toward. One loved one said: 'The way you raised and cared for your children was unmatched, you would do anything to make sure everyone around you was good. 'His aura alone spoke volumes.' Another wrote: 'You were a true legend in Miami. 'You were so kind to all of us, we made great memories. You will be truly missed. You are now a star in the universe and will shine forever.' A Go Fund Me has been set up to help financially support his young family in the wake of the tragedy. Lawyers acting on behalf of Jones have issued a demand for discovery and a demand for a jury trial to fight the charges. It is not clear which exact photo prompted Mr Poole to confront Jones Detectives have shelved an investigation into a 100,000 cash and jewellery burglary at the home of footie star Kurt Zouma. Essex Police have failed to catch the gang which ransacked his property in December while he was at home with his young family. The West Ham captain - who is reportedly about to leave the club and quit Britain for Saudi Arabia - was left 'terrified' at the ordeal. Sources say the 29-year-old has struggled to feel safe at the property since the raid at his 3 million mansion in Chigwell. An Essex Police spokesperson told Mail Online: 'We carried out a lengthy investigation into a burglary in the Chigwell area, reported to us on 2 December 2023. Detectives have shelved an investigation into a 100,000 cash and jewellery burglary at the home of footie star Kurt Zouma, pictured during a match on July 20, 2024 Essex Police have failed to catch the gang which ransacked his property in December while he was at home with his young family. Pictured are the family in their Essex mansion 'Following this investigation, which included pursuing forensic opportunities, witness statements and CCTV evidence, and after exploring all other available lines enquiry, this investigation has now been filed. 'However, no case is ever closed, and if further information is presented to us or comes to light, we will make further appropriate enquiries. 'If you have any information or other footage in relation to this incident, then please get in contact with us. 'You can let us know by submitting a report on our website or by using our online Live Chat service which is available 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. 'It can be found at the bottom right of our homepage at www.essex.police.uk. Visit www.essex.police.uk/digital101 to find out more about our website reporting services. 'Alternatively, you can call us on 101.' The break-in led to Zouma missing his side's next match, a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. West Ham offered a 25,000 reward for information which would have led to the gang's capture. Sources say the 29-year-old has struggled to feel safe at the property since the raid at his 3 million mansion in Chigwell. Pictured: The family celebrating Eid at home The West Ham captain - who is reportedly about to leave the club and quit Britain for Saudi Arabia - was left 'terrified' at the ordeal. Pictured are interior views of the home Police raced to the detached 3 million home which sits on an exclusive street with well-heeled neighbours who have private security. Officers stayed with the family for hours. They are believed to have fled with high-valued watches worth tens of thousands of pounds. A source said: 'Kurt was absolutely horrified at the burglary. 'He is gutted, nobody has been found. 'He wanted to see those responsible brought to justice and face the law. 'His family were terrified at what happened. 'It led him to miss a game. It now looks like he is leaving West Ham and Britain. 'He will want to put this ordeal behind him.' At the time, the club issued a statement which read: 'West Ham United has offered a 25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of burglars who broke into defender Kurt Zouma's home on the eve of the Club's Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace this weekend. 'Kurt's home was broken into on Saturday while all his family were in the house, leaving everyone present extremely distressed. While thankfully no one was harmed, it was a traumatic experience for the West Ham United defender, his wife and their young family. Zouma, pictured during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on May 5, 2024 in London, is reportedly set to join Al-Orouba club 'The burglars took items of significant value and of huge personal and sentimental importance to the family. 'The West Ham United family continue to offer Kurt's family their full support.' The French international is married to wife Sandra, who he first met when they were teenagers in Lyon. They revealed last year that they had welcomed their fourth child together. Zouma is reportedly set to join Al-Orouba club. Survivors of the Grenfell tragedy have lashed out after a blaze ravaged a Dagenham tower block, before a second set of flats went up in flames mere hours later. Last night, 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters battled the fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham, east London, which saw more than 80 people evacuated and two people taken to hospital. Families who fled from the burning tower block expressed their fury that the Grenfell Tower-style cladding had not been removed from the building. A second London tower block burst into flames just a few hours on, with 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters called in to tackle the blaze in a high rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London. Now, Grenfell United - a group of survivors and bereaved families from the 2017 disaster - have condemned the 'painfully slow process of remediation' in the UK and a 'lack of urgency' for building safety. The group described the Dagenham fire as a scenario they have warned authorities about for 'seven years'. More than 100 people were evacuated from a high-rise block of flats which became engulfed in flames in the middle of the night in Dagenham The smoke and flames are seen rising from a a charred block of flats with blackened windows, smoke-stained walls in Dagenham Dagenham locals were told to shut their windows and doors due to smoke in the sky A close-up of the damage that the fire has caused to the cladding on the outside of the building in Dagenham Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters are tackling the flat fire in a high rise building on Biscayne Avenue in Blackwall, east London Grenfell United - a group of survivors and bereaved families from the disaster - have condemned the 'painfully slow process of remediation' in the UK and a 'lack of urgency' for building safety. Pictured is the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire The two fires bring back memories of the disaster in June 2017, when an inferno ripped through Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in west London, killing 72 people. The blaze spread rapidly, allegedly due to the cladding on the block's outside walls. A public inquiry into the disaster is still ongoing. Grenfell United's statement reads: 'We anxiously wait for the news that all residents are accounted for, and that they are all being properly cared for by the relevant authorities. 'Although we do not have all the details, it seems work was underway to remove non compliant cladding and the building had a number of fire safety issues. 'This highlights the painfully slow progress of remediation across the country and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole, including the implementation of personal evacuation plans for disable residents which needs urgency addressing. 'When are a week away from the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report. The fact that when a fire happens, and the best we can hope for at the moment is a 'near miss', speaks volumes of the progress made since June 14 2017. 'We expect the Labour government to take action to speed up remediation on unsafe buildings, where their predecessors failed.' The London Fire Brigade (LFB) say half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building is alight. Footage shows thick black smoke has been seen pouring out of Charrington Tower, which is a part of the New Providence Wharf development complex, as locals have been advised to keep windows and doors closed. The fire service added that it had received more than 100 calls regarding the blaze and that the cause is not yet known. In Dagenham, The London Fire Brigade (LFB) was called at 2.44am, ans a major incident was declared after the ground floor, roof and parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, were set alight. The major incident was stood down just after 12.30pm. Four patients were treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service, two of whom were taken to hospital. 20 people were saved during a 'significant search and rescue operation' and everyone has now been accounted for. Those who fled the building have told of being woken up to 'piercing screams' as huge flames ripped through the residential and commercial building. Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets. The cause of the blaze, which saw thick plumes of smoke billow into the sky, is not yet known. Some residents on the sixth floor claimed that they did not hear any fire alarm go off. Others in the block said they did not see water sprinklers. The tower block, called Spectrum House, has a 'number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade'. Work was also underway to remove 'non-compliant cladding' on the building, which is why it was covered in scaffolding. Valcan, a leading company in architectural cladding systems, posted on Facebook six days ago that it was carrying out 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding'. A planning application to carry out this work was approved on July 3 2023. Questions around the role of cladding in the fire will 'form part' of the investigation into the incident, LFB has said. When asked by reporters at the scene 'how big a part did cladding play' in the fire, and how close the incident was to a 'bigger disaster', Assistant Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne said: 'What I wouldn't want to do is pre-empt an investigation. 'This was a very, very dynamic incident, and clearly it's going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause, but to get to an understanding of the fire spread - so it's it's too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days.' When asked about whether the fire alarms went off, he added: 'The state of the fire alarm or whether it was actuating is part of the investigation. And its too early, but the fire investigation team are looking at the actuation of the fire alarm and information from residents as part of our investigation. Cladding is typically fitted to the outside of high-rise buildings to improve their insulation and appearance. But since the Grenfell tragedy seven years ago, campaigners have been calling for the Government to fix Britain's building safety crisis by replacing unsafe cladding. Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets Some 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze on Freshwater Road, which has left two people in hospital Firefighters work hard to try and put the terrifying blaze out after a fire broke out in the night Firefighters are seen attempting to put the soaring flames out on the roof of the building Damage from the terrifying blaze was visible on Monday morning, with firefighters still at the scene Images from this morning shows burnt out parts of the building, with firefighters attempting to calm down the blaze Just six days ago, Valcan, a leading company in architectural cladding systems, said it was carrying out 'remedial work to external cladding to the fifth and sixth floors' and 'removing the non-compliant cladding' Families who fled from the burning block of flats in the early hours of this morning spoke of their anger today. Adding to local fury is the fact that the block had no sprinkler system nor any working communal smoke alarms in the corridors of the six-storey building. Civil servant Emmanuelle Perraud, 54, escaped her third floor flat with 17-year-old daughter Maliha Baig, 17 and sister Alexandra Perraud, 56. She said: 'I'm angry and concerned that the cladding hadn't been removed faster because the plans were in place to do so last summer and it's taken nearly nine-months for them to start taking it down as we've had scaffolding around the building since January. 'The residents complained about it being there because we all remember what happened with Grenfell Tower. Whether it was a factor in this fire, we don't know yet but it should've been removed long ago. 'I woke up around 2.30am this morning because I could hear people shouting outside. 'I looked out the window and there was a lot of smoke. I knew we had to get out quickly. 'My sister was staying with me so I woke her and my teenage daughter and headed out. 'But when I opened my front door the whole corridor was engulfed in thick smoke, which then drifted into my flat. 'At no point did I hear any smoke alarm in the corridor - the only one that went off was the small battery-operated one I have in my kitchen - and there was no sprinkler system in the building either. 'None of us could see a thing and we couldn't breathe which was the scariest thing. My daughter and I inhaled some of the smoke which was really unpleasant. 'Fortunately, there was little smoke in the fire escape so we were able to get to the ground floor and out of the block. But we were one of the last residents to escape as there was a crowd of people gathered outside along with fire crews, police and ambulances. 'We stood watching the building burn for about three hours before we were put in buses and taken to a shelter.' Ms Perraud and her family were evacuated to the nearby Becontree Health Leisure Centre with other residents. Clutching a small bag of items handed out by the Red Cross, including towels, soap, a bottle of water and a wash bag, she added: 'It is fortunate that nobody was seriously hurt or killed but there's some 60-flats in the block and nobody knows where or when we're all going to be re-homed. 'None of us know how bad the damage is to our homes or what's happened to all our possessions.' Ms Perraud's sister, Alexandra, came to visit on Friday from her flat in Purley, South London. She said: 'We had about two and a half minutes to get out. I didn't panic because I've been evacuated from my flat twice due to fire. In fact for me this morning was a case of deja vu. 'I was evacuated from my flat in Purley when a fire broke out only a month ago. It followed a previous fire in 2021. 'After the first fire, a sprinkler system and communal smoke alarms were fitted and regular safety checks were made. 'I didn't see any of that here in what is a more modern block of flats. I was really shocked by that and the fact that the cladding had still to be removed completely.' Dal Singh, 35, raced home from her night shift at a pharmaceuticals factory after being called by worried husband Balvinder, 38. He managed to flee their home with the couple's nine-year-old daughter. Firefighters continue to search Spectrum House after a devastating fire swept through the building Shocking photos show the burnt out building with smoke billowing out of the top Firefighters spent the night tackling the huge blaze which started just before 3am Ms Singh told MailOnline: 'The only reason they escaped is because my husband woke up in the early hours to use the bathroom. 'He smelled smoke and initially dismissed it as coming from the roadworks outside but the smell was growing stronger and stronger. 'He went to the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke billowing from the building so rushed to get our daughter up and then went outside into the landing and despite the choking smoke, he banged on the doors of neighbours alerting them. 'No smoke alarms in the communal areas went off apparently. Had my husband not woken up when he did, I dread to think what could've happened. 'When I came home, he and my daughter were already outside and the block was by then well alight. 'I've had no sleep. I'm absolutely shattered. 'We only moved in in June but the upkeep of the flats hasn't been great. There's been scaffolding around the block for months. 'That's to get rid of the cladding on the outside of the building but I'm furious that it hasn't been taken down months or even years ago, given what we know about how flammable it can be.' Vasu Mabudura 28 and wife Rashmi Gupta, 27, fled from their fifth-floor flat and are now planning on staying with a friend at his house. Mr Mabudura saw the blaze from his window and said: 'We got out as quickly as we could. 'What caused it we don't know. There was smoke coming from the top and ground floor. 'Some of the cladding - which was supposed to have been cleared - is still up and the fact that its removal had been delayed is annoying because it's potentially very dangerous.' London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the LFB had this morning declared a major incident in Dagenham to allow the service to focus its resources on the fire. He continued: 'The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. 'A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way. 'The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. 'LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.' New drones were deployed to tackle the blaze, along with 64-metre and 32-metre turntable ladders that are being used as vantage points to assess the scene and to douse the flames with water from above, Mr Roe said. Others who fled in the early hours also told of their dramatic escapes. Martin Perry-Taylor, 44, described smoke engulfing the building with 'piercing screams' waking him up. He said: 'It was madness. I woke to all this screaming and alarms and just chaos. 'It was dreadful. There were piercing screams. Smoke was everywhere. Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane as efforts to put the blaze out continued into the morning LFB said 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters were sent to the scene. It has declared a major incident Firefighters tackle a fire on a tower block from a crane 'It was unreal. I got out straight away and there was just mayhem with people fleeing and getting out. It was my worst nightmare.' Another said: 'I'm in a state of complete shock and disbelief. How an earth did this start?' Dinesh Raj's six-year-old daughter was having a sleepover with friends in the flats when the fire broke out. He told Sky News: 'I got a call around 3am, so I came and picked them up. 'I managed to take my daughter and my friends to my home. They're all safe. I think they started smelling smoke around 3am, and learned there was a fire. 'They had a six-month baby as well, so they managed to grab the baby and my daughter and get out the building. 'I think the majority [of residents] managed to step out before the fire started spreading. 'But everything they have is back in the building and we have no clue what happened.' Kaisa, who has lived in the building for six years, said she did not hear a fire alarm go off as she fled. 'I got out of bed and looked out the window and I saw flames climbing up toward our balcony,' she told Sky News. 'I woke my partner and said there's a fire it's spreading quickly.' She added: 'There was no fire alarm, nothing went off, when we ran out the flats we just saw some neighbours, smoke coming out the door, we looked at each other, and said 'are you okay?' and tried to wake up a few others, but no fire alarms. Nothing.' As she tried to knock on doors, Kasia said she 'couldn't hear one neighbour' and added: 'I hope they had gone away for the long weekend.' Mohammed, another resident on the sixth floor, also told the broadcaster that he didn't hear the fire alarm and left the building only with clothes on his back. Block Management UK, who said they had taken over the management of Spectrum House in 2019, has been approached for comment by MailOnline. Ahmed, 44, of Kemp Road, which is a few hundred yards from the property, said: 'When I woke up, I saw the fire engines, the helicopters and obviously the smoke everywhere. People were screaming.' A paramedic with a face mask as firefighters work at the scene of a large fire The London Ambulance Service said it treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to hospital Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor, told reporters: 'I opened my main door, smoke was coming in from the window - I live at the back. I saw it (the fire). Very terrible, very terrible. Mr Ogbeide said it was very busy in the building's stairwell with fellow residents who 'didn't bring anything' when evacuating, with some still 'naked'. He said: 'I've never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I don't know what to do.' Asked if he felt OK, the resident added: 'I'm not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. 'When I cough, you see the black.' The resident later said he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, but did hear a fire alarm. Irina Vasile, 46, a healthcare assistant who lived on the second floor, said she was woken by her partner around 3am telling her there was smoke. Speaking outside the Beacontree Heath Leisure Centre where the residents have been relocated, she told reporters: '(There was) such a dense smoke all over the apartment. When we wanted to open the window, another smoke hit our face, on the throat and the eyes.' Ms Vasile said she was spotted by firefighters after shouting for help and calling 999. She said: 'We didn't grab nothing - we lost everything. The firemen bring us outside, and while I came outside, I've seen a big fire come from the building on the ground floor, and when we went further, I've seen another big fire on the top.' The resident said she did not hear a fire alarm go off during the evacuation. She added: 'My partner is devastated as well. We try to encourage one another because we lost everything. We are scared, frightened to be on the street starting from zero.' Dagenham and Rainham MP Ms Mullane said on X: 'Terrible scenes in Dagenham this morning as @LondonFire tackle the blaze at Freshwater Rd. 'Thanks to their rapid response injury was minimal. I will be visiting the rescue centre today to see what help and support I can offer the residents and businesses who have lost everything.' Hundreds of firefighters have spent hours trying to tackle the blaze in Dagenham Firefighters at the scene of the devastating fire at an east London tower block LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. Pictured is the building this morning Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted: 'My thoughts are with all those affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham. I thank London Fire Brigade & all emergency services on the ground for their bravery and swift response. I and Home Office Ministers are receiving updates on the incident from operational partners.' Jennifer Frame, from End Our Cladding Scandal, told MailOnline: 'First and foremost, while there is a significant search and rescue operation ongoing, the number one priority is that the residents affected by the major fire incident in Dagenham are all safe and well and that they are given the support and answers that they need in the weeks and months ahead. 'It is very concerning that this building was known to have had serious fire safety issues, including unsafe cladding which had still not been removed. Seven years after Grenfell, there are still many thousands of buildings across the country with life-critical fire safety defects and the pace of remediation has been shockingly slow. 'Being 'in negotiations' about remediation or having 'plans in place' counts for little when dangerous cladding or other construction defects that enable fire to spread rapidly remain on people's homes. Today's incident demonstrates why action remains so urgent. Fire won't wait while the legal and administrative battle rumbles on for years at each individual building. 'Residents' safety must be our number one priority, and we need to see the new government step in and urgently get a grip of the spiralling cladding and building safety crisis.' Giles Grover, from the same campaign group, added: 'As soon as you rely on any leaseholder for funding, that is going to delay the works. 'It's like the Post Office scandal, they are still trying to blame the victims and make them pay. Ultimately we want full protection for all our leaseholders, that's our unwavering line. 'From what we have seen online, the remediation in the Dagenham flat block was ongoing, with some of the work already being started, which means it could have been much worse. 'Some of the most dangerous stuff looked like it had been removed but obviously you have still got thousands of buildings across the country where work has not even started yet. 'With the Grenfell Tower inquiry report we hope that will be the starting point for the successive Government's role in this mess will be uncovered. 'We have said to ministers and to the many secretary of states we have met that fire does not wait and fire does not discriminate, but it's up to the Labour Government to crack on and directly do something now, we have been warning them for so long.' Station Commander Alan Bendell, who was at the scene of the Dagenham fire, said: 'The fire is producing heavy smoke and we're advising local residents to keep windows and doors closed. 'Two of the Brigade's 32-metre turntable ladders are being used at the scene as aerial water towers to assist with tackling the fire from height. 'Freshwater Road is closed to traffic, so please avoid the area where possible.' Several ambulances are parked nearby to the blaze and an air ambulance was also dispatched. A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We were called at 2:52am today (26 August) to reports of a fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham. 'We sent a large number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, incident response officers, an advanced paramedic in critical care, emergency planning officers, a command support vehicle and members of our hazardous area response team (HART). 'We also dispatched London's Air Ambulance.' 'We treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to a hospital.' Crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. LFB is describing the property as a 'mixed-used residential and commercial building'. The BBC reports that more than 100 people were evacuated. Fans of Oasis have been left reeling in anticipation following hints of a reunion and many claim they would pay 'anything' to see a gig - but many of them doubt the brothers will make it through the tour without having another spat. Noel Gallagher once claimed it would take 'half a billion pounds' for him to reunite Oasis, but apparently the demand for the band's comeback is so financially lucrative that the 57-year-old is finally coming to the table. The Britpop icons' return is now closer than ever after Liam, 51, teased an official reunion during his set at Reading Festival last night. Fans are already gearing up to raid their savings accounts to grab tickets, with some willing to pay a whopping 500 for a chance to see them play. However, plenty told MailOnline that they doubt the truce will last, as 'anything could happen' - and some even think the tour will get cancelled after Noel and Liam have yet another fall out. Oasis abruptly disbanded after the brothers had a backstage bust-up in Paris in 2009 - and they did not speak for another 15 years (band pictured in 1993) Liam Gallagher's, 51, net worth is allegedly eight times that of his elder brother Noel, 58 - but experts say both are set to make 400million if the reunion goes ahead (pictured in 2008) Liam and Noel Gallagher, Andy Bell and Gem Archer in 2006 at the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival Lifelong Oasis fan Liam, 33. told MailOnline he thinks the reunion will come to fruition 'because of the success of Liam's Definitely Maybe tour' Keen fan Daniel Williams, from Staffordshire, said 'money would be no object' Keen fan Daniel Williams, from Staffordshire, told MailOnline: 'I think they will reunite. I'd be excited if they did, I loved them when I was young. 'Money would be no object. They should definitely play in Manchester, it's where they're from.' But he cautioned: 'I think they will fall out again, they're like a cat and dog.' Sarah, from Wigan, also added a sceptical tone, saying: 'Social media seems to suggest they will get back together but I can't quite see it - it might be a bit of a money-making scheme. 'I do think it's a scheme but I will try and get tickets and I'd spend about 100. I've seen them both separately a couple of times.' Ann, also from Wigan, said: 'I'm still not sure it's just a joke. I probably wouldn't go see them again. 'I saw them in their heyday, I don't need to do it again. I'd spend about 80 if I did. They're a big part of my youth. Leslie, from Stoke-on-Trent, said she was '70 per cent' excited about the mooted reunion Sarah, from Wigan, is more sceptical and thinks it's a 'money-making scheme' 'I think they will probably fall out again. I think they're trying to beat the Taylor Swift number of concerts and it's a bit of a challenge.' Leslie, from Stoke-on-Trent, said she felt '70 per cent' excited. She said: 'I think they will reunite and I think they should - it'll be a good thing for Manchester and the fans. 'I'm about 70 per cent excited for them reuniting - my partner is on the 100 per cent scale. 'I think it would be good to see them. I think they should start in Manchester - you should play where you're proud. 'I think they'll probably fall out about 10 minutes before the first concert.' Lifelong Oasis fan Liam, 33. told MailOnline he thinks to reunion will come to fruition 'because of the success of Liam's Definitely Maybe tour'. He said: 'I went to it myself, it was unbelievable. It just seems like Liam's been a lot more active. Danny, from Nottingham, is worried about missing out due to potentially astronomical prices Alex, from Cardiff, said: 'All the signs are there on social media - it's looking promising. I'd pay almost anything, within reason - 300 maybe' 'Even if he doesn't want to be best mates with Liam, he'll make a ridiculous amount of money. It's a no brainer. 'I'm very excited. I'll be trying for tickets. They're quite expensive - I'll pay anything under 150. 'I think they will fall out again - even backstage on the same night, knowing what they're like. Get a couple of beers down them and anything could happen.' Wesley, from Wrexham, North Wales , said: 'I think they will probably reunite. I love Oasis, I've seen them loads of times, but it's been on and off for so long. 'I'm very excited - but I don't think we'll get tickets, is the trouble. 'They'll cost a lot of money. I'd probably spend 500 max, no more than that. It's a lot of money. 'I think the truce will last about two shows max, to be honest with you - I can see them going back to the old ways.' Danny, from Nottingham, is also worried about missing out due to potentially astronomical prices. 'I'm very excited, as long as I get a ticket - so I'm slightly nervous at the moment because I don't know if I'll get one. I'd spend over 200, definitely. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Morgan, from Manchester, said the brothers 'must' get back together Beccy, also from Manchester, agreed and said she would pay up to 200 to watch a gig Wesley, from Wrexham, North Wales , said: 'I think they will probably reunite, I love Oasis. I've seen them loads of times but it's been on and off for so long' 'I think they'll fall out again. They'd fall out with themselves sat in a room. Just hopefully not before I go.' Morgan, from Manchester, said the brothers 'must' get back together, adding: 'I hope they reunite. They must - everyone would go to it. 'I love Oasis, I'm very excited. It's very Dad-sort of music. I was brought up on it. I would spend a lot on tickets but I'd be upset if they were expensive. I'd spend about 200. 'They're brothers. They need to be friends and carry on performing together.' Beccy, also from Manchester, agreed and said she would pay up to 200 to watch one of the band's comeback gigs, adding: 'It's got to happen - I'm very excited. 'It's just massive. I'd spend 200 but tickets will probably be more. They'll play somewhere massive - it would be nice if it was somewhere small and intimate, though. When asked whether she feared the Gallaghers could go to war with each other yet again, she suggested: 'They're brothers - they'll get over it.' Meanwhile, Alex, from Cardiff, said: 'All the signs are there on social media - it's looking promising. I'd pay almost anything, within reason - 300 maybe. 'I'm quite keen to see one of their earlier gigs because I don't think they'll make it through the whole tour if they fall out and might just cancel it.' Former President Donald Trump on Monday made an effort to remind voters what Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden failed to do in Afghanistan. Trump focused on the third anniversary of the ISIS-K suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members. 'As Vice President, Kamala bragged she was the last person in the room, she was the tough one, she was the last person in the room during that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan decision,' Trump said at an event on Monday. During the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Harris limited her public schedule for several days and decided against appearing with Biden as he spoke about the crisis on August 18. At the time, White House officials told reporters they could expect to see Harris standing with Biden, but at the last minute she opted against the idea, choosing to watch the speech from a side room instead. United States President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on Afghanistan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, August 16, 2021 The only images of Harris throughout the crisis were images and statements carefully released through a pre-approved process on social media. It was an uncanny response from the vice president who bragged in April of that year that she was the 'last person in the room' when President Biden made his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. This is a president who has an extraordinary amount of courage, she said to CNNs Dana Bash, repeating that she was comfortable with Bidens decision to withdraw troops from the country. Afterward, it was revealed that Harris was filming a YouTube video about space with child actors for three days in August as the Taliban was rapidly seizing control of Afghanistan. Harris re-emerged on August 20 and stood masked with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as President Joe Biden delivered another speech on Afghanistan. US President Joe Biden (C), with (L-R) Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden speaks about the evacuation of American citizens and their families She left Washington, D.C., on August 22 for a trip to Singapore, finally breaking her silence about the issue. When reporters shouted out questions on the tarmac prior to her departure, Harris started laughing before claiming that the administration was taking the issue seriously. We couldnt have a higher priority right now, she said, even though she was leaving the country to focus on Singapore. Harris also defended Bidens handling of the disaster on August 23 during a press conference, focusing on his public reaction to the images of the unfolding chaos. Harris avoided a question about her endorsement of the Biden's plan to withdraw from the country, choosing instead to focus on the president's immediate response. This image from a video released by the Department of Defense shows U.S. Marines at Abbey Gate before a suicide bomber struck outside Hamid Karzai International Airport The president has, I think, shown great emotion in expressing sadness about some of the images we have seen, she said. On August 26, a suicide bomb was detonated at the Kabul airport, killing 13 American service members. Harris reacted by issuing a statement but did not publicly address the attack. She hosted an event with U.S. service members in Hawaii during her trip home but closed it to the press. Afterwards she ignored shouted questions from reporters after returning to Washington, D.C. Harris recognized the third anniversary of the Kabul airport bombing in a statement released Monday morning. 'On this solemn day, let us come together as one nation to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice three years ago on behalf of the United States and our cherished freedoms,' the statement read. 'In their memory, let us re-dedicate ourselves to the cause they gave their lives for: to protect and defend the greatest democracy on Earth, the United States of America.' Police are investigating after a hooded figure was seen spraying graffiti that read 'No Whites' on the wall outside a Birmingham primary school. Community figures say the individual responsible - seen on grainy CCTV footage in the early hours of Thursday - is attempting to sow division in the wake of the riots that shamed Britain in recent weeks. Video shared on TikTok by Brummie community figure Naveed Sadiq showed the figure walking furtively up to the wall outside Shaw Hill Primary School in the city's Alum Rock area. The individual is then seen looking around before spraying 'No Whites' on the wall and then leaving the area. Similar graffiti was also sprayed in Langton Road and Farndon Road, each 200 metres away from the school. However, there is no suggestion at this time that the same person is responsible for all three hateful slogans. The video footage shows a hooded individual walking up to a wall at Shaw Hill Primary School in Birmingham's Alum Rock area It was shared online by community activist Naveed Sadiq, who claims that whoever is responsible for the hateful slogan is seeking to stoke community tensions Other graffiti bearing the same slogan was sprayed on nearby streets less than 200 metres away One of the slogans was sprayed outside Shaw Hill Primary School in Birmingham's Alum Rock area It came just weeks after hundreds of Muslim men turned out in nearby Bordesley Green to see off a rumoured far-right gathering Police say they are investigating the vandalism, and have stepped up patrols to quell community fears in the meantime. The concerning graffiti was shared on social media by community activist Naveed Sadiq, known online as 'Bearded Baes'. He has claimed that whoever is responsible is seeking to stoke tensions between communities - and comes amid heightened tensions in the area following riots in the wake of the Southport killings. Mr Sadiq said in his TikTok, filmed outside the school: 'As you can see on this wall it says 'No Whites'. This is not something which we as a community tolerate. 'I have reported it and the police will be coming down and we will be checking the CCTV to see whether the perpetrator of this message was from the white community (or) the Asian community.' He later says it is not possible to identify who is responsible. Speaking over the CCTV, Mr Sadiq says: 'You can see this individual approaching the wall. We can't establish whether he's from (the Asian) community or the white community. 'The only thing we can establish is that somebody is trying to create racial tensions. 'The police are now involved in this situation. You will be found, you will be charged and you will be prosecuted. 'This is not an isolated incident. This is one of many. He later added: 'Everyone is welcome in Alum Rock.' The video was captioned: 'Everyone is welcome - we will not be divided.' MailOnline has contacted Mr Sadiq for further comment. The incident led to windows at the Clumsy Swan pub being damaged (pictured) - and members of the Muslim community, including Mr Sadiq, apologising to pub-goers and staff A Sky News broadcast, meanwhile, was interrupted by a man who shouted 'free Palestine, f*** EDL' live on air The Alum Rock area of Birmingham is home to a predominantly BAME population - including 16,836 Pakistanis that make up 60.1 percent of its residents A West Midlands Police spokesperson told the Telegraph of the incident: 'We are investigating after graffiti was sprayed at locations around the Alum Rock area. 'An investigation is under way to identify who is responsible, and we are carrying out CCTV enquiries. 'We are in contact with the community and will be carrying out patrols in the area. We are working with the local authority to ensure the graffiti is promptly removed. 'Anyone who can help with our investigation can contact us via Live Chat on our website, or by calling 101, quoting crime reference 20/632434/24.' MailOnline has contacted the force for further comment. It follows a similar incident in 2017, when graffiti that read 'No whites allowed after 8pm' appeared in an area of Alum Rock. Mr Sadiq was recently seen shaking hands with pub-goers in the Clumsy Swan pub in nearby Bordesley Green after hundreds of Muslims gathered in the area to see off a rumoured far-right gathering in the wake of the Southport stabbings. Disorder in the area saw a pub-goer attacked by a masked gang of young men and left with minor injuries and windows of the pub smashed after they were allegedly told members of the English Defence League (EDL) were inside. The community activist was among those to later apologise to guests at the Clumsy Swan while Linda Ward, the pub's landlady, told Sky News members of the Muslim community had later offered to pay for damages. She also said the individual in the video who was attacked would be barred amid claims he had provoked the group who then attacked him. 'After the man came outside and he got attacked, the majority of the people that were on the march put a stop to that, protected him, kept him safe,' she said. The pub later said on Facebook: 'We would like to thank you all for your well wishes and a big thank you to those at Sheldon Mosque who have reached out to us with apologies from their community and offer to pay for damages. 'Hopefully we will have no more trouble on the streets of Birmingham we are proud of our multicultural city. Let's keep it that way.' Mr Sadiq said in a video shared with BBC News: 'I can only rightly say to the management here that we're very sorry at what has happened here today - that is not a true reflection of who we are as a community.' Masked men on a roundabout in Bordesley Green on August 5 - amid rumours of a far-right gathering in the area that never materialised Damage dealt to the Clumsy Swan pub amid disorder in Bordesley Green - for which the Muslim community later apologised The Clumsy Swan later thanked members of a local mosque for apologising on behalf of the Muslim community and offering to pay damages The disorder also saw a Sky News broadcast interrupted by a foul-mouthed protester on a motorbike who said 'free Palestine, f*** EDL', and a broadcast van allegedly attacked by a man with a knife. Police have arrested a number of individuals in connection with the wider disruption at Bordesley Green and charged a 17-year-old boy with violent disorder. Alum Rock is predominantly home to people of colour: more than nine in ten people in the council ward are Black, Asian or Middle-Eastern (BAME), according to census data collated by Birmingham City Council, while 6.4 per cent of residents are white. By comparison, the city-wide population of Birmingham is 51.4 per cent BAME and 48.6 per cent white. Disorder across the country was stoked by misinformation shared by the far-right online, claiming the Southport attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived in Britain from abroad. Axel Rudakubana, 18, who was born in Cardiff, has been charged with the murders of three young girls and the attempted murder of 10 others. A Pakistani web developer who was alleged to be one of the people responsible for sharing the false information, meanwhile, has been cleared. A Nebraska woman was arrested for allegedly leaving her infant in a scorching hot car while she went horse riding, cops say. Cara Dugan, 40, was charged for leaving her three-month-old baby unattended in a vehicle when the outside temperature was recorded at 89-90 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday. The Merrick County Sheriff's Office said they were called to the Merrick County Fairgrounds after a citizen heard the infant crying. Dugan had allegedly left the baby inside a pickup truck with the engine off and the windows only partially open for a 'substantial amount of time.' Police said they found Dugan inside a building at the fairgrounds riding a horse and arrested her for child abuse. Cara Dugan, 40, was charged for leaving her three-month-old baby unattended in a car on a 90 degree day Police said she left the baby in a car at the Merrick County Fairgrounds (pictured) and was inside riding a horse when they arrested her The baby was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined that no injuries were sustained. The child was placed in the custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. On average, 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle, according to the National Safety Council. So far in 2024, 27 deaths have been reported and more than 1,000 kids have died in these incidents over the last three decades. Last week, a nine-month-old baby died inside a hot car in Texas after being left in there by their grandmother for eight hours. The unidentified baby was found by their grandmother, who was seen by police clutching the unresponsive child in her arms just after 4pm on Wednesday. The baby had been left in the car outside of the East Flournoy home since 8:30am. A preliminary investigation determined that the 'child's grandmother had left the child in the rear seat of her car in the child safety seat,' a statement said. A six-month-old baby baked to death in Arizona after being 'forgotten' in hot car for seven hours. Travis Carter Jr (pictured), six-months-old, baked to death in Arizona after being 'forgotten' in hot car for seven hours The baby's mother, Aleesia Phillips (pictured with her older child), asked a teenage neighbor to drop off the baby at his father's house after she went to work Travis Carter Jr was found unresponsive in the back seat outside the neighbor's house in Cordes Lakes, about 60 miles north of Phoenix, on July 30. Earlier that day the baby boy's mother, Aleesia Phillips, enlisted a teenage neighbor's help to drive her to Prescott Valley. Phillips took Travis along with her in the back seat, and after he fell asleep she asked the neighbor to drop off the baby at his father's house when she went to work. The neighbor arrived home, next door to the boy's father, Travis Carter, about 2pm, but did not take them inside. Instead, they 'parked the car exposed in the hot sun and went into their house, claiming to forget about the baby in the car', police alleged. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office began investigating and arrested the neighbor and charged them with negligent homicide. America is the cursing capital of the world as new research shows US-based social media users deploy more curse words than those in any other country. And a state-by-state breakdown shows Maryland residents are the biggest culprits for swearing, followed by those in Louisiana, Georgia and Virginia respectively. The top ten cursing capitals in the US was rounded out by: Ohio, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan. But New York was noticeably absent from the list - compiled by online scrabble game WordTips - surprising local residents. 'That cant f***ing be right,' a New Yorker yelled at a street reporter after being told the findings. WordTips analysts concluded that 66.3 tweets per 1,000 in Maryland contained curse words, making it the most foul-mouthed state in the US America's most foul-mouthed states 1. Maryland (66.3)* 2. Louisiana (61.7) 3. Georgia (57.4) 4. Virginia (47.6) 5. Ohio (47.3) 6. Mississippi (45.9) 7. Pennsylvania (45.7) 8. Nevada (45.5) 9. New Jersey (45.5) 10. Michigan (45.3) *number of tweets per every 1,000 containing profanity Source: WordTips Advertisement WordTips analyzed 1.7 million geotagged tweets to establish where residents of English-speaking countries swore most. Its findings showed that Maryland citizens swore in 66.3 tweets per every 1,000 published. In Louisiana, this figure was slightly lower at 61.7 per 1,000 tweets. The study also broke down the cities with the highest incidents of swearing online and found Baltimore made the top. Some 78.2 tweets per 1,000 posted from somebody in Baltimore contained a profanity. It was followed by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Atlanta, Georgia, Detroit, Michigan and Houston, Texas. 'It used to be that the only media you could consume was highly edited. With social media, all of a sudden now we have direct access to people's informal language.' author Benjamin Bergen told WordTips. 'If we have access to people's informal communication and it includes more profanity, that just means were going to be exposed to more of it, and thats going to normalize it, and so people have become inured.' New York ranked a measly 17 on the list and was lower than Delaware, Michigan, and California. One notable New York city that made its mark on the list was Buffalo, scoring a 48.8 per 1,000 tweets, making it the most foul-mouthed area in the state. Louisiana came in second place, scoring 61.7 out of 1,000 tweets. Baton Rouge was also ranked the second most foul-mouthed city in the US One notable New York city that made its mark on the list was Buffalo, scoring a 48.8 per 1,000 tweets, making it the most foul area in the state Buffalo has been in the news following freedom of speech situations over the years, and a 2016 incident reignited earlier this year. X users in the US were found to use significantly more swear words than those in other nations. On average, 41.6 tweets per every 1,000 posted by American accounts included a swear word. This figure dropped to 28.6 in the UK, 26.6 in Australia, 25.2 in New Zealand and 24.6 in Canada. Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Against the backdrop of another major escalation across the Blue Line dividing southern Lebanon and Israel on Sunday, the UNs top Middle East envoy said on Sunday there is no time to lose for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages An American man was killed and his girlfriend left injured in Iceland yesterday when a natural ice cave collapsed as a group of tourists explored it. Police launched a rescue operation Sunday around 3pm local time after receiving reports that an ice cave had collapsed at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in southeastern Iceland. The man died at the scene and his partner was transported to a hospital in Reykjavik, the capital, by helicopter. Her current condition is unknown, but police have confirmed that both victims are American citizens. Rescuers mounted a large-scale operation, with as many as 200 rescuers sifting through the icy rubble by hand to find two people believed to have been missing. The search was called off on Monday after investigators determined that no one was unaccounted for after examining the tour operator's records and finding that only 23 people were on the ice cave tour, not 25 as was first believed. Even so, rescuers continued the search until all of the collapsed ice had been moved to be sure that no one had been left behind. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 File image of The Crystal Cave on the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in southeast Iceland A tourist, who did not want to be named, described hearing a terrifying 'crash' when the ice cave collapsed yesterday. He told local media that he had visited the cave just minutes before an ice wall collapsed at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, part of Western Europe's largest glacier Vatnajokul. The man recalled how ten minutes after leaving the cave, which he described as being three to five metres deep, he and his tour group heard a 'crash'. He said they did not think any more of it until they arrived back at their hotel and saw news of the collapse. It was reported that four tourists were buried under the ice, while the other 21 visitors 'of various nationalities' in their group managed to get away unscathed. Rescuers found the American couple couple and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. His partner was injured and taken to a hospital. This morning, the desperate search for two tourists believed to still be missing resumed around 7am local time after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in. A map shows where the Breidamerkurjokull glacier sits in south-eastern Iceland, about 286 miles across the country from the capital Reykjavik This morning, the desperate search for the two tourists still missing resumed around 7am local time after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in Video captured this morning showed rescuers working inside two large craters surrounded by the sand-blackened ice of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier. But by the end of the day, investigators had called off the search and were satisfied that no one else was missing. Police said there had been 'misleading information' about the number of people on the trip and fears that two others were trapped was based on a misunderstanding, authorities said. 'The police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved,' police said. 'It has come to light that no one (was) hidden under the ice.' The Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides called for a full investigation and tighter regulations on ice cave tours. Glacier trips during the warmer summer months can be very dangerous, the association said. The tourism agency is working on a report for the government to discuss regulations regarding trips on the glaciers and especially ice caves tours. The Minister of Tourism Lilja Alfredsdottir said that the matter will be discussed in parliament. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024 Moving rescue equipment and personnel up to the glacier was difficult due to the rugged terrain, and rescuers had to cut through the ice using chainsaws. Around 100 people were reportedly working on the rescue operation this morning, including all rescue services in Sudurland and the capital area. Jon Por Viglundsson, spokesman for the local accident prevention association, said this morning that rescuers were working in groups of ten to fifteen at a time to crush the ice. 'A mobile control station, a special control station vehicle, was moved from Reykjavik last night and tents have been set up in the area for rescuers to have shelter,' he told local outlet Visir. 'Likewise, a communications team was sent to the location to improve communications in the area, which are not good.' Three helicopters from the Coast Guard and Danish Navy had been called out at the site along with all rescue services. Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, communications manager for the Icelandic Civil Defence, also said the conditions on the glacier are 'extremely difficult' due to the rugged terrain. An emergency aid centre was opened in Hofgard in Orafi yesterday evening. The search, which was suspended overnight when conditions made it too dangerous, had resumed at about 7am today. It has since been called off. Pictured are rescuers at the scene last night Steinunn Hodd Hardardottir, a national park ranger in Iceland, told local media that cave trips and glacier walks are allowed on Breidamerkurjokull all year round and that tour companies are trusted to 'use their best judgement in assessing the [conditions]'. Sveinn Kristjan Runarsson, chief police officer, told local news website RUV last night that all rescue work was being carried out by hand with chainsaws as authorities were struggling to bring special equipment to remove ice to the remote cave. 'It's tight to get to, so it's done in short shifts. This is a lot of manual work. We will have three or four teams who will take turns working: shoveling and breaking ice,' he added this morning. Runarsson later said that the tourists were not inside the cave but instead in a ravine between the cave mouths when the ice wall collapsed. He also revealed that among the 25 on the tour were 'tourists from many countries'. The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline that no British nationals were affected by the ice wall collapse on Breidamerkurjokull. 'Two to four together in smaller groups who joined together and bought this trip from a company,' Runarsson said. File image of emerald blue ice in The Crystal Cave, which is part of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier A group of 25 'foreign tourists of various nationalities' and their two tour guides were exploring the Breidamerkurjokull glacier (pictured in the background) in Iceland's southeast when the canyon wall collapsed around 3pm, according to local media Breidamerkurjokull's caves are famous for their 'crystal blue' ice, which get their colour from the glacier blocking out other wavelengths of sunlight. They were even featured in the opening scene of the James Bond film A View to a Kill. Ice caves are a popular destination for visitors to Iceland, with tour operators offering customers the chance to 'explore the insides of glaciers' and see the blue color and 'stunning patterns' in the ice. Glaciers cover about 11 per cent of Iceland, an island nation in the north Atlantic that sits on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle. The largest is Vatnajokull, which covers 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles). Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of Vatnajokull that ends at the Jokulsarlon Lagoon, where icebergs constantly break off from the glacier. The glacier is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from a volcano that erupted Friday on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland. An Alaska Airlines flight headed to Oakland, California , on Sunday was forced to turn around because of an engine issue and head back to Seattle, Washington. A passenger onboard the Boeing 737-700 described hearing a 'piercing bang' after it set off for San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport when the crew identified and reported a 'possible engine issue.' The Alaska Air flight 1240 touched down safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at around 1:30pm that same day, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. Alaska Airlines said the flight's number one engine on the left side of the aircraft was shut down. A passenger on the plane, Steven France, wrote about his experience once the ordeal was over, revealing that 'just after liftoff, we experienced a piercing bang.' An Alaska Airlines flight headed to Oakland, California , on Sunday was forced to turn around because of an engine issue and head back to to Seattle, Washington Alaska Air flight 1240 touched down safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, pictured, at around 1:30pm on Sunday Records from flight radar show the plane circled above Seattle several times before making its final descent. It was in the air for less than a half hour In a post to Facebook, France too confirmed the plane lost its number one engine. Flight tracker data confirms the plane was in the air for less than a half hour, taking off at 1:04pm and landing back in Seattle at 1:30pm. Records from flight radar show the plane circled above Seattle several times before making its final descent. France thanked the captain and the first officer 'for their skill and training and for safely returning our damaged aircraft to the ground and saving 110 passengers and 5 crew.' Alaska Airlines also put out a statement. 'Credit to the crew for following standard procedures for this situation and landing safely without incident,' said the airline in a statement. 'We worked to take care of our guests and accommodate their travel to Oakland yesterday afternoon, and we apologize for the inconvenience.' The FAA said it will investigate the incident. This comes months after another Alaska Airlines flight had one of its door plugs blow out mid-flight at a terrifying 16,000 feet in the air. This incident, which occurred on January 5, unfolded just minutes after the California-bound plane took off from Oregon. Some passengers' had clothes and their phones sucked out, while others were left injured when the gaping hole caused a sudden decompression. This Alaska Airlines flight, a Boeing 737 Max, took off on January 5 and one of the door plugs, pictured, blew out in the middle of the flight Pictured: The crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and it crashed six minutes after takeoff on March 10, 2019. All 149 passengers and 8 crew members died on impact Since it was yet another aircraft manufactured by Boeing, the FAA immediately grounded 171 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircrafts and has been pursuing 'aggressive oversight' of the company. It's unclear how Sunday's incident will affect this ongoing probe. Boeing has had a string of setbacks and bad press that has sent its stock plummeting more than 30 percent year-to-date. Last month, the company accepted a $243.6 million plea deal that would see the company avoid a criminal trial over two deadly 737 Max crashes, one in October 2018 and the other March 2019. That's on top of numerous Boeing commercial planes having terrifying malfunctions midflight, company whistleblowers mysteriously dying and former CEO Dave Calhoun delivering poorly received testimony on Capitol Hill. John Barnett, left, was a Boeing whistleblower who killed himself earlier this year. Joshua Dean, right, died at the end of April from a sudden illness Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun takes his seat to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations with protestors in the audience Boeing faced yet another blow this Saturday when NASA announced it would be relying on SpaceX to rescue Boeing's Starliner-1 crew Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station. The astronauts launched into space on June 5 aboard the Boeing Starliner-1, but the spacecraft had serious malfunctions with its thrusters. Their mission was supposed to last just eight days, but thanks to the faulty Starliner, Wilmore and Williams will have to wait until February 2025 to come home. They'll hitch a ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. This flight was supposed to be Boeing's last hurdle to overcome before NASA would feel comfortable certifying the Starliner to ferry astronauts to and from the space station on a regular basis. SpaceX, for instance, has been taking NASA astronauts to the space station since 2020. It's unclear how NASA will move forward with the certification process of the Starliner. It was billed as a national mission to tackle the drug deaths tragedy - but the SNPs bid to curb the crisis has proved a dismal failure. Official figures last week showed a rise of nearly 12 per cent in the number of fatalities, which remain at the highest level in Europe. Yet Health Secretary Neil Gray responded with the claim that the latest bleak statistics showed much [had been] achieved in a short space of time. The mission was launched back in January 2021 by Nicola Sturgeon - who admitted her government should have done more earlier. She conceded that the SNP had taken its eye off the ball as the death toll soared but what has changed for the better in the past three years? Scotland is a massive outlier in Europe in terms of drug-related deaths The National Records of Scotland (NRS) found that 1,172 people died due to drugs misuse in 2023, or an average of more than three per day - up by 121 on 2022. So, the net result of the Nationalists focusing with supposedly laser-like intensity on this problem is that its getting worse a sadly predictable outcome given its abysmal track record in every other aspect of government. The reason for the drug deaths rise isnt hard to find failed policies have been continued, driven by discredited experts. Policing has been hollowed out so that officer numbers are at a 16-year low, and the virtual disappearance of beat patrols has severed the connections between the force and the communities they serve robbing police of vital intelligence on dealers. Stripped of police stations with dozens shut down or sold off these neighbourhoods are left to fend for themselves, at a time when top brass claim the service doesnt have the cash to investigate every crime. In some areas, there arent enough cops to break down the doors of drug dealers, as a senior officer in Fife admitted earlier this year. The reek of cannabis fumes is ever-present in lawless streets where violent crime has risen and anti-social behaviour runs riot, turning some urban centres into no-go zones. Drug misuse, effectively unchecked by a much-diminished police force, has fuelled the decline anyone caught with small amounts of drugs including heroin and cocaine might well get off with a slap on the wrist, in the form of a Recorded Police Warning. John Swinney's SNP has failed to get to grips with Scotland's spiralling drug deaths crisis If you want to know how many have been issued for the possession of hard drugs, dont bother asking police because theyll tell you its too expensive to extract the data. Justice Secretary Angela Constance has defended this rap-on-the-knuckles approach, while Chief Constable Jo Farrell said last week that drug users were victims. Her statement was in line with the wider plan to treat addiction as a public health rather than a justice issue but the drug deaths data suggests that its failing. Ms Constance also backs the Scottish Sentencing Council an SNP Government creation which devised guidelines urging leniency for criminals under the age of 25 on the basis that their brains have not fully developed. This means gangsters can prey on people in their early twenties recruiting them as dealers knowing that there will be no meaningful sanction, and they will be back in action selling drugs within a few hours, or perhaps instantly. Most egregiously, Ms Constance and her party back decriminalisation of all drugs for personal use - to allow people to be treated and supported rather than criminalised and excluded. Last year, British Columbia (BC) became the first province in Canada to decriminalise the use of hard drugs as part of its efforts to tackle a deadly opioids crisis - but the policy is already unravelling. In BC, the drug deaths crisis was first declared a public health emergency in 2016, and last year the province saw a record of more than 2,500 overdose fatalities. About 225,000 people are estimated to use illegal drugs, and experts say a toxic street drug supply - laced with fentanyl and other products puts each of them at risk of death. But residents and political opponents say the scheme is a harmful experiment, implemented without safeguards for the public, which has utterly failed to reduce overdose deaths. Whether or not Ms Constance is aware of these developments is unclear, but either way her party is still a cheerleader for decriminalisation - and so-called safer consumption rooms (SCRs). An SCR is set to open in Glasgow this autumn, allowing addicts to inject their own heroin under medical supervision. The flimsy justification for its launch is that these facilities are said to have worked in Canada, which pioneered them. Yet Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones has announced that SCRs located within 220 yds (200 metres) of schools and childcare centres will have to close by March 31, 2025. Ten of the provinces 23 sites will close - and they wont be allowed to re-open elsewhere. This U-turn isnt a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to spiralling drug deaths in Canada. Advocates of SCRs in Canada say there simply arent enough of them, meaning a point is never reached where they will concede the idea hasnt worked instead they will always argue that more are needed. In Scotland, the SNP is presenting the Glasgow SCR as a possible turning-point in the national mission as if the Canadian experience had never happened. Under a separative initiative, pharmaceutical-grade heroin is doled out by the NHS in Scotland to hardened addicts for whom the substitute drug, methadone, has been ineffective. The NRS figures last week showed 514 deaths were linked with methadone in 2023, up from 474 in the previous year - yet thousands are parked on it rather than getting the rehab help they need. Nothing will change until theres a recognition that the strategy so far has been based on shoddy evidence, outright falsehoods, and wishful thinking. The rot started long ago in 2008, SNP Government advisers dropped the term substance misuse in favour of use to acknowledge that illegal drugs can often be used safely - and to avoid stigmatising addicts. Now even the word addict is verboten in public health circles, as if a change in terminology could save lives (it wont). The same experts also said most people are substance users to some extent because they use alcohol or caffeine - while failing to mention, of course, that neither of these are illegal. They helped to create and embed a culture of political correctness that has consistently underestimated the devastating repercussions of the drugs menace. Until ministers and their misguided advisers accept the failure of liberal ideology and soft-touch justice to turn the tide against this catastrophe, many more lives will be needlessly lost. A Texas megachurch has been rocked by yet another major resignation, as a fourth pastor steps down over a mystery 'moral issue.' Gateway Church in North Texas announced on Wednesday that Executive Pastor Kemtal Glasgow is 'no longer employed' for unexplained reasons which were deemed incompatible with his role. Church elder Tra Willbanks said in a YouTube video: 'As of Monday this week Kemtal Glasgow is no longer employed at Gateway.' 'We were informed last week of a moral issue which we believe as Elders disqualifies him from serving in the role that he had at Gateway,' Willbanks continued. The announcement comes amid ongoing scandals which culminated in a leadership exodus from the church. It was first triggered by founder Robert Morris when he confessed in June to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. Gateway Church in North Texas announced on Wednesday that Executive Pastor Kemtal Glasgow (pictured) is 'no longer employed' following a mysterious 'moral issue' deemed incompatible with his role The announcement comes amid ongoing scandals leading to a leadership exodus triggered by the shocking resignation of church founder Robert Morris in June - when it was revealed that he was involved with years of sexual abuse against a 12-year-old girl Morris' son James and wife Bridgette resigned soon after, in July. Despite the timing, the church insists Glasgow's departure is unrelated to the Morris scandal, according to NBCDFW. The church expressed sympathy for Glasgow's family, with Willbanks stating, 'We love his family - we love his wife and his kids and we want to come alongside them during this difficult time and help them find restoration and healing that they need as a family.' He also urged the congregation to pray for the Glasgow family during this difficult time. 'And we would ask that you as a church would pray for them as well.' Glasgow's profile has already been removed from the church's website. In the wake of his departure, the church has announced plans to restructure its leadership. Adena Wilson has been promoted to oversee the campus pastors, stepping into her new role effective immediately. 'What this does do is it makes a way for us now to promote Adena Wilson into overseeing the campus pastors so Adena effective yesterday stepped into that role,' he said. Willbanks expressed enthusiasm for Wilson's promotion. Morris had previously admitted to 'inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady' without specifying the age of Clemishire, who says the abuse went from 1982 to 1987 when he was married to his wife Debbie (right) Cindy Clemishire (pictured) claimed Morris abused her in the 1980s, when she was just 12 years old 'We're excited for Dana Adena is going to be a perfect person to take on this responsibility and she's going to do terrific.' The megachurch was in turmoil ever since Morris admitted to historic 'inappropriate sexual behavior' with a minor. The victim, now 54-year-old Cindy Clemishire, alleged that Morris initiated sexual contact with her on Christmas night 1982 when she was just 12. Morris, former spiritual advisor to Donald Trump, was reportedly 21 and married at the time. The abuse reportedly continued until 1987. Clemishire described a scene in which Morris asked her to come to his room and speak with him, asking her to lay on his bed. Morris began to touch her inappropriately, with Clemishire alleging he touched her stomach, then her breast and then under her pants. She added that after the alleged abuse occurred, Morris 'told me I could never tell anyone, because it would ruin everything,' and that he would continue to isolate her and abuse her for the next four-and-a- half years before she finally spoke out. Initially, church elders vaguely cited an 'inappropriate relationship' before later apologizing for not having 'all the facts'. In the wake of the scandal, three church elders took voluntary leave and an independent inquiry was launched. Morris' son James and wife Bridgette have also resigned their positions at the church. The Haynes and Boone law firm at the time began an 'independent and comprehensive inquiry' into the abuse allegations by Clemishire. Despite the timing, the church insists Glasgow's departure is unrelated to the Morris scandal. Gateway Church (pictured) in Southlake - one of the largest megachurches in the country 'Even though it occurred many years before Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we regret that we did not have the information that we now have,' they said in a statement. 'We know many have been affected by this, we understand that you are hurting, and we are very sorry.' Clemishire went public with her allegations in a June blog post on The Wartburg Watch, a website dedicated to exposing abuse in churches. Emails shared with NBC News purportedly reveal the shocking interactions between the disgraced pastor and Clemishire in 2005. 'Twenty-three years after you began destroying my life, I am still dealing with the pain and damage you caused,' Clemishire, then 35, reportedly wrote to Morris. 'I want some type of restitution. Pray about it and call me.' A state-owned shipyard should be sold back to the private sector as quickly as possible to end the non-stop squandering of publish cash, according to a Scottish Tory leadership candidate. Russell Findlay has signalled he will take a tougher stance on the ownership of the last remaining shipyard on the Clyde than his partys current leadership by insisting it is sold off for as high a price and as swiftly as possible. The two ferries being built at the Port Glasgow yard have endured a long run of cost overruns and delays. Concerns have also been raised about the cost of the management team, including an interim chief executive from Canada with a lavish travel and subsistence bill. Mr Findlay, who represents the west Scotland region in the Scottish Parliament, vowed to switch hus partys stance on the issue if he wins the race to succeed Douglas Ross, which is due to conclude late next month. Russell Findlay says Scotland's state-owned shipyard should be sold off for as high a price and as swiftly as possible Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow He said: Under my leadership, the Scottish Conservatives would not endorse nationalisation and the SNPs relentless expansion of the state. Unlike John Swinney and Anas Sarwar, we would oppose moves that are not in the interests of taxpayers. Ferguson Marine has the potential to be a great company, but it has been allowed to become a terrible drain on public finances. The SNP could have supported businesses to create thousands of new jobs all over Scotland. Or they could have spent it on reducing taxes or improving schools. That would have been a far more efficient and effective use of taxpayers money. Now, the Nationalists continue to recklessly throw taxpayers money towards the publicly-owned yard, with no end in sight and very little signs of improvement. Taxpayers must receive value for money. This non-stop squandering of cash cannot go on. The yard should be sold, for as high a price and as swiftly as possible. He insisted that jobs at the yard should be protected when it returns to the private sector but said it is obscene that the total cost of completing the ferries project and nationalising the yard is now over 400 million. Mr Findlay said: As leader, I would stand up to socialist ideology and its disregard for public money. Instead, I would put forward a positive, common-sense Conservative vision of how we can always protect taxpayers money in the best way possible. The Glen Sannox was originally supposed to be finished in early 2018, while the Glen Rosa was due to be handed over by the end of that year. The two ships are due to cost 360 million, compared to an original estimate of 90 million, and the Scottish Government also handed the previous private operator of the shipyard a 45 million loan. Mr Findlay, left, is vying for the Scottish Conservative leadership with Meghan Gallacher and Murdo Fraser Last month, the Mail revealed that John Petticrew, who was installed as interim chief executive at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow in late March after the previous boss was axed, has been handed a 25,620 hotel and subsistence allowance for a six month period. He has also been provided with car hire for six months, although FMPG did not disclose the costs. In addition, he made an expenses claim in April for a 1709 Air Canada economy class flight and 537 subsistence during a trip in March, when he was a non-executive director prior to his appointment as chief executive. Prior to being nationalised, the yard was owned by Jim McColl of Clyde Blowers, when it became involved in a contractual dispute with Caledonian Management Assets Limited, the quango responsible for CalMac ferries and ports. He has said he would be prepared to buy the yard for 1 in return for two years of support from the Scottish Government to help sustain jobs. A Scottish Government spokesman said: The Scottish Governments decision to take Ferguson Marine into public ownership saved the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde and more than 300 jobs. It has always been the intention to return Ferguson Marine to private ownership - as was made clear when the business was taken into public ownership. We are committed to pursuing a sustainable future for the business and any deal would need to work for the shipyards employees and the taxpayer. Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who became a darling of Fox News audiences, announced Monday that she was endorsing former President Donald Trump and promised to do everything she could to secure his election. Appearing on stage with the former president in Detroit, she claimed Trump offered the best chance of pulling the nation back from the 'brink of nuclear war.' It comes soon after she was recruited by the Trump campaign to help with debate preparation. And it cements a remarkable journey for an Iraq war veteran who was once seen as a rising star of the Democratic Party. Democrats said her endorsement was just another example of Trump could only rely on out-of-touch extremists like her and RFK. Jr. Tulsi Gabbard , the former Democratic congresswoman who became a darling of Fox News audiences, announced Monday that she was endorsing former President Donald Trump and promised to do everything she could to secure his election On Monday, Gabbard highlighted Trump's record in the White House as a time of peace. 'He exercised the courage that we expect from our commander in chief, in exhausting all measures of diplomacy, having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, seeing war as a last resort,' she said. The opposite was true of the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris, she added. 'This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts and regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before,' she said. 'This is one of the main reasons why I'm committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can once again serve us as our commander in chief.' She appeared with Trump at the National Guard Association of the United States on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at Kabul airport, Afghanistan, which killed 13 U.S. service personnel. Earlier she accompanied him to Arlington National Cemetery, where Trump laid wreaths in honor of three of the slain service members Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. Later, she called on voters of all stripes to get behind Trump's campaign. 'I am proud to stand here before you today, whether you're a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, if you love our country as I do, if you cherish peace and freedom as we do, I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump and send him back to the White House to do the tough work of saving our country and serving the people,' she said. Gabbard appeared alongside the former president at the National Guard Association of the United States' 146th General Conference Trump stands alongside Bill Barnett (L), whose grandson Staff Sgt Darin Taylor Hoover died at the Abbey Gate Bombing, in Kabul, Afghanistan, during a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery Trump thanked her for the endorsement. 'Well, thank you, Tulsi, I heard that might happen, but I wasn't sure,' he said. 'And it happened because she's really an amazing, really an amazing person. So I look forward to working with Tulsi and everybody, everybody in this room.' Gabbard, a National Guard veteran, ran for president in 2019. She clashed memorably with Harris as they fought for the Democratic nomination, eventually won by Joe Biden. She campaigned on a platform that decried U.S. involvement in the Middle East, saying it made the nation less safe, and directed blame at both Republicans and Democrats. It was typical of a politician who became known for taking idiosyncratic positions during her time as representative for Hawaii. In 2019, she was the only lawmaker to vote 'present' during the highly partisan first impeachment of Trump. She attracted widespread criticism for meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and touring the city of Aleppo, which had been reduced to rubble by his forces during a brutal civil war. Democrats couldn't hide their delight that she had teamed up with Trump. DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd: 'Donald Trumps MAGA brand is so toxic that he's resorted to touting support from off-putting extremists like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard and Trump have a lot in commonthey have both earned the praises of white supremacists and other extremists, celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and campaigned for dangerous election deniers. 'Rather than focusing on earning the support of hardworking Americans, Trump is more fixated on winning the backing of extremists like Gabbard and RFK Jr.and theyll do nothing but weigh down his sinking ship of a campaign.' Anti-tourism activists across Spain have put up fake beach closure signs and blocked traffic with go-slow walks in their latest attempts to dissuade holidaymakers from visiting. The Caterva protest group put up red tape and 'Beach Closed' signs at several coves in Manacor, eastern Majorca on Saturday to stop tourists from lounging. The group said it blocked off the coves for 'residents' use and rest', arguing in a social media post that it is time to 'change course and prioritise life'. In a separate action, nearly 850 miles away, residents in the municipality of Cangas do Morrazo, Galicia caused traffic chaos by walking back and forth across its zebra crossings in a half-hour demo to prevent visitors from reaching the coast. The separately-organised protests just the latest wave of campaigns targeting tourists. Anti-tourism demonstrations have broken out throughout the summer with locals seen marching to 'reclaim the beaches' and hanging 'Tourists go home' banners at holiday hotspots across the country. The Caterva protest group put up red tape and 'Beach Closed' signs at several coves in Manacor, eastern Majorca on Saturday In a separate action, nearly 850 miles away, residents in the municipality of Cangas do Morrazo, Galicia caused traffic chaos by walking back and forth across its zebra crossings in a half-hour demo to prevent visitors from reaching the coast Caterva, in a social media post, proudly boasted how it was behind the fake beach closures in Manacor last weekend. The group hung the signs at several coves in the area,including the secluded white-sand cove Cala Varques and a 'hidden' cove good for snorkelling and diving called Cala Petita. 'New action by Caterva in Manacor. We closed coves for residents' use and rest. Let's change course and prioritise life,' the group wrote on X, formerly Twitter. In a subsequent statement it added: 'We believe the tourist is part of the machinery and has responsibility for the situation we suffer. 'But the main people responsible are those who own the hotel chains and construction companies and real estate firms. 'They're the ones we should be pointing our fingers at.' The group hung the signs at several coves in the area,including the secluded white-sand cove Cala Varques and a 'hidden' cove good for snorkelling and diving called Cala Petita 'New action by Caterva in Manacor. We closed coves for residents' use and rest. Let's change course and prioritise life,' the group wrote on X In a subsequent statement it added: 'We believe the tourist is part of the machinery and has responsibility for the situation we suffer. But the main people responsible are those who own the hotel chains and construction companies and real estate firms. They're the ones we should be pointing our fingers at' Similarly, a separate group of activists took to the streets of Cangas do Morrazo yesterday, on the headland separating the estuaries of Pontevedra and Vigo. The whole area is dotted with beautiful sandy beaches and stunning clifftop views. Around 80 locals launched an ingenious protest by walking repeatedly back and forth across the village's three crossings in front of stunned motorists forced to wait roughly 30 minutes for them to finish before advancing. They carried out the demo to complain about the level of saturation at the municipality's 38 beaches and the fact visitors park outside of designated areas and cause more problems. Some tourists are said to have given up trying to reach the coast and turned round. The protest started around 11.30am yesterday and continued till around midday before being abruptly called off before police could arrive and identify those taking part. Villager Esperanza Vega said: 'Every summer things get worse.' Mercedes Villar, president of a local neighbourhood association, added: 'This is not tourism-phobia, it's the right of residents to leave in peace and it's about protecting our security and physical integrity.' Anti-tourism demonstrations have broken out throughout the summer with locals seen marching to 'reclaim the beaches' and hanging 'Tourists go home' banners at holiday hotspots across the country A separate group of activists took to the streets of Cangas do Morrazo yesterday, on the headland separating the estuaries of Pontevedra and Vigo Around 80 locals launched an ingenious protest by walking repeatedly back and forth across the village's three crossings in front of stunned motorists forced to wait roughly 30 minutes for them to finish before advancing The protest started around 11.30am yesterday and continued till around midday. Pictured are cars stuck in traffic while the demonstration was underway They carried out the demo to complain about the level of saturation at the municipality's 38 beaches and the fact visitors park outside of designated areas and cause more problems Two major demos have taken place so far this year in the Majorcan capital Palma to protest at some of the problems caused by mass tourism including overcrowding and difficulties accessing affordable housing. Other smaller protests have taken place in other parts of Majorca as well as Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. On July 27 around 250 protestors impeded tourist access to a picture-postcard Menorcan beach in a 'surprise action'. Activists boasted of filling a car park by Cala Turqueta, a beautiful cove on the island's southern coast, with 'residents' cars'. They then used towels and their own bodies to shape the message 'SOS Menorca' on the sand by the waterline. The unannounced protest, by environmental non-profit organisation GOB Menorca, resulted in the car park being 'blocked' to holidaymakers for around six hours from early morning according to local reports. Anti mass-tourism protests have also taken place in the Canary Islands, where thousands took to the streets in co-ordinated April 20 demos across the Atlantic archipelago, as well as places like Alicante and Malaga. Graffiti targeted at tourists has appeared in both Tenerife and Majorca. On August 18 protesters unfurled a huge banner telling tourists on a packed Costa Blanca beach: 'Go home.' Demonstrators march shouting slogans against the Formula 1 Barcelona Fan Festival in downtown Barcelona on June 19, 2024 A tourist last week infuriated locals in Barcelona by thanking them for their 'very warm welcome' while posing next to 'tourists go home' signs Anti Tourist Graffiti in Mallorca, as seen in April this year People march on a street during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024 housands of people demonstrate against tourism policies on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on April 20, 2024 The activists let off pink flares to make sure holidaymakers relaxing on the sand or cooling off in the sea received the message. They appeared to be directing themselves at English-speaking visitors with the language they used in bright-red capital letters, although they also used the local Valencian language to appeal to residents with a message above it on the banner which said: 'Aturem La Turistificacio' - 'Stop Touristification.' The beach protest was carried out by a group called Garrot and took place at Barraca Cove, also known as Portixol Cove, near the Costa Blanca tourist hotspot of Javea close to Benidorm. The banner was unfurled on rocks to the north of the cove where it was clearly visible to those in the sea and on the beach. Tourists go home slogans spread across the south of Tenerife in March this year Anti-tourist protesters held a hunger strike in Tenerife earlier this year following a wave of anti-tourist graffiti, with demonstrators saying life on the island is 'unsustainable' Gail's bakery is facing a fresh revolt over plans to open a new branch in West Sussex, as independent cafe owners fear they could be forced out of businesses. The bakery chain has attracted a backlash from residents in seaside town Worthing over plans to open an outlet on Warwick Street - set within a conservation area. The Worthing Society, which aims to 'preserve' and 'safeguard' the town's heritage, has expressed concerns the bakery's aesthetic might not harmonise with the historic street on which it is set to open. It comes after hundreds of residents in Walthamstow, north-east London, signed a petition to stop the company opening on their High Street amid fears it could run independent cafes out of business. Now independent cafe owners in Worthing have expressed similar fears and even said some businesses may have to 'close their doors' for good as a result. Tushar Patel, who owns Cafe Traditionale on Chapel Road, told The Telegraph: 'Allowing more cafes to open will have a knock-on effect on existing businesses. 'Existing businesses are struggling as it is. Somebody will have to close their doors very soon here. It is frustrating. The council should look after the existing businesses by not allowing new cafes to open.' A Gail's sign on the front of the vacant shop in Worthing says: 'Hello Worthing. We'll be baking here soon'. Gail's bakery is facing a fresh revolt over plans to open a new branch in Worthing, West Sussex, as independent cafe owners fear they could be forced out of businesses. Pictured: Residents pass the branch which is expected to open soon Gail's Bakery started as a single store in Hampstead, north London, and slowly began to spread across the capital before cherry picking new towns and cities to set up in Gail's Bakery started as a single store in Hampstead, north London, and slowly began to spread across the capital before cherry picking new towns and cities to set up in. But its rise to prominence has not been welcomed with open arms, as some look to fight the gentrification of their towns. The chain now has more than 130 shops across Britain already and is seen by many as the successor to Waitrose, with plans now in place for new sites to be opened across Britain. Baz, who owns a business called Bites in Worthing, told the Telegraph he estimates he would lose around two tables a day if Gail's opened its doors. He said there were 'already enough cafes' in the town with businesses struggling to make money and to survive - and called on the council to manage the situation 'before it gets too late'. The Worthing Society has also expressed its concern for an 'illuminated hanging sign' which they said would not be consistent with the conservation are. They suggested an illuminated sign could be 'overly dominant' and 'set a precedent'. Worthing Borough council has been contacted by MailOnline for comment. A Gail's spokesperson told The Telegraph: 'We understand the concern, but our view is that a healthy high street is one with a diversity of quality offers, each delivering their best. 'High streets evolve over time, and we open our small bakeries often in closed banks or stranded restaurants. All of our bakeries exist in areas where the choices are wide and growing we should be celebrating the improvement in our food landscapes. 'Bringing our bakery to Worthing, with such a dynamic and thriving food scene, is something we've wanted to do for a while. 'We're looking forward to having a small footprint in a place that we love and admire, and are excited to fire up our ovens for the Worthing community.' MailOnline recently went to speak to residents in Petersfield (Hampshire), Greenwich (south London) and Witney (Oxfordshire) to find out their views on the coffee chain and its impact on the local economy. MailOnline went to speak to residents in Petersfield (Hampshire), Greenwich (south London) and Witney (Oxfordshire) to find out their views on the coffee chain and its impact on the local economy. Pictured (from left to right) 24-year-old Maisy Cole, from Greenwich; 76-year-old Peter Kew, from Witney and Sammi Healey, 40, from Petersfield Petersfield People in Petersfield complained the affluent area is becoming 'Londonised' after Gail's opened a store there. Shoppers on the High Street in the leafy Hampshire market town said they feel 'sorry' for local bakeries in the town after the arrival of upmarket chain Gail's. However, others are delighted to have a Gail's on their doorstep as they see it as a sign that the area is 'well off'. Houses in Petersfield, which sits in the South Downs countryside, cost an average of half a million pounds. The area has been called home to celebrities including Noel Gallagher and Take That's Mark Owen, while it is also noted for the 30,000 a year Bedales School, where Daniel Day-Lewis and Lily Allen studied. Today, it enjoys a constant flow of customers visiting the cafe - although some people grumble at its prices, including 5 orange juice. Sarah Duveen, from London, regularly visits Petersfield to escape the capital and see her in-laws - but doesn't feel like she has escaped. Shoppers on the High Street in the leafy Hampshire market town said they feel 'sorry' for local bakeries in the town after the arrival of upmarket chain Gail' Sarah Duveen (pictured) regularly visits Petersfield to escape the capital and see her in-laws - but doesn't feel like she has escaped The self-employed 30-year-old said it has become a running joke that Gail's is synonymous with 'posh' areas. 'It's always the posh bits of London', she said. 'I think people take the p sometimes - if there's a Gail's in the area, that's a good one.' Ms Duveen added: 'Petersfield is becoming more Londonised by having one. 'I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, I think it makes house prices go up. I was pretty surprised when I found out it was here. It almost feels like it sticks out. I see this place as a local countryside safe place away from London - I can't escape. 'It is really quite expensive - I would pay for it, but I would probably feel a bit sick that I spent 10 on coffee and cake.' Communications worker Sammi Healey, from Petersfield, sipped on a Gail's coffee and told how she is a fan of the chain but sympathises with local establishments. She said: 'I love it... There's part of me that always feels sorry for the Hoxton's [a local bakery].' When asked whether a Gail's was a sign of gentrification, the 40-year-old said: 'I haven't really though of it like that. 'The town needs a bit more of this - it's definitely feeling run down of late.' Ms Healey's usual order is coffee and a ham and cheese croissant when she visits Gail's. Communications worker Sammi Healey, from Petersfield, sipped on a Gail's coffee and told how she is a fan of the chain but sympathises with local establishments Andrew Madgwick, a market researcher, is glad that Gail's has a branch in Petersfield since it means an old building on the High Street isn't being left empty. Her daughter has inherited her love for the bakery. She said: 'My daughter starts school in September - she said can I get my hair cut, my nails painted and can we go to Gail's?' Andrew Madgwick, a market researcher, is glad that Gail's has a branch in Petersfield since it means an old building on the High Street isn't being left empty. 'They are always in nice buildings and they picked a very nice one in Petersfield,' Mr Madgwick said. 'It seems very appropriate. The worst thing for high streets I think is premises being left empty, especially ex-banks. They don't always fit every type of business - a cafe goes very nicely.' On whether Gail's improves the High Street, the 63-year-old said: 'I don't think it actually improves Petersfield in that way. 'It's already pretty gentrified - [the buildings] have nice shops in them and nice cafes already. It's just a chain now really.' Project manager Katie Kempster thinks that Gail's does improve the High Street, but it can be unaffordable for families. 'I don't go there, it's not a child friendly environment,' she said. On the rare occasion she does go, she said the prices can be shocking: 'For lots of families it's not particularly affordable. Orange juice on its own was 5 - I don't care how freshly squeezed it is, it does not have to be 5. 'Some people can afford it, some can't - you can't please everyone.' The 38-year-old admired the fact that Gail's donates food to the local community rather than letting it go to waste. 'It's a lovely establishment, a good use of the building,' she said. 'It's not out of place here.' Greenwich Residents in Greenwich said they 'understood' why people were resistant to a Gail's Bakery opening in their area. Despite plans to open another to shops in London and having more than 130 openings, managers at Gail's do not consider themselves a chain. But Joslin, 23, said she chose to avoid Gail's shops as she preferred the 'personal experience' with independent coffee shops. She said: 'I think it's ok. I personally don't go to them that often. It's not hugely convenient. Personally I would choose independent coffee shops over Gail's, Starbucks and places like that. 'For me those [independent places] are more convenient. I like to support a more personal experience with independent places, I know the people that work there and stuff like that, rather than employees from larger corporations.' Joslin, 23, said she chose to avoid Gail's shops as she preferred the 'personal experience' with independent coffee shops. Maisy Cole, 24, also preferred to support local coffee shops and businesses, claiming these places were 'a lot more friendly' The arrival of a Gail's in a town is a boost for property prices and a sure indicator that the area is on the up and up. But for some locals, including those in Greenwich, the introduction of the brand threatens their individuality. When asked if she felt a Gail's made Greenwich more gentrified, Joslin said: 'Yeh I would definitely say so. It's always the first thing to pop up. 'I can absolutely understand why people would be angry. It takes away from more small independent coffee shops that have been selling stuff that Gail's sells and it takes away from that business.' Maisy Cole, 24, also preferred to support local coffee shops and businesses, claiming these places were 'a lot more friendly'. She said: 'I completely understand [why people don't want them in their town]. I think it is a shame. Especially when you have got some beautiful coffee shops where they spend a lot of time sourcing the coffee and getting local produce. 'Big corporations coming in attracting new customers. It pushes the local coffee shops out and I can see why local residents are not happy about that. 'I would definitely support local. I think the coffee is always a lot better when you go to a local coffee shop and the service you get is a lot more personable. It's a lot more friendly and you feel a bit better about yourself going into a local shop and supporting local business.' Witney Locals in the small Oxfordshire town of Whitney felt the High Street needed a Gail's Bakery, even if the prices were 'ridiculous'. Gail's first foray outside of London was in Oxford in 2016 when the bakery opened a store in nearby Summertown. It followed this up with a bakery in Jericho as well as opening a store in Witney. Many residents were pleased to see another coffee shop open in the area, claiming they couldn't get into any other outlets most of the time because they were too busy. Linda Kennedy, 71, retired teacher, said: 'I had never heard of it until yesterday and it's just another cafe. We have just been in it and it seems like any other cafe. it wouldn't do any harm if it was a sign of gentrification. Linda Kennedy, 71, was pleased to see another coffee shop open in the area, claiming they couldn't get into any other outlets most of the time because they were too busy Vanni Cook, a teacher of language related studies was visiting the town from Devon and felt having a Gail's Bakery in the town was a 'really positive thing'. Retired farm worker Peter Kew, 76, claimed he wouldn't visit the shop again because it was 'too expensive' for working class people. 'It's absolutely not [a sign of gentrification]. There are lots of cafes anyway and people are in their enjoying having a coffee. I bought a flat white and cake and it was very pleasant. The other cafes were full which is why we ended up in there.' Vanni Cook, a teacher of language related studies was visiting the town from Devon and felt having a Gail's Bakery in the town was a 'really positive thing'. The 75-year-old said: 'I'm completely indifferent. It fills a gap in the High Street and I think that is a really positive thing. 'I think it is a cake and coffee. Cakes are tasty and that's all their is. It's just another cafe. 'I think all cafes are really important because they are social centres. So therefore it is good. I went there today and had a coffee and a cake. The coffee was really good and the cake was tasty. I couldn't get into any of the other cafes because they were all full. So I think that says something about Witney.' Whilst many were pleased with the service Gail's provided, retired farm worker Peter Kew claimed he wouldn't visit the shop again because it was 'too expensive' for working class people. The 76-year-old said: 'It's a nice place. Clean. Respectable. But it's very pricey. 'I've been in there a couple of times. My sister is a 90-year-old lady from Charlton and I've took her in and we got four cakes and it was nearly 14. Ridiculous for working class people and Witney is working class people. 'I wouldn't go into Gails again because it is too expensive. Unless I really need a cup of coffee. But I don't think there is any need to pay that sort of money. It's not just them though. I think a lot of shops are [too expensive].' A New Jersey teen was killed after hitting a boat propeller as she tried to get on the vessel from a raft. Zeina Mahafzah, 18, was struck in the waters off Sunset Park in Harvey Cedars Boro, Ocean County around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. New Jersey State Police said Mahafzah was on a raft being pulled by a boat and while attempting to board the vessel, she was fatally struck by the propeller. It is unknown how many people were on board and who was driving the boat, but NBC Philadelphia reported that medics evaluated others on board who witnessed the teen's death. 'As the investigation is in its preliminary stages, we ask that you keep the family and community in your thoughts and prayers,' Harvey Cedars Police Department said. Zeina Mahafzah (pictured), 18, was killed after hitting a boat propeller as she tried to get on the vessel from a raft Mahafzah was struck in the waters off Sunset Park in Harvey Cedars Boro, Ocean County around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday Mahafzah recently graduated from Wayne Hills High School and was set to attend Rutgers University. In a Wayne Hills class of 2024 college decision video she wore a red t-shirt and said she was going into college as an undecided major. 'We have been in contact with the family and are respecting their wishes, so we have no comment at this time,' Wayne Township Superintendent Mark Toback told NJ.com. Sunset Park is on the bay side of Harvey Cedars, located on the northern section of Long Beach Island. She (pictured with her father) recently graduated from Wayne Hills High School and was set to attend Rutgers University In a Wayne Hills class of 2024 college decision video she wore a red t-shirt and said she was going into college as an undecided major In June, a boat driver killed a young woman by turning too fast and slamming her into another vessel while she was tubing. Kaileigh Seidel, 24, died on June 22 from injuries she suffered in the collision on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Police said she was 'thrown' from the boat around 8pm, but her friend Millie Lovea, who was on board watching helplessly, blamed the driver. Lovea said the driver was 'whipping back and forth through the river' and took a turn too fast, flinging the tube - and Seidel - into the other boat. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has admitted his party has failed to give voters what they want ahead of its rockiest conference in decades. The Aberdeen South MP said the SNP had lost trust, lacked hope and optimism, and must mend fences after its general election hammering. He said: Our priorities, our actions and our delivery must change. Party activists will gather in Edinburgh this weekend amid the civil war that erupted when the SNP crashed from 48 seats to nine. Mr Flynn, tipped as a possible successor to John Swinney, said the whole party must share the collective burden of failure after 17 years in power. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn admits 'we have failed' in brutal assessment of his party's record Writing in the Daily Record, he said the SNP faced a huge challenge. People wanted change now, but Holyroods budget was going through a brutal squeeze. The road isnt going to be paved with easy choices, he said, blaming the Labour government for no new money flowing from the Treasury. He went on: Our party conference offers us the first opportunity to run the rule over what has gone wrong in recent times. It could perhaps be argued that a weekend isnt long enough on that front. But we must be careful not to spend too long talking about ourselves at the expense of talking about the public. Their needs, their aspirations, their future. Mr Flynn with former First Minister Humza Yousaf, who stepped down earlier this year He added: It is time we got ourselves back into the business of delivering the hope and optimism that has been in such short supply for people living across Scotland. Now, the harsh truth is that we have failed on that front in recent times. The trust that drove the SNP to unprecedented heights has gradually eroded. It is our time to be the change that the public expect and deserve. Last week it emerged the SNPs membership had almost halved from its 2019 peak to 64,525 at the end of June, although its finances improved in 2023. The party won most of Scotlands Westminster seats in 2015, 2017 and 2019. But after Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf quit as leaders, and police made arrests over party fundraising, it suffered its worst election reverse since 1979. It lost half a million supporters and its vote share fell by a third to 30 per cent in July, while Labour gained 36 seats and pushed the Nationalists into a distant second place. A Norstat poll for the Sunday Times found Labour is now on course to oust the SNP at Holyrood in 2026. Although the SNP would have one more MSP, Labour would be able to form a minority government with the backing of other pro-Union parties. Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said: Stephen Flynn has finally admitted what is blindingly obvious to everyone else: that after 17 years of failure, the SNP has lost the publics trust. On their watch, our public services are getting worse, as skyrocketing A&E wait times and the widening attainment gap in education prove, while hard-working Scots are saddled with the highest taxes in the UK. It is hardly surprising that Scots are growing tired of an incompetent SNP government that continues to ignore Scotlands real priorities. Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: The SNP are in a sorry state and it looks like their conference will bring these splits bubbling to the surface. Years of focusing on constitutional division has taken its toll on Scottish public services. At the general election, nationalist chickens began to come home to roost. Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Dame Jackie Baillie added: The SNP is hopelessly divided and out of ideas. Mr Swinney and the SNP hierarchy are also under fire from Alba leader Alex Salmond. He said his old partys leadership was brain dead and lacked the fight to win independence. He cited a new FindOutNow poll suggesting a quarter of SNP supporters want the party to work with Albas MSP to pass Holyroods budgets. Almost two-thirds of SNP voters want the party to revive the joint government deal with the Scottish Greens that Mr Yousaf axed in the spring. Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine has condemned deadly Russian missile and drone strikes that began overnight and reportedly targeted 15 regions of the country Five people swimming in a pool at a home in Indiana were electrocuted in a 'freak accident,' cops have said. Two adults and three juveniles under 16 years old were injured by electric shocks while in the pool, CBS 4 Indiana reported. Officers were dispatched to the 2600 block of High Street in Logansport at around 2:35pm and discovered that a wire for the pool's pump got pinched somehow. The exposed wire came into contact with the pool water and sent electricity coursing through the pool the victims were swimming in. Police confirmed there were no fatalities, but all five people were transported to various local hospitals. The victims are said to be in a 'serious but stable' condition. A police spokesperson told DailyMail.com that all the victims are still in stable condition. The spokesperson also confirmed there is no criminality suspected in this incident. Pictured: The Logansport block where the 'freak' swimming pool electrocution happened Officers were dispatched to the 2600 block of High Street in Logansport at around 2:35pm and discovered that a wire for the pool's pump got pinched somehow As of now, the names of the victims haven't been released and no further information has been made available. Pool electrocutions are exceedingly rare in the United States. Data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows that 33 people have died from electric shocks in pools and spas from 2002 to 2018. The same number of people were injured under similar circumstances. The CPSC says you'll know if you're feeling an electric shock in water if you experience tingling sensations or muscle cramps. There's also a possibility you won't be able to move at all or 'feel as if something is holding them in place.' The agency's advice is to get out of the water if possible and exit without touching a metal ladder, if one is present, as that increase the chance of you getting shocked. The agency implores people outside the pool to immediately turn off all power to prevent themselves from becoming victims by attempting to rescue people in the electrified water. A Gold Star father is not letting Vice President Kamala Harris off the hook for the death of his son during the botched Afghanistan exit three years later now that Joe Biden is stepping down. Steven Nikoui's son Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed by a suicide bomber, along with 12 other soldiers, during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He told DailyMail.com Monday that although 'another year has gone by,' Gold Star families and members of Congress have been the only ones 'who continue to fight and question the actions of the Biden/Harris administration.' Nikoui says he feels a sense of 'victory' because Joe Biden will not run again, but doesn't believe Harris will bring any more closure to the Gold Star families. Harris who 'was not nominated by the people' has 'assumed responsibility for the evacuation when she said she was the last one in the room,' he went on. The vice president confirmed she was the 'last person in the room' during the Afghanistan exit when asked by CNN's Dana Bash in an August 2021 interview. Speaker Mike Jonson shared a clip of that interview on X Monday, calling the 13 troops 'heroic.' Gold Star father Steve Nikoui was removed from President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech for shouting about his son's death in Afghanistan. He said he was 'blessed and humbled' after charges were dropped against him following his arrest for heckling The families spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 'We honor their memory and will never forget their sacrifice,' the speaker wrote. Their kids were among the 13 Americans and some 170 Afghans who died days later when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in August 2021. To date, not a single Biden administration official has taken responsibility for the loss of life. Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to pay tribute to the Americans killed. The former president laid a series of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then paid a private visit to section 60, the area of the cemetery where those killed in Afghanistan are buried. He was joined by family members of some of the U.S. soldiers who were killed in a bombing at Abbey Gate. Trump was also was accompanied by two Marines who were injured in attack: Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, who was paralyzed in the attack and now uses a wheelchair, and Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right arm and left leg. Harris put out a statement Monday honoring the service members killed in addition to over 100 'innocent Afghans.' 'Thirteen American heroes were taken from us on that day, she said in a statement that also listed the names of each of those Americans lost. Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,' she continued. But when DailyMail.com spoke with the families of the 13 service members who were killed during the botched Afghanistan withdrawal in-person at the Republican National Convention last month, they said the Biden administration has still ignored their pleas to meet. The Gold Star families recently spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, minutes before Trump's arrival to the arena on night two of the convention. Darin Hoover, who lost his son Taylor Hoover, a 31-year-old Marine Corps staff sergeant in the attack, said he wants to ensure 'what happened to our kids never happens again' by getting Trump reelected. 'Sure, war is hell and we're going to lose some,' he continued, 'but not in the manner that our kids were lost.' 'I'm here because Trump speaks for me, he speaks for my morals, my beliefs. He speaks truth,' Taylor's sister Coral Doolittle told DailyMail.com. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif. - one of 13 service members who were killed during the disastrous 2021 exit from Afghanistan Herman Lopez said 'Joe Biden has dropped the ball' and there is no longer 'trust' in his administration 'We are here to support Trump because we need a change. We need somebody that cares for veterans, our military, our military families...and we know that he's gonna do it for us,' added Kelly Barnett, Taylor's mother. 'I'm supporting Trump because in the last three years and my son has been gone, we have tried to reach out to him President Joe Biden and he's yet to even return our calls or asked us to meet with us,' Alicia Lopez, mother of Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, disclosed. She said in the 'almost three years that we've lost our children,' President Trump has been the 'only one who has come to us and asked us how we're feeling and asked us how we're doing.' Her husband Herman Lopez said 'Joe Biden has dropped the ball' and there is no longer 'trust' in his administration. 'We need a leader that we can have confidence in,' he continued. Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of 23-year-old Sgt. Nicole Gee, told DailyMail.com that she's supporting Trump because he supports 'our veterans and armed service members.' 'The current administration has turned their back on them,' but not Trump, she said who wouldn't let the Taliban harm 'one hair on one head of a U.S. service member.' Their kids were among the 13 Americans and some 170 Afghans who died days later when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in August 2021 Trump wouldn't let the Taliban harm 'one hair on one head of a U.S. service member' Cheryl Jules added: 'As soon as Trump left it all went to hell and our kids are dead because of that' Cheryl Juels, aunt of Gee, added: 'As soon as Trump left it all went to hell and our kids are dead because of that.' 'He's a strong leader...our enemies don't fear us, they're all working together and it's only a matter of time until we end up in a third world war.' She added that 'it didn't matter' to [Biden] when their childrens' caskets were coming off the military plane. Biden came under heavy criticism after video of him checking his watch at the dignified transfer ceremony for the slain military service members from Afghanistan in Dover, Delaware. When asked by DailyMail.com about Biden's terrible gaffe during the debate that 'no service members have died' under his watch, Shamblin said he 'disregards' the military. 'Our enemies don't fear us, they're all working together and it's only a matter of time until we end up in a third world war' 'It didn't surprise us at all, it's just more lie that he just says out there,' Jules stated. She called it 'disgusting' that the Biden administration left its Afghanistan allies and partners behind during the withdrawal. The White House on Monday revealed who is running the country with President Joe Biden on his second week of vacation. 'You know better than that,' National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby scolded the reporter who asked who was running the country. 'The president is on vacation, but you can never unplug and from a job like that. Nor does he try to,' Kirby said in a zoom briefing with reporters. 'He's very much in command,' he noted of Biden. He pointed out Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday as proof the president is working. Biden, 81, is at his beach home in Rehoboth, Delaware, after spending a week at a private 8,000 acre ranch in Santa Ynez, Calif. He is scheduled to return to the White House after Labor Day weekend. Vice President Kamala Harris is in Washington D.C. with nothing on her public schedule until Wednesday, when she heads to Georgia for a two-day bus trip to campaign in the state. President Joe Biden lends a hand to first lady Jill Biden as they disembark from Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base prior to departure for Rehoboth Beach The White House has long argued Biden can perform the duties of president where ever he goes. When the president travels, a staff member on the National Security Council travels with him to keep him briefed on foreign affairs and a staffer in the chief of staff's office is with him to keep him updated on domestic matters. He and first lady Jill Biden arrived at their multi-million dollar beach house in Rehoboth on Sunday evening. Biden is on his 114th visit to Delaware spanning all or part of 328 days, according to journalist Mark Knoeller who tracks presidential travel. That is much more when compared to Donald Trump at a similar point in office: he spent 51 visits and 240 days at either of his estates in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., or Bedminster, N.J. It's the second week in a row of downtime for the Bidens. They jetted off to Santa Ynez, California, on Monday night after Biden addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The couple - along with their children and grandchildren - stayed at a California ranch owned by Democratic donor billionaire Joe Kiani. The property sits about three hours north of Los Angeles in Santa Barbara wine country. Kiani has been a major donor to Biden's campaigns and a friend to the family. Hunter Biden paid a visit to the $50 million vineyard property last year. Dubbed the 'Kiani Preserve,' the 8,000 acres has its own private vineyard, donkeys and a cattle herd. The vineyard on the property produces bottles of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, among other wines. The president doesn't drink but the first lady is known to enjoy a glass or two of wine. Biden exited the presidential race on July 21 after his terrible debate performance against Donald Trump, which led to concerns about his mental abilities. 'Over the next six months, I'll be focused on doing my job as president,' Biden said in his July 24 Oval Office address. President Joe Biden is on his 114th visit to Delaware spanning all or part of 328 days This Monday, Biden remained out of sight as his predecessor and possible successor Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute to the 13 Americans killed three years ago in a bombing outside the Kabul airport during the Afghanistan evacuation. The former president laid a series of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then paid a private visit to section 60, the area of the cemetery where those killed in Afghanistan are buried. He was joined by family members of some of the U.S. soldiers who were killed in a bombing at Abbey Gate. He was also was accompanied by two Marines who were injured in attack: Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, who was paralyzed in the attack and now uses a wheelchair, and Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right arm and left leg. The visit also enabled him to tie his rival Kamala Harris to what he calls 'the most embarrassing moment in our history.' Trump has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden was in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday, starting the second week of his summer vacation. The visit also allowed Trump to counter reports he doesn't respect veterans and has previously referred to slain World War II soldiers as suckers and losers, reports Trump has denied. Joe and Jill have a home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware that they visit often in the summer Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.), who was injured at the Abbey Gate Bombing The former president laid three wreaths at the tomb, two honoring Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee - two Marines killed in the bombing - and another wreath dedicated to all 13 service members who were killed in the attack. He also took flowers to the grave of SSG Ryan Knauss - a Marine killed in the attack - and spoke to Knauss' parents who couldn't be there, according to his campaign. Spotted with Trump at the event was Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who is now helping Trump with his debate prep. Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. 'This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Gross Incompetence 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND.' Some of the relatives of those killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month, saying Biden had never publicly named their loved ones. After Biden ended his re-election bid, Trump has endeavored to tie Harris to some of the administration's most-criticized moments. He's noted Harris has said she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan. The Biden administration conducted a two-year internal review of the evacuation and found that U.S. officials should have started the evacuation earlier, but placed extensive blame on Trump, Biden's predecessor in the Oval Office. Biden's team cited an agreement Trump made with the Taliban to pull forces from Afghanistan. The White House took a swipe at Trump's visit to the cemetery, seeming to indicate it was merely for the television cameras. 'There are many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abby Gate, and Mr. Trump was invited by at least one, I think maybe several of the families, to lay a wreath at Arlington and that is certainly a way to recognize the sacrifice and the loss. But it was a personal invitation by fans,' White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. 'Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work' every day to 'make sure that the families of those of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20 some odd years that we were in Afghanistan, had the support that they need,' he added. Kirby noted the Biden's long association with military, including the first lady's work for Joining Forces. President Biden lays flowers at the tomb of SSG Ryan Knauss The White House released separate statements Monday by Harris and Biden on the attack. Harris said she mourns the 13 U.S. service members who were killed. 'My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,' she said. She said she honors and remembers all Americans who served in Afghanistan. 'As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America's longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,' she said. 'I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people.' Biden also paid tribute to the fallen. 'Three years ago, an ISIS suicide bomber launched an attack of deliberate evil at Abbey Gate outside of Kabul Airportkilling 13 American service members and more than 100 innocent Afghans. Today, and every day, we honor our fallen,' he said. 'These 13 Americans - and the many more that were wounded - were patriots in the highest sense,' Biden said in the statement. Prince Harry is finally set to bring out the paperback edition of his vitriolic memoir, Spare. However the Royal Family is likely to breathe a sigh of relief after it was announced by his publisher that the book would not be updated from its hardback form, a somewhat unusual move for an international bestseller. Unfortunately, however, its October release will clash with King Charles' high-profile appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, the first time he has attended since acceding the throne and becoming head of the global organisation. The meeting will be held from October 21-25 with Harry's paperback being published in the US on October 22 and then the UK two days later. Buckingham Palace announced back in July that the monarch planned to attend despite his ongoing cancer treatment as part of an Autumn tour in October that will also take in Australia. Prince Harry pictured at The Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service at St Paul's Cathedral on May 8, 2024 in London Prince Harry is finally set to bring out the paperback edition of his vitriolic memoir, Spare The edition's October release will clash with King Charles ' high-profile appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Pictured: King Charles III inspects the Balaklava Company on August 19 The fact that Harry has chosen not to add to the revelations may be seen by some as an attempt to try and smooth over family ructions. Pictured: Prince William looks on during a visit to Lambeth to mark the first year of the homelessness initiative Homewards in July The re-issue of Spare will also re-ignite bombshell claims made by the prince against his estranged family including allegations that Prince William broke his necklace and shoved him onto a dog bowl which smashed during a particularly explosive row. He also recalled numerous private family conversations between himself, his father and brother, and shone a spotlight on difficulties between his wife and the then Duchess of Cambridge - including Kate's reaction to Meghan saying she had 'baby brain'. Publishers Penguin Random House announced yesterday that Spare's new imprint would be published in 16 languages worldwide. It will have the same cover image as the hardcover edition, a newly-designed package but 'the contents of the book are unchanged'. Questions had been raised as to whether Harry would, like many authors, update the paperback edition with a new chapter, particularly considering how much has happened in the last year. In that time, his relationships with his family has continued to break down, the King has been diagnosed with cancer - which saw Harry make a transatlantic dash to London to see his father for barely 30 minutes - and his children, Archie and Lilibet, have become Prince and Princess. Questions had been raised as to whether Harry would, like many authors, update the paperback edition with a new chapter, particularly considering how much has happened in the last year. Pictured: Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis at the trooping of the colour, shortly after Kate's cancer diagnosis Catherine, The Princess of Wales revealed in an emotional video message earlier this year that she is being treated for cancer Unfortunately, however, the Spare October release will clash with King Charles' high-profile appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, the first time he has attended since acceding the throne and becoming head of the global organisation The re-issue of Spare will also re-ignite bombshell claims made by the prince against his estranged family including allegations that Prince William broke his necklace and shoved him onto a dog bowl which smashed during a particularly explosive row The fact that Harry has chosen not to add to the revelations may be seen by some as an attempt to try and smooth over family ructions. Spare, which was first published on January 10 last year, became an instant publishing sensation and sold more than six million copies, in both print and audio, across the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling nonfiction book of all time, not least because Harry became the most high profile family member to ever 'kiss and tell' on the monarchy. However while the book, ghostwritten by journalist J.R. Moehringer, was a financial success for the prince, his reputation is widely considered to have suffered as a result. Many considered both the book and Harry's round of equally vitriolic media appearances to publicise it a betrayal too far and criticised his version of events. It generally takes between six months to a year for a paperback edition to come out after the initial publication in hardback. They can be produced and sold more cheaply, and are designed to attract more readers. Whether Spare will do this considering its runaway success as a hardback remains be seen. Prince Harry 'peed his pants' before his first date with Meghan. And what The Queen REALLY thought of Archie and Lili nine intimate disclosures you might have missed from Harry's explosive book, Spare Prince Harrys tell-all book Spare raised eyebrows round the world with colourful disclosure about his frost-nipped penis and an allusion to having sex with Meghan at Soho House, the London hotel and private members club. But aside from headline-grabbing titbits about his todger, the book contained a wealth of intriguing and highly personal revelations you might have missed. Here are Mailonlines top nine eye-opening takeaways from Spare: 1. Harry 'peed his pants' before first date with Meghan Harry needed a wee during a five-hour boat race with no toilet and tried to relieve himself over the side. But 'stage fright' intervened and he 'peed himself' before meeting Meghan for the first time at Soho House Harry had taken part in a five hour sailing race before his very first date with Meghan, to whom he'd been introduced through Instagram. But when nature called, he was appalled to discover there were no facilities aboard. He attempted to relieve himself into the sea, but got 'stage fright' and couldn't do it.' Finally I went back to my post, sheepishly hung from the ropes, and peed my pants,' he wrote: 'Wow, I thought, if Ms. Markle could see me now.' The Duke washed his soiled trousers in the water before rushing back rush back to London to meet Meghan. The rest, as they say, is history. 2. William planned to shave Harry on his stag do Harry claimed his older brother was jealous and 'livid' because the Queen had allowed him to keep his bushy red beard for his wedding, while Harry was ordered to shave his off before his wedding to Kate Middleton in accordance with royal protocol. The Duke of Sussex then discovered that William planned to take revenge by forcibly shaving off his beard so both brothers were bare-cheeked on their wedding day. Harry said wanted to enjoy the traditional pre-nuptual party and use it an an opportunity to de-stress. But instead he had to he didnt get too drunk while keeping a wary eye on his big brother. Reminiscing about his stag do, Harry writes that his brother William had planned to shave off his beard on his stag do The Queen allowed Harry to keep his beard for his 2018 wedding. He suggests his brother William was 'livid' about the decision Queen comes back as a hummingbird Harry wrote that he wished he could say 'one more goodbye' to his grandmother after arriving at Balmoral too late to see her before she died. Back at home in California after the funeral, a hummingbird got into his Montecito home,. Harry didnt think anything of it until a friend told him it could be a sign, and that Spanish explorers called them 'resurrection birds'. He then questioned whether he had just had a visit from the late Queen, writing: 'I thought hopefully, greedily, foolishly: Is our house a detouror a destination?' He then thought about letting the bird stay before deciding against it and setting it free instead. Harry wrote of the Queen's feelings on his children: 'She'd expected them to be a bit moreAmerican, I think? Meaning, in her mind, more rambunctious' What The Queen thought of Archie and Lilibet In Spare, Harry recalled a bittersweet memory - the last time his son Archie and his daughter Lilibet (named after his grandmother) saw the Queen before her passing. He said that Archie was bowing to the late monarch while Lilibet attached herself to the Queen's shins. His grandmother was delighted and described them as the 'sweetest children'. Harry wrote: 'She'd expected them to be a bit moreAmerican, I think? Meaning, in her mind, more rambunctious. Holding Meghan's hair back while she was sick Prince Harry wrote about introducing Meghan to his cousin Princess Eugenie and her now-husband Jack Brooksbank. Meghan had cooked them salmon and they chatted about her TV show Suits and travel destinations. After they began drinking tequila, Meghan said she was not feeling well and went to bed early. Harrys first reaction was that Meghan was a 'lightweight', but he woke up to hear his future wife throwing up in the bathroom. The Duchess had suffered a reaction to the squid she had eaten for lunch at a restaurant. Meanwhile Harry did the gentlemanly thing and held back her hair while she was vomiting. He wrote: 'I rubbed her back and eventually put her to bed. Weak, near tears, she said she'd imagined a very different end to Date Four. Charles listens to 'storybooks' in the bath The future King's bath-time habits also got a mention when harry revealed that Charles likes to take a portable CD player to the bathroom with him. He recalled an incident from childhood, saying: 'Pa was carrying his wireless, which is what he called his portable CD player, on which he liked to listen to his storybooks while soaking. The Queen wore ear plugs to block out music at her Diamond Jubilee concert As the concert to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee wore on, Harry was suffering with a headache, presumably not helped by Paul McCartney singing 'Her Majesty' and Queens guitarist Brian May blasting out 'God Save the Queen' . Then he looked over to the late monarch, who was dancing away and not apparently growing tired. On closer inspection, Harry said he noticed that the Queen could not hear anything, because she wore yellow coloured earplugs to block out the 'loud' music. He wrote: 'More than ever before, I wanted to give my Granny a hug.' Harry said he noticed that the Queen could not hear anything at her Diamond Jubilee concert as she wore yellow coloured earplugs to block out the 'loud' music Harry got stoned after his first date with Meghan Harry divulged that he met up with a friend after his date with Meghan to discuss the nights events - and 'out came the tequila. Out came the weed.' They sat and watched the cartoon film Inside Out and Harry described himself as feeling numb ,before writing: 'good weed dude'. He then panicked when his phone rang. It was an impromptu video call from Meghan, which he answered. Harry said that he 'loved' Meghan's freckles before she went on to claim that they would be edited out 'every time' she got snapped. The King's favourite aftershave Prince Harry revealed his father's favourite aftershave is the classic 1960 Dior fragrance Eau Sauvage, which he would 'slather' on. Harry said the aftershave was 'flowery, with a hint of something harsh, like pepper or gunpowder.' He added that the bottle said that the product was made in Paris which made him 'think of mummy'. Moscow Mule 'murderess' Kouri Richins, who allegedly poisoned her husband with a drug-spiked cocktail, looked somber in court on Monday as detectives revealed damning new details in her case. Kouri, 33, from Kamas, Utah, has been accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, 39, after serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule on March 3, 2022. During the first day of her preliminary hearing, Detective Jeff ODriscoll said authorities believe that Kouri's housekeeper Carmen Marie Lauber, 51, sold the mother fentanyl on three separate occasions - including one time after Eric died. O'Driscoll said that although Lauber initially had 'difficulty remembering all the details,' detectives found messages between the women about fentanyl transactions. He could not say for certain that those pills were the ones used to kill Eric. The preliminary hearing will determine if Kouri, who wrote a children's book on grief shortly after her husband's death, will go to trial or not. Kouri Richins, 33, who allegedly poisoned her husband with a drug-spiked cocktail, looked somber in court on Monday as detectives revealed damning new details in her case Kouri, from Kamas, Utah, has been accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, 39, by serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule on March 3, 2022 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 promoted it on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one. In March, Utah State Representative Brett Garner, who was a high school friend of Eric, introduced a new law that would ban convicted murderers from receiving money through a prenup. If the new bill is passed and she is convicted, Kouri could lose millions from the sale of the home she shared with Kevin, and rights to her book. 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 the same night Eric died, Kouri and her mother, Lisa Darden, celebrated her recent closure on the mansion. Kouri owned a real estate company and her husband owned a successful masonry business. Detective Jeff ODriscoll said authorities believe that Kouri's' housekeeper Carmen Marie Lauber, 51, sold the mother fentanyl on three separate occasions - including one time after Eric died Although Lauber had 'difficulty remembering all the details' during her initial police interview, detectives found messages between the women about fentanyl transactions. (pictured: Kouri in court on Monday) One day after his death, affidavits for search warrants showed that Kouri signed the closing papers on the couple's $2million 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 stated. The documents also said 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 $1.9million between 2015 and 2017. Court documents also 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. 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 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 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 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. The housekeeper, Lauber, 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 Lauber 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 Kouri slipped the obscene amount of drugs into Eric's cocktail that night, even though the wife's family said his death was accidental. The preliminary hearing will determine if Kouri will go to trial or not for her late husband's death. (pictured: Kouri in court in May 2024) 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.' Kouri was then slapped with additional charges, 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. Family members for both Richins and her husband are expected to attend her hearing, including her mother and Eric's sisters, KUTV reported. Doctors are quitting the British Medical Association in revolt at its opposition to a landmark review into gender identity services for children. Many members, including NHS leaders and former presidents of medical royal colleges, have voiced their dismay over the report, led by paediatrician Hilary Cass. They have accused the BMA of being influenced by a 'vocal minority' with an ideological agenda. The controversy began when the BMA's 69-member council voted to formally reject the Cass review, which recommended halting the prescription of sex hormones to young patients with gender dysphoria. Many members of the BMA, including NHS leaders and former presidents of medical royal colleges, have voiced their dismay over the report, led by pediatrician Hilary Cass (pictured) Critics within the BMA, including some senior council members, argued that the decision does not represent the views of the broader membership and lacked transparency. Jacky Davis, a consultant radiologist and council member, told The Times: 'This minority has voted to block the implementation of Cass, an evidence-based review which took four years to put together. 'They have no evidence for their opposition. The Cass review is not a matter for a trade union. It is not our business as a union to be doing a critique of the Cass review. It is a waste of time and resources.' In response, more than 1,400 doctors, including nearly 70 professors and 23 former or current presidents of medical royal colleges, signed an open letter urging the BMA to drop its opposition to the Cass review. After Dr Hilary Cass delivered her report on NHS gender identity services for children and young people, many treatments were suspended and activists protested the ban. Pictured is a protest in London on April 20, 2024 Transgender people and their supporters march through central London in a protest against a ban on puberty blockers following the Cass report. Pictured April 20, 2024 Many expressed their frustration, with some resigning or considering resignation from the union. One signatory called for a 'vote of no confidence in BMA leadership' and another commenting that 'activists appear to have been allowed to take over'. Despite the BMA's stance, the NHS remains committed to implementing the review's recommendations. Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of the BMA council, said a 'task and finish' group set up to evaluate the Cass report would report on progress at the end of the year. Vital training for military units is being axed to pay for a salary hike for troops. Ministers have told defence chiefs to save 400 million for the pay rises. Exercises which provide crucial opportunities for troops to practise battlefield skills are being cancelled or scaled back. The move will force soldiers to pretend they are firing weapons rather than using live ammunition. A senior military figure told the Mail: 'Troops will literally be going "bang bang".' The shocking cutbacks were ordered after Defence Secretary John Healey said a long-overdue pay rise for troops must come out of existing budgets. Despite the UK facing possible conflict with Russia and the world growing ever more dangerous, the Government has refused to follow the Tories' lead and commit to a deadline for increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. But it has signed off more than 1 billion of pay rises for junior doctors and train drivers. Vital training for military units is being axed to pay for a salary hike for troops. Ministers have told defence chiefs to save 400 million for the pay rises. Pictured: Soldiers demonstrating an eye tracking virtual behaviour monitoring system in October 2021 in Salisbury, England The shocking cutbacks were ordered after Defence Secretary John Healey, pictured on August 6 this year, said a long-overdue pay rise for troops must come out of existing budgets Tory leadership hopeful and former Army officer Tom Tugendhat said: 'This Government has so far delivered nothing but broken promises. 'We must stand up to the hostile actions of our enemies, including the threats posed by Russia, China and Iran, and provide our front line with the resources, training and equipment they need to defend our great nation. Labour say they're forging a path to 2.5 per cent defence spending, but in reality the only path they're forging is the unions' path to the bank.' Writing in today's Mail, former foreign secretary James Cleverly accused Sir Keir Starmer of 'ducking the tough decisions'. Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves awarded a 6 per cent pay rise for Armed Forces personnel, the biggest for 22 years. With the money to come from existing budgets, rather than extra cash, the Ministry of Defence has dressed up the cutbacks as 'reprioritisations' and insisted its priority is to reduce expenditure on external consultants. However, the Mail has learned that training budgets are also being stripped back. Well-placed sources told how overseas exercises face the axe and top brass have been told to expend fewer rounds and rockets. Exercises which provide crucial opportunities for troops to practise battlefield skills are being cancelled or scaled back. The move will force soldiers to pretend they are firing weapons rather than using live ammunition. Pictured: Soldiers in a training area on October 29, 2019 in Salisbury, England However, the Mail has learned that training budgets are also being stripped back. Well-placed sources told how overseas exercises face the axe and top brass have been told to expend fewer rounds and rockets. Pictured: Army soldiers training in Salisbury, England in 2019 The UK provides Ukraine with about 2.5 billion of ordnance and military training a year, which has significantly reduced stocks. Last night, a senior military figure said: 'Troops will literally be going "bang bang". That's if they even get to go on a large-scale exercise in the next 12 months. 'Money is very, very tight. Military personnel like to be active too if they're doing less, morale suffers. That's bad for retention.' Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt said: 'Cutting cash for training will harm operational readiness and lower troop morale when key exercises are cut back. 'With the serious threat from Russia, the defence budget should be increased to 2.5 per cent of GDP now to increase our deterrent levels and fully fund this pay rise.' Writing in today's Mail, former foreign secretary James Cleverly accused Sir Keir Starmer (pictured on August 1 this year) of 'ducking the tough decisions' Moira Watson-Pickering, whose son Jethro was killed on Salisbury Plain in 2021, added: 'I fear more troops could die if there is even less funding for exercises. 'The success of the Armed Forces comes down to their experience, they have to have as much realistic training as possible. So this is not a good move at all.' The Mail has called for significant increases in Armed Forces investment, to meet the threat posed by Russia, as part of its Don't Leave Britain Defenceless campaign. Last night, the MoD said: 'Armed Forces personnel are receiving their largest pay rise in 22 years. The increase will be funded through reprioritisation and saving measures. We would never compromise on the safety of our personnel.' The British Red Cross was accused last night of being 'hijacked by political extremists' after issuing a controversial 'inclusive' language guide. The 154-year-old charity, which has King Charles as a patron, told staff 'people who are not women' can get pregnant and have periods. Descriptions such as 'born a man or woman' or a 'biological male or female' should be avoided as it could offend transgender or non-binary individuals, said the guide. It added a 'trans woman is as much of a woman' as someone born with female genitalia. Saying 'ladies and gentlemen' is 'not inclusive' along with asking someone about their 'maiden name'. The document even says trans people should be able to use whichever toilets and changing facilities they want. The British Red Cross was accused last night of being 'hijacked by political extremists' after issuing a controversial 'inclusive' language guide The 154-year-old charity, which has King Charles as a patron, told staff 'people who are not women' can get pregnant and have periods The internal guide circulated this summer and leaked to the Mail wants workers to avoid everyday terms like 'illegal migration' and opt for 'person in search of safety' or 'person experiencing migration'. Non-white people should be described as 'from a minoritised ethnic group' or 'global majority' rather than from a 'minority ethnic group'. Esther McVey MP, ex-Tory minister for common sense, said: 'I am sorry the British Red Cross has fallen victim to such woke nonsense. 'One can only hope they go back to spending their money and focus on helping people instead of it being hijacked by political extremists to foist this nonsense on everyone.' Fellow former minister Sir John Hayes MP said he was 'sorry' to see the beloved charity 'stoop so low', adding: 'To pander to this politically correct nonsense is bound to damage its reputation.' John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, pointed out that the charity receives tens of millions of pounds from the government. He added: 'Ministers need to ensure taxpayers' cash is being used to fund frontline services and not radical activism.' The 12-page guide explains it was created as 'language can be harmful, triggering or emotive'. It urges staff to say 'pregnant women and people' so trans men and non-binary people are not excluded. A charity spokesman said the guidance was 'to help staff and volunteers feel more confident when speaking with or writing about different people'. Pictured is a British Red Cross van Esther McVey, who is the ex-Tory minister for common sense, called it 'woke nonsense' Workers are also told to say 'women, girls and people who menstruate' or 'people who have periods' as 'solely referring to women' is not inclusive. The guide promotes 'gender-neutral titles and/or titles that do not indicate a marital status', such as 'Mx'. Terms such as 'everyone', 'folk' or 'all' are seen as more inclusive while staff are told to replace 'he or she' in certain situations with 'they or them'. Terms like 'elderly', 'youngster' and 'pensioner' should be shunned to head off negative stereotypes. A charity spokesman said the guidance was 'to help staff and volunteers feel more confident when speaking with or writing about different people'. In 2022, the British Red Cross received 37.3million from government contracts and 43.95million from government grants, amounting to nearly 20 per cent of its total gross income of 439million. The proportion was down from a peak of nearly 40 per cent in 2020. The Donald Trump assassination task force is leaving Butler, Pennsylvania with more questions than answers after touring the grounds where the ex-president was shot last month. Several in the bipartisan group noted to press their shocked at the sheer proximity of the building where Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, perched close to the rally stage where Trump was speaking on July 13. They climbed up onto the roof of the AGR building where Crooks opened fire just a few hundred feet from the former president and shoot Trump in his right ear. The lawmakers spent time walking around the rally site to 'get an understanding of the physical space' and 'where this security shortcoming took place,' as Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., explained. 'And I'll tell you, for many of us, it raises more questions than we came here with today, because we can see it's not a large place,' she added. 'We can get a sense of the area and just how close these buildings were to that stage where President Trump stood that day. So for all of us, having an opportunity to see and to walk around and experience this, was a really critical step in our investigative process.' Assassination Task Force Chairman Mike Waltz told DailyMail.com that he wishes his colleagues in Congress would 'wait until we finally find out what really has happened, as opposed to getting out early' Ranking Member Jason Crowe (D-Colo.), who served as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, noted the many 'lines of sight that appeared to have been unsecured that day.' 'Certainly at this point, [I have] a lot more questions than answers,' he went on. Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) even disclosed that it's too early to completely rule out 'criminal negligence' in a sign that those responsible for the near-death of the former president, and the murder of rally-goer retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, could face criminal charges. He also told DailyMail.com that he is urging his colleagues in Congress to step aside and let the panel complete their investigation before releasing more information about the attempt on the former president's life by Thomas Matthew Crooks. The chairman is worried that in an effort to produce answers quickly, they might get things wrong and release inaccurate information to the public. Some in Congress are furious that they were not selected for the 13-member panel and are working on their own to try and get answers. Five Republicans who think they should be on the task force including former sniper Cory Mills and GOP firebrand Matt Gaetz, both representing Florida, appeared at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank on Monday just hours before the bipartisan group's second tour of the rally site in Butler. Chairman Kelly told DailyMail.com: 'I would love for them to wait until we finally find out what really has happened, as opposed to getting out early.' Kelly was at the rally where the former president was shot in the ear by the now-deceased 20-year-old. Kelly is now leading the effort to get to the bottom of the security failures that led to the attack. The Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump was created after a unanimous vote in Congress for the formation of a special group to probe the events that day. The members of the bipartisan panel were chosen by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and is led by Chairman Kelly and Ranking Member Crowe. The members are Republican Reps. Mark Green (Tenn.), David Joyce (Ohio), Laurel Lee (Fla.), Mike Waltz (Fla.), Clay Higgins (La.) and Pat Fallon (Texas). And the Democrats are Reps. J. Luis Correa (Calif.), Madeleine Dean (Pa.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Glenn Ivey (Md.) and Jared Moskowitz (Fla.). Lawmakers on the panel toured the site of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on Monday as they try and get to the bottom of the security failures that led to the shooting Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, pictured at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire on the crowd and former president and was shot and killed by the Secret Service Waltz was not present at the task force's second walkthrough on Monday. He was in Chicago as a surrogate for the Donald Trump campaign during the Democratic National Convention last week. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Waltz said he wasn't convinced that Crooks acted alone and suggested a foreign entity like Iran or Pakistan might be involved. But Crowe said at a press conference after the walkthrough that there isn't enough evidence yet to suggest that one way or the other. Also at the press conference, Rep. Lee said: 'It is so important that this task force has the opportunity to do what we did here to actually walk these grounds, to see this area, to get an understanding of the physical space and where this security shortcoming took place.' Meanwhile, a group of five Republicans were at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. holding a hearing-type format where they wanted to present their own findings related to the assassination. The lawmakers holding the event are Republicans Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Cory Mills (Fla.) and Chip Roy (Texas). One guest of the congressmen was former SWAT regional officer Ben Shaffer, a counter sniper who was on the job during the Butler rally. He reaffirmed previous revelations that local law enforcement offered encrypted radios to the Secret Service, which the agency denied to take. Five members of Congress angry that they were not selected for the task force held a hearing-style event at the Heritage Foundation on Monday that sought to find answers about the assassination attempt Trump was shot in the side of the ear. One rally goer was killed and two others were critically injured. Multiple Secret Service agents have been put on leave during the investigation into the assassination attempt, reports reveal Shaffer also claims that the knowledge Crooks was using a rangefinder would have elevated him from a 'person of interest' to someone 'who would have warranted some type of investigatory detention' by agents. Rep. Mills, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, said at the event on Monday in Butler that this 'will not be the last' of its kind. 'This is a message to all of Congress, that if we are not selecting people based on meritocracy, that independent investigations will continue to move forward,' he added. Asked if his colleagues are undermining the task force's efforts, Kelly told DailyMail.com in Butler on Monday: 'As members of Congress, they can do that, but we were the only task force that was put in place by the speaker and the minority leader.' 'I would love for them to wait until we finally find out what really has happened, as opposed to getting out early,' he continued. 'Getting out early is all right, as long as you know when you get out there, what you're saying is actually what took place.' 'We have talented people in Congress right now, and they love to get involved in these things. That's fine, that's fine,' the slightly exacerbated chairman said. 'But there is a task force. It's been appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader.' 'I would like to just give us the time to get in this. We didn't just start today. This started way back in early August.' A Victoria Cross sold at auction holds a remarkable untold tale. For although it was awarded to sailor James Gorman for heroism during the Crimean War, two imposters falsely claimed it had been given to them. Genuine hero Gorman joined the Royal Navy aged 13 in 1848 and was serving on board HMS Albion when Britain was at war with Russia. He was extensively involved in the fighting on land. During the Battle of Inkerman in 1854, the British lines were attacked at night. Gorman was among a handful of men who ignored orders to abandon stricken comrades and declared they were not trusting any Ivan to get in bayonet range of the wounded. He received his Victoria Cross in 1857 and emigrated to Australia a year later. In Sydney, he worked as a drill master, gunnery inspector and a master at arms. He died in 1882. A medal for valour awarded to veteran James Gorman for heroism during the Crimean War Genuine hero Gorman joined the Royal Navy aged 13 in 1848 and was serving on board HMS Albion when Britain was at war with Russia Faker James Devereux, claimed he had joined the Royal Navy using Gorman's name But, with Gorman living 10,000 miles away, two conmen stepped in to assume his identity. First, a sailor also called James Gorman claimed his namesakes VC pension for two-and-a-half years. After being caught in 1859 and jailed in Hong Kong, he was ordered to pay back the cash before being dishonourably discharged. Then, back in England, another sailor, James Devereux, claimed he had joined the Royal Navy using the name James Gorman. He only became James Devereux later, while working as a carpenter. When he died aged 69 in 1889, an obituary in the South London Press stated he had been awarded the VC for conspicuous bravery. The deception was only uncovered in the 1980s. A spokesman for auctioneers Noonans, which sold the medal for 396,800, including fees, in December, said: The situation was put beyond doubt when the Australian descendants of Seaman James Gorman VC came forth with not only a portrait of him wearing his medals but, more importantly, all his medals including the Victoria Cross. Unprotected march is 'in solidarity with the CFMEU' Thousands of tradies across Australia will walk from construction sites to march 'in solidarity with the CFMEU' after the embattled organisation was placed into administration by the federal government. The coalition of unions, known as the Building Industry Group of Unions, will urge their 85,000 Victorian members to ditch their tools from 11am on Tuesday. The unprotected industrial action will see tens of thousands of workers march in coordinated rallies Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Cairns. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has issued a stark warning to those planning to march saying employers are legally required to dock pay by a minimum of four hours from employees who engage in unprotected industrial action. 'Please be aware that if an employee fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the FW Act,' a spokesman said. 'Any person 'knowingly involved' in a contravention of the FW Act is also taken to have contravened that provision. 'Where an employee has engaged in unprotected industrial action, the employer is required under the FW Act to deduct a minimum of four hours wages from the employee, even if the industrial action was less than four hours.' One source told the Herald Sun the march 'was happening' and that the coalition of unions were angry at how the Victorian CFMEU branch had been treated. Thousands of tradies will put down their tools and walk from construction sites to march in solidarity with the embattled CFMEU (pictured, CFMEU unionists in April, 2023) John Setka (pictured) resigned as Victorian secretary of the CMFEU on July 12, 2024 They denied bikies had infiltrated the branch and said members were concerned over speculation employers could throw up 'gold-plated' CFMEU pay deals. The Victorian government said it could not confirm what impacts the project would have on major projects across the state. 'Everyone has a right to protest,' Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said on Sunday. It comes after the Victorian CMFEU branch was put into administration on August 12 following reports of bikies acting as union delegates, including one official earning $250,000 a year as a health and safety officer.' The union's national office has now taken executive control, overriding the state branch, following John Setka's resignation as Victorian secretary. The move resulted in 11 senior union officials across NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland branches losing their jobs, while 270 elected union officials were sacked from unpaid positions. Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt reportedly acknowledged the right to protest but said the construction division of the CFMEU has gone into administration regardless of any industrial action. 'Construction work is hard, dangerous work, and construction workers deserve a union that is strong and effective but also is clean,' Senator Watt told the Herald Sun. 'I think that is in the interest of construction workers and the union movement more generally.' The unprotected industrial action will see hundreds of tradies reportedly march 'in solidarity with the CMFEU' from the city's State Library (pictured, construction workers in Sydney) Senator Watt revealed he had no involvement in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus's decision to put the construction division into administration. 'I had no conversation or discussions with Mark Dreyfus at all,' Senator Watt said on Sunday. 'He made that decision independently, and again, that was done in order to ensure that these laws and these decisions stand up in court.' Employment law expert Professor Andrew Stewart told Daily Mail Australia that CFMEU officials would continue to oversee Victorian building sites despite the organisation being placed in administration. 'There's no legal effect at all, unlike what would happen if, unlikely at present, the union were deregistered,' the University of Adelaide academic said. This means the CFMEU will continue to have a stranglehold on major projects including the Victoria's Labor government's $90billion Big Build program, covering 165 road and rail projects. The victim of an alleged one-punch attack outside a suburban pub has died two weeks after the incident, with the charges against the alleged attacker expected to be elevated to murder. Luke Sweetman, 35, was allegedly assaulted at Peninsula Hotel Motel in Taperoo, Adelaide's north-west, just after midnight on August 10. Mr Sweetman was rushed to hospital with serious injuries and doctors tried for two weeks to save his life before he died on Friday. A 29-year-old man, from nearby Exeter, was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with causing serious harm. He fronted Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on August 12 and was remanded in custody after making no application for bail. South Australian Police announced on Monday they intended to upgrade his charge to murder when the accused fronts court again on Tuesday. The 29-year-old man is expected to appear via video link. The father of one-punch victim Sam Davis and Sammy D Foundation founder Neil Davis said he was 'heartbroken' to hear of Mr Sweetman's death. A pub-goer (pictured, Luke Sweetman) has died weeks after an alleged one-punch attack - with his accused attacker expected to be charged with murder Luke Sweetman, 35, was allegedly assaulted at Peninsula Hotel Motel (pictured), in Adelaide's north-west, just after midnight on August 10 'Our thoughts are with Luke's family and friends as they struggle to comprehend this (allegedly) senseless act of violence, and the inevitability that their lives have now been changed forever,' Mr Davis said in a statement on Monday. Mr Davis created the foundation in the name of his 17-year-old son who died after a one-punch attack in May 2008. 'As the impact of this tragedy ripples through the community, our thoughts are also with those who witnessed the (alleged) assault, the emergency services personnel who responded, as well as the broader community,' Mr Davis said. 'These impacts will be felt for years to come.' A former co-worker of Mr Sweetman took to social media to pay tribute to the 35-year-old who she remembered as a 'sweetheart'. 'I am struggling to wrap my head around this, you were the most lovely kind natured man,' she wrote on Facebook. '(He) always had a kind word to say, always helpful and motivating.' Gentlemen, what would you splash out on if someone gave you thousands of pounds to update your wardrobe? Something a bit more glamorous than a 50 rucksack and a pair of 85 trainers I'm guessing. A designer suit, perhaps, or a pair of handmade shoes? Not Sir Keir Starmer. Despite trousering the best part of 20,000 from millionaire Labour party donor Waheed Alli last April (16,200 for a 'work wardrobe' plus 2,485 spent on 'multiple pairs of glasses' his register of interests reveals) Starmer remains wedded to 'normcore', a look characterised by unpretentious clothing. If you think unremarkability could be a fashion trend, Starmer has nailed it. Practical: At the recent, very wet Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, Sir Keir Starmer even took his own anorak (pictured on June 26) Starmer remains wedded to 'normcore', a look characterised by unpretentious, clothing In March he swapped his 500 Lindberg 5644 glasses for 220 Garrett Leight Hampton 1001s At the recent, very wet Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, Starmer even took his own anorak! He was photographed surrounded by fellow statesmen and women in pacamacs handed out by the organisers. How very British. If clothes send out a message, that midnight blue outerwear presumably conveyed that he's practical and organised the kind of guy who plans ahead. The thought of getting caught out by a downpour, as Rishi Sunak was on the day he announced the general election, probably gives him nightmares. But then Sunak was deemed to be too 'fashion' and his wardrobe choices controversial for their extravagance 490 Prada suede loafers, 335 Common Projects trainers, a 795 Reiss jacket, and a 1,250 Canada Goose parka. Only a few months ago, the former prime minister wore a pair of viral Adidas Samba trainers with suit trousers, prompting uproar from Samba fans, who accused him of ruining their cool credentials. Sunak looked too try-hard, too obviously 'I'm stylish! I'm in the know!' Starmer veers the other way, spending his donation from Lord Alli on 'unremarkable' clothes. He recently swapped his trademark 500 Lindberg glasses for a 240 pair by Garrett Leight. As a man of the people he prefers Adidas's 85 Gazelle trainers, favoured by normcore dads the country over, as well as Brad Pitt and Harry Styles. They are the perfect fusion of just enough cool with 'standard dad at a barbecue'. Pricey: Sir Keir Starmer was spotted wearing a 500 coat on the campaign trail in may on the same day he told voters he 'knows what it feels like to struggle with bills' Relaxed fit: Starmer has not only been spotted with that sturdy 50 Eastpak rucksack but paired it with a 50 England hoodie A 135 black puffer jacket by popular brand The North Face a go-to of both middle-aged geography teachers on rambling holidays in the Lake District and Gen Z fashion influencers is a clever, not-so-cool-it's-cringe choice. Where Rishi favoured a 750 Tumi backpack personalised with his initials, Starmer has not only been spotted with that sturdy 50 Eastpak rucksack but paired it with a 50 England hoodie. While Sunak reputedly owns a Rolex and a Chopard, a recent headline in Esquire magazine declared that 'of course Keir Starmer is a Tissot man' he wears the PRX style by the mid-market brand, whose prices start in the 300 realm, and are the epitome of middle England taste. Menswear commentator Derek Guy concluded in a recent article for GQ that 'There's little to say about Keir Starmer's clothes... his outfits have not gained the same level of controversy [as Rishi Sunak's], as they're never too fashionable or frumpy. They are, quite literally, unremarkable'. Indeed. Even for an interview with British Vogue in July, Starmer paired a 150 jacket with 119.95 trainers by the middle class's go-to suiting brand Charles Tyrwhitt. The Tories are demanding a probe into how former Asos chairman and media mogul Lord Alli received a Downing Street security pass after the general election in July. True blue: As a man of the people he prefers Adidas's 85 Gazelle trainers, favoured by normcore dads the country over, as well as Brad Pitt and Harry Styles On trend: A 135 black puffer jacket by popular brand The North Face So, where has the 16,200 gone, you might ask? Even his most extravagant purchase a 500 bomber jacket by French label Sandro would barely have made a dent in this wardrobe fund. My guess would be he's quietly splashed out on some Savile Row suits. Tailor Renzo Khan reportedly alters Starmer's off-the-peg suits, but maybe now he's gone bespoke. He'll have been clever though. Tell-tell details on Sunak's suits gave away that they were bespoke creations by Henry Herbert costing in the realm of 3,500. Starmer's will be more nondescript. Again, remarkable for their unremarkability. Legend has it that before he became Tony Blair's press secretary and was working as a journalist, Alastair Campbell started a rumour that John Major tucked his shirts into his pants. It is said to have caused irreparable damage to Major's reputation. In recent years, scrutiny of politicians' clothes has only increased. Rishi Sunak may never live down his trouser controversy were they always just a little bit too short or was it a style statement? Starmer's run-of-the-mill dressing might prove foil to such frivolity... but even unremarkability comes with a pricetag. Luckily for Starmer, Lord Alli is happy to foot the bill. Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a Florida court on Monday to revive the documents cases against Donald Trump in the latest twist in the former president's legal battles. Trump claimed a major victory last month when Judge Aileen Cannon delivered a bombshell ruling that Smith had been appointed illegally and had no legal authority to bring the case. But in his appeal, Smith argued that her decision broke with decades of precedent and would upend the work of prosecutors. 'Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law,' Smith and his team wrote. 'The district court's contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.' Special Counsel Jack Smith lodged an appeal Monday to revive the Trump documents case Trump's lawyers challenged Smith's appointment using a little argued theory that the special counsel's office was not set up by Congress and that he was not confirmed by the Senate. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, ruled in their favor, also saying that the office had been funded illegally. But legal experts quickly said her ruling was unlikely to survive appeal. Even so, the decision offered a huge victory for Trump. It came days after he survived an assassination attempt and soon after the Supreme Court said he enjoyed broad criminal immunity for official actions taken during his time in office. The case included dozens of felony charges that Trump had illegally kept classified documents after leaving the White House and then obstructed the government's efforts to retrieve them. An F.B.I. search of his Mar-a-Lago home found hundreds of documents including classified files that should never have been retained. Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 to lead the investigation and to investigate Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. Smith and his team filed an 81-page appeal on Monday trying to revive the case Stacks of government documents found by the FBI at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida The case was one of four criminal cases faced by Donald Trump after leaving office Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The Department of Justice quickly indicated that it would appeal the decision to throw out the charges and would try to revive the case. 'The Court should reverse the dismissal order and remand for further proceedings,' wrote Smith and his team in their 81-page filing. They warned that failing to overturn the ruling would jeopardize other cases brought by the Justice Department and 'call into question hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch.' FBI agents seized boxes of materials marked classified from Trump's Florida club Trump has long attacked the special counsel, calling Jack Smith 'deranged,' and blasted the FBI search of his home At one time the documents case appeared to be the most straightforward and most significant of the four criminal cases against Trump. Evidence includes an audio recording and surveillance video. Two other cases against Trump remain stalled, while a New York jury in May found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded Britain protect Ukraine from Russian drones and missiles in the same way it defended Israel from attack by Iran. The Ukrainian president queried why UK jets shot down Iranian drones earlier this year but let Russia cause huge damage to his country. It came after Russia launched 200 missiles and drones targeting energy facilities in a bid to cripple Ukraine's power network. Six people were killed and thousands sheltered underground as the country was put under air raid alert for hours yesterday. Although many of the North Korean and Iranian-supplied warheads were intercepted by Ukrainian air defence systems, Mr Zelensky admitted 'a lot of damage' was done. Stern-faced: Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded Britain protect Ukraine from Russian drones and missiles in the same way it defended Israel from attack by Iran Firefighters at site of a Russian missile strike in Odesa region, Ukraine on August 26, 2024 Speaking on social media after one of the largest Kremlin attacks on his country's energy supplies, he called for the West to intervene as it does in the Middle East. In April, when Iran fired hundreds of cruise missiles and drones at Israel, the UK and its partners did not stand by. RAF Typhoons were scrambled from bases in Eastern Europe to form a protective shield around Israeli airspace. Downing Street confirmed British fighter jets shot down 'a number of drones' while additional RAF jets were deployed over Iraq and Syria. Justifying this, then prime minister Rishi Sunak said the fallout from a successful Iranian attack 'would be hard to overstate'. So, four months later, president Zelensky felt entitled to wonder why Ukraine was not afforded the same protection. He said: 'We could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours operated in concert with our F-16s and air defence systems. Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on economic issues via video conference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024 People sit on the escalator steps hiding in the Kyiv subway during a massive Russian missile attack on August 26, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine Firefighters work at the site following an air attack in the Kyiv region on August 26, 2024 after Russian drones and missles targeted 15 regions across Ukraine in an overnight barrage 'If such unit has proven effective in the Middle East, it must work in Europe too. Life holds the same value everywhere. We must finally unite to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. 'America, Britain, France and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now.' Mr Zelensky repeated his call for Western nations to let him destroy targets deeper inside Russia. The United States in particular is continuing to prevent him from using long-range rocket systems, supplied by the US, the UK and others, to full potential. Donor countries also insist Ukraine's strikes with the kit must follow international law. Targets in Ukraine including dams, hydropower plants, electricity substations and gas compressor stations were hit, causing power blackouts. Deaths from air strikes were reported in Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Dnipropetrovsk. Mr Zelensky added: 'Putin can only act within the limits the world sets for him. Weakness and inadequate response fuel terror. A residential area during an electricity blackout in Kyiv on August 26, 2024 after Russian shelling. The main targets of shelling were electricity objects, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel Destroyed houses at the site following an air attack, in Kyiv region on August 26, 2024 A damaged residential building after Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine on August 26, 2024 'Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly. Ukraine cannot be constrained when the terrorists face no limitations.' The Russian attack appeared intended to degrade Ukraine's power grid before winter. The Kremlin said its attack was 'successful', insisting Ukraine's energy sector fuelled the conflict. Some 15 Russian missiles and 20 drones were shot down over the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The woman who mysteriously died on the first day of the Burning Man festival just hours after thousands crowded into the faltering desert camp has been identified. Kendra Frazer, 39, was found unresponsive at 11.29am on Sunday when 'life saving measures were immediately attempted but were unsuccessful', organizers say. Frazer's next of kin have been notified but police did not say where the woman was from. The Pershing County Sheriff's Office arrived and confirmed the woman's death, and began investigating 'until a cause and manner can be determined'. 'Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss,' festival organizers said in a statement. 'We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident.' The woman who mysteriously died on the first day of the Burning Man festival just hours after thousands crowded into the faltering desert camp has been identified Authorities say 39-year-old Kendra Frazer was found unresponsive at 11.29am on Sunday and organizers said 'life saving measures were immediately attempted but were unsuccessful' 'The name of the participant is being withheld at this time, until the decedent's next of kin can be notified,' Jerry Allen with the Pershing County Sheriff said. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the decedent. 'This is the first reported death on the playa this year and unfortunately it has happened on day one.' Burning Man organizers said there were counselling services available at the festival for anyone who needed them. 'The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident,' it said. 'The Pershing County Sheriff's office investigates all deaths that occur in its jurisdiction. About a half-dozen other deaths have been reported at the festival since it moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock desert in 1990. Last year, Leon Reece, a 32-year-old California man died from suspected drug intoxication after being found unresponsive on the festival grounds. Burning Man organizers said there were counselling services available at the festival for anyone who needed them About a half-dozen other deaths have been reported at the festival since it moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock desert in 1990 The festival, which combines wilderness camping with a weeklong celebration of art for art's sake, kicked off early Sunday after the gates had been closed for 12 hours following rain and muddy conditions. An estimated 20,000 people were already on the playa before the gates officially opened to all ticket-holders. Burning Man runs through Sept. 2 . Organizers expect more than 70,000 people to attend this year's event. Known for its colorful theme camps, towering sculptures, drum circles, art cars and avant-garde theatrics, it grew from a gathering of about 4,000 in 1995 to 50,000 in 2010 and now temporarily becomes Nevada's third-largest city after metropolitan Las Vegas and Reno. The iconic festival is feared to be on its last legs, with demand for tickets at an all-time low just a week before the event begins. Fed-up revelers fled Nevada's Black Rock Desert last year after torrential rain turned the event into a muddy mess - and now it seems the magic has been lost. Burning Man tickets are usually in hot demand but in an unprecedented move, the festival has released last-minute tickets. While organizers behind the week-long festival, which has been known for drug usage and huge orgies, are making desperate attempts to sell tickets, a Facebook group is consumed with people trying to flick theirs off. The festival, which combines wilderness camping with a weeklong celebration of art for art's sake, kicked off early Sunday after the gates had been closed for 12 hours following rain and muddy conditions A security guard keeps people back during the annual Burning Man Festival on September 4, 2023 Prices start at $575 before taxes and fees, with vehicle passes costing around an additional $150. This time around, people are willing to sell them for below face value or the 'best offer' for the festival on August 25. Burning Man is famed for being an anti-capitalist festival - but many of its longtime revelers are now complaining of being bilked out of cash for tickets they bought at full price. One person even offered him $200 for the ticket as he frustratingly responded to them with: 'Decommodification goes both ways.' According to the '10 Principle of Burning Man,' or the festival's principles, decommodification 'protects Burning Man culture from being leveraged to promote, support or market a person, product, company or any kind of commercial endeavor.' During last year's festival, partygoers lashed out at each other after organizers begged those trying to leave the filthy encampment to have patience amid panic over water and food shortages. Attendees were initially ordered not to leave after the exit roads were impassable following a half-inch of rain. Those who opted to leave before the 'the burn,' in which the festival namesake effigy is set alight, waited in five-hour queues until they reached the open road. People were urged to not attempt to walk from the festival, with celebrity attendees including Chris Rock, actor Austin Butler and DJ Diplo making their escape. Due to the heavy rain and muddy conditions, personnel were delayed in responding to a distress call for Reece, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The festival contended with an intense heat wave and strong winds in 2022, which made the experience difficult for the 'burners,' as festival goers are known. The gathering, which originated as a small function in 1986 on a San Francisco beach, has a budget of $45million and is attended by celebrities and social media influencers. No financial transactions take place, with guests encouraged to barter to get what they need. Longtime Burning Man attendees complained the festival had been gentrified and ruined in recent years, before the 2024 slump in demand. Donald Trump has promised to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president. The Republican nominee told the National Guard Association of the United States in Detroit that a reserve force is critical for defense in outer space. Fears of Russia developing nuclear weapons to use specifically in space have ramped up in recent months. Space is also becoming a vital area of national security as adversaries develop their celestial military capabilities. Trump set up Space Force in December 2019 to form the first new branch of the military since 1947, when the Air Force became its own entity. Donald Trump has promised to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president Now he wants it to include a primary combat reserve, and announced his plans at an event where he scored an endorsement by former Democratic congresswoman and presidential nominee, Tulsi Gabbard. 'One of my proudest achievements in my first term was to create Space Force, the first new branch of the Armed Forces in over 70 years,' he told about 4,000 group members on Monday. The time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force,' he added. 'So as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a space National Guard'. Space Force operates under the Air Force, in a similar way to how the Marines are part of the Department of Navy. The idea of a Space Force National Guard has already been floated under the Biden administration. But plans have already hit roadblocks in Congress and with the Pentagon and state officials. The governors of 48 states - including Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz -and five U.S. territories said they opposed the plan of moving thousands of reserve troops to focus on space missions in April. Joe Biden had proposed incorporating around 700 Air National Guard members into the Space Force. But the governors said the plan would undermine their authority and impact 'longstanding partnerships' and 'military readiness'. Trump set up Space Force in December 2019 to form the first new branch of the military since 1947, when the Air Force became its own entity. He unveils the flag in the Oval Office in 2020 Space Force, as of 2023, has 14,000 military and civilian members known as 'Guardians'. Roles carried out by the agency - which encompasses a multitude of space functions across the Department of Defense - include satellite acquisition and making sure GPS systems and communications are accessible. In April, Space Force conducted its first test of a ground-based warfare system to protect to against 'space-enabled' attacks from the likes of Russia and China. The device, which looks like a satellite dish, was designed to jam orbiting satellite communication by overloading the airwaves with competing signals. Moscow has already shown how it can be lethal from space by testing a hit-to-kill anti-satellite missile in 2021. Russia smashed a defunct spy satellite launched in 1982 into 1,500 pieces of debris in the strike and sparked fury around the world. The US Space Force's Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) began testing the Remote Modular Terminal (RMT), a satellite jamming device meant to protect troops from satellite-based attacks, earlier this year Space Force and Air Force personnel manage RMT equipment during a test of the new system. The devices are made to be deployed in large numbers and operated remotely. In 2020, Moscow fired an anti-satellite weapon from its Cosmos 2543 satellite while in orbit. Vladimir Putin has also threatened the West with his deadliest hypersonic missile yet that could speed into space and hit multiple targets on the ground. The nuclear-capable Avangard missile, which is reported to be able hit targets at 27 times the speed of sound, is seen in new footage installed in an underground launch silo in Russia's Orenburg region. The 20,000mph missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle will be able to leave the earth's atmosphere before striking any target in the world in less than 30 minutes, according to Moscow. A mother, her boyfriend, and an uncle are all facing child endangerment charges after handcuffing a six-year-old who was then mauled by a pit bull. The incident happened Saturday, August 17, at a home in Northeast Ohio, where deputies received a call about the boy after he had been bitten by the pit bull. In court, Angelina Williams, the boy's mother, argued that she did not know it was illegal to handcuff a child, after she and the other defendants allegedly did so as punishment after he failed to clean up after the dog. He was bitten on the neck, ear, and flown to a hospital, but is expected to recover, his grandmother said. Robert Michalski Jr., the boy's uncle, was identified as the owner of the dog and the residence where the attack took place, where Williams's boyfriend, Taylor Desiree Marvin Brown, was also present for a family visit. Scroll down for video: Angelina Williams, the boy's mother, said that she did not know it was illegal to handcuff a child Taylor Desiree Marvin Brown (left), Williams' boyfriend, and Robert Michalski Jr. (right), the boy's uncle, were also charged, with the latter owning the house where the incident took place, as well as the dog 'The dog is not even my dog. The cuffs are not even my cuffs,' Williams argued in court in Ashland County on Wednesday, insisting that she did not know it was illegal to handcuff a child. 'I didn't even know the cuffs were illegal or anything was wrong with it. 'My uncle told me it was OK.' Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell, meanwhile, painted a picture that sought to provide a backdrop for the disturbing chain of events, which culminated with the boy being attacked shortly after he was handcuffed. 'This defendant and the co-defendants handcuffed him, both hands, and then applied a second set of cuffs to his feet,' Tunnell told the judge during the trio's initial hearing. 'They were in the process of using a rope to try and tie him to a chair when he came off the chair and then, while on the ground, was attacked by a pit bull.' He added how Williams and two other co-defendants handcuffed the child at the home that Saturday simply because he did not clean up after the dog. Williams maintained she did not know she did anything wrong. 'I never meant any harm,' she said. 'I really didn't.' The six-year-old victim, seen here with a different dog, was bitten on the neck, ear, and flown to a hospital, but is expected to recover 'The dog is not even my dog. The cuffs are not even my cuffs,' Williams argued in court in Ashland County on Wednesday, insisting that she did not know what she was doing was wrong The prosecutor added how Williams's daughter was also present, but was not involved in the attack. Williams does not have custody of either child but had them both at the time for a scheduled visit, and their father was not identified. The boy's grandmother, asking not to be named, told WSAZ-3 how her grandson is expected to recover, despite the horrifying nature of the incident. 'I come in, and I look at my grandson who is sitting on the floor and - not to cuss - I'm like, "Why the f**k does he have handcuffs on?" she said, recalling how she told the three defendants, 'Get them off of him, now.' She also described how she jumped in to help him, showing the bite marks left on her hands in the process. Still, compared to her grandson, she said she 'got lucky'. 'It was just a reaction, when the dog did it. I automatically just reached down. I saw where the dog was going, like it went in slow motion,' she said. Following the attack, the boy's mom, her boyfriend, and the owner of the dog were all arrested - however, according to The Ashland County Sheriff, Michalski and the dog left before deputies arrived. Detectives added that the child had been restrained with two sets of handcuffs, on both his hands and feet, when the dog attacked. The incident happened Saturday, August 17, at this home in Northeast Ohio, on Chapel Street in Ashland County The boy's grandmother was also there and allegedly jumped to his rescue, and received bites in the process The residence belongs to the boy's uncle, who was found shortly after deputies descended on the scene hiding in a cubbyhole with the dog, who was taken into custody as well Deputies said the dog and its owner were found shortly after deputies descended on the scene, hiding in a cubbyhole. Williams is charged with endangering children, while Michalski is charged with endangering children and tampering with evidence. Brown, meanwhile, is charged with endangering children and obstruction of justice, and had his bond set at $250,000, Michalskis bond was set at $150,000, while Willams' was set at $300,000. The boy's grandmother on Monday said that she's just grateful he is recovering, more than a week after his ordeal. 'He's a sweetheart. He really is,' she said, as the pit bull was taken into custody to be housed as a vicious dog. The investigation into the incident remains ongoing, and is currently with the Ashland County Prosecutor's Office. Sicily has put the mafia out of business, at least in the souvenir shops. The island has ordered a ban on the sale of mafia-themed merchandise to combat negative stereotypes. Authorities argue that items depicting Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather and other trinkets that trivialise the violent history of the Sicilian mafia tarnish the island's reputation. In Agrigento, a major tourist destination known for its ancient Greek temples, Mayor Francesco Micciche has decreed that shops must stop selling such merchandise. He said that these products 'humiliate the community, which has for years been committed to spreading the culture of legality.' The ban covers any item that praises or references the mafia or organised crime, with police set to inspect shops and impose fines on those that do not comply. Authorities argue that items depicting Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather (pictured, right) and other trinkets that trivialise the violent history of the Sicilian mafia tarnish the island's reputation In Agrigento, a major tourist destination known for its ancient Greek temples, Mayor Francesco Micciche has decreed that shops must stop selling such merchandise. Pictured: The ancient Greek Concordia temple in Agrigento The crackdown extends beyond Agrigento. Sicily's regional government has ordered airports across the island, including those in Palermo, Catania, and Trapani, to remove mafia-themed souvenirs from their shops. Alessandro Arico, the councillor responsible for transport and infrastructure, said there was a need to 'maintain a dignified image stripped of the usual negative stereotypes,' particularly at entry points like airports. This is not the first attempt to curb the sale of such items. Last year, the regional government banned ferries to and from Sicily from selling mafia-themed trinkets. The Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, has long been linked to organised crime, with roots tracing back to the 19th century. The Prime Minister has cancelled the appointment of a top general as National Security Adviser, raising fears he will choose a more politically loyal candidate instead. Sir Keir Starmer has quietly overturned Rishi Sunak's decision to hand General Gwyn Jenkins the most senior security position in the Government. Some in Whitehall suspect his move to reopen the recruitment process shows the determination of the PM and his chief of staff Sue Gray to promote allies to key roles. 'The process to appoint Jenkins was run with full transparency, and there is no good reason to do it all over again,' one official told The Guardian. Sir Keir Starmer has quietly overturned Rishi Sunak's decision to appoint General Gwyn Jenkins to the most senior security position in the Government General Jenkins (pictured with former defence secretary Ben Wallace)was to succeed Tim Barrow as National Security Adviser Another person involved in the appointment of General Jenkins, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, said Sir Keir's decision was a 'mistake'. General Jenkins was given the job of National Security Adviser in April to succeed Tim Barrow, who was in line to be made Britain's ambassador to Washington. But that process was abandoned after the election with Sir Keir keen to appoint a Labour grandee to the prestigious diplomatic role instead. Meanwhile ministers have been accused of a cover-up over the promotion of a Treasury official with long-standing links to the Chancellor. Louise Tinsley an adviser to Rachel Reeves for five years was appointed Director of Special Advisers and Chancellor Engagement in July. However when a Tory MP asked for a list of all the senior civil service jobs handed out since the election was called, her name was not included in the list. Smart tech powers dairy production in northwest China Xinhua) 09:59, August 26, 2024 YINCHUAN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Inside a farm in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, three predominantly white, robust cows stand out for being cloned. "The three were born just before the 2023 Spring Festival. They are very healthy and have reached the expected weight," said Wang Bingke, a doctoral student of veterinary medicine at Northwest A&F University. Around 70 percent of China's high-quality dairy cattle breeds are imported, Wang said, noting that when his research team discovered a high-yield Holstein cow producing over 18 tonnes of milk annually, they knew they had struck gold. The cow became the donor for the three cloned calves now being raised on the farm of Ningxia Saishang Muyuan Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. in the city of Lingwu. "This breakthrough can promote the regeneration and expansion of super dairy cows, creating a high-yield breeding population while reducing dependence on imported breeds," Wang said. Ningxia boasts a latitude of 38 degrees north, known as the golden milk source belt where the climatic conditions are very suitable for the growth of dairy cows. By breeding high-quality cattle, standardizing large-scale farming and establishing premium forage bases, the region's dairy industry is advancing toward higher-end, green and more intelligent development. In addition to the cloned cows, Saishang Muyuan owns a high-tech milking carousel, where hundreds of black-and-white cows step on, complete the milking process in one rotation, and step off in an orderly sequence. "We have two state-of-the-art BouMatic carousel milking systems, each with 80 stations, completing a rotation in an average of 2 minutes and 45 seconds," said Zhou Shuai, farm manager at Saishang Muyuan. "Each cow on the carousel is automatically identified by its ID code, and the milk yield per session and cumulative daily yield are displayed on a computer screen in different colors," he added. In 2023, Ningxia had 920,000 dairy cows, producing 4.3 million tonnes of fresh milk, making it a key base for premium milk and high-end dairy products in China. With the high-quality development of Ningxia's dairy industry, the region aims to have 1.1 million dairy cows and produce 5.5 million tonnes of fresh milk by 2025, achieving a total industrial chain output value of 100 billion yuan (14 billion U.S. dollars). Chinese dairy giant Mengniu Dairy, leveraging local resources, partnered with authorities in Ningxia's Yinchuan and Lingwu cities to build the world's largest liquid milk factory. Once full-scale production begins, the factory will operate 24 advanced high-speed production lines, producing 1 million tonnes of milk annually, all managed by a staff of just 100. Visitors to the factory can view the entire production line through glass walls, witnessing an operation defined by efficiency. Gleaming silver pipelines and swiftly moving production lines work seamlessly, with robots and mechanical arms filling, packing, sealing and transporting products, all with minimal human presence in the vast production hall -- no wastage, just precision in motion. The factory operates under a full automation system that can be initiated with a single click by one person in the control room, said Yuan Jiuzheng, director of intelligent manufacturing at Mengniu Dairy. "It's like giving the factory a smart brain." (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Australians on average incomes are more likely to support big cuts to immigration as surging population growth causes a housing crisis, new data has revealed. Migration Watch Australia has commissioned a survey which showed 76 per cent of respondents wanted a cap on international student numbers. In 2023, 733,370 international students came to Australia. That figure continues to grow with 428,790 international students on a visa arriving in the first six months of 2024. International students make up the bulk of long-term arrivals, classified as foreigners coming to Australia for at least 12 months, with Australia in the grip of a rental crisis. The Compass Polling data of 1,015 respondents, commissioned by Migration Watch Australia, showed those on average incomes of $100,000 were more likely to favour hard caps on international student arrivals. This included young men aged 25-34, earning $90,000 to $130,000 with a bachelor degree. But women aged 35-44 with post-graduate degrees, earning $130,000 to $230,000 were opposed to capping international student numbers. Migration Watch Australia has commissioned a survey of showing 76 per cent of respondents wanted a cap on international student numbers (pictured is the University of New South Wales) So were Labor-voting men in the same age group on a similarly high income. Women earning more than $230,000 a year- among the top 2.3 per cent of income earners, were also opposed to caps on international student numbers. Nine out of 10 online survey respondents this month agreed that fixing the housing crisis was more important than educating foreign students. But postgraduates and high income earners were among the few groups who disagreed with that question. Three quarters of respondents also wanted vocational education programs removed from international student visas. Migration Watch Australia founder Jordan Knight said the high number of international students was worsening Australia's rental crisis. 'This is at a time when Australians are going homeless, when wages are flat, rentals are impossible to find, and roads are full,' he said. 'The big universities are wrong. This isn't populist or emotional. 'Calls for hard caps are logical. The Labor government brought in record numbers of people since they came in, and minor tweaks won't fix this. It's time for hard caps.' Migration Watch Australia founder Jordan Knight said the high number of international students was worsening Australia's rental crisis Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government announced plans to slash international student numbers in the May Budget. The Group of Eight, representing Australia's most prestigious universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, has been lobbying the government against its proposals to cut international student numbers. Education was Australia's fourth biggest export in 2023 after iron ore, coal and natural gas, making it the biggest service sector sold to overseas customers. Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson argued putting caps on international student numbers would compromise a $48billion export industry. 'Imposing caps on international student enrolments will have long lasting, damaging consequences for our economy, our capacity to attract the highest-quality students, our skilled workforce and Australia's international reputation,' she said in July. The federal government announced plans to slash international student numbers in the May Budget (stock image of UNSW students) Education Minister Jason Clare this month ruled out capping international students at 40 per cent of all enrolments. But Australia is enduring a rental crisis with capital cities having an ultra-tight rental vacancy rate in July of just 1.3 per cent, SQM Research data showed. Australia's population growth of 2.5 per cent in 2023 was the fastest since the early 1950s as a record 547,300 migrants flooded in, with departures factored in. The economy has also been in a per capita recession since the middle of last year, where output for every Australian has been going backwards. 'Australians are seeing their living standards implode under the weight of immigration-fueled population explosion, and they know the government isn't doing enough,' Mr Knight said. 'They want tougher action.' It was an unexpected family tragedy which changed the life of the Duke of Gloucester for good. Prince Richard, the late Queen's quiet and unassuming first cousin, turns 80 today, less than three months after marking half a century as a royal duke. The lifetime of duty he had never envisaged was mapped out in August 1972, when his elder brother - the dashing Prince William - died in a plane crash. Born in the last year of the Second World War, Richard was the younger son of Prince Henry - the brother of King George VI - and his wife, Princess Alice, daughter of the wealthy 7th Duke of Buccleuch. The youngest of George V's nine grandchildren, Richard was 5th in line to the throne at the time of his birth. Despite this senior ranking it was never assumed that he would become a full-time working royal. The Duke of Gloucester, the late Queen's quiet and unassuming first cousin, turns 80 today, less than three months after marking half a century as a royal duke. Above: Attending the Order of the Garter service in June 2022 On the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside his wife Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, during Trooping the Colour in June this year As well as being in the shadow of his older brother, by the time he was 20 Queen Elizabeth had given birth to four children and Princess Margaret had a son and daughter. It meant that Richard was becoming increasingly unimportant when it came to the royal pecking order. Princess Alice later recalled: 'As parents, we could never quite make out whether our children were supposed to lead royal lives at the command of the Queen or were free to follow professional careers of their choice.' Her own life was divided between royal duties and caring for Prince Henry, who became completely dependent following a series of strokes in 1968. Two years later, Prince William resigned from service abroad with the Foreign Office to run the family estate at Barnwell, Northamptonshire. He also took on some of his father's official responsibilities. Richard meanwhile, as another royal 'spare', could do more or less what he liked. Prince Richard pictured with his elder brother, Prince William, in 1958. William was killed in a plane crash in 1972 Prince Richard and Prince William of Gloucester at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953 Prince William at a 1970 polo match at Windsor. He was a pilot who competed at air shows How the Daily Mail covered Prince William's fatal air crash Prince Richard (seated) is seen with his father Prince Henry, mother Princess Alice and brother Prince William at Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire, in 1950 Prince William of Gloucester, left, with younger brother Richard at Barnwell Manor Prince Richard, later the Duke of Gloucester, on his way to his job at the Ministry of Public Building and Works in 1966 Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, leaves hospital after having an operation for a detached retina, 1978 Prince Richard seen outside his home in 1971, before he had any inkling that he was so succeed his father as the Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard and his bride Birgitte seen on their wedding day in July 1972 at St Andrew's Church, Barnwell, Northamptonshire. This was just weeks before the death of his brother After studying architecture at Cambridge University, he became a partner with Hunt Thompson Associates in London. It was while he was studying at Cambridge that he met Birgitte van Deurs, a Danish lawyer's daughter who was attending a local language school. Their romance continued when she moved to London in 1971 to become a secretary at the Danish Embassy. The couple married near the family seat, Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire, in July 1972. Prince William had been their best man and a month before the wedding had enjoyed a holiday with Richard, Birgitte and Princess Alice in Kenya. Prince and Princess Richard, as they were to be known, set up home in Camden, and were prepared for a relatively normal, uneventful life. Then tragedy struck. Just two days after Richard's 28th birthday, news reached them that William's plane had crashed while he was competing in an air race, the Goodyear International Trophy at Halfpenny Green, near Dudley in the West Midlands. The prince and his co-pilot, Lieutenant-Commander Vyrell Mitchell, were killed instantly and so badly burned that both had to be identified from dental records and personal belongings. Richard and Birgitte's young life of quiet domesticity was shattered in an instant. Instead of commuting to work as plain Mr Gloucester on his motorbike, he now had to run the Barnwell estate and take on more royal duties. He summed it up in an interview at the time: 'One part of me is an architect, one is now a farmer, and one is a Royal Prince, really in that order. 'Being all three does pose certain strains. But I hope to be able to fit all three together.' For a time, he did juggle his responsibilities successfully. In 1971 he took photos of a selection of London's open-air sculpture, for his book 'On Public View'. The Duke and Duchess have three children together: son Alexander (born 1974) and daughters Lady Davina (right - born 1977) and Lady Rose (born 1980). Above: The family in 1989 The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester with their Daughter, Lady Rose Windsor, at their home, Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire, in 1989 Lady Rose Windsor and her father the Duke of Gloucester at her wedding to George Gilman, which took place at the Queen's Chapel near St James's Palace on July 19, 2008 Two years later he released 'The Face of London', an illustrated book on the capital's architecture. The death of Prince Henry in June 1974 was another watershed moment in Richard's life. He and Birgitte had already moved from Camden into the splendour of a Kensington Palace apartment that was once home to his aunt, Princess Marina. Tragedy was mixed with joy as, the same week the old Duke died, the couple announced that Birgitte was pregnant with their first child. Alexander, Earl of Ulster, was born on October 24, 1974. His arrival was followed by two daughters, Davina in 1977 and Rose in 1980. Each of them have had two children of their own, giving Richard and Birgitte six grandchildren in all. So, after his father's death, Richard swapped the life of a part-time city architect for that of a full-time working royal. He became His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester The Duke would become associated with over 150 organisations, some of them to do with architecture. He also represented the late Queen as far back as the wedding of Crown Prince Birendra of Nepal in 1970 and attended the independence celebrations of the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Vanuatu. More recently, he represented Her Majesty at the Funeral of King Tupou V of Tonga in March 2012; at the Vatican for the Inauguration of Pope Francis on 19 March 2013; and in South Korea for the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Korean War Armistice in July 2013. The Queen made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1974 and a Knight of the Garter in 1997. Quiet, understated and committed to royal duty, the Duke of Gloucester was a first cousin to Her Late Majesty The Queen. Above: The pair in 2012 The Duke of Gloucester is seen with his cousins the Duke of Kent (centre) and Prince Michael of Kent on the day of the Queen's funeral The Duke of Gloucester depart the Order of the Garter service at Windsor Castle on June 17, 2024 Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester and Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester depart the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester feature with other senior royals in one of the official photographs taken on the day of the King's Coronation, May 2023 The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester make their way to their seats at the King's Coronation, May 2023 As he has approached the start of his ninth decade, the Duke has shown little sign of slowing down. Both he and the Duchess carry out hundreds of engagements every year as working members of the Royal Family. Their devotion to royal service was rewarded last year with a place in the carriage procession to Buckingham Palace following King Charles' Coronation. In June, Richard and Birgitte had a place on the Buckingham Palace balcony at Trooping the Colour. Their meaningful engagements, which receive minimal press attention, have been especially integral this year amid the cancer treatment that both the King and the Princess of Wales are undergoing. When he took over the dukedom in 1974, Richard explained: 'You can never reject your heritage. I have a job to do. I can only do my best.' Half a century later, as he celebrates his landmark birthday, he is still continuing to do his best. He was the princely spare who married a beautiful foreigner without any aristocratic credentials. Eclipsed by his dashing elder brother, Prince William, he chose to pursue a career outside the constraints of royal life. But when tragedy struck, duty beckoned. And unlike a rather more notorious second sibling of modern times, Prince Richard, later Duke of Gloucester, turned to embrace his destiny without complaint. Even today, as he turns 80, Queen Elizabeths cousin is one of the monarchys most hardworking members, undertaking close to 200 public engagements annually. Moreover, neither he, nor his elegant Danish wife, Birgitte a lawyers daughter who worked as a nine-to-five secretary before their marriage has ever uttered a word in public about their lives at the heart of the Royal Family. Eclipsed by his dashing elder brother, Prince William (right), the Duke chose to pursue a career outside the constraints of royal life At the Order Of The Garter Service At Windsor Castle. On either side of Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, is Prince William and his uncle, the now Duke of Edinburgh The Duke of Gloucester in a photo taken by his daughter, Lady Rose Gilman, at their cottage in Gloucestershire And yet what a story they could tell for Prince Richard was arguably the first royal trailblazer of the modern age. A man who, say friends, has lived his life with total independence, absolute authenticity and unfettered loyalty to the Crown. Though he was standing with the King on the Buckingham Palace balcony after his Coronation, he is someone who can walk down the street unrecognised and will hop on the train to royal engagements without fanfare. At Kensington Palace, he can often be seen wandering around after his dog, poo bag in hand. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Prince Richard Alexander Walter George was born fifth in line to the throne as one of George Vs nine grandchildren. To put it in perspective, thats Prince Harrys position in the order of succession today (although Richard has since slid down to 31st). Two of his father Prince Henrys elder brothers became king: Edward VIII (wholater abdicated) and George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth. His mother, Princess Alice, the late Duchess of Gloucester, was the daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch, Scotlands largest landowner. The family was so grand they had their own train to take them between homes. But Eton-educated Richard remains, say friends, the most unaffected man you could meet. Bernard Hunt, who was a fellow student at Magdalene College, Cambridge, recalls how, while he arrived in 1963 with a chauffeur who would also deliver tuck boxes from the familys Northamptonshire home, Barnwell Manor Prince Richard quickly became just one of the guys. Mr Hunt suggests Richards father, not always the easiest character, had been very conscious of the constraints in his life. One brother abdicated, which was a profound shock to the entire family, the other became King, he explains. So the Duke was happy for Richard, his younger son, to pursue his own dreams. After three years studying architecture during which time he went to a tea party and met the love of his life, Birgitte, who was studying at a language school in Cambridge Prince Richard stayed on for postgraduate study. He bought a house in the city for himself and his friends. It was known as Vic Street and they put posters of Che Guevara and Chairman Mao on the walls. Richard just said look come and stay, Mr Hunt recalls. He didnt accept any rent, just let us all hang out. It was half converted, so we worked on the rest and lived there as a kind of commune. Afterwards, the young royal went off travelling the world, sending his friend amusing postcards Mr Hunt still treasures. When he returned after six months he joined Mr Hunt as a partner in his architectural practice in North London, Hunt Thompson Associates. The Crown Estate offered him a magnificent villa overlooking Regents Park. Instead, he insisted on buying his own flat in a not very salubrious part of Camden Town, which enabled him to walk to work and to provide privacy for Birgitte to stay over. Tragically, however, the normality was fleeting. Just a year into his job and just weeks after he and Birgitte married in the local parish church in Northamptonshire his elder brother, heir to the dukedom, was killed while racing his plane aged 30. On his wedding day in 1972 to his Danish wife, Birgitte a lawyers daughter who worked as a nine-to-five secretary before their marriage Prince Richard Alexander Walter George (in his mother's arms, with his brother, William, left) was born fifth in line to the throne as one of George Vs nine grandchildren Henry, Duke of Gloucester with his wife, Alice, and sons, William and Richard (right) at Barnwell Manor, in the late 1950s The bodies of Prince William dubbed The James Bond Prince for his dashing looks and glamorous lifestyle and his co-pilot were badly burned and could only be identified from dental records. Mr Hunt, who was staying at Barnwell Manor when the terrible news came, recalls that when William died, everything changed. Devastated by the loss of his brother, Richard, then aged 28, had to give up the job he adored and swap his flat for the gilded cage of a Kensington Palace apartment. Friends say they never heard him utter a single word of protest. Thats just not his style. Two years later, in 1974, he inherited the family Dukedom after the death of his father, the last surviving child of King George V and Queen Mary. His transformation into full-time working royal was complete. He pursued his new duties with quiet diligence, and is currently associated with more than 150 charities and organisations. Some reflect his professional and personal interests, including heritage and architecture, but he has also travelled overseas extensively, particularly on behalf of his late cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Claire Walker, National Churches Trust chief executive, says of their vice-patron: I do think he is one of the unsung heroes of the Royal Family. He just comes in, is absolutely charming, does an excellent job and doesnt want any fuss. She recalls how a member of staff once arrived for an engagement in a taxi and the driver refused to take a credit card, so the Duke fished in his pocket for a 20 note to pay. A Royal carrying their own cash, heaven forbid! Dr Nicola Stacey, of the Heritage of London Trust, talks of his passion and knowledge and tells how he once shared his egg mayonnaise sandwich with her when he noticed she hadnt been served any food at an event. Julie Spence, Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, has worked with him for years. She is impressed by his knowledge of his subject matter as well as his ability to give off-the-cuff speeches from a couple of lines of scribbled notes. On engagements he is partial to an apple juice and a slice of chocolate cake if he can find one. According to Mrs Spence, his private secretary Lt Col Alastair Todd has been asked by the Duchess to ensure her husbands weight stays in check. Chocolate cake is definitely banned but everyone wants to sneak one in because he loves them, she says. At the races at Epsom with the late Queen Mother The Gloucesters with their children, Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster, Lady Davina Lewis and Lady Rose Gilman, in the 1980s Prince William, King Charles, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (in uniform, third from left), Princess Anne, Princess Royal and Prince Harry walk behind the coffin during the procession for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 The Duchess, with whom he celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2022, is described by friends as the other half of his soul. They still sweetly turn up to royal engagements hand-in-hand. The couple have three children: Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster, Lady Davina Lewis and Lady Rose Gilman, as well as six grandchildren, none of whom pursue royal duties or any kind of public lives. They could all have chosen to live more in the spotlight but dont, which I think says a lot, another family friend adds. Prince Richards reputation for normality even stretches to his finances: when he and Birgitte became engaged she sported an inexpensive ring he had bought because she loved it so much. Im not buying another, he said firmly. This year he sold his familys beloved Northamptonshire estate, Barnwell Manor for 4.75 million, having rented it out since 1995 to pay family death duties. His mother, Princess Alice, even moved in with her son and his wife at Kensington Palace until she died in 2004, just short of her 103rd birthday, to save cash. Their former 21-room home, Apartment 1, made them neighbours of a young William and Catherine. But in 2019 they quietly moved into a more modest apartment, The Old Stables, supposedly to make way for Harry and Meghan who, of course, never took up residence after their spectacular family fall-out. The Gloucesters were adored by the late Queen Elizabeth, and the King has been so grateful for the Dukes diligence and constancy that he awarded him the patronage of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He also made the Duchess of Gloucester a member of the Order of the Garter, like her husband. His Majesty has deep affection and particular gratitude at the way both he and Duchess have stepped up since his cancer diagnosis, particularly when he was unable to do as many public duties as he would have liked, a source tells me. They are hard workers, and that is greatly appreciated. They are low key, low maintenance and endearingly loyal. The Dukes friend Mr Hunt believes the key to his success has always been his lack of ego. Some of the things he has done over the years have been revolutionary in their own way, he argues. He studied, he went into a profession in the days you were only ever allowed to join the military or the Foreign Office, bought his own house and married a commoner. It was all quite unthinkable and really rather radical then. And yet no-one blinked an eye as he didnt make a song and dance about it. Hes not a natural trailblazer but I would argue hes been an incredibly influential figure in the evolution of the modern monarchy. Its truly extraordinary when you reflect on it. It is a lesson that certainly has resonance today. And one that, as a well-placed source tells me archly, shows how it is possible to make the most of being a spare. A decorated FBI agent in Texas has been revealed as the man who was shot and killed by police last week as he broke windows at a Texas high school. The family of retired agent Julio Cordero, 56, identified him as the person who was shot at Franklin High School in El Paso after school district police claim there was an 'altercation,' reported KTSM. Cordero's relatives confirmed his son is a senior at the school, and they explained the accomplished former law enforcement officer had been battling mental health issues for years leading up to this. It's unclear if he was still living with his family, or if he was armed when he appeared on the school campus last week. Police were called to the campus just before 6 a.m. Aug. 22 after someone reported a man had been smashing windows. When a cop with the school district arrived, he claimed the man there was some sort of altercation, although the El Paso Independent School District has not released details about it. Classes were cancelled that day as Cordero's body lay underneath a white sheet, visible form the street. Julio Cordero, center holding the girl, was a decorated FBI agent who retired in 2018 after a distinguished career, his family said Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas closed Thursday after a man was shot and killed by police Thursday morning before classes had started for the day 'Beautiful people get sick. He was very well taken care of, and we, as an extended family, did everything we could to protect him,' Marco Cordero stated. 'Outside of living his life, there was nothing more we could have done.' The FBI El Paso office confirmed Special Agent Julio Cordero served from 1996 to 2019, according to the El Paso Times. 'We are saddened at the loss of one of our own,' spokeswoman Special Agent Jeanette Harper told the publication. Since his retirement from the FBI, Cordero had had several run-ins with the law as mental health issues would take hold and cause 'breaks' from reality, his brother stated. The former special agent would respond by breaking windows, although he would go back and pay for the damage after the destructive episode would pass. His relatives say he was never violent with other people and didn't even own a gun after leaving the federal agency. Retired FBI agent Julio Cordero (center) posing with his family members at a recent graduation Julio Cordero, one of eight siblings, followed his two brothers into the FBI in the 90s During his time at the FBI, Julio Cordero was part of dismantling major criminal organizations Cordero's work to fight crime was recognized by the FBI on multiple occasions, his family said In the 90s, Cordero followed his two brothers-- Pete and Marco-- into the bureau after graduating from Bel Air High School in West Texas. His was a distinguished career, as Cordero took part of Operation Baja Kings in 2005, which resulted in the shutdown of a major cocaine and crystal meth operation and 66 federal indictments. He also led the charge into a major public corruption scandal that brought down 40 elected officials and well-known El Pasoans, like attorney Luther Jones and County Judge Anthony Cobos, in 2007. It was known as Operation Poisoned Pawns. 'He was a very respected lawman in the city,' Marco added. 'He made a big difference. For those not familiar with Poisoned Pawns, read up on it. That was his baby. He had a stellar career. A career that a lot of us would like, but no profession should be more important than your family.' His efforts were recognized numerous times by the federal government, but by 2014, his work began to take a toll on him after a suicidal man jumped in front of Corderos car and died. The Cordero family posing together in El Paso, Texas Julio Cordero posing for photos with his brothers The incident triggered nightmares and brought back memories from a car he survived years earlier where Cordero's sister and her boyfriend died. After his 2019 retirement from the FBI, his mental state declined as Cordero engaged in cycles of not sleeping for days while experiencing paranoia and PTSD. Although medication did help him, Cordero didn't regularly take it, plunging him back into manic states. Meanwhile, the Cordero family said it had received few details about what happened in the final moments of their loved one's life-- leaving them as cops to speculate on likely scenarios. Cordero dealt with mental illness for years, with family members saying they did everything they could to look after him 'When he would get scared, he would freeze. It was like you were talking to him, but he couldnt hear you,' Marco said. 'He cant process information, so its very possible that theyre giving him commands, and hes not doing what hes supposed to do, and part of its fear, and the other part is PTSD that kicked in. Suddenly, I find myself on the other side of the fence, and now Im not so quick to say, "Do what the cops tell you to do."' Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants are illegally working as food delivery drivers across America, DailyMail.com can reveal, showing up to your door under names and identities that don't belong to them. The troubling development is a consequence of the one million Venezuelan citizens who have flooded into the US, largely illegally, during President Joe Biden's time in office, with many entering through the US-Mexico border. It raises huge concerns about the safety of the home delivery apps and the consumer's ability to trust who is actually delivering food to their home and family - with customers' personal information potentially placed in the hands of dangerous street gangs. Venezuelans tell DailyMail.com they gravitated toward the jobs because they're an easy way to make money when they first arrive in the US. 'Before I even left Venezuela to come here, I knew I could rent an account that wasn't mine to work in food delivery,' one South American migrant who works as a DoorDash driver in Dallas, Texas, explained. Migrants are using each other's accounts on food delivery services like UberEats and DoorDash to illegally make deliveries with zero background checks Pictured: Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, are seen crossing the border seeking asylum While he is authorized to work and be in the US, he didn't want to be associated with crime and asked that his name be withheld. 'As soon as you arrive to the US, the first thing you do is look for a way to make money, and for many of us, that's food delivery,' he added. But many brazenly rent or sell their food delivery app accounts on Facebook. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area is now home to at least 20,000 Venezuelans, most of whom have arrived since 2021. New arrivals know it's as easy as joining Facebook groups for Venezuelans in DFW to start earning cash as a food delivery driver - albeit for a fee. On a daily basis, migrants seeking to rent out their delivery app accounts make their pitch on the social network. 'Who's renting a DoorDash account?' posted one woman to the 'Venezuelan Friends in Dallas, Tx' group on Facebook. In some cases, migrants are in the US legally and have permits to work. In others, they do not yet have a work permit - a process that can take a few weeks or months- even with legal entry. And other Venezuelans are here illegally and working illegally. 'Who's renting a DoorDash account,' posts a woman to a Facebook group used by Venezuelans in Dallas A man selling an array of delivery and ride share accounts to the Venezuelan community advertises on Facebook Others charge desperate-to-work illegal newcomers to use their accounts, without concern for the potential threat to public safety, let alone the illegality of it all. 'I rent my Uber account. Message me privately if someone in Fort Worth is interested,' another man posted. DailyMail.com contacted several people who were advertising use of their food delivery and ride-share accounts. Most immediately asked a reporter to contact them through WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging app, or called back on the phone to discuss details of how it works so as not to leave behind text message proof of the illicit arrangement. 'I rent and sell. The rental is $150 a week and you must keep it active for three months continuously, and if you want to buy it it's $900, OK?' the mystery man told DailyMail.com in Spanish. 'I rent my Uber account. Message me privately if someone in Fort Worth is interested,' another man posted to Facebook 970,689 Venezuelans entered US under Biden Fiscal year 2024: 280,756 (Oct.-July) Fiscal year 2023: 334,914 Fiscal year 2022: 189,520 Fiscal year 2021: 50,499 Additional 115,000 Venezuelans arrived lawfully through Biden CHNV parole program Source: US Customs and Border Protection Advertisement 'If you tell me, 'Look, I don't have $900 upfront,' there's the option to do installments, like $300, $300 and $300, but then the cost would go up. The account would cost $1,300.' He added that the account would be handed over as soon as they had the money, and it would even be personalized to show the face of the person a reporter requested. Another said his account could be rented for $120 a month, but since his account was authorized for a male, the person who rented it must also be man. At an arepa restaurant in Villa Dallas, the Venezuelan enclave in Dallas, migrants confirmed that this is an 'incredibly common practice' and called the rental fees 'extortion'. 'One-hundred-fifty dollars a week! You don't make that much money as a delivery driver. This whole area is saturated since every Venezuelan who arrives has gone to work in that. People are driving out to rural areas trying to get work,' he exclaimed. 'For $150 a month, you're just working to keep someone else's account active. It's extortion,' he said, asking to remain unnamed for fear that criminal organizations might be behind the account rentals. Many voices in the Venezuelan community fear that could be the case, as the notorious super gang Tren de Aragua from their homeland has also arrived in the US. Pictured: Migrants crossing the Rio Grande border in El Paso Texas in December 2023 (thread) Today I went down to the Pomeroy Center to check out the RV situation for myself and talk to the residents. I walked away with more questions than I came with. What I found was much of what I suspected was accurate, but there were a few surprises as well... pic.twitter.com/y0N4ntJOX0 Stephen Martin-Pinto for District 7 Supervisor SF (@StephenMPinto) August 7, 2024 These are the people that the Venezuelans are escaping from,' San Francisco immigration attorney Karina Velasquez told DailyMail.com of the gang known as TDA by federal authorities. 'It's really suspicious to me that so many Venezuelans are working in the same job.' The Bay Area of California has also been flooded with food delivery drivers from her home country, the Venezuelan attorney shared. Velasquez fears TDA gang members, described as the epitome for evil for the human and sex trafficking that made them infamous, could soon start showing up at people's home. 'Organized crime is always going to find a way. It's going to be hard to tell the good people from the bad people,' she added. Venezuela's most violent gang Tren de Aragua has moved its headquarters to just across the US border in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez Colorado cops sought eight men suspected of looting the store, before one was caught by Homeland Security who claimed he was associated with the Tren de Aragua gang, pictured Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that was recently shared with federal agents 'I believe we need to start making the delivery company accountable. Who are you giving my information to? They have your address; they have your name. Who are your drivers?' In a startling and surprising admission, the Dallas Police Department confirmed Tren De Aragua is in North Texas committing crimes, but wouldn't say whether it is involved in food deliveries. 'We have had gang activity in the north Dallas area linked to the Tren De Aragua gang from Venezuela,' a police spokeswoman told DailyMail.com. 'Our department is collaborating with other agencies to address possible crimes linked to this and other gangs in our city.' Unauthorized use of these accounts has already created victims. A Venezuelan man who was working under a different' person's account on Walmart's delivery app crashed into a parked car in Frisco, Texas, a Dallas suburb, in July The Venezuelan man showed his South American driver's license after the crash. He did not have a Texas driver's license A woman visiting the Dallas area for Fourth of July had her car hit by a Venezuelan driver who was using a delivery app that wasn't his, reported the local Fox station. ''Screech!' I was praying like please don't let that be my car,' Elena Hollopeter told the outlet. 'I know that's my car, but please don't let it be my car.' Hollopeter's parked car had $4,000 worth of damages after the migrant crashed into it in a Frisco, Texas neighborhood. The driver was making a delivery from Walmart via an app called Spark. 'We realized that this driver did not have registration or driver's license, as well as he was uninsured,' she said. The man did share his Venezuelan driver's license and expired registration. The car the Venezuelan man crashed into had more than $4,000 worth of damages after a Venezuelan man slammed into the parked vehicle in July Elena Hollopeter, the Oklahoma woman's whose car was damaged by the Venezuelan driver, sought to force Walmart to pay for the crash repairs. The retailers eventually agreed after a Dallas TV station aired her story 'The driver came right up to us. He seemed pretty happy, shook my boyfriend's hand, shook my hand and then went on his way,' she explained, adding that she passed all his information on to police. To her shock, officers told her there was nothing they could do. When she tried to go to Walmart to get the mega-retailer to pay for her repairs, they told her they were not responsible since the Venezuelan was driving for a third-party app. It was only after the Oklahoma resident went to the media and the station aired the story that Walmart agreed to covered the costs. The driver who hit Hollopeter's car is not an authorized driver on the Spark platform, Walmart confirmed. A different person, who meet all the requirement to drive under the Sparks platform, let the migrant frequently make deliveries under their name. That particular account has been deactivated, Fox 4 reported, but it's unclear whether Sparks is doing any kind of review of other accounts. Spark's driver sign up website says they require drivers to be over the age of 18 and be 'authorized to perform services as an independent contractor in the U.S.' Drivers must also have a valid social security number, a current driver's license and insurance and undergo a background check. Spark's driver sign up website says they require drivers to be over the age of 18 and be 'authorized to perform services as an independent contractor in the U.S Uber told DailyMail.com all its couriers are required to hold a valid right to work in the US and pass a criminal background check. 'Our Community Guidelines explicitly prohibit account sharing and it's something we take very seriously,' Uber said. 'If we find that a courier is sharing their account or using a fraudulent account, we remove their access to our platform, no exceptions.' DoorDash referred to information on the company's website that describes its driver-vetting process as a 'robust, multi-layered identity verification and safety screening.' Aside from requiring a background check and current forms of government ID, DoorDash requires drivers to confirm their identity even after they start driving for the platform, it said. 'Dashers are prompted to confirm their identity by submitting a real-time selfie which is then compared to their previously-submitted, valid government ID photo,' their website says. 'Over 100,000 Dashers are required to re-verify their identity each week to help prevent account sharing and unauthorized access to the platform.' Neither app was able to explain how so many migrants are able to get around these layers of security. READ MORE: This natural first aid kit is hidden in a room in your house It's surely one of the most excruciating day-to-day injuries often drawing blood as well as tears. But a new study from researchers in Denmark may help you avoid the dreaded paper cut a painful experience for office workers and book readers alike. Thanks to their lab experiments, the scientists have ranked 12 different paper types based on how likely they are to slice your skin. Two in particular present the biggest risk and are three times more likely to cut compared to the lower risk types. So, do you have any in your home or office? Thanks to their lab experiments, the scientists have ranked 12 different paper types based on how likely they are to slice your skin - so do you them in your home or office? The researchers tested several different paper types, including office paper, card, magazines and tissue paper According to the scientists who are based at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Copenhagen the two to be most wary of are dot matrix paper and newspaper. If you've not heard of the former, dot matrix paper is used in specific types of computer printers for creating business reports, receipts, train tickets and more. Worst paper types - ranked Dot matrix printer paper/newspaper Post-it notes Magazine ('Science') Office paper ('Multicopy') Cards Magazine ('Nature') Office paper ('ColorChoice') Metallic paper Photo paper Office paper ('Xerox') Tissue paper Advertisement 'Paper has been central to human culture for more than a millennium,' said lead author Kaare Hartvig and his colleagues at DTU. 'Its use is, however, associated with a common injury the paper cut. '[We found] paper with a specific thickness is most hazardous.' The researchers had noticed that most studies about paper cuts had focused on the risk of infection after the slicing event. However, the 'physical mechanism' that allows certain types of paper to pierce the skin better than others has been 'poorly understood'. 'A particular mystery surrounds the link between paper thickness and occurrence of cuts, often described as unpredictable and erratic,' they said. For the study, they trialled several different paper types against a slab of ballistics gelatin a material designed to mimic human skin. The paper types included tissue paper, book paper, shiny metallic paper, post-it notes, cards and printed photos. Also tested was the paper from two scientific journals akin to magazine paper ('Science' and 'Nature') as well as three brands of office printer paper. Dot matrix paper (pictured) is used in specific types of computer printers for creating business reports, receipts, train tickets and more The experts also considered each paper's angle in relation to the skin as it came in for the slice. Overall, excessively thin paper such as tissue paper tended to buckle against the skin, preventing any kind of injury, the researchers found. Meanwhile, paper that was too thick distributed pressure across a large area upon contact and so was generally unable to cut. Paper neither too thick nor thin, with a thickness of 65 micrometres or 65 millionths of a metre, was the most lethal namely newspaper and dot matrix paper. The two had a 'cutting probability' of 21 per cent about three times more than photo paper (7 per cent), Xerox office paper (6 per cent) and tissue paper (4 per cent). 'While tissues, books, and photos are generally safe, we cannot rule out certain risks of using office paper or magazine,' the team conclude. And overall, cuts were deeper when they came in at an angle rather than face-on. To demonstrate their findings, the team developed the 'Papermachete', a scalpel with a dot matrix paper blade that can 'easily' slice vegetables and meat. But the tool is not suitable for 'wood carving and spreading butter', the researchers added. The researchers also developed the 'Papermachete', a paper-based scalpel that can 'easily' cut into vegetables and meat Close-up of the Papermachete sliding through cucumber. The tool is not suitable for 'wood carving and spreading butter', the researchers add The team said their study published in the journal Physical Review E 'lays the foundation for physics-informed design of paper-based blades'. 'In the future, paper manufacturers, printers, and publishing companies may wish to consider this during the product design process,' they wrote. 'Despite its seemingly mundane nature, studying the physics of paper cuts has revealed a surprising potential use for paper in the digital age, not as a means of information dissemination and storage, but rather as a tool of destruction.' While the moon might now seem like a cold, dusty, desert, new evidence from India's Chandrayaan-3 mission has revealed this was not always the case. Analysis of the lunar surface shows that the moon's south pole was once completely covered by an ocean of molten magma. When Chandrayaan-3 landed near the moon's south pole in August last year, India's space agency gathered 23 measurements of a never-before-studied region. Their measurements discovered a uniform layer of ferroan anorthosite, a white rock believed to have floated to the surface of the molten rock during the moon's formation. This supports the 'Lunar Magma Ocean' (LMO) theory which claims the whole of the moon's surface was formed from a cooling layer of magma that formed 4.5 billion years ago. New analysis of data from Indian's Chandrayaan-3 mission has revealed the moon was once covered in an ocean of molten lava (pictured: artist's impression) The LMO theory is not new it dates back to the 1970s but the new findings now bolster the theory with evidence of molten rock at another region of the moon (its south pole). On August 23, 2023, the Vikram lander successfully touched down on a region of the moon's south pole as part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Vikram's landing site, at about 70 degrees south, was the furthest south any landing craft had ever been. Over 10 days, Vikram's smaller Pragyaan rover travelled over the lunar landscape, constantly recording and transmitting data back to Earth. That data included 23 measurements from a device called the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. This lightweight instrument used a radioactive source to bombard the lunar surface with radiation, exciting the atoms in the ground, and measuring the energy they release. By recording that emitted energy, researchers have been able to calculate the mineral composition of the lunar soil. After landing in August last year at a site near the Moon's south pole (illustrated in yellow) the Vikram lander deployed a rover which collected data about the moon's mineral composition The Moon theories Astronomers have long suspected that the moon was created when a giant protoplanet called Theia struck the newly formed Earth - a theory first put forward in the 1970s. It says the huge collision created a vast cloud of debris, which coalesced into the moon. However, until now, astronomers have not been able to explain how this left the moon and Earth chemically identical. Later, two hypotheses arose that could explain why the moon is Earth's chemical clone, but they predict radically different masses for Theia. In one scenario, two half-Earths merged to form the Earth-moon system. But the second hypothesis suggests Theia was a small, high-velocity projectile that smacked into a large and fast-spinning young Earth. Advertisement That analysis revealed that the area around the Chandrayaan-3 landing site was relatively uniform and composed largely of ferroan anorthosite. The researchers also found that the mineral composition at the Chandrayaan-3 site was similar to that found by NASA's Apollo 16 and the Soviet Luna-20 mission. What is unusual about that finding is that those two landing sites are both in the moon's equatorial region, a long way away from where Chandrayaan-3 touched down. The fact that these three distant sites all have roughly the same material composition suggests that they might have all come from the same lunar magma ocean. The moon is believed to have been formed 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized planet collided with Earth and knocked a chunk of material out into space. As that material coalesced, the intense energies involved melted the rocks into a vast ocean of magma which covered the entire moon. As the surface cooled over tens to hundreds of millions of years, the cooler ferroan anorthosite rose to the surface while heavier minerals like olivine and pyroxene sank deep below to form the moon's mantle. The current lunar highlands are believed to be what remains of this ancient crust after billions of years. The Pragyaan (pictured) found that the area around the landing site was uniform and made of ferroan anorthosite, a white rock believed to have formed the ancient moon's crust Experts believe the moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia collided with the Earth and knocked material out into space The data collected by Chandrayaan-3 (pictured) suggests that the moon was once covered by an ocean of lava. As it cooled the lighter ferroan anorthosite rose to the surface and formed the ancient crust Co-author of the paper Dr Santosh Vadawale from the Physical Research Laboratory, told the BBC: 'The theory of early evolution of the moon becomes much more robust in the light of our observation.' Alpha particle x-ray data also provides evidence for an enormous meteor strike near the lunar south pole. The data gathered by the rover showed that the area around the landing site was much higher in magnesium than would have been expected for pure ferroan anorthosite. In their paper, published in Nature, the researchers argue that this material could have been blasted out of the ground by a huge impact which excavated the magnesium-rich materials deep in the mantle. The researchers believe that magnesium in the soil was deposited by the same impact which formed the South Pole-Aitken basin over 217 miles (350 km) away. This magnesium was then further mixed into the area by impacts like the Schomberger crater (impact illustrated) This impact could have been the same meteor strike which formed the 1,600-mile (2,500km) wide South Pole-Aitken basin over 217 miles (350 km) away from the Chandrayaan-3 landing site. The mineral findings are consistent with the idea that magnesium-rich rocks were scattered over the site before being mixed by further meteor impacts. These findings are also important to the future of India's space research because they provide a basis for future observations. Previously, the Indian space agency had made observations of the lunar surface from orbit on Chandryaan-1 and 2. However, without measurements from the ground, interpreting those observations required some scientific guess work. Beautiful: Image provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) taken by the Pragyan rover shows the Vikram lander. Photo released on August 30, 2023 This new data taken directly from the lunar surface provides researchers with a 'ground truth' against which they can compare future orbital observations. This could help the space agency narrow down their search for water which would be a huge support for any future effort to establish a future crewed base. India plans to launch another lunar mission in 2025 or 2026 which aims to collect material and return it to Earth for analysis. Google has been alerted to a new 'high' level flaw in its Chrome browser with the tech giant now urging users to update the fix. The new vulnerability is part of a pattern with Chrome's JavaScript engine V8, which has become 'especially attractive for real-world attackers,' as one Google cybersecurity expert warned. In layman's terms, the newly uncovered flaw in Chrome allows hackers to take control of your browser via malicious code hidden within a falsified HTML webpage. The alert comes amid a summer of catastrophic global hacks, including July's Independence Day 'RockYou2024' leak, which exposed an astonishing 10 billion passwords to cyber criminals, and a massive breach of US social security numbers. Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center has alerted its search engine rival Google to a new 'high' level flaw in its Chrome browser (logo above). Google is now urging users to update the fix The new exploit, if successful, could be used to steal passwords from Chrome's Google Password Manager, credit card 'autofill' information and more all before a Chrome user has even suspected that their system has been compromised. 'V8 bugs typically allow for the construction of unusually powerful exploits.' according to Samuel Gro, a member of the Google Project Zero security researchers team, in an interview with ZDNET. Gro proposed a detailed V8 sandbox to resolve this whole class of bugs and help protect Google Chrome's V8 software which engages directly with JavaScript: a coding language that's been popular on the web but notably vulnerable to hackers. This V8 sandbox became operational last April. But, unfortunately for many, it will only work with PCs and laptops that have at least a 64-Bit processor. 'The V8 Sandbox requires a 64-bit system as it needs to reserve a large amount of virtual address space,' Gro told The Hacker News, 'currently one terabyte.' Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) and Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) first reported the new V8 flaw on August 19, 2024. According to Google, the issue was fixed two days later and is now available in the latest updates of Chrome. Precisely how this problem with V8 can be cleverly leveraged by hackers is still a closely guarded secret by the tech giant, in part to protect its user base who have not updated their browsers. The cash reward owed to MSTIC and MSRC for discovering the vulnerability has not yet been determined, according to Google's Chrome release update on Wednesday. To update Chrome on your own computer, first open the browser and click on the vertically aligned three dots in the browser's top-right corner. From there, go to the 'Help' menu and click on 'About Chrome.' The new page will show you the latest updates and may automatically update them, unless the device is a workplace computer in need of administrator privileges requiring IT assistance. Once Chrome is updated, simply click 'Relaunch' to complete the process. A California startup wants to boost the world's power production by effectively 'selling sunset' after dark with solar panels to create daylight on demand. Reflect Orbital aims to reflect the sun's rays over solar panels on the earth's surface well after it's gone dark. Stunning video footage shows how the tech could illuminate the night sky with the reflected light. CEO Ben Nowack presented his company's ambitious plan during the International Conference on Energy from Space, which took place in London this April. Many speakers talked about having solar panels up in space, but Nowack has a different idea. He wants to shoot 57 small satellites into orbit armed with 33-square-foot ultra reflective mylar mirrors that would theoretically bounce sunlight back down to solar farms. The satellites, orbiting 370 miles above the surface, could provide an additional 30 minutes of sunshine to those solar power plants during peak demand times, The Deep Dive reports. Reflect Orbital cofounders Ben Nowack, left, and Tristan Semmelhack, right, want to revolutionize solar power and make it a more viable renewable energy source Pictured: The seven employees who make up Reflect Orbital. The team recently flew a hot air balloon fitted with a mirror that successfully reflected sunlight down onto solar panels 'The problem is that solar energy is not available when we actually want it,' Nowack said during the conference, explaining that solar farms can't produce any energy at night. His company aims to be the one to sell this valuable energy past dark to solar plants, which would then send it to people's homes. Nowack and cofounder and CTO Tristan Semmelhack also believe that space flight has gotten cheap enough so that using satellites wouldn't be cost prohibitive. Instead, they think they can be profitable. To test out the workability of their idea, Reflect Orbital's team of seven men fit an eight by eight-foot mylar mirror onto a hot air balloon, intending to reflect sunlight onto solar panels they towed in on a truck. A mylar mirror is a glassless mirror made from polyester film stretched over a raised aluminium frame. They were out in the field tweaking the process for weeks until they finally got a breakthrough. They shared the bombshell results in a YouTube video published in March. Eventually, from a distance of 242 meters away (nearly 800 feet), the mirror on the hot air balloon reflected light down onto the solar panels, which generated roughly 500 watts of energy per square meter of panel. Reflect Orbital's team flew up in a hot air balloon fitted with a mylar mirror to test the viability of their plan to redirect sunlight over solar farms The men spent weeks tweaking and calibrating various processes Eventually, they were able to reflect a powerful beam of sunlight directly onto the solar panels on the ground Pictured: The view from the ground as the balloon bounces sun rays down to the Earth This graph, provided by Reflect Orbital, shows the wattage of power produced during the hot air balloon experiment. The 'On' sections indicate when the reflected sunlight is directly over the solar panels. The 'Off' sections indicate when the sunbeam is not pointed at the panels 'Let there be light!' someone is heard yelling when it's clear the test has been a success. To make extra sure there wasn't some sort of anomaly, one member of the team moved the panels out of the direct sunlight for several seconds. Power production took an immediate nosedive, according to the company's projections. People who commented on the YouTube video had a range of reactions from excitement to curiosity. 'This is amazing, but terrifying if you think of it! With just 2 mirrors your buddy on the ground was able to feel the heat!' one person wrote. Another wrote: 'OMG this looks like so much fun to build and test.' Even though solar power itself has indisputably gotten cheaper to produce and manage, the inconsistent nature of it remains a significant hurdle to its widespread adoption as a renewable energy source. Pictured: An orbiting satellite with reflective mirrors built by the Russian government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The project was initially effective, but scientists working on replicating its results after the fall of the Soviet Union ran into major problems. They ultimately couldn't replicate the success Pictured: A rendering of what space mirror satellites might look like Low, thick clouds and stormy weather can also block sunlight during the daytime, when there would normally be ample opportunities to create solar power. That's on top of seasonal changes that radically alter the amount of sunlight blanketing particular areas of the Earth. While the equator gets more direct sunlight throughout the year, the north and south hemispheres experience significantly fewer hours of daytime during their respective winters due to Earth's 23.5 degree axial tilt. Reflect Orbital is looking to address many of these issues with its mirror-equipped satellites, which in theory, could aim sunlight to any location on Earth's surface. Nowack has pointed out that Russia experimented with similar technology in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Znamya project, as it was called, initially built a satellite with mylar mirrors that was effective at reflecting sunlight. But after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, scientists were never able to replicate the success, mainly due to how expensive sending satellites into the sky was back then. The University of Glasgow's SOLSPACE project, which also had a presentation at London's space conference, is also pursuing orbital solar reflectors. Now that Reflect Orbital has witnessed that mirrors do have the capability of making solar panels more effective on a small scale, the team is reportedly planning to launch a prototype satellite next year. DailyMail.com reached out to Nowack and Semmelhack for comment. Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this article are selected by our writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, Daily Mail Australia will earn an affiliate commission. Click here for more information. A 'beautiful' bottle of wine with hundreds of five-star reviews is now on sale as part of a special Father's Day promotion - with bottles starting from as little as $9. Little Ripples, known for its, low-calorie, zero and low sugar tipples, has unveiled a huge sale across its entire range - with prices slashed by up to 40 per cent. The Aussie brand has been praised for not only offering world-class wines from the country's best regions - including the Barrosa, Adelaide Hills, and Coonawarra - but for providing much-needed water to developing countries. For every bottle sold, the company donates a year of clean drinking water to one person in need - so shoppers are buying wine for a good cause. With Father's Day just around the corner, treat dad to his favourite bottle of Sauvignon Blanc ($17.20), Pinot Noir ($24.75), Chardonnay ($16.13), Shiraz ($18.75), Cabernet Sauvignon ($18.75) or Pinot Grigio ($17.20), when bought in a case of six. The best part? These wines contain 0g of sugar per serve. If you're looking for something a little sweeter or prefer low-sugar sparkling, there's Rose ($16), Moscato ($9) and Prosecco ($20) to choose from. Little Ripples has launched a massive sale with bottles starting from as little as $9 The brand's Sauvignon Blanc with zero sugar has been wildly popular after hundreds of shoppers gave the bottle a stellar five-star rating. 'We loved it oh so much, and the bonus was that it's guilt free on the waistline,' one shopper raved. 'This Sav Blanc is my favourite wine, I have tried many over time but this is the best, the flavour is delicious and the no sugar is just the best... Definitely a 10 out of 10, its the only wine I buy now,' another said. 'Very refreshing and easy to drink. Will be my go to Sauvignon Blanc. Also for a great cause which is a win win,' one added. Shoppers have been sharing rave reviews about the brand's range of wines. 'Absolutely beautiful Moscato, not too sweet and definitely not sour. It is just right. The Rose is so delicate and delicious, a beautiful drop. My next is the Pinot origin, can't wait to try it. All these wines are to die for,' one said. 'I don't know a lot about wine and have always gone with the cheapest reds because I didn't notice the difference. A friend of mine got me onto the Little Ripples Shiraz and it set my new standard for what wine should taste like! I absolutely love it and it is my new go-to this summer,' another wrote. 'I have to say I was dubious about trying the Pinot Noir being a bit of a wine snob, but I just love it! Taste aside, it is so light and easy to drink plus I love that it is sugar free and that each bottle helps provide water to those in need. Im a convert,' one added. For every bottle sold, the brand donates a year of clean drinking water to one person in need Customers can purchase cases of their favourite varieties, mixed cases or they can build their own box based on personal preferences too. Fans of the brand can also join a wine club to enjoy discounts, regular deliveries and free shipping over $120. If you spend over $120, you will get an 'unmissable' free gift. Little Ripples was founded by social entrepreneur Dustin Leonard. To date, the wine brand has helped with the construction of 50 water wells to provide safe and accessible water to communities, in partnership with the BridgIT Water Foundation, with projects currently in India and across Africa. With a 100 per cent money back guarantee, customers can try the wine and receive a full refund if they are not satisfied with their purchase. To shop the wine range at Little Ripples, click here. SHOPPING Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this Mail Best article are selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, DailyMail.com will earn an affiliate commission. Click here for more information. You may not be America's Next Top Model, but these jeans will make you feel like you are. Iconic Australian-born denim brand Rollas Jeans has made women feel good in their bodies for over ten years. They are known for their commitment to creating quality denim clothing that actually suits the body's natural curves. Celebrities such as Sydney Sweeney and Vanessa Hudgens and more are vocal fans of the classic denim brand, having been seen wearing their jeans on multiple occasions. Rollas Jeans just released a brand new line that is inspired by the life of supermodels, being coined Model Off Duty. The line features Australian Supermodel Shanina Shaik as the spokeswoman and focal point, with five new runway-ready styles up for grabs. Whether you are under the bright lights or on your way home, these looks keep you comfortable and stylish. The best part is that Rolla's Jeans are surprisingly affordable, with these luxury pairs costing less than $150. Rolla's Jeans Model Off Duty Line Supermodel or not this new Rolla's Jeans line will have you wanting to strut your stuff all over town. Choose from five unique styles inspired by the brands best-selling fits and supermodel legends. Whether you are looking for something slim, wide, light, or dark this line has it all. Shop You can wear the same jeans as supermodels do. The Model off Duty line features five unique cuts and washes, all available in sizes 000-18. Whether you are looking for something on the skinner side or something a bit wider, the collection includes variety to satisfy everyone's style and body type. Each new cut is rooted in one of Rollas best-selling classics, such as their East Coast Flares and Sailor Jeans, building on their already successful designs. Heidi Low If supermodels love them, so do we! This sleek pair of jeans comes in four blue washes and a black wash. The have a straight leg profile and low-waist hug making them a form flattering choice. Shop The first style joining the supermodel lineup is the Heidi Low. Named after world-renowned supermodel Heidi Klum, the low-rise jeans sport a straight leg profile and flattering fit. You can pick from one of four blue washes and a black wash. The Heidi Low design was made for comfort, using slightly less rigid denim for built-in stretch. The straight-legged cut emphasizes the waist but leaves a 90s style looser vibe for the rest of the leg, making these the perfect pants to pair with tees, sweaters, and more. Kate Baggy Kate Moss WHO! These ultra-trendy jeans are low-waisted and come in several washes. The loose fit style is very in right now and is a great transitional style for day to night. Shop Next, up to bat, we have the Kate Baggy that pays tribute in name to the iconic British supermodel Kate Moss. The classic loose-fitting jeans are low-rise and ultra-trendy right now. These are the loosest of all five pairs and channels, a 90s oversized fit. What makes them great is they transition between day and night looks with sneakers, flats, and heels all pairing seamlessly. 90s Relaxed Keep it classic! These extra-baggy 90s inspired jeans are the staple of the 'model off duty' vibe. Made for comfort with a loose fit the low waisted pair is perfect for any occasion. Shop We have to include an honorable mention for the two knock-out pairs we did not dive deeper into. The sold-out Gigi Barrel jeans (yes, you guessed it, named after Taylor Swift's bestie Gigi Hadid) bandwagon on the popular curved leg trend with a high-rise waist. Unlike its sisters, the Studio Flare style does not hold a recognizable model name. However, the pair is still supermodel-worthy with its contemporary take on a flare jean. Lastly, the 90s Relaxed style is true to its name... relaxed! The baggy denim leaves a comfortable slouchy fit and is the ultimate model off-duty look. Whether you are on the runway or running errands, Rollas Jeans are made to meet you where you are. Designed with the trendiest cuts and colors, the worldwide-recognized and celebrity-approved jeans are a must-have. SHOPPING Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this Mail Best article are selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, DailyMail.com will earn an affiliate commission. Click here for more information. Whether you're a sake veteran or you're new to the iconic Japanese drink, there's something special about discovering a new variety that exceeds expectations. And if you've always assumed that sake was strictly a sushi partner, you're in for a surprise thanks to the innovative new offering from Oishii Sake. The brand formulates its version with a combination of single-origin titan rice and water sourced from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Oishii Sake No more traditional sake! Shake things up with this refreshing take on the original. Think of it as sake with a twist. It marries the tried-and-true technique of classic Japanese brewing with a modern American twist. The recipe includes single origin-titan rice and water sourced from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Choose from two flavors, both of which pair beautifully with everything from seafood to salad to red meat. Shop Enjoy sake like you've never had before thanks to Oishii Sake, the brand uses single-origin titan rice and water sourced from the Blue Ridge Mountains in its recipes Traditional sake is formulated with fermented rice. What sets Oishii ("delicious" in Japanese) Sake apart is that it marries the time-honored techniques of conventional Japanese brewing with a refreshing American twist. The water is pure and crisp, lending the sake its distinctive taste. Plus, it's made with just four ingredients. The difference is evident in the unique flavor profile and in the versatility of the drink, which you'll appreciate from the first sip. Oishii Sake offers two light varieties. Cloudy Junmai Sake will please the palate with its medley of banana and melon notes. Clear Junmai Sake, meanwhile, marries pear and melon for a perfectly sweet offering. Both are delicious and both happen to pair beautifully with a broad variety of foods. That means you can finally enjoy your sake the way that you want. While conventional sake is served with sushi, Oishii Sake has remarkable range. It complements a variety of dishes beyond what you might expect, and that complexity means it's a perfect companion for anything from a light salad to a savory meat dish to fresh seafood. Elevate any meal with the addition of Oishii Sake, which is available in two fruity, light, and delicious flavors Oishii recommends using the sake to create unique cocktails, too. Have fun whipping up a fruity favorite to cool down on a steamy day or something more elegant to serve at your next dinner party. Enjoy it as you please, whether chilled, warmed up, or at room temperature whatever suits your mood! That kind of adaptability makes Oishii Sake a standout choice to elevate any occasion. BBC's Sherwood, which is inspired by one of England's most horrific murders, is set to return for a second series. Its gut-wrenching plot had viewers on the edge of their seats in 2022, but the real story behind the show is the true shocker as it prompted one of the UK's biggest manhunts. Sherwood - which first aired on June 13, 2022 - follows a Nottinghamshire mining village where two unrelated murders in 2004 launched an intensive search in an area of woodland. Robert Boyer, then 42, was wanted in connection with the killing of former miner Keith Frogson, 62. Keith was tragically found dead on his doorstep following a callous attack as he exited his local boozer in Annesley Woodhouse. BBC 's Sherwood, which is inspired by one of England's most horrific murders, is set to make a return for a second year (pictured: show star David Morrissey as Ian St Clair) Its gut-wrenching plot had viewers on the edge of their seats in 2022, but the real story behind the show is the true shocker as it prompted one of the UK's biggest manhunts (pictured, Terry Rodgers, who killed his daughter Chanel Taylor) But while Keith was being brutally killed, officers were also searching Annesley Woods for Terry Rodgers, then 55, who was sought in connection with the murder of his daughter, Chanel Taylor. The two murders were carried out within two weeks of each other. It was weeks before both men were finally arrested and ultimately charged with their heinous crimes. Keith, a father of three, was a prominent member of the National Union of Miners and had been heavily involved in the 1984 strike. He had previously encountered a clash with Robert, a member of the rival Union of Democratic Mineworkers. Keith had severe mental health problems and he was wrongly under the impression that Keith was out to harm him. The two men were believed to have had a heated argument about the 1984 Miner's Strike that Robert had worked through. Sherwood - which first aired on June 13, 2022 - follows a Nottinghamshire mining village where two unrelated murders in 2004 launched an intensive search in an area of woodland Robert Boyer, then-42, (left) was wanted in connection with the killing of former miner Keith Frogson, 62, (right) who was found dead on his doorstep following a brutal attack as he left a local pub in the Nottinghamshire pit village where he lived The makeshift shelter in Sherwood Forest where former miner Robert stayed for more than three weeks Keith was tragically found dead on his doorstep following a callous attack as he exited his local boozer in Annesley Woodhouse on July 19 2004 Robert waited for Keith to return from the pub, he then shot him with a crossbow and attacked him with a samurai sword. It later emerged that he bought the weapons online for 150 During the evening of July 19, Robert waited for Keith to return from the pub. He then shot him with a crossbow and attacked him with a samurai sword, which ultimately saw Keith found dead on his doorstep. It later emerged that Robert had bought the weapons online for 150. Police later named Robert, a so-called 'scab' who joined the rival Union of Democratic, as a suspect in the killing of Keith. Because of the heated and tense mining issues, mineworkers became the prime suspects in the case. A scab is a derogatory term for a strikebreaker or someone who continues to work during a labor strike. Meanwhile, Terry, who was believed to be possessive of his daughter, had recently separated from his wife, Anne, and left their home in nearby South Normanton. It was said that Chanel was scared to step out of line when her father was around and avoided any upset. Terry, who was known to police before the killing, was also believed to be in some financial difficulty, according to friends at the time. On July 30, the body of Chanel, 23, was found by her new husband, Lee, with multiple gunshot wounds to the back and head at the home they shared. The pair had tied the knot just seven weeks earlier, and her father, who had moved in with them, walked her down the aisle. Terry vanished after he was last seen just a few miles from where she was shot dead and his car was found abandoned nearby. Police believed that he had fled into Annesley Woods, near Annesley Woodhouse. Six days after the murder, detectives discovered a shotgun hidden under a duvet in the house where Chanel was killed. A huge combined manhunt - Operation Rendition - was launched across the woodland. It included some 620 officers, including marksmen and dog handlers. They scoured the 1.5 square miles of local woodland for both men and were assisted by two helicopters with heat-seeking equipment. The search for Terrythe biggest ever carried out by Nottinghamshire Policeled to the discovery of Robert in a makeshift den. Armed officers detained Robert after he was seen in the area looking dishevelled. Officers found a hideout that had been dug out of the hillside and covered with foliage, and staked out the area deep in the woods. They then arrested Robert at around 1 am. Less than two weeks later, Terry shot his daughter Chanel four times before disappearing into the woods (pictured, Chanel) Newlywed Chanel had invited her father to stay with her and her husband after he split from her mother The funeral cortege of Chanel, 23, making its way to St. Katherine's Church, Teversal, Derbyshire A huge manhunt was launched for Terry, along with Robert, with wanted posters stuck in public places A huge combined manhunt - Operation Rendition - was launched across the woodland. It included some 620 officers, including marksmen and dog handlers (pictured) They scoured the 1.5 square miles of local woodland for both men and were assisted by two helicopters with heat-seeking equipment Both men were captured - Detective Chief Inspector Russ Foster said he thought Robert had been living in his woodland dugout since July 19, living off tinned food and bottled water Detective Chief Inspector Russ Foster said he thought Robert had been living in his woodland dugout since the killing, living off tinned food and bottled water. The officer added: 'I am absolutely elated and overwhelmed with the support the public has given us. 'We will now review the search perimeters as we continue to look for Terry Rodgers.' Hundreds of police continued their search for Terry. He hid in the woods for 17 days and managed to evade capture from the police before he was found. Terry admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denied her murder. But prosecutors refused to accept his plea and a murder trial was set for March 6, 2006. Upon being placed in Lincoln Prison on remand, he began denying food and by November 2004, he was on suicide watch after making threats to kill himself. After refusing food for two years, he died at the age of 57 at Lincoln County Hospital on February 25, 2006. The first series was set in an 80s Nottinghamshire community that is still dealing with the aftereffects of the miners' strike. Sherwood sees two shocking murders hit an already broken community - leading to one of the largest manhunts known in British history. The centre-point of the show is based around the real-life murders that took place in 2004- which is where the screenwriter, James Graham, was brought up. The series states at the beginning: 'This story was initially inspired by two killings which took place in the Nottinghamshire mining community where the author grew up. For the purposes of dramatisation, the characters and the events have been fictionalised.' The second series is set in the present day. The first series was set in an 80s Nottinghamshire community that is still dealing with the aftereffects of the miners' strike. The second series is set in the present day. (Pictured: series two cast members) It introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal (Pictured: series two cast members) Sherwood series two, which stars David Morrissey, Monica Dolan and Lorraine Ashbourne, will air on Sunday, August, 25, on BBC One at 9pm (Pictured: series two cast members) It introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. Meanwhile, a newly appointed Sheriff of Nottingham is passionately fighting against a proposed new coal mine for the area,. It brings the promise of much-needed jobs and prosperity but also unwelcome reminders of the legacy that has mired the community for so long. Sherwood series two, which stars David Morrissey, Monica Dolan and Lorraine Ashbourne, will air on Sunday, August, 25, on BBC One at 9pm. Sherwood viewers have been left disappointed by the drama's second series after it returned to BBC1 on Sunday. The thriller, based on true events, follow the aftermath of murders in a Nottinghamshire, who are still dealing with the after-effects of the miners' strike. Despite the returning star-studded cast including David Morrissey and Leslie Manville, and previous series being deemed 'the most compelling show since Broadchurch' slammed it as 'woke drivel'. It comes after the show creator James Graham said he hoped casting a 'young, queer and female' Sheriff of Nottingham, actress Ria Zmitrowicz, in season two would help modernise the idea of the position. Taking to X viewers fumed: 'First series was great. This one feels like it's been written by a BBC left-wing woke unit withe very cliche in the book regarding characters': 'Lets be honest is was f****** s***e': 'I do hope this picks up cos so far it's drivel. Instead of trying to shoehorn in every diversity category just stick to good acting and script please BBC'. Sherwood viewers have been left disappointed by the drama's second series after it returned to BBC1 on Sunday (Ria Zmitrowicz pictured as the Sheriff of Nottingham) Despite the returning star-studded cast including David Morrissey (pictured) and slammed it as 'woke drivel' 'That's it!!! Had enough of this woke drivel... how much more sh**e can the BBC squeeze into the slot... boring as f**** to boot!!': 'What is this? The Godfather? Sherwood I'm losing it': 'I'm a bit lost to be honest, give it time'. Creator James said he hoped it will help modernise the idea of the position of The Sheriff of Nottingham, which is a historical role that is currently held by a councillor to promote the city, has long been associated with the Robin Hood villain. He said: 'Whenever I tell people we still have a Sheriff of Nottingham they don't believe it. 'I feel like mythology and folklore was a big part of the first series, the stories that we carry forward through generations or even just the associations that we make to certain titles are so important in general. 'Obviously the first series had outlaws hiding out in Sherwood Forest and people drew that line to Robin Hood, and the Sheriff is a character people mostly know from that. 'In our series we have a young, queer female Sheriff of Nottingham. I just thought that felt modern and important to include that representation, and to make that character and that title fully drawn.' It will see the Sheriff fighting against a proposed new coal mine that is set to bring new jobs, but is an 'unwelcome' reminder of community issues. The first series aired on BBC One in June 2022 and receiving universal praise by fans and critics alike, bagging a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the returning star-studded cast and previous series being deemed 'the most compelling show since Broadchurch' slammed it as ' woke drivel' It comes after the show creator James Graham said he hoped casting a 'young, queer and female' Sheriff of Nottingham (pictured) would help modernise the idea of the position James (pictured) said he hoped it will help modernise the idea of the position which is a historical role that is currently held by a councillor to promote the city, has long been associated with the Robin Hood villain Taking to X viewers fumed: 'First series was great. This one feels like it's been written by a BBC left-wing woke unit withe very cliche in the book regarding characters' The Guardian's Lucy Mangan gave it five stars, saying: 'Forty years of emotion and history have been transmuted, lovingly and painstakingly, into art. Its the cleverest, most compelling and most moving thing Ive seen in years.' Also giving it top marks in the Evening Standard, Katie Rosseinsky wrote: 'Theres not a weak link in this ensemble, and even the briefer supporting roles somehow feel lived in, a wonderful synthesis of writing and performance.' And the Telegraph's Anita Singh also handed out five out of five stars, saying: 'It is really, really good, a show that is ostensibly a police procedural about murders in a Nottinghamshire village but turns out to be so much more: a layered exploration of community, class and enmity.' The new series is set to focus on further issues in the community, with David's character Ian St Clair leaving his job as Detective Chief Superintendent to head up the councils Violence Intervention Team, which connects community services. Homeland's David Harewood and Mr Bates Vs The Post Office star Monica Dolan are also joining the cast. Monica plays Ann Branson, whose family run a drug operation in Ashfield, and David will play Dennis Bottomley, whose family is impacted by narcotics. This is a first returning series for James, who won an Olivier award for his play Dear England and wrote Channel 4 film Brexit: The Uncivil War and ITV drama Quiz. He hopes that the 'curiosity about the people and communities inside the red wall' is extended in the next instalment of Sherwood. The new series is set to focus on further issues in the community, with David's character Ian St Clair leaving his job as Detective Chief Superintendent to head up the councils Violence Intervention Team, which connects community services Monica Dolan (pictured) plays Ann Branson, whose family run a drug operation in Ashfield, and David will play Dennis Bottomley, whose family is impacted by narcotics The first series won acclaim and was deemed 'the most compelling show since Broadchurch (Olivia Colman and David Tennant pictured in Broadchurch) He adds: 'I guess the first series gave the impression that some of these wounds were linked and tied to the past and are perhaps unique to these communities, but I think there are more universal and social themes to this series which shows what happens to any community that is neglected. James hopes that the 'curiosity about the people and communities inside the red wall' is extended in the next instalment of Sherwood. 'I think it examines the trauma and the violence and the issues that can come from taking your eye off the ball and ignoring people. 'I think it's a broader and wider story that extends beyond Nottingham, and I would like people to see that.' Speaking about the show, lead star David said: 'One of the issues that resonates a lot is around a breakdown of social services and the cracks that young people - particularly young men - can fall down. Particularly in regard to gang culture. 'I think a lot of the other themes explore the dissociation between talk and action for the rejuvenation and investment into local communities. 'Broken promises and superficial political rhetoric which have let down people and their communities for too long.' Sherwood's second season will begin airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday at 9pm. The Traitors star Diane Carson became a national treasure after her appearance on the popular BBC show back in January - and now, she has taken on a completely new challenge. The 63-year-old TV star and retired teacher announced on Monday's Good Morning Britain that she's set to undertake a shocking career change and take to the stage as a performer for the first time. Despite having no previous acting experience, Diane will make her stage debut next year in a brand new production called Mothers Of The Brides. She confidently told presenters Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins that she's 'not nervous' or 'worried' and insisted she took the opportunity as 'you only live once'. Diane explained: 'You know, I'm of an age, it's been offered so I'm going to have a go and see.' The Traitors star Diane Carson became a national treasure after her appearance on the popular BBC show back in January - and now, she has taken on a completely new challenge The 63-year-old TV star and retired teacher announced on Monday's Good Morning Britain that she's set to undertake a shocking career change and take to the stage as a performer for the first time Richard questioned: 'Because you've stood up there in front of classes of children, you're already a bit of a performer. As a teacher you put on a performance don't you?' However, Diane admitted it may not be an easy feat and told the presenter: 'I don't know about that. I mean I'm very happy to stand in front of hundreds and thousands of people and be me. 'I'm not worried, I'm not nervous. I don't think anybody should be nervous because if you think about it, if you don't know one person out there, so what? If you don't know hundreds of thousands, honestly... 'But being on stage and being somebody other than me - I'm hoping the character does have traits of me because that might be difficult.' Further grilling the TV personality, Richard quizzed: 'And what about learning lines?,' to which Diane insisted: 'Well apparently that won't be a problem. 'I'm going to be able to do it so I'm going to go with that positive attitude.' Fellow presenter Charlotte praised the brave career change and told the BBC star 'good for you,' but Richard was still seemingly unconvinced. Visibly shocked, he added: 'It's a complete, complete ninety degree turn in your life,' to which Diane responded: 'I know but honestly, I will keep saying it - we all just live once. Despite never having done any acting before, Diane will make her stage debut next year in a brand new production called Mothers Of The Brides She confidently told presenters Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins that she's 'not nervous' or 'worried' and insisted she took the opportunity as 'you only live once' Further grilling the TV personality, Richard quizzed: 'And what about learning lines?,' to which Diane insisted: 'Well apparently that won't be a problem Diane admitted: 'But being on stage and being somebody other than me - I'm hoping the character does have traits of me because that might be difficult' 'If I turned this down I would have never been able to live with that because of my personality, so I generally take most offers that come my way.' Diane became an instant fan favourite on The Traitors after she filmed her own death scene in a dramatic funeral episode of the BBC show earlier this year. However she only made it halfway through the show as she and her son Ross failed to out wit the Traitors after they kept their mother and son relationship a secret. In June, Diane revealed who she is still friends with from her series amid cast tensions following Charlotte Chilton's baby father reveal. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline amid her work with Ecovers Let's Come Clean campaign, Diane confirmed she is still in contact with many of the cast including Charlie, Miles, Tracey, Mollie and Evie. The TV star explained: 'I absolutely cannot believe the show gave me the opportunity to meet so many different people of so many different ages and so many different backgrounds. 'You know my friends tend to be around about my age and my sort of background a nd then to have met all these different people. Diane became a national icon after she filmed her own death scene in a dramatic funeral episode of the BBC show back in January Diane revealed who she is still friends with from her series amid cast tensions following Charlotte Chilton's baby father reveal It came just after Charlotte revealed the pop star Conor Maynard is the father of her unborn 'miracle' baby and claimed he had been trying to 'silence' her 'I mean, some of them are younger than my own kids, but I surely will be dipping in and out of their lives for a long time, if not forever.' It came just after Charlotte revealed the pop star Conor Maynard is the father of her unborn 'miracle' baby and claimed he had been trying to 'silence' her. The Traitors winner Harry Clark, who is dating Conor's sister Anna, has been dragged into the bitter feud between the pair as Charlotte claimed that Harry, 23, had orchestrated their meetup at The Traitors wrap party. Despite unfollowing Harry, Diane chose not to comment on the fallout as Charlotte prepares to welcome her daughter later this year. Pregnant Charlotte Dawson is set to take on a new career challenge as she will embark on a new pantomime journey following her fiance Matthew Sarsfield's sexting scandal. The reality star, 31, has been with the rugby league player, 32, for eight year but was left hurt and humiliated after finding out two weeks ago he had sent intimate texts to a rugby friend's former flame. And now is set to follow in her father's footsteps, Les, and will star in the upcoming Aladdin production at The Globe theatre in Blackpool, bringing her talents back home. Taking to social media Charlotte , who hosts podcast 'Charlotte's Naughty Corner', revealed her return to the stage as she said is 'where she belongs'. Charlotte said: 'I feel like the stage is where I belong and performing is something I love, so I can't wait to be back in costume making people laugh.' Pregnant Charlotte Dawson is set to take on a new career shakeup as she will embark on a new pantomime journey following her fiance Matthew Sarsfield's sexting scandal The reality star, 31, has been with the rugby league player, 32, for eight year but was left hurt and humiliated after finding out two weeks ago he had sent intimate texts to a woman 'Last year when I performed I'd just had a baby which was a bit of a challenge, so this time around I feel ready for anything,' she added. 'I'm so excited to be starring in Aladdin at my favourite place, it makes it extra special. Let's bring on the chuffing panto magic.' This will be her third consecutive panto performance, echoing the late great Les, who famously embraced dame roles in pantomime later in his career. Les passed away in 1993 following a tragic heart attack. Pleasure Beach Resort's CEO Amanda Thompson OBE said: 'We're thrilled to be welcoming Charlotte back to our stage performing in Aladdin at The Globe. 'Charlotte is a firm favourite with our audiences and brings an impeccable mix of glamour and comedy.' Aladdin will first take the stage onNovember 23 and the show will continue on selected days all the way up until December 24. It comes after she begged her followers to 'be kind' following her announcement that she is expecting her third child with her Matthew, just weeks after their relationship was rocked by a sexting scandal. And now is set to follow in her father's footsteps, Les, and will star in the upcoming Aladdin production at The Globe theatre in Blackpool, bringing her talents back home Taking to social media Charlotte , who hosts podcast 'Charlotte's Naughty Corner', revealed her return to the stage as she said is 'where she belongs' On Saturday, she revealed that she is pregnant with their 'surprise' third child, after already welcoming sons Noah, three, and one-year-old Jude. Charlotte revealed her pregnancy to OK! Magazine, and said Matthew has begged her to give their relationship another go. She explained she wants to do 'what's best for my kids' but was still unsure about whether to give Matthew another chance, and admitted she hoped the new baby could 'make him a better man.' Taking to her Instagram Stories later on Saturday evening, the TV personality thanked her fans for their support, but revealed that she had also received several 'nasty' messages. The mum-of-two said she was going through an 'extremely tough' first trimester and was trying to 'remain calm' for the sake of her unborn child. Charlotte confessed that while she was 'blessed' to be having another baby, the timing of her pregnancy and heartbreak meant it has been 'the worst time of my life.' She wrote: 'Thank you for all the support, lovely comments and messages! I'm overwhelmed and will try get back to everyone but just so you all know I love you all and very grateful for you all. It comes after she begged her followers to 'be kind' following her announcement that she is expecting her third child with Matthew, just weeks after their relationship was rocked by a sexting scandal The reality star, 31, has been with the rugby league player, 32, for eight years but was left hurt and humiliated after finding out two weeks ago he had sent intimate texts to another woman (pictured together) But on Saturday, she revealed that she is pregnant with their 'surprise' third child, after already welcoming sons Noah, three, and one-year-old Jude 'For the negative ones, remember I've had to deal with all this whilst being in my first trimester which has been extremely tough, what meant to be the most happiest time of your life has been the worst time of my life. 'But every baby is a blessing and I'm so blessed right now. And I'm really trying to remain as calm as I can right now and look after this baby.' Begging her followers to keep negative comments to themselves, she insisted that the decisions about her relationship were hers to make, pointing out that 'it's my life not yours'. She concluded: 'Please be kind, if you have nothing nice to say please just don't say it. Also whatever I decide to do has nothing to do with anyone else, it's my life not yours. She explained she wants to do 'what's best for my kids' but was still unsure about whether to give Matthew another chance, and admitted she hoped the new baby could 'make him a better man' Taking to her Instagram Stories later on Saturday evening, the TV personality thanked her fans for their support, but revealed that she had also received several 'nasty' messages, while going through an 'extremely tough' first trimester 'I appreciate all your advice and support but some people get far too involved and nasty. Just no need x'. In the aftermath of the sexts being revealed, Matthew moved back into his parents' house, but the couple are 'considering couples' counselling' with the Swinton Lions now player living back at the family home. In her pregnancy announcement, Charlotte said: 'It's been a crazy time horrible, having to deal with the heartache, the hurt, and being pregnant too.' 'Noah was asking where Daddy was and I don't want a broken home. I want to do what's best for my kids. 'Matthew says he's going to give everything he's got to make this work. But I've not made a decision on the future of our engagement yet. He needs to change. 'It would be amazing to have a little girl for Matthew, too. I think being a girl dad will make him a better man, but we'll see.' Just days ago Charlotte recalled the devastating moment she found out her fiance had been sexting another woman. Speaking out for the first time on the scandal on her My Naughty Corner podcast, she said: 'I don't get why he's done it, it drives me mad because he's got everything. He doesn't want to lose his family over this.' In the aftermath of the sexts being revealed, Matthew moved back into his parents' house, but the couple are 'considering couples' counselling' with the Swinton Lions now player living back at the family home Just days ago Charlotte recalled the devastating moment she found out her fiance had been sexting another woman She recalled how she was walking to meet Matthew at the barbers when she got a call from her manager who broke the news of his betrayal. 'My whole world came crashing down, I was so shocked. I felt really shocked, hurt and disappointed. His family were really shocked with him,' she said. She said she sat there shaking unable to get through to her mum and sister on the phone, while her manager rang Matthew to tell him the news. She recalled: 'He rings me and he said 'please speak to me'. I said: 'I'm done'. He said he was drunk and begging me not to leave him.' Charlotte revealed Matthew had met the blonde woman through rugby as he played on the team with her ex, with them messaging on Instagram. She said: 'I've seen the message they're not nice, it really hurt'. The mother-of-two admitted their relationship has been strained for the past two years. She said: 'We haven't had a good relationship this past two years, but it's no excuse. Children come in the middle of the relationship. It hasn't been good for a while. It's hard to get that intimate time that's been a massive thing.' Charlotte revealed Matthew had met the blonde woman through rugby as he played on the team with her ex, with them messaging on Instagram. She said: 'I've seen the message they're not nice, it really hurt' Charlotte said she would sometimes turn down sex as she was exhausted from raising their two young children, but added the lack of intimacy between then was 'no excuse' for his actions. Days after the scandal broke, it was their son Jude's first birthday and Charlotte made the heartbreaking decision to tell Matthew to stay away. 'It was awful, it was awful,' she said. 'I'm not cancelling his birthday party, like I just said to him, 'I don't think you should come to his birthday'. He obviously made the decision not to come as well.' Matthew then moved into his mum and dad's house and was begging for Charlotte to take him back. She said: 'He's absolutely broken. He doesn't even look like himself at all. He's really upset, but so he should be. He's hurt it family. It's whether I can forgive and forget. 'I need to switch off from all the background noise. I don't want this affecting Noah at nursery. He keeps saying 'When is Daddy coming home?'. The reality star said she still hasn't made a decision on whether to forgive Matthew and give their relationship another go 'He's literally ripped my heart out and stamped on it. He's trying to make amends every single day.' Charlotte added: 'The past couple of weeks have been very, very tough. It's a massive shock because I never expected him to do this. I thought we were a little family unit.' The reality star said she still hasn't made a decision on whether to forgive Matthew and give their relationship another go. She said tearfully: 'I feel like he doesn't love me, it drives me mad when I think about it. I still love him but I don't know where my head is at.' Heidi Klum shared a sizzling bikini clip to her Instagram Stories on Sunday. The America's Got Talent judge, 51, posted a short video in a bejeweled bikini that highlighted her ample cleavage. The Project Runway alum's beige bikini top was covered with hundreds of tiny square mirrors. Her long blonde hair was tousled and her nails were painted a vibrant red. Heidi playfully stuck the tip of one nail in her mouth and she looked seductively into the camera. The German model who recently rocked a groovy ensemble for an AGT taping was heard speaking in her native language in the busty clip. Heidi Klum, 51, shared a sizzling bikini clip to her Instagram Stories on Sunday She wore gold aviator sunglasses on her face. Earlier this month, Heidi and her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz, 34, jetted off to St. Barts to celebrate their five-year wedding anniversary where she went topless on the beach. She previously told DailyMail.com that she 'grew up with a lot of nudity' as she encouraged others to strip off on the beach. 'It's so funny how many people talk about that,' she said of the reaction to her recent topless beach pictures. '[They] should try it sometime.' The German supermodel then highlighted the fact she was in a place where nudity on the beach isn't scandalous as she continued: 'Even though I am American, I'm also very much European, so I grew up with a lot of nudity on the beach. 'So for me, this would be no big deal. Plus I was on a French island, and if you look around, most girls are topless, so it's just a very common thing.' She added: 'So it's not like I'm doing something weird... and I always go to a beach when there's not a lot of people there. So I feel like I get into those things when no one is around.' Heidi then noted that she learnt early on during her time in America that going topless in a US resort doesn't go down well - even when it appears no-one else is around. The America's Got Talent judge posted a short video in a bejeweled bikini that highlighted her ample cleavage The German model was heard speaking in her native language in the busty clip She recently nearly bared it all while sunbathing in another Instagram post The beauty celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary with husband Tom Kaulitz, 34, earlier this month The Making The Cut star recalled: 'I have definitely been in America and in resorts where I have taken my top off - this was many, many years ago - and people literally have come to me and said, "Ma'am, some of the people here are complaining, would you mind putting your top back on?" 'And I'm like, "There's no one here. Who is complaining?" I guess there must have been someone looking out the window somewhere." But obviously I would put my top back on if I was asked.' She also told People in 2023: 'Im super comfortable naked today. To the point where my kids are like, "Mom, I have a friend coming over."' 'As soon as someone is coming, I put my top on,' Heidi explained. 'But if no one is there, suns out buns out. 'I just dont like tan lines because I wear so many different outfits. I dont want to have straps anywhere from tan lines. Its very strategic.' She continued: 'When I do America's Got Talent, most of the time I sit behind a desk, so it's really from the waist up.' 'And usually, I like to have Hans and Franz on a good display,' she quipped while motioning at her breasts. The romance between Heidi and the Tokio Hotel guitarist first caught the attention of the public in March 2018, when they were seen sharing a passionate kiss while leaving a Lorraine Schwartz launch party. The married couple of five years originally met on the set of Germany's Next Topmodel in their native Germany Heidi shares 14-year-old daughter Lou (2-L), 17-year-old son Johan (2-R), 18-year-old son Henry (3-R), and 20-year-old daughter Leni (R) with ex-husband Seal and ex-boyfriend Flavio Briatore The married couple of five years originally met on the set of Germany's Next Topmodel in their native Germany. Their relationship quickly intensified, and in December 2018 Kaulitz proposed. The couple exchanged vows in a private ceremony seven months later, before celebrating with a larger event in Capri, Italy, in August 2019. Following their wedding, Tom embraced his role as a stepfather, joining Klum in raising her children. Klum has a daughter, Leni, with former boyfriend Flavio Briatore, and sons Henry, Johan, and Lou with her ex-husband Seal, to whom she was married from 2005 to 2014. Kyle Sandilands has issued a warning to Australian workers as the government's new 'right to disconnect' laws come into effect on Monday. From August 26, employees of large companies can refuse to respond to 'unreasonable' after-hours calls from their employer. Speaking on his KIIS FM Kyle and Jackie O breakfast show on Monday, Kyle warned Aussies celebrating the new industrial change not to get too excited. 'It doesn't mean they won't railroad you out behind the scenes,' the radio host, 53, said. Kyle argued that while it would be illegal, under the new legislation, for bosses to punish workers for not responding after hours, some unscrupulous managers could find ways around the laws. 'Don't think for a second: "Screw that real estate agent boss",' Kyle said. 'Because eventually they will find a way to get rid of you to work around the boundaries.' Kyle also urged all Aussie workers to not abuse the system. Kyle Sandilands has issued a dire warning to Australian workers as the government's new 'right to disconnect' laws come into effect on Monday 'Everyone you can say, "oh by law, I don't have to respond to that" and they will then go, "no worries".' Poll Do you agree with the government's new 'right to disconnect' laws? Yes, employees have a right to enjoy their free time No, bosses should be able to contact empoyees outside of work hours Do you agree with the government's new 'right to disconnect' laws? Yes, employees have a right to enjoy their free time 406 votes No, bosses should be able to contact empoyees outside of work hours 242 votes Now share your opinion 'And then they get you for every little tiny infringement. You will go if they want you to go, one way or another. So, don't abuse the system.' Kyle's co-host Jackie O Henderson, 49, agreed with Kyle's warning adding that being contacted outside of work hours was a modern problem. 'I feel like that might happen,' Jackie said. 'I think it's sometimes because the thing is that work hours now are infinity. When you didn't have email and mobile phones, you never got bothered outside of work hours.' Kyle replied: 'And nothing got done. It was the late 1970s. The world spun very slowly back then.' Kyle argued that while it would be illegal for bosses to punish workers for not responding after hours, some unscrupulous managers could find ways around the laws The new laws will legally protect workers from being forced to take non-emergency calls and respond to emails outside of business hours. Employees of large companies can refuse to respond to 'unreasonable' after-hours calls from their employer. Not answering the phone will be unreasonable if the contact is required by law. If the call or email is not required to be answered by law, reasonableness will be judged by the worker's job responsibility level, how disruptive the contact was and whether they were compensated. The Fair Work Commission is the port of call for an employee or employer to take a complaint. Companies which breach the rules, including an individual employee, can be liable to civil fines up to $19,800. The changes do not prohibit an employer actually sending the email or message outside work hours. The new federal laws will apply to businesses 15 or more staff as of August 26, 2025. Smaller companies have another 12 months to adapt to the change. Jade Pywell and her on-screen husband Ridge Barredo have opened up about their future together, and it seems that baby plans are on the horizon. In an exclusive chat with Daily Mail Australia, the Married At First Sight couple who recently celebrated their first anniversary, revealed plans to start a family. When asked about their sex life, Ridge was quick to deflect. 'You can go' he started, before cheekily offloading the question. 'Yeah, deece,' he jokingly added. 'She's not pregnant yet, though, which is a bit annoying,' he quipped with a laugh. 'And she's got a ring on her finger and everything. But apparently not. It has to be a different one,' he added, hinting at Jade's desire for a more official engagement before they start trying for a baby. When asked if the idea of having children together was something they'd discussed, Ridge explained Jade wanted to get married before having a child. 'She said yes to the next person who I will get married to or engaged to,' he revealed. Jade Pywell and her on-screen husband Ridge Barredo have opened up about their future together, and it seems that baby plans are on the horizon In an exclusive chat with Daily Mail Australia, the Married At First Sight couple who recently celebrated their first anniversary, revealed plans to start a family Jade, who already has a daughter named Victoria from a previous relationship, was equally clear about her plans. 'So yeah, obviously I do want two kids close in age. I've always wanted two very close in age,' she explained. 'But I do want a ring first. I want to be engaged before I think of having kids. I'm not changing my mind,' she added. 'She's not pregnant yet... which is a bit annoying,' Ridge quipped with a laugh. 'And she's got a ring on her finger and everything. But apparently not. It has to be a different one,' he added It comes after Ridge shared a sweet video of himself and his 'wife' celebrating his move to Jade's hometown of the Gold Coast. Daily Mail Australia revealed back in May that Ridge had quit his job as a psychiatric nurse in NSW and relocated to move in with his TV bride. Days later, the MAFS intruder groom took to Instagram to officially share the news with his 111,000 followers as he posted a sweet video of himself and Jade. In the footage, Ridge packed on the PDA with Jade as he lifted her into the air and kissed her in the kitchen of their new shared home on the Gold Coast. In an accompanying caption, Ridge gushed over his girlfriend and her daughter Victoria as he shared his delight over relocating to live with them. He penned: 'We really did go from "can't wait to see you next" to "see you at home". After 6 months I've finally made the move to the GC to be with my girl. 'It hasn't been the easiest of roads with the ups and downs and all the rest of it but we did actually make it. 'I've finally settled in here and I'm so excited to continue to grow our lives together with little V #lovewins.' Jackie O Henderson was left 'mortified' on Monday when she realised she was having stereotypical 'rich people conversations' at dinner. The Australian radio host, who has a net worth of over $50 million, played a viral TikTok by an American creator live on her KIIS FM show, about the differences in conversations between the social classes. 'I have a lot of wealthy friends and a lot of broke friends and the biggest noticeable social difference is the topics they talk about at dinner,' the TikTok creator said. She explained that her 'broke friends' talk about reality television, pop culture, the news and politics, while her 'wealthy friends' talk about their goals, self development, and spirituality. After listening to the video, Jackie, 49, exclaimed: 'I didn't realise that was a rich person's thing, spirituality?' 'Well, you wouldn't,' her co-host Kyle Sandilands, 53, replied, adding 'Who's got the time for that?' 'Normal people don't have time to wonder if the alignment of the planets might be affecting the way they feel today,' he said. 'I thought everyone's talking about this stuff!' Jackie said. 'We are always asking big questions about the universe in my group of friends.' Jackie O Henderson was left 'mortified' on Monday when she realised she was having stereotypical 'rich people conversations' at dinner. Pictured with Milly Gattegno (L) and Pip Edwards (R) She then challenged Kyle and asked what he speaks about with his friends. 'Trump and TV. I'm a rich guy living a broke guy's socio-economic group and I prefer it that way,' he responded. Kyle then told Jackie to 'keep [her] goals to herself' and 'don't go showing off to your friends.' 'We're not showing off!' Jackie said defensively. 'We're trying to better ourselves as humans.' 'Well how much better do you think you can get?! Where's the cut off? You lost the weight, got rid of the dumb husband, and you're killing it in your career. What else do you want?' Kyle asked. Jackie: 'You can always better yourself as a person!' 'You've made yourself worse,' Kyle laughed. 'I thought everyone's talking about this stuff!' Jackie said. 'We are always asking big questions about the universe in my group of friends' The radio personality who up until recently had a small social circle has become a fully-fledged socialite in the last couple of years. Jackie's friend group previously included Kyle, KIIS newsreader Brooklyn Ross, and her Besties business partner Gemma O'Neill. Now, the blonde beauty is mixing with Australia's rich and famous, even making her way over to Europe for one of her new friend's nuptials in July. Her close bond with P.E Nation designer Pip Edwards has also seen Jackie move in the same circles as top Sydney stylist Jess Pecoraro, make-up artist to the stars Max May, and Four Seasons condom heirs Michael and Alexander Porter. After a luxury getaway to Greece with Gemma recently, Jackie attended the wedding of Alexander to his partner Chris Ledlin at Chateau de la Napoule in France. Jackie is mixing with Australia's rich and famous, even making her way over to Europe for one of her new friend's nuptials in July. Pictured Jackie and friend Gemma In 2023, Jackie and Kyle signed a $10 million, 10-year deal with parent company ARN to take the Kyle and Jackie O radio show across Australia. Kyle shocked radio listeners recently by claiming that the pair 'earn way more' than the reported $10 million each annually. 'It's more than that, it's more than what was reported but Jackie would rather me not bring that up. It's way more, it's a third more,' he said. Kyle's net worth was last reported as being $40 million in 2022 and he's previously revealed that his one-year-old son, Otto, is already a millionaire. 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The sibling's fractious relationship came to a head in 2009, after a backstage fight in Paris led to Noel, 57, leaving the iconic Britpop band. In recent years, Liam, 51, has been keen to make amends with his brother and reform Oasis, but his older brother poured cold water on the idea. But as Liam closed his set at Reading Festival he teased that an announcement could be made on Tuesday at 8:00am. A short clip of a sign in the style of Oasis logo was projected on a large screen above the stage and subsequently shared to Oasis and Liam's official Instagram and X accounts. Now according to reports plans for the reunion were agreed to during a late-night phone call after Noel 'dug his feels in for a long time' Noel Gallagher (pictured in 2023) 'caved in and agreed' to the rumoured Oasis reunion during late-night phones call with brother Liam, during which they ended their 15-year feud In recent years, Liam, 51, has been keen to make amends with his brother and reform Oasis, but his older brother poured cold water on the idea (pictured together 2008) But as Liam closed his set at Reading Festival he teased that an announcement could be made on Tuesday at 8:00am A source told The Sun: 'Noel and Liam are never going to be the best of friends but they want to bring Oasis back for the fans'. 'Noel dug his heels in for a long time but has finally caved and agreed to return. Before adding: 'He spoke to Liam on the phone and they are on the same page. They know this reunion will go down in music history'. MailOnline have contacted Noel and Liam's reps for comment. Oasis has been promised a payday of 50 million to reform and embark on a global tour. After Noel's 20m divorce from ex-wife Sara MacDonald last year, the elder Gallagher is said to have been persuaded of the financial merits of getting the band together for dates at Glastonbury and Wembley Stadium. It is expected to be the most popular tour in British concert history, with industry insiders saying the deal negotiated between the brothers will net them 50 million. During his headline slot at Reading on Sunday night, Liam, 51, performed a number of Oasis hits from their debut album Definitely Maybe to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Introducing Half The World Away - a 1994 B-side that also featured as the theme tune to sitcom The Royle Family - he told revellers: 'I wanna dedicate this song to Noel f**king Gallagher.' A source said: 'Noel and Liam are never going to be the best of friends but they want to bring Oasis back for the fans' (pictured 1999) Before adding: 'He spoke to Liam on the phone and they are on the same page. They know this reunion will go down in music history' (pictured 2003) During his headline slot at Reading on Sunday night, Liam performed a number of Oasis hits from their debut album Definitely Maybe to celebrate its 30th anniversary Liam continued to keep fans guessing by dedicating his rendition of Cigarettes & Alcohol at the Reading Festival to people who hate Oasis. The track, written by his older brother, was the final single on their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe. As he closed the set, Liam suggested an announcement could be made on Tuesday at 8:00am. A short clip of a sign in the style of Oasis logo was projected on a large screen above the stage and subsequently shared to Oasis and Liam's official Instagram and X accounts. The white rectangular box which a black block in the centre had the date "27.08.24'' written in the middle where the band's name is usually seen. It then flickered and changed to read "8am''. Liam has been touring the UK this summer on his Definitely Maybe tour to celebrate the 30 years since its release in 1994. Noel has been notably absent from the concerts, but during a show in Cardiff Liam made a point of dedicating Half The World Away to his 'little brother', saying he is 'still playing hard to get'. When Joey Lawrence embarked on a rumored on-set affair with his co-star Melina Alves, many were quick to assume that was the cause of his June 7 legal separation from estranged third wife Samantha Cope, who filed for divorce on August 13 after two years of marriage. 'They had troubles from the beginning of their relationship,' an insider claimed to People on Sunday. 'Infidelity isn't the cause - not by a long shot. He had gotten to a point where he had hit his limit with defending his kids, his mom, and his family to Samantha.' Last Thursday, TMZ obtained divorce documents submitted by the Brazilian beauty's estranged husband Edward Rider, who alleged she and the 48-year-old former child star began their affair in late March while filming Socked in for Christmas. According to IMDb.com - Melina executive produced, wrote, and starred as Addy in Damian X. Fulton's upcoming romance, in which Joey portrays Justin. When Joey Lawrence embarked on a rumored on-set affair with his co-star Melina Alves, many were quick to assume that was the cause of his legal separation from estranged third wife Samantha Cope, who filed for divorce on August 13 after two years of marriage Lawrence (born Mignogna) also happened to fall in love with his 37-year-old ex in 2021 while playing love interests on the set of Lifetime thriller A Deadly Deed directed by his younger brother Andrew Lawrence. The Brotherly Love podcaster is evidently 'torn up' that Samantha requested full physical custody of their 19-month-old daughter Dylan Rose Lawrence, but offered him two nights of visitation a week once she turns three - according to Us Weekly. 'It's going to be difficult to co-parent Dylan with the demands Samantha has made,' the source continued. 'Joey loves his kids. He is a great dad and his daughters adore him. There's nothing he wouldn't do for those girls, and that includes Dylan too. He prides himself on being very involved with family and putting family first always. He loves Dylan.' Joey is also father to two teenage daughters - Charleston, 18; and Liberty, 14 - from his marriage to ex-wife #2 Chandie Yawn-Nelson, which ended in 2020. Lawrence's first marriage to Michelle Vella ended in 2005 after nearly three years of wedded bliss. 'He's relieved the marriage is over because he can breathe,' the insider noted. An insider claimed to People on Sunday: 'They had troubles from the beginning of their relationship. Infidelity isn't the cause - not by a long shot. He had gotten to a point where he had hit his limit with defending his kids, his mom, and his family to Samantha' (pictured in 2021) Last Thursday, TMZ obtained divorce documents submitted by the Brazilian beauty's (R, pictured April 18) estranged husband Edward Rider, who alleged she and the 48-year-old former child star (2-R) began their affair in late March while filming Socked in for Christmas According to IMDb.com - Melina executive produced, wrote, and starred as Addy in Damian X. Fulton's upcoming romance, in which Joey portrays Justin (pictured March 30) Lawrence (born Mignogna) also happened to fall in love with his 37-year-old ex in 2021 while playing love interests on the set of Lifetime thriller A Deadly Deed directed by his younger brother Andrew Lawrence The Brotherly Love podcaster is evidently 'torn up' that Samantha requested full physical custody of their 19-month-old daughter Dylan Rose Lawrence (M, pictured October 31), but offered him two nights of visitation a week once she turns three Joey is also father to two teenage daughters - Charleston (R, pictured June 19), 18; and Liberty (L), 14 - from his marriage to ex-wife #2 Chandie Yawn-Nelson, which ended in 2020 The insider noted: 'He's relieved the marriage is over because he can breathe. He can be himself. He's taking the time to make up for all of the lost time that he had with his children' (pictured December 31) Meanwhile, Cope broke her silence on Saturday with an Instagram video of herself wiping tears away captioned: 'An amazing friend of mine recently told me "don't be afraid of the tears. Let them flow"' The Utah-born blonde added: '"Because every tear is God gently squeezing the pain and devastation from your heart to make room for new beautiful feelings to come in." She also reminded me: "the more you cry, the less you pee." So let them flow. You got this' 'He can be himself. He's taking the time to make up for all of the lost time that he had with his children.' Meanwhile, Cope broke her silence on Saturday with an Instagram video of herself wiping tears away captioned: 'An amazing friend of mine recently told me "don't be afraid of the tears. Let them flow."' The Utah-born blonde added: '"Because every tear is God gently squeezing the pain and devastation from your heart to make room for new beautiful feelings to come in." She also reminded me: "the more you cry, the less you pee." So let them flow. You got this.' Charlotte McKinney put her long legs on display in a white miniskirt while grabbing dinner with gal pals in Beverly Hills, California. The 31-year-old model and actress wore a long-sleeved black crop top with plunging neckline along with her short white skirt on Saturday while out with friends at the Matsuhisa sushi restaurant. The Florida native completed her outfit with open-toed black heels and also carried a black purse. Charlotte had her blonde hair parted down the middle and straight down around her shoulders. She accentuated her natural beauty with just a hint of makeup. Charlotte McKinney put her long legs on display in a white miniskirt while grabbing dinner with gal pals in Beverly Hills, California Charlotte was joined by two blondes who also looked chic for their outing together. The former Guess model earlier this month celebrated her 31st birthday in Greece. She shared photos on Instagram from her trip including a bikini shot in a skimpy leopard print with gold ring accents that barely contained her generous assets. Charlotte, who has been trying stand-up comedy this year, shared the eye-popping shot along with other images from her birthday trip. The 5ft8in blonde bombshell from Orlando, Florida captioned the post, 'Last vacation photo dump I promise.' The ex-girlfriend of actor Stephen Dorff received plenty of praise from her followers who called her 'beautiful,' 'perfect,' and 'a knockout.' Charlotte is a model and actress who first gained attention as an Instagram personality, eventually achieving wider recognition for her appearance in a Carl's Jr. commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. The star already has been on the cover of GQ and Vanity Fair. The 31-year-old model and actress wore a long-sleeved black crop top with plunging neckline along with her short white skirt on Saturday while out with friends at the Matsuhisa sushi restaurant The former Guess model earlier this month celebrated her 31st birthday in Greece Charlotte, who has been trying stand-up comedy this year, shared the eye-popping shot along with other images from her birthday trip The Florida native came to fame when she modeled a bikini top and micro shorts for a Carl's Jr campaign in 2015 Charlotte also competed on season 20 of Dancing With The Stars in 2015 with pro partner Keo Motsepe. She and Keo were the second couple to be eliminated and finished in 11th place. Charlotte also acted in the Baywatch remake that was released in 2017 and in the 2020 film Guest. She began her modeling career by building a large presence on Instagram in the mid-2010s. Sydney Sweeney delighted her nearly 22 million Instagram followers on Sunday as she shared a cheeky new snapshot. Taking to the app's Stories feature, the 26-year-old Anyone But You actress posed in a revealing one-piece black swimsuit. Sitting on the heels of her feet while riding a small boat, the blonde beauty showed off her side profile including her cheeky backside. The sun shined on her as she modeled a dark-colored sun hat and frameless, lightly tinted sunglasses. It comes after days earlier Sweeney shared another series of sexy photos, tantalizing her fans as she captioned, 'i think they call this a thirst trap.' Sydney Sweeney delighted her nearly 22 million Instagram followers on Sunday as she shared a cheeky new snapshot Taking to the app's Stories feature, the 26-year-old Anyone But You actress posed in a revealing one-piece black swimsuit She put her ample bottom on display as she shared a close look with a picture taken from an angle beneath her. Sweeney, who is engaged to Jonathan Davino, showed off her pert posterior and cleavage in a plunging thong wetsuit. The beauty exposed her tanned derriere and toned legs on a boat while going makeup-free. Her long hair was slick with water as it flowed down her back. On the professional front, Sweeney has several upcoming projects in store. Eden directed by Ron Howard and co-starring Ana de Armas, Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby will makes its debut in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. The adventure film follows a group of people who turn their backs on modern society and move to the Galapagos Islands for a new start. The story is based on the 2013 documentary The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden. It comes after days earlier Sweeney shared another series of sexy photos The Euphoria star tantalized her fans as she captioned, 'i think they call this a thirst trap' Sydney's latest brand partnership is with the footwear brand Hey Dude The award-winning siren will also be returning to Euphoria in 2025 to work on the third and final season of the HBO drama. Sweeney revealed in an interview with Cosmopolitan that there will be a time jump in the series to account for the break since production was completed on season two in November 2021. And her latest brand deal is with footwear brand Hey Dude. The partnership was announced last week with an Instagram reel that showed the star sitting in a director's chair that read: 'Director of Hey Dude.' The caption of the joint post teased, 'Hey dude, its Syd. And were just getting started.' Quentin Tarantino has sparked controversy by stating that while Alec Baldwin isnt solely responsible for Halyna Hutchins' death on the Rust set, he bears some blame. The Pulp Fiction director discussed the 2021 fatal shooting on Sunday's episode of Bill Maher's podcast Club Random, where he attributed 90% of the responsibility to armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, while placing the remaining blame on Baldwin. 'It's a situation, I think I'm being fair enough to say, that the armorer the guy who handles the gun is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun... but but but but but.... the actor is 10% responsible,' Tarantino stated. He added: 'You are a partner in responsibility to some degree.' Tarantino went on to say that he believes actors should personally inspect their weapons to ensure there are no bullets in the barrel or other issues before using them in scenes. Quentin Tarantino has sparked controversy by stating that while Alec Baldwin isnt solely responsible for Halyna Hutchins ' death on the Rust set , he bears some blame The Pulp Fiction director discussed the 2021 fatal shooting on Sunday's episode of Bill Maher's podcast Club Random , where he attributed 90% of the responsibility to armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, while placing the remaining blame on Baldwin; (Baldwin in Rust) In July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the manslaughter case against Baldwin, after it was discovered that prosecutors had placed crucial evidence in an improper file, effectively concealing it from Baldwin's legal team. The extraordinary decision came after a day-long hearing without the jury present over bullets that should have been in evidence, which Baldwin's lawyers claimed were 'concealed' from them and 'buried' in another case file. The issue had upended the trial for Baldwin who pleaded not guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter as he was accused of negligence for accidentally firing a live round on the set of the movie Rust in October 2021. Prosecutors had planned to present evidence at trial that they say shows the firearm 'could not have fired absent a pull of the trigger' and was working properly before the shooting. In April of this year, Guttierez-Reed, the armorer on set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins's death and sentenced to 18 months. She is currently serving her sentence at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility and had been due to be called to the stand to testify in Baldwin's case. In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a cross-draw maneuver with the revolver when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin pleaded not guilty and claimed the gun accidentally fired after he pointed it toward Hutchins and pulled back the hammer, when it fired. 'It's a situation, I think I'm being fair enough to say, that the armorer the guy who handles the gun is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun... but but but but but.... the actor is 10% responsible,' Tarantino stated Tarantino went on to say that he believes actors should personally inspect their weapons to ensure there are no bullets in the barrel or other issues before using them in scenes; (Baldwin on set of Rust) Halyna Hutchins, 42, was a mother-of-one and up-and-coming cinematographer when she was fatally shot on the set of 'Rust' The infamous gun fired on set that ended up killing cinematographer Hutchins Rust armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins The night before the incident, six members of the camera crew quit because of their concerns over safety. Baldwin had twice been charged in Hutchins's death. Prosecutors dismissed an earlier charge, then refiled it after receiving a new analysis of the revolver that Baldwin pointed at Hutchins. Since the 2021 shooting, the filming of Rust resumed but moved to Montana under an agreement with Hutchins's husband, Matthew Hutchins, which made him an executive producer. The completed movie has not yet been released for public viewing. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Zahara enjoyed a dance with her sorority sisters in a new TikTok clip that showed a rare glimpse of her college life. Zahara, 19, is attending Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and was seen showing off her dance moves with her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters. The clip, posted to TikTok by ajahh.mariah, captured the young ladies doing fun choreography while grooving to the track 'Back Outside' by Anycia and Latto during the school's Welcome Back Jam. The group wore different shades of green, with Zahara sporting an olive green tank top, jean shorts and sneakers. Zahara made waves when she joined the AKA organization the first historically Black sorority last year and appeared to drop her famous father's last name. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Zahara, 19, enjoyed a dance with her sorority sisters in a new TikTok clip that showed a rare glimpse of her college life Zahara is attending Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and was seen showing off her dance moves with her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters Zahara made waves when she joined the AKA organization last year and appeared to drop her famous father's last name; seen with her mom in 2021 A number of thrilled fans commented on the clip, with one writing, 'The excitement that I felt when I see Zahara !!!!!! go ahead and live your best college life girllllll yasssss!' 'Zahara is having the time of her life,' another added. 'I swearrr Im loving this for Zahara.' At the time when she joined the sorority, Zahara introduced herself as 'Zahara Marley Jolie' in a video shared by Essence, leaving her father's last name Pitt out. She told the crowd: 'My name is Zahara Marley Jolie. And [I] landed all the way from the Golden State in the city full of angels: Los Angeles, California.' Angelina, 49, also supported her daughter as she was inducted into the AKA sorority last year, attending a luncheon hosted the The Whitley Hotel in Atlanta. Zahara's father Brad, 60, didn't appear to play a role when she started at Spelman. However, he made it clear that he was very 'proud' of what his daughter had so far accomplished with her education. The clip captured the young ladies doing fun choreography while grooving to the track 'Back Outside' by Anycia and Latto during the school's Welcome Back Jam The group wore different shades of green, with Zahara sporting an olive green tank top, jean shorts and sneakers She happily showed off her moves At the time when she joined the sorority, Zahara introduced herself as 'Zahara Marley Jolie' in a video shared by Essence, leaving her father's last name Pitt out 'Im so proud of her,' he gushed to Vanity Fair around the time she started school. 'Shes so smart. Shes going to flourish even more at college. Its an exciting and beautiful time to find her own way and pursue her interests. Im so proud.' Several of their children have publicly distanced themselves from Pitt following his 2016 split from Angelina. The exes have been involved in a contentious years-long feud over custody, the dramatic circumstances under which their relationship ended and their ongoing business affairs. Angelina and Brad share a total of six children together. Jolie adopted her eldest son Maddox Chivan, 23, from an orphanage in Cambodia in 2002. After they began dating in 2005, Pitt went on to adopt Maddox as well. Three years later Jolie adopted Zahara from Ethiopia. Pitt also went on to adopt her. In 2006 the pair welcomed their first biological child, Shiloh, 18. They went on to further expand their family in 2007, when they adopted Pax Thien, 20. The pair later welcomed twins Knox and Vivienne, 16, in 2008. Most recently, Shiloh legally dropped her father's last name. She was officially granted a name change from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie last week, after she first filed to drop Pitt's name on her 18th birthday back in May. Insiders have revealed how Brad has been processing the situation, insisting that he respects her decision and has become accustomed to the strained relationship he has with his children and ex-wife. Last year Angelina and sons Pax and Maddox supported Zahara as she was inducted into the AKA sorority at Spelman College Brad previously told Vanity Fair he was 'so proud' of Zahara when she started college, though it's unclear if he has visited her on campus; seen in 2014 Several of their six children have publicly distanced themselves from Pitt following his 2016 split from Angelina; seen with Zahara and son Maddox in 2006 Most recently, Zahara's sister Shiloh, 18, legally dropped her father's last name; Angelina seen with Shiloh and Zahara in 2021 'He knew this was coming and there is nothing he can do about it right now,' a source exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com. 'It's sad but Brad's strained relationship with his kids and Angelina is just a way of life for him now.' The insider added that Brad will always leave the door open for his estranged children should they be willing to reconnect in the future. 'He will be there for Shiloh and any of his kids whenever they need, no questions asked. But it's up to them to make the next move.' Brad and Angelina met in 2004 while filming Mr. And Mrs. Smith before tying the knot in 2014. The couple filed for divorce in September 2016 and have had a strained relationship since. Shiloh and Zahara's younger sister Vivienne also dropped the last name in the Playbill credit for The Outsiders, a play she helped to produce alongside her mother. All six children appeared to form a tight unit with Angelina after the now infamous incident onboard a private jet in 2016. The exes have been involved in a contentious years-long divorce battle, seemingly stemming from a 2016 incident on a plane in which Jolie accused Pitt of assaulting her; the former pair seen in 2021 An FBI report, which was published in 2022, saw Angelina accuse Brad of physical assault while flying to California. She claimed that he was intoxicated and grabbed her by the head, shook her, and later pushed her down, as part of a confrontation allegedly related to their children. The Salt actress told the FBI that Brad told the children that she was 'f***ing up this family,' and claimed he punched the ceiling of the airplane four times. A source close to Brad later insisted that he never hit any of the children, though they admitted that he had been drinking. They were declared legally single in 2019, but have yet to finalize their divorce owing to an ongoing legal battle over their co-ownership of Chateau Miraval. Jaden Smith made a style statement in a large, fluffy, purple hat as he filmed a music video in New York City over the weekend. The 26-year-old music artist who is the son of actor Will Smith added white-rimmed bugeye sunglasses with purple tinted lenses. Smith, who recently piled on PDA with new love interest Khleopatre, wore a short-sleeved, tan-colored sweater and a load of silver-toned chains around his neck. The nepo baby also rocked a watch and various link bracelets during the outing. Days ago his ex-girlfriend, model Sab Zada, took to the internet to address viral photos of Jaden and Khleopatre in the wake of their split. Jaden Smith made a style statement in a large, fluffy, purple hat as he stepped out in New York City over the weekend The 26-year-old music artist added white-rimmed bugeye sunglasses with purple tinted lenses Jaden was spotted with cameras in tow after changing into camo trousers and a pink t-shirt While out and about in the Big Apple, Jaden wore a pair of baggy, light wash, distressed jeans with holes at the knees. He flashed the waistband of his black Calvin Klein briefs and tied a white shoestring through the belt loops of his denim. His locced blonde hair fell out from underneath his eye-popping hat, with several strands falling over his face. Earlier this month Smith put on an amorous display with influencer Khleopatre while on a yacht off the coast of Ibiza. The young beauty wore a micro black bikini consisting of a barely-there string thong and matching triangle top. It came about one week after he was photographed holding hands with Sab, whom he had been dating for four years, during a dinner outing in Los Angeles. Jaden and Sab have not publicly announced a split and DailyMail.com has reached out to a representative for the star. And for his birthday in July, she shared a heartfelt tribute to her then-beau on Instagram. Jaden put on an animated display in his quirky look Jaden was in great spirits as he worked on a new project amid his love life drama Jaden was joined by some dancers as he filmed in the middle of the street Jaden recently piled on PDA with new love interest, influencer Khleopatre Days ago Smith's ex-girlfriend, model Sab Zada, took to the internet to address viral photos of Jaden and Khleopatre in the wake of their split Sab wrote on X that the love triangle is 'a horrible and disappointing situation' 'happy birthday, you are sweeter than skittles falling through a rainbow on a Sunday afternoon, I love you and Im grateful gravity was on the right side of history to bring us together,' she wrote in the post. But following the Spain photos, she used the social media platform X to urge fans to be 'kinder.' 'this is a horrible and disappointing situation but if everyone can try to be a little bit kinder, these are all real people with real feelings,' she stated. In a follow-up post, she added, 'and saying all these mean things about any of these people is honestly just hurtful, it's not as helpful ass yall might think it is. 'Maybe it's funny for a moment but after a while its just a reminder of heartache for everyone.' It seems that the son of Logies Hall of Fame inductee Rebecca Gibney could be destined for big things. According to New Idea, Zachary Bell, 20, could be joining the ranks of Australia's 'nepo babies' alongside Robert and Bindi Irwin, Christian Wilkins and Willow Stefanovic. The call comes after Zachary made headlines when he presented Rebecca, 59, with her prestigious Hall of Fame honour at the 2024 Logie Awards earlier this month. It seems that his star status is now rising, and industry insiders are 'scrambling to snap up the aspiring actor.' His Logies speech reportedly piqued the interest of many 'insiders'. Also being the son of one of the most beloved Aussie television actresses and notable production designer Richard Bell has placed him well and truly on the radar. 'With his family's acting pedigree, Zachary Bell is already firmly on the radar of a number of Australian casting directors,' a TV insider told the publication. The source added that Zachary could be the next fresh face on the likes of iconic soaps Neighbours or Home and Away. Zachary Bell, the son of acting icon Rebecca Gibney, could be joining the ranks of Australia's 'nepo babies' alongside Robert Irwin, Bindi Irwin, Christian Wilkins and Willow Stefanovic 'He's young, he's good looking and if he's even half as talented as his legendary mum Rebecca, you can almost certainly expect big things from this rising star,' they said. 'Do not be surprised if he starts out soon on Neighbours or Home and Away for example.' The term 'nepo baby' refers to a person who benefits from their family connections or privileged background. Zachary is not only relying on his parents' reputations alone to break into the industry however as he is currently in his third year at New Zealand's leading drama school Toi Whakaari. He also already has a few credits under his belt including an episode of Under The Vines and the series Wanted - both starring his famous mum. The call comes after Zachary presented Rebecca, 59, with her prestigious Hall of Fame honour at the recent 2024 Logie Awards After presenting his mum with her award on Logies night, he said in his speech: 'I feel so lucky to have been raised by someone with so much love to give and be guided through life watching her show so much kindness to everyone she meets.' When Rebecca was finally called up to the stage, The Dressmaker star could barely keep herself from bursting into tears as she read her emotional speech. 'I am so overwhelmed. I'm sorry. My son, oh my god, I was kind of okay until you came out. Thank you so much,' she said in a quaking voice. 'With his family's acting pedigree, Zachary Bell is already firmly on the radar of a number of Australian casting directors,' a TV insider said Rebecca also reciprocated Zachary's kind words during her speech, calling him 'ridiculously talented.' 'For my son Zac who continues to bring me the best kind of joy. I am so proud of you,' Rebecca gushed. 'I am so proud of the kind, gentle, ridiculously talented individual you are. Thank you for teaching me to be a good mum. I love you beyond words.' Bethenny Frankel attended Alex Cooper's Unwell End of Summer Celebration in Montauk, New York over the weekend. The 53-year-old former Real Housewives of New York City personality looked great in a jewel-toned green slip dress. She put on a busty display in the slinky, low-cut number and added a yellow and red floral statement necklace. Her lustrous, deep brunette hair was styled in a center part and tight waves that fell over her shoulders. For her part, 30-year-old Alex wore a white mini dress with a pleated skirt and thin straps. Bethenny Frankel attended Alex Cooper's Unwell End of Summer Celebration in Montauk, New York over the weekend The 53-year-old former Real Housewives of New York City personality looked great in a jewel-toned green slip dress She put on a busty display in the slinky, low-cut number and added a yellow and red floral statement necklace; pictured with Simon Huck Bethenny's visage was aglow in soft makeup and she accessorized with a flashy gold watch, bangels, and big sunglasses. Alex tied a cream-colored patterned scarf around her lengthy, bright blonde locks, which were arranged in loose spirals. She added large gold hoop earrings to her look and obscured her blue eyes with a pair of black, oval-shaped sunglasses. The Call Her Daddy podcast host punctuated her summery look with a pair of dark, heeled leather boots with pointy toes. She was spotted with a drink in her red manicured hand throughout Saturday's outdoor party. Cooper hosted a two-day extravaganza, with soirees taking place on both Friday and Saturday. She named the weekend gathering "Unwell's Motel 30" as it came days after her August 21 birthday. According to People magazine, it was a guest list-only affair and took place at The Breakers Motel. Alex wore a white mini dress with a pleated skirt and thin straps Alex tied a cream-colored patterned scarf around her lengthy, bright blonde locks, which were arranged in loose spirals She added large gold hoop earrings to her look and obscured her blue eyes with a pair of black, oval-shaped sunglasses Cooper hosted a two-day extravaganza, with soirees taking place on both Friday and Saturday There was no shortage of revelers looking to get in on one of the end of summer bashes It's no party without someone kicking out the jams, which is exactly what DJ Coco Robert did the event even had someone walking around with a tray full of lip balm Many of the young ladies came dressed in their best sexy summer ensembles Per Alex's invites, Friday night was designated for partying and Saturday afternoon was for 'recovery.' There was also an after-party hosted at Montauk's Common Ground. Taking to her Instagram Stories on Sunday, she reflected on the successful weekend. 'The vibes were truly immaculate. Seeing women from all over the country come to hang out, drink yummy cocktails, get massages, pool, IVs, eat good food, and make new friends was everything.' She added, 'The amount of you who showed up solo and left with a new friend group is epic.' 'I love you all. Let's do it again soon,' the media personality wrote before signing off with a wink emoji. She was spotted with a drink in her red manicured hand throughout Saturday's outdoor party She named the weekend gathering "Unwell's Motel 30" as it came days after her August 21 birthday Also in attendance at the party were Love Island personalities Miguel Harichi and Leah Kateb, plus fencer Miles Chamley-Watson Miguel was casually dressed in a white tank top Influence Hallie Batchelder struck a pose for the cameras at the bash The cocktails were flowing for many partiers as the Dj rocked the house There were some guests who dipped their feet in the gorgeous pool The message in the pool summed up the bash: 'older, wiser, and just as UNWELL' Scores of guests gathered together for a group photo Also in attendance at the party were Love Island personalities Miguel Harichi and Leah Kateb, plus Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson. People's account of the weekend listed Matt Kaplan, Maria Georgas, Hallie Batchelder, Owen Thiele, Kierra Lewis, Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni as guests as well. The publication also noted that partygoers enjoyed Carbone pasta, complementary beverages at Big Als Bar, and a Burt's Bees popsicle stand. Red Bull also created a VW Kombi bar with drinks from Sun Cruiser. 'Catwoman' Jocelyn Wildenstein shared a stunning throwback photo on Saturday, offering a rare glimpse of her natural beauty before her dramatic transformation. The 82-year-old Swiss socialite who recently posed for an exclusive photoshoot for DailyMail.com in Miami took to Instagram to post a heartfelt birthday tribute to her daughter Diane. In the photo, the blonde beauty exudes elegance and glamour in a chic kaftan while holding her toddler in her lap. Her face appears worlds away from the distinct features and extensive plastic surgeries that have kept her in the spotlight and earned her the iconic feline nickname. The social media share comes after Jocelyn claimed she was broke after being cut off from her $100million divorce settlement. 'Catwoman' Jocelyn Wildenstein shared a stunning throwback photo on Saturday, offering a rare glimpse of her natural beauty before her dramatic transformation The 82-year-old Swiss socialite is seen here in Miami earlier this month It also comes after she was spotted enjoying a lush summer vacation on Miami Beach with longtime fiance Lloyd Klein last week. The Swiss socialite was happy to pose for DailyMail.com photos as she sunbathed on the VIP lounge chairs of the luxury five-star 1 Hotel South Beach on Thursday, at one point cuddling up to her younger beau, 56. Wildenstein, who is based in New York, but has kept a relatively low profile in recent years, was recognisable by her famous sphynx-like appearance and voluminous blonde mane. She wore a black, deep-cut one-piece bathing suit, accessorised with oversized sunglasses. The luxury getaway seems like a far cry from the cash-strapped situation she previously claimed she was facing after being forced to file for bankruptcy six years ago. Wildenstein gave a rare interview last summer in which she claimed she was flat broke and had not had any income for eight years, after her ex-husband's family cut her off from the nine-figure annual payment she famously secured in her 1999 divorce. The reclusive socialite won a $2.5billion in the settlement, with $100million allocated for each year thereafter in the split, after she claimed her billionaire businessman husband Alec N. Wildenstein had been unfaithful. In a June 2023 interview with The Sunday Times, she claimed Alec, who died in 2008, had tried to blame their failed marriage on her, by saying he no longer recognised his wife due to her extensive plastic surgeries which earned her famous nickname. She shared the flashback image along with a heartfelt birthday tribute to her daughter Diane Jocelyn Wildenstein was spotted enjoying a luxury beach getaway in Miami Beach with longtime fiance Lloyd Klein last week The Swiss socialite, 82, was happy to pose for DailyMail.com photos as she sunbathed on the VIP lounge chairs of the luxury five-star 1 Hotel South Beach Wildenstein, who is based in New York, but has kept a relatively low profile in recent years, was recognisable by her famous sphynx-like appearance and voluminous blonde mane. At one point she was seen cuddling up to her younger beau, Lloyd Klein, 56 'I have a huge problem with my settlement,' she told the paper, as she and her fiance filmed a new HBO docuseries about her life. 'Since eight years, they have completely cut me off.' Jocelyn first met Alec in 1977 at his family's Ol Jogi ranch in Kenya, north of Nairobi, when she was on a safari with friends. The two went on to have two children, Diane and Alec Jr, and lived comfortably in their Manhattan penthouse, with a separate family compound in the British Virgin Islands and the family's estate in Africa. But after 20 years of marriage, Jocelyn says, she called it quits, citing her husband's extramarital affairs. 'It was getting too obvious,' she told The Sunday Times. 'It was young girls and going to the same restaurants we went to. It was no discretion, nothing.' During the divorce proceedings, Jocelyn claims, Alec started planting stories about her plastic surgeries to 'win the divorce', and even 'hired a publicist and paid a plastic surgeon to certify that I completely changed my face.' 'He couldn't say I betrayed him; I never betrayed him,' Jocelyn said, claiming her ex-husband once insisted that 'She became a monster... I don't recognise her.' 'He put all the blame on my face,' Jocelyn said. Rumors abounded, however, that Alec, a known cat lover, encouraged his wife to get the surgeries to make her appear more feminine. Wildenstein has made headlines over the years due to her high-profile divorce, feline appearance and, once, for attacking her boyfriend in 2016 (pictured) Jocelyn rose to international fame amid her divorce from Alec, a renowned art dealer, right, in the 1990s. She claims his infidelity led her to file for divorce Jocelyn won a $2.5billion settlement from the divorce with a $100million payment each year thereafter. But the payments stopped in 2015 when his family cut her off, she says Jocelyn Wildenstein, 82, first met Alec Wildenstein while on a safari in Africa. She is pictured here at the age of 15, before she got extensive plastic surgery He denied those claims in an interview with Vanity Fair at the time. 'She was crazy,' Alec insisted. 'I would always find out last. She was thinking that she could fix her face like a piece of furniture,' he claimed. 'Skin does not work that way. But she wouldn't listen.' Still, Jocelyn won the proceedings taking home a settlement of $2.5billion with $100million guaranteed each year thereafter 'to follow the lifestyle and the work of the 20 years'. She was also allowed to keep her ex-husband's last name. But her good fortune apparently ended in 2015 when Alec's family decided to cut off her settlement payments. Three years later, she filed for bankruptcy. At the time, The Sunday Times reported, Jocelyn listed her checking account balance as '$0', despite still having millions of dollars in assets most of which was in property. Her three luxury apartments at Trump Tower were then repossessed, and now she says she has no money at all. 'Zero nothing in eight years,' she told the Times. Her French-Canadian designer fiance said she was making a docuseries to tell her side of the story and potentially recoup some money. Jocelyn and her longtime fiancee, French-Canadian designer Lloyd Klein, are now filming an HBO docuseries about her life. The two are pictured here in New York City in September Jocelyn at an event in New York City in 2022 He called the HBO project 'her reply' to the public, which has scrutinized her life and her infamous plastic surgeries. She is also planning a reality television series produced by the team behind Keeping Up With the Kardashians. 'Jocelyn wants to tell the story with her own voice,' he said, with Wildenstein adding: 'I've never been public. It's not my nature.' But Klein also told the paper he has bigger plans for his fiancee: 'I want to have a movie series on Jocelyn's life, and I would like to have Jennifer Lawrence as a young Jocelyn,' he said, adding that he would choose Rami Malek to play Alec. Ariana Madix took to social media to celebrate portraying Roxie Hart in 100 shows of Chicago The Musical on Broadway. The 39-year-posted on Instagram after reaching the milestone on Friday in New York City. 'Tonight i hit 100 shows at @chicagomusical and i'm counting my blessings because i can't believe i get to do this 8 times a week,' she wrote for her roughly 2.4 million followers along with a black-and-white photo of her character's sparkling heels. 'Thank you everyone im lucky enough to share the ambassador theater with and thank you to every one of you who has come to see the show love you, rox. it sure is heaven, nowadays,' Ariana added. The Vanderpump Rules star in the post also looked back on her Chicago moments. Ariana Madix, shown earlier this month in New York City, took to social media to celebrate portraying Roxie Hart in 100 shows of of Chicago The Musical on Broadway '100 ladder climbs, 100 joe friscos, 100 baby woo's, 100 court rooms, 100 stage doors, 100 son of a b****'s, 100 times on and backstage with the best ppl,' Ariana wrote. Ariana's boyfriend Daniel Wai supported her in the comments section. 'To another hundred more!!!,' Daniel posted. Vanderpump Rules stars Katie Maloney, James Kennedy and Ally Lewber also congratulated Ariana. 'Congratulations on 100 incredible shows! I couldn't be more proud, you own that stage!,' wrote Ariana's sandwich shop partner Katie. 'So amazing and very proud this is incredible, here's to another 100!,' James posted. 'Congratulations, Ariana! what an accomplishment. Our Broadway star!!,' Ally commented. 'SO proud of you!!!!!,' wrote former Vanderpump Rules cast member Dayna Kathan. The 39-year-posted on Instagram after reaching the milestone on Friday in New York City The Bravo star is in her last week in Chicago The Musical Ariana, shown on season five of Love Island USA as a guest, became the host for season six of the Peacock show Ariana also appeared on Sunday on an Instagram post by Chicago The Musical. She promoted her last week portraying Roxie as her stint will end on September 1. 'And after that, who knows. So, it's your last chance,' Ariana said. Alyssa Milano, 51, steps into the role of Roxie Hart at the Ambassador Theatre beginning September 16 for an eight-week engagement through November 10. Fans have spotted a bizarre detail in Andy Lee and fiancee Rebecca Harding's home renovation. On Sunday, Rebecca, 34, took to Instagram to give fans an update on the renovation of their rundown mansion, located in Hawthorn in Melbourne's east. The couple bought the property known as 'Ravenswood' a derelict Melbourne River property built in 1876 - back in 2022 for a whopping $8.5million. Since then, the pair have shared their renovation journey with their fans on social media, but the latest video of the build had viewers perplexed. 'As you can see a lot has changed since we were last here,' Rebecca said in the video as she gave a tour of the site. However, one eagle-eyed follower noticed what appeared to be Olympic rings on the wall. 'Olympic rings on the wall. What's going on there?' they wrote followed by a crying laughing emoji. While no explanation for the symbol was provided, other followers were thrilled as Rebecca provided a detailed tour of the front entrance, highlighting an impressive circular driveway and plans for a stunning spiral staircase. Fans have spotted a bizarre detail in Andy Lee and fiancee Rebecca Harding's home renovation On Sunday, Rebecca took to Instagram to give fans an update on the renovation of their rundown mansion but one eagle-eyed follower noticed what appeared to be Olympic rings on the wall 'So invested in the progress of this reno, it's not normal. There need to be a massive launch party at the end of all this!' said one commenter. 'We're loving the updates. A spiral staircase will look amazing,' another fan remarked. The post comes after Andy recently revealed why he waited 10 years to ask Rebecca to marry him. The Hundred host announced his engagement to Rebecca back in May, but has revealed it had been on his mind for some time. 'Oh, I knew for a long time that I wanted to marry Bec' he told a recent issue of Stellar Magazine. 'I think six, maybe to eight months was when I really started thinking about it. I think I knew for years.' While no explanation for the symbol was provided, other followers were thrilled as Rebecca provided a detailed tour of the front entrance, highlighting an impressive circular driveway and plans for a stunning spiral staircase Andy said that there was some pressure- and doubt - from his loved ones to get down on one knee. 'I had a mixture of: 'It's about time'' from people. And then there was the occasional: 'Well, I thought you'd never do it.'' In the joint interview, Rebecca admitted that she wondered if it would ever happen, and was 'surprised' when the moment came. 'I mean, we'd been dating for 10 years, so I kind of was like, maybe getting married is not for us. There was enough in our life that I knew he was serious about me,' she told the magazine. She added: 'It's such a nice feeling to know someone has gone and put all of this effort into something, to ask you to spend the rest of your life with them.' The post comes after Andy recently revealed why he waited 10 years to ask Rebecca to marry him Andy shared the exciting news on an episode of his Hamish and Andy podcast on May 1. Speaking with his podcast co-host Hamish Blake, Andy shared intimate details of his proposal, before inviting his fiancee on the show. 'I asked Bec to marry me on Sunday,' Andy announced. Hamish said he was overjoyed and that he and his wife Zoe Foster Blake were both 'crying' with happiness over the news. 'Is it a bit quick? That's all I wanna ask,' he also joked. Andy and Rebecca met in 2014 at a Melbourne cafe where she was working as a waitress. The TV personality ended up leaving his email address on a napkin for her, and the rest is history. Alessandra Ambrosio celebrated her daughter Anja Mazur's 16th birthday over the weekend. The 43-year-old Brazilian model who was spotted playing volleyball in Santa Monica this month used Instagram to mark the special occasion as she paid tribute to her firstborn child. Sharing a collection of black and white images of her and Anja, who she shares with ex-fiance Jamie Mazur, she added a heartfelt caption. 'Happy Sweet 16, my darling Anja! Today marks a major milestone in your journey to becoming an extraordinary woman,' she began. The former Victoria's Secret Angel gushed, 'I couldnt be more proud of the incredible person youre growing up to be - strong, kind, intelligent, creative, and beautiful inside and out.' Alessandra Ambrosio celebrated her daughter Anja Mazur 's 16th birthday over the weekend The 43-year-old Brazilian model used Instagram to mark the special occasion as she paid tribute to her firstborn child 'Happy sweet 16 to the sweetest angel,' Alessandra wrote over one picture; pictured with son Noah, 12 Continuing to praise her mini-me, she said: 'Your sensitivity, work ethic, and determination to chase your dreams inspire me every day. 'As your mom, I feel grateful to witness your growth and evolution. I promise to always be here for you, to love you unconditionally, guide you with compassion, and hold your hand through lifes ups and downs.' Wrapping up the affectionate message, Alessandra wrote: 'Heres to many more years of love, laughter, and adventure! 'May your birthday be as bright and wonderful as you are. I love you more than words can express, now and forever.' The proud mother, who is also parent to 12-year-old son Noah, signed off in Portuguese, 'Feliz aniversario, minha princesa! Mamae te ama.' In another post, an Instagram reel, Ambrosio put together a montage of Anja from the time she was a newborn. She wrote in the caption, 'And how great is my love for you... My doll, princess, the most beautiful flower in the world My ANJA.' Alessandra tagged her daughter, who has an Instagram audience of 113,000 followers. The mother-daughter duo shared a sweet embrace during the festive weekend Included in the supermodel's Instagram posts was a photo of Anja with a group of friends at her birthday party Included in the supermodel's Instagram posts was a photo of Anja with a group of friends at her birthday party. The teenager was treated to a large and ornate white birthday cake with tall white candles. The runway regular shared a similar gushing post last August on her little girl's 15th birthday. Last August the mother-of-two paid tribute to her daughter in an online post as she turned 15. 'A very happy 15th birthday!!! May all your dreams come true and Im so proud of the woman you are becoming @anjaambrosiom - te amo infinitamente,' she wrote on social media at the time. Hannah Neeleman made her return to the Mrs. American pageant in Vegas on Saturday, a year after winning the title while 20 weeks pregnant with her eight child. The popular 'trad wife' influencer and Ballerina Farm founder, 34, took to her Instagram stories to share her journey as she prepared for the pageant where she would crown her successor. The Juilliard-trained ballet dancer who recently defended her traditional lifestyle and marriage started off the day fresh-faced while getting ready for rehearsal. She shared a clip while holding one of her babies as she documented the process of getting glam for the day. 'Today is just rehearsal, so we're going to do a very fresh face, glowy, beautiful,' she stated. Hannah Neeleman, 34, made her return to the Mrs. American pageant in Vegas on Saturday, a year after winning the title while 20 weeks pregnant with her eight child The entrepreneur famously won the 2023 Mrs. American pageant, in which married state title holders from across America compete for the top title The next clip saw her in her final look, wearing full glam, a white button-up top, a gold pleated skirt, as well as a 'Mrs. American' sash and her crown. 'And I'm off...' she wrote over the video. She then shared a sweet video with her baby Flora, as she touched her face, writing, 'Trying to figure out the "mom with parent makeup."' Another clip showed her joined by her baby, her two daughters, as well as her mom, while going for a shopping trip. She also shared a photo of a souvenir yearbook featuring her stunning image as Mrs. American. Hannah went on to re-share a clip posted by makeup artists Kelly Tull showing the back of an incredible gown she wore on day one. Despite all the glam, Neeleman admitted that being a mom was her favorite 'look' of the week. The influencer posted a snap of herself with her baby strapped to her chest writing, 'Out of all the "looks" I have this week.... This one is always my favorite. Just a mom, ya know?' The popular 'trad wife' influencer and Ballerina Farm founder took to her Instagram stories to share her journey as she prepared for the pageant where she would crown her successor 'Today is just rehearsal, so we're going to do a very fresh face, glowy, beautiful,' she stated Her final in her final look for the day consisted of a white button-up top, a gold pleated skirt, as well as a 'Mrs. American' sash and her crown Hannah went on to re-share a clip posted by makeup artists Kelly Tull showing the back of an incredible gown she wore on day one She later shared a photo of a souvenir yearbook featuring her stunning image as Mrs. American She effortlessly balanced motherhood with her work She introduced her youngest child Flora to another glamorous contestant The entrepreneur famously won the 2023 Mrs. American pageant, in which married state title holders from across America compete for the top title. At the time she was 20 weeks pregnant with her eighth child, daughter Flora Jo. She later went on to compete in Mrs. World 12 days after giving birth to Flora. Mrs. America 2024 will crown a new winner on August 28 in Las Vegas. Earlier this week she shared a montage video from the last pageant, writing, 'A night I will never forget.' 'This year has flown by. Heading to Las Vegas next week to crown my successor! I was 20 weeks pregnant with miss Flora Jo during this pageant,' she added. The video shows her in a sequin mini dress, as struts down the runway. Her husband, JetBlue heir Daniel Neeleman joins her, escorting her across the stage. She later wears a plunging swimsuit and platform heels, then a glittering ball gown. The video concludes with her being crowned the winner. Hannah recently defended her traditional farming lifestyle and marriage after a Times of London article scrutinized it. She also posted a sweet video with Flora, as she touched her face, writing, 'Trying to figure out the "mom with parent makeup"' Another clip showed her joined by her baby, her two daughters, as well as her mom, while going for a shopping trip Despite all the glam, Neeleman admitted that being a mom was her favorite 'look' of the week Hannah also famously competed in Mrs. World, just 12 days after giving birth to Flora Readers were in shock over the in-depth piece, which detailed moments of her husband speaking over her, and revealed she was left so exhausted from her hectic lifestyle that she was bedridden for days. Fans took to social media to share their thoughts, with many declaring they must 'save her.' In a recent Instagram clip, Hannah addressed the Times article, admitting she and her husband were 'shocked' when they read it. 'A couple of weeks ago, we had a reporter come into our home to learn more about our family and business,' the beauty pageant competitor began. 'We thought the interview went really well. We were taken [aback], however, when we saw the printed article which shocked us, and shocked the world by it being an attack on my family and my marriage,' she added. She added that she was inaccurately portrayed as 'oppressed, with my husband being the culprit.' 'This couldn't be further from the truth,' she clarified, noting she believes the profile's angle was 'predetermined.' 'Together we have built a business from scratch,' she affirmed. 'We've brought eight children into this world, and have prioritized our marriage all along the way.' Hannah was once an aspiring ballerina, moving to New York City at 17 to study at Juilliard. She met her now-spouse Daniel shortly after. The influencer recently defended her traditional farming lifestyle and marriage to JetBlue heir Daniel Neeleman after a Times of London article scrutinized it Readers were in shock over the in-depth piece, which revealed she was left so exhausted from her hectic lifestyle at times that she was bedridden for days The couple who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often share glimpses of their idyllic life on social media, posting under the handle @BallerinaFarm, the name of their shared company. They launched their brand, which sells an array of products made from their livestock including meat, desserts and produce, in 2019. The homemaker has amassed millions of followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube from her 'trad wife' content, a term short for 'traditional wife.' It refers to a woman who carries out conventional domestic duties like cooking, cleaning, and raising children. At the end of her video, the blonde beauty assured viewers, 'We are co-parents, co-CEOs, co-diaper changers, kitchen cleaners and decision makers, we are one.' Nicola Coughlan cosied up to actor Jake Dunn as she attended All Points East festival at Victoria Park in London last weekend. The actress, 37, known for her role as Penelope Featherington in Netflix hit Bridgerton, was joined by Renegade Nell star Jake, 24. Blending in with the rest of the crowd, Nicola shielded her face with a black bucket hat while watching Mitski headline. In photos obtained by The Sun, she wore a white mini dress and topped her festival ready look off with a pair of studded ankle boots. Jake opted for an open shirt, layered over the top of a white vest, with black linen trousers and New Balance trainers. Nicola Coughlan cosied up to actor Jake Dunn as she attended All Points East festival at Victoria Park in London last weekend Nicola was also seen alongside Jake and his co-star Alice Kremelberg at the premiere of Renegade Nell in March, as she posed for a selfie He most recently starred as Thomas Blancheford in Disney+ series Renegade Nell and has also featured in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. Nicola was seen alongside Jake and his co-star Alice Kremelberg at the premiere of Renegade Nell in March, as she posed for a selfie. The Irish actress had stepped out to the event to support her Derry Girls co-star Louisa Harland, who plays the titular character. MailOnline has contacted Nicola's representative for comment. In June, Bridgerton fans descended into a frenzy as on-screen lovebirds Nicola and Luke Newton reunited for a nostalgic trip to Galway In a clip posted to Netflix's social media, the pair travelled to Nicola's hometown in Ireland to soak up the sights, before reflecting on their time on the show. During the clip, Nicola, who played Lady Whistledown scribe Penelope Featherington and Luke, who played Colin Bridgerton, looked back at their three-season stint on the show. Nicola fought back tears as she bid farewell to her season as the focal character of the series, with another Bridgerton romance set to take centre stage in season four. The clip began with Nicola showing Luke the stunning Galway landscape, with the actor saying: 'The people have really welcomed me, I don't know what I expected honestly.' He most recently starred as Thomas Blancheford in Disney+ series Renegade Nell (pictured) and has also featured in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself The pair headed into a cinema where they rewatched scenes during their time on the show, including the first season where viewers saw earliest stages of Penelope and Colin's friendship. Looking at her characters' garish sense of style, Nicola said: 'We look like babies. I loved that dress it was so cute.' After enjoying moments including the show's first ball, and the final moments of season one, where Penelope came dangerously close to admitting her feelings for Colin. Bridgerton's third season, which has been branded the show's raciest season yet, saw Colin and Penelope finally cement their romance, with Luke and Nicola looking back at their character's first kiss. Asked about the message fans should take away from their relationship, Luke said: 'There's a message to it of discovering who you are but also you don't have to do it on your own, someone can help you.' Nicola added: 'It's life-changing, it's going to have an impact on our lives forever, when we're old and grey.' Luke and Nicola then headed to a pub where they enjoyed a pint of Guinness together, with the Derry Girls star revealing she landed her role as Penelope after just one audition. She added: 'Every screening we've gone across the world it's a real pinch me moment.' Fighting back tears, she told Luke: 'You've been so great at it, and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else ... and I am SO tired.' The duo had been touring the globe to promote Bridgerton's third series, where Colin and Penelope's romance took centre stage. Nicola, known for her role as Penelope Featherington in Netflix hit Bridgerton, took centre stage last season with Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton In June, Bridgerton fans descended into a frenzy as on-screen lovebirds Nicola and Luke Newton reunited for a nostalgic trip to Galway Fans were quick to share their delight at the unexpected reunion, with one admitting it left them 'in tears' And fans were quick to share their delight at the unexpected reunion, with one admitting it left them 'in tears.' Posts included: 'Ya'll just keep stabbing me in the heart. Ughh the waterworks came on with the first dance scene. And that first kiss song... it evokes all the emotions and it will always trigger me. I know they miss each other after going through all this - like who wouldn't miss Nic or Luke?' 'That was the most beautiful video. Thank you so much for this. I will never stop being the thankful that Luke and Nic are our Polin;' 'Did not expect to be crying this much at 9am on a Thursday morning, but here we are.' An Aussie star has shared a photo of herself in her teenage years alongside famous surfer Mark Occhilupo. The household name, 49, posted the throwback snap to Instagram on Monday as she reminisced about the 'good ol' Gold Coast days'. Alluding that she was into 'surfer boys' at the time, this blonde beauty was all smiles as she posed with the 1999 ASP World titleholder. Now a big shot in her own right, the media personality hosts a very popular Sydney breakfast radio show which has become a ratings juggernaut. Making her name as a leading radio host for the last two decades, she recently signed a massive deal which will keep her on the air until December 2034. She signed the contract last year in a historic move which will land her a $100million salary over the next ten years. The Sydney socialite has been married twice and shares a teenage daughter with her second husband who she split from in October 2018. Do you know who this Aussie radio star is? An Aussie star has shared a photo of herself looking unrecognisable alongside famous surfer Mark Occhilupo. Do you know who she is? Both pictured It's Jackie 'O' Henderson! In the snap, Jackie wore a loose-fit black jumper with her blonde tresses pulled back into a half-up half-down style she tied off with a scrunchie. With a simple chain around her neck, Jackie looked completely fresh faced without a lick of makeup in sight as the pair appeared to be standing in a very windy location. Meanwhile, Occy rocked his usual long sandy locks along with a bright pink jumper which made him stand out in the photo. It's Jackie 'O' Henderson! Now a big shot in her own right, the media personality, 49, (pictured) hosts a very popular Sydney breakfast radio show which has become a ratings juggernaut Jackie captioned the picture: 'Going through some pics for my memoirs! The good ol' Gold Coast days when I was into the surfer boys.' The radio host's dive back into her memories comes as she is set to release a new 'tell all' memoir titled The Whole Truth on October 29. Jackie took to Instagram earlier this month with a post about the new book in which she admitted she was scared about being 'judged' over what the memoir reveals. 'So I finally decided to write a book and I'm really excited (and slightly terrified) to share it with you all,' she admitted. 'There's a lot I've shared on radio throughout the years, but there's an equal amount I haven't.' Jackie looked unrecognisable in the throwback image. Pictured: Mark Occhilupo and partner Jesse Crawford 'Endless hours and months were spent sitting on this couch revisiting all the highs and lows and there were times I thought about abandoning it altogether, mostly out of fear, fear of judgement I guess,' she continued. 'But I've realised it's better to own every part of me, even the parts I've struggled to speak about before, because speaking the truth brings more peace than hiding from it ever could. 'I'm so proud to share my story and give you all of me in this book.' Jackie also included a photo of herself showing off the cover of her new memoir which featured a moody black and white photo of her. The media star has been married twice before, marrying and divorcing DJ 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil in the 1990s before tying the knot with Lee Henderson in 2003. Jackie and the UK photographer went on to welcome their daughter Catalina 'Kitty' Henderson to the world in December 2010 before separating eight years later. Olivia Attwood will be joined by her pal Pete Wicks for an explosive new ITV reality show, Bad Boyfriends. The TV personality, 33, has roped in the TOWIE star, 36, to help trick a group of badly behaved boyfriends, cheaters and DM-sliders into fixing their relationships. In the 11 episode series, which is set to air in autumn, eight unsuspecting men are flown to a Greek island under the premise of filming a series about manhood and bromance on holiday. With Pete seemingly fronting the fake show Brotopia he puts the boys through challenges before Olivia arrives to end their wild partying and reveal the true premise of the series. Pete told MailOnline: 'Flying to Greece to play the role of a fake host on a show called Brotopia wasnt something I ever expected to be doing - it was such a great experience, and made even better when my pal Olivia arrived and crashed the party!' Olivia Attwood will be joined by her pal Pete Wicks for an explosive new ITV reality show, Bad Boyfriends The TV personality, 33, has roped in the TOWIE star, 36, to help trick a group of badly behaved boyfriends, cheaters and DM-sliders into fixing their relationships He added: 'The cast are brilliant and Im looking forward to watching the series back and seeing if the couples can work on strengthening their relationships with Olivias help.' Since starring on Love Island in 2017, Olivia has become one of the most successful contestants - fronting four documentaries for ITV. Olivia previously said in a press release: 'Im so excited and honoured to announce that I am hosting my own dating show. 'This series has been two years in the making and keeping it under wraps has been so difficult! Filming with the couples in Greece exceeded all my expectations - they are just incredible and viewers are in for an absolute treat.' Ahead of the new series Olivia, who is tipped to become the next Holly Willoughby, revealed her mother cant even go to her local shop in Cheshire. She told MailOnline at Three UKs Mind, Body & Scroll: My mums like, I cant even go to the village shop without being recognised now, and Im like, You love it, dont lie. Its a big adjustment [fame] not just for me and were all learning to navigate it at the same time and how it affects each of us differently. Her own dating show, Bad Boyfriends, is sure to catapult her fame even further. Pete is seen on set in an official picture from Olivia Attwood's new reality TV show In the 11 episode series, which is set to air in autumn, eight unsuspecting men are flown to a Greek island under the premise of filming a series about manhood and bromance on holiday Ahead of the new series Olivia, who is tipped to become the next Holly Willoughby , revealed her mother cant even go to her local shop in Cheshire (pictured with her mum Jenny) Her, Kai, has remained largely out of the limelight - all that is known is his passion for vintage and luxury cars - while her mother, Jenny, has made appearances in a number of her documentaries and on her podcast: So Wrong, Its Right. While Olivias parents enjoy a quiet life in their Cheshire mansion, her sister Georgia also keeps a relatively low profile as a part-time model and executive research consultant. The Love Island star rarely posts pictures of her sister on social media because of her job but was given permission to do so on Georgias hen-do in Saint Tropez last year. Olivia said: Being thrust into the spotlight off the back of Love Island is a big adjustment not just for you but for everyone around you because it happens instantly. No just for me but for my parents and siblings and I try to be respectful of that and Im very appreciative of them being supportive of me. Olivia Attwoods Bad Boyfriends starts Sunday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson has revealed that she went through a horrific health scare earlier this month. Gunvalson, 62, opened up about her near-death experience after she was 'misdiagnosed' and treated for a sinus infection before jetting off to Europe. During an episode of 'My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast' the Bravo star got emotional as she talked about the amnesia and stroke-like symptoms she experienced before being rushed to the hospital. Her boyfriend, Michael Smith - who was not home when Gunvalson went to the emergency room - said he found her unconscious in a bathtub after doctors treated her for a sinus infection and discharged her. Smith quickly took her back to the hospital where they discovered she had pneumonia and sepsis and a '10 to 20 percent [chance of] survival.' Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson, 62, opened up about her near-death experience on an episode of 'My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast' on Monday 'I said, "Did I hear this right that I had a 10 to 20 percent [chance of] survival?",' Gunvalson recalled asking her doctor. She soon learned that the sepsis nearly killed her, but she thankfully made it out alive and is now in recovery. Gunvalson, dressed in pajamas, said that she could only recall what happened before her symptoms took over as she started her day at the hair salon before heading into her office. 'There seems to be about an hour or two that I was missing and I don't know where I was. I got to the office. Olivia is [my boyfriend] Michael's daughter who works with me. 'I had a client coming in and she said I was talking gibberish and I wrote an email out and the email didn't make sense,' she recalled. The client she saw was a retired ER physician who thought she was having a stroke. Smith's daughter then took her to the hospital and called her father who was out of town in Phoenix. The reality star said the last thing she remembered was that the hospital 'misdiagnosed' her with a sinus infection before being discharged at 7pm that night. Smith, who joined his girlfriend and her co-host Christian Gray Snow on Monday's episode, recounted what happened next as Gunvalson couldn't remember. 'One of the scariest things for me was when I walked in, for some reason, Vicki decided she wanted to take a bath. 'So she's in the bathtub with water and I walk in and she's pretty much passed out,' he said. Just before she got really sick, Gunvalson jetted off to Europe with her boyfriend Michael Smith (pictured together). She was diagnosed with a sinus infection before the trip and put on antibiotics Gunvalson opened up about her terrifying experience during the episode, while her boyfriend (middle) joined in to fill in the blanks as she forgot most of what happened because of her symptoms 'So I grabbed her, that was scary, and I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed.' Gunvalson slept for 14 hours straight before Smith grew worried and woke her up. 'I tried to get her out of bed. She didn't know where she was,' he said. He then took her back to the hospital where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. 'She had a massive infection... it was actually sepsis, but it was pneumonia. 'The way they explained it is that when your body is fighting that big of an infection and that dangerous of an infection, your whole body attacks it,' Smith explained. The infection was so severe that it also impacted her brain function. Gunvalson said this was the first time she's ever had pneumonia and that currently, her right lung is 'compacted with junk.' After several days in the hospital and multiple doses of steroids and antibiotics, Gunvalson was finally released. Since then, she has been at home resting, slowly getting better day-by-day. Gunvalson revealed that she is still 'lethargic' and doesn't have much energy. "I'm having a hard time getting it [her energy] up. So that's my biggest thing,' she said. Following the frightening health battle, Gunvalson praised her boyfriend's daughter for speaking up and taking her to get checked out. 'I really believe I had guardian angels with me with Olivia and Michael and my friend Tina was there and just getting me care,' she said. 'I couldn't do it myself. So I think I have a little bit of trauma from it. I cry a lot and Michael keeps saying, "Why do you keep crying?" And I don't have an answer.' Gray, who got choked up several times during the episode, explained how worried he was for her. 'Seeing Vicki go through this in the last week has been nothing short of devastating. And terrifying. 'Every time I felt I had an understanding of what happened, I'd learn another detail and be immediately sent back to shock when realizing just how close we came to losing Vicki,' Gray said. In early August, Gunvalson took to her Instagram and shared beautiful memories with Smith and her son Mike during their trip to Europe. Prior to that, Gunvalson found herself in the middle of a financial elder abuse lawsuit filed against her by her one-time client of her Coto Insurance & Financial Services firm. Following a lawsuit from 74-year-old Diane Field against the reality TV star, and her business partner Ali Hashemian, Gunvalson said she was 'outraged by the false allegations being made against her' in a statement to Page Six. Smith said he found her unconscious in a bathtub after doctors treated her for a sinus infection and discharged her. (pictured: Gunvalson in Beverly Hills on in March 2024) 'Victoria Gunvalson is a well-respected insurance broker with more than 34 years of experience. She has helped thousands of clients,' the statement read. It added that Gunvalson 'followed the direction of her client' by 'placing the insurance product Ms. Field requested regarding the annuities and the life insurance policy.' 'Ms. Gunvalson vehemently denies each and every allegation of Diane Fields Complaint against Ms. Gunvalson and Coto Insurance Services.' 'Ms. Gunvalson did not engage in any conduct that could be considered financial elder abuse, breach of fiduciary duty, or fraud.' 'Victoria Gunvalson remains committed to the highest standards of integrity and transparency,' the statement went on. Field said in legal docs reviewed by Page Six that Gunvalson and Hashemian misled her amid a series of financial dealings. Field filed the lawsuit this past May at Superior Court of California in Orange County, according to the outlet. Advertisement Katie Holmes will be getting on an airplane soon. The Hollywood movie star is heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit her daughter Suri Cruise while at Carnegie Mellon University, a private university, a source tells DailyMail.com That's because September 27 and 28 is Family weekend, and Katie is allowed to visit her only child at that time. Tom, whom Suri is estranged from, won't be there, even though - as DailyMail.com reported last week - he is paying the tuition as it was in his divorce settlement that he must cover all of Suri's education. 'Katie looks forward to visiting her child at school, she is happy for her and wants to be a part of it,' said a source. 'Katie attended Columbia University for a while and loved the experience so she is thrilled her girl will be going to college.' Before Family Weekend, Suri will have a three day weekend with Labor Day. The 18-year-old student moved into the dorms a week ago with the help of Holmes. Classes begin on August 26, according to the school's website. Katie Holmes will be getting on an airplane soon. The Hollywood movie star is heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit her daughter Suri Cruise while at Carnegie Mellon University, a private university, a source tells DailyMail.com Cruise is now a college freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her estranged father Tom Cruise is footing the bill Cruise reacts as he attends the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France, on August 11 Cruise is forking over the money to put her through college. That's because it was decided in 2012 when he divorced Katie after six years of marriage that he should cover all of her schooling. The divorce documents revealed Tom pays Suri's expenses, including 'medical, dental, insurance, education, college and other extracurricular costs.' 'Tom is indeed paying for Suri's tuition, he has always paid for her schooling and would never stop as he is a stand-up guy,' a friend of Tom's told DailyMail.com. The annual tuition at CMU is $65K. 'He has never hesitated paying his daughter's child support and expenses. He does not go back on his word. He is fulfilling his obligation.' But he is likely no longer paying Katie $38,000-a year in child support as Suri is now 18 and no longer a child. It is odd to think that Tom is paying Suri's way considering they have not been photographed together in over a decade. Their last snapshot together in public was in April 2013. Suri hinted that she is not on good terms with her father as she changed her last name from Cruise to Noelle. Noelle is Katie's middle name. Meanwhile, DailyMail.com has reported that Suri is looking forward to her college experience and is sharing a dorm room with another female student in an all-female dorm hall. 'Suri wants the full college experience so she is giving the dorm rooms a try and she will have a roommate,' an insider told DailyMail.com. 'She is excited for a new chapter in her life.' Instead of mom Homes' three-bedroom high-rise luxury apartment in NYC, the teenager will be in a bare-bones dorm room. She is believed to be house in Scobell House which has a maximum of 88 students and is all female. One of the highlights of Carnegie Mellon? The campus houses several restaurants that offer cappuccinos, croissants, pasta and smoothies. And there is a state-of-the-art wellness center. Cruise is starting as a college freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this month Cruise and Holmes with Suri at Nino's Restaurant at the bottom of the Piazza De Spagne (Spanish Steps) in Rome, Italy two days before their fairytale wedding in November 2006 The rooms can be for one person, two or three, depending on need and price. One of the rooms has two bunk beds which means as many as four students can be crammed in the space. Most of the dorm rooms offer furniture: there is a single bed with space underneath for storage, a five level chest of drawers, a desk with three drawers and a chair. There are plenty of amenities at the complex like a TV lounge, a study lounge, a recreational area, laundry facilities, and a kitchen. Scobell is in the WHeSco community, which includes the houses Henderson and Welch. 'WHeSco is proximate to many academic buildings and dining options in Resnik. Each building has a central area on the ground floor where students have access to lounges, laundry, and a kitchen,' the website shared. There is plenty of food to purchase on campus so Suri won't go hungry as she crams for finals. There are restaurants like Au Bon Pain cafe bakery at Cohon Center where Cruise can pick up chocolate croissants and sodas. There is also a Ciao Bella restaurant for tasty pasta dishes like Fettucine Alfredo; it is also located at Cohon Center. The Edge Cafe and Market at Resnik House is where Suri can get bagels and cream cheese as well as pizza. Scobell House houses 88 students and is all female. Scobell is in the WHeSco community, which includes the houses Henderson and Welch. 'WHeSco is proximate to many academic buildings and dining options in Resnik It has been hinted by Katie that Suri may be studying acting and dance at Carnegie Mellon. Holmes told Town & Country magazine that after college, her daughter wants to enter showbiz. Both Katie and Suri's father Tom have been in the industry since their early 20s. The magazine claimed that Suri 'is said to be interested in pursuing a career in fashion or acting.' That does not sound off base Suri starred in a high school production of The Addams Family. Holmes and Suri Cruise at the American Ballet Theater Spring Gala in New York City in 2018 And Katie has already put Suri to work on two of her films. Suri contributed vocals to songs in two of Holmes' films - the 2023 drama Rare Objects and 2022 romantic drama Alone Together. 'I'm proud of my daughter,' Holmes told Town & Country of her daughter. 'Of course, I will miss the close proximity, but I'm really proud of her and I'm happy.' Holmes, speaking with Glamour in April 2023, said that she has sought to encourage Suri's performing on her projects. 'I hope she always does something on my films,' Holmes said. 'I always ask her.' Holmes said that 'both of those experiences came out of the same sense of what I love about our industry, which is, you have these projects and you become a family with people.' Sheridan Smith looked unrecognisable as she transformed into grieving mother Ann Ming while filming for the upcoming real-life drama series I Fought The Law in Teesside on Friday. The 43-year-old Gavin And Stacey actress was seen hysterically crying as she got into character to film harrowing scenes for the show. She looked a far cry from her usual self as she embodied the murder campaign mum, donning a short yellow wig and a long beige trench coat, bundled over a knitted jumper. Images from the set show Sheridan being held back by police officers and other characters during an emotional outburst and later sitting in the back of an ambulance clinging onto a cup and being comforted by another officer. Her character Ann is a real woman who campaigned for 15 years to bring her daughter's murderer to justice. Sheridan Smith looked unrecognisable as she transformed into grieving mother Ann Ming while filming for the upcoming real-life drama series I Fought The Law in Teesside on Friday She looked a far cry from her usual self (Sheridan pictured in April) She got the UK's 800-year-old 'double jeopardy' law overturned following the murder of her daughter Julie Hogg. Julie was murdered by William 'Billy' Dunlop but jurors failed to find him guilty - twice. This meant that even when Billy confessed, he could not be trialled again, in accordance with the law at the time. However, after almost 17 years of campaigning with her husband Charles, who died in 2013, Ann got this law amended, and Billy is currently serving a life sentence. Julie, who was a mother to three-year-old, Kevin, and a wife to Andrew, was only 22 when she died. Tragically, Ann found Julie's body concealed in the bathroom of her terraced house in January 1990, 80 days after it was hidden there by Billy. This was in spite of extensive searches of the property by police forensics teams in the days after her disappearance, who failed to detect her body. Her daughter's killer had strangled and then sexually mutilated Julie, before hiding her body under the bath in her own house. The 43-year-old Gavin And Stacey actress was seen hysterically crying as she got into character to film harrowing scenes for the show Images from the set show Sheridan being held back by police officers and other characters during an emotional outburst Sheridan's character Ann (right, in 2006) is a real woman who got the UK's 800-year-old 'double jeopardy' law overturned following the murder of her daughter Julie Hogg Julie was murdered by William 'Billy' Dunlop and hidden in her own bathroom but jurors failed to find him guilty at both the trial and the retrial Dramatic scenes saw Sheridan play out the emotional aftermath of Julie Hogg's body being found Ann, now in her late 70s, is acting as a consultant throughout the production process of I Fought The Law (Sheridan pictured on set) Distressing scenes saw Sheridan's character sitting in the back of an ambulance clinging onto a cup and being comforted by another officer Ann, now in her late 70s, is acting as a consultant throughout the production process of I Fought The Law. She said: 'My daughter's killer was wrongfully acquitted, and a number of years later confessed to her murder, for which he could only be prosecuted for perjury due to the 800-year-old Double Jeopardy Law. 'I wasn't going to let this stand in my way of getting justice for Julie. I'm overwhelmed that Sheridan Smith will be playing me. 'Having such an iconic and talented actress portray me is truly wonderful.' Speaking about the role, Sheridan said: 'I am so honoured to have been asked to play the role of Ann Ming, a mother so determined to fight for justice for her murdered daughter that she spent 15 years campaigning for the Double Jeopardy Law to be changed.' She added: 'She is a truly courageous and remarkable woman to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude.' Chrishell Stause had a blast in Greece. On Monday the reality TV star shared a collection of images and videos from her summer vacation. The blonde beauty posed in swimsuits as she spent time with Kim Kardashian's hairstylist Chris Appleton. 'If someone showed this to my 12 yr old self washing her hair in the river who wasnt sure when she would get to have a place to call home again, I am not sure I could have believed it,' she wrote in her caption. 'I now have the privilege to show off this new STUNNING property on Kea Island in Greece with my bestie!'WHAT@ookeaisland @ooresorts '#ExceptionalOneOffs #travelblogger #luxurytravel #greece #travelgram @chrisappleton1.' She was at the One & Only Resort on Kea Island in Greece. Chrishell Stause had a blast in Greece. On Monday the reality TV star shared a collection of images and videos from her summer vacation The blonde beauty posed in swimsuits. 'If someone showed this to my 12 yr old self washing her hair in the river who wasnt sure when she would get to have a place to call home again, I am not sure I could have believed it,' she wrote in her caption Stause touched on her tough childhood in her caption. She did indeed struggle as a child. Stause was born in Draffenville, Kentucky. Before knowing that she was pregnant, her mother broke up with Chrishell's biological father, who was half Japanese and half Spanish. Jeff was her stepfather. Stause missed a full year of middle school because she was forced to live in a tent. At that time, Stause mentioned washing her hair in the river, using food stamps and hiding her life from classmates. Her parents 'struggled with addiction and mental health' and for a period joined the Worldwide Church of God when she was 10 years old. Her mother never had a steady job and Stause describes her as free spirit and self-righteous. On her Insta Stories, Chrishell was also seen in Mykonos as she held pink sunglasses 'I now have the privilege to show off this new STUNNING property on Kea Island in Greece with my bestie! WHAT@ookeaisland @ooresorts,' she added In this image she posed on the edge of an infinity pool near sunset On her Insta Stories, Chrishell was also seen in Mykonos along with wife GFlip. This comes after Stause's wife GFlip shared intimate new details about their wedding during the launch of Instagram's new podcast series, Off The Handle. Speaking with host Rudy Jean Rigg in early August, the talented musician opened up about their unique approach to wedding celebrations and their heartfelt vows. GFlip, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, revealed that their wedding plans were often spontaneous, allowing for multiple celebrations. 'If you do it really last minute, a lot of people can't make it, and then they can come to the next one. It's like a birthday party, you celebrate your birthday every year, we reckon you should celebrate your love every year,' GFlip, whose real name is Georgia Claire Flipo, explained. They continued, 'Next year, you know, because so many people didn't make it. There's a new fresh group of people who are like, "Oh, I want to come." And then it's like, "Ah, so yeah, a yearly wedding." And like, don't put too much thought into it. Cause like, we never want to be stressed. So we just had it in a bar.' Seen with Chris Appleton, 41, who does Kim Kardashian's hair They also did some paddle boarding in a lagoon Reflecting on their first impromptu wedding in Las Vegas, GFlip shared, 'This one had to be the most planned, because when me and Chrishell got married in Vegas, my family were filthy that they weren't invited. 'It was literally ... it was 3pm and we decided we're going to get married at midnight. 'My best mate put effort into it and it surprised me. We were both like, "Wow, this is the most official wedding of all the weddings, but we're on a wedding world tour."' Detailing their wedding tour, GFlip said, 'The first one was in Vegas. Second one was in Palm Springs. This one was in Melbourne. 'Next year, I don't know where the f**k we'll be. We might be like randomly in Italy and then we'll decide tonight we should get married again, renew some vows and then we'll just pick random people in the bar. It's like, we need some witnesses.' GFlip's wedding vows are particularly poetic, a reflection of their songwriting talent. GFlip, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, revealed that their wedding plans were often spontaneous, allowing for multiple celebrations. They shared the touching story of how they and Chrishell met, dressed as skeletons at a Halloween party. 'I always end my vows with, "Um, I know I'm not ever what you pictured marrying, but maybe we are just two skeletons, like the day we first met".' This unique theme is carried into their wedding rings and tattoos. 'That's why we have a thing for skeletons. So like my wedding ring's a little skelly and I've got us dancing tattooed up here,' GFlip revealed. With a mix of spontaneity, heartfelt poetry, and a touch of humour, GFlip and Chrishell Stause's wedding celebrations are as unique and memorable as their love story. As GFlip puts it, 'I always get real poetic. I like vows. I think I'm a songwriter, so that makes sense. But I, you know, I always seem to be writing my vows on a plane and I'm always just crying in my seat.' Off The Handle Episode one featuring G Flip is now streaming on all podcast platforms, including Spotify Andi Dorfman revealed her sex of her unborn baby at the beach on Sunday. The Bachelorette star, 37 and her husband Blaine Hart who tied the knot in a lavish Italian wedding took to Instagram to share a clip from her gender reveal party as family members guessed what the couple was expecting. The pair and some relatives set off smoke cannons that shot out pink powder, revealing the pair are expecting a baby girl. In the clip, the mother-to-be modeled an off the shoulder white lace gown that hugged her frame. 'Baby Hart is a ________ !!!' she teased in the caption of the post. Andi Dorfman and husband Blain Hart revealed her sex of her unborn baby at the beach on Sunday The former reality star guessed her baby's sex prior to the reveal saying, 'I'm your mom and I actually have no idea what you are so I'm just gonna go with team girl.' Hart then chimed in, 'I'm your dad and I think maybe just maybe you're a boy. We'll see. We'll love you either way.' After totaling up all family member's guesses in the sweet video, four guessed girl and five guessed boy. They cheered at the result. Fans went wild over the joint post, racking up over 41k likes and hundreds of comments from supportive followers. One wrote, 'This video is just everything! I hope you keep this video forever to look back on. Congrats on your baby girl!! #girlmom!!' Another added, 'Congratulations!! Im sure she will be the prettiest little girl like her momma!!' The brunette beauty has yet to reveal their little girl's due date. 'Baby Hart is a ________ !!!' she teased in the caption of the post In the clip, the mother-to-be modeled an off the shoulder white lace gown that hugged her frame The pair and some relatives set off smoke cannons that shot out pink powder, revealing that the pair is expecting a baby girl Hart then chimed in, 'I'm your dad and I think maybe just maybe you're a boy. We'll see. We'll love you either way' Andi took to Instagram to share a clip from her gender reveal party as family members guessed what the couple was expecting After totaling up all family member's guesses in the sweet video, four guessed girl and five guessed boy The starlet's family members each shared what baby girl Hart will call them 'Future Mom + Dad!!!! To say we are over the moon is an understatement! Baby Hart coming later this year,' she shared. Andi and The Stakelander star announced they were pregnant earlier this month and shared posed with sonogram photos, showing off their bun in the oven. In 2023 the TV personality revealed that she had frozen her eggs because she was certain she wanted to have a child but did not want to 'settle.' 'I have zero regrets about freezing my eggs,' she told E! News at the time, saying, 'It kept me from settling. 'I do want kids, and I'm not in denial about age. And Ill be 36 hopefully by the time my first kid is even born, probably 37 honestly. And just to have that in the back of my mind, I think, kept my standards high,' she shared. Andi and The Stakelander star announced they were pregnant earlier this month and shared posed with sonogram photos, showing off their bun in the oven Andi met Blaine in 2016 at a college party via mutual friends, but didn't start dating until late 2021; seen in 2024 He popped the question in March of 2022 with a with a 5-carat diamond on the beach; seen in 2024 They said 'I do' in a lavish three-day celebration in Sorrento, Italy on May 31, 2023; seen in 2024 Andi appeared as the lead on the tenth season of the Bachelorette and was a contestant on the eighteenth season of The Bachelor; seen in 2014 Andi met Blaine in 2016 at a college party via mutual friends, but didn't start dating until late 2021. He attended Furman University and she studied at Louisiana State University. He popped the question in March of 2022 with a with a 5-carat diamond on the beach. They said 'I do' in a lavish three-day celebration in Sorrento, Italy on May 31, 2023. Andi appeared as the lead on the tenth season of the Bachelorette and was a contestant on the eighteenth season of The Bachelor. Ice Spice stripped down to her bra and panties for a mirror selfie she shared with her captive, combined 28.9M social media following on Sunday night. The 24-year-old hip-hop It girl also Instastoried a snap of her slim 5ft3in frame and tiny waist clad in a grey-lace crop-top and matching shorts. Some fans think Ice Spice (born Isis Naija Gaston) has lost a significant amount of weight since she first found fame on TikTok in 2021, and they speculate over whether she hopped aboard the trendy Ozempic train. 'I actually came on here to talk about that real quick. Cuz I was like, b****, I wish y'all never learned the word Ozempic,' the Phat Butt rapper vented during an X Spaces chat last week. 'That's one thing I wish. Oh my God! Like what even is Ozempic? What the f*** is that? Genuinely, what is that, bro? Like, you lazy b***es never heard of the gym? It's called the gym, it's called eating healthy, it's called being on tour. Like, what the hell? Maybe if I was sitting home all f***ing day, it'll be easier to stay big.' Ice Spice stripped down to her bra and panties for a mirror selfie she shared with her captive, combined 28.9M social media following on Sunday night Ice Spice frequently posts pictures of the food she eats, including a before/after of a decadent chocolate ice-cream and cake dessert, from August 17. Celebrities who've admitted to taking semaglutides include Whoopi Goldberg, Kelly Clarkson, Rebel Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood, Lauren Manzo, Dolores Catania, and Golnesa 'GG' Gharachedaghi. But for every person who admits to Ozempic, there's many more who've remained suspiciously silent while suddenly slimming including Lizzo, Mindy Kaling, Melissa McCarthy, Khloe Kardashian, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, and Patricia Arquette. The semaglutide injectables - which could cause yet-to-be-known long-term effects such as pancreatitis - can cost $25/month for qualified patients under insurance, but it costs anywhere between $600 and $1,300 for a month supply of four weekly pens out-of-pocket. Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, Mounjaro, and Victoza should only be prescribed to severely overweight patients suffering from type 2 diabetes - and only one of them (Wegovy) has been approved for weight loss by the FDA in 2021. On May 31, the Bronx-born Jersey Girl wrapped her mystery cameo in Spike Lee's remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film High and Low alongside Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and ASAP Rocky. 'Let's just say I don't really look like myself, so I'm excited to see how that looks on camera,' Ice Spice told Real 92.3's Big Boy last Tuesday. '[Denzel] has, like, a very like powerful vibe and I was a little intimidated but mostly nervous. He just kept saying, "Don't be, like, just don't be nervous. Congrats, you're great!" So he was really encouraging and sweet, but that was huge to work with him.' The crime thriller - based on Ed McBain's 1959 novel King's Ransom - will be released theatrically by A24 before streaming on Apple TV+. The half-Nigerian, half-Dominican star - who gets 22M monthly listeners on Spotify - is next scheduled to bring her 25-date Y2K! World Tour to the 713 Music Hall in Houston, TX on Monday night. Ice Spice's debut studio album Y2K! - which dropped July 26 - peaked at No. 18 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The 24-year-old hip-hop It girl also Instastoried a snap of her slim 5ft3in frame and tiny waist clad in a grey-lace crop-top and matching shorts 2024 vs. 2022: Some fans think Ice Spice (born Isis Naija Gaston) has lost a significant amount of weight since she first found fame on TikTok in 2021, and they speculate over whether she hopped aboard the trendy Ozempic train The Phat Butt rapper vented during an X Spaces chat last week: 'I actually came on here to talk about that real quick. Cuz I was like, b****, I wish y'all never learned the word Ozempic. That's one thing I wish. Oh my God! Like what even is Ozempic? What the f*** is that?' Ice Spice continued: 'Like, you lazy b***es never heard of the gym? It's called the gym, it's called eating healthy, it's called being on tour. Like, what the hell? Maybe if I was sitting home all f***ing day, it'll be easier to stay big' The Bronx-born Jersey Girl frequently posts pictures of the food she eats, including a before/after of a decadent chocolate ice-cream and cake dessert, from August 17 Celebrities who have admitted to taking semaglutides include Whoopi Goldberg (L), Kelly Clarkson (2-L), Rebel Wilson (2-R), Oprah Winfrey (R), Elon Musk, Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood, Lauren Manzo, Dolores Catania, and more But for every person who admits to Ozempic, there's many more who've remained suspiciously silent while suddenly slimming including Lizzo, Mindy Kaling, Melissa McCarthy, Khloe Kardashian, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, and Patricia Arquette On May 31, Ice Spice wrapped her mystery cameo in Spike Lee's (L) remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film High and Low alongside Denzel Washington (R), Jeffrey Wright, and ASAP Rocky The half-Nigerian, half-Dominican star told Real 92.3's Big Boy last Tuesday: 'Let's just say I don't really look like myself, so I'm excited to see how that looks on camera. [Denzel] has, like, a very like powerful vibe and I was a little intimidated but mostly nervous. He just kept saying, "Don't be, like, just don't be nervous. Congrats, you're great!" So he was really encouraging and sweet, but that was huge to work with him' The next chapter of Emily In Paris promises even more drama - but in a brand new setting. A trailer for the second part of season four sees the titular Emily (Lily Collins) now in Rome - and with a new romantic interest. But that doesn't mean the drama with her on-off lover Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) has come to an end. The trailer begins with Emily in Gabriel's arms during a romantic mountain getaway -before his girlfriend Camille (Camille Razat) enters the picture. 'You're always going to choose her!' Emily pleads with Gabriel as Camille watches on mere feet away. A new trailer for part two of season four of Emily In Paris has been released Emily (Lily Collins) is still romantically entangled with Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) 'She's having my baby!' he replies. 'I know! But I cannot be the person who pulls you away from your family,' Emily insists as a close-up shot of Camille appears. Camille has yet to share with Gabriel she is not actually pregnant after learning her test result was a false positive. Interestingly, Gabriel is then seen hanging out with another new woman - Emily's new American coworker Genevieve. As Emily and her friend Mindy Chen (Ashley Park) stroll by Gabriel's restaurant, they spot him enjoying a late night chat with Genevieve inside the eatery. 'Are we sure we like her?' Mindy asks following the perplexing sighting. Meanwhile, Emily is sent to Rome to woo a prospective new business partner, a handsome Italian man named Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini). 'JVMA is desperate to acquire them,' Emily's colleague tells their boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). 'I'd love to get a meeting with Marcello,' Sylvie informs Emily. 'I'm not going to Rome!' Emily protests. The trailer begins with them on a romantic mountain getaway 'You're always going to choose her!' Emily pleads with Gabriel as his girlfriend Camille watches on mere feet away Gabriel is still attached to his girlfriend Camille (Camille Razat) Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) encourages Emily to help her woo a prospective business partner 'It's not the first time you mix business with pleasure. And you're actually quite good at it,' Sylvie tells her. Emily winds up travelling to Rome and meeting with Marcello, who takes her sightseeing throughout the city. The trip offers the marketing executive a respite from her busy life in the city. 'I really needed this,' Emily says. She travels to Rome and meets the man Sylvie hopes to get a meeting with, Marcello The getaway offers Emily with a much-needed respite from her busy city life During her trip, Emily enjoys the finer things in life from good food to good company 'Which city do you prefer? Paris or Rome?' Marcello asks her 'What did you need?' Marcello asks. 'A break from work, Paris, everything,' she replies wistfully. During her trip, Emily enjoys the finer things in life from good food to good company. As she hits the club with Marcello, they share a steamy dance. 'Which city do you prefer? Paris or Rome?' Marcello asks her. Emily is then shown opening the windows of her palatial Roman accommodations, taking in the priceless views with an awe-stricken smile. Part two of Emily In Paris will debut on Netflix on September 12. The Danish woman Tommy Fury was accused of 'brazenly kissing' during his boozy holiday has broken her silence . Jewellery assistant Milla Corfixen, 20, posted on Monday following the creation of two fake Instagram accounts in her name and begged social media users to report them. Two individuals created fake Instagram accounts using different variations of her online name: @millacorfixen and @millacorfixenx. Calling out the trolls in her story, Milla shared a screenshot of both accounts and wrote: 'Just to clarify these are fake accounts, can everyone please report them.' The Danish woman Tommy Fury was accused of 'brazenly kissing' during his boozy holiday has broken her silence Tommy jetted abroad for a holiday in North Macedonia earlier this year where he was linked to Milla, ahead of his split from Molly-Mae Hague (stock image) Tommy jetted abroad for a holiday in Ohrid, North Macedonia earlier this year where he reportedly kissed a blonde woman in a nightclub, leading his fiancee Molly-Mae to announce their split after five years together. An Instagram Stories post shared on a fake account for Milla on Monday read: 'I've had to delete all my posts due to the hate and nasty comments, as stated in the news story I have gave [sic]! I didn't do anything with Tommy Fury....' 'I didn't even no [sic] who he was we only shared a kiss nothing else happened. And if I'd of [sic] known about Molly-Mae I would never have kissed him back'. Milla previously stated she would delete her social media posts due to intense trolling in the comments. Her official page currently has no posts. Last week Milla denied smooching the Love Island star and insisted: 'He was a proper gentleman', despite onlookers claiming the boxer 'didn't seem to care' who saw him brazenly kiss the blonde as he downed vodka and partied at a nightclub at 2am. Speaking to The Sun, she said she was shocked when she found out about Tommy and Molly-Mae's split and insisted she will try and talk to the Influencer to share her side of the story. Milla also revealed she had a boyfriend, while Tommy has previously denied he has cheated on Molly. 'I am the girl but nothing happened. We just had fun,' she explained. 'I dont know what hes been doing but someone else must have kissed him.' Jewellery assistant Milla posted on Monday following the creation of two fake Instagram accounts in her name and begged social media users to report them An Instagram Stories post shared on a fake account for Milla on Monday read: 'I've had to delete all my posts due to the hate and nasty comments, as stated in the news story I have gave [sic]! I didn't do anything with Tommy Fury' Tommy jetted abroad for a holiday in Ohrid, North Macedonia earlier this year where he reportedly kissed a blonde woman in a nightclub, leading his fiancee Molly-Mae to announce their split after five years together (pictured together in 2022) It comes after Milla in her denial last week said was shocked when she found out about Tommy and Molly-Mae's split and insisted she will try and talk to the Influencer to share her side of the story (Molly-Mae pictured without her engagement ring on Sunday) Danish Milla spends her summers in Ohrid where she has family, and is said to be regular on the party scene in the region. She revealed that she partied with Tommy and his friends on three separate occasions during the boxer's holiday after meeting him through members of his security team, who she is friends with. She recommended night spots and beach clubs for the group to party at and later saw them at Latin bar Cuba Libre. 'They invited us to his table and we had fun and that's it. We did not do anything. I would never have done anything with a married man, as he's basically married, with a little child.' She also saw Tommy on his last night of the trip at Omnia club, but she explained: 'We were at the same places but we were not together, although at Cuba Libre we were close. He didn't flirt with me, he was just being friendly.' Tommy was also accused of sending accused of messaging another woman 'after spotting her on a night out in Manchester' while engaged to Molly-Mae. But the story has now taken a shock twist when the recipient of the messages, a woman called Kay Keogh, claimed she was 'catfished' by an imposter. At the time, she took to TikTok to share a screenshot of a message from an account which was allegedly Tommy's, which read: 'Are you in Manchester?' However, she's since returned to the platform to confess she was duped by a fake account and says it wasn't Tommy who messaged her at all. Sharing a video, Kay told how she'd received a message from someone who told her that they were behind the messages and not the Love Island star. She claims to have fell for the messages after being at an event in Manchester with someone who 'could've passed for' Tommy, adding that she was 'really confused'. Speaking in the clip, she says: 'I obviously got catfished. Someone was basically, definitely tolling me because another fake account has messaged me and they've literally said to me "you actually thought that was him? that was me." The Tommy Fury messaging scandal took taken a shock twist when a woman who claimed he was sending her flirty DMs has claimed she was 'catfished' by an imposter Last week, a woman called Kay Keogh accused Tommy of 'messaging another woman after spotting her on a night out in Manchester' while he was still engaged to Molly-Mae (stock picture) However, she's since returned to the platform to confess she was duped by a fake account and says it wasn't Tommy who messaged her at all Kay Keogh accused Tommy this week of 'messaging her after spotting her on a night out in Manchester' while engaged to Molly-Mae Kay took to TikTok to share a screenshot of a message from an account which was allegedly Tommy's, which read: 'Are you in Manchester?' Tommy, who shares daughter Bambi, 20 months, with the former Love Islander, has denied any cheating claims and has said he is 'horrified' by the 'false allegations' 'And obviously people are gonna be like "but you said you saw him?" but like I said, I was really confused already. And it was also really weird that I was just in Manchester and we had gone to a private event and there was a group of guys and one of the guys could have passed for being him.' She continued: 'Like I said, I don't even now know what he really looks like. I know he has brown hair and is like really muscly. But yeah this person has messaged me and basically told me they were trolling me.' Kay added her apparent surprise that people can now 'buy verifications and change their name' on social media. MailOnline have contacted representatives of Tommy for comment. Kay had previously called out Tommy for messaging her, as she said on TikTok; 'I was thinking about whether I should make this video or not, but I am going to,' she said. 'So, me and my friends were out in Manchester and we actually met him [Tommy] one night. 'Basically, we were on a night out with a group of guys and I didn't really put two and two together of who he really was. 'One of the guys asked for my Instagram, which I gave to him. We were all together, but basically after looking at my phone and seeing his name pop up, that's when I realised who he was. 'Obviously, after I saw his name pop up I was thinking 'What the hell'. Then I obviously realised who he was, but I literally have DMs and I don't know whether I should put them out or not.' In a second video, Kay added: 'So this is part two of the Tommy situation, my friend was there so she is going to explain what happened as well.' Her friend then said: 'I am not from the UK so I did not recognise him until we looked at the DM and obviously we were on his page.' Amid the drama, Molly-Mae has been supported by her friends and loved ones, who have been rallying around her at her 3.5million Cheshire mansion. Molly-Mae was also said to have been growing tired of Tommy 'gallivanting around the world while she was looking after their child', it has been revealed. Amid the drama, Molly-Mae has been supported by her friends and loved ones, who have been rallying around her at her 3.5million Cheshire mansion (Molly-Mae pictured last week) Molly-Mae was also said to have been growing tired of Tommy ' gallivanting around the world while she was looking after their child', it has been revealed (Tommy pictured with a pal in Macedonia) Molly and Tommy met on Love Island in 2019 (pictured) and went on to get engaged last year, after welcoming their little girl in January 2023 In recent months Tommy has travelled to Germany, Hungary, Dubai and North Macedonia. Friends of the couple say the split was a 'long time coming' as Molly-Mae grew tired of his lifestyle while she looked after Bambi, The Mirror revealed on Sunday. A source said: 'Problems had been growing for a while. Increasingly, it seemed like they were living two very different lifestyles.' On August 7, just seven days before their split, Molly-Mae posted a YouTube video in which she said she had been 'struggling' and 'solo parenting' Bambi. In a candid video posted on social media the Love Island star said she had spent weeks looking after their daughter Bambi on her own while her fiance was working elsewhere. In recent weeks friends have revealed the couple had gone through a rocky patch and have been leading increasingly separate lives with cracks showing in their normally tight-knit relationship on social media. Nicola Coughlan was seen looking cosy with actor Jake Dunn they as arrived at All Points East festival at Victoria Park in London on Saturday. The actress, 37, who is known for her role as Penelope Featherington in Netflix hit Bridgerton, joined Renegade Nell star Jake, 24, to enjoy a weekend of partying. In new photographs of the festival, Nicola was seen in top spirits as she channelled her inner Penelope in a Bengaline puff sleeve milkmaid skater dress. In typical festival goer style, she paired her white garment with some black and gold buckled boots. Keeping safe in the sun, Nicola paired her look with a blue bucket hat and a pair of trendy black sunglasses. Nicola Coughlan was seen looking cosy with actor Jake Dunn they as arrived at All Points East festival at Victoria Park in London on Saturday The actress, 37, who is known for her role as Penelope Featherington in Netflix hit Bridgerton , joined Renegade Nell star Jake, 24, to enjoy a weekend of partying To accessorise, she went all out with a red leather bag, which featured rainbow beading, that she slung across her shoulder. Getting in the mood a party, Nicola was seen with her arm around Jake as he cut a casual figure for the outing. He was seen wearing a white T-shirt layered under a cotton shirt which he paired with black trousers. The new snaps come hours after they were seen blending in with the rest of the crowd, Nicola shielded her face with a black bucket hat while watching Mitski headline. In photos obtained by The Sun, she was pictured later in the evening wearing the same a white mini dress and studded ankle boots. He most recently starred as Thomas Blancheford in Disney+ series Renegade Nell and has also featured in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. Nicola was seen alongside Jake and his co-star Alice Kremelberg at the premiere of Renegade Nell in March, as she posed for a selfie. The Irish actress had stepped out to the event to support her Derry Girls co-star Louisa Harland, who plays the titular character. In new photographs of the festival, Nicola was seen in top spirits as she channelled her inner Penelope in a Bengaline puff sleeve milkmaid skater dress In typical festival goer style, she paired her white garment with some black and gold buckled boots Keeping safe in the sun, Nicola paired her look with a blue bucket hat and a pair of trendy black sunglasses Getting in the mood a party, Nicola was seen with her arm around Jake as he cut a casual figure for the outing The new snaps come hours after they were seen blending in with the rest of the crowd, Nicola shielded her face with a black bucket hat while watching Mitski headline Nicola was also seen alongside Jake and his co-star Alice Kremelberg at the premiere of Renegade Nell in March, as she posed for a selfie MailOnline has contacted Nicola's representative for comment. In June, Bridgerton fans descended into a frenzy as on-screen lovebirds Nicola and Luke Newton reunited for a nostalgic trip to Galway In a clip posted to Netflix's social media, the pair travelled to Nicola's hometown in Ireland to soak up the sights, before reflecting on their time on the show. During the clip, Nicola, who played Lady Whistledown scribe Penelope Featherington and Luke, who played Colin Bridgerton, looked back at their three-season stint on the show. Nicola fought back tears as she bid farewell to her season as the focal character of the series, with another Bridgerton romance set to take centre stage in season four. The clip began with Nicola showing Luke the stunning Galway landscape, with the actor saying: 'The people have really welcomed me, I don't know what I expected honestly.' He most recently starred as Thomas Blancheford in Disney+ series Renegade Nell (pictured) and has also featured in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself The pair headed into a cinema where they rewatched scenes during their time on the show, including the first season where viewers saw earliest stages of Penelope and Colin's friendship. Looking at her characters' garish sense of style, Nicola said: 'We look like babies. I loved that dress it was so cute.' After enjoying moments including the show's first ball, and the final moments of season one, where Penelope came dangerously close to admitting her feelings for Colin. Bridgerton's third season, which has been branded the show's raciest season yet, saw Colin and Penelope finally cement their romance, with Luke and Nicola looking back at their character's first kiss. Asked about the message fans should take away from their relationship, Luke said: 'There's a message to it of discovering who you are but also you don't have to do it on your own, someone can help you.' Nicola added: 'It's life-changing, it's going to have an impact on our lives forever, when we're old and grey.' Luke and Nicola then headed to a pub where they enjoyed a pint of Guinness together, with the Derry Girls star revealing she landed her role as Penelope after just one audition. She added: 'Every screening we've gone across the world it's a real pinch me moment.' Fighting back tears, she told Luke: 'You've been so great at it, and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else ... and I am SO tired.' The duo had been touring the globe to promote Bridgerton's third series, where Colin and Penelope's romance took centre stage. Nicola, known for her role as Penelope Featherington in Netflix hit Bridgerton, took centre stage last season with Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton In June, Bridgerton fans descended into a frenzy as on-screen lovebirds Nicola and Luke Newton reunited for a nostalgic trip to Galway Fans were quick to share their delight at the unexpected reunion, with one admitting it left them 'in tears' And fans were quick to share their delight at the unexpected reunion, with one admitting it left them 'in tears.' Posts included: 'Ya'll just keep stabbing me in the heart. Ughh the waterworks came on with the first dance scene. And that first kiss song... it evokes all the emotions and it will always trigger me. I know they miss each other after going through all this - like who wouldn't miss Nic or Luke?' 'That was the most beautiful video. Thank you so much for this. I will never stop being the thankful that Luke and Nic are our Polin;' 'Did not expect to be crying this much at 9am on a Thursday morning, but here we are.' Actor Tyrese Gibson revealed that his mother made him act like he had 'special needs' so their family could collect government checks when he was younger. The Fast & Furious star opened up about his late mother's scheme in a recent episode of the podcast Million Dollaz Worth of Game hosted by King Gillie and Wallace 'Wallo267' Peeples. 'My mama used to make us go to the social security building and play re*****,' Gibson, 45, told Gillie and Peeples as they both broke out laughing. '$780 straight up, government cheese n*****,' he added. The three of them continued to chuckle and said that was Gibson's 'first acting gig' and that his mother, Priscilla Murray Gibson was his 'first director.' Priscilla died in February 2022 after battling COVID and pneumonia. Gibson, who called his mother 'My sweet valentine,' posted numerous updates about her health after she fell into a coma earlier that month. Actor Tyrese Gibson revealed that his mother made him act like he had 'special needs' so their family could collect government checks Priscilla died in February 2022 after battling COVID and pneumonia. (pictured: The mother and son in an undated photo) As the trio continued to laugh, Gillie said: 'Rest in peace to the legend.' Gibson replied: 'My mama put me on!' He admitted that he never shared this about his mother publicly until then. 'Aye, you can't arrest my mama n****, she gone - f*** outta here, the government. 'We passed the window of opportunity,' the Baby Boy actor added. He explained that he and his brother were told to act that way so Priscilla could support them as a working mother. 'It was $762 a piece,' Gibson said, adding that Priscilla would tell them to 'delay ya'll answers,' and to 'purposely act' like they couldn't pass tests. 'And I'm smart, at eight-years-old I was sharp - I've always been a A student. I'm a hood n**** but I've always been a communicator, and always been smart,' Gibson said. He admitted that although he has 'behavioral problems' and was the 'class clown,' he was never a 'dummy.' He explained he and his three siblings were all told to act that way by her so she could support them as a working mother. (pictured: The actor and Priscilla in 2003) Gibson recalled an interaction he had with one of the government workers, a white lady that talked to him like he was 'slow' as she placed a puzzle in front of him. 'You're like I gotta get this money for mama,' Peeples said. With his mother by his side, Gibson said he did exactly what she said and pretended to not know how to put the puzzle together. 'Yeah, she knew you had a little acting in you,' Giles told him as Gibson said he never remembered his two sisters doing the same. 'I don't think that the social security building would've been able to believe that four of ya'll n***** f****** up,' Gibson said as he broke out in laughter. 'So we could get away with two.' After his mother's heartbreaking death, Gibson took to Instagram and shared a touching video of him holding her hand in the hospital, along with a heartfelt message about her. 'Rest in peace. You fought, mom, you fought. Oh my God I'm so sorry this happened mom. I'm gonna hold your hand for the rest of my life, OK,' Gibson said in the video through tears. 'Everywhere I go, I'm gonna hold your hand, the way you held my hand when I was a kid. Every journey this life takes me to from here on, you're gonna hold my hand mom, OK?' he said as the video ended. He added in the caption, 'On behalf of my family and everyone who ever spent anytime praying tor my mother This is the saddest moment of my life. My sweet Valentine just passed away. He admitted that although he has 'behavioral problems' and was the 'class clown,' he was never a 'dummy.' pictured: Gibson on August 25, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia) After his mother's heartbreaking death, Gibson took to Instagram and shared a touching video of him holding his mother's hand in the hospital, along with a heartfelt message about her 'May the lord Jesus Christ and his angels open the doors of heavens and embrace her. We as a family are broken and just cant believe this. 'May the lord Jesus Christ honor your walk with him and embrace you into the heavens. 'From here on I ask that you HOLD MY HAND MOTHER and never let my hand go. Like you held my hand as a child and a teen never let my hand go mother..,' Gibson concluded. A number of celebrities offered their support like Snoop Dogg, who said, 'Stay strong Ill come c u this week if u like to pray with u and hug u.' Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who previously starred in Fast & Furious movies alongside Gibson, added, 'So so sorry about this brother. She was so proud of all you are and have become. Deepest condolences & love sent your way to you and your family.' Just last week, the Four Brothers star was overcome with emotions as he spoke about grief on an episode of The Breakfast Club. He stopped by the radio program to discuss his upcoming album Beautiful Pain and his new film 1992, which features both him and the late Ray Liotta. The tears flowed when host Charlamagne Tha God asked how Gibson copes with the loss of loved ones, including his mother, two sisters, Fast & Furious co-star Paul Walker, and Baby Boy director John Singleton. 'I'm doing the best I can with every 24 hours I get,' he responded, as his eyes welled up. Charlamagne rose to hug him and offer tissues, but Gibson declined and said: 'This is what grown is. Black men cry.' Gibson has faced significant personal losses, including the death of his mother, and his two sisters, Salendra and Shonta Gibson, in 2021 and 2023. He also mourned the loss of industry colleagues: Baby Boy director Singleton, who passed away in 2019, and 2 Fast 2 Furious co-star Walker, who died in a 2013 car crash. Additionally, he's endured the pain of two divorces and ongoing custody battles. He was married to Norma Mitchell from 2007 to 2009 and shares a 17-year-old daughter, Shayla, with her. His second marriage to Samantha Gibson ended in separation in 2020 after four years, and they have a 6-year-old daughter, Soraya. 'This is some real s*** out here. I'mma wipe my own tears,' Gibson continued. 'When you do things from the heart, it affects hearts.' Rapper Scarface has revealed his hospitalization with a concerning image taken from his bedside. The Geto Boys artist - real name Brad Terrence Jordan - was pictured hooked up to tubes as a nurse tended to him in a snap he shared to his Instagram on Saturday. The healthcare worker wore a nametag reading 'CVICU,' suggesting Scarface had been admitted into the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. The name tag also revealed he was being cared for at a Houston Methodist hospital. Scarface, 53, whose health has previously made headlines, did not reveal what sent him to the hospital, though his accompanying caption did indicate he had been in pain. Rapper Scarface has revealed his hospitalization with a concerning image taken from his bedside 'Ouch...' he wrote in the caption along with three prayer hand emojis. 'Grateful,' he added. The comments section was flooded with well-wishes from fans and famous musicians. Rapper E-40 commented: 'Praying for a speedy recovery family. I love you.' 'We love you unc,' Travis Scott commented. 'Prayers for a full recovery,' Cedric The Entertainer posted. Chance The Rapper and Jadakiss both left prayer hand emojis while Busta Rhymes responded with a string of crown and raising hand emojis. The musician's health woes have previously made headlines. In March 2020, he revealed he tested positive for coronavirus as the pandemic began picking up pace around the world. The comments section was flooded with well-wishes from fans and famous musicians He suffered irreparable damage to his kidneys following the illness and took to Twitter to ask for 'volunteers' willing to donate one of their healthy kidneys to him. He ultimately received a kidney transplant from his son, Christopher Jordan. Scarface has released 12 solo albums and is known for songs such as Smile, My Block and I Seen a Man Die. He initially gained fame in the late 1980s with the group Geto Boys through the song Mind Playing Tricks on Me. Scarface rose to fame as a member of the hip hop group Geto Boys; pictured L to R Geto Boy members Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill in 1992 Scarface pictured performing in Sugar Land, Texas in 2023 One of the few Houston acts to win acclaim outside Texas before 2000, he became a respected and influential figure in hip-hop with his gritty lyrics and street wisdom. He has collaborated with some of rap's greatest from 2Pac to Jay Z. Ana Navarro has revealed she 'lost a toenail' after wearing uncomfortable high heels for four consecutive nights at the Democratic National Convention, and even shared a photo of her injury on social media. Ana, 52, took to Instagram on Monday and posted a close-up picture of her left foot featuring a couple of painful-looking blisters as well as her nail-free toe - which she blamed on partying 'til the wee hours of dawn' in inappropriate footwear. The View host, who recently showed her support for President Joe Biden, captioned the post: 'Y'all the DNC just about did me in. When I was younger, I didn't get invited to all the cool things. 'Now, I get invited to great events, and if I had any damn sense, Id realize I am too old and tired to be going out til the wee hours of dawn. 'But of course, I tried to keep up with the cool-kids. For four consecutive nights. Partied like if I was a member of The Rolling Stones. And wore such great clothes and shoes (thanks, @frantaylorstyled & @ashleyfudd). Ana Navarro 'lost a toenail' after wearing uncomfortable high heels for four consecutive nights at the Democratic National Convention The View host looked sensational in a blue dress and silver heels when she took to the stage at the DNC on August 20 'Now, I have blisters, cuts, and lost a toe nail. I would do it all over again but maybe in Birkenstocks. #yolo,' she added, and her 790,000 followers were quick to comment on the explicit photo. 'The price of being cool and popular,' one person complimented her, while another wrote: 'You even lost a nail! Poor baby!! Hope the feet feel better soon!!!' A third person observed: 'But the nail polish seemed to have hung in there!' while a fourth claimed: 'You have to wear comfortable shoes over 40.' Someone else advised: 'Go to all the events. Just wear some cute Nikes or converse like the teens do these days with their fancy prom dresses. Save your feet!!' 'Ouch bless your heart! Worthwhile battle wounds!' another fan wrote, while a different person simply told her: 'Cute toes Ana.' Other fans were quick to praise Ana for her role as host at the DNC on August 20, when she took to the stage at Chicago's United Center to show her support for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. The political strategist and commentator looked stunning as she flaunted her weight loss in a baby blue, off-the-shoulder midi-length dress which she teamed with a pair of silver and perspex heels. During her speech, Ana compared Republican candidate Donald Trump to the communist regime in Nicaragua that she previously fled as a child. 'Donald Trump and his minions call Kamala a communist. I know communism. I fled communism from Nicaragua when I was eight years old. I dont take it lightly,' she said. Ana posted a close up photo of her left foot on Instagram which was missing a toenail and had a few painful-looking blisters Ana is a Republican but showed her support for the Democrats at Chicago's United Center last week The TV star also bumped into former President Barack Obama backstage on the night that she made her speech 'And let me tell you what communist dictators do. And its never just for one day. They attack the free press,' she wrote in a follow-up message on Instagram, summarizing her words on stage at the DNC. 'Do any of those things sound familiar? Is there anybody running for president who reminds you of that?' The TV star also shared snaps of her interaction backstage with former President Barack Obama and joked in her caption: 'Michelle was on stage. So somebody had to fix @barackobamas tie. @chacha_cardenas and I were happy to help out,' referring to her beloved pet pooch. She then added of the photos: 'Context: This was the moment he walked out of his dressing room to go on stage, last night. There were dozens of ppl lining the halls hoping to catch a glimpse (sic). 'He was walking focused and intently, not stopping. But when he saw me, he stopped to say hello. I first met him in 2007, when he came to Miami on a book tour. Have been with him many times since. 'I voted against him & Biden twice - in 2008 and 2012. But it was never personal. I never doubted his decency, capacity and moral compass. He is a good man. And though I disagreed with some of his policies, there is no doubt, he brought elegance and grace to the Oval Office. 'I tell you that story as a reminder of a time -before Trump- when we could disagree politically without hating each other.' Jackie 'O' Henderson has revealed the one unexpected thing that 'really excites' her about her nighttime routine. The radio host, 49, gave an insight into her bedtime antics while chatting to her co-host Kyle Sandilands on their KIIS FM show, The Kyle and Jackie O Show. She told Kyle, 53, how she has started using a sleep app so she can look back at everything she does in her sleep. 'I've been doing this sleep app where it records everything,' she explained, leaving Kyle asking her what she needed to use it for. Jackie revealed she gets 'really excited' revisiting her overnight activities on the app and analysing exactly what she got up to while sleeping. 'I actually get really excited when I wake up in the morning because I look at the list of things - snoring, animals, other, sleep talking,' she confessed. Her latest remarks come days after Jackie admitted she was left 'mortified' when she realised she was having stereotypical 'rich people conversations' with her friends. The Australian star, who has a net worth of over $50million, played a viral TikTok by an American creator live on her KIIS FM show, about the differences in conversations between the social classes. Jackie 'O' Henderson has revealed the one thing that 'really excites' her about her nighttime routine, and it isn't what you'd expect Jackie revealed she has started using a sleep app so she can look back at everything she does in her sleep, admitting she gets 'really excited' to review her antics 'I have a lot of wealthy friends and a lot of broke friends and the biggest noticeable social difference is the topics they talk about at dinner,' the TikTok user said. Jackie then shared that her 'broke friends' talk about reality television, pop culture, and politics, while her 'wealthy friends' talk about their goals, self development and spirituality. After listening to the video, Jackie exclaimed: 'I didn't realise that was a rich person's thing, spirituality?' 'Well, you wouldn't,' Kyle replied, adding: 'Who's got the time for that?' 'Normal people don't have time to wonder if the alignment of the planets might be affecting the way they feel today,' he said. 'I thought everyone's talking about this stuff!' Jackie said. 'We are always asking big questions about the universe in my group of friends.' It comes after Jackie admitted she was 'mortified' after realising she has stereotypical 'rich people conversations' with her friends. Pictured with Milly Gattegno (L) and Pip Edwards (R) She then challenged Kyle and asked what he speaks about with his friends, to which he replied: 'Trump and TV. I'm a rich guy living a broke guy's socio-economic group and I prefer it that way.' Kyle then told Jackie to 'keep [her] goals to herself' and 'don't go showing off to your friends'. 'We're not showing off!' Jackie said defensively. 'We're trying to better ourselves as humans.' Kyle then hilariously quipped that she has made herself 'worse' and asked her what else she wants in life. The radio personality, who up until recently had a small social circle, has become a fully-fledged socialite in the last couple of years. Her close bond with P.E Nation designer Pip Edwards has seen Jackie move in the same circles as top Sydney stylist Jess Pecoraro, make-up artist to the stars Max May, and Four Seasons condom heirs Michael and Alexander Porter. After a luxury getaway to Greece with Gemma recently, Jackie attended the wedding of Alexander to his partner Chris Ledlin at Chateau de la Napoule in France. Blake Lively's sister came to the star's defense as she wished her a happy birthday on social media on Sunday - amid backlash over It Ends With Us. Actress Robyn Lively, 52, shared a series of photos on Instagram of her little sis, who celebrated turning 37 at bestie Taylor Swift's mansion in Rhode Island over the weekend. 'Thats my bday queen right there!' Robyn wrote, sharing a photo of herself holding a gold cardboard crown, with Blake standing in the background. 'I love this girl, my sister, my best friend, my little piggy back buddy!' she said, explaining the series of snaps included in the post. 'You are one of the best humans I know. HAPPY birthday sissy britches!' she exclaimed. Blake Lively 's sister came to the beleaguered star's defense as she wished her a happy birthday on social media on Sunday. ''Thats my bday queen right there!' Robyn Lively, 52 wrote, 'You are one of the best humans I know' On a snap shared in her Instagram Stories, Robyn, who like Blake has been acting since she was a child wrote 'Happy Birthday Sissy, ILY,' and tagged the Betty Buzz founder. Both Blake and Robyn are the children of talent manager Elaine Lively. Their siblings Lori,57, Eric, 43, and Jason Lively, 56, are also actors. Blake has come under fire recently over allegations of drama behind the scenes between her and director and co-star Justin Baldoni on her latest film, It Ends With Us. The controversy hasn't hurt the movie, which deals with a woman escaping an abusive relationship. The film was in third place over the weekend after three weeks in theaters with a payday of $11.85 million. The drama has made more than $242.6 million globally. Many fans agreed with Robyn's assessment of the situation and her description of her baby sister. 'Blake is a lovely human being!! I hope she knows that the multitudes of people who love her is so much greater than the negative voices. Happy birthday Blake!!' wrote one fan. 'Thank you for this,' replied Robyn, who also had a role in It Ends With Us. 'Finally a post about Blake I can get behind!,' commented another follower. In her tribute, Robyn said 'I love this girl, my sister, my best friend' Robyn shared a flashback photo calling Blake 'my little piggy back buddy!' She ended the message writing 'HAPPY birthday sissy britches!' Robyn shared this sweet photos in her Instagram Stories writing 'Happy Birthday Sissy, ILY' Both actresses are the daughters of talent manager Elaine Lively Blake has been hit by rumors of a feud with co-star Justin Baldoni (pictured) 'Happy Birthday Mamacita! Enjoy it, bask in it, take a load off & run wild ladies x.' Robyn again expressed her gratitude writing, 'the best thank you so much ' Neither Blake nor Baldoni has commented on the allegations. Nicky Hilton and Georgina Chapman stunned at the opening day of Hampton Classic Horse Show 2024 on Sunday. Heiress Nicky, 40, donned an off-shoulder blue gown and was accompanied to the event by her best friend Stacey Bendet CEO of American fashion company Alice + Olivia. Georgina, 48, wore a mid-sleeved, shin-length yellow dress with a beautiful brown pattern and black mules. She wore a beautiful gold bracelet and a gold chain with a large clear crystal and sat in front of Nicky, 40, at the event. Stacey, 45, wore a gorgeous black dress covered in red roses and she rocked a huge pair of black sunglasses. Nicky Hilton, 40 (pictured) and Georgina Chapman, 48, stunned at the opening day of Hampton Classic Horse Show 2024 in New York on Sunday Georgina wore a mid-sleeved, shin-length yellow dress with a beautiful brown pattern and black mules She sat in front of Nicky and wore a beautiful gold bracelet and a gold chain with a large clear crystal Nicky, who is married to James Rothschild, also wore sunglasses, and she matched her dress to an Hermes Kelly. She wore a silver necklace which read 'Lily Grace' - the name of her eldest child, 6. Nicky and James are also parents to Theodora, 5, and Chasen, two. Both women's dresses were floor-length, concealing their shoes, and Stacey wore a large red hat. Hampton Classic Horse Show is an annual Grand Prix event considered one of the larger show jumping contests in the United States. Held over Labor Day in Bridgehampton, Southampton, it is one of the biggest social bashes in the Hamptons scene and signals the grand finale of summer season. In July, Nicky and James were two of the numerous celebrity guests at the 250million-pound Ambani wedding in India. The couple donned traditional Indian attire for the multiple-ceremony society event of the year. VIP guests arrived in all their finery to take part in a Blessing's Ceremony in Mumbai yesterday evening - a traditional event designed to send well wishes to the couple and their future together. The cream of Bollywood was also in attendance, including esteemed actresses Alia Bhatt, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Ananya Pandey. After seven long months of extravagant pre-wedding celebrations and festivities, including performance by Rihanna and Justin Bieber, as well as pre-wedding cruise, Anant Ambani, the son of India 's richest man, married pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant in a grand star-studded ceremony. The heiress was accompanied to the event by her best friend Stacey Bendet, 45, CEO of American fashion company Alice + Olivia Stacey wore a gorgeous black dress covered in red roses and she rocked a huge pair of black sunglasses Nicky, who is married to James Rothschild, also wore sunglasses, and she matched her dress to an Hermes Kelly The women moved outside as they prepared for a day of horseracing She wore a silver necklace which read 'Lily Grace' - the name of her eldest child, 6. Nicky and James are also parents to Theodora, 5, and Chasen, two In July, Nicky and James were two of the numerous celebrity guests at the 250million-pound Ambani wedding in India Earlier that month, Nicky teamed up with her big sister Paris, 43, to promote their Amazon cookware line. The sisters' outfits, their cookware, their food, and the kitchen they were in were all pink. A promotional video was shared to Instagram, and the caption read: 'Come shopping with the Hilton sisters! 'Join Paris and @NickyHilton on @AmazonLive on July 5 at 1pm ET and get all the tea on the hottest #PrimeDay deal Link in bio - you dont want to miss this,' the caption read. Georgina Chapman was the epitome of chic in a yellow summer dress as she attended the opening day of the 2024 Hampton Classic Horse Show on Monday. The fashion designer and actress, 48, looked incredible as she stepped out in a flying cheetah tiered midi dress, which was designed by her label, Marchesa for 530. Her garments featured a v-neck design adorned with neckline ruffles and intricate lattice trim. To accessorise the blonde beauty put on a very elegant display as she matched her dress with a gold necklace and a myriad of bracelets. She was previously married to disgraced film producer and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, 71, from 2007 to 2021. Georgina, who has been in a relationship with Adrien Brody since early 2020. Georgina Chapman, 48, was the epitome of chic in a yellow summer dress as she attended the opening day of the 2024 Hampton Classic Horse Show on Monday The fashion designer and actress looked incredible as she stepped out in a flying cheetah tiered midi dress, which was designed by Marchesa for 530 Also attending the star-studded event was Nicky Hilton donned an off-shoulder blue gown. The heiress, 40, was accompanied to the event by her best friend Stacey Bendet CEO of American fashion company Alice + Olivia. Stacey, 45, wore a gorgeous black dress covered in red roses and she rocked a huge pair of black sunglasses. Nicky, who is married to James Rothschild, also wore sunglasses, and she matched her dress to an Hermes Kelly. She wore a silver necklace which read 'Lily Grace' - the name of her eldest child, 6. Nicky and James are also parents to Theodora, 5, and Chasen, two. Her garments featured a v-neck design adorned with neckline ruffles and intricate lattice trim Also attending the star-studded event was Nicky Hilton, 40, donned an off-shoulder blue gown The heiress was accompanied to the event by her best friend Stacey Bendet, 45, CEO of American fashion company Alice + Olivia Stacey wore a gorgeous black dress covered in red roses and she rocked a huge pair of black sunglasses Both women's dresses were floor-length, concealing their shoes, and Stacey wore a large red hat. Hampton Classic Horse Show is an annual Grand Prix event considered one of the larger show jumping contests in the United States. Held over Labor Day in Bridgehampton, Southampton, it is one of the biggest social bashes in the Hamptons scene and signals the grand finale of summer season. In July, Nicky and James were two of the numerous celebrity guests at the 250million-pound Ambani wedding in India. The couple donned traditional Indian attire for the multiple-ceremony society event of the year. VIP guests arrived in all their finery to take part in a Blessing's Ceremony in Mumbai yesterday evening - a traditional event designed to send well wishes to the couple and their future together. The cream of Bollywood was also in attendance, including esteemed actresses Alia Bhatt, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Ananya Pandey. After seven long months of extravagant pre-wedding celebrations and festivities, including performance by Rihanna and Justin Bieber, as well as pre-wedding cruise, Anant Ambani, the son of India 's richest man, married pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant in a grand star-studded ceremony. Nicky, who is married to James Rothschild, also wore sunglasses, and she matched her dress to an Hermes Kelly The women moved outside as they prepared for a day of horseracing She wore a silver necklace which read 'Lily Grace' - the name of her eldest child, 6. Nicky and James are also parents to Theodora, 5, and Chasen, two In July, Nicky and James were two of the numerous celebrity guests at the 250million-pound Ambani wedding in India Earlier that month, Nicky teamed up with her big sister Paris, 43, to promote their Amazon cookware line. The sisters' outfits, their cookware, their food, and the kitchen they were in were all pink. A promotional video was shared to Instagram, and the caption read: 'Come shopping with the Hilton sisters! 'Join Paris and @NickyHilton on @AmazonLive on July 5 at 1pm ET and get all the tea on the hottest #PrimeDay deal Link in bio - you dont want to miss this,' the caption read. Savvy investors are snapping up cheap real estate in Detroit just over ten years after it famously went bankrupt in 2013. The Midwestern city was dubbed 'America's most unlikely real estate boomtown' by the Wall Street Journal as real estate developers flock to the region after it hit rock bottom. Among them is Chase C. Hunter who told Realtor.com she was able to buy properties for as little as $1,800 total. Her journey to success began when she searched Google for 'best places to buy cheap properties.' That query led her to Motor City, where she saw that the Detroit Land Bank Authority was selling vacant 'as is' properties for just $1,000. 'I closed on my first two properties the same day in June of 2021,' Hunter said. 'The day I closed was my very first time in Detroit.' Chase C. Hunter poses on the steps outside her first Detroit property, which she bought for $2,000 in June 2021 In the years since first committing to Detroit, Hunter has become a small real estate mogul, owning eight different homes across the city Her first property cost $2,000, the second was $1,800. In the years since first committing to Detroit, she has become a small real estate mogul, owning eight different homes across the city. One property has been fashioned into an office for herself, while the other seven are renovated rental properties. She permanently moved to the city from Houston this year to have 'boots on the ground' near her investments. 'The market can be a challenge to navigate if you aren't here every single day,' she said. 'Buyers have to know the culture of Detroit to understand how to invest here.' She's so passionate about the Detroit market that she became a real estate agent 10 months ago and is starting a real estate investment group to help other do exactly what she did. 'Investors come to Detroit from all corners of the country because the market is like no other,' she said. The median price of a home sold in Detroit was just $7,500 in December 2008, months after the Great Recession went into full swing and wreaked havoc on the city's storied auto industry This Detroit home went on the market within the last day is selling for $93,500, which is right around the median listing price today Detroit was in big trouble long before it announced it was $20 billion in debt in 2013. The median price of a home sold in Detroit was just $7,500 in December 2008, months after the Great Recession hit and wreaked havoc on the city's storied auto industry. Incredibly, sale prices have gradually increased most years until they reached $93,000 in July 2024, representing an more than a 1100 percent jump since 2008. 'Buyers, including investors, took advantage of low home prices in the area over the last decade, bringing energy and funds into the city,' said Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. Buying a house for less than $100,000 may seem like a dream, especially when the median listing price nationally is nearly $440,000 as of July 2024. But getting involved in the Detroit market can get tricky, with many properties in complete disrepair or having back taxes that still need to get paid. Although Hunter's first property cost just $2,000 upfront, she then had to sink $85,000 on renovations before it was ready for renters. Hunter stands in front of her seventh property in Detroit. She warns newcomers that there are some things to keep in mind about the city, including the many repairs most homes need and crime heavy areas The $1,800 home she fashioned into her office ended up costing $130,000 because she had issues with the water lines. 'I used to buy major rehabs that I'd have to repair from roof to basement; but at this point, I focus on things I can turn over pretty quickly such as cosmetic rehabs,' she said. 'I look for homes in the $80,000 range, because you spend less on repairs.' Her renovations usually cost between $5,000 and $10,000, which still means she's paying 79 percent less for her properties than the average American might spend. Since fixing up homes requires hiring contractors, Hunter warned that out-of-town investors especially need to vet who they work with. 'People will try to take advantage of you, especially if they know you don't live here,' she said. Hunter also acknowledged that crime in Detroit and its surrounding neighborhoods remain 'a major challenge.' 'It can deter you from buying here for sure.' This Detroit home listed for $129,900. It has three beds and two baths, spanning 1,843 square feet This new listing is a bit smaller at 1,266 square feet and comes in slightly cheaper at $124,900 Despite its reputation as one of the most violent cities in America, crime rates have been trending downward. Detroit finished 2023 with 252 homicides, the fewest recorded since 1966. Non fatal shootings and car jackings have also plummeted in the last two years. Still, Hunter protects her portfolio of homes with security systems and advises her clients to do the same. She also researches the quality of the neighborhoods where she plans to buy since she wants her renters to be safe. 'I avoid really bad areas that would be unsafe for single mothers and children,' she said. 'If a property doesn't function well for a family, I move on.' Despite crime still flourishing in certain areas, Hunter has found that the people of Detroit like to maintain a tight-knit community. 'Neighbors here keep an eye on things for you,' she said. 'One of my favorite neighbors passed away last year, and he would call me if my tenants were doing anything out of line. His daughter does that for me now.' 'Most of my neighbors have become my family.' Red Lobster will close almost two dozen more restaurants across 15 states as part of the chain's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. The beloved restaurant staple filed for bankruptcy in May, shuttering more than 100 restaurants across the country. The company will shut 23 more locations by August 31, according to CNN, which will leave Red Lobster with 500 remaining restaurants. This is down from the 650 it was operating last year. The troubled seafood chain is currently being sold to Fortress Credit Corp, as part of the bankruptcy process. The investment fund is experienced in restaurant management - also owning Krystal, Logan's Roadhouse and J. Alexander's - and has given Red Lobster a $100 million loan to allow it to keep operating. Red Lobster is shuttering more restaurants as it proceeds with bankruptcy The latest closures are spread out across 15 states - including three in Virginia, two in New York, three in Illinois and three in Florida. Red Lobster has about $300 million in debt, some of which is wrapped up in the 3.75 million pounds of shrimp it purchased from its current owner Thai Union Group, according to a document filed with the bankruptcy court by Thai Union's lawyers. The casual dining favorite officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 19. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands auctioned off the equipment of 48 closed Red Lobster locations. Its problems have been blamed on rising lease and labor costs in recent years and its infamous $20 all-you-can-eat shrimp deal that backfired. The offer, launched last June as a permanent fixture on the menu, is almost identical to a deal in 2003 - and the problems it caused are almost identical too. Back then, it was 'endless crab'. It was great for hungry seafood lovers but a disaster for the restaurant. By the time the plug was pulled after just seven weeks, Red Lobster had lost $3.3 million. Your browser does not support iframes. The latest closures will leave the seafood chain with around 500 restaurants Red Lobster has been given a $100 million loan to keep it afloat Endless shrimp started at $20 but was too popular and cost millions of dollars 'It wasn't the second helping on all-you-can-eat, but the third' that hurt profits, a Red Lobster executive said to analysts at the time in 2003. This time, the deal was also wildly popular - with some customers staying for hours to see how much the could eat. One customer managed 108 shrimp in four hours. 'I set a new record at my local Red Lobster, this is my greatest achievement in life,' the customer explained in her video. More people began to take advantage of the offer than the company expected. But rather than pull the deal, bosses kept it running for six months - and the losses dwarfed the amount lost for endless crabs 20 years earlier. Seafood lovers devouring plates of shrimps was the key reason that Red Lobster's majority owner Thai Union lost $11 million in just three months soon after the deal began. Ludovic Garnier, the chief financial officer, said: 'We knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants.' 'So we wanted to boost our traffic, and it didn't work.' 'For those who have been in the US recently, $20 was very cheap. And the rationale for this promotion was to say we knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants,' said CFO Ludovic Garnier in November. 'But something which was different from our expectation is the proportion of the people selecting these promotions was much higher compared to expectation,' he added. Despite government initiatives, the young girls are often deprived of education facilities as they have to work and shoulder domestic responsibilities In Narrow lanes of Baba Ramdev Nagar, a slum in Jaipur, 12-year-old Pooja (name changed) cradles her three-year-old brother while her mother Sharda cooks nearby. Pooja obediently runs back and forth fetching water and other necessities as her mother instructs. In contrast, her 8-year-old brother plays undisturbed. The scene takes a poignant turn when a friend of Poojas, returning from school, stops by. Pooja's eyes light up as they discuss school, revealing her longing for education. But when asked why Pooja isnt attending school, Sharda interjects, "If she goes to school, who will look after the children?" Poojas dreams seem to slip further from her grasp. Sharda and her husband, daily wage labourers, are among the many families in Baba Ramdev Nagar, a slum of over 500 people. Predominantly inhabited by Scheduled Castes and Tribes, including Lohars (blacksmiths), Jogis, Kalbeliyas, and daily labourers, these families have migrated from remote rural areas of Rajasthan, driven by the hope of better employment opportunities in the city. While some families have settled permanently, others migrate seasonally, depending on the availability of work. However, the migration process and the economic hardships it brings take the greatest toll on the education of children, particularly girls. The struggle to make ends meet often forces families to prioritize immediate survival over long-term investments like education. In these situations, girls bear the brunt of the burden. The economic strain on the household disproportionately affects girls compared to boys, stunting not only their education but also their physical and mental development. Another story echoes Pooja's in this slum14-year-old Asha (name changed), the eldest of four siblings. With her parents working as scrap dealers, Asha is left to care for her siblings and manage the household. On days when her mother cannot work, Asha steps in. Despite her strong desire to learn, Asha hasn't seen the inside of a classroom since fifth grade. Her education, like that of many girls in the slum, halted as she took on responsibilities at home.An elderly resident, Kanti, questions, "If the girl goes to school, who will take care of the house and the younger siblings?" Yet, she remains silent on why these responsibilities aren't placed on the boys.Akhilesh Mishra, a social worker who has been active in the slum for eight years, points out, "There is still a lack of awareness about educating girls in urban slums like Baba Ramdev Nagar. Economic challenges and a lack of social consciousness about the importance of education lead parents to prioritize income over schooling, often dragging children into child labor." He adds that although the government has launched programs to promote girls' education, the distance girls in Baba Ramdev Nagar maintain from school prevents them from benefiting. IndiaSpends report highlights a concerning trend: while primary school dropout rates for girls in 2021-22 were 1.35%, this figure jumped to 12.25% at the secondary level. The report underscores the urgent need for not just policy implementation but also grassroots awareness. Societal awareness is critical to ensuring girls education is valued as highly as boys. The struggle for education is most pronounced for adolescent girls, particularly in urban poverty-stricken areas like Baba Ramdev Nagar. Though some urban areas are beginning to reduce barriers to education, the girls in this slum continue to fight for their right to learn. In Baba Ramdev Nagar, the pursuit of education for girls like Pooja and Asha faces formidable obstacles. Economic hardships and entrenched societal norms prioritize immediate survival over long-term education, leaving many girls out of school. Despite government initiatives, the gap in educational attainment remains wide due to factors such as child labor and domestic responsibilities disproportionately shouldered by girls. Addressing these challenges is crucial for breaking the cycle of poverty and securing a brighter future for these young girls. The writer is a grassroots worker from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.Charkha Features We should recognise the value of pausing and reflecting, to determine whether our reactions to perceived insults are genuinely justified We face conflicts and dilemmas many times in our lives. We resolve a few of those, avoiding others to avoid confrontation. We went through some fascinating times recently. We cast our votes to elect the next central government. The excitement of the crowd at the polling booth was palpable even early in the morning. There was another major event, which was at our society level. We also had elections for the governing body of our residents' welfare association. I realised that the two elections mirrored each other. New alliances were formed, and old ones were discarded. Sworn foes smiled at each other with a warmth not unlike the hot Delhi summers. There were many heartbreaks too if friends vied for the same position. Two of the prospective candidates for a position went about venting their frustration when told by well-meaning friends about the intent of the other. I suggested a mutual tete-a-tete. The conflict was resolved. I faced a dilemma as an adolescent half a century back. One afternoon, I had an argument with a friend, which went a little overboard, and I punched him. He was taller than me and did not take kindly to my aggression. He punched me back. It did not erupt into a full-blown fist fight only because I had already rationalised his punch a little before it had connected with my soft abdomen. After all, I had started the battle; he was entitled to retaliate. Many of us hesitate to ask for personal favour, apprehensive of facing rejection. It is also a dilemma, albeit in our minds. I had no say in the allotment of the zonal railways after the completion of our railway probation training. I did get an opportunity to express my heart's desire, when my senior asked me if I had any preference for the place of posting. I was diffident and I gave a convoluted reply, "Anywhere, though my preference would be Mughalsarai." This was a small town in my native state. He took the first part of my statement at face value. I was posted at Sealdah, the other end, and a long way from my hometown - physically, linguistically, and culturally. I understood much later in life the importance of plain speaking, however unpalatable it might be. It may cause initial bitterness, but the relationship would be stronger eventually. The self-realisation still did not give me the courage to upbraid a junior colleague for his tardiness. I chose to walk away from confrontation by not allocating him any responsibilities. I envy those who have mastered sugar-coating the bitter pill. It softens the blow, yet hits the person equally hard. But it might even convey a wrong meaning. During a recent conversation, my wife and her friend contemplated conveying a rather difficult sentiment to another friend through a message. A small phrase was added to be polite. I felt that this changed the intent to something entirely different. They did not agree and chose not to send the message. Yet, the friend had not hesitated to upbraid another friend a few days earlier over a trivial issue. I saw conflict in the two situations, she did not. Conflicts have been a part of our lives since ages. I would not like to be the Arjun who faced the biggest challenge of his life. I am a mere mortal. I have my follies. It is not for me to preach to be perfect. I would look at the words of author Jo Coudert to give me strength, "Every life is a dilemma that must be solved by the person living it." (The author is an electrical engineer with the Indian Railways and conducts classes in creative writing; views are personal) Former RG Kar Medical College principal Dr Sandip Ghosh aided by his "team of crony doctors" and even an advocate had taken all the measures so as to "sabotage and dilute" the forensic test results of the victim postgraduate lady doctor who had allegedly been raped and murdered in the night intervening August 8 and 9 triggering massive nation-wide stir paralysing medical services both in Bengal and other parts of India. According to a former head clerk of the RG Kar mortuary section Ghosh had influenced the constitution of "team of doctors who belonged to his own coterie" to perform the autopsy test. This was done by ignoring and keeping out "very senior doctors of the forensic department of the Hospital," he said adding also that "despite the RG Kar Hospital has a most modern system of preservation of dead bodies with 68 chambers in 4 degree temperature... the forensic team conducted an hurried autopsy in about one hour" while the police threw all norms and protocols to the wind by disposing off the body in a matter of a few hours. "The autopsy report seems to have been prepared in a most amateurish manner proper terms have not been used in right places minute details have been avoided which will make it very difficult for the prosecution to prove the case beyond doubts a good defence lawyer will pierce through the prosecution case and it will be difficult for the Court to award punishment to the prime accused who is now in CBI custody," said Dr Subarna Goswami a senior doctor. Besides, buttressing the CBI's arguments footages have gone viral in the social media where it is seen that a number of "outside doctors and an advocate belonging to a political party" who are not connected to the RGKMCH visiting the place of occurrence along with Dr Sandip Ghosh in the night of August 9, hours after the victim's body was discovered. The said former head clerk of the Hospital also questioned the reason behind the police failing to cordon off the area and allowing Dr Ghosh and his friends to visit the place of occurrence and hold meeting there. "If what is being said is true then the conduct of these people is under question the role of the police should come under the scanner the thumb rule is that after a heinous crime like this everyone around comes under suspicion and so no one even the principal let alone any outsider should be allowed in the PO and here people roamed about the area freely the question is whose interests they were serving," asked the said head clerk of the hospital. Meanwhile, in a related development the Kolkata Police on Monday declared illegal the protest march towards the State secretariat Nabanna demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as illegal and warned strict action would be taken against those who would play mischief. Additional Director General of Police (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said that the "a hitherto unknown students' organization called Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj has given us intimation --- and not sought any permission --- that they will be taking a procession to the prohibited areas one of their leaders yesterday met a senior politician at a five star hotel apparently making their intentions to create trouble clear they as well as all the right thinking people of the State are requested not to venture into such action." He also said that a joint forum of citizens had indeed sought such permission but that had been "rejected" considering law and order issues and also a UGC NET exam scheduled for Tuesday. However the leadership of the said students' wing said they would march towards the Nabanna and get the Chief Minister to resign "taking responsibility as the Health Minister and the Home Minister of the State for the RG Kar incident." Expressing disagreement with MP Kangana Ranauts remarks on the farmers protests, the BJP on Monday said the Lok Sabha MP from Mandi had been directed to not make such statements in the future. This came after Ranaut stoked a controversy by suggesting that the farmers' protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation in the country if the top leadership was not strong enough. The BJP MP from Mandi recently alleged that rapes, murders were committed during the farm struggle, but farmers continued to stage protests. In a video shared by the Mandi MP on X, she alleged that bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place during the farmers' protest against the now-repealed three farm laws. The statement made by the BJP MP in the context of the farmers' movement is not the opinion of the party. The Bharatiya Janata Party expresses its disagreement with the statement made by Kangana Ranaut, the BJP said in a statement. On behalf of the BJP, Ranaut is neither permitted nor authorised to make statements on the party's policy issues, it said. On behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ranaut has been directed not to make any such statements in future, the statement said. The Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to follow the principles of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas' and social harmony, it added. Ranaut's comments come at an awkward time for the BJP, with assembly elections in Haryana just weeks away. Party insiders maintained Ranauts statement might serve as a fresh trigger for farmers outrage against the party and adversely impact its prospects in certain farmer-centric areas.During the recently held Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidates faced a stiff opposition from farmers while campaigning in the state. A BJP leader said at present, there was no resentment among farmers against the party, but Ranauts statement could create trouble for the candidates as campaigning progressed. Farmer organisations have expressed anger over the way Ranaut has again raked up issues pertaining to farm protests, calling her a habitual offender and have asked the Punjab government and the Centre to investigate at whose instance Ranaut is spitting venom against the protesters. Farmers also see a conspiracy to create trouble to get support for her upcoming film. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has also posted on X wishing the BJP MP to "Get well soon Kangana!". He asked, Why do BJP people hate the country's food providers so much?, Were these just Kangana's words or did someone else copy them? After all, why do BJP people hate the country's food providers so much? BJP has always lied, deceived, conspired and oppressed our farmers. And once again a BJP MP has made baseless allegations against our food providers. The question is that..Has Kangana made this cheap allegation on the farmer as per BJP's election strategy? Were these just Kangana's words or did someone else copy them?If not, then why are the Prime Minister of the country, the Chief Minister of Haryana and all the BJP MPs and MLAs silent on this issue?" Surjewala said in a post. The All India Kisan Sabha on Monday condemned BJP Lok Sabha MP and actor Kangana Ranaut for suggesting that the farmers' protests against the now-repealed three farm laws could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation in the country if the top leadership was not strong enough. AIKS president Dr Ashok Dhawale said Ranaut's remarks were highly condemnable, adding these were made by the actor-turned-politician to please her "external and internal bosses who want to devour agriculture". The "kisan struggle" against the three farms laws, which would have compromised the sovereignty and food security of the country, amid harsh weather, COVID pandemic and "state violence" had 736 martyrs, the AIKS statement claimed. Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said she (Kangana) is a habitual offender. Now it is a matter of investigation as to whether she is reading the script provided from Nagpur [the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters] or there is another angle to her outbursts. In June 2024, a CISF woman constable allegedly slapped the actress inside Chandigarh airport for her derogatory comments on This is not the first time Ranaut has faced backlash for her comments on farmers. In 2020, in the midst of the anti-farm laws protest, she stoked a huge row after misidentifying a woman farmer from Punjab and making derogatory remarks about her. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, Ranaut was also involved in an altercation with a CISF personnel at Chandigarh airport, who allegedly slapped her over her anti-farmer comments. The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday faced a piquant situation following a strong backlash from a section of party workers soon after the party released a list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the original list of candidates was swiftly withdrawn by the party and a trimmed-down list of 16 candidates for the first round of polling was released again to pacify the angry workers who held a protest at its headquarters in Jammu and claimed "parachute candidates" were picked over hardworking workers. Three former MLAs and a woman candidate, Shagun Parihar, whose father Ajeet Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were gunned down by terrorists in Kishtwar district in November 2018 figured in the list of 16 candidates. The party had earlier dropped names of former Cabinet Ministers, a Deputy Chief Minister, and other non-performing MLAs facing a high degree of anti-incumbency in their respective constituencies. Ironically, the same list also included the names of all those leaders who joined the BJP after dumping their respective parties. Meanwhile, the party's high command went into a huddle in New Delhi and reviewed the fast-paced developments taking place in Jammu, a strong bastion of BJP. This was necessitated as several workers threatened to work against the party in the polls starting September 18, warning that their votes would go against the party thereby weakening its position. The first list, which caused a flutter, was cleared by the National Election Committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Sunday night. The meeting was also attended by BJP President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh, and other members of the Central Election Committee who deliberated on the names during the two-hour-long meeting in New Delhi. As the list was made public via the social media handles of the party early on Monday morning a high-voltage drama unfolded at the State party headquarters in Jammu much to the chagrin of the party's high command. Several senior party leaders, present in the office, were surrounded by slogan-shouting supporters of leaders left out of the list. "I have been working for the party for the last 18 years and was expecting a ticket, but the list of 44 candidates showed the party has chosen retired police officer Mohan Lal Bhagat, who joined BJP just two days ago. I have worked tirelessly to bring people into the party fold," Jagdish Bhagat, former president of SC Morcha told reporters here at the party headquarters. Welcoming the withdrawal of the initial list, Bhagat said, "We hope that committed and long-serving party leaders would be given preference over those who have done nothing for the party." "If they ignore us, there will be serious consequences. We will not allow any wrongdoing and will protest against this injustice within the party," Bhagat said. Many workers were also seen protesting at the BJP office demanding a ticket for Omi Khajuria from the Jammu North constituency. In the withdrawn list, the BJP had fielded former Congress leader Sham Lal Sharma from this seat. "We have been associated with the BJP since we attained the voting age. The party has overlooked Omi Khajuria, a popular leader in Jammu North and chosen Sham Lal Sharma. In the original list, the party had dropped senior leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Bali Bhagat, Priya Sethi and Sham Lal Choudhary and Sukhnandan Choudhary. The list also included the names of several ex-MLAs and ex-Ministers including those of Sunil Sharma, D.S. Rana, S.S. Salathia, Shakti Raj Parihar, Sham Lal Sharma, Chander Prakash Ganga, Syed Mushtaq Bukhari and Balwant Singh Mankotia and many new faces including Veer Saraf, Showkat Gayoor, Yudhvir Sethi and Shagun Parihar. Ex-MLC of PDP Murtaza Khan and APNI Party candidate Zulfikar Ali were also on this list. Addressing the concerns raised by the agitated workers and leaders, Ravinder Raina, president of the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit, said he would have one-on-one talks with everyone. "Every problem can be resolved through dialogue. The party is like a family where it does not matter who gets the mandate as "we believe in the nation first, party second and self last". By SA Commercial Prop News Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has provided R10.5 billion facility to SA Home Loans, in-order to boost government employees and the public access to housing. [File Photo] The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), SA's largest pension fund, has approved R10.5 billion facility to lender SA Home Loans, in-order to boost government employees and the public access to housing. Recent studies suggest that while the demand for affordable housing is on the rise, affordability remains a barrier for millions of South Africans in this segment, resulting in renting increasingly becoming a more feasible option than buying. Also read: AUCTION Corporate disposal to hit the auction block The finance deal, will be managed by GEPF's asset manager, Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which aims to provide government employees and qualifying members of the public with end-user home finance and development finance for approved affordable housing projects. "We can make good financial returns," Dries de Wit, vice-chairman of the GEPF, said at a presentation in Johannesburg. Housing is key to economic development, stimulates the demand for goods and services, and will help grow the economy, he said. Of the funds, R5bn is earmarked for public servants, R2bn will be allocated to affordable housing for low-income earners, R2bn to help SA Home Loans extend mortgages to other qualifying applicants and R1.5bn rand for affordable housing developers. The PIC is intentionally implementing a developmental investment mandate, explained PIC board member Dr Claudia Manning. It primarily seeks to achieve two types of returns, namely: financial and social returns, she said. With assets under management of R1.6 trillion, the GEPF has 1.2 million contributing members and just more than 400 000 pensioners receiving a pension from the fund every month. SA Home Loans is the largest non-bank provider of home loans in South Africa, said CEO, Kevin Penwarden. The GEPF has given the PIC R70 billion for developmental investments over the next five to ten years, according to De Wit. This is in addition to the more than R18 billion that has already been invested in developmental and other unlisted investments. In addition to the R10.5 billion, the PIC has allocated R500 million equity to be invested directly into Affordable Housing Development Company, which will assist with developing affordable housing. As it stands, some 954 000 government employees receive a housing allowance, which increased from R900 a month to R1 200 a month in July 2015. Only 30% of these individuals own houses. In SA, with unemployment at 27%, there have been increased protests over a lack of decent housing, access to finance and the slow pace of land reform since the end of apartheid in 1994. The turmoil faced by Malayalam film industry got worsened on Monday with three more actresses alleging that veteran actors sexually abused them in the course of movie making and script discussions. The prominent actors to face the accusation of sexual molestation are Mukesh, who is a CPI(M) MLA, Baburaj, an actor essaying the roles of evil characters, Jayasoorya, a Kerala State Film Award winner for the best actor category and Manian Pillai Raju, a non-controversial character. This is not the first time Mukesh, who hails from a family of artists in Kollam, figures in controversies. His first wife Saritha, South Indias prominent actress who had bagged national awards for her portrayal of challenging characters in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films, ran away with her sons as a consequence of torturing meted out to her by the actor-turned-politician. Methil Devika, eminent danseuse whom he married later too gave up on him and left his household following the ill treatment by Mukesh and divorce proceedings are on in a family court. A junior artist was the first person on Monday to come out with allegations of sexual abuse against Baburaj (who is also the vice-president of AMMA), Shine Tom Chacko and Sreekumar Menon (ad film maker). The day also saw a senior artist accusing Jayasoorya, Idavela Babu, and M P Raju for their sexual misdemeanor towards her. Since these persons hold important positions in Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, female artists are afraid to make any complaints against them. The situation in Malayalam movies is that the female artists have to make a lot of compromises to survive in the profession, she said. Even as this report is being filed, Geetha Vijayan, a film actress who was rated as the Star of the future by critics, disclosed that she was ousted from the industry for not making any kind of adjustments with the directors and lead artists who approached her seeking sexual favours. I have come out of many projects asking them to get lost. Though I lost may chances, looking back, I feel happy and satisfied, said Geetha Vijayan. The present chaos in Malayalam movies started with the release of K Hema Committee Report on the victimisation and harassment faced by women artists in Malayalam industry. The report claimed two persons on Sunday viz Ranjith (movie maker and chairman of Government run-Chalachitra Academy) and Siddique, general secretary of AMMA who were accused of inappropriate behaviour by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra and an upcoming artist Revathy Sampath. Both Ranjith and Siddique have resigned from their official positions. The Kerala Government on Monday appointed a special investigation team consisting of women IPS officers to probe the findings of the Hema Committee Report and also the complaints by the women artists. Ministers and bureaucrats got a reprieve from the heart rending devastation of Wayanad as the focus is on the spicy reports emerging from Mollywood. Even the evening debates in Malayalam satellite news channels have been monopolized by discussions on sexual abuse featuring the stars. The AAP on Monday demanded Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxenas resignation for allegedly approving the felling of 1,100 trees in Delhis Ridge area. There was no immediate reaction from the Lt Governors Office. Addressing a press conference, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the affidavit of the company that felled the trees lays bare the facts. In the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, it is written that LG Delhi visited CAPFIMS (Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences) road on February 3 and directed to clear the trees coming in the ROW (right of way). The email from DDA clearly states that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi visited there and ordered that all the trees coming in the way of the road should be felled. What bigger proof can you get than this? Delhis LG and BJP have been exposed, he claimed. Bharadwaj claimed the BJP and the lieutenant governor have been exposed in front of whole Delhi. The LG should resign today on immediate basis because he has been exposed in front of Delhi. This email is telling that the trees were cut on the LGs order, he alleged. Challenging the lieutenant governor, Bharadwaj asked him to come out and debate on the matter.I am inviting LG sir. You can choose the place, the time, the date. I am challenging you in front of the media, you come and debate, do not hide behind the walls of the LG House. The people of Delhi are asking you questions, the elected government of Delhi is asking you questions. The elected minister of Delhi is asking you questions, he said. Echoing similar views, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh demanded a high-level investigation into the matter and said all the facts be placed in the Supreme Court to ensure action against all those responsible, including the lieutenant governor. The AAP will launch a campaign AAP ka vidhayak, aap ke dwaar from September 1 to reach out to people as the party gears up for the Delhi Assembly polls due early next year. Following a meeting of senior party leaders to chalk out the strategy for the polls on Monday, which was chaired by former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisiodia, the party said that the campaign will be intensified in the days to come. There was a detailed discussion on various aspects related to governance, political scenario and each assembly constituency in Delhi. Manish Sisodias padyatra has been getting a very positive response, Rajya Sabha AAP MP Sandeep Pathak, who is also the partys national general secretary (organisation), said. Wherever he is going people are coming out and saying you have been faced a lot of injustice. We will continue these padyatras, he added. The party will also be rolling out its campaign AAP ka vidhayak, aap ke dwaar from September 1 wherein the MLAs will hold meetings at the mandal level and booth level where there will be discussions on political scenario and the work done by the party. We will also expose the conspiracy being hatched by the BJP against the people of Delhi during this campaign. Slowly, the campaign will be intensified, said Pathak. When asked whether there was any discussion on alliance with the Congress, the AAP leader said that there was no talk in this regard. Sisodia had recently held a meeting with senior party leaders to discuss the strategy for the polls. The former Delhi Education Minister, a trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, walked out of jail on bail on August 9 after spending 17 months behind bars in connection with the excise policy case. Former Chief Minister and JMM leader Champai Soren reached Delhi today for the second time within the past fortnight amidst speculation that he is likely to join BJP. Soren left for New Delhi from Kolkata by an IndiGo flight 6E 6004 at 8:11 am to meet senior BJP leaders in the national capital. This is Sorens second visit since last Tuesday. Between the two trips to New Delhi, Soren went to 14 assembly constituencies of the Kolhan region in Jharkhand to meet his supporters and to discuss strategy with party workers. In an earlier conversation with journalists, he hinted that he may launch a new political party. However, Champai Soren has yet to resign from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or the ministerial posts he holds in the state government led by Hemant Soren. Speculation is rife within state political circles whether the former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or form a separate political outfit ahead of Assembly election in State. In recent weeks, speculation has been rife that the 68-year-old Champai Soren and some of his supporters, who are angry with the JMM, plan to explore opportunities outside. Champai Soren served as the seventh Chief Minister of Jharkhand from February to July 2024 while Hemant Soren was under arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on allegations of money laundering. He's been elected to the legislative assembly in every election since 2005. The talks of Champai joining BJP gains strength after Assam's Chief Minister and BJP's Jharkhand in-charge, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said on Monday that former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren, along with Jharkhand's current Chief Minister Hemant Soren, should join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He highlighted that Jharkhand's most pressing issue is the influx of intruders and affirmed BJP's willingness to discuss this matter with Hemant Soren. I want Champai Soren to join the BJP and give us strength but he is a big leader, I don't think it is right to comment on him...I want Hemant Soren to also join the BJP. BJP means patriotism...We are also ready to talk to Hemant Soren ji to stop intruders in Jharkhand. We have to save Jharkhand...For us, the country comes first...Today the biggest problem facing Jharkhand is the intruders...Our party's only aim is that you fulfil the promises you made during the elections and free Jharkhand from intruders...We have only these 2 demands..." The Assam CM told the media. Last week Champai visited Delhi fuelling speculation that he will join BJP, however hours later he rejected media reports claiming that he had met senior BJP leaders in Delhi. After camping for three days in the capital, Soren returned to his constituency, Saraikela, via Kolkata on Wednesday evening. Speculations that he might join the BJP grew stronger after he expressed his anguish in a social media post while in Delhi, stating that he was humiliated and ridiculed in the JMM. Champai further added that a new chapter of his life was about to start, and he has kept all options open for him. He, however, wrote in his post that he had no intention of causing any damage to the organisation. We can never even think of harming the party, which we have nurtured with our blood and sweat, the former CM said. Speaking to media persons at the Delhi airport before leaving for Jharkhand, Soren said that he had not met any BJP leader as he was on a personal trip. I did not meet anyone. I came here (Delhi) for some personal work, he said. On speculation about joining the BJP, Champai said, I cannot understand who is spreading all this. Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal on Monday said that criticism of other political parties and candidates should be limited only to their policies, programmes, past records and actions. He further said that the Election Commission of India has issued detailed guidelines of Do's and Don'ts for candidates and political parties for the Haryana Assembly elections. These guidelines are required to be followed till the completion of the election process. He said, All parties and contesting candidates should have fair access to public places like grounds and helipads. Local police officials should be informed and necessary permission for the time and place of the proposed meeting should be taken in a timely manner, he added. Agarwal said that if any restrictive or prohibitory orders are in force at the place of the proposed meeting, then those orders should be respected. Similarly, permission should be obtained for the use of loudspeakers or any other such facility for the proposed meetings and police assistance should be obtained in dealing with persons who create disturbance or disorder in the meetings. Any complaint or problem regarding the conduct of election should be brought to the notice of the Election Commission Observer, Returning Officer, Zonal/Sector Magistrate, Chief Electoral Officer or Election Commission of India. The CEO said the orders or guidelines of the Election Commission or Returning Officer or District Election Officer should be strictly followed in all matters related to various aspects of the election. The Chief Electoral Officer said loudspeakers should not be used on vehicles between 10 pm and 6 am. CANDIDATES TO SUBMIT DETAILS OF ELECTION EXPENDITURE WITHIN A MONTH OF RESULTS The Chief Electoral officer said that Candidates contesting the Assembly elections in Haryana will have to submit the details of their election expenditure to the office of the District Election Officer within one month after the election results are declared. According to the Election Commission of India, candidates who do not give the details of election expenditure within the stipulated time period may be disqualified from contesting elections in the future, he added. BJP State General Secretary and MP Pradeep Verma today reacted strongly to the remarks of JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya. He said that JMM's restlessness has increased. Night sleep has been disturbed since the organizational visits of Assam's popular Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have increased in Jharkhand. He said that the party and leaders who claim to be the product of the movement are today making fun of the democratic movement. They should tell that under the leadership of BJP, movements have been going on from the House to the road for the last 5 years on injustice, atrocities, corruption, loot and breach of promise. Earlier, para teachers, policemen, Anganwadi workers, assistants, contract workers protested, and are still doing so today. Are all of them murderers? They should not demand their rights by reminding you of your promises. He said that even today JMM is crossing the limits of shamelessness. Even today they are making false statements in press conferences about giving jobs to the youth, waiving the loans of farmers, and giving respect to women. He said that if all this was done by the Thugbandhan government, then why would people come out on the streets. He said that today their promises have become thorns for them. Whenever BJP reminds them, they feel pain. They want to cover up their failures. For this, they openly misuse the administrative system. He said that today JMM does not see the looting of the grains of the poor, does not see the poor dying in the hospital due to lack of medicines and resources, does not see the schools without teachers, does not worry about the changing demography due to Bangladeshi intruders, does not see the intruders marrying the sisters and daughters of the tribals and grabbing their land, looting the land of the tribals. He said that JMM sees all brotherhood because vote bank and appeasement are in their blood. He said that if JMM had used the same power to take back the land of the tribals of Gai Bathan from the Bangladeshi intruders as it is using against BJP, then some good would have happened. Today, the people of Gopinathpur are leaving the village and running away. JMM is busy baking the bread of power. He said that JMM gets a fit of panic just with the visit of the Election Commission team. But the chair has to come to an end. The chair has been given by the public. Now the public is ready to remove it. The ongoing stalemate between the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration and its students union, which has been staging a hunger strike for the past 15 days over various unresolved issues, may soon come to an end as the two sides have reached a consensus on several demands. The university has agreed to fulfill at least six of the 12 major demands of the protesting students union. These include reinstating the old in-house entrance exam system -- JNU Entrance Exam (JNUEE) -- for admissions, conducting a caste census of the campus, increasing scholarship amounts, and proposing a reduction in the weightage given to the viva for admissions. Despite these developments, the union has continued its protest, with President Dhananjay and Councillor Nitish Kumar remaining on hunger strike, which entered its 16th day on Monday. They are demanding written confirmation of the agreed-upon demands. The hunger strike started on August 11. Dhananjay has lost more than 5 kg and has a ketone level of 4+, which indicates severe pressure on his kidneys due to the hunger strike. He has also developed jaundice and urinary tract infection (UTI). Nitish has lost around 7 kg and has become extremely weak, suffering from severe joint and muscle pain, the students union said in a statement. The JNUSU has called for a relay hunger strike and night vigil to press their demands. In a negotiation meeting held on August 23, the day of the long march to the Ministry of Education by the JNUSU, Rector-I of the university, Brijesh Kumar Pandey, assured the students that the university would accept some of the demands raised, according to a statement by the students body. When contacted, Pandey said, The administration will accept all the positive demands of the students in their best interest. Anything beyond our authority cannot be fulfilled. He added, The university is currently facing a funding crunch. We will write to the UGC to request an allocation so that we can increase the scholarship amount as demanded by the students. As for the caste census, the data regarding the categories in which students have been admitted is already available on our website. That wont be an issue. According to the JNU Students Union (JNUSU), the university has agreed in principle to increase the merit-cum-means scholarship from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 and extend the provision to students of the School of Engineering and the School of Management. Reinstating the JNUEE was a central agenda item in the Charter of Demands. The Rector-I has verbally assured that admissions will be conducted through JNUEE starting from the next academic session, the union said. Conducting a caste census was another prominent agenda item in the Charter of Demands. The administration has verbally assured the union that they will publish the category-wise data of JNU students, faculty, and staff within the next 15 days, it added. The university has also agreed to present the Nafey Committee report at the upcoming Academic Council (AC) meeting for approval, which recommends reducing the weightage of viva marks to 10-15 percent in admissions. Reducing the weightage of viva marks has been a longstanding demand of the JNUSU. Three committees have been formed over time to address this matter. The Nafey Committee, chaired by renowned scholar Professor Nafey, unequivocally recommended that the viva weightage be reduced to 10-15 percent, the statement said. Furthermore, the administration has also agreed to drop the inquiries initiated against students who were part of a water protest outside the VCs residence and in a sexual harassment case where the survivor staged a protest at the North Gate of the campus, blocking the main entrance for several days. However, the parties could not reach a consensus on the opening of Barak Hostel, which has remained shut since its inauguration in January. The demand to include JNUSU in Academic Council meetings, where policy-level issues such as deprivation points and viva weightage are discussed, will be addressed by Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit on August 27. Previously, the JNUSU was included in AC meetings, but this practice was discontinued during the tenure of the previous Vice-Chancellor. To combat power theft and promote energy conservation across Punjab, the states Power and PWD Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO on Monday announced the successful completion of a two-day statewide checking drive. The comprehensive operation, which spanned across various zones in the State, led to the inspection of a staggering 50,781 power connections, with 3,349 cases of theft detected. The drive culminated in the imposition of penalties amounting to Rs 7.66 crore, sending a clear message that the Punjab Government is resolute in its fight against power theft. Detailing the achievements of the drive, The Minister highlighted that on the second day alone, the Distribution and Enforcement wing of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) inspected 22,288 power connections. This effort resulted in the detection of 1,274 cases of power theft, with penalties totaling Rs 3.02 crore imposed on the offenders. The Minister emphasized that these inspections are not a one-time effort but part of a sustained campaign to eliminate power theft from the State. The success of this drive was achieved through meticulous planning and the collaborative efforts of the PSPCLs Distribution Wing, which covered five key zones South Zone (Patiala), Central Zone (Ludhiana), North Zone (Jalandhar), Border Zone (Amritsar), and West Zone (Bathinda). These zones collectively saw the inspection of 42,396 connections, uncovering theft in 3,073 cases, with penalties amounting to Rs 6.68 crore. PSPCLs Enforcement Wing also played a pivotal role in the drive. The team inspected 8,385 connections across the State, uncovering 276 cases of power theft and imposing penalties worth Rs 1.18 crore. In a significant development in Amritsar NRI shooting case, Punjab Police on Monday apprehended three more accused linked to the violent attack on Sukhchain Singh, an NRI who was shot at inside his home on Saturday just days after returning from the United States. The arrests were made in a joint operation conducted by the district police forces of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, marking a critical breakthrough in the ongoing investigation. The three men were arrested from a dharmashala (inn) located in the bustling Gaushala Bazar area of Hoshiarpur, where they were hiding after the crime. Among those arrested are Sukhwinder alias Sukha and Gurkirat Singh alias Guri, both of whom were hired to carry out the assassination of Sukhchain Singh, according to earlier statements by the Amritsar Police. The third accused was apprehended in Subhanpur, Kapurthala district. All three are believed to be key players in the attack, which has shocked the community and sparked a widespread manhunt. Hoshiarpur Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sarbjit Singh Bahia revealed that the operation was launched after a tip-off regarding the presence of the suspects in the Gaushala Bazar area. Acting swiftly, the police transformed the busy marketplace into a fortified zone, ensuring that the suspects could not escape. The arrested individuals were taken into custody after a thorough raid on the dharmashala where they had been staying under false pretenses. The police recovered crucial evidence from the scene and conducted extensive questioning before transferring the accused to Amritsar for further interrogation. The case took a grim turn on Saturday when Sukhchain Singh was brutally attacked inside his house in Daburji village. The assailants intercepted him as he was about to leave for a morning walk, forcing their way into his home and opening fire. Three shots were fired, two of which struck Sukhchain one in the head and another near the chest. Despite the severity of the attack, Sukhchain Singh survived and is currently receiving treatment, with his condition reported as stable. Amritsar Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Dhillon confirmed that the attack was orchestrated by the family of Sukhchains first wife, who had committed suicide in December 2022. The family harboured a deep grudge against him, which ultimately culminated in the violent attack. Surveillance footage retrieved from the CCTV cameras inside the victims house revealed harrowing scenes of Sukhchains wife, mother, and children pleading with the assailants to spare his life. In the days following the attack, the police arrested five individuals, including Sarwan Singh, the father of Sukhchains deceased first wife, in connection with the crime. The arrests were made based on evidence that pointed to the involvement of the deceased wifes family in plotting the attack. It has since come to light that the plan to eliminate Sukhchain was hatched in the United States by members of his late wifes family, who are residing there. They allegedly transferred funds to the hired assassins, Sukhwinder and Gurkirat, to carry out the deed. BJP state president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi today reacted sharply to the tweet of Ranchi Police. He said that he read the reaction of Ranchi Police. I am shocked after reading the reaction. Ranchi Police has written that the post of Chief Minister is a high level constitutional post, all aspects of whose security are sensitive and everyone has to be firm for its maintenance, He said, SSP Sir, the CM residence is two kilometers away from Morabadi Ground. BJP workers did not cross the barricading at various places and move towards the CM House. Only a symbolic demonstration took place near the barbed barricading next to Morabadi Ground. But the police released poisonous gas on the common people. He asked, Where was your responsibility when people broke the security cordon of the CM and came up to the hill of the CM House. The road was blocked. If you do not remember the date, then see the order of Section 144 of 20 January and the pictures of its violation. I have mentioned only one date. BJP workers at a distance of two kilometers seem to be the ones who are endangering the security of the CM, whereas, who are those who reach the gate of CM House and block the road despite section 144? What is this relationship called? It is clear that the behaviour of the police is different for the workers of the ruling party and different for other people, he said. Marandi further said, Secondly, you have justified the police action with full responsibility. Then why don't you file a charge sheet against those 12000 people, including the 52 people named, in a day or two, whom you have made accused in the FIR? By SA Commercial Prop News Property Market could evolve with the development of blockchain technology, says Ortneil Kutama, Media Director at SA Commercial Prop News. The way property industry transactions are conducted could evolve with the development of blockchain technology, which is effectively the machine behind the cyber currency bitcoin. National banks are trialling it. Politicians have talked it up. The Reserve Bank (Sarb) Governor Lesetja Kganyago has expressed openness to blockchain technologies , which underlie cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. A new report from the World Economic Forum predicts that the underlying technology introduced by the virtual currency Bitcoin will come to occupy a central place in the global financial system. "The emerging technology that runs on a distributed ledger has become increasingly associated with transparency, accountability and open governance because of its supposedly tamper-proof design," says Ortneil Kutama, Media Director at SA Commercial Prop News. Some experts suggest that the blockchain could completely transform the way we pay for goods and services or exchange information. "Its irrefutable that the internet and digital media tools continue to change the way we do business, as it plays a pivotal role in the property sector," says Kutama. In terms of the real estate industry, the technology has the potential to allow... TO GET THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE FOR MORE National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday called for a relook at travel advisories for Jammu and Kashmir to ease restrictions over visiting the union territory. Abdullah raised the issue at a meeting with US diplomats at his residence here. "US diplomats called on National Conference Vice President @OmarAbdullah at his Gupkar residence today. The delegation included Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Graham Mayer, First Secretary Gary Applegarth, and Political Counselor Abhiram," the NC in a post on X. It said the meeting was also attended by NC MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and party chief spokesperson and head of communications Tanvir Sadiq. "Discussions covered a wide range of issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and the region in general," the party said. During the meeting, Abdullah emphasised the importance of relooking at the travel advisories for Jammu and Kashmir with a view to ease restrictions. "He encouraged people from around the world to visit Kashmir and experience its beauty and culture firsthand. He also invited the diplomats to visit Kashmir with their families as a first step to inspire confidence among tourists from the United States and other parts of the world," the NC said. Several countries have travel advisories in place, asking their citizens to not visit Jammu and Kashmir. In its latest travel advisory issued in July this year, the US government asked its citizens to exercise increased caution in India due to crime and terrorism. "Some areas have increased risk. Do not travel to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (except the eastern Ladakh region and its capital Leh) due to terrorism and civil unrest," the advisory said. Heavily-armed gunmen killed at least 33 people in two separate attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Monday, as insurgent attacks spiked in the restive region. In the first incident, at least 23 people from Pakistan's Punjab province were killed in a targeted attack in Balochistan's Musakhel district after gunmen offloaded them from buses and checked their identities. Senior Superintendent of Police Ayub Khoso said: The passengers were told to get down from buses and shot dead after being identified from their national ID cards, Khoso said. Most of those killed belonged to southern Punjab and some are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suggesting they were killed because of their ethnic background, he added. In another attack, gunmen killed at least 10 people, including four police officers, in the Qalat district also in Balochistan, authorities said. Security sources told Geo News that terrorists attacked multiple sites in Balochistan on the night of August 24 and 25. Khoso said the armed men also set some 12 vehicles on fire on the highway in Musakhel. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attack in Musakhel. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, Radio Pakistan reported. Expressing grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the despicable incident, they prayed for the departed souls and condoled with the bereaved families. Zardari said the brutal killing of innocent people was the killing of the entire humanity and called for the culprits to be brought to justice. The Prime Minister directed the local administration to fully cooperate with the bereaved families and provide medical aid to the injured. He also directed the law enforcement agencies to immediately investigate the incident. The terrorists responsible for this incident will be severely punished, the premier vowed, adding that any kind of terrorism was not acceptable in the country. Both the president and the prime minister expressed Pakistan's unwavering commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti strongly condemned the incident of terrorism. He expressed heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who died in the cowardly act of terrorists. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, he said, adding that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists. In a separate terrorist attack, a railway bridge was blown up in Bolan's Dozan area, said police. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province but, although it has more resources than other provinces, it is the least developed. The BLA and other Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Punjabis and Sinhdis from elsewhere in Pakistan working in the region. They have also targeted foreign energy firms they accuse of exploiting the region without sharing profits. The attacks come nearly four months after a similar attack targeting people from Punjab. In April, nine passengers were offloaded from a bus near Noshki and shot dead after gunmen checked their ID cards. In October last year, unidentified gunmen fatally shot six labourers hailing from Punjab in Turbat in Balochistan's Kech district. According to the police, the killings were targeted. All victims belonged to different areas of southern Punjab, suggesting they had been chosen for their ethnic background. A similar incident occurred in 2015 when gunmen killed 20 construction workers and injured three others in a pre-dawn attack on a labourers' camp near Turbat. There were at least 170 militant attacks in Balochistan last year which killed 151 civilians and 114 security personnel, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. West Indies smashed 13 sixes in its innings to beat South Africa by 30 runs and secure the Twenty20 international series with a game to spare. West Indies scored 179-6 after being asked to bat first in the second T20, accelerating from 111-4 after 14 overs. Shai Hope hit a 22-ball 41 with two fours and four sixes. Captain Rovman Powell contributed 35 runs, also in 22 balls, with three sixes. South Africa was all out for 149 with two balls remaining despite a strong start of 57-0 after just four overs. But the chase faltered and, at 138-6, South Africa needed 42 runs off the last four overs. Opener Reeza Hendricks top-scored with an 18-ball 44 which included two of his team's six sixes before he was bowled by Romario Shepherd, who took 3-15 in four overs. Shamar Joseph returned 3-31. West Indies was unchanged from the team that also hit 13 sixes to win the opening T20 by seven wickets at the same ground last Friday. South Africa replaced fast medium left-armer Nandre Burger with Lizaad Williams, who took 3-36. The series-concluding T20 is on Tuesday, also at Tarouba. South Africa prevailed in the preceding two-match test series against West Indies, winning the second test at Providence, Guyana, after a rain-hit drawn opener at Port of Spain, Trinidad. (): A boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving more than two dozen people dead or missing, the UN migration agency said Sunday, the latest in a string of shipwrecks that have left scores dead. Despite a nearly decade-long civil war, Yemen which borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast remains a major route for migrants from East Africa trying to reach wealthy Gulf countries for work.The vessel was carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and the boat captain and his assistant, both Yemeni, when it capsized Tuesday off the province of Taiz, the International Organisation for Migration said in a statement. The bodies of 11 men and two women were recovered along the shore of Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, while the 14 others including the two Yemenis remain missing. The migrants departed from Djibouti, IOM said.This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the perils faced by migrants on this route, said Matt Huber, IOMs acting chief in Yemen. Every life lost in these dangerous waters is one too many, and it is imperative that we do not normalise these devastating losses. According to the agency, the number of migrants arriving in Yemen has tripled in recent years, from about 27,000 in 2021 to more than 97,200 last year, the IOM said, and about 380,000 migrants are currently in the conflict-ridden country. To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden. Over the past decade, at least 2,082 migrants disappeared along the route, including 693 who drowned, the IOM said. In June, at least 49 migrants were killed in a shipwreck off Yemens southern coast that also left 140 missing, according to the IOM. Another 62 migrants died in two separate shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti in April as they tried to reach Yemen. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 806 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $41,000. Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Unum Group by 361.5% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 503 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Unum Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Unum Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Unum Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Unum Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 86.57% of the companys stock. Get Unum Group alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Unum Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Unum Group from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Unum Group from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Unum Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Unum Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $61.78. Insider Activity In related news, EVP Timothy Gerald Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $541,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,821 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,507,464.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Unum Group Trading Up 0.4 % UNM traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.24. 1,108,373 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,248,585. The companys fifty day moving average price is $52.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28. Unum Group has a fifty-two week low of $41.75 and a fifty-two week high of $58.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.81. Unum Group (NYSE:UNM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.14. Unum Group had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company had revenue of $3.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.06 EPS. The firms revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Unum Group will post 8.51 EPS for the current year. Unum Group Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from Unum Groups previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Unum Groups payout ratio is 24.96%. Unum Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued. Unum Group Profile (Free Report) Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block segment. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Unum Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Unum Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMI Asset Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM Free Report) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 239,488 shares of the CRM providers stock after selling 4,573 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 3.3% of AMI Asset Management Corps investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. AMI Asset Management Corps holdings in Salesforce were worth $61,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Stockton grew its position in Salesforce by 58.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 1,451 shares of the CRM providers stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.5% in the second quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the CRM providers stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 143.4% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 22,071 shares of the CRM providers stock valued at $5,674,000 after purchasing an additional 13,003 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 792 shares of the CRM providers stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $239,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the companys stock. Get Salesforce alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $291.50. Salesforce Stock Performance CRM traded up $5.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $264.00. The companys stock had a trading volume of 4,711,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,563,299. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.82 billion, a PE ratio of 47.48, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.68 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The businesss revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year. Salesforce Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforces payout ratio is 28.78%. Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce In other news, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total transaction of $771,495.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,716 shares of the companys stock, valued at $977,122.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $229,434.66. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,072,660.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total value of $771,495.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,716 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $977,122.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 142,964 shares of company stock valued at $35,273,059. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the companys stock. Salesforce Profile (Free Report) Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Salesforce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Salesforce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT Free Report) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 96,601 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 911 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabamas holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $18,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 68.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Applied Industrial Technologies alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday. Loop Capital increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a neutral rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $226.67. Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance Shares of AIT stock opened at $207.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.04. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.59 and a 12-month high of $223.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.19 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 23.69% and a net margin of 8.36%. The companys revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.62 EPS for the current year. Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Applied Industrial Technologiess dividend payout ratio is currently 15.51%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Neil A. Schrimsher sold 3,703 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.24, for a total value of $748,894.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 205,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,602,385.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.20% of the companys stock. Applied Industrial Technologies Company Profile (Free Report) Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Engineered Solutions. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AIT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Applied Industrial Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Applied Industrial Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS Free Report) by 191.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,904,664 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corps holdings in Novartis were worth $202,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Patten Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 2.5% in the second quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 16,513 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $210,000. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Novartis by 4.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 14,421 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,535,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Novartis by 42.3% in the second quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 16,644 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the companys stock. Get Novartis alerts: Novartis Stock Up 0.5 % Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.59 on Monday, reaching $119.15. 664,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,425,535. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $110.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.23. The company has a market capitalization of $243.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $119.29. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Novartis ( NYSE:NVS Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Several research firms have commented on NVS. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a strong sell rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $118.13. Check Out Our Latest Report on NVS Novartis Company Profile (Free Report) Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Novartis Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Novartis and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Free Report) by 5,224.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,635 shares of the restaurant operators stock after purchasing an additional 49,684 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLCs holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $3,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMG. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Riverview Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,900.0% in the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 400 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. bought a new position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in the first quarter valued at $29,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,900.0% in the second quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 500 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 9,900.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 500 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.31% of the companys stock. Get Chipotle Mexican Grill alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $59.72 to $62.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a buy rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $62.36. Chipotle Mexican Grill Trading Up 0.5 % Chipotle Mexican Grill stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $53.72. 9,913,088 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,141,147. The stock has a market cap of $73.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.24. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.37 and a 1-year high of $69.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $121.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.41. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 13.23%. The firms revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $12.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity at Chipotle Mexican Grill In related news, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 17,394 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.68, for a total value of $951,103.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 358,300 shares in the company, valued at $19,591,844. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Chipotle Mexican Grill Profile (Free Report) Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. It sells food and beverages through offering burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads. The company also provides delivery and related services its app and website. It has operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cypress Capital Group lessened its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD Free Report) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 477 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Groups holdings in Mettler-Toledo International were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MTD. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 22.7% in the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 1,829 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock valued at $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 1.3% during the second quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 2,228 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $3,113,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 13.8% during the second quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 364 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International during the second quarter worth about $583,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.07% of the companys stock. Get Mettler-Toledo International alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Mettler-Toledo International In other Mettler-Toledo International news, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 250 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,401.00, for a total value of $350,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,514. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 250 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,401.00, for a total transaction of $350,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,514. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christian Magloth sold 1,000 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,422.97, for a total transaction of $1,422,970.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,044,459.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MTD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,150.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $975.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,375.00 to $1,390.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mettler-Toledo International has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $1,343.75. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Mettler-Toledo International Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance NYSE MTD traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $1,436.71. 3,746 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 140,447. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a 1-year low of $928.49 and a 1-year high of $1,546.93. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $1,405.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,349.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.68 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.17. Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $9.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $9.00 by $0.65. The company had revenue of $946.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $929.13 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a net margin of 20.95% and a negative return on equity of 590.80%. Mettler-Toledo Internationals revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.19 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 40.13 EPS for the current year. Mettler-Toledo International Profile (Free Report) Mettler-Toledo International Inc manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company's laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, real-time analytics, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, density and refractometry, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform to manage and analyze data generated from its instruments.Its industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, metal detection equipment, x-ray systems, check weighing equipment, camera-based imaging equipment, track-and-trace solutions, and product inspection systems. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MTD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Mettler-Toledo International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mettler-Toledo International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. An Oakland-bound Alaska Airlines returned safely to Seattle following an engine failure on Sunday. Ted S. Warren/Associated Press An Alaska Airlines flight to Oakland from Seattle was diverted minutes after takeoff Sunday due to engine troubles. Flight AS1240, operated with a Boeing 737 twin engine jet, changed course about five minutes after its delayed 1:04 p.m. departure from SeattleTacoma International Airport, according to the airline and public aviation records. Pilots conducted an emergency landing after one of the aircrafts engines stopped working, though it wasnt immediately clear what caused the abrupt shutdown, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Maintenance employees were looking into the cause as of Sunday evening, the spokesperson said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A passenger told the Chronicle in an email that they heard a loud noise and felt a jarring jump, and that fire engines met the plane on the tarmac. Records showed the aircraft circled above Seattle several times before returning to the airport. Credit to the crew for following standard procedures for this situation and landing safely and without incident, the spokesperson said. Passengers arrived in Oakland about four hours late on a new aircraft, records showed. Shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $289.78. A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Eagle Materials from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Eagle Materials from $300.00 to $286.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Eagle Materials from $252.00 to $311.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James lowered shares of Eagle Materials from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Get Eagle Materials alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on EXP Insiders Place Their Bets Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eagle Materials In other news, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total value of $512,838.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,937 shares in the company, valued at $3,861,385.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . In other Eagle Materials news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total value of $1,333,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,135,778.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total transaction of $512,838.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,861,385.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Company insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXP. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 95 shares of the construction companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Eagle Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new stake in Eagle Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eagle Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eagle Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Eagle Materials Price Performance NYSE EXP opened at $265.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.33. Eagle Materials has a 52-week low of $145.03 and a 52-week high of $279.69. Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.37. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 37.10%. The company had revenue of $608.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $622.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.55 EPS. The companys revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Eagle Materials will post 15.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Eagle Materialss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%. About Eagle Materials (Get Free Report Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement, including Portland limestone cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Eagle Materials Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eagle Materials and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. cut its holdings in Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN Free Report) by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,155 shares of the construction companys stock after selling 3,151 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lennar by 484.0% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Lennar in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Lennar by 223.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 233 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. 81.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Lennar alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes LEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $183.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Lennar from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Lennar from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $169.13. Lennar Price Performance NYSE:LEN traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $184.74. 563,888 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,108,713. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 4.93. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $162.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.11. Lennar Co. has a 1 year low of $102.90 and a 1 year high of $186.60. The company has a market cap of $50.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.60. Lennar (NYSE:LEN Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 17th. The construction company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $8.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.57 billion. Lennar had a net margin of 11.58% and a return on equity of 15.93%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lennar Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current year. Lennar Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Lennars payout ratio is 13.60%. About Lennar (Free Report) Lennar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a homebuilder primarily under the Lennar brand in the United States. It operates through Homebuilding East, Homebuilding Central, Homebuilding Texas, Homebuilding West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other segments. The company's homebuilding operations include the construction and sale of single-family attached and detached homes, as well as the purchase, development, and sale of residential land; and development, construction, and management of multifamily rental properties. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Lennar Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lennar and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF (NYSEARCA:IPAC Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,282 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $78,000. Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,263,041 shares of the companys stock worth $459,823,000 after buying an additional 505,506 shares during the period. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan lifted its holdings in iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan now owns 4,683,690 shares of the companys stock worth $296,524,000 after buying an additional 207,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,183,335 shares of the companys stock worth $248,950,000 after buying an additional 262,634 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF by 434.1% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,265,821 shares of the companys stock worth $80,139,000 after buying an additional 1,028,817 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 623,089 shares of the companys stock worth $37,080,000 after buying an additional 26,751 shares during the period. Get iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF alerts: iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF Trading Up 2.1 % Shares of IPAC opened at $64.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 0.82. iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF has a 12 month low of $52.93 and a 12 month high of $65.00. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $61.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.78. iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF Profile The iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF (IPAC) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI Pacific IMI index, a market-cap-weighted index of developed Pacific securities. IPAC was launched on Jun 10, 2014 and is managed by BlackRock. See Also Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of Hold by the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.13. A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Invesco from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Invesco from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Invesco from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Invesco from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Invesco from $17.50 to $17.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Get Invesco alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Invesco Invesco Stock Performance NYSE IVZ opened at $17.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.93, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.88 and a 200 day moving average of $15.68. The company has a current ratio of 5.80, a quick ratio of 6.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Invesco has a twelve month low of $12.48 and a twelve month high of $18.28. Invesco (NYSE:IVZ Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Invesco had a positive return on equity of 8.41% and a negative net margin of 1.73%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Invesco will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year. Invesco Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. Invescos dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -109.33%. Institutional Trading of Invesco Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IVZ. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Invesco by 48.5% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 208,993 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 68,221 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Invesco by 804.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 13,902 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 12,365 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Invesco by 1.4% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 66,881 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Invesco during the second quarter worth about $551,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Invesco by 179.6% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 328,392 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $4,913,000 after acquiring an additional 210,921 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.09% of the companys stock. About Invesco (Get Free Report Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Invesco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF Free Report) by 0.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 123,514 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 424 shares during the period. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF makes up 13.1% of Paulson Wealth Management Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Paulson Wealth Management Inc.s holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF were worth $45,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of IWF. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the 4th quarter valued at about $350,964,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 409.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,312,397 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $442,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,881 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,413,232 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,641,130,000 after purchasing an additional 341,407 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 1,332.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 302,036 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $91,568,000 after purchasing an additional 280,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the 1st quarter valued at about $73,003,000. Get iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Price Performance Shares of NYSEARCA:IWF traded down $2.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $365.70. 1,156,321 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,334,618. The companys 50 day moving average price is $362.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.80. The firm has a market cap of $96.75 billion, a PE ratio of 35.64 and a beta of 1.20. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF has a 52 week low of $256.01 and a 52 week high of $382.82. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Company Profile iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment returns that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of equity securities of Russell 1000 index issuers with relatively higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cypress Capital Group decreased its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL Free Report) by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,624 shares of the textile makers stock after selling 964 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Groups holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 67.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,214,000 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $175,001,000 after buying an additional 487,882 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 15,903.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 448,902 shares of the textile makers stock worth $84,266,000 after purchasing an additional 446,097 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 1st quarter worth $61,022,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 10,207.7% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 325,208 shares of the textile makers stock worth $61,061,000 after purchasing an additional 322,053 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,908,575 shares of the textile makers stock worth $921,634,000 after purchasing an additional 203,495 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the companys stock. Get Ralph Lauren alerts: Ralph Lauren Stock Down 0.1 % NYSE:RL traded down $0.09 on Monday, reaching $174.49. The stock had a trading volume of 51,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 933,149. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 12-month low of $108.60 and a 12-month high of $192.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $171.10 and a 200 day moving average of $174.14. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Ralph Lauren ( NYSE:RL Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.25. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 28.79%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year. A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. They set a buy rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Guggenheim restated a buy rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $196.00 to $193.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $184.80. Check Out Our Latest Report on Ralph Lauren About Ralph Lauren (Free Report) Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men's, women's, and children's clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding RL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Ralph Lauren Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ralph Lauren and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Friends and loved ones held a public vigil dedicated to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli born in Berkeley who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, on the University Avenue pedestrian overpass in Berkeley. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lived in Berkeley as a child, was one of an estimated 200 hostages taken to Gaza during Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel estimated to have killed at least 1,100 people. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Goldberg-Polin lost an arm when Hamas fighters invaded the open-air music festival he was attending on the eve of an important Jewish holiday, his parents told the Chronicle last year. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Friends and loved ones held a public vigil dedicated to Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Friends and loved ones held a public vigil dedicated to Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Friends and loved ones held a public vigil dedicated to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli born in Berkeley who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, on the University Avenue pedestrian overpass in Berkeley on Sunday. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle On Sunday, his supporters danced and waved Israeli and American flags on the pedestrian overpass above Interstate 80 as cars sped by, with some drivers honking to show approval. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle A vigil in support of an American held hostage by Hamas drew several hundred people to a Berkeley highway overpass Sunday afternoon, days after the 23-year-olds parents pleaded for his release at the Democratic National Convention. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lived in Berkeley as a child, was one of an estimated 200 hostages taken to Gaza during Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel estimated to have killed at least 1,100 people. He lost an arm when Hamas fighters invaded the open-air music festival he was attending on the eve of an important Jewish holiday, his parents told the Chronicle last year. On Sunday, his supporters danced and waved Israeli and American flags on the pedestrian overpass above Interstate 80 as cars sped by, with some drivers honking to show approval. The group played Goldberg-Polins favorite music, served his favorite chocolate chip cookies and prayed for his safe return and that of the remaining 109 hostages. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The event honored Goldberg-Polins great love for dance and music, an organizer said. He likes to travel around the world and attend music festivals. The group played Goldberg-Polins favorite music, served his favorite chocolate chip cookies and prayed for his safe return and that of the remaining 109 hostages. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle The 23-year-old was attending the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, a psychedelic trance music festival in Reim near Israels border with Gaza, on the morning that Hamas attackers invaded, killing at least 260 festival-goers. Goldberg-Polin fled the massacre but was taken to Gaza from a roadside bomb shelter where he had sought refuge, his parents said at the time. Addressing delegates Wednesday evening at the Democratic National Convention, parents Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin were greeted with an extended ovation and chants of bring him home. Wearing stickers with the number 320 the number of days their son has been held the couple said they were heartened to see bipartisan support for securing the release of their son. Supreme Comrade Starmer of the Labour EU Soviet Communist Party today revealed to the workers and proletariat that things will get worse then worsen to even worse times than the worst you have ever experienced in your pitiful lives and he went on to thank the proles for voting him in. Thank you, during the election, only 80% of the country did not vote for me, and this gave us a huge mandate to rule over you. Due to our allegiance to our Marxist brothers at the unions, we have now dug a fresh 20 billion black hole in the finances. Please do not worry yourselves, you will have to pay more tax than you have ever conceived in your pitiful lives. This is Soviet Labours gift to you. Comrades, commissars, workers, union members, you must now work 364 days in the year before you have paid all your taxes. As a gift to you, we have left one single day of the year when you will not pay taxes. It was out of my gracious soviet goodness that I gifted you that single day of being tax-free, so spend that day wisely. We have many wonderful surprises set up for you, and you will obey my orders without question or thought. When we come to take your property, your earned wealth, your assets, your cars, your homes, you will hand them over to the state gladly. These are mere burdens that you shall be glad to be freed from. Please do not worry, we will move you all into soviet housing projects which we will build all over the countryside once we bulldoze over everything and cut all the trees down and concrete over everything. Comrades, I have outlined what your future under the soviet stasi Labour state will be like and if you do not like it, we have a solution for that as well. If you voice your disapproval in any way on social media or elsewhere, we will have you arrested by the Thoughtcrime Police and imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time. There will be no such thing as free speech under Labour because it results in dangerous talk and the opinions of people. Dear comrades, we do not want to hear your opinions about anything, especially how you are being oppressed by the big Labour boot of tyranny and despotism. On this note, I bid you fuck off until next time. Remember, things will get worse than you have had nightmares about. The Daily Squib publication only has the highest praise for Stasi Britain and its Stasi Thoughtcrime Police. Hail the Labour Party and its Supreme Comrade Starmer. Foreign envoys praise China's new energy push People's Daily Online) 10:37, August 26, 2024 Over 30 people, including foreign envoys and diplomats from 23 countries and representatives of international organizations, visited the National Wind and Solar Energy Storage and Transmission Demonstration Base in Zhangbei county, Zhangjiakou city, north China's Hebei Province, on Aug. 21. Zhangbei, known as "the homeland of wind energy and the ocean of solar energy," has emerged as a hub for renewable power innovation. The demonstration base, set against a backdrop of sprawling grasslands and mountains, features wind turbines of various sizes and arrays of photovoltaic panels. Wind turbines and photovoltaic panels near the National Wind and Solar Energy Storage and Transmission Demonstration Base in Zhangbei county, Zhangjiakou city, north China's Hebei Province. (People's Daily Online/Yu Yang) The facility is the world's largest project to combine wind and solar power with energy storage and smart transmission. By the end of May 2024, the base had generated 12 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Foreign envoys and representatives of international organizations receive a presentation on the National Wind and Solar Energy Storage and Transmission Demonstration Project in front of a sand table model of the project. (People's Daily Online/Fang Tong) The project left a deep impression on the visitors. "It's interesting, especially the integration part of it integrating different technologies into one management system different sources but integrated into a distribution system that is capable of being safe, being reliable and I believe also cost-friendly," said Stephen Bainous Kargbo, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization representative in China. "I think, from that point of view, China has a lot to offer other countries, the rest of the world and, in particular, developing countries," added Kargbo, noting the project's potential to advance the U.N.s Sustainable Development Goals. Mohsen Bakhtiar, ambassador of Iran to China, during an interview. (People's Daily Online/Fang Tong) Mohsen Bakhtiar, Iran's ambassador to China, expressed hope for collaboration with Chinese companies in clean energy and applying these technologies to Iran's power industry. "I think it is possible for us to cooperate together in the central region of Iran, you can find high and efficient sunshine, and this is very good for producing electricity from renewable energy, " said Bakhtiar. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Authorities are investigating the death of a woman on the opening day of the 2024 Burning Man Festival in Nevadas Black Rock Desert. Here, attendees were stranded at last years festival after heavy rains. Julie Jammot/AFP via Getty Images Authorities are investigating the death of a woman on the opening day of the 2024 Burning Man Festival in Nevadas Black Rock Desert. The event began on Sunday and the woman was found unresponsive at 11:29 a.m. the same day, organizers confirmed. Despite efforts by the festivals emergency services, she could not be revived. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It is with heavy hearts that Burning Man Project confirms the death of a participant in Black Rock City in Nevadas Black Rock Desert, organizers wrote. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss. The woman was identified on Monday afternoon as 39-year-old Kendra Frazer. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen, whose jurisdiction is centered about 45 miles from the Black Rock Desert, said authorities are investigating the cause of death. The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount, organizers said. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident. The Pershing County Sheriffs office investigates all deaths that occur in its jurisdiction. Counseling services will be provided to attendees. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In 2023, Leon Reece, a 32-year-old resident of Truckee, died at the festival from an accidental overdose, according to the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiners Office. The previous year, another attendee passed away due to natural causes. Burning Man officials expect nearly 70,000 people at Black Rock City this year, lower than the 74,000 recorded in 2023 and the 75,000 in 2022. The festival is set to run through Sept. 2. Oshkosh Defense, a leading manufacturer of military vehicles, has secured a significant contract from the U.S. Army, ensuring the continued production and modernization of the nations heavy-duty transportation fleet. The five-year agreement, valued at approximately $1.54 billion, underscores the Armys commitment to equipping its forces with technologically advanced and reliable vehicles. Get alerts: This contract, awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA), falls under the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV) program. This program encompasses a range of essential vehicles that form the backbone of the Armys logistical operations, including the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT A4), Palletized Load System (PLS A1), PLS Trailer, and Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET A1). A Legacy of Heavy Lifting Oshkosh Defense boasts a long-standing partnership with the U.S. military, producing over 71,000 modernized heavy tactical vehicles and trailers for the Army and its allies. This latest contract represents a continuation of that legacy, highlighting the companys proven ability to deliver high-performance vehicles capable of withstanding the rigors of diverse operational environments. We are extremely honored that the U.S. Army continues to invest in the proven Oshkosh Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles, said Pat Williams, chief programs officer at Oshkosh Defense. Our continued collaboration with the Army ensures that we deliver exceptional, high-performance vehicles with the latest technologies and active safety features. Modernization Takes Center Stage This new contract goes beyond simply maintaining the existing fleet. A key element involves integrating advanced technologies to modernize the FHTV lineup, extending their lifespan and reducing operational costs. Oshkosh Defense plans to implement upgrades such as drive-by-wire capability, Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) systems, and electrification options. These enhancements will improve the vehicles performance and efficiency and prepare them for the evolving demands of future military operations. The evolution of the FHTV through technical insertions and recapitalization is a testament to our innovation and focus on increased capabilities, continued Williams. By integrating new technologies into the FHTV fleet, we are not only enhancing operational efficiency but also future-proofing our vehicles to meet the evolving needs of the Warfighter. A Strategic Win for Oshkosh This contract is a significant win for Oshkosh Defense, solidifying its position as a key supplier for the U.S. Army. Having faced increased competition in recent years, particularly in the light tactical vehicle market, the companys success in securing the FHTV V contract reaffirms its expertise in the heavy vehicle sector. This latest contract follows a series of notable wins for the company. In June 2024, the Army awarded Oshkosh Defense contract modifications totaling $231.9 million for modernized trucks and kits under the previous FHTV IV contract extension. Last December, the company secured a significant Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) order from the Israeli Ministry of Defense and a $201 million deal to supply military trucks to Ukraines Army. The FHTV V contract award allows the Army to procure new vehicles as early as August 2024, ensuring a seamless transition and continued readiness for heavy transportation needs. As Oshkosh Defense embarks on fulfilling this contract, the company will play a critical role in equipping the U.S. Army with the robust and modernized vehicles necessary to support its mission-critical operations in the years to come. Indias semiconductor design industry is poised for significant growth, as the nation aspires to become a global powerhouse in chip design and manufacturing. Indian governments strategic initiatives, such as the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme and the Chips to Startup (C2S) program, are aimed at creating a fertile environment for innovation and development. However, the path to becoming a major player in the global semiconductor ecosystem is very complex, requiring a concerted effort from both the public and private sectors. Cadence Design Systems, a global leader in electronic design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP, is playing a pivotal role in this transformation. In an exclusive interview, Jayashankar Narayanankutty, Group Director, Cadence Design Systems, discusses the driving forces behind Indias semiconductor design growth, the impact of government initiatives like the DLI scheme, and how Cadences deep involvement in talent development and AI integration is shaping the future of semiconductor design in India. Edited excerpts follow: Q) What key factors are driving the growth of Indias semiconductor design industry, and how is Cadence contributing to this momentum? Indias semiconductor design industry is rapidly growing due to the continued demand for semiconductors and electronics. Sectors such as data centres, automotive, communications, and energy provide significant opportunities for chip design, further driving industry expansion. Indias strategic push for self-reliance, emphasising domestic manufacturing and product innovation, alongside the governments vision of a pivotal role in the global supply chain, and general awareness of the sectors critical importance, is further fuelling the growth of the industry in India. Also read: India will provide 50-percent monetary aid to chip makers, said PM Modi at Semicon 2023 The governments initiatives, such as the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, aim to enhance domestic chip design capabilities and position India as a global leader. Growing the talent pool and developing a skilled workforce are crucial priorities for the government. Cadence is actively contributing to this vision by partnering with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to train 85,000 engineers in VLSI design by 2027. Our involvement in the Chip to Startup program and other initiatives such as providing world-class EDA software to students is expected to help with the number of engineers being trained as well as their relevance and employability. Moreover, Cadences investment in AI and machine learning (ML) will help significantly shorten engineers learning curves. These technologies enable individuals with varying experience levels to tackle complex tasks and accelerate the design cycle. AI and ML integration within our design tools not only helps junior engineers solve intricate problems but also addresses the growing complexity of semiconductor design. Q) How do you see the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme impacting startups and established companies in Indias semiconductor ecosystem over the next few years? The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme will have a significant impact on both startups and by extension to established companies in Indias semiconductor ecosystem. The government aims to also create an investment-friendly environment to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities and reduce reliance on imports. Along with initiatives like Chip to Startup (C2S) and the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS), the DLI is designed to nurture a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem, enhancing both the design and manufacturing sectors. These policy measures are tailored to the current industry landscape and will evolve as the industry develops. The DLI scheme will play a crucial role in advancing product development. Our software, accessible through the national EDA grid to startups participating in the DLI program, plays a vital role in this initiative. It provides these startups with advanced electronic design automation tools, thereby strengthening their product development capabilities. Through our support of the DLI initiative, we are contributing to the governments goal of transforming India into a leading product nation. Q) With Cadences extensive involvement in training engineers across 400 engineering colleges, how do you assess the current talent pool in India for semiconductor design? Over the past 30 years, India has developed a robust talent pool in semiconductor design. Major semiconductor companies have established a substantial presence in India and are continuing to expand aggressively, attracted by the countrys skilled workforce and cost-effective solutions. The government has acknowledged that getting trained and employable manpower is an area that needs attention and is working with industry players to understand how the gaps can be addressed in a holistic manner. Initiatives like the Chips to Startup (C2S) program are crucial in cultivating a new generation of chip designers with the practical skills needed for real-world projects. Strengthening the connection between academia and industry through collaborative research, internships, and guest lectures can bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Also read: Wikipedias role in Indias digital knowledge revolution Revising the curriculum to include the latest advancements in semiconductors and to come up with course structures that are industry-relevant and current will be extremely vital. Additionally, we need to create awareness about the impactful career paths in semiconductors and chip design. Aspiring engineers should be made aware that a career in this industry is equally, if not more, rewarding and financially remunerative as software jobs. Cadence recently collaborated with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) committee to craft the new curriculum for the undergraduate degree course in Electronics Engineering (VLSI). This updated curriculum aims to equip students with in-demand industry skills and guide the next generation of engineers across 120+ Indian universities. As part of this collaboration, Cadence will also train around 100 professors across India. Cadence has been a part of the governments Special Manpower Development Program (SMDP) Phases I and II from the year of its establishment. The initiative was aimed at building the future talent pipeline. Cadence has been actively working with MeitY for the Chips to Startup program to provide EDA tools to several universities across India, aiming to realise the ambition of developing a pool of 85,000 trained chip design engineers by 2027. Q) How is AI being used in semiconductor design, and what impact is this having on design efficiency and innovation? Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools are crucial in addressing the growing complexity of semiconductor designs. As chip designs become more intricate, EDA tools are essential for maintaining design efficiency, boosting productivity, and accelerating time-to-market. Cadences cutting-edge EDA tools significantly enhance design productivity, allowing companies to develop highly complex chips within shorter timelines and with stable design teams. At Cadence, we are leading the way in incorporating AI-based techniques into our software. Our ongoing AI deployment integrates AI capabilities into our tools, enhancing their functionality and efficiency. By leveraging AI, we are able to provide next-generation productivity improvements, enabling our customers to tackle increasingly complex designs with greater ease. This focus on AI not only supports current design needs but also drives innovation in semiconductor technology. Q) How do you see AI playing a role in the future of semiconductor design, both globally and in the Indian context? The rise of AI and the proliferation of smart devices are major drivers of innovation and demand in chip manufacturing and design. Initially, AIs impact was largely concentrated in data centres, but now we see a growing trend of integrating intelligence directly into edge devices and networks. Also read: Indian chip component market to hit $300 billion in 4 years time: Report As AI technology evolves, the complexity of the models being developed will require increasingly advanced chips. This creates a continuous cycle of innovation, where the demand for more powerful and efficient semiconductors will persist. In India, although the AI revolution is still in its nascent stages, the country is well-positioned to benefit from this trend. The need for advanced electronics will drive sustained growth in the semiconductor sector, with India potentially emerging as a significant player in this global landscape. Q) How does Cadence support startups in India, particularly those focusing on semiconductor design and AI? Since the 2000s, Cadence has been collaborating with startups to nurture the semiconductor industrys growth in India by empowering them with innovative business models, cutting-edge tools, and global expertise. Cadence has made over 100 different tools (through bundles) available to startups and academia under the Chips2Startup (C2S) program. Cadence aligns with the Chip-in initiative overseen by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) of the Indian government, enabling universities to engage in both research and development for chip design while also fostering startup creation in this critical sector. Cadence has partnered with startup incubators like FABCi IIT Hyderabad and Electropreneur Park in Delhi and Bhubaneswar to provide software, and guide and mentor semiconductor and electronics startups. Cadences software is accessible through the national Electronic Design Automation (EDA) grid to all startups selected for the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) program. This integration supports startups across India in leveraging advanced EDA tools to enhance their product development capabilities. Cadence also facilitates networking opportunities for startups through its events, conferences, and customer forums. However, despite these efforts, India still needs more homegrown product startups in the semiconductor sector. Most product ownership and intellectual property remain with multinational companies. To address this, we hope to see a rise in Indian companies that own and develop their semiconductor products. A comprehensive approach that encourages the development of local product companies will help India fully leverage its semiconductor industry potential and drive further innovation. The grounds of San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. In May, following months of questions by the Chronicle, a corrections spokesperson said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was moving forward with regulations to end the use of CVSA across offices and institutions. Juliana Yamada/The Chronicle Californias prison system has moved to ban the use of a controversial lie-detector test compared by one expert to a Ouija board or an astrological chart following a Chronicle investigation into the technology and its impact on the incarcerated. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had used the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, or CVSA, for at least two decades to assess prisoners credibility during internal investigations. This went on despite a litany of research indicating the technology was no better at detecting deception than a coin flip, and despite prisoners rights advocates raising concerns about the tool on numerous occasions. In May, following months of questions by the Chronicle, a corrections spokesperson said the department was moving forward with regulations to end the use of CVSA across offices and institutions. The agency made its intentions official on Aug. 16 by publishing its proposed ban, which would take effect after a 45-day written comment period, followed by a public meeting Sept. 30. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The department has determined there are more established and reliable techniques for detecting deception, the department, which did not immediately return a request for comment Monday, wrote in its proposal. The current scientific consensus does not support the effectiveness or continued use of the CVSA. The technology claims to work by analyzing inaudible tremors in the human voice that indicate whether the speaker is stressed or not and by association whether they are lying. But decades of studies have debunked this mechanism, and speech sound experts have observed that no studies have confirmed the human voice produces the microtremors that the CVSA supposedly measures. In one case examined by the Chronicle, Raymond Whitall, a prisoner at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, took a CVSA exam after he filed a complaint accusing guards of beating him without justification. The prison threw out his complaint after his exam indicated deception in one of his responses to six questions, despite evidence of the beating documented by prison medical staff. Richard Leo, a University of San Francisco professor of law and psychology and expert on false confessions, called the law enforcement use of CVSA professional malpractice, and praised the prison systems move. Its like saying a Ouija board or an astrological chart is an investigative tool, said Leo, who wrote about the CVSA in his book, Police Interrogation and American Justice. While Californias prisons will no longer use the CVSA, the Chronicles investigation identified 13 other law enforcement agencies around the state that were still using the technology to interview prospective officers during the hiring process. At least three of these agencies had also recently used the tool during criminal investigations. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 1. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Graphics Card: AMD Radeon AMD Radeon SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 16 GB DDR4 16 GB DDR4 Display: 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 Type: Thin and Light Laptop Thin and Light Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 5 Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth: v5.1 v5.1 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This laptop from Acer has entry-level price point but almost mid-range specifications. This is a good option students and working professionals who are on a tight budget but arent willing to sacrifice on base level performance and specifications. The key specifications of the laptop are as follows. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U featuring 6 cores and 12 threads, providing efficient performance for multitasking and everyday computing needs. It operates at a base clock speed of 2.1 GHz and can boost up to 4.0 GHz Other Specifications and Features: Display: 15.6-inch Full HD display with a 16:9 aspect ratio Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon graphics for decent visual performance, suitable for casual gaming and multimedia tasks Memory and Storage: 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM and a 512 GB SSD, ensuring fast performance and quick access to files and applications1. Connectivity: Includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, and multiple USB ports (USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, USB 2.0 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C) for versatile connectivity Design: Sleek and portable design, weighing just 1.59 kg, making it easy to carry around Keyboard: Full-size backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad, enhancing usability in low-light conditions Operating System: Runs on Windows 11 Home 2. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600U AMD Ryzen 5 5600U Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 16 GB DDR4 16 GB DDR4 Display: 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 144 Hz 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 144 Hz Type: Gaming Laptop Gaming Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth: v5.3 v5.3 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This HP Victus Gaming laptop hits the sweet spot for amateur gamers and college students or even creators are looking to stretch their budget by a small margin beyond the Rs. 50,000 mark. Many of us start with that budget and then try to find out what is possible if the budget is stretched to 60K. This laptop is perfect match for them. Its for a powerful processor, a dependable dedicated graphics card and also a good chassis that has stood the test of time when it comes to thermal management. The key specifications and features are mentioned below. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H featuring 6 cores and 12 threads, designed for serious gaming and multitasking. It operates at a base clock speed of 3.3 GHz and can boost up to 4.2 GHz. Other Specifications and Features: Display: 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 9ms response time. Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 with 4GB GDDR6 dedicated graphics Memory and Storage: 16GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD Connectivity: Includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, USB Type-C, USB Type-A, RJ-45, and HDMI 2.1 ports for versatile connectivity. Design: Weighing 2.37 kg, with a backlit keyboard for enhanced usability in low-light conditions. Audio: Dual speakers with B&O audio Battery: 3-cell, 52.5Wh battery with fast charge support 3. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Graphics Card: AMD Radeon AMD Radeon SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 16 GB DDR4 16 GB DDR4 Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1080 14-inch 1920 x 1080 Type: Thin and Light Laptop Thin and Light Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth: v5.0 v5.0 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This AMD Ryzen 5500u powered laptop has a touch screen and a 360-degree swivel display that can transform the laptop into a tablet or you can prop it on the table in a tent mode to share your screen with others easily. A great option if you want something extra while not going overboard on spending, yes this will remind you of the Lenovo Yoga series but thankfully wont cost you as much! Key specifications and features are given below. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U featuring 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock speed of 2.1 GHz and boost of up to 4.0 GHz. Other Specifications and Features: Display: 14-inch Full HD IPS touch screen display with 300 nits brightness and anti-glare technology, supporting 360-degree screen orientation for versatile use as a laptop or tablet. Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon graphics for decent visual performance Memory and Storage: 16GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD Connectivity: Includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, USB 2.0, and HDMI ports for versatile connectivity. Design: Sleek and portable design, weighing just 1.5 kg, making it easy to carry around. Keyboard: Full-size backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad Security: Equipped with a fingerprint reader for enhanced security and quick login. Operating System: Runs on Windows 11 Home 4. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600U AMD Ryzen 5 5600U Graphics Card: AMD Radeon Vega 7 AMD Radeon Vega 7 SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 16 GB DDR4 16 GB DDR4 Display: 16-inch 1920 x 1200 16-inch 1920 x 1200 Type: Thin and Light Laptop Thin and Light Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Bluetooth: v5.3 v5.3 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This one is a special laptop, its got gaming grade processor for heavy tasks but lacks a dedicated GPU. This one is for creators on the move. Thanks to the large 16-inch display, premium design and wide range of connectivity options, the Asus Vivobook 16x is a great option for creators looking for that additional performance for thier second laptop. That 16-inch display with 16:10 aspect ratio is a clear giveaway. And yes, its also a good pick if you are looking for a binge watching companion with super powers that you can fall back on when you need that extra performance. Key Features and Specifications Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H (6-core/12-thread, up to 4.2 GHz max boost) Memory: 16 GB RAM Storage: 512 GB SSD Display: 16-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200), 16:10 aspect ratio, LED Backlit, 300 nits brightness, anti-glare Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Vega 7 Graphics Operating System: Windows 11 Home Features: Backlit keyboard, fingerprint sensor, lightweight (1.8 kg), pre-installed Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 Connectivity: 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 x HDMI 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3 Battery: 50WHrs, 3-cell Li-ion battery Charging: 90W AC adapter, charges up to 50% in 30 minutes 5. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U AMD Ryzen 5 7530U Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 16 GB DDR4 16 GB DDR4 Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1080 60 Hz 14-inch 1920 x 1080 60 Hz Type: Thin and Light Laptop Thin and Light Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 6E Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth: v5.2 v5.2 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This one is kind of an easter egg, and not a mistake. In our list of AMD Ryzen 5000 series laptops, weve dropped an AMD Ryzen 7000 series laptop. And thats by design. So you can look at this cracker of a deal. Its got the newer AMD Ryzen 7000 series six core processor and 16GB of RAM, all neatly packed in a slim and light 14-inch form factor. Whats not to like? Give this one a long and hard look as an alternative to the Ryen 5000 series laptop that you have come looking for on this page. Key specifications and features are mentioned below. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (6-core/12-thread, up to 4.5 GHz max boost) Memory: 16GB DDR4 RAM Storage: 512GB NVMe PCIe Gen3x4 SSD Display: 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080), 60Hz, 45% NTSC, IPS-Level Panel Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 Graphics Operating System: Windows 11 Home Features: Backlit keyboard, enlarged touchpad, 180-degree lay-flat hinge, Flip-n-Share function, lightweight (1.4 kg), 1.5 mm key travel Connectivity:1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 x HDMI 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 Battery: 39.3 WHrs, 3-cell Li-ion battery Charging: 65W AC adapter, fast charging supported 6. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Graphics Card: AMD Radeon AMD Radeon SSD Capacity: 512 GB 512 GB RAM: 8 GB DDR4 8 GB DDR4 Display: 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 120 Hz 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 120 Hz Type: Thin and Light Laptop Thin and Light Laptop Operating System: Windows 11 Home Windows 11 Home Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth: v5.2 v5.2 Warranty: 1 Year 1 Year Whats inside the box: Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents This one from Dell is a well balanced safe bet, if you want something that looks good, is from a reputable brand and takes care of all the basic. The unique part of this laptop has to be the 120Hz refresh rate display with FHD resolution. We havent seen many laptops under Rs. 40,000 offering a fast refresh rate display. Another advantage with this one is the comprehensive connectivity options and a fairly lightweight profile for a 15.6-inch display. Checkout the specs below. Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U (6-core/12-thread, up to 4.0 GHz max boost) Memory: 8 GB DDR4 RAM Storage: 512 GB NVMe SSD Display: 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080), 120Hz, 250 nits brightness, WVA AG Narrow Border Display Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics Operating System: Windows 11 Home Features: Backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, lightweight (1.69 kg), pre-installed Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021, 15-month McAfee subscription Connectivity: 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 x HDMI 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, SD Card Reader Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Battery: 54WHrs, 4-cell Li-ion battery, 65W AC adapter, fast charging supported Weight: 1.69 kg Rating and Price of the Best AMD Ryzen 5000 Laptop Product Name Price Ratings Acer Aspire Lite (AMD Ryzen 5500U + 16GB RAM) 34,990 3.9 HP Victus 15 Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 5600H + 16GB RAM) 61,990 4.3 Lenovo IdeaPad 14 with AMD Ryzen 5000 series 58,990 4.6 Asus Vivobook 16x with AMD Ryzen 5600H processor 52,990 4.3 MSI Modern 14 with 16GB RAM 34,890 4.3 Dell 15 Thin and Light Laptop with AMD Ryzen 5500U 27,490 4.0 Disclaimer: Digit, like all other media houses, gives you links to online stores which contain embedded affiliate information, which allows us to get a tiny percentage of your purchase back from the online store. We urge all our readers to use our Buy button links to make their purchases as a way of supporting our work. If you are a user who already does this, thank you for supporting and keeping unbiased technology journalism alive in India. Humanoid robot viability assessed by supply chain players Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced plans to begin limited production of humanoid robots by 2025. Meanwhile, Chinese company Unitree Robotics has already listed its humanoid robots on JD.com, sparking widespread debate about the commercialization of humanoid robots. However, according to various players in the robotics supply chain, the consensus is that the widespread adoption of humanoid robots in the industry is still some way off. Leading robotics companies suggest that, for now, the market for collaborative robots (cobots) may be more promising. Japanese robotics giant Fanuc made its debut at the "2024 Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show" (TAIROS) by showcasing 20 robotic arms, half of which are cobots. This marks the largest display of its kind, underscoring Fanuc's dominance in the global market. Currently, the competition in the humanoid robot industry is most intense between the U.S. and China, with Japan seemingly less involved. However, Fanuc's strategy for the 2024 exhibition indicates a focus on another potential market. Fanuc has long been a leader in the industrial robot market. Despite the buzz around humanoid robots as the next big thing, Fanuc has stated that it will not be developing humanoid robots at this time. According to Ivan Chen, Manager of Fanuc Taiwan's Robotics Division, the technical leap from traditional robotic arms to dual-arm and bipedal robots is significant and fraught with safety concerns. He believes it is challenging to make this transition quickly. Fanuc sees more immediate potential in the cobot market. Cobots have already proven their safety and practicality in human-robot collaboration. In a broader sense, cobots could be considered the most suitable transitional product from traditional industrial robots to humanoid robots. Fanuc's large-scale debut of cobots in 2024, all in new green livery, contrasts with its traditionally yellow heavy-duty robots. This shift indicates where the mainstream market demand is heading. HIWIN, a major manufacturer of transmission components, has long invested in the development of harmonic reducers and is seen as a beneficiary of the AI robotics boom. HIWIN Chairman Wen Heng Cho recently stated that achieving the intelligence and fine motor skills of humans in humanoid robots will take more time. Currently, non-humanoid AI robots are more in demand, especially customized robots for specific industrial applications. HIWIN can independently develop key components for robots, such as reducers, cross-roller bearings, servo motors, and drivers. They offer both complete systems and customized solutions based on customer needs. In the robotics market, HIWIN can develop multi-axis robots or joint modules tailored to end-user requirements. Cho noted that various industries might need specialized robots, such as those for welding or logistics. He also revealed that a Spanish company has approached HIWIN to develop robots for grape harvesting. In addition to existing medical and wafer-handling robots, HIWIN plans to focus on specialized industrial robots, expecting to showcase new achievements soon. Although robots currently account for less than 10% of HIWIN's total revenue, the contribution is expected to grow with the addition of specialized industrial robots. Recently, Hota Industrial Mfg. Co. has reportedly entered Tesla's robot supply chain. Its subsidiary, Main Drive, is one of the few domestic suppliers of reducers, and its value has surged accordingly. Main Drive's General Manager Chuck Chen noted that in 2023, the industry knew little about humanoid robots. However, within just a year, interest has surged, primarily due to breakthroughs in AI technology. While the price of humanoid robots has not yet reached a sweet spot, and progress may not be as rapid as Elon Musk suggests, Chen remains optimistic that the wait won't be too long, given the pace of AI advancements. 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. India roundup: India sees healthy PC demand in 2Q24 As global PC vendors are grappling with high inventories, India experienced healthy growth in PC shipment. The Indian government may focus on compound semiconductors and silicon photonics in its next semiconductor incentive scheme. India sees healthy PC demand in 2Q24 India's PC market experienced its fourth consecutive quarter of growth in the second quarter of 2024, with shipments rising by 7.1% year-on-year. The introduction of AI PCs is anticipated to drive demand growth further in the market. Foxconn reportedly to begin iPhone Pro manufacturing in India soon Just days after Foxconn chairman Young Liu visited Tamil Nadu, reports indicate that the company's iPhone plant in the southern Indian state will soon commence production of the latest iPhone model. India shifts semiconductor incentives focus to compound semiconductors and silicon photonics After approving four IC backend manufacturing facilities earlier this year, India reportedly plans to provide more incentives for compound semiconductor and silicon photonics projects. India launches AI mission tender, reportedly limiting GPU procurement to local companies India has initiated the bidding process for its AI Mission, requiring data centers and cloud providers to form partnerships to supply AI resources, such as GPUs, to academia, startups, and government agencies at competitive prices. Reports suggest that only Indian companies will be eligible to participate in the GPU procurement and service provision process. Taiwanese IPC maker to attend Automation Expo 2024 in India Taiwan-based IPC maker DFI has announced its participation in Automation Expo 2024 in India. At the event, DFI will highlight a range of products, including robotics and machine vision systems, designed to meet the high standards of modern industrial environments. The company will also present comprehensive solutions tailored to various industries. India-based contract manufacturer wins telecom product manufacturing order from Tata Optiemus, an India-based contract manufacturer, announced that it had bagged the telecom equipment orders for Tejas Networks, a subsidiary under Tata Group. Evalue set to lead Taiwan EV charging market with over 30% share by 2026 Fortune Electric's subsidiary, Evalue, is set to expand its charging pile network across Taiwan, aiming to install 3,700 units by the end of 2026, which could secure over 30% of the domestic market, according to CEO I-Sheng Hsu. He indicated at a charging pile launch event in northern Taiwan on August 23 that the company might consider an initial public offering (IPO) once the charging business turns profitable. Evalue currently operates 510 AC charging piles and 83 DC ones. Their combined figure is expected to exceed 1,000 by the end of 2024, with an AC-DC ratio of approximately 9:1. This expansion will boost the company's market share from the current 10% to 15%. Evalue has secured contracts for nearly 2,000 charging stations from various local government tenders out of a total of 2,500 to 3,000 released across Taiwan. After these stations come online, they are expected to contribute positively to Evalue's revenue. Market demand and growth projections As of July 2024, Taiwan had registered over 80,000 electric vehicles (EVs), with 18,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) registered in the first half of 2024 alone, accounting for 7.8% of all new vehicle registrations. The Ministry of Transportation reported that by June, there were 78,801 EVs on the road, with 7,328 AC and 2,236 DC charging stations available, leaving significant room for further expansion. By the end of 2026, Evalue plans to build 2,500 new charging stations, including both self-built units and installations contracted by local governments beyond New Taipei City. Combined with the 1,200 stations in New Taipei City, the company's total network is expected to reach approximately 3,700 stations nationwide, potentially capturing a market share of over 30%. Evalue's revenue is divided into three main segments: equipment sales, engineering services, and charging operations. Hsu noted that the company is still working to reduce losses in 2024 and may consider an IPO once it becomes profitable. Technological advancements and international expansion Evalue offers both charging piles bundled with EVs and public charging piles. It partners with over 80% of EV brands in Taiwan, making it the largest third-party charging station operator. Public charging piles are primarily used at Evalue's own charging stations, and demand from competitors is relatively low. The growth of public charging piles is closely tied to the expansion of Evalue's charging station network. Evalue's charging piles are available with various power outputs, including 7kW, 11kW, 180kW, and 480kW. The company plans to launch a 640kW unit in early 2025, further enhancing charging speed. Evalue is also actively developing overseas markets, focusing on the US and Southeast Asia. Due to the upcoming US presidential election, the company will not set up a plant in the US in the short term but will seek local partners. Hsu noted that as the after-sales maintenance cost of charging stations is high, many potential overseas partners prefer to resolve maintenance issues locally. Therefore, Evalue plans to transfer related technology to local partners after fully discussing after-sales arrangements. Initially, the company will provide hardware and technical support, with the long-term goal of establishing a maintenance center through joint ventures with local partners if the demand volume justifies it. Longsys-Kingston joint venture stalls, Shanghai plant sale in limbo The partnership between memory giants Longsys and Kingston seems to have hit a major snag. After announcing a joint venture in late 2023 to tap into China's embedded storage market, Kingston is reportedly looking to exit the Chinese market, with its Shanghai plant rumored to be up for sale at over US$1.2 billion. This development has stalled the collaboration, though the China-based Longsys insists it's still pushing the venture forward. Longsys's expansion In recent years, Longsys has been eager to expand and transform its business. Besides its Foresee brand, the consumer brand Lexar, acquired in recent years, has steadily gained a foothold in the Chinese market. Longsys also acquired Longforce Suzhou (formerly Powertech Technology Suzhou) and Zilia Brazil (formerly SMART Brazil) in 2023. Although Longsys has a testing production line in Guangzhou Zhongshan, it previously lacked an independent manufacturing and distribution system. By acquiring the Suzhou and Brazil plants, it has significantly increased its product self-sufficiency, including SLC NAND and eMMC packaging services from the Suzhou plant, enhancing its mid-to-high-end product line capabilities. This move meets end customers' expectations for a stable supply chain and bolsters its appeal in the capital market. JV hits snag The tense China-US relations in recent years have caused many major US companies to gradually shift their production bases, prompting Kingston to join in on the wave of China exit. The sale of Kingston's Shanghai plant has attracted interest from several Chinese memory module manufacturers, with Longsys being the strongest contender. Consequently, in 2023, Longsys announced its partnership with Kingston to establish a joint venture. Many believed that Longsys was on the verge of acquiring the Shanghai plant, with Kingston expected to support Longsys in expanding its market presence in China and overseas. According to the initial plan, the joint venture would be 51% owned by Longsys and 49% by Kingston, primarily supplying embedded storage products to the Chinese market. Longsys would focus on product development and technical support, while Kingston would handle procurement and branding needs. However, more than six months later, the joint venture's progress has stalled. Rumors in the Chinese memory industry suggest the collaboration is on the verge of termination. In response, Longsys stated that work on the joint venture is ongoing. However, the increasingly complex geopolitical factors require both parties to be more prepared, with no concrete timetable in place. Industry insiders note Kingston's Shanghai plant is substantial, but its production line utilization has not been maximized since the market downturn. At its peak, the plant employed about 2,000 workers, with several hundred still on staff recently. If the joint venture progresses smoothly and the Shanghai plant is acquired, it would be a strategic boost for Longsys's ambition to bolster its domestic supply chain and expand its global footprint. However, rumors of a breakdown in the partnership are widespread. Reports suggest Kingston is firm on its asking price, which could range between US$1.2 billion and US$1.5 billion. For Longsys, which reported its first-ever annual revenue surpassing CNY 10 billion (US$1.4 billion) in 2023, such a price tag would impose a significant burden on cash flow and debt ratio. Additionally, the continuous rise in NAND Flash prices is straining the financial resources of memory module manufacturers. NAND prices have been climbing since late 2023, and by the first half of 2024, module manufacturers had mostly depleted their low-cost inventories, resulting in strong industry-wide financial performance. However, as the second half of the year begins, the demand for enterprise SSDs remains robust, with upstream NAND manufacturers reluctant to release wafer resources, pushing the cost of consumer SSDs above their actual selling prices. This has led memory module manufacturers to prefer holding onto their funds to avoid further increases in inventory levels. There is no significant time pressure for Kingston to sell the Shanghai plant, and the company is not inclined to lower its price. Industry sources indicate that both parties have returned to square one, which could be beneficial for Taiwanese manufacturers. Kingston continues to dominate the DRAM market, while Longsys leads in NAND pricing. Moving forward, the companies are expected to operate independently, preventing excessive concentration of market resources. Oakland resident Sherlock Hunt commutes to work Sunday in a bus shuttle heading to West Portal Station in San Francisco. The Twin Peaks Tunnel is closed for repairs until Friday, so commuters are directed to take buses to reach West Portal. Minh Connors/The Chronicle A ride on the bus shuttle heading to Castro Station provides a view of the San Francisco skyline. Minh Connors/The Chronicle A sign at Castro Station directs passengers to shuttles heading to West Portal during the closure of the Twin Peaks Tunnel. Minh Connors/The Chronicle The S Shuttle arrives at Powell Street Station in San Francisco. Minh Connors/The Chronicle A ride on the bus shuttle heading to Castro Station provides a view of the San Francisco skyline. Minh Connors/The Chronicle As a veteran East Bay commuter, Sherlock Hunt always adds a 30-minute cushion coming from Oakland via BART, and on Sunday he added an additional 30 minutes to account for the closure of the Twin Peaks Tunnel for eight days of repair. Were talking about public transportation in San Francisco, said Hunt, who was on his way to his job at the West Portal branch library. Anything can happen on any given day. And just then it did. Hunt had gotten off a westbound train at Castro Street, where it temporarily ended, and was crossing Castro to transfer to a surface bus when it pulled away from the stop and passed him by heading up Market Street. That would have added 10 minutes, but Hunt was philosophical. Hed first taken this detour from the underground station to street level Thursday when the tunnel shut down in both directions, and would be taking this detour until Friday morning when the tunnel reopens this week. Advertisement Article continues below this ad There were bound to be some missed connections and also bound to be traffic, double parkers, stop lights and all the other street-level hassles that make underground rail travel the only way to go on the Market Street route. The work needs to be done in the tunnel, he said, and theres no other way to do it than to shut it down. Muni ambassador Kenley Gaffke directs a passenger to bus shuttles at Castro Station on Sunday during the closure of the Twin Peaks tunnel to the Metro lines. Minh Connors/The Chronicle The weeklong closure follows weekend closures of the same lines in June and July, as part of a summer program to maintain and repair tracks in the 2-mile-long tunnel. Leaks, cracks and fractured rebar resulting from 106 years of wear and tear were detected last fall during a detailed structural inspection of the tunnel. The repairs are expected to require intermittent closures over the next five to 10 years. The closure of the Twin Peaks Tunnel affects the K-Ingleside and M-Ocean View lines, which access the housing developments of West Portal, Forest Hill and Ingleside Terrace. The L-Taraval, which goes through the Sunset District to the beach, has long been closed for years of renovation, so its riders are used to the bus transfer. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Weve been on bus service for four years. This weeklong setup is not different, said an L regular who gave his name as Alan N. The weeklong setup is new to commuters on the K and M, however, so Muni is stationing ambassadors at the West Portal and Castro stations to point the way. But when Hunts train arrived, the ambassadors station at the top of the chairs was inexplicably empty. This was not a problem for Hunt, but it was for Maria Pizzoro and Carlo Pastore. We are tourists, so we dont know where we are, said Pizzoro, who managed to follow the crowd out of the station and down to the bus shelter only to nearly board a westbound 37-Corbett, which would have put them atop Twin Peaks when they wanted to be at the bottom of it. We are a little bit lost, she said. A sign near Castro Station directs passengers to shuttles heading to West Portal during the closure of the Twin Peaks Tunnel. Minh Connors/The Chronicle Luckily for them and anybody who loves the downtown skyline, the eastbound ride on the bus back from West Portal offers an unexpected view corridor that tourists dont normally get, while descending Market Street from Twin Peaks. Its a view they would never have seen if the Twin Peaks Tunnel were open. And there is no chance to get lost on that end because there was a detour sign on every pole and a Muni ambassador standing at every sign. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It normally takes 10 minutes to pass through by train. The overland route goes up Market Street and turns right on Woodside Avenue to Forest Hill Station, where it makes a U-turn and continues west, past the roundabout at West Portal School and to Ulloa Street, location of the famed Philosophers Club bar, where it turns right until it reaches West Portal Avenue. If the tunnel takes 10 minutes, the bus detour adds only three to five minutes. Muni recommends commuters build 15 extra minutes into the trip, but Hunt needed only 10. No problems, Im early, Hunt said as he got off. I gave myself half an hour, and Ive still got 20 minutes left. He then made a slow walk across West Portal Avenue and in front of the closed-down train station to reach the library. Kaynes SemiCon secures India's first paying OSAT customer for advanced semiconductor packaging Kaynes SemiCon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaynes Technology, has signed a landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lightspeed Photonics, securing India's first paying customer for outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, according to CEO Raghu Panicker. The announcement was made during the inauguration of Kaynes Technology's new electronics manufacturing unit in Hyderabad, signifying a major leap forward for India's nascent semiconductor ecosystem. The collaboration will see Kaynes SemiCon provide advanced packaging solutions for Lightspeed Photonics. The MoU also highlights the high volume run at Kaynes Semicon. "This is the first paying OSAT customer in India," Panicker said, emphasizing the importance of the agreement. "We will initially carry out sample runs and low-volume production at our proto line in Mysore/Hyderabad, before scaling up to high-volume manufacturing once our new facility is fully operational." Lightspeed Photonics, a Singapore-based fabless system development company, specializes in integrating optical interconnects with processors to create modular compute-interconnect heterogeneous System-in-Packages (SiP) under its LightSiP brand. This technology aims to enhance server scalability by reducing data latency, footprint, and power consumption while significantly boosting data bandwidth and performance per watt. Strategic investments and advanced packaging The deal is particularly significant as it underscores India's entry into the high-value segment of semiconductor manufacturingadvanced packaging. With the global semiconductor industry increasingly focusing on advanced packaging technologies such as silicon photonics, Kaynes SemiCon's foray into this space positions the company as a key player in the global supply chain. Panicker also revealed that the company has already identified and aligned the necessary equipment for the project, with installation planned at the proto line in Mysore/Hyderabad and eventually at its upcoming facility. "We have engaged with our equipment suppliers and are set to consign the equipment at their facilities. This will allow us to start rolling out packages for Lightspeed Photonics within four to five months," he added. The company expects final approval from the Indian government for its OSAT services to come in soon, allowing it to proceed with its plans. "Approval may come in about a week's time," he stated, underscoring that preparations are already underway to meet the stringent requirements of advanced semiconductor packaging. Separate MoU for capacity building In addition to the MoU with Lightspeed Photonics, Kaynes SemiCon has also signed an agreement with the VLSI Society of India for capacity building. This initiative aims to develop a skilled workforce for India's semiconductor industry by partnering with educational institutions to provide training in semiconductor manufacturing. The implementation partner for this will be Perceptives Solutions. According to Satya Gupta, President of the VLSI Society, the intention is "to make India a world-class electronics and semiconductor product nation." Bhanupriya K, MD of Perceptives Solutions, also stressed the need to train the students in the area of semiconductor manufacturing processes. Through this MoU, Kaynes SemiCon will open up its OSAT facility for packaging free of cost to Education Institutes aligned with the VLSI Society of India. The dual MoUs reflect Kaynes SemiCon's initiatives to support the growth of India's semiconductor industry, focusing on technological advancement and workforce development. As the first company to secure a paying OSAT customer in India, Kaynes Semicon is positioned to contribute significantly to the future of semiconductor manufacturing in the region. India's semiconductor ambitions Kaynes SemiCon's dual MOUs come at a time when India is aggressively pursuing its ambitions to become a global semiconductor hub. With the government's push towards self-reliance in electronics and a US$10 billion incentive scheme to attract semiconductor manufacturing investments, the country is poised to play a larger role in the global semiconductor supply chain. India has granted approvals for three major semiconductor projects so far, including a wafer fabrication facility and an OSAT plant by Tata Group, as well as a separate OSAT facility by Murugappa Group's CG Power and Industrial Solutions. Meanwhile, reports suggest that CG Power has recently entered into agreements with Japan's Renesas, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, and Thailand's Stars Microelectronics, an OSAT provider, to establish an OSAT facility in India. The company plans to invest INR7,600 crore (US$1 billion) over the next five years in this venture. Dr. Anthony Fauci was hospitalized in August with West Nile virus, which has been identified in several states, including California. Greg Nash/Pool/TNS West Nile virus infection, the mosquito-borne disease that landed Dr. Anthony Fauci in the hospital this month, has been reported in 31 states, including California where two Bay Area residents recently died after contracting the virus. Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became the face of the U.S. COVID-19 response, is recovering at home after being hospitalized for around 10 days for a West Nile virus infection which he described as the most ill hes ever been. Fauci, 83, was hospitalized in August with what doctors initially thought was a bacterial infection or tick-borne disease but later turned out to be West Nile. He is expected to make a full recovery, he told CBS News on Saturday. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I really felt like Id been hit by a truck, he said in an interview with Stat News on Saturday. Ive never been as sick in my life. Ever. By far, this is the worst Ive ever been with an illness. West Nile virus spreads to people through the bite of an infected mosquito and is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mosquitoes acquire the virus from infected birds. Fauci said he probably was infected by a mosquito bite he got in his backyard. Its relatively unusual for West Nile to sicken humans, and the risk of serious illness is low for most people. Around 80% of people who are infected develop no symptoms. But those who are symptomatic can become very ill with fever, headache, nausea, body aches and vomiting. Fauci said he experienced fever, chills and severe fatigue. Advertisement Article continues below this ad West Nile virus was first recognized in the U.S. in 1999 in New York City, and within three years, it expanded to more than 40 states and Canada. It first arrived in California in 2003, and since then, cases have fluctuated year to year, with 2005 being the deadliest year on record with 53 deaths. In 2023, there were 2,566 West Nile cases in the U.S., including 1,840 hospitalizations and 182 deaths. So far this year, there have been 216 cases reported in 31 states, according to the CDC. California has recorded 19 cases so far in 2024, including three deaths, according to the state public health department. Two of the three deaths were reported recently in the Bay Area one Contra Costa County resident who died in July, and one Santa Clara County resident who was immunocompromised and died this month. A second Santa Clara County resident who contracted the virus was hospitalized and is now recovering. In Contra Costa County, officials have not determined where the person was infected. The virus presence has been found in Oakley, where one dead bird and five sentinel chickens tested positive for the virus. Sentinel chickens are tested as part of the surveillance process because when they are infected with West Nile virus, they do not become sick or die, so they can be tested regularly for evidence of exposure. Officials also test birds, horses and mosquitoes. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In Santa Clara County, mosquitoes carrying the virus have been found in parts of San Jose, Palo Alto and unincorporated Santa Clara County. The areas have been treated or will be treated with mosquito-control treatments. Human cases have also been reported in Riverside, Fresno, Kings, Yolo, Butte and Yuba counties. Virus activity but no human cases has been detected in San Mateo, Alameda and Solano counties, according to state data. There is no vaccine to prevent West Nile infection in humans or medicine to treat it beyond supportive care like fluids. Health officials say the best way to protect yourself is to reduce exposure to mosquitoes by limiting outdoor activities during dusk and dawn, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants in light colors, and wearing insect repellent. On your property, they recommend regularly inspecting standing water and draining or turning over flower pots, planters and other objects that can hold water. Two locals have shared footage of the moment they were told about dolphins which had washed ashore on a popular Louth beach. Sean McMahon and Andrew Hendy, founding member of the internationally-acclaimed Mary Wallopers band, were set to go paddleboarding at Blackrock beach on Friday when a woman at the beach called for their help. Two dolphins had washed up on the beach after a very high tide on Thursday night, and the dolphins had been stranded ashore behind the old boathouse "in a state of panic", according to Sean. "The tide was rapidly going out and we thought maybe we could carry them out to the water on our boards, but after speaking to a lady from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group on the phone we learned this could damage their fins which are very delicate," Sean explained in a post online. The duo were then advised to carefully dig some sand out from underneath the sea creatures' fins so they could rest at the correct angle, as they waited for help to arrive. Other locals were quick to step up and help the dolphins, with buckets of water and wet towels used until the gardai arrived, followed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and members from Dundalk Sub Aqua Search and Rescue. The group were able to carry the dolphins out to the river in the bay, and thankfully the dolphins were able to swim along the river, guided out to sea by volunteers in the water. READ NEXT - Blackrock Festival boosts local economy with 10,000 extra visitors Journalist Alison Comyn will contest the next general election for Fianna Fail in Co Louth, the party has confirmed. The Drogheda native has been added to the Fianna Fail ticket in Louth for the next General Election, running alongside Dundalk-based Senator Erin McGreehan. Ms Comyn, who was born in Drogheda, has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for more than 30 years. She has previously worked for RTE, BBC, Sky News, and UTV Ireland, alongside a stint with local newspaper the Drogheda Independent. The former news anchor is a passionate ambassador and campaigner for her hometown and county, and said in a statement that she has gone as far as she can to affect change from a reporting point of view, adding that becoming a TD for Louth is the next natural step. In a statement this afternoon, Fianna Fail said Comyn was selected due to her long-standing commitment to public service. Comyn said her experience working as a journalist led to her decision to seek the selection. Congratulations to @alisoncomyn who has been added to the ticket for the Louth Constituency for the next general election. She will join Senator @ErinMcGreehan on the ticket. Alison is deeply-rooted in her community of Drogheda and South Louth. pic.twitter.com/lfAkQ0ddNW Fianna Fail (@fiannafailparty) August 26, 2024 "I was born, raised and educated in Drogheda, and as a local journalist for almost 20 years, I know the issues that affect our daily lives, and Im deeply connected to the heartbeat of our town and region," she said. "I know the stories, struggles, and successes that have shaped our community because I live in the region and experience them myself, meaning Im not just a candidate, but a neighbour who is invested in the future of our region". The former broadcaster said she believed that the Drogheda area has faced many challenges over the years and wants to be part of the making the region a thriving, vibrant community. Being a lifelong resident means that people know me - not just my face off the telly or my name in the paper - but know my family, and my values. They sing with me, dance with me, walk with me, swim with me, and they trust me with their stories, she added. I take great pride in our towns heritage and its future. I believe in our communitys potential, and Im passionate about making it a place where everyone can succeed. Tanaiste and party leader Micheal Martin has welcomed the decision, adding that he believes Comyn is a very accomplished candidate, who will bring a wealth of experience to the campaign. "In Erin and Alison we have a strong Fianna Fail team in Louth that will work together in running a positive and energetic campaign in their communities." READ NEXT - WATCH: Dolphins washed ashore on Louth beach saved by locals and Mary Wallopers member Exemptions for farmers will be implemented as part of a tax on land hoarding in the Budget, the Green Party leader has said. The Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) is designed to be charged each year on land that is zoned suitable for residential use and has access to necessary services. The RZLT aims to incentivise landowners to activate existing planning permissions to increase housing supply. However, the introduction of the tax and penalties have previously been deferred amid backlash from groups such as the Irish Farmers Association, which has opposed the inclusion of land that is used for farm operations. Green Party leader Roderic OGorman said he was confident the measures could be implemented in the Budget on October 1. Across all three government parties, there remains complete agreement that taking measures to make more housing available is our top priority. He said a tax on land hoarding is a key mechanism for increasing housing delivery, but added that it was never the plan to impact farmers. Im confident that we will see a carve out for farmers who are currently farming and wish to continue farming their land, but at the same time ensure that at this at this years Budget, we see tax on land hoarding implemented. However, Mr OGorman said the Green Party was disappointed that the legislation was deferred in last years budget. He said he had engaged with Finance Minister Jack Chambers on the matter ahead of this years Budget. Mr OGorman said there was a need to ensure that where people have land that is zoned and serviced, that they either build on it themselves or allow somebody else to start construction there. He added: Because the scale of the housing crisis is too great for us just to allow that land stay idle. The Green leader said he did not see the exemptions for farmers as a climb down for the party. Speaking at the same event on Monday, Taoiseach Simon Haris said he also wanted to see the tax progressed. He said new proposals would be considered by the Cabinet before the Budget. All Irish citizens have a role in calling out racism, the Taoiseach has said. Simon Harris made his remarks as he said he hoped to see hate-crime legislation passed within the lifetime of the Government, with growing expectations that an election will be called in the coming months. This is a great country that should never allow our image be distorted by those who are never elected, who generally dont seek elected office, who on occasion hijack our flag and who seek to portray us as were not, he said. Speaking on Monday, Mr Harris added: We are a decent, compassionate people and yes, Irish people want to see common sense when it comes to migration. Of course, they want all of us in Government to support the work of (Integration Minister Roderic) OGorman in terms of moving toward a sustainable system of accommodation. Of course, they want to support the Minister for Justice in terms of processing times. All of that taken as it is. But we, all of us as citizens, have to start calling out the hate, the ugliness and the racism every time it raises its head. And we shouldnt just do it in a whisper, we should do it loudly and we should do it clearly, because it is not who we are. The Taoiseach said Justice Minister Helen McEntee had worked intensively on the hate legislation but added that there were some issues around making sure that proposals around hate speech in particular did not override the right to freedom of speech. Minister McEntee will bring forward amendments shortly in relation to that, but we will legislate for hate crime in this country, and I hope and expect well be able to do so in the lifetime of this Government, he said. Mr Harris also said regulator Coimisiun na Mean would put in place a binding code this year which would place responsibilities on online media companies about material which promoted illegal activity. State Senate candidate Jerry McNerney served 16 years in the House before stepping down in 2023. His legislative experience and energy policy expertise make him the best candidate for Californias 5th Senate District. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press 2019 In the March primary election, the editorial board chose not to endorse any of the candidates running to represent Californias 5th Senate district, which includes portions of Alameda County and Central Valley cities such as Stockton. The two Democrats Assembly Member Carlos Villapudua and former U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney both came across as ill-prepared and insufficiently fluent with critical issues before the state Legislature. Republican trucker and businessman Jim Shoemaker, meanwhile, remained a bit of a mystery; he didnt follow up on our initial interview requests. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Our hope was that the choice would be clearer by the November general election after the primary whittled down the field and provided more time for the remaining candidates to stake out their positions. The choice is indeed clearer now because one candidate is transparently worse-suited for the position than the other. That would be Shoemaker, 63, who advanced to the general election with about 44% of the vote. Hell face off against McNerney, 73, who earned 33% of the vote. In his endorsement interview, Shoemaker repeatedly railed against government overreach including, bizarrely, a requirement that homes have fire sprinklers. Such a mandate might have made sense, he said, in the 1940s and 50s, when everybody smoked they had the cigarette in their mouth and they went to sleep, and the bed catches fire. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But our homes arent burning down from internal fires today and yet they require me to put those sprinklers in, he said. Huh? Other objects of Shoemakers ire: Californias growing homeless population, the explosion of fentanyl and the states education system, which he said was dumbing down students. Some of these criticisms are apt, but even Shoemaker acknowledged that he didnt have specific ideas or a legislative agenda to address these issues. Having a direct focus bill or a thought on that, I dont have one right now, Shoemaker said. A former contractor, Shoemaker was better versed in other issues, such as the regulatory impediments to building affordable housing. But hes clearly not ready to serve in the Legislature. Advertisement Article continues below this ad McNerney, on the other hand, has significant legislative experience: He served for 16 years in the House before stepping down in 2023. This reassures us that hell be able to transition smoothly to the state Capitol, despite some concerning gaps in his understanding of key issues facing lawmakers, such as Californias flailing home insurance market and the contentious legacy of criminal justice reforms. Still, McNerney would bring a unique skill set to Sacramento as a mathematician and a former wind energy industry consultant and executive. An in-depth knowledge of energy policy will prove especially critical as lawmakers grapple with such complex, contentious issues as lowering energy bills and finding the right mix between utility-scale and community-level clean energy infrastructure. About Opinion The editorial positions of The Chronicle, including election recommendations, represent the consensus of the editorial board, consisting of the publisher, the editorial page editor and staff members of the opinion pages. Its judgments are made independent of the news operation, which covers the news without consideration of our editorial positions. McNerney told us that after enduring years of gridlock in Congress, hes very excited about the opportunity to really be influential in policy decision-making in Sacramento. Voters should give McNerney the chance to translate this enthusiasm into results and prove that he isnt just using the Legislature as a safe landing spot post-Congress. YouTube did not violate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s free-speech rights when it removed two of his videos attacking COVID-19 vaccines, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. Brandon Bell/Getty Images YouTube did not collaborate with the government or violate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s free-speech rights when it removed two of his videos attacking COVID-19 vaccines, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was running for president as an independent in March 2023 when he spoke at a college in New Hampshire and said the government-approved vaccines were ineffective and potentially harmful. The college posted a video of his speech on YouTube. But Google, YouTubes parent company, removed it, and also took down a video of an interview in which Kennedy encouraged home remedies for the coronavirus and said prayers and home rituals would be at least as effective as vaccines. Advertisement Article continues below this ad On Monday three days after Kennedy abandoned his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Google had acted as a private party, not an agent of the government, and therefore did not violate Kennedys constitutional right to freedom of expression. Kennedy has not rebutted Googles claim that it exercised its independent editorial choice in removing his videos, the court said in a 3-0 ruling, upholding a federal judges refusal to order re-posting of the videos. Lawyers for Kennedy claimed in court filings that Google consulted with government officials when drafting the policy. They said a Biden administration staff member told the company in April 2021 that the administration was concerned that YouTube is funneling people into hesitance about the vaccine. But the court said Kennedy has not cited any specific communications from a federal official to Google concerning the removed Kennedy videos, or identified any threatening or coercive communication, veiled or otherwise, from a federal official to Google concerning Kennedy. The panel consisted of Judges Consuelo Callahan, an appointee of President George W. Bush, Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by President Joe Biden, and John Kronstadt, a federal judge in Los Angeles who was appointed by President Barack Obama and is temporarily assigned to the appeals court. They upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson of San Francisco, a Biden appointee. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While the Supreme Court has ruled that First Amendment rights apply only to government suppression of speech, Kennedys lawyers urged the appeals court to prohibit any censorship of viewpoints on the internet. Google and other online overseers engage in viewpoint discrimination during the political process to prevent people from hearing dissenting voices, attorney John W. Howard wrote in a filing with the appeals court. The internet is the modern public square. It is the place where millions of Americans get their news and discuss the issues of the day, especially during the political process. It is akin to the parks, sidewalks, squares, and billboards that the Supreme Court has always recognized as public fora for speech, even when those places are owned or controlled by a private party. But Googles lawyers said the companys policies against vaccine disinformation began well before Biden took office in 2021. Since July 2019, Googles Community Guidelines have prohibited videos featuring medical misinformation, attorney Ginger Anders told the court. And Google first published a COVID-19 medical misinformation policy in May 2020, shortly after the pandemic began and well before President Biden was elected. Advertisement Article continues below this ad By October 2020, Anders said, Google had already removed more than 200,000 videos from YouTube related to dangerous or misleading COVID-19 information. And she said Kennedys videos included the false claims that the virus was targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people and that if you take the vaccine, youre 21% more likely to die in the next six months. Howard said Monday that Kennedy was considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. A vacant storefront at 2031 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. Some businesses in the neighborhood say theyre being displaced as their buildings are sold to new owners. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Displacing long-standing mom-and-pop businesses along the historic Upper Fillmore retail strip would get significantly more difficult under legislation proposed by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who said he is responding to news that several establishments are being booted from their homes. On Monday, Peskin announced that he wants to establish interim controls requiring a conditional use authorization to replace or demolish a legacy or anchor business in the Upper Fillmore Neighborhood Commercial District. While the requirement would not prevent landlords from booting their commercial tenants, the idea is that it would give legacy businesses more leverage to negotiate fair leases when their contracts are up, as landlords would have to justify their replacements in a public hearing and win approval by the citys Planning Commission. S.F. Bay Area property map: Heres who owns every building in the region Advertisement Article continues below this ad The controls would be enforced in the district for 18 months and would need to be vetted by the Board of Supervisors, but they do not require review by the City Planning Department. The proposal comes in response to allegations from a handful of small businesses who say they are being pushed out of the community in which theyve operated for decades after the area became the target for a wave of fresh investment by one of its wealthy residents this year. At least two of those businesses sushi bar Ten-Ichi and restaurant La Mediterranee are in buildings that were bought this year by entities connected to venture capitalist Neil Mehta, who lives in Pacific Heights. Working with nightlife entrepreneur Cody Allen, also a resident of the neighborhood, Mehta has funded the acquisition of a total of eight buildings on a three-block stretch of Fillmore since January. We will not let venture capitalists engage in hostile takeovers of our neighborhoods, said Peskin, who is running for mayor in November. The fight to save legacy and neighborhood-serving businesses like Cafe La Mediterranee is a fight for the soul of our city. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While Mehta has not responded to the Chronicles inquiries, Allen said in a statement Friday that the recent property acquisitions are not for personal gain instead, they were made on behalf of a nonprofit entity called SF Reserve Foundation with the objective of bringing in more small businesses, rather than introducing formula retail tenants. The Chronicle has not been able to verify the nonprofit organization. La Mediterranee sits next to a vacant storefront at 2208 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. The owner said he was told that, once his lease expires, the restaurant will become a space for a high-end retail concept. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle With a pronounced focus on economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic, the city has taken steps to ease regulations that were long viewed as anti-business or have limited development. And yet, an age-old problem persists: striking the balance between encouraging growth and preserving the citys appreciable DNA its long-term residents, small businesses and community anchors that contribute to its cultural fabric, diversity and unique flair. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While the pocket of Pacific Heights centered around Fillmore is far removed from downtowns empty office towers and appears to have retained much of its vibrancy in spite of the recent economic headwinds, it has become an unlikely microcosm of increasingly conflicting priorities and visions for San Franciscos revitalization. Mehtas reported goal is to improve the areas commercial offerings and fill vacancies hes scooped up the Clay Theater at 2261 Fillmore, which has been vacant since 2020 a sale that generated much excitement among city and neighborhood stakeholders. However, most of the commercial spaces he acquired have existing tenants: They include corporate brands like Starbucks and Joe & the Juice but also family-run legacy businesses. Ten-Ichi and La Mediterranee have tenancies spanning nearly half a century on Fillmore in a pair of buildings purchased by limited liability companies linked to Allen this year. The restaurants owners told the Chronicle that they have not been given the option to stay in the buildings. A newer restaurant, Noosh at 2001 Fillmore, has shuttered indefinitely after its building was acquired by another company affiliated with Allen. Catherine Stefani, the neighborhoods supervisor, said that she is collaborating closely with the new property owners, city departments and Fillmore stakeholders to ensure clear communication about the future of our cherished corridor. She is also exploring legislative pathways to add protections for small businesses. I will continue to advocate for a Fillmore Street that reflects community input, prioritizes the well-being of our small businesses and preserves its unique commercial identity, she said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Mayor London Breeds office said it is monitoring the situation and has also been in touch with the impacted businesses and Mehtas representatives. Conversations are continuing about the future uses of the sites, said Jeff Cretan, Breeds spokesperson, adding that the city offers assistance to small businesses, including relocation, leasing and permitting support. It is our understanding no final decisions have been made and both sides remain in conversations. La Mediterranee owner Vanick Der Bedrossian confirmed that negotiations with his new landlord are continuing. For the past 45 years, his restaurant has operated in a building that recently sold to Mehta. Bedrossian said that he met with Allen and was told that once his lease is up next year, the new property owners planned a seismic retrofit and intend to convert the restaurant space into a high-end retail concept afterwards. Bedrossian said he has tried to secure another location for La Mediterranee and that he even made an offer on a storefront nearby. But those negotiations ended after Allens team allegedly put in a higher bid to lease that space, though it ultimately did not move forward with the lease deal. The Clay Theater in San Francisco has been closed since 2020. New owner Neil Mehta intends to reboot the iconic neighborhood theater. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle The owner is now asking for such a high price that we have abandoned those plans, Bedrossian said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Bedrossian has decided that he wants La Mediterranee to stay in its current space and is hoping to negotiate a lease renewal with Allen. They (Mehtas team) should enter into good faith negotiations with us, given that we are paying above market rent, weve been exemplary tenants and, by and large, the entire neighborhood wants us to remain, he said. Allen, who has a hospitality background, countered assertions that his team planned to replace existing restaurant tenants with high-end retail. He said the goal is to bring in an even wider variety of food and beverage operators and to restore Fillmore storefronts in need of investment. Fillmore is an iconic San Francisco street with a vibrant history and exciting potential, he said, but indicated that theres room for improvement. Like in other San Francisco neighborhoods, many of Upper Fillmores commercial tenants operate on reduced hours in the wake of the pandemic. Mehtas vision for Upper Fillmore was born out of a desire to reboot the iconic Clay Theater, which represents the largest vacancy on the blocks where he acquired properties. Mehta purchased the theater and an adjacent, occupied retail property for $11 million in January using a limited liability company. Around that time, Allen raised $100 million from an unidentified investor for a new fund, public records show. Citing anonymous sources close to Mehta, TechCrunch reported Friday that the investor wants to launch a Y Combinator for restaurants on Fillmore and even lower rents for the new operators selected by his team or charge a percentage of their revenues. Allen did not confirm this information. He did clarify that his team has not proposed or implemented rental increases with any commercial tenant on the street, nor have we encouraged any sellers to evict or raise rents on in-place tenants. Another restaurateur who has weathered decades of change on Fillmore said that he was never given the chance to negotiate a lease with his new landlord. The unfortunate thing is that they havent offered us to stay longer. We havent even discussed payment amounts, said Steve Amano, the co-owner of the 46-year-old Ten-Ichi restaurant, which is in a building that was acquired by Mehtas team this month. Amano has signed a termination agreement, and his restaurant must vacate its longtime home by Sept. 30. Steve Amano, the co-owner of Ten-Ichi restaurant in San Francisco, said he has signed a termination agreement and that his restaurant must vacate by Sept. 30. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle San Francisco does not provide rent control to commercial tenants, leaving many small businesses across the city particularly those that are struggling with declining sales and rising costs in the aftermath of the pandemic vulnerable to displacement, said Christin Evans of the advocacy group Small Business Forward. We have seen landlords that are asking for double-digit and triple-digit increases in rent. Theyre actually demanding rents that are unsustainable to a local, neighborhood-serving businesses, Evans said. Evans pointed out that landlords assembling swaths of land and then setting rents and ultimately deciding who comes into a neighborhood is not anything new in San Francisco. The new thing here is that its a venture capitalist, and VCs often have a pump and dump mentality, she said. And thats not sustainable. Allen said his teams plan for Fillmore is focused on the long term. Our intent is to be a long-term steward of these properties and a supportive partner to the neighborhood we are proud to live in, he said. Separate from the business shakeup thats unfolding on Upper Fillmore, the citys planning department says it has been looking at ways to bolster protections for long-standing small businesses as the city prepares to adopt a plan to upzone transit and neighborhood commercial corridors for more housing on its west side by 2026. One idea is to require developers to provide relocation assistance for businesses that are directly impacted by new housing projects, including payments equivalent to a maximum of 18 months of rent, a Planning spokesperson said. In some neighborhoods, a conditional use authorization is already required before replacing a legacy business, and the spokesperson said that Planning is working on expanding that legislation an effort that appears to align with Peskins proposed interim controls on Fillmore. Peskins office said the controls could be expanded to other neighborhoods where businesses are struggling to stay rooted. Emergency services have this evening been responding to a blaze in the city. Three units of Cork City Fire Service were called to a fire at a disused petrol station on the Old Mallow Road at around 7.20pm, a spokesman for the Fire Brigade has confirmed. It was well alight when we got there so we used breathing apparatus as well as the fire hose to extinguish it, said Cork City Fire Service Third Officer Adrian OSullivan. It took about an hour to extinguish the blaze, he added. Crews have now returned to base. Two people were rescued from the water off West Cork by the Courtmacsherry RNLI in separate incidents involving speedboats on Sunday evening. The lifeboat Val Adnams was called out at 8pm on Sunday, tasked by the Valentia Coast Guard to go to the immediate aid of two speedboats in difficulty in separate incidents off Blind Strand on the Seven Heads coastline in West Cork. Alerted by the Coast Guard that one of the speedboats had put out its mayday message that it was in danger of sinking, the six-person crew of the Val Adnams reached the area within 10 minutes of launching. Local RIB owner Rory Conlon, who was cruising nearby, also responded to the request on the mayday call for help, and the RNLI crew said his aid proved vital in helping to pull the first boat away from the rocky shore and then helping with the bailout of water from the second boat. Working against a difficult offshore wind blowing off Blind Strand, the lifeboat crew first stabilised the smaller vessel, before then securing the larger speedboat, which had developed mechanical difficulties. The lifeboat then towed the larger vessel, while a lifeboat crewmember brought the smaller craft ashore. Both crew members were brought back to the safe harbour of Courtmacsherry Pier, arriving just after 9.40pm. Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat operations manager Brian ODwyer said it had been fortunate all had ended well, given the potential dangers involved in both incidents. Mr ODwyer pleaded with everyone at sea to make sure that lifejackets are worn at all times and, at the first sign of trouble, to call for help immediately by dialling 112 or 999 and asking for the Coast Guard. The Courtmacsherry Lifeboat Crew on Sunday evenings callout were coxswain Kevin Young, mechanic Tadgh McCarthy, and crewmembers Simon Locke, Denis Murphy, Dean Hennessey and Taylor Murphy. For Taylor Murphy it was his first callout on the Val Adnams, having completed his intensive recruitment training over the past 18 months. More than 60 years after a Cork schoolboy first appeared in City Hall as the winner of a talent competition, that venue will host an evening dedicated to the music of The Kid, as Rory Gallagher is remembered in his hometown. Rory, who could uncontroversially be called Irelands first rock star, was born in the Rock Hospital in Ballyshannon in Co Donegal on Tuesday, March 2, 1948, and he moved to Cork with his mother Monica and his younger brother Donal in 1956. He passed away 29 years ago, at the age of 47, three decades into a career that saw him tour the world, release 14 albums as a solo artist during his lifetime, and become one of the worlds most influential musicians. In recent weeks, there has been much upset about the planned sale in London in October of the blues and rock legends 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster, which is expected to sell for an estimated 700,000 (833,000) to 1 million. The guitar that a 15-year-old Rory persuaded his mother to buy for 100 from Michael Crowley at Crowleys Music Centre on Merchants Quay in 1963 is likely to fall into private hands at the auction. More than six decades after her father sold the iconic guitar, Sheena Crowley, proprietor of Crowleys Music Centre on Friar Street, has launched a GoFundMe campaign entitled Help Bring Rory Gallaghers Strat Back to his Home Town, in the hope of raising enough money to buy the guitar and bring it permanently home to Leeside. A month into the fundraiser, Ms Crowley already raised over 31,600 and she has now organised a concert night in Rorys honour in Cork City Hall. She told The Echo the main aim of the night is to raise money for the GoFundMe, and to boost awareness of the campaign. Four acts will cover a range of tracks from a vast array of Rorys albums on the night, all of them playing for free, she said. Hot Guitars with Sean Long, Moonchild with Sam Healy, The Watermelons with Eoghan Regan, Tres Hombres with Brian Tambling, and Rorys bass guitarist Gerry McAvoy. They are all going to help bring the Strat back to Rorys Hometown. We are campaigning to be the keepers of his beloved Strat with the understanding and respect of how precious his legacy is. It will be a fantastic night, and we are urging people not to miss out on this opportunity to pay tribute to one of Ireland's greatest musical talents, Ms Crowley said. Rory Gallagher played City Hall multiple times throughout his career, although there appears to be some uncertainty as to when he first appeared there, with some websites listing the date as 1960, when he is reported to have won a talent contest there. However, we can say for certain that on Saturday, April 22, 1961, the front page of the then Evening Echo featured a photograph of a 13-year-old schoolboy, Rory Gallagher, MacCurtain Street, Cork, one of the winners at the TV Talent Competition at the City Hall, Cork, taken on the roof of this newspapers offices, which were then in Academy Street. Half a century ago, in 1974, he played four gigs at City Hall, two in January and two at the end of December. The Lord Mayor of Cork, Green Party councillor Dan Boyle, said he has been working with Ms Crowley to organise the upcoming event. Rorys concerts in City Hall were at the heart of why he became an icon of Cork, Mr Boyle said. This concert will be a reminder of how great his music has been and always will be. It will also help increase awareness and public support for bringing Rorys guitar home. Rory Gallagher Night is at 7pm on Sunday, September 15, in Cork City Hall, with doors opening at 6pm. It will be a seated event, and tickets, which are 25, are on sale at Crowleys Music Centre and on Eventbrite. A young man charged with carrying out arson attacks at five stores in Cork city on February 25 last is to appear in court in person next month to enter signed pleas in the case. Samuel Nunes Neto (24) of no fixed abode first appeared before Cork District Court on February 28th. He was charged with five counts of causing criminal damage by fire three days earlier in Cork city centre. No figures were given in relation to the cost of the damage caused in the incident. The impacted shops were in the Patrick Street, Half Moon Street, Opera Lane and Cornmarket Street area of Cork city and included outlets of TK Maxx, Superdry, Lifestyle Sports, Next and Boots. The damage on the charges related to clothing at Superdry, Next and TK Maxx, the building structure and clothing at Lifestyle Sports, and damage to shelving, perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries at Boots. Defence solicitor Joe Cuddigan previously told Judge Mary Dorgan that his client had made full admissions while in custody at the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork city. Judge Dorgan directed that the accused receive all appropriate medical assistance during his time in custody. A psychiatric report was also requested. Mr Nunes Neto appeared in Cork District Court by video link today. Defence solicitor Diarmuid Kelleher told Judge John King that he was standing in in for Mr Cuddigan. He said that Mr Cuddigan had requested that his client be produced in person at the next court hearing to facilitate the entering of signed pleas in the case. The DPP previously directed trial on indictment in the case. Mr Nunes Neto was remanded in custody until his next court appearance on the 11th of September next. Judge John King directed that the accused attend in person on the next occasion. CAO Round 1 offers will be issued to applicants from 2pm on Wednesday, August 28. Leaving Cert students have had an anxious wait since the results were issued on Friday. Applicants will be able to check their offer(s) by logging into the My Applications section of www.cao.ie using their CAO number, date of birth and account password. Offers will also be issued by email and SMS text. Applicants who are not receiving an offer will receive a Statement of Application email. The minimum points required for 2024 will also be published by CAO on their website once the offers are issued. Many students will receive two offers, one from their level 8 list (Honours Bachelor Degrees) and one from level 7/6 (Ordinary Bachelor Degrees and Higher Certificates), and have the option to accept one offer only. Students have the option to accept, decline or apply to defer the offer they receive before the acceptance deadline for Round 1, which is on September 3 at 3pm. Further rounds of offers continue up to Round 5 on October 1. Consider CAO Offers Carefully Applicants should carefully consider the offer(s) they receive in Round 1, as they may not get another offer in later rounds. They will receive an offer of the highest course on their preference lists (Level 8 and Levels 7/6) for which they have the minimum requirements and the cut-off CAO points for 2024. This could be anywhere from 1-10 on their order of preference. Applicants will never receive an offer of a course that is lower down on their preference list. It is possible (but not guaranteed) that some may receive an offer of a course that is higher up on their preference list in subsequent rounds. This happens if the points for their chosen courses drop when not all those offered places in Round 1 take them up. It can also happen in Round 5, if a student who appeals a Leaving Cert result is successful, receives an upgrade and then meets the required points and minimum requirements for a course which then had previously missed out on. Round 2 offers will be available online from 2pm on September 9. Students are entitled to be offered a place that becomes available higher up on their order of preference if they have the points and entry requirements. Whether students have accepted a place on another course in Round 1 is irrelevant, they will be offered the new place anyway. Applicants then have the choice to accept their round 2 offer or to stick with the Round 1 offer. The closing date for acceptance of Round 2 offers is September 11 at 3pm and the CAO will continue to offer places in the same way up to October 1, when the offer season for 2024 ends. Applying to Defer a College Place Students who wish to defer an offer must not accept the offer via the CAO. They must email the Admissions Office of the appropriate Higher Education Institution (HEI) immediately. They must give their name as it appears on their CAO application, quote their CAO application number and the course code of the offer you wish to defer, and set out the reason(s) for the request. Students must mark DEFERRED ENTRY clearly in the email subject line. They should also check the website of the relevant HEI to see if they have a deferral policy available online that they can refer to. The email must arrive in the Admissions Office of the institution at least two days before the Reply Date shown on the Offer Notice. The offer of a deferral is completely at the discretion to the Admissions Office of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) in question. Deferrals are not guaranteed and are dealt with on a case by case basis. The HEI will communicate their decision to the student directly. If the deferral is not granted students may then accept the offer for the current year provided the offer is accepted by the Reply Date. What to do if no CAO offer is received Students who do not receive a CAO offer will get a Statement of Application email so the first thing to do is to check the detail of this and follow the instructions. It may be the case that corrections need to be made to the examination, exemption or account information so the advice is to contact the CAO immediately via the Correspondence section of their CAO account. It can often be the case that a student has omitted to record their language exemption as part of their CAO application. Students will also need to check they have met the minimum entry requirements and the points required for the course in question. Details on minimum entry requirements can be found on the individual HEI websites and the cut-off points will be available on the CAO website. If after this, the student doesnt get an offer, there is no need to panic as there are lots of options still open. Second-chance Maths exam Some HEIs offer students who have not received the required minimum grade in Maths for their chosen course, the opportunity to sit an alternative Maths exam. These exams usually take place in the week after the Leaving Cert results are issued. Details of the HEIs that run these exams can be found in the Important Dates section of the CAO website, and information on specific dates, exam structure and links to apply are available on the individual HEI websites. Available Places on CAO The Available Places facility opens on CAO on August 29 at 12pm and applications are open to applicants already in the CAO system and to candidates who have not already submitted a CAO application this year but who now wish to apply. Applicants must meet the minimum entry requirements for the courses for which they wish to apply. Further details can be found on www.cao.ie Options outside of CAO While much attention focuses on CAO around the Offer stages, it is important for students to realise there are lots of options outside of CAO still open for application. This include Post Leaving Cert (PLC) courses in Further Education ( www.fetchcourses.ie) Apprenticeships ( www.apprenticeship.ie). Traineeships ( www.solas.ie) Joint tertiary degrees ( www.nto.hea.ie) Education and training programmes offered by the National Learning Network ( www.rehab.ie/national-learning-network). Opportunities to study abroad for 2024 are also still an option. Students can apply to study in the UK through UCAS Clearing which remains open until October 21. For opportunities to study through English in European universities for the coming academic year, see www.eunicas.ie and www.medicalpoland.ie. Many students opt to take a year out and work before taking the next step. and of course there is the option to repeat the Leaving Cert for those who feel they can perform better second time around. Helpline The National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP) continue to run their annual helpline for students, parents and guardians, which is staffed by qualified guidance counsellors from Friday, August 23 to Saturday, August 31 on 1800 265 165. Above all else. Leaving Cert students need to remember that their opportunities are endless, their options are varied and their potential is boundless. There is not just one linear pathway for everyone but multiple routes and possibilities. Niamh Dwyer is a Guidance Counsellor in Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, Rathmore, and member of the Kerry Branch of Guidance Counsellors. She is also a Careers Advisor. For details, see www.mycareerplan.ie or follow @mycareerplan on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I went to Spain for the first time back in the mid-1970s, and I was made to feel very welcome. The locals were happy to have me, and even happier to take my pesetas. I was glad to accept their hospitality and their sangria - but in recent times, their attitude seems to be changing. Residents in some of the holiday spots around Europe have become less tolerant of tourists. Anti-tourism protests have been a common sight this summer, with demonstrations taking place in several countries such as Spain, Netherlands, Greece, and others. In July, protesters marched through areas of Barcelona spraying visitors with water pistols while chanting Tourists go home. More recently, thousands protested on the island of Mallorca, with locals bemoaning the lack of affordable housing, which they blame on short-term rentals, and overcrowding caused by the cruise ship industry. Protests have erupted in the Canary Islands, Menorca and Malaga too. Amsterdam plans to ban cruise stops at its main terminal by 2035 and has also blocked new hotel development. Tens of thousands of people in the Canary Islands have demanded a freeze on visitor numbers, because they say life is becoming unaffordable for residents. Authorities in Mount Fuji, Japan, have introduced a daily visitor cap and charges hikers a toll for some trails. Bali charges a tourist levy, and in Iceland, the national government has reinstated its tourist tax. Back in 2021, Venice took a decision to ban ships weighing more than 25,000 tonnes from entering certain areas because the heavyweight ships were causing damage to the ecosystem and eroding the old foundations of the palaces and the streets. The city was struggling to cope with the thousands of passengers crowding into Venices narrow streets. Santorini also has an issue, with hordes of visitors invading the island, and authorities there have joined in calling for a cap on visitors. They say the growing number of foreign tourists is putting pressure on its outdated infrastructure, and is pricing islanders out of the housing market. Many residents there complained about the noise levels, the clogged roads, and the pollution from the never-ending busloads of tourists. Armed with selfie sticks and phones, the tourists flood in from everywhere to watch the islands famed sunset, and many of Santorinis 20,000 permanent residents have had enough. I can understand that to a certain extent. My wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Cinque Tierra in Italy last year. It was during August, peak holiday season, and the place was thronged with tourists. At times, it was difficult to walk around in comfort, especially when the cruise ships pulled into the small port. It was uncomfortably busy on those occasions, and it must be irritating for the locals who still have to go about their daily business. Many of them, though, make a direct living from tourism and the area benefits too, so there needs to be a balance. Thankfully, we dont have that problem in Cork yet. The natives still have a very healthy attitude towards cruise ships, particularly in Cobh, which is just as well because we play host to most of them. There will be more than 100 liners paying a visit to the harbour town this season alone. When Port of Cork announced its Cruise Liner Schedule for 2024 earlier this year, it showed an increase of 23% more vessels expected to visit the Cork and Cobh terminals. An impressive 116 cruise vessels will call between April and November, surpassing the 2023 figure of 94 ships that brought 180,000 passengers to the region. It is estimated that cruise tourism contributes 17 million to the local economy, and Toddy Stafford, President of Cobh & Harbour Chamber, shared his anticipation for the busy year ahead and said the increase in cruise calls this year is testament to the collaboration between Port of Cork and local stakeholders and businesses. We eagerly anticipate another successful season that will not only boost local trade and tourism through the influx of passengers and crew, but also bring a wave of visitors to Cobh to view these majestic cruise ships in Cork Harbour, he said. Hes right, of course, to be enthusiastic. We are unlikely to suffer from over-tourism in Cobh so well happily take all the visitors we can get. Most of these liners carry thousands of passengers, and on a sunny day, there is always a good atmosphere in the town, with tourists and locals mingling and enjoying the outdoor music. Apart from the flow of passengers, the liners also attract other visitors to the town. The massive ships are an attraction in their own right and everyone is certainly made to feel welcome. As the ships leave the port in the evening, the Cobh Confraternity Band usually gives a recital on the quayside to give the passengers a good send off. Is there a downside? Of course there is, but nothing thats insurmountable. On days when the liners are visiting, parking around the town is a bit of a problem, but thats not unusual. Parking in Cobh is a pain at the best of times. A bigger issue is the amount of traffic getting on and off the island. Thousands of passengers leave the cruise ships at the quayside to be ferried by buses to other tourist spots in the region. As they navigate a path through our infrastructure, they must pass over the islands only bridge at Belvelly, which is several hundred years old and must be feeling the pressure. We still have only one road into Cobh, so it doesnt take much to create a blockage. Were still happy to see the liners though, and the local economy would take a hit if they stopped coming. Countries involved in over-tourism protests should be careful what they wish for. By Cate McCurry, PA The Government has published a strategy to implement clear and simple actions to help improve the lives of people with autism over the next 18 months. The Autism Innovation Strategy has 83 actions under four key pillars: autism-affirming society, equality of access to public services, accessible and inclusive communities, and building capacity. Taoiseach Simon Harris said he is determined to make a difference to lives of people who have autism. Mr Harris launched the strategy alongside Minister for Children Roderic OGorman and Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbitte on Monday. Mr Harris said: I wanted to be here today to send a message to autistic people, and indeed, to parents of autistic children, that we are determined to do more. We are determined to make a difference, and were determined to make sure that your voices are heard. Were determined to work day and night, to challenge the system in many ways, to ensure that you get the services you need. Mr Harris described it as a really ambitious plan. Looking through it, I think theres two things that I particularly like. Firstly, the fact that it has an 18-month window to deliver. So often, strategies are for five years and 10 years, and often thats for good reason, but this is short and sharp in terms of its determination to make a difference across 83 actions. Secondly, the fact that beside each action is an assigned owner, be it a department or an agency, so theres nowhere to hide in terms of making sure that there is delivery. Im also very conscious of the fact that this was not, nor should it have been, a strategy written behind the four walls here in Government Buildings or in Leinster House. I really want to join my colleagues in thanking all of the people who contributed to getting this strategy to this point. Mr OGorman said: The Autism Innovation Strategy will aim to enhance the lives of autistic people across the country by tackling some of those challenges. It addresses fundamental areas areas like health and social care, education, employment and community participation. Its been developed with the aim of complementing Governments broader policy on disability and in particular the forthcoming National Disability Strategy. By focusing on improving understanding and accommodation of the bespoke needs of autistic people in this 18-month strategy, we can ensure that mainstream services are equipped to take up that mantle going forward. Right now, intensive work is under way within my department to deliver the new National Disability Strategy, and that will be a really important step in terms of our implementation, in terms of our progressive realisation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That will also have a significant impact for autistic people, for their families and their supporters. Taoiseach Simon Harris, Minister for Children Roderic OGorman and Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbitte arrive for a media briefing. Photo: Niall Carson/PA. Ms Rabbitte said: Autistic people, like all of us, have a huge amount to offer, but face challenges due to the lack of awareness and understanding on a broad societal level. There are clear areas where improvements can be made, including in relation to the provision of public services. Gaps were identified in our health services and supports, access to education and employment, access to alternative communication methods, data and research, and the lack of understanding reflected in the approaches of some professionals. The invaluable insights we received from the contributions of the expert stakeholders has directly informed the vision for the strategy. AsIAm, Irelands autism charity, said: We believe this marks an important milestone as we campaign for an equitable society for autistic people and families in Ireland, where we are empowered, supported and given the same chance. This is an important day for the autistic community. Since the organisations inception 10 years ago, we have been campaigning for a whole-of-life, neuro-affirmative strategy that breaks down silos across Government and society. Going back to school, or starting at a new one, can be an exciting time but many children might also feel anxious. Whether its worrying about making friends, coping with schoolwork or exams, or simply saying goodbye to the freedom of the summer holidays, the root of back-to-school anxiety can vary. The time off might have eased academic pressure or provided a break from difficult situations children are facing at school, says Stevie Goulding, senior manager for parents and carers services at young peoples mental health charity, YoungMinds. It can be quite common for a child to be anxious about going back to school, but there are some signs to look out. Trust your instincts, and do reach out for help if you need it, Goulding adds. So, what are the signs to look out for, and what can parents and carers do to help? Psychotherapist Heidi Soholt. 1. Reassure them their feelings are normal British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accredited psychotherapist Heidi Soholt, says: Its very normal for children to feel anxious about going back or starting school. Anxiety is often triggered by the prospect of change, and children are just as vulnerable to this as adults. It can be helpful to reassure your child that their feelings are normal and understandable, given the changes involved in transitioning from summer holiday to school routines and schedules. 2. Explain their feelings will soon change Soholt adds: Anxiety is about the unknown and will usually settle once a child becomes more familiar with school. It may be helpful to explain this to your child, perhaps using your own examples of how anxiety can build and then drop away after getting used to a new situation. 3. Tell them even their teachers might feel anxious The fact even teachers can feel a bit nervous about the start of a new term may help children put their feelings into perspective. Your child may find this comforting to know, says Soholt. Reassure your child that everyone experiences this, and that although anxiety can feel unpleasant, it isnt harmful or a sign that they wont manage. Reassure your child that everyone experiences this, and that although anxiety can feel unpleasant, it isnt harmful or a sign that they wont manage. 4. Look out for physical symptoms Worry and anxiety can show up in different ways, says psychotherapist Anna Mathur, author of The Uncomfortable Truth (published by Penguin Life), which is all about taming fears. In children, much like adults, anxiety can show itself through tummy aches, disrupted nights, unrelated worries or irritability. A child might not be able to verbalise exactly what theyre worried about, but their body and behaviour may be sharing the message instead. Change and newness are mental and physiological stressors, even if the change is positive and long-awaited. Remind them of times theyve coped in the past, and that feeling anxious is ok and part of being human. 5. Remind them you have faith in them Soholt says parents should make it clear they have confidence in their childs abilities, and reassure them they have lots of support: Remind them of times theyve coped in the past, and that feeling anxious is ok and part of being human. 6. Be aware their feelings may change Mathur points out that feelings come and go, and dont always make sense. Excitement might roll into worry, which might roll into questions about the school routine, she says. Try to withhold any should statements, such as you should feel excited to meet new friends, which may shut down your childs line of communication. Feelings will change and shift as time moves towards September. 7. Get them involved in back-to-school prep Soholt says apprehension linked to change can be helped by involving your child in preparations before the start of school. For example packing their school bag, getting their uniform ready, meeting friends, and exploring routes to school. 8. Start the school routine early Getting your child into a regular routine of sleeping, waking and eating at regular times at least a week before the start of school can also help them (and you!) cope with the transition, says Soholt. 9. Share your own experiences When youre doing something with your child, talk light-heartedly about feelings and change, suggests Mathur. Perhaps share some gentle insights into your own school experiences and talk about the differing emotions you felt, paving the way for them to talk about their own feelings. 10. Ask what will help them feel less anxious It can be tempting for parents to go into fix mode, offering advice and solutions. But asking your child what they think would be helpful may be the best idea, says Soholt. Asking a child for their opinion can empower them by giving them a sense of control over the situation, she explains. 11. Help them build familiarity Help orientate them with all the back-to-school newness by letting things become familiar before term starts. Perhaps leave a new school jumper in full view so they can get used to it, let them start wearing their school socks early. Maybe you take walks near their school, tracing the new school run, or plan some playdates so new friends dont feel so new this is a nice way to add some familiarity into what will feel quite new, says Mathur. 12. Ask if theres anything specific theyre worried about Soholt says it may be helpful to explore whether your childs worries are related to anything specific, such as bullying or coping with learning, and whether support needs to be put in place. It can be useful to draw up an action plan with your child, based on what is and isnt within their control to change, she suggests. Issues such as bullying or learning problems can be alleviated by working with schools to put in appropriate support. 13. Talk about the positives Helping your child identify aspects of school they find more positive could help them, says Soholt. Fostering a more nuanced perception of school will help your child manage their anxiety. 14. Think about seeking help if it carries on If your childs anxieties persist beyond a normal settling in period, and interfere with their ability to socialise or learn, it could be helpful to contact a professional trained in supporting children with anxiety. Soholt says: Therapeutic interventions such as play therapy can be effective in helping children process, understand and cope with anxiety. A high-pressure system is expected to result in warmer than normal weather across Northern California this week. Temperatures will be in the 60s at the coast, 70s to 80s along the bay shoreline and 90s inland. Baron/Lynx After an usually cool, damp weather pattern in late August, more typical summer conditions will return to Northern California this week. Over the weekend, Reno recorded its coldest August day in 131 years of records, snow accumulated at several high-elevation Sierra Nevada ski resorts, and scattered rain showers hit areas from Eureka to Oakland. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The low-pressure system responsible for the unusual August weather has moved toward the High Plains, where the Storm Prediction Center forecasts widespread severe thunderstorms Monday. An area of high pressure has built across California in the wake of the weekend system, blocking any turbulent weather from impacting the state and resulting in near to slightly above normal temperatures. Temperatures will slowly climb through the week, approaching the triple digits in the Central Valley by Wednesday. Inland parts of the Bay Area will be well into the 90s Monday through at least Thursday. With the rising inland temperatures, a stronger sea breeze is expected to redevelop near the coast. San Franciscos intricate microclimates will be on display this week, with high temperatures likely to vary by 15 degrees or more across the city. Monday breakdown San Francisco: A pleasant day is on tap for the city. Patchy coastal fog is possible in the morning, but skies are expected to clear rapidly with the building high-pressure system. Highs will be in the mid- to upper 60s in the Richmond and Sunset districts, low 70s in Pacific Heights and Sunnyside, the mid-70s in the Mission District, Dogpatch and downtown. Gusts of 10 to 20 mph are expected from an afternoon sea breeze. Overnight lows will be in the mid-50s with increasing clouds and fog. Advertisement Article continues below this ad North Bay: Warmer than normal weather will return to a large swath of the area. Santa Rosa, Petaluma, San Rafael, Sonoma, Napa and Vallejo will be in the upper 80s to low 90s. Fairfield and Vacavaille will be the hot spots, in the mid- to upper 90s, while coastal Marin and Sonoma counties remain cooler in the upper 60s to 70s. Skies should remain sunny throughout the day, but a cool evening breeze near the water will be the precursor to patchy overnight fog in Wine Country. Lows will be in the low 60s in eastern Solano County and mid- to upper 50s elsewhere. East Bay: Widespread 90-degree temperatures will return inland. The Lamorinda area is expected to reach the upper 80s to low 90s, and the Diablo, San Ramon and Livermore valleys will climb to the mid-90s, making this the warmest day in more than two weeks. Sunshine and warmer than normal weather will also prevail in Berkeley and Oakland, with highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s. Hayward and Fremont will reach the upper 80s. Lows will be in the mid- to upper 50s with mainly clear skies. Pacific Coast and Peninsula: A building high-pressure system will result in warm weather along the Peninsula. Highs are expected to be about 3 to 7 degrees above normal, in the mid-70s in San Bruno and South San Francisco, mid-80s in San Mateo and upper 80s in Redwood City. A stronger northwest breeze down the coast is expected to pick up some moisture off the ocean, possibly resulting in patchy fog and clouds in Daly City, Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Highs at the coast will be in the mid- to upper 60s. Fog should spill over the coastal mountains and toward San Francisco International Airport overnight. Lows will be in the mid- to upper 50s. South Bay and Santa Cruz: This may be the first 90-degree day in San Jose since Aug. 7. A light bay breeze should keep Mountain View and Milpitas in the upper 80s, but Saratoga, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and other inland parts of the Santa Clara Valley should reach the low 90s. Overnight lows will be around 60. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A California man accused of beheading his parents and their dog began singing 1980s pop songs after being shot by law enforcement. Joseph Brandon Gerdvil's erratic behavior before being arrested on homicide charges in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California, on July 9 was captured on newly released body cam footage. The video, obtained by ABC7, showed Gerdvil, 41, being shot by officers and then belting out Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder songs as he lay bleeding on the street. Deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Department found the bodies of Gerdvil's parents while responding to their residence at the San Juan Mobile Estates at 7:36 a.m. on July 9 after receiving reports of a "domestic assault," according to a press release. Shortly after, deputies spotted the suspect walking on a street outside the mobile home park. In the footage, a deputy could be seen stopping his vehicle a few meters in front of a man covered in blood. The deputy pointed a gun at the man, whom authorities identified as Gerdvil, and ordered him to "get on the ground." However, Gerdvil continued to walk toward the officer while holding an object on his hand. A shovel could be seen on the ground near him. The deputy then fired multiple shots, striking Gerdvil and causing him to fall to the ground. As deputies restrained him, Gerdvil could be heard saying, "I love you... I'm sorry you're gonna have to die." Moments later, he seemingly told the officers: "Just finish me off. Put one in my head, please. I beg of you." Later in the video, the deputies appeared to be tending to his wounds when the murder suspect suddenly began singing Turner's 1984 hit, "What's Love Got to Do with It." "What's love got to do with it, got to with it? What's love, but a second-hand emotion?" Gerdvil sang. Gerdvil then appeared to belt out lyrics to Wonder's 1984 track, "I Just Called to Say I Love You." "I just called to say I love you," he sang. Gerdvil was later hospitalized in stable condition. He now faces two counts of homicide in the murders of his parents. Shortly before Gerdvil was caught, deputies had discovered the decapitated bodies of Ronald Walter Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, and the mutilated body of their pet chihuahua in their mobile home in the San Juan Mobile Estates complex on the morning of July 9. The deputies then received a call about a man covered in blood chasing a maintenance worker nearby. "Our dispatchers updated them that there was a bloody male chasing a maintenance worker in that same neighborhood," Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Matthew Parrish said at the time, as quoted by CBS News. Parrish continued, "The deputies immediately started looking for that male. A short time later that person was located near Calle Arroyo and a bike trail, shortly after that person was located an officer-involved shooting occurred." Quentin Tarantino is opening up about the 'Rust' shooting. The tragedy on the set of 'Rust' that left Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead has been a subject of speculation since 2021. Actor Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he fired a live round, causing the 42-year-old's death. His case was dismissed on July 12. Following the dismissal, Baldwin thanked those who were there for him throughout his trial on Instagram. In the caption of the post he wrote, "There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now. To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family." Some jurors came forward stating that, "As the week went by, it just didn't, it didn't seem like a very strong case." Another juror stated, "I think he would have trusted the people, you know, on the set to do their job." Despite the New York native's case being thrown out, Quentin Tarantino said how he thinks Baldwin, 66, is "10% responsible" for the mother's death. The director appeared in an episode of Bill Maher's 'Club Random' podcast where they discussed the prosecution of Baldwin and the circumstances leading up to the tragedy. "I think I'm being fair enough to say that the armorer, the guy who handles the gun, an armorer is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun. But, but, but, but, but, but, the actor is 10% responsible. The actor is 10% responsible," the 'Kill Bill' director said. "It's a gun. You are a partner in the responsibility to some degree." Tarantino, 61, also explained how actor's are taught to use firearms on set. "They show it to you. If there are steps to go through, you go through them, and it's done with due diligence, and you know it's f*****g for real," Tarantino said. "If an actor knows he has three hot rounds in his gun, and he knows that, 'OK, I'm going to do a scene, blah-bla-blah-bla-blah-bla-blah,' and he knows he's got three hot rounds as he's doing the scene, and then at this point, bam bam bam. And then he's going to continue on and say a few more things." He added: "OK, if one of the rounds doesn't go off as he does his 'bam bam bam,' then he should cut the scene and say, 'Guys, one of the rounds didn't go off, I think I'm still holding a hot gun here.' " Tarantino argued that 90% of the blame does fall on the armorer of the film, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 18 months in prison in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, per 'NBC News.' Alec Baldwin filed a lawsuit against both the Santa Fe County Sheriff on the case and the Special Prosecutor. Baldwin's lawyers, 'Rolling Stone' reports, sent notices to Santa Fe prosecutors and the sheriff's office, warning them of "future litigation" over their actions in the shooting trial. Pavel Durov, CEO of the secured messaging app Telegram, has been arrested while deboarding a private jet in France. Durov was apprehended by law enforcement agents upon his arrival at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris. It was reported that the 39-year-old was previously issued a warrant for his inaction in cracking down on crimes potentially conducted on his app which he released back in 2013. The founder is being accused of allowing drug trafficking, the promotion of terrorism, and fraud to take place on the messaging service. In addition to these alleged issues, the probe is examining whether the tech billionaire refused to cooperate with law enforcement over offenses including cyber scams and the spread of child pornography, per 'NPR.' The company claims that the CEO has nothing to hide. "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," Telegram said in a statement Sunday, per the news outlet. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." The company maintains that it abides by European Union Laws, claiming that their "moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving." The Russian Embassy isn't taking the arrest lightly, demanding an explanation for the detention of Durov who was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Russia. .. . pic.twitter.com/LxmLCn8EoQ Russie en France (@AmbRusFrance) August 25, 2024 "After the news about the detention of P.V. Durov appeared in the media, they immediately asked the French authorities for clarification of the reasons and demanded to ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access," the Russian Embassy in France stated. "As of today, the French side is still avoiding interaction on this issue. We are in contact with P.V. Durov's lawyer." Telegram was launched 11 years ago by Pavel whose estimated net worth is around $15.5 billion, according to 'Forbes' and his brother Nikolai. He reportedly fled a year later after he refused to give up data on Ukrainian users of VK to Russian authorities, per 'NPR.' The app which has a "Secret Chat" option has the ability to call and text with end-to-end encryption, lowering the chances of unauthorized interception. It has become one of the most popular messaging services in the world. The messaging app, 'CNBC' reports, has about 800 million users and is popular in Russia and Ukraine. According to 'NPR,' the Paris prosecutor's office announced that a statement including more details on the arrest are set to be given Monday. In April, Durov interviewed with Fox's Tucker Carlson where he cited how he prioritizes freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and a free market. A Utah woman who authorities claim poisoned her husband, is set to appear in court Monday for a hearing. The court date will determine whether prosecutors have the evidence to proceed with a trial. According to 'The New York Post,' Kouri Richins is facing several felony charges after she allegedly fatally poisoned her husband, then published a children's book about how kids should cope with grief. The 34-year-old is being accused of killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl back in March 2022 at their Park City home. According to prosecutors, she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail. In addition to the jarring accusations, more charges were filed against the woman after an earlier attempt to murder her husband, Eric Richins, 39, using a spiked sandwich which she allegedly offered him on Valentine's Day. A state judge out of Utah, Richard E. Mrazik, delayed the hearing in May following prosecutors' need of a consecutive three days to present their evidence. The case was held back once again, when Kouri's team withdrew from representing her. Unable to continue payment for their representation, Mrazik appointed public defenders Wendy Lewis and Kathy Nester. The mother of three had self-published her children's book, "Are You With Me?" In the book, she writes about a father with angel wings who watches over his young son after his death. According to 'Good Reads,' the book is led with a description that reads: "Wherever you go, whoever you become, their love remains with you." The "heartwarming and reassuring" book is meant to guide children "through the difficult experience of losing a loved one." "Written by a loving mother who personally faced this challenge, this book is designed to offer comfort and solace to young minds in a way that is both accessible and engaging," the description states. Per the media outlet, the book could be a key factor for prosecutors' ability to frame Eric Richins' death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt. Now, Judge Mrazik is deliberating on whether the state has provided enough evidence to go forward with trial. Eric's sister, Katie, has also filed a petition alleging Kouri's potential financial motives, as prosecutors say she opened a life insurance policy totaling nearly $2 million without Eric's knowledge. Kouri Richins continues to declare her innocence. She was charged Monday with aggravated murder and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Militant attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan kill at least 60 Separatist militants killed more than 60 people in Pakistan's Balochistan province, in the most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years. On the morning of August 28, more than 100 missiles and strike drones of the occupier army hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a dam in the Kyiv region and other civilian objects all over the country. It has been one of the most massive shellings of Ukraine from the Russian side, and apparently, it was their "strong answer for the Kursk incursion". Taiwanese troops practised launching anti-amphibious landing missiles on Monday as part of series of drills to heighten readiness and deter a potential attack from China. China claims the democratically ruled island as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Cleveland Clinic Florida's esteemed neurosurgeon, Dr. J. Manuel Sarmiento, returned from a surgical mission trip to Jalandhar, Punjab, India, where he participated in a life-changing humanitarian effort. As a specialist in adult and adolescent scoliosis, Dr. Sarmiento joined forces with the nonprofit organization Standing Straight on their biannual mission from March 11 to March 19, 2024. The mission, held at SLG Charitable Hospital, focused on providing critical spinal deformity surgeries to children and teenagers suffering from late-stage scoliosis and other severe spinal conditions. Dr. Sarmiento and the team of volunteer surgeons and medical professionals made a significant impact during their time in Jalandhar. Over the course of the mission, four children received complex spinal deformity correction surgery, offering them a new lease on life. These surgeries not only corrected their spinal curvatures but also vastly improved their quality of life by reducing the risk of future respiratory complications and chronic back pain, conditions often associated with untreated scoliosis. With their spines now straightened, these young patients can look forward to a future filled with greater self-confidence and opportunities. In addition to the spinal deformity corrections, one child underwent a tethered cord release, a crucial procedure that relieved pressure on their spinal cord, preventing further neurological deterioration. Another child was treated for torticollis, a painful condition where the neck muscles contract, causing the head to twist to one side. The team also successfully removed a tumor from an adult patient's cervical spine, alleviating the compression on her spinal cord and restoring her mobility. During the mission, Dr. Sarmiento and the Standing Straight team evaluated over 20 patients in the clinic, providing both new consultations and follow-up postoperative care. These patients, who otherwise might not have had access to such specialized medical attention, received the compassionate and expert care that Dr. Sarmiento and the team are known for. Standing Straight was founded by Dr. Ravin Bains, the Chief of Spine Surgery at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA, who continues to lead the organization with a vision of providing life-altering spinal care to underserved populations in Northern India with the help of dedicated volunteers and distinguished spinal deformity surgeons from around the world. Dr. Sarmiento's participation in this mission reflects his commitment to global health and the profound difference that specialized medical care can make in the lives of those who need it most. As Dr. Sarmiento returns to his practice at Cleveland Clinic Florida, the stories of the children and adults he helped in India remain a testament to the transformative power of surgery and the dedication of medical professionals to extend their skills and compassion beyond borders. Through their work, patients who once faced a future of pain and limitation now have the chance to lead fulfilling, confident lives. The success of missions like this one depends on the generosity of individuals who care about children's health. Even a minimal donation of $5 USD can help fund critical spinal instrumentation, medication, and the shipping costs needed to deliver these life-saving supplies. By investing in organizations like Standing Straight, you can contribute to a brighter, healthier future for children around the world. Your tax-deductible donation could be the difference that allows a child to stand tall, breathe easy, and live without pain. Key Takeaways Rectal cancers strike more than 46,000 Americans each year A new trial finds that a change in the timing of chemotherapy and radiation could help more patients retain a functioning rectum That eliminates the need for colostomy, greatly improving quality of life MONDAY, Aug. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Giving chemo and radiation therapies before a surgery for rectal cancer can help eliminate the need for removal of the rectum altogether, a new Swedish study finds. If the tumor disappears completely during treatment, surgery is not required," said study lead author Bengt Glimelius, a professor of oncology at Uppsala University. That means both "avoiding surgery and retaining normal rectum and rectal function," he added in a university news release. "Moreover, there are fewer metastases." The findings are published in the September issue of eClinicalMedicine. Rectal cancer is relatively common, with about 46,220 new cases diagnosed in the United States each year (27,330 in men and 18,890 in women), according to the American Cancer Society. Deaths from rectal cancer are included in statistics for colorectal cancers (colon or rectum), which kill more than 54,000 Americans annually. As the Swedish team explained, surgery to remove the affected part of the rectum is often performed soon after a cancer is diagnosed. Of course, that can lead to difficulties with bowel movements and a need for surgery to divert fecal matter to a colostomy bag, all of which can seriously impair a survivor's quality of life. During the typical treatment of rectal cancer "patients often first receive radiotherapy or a combination of radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy for five weeks, followed by surgery and usually an additional round of chemotherapy for up to six months," the research team explained in a university news release. Glimelius' team tried a different tack: Give patients all of the chemo and radiation first, before a scheduled surgery. The new study involve 461 Swedish rectal cancer patients. They got one week of radiotherapy followed by more than four months of chemotherapy, prior to any surgery. The results were impressive, Glimelius said. One previous trial had found that, after the traditional approach (a shorter amount of chemo/radiation), the rectal tumor disappeared in just 14% of cases, eliminating the need for surgery. With the newer approach -- involving a much longer time receiving treatment before a surgery -- the rate at which the tumor disappeared doubled, to 28% of cases. Leaving the rectum intact didn't raise the odds for cancer's return. According to Glimelius, the new approach helped cut the need for surgery "but without an increase in local [tumor] recurrence rate after almost five years of follow-up." Retention of a functioning rectum provides patients with a huge boost in their quality of life, Glimeius explained. "The rectum is preserved and the need for a stoma [colostomy] and a new rectum is eliminated," he said. "When part of the rectum is surgically removed, the new rectum does not quite understand that it should be able to refrain from frequently sending a signal to the brain that you need to use the toilet." More information Find out more about rectal cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center. SOURCE: Uppsala University, news release, Aug. 14, 2024 What This Means For You A switch in the timing of radiation and chemotherapy could help more patients with rectal cancers avoid surgical removal of the rectum. EQS-Ad-hoc: Steico SE / Key word(s): Personnel STEICO SE appoints Mr Georg Faller as CFO 26-Aug-2024 / 11:53 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. STEICO SE appoints Mr Georg Faller as CFO Feldkirchen near Munich, 26 August 2024 (ISIN DE000A0LR936) The Administrative Board of STEICO SE today appointed Mr Georg Faller as Managing Director Finance with effect from 1 October 2024. Mr Faller provides over 20 years of financial leadership in fast-paced manufacturing businesses. Most recently Mr Faller held the position of Divisional Finance Director & CFO at Joris Ide Panels, a Kingspan Group company with an annual turnover of over 1 billion. His future activities as CFO at STEICO will focus on profitable growth, digitalisation and efficiency improvements. Contact STEICO SE Andreas Schulze Head of Investor Relations Otto-Lilienthal-Ring 30 85622 Feldkirchen Fon: +49-(0)89-99 15 51-548 Fax: +49-(0)89-99 15 51-704 E-Mail: a.schulze@steico.com www.steico.com 26-Aug-2024 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.eqs-news.com Planning a wedding in India has always been a blend of tradition and grandeur, but 2024 is taking it to a whole new level! As our expert Priyanka Roy Kapur explains, Having curated countless unforgettable weddings, Ive witnessed a remarkable evolution in Indian celebrations. Todays couples are redefining tradition, creating deeply personal and elegantly innovative weddings. The focus is on blending style with substance, and Im thrilled to share the trends shaping this new era of love. Ready to say I Do to the most luxe trends of the year? Dive into our 2024 expert guide for an unforgettable wedding day thats uniquely yours! Colours That Speak Volumes: The Palette of Personal Stories Colours have always played a vital role in Indian weddings, but now they go beyond mere aesthetics. Couples are selecting palettes that resonate with their personal journeys. Picture a Jaipur wedding where marigold and turquoise evoke the citys regal past, or a Kerala celebration where ivory and gold reflect its temple elegance. Every hue and fabric is carefully chosen to narrate the couples story, transforming colours into emotional connections. Destination Dreams: Bringing the World to India Travel is central to todays weddings, with couples choosing breathtaking locales like Bali, Provence, and Amalfi for their celebrations. Indian destinations such as Keralas backwaters and Shimlas mountains offer equally captivating settings. These weddings beautifully merge the thrill of exploration with the intimacy of a wedding, creating unforgettable moments that capture the couples adventurous spirit. Decor That Tells a Story: Beyond Mere Beauty In 2024, decor is about more than aesthetics its a storytelling medium. Couples are choosing elements that reflect their journey, creating intimate atmospheres. A Jodhpur wedding might feature decor inspired by the citys forts, while Kolkata could embrace vintage Bengal charm. Every detail, from floral arrangements to table settings, is chosen with purpose, making decor not just beautiful but meaningful. Source: ShutterstockSustainability is becoming central to weddings, with couples opting for eco-friendly, thoughtful favours. Instead of generic gifts, theyre choosing plantable seed paper invites, artisanal candles, or locally sourced products. A Chennai wedding might offer handcrafted silk pouches with traditional sweets, while a Shimla event could gift potted herbs. Sustainable gifting is about giving back to both guests and the environment.The wedding feast is evolving, reflecting couples culinary adventures. A Delhi wedding might feature North Indian classics with a global twist, from butter chicken tacos to saffron-infused risotto. Meanwhile, a Rajasthan celebration could present a farm-to-table experience with organic, locally sourced ingredients served in traditional thali style. These menus honour heritage while introducing exciting new flavours.As we look to 2024, its clear that weddings are becoming as unique as the love stories they celebrate. With personalization, sustainability, and immersive experiences at the forefront, todays weddings are truly memorable. Peru has ratified the accession protocol of the United Kingdom to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the formers ministry of foreign affairs recently announced on microblogging platform X. The protocol, signed on July 16, 2023, will allow the United Kingdom to become the first economy to join the 11 CPTPP member countries: Peru, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. Peru has ratified the accession protocol of the UK to the CPTPP trade partnership, the former's ministry of foreign affairs announced. The protocol, signed on July 16, 2023, will allow the UK to become the first economy to join the 11 CPTPP members. Once implemented, the UK will immediately eliminate tariffs on 94 per cent of products exported from Peru. With the United Kingdom as a member, CPTPP will have a combined GDP of 12 trillion, or $15.7 trillion, and will account for 15 per cent of global gross domestic product. Although Peru already has a bilateral trade agreement with the United Kingdom, the CPTPP will create more favorable conditions for trade in goods and services, the temporary movement of businesspeople and electronic commerce. British ambassador to Peru Gavin Cook said his country "was expecting the ratification of the sixth CPTPP member so that this agreement can enter into force by the end of this year. Once the agreement enters into force, the United Kingdom will immediately eliminate tariffs on 94 per cent of products exported from Peru. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Today is the auspicious festival of Janmashtami, a day when we celebrate the birth of our beloved makhan chor. It is believed that God is present everywhere at all times. In our hearts, in our homes and even in theatres! Well, this Krishna Janmashtami lets take a look at times Lord Krishna blessed cinema by making a special appearance on the silver screen. From Kalki 2898 AD to Akshay Kumars OMG - Oh My God!, here are films which featured the beloved Gods presence. Krishnarujuna It is often said that God always comes to those who need him most. In the 2008 Telugu film Krishnarjuna, Lord Krishna makes an entry to save an orphan named Arjun, played by Manchu Vishnu, when his landlord plots to murder him. Telugu superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni won hearts with his fantastic portrayal of Lord Krishna in this fantasy comedy. OMG - Oh My God! One of the most loved portrayals of Lord Krishna on screen was by Bollywoods superstar Akshay Kumar. The actor who charmingly and endearingly portrayed the role of Krishna Vasudev Yadav, comes to Gujarati atheist Kanji Lalji Mehtas rescue after the latter sues God. The film features Akshay and Paresh Rawals onscreen chemistry which is one to watch out for in this satirical comedy drama. Gopala Gopala The 2012 blockbuster film OMG - Oh My God got a Telugu remake titled Gopala Gopala three years after the originals release. Mithun Chakraborty reprised his role of Leeladhar Swamy from the Bollywood film whereas Venkatesh played the character of an atheist. Pawan Kalyan played Lord Krishna, which was no less than a treat for his fans. Kalki 2898 AD Amitabh Bachchan stole the show in Nag Ashwins directorial Kalki 2898 AD. The film which featured Deepika Padukone and Prabhas was loved by all. But one particular scene that left an ever-lasting impact on the audience was when Lord Krishna cursed Ashwatthama, played by Amitabh, to roam the earth as an immortal for attempting to kill an unborn child. In this scene, we only witness Krishnas aura in a faceless silhouette. Well, it was fabulously portrayed by Tamil actor Krishnakumar Balasubramanian who played the role of Krishna in the film. Justice Hema Committee, formed in 2017, has released a detailed report on August 19, 2024, on the horrifying tales of discrimination and sexual harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry. The committee comprises retired High Court Justice K. Hema, former actor Sharada, and retired IAS officer K.B. Valsala Kumari. The committee was officially formed after a petition from the Kerala-based Women in Cinema Collectives (WCC). The committee studied issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam film industry. WCC also came into existence after a Malayalam actress spoke about being abducted and sexually assaulted in Kochi. The subsequent investigation by Kerala Police focused on Malayalam actor Dileep. The Hema Committee report also notes that sexual favours have long been perceived as a means of gaining access to the Malayalam film industry. It also suggests the presence of a 'power group' with the ability to influence the entire industry and highlights the alleged prevalence of the 'casting couch' practice. This isn't limited to actors, but also affect women who work as makeup artists, dancers, technicians, and support members. After the release of the Hema Committee report, several actresses have opened up about sexual harassment that they have faced. Many actors and film technicians in the industry have been accused of behaving inappropriately. The industry has also witnessed two high-profile resignations. Director Ranjith resigned as chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy and actor Siddique stepped down as general secretary of AMMA, or the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra has accused Ranjith of misbehaving with her during the initial discussions for the movie Paleri Manickym, while junior artist Revathy Sampath has accused Siddique of sexual assault. Now, the Kerala Film Body has demanded probe into 'power group' allegations. Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA)'s general secretary B. Unnikrishnan sent a letter secretaries of the 21 unions of the federation. He noted that the federation had no prior knowledge of the power group. He asked for a thorough investigation of the matter. "As a workplace, we have to travel a lot to ensure gender justice and womens safety. Deep-rooted patriarchal habits and approaches should be shed. Though a lot has changed since the days the Hema committee functioned, continuous course correction is needed," a part of the letter reads. The letter also opens up about women's hesitation to complain to unions about sexual and work-related issues due to fear of the patriarchy persisting in workplaces for decades. The federation also learnt that the members of WCC have been often denied opportunities. "This is a criticism that the directors union, writers union and production executives union should examine in detail. The number of films in which the members of WCC worked from 2018 to 2024 should be taken. If a director or writer has wished to work with a member of WCC and was prevented just because she is a member of the collective is a matter of serious concern and actions should be taken," the letter further read. Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh donates supplies to flood-affected areas Xinhua) 10:47, August 26, 2024 DHAKA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- In the face of the significant challenges posed by the flooding in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy donated ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, and essential living supplies to the hardest-hit area of Feni on Sunday. The initial batch of supplies will benefit 2,000 people. In the coming week, the relief donations will continue, providing food and supplies to a total of 6,000 people. The embassy plans to distribute food packages and other supplies to 1,300 households (approximately 5,200 people) to help them rebuild their homes. The total value of the relief project is 6 million Bangladeshi taka. During the relief donation event, Minister Counselor Liu Yuyin said "As Bangladesh faces this sudden flooding, the Chinese people feel deeply for the victims and hope to offer their modest assistance to help the people of Bangladesh overcome this difficult time as soon as possible." Liu mentioned that the Red Cross Society of China will donate to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society 100,000 U.S. dollars for emergency humanitarian assistance. The Chinese Embassy will donate 20,000 U.S. dollars to the Chief Adviser Relief and Welfare Fund. "We are confident that, with the joint efforts of the interim government and the people of Bangladesh, the country will overcome the current difficulties and rebuild a better home," he added. Bangladesh has experienced its worst flooding in years, the death toll from the floods has risen to 18 and nearly 5 million people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts, the authorities said Saturday. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Meyer Burger Technology AG / Key word(s): Financing/Restructure of Company Meyer Burger focuses on module production in Arizona and initiates comprehensive restructuring measures 26-Aug-2024 / 06:40 CET/CEST Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR Thun, August 26, 2024 Meyer Burger focuses on module production in Arizona and initiates comprehensive restructuring measures The construction of a solar cell manufacturing facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is currently not financially viable and has been put on hold Meyer Burger focuses on the operation of the 1.4 gigawatt nominal module production capacity in Goodyear, Arizona, which is currently being ramped up The previously targeted debt financing via the monetization of so-called 45X tax credits will be pursued with a lower volume. Meyer Burger expects significantly lower remaining financing needs and a lower medium-term profitability target A restructuring program is being prepared in order to achieve sustainable profitability Meyer Burger Technology AG announced today that the planned construction of a solar cell production facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, is no longer financially viable for the company due to recent developments and that the project will therefore be discontinued. The planned cooperation with a US technology group will not be implemented at present in view of the revised strategy. As part of this realignment, Meyer Burger is focusing on the nominal capacity of 1.4 gigawatts at the module production plant in Goodyear, Arizona, U.S., which is already largely installed and in the ramp-up phase. The existing cell production site in Thalheim (Bitterfeld-Wolfen), Germany, will remain fully operational and - contrary to previous plans - will continue to form the backbone of Meyer Burger's solar cell supply. Under the current market conditions, these solar cells are the most economical option for supplying the module production in Goodyear. With this arrangement, the company expects to be able to service the existing long-term purchase contracts and to fully utilize the production capacity in Goodyear. The expansion of the nominal module production capacity in Goodyear by an additional 0.7 gigawatts has been suspended for the time being and remains an option that the company will decide on in the context of the upcoming restructuring program and depending on the progress of ongoing discussions with customers. The debt financing previously sought through the monetization of 45X tax credits will continue to be pursued on a reduced scale, tailored to module production in the U.S. As a result of these changes, the Board of Directors expects that the Company's financing requirements will be significantly lower and that the financing gap remaining after the capital increase in April 2024 will be reduced. The medium-term EBITDA target and the Group's debt ratio are also expected to be significantly lower than previously expected. In connection with the strategic changes, the Board of Directors has instructed the Management to draw up a comprehensive restructuring and cost-cutting program. This should take account of the realignment and thus lead to sustainable profitability. In order to reflect the changes communicated today in the half-year financial statements in accordance with the applicable rules, Meyer Burger is postponing the publication of the half-year results previously announced for September 16, 2024 to September 30, 2024 or, with the approval of SIX Exchange Regulation, to a later date. In addition, Mark Kerekes, member of the Board of Directors, has announced his resignation from the Board. The realignment of the company will require a new composition of the Board of Directors. "We would like to thank Mark Kerekes for his very constructive cooperation and significant contributions during his membership of the Board of Directors," said Franz Richter, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Meyer Burger. Media contacts Meyer Burger Technology AG Anne Schneider Head Corporate Communications M. +49 174 349 17 90 anne.schneider@meyerburger.com Alexandre Muller Investor Relations M. +41 43 268 3231 alexandre.mueller@meyerburger.com Base Resources Limited - Special Dividend determined PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, August 26 AIM and Media Release 26 August 2024 Base Resources Limited Special Dividend determined African mineral sands producer, Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) advises that the Base Resources Board has determined to pay a special dividend of AUD 6.5 cents per share (unfranked) (Special Dividend), conditional on the scheme of arrangement to effect the Company's combination with Energy Fuels Inc. becoming effective (Scheme). Key dates If the Scheme becomes effective, the key dates for the Special Dividend will be as follows: Event Date Ex-date Tuesday, 17 September 2024 Special Dividend record date Date of exchange rates used for Foreign Designated Currencies (defined below)Last date for Foreign Designated Currency elections (only applicable for shareholders) For shareholders: 5.00 pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 18 September 2024For depositary interest holders: 6.00 pm (London time) on Wednesday, 18 September 2024 Latest date of announcement of exchange rate and dividend amount in Foreign Designated Currencies Friday, 20 September 2024 Special Dividend payment date Tuesday, 1 October 2024 Payment by direct credit only The Special Dividend will be paid by direct credit only. See below for details about how shareholders and depositary interest holders may provide or update their banking details. Conduit foreign income The Special Dividend will be wholly paid from conduit foreign income. Non-Australian resident shareholders and depositary interest holders will therefore not be subject to any Australian dividend withholding tax on the Special Dividend. Shareholder and depositary interest holder banking and tax information Special Dividend payments will be made, and any required withholdings by Base Resources in respect of taxes will be determined, based on applicable information provided by each shareholder and depositary interest holder to (as applicable) the Company's share registry or the depositary interest trustee. Shareholders Shareholders may provide or update their banking details by completing a Direct Credit Form and returning that form to Computershare Australia. Direct Credit Forms can be obtained by contacting Computershare Australia: on 1300 271 804 (within Australia) or +61 3 9938 4380 (outside of Australia), Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 5.00 pm (Melbourne time); or by email at web.queries@computershare.com.au. Direct Credit Forms should be returned to Computershare Australia: by post: Computershare Investor Services Pty Limited, GPO Box 2975 Melbourne, Victoria 3001 Australia by email: web.queries@computershare.com.au Depositary interest holders Depositary interest holders may provide or update their banking details by completing a Dividend Mandate Form and returning that form to the depositary interest trustee, Computershare UK. Dividend Mandate Forms can be obtained by contacting Computershare UK: by phone on +44 (0)906 999 0000 between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm (London time) Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays); or by email at WebCorres@computershare.co.uk. Dividend Mandate Forms should be returned to Computershare UK by post to: Computershare Investor Services PLC, The Pavilions, Bridgwater Road ,Bristol, BS99 6ZZ, United Kingdom. Depositary interest holders may also provide their banking details through the CREST system by inputting a valid CREST mandate. Payment currency and method The Special Dividend has been determined in Australian dollars, but will also be paid to shareholders in US dollars and British pounds sterling (Foreign Designated Currencies). Shareholders will be paid in Australian dollars, unless they elect to be paid by direct credit in a Foreign Designated Currency by specifying banking details for a financial institution in the relevant currency prior to 5.00 pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 18 September 2024. The Special Dividend will only be paid to depositary interest holders in British pounds sterling. The Special Dividend will be converted to the Foreign Designated Currencies based on applicable exchange rates on the Special Dividend record date (Wednesday, 18 September 2024). The exchange rates and corresponding amounts will be announced by no later than Friday, 20 September 2024. Scheme information line If shareholders or depositary interest holders have any questions in relation to the Scheme, they should contact the Base Resources Scheme information line on 1300 271 804 (within Australia) and +61 3 9938 4380 (outside Australia) between 8.30am and 5.00pm (Melbourne time), Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. ENDS. For further information contact: Australian Media Relations UK Media Relations Sodali & Co Tavistock Communications Cameron Gilenko and Michael Weir Jos Simson and Gareth Tredway Tel: +61 8 6160 4900 Tel: +44 207 920 3150 About Base Resources Base Resources is an Australian based, African focused, mineral sands producer and developer with a track record of project delivery and operational performance. The Company operates the established Kwale Operations in Kenya and is developing the Toliara Project in Madagascar. Base Resources is an ASX and AIM listed company. Further details about Base Resources are available at www.baseresources.com.au. PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE Level 3, 46 Colin Street West Perth, Western Australia, 6005 Email: info@baseresources.com.au Phone: +61 8 9413 7400 Fax: +61 8 9322 8912 NOMINATED ADVISER & JOINT BROKER Canaccord Genuity Limited James Asensio / Raj Khatri / George Grainger Phone: +44 20 7523 8000 JOINT BROKER Berenberg Matthew Armitt / Detlir Elezi Phone: +44 20 3207 7800 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! Singtel and Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on next-generation data centers and GPU Cloud in Japan and potentially the wider Asia Pacific region under the lead of Singtel's Digital InfraCo unit. The strategic partnership will combine Singtel's extensive data center and connectivity expertise and technology platforms with Hitachi's differentiating capability that enables end-to-end data center integration including green power solutions, cooling systems, storage infrastructure and data management. Together, the companies intend to sustainably enhance data center performance and capabilities, thereby accelerating AI adoption and digital transformation of enterprises. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240825413497/en/ From left to right: Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel's Digital InfraCo; Toshiaki Tokunaga, Executive Vice President, Hitachi, Ltd. (Photo: Business Wire) Notably, the agreement expands on a partnership announced by the companies in June 2024*1 to trial and integrate Singtel's Paragon, the all-in-one orchestration platform for 5G, edge computing and cloud, with Hitachi's AI applications for Hitachi's manufacturing operations as well as enterprise customers. Through Singtel's Paragon platform and Hitachi's deep AI expertise, both companies aim to address the complexities faced by customers when deploying AI capabilities. *1 Press release (June 27, 2024) "Singtel and Hitachi Digital Partner to Accelerate Industrial AI Solutions" https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2024/06/240628a.html With the rapidly growing demand for AI and cloud services, Japan has become one of the largest and fastest growing data center markets in the Asia Pacific region. The market is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 9.8% and reach US$5 billion by 2028*2 *2 Structure Research, Japan (Tokyo Osaka) DCI Report 2023: Data Centre Colocation, Hyperscale Cloud Interconnection Mr. Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel's Digital InfraCo, said, "Our strategic partnership with Hitachi, a leader in digital systems and services fields, opens up new opportunities in a strategically important and expanding Japanese market. Building a strong ecosystem of partners has always been a priority at Singtel to better serve our customers and broaden our global reach. We look forward to bringing our collective expertise, digital assets and solutions to help more enterprises innovate and transform their businesses and operations through the cloud and AI. As we scale our digital capabilities with our partners like Hitachi, we aim to become a leader in the Asia Pacific region." Singtel carved out Digital InfraCo in mid-2023 to serve as a catalyst for innovation and economic growth for Asia Pacific's digital economies. Digital InfraCo's portfolio includes Nxera, its regional data center arm, subsea cable, and satellite businesses, and Paragon platform which are all crucial to advancing AI in the region. Digital InfraCo plans to launch GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) later this year to better support enterprise AI adoption. Mr. Toshiaki Tokunaga, Executive Vice President and Executive Officer at Hitachi, said, "Since its inception, Hitachi's corporate philosophy has centered on addressing the challenges faced by customers and society. As generative AI continues to drive new innovations, the issues of environmental impact due to rising electricity demand is becoming more prominent. Striking a balance between these two factors is a significant mission for Hitachi's Social Innovation Business. We are delighted to embark on this mission through our strategic alliance with Singtel. By combining Singtel's expertise in the development and operation of sustainable data centers with the comprehensive capabilities of the Hitachi Group, ranging from green power solutions to facility and data management, we aim to enable companies to utilize data centers in an intelligent and environmentally conscious manner; ultimately achieving continuous innovation while promoting sustainability." AI-driven data center expansion is a major opportunity for Hitachi's Social Innovation business expansion and its group businesses such as Hitachi Digital Services, Hitachi Energy and others as the expansion calls for the successful integration of all areas where Hitachi uniquely excels: information technology, operational technology and products. The key areas covered by the MOU are: Explore next-generation data center collaboration in Japan and Asia Pacific to address AI demand: Nxera and Hitachi will explore opportunities to develop data centers across Japan and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. With the continued growth in cloud and AI momentum, it is important to operate smart and environmentally sustainable data centers through high efficiency, high quality data center management. Such an initiative would draw on Nxera's expertise in data center design, building and operation along with Hitachi's expertise in the production and delivery of data-center-focused equipment, next-generation energy solutions and advanced IT systems management that ensure stable operations within data center environments. Nxera is developing a platform of sustainable, hyper-connected AI-ready data centers in the region with a total capacity of more than 200MW in addition to 62MW of existing capacity in Singapore. Combine Singtel's GPU platform with Hitachi's AI expertise to develop enterprise applications: Hitachi will explore using Singtel's GPUaaS for its internal AI applications and workloads. This effort would allow Hitachi to verify complementary Singtel-based benefits that can enhance Hitachi's high-performance machine learning, generative AI, and other digital technologies and solutions. Subsequently, it would provide an opportunity for both companies to define more power-efficient methodologies that could advance any enterprise's sustainability goals. Based on the results of Hitachi's internal GPUaaS verification, the companies may also explore the co-creation of enterprise-grade applications that combines Hitachi's expertise, including its generative AI technologies and platform, with Singtel's GPU cloud and Paragon platform. The aim is to further reduce customer development and deployment times as well as management and deployment overhead for AI applications. About Singtel Singtel is a leading Asian communications technology group, operating next-generation connectivity, digital infrastructure and digital businesses including regional data centre arm Nxera and regional IT services arm NCS. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 780 million mobile customers in 21 countries. For consumers, Singtel delivers a complete and integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For enterprises, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cyber security capabilities. Singtel is dedicated to continuous innovation, harnessing technology to create new and exciting customer experiences, support enterprises in their digital transformation and shape a more sustainable, digital future. For more information, visit www.singtel.com. 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 business structure of "Digital Systems Services" supporting our customers' digital transformation; "Green Energy Mobility" contributing to a decarbonized society through energy and railway systems, and "Connective Industries" connecting products through digital technology to provide solutions in various industries. Driven by Digital, Green, and Innovation, we aim for growth through co-creation with our customers. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2022 (ended March 31, 2023) totaled 10,881.1 billion yen, with 696 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240825413497/en/ Contacts: Media: Hitachi Mika Oh Corporate Communications, Digital Systems Services, Hitachi, Ltd. koho@itg.hitachi.co.jp Heather Ailara Hitachi Digital (North America and Europe) heather@211comms.com 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! KAWASAKI, Japan, Aug 26, 2024 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu today announced that it will begin initiatives to attract global clinical trials to Japan and tackle the 'drug loss' issue by working with pharmaceutical companies and medical institutions to build a new medical data ecosystem. The efforts come under the Fujitsu Uvance Healthy Living, which aims to improve people's well-being.In July 2024, Fujitsu formed a strategic partnership with Paradigm Health, Inc., a US startup that provides one of the world's most advanced clinical trial platforms. Through utilizing this platform, Fujitsu's Healthy Living Platform, and the Fujitsu Kozuchi AI service, Fujitsu and Paradigm will facilitate the collection and processing of data stored at medical institutions and speed up the clinical trial planning process.In addition, starting today, Fujitsu will release Patient-centric Clinical Trials, a new service for automatically creating clinical trial documents using Fujitsu's proprietary large language model (LLM). This service will be positioned in the company's Healthy Living portfolio.Fujitsu will continue to expand its support to include not only clinical trial planning, but also implementation, and will work to solve issues throughout the entire clinical trial process. Through these efforts, Fujitsu aims to secure 20.0 billion yen in revenue in fiscal 2030, as well as contribute to achieving a society in which patients can quickly obtain the medicine they need and choose the treatment that best suits them.BackgroundIn Japan, patients who participate in clinical trials are dispersed across multiple hospitals making the process costly and time consuming. There has been an increasing number of cases in which Japan is excluded from regions targeted for global clinical trials. The impact of Japan's drug pricing policy is also contributing to this situation.As a result, the number of drugs that are in use outside of Japan but are not approved for use in Japan had risen to 143 as of March 2023 (source: the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan).Overview of the Initiatives1. Accelerating Digitization in the Area of Clinical Trials through Fujitsu's Partnership with ParadigmFujitsu will work with Paradigm, a US startup that provides pharmaceutical companies and medical institutions with one-stop support for the clinical trial process, to develop a new clinical trial data ecosystem that utilizes medical data. Paradigm's clinical trial platform, which hosts many global clinical trials and has a long track record of success, will be combined with Fujitsu's operational support expertise and cutting-edge technologies in the area of healthcare and life sciences in Japan.Clinical data, such as medical data and genomic data, will be collected from medical institutions through Fujitsu's Healthy Living Platform. Fujitsu's AI service, Fujitsu Kozuchi, will process this data so that it is compliant with the necessary laws and regulations, and it will be provided to Paradigm. In addition, Paradigm will use its clinical trial platform to analyze the data and provide pharmaceutical companies with the insight needed to plan and conduct clinical trials. This will allow pharmaceutical companies to better understand the situation at the medical institutions as well as the distribution of patients during the planning phase of the clinical trial, and significantly optimize the clinical trial design process.Medical institutions will also be able to quickly access information about clinical trials in which patients are able to participate through Paradigm's clinical trial platform, making it easier for medical institutions to encourage patients to participate in clinical trials at the appropriate time.Fujitsu will launch these solutions starting in September 2024, beginning with providing support to core clinical research hospitals.2. Providing Patient-centric Clinical Trials, a New Offering for Optimizing Clinical Trial Workflows through a Specialized LLMIn Japan, the hundreds of clinical trial-related documents that pharmaceutical companies need to produce to develop a new drug are still being created and managed manually. However, by using its LLM specialized for clinical trials, Fujitsu will offer a service that can automatically create these documents and ensure that they are in compliance with regulations. This service will be provided in Japan as the Patient-centric Clinical Trials offering as part of its Healthy Living portfolio.In conducting a PoC of this offering with a pharmaceutical company, the LLM was able to automatically create approximately 80% of each document. According to Fujitsu's estimates, this is expected to lead to a reduction in the total time required to create documentation of up to 50%. Through this offering, Fujitsu aims to make a significant contribution to optimizing the clinical trial planning and implementation workflow.Future PlansFujitsu will work to accelerate the digitalization of the clinical trial environment in Japan by providing total support for the entire clinical trial process, including planning and implementation. Through these efforts, Fujitsu aims to create the groundwork for increasing the number of global clinical trials conducted in Japan, solve the issue of drug loss and contribute to achieving a society in which all individuals can choose to live their lives in the way that suits them.Statement from Kent Thoelke, CEO of Paradigm Health, Inc.Paradigm is excited to be partnering with Fujitsu to maximize clinical trial efficiency in Japan. This collaboration will modernize the clinical trial model and provide unprecedented access to clinical trials for patients across Japan. The partnership will leverage Paradigm's industry leading Platform and Fujitsu's expansive healthcare solutions to increase clinical trial patient accrual, decrease overall drug development timelines and costs, while working to eliminate drug loss in Japan. We believe that this collaboration will establish Japan as an essential part of the global clinical trials and drug development ecosystem while ensuring that Japanese patients have equitable access to the best possible care options.About FujitsuFujitsu's purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.7 trillion yen (US$26 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.Press ContactsFujitsu LimitedPublic and Investor Relations DivisionInquiries (https://bit.ly/3rrQ4mB)Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2024 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. XCMG is committed to continuously developing tailored product lines to cater to the increasing demand for electric power engineering equipment in Europe. XUZHOU, China, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- XCMG Machinery (XCMG, SHE: 000425), a leading construction machinery manufacturer, has recently shipped 5 units of customized XE19E electric excavators to Germany. This move aligns with the increasing demand for emission-reducing construction equipment in urban projects across Europe. The delivery of these electric excavators marks a significant stride in meeting the stringent emissions regulations promulgated by European cities. The XE19E model, first unveiled at bauma Munich in 2022 among 13 specially designed excavators for the region, features advanced capabilities such as fast charging that enhance operational efficiency and adaptability to diverse working conditions. This European customized model includes over-the-air software upgrade functions, tailored to meet regional operational needs. Its operational capabilities will greatly boost excavation efficiency, reducing energy costs by 70% compared to traditional diesel engines. The XE19E operates on a 51.2V low-voltage platform equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, ensuring zero carbon emissions while maintaining high safety standards. This model is particularly suited for noise-sensitive areas due to its low vibration and noise levels. Key hydraulic components utilize cutting-edge technology that minimizes energy consumption while maximizing response speed and control precision. The synergy between the electric motor and hydraulic systems optimizes energy utilization, providing sufficient flow to all working devices, which enhances overall work efficiency. Additionally, the excavator's boom can swing laterally, and it features telescopic undercarriage that improves adaptability across various terrains. Structural optimizations along with ergonomic design enhancements ensure reliability during prolonged operations while improving operator comfort and convenience. The versatility of the XE19E allows it to perform multiple functions such as trench digging, dredging, hole drilling and tree planting, suitable for scenarios ranging from vegetable greenhouses, landscaping, food processing, indoor demolition, to farmland plowing. The XE19E electric excavator is the latest electric-powered equipment delivered by XCMG Machinery this year. In 2023 alone, XCMG's revenue from new energy products reached USD $1.8 billion, accounting for over 12% of its total sales revenue with an impressive growth rate of 101%. As a leader in the industry chain, XCMG has mobilized more than 300 upstream and downstream enterprises in the new energy sector. The company has significantly contributed towards achieving an annual output value exceeding around USD $2.8 billion within this ecosystem. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2489261/A_Batch_XE19E_Electric_Excavators_Tailor_Made_European_Market_Have_Been.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xcmg-delivers-customized-electric-excavators-to-europe-boosting-eco-friendly-construction-302230261.html August 25, 2024: The heavy losses suffered in Ukraine, which include several hundred thousand dead and even more disabled troops, led the government to develop a plan for hundreds of war memorials in areas, usually rural towns, where most of the dead soldiers came from. When the fighting in Ukraine intensified after the initial quick victory was not achieved, Russia found it was suffering far more casualties than anticipated. Most of the soldiers came from rural areas as military age men living in the cities are better educated and have access to well-paying jobs. The government recognizes this, and the fact that there are not a lot of soldiers, including officers, from the big cities getting killed in Ukraine. The war seems more distant to the people living in the cities and the national media outlets that are based there. Despite the urban populations avoiding a lot of Ukraine war casualties, the government was mindful of the poor morale in the rural areas where most of the soldiers came from. This was where families of most dead soldiers lived and they were not happy with the Russian Special Operation in Ukraine. This is what the government called its Ukraine invasion and Russians soon realized that this Special Operation, which was supposed to be over quickly, has gone on for over two years. That last time Russia launched an invasion of a neighboring country was in 1940 when Russia sought to take control of neighboring Finland by force. The Finns fought back fiercely. The battles were in the winter and Russian losses were so high that Russia made peace with Finland. The Finns joined the Nazis when Germany invaded in 1941 but attacked only areas the Russians had taken from them and carefully avoided threatening Leningrad or the vital railroad to northern Murmansk. Because of that, after the war the Russian government only took some but not much more territory from Finland while leaving Finland independent. The Russian people know that Finland, now a NATO member, continues to keep the peace along its 1,340 kilometer border with Russia. Then there is the 2,000 kilometer border Russia shares with Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was, like the Russian invasion of Finland, an expensive, for the Russians, mistake. This time Russia did not have a non-aggression pact with Ukraine, like they had with Germany to use when the two nations invaded Poland in 1939. Poland was quickly overwhelmed and Polish territory was divided between Germany and Russia. That arrangement ended in 1941 when Germany invaded Russia and took control over all of Poland and proceeded to murder nearly six million Poles during the war, half of them Jews. Poland never forgot their World War II experience and, after the Cold War ended in 1991 and Russian influence in Poland was eliminated, the Poles joined NATO and have been ardent supporters of Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. NATO is a defensive organization and if anyone, like Russia, attacks a NATO member, they are automatically at war with all 32 NATO countries, including the United States, France and Britain, which all have nuclear weapons. One reason Russia invaded Ukraine was that Ukraine was planning to join NATO. Russia had threatened Ukraine over Ukrainian NATO membership and that only made Ukrainians more eager to get into NATO as soon as possible. NATO subsequently agreed to make Ukraine its 33rd member once the Russians are driven out of Ukraine. This would be a nightmare for Russia and leader Vladimir Putin has promised peace with Ukraine and implied possibly even return of the 25 percent of Ukraine currently occupied by Russia, if Ukraine does not join NATO. Because the Russian invasion of Ukraine has failed, the Russian government has a problem with Russian regions where most of its troops came from. Most of those soldiers were killed or wounded and the government response has been the construction and installation of hundreds of war memorials in rural towns where most of the dead soldiers came from. While local officials express gratitude for these memorial statues, the residents of these towns are less impressed. Most of the people in these places know someone who was killed in Ukraine or know a family that lost someone. The civilians see the statues as another cynical move by the government to take advantage of the deaths of these men. Angry locals know that defacing or criticizing these memorials will get you arrested, just as open criticism of the war did earlier. The government will eventually realize, if they havent already, that the memorials not only honor the dead but remind Russians that it was their own government that got these men killed. There will never be any memorials to that truth. JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, representatives from China's and Indonesia's PV industry chains gathered in Indonesia for MOU signing of cooperation. During which, DDI, leveraging its innovative fund model, collaborated with 11 leading Chinese PV industry chain enterprises, and officially signed MOU with PT Kawasan Industri Terpadu Batang (PT KITB), jointly contributing to the implementation and development of localization. The success of this event not only utilized the immense potential of the Indonesian PV market, but also marked a significant milestone in the deepened cooperation between China and Indonesia in the field of new energy. Comprehensive Industrial Chain Coverage: A combination of Strength and Experience As a leading fund management company focused on the global PV industry, DDI has been persistent for over a decade. During this time, it has witnessed the rapid industry growth, and played an important role accelerating its internationalization. With strong capabilities and rich experience, DDI has successfully covered all aspects of the PV industrial chain, including cells, modules, power stations, equipments, auxiliary materials, and other key segments. In Indonesia, a new market filled with opportunities and challenges, DDI, with sharp market visions, precisely captures market demands, offering comprehensive and profound support for the rapid development of Indonesia's PV industry. Through the in-depth integration of industrial chain resources, DDI provides a solid foundation to support replication and expansion of Indonesia's PV industry. Finance Empowers Industry: Drive Photovoltaic Industry Growth through Funds The power of financial capital accurately identifies and efficiently allocates resources. PV industry, a key segment of renewable energy, offers immense potential and market demand-a prime stage for financial capital. Thus, leveraging keen market insights and rich industry resources, DDI innovatively adopts a "fund + industry" model, directly infusing financial capital into key links of PV industry, accelerating technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and market expansion. Looking Ahead: Strategic Layout with a Global Perspective While fostering a deep presence in the Indonesian market, DDI will actively explore opportunities with other countries and regions globally, adhering to the principle of open cooperation. Through continuous innovation and deepened partnerships, DDI will maintain a global perspective toward industry trends. Together, we hope to accelerate rapid development of the global PV industry and contribute greater wisdom and strength to the global transition towards green energy. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2488331/image.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/owning-a-decade-of-concentration-in-photovoltaic-industry-ddi-empowers-indonesias-pv-industry-through-an-innovative-strategy-of-fund-302230293.html Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) (the "Company" or "Fathom") is pleased to provide final results from the extremely successful June soil and rock geochemistry program completed at the Company's 22,000+ ha Gochager Lake Property (see Press Release July 18, 2024). In overview, the results clearly demonstrate that the geochemical footprint of the Gochager Lake deposit has been extended by up to four kilometers along trend (approximately two kilometers in both the NE and SW directions). Please join Ian Fraser, CEO in a webinar discussion today (August 26) at 8:30AM MDT for an in-depth discussion of the Gochager Lake geochemistry results. Webinar link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84403466191 Highlights of the June results include: Results from the pXRF analyses of outcrop chip samples and outcrop rock sampling has expanded the variable-textured gabbro footprint in the historic Gochager Lake deposit area, approximately 12.5 times (Figure 2) [1] . . Soil geochemistry results define a Ni-Cu-Co+Cr-Mg in-soil geochemical signal, analogous to the historic Gochager Lake deposit geochemical footprint, over an area of approximately 1.7km 2 ; an area representative of 25 times the area of the historic deposit geochemical footprint. ; an area representative of 25 times the area of the historic deposit geochemical footprint. We identified a very prominent linear trend of coincident and highly anomalous Ni-Cu-Co+Cr-Mg in-soils exceeding 600 meters in length and up to 100 meters in width, indicative of a subsurface mafic - ultramafic source rock. This identified trend occurs approximately 1.2km east-northeast of the historic Gochager Lake deposit and extends northeast towards Weaver Lake and remains open beyond the end of the zone of soil sampling (see Figures 3 and 4) One individual soil sample returned a very impressive 1,650ppm Ni, 116.5ppm Cu and 373ppm Co from a multi-station, multi-element, soil anomaly occurring approximately 1.0km west-southwest of the deposit area. Ian Fraser, CEO and VP Exploration stated, "The Company is ecstatic with the results from this soil and rock geochemistry program. Through our drilling at the historic Gochager Lake deposit over the course of the last 18 months, we have developed a clear understanding of the deposit's geochemical footprint. The combination of highly anomalous Ni-Cu-Co + chrome (Cr) and magnesium (Mg) in-soil, rock geochemistry results generated by pXRF, and rock assay data has expanded the Gochager Lake deposit geochemical footprint dramatically - to an area that now measures, incredibly, some 1.7 square kilometers. That's 25 times larger than the area of the historic Gochager Lake deposit. In addition, we have identified other, separate, very prominent Ni-Cu-Co + Cr-Mg in-soil anomalies outside of this 1.7 square kilometer footprint area. Underlaying this geochemical footprint is a very distinct MAG feature recognized through the ongoing interpretation of the 2008 VTEM survey. We are very confident that our exacting exploration approach will continue to successfully expand the historic Gochager Lake deposit along strike and to depth - in terms of both grade and tonnage. We are also very confident of significant additional discoveries both within the now-expanded footprint, and also the greater Gochager Lake property. Based on continuing results, there is clear and compelling potential for a major discovery to be had here." Figure 1 - Area covered by Geological Mapping and Soil Geochemistry To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/221101_753fdd3374e3db3d_002full.jpg Figure 2 - Cr Rock Sample Geochemistry Map The variable-texture gabbro has unusually high Cr (chrome) values as compared to a typical gabbro. Cr is a unique pathfinder element associated with the variable-textured gabbro that Fathom now recognizes as the container rock, host to the disseminated to semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia mineralization defining the historic Gochager Lake deposit. The high Cr rock geochemistry has significantly expanded the favourable variable-textured gabbro in the deposit area (~12.5 times). To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/221101_fathom_figure2.jpg Figure 3 - Ni-in-soil Geochemistry Map Two very prominent northeast - southwest trends have been defined by Ni-in-soil results. The MAG feature mentioned conforms to the most prominent trend. Cu and Co values consistently mirror and correspond with the Ni in-soil values. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/221101_fathom_figure3.jpg Figure 4 - Cr-in-soil Geochemistry Map The high Cr-in soil is an indication of variable-texture gabbro occurring in the subsurface, or the presence of ultramafic rock occurring in the subsurface; specifically in the very linear feature northeast of the Gochager Lake deposit. The high abundance of Ni-Cu-Co in-soil associated with Cr-in-soil suggests mafic (variable-textured gabbro) to ultramafic rock occurring in the subsurface is potentially mineralized. The Cr-in-soil conforms to areas mapped as variable-textured gabbro and high-Cr gabbro (Figure 2). To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/221101_fathom_figure4.jpg In addition, the Company is also pleased to announce that the construction of the 20-25-person, all-season camp at the Gochager Lake project has been completed. The Company was able to take advantage of the mobilizing of camp gear to the project to also include the mobilization of the TUZO GeoSurveys Drone MAG equipment and personnel. The Drone MAG survey was completed August 6th - 11th. Results of the 367.2 line-kilometer survey are expected during the first week of September. Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Disclosure Statement The Company contracted the services of TerraLogic Exploration Inc. ("TerraLogic") to conduct its soil and rock geochemistry program within the historic Gochager Lake deposit area. Soil samples were collected using either a hand auger or a geotool at pre-determined sites utilizing a 100m x 50m sample spacing configuration and a detailed 50m x 50m sample spacing configuration. The B-horizon soil was collected at each site, placed in kraft soil sample bags and all metadata associated with each sample location was recorded. Once sorted and logged, samples were shipped to ALS Canada Ltd. ("ALS") in North Vancouver, British Columbia. At ALS, individual samples were dried and sieved to -180 micron (80 mesh) and both fractions were retained. A 0.5g split of the sieved portion was partially digested (Aqua Regia) and analysis of 54 elements was performed by ultra trace ICP-MS (ME-MS41). Rock samples were crushed and pulverized up to 250g, 85% <75um. A 0.4g split was dissolved by 4-acid digestion and analysis of 33 elements was performed by ICP-AES (ME-ICP61). Ore grade measurements were performed by ME-OG62 and Ni-OG62. Platinum, palladium and gold by PGM-ICP27 and total sulphur by S-IR08. ALS is an ISO / IEC 17025 certified laboratory and independent of Fathom. During the soil geochemistry program, TerraLogic crews were instructed to collect one duplicate sample per person per day. In all 63 duplicate samples were collected representing samples collected from either the same sample pit or a new adjacent sample pit. Internal QAQC was performed on all duplicate samples to umpire for contamination occurring between samples. The Company's QAQC approach to the rock samples collected compares to the Company's drill core approach. One Standard and one Blank standard was included into the batch of 51 rock samples. As part of its ongoing exploration activities, Fathom is utilizing a portable Vanta XRF Analyzer ("pXRF") to provide real-time lithogeochemical multi-element data on drill cores from current drillholes and recently on surface outcrop samples at the Gochager Lake project. The Vanta XRF Analyzer is a hand-held device, held in position for a total 120 seconds - beam 1 (30 seconds), beam 2 (60 seconds) and beam 3 (30 seconds) to allow for an effective reading of elements occurring at that specific point, and at that specific surface of a rock sample. All elements detected at that specific point; nickel, copper and cobalt plus key pathfinder elements, chrome and magnesium, are recorded. The reader is cautioned that pXRF data should be treated only as an indication of elements, as the accuracy of the beam position on a particular element is variable. As with drill core sampling a rigid QA/QC process is in place for the collection and analysing of pXRF data. Internal QA/QC protocols were also implemented to ensure that real-time pXRF geochemical data collected on site was of high quality and reliable. Spot scans of SiO2 blank and certified reference material were conducted every 25 scans, alternating the blank and standards every 50th scan. pXRF data collected on QA/QC material was periodically plotted in graphical form to check for data entry errors and instrument drift. Qualified Person and Data Verification Ian Fraser, P.Geo., CEO, VP Exploration and a Director of the Company and the "qualified person" as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has verified the data disclosed in this news release, and has otherwise reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of the Company. About Fathom Nickel Inc. Fathom is an exploration company that is targeting magmatic nickel sulphide discoveries to support the rapidly growing global electric vehicle market and to secure the supply of North American Critical Minerals. The Company now has a portfolio of three high-quality exploration projects located in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan: 1) the Albert Lake Project, a 90,000+ hectare project that was host to the historic and past producing Rottenstone Mine2 (produced 28,724 tons @3.3% Ni, 1.8% Cu, 9.63 g/t 3E (Pd-Pt+Au) 1965-1969), and 2) the 22,000+ hectare Gochager Lake Project that is host to a historic, NI43-101 non-compliant open pit resource consisting of 4.3M tons at 0.295% Ni and 0.081% Cu3, and 3) the 10,000+ hectare Friesen Lake Project located 40km southwest of the historic Rottenstone Mine and 30km northwest of the historic Gochager Lake deposit. 2 - The Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI #0958) reports the production grades noted above from a small open pit. Fathom cannot confirm the production numbers nor a historic resource estimate that may have been in place ahead of production. The historic pit exists, and the Company trusts the production, as noted in SMDI #0958, to be accurate. The Company has performed test assaying of Rottenstone-type mineralization and results are consistent with production grades. 3 - The Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI #0880) reports drill indicated reserves at the historic Gochager Lake Deposit of 4,262,400 tons grading 0.295% Ni and 0.081% Cu mineable by open pit. Fathom cannot confirm the resource estimate, nor the parameters and methods used to prepare the reserve estimate. The estimate is not considered NI43-101 compliant and further work is required to verify this historical drill indicated reserve. Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "seek", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding payment of terms under the Option Agreement, permitting for the Property, receipt of an exploration permit, timing of the exploration program on the Property and the Company achieving the earn-in thresholds under the Option Agreement. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Such forward looking statements 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 forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections. [1] Variable-textured gabbro is the host rock; the container rock, to the disseminated to semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia mineralization at the historic Gochager Lake deposit. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAWS To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/221101 SOURCE: Fathom Nickel Inc. 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! Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - Pasofino Gold Limited (TSXV: VEIN) (OTCQB: EFRGF) (FSE: N07A) ("Pasofino" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the strategic review process first announced in its February 13, 2023 press release (the "Strategic Review Press Release"). As noted in the Strategic Review Press Release, Pasofino's intention is to disclose developments with respect to the strategic review when the board of directors has approved a specific transaction or course of action or otherwise determines that disclosure is necessary or appropriate. Pasofino is issuing this cleansing press release to disclose material information related to the strategic review process in order to allow Pasofino to undertake a financing to secure funds necessary to advance the Dugbe Gold Project's (the "Project") Feasibility Study initiatives that commenced earlier this year which should enhance project economics in this positive gold environment (the "Interim Financing"). Insiders of Pasofino will be participating in the Interim Financing, the terms of which will be announced no earlier than 1 full trading day after the date of this press release. The Interim Financing will be subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. To realise value for Pasofino's shareholders the company (in light of current gold prices, the Project's NAV and recent M&A transactions for similar gold projects in Africa), Pasofino has been engaged with multiple parties, and to date two parties have provided Pasofino offer letters to acquire Pasofino and a site visit has occurred. Pasofino confirms that it has not signed any of the offer letters received and is engaged with the parties with respect to the terms of the offer letters. In addition, Pasofino continues to engage with interested parties in the completion of their confirmatory due diligence and structuring in order to enable Pasofino and the third party to enter into a letter of intent/exclusivity agreement by September 30, 2024 and thereafter the intention is to enter into a definitive acquisition agreement in Q4 2024. Pasofino cautions that there are no assurances or guarantees as to the timeline for the strategic review process, that the strategic review will result in a transaction or, if a transaction is undertaken, the terms or timing of such transaction. ABOUT THE DUGBE GOLD PROJECT The 2,078 km2 Dugbe Gold Project is in southern Liberia and situated within the southwestern corner of the Birimian Supergroup which is host to most West African gold deposits. To date, two deposits have been identified on the Project; Dugbe F and Tuzon discovered by Hummingbird in 2009 and 2011 respectively. The deposits are located within 4 km of the Dugbe Shear Zone which is thought to have played a role in large scale gold mineralization in the area. A significant amount of exploration in the area was conducted by Hummingbird up until 2012 including 74,497 m of diamond coring. Pasofino drilled an additional 14,584 m at Tuzon and Dugbe during 2021. These deposits have a combined Mineral Resource Estimates dated 17 November 2021 with total Measured and Indicated of 3.3 Moz with an average grade of 1.37 g/t Au, and 0.6 Moz in Inferred. Following the completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study in June 2022 a Mineral Reserve Estimate was declared, based on the open-pit mining of both deposits over a 14-year Life of Mine. A technical report for the Dugbe Gold Project was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website. In addition to the existing deposits there are many gold prospects within the Project including the Bukon Jedeh area and the DSZ target on the Tuzon-Sackor trend where Pasofino has discovered a broad zone of surface gold mineralisation in trench and outcrop along strike from Tuzon. At this and several of the other prospects no drilling has been carried out to date. In 2019, Hummingbird signed a 25-year Mineral Development Agreement ("MDA") with the Government of Liberia providing the necessary long-term framework and stabilization of taxes and duties. Under the terms of the MDA, the royalty rate on gold production is 3%, the income tax rate payable is 25% (with credit given for historic exploration expenditures), the fuel duty is reduced by 50%, and the Government of Liberia is granted a free carried interest of 10% in the Project. ABOUT PASOFINO GOLD LTD. Pasofino Gold Ltd. is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (VEIN). Pasofino, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, owns 100% of the Dugbe Gold Project (prior to the issuance of the Government of Liberia's 10% carried interest). 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. QUALIFIED PERSONS STATEMENT Scientific or technical information in this disclosure was prepared and approved by Mr. Andrew Pedley. Mr. Pedley is a consultant of Pasoino Gold Ltd.'s wholly-owned subsidiary ARX Resources Limited. He is a member in good standing with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and is as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterised by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "seek", "potential, "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "expression of interest", "indicate", "indicative", "proposed" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the interest of third parties in potentially acquiring Pasofino, the indicative terms provided by such third parties with respect to such potential acquisition, the date any definitive agreement in respect of any acquisition transaction is expected to be entered into, the ability to raise the funds to finance its ongoing business activities including the acquisition of mineral projects and the exploration and development of its projects. Such forward-looking statements 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 forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to, completion of satisfactory due diligence by a potential acquiror, negotiation and finalization of a definitive agreement and the satisfaction of all closing conditions to complete any potential transaction, including a condition that the parties obtaining all required approvals, including TSXV approval, the ability to successfully complete the strategic review process, the results of business operation, the results of exploration activities; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. There is no assurance that any transaction or financing will be completed at all or on terms previously disclosed. Readers therefore should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/221137 SOURCE: Pasofino Gold Limited 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. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CSE: HEAT) (OTCQB: HLRTF) (FSE: 7HI) ("Hillcrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its news release on July 22, 2024, it has closed the most recent drawdown of the previously announced $5 million equity drawdown facility (the "Equity Facility"). The Company has provided the third-party investor (the "Investor") with a drawdown notice and on August 26, 2024, the Investor funded the Company with a drawdown amount of $540,000 (the "August Drawdown"). Pursuant to the terms of the Equity Facility, in connection with the August Drawdown the Company: (a) issued the Investor 2,076,923 units of the Company ("Units") at a deemed price of $0.26 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one-half of one Share purchase warrant (each whole Warrant, a "Warrant"), each of which is excisable to acquire one additional Share at a price of $0.33 for a period of three years from the date of distribution; and (b) issued the Investor 249,230 Shares at a deemed price of $0.26 per Share in satisfaction of the drawdown fee payable in connection with the July Drawdown. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Equity Facility, including the August Drawdown, for technology and product development, commercialization, and general working capital. To date and in connection with past drawdowns, the Company has received a total of $1,465,673 in proceeds from the Equity Facility and issued 6,915,493 Shares and 3,225,336 Warrants. Of the 3,225,336 Warrants, all of which are exercisable for a period of three years from the date of distribution, 741,541 Warrants are exercisable at a price of $0.31, 547,044 are exercisable at a price of $0.30, 536,171 are exercisable at a price of $0.25, 362,119 are exercisable at a price of $0.28, and 1,038,461 are exercisable at a price $0.33. Additionally, the Company previously issued 1,022,830 Shares to the Investor in satisfaction of a Commitment Fee related to the Equity Facility. All securities issued pursuant to the Equity Facility, including the July Drawdown, 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. About Hillcrest Energy Technologies Hillcrest Energy Technologies is a clean technology company focused on providing advanced power conversion technologies and digital control systems for next-generation powertrains and grid-connected renewable energy systems. From concept to commercialization, Hillcrest is investing in the development of energy solutions that will power a more sustainable and electrified future. Hillcrest is publicly traded on the CSE under the symbol "HEAT," on the OTCQB Venture Market as "HLRTF" and on the Frankfurt Exchange as "7HI". For more information, please visit: https://hillcrestenergy.tech/. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information Some of the statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "intends," "is expected," "potential," "suggests" or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "should," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes the anticipated use of proceeds from the Equity Facility. This forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this news release. The forward-looking information reflects the current expectations and assumptions of management and is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. No assurance can be given that these assumptions will prove correct. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are advised to consider the risk factors under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's MD&A for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, available at https://www.sedarplus.ca/ for a discussion of the factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. # # # To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/221165 SOURCE: Hillcrest Energy Technologies Ltd. The recent approval of Rovi Pharmaceuticals Laboratories' OKEDI/RISVAN (risperidone ISM) has spiked the competition among the other pharmaceutical companies that are developing novel therapies to improve the treatment landscape. RISVAN has the potential to become a blockbuster drug. LAS VEGAS, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness affecting about 1% of Americans, cognitive functions, emotional responses, decision-making, and social interaction. Onset typically occurs in late teens to early 20s for men and late 20s to early 30s for women. Currently, as per the WHO, the vast majority of schizophrenia patients around the world are not receiving mental health care. Approximately 50% of people in mental hospitals have a schizophrenia diagnosis, and only 31.3% of people with psychosis receive specialist mental health care. As per DelveInsight analysis, in 2023 the total diagnosed prevalent cases of schizophrenia in the 7MM were found to be approximately 4 million cases out of which the US accounted for nearly 1.5 million cases. It is anticipated that these numbers will rise by 2034 due to several factors, including population growth, improved diagnostic techniques, increased awareness, and reduced stigma around mental health issues prompting more individuals to seek diagnosis, and potentially, environmental stressors contributing to a higher occurrence of the disorder. Schizophrenia treatment involves a blend of medication, psychological counseling, and social support. However, nearly one-third of patients do not respond sufficiently to standard treatments. Relapses, characterized by psychotic symptoms and functional impairments, are significant. Schizophrenia treatment mainly consists of antipsychotic medications that target dopamine neurotransmitters. Second-generation medications are favored because they lower the risk of severe side effects. Long-acting injectable antipsychotics can enhance adherence and improve treatment outcomes. High-dose regimens of specific medications may be advantageous for patients with severe, treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Additionally, hospitalization and electroconvulsive therapy might be necessary for patients who do not respond to medication therapy or during severe episodes. First-generation antipsychotics like chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, and perphenazine are effective in treating positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions but do not alleviate negative symptoms or cognitive impairments. Second-generation antipsychotics, including REXULTI/RXULTI (brexpiprazole), CAPLYTA (lumateperone), LATUDA (lurasidone hydrochloride), SAPHRIS (asenapine), ABILIFY MYCITE (aripiprazole tablets with sensor), VRAYLAR/REAGILA (cariprazine), SECUADO (asenapine), INVEGA SUSTENNA/TRINZA/HAYFERA (paliperidone palmitate), ARISTADA/ARISTADA INITIO (aripiprazole lauroxil), PERSERIS (risperidone), FANAPT (iloperidone), and LYBALVI (olanzapine and samidorphan), were developed to address both positive and negative symptoms, as well as cognitive symptoms. Although these medications typically have fewer extrapyramidal side effects, they can cause weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and other metabolic disorders. Additionally, elderly patients using FGAs and SGAs are at an increased risk of developing pneumonia. Learn more about the FDA-approved schizophrenia drugs @ Drugs for Schizophrenia Treatment REXULTI (brexpiprazole) is an oral tablet available in strengths from 0.25 mg to 4 mg, containing various inactive ingredients. While its exact mechanism of action is not fully understood, it work as a partial agonist at serotonin 5-HT1A and dopamine D2 receptors and as an antagonist at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. REXULTI was first approved in the US in July 2015 for use in adults with MDD and schizophrenia. In January 2022, it received FDA approval for pediatric patients aged 13-17. The EMA approved it in July 2018, and Japan approved it in tablet form in January 2018 and as an oral-disintegrating dose in August 2021. Generic versions of REXULTI have now been approved, which may affect its market presence. Janssen Pharmaceutical's INVEGA SUSTENNA/INVEGA TRINZA/INVEGA HAFYERA (paliperidone palmitate) is an SGA agent that seems to act as a D2 partial agonist and a 5-HT-2A receptor antagonist. INVEGA SUSTENNA is administered monthly, INVEGA TRINZA every three months, and INVEGA HAFYERA twice yearly. Paliperidone is a benzisoxazole derivative. In the EU and Japan, INVEGA SUSTENNA is marketed as XEPLION. In the EU, INVEGA TRINZA is sold as TREVICTA, and in Japan as XEPLION TRI. INVEGA HAFYERA is a long-acting injectable treatment administered in the upper buttocks every six months, providing continuous treatment and symptom control over this period. Additionally, the recent approval of RISVAN (Risperidone ISM) has intensified the competition in the schizophrenia treatment space. Risperidone ISM is a long-acting injectable antipsychotic created and patented by ROVI for treating schizophrenia in adults. From the first injection, it delivers immediate and sustained plasma drug levels without the need for loading doses or additional oral risperidone. This approval is based on the positive outcomes of the pivotal PRISMA-3 study, which assessed the efficacy and safety of Risperidone ISM in patients with schizophrenia. The study's findings demonstrate that the two doses tested (75 mg and 100 mg administered once monthly) successfully met the predetermined primary and secondary efficacy endpoints for treating patients with moderate to severe schizophrenia symptoms. Furthermore, OKEDI (risperidone ISM) was launched in Germany, the UK, and Spain in 2022. The approval was based on the positive results of the pivotal PRISMA-3 study on the efficacy and safety of risperidone ISM in schizophrenia patients. As per the estimates by Delveinsight analysts, this drug has blockbuster potential in the schizophrenia market with medium-fast uptake. To know more about schizophrenia treatment options, visit @ New Treatment for Schizophrenia The schizophrenia market is crowded with so many companies working in the domain. Various potential therapies that are projected to enter during the forecast period include Boehringer Ingelheim's Iclepertin (BI-425809), Sumitomo Pharma/Otsuka's Ulotaront (SEP-363856), Reviva Pharmaceuticals' Brilaroxazine (RP5063), Minerva Neurosciences/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's Roluperidone (MIN-101/MT-210), Karuna Therapeutics (Bristol Myers Squibb)/Royalty Pharma's KarXT (xanomeline-trospium), ACADIA Pharmaceuticals' NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), Teva Pharmaceutical/MedinCell/Royalty Pharma's Olanzapine LAI (mdc-TJK/TV-44749), Neurocrine Biosciences/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's Valbenazine (NBI-98854), Lyndra Therapeutics' LYN-005 (long-acting oral risperidone), Newron Pharmaceuticals' Evenamide (NW-3509), Luye Pharma's LY03010 (ER paliperidone palmitate), and others. Discover which therapies are expected to grab major schizophrenia market share @ Schizophrenia Market Report Iclepertin (BI 425809) is an investigational drug and a glycine transporter 1 (GlyT1) inhibitor aimed at addressing the brain biology related to cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia (CIAS). Abnormalities in glutamatergic signaling downstream of neuronal NMDA receptors contribute to cognitive impairment in this condition. Enhancing NMDA receptor function could potentially improve synaptic plasticity and cognition. Glycine, an essential NMDA receptor co-agonist, is modulated by glycine transporters GlyT-1 and GlyT-2, which are located in presynaptic and astrocyte membranes. These transporters regulate glycine levels by taking it up into nerve terminals and adjacent glial cells, affecting synaptic cleft glycine concentration. By inhibiting these transporters, BI 425809 aims to increase glycine levels, thereby modulating NMDA receptor function. Administered orally, this potent and selective GlyT1 inhibitor is also under investigation for Alzheimer's disease. However, early 2020 Phase II trial results did not support its continued development for this indication, and the focus has now shifted to schizophrenia, with multiple Phase III trials currently underway. Since schizophrenia, patients frequently ignore certain symptoms, such as cognitive impairment. Therefore, if approved, BI-425809 will be the first approved pharmacotherapy for the treatment of CIAS. Ulotaront (SEP-363856), developed by Sumitomo Pharma and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, is a trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) agonist with serotonin 5-HT1A agonist activity. It is a small-molecule oral agent that does not bind to dopamine D2 or serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. Sunovion discovered Ulotaront in collaboration with PsychoGenics using the in vivo phenotypic SmartCube platform and associated artificial intelligence algorithms. Ulotaront is currently in late-stage development for schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in Japan and as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and GAD in the US. Top-line results from Phase III DIAMOND 1 and DIAMOND 2 trials in schizophrenia have been released, but the Phase III DIAMOND 3 trial in the US has been halted. Sumitomo Pharma has also stopped a Phase III trial for schizophrenia in Japan and another Phase II/III trial in China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines, citing business strategy reasons. Despite this, two Phase III trials are still ongoing. Recently, Otsuka and Sumitomo revised their licensing agreement, excluding SEP-4199 and SEP-378614. Under this revision, Otsuka gained exclusive rights from SMPA to develop, manufacture, and commercialize ulotaront worldwide. If Otsuka successfully develops and commercializes ulotaront, they will pay up to 30 million USD (approximately 4.5 billion yen) in milestones, along with royalties based on sales, without any upfront payment. Starting January 2024, Otsuka will cover the full cost of studies conducted by both Sumitomo Pharma Group and Otsuka, except for certain studies. KarXT (xanomeline-trospium) is an oral modulator targeting muscarinic receptors found in both the central nervous system (CNS) and various peripheral tissues. This proprietary product combines xanomeline, a novel muscarinic agonist, with trospium, an approved muscarinic antagonist, to preferentially stimulate muscarinic receptors in the CNS. As a dual M1/M4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, KarXT aims to improve the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. The US FDA has accepted Karuna Therapeutics' NDA for KarXT for adult schizophrenia treatment, with a PDUFA date of September 26, 2024. Additionally, KarXT is undergoing multiple Phase III trials as an adjunctive treatment with standard-of-care agents for schizophrenia and is being evaluated for psychosis treatment in Alzheimer's disease patients. Following Bristol Myers Squibb's acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics, Karuna is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMS. At the Annual Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) in April 2024 in Italy, BMS presented promising results from the latest interim analysis of the Phase III EMERGENT-4 open-label extension trial, showing KarXT's efficacy in reducing symptoms in adults with schizophrenia. BMS plans to continue discussions with the US FDA and will release more data from the EMERGENT program later this year. Discover more about drugs for schizophrenia in development @ Schizophrenia Clinical Trials The anticipated launch of these emerging therapies for schizophrenia are poised to transform the market landscape in the coming years. As these cutting-edge therapies continue to mature and gain regulatory approval, they are expected to reshape the schizophrenia market landscape, offering new standards of care and unlocking opportunities for medical innovation and economic growth. DelveInsight estimates that the market size for schizophrenia is expected to grow from USD 2.6 billion in 2023 with a significant CAGR by 2034. This growth can be attributed to the introduction of upcoming therapies and the rising prevalence of the disease. The anticipated launch of these therapies is also expected to attract new entrants to the Schizophrenia market, resulting in increased competition and innovation. DelveInsight's latest published market report titled as Schizophrenia Market Insight, Epidemiology, and Market Forecast - 2034 will help you to discover which market leader is going to capture the largest market share. The report provides comprehensive insights into the schizophrenia country-specific treatment guidelines, patient pool analysis, and epidemiology forecast to help understand the key opportunities and assess the market's underlying potential. The schizophrenia market report proffers epidemiological analysis for the study period 2020-2034 in the 7MM segmented into: Total Prevalent Cases of Schizophrenia Total Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Schizophrenia Gender-specific Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Schizophrenia Severity-specific Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Schizophrenia The report provides an edge while developing business strategies by understanding trends shaping and driving the 7MM schizophrenia market. Highlights include: 11-year Forecast 7MM Analysis Epidemiology-based Market Forecasting Historical and Forecasted Market Analysis upto 2034 Emerging Drug Market Uptake Peak Sales Analysis Key Cross Competition Analysis Industry Expert's Opinion Access and Reimbursement Download this schizophrenia market report to assess the epidemiology forecasts, understand the patient journeys, know KOLs' opinions about the upcoming treatment paradigms, and determine the factors contributing to the shift in the schizophrenia market. Also, stay abreast of the mitigating factors to improve your market position in the schizophrenia therapeutic space. Related Reports Schizophrenia Pipeline Schizophrenia Pipeline Insight - 2024 report provides comprehensive insights about the pipeline landscape, pipeline drug profiles, including clinical and non-clinical stage products, and the key schizophrenia companies, including Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc., Gedeon Richter Ltd., Lyndra Therapeutics, Neurocrine Bioscience, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Memory Pharmaceuticals, Hoffmann-La Roche, Neurocrine Biosciences, Boehringer Ingelheim, Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., SK Life Science, Inc., Alkermes, Inc. , Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, SyneuRx International (Taiwan) Corp, BioXcel Therapeutics Inc, Cognitive Research Corporation, Amarex Clinical Research, Forum Pharmaceuticals Inc, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Recognify Life Sciences, Accutest Research Laboratories (I) Pvt. Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C, Janssen, LP, Delpor, Inc., Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical, Cerevel Therapeutics, LLC, Zogenix, Inc., Luye Pharma, Reviva Pharmaceuticals, Alkermes, Inc., Karuna Therapeutics, Autifony Therapeutics, Neumora Therapeutics, Adex Therapeutics, among others. Schizophrenia Epidemiology Forecast Schizophrenia Epidemiology Forecast - 2034 report delivers an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical and forecasted epidemiology, and schizophrenia epidemiology trends. Dementia Market Dementia Market Insights, Epidemiology, and Market Forecast - 2032 report delivers an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical and forecasted epidemiology, as well as the market trends, market drivers, market barriers, and key dementia companies, including Hoffmann-La Roche, Forest Laboratories, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., Novartis, among others. Bipolar Depression Market Bipolar Depression Market Insights, Epidemiology, and Market Forecast - 2034 report deliver an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical and forecasted epidemiology, as well as the market trends, market drivers, market barriers, and key bipolar depression companies, includingIntra-Cellular Therapies, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, COMPASS Pathways, among others. About DelveInsight DelveInsight is a leading Business Consultant and Market Research firm focused exclusively on life sciences. It supports pharma companies by providing comprehensive end-to-end solutions to improve their performance. Get hassle-free access to all the healthcare and pharma market research reports through our subscription-based platform PharmDelve. Contact Us Shruti Thakur info@delveinsight.com +14699457679 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1082265/3528414/DelveInsight_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/schizophrenia-market-risvans-approval-has-sparked-a-competitive-race-among-pharmaceutical-companies--delveinsight-302230329.html August 26, 2024: After decades of smuggling weapons to customers around the world, North Korea has now found another customer. Russian forces have been fighting in Ukraine for over two years. Russia invaded in early 2022 expecting a quick victory. The Ukrainian did not cooperate and now Russia is losing its war in Ukraine. In 2023 Russia purchased some weapons from North Korea and shipped them to the Ukraine border via sea and railroad to a Russian supply center about 300 kilometers from Ukraine. In June 2024 Russian and North Korean officials signed a partnership agreement. This treaty obliged both countries to assist each other with military supplies during an emergency or when called upon. At the moment Russia is purchasing all the weapons and munitions North Korea can produce. Since both North Korea and Russia are forced to operate under Western economic sanctions, it is difficult to obtain the use of a ship that can carry North Korean or Russian cargo safely. First North Korea, in 2006, then Russia in 2022 were placed under economic sanctions. North Korea was sanctioned internationally in 2006 but the United States imposed its own sanctions in 2005. The United States accounts for much of world trade so American sanctions can temporarily cripple a sanctioned nation's use of their own or chartered cargo ships or oil tankers. North Korea has found ways around this, and passed on what they knew to Russia. North Korean and Russian ships are still at risk and some are caught because of fraudulent documents, or the Americans using electronic and space-based video monitoring to see where suspect ships are actually going. For years North Korean commercial ships regularly traveled with their mandatory position transponders turned off. This violates international shipping agreements but the North Koreas, and now the Russians dont care either because they are both outlaw states and do whatever it takes to keep some of their commercial ships operational. When ships from these countries carry Russian or North Korean cargo, they can deliver it to a Russian or North Korean port without penalty or any harassment from nations enforcing the shipping sanctions on Russia and North Korea. This is how Russia is shipping North Korean weapons from North Korean ports or the Russian Pacific coast port of Vladivostok despite the sanctions. Russia has become heavily dependent on North Korean munitions and weapons, which are the same caliber as Russian weapons. This is because Russia has been a major supplier of weapons and munitions to North Korea since the end of World War II. The trade has benefited North Korea because Russia can ship in food via the Trans-Siberian railroad or by ship. North Korea has been chronically short of food since the 1990s and additional Russian food supplies pay for the North Korean munitions going to Russia. Another thing North Korea has in its favor is that Chinese shipbuilders produce most of the cargo and tanker ships used by international shipping firms. While the ships come from China, the crews come from many other countries and shipping insurance is provided by Western firms if these ships are technically in compliance with shipping regulations. Major shipping insurance companies have been established in Japan, Singapore, Chinese controlled Hong Kong and Singapore. China has become a supplier of all manner of material and monetary services for shady operations like the North Korean and sanctions Russian merchant fleets. Enigma, a cybersecurity platform focusing exclusively on Zero Trust, acquired Onclave Networks, a cybersecurity company focused on securing devices, services, and people across diverse environments. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. In acquiring Onclave, Enigma is able to secure devices, services, and people across diverse environments. Led by CEO Jim Taylor, Onclave Networks is a cybersecurity leader focused on securing devices, services, and people across diverse environments. It specializes in protecting both modern and legacy Operational Technology (OT) and IoT/IIoT devices. Onclave reduces attack surfaces, security breaches, network complexity, and operational costs. By leveraging Zero Trust principles and cryptographic microsegmentationproven methods used by the U.S. Department of DefenseOnclave safeguards vulnerable endpoints across all sectors, whether on-premises or in the cloud. As leverages Zero Trust principles and proven methods used by the U.S. Department of Defense to reduce security breaches, decreasing attack surfaces, network complexity, and operational costs. Enigma is portfolio company of cybersecurity private equity specialist Option3. FinSMEs 26/08/2024 Raiz Invest Limited (ASX: RZI), an Australian fintech platform that helps customers grow their wealth by helping them save and invest, received an investment from State Street Global Advisor. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The parties have entered into an equity investment agreement (the Initial Share Purchase) as part of a strategic relationship pursuant to which State Street Global Advisors will acquire approximately 5 percent of Raizs share capital through a placement. Led by CEO Brendan Malone, Raiz is a micro-investing and fintech platform to help all Australians create wealth. The company pioneered the Round-Up concept in Australia where everyday purchases are rounded-up to the next dollar and the difference is invested into a Raiz Invest account opening opportunities for first-time investors. With 9 diverse portfolios to choose from, users of its platform can invest in up to 75 of the most recognised stocks on the ASX, ETFs, Bitcoin, and the Raiz Residential Property Fund, from as little as $5. FinSMES 26/08/2024 Resal, a Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based provider of an e-gifting platform, raised $9M in funding. Backers included Derayah Ventures Fund, Al-Wafrah AlThanya Investment Company, Venture Souq FinTech Fund, ADDiriyah Asset Management, Nomad Holdings, Bugshan Investment Group, and several family offices, along with other angel investors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its business growth within the Kingdom. Founded in 2016 by Fouad Alfarhan and Hatem Kameli, Resal providing solutions that facilitate the management and exchange of loyalty points, prepaid cards, and vouchers from various sources, ranging from banks, telecom companies, and airlines to governmental and non-governmental organisations. The Resal Wallet app helps users accumulate and aggregate loyalty points from multiple sources such as telecom companies, banks, and airlines into a digital wallet, allowing them to convert these points into value that can be used for everyday purchases from its network of more than 1,000 brands. Through the Resal for Merchants platform, merchants and brand owners can design loyalty programs and digital cards, interact with customers, and increase sales by connecting with the companys solutions network for companies and individuals. FinSMEs 26/08/2024 from left to right: Sunswap COO Andrew Sucis, CEO Mike Lowe, and CTO Nikolai Tauber (SunSwap photographed by Christopher L Proctor) Sunswap, a London, UK-based clean-tech startup decarbonising cold chain logistics, raised 17.3M in funding. The round was led by BGF, with participation from Shell Ventures, Dutch venture capital fund, Move Energy, and existing backers Barclays and Clean Growth Fund. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the further development and production of its zero-emission transport refrigeration units (TRUs). Led by CEO Michael Lowe, Sunswap is a cleantech company providing zero-emission transport refrigeration. Founded in 2020, it aims to decarbonise the global cold chain with its purpose-built electric transport refrigeration unit, Endurance. With no need for diesel, Endurance is empowered by battery technology and solar panels installed on the roof of the trailer. FinSMEs 26/08/2024 Tortola, British Virgin Islands, August 26th, 2024, Chainwire Warden, the sovereign AI execution network, announced the alpha release of its new artificial intelligence product the Artificial Intelligence Blockchain Interface (AIBI). AIBI brings AI on-chain with an intuitive interface for developers to integrate AI into their applications. Inspired by proof-of-computation and computational pipelines, AIBI allows inference endpoints to create cryptographic proofs that verify that an AI model produced a specific prediction. These proofs are then verified on Wardens blockchain through a cutting-edge consensus mechanism, ensuring AI outputs are not just delivered, but can be trusted. AIBI is here to bring truth to AI, said David Pinger, founder and CEO of Warden Labs. Broken AI infrastructure had disastrous consequences factually incorrect, unsafe, opaque and at times outright dangerous recommendations. Trust in AI collapsed at a time when its becoming deeper and deeper embedded into our daily lives. AIBI provides the infrastructure to stop this. We no longer want to rely on AI hallucinations, and with ongoing advancements in AIBI we will put an end to them. Thanks to the work done by Wardens AI team, led by Dr. Michele Dallachiesa, AIBI is poised to become the standard for AI accuracy, explainability and privacy across both web3 and web2and everything in-between. AIBI introduces a future where every AI decision is backed by cryptographic proof, ensuring that AI-generated predictions are not only accurate but also explainable and secure. AIBI enables a new class of AI applications. To kickstart this new era, Warden is organizing a series of hackathons throughout Q4 2024, designed to inspire and reward developers who create groundbreaking AI-driven experiences using AIBI. Whether its dynamic pricing algorithms, sophisticated matching engines, or personalized recommendation systems, the potential applications are limitless. Blockchain infrastructure is the best contender to make AI open, said Antonio Pitasi, founder and CTO of Warden Labs. We provide truly open AI infrastructure that allows any protocol, application or platform to use AI in a secure way. About Warden Labs Since its inception in March 2024, Warden has experienced exponential growth, now processing over one million transactions per month. Wardens sovereign AI execution engine connects to more than 100 blockchains, enabling any smart contract, protocol, or platform to leverage AI predictions. Warden is set to pioneer a new category of applications at the intersection of AI and web3, while also extending its services to web2 AI use cases. For more information, users and builders can visit wardenprotocol.org, or can follow on X at @wardenprotocol. Contact PR Andrei S. Warden Labs Ltd [email protected] Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based group, exchanged ferocious fire on Sunday, stoking fears of a regional war. But is Lebanon ready to go to war with the Jewish nation? read more A civil defence worker inspects destroyed houses that were hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Chebaa, a Lebanese town near the border with Israel, south Lebanon. AP Fears of a war breaking out between Israel and Lebanon are rising after the two nations launched missiles at one another. But one of the persisting questions remains - Is Lebanon ready to go to war with Israel? This time, chances for Lebanon are bleaker than they were in 2006 when a month-long war with Israel resulted in a draw. But that was not all, the war led to a political and economic crisis in Lebanon without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and rampant poverty. Advertisement Now that Hezbollahs military power has grown even further, there are concerns over a new war breaking out and being more destructive than the last. Planning for a 2006 war repeat or worse Since Hezbollah and Israel began firing rockets and drones at each other a day after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7, the conflict has been mostly limited to border towns. But with the threat of a wider war, Lebanon has scrambled to equip hospitals with supplies and prepare public schools to open up to people seeking shelter. A rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander set off a flurry of meetings between humanitarian organisations and the Lebanese government, said Laila Al Amine, who heads the Beirut office of international relief organisation Mercy Corps. Its one of some 60 organisations helping the government with its relief efforts. The government and UN agencies prepared a comprehensive response plan this month outlining two possible scenarios: a limited escalation that would resemble the 2006 war, with an estimated 250,000 people displaced, and a worst-case scenario of uncontrolled conflict that would displace at least one million people. The UN-drafted plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, projects a monthly cost of $50 million in case of a limited escalation and $100 million if an all-out war breaks out. The Lebanese government said that funding for the emergency will come from creditors and humanitarian aid organisations. But authorities have struggled to find money to care for 100,000 currently displaced and an estimated 60,000 people living in conflict areas, which is costing about $24 million a month. Advertisement Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is spearheading relief operations, told reporters after an emergency government meeting Sunday that the morning attacks wont change the plan. It already presents scenarios of all the possibilities that could happen, among them is an expansion of the hostilities, said Yassin. Indebted and cash-strapped Lebanon desperate for aid money Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanons banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. Public service institutions rely on aid groups and international donors to function at a barebones level. Lebanese who once lived in relative comfort are receiving food and financial aid to survive. Advertisement People inspect their destroyed houses that were hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Aita al-Shaab village, south Lebanon. AP In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion flattened several neighbourhoods in the heart of the capital. Lebanons banks and the ruling elite have resisted painful reforms as a condition for an International Monetary Fund bailout while the infrastructure continued to wither and living conditions worsened. Tourism, which officials had relied on to help rebuild the economy, has also taken a hit since the border conflict with Israel. And unlike in 2006, Lebanon is hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their country. Health Minister Firas Abiad told the Associated Press earlier this month that the Lebanese health system is ill-equipped to treat the additional population in the event of an all-out war, as international funding for Syrian refugees continues to decline. Advertisement In April, Yassin said the country had only half the money needed to respond to the conflict and ensuing humanitarian needs. Also Read: Who is Hezbollahs Hassan Nasrallah, the man behind the militant movement in Lebanon? Lebanon faces tougher logistics In 2006, Israel bombed the runways of Lebanons only airport, putting it largely out of commission, and imposed an air and sea blockade. Its bombardment crippled critical infrastructure and flattened neighbourhoods, with damage and losses worth $3.1 billion, according to the World Bank. But aid groups eventually were able to send supplies through the countrys ports and at times through the airport using the remaining limited runway space. In their assessment of the war, the U.N. said that their relief efforts were not in response to a humanitarian crisis. People did not die from poor sanitation, hunger or disease. They died from bombs and shells, U.N. OCHA said in a report a month after the war. Advertisement Many Lebanese were able to flee to neighbouring Syria, where an uprising in 2011 plunged the country into a civil war. Its unclear how easy crossing the border would be this time, both for civilians and aid groups. It is also unclear whether the Beirut port, still not fully rebuilt after the devastating blast in 2020, would have sufficient capacity in case of a wider war. Its damaged grain silos collapsed in 2022, and the country relies on minimal food storage due to the financial crisis. Lebanon apparently has stocks of food and fuel for two-three months, but what happens beyond this duration? Al Amine said. We only have one airport and we cant transport things through our land borders. It would be difficult to bring items into the country. An empowered Hezbollah In 2006, Hezbollah reportedly had some 15,000 rockets in its arsenal, but more recent unofficial estimates suggest this number has multiplied by almost 10 times, said Dina Arakji, associate analyst at UK-based risk consultancy firm Control Risks. The group has also acquired more advanced weaponry, including precision missiles and variants of Iranian arms, as well as Chinese and Russian weaponry, she said. A damaged Israeli military position targeted by Hezbollah fighters is seen on the top of Mount Hermon in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights seen from Chebaa, a Lebanese town near the border with Israel, south Lebanon. AP Hezbollah, which relies on a network of Iran-backed allied groups that could enter the conflict, has also substantially expanded its drone arsenal and capabilities, against which Israeli air defences are less effective. Lebanese officials and international diplomats hope that an elusive cease-fire agreement in Gaza will bring calm in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a ceasefire in Gaza. With inputs from AP China is struggling with its economy as millions of youth remain jobless. This has given rise to rotten tail kids, a term popularised on social media. Here is a detailed analysis of the term and all that it entails read more China is grappling with a major economic issue - rising unemployment among youth. This has given rise to the term rotten-tail kids. The condition of college graduates is such that some are readily accepting low-paying work while others have to depend on pensions provided by their parents. The worlds second-largest economy indicates an overall decline in vigour and lack of consumer confidence and business optimism. The youth unemployment rate has exceeded 20 per cent as about 100 million youth between the ages of 16-24 years were jobless for the first time in April last year. It reached an all-time high of 21.3 per cent in June 2023 forcing authorities to suspend the data series to reassess how numbers were compiled. Advertisement The situation remains the same even after a year. In July this year, the jobless rate spiked to 17.1 per cent as 11.79 million college students graduated this summer in an economy that is still struggling to revive itself. Why the term rotten tail kids? The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, and has its roots in the catchword rotten-tail buildings. The term refers to the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued Chinas economy since 2021. What is the government doing? President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that finding jobs for young people remains a top priority. The government has called for more channels for the youth to access potential employers, such as job fairs, and has rolled out supportive business policies to help boost hiring. For many Chinese college graduates, better job prospects, upward social mobility, a sunnier life outlook - all things once promised by a college degree - have increasingly become elusive, said Yun Zhou, assistant professor of sociology, the University of Michigan. Despite government efforts to create more job opportunities, the outlook remains uncertain, leading to widespread pessimism among young job seekers. The situation is compounded by scams targeting desperate job seekers, further underscoring the bleakness of the current job market. Chinese state-owned media agency the Global Times called the countrys employment situation largely stable, citing growth in high-tech industries and the service sector. The outlet attributed the youth unemployment number to a seasonal increase caused by the flood of newly graduated students into the labour force. Advertisement What is the situation like for the youth? After spending years climbing Chinas ultra-competitive academic ladder, rotten-tail kids are discovering that their qualifications are failing to secure their jobs in a bleak economy. Their options are limited. Either they cut their expectations for top-paying jobs or find any job to make ends meet. Some have also turned to crime. Zephyr Cao obtained a masters degree from the prestigious China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing last year. Now 27, and back in his home province of Hebei, Cao has stopped seeking full-time work after lower-than-expected wages made him question the value of his education. Advertisement If I worked for three or four years after my undergraduate studies, my salary would probably be similar to what I get now with a masters degree, Cao said. He further said he was considering pursuing a PhD in hopes his prospects would improve in a few years. Amada Chen, a recent graduate from the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, quit her sales job at a state-owned enterprise last week after just one month. She blamed her decision on the toxic work culture and her bosss unrealistic expectations. For the first 15 days of her probation, she was also getting just 60 yuan ($8.40) a day despite having to work 12 hours daily. Advertisement I cried every day for a week, she said. Chen had wanted to become a quality inspector or a researcher, jobs she thought would match her skills as a traditional Chinese medicine major. But over 130 job application letters later, she was offered mostly sales or e-commerce related positions. Chen said she was reconsidering her career path altogether and might turn to modelling. What is the root cause of the problem? The issue of joblessness among college graduates has not cropped up overnight. In 1999, China dramatically expanded the enrolment capacity of universities in a bid to produce a better-educated workforce to drive its fast-growing economy. Advertisement But the supply of graduates had kept exceeding jobs, with authorities expressing concern in 2007 over job availability, an issue that receded but never fully faded, opens new tab as more youth armed with degrees entered the market. Supply of tertiary students will exceed demand from 2024 through 2037, after which the effects of falling fertility rates will kick in and sharply narrow the gap, according to a study published in June by China Higher Education Research, a journal under the education ministry. New college graduates will likely peak at around 18 million in 2034, it said. With inputs from Reuters At least 50 people were injured in fresh protests outside the Secretariat in Dhaka when students clashed with members of the Ansar force, a paramilitary group. These fresh demonstrations come three weeks after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following anti-government protests read more Bangladeshis converge at the University of Dhaka's Teacher Student Center (TSC), following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. Three weeks after she left the country, fresh clashes broke out at the Secretariat in Dhaka. File image/Reuters Its been three weeks since Sheikh Hasina resigned from the position of prime minister and fled the country, plunging the country into political turmoil. However, just as the country was emerging from the shadows of the turmoil, new clashes erupted in Dhaka, resulting in multiple injuries and putting the nation back on edge. Sunday (August 25) saw students clashing with members of the Ansar group a paramilitary auxiliary force in the country near the Secretariat in the capital city, leaving nearly 50 people injured. Advertisement What exactly happened? Why did violent clashes take place? Heres what we found out so far. What led to the clashes on Sunday? On Sunday, around 9 pm, students from different halls of Dhaka University gathered at Raju Memorial Sculpture of the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) as the news spread that a group of Ansar members locked some people, including Students Against Discrimination coordinator and advisor to the interim government Nahid Islam, coordinator Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah. The students, at least thousands in numbers, went to the Secretariat area, in a procession to resist the Ansar members, whom they termed as agents of the dictators. Earlier, Hasnat Abdullah in a Facebook post blamed the former director general of Ansar Major General AKM Aminul Haque, the elder brother of former Deputy Minister of the Water Resources Ministry AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem of Sheikh Hasinas government, for the continued blockade of the Secretariat, despite the demands of the protesting Ansar members being met. He also urged everyone to gather in front of the Raju Memorial Sculpture at Dhaka University. What is the Ansar group? The Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force, also known as the Ansar Bahini or Ansar VDP, is a paramilitary auxiliary force responsible for the preservation of internal security and law enforcement in Bangladesh. The name originates from the Arabic word Ansar, which means volunteer or helper. Advertisement According to a Prothom Alo report, there are 6.1 million members of the Ansar. According to current laws, the Ansar force is recognised as a disciplined force. A rickshaw passes by as civilians and members of Bangladesh Ansar, a paramilitary force, jointly control traffic at Bijoy Sarani intersection, days after the resignation of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka. File image/Reuters Recently, the Ansar members have been protesting, demanding the nationalisation of their jobs along with other demands. The Hindu reports that on Sunday, they decided to suspend their ongoing protest and return to work after holding discussions with Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen Md Jahangir Alam (retired). A preliminary decision was made during the meeting to revoke the six-month rest rule currently imposed on Ansar personnel, which was a key demand of the protesters. A committee has been formed to address this issue, with instructions to submit a report within seven days. Advertisement What happened next? Despite the many assurances from the government, the Ansar members refused to budge from their blockade at the Secretariat, claimed students. This led to thousands of students, some carrying sticks, converging on the Secretariat. Initially, Ansar members moved back as students reached the area. However, they then chased the students, leading to an outbreak of violence. Both sides hurled bricks at each other and chased each other during the confrontation. Soon after, the police and army were deployed at the scene of the confrontation. Reports state that several grenades were hurled to bring the situation under control. The clashes resulted in at least 50 people from both sides being injured. The injured were subsequently rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Advertisement It was only after 10 pm on Sunday that the clashes abated and as per a Dhaka Tribune report, advisers Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud emerged from the Secretariat and called for calm. Nahid Islam said the demonstration by Ansar members are part of a conspiracy as they continued their programme even after getting assurance of meeting their demand. Major Gen Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud, the chief of the Ansar, later told The Daily Star that those who continued the protests were not Ansar members. They are outsiders. They came with an additional set of clothes and their intention was different, he was quoted as saying. Advertisement A day after the clashes, the interim government ordered the transfer of nine senior Ansar officials, including a deputy commandant. Bangladesh has been besieged with violence since July. Over 650 people have died in the clashes since July. File image/AP Will peace return to Bangladesh? The Dhaka Police has imposed a ban on holding any type of meeting, gathering, procession, rally or demonstration in areas surrounding Bangladesh Secretariat and Chief Advisers official residence Jamuna. Meanwhile, Bangladesh interim governments Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in a televised address his second since assuming power urged people to have patience. The Nobel winner urged people to refrain from storming institutions, putting pressure to accept cases and the tendency to do some kind of trial in advance by attacking people while taking them to the courts. Ill just say, you have to be patient. It is difficult to overcome mountain-like challenges overnight, he said, referring to the demands coming from various sections to punish those responsible for the deaths of many people during the recent anti-government protests. He assured the nation that the interim government will hold free, fair and inclusive elections in the country after undertaking reforms in various sectors. The country of Bangladesh has been besieged by protests and violence since July as anti-government protesters first took to the streets, agitating against the 30 per cent quota for government jobs for descendants of freedom fighters. On July 21, the Supreme Court in its order scaled this back to seven per cent. These protests led to Sheikh Hasinas ouster in early August she bolted from the country and sought safety in India. Following her departure, more violence broke out in the country, with the minority Hindu community being attacked. A report by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office stated that July 16 and August 11, nearly 650 people had been killed in the Southeast Asian nation. The Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance said the minority community faced attacks and threats in 278 locations across 48 districts since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, terming it as an assault on the Hindu religion. Amid the reports of the violence, Yunus also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, assuring to protect and ensure the security and safety of Hindus and all minorities living in the country. Received a telephone call from Professor Muhammad Yunus. Exchanged views on the prevailing situation. Reiterated Indias support for a democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh. He assured protection, safety and security of Hindus and all minorities in Bangladesh, PM Modi said in a post on X. With inputs from agencies Yahya Sinwar, Hamas elusive leader, has repeatedly evaded capture by Israeli and American intelligence, slipping through even the most sophisticated operations. His reliance on a network of human couriers and life within Gazas vast tunnel system has made him one of the most difficult targets in modern history read more A pro-Palestinian protester holds up a portrait of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar outside of a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City, US, August 14, 2024. File Image/Reuters Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, has been a figure of intense scrutiny for Israeli and American intelligence services. Despite significant efforts, including cutting-edge technology and strategic military operations, Sinwar has managed to evade capture. This ongoing manhunt, which has become one of the most intricate and frustrating in modern history, reflects both the complexity of the conflict in Gaza and the cunning of Sinwar himself. 61-year-old Sinwar, often compared to Osama bin Laden, has been able to maintain control over Hamas and direct military operations, all while staying hidden from one of the most sophisticated intelligence networks in the world. Advertisement Also Watch: The parallels between Sinwar and bin Laden are striking, yet Sinwars situation is even more complex because, unlike bin Laden who focused on evading detection after 9/11, Sinwar continues to actively lead Hamas in its military campaign against Israel. In late January 2024, Israeli commandos launched a raid on a tunnel complex in Khan Younis, Gaza, based on intelligence that Sinwar was hiding there, reported The New York Times (NYT). The raid, which was seen as a significant opportunity to capture the Hamas leader, ultimately fell short. Sinwar had fled the underground bunker just days before the operation, leaving behind only documents and approximately $1 million in shekels. The documents found provided little insight into his current location, and the million shekels, while substantial, offered no clues about his movements. Despite the high hopes tied to this operation, it was clear that the hunt for Sinwar would be far more challenging than anticipated. How has Sinwar managed to evade capture? Sinwars ability to evade capture is largely attributed to his abandonment of electronic communication. According to NYT, US and Israeli intelligence services believe that he relies on a network of human couriers to relay messages. This method, reminiscent of tactics used by bin Laden, has made it incredibly difficult for intelligence agencies to intercept or trace his communications. The exact workings of this courier system remain a mystery. Yahya Sinwar chairs a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City, April 13, 2022. File Image/AP In the early months of the conflict, Sinwar did use cell and satellite phones, which allowed Israeli and US spy agencies to monitor some of his conversations. However, this brief window of opportunity closed as Sinwar transitioned entirely to his courier network. Advertisement Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, understanding the importance of these communication channels, even advocated for the resupply of Gaza with fuel to keep the tunnel-based cell networks operational, despite opposition from within the Israeli government. How has Gazas tunnel network aided Sinwar? Before the outbreak of the current conflict, Sinwar was a visible figure in Gaza, frequently appearing in interviews and even presenting awards on television. However, since the war began, he has retreated into the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Gaza, moving his operations underground to avoid detection. Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Al-Sinwar, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya arrive at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, September 19, 2017. File Image/Reuters Israeli intelligence officials believe that during the early weeks of the conflict, Sinwar was living in tunnels beneath Gaza City, the largest city in the strip and a primary target of Israeli military forces, reported NYT. Advertisement One notable discovery during an early raid on these tunnels was in the process of moving his family to a different hiding spot. This video, filmed just days before the raid, provided a rare glimpse of Sinwars underground existence but did little to help pinpoint his exact location. Watch: Israeli officials believe that Sinwar kept his family with him for at least the first six months of the war. According to NYT, in November 2023, a freed Israeli hostage revealed that Sinwar had personally addressed a group of Israeli captives not long after the October 7 attacks. Speaking in Hebrew, which he learned during his years in an Israeli prison, Sinwar assured them that they were safe and would not be harmed. This rare firsthand account defined Sinwars continued influence and control, even while in hiding. Advertisement Why do Israel & the US want to neutralise Sinwar? Yahya Sinwar, who assumed leadership of Hamas after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July 2023, has long been a target for Israeli forces. His leadership has been marked by a hands-on approach to military operations, unlike some of his predecessors who operated more from behind the scenes. Sinwars direct involvement in the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 Israelis, solidified his reputation as the architect of one of the deadliest assaults in Israels history. Then head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, left, and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, wave their hands during a Rally marking the 30th anniversary of their group in Gaza City on December 14, 2017. File Image/AP Despite his elusiveness, Sinwar remains a central figure in Hamas, with diplomats involved in ceasefire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, indicating that his input is essential for any significant decisions. Advertisement This has made the task of capturing or killing him even more critical for Israel. As the most respected leader within Hamas, Sinwars approval is seen as necessary for implementing any agreements reached in negotiations. How far has Israeli & US intelligence come? The hunt for Yahya Sinwar has seen unprecedented collaboration between US and Israeli intelligence agencies. A special unit within the Shin Bet, Israels domestic intelligence service, has been tasked with locating Sinwar, while American intelligence agencies have been providing significant support. This includes the deployment of ground-penetrating radar to help map the extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza, a crucial tool in the search for Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. Watch: The United States has also established a task force within the CIA dedicated to this mission, with special operations troops advising the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on tactics and strategies, reported NYT. Also Read: Who is Yahya Sinwar, the pragmatic leader & mastermind of October 7 attacks According to Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Adviser, the US has devoted considerable resources to assisting Israel in this manhunt. Weve had people in Israel sitting in the room with the Israelis working this problem set, Sullivan stated, highlighting the deep level of cooperation. Despite this collaboration, the intelligence-sharing arrangement has sometimes been described as lopsided, with the Americans often providing more information than they receive in return. Nevertheless, the mutual interest in capturing Sinwar and locating the dozens of hostages, including American citizens, has driven the two nations to work closely together. What happens if the mission succeeds? The potential capture or killing of Yahya Sinwar carries significant implications for the ongoing conflict. American officials believe that neutralising Sinwar would allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to claim a major military victory, which could, in turn, lead to a more favourable outcome for Israel in the conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a state memorial ceremony for Zeev Jabotinsky, founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, August 4, 2024. File Image/Reuters However, there are also concerns about the impact Sinwars death might have on negotiations for the release of hostages. Some officials fear that his removal could make Hamass successors less willing to engage in any deal with Israel. Despite the challenges, Israeli officials remain determined to find Sinwar. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who has been personally involved in the operations targeting Hamas leaders, keeps a diagram of the Hamas leadership on his wall, marking off each leader as they are killed. Sinwar, however, remains the most elusive and valuable target. What next? In late December, as Israeli military units excavated tunnels in Khan Younis, Gallant boldly claimed that Sinwar could hear the bulldozers of the IDF above him and would soon meet the barrels of our guns. Yet, when Israeli forces raided the Khan Younis bunker on January 31, they found only the remnants of his hurried departure. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin receives Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon in Washington, US, June 25, 2024. File Image/Reuters His ability to evade capture has not only frustrated Israeli and American officials but has also kept him in a position of power within Hamas. The search for Yahya Sinwar is far from over. Also Read: Why Israel must redefine notion of victory or else it risks losing war With inputs from agencies On Sunday, the Hezbollah launched over 320 Katyusha rockets at Israel, prompting a counter-attack from the Jewish nation. The Katyusha rockets developed by the Soviet Union and used largely during World War II have become the primary weapons of the Lebanon-based group read more An official property surveyor assesses the damage to a residential building following a direct-hit from a projectile, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel, in northern Israel. Reuters Sunday (August 25) marked a new chapter in the Israel conflict as the Jewish nation and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group, exchanged their heaviest strikes since the Gaza war began last October, with Israeli warplanes bombing sites across southern Lebanon and Hezbollah firing a barrage of drones and rockets across the border a dramatic but contained escalation that stopped short of all-out war. On Sunday, Hezbollah announced it had rained down over 320 rockets and drones at Israel, targeting 11 Israeli military sites in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. The attack was in retaliation for the assassination of its senior commander, Fuad Shukr last month. Advertisement Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah later said the rocket volleys were meant to overwhelm Israels air defence systems so that drones could pass through. However, the Israeli military said its fighter jets had destroyed thousands of the rocket launchers and there were no reports of deaths or injuries inside Israel. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing his people also said that what happened today is not the end. As the region remains on the brink of war, heres a closer look at the Katyusha rockets that Hezbollah used in the attacks, along with the other weapons it has in its arsenal. Katyusha rockets, explained On Sunday, following the strikes, Hezbollah leader, Hasan Nasrallah, in a televised speech said that the two-phase operation, aiming at facilities involved in the killing of Shukr, had been successful. The Hezbollah leader added that the strikes had involved over 340 Katyusha rockets and dozens of drones. All the rockets were launched within minutes, and all the drones crossed the border, Nasrallah was quoted as saying, denying that Israeli strikes had affected the launches. Shukrs assassination had crossed all red lines, he said, and Hezbollah had responded to balance deterrence. A member of a rapid response team walks near a residential building that was damaged by a direct-hit from a projectile, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets, including Katyushas, and drones towards Israel. Reuters But what exactly are these Katyusha rockets that were deployed? The Katyusha multiple rocket launcher is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Developed in 1938, the rockets became famous as Katyusha from the title of a very popular song very popular among soldiers which told of a girl who yearns for her distant love, who left for the front. Advertisement However, for opponents, it came to be known as Stalins organ, due to the noisy hiss that accompanied the rockets. The first of the Katyusha rocket launchers, known then as BM-13, was developed by a team led by Georgy Langemak, Boris Petropavlovsky, and Andrey Kostikov at the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) in the Soviet Union. The rockets were designated as M-13, where M stood for Mina (mine in Russian), and 13 represented the calibre (132mm) of the rockets. The design of this weapon is fairly simple: Racks of parallel rails on which rockets are mounted, with a folding frame to raise the rails to launch position. The rockets are also simple, unguided and stabilised with a solid-fuel propulsion system, reports India Today. Advertisement Moreover, the Katyusha launchers allow for multiple rockets to be launched in quick succession, creating a storm of fire that is effective against the concentration of enemy troops and fortifications. Interestingly, the Katyusha rockets were first used by the Soviet Army in July 1941 against a German artillery position near Orsha, Belarus. While not intended for pinpoint accuracy, the new weapon system delivered a devastating amount of fire over a wide-area target, destroying several trains and causing significant German casualties. This led to the quick deployment of the weapon into the war, earning them the title of Guards Mortars. The Germans called them Stalinorgel, meaning Stalins Organ. Advertisement The Katyusha multiple rocket launcher is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. File image/AFP Lethality of Katyusha rockets Katyusha rockets have a range of four-40 kilometre. However, what makes this weapon a lethal weapon is the ability to deliver a large number of explosives over a wide region in a short period. Defence experts note that while they dont possess precision, their ability to saturate an area with explosions is their main draw. Their use by various military and non-military elements is proof of their lethality in both conventional and unconventional warfare contexts. Additionally, the howling noise made by the rockets makes them even more deadly psychologically it affects the enemy. The sound is terrifying to those on the receiving end, contributing to the weapons fearsome reputation. Advertisement Katyusha rockets were used during the Libyan Civil War by both Moammer Gaddafi loyalists as well as anti-Gaddafi forces. Katyushas were also used during the Korean War. Some reports also state that Americas CIA bought Katyushas from the Egyptian military and supplied them to the Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan war. It is also reported that Katyusha launchers were used against American forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They have also been used in the Afghanistan and Iraq insurgencies. In Iraq, according to Associated Press and AFP reports, Katyusha-like rockets were fired at the Green Zone late March 2008. The Katyushas also make up the majority of Hezbollahs rocket force, and was the weapon of choice in the 2006 Lebanon War. It is reported that at the time of the conflict, Hezbollah had fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets at a rate of more than 100 per day, of which 95 per cent were Katyusha rockets. As per a report by Missile Threat, Iran serves as Hezbollahs primary Katyusha supplier. Hezbollahs arsenal The Katyusha rockets are just one among the many weapons that Hezbollah has in its huge arsenal. While the exact capabilities of the group remain unknown, reports state that it is the most heavily armed non-state group in the world. As per the CSIS, the groups arsenal is comprised primarily of small, man-portable, unguided artillery rockets. Although these devices lack precision, their sheer number makes them effective weapons of terror. The Katyushas make up the majority of Hezbollahs rocket force, and was the weapon of choice in the 2006 Lebanon War. File image/Reuters According to Israeli estimates, the group is in possession of 15,000 rockets and missiles on the eve of the 2006 war fought between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah has since expanded its rocket force, today estimated at 130,000 rounds, it added. The group also has rockets of Iranian models, such as Raad (Arabic for Thunder), Fajr (Dawn) and Zilzal (Earthquake) rockets, which have a more powerful payload and longer range than Katyushas. According to a CNN report, Zilzal-1 has a 125-60 km range, the longest among all rockets and missiles. Iranian-made Falaq 2 rockets can carry a bigger warhead than the previously used Falaq 1 and have a range of around 10 to 11 km. Additionally, Hezbollah has used the Russian-made anti-tank Kornet missiles, as well as an Iranian-made guided missile known as al-Mas. With inputs from agencies The Maldives is facing an unprecedented financial crisis, with its usable dollar reserves depleting to negative levels for the first time in history. Amidst soaring oil payments and mounting debt, concerns are rising about the nations ability to stabilise its economy read more The Maldives Monetary Authority is the central bank of the republic of Maldives. X/MMA_Maldives The South Asian nation of Maldives is facing an unprecedented financial crisis as its usable dollar reserves have depleted, marking the first time in the nations history that reserves have dropped to a negative balance. This alarming situation, forewarned by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), has raised concerns across the nation and sparked debate on the causes and potential solutions. What is the extent of this financial crisis? The crisis unfolded when the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) sent a warning letter to the archipelagic nations finance ministry, indicating that the countrys usable dollar reserves were dangerously low and could run out before the end of August, reported Male-based news outlet Adhadhu. Advertisement Also Watch: As of August 21, the reserves had indeed turned negative, a development confirmed by multiple reliable sources to Adhadhu. This marks a significant financial low point for the island nation. The severity of the situation was highlighted by a $25 million oil bill that was due for payment on the same day. A source close to the government finances noted, If it reached minus, today the reserve reached a minus because of the USD 25 million oil bill. That payment cannot be delayed. The depletion of usable reserves, which are critical for paying off loans, financing essential imports, and covering overseas expenses for Maldivian students, has left the nation in a precarious position. What has caused this decline? The decline in reserves is attributed to several factors, including the need to repay loans, increased expenditure on oil, and other essential imports. The MMA had previously warned that without securing additional revenue early in the year, the government would face difficulties in managing its budget deficit. Gross international reserves had already fallen from USD 509 million at the end of June to USD 395 million by the end of July, with usable reserves plummeting to just USD 43 million, far below what is required for a months essential imports. Also Read: India to launch UPI payment service in Maldives Advertisement The situation has prompted drastic measures from the Maldives banking sector. The Bank of Maldives (BML) took steps to restrict dollar transactions, including blocking dollar transactions with Rufiyaa cards and capping credit card limits at $100. BML CEO and MD Karl Stumke stated, This year, the national bank had purchased approximately $60 million in foreign currency from its customers, but card usage was three-fold higher than that. However, the bank reversed these restrictions shortly after implementing them, following instructions from the regulator. How has the government responded? Despite the dire financial situation, both the MMA and the Finance Ministry have attempted to downplay the crisis. They have reassured the public that reserves would stabilise by the end of August, with the MMA forecasting an increase in reserve levels. Nonetheless, the lack of official commentary has fueled public concern and criticism from political figures. Advertisement President of the Maldives Mohamed Muizzu delivers a national statement at the World Climate Action Summit during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. File Image/Reuters Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed called for greater transparency, urging the government to inform the public clearly about the causes of the crisis, what to expect next, and the steps planned to overcome it. He said that the people should be informed in clear terms how the financial situation has reached this point, what is expected to happen next and what is planned to be done to overcome it. Also Read: Does Muizzu want Maldives back in Indias fold? A hint from economic crisis Former Maldives Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer criticised the governments reliance on expected revenues and warned of a potential downgrade in the Maldives credit rating by agencies such as Fitch and Moodys. Advertisement Ameer remarked, The states fiscal policy and financial affairs cannot be shaped that way. This is what will happen if we leave the affairs of this country to depend on the expected revenue of MVR 16 billion. He also pointed out the adverse effects of unchecked revenue expenditure, particularly the hiring of additional staff for political purposes, which has further strained the nations finances. What can the Maldives do to navigate this crisis? As the crisis unfolds, experts have suggested that the Maldives may need to tap into the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) if the situation worsens. However, the government and MMA have so far denied the likelihood of reaching that point. Advertisement In a bid to increase dollar revenue, the government is planning to raise various fees and taxes, including airport departure fees and green tax, alongside the introduction of new taxes, such as those on sand for land reclamation. The Maldives requires approximately $70 million each month for essential imports, with an annual obligation of $508 million for foreign loan repayments. The current reserve levels are insufficient to cover these needs for even a month. Also Watch: Swimmers and divers are terrorised to visit the beaches along the picturesque coastal stretch of central Japan. Experts say this is due to a rising number of attacks on humans by a potentially lonely and amorous dolphin looking for a partner. Several others believe that the dolphin, named Suzu, has been overexposed to people and may be reacting after some bad encounters in the past read more Swimmers and divers are terrorised to visit the beaches along a picturesque coastal stretch of central Japan. According to some experts, this is due to a rising number of attacks on humans by a potentially lonely and amorous dolphin looking for a mate. Several others believe that the dolphin, named Suzu, has been overexposed to people and may be reacting after some bad encounters in the past. Heres all we know about it. The rising number of attacks Advertisement In Fukui Prefecture, many people have been attacked, primarily after 2022. Suzu has allegedly bumped, bitten, and sexually harassed them, according to a Times report. According to the report, there were two attacks off the small island of Mizushima last week alone, resulting in the biting off a mans fingertip. The local coast guard has posted warning signs about dolphin attacks for the last few years. According to Wion News, one such poster from 2022, said, Even though they may look cute, dolphins are still wild animals if you see a dolphin at the beach, do not touch them, do not approach them, get out of the water and enjoy your time safely! Since 2022, at least 47 people have been injured by dolphin attacks in Wakasa Bay, which is located around 321.86 kilometres west of Tokyo. According to The New York Times, while many of them only had small bites on their hands, a few had to be sent to hospitals due to stitched wounds or fractured bones. According to the Fukui Prefecture police, 21 people reported being injured by dolphin attacks in 2022 along a stretch of beaches close to the town of Echizen. The majority were covered by media outlets in Japan during what they dubbed the dolphin threat summer. As per the report, a man was swimming near the coast when a dolphin bit his arm and attempted to put itself on top of him, nearly submerging him, according to reports from the local media. Advertisement The attacks in the next year were centred on beaches close to the town of Mihama along the coast. According to NYT citing a Fukui police official, 10 individuals were hurt in 2023. In one instance, a man suffered from shattered ribs. Local officials say since July 21 of this year, 16 people have suffered injuries from dolphin attacks, mostly off the beaches around Mihama and the neighbouring city of Tsuruga. Several stitches were required for the severe hand injuries sustained by two of them. The culprit Suzu, the bottle-nosed dolphin, has been identified as a potential culprit of multiple attacks on people. This is due to the distinct wounds on its tail fin that have been observed in multiple locations over the past three years where there have been reports of attacks. Advertisement Suzu is accustomed to being around people, and for some beachgoers, what begins as coos has turned into screams. It is reasonable to assume that it is the same individual, as the wounds on the tail fin are similar to those of the dolphins seen off the coast last year, and it is rare for dolphins, which normally move in groups, to be alone for such a long time, Prof Morisaka told NHK, Japans public broadcaster. He mentioned that male bottlenose dolphins play-bite one another, a behaviour that the dolphins also use to interact with humans. The dolphin may be engaging in mating behaviour, according to NYT, which cited Ryoichi Matsubara, director of the Echizen Matsushima Aquarium in Fukui, who also mentioned that the dolphin was seen attempting to press his genitals against people in 2022 and 2023. Advertisement BBC quoted Dr Simon Allen, a biologist and principal investigator with the Shark Bay Dolphin Research project as saying, Bottlenose dolphins are highly social animals and this sociality can be expressed in very physical ways. Just as in humans and other social animals, hormonal fluctuations, sexual frustration or the desire to dominate might drive the dolphin to injuring the people it interacts with. Since they are such powerful animals, this can lead to serious injury in humans, he said. Dr Allen said the dolphin may have been ostracised from its own community and be seeking alternative companionship. Measures taken Authorities in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, have attempted to stop the attacks through a number of initiatives, with differing degrees of success. Advertisement Dozens of underwater acoustic devices have been deployed, and they produce a high-frequency noise meant to scare off dolphins, as per NYT. Signs and flyers alerting beachgoers to the possibility of dolphin bites and even drags out to sea have been posted. Certain beaches have implemented swimming hour restrictions and lifeguard duty. According to Wion News, the dolphin(s) can bite you with their sharp teeth and cause you to bleed, or drag you into the sea, which could be life-threatening, according to a warning issued by the Fukui town of Mihama this year. Similar instances Following the solitary male bottlenose dolphin, Zafar began engaging in sexual behaviour in 2018, including rubbing himself against boats and swimmers, prompting a temporary ocean swimming restriction in a French town. With inputs from agencies Tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov was arrested at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday over alleged offences related to his app, Telegram. French investigators issued a warrant for the 39-year-olds arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying read more Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016. Reuters Tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has founded wildly popular social networks as well as a cryptocurrency, amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune and locked horns with authorities not just in Russia but around the world. Still a few months shy of his 40th birthday, the man once dubbed the Russian Zuckerberg now finds himself under arrest in France after being sensationally detained at a Paris airport this weekend, according to French local media reports, citing unnamed sources. Advertisement Heres all we know about him. About Pavel Durov Durov, 39, is an entrepreneur hailing from Russia. He is the co-founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free-to-use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebooks WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. The platform aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within a year. According to The Economic Times, the tech billionaire is an alumnus of Saint Petersburg State University, where he obtained a first-class Philology degree. Always dressed in black, he bears a resemblance to the actor Keanu Reeves in the film Matrix. In 2006, at 22, Durov launched VKontakte (VK), attracting users even while its founder remained a shadowy figure. The social network catered to the needs of Russian-language users and outgunned Facebook throughout the former USSR, as per AFP. He currently lives in Dubai and holds citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Guardian reported. He recently said he had tried to settle in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco before choosing Dubai, which he praised for its business environment and neutrality. According to Forbes magazines latest estimate, Durovs fortune is $15.5 billion. But toncoin, the cryptocurrency he created, has plummeted by more than 15 per cent since the announcement of his arrest. Why Durov left Russia Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on VKontakte and hand over personal data of users to the Russian security services (FSB), as per several media reports. Advertisement He then sold the social media platform, posted a picture of dolphins and the slogan, saying, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, a title in the famous Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series. I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone, Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his exit from Russia. In the same interview, Durov said that, beyond money or Bitcoin, he had no major property such as real estate, jets or yachts, as he wanted to be free. Telegrams small staff, consisting of around 60 employees, is likely to keep the platform running, but questions remain about who will handle critical tasks, such as making payments to infrastructure providers if Durov remains in custody. Reuters Durov then developed Telegram with his brother Nikolai, a lead developer and programmer, while travelling from country to country and launched the service in 2013. Advertisement He settled in Dubai and obtained citizenship of the Caribbean island archipelago of Saint Kitts and Nevis, then, in August 2021, won French nationality following a low-profile procedure about which Paris remains highly discreet, as per AFP. Durov remained a mercurial and, at times, a mysterious figure, rarely giving interviews and restricting himself to sometimes enigmatic declarations made on Telegram. A self-avowed libertarian, he has championed confidentiality on the Internet and encryption in messaging. He has defiantly refused to allow the moderation of messages on Telegram, which allows users to post video, pictures and comments on channels that can be followed by anyone. Telegrams controversial role in Russia-Ukraine war Advertisement Telegram enjoyed stratospheric success, presenting itself as a champion of individual freedoms, refusing censorship, and protecting the confidentiality of its users. This rankled with authorities, especially in his home country and in 2018, a Moscow court ordered the blocking of the application. But the imposition of the measure was shambolic and three days later, protesters ironically bombarded the FSB headquarters with paper planes, the symbol of Telegram, according to AFP. Since then, Russia has abandoned its efforts to block Telegram and the messaging service is used by both the Russian government and the opposition, with some channels boasting several hundred thousand subscribers. Telegram also plays a key role in Russias war against Ukraine, documented by bloggers from both sides who post their analyses and videos of the fighting. Advertisement Pro-Moscow channels run by so-called Z-bloggers who back the war have proved hugely influential and are sometimes critical of Russian military strategy. The app is especially popular in the former Soviet Union, where it is widely used by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other politicians to release information about the war. It is one of those few places where people can get unfiltered information about the military operation, especially after the Kremlin tightened media controls. However, Telegram has also become a safe haven for extremists and conspiracy theorists. Investigative journalists at the central European news site VSquare say, the social media platform had become the go-to tool for Russian propagandists, both leftwing and rightwing radicals, American QAnon and conspiracy theorists, concluding it was an ecosystem for the radicalisation of opinion." He loves the privacy Durov eschews traditional media interviews but in April, he sat down with ultra-conservative US journalist Tucker Carlson for an extensive discussion. People love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom, (there are) a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram, Durov told Carlson. He is also not shy about posting messages on his own Telegram channel, claiming to lead a solitary life, abstaining from meat, alcohol and even coffee. In July, he boasted of being the biological father of more than 100 children thanks to his sperm donations in a dozen countries, describing this as a civic duty in an attitude to parenting that echoes that of a fellow tech mogul, the X and Tesla chief Elon Musk. The arrest Durov was arrested at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday over alleged offences related to Telegram, as per The Guardian. He was stopped after arriving in Paris from Baku on his private jet on Saturday night. His detention was extended beyond Sunday night by the investigating magistrate who is handling the case, the report quoted a source close to the investigation. Notably, the initial period of detention for questioning can last up to a maximum of 96 hours. When this phase ends, the judge will decide to free him or press charges and remand him in further custody. The French investigators issued a warrant for the 39-year-olds arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying. Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, which has led to accusations that it makes it easier for false information to spread virally. His app, Telegram allegedly disseminates neo-Nazi, paedophilic, conspirational and terrorist content. The tech mogul is accused of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform. Enough of Telegrams impunity, said one investigator, according to The Guardian, who expressed surprise that Durov flew to Paris knowing he was a wanted man. In a statement on Sunday evening, Telegram said, Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Russian authorities have accused France of refusing to cooperate. The Russian embassy in Paris has asked for access to Durov and said France has so far avoided engagement in the situation. Russias Foreign Ministry said it was taking steps to clarify the situation and questioned whether Western non-governmental organisations (NGOs) would seek his release. Telegram has long been in the sights of European judicial authorities over allegations that it spreads conspiracy theories, shares calls for murder and hosts drug sales platforms. Durov, however, insists that he responds to every request to remove content calling for violence or murder. With inputs from agencies The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed to have killed over 100 soldiers in attacks on Pakistan Army camps and military checkpoints in Operation Hereof. Founded in 2000, the BLA has been designated a terror outfit by several Western nations, including the US and UK. The group says it is fighting for the rights of the Baloch people and the provinces exploitation by the establishment and wants to establish a state of Greater Balochistan read more Militant tribemen, carry their weapons during routine training in the autonomous region of Kohlu in the southeast of Balochistan province. File photo/Reuters Militants in Pakistans Balochistan province killed dozens of people on Monday. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked police stations, railway lines, and vehicles on highways in what officials said was the most widespread assault by the insurgent group in years. The BLA released a statement saying it had killed over 100 soldiers in ongoing attacks on Pakistan Army camps and military checkpoints in Operation Hereof. The BLA said its fidayeen of Majeed Brigade had killed over 40 soldiers in an attack on the army camp in Bela though Pakistans authorities are yet to confirm this. Advertisement Under the Baloch Liberation Armys fidayeen operation Herof, the fidayeen unit of the BLAs Majeed Brigade attacked the occupying forces Bela camp, killing over 40 military personnel so far and holding control of a significant portion of the camp for the last six hours, its spokesman Jeeyand Baloch was quoted as saying by Economic Times. All the fidayeen are still safe and in contact with us, the statement added. Militants have fought a decades-long ethnic insurgency to demand the secession of southwestern province which is home to roughly 15 million people, made up of mostly arid desert and mountainous territory holding untapped mineral wealth. Balochistan is a key location in Chinas huge multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road initiative. But what do we know about the BLA? Lets take a closer look: Origins According to ModernDiplomacy.eu, the group was founded in 2000. Its aim is to establish a state of Greater Balochistan. The group from its inception has said it is fighting the exploitation of the regions resources by the Pakistani establishment and the mistreatment of natives of the area when it comes to jobs and human rights. The BLA has been designated a global terror group by several Western nations including the US and UK, as per BBC. Advertisement As per The Hindu, Pakistan designated it a terror group and banned it in 2006. The US state department website says, The BLA is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan. The militant group is the oldest of the Baloch freedom movement. It has its origins in the tradition of armed militants who were supported by the Marri, Bugti, Mengal and other clans or sardars. The Soviet Union and its radical Marxist ideology hade a huge influence on the BLA with some of their leaders even receiving training from Moscow. Advertisement Leadership and base As per Indian Express, the BLA is currently led by Basheer Zeb. As per RFERL.org, the BLA is thought to be the biggest armed militant group operating within the province. The groups leadership had remained in flux for the past few years. This after its then leader Aslam Baloch in 2018 was killed in a suicide bombing in Kandahars Aino Mina in 2018. The BLAs regional leaders are thought to play a key role in charting the direction of the group, as per The Hindu. A researcher told RFERL.Org that the group is now led by educated, middle-class professionals who think in modern and unconventional ways. Advertisement The militant group has around 6,000 members across the province and in the neighbouring areas of Afghanistan. The group has carried out a number of attacks in Pakistan. According to BBC, in April 2024, the group deboarded nine passengers from a bus in Balochistan and killed four after checking their IDs. The group this year also hit government offices in the port city of Gwadar, Pakistans largest naval air force base and attempted to overrun the strategic town of Mach, as per RFERL.org. Advertisement As per The National, the BLA in 2023 ttacked Chinese engineers working in Gwadar. In June 2020, four militants BLA entered the Pakistans tock exchange and killed three security personnel and a police officer. In 2019, BLA militants claimed an attack on a hotel in Gwadar popular with business travellers. Several Pakistani staff and guards were killed. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked police stations, railway lines, and vehicles on highways in what officials said was the most widespread assault by the insurgent group in years. Reuters Anyone affiliated with the states crackdown in Balochistan is their target, an Islamabad-based expert told RFERL.Org on condition of anonymity. The expert told the website the recruitment of the separatist militant organisations has skyrocketed lately allowing them to launch more attacks. The expert said the recent February elections, tainted by allegations of fraud, only added fuel to the fire The Baluch youth dont see any avenue for expressing their dissent, the analyst added. The BLA is said to work closely with the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF). Pakistan in January targeted both groups in airstrikes inside Iran. The precision strikes were carried out using killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons, a Pakistani military statement said. It said the targets were bases used by the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and the associated Baloch Liberation Army. That came two days after Tehran said it struck the bases of Jaish al Adl (JAA) an ethnic militant group with Sunni Islamist leanings that primarily Shiite Iran sees as a threat inside Pakistani territory. According to The National, the BLA in the aftermath of the strikes confirmed some of its members had died. It released a statement saying, Now the Baloch Liberation Army will not remain silent. We will avenge it and we announce war on the state of Pakistan. As per RFERL.org, the BLA has become a lynchpin for several other Baluch separatist groups. The expert also expressed doubt that Pakistan could tamp down on the BLA. If 20 years of kinetic operations have not solved anything, the analyst said. It will not solve anything in the next 20 years. Militants have fought a decades-long ethnic insurgency to demand the secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to a number of major China-led projects including a strategic port and a gold and copper mine. What happened today? The largest of the attacks targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks on a major highway, killing at least 23 people, officials said, with ten vehicles set ablaze. A rail line between Pakistan and Iran and a railway bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of the country were also hit with explosives during the attacks, railways official Muhammad Kashif said, adding that rail traffic with Quetta had been suspended. Police said they had found six bodies that have yet to be identified, near the attack on the railway bridge. Militants also targeted police and security stations in the sprawling province, officials said, one of which killed at least 10 people. Militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility in a statement emailed to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these. On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway in Balochistan, Pakistans largest province, marched passengers off the vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai, told Reuters. The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal, said Hameed Zahir, the deputy commissioner of the area, adding that at least 10 trucks had been set on fire after their drivers were killed Militants have targeted workers from the eastern province of Punjab whom they see as exploiting their resources. In the past, they have also targeted Chinese interests and citizens operating in the province. China runs the strategic deepwater port of Gawadar in Balochistans south, as well as a gold and copper mine in the west. The BLA said its fighters had targeted military personnel travelling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified. Pakistans interior ministry said the dead were innocent citizens. Will bring those responsible to justice Six security personnel, three civilians and one tribal elder made up the ten killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti said. Officials said police stations had also been attacked in the two southern coastal towns, but the toll had yet to be confirmed. The office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attacks in a statement, vowing that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistans largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty. Hassan Nasrallah, the influential leader of Hezbollah, was killed in a targeted strike on the central headquarters of the militant group in Beiruts Dahieh on Friday, claims the Israeli military. Nasrallah led Hezbollah for 32 years and shaped its rise from a local militia to a dominant political and military force in Lebanon and broader West Asia read more Supporters listen to the speech of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah via a video display on screen, during a commemorative ceremony marking the first week since the killing of Hezbollah's top commander Fuad Shukr, in Beirut, Lebanon August 6, 2024. File Image/Reuters Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a post on X, a day after it hit Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. Its a confirmation that the Hezbollah chief is dead. Nasrallah was targeted while he was at the militant group headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh. The IDF said in a statement that alongside Nasrallah, other Hezbollah commanders were killed including Ali Karaki, the commander of the groups so-called Southern Front. Advertisement Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world. Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 28, 2024 Hezbollah only confirmed the death hours later. A source close to the group said that contact had been lost last evening with Nasrallah after Israel said it had eliminated him in the strike, reports The Times of Israel. Contact with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been lost since Friday evening, said the source, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. We look at the rise of Nasrallah and what his loss could mean for the militant group. Who is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah? Hassan Nasrallah was born in 1960 in Beirut, Lebanon, into a poor Shiite family. His early interest in religion led him to study at Shiite seminaries in Najaf, Iraq, where he was influenced by prominent clerics like Sayyed Musa Sadr. The Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975, impacted Nasrallahs life. He joined Amal, a Shiite militia, before shifting his allegiance to Hezbollah, a newly formed group committed to resisting Israeli occupation. Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, gives a speech in which he urged Palestinians to use arms in their five-year rebellion against Israeli rule in Beirut, December 20, 1992. File Image/Reuters In 1992, after the assassination of Hezbollahs then-leader Sayyad Abbas Musawi by Israeli forces, Nasrallah ascended to the leadership. Under his guidance, Hezbollah expanded its military capabilities and political influence, becoming the largest political party in Lebanon. Advertisement In the 2018 parliamentary elections, Hezbollah won over 340,000 preferential votes, the highest for any party since Lebanons independence. How has Hezbollah changed under Nasrallah? Hezbollahs military strength under Nasrallah has grown considerably. In a 2021 speech, Nasrallah claimed that Hezbollah had 100,000 fighters, making it one of the most powerful non-state armed groups globally. This power is not only a result of its military might but also due to its strategic alliances within the region, particularly with Iran and Syria. Hezbollahs influence in the region is part of what is known as the Axis of Resistance, which includes Iran, the Syrian government, Palestinian groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement in Yemen, and several Iraqi militias. This coalition is united in its opposition to Israel and Western influence in the region. Advertisement Also Watch: Hezbollah is widely regarded as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and much of the Arab League. The European Union designates its military wing as a terrorist organisation. However, countries like China and Russia maintain a neutral stance or engage with the group. What has been Nasrallahs stance on Israel? Under Nasrallahs leadership, Hezbollah has consistently engaged in conflict with Israel. The groups guerrilla warfare tactics, including suicide bombings and rocket attacks, have made it one of the most formidable opponents Israel has faced. The 2006 Lebanon War is a significant example of this, where Hezbollahs resistance led to a 33-day conflict that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. Advertisement People watch Lebanons Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised address, as they sit at a cafe in Sidon, Lebanon, August 25, 2024. File Image/Reuters In a speech during the conflict, Nasrallah famously said, Watch it burn, referring to the Israeli warship Hanit, which was hit by a Hezbollah missile. The war ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire, but it further enhanced Nasrallahs reputation as a powerful leader in the Arab world. Nasrallahs leadership was also marked by his strategic use of Hezbollahs military capabilities. In October 2021, he revealed that Hezbollah possessed 100,000 fighters, a testament to the groups strength. This military might allowed Hezbollah to maintain a significant presence in Lebanons political landscape and to act as a deterrent against Israeli aggression. Was Nasrallah involved in politics? Advertisement Nasrallahs influence extends beyond military conflict. Under his leadership, Hezbollah has become a key player in Lebanese politics. Despite not being an official government entity, Hezbollah holds considerable sway in Lebanons political affairs. The groups participation in Lebanons parliamentary elections since 1992 has solidified its position as a major political force. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, Hezbollah secured over 340,000 preferential votes, marking the highest number ever achieved by any political party in Lebanon since the countrys independence in 1943. Cars pass near signs depicting Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanons Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, Lebanon, July 30, 2024. File Image/Reuters Hezbollahs involvement in regional conflicts, particularly in Syria and Yemen, has also shaped its image. In Syria, Hezbollahs support for President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war drew criticism, as it contrasted with the groups resistance against Israeli occupation. Nasrallah justified the intervention by arguing that the fall of Assad would weaken Hezbollahs position in the region. Also Read: How big is Hezbollahs arsenal? Can its missiles breach Israels air defences? Nasrallahs stance on Israel remained unwavering. He consistently called for the destruction of the Israeli state, aligning Hezbollah with other groups like Hamas that share this goal. In a 2006 interview with The Washington Post, Nasrallah explained that the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict had taught him and his peers that the only way that we have is to take up arms and fight the occupation forces. What happens to Hezbollah after Nasrallah? The killing of Nasrallah would be a big blow to Hezbollah, the militant group he has led for 32 years. Replacing Nasrallah would be an even bigger challenge now than at any point for years, after a series of recent Israeli attacks that have killed top Hezbollah commanders and raised questions over its internal security. The whole landscape would change big time, Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy research director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told Reuters. He has been the glue that has held together an expanding organisation. Amid a sudden series of Israeli successes in its war against Hezbollah and an onslaught of air strikes, his death would greatly aggravate an already fraught moment for the group. Hezbollah will not collapse if Nasrallah is killed or incapacitated, but this will be a major blow to the groups morale. It would also underline Israels security and military superiority and access, said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at the Chatham House Policy Institute in London. With inputs from agencies Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden discussed Ukraine and Bangladesh crises during the call read more Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held talks over telephone with US President Joe Biden. The two leaders discussed global and regional issues, including the situations in Ukraine and Bangladesh, said Modi in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Modi said that he reiterated to Biden Indias full support for early return of peace and stability in Ukraine. The conversation between the two leaders took place shortly after Modis visit to Ukraine and at a time when Bangladesh is in the grips of a political crisis. Following the ouster of premier Sheikh Hasina in a mass movement, the unelected regime of Mohamed Yunus propped by the military and anti-Hasina political groups has failed to maintain law and order. The anti-Hasina forces have unleashed a wave of violence against Hindus and other minorities and political rivals. Advertisement About the situation in Bangladesh, Modi said, We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability. We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 26, 2024 There was no immediate readout from the Ministry of External Affairs or the Prime Ministers Office or from the White House. Earlier in the day, Modi held a conversation with PM Anthony Albanese of Australia, a fellow member of the Quad grouping along with the United States and Japan. Abdullah said he does not want to send out a wrong signal by asking his party colleagues to contest and the people to cast their votes for an assembly that I may be suggesting that I look down upon. read more National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah, who had vowed not to participate in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections till restoration of statehood, Monday dropped major hints on his likely participation in the polls for the Union Territory assembly, saying he cannot expect people to vote for his party if he himself does not accept the legislative body. Speaking to media after the NC and Congress announced the seat-sharing arrangement, Abdullah said he does not want to send out a wrong signal by asking his party colleagues to contest and the people to cast their votes for an assembly that I may be suggesting that I look down upon. Advertisement I am conscious of one thing which I had not thought over fully, which is my mistake. If I was not ready to contest election for an assembly, how can I get the people ready to vote for that assembly? How can I hope that my colleagues will seek votes for an assembly which I am not ready to accept or may be suggesting that I look down upon? It has put a pressure on me and I do not want to give a wrong signal to the people, he said. Abdullah asked the media persons to give him a day or two. You will get to know when the party releases the list. Before the announcement of the polls, the NC leader had vowed not to contest elections for the UT assembly as he had headed a state assembly as chief minister in a unified J&K that included Ladakh. However, there are speculation that Abdullah might contest from his family bastion of Ganderbal in central Kashmir from where he had won the 2008 assembly polls. On Sunday, at a joining function in Ganderbal, Abdullah was requested by party leaders to reconsider his decision of not contesting the polls. They also suggested he could contest from Ganderbal. However, on Monday the NC vice president said, I am talking with my colleagues about this. Asked about the NC-Congress alliance and the announcement of a friendly contest on five seats between the alliance partners in J-K, Abdullah said those five seats were difficult for both the parties to leave for the alliance. Advertisement Three seats are those which were difficult for us to leave and two seats are those which were difficult for Congress to take a decision on. So, we decided that both the parties will field their candidates on those five, he said. The NC leader also said the alliance faced another problem during the negotiations as the CPI(M) wanted to fielded a candidate from Devsar constituency as well. We would have had problems in Kulgam (which the alliance has allotted to CPI(M)s M Y Tarigami) and we thought we have to fight a friendly contest there as well. But, Farooq Abdullah talked to Tarigami and requested him that there shouldnt be any candidate from Devsar and he has accepted. So, we have left Kulgam seat for Tarigami, he added. Advertisement Asked if there was any issue between the alliance partners over the NCs manifesto, Abdullah said there was none. None whatsoever. Let me be categorical, at no point in time did the Congress party raise any objections to our manifesto, he said. In the initial stages of the discussions, at the local level, the Congress had asked whether they should have a common minimum programme, he said. We told them very clearly that a CMP (common minimum programme) is always arrived at after you receive a verdict from the people, after you win election and, therefore, obviously we are fighting this election to win. If the NC and the Congress receive the support of the people, then we will form a CMP for the governance for next five years, Abdullah said. Advertisement He said the NC has neither discussed its manifesto with the Congress nor has it asked its alliance partner what they are going to include in their manifesto. To a question about the BJPs criticism of the NCs manifesto, Abdullah said the BJP is expected to say such things. Do you think the BJP will put its stamp on our manifesto? The BJP should see inwards. Today, what their situation was, I have seen it for the first time that the BJP deleted a (mandate) list within ten minutes of issuing it. Today, chairs were broken in their office. The BJP should set its own house in order, he said. Advertisement Asked why the PDP is not a part of the alliance, he said it was the Congress decision to make. The Congress is the biggest partner in the INDIA bloc and it found convenient to talk to us. How can I force them to talk to someone else? They did not mention the PDP and so the issue was put to an end there, he said. On the Centres decision to create five districts in Ladakh, Abdullah said he congratulates the people there. However, we will have to see what is the ratio that they have applied. We have always tried to give equal to both Kargil and Leh. But, if they have created five districts, then somewhere there will be some discord. So, we will have to see where the injustice has been done, he added. The root cause of the ecological problems in Kerala is the increasingly unstable landscape amid growing population pressure, overtourism, and ecocide read more After days of intense coverage of the landslides in Wayanad, the news cycle has moved on to other calamities. But the problems remain, and things cannot be left to benign neglect, as is usually the case. For example, there was a strange thundering noise from deep underground that alarmed people in the area. This is ominous, as it may presage a tectonic movement, although there have been no big quakes here for centuries. Advertisement A dramatic before-and-after report from Reuters, using satellite images from Planet Labs, Google, Maxar Technologies, and Airbus, shows how the landslide left a giant scar on the surface of the earth, washing away hundreds of houses, leading to widespread fatalities and destruction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the afflicted area. Better governance, both by centre and state, is sorely needed to tackle the problem because it is not simple: there are proximate, preponderant, and root causes. A lot of it is anthropogenic based on local factors, but climate change is also a major factor, as the local climate and rainfall patterns have shifted dramatically in the recent past. There was a drought in 2015, followed by the Ockhi cyclone in 2017, and then landslides and floods in 2018 and 2019. As a resident of Kerala who has visited Wayanad only twice (once in 2018 and the second time in May this year), both the problems and the possible solutions are of immediate importance to me because the very same issues are likely to crop up all over the state, and unless remedial measures are taken now, we can expect further tragedies and endless suffering. Proximate Cause: Excess Rain The proximate cause is La Nina-enhanced rainfall, which has been higher this year along the west coast. In Wayanad itself, it rained 572 mm in 48 hours before the landslide: about 1.8 feet, an enormous amount. Advertisement Before the Wayanad landslide, there had been another in Shirur on the Karnataka coast near Ankola, where a number of people were swept away. The story of Arjun, a Kerala trucker whose truck full of lumber disappeared, was all over the news, and after a weeks-long search, there was no sign of him or the truck. The total rainfall since June 1 was of the order of 3000 mm in Wayanad, which is unusually high, creating vulnerability to landslides. In a recent interview, environmental expert Madhav Gadgil mentioned that quarrying may have added to the intensity of the rainfall because the fine dust from the mining and explosions forms aerosols, on which water molecules condense, leading to excessive precipitation. Advertisement The intense rainfall saturated the soil, and in the absence of sufficient old-growth vegetation that might have held it together, the hillside simply collapsed. Preponderant Cause: Population Pressure, Overtourism, Ecocide The preponderant causes of the problems in Wayanad are obvious: population pressure, overtourism, and environmental destruction. The forest has basically ceased to exist due to human exploitation. According to India Today, 62 per cent of the green cover in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018, while plantation cover rose by around 1,800 per cent. Fully 85 per cent of the total area of Wayanad was under forest cover until the 1950s. Overpopulation, Settlement and Habitat Loss Advertisement My first visit to Wayanad was in 2018, when we drove to Kerala from Karnataka: from the Nagarhole/Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuaries to the contiguous Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, all forming a Project Tiger ecosphere along with neighbouring Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Together they form the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Bandipur/Nagarhole actually looks like a forest. But I was astonished when we drove into Wayanad, because it does not look like a forest any more; it is full of human habitation. It looks like any of the other districts in Kerala: thickly populated, with settlements all over the place. It appeared to be only notionally a wildlife sanctuary. Advertisement Habitat loss, especially that of forest cover, is true of all of Kerala, as highlighted in a study by IISc scientists. It is startling to see how much of this has happened in just a few decades. But it is the culmination of a process that started at least a century ago. Wayanad, according to myth and legend, was once a lovely, lush forest inhabited by a small number of tribals. There were fierce Kurichya archers (it is possible they were warriors banished to the forest after losing a war) who, with Pazhassi Raja, carried on a guerilla war against the British colonials in the 19th century until the Raja was captured and executed. I visited the Pazhassi Museum in Mananthavady this May, on my second visit to Wayanad. There were artefacts there from the tribal settlements. Then, in the 20th century, there was a large migration of lowland people, mostly Christians, from Central Travancore to the Wayanad highlands (and the Western Ghats uplands in general). They encroached on public/forest lands, cleared the forests, and created plantations and agricultural settlements. Their struggles against malaria, wild animals, and the land itself were the subject of Jnanpith winner S K Pottekkats renowned novel Vishakanyaka (Poison Maiden). The public land thus captured eventually made some people rich, but the whole process also in effect enslaved the tribals, who became an exploited underclassthe very same story as of Native Americans, who are still struggling for social justice after centuries of being untermenschen. Since most of the settlers were Christians, the Church became a powerful spokesman for them. Successive governments gave a lot of the settlers title to the land they had illegally captured. So there is a class of rich planters and, on the other hand, miserable plantation workers, often migrants, especially from Tamil Nadu. The green deserts need to be turned back into forests. Keralas highlands, over time, became green deserts, rather than tropical rainforests. The monoculture of tea, rubber, coffee, and especially invasive species such as acacia and eucalyptus is destructive. They crowd out native species, ravage the water table, do not put down deep roots, and offer almost no sustenance to wild animals. It may look deceptively green, but it is no forest. An expert committee, the Madhav Gadgil Commission, recommended in 2011 that the entire Western Ghats was ecologically sensitive (ESA, or Ecologically Sensitive Area), and 75 per cent of it must be preserved intact with minimal human presence. The report was scathing about quarrying, including blasting with dynamite, which upset the already fragile ecosystem, ravaged as it was by the removal of old growth forest and the root system that held the soil together. At the time, Gadgil did say that the calamity would not take 100 years but would happen in ten to twenty years. He was right, but he was ignored as though he were Cassandra. The Church opposed the Gadgil report tooth and nail, and the Government of Kerala pushed back on it. So the Central government created the Kasturirangan Commission (2013), which reduced the proposed ESA to 37 per cent. It classified 60 per cent of the Western Ghats as a cultural landscape with human settlements, plantations, and agriculture. But that too was not acceptable. In fact, Jayanthi Natarajan claimed that she was forced to resign as Environment Minister because she actually notified the order on protection of the Western Ghats the day before she was removed. Her successor duly put the order on hold. Sitting Congress MP in nearby Idukki, P T Thomas, says he was dropped in the 2014 elections because he supported the Gadgil report against encroachments illegal constructions, quarrying, timber smuggling, sand mining from the rivers, and ganja cultivationMy stand upset the Idukki dioceses of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. The Idukki Bishop had openly opposed my candidature. The Government of Kerala convened a third committee, the Oommen Commission (2014), which was specific to Kerala, and it recommended keeping all inhabited areas and plantations out of the ESA altogether. Mission accomplished. No more restrictions on land use. Overtourism and Carrying Capacity This is one reason for the proliferation of resorts and homestays in Wayanad. Every second house caters to tourists, as can be seen from a Google Map (of the area around Kalpetta). The environmental pressure from this (what about solid waste disposal? Do they dump liquid wastes into rivers?) is horrific and increasing. Trash lines the area near the Thamarassery Pass. As a tourist myself, I did not choose a plantation resort but instead a homestay that has a working farm. Perhaps I made a wrong choice because a plantation has a lot of space to absorb the tourist impact. The homestay had many youngsters from Bangalore over the weekend, and it was perfectly nice, but I wonder how much I contributed to the human toll on the environment. I had gone to Wayanad to visit the Thirunelli temple and the Edakkal caves, which have petroglyphs and drawings reliably dated back to 8000 Before the Present (BP), making them second only to the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh, whose rock art dates back to 10,000 BP and earlier. So this area, despite the geological fault lines, has indeed been inhabited for a very long time. The carrying capacity of the land was sufficient in those prehistoric times and even up until recently; now the land can no longer sustain the population. It is also host to another recent influx. Muslims from nearby lowland Kozhikode and Malappuram districts have come up the Thamarassery Pass and settled in Wayanad in numbers. Root Cause: Geology and Errant Rainfall The root cause of the ecological problems in Kerala is the increasingly unstable landscape. It is remarkable that Kerala has such a high number of landslides and vulnerable spots. India Today reports that Kerala has recorded the largest number of landslides in the country, 2,239 out of 3,782 that occurred between 2015 and 2022. The Landslide Atlas of India 2023 from ISRO lists 13 out of 14 Kerala districts among the top 50 landslide-prone areas of the country. This is surprising because the more obvious fault lines must be in the North, where the Indian Plate continues to grind up against the Eurasian Plate, and the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau continue to gain a few centimetres in elevation every year. Indeed, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, and Uttarakhand are landslide-prone. But why Kerala, at the other end of the landmass? It must be the case that there have been severe tectonic movements in Kerala in the past: the Parasurama legend of the land coming up from the sea is based on a real event, presumably caused by an earthquake in a prehistoric time frame. More recently, the thriving Kerala port of Kodungalloor (aka Muziris), the principal West Coast port in historical times along with Bharuccha in Gujarat, was suddenly rendered bereft in 1341 CE after a severe flood in the River Periyar, and port activities shifted to nearby Kochi. More recently, old-timers talk about the Great Flood of 99, i.e., the 1099 Malabar Era, or 1924 CE. Exactly 100 years ago there were torrential rains in July, and records suggest it was 3368 mm or 1326 inches over three weeksthat is 11 feet of rain. Floodwaters rose up to 6 feet, rivers changed course, and at least 1,000 people died along with large numbers of livestock, and there was massive destruction of agricultural land and foodgrains. The Flood of 99 became etched in the collective memory of the area, but it mostly affected the lowland areas of Travancore and Cochin, leaving the highlands largely untouched. That has changed with deforestation, quarrying, construction, and denudation of hillsides. There were the floods of 2018, which affected the hills, especially in Munnar. A full mountainside fell 300 meters into a river there. Entire settlements were washed away. A total of 2,346 mm of rain, or 923 inches, was recorded in July and August, almost 50 per cent higher than the norm. As many as 483 people were killed, with many more missing and unaccounted for. Infrastructure was wiped out, including roads and clean water supply. Dams had to be opened, wreaking havoc on those downstream. There is also the perennial threat of Mullaperiyar Dam overflowing or being breached, which is, among other things, a source of friction between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Other root causes include the following: Climate Change: A study by the World Weather Attribution Group indicated that climate change has intensified rainfall in the region by about 10 per cent, contributing significantly to the severity of the disaster. The ongoing increase in global temperatures has led to more extreme weather patterns, including heavier monsoon rains. Soil Characteristics: Wayanads soils are loose and erodible, particularly in areas with steep gradients exceeding 20 degrees. When saturated, these soils lose their structural integrity, making them susceptible to landslides. The presence of large boulders and mud further complicates the stability of the slopes during heavy rains. Soil piping: Previous landslides in the region, such as the 2019 Puthumala event, created conditions for soil piping, where voids form in the subsurface soil, increasing the risk of subsequent landslides during heavy rainfall. Lack of Effective Land Management Policies: There is a notable absence of comprehensive land use and disaster management policies in Kerala, particularly in ecologically fragile areas. Despite previous disasters, there has been insufficient progress in implementing hazard mapping and community awareness programs to mitigate risks associated with landslides. Thus Kerala is vulnerable to a host of issues, especially climate change (which is also eating away at the coastline). Behind the tropical paradise facade of Gods Own Country, there lie tremendous dangers related to excessive human exploitation, amounting to ecocide. What is the solution? Maybe Madhav Gadgil was right, after all, and strict controls should be imposed on human activity, especially denudation of forests and quarrying. His report had included Vythiri, Mananthavady, and Sulthanbathery taluks in Wayanad as Ecologically Sensitive Zone ESZ-1, which means no change whatsoever in land use is permissible there. Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Meppadi, where the worst of the disasters happened, are all in Vythiri taluk. No effective disaster prevention or mitigation efforts have been put in place. The only solution is reforesting and restoring green cover, stopping construction, quarrying, and tourism, and the most contentious issue, relocating people away from the ESZ. Unfortunately, the tropical rainforest may not restore itself if simply left alone (as temperate-zone forests do), and perhaps efforts such as Miyawaki foresting with native species may need to be pursued. It is to be hoped that we have not passed the point of no return. Keralas population is shrinking (Total Fertility Rate is 1.80, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman), but there is no limit to human greed. What needs to be done There are no magic solutions, but comprehensive climate action and improved disaster management strategies can mitigate things to an extent. Experts emphasise the importance of: Enhanced Communication and Coordination: There is a critical need for better intergovernmental communication regarding disaster preparedness. This includes timely warnings and efficient evacuation plans to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. Land Use Policies: Implementing stringent land use regulations is essential to prevent construction in ecologically sensitive areas. The degradation of green cover due to unregulated development has significantly increased the risk of landslides. Early Warning Systems: Developing robust early warning systems for landslides and floods can provide crucial alerts to communities at risk. These systems should be supported by regular community education and drills to ensure residents are prepared for emergencies. Afforestation and Environmental Conservation: Massive afforestation and reforestation drives (especially with native species) are necessary to stabilise hillsides and reduce landslide risks. Protecting and restoring natural habitats can help mitigate the effects of climate change and enhance biodiversity. Collaborating with local communities for reforestation projects can also provide economic incentives and foster a sense of stewardship. Community Engagement: Empowering local communities to participate in disaster preparedness and environmental conservation efforts is vital. Education on risks and proactive measures can significantly reduce the impact of disasters. Tourism Management: Overtourism can exacerbate environmental degradation. Developing a sustainable tourism strategy that limits visitor numbers, promotes eco-friendly practices, and educates tourists about environmental conservation is essential. Establishing eco-tourism zones and supporting community-based tourism initiatives can provide economic benefits while preserving the natural environment. Regulation of Quarrying and Construction: Strict regulation and monitoring of quarrying and construction activities are necessary to prevent ecological damage. Implementing sustainable practices in these industries, such as controlled quarrying methods and responsible waste management, can mitigate their impact on the environment. Regular audits and penalties for non-compliance can enforce these regulations. Surveillance and meteorological data collection: With modern technology like drones, continuous monitoring of the landscape is possible at a relatively low cost, and this can also be used for collecting large amounts of meteorological data to support early-warning systems. Satellite images from Indias own as well as foreign sources can be used to warn of dangerous construction, quarrying, and loss of forest cover. Some of these are purely technical solutions, offering computerised forecasts and disaster warnings. The social and governance aspects are even more important: discipline, cooperation, and awareness on the part of the residents, and the strict enforcement of land use rules and regulations. Dealing with powerful settlers, encroachers, and vested interests requires a delicate balance of enforcement and negotiation, carrot and stick. Government agencies, non-governmental organisations, and local communities must collaborate to develop and implement policies that address these challenges. Advocacy for stronger environmental laws and community involvement in decision-making processes can help align interests and foster cooperation. With all these in place, it may be possible to repair the damaged hills of the Western Ghats, one of the global hotspots of biodiversity. The writer has been a conservative columnist for over 25 years. His academic interest is innovation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. It appears that two hugs by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Volodymyr Zelensky in Apulia and Kyiv have been weighed lightly compared to the one given to Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Zelensky had invited and hosted PM Modi and has been asking India, along with other Western leaders, to leverage its influence with President Putin to end the conflict. Hence PM Modi used his personal diplomacy and credit with Putin in July to find a reasonable solution through dialogue, diplomacy, and respect for the UN Charter. Advertisement Logical triad of meetings on the sidelines of the G7 and Moscow was to head to Kyiv even if it entailed 20 hours of train ride for the Indian leader. The cause of peace and diplomacy was important. The visit has no doubt repaired the misplaced deficit in the bilateral context, as the four MoUs and agreements were signed and a detailed joint statement was issued on the way forward. PM Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Poland and Ukraine, both of whom are antagonistic to Russia. While empathising with Zelensky, PM Modi urged that both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis. I want to assure you that India is ready to play an active role in any efforts towards peace," the Indian PM said, assuring that he personally was ready to play his part. No doubt, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, it is a very complex issue. Both sides seem to have vertical positions. It has been a big question: to what extent are they willing to bend to come to the table? It appears despite the war fatigue and exceptional losses in all respects, Kyiv (backed by its Western allies) and Moscow are hellbent on carrying on with their quest to defeat the other. Ukraines recent incursions into the Russian Kursk region could give them some leverage in negotiations, but retaliation will continue to be fierce unless Kiev has sufficient fire and diplomatic power to ward off further acquisitions of territory by Russia. Given the western financial stress, internal uncertainties, and US election outcome, one could not extrapolate that possibility beyond a point. Advertisement The India-Ukraine relationship does have sufficient potential for further growth in a bilateral, regional, and even global context as New Delhi stays committed to the global welfare of the Global South, whose third summit it just held virtually and who have been unfairly impacted by this geopolitical war. This is also a prime mover for Indias efforts to work for peace, ceasefire, and resolution through dialogue and diplomacy. Bilaterally, both sides committed to enhance trade and investments and collaboration in other areas and to activate existing bilateral institutional mechanisms towards that end. India will also be undertaking several high-impact community development projects under the government grants to be provided by New Delhi. Indian businesses, in due course, will have enough opportunity to participate in the $500 billion reconstruction plan in Ukraine, most likely in collaboration with their European partners. Pharma and food and agricultural areas are other key drivers of the relationship. Defence cooperation has been active despite the Pakistan factor and would be pursued vigorously as the Joint Working Group established in 2012 moves ahead with new areas of cooperation. Ukraine once again supported Indias permanent seat at the reformed UN Security Council. Advertisement As for the most critical aspect of the visit and Indias role as a peacemaker in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, a couple of points need mention. Kyiv proposed that the joint communique issued at the Peace Summit (which India did not sign as New Delhi maintained that for any meaningful outcome both sides must be there) could be the starting point as a peace framework. Russia is apparently studying it. At the next summit, which India might even host, Ukraine would have perhaps no objection to Russia being part of it. However, just peace through dialogue and diplomacy can only be achieved through adherence and compliance with international law without exception. India has repeatedly mentioned this. Advertisement PM Modi from the very beginning of this war when, in his interactions with President Putin, he conveyed that famous statement that this is not an era of war and that solution could not be found in the battlefield. He condemned the killing of children who become casualties of war. India has played a constructive role in the last two years by supporting the Black Sea grain deal and countering a nuclear spillover. India sent humanitarian shipments 17 times. Even during PM Modis visit, four of the BHISHM Cubes (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri) were gifted to Ukraine to counter medical emergencies. It can be airlifted and is compactly packed into 72 cubes for transport. This is needed in the war zone as each BHISHM Cube can handle approximately 200 emergency cases, catering to a wide range of medical needs such as trauma, burns, fractures, and shock. Advertisement A point that needs to be set right and in perspective is the accusation by President Zelensky that India has empowered Russia by buying increasing quantities of crude and expected this to be reduced or discontinued without being mindful of Indias own critical energy security interests, despite the fact that both sides have agreed to make the comprehensive relationship into a strategic partnership. He is also not being truthful when he ignores the fact that his own Western benefactors in Europe have been buying billions of dollars of Russian gas, reaching their highest limit in May itself. Kpler, a data provider, stated that Russia is now the EUs second-largest LNG supplier, with nearly 16 per cent of EUs total LNG supply in 2023 which was an increase of 40 per cent from 2021. And France, Belgium, and Spain account for 87 per cent of LNG imports. Should that not be seen by the same logic? Hypocrisy and convenience are hardly uncommon in diplomatic discourse. The same applies to some of the critics of the PMs visit and its timing at home, especially for political brownie points or just for the hack of it. We need not forget that seven decades ago India had played a highly appreciated role in diffusing the Korean crisis, and it took over two years to stabilise the situation. Diplomacy is not buffoonery. Today also, India is at a cusp and ready to play a role for the cause of peace, being trusted by all, even though by some rather grudgingly. But it takes two to tango and hope all the stakeholders are on the same page if they dont wish to work for more havoc, humanitarian disaster, and destruction serving their myopic geopolitical ends. The author is the former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta and is currently a Distinguished Fellow with Vivekananda International Foundation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. If the initial period ends, the judge can either decide to free him or press charges and remand him in further custody read more Hours after arresting Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, the French judicial authorities have extended the Russian-born billionaires detention in the country. The tech-mogul was arrested at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday. Following the arrest, the French judicial authorities extended the 39-year-olds detention beyond Sunday night. The order was given by the investigating magistrate who is handling the case, The Guardian reported. It is important to note that the initial period of detention for questioning can last up to 96 hours in France. Advertisement If the initial period ends, the judge can either decide to free him or press charges and remand him in further custody. The French authorities issued an arrest warrant against Durov as a part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying. What are the allegations? The French authorities accused Durov of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform. Enough of Telegrams impunity, said one investigator who expressed surprise that Durov flew to Paris knowing he was a wanted man. Meanwhile, Telegram came to its co-founders defence and released a statement over the matter. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving, the statement by Durovs company reads. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation, it furthered. Russia keeps an eye Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have slammed France and accused the country of refusing to cooperate in the case. The Russian embassy in France is taking immediate steps to get clarity on the situation. According to Russian news outlet Tass, the countrys embassy has received no appeals from Durovs team, but it is proactively taking immediate steps. Durov left Russia back in 2014 after he refused to comply with the Russian governments demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform. However, the billionaire eventually sold the platform. Advertisement Durov and his brother Nikolai founded the famous messaging app back in 2013. Over the years, Telegram has acquired over 900 million active users. It emerged as an alternative to Metas Whatsapp and provides end-to-end encrypted messaging. Users can also set up channels to disseminate information quickly to followers. Interestingly, Telegram was banned in Russia, back in 2018 after Durov refused to hand over user data to the government. However, the ban was reversed in 2021. The Russian-born tech mogul lives in Dubai, where the messaging app is based and holds the dual citizenship of both France and the United Arab Emirates. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. The investigation, led by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has raised the possibility of a ban on Telegram depending on the outcome of the probe read more Telegram, which boasts over 5 million users in India, was recently implicated in the UGC-NEET controversy. Question paper for a major medical entrance exam was leaked and allegedly sold on Telegram for prices ranging between Rs 5,000-10,000. Image Credit: Reuters, Pexels The Government of India is currently investigating Telegram, a popular messaging app, over concerns that it is being used for criminal activities such as extortion and gambling. The investigation, led by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has raised the possibility of a ban on the platform depending on the outcome of the probe. An anonymous government official disclosed these developments to Moneycontrol. Advertisement This investigation coincides with the recent arrest of Telegrams founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, in Paris on August 24. Reports suggest that Durov was detained by French authorities over the apps failure to prevent criminal activities, particularly its moderation policies, which have been under scrutiny. Telegrams role in criminal activities Telegram has become a concern for Indian authorities due to its increasing association with criminal activities, including scams that have resulted in significant financial losses for citizens. The platform, which boasts over 5 million registered users in India, was recently implicated in the UGC-NEET controversy. In this case, the question paper for a major medical entrance exam was leaked and allegedly sold on Telegram for prices ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. This incident sparked student protests and led to the intervention of the Supreme Court. The ongoing investigation by I4C and MeitY is specifically focused on activities such as extortion and gambling facilitated through peer-to-peer (P2P) communications on Telegram. While the app is reportedly compliant with Indias Information Technology (IT) Rules, the absence of a local office in India has complicated efforts to investigate and regulate the platform. The IT Rules require platforms like Telegram to appoint a nodal officer, a chief compliance officer, and to publish monthly compliance reports. However, the lack of a physical presence in India has made it difficult for authorities to request user data and effectively manage the platforms operations within the country. Advertisement Pavel Durovs arrest and the tech industrys reactions The arrest of Pavel Durov by French authorities has further intensified the situation. Durov was detained at Bourget airport near Paris as part of an investigation into the lack of moderation on Telegram, which allegedly allowed criminal activities to continue unchecked on the platform. In response to the arrest, Telegram issued a statement on August 26, asserting that Durov frequently travels in Europe and has nothing to hide. The company emphasised that nearly a billion users globally rely on Telegram for communication and vital information, and expressed hope for a quick resolution to the situation. Advertisement The arrest has drawn criticism from prominent figures in the tech community. Edward Snowden, the former NSA whistleblower, condemned the arrest as an assault on basic human rights of speech and association. American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan suggested that the French governments actions were motivated more by a desire for control than by crime prevention. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and CTO of X has asked why Mark Zuckerberg, the founder-CEO of Meta, previously Facebook, asked why Mark Zuckerberg hasnt been arrested over the massive child exploitation problem on Instagram. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also expressed concerns about the implications of the arrest for communication freedom in Europe, despite his past criticism of Telegrams approach to encryption. Advertisement Telegrams coloured history in India This is not the first time Telegram has faced scrutiny in India. In October, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued notices to Telegram and other social media platforms, directing them to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from their services. Additionally, in May, the government, following recommendations from the Ministry of Home Affairs, blocked several encrypted messaging platforms, including Briar, Element, and AWS-owned Wickr Me, citing concerns over their misuse. More recently, the IT ministry considered blocking Proton Mail, an encrypted email platform, after it was used to send hoax bomb threats. However, Swiss authorities intervened to prevent the ban. Advertisement As the investigation into Telegram continues, the outcome will likely have significant implications for the platforms operations in India and could potentially lead to a broader debate about the regulation of encrypted communication services in the country. Meta traced some suspicious activity to APT42, also known as UNC788 and Mint Sandstorm, a group previously linked by the FBI to a phishing campaign that targeted members of both the Trump and Harris camps. read more The hackers posed as technical support representatives from companies like AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, though Meta did not provide details on how they attempted to compromise their targets' accounts. Image Credit: Reuters Meta has taken action against Iranian hackers by blocking WhatsApp accounts involved in a suspected social engineering campaign. The company traced this activity to APT42, also known as UNC788 and Mint Sandstorm, a group previously linked by the FBI to a phishing campaign that targeted members of both the Trump and Harris camps. This suspicious activity on WhatsApp appeared to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States, and the UK, focusing particularly on political and diplomatic officials associated with both US presidential candidates. Advertisement The hackers posed as technical support representatives from companies like AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, though Meta did not provide details on how they attempted to compromise their targets accounts. Some of the targeted individuals reported the suspicious activity, prompting Meta to launch an investigation. The company believes that the hackers efforts were unsuccessful, as it found no evidence that the targets accounts were compromised. Nonetheless, Meta reported the activity to law enforcement and shared relevant information with both presidential campaigns. Earlier in the month, Google released a report revealing that APT42 had been targeting high-profile users in Israel and the US for years. While many of APT42s attempts were unsuccessful, the group did manage to infiltrate the account of Roger Stone, a close political confidante of Trump. The hackers used Stones account to send phishing emails to his contacts, further illustrating the threat posed by this group. Metas actions demonstrate the ongoing efforts by tech companies to safeguard the integrity of political processes in the face of sophisticated cyber threats. The financial toll of the CrowdStrike incident is estimated to be in the billions. The outage drew sharp criticism from regulators and business leaders, who are still scrutinising the level of access that third-party software vendors have to the core, or kernel, of Windows operating systems read more Microsoft is also considering adopting a model similar to the open-source Linux operating system, which uses a filtering mechanism to create a segregated environment within the kernel. Image Credit: Reuters In response to a recent global IT outage that caused significant disruptions, Microsoft is taking decisive steps to enhance the security and resilience of its Windows operating system. The outage, triggered by a flawed update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, resulted in millions of PCs and servers crashing worldwide, prompting Microsoft to rethink its security procedures. The company is now intensifying efforts to make Windows more resistant to such incidents and is in active discussions with its partners about adapting security protocols to prevent similar issues in the future. Advertisement CrowdStrike fiascos impact On July 19, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike caused the crash of approximately 8.5 million Windows devices, leading to widespread disruptions, including grounded flights and missed hospital appointments. The financial toll of this incident is estimated to be in the billions. This event has drawn sharp criticism from regulators and business leaders, who are scrutinizing the level of access that third-party software vendors have to the core, or kernel, of Windows operating systems. The kernel is a critical part of an operating system, and any bugs within it can lead to catastrophic failures, such as the infamous blue screens of death that appeared globally during the CrowdStrike incident. Critics argue that the failure to address these vulnerabilities sooner reflects shortcomings in how Windows handles third-party security software. As a result, Microsoft is now under pressure to implement changes that would better protect its systems from similar errors in the future. Proposed changes Microsoft is considering several options to enhance system stability, including potentially blocking third-party access to the Windows kernel altogether. This move, while it could prevent similar outages, is controversial. Competitors fear that such a change could give Microsofts own security product, Microsoft Defender, an unfair advantage over other cybersecurity tools. There is concern within the industry that this shift would not only limit the effectiveness of third-party security software but also disrupt the compatibility with other software that has made Windows popular among business customers. Advertisement In response to these concerns, Microsoft is exploring alternative solutions. One possibility is to demand stricter testing procedures from cybersecurity vendors before their software can interact with Windows. Another option could involve adopting a model similar to that of Apple, which restricts all third-party access to the kernel in its macOS, forcing external software to operate in a more limited user mode. However, Microsoft has previously refrained from this approach, partly due to a 2009 agreement with the European Commission that required the company to provide third parties with the same access to its systems as its own security tools. Industry experts have noted that while blocking kernel access could enhance system security, it would also create significant trade-offs. Security vendors argue that operating within the kernel allows them to gather more information about potential threats and deploy defensive measures more effectively. Advertisement Limiting their access could make their products less effective against sophisticated cyberattacks. Going open-source Microsoft is also considering adopting a model similar to the open-source Linux operating system, which uses a filtering mechanism to create a segregated environment within the kernel. This approach could allow software, including cybersecurity tools, to run safely without compromising system stability. However, implementing such changes would be complex and could be difficult for regulators to oversee, leading to concerns that Microsoft might favour its own products in the process. Microsofts upcoming summit, scheduled for September 10 at its headquarters near Seattle, will bring together government representatives and cybersecurity companies, including CrowdStrike, to discuss steps for improving security and resilience in the wake of the recent incident. Advertisement This gathering marks an important moment in the ongoing efforts to strengthen Windows defenses against future threats and ensure that the platform remains robust and reliable for users worldwide. As Microsoft navigates these challenges, the decisions it makes could have far-reaching implications for the cybersecurity industry and the broader tech landscape. The Polaris mission, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, intends to take its crew of four private citizens on a journey that will reach up to 870 miles from Earth, the farthest any human has travelled since the Apollo program read more To ensure their safety, the crew will rely on SpaceXs new Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacesuits, which have undergone extensive ground testing. Image Credit: SpaceX SpaceX is gearing up for a significant milestone in space exploration with the imminent launch of Polaris Dawn, a private space mission that aims to conduct the first-ever civilian spacewalk. The launch is scheduled for this week, with SpaceX announcing that the Falcon 9 rocket will lift off on Tuesday, August 27, at 3:38 AM ET. This mission, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, intends to take its crew of four private citizens on a journey that will reach up to 870 miles from Earth, the farthest any human has travelled since the Apollo program. Advertisement A key highlight of the mission will be the spacewalk, where two crew members are expected to step outside the SpaceX Dragon capsule at an altitude of 435 miles above Earth. The Polaris Dawn crew is a carefully selected team with diverse expertise. Jared Isaacman, the CEO of Shift4, will serve as the missions commander. The pilot, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Kidd Poteet, will assist Isaacman in navigating the spacecraft. Joining them are SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who will act as mission specialists. Menon will also take on the role of medical officer, overseeing the crews health during the mission. The mission is expected to last approximately five days, with all crew members playing crucial roles throughout the journey. One of the missions most daring elements is the spacewalk, which will involve opening the hatch of the Dragon capsule at an altitude of 435 miles. This manoeuvre will expose all crew members to the vacuum of space since the Dragon capsule lacks an airlock. To ensure their safety, the crew will rely on SpaceXs new Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacesuits, which have undergone extensive ground testing. Although only two crew members will leave the spacecraft during the spacewalk, the integrity of the suits is critical for the entire crew. Confidence in these suits was expressed by mission specialists, who noted that the suits have been pressurized multiple times during tests to ensure they can withstand the conditions of space. Advertisement Beyond the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn will serve as a platform for testing SpaceXs Starlink laser-based communication systems in space for the first time. Additionally, the mission will gather valuable data to support ongoing research into the effects of spaceflight on human health. Polaris Dawn marks the beginning of a series of planned missions, being the first of three Polaris spaceflights, each designed to push the boundaries of private space exploration and contribute to our understanding of space travel. This mission, years in the making, is set to be a significant step forward in commercial space exploration. Telegram emphasised that Durov has nothing to hide and criticised the arrest as baseless, stating, It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform. Telegram also expressed hope for a prompt resolution to the situation read more Pavel Durov, who currently resides in Dubai and holds citizenship in both France and the United Arab Emirates, was detained under an arrest warrant issued by OFMIN, a French agency dedicated to combating violence against minors. Image Credit: Reuters, Reuters Telegram, the popular messaging app, has raised questions about the legitimacy of the detention of its CEO, Pavel Durov, who was arrested at Le Bourget airport in Paris over the weekend. Durov, who is 39 years old, was detained on suspicion of failing to prevent the criminal use of Telegram, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). His initial detention was extended by 24 hours late on Sunday, as confirmed by a judicial official. Advertisement In response to the arrest, Telegram issued a statement both on its platform and on X (formerly known as Twitter), asserting that the company fully complies with European laws, including the Digital Services Act. The company emphasised that Durov has nothing to hide and criticised the arrest as baseless, stating, It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform. Telegram also expressed hope for a prompt resolution to the situation. Pavel Durov, who currently resides in Dubai and holds citizenship in both France and the United Arab Emirates, was detained under an arrest warrant issued by OFMIN, a French agency dedicated to combating violence against minors. According to AFP, OFMIN is coordinating a preliminary investigation into several alleged offences, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime, and the promotion of terrorism. In response to Durovs detention, the Russian embassy in Paris requested an explanation from French authorities and demanded the protection of Durovs rights, including consular access. The embassy stated that it is in contact with Durovs lawyer to ensure his legal rights are upheld. The arrest of Durov has had a significant impact on Toncoin, a cryptocurrency associated with Telegram, which reportedly dropped by as much as 23 per cent following the news of his detention. Telegram, which was created by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai, has grown to become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, boasting around 900 million active users. However, its approach to content moderation has led to allegations that the platform is often used for criminal activities and the distribution of extremist material. Advertisement The Durov brothers first gained prominence in the tech world through the creation of VKontakte, a Russian social network they launched in 2006. VKontakte quickly became popular in Russia but also attracted unwanted attention from individuals with connections to the Kremlin. In 2014, Pavel Durov fled Russia and sold his stake in VKontakte, eventually amassing a net worth of over $9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April, Durov discussed the challenges he faced from Russian authorities while running VKontakte and the ongoing scrutiny of Telegram by law enforcement agencies worldwide. He emphasised his desire for freedom and independence, stating, I would rather be free, I wouldnt want to take orders from anyone. Advertisement As the situation continues to unfold, the extended detention of Pavel Durov has drawn significant attention, raising broader questions about the responsibilities of tech platforms in preventing criminal activities and the implications of such responsibilities on global freedom of communication. French authorities have reportedly been scrutinising Durov and Telegram due to the platforms perceived lack of moderation and insufficient cooperation with police investigations read more Telegrams small staff, consisting of around 60 employees, is likely to keep the platform running, but questions remain about who will handle critical tasks, such as making payments to infrastructure providers if Durov remains in custody. Image credit: Reuters, Reuters Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was unexpectedly arrested on Saturday evening in France as he disembarked from his private jet at Le Bourget airport, just outside Paris. Arriving from Azerbaijan, Durov was reportedly accompanied by a bodyguard and a woman when he was detained by French authorities. Following his arrest, it is believed that Durov spent the night in a French jail cell, a situation that has sparked significant concern and speculation. Advertisement Durovs arrest The arrest was carried out under a warrant issued by OFMIN, a relatively new law enforcement agency in France that began operations in November. This agency is specifically tasked with preventing violence against minors. According to initial reports from TF1Info, the French media outlet that first broke the news, Durovs arrest is connected to an ongoing preliminary investigation into a series of serious allegations, including drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism. These activities are believed to have been facilitated on Telegram, a platform Durov has asserted has 950 million users as of July. Investigators, who have spoken to the French media on the condition of anonymity, expressed confusion over why Durov chose to land in France despite being on the countrys wanted persons list. It was reported that Durovs presence was flagged when his name appeared on the passenger list for the incoming private jet. French authorities have reportedly been scrutinising Durov and Telegram due to the platforms perceived lack of moderation and insufficient cooperation with police investigations. The investigation is being led by specialised units within the French police, including a cybersecurity gendarmerie and the national anti-fraud police unit. The case is under the supervision of an investigative judge who specializes in organized crime. Telegrams response In response to the arrest, the Telegram News channel issued a statement on Sunday evening, characterizing the allegations as absurd. The statement emphasized that neither Durov nor the platform could be held responsible for the misuse of Telegram by its users. The post further noted that Durov has nothing to hide and is a frequent traveler within Europe. Telegram expressed hope for a swift resolution to the situation. Advertisement Since Russias invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of the conflict in Gaza, Telegram has played a dual role in global geopolitics. It has served as a crucial source of information for those on the ground, while also being a conduit for disinformation and graphic content. Durov has consistently maintained that Telegram is a neutral platform with no political affiliations, despite the controversies surrounding it. How Telegram mirrors social media Civil societys relationship with Telegram has been complex. On one hand, organizations like Access Now have defended Telegram against attempts by authoritarian regimes to block or coerce the platform into providing encryption keys. Advertisement On the other hand, there has been growing concern over Telegrams lack of clear human rights policies, reliable communication channels, and remedies for its users. Legal experts have suggested that French authorities might attempt to pressure Durov into providing encryption keys to decrypt private messages on Telegram, a demand that Russia has previously made. Kennedy, who recently endorsed Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency, described Telegram as an uncensored and encrypted platform, though it should be noted that Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default. The platforms one-to-many broadcast feature, known as Channels, allows unlimited subscribers to view posts, contributing to its characterization as a social network rather than just a messaging app. Advertisement Durovs arrest has also drawn attention from right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson, who pointed out the irony of Durov being arrested by a Western country rather than by Russia, from which he allegedly fled years ago. Carlsons comments have gained significant traction online, with millions of views on social media. What happens to Telegram now? Within Telegram, there is growing concern about the companys future in Durovs absence. Former colleagues of Durov, such as Georgy Lobushkin and Anton Rozenberg, have expressed shock at the arrest and worry about the potential impact on Telegrams operations. Durov has been deeply involved in all aspects of Telegrams management, from financing and development strategies to content moderation and payment processing. Without his leadership, some fear that Telegram could face significant challenges, particularly in managing crucial decisions and maintaining its infrastructure. Advertisement For now, it is expected that Telegram will continue to operate as usual. However, the duration of Durovs detention could determine the extent of the impact on the companys operations. Telegrams small staff, consisting of around 60 employees, is likely to keep the platform running, but questions remain about who will handle critical tasks, such as making payments to infrastructure providers if Durov remains in custody. As the situation unfolds, the tech world will be closely watching to see how Telegram navigates this unexpected crisis. Concerns over escalating conflict in the West Asia have led numerous international airlines to suspend or cancel flights to and from affected regions, including Tel Aviv, Beirut, and Amman. The disruptions reflect heightened security risks and ongoing regional tensions read more A view of the skyline of Tel Aviv during sunset, as seen from a plane window, Israel, August 18, 2024. REUTERS/File Photo Concerns over a wider conflict in the West Asia have prompted international airlines to suspend flights to the region or to avoid affected air space. Below are some of the airlines that have adjusted services to and from the region: AEGEAN AIRLINES The Greek airline cancelled flights to and from Amman until Sept. 30, Beirut until Oct. 1 and Tel Aviv until Oct. 26. AIR ALGERIE The Algerian airline suspended flights to and from Lebanon until further notice. Advertisement AIRBALTIC Latvias airBaltic cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until Sept. 1. AIR FRANCE-KLM Air France cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut until at least Aug. 26 after a major missile exchange between Israel and Hezbollah on Aug. 25. KLM has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until Oct. 26. The Franco-Dutch groups low-cost unit Transavia cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 31, 2025, and flights to Amman and Beirut until Nov. 3. AIR INDIA The Indian flag carrier suspended scheduled flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice. CATHAY PACIFIC Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until March 27, 2025. DELTA AIR LINES The U.S. carrier paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through Oct. 31. EASYJET The UK budget airline stopped flying to and from Tel Aviv in April and will resume flights on March 30, 2025, a spokesperson said. IAG IAG-owned British Airways suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv through Aug. 28, a spokesperson for the airline said. Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling cancelled, all flights to Tel Aviv and Amman until Oct. 26. Iberia Express suspended flights to Tel Aviv until Aug. 25. There was no update on the status of flights on its website as of Aug. 26. ITA AIRWAYS Italys ITA Airways extended the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until Aug. 26. Advertisement LOT The Polish flag carrier suspended flights to Tel Aviv until Sept. 1 and to Beirut until Sept. 2. LUFTHANSA GROUP The German airline group, which includes carriers Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Condor and Eurowings, will resume flights to Amman and Erbil from Aug. 27, but extended suspension to Tel Aviv and Tehran until Sept. 2. Flights to Beirut are suspended through Sept. 30. RYANAIR Europes biggest budget airline cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until Sept. 30 citing operational restrictions. ROYAL JORDANIAN Jordans flag carrier suspended flights to Beirut on Aug. 25 without giving an exact time frame, the state news agency reported. Advertisement SUNEXPRESS SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa suspended flights to Beirut through Dec. 17. TAROM Romanias flag carrier cancelled Tel Aviv flights on Aug. 25-26, after temporarily resuming them between Aug. 20-23. It also updated the flight schedule to and from Amman on Aug 25-26 to allow the use of detour routes. It had earlier extended the suspension of flights to Beirut until Sept. 2. UNITED AIRLINES The Chicago-based airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future due to security reasons. LEBANESE AIRSPACE ALERTS Britain advised UK airlines not to enter Lebanese airspace from Aug. 8 until Nov. 4 citing potential risk to aviation from military activity. Attacks by separatist militants in Pakistans Balochistan province, targeting police stations, highways, and railways, have resulted in at least 51 deaths, with retaliatory operations killing 12 insurgents. The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the violence, which is part of a long-standing effort to secede from Pakistan and oppose Chinese projects in the resource-rich region read more The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked police stations, railway lines, and vehicles on highways in what officials said was the most widespread assault by the insurgent group in years. Reuters Separatist militant attacks on police stations, railway lines and highways in Pakistans restive province of Balochistan, coupled with retaliatory operations by security forces, killed at least 51 people, officials said on Monday. The most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years forms part of a decades-long effort to win secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to major China-led projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine. These attacks are a well thought our plan to create anarchy in Pakistan, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement, adding that security forces had killed 12 militants in operations after the attacks, but without giving details. Advertisement The largest of the attacks targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks on a major highway, killing at least 23 people, officials said, with 35 vehicles set ablaze. Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of Pakistan, as well as on a rail link to neighbouring Iran, railways official Muhammad Kashif said. Police said they had found six as yet unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge. Officials said militants also targeted police and security stations in Balochistan, which is Pakistans largest province, killing at least 10 people in one attack. Militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility in a statement to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these. The BLA is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the central government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistans gas and mineral resources. It seeks the expulsion of China and independence for the province. Naqvis comments came after the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed in a statement that security forces would retaliate for the attacks and bring those responsible to justice. PASSENGERS KILLED On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway in Balochistan, marched passengers off vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai, told Reuters. Advertisement As many as 35 vehicles, including trucks, were set on fire on the highway in the area of Musakhail. The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal, said Hameed Zahir, the deputy commissioner of the area. Militants have targeted workers from the eastern province of Punjab whom they see as exploiting their resources. In the past, they have also attacked Chinese interests and citizens in the province, where China runs the strategic southern deepwater port of Gawadar, as well as a gold and copper mine in its west. The BLA said its fighters targeted military personnel travelling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified. Advertisement Pakistans interior ministry said the dead were innocent citizens. Six security personnel, three civilians and one tribal elder made up the ten killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti said. Officials said police stations had also been attacked in the two southern coastal towns, but the toll had yet to be confirmed. Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistans largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty. The 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) aims to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries by enhancing trade, investment, and collaboration. It provides a platform for reviewing progress and exploring new opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations read more Indian cabinet ministers with their Singaporean counterparts and president Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Source: X The 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), scheduled for August 26, 2024, in Singapore, marks a significant milestone in the strategic partnership between the two nations. This high-level meeting will bring together top Indian officials, including Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw. The roundtable aims to strengthen diplomatic ties, boost economic cooperation, and explore new opportunities for collaboration, reflecting the deepening relationship between India and Singapore. Advertisement Here are ten key points on why it matters: 1. The ISMR helps deepen the strategic partnership between India and Singapore, fostering stronger diplomatic and economic ties. 2. The roundtable focuses on improving trade relations, aiming to increase the flow of goods and services between the two countries. 3. It creates opportunities to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) from Singapore to India, which can drive economic growth and development. 4. By discussing future projects and collaborations, the meeting seeks to identify new areas for cooperation that benefit both nations. 5. The roundtable helps both countries leverage each others strengths, like Indias growing market and Singapores investment expertise, to achieve mutual economic growth. 6. Meetings with global business leaders in Singapore can lead to new partnerships and investments that support Indias economic expansion. 7. The ISMR provides a platform to assess how well the previous agreements and initiatives have worked and make necessary adjustments. 8. It offers a chance to discuss and resolve any issues that might be hindering bilateral relations or trade and investment flows. 9. The roundtable helps both nations work together on global and regional issues, strengthening their overall partnership. 10. The high-level participation from both sides demonstrates a strong commitment to enhancing bilateral relations and tackling shared goals. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. read more A view shows a charred vehicle, after separatist militants conducted deadly attacks, according to officials, in Balochistan province, Pakistan, August 26, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a video. Reuters At least 38 civilians among 73 people were killed in Pakistans province of Balochistan after security forces launched retaliatory operations following the said attack by a mob on police stations, railway lines and highways. Balochistans chief minister said 38 civilians were also killed. Local officials said 23 of them were killed in the roadside attack after armed men checked passengers IDs before shooting many of them and torching vehicles. People were taken off buses and killed in front of their families, Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in a televised press conference. Advertisement These attacks are a well thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement. Pakistans military said 14 soldiers and police and 21 militants were killed in fighting after the largest of the attacks, which targeted buses and trucks on a major highway. Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of Pakistan. Militants also struck a rail link to neighbouring Iran, railways official Muhammad Kashif said. Police said they had found six as yet unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility for the operation they called Haruf or dark windy storm. In a statement to journalists they claimed more attacks over the last day that have not yet been confirmed by authorities. The group said four suicide bombers, including a woman from the southern port district of Gwadar, had been involved in an attack on the Bela paramilitary base. Pakistani authorities did not confirm the suicide blasts, but the provincial chief minister said three people had been killed at the base. Monday was the anniversary of the death of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, who was killed by Pakistans security forces in 2006. Bugti, the chief minister, said more intelligence-based operations would be launched to weed out militants. He hinted at curtailing mobile data services to stop militant coordination. They launch attacks, film it and then share it on social media for propaganda, he said. Advertisement General Li Qiaoming, commander of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Ground Forces, and Pakistans army chief Asim Munir met on Monday, though a Pakistani military statement released after the meeting made no mention of the attacks. European Commission spokesperson Nabila Massrali said the EU condemned the attack. Passengers Killed On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway, marched passengers off vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai, told Reuters. As many as 35 vehicles were set on fire on the highway in the area of Musakhail. The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal, said Hameed Zahir, deputy commissioner of the area. Advertisement In the past, they have also attacked Chinese interests and citizens in the province, where China runs the deepwater port of Gwadar, as well as a gold and copper mine in its west. Six security personnel, three civilians and one tribal elder made up the ten killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti said. With inputs from agencies. The current dispute centers on the muting of microphones when a candidate isnt speaking, a condition both Biden and Trump accepted for their June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides are accusing the other of gaming the system to protect their candidate read more This combination photo shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaking during a presidential debate, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, left, and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaking during a Democratic presidential primary debates, July 31, 2019, in Detroit. AP The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While its common for campaigns to quibble beforehand over debate mechanics, both Harris and Trump are under pressure to deliver a strong performance next month in Philadelphia. The first debate during this campaign led to President Joe Bidens departure from the race. Advertisement Trump on Sunday night raised the possibility that he might not show up on ABC, posting on his Truth Social network that he had watched the networks Sunday show with a so-called Panel of Trump Haters and posited, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? and urging followers to Stay tuned!! The current dispute centers on the muting of microphones when a candidate isnt speaking, a condition both Biden and Trump accepted for their June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides are accusing the other of gaming the system to protect their candidate. Bidens campaign team made microphone muting a condition of its decision to accept any debates this year, and some aides now regret the decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trumps outbursts during the debate. That move likely would not have helped the incumbent Democrats disastrous performance. The Harris campaign now wants microphones to be live all the time, according to Harris spokesman Brian Fallon, who issued a statement needling Trump. Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own, Fallon said. Harris is ready to deal with Trumps constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button. Trump spokesman Jason Miller retorted that the Republican nominee had accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. He alleged Harris representatives sought a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. Advertisement Miller then took a shot at Harris not sitting for an interview or holding a news conference since Biden ended his reelection and endorsed her, arguing her campaign now wants to give her a cheat sheet for the debate. The Harris campaign denied Millers claim that she wanted notes or to be seated during the debate. Id rather have it probably on, Trump said Monday during a stop in the Washington area, when asked if he wanted microphones muted. I didnt like it the last time, but it worked out fine, he added, in terms of the policy during his debate with Biden. Advertisement We agreed to the same rules same rules, same specifications, Trump noted, for his Sept. 10 debate with Harris. And I think thats probably what it should be. Asked how he was preparing for the debate, Trump responded, Im not. I think my whole life Ive been preparing for a debate. Complicating the negotiations this year is that debates are being orchestrated on an ad hoc basis by host networks, as opposed to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, through which debate rules were negotiated privately. Microphones have been unmuted for both candidates for most of televised presidential debate history. The debate commission announced that its October 2020 debate would have microphones muted when candidates were not recognized to speak after the first Biden-Trump contest descended into a shouting match. The second 2020 debate with the microphone muting rules was widely celebrated for being more substantive than the earlier matchup. Amid an ongoing crackdown on digital freedoms, internet speed in Pakistan has reduced by up 40% in Pakistan lately and X (formerly Twitter) has been banned for around six months read more As a Pakistan court has started hearing case related to internet freedoms, a human rights watchdog has urged the government to be more transparent in its actions. For the past one year, Pakistan has had many rounds of internet crackdowns. The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has been banned in China for around six months and internet speed has fallen by around 40 per cent in the past two weeks. Amid such conditions, the Islamabad High Court is hearing a petition filed by journalist Hamid Mir about the nationwide internet slowdown. The HC has issued notices to the federal government and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Previously, the PTA had blamed a fault in the submarine cables for the slowdown and had said no firewalls were being put in place. Advertisement Now, the Amnesty International has said in a statement that the opacity in Pakistan regarding internet freedoms is an alarming concern. Calling for transparency in government decisions, the watchdog urged the Pakistani government to be transparent about the cause of these internet disruptions and ensure that they do not deploy monitoring and surveillance systems that are unnecessary, disproportionate, and in violation of international human rights law. PAKISTAN: Authorities in Pakistan urged to be transparent about internet disruptions and surveillance tech.@AmnestyTech noted today: The opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down and control Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office (@amnestysasia) August 26, 2024 Pakistani govts actions incompatible with human rights The Amnesty International said that the Pakistani government has repeatedly and opaquely resorted to the monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down, and control internet speeds in the country. Time and again, the use of such technologies, including national firewalls, has proven to be incompatible with human rightsThese pervasive tools undermine online freedom of expression and access to information, said the watchdog. The internet slowdown caused losses to the tune of around Rs 300 million, said PTA Chairman Retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman, as per The Dawn. Advertisement The newspaper reported that Pakistans business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the governments efforts to monitor internet traffic by putting in place a so-called firewall had caused the slowdown that caused the losses. More than 200 Russian missiles and drones targeted critical infrastructure such as a dam and power stations, according to reports from Ukraine read more After Russia launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks of recent weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday urged European partners to join hands in the defence of Ukraine. Zelenskyy sought to replicate the Middle East model in Ukraine where Western nations of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom and Arab partners Jordan and Saudi Arabia came together to help Israel defend itself against the Iranian attack in April. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Zelenskyy said that if such an arrangement can work in the Middle East, it should in Europe too. Advertisement Across Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours operated in concert with our F-16s and air defence systems. If such unity has proven effective in the Middle East, it must work in Europe too. Life holds the same value everywhere, said Zelenskyy. Russia hit Ukraine with more than 200 drones and missiles on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, said Zelenskyy, as per AFP. Zelenskyy said the Russian attack comprised more than 100 missiles of various types and around Shaheds an apparent references to Iranian Shahed suicide drones that Russia has used against Ukraine throughout the ongoing war. It was one of the largest strikes a combined one. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shaheds, said Zelensky. Separately, media reports indicated that targets of the overnight barrage included critical infrastructure like power stations and a dam. We must unite to shoot down Russian drones & missiles Zelenskyy said that the Europe must unite to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. The appeal is likely to not lead to any immediate change in policy as the United States and European nations have been clear that they will not join the war with Russia even as they help Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, intelligence, training, and military advice. Advertisement Zelenskyy said, It is crucial that our partners uphold the commitments weve made together, in particular regarding air defence systems, missiles for them. And beyond that, we must finally unite in our efforts to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred Shaheds. Like most Russian strikes before, pic.twitter.com/0qNTGR98rR Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2024 Zelenskyy further repeated the call for permission to strike targets inside Russia. So far, Ukraine has only limited permission to hit targets inside Russia. Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations. Our defenders cannot be restricted in their weapons when Russia deploys its entire arsenal, including Shaheds and ballistic missiles from North Korea. America, Britain, France, and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now, said Zelenskyy. Russia strikes power stations & dam: Reports In the overnight attack, Russia struck multiple power stations and at least one dam near Kyiv, according to reports. Power outages were recorded in several cities, including Kyiv and Dnipro, according to the statement from energy company quoted by CNN. Advertisement Separately, The Wall Street Journals Yaroslav Trofimov said that a Russian missile had also hit the dams reservoir in Kyiv Sea near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Russia targeted the dam of the Kyiv Sea north of the capital, with one missile striking it. If the dam breaks, millions of people downstream can die. https://t.co/lGic3XE4MP pic.twitter.com/YBTUWIZzuC Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 26, 2024 Separately, Zelenskyy said that Russia struck targets in a total of five regions: Volyn, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, and Ternopil. With this, Australians now gained the legal right to ignore emails and phone calls from bosses outside their respective working hours read more On Monday, Australia introduced an innovative law granting employees the right to disconnect when they are off the clock. With this, Australians now gained the legal right to ignore emails and phone calls from bosses outside their respective working hours. The government decided to push forward with the law after the COVID pandemic exacerbated the blurring of lines between work lives and private lives. Hence, Australian PM Anthony Albaneses administration introduced an amendment to the Fair Work Act. Advertisement The legislation now granted workers an enforceable workplace right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from their employer outside of their working hours, unless such refusal is unreasonable. The right to disconnect will also enable an employee to refuse to monitor, read or respond to work-related contact, or attempted contact, from a third party, the Australian Public Service Commissions guidance on the new rules said. Heres a look at what impact the new rules will have on Australians. Whats the need? According to the data released by the Australia Institutes Centre for Future Work, Australian works an average of 5.4 hours a week of unpaid overtime which is equivalent to $131.2bn worth of unpaid labour given by workers to their employers. Employees will have a definitive end to their working day and no longer carry the burden of continuing to be contactable about work-related matters in their private time, unless certain reasonable exceptions apply, Gabrielle Golding from the University of Adelaides law school told The Guardian. This result signals a momentous societal shift in the value placed on work and similarly on wellbeing and private time," she added. The unions in the country have expressed their support for the new law. However, certain business groups called the legislation unnecessary and warned that it could lead to job losses. They insisted that there would be confusion and uncertainty and the law would reduce the ability of workplaces to have flexible working arrangements. Advertisement Not for everyone The law will be in force for all the national system employees from 26 August this year. For small businesses, the legislation will apply on the same date but in 2025. Interestingly, people with high incomes might not get the benefit of the legislation. Those employees who earn above the high-income threshold (currently indexed at $175,000) will also not have access to the right, Golding told The Guardian. Even so, it would be worth those employees (particularly those in managerial roles) adhering to workplace practices that are in line with the right to disconnect. Doing so will enable them to lead by example and model behaviours that are in line with that of their colleagues earning below the threshold," she added. Advertisement It is pertinent to note that the new legislation does not prohibit bosses from getting in touch, or employees from contacting each other. The just give the employees the right to ignore it without any disciplinary actions. Hence, employees have to be careful while negotiating their contracts. The impact on employees Heres a look at the impact of the new law on the lives of the employees: Increase in productivity Goulding insisted that the legislation would have a positive impact on the employees. They will benefit through productivity gains from more refreshed workers. The law will also lead to changes in work patterns for Australians and some of them will start prioritising their urgent tasks. This will also open up new conversations between companies and staff about work expectations and company culture, leading to stronger long-term success, said Nicole Gorton, Director at Robert Half, one of the worlds largest recruitment agencies. Job satisfaction Research conducted by the European Union agency Eurofound showed improved wellbeing and work satisfaction among employees who worked in companies that have the right to disconnect policy in place. According to a survey conducted by Rober Half, 43 per cent of workers in Australia say their job satisfaction will increase if such laws are in place. Improved work-life balance With the new legislation, workers may have more control over their personal time, allowing them to dedicate time to family, hobbies, and relaxation, thus promoting a healthier work-life balance. According to the Robert Half research, improved work-life balance will be the biggest positive effect to come from the right to disconnect with 68 per cent of the survey respondents agreeing this will be the case. Reduce Stress and burnout Many believe that the new law will reduce the stress of Aussie workers who say the right to disconnect will help positively manage their levels of mental exhaustion. the right to disconnect will help positively manage their levels of mental exhaustion. The law showed promise globally Advertisement It is pertinent to note that Australia is not the only country in the world to have such legislation. The law has been implemented in up to 25 countries. John Hopkins from Swinburne Universitys School of business, law and entrepreneurship told ABC News Australia that so far the evidence showed that the legislation has been successful in helping to protect the health and well-being of workers in the digital age. This is a step in the right direction, Professor Hopkins told the Australian news outlet. In 2017, France became the first country in the world to require companies to negotiate agreements with staff over their rights to ignore after-hours communication. Advertisement European nations like Germany, Italy and Canada have adopted similar measures. While fines for companies that broke the law have been rare, they do happen. In the past, the French wing of a British pest control business was ordered to pay a former employee 60,000 euros after forcing him to permanently leave his telephone on to respond to work requests. With inputs from agencies. Jamaat-e-Islami is a pro-Pakistan Islamist organisation that has been linked to attacks to Hindus in Bangladesh read more The coup that has taken place is more or less similar to political upheavals, which caused regime change both in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region and in the post-Soviet space in the past. Image: REUTERS Bangladeshs interim government of Mohamed Yunus will lift the ban on Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday, according to reports. The previous Sheikh Hasina-led government had banned Jamaat on August 1 during anti-government protests. What started as students protest against the countrys quota system turned into a mass movement against 15 years of her rule as the Jamaat and Oppositions Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) also took the streets. Now, as BNP and Jamaat have taken a prominent role in the Bangladeshs post-Hasina polity, the Yunus regime is set to lift the ban on Jamaat. Advertisement Jamaats lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir told the media on Monday that the decision to lift the ban is being taken after a meeting with Yunus, the head of the unelected interim government propped by Bangladeshs military and protesters who led the movement against Hasina. On August 5, the erstwhile government fell. On that very day, meetings between political parties were held at the office of the chief of army staff and Bangabhaban. The Jamaat-e-Islami, as one of the major political parties in the country, had been formally invited. Later, Jamaat played a significant role in the formation of the interim governments Advisory CouncilOn August 12, Jamaat had an official meeting with the Chief Adviser [Yunus]. According to the discussion of the meeting, the legal aspects were examined, and necessary steps were taken for an immediate solution, said Manir, as per The Dhaka Tribune. Jamaat is an Islamist and pro-Pakistan organisation that has been linked to violence against Hindus in the past. Since Hasinas ouster, the nation has been enveloped in a wave of violence against Hindus and other ethnic minorities. More than 200 attacks have been documented against common Hindus, Hindu politicians, Hindu houses, and Hindu temples. Jamaat had led a wave of violence in 2001 as well. In 2001, the BNP-Jamaat alliance had won the Bangladeshi elections. Following their victory, their cadres unleashed a wave of violence upon the nations minority in which hundreds of attacks and rapes of women were reported. A judicial commission set up in later years concluded that more than 200 Hindu women were raped and around 25,000 BNP and Jamaat cadres took part in the violence. Advertisement In the independence movement against Pakistan that culminated in 1971, the Jamaat had supported the Pakistani regime that was systemically torturing the native Bangladeshis stressing on the Bangla culture instead of the imposition of Pakistans Urdu culture. With Jamaats role set to increase in Bangladeshi polity, the clout of Pakistan may also increase and the country may find itself home to anti-India elements. Previously, top intelligence sources told CNN-News 18 that Pakistan not only funded the movement of Jamaat and its student wing against Hasina but also held briefings on how to wage their movement and arranged for shelter as Hasinas forces cracked down on them. They said Pakistans endgame is to get a BNP-Jamaat government elected in Bangladesh. Advertisement They provoke unrest, killing, and terrorism, so that the worlds attention comes to them. Once that is achieved, they want a neutral government and elections again by the UN. Neutrality right now is to remove Hasina by force or by international pressure and then go for elections. The idea is only to get a new government led by BNP and Jamat, said sources to CNN-News 18. The patrols by the Chinese army and airforce follow the rise in violence and the prolonged civil war that has rocked neighbouring Myanmar read more Chinas military on Monday announced that it has organised army units and joint air-ground police patrols in the southwestern province of Yunnan which borders Myanmar. The People Liberation Armys (PLA) South Theater Command issued a statement in this regard. In the statement, the countrys military stated that the troops were organised to carry out border armed patrols and air-to-ground joint patrols. They went to Ruili and Zhenkang on Monday for the operation, South Morning China Post (SCMP) reported. The purpose is to test the theatre troops capabilities in rapid mobility, three-dimensional containment and joint combat, to maintain the safety and stability of the border areas, the statement reads. Advertisement The patrols by the Chinese army and airforce follow the rise in violence and the prolonged civil war that has rocked neighbouring Myanmar. There has been a tussle between the ruling junta and armed ethnic minority groups operating in the country for a very long time. Hence, the PLA noted that the destabilising situation is posing a major challenge to Chinas border security, SCMP reported. Not the first time It is pertinent to note that Beijing held two live-fire drills in the same region, back in April. There are also major concerns about the security of the Chinese assets and personnel in the border region. During the April drill, the PLA stated that the war in Myanmar had seriously threatened security and stability in the border region, adding that the Chinese army would take all necessary measures to protect the safety of its people. It is pertinent to note that Myanmar has also played a gateway to Chinas ambitions to gain a certain amount of access to the Indian Ocean as Beijing seeks to reduce dependence on the narrow chokepoints of the Strait of Malacca for its oil imports. In the past, China has urged both the Junta and the rebels to negotiate and put an end to the conflict. However, it received limited success in that endeavour. During his meeting with Julie Bishop, special envoy of the UN secretary-general on Myanma, last week, Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi said No other country wants Myanmar to restore stability and realise development more than China. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. Denmark said Monday it was shutting its embassies in Mali and Burkina Faso as part of its new Africa strategy, as military coups have severely limited the scope for action in the Sahel region read more Denmark said Monday it was shutting its embassies in Mali and Burkina Faso as part of its new Africa strategy, as military coups have severely limited the scope for action in the Sahel region. Denmark said it would open embassies in Senegal, Tunisia and Rwanda, and bolster diplomatic staff at its embassies in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. Following the closures in Bamako and Ouagadougou, a special representative will be appointed for the African Great Lakes and Sahel region, it said. Advertisement Mali and Burkina Faso have turned to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support since military leaders seized power in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Malis relations with European countries have deteriorated recently. Earlier this month, its military junta ordered the Swedish ambassador to the leave the country after a Swedish minister criticised Malian support for Russia. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his countrys reorganisation of priorities in Africa came as Denmark and the European Union aimed to be Africas preferred partner as the continent faces whether to orient itself more towards the East or the West. We have a clear interest in the African countries looking towards us in Europe as they chart the course for their future, he said. We must demonstrate that we offer an attractive alternative to the increasing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent, he added. The new Danish strategy will focus heavily on increasing trade and on water initiatives. In the coming years, Denmark plans to provide one billion kroner ($150 million) in development assistance to new bilateral water initiatives in Africa, and 425 million kroner in 2025 alone. Egypt on Monday reiterated that it has not accepted an Israeli presence in the Rafah border crossing or Philadelphi Corridor, according to a report read more The Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip is pictured from the Palestinian side in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on January 29, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. AFP File Egypt on Monday reiterated that it has not accepted an Israeli presence in the Rafah border crossing or Philadelphi Corridor. According to a Times of Israel report, citing state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV, a key sticking point in Gaza ceasefire talks has been Israels insistence on a presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor in order to prevent Hamas from smuggling in arms. The corridor is a narrow 14.5 km stretch of land along Gazas southern border with Egypt. Advertisement Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in early May, a move that has cut off a crucial aid route and drawn repeated condemnation from Egypt and other countries. Egypt is managing the mediation between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in accordance with its national security, the source told Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egypts state intelligence service. The negotiations, also mediated by Qatar and the US, have yielded little hope for a ceasefire, though Washington said Friday that some progress had been made. Hamas said Sunday the groups delegation had met with Egyptian and Qatari mediators before leaving Cairo, where Israeli negotiators were also expected. With inputs from agencies The United Nations, rights groups and Afghans have expressed concern that the law could lead to increased enforcement of rules on behaviour and lifestyle, many already informally in place since the Taliban took power in 2021 read more Afghanistans Taliban authorities said Monday a recently ratified morality law would be enforced gently, after the international community and Afghans voiced concern over new restrictions. Women must cover completely and not raise their voices in public, according to a 35-article law announced Wednesday by the justice ministry. It imposes wide-ranging stipulations from behaviour to dress and social interactions, including rules on mens clothing and beard length as well as bans on homosexuality, animal fighting, playing music in public and non-Muslim holidays. Advertisement The United Nations, rights groups and Afghans have expressed concern that the law could lead to increased enforcement of rules on behaviour and lifestyle, many already informally in place since the Taliban authorities took power in 2021 and implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law - or sharia. I must make it clear that force and oppression wont be used while implementing these rules, said deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat in a voice message shared with AFP. The rules would be implemented very gently, informing peoples understanding, and guiding them, he said. The European Union added its voice to the chorus on Monday, saying it was appalled by a decree that confirms and extends severe restrictions on the life of Afghans. This latest decision is another serious blow undermining the rights of Afghan women and girls, which we cannot tolerate, said a statement from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Borrell urged the Taliban to put an end to such systematic and systemic abuses against Afghan women and girls, warning they may amount to gender persecution - a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Taliban government has consistently dismissed international criticism of their policies, including condemnation of restrictions on women the UN has labelled gender apartheid. The law sets out graduated punishments for non-compliance - from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths - enforced by the morality police under the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Advertisement Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, has called the law a distressing vision for Afghanistans future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions. The Israeli demand to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border, is behind the deadlocks in Gaza ceasefire deal read more The mediators the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have floated a new bridging proposal for a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages (Representative Photo, Credit: Reuters) Four days of negotiations in the Egyptian capital Cairo failed to produce a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages. Even as mediators Egypt, Qatar, and the United States said the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are making progress, the disagreement over some key aspects remain mainly the Israeli demand to retain the control of the Philadelphi Corridor. The Philadelphi Corridor is the strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border, around eight or nine miles (around 13-14 kms) in length. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded control of the strip as he stresses that its needed to check the cross-border flow of terrorists and weaponry. Israel also maintains that the control of the strip is required to check the building of tunnels in the area. Advertisement Even as Israel has been reported to make some concessions in its position, the idea of the Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor stands rejected broadly by both Egypt and Hamas. Talks were constructive, negotiations to continue: Report Even though no breakthrough was reached in four days of talks, the negotiations were constructive, a US official told The New York Times. The newspaper further reported that even as the top-level delegation of Israel has returned, working groups of officials will continue to hold discussions in the coming days until the next round of talks involving the top-level delegations are held. As was the case earlier, the biggest sticking point remains Netanyahus insistence on Israelis controlling the Philadelphi Corridor and maintaining checkpoints along another east-west Netzarim Corridor. The idea behind the checkpoints along the Netzarim Corridor is to screen the displaced Gazans returning to their homes northward from the southern areas where they are currently sheltering. Netanyahu stresses the screening is needed so that terrorists or weapons dont make their way to areas that have been cleared of Hamas and other groups in the garb of civilians. Even as Israel has reduced the number of demands in recent days, including the reducing the number of checkpoints, both Egypt and Hamas have rejected Israels current position, according to the newspaper. How can Philadelphi Corridor issue be resolved? The discussions on Sunda in Cairo were focussed on finding a middle ground at Philadelphi Corridor and multiple scenarios were discussed, according to the Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv. Advertisement Since the negotiators were not at the liberty to strike the deal themselves, they returned to Israel at the end of the sessions to hold discussions with Netanyahu, as per the English version of the report carried by sister-publication The Jerusalem Post. The report said the negotiators will hold the next round of talks after holding deliberations with Netanyahu. Throughout the monthslong talks, Netanyahu has been central to the criticism and is credited the blame for the lack of deal. Hamas maintains that it is committed to the original proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden in May, but demands inserted into the proposal later by Netanyahu the Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim Corridor being most contested have tanked the talks. He has also been criticised for not giving the negotiators enough room and authority to arrive at a deal. Advertisement Maariv reported that the Sundays talks discussed concessions about Israels gradual [partial] withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of the agreement alongside a promise that no construction work will be carried out on the corridor or attempts to change the existing situation. At the same time, the concession included the clause that a land corridor will remain to allow the Israeli military to move and reach the area quickly if the need ever arises, according to the report. The Israeli negotiators said they did not have sufficient authority to accept or reject the proposals and that it needed to discuss them with Netanyahu, said the report. Advertisement The talks are currently focused on a return to the previous agreement that Hamas agreed to, with minor changes, including a gradual and not complete withdrawal from the Strip, in exchange for clear Israeli flexibility regarding the return of the displaced to the north of Gaza, as per the report. A senior US official, however, described the talks as constructive, saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement read more The sun sets over Gaza, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, as seen from Israel. File image/ Reuters There was no agreement on Sunday in the Gaza ceasefire talks that took place in Cairo, with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to several compromises presented by mediators, two Egyptian security sources said, casting doubt on the chances of success in the latest US-backed effort to end the 10-month old war. A senior US official, however, described the talks as constructive, saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement. Advertisement The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that the teams would remain in Cairo. Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israels devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant groups Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Speaking at a news conference in Halifax, Canada, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was still feverishly working in Cairo to get a ceasefire and a hostage deal. Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-km-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gazas southern border with Egypt. Mediators put forward a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties, Egyptian sources said. Israel also expressed reservations about several of the Palestinian detainees Hamas is demanding the release of, and Israel demanded their exit from Gaza if they are released, the sources added. Advertisement There has been much back and forth between the teams from Israel, the United States and Egypt since Thursday to narrow the remaining gaps, the senior US official said, in preparation for Saturday, when Qatar and Egypt met with senior representatives of Hamas to walk through the proposal in detail. On Sunday, senior officials from Israel joined the talks to address outstanding issues with the support of mediators, the senior US official said but did not provide a definitive assessment on whether there was a breakthrough or not. Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclaves more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins. Advertisement We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions, Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the groups Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday. In July, Hamas accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source has told Reuters. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding that the group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Negotiations underway in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza will continue on the working group level for the next few days as parties try to iron out some specific issues, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday read more Palestinians inspect damage in Qatari-funded Hamad City, following an Israeli raid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 24, 2024. Reuters File Negotiations underway in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza will continue on the working group level for the next few days as parties try to iron out some specific issues, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday. One of the issues that will be tackled by the working groups will be around the exchange of hostages Hamas is holding and Palestinian prisoners, Kirby said. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend has not had an impact on the talks in Cairo, he added. Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israels devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant groups Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Advertisement Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-km-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gazas southern border with Egypt. Mediators put forward a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties, Egyptian sources said. Israel also expressed reservations on several of the Palestinian detainees Hamas is demanding the release of, and Israel demanded their exit of Gaza if they are released, the sources added. Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclaves more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins. We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions, Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the groups Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday. In July, Hamas accepted a U.S. proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source has told Reuters. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding that the group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Germany will provide the WHO with flexible financial resources via various instruments to fight mpox and also support its partners in Africa through the GAVI vaccination alliance read more Germany has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army after Berlin procured it in 2022. File Image- Reuters Germany has decided to donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military reserves to support efforts to contain the outbreak in Africa, a government spokesperson said on Monday. The donation aims to provide short-term assistance to affected countries and will be complemented by flexible financial support to the World Health Organization (WHO) through various channels, said the spokesperson, adding that Germany has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army after Berlin procured it in 2022. Advertisement The WHO has declared mpox a global public health emergency due to the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spreading to neighboring countries and concerns about the transmission speed of the new clade Ib virus variant. The government was looking at the quickest way to get the vaccines to the affected countries, primarily the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi and neighbouring countries in East Africa, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson. The European Union has urged its members to coordinate their donations of mpox vaccines to African countries, rather than do this individually. The European Commission has a joint procurement contract with vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO), opens new tab, to buy vaccines for donations. European donations will have more immediate impact if they are coordinated, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a letter dated Aug. 22 that was addressed to the health ministers of EU countries. Germany so far has no reported cases of the clade 1 strain of mpox that has triggered global concern due to the ease with which it spreads though routine close contact, it said. The ministry added that the government was closely monitoring the situation but it did not see an increased risk from clade 1 in Germany, which it assumes could also be contained effectively with the currently available mpox vaccines. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. China-US relations have been hit badly in post-Covid years, preceded by the Trump administrations frontal diplomatic attack on the Xi regime. The ties reached their lowest point when a spy balloon flew over the US. But then a change happened read more The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is visiting China on Tuesday to take forward what may be called patch-up talks that he started in secret in Austrias Vienna last year. In a Vienna hotel, Sullivan met veteran Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in May 2023 against the backdrop of a diplomatically highly inflammable spy balloon incident. The US forces shot the balloon down in February 2023 but the bilateral tensions had soared high. Advertisement Having secret talks with China was not a new strategy for the US. Senior Bush President George HW Bush had sent his National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to Beijing in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square massacre on a secret mission. But the 2023 setting was different. It followed intensely angry exchanges of the recent past. Listing four incidents would make the context clear. In March 2021, the first meeting between Chinese officials and the Biden administration in Alaska had descended into angry public rebukes. Then in August 2022, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis Taiwan visit had enraged China, which launched military exercises near the island in retaliation. Pelosi was the first US House Speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years Hopes revived in November 2022 at the Bali G20 summit in Indonesia as US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to set up a diplomatic backchannel to put a floor under relations. But then in February 2023, China sent a high-altitude spy balloon across the Pacific and it flew across North America before the US Air Force shot it down. But the incident ratcheted up tensions. China-US observers said their diplomatic relations hit the lowest since the two countries established formal ties in 1979. Three months later Sullivan embarked on his stealth mission. After handshakes and a group photograph, the two teams began a series of talks at the Imperial Hotel that spanned more than eight hours over two days, the Financial Times has reported quoting officials from the US and China. The report says that the Vienna meeting was the first of several secret rendezvous of the two sides around the world including Malta and Thailand, now called the strategic channel. Now, Sullivan is visiting China for the first time as the US national security adviser for another round of talks with Wang. The strategic channel has played a vital role in managing relations between the rival superpowers during a period fraught with tensions. When the US and China are clearly engaged in a competition for global dominance, Beijing looks to be guided by paranoia and supreme confidence depending on circumstances and rivals it deals with, the so-called strategic channel can continue to play a shock absorber, helping cut the risk of a miscalculation by both nations in the larger Pacific region. Why secret talks became so significant While the backchannel diplomacy has not resolved the fundamental issues between the US and China, it has definitely helped the two competing powers understand each others concerns better. FT has quoted Rorry Daniels, a China expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, as saying, Its been very successful in short-term stabilisation, communicating red lines and previewing actions that might be seen as damaging to the other side. Advertisement Given the backdrop, the stakes were extremely high at backchannel talks. China has also been angry about the US actions against its semiconductor export business, diversion of big investments with Washingtons continued pressure on Beijing, the freedom of navigation issue in the South China Sea, Xis support for Russias Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, and of course Taiwan topping all other issues. China has become increasingly assertive with its military activities over Taiwan as well as in the South China Sea. It has portrayed both regions as its sovereign jurisdiction with angry reactions to any outside move towards or contact with either. Meanwhile, America has continued its efforts to arm Taiwan and assert free navigation in the South China Sea, citing international laws governing water bodies. Advertisement What happened in other meetings In all three secret meetings were held. Sullivan and Wang will now hold the fourth meeting of the series but not in secret. Biden and Xi have approved these meetings setting the tone with two encounters of their own after Bali, another in San Francisco in November 2023 in a summit, where the two sides agreed to ease tensions. FT has quoted an unnamed Chinese official saying that Wang used the encounters in Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok the three secret meetings to press three themes, the most important of which was that China viewed Taiwan as the most important issue, a red line that should never be crossed. Advertisement He [Wang] indicated that Taiwan independence is the biggest risk to cross-Strait peace and the biggest challenge to China-US relations, the Chinese official was quoted as saying. At the Malta meeting in September 2023, Sullivan and Wang set up the framework for a meeting between Biden and Xi in November. Before the presidents met, Wang visited Washington to meet Biden, clearing the path for the November summit talks. Sullivan and Wang were again back for a secret talk in Bangkok in January this year. Economics, technology and security were part of one block of a comprehensive exchange, and the Taiwan issue was discussed separately. Advertisement Clearly, each side went into the meetings with a tailored list of strategic issues that they wanted to discuss at length. Now that the two sides have come out of their secret chambers, hopes are high that the US and China may announce something that may ease tensions in the Pacific region. As tensions escalated in the region, the Pentagon has also made the unusual decision to publicly disclose the deployment of the guided-missile submarine Georgia, known for its cruise missile capabilities and SEAL commando transport. read more Smoke rises above a building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Aug. 22, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group. - Image- AFP To defend Israel from potential attacks and avert a wider regional war, two US aircraft carriers and a guided-missile submarine have steadily been moving Navy forces closer to the area amid looming threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen to retaliate against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III recently directed additional combat aircraft and warships to the area, with the aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by warships and attack planes, now stationed in or near the Gulf of Oman. In an unusual move, Austin also publicly disclosed the deployment of the guided-missile submarine Georgia, which is capable of firing cruise missiles and carrying Navy SEAL teams. Advertisement This high-level visit is part of a broader strategy by the United States to avert the risk of a wider war in West Asia. The ongoing military buildup and diplomatic engagements underscore the urgent efforts by the U.S. to stabilize the situation as the region teeters on the brink of further conflict. Philadelphi Corridor and hostage deal Talks to end the ten-month conflict in Gaza have focused on two buffer zones under Israeli military control, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that any truce agreement must allow Israel to maintain its presence in the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors. The Philadelphi Corridor, a decades-old buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, has been maintained through bilateral agreements between Cairo and Israel. In contrast, the Netzarim Corridor, which runs through central Gaza, was recently established by Israeli forces to monitor Palestinian activity. However, Palestinian groups have categorically rejected Israels demands to maintain a military presence in these corridors, suspecting that Netanyahu introduced these demands to sabotage the negotiations. Why do the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors matter? The Philadelphi corridor is a narrow strip about 100 meters (yards) wide in parts running the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. It includes the Rafah Crossing, which until May was Gazas only outlet to the outside world not controlled by Israel. Israel says Hamas used a vast network of tunnels beneath the border to import arms, allowing it to build up the military machine it used in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. The military says it has found and destroyed dozens of tunnels since seizing the corridor in May. Advertisement Egypt rejects those allegations, saying it destroyed hundreds of tunnels on its side of the border years ago and set up a military buffer zone of its own that prevents smuggling. The roughly 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim Corridor runs from the Israeli border to the coast just south of Gaza City, severing the territorys largest metropolitan area and the rest of the north from the south. Why are Hamas and Egypt opposed to Israeli control? Israeli control over either corridor would require closed roads, fences, guard towers and other military installations. Checkpoints are among the most visible manifestations of Israels open-ended military rule over the West Bank, and over Gaza prior to its 2005 withdrawal. Advertisement Israel says such checkpoints are needed for security, but Palestinians view them as a humiliating infringement on their daily life. They would also be seen by many Palestinians as a prelude to a lasting military occupation and the return of Jewish settlements something Netanyahus far-right coalition partners have openly called for. Hamas has demanded a total Israeli withdrawal and accuses Netanyahu of setting new conditions in order to sabotage the talks. Egypt says Israels operations along the border threaten the landmark 1979 peace treaty between the two countries. It has refused to open its side of the Rafah crossing until Israel returns the Gaza side to Palestinian control. Advertisement Are these new demands by Israel? Israel insists they are not, referring to them as clarifications to an earlier proposal endorsed by President Joe Biden in a May 31 speech and by the U.N. Security Council in a rare cease-fire resolution. Israel also accuses Hamas of making new demands since then that it cannot accept. But neither the speech nor the Security Council resolution made any reference to Israels demands regarding the corridors which were only made public in recent weeks and both referred to a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. The U.S. has also said it is against any reoccupation of Gaza or reduction of its territory. Advertisement Previous written drafts of the cease-fire proposal stipulate an initial Israeli withdrawal from populated and central areas during the first phase of the agreement, when the most vulnerable hostages would be freed and displaced Palestinians allowed to return to the north. During the second phase, the specifics of which would be negotiated during the first, Israeli forces would withdraw completely and Hamas would release all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers. The most recent drafts of the proposal including one that Hamas approved in principle on July 2 contain language specifying that displaced residents returning in the first phase must not carry weapons. But they do not specify a mechanism for searching them. The United States, Qatar and Egypt, which have spent months trying to broker an agreement, have not weighed in publicly on Israels demands regarding the corridors. What happens if the talks fail? Failure to reach a cease-fire deal would prolong a war in which Israels offensive has already killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, displaced the vast majority of Gazas 2.3 million residents and destroyed much of the impoverished territory. Palestinian militants are still holding some 110 hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, in which they killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel has only rescued seven hostages through military operations. Around a third of the 110 are already dead, according to Israeli authorities, and the rest are at risk as the war grinds on. A cease-fire deal also offers the best chance of averting or at least delaying an Iranian or Hezbollah strike on Israel over last months targeted killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and a Hamas leader in Tehran. Israel has vowed to respond to any attack, and the United States has rushed military assets to the region, raising the prospect of an even wider and more devastating war. With inputs from agencies. Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 200 missiles and drones on Monday, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide, Kyiv said, while neighbouring Nato member Poland reported a drone had probably entered its airspace read more Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, on August 26, 2024. Reuters Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 200 missiles and drones on Monday, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide, Kyiv said, while neighbouring Nato member Poland reported a drone had probably entered its airspace. Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in many areas, including parts of Kyiv, as officials said the attack - 2-1/2 years into the war - targeted power or other critical infrastructure across the country. Russia stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looked like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of next winter when people need electricity and heating most. Advertisement The air force downed 102 out of 127 incoming missiles and 99 out of 109 drones, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, describing the attack from the air, ground and sea as the most massive of the war. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 regions sustained damage. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there was a lot of damage in the energy sector. Russias defence ministry said its forces used high precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine which it said supported the military-industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons. The missile and drone salvo came as Ukraine is claiming new ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russias western Kursk region while Russian forces steadily inch forward in Ukraines east, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk. After meeting top officials, Zelenskiy said a decision had been taken further strengthen the Pokrovsk front, which saw at least 38 combat clashes on Monday, according to the military. Polish airspace NATO member Poland said a search was underway after an object entered its airspace and possibly landed on Polish territory. Most likely it was a drone and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile, Jacek Goryszewski, spokesperson for the Polish armys operational command, told Reuters. Two Russian drones crossed the border into Belarus, Ukraines air force commander said. Top Kyiv officials again urged their allies and arms suppliers to allow long-range strikes into Russia. Advertisement Zelenskiy also redoubled his call for allies to join the country in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drone and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields. Over the weekend, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had developed a new drone missile that had been used to attack Russia and was more powerful and faster than other hardware in Kyivs arsenal. Damaged facilities At least 47 people were injured, including four children, emergency services said. The regions that reported strikes on power or critical infrastructure included Volyn and Rivne in the northwest, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west, Zhytomyr in the north, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast and Odesa in the south. Advertisement Zelenskiy said some civilian facilities were attacked with cluster munitions. Neighbouring Moldova, whose grid is linked to that of Ukraine, reported small disruptions to its power network. Ukraines foreign ministry official said a hydropower plant in the Kyiv region had been targeted. A video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a damaged dam and a fire after an apparent strike at a plant. A separate clip, also verified, showed a missile hitting a water reservoir. In the northeastern Sumy region, from where Ukraine launched its incursion into Russia on Aug. 6, authorities said a railway infrastructure facility had been struck, but did not say which one or give further details. Advertisement A 69-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a farmer in the Zaporizhzhia region were among at least seven people confirmed dead, local officials said. The others were in the regions of Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Volyn. In Lutsk, an apartment block was damaged, the mayor said after reporting explosions. Blasts also shook central Kyiv and air defences engaged incoming targets on the outskirts. At least 11 TU-95 strategic bombers were used during the attack, the air force said. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure critical to the others war effort. The aircraft was identified as a Y-9 reconnaissance plane that flew over the Danjo Islands to the west of the southern island of Kyushu between around 11:29 a.m. and 11:31 a.m. read more Japans defence ministry said it had scrambled jets against a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft that had briefly breached its airspace on Monday morning. The aircraft was identified as a Y-9 reconnaissance plane that flew over the Danjo Islands to the west of the southern island of Kyushu between around 11:29 a.m. and 11:31 a.m. The ministry said it was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japans airspace, and that the government had lodged a strong protest against Beijing through diplomatic channels. Advertisement Separately, the Japanese foreign ministry said Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano had summoned a senior official at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to lodge a protest against the incursion and to strongly demand the prevention of such breaches. Chinese foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. On August 18, the central bank said it was suspending all operations after the abduction of the banks head of information technology read more Libyas eastern-based administration said Monday it was shutting down oil fields it controls and suspending production amid rising tensions with the UN-recognised government based in Tripoli. A statement by the Benghazi-based administration posted on X said it was suspending all oil production and exports until further notice, citing force majeure. It linked the move to repeated attacks on the leaders, employees and administrations of the Central Bank based in Tripoli, which manages Libyas large oil resources and the state budget. The eastern-based administration said outlaw groups were responsible in a bid to control Libyas most important financial institution, the statement added. Advertisement On August 18, the central bank said it was suspending all operations after the abduction of the banks head of information technology. The IT chief was released on Monday and the central bank said it was resuming operations. Local media had said that armed men had besieged the bank a week earlier to force the resignation of its governor, Seddik al-Kabir, who had faced criticism over the management of oil resources and the state budget. In its statement on Monday, the eastern-based administration said that authorities in Tripoli had taken over the central bank and had announced Kabirs resignation. Footage broadcast by local media showed members of the presidential council, which is close to Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, inside the banks headquarters. Libya is still struggling to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. It remains divided between the UN-recognised government in the capital Tripoli led by Dbeibah, and the rival administration in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Most of Libyas oil fields are located in regions controlled by Haftar. Declaring force majeure allows parties to free themselves from contractual obligations when factors such as fighting or natural disasters make meeting them impossible. The captain of the luxury superyacht Bayesian, which sank off Sicily last week, is under investigation for potential manslaughter and negligent shipwreck after the incident left seven people dead, including UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter. The yacht, struck by a mini-tornado, sank during a storm, and the investigation is still in its early stages read more The captain of the luxury superyacht which sank off Sicily last week is being investigated in a probe for potential manslaughter, reports said Monday. James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, was one of 15 people who survived the sinking of the Bayesian, which left seven people dead, including UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter. Prosecutors on the Italian island on Saturday announced they were investigating potential crimes of negligent shipwreck and manslaughter over the sinking of the yacht in a storm before dawn on August 19. Advertisement They did not name any suspects and stressed the investigation was at an early stage. The prosecutors office did not respond to AFP requests for comment on Monday. Lynch, a 59-year-old British tech entrepreneur and investor, had invited friends and family onto the boat to celebrate his recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case. But the 56-metre (185-foot) yacht was struck by something akin to a mini-tornado as it was anchored off Porticello, near Palermo. The body of the yachts cook was found shortly afterwards, and six people including the businessman and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were reported missing. Following a major search operation, divers pulled up the bodies of four of Lynchs friends on Wednesday, that of Lynch himself on Thursday, and finally that of Hannah on Friday. The yacht currently lies on its side on the seabed, some 50 metres down. All six bodies were found in the cabins closest to the surface, five in one and Hannahs body in another, and officials said they likely moved there while trying to find pockets of air. With instability on the Myanmar border and rising tensions in the South China Sea, the PLA Southern Theatre Command is stretched to the limit read more Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command is facing an unprecedented strain as it prepares for a three-day live-fire drill on the Chinese side of the China-Myanmar border. This drill, set to commence on Tuesday, is a critical test of the commands capabilities as it grapples with the increasing instability in Myanmar, which poses a significant threat to Chinas border security and strategic interests. Escalating tensions and the need for vigilance The Yunnan provincial government announced that the drill would take place in several key locations including Ruili city near the townships of Huyi and Wanting, Zhenkang county near Mengdui township and the autonomous county of Gengma Dai and Wa near Mengding town. These areas are close to the nearly 2,000-kilometre border that Yunnan shares with Myanmar making them particularly vulnerable to the spillover effects of the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. Advertisement According to South China Morning Post, the PLA Southern Theatre Command has emphasised that the primary purpose of these drills is to test the theatre troops capabilities in rapid mobility, three-dimensional containment, and joint combat, to maintain the safety and stability of the border areas. This statement reflects the PLAs concerns about the growing violence in Myanmar and its potential to destabilise the border region. The decision to conduct these live-fire drills follows increasing violence between Myanmars ruling junta and armed ethnic minority groups. The conflict, which has dragged on since Myanmars military coup in 2021, has intensified, raising alarms in Beijing about the security of its border and the safety of Chinese assets and personnel in the region. Southern Theatre Command: A force stretched thin The Southern Theatre Command, tasked with overseeing one of the most strategically significant regions for China, is facing mounting pressures that are pushing its resources and capabilities to the limit. The scope of its responsibilities is vast, encompassing not only land-based challenges like the Myanmar border but also extensive maritime duties in the South China Sea and security concerns in the broader Southeast Asian region. The Southern Theatre Command of the Peoples Liberation Army is unique in that it must manage operations across multiple domains simultaneously. This includes land-based operations along the Myanmar border, maritime security in the South China Sea and air operations that support both naval and land operations. Advertisement The South China Sea is one of the most contested regions in the world and the Southern Theatre Command is at the forefront of Chinas efforts to assert its claims over this vast maritime area. The command is responsible for maintaining a robust military presence in the region, which involves constant naval patrols, air surveillance and the maintenance of military installations on several artificial islands. These operations are resource-intensive and require a high level of coordination among various branches of the PLA. The PLA Navys Southern Fleet, operating under the Southern Theatre Command, is tasked with a wide array of missions from routine patrols to potential conflict scenarios with foreign navies. The fleet must also be prepared to enforce Chinas maritime claims often involving standoffs with vessels from other nations including the United States. The PLA Air Force units under the Southern Theatre Command are similarly stretched. They must conduct regular reconnaissance missions enforce airspace control over contested areas and provide rapid response capabilities in case of escalation. Advertisement The ongoing civil war in Myanmar poses a significant challenge to the Southern Theatre Command. The border between China and Myanmar is long and rugged making it difficult to monitor and secure. Diplomatic and strategic overstretch In addition to its military responsibilities, the Southern Theatre Command is also involved in Chinas broader strategic and diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia. This includes protecting Chinese investments in Myanmar, ensuring the security of critical infrastructure projects and supporting Chinas strategic ambitions in the region. Chinas investments in Myanmar, particularly those related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are of strategic importance. The Southern Theatre Command is tasked with ensuring the security of these projects, which include pipelines, roads and ports that are critical to Chinas access to the Indian Ocean. Protecting these assets from potential threats, whether from internal conflict in Myanmar or external interference, adds another layer of responsibility to the commands already heavy workload. Advertisement China has been actively involved in diplomatic efforts to mediate the conflict in Myanmar, seeking to stabilise the situation and protect its interests. However, the limited success of these efforts means that the Southern Theatre Command must remain on high alert ready to respond to any further deterioration in the security situation. This constant state of readiness further strains the commands resources and personnel. North Korean Supreme Leader supervised the test organised by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences. During the testing, the authorities flew the drones along several preset courses read more Amid the brewing tensions in the Korean peninsula, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un ordered an increase in the production and development of suicide drones. According to South Korean news outlet Yonhap, Kim oversaw the performance tests of various drones on Saturday. The report suggested that Kim believed these drones would help Pyongyang to be prepared for war. According to the state media of the hermit nation, KCNA, the North Korean Supreme Leader supervised the test organised by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences. During the testing, the authorities flew the drones along several preset courses. Advertisement The drones that were tested were able to destroy the designated targets. As per the reports, these drones have the ability to attack enemy targets on air, ground and sea. While the testing was being conducted, North Koreas Foreign Ministry warned on Saturday that the United States update on its nuclear policy will have a negative impact on the security situation and the nuclear disarmament system, that are in place in the region. Kim stresses on improving war capability The North Korean leader insisted that the development of these drones is important to increase the war capabilities of the hermit nation. It is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones, Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA. Kim told his team that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology needs to be used to develop underwater suicide attack drones. Photos shared by the state media showed two white suicide attack drones hitting and destroying mock targets of what looks like K-2 tanks. This is the first time North Korea has been so open about its weaponry. North Korea issues nuclear warning According to Russian news outlet Tass, the North Korean spokesperson issued a nuclear warning and accused the United States of being obsessed with ensuring unilateral nuclear superiority. The move to update the nuclear policy of the USa country that has the largest nuclear weapon arsenal in the worldwill have a significant negative impact on the security situation and the nuclear disarmament system, the spokesperson added. Advertisement It is pertinent to note that the remarks from the North Korean official came in response to US President Joe Bidens recent decision to revise a nuclear strategic document that redirects the US deterrent strategy to focus on Chinas expansion of nuclear arsenal. The document titled Nuclear Employment Guidance was reportedly approved by Biden in March and is usually updated every four years. The document in question is highly classified and the White House has not publically announced the fact that Biden has approved certain revisions. Earlier this summer, Pranay Vaddi, the National Security Councils senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, emphasised that the US needs to deter Russia, the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] and North Korea simultaneously, The New York Times reported. However, it is still unclear how much attention Washington is paying to Pyongyang in the highly classified document. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are drilling in Lake Albert, which has an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude, including about 1.4 billion barrels that are currently considered recoverable read more Police officers react as Ugandan activists participate in a demonstration over proposed plans by Total Energies and the Ugandan government to build the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Kampala, Uganda. Reuters Ugandan police arrested 21 environmentalists in the capital Kampala on Monday as they protested a controversial multi-billion-dollar oil development scheme, their lawyer said. The East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP), headed by French oil giant TotalEnergies, involves drilling for oil in Uganda and sending the crude to Tanzania for export. Environmental groups say the project is having dire consequences for local communities and the environment as drilling is taking place in Murchison Falls National Park, the largest protected area in Uganda. There are 21 people arrested, they included 19 males and two females, said Samuel Wanda, one of the defence lawyers. Advertisement The group had attempted to march on parliament and the Chinese embassy. Eight of those detained would be directly impacted by the TotalEnergies project, Wanda said. He said the protesters were being held at Kampalas central police station but officers were yet to detail the charges. In a petition seen by AFP, the protesters issued an urgent appeal against the continued violations of human and environmental rights by the EACOP project. The petition said the oil scheme is a threat to Ugandas local economies and has negative social and cultural impacts. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are drilling in Lake Albert, which has an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude, including about 1.4 billion barrels that are currently considered recoverable. The crude will be shipped through a 1,443-kilometre (900-mile) heated pipeline from the oilfields in northwestern Uganda to Tanzanias Indian Ocean port of Tanga. TotalEnergies has a 62-percent stake in the pipeline, with Ugandan and Tanzanian state-owned oil companies holding 15 percent each and CNOOC eight percent. Ugandas first oil is expected to flow in 2025 almost two decades after the reserves were discovered and the project has been hailed by President Yoweri Museveni as an economic boon for the landlocked country where many live in poverty. TotalEnergies says those displaced by the project have been fairly compensated and measures have been taken to protect the environment. As he concluded his US trip on Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the Indian community in the US as a living bridge between the two countries, appreciating their contribution to society, science and the economy read more Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interacts with the Indian diaspora at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday. Image Courtesy: @rajnathsingh As he concluded his US trip on Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the Indian community in the US as a living bridge between the two countries, appreciating their contribution to society, science and the economy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has concluded US visit, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday. Singh was on a four-day official visit to the US to further boost the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the US and India. Advertisement He interacted with the Indian community at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday - the last day of his visit. Singh described the Indian community as a living bridge between India and the US, fostering close relations and goodwill, Ministry of Defence said in a press release on Monday. Singh underlined Indias growth story in the last decade and the immense potential with a promising future. He also acknowledged the Indian communitys efforts in establishing an exhibit of Mahatma Gandhi and placing two honorary Gandhi Way street signals near the National Civil Rights Museum on Gandhis 150th birth anniversary in 2019, the statement added. The museum has a bust of Gandhi, acknowledging his inspiration for non-violent struggle, the press release said. Had a wonderful interaction with the Indian community at Memphis. Their contribution to society, science and economy has been exemplary, Singh later posted on X. Had a wonderful interaction with the Indian community at Memphis. Their contribution to society, science and economy has been exemplary. pic.twitter.com/FpXr3yJdKz Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 26, 2024 Advertisement Earlier in the day, Singh also visited the William B Morgan Large Cavitation Channel (LCC) in the Naval Surface Warfare Centre (NSWC) in Memphis - one of the worlds largest and most technically advanced water tunnel facilities for testing submarines and other naval weapons in the US. His visit to the water tunnel facility came amidst a proposal for the establishment of a similar facility for indigenous design and development in India. Singh also visited the Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock, Maryland and said he witnessed pathbreaking experiments at the facility. Advertisement Visited Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock and witnessed the pathbreaking experiments at the facility. India and the US look forward to work together and benefit from each others experiences. pic.twitter.com/1uoRTlVNjG Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 25, 2024 Earlier during the visit, Singh met the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. Advertisement Jet engines to munitions: Rajnath Singh meets US NSA Jake Sullivan, India and US to speed up co-production https://t.co/1E91mCBqQG / RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) August 25, 2024 With inputs from agencies The announcement made by the rapper has now reignited attention to the UAEs role in the war gripping the African nation read more Macklemore performs at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater during the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 17, 2023. File Image: AP Famous American rapper Macklemore announced that he will be cancelling his October concert in Dubai amid reports of the United Arab Emirates role in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Sudan. While announcing his discontent over the matter, he cited UAEs reported support for the paramilitary force that has been at war with government troops in Sudan. The rapper has been outspoken about the ongoing crisis in both the Gaza City and Sudan. The announcement made by the rapper has now reignited attention to the UAEs role in the war gripping the African nation. After careful thought, rumours conversation with trusted organisers and friends and my own reading/ research. I have decided to cancel my upcoming show in Dubai this October, the rapper said in a post on Instagram. Advertisement The current situation in Sudan is urgent, horrific and its going largely unnoticed globally. Im following the lead of Sudanese organizers and activists who are trying to be heard. Until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there, he added. What is the UAEs role in the war? In the past, Sudans army has publicly criticised the UAE over its alleged support for the RSF, its rival in the war. However, it is pertinent to note that the Middle Eastern nation has denied allegations of funding the group. The proclamation made by the Sudanese army was also supported the experts from the United Nations who insisted that there is credible evidence in January that the Emirates sent weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad. It has been over a year since Sudan have been engulfed in a ravaging civil war between the countrys military and paramilitary leaders. Amid the chaos, over 18,800 people have been estimated to be killed in the fighting with over 10 million people have fled their homes. The UN has also warned that hundreds of thousands of people in the country are still on the brink of famine. Advertisement How Israel-Hamas war inspired him to take the action In his Instagram post, the Grammy award-winning artist said that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has prompted him to reconsider how he earns money and his ability to use his artistic platform for activism. If I take the money while knowing it doesnt sit right with my spirit, how am I any different than the politicians Ive been actively protesting against? he wrote, urging other artists scheduled to play in Dubai to reconsider. In May this year, Macklemore released Hinds Hall, a high-profile protest anthem in solidarity with pro-Palestinian activists occupying university campuses in response to the war in Gaza. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. In 2022, Russia seized the bank account of Googles Russian subsidiary over the crackdown on internet services and censorship read more Judge Mehtas ruling found that Googles contracts ensured its search engine had access to far more user data than its competitors, making it challenging for them to compete effectively. Image Credit: Reuters Russia seized around $100 million from Googles Russian subsidiary in 2022 to fund the propaganda regarding the war on Ukraine, according to a report. In 2022, Russia seized the bank account of Googles Russian subsidiary over the crackdown on internet services and censorship. Following the seizure, the Russian regime fined Google around $100 million for failure to remove content on its many platforms that it deemed illegal. Then, Google filed for bankruptcy and said it was unable to pay the fine as the bank account had been seized. Advertisement Now, filings in a US court have showed Russia seized around $100 million at the time and used it to fund its propaganda regarding the war in Ukraine, according to The Daily Telegraph. The filings showed that Russian bankruptcy managers granted the seized funds to Russian state-owned propaganda outlets RT and Tsargrad, which pledged the funds towards Vladimir Putins war efforts, as per the newspaper. In the filings, Google said: The bailiffs seized more than $100m of Google Russias assets, even though the amount purportedly due under the judgement at the time was less than $12.5m (one billion roubles)Tsargrad received one billion roubles from the seizure, which it said it would use to support Russias war in Ukraine. Google and Russia are engaged in a series of lawsuits outside Russia. Google is working to get such lawsuits blocked in jurisdictions of friendly countries like Turkey, South Africa, and Serbia. For example, Russia has filed a lawsuit in Turkey to demand money from Google as a fine for blocking its propaganda content on its platforms. In Turkey, Russia has sought around $360 million from Google. If Google loses these cases, then it could be liable to pay amounts much more than its entire valuation as daily penalties to the company double every 24 hours as per the lawsuit, according to the newspaper. Russia attacked Ukraine on Sunday night with around 200 missiles and drones read more Poland said that a drone had likely entered its airspace early on Monday morning during a Russian bombardment of Ukraine, adding that the object may have landed on Polish territory and that searches were underway. The NATO-member has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck the Polish village of Przewodow in southern Poland killing two people in 2022. Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine during Mondays morning rush hour, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities nationwide, officials said. Advertisement Most likely it was a drone and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile, Jacek Goryszewski, spokesperson for the Polish armys operational command told Reuters. The object is being searched for by 100 soldiers on the ground and one helicopter. He said it was impossible to say whether the object was Russian or Ukrainian as weather conditions had not allowed for visual identification. Separately, Goryszewski told reporters that the object had entered Polands airspace at 0443 GMT near the Ukrainian town of Chervonohrad. He said radars had lost track of the object at 0500 GMT, adding that it was possible it had left Polands airspace and that there had been no reports of explosions. He said that because the army could not visually identify the object they could not shoot it down, although they had been ready to do so. Poland had earlier said that jets had been scrambled in the south of the country due to the attack on Ukraine. In December 2023, Poland said that a Russian missile had entered its airspace. In April 2023, a military object was found in a forest close to the village of Zamosc near the northern city of Bydgoszcz. It was later reported to be a Russian missile. Also in March this year Poland said Russia had violated its airspace with a cruise missile launched at targets in western Ukraine. Advertisement Fellow NATO-member Romania has reported finding fragments of Russian drones on its territory, most recently in July. Thousands of military personnel from 11 countries, including the US and Indonesia, have commenced two weeks of joint exercises in East Java, focusing on enhancing capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Super Garuda Shield drills, running until September 6, address rising tensions in the South China Sea and feature diverse military training activities read more Indonesian soldiers attend the opening ceremony of a joint-military drills ASEAN Solidarity Exercise at Batu Ampar port on Batam island, Indonesia, September 19, 2023, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Reuters File Photo Thousands of military personnel from Indonesia, the US, and eight other countries began two weeks of exercises Monday, focused on joint capabilities in the Asia-Pacific. The region, particularly in the South China Sea, has seen tensions rise this year with flashpoints between littoral states claiming sovereignty over disputed islands and waterways. The annual exercises known as Super Garuda Shield started in Sidoarjo, East Java, with Indonesia deploying more than 4,400 troops to the drills. Advertisement The Indonesian military said around 1,800 US troops and several hundred from other countries will also take part. The exercise, first held in 2007, has evolved into a world-class joint/multinational event designed to enhance our collective capabilities, said Major General Joseph Harris, the Commander of The Hawaii Air National Guard. The programme includes expert academic exchanges, professional development workshops, a command-and-control exercise, and field training that culminates with a live-fire event, he added. Training will include staff and cyber exercises, airborne operations, joint strikes, an amphibious exercise, and simulated land operations. Charles Flynn, commanding general of the US Army Pacific, said in a statement last week that the exercises would show commitment to a safe, stable and secure Indo-Pacific. The two-week exercise, which will be held until September 6 in multiple locations across the nation, is also joined by participants from Australia, Japan, Britain, Singapore, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand and France. Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, the Netherlands, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea are participating in the exercise as observer nations. Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed unsinkable by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. read more Italian firefighter divers work at the site of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly.- Image- AP Prosecutors in Italy have placed under investigation the captain of a superyacht that sank during a storm off Sicily last week, killing seven people, Italian media reported Monday. James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck, Italian dailies reported. Under Italian laws, being under investigation doesnt imply being guilty and doesnt necessarily lead to criminal charges. Prosecutors in Termini Imerese didnt reply to calls to confirm the reports. Advertisement On Saturday, Chief Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed an investigation had been launched but said a suspect hadnt been identified. He said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yachts manufacturer. Cutfield was among 15 survivors of the sinking that killed British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah and five others. The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht, went down near the Mediterranean island in southern Italy last Monday. Prosecutors said the event was extremely rapid and could have been a downburst a localised, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground. The crew was saved, except for the chef, while six passengers were trapped in the hull. The Venezuelan Opposition and the international community have rejected Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduros claim of victory in last months election read more Weeks after Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in the election widely deemed to be stolen, a member of the nations election body has said there is no evidence that he won the election. The Venezuelan Opposition and the United States have rejected Maduros victory and have recognised the Opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, as the rightful winner. The international community has recognised that the Venezuelan election result as disputed and has called for the verification of result. Advertisement Following the last months election held amid widespread voter suppression and crackdown of the Opposition, the Maduru-controlled election body declared he had won 51.2 per cent of the vote whereas the Opposition claimed its candidate Gonzalez won 70 per cent of votes against Maduros 30 per cent. Neither Maduro nor the election body provided paper tallies to verify the result lending credibility to allegations that Maduro was falsely claiming victory. Now, Juan Carlos Delpino, a member of the Venezuelan election council, has told The New York Times that he had not received any evidence that Maduro actually won a majority in the last months election. In the weeks since Venezuelan election results were declared, the Opposition had mounted nationwide protests and Maduro had responded by unleashing his regimes forces and armed supporters on the Opposition and anyone deemed to be a critic. His regime forces have killed dozens and arrested thousands in a systemic crackdown dubbed Operation Knock-Knock. We failed the country Following the election widely deemed to be stolen by Maduro, Delpino has said that the election council failed the country. Delpino told The Times. I am ashamed, and I ask the Venezuelan people for forgiveness. Because the entire plan that was woven to hold elections accepted by all was not achieved. Advertisement The Venezuelan election council is a five-member body. Delpino is among the two members not aligned with Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela with an iron-first since 2013 and has presided over the economic devastation for more than a decade. Ahead of the last months vote, Maduro had warned that there would a bloodbath in the country if he would not win. Two independent observer groups, one from the United Nations (UN) and another from the Carter Center, have said last months election did not meet the minimum standards for a democratic vote, according to The Times. Last months vote, which was already held amid a systemic repression of the Opposition, was marred by violence and voter suppression. The Times reported that election officials at some key voting stations refused to give paper tallies to election observers so they could verify their results. There were also numerous reports of voting stations being changed at the last minute, access to stations being blocked, and attacks on stations. Even before the vote, the CNN reported that the requirement of passport and residency requirements made voting impossible for several Venezuelans living abroad. With the characteristics of a missile and a drone, the Palianytsia was created due to urgent necessity, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 read more In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena attend a service in Saint Sophia Cathedral during celebration of the Ukrainian Independence Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. AP Ukraine says it has a new homegrown long-range weapon that will allow it to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies. With the characteristics of a missile and a drone, the Palianytsia was created due to urgent necessity, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Saturday the existence of the Palianytsia, a type of Ukrainian bread and a word so notoriously difficult to pronounce correctly that it was used to unmask suspected spies early in the war. Zelenskyy called it a new class of weapon. Advertisement Saturday, which marked Ukraines 33rd anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union, also saw the first use of the new weapon, targeting a Russian military installation in the occupied territory, officials said without providing details. A Ukrainian military video hinted that its range is up to 700 kilometers (430 miles) on par with the US-supplied ATACMS. It showed a map with various airfields, including Russias Savasleyka air base, which lies within that range, adding that the Palianytsia can reach at least 20 Russian airfields. The United States and other Western allies provide long-range weapons to Ukraine but restrict it from launching them deep into Russia for fear of escalating the war. Ukraine can target the border regions but wants to go deeper into Russias molts to infrastructure. The Institute for the Study of War said Russia was leveraging sanctuary space in deep rear areas for military infrastructure. It estimated at least 250 militarily significant targets in Russia were within range of the ATACMS missiles, but current restrictions allow Ukraine to strike only 20 of them. Ukraines technology minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, told The Associated Press in his first interview about the new weapon that the next step was to scale up the production. I think this will be a game changer because we will be able to strike where Russia doesnt expect it today, he said. Fedorov declined to elaborate on the range or current supply, citing security reasons, but said that he has been involved in the projects for developing domestic missiles since the end of 2022. Advertisement Ukraines battlefields have become a deadly testing lab for new weapons and new adaptations of old ones. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have rigged off-the-shelf equipment with explosives and military-grade infrared cameras; Russia has retrofitted Soviet-era unguided bombs with GPS harnesses; and Ukraines underwater drones have crippled Russias Black Sea fleet. But the new weapon has been a long-term goal of Ukraine. One of the specialists involved in the long-range missile project said it was a completely new development, from scratch that began about 18 months ago. This is not an extension of an old Soviet project, said the specialist, speaking on condition of anonymity to safeguard the projects secrecy. The missile has a solid-fuel booster that accelerates it, followed by a jet engine, the specialist said. Advertisement Ukraine says its inability to fight back against Russian long-range weapons has deadly consequences. Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia has launched 9,627 long-range missiles and Ukraines defense shot down only a quarter of them, and that more than half the Russian targets were civilian. The specialist and Fedorov said each missile costs less than $1 million, and the military is turning to the private sector to bring down production costs further. The private market generates solutions incredibly quickly, the minister said. As of this year, private companies have become the main suppliers of drones for the Ukrainian army, including those now striking inside Russia and the underwater ones that have repeatedly struck the Russian Black Sea fleet, said Fedorov. Advertisement All types of missiles will be available in Ukraine, he said. If we have our own weapons like this, we will feel more independent and confident. Fedorov added that he believed Russias vast size could also be its vulnerability. Its impossible to produce enough air defense systems to protect such a large territory, he said. For us, this opens up the possibility of operating deep behind enemy lines. We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we remain well-postured to be able to support Israels defense as well as to protect our forces should they be attacked, said Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder read more This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over north Israel on August 25, 2024. AFP The United States assesses there is still a threat of a new attack on Israel by Iran or its proxies, the Pentagon said Monday, after Lebanons Hezbollah launched a rocket and drone barrage over the weekend. Iran and its regional allies have threatened to attack Israel in response to high-profile killings in Tehran and Beirut late last month, and Hezbollah said its recent strikes on Israel were in response to one of those assassinations. Advertisement We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we remain well-postured to be able to support Israels defense as well as to protect our forces should they be attacked, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists. On Sunday, the Israeli military said it launched air strikes on Hezbollah targets that posed an imminent threat, with around 100 fighter jets striking more than 270 targets, most of them short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the Israeli strikes came half an hour before his group launched more than 300 Katyusha rockets at 11 Israeli military sites, and that drones then targeted deeper inside the country, in response to the killing of senior commander Fuad Shukr in July. Ryder said that the US was not involved in the preemptive strikes or in shooting down the projectiles, but that it did provide some intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance support ISR in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks. He also said that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the presence of two carrier strike groups to remain in the region as part of support for Israel. The Pentagon said last week that the USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying destroyers had arrived in the region. It was due to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but Austins order means both will be in the Middle East for the time being. The search for his remains will be conducted for the very first-time since his disappearance by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR) read more The first search operation to find the remains of Captain Robert Nairac, who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1977, has commenced. Nairac lost his life in May 1977 while he was working undercover. According to BBC, the search for his remains will be conducted for the very first-time since his disappearance by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR). The body noted that it has sufficient credible information to begin a search of private land in the Faughart area near Dundalk. Advertisement The 29-year-old captain was abducted from a pub at Dromintee in South Armagh. He was then taken across the Irish border to Flurry Bridge, where he was eventually beaten and shot dead. However, the exact location of his death and where his body was buried remained a mystery. The operation started after several appeals In recent years, there has been major rise in the number of appeals for the information of the slain captain. The ICLVR which will be responsible for the whole ordeal was established by the British and Irish governments in 1999 to find the Disappeared 17 individuals murdered by republicans during the Troubles and secretly buried. The body has managed to find the remains of 13 victims as of now. Robert Nairac is one of the highest profile Disappeared and yet his case is one in which we have had very little to go on, ICLVRs lead investigator, Jon Hill, said. We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search," he added. Hills inisted that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection to the decision to search the location. The area is just said to be less than one acre in size. We are not time-limited but given the relatively small area I do not anticipate a protracted search period of many months. The Nairac family have been told that a search is about to commence and we will of course keep them informed of any developments," Hill explained. Advertisement I am not going to put a number on the degree of confidence that we have that we will find his remains but if they are there we have the skills, ability and experience to find them," he concluded. Challenges that came with it Hill also elucidated the challenges that involved in this operation and insisted that he does not want to set a timescale. It is on Faughart Hill, a battlefield site from the 1300s, so that presents a number of challenges to us, he told BBC Radio on Sunday. Not least that we have had to engage with National Monuments Ireland who have been very supportive of the work we are doing, but it has meant we have had to add extra layers within our searching strategy to deal with any archaeology and perhaps even human remains that may be found that arent related to Robert Nairac. We will search until we find him or have eliminated that area," he added. Advertisement The ICLVR noted that it has co-operation of the National Monuments Service. In the past, the commission has previously dismissed rumours that Capt Nairacs body was disposed of in a meat processing plant. With inputs from agencies. According to the official statement released by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Viera is undertaking a visit to India from 25-28 August 2024 read more Brazils Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira arrived in New Delhi late Saturday to attend the 9th India-Brazil Joint Commission Meeting. During his visit to the country, the Brazilian diplomat will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Dr S. Jaishankar. Vieiras visit came days after reports emerged that there are 100 Indians among 600 Asian migrants who are held at the Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo without visas. According to the official statement released by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Viera is undertaking a visit to India from 25-28 August 2024. On August 27, he will co-chair the joint commission meeting with Jaishankar. Advertisement With Brazil holding the G20 Presidency this year, the Ministers will also discuss how the two countries as Troika can take forth key G20 outcomes from the Indian Presidency last year, MEA said in a statement released on Saturday. India and Brazil share a multifaceted relationship rooted in shared values. The forthcoming visit of Foreign Minister Vieira will provide an opportunity to further strengthen the strategic partnership established in 2006 and explore new avenues of cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral arenas across diverse sectors, the statement further reads. The timing of it all The visit from the Brazilian foreign minister came days after 666 migrants, which included Indians, Nepalese and Vietnamese people were held in Brazils Sao Paulo, waiting to enter the country, Reuters reported. The migrants included at least 100 Indians and were waiting at Sao Paulo International Airport without visas. As per the report, the Asians stranded in the airport are living in extremely poor conditions. A spokesperson for the Public Defenders Office told Reuters that the migrants are staying in a restricted area with no access to food and water. The official also mentioned that children dont have access to blankets as well. The spokesperson from the office highlighted that the situation is so deplorable at the airport that a 39-year-old migrant from Ghana died two weeks ago of unknown causes. However, it is still not clear whether he died while being retained at the airport or on the way to the hospital. Advertisement With inputs from agencies OPPO launched the K12x 5G, the companys latest smartphone with military-grade durability, in India last month. This has MIL-STD-810H certification, IP54 ratings and is just 7.68mm thick. Is this a good phone for the price? Let use dive into the review to find out. Box Contents OPPO K12X 6GB + 128GB in Midnight Violet colour Anti-Drop Shield Protective case 45W SuperVOOC Charger USB Type-A to Type-C Charger SIM Ejector tool User manual and warranty information Display, Hardware and Design Starting with the display, the K12x 5G has a 6.67-inch HD+ LCD screen with a pixel resolution of 1604 x 720 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of about 263 PPI. The phone has a 120Hz refresh rate. You cant expect OLED screen in the price range, but the company could have offered a Full HD+ screen. The display is bright since it has up to 1000 nits peak brightness under sunlight. It offers decent colour output since it has 83% NTSC color gamut. You can select from vivid, and Natural screen colour modes. It has Splash Touch technology for the screen that lets users operate its touchscreen with wet hands or even if the screen is wet. The phone has a tiny punch-hole that houses an 8-megapixel camera. Above the display, there is an earpiece on the top edge, but it doesnt double up as a secondary speaker. There is a thick bezel below the screen. Coming to button placements, the power button and the volume rockers are present on the right. The Hybrid dual SIM slot that accepts a second SIM or microSD card that supports up to 1TB expandable memory is present on the left. The 3.5mm audio jack, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the speaker grill are crammed in the bottom. The phone doesnt have a secondary microphone on the top. The main highlight of the phone is its MIL-STD-810H certification, and the company said that has been rigorously tested in the harshest of environments and conditions, be it extreme heat, moisture, and for shock resistance. It also has IP54 ratings for dust and water resistance. It feels solid in hand, even though it has a plastic body. The company says that display has twice-reinforced China Southern Glass and Panda Glass. In addition to the Midnight Violet that we have, that mostly looks like Black, it also comes in Breeze Blue colour that has nice patterns. Even though it packs a huge, 5100mAh battery, it weighs 186 grams. Camera 32MP rear camera with GC32E2 sensor, f/1.8 aperture 2MP portrait sensor, GC02M1B sensor, f/2.4 aperture 8MP front camera with f/2.05 aperture, GC08A8-WA1XA sensor The camera UI in the ColorOS 14 is familiar. There is Pro mode, Slo-mo, Time-Lapse, Dual-View video, and text scanner. The rear camera offers 8MP output after pixel binning, and the front camera images are 8MP in size. Daylight shots came out well, and the dynamic range is better with auto HDR. 2X is good, but as you zoom in you lose details even though you get up to 10X zoom. The portrait mode offers a good edge detection, thanks to the 2MP portrait camera. The low-light camera performance is just average, and the front camera performance is decent at the best. Check out the camera samples. It can record videos in up to 1080p 60 fps, and the front camera can record 1080p 30fps videos. Stabilization is decent. Software, UI and Apps It runs Android 14 based Color OS 14.0.1 out of the box. It has Android security patch for July 2024. The phone will get 2 Android updates, and 3 years of security updates, which is good for a phone in n the price range. Apart from the usual set of OPPO apps and Google apps, it comes with several pre-loaded apps such as FinShell Pay, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat, Spotify, LinkedIn, Myntra and more. Most of the apps can be uninstalled, but come back once the phone is reset. Out of 6GB LPDDR4X RAM, you get 5.57GB of usable RAM, and about 3GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has DRE or dynamic RAM expansion feature, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. This has up to 6GB of additional RAM expansion. Out of 128GB UFS 2.2 storage, you get about 105.45GB of free storage. Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock It has a side-mounted sensor that unlocks the phone quickly. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use the fingerprint for app local and payments in apps. The phone also has face unlock feature. Music and Multimedia YouTube Music is the default Music Player. It has OReality audio and has customizable Smart, Movie, Game and Music modes, but doesnt have Dolby Atmos. It also has FM Radio support. Audio through the mono speakers is decent, and there is a 300% volume boost option that uses the inbuilt algorithm to boost the volume. This has Widevine L1, so that you can play HD content on Netflix and other streaming apps. It doesnt have HDR playback on YouTube or any other apps, since the phone is not HDR certified. Dual SIM and Connectivity The OPPO K12x has support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28B/n40/n41/n77/n78 Network Bands in India. It has 4G Wi-Fi and VoLTE, with support for Carrier Aggregation on 4G. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 5 802.11 ac,(2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.3, GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / QZSS. It has OTG support, but doesnt have NFC support. Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. It uses Google dialer and messages. The OPPO K12xs body SAR is 1.186W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.176/Kg, which is well under the limit of 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) in India. Performance and Benchmarks This is the one of the latest phones to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC in India. It uses TSMC N6 (6nm-class) process, same as the Dimensity 6100+. It has 2x x Arm Cortex-A76 big cores clocked at 2.4GHz and 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 efficiency cores, clocked at 2GHz, promising up to 10% faster CPU performance than the previous generation. The Arm Mali-G57 MC2 promises over 50% GPU performance improvements compared to the previous generation. It can handle casual games like Subway surfers, and games like BGMI in low graphics, but cant handle high-end games like Genshin Impact. There is no dedicated cooling solution, but I didnt face any heating issues. In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 97.6% which is just good. The temperature shot up from 33 to 36 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below. Battery life Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5100mAh (typical) battery, which is normal for a phone in the price range. It can easily last for a day with heavy use and for 2 days with typical use. Since the phone has support for 45W SuperVOOC fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 30 minutes, and 100% charge take close to one and half hours. There are smart charging, and option to stop charging at 80%. Conclusion At a starting price of Rs. 12,999, the OPPO K12x is a decent smartphone for the price with good build, good battery life with fast charging and a decent performance. The camera is average, and the phone only has an HD+ screen, compared to several phones that offer a FHD+ screen. Pricing and availability The OPPO K12x is priced at Rs. 12,999 for the 6GB + 128GB model and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 15,999. It is available from Flipkart, OPPO India online store and offline stores. Alternatives POCO M6 Plus is a good alternative in the price with a FHD+ screen, and a 108MP camera. The iQOO Z9x that also has a FHD+ screen, and a bigger 6000mAh is a good option in the price range. Pros Good build quality with military-grade durability Decent performance Decent camera performance in daylight Long battery life with 45W fast charging Cons HD+ screen Bloatware China remains committed to path of pursuing common development through opening up 10:49, August 26, 2024 By He Yin ( People's Daily A China-Europe railway express fully loaded with cargos departs from the southern railway freight yard of the East China International Combined Transport Port (ICTP) in Jindong district, Jinhua city, east China's Zhejiang province, to Budapest, Hungary, July 9, 2024. (People's Daily Online/Hu Xiaofei) With its door opened wider to the rest of the world, China demonstrates strong appeal to foreign investors and continues to serve as an important engine for global development and prosperity. Against the backdrop of rising anti-globalization sentiments and mounting unilateralism and protectionism, China perseveres in expanding high-level opening up, turning China's enormous market into enormous opportunities for the world. In the first seven months of this year, the total value of China's foreign trade in goods reached 24.83 trillion yuan ($3.48 trillion), up 6.2 percent year on year. During the same period, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide reached 31,654, which represents a year-on-year growth of 11.4 percent. The upcoming fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit to be held in Qingdao, east China's Shandong province, has confirmed the participation of nearly 500 representatives from multinational companies, indicating a larger "circle of friends" for China. China's development path is based on the country's realities. It is a path that puts people's interests first and pursues reform and innovation, and also a path of pursuing common development through opening-up. China is committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. It continuously enhances the interaction between its domestic market and overseas markets, striving to deliver more benefits to other countries and peoples while promoting its own development. In recent years, China has established 22 pilot free trade zones, built the Hainan free trade port, and promoted the signing and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, building a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. A "ro-ro" (roll-on/roll off) ship is being loaded with cars to be exported overseas at a wharf of the Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Chun) China has also frequently shortened its negative lists for foreign investment; relaxed market access restrictions for fields in the service sector, such as telecommunications and healthcare; actively promoted high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); and established international economic and trade cooperation platforms such as the China International Import Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, and China International Consumer Products Expo. These major measures aimed at expanding high-level opening up have enabled the international community to benefit from China's development, and made the positive outlook on China's development a global consensus. China's successful practice of promoting reform and development through opening up has been instrumental in its pursuit of progress and growth. The country's experience in domestic development has proven that China's modernization cannot be achieved without opening up. The goal to achieve the largest-scale and most challenging modernization in human history requires China to actively expand domestic demand, leverage the advantages of its super-large market, and amplify the interplay between domestic and international markets. By promoting high-level opening up to drive high-quality development, China can lay a solid material foundation for its path to modernization. Despite the backlash against economic globalization and the downward trend of the World Openness Index, the history of international cooperation has proven that only openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation is the right way forward for humanity, and that open development and mutually beneficial development is the common aspiration of people around the world. Standing on the right side of history, China perseveres in expanding high-level opening up and endeavors to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. These efforts can not only open up broad prospects for China's path to modernization, but also contribute to the common development of all countries and the advancement of global modernization. Photo shows a worker busy producing printed circuit boards (PCBs) to be exported overseas in a workshop of a company based in Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi province. (People's Daily Online/Wei Dongsheng) China has formulated plans for refining the institutions and mechanisms for high-level opening up, which involve steadily expanding institutional opening up, deepening the foreign trade structural reform, further reforming the management systems for inward and outward investment, optimizing the layout for regional opening up, and improving the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the BRI. China's steadfast commitment to high-level opening up reflects its dedication to aligning with high international standards, adopting a proactive approach to opening up, and unilaterally opening its doors wider to the least developed countries. This approach is aimed at boosting the development of new quality productive forces and facilitating win-win cooperation. Taking the endeavor to advance its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) as an opportunity, China strives to develop new institutions for a higher-level open economy, establish compliance mechanisms that are aligned with prevailing international rules, create new advantages in its increasingly advanced open economy, and unleash new dividends of opening up. China plans to further relax market access and open its market to the rest of the world more actively. It is making efforts to foster new consumption scenarios, cultivate new drivers for foreign trade, and enhance its appeal to foreign investors, in a bid to make the vast Chinese market a strong magnet for global innovation activities. The country has also pledged to make the "cake" of opening up bigger, extend the list of cooperation, fully participate in the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), expand its "circle of friends" for free trade, and support the building of an open world economy. As an international observer pointed out, China's high-level opening up benefits the entire world with win-win cooperation and allows people from all countries to share China's development achievements. Remaining firmly committed to advancing high-level opening up and adhering to the path of seeking common development through opening up, China is poised to share new opportunities for global development through its achievements in modernization. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) August 25, 2024 By Matthew Olay, DOD News Brown Visits Middle East Partners, Allies Amid Rising Regional Tension Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., this weekend embarked on a three-country visit throughout the Middle East aimed at demonstrating the long-term U.S. commitment to the region as well as furthering his understanding of various perspectives concerning ongoing Middle East tension by engaging with U.S. partners and allies throughout the region. Brown began his trip by engaging with key leaders in Jordan on Saturday, and he intends to hold discussions with counterparts and other officials in Egypt and Israel in the coming days. "Over the next few days ... Gen. Brown will continue to stress the importance of deterring further escalation of hostilities, protecting U.S. forces in the region, U.S. support of Israel's self-defense, and a coordinated effort in providing humanitarian assistance to the civilians," reads a statement from the chairman's office. "As ceasefire negotiations continue," the statement goes on, "the chairman's visit is reflective of the importance of reaching an agreement that returns the hostages, ends the violence and allows the entire region to focus on the next steps toward a more secure, stable Middle East." Speaking to members of the media while in route to Jordan last week, Brown said that part of his mission engaging with his counterparts in the coming days will be to determine whether a ceasefire will "bring down the temperature" in the region. "It's going to take a collective effort from across the region to bring down the temperature [and to] to increase security," Brown said. "And at the same time," he continued, "as I talk to my counterparts, [I ask about] the types of things we can do to deter any type of broader escalation, and to ensure we're taking all the appropriate steps to ensure we're not going into a broader conflict." As an example of this, Brown noted that the U.S. has recently added additional military capability to the region "to send a strong message to deter broader conflict." Such capability in the region includes the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which recently arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The Lincoln group joins the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group in the region, bolstering additional assets in Centcom's AOR that now include an Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron and the Ohio-class cruise missile submarine USS Georgia, which the Pentagon stated is also operating nearby. "What's paramount is the protection of our forces," Brown said. "We have to make sure we posture to [not only] deter a broader conflict, but also to protect our forces." Regarding his overall role as chairman and the importance of staying engaged with regional partner and allies, Brown emphasized the importance of in-person interaction. "I've got quite a bit of experience in the Middle East engaging with our partners," Brown said. "And it helps to spend more than just a phone call, but to go face-to-face from across the table I get to hear their perspective and they get to hear mine." "[One] can always pick a reason not to show up, but I think it's important that I do." This is Brown's second trip to the Middle East region since he became chairman of the joint chiefs in October of 2023. His first visit was to Israel with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III in December of that year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CCG restricts Philippine ship at Xianbin Jiao Global Times Experts urge Manila to withdraw its deliberately quasi-grounded vessel By Liu Xuanzun Published: Aug 25, 2024 11:49 PM The China Coast Guard (CCG) on Sunday took restrictive measures against a Philippine vessel that had illegally trespassed into waters off China's Xianbin Jiao in the South China Sea planning to send supplies to another Philippine ship anchored in the Chinese reef's lagoon, with Chinese experts calling on Manila to withdraw its quasi-grounded vessel. Without the authorization of the Chinese government, the Philippine Ship 3002 on Sunday illegally trespassed into waters off Xianbin Jiao in China's Nansha Qundao and made repeated dangerous approaches to CCG ships that were sailing normally. The CCG took restrictive measures in accordance with the law and regulations, the CCG said in a press release. CCG spokesperson Gan Yu said that the Philippine ship ignored stern warnings from the Chinese side and intentionally rammed, in an unprofessional and dangerous way, into a CCG ship that was conducting normal law enforcement activities causing a bump. The Philippine side should take complete responsibility, Gan said. Ding Duo, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Law and Policy at China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the Philippines was trying to provide daily supplies to its coast guard vessel MRRV-9701, which has been illegally anchored in the lagoon of Xianbin Jiao since April. The CCG's restrictive measures show that China has sufficient means and capabilities to cut off Philippine supplies to MRRV-9701, prevent Philippine vessels from entering and leaving the lagoon, and take comprehensive law enforcement measures against Philippine vessels and personnel, Ding said, stressing that the Philippines does not have any legitimacy to anchor MRRV-9701 in Chinese territory. Ding said that the Philippines should withdraw all ships, including the coast guard vessel, from Xianbin Jiao and work with China to manage differences and avoid escalating conflicts, rather than continuously sending supplies to the MRRV-9701 and endlessly creating incidents and hyping up maritime affairs. Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies under the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the Philippines' quasi-grounding of its coast guard vessel was not a good choice, because it gave up the mobility of the ship. Manila's provocations at Xianbin Jiao actually brought Chinese management and control perimeters closer to the Philippines, making its illegally grounded warship at China's Ren'ai Jiao and other Chinese islands and reefs illegally occupied by the Philippines even more isolated, Yang said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Statement by IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari- August 25, 2024 IDF Press Release August 25, 2024 25.08.24 IDF Good evening, This morning, we thwarted a large-scale attack by the Hezbollah terrorist organization targeting northern communities and locations in central Israel. We monitored Hezbollah for weeks using technological means and aerial patrols by Israeli Air Force aircraft. As soon as we identified Hezbollah's intention to carry out the attack, we thwarted the majority of the attack. Hezbollah attempted to severely harm the north and center of Israel, but was met with an iron fist. Approximately one hundred IAF aircraft simultaneously struck over two hundred and seventy targets in southern Lebanon, disrupting Hezbollah's attack plan. So far, we are also aware of six terrorists who were eliminated in the strikes, and we may discover more in the coming days. Just last week, we eliminated approximately thirty terrorists, including Hezbollah commanders. Approximately ninety percent of the targets struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah planned to harm Israeli civilians. Hezbollah managed to launch only about two hundred and thirty rockets and over twenty unmanned aerial vehicles. Most of them either fell on their way to Israeli territory, landed in open areas, or were intercepted by Israeli Air Force defense systems and Israeli Navy ships. Contrary to Hezbollah's claims, there were no hits on IDF bases, neither in the north nor in the center. During the operations of the Israeli Navy soldiers, an Iron Dome interceptor or interception fragments hit a Dvora-class fast patrol boat that was on a defensive mission. As a result, IDF soldier First Sergeant David Moshe Ben Shitrit was critically injured and was evacuated by sea to the hospital, where he later died of his wounds. May his memory be a blessing. Additionally, two other soldiers were lightly and moderately injured and we wish them a speedy recovery. the incident is under examination. We share the family's grief and wish the injured a speedy recovery. The Israeli Air Force, Israeli Navy, Northern Command, Home Front Command, Intelligence Directorate (J2), and Operations Directorate (J3) defended the State of Israel from a Hezbollah attack. The same attack that it had planned for many days following the assassination of Hezbollah's most senior commander, Fuad Shukr, along with other commanders eliminated in recent months. Hezbollah still has capabilities, and the mission is not yet complete. Our mission is clear - to return the residents of the north to their homes in safety, and we are preparing all plans to achieve this. This evening, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S military, General Brown, arrived in Israel, and he is scheduled to meet with the Chief of the General Staff and the Defense Minister and other commanders. The operational capabilities of the U.S. military in the region are very significant, and we are conducting together with them a joint situational assessment in light of the regional threats. We are in a state of very high readiness, both offensively and defensively, in all arenas. At this time, there is no change in the Home Front Command's guidelines. You are required to continue demonstrating responsibility, alertness, and vigilance as you have done so far, certainly today. I want to commend the exemplary conduct of the northern residents, who have prevented casualties through their responsible behavior. We will update immediately on any change. We are acting responsibly in line with the war objectives, our challenges are in all arenas, and the most important mission is protecting the citizens of the State of Israel. In the south, IDF troops continue to operate in the Gaza Strip. Continuing to apply heavy military pressure on Hamas. Hamas hoped that Hezbollah's attack would lead to a broad escalation. The hope of Sinwar and the Hamas leadership to drag the entire Middle East into escalation did not materialize today, and we will continue to apply heavy pressure on Hamas, eliminate its senior leaders, reach them and damage its terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip. Today, we reported on an IDF soldier who fell in battle. First Sergeant Amit Tsadikov, of blessed memory, a soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade, fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip due to an explosive device. We share his family's sorrow and accompany them in this difficult time. Alongside all this, we continue to be in significant days this week, with high readiness across all arenas, as negotiations continue in Cairo. I'm now hearing rumors about the negotiations just before this broadcast. We remain committed to one central war objective - the return of the 109 hostages, and we will continue to make every effort to achieve this. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari- August 25, 2024 IDF Press Release August 25, 2024 25.08.24 IDF Good morning, In the past hour, we identified extensive preparation by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to fire toward the Israeli Home Front. After extensive identification, the IAF and Northern Command began proactively and broadly striking Hezbollah targets in order to remove the threats aimed at the citizens of Israel. We are removing threats against the Israeli home front. Dozens of IAF jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Hezbollah is launching rockets and UAVs toward Israeli territory. Our aerial defense systems, the Israeli Navy's ships and IAF planes are taking part in the mission of defending Israel's skies, identifying and intercepting threats, and striking any place in Lebanon that is required in order to remove threats and hit Hezbollah. When we said we would do whatever it takes to protect the citizens of the State of Israel, this is what we meant. The Chief of the General Staff is commanding the activity from the Underground Operations Center, both from the offensive and defensive aspects. The Home Front Command recently updated the defensive guidelines in the areas of Gush Dan and northwards, meaning educational activities and places of work may continue in places within the range of a protected space. Additionally, there are limits on gatherings of people. The full guidelines are on the Home Front Command's website. We are conducting a situational assessment and updating the defensive guidelines in order to take precautionary and responsible measures. The defense is not hermetic, and you are required to continue following the defensive guidelines of the Home Front Command. These guidelines save lives. When an alert sounds, enter a protected space for ten minutes, no less, and continue to follow the defensive guidelines. Since there are threats of various types, alerts will be heard in widespread areas. The Home Front Command's alert system is designed to provide real-time warnings in areas in danger. We are conducting ongoing assessments, and additional defensive guidelines will be issued for other areas as needed. We need your vigilance and cooperation to ensure optimal protection, as you have demonstrated in the past. We will provide updates on any changes in defensive guidelines via the official platforms of the IDF Spokesperson and the Home Front Command. At this time, as I mentioned, the IDF is identifying, intercepting, and striking wherever necessary to remove threats and strike Hezbollah. We have already intercepted several rockets and UAVs that were approaching Israeli territory. We warn Lebanese civilians in southern Lebanon: we have identified that Hezbollah is firing extensively into Israeli territory near your homesyou are in danger. We are targeting and removing Hezbollah's threats. The IDF is doing, and will continue to do, everything necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel. The operational event is still ongoing. I ask once again that you continue to follow the Home Front Command's defensive guidelines as you have been doing. Follow the guidelines on the official pages, and I will be here to keep you updated. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas cannot accept Netanyahu's conditions: FM IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The representative of the Hamas movement in Lebanon, in a statement regarding the ongoing negotiations on reaching a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners, emphasized that this movement adheres to its terms and will not accept the terms of the Zionist regime's prime minister. Ahmed Abdul Hadi, the representative of the Hamas movement in Lebanon, said in an interview with Al-Mayadeen network: "The enemy and the Americans are trying to achieve what was not achieved in the field through negotiations." He emphasized that "we cannot accept Netanyahu's conditions, which were repeated during the Doha negotiations. The talks in Doha were about Netanyahu's terms, and unfortunately, America was trying to show that there was progress. Abdul Hadi continued in this regard that "we want to make sure whether the negotiations end the aggression or there is a certain deception. Therefore, we adhere to our terms." 2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 40,405 martyred in 324 days of Israeli war on Gaza IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has declared the martyrdom of 40,405 Palestinian civilians in 324 days of crimes committed by the Zionist regime's army. According to a Sunday report of Palestine's Shehab news agency, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on the 324th day of the onslaught, the Israeli regime's army committed three separate crimes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, resulting in the martyrdom of 71 Palestinians and the injury of 112 others. The Ministry's statement emphasized that 40,405 Palestinians have been martyred and 93,468 others have been injured since the beginning of the regime's attacks on the Gaza Strip. It also announced that due to the continued assaults, the bodies of a number of martyrs remain under the rubble and that relief agencies are not able to find and transfer them to health centers. The Israeli regime waged a devastating war against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. Since then, around 70% of the homes and infrastructure of Gaza have been destroyed, and the siege and severe humanitarian crisis, along with unprecedented famine and hunger, have threatened the lives of the residents of the area. Despite all the atrocities, the Tel Aviv regime admitted that after about 11 months of war, it has not yet been able to achieve its goals, namely the annihilation of the Hamas movement and the return of Israeli captives from the Gaza Strip. 4208**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah leader names retaliatory attack as 'Operation Arbaeen Day' IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The secretary-general of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has called the large-scale Sunday operation of the movement against the Israeli regime "Operation Arbaeen Day." According to Al-Ahed news agency, Hassan Nasrallah detailed Hezbollah's Sunday morning response to the assassination of Fuad Shukr, the movement's senior commander. The response was conducted by firing hundreds of missiles and drones into the Israeli-occupied territories. Hezbollah leader said that the enemy was the main cause of escalation by attacking Dahieh in southern Beirut and martyring Fuad Shukr and several civilians and that because of the simultaneousness of today's attack with the day of Arbaeen, this retaliatory strike was also called "Operation Arbaeen Day." He further argued that it had been said earlier that the delay in responding was part of the punishment of the Zionist enemy, but the other factor was the Gaza ceasefire negotiations and the consensus on how to respond to the Zionists. We have enough time to negotiate because the goal of this front and its sacrifices is to stop the war against Gaza, Nasrallah added. Finally, it was decided that each group of the Axis of Resistance would act alone, and the timing of the attack was different, he said, noting that despite Israel's targeting civilians in Lebanon, Hezbollah decided not to target infrastructure and civilians, and it attacked military sites. According to the Hezbollah leader, Israel's military intelligence organization and its air force were involved in the assassination of Fuad Shukr; therefore, Hezbollah targeted a place that was associated with assassination operations and targeted the Glilot base, which was home to military intelligence, the Unit 8200. He cautioned that the distance from the Glilot base to the Lebanese border is 110 kilometers and its distance from Tel Aviv is 1,500 meters, and that resistance fighters also targeted several military bases in the occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee mountainous region. Some 340 Katyusha rockets were fired to confuse the Iron Dome system so that the drones could reach their targets, he said, adding that all the drones that were launched from the Beqaa Valley crossed the Lebanese-Palestinian border safely towards the targets, and our specific military target was the military intelligence base, Unit 8200, near Tel Aviv. Nasrallah also stated that the truth of what happened in these operations will be known, despite the enemy's secrecy, and that data shows a number of drones hit their targets, but the enemy has remained silent. He added that the enemy's narrative is full of lies, and Israel, which considers itself the strongest actor in the region, resorts to lies because of its weakness. The casualties in Nahariya, Acre, and other areas, if any, were caused by Israeli interceptor missiles, Nasrallah said, adding that when Israel talked about destroying our strategic missiles, it lied because we did not use them, but we may use them in the future. The secretary-general of Hezbollah also emphasized that every objective Hezbollah pursued according to the planned operation has been achieved and that not long ago, the group had cleared all the valleys of precision and ballistic missiles, and what the enemy bombarded today were empty valleys; therefore, the enemy's claims of targeting ballistic missiles that were prepared to target Tel Aviv are baseless, and the launch pads of combat drones were not hit, and the Israeli attacks hit only two missile launchers. He went on to say that after the rockets were launched, some platforms were targeted, which is normal. Nasrallah argued that Hezbollah has thousands of such platforms. He noted that a half hour before the operation, the enemy was attacking. They were on full alert and all the technical powers of Israel and the West were at their disposal. He further clarified that the targets that were attacked had nothing to do with our operations because they did not have information about it. What Israel did was a military aggression, not a pre-emptive strike. Nasrallah added that no one was martyred in this operation, but after that, the enemy targeted places and three people were martyred. The enemy suffered an operational failure and Hezbollah's operation was successful. The enemy claims to have intelligence and knowledge of the timing of the operation, while the movements of Hezbollah fighters caused them to notice the attack, but they were not able to stop it. Hezbollah operation was preliminary The Hezbollah leader added: Today's military operation was carried out carefully despite all the difficult circumstances, because we decided to respond and continued to carry it out despite all external and internal intimidation. All the land, air, and sea facilities of the United States, Israel, and the West were on alert, but they could not stop our attack. Nasrallah said that we announced that our response today is preliminary, and if the result of the operation is not enough for us, we will decide what to do later. Our operation today may be very useful for the Palestinian and other Arab parties in the negotiations, and its message is clear to the enemy and to the Americans. He also emphasized that any attempt to halt the resistance fronts' support for Palestine are doomed to fail, and we will complete the work that we started 11 months ago without paying attention to intimidation and with adhering to self-sacrifice. We are the people who do not accept being oppressed and do not bow to anyone, and our blood triumphs over the sword. He also said that the enemy must understand that the day when it could attack Lebanon with a music band is over, and the day may come when we can attack it with a music band. 4208**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Palestinians will be final victors of fight against tyranny: Iran FM spox IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has said that the Palestinian people will eventually emerge victorious in their fight against the Zionist regime. The blood of the innocent Palestinians who have been killed by Israel will eventually make the Palestinian nation victorious against the regime, the spokesman said on X social media platform on Sunday that marks Arabeen. Arbaeen is the 40th day after the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shia imam, Imam Hossein (AS) who is hailed by Muslims for his fight against the tyrant of his time Yazid. Kanaani said that today the great lesson behind Arbaeen is to take the path of righteousness and support the oppressed people. Another lesson is the practical disavowal of the tyrants who have killed more 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza during nearly 11 months, most of them women and children, he added. 4194**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah attacks vital positions in Tel Aviv as part of retaliation for Fuad Shukr's assassination IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has targeted important positions in north Tel Aviv in the first phase of a retaliatory response to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's top commander Fuad Shukr. An informed source in Hezbollah told Al Araby on Sunday that Israeli regime was unable to take pre-emptive action against the attack of the resistance movement. We conducted attacks against two important positions in the north of Tel Aviv, he said, adding that further news on the positions will be announced. Hezbollah rejected the Israeli baseless claims that they had intercepted the attacks. Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed in what Israel had called a targeted strike on southern suburb of Lebanon's capital Beirut on July 30. A day after, Israel also assassinated the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement Ismail Haniyeh at a guest house in the Iranian capital Tehran hours after he attended the inaugural of Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian. 7129**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah concludes 1st phase of retaliatory response to Fuad Shukr's assassination IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has announced the successful conclusion of the first phase of a highly-anticipated retaliatory response to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah top commander Fuad Shukr. Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday that it has fired at least 320 Katyusha missiles at Israeli barracks and military bases with the aim of facilitating the passage of attack drones toward their intended target deep inside the occupied territories. "All the attack drones were launched at the specified times and from all their predetermined positions, crossing the Lebanese-Palestinian borders towards the desired target and from multiple paths", Hezbollah said, adding that its "military operation for today has been completed and accomplished." The movement said the military positions that were targeted and damaged include bases of Miron, Navi Ziv, Zaatoun, Al-Sahel, Ein Zitim, and the bases of Nafah and Yarden, both located in the occupied Golan Heights. Barracks of UF and Kilaa, also located in the occupied Golan, as well as barracks of Al-Zaoura and Ramot Naftali were other Israeli military positions targeted and damaged in the first phase of Hezbollah's retaliatory response, according to the statement. Further in its statement, Hezbollah dismissed Israel's "empty" claims about its preemptive action and disrupting the resistance movement's attack. "The enemy's claims about the preemptive action it carried out, the targets it achieved, and its disruption of the resistance's attack are empty claims and contradict the facts on the ground." Hezbollah said those claims will be refuted by its Secretary General Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah in a speech he will make later on Sunday. The movement has also said it is at the highest level of preparation and will give a very severe response to any act of aggression by the Israeli regime, particularly if it harms civilians. Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed in what Israel had called a targeted strike on southern suburb of Lebanon's capita Beirut on July 30. A day after, Israel also assassinated the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement Ismail Haniyeh at a guest house in the Iranian capital Tehran hours after he attended the inaugural of Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran has also promised a retaliatory response to Israel's killing of Haniyeh, which the Islamic Republic says has violated its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. 4194**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli warplanes, artillery target southern Lebanon IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- In its continued attacks on Lebanon, the Zionist regime has pounded several areas of the Arab country with warplanes and artillery shells. In this series of attacks, two areas of Kafarkla and Ras al-Zahr were targeted by Israeli airstrikes, Lebanese media reported on Saturday night. The same report added that the southern neighborhood of Mis al-Jabal town was also hit by the Zionist regime's artillery attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the latest Israeli bombing and shelling of the Arab country. Israeli media claimed that the attacks were in response to Hezbollah's operations just hours ago against Zionist targets in the northern occupied Palestinian territories. Earlier, the media confirmed rocket attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement on the occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah also issued a statement and said that it targeted several Israeli army bases in the occupied Golan Heights with rockets and drones. The two sides have been exchanging fire along Lebanon's southern border regularly since the Zionist regime launched its genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October, 2023. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM Netanyahu at the Start of the Government Meeting Israel - Prime Minister's Office Press Releases The 37th Government 25.08.2024 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Start of the Government Meeting: "Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north." Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, at the start of the Government meeting, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv: "What happened today is not the end of the story. Early this morning, Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones. We directed the IDF to carry out an intense pre-emptive attack to remove the threat. The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, all of which were designed to attack our citizens and our forces in the Galilee. Also, the IDF intercepted all of the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in the center of the country. We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows. Three weeks ago, we eliminated its Chief-of-Staff and today we thwarted its attack plan. Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north, and returning our residents securely to their homes. And I reiterate - this is not the end of the story." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Start of the Security Cabinet Meeting Israel - Prime Minister's Office Press Releases The 37th Government 25.08.2024 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning, at the start of the Security Cabinet meeting, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv: "This morning we identified Hezbollah preparations to attack Israel. In consensus with the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff, we directed the IDF initiate action to eliminate the threat. Since then, the IDF has been taking strong action to foil the threats. It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel. It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action - both defensively and offensively. Citizens of Israel, I request that you adhere to the directives from IDF Home Front Command. We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us - we will harm them." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel earmarks nearly $1bn to help settlers displaced by Hezbollah attacks Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 7:28 PM The Israeli regime has earmarked emergency funds worth nearly $1 billion to accommodate settlers displaced because of attacks by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah. Israel's Finance Ministry said on Sunday the regime's cabinet had approved an expansion of 3.4 billion shekels ($923 million) in this year's budget to help fund evacuees until the end of 2024. It said that the new budget adjustment will be submitted to the Israeli parliament as soon as possible. The measure came hours after Hezbollah launched extensive missile and drone attacks on key targets in north of the occupied Palestine and other areas controlled by the Israeli regime. The attacks were the largest since Hezbollah began its operations against Israel in October just after the regime invaded the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Hezbollah's early Sunday attacks were meant to respond to an Israeli airstrike last month that killed the group's top military commander in a building in southern Beirut. Nearly 60,000 Israeli settlers have fled their homes because of Hezbollah attacks, forcing the regime in Tel Aviv to house them in hotels and temporary accommodations deep inside the occupied territories. Hezbollah insists it will end its attacks on Israeli positions only when the regime stops its brutal war on Gaza. Israel has suffered huge economic losses because of its war in Gaza and its confrontation with regional resistance groups like Hezbollah. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is known for his extremist support for the Gaza war, said on Sunday that the additional funding approved for settlers displaced by Hezbollah attacks would not add to the regime's budget deficit this year. That comes as reports in July indicated that the Israeli regime was facing a budget deficit of 8.1% of its gross domestic target because of its increasing military expenditures. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Qassam Brigades congratulates Hezbollah on its operation against Israel Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 7:06 PM The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has congratulated Lebanon's resistant movement Hezbollah on its August 25 operation against the Israeli regime. Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets and drones towards targets lying in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories in response to the July 30 Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said earlier in August that the fight against Israelis had entered "a new phase" after the assassination of Shukr. On Sunday, the Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said the Hamas armed wing congratulates the Hezbollah operation and appreciate the great sacrifices of the people in Lebanon and its Resistance fighters. Obeida said Hezbollah's operation reaffirmed the shift in the strategic reality for Israel since the October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. He said Israel has no safety from retribution and there are no limits to the possibility of striking the Zionists anywhere and from any front. Hezbollah has said it is "currently at its highest level of readiness and will stand firm and vigilant against any Zionist transgression or aggression, especially if civilians are harmed, in which case the punishment will be severe and very harsh." Israel had launched numerous airstrikes on southern Lebanon, claiming to "pre-empt" a "large-scale" retaliation by Hezbollah. Several Lebanese towns, including Kfar Malaki and Beit Yahoun, were reportedly targeted in the Israeli strikes. Kounine Forest, the area between Zibqine and Yater, and al-Iqlim Heights were also targeted by Israeli warplanes in the attempt to stop "Hezbollah's preparations to carry out large-scale attacks" against Israeli military positions in the occupied territories. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Qassam Brigades claims responsibility for attack on Israelis in northern Gaza Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 5:36 PM The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, have claimed responsibility for an attack on the occupying Israeli forces in northern Gaza Strip. The armed wing of Hamas announced in a statement on Sunday that the Palestinian fighters had launched a successful operation in northern Gaza, inflicting casualties on the Israelis. Qassam said a minefield was prepared to target Israeli armored vehicles and it detonated in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, after which military helicopters arrived to transport casualties. It added that its snipers also shot an Israeli soldier near the University College of Applied Sciences, south of the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City. The Qassam Brigades spokesman said, "All fronts will remain burning and escalating in the face of the enemy as long as the aggression against our people continues." Israel has killed over 40,300 Palestinians, mostly children and women, in Gaza since October. The devastating strikes by the Israeli military have left much of Gaza in ruins as the Israeli forces blockade of food, clean water and medicine to Gaza. The Israeli leaders are wanted for genocide with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others linked to the genocidal campaign in Gaza. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemeni armed forces praise Hezbollah strikes, vow to attack Israel Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 4:23 PM Yemeni armed forces have praised a large drone and rocket attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement against Israel, saying their own attack is "inevitably coming." Hezbollah on Sunday fired barrages of rockets and drones towards targets lying in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for Israel's assassination of a senior military commander of the resistance group last month. Hezbollah said in a statement that it had conducted the operation "as part of the initial response" to Israel's assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander of the resistance group, in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on July 30. In a statement on Sunday, the political bureau of Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement congratulated Hezbollah and its Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the "large and courageous attack" and a "strong and effective response" against Israel. It added that the powerful response reaffirms that the "resistance is capable, steadfast, and sincere in its promises and threats." The Yemeni armed forces renewed their promise to launch their own attacks against Israel in response to the regime's airstrikes against Yemen's strategic western province of Hudaydah in July. "We reaffirm once again that the Yemeni response is inevitably coming, and the coming days and nights and the battlefield will prove this," the statement said. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on July 20 that Israeli fighter jets attacked military targets in Hudaydah. He said the airstrikes were in response to the hundreds of attacks against Israel in recent months. Ansarullah has already said it was "prepared for any Israeli response" to the strike. Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine's struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Palestinian resistance groups hail Hezbollah strikes on Israel Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 3:32 PM Hamas and other Palestinian residence groups have praised Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah's "strong and focused" retaliatory attacks on Israeli positions, saying the operation was a slap in the face of the enemy. In a statement released on Sunday, the Palestinian group said the strikes send a message that Israel's "terrorism and crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples will not pass without a response." Hamas said Israeli bombings of Lebanon, in which civilians have been killed, are a "blatant violation of all international charters and norms" and warned that the US is "fully responsible" for any repercussions. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement said that "these strikes have confirmed that the Zionist enemy understands only the language of force and is deterred only by the blows of the resistance and the fighters." "We congratulate our brothers in Hezbollah for the attack they carried out deep within the usurping entity and their success in delivering bold and courageous strikes, affirming their steadfast positions and fulfilling their promises." Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also affirmed that Hezbollah's operation at dawn Sunday, which struck strategic targets of the Zionist enemy, was an execution of a courageous decision and a truthful promise. "Hezbollah's decision to respond was executed despite all the threats, intimidation, and US military mobilization aimed at protecting the Zionist entity and threatening our people and nation with aggression." It said Hezbollah's heroic operation confronts all policies of submission, humiliation, and the march towards normalization and collusion with the criminal Zionist entity. "This operation serves as an inspiring lesson for all fighters and honorable people to resist the Zionist enemy and its allies and to escalate their struggle on all fronts." Separately, the Media Office of the Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine said the strong response from the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon confirms that "all American and Western forces are incapable of protecting the Zionist entity from the strikes and responses of the resistance." "The qualitative responses executed by the Islamic Resistance prove that Hezbollah has the capability to penetrate deep into Zionist territory, exposing the collapse of the Zionist deterrence and defense systems." "No matter what the Zionist army does, it will not be able to provide security for its fragile entity." "We extend our greetings and pride to their wise leadership as they continue to support and back our people and resistance in confronting the Zionist-American war machine and criminality." The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah conducted a large-scale retaliatory operation against Israel deep inside the occupied territories, calling it the first phase of its retaliation for the assassination of top commander Fuad Shukr, in Beirut in July. Hezbollah says it fired more than 320 rockets at 11 Israeli sites and military bases. An Israeli naval boat was among the targets hit by Hezbollah rockets where a number of Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed. Hezbollah conducted the strikes after Israel carried out what it called a preemptive attack on southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has rejected the allegations as empty claims. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a security cabinet meeting to discuss Hezbollah's strike. The regime has also declared a 48-hour state of emergency, as authorities ordered all universities and beaches in the port city of Haifa to be closed until further notice. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli military destroys close to 70 percent of buildings in Gaza's Hamad City Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 3:28 PM The Israeli military has left behind widespread destruction in areas north of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying close to 70 percent of buildings in Hamad City alone. Yamen Abu Sulaima, civil defense spokesman in Khan Younis, made the remarks on Sunday, as the Israeli regime continues its relentless bombardment of the northern areas of Khan Younis. He went on to say that the devastation is particularly severe and "the suffering is even bigger" in Hamad City where Israeli warplanes have reduced to rubble dozens of residential buildings. "Hamad City is almost a distressed area, close to 70 percent of the buildings are destroyed. Our crews are hoping to recover some of the bodies. However, the civil defense crews lack heavy machinery. We really need it in these situations," Abu Sulaima said. Earlier in the day, Palestinian media published pictures of the latest situation in Hamad City, north of Khan Younis, showing that all signs of life in the area have completely disappeared. Israeli forces began bombarding Khan Younis on July 22, forcing about 180,000 people to flee many of whom have been displaced four or five times or more. The Israeli military has issued expulsion orders for Palestinians residing in the southern Gaza city multiple times. Such evacuation orders generally signal imminent ground assaults by the barbarous Israeli war machine. Back in July, an Israeli ground aggression claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinians there. Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza on October 7 last year after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping regime in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people. Since the start of the aggression, the Israeli regime has killed at least 40,334 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Another 93,356 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nasrallah: Israel crosses 'all redlines' in aggression against southern Beirut Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 3:19 PM The secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement says Israel has crossed "all redlines" in aggression against southern Beirut, noting that the group will decide on more retaliatory strikes against the regime in the future. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a televised speech broadcast live on Sunday after the resistance movement fired hundreds of rockets and drones toward Israel in retaliation for senior commander Fuad Shukr's assassination. He said that Hezbollah has targeted Israeli military sites rather than civilians in its recent retaliatory strikes, which he called "Arbaeen Operation." The Hezbollah leader also said the main targets were the spy bases and the air defense bases that were hit, adding that the resistance group has decided to target the Glilot military spy base close to Tel Aviv. Nasrallah further noted that Israel has failed to hit any Hezbollah strategic or ballistic missiles, stressing that the occupying regime is trying to cover up the losses inflicted upon it as a result of the resistance group's retaliatory operation. The regime's "pre-emptive" strikes had no impact on Hezbollah's retaliatory operations, he added. Nasrallah further stated that Hezbollah delayed its retaliatory operation against Israel over the Gaza ceasefire talks in an attempt to see an end to the Israeli genocidal war against the besieged enclave. He added that Hezbollah did not target civilians in retaliatory operations against the Israeli regime. The regime's "pre-emptive" strikes had no impact on Hezbollah's retaliatory operations, he added. As part of an "initial response" to the Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh, Hezbollah launched at dawn Sunday a large number of rockets and drones deep into the occupied territories. The Lebanese resistance group said it fired more than 320 rockets along with several explosive-laden drones that targeted 11 military bases in northern Israel, also setting off sirens in the coastal city of Acre, Katzrin in the occupied Golan Heights as well as numerous settlements in the Galilee. Hezbollah also struck multiple sites, military barracks, and Iron Dome installations belonging to the occupation forces in northern occupied territories with a heavy barrage of missiles, among which were Meron Base, Naftali Ze'ev artillery position, Zaitoun Base and Yardan Base in Golan Heights. Following the retaliatory strikes, the Israeli regime declared a 48-hour state of emergency as a wave of panic swept across the occupied territories. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel declares panic-induced emergency state after Hezbollah strikes Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 11:04 AM The Israeli regime has declared a 48-hour state of emergency as a wave of panic swept across the occupied territories following a barrage of retaliatory strikes by Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement. Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant announced that the state of emergency would take effect from 06:00 am (0300 GMT) on Sunday. "The declaration on the state of emergency enables the [Israeli military] to issue instructions ..., including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant," Gallant said in a statement released by his office. "I am convinced that there is a high probability of an attack," the statement added. Following the declaration, the Israeli military Home Front Command issued restrictions on Israelis from the Tel Aviv area northwards. It said educational activities and workplaces would be able to operate if an adequate shelter is nearby and can be reached in time, but there would be restrictions on gatherings of up to 30 people outdoors and 300 people indoors. Beaches were also closed near the Lebanese border. The Israel Airports Authority announced that departing flights at Ben Gurion Airport were being delayed and arrivals would be redirected to other airports due to the security situation. As part of an "initial response" to the Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh, Hezbollah launched at dawn Sunday a large number of rockets and drones deep into the occupied territories. The Lebanese resistance group said it fired more than 320 rockets along with several explosive-laden drones that targeted 11 military bases in northern Israel, also setting off sirens in the coastal city of Acre, Katzrin in the occupied Golan Heights as well as numerous settlements in the Galilee. Hezbollah also struck multiple sites, military barracks, and Iron Dome installations belonging to the occupation forces in northern occupied territories with a heavy barrage of missiles, among which were Meron Base, Naftali Ze'ev artillery position, Zaitoun Base and Yardan Base in Golan Heights. Commander Shukr was a longtime trusted friend and close confidant of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. At his funeral ceremony, Nasrallah described the martyrdom of Shukr as a "big loss," but reassured that his loss "will not weaken Hezbollah whatsoever." Three people killed in Lebanon Local media reported on Sunday that the Israeli occupation had launched a wide and intense attack on numerous areas in southern Lebanon, including an unprecedented targeting of villages. Lebanon's Health Ministry said three people were killed after Israeli drones struck a car in Khiam town and warplanes conducted a raid on the al-Tyri town and two airstrikes on the outskirts of Zibkin. Israeli artillery also targeted areas in the occupied Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon and the town of al-Dahira in Tyre's western sector. Lebanese news portal Naharnet reported that two people, including a Syrian man, were wounded in "a series of Israeli raids" in the south. Separately, the Lebanese Amal Movement announced the death of one of its members in an Israeli strike in Khaim. The Israeli regime has been conducting near-daily attacks against southern Lebanon since October 7, 2023, when it launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip. The attacks have reportedly claimed the lives of around 600 people in Lebanon. Hezbollah has been responding with strikes aimed both at retaliating against the regime and supporting the war-hit Gazans. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah dismisses Israeli claims of preemptive attack as 'baseless' Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 8:55 AM Hezbollah has dismissed as "baseless" Israel's claims of preemptive action against the Lebanese resistance movement, saying that Israeli forces failed to intercept and shoot down the drones launched by resistance fighters. A Hezbollah source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Qatari al-Araby television network on Sunday that Hezbollah resistance forces had managed to deceive the Israeli army to launch heavy barrages of rockets. According to the unnamed source, the Lebanese fighters could strike two "strategic" sites at the northern flank of the coastal city of Tel Aviv in the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories, stating that the details of the operation would be announced later on. There have been no casualties as a result of Israeli aerial assaults on more than 30 buildings, as we had evacuated them earlier, the source said. "The Israeli military's claims of thwarting the Hezbollah attack are unfounded as our drones have successfully penetrated the airspace over the occupied territories," the source added. "All offensive drones were launched at specific times from all of their sites" and that they crossed the border into Israel "towards their intended targets from multiple routes." "Thus, our military operation for today has been completed," the source said. The source reiterated that Israel's claims about its "preemptive actions, the targets it allegedly hit, and its supposed disruption of the Resistance's attack are baseless and contradict the facts on the ground." The source noted that more details would be provided in a speech by Hezbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, later today. Hezbollah operation conducted precisely, successfully: Report Meanwhile, Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television news channel, citing reliable information, reported that Hezbollah's large drone and rocket strike against the occupied territories, which came in retaliation for the Israeli military's killing of its commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut in July, was carried out accurately and effectively. The report added that what the occupying Tel Aviv regime has claimed so far regarding its supposed thwarting of the Hezbollah operation is downright lies, and a futile attempt to deceive its own public opinion. Hezbollah could precisely hit its designated targets despite the Israeli regime's reliance on significant American intelligence and operational support, the al-Mayadeen TV report added. It stressed that the operation succeeded despite Israel's full state of alert for over a month following Shukr's targeted killing. The first phase of the Hezbollah attack was successfully over and could warn Israel against targeting civilians in southern Lebanon as the response to such acts of aggression would be extremely severe. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish justice minister slams US, Israel over blocking Gaza ceasefire Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 7:31 AM Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has slammed the United States and Israel over blocking a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and committing genocide in the besieged territory. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul on Saturday, Tunc also criticized international institutions' failure to halt the violence in Gaza where over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since last October. He condemned Washington's support for Israel, particularly highlighting the standing ovation that most members of the US Congress gave last month to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he recounted the Tel Aviv regime's genocidal war in Gaza during a speech at the Congress. "The members of that Congress, by applauding, declared to the world their complicity in crimes of genocide. We witnessed a dark stain in world history," Tunc said. The Turkish justice minister criticized Israel for disregarding over a hundred UN resolutions over the past century and condemned the lack of enforcement by international bodies, particularly the UN Security Council. Tunc also reaffirmed Turkey's unwavering support for Palestine through diplomatic efforts and humanitarian aid. He stressed the need for an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Israeli atrocities to proceed swiftly and for the International Court of Justice to address its violations of the Genocide Convention. He made the remarks before the gala screening of the documentary al-Shifa Hospital - 14 Days of Horror. The medical complex in northern Gaza was destroyed by Israeli forces in front of the eyes of the world, with a great many people killed, he said. Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 last year after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories. Over more than 10 months of war, the Israeli regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle. So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 40,334 Gazans, including 17,000 children and more than 10,000 women. Another 93,356 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Aug 24: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 7:17 AM By Press TV Website Staff Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,200 Palestinians so far, the majority of them children, resistance groups in Palestine and across the region continue their operations against the Tel Aviv regime and its Western backers. The major operations carried out by the Palestinian and regional resistance groups on Saturday, August 24, are as follows: Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on August 24: Ambushed an Israeli military's engineering unit within a booby-trapped tunnel in a military area east of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The tunnel was subsequently detonated. Targeted an Israeli military troop carrier with a Yassin 105 shell east of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Detonated a pre-planned minefield, targeting a convoy of Israeli military vehicles and engineering equipment in the military sites area east of Deir al-Balah. Targeted an Israeli Merkava-4 tank with a Yassin 105 shell east of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces that had infiltrated the Al-Ja'frawi area east of Deir al-Balah. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' operations on August 24: Detonated a previously booby-trapped building on an Israeli force in the Al-Ja'farawi area east of Deir al-Balah. Upon arrival of rescue forces, they were also targeted with 107mm rockets and 60mm mortar shells. In a joint operation with the Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades, targeted a gathering of Israeli occupation forces east of Deir al-Balah with 60mm mortar shells. Targeted Israeli military positions and vehicles on the "Netzarim" front with two 107mm rockets and heavy mortar shells. Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades' operations on August 24: In a joint operation with the Ansar Brigades, targeted Israeli military supply lines and command headquarters on the "Netzarim" axis, north of the Central Governorate, with heavy-caliber mortar shells. In a second joint operation with the Ansar Brigades, again targeted Israeli military supply lines and command centers on the "Netzarim" axis with heavy mortar shells. Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades' operations on August 24: In a joint operation with the Ansar Brigades, targeted an Israeli command and control site on the "Netzarim" axis with heavy mortar shells. In a joint operation with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles east of Deir al-Balah with 60mm mortar shells. Hezbollah's operations on August 24: Targeted positions of Israeli soldiers at the Hermon site with drones. Targeted the Al-Rahib site with artillery shells. Targeted Israeli military's espionage equipment at the Al-Rahib site with drones. Targeted deployments of Israeli military around the "Misgav Am" site with appropriate weapons. Launched an aerial attack with a drone on the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade, south of the "Yaara" settlement, targeting regime officers and soldiers. Targeted deployments of Israeli soldiers around the Hadab Yaroun site with artillery shells. Targeted the Ramtha site in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shuba hills with rockets. Targeted the Zebdine site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with rockets. Targeted deployments of Israeli soldiers at the Bayad Blida site with appropriate weapons. Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers around the Hanita site with artillery shells. Targeted an Israeli military and intelligence force around the Al-Rahib site with rockets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi resistance fires drone towards 'vital target' in Haifa Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 6:28 AM Iraq's Islamic Resistance has announced firing a drone towards a "vital target" in the city of Haifa in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories. The resistance, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, said through a statement that it had staged the strike on Sunday. It said it had carried out the operation "in continuation of our path in resisting the occupation." The coalition also said the strike had come "in support of our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly." The resistance has been conducting numerous such operations against sensitive targets lying across the occupied territories since October 7 last year, when the Israeli regime began bringing the Gaza Strip under a genocidal war. More than 40,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the brutal Israeli military onslaught so far. Concluding its statement, the group said it "confirms its continuation in striking the enemy's strongholds." Over the past weeks, the resistance has also stepped up its retaliatory attacks against United States-occupied bases across Iraq and neighboring Syria, seething at Washington's unfaltering political, military, and intelligence support for Tel Aviv's atrocities in Gaza. On Tuesday, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a component of the coalition, claimed responsibility for an August 15 strike against the US-occupied Ain al-Assad Airbase in western Iraq, saying it would launch further attacks that would "surprise" the enemy. "In the coming days, we will witness unprecedented attacks by the Iraqi resistance, which will surprise the enemy inside and outside of Iraq," said Haider al-Lami, a member of the movement's political office. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Mission accomplished': Hezbollah fires barrages of rockets, drones against Israeli targets Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 6:25 AM Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and drones towards targets lying in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for Israel's assassination of a senior military commander of the resistance group last month. In a statement released on Sunday, Hezbollah said that it had conducted the operation at dawn on Sunday "as part of the initial response" to Israel's assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander of the resistance group, in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on July 30. "Our military operation for today has been completed and accomplished," it said. It added that it had released drones and 320 Katyusha rockets at enemy sites, including Ramot Naftali barracks, Neveh Ziv and Zaoura artillery positions, as well as Meron, Zaatoun, Sahel and Ein Zeitim bases. Among other targets of the operation were Keila and UAV barracks, along with Nafah and Yardena bases, all situated in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. "The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is currently at its highest level of readiness and will stand firm and vigilant against any Zionist transgression or aggression, especially if civilians are harmed, in which case the punishment will be severe and very harsh," Hezbollah said. During the operation, missile and drone sirens went off across numerous illegal settlements spread throughout the northern side of the territories. Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport also said morning flights were to be delayed or redirected amid the situation. Earlier, the regime staged scores of airstrikes against southern Lebanon, alleging that it was seeking to "pre-empt" a "large-scale" retaliation by Hezbollah. It was reported to have bombed the Lebanese towns of Kfar Malaki, Beit Yahoun, al-Tayri, Wadi Salouqi, Deir Siryan, Ayn Qana, Tayr Harfa, Shama, Ain Qana, al-Louwaiza, Basaliyya, and Kounine. Other places targeted by Israeli warplanes were identified as the Kounine Forest, the area between Zibqine and Yater, and al-Iqlim Heights. The regime's military said the Israeli warplanes began carrying out the widespread bombing campaign amid "Hezbollah's preparations to carry out large-scale attacks" against the occupied territories. The Israeli regime has been staging numerous sporadic attacks against southern Lebanon since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. In its most daring attack against the country since the beginning of the Gaza onslaught, the regime assassinated Shukr, an advisor to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah has launched a series of strikes against Israeli positions in retaliation for the regime's aggression against Lebanon and in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Analysis: Israel And Hizballah Edge Closer To Conflict Neither Side Desires By Kian Sharifi August 25, 2024 Israel and its Iran-backed Lebanese foe Hizballah insist they do not seek a full-scale conflict, but they continue to take steps toward war. It took the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hizballah nearly a month to deliver on its promised attack against Israel for the killing of its most senior commander, Fuad Shukr. But Israel saw the attack coming, taking what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described as preemptive strikes against Hizballah's rocket launchers on August 25, apparently reducing the scale of the Iran-backed group's offensive. Raz Zimmt, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said that while neither side wants an all-out war, each party is "very determined to impose its own equation on the other." They continue to take risks by attacking each other, but mistakes and miscalculations could spark the very conflict they want to avoid, Zimmt warned. "This ongoing, so-called limited conflict between Israel and Hizballah is very difficult to manage," he added. The IDF says around 100 fighter jets took part in its preemptive operation, while Hizballah claims it launched more than 300 rockets and drones against Israel. If the numbers are true, this marks the biggest exchange of fire between Israel and Hizballah since the 2006 war, which ended in a stalemate. Without Israel's preemptive strikes, the scale of Hizballah's attack would have been devastating, Zimmt said. That would have prompted a "severe" Israeli response, he added. Despite the heavy exchange of fire, the attacks do not -- at least on the surface -- seem to have affected negotiations to establish a cease-fire in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States. Zimmt said while he is "not optimistic" about the prospects of a cease-fire, such a deal could help de-escalate tensions -- although, even that, he added, is only speculation. Hizballah Going Solo? The Middle East has been on edge for weeks, expecting not just an attack on Israel from Hizballah but also from Iran. Iran vowed to retaliate against Israel after a bombing in uptown Tehran killed Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Israel has not commented on the attack. Haniyeh was killed hours after Shukr, widely seen as the second-most powerful person in Hizballah, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut. Many assessed that an Iranian attack on Israel would come in concert with strikes from Hizballah. But the Lebanese group, which is more an Iranian partner than a proxy, appears to have grown tired of waiting and struck out on its own. "It is very important to note that Hizballah didn't wait for the Iranians," Zimmt said, arguing that one reason why Hizballah waited so long to launch its retaliatory strike was that it had hoped to attack Israel alongside Iran. However, the Lebanese group likely concluded that a direct Iranian strike was not coming, at least for now. "This might have some impact -- perhaps not immediately -- on Hizballah's relationship with Iran," Zimmt said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/israel-hizballah-war-strikes- iran/33091884.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 Israel, Hizballah Appear To Pull Back After Missile Exchange By Kian Sharifi August 25, 2024 Israel and Hizballah, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, engaged in a massive exchange of missile fire on August 25, but signaled they were not looking to escalate the conflict amid fears of all-out war in the region. Tensions also remained high near the Gaza Strip after Hamas - an Iran-backed group also designated a terrorist organization by the United States and EU - apparently fired an "M90" rocket toward Tel Aviv late on August 25, although Israeli officials said it fell harmlessly into an empty field. "Following the siren that sounded in Rishon LeTsiyon, one projectile was identified crossing from the southern Gaza Strip and falling in an open area in the area of Rishon LeTsiyon," the Israeli military said. In one of the biggest clashes to rock the Middle East since war broke out in the Gaza Strip last October, Israel said it launched preemptive air strikes on targets of Iran-backed Hizballah in southern Lebanon after Israeli intelligence detected that Hizballah was planning to attack in the morning. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech later in the day that the attacks, which did not include using precision or strategic missiles, targeted "the Glilot base -- the main Israeli military intelligence base," near Tel Aviv, about 100 kilometers across the southern Lebanese border with Israel. Nasrallah added in the televised speech that Israel began striking Hizballah targets about 30 minutes before the group launched its attack, which was in response to the killing of one of its commanders. Addressing Nasrallah and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's preemptive operation was "another step toward changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes." Thousands have been displaced in northern Israel as Hizballah and Israel continue to trade cross-border attacks, which have intensified since war broke out in Gaza following an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that left some 1,200 people dead and scores more taken hostage. The August 25 exchange of hundreds of missiles and drones sparked fears that the war may escalate and engulf the entire region, but a Hizballah official said in a written statement to media outlets that the group had "worked" to ensure its attack would not trigger a full-scale war. Reuters quoted its diplomatic sources as saying Israel and Hizballah exchanged messages following the exchange saying neither wanted to escalate the conflict further. Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Institute, said that at least for now, the scope of the strikes from both sides may be enough to avoid a major war between Israel and Hizballah "because both sides do not want it." Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said around 100 fighter jets "eliminated thousands of Hizballah rocket-launcher barrels" that had been "aimed for immediate fire" toward northern and central Israel. Hizballah said the attack was "phase one" of its retaliation for the killing of its top commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on July 30 in Beirut. It insisted the operation had been "completed successfully." Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour state of emergency across Israel. The IDF said Hizballah had fired 150 projectiles, but Hizballah claimed to have launched more than 320 Katyusha rockets. Israeli fighter jets continued to strike Hizballah rocket launchers after the group's attack to "remove threats." Three people were killed in areas in southern Lebanon, according to the country's Health Ministry. The extent of damage caused by Hizballah's attack is unclear. Video footage on social media showed some rockets being intercepted and the aftermath of several rockets making impact. The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon called the developments "worrying" and called "on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action." "We will continue our contacts to strongly urge for de-escalation," it said. Hizballah and Israel have inched even closer to a full-blown war for weeks, especially after the death of 12 people in an apparent Hizballah rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on July 27. Three days later, Israel struck a target in Beirut, killing Shukr, who was widely believed to be the second-most powerful person in Hizballah's hierarchy behind Nasrallah. Diplomats, meanwhile, huddled in Egypt on August 25 for high-level talks aimed at brokering a cease-fire in the 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Later, a Hamas representative said the group's delegation left Cairo after meeting with Egyptian and Qatari mediators "who briefed them on the results of the latest negotiations" and said it had rejected Israel's latest terms for a cease-fire. Israel's attack on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people, according to the local Hamas-run health authorities. With reporting by Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/israel-hizballah-attack- escalation-lebanon/33091758.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 Pentagon Chief Extends Presence of Two Carrier Strike Groups in Middle East Sputnik News 20240825 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has confirmed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the decision to extend the presence of two carrier strike groups in the Middle East, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said on Sunday. "The Secretary reiterated Israel's right to defend itself and the United States' ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its regional partners and proxies. As part of that support, the Secretary has ordered the presence of two Carrier Strike Groups to remain in the region," the statement read. Austin also expressed support for efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tel Aviv Municipality Opens All 240 Bomb Shelters, Closes Beaches Sputnik News 20240825 TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - The Tel Aviv municipality on Sunday opened all 240 public bomb shelters for residents, closed public beaches for swimming and canceled all municipal events scheduled for the day after a cross-border fire exchange between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. "In light of the developing security situation in the north and by order of the Home Front Command, this morning the municipality opened all public municipal shelters. The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo has 240 public shelters scattered throughout the city ... By order of the command, cultural institutions and swimming beaches have been closed. In addition, all municipal events that were supposed to take place today in the city of Tel Aviv have been canceled," the municipality said in a statement. Hezbollah said it had fired more than 320 rockets and dozens of drones toward Israel, hitting 11 Israeli military targets, in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander in Beirut last month. The Israeli military said that about 100 Israeli warplanes had destroyed more than 1,000 Hezbollah projectiles aimed at northern and central Israel. UN Urgess Ceasefire The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday to immediately cease fire along the Blue Line, which separates the two countries, and adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 1701. "In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action. A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward," they said in a joint statement. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tears and embraces as murderous 30-year family feud comes to an end in the Philippines By Daniel Dickinson in the Philippines 25 August 2024 - A Filipino man has been describing the outpouring of emotion as two families on the island of Mindanao settled a 30-year-long feud that escalated from tit-for-tat killings into a dispute involving two factions of a former insurgency movement. For many years, the western part of Mindanao has been the focus of an armed separatist struggle between the Philippines government and various Muslim insurgent groups. In 2019, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was established as part of a peace deal between the government and the main insurgent movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which ended most of the fighting and gave the Muslim-majority areas in Mindanao a significant degree of self-rule. However, challenges to peace remain, including the incomplete decommissioning of the insurgents, private armed groups belonging to rival local politicians, loose firearms and delays in implementing the peace agreement. The former adversaries are now keeping the peace, but given these challenges, there are concerns that small family- and clan-level disputes involving ex-combatants could spiral out of control and upset the peace. The UN identified the need for an institution to support the MILF peace mechanism, including conflict resolution involving ex-combatants at a more local level and so worked with the authorities in BARMM to establish the Peace, Security and Reconciliation Office (PSRO), which opened in January 2023. UN News travelled to southwestern Mindanao to talk to the Executive Director of the PSRO, Anwar Alamada, as well as Lumanda "Manny" Idsla who sought a resolution to a three-decades-long family feud. Lumanda "Manny" Idsla: In May 1995, my second cousin, an elected official, was shot dead as he went to vote in municipal elections in Pikit. His brother suspected that a neighbour, who was also a relative of mine, had committed the crime and at 3pm on that same day went to his house and shot him dead. This is how the feud or rido, as we call it in the BARMM, between two families began, which lasted almost 30 years. It led to the deaths of four other people, including my brother, as well as a child who was killed by a stray bullet. Anwar Alamada: There are many similar feuds in the BARMM which begin for different reasons, including land disputes, petty crime, marriage and political and ideological rivalries. What starts as a localised argument can quickly escalate into a larger more deadly conflict as the involved parties seek help from private armed groups or former insurgent movements. Lumanda "Manny" Idsla: The neighbours live just a few hundred metres away from our house, and so this area became a conflict zone. They had semi-automatic weapons such as AR15s and grenades. We moved out of the house and to the hills behind because we expected them to come and kill us at any time. My brother was shot at almost point-blank range through a window as he prepared food at home during Ramadan. It was very stressful, and daily life ceased. I moved my family away from the village. Anwar Alamada: Our approach to conflict resolution is to listen, to negotiate and to find an agreement which recognises the interests of both sides. It is not easy work to convince people to step back from conflict, it does not happen overnight, but is a long-term process. Lumanda "Manny" Idsla: Charges were filed, but the judicial process is ongoing. Ultimately, this rido was a cycle driven by pride and vengeance. We could have avoided this escalation if we had had a strong leader. Anwar Alamada: Since early 2023, we have resolved close to 100 disputes, including those between individuals, families and whole communities. Mr Idsla was the first to approach the PRSO wanting a resolution to the feud. We spoke to him and then approached the other family. Lumanda "Manny" Idsla: We knew we wanted to stop the killings and no longer live in fear, and the PRSO was a good solution. Mr. Alamada and his team met individually with both parties and then brought us together. In the end, it was very straightforward, and we agreed to stop the feud. Just last week, we had a ceremony which was attended by hundreds of people from both sides. We swore on the Holy Koran to stop the feud. There were lots of tears, including from me, and we embraced each other. Anwar Alamada: The way we helped to resolve the feud was a win-win for both families. There was no blood money, which is what you normally pay when someone is killed in a feud. Since we began talking with the families, there has been no reoccurrence of hostilities. Lumanda "Manny" Idsla: I have a good relationship with my neighbour now. We meet and talk about our farms, our challenges with irrigation and the crops we are growing. I can walk without an escort, and I no longer have any fear of being killed. I live with a sense of freedom. I am very thankful for the work of PRSO. It feels like a gift, as though I have received many thousands of bags of rice. Anwar Alamada: I am very proud of our work because resolving conflicts brings peace to our community and with peace comes progress and development. There can be no development without peace. People here are very happy when peace prevails. PRSO brings stability as it helps to manage and mitigate conflicts, and I believe without its presence there is more chance that small, localised disputes could escalate into larger conflicts and ultimately threaten the peace process in BARMM. It is important to resolve conflicts as early as possible to avoid escalation. We want our work to support the BARMM peace process, which is ongoing, and ultimately to ensure that the region gains the autonomy as outlined in the political agreement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel acted on intelligence to preempt Hezbollah attack, security source says By Michael Lipin August 25, 2024 Israel carried out its biggest assault on Lebanon's Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in 10 months of fighting early Sunday, acting on what an Israeli security source told VOA was precise intelligence to stop thousands of rockets and drones from being launched into Israeli territory. The Israeli military said about 100 fighter jets struck more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites primed with thousands of rockets and drones in southern Lebanon shortly before 5 a.m. local time. Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated terror group and the main regional proxy force of Iran's Islamist rulers. At around 5:30 a.m., Hezbollah began firing what the Israeli military said were more than 150 rockets and drones into northern Israel. One Israeli soldier was killed, and several were wounded in the attacks, which also caused some property damage. In a series of social media statements, Hezbollah said it launched more than 300 rockets and drones into Israel at dawn as part of what it described as its initial retaliation for Israel's assassination of its top military commander, Fouad Shukur, in southern Beirut on July 30. "Our military operation for today has been completed and accomplished," Hezbollah said, asserting that it was targeting Israeli military sites. Israeli reserves Brig. Gen. Jacob Nagel, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told VOA in a text message that Israel's "precise intelligence worked very well" in detecting Hezbollah plans to strike deep into Israel with the aim of damaging both military and civilian facilities and harming civilians. The Israeli military said most of the Hezbollah rockets and drones primed for Sunday's predawn assault were aimed at northern Israel, while some also were aimed at the country's densely populated center. The group denied that its planned attack was largely thwarted by a preemptive Israeli assault. Hezbollah began smaller, near-daily strikes on northern Israel on October 8 in solidarity with Palestinian terror group Hamas, another Iranian proxy, which had started its war with Israel by invading the country's south from Gaza a day earlier. Speaking to VOA by phone, Israeli reserves Maj. Sarit Zehavi said Hezbollah's early Sunday strikes were "completely different" from those of the previous 10 months because they targeted a wide swath of northern Israeli towns and villages simultaneously, including those that had not been evacuated. Tens of thousands of Israelis already had evacuated communities within several kilometers of the Lebanese border at the onset of the conflict. Zehavi, president of Alma Research and Education Center that specializes in security challenges on Israel's northern border, also disputed Hezbollah's assertion that it was targeting only Israeli military sites in its assault. "When you launch these kinds of rockets, they are inaccurate and hit anything," she said. Nagel, whom Netanyahu appointed to chair a commission on evaluating Israel's security budget earlier this month, said Israel's aim in preemptively striking Hezbollah is not to trigger a full-scale war. "But we will do what is needed to bring our northern citizens back home safely," said Nagel, who also works as a senior fellow for the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In a separate VOA interview, former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed said Sunday's predawn strikes on Hezbollah also highlight the group's increasing struggle with maintaining deterrence against Israel. Melamed, who runs Inside the Middle East, a U.S. nonprofit research group, said Hezbollah already has struggled with Israel using superior intelligence to carry out strikes killing more than 400 of its operatives in Lebanon in 10 months, among them senior commanders like Shukur. "Sunday's preemptive Israeli strike disrupted Hezbollah's attack plan [to avenge Shukur], adding to a deterrence problem that also affects its patron Iran," Melamed said. Nagel said he sees Iran's radical ruling clerics as behind all of the region's terror activity that targets Israel. "So the time is approaching for Israel to exercise a relatively new national security strategy and punish the terror leaders there," he wrote, referring to Iran. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN denounces Taliban morality law as 'distressing vision' for Afghanistan By Ayaz Gul August 25, 2024 The United Nations expressed concern Sunday over the enactment of a morality law by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban that imposes severe restrictions on personal freedom, silences women in public, and requires them to cover their faces. "It is a distressing vision for Afghanistan's future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions," said Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. The Islamist Taliban announced the ratification of their Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Wednesday, forbidding women from singing, reciting poetry, or speaking aloud in public and requiring them to keep their faces and bodies covered at all times. "It extends the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation," Otunbayeva said in the statement released by her office in Kabul. The promulgation of the 35-article law occurred after the Taliban had prohibited Afghan girls from continuing education beyond the sixth grade and imposed extensive limitations on women's ability to work in most occupations and participate in public activities. It empowers the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice to enforce these rules across impoverished Afghanistan, ranked as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, reeling from years of war and natural disasters. The ministry can give warnings before imprisoning offenders for durations of one hour to three days, and it also may seize property as a penalty if considered appropriate. "After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one," Otunbayeva said. She said the outside world wants Afghanistan to pursue peace and prosperity, ensuring that all its citizens have a stake in their future rather than just being subject to discipline. "Further restricting the rights of the Afghan people and holding them in constant fear will make achieving this goal even harder," Otunbayeva said. The U.N. agency said it was studying the newly ratified law, its implications for Afghans, and its potential impact on the U.N. and other humanitarian assistance. Employment-related Taliban curbs on women also prohibit them from seeking jobs in U.N. agencies and humanitarian groups. The U.N. mission renewed its call for Afghan authorities to "swiftly reverse the policies and practices" restricting "the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms." Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to the criticism of the morality law. The head of the Vice and Virtue Ministry has declared the enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law) and hijab regulations for Afghan women as its "red line." Taliban-run state broadcaster RTA quoted Mohammad Khaled Hanafi Sunday as urging a meeting of religious scholars to push back strongly against "criticism and propaganda by Western countries" targeting the Sharia implementation in Afghanistan. "The Islamic Emirate is committed to granting women all their rights under Sharia law. Anyone with a complaint in this regard will be heard, and the issue will be resolved," Hanafi said, referring to the all-male Kabul government, which is not recognized by any country. Recent U.N. reports have questioned the ministry's actions, warning that its ever-expanding policing of public morality contributed to a "climate of fear and intimidation" among Afghans through edicts and the methods used to enforce them. Media freedom The morality law has also raised deep concerns among advocates of media freedom. One of its provisions prohibits the broadcasting and publication of images of living beings, as well as content that is believed to violate Sharia or insult Muslims. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a Friday statement that the law represents another "appalling blow" to press freedom in Afghanistan, where the morality police have intensified a crackdown on journalists and fundamental human rights over the past three years. "The Law for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice grants the Taliban's notorious morality police extensive powers to further restrict Afghanistan's already decimated media community," said Beh Lih Yi, the CPJ Asia program coordinator. The U.N. has repeatedly said sweeping restrictions on Afghan women and girls make it nearly impossible for other countries to recognize the Taliban as the country's legitimate rulers. Last week, the Taliban announced they had banned Richard Bennett, the U.N.-appointed special rapporteur on Afghan human rights, from visiting the country. They accused him of "spreading propaganda" by providing "misleading" information about "the ground realities" in Afghanistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US warns of 'ecological disaster' after Houthi attack on oil tanker By VOA News August 25, 2024 The United States is warning of a potential ecological disaster in the Red Sea following an attack by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on an oil tanker last week. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said late Sunday the U.N. Security Council "must condemn" the Houthi attack on the MT Delta Sounion "The Houthis' brazen actions threaten to create an ecological disaster with devastating consequences for the region," Thomas-Greenfield said on X. She said the U.N. Security Council should demand immediate compliance with a January resolution calling on the Houthis to immediately stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthis said Thursday they targeted the Greek-flagged tanker as part of their campaign against commercial shipping in the region in solidarity with the Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Rescuers evacuated the tanker's crew following the attack, which left the ship in flames. The European Union's Red Sea naval mission Aspides said the tanker was carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Saturday that the Houthis "have made clear they are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems that Yemenis and other communities in the region rely on for their livelihoods, just as they have undermined the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to the region through their reckless attacks." The Houthi campaign has disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, prompting many shipping companies to reroute ships to longer and more expensive routes. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah, Israel clash in significant border escalation, heightening regional tensions People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:15, August 26, 2024 The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. CAIRO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was "successful." In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows." After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have canceled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollah's main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollah's actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt "the Israeli aggression." Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and de-escalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanon's stability and prevent a state of "comprehensive instability" in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt's chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 25 August 2024 - Day 914 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 General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that In total, since the beginning of this day, there have been 136 combat clashes. Ukrainian defenders continue to decisively give an offence to the Russian enemy's attempts to advance deep into Ukrainian territory. The hottest situation remains in the Pokrovsky direction, but the enemy has been active today also in the Lyman and Kurakhivsky directions. Russian zagarbniki made one strike with three rockets and 58 air strikes, dropping 95 cabiv. In addition, 436 kamikaze drones were recruited to impress and carried out 3169 shelling at the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements. In the Kharkiv direction, four Russian assaults near vovchansk and liptsiv took place. According to the information available at this time, Ukrainian defenders in the Kharkiv direction eliminated and wounded 76 occupiers, destroyed two tanks, an artillery system, 32 BPLAs, five cars and seven special equipment units, and nine artillery systems and three cars were also damaged. In the Kupians komu direction, Russian forces attacked Ukrainian defensive borders 13 times near Petropavlivka, Sinkivka, Glushkivka, Kolisnikivka, Lozovoi and Stelmahivka. Eleven fights completed, two are ongoing. In the Lymans komu direction throughout the day, 21 encounters occurred. Russian immigrants carried out assault near seven different settlements. Concentruvali efforts in the areas of nevs .kogo and druzelubivki - spent in total 13 attacks. In the Sivers komu direction defenders of Ukrainian land repelled six Russian assaults in the areas of Bilogorivka, Spirny, Verkhnyokamiansky, Viymki. Another fight is now underway near Ivanodarivka. In the Kramators komu direction, 12 fights were sharpened. The Russian enemy's major efforts were made in the area of Chasovoye Yar, where seven unsuccessful assaults were conducted. In the Toretsky direction Russians seven times attacked Ukrainian troops near Nelipivka and Toretsky. Four attacks have been stopped, three assaults in the area of Nelipivka are still ongoing. The situation is under control. On the Pokrovsky direction, since the beginning of this day, 41 battles have been sharpened in the areas of eight settlements. Almost half of the attacks the Russian enemy concentrated near Novogrodivka. Defense forces have already repelled 37 attacks in the direction, the Russian invaders' attacks are still ongoing near Vozdvizhenko, Novooleksandrivka, Kalinovy and towards Sukhoia Balka. Previously, today 254 Russian occupants were defecated in this direction. Also destroyed two BBM, two artillery systems, three BplAs and 15 vehicles. In addition, the BTR, an artillery system, a 120-mm mortar and three vehicles were damaged. In the Kurakhiv direction, Russian forces 18 times attacked Ukrainian positions near karlivka, nevels ky, pervomay ky, georgiivka, mikhailivka and konstantinivka. Russian forces, who stepped up, paid a pretty high price for this - Ukrainian warriors destroyed four and damaged three infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, the Russian occupiers lost six vehicles and 25 troops forever. The count of the injured is ongoing. In the Vremivs komu direction, Russian forces carried out nine offensive and assault actions towards Vugledar and Vodanogo. One fight - still going on. In the Pridniprovsk direction, the Russian enemy was unsuccessful, twice attacking the positions of Ukrainian units. In other directions - without much change. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the units of the Sever Group of Forces in Volchansk and Liptsy directions have engaged the 82nd Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 36th Marine Brigade, the 13th National Guard Brigade, and the 117th Territorial Defence Brigade in Velikaya Pisarevka (Sumy region), Prudyanka, Liptsy, and Volchansk (Kharkov region). The AFU losses were up to 130 Ukrainian troops, one armoured personnel carrier, one armoured fighting vehicle, and four D-30 howitzers. The units of the Zapad Group of Forces have captured more advantageous lines and positions, inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of 14th, 44th, 45th mechanised, 3rd assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the 112th Territorial Defence Brigade near Berestovoye, Kolesnikovka, Novoosinovo, Petropavlovka (Kharkov region), Novovodyanoye (Lugansk People's Republic), and Serebryanka (Donetsk People's Republic). Five counter-attacks of the AFU 66th Mechanised Brigade, 1st and 4th national guard brigades, and the 12th AFU Azov Special Operations Brigade have been repelled. The AFU losses were up to 510 Ukrainian troops, one Kozak armoured fighting vehicle, and nine motor vehicles. In the course of counter-battery warfare, two U.S.-made 155-mm M777 and M198 howitzers, one Polish-made 155-mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, three 122-mm D-30 howitzers, one U.S.-made 105-mm M119 gun, and three Anklav-N and Kvertus electronic warfare stations have been eliminated. Four AFU ammunition depots have been destroyed. The units of the Yug Group of Forces have improved the situation along the front line, inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of 24th, 28th, 30th, 32nd, 54th mechanised, 56th motorised infantry, 46th airmobile, 79th air assault brigades of the AFU, the 37th Marine Brigade close to Pereyezdnoye, Zaliznyanskoye, Grigorovka, Raigorodok, Chasov Yar, Kurdyumovka, Pleshcheyevka, Kurakhovo, Katerinovka, and Konstantinovka (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by units of the AFU 59th Mechanised Infantry Brigade has been repelled. The AFU losses were up to 630 Ukrainian troops, one U.S.-made Abrams tank, one armoured fighting vehicle, and 17 motor vehicles. In the course of counter-battery warfare, Russian troops have hit one U.S.-made 155-mm M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system, two U.S.-made 155-mm M777 and M198 howitzers, two 152-mm D-20 howitzers, four 122-mm D-30 howitzers, and one U.S.-made 105-mm M119 gun. Three AFU ammunition depots have been destroyed. The units of the Tsentr Group of Forces' continue to advance into the depths of enemy defences and inflicted losses on 32nd, 110th mechanised, 25th airborne, 71st jaeger brigades of the AFU, 109th, 111th, 129th territorial defence, and 15th national guard brigades close to Selidovo, Galitsynovka, Vozdvizhenka, Tarasovka, Grodovka, Rozovka, Toretsk, Memrik, and Dimitrovka (Donetsk People's Republic). Seven counter-attacks by AFU 100th, 150th, 151st mechanised, 68th jaeger brigades, the 49th Assault Battalion, and the 14th National Guard Brigade have been repelled. The AFU losses were more than 500 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, nine motor vehicles, one 152-mm Giatsint-B gun, one 152-mm D-20 gun, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. The units of the Vostok Group of Forces have improved the tactical situation and delivered strikes at manpower and hardware of the AFU 58th Mechanised Infantry Brigade, the 105th Brigade, and the 48th Assault Battalion of the Territorial Defence near Ugledar, Vodyanoye, Shakhtyorsk, Prechistovka, Zolotaya Niva (Donetsk People's Republic), and Novodarovka (Zaporozhye region). Two counter-attacks by the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade have been repelled. During the day, the enemy losses were up to 130 Ukrainian troops, one infantry fighting vehicle, one armoured fighting vehicle, five motor vehicles, one French-made 155-mm Caesar self-propelled artillery system, and two Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations. The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces have engaged the units of 65th mechanised, 141st infantry brigades of the AFU, the 35th Marine Brigade, and the 124th Territorial Defence Brigade near Novodanilovka (Zaporozhye region), Kherson, Tokarevka, and Dneprovskoye (Kherson region). The AFU losses were up to 60 Ukrainian troops, five motor vehicles, two 152-mm D-20 howitzers, and one Anklav-N electronic warfare station. Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged one temporary deployment area of foreign mercenaries as well as clusters of enemy manpower and military hardware in 147 areas. Air defence facilities have shot down six U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles and 41 unmanned aerial vehicles. In total, 640 airplanes and 283 helicopters, 30,475 unmanned aerial vehicles, 575 air defence missile systems, 17,566 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,425 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 13,621 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 25,200 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also reported that with the support of Army Aviation and artillery, the units of the Sever Group of Forces have repelled attacks launched by enemy assault detachments in the direction of Komarovka, Malaya Loknya, Nechayev, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. Russian troops have thwarted enemy attempts to attack in the direction of Vishnyovka, Borki, Pogrebki, and Spalnoye. As a result, the AFU losses were up to 40 people killed and wounded, one tank, four armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles. Russian servicemen continue to conduct reconnaissance and search operations to identify and destroy enemy sabotage groups in forestry areas attempting to move deep into Russian territory. Aviation, artillery, and troops have defeated manpower and hardware concentration areas of 22nd and 61st mechanised, 80th and 82nd air assault brigades of the AFU as well as the 1st National Guard Brigade and the 1004th Security and Service Brigade close to Vishnyovka, Gordeyevka, Ivashkovsky, Krasnooktyabrsky, Kruglenkoye, Lyubimovka, Mikhailovka, Novaya Sorochina, Plekhovo, Rubanshchina, and Snagost. Operational-Tactical Aviation have carried out strikes in Sumy region against enemy manpower and military hardware concentration areas of reserves of the 22nd, 41st, 54th, 61st, 115th mechanised, 80th, 82nd air assault, and 92nd assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 1st Brigade of the National Guard. Russian troops have also hit 101st and 103rd territorial defence brigades near Belopolye, Belovody, Vorozhba, Druzhba, Katerinovka, Obody, Pervomayskoye, Pershetravnevoye, Peremoga, Svessa, Sumy, Ugroyedy, Yunakovka, and Yastrebinoye. The enemy losses were over 300 troops and 14 armoured vehicles, including one tank, one infantry fighting vehicle, one armoured personnel carrier, 11 armoured fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, one artillery gun, one engineering vehicle, two electronic warfare stations as well as ST-68 air target acquisition radar. Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses were over 5,800 troops, 72 tanks, 31 infantry fighting vehicles, 58 armoured personnel carriers, 383 armoured fighting vehicles, 177 motor vehicles, 37 artillery guns, 5 air defence missile systems, 11 multiple-launch rocket system launchers, including three HIMARS MLRS and one another MLRS, 9 electronic warfare stations, one counter-battery warfare radar, one air defence radar, five engineering vehicles, including two counterobstacle vehicles, and one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle. The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 6th meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism India - Ministry of External Affairs August 25, 2024 The 6th meeting of India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Counter- Terrorism was held on 23 August 2024 in Jakarta. Shri K.D. Dewal, Joint Secretary (Counter-Terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs of India, and Mr. Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, Deputy for International Cooperation, National Counter Terrorism Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BNPT) led the respective delegations for discussing global counter terrorism challenges and the ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries. 2. India and Indonesia strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner. They also condemned the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism. 3. The two sides exchanged views on the domestic, regional and global terrorism threat assessment. They discussed counter-terrorism challenges related to the use of new and emerging technologies by terrorists, misuse of internet for terrorist purposes, terror financing, and the nexus between organised crime and terrorism. They exchanged views on cooperation in regional, global and multilateral fora such as the UN, ARF and ASEAN to combat global terrorism. 4. The ongoing cooperation in counter terrorism is an important element of India-Indonesia partnership. 5. The two sides agreed to hold the 7th Meeting of JWG on Counter Terrorism in New Delhi on a mutually-convenient date. Jakarta August 23, 2024 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China to prioritize discussion on Taiwan question, China's development rights and strategic security during Sullivan's visit: FM Global Times By Global Times Published: Aug 25, 2024 01:15 PM China will focus on raising serious concerns regarding the Taiwan question, addressing development rights and strategic security in discussions with the US during National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan's upcoming visit to Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. Sullivan will visit China from Tuesday to Thursday. Sullivan's visit is at the invitation of Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Saturday. According to Mao, the two sides will hold a new round of China-US strategic communication. Wang's meeting with Sullivan in China is a key outcome of the consensus reached between the two heads of state in Bali in November 2022. Since that time, Wang and Sullivan have held three rounds of substantive and constructive strategic communications in Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok, achieving positive results, according to the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, noting both sides have agreed to continue to make good use of this strategic communication channel. This is also the first visit to China by a US national security chief in eight years, and an important measure to implement the consensus reached by two heads of state at the San Francisco summit last year. Following the San Francisco summit, diplomatic, economic, law enforcement, climate change and military teams from both countries have maintained communication, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have increased. At the same time, the US continues to contain and suppress China, while China has resolutely counteracted. China-US relations are still at a critical juncture of stabilizing ties and preventing it from declining, according to the foreign ministry. Under such context, Wang will have an in-depth exchange of views with Sullivan on China-US relations, sensitive subjects and major international and regional hot topics. China and the US will jointly review progress on the consensus reached at the San Francisco summit between the two heads of state. Both sides will fully utilize the over 20 established and restored dialogue and communication mechanisms, and continue to address issues related to strategic perceptions and the boundaries between national security and economic activities. China will focus on expressing serious concerns, clarifying firm positions, and making serious demands regarding Taiwan question, China's development rights and strategic security. The Taiwan question is the first and most unbreakable red line in China-US relations, and "Taiwan independence" is the greatest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, the ministry said. The US must adhere to the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques, and fulfill its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence." The US has consistently imposed unreasonable measures against China, including tariffs, export controls, investment reviews, and unilateral sanctions, which have severely harmed China's legitimate rights and interests. China demands that the US stop politicizing and securitizing economic and trade issues. The foundation of China-US relations lies in the people-to-people exchanges, and the US should work in concert with China and take more measures to facilitate personnel exchanges between the two countries. China will also urge the US to fulfill its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and play a constructive role in politically resolving current major and prominent international and regional issues, rather than the opposite. China's policy toward the US has been consistent, based on the three principles proposed by President Xi Jinping, which are mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. These principles have been distilled from decades of China-US relations and are also lessons drawn from historical conflicts between major powers, representing the direction that both China and the US should work toward. China firmly believes that great power competition cannot address the problems facing the US and the world. On Russia-Ukraine crisis, the spokesperson said China's position is open and straightforward, and it will continue to promote peace talks, push for political solutions, and engage in mediation diplomacy. The US should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and halt efforts to smear, slander, and coerce China. China will persist in taking strong and effective measures to protect its core interests and legitimate rights. The ministry also said China has a historical and legal basis for its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea, and that countries in the region have full confidence, wisdom, and ability to handle the South China Sea issue. Countries outside of the region should not engage in actions that provoke confrontation and escalate tensions. China is committed to promoting peace and upholding justice in regard to the Middle East issue, supporting all parties in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, especially supporting Palestine in restoring its national legitimate rights. The immediate priority is that all parties to the conflict must effectively implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions and create conditions for achieving a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible. The international community should work together to achieve this goal. It is hoped that the US will listen to the voices of the majority of the international community and adopt a responsible approach. In response to the unfounded accusations by the US that China is a threat to the international order, the statement said that China's development is an important part of human progress and is an inevitable trend in history. China does not follow the old path of Western colonial exploitation, nor does it pursue hegemonic ambitions through power or engage in exporting ideology. China adheres to peaceful development, pursues win-win cooperation, and firmly upholds the international system and international order with the UN at its core. China is a growing force for peace in the world and a stabilizing factor. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address MFA official's briefing on U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit to China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China Updated: August 25, 2024 22:12 The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on Saturday that Assistant to the U.S. President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) Jake Sullivan will visit China from August 27 to 29 at the invitation of Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, to hold a new round of China-U.S. strategic communication. In a press briefing on Sunday, the leading official of MFA's Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs gave further information and took questions from the media. The leading official said that holding strategic communication between the Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office and the National Security Advisor to the U.S. President was an important consensus reached between the Chinese and U.S. presidents at their Bali meeting in November 2022. Since the meeting, Director Wang Yi and NSA Sullivan have held three rounds of strategic communication in Vienna, Malta and Bangkok respectively, all of which were substantive and constructive, and produced good results. Both sides agreed to continue making good use of this channel of strategic communication. The upcoming visit will also be the first visit to China by a National Security Advisor to the U.S. President after eight years, and the first visit to China by NSA Sullivan. It is an important step for the two sides to implement the common understandings the two presidents reached at their San Francisco meeting. After San Francisco, the diplomatic, financial, law enforcement and climate teams and the militaries of the two sides have maintained communication, and the exchanges between the two peoples have increased. Meanwhile, the United States has kept containing and suppressing China. And China has taken resolute countermeasures. The China-U.S. relationship is still at a critical juncture of being stabilized. Against this backdrop, Director Wang Yi will have an in-depth exchange of views with NSA Sullivan on China-U.S. relations, sensitive issues, and major international and regional hotspots. The two sides will jointly take stock of the progress made by the two countries in implementing the common understandings of the two presidents in San Francisco, give full play to the 20-plus dialogue and communication mechanisms that have been established or resumed, and continue to discuss the issue of strategic perception and the boundary between national security and economic activities. The Chinese side will focus on raising serious concerns, articulating its position and laying out serious demands on issues related to the Taiwan question, the right to development and China's strategic security. The Taiwan question is the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations, and "Taiwan independence" is the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. side must abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and honor its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence." The U.S. side's continuous arbitrary measures against China in the areas of tariffs, export control, investment review and unilateral sanctions seriously undermine China's legitimate rights and interests. China demands that the U.S. side stop turning economic and trade issues into political and security issues. As the foundation of the China-U.S. relationship lies in grassroots connections, the United States should work in the same direction with China and take more measures to facilitate the flow of people between the two countries. China will also urge the United States to fulfill its responsibilities as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and play a constructive role for the political settlement of major, salient international and regional issues, not the contrary. The leading official emphasized that China's U.S. policy is consistent, which is underpinned by the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by China. These principles are the lessons learned from the 50-plus years of China-U.S. relations as well as the conflicts between major countries in history. China and the United States should put in a lot of efforts to follow them. China has all along believed that major-country competition is not the solution to the problems facing the United States or the world. The leading official also took questions from the media. On Ukraine, the official said that China's position is aboveboard, and it will continue to promote peace talks, work for political settlement and carry out mediation diplomacy. The United States should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and stop smearing, framing, pressuring and blackmailing China. China will continue to take strong and resolute measures to safeguard its major interests and legitimate rights. On the South China Sea issue, the leading official emphasized that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the region have sufficient historical and legal basis, and that countries in the region have full confidence, wisdom and capability to properly handle the issue. Countries outside the region should not do things that provoke confrontation or increase tensions. The leading official pointed out that on the Middle East issue, China is committed to promoting peace and justice and supports all parties in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, especially the restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine. The immediate priority is that all parties to the conflict must earnestly implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and create conditions for an early comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The international community should pool their efforts to this end. It is hoped that the United States will heed the voices of the majority of the international community and adopt a responsible position. Responding to the U.S.'s unwarranted accusation that China is a threat to the international order, the leading official said that China's development is an important part of human progress and an inevitable trend in the evolution of history. China does not follow the old path of Western colonization and plundering, nor the wrong path of seeking hegemony with growing strength. Nor does it seek to export its ideology. China is committed to peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and is a firm defender of the U.N.-Centered international system and international order, which contributes to the force for peace and the stabilizing factors in today's world.a NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sullivan's China visit 'aims to maintain exchange, manage differences' Global Times Taiwan question, development rights, strategic security to top agenda By Zhao Yusha and Shen Sheng Published: Aug 26, 2024 12:46 AM Updated: Aug 26, 2024 12:55 AM China will focus on raising serious concerns regarding the Taiwan question, addressing development rights and strategic security in discussions with the US during National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan's upcoming visit to Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. Sullivan will be the first US national security advisor to visit China in eight years, and his trip comes less than three months before the US presidential election. The visit, according to Chinese experts, symbolizes both countries' commitment to maintaining high-level official communication in this complex bilateral relationship and to assist both countries in managing their differences for the remaining time of the Biden administration. Hot button issues Sullivan's visit is at the invitation of Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Saturday. Sullivan will visit China from Tuesday to Thursday. Wang will have an in-depth exchange of views with Sullivan on China-US relations, sensitive subjects and major international and regional hot topics, according to a statement from the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, noting both sides have agreed to continue to make good use of this strategic communication channel. China will focus on expressing serious concerns, clarifying firm positions, and making serious demands regarding the Taiwan question, China's development rights and strategic security, said the statement. The US containment measures on China are mainly concentrated on those three aspects, if those issues are not properly addressed, China-US ties cannot be stabilized or improved, Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times. Although obstacles remain, Wu is optimistic that Sullivan's visit embodied both countries' commitment on keeping high-level exchanges, and plays a significant role in China-US relations during the remaining time of the Biden administration. According to the foreign ministry statement, Wang's meeting with Sullivan in China is a key outcome of the consensus reached between the two heads of state in Bali in November 2022. Since that time, Wang and Sullivan have held three rounds of substantive and constructive strategic communications in Vienna, Malta and Bangkok, achieving positive results During the US election cycle, candidates often hype China-related issues in order to appeal to voters. Sullivan's visit provides Beijing with an opportunity to caution Washington against allowing domestic politics to influence foreign policy decisions, and to effectively address differences in the next few months, LA Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. China will likely use this visit to send a clear signal to the US that, whoever sits in the White House, any violation of China's red line will invoke Beijing's strong countermeasures, said LA. Needs for cooperation China's Foreign Ministry also touched on China's stance on Russia-Ukraine crisis, South China Sea issue and Palestine-Israel conflicts on Sunday. On the Russia-Ukraine crisis, China's position is open and straightforward, and it will continue to promote peace talks, push for political solutions, and engage in mediation diplomacy. The US should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and halt efforts to smear, slander, and coerce China. China will persist in taking strong and effective measures to protect its core interests and legitimate rights, according to the statement. On South China Sea, the foreign ministry cautioned that countries outside of the region should not engage in actions that provoke confrontation and escalate tensions. A senior US official told Reuters that Sullivan would be looking to hear China's assessment of the situation in the Middle East, where the two sides have different approaches but some shared concerns about instability. Sullivan's visit to Beijing reflected the urgency of the US to conduct cooperation with China at a time when Washington's hands are tied in the ongoing international conflicts, according to Chinese experts. The Biden administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the conflict in Gaza, now in its 11th month. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to persist, despite the military aid provided by US-led Western countries to Ukraine and the imposition of a slew of sanctions on Russia in hopes of forcing Moscow into defeat. To conduct pragmatic dialogue and cooperation with China is a fundamental goal of US diplomatic security strategy, no matter who takes the Oval Office, Zhu Feng, director of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University, told the Global Times on Sunday. A senior official from Biden's administration briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity that the focus of the meeting between Wang and Sullivan is to maintain communications on the host of difficult issues and demonstrate "that even amidst competition that we can find constructive ways to work with each other," per the Associated Press. The US is clear that decoupling with China is impossible when it comes to promoting world peace and economic development, said Zhu. He noted that China's US policy remains unchanged, and now the onus falls on the US to work with China to establish a bilateral relationship that is responsible for both people and the world's peace and development. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC chief renews pledge to avenge Haniyeh's assassination IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Qasr-e Shirin, IRNA -- The commander in chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami has reiterated Tehran's pledge to retaliate against the Zionist regime over its crimes on Iranian soil. According to IRNA's reporter, General Salami spoke while on an inspection visit to the Khosravi border crossing with Iraq on Saturday evening. "You will hear good news about revenge, God willing", the top IRGC commander said when asked by journalists about the Iranian response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. General Salami was encircled by a group of Arba'een pilgrims who were chanting slogans such as "Death to Israel" and demanding revenge for the blood of Martyr Haniyeh. The top general was at international border of Khosravi in Qasr-e Shirin, a city of Kermanshah province to oversee the traffic situation of Arba'een pilgrims and also talked to some of them about the quality of services being provided. Qasr-e Shirin has 186 km long border with Iraq with two official crossings, Khosravi and Parviz Khan. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address August 24, 2024 Release Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to discuss Israel's defense against Lebanese Hizballah attacks. Secretary Austin reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel's defense against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3883969/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address August 25, 2024 Release Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today to discuss Israeli actions to defend against attacks by Lebanese Hizballah. The Secretary reiterated Israel's right to defend itself and the United States' ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its regional partners and proxies. As part of that support, the Secretary has ordered the presence of two Carrier Strike Groups to remain in the region. The Secretary also expressed support for completing negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage-release deal. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3883992/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Relatives Fear Discussing Ethnic Kazakh Intelligentsia Behind Bars In China's Xinjiang By Asemgul Mukhitqyzy and Chris Rickleton August 25, 2024 ASTANA -- At the peak of China's repression of Turkic and Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang region some six years ago, Kazakhstan was a kind of hub for activism and reporting on what international rights experts said were "crimes against humanity." Then came the fear. With a population likely numbering more than 1 million people -- official statistics are lacking -- ethnic Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic group living in Xinjiang. Unlike the more populous Uyghurs, they live next door to a country where they are a titular people and where many of them traveled regularly before China's crackdown began. When arrests started really flowing in late 2017 and 2018, hundreds of Xinjiang-born Kazakhs who had moved to Kazakhstan before the crisis organized to issue appeals for missing relatives, both to the Kazakh government and the international community at large. Yet the group that drove that effort, Atazhurt, soon came under pressure from local security services. Atazhurt splintered into factions, and its co-founder -- who claimed the Kazakh authorities were being directed by their Beijing allies -- now lives in de-facto exile in the United States. Discussions related to the plight of the Xinjiang Kazakhs are therefore sensitive, while most of the Kazakhs in Xinjiang who have been reunited with relatives in Kazakhstan in the past couple of years -- sometimes after years of separation -- are in no hurry to talk about their experiences. That makes any effort to restart the conversation in Kazakhstan's local press noteworthy. One such effort occurred at the end of July when the Kazakh-language newspaper Zhas Alash published an article on what it said were 22 members of the ethnic Kazakh intelligentsia currently languishing behind bars in China. But as the article's author said in an interview with RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, the Kazakh-based relatives of these detainees are increasingly reluctant to say anything about their cases. "All of them refused to comment. The reason is obvious. Advocacy could worsen the situation for their relatives in detention," said Zhaqsylyq Qazymuratuly. 'I Never Saw Any Of Them Speak Out Against Chinese Authorities' So who are these 22 authors? While Chinese officials have presented their post-2016 policies in Xinjiang as an extension of longer-term efforts to combat radicalism and separatism, many of the people mentioned as detained in the Zhas Alash article were directly connected to the Chinese state. "Some of the arrested individuals I know personally. We were friends, we communicated well. I have been friends with some of them for 15 years, but I never saw any of them speak out against the Chinese authorities," Xinjiang-born journalist Qaliaqbar Usemkhanuly was quoted as saying in Qazymuratuly's article. Usemkhanuly would know. Before moving to Kazakhstan, he worked -- like many of the detainees mentioned in the article -- in the state-controlled media in Xinjiang. As Qazymuratuly argues, this is not a profession that allows room for experimentation. "How did things work under Soviet rule?... Information in China undergoes a similar procedure before publication," Qazymuratuly told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service. "Every message, every news item was filtered before publication," the journalist said. "Now, after several years, they find some shortcomings. But this seems to be just an excuse for arresting and imprisoning these people." A red line that has thickened considerably for Xinjiang Kazakhs and other Muslims in the region after the now-retired, hard-line Chinese Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo was installed in 2016 involves apolitical expressions of national identity. One of the 22 detainees, Qarapa Nasiolla, was an educator who published works by poets, writers, and musicians, as well as reflections on Kazakh literature and history on his WeChat page that was popular with local Kazakhs. He moved from Xinjiang to another province with a teaching job and has not been heard from since 2021, when he returned to the region from a summer holiday. Back then, Nasiolla's Kazakhstan-based mother and brother both released public appeals seeking information about him. But when RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reached out to Nasiolla's relatives this month, none of them agreed to an interview. Toqaev In Xinjiang In 2018, United Nations experts estimated that more than 1 million Uyghur and Muslim minorities had been detained in Xinjiang indoctrination camps that Chinese officials likened to vocational training centers. These facilities, reputed for their humiliation and brutality toward detainees, are now believed to be largely closed. Other former detainees, some graduates of the camps, reported being compelled to work in factories whose goods were exported. A third group, which has ironically received the least international media attention, consists of detainees who are serving hard jail time, inevitably on trumped-up political and terrorism-related charges. It would be untrue to say Kazakhstan's government has done nothing for the Xinjiang Kazakhs. Authorities have more than once expressed concern to their Chinese counterparts over problems in the region impacting Kazakh citizens, although always in terms that avoided criticizing China. Since then, ethnic Kazakhs have continued to leave Xinjiang for Kazakhstan, often arriving in batches, suggesting some level of negotiations by Astana over their resettlement. But given Astana's economic dependence on Beijing, it is hard to escape the idea that the repression of ethnic Kazakhs are fairly low on the bilateral agenda. Indeed, when it comes to tone-setting, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has offered a visible legitimacy boost to the authorities that have overseen the crackdown. Toqaev in 2023 paid his first official visit to the region, where the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said he held talks with local decision-makers but not with the Kazakh community separately. In March he held talks in Astana with Erkin Tuniyaz, the second-most powerful Chinese Communist Party official in Xinjiang who, like former boss Chen, is under sanctions from the U.S. government in connection with the Xinjiang incarcerations. Months before, Turniyaz had been expected for talks in London and Brussels, where he is not under sanctions, but those visits were canceled amid a public outcry. The Kazakh Service reached out to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry with an official inquiry, requesting comment on the allegedly arbitrary arrest and detention of 22 people in Xinjiang. Press Secretary Aibek Smadiyarov promised to obtain information from specialists, but no response was received by the time of publication. Kazakh authorities have previously informed people worried about ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang that Astana's representatives in the region have elaborated a "family reunification mechanism" in cooperation with Chinese officials. People were told to apply to the government for help to reunite their family via the eOtinish platform. As for getting information from China itself, the Kazakh relatives of detainees who picketed the Chinese Consulate in Almaty for more than two years would probably agree that Chinese officials prefer not to engage. When a correspondent for RFE/RL's Kazakh Service contacted Ambassador Zhang Xiao at a recent meeting at Kazakhstan's National Center of Biotechnology, he expressed irritation that the question was about the 22 Kazakhs in Zhas Alash's article rather about his visit to the center. "There is nothing of the sort!" Zhang exclaimed before ignoring follow-up questions. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/33088408.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 Telegram CEO arrested at French airport IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 25, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram has been arrested at Paris Le Bourget Airport for allegedly enabling criminal activity with his encrypted messaging app, French media reported. French TV channel TF1 reported on Sunday morning that 39-year-old Durov was detained as he disembarked from his private jet, following a search warrant issued by authorities. The arrest reportedly occurred at 8:00 p.m. French local time and was seen being escorted by bodyguards. The operation was reportedly carried out by French secret services, though this information has not been officially confirmed. The precise charges against Durov have not been disclosed officially but reports say France issued an arrest warrant for Durov on charges of complicity in drug trafficking, crimes against children and fraud due to the lack of moderation on Telegram and his failure to cooperate with law enforcement. In 2013, Durov founded Telegram Messenger with his brother Nikolai. The Russian-born boss of Telegram, which he says boasts over 900 million users, is currently based in Dubai. He became a naturalized French citizen in August 2021. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pavel Durov, Billionaire Founder Of Telegram App, Detained In France, Company Says By RFE/RL's Russian Service August 25, 2024 Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was detained at the Bourget airport outside Paris and was scheduled to appear in court late on August 25 or 26, French media reported, citing unnamed sources. The 39-year-old billionaire reportedly arrived from Baku, Azerbaijan, aboard his private jet accompanied by a bodyguard and a personal assistant and was arrested immediately, a source told AFP. Durov was scheduled to appear in court for alleged offenses related to his popular messaging app. There was no immediate comment by French authorities, but Telegram issued a statement on X saying that "Durov has nothing to hide" and that it's "awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation." The Paris prosecutor's office plans to make a statement to the press on August 26, Russian state agency TASS reported. French media reported that France's OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offenses, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism. The SOTA Telegram channel reported that Durov was being held in a migration prison at Le Bourget airport, where he can be held for up to four days until a decision is made on his case. The Dubai-based Telegram platform boasts more than 900 million users worldwide. In his first major interview in seven years, which he gave to U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson on April 17, Durov vowed Telegram aims to be a "neutral platform" and not a "player in geopolitics." In Ukraine, though, critics worry it spreads misinformation and facilitates illegal actions. Some accuse Telegram of ties to the Russian state and of contributing to its war effort. In 2021, Durov, a native of Russia who left the country about 10 years ago, received French citizenship. Recently, he has lived mainly in the United Arab Emirates, where the company's office is also located. Durov, who previously created the Russian social network VKontakte, developed the Telegram messenger in 2013. He is the main owner of Telegram, which is worth an estimated $30 billion. In 2018, the Russian authorities temporarily restricted access to Telegram. The decision was made after the messaging app, as alleged, refused to provide Russia's FSB security agency with encryption keys from users' correspondence, referring to the secrecy of correspondence guaranteed by the constitution. The decision to block was sharply criticized by many Russian public figures, including critics of the Russian authorities. A mass rally in defense of Telegram was held in Moscow, at which, in particular, then-opposition leader Alexei Navalny spoke. However, independent Russian media reports indicated that Telegram reached a compromise with the authorities and has been sharing some data with the security services for several years, although that has been denied by Telegram. With reporting by AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov- arrested-in-paris/33091612.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. encourages engagement with Taiwan after China's Palau coercion ROC Central News Agency 08/25/2024 03:19 PM Washington, Aug. 24 (CNA) A U.S. State Department official said Saturday that the United States encourages "all countries to expand engagement with Taiwan," after Palau's president recently warned that the Micronesian nation has faced economic coercion from China over its ties to Taiwan. "Taiwan is a reliable, likeminded, and democratic partner, and its partnerships -- official and unofficial -- around the world provide significant and sustainable benefits to the citizens of those countries," a State Department spokesperson told CNA. "We encourage all countries to expand engagement with Taiwan," the spokesperson added. Earlier this month, Washington had condemned Beijing's "predatory economic activities." Speaking to reporters during an official visit by New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters on Aug. 14, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. said that "China has openly told us [Palau's relationship with Taiwan] is illegal and we should not recognize Taiwan." Whipps cited reduced visitor numbers from the People's Republic of China (PRC) as evidence of economic coercion aimed at encouraging Palau to sever its formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Whipps told the Associated Press in an interview that the Chinese ambassador stationed in a neighboring country had promised in 2020 to send a million Chinese visitors to Palau if the tourism-dependent country severed ties with Taiwan and established ties with China. Despite this "weaponization" of tourism, the Palau president reaffirmed his country's commitment to Taiwan, telling reporters that "our relationship with Taiwan should not be questioned by anyone." In response to Whipps' comments, the U.S. Department of State said on Aug. 16 that Washington is "aware of reported previous attempts to economically pressure Palau, likely due to its diplomatic ties with Taiwan." "These reports align with a range of alleged increasingly problematic behavior from the PRC, including predatory economic activities," the U.S. State Department press office said. In accordance with its so-called "One China" principle, the PRC does not recognize any country that has formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which Beijing plans to annex into PRC territory. Since establishing formal relations with Taiwan in 1999, Palau -- a small nation in Micronesia with a population of less than 20,000 -- has resisted China's diplomatic overtures. Earlier this year, Whipps congratulated then-President-elect Lai Ching-te (ea) on his Jan. 13 election victory, saying that bilateral ties between Palau and Taiwan remained "robust." (By James Thompson and Chung Yu-chen) Enditem/cs NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address : ... U.S. national security advisor to raise Taiwan on upcoming China trip ROC Central News Agency 08/25/2024 04:43 PM Washington, Aug. 24 (CNA) A senior White House official told reporters on Friday that the U.S. will raise concerns about China's "destabilizing" military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan when National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan meets China's foreign minister in Beijing next week. Sullivan will travel to Beijing for meetings with the People's Republic of China's (PRC) foreign minister, Wang Yi, between Aug. 27-29, according to the White House. "I expect in these conversations next week we're going to raise concerns about the PRC's increased military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan," the official told reporters in a press briefing phone call early on Friday morning (U.S. Eastern Time). "These activities are destabilizing and risk escalation," the official said, without elaborating. "And we're going to continue to urge Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei." Reiterating the Biden administration's commitment to the United States' "One China" policy -- in which the U.S. recognizes the PRC as the sole legal government of China but only acknowledges Beijing's claim that Taiwan is a part of China -- the official said the U.S. "oppose[s] unilateral changes to the status quo from either side." "We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved peacefully," the official added. "Everything that we have seen come out of Taipei indicates that the current leadership remains committed to maintaining status quo and peace and stability," the official said, referring to President Lai Ching-te's (ea) calls for dialogue with Beijing since assuming office in May. The official also said that "the economic impact of instability in the region would be overwhelming" and there is a "global stake in continued peace and stability and status quo." Sullivan has met with Wang four times over the last year and a half, according to the White House. The trip next week comes in advance of the U.S. presidential election in November and amid tensions between Washington and Beijing over China's growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. (By James Thompson and Chung Yu-chen) Enditem/kb NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan ROC Ministry of National Defense 2024/08/25 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan Date 6 to 6 a.m. (UTC+8) Saturday to Sunday, Aug. 24-25 PLA activities 12 PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN vessels and 4 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 7 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan ROC Ministry of National Defense 2024/08/26 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1.Dateis 6 to 6 a.m. (UTC+8) Sunday to Monday, Aug. 25-26 2. PLA activitiesis 12 PLA aircraft and 6 PLAN vessels and 5 official ship 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 central, southwestern, and eastern 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 "As the dark shadow of terrorism recedes from our eastern and southeastern provinces, our cities' potential is revealed" Presidency of The Republic of Turkey 25.08.2024 Speaking at an opening ceremony in Bitlis, President ErdoAYan said: "As the dark shadow of terrorism recedes from our eastern and southeastern provinces, the potential of our cities, which has been unutilized for years, is being revealed." President Recep Tayyip ErdoAYan delivered a speech at a mass opening ceremony of public and private sector investments in Bitlis. Noting that they were paying a visit to Bitlis to commemorate the 953rd anniversary of the Victory of Manzikert, President ErdoAYan said: "We are happy to inaugurate both public and private investments, each one more significant than others, here in Bitlis." "The current value of the investments we have made in our city only in the spheres of environment and urbanization in the last 22 years has reached TL26 billion. The total investments made in Bitlis during the our governments exceeded TL76 billion. We have achieved projects that will change the landscape of our city in every field from education to health, agriculture to transportation, social assistance to energy. Currently, TL1 billion 766 million worth of environment and urbanization investments are ongoing in Bitlis," President ErdoAYan said. "AS THE CLIMATE OF PEACE GROWS STRONGER ACROSS OUR REGION, INVESTMENTS ARE ADVANCING MUCH FASTER" "Day by day, we see a fact more clearly; as the dark shadow of terrorism recedes from our eastern and southeastern provinces, the potential of our cities, which has been unutilized for years, is being revealed. Our provinces in the region have gained a very distinctive momentum, especially in tourism and investments. Fear has been replaced by peace and concern by security. Backwardness is no longer the misfortune of our region. As the climate of peace grows stronger across our region, investments are advancing much faster. Today, we are extracting one of the largest oil reserves of our country in Gabar Mountain, which was a terror nest up until recently. We obtain half of TArkiye's daily oil production of nearly 110 thousand barrels from our discovery in Gabar," President ErdoAYan said. "WE WILL BUILD THE CENTURY OF TARKAYE TOGETHER" "The old TArkiye is now completely behind us. No more are the days when our people were otherized because of their origin, belief or language. No more are the days when politics was designed with the stick of terrorism, society was brought into line and direction was drawn for our country. The old days of prohibitions, oppression, poverty and deprivation are now gone forever," President ErdoAYan said. Stating that they will not allow anyone to take away the achievements, won by paying a very heavy price as a result of difficult struggles, President ErdoAYan underlined that they will not allow the terrorist threat, whose back they have broken, whose breath they have cut off, and which they have crippled within the borders of the country, to be revived again. "Just as we have overcome many difficulties in the last 22 years, and accomplished many things that were said to be impossible, undoable and unimaginable, we will build the Century of TArkiye together," President ErdoAYan said. President ErdoAYan also inaugurated the Ahlat Commando Battalion Command in Bitlis. Vice President Cevdet YAlmaz, Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet BahAeli, Minister of National Defense YaAYar GAler and President of Religious Affairs Ali ErbaAY attended the event as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM call with President Xi Jinping of China: 23 August 2024 The Prime Minister spoke to President Xi Jinping of China this morning. 23 August 2024 The Prime Minister spoke to President Xi Jinping of China this morning. The Prime Minister began by setting out his priorities for his government, including national security, secure borders and economic stability. The leaders discussed areas of shared collaboration, and potential areas of cooperation between the UK and China, including on trade, the economy and education. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, the leaders agreed on the importance of close working in areas such as climate change and global security. The Prime Minister added that he hoped the leaders would be able to have open, frank and honest discussions to address and understand areas of disagreement when necessary, such as Hong Kong, Russia's war in Ukraine and human rights. The leaders also agreed on the need for a stable and consistent UK-China relationship, including dialogue between their respective foreign and domestic ministers. They agreed to stay in touch. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine's shelling of Russia's Belgorod region kills five civilians Iran Press TV Sunday, 25 August 2024 9:35 AM Ukrainian shelling of the Rakitnoye town in Russia's Belgorod region killed five civilians and injured 12 more, the region's governor said on Sunday. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Russia's Belgorod Region Governor, said on the Telegram messaging app that there are three children among the injured. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a brutal terrorist strike at the settlement of Rakitnoye in the middle of the night. To our great grief, the enemy strike took the lives of 5 civilians. [...] 12 people, including 3 minors, were injured in the shelling," Gladkov said. The governor added that nine of the injured were hospitalized, with six of them listed in serious condition, including a 16-year-old girl who is in intensive care. The governor assured that all of the injured civilians were receiving medical aid in hospitals. He said in addition to 10 private households and 4 cars, a gas pipeline was damaged in the attack, leaving three nearby settlements without gas supply. The electricity power lines were also targeted in the attack, he added. The governor said emergency operations had started to restore the damaged services to work as soon as possible. Russia says destroyed Ukrainian drone The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod Region last night. "The Kiev regime's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack on targets in Russia using a fixed-wing drone was foiled last night. On-duty air defenses destroyed the Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the Belgorod Region," the statement reads. The US-led Western countries have been flooding the Ukrainian armed forces with an unending supply of Western weapons and ammunition since Russia launched its military campaign in Donbas in 2022. Nonetheless, the former Soviet republic has failed to gain significant military objectives in the proxy war against Russia with Kiev constantly whining about a shortage of weapons and ammunition. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine, Russia Report Multiple Deaths In Strikes On Both Sides Of Border By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service August 25, 2024 Six people were killed in Ukrainian attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod, local officials said on August 25, as Ukrainian authorities reported that several people -- including Western news agency staffers -- were among the dead and wounded in Russian strikes across the country. Meanwhile, in his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his forces made further advances deeper into Russia's Kursk region and had taken control of two additional settlements. "I've just spoken with commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskiy, and there is an advance of our troops in the Kursk region -- from 1 to 3 kilometers. Two more settlements were taken under control," said Zelenskiy, who added that "active actions" were continuing. In Russia, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that five civilians were killed and 12 others were wounded in Ukrainian shelling in the town of Rakitnoye. One person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Solovyovka, he added. Gladkov said six of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 16-year-old girl who was in intensive care. The claims cannot be independently verified. Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in Belgorod earlier this month, and Moscow said it was sending more troops to defend the region following Ukraine's surprise cross-border incursion into neighboring Kursk on August 6. Ukraine has since captured more than 90 settlements in the Kursk region, according to Kyiv, the biggest invasion of Russia since World War II. In the Ukrainian city of Sumy -- some 30 kilometers from the Russian border -- authorities on August 25 reported that heavy Russian shelling killed at least four people and injured 13 others over the past 24 hours. Authorities also said one person was killed and several others were wounded in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in Russian missile and drone attacks. Donetsk regional officials said the body of a British citizen was recovered from the rubble following an overnight strike at a hotel in Kramatorsk, a city of some 147,000 people in southeastern Ukraine. Reuters later identified the person as Ryan Evans, 38, who was working as a safety adviser for Reuters. Evans, a former British soldier, had been with the news agency since 2022, advising staffers on safety issues at sites around the world. Officials said four journalists -- including those with German, Latvian, and U.S. citizenship -- and two local citizens were among the injured, but the report could not immediately be confirmed. Reuters earlier said several team members had been at the hotel but couldn't immediately confirm their whereabouts or status. Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk regional government, wrote on Telegram that the hotel was destroyed and that "17 private houses, six high-rise buildings, three enterprises, an administrative building, and a coffeeshop were damaged." Russian attacks hit residential buildings in Kharkiv's Balakliya, Chuhuiv, and Kupyansk districts, as well as the regional capital, Kharkiv city, wounding at least 17 people and damaging several houses, local authorities said. Russia launched several missile and drone attacks overnight, targeting northern and eastern regions, but Ukraine's air-defense systems destroyed most of the weapons before they reached their targets, Ukraine's air force said. "Most of the missiles did not reach their targets," the air force said on Telegram, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile, and six guided air missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed. The air-defense systems shot down eight of the nine drones launched by Russian forces overnight over the Mykolayiv region, the air force claimed. On the diplomatic front, Zelenskiy on August 25 said talks with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Switzerland were continuing regarding a potential second peace summit. The Ukrainian leader also said he had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Kyiv that he would support India hosting the summit. "This applies not only to India but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit," Zelenskiy added. Some 80 countries, but not Russia, met in Switzerland in mid-June to discuss the potential for a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. Zelenskiy has insisted Ukraine's territorial integrity must be the foundation of any peace deal, while Russia has said conditions for ending the war include Kyiv renouncing its desire to join NATO and ceding Crimea and four other occupied regions of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in Kyiv also said on August 25 that Ukrainian intelligence agencies had reported that Belarusian armed forces, under the guise of military exercises, have been concentrating a significant number of personnel, weapons, and equipment including tanks, artillery, rocket launchers, air-defense systems, and engineering equipment its border with Ukraine. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/seven-injured-in- russian-attacks-in-kharkiv-ukraine/33091634.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 Pope Condemns Ukraine Move To Ban Activities Linked To Russian Orthodox Church By RFE/RL August 25, 2024 Pope Francis on August 25 condemned the latest action by Kyiv to ban religious organizations with ties to the Russian Orthodox Church from operating in Ukraine. "No Christian church may be abolished directly or indirectly. The churches must not be touched," the pope said during his weekly prayer a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed legislation prohibiting the activities of the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. "In thinking of the law recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the liberty of those who pray," Francis said on St. Peter's Square. He told the gathered crowd that "one does not commit evil by praying. If someone does something evil to his people, he is guilty. But he can't have done anything bad by praying." In signing the legislation on August 24, Zelenskiy underscored what he called the spiritual independence of the Ukrainian people, saying that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) "today is taking a step toward liberation from Moscow devils." The OCU, which is aligned with Kyiv, was granted independence from the Moscow Patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019, the leading voice in the Orthodox world. The Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared it severed all ties with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2023 due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, the Ukrainian authorities accuse it of maintaining ties. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and of the war against Ukraine. The adoption of the law, which was passed by parliament earlier this month, is considered a watershed moment in Ukraine, where Orthodox Christianity has been riven for decades in large part over the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. The law is to go into effect 30 days after its publication. Ukrainian authorities have sought to curtail activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine since Russian-linked forces seized parts of the country in 2014, claiming the church has supported Moscow's war of aggression. The pope also said he continues to follow "with sorrow" the fighting in Ukraine. With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, AFP, and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-orthodox- church-pope-francis/33091891.htmll Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine Loses 1,900 Troops in Special Operation Zone in Past Day Sputnik News 20240825 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian armed forces have lost 1,900 servicepeople in the special operation zone over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. Ukrainian formations lost up to 130 personnel in the areas of operations of Russia's Northern grouping in the Sumy and Kharkov regions. Meanwhile, the Southern grouping improved its positions along the frontline, causing Ukrainian forces to lose up to 630 servicepeople and a US-supplied Abrams main battle tank, the ministry said in a bulletin. Russia's Western grouping repelled five counterattacks and inflicted significant losses on five Ukrainian brigades, with enemy losses estimated at around 510 soldiers. In the course of counter-battery warfare, two US-made 155-mm M777 and M198 howitzers, one Polish-made 155-mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, three 122-mm D-30 howitzers, one US-made 105-mm M119 gun and four Ukrainian ammunition depots were destroyed. Ukrainian formations also lost up to 130 personnel and a French Caesar self-propelled artillery system in the area of responsibility of the Eastern troop grouping, the bulletin said. Forces from the Central grouping continued their advance into the depths of Ukrainian defenses, repelling seven counteroffensives and eliminating over 500 enemy soldiers and two tanks. Meanwhile, Russia's Dnepr forces eliminated up to 60 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed two 152 mm D-20 howitzers, an Enclave-N electronic warfare station, as well as five vehicles in various locations in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, according to the bulletin. Russian forces also targeted a temporary deployment area for foreign mercenaries as well as clusters of enemy manpower and military hardware in 147 areas. Russian air defense systems shot down six US-made HIMARS rockets and 41 drones. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine's Troop Losses Top 5,800 in Kursk Region Sputnik News 20240825 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine has lost over 300 troops in Russia's Kursk Region over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of military casualties past 5,800, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. "The enemy losses were over 300 troops ... Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] losses were over 5,800 troops," the ministry said in a daily bulletin. Russian troops repelled enemy attacks in the direction of Vishnyovka, Borki, Pogrebki and Spalnoye, eliminating up to 40 Ukrainian soldier and destroying a tank, four armored vehicles and two motor vehicles, the ministry said. The Northern Group of Russian forces successfully fended off enemy attacks in the direction of Komarovka, Malaya Loknya, Nechayev and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. Russian forces also defeated concentrations of manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces in a number of areas of the Kursk Region, the ministry said, adding that the operation to neutralize Ukrainian troops was in progress. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The World Must Not Forget for a Single Day That Together, We Are Stronger Than Any Terrorist - Address by the President President of Ukraine 25 August 2024 - 21:42 Dear Ukrainians! All day today, the rubble in Kramatorsk was being cleared after a Russian missile strike. Among those injured were journalists, including a film crew from Reuters. Citizens of Ukraine, America and Britain. An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by a Russian Iskander missile - deliberately, purposefully. This strike injured seven people and took one life. My condolences to the family and friends. This is the daily Russian terror that continues because Russia still has the means to continue. Today, there were also Russian strikes on our Sumy region with the use of guided aerial bombs, as well as strikes on Kharkiv, Kherson, and Donetsk regions. And for all this, the world must not stop putting pressure on the terrorist state. For missile strikes, for guided aerial bombs, for assaults - for this entire war. Russia must be forced to seek peace. Therefore, sanctions against Russia and individuals associated with it must be fully enforced. Frozen Russian assets must be really used for defense against Russia as soon as possible. There is a G7 decision on 50 billion for Ukraine from Russian assets. And a real mechanism is needed so that these funds can be used to support our country and people this year already. We also need to ensure there are no delays in logistics for our defense, so that our warriors can act according to the needs of the front. Currently, we have some high-profile announcements of defense packages from our partners for Ukraine that have not been fully implemented for months. We also have agreements on air defense that are still being implemented. This is especially important with the new school year approaching. I thank all our partners who truly help, all the leaders who work with us to make our defense more reliable and our positions more secure. But time equals losses. The longer we have to wait, the more damage Russia will have time to inflict. All our talks with leaders, all negotiations are focused on this - on the speed and strength of joint decisions, on fulfilling our agreements. The world must not forget for a single day that together, we are stronger than any terrorist. But to achieve this, we must do truly everything to ensure the terrorist loses. I want to especially commend our Forces today that are holding Russia accountable - right now - with the forces we have and that we are constantly strengthening. All our units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the Defense Intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine, who are working on our Ukrainian long-range capabilities. Everyone repelling Russian assaults on the frontlines, especially in the Donetsk region now. Everyone implementing a defense operation in the Kursk region. Thank you all, warriors! I also want to express my unwavering gratitude to all producers of our Ukrainian weapons, suppliers of all necessary components, developers - everyone truly working for Ukraine. Today, we already showcased our Palianytsia - our new missile-drone. And there will be more of such developments and weapons from us. But, of course, there are tasks that will be accomplished by Palianytsias and Neptunes, and there are tasks that can be carried out by ATACMS, Storm Shadows, SCALPs, and other weapons of partners. I just spoke with Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi. We are advancing in the Kursk region - by one to three kilometers. We have taken control of two more settlements. Active operations are underway in another settlement. We are replenishing our "exchange fund." Thank you! We also discussed our Donetsk region separately - our defensive actions. The most attention is on Novohrodivka and Vodiane, where the assaults are most intense. I am grateful to all our units for their resilience And one more thing. Regarding those individuals who work against our state - traitors of Ukraine who assisted Russian aggression or justify it, who fled from Ukraine to evade responsibility - our state needs clear answers regarding such people. Clear accountability. All these "comrades" must get what they deserve, no matter where they hide or where they flee. I have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow with the heads of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies - Security Service, Interior Ministry, State Bureau of Investigation - as well as the heads of NABU, SAP, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General, and intelligence representatives. There are many issues that need to be discussed at this meeting, and conclusions that must be drawn. Glory to Ukraine! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Reuters journalist missing after strike on hotel in Ukraine By VOA News August 25, 2024 A member of the Reuters news agency team was reported missing and two others were seriously injured in a strike on a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. A team of six journalists from Reuters was staying at the hotel, Reuters said in a statement. "One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment," Reuters added. Noting that the other three journalists are accounted for, the Reuters statement also said, "We are urgently seeking more information, working with the authorities in Kramatorsk and supporting our colleagues and their families. We will give an update when we have more information." Reuters has not yet named its team. Regional officials said the body of a British citizen believed to be a journalist was recovered from the rubble and that four other journalists, with German, Latvian, Ukrainian and U.S. citizenship, were injured. The attack hit Hotel Sapphire around 10.35 p.m. local time. The hotel had regularly been used by media and aid workers as a base when reporting in the region. Ukraine said Russian attacks killed 15 civilians in the past day. Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk region, said via Telegram Sunday that authorities and rescue workers are on site. "Debris clearance and rescue operations are ongoing," he said, adding, "Seventeen private houses, six high-rise buildings, three enterprises, an administrative building and a coffeeshop were damaged." Reuters said that Russia's Ministry of Defense had not responded to a request for comment. Footage shared on X by VOA sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty showed rescue workers removing at least one body from the rubble, and damage to the hotel and surrounding buildings. At least 15 journalists have been killed covering the war in Ukraine, since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to data by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Six of those were foreign correspondents, including Fox News video journalist Pierre Zakrzewski and American filmmaker Brent Renaud. Some information for this article came from Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NEWARK, Del, Aug. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global acetaminophen-opioid combination market is on a promising trajectory, with expectations to grow from USD 3,144.1 million in 2024 to an impressive USD 4,522.6 million by 2034. This robust expansion is forecasted at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7% over the next decade. Acetaminophen in combination with opioid derivative are highly used in the management of cancer-related pain. Pain is one of the most common symptoms experienced by people suffering cancer. This pain can be caused by various therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, surgeries or due to can itself. As the prevalence of cancer increases, more and more people will suffer from cancer-related pain. This will increase the usage of acetaminophen and opioids combination products for management of cancer-related pain For instance, in March 2023, according to an article published in JAMA network, an open-access medical journal, around 25 billion acetaminophen doses, either alone or in combination preparations with prescription opioid medications are sold in the U.S. annually. Thus, as the prevalence of cancer increases the demand for proper cancer-related pain management also increases, such as acetaminophen-opioid combination products which will boost the market growth even further. For instance, according to the article published in March 2024, by the World Health Organization (WHO) worldwide around 2.3 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer and around 670,000 women died from breast cancer in the year 2022. Moreover, advances in pharmacogenomics are paving the way for more personalized pain management strategies. This trend may lead to more targeted use of acetaminophen-opioid combinations, where dosages and formulations are tailored to individual patient profiles which can further enhance effectiveness and safety of such medication. This will further increase their adoption. Growing Awareness of Multimodal Pain Management Methods and Emergence of Opioid-based Precision Medicine Responsible for the Growth of the Market, opines Sabyasachi Ghosh Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights (FMI). Key Takeaways from the Market Study: By product, the hydrocodone-acetaminophen segment held a lucrative share value of 49.8% in 2023. This is due to availability of large number of products which contain hydrocodone-acetaminophen combination. in 2023. This is due to availability of large number of products which contain hydrocodone-acetaminophen combination. By indication, the acute pain segment holds a lucrative share value of 58.3% in 2023. This is attributed to the high prevalence of acute pain, increasing incidence of surgeries and injuries. Acute pain's short-term treatment duration also reduces the risk of opioid addiction. in 2023. This is attributed to the high prevalence of acute pain, increasing incidence of surgeries and injuries. Acute pain's short-term treatment duration also reduces the risk of opioid addiction. By strength, moderate to high dose combinations dominated the market with a market share of 45.6% in 2023. This is due to their widespread use in pain management, and their ability to provide potent pain relief. in 2023. This is due to their widespread use in pain management, and their ability to provide potent pain relief. By distribution channel, the hospital pharmacies segment held a lucrative share value of 39.9% in 2023. This is attributed to the fact that opioid are highly regulated and requires proper prescription. These medication are mostly administered within a healthcare facility in proper medical supervision. in 2023. This is attributed to the fact that opioid are highly regulated and requires proper prescription. These medication are mostly administered within a healthcare facility in proper medical supervision. North America is considered the leading region with a value share of 43.5% at the end of the forecast period, owing to the increasing adoption of acetaminophen-opioid combination and availability of large number manufacturers, which in turn boost its sales in the region. Dive Deep into the Market Trends: Access the Full Acetaminophen-Opioid Combination Market Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/acetaminophen-opioid-combination-market Market Competition: Acquisition, funding and collaboration among the companies or brands are the key strategies adopted by players operating in the global acetaminophen-opioid combination market to enhance their presence in the market and compete with other competitors during the coming years. Following are a few examples of key developments made by them to be at the top position: Endo, Inc., an American Irish-domiciled generics and specialty branded pharmaceutical company, offers PERCOCET which consist of oxycodone and acetaminophen combination. In addition, the company offers other products for pediatric endocrinology, orthopedics, urology & mens health, sterile injectable, generics and other. Grunenthal GmbH, a Germany-based pharmaceutical company, offers Tramacet which consist of paracetamol and tramadol combination. In addition, the company offers other pain management products for peripheral neuropathic pain, chronic post-surgical pain, chronic low back pain, and osteoarthritis. Leading Acetaminophen-Opioid Combination Companies: Abbott Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. Grunenthal GmbH Hamilton Kent. Trio Remedies Pvt Ltd Purdue Pharmaceuticals L.P. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Laboratoire Riva Johnson & Johnson Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals AstraZeneca KVK Tech, Inc Key Segments of Market Report By Product: As per Product, the market has been categorized into hydrocodone/acetaminophen, oxycodone/acetaminophen, codeine/acetaminophen, tramadol/acetaminophen, and others. By Indication: The Indication segment is further sub-categorized into acute pain and chronic pain. By Strength: The Strength segment is bifurcated into low dose combinations, moderate to high dose combinations and extended-release combinations By Distribution Channel: The Distribution Channel segment is bifurcated into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, online pharmacies and clinics By Region: Industry analysis has been carried out in key countries of North America, Latin America, East Asia, South Asia & Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Middle East & Africa. Author By: Sabyasachi Ghosh (Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights, Inc.) holds over 12 years of experience in the Healthcare, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceutical industries. His curious and analytical nature helped him shape his career as a researcher. Identifying key challenges faced by clients and devising robust, hypothesis-based solutions to empower them with strategic decision-making capabilities come naturally to him. His primary expertise lies in areas such as Market Entry and Expansion Strategy, Feasibility Studies, Competitive Intelligence, and Strategic Transformation. Holding a degree in Microbiology, Sabyasachi has authored numerous publications and has been cited in journals, including The Journal of mHealth, ITN Online, and Spinal Surgery News. Explore FMIs related ongoing Coverage on Healthcare Market Insights Domain: The opioid analgesics market size is slated to expand at a 5.2% CAGR, attaining USD 43.3 billion in 2023, with a market valuation of USD 72.0 billion by 2033, according to FMI. The global acetaminophen market share enjoys a valuation of USD 9.8 Billion by the end of the year 2022 and is further set to expand at a CAGR of 4.2% to reach a valuation of USD 15.2 Billion by the year 2033. Exhibiting a Y-o-Y growth of 8.1%, the global nucleic acid extraction kit market demand is projected to reach USD 2,134.40 million in 2024. It will likely register rapid growth, with global nucleic acid extraction kit demand rising at a CAGR of 7.4%. By 2034, the global market valuation is set to total USD 4,285.08 million. Owing to the growing need for new drug classes, global oligonucleotide API market opportunity is projected to rise at a high CAGR of 5.60% from 2024 to 2034. As such, the global oligonucleotide API market is projected to increase from a valuation of USD 2.81 billion in 2024 to USD 4.84 billion by the end of 2034. The global handheld ultrasound scanner market forecast is anticipated to be worth USD 750.3 million by 2034. According to the estimates, the market is projected to clock a 3.90% CAGR until 2034. In 2024, the handheld ultrasound scanner market size is valued at USD 511.8 million. The tattoo removal laser market outlook is estimated to be worth USD 247.4 million in 2024. The rise in tattoo popularity over recent years has led to a corresponding increase in the demand for tattoo removal services. The demand for tattoo removal lasers is predicted to rise at a CAGR of 4.30% through 2034. The tattoo removal laser industry is anticipated to surpass USD 376.8 million by 2034. The medical face shield market overview is anticipated to be worth USD 517.9 million in 2024. The market is expected to register at a rate of CAGR 4.6% through 2034. By the end of the forecast period, the market value is predicted to hit USD 812.0 million. The optical imaging market development is estimated to show consistent growth throughout the forecast period, expanding at a CAGR of 4.7%. The optical imaging market value is expected to expand from USD 1,465.4 million in 2024 to USD 2,319.6 million by 2034. The global intravenous pegloticase market trends with a slowly progressing CAGR of 13.8% from 2023 to 2033, this market is expected to garner USD 3.19 Billion by 2023 and USD 11.61 Billion by 2033. The global intracardiac imaging market growth is expected to advance at a CAGR of 5.8%. The value of the industry is projected to increase from USD 744.3 million in 2024 to USD 1,308 million by 2034. About Future Market Insights (FMI) Future Market Insights, Inc. (ESOMAR certified, recipient of the Stevie Award, and a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce) offers profound insights into the driving factors that are boosting demand in the market. FMI stands as the leading global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, consulting, and events for the Packaging, Food and Beverage, Consumer Technology, Healthcare, Industrial, and Chemicals markets. With a vast team of over 400 analysts worldwide, FMI provides global, regional, and local expertise on diverse domains and industry trends across more than 110 countries. Join us as we commemorate 10 years of delivering trusted market insights. Reflecting on a decade of achievements, we continue to lead with integrity, innovation, and expertise. Contact Us: Future Market Insights Inc. Christiana Corporate, 200 Continental Drive, Suite 401, Newark, Delaware - 19713, USA T: +1-347-918-3531 For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com LinkedIn| Twitter| Blogs | YouTube Dublin, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Europe Automated Non-Destructive Testing Services Market - Regional Analysis: Focus on Application, Technique, Enabling Technology, and Country - Analysis and Forecast, 2024-2034" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market, valued at $1.32 billion in 2023, is expected to reach $3.70 billion by 2034, exhibiting a robust CAGR of 10.09% during the forecast period 2024-2034 One of the primary drivers for the growth of the Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market is the demand for advanced inspection technologies that offer higher accuracy and efficiency. This demand is driven by stringent regulatory requirements and safety standards, which necessitate frequent and thorough inspections across various industries, including aerospace, automotive, and energy. Automated NDT systems help meet these standards by providing precise and reliable inspection data, thus ensuring the integrity and safety of critical infrastructures. The companies that are profiled in the Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzed company coverage, product portfolio, application, and market penetration. The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market is growing at a prominent rate, with many players competing for market share. The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market is characterized by the presence of companies offering Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services and new-age start-ups. The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market is attracting significant investment, driven by its advanced technological capabilities and increasing demand for efficient, accurate inspection methods across various industries. Despite the potential, large-scale deployments may face logistical challenges related to integration with existing systems and workforce training. Major players in the Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market include Acuren, Element Materials Technology, FORCE TECHNOLOGY, DEKRA, and Intertek Group plc. Introduction to Europe Automated Non-Destructive Testing Services Market The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market is experiencing significant growth, driven by the need for advanced inspection technologies that enhance the accuracy and efficiency of safety assessments across various industries. Automated NDT methods, such as phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT), digital radiography, and computed tomography, are increasingly being adopted to meet stringent regulatory standards and safety requirements. These technologies offer precise and reliable inspection data, which is essential for maintaining the integrity of critical infrastructure in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, energy, and construction. The integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) further enhances the capabilities of automated NDT systems, allowing for real-time data analysis and predictive maintenance. This not only ensures compliance with regulatory frameworks but also minimizes operational downtime and reduces costs associated with manual inspections. Several factors contribute to the robust demand for automated NDT solutions in Europe. The region's regulatory bodies, including the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), have established rigorous inspection protocols to ensure safety and quality across industries. These regulations necessitate frequent and comprehensive inspections, which automated NDT technologies can efficiently fulfill. Additionally, the expansion of renewable energy projects and infrastructure developments in emerging markets further fuels the demand for advanced NDT solutions. As European industries continue to prioritize safety and innovation, the adoption of automated NDT systems is expected to grow, driving market expansion and technological advancements in the sector. Automotive and Aviation Segment to Dominate the Europe Automated Non-Destructive Testing Services Market (by Application) During the forecast period 2024-2034, the automotive and aviation segment is expected to be the leading application segment in Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market, primarily due to the critical need for stringent safety standards, the increasing complexity of materials and components, and the industry's focus on enhancing operational efficiency and reliability through advanced testing technologies. How can this report add value to an organization? Product/Innovation Strategy: The product segment helps the reader understand the different applications of Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services and their potential. Moreover, the study gives the reader a detailed understanding of the end-use industries and different products offered by different regulations, consortiums and associations, and government programs impacting Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) service manufacturers for various purposes. Growth/Marketing Strategy: The Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services 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 partnership, collaboration, and joint venture activities to strengthen their position in the Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market. Competitive Strategy: Key players in Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market analyzed and profiled in the study involve automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services providers, including market segments covered by distinct product kinds, applications served, and regional presence, as well as the influence of important market tactics employed. Moreover, a detailed competitive benchmarking of the players operating in the Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services 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 Europe automated non-destructive testing (NDT) services market. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 124 Forecast Period 2024 - 2034 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $1415.6 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2034 $3703.3 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 10.0% Regions Covered Europe Market Dynamics Overview Market Drivers Rapid Development and Integration of Advanced Technologies Increasing Stringent Regulatory Frameworks and Safety Standards Trends: Current and Future Impact Assessment Advancements in Robotics and Automation Increase in the Use of Drones and Remote Inspection Tools Market Challenges High Initial Investment Costs Skilled Workforce Shortage Market Opportunities Expansion in Renewable Energy Sector Increased Adoption in Emerging Markets Conventional NDT Services Market Current Market Digitization and Adoption of Technologies Advantages of Automated NDT Techniques Supply Chain Overview Value Chain Analysis Pricing Analysis Research and Development Review Patent Filing Trend (by Country and Company) Regulatory Landscape Stakeholder Analysis Use Case End User and Buying Criteria Competitive Benchmarking & Company Profiles Next Frontiers Geographic Assessment Company Profiles Element Materials Technology FORCE TECHNOLOGY DEKRA Intertek Group plc SGS Societe Generale de Surveillance SA Testia SAS Teratonics S.A.S. TUV Rheinland TWI Ltd. Baker Hughes Company Capital NDT ZEISS Group Voliro AG IMITec GmbH Acuren For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hjpryz 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 KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the world unites to raise awareness about Alzheimers disease during World Alzheimers Month this September, Sonya Jury shares her lessons as a caregiver in her new memoir, Mom Forgot My Birthday: A Daughters Journey Through Alzheimers, which is available on Amazon now. Published by Believers Book Service, the book offers an honest and relatable perspective for anyone navigating the complexities of caring for a loved one with Alzheimers or dementia. September is World Alzheimers Month, a global initiative to raise awareness about Alzheimers disease and dementia. According to the Alzheimers Association, there are 55 million people worldwide living with Alzheimers and other dementias, and nearly seven million Americans have Alzheimers. Additionally, over eleven million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimers or other dementias. Sonya knows firsthand the challenges of dementia care. In Mom Forgot My Birthday, she shares her unfiltered journey of caring for her mother, Dean. She emphasizes that this book is not a traditional how-to guide, but rather a how-not-to narrative, offering valuable insights and allowing readers to learn from her experiences. Readers are immediately drawn in by Sonyas heartfelt opening: This is a journey that in a million years, I did not expect to take. This is my story and I hope that it enlightens you and your family and prepares you for end-of-life care. In Mom Forgot My Birthday, Sonya Jury says things so many others are afraid to say, says Lisa Allen, poet and essayist. Anyone with aging parents will see themselves in this book and will thank her for sharing what she went through so we might enter this stage of life a bit wiser and much more prepared. ABOUT THE AUTHOR As a Certified EOS Implementer, Sonya Jury founded Business Sherpa to help entrepreneurs and business owners take their businesses to new heights. She lives in Kansas City, MO with her husband Scott who offered his unwavering support through her journey caring for her mother with Alzheimers and ultimately writing her book. NORTH BERGEN, NJ, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Free Flow, Inc. (FFLO:OTCPK), which is incorporated in the state of Delaware as Free Flow USA, Inc., today announced that the Company has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire an over-the-counter pharmaceutical wholesaler/contract manufacturer with gross revenues of $4.4 million in 2023 and projected 2024 revenues of approximately $7 million. Under terms of the agreement, the acquired company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of FFLO and, along with additional potential acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry, is expected to become the primary focus of the Companys operations. Concurrently, FFLO is exploring the potential acquisition of another entity in the same line of business with annual sales of over $70 million. Terms of the LOI include an independent business valuation (ASC 805 verification for business combinations) and an independent audit, as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. Both the valuation and audit, which are required before closing, are expected to be complete within 90 days, but the LOI allows for time extensions, as needed, to complete these steps. The initial targeted acquisition possesses a current customer base extending over twenty pharmaceutical food, drug and mass merchandiser chain stores. Additional information on the acquisition target, including the company name and details on its business, operations, and plans for future growth, will be disclosed at or near the closing date. In recognition of the change in Company focus, the board of directors has appointed Ravinder Tikoo. M.D, a board-certified neurologist, as director and chairman of the board. FFLOs chief executive officer, Mr. Sabir Saleem, and independent director, Mr. Shah Wali Khan, will remain on the board as directors and will work with Dr. Tikoo to oversee and guide the Company. After graduating with honors with a BS in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Iowa, Dr. Tikoo continued his education there and received his medical degree in 1991. He completed an internship in general medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center, followed by a residency in neurology at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Tikoo then completed a fellowship in neurology, also at Cornell Medical Center. From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Tikoo served as Assistant Neurology Attending/Instructor in Neurology for the New York University Medical Center, Department of Neurology, and from 2002 to 2017, he served as Assistant Clinical Professor at the New York Hospital/Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. Dr. Tikoo has also been in private practice in New Jersey since 2008. A Current Report on Form 8-K detailing Dr. Tikoos appointment to FFLOs Board of Directors will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming days. We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Tikoo to our management team as Chairman of the Board and look forward to his contribution as we navigate this new direction for the Company, stated Mr. Saleem. Dr. Tikoos expertise and extensive experience in the medical field will be critical as we work toward a close of our initial acquisition and potentially target others in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to the LOI and appointment of a new board chairman, FFLO filed an amendment to its Articles of Incorporation in the state of Delaware to change the Companys name to Free Flow USA, Inc. The change became effective on May 28, 2024. A new corporate headquarters has also been established in North Bergen, New Jersey. Additional information on recent and anticipated Company changes will be included in the upcoming Form 8-K filings and future press releases. ABOUT FREE FLOW, INC. Free Flow, Inc., incorporated in Delaware as Free Flow USA, Inc., creates and acquires operating subsidiaries with the goal of maximizing shareholder value through long-term growth. The Company currently maintains holdings in the scrap metal processing and operating salvage yard business and has entered into a Letter of Intent to acquire its first subsidiary in the pharmaceutical industry. Additional businesses in the pharmaceutical industry are expected to be identified and subsequently targeted for potential future acquisition. Forward- Looking Statements The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding the proposed Business Transaction, the ability of the parties to consummate the proposed Business Transaction, the benefits and timing of the proposed Business Transaction, as well as the future operations and financial performance, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projections of market opportunity and market share, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Such statements are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on the management of FFLOs belief or interpretation of information currently available. These forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified herein, and on the current expectations of FFLOs management and are not predictions of actual performance. Because forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing FFLOs assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements. Dublin, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "U.S. Female External Catheter Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Material (Silicone, Latex), By Application (Diabetes, Strokes), By Area Of Incontinence, By End-use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The U.S. female external catheter market size was valued at USD 347.93 million in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.26% from 2024 to 2030 The market is driven by the increasing demand for innovative and effective solutions for managing urinary incontinence and catheterization in women. Female external catheters are designed to provide a safe, comfortable, and hygienic alternative to traditional indwelling urethral catheters, which can be associated with complications such as urinary tract infections and bladder damage. Trends that are shaping the U.S. market include the growing demand for female external catheters that prioritize comfort, hygiene, and ease of use. The rise of customizable and smart external catheters reflects a growing emphasis on personalized medicine and patient-centered care, and the integration of telemedicine and remote monitoring technologies is becoming increasingly important in the management of urinary incontinence and catheterization. Prevalence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and various other conditions, is significantly increasing, leading to a considerable rise in hospital admission rates, thus driving the growth of the U.S. market for female external catheter. According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, in 2021, more than 41 million people of all ages (12.5% of the U.S. population) had diabetes, but approximately 9.4 million adults (23.5% of adults with diabetes) were unaware that they had the condition. Notably, the prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 65 years or older increased to an alarming 30.4%. According to the America's Health Rankings report by the United Health Foundation, approximately 29.3 million adults, equivalent to 11.2% of the overall population, reported having three or more chronic health conditions in 2022. Thus, due to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the subsequent surge in hospitalizations, the demand for female external catheter is expected to grow, fueling growth in the U.S. market. Further, the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, in 2022 reported that West Virginia (41%), Louisiana (40.1%), Oklahoma (40.0%), and Mississippi (39.5%) had the highest rates of adult obesity in the same year. This makes the current increase in the obese population a significant factor contributing to the growth of the Female External Catheter market in this region. Market Characteristics & Concentration The market growth stage is medium, and pace of the market growth is accelerating. The U.S. market for female external catheter is characterized by increasing cases of chronic diseases, growing prevalence of urinary incontinence among women coupled with growing demand for discreet and convenient urinary management solutions for women. The U.S. market has witnessed a moderate to high degree of innovation in recent years. The market has seen the introduction of new products with advanced features, improved designs, and enhanced materials, which have significantly impacted the industry. One of the key drivers of innovation is the increasing demand for discreet and comfortable products that cater to the specific needs of women with urinary incontinence. As a result, manufacturers have developed products with ergonomic designs, soft and breathable materials, and advanced drainage systems. Market players are focusing on expanding their product portfolios to cater to a broader range of patient needs. The use of advanced materials, such as nanomaterials and biodegradable materials, is expected to increase in the development of new products. These materials offer improved properties, such as enhanced lubricity, antimicrobial activity, and biocompatibility. Further, private labeling opportunities are increasing as manufacturers partner with distributors to create customized products for specific retailers or patients. This trend is driven by the growing demand for personalized healthcare and the need for tailored products that meet specific patient needs. In addition, new entrants are expected to enter the market, particularly in the areas of innovative materials and digital health integration. Established players will need to adapt to these changes to maintain market share and remain competitive. Companies focus on addressing several patient demographics or meeting specific therapeutic requirements. The market includes large, established companies such as Stryker, BD, Boehringer Laboratories, LLC., Hollister Incorporated, and Consure Medical which offer a broad range of products and have significant market shares. Due to an emphasis of companies in developing customized solutions for certain specializations in the market, this specialization contributes to market fragmentation. Forming strategic partnerships or collaborations with local distributors, healthcare providers, and key opinion leaders can facilitate market entry and accelerate adoption. Collaborating with established entities can provide valuable insights into regional market nuances, regulatory requirements, and customer preferences. Companies Featured BD Stryker Boehringer Laboratories, LLC. Consure Medical Hollister Incorporated Huons Global Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 300 Forecast Period 2023 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $347.93 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $487.18 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.2% Regions Covered United States Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope Chapter 2. Executive Summary 2.1. Market Outlook 2.2. Segment Outlook 2.3. Competitive Insights Chapter 3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Variables, Trends, & Scope 3.1. Market Lineage Outlook 3.1.1. Ancillary Market Outlook 3.2. Market Dynamics 3.2.1. Market Driver Analysis 3.2.1.1. Growing prevalence of Urinary Incontinence (UI) 3.2.1.2. Growing awareness about UI and its treatment options 3.2.2. Market Restraint Analysis 3.2.2.1. Stringent regulations on product design, material, and manufacturing processes 3.2.2.2. Alternative treatment options 3.2.3. Market Opportunities Analysis 3.2.3.1. Increased focus on comfort and discretion 3.2.3.2. Advancements in technology 3.2.3.3. Expansion into online sales channels 3.3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Analysis Tools 3.3.1. Industry Analysis - Porter's 3.3.2. PESTEL Analysis Chapter 4. U.S. Female External Catheter Market: Material Estimates & Trend Analysis 4.1. Segment Dashboard 4.2. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Material Movement Analysis 4.3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Size & Trend Analysis, by Material, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4. Silicone 4.5. Latex Chapter 5. U.S. Female External Catheter Market: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis 5.1. Segment Dashboard 5.2. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Application Movement Analysis 5.3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Size & Trend Analysis, by Application, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 5.4. Diabetes 5.5. Strokes 5.6. Alzheimer's disease 5.7. Parkinson's disease 5.8. Spinal Cord Injury 5.9. Bladder Cancer) 5.10. Ovarian Cancer 5.11. Multiple Sclerosis Chapter 6. U.S. Female External Catheter Market: Area of Incontinence Estimates & Trend Analysis 6.1. Segment Dashboard 6.2. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Area of Incontinence Movement Analysis 6.3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Size & Trend Analysis, by Area of Incontinence, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 6.4. Stress Urinary Incontinence 6.5. Urge/OAB (Overactive Bladder) 6.6. Overflow 6.7. Functional Chapter 7. U.S. Female External Catheter Market: End-Use Estimates & Trend Analysis 7.1. Segment Dashboard 7.2. U.S. Female External Catheter Market End-Use Movement Analysis 7.3. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Size & Trend Analysis, by End-Use, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 7.4. Home Care 7.5. Hospitals Chapter 8. U.S. Female External Catheter Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis By Material, By Application, By Area of Incontinence, By End-Use 8.1. Regional Dashboard 8.2. Market Size & Forecasts and Trend Analysis, 2018 to 2030 8.3. U.S. 8.3.1. U.S. Female External Catheter Market Estimates and Forecasts, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million) Chapter 9. Competitive Landscape 9.1. Market Participant Categorization 9.2. Key Company Profiles 9.2.1. Company Overview 9.2.2. Financial Performance 9.2.3. Product Benchmarking 9.2.4. Strategic Initiatives For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/plmlf6 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, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmet Market, By Country, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2019-2029F" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmet Market was valued at USD 26.79 million in 2023 and is anticipated to project steady growth in the forecast period with a CAGR of 4.29% through 2029 The Asia-Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmet market is marked by intense competition, with key players like Zimmer Biomet Pty Ltd, whose medical products are distributed through Summit Medical Group, a globally renowned medical device distributor. Summit Medical Group extends its services to numerous countries across the region, encompassing India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Australia. It plays a pivotal role in the supply chain of advanced orthopedic surgical helmets to medical institutions throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Through strategic distribution of Zimmer Biomet's products and facilitating access to cutting-edge technology and safety innovations, Summit Medical empowers hospitals and healthcare facilities to equip surgeons with the necessary tools for enhancing patient outcomes in orthopedic procedures. The market in Asia Pacific is being propelled by the continuous development of medical technology, an escalating awareness of safety protocols, and a substantial rise in orthopedic procedures. Major countries shaping this market include China, India, Japan, and South Korea. These nations exhibit significant growth potential, driven by increasing healthcare infrastructure, a burgeoning aging population, and a growing demand for orthopedic surgeries, collectively contributing to the market's dynamism and competitiveness in the region. Integrated Sterilization and Hygiene The Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmets market is expected to experience a significant growth in the years to come. As the need for sophisticated protective equipment in healthcare environment increases, the incorporation of sterilization mechanisms directly into orthopedic surgical helmets could address key issues related to infection control. Surgical helmets designed for simple sterilization through autoclaving or ultraviolet disinfection, could improve the safety of surgeons and patients by reducing the risk for surgical site infections. This trend is likely to benefit the Asia Pacific region, due to its varied healthcare environment and increasing focus on patient safety. Not only does integrated sterilization ensure a sterile environment, but also simplifies the workflow of surgical teams, thus saving time and resources. Medical Tourism The Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmets market is expected to experience a significant growth in the coming years due to the increasing trend of medical tourism. As the Asia Pacific region becomes a preferred destination for medical procedures, such as orthopedic surgery, the demand for advanced surgical equipment, such as helmets worn by surgeons, is expected to increase. This is due to the increased volume of surgeries that are performed by travelling patients, who are often looking for cost-effective treatments and procedures. The increasing preference of medical tourists for hospitals with advanced equipment and facilities is in line with the adoption of advanced protective gear that improves surgical outcomes. Surgeon Ergonomics Healthcare institutions and surgeons are increasingly focusing on the optimization of surgical environments to ensure comfort and efficiency. As a result, the demand for orthopedic surgical helmets with ergonomic features is expected to increase significantly. These helmets, designed to reduce physical strain and discomfort, are in line with the region's dedication to improving surgical outcomes and the well-being of surgeons. Surgeons need to be able to move freely and comfortably in order to perform precise surgical operations. Ergonomic helmets offer features such as weight distribution, adjustable fit, ventilation, and noise reduction. Remote Collaboration and Tele mentoring The Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmets market is expected to experience a significant transformation in the coming years due to the emergence of Remote Collaboration and Tele-mentoring. As global medical knowledge increases and telehealth solutions become more widely adopted, specialized Orthopedic Surgical Helmets with built-in cameras and live streaming capability could become a key enabler for efficient remote collaboration. This would provide surgeons in Asia Pacific with the opportunity to benefit from the expertise and guidance of experienced professionals from all over the world, regardless of geographical distance. Remote experts, wearing Orthopedic Surgical Helmets worn by surgeons, would be able to access the operating room virtually, observe operations, provide valuable information, and even provide real-time guidance. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 133 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $26.79 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $34.75 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 4.2% Regions Covered Asia Pacific Report Scope: Key Market Players Stryker Pacific Ltd Zimmer Biomet Pty Ltd Beijing ZKSK Technology Co. Ltd Kaiser Technology co., Ltd Maharani Medicare Pvt Ltd Surgical Specialties Pty Ltd Ecolab Pte Ltd SHREE SARASWATI SURGICAL Aashis Global Diagnostic & Surgicals Prodancy Pvt Ltd Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmet Market, By End User: Hospitals & Specialty Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centers Asia Pacific Orthopedic Surgical Helmet Market, By Country: China India Australia Japan Singapore South Korea Vietnam Thailand Malaysia Indonesia For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/60ifdl 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, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Topological Quantum Computing Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2019-2029F" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Global Topological Quantum Computing Market was valued at USD 2.08 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to project robust growth in the forecast period with a CAGR of 20.19% through 2029. The topological quantum computing market refers to the rapidly evolving sector within the broader quantum computing landscape that specifically focuses on the development, commercialization, and utilization of quantum computers based on topological qubits. Topological quantum computing leverages principles from the field of topology to encode and process quantum information, offering inherent fault tolerance and increased stability compared to traditional qubit systems. This market encompasses a spectrum of activities, including research and development efforts to advance topological qubit technologies, the manufacturing of quantum hardware components, and the creation of quantum software and algorithms tailored to exploit the unique properties of topological qubits. As governments, research institutions, and private enterprises intensify their investments in quantum technologies, the topological quantum computing market plays a pivotal role in driving innovation, with the ultimate goal of realizing practical applications that surpass the computational capabilities of classical systems. The market's growth is characterized by collaboration, strategic investments, and a global effort to harness the unparalleled potential offered by topological quantum computing for solving complex problems across various industries. Key Market Trends Collaborations and partnerships between industry players, research institutions, and government agencies are becoming increasingly prevalent in the TQC market. Recognizing the interdisciplinary nature of quantum computing and the complex challenges involved in its development, stakeholders are pooling their resources, expertise, and intellectual capital to accelerate progress and drive innovation. One notable trend is the formation of strategic alliances between quantum hardware manufacturers, software developers, and end-users across various sectors. For example, semiconductor companies are collaborating with academic research groups to develop materials with topological properties conducive to qubit realization. Meanwhile, software companies are partnering with quantum hardware providers to develop algorithms and software frameworks optimized for topological qubits. Collaborations between academia and industry are facilitating the transfer of cutting-edge research from the laboratory to practical applications. Universities and research institutions are establishing joint ventures with industry partners to commercialize TQC technologies and leverage industry expertise in scaling up production and deployment. Governments are fostering international collaborations and partnerships to pool resources and expertise in quantum research and development. Multinational initiatives are aimed at addressing common challenges, harmonizing standards, and promoting knowledge exchange in the global TQC ecosystem. These collaborative efforts are vital for overcoming the technical, financial, and regulatory barriers to TQC commercialization. By fostering synergies and knowledge-sharing among stakeholders, commercial partnerships and collaborations are driving innovation and accelerating the adoption of TQC across diverse industries. Segmental Insights Offering Insights The Service segment held the largest Market share in 2023. Quantum computing hardware is complex and expensive to develop and maintain. Many businesses and researchers may find it more accessible and cost-effective to access quantum computing resources through cloud-based services rather than investing in and maintaining their quantum processors. Quantum computers, including topological quantum computers, are still in the early stages of development. Accessing quantum computing services allows users to overcome the limitations of available hardware and leverage the capabilities of more advanced systems provided by service providers. Quantum computing services often come with software frameworks and tools that facilitate the development and implementation of quantum algorithms. This can attract a diverse range of users, from researchers exploring novel algorithms to businesses seeking quantum solutions for optimization problems. Quantum computing services offered by major players often enable global collaboration, allowing researchers and businesses from different parts of the world to access and work on quantum computing projects. This collaborative aspect can drive innovation and knowledge-sharing within the quantum community. The quantum computing ecosystem, including hardware and software, is still evolving. Quantum computing services, by providing a platform for users to experiment with quantum algorithms and applications, contribute to the growth and development of the overall ecosystem. Regional Insights North America held the largest market share in the Global Topological Quantum Computing Market in 2023. North America, particularly the United States and Canada, is a leader in quantum computing research and development. Many of the world's top research institutions, universities, and technology companies in the field of quantum computing are located in North America. These entities conduct cutting-edge research into topological quantum computing, exploring novel approaches to qubit manipulation and error correction. North America benefits from strong government support for quantum computing research and development. Government agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) provide funding, grants, and research initiatives to support quantum computing projects, including those focused on topological quantum computing. North American research institutions and universities collaborate closely with industry partners, including leading technology companies such as IBM, Google, Microsoft, and startups specializing in quantum computing. These collaborations facilitate the transfer of research findings into practical applications, accelerating the development and commercialization of topological quantum computing technologies. North American governments and private sector investors have made significant investments in building quantum computing infrastructure, including quantum processors, qubit fabrication facilities, and quantum research labs. These investments strengthen North America's position as a global leader in quantum computing and attract top talent and researchers to the region. North America boasts a deep talent pool of scientists, engineers, and researchers with expertise in quantum physics, mathematics, and computer science. The region's top universities offer specialized programs and research centers focused on quantum computing, attracting students and researchers from around the world to study and collaborate on topological quantum computing projects. North American companies and research institutions hold numerous patents and intellectual property rights related to topological quantum computing technologies. These patents provide a competitive advantage and contribute to North America's leadership in the development and commercialization of topological quantum computing solutions. North American technology companies are at the forefront of commercializing topological quantum computing technologies. Companies such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft have made significant investments in developing quantum computing platforms and services, including those based on topological qubits. These efforts drive innovation, market adoption, and the advancement of topological quantum computing technology. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 181 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $2.08 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $6.33 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 20.1% Regions Covered Global Report Scope: Key Market Players Google LLC Alibaba Group Anyon Systems Inc. Bosch Global GmbH Quantinuum Limited ColdQuanta Inc. D-Wave Quantum Inc. Honeywell International Inc Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd IBM Corporation Topological Quantum Computing Market, By Offering: System Service Topological Quantum Computing Market, By Deployment: On-Premises Cloud Based Topological Quantum Computing Market, By Application: Optimization Machine Learning Simulation Topological Quantum Computing Market, By Region: North America United States Canada Mexico Europe France United Kingdom Italy Germany Spain Asia-Pacific China India Japan Australia South Korea South America Brazil Argentina Colombia Middle East & Africa South Africa Saudi Arabia UAE Kuwait Turkey For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q5t0pn 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 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bybit , the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announces the grand opening of its new office in Amsterdam on Aug. 22, 2024. This event marks a significant chapter in Bybit's European expansion but also underscores their commitment to compliance, innovation, and growth within the Dutch market. The new office in Amsterdam serves as a testament to Bybit's dedication to the local crypto community, bringing tailored opportunities and benefits to Dutch users. Powered by the collaboration with SATOS, Bybit.nl has been operational since March 2024, providing a fully localized experience, including Dutch language support and services that cater specifically to the needs of the Netherlands' vibrant crypto ecosystem. The office opening on August 22nd featured special guests, including Oracle Red Bull Racing - Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner and a host of crypto influencers, institutions, VIPs, and community members. This occasion was timed perfectly, aligning with the FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN DUTCH GRAND PRIX where the Bybit team cheered on partners Oracle Red Bull Racing as they brought home another podium win. Our expansion into the Netherlands represents more than just physical growth; its about reinforcing our commitment to compliance, user protection, and regulatory excellence in the European market, said Helen Liu, Bybits Chief Operating Officer. We are excited to offer Dutch users a platform that combines transparency, security, and cutting-edge innovation. The opening of our Amsterdam office is a significant step in delivering world-class services tailored to the local communitys needs, including the upcoming launch of the Bybit Card, which will provide even more flexibility and convenience for our users. In addition to their product offerings, Bybit is deeply invested in educating and empowering the Dutch crypto community. They believe that knowledge is the cornerstone of success in the rapidly evolving crypto landscape. To this end, Bybit will regularly conduct educational webinars, workshops, and community events designed to share insights, foster dialogue, and enhance understanding of the crypto space. The goal is to equip their users with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate the complexities of digital assets confidently. Bybits journey in the Netherlands has been nothing short of remarkable. From their initial launch to surpassing 40 million users globally, their growth is a testament to the platforms dedication to transparency, product innovation, and safety. The opening of the Amsterdam office further cements Bybit's position as a trusted partner in the Dutch crypto space. Caption: Helen Liu, Chief Operating Officer at Bybit, shared her remarks at the office opening ceremony in Amsterdam. #Bybit / #TheCryptoArk About Bybit Powered by SATOS In June 2023, Bybit formed a strategic alliance with SATOS, one of the oldest crypto service providers operating in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2013. This partnership is a testament to their commitment to providing the best services to the users in line with regulatory guidelines, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to their users. About Bybit Bybit is the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, serving over 40 million users. Established in 2018, Bybit provides a professional platform where crypto investors and traders can find an ultra-fast matching engine, 24/7 customer service, and multilingual community support. Bybit is a proud partner of Formula Ones reigning Constructors and Drivers champions: the Oracle Red Bull Racing team. For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press . For media inquiries, please contact: media@bybit.com For more information, please visit: https://www.bybit.com For updates, please follow: Bybit's Communities and Social Media Contact Head of PR Tony Au Bybit tony.au@bybit.com TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Steelworkers union (USW) is lauding an announcement by the federal government this morning to impose tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum and electric vehicles from China, in a move to reinforce domestic industry and stem the tide of unfair trade. We are pleased to see the federal government taking a more assertive role to support high-quality jobs here in Canada and create more balanced trade, said Marty Warren, USW National Director. Canadians want to see the government taking action to protect and create good jobs in Canada. Our government can and should be more aggressive in stopping unfair trade, for the benefit of jobs in our local communities. Warren stated that its particularly important for the Canadian government to support the domestic steel and aluminum sectors as it has today by matching action being taken in the U.S. The USW has been at the forefront in calling for decisive trade action covering the electric vehicle supply chain, as expressed in its recent submission to the Department of Finance. The USW agrees that Canada should exercise its authority pursuant to section 53 of the Customs Tariff to address the threat posed by Chinese trade practices to Canada's vital supply chains, given China's egregious record on excess capacity, dumping, trade circumvention, as well as labour, human rights and environmental protection, the USW stated in its submission. While consultations only pertained to electric vehicle imports, the USW called on the federal government to enact tariffs covering steel and aluminum products as well. Canada must expand the application of its section 53 of the Customs Tariff authority to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum products originating from China, the unions submission stated. Last week, new polling suggested that Canadians overwhelmingly support the possibility of imposing tariffs on the heavily subsidized steel, aluminum and electric vehicles that are being brought into Canada from China. In a national poll by spark*insights, commissioned by Canadas steel and aluminum industry associations, 79% of Canadians supported the idea of the federal government imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum and electric vehicles imported into Canada from China, with the stated goal of supporting high-value Canadian jobs. The spark*insights poll surveyed 1,815 adult Canadians, online, from August 3-7, 2024. About the United Steelworkers union: The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. Each year, thousands of workers choose to join the USW because of the unions strong track record in creating healthier, safer and more respectful workplaces and negotiating better working conditions and fairer compensation including good wages, benefits and pensions. For more information, please contact Shannon Devine, USW Communications 416-938-4402 / sdevine@usw.ca Boston, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Fraser Collin has joined the firms Boston office as a partner in the Corporate, M&A, and Securities group. Fraser will focus his practice on advising clients on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and private equity and venture capital financings, as well as serving as outside general counsel. He joins Blank Rome from Dragonfly Group, Inc. where he served as General Counsel and Head of M&A. We are pleased to welcome Fraser to our expanding Boston office and our national corporate practice, said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome's Chair and Managing Partner. He is a seasoned corporate attorney with a wealth of experience handling complex transactions. His combined experience in private practice and as in-house counsel strengthens our Corporate, M&A, and Securities group, and provides great value to clients who are looking for strategic guidance on deals and other business ventures. Fraser has 20 years of experience in M&A and general corporate advisory work. Over the past five years, he has served as primary counsel on several M&A and capital raising transactions as in-house counsel. Prior to joining Dragonfly, a private equity backed e-commerce company, Fraser was the assistant general counsel of WIN Waste Innovations, a leading private equity backed waste management and environmental services company, and deputy general counsel of Interactions LLC, a venture backed provider of conversational artificial intelligence solutions. Before going in-house, Fraser was a partner at Burns & Levinson LLP, where he worked closely with the leading corporate and finance team that joined Blank Rome in May to open the firms Boston office, which now has 31 attorneys. We're delighted to have Fraser rejoin our team, said Josef B. Volman, partner and co-chair of the Boston office. Fraser was a key member of our group years ago before he decided to go in-house as a general counsel. Our clients will greatly benefit from his remarkable experience and perspective, and our team here in Boston and beyond is thrilled to have him back with us. We are excited to welcome Fraser to our firm, said Peter Schnur, partner and co-chair of the Corporate, M&A, and Securities group. His insights as a former general counsel are very valuable in anticipating client needs, especially those of startups with unique legal demands. Frasers background and Boston business community and venture capital connections are invaluable for advising startups and other clients on everyday corporate matters. I am thrilled to join Blank Rome and reunite with many former colleagues, said Fraser. I was impressed by Blank Romes national platform, and its depth of experience in many practice areas that are complementary to the needs of corporate clients such as employment, intellectual property, litigation, debt financing, and real estate. I look forward to working with my new colleagues across the firm to provide high-quality service and value to our clients. Fraser earned his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and his B.A. from Boston College. The corporate and finance attorneys that joined Blank Rome to open the firms Boston office counsel clients across a broad range of legal services including acting as corporate counsel and advising on mergers, acquisitions, securities law, private equity, venture capital, and finance. They serve an expansive range of clients including local, national, and international corporations in a wide variety of industries from emerging businesses to established commercial entities. More specifically, the team works with public companies, middle-market companies, closely held private businesses, family-owned enterprises, financing sources, entrepreneurial start-ups, and individuals to help them create and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing environment. They also represent many financial institutions including banks and private credit funds in sophisticated lending transactions. About Blank Rome Blank Rome is an Am Law 100 firm with 16 offices and 750 attorneys and principals who provide comprehensive legal and advocacy services to clients operating in the United States and around the world. Our professionals have built a reputation for their leading knowledge and experience across a spectrum of industries and are recognized for their commitment to pro bono work in their communities. Since our inception in 1946, Blank Romes culture has been dedicated to providing exceptional service to all of our clients and has been rooted in the strength of our diversity and inclusion initiatives. For more information, please visit blankrome.com. ### Attachment San Antonio, Texas, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This fall, Endeavors Unlimiteds Job Supportive Services will join forces with Morgans MAC (Multi-Assistance Center) through the Workforce Inclusion Network (WIN) program, expanding employment opportunities from their De Zavala office, for San Antonians with disabilities. For decades, this community has faced many challenges and the organizations have come together to address this stark reality. In 2023, less than a quarter of the disabled population was employednearly three times lower than those without disabilities, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Endeavors Unlimited is bringing its expertise in resume-building, career mapping, financial education, and interview training to this powerful new collaboration, ensuring that every MAC member has the tools and support needed to thrive in the workforce. Additionally, Endeavors Unlimited provides on-the-job supportive services for those with disabilities. Salary and schedule negotiation, work accommodation implementation, and transportation planning can support the comfort and fair treatment of clients throughout their career. Equipping individuals with these strategies for success, wellness is also considered and implemented through Endeavors Unlimiteds services. The organization understands the importance of emotional stability and confidence in the workplace and offers anger management, anxiety management, and conflict resolution courses to ensure job security, productivity, and social growth for their clients. As a national non-profit with over 30 years of experience serving adults with disabilities, Endeavors, along with several other organizations that combat barriers to equity for the disabled community, have called San Antonio home. Proud to continue this legacy of equal opportunity, Endeavors Unlimited is excited to further aid in the success of those with disabilities in our community. For non-MAC members seeking employment assistance, Endeavors Unlimited offers Job Supportive Services at 6391 De Zavala Rd Suite 111, San Antonio, TX 78249. Residents seeking more information on Endeavors Job Supportive Services can reach out to info@endeavors.org. For Morgans MAC offerings, contact MACInfo@morgans.org. About Endeavors Headquartered in San Antonio, Endeavors is a national service organization that has been assisting vulnerable populations since 1969. Endeavors offers an array of services and programs supporting children, families, migrants, Veterans, and those struggling with mental illness, disabilities, disasters, or emergencies. Endeavors serves people in crisis with personalized services. For more information visit: www.endeavors.org. About Morgans MAC (Multi-Assistance Center) Revolutionary Morgans MAC is a center that improves the lives of individuals with disabilities and special needs through comprehensive and coordinated navigation services. Morgans MAC uses a family-centered approach with full collaboration from the family, MAC member, and community partners. Attachment Columbia Falls, Maine, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wreaths Across America invites citizens across the country to join in waving their flags on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, between 9-10 am EST in remembrance of those lost on 9/11/01. In addition to local efforts, a national event will be hosted LIVE on WAAs official Facebook page and broadcast over Wreaths Across America Radio with real-time interviews and stories from veterans, volunteers, Gold Star families, and first responders. Every Tuesday morning from 9-10 am EST, WAA volunteers raise the American flag from the Freeport Flag Ladies Monument on Route 1 in Jonesboro, Maine. The monument was built by WAA in partnership with its founder, Morrill Worcester, in September 2019 in honor of the Freeport Flag Ladies, who retired after 18 years of waving the American Flag in Freeport, Maine, each Tuesday since September 11, 2001. Following the devastation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, citizens across the country, like the well-known Freeport Flag Ladies in Maine, felt compelled to take to the streets, waving their flags, silently conveying messages of support, unity and pride for all to see, said WAA Executive Director Karen Worcester. Each Tuesday morning, we continue this tradition, waving our American flags in honor of all those whose lives were lost and to remember the unity and pride felt during that time, which is needed as much now as ever. WAA encourages the public to join this weekly tradition by sharing pictures and videos on social media using the hashtag #FlagsAcrosstheCountry. Videos and photos can be uploaded easily with this link. Follow WAA on Facebook, tag posts and share where you are participating from. You can support WAAs mission to remember, honor, teach by sponsoring a remembrance wreath at www.wreathacrossamerica.org. Each $17 sponsorship goes toward a live balsam wreath placed on the headstone of an American hero as we endeavor to honor all veterans laid to rest on Saturday, December 14, 2024, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day. # # # About Wreaths Across America Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organizations mission Remember, Honor, Teach is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington and thousands of veterans cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond. Please visit our Media Resources Page to download background, photos, logos, or other items to help you file your story. Please credit all imagery to WAA Staff. Additional press photos and video can be available via email request at rwilson@wreathsacrossamerica.org. See local press contacts listed above by date for interviews, or contact the national office for interviews with MEE Manager Trish Gardner. Attachment Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Transparency Market Research, Inc. , Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global wire cutting machine industry ( ) generated US$ 2.9 billion in 2023 . The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2024 to 2034, reaching US$ 5.2 billion by then. Many industries, such as electronics, aerospace, and automobiles, require the cutting of wires with extreme precision. Machines provide higher precision than human methods, hence the need for wire cutting machines. As industries, including electronics, medical devices, and aerospace, demand smaller, lighter, and more intricate components, wire cutting machines will specialize in micromachining and ultra-precision cutting. As a result, the development of wire EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) and laser cutting technologies will advance in order to achieve sub-micron levels of accuracy. Designed to handle a wider range of materials, geometries, and cutting needs, future wire cutting machines will be more adaptable and multifunctional. The adaptive tooling system and modular platform will increase production flexibility and enable rapid reconfiguration for various applications. For More Details, Request for a Sample of this Research Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/wire-cutting-machine-market.html Additive manufacturing (3D printing) continues to gain popularity in a wide range of industries, and wire-cutting machines can be used to process printed parts in post-processing operations, including wire EDM removing support structures, polishing surfaces, and precision machining. Key Findings of Market Report In 2023, North America was the region with the highest growth rate The Asia Pacific experienced substantial market growth in 2023. In Germany, hybrids and electric cars are outstripping conventional cars, which is driving demand for wire cutting machines in the market. In terms of machine type, demand for wire cutting machines is likely to come from CNC wire cutting machines. A large share of the market is expected to come from direct sales of wire cutting machines. Global Wire Cutting Machine Market: Growth Drivers The advent of Industry 4.0 has resulted in an unprecedented demand for automation among businesses. Wire cutting devices play a significant role in the adoption of automated manufacturing processes. With global industrialization advancing, there will be a growing need for machinery and equipment. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, laser cutting, and ultrasonic cutting technologies are continually being developed, thereby contributing to increased efficiency, precision, and versatility in the wire cutting machine market. Consumer demand for increasingly customized items is forcing manufacturers to provide extremely personal solutions. In order to meet the increasing need for individualization, wire cutting machines are capable of cutting wires in a variety of sizes, shapes, and materials. Wire-cutting machines reduce labor costs and material waste by optimizing the cutting process. As a result of their cost-effectiveness, manufacturers seeking to increase profits find them appealing investments. Several strict safety laws govern the automotive and aerospace industries, which require sophisticated machinery to ensure worker safety and comply with industry standards. Wire-cutting machines with safety features and compliance with local laws are in demand. For Complete Report Details, Request Sample Copy from Here- https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/wire-cutting-machine-market.html Global Wire Cutting Machine Market: Regional Landscape Wire cutting machines are expected to be in high demand in North America. As labor costs rise overseas, supply chain disruptions occur, and companies want more control over production processes, reshoring manufacturing operations to North America is becoming more common. As companies bring manufacturing back to the region, they require advanced machinery like wire cutting machines to support their production needs. A variety of applications, such as cable cutting and preparation, are being supported by ongoing infrastructure development initiatives, such as transportation, building, and telecommunications networks. Advanced manufacturing technological research and development are centered in the United States. Businesses in the region constantly invest in innovation in order to remain competitive, which supports the use of state-of-the-art wire cutting machines. A strict quality and safety regulation governs the North American industry in terms of quality and safety. Wire cutting equipment that provides high precision, dependability, and regulatory compliance is attractive to manufacturers of medical devices, automobiles, and aerospace. Companies are embracing automation solutions at a rapid pace in an effort to reduce labor costs and increase productivity. Due to their crucial role in automating production processes, wire cutting machines are in high demand across the region. Government programs that encourage innovation, technological adoption, and manufacturing competitiveness are also contributing to the market expansion of wire-cutting machines in North America. The government offers businesses incentives such as tax rebates for capital investments, which encourage them to invest in sophisticated equipment like wire cutting equipment in order to grow their business. Global Wire Cutting Machine Market: Competitive Landscape Innovation in multi-axis wire cutting machines is a major focus of wire cutting machine manufacturers. As well as providing wire cutting machines for various industries, they offer different types of multi-strand wire cutting machines. Key Players Profiled Sodick Makino Inc. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation GF Machining Solutions Management SA Mold Masters Key Developments In February 2024, Makino unveiled the UPX400 wire EDM machine, designed specifically for new energy vehicles (NEV), such as smoother battery components, uniform housings, and quieter gears. Global Wire Cutting Machine Market: Segmentation Machine Type CNC Wire Cutting Machine EDM Wire Cutting Machine Operation Type Automatic Semi-automatic Manual Cutting Method Mechanical Method Electrical Method Laser Method Abrasive Method Technology CNC Wire Cutting Machine PLC-controlled Wire Cutting Machine Traditional Wire Cutting Machine End-use Industry Automotive Electronics Construction Aerospace Telecommunication Others (Defense, etc.) Distribution Channel Direct Sales Indirect Sales Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa South America Elevate Your Business Strategy! Purchase the Report for Market-Driven Insights: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=860230.5% Cu domain from the 2023 Block Model (See NI43-101 Report available at giantminingcorp.com). Click Image To View Full Size Figure 1 - MHB-30 Copper Mineralized Fragments in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Breccia The recent core drilling intersected the magmatic-hydrothermal breccia bodies in core hole MHB-30 and MHB-31, as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2. Drill hole MHB-31 drilled in the gap zone between whittle pits 13 and 43 as shown on Figure 3 and Figure 4. The Team also reviewed the nearly 25,000 meters of drilling at the company's core shed and offices in Elko, Nevada that makes up the basis for the Exploration Target 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 tonnes. (See NI43-101 Report available at giantminingcorp.com). Click Image To View Full Size Figure 2 - MHB-31/9.5 meters (31 feet) Copper Mineralized Fragments in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Breccia Click Image To View Full Size Figure 3 - Cross Section from Block Model - Company Presentation available at giantminingcorp.com "With 82,000 Feet of previous drilling at Majuba Hill, the completion of two holes totaling X,X00 feet of 2024 drilling and an additional 16 reverse circulation holes planned, Giant Mining's Management believes we are on our way to delineating the next great American copper supply in the number one mining friendly jurisdiction on the Planet. It is important to note that both the MHB 30 and 31 drill holes were terminated in mineralization as the drill crew ran out of piping, meaning the opportunity remains to expand the size and potential of this deposit past the 1,000 foot level. We are excited by the progress of our drilling program at Majuba Hill, particularly with assays pending and a team that is fully engaged to take the Majuba Hill Deposit to the next stage of development," said David Greenway, CEO of Giant Mining. "We look forward to receiving the lab results from ALS Global Services, which will further our understanding of the deposit and its potential to become a future domestic supply of copper for United States of America." Leo Hathaway, Advisor to Giant Mining, commented "It is encouraging to see these two holes intersect breccias over wider intervals than predicted, and it is exciting to await results from these mineralized bodies. As the geology model evolves Buster and his team are able to target holes more and more effectively to find better grade and continuity". Click Image To View Full Size Figure 4 - Giant Mining historic holes in red and planned drilling in green (RC) and blue (Core) Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") Measures, Chain of Custody The Company utilizes a QA/QC program using best industry practices at the Majuba Hill Project. The samples are placed in cloth or plastic sample bags and are transported from the Giant Mining secure warehouse or directly from Woods Process to the ALS Labs Sample Prep Facility in Elko, Nevada. ALS then transports the prepared pulps to their analytical lab in North Vancouver, B.C. Drill core samples are sawn in half lengthwise and one half is placed in labeled cloth sample bags. All samples are analyzed for copper, gold, silver, and 33 other elements. Gold is determined by ALS Labs method Au-AA23 which is a fire assay with an AAS finish on a 30-gram split. Copper, silver, and the remaining 31 elements are determined by ALS Labs method ME-ICP61 which is a four-acid digestion and ICP-AES assay. Approximately 10% of the submitted samples are drill duplicates and copper-gold-porphyry commercial standard reference material pulps. The sample rejects and remaining pulps will be retrieved from ALS Labs. Qualified Person The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by E.L. "Buster" Hunsaker III, CPG 8137, a non-independent consulting geologist who is a "Qualified Person" as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"). About Giant Mining Corp. Giant Mining Corp. is engaged in the identification, review and acquisition of latter stage copper and copper/silver/gold assets. This is in direct response to the growing worldwide demand and lack of supply for precious metals fueled by the Green New Deal in the US and most other developed nations with similar programs aimed at addressing climate change. Such programs are heavily reliant on silver, gold and especially copper to produce Electric Vehicles and other renewable power sources, as well as building infrastructure to provide clean and affordable electricity. The flagship project is the Majuba Hill copper, silver and gold District located 156 miles (251 km) outside Reno, Nevada, USA. Management has been mandated to focus on safe, mining friendly jurisdictions where government regulations are supportive of mining operations. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. On Behalf of the Board of Giant Mining Corp. "David Greenway" David C. Greenway President & CEO For further information, please contact: Joel Warawa VP of Corporate Communications E: info@giantminingcorp.com P: 1 (855) 475-0745 VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS www.giantminingcorp.com LIKE AND FOLLOW Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn DOWNLOAD INVESTOR INFORMATION Click Here Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Giant Mining Corp. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Giant Mining Corp. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Giant Mining Corp. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. ### Copyright (c) 2024 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. /NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ VANCOUVER, Aug. 26, 2024 - P2 Gold Inc. ("P2" or the "Company") (TSXV:PGLD) reports that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement of up to 10 million units (the "Units") at a price of $0.05 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $500,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (an "Offering Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share in the capital of the Company at an exercise price of $0.10 per common share for a period of two years from the date of issue (the "Expiry Time"), provided that, if after four months from the date of issue, the closing price of the common shares of the Company on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") is equal to or greater than $0.20 for a period of 10 consecutive trading days at any time prior to the Expiry Time, the Company will have the right to accelerate the Expiry Time of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders of the Warrants by news release or other form of notice permitted by the certificate representing the Warrants that the Warrants will expire at 4:30 p.m. (Vancouver time) on a date that is not less than 15 days from the date notice is given. The Offering will close on completion of documentation and is conditional upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Exchange. The proceeds of the Offering will be used to fund exploration expenditures and for general corporate purposes. The Offering will be offered to accredited investors in all Provinces of Canada pursuant to applicable securities laws. In connection with the Offering, the Company may pay finders' fees as permitted by the policies of the Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period. The securities to be offered in 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, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news 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. The Company anticipates that insiders will subscribe for Units. The issuance of Units to insiders is considered a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The Company intends to rely on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 on the basis that the participation in the Offering by the insiders will not exceed 25% of the fair market value of the company's market capitalization. A material change report in connection with the Offering will be filed less than 21 days before the closing of the Offering. This shorter period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as the Company wishes to complete the Offering in a timely manner. About P2 Gold Inc. P2 Gold is a mineral exploration and development company focused on advancing its gold-copper Gabbs Project on the Walker Lane Trend in Nevada. A positive preliminary economic assessment has outlined a long-life, mid-size mine at Gabbs with annual average production of 104,000 ounces gold and 13,500 tonnes copper over a 14.2 year mine life. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. "Forward-looking information" includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, information with respect to the Company's expectations, strategies and plans for exploration properties including the Company's planned expenditures and exploration activities, the Offering and the issuances of securities pursuant to the Offering. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made, including without limitation, that the Exchange will accept the Offering, the issuance of securities under the Offering will be approved, required fundraising will be completed, as well as the other assumptions disclosed in this news release. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including without limitation, failure to obtain Exchange acceptance of the Offering and/or the issuance of securities pursuant to the Offering, failure to raise sufficient funds on the proposed terms or at all, and risks associated with mineral exploration, including the risk that actual results and timing of exploration and development will be different from those expected by management. See "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2023, dated March 21, 2024 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks. The Company cautions that 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. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. SOURCE P2 Gold Inc. VANCOUVER, Aug. 26, 2024 - Orla Mining Ltd. (TSX: OLA) (NYSE: ORLA) ("Orla" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the release of its 2023 Sustainability Report, continuing to highlight the Company's commitment to environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") initiatives. Orla operates the Camino Rojo mine in Zacatecas, Mexico and is developing the South Railroad project in Nevada, US, with active exploration programs at both sites. In a commitment to sustainability and in an effort to minimize consumption, the 2023 report is being presented online and is available here: Orla Mining: Sustainability Report 2023. The Company's "Towards 2030 Sustainability Strategy" is designed to deliver lasting value by maximizing stakeholder benefits, minimizing negative impacts, and managing stakeholder relationships with care. Orla is integrating sustainability across operations, with clear metrics, climate strategies, and ongoing efforts to reduce emissions, water use, and overall environmental impact. 2023 Sustainability Performance Highlights: Achieved global leading metrics on emissions and water management at its Camino Rojo operations in Mexico: 0.19 tonnes of CO 2 equivalent per ounce of gold produced. 0.12 m 3 /t of processed ore water intensity, with zero water discharge (100% of water reused and recycled). Increased female representation among contracted workforce from 3.6% to 14.6%. Generated US$10.7 million in community economic contributions at Camino Rojo, including salaries, local procurement, land leases and investments in local infrastructure. Achieved a lost time injury frequency rate of 1.71 across Company sites. Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) is a measure used in workplace safety to quantify the number of injuries resulting in lost work time, per one million hours worked. 25% of Orla's corporate goals were ESG-linked, all of which were achieved. For more information on Orla's corporate goals, please refer to the Company's 2024 Management Information Circular. 100% of Orla executives and managerial-level employees were evaluated against ESG performance. "After more than two years of production, we remain committed to transparent and consistent reporting, which are integral elements of our "Sustainability Strategy: Towards 2030". By sharing our progress, we reinforce our commitment to accountability and continuous improvement in our ESG efforts. This year's report is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team as we strive to meet our long-term sustainability goals." - Chafika Eddine, Orla's Chief Sustainability Officer Orla's Sustainability Report continues to be guided by material topics, as defined by the Company's latest materiality assessments. The report's disclosures are aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standard and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. Orla also supports and contributes to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). About Orla Mining Ltd. Orla's corporate strategy is to acquire, develop, and operate mineral properties where the Company's expertise can substantially increase stakeholder value. The Company has two material gold projects: (1) Camino Rojo, located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and (2) South Railroad, located in Nevada, United States. Orla is operating the Camino Rojo Oxide Gold Mine, a gold and silver open-pit and heap leach mine. The property is 100% owned by Orla and covers over 139,000 hectares which contains a large oxide and sulphide mineral resource. Orla is also developing the South Railroad Project, a feasibility-stage, open pit, heap leach gold project located on the Carlin trend in Nevada. The technical reports for the Company's material projects are available on Orla's website at www.orlamining.com, and on SEDAR+ and EDGAR under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov, respectively. SOURCE Orla Mining Ltd. Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / August 26, 2024 Element79 Gold Corp. (CSE:ELEM, FSE 7YS0, OTC:ELMGF) a mining company focused on gold and silver committed to maximizing shareholder value through responsible mining practices and sustainable development, announces it has uplisted the trading of shares of its common stock from the OTC Pink Market to the OTCQB Venture Market (OTCQB), effective as of August 23, 2024. Following this uplisting, the Company's common shares start trading on the OTCQB under the symbol "ELMGF" as of the opening of the market on August 26, 2024. The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "ELEM" and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "7YS0". "We are thrilled to announce the uplisting to the OTCQB in line with our strategic growth objectives. This move is a direct result of our commitment to transparency and achieves our team's goal to enhance our visibility with the investment community, and to all investors, through listing our shares on a larger, more accessible exchange. The OTCQB market has increased compliance and quality standards, broadens access and may improve liquidity for shareholders. We are confident this step will expand Element79's visibility and attract a wider range of investors," said James Tworek Chief Executive Officer and Director. About Element79 Gold Corp Element79 Gold's focus is on exploring developing its past-producing, high-grade gold and silver mine, the Lucero project located in Arequipa, Peru, with the intent to restart production in the near term. The Company holds a portfolio of five properties along the Battle Mountain trend in Nevada, and the projects are believed to have significant potential for near-term resource development. The Company is currently reviewing the Battle Mountain portfolio for exploration and development or sale. The Company also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Dale Property, 90 unpatented mining claims located approximately 100 km southwest of Timmins, Ontario, and has recently announced that it has transferred this project to its wholly owned subsidiary, Synergy Metals Corp, and is advancing through the Plan of Arrangement spin-out process. For more information about the Company, please visit its new website: www.element79.gold Contact Information For corporate matters, please contact: James C. Tworek, Chief Executive Officer and Director E-mail: jt@element79.gold For investor relations inquiries, please contact: Investor Relations Department Phone: +1.403.850.8050 E-mail: investors@element79.gold Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. in particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the anticipated benefits of listing on the OTCQB, including greater capital markets visibility and awareness. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including the assumption that the Company will remain listed on the OTCQB and that it will recognize the anticipated benefits of listing on the OTCQB, including that the Company's securities will receive greater visibility and awareness amongst investor communities. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Company. Although such statements are based on reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any conclusions or forecasts will prove to be accurate. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include the risk that the Company de-lists from the OTCQB or otherwise does not realize the anticipated benefits from its listing on the OTCQB, including that shareholders do not experience increased liquidity in the common shares of the Company as a result of its uplisting on the OTCQB. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Copyright (c) 2024 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2024 - McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX) is pleased to announce that its 48%-owned McEwen Copper Inc. has secured an agreement with YPF Luz to power its large Los Azules copper project with 100% renewable energy. This exclusive agreement covers the supply of renewable energy through a high-voltage transmission line, with YPF Luz responsible for its development and financing. YPF Luz and McEwen Copper have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allows the companies to negotiate the exclusive energy supply for the Los Azules project in the San Juan province using renewable energy sources. The agreement also includes connecting the project to the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI) via a high-voltage transmission line, the design, construction, and financing of which will be carried out by YPF Luz. The energy to be supplied will be sourced from YPF Luz's renewable assets connected to SADI. Michael Meding, VP of McEwen Copper and General Manager of the Los Azules project, stated: "Los Azules will play a critical role for Argentina and the world by significantly contributing to decarbonization. The geological potential of the project will position San Juan on the international map of resources for the energy transition, and in this context, YPF Luz is a strategic ally to help us achieve our goal of being 100% renewable." Martin Mandarano, CEO of YPF Luz, added: "We are happy to take this new step with McEwen Copper and contribute to enabling sustainable copper production, which is fundamental for the energy transition. This agreement demonstrates our commitment to providing comprehensive energy solutions tailored to the needs of each client, in this case with electrical works that allow the project to be powered by reliable and renewable energy." The MOU strengthens the alliance between the two companies, which began in early 2023 with an initial agreement to explore solutions for ensuring the power supply to Los Azules. ABOUT YPF LUZ YPF Luz (YPF Energia Electrica S.A.) is an Argentine company, a leader in power generation, operating since 2013. It currently has more than 15 assets in 7 provinces, with an installed capacity of 3.2 GW, from which it generates energy for the wholesale and industrial markets. It is building an additional 418 MW of solar and wind energy in projects located in the provinces of Cordoba, Mendoza, and Buenos Aires. YPF Luz's mission is to generate profitable, efficient, and sustainable energy, optimizing natural resources for the production of thermal and renewable energy. ABOUT MCEWEN COPPER McEwen Copper is a well-funded, private company that owns 100% of the large, advanced-stage Los Azules copper project, located in the San Juan province, Argentina. McEwen Copper is a 48.3%-owned private subsidiary of McEwen Mining, which trades under the ticker MUX on NYSE and TSX. Los Azules is being designed to be distinctly different from a conventional copper mine by consuming significantly less water, emitting much lower carbon, progressing towards carbon neutral by 2038, and being powered by 100% renewable electricity once in operation. The updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) released in June 2023 projects a long life of mine, short payback period, low production cost per pound, high annual copper production, and a 21.2% after-tax IRR. Los Azules is one of the largest and most promising copper projects globally, with significant production potential that will position McEwen Copper as a leader in providing critical metals for the global energy transition. The project is being developed in partnership with strategic partners such as Stellantis, a global leader in vehicle manufacturing, and Nuton, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto specialized in advanced technologies for efficient and sustainable copper extraction. ABOUT MCEWEN MINING McEwen Mining is a gold and silver producer with operations in Nevada, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. McEwen Mining also owns a 48.3% interest in McEwen Copper, which is developing the large, advanced-stage Los Azules copper project in Argentina. The Company's objective is to improve the productivity and life of its assets with the goal of increasing the share price and providing investor yield. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, has a personal investment in the companies of US$225 million. His annual salary is US$1. CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement. The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc. Want News Fast? Subscribe to our email list by clicking here: https://www.mcewenmining.com/contact-us/#section=followUs and receive news as it happens! MBABANE The private sector, having confidence in the country, is set to grow the economy beyond the current five per cent, says the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg. Rijkenberg said the economy of the country is on an upward trajectory, as it has surpassed previous projections. The minister said his personal opinion was that the economy could surpass seven or eight per cent in the medium term. Rijkenberg said the genesis of the economic growth was based mostly on the countrys taking a stance to fight corruption, as per the submissions of the members of the Peoples Parliament during Sibaya. In dealing with corruption, the minister said they are exposing everything through forensic investigations and also engaging in internal investigations. Expansions He said this had brought confidence to the private sector, which is in turn engaged in expansions. Rijkenberg said this meant that the private sector believes that corruption is under control and the people in positions are doing the right thing. The growth is coming from the private sector and not through massive investment by government, which means that we are on the right track, he said. The minister said the investments in infrastructure by government were also bound to yield positive spins and ensure that economic growth is also felt by the public. Rijkenberg, in his budget speech in February, said the country could be the leader on the continent, regarding gross domestic product (GDP) growth and this, in turn, would deal with unemployment and poverty. The minister highlighted that the current growth is around five per cent, but if the country would use a conservative three per cent as a baseline and then add the possible growth percentages of the projects that they are doing and planning to do, then one would notice that it is possible for the country to reach a growth rate of 10.2 per cent by the end of term in 2028. The budget deficit for the financial year 2024/25 is projected at 1.96 per cent of GDP, equal to E1.84 billion. He added that government revenue, excluding grants in the 2024/25 fiscal year, is projected to reach E26.99 billion, which is 28.8 per cent of GDP, an increase of 1.1 per cent in 2023/24. It is worth noting that Rijkenberg, in his budget on February 24, 2024, said government was in the process of constructing the Mpakeni Dam, which will provide water for irrigation and other developments, mainly in the Shiselweni Region. Loan He also tabled a loan bill to provide for the construction of a canal from the dam. The minister said unlike previous bulk water infrastructure projects, for this project, government was constructing the dam, canal and in-field infrastructure at the same time, so that when the dam is complete, the holistic project can start supplying water to farmers right away. This project should unlock a growth of 0.25 per cent of GDP in 2026, 0.5 per cent in 2027 and 2 per cent in 2028. The LUSIP II project has also been allocated a budget of E417 million to bring it to completion, so that the nation starts to realise real returns from its utilisation and feed into the overall growth imperative in the medium term. As these projects roll out, it should give us 0.5 per cent growth in 2024, 0.5 per cent growth in 2025 and 0.75 per cent growth in GDP in 2026, he said. Also, the World Bank states that Eswatinis economic prospects for 2024 are favourable, partly because of higher Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) revenues. Projects The World Bank projected that an increase in government expenditure would support economic activity and external funding for major capital projects such as the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Dam, which would boost both demand and supply.The wholesale and retail, construction and public administration sectors are all expected to benefit from higher public spending. The tourism sector is expected to continue its recovery and remittances are picking up, the World Bank projected. However, it was stated that difficulties in the external and domestic environments constrain the countrys growth potential, although real GDP growth is expected to continue to grow at 4.1 per cent in 2024, global turmoil and a slowdown in the economy of the major trading partner, i.e., South Africa, are likely to dampen economic activities. Despite this, according to the World Bank, Eswatini faces multiple development challenges to ensure inclusive, sustainable and resilient economic growth. Central among these, the World Bank stated, was Eswatinis unsustainable public sector-driven growth model, which had trapped the country in a low growth and high poverty and inequality equilibrium and crowded out investments in productive sectors and private sector development. Antonelli will not race a Williams at Monza says Wolff Andrea Kimi Antonelli is not a contender to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams. Kimi Antonelli, Austria test 2024 Mercedes It is clear that Liam Lawson and Mick Schumacher are in the running to step into Sargeant's cockpit from Monza, having exhausted the patience of team boss James Vowles. Toto Wolff's newly-18-year-old protege Antonelli was also rumoured to be a contender, to give him precious experience before his expected full debut for Mercedes in 2025. Team boss Wolff, however, says no. We will continue with our program, do the testing with Kimi, prepare him, and he will finish his Formula 2 season, the Mercedes chief told Sky Deutschland on Sunday. Indeed, Wolff has now confirmed reports that the boy-faced Italian will make his official F1 race weekend debut this Friday at Monza, in FP1. It's a great emotion for us, the Austrian said. "We started working with Kimi when he was 11 years old, and in Monza he will come out of the pitlane in a Mercedes. We want to hear all the grandstands make a lot of noise for him, Wolff added. It will be at least bittersweet for Wolff, however, given that Mercedes' recent race-winning form disappeared at Zandvoort. First of all, I'm happy about Monza in that we'll be using Kimi in the first free practice session, he said. "But we have to look at everything now and make some changes to the car. Maybe go back a bit to what we had in Spa. The car we have is sometimes a box of surprises, Wolff added. "It's not the same car that was fighting for first and second place six weeks ago. Perhaps it was the setup, the track or the floor. Or even all of them put together. (GMM) Dutch King throws support behind new deal for Zandvoort The King of the Netherlands has thrown his support behind the survival of the Dutch GP. Dutch GP 2024 Red Bull Formula 1 is willing to enter a new contract with Zandvoort beyond 2025, but race organisers are hesitating for financial reasons. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said over the Dutch GP weekend that a potential solution for the popular event could be a new scheme from 2026 in which some European races annually alternate. I am convinced that this place has a future, the Italian told De Telegraaf. They deserve it. Zandvoort director Robert van Overdijk reacted: "We are proud that Stefano says that he is absolutely convinced that it will continue after 2025. "There is no final agreement yet. There is still homework to be done. We are not averse to taking some risks, we have shown that, but they must be acceptable risks that we are comfortable with. That will happen when we feel that the interest among our sponsors, our partners and our ticket buyers is still as high as in recent years, said van Overdijk. Several influential Dutch political figures were at the Dutch GP, and another highly conspicuous presence was the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander. You often hear positive stories abroad about the grand prix here in Zandvoort and it is clear that this race is an example for the entire Formula 1, he said. Should they continue after 2025? I don't decide that, but it would be great if this race continues for as long as possible. It is fantastic advertising for the Netherlands. Although no longer hosting the event every year would be a blow, an alternating scheme would at least mean the Formula 1 race at Zandvoort lives on. The order of things is that we first have to determine whether it is an acceptable risk for us, van Overdijk said when asked about the contract options. "Then you consult with FOM about what form it takes. Domenicali says that we will give each other until the end of the year to continue talking. FOM knows that we still have quite a job to do, he added. I don't read a hard deadline into it, but the fact that you are given the space for it shows that they are happy with us. A decision really doesn't have to be made in the coming weeks. (GMM) Haas team still blocked from leaving Zandvoort Although the Haas team has transferred its outstanding debt to disgruntled former sponsor Uralkali, the F1 outfit has barred from leaving the Zandvoort circuit on Sunday night. Kevin Magnussen, Dutch GP 2024 Haas Sky Italia claimed on Sunday that the approximately 10 million euro debt to the Russians, accrued when Haas axed the deals with Uralkali and Nikita Mazepin early in 2022, has actually been paid by the team. Everything is now settled, team owner Gene Haas, who is reportedly also being prevented from leaving the Netherlands, told Bild newspaper. The money was apparently processed via an account in the Middle East on Friday - but Uralkali is yet to receive it. Therefore, Haas' F1 cars and all team equipment are still officially in the custody of Uralkali's Dutch legal representatives and authorities. I was informed that our trucks would not be leaving on Sunday evening, a spokesman for the small American team confirmed. We have to wait for the confirmation of receipt of the payment, which we made on Friday. Once acknowledged, they will be on their way to Italy on Monday. A spokeswoman for Uralkali also told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper: "There is finally progress in this case, but the money has not yet arrived. That may be because the banks are closed on the weekend. As soon as the money is in our account, Haas is free to leave. (GMM) Politicians listening to Dutch GP money problems Dutch politicians are finally "listening" to warnings that the country could lose its Formula 1 race after 2025. Dutch GP 2024 Alpine Zandvoort director Robert van Overdijk has been sounding the alarm for weeks that, at present, race promoters do not feel comfortable entering another agreement with Liberty Media. The interest is still very high, he said on Friday. The grand prix will remain great fun for at least two more editions. And then we will see what happens next. Van Overdijk clarified that he is not in dispute with Formula 1 itself. Let me just make one thing clear, he said. "I think I can say that because Stefano Domenicali himself has already said something about it. We were not named promoter of the year for nothing. So the choice is ours. It is not the case that FOM still has to make a choice, that is clear. So what's the problem? Money, pure and simple, van Overdijk explained. Sometimes it is good to put it very simply, he said. Three years ago we took a huge financial risk. The cost estimate is now around 75 million euros for a weekend event. Is it ok to seek a bit of comfort before you sign again? The Dutch GP is one of very few on the current race calendar that receives no government funding. We are not asking the government for anything, let that be clear, van Overdijk insisted. "We have shown in recent years that we can perfectly stand on our own two feet. "Incidentally, I am now finding a listening ear among party leaders, and this is the first time. That may sound very strange if you have been organising the largest event in the Netherlands for a number of years, but we did not have that with the previous cabinet. This cabinet is listening. That does not mean anything and we are not asking for it either. But it is quite nice that a number of party leaders are showing their faces this weekend, he concluded. F1 CEO Domenicali declared at Zandvoort that a new rotation scheme, where two European hosts annually alternate a single calendar spot, could rescue the Dutch GP. It is no secret that we are looking at different options for the future, he told De Telegraaf. It could be that this race will continue to exist annually, depending on how the local organisation assesses that. Or maybe they think it is more interesting to rotate with another circuit? We are also looking at that, the Italian added. "The goal is to have an agreement before the end of the year. I am convinced that this place has a future. They deserve that because they have been an example for many other grand prix organisers, and we won't forget that. The ball is more in Zandvoort's court than ours, Domenicali concluded. (GMM) Kelloggs Diner 518 Metropolitan Ave., at Union Ave. Chef Jackie Carnesi inside Kelloggs Diner. Photo: Jeremy Liebman Welcome to Grub Streets 2024 Fall Restaurant Preview. All week, were diving into the upcoming openings were most excited about. When Kelloggs Diner the chromed-out lodestar tucked under the BQE overpass went bankrupt, restaurateur Louis Skibar took over with a plan to help it join the citys growing roster of modern neo-diners. To rethink the food, he tapped chef Jackie Carnesi, the Empellon and Robertas vet, who grew up in the Texas border town of Brownsville and arrives at Kelloggs with a deep affinity for southern and Tex-Mex cooking. Do you know the restaurant Pappasitos? Carnesi asks, explaining that the Texas cantina chain uses massive tortilla rollers similar to one purchased for the diner. I dont know where were going to put it, she says. Before Kelloggs, Carnesi was the chef of Nura, a Greenpoint restaurant serving Indian-accented New American food. It was the sort of gig shed wanted to find when she first came to the city. Nura was my dream for a really long time, she says. At first, she signed on at Kelloggs only as a consultant, but it was Michelle Lobo, the owner of Nuras, who pointed out what a rare opportunity this diner could be. Its a big change, starting with the literal size: I dont think youre prepared for how big this space is, Carnesi says while talking me through the basement. Theres a meat grinder and a storage room just for liquor. Theres a rooftop terrace and a second floor that, when it opens, will be a restaurant within the restaurant. Aside from possibly the Robertas campus, its bigger than anywhere else shes cooked. The kitchen sprawls as well, but the menu remains grounded. Ive never worked at a restaurant where Im expected to make things that largely already exist, Carnesi jokes. Some diner standards waffles, a BEC will hew to the Platonic ideal; others will get Texan accents: cornmeal pancakes, meatloaf with poblano peppers and chipotle ketchup, hash that swaps out corned beef for guajillo-braised short ribs, and deep-fried, thick-sliced Texas French toast. Nachos will be served tall, stacked with queso. I would be honored to be compared to somewhere like the Vermillion in South Texas the motto: NOT FANCY JUST GOOD and I would feel weird about being compared to a cheffy restaurant, she says. The goal, throughout, is to give people diner food that feels deeply comforting. Jeremy Liebman. The goal, throughout, is to give people diner food that feels deeply comforting. Jeremy Liebman. Like many restaurants, Kelloggs has taken longer to open than expected. That has given Carnesi time to travel, and recipe-test, and recipe-test some more. She put out a call for employees this summer and was happy to hear from Amanda Perdomo, who was the pastry chef of Greenpoints Cool World until it closed last year. Her dessert menu will include coconut cream pie, hummingbird cake, and buttermilk pie. Theres a soft-serve machine, of course (Her ice creams are phenomenal, and shes doing mango sorbet with chamoy, Carnesi says), and strawberry pretzel salad with a Synders of Hanover crust, whipped cream, cream cheese, and strawberry Jell-O on top. There are certain things on the menu that will be as classic as it gets, Carnesi says, like huevos rancheros or chilaquiles stuff that I dont need to fuck with but I can maybe have a little fun with the fried-chicken sandwich. Google's Pixel 9 lineup loosened its grip on our trending chart, but it remained the most popular family in week 34. The Pixel 9 Pro retained its first position and even though the Samsung Galaxy A55 managed to climb back to second, the 9 Pro XL made it two out of three in the podium spots. Google Pixel 9 Pro We then have the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in fourth, followed by the vanilla Pixel 9 in fifth position. Newly announced iQOO Z9s Pro took the sixth spot, pushing the Redmi Note 13 Pro down to seventh. Samsung Galaxy A15 had to settle for eight and the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max also slipped a spot to ninth. The Redmi Note 13 rounded up this edition of the trending chart. Drawn by the U.S. militarys continued shift toward the Indo-Pacific region, major businesses are eying Guam as a base for new operations that cater to defense needs. One such company is Marunda Defense Services, which is establishing a Guam operation soon, said Michael Little, director of Business Development, for Singapore-based Marunda Private Ltd. Marunda is a leading provider of comprehensive engineering solutions, offering a wide range of services tailored to meet diverse industry needs, according to its website, and deploys a wide range of technical specialists to enhance advanced repair and service capabilities for those supporting the warfighter. Little said their Singapore-based service center has had decades of experience meeting the repair and maintenance needs of the U.S. Navy fleet, and they plan to replicate the success of their Singapore service center model on Guam. He said one of the key advantages of the Guam operation will be to reduce response time for repairing combat-ready ships in the Indo-Pacific theater. Response time is everything, you cant have the technician back in Virginia say, Ill see you in a month or ten days, that doesnt cut it, Little said. Marunda has multiple tie-ups with many of the largest defense contractors in the U.S. such as Fairbanks Morse, a multi-billion dollar military equipment and parts manufacturer. Little said they leverage their long-standing relationships with original equipment manufacturers, OEMs, to provide timely repair and maintenance services to U.S. Navy ships. Were really trying to enable that process where through the technician training, through the OEM certifications, through the supply chain, we can reduce down time of systems to make the U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command more mission ready and increase their operational availability, Little said. The company has hired as its new general manager Guam-raised, retired Navy Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Sarmiento. Little said they were drawn to Guam after hearing from customers who have asked if we could service them from Guam. Develop local workforce Little said their long-term goal is to develop a local workforce. We want to hire Guamanian residents and create a workforce that progresses with our company and raise their families on Guam, he said. To meet that need will require an alliance, a whole of government, whole of industry, whole of education, because the University of Guam cant do it by themselves, Marunda cant do it by itself, but together there could be something there, Little said. Little said the future workforce will need to be trained in the evolving technology for modern unmanned warships. Probably in the next decade were gonna see autonomous fleets out here operating, and guess what, they also break they also need routine maintenance, Little said He said with their OEM ties they would have the technical capabilities of repairing or manufacturing a part on Guam. Lets cut that supply chain in half, lets do it here and get that ship back out there, he said. Little said theyve already met with various government of Guam officials, and will host a reception this week to introduce the company and new GM Sarmiento. Former Gov. Carl T.C. Gutierrez is the general manager and CEO of the Guam Visitors Bureau, Guam permit czar, and chairman of the Governors Economic Strategy Council. Send comments or questions to GVB at communityrelations@visitguam.org. Southern Decadence arrives in New Orleans this Labor Day Weekend in a flurry of glitter, feathers, rainbow flags, outlandish outfits and 24/7 block parties. The annual celebration of LGBTQ+ culture is like Pride, but slightly more debaucherous. In the words of former Southern Decadence grand marshal Frank Perez, the five-day-long festival is a time when gay men get really drunk, they do a lot of drugs, and they have a lot of sex. Its a wonderful weekend." Oh, and theres a parade. On Sunday, Sep. 1, the Decadence parade lines up outside the Golden Lantern bar at 1239 Royal St. Kicking off at 2 p.m., the procession heads toward Uptown on Royal Street, turns right on St. Louis Street, then right again on Burgundy Street. It then turns right on St. Ann Street and left on Bourbon Street, where the route concludes. The 52nd annual Southern Decadence parades kicks off at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sep. 1.Eureeka Starfish Inspired by the Billie Eilish song of the same name, this years theme is Birds of a Feather Flock Together. The key colors are pink, gold and bright blue. If youd like to walk in the parade, theres still time to sign up. Volunteers will receive a free T-shirt for helping with registration outside of the Golden Lantern, starting at 10 a.m. Wheres the best place to watch the parade? As with most New Orleans parades, the best place to watch is wherever you can show up the earliest. If youd like to drink while you dance, however, the following gay bars are situated directly on the parade route. All of them have second-story balconies (except for Rawhide Lounge), which make for ideal viewing spots. Oz New Orleans, 800 Bourbon St. Bourbon Pub Parade, 801 Bourbon St. Good Friends Bar, 740 Dauphine St. Rawhide Lounge, 740 Burgundy St. The relative quiet of the 2024 hurricane season could be coming to an end, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather. Less than three weeks before the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, meteorologists at the weather service are predicting a surge of hurricanes and tropical storms that will shatter the silence across the Atlantic Ocean. For most of August, dry and dusty air kept tropical activity over the Atlantic to a minimum, with Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Ernesto being the two exceptions. That weather pattern of dry air is expected to shift starting in late August and going into September, which could translate into a parade of storms, according to Alex DaSilva, AccuWeathers lead hurricane expert. Between six and 10 tropical systems are predicted for September, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. This lines up well with the National Hurricane Centers updated prediction of 17 to 24 named storms for the entire season. The National Hurricane Center predicts eight to 13 of that total could develop into hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater), with four to seven becoming major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or greater). So far, five named storms have developed this season, with the most recent being Ernesto. While the storm steered clear of the mainland United States, two people drowned off South Carolinas Hilton Head Island from rip currents produced by the storm. Ernesto also swiped Puerto Rico as a tropical storm, knocking out power to 750,000 customers and leaving tens of thousands without water. While the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season occurs Sept. 10, AccuWeather meteorologists pointed out an abundance of warm water could fuel plenty of tropical storms and hurricanes heading into autumn. Not only will October remain busy, but there could be one to three more storms in November, according to AccuWeather. Hurricane season officially started on June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. Texas Gulf Coast an area of concern So, what do the latest predictions for the Atlantic hurricane season mean for Texas? Unfortunately, the Texas Gulf Coast is an area of great concern and could once again find itself in the crosshairs of tropical activity, according to DaSilva. AccuWeather also predicts that Florida and the Carolinas are at an elevated risk of a tropical storm or hurricane making landfall in those states. Texas has already been slammed by one hurricane so far this season. Beryl made landfall in early July as a Category 1 storm, killing 36 in Texas. The storm toppled trees and caused flash flooding as it ripped through Houston, leaving millions without power, which created deadly conditions in the sweltering heat that followed in the storms wake. The remnants of Beryl were also responsible for spinning up tornadoes as the system tracked over the eastern United States and ultimately triggered significant flooding in Vermont. Haiti - Politic : PM's tour, last important meetings Friday, August 23, 2024 as part of his official tour in the North Region, which ended on Saturday, August 24, the Prime Minister, Garry Conille, after his visit to Ouanaminthe on the site of the Maribaroux Plain Irrigation Canal https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43057-haiti-news-zapping.html whose water intake is on the Massacre River, source of conflicts with the neighboring Republic https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40503-haiti-flash-dr-closes-its-land-sea-and-air-borders-with-haiti-goods-and-passengers.html , had an important meeting with members of the Northern Chamber of Commerce (CCN) and the Organization for the Management of the North Destination of Haiti (OGDNH). During this meeting, he also discussed health, security and electrical issues. Other points such as : the management of the border, the Port and the Airport, as well as the Prospects of Public-Private Partnership, to achieve better governance of the Northern Region of the country, were on the agenda. Subsequently, the Prime Minister, accompanied by members of the Government, visited the Dominican Industrial Development Company (CODEVI) nearly 20,000 Haitian jobs, located in the Ouanaminthe free zone and then the Park Industrial Caracol (PIC) to assess their operating conditions. It was also an opportunity for the Head of Government to discuss with officials the challenges and opportunities and even future prospects for the sustainability of these two Industrial Parks as job providers and economic generators for the country. Thumbnail imag e: At the top, visit to the OGDNH, at the bottom, visit to CODEVI See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43057-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43046-haiti-cap-haitien-presentation-of-the-major-projects-of-the-political-transition.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43043-haiti-news-zapping.html Canal Affairs : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40503-haiti-flash-dr-closes-its-land-sea-and-air-borders-with-haiti-goods-and-passengers.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Media : Journalists accused of links with gangs, AJH wants explanations from DCPJ The Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH) sent a letter to Inspector General Pierre Rene Francois, Central Director of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) to request an information meeting regarding the cases of journalists accused of having links with criminal groups Letter from the AJH : "[...] Mr. Inspector General; The Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH) commends the work of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) in the fight against banditry and crime. These phenomena have plunged the country into an unprecedented security and humanitarian crisis. As part of the actions of the DCPJ, press workers are arrested. Others are identified in a document dated July 15, 2024 and attributed to the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police. The AJH, in its mission to ensure respect for freedom of the press and the ethical and disciplinary rules governing the exercise of the profession of journalist, requests from you an information meeting around these files that are making headlines in the media. Mr. Inspector General ; The approach of the Association of Haitian Journalists does not consist in influencing or interfering in the work of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police against crime and banditry. It will allow the AJH to gather elements for an objective assessment of the situation of these press workers. Pending this information meeting, the Association of Haitian Journalists asks you to accept, Mr. Inspector General, its patriotic greetings. Jacques Desrosiers Secretary General" HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Remarks of the PM on the canal Following his visit to the site of the irrigation canal built in Ouanaminthe, Prime Minister Garry Conille declared "I saw, listened, learned, received grievances and messages of hope from farmers, investors and part of the youth of the Northeast. The Government will work to boost production on the Maribaroux plain and launch the construction of the Rene Theodore Agricultural Technical High School in Ouanaminthe to contribute to improving agricultural incomes." 34th class : 750 police officers On Sunday, August 25, 2024, more than 750 aspiring police officers, including 213 women (28.4%), joined the National Police School as members of the 34th class of the National Police of Haiti (PNH). Selected from thousands of candidates, these future officers begin training for several months before joining their colleagues in the field to strengthen the fight against insecurity. In June 2024, 455 police officers were assigned to specialized units. Taiwan strengthens rice production in Haiti The Taiwan Technical Mission in Haiti has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture to launch the Material Assistance Program for Loans. This initiative provides quality rice seeds, affordable fertilizers, and agricultural machinery services to help farmers plant on time, ensuring food security and economic stability for families. PM : Elections, National Conference and Constitution On Saturday, August 24, 2024, Prime Minister Conille, accompanied by Dominique Dupuy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with the American Ambassador to Haiti, Dennis H. Hankins and electoral expert Sidi Diawara. The objective of this meeting was to discuss the process and preparations related to the National Conference, the constitutional reform and the organization of general elections in the country. Cap-Haitien : Port works crucial for the economy The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the North (CCIN) participated last week in the launching ceremony of the rehabilitation and construction works of the Port of Cap-Haitien https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43048-haiti-cap-haitien-official-launch-of-rehabilitation-work-at-the-international-port.html and declared "This work marks a crucial step for the economic growth of the Northern region, by strengthening essential infrastructure for trade. We are convinced that these improvements will contribute significantly to boosting trade." Reception at the Residence of France Friday, August 23, 2024 at the Residence of France, Ambassador Fabrice Mauries organized a reception to say goodbye to the partners and friends of the Embassy of France in Haiti. The Ambassador thanked his partners, Ambassador Dahomey who was his counterpart in Paris and all his collaborators of the Embassy who are leaving Haiti this summer. The Ambassador praised the courage of the Haitian people, despite the difficulties and security crises. HL/ HaitiLibre Mykkanen on Friday stated to Helsingin Sanomat that Stora Enso as the commissioner and executor of the operation must compensate fully for both the damage and the costs of the clean-up and rehabilitation efforts that are underway at the site. THERE should be no question over who should compensate for the environmental damage caused by a logging operation undertaken in Suomussalmi, Kainuu, by Stora Enso, according to Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkanen (NCP). Employees of Metsahallitus have spent recent days near the logging site carrying buckets of freshwater pearl mussels upstream in Hukkajoki River. The mussels were suffocating because the river had silted up due to a forest machine serving the logging site crossing it as many as 300 times, according to estimates based on the volume of wood harvested from the site. The river had prior to the incident housed one of the ten largest concentrations of the endangered species in Finland. Police are investigating the incident as aggravated nature conservation offence. If the pre-trial investigation produces evidence that the act was intentional, the perpetrators could be liable for millions of euros in compensation for the dead mussels, reported YLE. Stora Enso was aware of the freshwater pearl mussel population in the river and had received clear instructions from authorities for how not to disturb the habitat, reveals an e-mail seen by Helsingin Sanomat. Mykkanen on Friday stated that Stora Enso and its subcontractor are understandably continuing to negotiate how to share responsibility for the damage. The central administration, however, has no intention whatsoever to participate in sharing the costs of the clean-up, rescue and rehabilitation efforts. When youve operated so clearly and flagrantly against clear instructions, we cant be talking about something thats paid for with scarce public funds, he emphasised to the daily. With thousands of freshwater pearl mussels believed to be dead and the riverbed gravel key for the survival of baby mussels clogged with sand and slush for hundreds of metres downstream from the trail of the forest machine, Mykkanen admitted that most of the damage cannot be undone. Stora Enso, he proposed, should consider compensating for the damage by investing in protecting the species also in other parts of Finland. Freshwater pearl mussels inhabit an estimated 140150 rivers in Finland. Only a few of them, however, provide the species with a habitat that enables it to breed properly. Mykkanen also called on the forest industry more broadly to commit to designating a safe zone of 50 metres along rivers with the mussels to both prevent sand and slush from trickling from the logging site to the river and to help the mussels by preserving the shadows provided by nearby trees. A correction was made at 11:32am on 26 August: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that the incident is investigated as aggravated environmental offence. The incident is investigated as aggravated nature conservation offence. Aleksi Teivainen HT Srinagar, Aug 26 (UNI) American diplomats called on former Chief Minister and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Monday. Omar called for re-looking at the travel advisories to Jammu and Kashmir. The discussions covered a wide range of issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and the region in general, NC spokesman said. It said the US delegation included Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Graham Mayer, First Secretary Gary Applegarth, and Political Counselor Abhiram. The meeting was also attended by Member of Parliament from Srinagar Aga Ruhullah Mehdi and Chief Spokesperson and Head of Communications Tanvir Sadiq. The spokesman said that Omar emphasized to the diplomats the importance of re-looking at the travel advisories for Jammu and Kashmir with a view to easing the restrictions. He encouraged people from around the world to visit Kashmir and experience its beauty and culture firsthand. The spokesman said Omar also invited the diplomats to visit Kashmir with their families as a first step to inspire confidence among tourists from the United States and other parts of the world. In July this year, the US revised its travel advisory for India and asked its nationals not to travel to Manipur and J&K. UNI MJR CS1901 RESIDENTS from three villages attended a public meeting to discuss plans for a solar farm which they say would spoil their views of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. About 70 people from Lewknor, Postcombe and South Weston met at Lewknor village hall on Wednesday last week. Solar2 wants to build a solar PV array on 83 hectares of land on either side of the M40 in Lewknor parish. It would comprise solar panels mounted on racks and arranged in rows running along a north to south axis. The top of the panels will be approximately 3.1 metres off the ground. The panels will slowly rotate, following the path of the sun during the day, facing east in the morning and west in the evening. Solar2 says the farm could generate enough electricity to power 16,500 homes, will offset 13,000 tonnes of carbon per year and will contribute to meeting the governments 2050 net zero target. The company held a public consultation in July ahead of submitting a planning application, which is expected to be submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, in November. But residents are concerned that the farm is too close to houses, will block their views of the Chilterns and destroy their pleasure of walking through a footpath going through one of the fields. John Poole, who lives in Lower Road in Poatcombe and is a Lewknor parish councillor, chaired the meeting, which was also attended by members of the district council and Aston Rowant Parish Council. He presented a series of slides detailing plans for the solar farm. Councillor Poole said: Solar 2 is proposing to put a solar farm either side of the M40, with a salt lane running across the top. These panels are going to be 3.1 metres off the ground. They are going to be at least 1m off the ground before you get to a panel. The poles that theyre on will be pile driven into the ground. If any of you have been up to Tetsworth during the day, sometimes you will have heard the pile drivers going constantly. Around the compound and around the site theyre going to put deer fencing in and on the entrance points. The deer fencing that they have there is also going to be 2.8m high. There will be barbed wire and razor wire along the top. But thats only what theyre proposing at this stage. Cllr Poole also spoke about the proposed grid connection for the site. Solar2 plans to install a pylon, which would be about 27m high. He said: Their detail is that theyre going to have a grid connection, which isnt guaranteed till 2028 but will consist of taking the power away on a 132 kilovolt pylon, of which the minimum height is 27m. Cllr Poole explained that CCTV, public footpaths and the vista of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty would be interrupted by the solar panels. He also said that the land was suitable for growing wheat crops. He said: At the moment, its all proposed. Theres not a lot we can say about it, theres not a lot we can do about it, but we can work towards getting everything in place for when they do. Im mindful that there are some people who will support a solar farm. Im mindful there are a lot of people who will object to the solar farm. Everybodys entitled to their opinions. Cllr Poole suggested carrying out a village survey which could then be used to illustrate the villages views on the solar farm. He said: Then we can gauge the percentages of residents who are for, against and not bothered. A renewable energy survey could also be carried out which would detail how many residents have things including electric cars and solar panels to illustrate that, as a population, they were not against renewable energy. Cllr Poole said: If youre going to object to something, you dont want to just go in there and say, we dont want it. Were against the solar farm. But, individually, we all do our bit for renewable energy. Were saying were happy doing that as a community, were not happy about this commercial solar farm that they want to build. The meeting also heard that they wanted to build up evidence to demonstrate how the views would be affected by the solar farm. Cllr Poole said: We need to go and look at getting photographs and details from the viewpoints from on top of the nature reserve coming through the cutting, more than not showing cumulative visual impact, because we know which fields are going to have the panels in. We know standing on top of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that as you look down, you would see the panels starting to come into sight along at Tetsworth. Cllr Poole said there was a good chance Theres an area of natural beauty. There are footpaths, its on fields, its got viewpoints, its got arable land, all of those things. A spokesman for Solar2 said: We acknowledge that the project will change the landscape and alter residents views for its duration. However, the solar farm represents an important step toward the UKs energy security and achieving net zero. French Lawmakers reject no confidence vote in govt of new PM 09 Oct 2024 | 12:00 AM Paris, Oct 8 (UNI) Deputies of the French National Assembly rejected a no confidence vote in the government of new Prime Minister Michel Barnier, put forward by the left-wing New Popular Front bloc, the results of the vote showed on Tuesday. see more.. Putin invites CIS leaders to BRICS outreach summit in Kazan 08 Oct 2024 | 10:44 PM Moscow, Oct 8 (UNI) Russia will be happy to see the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the BRICS outreach meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. see more.. Norway raises terror threat level to second highest 08 Oct 2024 | 10:12 PM Oslo, Oct 8 (UNI) The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) raised the national terror threat level from moderate to high on Tuesday, the second-highest level in the country. In response to the heightened threat, police across Norway will be armed. see more.. iPhone 16 not yet allowed to enter Indonesian market 08 Oct 2024 | 8:02 PM Jakarta, Oct 8 (UNI) Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said Tuesday that the Southeast Asian country had yet to allow Apple's newly-released mobile phone product, iPhone 16, to enter the market as the U.S.-based company had not met the import requirement. see more.. Paytm share price plunged to the day's low 505.55 per share on the NSE today (August 26) after company's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and board members faced show-cause notices from Sebi over IPO breaches. Paytm share price today: A QR code for the Paytm digital payment system at a store in Mumbai.(Bloomberg) The markets regulator issued show-cause notices to Vijay Shekhar Sharma and board members who served during its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2021 for alleged misrepresentation of facts, Moneycontrol reported. One person in the know told the outlet, Sebi is taking the view that Sharma should have been classified as a promoter, and it was also the fiduciary duty of board members of the company to verify the accuracy of the claims made by the founder and attest the same." The source added, Although Sebi has gone after directors of a company in the past, they have been mostly cases of financial fraud. This is one of the rare cases where Sebi is trying to hold the directors responsible for a potential compliance lapse, which was also not pointed out either by bankers or statutory auditors. Paytm share price dropped 8.88 per cent to 505.55 apiece on the NSE. This year, Paytm's stock has dropped 18.17 per cent as per BSE. In the last one year, it gave negative returns of 41.20 per cent. This comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on PPB due to persistent non-compliance and ongoing significant supervisory concerns on January 31 this year. The RBI directed PPBL to close most of its operations, including deposits, credit products, and digital wallets, by March 15 this year. BENGALURU, - India's markets regulator has issued show-cause notices to Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and other board members who held roles during the firm's November 2021 IPO over alleged misrepresentation of facts, Moneycontrol reported on Monday. India markets regulator pull up Paytm founder, director on IPO breaches, Moneycontrol reports The issue revolves around whether Sharma should have been classified as a large shareholder who can influence company decision, rather than an employee, when Paytm filed its IPO papers, the report said, citing two people aware of the matter. SEBI has questioned directors at the time for backing Sharma's view of not being a large shareholder, the report said. Sharma is classified as a public shareholder, not a large shareholder, according to exchange data, which also says Paytm has no investors categorised as "large shareholders." "The company is in regular communication with the SEBI and making necessary representations regarding this matter," Paytm said, adding it has already disclosed the notice in its quarterly earnings filing. According to company disclosures, SEBI alleged that grant of 21 million employee stock options to Sharma were in violation of its rules on grant of shares-based employee benefits. As per Indian rules, large shareholders with ability to influence company decisions cannot hold ESOPs. The SEBI did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Paytm shares fell as much as 8.9% after the report. They pared some losses to close down 4.4%. SEBI was planning to change its rules to address concerns around founders and family members of tech or app-based startups owning shares under the employee stock ownership plan, Reuters reported in March 2023. This alleged non-compliance allowed Sharma to receive Paytm shares through ESOPs, Reuters reported. SEBI is not in favour of founders owning stock options if they have rights similar to big shareholders, also called promoters. Sharma owned a 14.7% stake in Paytm a year before filing to go public in 2021 but reduced his shareholding to 9.1% by transferring 30.97 million shares to Axis Trustee Services, acting on behalf of the Sharma family trust in 2021, making him eligible to receive shares under ESOP. A shareholder with more than a 10% stake in any publicly listed company is not eligible to receive stock options. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said generative AI is evoking strong interest from clients and there is a huge mobilisation of GenAI within the company as well. However, he asserted that the company is not likely to conduct any layoffs owing to new-age technologies. On the USD 3.9-billion GST tax demand, Parekh said Infosys has already given out updates and made disclosures in the market and has no further update to share. Salil Parekh, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys, while addressing a press conference in Bengaluru.(AFP) "We have no new update. The status is as it was in terms of what we shared externally a few days ago," he said when asked if the company will be making provisions for the same. Salil Parekh said there is a huge reception from clients on Generative AI and likened it to the adoption curve seen for digital and cloud technologies in the past as he believes GenAI adoption will increase with time as enterprises experience the benefits and business outcomes arising from it. He said, So we think this will accelerate as time goes on but we will wait-and-watch how it develops. It is a bit like, some years ago we started with digital or with cloud... these things start-off in a certain way... and then we see what benefits clients are getting. If they see benefits are substantial, more and more adoption will happen. Salil Parekh said that he does not expect the advent of GenAI to lead to any layoffs in the company. He said, So, at this stage, my sense is that the technology will help business to grow even further as opposed to anything else. We don't see any layoffs in Infosys with these new-age technologies, and in fact, we continue to increase our recruiting as the economic environment changes... as you saw in Q1 we had a strong growth quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, we have a very good large deals win number. And with that we increased our guidance. So we see growth slowly coming back. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued show-cause notices to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of One 97 Communications Ltd (Paytm parent company), and board members who served during its initial public offering in November 2021 for alleged misrepresentation of facts, it was reported. The notices pertain to Vijay Shekhar Sharmas alleged non-compliance with promoter classification norms. The Reserve Bank of India gave inputs for the probe, the report added. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chairman of One97 Communications Ltd., operator of Paytm, attends the Japan Fintech Festival in Tokyo, Japan.(Bloomberg) One person in the know told the outlet, Sebi is taking the view that Sharma should have been classified as a promoter, and it was also the fiduciary duty of board members of the company to verify the accuracy of the claims made by the founder and attest the same." The source added, Although Sebi has gone after directors of a company in the past, they have been mostly cases of financial fraud. This is one of the rare cases where Sebi is trying to hold the directors responsible for a potential compliance lapse, which was also not pointed out either by bankers or statutory auditors. Another person in the know said as per the report, A key issue in the case is that Sebi has initiated action three years after the listing. Sebi had known about the shareholding arrangement ever since the offer document was filed in 2021. In fact, subsequently, proxy advisory firms have also red-flagged the issue. However, Sebi initiated action only after the Paytm Payments Bank saga." The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said that the central bank was set to launch Unified Lending Interface (ULI) nationwide soon as it expects this platform to transform the lending sector in India. The pilot for ULI was launched last year by RBI to enable frictionless credit. After this, the RBI has decided to launch ULI nationwide. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seal is pictured on a gate outside the RBI headquarters in Mumbai. Shaktikanta Das said, Just like UPI transformed the payments ecosystem, we expect that ULI will play a similar role in transforming the lending space in India. The new trinity of JAM-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in Indias digital infrastructure journey. In sum, by digitising access to customers financial and non-financial data that otherwise resided in disparate silos, ULI is expected to cater to large unmet demand for credit across various sectors, particularly for agricultural and MSME borrowers, he added. Highlighting central bank digital currency (CBDC), he said that there should not be any rush to roll out system-wide CBDC before one acquires a comprehensive understanding of its impact . Such understanding would emerge from generation of user data in pilots. Actual introduction of CBDC can be phased in gradually. Undoubtedly, CBDC has the potential to underpin the payment systems of the future, both for domestic payments and also cross-border payments, he said. The central bank launched also CBDC pilots both in retail and wholesale segments back in 2022. The governor said, While the retail pilot started with the initial use case of payments, currently both the offline and programmability functionalities are also being tested. The programmability feature of CBDC could serve as a key enabler for financial inclusion by ensuring delivery of funds to the targeted user." A digital asset from a blockchain project linked to Telegram Messenger LLP has lost about $2.7 billion in market value, reflecting the uncertainty sparked by the detention of the messaging apps co-founder. Demonstrators with a icon stylised painting depicting Telegram's founder Pavel Durov protest against the blocking of the popular messaging app in Russia.(AFP) Toncoin, the token of The Open Network, slid more than 20% after Pavel Durov was reportedly taken into custody at a Paris airport on Saturday on suspicion of failing to take steps to prevent criminal use of Telegram. The 10th largest cryptoasset pared some of the drop to trade at $5.69 as of 10:36 a.m. Monday in Singapore but is still down 16% as a result of the unfolding drama over 39-year-old Durov, according to data complied by Bloomberg. The Open Network or TON blockchain has access to Telegrams 900 million monthly users via a partnership and seeks to enable services such as in-app payments and games. TONs rise spurred speculation that Telegram has a shot at becoming a super-app in the style of Chinese giants like WeChat. Venture Backing The three-year-old foundation behind the project says its separate from Telegram. But the ties between Telegram and TON turned the latter into one of cryptos most-hyped initiatives. Pantera Capital Management LP in May described a purchase of Toincoin as the firms largest-ever investment. Billionaire Durov is also Telegrams chief executive officer. The Dubai-based company issued a statement saying it abides by European laws, including the Digital Services Act, and that Durov has nothing to hide. Its too early to tell what impact Durovs detention will have on Telegram longer term, said Richard Galvin, co-founder of hedge fund DACM, which purchased TON tokens in a private round in early 2023. The weekend market reaction factored this uncertainty into the TON price for now, he added. Galvin said the key appeal of the TON-Telegram relationship is the ability to introduce Telegrams vast user base to crypto functionality, and that anything that weakens the competitive position of Telegram is negative for TON. Free-Speech Debate Governments have faulted Telegrams relatively light-touch approach to content moderation for encouraging criminality, while free-speech proponents praise the platform as a venue for open discussion. Telegram is popular with the crypto community, for instance for sharing investment tips. TON on its X social-media account joined the likes of Elon Musk in expressing backing for Durov, reposting the hashtags #FreePavel and #FREEDUROV and changing its logo to the Resistance Dog in a further show of support. The value of assets locked on the TON blockchain surged this year to a peak of $1.1 billion last month but the figure has now retreated to $661 million, data from DefiLlama show. Toncoins price more than tripled in the past year and the token has a current market value of about $14.4 billion, according to CoinGecko. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov was detained in France on Saturday night owing to investigation focused on a lack of moderators on the messaging app, it was reported. The Russian embassy in France demanded that Pavel Durov should be granted consular access and his rights must be upheld. The embassy said that France has 'avoided engagement' regarding Pavel Durov's situation so far. Here's all you need to know about Pavel Durov: Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram (AFP) Read more: Nestle Chairman says CEO change was prompted by growth concerns 1. The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire is the founder and CEO of Telegram with an estimated worth of approximately $15.5 billion. 2. Pavel Durovs journey began with the creation of VKontakte in 2006 which was Russia's version of Facebook and became the country's largest social networking site. 3. In 2014, Pavel Durov left Russia after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition networks on VKontakte. 4. At the time, he sold his stake in the company and in 2013, Pavel Durov launched Telegram. 5. The app already has hundreds of millions of users worldwide and is likely to reach one billion monthly active users in the coming year. 6. The app is popular in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet states. 7. In 2018, Russia attempted to ban Telegram after Pavel Durov refused to grant state security agents access to users' encrypted messages. This led to protests and criticism from NGOs. 8. After leaving Russia, Pavel Durov chose Dubai as Telegrams headquarters. 9. Pavel Durov has obtained French citizenship in 2021 and is also reported to hold citizenship in the United Arab Emirates. Karnataka government has suspended seven prison officers, including the jailer of central prison in Bengaluru after a picture went viral where murder accused and actor Darshan was seen smoking a cigarette in the lawn. He was seen hanging out with other prisoners in the jail. Actor Darshan's viral pics: 7 Bengaluru central prison officials including jailer suspended Also Read - Kannada actor Darshan fainted in Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara prison: Report Speaking to reporters on Monday, Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara called it a lapse and ordered an immediate probe into the matter. He said, Our officers went to the prison last night and made an inquiry about the incident. A total of seven officers were suspended in connection with the incident. This is a lapse in the prison and should not be repeated. Those suspended include jailers Sharan Basappa Amingad and Prabhu S Khandelwal, assistant jailers L S Kuppeswamy and Srikanth Talwar, head warder Venkappa, Sampath Kumar and warder K Basappa. The viral picture reportedly surfaced after a jail staffer clicked to share them with his wife and she later posted them on social media. The jail authorities were under fire for the VIP treatment of a murder accused who was allegedly involved in killing his fan, Renukaswamy. Meanwhile, Renukaswamys father, Shiva Gowda called it shocking and said that the actor does not have any guilt for killing his son. He said, We trusted the police and the justice system, but this news is shocking. He also asked the state government to take action against the actor and called for a CBI investigation. Looks like he does not have any guilt for committing a crime. Also Read - Bus on Bengaluru - Mysuru expressway dangerously cruises in wrong direction, netizens demand action. Video Actor Darshan was arrested on 11 June along with his close friend Pavitra Gowda for allegedly being involved in the murder of his fan. Renukaswamy, the victim, was killed in a shed used to park seized vehicles in south-western Bengaluru on 9 June, and his body was dumped in a stormwater drain 10km away. The motive for the crime, according to police, was that Renukaswamy, who lived in Chitradurga, 200km from Bengaluru, trolled Gowda on social media platforms, enraging her and Darshan. Beirut, Aug 26 (UNI) Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss died on Sunday at the age of 94 after a long struggle with illness, according to a statement issued by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Mikati declared three days of official mourning for al-Hoss in Lebanon, calling him "Lebanon's conscience" and lamenting his loss "at the most difficult and delicate stage in which Lebanon needs his conscience, national and Arab sense, wisdom, and good management of public affairs." Al-Hoss was "a sea of giving in his professional life" and "a prominent economist and an example of experience, ethics, and knowledge," who "put the interest of the citizens above all considerations," Mikati said, adding that the late prime minister was "impartial, objective, and constitutional par excellence." Al-Hoss served as prime minister for five terms between 1976 and 2000, held ministerial portfolios in three governments, and was a member of parliament for two consecutive terms. He has 17 publications on politics and economics. UNI/XINHUA ARN Months after Bengalurus Rameshwaram cafe blast, one of the persons who was injured at the accident regained 80% of her eye vision, reported The Times of India. The woman underwent multiple eye surgeries after she lost her vision in the bomb blast in the tech capital. Rameshwaram cafe blast: Bengaluru woman who lost vision in the incident regains 80% of it - Report(HT_PRINT) Also Read - NIA arrests accused in Bengaluru's Rameshwaram Cafe blast case According to the report, Nagashree PR, a 26-year-old woman, was one of the ten people that were injured during the bomb blast at Rameshwaram cafe on March 1. Recently, the doctors conducted corneal transplantation and retinal surgery to Nagashree, after which she got back most of her lost eye vision. Speaking to the publication, Nagashree said, I had completely lost my vision in my right eye and I used to see objects like shadows. Most of the things around used to be very blurry to my eye vision. She also said that has been very hopeful about regaining her lost vision. Though I was worried whether I would be able to watch my daughter dance again, there has always been hope. I believed that someday, the normalcy in vision would remain, she added. Also Read - This Bengaluru man was having a sh*t week. Then he ran into Nikhil Kamath The report further said that she was admitted to Nethradhama super specialty hospital and underwent three eye surgeries there. Her cornea was completely torn, and lenses were damaged, with a pupil trapped in her wound. The vision was restored after secondary intraocular lens impact, a doctor from the hospital was quoted as saying. At least 10 people were injured in the IED blast that was carried out in Rameshwaram Cafe at Bengalurus Whitefield area on March 1. The National Investigation Agency which took over the case from the state government, arrested five people in connection with the blast that shook the tech capital. Residents of New Chander Nagar and Chander Nagar, ward number 68, have expressed their angst over the indifference of civic authorities to the deplorable state of basic infrastructure in their area. Pot-holed lanes cause difficulty in commuting in New Chander Nagar in Ludhiana. (Manish/HT) Potholes riddled street lanes The residents said that the municipal corporation (MC) officials have neglected the deteriorating condition of newly constructed street lanes, riddled with potholes, making it difficult for them to commute. Pyarelal, a local resident, stated, For the last six months, the poor state of the street lanes has been ignored. It has damaged vehicles, and I am forced to endure a bumpy ride despite raising several complaints with the concerned officials. Admitting the poor condition of the street lanes, sub-divisional officer Gurpreet Singh said, Due to bad weather conditions, hot mix plants are closed, and we cannot carry out the patchwork. We will repair these lanes once the weather clears. Blocked road gullies Additionally, water accumulates for days on these lanes during rain because the road gullies are not clean, blocking the drainage channels. Officials have not taken concrete measures to prevent flooding in the streets, locals claimed. Another resident, Lalit Maurya, mentioned, Due to blockages in the drainage lines during the monsoon, even the drinking water supplied to our homes has a foul odor, raising health concerns. Dangling electric wires Another issue is the dangerously low-hanging high-tension electric wires dangling eight to 10 feet above the ground are posing a significant risk to residents lives. Reportedly, an amount of 32.5 lakh had been approved in 2021 for the construction of a new pole to fix the loose wires, but issues have remained unresolved since then. Acknowledging the plethora of civics issues, former Congress councillor Harvinder Pal Singh pointed out that the broken roads were constructed at the cost of 95 lakh two years ago, just months before the assembly polls. He also alleged the use of substandard materials that have led these stretches in despair. He further claimed that due to the 15-month delay in the MC elections, there is no one at the ward level to look after the maintenance of these civic amenities. New Delhi: Delhi is set to clock another monsoon milestone this year by recording the most number of rainy days in a month, according to data collected by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) since 2011. Commuters step out during morning rain , at Delhi's ITO, on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. (Photo by Raj j K Raj / Hindustan Times) As of 8.30am on Sunday, 22 days of rainfall were recorded in August. With IMD predicting more rainfall till the month-end, August 2024 will in all likelihood break the record for the most number of rainy days since 2011, the earliest that IMD has made data available for. The last time there were 22 rainy days in a month was in August 2012. Inching closer to a record high According to IMD, the Safdarjung weather station, which is considered representative of Delhi weather, clocked 0.6mm of rainfall till 8.30am on the day. IMD has forecast Delhi to add to its tally of rainy days this month, predicting scattered light rainfall till August 31. A yellow alert was also issued for Tuesday, with a forecast for light to moderate rainfall. The monsoon trough is currently south of Delhi-NCR due to a depression over central India, including Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan, IMD said. This is only likely to give Delhi patchy light rain till Tuesday, when the trough is expected to move closer to Delhi again, it added. This depression is likely to move nearly west-southwestwards and intensify further into a deep depression over east Rajasthan during next 12 hours. Thereafter, it will continue to move nearly west-southwestwards across south Rajasthan and Gujarat slowly and emerge into northeast Arabian Sea off Saurashtra & Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts around morning of August 29, IMD said in a statement on Sunday. This month, Delhi set the record for the most number of continuous rainy days in a month, at 18, since 2011. Also, Delhi recorded 27 continuous days of satisfactory air quality, till August 23, which is the highest since September 2020, when 51 such days were recorded. According to IMD data, since 2011, the previous highest number of rainy days in a month was recorded in August 2012. This was followed by 20 rainy days in August 2011. IMD did not share data before 2011. Besides the Safdarjung weather station, rainfall was recorded by other weather stations in Delhi as well. The Ayanagar weather station logged 17.2mm of rainfall, the Palam weather station 6.6mm, the Delhi University weather station 9.5mm and the Ridge station 10mm. However, none of the weather stations in Delhi recorded rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm, making it a partially cloudy day, marked by high humidity. Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology, a private weather forecaster, said that as the depression weakens, the monsoon trough, which is currently above Madhya Pradesh, will again return closer to Delhi. We should see a decent spell of rainfall on August 27 and even August 28. Other than that, we will mostly see patchy rainfall this month. Scattered rain will continue to keep Delhi wet, Palawat said. Palawat said the monsoon trough has largely stayed close to Delhi-NCR this August, giving consistent rainfall throughout the month. The monsoon trough is currently south of Delhi, but has mostly stayed around this region through the month. We have not seen intense showers, but consistent rainfall due to this. If we had an active weather system, for example a western disturbance, the combination of these two factors would have led to intense showers and possibly, heavy to very heavy rainfall, he said. So far, Delhi has recorded 278.4mm of rainfall till August 25, which is already past the monthly average mark of 233.1mm. The last time Delhi received more rain in the month was in 2013, when it recorded 321.4mm of rainfall. Delhis maximum temperature on Sunday was 35.6C, a degree above the normal. The minimum temperature was 25.4C, a degree below the normal. Relative humidity oscillated between 63% and 95% in the last 24 hours. Delhis heat index (HI) or real feel temperature reached its peak, of 40C, at 2.30pm on Sunday. The wet bulb temperature, another indicator of thermal discomfort outside, was recorded at 28.5C. Delhis air quality, meanwhile, returned to the satisfactory level on Sunday after touching the moderate category on Saturday. At least three homeless people were killed and two others injured after a truck ran over them while they were sleeping on the central verge of a road at Tarbuz Market near Shastri Park Metro station in northeast Delhi in the early hours of Monday, police said. The driver of the truck fled, leaving behind the vehicle Representative photo Deputy police commissioner (northeast) Joy Tirkey said that the dead homeless were yet to be established. He added the injured men were identified as Mohammad Mushtaq, 35, a resident of Shastri Park, and Kamlesh,36, (single name), who is from Gandhi Nagar. Tirkey said that police were informed about the accident at 5 am and that a team was rushed there. He added the truck was coming from the Seelampur side when it veered and ran over people sleeping on the verge. The injured were taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, where three of them were declared dead. Their identities are being established. The other two injured men are undergoing treatment. The truck driver, whose identity is also unknown, is absconding, said Tirkey. A first information report has been filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitas sections 281 (rash driving), 106 (death caused by rash negligence acts), and 125A (rash or negligent act causing hurt, endangering life or personal safety of others) against the unidentified driver. The truck has been seized. An investigator said whether the driver of the truck was drunk or dozed off while driving would be established only when he is caught and interrogated. A mechanical inspection of the truck will also be done to ascertain if any fault in brakes or its steering system led to the mishap, said the investigator. A senior Kolkata Police official on Monday refuted allegations on basis of a video which allegedly showed people, including police and hospital authorities entering the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, minutes after the body of the trainee doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered, was found on August 9. On August 22, the CBI, which is probing the case, had told the Supreme Court that the crime scene was altered. (File photo) The 43-second video, which surfaced on social media, purportedly shows doctors, police officials and even private security guards deployed at the hospital gathering inside the seminar room, where the body of the victim was found. HT couldnt independently verify the authenticity of the video. The seminar room measures 51 X 32. The place where the victims body was found inside the seminar room, was cordoned off using curtains. There is no question of anyone entering that cordoned off area. People, who can be seen gathering in the video, were all outside the cordoned off area, said a senior IPS officer while speaking to media persons at the Kolkata Police headquarters. Also Read: Delhi doctor slapped, abused at hospital days after protest on security On August 22, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, had told the Supreme Court that the crime scene was altered. The state government had refuted the charges. According to the document submitted by the Kolkata Police in Supreme Court, while the victims body was first spotted at 9:30am on August 9, officers of the local police station arrived at the spot at 10:30am. The crime scene was secured to prevent any contamination, police had claimed. Officers of the detective departments homicide wing arrived at 11am. The video shows that the crime scene had almost become a fair ground. Several people can be seen loitering inside the crime scene. Is it possible to keep the evidence intact with so many people entering and leaving the crime scene? Thats why the CBI is facing difficulty in conducting the investigation. The CBI counsel has already mentioned this in the Supreme Court, said Sukanta Majumdar, state BJP president. I have seen the video. Some over enthusiastic people may have gathered there. Later, police sealed the crime scene to prevent any contamination. I am sure the guilty will be identified and punished, Firhad Hakim, state minister told media persons. Meanwhile, Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Dr Debasish Shome, a forensic medicine professor of the hospital and Dr Sanjay Vashisth, the hospitals former superintendent were summoned for questioning by the CBI on Monday. The agency is probing into the allegations of financial irregularities which surfaced at RG Kar during the tenure of Ghosh. The federal agency raided 15 places in Kolkata on Sunday including the houses of the three doctors. The CBI also conducted a polygraph test of Ghosh. Kolkata, West Bengal Police said that Tuesdays march to state secretariat Nabanna is illegal, since the organisers were not permitted to hold the rally to press for their demand for the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake the alleged rape and murder of a doctor. HT Image A student outfit 'Paschim Banger Chhatra Samaj' and another organisation, 'Sangrami Joutha Mancha' have called for the Nabanna Abhijan. After the ADG Manoj Verma told a press conference earlier in the day that no permission was sought for the rally by any of the organisers, they sent emails informing the force about the programme. However, permission to hold the Nabanna Abhijan was not granted to them for several reasons, another senior officer said. "We have learned about the 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally through various media channels and social media. To date, neither any individual nor organisation has applied for permission, making the event illegal, Verma said. He said that Nabanna is a restricted area as prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS are in force near the secretariat preventing the assembly of five or more people. The Supreme Court had allowed peaceful protests but the court has not prohibited the state from exercising such lawful measures, Verma told reporters. He said that any planned event near Nabanna requires police approval, which is rarely granted. "We are getting inputs from various sources that miscreants with vested interests will try to create a law and order situation to provoke a response from the police, which they would then exploit," the police officer said. He assured people that the police were working on these inputs. Verma urged the public not to fall into any trap and advised them to avoid the area. "We are prepared to make arrangements for them at other venues in Kolkata and Howrah, provided they follow legal procedures," he said. Verma also assured students appearing for Tuesday's UGC NET exams that ample arrangements are in place to ensure that they can take the tests without problem. Additional Deputy General, South Bengal, Supratim Sarkar, later told reporters that the police did not give permission to both organisations. "We have received separate mails from the Paschim Banger Chhatra Samaj and also by Sangrami Joutha Mancha only after we held a press conference. The one from Chhatra Samaj is only an intimation about the programme without any details and not seeking any permission. Hence it was rejected," Sarkar said. The second application though had details but was also rejected because of two reasons, he said. One was because of the UGC NET examination on Tuesday and the other reason was permission is not granted to anyone to hold gathering around the Nabanna due to the existing prohibitory orders, Sarkar said. Earlier, he said that they had input that one of the representatives of a student wing had met a political leader at a five-star accommodation in Kolkata. "We have never heard of the existence of any such 'Paschim Banger Chhatra Samaj'. Many committees exist but there is no organisation by this name. One of the organisers met with a political leader yesterday in a 5-star hotel," he said. "We will request the people not to fall prey to conspiracies and to maintain normal life. The secretariat will function like any other normal day and all the arrangements have been ready for that," Sarkar said. Meanwhile, the Howrah Police Commissionerate issued an order imposing traffic restrictions in connection with Tuesday's 'Nabanna Abhiyan'. The state headquarters is situated in Howrah. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Mumbai:In response to the incident at a Badlapur school, the Maharashtra government announced on Monday financial assistance for the affected families. The state will provide 10 lakh to the family of one girl through the women and child development department, and 3 lakh to the family of another four-year-old student. Furthermore, the education department has committed to funding both girls' education up to graduation level. School education minister Deepak Kesarkar with AS Kundan, principal secretary, school education. HT Photo School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar revealed these decisions during a media interaction. "To prevent such incidents from recurring, we have determined the responsibility of the concerned officials and taken action against those found guilty. Kamini Gaikar and Nirmala Ghure have been directed to be included as co-accused," Kesarkar stated. These announcements followed a review of suggestions from a two-member committee appointed by the government. Kesarkar added that some officials had been suspended after the investigation found them culpable. Principal Archana Athawale was among those suspended, with Kesarkar noting that she had withheld information during the investigation. "Appropriate action will be taken after the inquiry is complete," he said. "We are implementing various measures for school safety and child protection. These include installing CCTV cameras and keeping records for 15 days. The process of imparting self-defence training in schools is 50% complete, and we will soon issue a comprehensive government order." Kesarkar also announced plans to propose the installation of panic buttons in every school to the home department. Additionally, the school department will establish a help centre at the education commissionerate in Pune, with contact numbers to be distributed to schools across the state. A Bangladeshi student studying in the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Silchar, Assam was sent back to her country on Monday after she allegedly liked an anti-India post on social media, police said. NIT Silchar authorities said that the student herself expressed desire to go back home for a while. (Representative file photo) Confirming the incident, superintendent of police (SP), Cachar, Numal Mahatta said that the student was taken to the India-Bangladesh international border in Karimganj on Monday morning and she crossed the border under adequate security arrangements. However, NIT Silchar authorities said that the student herself expressed desire to go back home for a while and she applied for leave on Sunday. She desired to return home under proper security, and we informed the authorities about it. She left the institute today, the registrar of NIT Silchar said. Also Read:We expect Canada to take action against anti-India elements: MEA According to SP Mahatta, around 70 students from Bangladesh are studying in various disciplines of Silchar NIT. We have asked the authorities of the institute to talk to the Bangladesh High Commission to initiate action against the former student for her anti-India posts, he said. The issue was first raised by Subhashish Choudhary, a former student of Assam University Silchar on August 22. He shared some screenshots of the students social media posts following which multiple complaints were lodged in Silchar and other areas of Assam. On August 24, Mahatta visited the institute, and a probe was begun. I reached the institute on Saturday midnight and found that the said student is no longer in our country. We received some input and now our cyber monitoring cell is working on it, he said. Director of Silchar NIT, Professor Dilip Kumar Baidya said that he is aware of the issue, and they are taking measures to maintain peace, law and order in the institute so that such instances do not occur further. According to governments policy, students from foreign countries including Bangladesh come here for studies and it is our responsibility to ensure that they stay with the other students peacefully, he said. He ensured support from the institute for the authorities. If they find anything punishable or there is a need for investigation, the NIT authorities would co-operate, he said. Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday assured to send a central team to Tripura to take stick of the flood situation in the state, chief minister Manik Saha said. Saha also apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the flood situation and got assurance of support. (PTI photo) Spoke to Honble Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji and apprised him of the latest situation arising out of the unprecedented natural calamity of the flood in the State. He assured of the continued all out support to the State Government. He also informed that the Union Government would be sending a team to Tripura immediately to take stock of the situation. Grateful to Honble Home Minister for his instantly coming to the aid of the people of Tripura in this hour of crisis, CM Saha wrote on his official X account. Saha also apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the flood situation and got assurance of support. Spoke to Honble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji spelling out all the details of the flood situation in the State. He assured of full support to the people of Tripura in this hour of crisis. We are extremely grateful to Honble Prime Minister for his kind gesture to the people of Tripura, he said. Earlier, the Centre released package of 40 crore for rescue, relief and rehabilitation in the flood-affected areas. Also Read: Tripura floods: IMD issues red alert, death toll at 26 According to preliminary estimation, nearly 5,000 crore loss was reported in the flood across the state, though the final figure is yet to be released. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted of heavy rainfall in one or two places on Monday and Tuesday over South Tripura District with a yellow alert. In the last 24 hours, the highest rainfall of 38 mm was recorded at Panisagar in North Tripura district. The water level of River Gomati at Sonamura in Sepahijala district is still above the danger level. Three teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and five teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are involved in relief operations in Gomati and Sepahijala districts. As of now, the flood has so far claimed lives of 26 people, leaving two people injured. Currently, over 70,000 persons are sheltered at 471 relief camps in the state where they are being provided with food, drinking water, medical help by the administration. In the meantime, CM Saha announced to utilize 2 crore from Chief Ministers Relief Fund (CMRF) to provide relief to the flood-affected people along with the central relief package. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he wants former Jharkhand CM and senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid rumours of the latters switch ahead of the state elections. Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren. (PTI Photo) Speaking to reporters in Ranchi, Sarma, who is the co-incharge of the BJP for the Jharkhand assembly polls, said he has also been in touch with Champai Soren for the past six months. Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the Jharkhand BJP in-charge. I personally want Champai Soren to join the BJP and strengthen us. However, he is too senior for me to make any comment on him, Sarma said. Sarmas statement comes on a day when Soren is reportedly on his way to New Delhi amid speculations that he could meet senior BJP leaders in the national capital. Soren had recently said that he was distancing himself from the JMM, which leads the ruling alliance in Jharkhand. If he is in Delhi, we will try to speak. I have been talking to him both directly and indirectly for the past six months. However, we never discussed politics during those conversations. It seems that time has arrived for us to also discuss a bit of politics, the Assam CM said. Champai Soren was in Delhi last week as well, though denied being in touch with the BJP. However, he has made it public his decision to leave the JMM and embark on a separate political journey. In that direction, he underlined that he was exploring both options forming a new party or joining another. Colombo, Aug 26 (UNI) The Indian Navy's frontline warship INS Mumbai arrived in Colombo on a three-day visit, which will be ceremonially received by the Sri Lanka Navy, a statement from the Indian High Commission said on Monday. INS Mumbai has made its first visit to Sri Lanka's port and will be the eighth port call by Indian ships this year, alongside INS Kabra, Karanj, Kamorta, Shalki, and Indian Coast Guard ships Samarth, Abhinav, and Sachet, the High Commission said, the Daily Mirror reported. INS Mumbai, the third Delhi class destroyer, was indigenously built and commissioned into the Indian Navy on 22 January 2001. The ship, built at Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai, completed its mid-life upgrade and joined Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam on December 8, 2023. According to reports, INS Mumbai will bring essential spares for the Dornier maritime patrol aircraft operated by the Sri Lanka Air Force. INS Mumbai will depart the island on August 29, 2024. Since its inception two years ago, the Dornier aircraft has significantly enhanced the surveillance capability over Sri Lanka's Sea Area of Responsibility (AOR) and improved search and rescue capabilities in the country's vast EEZ. In addition to training the SLAF pilots and flight navigators, the Indian Navy is supporting the maintenance of this aircraft with a technical team and spares. The Indian ship visited Sri Lanka earlier this year and provided material assistance. INS Kabra and later ICGS Sachet had brought spare parts for the Sri Lanka Coast Guard ship Suraksh, the reports said. During the stay in Colombo, INS Mumbai will conduct a familiarization tour onboard for Sri Lanka Navy personnel aimed at sharing best practices between both the Navies. It can be recalled that a visit for Long specialisation course student officers and Cadets of Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee was organized onboard the submarine Shalki, during a port call earlier this month, adding value to their training. The Indian Navy also provides various specialist courses, including in the core area of hydrography in India, for capacity building in the Sri Lankan Navy, reports added. UNI ARN RC Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, CEE, Kerala will close the KEAM 2024 counselling third phase options registration today, August 26, 2024. Candidates can apply for the counselling round through the official website of CEE at cee.kerala.gov.in. KEAM 2024 counselling: Third phase options registration ends today, link here Fresh Online option registration facility is available for CEE/152/2024-TA1 I/127627/2024 Engineering/Pharmacy courses in the third phase. Candidates who want their higher order options in Architecture courses to be considered in this phase of allotment shall have to confirms and re-arrange their higher order options or delete the unwanted options till today, August 26, 2024. KEAM 2024 counselling: How to apply for third phase options To apply for the third round, candidates can follow the steps given below. Visit the official website of CEE at cee.kerala.gov.in. Click on KEAM 2024 counselling third phase options registration link available on the home page. Enter the registration details and click on submit. Once done, fill the application form. Click on submit and download the page. Keep a hard copy of the same for further need. On the basis of options received up to 11.59 PM on August 26 the provisional allotment to Engineering/Pharmacy and Architecture courses will be published on August 29, 2024. The official notice reads, Those candidates who get allotment in this phase and do not join the college/courses on or before the date prescribed for the same will lose their allotment in the last phase and the allotment in this phase as well as all the options in the stream to which the allotment belongs. Also Read: Maximise business efficiency and decision-making with ISB Executive Educations Applied Business Analytics programme To apply for this counselling round, candidates will have to pay 2000/- as registration fee. The registration fee will be adjusted in the tuition fee of those candidates who take admission consequent on allotments. The candidates belonging to SC/ST/OEC category and those having benefits as per G.O.(Ms) No.25/2005/SCSTDD Dated 20.06.2005 and G.O.(Ms)No.10/2014/BCDD Dated 23.05.2014 and those candidates from Juvenile Home, Nirbhaya Home, Sree Chitra Home will have to remit Rs.500 /- as registration fee. For more related details candidates can check the official website of CEE, Kerala. State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra has released MHT CET 2024 provisional allotment for CAP Round 2 on August 26, 2024. Candidates who have registered themselves for the counselling round can check the seat allotment result through the official website of MAHACET at fe2024.mahacet.org. MHT CET 2024 provisional allotment for CAP Round 2 today, here's how to check AP EAMCET Allotment Result 2024 Live Updates As per the official schedule, candidates can accept the offered seat through his/ her login from August 27 to August 29, 2024 upto 3 pm. All eligible candidates participated in Round II and allotted the seat first time shall self-verify the seat allotment. AYUSH NEET UG Counselling 2024 schedule released at aaccc.gov.in, check important dates here Candidates can report to the allotted institute and confirm the admission by submitting required documents and by making payment of fee from August 27 to August 29, 2024. The Institute shall verify the required documents and upload the admission of the candidates in the online system through Institute Login immediately and shall issue a system generated receipt of confirmation of admission and fee paid receipt to the candidate. If it is found that seat allotted to the candidate is on the false claims made in the applications by the candidate, then institute shall not admit such a candidate and such candidate shall raise the grievance by his/her login. MHT CET 2024 provisional allotment: How to check To check the provisional allotment, candidates can follow the steps given below. Visit the official website of MAHACET at fe2024.mahacet.org. Click on MHT CET 2024 provisional allotment for CAP Round 2 link available on the home page. A new page will open where candidates will have to enter the login details. Click on submit and the provisional allotment list will be displayed. Check the list and download the page. Keep a hard copy of the same for further need. Vacancy list for CAP Round 2 Candidates who have allotted other than first preference and want betterment in the subsequent rounds must claim the allotted seat in Round II by accepting that seat by choosing Not Freeze option for betterment and shall pay the seat acceptance fee through their login by online mode. For more related details candidates can check the official website of MAHACET. Karnataka SSLC Exam 3 Result 2024 Live Updates: The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) on Monday announced the result of the SSLC or Class 10 exam 3 results. Candidates who have appeared for the exam can check it on karresults.nic.in. Login credentials required to check the Karnataka SSLC exam 3 result are registration number and date of birth. ...Read More The KSEAB conducted the Karnataka SSLC exam 3 from August 2 to 9, 2024. Karnataka SSLC exam 3 result 2024 direct link Karnataka SSLC result 2024: About exam 2 and exam 1 The Karnataka SSLC exam 2 or Supplementary examination was conducted from June 14 to 24. The result was announced on July 10. A total of 2,23,293 students appeared for the test and 69,275 or 31.02 per cent passed. The result of the SSLC exam 1 was declared on May 9. As many as 8,59,967 students appeared for the test and 6,31,204 or 73.40 per cent passed. The test was held from March 25 to April 6, 2024 How to check Karnataka SSLC exam 3 result 2024? Follow these steps to check the Karnataka SSLC exam 3 results- Step 1: Go to the result website, karresults.nic.in. Step 2: Find and open the result link- SSLC 2024 BEST OF EXAM 1 , 2 & 3 RESULT ANNOUNCED ON 26/08/2024 Step 3: Provide your login details- registration number and date of birth Step 4: Check your result and download the result page and save it for future reference. Check live updates on Karnataka SSLC result 2024 below: Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi will end the registration process for JHTET 2024 on August 26, 2024. Candidates who want to apply for Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test can check the direct link on the official website of Jharkhand TET at jactetportal.com. JHTET 2024: Jharkhand TET registration ends today, direct link here Earlier the last date to apply was till August 22, which was extended till August 26, 2024. The registration process was started on July 23, 2024. JHTET 2024: How to apply To apply for the examination, candidates can follow the steps given below. Visit the official website of Jharkhand TET at jactetportal.com. Click on JHTET 2024 registration link available on the home page. Enter the registration details and click on submit. Once done, login to the account. Fill the application form and make the payment of application fee. Click on submit and download the page. Keep a hard copy of the same for further need. Check This: Vocabulary Made Easy series: Achieve your goals by enhancing language skills The application fee for General category, OBC category candidates is 1300/- for Level 1 or Level 2 and 1500/- for both levels. The application fee for SC/ST category candidates is 700/- for one level and 800/- for both the levels. The application fee should be paid through online mode. ICSI CS December 2024 Exam: Registration begins today at icsi.edu, heres how to check The examination duration is 2 hours 30 minutes. The examination will be conducted for two levels- Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 is for Class 1 to 5 and Level 2 is for Class 6 to 8. For more related details candidates can check the official website of Jharkhand Academic Council. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is hosting the International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement & Computing (QCMC 2024) from Monday, August 26, 2024. The conference will be held for five days till August 30, 2024. The event is being held at the IIT Madras Research Park. From Left to Right: Prof Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Prof V Kamakoti, Dr. Ajai Chowdhury, Prof Mete Atature and Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala releasing the CQuICC Newsletter. Notably, this is the 16th Edition of the conference but the maiden edition to be held in India. The event is being coordinated by the Center for Quantum Information, Communication and Computing (CQuICC), a Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras. Also read: Lights, camera and learn: Five ways photography can help in holistic development of children A press release informed that the QCMC is one of the most prestigious global forums for scientists and engineers in the interdisciplinary field of quantum information science and technology. The conference was established in 1990 and brings together global experts who share advancements in quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing. It will feature discussions on a broad range of topics including foundational quantum theory to cutting-edge quantum technology applications. The conference will also highlight 18 invited talks from top global experts and leaders in quantum science and technologies, including Prof. Andreas Walraff (ETH Zurich), Prof. Mark Wilde (Cornell University), Prof. Urbasi Sinha (Raman Research Institute) and Prof. Karol Zyczkowski (Polish Academy of Sciences). Also read: NEET PG Result 2024: Chandigarh doctor tops NBEMS NEET exam, scores 100 percentile Additionally, the conference will also include 20 contributed talks and over 100 poster presentations by early-career researchers covering the latest innovations in quantum computing and communication. The conference is sponsored by IIT Madras, Mphasis F1 Foundation, and KLA. Dr. Ajai Chowdhury, Chairman of the Mission Governing Board, National Quantum Mission, delivered an address on Indias National Quantum Mission during the inaugural session on Monday. He said, It is great that IIT Madras managed to get the conference to India. A tremendous amount of work is already going on in India, especially at IIT Madras where a lot of work is underway. As a plan that was done by DST, where the National Quantum Mission is housed, we started working on many projects including those of the Ministry of Electronics and IT and other Ministries. As we started to work on the National Quantum Mission, we started to look at how many scientists and PIs are working in this field and found that India had around 600 scientists and 40 to 50 start-ups as well in Quantum Technology. Also read: Super 30 founder Anand Kumar appointed Ambassador of Korean Tourism for 2024, receives warm welcome in Seoul Dr Chowdhury informed that work is being done to ensure all parts of quantum technologies are taken care of. After the National Quantum Mission launch, we had an overwhelming response with close to 385 proposals received to set up thematic parks and other areas of the quantum technologies. At this moment, we have finalized where we want to go and soon, the National Quantum Mission will be making the announcements. The plan is to set up four independent Section 08 Companies in which the thematic parks will be housed - Computing, Communications, Sensing and Materials, he added. We wrote to about 40-odd start-ups and we met about 14 start-ups to understand where we are, Dr Chawdhury said. He further highlighted that in the next three months, grants will be handed to 10 to 15 good start-ups, adding that the plan is to watch them grow, scale, and go global. Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, also shared his delight on Quantum Conference being held in India for the first time. We have large-scale data and problems that we were trying to solve in the classical computing era, in areas ranging from hardware to logistics and networking problems. Many of these problems are extremely complex and we were trying to solve them using heuristics. We have reached a stage where due to the enormous size of the data and the problem, the heuristics are no longer optimal and our approximation methodologies will also fail due to the enormity of the problem size, Prof Kamakoti informed He added that this was precisely why IIT Madras started looking into quantum technologies, which can help to scale and speed up the heuristics to get solutions in a time-constrained manner. Prof. Mete Atature, Chair of the Steering Committee, QCMC 2024, University of Cambridge, UK, highlighted that the conference has a tradition of bringing together not just mathematicians but also engineers, researchers, and other stakeholders and breaking boundaries. We have talks in cutting-edge areas in Quantum technologies. The breadth of this conference is quite broad and is designed to tackle interesting questions and challenges. This conference is the oldest quantum conference established in 1990 in Paris, held every two years except in 2020 due to the pandemic. It is high time this conference came to India, especially in view of the National Quantum Mission. Representatives from 16 countries are taking part in the conference, Prof Atature said. Some of the objectives of the QCMC 2024 are as follows: Over the last two decades, cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee has lensed some of the most breathtaking films to have come out of India. Known for his frequent collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, ranging from Bajirao Mastani (for which he won a National Award), Sudeep is a master when it comes to captivating visual swings, always in full harmony with the director's style. (Also read: Exclusive interview | Anik Dutta on Aparajito winning 2 National Awards: One would not be overjoyed) Sudeep Chatterjee has been appointed as the latest Canon Cinema EOS Ambassador. In this exclusive interview after being appointed as New Cinema EOS Ambassador for Canon, the ace cinematographer spoke about his creative choices, growing up in a Bengali household in Kolkata, having concerns with Dhoom 3, and his deep love for still photography. Excerpts. So much of your work is completely in sync with the vision of the director. Where does your creative process begin from the script stage? Even before reading the script, I first think of the film when I get a call from the director and we meet. When he tells me about the film. It is not a narration, but an introduction where you get a very strong idea about what kind of film he wants to make. That becomes a very strong core to fall back upon. Because initially there are certain things he stresses upon, which become a guideline for me. Eventually I rely a lot on that interaction with that director because it is very important that I bring his vision to life. Then the next stage is reading the script. This is where I almost see the film... almost like when I read a book I see images. That I share with the director and then we jointly arrive at what the look of what the film should be. Tell me a little bit about your early years in Kolkata growing up, and some of your influences, the films and cinematographers that left a lasting impact on you. I grew up in Kolkata and my father was a Government officer but he was also part of a theatre group called Chetona. Not as an actor, but he would be in the management of that group and the director Arun Mukherjee was a very dear friend. Theatre is something that I have seen a lot growing up. Baba also made sure that we get to experience everything else that would be happening in the city. There would be theatres, concerts and conferences where we would travel. There was no television, so we also had a lot of books and we were members of the libraries from where we would get the supplies, and there would be storytelling grandparents! I personally used to get restless and bored very easily, so someone had to tell me stories. The regular folktales, tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata, stories of the family, scandals, all kinds of stuff! I didn't realize it then, but I was very deeply attracted to stories. That formed a base. My father was also mindful of the kind of cinema that we were watching. He didn't encourage us to watch, what he used to call the lade lappa Hindi films (laughs)! He would take us to films he thought was appropriate, otherwise he would show us good Bengali films, lot of English films... but that was monitored, and said that unless you pass Class X, you are not going to watch films. We used to manage and I remember having watched Satte pe Satta when I was in Class VII in a theatre in Gaya. This was something that I shared with Mr Bachchan when I worked with him (smiles)! Then I was put in an Engineering College to become an engineer! It took me some 7-8 months to realize that I would make a really bad engineer. I ran away from there and was very scared to confront my joint family because it was unthinkable. So I went to my father's office and convinced him. He asked me what was it that I enjoyed doing and I thought the thing that I enjoy the most was taking pictures. Photography was something that I really enjoyed doing. My brother who was also going through a similar search, discovered that there is something called Film and Television Institute of India, and got there in the first chance. He is presently the Head of Film Direction Department, Sandip Chatterjee. I realized that there was a cinematography course and by that time had developed a deep interest in cinema, and luckily I got there in the first chance! That's it, wow that is a lot of talking (smiles). I remember watching Chotuskone, which is a film that you shot. I remember looking for the name of the cinematographer right afterwards because I was so taken aback by those frames, how it combined so many elements. Tell me the experience of shooting that film. I had just finished Dhoom 3 which was a big budget film. There were questions I had with the narrative of the film, which used to bother me. I was kind of told that it was not important because it is Dhoom, and people do not watch it for logic. When the film released it did very well but I don't think it got a lot of love. I was disappointed with the kind of appreciation the film was getting because I had put in a lot of hardwork, and I had to give up a Bhansali film in the mix. I could not do Ram Leela because the shoot kept getting extended. So I was a little disappointed with my hard work not getting loved. I had gone to Kolkata and Srijit [Mukerji], who was a friend, had come and was telling me about this film. I wanted him to tell me more because I loved the script. He was like what's the point because you will not do it! I was like no, I could! My next commitment was Neeraj Panday's Baby and prep for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani. So I said I would speak to Sanjay and push my recce a little so I think I can manage to do it! That's how it happened. We took around 20-22 days to shoot Chotuskone, if I remember correctly. What was challenging for me was that this was a 1 crore film, so from a 150 crore film to a 1 crore film it was a challenge for me to see if I can take up the task and shoot like that. I wanted to see if I still have it in me, because that's where I come from. Going back to the way Chotuskone is shot, it is me. That's the original me. I have to gear myself up to shoot a Bhansali film or a Dhoom or a Chandu Champion, but my core is very Chotuskone, and it was exciting for me to get back there in Kolkata and do that film. It is very dear to me. When do you come to realize that a shot you have taken 'works'? That it is final. Do you count that or do you shoot a lot of time and then come back... Both happens. Sometimes you get the shot and you know it instantly. The director and you will look at each other and there will be a nod. That you got it. I kind of analyze every scene from the perspective of what would happen if I take the scene out of the movie. That kind of answers as to what that scene is contributing. You note down that this scene is trying to achieve this emotion. So, that kind of becomes the marker for me. There are, in the timeline of that scene, will be certain points where I know that okay that's the moment I need to get. Often you get it, sometimes it is a discovery in the edit and sometimes that it is so complex that I have ignored the screenplay part so then you focus and switch off as a cinematographer. So it depends. Another sequence is from Gangubai Kathiawadi, where in an early scene from the song Jhoome Re Gori. The camera follows Alia Bhatt, glides in with her and then again zooms out. Tell me about that day on set. That's 5 days of rehearsals! I had to understand the details about Garba... how it moves. The most complicated thing was to get inside the circles and I had to really understand the movements. That was five days of rehearsing and memorizing the choreography. There were 3 people who were moving: the steady cam operator, my assistant who was running with a Chinese lantern to light Alia [Bhatt]'s face and the light was on a fader, and I had to run along with it to control the intensity of that light... it was practice and observation. When you are not a cinematographer how does your day look like? If I am on an outdoor shoot, I definitely take my still camera and I go out to shoot. It is something that I have been doing, particularly when I am abroad. These days when I go for a schedule I make sure that once the shoot is over, I stay back for a week, in a city, just to take some pictures. This is something that I have been doing seriously. Where I am not bound by a script or a story that I have to tell. So you tell your story through your pictures. So it is rewarding for me. Apart from that I listen to a lot of music, and read a lot. What are you reading now? Rahul Sankrityayan's Volga to Ganga. There's a Bengali translation it is a fascinating book. I had read it long time back and I'm reading again. I also listen to a lot of music. I have a collection of old vinyl records and I will show you something (opens the side drawer to show a cassette player). It is portable and has also got Bluetooth, so these are the little stuff that are there. What are your thoughts about collaborating with Canon? When a company which is manufacturing camera, when they want to collaborate with a photographer/cinematographer, firstly what it so wonderful is the intention. That is a very heartwarming thing, that you are not just selling camera, but you are making an equipment for us to make images with. So I love the idea of the collaboration, that they are reaching out to us and wanting to associate with us, take feedback. This is a platform where you can exchange ideas, so that's a very ideal situation. It is something very nice about the intention. Mumbai, Malayalam star Parvathy Thiruvothu on Monday said greatness is all about how people feel when you are around, and not about mere words, and that's something common between the late Irrfan Khan and her "Thangalaan" co-star Vikram. Parvathy on similarity between Irrfan Khan and Vikram: It's definitely the generosity The actor, who is paired opposite Vikram's Thangalaan in the Tamil period drama, made her Hindi film debut with 2017's romcom "Qarib Qarib Singlle" in which she shared the screen with Irrfan. At the press event of "Thangalaan", Parvathy was asked whether there are any similarities between her two colleagues. "It's definitely the generosity I see in both of them. Irrfan used to help me out with things because Hindi is not my native language. He used to help me get into that space... "You are as good as the other person on set... I find that greatness comes from that saying about people who don't remember what you might have said or given them. It's about how you make them feel. That's the similarity in Irrfan sir and Vikram," she told reporters here. Parvathy, who plays Gangamma in the Pa Ranjith directorial, recalled how Vikram would make everyone's day on set when he would share 'kamarkattu', a traditional South Indian candy. "It's called kamarkattu. It has jaggery palm sugar... He'd just be walking around, he'd shake hands and suddenly you have a toffee in your hand. He just brightens the mood for everybody... I miss getting all the toffees," she added. Both on screen and off screen, Vikram was like a true leader, said the actor. "Everybody's like 'Have you eaten or not?' But genuinely. There's a concern about how everyone is doing. Our shooting location was very difficult. It was one of the harshest locations. It was all real locations that they shot in. He had everyone's back. In that sense, he was our Thangalaan. He was leading the pack." Set in the 19th century, "Thangalaan" is based on the real story of the Kolar Gold Fields during its discovery by the British, who exploited and looted it for their own gain. The film, which released in the South on August 15, is set to have a north India release with the Hindi version arriving in theatres on August 30. Produced by Green Studio, "Thangalaan" also stars Malavika Mohanan and British actor Daniel Caltagirone. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Actor Priyanka Chopra is currently in India to celebrate her brother Siddharth Chopra's wedding, but it seems she has more on her agenda. The actor recently teased about her visit to Mumbai's iconic Film City, marking her return after a long hiatus. And that has left everyone wondering if Priyanka is working on her next Bollywood venture. Also read: Priyanka Chopra attends brother's wedding festivities in Mumbai; asks paparazzi to click pics fast: Main nikal rahi hoon Priyanka Chopra is in Mumbai for the wedding festivities of her brother. Whats cooking On Monday, Priyanka dropped a hint about her work commitments in India. She took to her Instagram story to share a video which she captured from inside her car. It captures her entering the Film City in Mumbai. She picked the song, Ghar aaja pardesi from Sunny Deols Gadar to go with the video. It seems returning to the film city was an emotional moment for the actor as she used a crying and laughing emoji while posting the video on her Stories. According to reports, Priyanka is expected to meet the stars of Paani, which is her coming production venture. Directed by Addinath M. Kothare, who also stars in the film, Paani will be released on the big screen on October 18 this year. Meanwhile, fans are wondering if she is shooting for another Bollywood project. Last, she was supposed to work with Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt in Jee Le Zaraa. But there were reports that she had to opt out of it due to date issues. More about her India trip Last week, Priyanka came to Mumbai to attend the wedding festivities of her brother, Siddharth Chopra, and his fiance Neelam Upadhyaya. In one of the functions, she channelled her inner barbiecore through a dazzling pink saree. She wore the vibrant saree with eye-catching jewellery. For the second function, she wore an embroidered orange suit set for the celebrations. She was seen in a kurta with a V neckline, golden thread embroidery done on the neckline and borders, sequin embellishments, full-length trumpet sleeves, side slits, and a relaxed silhouette. She paired the kurta with matching embroidered pants and a dupatta adorned with kadhai work. On the work front Recently, Priyanka wrapped up the filming of her upcoming movie, The Bluff, directed by Frank E Flowers. She will also be seen alongside John Cena, Idris Elba, and Jack Quaid in the action comedy Heads of State, directed by Ilya Naishuller. Jennifer Garner and her businessman beau John Miller were seen enjoying a cosy dinner in Malibu, Calif., on Saturday. The pair, who have been dating since 2018, appeared relaxed and content as they dined together. However, the outing comes amid growing speculation that Miller dislikes Affleck making him share Garners time, especially amid his marital troubles. Family vacations are routine for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and nothing has changed, a source told PEOPLE. Sources close to the couple reveal that Miller is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Garner's frequent interactions with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck, especially during his divorce saga with Jennifer Lopez, which has been tough on Miller. Also read: Matthew Perrys ex makes shocking claim about his needle phobia, doubts ketamine death: You only die when' Jennifer Garner spotted dining with John Miller Garner and Miller, dressed in their usual casual attire, were seen enjoying a night out in the city. The actress, looking effortlessly stylish in a grey sweater and flowing brunette locks, strolled arm-in-arm with her attorney boyfriend, who was sporting a classic flannel and white T-shirt as per photos by Page Six. The couple appeared happy, blushing, and relaxed, seemingly dismissing any tension and breakup rumours as they made their way to their car. This comes after sources told Life & Style that the duo had taken a break from their relationship following Garner and Affleck's time abroad with their kids before Violet, the oldest, started college. John Miller doesnt like sharing Garner with Affleck John doesnt like sharing Jen, and there is a divide when it comes to her and Ben, an insider told the Daily Mail earlier. This isnt the first time Miller has been dragged into the drama; previously, an insider claimed that Miller is uncomfortable with Garners involvement in her exs divorce. He wishes it wasnt like that because he understands they are a family, but it gets to him like it would anyone," the source added. Also read: Tom Cruise reportedly paying $65K for estranged daughter Suris College; no more payments to ex Katie Holmes According to someone close to the situation, although the businessman doesnt fear anything, everything going on has been nothing but tough on him. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afflecks divorce After spending the summer apart and putting their family home up for sale, the Gigli co-stars have officially decided to end their marriage. The news comes just days after Lopez filed for divorce on their second wedding anniversary. Sources close to the pop star revealed that she was deeply hurt and disappointed by the breakup, especially considering her months of effort to save their relationship. Interestingly, Jennifer Garner, Affleck's ex-wife, reportedly offered support to Lopez during this difficult time. According to Us Weekly, Garner and Lopez found common ground in their shared experiences and formed an unlikely bond. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has a strong view with regards to the shooting case on shooting on the Rust set involving actor Alec Baldwin. He says Alec is responsible for the unfortunate incident, and so is armorer on the set. Also read: Rust director Joel Souza breaks silence about being shot by Alec Baldwin on set: It was bizarre In July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin. The Pulp Fiction director spoke about the 2021 shooting on an episode of Bill Maher's podcast Club Random. What did he say Reflecting on the incident, Quentin said, It's a situation, I think I'm being fair enough to say, that the armorer the guy who handles the gun is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun... but but but but but.... the actor is 10% responsible. You are a partner in responsibility to some degree, he added. The director went on to assert that he believes actors should personally inspect their weapons to ensure there are no bullets in the barrel or other issues before using them in scenes. Back in July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the manslaughter case against Alec after it was discovered that prosecutors had placed crucial evidence in an improper file, in an attempt to conceal it from Alec's legal team. The decision came after a day-long hearing without the jury present over bullets that should have been in evidence, which Alec's lawyers claimed were 'concealed' from them and 'buried' in another case file. Alec, who faced 18 months in jail upon conviction, reportedly wept happy tears in the court when the decision was announced. According to TMZ, he has since filed suit against Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey in the case as well as Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza. In April, Guttierez-Reed, the armorer on set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Halyna's death and sentenced to 18 months. She is currently serving her sentence at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility and had been due to be called to the stand to testify in Alec's case. About Rust shooting The shooting occurred on set in 2021 when Alec accidentally fired a prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and seriously injured Joel. The director was standing behind the cinematographer and directing a scene when the gun fired. It hit Halyna in the chest and struck Joel in the shoulder. The director described it as being kicked by a horse. Rusts shooting was wrapped up in March this year and is yet to get a release date. EU's "new trio" subsidy policies implemented in name of green transition People's Daily Online) 15:26, August 26, 2024 On Aug. 20, 2024, the European Commission disclosed a draft decision to impose definitive countervailing duties on imports of electric vehicles (EVs) from China, ranging from 17 percent to 36.3 percent. This has been closely followed by the international community, with many European Union (EU) member states, auto industry organizations and enterprises, think tanks and scholars expressing their opinions. Many have pointed out that this anti-subsidy measure is using the guise of "fair trade" to enact protectionism, and the promotion of the EU's EV industry should not be afraid of competition. This photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows NIO's 500,000th vehicle at the NIO Second Advanced Manufacturing Base in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) In reality, the EU's intention is to gain an upper hand in the new round of global competition to achieve dominance in industries related to the green transition and tackling climate change. In recent years, many countries have prioritized the "new trio" industries, which are photovoltaic products, EVs, and lithium batteries, high on their industrial development agenda, with the countries of the EU being no exception. Following the release of the European Green Deal by the commission in 2019, the EU has especially begun to focus on the green transition of the energy sector, and pushing for the progress of new energy industries, including the "new trio". In 2020, the commission issued an industrial strategy, which clearly stated that it would provide investment and financing support for industries' green transitions. In fact, the EU's efforts to accelerate the development of the "new trio" and other new energy industries are not only aimed at achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also to leverage these sectors to enhance the EU's global industrial competitiveness and secure a leading position in the world, all while implementing substantial industrial subsidies. The EU is one of the earliest regions in the world to implement energy industrial policies, and the European economic integration is a result of industrial policy coordination among member states. In recent years, the EU has scaled up financial support for green industries, like the "new trio", and relevant sectors conducive for green development. It has put an emphasis on green energy transition and net-zero technology R&D, making the enhancement of global industrial competitiveness a primary objective. In the EU's first overall energy strategy rolled out in 2006, it already stressed the importance of fueling new energy industries. EU's industrial policies related to the "new trio" have become its core measure to get a stronger competitive edge and secure a leading position in the world. Additionally, it has carried out full-fledged subsidies, with supportive funds of at least 11 categories and other means in place. As the EU has vigorously developed and subsidized its own "new trio" industries, it adopts discriminatory restraint measures towards other countries' "new trio" products, making its true motive worth mulling over. As for the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs, China questioned the legitimacy of the commission's decision to launch the ex-officio investigation, believing it's driven by political intentions, and is a protectionist action. In the last several years, the EU has granted billions of euros to subsidize and build up its EV supply chain, and it will keep comprehensively subsidizing the local EV industry in the future. In response to the commission's disclosure on planned tariffs on EVs imported from China, a spokesperson with China's Ministry of Commerce pointed out that, the commission's anti-subsidy investigation process on Chinese EVs did not comply with the rules of the World Trade Organization and was an act of "unfair competition" under the guise of "fair competition." At present, the EU, under the guidance of relevant documents, such as the European Green Deal, has established a systematic and comprehensive set of policies and coordination strategies for the "new trio" industries, and endeavored to lift its industrial competiveness in these fields through subsidies in different forms. On the surface, the EU has enforced legal supervision and restricted member states from providing state aid that could distort the market, yet many exceptions are set. Furthermore, on the pretext of facilitating green advancement and transition, it has constantly expanded the scope of these exceptions, leaving sufficient leeway and flexibility for itself and its member states to subsidize their "new trio" industries. According to data released by the commission, between 2018 and August 2024, the commission, within the framework of the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), has approved 36.2 billion euros in state aid, 320 projects in total, across fields ranging from batteries and hydrogen energy to communication technologies and cloud infrastructure and services. In particular, the battery industry has had 68 projects approved, accounting for 21 percent in total, with a subsidy of 6.1 billion euros. This clearly demonstrates that the EU has spared no efforts to implement supportive policies regarding the "new trio" industries in a bid to be competitive and take a lead in emerging sectors in the international arena. (The opinions mentioned above are extracted and translated from an article written by Shi Xiaoli and Cui Yunfei, from the China University of Political Science and Law.) (Web editor: Chang Sha, Wu Chengliang) The sudden resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has received mixed reactions following her controversial handling of student protests against Israel's war in Gaza. But one thing critics agree on is that the move was "long overdue." Speaker of the House Mike Johnson celebrated Shafik's resignation late Wednesday, saying she refused to protect Jewish students and maintain order on campus. "I stood in President Shafik's office in April and told her to resign, and while it is long overdue, we welcome today's news. Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief," Johnson wrote on X. "... We hope that President Shafik's resignation serves as an example to university administrators across the country that tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences." Katherine Franke, a Columbia law professor who has expressed pro-Palestinian views, wrote on X, "President Minouche Shafik threw me under the bus when she testified before Congress, but I'm still an employee of Columbia University, she's not. Turns out that capitulating to the bullies didn't work out well for her. It never does." Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine also applauded Shafik's departure. "After months of chanting 'Minouche Shafik you can't hide,' she finally got the memo. To be clear, any future president who does not pay heed to the Columbia student body's overwhelming demand for divestment will end up exactly as President Shafik did," they wrote. Shafik stepped down on Wednesday after a tenure marked by intense criticism, particularly over her response to the pro-Palestinian protests that began in April. Students set up an encampment and took over Hamilton Hall on campus, demanding that the university divest from companies they believed were supporting the war. Over 100 students were arrested during the incident, 40 of which were charged. Most have since had those charges dropped. Columbia also canceled its graduation ceremony in response. Several Jewish students subsequently filed lawsuits and criticized the administration for not doing enough to protect them during the protests, alleging that harassment and hate speech were allowed to go unchecked. Shafik later testified before the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, which called into question Columbia's handling of antisemitism on campus. As Israel's 10-month conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza continues, similar demonstrations have emerged on college and university campuses across the country. However, while many schools experienced a lull over the summer, tensions at the Ivy League institution remained high. Chief Operations Officer Cas Holloway had his Brooklyn residence vandalized by pro-Palestine protesters last week, and three university deans recently resigned after "antisemitic" text exchanges were revealed. University officials are also considering giving campus police broader authority to arrest protesters, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ahead of move-in day this fall, the university has restricted campus access to those with student IDs or prior permission in order to avoid disruptions. In a Wednesday letter to the Columbia community, Shafik cited the tumultuous protest period as the motivation stepping down. "I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that - working together - we have made progress in a number of important areas," she wrote. "However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community." While many openly praised Shafik's resignation, others shifted the attention to what this means for Columbia's future. "We hope that this brings to a close this period of turmoil in Columbia's history," Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students wrote on X. "We urge the Board of Trustees to appoint an interim president that will enforce campus rules, ensure student safety, and return the university to its mission of learning and teaching." The university's chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace wrote that they will not be "placated" by Shafik's removal "as the university's repression of the pro-Palestinian student movement continues." Meanwhile, Columbia Business School assistant professor Shai Davidai emphasized that the issue was never about the president. "People are asking me if I'm happy. I'm not happy. I'm not unhappy. It's never been about Shafik. It's never been personal," he said in a YouTube video. "... It always has and always will be about the Jewish students, staff and faculty. I wish President Shafik all the best luck in whatever she does." Regarding her next steps, Shafik stated that she plans to focus on combating global poverty and promoting sustainable development at the request of the United Kingdom's foreign secretary. She also mentioned her intention to return to the House of Lords to "reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new UK government." Shafik holds American and British citizenship. On Wednesday, Columbia's Board of Trustees expressed gratitude toward Shafiks work during her time at the university. "In this difficult year, Minouche has worked, inspired, and led tirelessly. Her wisdom, empathy, and deep commitment to our community have guided us through challenges that are both unique in scale and unique to this moment," the board said in a statement. The board also named Columbia University Irving Medical Center CEO and Yale alumna Katrina Armstrong as the interim president. Veteran Malayalam actor Siddique has lodged a complaint with Kerala police against actor Revathy Sampath after she accused him of sexual misconduct, officials said on Monday. This comes after he quit his post at the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists due to the allegations. (Also Read: Mohanlal has lost his ability to respond: Malayalam actor Shammy Thilakan amid sexual misconduct allegations) File photo of Siddique with actors Jomol and Ananya addressing the media on the Justice Hema Committee report, in Kochi on August 23, 2024.(PTI) Siddique lodges complaint on Revathy According to an official with Kerala Police, actor Siddique has lodged a complaint against actor Revathy, who had earlier accused him of sexual harassment. "The complaint has been submitted to Director General of Police," he said. This comes after Revathy accused Siddique, who was the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), of sexual misconduct. After the allegations, Siddique quit his post in AMMA. Siddique is a popular actor who has appeared in over 300 Malayalam movies. He has also acted in Tamil films such as Jana and Bhaskar Oru Rascal. Revathy accuses Siddique of harassment In a media interaction, Revathy had alleged that the incident happened when she was 21 years old. She stated that Siddique initially contacted her on Facebook, addressing her as "Mole," a term often used in Kerala to refer to a young girl or daughter. "After completing my Plus Two, I had a terrible experience. Siddique sent me messages on Facebook. I had come to discuss a film. This incident occurred when I was 21 years old. He first approached me by calling me 'Mole.' There was abuse from Siddique's side. During the discussion, he sexually abused me. The face he shows now is not the one I saw back then," Revanthy said. Alleging that Siddique sexually abused her, both physically and mentally, the actor said, "He assaulted me, both physically and mentally. Siddique is a criminal. I went through severe mental trauma. It even affected my professional life. No system stood by me. It took me a long time to speak out. After the assault, Siddique acted as if nothing had happened and stood before me like it was normal. Everyone responded as if it was a common occurrence. It felt like they all did it knowingly." Speaking on how she managed to escape the situation, Revathy added, "I ran away to escape. I responded as best as I could at that age. He said there was nothing I could do. I fled, managed to get into an auto, and escaped." Malayalam actor and president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), Mohanlal, has not released a statement in light of the recent Hema Committee report and sexual misconduct allegations on actor Siddique and filmmaker Ranjith. Actor Shammy Thilakan spoke to the press, according to IE, and took a dig at Mohanlal for not speaking up. (Also Read: Malayalam actress Minu Muneer accuses prominent stars of sexual harassment) Shammy Thilakan was critical of Mohanlal at a recent press meet. Shammy Thilakan on Mohanlal According to the publication, Shammy spoke to the press about recent events, stating that Mohanlal had lost his ability to respond. He also noted that whoever has done wrong will face consequences, saying, Those who eat salt will drink water, whoever it is, and adding, I live in fear too. The term power group was used by the Hema Committee, and their report contains evidence of its existence. We can identify who is part of that group based on this evidence. Shammy also called upon people to look beyond idol worship and hold those in power accountable, reportedly saying, Idols that must be broken must be broken. Idols that have shown betrayal must be torn down. As for Siddiques resignation, Shammy said that his stepping down as the secretary of AMMA isnt poetic justice, but maybe my father may feel that way. For the unversed, Shammy is the son of veteran Malayalam actor Thilakan. Whats happening in Mollywood In the aftermath of the Justice K Hema Committees explosive findings of harassment and abuse of women professionals, including sexual abuse, there is mounting pressure to take action against the alleged abusers. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan established a seven-member special team to investigate atrocities faced by women in the film industry. The report by the Justice Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government after the alleged assault case by Dileep in 2017, has pointed at several instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the field. Since then, director Ranjith and actor Siddique also faced accusations of sexual misconduct and stepped down from leadership roles in Kerala Chalachitra Academy and AMMA. As of Monday, another actor, Minu Muneer, has also come forward to name actors like M Mukesh, Jayasurya, Maniyanpilla Raju, Idavela Babu, advocate Chandrasekaran, production controller Noble and Vichu of unbearable abuse. I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured, she wrote in a Facebook post. Mumbai, Director Pa Ranjith on Monday said he wants to use cinema as a medium to address caste divide in the country and his latest offering "Thangalaan" is a step in the same direction. Don't want to just entertain people but also enlighten them, says filmmaker Pa Ranjith The acclaimed filmmaker, who belongs to the Dalit community, said he has been a longtime follower of social reformer Dr BR Ambedkar, a key architect of India's constitution, whose teachings have helped him over the years. "The caste problem is everywhere in India. I affected by the system. I understood in my childhood and what Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to tell modern India. "I followed him and I got a lot from him. I wanted to discuss through my art. I don't want to only entertain people, I want to try to enlighten them through . We need to address " Ranjith, known for "Kaala" and "Sarpatta Parambarai", told reporters here. He was speaking at the Hindi trailer launch of "Thanglaan", starring Vikram in the title role. Vikram, popular for roles in "I", "Ponniyin Selvan I & II", and "Raavanan", said every time he decides to embark on a project, he aims to pick characters that are nothing like his real self. "Cinema has always been my passion, my dream. Every time I do a role, I try to do something that's very far from me. I think 'Thangalaan' is just another of that want. I want to work on great characters with great directors like Pa Ranjith... All my directors have inspired me through all my characters," he said. Set in the 19th century, "Thangalaan" is based on the real story of the Kolar Gold Fields during its discovery by the British, who exploited and looted it for their own gain. The actor, known for undergoing extreme physical transformations for his roles, said he grew his hair and lost weight to embody the character of Thangalaan. "I realised I can't look like a hero. I should look like a labourer. I'm actually part of the oppressed. I had to be someone who just barely had a square meal a day. I needed to be like that, so I had to shrink a little. But apart from that, we had a lot of makeup done, like almost five hours every day were spent on that. "I had to remove my tattoo, then put on fresh tattoos. I have a scar which I had to hide, then add scars. All of that took time. Then, we had blood, mud, ash and gold in every scene. There's no scene where we look nice," added Vikram. "Thangalaan" also stars Parvathy Thiruvothu, Malavika Mohanan, and British actor Daniel Caltagirone. Produced by Studio Green, it is slated to be released in Hindi on September 6. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Kannada actor Rukmini Vasanth made a splash with her Hemanth Rao-Rakshit Shetty film, Sapta Saagaradaache Ello Side A and Side B, and she was flooded with offers from the Tamil and Telugu film industries. While she signed films with top stars Vijay Sethupathi and Sivakarthikeyan in Tamil, she didnt sign on any in Tollywood. In fact, there have been many news reports regarding her Tollywood debut but no official confirmation. (Also read: Double iSmart review: Ram Pothineni, Puri Jagannadh's film is double annoying) Rukmini Vasanth will make her Telugu debut with Ram Pothineni's film. Too many offers Telugu industry insiders revealed to HT that Rukmini Vasanth had been approached by many filmmakers and had in fact listened to around a dozen scripts. However, she didnt seem to be too keen on signing any but now sources said that she had finally signed a film with Double iSmart star Ram Pothineni. She was rumored to star in Vijay Deverakondas upcoming film with Ravi Kiran Kola of Raja Vaaru Raani Gaaru fame (tentatively titled VD14) but it looks like she has turned it down. A source in the know told HT, Rukmini had got offers from numerous filmmakers including a film with Vijay Deverakonda. But she didnt seem to be happy with those scripts. She has now signed Rams film. What's next for Rukmini The actor who also has several Kannada films lined up, including Shiva Rajkumars Bhairathi Ranagal and Bhagheera. In Tamil, she has Ace with Vijay Sethupathi and has wrapped up her shoot for the film. Director AR Murugadosss film with Sivakarthikeyan is on floors now. Speaking about how Sapta Saagaradaache Ello (SSE) changed her career and life, Rukmini stated in an interview: SSE is the film that made me feel that I am on the right path. Despite being only my second film, I am grateful to Hemanth Rao and Rakshit for offering me Priya's role, which has such great magnitude when one looks at SSE as a whole. Both Manu and Priya, the two characters exist with equal space and time. On the tense night of September 6, 2019, as millions of Indians held their breath, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi stood shoulder to shoulder with the scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). During the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the Vikram lander made its attempt at a lunar landing but tragically crashed due to a software error, resulting in the loss of the Pragyan rover as well. Despite the setback, this moment marked a significant chapter in India's space exploration journey, showcasing resilience and determination. The atmosphere was charged with hope and excitement, a testament to the years of hard work that had gone into making this mission a reality. But when the mission faltered, plunging the room into an eerie silence, a collective fear gripped those present. How would the PM react? What would be the fate of Indias space aspirations? ISRO EOS 08 launch: The space agency launches of Earth Observation satellite EOS-8 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. In that moment of uncertainty, PM Modi did something that would leave an indelible mark on India's space journey. With a calm demeanour that belied the gravity of the situation, he embraced ISROs chief, not with words of disappointment but with a message of resilience and hope. The next morning, his speech reverberated across the nationnot as a reprimand but as a rallying cry for perseverance in the face of setbacks. PM Modis personal involvement in ISROs aspirations marked a significant turning point, igniting a new era of ambition and determination in Indias space technology sector. Fast forward to August 23, 2023, and that spirit of resilience bore fruit with Chandrayaan-3. The successful landing of the Vikram lander on the moons south pole at precisely 6:03 PM IST was not just a technological achievement; it was a moment of national pride. The Pragyan rover's subsequent exploration of the lunar surface was a testament to the ingenuity and dedication of ISROs scientists. To commemorate this achievement, PM Modi declared August 23 as National Space Daya day dedicated to inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in science and technology. In a fitting tribute, he christened the landing site Shiv Shakti and named the point where Chandrayaan-2 had made its impact Tiranga, symbolising the indomitable spirit of a nation that refuses to be daunted by setbacks. Just last month, Chandrayaan-3s success, which made India the first country to land near the lunar South Pole, was honoured with the prestigious World Space Award by the International Astronautical Federation. This recognition reaffirms Indias technological prowess and solidifies its position as a leader in space exploration, paving the way for future lunar endeavours, including human exploration. India has emerged as a formidable space power with significant global implications. Indias space programme, known for its cost-effectiveness, has long been a leader in affordable space missions. Recognising the changing dynamics of space exploration, the Modi government has taken proactive steps to foster innovation and competition within the Indian space sector. Initiatives like the establishment of New Space India Ltd. (NSIL) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) underscore Indias commitment to nurturing a globally competitive commercial space industry. This forward-thinking approach ensures that India remains at the forefront of space exploration and technology. The achievements of Indias space programme are numerous and varied, encompassing indigenous launch capacity, successful missions to the moon and Mars, satellite launches into multiple orbits, and the development of a robust national security space infrastructure. The pace and scale of these accomplishments are unparalleled. As of March 2024, the ISRO has conducted a total of 124 spacecraft missions, including 17 satellites developed by private players or students and 432 foreign satellites launched; additionally, the ISRO has also completed 96 launch missions, six re-entry missions, and projects like POEMS. A prime example of ISROs continued innovation is the Aditya-L1 mission, a state-of-the-art coronagraphy spacecraft launched on September 2, 2023. Aditya-L1, which reached its designated orbit at the L1 point1.5 million kilometres from Earthon January 6, 2024, is designed to explore the mysteries of the sun's atmosphere, focussing on the corona and chromosphere. The mission aims to understand the origins and evolution of the solar corona, investigate the processes that heat the corona to millions of degrees Celsius, and develop indigenous technologies for future solar missions. The Modi governments commitment to space exploration have propelled India into a position of prominence on the global stage. This vision extends beyond exploration; it includes the development of advanced space technologies, such as anti-satellite technology (ASAT). Through the successful Mission Shakti test in 2019, India demonstrated its capabilities in ASAT, becoming only the fourth country in the world to do so. This strategic move underscores Indias commitment to safeguarding its space assets and participating in global dialogues on the responsible use of outer space. The PSLV-C43 mission, which launched the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HySIS) in November 2018, represents a significant advancement in studying Earths surface with unparalleled precision. This mission, which focusses on gathering hyperspectral data across various wavelengths, contributes to a wide range of applications, including agriculture, forestry, geology, and disaster management. HySIS, along with other missions like Astrosat and KalamSAT, exemplifies Indias growing role as a key player in the international space arena. The Gaganyaan mission is progressing diligently, achieving notable milestones. The success of Gaganyaan would not only mark India's entry as the fourth nationwith the United States, Russia, and Chinapossessing human spaceflight capabilities but would also signify a monumental achievement in the nation's space exploration journey. Looking ahead, India is poised for further advancements in space exploration. India is setting its sights on the stars with an ambitious plan to establish its own space station by 2035, followed by the historic goal of landing an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040. As the nation gears up to achieve a $100 billion space economy by 2040, these milestones will not only cement India's position as a global space leader but also propel the nation into a new era of space exploration and innovation. Despite challenges such as limited budgets and technological dependencies on imports, the governments unwavering commitment to space exploration, coupled with increased private sector involvement, bodes well for the future. With continued focus on policy reforms, technological advancements, and ambitious missions, India is poised to emerge as a major force in the global space arena, solidifying its position as a frontrunner in space exploration and innovation. India's ambitious strides in space exploration are not just limited to successful missions and technological advancements. The nation has opened new frontiers for global collaboration and innovation by permitting up to 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in crucial space sectors, including satellite manufacturing, operations, satellite data products, and related ground segments. This strategic move, aimed at bolstering India's space capabilities, has been hailed by experts as a game-changer that will attract prominent international players, support homegrown startups, and stimulate high-tech research and development. This policy shift not only enables component manufacturers to harness private investments to enhance their offerings, fosters access to cutting-edge technologies, and promotes collaboration with global players to develop next-generation space products, but also places India at the forefront of global space exploration, driving innovation and excellence in this domain. The ISRO has an ambitious lineup of upcoming space missions, showcasing its commitment to advancing space exploration and technology, such as NISAR, Gaganyaan 1, Gaganyaan 2, Venus Orbiter Mission (Shukrayaan), Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (Mangalyaan 2), and Chandrayaan-4, among others. This article is authored by Tuhin A Sinha, national spokesperson, BJP, New Delhi. Actor Arti Singh recently shared a series of photos on Instagram from her Rakhi celebrations with cousin Ragini Khanna and her maternal uncle Govinda's children, Yashvardhan and Tina, at his Mumbai residence. In one of the pictures, Govindas wife, Sunita, was spotted in the background. The gathering was noteworthy as it hinted at the end of a long-standing rift between Govinda and his nephew, Krushna Abhishek. A file photo of Arti Singh and Dipak Chauhan Speaking about the get-together, Arti, who tied the knot with businessman Dipak Chauhan on April 25, tells us, "I had gone to tie Rakhi to Yash. I met Sunita Maami; she loved me and was happy for me. Maama too was very happy for me and Dipak. He came for our wedding in April, that was a big deal for me. I wish maami bhi aati but koi nahi. Ab bas sab theek ho jaaye." Also Read: Arti Singh shares pics from her haldi ceremony with Dipak Chauhan, teases brother Krushna Abhishek in new clip Addressing recent rumours about a split with Chauhan, Arti expresses her frustration and says that she doesn't "understand how these rumours start". "I was very upset when these reports surfaced. But main aise logon ko mera nazar pattu maanti hu. We are happy, koi trouble in paradise nahi hain," she says. Singh, who marked her four-month anniversary on Sunday, tells us that she had the wedding of her dreams. "Jaisa socha tha vaisa hi hua. We didn't want a big fat wedding. I wanted a simple wedding at ISKON and that's what we did. I am very happy, she adds. When asked if anything had changed post her wedding, Arti says "There have been no changes at all. I sometimes ask myself, 'Haaye, kya sach mein meri shaadi hogayi hai?' There is no pressure at all. Dipak is chill and we are like friends. When you become friends, everything becomes easy." Days after the wedding, the couple embarked on a month-long trip to Paris and Greece. Ask her about it and the 39-year-old fondly recalls their time, and notes, I visited Paris for the second time recently. On my first trip, I had bought a lock with the promise that I would return with my husband to place it on the bridgeand that's exactly what we did. I've always dreamed of capturing a kissing photo under the Eiffel Tower, so I was thrilled to finally do that. It was his first time in Paris, and my first visit to Greece, so we both had an amazing time exploring these beautiful places. Two diplomats serving in Bangladesh's Indian High Commission have been relieved from their duties. The action was taken at the insistence of the beleaguered country's interim government. Sheikh Hasina stepped down in the face of student-led protests and fled to India on August 5. (AP/FILE) Those who have been removed are Shaban Mahmud, First Secretary (Press) and Ranjan Sen, also First Secretary (Press). The order came into effect on August 17, reported India Today. Both Mahmud and Sen were asked to give up their posts before their contracts ended. Earlier this month, Sheikh Hasina had been ousted by violent mobs who threatened her security. The incident came after weeks-long violent protests against quotas in government jobs. She scampered to New Delhi in a military chopper as she feared for her life. After she left, angry mobs attacked her official residence and looted her belongings. Sheikh Hasina was reportedly seeking asylum in Europe. However, several administrations reportedly denied her immunity from legal action. Her son, however, denied the reports. Amid violence and uncertainty in Dhaka, New Delhi pulled out "non-essential" staff and the families of diplomats from the country. Earlier this month, the Bangladesh interim government revoked Sheikh Hasina's diplomatic passport. The security services division of the country's home affairs ministry announced that the diplomatic passport of Sheikh Hasina, her advisors, ex-cabinet members, and all members of the recently dissolved 12th Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament), along with their spouses, would be revoked with immediate effect. Sheikh Hasina is currently in a safe house in India. However, her future is uncertain. Sheikh Hasina, according to government sources, holds no other passport besides the now-revoked diplomatic one, reported The Daily Star newspaper. Under Indian visa policy, Bangladeshi citizens holding diplomatic or official passports are eligible for visa-free entry and can stay in the country for up to 45 days. As of Saturday, Hasina has already spent 20 days in India, with the clock ticking on her legal stay. At least 350 paramilitary forces companies posted along the Amarnath Yatra route and set to return after August 19 on completing the pilgrimage security duty will continue to stay put in Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) for the assembly polls, officials aware of the matter said. 350 companies of para forces to stay in poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir The companies staying back includes all of those of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The Border Security Force (BSF), however, will send a majority of its personnel to the eastern frontier along the Indo-Bangladesh border, which is on high alert because of the political turmoil in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasinas ouster on August 5 and the violence in Bangladesh led to many of its citizens, including members of the Awami League, to flee the border and enter India. While there has been no mass gathering of Bangladeshi nationals (there were four such instances in first week after August 5) over the last two weeks, different battalions along the 4,096.7 km border are reporting isolated cases of people attempting to cross over to India for better job opportunities. Senior officials who asked not to be named said that sometime later this week, the election commission is likely to hold a joint meeting of senior officers from all agencies and decide on the deployment of the companies. One paramilitary force company has at least 120 personnel depending on the area where the company is located. Around 350 companies, majority from the CRPF will remain posted in J&K for election security duty. The areas where they need to be deployed will be decided after a joint security review of the different agencies. There were nearly 470 companies involved in Amarnath Yatra security duty, of which at least 133 were sent from the BSF, the second highest after CRPF, officials aware of the matter. Elections in J&K are scheduled against the backdrop of several terror attacks in the UT. At least 18 civilians have been killed and 20 security personnel have died in the line of duty this year. The forces have also eliminated at least 27 terrorists. The Amarnath Yatra security was handled mostly by CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the SSB. Officials said some of the BSFs additional companies could also be sent to the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, which has reported an increasing incident of drones dropping weapons and drugs. During the July 18 meeting of all agencies held after the terror attack in Jammu, the agencies had suspected that the infiltration may have happened from Punjab border. This was denied by BSF representatives in the meeting,. But given the increasing activities at the Punjab border, some companies could also be stationed at the Punjab frontier in the run up to elections, the official said adding that after elections in J&K, the security teams will move to Left Wing Extremism areas as part of what the government has termed as the final assault in the fight against Naxals. Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The results will be declared on October 4. New Delhi: At least 350 companies of paramilitary forces posted along the Amarnath Yatra route and set to return after August 19 on completing the pilgrimage security duty will continue to stay put in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the assembly polls, officials aware of the matter said. Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir (File Photo) Most of the companies staying back are of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The Border Security Force (BSF), however, will send a majority of its personnel to the eastern frontier along the Indo-Bangladesh border, which is on high alert because of the political turmoil in the neighbouring country. While there has been no mass gathering of Bangladeshi nationals (there were four such instances in first week after August 5) over the last two weeks, different battalions along the 4,096.7km border are reporting isolated cases of people attempting to cross over to India for better job opportunities. Senior officials who asked not to be named said that sometime later this week, the election commission is likely to hold a joint meeting of senior officers from all agencies and decide on the deployment of the companies. One paramilitary force company has at least 120 personnel depending on the area where the company is located. Around 350 companies, majority from the CRPF will remain posted in J&K for election security duty. The areas where they need to be deployed will be decided after a joint security review of the different agencies. There were nearly 470 companies involved in Amarnath Yatra security duty, of which at least 133 were sent from the BSF, the second highest after CRPF, a senior official said. Elections in J&K are scheduled against the backdrop of several terror attacks in the UT. At least 18 civilians have been killed and 20 security personnel have died in the line of duty this year. The forces have also eliminated at least 27 terrorists. The Amarnath Yatra security was handled mostly by CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the SSB. Officials said some of the BSFs additional companies could also be sent to the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, which has reported an increasing incident of drones dropping weapons and drugs. ... given the increasing activities at the Punjab border, some companies could also be stationed at the Punjab frontier in the run up to elections, the official said. A massive statue of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district collapsed on Monday, an official said. The 35-foot statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rajkot Fort in Malvan, and collapsed at around 1 pm on August 26, said officials. A 35-foot statue of Shivaji Maharaj collapsed in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg (HT/Yogesh Naik) The statue was unveiled by PM Modi on December 4 last year on the occasion of Navy Day, after which he participated in the festivities at the Rajkot Fort. Following the incident, the opposition parties have slammed the state government, alleging it had paid little attention to the quality of work. The exact cause of collapse is yet to be ascertained, but preliminary report suggests it was due to heavy rains and gusty winds over the past two days in the city. Senior officials of the police and district administration reached the site to take stock of the situation, and the damage is being examined. Meanwhile, opposition leaders in Maharashtra took potshots at the Eknath Shinde-led government for poor quality of work. NCP (SP) state president and former minister Jayant Patil said, "The state government is responsible for the collapse, as it did not take proper care. The government paid little attention to the quality of work. It only focused on conducting an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to unveil the statue. This Maharashtra government only issues new tenders, accepts commissions and gives contracts accordingly." Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibhav Naik further slammed the government for evading responsibility. He said, The state government may try to evade responsibility. People responsible for the construction and erection of the statue must be probed thoroughly. Read more: CM Shinde calls meet to approve PMRDA budget Speaking about the statue collapse, Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar said, "I don't have all the details about the incident. However, it's important to note that PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan, also the guardian minister of Sindhudurg district, has said a thorough investigation will be conducted in the matter." "We are committed to erecting a new statue at the same location. This statue, unveiled by PM Modi, pays tribute to Shivaji Maharaj's visionary efforts in building a sea fort. We will take all necessary steps to address this matter promptly and effectively," he said. (With inputs from PTI) A federal judge had harsh words for the University of California, Los Angeles, following allegations that Jewish students were discriminated against during pro-Palestinian protests earlier this year. "Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom ..." U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi wrote in a preliminary injunction on Tuesday. The lawsuit, filed in June by three Jewish UCLA students, accused the school of failing to ensure fair access to the campus amid demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. Protesters erected an encampment surrounded by plywood and metal barriers, the lawsuit states, and established checkpoints and a wristband system that prevented pro-Israel students from accessing classrooms, the library and other academic buildings. In response, the university argued it had no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was created by third-party protesters. Regardless of who initiated the exclusion, Scarsi wrote, the university cannot allow Jewish students to be blocked from accessing campus buildings, programs and services. "Under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion," he said. Scarsi directed UCLA to guarantee that all campus areas, services, and activities remain equally accessible to Jewish students. He also instructed the university's student affairs division and security teams to avoid assisting in any obstruction of access for Jewish students. "No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish," Yitzchok Frankel, one of the students who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. "I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct." Guwahati, The AIUDF on Monday submitted a memorandum to Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, seeking action by the state government against several organisations which have issued threats against a section of the Muslim community" asking them to leave the Upper Assam districts or "face the consequences". AIUDF submits memorandum to Guv seeking safety of Muslims in upper Assam Upper Assam, comprising nine districts, is an administrative division of the northeastern state. The opposition party also sought a public statement from the BJP-led state government, condemning the stand taken by these organisations against a section of Muslims. A number of organisations recently asked the Miyas to leave the upper Assam districts immediately, claiming it as a step to protect the indigenous people and their culture. Miya is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance. In a memorandum to Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, the AIUDF said, It has come to our notice that some unknown organisations and fundamentalist groups have publicly issued threats against a section of the Muslim community demanding that they should leave upper Assam immediately or face dire consequences. Such statements are not only alarming but also create a serious threat to communal harmony and safety of the community in the region, it said. A recent incident in Sivasagar where members of Marwari community knelt down and offered public apology for an incident of alleged assault of a 17-year-old girl by a local businessman belonging to their community has "deepened the magnitude" of the threat against the Muslims, the memorandum said. The AIUDF noted that such threats are directly in violation to fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution, and also against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Urging the governor's intervention in the matter, the party also asked the state government to take strict legal action against those organisations, including initiating legal proceedings. It requested the state government to deploy adequate security forces in the upper Assam areas to ensure the safety and security of the people. The memorandum also asked the state government to issue a public statement condemning such threats issued by the organisations and reassure all communities that their safety and rights will be protected. The AIUDF also urged the government, in collaboration with civil society, to initiate programs and campaigns to promote communal harmony and unity among the different communities. We, the members of AIUDF, remain committed to upholding the values of fraternity, peace, unity and justice and we believe that your timely intervention will help prevent escalation of tension and ensure the continued harmony of our state, the memorandum added. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday called for unity, referring to the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh. Nothing can be above the nation. And the nation will be empowered only when we are united. 'Batenge to Katenge'. You are seeing what is happening in Bangladesh. Those mistakes should not be repeated here... 'Batenge to Katenge, Ek Rahenge to Nek Rahenge, the chief minister said at a public meeting in Agra. This comes a day after Adityanath questioned the opposition over its silence over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. While the opposition is quick to speak out on global issues, it has remained conspicuously silent about the persecution of Hindus and the demolition of temples in Bangladesh. They see Palestine but turn a blind eye to Bangladesh because its fears losing their vote bank, he said in Mathura. The UP chief minister's statement comes amid reports of unrest in the Bangla-speaking country, which plunged into a political crisis on August 5 after its prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. (HT File) Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh There have been reports of widespread attacks on Hindus, which constitute 8 per cent of Bangladesh's total population. Hindu temples have been desecrated while properties belonging to the community members have been attacked by the mob. The Hindus had been historically voting for Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, which led the country's liberation movement in 1971. Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a minority rights group, had told AFP on August 16 that there had been 200 attacks on the Hindu community members since the Awami League chief left. ALSO READ: 140 cr Indians concerned over safety of Hindus, minorities in Bangladesh: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an X post while congratulating Bangladesh interim government's chief advisor Muhammad Yunus had said,"We hope for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities." (With agency inputs) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday issued revised lists of 16 candidates for the first two phases of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) assembly elections on September 18 and 25 hours after withdrawing the list with 44 nominees amid rumblings within the party. It first reissued a list of 15 candidates before releasing a second one with one nominee. The BJPs Central Election Committee met on Sunday to finalise the candidates for the J&K assembly polls. (HT PHOTO) The first list had to be withdrawn because it created a lot of furore among the party loyalists and senior leaders of the BJP. They sulked over the selection of political turncoats at the expense of loyal and time-tested party leaders, who stood with the party through thick and thin, said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity. The rescinded list, which included eight candidates from Kashmir and 36 from Jammu, triggered protests at the BJP office in Jammu. It included former ministers Choudhary Zulfikar, who quit the Apni Party to join the BJP, Syed Mushtaq Bukhari, a former National Conference (NC) leader, and former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Murtuza Khan. Shyam Lal Shama, who defected from Congress to BJP, was given the ticket from Jammu West. Surjit Singh Salathia, a former NC leader, was named BJPs candidate from Samba. Devender Singh Rana, who defected to BJP after quitting the National Conference in 2021, was fielded from Nagrota. The first lists were a day before the last date for nominations for the first phase. Assembly elections in J&K, the first since 2014, will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. It is the first major electoral exercise in the region after the 2024 national elections. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. The rescinded list had 10 nominees for the second phase and 19 for the third phase. It included candidates for Kashmir Valleys Pampore, Shopian, and Anantnag. The BJP did not field any candidates in the Lok Sabha polls for the three seats in the Valley. It won both Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu region. The BJPs Central Election Committee met on Sunday to finalise the candidates for the J&K assembly polls. The party won 25 of the 87 seats when assembly elections were last held in J&K in 2014 and formed the government with the PDP which bagged 28 seats. The NC got 15 seats while its ally Congress had 12. The polls in J&K will be held months after the Union government in July widened the scope of J&K lieutenant governors powers from police and public order to postings and prosecution sanctions. Parties such as NC condemned the move calling it the step to rendering the chief minister in J&K powerless and disempowering the regions people. J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to the PDP-led coalition government. The region was under the governors rule before the Union government in August 2019 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave the region semi-autonomous status, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of J&K with an assembly and Ladakh without one. In December last year, the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of Article 370 and directed the Election Commission of India to conduct polls for the 90-member J&K assembly by September 30, 2024. The court asked the Union government to restore statehood to the region as soon as possible. In May 2022, a three-member delimitation commission redrew the electoral map of J&K, earmarking 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir. Out of the seven new seats, six were allotted to Jammu and one to Kashmir. The regional parties rejected the panels decision calling it an attempt to consolidate BJPs vote bank. Kolkata, The Central Bureau of Investigation has named Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in the FIR the agency has filed in connection with its probe into the alleged financial irregularities at the institution during his tenure. CBI names RG Kar Hospital ex-principal Sandip Ghosh in corruption FIR, slaps non-bailable sections The agency has slapped Section 120B of IPC read with Section 420 IPC and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 which covers unlawful acceptance of gratification by a public servant. The cases read together account for cognisable offences and are non-bailable in nature, a senior Calcutta High Court lawyer said. Besides Ghosh, the CBI has also registered cases against one M/s Ma Tara Traders of Madhya Jorehat, Banipur, Howrah, M/s Eshan Cafe of 4/1, H/1, JK Ghosh Road, Belgachhia, Kolkata and one M/s Khama Louha. The FIR was lodged on the basis of a written complaint lodged by Debal Kumar Ghosh, special secretary to the state health department. PTI retains a copy of the FIR. The FIR was lodged on Saturday after the CBI took over the probe from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team following directions of the Calcutta High Court which the West Bengal government had initially formed following the alleged rape and murder of a woman medic on August 9. The order was issued on a petition by former deputy superintendent of RG Kar Hospital, Akhtar Ali, who requested a probe by the Enforcement Directorate into alleged financial misconduct at the institution. Ali had moved the high court after fervent speculations in the public domain on whether the alleged rampant corruption at the institution was in any way connected to the medic's death with possibilities of the victim remaining privy to those and threatening exposure. Ali had also alleged that his complaints before the state vigilance commission and anti-corruption bureau filed a year ago against Ghosh yielded little results and, instead, led to his own transfer from the institution. In his plea before the high court, Ali accused Ghosh of illegal sale of unclaimed corpses, trafficking of biomedical waste and passing tenders against the commission paid by medicine and medical equipment suppliers. Ali also alleged that students were pressured to pay amounts ranging between 5 and 8 lakh to pass exams. Ghosh served as principal of RG Kar Hospital from February 2021 to September 2023. He was transferred from the medical establishment in October that year but inexplicably returned to that position within a month. He held his position at the hospital till the day the doctor was found murdered. Ghosh, who was removed from his chair at RG Kar Hospital after the crime came to light and reinstated in the same position at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital within hours by the Mamata Banerjee government, has subsequently been asked to go on an indefinite leave in the wake of massive resistance from CNMC students and pending the corruption inquiry. The CBI on Sunday conducted a day-long search operation at Ghosh's Beliaghata residence in Kolkata in connection with the corruption cases. Ghosh has also been examined by the agency for 10 days at a stretch and it was conducting a polygraph test on him on Monday in connection with the rape and murder probe. The CBI also summoned the hospital's former superintendent Sanjay Vashisth and its forensic demonstrator Debasish Som at the agency's Nizam Palace office for questioning in connection with the corruption allegations. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. In fresh trouble for senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state has recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Mahadev Online Book app case, people familiar with the development said on Sunday. Chhattisgarh government recommends CBI probe into Mahadev case The federal agency will soon file a case based on the Chhattisgarh Polices March 4 first information report (FIR), in which Baghel has been named as an accused along with Mahadev app promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. Besides, around 70 other FIRs registered in various police stations across the state in the last one year in connection with the Mahadev online betting and gaming app case will also be handed over to CBI. A letter with approval for a CBI probe was handed over on Friday along with the FIR and preliminary case documents, a senior state government official said, requesting anonymity. HT had exclusively reported on March 17 that the Chhattisgarh Polices economic offences wing (EOW) has named Baghel as an accused in the Mahadev case pertaining to charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, and forgery under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The official quoted above said the decision to hand over the probe to CBI was taken as the federal agency is better equipped to unearth a larger conspiracy, probe the role of those whose names were kept out in the state polices probe as several police officers are also allegedly involved. Besides, CBI is better placed to obtain extradition of (accused) Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal from the UAE, the official added. While taking over probes from state agencies, CBI re-registers its own regular case (RC) the agencys equivalent of an FIR. This effectively means Baghel is likely to be named as accused in the CBIs case as well. The EOW had filed its charge sheet in July alleging that while the Mahadev service is still operational, the promoters of the Mahadev Book app have obtained protection from various police and administrative officials, as well as influential political figures to prevent legal action against their criminal activities related to online betting. CBI, a second official said, will analyse state polices charge sheet as well. The March 4 case naming Baghel was filed after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent two references to the state police on January 8 and 30 this year based on its findings that pointed at the involvement of top-level state government functionaries in allowing illegal activities of Mahadev in lieu of protection money. ED had alleged in November last year that Chandrakar and Uppal paid bribes worth 508 crore to the former chief minister. The two accused are currently in detention in a UAE facility and extradition requests have already been sent through the ministry of external affairs (MEA). The promoters of Mahadev Book App paid huge amounts of protection money to various police officers, administrative officers and influential political persons to stop police from taking any action on their illegal activities. This money used to reach the police and administrative officers through hawala operators, and then further to other senior police officers and influential political persons. This way, several police and administrative officers misused their official position to benefit themselves in the form of protection money and create illegal assets, the FIR stated. HT reached out to Baghels political aide for a comment from the former chief minister, but received no response till late on Sunday. In its communication to the Chhattisgarh Police on January 8, ED had said: Chandrabhushan Verma made a startling disclosure, revealing that police officials/bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh were illicitly receiving bribes to overlook the unlawful betting activities conducted by Mahadev Book. Verma revealed that he was collecting hawala payments and distributing them to senior police officers and OSDs (officials on special duty) to the CM for ensuring smooth operations of betting websites and as protection money. So far, ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, including one against Chandrakar and Uppal. The federal agency has alleged in its charge sheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about 200 crore in cash was spent for this event and private jets were hired to ferry his relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding. The projected proceeds of crime in the case are about 6,000 crore, according to ED, which has so far frozen assets worth 572.41 crore in the case. New Delhi: In fresh trouble for senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh has recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Mahadev Online Book app case, people familiar with the development said on Sunday. Senior Congress member and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel (File Photo) The federal agency will soon file a case based on the Chhattisgarh Polices March 4 first information report (FIR), in which Baghel has been named as an accused along with Mahadev app promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. Besides, around 70 other FIRs registered in various police stations across the state in the last one year in connection with the Mahadev online betting and gaming app case will also be handed over to CBI. A letter with approval for a CBI probe was handed over on Friday along with the FIR and preliminary case documents, a senior state government official said, requesting anonymity. HT had exclusively reported on March 17 that the Chhattisgarh Polices economic offences wing (EOW) has named Baghel as an accused in the Mahadev case pertaining to charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, and forgery under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The official quoted above said the decision to hand over the probe to CBI was taken as the federal agency is better equipped to unearth a larger conspiracy, probe the role of those whose names were kept out in the state polices probe as several police officers are also allegedly involved. Besides, CBI is better placed to obtain extradition of (accused) Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal from the UAE, the official added. While taking over probes from state agencies, CBI re-registers its own regular case (RC) the agencys equivalent of an FIR. This effectively means Baghel is likely to be named as accused in the CBIs case as well. The EOW had filed its charge sheet in July alleging that while the Mahadev service is still operational, the promoters of the Mahadev Book app have obtained protection from various police and administrative officials, as well as influential political figures to prevent legal action against their criminal activities related to online betting. CBI, a second official said, will analyse state polices charge sheet as well. The March 4 case naming Baghel was filed after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent two references to the state police on January 8 and 30 this year based on its findings that pointed at the involvement of top-level state government functionaries in allowing illegal activities of Mahadev in lieu of protection money. ED had alleged in November last year that Chandrakar and Uppal paid bribes worth 508 crore to the former chief minister. The two accused are currently in detention in a UAE facility and extradition requests have already been sent through the ministry of external affairs (MEA). The promoters of Mahadev Book App paid huge amounts of protection money to various police officers, administrative officers and influential political persons to stop police from taking any action on their illegal activities. This money used to reach the police and administrative officers through hawala operators, and then further to other senior police officers and influential political persons. This way, several police and administrative officers misused their official position to benefit themselves in the form of protection money and create illegal assets, the FIR stated. HT reached out to Baghels political aide for a comment from the former chief minister, but received no response. So far, ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, including one against Chandrakar and Uppal. The federal agency has alleged in its charge sheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about 200 crore in cash was spent for this event and private jets were hired to ferry his relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding. The projected proceeds of crime in the case are about 6,000 crore, according to ED, which has so far frozen assets worth 572.41 crore in the case. The Congress has announced its first nine candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, fielding Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Vikar Rasool Wani, two former presidents of its J&K unit, from their Dooru and Banihal assembly constituencies, respectively. Congress supporters with Congress flags ahead of a rally. (File photo) The grand old party also named Surinder Singh Channi (Tral), Amanullah Mantoo (Devsar), Peerzada Mohd Syed (Anantnag), Sheikh Zafarullah (Inderwal), Nadeem Sharief (Bhadarwah), Sheikh Riyaz (Doda) and Dr Pradeep Kumar Bhagat (Doda West). The Congress will fight 37 seats in the 90-member assembly. It will contest the elections with its INDIA bloc ally, the National Conference (NC); the agreement will see the parties contest 32 and 51 seats, respectively, while on five seats, they will be engaged in a friendly but disciplined competition. The remaining two seats have been given to Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Panthers Party. The seat-sharing talks were sealed in a meeting between NC president Farooq Abdullah and his son and party deputy Omar Abdullah the two are ex-chief ministers with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and ex-chief Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. The meeting was held on Wednesday in Srinagar, the summer capital of the former state; the region lost both its special status (via abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India) and statehood in 2019, and is now a Union territory. The assembly polls will be J&K's first since November-December 2014. Voting is on September 18, 25 and October 1, with counting of votes three days after the third and final phase. Senior Congress leader and party MP from Nanded Lok Sabha constituency, Vasantrao Chavan (69), passed away in Hyderabad due to prolonged illness, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) announced. Vasantrao Chavan(Nana Patole (X)) As his health worsened over the past few days, he was rushed to Kims Hospital in Hyderabad. However, he lost his life due to the severity of the disease. His last rites will be performed in Naigaon at 11 am, the party sources said. Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole posted his condolence message on social media platform X. "The news of the demise of a senior leader of CongrOpposition parties stage protests across Maharashtra following Badlapur assaultess party, MP of Nanded Lok Sabha Constituency Vasantraoji Chavan is very shocking. He always remained loyal to the Congress party even in adverse conditions and brought the idea of the Congress party home. The entire Congress party is with the Chavan family in this grief," Patole posted on X. Who was Vasantrao Chavan? Chavan won the Nanded constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha general elections by securing over 46 percent of the polled votes. He defeated his rival candidate Chikhalikar Prataprao Govindrao from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of over 50,000 votes. Chavan is also the trustee and Chairperson of Janta High School and College of Agriculture in Naigaon. He was elected as an independent member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Naigaon in 2009. Also read | Opposition parties stage protests across Maharashtra following Badlapur assault He joined the Indian National Congress in 2014 and was re-elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Naigaon. Vasantrao hails from one of the largest families of Amitrao Chavan, whose political dominance has persisted in Naigaon district. He became the Sarpacnch for the first time in 1978 and also served on the District Council later. Chavan was elected to district Zilla Parishad in 2002 but was soon elected to the State Legislative Council. He was also the chairman of Nanded District Central Cooperative Bank from 2021 to 2023. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday revisited the 1995 Lucknow 'state guest house incident' to criticise the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the "deadly assault" on her and the Congress for not coming to her aid despite being in power at the Centre at the time. BSP chief Mayawati criticises Congress for 'inaction' during 1995 Lucknow guest house incident This statement comes just three days after Mayawati expressed gratitude to SP president Akhilesh Yadav for his support against "objectionable comments" made by a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA during a TV debate. ALSO READ- Strategic misstep? How BSP's votes in 16 Lok Sabha seats could have altered NDA's majority "The SP had carried out a deadly attack on me on June 2, 1995, after the BSP withdrew its support, then why does Congress never speak on this? The Congress government at the Centre during that time also did not fulfil its responsibility on time," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a post on X. What was Lucknow state guest house incident? On June 2, 1995, Mayawati announced her decision to withdraw BSP support from the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government. Following this, Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders and workers allegedly attacked her at a guest house in Lucknow where she was meeting her party leaders. Mayawati was rescued from the guest house by BJP leaders. Subsequently, the governor dismissed the Mulayam Singh Yadav government and invited Mayawati to form the new government. Mayawati slams Congress BSP supremo questioned why Congress never addressed this incident, despite being in power at the Centre at that time. Mayawati also criticised the Congress for allegedly planning to impose president's rule in Uttar Pradesh after the attack, a move she claimed was thwarted by the BSP. "Even when Kanshi Ram ji was in a serious condition and hospitalised, the home minister had to be reprimanded and the opposition also gheraoed the Parliament, only after that did the Congress government take action," she said in Hindi. "Because at that time the central Congress government's intentions had also become bad, which after some untoward incident wanted to run its government from behind the scenes by imposing president's rule in Uttar Pradesh, whose conspiracy was foiled by BSP," Mayawati further claimed. Mayawati said that the entire opposition, including the BJP, had come to her aid during the attack. ALSO READ- PM Modi jabs Akhilesh Yadav over new bua Mamata Banerjee: Are babua She also raised concerns about Congress's commitment to ensuring the rights of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the context of a caste census. (Inputs from PTI) New Delhi, Devotees thronged temples across north and east India on Janmashtami on Monday to celebrate the birth of their beloved Lord Krishna, rending the air with chants of 'Hare Krishna' and lining up in long queues for the morning aarti before temples could open in several places. Devotees throng temples across north on Janmashtami; almost-stampede at Patna ISKCON A huge rush at the ISKCON temple in Bihar's Patna even led to a stampede-like situation, leading to a few devotees getting injured. Delhi's Laxmi Narayan temple was illuminated with festive lights, and so were the city's other temples, some with even flowers imported from countries like Thailand. In many areas, tableaux of Lord Krishna were displayed. The Chhattarpur temple organised a 'Nritya Natika' on the theme of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, conveying the message of world peace. At the ISKCON temple in East of Kailash, a 'Maha Puja' was performed, and the deity was offered a 'bhog' of 1,008 different dishes. "As soon as we opened the temple gates at 4.30 am, a large queue of devotees gathered to seek the blessings of Lord Krishna. We have arranged for 'darshan' throughout the day. At 9.30 pm, we will perform a 'Maha Abhishek Puja,' and at 11.30 pm, we will offer the 'bhog' of 1,008 dishes. "Finally, at midnight, we will hold a Maha Aarti and chant Krishna's name," said ISKCON vice president Vrjendra Nandan Das. Video clips that emerged from Patna showed security personnel trying to control the rush of devotees at the ISKCON temple. A few of them fell on the ground and were helped by the security personnel. "There was no stampede at the ISKCON temple. Mild force was used to check those devotees who tried to enter temple premises by breaking police barricades. The situation is completely under control," the city administration later said. Hundreds of people gathered at Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi temple to attend the 'Mangala Aarti' in the morning, sending the temple premises reverberating with the chants of 'Jai Jai Shri Radhey' and 'Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki'. "Till late evening nearly 25 lakh pilgrims had paid their visit to different temples of Mathura, Vrindavan, Goverdhan, Mahaban while unofficial figures estimate more," Senior Superintendent of Police Shailesh Kumar Pandey said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who led the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations in Mathura, said, "Today in the holy city of Mathura, I visited and worshipped the divine and beautiful forms of Yogeshwar Lord Shri Krishna and Shri Radha Rani. May the blessings of Dukhbhanjan, Yashodanandan, Lord Shri Krishna and Shri Radha Ji remain in the entire universe and this world." In Rajasthan's Jaipur, thousands of devotees thronged Govind Devji temple and Shri Radha Gopinathji temple amid tight security deployed since morning. In Punjab and Haryana, while devotees made a beeline to visit the temples, children were seen adorned in colourful attires and presenting cultural and religious performances. Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria and Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya greeted people on the occasion of Janmashtami. "Greetings to all countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. This festival inspires us to be dedicated to the divine ideals of Lord Krishna. On this occasion, let us imbibe his teachings and pledge to work for the progress and prosperity of the country," Kataria said in a post on X in Hindi. "May the blessings of Lord Krishna bring joy, peace, and prosperity in everyone's life. On this auspicious occasion of Janmashtami, let us celebrate the divine love and teachings of Lord Krishna," Dattatreya posted on X. Jharkhand's capital Ranchi saw the holding of Dahi Handi competitions at several places. On Sunday night, Chief Minister Hemant Soren participated in a Krishna Mahotsav programme at Ranchi's Morabadi Ground. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Lawyers for Bryan Kohberger, the former criminal justice PhD student accused in the grisly slayings of four University of Idaho students, are fighting to get his quadruple murder trial moved out of Latah County, Idaho, citing the community's "mob mentality" against him. Kohberger, now 29, allegedly stabbed Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, to death in their off-campus apartment in November 2022. A motive in the heinous killings remains unclear. As part of the newest development in the case, court documents filed earlier this week indicate Kohberger's defense attorneys are petitioning to relocate the trial to Ada County, after the results of a theoretical phone study in the Latah County area allegedly indicated a general hostility toward the alleged killer, NBC News reported, citing court records. If a jury failed to convict Kohberger, respondents said they'd "burn the courthouse down" and that "they would probably find him and kill him." Another said, "There would likely be a riot and he wouldn't last long outside because someone would do the good ole' boy justice." A judge will hear the state and defense's arguments over locality on Aug. 29. Until then, here is everything we know about the high-profile case. The victims Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle, and Chapin, died in an apparent knife attack near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022. Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle were roommates at the off-campus, Moscow, Idaho home, and Chapin Kernodle's boyfriend was spending the night, when they were slaughtered in their sleep, authorities determined. Roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were also home at the time of the attacks, but were uninjured and ruled out as suspects early on in the investigation, ABC News reported at the time. Bryan Kohberger is arrested It wouldn't be until six weeks and 2,500 miles later that authorities would arrest Kohberger for the murders, after DNA evidence, surveillance video and cell phone records allegedly tied him to the scene of the crime. Kohberger was taken into custody while visiting his parents in Pennsylvania Dec. 30, 2022. The charges Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary for the college students' slayings. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in May 2023. Who is Bryan Kohberger? Kohberger is the only suspect accused of killing Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle, and Chapin, according to prosecutors. Whether or not he knew the victims remains unclear, but Goncalves' mother claimed Kohberger followed her daughter on Instagram prior to the slayings. "You would go to Maddie's Instagram account and look at her pictures, and he liked them," Kristi Goncalves told 48 Hours in June. "He had liked them. Bryan's name was under a lot of Maddie's pictures. Liked her pictures, liked that picture and that picture, and that picture, and that picture. So, he was actively looking at the Instagram account." The Goncalves' said Kohberger's account was deleted following his arrest. Since it's reported deletion, the authenticity of the account could not be independently confirmed and the defense has maintained Kohberger did not know any of the victims. Kohberger's Alibi Kohberger claimed he was out "stargazing" the night of the murders, and therefore couldn't be tied to the crime scene an alibi the Goncalves family said they don't buy. "We have been waiting on this information for months and it has finally arrived," the family said in a statement, in part, in May, according to KREM-TV. "It is so hard not knowing anything about the case and you find you have to cling to dates, motions and hearings in order to figure out anything. A big part of this has been waiting on the Alibi information. Now that it is here we feel even more confident in the prosecution of the Defendant. The Defense's claim is that the Defendant was driving late at night hiking/running and stargazing. We are not sure why it has taken over a year for this to come out as those don't seem to be complicated activities." What's next On Aug. 29, a judge will hear arguments from both sides over the locality of the trial. A tentative trial date of June 2, 2025 has been set, and is expected to run through the end of August of next year. Opposition leaders on Monday accused Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath of dividing people following his batenge to katenge remarks on Bangladesh. UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.(File) Reacting to Yogi Adityanath's statement, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that under Adityanath's rule, Muslim homes were being demolished with bulldozers and accused him of delivering hate speeches against Muslims. Earlier, he said thok denge, and now it's batenge to katenge when he's the one dividing people. Hes saying all this because he knows his party members want to remove him and it shows his insecurity and unpopularity in Uttar Pradesh, said Owaisi. Samajwadi Party chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav said that while Yogi Adityanath aims to become prime minister, he should avoid getting involved in foreign affairs, which are handled by New Delhi. This is not the first time that the chief minister has done something like this. He has done it in the past too. I hope Delhi-wale will make him understand that he should not interfere in the decisions that are taken by Delhi, Akhilesh said. Read: Jammu and Kashmir assembly election: BJP retracts 1st list; supporters of dropped leaders protest Speaking at an event in Agra earlier in the day, Adityanath stressed the importance of unity and advised avoiding the errors made in Bangladesh. Aap dekh rahe hain Bangladesh mein kya ho raha hai? Wo galtiyan yahan nahi honi chahiye. Batenge to katenge. Ek rahenge to nek rahenge, surakshit rahenge aur samriddhi ki parakashtha jo pahuchenge. (Are you seeing what is happening in Bangladesh? Those mistakes should not happen here. If we talk about division, there will be consequences. If we stay united, we will remain good, safe, and reach the heights of prosperity) said Adityanath. He also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for transforming India into a developed nation by 2047, stressing that it is a collective responsibility to work towards this goal. Adityanath further referenced PM Modi's panch-pran (five resolves), saying, Modi has pledged to remove all symbols of slavery, honour our soldiers and heroes, and work towards unity and solidarity. We will not allow anyone to foster hatred in society. With PTI inputs Kolkata, As calls for justice for the RG Kar victim intensify, several Durga Puja committees in West Bengal have rejected the 85,000 honorarium offered by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying they cannot accept help from the government when women have taken to the streets demanding security. Doctor death: Many Durga Puja committees reject Bengal govt's honorarium Rina Das, president of Bhadrakali Bouthan Sangha in Hooghly, explained, "We have decided to boycott this grant this year to honour the sentiments of our members who are deeply upset over the brutal attack on the postgraduate trainee doctor at her workplace. We had received this grant for several years in the past." Prasenjit Bhattacharya from Uttarpara Shakti Sangha echoed similar sentiments, saying, "This is a symbolic protest. We will not accept the money until those involved in this heinous crime are apprehended and brought to justice." Other committees, including Lalgola Krishnapur Sanyasitala in Murshidabad and Bethuadahari Town Club in Nadia, have also notified local authorities of their decision to decline the grant. The Hiland Park Durgostav Committee in Jadavpur has similarly rejected the grant to show solidarity with the victim's family. A committee official remarked, "We have unanimously decided to forgo the grant given the current situation of protests and demands for justice." The Forum for Durgotsab, which represents community Durga Puja committees, urged to keep the festival separate from the tragic incident. Partha Ghosh, a senior office-bearer, said, "We are grief-stricken and devastated by the tragedy and demand exemplary punishment for all those involved. We want justice be delivered at the earliest but don't know why this is being linked to Bengal's Durga Puja which has got UNESCO distinction." Santosh Mitra Square Puja Committees key organiser Sajal Ghosh, also a senior BJP leader, had earlier called on all puja committees to reject the honorarium to send a clear message of disapproval regarding the states handling of the case. "While we have not accepted the grant for several years, I urge every committee to reject it to convey our stance unequivocally," Ghosh said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Days after the central government ordered all hospitals under it to review security protocols and increase their security force by up to 25%, a resident doctor and a medical dresser were allegedly physically assaulted by a patient's attendant in Delhi. Doctors and nursing staff participate in a huge mass rally near RG Kar Medical College and Hospital protesting against rape and murder of a trainee doctor.(File) The incident took place at Doctor Hedgewar Hospital in Karkardooma on late Saturday night, according to the PTI. The doctor, who requested anonymity, told the news agency that he was attacked while he was providing critical care to the patient. He also said that the patient was intoxicated. Late Saturday night, around 1am, a patient with a forehead injury was brought to the hospital. I took him to the dressing room to stitch the wound. After I finished the first stitch and was working on the second, the patient suddenly pushed me and began hurling abuses, the doctor said. Also Read | Supreme Court slams Bengal lapses, shields agitating doctors His son, who was outside the room, came in, slapped me and they both started abusing me further. The incident comes days after resident doctors across the country returned to work on August 24 following an 11-day nationwide strike over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The strike had severely disrupted non-emergency services, including OPD and diagnostics, at major central and Delhi government hospitals. The strike ended after the Supreme Court appealed and the government assured them it would address their concerns, including their demand for better safety norms at their workplaces. Also Read | Man assaults doctors in Delhi for not giving his wife injection, held The apex court also constituted a 10-member National Task Force to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of medics. The task force will submit its interim report within three weeks and the final report within two months. Centre's direction on safety of doctors On August 19, the Union health ministry allowed the deployment of Marshalls in Central government hospitals for immediate security-related assistance. "There will be a 25% increase in security personnel in all Central Government Hospitals. Deployment of Marshalls in central government hospitals for immediate security-related assistance would also be approved based on individual demands from central govt hospitals." Union health secretary Apurva Chandra had said. In April 2020, the government brought an ordinance to protect health care workers from attacks. Attacking a medical professional became punishable with up to seven years in prison with the ordinance these provisions lapsed once the pandemic was over. Five men have been arrested for allegedly firing in the air outside a cafe following a quarrel at Satya Niketan in south-west Delhi on Sunday night, a police officer said on Monday. The quarrel was triggered after the cafe owner asked one of the customers not to sit on the glass table. Police cited the initial probe and said that the accused came from Jahangirpuri to celebrate a birthday. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Deputy police commissioner (southwest) Rohit Meena said that the accused were identified as Ahmed, Aurangzeb, Atul, Javed, and Adil, who are all residents of Jahangirpuri. People aware of the matter said that Javed has six criminal cases registered against him and that Illegal firearms and a Thar SUV the accused travelled in have been seized. Police said that their control room received a call at 8:48pm regarding the firing at the Satya Niketan cafe. When police reached the spot, a man identified as Karan, who works at the cafe, said that some men had come for dinner around 8:30pm and one of them sat at the glass table in the cafe to which the owner identified as Rohit objected to. The customers started arguing. Thereafter, some more men entered the cafe and started a scuffle. One of them then fired in the air outside the cafe, he said. Police cited the initial investigation and said that the accused came from Jahangirpuri to celebrate a birthday. Lucknow, In a jibe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's remarks on Bangladesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he wants to become the prime minister but should not be already interfering in foreign affairs decisions that are taken by New Delhi. He wants to become PM: Akhilesh on Adityanath's remark on Bangladesh Speaking at a programme in Agra earlier in the day, Adityanath reiterated the need for "unity" and "avoid the mistakes" that happened in Bangladesh. "Aap dekh rahe hain Bangladesh mein kya ho raha hai? Wo galtiyan yahan nahi honi chahiye. Batenge to katenge! Ek rahenge to nek rahenge, surakshit rahenge aur samriddhi ki parakashtha jo pahuchenge. ," Adityanath said. During an interaction with mediapersons here on Janmashtami, when asked about the chief minister's remarks on strife-torn Bangladesh, Yadav said, "He wants to become the prime minister but at least he should not play the role of prime minister. This is the job of the prime minister, the government of India to decide the relations India wants with which country of the world. "This is not the first time that the chief minister has done something like this. He has done it in the past too. I hope 'Delhi-wale' will make him understand that he should not interfere in the decisions that are taken by Delhi," the former UP chief minister said. The Samajwadi Party president said the wheel of politics has reached a point today that every party is talking about caste census. "I remember that in Lok Sabha, leaders of Samajwadi Party from South India, Lalu Prasad Yadav ji, Sharad Yadav ji and many leaders from south India have been demanding caste census. And today the situation has become such that every party wants to do caste census," he said. The opposition INDIA bloc leader meanwhile also took a potshot at the Bharatiya Janta Party over the issues of old pension scheme and caste census, predicting that the central government will soon make a U-turn on both subjects. "I am not saying this for the first time. A year ago, I had said the Bharatiya Janata Party will also accept and come forward for caste census. Earlier also, caste census was done but its data was not shared. Now we hope that caste census will also be done and its answer will also be brought forward," he said. On the upcoming byelections in the state, the SP chief exuded confidence of people's support to his party. "Jab janta hai sang, to kya karega Sangh , wo Sangh jo chhupke ran-neeti bana raha hai ," Yadav quipped. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a warning that Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa would experience heavy to extremely heavy rain over the next 2-3 days. The IMD on Monday warned that for the next 2-3 days heavy rains woud be experienced Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa (ANI) A depression over northwest Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan has intensified, leading the IMD to issue a red alert for August 26. Similar conditions are forecast for east and south Rajasthan, Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch from August 26 to 29. Also Read: Capital set to see highest number of rainy days in a month this August At 11:30 pm on August 25, the deep depression was hovering 70 kilometres away from south-southeast of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. This system is expected to move west-southwest, affecting South Rajasthan, and Gujarat, and reaching Saurashtra, Kutch, and parts of Pakistan by August 29, the IMD said in an update issued at 2 am. Also Read: Gujarat: Heavy rainfall floods low-lying areas in parts of state; IMD issues red alert They also said that another low-pressure area located over Bangladesh and Gangetic West Bengal is likely to deepen further and move closer to West Bengal, north Odisha, and Jharkhand over the next two days. Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, and Jharkhand are all expected to receive heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over the next two days. Also Read: 31,000 cusecs water released from Khadakwasla dam The weather department has also notified people to beware of strong winds, which could reach up to 50 kmph in Madhya Pradesh on August 26 and up to 60 kmph in south Rajasthan on August 26-27. In Gujarat, nearby Pakistan, north Maharashtra, and the northeast Arabian Sea, strong winds up to 55 kmph are expected on August 26, increasing to 60 kmph on August 27 and 28. Sea conditions are expected to be very rough off the coasts of Gujarat, Pakistan, and north Maharashtra until August 30. Rough seas are also expected in the north Bay of Bengal on August 26. Fisherfolk have been advised to avoid venturing into the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, especially around the coasts of Gujarat, Pakistan, and Maharashtra, until August 30. Small ships will need to monitor weather developments and take precautions. People have also been advised by the IMD, to avoid areas prone to waterlogging and check for traffic advisories before travelling. Farmers in the affected areas should ensure proper drainage in fields and provide support to crops, to prevent any rain damage. The IMD has also issued a warning for potential localized flooding, road closures, and waterlogging, particularly in urban areas. There is a risk of landslides and damage to horticultural crops due to inundation in the affected regions. New Delhi: As India celebrated its Independence Day, the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (Ulfa-I), a banned separatist group, jolted local authorities in Assam with claims of planting bombs at 24 spots in the state. Ulfa-Independent chief Paresh Baruah (File Photo) New Delhi: The European Union (EU)s insistence on sustainability measures such as deforestation rules and carbon tax on imports of steel, cement and hydrogen are akin to non-tariff barriers that can impede ongoing free trade negotiations with India, people aware of the development said. European Union flags outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. (REUTERS File Photo) The next round of talks for the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) is scheduled for September 23-27, and New Delhi will simultaneously discuss sustainability measures such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) with the 27-nation bloc, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. This will be the ninth round of talks on the FTA since the two sides relaunched negotiations in June 2022. Besides the FTA, negotiations were launched for an Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) and a Geographical Indicators (GIs) Agreement. The eighth round was completed in June, leading to the conclusion of two chapters so far one on small and medium enterprises and the other on sustainable food systems. India is committed to environment protection and sustainability, the people said, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) initiative. India, however, is against making instruments such as EUDR and CBAM part of trade commitments because these are perceived as instruments of protectionism and act as non-tariff barriers (NTBs), one of the people said. The Indian side believes CBAM is a form of tax that can lead to tariffs of up to 35% on imports of high-carbon goods such as cement, aluminium, fertilisers, chemicals including hydrogen, iron and steel from India. CBAM will be levied on carbon intensive products to offset carbon leakage by importing high-carbon goods. Carbon leakage occurs when firms in the EU move carbon-intensive production abroad to countries, where less stringent climate policies are in place, or when EU products get replaced by more carbon-intensive imports. The tax is being implemented in phases from October 2023 and will become fully effective from January 2026. EUDR or the regulation on deforestation-free products covers production of commodities such as cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber and some of their derived products such as leather, chocolate, tyres and furniture. This demands certification from importers to prove their products didnt originate from recently deforested land or contributed to forest degradation. EUDR will start to apply from December 30, 2024. The second person said: The EU is Indias major market and mechanisms such as CBAM and EUDR would adversely impact the blocs exports. Indian industry feels developed economies such as EU states are devising innovative ways to restrict imports from developing countries, and measures such as CBAM and EUDR violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements. These regulations would make Indian exports uncompetitive in Europe, the first person said. EU ambassador Herve Delphin recently told HT that CBAM is not an instrument of protectionism and described such concerns as a misconceived fear. He said if CBAM had been conceived for protectionist purposes, it would have had a completely different design. Delphin added, CBAM has been designed as part of our climate agenda, of decarbonisation and sustainability. He also said that India and the EU have a common interest in developing resilient supply chains at a time of reconfiguration of global supply chains with an eye on the optimisation of sources. At the same time, Delphin had acknowledged that the FTA negotiations will need a strategic and political drive as the talks are set to get harder. The EU is Indias second-biggest export destination with about $76 billion of merchandise exports in 2023-24. It imported goods worth more than $59 billion that year. The people cited above said an FTA deal with the EU would be difficult if it insists on such unequitable regulations, knowing well that India is making significant efforts towards green transition, which exceed its commitments at global forums. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has rebuked the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government for its alleged failure to implement crucial safety measures for women and girls. Union minister Annapurna Devi said the West Bengal government has failed to establish 11 fast-track courts despite 48,600 pending rape and POCSO cases. Women and child development minister Annapurna Devi said that the state has failed to establish the remaining 11 fast-track special courts, despite a backlog of 48,600 rape and POCSO cases. As of 30.06.2024, 752 FTSCs including 409 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs which have disposed of more than 2,53,000 cases since the inception of scheme. Under the scheme, the State of West Bengal was allocated a total of 123 FTSCs, which included 20 exclusive POCSO Courts and 103 combined FTSCs dealing with both rape and POCSO Act cases. However, none of these courts had been operationalized till mid-June, 2023, NDTV quoted the minister's letter to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The State of West Bengal communicated its willingness to participate in the Scheme vide letter dated 08.06.2023, committing to start 7 FTSCs. Under the revised target, West Bengal has been allocated 17 FTSCs, of which only 6 exclusive POCSO Courts have been operationalised as of 30.06 2024. In spite of a pendency of 48,600 rape and POCSO cases in West Bengal, the State Government has not taken any steps to start the remaining 11 FTSCS. Action in this regard is pending with the state government, the report said Annapurna Devi mentioned this in her letter. The Union minister also said that West Bengal failed to implement key emergency helplines such as the Women Helpline (WHL), Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) and Child Helpline. Recognizing the need for Helplines as first responders in the golden hour to a woman or child in distress, Women Helpline (WHL) 181, Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) -112, Child Helpline 1098, Cyber Crime Helpline - 1930 have been put in place in the last few years. The WHL and Child Helplines have been integrated with ERSS also. But, unfortunately the people of the State of West Bengal cannot utilize this facility as the State Government has not implemented the WHL despite many requests and reminders from Gol, the letter reportedly reads. Annapurna Devi's response followed Mamata Banerjee's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, calling for a stringent central law to punish rapists. In her letter, the Trinamool Congress supremo cited data indicating that 90 rape cases occur daily across the country with many victims also being murdered. It is horrifying to see this trend. It shakes the confidence and conscience of society and the nation. It is our bounden duty to put an end to it so that women feel safe and secure. Such a serious and sensitive issue needs to be addressed comprehensively through stringent central legislation that prescribes exemplary punishment for those involved in these dastardly crimes, Banerjee wrote in her letter and proposed the establishment of fast-track special courts to handle such cases. She suggested to ensure quick justice, trials should preferably be completed within 15 days. With PTI inputs India and Singapore on Monday reviewed bilateral cooperation in a range of fields and added advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and aviation and maritime connectivity as new areas for collaboration under a ministerial mechanism. These issues figured at the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) hosted by Singapore. (S Jaishankar | Official X account) These issues figured at the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) hosted by Singapore, and the mechanism was expanded with the involvement of more ministers by both sides. People familiar with the matter said this reflects the importance attached to the mechanism and the growth in scope of bilateral cooperation. The two sides finalised around half a dozen agreements in areas such as food trade, digital cooperation, skill development, healthcare and green economy that are expected to be unveiled when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Singapore next month, the people said. External affairs minister S Jaishankar, in a post on X, described the talks as productive and said the two sides explored cooperation in sustainability, healthcare and connectivity. ISMR enables the emergence of a more contemporary partnership, he said. Also Read:Jaishankar on those upset over PM Modi-Putin hug in Moscow: In our part of world Singapores foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters after the meeting that advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and aviation and maritime connectivity are new areas the two sides have added under the mechanism. These are areas of significant opportunity for both countries and their businesses, he said. Balakrishnan too described the meeting as productive and said it set the stage for Modis visit, which is expected to occur shortly. He pointed to opportunities in Indias aviation sector with Indian airlines placing orders for close to 1,000 new aircraft. Noting that India is embarking on a major upgrade of its aviation sector, he said: This is a once in a two- [or] three-decade opportunity and its good that we are...in the front seat and have a chance. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said the two sides held talks on further elevating and broadening our strategic partnership across the key pillars of ISMR and reaffirmed their shared vision of deepening economic ties. The first meeting of the roundtable in September 2022 featured Indias commerce, finance and foreign ministers, while Singapore fielded its finance, foreign, transport and trade ministers. For the second meeting, India added electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, while Singapore added home minister K Shanmugam, digital development minister Josephine Teo, and manpower minister Tan See Leng. The first meeting of the roundtable had identified digitalisation, food trade, energy and green economy, skill development, healthcare and pharmaceuticals as areas of collaboration. Since then, India and Singapore have linked their digital payment systems Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow to facilitate real-time payments between banks or e-wallets, and a pilot shipment involving digital exchange of bills of lading through the TradeTrust framework was carried out. Balakrishnan said there is more potential in digital payments, including the possibility of a regional real-time payment system. The two sides discussed cyber-security, standardisation of rules and greater inter-operability that could lead to the expansion of the system to other countries, he said. The Indian ministers also met Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a post on X that the conversation with Wong showed that India-Singapore relations are on a sound footing. Together, we shall work to strengthen the relationship for the benefit of our people, she said. Wong, who led the Singapore delegation at the first ministerial roundtable in his earlier role as deputy premier, said on X that the ISMR is an important platform to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Glad that progress has been made on several fronts since our last meeting [and] new ideas for cooperation are being pursued, including in advanced manufacturing and connectivity, he said. The two sides also discussed plans for commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, and regional and global cooperation, including at ASEAN and G20. A commerce ministry official said that on the eve of the ministerial roundtable, Goyal met global investment firms having assets of more than $500 billion at the India-Singapore Business Roundtable and discussed investment opportunities in India. The business leaders represented Temasek Holdings, Blackstone Singapore, DBS Bank, Singapore Airlines, OMERS and Keppel Infrastructure. In 2023-24, Singapore was the largest source of foreign direct investments (FDI) for India, with an estimated $11.77 billion in inflows. The cumulative inflows from Singapore from April 2000 to March 2024 were around $159.94 billion. In bilateral trade, Singapore was Indias sixth largest global trade partner in 2023-24, with total trade worth $35.61 billion, accounting for about 29% of the countrys total trade with ASEAN. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and workers protested in Jammu on Monday shortly after the release and swift withdrawal of the first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. BJP workers protested at the party headquarters in Jammu after many leaders were dropped from the initial list, which was later withdrawn. (Screengrab) Though the party subsequently released two fresh lists, one with 15 candidates, including eight from the Jammu region and seven from the Kashmir Valley, and another with just one name, Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar for the Kokernag constituency, party leaders gathered at the BJP headquarters in Jammu city to register their protest. In the now-withdrawn list, the party had dropped senior leaders, including former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi and Sham Lal Choudhary. Sources said the list was withdrawn because only the names from the first phase were meant to be released, but the party mistakenly included candidates for the other two phases as well. I have been working for the party for the last 18 years and was expecting a ticket, but the list of 44 candidates showed the party has chosen retired police officer Mohan Lal Bhagat, who joined BJP just two days ago. I have worked tirelessly to bring people into the party fold, ANI quoted Jagdish Bhagat, former president of SC Morcha as saying. Many workers were seen protesting at the BJP office also, demanding a ticket for Omi Khajuria from the Jammu North constituency. In the withdrawn list, the BJP had fielded former Congress leader Sham Lal Sharma for the seat. We have been associated with the BJP since we became voters. The party has overlooked Omi Khajuria, a popular leader in Jammu North and chosen Sham Lal Sharma, who recently joined from Congress. The first list of 44 candidates was withdrawn just to pacify public anger, but the party will repeat the same candidates, Paresh Kumar Sharma, a BJP worker told PTI. Many workers also threatened to act as rebels in the polls starting September 18, warning that their votes would go against the party and weaken its position. What did Ravinder Raina tell angry party workers? Addressing the concerns raised by the upset workers and leaders, Ravinder Raina, president of the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit, said he would have one-on-one conversations with everyone. Every problem can be resolved through dialogue. Order and patriotism are the hallmarks of BJP workers. I hope every member will uphold the decorum, said Rana. Polling for the first phase will be held on September 18, the second phase on September 25, and the final phase on October 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.(File) The candidates include 15 for the first phase of polls, 10 for the second phase and 19 for the third phase. The elections to the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. The party has fielded Arshid Bhat to contest from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, Adv. Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana to contest from Doda. The party has named Kuldeep Raj Dubey to contest from Reasi, Rohit Dubey to contest from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, and Chowdhary Abdul Ghani to contest from Poonch Haveli, Pawan Gupta to contest from Udhampur West, Dr. Devinder Kumar Maniyal to contest from Ramgarh (SC), and Mohan Lal Bhagat to contest from Akhnoor, among others. The BJP's Central Election Committee had met on Sunday evening to finalise the party's candidates for the polls. In the last assembly elections held in 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats. The party is making all-out efforts to fend off the challenge from a resurgent Congress, which has tied up with the National Conference. In the Jammu and Kashmir polls, the BJP has made it clear that it will not ally with any political party and will support strong independent candidates on those assembly seats in Kashmir valley where the party will not contest the elections. Of the total 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, 74 are reserved for general, nine for Scheduled Tribes, and seven for Scheduled Castes. The Union Territory has 87.09 lakh eligible electorates with an equal percentage of males and females, according to the Election Commission. Hours after its release, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday withdrew its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh during a rally in Poonch district, UT of Jammu and Kashmir.(PTI) The party had named 36 candidates from the Jammu region and eight from the Kashmir Valley, including two Kashmiri Pandits, Veer Saraf and Ashok Bhat, nominated from the Shangus and Habbakadal constituencies, respectively. Sources said the list was withdrawn because only the names from the first phase were meant to be released, but the party mistakenly included candidates for the other two phases as well. In the now-withdrawn list, the party had dropped senior leaders, including former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and former ministers Sat Paul Sharma, Priya Sethi and Sham Lal Choudhary. The list included senior leaders who had left parties like the National Conference (NC), Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Congress, and Panthers Party. Former minister Mushtaq Bukhari, who joined the party after leaving the National Conference was fielded from the Surankote constituency. Murtaza Khan, previously associated with the PDP and a former lawmaker in the upper house was fielded from Mendhar. Former Congress minister Sham Lal Sharma was selected for the Jammu North constituency, while former NC leader Devender Singh Rana, brother of Union minister Dr. Jitender Singh was set to contest from the Nagrota constituency. Polling for the first phase will be held on September 18, the second phase on September 25, and the final phase on October 1. Jammu and Kashmir has 87.09 lakh eligible electorates including 44.46 male, 42.62 female and 3.71 lakh first time voters. Average voters per polling station is 735, according to the Election Commission of India. The list also included several new faces, such as Sunil Bhardwaj from Ramnagar, Jeevan Lal from Bani, and Satish Sharma from Billawar, a seat previously won by former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh in 2014. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday withdrew its first list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) assembly elections shortly after releasing it as it included the nominees for the last two phases of the polls that were meant to be released later, people aware of the matter said. The BJPs Central Election Committee met on Sunday to finalise the candidates for the J&K assembly polls. (X) The list was removed from BJPs website and WhatsApp groups. The people cited above said the list for the first phase of polling on September 18 will be amended and released afresh. The list was withdrawn because only the names for the first phase were to be released. However, the names [of nominees] for the other two phases were released, said a person aware of the matter. The list was issued a day before the last date for nominations for the first phase. Assembly elections in J&K, the first there since 2014, will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. It is the first major electoral exercise in the region after the 2024 national elections. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. The rescinded list included Devender Singh Rana (Nagrota), who defected to BJP after quitting the National Conference (NC) in 2021. It had names of 15 nominees for the first phase, 10 for the second phase, and 19 for the third phase. The list included nominees for Kashmir Valleys Pampore, Shopian, and Anantnag. The BJP did not field any candidates in the Lok Sabha polls for the three seats in the Valley. It won both Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu region. The BJPs Central Election Committee met on Sunday to finalise the candidates for the J&K assembly polls. The party won 25 of the 87 seats when assembly elections were last held in J&K 2014 and formed the government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which bagged 28 seats. The NC got 15 seats while its ally Congress had 12. The rescinded list included eight candidates from Kashmir and 36 from Jammu. Former minister Choudhary Zulfikar, who quit the Apni Party to join the BJP, was named as the candidate from Budhal. Former legislator Akram Choudhary was nominated from Gulabgarh. Syed Mushtaq Bukhari, a former NC minister, was given the ticket from Surankote in Poonch. Former PDP legislator Murtuza Khan was fielded from Mendhar. Shyam Lal Shama, who defected from Congress to BJP, was given the ticket from Jammu West. Surjit Singh Salathia, a former NC leader, was named BJPs candidate from Samba. The polls in J&K will be held months after the Union government in July widened the scope of J&K lieutenant governors (LG) powers from police and public order to postings and prosecution sanctions. Parties such as NC condemned the move calling it the step to rendering the chief minister in J&K powerless and disempowering the regions people. J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to the PDP-led coalition government. The region was under the governors rule before the Union government in August 2019 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave the region semi-autonomous status, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of J&K with an assembly and Ladakh without one. In December last year, the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of Article 370 and directed the Election Commission of India to conduct polls for the 90-member J&K assembly by September 30, 2024. The court asked the Union government to restore statehood to the region as soon as possible. In May 2022, a three-member delimitation commission redrew the electoral map of J&K, earmarking 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir. Out of the seven new seats, six were allotted to Jammu and one to Kashmir. The regional parties rejected the panels decision calling it an attempt to consolidate BJPs vote bank. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kangana Ranaut stirred yet another controversy by suggesting that the farmers' protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation if strong measures had not been taken by the government. Kangana Ranaut was slapped previously for her statements on farmers protest. In a video shared by the actress on social media platform X, she alleged that bodies were seen hanging and rapes were taking place during farmers protest against the now-repealed three farm laws. Also read | Kangana slapgate: Mohali cops get video evidence The MP from Mandi also blamed vested interests and "foreign powers" for the continuation of the protests even after the laws were rolled back. "What happened in Bangladesh, it could have easily happened here too. There is a conspiracy by foreign powers and these filmy people thrive on it. They dont care if the country goes to the dogs," she alleged. Punjab BJP leader hits back Her remarks did not go down well with her own party leader from Punjab. Senior BJP leader Harjit Garewal asked Kangana to refrain from such comments. Garewal told India Today that, It is not Kangana's department to speak on farmers, Kangana's statement is personal. PM Modi and the BJP are farmer-friendly. The opposition parties are working against us and Kangana's statement is doing the same. She should not make such statements, on sensitive or religious issues, religious organisations. Kangana slapped In June 2024, a CISF woman constable allegedly slapped the actress inside Chandigarh airport for her derogatory comments on farmers protest. The constable was suspended and a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the incident. Also read | Kangana slap row: Farmers hold march in support of CISF constable The woman who slapped Kangana Ranaut hails from Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab's Kapurthala and is the sister of farmer leader Sher Singh Malhiwal. Reacting to the incident, Kangana said she is concerned about the terrorism and extremism that is increasing in Punjab. The incident came days after she won the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh by a margin of over 74,000 votes. Muniswamy Gowda, a businessman in Karnataka, was arrested for killing a man who resembled him to claim insurance benefits. His wife who was involved in the plan with him, is currently on the run. Muniswamy Gowda, a businessman in Karnataka, was arrested for killing a man who resembled him to claim insurance benefits.(Representative image)(HT_PRINT) The police have arrested Muniswamy Gowda and a truck driver Devendra Nayaka for allegedly murdering an unidentified man for insurance money, reported The Indian Express. In a story straight out of a crime drama, Muniswamy Gowda's wife Shilparani identified a body as her husband on August 13. The man she claimed as her husband had apparently died while changing a flat tyre on the side of the road in Gollarahalli. Shilparani proceeded to perform funeral rites for the man. Everyone was convinced Gowda died in the road accident and Shilparani initiated the insurance claim process. The couple, who live in Hosokote in Bengaluru Rural, had hatched this plan to solve their financial issues after Gowda bought several life insurance policies, naming his wife as his nominee, said Mohammad Sujeetha, superintendent of police in Hassan. According to the police, Gowda and Shilparani lured the victim a beggar into travelling with them. Using the excuse of a flat tyre, Gowda allegedly pushed him under the wheels of a truck, driven by Nayaka, to make it appear like a road accident. Gowda's mistake in this plan was to meet his distant relative Srinivas after his fake funeral. Srinivas, who was an inspector at the Sidlaghatta police station in Chikkaballapura, immediately informed the Gandasi police inspector. Upon being interrogated by the Hassan police, Gowda confessed to the crime.He stated that he had racked up debts while running his tyre shop and thought that claiming accident insurance benefits would solve his financial problems. In yet another shocking incident of crime against women, a 70-year-old woman was allegedly raped in Kerala's Alappuzha district during an attempted robbery at her house on Saturday night. A 29-year-old man has been arrested for robbery and rape. (PIC FOR REPRESENTATION) The police have arrested a 29-year-old man from Kanakakunnu named Dhanesh in connection with the crime. He is alleged to have stolen around seven sovereigns of gold from the elderly woman and was caught while trying to sell the ornaments. Also read | Filmmaker Ranjith quits as Kerala Chalachitra Academy head over misbehaviour charge The accused is believed to have targeted the old woman after knowing that she was living alone. According to police, the victim was raped after the accused threw chilly powder and threw the old lady off balance. "He left after locking the door from outside. He also took her mobile phone. She was unable to contact others. The neighbours found her this morning and took her to the hospital and informed us," police said. Also read | Submit entire Hema committee report in sealed cover: Kerala HC to state govt A case has been registered against him under relevant sections of the law, police said, adding that further investigation into the case is underway. Hema committee report rocks Kerala The Left government in Kerala is under increasing pressure to act on the findings of widespread sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry by the Justice Hema committee's report. On Saturday, the LDF government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by team of women IPS officers to probe widespread accusations of sexual abuse that have surfaced in mainstream and social media. The government had to back down from its earlier position that the lack of a specific complaint was holding back prosecution. Actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) following allegations of sexual assault by a young female actor, while Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Chairperson Ranjith submitted his resignation after Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra accused him of inappropriate behaviour during a project discussion. Sanjay Roy, the main accused in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, reportedly claimed in the lie-detector test that the victim was already dead when he reached the seminar hall of the facility. Sanjoy Roy, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. (File Photo) Sanjay Roy was subjected to the polygraph test days after he claimed innocence in the rape and murder case. The lie detector test flagged several false and unconvincing answers, reported ToI, citing sources. The report said Sanjay Roy appeared unnerved and anxious during the lie-detector test. As the CBI confronted him with several pieces of evidence, he cited multiple alibis. He claimed the victim was already dead when he spotted her, the report said. Sanjay Roy claimed he ran away from the premises in fear. After the crime, according to the Kolkata police, Sanjay Roy had confessed to committing the rape and murder. However, recently, he made a U-turn, claiming he was being framed and was innocent. What Sanjay Roy told jail guards Sanjay Roy told the guards of the jail that he knew nothing about the rape and murder. On Friday last week, he made similar claims before the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) court in Sealdah, saying he consented to the test to prove his innocence. The CBI and the police, however, found glaring inconsistencies in his claims of innocence. An officer told HT he had been trying to mislead investigators. The officer said he couldn't provide any explanation for the injuries to his face and his presence in the building at the time of the crime. The woman was found dead inside the seminar hall of the hospital. An autopsy revealed sexual assault and 25 injuries to her body, including private parts. The woman had gone to the room to rest amid her graveyard shift. The police saw Sanjay Roy entering the premises in the CCTV cameras at 4.03 am on August 9. They also found his Bluetooth headset at the crime scene. The psychoanalytic profiling of Sanjay Roy revealed he was a pervert and severely addicted to pornography. He was also found to possess animal-like instincts. Bengaluru: Students stage a protest against the alleged rape and murder of a Kolkata based trainee doctor, at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (PTI Photo) Kolkata rape-murder case Highlights: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continues its investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata and also into the allegations of corruption against the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh. Sanjay Roy, the main accused in the case, claimed innocence during the polygraph test and said the victim was already dead when he reached the crime scene. He is currently under judicial custody...Read More The CBI also completed polygraph tests on seven other people, including Sanjay Roy and Dr Sandip Ghosh, in connection with the case. The agency also raided the residences of the former principal and other officials of the medical college as part of its probe into alleged financial irregularities involving Ghosh. Meanwhile, resident doctors at the hospital vowed to continue their strike despite the appeal from the Supreme Court to resume duties. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday conducted a polygraph test on Sanjoy Roy, the main accused in the rape and murder of a woman doctor of state-run RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. CBI officers outside the residence of former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh in Kolkata on August 25.(ANI) A civic volunteer of the Kolkata Police, the 33-year-old was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10, a day after the body of the medic was found in the seminar hall of the medical college. The CBI has also begun its investigation into allegations of financial scams at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital under the tenure of former principal Sandip Ghosh. Officials from the CBIs anti-corruption branch raided around 15 places in Kolkata and the adjacent Howrah district on Sunday, including Ghosh's residence. Here are the latest updates: In the backdrop of the Hema Committee report on Malayam film industry, popular actor-producer Baburaj has been accused of sexual abuse by a junior artiste, reported Mathrubhumi. According to the report, the junior artiste accused the Joint Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) of sexually abusing her inside his residence in Kerala. Malayalam actor-producer Baburaj (YouTube) However, Baburaj denied these allegations and said he had anticipated such claims after the Hema Committee report. The woman alleged that Baburaj called her to his house in Aluva in 2019, promising to cast her in a movie. She was told that the director and screenwriter of the movie will also be present during the visit, the report added. The junior artiste claimed that when she reached the house, she found herself alone with Baburaj, who then asked her to rest in a room and wait for others to join. After some time, the Malayam actor entered the room and started sexually abusing her, she alleged. He gave me a room to rest and told me that the filmmakers would come shortly. However, after a while, he knocked at the door and then started physically abusing me, the woman said. She said that after this incident, she ran out of the house and never met Baburaj again. She claimed that the actor continued to send inappropriate messages to her over WhatsApp but she never responded. The women suggested, as per the report, that Baburaj has harassed other women as well but they were too scared to speak for themselves. She further said that some men contacted her for a role in a movie starring Malayalam actor Shine Tom Chacko. She alleged that Chacko told to men to arrange a meeting with her, in another plot to take advantage of women in the industry. This comes as the Hema Committee report on the Malayalam film industry motivated many women to come forward about facing sexual abuse and harassment at the hands of powerful men in the industry. Actor Minu Muneer on Monday wrote a detailed Facebook post, alleging that Mukesh, Maniyanpilla Raju, Idavela Babu and Jayasurya sexually abused her in 2013. Malayalam actress Minu Muneer accused her former co-stars and other production crew members of physical and verbal abuse. She has named prominent stars like M Mukesh and Jayasurya for what she termed unbearable abuse. Actress Minu Muneer(Facebook) In a Facebook post, the actress said the incident occurred in 2013 while working on a movie. In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable, her post read. Also read | Submit entire Hema committee report in sealed cover: Kerala HC to state govt Apart from Mukesh and Jayasurya, the actress accused Maniyanpilla Raju, Idavela Babu, advocate Chandrasekaran, production controller Noble and Vichu of abusing her after which she was forced to quit the Malayalam film industry and settle in Chennai. Muneer said she had spoken against the abuse in an article published in Kerala Kaumudi titled "Minu Left Malayalam Industry for Unable to Cooperate with Adjustment." "I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured. I request your assistance in taking action against for their heinous actions", Muneer wrote on Facebook. Hema committee report rocks Mollywood Muneer's revelations of sexual abuse came after findings of widespread sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry by the Justice Hema committee's report. Two prominent personalities in the industry quit on Saturday after similar allegations were leveled against them. Actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) following allegations of sexual assault by a young female actor, while Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Chairperson Ranjith submitted his resignation after Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra accused him of inappropriate behaviour during a project discussion. Also read | Filmmaker Ranjith quits as Kerala Chalachitra Academy head over misbehaviour charge After Muneer's allegations, BJP Yuva Morcha and Congress marched towards Mukesh's residence in Kollam. He is also an MLA in the ruling CPI(M) and has not responded to the allegations, NDTV reported. Actor Maniyanpilla Raju, also named by the actress, claimed multiple vested interests are against the allegations and called for an investigation into it. Under mounting pressure to act on the Hema committee report's findings, the LDF government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by a team of women IPS officers to probe widespread accusations of sexual abuse that have surfaced in mainstream and social media. The government had to back down from its earlier position that the lack of a specific complaint was holding back prosecution. The Kerala government on Sunday said that a special investigation team (SIT) will investigate the allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour raised by the women working in the Malayalam film industry, hours after a Malayalam actress accused Siddique, a prominent actor and the general secretary Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), of assaulting her sexually and mentally. Siddiques resignation from the key AMMA post, to which he was elected earlier this year, came just two days after he denied the existence of a power group in the industry or that the group demanded sexual favours from women in exchange for roles. (PTI) The state governments decision also follows the allegations levelled by a Bengali film actor against filmmaker and chairperson of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, Ranjith, of sexual misconduct. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a meeting with top police officers in the state on Sunday. A statement from the chief ministers office said that a team headed by inspector general G Sparjan Kumar will investigate the complaints. The seven-member SIT will comprise four women officers and will be monitored by the additional director general of police (crime branch) H Venkatesh. Both Siddique and Ranjith have resigned from their posts since the allegations surfaced on Saturday and Sunday. While the Malayalam actress accused Siddique of raping her in a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016, the Bengali actress accused Ranjith of misbehavior during the shooting of his film in 2009. Siddique, who is currently in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, on a shoot, told reporters he did not wish to comment on the allegations. I have conveyed my resignation to the president of AMMA, Mohanlal. I have taken the decision in the light of the allegations raised against me. I would not like to talk about the allegations right now, he said. The actress called Siddique a criminal, adding that he has made sexual advances towards other women too. I was a young entrant in the industry at the time. He invited me to a hotel on the pretext of discussing a film. Such a movie did not exist and it was a trap. He sexually abused and raped me. He also physically assaulted me. I had to give up my dreams and I went through mental trauma, she said, adding that she had evidence to support her claims. The decision to conduct a detailed police investigation also came in the backdrop of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report on August 19 which pointed to rampant sexual abuse and harassment faced by the women artistes and technicians in the industry. The three-member committee, headed by retired high court justice K Hema, also confirmed incidents of sexual favours being demanded from aspiring artistes in exchange for being cast in films. The state Opposition had also been coming down on the Vijayan-led government heavily for its silence over the issue. Siddiques resignation from the key AMMA post, to which he was elected earlier this year, came just two days after he denied the existence of a power group in the industry or that the group demanded sexual favours from women in exchange for roles. Ranjith, whose films have won both state and national film awards, said he was innocent, adding he would take legal measures to defend himself. He said the allegations against him were part of an orchestrated attack by certain Right-wing people and the media against the LDF government. I will never do anything to tarnish the image of this government. However, it is not right for me to continue in a government institution when this issue is ongoing. That is why I have resigned, he said. Very heavy to extremely heavy (12.5 cm to over 20 cm) rainfall was likely in south Rajasthan, Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, central Maharashtra, and coastal Karnataka during the next two to three days while sporadic rain and thunderstorm activity was expected in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh this week as the monsoon is active with the development of two intense weather systems, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday. Heavy rain (6.45 cm to 20 cm) was likely in Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand in eastern India. There has been five per cent excess rainfall in the country since June 1. (AP) IMD director general M Mohapatra said the weather systems were active over Rajasthan and Gangetic West Bengal. There has been extremely heavy rain in Gujarat. Very heavy rain will continue in the region. East India will also get very heavy rain. Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana, and Punjab are expected to record sporadic rain and thundershowers during the week. Rainfall will increase, said Mohapatra. Over 65,000 people have been displaced and around two dozen people killed after heavy rain triggered floods and landslides in Tripura. Heavy rainfall in parts of Gujarat forced hundreds of affected people to move to safer locations with Navsari facing severe flooding. There has been five per cent excess rainfall in the country since June 1. South Peninsular India has received 19% and Central India 13% excess rainfall. There has been an 11% deficiency in east and northeast India and no excess in northwest India. A deep depression over east Rajasthan and adjoining west Madhya Pradesh moved west southwestwards with a speed of eight km per hour. It was centered about 60 km southeast of Udaipur (Rajasthan), 180 km east of Deesa (Gujarat), and 180 km north-northeast of Ahmedabad (Gujarat). The depression was likely to continue to move west-southwestwards across south Rajasthan and Gujarat region and reach Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining areas of Pakistan and the northeast Arabian Sea by the morning of August 29. A well-marked low-pressure area was likely to move west-northwestwards across Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, and adjoining north Odisha during the next two days. The western end of the monsoon trough at mean sea level was south of its normal position. The eastern end was at its normal position and likely to continue to be so during the next three to four days. Fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall was very likely in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan. Isolated to scattered rainfall was expected in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi during the week. Isolated heavy rainfall was very likely in Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Private forecaster Skymet Weather vice president (climate and meteorology) Mahesh Palawat said an active rain spell was expected in western and eastern parts of the country. Because the eastern end of the monsoon trough is at its normal position, it will rain in northwest India including Delhi-NCR. There is also a western disturbance that is impacting the Western Himalayan region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to US President Joe Biden. During the telephone conversation, the two leaders discussed major global issues. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability, the prime minister posted on social platform X. A file photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden.(PTI file) We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh, he added. ALSO READ: PM Modi, Biden talk ties, global good in a brief encounter at summit According to a government statement, Modi lauded Biden's deep commitment the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity. PM Modi briefs Biden on Ukraine visit During his conversation with Biden on the raging Ukraine conflict, Modi briefed the US president on his visit to Kyiv, wherein he had met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The prime minister reiterated Indias consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy and expressed full support for early return of peace and stability, the statement added. ALSO READ: India not neutral or indifferent bystander, always on side of peace: PM Modi on Ukraine conflict Both Modi and Biden shared their concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasised restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh. There have been reports of Hindu temples as well as homes and businesses of Hindus being attacked in Bangladesh after its prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India. The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad, the statement added. Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday visited a modern US Navy testing facility for ships and submarines at Memphis in Tennessee at a time when India is looking at setting up a similar facility for locally produced platforms, the defence ministry said on Sunday. Rajnath visits US Navy testing facility in Memphis as India plans something similar Singh visited the William B Morgan large cavitation channel (LCC) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Memphis where senior officials briefed him on one of the worlds largest and most technically advanced high-speed, variable-pressure water tunnel facilities. Senior navy and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) officials accompanied him. The discussions intend to support the ongoing proposal for establishment of a similar facility for indigenous design and development in India, the defence ministry said in a statement. The LCC is part of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, one of the US Navys preeminent research and development facilities that specialises in critical ship and submarine design. Operational since 1991, it provides significant cost savings for testing large-scale models of advanced ship and submarine system designs and full-scale torpedoes in a controlled environment, according to the US Navy. It permits the US Navy to measure submarine and surface ship power, efficiency and propeller noise by using models in a controlled but realistic environment. The facility has commercial use too. Singh was greeted by deputy under secretary of the US Navy for Policy Anne Gebhards, and Naval Surface Warfare Center and Undersea Warfare Center Commander Rear Admiral Todd Evans. Witnessed the pathbreaking experiments at the facility. India and the US look forward to work together and benefit from each others experiences, Singh wrote on X. Singhs Memphis visit came on the back of meetings with US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and secretary of defence Lloyd Austin in Washington. These talks spanned an array of critical areas including the impact of global developments on geopolitics, pressing regional security dynamics, broadening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and deepening defence industrial collaboration. Singh arrived in Washington on August 22 on a four-day visit that is being closely watched as India is negotiating deals worth billions of dollars with the US, including the purchase of the General Atomics MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft systems and the joint production of GE F414 engines in the country. Earlier, Singh also interacted with captains of several American defence companies in Washington, including General Atomics and GE, and outlined the emerging co-development and co-production opportunities in India while enumerating reforms initiated by the government to make the country an attractive destination for foreign original equipment manufacturers and an alternative export hub. In 2023, India and the US concluded a new road map for defence industrial cooperation with the goal of fast-tracking technology cooperation and co-production in critical areas, including air combat and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, munitions, and the undersea domain. The surge in mpox, or monkeypox, cases in parts of Africa has led to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak of the viral disease a public health emergency of international concern on August 14. Dr Javier Guzman, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development, in an interview with Rhythma Kaul, discusses how the West should respond to the ongoing threat, the importance of guaranteeing safe and equitable access to vaccines, and the need to improve global systems for pandemic preparedness and response among other things. Edited excerpts: Dr Javier Guzma, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development (HT Photo) Do you think the current mpox situation warrants to be labelled as global public health emergency? I fully support the World Health Organizations decision to declare the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. This outbreak involves a new, deadlier strain of the mpox virus that is more easily transmitted between humans compared to the 2022 strain. Moreover, this new strain is not limited to a specific population such as men who have sex with men and is spreading rapidly beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to other African countries and beyond, with the first case outside the continent recently detected in Sweden. By declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, WHO, along with regional and national institutions, can more effectively mobilise funds and resources to combat the spread, while encouraging countries to enhance their surveillance and preparedness efforts. What immediate measures are needed to check the outbreak? The top priority right now is to establish a coordinated international response to the epidemic and support affected African countries to contain the outbreak. This includes ramping up contact tracing, enhancing surveillance, and ensuring that vaccines already approved in high-income countries are made available. Currently, the Africa CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that 10 million vaccine doses are needed across the continent, yet only around 200,000 doses have been provided so far. Is the global response adequate to help Africa deal with the outbreak? No, the response is not sufficient, and additional resources and support are urgently needed. A coordinated international effort is essential to effectively tackle the epidemic, with increased support for affected African countries to contain the outbreak. What long-term measures are needed to solve this problem? Moving forward, we need to take additional steps to strengthen how countries prevent, prepare for, and respond to outbreaks. Two key measures can improve the speed and effectiveness of the system: First, countries should set aside funds that can be quickly used when a public health emergency is declared. This is known as surge financing and ensures that there are enough resources ready to buy medical supplies and make necessary investments for a fast, fair, and coordinated global response. Despite global leaders, including those in the G7 and G20, acknowledging this need, concrete action has yet to be taken. Second, it is crucial to decentralise decision-making and boost the capacity of organisations like the WHO. For example, Gavi (global alliance for vaccines and immunisation) has a $500 million first response fund, but it remains unused because it requires WHOs approval for mpox vaccines, even though these vaccines are already approved by other top regulatory bodies. This process needs updating. Gavi and other global health initiatives should adjust their policies to recognise approvals from WHO-listed authorities, a new system that identifies top-performing regulatory bodies. How effective are the vaccines against mpox? Two existing vaccines are effective when administered to people at risk before they come into contact with the virus. This is why African countries urgently need a large supply of vaccines to protect those most vulnerable in this outbreak, that could include sex workers, children, and adults living in areas with a high number of cases. Can the disease be eliminated in near future or will the world have to live with it? Completely eliminating mpox is difficult because the virus exists in animals and can spread to humans. However, with strong global efforts, we can significantly reduce human cases and control outbreaks. Sanjay Roy, the man accused of raping and murdering a 31-year-old doctor inside Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, reportedly confessed to the crime during his polygraph test on Sunday. Sanjoy Roy, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. (File Photo) During the lie-detector test, Sanjay Roy told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that he had visited a red light area with his friend hours before the crime. He, however, didn't have sex, he claimed. Sanjay Roy also confessed to molesting another in the street, reported India Today. Per the channel, Sanjay Roy video-called his girlfriend and asked for her nude photos. On the night of the crime, Sanjay Roy had drinks with his friend. They later left for the red light area. They later went to Chetla, another red light area in South Kolkata. On the way to Chetla, they allegedly molested a girl. They later returned to the hospital. Sanjay Roy then went to the corridor near the seminar hall at 4.03 am. After allegedly raping and killing the woman, he went to the house of his friend Anupam Dutta, a police officer, reported India Today. Meanwhile, a TOI report claimed Sanjay Roy gave misleading responses which were flagged by the polygraph machine. The CBI drew a psychoanalytic profile of the accused which revealed that he was severely addicted to pornography. Several porn clips were found on his phone. The woman had gone to the seminar hall to rest when she was raped and murdered. She had 25 external and internal injuries on her body and was smothered to death. The CBI is also probing the role of the ex-principal of the medical college, Dr Sandip Ghosh. He was also subjected to the lie-detector test on Saturday. Last week, the Supreme Court questioned the Kolkata Police why they took over 12 hours to register the FIR. It also said that Sandip Ghosh tried to pass the rape and murder as a case of suicide. The agency is also probing the financial irregularities allegations against Sandip Ghosh. Amid the massive uproar over the rape and murder of a postgraduate doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Trinamool Congress defended West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee amid calls for her resignation, terming the opposition's demands as patriarchal. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee . (ANI file) The TMC further questioned why the male chief ministers don't face similar scrutiny when heinous crimes take place in their states. "There have been so many incidents in so many places. Why the demand for the resignation of the only woman Chief Minister of the country, who won three successive elections? No demands for the resignation of any male Chief Minister for incidents in others places. That is how patriarchy is." NDTV quoted Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya as saying. The party further slammed the Nabanna Abhijan, a protest march announced by students' organisation, saying that it is an attempt to create chaos in the state. Students and doctors have been participating in marches against the state government to demand justice for the junior doctor who got killed on August 9. There is a BJP-ABVP plot to create disturbance. There is a plot to open fire by criminals in police uniform. Tomorrow there are exams. Can students do this? They are doing vulture politics, Bhattacharya told NDTV. No permission has been sought from police for such a protest. Protests can take place but they have to take permission and they must be held peacefully at designated places, the TMC leader added. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh questioned the motives behind the rally to the state secretariat, and questioned by students are not marching to the CBI office, as the agency took over the investigation. Ghosh further presented videos purportedly showing two persons advocating for violence to ensure the rally's success, which he linked to right-wing groups and some leftists, including the CPI(M). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in response to the allegations, denied any involvement in the rally, saying that if members of their party attend any protests, it is in their individual capacity. A postgraduate doctor was raped and murdered inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and her body was found in the seminar hall of the institute on August 9. BJP and other opposition parties in Bengal accused the TMC of covering up the crime and protecting the accused, demanding CM Mamata Banerjee's resignation. (With inputs from agencies) Is the Unified Pension Scheme or UPS for federal employees, approved by the cabinet on Saturday, a return to the fiscally straining old pension system or OPS, since retirement benefits in the two systems are similar? The short answer is no. Unlike old pension scheme, new policy to be fully funded The key difference between the OPS and the UPS, which will take effect from April 1, 2025, is that the older scheme was an unfunded one, while both the UPS and the current New Pension Scheme or NPS are fully funded pension schemes. A funded pension scheme is one that is designed to meet current and future financial obligations based on the retirement funds returns over investments. Funding is also ensured through compulsory contributions from the employee and the employer, and through annual on-budget allocations. A majority of central government employees are expected to switch from the NPS to the UPS, as the latter will guarantee 50% of average base pay of the past 12 months as a monthly pension to those who have served for 25 years, a key demand of staff unions. Since the NPS was fully funded its corpus was mainly invested in federal debt its pensions were linked to market returns, without any guaranteed payout, a major demand of federal employees. The OPS, scrapped in 2004, too handed out a monthly pension equivalent to half of an employees base pay for those serving a minimum of 20 years. Just as in the OPS, the UPS will also offer a lump sum payment upon retirement on top of gratuity. While the OPS guaranteed a fixed pension of 50% of base salary, employees were not required to contribute anything from their salaries towards pension benefits. This made the OPS fiscally untenable, as pension liabilities soared. The current NPS was implemented in 2004 as a major fiscal reform as debts were piling, especially of states, from an unfunded pension system. Under the NPS, the governments share in total contribution stood at 14%, while employees had to pay 10% of their emoluments. Under the UPS unveiled on Saturday, the governments contribution will be 18.5%, while employees will contribute 10%. The higher government contribution is the key reason why the government will be able to offer an assured amount. Since OPS was an unfunded system, pension liabilities of state governments over the long term had showed a sharp unsustainable jump, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser of State Bank of India, the countrys largest lender. In 2023-24, Indias federal pension budget was 2.34 lakh crore. The compound annual growth in pension liabilities for the 12-year period ended 2021-22 was 34% for all state governments. As of 2020-21, the pension outgo as a percentage of revenue receipts stood at 13.2%, Ghosh said. With unfunded systems, there is a global concern about intergenerational inequities, said Robin Taldi, a labour economist with the Indian Statistical Institute. Intergenerational inequity could occur if younger and future generations were forced to bear excess financial burdens arising from decisions made by the preceding generations. Pension liabilities are one such burden. by Richard Farr I will use this column to defend myself against the accusation, first made by my surgical assistant Mr. Alan Turing, that I was negligent in the death of an individual under my medical care. Or, as one armchair prosecutor has said, that I am a stereotypically British sentimentalist who thinks dogs are more human than people. The story is an ugly one but the facts are straightforward. It was about 3 AM on a winters night in the small town of ________ . The only other neurosurgeon in the area had become too ill to travel home while vacationing on Maui. (From her voice message I was immediately able to diagnose Margarita Syndrome, with possibly an enlarged Pina Colada.) Anyway I was the only sawbones available when the call came in: CODE BLUE, DOC. ROAD ACCIDENT. FOUR VICTIMS WITH HEAD INJURIES. WAKEY WAKEY. In my line of work you dont shock easily, but I was about to have the most disturbing night of my life. I should pause here to explain an important background detail. Turing, who had sent the message, was only moonlighting at the hospital. He was a quick learner for sure, if a bit of an oddball, and his daytime preoccupation (I hesitate to call it an occupation) was a Ph.D. in computational philosophy, whatever that is. He was competent enough; I only wished he wouldnt keep urging me to read his draft material, which I found either impenetrably technical or else a jocose, badly written muddle. One particular essai of the latter kind turns out to be somewhat relevant to the ludicrous stand he has taken in the present matter. It begins with the arresting first sentence: I propose to consider the question, Can machines think? and progresses only pages later to the blithely contradictory The original question, Can machines think? I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion. (Fascinating, I said, hoping that was diplomatic enough.) When I got to the clinic, several comatose forms already lay on gurneys in our small operating theater. The victims heads had been wrapped in temporary bandages by the paramedics; even when those came off, the first three individuals were such a mess that they were not immediately recognizable. However I noticed at once an amazing coincidence so amazing in fact that it gave me an uncanny feeling, as if instead of attending to a real emergency in a real hospital I was trapped inside one of those sophomorically simple fictions on which, as I had discovered from coffee break conversations with Alan, philosophers like to exercise their limited imaginations. All three figures had virtually identical contusions; all three seemed to be in immediate danger of dying; all three were returning to consciousness and groaning as if with one voice: I want you to stop the pain! A surgeon under time pressure can get tunnel vision. Youre so concerned with identifying the medical specifics that you dont see the big picture. So it took a few minutes before I stood back and really looked at the faces of the victims. Oh horror. These were not random motorists! These were Hugh, Allie, and Rob, three of my closest friends. I turned away in shock, and only then remembered the fourth gurney. The blanket was smaller than the others and the face under the bandages Alan! This is a dog! Why did you bring in a dog? It was in the same car. And its a victim too, isnt it? He glared at me, as if testing me. Isnt it? I wiped away some of the blood matting its fur. It was Robs dog, of course. Misfit! Theres no need to be rude. No no, Alan, not you. Thats the dogs name. Misfit. Let me be clear. I had known these three people (and the dog) for years. They were, on the one hand, completely distinct individuals. I might have said for example (or rather not said, but thought) that Allie ranked higher than Hugh or Rob in raw intelligence, and perhaps lower in empathy and practical life skills, or that Rob was more adventurous, and best with children because of his patience and playfulness, or that Hugh was the only natural athlete among them, and had a better sense of humor and a passionate hatred of broccoli. Or that Misfit was amazingly smart for a dog and a very pleasant companion. In one sense though, all were the same: likable, high-functioning examples of their kind. Well. Rather than wasting your time with the anatomy-class details (fracturing of the cerebrospinal X with massive swelling in the parietal Y, that sort of blather) I will say only that emergency surgery on each was immediately indicated. Also I was in danger of being distracted by their groaning (Hugh: I want you to help me! Allie: I dont want to die! Rob: I want the pain to stop! Misfit: Awooooo!) so I put them all under, got Turing to fire up my best circular saw from the 50% OFF bin at DiscountHomeRepair, and went to work. Oh double and triple horror. As soon as their brains were exposed, something very strange was apparent. Lets start with the simple cases. As it had never for a moment occurred to me to doubt, Hugh was an anatomically normal example of Homo sapiens, his gray matter familiar in every way. And Misfit was equally clearly a genuine Canis lupus familiaris. But then there was Allie. She had a brain, for sure. It and she were clearly organic: I was looking at a naturally evolved organism. But her brain was not a human brain. It had six lobes, glowed a purplish blue, and shifted around on its own in an inappropriate way, like a muscle. Allie had been doing a good job of fooling everyone but there was no doubt now: she was an alien. Robs case was if possible even more disconcerting. What I found inside his skull (made from a metallic substance that ruined a perfectly good $30 blade) was even harder to make sense of at first. It wasnt anything I could call a brain; it wasnt natural in that sense. There were wires, microscopic welds, and little hexagonal objects that might have been chips except that they shimmied and winked and kept rearranging themselves in different geometric patterns. Rob was indubitably a product of technology a manufactured object. Like Roy Batty in Blade Runner, Data in Star Trek, Eva in Ex Machina (and on and on), he was a robot. A seemingly irrelevant thought hijacked my own brain at this point, perhaps as a defense mechanism against panic. Wow! I thought. Hugh, Allie, and Rob certainly all aced that test Alan keeps wittering on about. In all the years Ive known them, it has never crossed my mind that theyre not human beings, even though only one of them is! And then I thought: Funny. Misfit aced the test as well, didnt she? Sort of? Hugh happened to be closest to me and I started working on him immediately. At least with him I knew what I was doing. Then instinctively, without so much as making a call to the Consulting Hypothetical Ethicist hotline I turned to Allie. The unfamiliar anatomy meant my confidence was lower; on the other hand I felt it was likely that if I could simply prevent further loss of her chartreuse-toned day-glo blood then things might turn out OK. The brain tissue itself looked very little damaged, and indeed if my eyes didnt deceive me it was already busy repairing itself. Not wanting to get into an argument with Hippocrates primum non nocere I patched her up and mentally crossed my fingers. Thats when things got sticky. Hugh and Allie were still out cold. But Misfit started howling again and at that very moment Rob opened his eyes and cried I want you to help me! I want the pain to stop! I want chocolate ice cream with nuts on top! Finally, with pitiful, pleading eye contact: Richard, my old friend, I want you to save me! Pleeeease! Turings testimony is accurate, I dont deny: despite his protests I ignored Rob, checked again on Allie, and turned next to Misfit. When Misfit was out of danger I turned back to Rob, but he was already dead. Or as I prefer to say: he was doing as excellent an imitation of being dead but then he had only ever been doing an imitation of being alive. This is where Alan and I part company. Youre prejudiced. Nonsense. Youre a racist. Bullshit. OK then a speciesist. Malarkey. Allow me to make a point about my deliberations in the following slightly unusual way. All four of these victims behaved as if they had genuine wants. And though it might seem that I acquired the belief that they all had genuine wants from that behavior, actually I did not acquire the belief in that way. In recent days, while waiting to hear whether Ill have my medical license revoked, Ive had little to do. (My colleague returned from Maui with shaky hands and bags under her eyes but has taken over the clinic again.) So Ive had time to read the draft paper by Turing that Id merely skimmed earlier. In a section titled The Argument from Consciousness he says: This argument is very well expressed in Professor Jeffersons Lister Oration for 1949, from which I quote. Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain-that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No mechanism could feel (and not merely artificially signal, an easy contrivance) pleasure at its successes, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be charmed by sex, be angry or depressed when it cannot get what it wants. This argument appears to be a denial of the validity of our test. According to the most extreme form of this view the only way by which one could be sure that machine thinks is to be the machine and to feel oneself thinking. One could then describe these feelings to the world, but of course no one would be justified in taking any notice. Likewise according to this view the only way to know that a man thinks is to be that particular man. It is in fact the solipsist point of view. It may be the most logical view to hold but it makes communication of ideas difficult. A is liable to believe A thinks but B does not whilst B believes B thinks but A does not. Instead of arguing continually over this point it is usual to have the polite convention that everyone thinks. Heres the thing, though. That everyone thinks is not a polite convention its the only plausible theory given the evidence, once you stop misunderstanding what the evidence actually is. The evidence works like this. First, and crucially: I know for certain that I am a good example of a being with genuine wants, and I know this because of my thrillingly direct acquaintance with my own wants: I have them. (So far, so Descartes.) Second: I lack this direct acquaintance with the wants of others, so I could be what Alan calls a solipsist but solipsism is strictly for the rubes. We are post-Darwinian. As Alan himself concedes, it remains a mystery exactly how an evolved physical entity like my body can sustain the inner world of wanting that I directly experience, but it certainly does so, at least in my case. Third, that fact constitutes excellent grounds for assuming that other sufficiently similar evolved entities sustain a similar inner world and thus also have genuine wants. To summarize: I didnt believe that Hugh truly wanted what he said he wanted because of his verbal behavior. That could have been imitated with high fidelity by a voice recorder. I believed it because that verbal behaviors source was an evolved entity sufficiently like me. Both Allie and Misfit are much less like me than Hugh. But their behavior comes from closely analogous sources. I cannot know the exact texture of Hughs inner life; much less can I know the texture of Allies or Misfits. But to conclude therefore that they have no genuine wants is, in the Darwinian circumstances, an assumption so extravagantly baseless that only a philosopher on their lunch hour could entertain it. Rob, though: ah! Here we have exactly the opposite problem. If Rob had been made from cogs and gears and string, even a fanatic technophile like Alan would not expose himself to ridicule by accusing me of wrong-doing. Nor would he, I think, if Rob had been made from our own familiar servos and silicon, with maybe an Apple logo thrown in for good measure. In those cases, however convincing the behavior, most people would accept as obvious that Rob was not a man but a marionette, not a guy but a gimmick that, even though he could pass the test by behaving like he had genuine wants, those wants were no more real than the wants a child might ascribe to a wind-up doll with a key in its back. Ah, Turing has already said to you over-impressed by clever engineering as always but this technology was different. Far more sophisticated. Far beyond anything we understand. Probably Allie created it! (This turns out to have been true.) On what grounds can we say that such perfectly manufactured intelligence is not real intelligence? Here I think lies Turings fundamental muddle. He has achieved the no doubt valuable insight that a certain kind and level of artificial intelligence a good enough imitation of intelligence just is intelligence. But he then moves gleefully, with little thought and diddly-squat by way of argument, to the radically false and, in this age of increasingly persuasive simulacra, profoundly dangerous conclusion that a good enough imitation of wanting just is wanting. Its not wanting; its not even some evidence of wanting; in itself, its exactly no evidence of wanting. Is my conclusion then that we know Robs wants were not genuine? Not quite so fast. My conclusion is only that his revealed nature forces us to recast the evidence derived from his behavior, and that in this new context it turns out to be irrelevant. From which it follows that I had strong and urgent grounds for ignoring his wants in favor of the genuine ones expressed so eloquently by Allie and Misfit. Chess World Champion Garry Kasparov had an interesting response to playing and being beaten by the computer Deep Blue in 1997: he spoke of it as having a very human intuition, including a sense of danger. Like so many people confronted with artificial intelligence, he didnt seem to see or at least was profoundly tempted to ignore the dull possibility that evidence about how the machine behaved was not even a poor guide, but rather was no guide at all, to what was, as it were, actually going on. Im sorry Rob died, but only because I lost a friend and Misfit lost her companion. (We both feel a little better now that I have adopted her and am feeding her too many treats.) Im not in the least sorry for Rob; I did the right thing. In short, Turings ideas in this area are catnip to the gullible and a moral menace. Perhaps he should take up cryptography. I rest my case. Irrespective of how the CBI probe pans out in the RG Kar case, it is beyond doubt that the West Bengal Health Department was caught napping in the unfortunate rape and murder of the intern doctor. The transfer of RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh to hallowed Calcutta Medical (almost a promotion) after he was chastised by the Calcutta High Court started the rumour mill of preferential treatment accorded to the now fallen from grace health administrator. The decision was subsequently revoked but the damage was already done. Even TMC leaders including Kunal Ghosh agreed that it was a misstep. However, TMC leaders including MP Saket Gokhale has steadfastly maintained that Mamata Banerjee, who is incidentally the Health Minister also wasn't kept in loop about this decision. The notice was formally signed by OSD and special secretary Aniruddha Neogi where he copied the Health Secretary, among others. Till date both hold their posts. Mamata Banerjee takes part in a protest rally to condemn the rape and murder of a doctor in her state's capital, Kolkata. (AFP file photo) Whether Mamata should have been informed beforehand about such a transfer (not a routine one by any stretch) is something worth pondering about. However, former IPS officer Nazrul Islam believes that it is impossible that any such order can be passed without the direct approval of Mamata Banerjee. He says, It is inconceivable that such a decision was made without taking CM's approval, especially for Sandip who is perceived to be quite close to her. Notwithstanding claims and counterclaims, the larger question is whether Mamata Banerjee is seriously overburdened with work? She is head of one of the largest political parties in the country, Chief Minister of one of the most populated states of India and even heads seven departments of Bengal government. In terms of assembly seats, Bengal (294) is only second next to Uttar Pradesh (403). A look at top ten large states (in terms of assembly seats) shows UP CM Yogi Adityanath being clearly an outlier with 34 portfolios. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has 19 departments directly reporting to him, Gujarat CM has 15 whereas MK Stalin and Chandrababu Naidu have 11 portfolios. Nitish Kumar and Siddaramaiah have the least additional responsibility with only five portfolios lying with them. However, the point to remember is that many CMs have deputies to help them with administrative load. Some are not necessarily the biggest political leader of the state and incidentally most don't have the sensitive health department with them. However, to be fair, Mamata Banerjee has had the health portfolio from 2011 and there has been a marked improvement in health infrastructure in government hospitals. While systematic issues persist, the flagship Sashtya Sathi scheme has empowered poor to get treatment at a much cheaper rate both in government and private facilities. But here we are talking about an administration which failed to act nimbly when encountering a PR disaster. Would a full-time health minister help there is a question worth asking. A third time Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee had a formidable set of ministers when she had first taken oath in 2011. That included the likes of Partha Chatterjee, Amit Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee, Jyotipriyo Mallick, Suvendu Adhikari, Sadhan Pandey among others. With time, some have left, some have become indisposed, some have landed up in jail and the likes of Subrata Mukherjee, Sadhan Pandey have passed away. With time TMC has tried to incorporate fresh faces but in key ministries like Finance, currently there is no cabinet minister, rather an MoS with independent charge is in the helm. Obviously, Mamata Banerjee has to do the heavy lifting there in order to attract investment. Some important departments are now with ministers with little administrative experience, and that Mamata Banerjee has a 'very high administrative load' is accepted by veteran TMC MP Saugata Roy. He believes that in running the party, Abhishek is taking part of the responsibility but in administration, it is Didi who has to take the full burden. However, he refuses to accept that there is a talent drought and says the MPs are also rooted in Bengal and helping in their way. TMC indeed boasts of an impressive roster of MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha with the likes of Saugata Roy, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Partha Bhowmick etc with ministerial experience in state and centre. But as a party grappling with inevitable generational change issues, it doesn't have ready replacement for some of the bigwigs who are no longer part of the state cabinet. However, former BJP state president and ex-governor of Tripura Tathagata Ray blames Mamata Banerjee for failing to build a potent second line of leadership. Ray claims that Mamata wants to have complete dominance over administration and party and hence haven't empowered others. She is guided by only a couple of advisors like Alapan Bandyopadhyay claims Ray and listens to Firhad Hakim only that too because of political compulsion of getting Muslim votes. Veteran leader says no one asked Mamata to keep all critical ministries with herself. According to Tathagata Ray, the state's economic condition is in such a precarious condition that even people aligned to TMC like ISI professor Abhirup Sarkar won't take up any responsibility as no one wants to tarnish their reputation. He goes on to claim that Amit Mitra too has not continued in the Finance portfolio owing to that concern. 'There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen', the famous quote by Vladmir Lenin is probably most apt for Bengal. Around 2007-08, the hitherto invincible Left organisation was hammered down by a feisty Mamata Banerjee when the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government's weak administration was exposed. Their series of omissions and commissions meant TMC supremo who was gasping for political existence post dual drubbing in 2004 and 2006 became a political behemoth. The rest as they say is history. Incidentally, the Singur movement gained traction after unfortunate rape and murder of daughter of a local TMC worker. The groundswell of emotion post RG Kar incident is similar to those times when the wind was slowly shifting from the Left. Mamata Banerjee though has a far higher political acumen than her predecessor and the BJP so far doesn't have a leader of that calibre to really shake her fortress specially in South Bengal. SSC scam, ration scam among others have failed to hurt her politically. However, with less than two years to go for the next assembly elections, the opposition would look to leverage the RG Kar issue. Post 2019 Lok Sabha setback, the TMC spruced up its feedback mechanism with plans like 'Didi ke bolo', doubled up on doles with Lakshmir Bhandar, which has been an instant hit with women across Bengal. The RG Kar incident has the potential to disrupt that vote bank equation. For TMC, while political pushback will be critical, solid governance will help in mitigating public disquiet over issues of lax law and order and allegations of widespread corruption. So far Mamata has used bureaucracy effectively for last mile connectivity with voters. Her public dressing down of officers and politicians in district visits have become legendary. However, a top-down approach at times means delayed response denting people's confidence. Truly empowering the second rung leadership may just ease Didi's burden and improve the delivery mechanism. (Additional reporting by Moinak Mitra) Krishna Murthy SL, a senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Hyderabad, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has developed a number of rice varieties that are resistant to various stresses, such as salinity, alkalinity and low-phosphorous soils. Krishna Murthy, who is one of the winners of this years Vigyan Yuva awards for Agriculture, explains the kind of breeding programmes he uses to develop rice varieties tolerant to specific stresses. Vigyan Yuva awardee Krishna Murthy S L. What I do We have developed rice varieties to several kinds of abiotic stresses, which are stresses caused by non-biological factors. For example, abiotic stresses such as salinity and alkalinity lead to significant yield losses across the country, affecting approximately 6.73 million hectares, with the largest areas in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. On the other hand, eastern and Northeastern India are characterised by phosphorus-deficient soils. Such conditions negatively impact rice productivity, and we have developed rice varieties that are tolerant to specific conditions in specific areas. How I do it To combat these challenges, various breeding methods have been employed to develop stress-tolerant rice varieties. Our rice varieties currently cover approximately 2 million hectares, helping farmers achieve good yields in salt-affected and phosphorus-deficient soils. We primarily use the Pedigree Breeding Method and Bulk Breeding Method to develop these varieties by relying on molecular markers; this is called Marker-Assisted Backcross Breeding (MABB). MABB has gained popularity in recent years for its efficiency in reducing the time required to develop new varieties. We identify strong, robust, and diverse donors for stress tolerance, and incorporate them into our breeding programmes. We screen large populations in sick plots and select the best yielding lines with desirable traits. By utilising a large set of populations, we can reduce undesirable quality traits from donor parents. The sixth generation is repeatedly screened to obtain desirable rice lines, which are then tested at multiple locations across India through the national system (AICRP-Rice), a highly stringent process for variety development. These lines have shown at least a yield advantage of at least 10% over the best-check varieties. Recently, we have been using MABB to transfer specific traits into high-yielding varieties (HYVs), reducing the development time by 50%. This approach also allows us to minimize undesirable quality traits through recombinant and background selection approach. Ratnakar Dandekar and his son Prathamesh are considered to be among Indias premier boat builders. Their company, Hodi Innovations, located on the riverine Divar Island in Goa, has built celebrated sailing vessels such as the Mhadei and the Tarini, which have been used by the equally celebrated global circumnavigators Dilip Donde, Abhilash Tomy, and Varthika Joshi and her all-women crew. (Also Read | Why an Indian-American whiskey industry icon is training his sights on India) The design of the 'stitched ship' is based on the mural of a 4th century ocean going ship at the Ajanta Caves. (Murali K Menon) The Dandekars mostly work with fibreglass, but right at this moment, they are engaging with a material they are not familiar with wood. Their brief, which came from high places in the government late last year, is to build a stitched ship of the kind that sailed in the Indian Ocean in the first millennium of the Common Era. Archaeological evidence or records of the technique used to build such ships is scant, and their sole visual reference is a mural from the rock-cut Ajanta Caves that depicts a ship from the 4th century CE with a high stem and stern and oblong sails attached to three masts. The stitched ship project The stitched ship project is among the numerous projects undertaken by the government to revive traditional knowledge systems. Backed by the Ministry of Culture and the Indian Navy, the project is the brainchild of Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council, and author of, among others, The Ocean of Churn and Land of the Seven Rivers. But, what exactly is a stitched ship and why is it considered a part of Indias maritime heritage? Stitched ships or boats are a dying Indian Ocean tradition, in which vessels were built by stitching wooden planks using coir rope. Keralas kettuvallams are stitched boats (kettu literally means to tie in Malayalam); sewn plank boats are also found in Goa, and in Lakshadweep, odams or sewn boats were once used for hopping around the archipelago. The reason why our ancestors, despite having sound knowledge of metallurgy, chose to largely stitch their ships instead of using nails is unclear. We built the iron pillar in Mehrauli, after all, and wootz, a crucible steel made in south India, was most famously used in the making of Damascus swords. In his book Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of Indias Geography, Sanyal writes: It is more likely that this was because ships sailed in waters full of atolls and reefs and had to be beached at many places due to lack of sheltered harbours or due to the rough monsoon seas.. It was only with the arrival of the Europeans that the Indian Ocean world shifted to ships nailed to frames to allow use of cannons (the stitched ships could not handle the blowback and tended to warp). The 20-metre, two-masted ship that the Dandekars are building will have square sails, two trailing oars, and a flexible hull. The keel of the boat is made from the Indian Laurel, the stem and the stern from teak, and the planks from wild jack. The wooden planks are first shaped by steaming them so that they conform to the shape of the hull, says Prathamesh. The planks are stitched together, and then sealed with coconut fibre, fish oil and resin, says Prathamesh. The father-son duo is guided by Babu Shankaran, one of the last remaining master shipwrights with in-depth knowledge of the stitching technique. Shankaran, who hails from Beypore, in Kerala, was among those involved in the Oman governments Jewel of Muscat project, a reconstruction of a 9th century shipwreck discovered off the coast of Indonesia, in 2010. The ships planks were stitched together with 130 kilometres of coir rope. Radhika Seshan, author of several books on maritime history, including most recently of Empires of the Sea: A Human History of the Indian Ocean World, says the stitched ship is apt representation of our maritime heritage because it is still a living tradition. She adds that sewn ships were likely lighter and more flexible than ships built using nails. They were more common in the Arabian Sea, because these would typically be shorter voyages from Gujarat to Aden, for example with clearly defined currents and very few circular wind and current movements. At the same time, these ships would have navigated the high surf in the Bay of Bengal well because they could move over the wave than through it. Seshan feels that stitched ships were especially suited to coastal navigation. Our coasts are full of coconut fibre the word coir comes from the Tamil-Malayalam kayar so the boats could always be brought to shore, turned over and restitched. Igniting Indias maritime history The backers of the project will also hope that it ignites an interest in Indias maritime history and cures us of our sea blindness. The Indian Ocean has been among the busiest global thoroughfares of commercial and cultural traffic for over 2,000 years, with every major empire vying for control of its trade routes. The Harappans are credited with building the worlds first tidal dock in 2300 BC, and by the 16th century when the Europeans arrived, India had nearly 200 ports along its 6000-km coastline that housed boat-building centres. Indian merchant guilds owned large fleets that sailed both to south east Asia and Arabia and beyond, and the Cholas had a significant maritime presence in the Malay Peninsula and the Eastern archipelago. The corporatised merchant guilds include The 500 Lords of Ayyavole, which was based in the town of Aihole in present day Karnataka and whose influence extended as far as Sumatra. Seshan considers the Chola invasion of Srivijaya, a maritime kingdom in what is now Indonesia, as our major maritime moment. But, other than that, they were always more focused on the control of the coasts. Prathmesh Dandekar expects the stitched ship to be ready by early 2025, after it will be put through a battery of tests. It is then expected to sail from Orissa to South east Asia, recreating earlier voyages such as the Baliyatra. Held towards the end of November in Orissa, the Baliyatra festival commemorates the voyages Odia Sadhabas (sea traders) undertook to distant lands. Tamannaah Bhatia is immersing in Krishna's hues of love for a Janmashtami-themed photoshoot. The actor recently featured in clothing brand Torani's latest campaign for Janmashtami - Leela: The Divine Illusion of Love. She transformed into Radha for the beautiful pictures, dressed in dreamy traditional ensembles from their latest collection. (Also Read | Happy Krishna Janmashtami: Wishes, images, SMS, Hindi quotes, WhatsApp and Facebook status) Tamannaah Bhatia's Janmashtami shoot for Torani goes viral. (Instagram ) Tamannaah Bhatia immerses in Krishna's love for Torani photoshoot After representing Radha's devotion (Bhakti) as part of showcasing the stages of love for Lord Krishna, the latest photoshoot shows Tamannaah Bhatia depicting Deewanagi or madness of love, which is also the theme of the new images from the Janmashtami campaign. A part of the caption explaining the idea behind the dreamy images says, Her reflection is Krishna, her shadow is Krishna, her name is Krishna, she looks at her arms and they seem blue to her. If Krishna is the moon, Radha is its light. What Tamannaah Bhatia wore for the campaign Torani dressed Tamannaah in an orange and red embroidered lehenga choli set for the photoshoot. The blouse features a deep V neckline, intricate zardosi embroidery, scalloped borders, sequin embellishments, half-length sleeves, and a slit on the front and sides. The lehenga in a bright red shade comes with an A-line ghera, and features scalloped borders and delicate gold embroidery on the hem. An orange organza dupatta draped on the head features shimmering gold cluster diamantes and zardosi embroidered borders. Torani painted Tamannaah's body in a blue shade to depict how Radha is fully immersed in Kanha's love. As for the jewellery, they chose gold and emerald polki pieces, including a choker necklace, jhumkis, kadhas, and a mang tika. Hair tied in a bun and adorned with a gajra, darkened brows, kohl-lined eyes, a red bindi, pink lip shade, and mascara-adorned lashes rounded off the makeup. Why did the brand choose Tamannaah Bhatia to play Radha? In a clip, Karan Torani said he wanted an actor to depict what Radhas soul was discovering and feeling throughout those stages of love'. They said, Right after the first phone call, Tamannaah told me I surrender myself to you. For me, that was the most essential in confidently placing her as Radha; I needed someone to have that faith, knowing ~ I would not do injustice to this story, or to them. About Janmashtami Krishna Janmashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. It is being celebrated all across India today, August 26. Happy Janmashtami 2024: The special day is here. Every year, Janmashtami is celebrated with a lot of pomp and grandeur all over the country. The birth anniversary of Lord Krishna is a celebration for all of us. People deck up in new clothes, streets and homes are decorated in lights and colours, people bask in the warmth of their near and dear ones. On Krishna Janmashtami, devotees of Lord Krishna keep fast and offer their puja to the lord. Many parts of the country, such as Mathura, Vrindavan, Dwarka, Mumbai celebrate the special day with a lot of grandeur. Happy Janmashtami 2024: The birth anniversary of Lord Krishna is a celebration for all of us. ALSO READ: Krishna Janmashtami 2024: When is Janmashtami? Is it on August 26 or 27? Know date, significance, history and more As we celebrate Krishna Janmashtami today, here is a curated list of wishes and messages that you can share with your loved ones. Happy janmashtami images, messages and wishes Happy Janmashtami. Let's remember the valuable teachings of Lord Krishna on this auspicious day. ALSO READ: Janmashtami: What makes the celebrations of Lord Krishna's birth in Mathura and Vrindavan so special? Find out Janmashtami is celebrated with a lot of pomp and grandeur every year. Like Lord Krishna guided Arjun during the war of Kurukshetra, may he always guide your soul to do the right thing. Happy Janmashtami! As we celebrate the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, let's bask in the festivities. Have a great day. Janmashtami is observed by the devotees of Lord Krishna by keeping fast and offering puja. Happy Janmashtami to you and your loved ones. May this auspicious day bring prosperity, hope and happiness to your life. ALSO READ: What is Dahi Handi? Know the date, timing, significance and celebrations of Dahi Handi festival May the teachings of Lord Krishna guide you to the path of light in life always. From mine to yours, happy Janmashtami. Dahi Handi is an integral part of Janmashtami celebrations. Lets bask in the joy of Dahi Handi on this special day, to remind ourselves that Lord Krishna also taught us how to embrace happiness in our lives. This Janmashtami, let's pledge to always do the right thing and follow the precious teachings of Lord Krishna. This year, Janmashtami is celebrated on August 26. The lord is always watching over us. May we always choose to do the right thing in life and let him guide us. Happy Janmashtami! Happy Janmashtami to you and your family. May Lord Krishna bestow his choicest blessings on you and your loved ones. Happy Krishna Janmashtami to everyone! Happy Janmashtami. Hope you have a great day ahead. Sending you wishes, blessings and a lot of love. ALSO READ: Janmashtami 2024 shubh muhurat: Know citywise timings, puja samagri, important rituals to mark Lord Krishna's birthday Men having the high-risk form of the cervical cancer-causing virus, or HPV, were found to possess higher amounts of dead sperm, thereby negatively affecting their fertility, according to a new study. Is HPV secretly hurting men's fertility? Shocking new study reveals risk of silent sperm killer (Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash) Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, comprises high-risk and low-risk viruses. While the former is known to pose a high risk for developing malignancies and the latter is known for causing largely benign warts or marks, researchers explained in the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. The researchers from Argentina, including those from the National University of Cordoba, looked at the quality of 205 adult men's semen. About a fifth of them, or 39, tested positive for HPV -- 20 having the high-risk form of the virus, seven with the low-risk form and 12 in whom the team could not identify high-risk or low-risk. The 39 HPV-positive men were compared with 43 HPV-negative men. While semen quality of men across these groups did not differ, upon looking more closely, the researchers found that the samples taken from the men infected with the high-risk virus contained a significantly lower count of immune cells known to help fight infection -- CD45 white blood cells. Senior author Virginia Rivero explained that the lower count of immune cells seen in these samples were a result of the HPV's known ability to dodge an immune response. This would lead to fewer white blood cells moving to the site of HPV infection, thereby impairing their ability to clear this infection, Rivero, a professor at the National University of Cordoba, said. The researchers also found evidence that sperm of the men infected with the high-risk version of the HPV could suffer repeated damage due to oxidative stress, judging by these men's elevated production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). While low levels of ROS are a product of normal sperm function, elevated levels can lead to rupturing of cells' outer covering, breaks in genetic material and cell death. Consistent with this, the researchers found more numbers of dead sperm cells in HPV-positive men having the high-risk virus. "... higher frequencies of ROS dead spermatozoa were shown by HR-HPV infected individuals with respect to those infected with LR-HPV genotypes," the authors wrote. "We concluded that men infected with high risk-HPV, but not men infected with low risk-HPV, show increased sperm death due to oxidative stress and a weakened local immune response in the urogenital tract," Rivero said. The results suggested that men infected with the high-risk form of the virus could have impaired fertility, Rivero said. The high-risk form of the HPV can be detected in almost all of cervical cancers in women and a in high number of anal, genital, and mouth and throat cancers in women and men, the authors explained. The low-risk form of the HPV is typically detectable in abnormal but benign cervical cells in women and warts on the surface of the larynx (voice box) and genitals in both men and women, but without causing cancer, they said. Planning a trip or need to upgrade your travel essentials? How about snagging premium suitcases and trolley sets at unbeatable prices? During the Amazon Sale 2024, you can score up to 70% off on top brands like American Tourister, Skybags, and more! Ever thought about travelling in style without breaking the bank? These top-tier brands offer not just durability but also a dash of flair, ensuring you stand out at the airport or on your next road trip. Travel in style with best suitcases and trolley sets on discount on Amazon.(Unsplash) Imagine gliding through the terminal with a sleek, new trolley thats lightweight yet spacious enough to fit all your essentials. Need a suitcase that can handle the rough and tumble of travel? American Tourister and Skybags have you covered. Whether you're heading for a weekend getaway or a long vacation, these discounted bags are designed to make your journey hassle-free. Why settle for less when you can get the best at a fraction of the cost? Explore the incredible offers now, and elevate your travel experience without stretching your budget. The American Tourister Aerostep 67 cm Check-in Trolley Bag in Light Lime is an excellent choice for travellers seeking durability and style. Made from polypropylene, this hard case is both scratch and impact-resistant, ensuring your belongings stay safe during travel. The 8-wheel 360-degree spinner system provides smooth manoeuvrability, making it easy to navigate through crowded airports. With a flexi-plus handle for a better grip and a recessed TSA lock for added security, this trolley bag is designed to meet all your travel needs. Its lightweight, weighing just 3.1 kg, and comes with a 3-year international warranty for added peace of mind. Specifications of American Tourister Aerostep 67 cm Material: Polypropylene Colour: Light Lime Dimensions: 67 cm x 46 cm x 67 cm Weight: 3.1 kg Wheels: 8-wheel 360-degree spinner system Lock: Recessed TSA lock Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable and impact-resistant material Slightly heavier than some other options 8-wheel 360-degree spinner for easy use Limited colour options Comes with a 3-year international warranty More bags from American Tourister The Skybags ABS Trooper Medium Size Hardshell Luggage (65 cm) is designed for travellers who value both style and durability. Made from ABS material, this trolley bag is lightweight, scratch-resistant, and impact-resistant, ensuring your belongings are well-protected. Its smooth 360-degree wheels and adjustable trolley handle make it easy to manoeuvre, while the spacious compartments and compression straps allow you to pack efficiently. The 3-digit resettable combination lock provides enhanced security, giving you peace of mind during your travels. With a trendy design and a 5-year international warranty, this bag is a reliable companion for all your adventures. Specifications of Skybags ABS Trooper Medium Size Hardshell Luggage Material: ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) Colour: Pale Green Dimensions: 65 cm (Medium size) Wheels: 4-wheel 360-degree spinner system Lock: 3-digit resettable combination lock Warranty: 5-year international warranty Features: Scratch-resistant, waterproof, impact-resistant Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Lightweight and durable ABS material Not expandable Smooth 360-degree wheels for easy movement Limited internal organisation 5-year international warranty More bags on sale from Skybags The Safari Pentagon 3 Pc Set offers a perfect blend of style, durability, and functionality, making it an excellent choice for travellers. This luggage set includes three sizes55 cm, 65 cm, and 75 cmcrafted from lightweight yet durable polypropylene. Each suitcase is scratch and impact-resistant, ensuring your belongings stay safe during your journeys. The 360-degree rotation wheels provide smooth manoeuvrability, while the adjustable handle allows for easy movement. With spacious compartments and a divider, packing is effortless. The set also includes a number lock for added security. Proudly made in India, this luggage set comes with a 3-year international warranty. Specifications of Safari Pentagon 3 Pc Set Material: Polypropylene Colour: Cyan Blue Lock: Number lock Warranty: 3-year international warranty Features: Scratch-resistant, impact-resistant, water-resistant Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable and lightweight polypropylene material No TSA lock Smooth 360-degree wheels for easy movement Number lock might be less secure than TSA Spacious compartments with divider More bags on discount from Safari The MOKOBARA Cabin Pro Luggage is a top-tier travel companion, designed for those who seek durability, style, and functionality. Crafted from indestructible German Makrolon polycarbonate, this hard-sided suitcase is both lightweight and water-resistant, making it ideal for all your travel needs. It features 8 Hinomoto wheels, renowned for their silent and smooth operation, ensuring effortless manoeuvrability. The suitcase includes a front laptop compartment, a TSA number lock, and an internal compression pad with linear straps.It also comes with a USB port (power bank not included), a magic eraser, a dust bag, and a laundry bag, adding convenience to your travel. Specifications of MOKOBARA Cabin Pro Luggage Material: German Makrolon Polycarbonate Colour: Crypto (Black) Dimensions: 57.8 x 37 x 24.3 cm Weight: 3.65 kg Capacity: 40 liters Wheels: 8 Hinomoto silent wheels Lock: TSA number lock Warranty: 12 months Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable and stylish polycarbonate shell Higher price point compared to others Smooth and silent Hinomoto wheels USB port requires an external power bank TSA lock and ample storage options Limited colour options More bags on sale from Mokobara Also read: Best women luggage bags: Top 10 options for stylish travellers looking for an upgrade The Tommy Hilfiger Polyester 45 cm Softsided Check-in Luggage combines functionality with the iconic style of the Hilfiger brand. Crafted from high-quality polyester, this lightweight yet durable luggage is also water-resistant, making it ideal for various travel conditions. The soft-sided design allows for flexibility in packing, while the spacious interior ensures you can carry all your essentials with ease. Available in classic Navy Blue, this luggage piece features the recognizable Tommy Hilfiger branding, adding a touch of sophistication to your travels. Specifications of Tommy Hilfiger Polyester 45 cm Material: Durable, water-resistant polyester Colour: Navy Blue Dimensions: 45 cm Lightweight Design: Easy to carry and manoeuvre Storage: Spacious interior for all essentials Style: Iconic Tommy Hilfiger branding with a sleek, modern look Warranty: 1-year warranty Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable and water-resistant fabric Limited to basic features Lightweight and easy to carry Soft-sided may offer less protection Stylish Tommy Hilfiger branding Smaller size may not suit all trips More bags from Tommy Hilfiger on sale Also read: Best cabin luggage for travellers: Your travel companion sorted, top 10 picks to consider The Aristocrat Polypropylene Armstrong 3 Pc Set offers a practical and durable solution for travellers. This set includes three hard case trolley bags in sizes 55 cm, 65 cm, and 75 cm, all in a stylish Teal Blue. Crafted from robust polypropylene, these bags are designed to withstand the rigours of travel while remaining lightweight. The 4-spinner wheels ensure smooth and easy manoeuvrability, while the combination lock adds an extra layer of security. With features like a sturdy push-button trolley system and secure zippers, this luggage set is perfect for both short trips and long journeys. Specifications of Aristocrat Polypropylene Armstrong 3 Pc Set Material: Durable polypropylene for a hardcase design Colour: Teal Blue Sizes: 55 cm (Small), 65 cm (Medium), 75 cm (Large) Wheels: 4 spinner wheels for 360-degree rotation Security: Combination lock for added safety Design: Lightweight and sturdy with a push-button trolley system Warranty: 3-year warranty Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Lightweight yet durable construction Some users may find the build less sturdy Secure combination lock Smooth manoeuvrability with spinner wheels Check out more bags on sale from Aristocrat Also read: Best American Tourister luggage: Travel smart with top 10 stylish and durable models Looking for reliable cabin luggage for your next trip? The Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier in Iron Grey is a perfect choice. This hard-sided suitcase is made from durable polypropylene (PP) and is designed to withstand the rigours of travel while staying lightweight. Key features include a boxy shape that maximizes packing space, retractable top and side handles for easy handling, and 360-degree spinner wheels for smooth movement. The dual-textured matte finish adds a touch of style, while the 3-digit fixed combination lock ensures your belongings stay secure. Specifications of Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier in Iron Grey Material: Sturdy Polypropylene (PP) Size: 56 cm (Cabin Size) Colour: Iron Grey Wheels: 4 smooth spinner wheels Security: 3-digit fixed combination lock Design: Dual texture with a matte finish Reasons to buy Reasons to avoid Made from sturdy polypropylene (PP) for long-lasting use. Only available in a small cabin size. 360-Degree Spinner Wheels Lacks advanced features like built-in USB ports or expandability. Check out more bags on sale from Kamiliant by American Tourister Also read: Best Safari luggage bags: Top 10 picks for your next adventure, ensuring style and durability on every journey Top 3 features of the best suitcases on Amazon Sale Suitcases and trolley sets Size Lock Type Special Features American Tourister Aerostep 67 cm 67 cm Recessed TSA lock Scratch and impact-resistant Skybags ABS Trooper Medium Size Hardshell Luggage 65 cm 3-digit resettable combination lock Scratch-resistant, waterproof Safari Pentagon 3 Pc Set 55 cm, 65 cm, 75 cm (Set of 3) Number Lock 360-degree spinner wheels, Impact-resistant, Water-resistant polypropylene MOKOBARA The Cabin Pro 58 cm (Cabin Size) TSA Number Lock German Makrolon polycarbonate shell, Silent Hinomoto wheels, USB port & front laptop compartment Tommy Hilfiger Polyester 45 cms 45 cm (Small Cabin Size) N/A Lightweight polyester, Water-resistant, Stylish design with vertical lines Aristocrat Armstrong 3 Pc Set 55 cm, 65 cm, 75 cm (Set of 3) Combination Lock Lightweight polypropylene, Robust construction, Sturdy push button trolley Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier 56 cm (Small Cabin Size) 3-digit fixed combination lock Boxy shape for maximum volume, Dual-texture matte finish, 360-degree spinner wheels Factors to consider while choosing the best suitcases 1. Size and Capacity: Choose the right size for your trip lengthcabin for short trips, medium for a few days, and large for extended vacations. Ensure the capacity fits your packing needs. 2. Material: Opt for hard-sided suitcases for durability and protection or soft-sided ones for flexibility and lighter weight. 3. Weight: Select a lightweight suitcase to ease handling and avoid extra baggage fees, but ensure it is still sturdy. 4. Lock Type: Choose between combination locks for convenience and TSA-approved locks for security during inspections. 5. Wheels: Decide between 2-wheeled for stability or 4-wheeled spinners for easy manoeuvrability. 6. Handle: Look for an adjustable telescopic handle for comfort and additional top or side handles for easy lifting. 7. Internal Organization: Check for compartments and compression straps to keep your belongings organised and compact. 8. Durability and Build Quality: Ensure the suitcase has reinforced corners and water-resistant material for added protection. 9. Design and Style: Choose a suitcase with a colour or pattern that stands out for easy identification and fits your personal style. 10. Price and Warranty: Find a balance between cost and quality, and check the warranty for coverage against defects and damage. 11. Additional Features: Consider extras like USB ports for charging, expandable sections for extra space, or integrated scales to avoid overweight fees. Similar articles you may like Pick the right cabin luggage for your airport transit: A complete guide Best luggage for international travel: Top 6 picks to help you travel in comfort Best Tommy Hilfiger luggage you can buy today: Top 10 stylish and evergreen options Best men's luggage bags: Discover the top 9 picks for effortless travel, packed with style and functionality Suitcase and trolley sets What size suitcase should I choose for a week-long trip? For a week-long trip, a medium or large suitcase (65-75 cm) is generally ideal to accommodate enough clothing and essentials. How do I choose between hard-sided and soft-sided luggage? Hard-sided luggage offers better protection and durability, while soft-sided luggage is more flexible and often lighter. What type of lock is best for travel security? TSA-approved locks are recommended for air travel as they can be opened by security agents without damaging the lock. How many wheels are better for ease of movement? 4-wheeled spinners provide easier maneuverability and stability compared to 2-wheeled suitcases, making them ideal for navigating through airports. Are there any luggage features that can help with packing? Look for suitcases with multiple compartments, compression straps, or expandable sections to help keep your belongings organized and compact. 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. Are you a woman? Do you often travel alone? Do you love travelling for more extended periods with less luggage? Well, if the answer to all of the above is yes, then you must have always wondered how to pack your entire life for a week or more inside a carry-on travel bag and tour the world. But being a woman, you have to pack certain essentials, non-negotiable healthcare and safety items, and more. So, how can you make the most out of your carry-on bag while travelling smartly? (Also Read | September travel alert: Top 6 most beautiful treks in India for those who love nature) How to pack light when you're a woman solo traveller with just a carry-on. (Unsplash) Essential tips to pack light as a woman solo traveller with just a carry-on Choose the right backpack. The first step is to get a good and versatile backpack that can serve as your carry-on luggage. It should be lightweight, durable, water-resistant, and comfortable to carry. It should also have multiple compartments with easy access so you can safely store your phone, wallet, passport, camera, sunscreen, and water bottle. Now, check out essential tips to remember while packing a carry-on bag. A wireless powerbank and wifi Staying connected while travelling is a necessity in this age. For this purpose, you need a wireless powerbank so your phone doesn't run out of battery during emergencies and a portable wifi so you can access the internet anywhere for various reasons, including sharing your location with loved ones, checking your flight status, booking accommodations, or finding directions. Travel-size toiletry bottles, makeup, and safety pins Carry travel-size toiletry bottles and makeup products. Buy travel-sized toiletry bottles to store your shampoo, body wash, lotions, and other necessary skincare items. Get mini versions of your favourite makeup products and store loads of safety pins to avoid faux-pas moments. Now, get a compact and easy-to-clean travel pouch with multiple accessible compartments to store these things. Travel packing cubes/pouches Store your clothes and necessities in travel pouches/cubes. Packing cubes are the ultimate solution for people struggling to optimise space in their travel backpacks and compartmentalise their stuff. Not only are they perfect for organisation, but they also save space in your bag. Get cubes in different sizes - big and medium ones can store your pants and blouse, and smaller ones for your swimsuits, bikinis and underwear. Additionally, you can use an extra pouch to store dirty laundry. Versatile shoes and accessories Carrying multiple shoes and accessories to match each outfit will only take up unnecessary space in your carry-on. Instead, figure out what you will do during your vacation and pack essentials that will go with everything. For instance, a pair of flats, sneakers, statement gold/silver earrings, a hat/cap, one pair of sunglasses, and bracelets. If you have a fancy night out planned during your getaway, you can also pack a pair of heels. Tampons/pads, more underwear Carry sanitary products that can last you the entirety of your trip. Getting your periods on a trip is the worst-case scenario, but it's best to be prepared. So, for those who need sanitary pads or tampons, get enough products to last your entire trip. If you are not hiking and have easy access to clean water, you can also carry menstrual cups to make the whole journey more manageable. As for underwear, estimate two pairs of underwear for each day (so doing laundry isn't always on your mind). Lightweight and multi-functional fabrics Pack lightweight and multi-functional outfits that you can mix and match. Choosing the right clothes for a multi-week trip can be challenging. So, opt for lightweight and multi-functional pieces. Go for neutral-coloured tees, tank tops, dry-fit leggings, shorts, and breathable pants that you can mix and match to create new outfits. Also, carry a mini dress, a long-length dress, two swimsuits (a bikini and one piece), a lightweight hooded jacket in case the weather takes an unexpected turn, and a light oversized scarf (it can work as a wrap, blanket or pillow). Roll them into small pockets inside the travel cubes. First-aid, carabiner, and sun protection This is a no-brainer. Make a pouch to carry your sunscreen (for face and body), prescription meds, antiseptic lotions/liquids, band-aids, and daily-use medicines like antacids or aspirin. As for the carabiner, it is a travel hack that helps you travel hands-free. When running out of space, these can hold nicknacks like an extra jacket, a water bottle, or sandals. Raising objections to Maharashtra real estate regulator MahaRERAs decision to constitute and be part of a conciliation forum to settle disputes between homebuyers and builders, a pan-India homebuyers body, Forum for Peoples Collective Efforts, has said that the law does not empower the regulatory authority to set up such a forum and the move can lead to a possible conflict of interest. Homebuyers body writes to Centre, objects to MahaRERA setting up a conciliation forum to settle buyers-builders disputes(Hindustan Times) The letter urged the ministry to issue guidelines that would ensure the independence and impartiality of a conciliation forum. The ministry should investigate the constitution, functioning and orders of the conciliation forum to determine whether their conduct and their whole ecosystem favors builders, the letter noted, adding that it should ask all state RERA Authorities to keep the functioning of conciliation forum suspended till the detailed guidelines from the ministry are sent to them. President of FPCE Abhay Upadhyay has written a letter to the union ministry of housing and urban affairs additional secretary Satinder Pal Singh in which he has pointed out that by constituting such as forum, MahaRERA has exceeded its brief under the Act and given scope of conflict of interest. Also Read: Mumbai real estate: This is how MahaRERA plans to fix leakage issues in apartments Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority has constituted a Conciliation Forum for amicable settlement of dispute between promoter of real estate projects and allottee under section 32 of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (RERA). Section 32 of RERA merely gives power of recommendations to the Authorities and not the power to constitute such a forum itself, the letter states. As per section 32(g) of RERA, such dispute settlement forums are to be set up by the consumer or promoter associations and not by RERA Authorities. MahaRERA has not only constituted a Conciliation Forum but is also part of it as Secretary of MahaRERA is the Chairperson of MahaRERA Conciliation Forum. The aforementioned section, doesnt give any scope to interpret that MahaRERA can either constitute it or become part of it or both. Therefore, very clearly MahaRERA has exceeded its brief under the Act and given scope of conflict of interest, the letter noted. "Needless to say that this has been done under influence and for the benefit of the builders which becomes very clear when you see the composition of the Conciliation Forum of MahaRERA," the FPCE said. The association pointed out that only one organisation representing consumers and three organisations representing builders are members of this forum. "If you go further deep, you will find that there are only two individual representative for consumers and six individual representatives for builders i.e lopsided constitution in favor of builders," it said in the letter. Also Read: Delhi-NCR real estate: Here's why developers and buyers have objected to UP RERAs model format for possession letters The association has called upon the ministry to investigate the constitution of the forum, its functioning and also the orders passed so far to ascertain whether the forum is favoring real estate developers. It has suggested that the ministry should issue guidelines to states after due consultations with all stakeholders for constitution and working of a conciliation forum. "It is important to ensure that the conciliation forum so constituted is independent, uniform and comprises impartial persons of repute on the basis of selection criteria," Upadhyay said. The FPCE also said that the ministry should ensure that RERA authorities are not directly or indirectly part of such a conciliation forum to avoid any "possible conflict of interest". Lok Adalats must be encouraged instead of conciliation forums, the letter said The association also suggested that if Lok Adalats are functional in any state then that should be encouraged in place of a conciliation forum. However, if Lok Adalats are functional in any state then it should be encouraged in place of a conciliation forum since it is a better alternative to the conciliation forum as the order passed by the Lok-Adalats have much more legal validity and credibility, the letter said. Also Read: 5 orders passed by MahaRERA to safeguard homebuyers interests in Maharashtra KUALA LUMPUR, - An Asian industry group that includes Google, Meta and X has called on the Malaysian government to pause a plan that will require social media services to apply for a license, citing a lack of clarity over the proposed regulations. HT Image In July, Malaysia's communications regulator said social media platforms with more than eight million users in the country would be required to apply for a license from this month as part of a drive to combat cybercrime. Legal action could be taken against the platforms if they failed to do so by Jan. 1, 2025, the regulator said. In an open letter dated Friday and addressed to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the Asia Internet Coalition - whose members also include Apple Inc, Amazon and Grab - said the proposed licensing regime was "unworkable" for the industry and could stifle innovation by placing undue burdens on businesses. The group said there had been no formal public consultations on the plan, leading to industry uncertainty regarding the scope of obligations to be imposed on social media platforms. "No platform can be expected to register under these conditions," AIC Managing Director Jeff Paine wrote in the letter posted on the group's website. Malaysia's communications ministry declined to comment on the letter. The prime minister's office did not respond to a request for comment. The AIC also expressed concern that the proposed regulations could hamper Malaysia's growing digital economy, which has attracted significant investments this year. The group said it shared the government's commitment to addressing online harms, but the proposed implementation timeline left the industry with insufficient clarity and time to assess its implications. The government reported a sharp increase in harmful social media content earlier this year and urged social media firms, including Meta and short video platform TikTok, to step up monitoring on their platforms. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. A Lenovo computer salesman has found himself in a swirl of trouble, fired from his job after he says a bladder condition forced him to relieve himself in a lobby of his Times Square hotel. Lenovo is being sued by a former employee who was fired for urinating in a hotel lobby(REUTERS) Richard Becker, 66, is seeking at least $1.5 million from the American subsidiary of the Chinese computer giant after being dismissed for the wrongful wee, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in New York State Supreme Court and seen by AFP. He accused the company of "discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of New York State and New York City human rights laws." According to the suit, Becker was returning to his hotel near New York's Times Square after a work dinner in February when he found himself "overwhelmed" and forced to answer nature's call in a vestibule located on a separate floor from the main lobby. "A coworker noticed Becker urinating, and -- out of apparent spite and malice -- promptly reported him to HR, even though Becker's conduct caused no harm to anyone whatsoever," the lawsuit said. Becker said he has been dealing with a chronic bladder condition since 2016 and is under the treatment of a urologist. The court filing said Lenovo colleagues and managers were aware of his condition. "No sympathy, let alone compliance with the law, would be forthcoming from Lenovo. Instead, within days, Becker was terminated by his employer, following a sham HR 'investigation' in which he was not even interviewed," the lawsuit said. The Long Island man has been unemployed since. Lenovo did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment. Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath surprised several Bengaluru residents by turning up for a mushroom walk at Cubbon Park on Sunday morning. The unexpected encounter with a billionaire was responsible for taking at least one mans week from zero to 10. Aymen Aslam wrote about meeting Kamath in a post on the social media platform X. Nikhil Kamath (L) at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru (X/@aymensays) Aslam, founder of Klick Consulting, said he was having a sh*t week when his girlfriend dragged him to a mushroom walk at Cubbon Park. Guess who also joined in? he asked, sharing a photo that shows him posing with Nikhil Kamath. Hung out with Nikhil Kamath today, the Bengaluru man wrote. In follow-up posts, described the 37-year-old billionaire as super nonchalant during his low-key appearance at Cubbon Park sans security. Aslam ended his post by saying the encounter turned his week around. Doesnt get more Peak Bengaluru than this. 10/10 Sunday morning, he concluded. Take a look at the post below: The post has gone viral with thousands of views and comments. YouTuber Ishan Sharma, who has been grabbing headlines with his visit to the United States, responded to the post saying This is epic. Aslam replied saying Sharmas name came up when he and Kamath were discussing YouTube and YouTubers. Describing the encounter in another post, the Bengaluru man wrote: It was super lowkey. He came in alone. Super nonchalant. Bangalore is special Nikhil Kamath, 37, also shared glimpses from the mushroom walk organised by Nuvedo on his own Instagram page. To people who ask why Bangalore is special, Sunday morning, he captioned the pictures, adding a heart emoji. The entrepreneur spent a large part of his childhood in Bengaluru and is a self-confessed Bangalore boy. He participated in an urban foraging walk organised by Nuvedo, which was a guided exercise to hunt for and identify different kinds of mushrooms. In a bizarre incident, a journalist in Uttar Pradesh was fined for not wearing a helmet while driving his car and is now battling to revoke the case. Tushar Saxena is based in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. (Instagram/the_tushar568) Over nine months ago, Tushar Saxena received a challan for 1,000 fine from the police in Gautam Buddh Nagar district (Noida), 188 km from Rampur, for allegedly not wearing a helmet while driving his four-wheeler, accoring to an NDTV report. Initially, he thought it was a mistake and ignored it, only to receive a follow-up email and a message. "I have never driven my car to the NCR area. And if there's any rule that says we have to wear a helmet inside a car, then the authorities must give this to me in writing," Saxena was quoted as saying by NDTV. The police warned him that he would have to appear in court if he fails to pay up. The Rampur-based television journalist bought his white Hyundai car in March last year. He is now hoping that the Noida Police would cancel the case against him. In June last year, the Gautam Budh Nagar traffic police issued a 1,000 challan to a government school teacher for driving her car without a helmet in Noidas Hoshiyarpur locality. The woman said that she did not own any bike registered in her name. Man wears helmet while driving car in unique protest A similar case was reported from Bharatpur, Rajasthan in 2017, when a man was mistakenly fined for not wearing a helmet while driving his Maruti Omni minivan. Vishnu Sharma, who was 23 at that time, was stopped by the traffic police on the Agra-Jaipur national highway for checking. A constable fined him for not wearing helmet, he said. To mark his protest in a humorous way, the driver began wearing a helmet while driving his car. I showed them all documents, but they insisted on imposing fine. I had fastened the seat belt, he said. I dont want to be fined again, he said, when asked why he used a helmet while driving a car. The policeman admitted that it was a mistake. I wanted to fine him for not using seat belt, but mistakenly wrote not wearing helmet, constable Prahlad Singh told Hindustan Times. At least 73 people died in Pakistan's province of Balochistan in a series of terrorist attacks on police stations, railway lines and highways. The security forces immediately launched a counter-attack on the militants, leading to dozens of casualties, officials said. Security personnel stand near the charred vehicles at the shooting site on the national highway in Musakhail district, Balochistan province (Photo by AFP)(AFP) Pakistani military said that 14 soldiers and police and 21 terrorists were killed during the gunfight which followed one of the largest terror attacks in the country. The gunmen targeted buses and trucks on major highways, and aimed at killing civilians, said officials. Balochistan's chief minister said 38 civilians were killed. Local officials said 23 of them were killed in the roadside attack after armed men checked passengers' IDs before shooting many of them and torching vehicles. People were pulled out of vehicles and shot in front of their families, officials said. Armed men reportedly blocked highways and forced passengers out of their vehicles. Passengers were shot after the terrorists checked their ID cards. As many as 35 vehicles were set on fire on the highway in the area of Musakhail. The gunmen mainly targeted workers from Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, whom they see as exploiting their resources. Apart from gun attacks, multiple blasts also took place on the rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of Pakistan. Terrorists also struck a rail link to neighbouring Iran, railways official Muhammad Kashif said. The attacks on security stations ended up killing at least 10 people. In an official statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the attacks were pre-planned and were carried out to create anarchy in Pakistan. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), armed group took responsibility for the operation they called "Haruf" or "dark windy storm". In a statement to journalists they claimed more attacks over the last day that have not yet been confirmed by authorities. The group said four suicide bombers, including a woman from the southern port district of Gwadar, had been involved in an attack on the Bela paramilitary base. Pakistani authorities did not confirm the suicide blasts, but the provincial chief minister said three people had been killed at the base. The attacks took place on Monday, August 26, which is the death anniversary of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, who was killed by Pakistani security forces in 2006. (With inputs from Reuters) Dhaka, When a popular uprising in Bangladesh brought down the Sheikh Hasina-led government, college student Alif Hossain felt the deposed prime minister got what she deserved, but the toppling of the Dhaka statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by protesters on August 5 left him deeply disturbed. Bangabandhu to toppled statue: Mujibur Rahman's contested legacy post B'desh upheaval "It was just wrong. He fought for the liberation of our country, he is the Father of the Nation, our Bangabandhu, how could he be so disgraced in the fit of anger," the Dhaka-based student rued. The legacy of Rahman or Mujib, as he was popularly called, lives on in the names of streets, institutions, public landmarks, his fiery speeches made during the struggle for independence, the face of Bangladeshi currency, and till recently in statues and murals. The unprecedented protests precipitated the fall of the previous government as Hasina fled to India on August 5 leaving behind a country in political turmoil. In the wake of her departure, she courted even more public opprobrium, and her father's legacy too became a prime target as anti-government protesters vented their ire on Rahman's towering statue at Bijoy Sarani in the heart of Dhaka and pulled it down, with images being broadcast on local and international media channels. Public murals depicting Bangabandhu a sobriquet that characterised the legacy of Bangladesh's first president were defaced, and his house in Dhanmondi where he and most of his family members were assassinated on August 15, 1975 and which was later turned into a memorial, was badly damaged by protesters. In the Dhaka University area, a series of wall panels on the front side of the building of the famous Teacher Student Centre bears old mosaic panels depicting legendary personalities and historic moments like the signing of the Instrument of Surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka on December 16, 1971, which led to the birth of the new nation of Bangladesh. The mosaic panel depicting Rahman has been defaced, his face blackened. On the Dhaka University campus, a huge mural on a wall depicting Bangabandhu was defaced with graffiti scrawled all over the artwork. Many artworks made on public walls in the university area after August 5 mock Hasina and her fleeing to India and extol the public resistance culminating in what many Bangladeshi now call the 'Victory Day' of '36 July'. From being revered by countrymen to his images and memorials being disgraced, Rahman's legacy is now much contested in the post-upheaval society of Bangladesh. The 'Gen Z' as the young protesters are being labelled by many, were born after the Liberation War of 1971, and political observers say their idea of Bangladesh is "different" from what the pre-1971 generations may have had. Hasina, 76, resigned as the prime minister on August 5 amid mass protests against her government. The protests, which started last month initially with a demand to end the quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's War of Independence against Pakistan in 1971, later turned into anti-government demonstrations. Abdul Moyeen Khan, a senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a former Cabinet minister of Bangladesh criticised Hasina and accused her of "destroying" the several institutions of the country which resulted in this "revolt by students" that was later supported by the general masses. "If she was a real leader, she wouldn't have led the country to drive to that stage," Khan told PTI in an interview in Dhaka on Thursday. Asked if the denigration of Rahman's legacy is undermining the 1971 liberation war, he said, "No". "It is a continuous process, you have to formulate and reformulate, the human society doesn't remain static at any place. It is not undermining anything," Khan said. But, a section of Bangladeshis feels a palpable fear that "Mujib's legacy may be slowly erased or whittled down", an argument countered by pro-protesters who claim that "he was given undue space in history by the Awami League government" and "many controversial facets of his life have not been told to people". Alif Hossain, who studies at a college in Dhaka, however, pleads for a "more mature" approach to looking at history. "In retrospect, we cannot go back and start attacking Mujibur Rahman's legacy. History should not be erased even if it is contested. His daughter did wrong things and faced consequences. But, toppling statues and defacing Bangabandhu's murals is just plain wrong," he told PTI here. Opposite the TSC is the famous Raju Memorial an iconic sculpture mounted on a raised platform located in a traffic roundabout that faces the Suhrawardy Udyan, a national memorial which marks the spot where Rahman had delivered the historic March 7, 1971 speech during the independence struggle. On two Dhaka Metro piers, one on each side of the Raju Memorial, huge murals of Rahman and Hasina were earlier painted. During the agitation, both artworks were defaced by anti-government protesters, and still stand sullied, making a visible dent in Mujib's legacy in Dhaka. The Bangabandhu National Stadium, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, and the Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, all carry the name of the founding father of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, inaugurated in September 2004, was established as a non-formal science educational institution to "eradicate superstitions and blind faith from the society and to inculcate positive scientific temper in the mind of people, especially among the students", reads a description on its website. The headquarters of the Awami League is located on Bangabandhu Avenue. The party, formed in 1949, under Rahman had led the struggle for independence of Bangladesh. Its offices were also targeted by anti-government protesters recently. Rahman was born in 1920 in undivided India. Bangladesh evolved from Bengal presidency to East Bengal to East Pakistan and eventually as a separate nation born in 1971. According to a profile of Rahman on the Dhaka University website, "he is regarded as 'Jatir Janak' or 'Jatir Pita' of Bangladesh. The then Hasina government had marked his birth centenary by declaring 2020-21 as 'Mujib Year'. In the highly charged environment that Bangladesh is in right now on the back of anti-government protests, there is an element of uncertainty around the future of Mujib's legacy, but his legend shall live on. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Dhaka, The Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former prime minister Khalida Zia on Monday voiced its frustration over the lack of a "roadmap" for the country's transition to democracy in Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus's address to the nation. Chief adviser Yunus' speech lacked 'roadmap' for transition to democracy in Bangladesh: BNP Yunus, who assumed charge as the Chief Advisor of the interim government on August 8 after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led regime on August 5, assured the nation on Sunday that his government will hold free, fair and inclusive elections in the country after undertaking reforms in various sectors. "After completion of required reforms in administration, judiciary, election commission and electoral system, law and order and information flow systems a free, fair and inclusive election will be held to give the student-people mass protests a successful consequence," Yunus said. The 84-year-old Nobel laureate said the timing of the election is a political decision and people will decide how long this interim government will remain in power. Reacting to the address by Yunus, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir voiced frustration that Yunus's address to the nation lacked a roadmap for transition to democracy. Speaking at a discussion, he hoped that the interim government would soon engage in talks with political parties to decide on the national election and state reforms. "We're still in a state of confusion as things remain unclear. We had anticipated that the adviser would present a roadmap. But we didn't find that roadmap in his speech," the senior BNP leader said. He said Yunus, in his speech, indicated some reforms, but these cannot be implemented in a short timeframe. However, Fakhrul expressed optimism, noting that they believe the situation is moving in a positive direction for the benefit of the people. Fakhrul said Yunus correctly stated that the timing of the election is a matter of political decision. "But, for this decision to be made, the government needs to engage in discussions with political parties and politicians," he added. The interim government has already released BNP Chairperson Zia from house arrest and acquitted the 79-year-old leader of corruption charges. Meanwhile, the BNP held a meeting with the 12-party alliance and other like-minded parties on Sunday to address the political situation of the country following the fall of the Awami League government led by Hasina. The meeting was part of their efforts to stabilise the country through collaboration, the Daily Star newspaper reported. During the meeting, the leaders agreed to support the interim government, it said. Nazrul Islam Khan, head of the BNP liaison committee and a member of the standing committee convened a meeting with the 12-party alliance and other allied groups at the BNP chairperson's office. "We talked about how our teams should respond to the flood situation. We also discussed how to support the students who were injured during the movement and are still recovering," Selima Rahman, a standing committee member, said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * Families flee after new Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza as ceasefire hopes dim Families flee after new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah * MSF considers suspending wound care at Al-Aqsa Hospital * Diplomatic efforts by Qatar, Egypt, and U.S. fail to end conflict * Seven killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, medics say By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ramadan Abed CAIRO/GAZA Aug 26 - Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, forcing more families to flee, saying its forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas. The Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people. In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military urged residents in certain zones to move immediately to the west, as the area they are in is "considered a dangerous combat zone". Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people were sheltering, two at a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Later on Monday, an Israeli strike on a tent on the coast in Gaza City killed six Palestinians and wounded several other people, medics told Reuters. The new orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardments. The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice. Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement on X on Sunday night that an explosion approximately 250 meters away from the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital triggered panic. "As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment." From around 650 patients, only 100 remain in the hospital, with seven in the intensive care unit, it said, citing Gaza's health ministry. "This situation is unacceptable. Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care," it added. Gaza's Ministry of Health called for the 100 patients inside the hospital, and the medical teams who had remained to care for them, to be protected. In a separate statement, it said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 66 others across the enclave in the past 24 hours. DIPLOMATIC IMPASSE Sawsan Abu Afesh said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times. "I left half of my children behind me near my furniture and I am now with my little ones and my daughter, only God can help us...I have no money for transportation I will go to area 17 where my family is staying on my foot. I took my kids and three are left behind. No idea where," the woman said. The escalation comes with little hope of an end in sight to the war as diplomacy by mediators, Qatar, Egypt, and the United States has so far failed to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders traded blame over responsibility for the lack of accord. Neither Hamas, nor Israel, agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said. A senior U.S. official, however, described the talks as "constructive," saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach "a final and implementable agreement." Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new conditions made by Israel during the talks, which the group didn't attend, and added that U.S. comments over an imminent ceasefire deal were false and aimed to serve election purposes. U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the U.S. over aid for Israel ahead of November elections. More than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say. The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, by Israeli tallies, with more than 250 taken hostage. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * Germany's Scholz promises more deportations after visiting mass stabbing scene Scholz decries 'terrorism against us all' * Far-right points to attack in election campaign * Government says suspect's deportation 'failed in practice' By Rachel More BERLIN, - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to step up deportations on Monday during a visit to Solingen, where a deadly mass stabbing linked to Islamic State has emboldened the far-right opposition and stoked criticism of his government's handling of migration. "We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported," Scholz told reporters in the western city, where he laid a flower at the scene of the crime. "This was terrorism, terrorism against us all," he added. The attack, in which a 26-year-old suspected Islamic State member from Syria is accused of killing three people, has fuelled political tensions over asylum and deportation rules ahead of three state elections next month. The militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Friday evening during a festival celebrating Solingen's 650-year history. Alongside the three killed, eight were injured, some seriously. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which campaigns for a crackdown on migration, is leading in the polls in Saxony and Thuringia, where state elections are set for Sunday, and in Brandenburg, which has its election on Sept. 22. The AfD seized on the attack in its election campaign, with Thuringia's leading candidate for the party, Bjoern Hoecke, pitching to voters the choice of "Hoecke or Solingen". BOTCHED DEPORTATION The attack piles pressure on Scholz at a time when his Social Democrats, alongside their Green and Free Democrat coalition partners, bruised from months of quarrelling, are trailing in the polls. In a sign of tougher rhetoric from the centre-left chancellor, he promised in October 2023 to ramp up deportations "big style" in an interview with news weekly Spiegel - a promise he repeated after his visit to the Solingen attack scene. Scholz said deportations had increase by some two thirds compared to 2021 levels. "But that is no reason for us to sit back and relax," he added, saying the government was looking at legal and practical ways to boost the numbers. Authorities had planned to deport the suspect in Friday's attack to Bulgaria last year under European Union asylum rules, according to German media. The deportation was unsuccessful because the man had not been at his refugee accommodation when authorities tried to carry out the measure, the reports said. A government spokesperson said the deportation plan had "failed in practice" rather than on any legal basis. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Pakistan attack: At least 23 people were killed after they were forced out of their vehicles and shot by Gunmen in southwest Pakistan on Monday, PTI reported. Pakistan attack: The individuals from Punjab were targeted. (X) According to AFP, the militants stopped several buses, trucks and vans and shot people after checking their ethnicity in the district of Musakhail in Balochistan province. Five people were injured. "At least 22 people were killed and five injured when militants stopped several busses, trucks and vans on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan," Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, told AFP. "Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot," he added. Also Read | Protesters in Balochistan demand safe return of 'disappeared' people Assistant Commissioner Musakhail Najeeb Kakar said that armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham district of Musakhel and offloaded passengers, reported Dawn. They also set 10 vehicles on fire. He added that the people have reached the spot and shifted the bodies to a hospital. Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, confirmed the toll to AFP. "It seems that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists are behind the incident," he said. The BLA is the most active militant separatist group in the region. Balochistan chief minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the incident and offered condolences to the families of those killed. He also said that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists and they will not be able to escape an exemplary end, according to Dawn. According to Associated Press, the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army had warned people to stay away from the highways. However, no immediate claim of responsibility behind the attack has been taken so far. The separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province. MADRID -Hundreds of migrants took advantage of a thick mist to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on Sunday and early on Monday, local police said. Hundreds of migrants swim into Spain's Ceuta enclave from Morocco Spain's two enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the only land borders of the European Union with Africa. The enclaves sporadically experience waves of attempted crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe. Many of the migrants arriving in the past 24 hours were intercepted near or on El Tarajal beach next to the Ceuta-Morocco border, a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil police told Reuters. "There was pressure and we handled it with Morocco," he said, but declined to provide an exact number of people who had attempted to cross or were sent back to Morocco. The spokesperson added that the mist had lifted by Monday morning. Police have intercepted an average of around 700 migrants trying to enter Ceuta each day since Thursday, with up to 1,500 people making the attempt on Sunday night, according to Cristina Perez, the Spanish government's representative in Ceuta. Moroccan nationals detained during the crossings are immediately sent back to Morocco unless they are underage or seeking asylum, Perez said. People from other nationalities are taken to special centres where they are given shelter and released after a few days. Another unknown number of people have managed to sneak illegally into the enclave without being detained by the police, a spokesperson for Perez's office said. Two years ago, at least 23 people died in a stampede when about 2,000 migrants tried to storm into Melilla, pushing down the border fence. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. JAKARTA - Indonesia and the United States on Monday began two weeks of annual military exercises involving more than 4,500 personnel, aimed at boosting operational skills as Washington seeks to shore-up ties in a region where China is vying for influence. Indonesia, U.S. hold annual joint military exercises Super Garuda Shield, which has been held since 2006, will include simulations like land and air operations, combat search and rescue and exercises in engineering and cargo delivery. The drills are taking place in Sidoarjo, East Java province, and also include troops from Australia, Japan, Britain, France and New Zealand. They will be observed by Malaysia, the Philippines and East Timor, said Rudy Hernawan, spokesperson of the Indonesian military. The programme will include a joint exercise against cyber threats, which Indonesia has experienced several times in the past few years, including a cyberattack in June that disrupted multiple government services including immigration and operations of major airports. Indonesia said the drills would benefit all countries. "The joint exercise is a way to build trust, as well as to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations," said military official Widyargo Ikoputra. The event comes amid geopolitical competition between Beijing and Washington and disagreements over trade, Taiwan and the conduct of Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, of which Indonesia is a coastal state. Southeast Asian countries have been concerned about the possibility of a dangerous escalation in the South China Sea after more than a year of rows and run-ins between vessels of China and the Philippines, a regional ally of the United States and host to thousands of its troops on a rotational basis. Indonesia said the exercises were not related to the South China Sea and sought to "increase military cooperation among countries especially the interoperability skills", according to spokesperson Rudy. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Israeli and Hamas delegations failed to reach an agreement in the Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday. Neither party was willing to agree to several compromises presented by mediators, sources told Reuters. Israeli and Hamas delegations failed to reach an agreement in the Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday However, a senior U.S. official, described the talks as "constructive", saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach "a final and implementable agreement." Also Read: Biden closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon, White House says: At his direction, senior US officials have "The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details," said the anonymous official to Reuters. Also Read: You are in danger: What Israel told residents of southern Lebanon before launching air strikes The meeting in Cairo was the culmination of months of talks after the Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023 on Israel and Israel's devastating military campaign since then. One of the key points of contention in the ongoing talks, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, includes an Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-km-long stretch of land along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. Also Read: Entry Of Foreign Troops In Hezbollah Vs Israel War? Big Statement By Intl Force In Lebanon | Iran Mediators put forward several alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties by either party. Israel also took issue with releasing several Palestinian detainees and demanded that they exit Gaza if released, the sources added. Teams from Israel, the United States and Egypt have been cooperating to narrow gaps, with Qatar and Egypt walking Hamas through the proposal on Saturday. On Sunday, Israel joined the talks and brought up their issues with the current proposal. Hamas said Israel had backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Philadelphi corridor and had added new conditions, including evaluations of displaced Palestinians as they return to the more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins. "We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions," Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday. In July, Hamas had accepted a U.S. proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war. The Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after reiterating its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, said senior official Izzat El-Reshiq to Reuters. WASHINGTON, - The United States continues to assess that the threat of attack against Israel by Iran and its proxy groups still exists, the Pentagon said on Monday, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander. Israel still faces threat of attack by Iran, proxies, Pentagon says "I would point you to some of the public comments that have been made by Iranian leaders and others ... we continue to assess that there is a threat of attack," Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier that Iran's aggressive activities towards Israel had never been higher, adding Israel and the U.S. must be prepared to prevent the Islamic Republic from gaining nuclear weapons. Gallant was meeting with top U.S. military officer General C.Q. Brown, who is on a trip to the region aimed at preventing Israel's war with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza from engulfing the region. In one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare, Israel on Sunday struck Iran's Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah with around 100 jets in what it said was a pre-emptive strike aimed at thwarting a much larger attack. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also met with the Israeli military's Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi. "We are very determined to continue degrading Hezbollahs capabilities, eliminating more commanders. We are not stopping. Our mission is to return the residents of the north to their homes in safety," Halevi told Brown. With three deaths confirmed in Lebanon and one in Israel following Sunday's missile exchange, both sides indicated they were happy to avoid further escalation for now, but warned that there could be more strikes to come. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Russia launched a massive strike on Ukraine on Monday, targeting the electricity supply and disrupting the rail transport of arms and ammunition to the front lines, Kremlin claimed. Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine August 26, 2024. (via REUTERS) Ukrainian officials reported that Russia launched over 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones during the morning rush hour, killing at least five people and hitting energy facilities across the country. Russia-Ukraine war escalates | Latest Updates Russia's defence ministry stated that missiles were fired from the air and sea, hitting electricity substations in nine Ukrainian regions and gas compressor stations in three regions. Russia claimed it struck Ukrainian forces at more than a dozen locations in the Kursk region, where Ukraine had gained some territory after crossing the Russian border 20 days ago. The Russian defence ministry reported attacks on Ukraine's 22nd and 115th Mechanized Brigades, the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade, and a Guard and Support Brigade at 12 different sites. Moscow also claimed to have repelled Ukrainian attacks at seven additional locations in Kursk and struck Ukrainian forces at 16 other sites in the Sumy region. ALSO READ- India not neutral or indifferent bystander, always on side of peace: PM Modi on Ukraine conflict The Russian defence ministry said it was working to identify and destroy Ukrainian sabotage units hiding in forests, attempting to penetrate deeper into Russian territory. The attack was seen as a response to Ukraine's surprise offensive on August 6, where Ukrainian forces advanced into Russia's Kursk region, capturing two more settlements. Poland reported that a drone likely entered its airspace during Russia's bombardment of Ukraine, prompting searches, as the NATO-member remains on high alert for such incidents. ALSO READ- The many meanings of Modis Ukraine visit What Putin and Zelenskyy said? The Kremlin announced on Monday that a Russian response to Ukraine's incursion was inevitable, dismissing the possibility of ceasefire talks with Kyiv as no longer relevant. President Putin had said that Ukraine would receive a worthy response. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia's attacks as vile and urged Ukraine's allies to supply Kyiv with long-range weapons and allow their use on targets inside Russia. The Ukrainian military on Monday said that Russia has launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine, reported Reuters. In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, a Russian Army Buk-2M self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system fires at air targets in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (AP) At least seven explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, amid a nationwide alert warning against Russian aerial attacks, according to AFP. Three people have been in killed in the attack. The fatalities were reported from western Lutsk, eastern Dnipro and southern Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukraine's air force told Ukrainians that Russia had 11 TU-95 strategic bombers in the air and confirmed the launch of several missiles. They said that there were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles, reported the Associated Press. Also Read | Zelenskyy warns sick old man Putin with new drone missile The attack began around midnight and is still ongoing. It appears to be Russia's biggest offensive against Ukraine in weeks. Local authorities reported explosions in the northwestern city of Lutsk and said that an apartment block had been damaged and one person has been killed. The governors of the southern regions of Odesa and Zaporizhzhia and the northern region of Kharkiv confirmed explosions in their regions. In a message on Telegram, they urged people to take shelter. Regional governor of Ukraine's western region of Lviv said that Russia is targeting energy facilities in Ukraine. "The enemy attacked energy facilities in the Lviv region. As a result, there are partial power outages in (the city of) Lviv and the region," Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said, according to AFP. On Sunday, Russia launched attacks on northern, eastern and southern Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 37, Ukrainian military and local authorities said. The overnight attacks targeted Ukraine's frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine's air force said on the Telegram messaging app. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. GENEVA - Switzerland hosted United Nations Security Council members at a meeting in Geneva on Monday to recommit to international humanitarian law, describing an "alarming" global context characterised by over 120 armed conflicts, with Russia the only member absent. Russia skips UN meeting pledging respect for humanitarian law Switzerland, which is one of the 15 members, organised the informal meeting to commemorate the Geneva Conventions, signed 75 years ago after World War Two in the Swiss city to limit the barbarity of war. "I call for us to raise respect of the Geneva Conventions to the level of a top political priority," Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told the meeting attended by envoys from a range of countries, including 14 of the 15 U.N. Security Council members. Asked about Russia's absence, he said that all members were invited to think about international humanitarian law collectively but said attendance was not compulsory. Russia's envoy in New York described the meeting as a "waste of time". "We believe that the Security Council should be focusing on more important matters than travelling around Europe," said Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative in New York Dmitry Polyanski in a message sent by the diplomatic mission in Geneva. Russia is a 'P5' member which holds a permanent seat within the broader Security Council alongside the United States, France, Britain and China. At the same meeting the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric described the Geneva Conventions as "under strain", referring to the Gaza conflict as well as Ukraine. Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine on Monday, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will Monday visit the city of Solingen where a Syrian man with suspected links to the Islamic State group allegedly went on a deadly knife rampage. Scholz to visit site of deadly German knife rampage Friday's attack at a street festival, which left three people dead and injured eight others, has shocked the country and fuelled a renewed debate about immigration ahead of key regional elections next weekend. After a day on the run, a 26-year-old Syrian gave himself up to authorities late Saturday and confessed, police said. German anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation and the man, named as Issa Al H., has been detained on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and belonging to a "terrorist group". The Islamic State group said in a statement on Saturday that one of its members had carried out the attack in "revenge" for Muslims "in Palestine and everywhere". "The perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State," said a statement from the jihadists' Amaq news agency on the Telegram messaging app. The claim could not be immediately verified. According to the Bild and Spiegel news outlets, the suspect arrived in Germany in December 2022 and had a protected immigration status often given to those fleeing war-torn Syria. German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said the suspect was not known to the security services as an extremist considered dangerous. Germany has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since the Gaza war erupted on October 7 with the Hamas attacks on Israel. The country has been hit by several such attacks in recent years, with the most deadly being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people. Solingen is a city of some 160,000 people located between Duesseldorf and Cologne. Scholz is due to pay tribute to the victims of the attack on Monday morning in the city, where flowers, candles and messages have lined the streets since Friday night. Thousands had gathered in Solingen on Friday for a "Festival of Diversity", part of a series of events to mark the city's 650th anniversary. The festival has now been cancelled. The attack has reignited a debate about immigration in the EU's most populous country ahead of regional elections next weekend in Saxony and Thuringia, two states in the former communist East Germany. The far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party, which is eyeing big gains in the state polls after recent electoral wins, has accused successive governments of having caused "chaos" by allowing in too many immigrants. In the aftermath of the attack, Friedrich Merz, leader of the main opposition conservative CDU party, has urged the government to stop taking in refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Scholz's government had already been under pressure to resume deportations to both countries, after a halt of several years. Members of Scholz's ruling coalition had called for tougher deportation rules after a 25-year-old Afghan stabbed a policeman to death in Mannheim in May, in an attack that targeted an anti-Islam rally. Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-2016 at the height of Europe's migrant crisis a deeply divisive influx that fuelled the popularity of the AfD. smk-sr/fec/yad This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez heads on a three-day visit to West Africa on Tuesday, as his left-wing government grapples with a major upsurge in migrant arrivals, notably in the Canary Islands. Spain PM heads to W.Africa as migrant arrivals surge Nearly every day, Spain's coastguard rescues a boat carrying dozens of African migrants towards the islands which are located off the northwestern coast of Africa. The upsurge has left the Atlantic archipelago feeling increasingly abandoned by Madrid and Brussels. Sanchez on Tuesday starts a three-day tour to the main countries concerned: Mauritania, The Gambia and Senegal. It was not known what incentives he could offer notably to Mauritania, the main migrant departure point, which he visited six months ago to encourage the authorities there to step up efforts to prevent migrants from setting sail. Fernando Clavijo, the Canary Islands' regional leader who met Sanchez on Friday, said he believes there are "more than 150,000 refugees" ready to set sail from Mauritania's coastline. And he urged the European Union to take its share of responsibility "so that the Canary Islands do not have to shoulder all of Europe's migratory pressure on its own". "In the end, it's a pressure for Europe because they are arriving in Europe, in Spain, and not just on the Canary Islands," he said. The Canary Islands and Spain tend to be just the first stopping point for West African migrants who usually head to other European countries, notably France. Arrivals in the past year have more than doubled between January 1 and August 15 this year, 22,304 migrants reached the Islands, compared with 9,864 in the same period in 2023 an increase of 126 percent, according to interior ministry figures. The number of migrants increased across the whole of Spain with 31,155 arrivals to mid-August, a 66.2-percent increase on the 18,745 a year earlier. And recent history suggests the upward trend is only likely to increase as the autumn ushers in better weather conditions for navigating the Atlantic waters. Last year saw a record 39,910 arrivals, but current levels suggest 2024 is on track to set a new record, confirming the Atlantic route to the Canaries as the main conduit for migrants despite its treacherous nature. The route is particularly perilous due to its strong currents, with thousands of deaths and disappearances every year as people seek to cross in overloaded, often unseaworthy boats. But this is not the only part of southern Spain to be affected by an upsurge in arrivals, with the tiny enclave of Ceuta also experiencing a sharp rise in newcomers in recent weeks. Located on the coast of North Africa, Ceuta and its fellow enclave Melilla, have long been a magnet for fleeing violence and poverty across Africa and seeking refuge by crossing Africa's only land borders with the EU. For these areas, the main problem is unaccompanied minors who cross alone and cannot legally be sent back, and whose presence has had an impact on Spain's domestic politics. Although adult migrants are the financial responsibility of the central government, those under 18 are cared for by the regions where they are housed. This has meant the frontline regions have been completely inundated by the surge in minors for whom they have to care. In the Canaries, the regional government is currently caring for 5,100 foreign minors despite only having capacity at its centres for 2,000. And the situation is similar in Ceuta. To resolve the problem, Sanchez's government in July tried to push a modification of the immigration law through parliament that would have given it the power to share out minors across all of Spain's 17 regions. But the right-wing Popular Party, the far-right Vox and Carles Puigdemont's hardline Catalan separatist party JxCat, which has also taken a hard line on illegal immigration, blocked the text from being discussed. When he met Sanchez on Friday, Canary Islands' Clavijo only secured a fresh pledge for 50 million euros, the same sum the islands' received for the past two years and far from the 150 million he says his administration has so far spent this year. CHZ/hmw/yad This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * Spain's Sanchez visits West Africa aiming to stem migration surge Spain eyes military return to Mali amid Sahel crisis * Canary Islands see 154% rise in migrant arrivals * Trip seeks to strengthen ties with Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia By Belen Carreno and Corina Pons MADRID/SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, - S pain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts his second visit this year to West Africa on Tuesday, aiming to curb migration to the Canary Islands and to the counter the Russian presence in the Sahel region. The West African migration route has seen a 154% surge this year, with 21,620 people crossing to the Canary Islands in the first seven months, according to data from the European Union border agency Frontex. The wave has stretched resources on the Spanish archipelago, with local authorities saying they may have to house migrants in military camps or even in tents ahead of an expected rise in arrivals due to calmer conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Spanish authorities fear that as many as 150,000 more migrants from Africa may be set to make the perilous crossing in the coming months. According to Frontex data, nearly half of the new arrivals are Malians, forced out of their country by a conflict and economic crisis in which the Russian mercenary group Wagner is involved. Sanchez is focusing on strengthening relations with Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats. The first two share land borders with Mali. Spanish police have long operated in West Africa to strengthen border control as part of Madrid's strategy to give financial and security aid to departure points for migrant boats. RETURN TO MALI Spain is also planning a return to Mali following the closure of the EU military mission there last May. While France advocated for the mission's termination, Spain is engaged in discussions with Bamako over bilateral military aid, according to a senior Spanish military officer. "We cannot leave the ground empty for Russian forces to occupy. It is important to maintain a presence in the region," the officer, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. The Spanish mission could continue the training of the previous European mission, the source said. Spain's Defence Ministry confirmed that it was in talks over collaboration with Mali without providing further details. Spain is advocating at the EU and NATO for a stronger focus on the global south, especially the Sahel, in light of the migration surge. Jesus Nunez Villaverde, co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies and Humanitarian Action, said that to resolve the Sahel's problems, poverty and the effects of climate change need to be addressed. "The solution is not military aid, which is a repetition of a failed model. A different kind of aid is needed," he said. Years of Islamist conflict in the Sahel have fuelled a humanitarian crisis with more than 3.1 million people displaced from their homes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as of July, according to the International Organization for Migration . In Mali, economic troubles have also worsened since the ruling junta seized power in 2020. The conflict, unemployment and the impact of climate change on farming communities are the main drivers behind Malians' motivations to migrate, said Ousmane Diarre, head of a Malian NGO that defends migrant rights. Moussa Diaby Wage, a 20-year-old from Mali, arrived in the Canaries in 2020 in a boat from Mauritania. Having secured Spanish nationality, his dream is to join the army. Meanwhile, he helps other migrant children in a centre for minors in Tenerife. Of the 50 teenagers living there, 30 came from Mali. "We came here because Mali is at war, there is a lot of fighting in the north and many people have to make the decision to leave," he told Reuters. "Most of those who come are young, very young, because it's the only way to get a chance ". This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. By Belen Carreno and Corina Pons Spain's Sanchez visits West Africa aiming to stem migration surge MADRID/SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE -Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts his second visit this year to West Africa on Tuesday, aiming to curb migration to the Canary Islands and to the counter the Russian presence in the Sahel region. The West African migration route has seen a 154% surge this year, with 21,620 people crossing to the Canary Islands in the first seven months, according to data from the European Union border agency Frontex. The wave has stretched resources on the Spanish archipelago, with local authorities saying they may have to house migrants in military camps or even in tents ahead of an expected rise in arrivals due to calmer conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Spanish authorities fear that as many as 150,000 more migrants from Africa may be set to make the perilous crossing in the coming months. According to Frontex data, nearly half of the new arrivals are Malians, forced out of their country by a conflict and economic crisis in which the Russian mercenary group Wagner is involved. Sanchez is focusing on strengthening relations with Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats. The first two share land borders with Mali. Spanish police have long operated in West Africa to strengthen border control as part of Madrid's strategy to give financial and security aid to departure points for migrant boats. RETURN TO MALI Spain is also planning a return to Mali following the closure of the EU military mission there last May. While France advocated for the mission's termination, Spain is engaged in discussions with Bamako over bilateral military aid, according to a senior Spanish military officer. "We cannot leave the ground empty for Russian forces to occupy. It is important to maintain a presence in the region," the officer, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. The Spanish mission could continue the training of the previous European mission, the source said. Spain's Defence Ministry confirmed that it was in talks over collaboration with Mali without providing further details. Spain is advocating at the EU and NATO for a stronger focus on the global south, especially the Sahel, in light of the migration surge. Jesus Nunez Villaverde, co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies and Humanitarian Action, said that to resolve the Sahel's problems, poverty and the effects of climate change need to be addressed. "The solution is not military aid, which is a repetition of a failed model. A different kind of aid is needed," he said. Years of Islamist conflict in the Sahel have fuelled a humanitarian crisis with more than 3.1 million people displaced from their homes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as of July, according to the International Organization for Migration . In Mali, economic troubles have also worsened since the ruling junta seized power in 2020. The conflict, unemployment and the impact of climate change on farming communities are the main drivers behind Malians' motivations to migrate, said Ousmane Diarre, head of a Malian NGO that defends migrant rights. Moussa Diaby Wage, a 20-year-old from Mali, arrived in the Canaries in 2020 in a boat from Mauritania. Having secured Spanish nationality, his dream is to join the army. Meanwhile, he helps other migrant children in a centre for minors in Tenerife. Of the 50 teenagers living there, 30 came from Mali. "We came here because Mali is at war, there is a lot of fighting in the north and many people have to make the decision to leave," he told Reuters. "Most of those who come are young, very young, because it's the only way to get a chance ". This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. By Saleem Ahmad Spate of timed militant attacks in Pakistan's largest province kills 33 QUETTA, Pakistan, - Separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and vehicles on highways in Pakistan's province of Balochistan, killing at least 33 people, officials said on Monday, in the most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years. Militants have fought a decades-long ethnic insurgency to demand the secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, which is home to a number of major China-led projects, including a strategic port and a gold and copper mine. The largest of the attacks confirmed by authorities targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks on a major highway, killing at least 23 people, officials said, with ten vehicles set ablaze. A rail line between Pakistan and Iran and a railway bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of the country were also hit with explosives in militant attacks, railways official Muhammad Kashif said. Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended, he added. Around the same time, militants also targeted police and security stations in the sprawling province, officials said, one of which killed at least 10 people. Militant group the Balochistan Liberation Army took responsibility in a statement emailed to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these. PASSENGERS KILLED On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, marched passengers off the vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai, told Reuters. "The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal," said Hameed Zahir, the deputy commissioner of the area, adding that at least 10 trucks had been set on fire after their drivers were killed. Militants have targeted workers from the eastern province of Punjab whom they see as exploiting their resources. In the past, they have also targeted Chinese interests and citizens operating in the province. China runs the strategic deepwater port of Gawadar in Balochistan's south, as well as a gold and copper mine in the west. The BLA said its fighters had targeted military personnel travelling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified. Pakistan's interior ministry said the dead were innocent citizens, however. STATIONS ATTACKED Six security personnel, three civilians and one tribal elder made up the ten killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti said. Officials said police stations had also been attacked in the two southern coastal towns, but the toll had yet to be confirmed. The office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attacks in a statement, vowing that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan's largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. TAIPEI, Taiwan Taiwan has cancelled a planned Taipei concert by a Chinese rapper after he used the insulting term Taipei, China in promotional materials. Taiwan bans concert by Chinese rapper over insulting 'Taipei, China' promotional materials Wang Yitais scheduled Sept. 14 concert has been scrapped and the performer from the southwestern city of Chengdu banned from the island, the Taiwanese governments Mainland Affairs Council announced late Sunday. The term is insulting because it describes Taipei, the island's capital, as a Chinese city under Beijings rule, echoing the governments position on eventually annexing Taiwan by force if necessary and denigrating the islands lively democracy. Not widely known outside China, Wang is signed to a rap label in Chengdu, a city with a lively arts scene that has become famous for eclectic performers and venues. Its also home to the rap group CD Rev, which won international notoriety for hard-line nationalist tracks including ones that compare Taiwan to the semi-autonomous Chinese city Hong Kong and made obscene and misogynist references to former President Tsai Ing-wen. China regularly bans Taiwanese artists, many of whom are popular in the mainland, for any sign of support for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party that favors the islands de-facto independence from China. While Taiwan regularly welcomes Chinese artists and its government considers musical interactions in a positive light, the Mainland Affairs Council said that cross-strait exchanges should be conducted based on the principles of reciprocity and mutual respect, and any publications or promotions that belittle Taiwans status will not be tolerated." While Taiwans official name is the Republic of China, after the government that fled to the island in 1950 amid civil war, it is widely known simply as Taiwan, and competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei in deference to Beijing, whose pressure has reduced the island's number of formal diplomatic allies to just 12. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. By Layli Foroudi and Tassilo Hummel Telegram CEO arrested over probe into child porn, drug trafficking on app PARIS -Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France as part of an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron, making the first official confirmation of Durov's arrest since he was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, said there was no political motive in the arrest, despite many false comments online. He added that France remains deeply committed to lawful free speech. "The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation," Macron wrote on X. "This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide." In a subsequent statement, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Durov was arrested as part of a probe into an unnamed person launched by the office's cybercrime unit on July 8. The investigation is over suspected complicity in various crimes including running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child pornography, drug trafficking and fraud, as well as the refusal to communicate information to authorities, money laundering and providing cryptographic services to criminals, the statement said. Durov can be held until Wednesday, it added. Reuters was unable to reach any lawyer representing Durov. Telegram is a popular messaging and social media app akin to WhatsApp. The encrypted application, with close to 1 billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. Durov's arrest prompted criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack, and calls from Moscow for French authorities to accord Durov his rights. Tensions between France and Russia have been mounting for months, with French authorities accusing Russia of trying to destabilize it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war - claims Russia denies. Durov, a 39-year-old billionaire cast as "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg" has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship. Estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, Durov said in April some governments had sought to pressure him, but the app should remain a neutral platform and not a "player in geopolitics". Telegram gave no details of the arrest but said the Dubai-based company abided by European Union laws and its moderation was "within industry standards and constantly improving". "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," Telegram said in a statement. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." The Kremlin on Monday said it had yet to see any official French accusations against Durov. "We do not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing. "With what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov? Without , it would probably be wrong to make any statements." The Russian embassy in Paris said on X that French authorities had declined to cooperate with its requests for consular access, but said it was in contact with Durov's lawyer. The embassy did not respond to a request for comment. FRENCH CITIZEN Telegram was founded by Durov, a self-confessed libertarian who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold. He obtained his French passport in 2021 through a rare, fast-track procedure for high-profile foreigners exempting them from the usual legal requirements, including having lived in the country for at least five years. The French foreign ministry, which is in charge of the procedure, did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. The Elysee presidential office also declined to comment, deferring to the foreign ministry. According to French law, any foreigner can be granted citizenship under the special rules provided he speaks French and "contributes through his outstanding work to France's influence and the prosperity of its international economic relations." Durov never lived in France and it was unclear what special link he had to the country. On June 10, Durov posted in his Telegram channel: "As a French citizen, I agree that France is the best holiday destination." His naturalization procedure is rare, with only 10-20 cases processed each year and each one requiring high-level political support, local media have reported. Evan Spiegel, the co-founder of Snap, the maker of the Snapchat app, received French citizenship in 2018 under the same programme, local media reported at the time. Snap did not respond to request for comment. Aside from the citizenships of France and the United Arab Emirates, Durov has been reported by Russian state media to have also the citizenships of Russia and of St Kitts and Nevis. Reuters was unable to verify those reports. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. ABC News' Jonathan Karl interviewed Sen. Tom Cotton on This Week Sunday. The heated on-air exchange was evidently not to former President Donald Trump's liking. He swiftly blasted the network for its biased approach during the interaction, and this might just have landed the only debate he's agreed with Vice President Kamala Harris (and vice versa) in deep water. Sen. Tom Cotton appeared on Sunday's "This Week" broadcast. ABC News' Jonathan Karl interviewed but things got a bit messy as soon as Kamala Harris' past policies were brought up. Railing against ABC, Trump penned a fuming Truth Social post on Sunday night. "I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? he wrote, threatening to walk away from the September 10 debate on the network. But, what happened during the interview that led Trump to possibly trample on the soon-to-happen ABC debate? The ABC News interview that possibly served as the final nail in the coffin as far as Donald Trump's debate with Kamala Harris is concerned Senator Cotton took a dig against Harris for her support for policies like supporting decriminalising immigration, or giving taxpayer-funded health insurance to illegal aliens, while highlighting that Trump will work in sharp contrast from the Harris campaign. Also read | Who was Jocelyn Nungaray? Trump meets 12-year-old Houston murder victim's family The conversation eventually led up to the Democratic presidential nominee previously calling for taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans, as Cotton spotlighted. Harris had come under fire in 2019 when she indicated that people couldn't keep their health care plan under her Medicare-for-All plan and would instead be moving towards a single-payer system. Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don't have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require, she told CNN host Jake Tapper after announcing her then-2020 bid. What do you mean taking away health insurance? What are you talking about? the ABC host asked. The Republican politician eventually helped Jonathan Karl recall the time Harris vouched for her support of eliminating private health insurance, pushing for her Medicare-for-All plans in 2019. Foregrounding that Harris no longer campaigns for her past support of the system, Karl replied: I mean, that is not her position now. However, Cotton didn't let him off easy. How do you know that is not her position now? Before Karl could interject again, the Republican lawmaker added, She has not said that. Maybe anonymous aides on a Friday night have said that but the last thing that she said The fiery conversation continued with the host commending the present-day vice president for making an effort to move to the middle. She's taking these efforts not to change these positions but to hide these positions," Cotton fiercely responded. The American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years. Cotton pushed on, saying that last week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago was presented as an event as if Democrats are not in office, they're not in power and are campaigning against an incumbent Republican. Pointing towards the reality, Cotton continued, She's been part of the failures of the Biden-Harris administration for four years and when she campaigned for president in her own right, she did in fact promised things. Cotton's interview ended up largely focussing on whether Harris' stance on her claims and policies from 2019 had evolved. Karl continued to side with her, asserting, She said she has changed. But the senator didn't have any of it and curtly replied, No, she hasn't. The pushback went on. Jonathan Karl: Yes she has." Sen Tom Cotton: No, no she has not. Also read | Poll of polls: Harris vs Trump. Where is the presidential race headed? Reactions to Tom Cotton's ABC interview Ultimately, the same thing happened that always follows after such fervid interactions. Clips of the interview took social media by storm, with the official Trump War Room account sharing the video. "This you, @jonkarl? In 2020, you were literally on the same program mentioning Kamala's support for Medicare for All (which, by her own admission, would abolish private health insurance)," the account tweeted. Someone further slammed the ABC host: Is @jonkarl auditioning to be Harris' press secretary? What the hell is he doing here. Others even highlighted how Harris has evaded formal interviews so far, leaving room for her to be questioned directly about the issue. Earlier this month, Harris' campaign told Fox News that she would not push for Medicare-for-All plans despite her previous support. Kamala Harris' principal deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, recently said during his MediaBuzz appearance on Fox News that the vice president will interview before the end of August. Going back to Trump's take on the situation, he seemingly asserted that he would not participate in the ABC debate and that the network has a lot of questions to answer!!! His TruthSocial post concluded with the question: Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! This isn't the first time Trump has voiced his qualms with the ABC debate. He originally agreed to the event, thinking he would be contesting against President Joe Biden." Trump vs ABC News goes on Trump's tug-of-war with ABC News goes deep beyond his issues with Harris. Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit against the network and Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos after he said that the former president was responsible for raping American journalist E Jean Carroll. On the contrary, a civil jury did not find him liable for the misconduct under New York State law. However, Judge Lewis A Kaplan later clarified, The finding that Ms Carroll failed to prove that she was raped within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr Trump raped her as many people commonly understand the word rape.' He also said that New York's legal definition of the word is far narrower than how it is understood in common modern parlance. In another dramatic brush with ABC News, Trump happily" posted about the network's former president Kim Godwin's retirement. Happy to report that Kim Godwin, Head of ABC, has resigned. Could it be the unfair reporting on EVERYTHING TRUMP? In any event, GOOD RIDDANCE! Hopefully somebody else will be able control George Slopadopolous and the rest of the Fake News Thugs over at ABC? Best wishes Kim! he wrote on TruthSocial. Godwin was the first-ever black woman to lead the network's news division. Barron Trump is set to begin his college education this fall under the watchful eye of a Secret Service agent. The youngest child of former President Donald Trump, whose university preference continues to pique the interest of many ever since he graduated from high school this year is reportedly attending a college in New York, the choice of school however has not been disclosed yet. This protective detail is a standard procedure for the children of former presidents, designed to safeguard their well-being and privacy. Details about Barron Trump's university which he will attend this fall remain private. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)(AP) Barron Trump to get secret service protection In July, an assassination attempt on Trump during a Pennsylvania rally led to heightened security for him and his family. With the Republican aiming for a second term in the White House and his only child with Melania, Barron, preparing to start college this fall, The Independent reports that Barron will become the latest presidential child to experience the unique challenges of attending school while being constantly protected by Secret Service agents. Also read: Taylor Swift ready to endorse Kamala Harris within: She wants strong woman president A former Secret Service agent, who has worked with Presidents Barack Obama, Trump, George W. Bush, and their families, discussed the complexities of protecting teenagers. Paul Eckloff noted that protecting teens can be challenging and tricky since they prefer minimal disruption to their adult lives. He mentioned the goal is to impair the college experience as little as possible while providing the strongest security environment that you can. Ecloff's security experience includes protecting individuals like Barbara Pierce Bush, Jenna Bush Hager, Sasha and Malia Obama, the Trump children, and numerous Trump grandchildren. Where will Barron attend college? The youngest Trump, who graduated from Florida's Oxbridge Academy, will be attending college in New York, his father announced this week. While the specific university remains undisclosed, NYU, Columbia, and Cornell are all potential choices. Also read: COVID-19 outbreak at DNC: Multiple attendees test positive as surprise guest makes it way in Earlier, Trump mentioned that Barron had been accepted to every college he applied for and that anti-Israel protests on college campuses had influenced their decision. It was previously reported that Barron might consider the University of Pennsylvania. * Canada, following US lead, to impose 100% tariff on Chinese EVs Canada to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese-made EVs * Canada also announces 25% tariff on Chinese steel * PM Trudeau says more punitive measures possible * Announcement follows similar move from United States By Promit Mukherjee OTTAWA, - Canada, following the lead of the United States, on Monday said it would impose a 100% tariff on the import of Chinese electric vehicles and also announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa was acting to counter what he called China's intentional, state-directed policy of over-capacity. "I think we all know that China is not playing by the same rules," he told reporters. The tariffs will be imposed starting Oct. 1 this year. "What is important about this is we're doing it in alignment and in parallel with other economies around the world," Trudeau said on the sidelines of a three-day closed-door cabinet meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa was not immediately available for comment. China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, although it trails far behind the United States. Data from Canada's largest port in Vancouver show imports of automobiles from China at the port jumped 460% annually in 2023, when Tesla started shipping Shanghai-made EVs to Canada. Ottawa will continue to work with the United States and other allies to ensure that customers around the world are not unfairly penalized by non market practices of countries such as China, Trudeau said. Ottawa is also looking at further punitive measures such as tariffs on chips and solar cells, Trudeau said, without giving any details. U.S. President Joe Biden in May announced a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%, a doubling of duties on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, as well as new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic goods including steel to shield firms from Chinese excess production. The European Union last month imposed tariffs of up to 37.6% on imports of EVs. Ottawa is trying to position Canada as a critical part of the global EV supply chain, and had come under heavy pressure from domestic industry to act against China. "We feel vindicated and motivated. Let's now get to the business of defending our market with the best of Canadian innovation and resolve," Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said via email. Canada has inked deals worth billions of dollars to bring in top European automakers in all parts of the EV supply chain to bolster its manufacturing heartland. Implementation of the U.S. tariffs has been delayed until September and there is a possibility that planned duties might be softened this week. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. COVID-19 gatecrashed the Democratic National Convention, making an unwelcome surprise appearance. Reportedly, multiple guests who attended the event tested positive later. The outbreak affected everyone, including reporters, politicians, and family members present. The four-day event, which celebrated Harris's coronation as Presidential nominee with running mate Tim Walz, saw thousands make their way to the Chicago venue. With Kamala Harris' choice to kick off the tour from Pennsylvania, there has been conjecture that Governor Josh Shapiro will be named as her vice president.(AP) DNC hit by COVID-19, multiple test positive: Report According to a report by the NY Post, the Democratic National Convention, held from August 19 to 22, unexpectedly became a hotspot for a COVID-19 outbreak. Multiple attendees at the Chicago event tested positive for the illness shortly after the wrap-up. This comes amid reports that health officials are concerned about a potential surge in infections nationwide. Many individuals took to social media to share their experiences and symptoms, suspecting they may have contracted the virus. Also read: Taylor Swift ready to endorse Kamala Harris within: She wants strong woman president In a completely predictable turn of events attendees of the DNC Convention are now coming down with covid-19. Of course, the most vaccinated people on the planet turned into super spreaders, a person commented on X (Formerly Twitter). Reporter Christopher Wiggins wrote, When you spend five days in Chicago for the DNC and come home with COVID-19. Womp womp, human rights lawyer Yasmine Taeb took to social media to share her own experience, Indeed. I arrived at the DNC healthy and hopeful and left very sick and disillusioned. Earlier, attendees of the event noted that few people were wearing masks, claiming that the Democrats were not fully transparent about their battle with the ongoing respiratory disease. Now, positive tests from DNC attendees are starting to roll in Also read: Fox News dumps Trumps Harris rant mid-air so he ended up calling: Dont get into trouble please' Congratulations on the superspreader event, Democrats, People for the Green movement commented. After being boosted 729 times and quadruple masked, numerous DNC attendees have tested positive for COVID, congratulations, one more quipped. COVID-19 status in the US Amid concerns over Monkeypox and influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated on August 16, 2024, that COVID-19 infections are likely increasing in 27 states, declining or likely declining in 4 states, and remaining stable or uncertain in 17 states. Although still well below pandemic levels, COVID-19-related deaths have been steadily rising nationwide since June, according to reports. Coincidentally, this was the first time the Democrats had a big in-person meet-up since 2016 since the 2020 one was all virtual because of the virus. Social media users blasted the Democrats for not enforcing strict health guidelines, unlike the Republicans. Many who raised concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak at the convention also shared photos of themselves wearing masks online. It's not clear how much the virus spread at the four-day event in Chicago, but it's safe to say that tens of thousands showed up in the city last week. Former President Donald Trump has signalled that he will skip September 10 debate against Kamala Harris on ABC News after agreeing to it earlier this month. Trump took to his social media platform on Sunday evening to criticise ABC News, questioning why he should participate. Donald Trump has cast doubt on his attendance at the ABC News debate against Kamala Harris, calling the network biased.(AFP) Trump specifically targeted ABC News, calling their anchor Jonathan Karls interview with Senator Tom Cotton biased. Trump sarcastically referred to the networks panel as "Trump Haters," leading him to reconsider his involvement in the debate. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Trump posted on Truth Social. Further casting aspersions against Donna Brazil he added, Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamalas best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! Internet divided over Trump's decision to skip ABC News debate This isn't the first time Trump has questioned the credibility of ABC News to host an unbiased debate. Earlier this month, he had proposed a debate on Fox News instead, which Kamala hasn't agreed to. However, after a few days, Trump reversed his decision and confirmed his participation in the September 10 event. Trump's decision to back off from debate commitment has sparked discussions on social media. Critics of Trump have accused him of being afraid to face Harris, dubbing him Chicken Sh*t Trump. Another user, claimed that Trump knows he will lose and is trying to avoid the debate by blaming the network. On the other side, Trump supporters argue that Harris strategically chose ABC News, knowing it would be difficult for Trump to participate given his ongoing legal battles with the network. London, A gang involving Indian-origin men that used frozen chicken consignments among their many covers to smuggle drugs has been busted by UK police and now its members face prison sentences ranging between 16 and two years each. Drugs gang of Indian-origin men using frozen chicken as cover busted in UK Maninder Dosanjh, 39, was jailed for 16 years and eight months, and Amandeep Rishi, 42, faces imprisonment for 11 years and two months for their role in the conspiracy to supply class A banned drugs and money laundering at Birmingham Crown Court last week. West Midlands Police told the court they seized 400kg of "high-purity" cocaine as well as GBP 1.6 million in illegal cash as investigators dismantled the wholesale supply chain, which saw the 10-strong gang transporting the drugs in pallets of raw chicken. "This far-reaching investigation covered the importation, exportation and wholesale national supply of cocaine and money laundering, said Detective Chief Inspector Pete Cooke from the West Midlands Police's Regional Organised Crime Unit . We were able to expose the gangs' activities which were both sophisticated and on a commercial scale, with them using a network of highly trusted individuals and a fleet of vehicles with hidden compartments," he said. "We believe they were responsible for importing hundreds of kilos of cocaine, estimated to be over a tonne, resulting in them making huge sums of cash, thought to be over GBP 10 million, he added. Some of the illegal cash recovered by West Midlands ROCU was found stashed in vehicle tyres and industrial machinery inside vans disguised as mechanical service vehicles. The police also recovered 225kg of cocaine destined for export to Australia that had been stored at a warehouse in Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands region of England. But all this enterprise was illegal and was putting large quantities of drugs, which we know destroy many lives and blight many communities, onto the streets both here in the UK and overseas. Our teams were able to trace the activity, identify the criminals and ultimately put them behind bars with considerable jail terms," DCI Cooke added. The gang communicated with each other using the Encrochat platform, an encrypted messaging app that criminals believed couldn't be accessed by law enforcers. It has since been shut down by investigators as part of a major UK-wide operation. These messages discussed the logistics, management and delivery of up to a tonne of cocaine and large amounts of criminal cash being collected or delivered in the UK. Dosanjh and Rishi were the first to be arrested with over 150kg of cocaine hidden in frozen chicken produce when police officers in Birmingham stopped the van they were in coming back from docks in Essex. Others in the gang were arrested after one of the gangsters collected wheels and tyres in the West Midlands before driving to London, where they were passed to another gangster in a residential street. When the tyres were cut open, they were found to contain around GBP 500,000 in cash. On another occasion, just over GBP 1 million cash was recovered from a concealed compartment of an air compressor in another of the gang's vans stopped by officers. The 10 men, who lived in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire and London, were all arrested within 10 days in July 2020. They went on to plead guilty to drug smuggling offences between March and August 2020, with their sentencing taking place on August 20 this year. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. WASHINGTON The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. Harris and Trump are having a new squabble over their upcoming debate, this time about muted mics While it's common for campaigns to quibble beforehand over debate mechanics, both Harris and Trump are under pressure to deliver a strong performance next month in Philadelphia. The first debate during this campaign led to President Joe Biden's departure from the race. Trump on Sunday night raised the possibility that he might not show up on ABC, posting on his Truth Social network that he had watched the network's Sunday show with a so-called Panel of Trump Haters and posited, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? and urging followers to Stay tuned!! The current dispute centers on the muting of microphones when a candidate isn't speaking, a condition both Biden and Trump accepted for their June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides are accusing the other of gaming the system to protect their candidate. Bidens campaign team made microphone muting a condition of its decision to accept any debates this year, and some aides now regret the decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trumps outbursts during the debate. That move likely would not have helped the incumbent Democrats disastrous performance. The Harris campaign now wants microphones to be live all the time, according to Harris spokesman Brian Fallon, who issued a statement needling Trump. Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own, Fallon said. Harris is ready to deal with Trumps constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button. Trump spokesman Jason Miller retorted that the Republican nominee had accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate." He alleged Harris representatives sought a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. Miller then took a shot at Harris not sitting for an interview or holding a news conference since Biden ended his reelection and endorsed her, arguing her campaign now wants to give her a cheat sheet for the debate. The Harris campaign denied Miller's claim that she wanted notes. During a stop Monday in the Washington area following a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, Trump said we agreed to the same rules in terms of the Sept. 10 debate, adding: The truth is theyre trying to get out of it. Complicating the negotiations this year is that debates are being orchestrated on an ad hoc basis by host networks, as opposed to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, through which debate rules were negotiated privately. Microphones have been unmuted for both candidates for most of televised presidential debate history. The debate commission announced that its October 2020 debate would have microphones muted when candidates were not recognized to speak after the first Biden-Trump contest descended into a shouting match. The second 2020 debate with the microphone muting rules was widely celebrated for being more substantive than the earlier matchup. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Colleen Long in Washington, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnard This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Washington, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with the Indian community in the US state of Tennessee, during which he called them a "living bridge" between the two countries, appreciating their contribution to society, science and the economy. Indian diaspora 'living bridge' between US & India: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Singh is in the US on a four-day official visit to further boost the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the US and India. He interacted with the Indian community at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on Sunday the last day of his visit. Singh described the Indian community as a "living bridge" between India and the US, fostering close relations and goodwill, a press release by the Ministry of Defence said. He underlined Indias growth story in the last decade and the immense potential with a promising future. He also acknowledged the Indian community's efforts in establishing an exhibit of Mahatma Gandhi and placing two honorary 'Gandhi Way' street signals near the National Civil Rights Museum on Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary in 2019. The museum has a bust of Gandhi, acknowledging his inspiration for non-violent struggle, the press release said. "Had a wonderful interaction with the Indian community at Memphis. Their contribution to society, science and economy has been exemplary," Singh said in a post on X after his meeting. Earlier in the day, Singh also visited the William B Morgan Large Cavitation Channel in the Naval Surface Warfare Centre in Memphis one of the world's largest and most technically advanced water tunnel facilities for testing submarines and other naval weapons in the US. His visit to the water tunnel facility came amidst a proposal for the establishment of a similar facility for indigenous design and development in India. Singh also visited the Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock, Maryland and said he witnessed "pathbreaking" experiments at the facility. Earlier during the visit, Singh met the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. JAKARTA, - Indonesia and the United States on Monday began two weeks of annual military exercises involving more than 4,500 personnel, aimed at boosting operational skills as Washington seeks to shore-up ties in a region where China is vying for influence. Indonesia, U.S. hold annual joint military exercises Super Garuda Shield, which has been held since 2006, will include simulations like land and air operations, combat search and rescue and exercises in engineering and cargo delivery. The drills are taking place in Sidoarjo, East Java province, and also include troops from Australia, Japan, Britain, France and New Zealand. They will be observed by Malaysia, the Philippines and East Timor, said Rudy Hernawan, spokesperson of the Indonesian military. The programme will include a joint exercise against cyber threats, which Indonesia has experienced several times in the past few years, including a cyberattack in June that disrupted multiple government services including immigration and operations of major airports. Indonesia said the drills would benefit all countries. "The joint exercise is a way to build trust, as well as to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations," said military official Widyargo Ikoputra. The event comes amid geopolitical competition between Beijing and Washington and disagreements over trade, Taiwan and the conduct of Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, of which Indonesia is a coastal state. Southeast Asian countries have been concerned about the possibility of a dangerous escalation in the South China Sea after more than a year of rows and run-ins between vessels of China and the Philippines, a regional ally of the United States and host to thousands of its troops on a rotational basis. Indonesia said the exercises were not related to the South China Sea and sought to "increase military cooperation among countries especially the interoperability skills", according to spokesperson Rudy. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is making gains on her Republican rival, Donald Trump, in national averages. As of August 25, the New York Times has recorded her in the lead at 49%, with Trump 3% behind despite dominating the graph in early August. With numerous rallies and events in sight, these ups and downs continue injecting drama into the ongoing political competition leading up to the election date on November 5. This combination of file pictures created on August 3, 2024 shows US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaking on March 26, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina; and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking in the first presidential debate with US President Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. (AFP) Although the Democratic party has found some consolidated hope in the face of Kamala Harris taking over as the new candidate, the last few months have spiced up the drama quotient in this political contest. From Trump's conviction to all the legal drama around President Joe Biden's son Hunter and then the big assassination attempt targetting Trump in July. Each moment has impacted the gains and losses of either side of the competition in the polls. Here's what the latest update entails. Criteria for pollsters The New York Times lists 355 different polls. However, not all are deemed as selected pollsters because not all tend to receive more weight in the average. The outlet clearly lays out its criteria. Pollsters that meet at least two of the three are listed as select one, so long as they are conducting polls for nonpartisan sponsors. Also read | Trump bashes Sleepy Joe and Comrade Kamala for leading US to World War III: Who is negotiating for' The laid out conditions are: It must have a track record of accuracy in recent elections. It must be a member of a professional polling organisation. It must be conducting polls only with probability-based samples. Some familiar names identified here are Emerson College, the University of New Hampshire, The New York Times / Siena College, Beneson Strategy Group / GS Strategy Group, Ipsos, Public Opinion Strategies, Marquette Law School, the University of North Florida, Beacon Research / Shaw & Company Research, CNN / SSRS, Suffolk University, Marist College, and others. Kamala Harris vs Trump: How has the national polling average graph changed over the past few months? On the Harris vs. Trump side of the debate, the Democratic presidential candidate is leading 43 polls, 4 even, and 44 led by the Republican rivala total of 91 pollsters deemed more reliable than others. The head-to-head averages graph how the Harris vs Trump tussle fared out after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The national polling average was more or less stable before the June CNN debate that pitted Biden against Trump on national TV. Even around the time of Trump's conviction in May, the graph floated around the Even range. However, after the June 27 debate, Biden's poor performance swiftly changed its appearance. The drastic switch towards Trump was further fuelled by the assassination attempt. Support for the Republican presidential hopeful widened Trump +3 before Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. Shortly after that, Harris became the new face of the Democratic party's 2024 election bid, and polls eventually lifted in her support, with Democrats accepting her as Trump's new political rival. Also read | Donald Trump has pledged to veto a national abortion ban, says JD Vance Although initially Biden and Trump had a close fight, with the former even occasionally taking the lead, he gradually lost his numbers. He started trailing his Republican rival in the polls. This gap significantly widened after the June presidential debate. Once he ended his campaign, he slipped down three points nationally and suffered a bigger defeat in key states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. However, the Biden vs Trump conversation is a thing of the past. The poll of polls witnessed its latest update on August 25, which comes days after Robert F Kennedy Jr suspended his independent presidential campaign, making room for his endorsement of Trump despite initially butting heads with him on the political front. The NY Times crucially noted that his decision doesn't necessarily affect the race and the polls. As of August 25, the national polling average map showed Harris in the lead with 49% while Trump trails close behind at 46%. On the flip side, support for RFK Jr declined dramatically (even though it was already waning). Even as he's figured into the graph, Harris still dominates at 46%, with Trump 2% behind. The coming month is about to see more TV drama as ABC will host a presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris on September 10. Red Lobster is closing down another 23 locations just three months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time, the popular seafood chain had shut down 87 locations across 27 states. However, the company submitted a new set of 23-page court documents last week. According to the case filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, the Orlando-based company has rejected the leases of the 23 locations. Red Lobster shuts down another 23 locations across multiple US states(Getty Images via AFP) With the recent closures, a total of 129 Red Lobster locations have been shut down in less than four months. This comes after the company faced years of financial woes, with the worst setback in 2023, when it lost nearly $11 million following its Endless Shrimp promotion. Something which was different from our expectations is the proportion of the people selecting this promotion was much higher compared to expectation, said Ludovic Garnier, the CFO of Thai Union Group which holds a stake in the company, last year. Below is the full list of 23 recently closed Red Lobster locations: Full list of 23 closed Red Lobster locations Arizona 1521 S. Yuma Palms Pkwy., Yuma Arkansas 8407 W. Markham St., Little Rock California 8703 Murray Drive, La Mesa Colorado 4925 N. Academy Blvd., Colorado Springs Florida 326 Miracle Strip Pkwy., Fort Walton Beach 5110 N. 9th Ave., Pensacola 8909 U.S. Highway 19, Port Richey Georgia 6550 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro Illinois 1604 N. State Road 50, Bourbonnais 902 Commons Drive, Geneva 4625 N. Sterling Ave., Peoria Indiana 4353 Franklin St., Michigan City Minnesota 8900 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley 12515 Elm Creek Blvd. North, Maple Grove Missouri 2381 Maplewood Commons Drive, Maplewood New York 925 Hunts Point Ave., Bronx 750 Upper Glen St., Queensbury North Carolina 304 A Western Blvd., Jacksonville Ohio 17227 Southpark Center, Strongsville South Carolina 1270 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce Virginia Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, saying a judge's decision that dismissed the prosecution was at odds with longstanding Justice Department practice and must be reversed. DETROIT, MICHIGAN - AUGUST 26: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the National Guard Association of the United States' 146th General Conference & Exhibition at Huntington Place Convention Center on August 26, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. Michigan's importance to the Trump re-election campaign has become front and center as he marks his eighth visit to the state this year, including an additional event in Eaton County on August 29th. Emily Elconin/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Emily Elconin / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP) Smith's team said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made a grievous mistake by ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. That position, prosecutors wrote in a brief filed with the Atlanta-based appeals court, runs counter to rulings by judges across the country as well as widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. If allowed to stand, they warned, it could jeopardize the longstanding operation of the Justice Department and call into question hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch." The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded," prosecutors wrote. In ruling otherwise, the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsels appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels. At issue is a provision of the Constitution known as the Appointments Clause, which requires that certain public figures including judges, ambassadors and all other officers of the United States be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. But the clause also includes an exception for what it says are inferior officers who can be appointed directly by the head of an agency. Smith, according to the Justice Department, fits that category and Garland was empowered to name him directly to the role of special counsel. The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts have long considered a straightforward criminal case given the breadth of evidence, including surveillance video and an audio recording, that Justice Department investigators accumulated during the course of the investigation. But over the last year, the case was snarled by delays as Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, entertained assorted Trump team motions before ultimately dismissing the prosecution and bringing the proceedings to at least a temporary halt. Its unclear how long it will take for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide the matter, but even if it overturns Cannons dismissal and revives the prosecution, theres no chance of a trial before the November presidential election and Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case. A three-judge panel overturned Cannon in December 2022, ruling that she had overstepped her bounds during the documents investigation by appointing an independent arbiter to review the classified records seized by the FBI during a search months of his Mar-a-Lago estate. The case includes dozens of felony charges that Trump illegally retained classified documents from his presidency at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida and obstructed the governments efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty. Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 by Garland to investigate Trumps handling of the documents as well as his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Both investigations resulted in criminal charges, though the election subversion prosecution also faces an uncertain future following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month that conferred broad immunity on Trump and narrowed the scope of the case. Defense lawyers in the classified documents case had argued that Smiths appointment violated the Constitutions Appointments Clause, a motion that prompted Cannon to hold a multi-day hearing in June. The judge sided with the defense, saying that no specific statute permitted Garlands appointment of Smith, who was unlawfully appointed because he had not been named to the position by the president or confirmed by the Senate. But prosecutors said Monday that no fewer than four statutes give the attorney general the power to appoint a special counsel like Smith an authority they said has been recognized for decades by judges across the country. From before the creation of the Department of Justice until the modern day, Attorneys General have repeatedly appointed special and independent counsels to handle federal investigations, including the prosecution of Jefferson Davis, alleged corruption in federal agencies (including the Department of Justice itself), Watergate, and beyond, Smith's team wrote. American TikToker Jools Lebron became an Instagram sensation on August 2, 2024. The influencer posted a video titled How to be demure at work, which received millions of views. Following this success, she went on to post videos for the Very Demure, Very Mindful" series. Recently, the influencer declared that she does not have the official rights to the viral phrase since someone else filed for it first. Fans everywhere were seen upset, mourning the unfair loss. Jools Lebron distraught over losing trademark for 'very demure, very mindful'(Instagram ) Why did Jools Lebron lose the trademark rights? As reported by NBC News, the transgender creator uses she/her pronouns and usually posts beauty advice on social media. Recently, she posted a video on August 25, 2024, crying over losing her dreams to someone else. Jools was upset because she could no longer launch the Very Demure, Very Mindful merch because someone filed for trademark rights before her. Unfortunately for Lebron, trademarks are not granted based on who applied first. It is legally permitted for multiple parties to make their case, which makes the competition higher. TMZ reported a person named Jefferson Bates from Washington filed documents for the phrase before Jools applied for the rights. She posted on TikTok shortly after, stating, I've just invested so much money and time into this and I feel like I did it wrong, like I feel like I didn't try hard enough. She went on to add, I wanted this to do so much for my family and provide for my transition and I just feel like I dropped the ball. The TikToker expressed, I don't even know what I could've done better 'cause like I didn't have the resources. However, there are still chances for her to claim the trademark. Looks like she will be needing a lawyer soon. Also Read | Is your food causing you depression and anxiety? Study explains the correlation How has TikTok changed Jools Lebron's life? In another TikTok video, Jools revealed that she just made a silly video but its results "changed" her life. She has collaborated with make-up brands like ONE/SIZE, Kendrasboutique, and Trixie Cosmetics. Companies Lyft and Verizon have also collaborated with her "demure" self. Jools told CBS Morning, Your demure is what it means to you. It's being mindful and considerate of the people around you, but also of yourself and how you present to the world. On 21st August, Jools left a hint for her fans in an Instagram post. She was snapped in front of a Netflix-owned building, and fans couldn't wait to hear more. The caption read, What can I say?! Netflix's official page liked the post and commented, CUTESY!!!!! This has led to speculations that the influencer will soon be seen in an upcoming project in collaboration with the company. Also Read | BTS star Suga 'driving to India'? Apology note lost in translation, fans confused After her post, Netflix also posted Jools on its official page, where officials urged fans to "check out all the titles" @joolieannie hand-picked in her VERY DEMURE, VERY MINDFUL row on Netflix. This has sparked even more curiosity among fans. However, the streaming company has yet to provide more information on this exciting project. Former President Donald Trump met the family of 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray at the US-Mexico border on Thursday, August 22. The Republican presidential candidate, whose campaign speeches have often been fuelled by the immigration debate, previously blamed the Biden administration for the young girl's death in June. Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump comforts Alexis Nungaray and Joamel Guevara, mother and uncle of Jocelyn Nungaray, during an event along the southern border with Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP) Two Venezuelan nationals 21-year-old Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and 26-year-old Franklin Jose Pena Ramos who reportedly illegally entered the US earlier this year are charged with capital murder in Nungaray's death. Police said that the two suspects strangled Jocelyn to death before dumping her in a Houston creek in Texas on June 17. Trump cited this case as supposed proof of the Democrats' weak border security policy. He even turned against Biden on Truth Social previously for the same reason, saying that we have a new Biden Migrant Killing It's only going to get worse, and it's all Crooked Joe Biden's fault. Why is Jocelyn Nungaray's murder case in the news again? The Houston murder case has again been put under the spotlight as the attorney of one of the illegal migrant suspects has filed for a protective order to ensure that he will not be blocked from his right to a fair trial. The case has especially caught a lot of negative media attention, with Nungaray's death being linked to another high-profile crime by migrants. Also read | Poll of polls: Harris vs Trump. Where is the presidential race headed? Despite studies trying to bust the stereotypical and mythical tie between immigration and crime", such discussions continue to blow out of proportion. A Stanford research states, Immigrants are 30 per cent less likely to be incarcerated than are U.S.-born individuals who are white. According to US media reports published on August 26, Franklin Jose Pena Ramos' (26) attorneys have filed a protective order preventing the parties to this cause, law enforcement officials, the Houston Forensic Science Center, or court personnel from making extrajudicial statements or otherwise disseminating information concerning this cause by any means of public communications. As reviewed by Fox News Digital, the filing says that media attention was likely to produce a result of undue prejudice in the trial. Attorneys further argued, The additional extra-judicial statements to the news media are likely to produce a result of undue prejudice in the community to deprive the Defendant of a fair trial guaranteed by Article I of the Texas Constitution and the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The documents also cited Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg saying: "[M]make no mistake, this is a horrific crime" and the immigration system is broken. The protective order filing argued that Ogg's numerous statements about the case that went beyond the statements of the prosecutor during the probable cause hearing would inject the trial with prejudice. The request concluded with the attorneys requesting all parties involved refrain from making any further extrajudicial statements relating to this cause and to refrain from further dissemination of information, regardless of whether the information was previously disclosed to the public, concerning this cause by way of public communication, and for all other relief just and proper in the case. Also read | Sunita Williams's risky reentry brings back memories of Kalpana Chawlas space tragedy What has Jocelyn Nungaray's family said about the tragedy? Nungaray's mother, Alexis Nungaray, asserted Pena and Martinez shouldn't have been released after they were first detained. Discussing border enforcement during the family's meeting with Trump at the southern border on August 22, Alexis said: There was over 300 detention beds that they should have been at (sic) because they were detained, and they were released when they shouldnt have been released. One had an ankle monitor, but that didn't stop anything. July reports also showed that her family and forensic tests indicated that the 12-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted before being strangled to death. Lab results in connection with her death from the Harris County District Attorney's Office suggested that semen was found on her. If the suspects are found guilty of sexual assault, they would be eligible for the death penalty. However, Jocelyn's family doesn't want that to be the case. Instead, they want the suspects eternally plagued by what they did. "I want them to remember Jocy the rest of their life," Melfri Vargas, Kevin Alvarenga's (Jocelyn's grandfather) wife, told Fox 26. I want, every time they go to sleep, they remember what they did and show the others you dont mess with our child, you dont mess with the United States, you dont mess with Texas. Nungaray's grandfather was also against his granddaughter being used as a political base." He wants people to know her name is Jocelyn Nungaray. He told the outlet, We just want to make a difference for Jocy. We dont want Jocy's memory or name to be easily forgotten. Alvarenga would like to see the murderers face life without parole so that they're always reminded of what they did to Jocelyn. I rather for them to remember this in general population, he said. "Life without parole, that way they can remember every night when they go to bed, the horrific deal that they did to our family." Also read | Trump golfing and whining all day over Harris's presidential bid; Internet says; He has stopped trying Nungaray family's response to Trump's involvement Nungaray's family is especially grateful for what Trump has done for them. Her mother expressed her shock at being contacted by the former president after her daughter's demise. The New York Post revealed that he spoke with her for ten minutes before stepping on the debate stage in June. He wanted to say that he was praying for Alexis and that hes been thinking about her and he wanted to reach out. He said that he was going to reach out in a couple days to her I mean, she was really we were all shocked, Alexis Nugaray's best friend Victoria Galvan told the outlet. Jocelyn's mother is reportedly a single mom. She also has a 5-year-old son who constantly asks for his sister and wants to be with her. She's a single mom and one of the hardest things for her and us to explain to a 5-year-old that his Cici will not be at home anymore, Vargas told Fox 26. He asks when is he going to see Cici. We try to explain the best way we can to a little one. It's not an easy thing to do. He always asks for her, he wants to go see her. Reports state that Jocelyn had gone out for a walk to a convenience store when she was lured under a bridge. Referring to the murder suspects, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner said they remained with her for over 2 hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson confirmed in a statement, Martinez and Pena both illegally entered the U.S. without inspection, parole or admission by a U.S. immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location. They are due back in court in September. Sidney Sid Raymond Eudy, popularly known by his ring names Sid Justice, Sid Vicious, and Sycho Sid, has died at the age of 63 after a years-long battle with cancer. The WWE star's passing was confirmed by his family in a statement issued Monday. Eudy is survived by his wife of 30 years, Sabrina Paige, and their sons Gunnar and Frank. WWE legend Sid Eudy AKA Sid Vicious has died at 63 after years-long cancer battle Sid Eudy dies at 63 after years-long cancer battle Gunnar Eudy announced his father's death via a Facebook post that read, I am deeply saddened to share that my father, Sid Eudy, has passed away after battling cancer for several years. Calling him a man of strength, kindness, and love, Gunnar added that Sid's presence will be greatly missed. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we grieve this loss. Details for a memorial service will be shared soon. Thank you for your support, the statement concluded. Eudy was the world champion in WWF (now WWE) and WCW twice and was also a two-time USWA heavyweight champion. In honour of Eudy's wrestling career spanning decades, WWE said it was saddened by his tragic demise. WWE is saddened to learn that Sid Eudy has passed away. WWE extends its condolences to Eudys family, friends and fans, the production company said in a post shared on X, formerly Twitter. Tributes pour in for Sid Eudy after his tragic death Shortly after the news about Eudy's death was made public, tributes from the wrestling community started pouring on social media. Booker T. Huffman, two-time WWE Hall of Famer, wrote on X, Without Sid Vicious, I dont think my brother and I would have made it to WCW. His impact on this business was undeniable, and he paved the way for so many of us. My deepest condolences to his family during this difficult time. #RIPSid American professional wrestler Marc Mero wrote, So sad to hear that friend and wrestling superstar Sid Eudy (Sid Vicious & Sid Justice) has passed away at 63 from cancer. He was one of the first wrestlers I wrestled when I was trying out for WCW. What a great guy. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and his millions of fans. Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has founded wildly popular social networks as well as a cryptocurrency, amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune and locked horns with authorities not just in Russia but around the world. Still a few months shy of his 40th birthday, the man once dubbed the "Russian Zuckerberg" after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg now finds himself under arrest in France after being sensationally detained at a Paris airport this weekend. While still in his 20s, the Saint Petersburg native shot to fame in Russia after founding the VKontakte (VK) social network which catered to the needs of Russian-language users and outgunned Facebook throughout the former USSR. After disputes with the Russian authorities and ownership battles, he sold out of VKontakte and founded a new messaging service called Telegram which rapidly gained traction but has also proved controversial with critics condemning an alleged lack of control on extreme content. As these dramas raged, Durov remained a mercurial and at times mysterious figure, rarely giving interviews and restricting himself to sometimes enigmatic declarations made on Telegram. A self-avowed libertarian, Durov has championed confidentiality on the Internet and encryption in messaging. He has defiantly refused to allow the moderation of messages on Telegram, which allows users to post video, pictures and comments on "channels" that can be followed by anyone. Durov, 39, was targeted in France by a warrant over offences alleged to have been conducted on Telegram, ranging from fraud to drug trafficking, cyberbullying and organised crime, including promoting terrorism and fraud. Investigations have been entrusted to the cyber unit of the French gendarmerie and the national anti-fraud office. He was still in police custody on Sunday, according to two sources close to the case. In 2006, having just graduated from the University of Saint Petersburg, Durov launched VKontakte (VK), attracting users even while its founder remained a shadowy figure. In a stunt typical of his unpredictable behaviour, Durov in 2012 showered high-denomination notes on pedestrians from VK's headquarters on top of a historic bookstore on Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt. But after running into trouble with the Kremlin for refusing to hand over the personal data of users to the Russian security services (FSB), he sold out of the company and left Russia in 2014. Durov resigned from VK with a typical flourish, posting a picture of dolphins and the slogan "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish", a title in the famous "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" science fiction series. He developed the Telegram messaging service with his brother Nikolai while travelling from country to country and launched the service in 2013. He settled in Dubai and obtained citizenship of the Caribbean island archipelago of Saint Kitts and Nevis, then, in August 2021, won French nationality following a low-profile procedure about which Paris remains highly discreet. Meanwhile, Telegram enjoyed stratospheric success, presenting itself as a champion of individual freedoms, refusing "censorship" and protecting the confidentiality of its users. This rankled with authorities, especially in his home country and in 2018, a Moscow court ordered the blocking of the application. But the imposition of the measure was shambolic and three days later, protesters ironically bombarded the FSB headquarters with paper planes, the symbol of Telegram. Since then, Russia has abandoned its efforts to block Telegram and the messaging service is used by both the Russian government and the opposition, with some channels boasting several hundred thousand subscribers. Telegram also plays a key role in Russia's war against Ukraine, documented by bloggers from both sides who post their analyses and videos of the fighting. Pro-Moscow channels run by so-called "Z-bloggers" who back the war have proved hugely influential and are sometimes critical of Russian military strategy. Durov eschews traditional media interviews but in April sat down with ultra-conservative US journalist Tucker Carlson for an extensive discussion. People "love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom, (there are) a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram," Durov told Carlson. He is also not shy of posting messages on his own Telegram channel, claiming to lead a solitary life, abstaining from meat, alcohol and even coffee. Always dressed in black, he cultivates a resemblance to the actor Keanu Reeves in the film "Matrix". In July, he boasted of being the biological father of more than 100 children thanks to his sperm donations in a dozen countries, describing this as a "civic duty" in an attitude to parenting that echoes that of a fellow tech mogul, the X and Tesla chief Elon Musk. According to Forbes magazine's latest estimate, Durov's fortune is $15.5 billion. But toncoin, the cryptocurrency he created, has plummeted by more than 15 percent since the announcement of his arrest. Telegram has long been in the sights of European judicial authorities over allegations it spreads conspiracy theories, shared calls for murder and hosts drug sales platforms. Durov, however, insists that he responds to every request to remove content calling for violence or murder. She was hounded from the Miss South Africa contest in a torrent of vicious, xenophobic abuse. But Chidimma Adetshina could become Nigeria's Miss Universe this week after being welcomed with open arms into the beauty pageant. The 23-year-old law student -- who was born in Soweto to a Nigerian father -- was forced to pull out of the South African contest last month "for the safety of my family" after a backlash that exposed anti-foreigner sentiment in South Africa. The furore, which turned ugly online, drew in ministers, with a government investigation claiming that her mother might have stolen the identity of a South African woman. But Nigeria's Miss Universe organisers have ridden to the rescue. "There is enough racism in the world," Nigeria's Miss Universe founder Guy Murray-Bruce told AFP. "We shouldn't be fighting with one another. I want Africa, the black continent, to be united." "It has been very hard," Adetshina admitted at her Lagos hotel, where she met up with the other contestants for the first time. The other 24 women vying for the crown were more than happy to welcome -- and defend -- their new "sister". "Beauty contests are supposed to be places filled with love," said Lucille Oputa, 25, representing the capital Abuja. Fortunately, "Nigeria is not xenophobic like South Africa", she insisted. "The South Africans must understand that we are all humans," added Chioma Ogbonna, a 27-year-old Canadian-Nigerian representing Plateau State, who like Adetshina is a dual national. "I hope that Chidimma can live her dream here in Nigeria," she added. She said it would be unthinkable for her in Canada to be discriminated against for her dual nationality. Miss Ekiti, Esther Gabriel, who is representing the southwestern state, was equally supportive. "I want to build bridges with my sisters, whatever their race, their tribe, their language or colour -- we are all humans," said the 30-year-old. Miss Kwara Ufa Dania, 25, said she sympathised with Adetshina having suffered online harassment herself as "the very first plus-sized woman to take part in this contest". Ignoring the critics, she said she saw the beauty pageant as a means of "empowerment" for women to "show their talents, their beauty, their intellect and their professional life". Meanwhile, Adetshina -- who insists she is "proud to be South African and Nigerian" -- has six days to learn the customs of Taraba State in the northeast which she is representing in the contest. Endeavors to grow soybeans in space may bear fruition, says Hong Kong biologist 15:31, August 26, 2024 By Zhang Weilan and Yang Shasha ( Global Times The State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Zhang Weilan/GT) Recently, a research team from a Chinese university successfully sent samples of soybean bacteria to the nation's Tiangong Space Station via the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft. The project is the first Hong Kong agricultural research project to be launched into space, opening a new chapter for the integration of aerospace and agricultural technology. "The experiment although small in the grand scheme of scientific research, for our research team in Hong Kong, represents a significant milestone that will pave the way for advancements in agricultural technology. Being part of this esteemed space experiment provides us with the opportunity to showcase our research capability on a national level," said Hong Kong-based biologist Lam Hon Ming. Lam Hon Ming, director of the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. (Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese University of Hong Kong) Lam, the project's chief scientist, told the Global Times that the experiment represents a significant achievement in agricultural innovation in Hong Kong, while also fostering collaboration between scientific communities in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. "We are proud to be contributing to such groundbreaking and important scientific endeavors." According to Lam, the experiment aims to discover how soybean seeds and nitrogen-fixing bacteria mutate in space conditions, opening the door to new advances in agricultural technology that could make soybean farming more resilient to climate change. Lam and his team are currently studying analysis of the specimens on their return to explore how their mutation mechanisms behave in space and hope that could offer valuable knowledge for potential applications in space agriculture, such as cultivating crops on other celestial bodies or in space stations. "Perhaps, in the future, we can explore the possibility of cultivating soybeans in extraterrestrial environments such as Mars, the Moon, and outer space," he said. Lam is also a director of the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a national-level research team approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. He said the project could also contribute to the country's overall food security. The key to the development of China's agricultural sector lies in harnessing the power of science and technology, given that 80 percent of the country's demand is currently imported because of a shortage of arable land, Lam noted. "Our long-term vision is to combine China's most advanced aerospace technology with the most important food security research, use space projects to promote close ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, and establish an international innovation and technology hub that engages with the world," Lam said. Limited land resources and technological gaps in China's soybean industry have led to lower productivity levels when compared to the United States. However, as China continues to invest in research and development, the gap between China and the US in soybean production is expected to narrow, paving the way for a more competitive agricultural sector in the future. Working on soybean research for more than two decades, Lam is committed to promoting sustainable agricultural development through his research. Through the identification and characterization of key genes from elite germplasms that may enhance adaption to biotic and abiotic stresses, Lam envisions integrating cutting-edge academic technology with traditional knowledge from farmers to promote sustainable agriculture. In 2014, his team successfully identified and cloned a salt-tolerant gene from wild soybeans, which paved the way to improving agriculture on marginal lands. Lam also collaborated with scientists in Northwest China's Gansu Province and successfully developed three new stress-tolerance soybean cultivars called Longhuang 1, Longhuang 2, and Longhuang 3, with traits such as high-yield, high-quality, and high tolerance for salt and drought. From 2016 to 2023, the soybeans were planted in an area spanning approximately 1.18 million mu(78,667 hectares) in Gansu, delivering an additional income of 97 million yuan ($13.6 million) to local farmers. Recalling his partnership with his Gansu counterpart Zhang Guohong, which has yielded fruitful results, Lam said "There is significant potential to grow our business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area." "With its large population, thriving agricultural market, and advanced food processing technology, the Greater Bay Area offers numerous opportunities for our products. By establishing a sustainable ecosystem that encompasses production, processing, and sales in this region, we can drive economic growth and create a model for sustainable agricultural development," Lam said. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Du Mingming) Thai authorities raided an illegal bitcoin mine west of Bangkok after residents complained of frequent blackouts in the area for more than a month, local authorities said Sunday. Police and officials from the Provincial Electricity Authorities (PEA) raided the house in Ratchaburi town on Friday. "We found bitcoin mining rigs, pointing to people using this house to operate a mine and using power they didn't fully pay for," said Jamnong Chanwong, a chief district security officer. He told AFP records showed that electricity consumption in the house was large, but they had paid for very little of it. Mining virtual currencies such as bitcoin requires powerful computers that consume huge amounts of electricity. Bitcoin miners are considered manufacturers in Thailand and must pay associated taxes, but illegal mining has been on the rise for years. Jamnong said his team tried to enter the house on Thursday but a guard denied them entry. They then returned with a search warrant and found most of the equipment had been moved. He said the house had been rented by a company for around four months, but the power outages began mid-July when the mine likely became fully operational. No-one was arrested during the raid, he added. It was fourth time this year that authorities have raided an illegal bitcoin mine in Ratchaburi province. President Joe Biden's skeptical approach to corporate mergers has been a hallmark of his administration's business policy -- a stance generally expected to ease if Donald Trump returns to the White House. Biden appointees like Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter have broadened the scope of government antitrust oversight to consider issues such as a deal's impact on workers and on potential new market entrants. Dealmakers have complained of added costs from this heightened scrutiny, while Khan and Kanter insist they have deterred problematic deals. But with the clock ticking on Biden's tenure, the antitrust and dealmaking universes have begun to ponder what comes next as voters weigh the candidacies of Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump. While a Trump win is broadly expected to result in less antitrust enforcement and more dealmaking than a Harris victory, even that outcome is not certain, as today's Republican coalition includes not just corporate interests but figures like Trump's running mate Senator JD Vance, who has praised Khan. "There is a lot of uncertainty there," said New York University Professor Harry First. He said the populist tilt of some members of Trump's coalition "makes it hard to predict what will happen." A Trump election win would be "slightly positive to very positive" for dealmaking, predicted a Wall Street banker, who spoke on condition that he not be identified. He cautioned that optimism over a potential shift under Trump should be tempered by worries over a renewed US-China trade war. Biden set an adversarial tone toward dealmaking early in his presidency, saying that too many big companies were "consuming their competitors." An executive order he signed in July 2021 promoted competition and included tougher antitrust enforcement. Biden cast the approach as a needed pivot from a failed 40-year "experiment of letting giant corporations accumulate more and more power." The appointment of Khan sent a clear message to the business world, including tech behemoths. Khan shot to prominence following a 2017 academic article on Amazon that criticized antitrust enforcement for overlooking key priorities such as a deal's impact on workers and the potential for big companies -- not yet monopolies -- to discourage new competitors from emerging. Khan and Kanter have signaled the importance of these issues, including in merger guidelines finalized in December 2023. They have scored some litigation wins, including the unwinding of Illumina's acquisition of Grail in a case involving cancer detection tests; and a ruling this month that Google's search engine constituted a monopoly in a case originally brought by the Trump administration. But the Biden administration has also suffered some major setbacks, losing a challenge to Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard and to UnitedHealth Group's acquisition of Change Healthcare. Former FTC enforcement official Ryan Quillian has pointed to data that the current commission actually has filed fewer lawsuits than its predecessors. He argued in an October 2023 paper that the Biden administration's "rhetoric outpaces" its enforcement numbers. Quillian, now a partner with Covington & Burling, said the agencies were focused on "rhetoric and process to deter" merger activity. CEOs considering transactions now weigh the chance of antitrust enforcement "at the beginning of a deal," said the Wall Street banker, adding that "there is no question that clients think two or three times more about deals that are on the line." The American Investment Council, a trade group for the private equity industry, has sharply criticized a Biden administration proposal to significantly increase pre-merger notification disclosures. The proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act would include details about the rationale of a transaction, projected revenue streams and corporate relationships. The proposed rule "will make it far more costly to consummate such deals," slowing the American economy "to the detriment of the very consumers whom the antitrust laws are intended to benefit," the council said in September 2023 comments. Those changes have yet to be finalized. The next administration will need to decide whether to uphold this policy, along with the 2023 merger guidelines, which would need to be adopted by US courts to have teeth. Other questions concern pending lawsuits against tech giants Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook parent Meta, and whether to proceed with litigation or take another route, such as settlement or dismissal. Originally from Burgundy (France), a region renowned for its exceptional culinary heritage, Jean Pittion developed a deep passion for gastronomy from a young age. This passion, nurtured by his immersion in the culinary traditions of Burgundy, led him to pursue a career in hospitality and fine dining. After honing his skills through internships at prestigious establishments, he began his professional career at the Hotel Palace Plaza Athenee Paris as assistant director, where he quickly distinguished himself through his talent and dedication. Jean Pittion is a prominent figure in the luxury hotel industry, known for his innovative approach and pioneering management strategies. His most recent success as Director at Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers is a testament to his ability to transform teams and improve financial performance. Within just one year, he managed to increase restaurant revenues by 60% while securing prestigious accolades for the establishment, such as Michelin and 50 Best awards, among others. As General Manager of LXR Plaza, he led the team to achieve outstanding conversion results. Additionally, he served as Cluster General Manager for LXR Mango House and Canopy, further solidifying his influence in the hospitality industry in the Seychelles. Pittion's extensive experience includes roles at some of the world's most prestigious hotels. He held key positions at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, where he oversaw three Michelin-starred restaurants and earned 30 Forbes stars. At the Four Seasons Park Lane London Legendary Palace, he accumulated 10 Forbes stars thanks to his unmatched expertise. He also made a significant impact at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome and at St. Regis Macao in a complex with 4,401 rooms and a 1.2 km conference center. His career began at the Hotel Palace Plaza Athenee Paris as assistant director, where his dedication and talent swiftly propelled him to the top of the hierarchy. A 20-year hospitality veteran, Abrams joined Twenty Four Seven as general manager to successfully open The 87-suite Steward, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel located in Santa Barbara, Calif. Prior to this promotion, he served as regional director of operations for the company with a key focus on food & beverage operations. Previously, he held multiple, executive positions with prestigious hotels throughout the U.S., including manager of the 4-diamond Renaissance Newport Beach and director of hotel operations of the award-winning Marriott Irvine Spectrum and Hive and Honey Rooftop Bar. He earned his BS in hotel administration from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. View Damien Abrams's LinkedIn Profile Damien Abrams is a graduate of UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada - United States The Millennium Place Barsha Heights has announced the appointment of Luca Medda as its general manager. His immediate remit is to improve customer experience and enhance the hotel's overall success. Medda has almost 30 years experience in the hotel industry all over the Middle East and the rest of the world. Most recently, he was cluster general manager at the Grand Millennium Hotel & Millennium Executive Apartment in Muscat, Oman. Other career highlights include his role as general manager at Centro Capital Doha Hotel by Rotana, where he oversaw the pre-opening of the first Centro property in Doha. Under his leadership, the hotel received the 'Best Hotel Opening of 2016' award within the group. Medda is an Italian citizen and is fluent in four languages, Italian, English, French, and German. He also holds multiple diplomas in hotel management, business economics, and languages from institutions across Europe. He replaces Glenn Nobbs in the role, who is leaving to return to Muscat for a new position. Vancouver, BC - Meetingmax, an industry leader in event room block management software, is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking integration with Sabres Global Distribution System (GDS). This partnership marks a significant milestone in the evolution of group hotel bookings, setting a new standard for event housing management for both event planners and hoteliers. Meetingmax will leverage Sabre Lodging APIs to help streamline the hotel booking process. The integration allows reservations made in Meetingmax to automatically sync to Sabre GDS, thereby uploading into a hotel property's Centralized Reservation System (CRS) or Property Management System (PMS). By streamlining the process, this innovative solution enhances the security, accuracy, and speed of transferring reservation data, helps to eliminate manual labour, and reduces the margin for error. Meetingmax elected to integrate with the Sabre GDS because, regardless of the CRS or PMS that hotels use, this solution is universally compatible as long as hoteliers utilize Sabre GDS. How It Works Traditionally, hoteliers receive group reservations through rooming lists, either directly from the event planner or by downloading the report through housing software. This new functionality empowers hotel partners to eliminate the process of pulling reservations or rooming lists from the Meetingmax platform. Instead, properties need only to load their rate codes from the CRS or PMS into the Sabre GDS, making them visible to Meetingmax. This connection allows Meetingmax to seamlessly push reservations to the hotel, automatically attaching them to the group code created for each specific block of rooms. Once a reservation is made, the integration ensures that data is transferred to the hotel in real-time, returning a confirmation number to Meetingmax. This means reservations move quickly from New to Accepted status, dramatically improving the efficiency of managing group bookings. Why It Matters In a fast-paced event landscape, time and accuracy are of the essence. Meetingmaxs integration with the Sabre GDS not only simplifies the reservation process but also guarantees that the information is up-to-date and accurate. This pioneering solution is the future of group bookings, offering a robust, automated approach that benefits event planners and hoteliers alike. Were excited to bring this integration to our clients. Our collaboration with Sabre has been a game-changer, providing a seamless experience for our users. This is not just a technological enhancementit's a new era in group reservations. Weve worked hand-in-hand with Sabre, and the results speak for themselves. Patrick MacCoubrey, Director of Operations at Meetingmax The integration with the Sabre GDS reflects Meetingmaxs commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation. By choosing to partner with Sabre, Meetingmax ensures that its clients have access to the best tools available. Todd Arthur, Senior Vice President - North America Agency, Americas Delivery & Global Corporate Solutions, Sabre Travel Solutions said, The seamless integration of our GDS with Meetingmaxs platform is setting a new standard in the event planning industry, and were thrilled to be part of this transformative journey. Whats Next This development marks phase one of Meetingmax's broader integration strategy with Sabre. Future iterations may see Meetingmax becoming an authorized third-party developer with Sabre. This continued evolution of the integration is expected to provide even greater flexibility and control for agencies and event planners further cementing Meetingmaxs commitment to innovation and excellence in event housing management. About Meetingmax Meetingmax is a premier provider of room block management software, dedicated to making event housing seamless and efficient. Our innovative solutions and commitment to Ridiculously Remarkable Support have made us a trusted partner for event planners across North America. Kelly Heesterman Director of Sales & Marketing 6048991069 Tourism is increasingly emerging as a fundamental pillar for development in the region, offering ample opportunities for economic growth and community empowerment. To harness this potential, UN Tourism has confirmed its plans to expand its series of Investment Guides and Investment Forums, each focused on a specific country in the region. The guides identify key competitiveness factors to build an attractive value proposition for investors, including information on green and sustainable investments, underlining a commitment to environmental responsibility. According to UN Tourism Executive Director Natalia Bayona: Investments in the tourism sector are critical to driving economic growth and job creation. Through these investments, destinations can develop sustainable infrastructure and improve the quality of life of local communities, promoting inclusive and resilient development. Investments in tourism: a strategic priority at the global level Between 2019 and 2023, the tourism sector attracted 1,983 announced foreign direct investment (FDI) greenfield projects, with a total of US$106.7 billion in capital investments. This flow of capital has created nearly 260,000 potential jobs worldwide, underscoring the sector's significant role in economic development and job creation. Between 2019 and 2023, 212 tourism investment projects were announced in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a total of US$20.5 billion in capital expenditure, expected to create more than 73,000 potential jobs. UN Tourism Executive Director Natalia Bayona says: Foreign direct investment is crucial for the development of tourism in our member countries. These investments not only provide the necessary capital for infrastructure and services, but also bring innovation, technology and best practices that strengthen the competitiveness of the sector at a global level. UN Tourism Investment Guides The UN Tourism Investment Guides, part of the "Tourism Doing Business" series, are comprehensive documents designed to provide strategic support and information for potential investors and policymakers in the tourism sector. The guides address new innovation and sustainability topics, such as debt-for-nature swaps, green and thematic bonds, national climate change adaptation plans, sustainable financing mechanisms, investments in renewable energy applied to tourism, smart infrastructure development, regenerative tourism, and the promotion of community-based tourism. These approaches underscore the commitment to more sustainable and resilient tourism, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These guides are essential for several reasons: Informed decision-making : The guides provide detailed information on regulatory frameworks and potential opportunities in each country. : The guides provide detailed information on regulatory frameworks and potential opportunities in each country. Economic development : Highlighting strategic areas for investment, these guides are intended to help drive economic growth and job creation. : Highlighting strategic areas for investment, these guides are intended to help drive economic growth and job creation. Sustainability : The guides promote sustainable investment practices, aligning with global objectives of environmental conservation and social responsibility. : The guides promote sustainable investment practices, aligning with global objectives of environmental conservation and social responsibility. Innovation and entrepreneurship : The guides encourage the adoption of innovative business models and the development of entrepreneurship. : The guides encourage the adoption of innovative business models and the development of entrepreneurship. Best governance practices : They support the implementation of best governance practices to improve the business climate and facilitate the identification and promotion of investment opportunities, contributing to the economic recovery of the tourism sector and its value chain. : They support the implementation of best governance practices to improve the business climate and facilitate the identification and promotion of investment opportunities, contributing to the economic recovery of the tourism sector and its value chain. Competitiveness : The guides identify key competitiveness factors to build an attractive value proposition for investors, including information on green and sustainable investments, underlining a commitment to environmental responsibility. : The guides identify key competitiveness factors to build an attractive value proposition for investors, including information on green and sustainable investments, underlining a commitment to environmental responsibility. Capacity building for investment promotion agencies : They aim to strengthen the capacities of agencies responsible for investment promotion, providing them with the tools and knowledge necessary to identify and attract sustainable tourism investments. : They aim to strengthen the capacities of agencies responsible for investment promotion, providing them with the tools and knowledge necessary to identify and attract sustainable tourism investments. Strategic improvement: The guides identify critical points in the current strategy and develop an improvement plan to overcome challenges and maximize investment opportunities. In addition to the guides, UN Tourism organizes an official launch for each guide within a forum dedicated to tourism investment. During these events, investment opportunities are presented directly to potential investors, serving as a platform to showcase prospects and facilitate valuable connections between investors and project proponents. The forums also encourage informative discussions about the investment landscape and the latest trends in the tourism industry. In addition, these events offer meaningful learning opportunities for host countries, enhancing their ability to attract and manage tourism investment more effectively. Towards sustainability: green investments The investment guides include a chapter dedicated to green and sustainable investments, highlighting countries' strategies and commitments to sustainability. This chapter covers national climate change adaptation plans, along with the climate adaptation and investment programs implemented. In addition, green finance, such as thematic bonds and other sustainable financial mechanisms applied to tourism, are explored. Examples of innovative operations, such as the debt-for-nature swaps, are presented, demonstrating how to finance conservation and sustainability initiatives. Ecuador, for example, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), has implemented an innovative financing system through the largest debt conversion in the world, aimed at marine conservation in the Galapagos Islands. This operation, which includes an IDB guarantee of USD 85 million and a political risk insurance from the DFC of USD 656 million, will allow the reallocation of more than USD 323 million to finance the preservation of biodiversity in the Galapagos marine reserves over the next 18 years. This effort not only contributes to environmental sustainability, but also strengthens tourism and the local economy, demonstrating how debt management can drive investments in conservation and sustainable development. Continuing collaboration with CAF In the last year, UN Tourism has presented ten specific guides for different countries around the world and is working on the preparation or updating of another 18 editions. These efforts are supported, among others, by the Cooperation Agreement with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), signed in January 2024. This agreement, focused on promoting the green transition and sustainable investments, aims to prepare tourism investment guides for Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Argentina and Peru, adding to the initial five for Ecuador, Uruguay, Barbados, Panama and El Salvador. The guides launched in Latin America have highlighted more than 70 projects seeking investment, with the potential to attract an estimated investment of US$5.2 billion in capex. These projects include a wide range of initiatives, such as tourism master plans, resorts, hotels, visitor centres, wellness retreats, interpretation venues, and conservation centres. In addition, UN Tourism intends to expand its focus beyond traditional tourism investments, promoting projects that improve all types of enablers, such as power distribution projects, ports, cable cars or civil engineering infrastructure. New investment opportunities In Latin America, incentives for investment in the tourism sector include a variety of measures designed to attract foreign capital. Most countries in the region have specialized investment promotion agencies, bilateral investment agreements, free zones with special tax conditions, and specific foreign investment promotion laws. In addition, many countries offer tax exemptions on tourism projects, tax benefits in specific areas, and VAT exemptions for tourism activities. Special visas have also been implemented for investors, digital nomads, and pensioners. These incentives demonstrate the region's commitment to promoting tourism development and attracting investments that drive economic growth. Investment Guides in Latin America: Launched in the last year: Chile (December 2023, Santiago, Chile) Ecuador (January 2024, Madrid, Spain) Uruguay (February 2024, Montevideo, Uruguay) Peru (July 2024, Lima, Peru) In the process of being updated: Colombia Dominican Republic Paraguay Upcoming: Argentina Barbados Brazil El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Related links: About UN Tourism The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. Our Priorities Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper. Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all. Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange. Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management. Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda. Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector. Our Structure Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members. Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly. Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members. UN Tourism Communications Department +34 91 567 8100 UN Tourism Nearly two decades ago, the U.S. Army established the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program to improve the conditions of and ensure long-term viability for temporary on-post lodging facilities. In 2009, IHG joined the effort as the Armys exclusive partner with a mission to deliver exceptional hotel stay experiences tailored to the unique needs of military service members, families and guests. Fifteen years later, IHG Army Hotels continues to serve as the exclusive operator of hotels across 40 military installations throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Leveraging the trusted quality of its renowned and well-loved Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brands, IHG Army Hotels offer the familiar amenities and conveniences of off-post properties such as complimentary hot breakfast, free guest laundry, weekly barbecue socials, and fitness and business centers. As it celebrates this special milestone, IHG Army Hotels reflects on its legacy of providing True Hospitality for Good to military heroes, families and civilians with an eye on the future. Did you know? The intersection of IHG Army Hotels and the PAL program began with renovations of 10 Army posts and the introduction of new standards and operational processes. The first IHG-branded hotel within the portfolio was a Holiday Inn Express, which opened in 2010 at Louisianas Fort Polk (now Fort Johnson). Since 2009, military travelers have amassed more than 40 million room nights across IHG Army Hotels properties. Through the terms of the PAL program, IHG serves as property operator and developer, while partner, Rest Easy (formerly LendLease) oversees ownership, design and asset management. Temporary lodging often is the first experience at a new duty station for many guests active-duty service members, their families, Department of Defense employees, military contractors and retirees. A warm, friendly welcome at each property puts travelers at ease and invites them into a comfortable environment. Sometimes the key to a smooth transition to temporary housing is as easy as having a trusted four-legged friend nearby. IHG Army Hotels accept* domestic, service and emotional support animals, honoring the connection certain military men and women have with pets who joined them in combat or provide therapeutic benefits afterward. (*Typical Army restrictions apply, and pet fees may apply for non-service animals.) Beyond bringing the familiarity of the Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brands to military posts and travelers, IHG Army Hotels operates 15 properties under the Historia Collection name. This group consists of converted on-post historic buildings bearing significance to the Army, post and/or nation. Already dreaming of fun and relaxing post-assignment travel? Military guests who are IHG One Rewards loyalty program members can earn points for on-post stays just as they would at any other IHG-branded property. To date, military travelers have earned nearly seven billion rewards points across IHG Army Hotels. IHG Army Hotels colleagues often have decades of experience on-post, including former U.S. Army Lodging employees, military spouses, veterans and retired military personnel. These diverse teams are trained in the military lifestyle and prioritize empathy, respect and care to create a safe and welcoming environment. Many of the more than 1,800 IHG Army Hotels employees have served in their roles throughout the entirety of the program. Colleagues who transitioned from U.S. Army Lodging to IHG Army Hotels in 2009 have maintained an 80 percent retention rate. IHG Army Hotels prioritizes giving back to the military community through various on-post programs. This includes hiring efforts through the IHG Academy and annual contributions to organizations that support military and civil service such as the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the Fisher House Foundation. The Teen Academy program offers a 10-week summer internship where dependents of hotel colleagues and on-post military personnel learn more about hospitality career opportunities while gaining hands-on job training across critical operations functions. Military lodging is dynamic and continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of military travelers and the overall industry. Under the PAL Program Development Plan, on-post properties enjoy fundamental refreshes every six years and major renovations every 12 years. During the next 50 years, IHG Army Hotels properties will benefit from more than $5 billion in planned reinvestment. This modernization already is evident in recently completed renovations at the original Ft. Johnson Holiday Inn Express and the newly remodeled Organ Mountains Inn in the White Sands Missile Range of New Mexico. Future renovation plans include an emphasis on sustainable operations. These transformations include more energy efficient building materials, longer lasting fixtures, furniture and equipment, and the conservation of water and energy in day-to-day operational practices. Opened in March 2016, the Candlewood Suites hotel on Alabamas Redstone Arsenal became the first IHG Army Hotel under that brand to earn Silver LEED certification. It also was the first built with cross laminated timber a practice now extended to four other on-base Candlewood Suites properties. To learn more about IHG Army Hotels, visit www.IHGArmyHotels.com. About IHG IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good. With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally. Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Jamie Cwalinski IHG Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the worlds leading hotel companies, today announces a two-hotel deal with Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd (VRIC) in Quang Binh province. The multiple property agreement includes 68-villa property voco Quang Binh Resort and 232-room Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre. voco hotels, IHGs fastest growing premium brand, will welcome guests next year as voco Quang Binh Resort joins voco Ma Belle Danang in Vietnam which is quickly becoming a popular choice for leisure and business guests. Opening in late 2025, Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre will continue to showcase the premium brands blended travel experience in Vietnam, following the openings of Crowne Plaza Phu Quoc Starbay and Crowne Plaza Vinh Yen City Centre. The two-hotel agreement marks IHGs entry into Quang Binh, a province rich in natural beauty, cultural heritage, beautiful beaches, and historical significance. It is home to many famed attractions including Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site with one of the largest karst regions globally. It is wonderful to be expanding into Quang Binh an exciting new destination for IHG in Vietnam. Creating new tourism experiences together with our partners perfectly showcases our intention to have hotels in the right locations with the right owners. We continue to grow in Vietnam and will more than double our size in the next few years to more than 40 hotels across the country. Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre, centrally located in the city centre will offer purposeful spaces for work and leisure that appeal to the modern traveller while voco Quang Binh Resort with its thoughtful, unstuffy and charming experience will become a leading beachfront resort in the area. This destination debut will strengthen the presence of our brand portfolio in Vietnam, offering stay experiences for every type of traveller. Chris Anklin, Senior Director, Development, South East Asia and Korea, IHG Hotels & Resorts We have found the perfect partner in IHG, which is providing us with great value through its global expertise and systems, knowledge of new-builds and conversions, and a strong team with expert knowledge of second and third tier destinations in Vietnam. Quang Binh has traditionally been a domestic-led destination with a great opportunity for growth. Its magnificent beauty includes Son Doong Cave the largest cave in the world and home to towering stalagmites underground rivers, a jungle with wildlife, and a 116-kilometre-long coastline with picturesque beaches such as Nhat Le and Da Nhay. The entry of voco hotels and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in Quang Binh will elevate the attraction of the destination for travellers to stay and explore its many wonders. Thang Hoang, CEO, Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd Exterior rendering of Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre Photo by IHG Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre will be situated within Royal Landmark, a mixed-used development that includes a commercial centre. It is a 15-minute drive from Dong Hoi Airport and a 45-minute flight from Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport and will also be within easy reach of Tan Son Nhat International Airport. With a prime riverfront location situated close to government and commercial offices in Dong Hoi, facilities at the hotel will include four restaurants and bars, meeting spaces, swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, Kids Club and an executive lounge. voco Quang Binh Resort, Pool Photo by IHG voco Quang Binh Resort will offer travellers a private beach with beautiful sea views and facilities including two restaurants and bars, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, Kids Club, spa and resort centre. Vietnam continues to be a strong growth market for IHG, with 18 hotels across six brands Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, voco hotels and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts and 26 properties in its pipeline. The company aims to grow its estate across all brands in the country, including the upcoming debuts of its Vignette Collection, Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express brands. *As of 30 June 2024 About IHG IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good. With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally. Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. xterior rendering of Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre - Image Credit IHG Hotels & Resorts From left to right: Dinh Trong Khoa, Senior Manager, Development at IHG, Chris Anklin, Senior Director, Development at IHG, Hoang Tien Thang, CEO of Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd, Hoang Van Minh, Chairman of Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd, Andrew Davidson, Regional General Manager, Vietnam and Laos at IHG - Image Credit IHG Hotels & Resorts IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the worlds leading hotel companies, today announces a two-hotel deal with Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd (VRIC) in Quang Binh province. The multiple property agreement includes 68-villa property voco Quang Binh Resort and 232-room Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre. voco hotels, IHGs fastest growing premium brand, will welcome guests next year as voco Quang Binh Resort joins voco Ma Belle Danang in Vietnam which is quickly becoming a popular choice for leisure and business guests. Opening in late 2025, Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre will continue to showcase the premium brands blended travel experience in Vietnam, following the openings of Crowne Plaza Phu Quoc Starbay and Crowne Plaza Vinh Yen City Centre. The two-hotel agreement marks IHGs entry into Quang Binh, a province rich in natural beauty, cultural heritage, beautiful beaches, and historical significance. It is home to many famed attractions including Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site with one of the largest karst regions globally. Chris Anklin, Senior Director, Development, South East Asia and Korea, IHG Hotels & Resorts said: It is wonderful to be expanding into Quang Binh an exciting new destination for IHG in Vietnam. Creating new tourism experiences together with our partners perfectly showcases our intention to have hotels in the right locations with the right owners. We continue to grow in Vietnam and will more than double our size in the next few years to more than 40 hotels across the country. Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre, centrally located in the city centre will offer purposeful spaces for work and leisure that appeal to the modern traveller while voco Quang Binh Resort with its thoughtful, unstuffy and charming experience will become a leading beachfront resort in the area. This destination debut will strengthen the presence of our brand portfolio in Vietnam, offering stay experiences for every type of traveller. Advertisement Thang Hoang, CEO, Hai Thanh Hung Investment Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Royal Investment and Construction Co., Ltd said: We have found the perfect partner in IHG, which is providing us with great value through its global expertise and systems, knowledge of new-builds and conversions, and a strong team with expert knowledge of second and third tier destinations in Vietnam. Quang Binh has traditionally been a domestic-led destination with a great opportunity for growth. Its magnificent beauty includes Son Doong Cave the largest cave in the world and home to towering stalagmites underground rivers, a jungle with wildlife, and a 116-kilometre-long coastline with picturesque beaches such as Nhat Le and Da Nhay. The entry of voco hotels and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in Quang Binh will elevate the attraction of the destination for travellers to stay and explore its many wonders. Crowne Plaza Quang Binh City Centre will be situated within Royal Landmark, a mixed-used development that includes a commercial centre. It is a 15-minute drive from Dong Hoi Airport and a 45-minute flight from Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport and will also be within easy reach of Tan Son Nhat International Airport. With a prime riverfront location situated close to government and commercial offices in Dong Hoi, facilities at the hotel will include four restaurants and bars, meeting spaces, swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, Kids Club and an executive lounge. voco Quang Binh Resort will offer travellers a private beach with beautiful sea views and facilities including two restaurants and bars, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, Kids Club, spa and resort centre. Vietnam continues to be a strong growth market for IHG, with 18 hotels across six brands Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, voco hotels and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts and 26 properties in its pipeline. The company aims to grow its estate across all brands in the country, including the upcoming debuts of its Vignette Collection, Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express brands. Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Mount Greylock School Committee Taking Two Years to Find Superintendent WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The last time the Mount Greylock Regional School District looked for a permanent superintendent, the search process lasted 20 days. This time, the School Committee wants to take two years. On Thursday, the committee decided on a vote of 6-0 to formally begin a search for a new superintendent in the fall of 2025 with hopes of having a top executive for the district in place by the start of the 2026-27 academic year. The committee formalized a course of action that first was developed in a July 11 in-person meeting with officials from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. On Thursday, the committee reviewed some of the issues raised at the July meeting. "We peppered them with questions about the length of searches, the ideal timing for searches and what might be the best process for our district and the unique challenges of our district," Carolyn Greene said. "A two-year process might set us up to really represent ourselves as a strong district. It allows us a little more time to have listening tours and a little more community input on what a search process would look like and what the ideal candidate would look like." Greene added that members of the School Committee already were committed this year to work on a couple of ad hoc subcommittees: one addressing curriculum development and another focused on an audit of the district's efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. There was a concern raised that adding a Superintendent Search Committee on top of those commitments and the regular day-to-day School Committee tasks approving a budget for fiscal year 2026, developing district policies, etc. would be a big ask for the seven-person volunteer committee. "That seemed like it might lean us toward the two years," Greene said. "Getting this work done this year and engaging in the superintendent search process the following year might be a better timing for the district and the School Committee." Jose Constantine expressed some hesitancy about not moving forward with a search this year. He argued that some members of the community may be uneasy with a protracted interim superintendency and suggested that, by waiting, the district could miss out on an ideal candidate who is on the market this year. He also suggested that the Lanesborough-Williamstown district already could, "represent [itself] as a strong district." "We recently had a superintendent we all were excited to have lead our district," Constantine said, referring to Jason McCandless, who announced his resignation in the spring. "It was a person that our community, I would say resoundingly, really supported and who articulated goals for our district that I think resonated. I don't think we need to start from scratch. I think we know who we are and know what we aspire to be. "All of that said, acknowledging the significant work the two subcommittees will be engaged in, that resonates with me as well. The idea that we're overtaxing a volunteer committee, that does resonate with me and makes me more open to the idea of committing to a two-year search." The last three "permanent" superintendents in the district each has left in the middle of a contract. It took the School Committee about three weeks to identify McCandless and hire him away from the Pittsfield Public Schools in 2020. He was hired after the committee interviewed three candidates over the course of two days at the end of July. Those interviews started 19 days after Kimberley Grady announced on July 11 that she was leaving the district, a move that came after a series of closed-door School Committee meetings where it was mentioned that "the majority of [the School Committee was] not supportive " of Grady, and during which the committee discussed a succession plan in violation of the Open Meeting Law. The circumstances of McCandless' departure are different in one significant respect. In 2020, when Grady resigned, the district already had an interim superintendent in place. Robert Putnam was hired on July 6, 2020, as an interim superintendent to serve while Grady was on a medical leave. His appointment came about a month after the closed-door meeting where the committee's lack of support for Grady was discussed. Putnam at the time was retired; it is common for retirees to serve in interim posts. And his tenure was, by design, short-lived. This time, the interim superintendent is Joseph Bergeron, who served as the district's finance director and later assistant superintendent under McCandless. On Thursday, Bergeron told the School Committee that he was ready to serve at least two years in the interim role. In fact, he indicated that a two-year interim period would allow him to back fill the business manager work he was doing as assistant superintendent in a way he might not if the plan was to have a new superintendent by the end of the coming school year. "If it were to be two years, I would very happily identify a way to carve out what would probably be a finance and business operations role and identify someone who could grow into that role and hopefully be a long-term part of the district," Bergeron said. "I would approach a single year as a sprint. I would approach what would become a two-year, year and a half type role as one that is more methodical in how to fill gaps. The two-year is less wearing in some ways." The addition of another finance person to the central office would not break the budget, Bergeron explained. The FY25 spending plan already has lines for a superintendent and assistant superintendent two jobs currently being done by him. As for the succession plan, the committee decided unanimously (with one member, Steven Miller, absent) to wait until fall 2025 to begin the process of finalizing a job description, posting the opening and screening applications. But the process of determining what the committee wants in a successful candidate can begin now, Greene said. "Many School Committees hold public forums," she said. "If there's an issue the community is concerned about or something the committee wants to present or the administration wants to present, we could call a public forum. We don't have to run it like a meeting. If it was in person, we could do breakout sessions in small groups and have a committee member at each table. Or if it was on Zoom, we could do breakout rooms. "Another way to do it is to commit as individual School Committee members to hold office hours or coffee hours and talk to the community. Yes, we need to be out there listening to folks about what they're thinking." Home Credit Philippines (HCPH), the country's leading consumer finance company, and EMCOR Incorporated, a leading retailer of quality goods, have joined forces to officially launch HCPH's first-ever motorcycle financing program in Davao City, on August 14, 2024. Home Credit Philippines (HCPH) and EMCOR Incorporated joined hands to launch their first motorcycle financing initiative. Attending the signing ceremony are [L-R] HCPH Chief Marketing Officer Shiela Paul, HCPH Chief Sales Officer Puneet Suneja, EMCOR President and Chief Operations Officer Nelson Apararejo, and EMCOR Senior Vice President of Store Operations Alconrey Questo. This partnership recognizes motorcycles critical role in mobility, transportation, and the economic opportunities they enable for Filipinos. Through this program, HCPH aims to provide Filipinos with flexible and accessible financing options for purchasing motorcycles. "We're glad to announce, after working through this for some time, that we are finally opening our doors to financing motorcycles through Home Credit. We've always been proud that weve brought speedy and convenient financial services to our customers, and I believe that this partnership with EMCOR will help us open new opportunities for Filipinos. We saw a gap in motorcycle financing, and we want to bring the same speed and convenience Home Credit has been known for to motorcycle financing with our 5% monthly amortization. We pride ourselves on our fast approval process, and this still applies here. With just one-minute approval time, our customers can walk out of the shop with their brand-new motorcycle, Puneet Suneja, HCPH Chief Sales Officer, said during the launch. Unlocking new adventures: Ride to the beat of the drums To celebrate the launch of their motorcycle financing program, Home Credit Philippines and EMCOR hosted a grand motorcade in Davao City. The event featured more than a hundred contingent riders, including Home Credit and EMCOR employees, motorcycle brand partners, moto vloggers, and motorcycle enthusiasts. The motorcade traversed the city's major thoroughfares, passing through key EMCOR branches in Agdao, San Pedro and culminating in Bajada. A short program and motor showcase followed, featuring performances from the Lapu-Lapu Dance Company and Ferocity Dance Crew, messages of solidarity from motorcycle brand representatives, and a tour of the EMCOR motorcycle showroom. The event concluded with a press conference at the EMCOR Bajada Gymnasium attended by influencers, bloggers, and members of the Davao press. Home Credit and EMCOR mount a grand motorcade across Davao City to celebrate the launch of their motorcycle financing partnership. Start of something great: A game-changing motorcycle financing program We are honored to be chosen by Home Credit as their partner for motorcycle financing, Nelson Apararejo, EMCOR President and Chief Operations Officer, said. This project will be a game-changer for Filipinos in Metro Davao, and we look forward to bringing this opportunity to other regions soon. The program offers competitive monthly amortization rates, making motorcycles more accessible to more Filipinos. Initially launched in Davao City, the program is slated to expand across Visayas, Mindanao, and Palawan in partnership with EMCOR stores. Both HCPH and EMCOR are committed to providing quality products and ensuring sufficient motorcycle unit availability. Partnering with leading motorcycle brands like Yamaha, Suzuki, Skygo, and Kinko, they aim to meet customer demand and overcome potential supply chain challenges. "Together with our partner motorcycle dealers, we will do our best to provide the motorcycle units that Home Credit customers will buy. Even with the prevailing shortage on some critical models, we assure our customers that this will be a fruitful success, Alconrey Questo, EMCOR Senior Vice President of Store Operations, said. This partnership strengthens Home Credit Philippines commitment to expanding consumer financing options for Filipinos nationwide, particularly those with limited access to formal financing optionsas their financial ally, para sa life. Learn more about Home Credit Philippines, visit its official website: www.homecredit.ph. Follow its official Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts to stay updated. download the Home Credit App on Google Play or App Store to see the latest Home Credit promos and offers. Explore www.shoppingmall.ph to get the best deals near you. Home Credit Philippines is a financing company duly licensed and supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). PLDT Enterprise, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Strengthening Private Enterprise for the Digital Economy (SPEED) Activity, proudly launched its first MSME Day, marking the beginning of a nationwide roadshow dedicated to supporting micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Over 150 MSMEs and eight exhibitors participated in the first leg of the MSME Day event held in Iloilo. These businesses gained valuable knowledge and skills essential for thriving in the digital era. With July officially declared as the Philippine MSME Month, this latest initiative underscores PLDT Enterprises commitment to empowering MSMEs with the tools and knowledge needed for digital transformation and business growth. Empowering MSMEs through Digital Transformation The event, held at the Jaro-Mandurriao Ballroom, Courtyard by Marriott, Iloilo Business Park, featured a comprehensive workshop aimed at helping MSMEs discover how technology can drive business success in the digital age. Topics covered that day included access to finance, technology, upskilling, market expansion, internet safety, and AI. Participants also had the opportunity to engage with industry experts, learn practical tips, and network with fellow business owners. Additionally, MSMEs benefited from the opportunity to easily access essential digital resources for their business. They could inquire about the solutions that fit their needs, gain insights on the basics of growing a business, and acquire products directly through PLDT Enterprise. At the workshop, PLDT Enterprise showcased a wide range of services designed to support MSMEs, including Enterprise Broadband for business-grade fiber internet connectivity, Smart Postpaid for always-on-the-go communication, and Maya for digital payment solutions and lending services. These offerings provide MSMEs with the essential tools to enhance their operational efficiency and drive expansion. Key highlights of the MSME Day included sessions on making informed financial decisions to help MSMEs manage their resources effectively, presented by Raymond Del Rosario from Maya. Participants also learned about internet safety, security, and the basics of AI for MSMEs, with presentations by Samie Gonzaga and Janille Gultiano from Smart Communications Inc. Experts such as Marianne Tajanlangit-Bebit from IPOPHL and Marie Joni Jocson from LexMeet provided insights on intellectual property, e-commerce success, and the legalities of online selling. Strategies for reaching wider markets and expanding business horizons were discussed by Grace Solana from Multisys and Sophia Teng from 1Export Trade & Services. Driving Economic Growth through MSME Support MSMEs play a crucial role in the Philippine economy, contributing significantly to employment and economic growth. By supporting MSMEs, PLDT Enterprise continues to foster a vibrant, thriving business environment that encourages and supports innovation and competitiveness. "Our MSME Day in Iloilo is yet another example of our commitment to support the growth and success of MSMEs across the Philippines," said Jay Lagdameo, Vice President and Head of Enterprise Revenue Group at PLDT Enterprise. "At PLDT Enterprise, we always put our customers first. Our priority is to help them understand and identify the solutions meant for their business, and we do so by giving them access to learning series and workshops that help them connect with industry leaders and business experts." "Initiatives like MSME Day are crucial for empowering local businesses, especially as we take this roadshow to every corner of the Philippines," said Chet Alviz, Vice President and Head of Enterprise and International Marketing at PLDT Enterprise. "By reaching MSMEs nationwide, we ensure that every business, regardless of location, is equipped with the essential digital tools and resources needed to thrive in today's competitive landscape. Our goal is to bridge the digital divide and support the growth and success of MSMEs across the country." The event featured a diverse lineup of speakers, including Jay Lagdameo, Vice President and Head of Enterprise Revenue Group, PLDT Enterprise; Hugo Prado, Deputy Chief of Party, USAID SPEED Activity; Jinky Francisco, SME Business Head for VisMin, PLDT Enterprise; Carlo Calimon, President, StartUp Village; Raymond Del Rosario, Area Business Lead, Maya; Marianne Tajanlangit-Bebit, Intellectual Property Rights Specialist II, IPOPHL; Marie Joni Jocson, COO, LexMeet; Samie Gonzaga, Stakeholder Management Specialist, Smart Communications Inc.; Janille Gultiano, Stakeholder Management Specialist, Smart Communications Inc.; Grace Solana, Head of Enterprise Business, Multisys; Sophia Teng, Sr. Associate, 1Export Trade & Services; and Chet Alviz, Vice President and Head of Enterprise and International Marketing, PLDT Enterprise. The comprehensive program included sessions on digitalizing SMEs, financial management, upskilling, technology, and market expansion. The program culminated in the launch of the PSF Smart Cart, a collaboration with the PLDT-Smart Foundation, led by Esther Santos, President of PLDT-Smart Foundation Inc. USAID, through its SPEED Activity, collaborated with PLDT Enterprise for its MSME Day to provide a comprehensive initiative to help MSMEs embrace digitalization, enhancing their digital skills and capacity while promoting the use of digital financial services and tools. Together, USAID and PLDT Enterprise aim to amplify the impact of their programs for greater MSME development. As PLDT Enterprise continues to champion the digital transformation of MSMEs, businesses are encouraged to explore the comprehensive range of solutions designed to enhance their operational efficiency and market reach. Discover how PLDT Enterprise can support your business growth by visiting pldtenterprise.com. Global smartphone brand realme celebrates its sixth anniversary in style, kicking off with the Cool Tech Tour in Shenzhen, China where Vice President Chase Xu announced two major developments for the brand: the 320W SuperSonic Charge and the Low Carbon Development White Paper. Immerse in a day of music, tech, exciting games, and star-studded performances at Gateway Mall 2 Activity Center Fans and representatives from realme's global offices were treated to a rare experience, touring the brand's state-of-the-art factory and witnessing the marvel of the 320W SuperSonic Charge firsthand. This cutting-edge technology, dubbed the "4-Minute Miracle," redefines industry standards, achieving 26% charge in just one minute and surpassing 50% in under two. Simultaneously, the Low Carbon Development White Paper was introduced, highlighting realmes ambitious plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Central to this initiative is realmes 3R+1D Design philosophy, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Degradable, which is now part of the brands product development process and is set to roll out in the GT Series. Celebrate with FanFest 2024 The celebration extends to the Philippines with FanFest 2024, realme Philippines premier event for the Filipino Squad, set on August 28. Among the highlights is the highly anticipated launch of the realme 13 Pro Series 5G, alongside two new AIoT products that are certain to captivate tech aficionados. Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn the impressive camera and AI capabilities of the new realme 13 Pro Series 5G during the Ultra Clear Photography workshop led by renowned photographer and director John Manalo. But thats not all - the excitement continues with the real Craze Dance Competition and the real You 2024 Ambassador Search, where exceptional talents will compete for cash prizes of P50,000 and P100,000, respectively. For music lovers out there, FanFest 2024 will culminate in the Real Mix FanFest Concert, featuring performances by two of OPM's most promising new artists, Dionela and Cup of Joe. realme is also rolling out exciting product promos during FanFest 2024, because the Squad can get FREE TechLife Power Bank 10000mAh for every phone purchase during the event, while stocks last! Plus, catch TikToks Super Brand Day on August 25-31 to get exclusive deals, including P3,500 off on the realme 13 Pro 5G with a free TechLife Portable Steam Iron worth P1,499. Dont miss the festivities, and head to Gateway Mall 2 Activity Center on August 28 at 1 PM. Limited seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early to secure a spot. For those who can't attend in person, FanFest 2024 will be livestreamed on realme's official Facebook page, ensuring that everyone can join in the excitement from anywhere. For more details and announcements about FanFest 2024, head over to realmes official Facebook page. 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 }} JD Vance declared himself a never Trump guy in 2016. Now that hes Donald Trumps running mate, the Ohio senators words have come back to haunt him in the form of a viral hit on social media app TikTok. The 22-second long audio clip was created by DJ duo Casa Di and Steve Terrell, who sampled Vances comments from a 2016 Vance interview with Charlie Rose when he was promoting his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. In the clip, Vance can be heard saying: Im a never Trump guy. I never liked him. That sample was added to the Petey Pablo hip-hop beat Freek-a-Leek and the resulting song has proved wildly popular on TikTok, where it has soundtracked more than 8,500 videos in the last month, racking up over 40 million views in total. The clip has also been shared by @KamalaHQ, the official account of the Harris - Walz campaign. The song is not Casa Di and Steve Terrells first encounter with viral fame. Last year, they teamed up with rapper That Chick Angel for One Margarita (Margarita Song), a track that was also initially inspired by a popular TikTok sample. Speaking to The New York Times, Terrell explained that the pair had heard Vance speaking in a clip and found his voice sort of melodic in a sense. Casa Di, whose real name is Carl Dixon, added: We were like, what if we put this to a catchy beat or something? Dixon continued: When Kamala decided to start running, me and Steve were figuring out ways to encourage people to vote or be aware of whats going on. This is our first time doing something as politically charged. JD Vance speaking in Pennsylvania in August 2024 ( Getty Images ) In recent weeks, several politicians have joined TikTok even as a ban on the popular video app looms. Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg, JD Vance and Donald Trump have all joined TikTok as the race ramps up, and they hope to gain favor with younger voters. But the social media app is still embroiled in a contentious legal battle with the US Department of Justice, which is threatening to ban it entirely. In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that forces the Chinese company ByteDance to either sell their app or be banned from US app stores within a year. TikTok sued in return, arguing the bill unfairly singles it out and violates the First Amendment. Meanwhile, Harris has said shes not in favor of the ban, just new ownership. As the VP has said before, we dont want to ban TikTok, a spokesperson for Harris told NBC News. We would just like to see a change in ownership. 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 Netflixs Tex Mex Motors star Rob The Rabbit Pitts died of stomach cancer on Sunday (August 25). He was 45. The death of the car scout and salesman came hours after he bid fans farewell in a YouTube video titled This Is Goodbye. (RIP 7/27/79 - 8/25/24). His videographer, Jeff, confirmed his death in the comment section of the video, writing: I am with him now in Hospice. He just passed at 21:45 on 08/25/2024. He will be missed and we will never forget him! Pitts, who starred in the Netflix reality series alongside Marcos Scooter Carrera, addressed his recent retreat from the public eye in the text-based video, telling fans: I know some of you are wondering what Ive been up to. I started feeling off after SEMA last year, and I was losing weight. But I was getting ready to film season 2 of Tex Mex Motors for Netflix, and wanted to be camera ready, so I didnt mind that so much, his message continued. During filming, I started to lose my appetite, and had more and more acid reflux-like symptoms. He explained that he went to urgent care a few times where they treated his symptoms, but didnt get to the root of the problem. My castmate and set mom, Jaime, finally took me to the ER thinking I had gallbladder issues, Pitts wrote. It was there at the end of March I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Since then I have been getting treatments at home, and its been rough. More bad days than good, but hanging in there. Switching to a more positive note, he said: I have a lot to live for and life has been going my way. Dont be sad for me... I accomplished my dream of buying my own store, finishing Season 2 of Netflix, and marrying the love of my life. Concluding with a bit of advice, he said: If your body is telling you something is wrong, dont stop until you figure it out. Ask questions and get answers. 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 Rob Pitts (far right) in Netflixs Tex Mex Motors ( Netflix ) Pitts is survived by his wife Randi Foraker, who shared his video to her Facebook page, writing: My heart. Pitts and Scooter led Tex Mex Motors which debuted on June 2023. It was renewed for a second season that reportedly began production earlier this year. The Netflix reality series follows the two pros as they scout vintage cars in Mexico and transport them to El Paso, Texas for radical restorations. 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 Former Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson has opened up about her recent brush with death after she was misdiagnosed with a serious sinus infection. The original cast member of the hit Bravo series, 62, discussed her health scare on the newest episode of her podcast, My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, sharing that theres a lot of hours missing in my life because I had like amnesia. There seems to be about an hour or two that I was missing, and I dont know where I was. Joined by her boyfriend Michael Smith, the reality star began by explaining that last week she went into her office speaking gibberish. After meeting with a client who happened to be a retired emergency room physician, she said he warned her she might be having a stroke. Gunvalsons daughter, Olivia, who works with Gunvalson at her insurance and financial services firm, took her to the hospital where she said she was misdiagnosed as having a sinus infection and discharged that evening. Continuing the story, Smith said: Three weeks ago, she had a sinus infection that was a little different where it lasted a little longer. She was really not feeling that well; she got on antibiotics, was doing better. We went to Europe. Everything was ok, for the most part. But then, when she got home on that Thursday night and Olivia called me when she was lethargic and she really didnt understand where she was. So they put her in the hospital and they told the doctor that she had had the sinus infection a few weeks back, so they kinda ran with that and didnt really get into any more detail. Well, it turns out they sent her home, he added. Recounting one of the scariest moments, Smith said he found Gunvalson passed out in the bathtub. open image in gallery Vicki Gunvalson recounted her near-death medical scare ( Getty Images ) I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed. The doctor said she just needed to sleep. So I put her in the bed, and she slept literally 13, 14 hours straight, and I thought that was a little much. So I woke her up, and when I did, I tried to get her out of bed, and she had this kind of look on her face where she didnt know where she was, Smith said. When I tried to stand her up to take her to the restroom, she couldnt walk. She was shuffling her feet. So she was so discombobulated on this whole thing, I was afraid she was having another stroke. Once again, she was taken to the hospital, where Smith said it wasnt long before doctors discovered she had a massive infection that had turned into pneumonia and sepsis. 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 Recalling what he had been told by the doctors, Smith explained: When your body is fighting badly through an infection, and that dangerous of an infection, your whole body attacks it, which affects the brain and everything else in your body because your body sends everything it has to fight it. Gunvalson was put on several antibiotics, steroids, and everything under the sun, he added, confirming that shes getting better. The TV personality remembered asking a medical professional: Did I hear this right that I had a 10 to 20 percent [chance of] survival? to which they answered: Yes, the sepsis that went to your body is deadly and you survived it. And so youre going to be okay. Its just going to take a while. She said shes still recovering and has very low energy, admitting that she has a little bit of trauma from the medical scare. I cry a lot, she said, and Michael keeps saying, Why do you keep crying? And I dont have an answer. Gunvalson rose to fame as one of the main Real Housewives of Orange County stars. She featured on the show for 14 years before exiting the show in 2020. Shes since made several cameos in seasons 16, 17 and 18. 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 Lost star Matthew Fox has reportedly been cast in the recently announced Yellowstone spinoff, The Madison. 58-year-old Fox, who led ABCs Lost as Jack Shephard for all six seasons of the popular survival drama, will star in the forthcoming series, which is said to be a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana, according to an official logline. News of Foxs casting as Paul a self-reliant bachelor who loves the outdoors was confirmed by Variety. It comes weeks after Michelle Pfeiffer was revealed as the shows lead. Patrick J Adams, Elle Chapman and Beau Garrett have also been cast. The Madison is the latest spinoff in Taylor Sheridans popular Western franchise. It will be set in the present day and is regarded as the Yellowstone sequel thats been promised since it was announced that that series would come to an end after its final season five episodes air in November. The last episodes will not feature original star Kevin Costner. open image in gallery Matthew Fox will star as self-reliant bachelor Paul in The Madison ( Getty Images ) Yellowstone first premiered on Paramount Network in 2018. It follows the Dutton family, who for generations have owned a massive, enviable piece of land in Montana. The hit series has spawned several spinoffs and prequels, with 1883 being the first. Starring Isabel May, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliott, the miniseries debuted in 2021 and followed the Dutton family as they flee poverty in Texas in search of a better future in Montana. Then came 1923, which was renewed for a second season in February 2023. Led by Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer, May, Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, that show follows the Dutton family as they face a new set of challenges in the early 20th century, including the Great Depression and the rise of Western expansion. In addition to The Madison, another prequel series, 1944, has already been greenlit, though little information about it has been released. 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 The Madison does not yet have a release date, and it is not yet known if it will be available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ or if it will first be released on Paramount Network like Yellowstone. Costner, who led the first five seasons of Yellowstone as Montana rancher John Dutton, officially ruled out returning to the series in June. Thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love, I just realized that Im not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future, he said, explaining that he was busy working on his massive four-part passion project, Horizon. It was something that really changed me. I loved it. And I know you loved it, he said of Yellowstone, And I just wanted to let you know that I wont be returning and I love the relationship weve been able to develop and Ill see you at the movies. 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 }} Armed militants in southwestern Pakistan targeted Punjabis by ordering them out of vehicles on a major highway and shooting them dead. Between 30 and 40 attackers, reportedly from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), blocked a major road in the Musakhail district and intercepted buses, vans, and trucks travelling between Punjab and Balochistan. They forced passengers off vehicles, checked their identities, and shot 23 of those who identified as Punjabi, in an attack that has shocked the country. Punjabis, the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, are seen as dominant in the military, which is actively engaged in combating Balochistans separatist factions. Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot, local senior police official Najeeb Kakar was quoted as saying. The attackers also set fire to at least 10 vehicles, leaving a trail of destruction and panic. They stopped 22 vehicles on the highway. In a separate incident, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passers-by, in the Qalat district. The BLA, a separatist militant group active in the region, has claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as part of its ongoing campaign against what it terms the occupying Pakistani military. We have taken full control of all major highways across Balochistan, blocking them completely, it added. Earlier, the group warned civilians to avoid highways as they intensified their operations against security personnel in the province. Later, security forces killed at least 12 insurgents. Mondays attacks were not the first of their kind, but the incident was among the worst in recent years in Balochistan a region plagued by ethnic and separatist violence. It followed a pattern of targeted attacks aimed at specific ethnic groups and government forces, exacerbating tensions in Pakistans largest but least-developed province. Security personnel stand near the charred vehicles at the shooting site on the national highway in Musakhail district, Balochistan province on 26 August 2024 ( AFP via Getty ) Several Western countries, including the UK and the US, have classified the BLA as a global terrorist organisation. Dawn newspaper, citing the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, reported that there were at least 170 militant attacks in Balochistan last year, which killed 151 civilians and 114 security personnel. More recently, in October last year, unidentified gunmen killed six labourers from Punjab in Kech district in the southern part of Balochistan province, in what police described as a targeted attack based on ethnic background. In 2019, gunmen stopped a bus near Ormara in the Gwadar district in Balochistan and killed 14 people, including navy, air force, and coast guard personnel, after checking their identity cards. In 2015, gunmen attacked a labourers camp near Turbat in Balochistan, killing 20 construction workers and injuring three others. The victims included workers from Sindh and Punjab. The ethnic Baloch have frequently protested in the province, accusing the authorities of using excessive force in their efforts to combat militancy. Baloch separatists have also recently increased their attacks on Pakistanis from neighbouring provinces who are working in Balochistan. Pakistan has four provinces Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh. Throughout history, they [the Baloch people, a unique ethno-linguistic group] have been the victims of marginalisation within their respective countries, says a report in The International Affairs Review. Pakistans prime minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, according to Radio Pakistan. The terrorists responsible for this incident will be severely punished, he said. Pakistans president, Asif Ali Zardari, said the killing of innocent people was an assault on all of humanity and demanded that the culprits be brought to justice. Meanwhile, GeoTV reported that, since the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan in 2021, provinces adjacent to Afghanistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have experienced an increase in terrorism-related incidents. 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 }} Efforts to find an Indian tourist who vanished after falling into a sinkhole in Malaysia continued for a fourth day on Monday, as firefighters searched through manholes in central Kuala Lumpur. The search operation, concentrated around two manholes in the Jalan Masjid India neighbourhood, has been made more challenging by heavy rains and the large amount of debris in the sinkhole. The search team is using high-pressure jets of water to cut through debris to find the victim, identified as Vijayalaksmi. Todays focus was on manhole 5 by Agro Bank and manhole 6 at Jalan Kinabalu, said Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, giving an update on the fire departments efforts. The 48-year-old Indian tourist fell into the 8m deep sinkhole at 8.22am on 23 August, when the ground gave way while she was walking to a nearby temple. Explaining the challenges they were facing, fire operation officer Alimaddia Bukri said that the rescuers have been diving deep into the sewer amid strong currents and zero visibility. Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department officers inspect the site where a woman fell ( EPA ) The heavy rains have added to the difficulty, posing dangers to the lives of the divers themselves. In that hole, there is a sewage drain and other drains; its really deep. We have discussed and obtained advice from the relevant experts before making any decision in this operation, he was quoted as saying by the Strait Times. Relatives of an Indian woman who fell into an eight-meter deep sinkhole wait for news near the accident site ( EPA ) The victims family, currently in Malaysia, is receiving support, including accommodation, food, and counseling, reported the Malay Mail. The authorities have pledged to continue the search until the woman is found. Kuala Lumpurs mayor spoke up in defence of the citys safety, after a 2015 social media post went viral calling it the most unsafe place city in Malaysia with a possibility of a giant sinkhole opening at anytime. Fire and Rescue department use crane to dig a deep sinkhole after receiving reports that a woman has fallen into the sinkhole after a section of the sidewalk caved in Kuala Lumpur, Friday, 23 August 2024 ( AP ) Advising residents to continue their daily routines as usual, the mayor said: "In my view, Kuala Lumpur remains safe. We will only consider it unsafe if there are studies that provide evidence to the contrary, especially given the alarming media reports," she said. Separately, a task force comprising of experts from various agencies has been set up to study the safety of structures around Jalan Masjid India. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A new gel could better stop homes from catching fire, researchers have found, as the US battles yet another intense wildfire season. Gels, or water-enhancers, contain absorbent polymers designed to change the physical characteristics of water, and improve its ability to cling to vertical and smooth surfaces. The gels can be sprayed onto buildings and expand to create a kind of shield to flames. The gels are used by firefighters when attacking blazes but can also be purchased by homeowners, although they are expensive at roughly $125 a gallon. In a study, published this month in the journal Advanced Materials, scientists from Stanford University revealed they have created a new gel product which lasts longer and is more effective than existing gels on the market. And that need is becoming much more urgent. More than five million acres have been destroyed by wildfire this year across the states including the explosive Park Fire, which ignited last month in California. The blaze tore through more than 400,000 acres, destroying 637 buildings in its path. open image in gallery During a test on plywood, researchers showed how the new gel transitions from a hydrogel to an aerogel under heat from a gas hand-torch. The torch burned at a much higher temperature than would result from a wildfire. The breakthrough could save homes during worsening wildfire seasons ( Andrea dAquino ) Scientists say that the human-caused climate crisis is making wildfires more extreme by raising temperatures and intensifying drought conditions, with western states among one of the worst affected regions. The gels depend on the water they contain to suppress wildfires but because blazes can burn at hundreds or even thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, the water locked in the gel often evaporates quickly. Eric Appel, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford who led the study, said that their new gel has a longer window for application. Under typical wildfire conditions, current water-enhancing gels dry out in 45 minutes, he said. Weve developed a gel that would have a broader application window you can spray it further in advance of the fire and still get the benefit of the protection and it will work better when the fire comes. open image in gallery A home is engulfed in flames during the Thompson Fire in northern California last month. Stanford University researchers say their gel could protect homes like these for longer than current commercial gels. ( (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) ) The difference is in the silica particles used, and a cellulose-based polymer. The particles, left behind when gels are in high temperatures, form an aerogel, the lightest of the worlds solid materials and a good insulator. When the water boils off and all of the cellulose burns off, were left with the silica particles assembled into a foam, Appel said. That foam is highly insulative and ends up scattering all of the heat, completely protecting the substrate underneath it. After testing several iterations of the gel on plywood and exposing the gels to a gas hand-torch - which burns hotter than wildfires - the most effective gel lasted for more than seven minutes, according to the Stanford team. Comparatively, a commercial gel lasted for less than 90 seconds, the scientists said. Theyre safe for both people and the environment, Appel said. There may need to be additional optimization, but my hope is that we can do pilot-scale application and evaluation of these gels so we can use them to help protect critical infrastructure when a fire comes through. A 2020 Forest Service assessment found largely negligible health risks from these types of gels. The Independent will be revealing its Climate100 List in September and hosting an event in New York, which can be attended online. 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 }} Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents' knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave. A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal. Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it, she said. Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe. Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spains Interior Ministry. Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat. The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone. Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains. But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. Barsa wala Barsakh, or Barcelona or die in Wolof, one of Senegals national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route. Even if we stay here, we are in danger, said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegals capital that Ndiaye is from. If you are sick and you cant pay for treatment, arent you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we dont, he added. Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal. Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing. These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net, Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water. Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we dont find enough, just a little, he adds. Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult. Ahead of the Spanish prime ministers visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiayes mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating. These kids dont know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they wont leave, Niang says. But if not, well, we cant make them stay. Theres no work here, she said. ___ Associated Press writer Ndeye Sene Mbengue in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration 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 pack of four-legged therapists got a break of their own on Monday when they were honored at the airport where they dutifully work to ease stress and calm travelers. The event at Philadelphia International Airport marked five years since the 23 members of the Wagging Tails Brigade began greeting people and serving as therapy dogs. Several of them were presented with birthday presents and a customized cake while passersby were invited to eat cupcakes and sign an oversized birthday card. Members of the brigade and their volunteer human handlers are at the airport for at least two hours a week, impressing people with their tricks and doing what they can to raise the spirits of road-weary passengers. Dogs wear vests asking people to pet me. Allan Gurvitz, a volunteer with Hope, a Labrador retriever, said their goal is to make travel a bit more pleasant. I like to refer to the airport as the land of cancellations and delays. So people tend to be very stressed out here, Gurvitz said. Jamie and Victoria Hill, on their way to their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, turned to pet Bella while trying to stay positive after their flight was delayed. It's reminded us of our dog back at home," Jamie Hill said. We miss him. Back in June, Nancy Mittleman recalled, she was at the airport with her German shepherd Tarik while bad weather snarled air traffic. The two of them spent several hours entertaining stranded children and their parents. Soon enough, I had an entire crowd around me," Mittleman said. "There must have been 10 kids sitting around him and they were talking to each other. And the beauty of it was before that, there were a lot of stressed out parents and a lot of unhappy children. Volunteers try to coordinate to have at least one brigade member at the airport to greet travelers, especially on days with significant delays or disruptions. 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 }} Canadas government on Monday announced it is imposing a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles that matches U.S. tariffs and follows similar plans announced by the European Commission. The announcement followed encouragement by U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet ministers on Sunday. Sullivan is set to make his first visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Trudeau said Canada also will impose a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum. Actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace, he said. There was no immediate response from China. Chinese officials are likely to raise concerns about American tariffs with Sullivan as Beijing continues to repair its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. President Joe Biden in May slapped major new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment. The U.S. does believe that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues benefits all of us, Sullivan told reporters on Sunday. Biden has said Chinese government subsidies for EVs and other consumer goods ensure that Chinese companies dont have to turn a profit, giving them an unfair advantage in global trade. Chinese firms can sell EVs for as little as $12,000. Chinas solar cell plants and steel and aluminum mills have enough capacity to meet much of the worlds demand. Chinese officials argue their production keeps prices low and would aid a transition to the green economy. Were doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world that recognize that this is a challenge that we are all facing, Trudeau said of the new tariffs. Unless we all want to get to a race to the bottom, we have to stand up. The only Chinese-made EVs currently imported into Canada are from Tesla, made at the companys Shanghai factory. Canada "had to go with the U.S. position, when you think about the economic integration that we have with the U.S. More than 75% of our exports go to the U.S., said a former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques. This reflects the fear that the next president of the United States might be Donald Trump, and so they know we have to be pretty much aligned in all of this. Saint-Jacques said Canada can expect retaliation from China in other industries, adding that barley and pork are candidates because the Chinese can get it from other countries. China will want to send a message, he said. Close The public health emergency was declared by the WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for $135 million funding to combat the Mpox strain outbreak, which scientists say is mutating more rapidly than expected. On August 14, the organisation declared an Mpox-related global health emergency for the second time in two years. Speaking to WHO member states, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the latest outbreak can be controlled and can be stopped. $135 million of funding will be needed over the next six months to halt the outbreak, an amount which will likely increase over time, Mr Ghebreyesus added. Scientists have expressed concern at the rate at which the current Mpox strain, Clade Ib, is mutating. Nigerian scientist Dr. Dimie Ogoina said they dont understand the outbreak very well, leading to difficulty in addressing the diseases transmission and severity. Seattle-based doctor Dr. Miguel Paredes said the virus is mutating more rapidly than we would expect. Democratic Republic of Congo has faced the brunt of the outbreak, which has also spread to Burundi, Central African Republic, Rwanda, and Uganda. The UK is readying itself after Sweden reported Europes first case of the deadly variant. Three days ago, Thailand confirmed Asias first suspected case of the variant. 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 mother who went to the family day of the Notting Hill Carnival with her young child narrowly escaped death after being stabbed. The 32-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in hospital after she was attacked at the event on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said. The Sunday of Notting Hill Carnival is dubbed families and childrens day and includes a childrens parade and carnival, while bank holiday Monday is billed as adults day. Three people were stabbed at the event on Sunday. A 29-year-old man remains in hospital in a non-life-threatening condition, and a 24-year-old man was discharged from hospital after his condition was assessed as non-life-threatening. People attending the children's day parade, part of the Notting Hill Carnival celebration in west London, over the summer bank holiday weekend ( PA ) The Met has called for anyone with information about the incidents to come forward, saying: We are tired of seeing crime scenes at Carnival. In a statement released on Monday, deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is in charge of the policing operation, said: Yesterday we saw the first day of Carnival marred by unacceptable violence. Three people were stabbed and we only very narrowly avoided a fatality. This was supposed to be family day a celebration suitable for all ages. One of those in hospital, a 32-year-old woman whose condition remains critical, was at Carnival with her young child. We are tired of saying the same words every year. We are tired of telling families that their loved ones are seriously injured, or worse. We are tired of seeing crime scenes at Carnival. Carnival is a community event and the vast majority of people come to celebrate, to dance, to enjoy music and have a fantastic experience. Children take part in the parade on Sundays family day ( PA ) PC Adelekan said everyone who values the carnival should speak out and speak up about the violence that mars the celebrations. Whether it is information about a previous incident now under investigation, or information about someone coming to Carnival today to commit crime, please tell us, he added. A total of 103 arrests were made at the event on Sunday, with 18 police officers assaulted, the force said. Some 18 arrests were made for possession of offensive weapons, nine arrests for class-A drug possession and 13 arrests for class-B drug possession. Sunday is billed as a family-friendly day, with children taking a central part in the celebrations ( PA ) Hundreds of thousands of people attend the carnival each year. It has been running for more than 50 years and the main parade takes place on Monday. The celebration of Caribbean heritage, arts and culture is Europes biggest street party and is billed by organisers as the greatest community-led event on the planet. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan praised the fantastic scenes at the carnival on Sunday. Mr Khan posted on X, formerly Twitter: Fantastic scenes at Notting Hill Carnival today celebrating Londons Caribbean communities. Carnival is part of the very fabric of our city and an amazing way to bring communities together. More than a million people could attend Notting Hill Carnival across the three days and around 7,000 officers are on duty to police the celebrations. An investigation has been demanded into the role of flammable cladding in a terrifying fire at a London tower block, seven years after safety concerns were raised by the Grenfell disaster. Residents described fleeing the burning building, in the Freshwater Road area of Dagenham, in the early hours of Monday. Some said they were coughing up black soot after inhaling smoke and had lost their belongings in the blaze. More than 80 people were evacuated and two were taken to hospital. All residents have been accounted for and an investigation into the fire has been launched, the London Fire Brigade said. Brigade commissioner Andy Roe said there were fire safety issues present within the building. The block, which was covered in scaffolding, was undergoing remedial work to remove and replace non-compliant cladding on the fifth and sixth floors, according to a planning application document. The role of cladding in the fire will form part of the fire services investigation. Firefighters at the scene after a blaze at a block of flats on Freshwater Road, Dagenham, east London ( PA ) The incident comes just a week before the publication of the final report of the inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which saw the deaths of 72 people after a fridge fire spread rapidly due to flammable cladding on the exterior walls. Local Labour MP Margaret Mullane said Mondays fire had resulted in minimal injuries thanks to the swift response of the emergency services. She added: There needs to be a full investigation into the cause of this fire, and why, seven years on from Grenfell, unsafe cladding was still in the process of being removed. However, my initial actions will be to help the victims of this terrible tragedy, all in absolute shock, as they are moved into temporary accommodation and begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Residents were despairing about losing their belongings to the fire ( PA ) Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), praised firefighters for their response and added: Once again, a fire has erupted in a residential building wrapped in flammable cladding. There needs to be an urgent and swift investigation of how this has been allowed to happen. Hundreds of thousands of people continue to live in buildings like it, with various failings in fire safety. This is a national scandal. For decades, the FBU has warned of the risks of deregulation in the building sector. Politicians have put the interests of big business above human life. As we saw at Grenfell Tower, this can have horrific and tragic consequences. We have highlighted significant building safety failings before and since the Grenfell Tower fire. It was already known that the Dagenham tower block was dangerous. Time and time again, these warnings have been ignored by public authorities and by central government. This must change immediately. Smoke was still pouring from the building on Monday morning ( Getty Images ) A spokesperson for Grenfell United, which is made up of survivors and bereaved families from the west London tower fire, said: We wake up to the graphic images of the Dagenham fire, an incident that happened in the middle of the night over a bank holiday weekend when many residents would have been at home a scenario we have warned about for seven years. Although we do not have all the details, it seems work was underway to remove non-compliant cladding, and the building had a number of fire safety issues. This highlights the painfully slow progress of remediation across the country, and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole, including the implementation of personal evacuation plans for disabled residents which needs urgently addressing. We are a week away from the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report. The fact that when a fire happens, and the best we can hope for at the moment is a near miss, speaks volumes of the progress made since 14 June 2017. We expect the Labour government to take action to speed up remediation on unsafe buildings, where their predecessors failed. Around 225 firefighters responded to the blaze in east London ( PA ) Sam Ogbeide, who lives on the fourth floor of the Dagenham tower said he opened his main door and saw smoke coming in from the window. He said the fire was very terrible, adding that it was busy in the buildings stairwell as people evacuated. Some residents didnt bring anything when evacuating, with some still naked. Mr Ogbeide said: Ive never experienced something like this in my life. Everything is gone. I dont know what to do. He added: Im not feeling OK. All my mouth is bitter because I feel the smoke in me. When I cough, you see the black. He said he did not see any water sprinklers in the building, Spectrum House, but did hear a fire alarm. An investigation will now take place into how the building caught fire ( Getty Images ) Irina Vasile, 46, a healthcare assistant who lives on the second floor, said the incident felt like a nightmare and said she was frightened to be on the street starting from zero. She said she was woken by her partner at around 3am telling her there was smoke. Speaking outside the Beacontree Health Leisure Centre where the residents have been relocated, Ms Vasile said: [There was] such a dense smoke all over the apartment. When we wanted to open the window, another smoke hit our face, on the throat and the eyes. Ms Vasile said she was spotted by firefighters after shouting for help and calling 999. She said: We didnt grab nothing we lost everything. The firemen bring us outside, and while I came outside, Ive seen a big fire come from the building on the ground floor, and when we went further, Ive seen another big fire on the top. The resident said she did not hear a fire alarm go off during the evacuation, adding: My partner is devastated as well. We try to encourage one another because we lost everything. Firefighters use a water hose to put out the flames ( Getty Images ) The blaze is now under control, and what was declared a major incident has been stood down, but the fire service said it was too early to tell what started it. London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Patrick Goulbourne said: What I wouldnt want to do is pre-empt an investigation. This was a very, very dynamic incident and clearly its going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause but to get to an understanding of the fire spread. So its too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days. Just hours after an investigation was launched a second fire broke out in Blackwall, east London. Dramatic footage from New Providence Wharf showed thick smoke billowing from the 25th floor of the 45-storey building. Up to 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines rushed to the scene to tackle the blaze after the London Fire Brigade was called at around 1.30pm. There were no injuries. Home secretary Yvette Cooper thanked the firefighters and other emergency workers for their bravery and swift response. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said a rest centre had been set up in the area to help residents. David Simmonds MP, shadow minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: Our thoughts are with those affected by the fire in Dagenham, and we thank the emergency services for their tireless work which has successfully brought the fire under control. A government spokesperson said: We must establish the facts surrounding this horrific incident. That is why we are urgently working with the London Fire Brigade and local council to understand exactly what happened and ask if more needs to be done to keep people safe in their homes. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Hundreds of women are being rushed to hospital after getting botched bum lifts and breast enlargements from unregulated practitioners as campaigners call for better regulation of the procedures. The non-surgical procedure, which can legally be carried out by untrained individuals in the UK, involves injecting hyaluronic acid to change the shape of the buttocks or breasts. Data shows that botched bum lifts have permanently disfigured women and required surgery to rectify the defective work. One woman told The Independent she was put in a coma for four days after a liquid bum job went wrong. She said the ordeal has left her with chest and arm pain. Another, Monique Sofroniou, an aesthetics practitioner based in London, told The Independent she had a liquid bum lift that failed around two years ago. I was in the worst pain of my life, the 30-year-old recalled. In the middle of the night after the procedure, I woke up being really sick. The area was really red and hot and then I had a really high temperature. She was then forced to go to the hospital where she was informed she had an infection and was placed on a drip, Ms Sofroniou added. I had to stay in hospital for a week, she said. The pain was unbearable. She had to go to accident and emergency around three times once back at home and ended up having an operation to have some of her dead skin removed adding that she was in really bad pain for around two months. A photo of an infected BBL, with the infection seeping from the wound (the photo does not relate to the women interviewed in the story) ( Save Face ) Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, urged people to avoid putting their lives at risk by having cosmetic treatments, such as bum lifts and breast augmentation, from unregulated practitioners. He added: It is alarming to hear of cases of this happening, with some people ending up in hospital with serious complications. This clearly needs robust regulation these types of procedures can have severe, life-changing, and in some cases, life-threatening consequences. Carolyn Harris, a Labour MP who co-chaired the all-party parliamentary group for beauty and wellbeing, warned the sector is like the wild Wild West and called for stringent regulation to be introduced to stop this industry from exploiting vulnerable people. Save Face, a national register of accredited practitioners who offer non-surgical cosmetic treatments, said it has encountered women who have been permanently disfigured due to having part of their bum surgically removed. Data from the organisation a voluntary regulator approved by the government reveals 507 patients have been in contact to complain about their liquid bum lifts and breast augmentation between October 2022 and July this year. Of the total 507 complaints, 479 involved Brazilian bum lifts (BBL) and hip dips ( Getty ) The figures, exclusively shared with The Independent, show that 98 per cent of the patients were treated by NHS services, while 91 per cent needed hospital treatment. Almost eight in 10 patients had to go to hospital for more than 48 hours and around four in 10 required surgical intervention. Researchers discovered just over half of the patients who reported complaints experienced sepsis, a life-threatening condition which can be difficult to spot and occurs in response to an infection. A third of patients had an abscess after having the procedure. The Independent can also reveal: Of the total 507 complaints, 479 involved Brazilian bum lifts (BBL) and hip dips and 28 related to breast augmentation Women constituted 99 per cent of patients who made complaints 98 per cent of patients discovered the practitioner via social media Two-thirds of the treatments took place in beauty salons, while around a third were carried out in hotels or domestic places like homes Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, said procedures are being dished out in living rooms and bedrooms as she urged the government to ban the treatments. These treatments are being advertised as risk-free but it is only a matter of time before somebody will die, she added. The patients will say they are in extreme pain in the next couple of days and the area they had the treatment will look red and inflamed and blue, in some cases, she explained. Monique Sofroniou spoke about her experience where a bum lift failed two years ago ( Monique Sofroniou ) Ms Collins said: And then things will get progressively worse. They start to feel ill. They start having flushes. They are almost losing consciousness. Thankfully, all of these people have taken themselves off to A&E because had they not done that, they definitely would have died. My friend has a voice note from me saying I think Im dying. It is traumatic to listen to Lucy Lucy* told The Independent she nearly died after a botched liquid bum lift left her with sepsis and she was placed in an intensive care unit for four days. She was then put into a coma for four days and stayed in hospital for a month, she added. The 53-year-old said she started feeling unwell immediately after the procedure. My friend has a voice note from me saying I think Im dying. It is traumatic to listen to, she added. A day later, she had to go to hospital in an ambulance and the paramedics told her she had sepsis, she recalled. Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, urged the government to ban the treatments ( Ashton Collins/Save Face ) They phoned ahead and had a finite amount of time to get me there, Lucy said. The ambulance driver thought I would be dead by the time I got to hospital. My family called pretty much immediately to say goodbye. She recalled experiencing unbearable pain in hospital and having her hip drained four times a day. I have zero recollection of the intensive care unit pre-coma but I can remember the coma my dad crying, telling me to fight, she added. My daughter telling me she cant lose her mum. My partner sitting with me day and night telling me what we will do if I awake. I was in the worst pain of my life. In the middle of the night after the procedure, I woke up being really sick. The area was really red and hot and then I had a really high temperature Monique Sofroniou After getting home, she was unable to walk and lost her hair, Lucy added. I have cognitive issues, she said. I cant work. I drop things from my right hand, my feet feel weird. I have chest and arm pain. My skin is terrible and I look so aged. I have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said it is exploring options around regulatory oversight of the non-surgical cosmetics sector and will provide an update in due course. *Lucys name has been changed to protect her identity The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A New Jersey woman says she was sexually assaulted aboard an American Airlines flight by a stranger sitting in the next seat, and blames the carrier for not preventing the attack or intervening to stop it. The woman, whose name The Independent is withholding for her privacy, is now suing American over the vile incident, which she says took place during an August 26, 2022, night flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Newark Liberty International Airport. After taking a seat between a friend and an unknown male passenger, the woman settled in for the two-hour journey. Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant turned off the cabin lights, and Plaintiff closed her eyes to sleep, states the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in federal court. Plaintiff awoke to find the Perpetrators left arm inside her pants and his right hand forcing her hand onto his penis. The stranger had covered the two of them with his black puffer jacket, and had digitally penetrated her, according to the suit, describing the woman as having been frozen in a state of shock and panic. According to the lawsuit, the traveler managed to climb on top of her and continued the assault. Plaintiff gathered the courage to push [the] Perpetrator away, at which point he quickly returned to his seat. In-flight sexual assaults tend to occur when the cabin is dark and usually target victims sitting in window or middle seats, according to the FBI ( Getty Images/iStockphoto ) The attacker then tried to act normal, as if nothing had happened, by asking the woman if she would like some water, the suit continues. It says she quickly managed to wake her friend, who reported the alleged assault to a flight attendant. The woman was switched to a different seat for the remainder of the flight, according to the lawsuit. Once the aircraft landed, the man was escorted off the plane, and authorities took reports from the victim and other passengers who witnessed the attack, the lawsuit states. It is unknown whether the Perpetrator was taken into custody and/or ever charged with the sexual assault of Plaintiff, according to the suit. As alleged in the complaint, we look forward to seeking justice on behalf of our client to remedy this terrible injustice for all that she has suffered, the womans attorney, Brian Andris, told The Independent. In an email, an American Airlines spokesperson said, We are reviewing the lawsuit and the details of the flight. The safety and comfort of our customers is a top priority for American. The alleged perpetrator, who is not named as a defendant in the suit, does not have an attorney listed in court filings, and was unable to be reached on Monday. The lawsuit contends that the airline industry is well aware of a sharp uptick in onboard sexual assault allegations, citing FBI data. In 2023, according to FBI statistics , the bureau opened 96 cases stemming from allegations of in-flight sexual assault. Its a crime thats on the rise, the FBI said in a public alert issued in April. At the same time, the FBI, which investigates crimes aboard aircraft, has said many incidents of in-flight sex assault go unreported. The characteristics of an onboard sexual assault tend to be strikingly similar, according to the FBI alert. The attacks generally occur when the cabin is dark, and the victims are usually in a window or middle seat, it says, adding that victims report waking up to their seatmates hands inside their clothing or underwear. Perpetrators also take advantage of passengers who may have had a few drinks or taken medication to sleep through the flight, and rely on their victims not reporting them to police for various reasons, including embarrassment, not wanting to cause a scene, or convincing themselves the assault was accidental, according to the FBI. To that end, according to the new lawsuit against American Airlines, Plaintiff did nothing to cause or contribute to the cause of the assault that she suffered. The suit says American owed a duty of care to ensure the womans safety during the flight, but breached its duty of care by failing to properly monitor the cabin, failing to prevent the sexual assault, and failing to promptly intervene when the assault occurred. American was served with a summons on August 20, and has 21 days from that date to respond. 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 border patrol agent was arrested for allegedly demanding women seeking entry into the US undress during virtual processing, according to authorities. Shane Millan, 53, of Jefferson County, New York, was taken into custody on four counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, the US Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York announced in a statement. Officials allege that Millan forced three women to expose their bare chests to him over a webcam and a fourth to expose her breasts to him while her bra remained on. The officer allegedly told the women the searches were necessary for them to enter the US, which is not accurate. The officers demands were for his own gratification, the release states. The crimes took place around 10 and 25 of August, court records state. The Independent has emailed the US Customs and Border Protection for comment. A US Customs and Border Protection patch is seen on the arm of an agent in the Jacumba mountains on October 6, 2022 in Imperial County, California. Earlier this month, a New York agent was arrested after forcing women to expose their bare chests to him ( AFP via Getty Images ) The agent allegedly committed the acts in Jefferson County, close to the Canadian border, charging documents revealed. US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement to CNN that it does not tolerate misconduct within our ranks, while not specifically addressing Millans case. When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations, the statement added. United States Magistrate Judge Therese Wiley Dancks arraigned Millan on 22 August in Syracuse. He has been released pending a trial, which is scheduled for 21 October in Syracuse, New York, court records show. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A California woman has been arrested after allegedly getting caught with over $450,000 worth of merchandise stolen from drug stores. Claudia Cruz, 35, of Oakland, was booked into Alameda County Jail on charges of organized retail crime, possession of stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime, revealed a statement from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) on Friday. Investigations began in July, with officials from the CHP Golden Gate Division Organised Retail Crime Taskforce conducting a series of surveillance operations. On August 15, investigators executed search warrants at an Oakland residence and two vehicles, where as well as seizing a large quantity of stolen merchandise, they learned the suspect was also leasing a storage facility. Armed with another search warrant, the ORCTF investigators discovered even more stolen goods at the storage unit bringing the total value of the items, mostly pilfered from drug stores, to a whopping $450,000. The arrest comes one week after Governor Gavin Newsoms office published a press release reporting record progress by the CHP in combatting retail theft. The August 15 release said the ORCTF has made 884 arrests since January and seized nearly a quarter of a million stolen goods valued at more than $7.2 million. This is also following the governors building on his Real Public Safety Plan by calling for legislation cracking down on property crime, with proposals including new penalties, increasing enforcement tools to bolster existing law, eliminating the sunset date for the organized retail crime statute, and increasing existing penalties. The plan is part of Newsoms efforts to clean up the Golden State, having directed cities and state agencies last month to take urgent action against people sleeping in public spaces, with California officials clearing away a homeless encampment at Dockweiler State Beach Thursday. 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 suspect has been finally charged 34 years after a fatal hit-and-run in North Carolina after DNA testing on a marijuana cigarette. CharlotteMecklenburg Police Department announced that Herbert Stanback, 68, had been charged with felony hit-and-run in the death of 52-year-old Ruth Buchanan on 29 December 1989. Buchanan had just left a department store with a friend in Charlottes Uptown neighborhood around 4pm. When the pair crossed a busy intersection, Buchanan was hit by a dark-colored vehicle after the car failed to stop at a red light. The driver did not stop to render aid and fled the scene, police said in a news release. The womans body landed on the opposite side of the intersection. Buchanan was then transported to Charlotte Memorial Hospital with serious injuries, which she succumbed to the following day. Several witnesses were able to confirm the vehicles description and provided the vehicle tag number for the car that hit Buchanan. Detectives who worked the case that year determined that the car had a stolen tag from a Mercedes Benz and the luxury vehicle was not tied to the incident. Herbert Stanback, 68, was charged with felony hit-and-run resulting in death in the 1989 killing of 52-year-old Ruth Buchanan ( North Carolina Department of Corrections ) On January 1, 1990, officials responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle at a Comfort Inn. The tag on the car matched the description of the vehicle that struck Buchanan, a 1990 Mitsubishi Galant. Officials retrieved personal items from inside the car, including what they believed to be a marijuana joint. However, the case sat open for 32 years. In 2022, Sergeant Gavin Jackson received a Crime Stoppers tip from a person claiming to know the suspect connected with the crash. Though the tipster had gotten some of the details right, the suspect they mentioned was not connected with the incident. Officers then ultimately decided to put the marijuana cigarette through DNA testing. The results came back positive for Stanback. But, officials hit another roadblock upon discovering Stanback was incarcerated when the incident took place. He is still incarcerated with the Department of Adult Corrections in North Carolina. Officials later went to visit him in prison, where he provided a full confession to the crime. Stanback had been participating in a work release program at the time of the incident. Inmates would leave in the morning and come back in the evening. He had just gotten off his shift at a hotel close to the site of the incident when he struck the woman. Ruth Buchanan, 52, was killed in a fatal hit-and-run in 1989 ( Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department ) He later dumped the car at the Comfort Inn and returned to prison that night, Jackson said. Its a once in a career type thing, said the officer. Very rewarding feeling just to be able to notify the family of something like that. I was able to speak to Ruths son and be able to bring that kind of closure to the family. Its certainly not a phone call that they would have been expecting. Jackson added that the development signifies how important DNA technology is to police investigative efforts. Of course, not every case is going to be solved this way, but you never know whats going to happen 20, 30 or 35 years down the line. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Drew Collins says his eight-year-old little girl Elizabeth and niece Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, were like any other Midwestern girls their age. They loved spending time outdoors, singing, dressing up and would often choreograph dance routines together to face their neighbors. They were like sisters, Collins told The Independent. But unlike most other little girls in the sleepy town of Evansdale, Iowa, Elizabeth and Lyric never got to grow up. One summer afternoon in 2012, the cousins went for a bike ride together near a lake in northeast of the town. Then, the girls vanished. All that was left behind were their bikes and Collinss purse with her cell phone inside traipsed over a fence. Months of worry descended into a parents worst nightmare: their bodies were found by hunters 20 miles from where they were last seen playing together. More than a decade later, the cousinss deaths are still shrouded in mystery and treated as a double murder. Collins said hes unable to escape the summer of 2012. Despite a conflated effort between local and federal law enforcement, the victims families and Evansdale locals, the killer has never been found. Now, their case has been placed under the microscope in new three-part Netflix documentaryTaken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth? Dylan Siress series set out to do something which authorities have, as of yet, failed to do: track down the little girlss killer. Its a trap Elizabeth Collins was just eight-years-old when she was snatched and murdered in her sleepy Iowa town ( Courtesy of the Elizabeth Collins Foundation ) Evansdale was home to about 4,000 people which placed community at its center. Nevertheless, Collins said hed never let his 8-year-old go on a bike ride without an adult. Elizabeth and Lyric were dropped off at their grandmother Wylma Collinss house in downtown Evansdale on the morning of July 13, 2012 to be minded while their parents Collins is a busy tree surgeon were at work. The grandmother, who took a more laissez-faire approach to parenting, let the girls go out on their bicycles. They pedalled away at about 12.15pm after their grandma told them to be home soon. After an hour, the girls were still not home. The cousins were last sighted alive between 12.30pm and 1pm by Gilbert Drive, next to Meyers Lake a favorite amongst anglers. It was about five foot deep and filled with algae, Collins recalled. Almost three hours had passed, and Wylma alerted her daughter, Heather, who rushed home from work before, finally, calling the police. Fathers heartbreak Elizabeths dad Drew Collins said there hasnt been a day where he hasnt thought about his little girl ( Courtesy of the Elizabeth Collins Foundation ) Collins, Elizabeths father, had just got in from work when his wife, Heather, told him that the girls were missing. They'd gone, evaporated into thin air, Collins said. Upon their search, authorities and the family found the bikes, along with Collinss cell phone inside her purse at the lakes southeast corner. The area was surrounded by eight foot fences; Elizabeths purse was found strewn over one of them. When we found the purse over the fence, I started to really get nervous, Collins said. Days passed and local volunteers flocked in their droves to assist the family and police in the search for the two little girls. The Sherriffs Office joined the search by Saturday, shortly by the FBI and Department of Criminal Investigations. Police drained Meyers Lake as the FBI sent their divers into some of its deeper underwater pockets. Candlelight vigils and press conferences conferences were held, yet still there was no sight of Elizabeth and Lyric. Collins was stuck in a nightmare, but he still had to put food on the table. I would just go till I broke, and then I would let myself completely fall apart, break down, cry, or whatever I had to do, scream, and then I would get back up and go till I broke again, he said. Cold case A missing poster for Collins (L) and older cousin Cook-Morrissey (R) ( Courtesy of the Elizabeth Collins Foundation ) After five nerve-shredding months, the phone rang. It was December 5, 2012, and the family minister told Collins to come down to city hall due to a major break in the case of the missing girls. Two girls had been found dead more than 20 miles away. A day later, Chief Deputy Rick Abben with the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office confirmed that the bodies belonged to to Elizabeth and Lyric. It tears your heart apart. In one way, you're relieved because they were found and you don't have to worry anymore. But then you're like, feel guilty, he said. Collins then broke down. You feel guilty because you just felt relief because you knew where they were, but they're dead. And you're like, how can I feel relief when they're gone, he said. It really f**** you up, man. It doesnt go away A mural of the cousins etched onto a fence ( Courtesy of the Elizabeth Collins Foundation ) Collins still cant wrap his head around how on the middle of the day on a Friday, nobody saw anything. By 2017, authorities had interviewed more than 1,000 people and investigated over 300 sex offenders. Twelve years have passed since the girls were murdered, but that just means over 4000 days where Collins has grieved, trapped in purgatory. Its all consuming, he said. It doesnt go away. Youre stuck in 2012 wondering what happened to your kids. What were their last moments like? What did they do to my daughter? Collins knows that the killer is still out there. He believes that it is very possibly they still live right under his nose in Evandale. Elizabeths father says that it has been impossible to move on from the day he learnt of his daughters death in 2012 ( Courtesy of the Elizabeth Collins Foundation ) Unless you were from the area, the dad said, youd never even know that the fenced-off spot were the girls bikes were found existed. While heartbroken, the dad has never lost faith that the killer will come to justice. Collins hopes that the Netflix documentary might urge someone with knowledge to step forward. They might even think they got away with it all together. And you know, I'm not going anywhere. I know the police ain't going anywhere, he said. He takes comfort in the killers discomfort: knowing each day could be the day that the police come knocking at their door. That's the hell they live, he added. One of these days is gonna be the day, and the police are going to be knocking on their door. Elizabeth and Lyricss family members and family friends set up the Elizabeth Collins Foundation: a charity to provide funding to assist in solving cold cases of missing persons. 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 teenager is in police custody after deputies discovered four young men shot to death in a northwest Georgia park over the weekend. The 16-year-old, who has not been named, is from Rome, a town around 40 miles southwest of Pleasant Grove Park, Dalton, where the shooting took place. At around 11:14 p.m. on August 24, Whitfield County Sheriffs Office deputies responded to a call concerning a fatal shooting at the park. Upon arrival, they discovered the bodies of four Hispanic men, with WCSO Sheriff Scott Chitwood confirming they were 17, 18, 19 and 21 years old. Authorities believe the incident started as an attempted robbery and turned into a fatal shooting, but that it was not gang-related. Very, very tragic. Very tragic, said Chitwood in a press conference. There were multiple weapons involved, the sheriff added. We know that because of the multiple shell casings that were located on the scene. He added that one of the vehicles found at the scene of the shooting had contraband inside. A woman living across the street from the park said she called 911 after hearing massive amounts of gunshots, according to Fox 5. It was like if you didnt know the difference, it would have been like fireworks, thats what you thought you wouldve heard, she said. The initial news release revealed officials were searching for an SUV type vehicle and a dark hatchback vehicle with both likely to have sustained gun shots. The SUV was later found and towed to the sheriffs office by Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents. Fox 5 reported that the vehicle had multiple bullet holes on one side. Anyone with information is urged to contact the WCSO on 706-278-1233 or the GBI on 800-597-8477. 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 Long Island man who fatally shot and killed four of his family members in a horrific murder-suicide was distraught over the thought of possibly being homeless after his mothers recent death, and impending sale of the home they shared. Joseph DeLucia, 59, opened fire inside the Syosset house on Sunday, killing his brother, his two sisters and his niece, before running outside and shooting himself, police said at a news conference on Monday. Police arrived at the Wyoming Court home to find DeLucias body on the front lawn. Inside the house, they found the bodies of his brother Frank DeLucia, 63, of Durham, North Carolina; his sister Joann Kearns, 69, of Tampa; his sister, Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, both of East Patchogue. The slayings happened just before the family was set to meet with Mary Macaluso, a local realtor, to sell the home, which belonged to their mother, Newsday reported. Joseph DeLucia, 59, opened fire inside the Syosset house on Sunday, killing his brother, his two sisters and his niece, before running outside and shooting himself ( Newsday/Getty ) The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come to look at the house, she told the newspaper. The family matriarch is believed to be Theresa Martha DeLucia, 95, who is the homes most recent resident and was buried on Friday, according to records reviewed by Newsday. But when Macaluso arrived at the house on Sunday for the 12:30 p.m. appointment, police had the area blocked off following the shootings. The house is estimated to be worth $900,000, according to Zillow. In 41 years, that was one of the most horrific scenes Ive ever seen, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at the press conference. Walking into the back room, victims shot multiple times and the shooter was on the front lawn committed suicide. Neighbor Randi Marquis, who told Newsday that she had helped care for Theresa DeLucia, visited the family last week after her death. She recalled that the son was distraught over the thought of being homeless after finding out that his mothers will gave directions for selling the house, although the siblings promised theyd take care of him. He loved his mom. His mom was always there for him, Marquis said. His sister said she worried for him. She said there was nothing left for him here. He was sitting in the front yard and said, Im going to be homeless. Its very unfortunate and I cant imagine. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A 30-year-old man was discovered dead in New York Citys Newtown Creek just one year after two other young partygoers were also found dead in the same polluted waterway, which is near several nightlife venues. Damani Alexander, 30, was found in the creek, which straddles Brooklyn and Queens, on July 30. The circumstances of Alexanders death bear a striking resemblance to the two other young men Karl Clemente and John Castic who were found dead in Newtown Creek last summer after leaving the Brooklyn Mirage night club. Alexanders body was discovered at around 12:15 a.m. on July 30 after someone called 911 for a water rescue, the NYPD said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother, Desiree Nicholson, told Pix11 that Alexander had gone to the Knockdown Center, an event venue in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens, on July 28. The venue was hosting a Tiki Disco from 2 to 10 p.m. that day. At some point on July 28, Alexander told his friend that he was in danger, Nicholson told the outlet. Its not clear what happened in the two days between when he attended the Tiki Disco and when his body was found in the creek. Investigators located his wallet but not his phone, Nicholson noted. There were also no signs of trauma and investigators believed it is unlikely that he drowned, she said. Police are investigating the incident. The Independent has emailed the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which will determine the cause of death. Damani loved life, his mother told Pix11. Damani Alexander was found in Newtown Creek on July 30, marking the third tragedy of its kind in the past year ( Harmony Funeral Home ) Following the tragedy, Council Member Robert Holden, who represents the area encompassing the Knockdown Center, told The Independent in a statement: My heart goes out to the family of Damani Alexander during this difficult time, and more must be done to prevent future tragedies. Holdens office reached out to the NYPD, which said they do not suspect foul play in this particular case nor in the deaths of the two individuals last year, a spokesperson for Holden said. Police also acknowledged that there are insufficient safety measures in the area. When establishments serving liquor are located near a body of water, the risk of tragedy increases, as weve unfortunately witnessed, the spokesperson said. This information hopefully puts to rest online theories that there is a serial killer prowling the area. Alexanders death marks the third young man who was found in the waterway in the past year. Although none of the three deaths have been formally linked, they bear undeniable similarities. On June 11, 2023, Karl Clemente, 27, went to the East Williamsburg nightclub The Brooklyn Mirage, a 20-minute walk from the Knockdown Center. He was turned away around 10 p.m. because staff said he had been drinking, his father told Fox News at the time. Video surveillance obtained by the outlet showed Clemente running around the area before his disappearance. Why was he running? his father told the outlet. Someone was chasing him. Theres something fishy here. His body was found days later, on June 16, but his wallet and phone were not recovered. The medical examiner determined Clemente died from drowning and ruled the manner of death an accident. Two months later, John Castic, also 27, suffered a similar fate. Castic was last seen leaving the venue around 3 a.m. on July 29, 2023. Around 11 a.m. on August 1, someone called 911 after seeing a bloated, shirtless body floating face-down in a branch of the East River tributary, the New York Post reported at the time. Both his wallet and phone were recovered with his body. The medical examiners office confirmed that Castic drowned but marked the manner of death as undetermined. His father noted at the time that there were no signs of foul play. While theories swirled online that the deaths were connected, given their similar circumstances, city officials insist that the tragedies are indicative of a larger problem: a lack of proper safety measures in the area. The area around the waterway has become a hot spot for nightlife in recent years, with the Knockdown Center, Brooklyn Mirage, Basement, Elsewhere, and other nightclubs all within walking distance from Newtown Creek. The Newtown Creek, on both the Brooklyn and Queens sides, is far too accessible to the public, and we urgently need security and safety improvements not just around the creek but also at the various clubs nearby that serve as party spots, Council Member Holden said in the statement. Last year, the remarkable similarities sparked a local outcry for safety improvements in the area. An online letter campaign to Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez, who represents the area encompassing the venue, circulated last summer, underscoring the safety concerns of the nightclub. The letter noted capacity by significant numbers, lack of security surrounding the venue, an absence of well-lit pathways on the way to train stations, unpermitted drivers posing as rideshares, and aggressive club and venue promoters surrounding the area. Gutierrez told The Independent last year that the area was a manufacturing zone, not set up for nightlife. She warned of the areas lack of lighting and scarce cell phone service. The heartbreaking and preventable deaths of Karl Clemente and John Castic highlight the need for basic public safety measures and street infrastructure in the East Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone, the council member said last August. Although having nightlife in an industrial area is not ideal, Gutierrez said: If people are here, we need to figure out how to make it safer for folks. In the fall of 2023, in the aftermath of the deaths of Clemente and Castis, the Office of Nightlife worked in the East Williamsburg area to curb unlicensed taxi pickups, improve lighting, and boost cell service. Its not immediately clear what safety measures have been implemented in the area since the 2023 deaths. The Independent has reached out to the Knockdown Center for comment. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A PhD student in Pennsylvania could be put to death if prosecutors prove she killed her friends' newborn child and injured the babys twin brother. Allegheny District Attorney's Office said on Friday that it would pursue capital punishment charges against Nicole Virzi, who allegedly crushed the skull of six-week-old Leon Katz. Virzi, 30, was babysitting Leon in June at his family's home when the incident occurred. She is a longtime friend of the family, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, citing her attorney. According to prosecutors, Ethan Katz and his wife Savannah Roberts asked Virzi to watch Leon on June 15 while they took his twin brother, Ari, to hospital after the child was injured. Virzi was later accused of causing those injuries as well. While they were gone, Leon was injured, prompting Virzi to call 911 at around 11:15pm. She told emergency workers that the child had fallen and bumped his head and was unresponsive. Leon was taken to Pittsburgh Children's Hospital and was pronounced dead the following day, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Nicole Virzi, pictured in a booking photo, was arrested in June after police said she killed a six-week-old baby and assaulted his twin brother. Prosecutors in Allegheny County will seek the death penalty if she is convicted ( Allegheny County Jail ) Detectives investigating the incident noted in their reports that from the tallest point of the bouncer seat to the floor is only 18 inches. Doctors also told detectives that Leon's brother, Ari, had small scratches all over his face, two bruises just below his belly button, swelling, bruising, redness, and scratches on his genitals. They noted to investigators that the injuries were unnatural and suggested abuse. When questioned, Virzi told police that she was the one who first noticed Ari's injuries and informed the boy's parents. She said she saw the child scratch his own face while he was flailing in a car seat. Prosecutors noted a number of aggravating factors in the case that they believe justifies pursuing the death penalty. Among those factors is an allegation that Virzi tortured the child, which resulted in the boy's death, according to the Post-Gazette. When police questioned Virzi about the child's death, she claimed that the boy had fallen out of his bouncer chair when she had stepped away. Doctors who examined the child's remains were skeptical of that explanation, determining that the injuries were "consistent with having been sustained as a result of child abuse, as these are inflicted injuries that are not natural and not accidental," according to WTAE, which reviewed court and police records. The child's cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma to the head. A later CT scan showed that the child had suffered a severe skull fracture on the left side of his head, as well as multiple brain bleeds. Virzi faces homicide, aggravated assault, and child endangerment charges. She previously studied clinical psychology at UC San Diego's Joint Doctoral Program. She was temporarily living out of an Airbnb in Pittsburgh when the incident involving Leon occurred. Virzi has maintainer her innocence and, according to her attorney David Shrager, was devastated by the child's death. If there was something that she would want to convey, it would just be the absolutely horrible pain that shes feeling, Shrager told the Post-Gazette. These were her close friends. Despite the prosecutors' pursuit of the death penalty in this case, Governor Josh Shapiro has vowed to strike down any death warrants sought during his time in office. 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 body of an Arizona woman who went missing in the Grand Canyon National Park after a flash flood days earlier was recovered Sunday, park rangers said. The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Arizona, was discovered by a group rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon around 11.30am Sunday, the park said in a statement. Rangers recovered Nickersons body, which was transported to the rim by helicopter and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiners office. In a statement issued Sunday, her family thanked searchers and supporters and asked for privacy. We regret to inform you that our sweet Chenoa has been found deceased. Our hearts are heavy with grief, the statement said. Chenoas light will forever be a part of all of us, and we will ensure that her spirit continues to shine brightly. Her memory will never fade, and we will honor her by carrying forward the joy and love she brought into all of our lives. National Park Service officials said Nickerson was swept into Havasu Creek above the Colorado River confluence around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. She wasnt wearing a life jacket. Nickerson was hiking along Havasu Creek about a half-mile (800m) from where it meets up with the Colorado River when the flash flood struck. Nickersons husband was among the more than 100 people safely evacuated. The flash flood, which occurred shortly before 1.30pm on Thursday, led to several hikers being stranded in the area near Havasu Creek. The flood trapped several hikers in the area above and below Beaver Falls, one of a series of usually blue-green waterfalls that draw tourists from around the world to the Havasupai Tribes reservation. The area is prone to flooding that turns its iconic waterfalls chocolate brown. Other hikers made it to the village, about 2miles (3.2km) from the campground, where they awaited a helicopter ride. Governor Katie Hobbs has activated the Arizona National Guard, including Blackhawk helicopters, to help evacuate hikers from the village. Nickerson was swept into Havasu Creek, an area known for its iconic waterfalls, that is prone to flooding ( Francesca Dupuy ) Operations continued on Saturday and remained focused in the areas around Beaver Falls. Nickersons sister, Tamara Morales, noted the National Guard deployment and praised rescue crews with the National Park Service for navigating incredibly dangerous terrain with extremely limited methods of communication while leaving no stone unturned. We are profoundly grateful for you and fully acknowledge that you are currently defying the impossible," Morales said on Facebook. The Havasupai Tribes reservation is one of the most remote in the continental US, accessible only by foot, mule or helicopter. The Tribal Council closed the steep, winding trail that leads to the reservation after the flooding and asked visitors with permits through Sunday not to come. It comes following the deaths of a number of hikers on the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas. The National Park has averaged about 17 deaths a year since 2014. So far this year, there have been 11 deaths at the park. Three people have died in the past month, according to park officials. On 10 August, officials announced that the body of 20-year-old Leticia Castillo, of Albuquerque, had been found about 150 feet below the rim of the Twin Overlooks along Desert View Drive. Authorities believed the young woman entered the park around August 3 and was later reported missing. Her remains were found on August 6, officials said. One month prior a Texas man died after hiking in an unforgiving area of park, which has been known to reach up to 120F in the shade during summer months. 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 }} Barron Trump, the youngest of Donald Trumps children, is embarking on one of the first big adventures of adulthood this fall: going to college. The 18-year-old, having just graduated from Floridas prestigious Oxbridge Academy, attended his first day at New York University this week. Barron will now join a long line of young adults to attend school with the weight of their parents presidential legacies on their shoulders and Secret Service agents watching their every move. Trump introduces Barron to 2024 campaign Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent who protected George W Bush, Barack Obama and Trump, along with their families, explained the tricky nature of covering teens to The Independent. He said the goal of Secret Service agents is to impair the college experience as little as possible while providing the strongest security environment that you can. Barron Trump at a campaign rally in Miami in July ( AP ) Eckloff is no stranger to the ins and outs of presidential children, having worked with the Bush twins, Sasha and Malia Obama, all of the Trump children and many of the Trump grandchildren. Every child and grandchild of a current president receives Secret Service protection, Eckloff explained. While the children of former presidents arent guaranteed a detail after they turn 16, Barron currently receives protection, the Secret Service confirmed in a statement to The Independent. Eckloff tells The Independent that Barron will be going to NYU when social media poses a greater threat than ever both to his safety and his privacy. How do agents protect young adults in the age of social media? People recording a video of a presidential child and then posting it on TikTok or Instagram for the world to see is part of the new reality for security. The Secret Service has to monitor [social media], Eckloff said. Lets say that a presidents child is at a party and someone tweets out their picture. Now, their location is broadcast on social media, and they could become a target. That can endanger everybody. This is true for children of current and former presidents alike. In 2017, Harvard University students launched into a social media frenzy when Malia Obama the oldest Obama daughter arrived on campus. Sasha (left) and Malia Obama both faced high levels of scrutiny as they grew up and attended college in the era of social media ( AFP via Getty Images ) Social media users were quick to share photos of the then-19-year-old moving in, sharing her location and movements with the wider world. The general threat environment that we face in the 21st century is greater than it has ever been, Eckloff said. Peoples location and activities tend to be more publicly known, and social media is more reactive. Not only can this endanger the students, it can also open them up to high levels of scrutiny. In 2016, Malia Obama appeared all over the tabloids after she was photographed smoking at Chicagos Lollapalooza festival. (In her next festival appearance, Malia wore a Harvard hat, her future college, and a t-shirt with a homemade smoking kills slogan). Meanwhile, her younger sister Sasha Obama, then just 15 years old, was being photographed at her summer job waiting tables in Marthas Vineyard. This issue dates back even before the advent of social media. When President Bill Clintons daughter Chelsea Clinton started at Stanford University in 1997, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton wrote a public address in the Los Angeles Times asking for people to respect the 17-year-olds privacy. "I cant imagine having any of those private experiences, all part of finding myself, being interrupted by the bright lights of camerasand not because of anything I was or did but because of my parents occupations," Clinton wrote. Bill, Chelsea and Hillary Clinton leaving Stanford Universitys 2001 graduation ceremony ( Getty Images ) Presidential children typically maintain a high level of privacy while theyre still in K-12 school. Thats because many of them attend prestigious, expensive private schools and are surrounded by others who understand the need for privacy, especially on the internet. Theyre used to wealthy kids, Eckloff explained. So there tends to be more discretion for protecting peoples anonymity. College involves thousands more students and huge campuses to navigate plus just more access to the masses if the university is in a metropolis like New York City. How do Secret Service agents navigate campus life? Secret Service protection for presidential children must be far more discreet than for the Commander-in-Chief. Agents dress in plain clothes and rely on remote technology such as cameras and alarms to protect the student. Protective surveillance is a part of it, which means youre close and watching and waiting to respond, Eckloff explained. A college campus is an unpredictable environment especially when theyre in busy urban areas, like NYU is. Students protection also becomes more complicated as they go out with friends or start dating someone. Thats why Secret Service agents must be adaptable and plan to fail, Eckloff explained. Planning to fail is where the Secret Service wins, he said. They have contingency plans in place for when things break down. Secret Service agents must monitor social media more than ever to protect students like Barron Trump, says former agent Paul Eckloff ( Getty Images ) Dorm living is a prime example. Agents are typically always inside the dorm building with students. However, they cant prepare for every possible scenario or completely secure the buildings that could house hundreds of students who are also studying, underage drinking and causing normal college chaos. They have to be innovative in how they achieve the protection, Eckloff said. You cant secure the entire dorm, its just not realistic. Ultimately, Eckloff explained, Secret Service agents want to protect the student with as little disruption to their life as possible. Many kids are experiencing an independent life for the first time, and having Secret Service can hamper that, he continued. Theyre sensitive to it, but they have a job, and its critically important. I think youd rather have your college experience impacted a little than be kidnapped. 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 }} As Donald Trump falls behind in national polls, his campaign is making an aggressive push ahead of November with an all hands on deck strategy. Vice President Kamala Harris currently holds a 3.4-point lead over Trump, according to an average of national polls taken on Monday. Now, his campaign is ramping up a more aggressive strategy, CNN reports. Think Trump on steroids, an unnamed campaign source told the network. This is going to be an all hands on deck approach. The source also told the outlet Trump will visit two states per day, focusing on battleground areas. This new approach comes after a slow summer for Trump compared to previous election cycles. In 2016, Trump held 22 rallies between July 1 and August 10, according to The Washington Post. This year, Trump held just eight in the same time span. During a meandering press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, Trump was asked why he wasnt campaigning more. The former president responded by calling the question stupid. Donald Trump during a campaign stop in Virginia on Monday. Trumps campaign is adopting an all hands on deck strategy, a new report reveals ( AP ) While November 5 is still more than 70 days away, early voting will start in a matter of weeks in some states. I think that its a good strategy, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha told CNN. I think that were getting down to the close to the end, now. We keep talking about 72 days, but folks actually start voting here in about 40 days, he continued. Early ballots go out in Nevada and Arizona and a lot of these other battleground states. Looming large over the race is the September 10 ABC News debate between Trump and Harris. Harriss campaign is reportedly in a dispute with Trumps team over whether to keep the candidates microphones on throughout the entire debate. The Harris campaign wants to keep the microphones on the entire time, a deviation from the Biden campaigns initial request. However, Trumps team claims the Harris campaign is trying to change the rules with the hope that the former president will bow out. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own, Brian Fallon, senior adviser for communications for the Harris campaign, told Politico. Trump also criticized ABC, suggesting he wanted to move the debate to another news organization. The former president said ABC treated Republican Senator Tom Cotton unfairly when he appeared on the network over the weekend. When I looked at the hostility of that, I said, Why am I doing it? Lets do it with another network. I want to do it, Trump said at a Virginia campaign stop on Monday. Id much rather do it on NBC, he said. Id much rather do it on CBS. Frankly, I think CBS is very unfair, but the best of the group, and certainly I do it on Fox, Id even do it on CNN. I thought CNN treated us very fairly the last time. The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} HR McMaster, Donald Trumps former national security adviser, is warning that the ex-president is easily susceptible to manipulation, and needs a competent team around him to help him identify his own agenda. He can make really sound decisions and disrupt things that need to be disrupted in terms of foreign policy, national security, said retired US Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster on Sunday regarding the GOP presidential candidate, but oftentimes struggles to hang on to those decisions and see them through. Appearing on CBS News Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, he made the claim while promoting his new book, At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, which is set to go on sale on August 27. In his memoir, McMaster lays out the policies of Trumps administration to give readers insight into what a second Trump term would look like. Now a CBS News foreign policy and national security contributor, he also said Trump can make sound decisions if provided with the best analysis and multiple options, but sometimes struggles to stick with those decisions because people know, kind of, how to push his buttons, especially buttons associated with maintaining the complete support of his political base. In an excerpt from the book, which was highlighted by Brennan and also published in the Wall Street Journal, McMaster suggests Trump is at least partially susceptible to manipulation through his ego: Putin, a ruthless former KGB operator, played to Trumps ego and insecurities with flattery. In his new book, HR McMaster has said Donald Trump needs a competent team around him to help him identify his own agenda ( AP ) The GOP presidential candidate has boasted that the war in Ukraine would not have happened if I were president, and that he could end the conflict in just one day if re-elected. Among the revelations in his memoir, McMaster wrote that following the 2018 poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, Trump asked McMaster to send Vladimir Putin an appreciative note when he read a New York Post story titled Putin heaps praise on Trump, pans US politics, according to The Guardian. The father and daughter were exposed to a lethal nerve agent, novichok, in Salisbury, England in March that year, and survived the attack following weeks in hospital. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung refuted this incident when asked for comment by The Hill, this is nothing more than fake news intended to use made-up, salacious fabrications in order to sell copies of a book that belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section, he insisted. McMaster announced his resignation as the former presidents national security adviser on March 22, 2018, following departures of several other high-ranking officials, including Trumps long-time assistant and communications director Hope Hicks, who testified during his hush money trial. 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 }} Kerry Kennedy has said she is disgusted by her brother Robert F Kennedy Jrs obscene backing of Donald Trump. In a scathing rebuke of her brother, Kennedy said by dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Trump, RFK Jr has set fire to their fathers memory. Their father, the late senator Robert F Kennedy, who served as the former attorney general, was assassinated while running for president in 1968. Speaking to Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC, Kennedy said: If my dad were alive today, the real Robert Kennedy wouldve detested almost everything Donald Trump represents. I am outraged and disgusted by my brothers obscene embrace of Donald Trump. I completely disavow and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr and his flagrant efforts to desecrate, trample and set fire to my fathers memory. Five of RFK Jrs siblings shared a joint statement on Friday where they condemned their brother and backed Kamala Harris for president. Trump welcomes RFK Jr on stage at his rally in Glendale, Arizona after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed the former president ( AP ) The statement, signed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy, said: We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobbys decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story. Writing an op-ed in the LA Times, Max Kennedy also implored voters to ignore my brother Bobby and said he was heartbroken by RFK Jrs decision to back Trump. He said: It is all the more tragic because of our brothers name. To carry the name Robert F. Kennedy Jr. means a special legacy within a legacy. It would strongly imply a desire to carry on our fathers work. But Bobbys alliance with Trump puts this in jeopardy. Joe Kennedy III, one of Robert F Kennedys grandchildren and who serves in the Biden administration as a special envoy to Northern Ireland, shared the statement on X , adding, well said. Shortly after his address last Friday, RFK Jr shared how his wife Cheryl Hines was uncomfortable with his decision. He said: I am so grateful to my amazing wife Cheryl for her unconditional love, as I made a political decision with which she is very uncomfortable. Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, the Kennedy family previously endorsed him at an event earlier this year where they warned about the dangers of a Trump presidency. In a blow to her brother, Kerry Kennedy said at the time: Nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. Thats right, the Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president. I can only imagine how Donald Trumps outrageous lies and behaviour would have horrified my father, senator Robert F Kennedy, who proudly served as the Attorney General of the United States and honoured his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country. Daddy stood for equal justice, for human rights and freedom from want and fear, she added. 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 deleted a Truth Social post about the Powerfulnnz Border after it was strewn with errors and typos. Trump was responding to the Border Patrol Union, who said they were honored to join the former president at his visit to the Arizona-Mexico border last week. These are great patriots who work their hearts out to have a Strong and Powerfulnnz Border, only to be harassed by Border Czar Kamala Harris, who wants the, he trailed off in the early hours of Sunday morning. His post was deleted, but not before it was mocked on social media. One person joked: How do I like my covfefe? Strong and powerfulnnz. Is Donald Trump stroking out? He just stopped mid-sentence, another said. The post was reminiscent of his infamous covfefe typo from 2017. He went viral after he posted on X: despite the constant negative press covfefe. The former president has attempted to brand Harris as a communist and on Wednesday mocked his aides for trying to get him to focus on policy and less on personal attacks. While at the border last Thursay, Trump chose to attack the Democrats for picking Harris to replace Biden instead of staying focused on the vice presidents record with immigration. Trump at the Arizona-Mexico border last week ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) His latest incoherent post comes amid reports Trump appears not to be in command of himself because hes jarred by the rise of the Democratic presidential nominee. Over the weekend, longtime Trump observer Maggie Haberman was played a clip of the former president calling into Fox News on Thursday after Harriss acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention . During the interview, the Fox hosts had trouble cutting him off, and Trump appeared visibly frustrated when one anchor pointed out polls showing that Harris has momentum in the presidential race. Hes very reactive ... when he is not in command, The New York Times journalist told CNN. And we have seen this over the course of the last nine years that hes been in politics or in the political arena. He is clearly jarred by her. He has been trying to get back into the national conversation for several weeks now ever since President Biden announced he wasnt running for re-election. 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 }} Australian employees can now legally ignore calls and texts from managers after office hours without fear of disciplinary action thanks to their new right to disconnect. With the new rules in force, a worker can refuse to read, monitor or respond to work communication outside of paid working hours, unless deemed unreasonable. Just as people dont get paid 24 hours a day, they dont have to work for 24 hours a day, prime minister Anthony Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday. For many Australians, I think theyre getting frustrated that theyre expected to be on their phones, their emails, all of that, for 24 hours a day, he said. Its a mental health issue, frankly. "What this is really about is trying to bring back a bit more work-life balance into peoples lives," said workplace relations minister Murray Watt. "What were asking people to do is just have a bit of respect for peoples private life and recognise that theyre not being paid after hours to take those calls, he told Sky News. He argued that junior staff on lower salaries shouldnt be burdened with after-hours calls for routine matters that can wait until the next day. Im not a CEO, I just feel like I have a high-powered job, part-time airline customer service worker Lizzy Grant told the Australian Associated Press. But really Im just a bloody customer service officer for an airline underpaid and overworked, Ms Grant said. Rachel Abdelnour, who works in advertising, said the changes would help her disconnect in an industry where clients often have different working hours. "I think its actually really important that we have laws like this," she told Reuters. "We spend so much of our time connected to our phones, connected to our emails all day, and I think that its really hard to switch off as it is." Supporters say the law gives workers the confidence to stand up against the steady invasion of their personal lives by work emails, texts and calls, a trend that has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic scrambled the division between home and work. "Before we had digital technology there was no encroachment, people would go home at the end of a shift and there would be no contact until they returned the following day," said John Hopkins, an associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology. "Now, globally its the norm to have emails, SMS, phone calls outside those hours, even when on holiday. Employees will have a definitive end to their working day and no longer carry the burden of continuing to be contactable about work-related matters in their private time, unless certain reasonable exceptions apply, Dr Gabrielle Golding from the University of Adelaide told the Guardian. This result signals a momentous societal shift in the value placed on work and similarly on wellbeing and private time. Australians worked on average 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023, according to a survey last year by the Australia Institute, which estimated the monetary value of the labour at A$130bn (66bn). The changes add Australia to a group of roughly two dozen countries, mostly in Europe and Latin America, which have similar laws. The new rule allows employers to contact employees for emergencies or irregularly scheduled work, but employees can refuse if reasonable. However, in case of dispute, an employee can raise the matter to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) that will determine reasonableness based on factors like role, personal circumstances, and contact method. Non-compliance may result in fines up to A$19,000 (14,399) for individuals or A$94,000 (71,237) for companies. The Australian Industry Group criticised the rules ambiguity as it predicted confusion, reduced flexibility, and economic slowdown. "The laws came literally and figuratively out of left field, were introduced with minimal consultation about their practical effect and have left little time for employers to prepare," the group said on Thursday. The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Michele ONeil said the caveat built into the law meant it wont interfere with reasonable requests. Instead, it will stop workers paying the price for poor planning by management, she said. She cited an unidentified worker who finished a shift at midnight, only to be texted four hours later and told to be back at work by 6am. "Its so easy to make contact, common sense doesnt get applied anymore," she said. "We think this will cause bosses to pause and think about whether they really need to send that text or that email." Additional reporting by agencies 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 }} At least one person has died and two others are missing after an ice cave collapsed during a visit by tourists in southern Iceland on Sunday. Emergency responders received a call at around 3pm that an ice canyon gave way in the Breiamerkurjokull glacier when a group of 25 tourists were exploring the cave. Four people got stuck under the ice, two people have already been rescued from the ice and are seriously injured, Sudurland police said in a social media post on Sunday. Police later said one of the rescued tourists had died from their injuries at the scene of the accident. The other was taken by helicopter to Landspitalinn, the National University Hospital in the capital and is reportedly in a stable condition. The search is still on for the two people trapped in the ice cave, said the police statement. Others in the group escaped uninjured. Local media reported that it was not immediately clear which country the tourists were from or what company operated the ice cave excursion. A large number of rescuers were dispatched to the scene of incident, who worked throughout the afternoon and into the evening searching for the two missing people. The operation was paused after dark due to the dangerous conditions but will resume in the morning, police said. The Breiamerkurjokull glacier is part of Vatnajokull National Park, one of Europes largest, spread across nearly 5,460sq miles. Local news site Visir said the group was on an organised ice cave tour and were accompanied by a guide but most people were outside the cave when it collapsed. The ice cave is a popular destination for tourists. The collapse was likely not related to a volcanic eruption in southwest Iceland on Friday, around 185 miles away from the glacier. Handout picture released on 23 August by police in Iceland shows lava and smoke erupting from a volcano near Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula ( Iceland Police ) Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that efforts to transport equipment and personnel up to the glacier had proven difficult due to the rugged terrain and cutting through the ice was mostly done by hand with chainsaws. A team of 150 people are involved in the search and rescue effort. Although we think we know the location of the two missing, it is hard to say what amount of ice is between them and the rescuers,Jon or Viglundsson, a spokesperson for ICE-SAR, a volunteer search-and-rescue association was quoted as saying by the New York Times. It is a difficult situation. Additional reporting by agencies Close Final moments of seven who died in Bayesian tragedy revealed by fire service boss For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The captain of the Bayesian has insisted that he did everything possible to save those on board the superyacht, according to local reports. Sources close to James Cutfield, 51, told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that the 51-year-old New Zealander is currently living through the darkest days of his life as he is under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges. They reportedly said Mr Cutfield repeatedly insists that he did not abandon any of the 22 passengers and crew and that he did everything could could to save them. However, there reached a point when he could do little as the vessel had taken on too much water, they added. Since Wednesday, Tim Parker Eaton, the engineer who was in charge of securing the yachts engine room, and sailor Matthew Griffith, who was on watch duty on the night of the disaster, are also under investigation for the same possible charges, their lawyer said on Friday. British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the seven people who were killed after his superyacht capsized and went down on 19 August within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm off the coast of Sicily. 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 }} Ryan Evans, a British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, has been identified as the man killed in a missile strike on Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The incident occurred while Evans was staying at the hotel as part of a six-person team covering the Ukraine war. Reuters said Evans, 38, was a former British soldier who had been with the agency since 2022. He died when a suspected Russian Iskander missile struck the hotel on Saturday. The attack also injured two Reuters journalists, one of whom sustained serious injuries. The US State Department confirmed that an American citizen was among those injured in the Russian strike on the hotel. Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans stands in a field while working with a news reporting team in an undated photo taken in Ukraine ( Reuters ) We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families, Reuters said. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryans family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly. Evans had extensive experience advising journalists on safety in conflict zones, including Ukraine and Israel. He also worked on coverage of the Paris Olympics. He had previously worked as an operations manager for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in Libya for nine years. According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was originally from Cheshire in the UK. Reuters cameraman Herbert Villarraga, Reuters producer Asya Shtefan, Reuters safety advisor Steve Kelly, Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans and Reuters photographer Clodagh Kilcoyne have dinner cooked by Ryan Evans on Christmas Day at the Sapphire hotel, in Kramatrosk Ukraine, 25 December 2022 ( Reuters ) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the missile strike as deliberate and calculated, condemning the targeting of a hotel used by civilians. An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by the Russian Iskander [missile], he said in his evening address on Sunday, adding the strike was absolutely purposeful, thought out. My condolences to family and friends, he said. This is the daily Russian terror that continues. Reuters cameraman Herbert Villarraga, Reuters safety advisor Steve Kelly, Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans, Reuters producer Asia Shtefan and Reuters photographer Clodagh Kilcoyne on Christmas eve during a news reporting assignment on the front line, in Bakhmut, Ukraine, 24 December 2022 ( Reuters ) The Donetsk regional prosecutors office confirmed the body of a British citizen was found in the rubble, and Ukrainian authorities reported additional injuries among other foreign journalists in the attack. All other members of the Reuters team members who were not injured or killed in the attack have been accounted for and are reportedly safe. 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 }} Messaging service Telegram said the companys chief Pavel Durov who was detained at a Paris airport has nothing to hide. Mr Durov, citizen of both France and Russia, was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday after he landed in France from Azerbaijan. Investigators with the French customs department notified Mr Durov that he was being placed in police custody. French prosecutors declined to comment on Mr Durov's arrest in line with regulations during an ongoing investigation, according to the Associated Press. Local media reported that Mr Durov, 39, was the subject of an arrest warrant on allegations that his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and other offences. The warrant was issued by France at the request of the special unit at the country's interior ministry in charge of investigating crimes against minors, including online sexual exploitation, such as possession and distribution of child sexual abuse content and grooming for sexual purposes, according to reports. Telegram said it abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act and its moderation is within industry standards. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation, the company said. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information...It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, the messaging platform said in a post on X. Telegram was founded by Mr Durov and his brother in the wake of the Russian governments crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012. The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, adopting regulations that forced internet providers to block websites and cellphone operators to store call records and messages that could be shared with security services. Solutions to avoid misinformation on social media this election cycle In the increasingly repressive environment, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news. In 2018, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor moved to block Telegram over its refusal to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to fully restrict access to the app. Telegram continued to be widely used including by government institutions and the ban was dropped two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor said that Telegram was working with the Russian government to a certain extent and had removed more than 256,000 posts with prohibited content at Roskomnadzors request. Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war, and deliver missile and air raid alerts. A French judicial official suggested that Durov could appear before a judge later Sunday to determine whether he will remain in custody. The official wasnt authorized to be named publicly during an ongoing investigation. If the person concerned is to be brought before a judge today, it is only in the context of the possible extension of his police custody measure a decision that must be taken and notified by an investigating judge, the official said. Telegram said its chief, Mr Durov, has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov ( Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Western governments have often criticized Telegram for lack of content moderating on the messaging service, which experts say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking, and allowing the sharing of content linked to sexual exploitation of minors. Russian government officials expressed outrage at Durovs arrest, with some highlighting what they said was the West's double standards on freedom of speech. In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned the Russian courts decision to block Telegram, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Do you think this time theyll appeal to Paris and demand Durovs release? Zakharova said in a post on her personal Telegram account. Officials at the Russian Embassy in Paris had requested access to Durov, Zakharova told Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti, but she added that French authorities view Durovs French citizenship as his primary one. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The United Nations has been forced to halt its humanitarian aid operations in Gaza, a senior official has warned, after Israel issued new evacuation orders for the city of Deir al-Balah. As the latest round of high-level talks for a ceasefire in the 10-month war sparked by Hamass incursion into Israel on 7 October ended without a final agreement on Sunday, Israel issued yet another evacuation order in a part of Deir al-Balah it said was now considered a dangerous combat zone. City authorities say 250,000 people have so far been displaced there in recent weeks, with families forced to sleep without shelter on roads and the nearby beach, as the UN warned of an 85 per cent shortfall in water due to just three out of the citys 18 wells remaining operational. Displaced Palestinians prepare to leave the perimeter of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah ( Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images ) And a senior UN official, speaking anonymously to Reuters on Monday, warned that, as of this morning, were not operating in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid because were unable to deliver today with the conditions that were in. Were not leaving [Gaza], because the people need us there, the official said, adding that staff on the ground have been directed to try and find a way to keep operating. Were trying to balance the need of the population with the need for safety and security of the UN personnel. The UN previously relocated its main command operations for the Gaza Strip and most personnel to Deir al-Balah after Israel ordered the evacuation of Rafah, they said, adding: Where do we move now? ... The space to operate is being restricted more and more than ever. One Palestinian woman said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times. I left half of my children behind me near my furniture and I am now with my little ones and my daughter. Only God can help us ... I have no money for transportation, I will go to area 17 where my family is staying on my foot. I took my kids and three are left behind. No idea where, the woman said. Hundreds of patients have fled the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, fearing fresh bombing by Israel ( AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana ) The new orders have forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility serving central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardments. While Israel said it had informed health officials that the facilities did not need to be evacuated, the hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice, and people could be seen fleeing the hospital and surrounding areas on Monday, with some pushing patients on stretchers or carrying sick children. Our fate is to die, a woman named Fatimah al-Attar told the Associated Press as she left the hospital compound. There is no place for us to go. There is no safe place. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said an explosion around 250 metres from the hospital on Sunday had accelerated the exodus. As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment, the charity said. The hospital said it was treating more than 600 patients before the evacuation orders. Only around 100 patients remained on Monday, including seven in intensive care and eight in the childrens ward. Smoke was seen during an Israeli military operation in Deir al-Balah on Sunday ( EPA ) As Israels offensive continued, a US official said four days of high-level talks for a ceasefire and deal to return Israeli hostages seized on 7 October had ended in Cairo without a final agreement. But talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days in an effort to bridge remaining gaps. A senior US official described the talks as constructive but Hamas official Osama Hamdan criticised those remarks as false and intended to boost electioneering in the upcoming presidential ballot. Hamas said it rejected new conditions made by Israel during the talks. The development came after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early on Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signalled that their most intense exchange in months was over. Hezbollah claimed to hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, and Israel claimed its dozens of strikes had been pre-emptive to avert a larger attack. Neither offered evidence. Blasts and missiles rocket across sky in northern Israel after Hezbollah retaliates Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attack, a response to Israels killing of a top militant commander in Beirut last month, had been delayed to give the Gaza ceasefire talks a chance, and so fellow Iran-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether to attack Israel all at once. He said Hezbollah will reserve the right to respond at a later time if the results of Sundays attack arent sufficient. He added that allied Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran itself had yet to respond. But he told the Lebanese people: At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the centre of the country, adding: I repeat this is not the end of the story. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a crushing blow from the Israeli strikes but warned that the current situation of tens of thousands of Israelis being evacuated from their homes is not sustainable, vowing Israel would return its population to its sovereign territory. Additional reporting by agencies 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 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 IndyTech email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Apple has announced when it will reveal the iPhone 16 alongside other products. The company will hold an event, seemingly titled Its Glowtime, at its California headquarters on 9 September. It will begin at 10am local Pacific time, or 6pm in the UK. Both the reference to the glow and the swirling colours in the invitation appear to be a reference to Apple Intelligence, the companys new AI features. That uses the same swirling colours when it is invoked on the iPhone. ( Apple ) In addition to the new iPhone 16, Apple is rumoured to be launching an updated Apple Watch and new AirPods. The iPhone 16 is rumoured to once again come in four options: the Pro and non-Pro, and a larger version of each. Rumours suggest that they will feature a largely similar design, but the Pro models displays may be larger and the non-Pro phones might get the Action Button that is currently exclusive to the higher-end models. The swirling colours presumably indicate that Apple Intelligence will be a central part of the marketing for the new phones. Currently, only the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can get access to it but the full iPhone 16 line-up is likely to be able to use the new tools, and more features could be announced for those new handsets. This years event falls on Monday, a day that Apple has never before used to introduce an iPhone before. Almost all rumours had suggest that the iPhone will be launched the following day, on 10 September. The company may have chosen to go early to avoid the first TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, which is scheduled to happen on the Tuesday. In recent years, Apple has settled into a dependable schedule of opening pre-orders for the new phone on the Friday after the event, and then putting them on sale a week later. There is nothing to indicate that schedule will change this time around. Soon after the event, Apple is likely to announce the release of its new software, which includes iOS 18. That brings a range of new features though it is not clear whether it will include Apple Intelligence, even to phones that support it. BBC Antiques Roadshow guests were gobsmacked by the valuation of Second World War medals awarded to a pigeon on Sunday's (25 August) episode. The rare wartime piece was a PDSA Dickin Medal awarded to a bird called Mary. It was given to animals for their work in the conflict. Expert Mark Smith explained that pigeons would carry messages from the French Resistance to the UK and described Mary as the "James Bond of the pigeon world" before leaving the guests stunned at the value of the piece. Jake Sullivan has urged restraint after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early in southern Lebanon on Sunday, 25 August. The White House national security adviser said the US and allies are working to prevent an escalating regional conflict in the Middle East. The cross-border firing of missiles, rockets and drones was the largest day of attacks since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was reignited last October, after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas led a deadly incursion into Israel. Sullivan told reporters: It is incumbent on all parties, in the region to work towards de-escalation and stability. A fire burned at a high-rise building in Blackwall, London, less than 24 hours after a blaze broke out at a block of flats in Dagenham. Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze on Biscayne Avenue, where half of a flat and balcony on the 25th floor of the 45-storey building were alight, London Fire Brigade said. Firefighters were first called to Blackwall just before 1:30pm. It came just hours after around 225 firefighters and 40 fire engines scrambled to tackle the blaze in Dagenham. Volodymyr Zelensky has offered his condolences to the family of a British ex-soldier who was killed in a suspected Russian strike in Ukraine on Saturday, 24 August. Ryan Evans, 38, a safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, was in the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk when it was hit. In a statement, the agency said it was devastated to learn of his death and that two of its journalists were also injured, one seriously. In a video posted to Facebook on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said: A regular city hotel was destroyed by a Russian Iskander missile. Absolutely purposefully, in a thought-out way. The mother of a boy who was killed at a 16th birthday by a zombie knife in June 2023 has urged the government to take action on the weapons. Hayley Ryalls son Mikey Roynon, from Kingswood in Bristol, died from a single 9.5cm stab wound to the neck. Three teenagers were convicted over the killing. Ryall spoke to Good Morning Britain as an amnesty and compensation scheme for people in England and Wales who possess zombie-style knives and machetes began ahead of the weapons being banned. Its so much more serious than I would ever have known, she said. If we dont change that for the next generation, its just going to get worse. People are going to lose their kids. EU tax on EVs from China has sparked tit-for-tat anti-subsidy investigation into Irish agri-exports to Chinese market 'The Chinese birth rate in the past 10 years has nearly halved. That means a lot less infant formula is needed.' Photo: Getty Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are facing a 37pc duty on what had been a rapidly growing trade into the EU. Photo: Getty Images 'After the US election China-bashing will increase and the Americans will expect the Europeans to fall in line,' according to John Clarke, the EUs former chief agricultural trade negotiator. Photo: Getty Irish pork and dairy farmers fear they have found themselves caught in the crosshairs of a global trade dispute over electric vehicles that has little to do with them. And trade experts spoken to by the Sunday Independent are warning that whatever the result of the current spat between the EU and China, the growing volatility in international trade means that Ireland needs to plot a careful course as Europe, the US and China increasingly butt heads over trade. The spat presents real risks for Ireland and its food trade policy, says Ian Lahiffe, a Beijing-based agri-food trade expert who represents Irish firm Celtic Sea Minerals in China but who is Irelands representative at the European Chamber of Commerce. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are facing a 37pc duty on what had been a rapidly growing trade into the EU. Photo: Getty Images Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are facing a 37pc duty on what had been a rapidly growing trade into the EU. In what is seen widely as a retaliation, the Chinese commerce ministry last week announced an anti-subsidy investigation into imported dairy products from the EU. The move follows a similar one in July that saw the Chinese authorities launch an anti-dumping investigation into pork products from the EU. For now, the targeted nature of the Chinese move excluding, for example, baby formula limits the potential damage, but a further escalation would threaten significant industries and the the Irish Farmers Association has warned that Irish farmers cannot become the fall guys. In 2023, Ireland exported approximately 55,529 tonnes of pigmeat valued at 106m to China. Dairy was even more significant, with 420m or 7pc of total Irish dairy exports sold to China in 2023. The dairy sector in particular is where there has been long-term growth into China and the Chinese dont have too many levers to pull, so we have to take the threat seriously, says Lahiffe, who will speak at the Agricultural Science Association annual conference in Kilkenny on September 5. If there is a chance that Irish farmers will be left stuck with a lot of dairy or pork that would have been sold into China, it is important we look at the options to diversify into alternative markets in a short period of time. That would be quite challenging. 'The Chinese birth rate in the past 10 years has nearly halved. That means a lot less infant formula is needed.' Photo: Getty The dispute comes on the back of a long period of growing geopolitical antagonism between the West, particularly the US, and the mood music around China is increasingly negative in the West, says Lahiffe. At the European Union Chamber of Commerce, for example, where I represent Ireland, the sentiment is not about reinvesting in China. People are worried about the geopolitics and the underlying fundamentals of the Chinese economy. He believes that for companies that have products that are a good market fit, theres still growth opportunities in China. There is a double negative for Irish exporters because, apart from the trade issues, the Chinese economy didnt get the bounce back after Covid and I think that has really shaken the confidence here in China, he says. The property market is unstable and people have gone back to being very cautious and spending less. I think they have the perseverance and they have the tools to get out of it. But the longer it kind of drags on, the more it becomes kind of the status quo. Before this all started you would meet so many Chinese entrepreneurs that were really dynamic, whereas now you feel theres a little bit more risk aversion, like theyre afraid of having their wings clipped. For dairy producers specifically, he sees the falling Chinese birth rate as a significant long-term challenge. The birth rate in the past 10 years has nearly halved. Ten years ago there were about 14 million children born in China and last year it was seven and a half million. That means a lot less infant formula is needed. And adults are also cutting back on dairy consumption because of the economic situation. So overall, it is likely to be a smaller market. John Clarke, the EUs former chief agricultural trade negotiator Ultimately, if the Chinese market for Irish agri-food does not grow to the extent it was once hoped it would, this, he believes, would provide a compelling reason to consider a reduction in the size of Irish herds quite apart from the environmental reasons that are often cited, he says. John Clarke, the EUs former chief agricultural trade negotiator, who will also speak at the conference in Kilkenny, believes that the latest Chinese move to specifically target cheese in what he sees as a tit-for-tat retaliation is not a smart move, not least because, he says, it disregards WTO rules. Chinas move is quite calibrated and modest and I dont believe it will give huge leverage over the EU. It is not a huge sector in overall terms and it wont dissuade EU member states when they are deciding whether or not to impose definitive duties on electric vehicles in November. He does not believe that it is the opening salvo of a full-on trade war: But I could be wrong, he warns. He is very concerned by the overall geopolitical atmosphere. Irrespective of who gets elected in the US in November, the China-bashing will increase and the Americans will expect the Europeans to fall in line. So the EU will have to kind of navigate between the two, yeah, and avoid being collateral damage. The Chinese are very good at playing divide and conquer with the EU member states. They squeeze and punish some of them and let others off the hook. Ian Lahiffe, a Beijing-based agri-food trade expert Nevertheless, he believes that Irelands relationship with China is good and so it is unlikely to be the target of this. He believes, despite the growing tensions, it still makes commercial sense for Irish companies to look to export to China and build long-term relationships there. Ian Wright, the co-chair of the UKs food and drink expert council, believes it would be a mistake for the EU to underestimate Chinas determination in the current dispute. The Chinese attitude to trade is very similar to the Trump attitude to trade. When Trump says: America first, you know, he means it. And the same is true of China. They are still building the Chinese economy. So I think its important to take them entirely seriously. This is a really long-term issue. The rise over the past 10 years of populism and authoritarian regimes is partly to blame for the deteriorating atmosphere around trade, he says. When Trump says America first, he means it. So does China But we are not just seeing it from populist leaders. Populations increasingly want more nationalist policies. Governments in the past were prepared to stand up against that and push the advantages of global trade. But that seems to be much less prevalent now. This presents a big problem for both the EU and the UK, he says. Our pattern of trade was established in a period when international trade and globalism were popular. Unravelling that, finding replacement markets and restoring the balance is very difficult. Aer Lingus is reducing its Dublin-London Heathrow service from this winter, blaming a post-Covid decline in travel on the route that has not recovered and a broader reassessment of its capacity deployment. It is also understood that the carrier is undertaking a review of its capacity deployment in the context of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, which isnt allowed under an existing planning condition to handle more than 32 million passengers a year. While Aer Lingus now expects to receive all six Airbus A321 XLR jets that had previously been allocated to the carrier, they will be used in the context of that overall reassessment of its network and capacity, its understood. That could see it remove a larger A330 from service on routes to the US, for example, replacing it with an XLR and then redeploying that A330 elsewhere. Aer Lingus, whose CEO is Lynne Embleton, has seen more competition out of Dublin on transatlantic routes from rivals such as JetBlue and Delta. The airline, part of the IAG group that also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, confirmed on Monday that it will reduce the service by two departures a day from Dublin starting this winter. That will see the carrier operate between nine and 10 departures a day this winter, compared with the 11 to 12 it had last winter. Next summer, the airline will have between 11 and 12 departures a day from Dublin to Heathrow compared with the 13 to 14 it has this summer. Business travel on the route is about 75pc of what it was before the pandemic, its believed. Aer Lingus is continuing to assess the implications of the financial damage caused by the pilot industrial dispute in the context of the current competitive environment and the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, said a spokesperson for the airline. This includes a review of the weaker parts of the airlines network and its cost base, they added. In that context, Aer Lingus is reducing its Dublin - London Heathrow operation from winter 2024 onwards by approximately two departures per day. This decision was taken because the performance of these services had not recovered post-Covid. When IAG acquired Aer Lingus in 2015, the government which owned just over 25pc of the carrier at the time obtained two key binding undertakings from the airline group that saw the takeover go ahead. Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton. Photo: Naoise Culhane One of them was that the 23 take-off and landing slots controlled by Aer Lingus at Heathrow would only be used to service routes to Ireland for at least seven years. That commitment expired in 2022. The government also secured the legal right to veto any disposal of those slots. The two slots that Aer Lingus will no longer be using to serve Dublin from Heathrow will now be used by British Airways. While the slots will be leased by Aer Lingus to British Airways, the transaction was considered an effective disposal under the takeover deal with government. As such, Aer Lingus secured permission from the Department of Finance and the Department of Transport for the deal. Aer Lingus was set to be the launch customer for the new XLR aircraft, but the pilot strike at the carrier saw the first new jet go to Iberia instead. Aer Lingus had said during the dispute that if the action was prolonged, or resulted in too high a pay award, it might not receive any of the XLRs as IAG would not be able to justify the capital investment in the Irish carrier. However, it will receive its first XLR in November and a second in December. The remaining four are likely to be delivered to Aer Lingus between February and September next year. Redclick offices in Swords, Co Dublin. Liberty Insurance is set to rebrand as RedClick in Ireland following its recent acquisition by Italian group Generali Italian insurance giant Assicurazioni Generali has launched its RedClick brand in Ireland following its acquisition of Liberty Insurances operations here last year. In June 2023, US-based Liberty Mutual Insurance announced the sale of its personal and small business operations in Western Europe, including Liberty Insurance, to Generali Group. The Irish unit was sold as part of a wider deal worth 2.3bn. Liberty Mutual first entered the Irish market in 2011 through an acquisition of parts of the former Quinn Insurance business and offers personal car and home insurance, as well as business products. Generali reported that Liberty Insurance will now be rebranded as RedClick here, with the insurer also set to add property and casualty insurance products to its offerings. RedClick will continue to serve the existing customer base of more than 250,000 people in Ireland who already have motor and home insurance from the firm. It also plans to continue to partner with 250 broker agencies across the country and will connect with customers through its direct channels. Currently, the business employs over 400 employees across its offices in Cavan, Enniskillen and Dublin. Generali has appointed Lorenzo Ioan as general manager for RedClick in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Previously Mr Ioan was head of business transformation at the groups international business unit. The Italian group will continue to support the Irish Wheelchair Associations annual RunnRoll race which was previously sponsored by Liberty Insurance for a number of years. Generali currently operates in over 50 countries across the world, serving around 70 million customers. It recorded a total premium income of 82.5bn in 2023. We are delighted to launch RedClick in the Irish market combining the expertise of our talented local team with the robust capabilities of Generali Group, and we are convinced that Lorenzo Ioan will be a great support in this new phase, deputy chief executive of insurance Jaime Anchustegui said. He added that the company welcomes the opportunity to deepen our relationships with our existing Ireland-based customers and brokers and are excited to engage with new customers as well as bring renewed competition to the Irish market. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Generali was considering a number of other takeovers as part of its growth plans, with some potential deals worth more than 10bn, according to sources familiar with the matter. The original DWD was founded in 1872, but closed in the 1940s. The Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company brand, resurrected by ex-Glanbia executive Lorcan Rossi and backed by several high-profile businessmen, has raised over 433,000 in a crowdfunding round. The company was revived by Mr Rossi in 2017 following backing from the likes of businessman Greg Sparks and Dawn Farm Foods CEO Larry Murrin. It initially sought to raise 175,000 in the round, according to a pitch posted on the crowdfunding website Crowdcube, with a pre-money valuation of over 6.49m. According to DWDs pitch on Crowdcube, the company was on a mission to revive and restore The Dublin Whiskey Distillery, founded over 150 years ago, for a modern whiskey drinker. It also aims to re-establish the DWD brand in key European markets. The company claimed a recent soft launch of its whiskey generated 18,000 bottle sales. Aside from Ireland, it has already been selling in Germany and the Baltic countries. Combined with sales revenue, DWD said in the pitch it would use 44pc of the funds on product, with 18pc on promotion and 14pc on overheads. The remainder would be used as cash in bank. According to Crowdcubes website, the raise has ended. The original DWD was founded in 1872, producing its whiskey from the Jones Road distillery in Dublin, establishing itself as one of the countrys most recognisable brands. The company became known as one of the six great Dublin distilleries. However, in the 1940s, DWD and its distillery closed. The companys DWD branded mirrors remain in many pubs across the capital. Founder Mr Rossi, who also worked at alcohol conglomerate and Guinness brewer Diageo, set up the Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company Limited in 2014 before reviving the brand. Mr Rossis efforts to revive DWD attracted the attention of investors with extensive experience across the food and beverage industry. Former DAA and Aryzta boss Kevin Toland backed the company in 2016, with a report in the Irish Independent stating he invested 150,000. In 2016, Mr Sparks, a founding partner of RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, which merged with Grant Thornton, invested 100,000. Several of his family were also given stakes in DWD for an additional 100,000. Sherwood (BBC) 3/5 THE first season of Sherwood (BBC1, Sun-Mon, August 25-26) in 2022 was, by common consent, a near-flawless piece of television drama. Writer James Grahams six-parter, about a bow and arrow-wielding killer on a spree in a depressed, disenfranchised Nottingham mining village where the deep and painful rifts caused by the miners strikes of the 1980s have never healed, combined one of TVs most popular genres, murder mystery, with human and political drama to dazzling effect. Graham, who was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was inspired by a pair of real-life murders in the area in 2004, and also drew on his own personal experiences. The result was a series that felt deeply, richly authentic. The reviews were ecstatic and the viewing figures, by the current standards of terrestrial television, huge. The feeling was that a second season was unnecessary; the story had been satisfactorily concluded. But television has never shown any inclination to leave well enough alone, so a second season of Sherwood is what we get. So, is it poised to join the likes of Broadchurch and Homeland in the annals of TV dramas that were derailed by poor second seasons? Too early to say for sure, but there are worrying signs. A lot of what made the first one so compelling is still present. The setting, a mixture of the bleak and the beautiful, is as evocative as before. The cast, both returning members and new additions, is still stellar, featuring some of the finest British acting talent around. Today's News in 90 Seconds - August 26th David Morrissey is back as detective Ian St Clair, although hes no longer on the force. Hes now a anti-violence czar focused on working with the police and the community to steer Sherwoods youngsters away from a life of crime rather than picking up the pieces when its too late. Julie Jackson (Lesley Manville), the grieving widow of the ex-miner and trade unionist whose murder kicked off the first season, is contemplating leaving the area and has put her house on the market. Also still here are Lorraine Ashbourne as hard-as-nails crime family matriarch Daphne Sparrow who, as youll know if you watched season one, has a dangerous secret she wants to keep that way and Philip Jackson as her husband Mickey. Robert Lindsay, who grew up in a mining village and gets to use his native accent on screen for the first time, joins the cast as smarmy billionaire Franklin Warner, whose controversial grand plan for reinvigorating the community is to . . . open a new coalmine. This horrifies the new Sheriff (Ria Zmitrowicz), who wonders why Sherwood cant find something other than fossil fuels to lift the community out of its rut. The proposal isnt welcomed by many of the residents, either, who know its likely to reopen old wounds. The first season of Sherwood felt like a state-of-the-nation drama with a thriller element attached. This time, the reverse seems to be the case. The bigger plot about the planned mine and the political machinations involved is, at least in the opening two episodes, simmering background noise to a more conventional crime drama. This time, Graham draws inspiration from the wave of gang violence in the 1990s that led to Nottingham being dubbed Shottingham by the media. When disturbed young drug dealer Ryan Bottomley (newcomer Oliver Huntingdon, outstanding) rashly shoots dead a mouthy member of criminal family the Bransons, it brings the latters vengeful parents into the orbit of the Sparrows. Chillingly played by Stephen Dillane and Monica Dolan, the Bransons are the nastiest, scariest screen couple weve seen in a long, long time, oozing menace and the threat of violence from every pore. Other cast additions include David Harewood and Sharlene Whyte as an innocent brother and sister whove just arrived in the village and are caught up in the escalating violence, and Michael Balagon as a young detective suffering from PTSD. All this is taut and engrossing, and superbly well-acted by a marvellous cast. And yet, it doesnt feel quite like the Sherwood we know. So far, theres nothing compelling enough to convince us returning to the well was a wise decision. The proposed changes will allow icensed retailers and co-ops to supply certain vaccines to farms without involving a vet or pharmacist Veterinary Irelands President Hazell Mullin expressed concern about the changes which will enable licensed retailers and co-ops to supply certain vaccines to farms without involving a vet or pharmacist. The organisation pointed out that the move could lead to a disconnect between farms and vets. Responding to Mullins comments that were published in the Sunday Independent, Barron said: "I am greatly disappointed with Veterinary Ireland for stooping to such a low level in their attempt to sway public opinion. As far as we in ICSA are concerned, these comments represent a new low, driven by sheer greed and a blatant disregard for the longstanding trust between farmers and veterinarians. The President had said that the changes have the potential to compromise the safety and standards of Irelands food supply chains and undermine confidence in public health safeguards. It relates to the possibility that the proposed changes could lead to an overuse of medicines on farms leading to animals developing genetic resistance to antibiotics. Ms Mullins said that said the legal changes could result in medicines being used incorrectly, making animals more vulnerable to diseases: If we dont control disease properly on farms, then more antibiotics are going to be used and that encourages bacteria to develop resistant genes. There is a risk these could be passed on to humans and lead to us having resistant genes. Mr Barron has urged Veterinary Ireland to reconsider its approach to the proposed changes and to work in collaboration with farmers to ensure that they are carried out appropriately. Veterinary Ireland claiming that the proposed changes to the regulations would put human health at risk is simply a scare tactic to maintain control over the sale of antiparasitics and vaccines to increase profits for veterinarians. Antibiotics should not even be mentioned in this debate; their use will always be as prescribed and dispensed by a veterinary practitioner, said Mr Barron. We are also among the best in the world when it comes to safety standards in our food supply chain, and our farmers are fully regulated on the use of all medicines. Overuse of any medicines is not in any farmers interest. Their insinuation that farmers are not capable of vaccinating their animals or administering antiparasitics is both insulting and disingenuous. Farmers have been managing the health and welfare of their livestock for generations." Two dolphins that were stranded on the beach at Blackrock, Co Louth, on Friday afternoon were successfully rescued thanks to a huge community effort which involved locals, Gardai, volunteers from Dundalk Sub Aqua Search and Recovery, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Rescue Group, Irish Parks and Wildlife rangers, and even The Mary Wallopers band member, Andrew Hendy. Criminal Assets Bureau seizes three houses in four days in strong message to criminals Detective reveals that 24 properties taken by bureau have been sold in the past year CAB seize house in Ellistown Co Kildare owned by Adam Keatinge Ken Foy Mon 26 Aug 2024 at 03:30 Three properties were seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) last week after the High Court earlier ruled that the homes were all the proceeds of crime. Irish Heart Foundation calls for new taxes on vapes and a major increase in cost of a pack of cigarettes Chris Macey, the Irish Heart Foundation's Director of Advocacy, said the State needs to do more to help teenagers quit vaping. Photo: PA A service to help young people quit vaping is urgently needed to save thousands of teenagers from lifelong nicotine addiction, a charity has said. The Irish Heart Foundation said there is a youth vaping epidemic in Ireland and dedicated support was needed to help young people quit one of the most addictive substances on the planet. In its pre-Budget submission, the charity also called for the price of cigarettes to increase to 20 a pack and for new taxes on vapes set at a sufficient level to deter young people from taking them up. We know that many young people are looking for help to quit vaping, and we know that from programmes in the US that when such help is available, it can be highly effective, said the Irish Heart Foundations (IHF) director of advocacy Chris Macey. Failing to provide this support in the face of a youth vaping epidemic the State has not done enough to prevent would be tantamount to abandoning thousands of teenagers at risk of long-term addiction. Mr Macey said the HSE is continuing to receive calls across all its stop smoking services from people looking for help with quitting vapes. Despite the growing demand, he said Quit.ie is not resourced to provide the service, which requires different approaches than traditional smoking cessation services to be most effective. The IHF also pointed to data from youth information and support platform, Spunout, which has received thousands of views of its web page on the health effects of smoking and vaping, with the search query how to quit vaping the biggest driver of traffic to this content. The charity also said that a US programme, This is Quitting, launched by public health NGO, the Truth Initiative, to counter the rise of youth vaping, has helped over 750,000 young vapers. Vaping can affect teenage brain development, damage blood vessels, cause high blood pressure, changes in heart rhythm and have serious effects on the respiratory system, said Mr Macey. Worst of all, research shows it is a gateway to smoking, which is still claiming 12 lives every day in Ireland, making it our biggest cause of preventable death. Our concern is that the increase in vaping, relentlessly marketed to teenagers, will increase smoking rates and expose our young people to premature death from tobacco-related diseases. The foundation is also calling for a budget allocation of 1m to develop a vaping prevention information campaign and a research programme to inform the development of a vaping cessation programme. It wants an increase of 3.25 in the price of cigarettes to bring the cost to 20 per pack. Mr Macey also said smokers should be given more help by the State to quit as while they pay 1bn in additional taxes, annual anti-smoking measures amount to just 17m. GBA witnesses record cross-boundary traffic as summer holiday draws to a close Global Times) 15:35, August 26, 2024 Vehicles line up to pass through Zhuhai Port on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, April 27, 2024. The Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handled 19,570 vehicles on the day. (Photo: China News Service) As the summer vacation winds down, ports across China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) are witnessing record-breaking cross-boundary traffic, a testament to the accelerated pace of regional integration and the robust tourism and consumption vitality spurred by the country's extensive favorable policies. On Saturday, Hengqin Port in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, recorded a record in passenger traffic with more than 88,000 cross-boundary movements in a single day, surpassing the previous high of 86,000 from May 3, authorities of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin told the Global Times on Sunday. The Macao Special Administrative Region Government also reported a record 166,562 passenger arrivals on Saturday, the highest daily visitor count from July 1 to August 24 this year and up 7.5 percent compared with the peak recorded from the same period in 2019, according to official data from the Macao Government Tourism Office. This trend underscored the rapid progress of regional integration and the appeal of the GBA region's diverse offerings such as cultural, tourism, and sporting events, which led to a significant influx of visitors, with short-haul and cross-boundary travel becoming the preferred choices for many, industry insiders said. Vehicles line up to pass through Zhuhai Port on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, April 27, 2024. (Photo: China News Service) In Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, the General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection processed a record 972,000 travelers in a single day on Saturday, marking the ninth record-breaking day this year and the fourth during the summer season, China Media Group reported. Ports such as Futian, Luohu, Shenzhen Bay, and Liantang all set new single-day records since the full resumption of boundary activities, reflecting the high volume of summer travel. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Du Mingming) Around 90 protestors gathered in Ardmore, Co Waterford, over the weekend to call on the government to take urgent action to address school transport for secondary school students as the beginning of the school year fast approaches. I could spot scam accommodation listings by zooming in on images and seeing US socket types, says student 'It's currently very, very difficult for international students' to find accommodation in Ireland Niall Feiritear Mon 26 Aug 2024 at 03:30 When Arun Kumar (18) landed a place to study his dream course in Trinity College he was excited about moving to Ireland but his excitement proved short-lived when he realised how hard it was to find accommodation in Dublin. An elderly motorist suffered fatal injuries when she crashed into a wall while reversing her car out of her home last year, in an inquest has heard. Mary Kelly (92) of Meath Road, Bray, Co Wicklow was pronounced dead at St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin on July 18, 2023 a few hours after being involved in the collision outside her home. The deceaseds daughter, Marie Kelly, became tearful as she gave evidence at a sitting of Dublin District Coroners Court on Monday about the circumstances of her mothers death. Ms Kelly said she had received a call from her son, Con, about 5pm to tell her that his grandmother had been involved in a car accident and was not breathing. She described going to the scene of the accident and finding her mother on the footpath being attended by paramedics. Ms Kelly said the ambulance bringing her mother to hospital had to interrupt its journey a number of times to attempt to resuscitate her. In reply to questions from the coroner, Clare Keane, she said her mother had no significant medical issues prior to the fatal incident despite her age. Ms Kelly said her mother was leaving her house to drop her grandson home when the crash occurred. Weather conditions were fine on the day of the fatal incident, the inquest heard. I have absolutely no idea what happened, said Ms Kelly. However, she disputed that it was a minor collision as suggested by one medic who had attended the scene. Ms Kelly pointed out that there was damage to the chassis of the vehicle while its two rear doors could not be opened after the crash and the stone wall that had been struck was cracked. She said it was her mothers practice to reverse her car out of her home and it was something she had done a million times without incident. Ms Kelly said her mother had known after hitting the wall that she was going to die. The witness described how her mother had made a slight gurgling noise before telling her: Im gone. She told the coroner that her mother, who had remained very active, used her car most days to go shopping. It was her lifeline for going out, said Ms Kelly. She added: She was like a Duracell bunny she was always going. Ms Kelly said her mother did not even require glasses for driving and got the regular checks needed to renew her driving licence. Her mother, who came originally from Inagh, Co Clare, was formerly a matron in a nursing home in Bray. The inquest heard the deceased had been involved in one prior road traffic collision in 2011 when her head had hit off the windscreen with force and suffered some damage to her spinal nerves which caused her headaches and neck pains. Evidence was also provided by hospital staff that Ms Kelly was resuscitated a number of times after suffering a cardiac arrest but passed away that evening at 9.40pm. In a written statement, a consultant in emergency medicine who attended the scene of the collision, David Menzies, said it appeared that it was the collision which caused the victims injuries rather than Ms Kelly experiencing some medical event which triggered the crash. The coroner said the results of a postmortem also confirmed that view as there was no evidence that Ms Kelly had suffered any kind of stroke or heart attack. Dr Keane said the victim had sustained blunt force injuries to her face, chest and shoulders which were consistent with her hitting the steering wheel of her vehicle. The coroner said there was also some calcification and thickening of the aortic valve which would have made her more vulnerable. She recorded the cause of death as multiple traumatic injuries as a result of a road traffic collision. Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Keane offered her condolences to the victims relatives, noting that it was a very cruel way to lose somebody. THE Football Association of Ireland has been accused of refusing workers a right to bargain on their pay and other conditions that will soon become law in Ireland. Siptu said the publicly-funded organisation should be adhering to upcoming EU policy on collective bargaining. The FAI is a majority publicly funded organisation but it is refusing workers a right which is the norm in most other European countries and will soon be an imperative for the Irish Government to develop in our economy, said Siptu deputy general secretary, Greg Ennis. He said this is the right for workers to come together in a team and negotiate on key issues with their employer. Mr Ennis said the Government must transpose an EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages into law in November. He said governments throughout the EU must increase the number of workers who are covered by collectively bargained agreements under the new directive. In Ireland, we lack the laws protecting the right to collectively bargain that are part of the legal framework in most other European states, he said. Worse than this we are not even protecting the right of workers to collectively bargain, through the union of their choice, in organisations which are largely funded by the state and involved in the promotion of team sports. He said the Government must clarify its views on the wholly unacceptable, contradictory and untenable position that is currently being adopted by the FAI. Teresa Hannick, Siptu services division organiser, said the unions members in the FAI have been calling for a right to collectively bargain on wages and conditions with their employer through an Our Team, Our Union campaign. She said their demands include collective bargaining rights, creating a position for a worker director on the FAI board and adequate pay rises. A spokesperson for the FAI declined to comment. Fine Gael TD for Clare Joe Carey has announced he is resigning as a public representative following medical advice. He is the 16th sitting Fine Gael TD to announce they will not be contesting the next general election. Mr Careys sister Leonora is expected to seek the nomination to run for the Clare Dail seat at the next general election, as is Clare-based senator Martin Conway. Deputy Carey said he would retire from politics after receiving medical advice. Mr Carey has been on sick leave since March 2023 and said he was now putting his wife and family first and will now leave a job that he loved. In the past year, I suffered a life-altering medical situation that I will be dealing with for the rest of my time on earth. While I would dearly wish to continue, my decision to step away is based on medical advice, Mr Carey said. Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader Simon Harris paid tribute to the Clare TD, and described him as a good friend and popular colleague. "Can I firstly pay tribute to my good friend and colleague, Joe Carey, who I know made the very difficult and personal decision today on the basis of very clear medical advice, the Taoiseach said. "He served the people of Clare with distinction. He served the Fine Gael party with distinction and I think it's fair to say was a popular colleague across the political divide, Mr Harris added. The Taoiseach added that there had been much interest from people looking to take Mr Careys place on the ballot paper in the county. "I just want to wish Joe and his wife Grace and his children all the very best and I note with interest that there's already significant interest in wishing to succeed Joe on the Fine Gael ticket, and we'll hold our convention in Clare very shortly, the Taoiseach said. Asked if he had considered a date for when a by election will be held or if a general election will come first, the Taoiseach said he hadnt discussed by elections with the party leaders but said they would shortly. "Government hasn't yet given consideration to the timing of by elections. The law is obviously clear in relation to that, and of course, we'll abide by that, but we haven't, as party leaders, had an opportunity to discuss that yet, the Taoiseach said. Mr Carey, who has been a public representative for 25 years, expressed his gratitude to his constituents who had elected him to represent them both at council level and in the Dail. Today's News in 90 Seconds - August 26th Mr Carey was first elected to Clare County Council in 1999 when he was 23. In the 2004 local elections, he topped the polls when at the time, he secured the highest ever number of first preference votes by a local election candidate in the county. He went on to be elected to Dail Eireann in 2007 at the age of 31. He also thanked party members for their support throughout his career. It is hard to believe but 25 years have passed since I was first elected to Clare County Council. It has been the greatest honour and privilege to be elected as a Fine Gael TD for County Clare at four successive General Elections, Mr Carey said. My electoral success would not have been possible without your unwavering support. "I also want to sincerely thank the extraordinary people who have worked with me in my office over the years especially Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Paul Bugler and Ger OHalloran and, more recently, John Stanton and Lorraine OMeara. A big thank you to my election team headed by my Director of Elections, Martin Lynch, and to everybody who canvassed, leaflet dropped, helped in the office, and with postering, he added. Mr Carey thanked the Fine Gael parliamentary party for their support throughout his illness, and also spoke about the support he had received from other Oireachtas members. He also thanked the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris and wished him the best in the upcoming election. The Fine Gael parliamentary party have been really supportive as have Oireachtas members from all political parties and none. I have been blown away by the messages, cards, texts, mass bouquets and get-well wishes, Mr Carey said. I want to take this opportunity to wish Taoiseach, Simon Harris all the best in the forthcoming General Election. His impact has already been spectacular, and I strongly expect the Harris Hop to be firmly enjoyed in County Clare and throughout the Country when the next General Election comes around. Mr Careys sister Leonora Carey is expected to seek the nomination to replace him in the Clare Dail seat. Clare-based senator Martin Conway is also expected to seek the nomination at the constituency selection convention next month. Ms Carey, whose father Donal was a Fine Gael TD for Clare and junior minister in the Rainbow Coalition government, is a former chair of the Fine Gael national executive and works for the University Hospital Limerick Group as an occupational therapist manager. The family of a man hailed as a hero after he died while bravely trying to save a group of young people in difficulty off a Cork beach, asked mourners to honour his memory with donations to the RNLI rather than by sending funeral flowers. Mourners at the funeral of Stephen O'Callaghan (55) have been asked to make donations to the RNLI in lieu of sending flowers to his Requiem Mass on Wednesday. Mr O'Callaghan from Ashburton Hill, St Luke's in Cork died last Friday after an incident at Inch Beach in east Cork. The Irish Customs & Excise service official died after he entered the sea around 3pm last Friday in a bid to save the lives of several young swimmers who had got into difficulty. Four young people were later rescued from the water. While shocked by their ordeal, all are making a good recovery. Mr OCallaghan was also recovered from the sea in a serious condition. Paramedics attended to him on the beach and he was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital (CUH). Tragically, despite desperate efforts by doctors and nurses to stabilise his condition, he was pronounced dead a short time later. A file is now being prepared for the Cork Coroner and an inquest will be held next year. The search and rescue operation last Friday involved Coast Guard units at Guileen and Crosshaven as well as the RNLI from Ballycotton and Crosshaven. All were assisted at the scene by Gardai, paramedics and local volunteers. The Rescue Helicopter 117 from Waterford was also tasked to attend Inch Beach to provide support. Mr OCallaghan has been described by friends as a selfless, kind and gentle person who was devoted to his family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues. His funeral arrangements will see him lie in repose at OConnor Bros Funeral Home in North Gate Bridge in Cork city from 5pm to 6pm on Tuesday. A Latin mass will take place onsite at 1pm on Wednesday with burial following afterwards to St Finbarrs cemetery in Cork city. Mr OCallaghan is the beloved son of John and Kathleen and is survived by his siblings Katrina, Keith, Mary and Emmet. He is sadly missed by his heartbroken family, relatives and a large circle of friends. His family asked that mourners consider making a donation to the RNLI rather than sending funeral flowers. Alicia Brady lives in Dublin with her husband Fergal and their two daughters, Sophia (6) and Isabella (3) Two mothers preparing for the start of the school year have given their take on the annual financial challenge. Alicia Brady lives in Dublin with her husband Fergal and their two daughters, six-year-old Sophia and three-year-old Isabella. While the youngest is not yet in big school, her older sister will be heading into first class and with this comes a whole host of new expenses. This year, she will have to wear a uniform, rather than just the school tracksuit, said Ms Brady, who works as a marketing manager for Max Benjamin. This costs 70, school shoes were 20, the tracksuit was 44 and runners cost 30. We are a little bit fortunate that, apart from the school tie, she can wear a generic school uniform, which has allowed me to shop around to get the best value for money on her uniform. However, her school tracksuit is branded and must be bought from the school shop and it has been updated to a new style which means last years tracksuit is no longer applicable, which unfortunately meant another cost. We also have mandatory school fees which cover arts and crafts supplies, ICT subscription, photocopying, and pupil accident insurance, all of which amounts to 56. This is an increase on her last years materials fee by 5. The schoolbooks cost 30 and we need to supply her with some general stationery like pencils, markers, ruler, etc. Of course, there will need to be a new pencil case bought along with a schoolbag, lunchbox and water bottle. Overall, back to school is an extremely expensive time for parents no matter what age or class your child is going into. Lizzie Noones children, Ultan (14) and Poppy (17) are in secondary school and while she agrees that the costs involved can be very difficult for parents, she says that there are a number of simple changes which schools can make to ensure costs are kept down. Lizzie Noone and her children Ultan and Poppy Ultan is going into third year and Poppy is going into fifth year, but because their school, Ghlor na Mara, Balbriggan, is an iPad school, weve never had book costs, she said. We spend 500 to buy an iPad at the start of their school career and unless they break it, then thats the only cost, which is a big difference to having to buy books. Aside from that, we just have to buy some hardback copies and a couple of folders, so the cost is definitely kept at a minimum and it also helps that they dont have to carry heavy bags of books to school. When it comes to uniforms, they also make it easy on parents as the trousers or skirt, as well as the shirts, are generic and can be bought anywhere (shirts from 13 to 22, skirts and trousers from 10 to 30), while the school jumper costs 60. My son is growing rapidly and is harder on his uniform, so I have to replace that every year, but my daughter is easier on her clothes. We also have to get a school tracksuit, which costs 89 but the costs are really kept to a minimum. Aside from the initial outlay for iPads and generic uniform costs, Ms Noone, who works for World Wise Global Schools, said she is very grateful to her childrens school for doing what they can to keep costs down and wishes other schools would do the same. We are very fortunate that we dont have book costs, she said. Of course some years do end up costing more like when my daughter was in transition year. This was more expensive as the TY programme cost 550 and then there was a trip to Italy which was 750. There has been debate about the pros and cons of iPad schools, but I think overall its very good as not only does it keep costs down, but the information in some schoolbooks go out of date and new ones have to be bought, but the iPads can just be updated. I feel very strongly that more schools should have a generic uniform and use iPads instead of books, which can be a bit of a racket. Mira Guinness, the wife of Iveagh Trust chairman Rory Guinness, has died. Ms Guinness (49) died peacefully after a long battle with cancer. She was described as a wonderful mother who had a presence that could lift the gloomiest room. A friend said Ms Guinness was never happier than when attending a tea party with the Iveagh Trust tenants and the couples children, Aoife (18), Bea (16) and Aidan (10). She was born in London to Swedish and Indian parents. Ms Guinnesss father, Dr Tidu Maini, later became pro rector of Imperial College London. She was a great beauty of her generation, spoke five languages fluently, and had a presence that could lift the gloomiest room, a family friend said. Above all, she was a wonderful mother, wife and daughter who touched so many. Shes going to be missed a lot. Her husband Rory is the chairman of Irelands oldest social housing provider, the Iveagh Trust. The Iveagh Trust was founded by Earl Edward Cecil Guinness in 1890, and the body now provides more than 1,600 homes in the Dublin area. Mr Guinness has been a trustee since 1999. Today's News in 90 Seconds - August 26th The British Army officer is believed to have been abducted by the Provisional IRA while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and taken across the border to Flurry Bridge in County Louth where he was killed. Press conference with lead lead investigator of the ICLVR, Jon Hill. A search in a remote area of Co Louth for the remains of a murdered Army captain is concentrated on three or four sections making up one acre of farmland. Robert Nairac was killed and secretly buried by the IRA in May 1977. The first search for his remains got underway today. It relates to specific areas of farmland, the man leading the search said. Jon Hill, the lead investigator with the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains, said information gathered by his team has been evaluated as more than worthy of justifying the search. Nairac was abducted from the Three Steps Inn pub in south Armagh in the early hours of May 15, 1977. He was taken over the border, where he was interrogated before being shot and buried. He became one of the so-called Disappeared, the name given to those murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles. Speaking to the media, Mr Hill said information regarding the whereabouts of Robert Nairacs remains has been passed to the ICLVR over the years, however it is only recently that enough detail has been gathered to justify a search. I only expect to search no more than three or four sections combined over one acre, he said. This search is unique in that the ground is actually farmland. We have pieces of information that relate to specific areas of ground. Mr Hill said he is more confident of finding Nairacs remains than at any time previously. I'm not 100pc, but it's more a case of we are hopeful. We have the skills and we have the ability [to find the remains]. Mr Hill explained that preparations for the search began a number of months ago and mapping surveys of the land have been carried out. Two diggers are at the site. The investigator said the information his team has gathered in the Nairac case has been deemed more than worthy of a search, which will be carried out in a painstaking manner. The Belgian capital is one of Europes most surprising short breaks. Heres our insider guide to getting the most out of a visit... Brussels may be one of the smaller kids in the class when it comes to European city breaks, but this versatile city does not disappoint. Our travel tips are designed to help you deviate from the beaten path, without missing any of the city's most famous attractions. Dig in! Three must-sees in Brussels Rues de Bruxelles Philippe Baudot, Dominique Brynaert Marolles. Photo: Visit Brussels / Jean-Paul Remy De Grote Markt De Grote Markt (big market) is one of the most beautiful squares in the world, lined with beautiful Baroque and Gothic buildings that reflect the splendour of yesteryear. The ideal time to take a look? In the late afternoon or evening when the lights are on. Take the time to wander quietly through the many alleys around the market square to the Grasmarkt, where the oldest cafes in the city are located and don't forget to greet Manneken Pis (the famous little bronze sculpture depicting a boy peeing into a fountain) along the way. There are also plenty of chocolate shops in this area. In the Boterstraat, Herman Van Dender's chocolate mousse bar is recommended, as are Elisabeth's delicacies and Maison Dandoy's artisan cookies. elisabeth.be, vandender.com, maisondandoy.com The Magritte Museum & Museum of Abstract Art Two museums in one. Here you can admire the largest collection of art by Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, along with the masters of Belgian abstract art. Reservations are required during the weekend. magrittemuseum.be The Marolles district Theres an addictive atmosphere and conviviality in Brussels oldest working-class district. In the morning, stroll around the daily flea market on Vossenplein, moseying past the numerous antique and vintage shops in Blaesstraat and Hoogstraat, before enjoying an unpretentious meal in one of the many authentic city brasseries in the area. Three hidden gems in Brussels The Horta Museum Brussels is the cradle of Art Nouveau. Streets are full of beautiful facades designed by architects such as Victor Horta or Henry Van de Velde so you don't necessarily have to enter a museum to marvel at it all. The former home and studio of Victor Horta is a must, however. With the Art Nouveau Pass you can visit a total of three buildings or temporary exhibitions. Other tips? The Solvay House and the Eetvelde House. hortamuseum.be, hotelsolvay.be The Dansaert district In the trendy Dansaert district, the facades house vintage shops, clothing boutiques, jewellers, coffee houses, restaurants and cocktail bars theres somewhere for just about every foodie and fashionista to indulge themselves. Locals like to stock up on coffee at Mok, and in the evening restaurants such as Night Shop, Kline and Henri are real hotspots. TrainWorld Take a seat in an old steam locomotive or 'drive' a train yourself in the Train World railway museum in Schaerbeek, where you can become acquainted with Belgian railway technology from the past to the present. Appropriately, travel by train to Train World, next to Schaarbeek station, and receive a 50% discount on your transport ticket. Be sure to purchase your ticket in advance to avoid the long queue. trainworld.be Three travel hacks in Brussels Rue du Chevreuil, on Brussels Comic Strip Trail. Photo: Visit Brussels / Eric Danhier Closed on Mondays Many museums, restaurants and boutiques are closed on Mondays, but there is still plenty to do in Brussels. Take advantage of the peace and quiet in the city to explore popular attractions such as the Grote Markt, the Atomium or the Planetarium - or follow the comic strip route (a trail of murals featuring Tintin, Asterix, Spike & Suzy, Lucky Luke and many more...) or one of the street art trails. Dining out? Be sure to check in advance which establishments are open on Mondays. Explore Brussels on foot Almost everything in central Brussels is within walking distance (bikes are also a practical solution thanks to Villo's (electric) shared bicycles on every street corner). There is an extensive network of trams, buses and metro, too. If you prefer not to go through the city on foot or by bike at night, there are night buses from 'Noctis' that run until 3am, and the collective night taxis from 'Collecto' available until 6am. villo.be, stib-mivb.be, collecto.be A brewery tour Looking to quench your thirst in the Belgian capital? There is no shortage of beer cafes, but the canal banks near Tour & Taxis, Anderlecht and Sint-Gillis are the perfect place to discover real 'craft beers' in the local breweries. Cantillon brewery and Brasserie De La Senne in particular are hotspots. Prefer to sample multiple beers in one place? Visit the Belgian Beer World beer museum it has a tasting room with more than 30 beers on tap. belgianbeerworld.be, cantillon.be, brasseriedelasenne.be Three places to stay in Brussels Hotel Le Plaza Grandeur and class from times long past thats what the five-star Hotel Le Plaza radiates. It was inspired by the George V in Paris, and has hosted many famous faces, such as Brigitte Bardot and Winston Churchill, throughout its glorious history. leplaza-brussels.be Cocoon Brussels Rooms with a view (and that includes the Grote Markt). Cocoon Brussels furnished the top floors of a historic building as two cozy apartments with glamping allure. On the attic floor you even sleep in a spherical, transparent tent. Talk about Instagram-worthy. Vintage Hotel Brussels This affordable boutique hotel comes with comfortable rooms, wine bar and lobby decorated in a trendy vintage style, and is located near the chic Louisalaan. A cozy Airstream caravan in the courtyard has also been converted into a room. vintagehotel.be Three places to eat in Brussels Wolf Food Market Tacos, sushi, dims or pizzas. Near the Grote Markt, you can satisfy a small appetite in Wolf Food Market, where 17 street food restaurants, two bars and a microbrewery are housed under one roof. No reservations, so be quick! wolf.be Belga Queen The Belga Queen restaurant is scheduled to reopen in the autumn after large-scale renovation works. Its the place to be for lovers of fine Belgian gastronomy with a twist. Insta: @belgaqueenbrussels Bagheera This intimate restaurant turns into a dance club late at night, but the cocktails and sharing dishes are the real stars of the evening. When the weather is nice, ask for a seat on the cozy, green terrace. Reservations necessary. bagheerarestaurant.com After dark in Brussels Fuse There is no shortage of clubs and discos in Brussels - although there is one real standout in the Marolles. The iconic dance temple Fuse has been the perfect place to dance to cool techno beats until the early hours for 30 years. Expect tunes by the best DJs of the moment. fuse.be Jalousy Well hidden in the Marolles district is Jalousy, a secret cocktail bar with a private club in the basement where limited parties take place during the weekend. A catch? You need the password of the week to get in Spirito Brussels For an exclusive club in an equally eccentric setting, visit Spirito. This former Anglican church is home to four bars and a dance club for a night out until the early hours. spiritobrussels.com Who to follow in Brussels to find out more @cem.pictures - Brussels through the lens of a local photographer @ellesbrussels - the nicest places in the city selected by two Brussels sisters @brussels.from.above - Brussels photographed from the air Best time to visit Brussels If grey weather doesn't bother you during a city break, Brussels is recommended all year round. From May to September the city is home to many concerts, events and festivals, and in July and August hotel rooms are even slightly cheaper. Get there Ryanair flies from Dublin Airport to Brussels (about 20 minutes by train from the city centre) and Brussels Charleroi (about 50 minutes by bus), and from Cork Airport to Charleroi. Aer Lingus flies from Dublin to Brussels. from The city is easily reached by train from every corner of Belgium, too. ryanair.com; aerlingus.com For more information, see visit.brussels The mayor of one of Greeces most visited islands has revealed plans to crack down on overtourism as tourist numbers surpass the number of residents daily during peak season. Santorini is one of several holiday hotspots facing overcrowding this summer due to increased tourist numbers from cruise ships. In July, a social media post from a councillor urging residents to stay indoors to facilitate 17,000 cruise ship passengers caused conflict with locals. Last week, government officials proposed increasing the disembarkation fee for cruise passengers visiting the Greek port from 35 cents to over 10 (8). Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos told the Greek Reporter that municipal authorities should be able to establish local tourist access fees like Venice did at tourism hotspots on the island. Like many European hotspots battling overtourism, the problems plaguing locals include overdevelopment, congested traffic and a lack of parking spaces due to inefficient management of tourist flows. Plans for small bypass roads and new parking spaces to decongest areas are in the works according to Mr Zorzos. Mr Zorzos said: It is our duty to protect this land from getting its identity altered, and any measures need to be in the direction of ensuring that Santorini will continue to be a great Greek destination. Its not the first effort by the Greek island to control tourist oversaturation. A study by the University of the Aegean in 2018 previously estimated that Santorini can sustain a tourist capacity of 8,000 visitors per day. Researchers launched a digital berth allocation system to distribute cruise ship arrivals evenly and prevent congestion that could be reintroduced this year. Those 8,000 visitor arrivals per day suggested by the University of the Aegean study are totally sustainable if we allow the designated time between cruise ship berths, said Mr Zorzos. A push for off-peak travel to the blue and white isle to reduce the pressure of the summer months also saw a more frequent flight schedule introduced and tourist accommodation open for longer in 2011. In April, Venice trialled a 5 (4.26) charge to enter its historic centre and control visitor numbers on busy days until mid-July. Excavators digging at a site in Co Monaghan during a 2019 search for Columba McVeigh, another of the Disappeared. Photo: Photopress Belfast A search is set to start in a remote area of the Border for soldier Robert Nairac, one of the Disappeared. The British army officer is believed to have been abducted by the Provisional IRA while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and taken across the Border to Flurry Bridge in Co Louth, where he was killed. The remains of the Grenadier Guards captain have never been found. Capt Nairac is considered to be part of a group of people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups. In 2019, a preliminary examination of a site at Ravensdale Forest in Co Louth was carried out. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), which has located the remains of a number of the Disappeared, said it will be its first search for Capt Nairac. It is to take place in the Faughart area, also in Co Louth. Jon Hill, the lead investigator of the ICLVR, said while Capt Nairac is one of the highest profile of the Disappeared, they have had very little to go on. We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search, he said. He added that the search will differ in a number of ways from the organisations last search, which was for Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan. The search for Capt Nairac will be carried out on private land, and Mr Hill said he wanted to make it clear that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection with the decision to search that location. The area itself is relatively small, less than one acre, and farmland is inherently more stable than the bogland we have had to work on in other searches for the Disappeared, he said. And so, while the weather is always a factor we have to deal with, I would hope that we will get a relatively clear run at this one. The search, on a site which is part of an area of significant archaeological interest, is being support by Irelands National Monuments Service. We are grateful for the support and co-operation of the National Monuments Service who have an interest in the wider area in which the Hill of Faughart has been identified as a 14th-century battle site, Mr Hill said. Given that we may uncover archaeology or even historic remains, we have taken additional measures to cater for that eventuality and so we dont anticipate that causing any insurmountable issues with our search. Mr Hill said the search will continue until they have found the remains or are satisfied there is nothing there to find. We are not time-limited but given the relatively small area, by our standards, I do not anticipate a protracted search period of many months, he said. The Nairac family have been told that a search is about to commence and we will of course keep them informed of any developments. I am not going to put a number on the degree of confidence that we have that we will find the remains of Robert Nairac, but what I can say is that if they are there we have the skills, ability and experience to find them. The ICLVR has also reissued an appeal for information about other remaining Disappeared cases, including Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire. All information is treated in the strictest confidence, it said. The ICLVR can be contacted by telephone: 00353 1 602 8655; email to secretary@iclvr.ie; or by post to: ICLVR PO Box 10827 A view shows smoke on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, as people sit at a beach in Tyre, southern Lebanon. Photo: Reuters There have been many warnings about the Middle Easts drift towards catastrophe. Such a nightmare now seems to be unfolding. Israels pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, followed by the terror groups first phase of its retaliation, may have splintered what remained of the lid of Pandoras box in the region. A dreaded widening war feared since back-to-back assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollahs Fuad Shukr looks inevitable. It has always been clear that it was going to take a show of powerful leadership to stop the hawks on both sides plunging the region into disaster. But in the absence of robust efforts to stabilise the situation, the security situation has drastically worsened. The United States has failed to maximise its decisive influence to prevent escalation; instead, it has engaged in ill-fated diplomatic efforts. Far from taking a firm hand, there has been further indulgence of Tel Avivs position and only mild criticism even as death tolls in Gaza spiralled. Critics say President Joe Bidens unquestioning solidarity with Israel has left too many exposed to exploitation by the hawks on either side. Restraints that might have reduced risks to civilians were not applied. When many around the world, and even in Tel Aviv, were actively accusing the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war in Gaza, Washingtons softly, softly approach continued. The militants have been too easily able to manipulate the situation. Mr Biden is now closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon, according to the White House. Two months ago Israels foreign minister, Israel Katz, revealed that the countrys plans for full-scale war against Hezbollah were complete. It now looks as if the people of Lebanon are going to be caught in a lethal crossfire once again. The Lebanese people do not want a war, but Hezbollah and Israel seem to have started one. The last conflict with Israel in 2006 saw the countrys infrastructure destroyed and a total economic collapse. The US has deployed more warships and jets to the region in recent weeks as a deterrent to Hezbollah and Iran, and to defend Israel. The biggest fears that so many in the region have lived with may be about to happen. As we have seen before, the cost of doing nothing needs to be weighed against the cost of doing nothing. There is always a price, and too often it is paid by those trapped in the middle. History shows how avoiding making critical decisions at key moments repeatedly reaps a whirlwind. Mr Netanyahu has already said that the strikes on Lebanon are not the final word. That violence will always bring more violence is a bitter lesson with which the region is tragically too familiar. As long as there is any chance of preventing a full conflagration in the region, Washington must use its full capabilities to do so. Is it any wonder we romanticise and treasure our summer holidays? They allow us to return to our true selves so that we can bear the reality of who and where we must be the rest of the time. Leaving Cert students in Cork city and county received their results on Friday, August 23 after the results went live on the Candidate Portal. A total of 60,839 candidates nationwide received their Leaving Certificate examination results. The principal of De La Salle College Macroom John Murphy said their students were very happy with the results. A number of the students came in to meet with their teachers and to thank them. They also wanted to meet up with their classmates. It was a very positive experience. They were very happy with their results. I am delighted for them, said the school principal. That particular group didnt get the opportunity to sit the Junior Certificate like previous other classes. We are extremely proud of them and very happy with them. Their results were really good. We were thrilled to bits. The general consensus from the students was one of happiness with the results. We are very proud of them. They did very well. It was a very satisfying and proud day for all of us. The Leaving Certificate class of 2024 were full of good characters. They engaged well. They finished the year very positively. We are very happy for them, he added. Mr Murphy advised any student who is feeling a bit anxious to reach out and have a conversation if they require more clarity on their next step. Our guidance counsellor makes contact with all the students who sat their Leaving Certificate to make sure they are all okay. She engages with all the parents who make contact with her. If students feel a bit anxious they can have a conservation with our guidance counsellor. It is a very exciting time in their lives, said the school principal. The Leaving Certificate is just the key in the door to a lifetimes opportunity. Once they have it done, they can move on. The principal of Boherbue Comprehensive School Vera Leader congratulated their Leaving Certificate class on their phenomenal results. They were a lovely class group of friends that worked so hard. It is great to see the hard work paying off. Ms Leader also thanked the deputy principal, parents, subject teachers and SNAs for contributing to the outstanding success of the Leaving Cert students. Almost 20% of students in Scoil Mhuire Kanturk achieved in excess of 500 points, while 61% of their students scored in excess of 400 points. School principal Denis Keating was thrilled with the results. SMK students once again delivered excellent results reflecting the dedication, talents and hard work of students and staff. All students who sat mathematics at higher level achieved the bonus 25 points. Results in STEM subjects were very impressive, particularly in design and communication graphics (DCG), construction studies and technology with most students achieving either grade H1 or H2. Mr Keating wished all the students continued success for the future. Following the release of results staff welcomed their former students to the school for a chat, a cup of coffee and cake. It was wonderful to share in their joy and hear that all expect to pursue their chosen path for the coming year. The Scoil Mhuire Kanturk community is very proud of the achievements of the class of 2024 who have shown tremendous resilience. We wish the class of 2024 all the best and thank our staff for preparing and guiding our students, he added. The Minister for Education, Norma Foley paid tribute to each student who completed the Leaving Certificate. I would like to congratulate each and every one of you on this milestone, which brings reward and recognition for all your work and dedication over the past number of years. Minister Foley wished all the students continued success in their next step. This is an exciting moment in your life. Whether your next step will take you into the world of further or higher education, an apprenticeship, work, or other possibilities, I would like to wish you every success and happiness. The Leaving Cert results do not define you as a person, said the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick ODonovan. There are so many different opportunities available now for students, including FET and PLC courses, more than 70 different apprenticeships, and of course the new unified tertiary degree courses, which allow students to earn a degree outside of the CAO system. It was also confirmed by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) that it will issue the results of any Leaving Certificate appeals on Friday, September 27. The SEC also announced that it intends to issue Junior Cycle results on Wednesday, October 9 which is a week earlier than last year. A new affordable housing development in Midleton will open for applications next week. Picture by: Home and Away Real Estate. A new affordable housing development in Midleton will open for applications next week. Cork County Council is inviting prospective homeowners to apply for the new two and three bed houses at Tir Cluain, which are being offered at a discounted rate, from 12 noon on Monday, September 2 2024. The development of 13 A-rated, family homes is in a much sought-after residential location within walking distance of Midleton Train Station and the towns Main Street. Constructed by OMahony Developments, the houses will generally be available for first-time buyers who do not own a home (although a small number of exceptions apply) and Fresh Start Applicants. Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Joe Carroll welcomed the initiative: Cork County Council is delighted to announce the launch of this Affordable Housing Scheme in Midleton. The development at Tir Cluain is superbly situated in this popular residential area just a short walk from Midletons town centre and all its amenities. This new scheme demonstrates the work that Cork County Council is doing in achieving the targets set by the government. Chief Executive of Cork County Council, Moira Murrell added, The launch of these 13 houses, provided by the Council under the Affordable Scheme will provide a further supply of high-quality homes for eligible applicants. Through the Scheme, purchasers will enter an affordable dwelling purchase arrangement with Cork County Council. Under this arrangement, Cork County Council will retain a percentage equity share in the dwelling, equal to the difference between the market value of the dwelling and the price paid by the purchaser, expressed as a percentage of the market value of the dwelling (minimum of 5%). Applications for the scheme will be accepted between 12 noon on Monday, September 2 2024 and 12 noon on the September 23 2024 via the online application portal on Cork County Councils website www.corkcoco.ie Further information on this scheme and other upcoming schemes, including the Scheme of Priority, guide to making an application and documentation required is also available on the website. Changes are being made to the Dublin Portal from September 2. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Three new locations are now being streamed to the Dublin Portal with the North Earl Street installation now connected to Lithuania and Poland. The groundbreaking public art installation has formed a visual bridge between New York and Dublin since May of this year. It quickly caused controversy due to incidents of anti-social behaviour and its hours of operation have since been curtailed. A number of significant changes have now been made to the Portal network. Firstly, the Portals location in New York has been moved from the Flatiron Plaza, with its permanent new home in the city set to be announced soon. Secondly, a rotation feature will also be introduced to connect with all Portal locations worldwide. This means the live stream from Dublin will rotate every three minutes between the Portals in New York, Vilnius in Lithuania and Lublin in Poland. The Portals were previously connected in pairs, with Dublin and New York together and Vilnius and Lublin paired up since 2021. "The Portal in Dublin has attracted over 340,000 visitors since its launch in May and has brought a new lease of life to North Earl Street, Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghegan said. We are delighted to see the network of cities expand to Vilnius and Lublin and look forward to seeing more people enjoy the Portals experience. Lublins deputy mayor Beata Stepaniuk-Kusmierzak said: "We are delighted today to welcome Dublin and New York - the next cities to join this unique project. We are excited that our Portal is growing in reach and popularity, opening up unlimited opportunities for communication and collaboration on an international scale. "Thanks to the installation, we can now peek into New York's Manhattan and Dublin's city centre, share culture, experiences and initiate new projects together. A spokesperson from Portal.org said: Having the Portals rotate between many places on Earth has been the original concept of the project. Portals are meant as an invitation to meet fellow humans above borders and differences, and the goal is to create a global network of Portals that is constantly expanding. The creator of the project, Benediktas Gylys, said the goal of the piece was to unite people across world borders, and to create a sense of unity. We are thrilled to finally connect all four Portal sculptures together, he said. The Portals mission is about building multiple Portals, which together form a global entity - a bridge to a united planet that invites people of distant cultures to meet above borders, differences and narratives. In contrast to the Vilnius-Lublin connection, the Dublin-NYC portal quickly went viral, and was temporarily shut down following multiple instances of inappropriate behaviour from spectators on both ends. Some of this inappropriate behaviour included individuals flashing the camera and showing sexual images on their phones. The portal in Dublin now includes a feature where if an individual steps on the monument, the camera will be automatically blurred on both ends. The installation now also has opening hours, running from 1pm until 8pm in Dublin, and 8am to 3pm in New York. More Portals are expected to be added to the network later this year. Kishoge Station to serve new communities being developed Kishoge Station is the 146th station on the Iarnrod Eireann network A new train station in south Dublin was officially opened today, 15 years after it was first developed. The long-awaited Kishoge Station, located between Clondalkin Fonthill and Adamstown, is the 146th station on the Iarnrod Eireann network. Commuter services on the Portlaoise to Heuston route, and on the Newbridge/Hazelhatch to Connolly/Grand Canal Dock route will serve the station. It will also be served by 36 trains on Saturdays and 15 trains on Sundays, with further weekend expansion planned on the route in late 2025. Journey times between Kishoge and Heuston will be as little as 14 minutes, and between Kishoge and Connolly will be from 28 minutes. Kishoge was originally developed in 2009 but did not open as the planned adjacent housing developments were put on hold due to the economic crash. South Dublin County Council has also developed a temporary car park with 60 spaces adjacent to the station. Minister of State at the Department of Transport, James Lawless, said the opening of the rail station demonstrates the commitment of this Government to investment in public transport. As a rail commuter myself I understand the importance in providing frequent and reliable public transport services, he said. I have no doubt that the opening of this station, along with the future delivery of Dart+ South West, will have a transformative impact for people in the area. Kishoge Station is the 146th station on the Iarnrod Eireann network The delivery of new stations such as this one provide concrete examples of how investment in sustainable transport infrastructure can help deliver safer, greener and better-connected communities. Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan added: From the start of this Government we have prioritised the development of public transport. Four years in we are really beginning to see the impact of this focus, with public transport numbers across all forms at record high numbers. What we are also beginning to see is the implementation of smart transport-led development. A few months ago, I announced the start of construction of Iarnrod Eireanns new Woodbrook Dart Station outside Shankill. That is an area earmarked for major housing development to the south of the city. Similarly, here at Kishoge, there are major plans for housing and community development. Instead of building first and putting in infrastructure later, we are doing it the other way around. Putting in the vital transport infrastructure that people need to get in and out of the city first. This is planning at its best, he added. Mayor of South Dublin, Baby Pereppadan, added: South Dublin County Council is delighted to witness the opening of Kishoge Station, a new fast and frequent railway service. This will further enhance the 90,000-home development of Clonburris in serving this brilliant community. Jim Meade, Chief Executive of Iarnrod Eireann said: We are delighted to open Kishoge Station, and to deliver to one of Irelands newest communities the type of public transport service which will ensure sustainability is at the heart of Kishoge and the Clonburris development. Even with 96 daily services already available, we are also working on the next stage of service improvement through Dart+ South West: as this community grows, our rail service will be ready to grow with it. This article was amended at 8am on 27/08/2024 to clarify that Kishoge Station is served by commuter trains and not the Dart Comedian says talking about mental health struggles is still taboo here in Ireland Comedian Amy Walsh, who is based in Canada, brings her first solo show home to Dublin next month A comedian believes discussing mental health struggles is still taboo in Ireland and will use her upcoming Dublin gig to remind people they are not alone. Amy Walsh, who is now based in Canada, is bringing her show, Wingin It, to Dublin next month, covering topics like mental health, dating disasters across the globe, giving up alcohol, and the wild ride of emigrating. Amy started her comedy career in Ireland in 2018, before heading off to Vancouver where she honed her craft on the vibrant Canadian comedy circuit. Now, shes finally bringing her first solo show home. I feel like in Ireland, we learn to push our feelings down rather than actually acknowledge them and talk about them, Ms Walsh told the Irish Independent. I felt like I needed to be talking about this on stage because this is the platform that I have, and if I can make one person in an audience feel like theyre not alone with what theyre struggling with, then Im doing a good job. Its so important to speak about mental health, people can get a bit bogged down with it, so I really have to figure out a way that makes it kind of light-hearted as well. Ive had really bad struggles with my own mental health. I was shying away from talking about it on stage, but then I thought its more important to speak about it and I just need to figure out a way to do it. Its honestly a lot of trial and error. Im living in Vancouver and theyre a lot more open about going to therapy and their struggles with mental health. Its been a bit easier to talk about it there. Here, its still taboo to even say you go to therapy. I was home a couple of years ago, myself and a friend of mine mentioned that we were in therapy, and youd swear I was saying I was after running over the cat or something. Ms Walshs show, playing here on September 4, is described as a powerful and hilarious exploration of her personal struggles where audiences can expect a delightful mix of raw honesty, side-splitting anecdotes. I think its really important to mix mental health with comedy, it makes it easier for people to absorb and talk about as well. I was so confused about how I was feeling, how I was processing things, she said. I had a very dark period where I attempted to take my own life. Obviously, its an awful dark thing, but a few months on and I was like, right, lets see how I can make this funny, which is a weird way of thinking, but as a comedian, thats how our brains work. To some people, that might sound insane, but for me, thats the way I process things. Ive been through break-ups, and Id be in the middle of a conversation thinking about how I can make it funny. It feels like a super power, I dont feel like Ill be locked in sadness forever because Ill find a way to make light out of it. Wingin' It will take place in Sin e on Wednesday, September 4, at 7.30pm Its back-to-school time, and four Kerry secondary schools are restarting on a positive note, celebrating an award for getting their students up to scratch on a vital and potentially life-saving skill. The Irish Heart Foundation has presented a total of just 57 awards nationwide to 36 schools as part of the heart and stroke charitys CPR 4 Schools programme. The programme trains students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the awards themselves recognise schools, teachers, and students alike for promotion of and training in CPR. Among other things, CPR 4 Schools trains students in matters such as defibrillator use and what to do in the event of someone choking. Among the 36 schools to receive awards were CBS the Green, Tralee; Killarney Community College; and Castleislands Presentation Secondary School. Also among the award recipients was Killorglin Community College, and Jennifer OSullivan of Killorglin Community College could not have been clearer that this was a worthwhile undertaking. The CPR 4 Schools programme has had a hugely positive impact on the school community in Killorglin Community College, she said of the award win. This is the first year of the programme in the school, and we are proud to say we have over 250 students trained to administer CPR. Through the programme, we have created huge awareness and publicity around this life-saving skill by participating in a CPR-athon in the school. We are very proud to have trained so many students with this life-saving skill and are looking forward to taking part in the programme next year already. Schools interested in taking part can email schools@irishheart.ie or visit irishheart.ie/cpr4schools. Fundraisers taking place to help St Patricks Missionary Society this weekend Two Kerry based nurses are taking time out from their new careers to help make a difference in Africa. Instead of just going on holidays friends Miriam Hanlon and Roisin Scanlon are going to combine a trip to Africa and with volunteering at a mission in Kenya. Miriam who is from Asdee and a nurse at UHK and Roisin from Currow who is a nurse at The Bons in Tralee are to volunteer with The Saint Patrick's Missionary Society, Kiltegan who tend to the most vulnerable in society such as the communities in the slums, providing food and shelter. In Nairobi they co-ordinate several projects including anti human trafficking campaigns and help those who cannot afford legal representation. Additionally, they fund the education on sanitary pad making by hand so that no girl is absent from school. With the basic necessity of clean drinking water a luxury, this Mission drills boreholes to harvest water by providing their villages with tanks. Through donations, this work as well as funding medical interventions is possible. The two girls will see first-hand this work and help out in any way they can. "We both enjoy exploring new countries and immersing ourselves in different cultures. While we wanted to enjoy a holiday together, when we decided on Africa we both knew there was something more we had to do. Having grown up hyper aware of the poverty and underprivilege that exists in the developing world from our respective family's travels, we both knew we wanted to play our part and make a difference, however big or small, said Miriam. To help raise funds for this work the two nurses are taking on a 24-hour food fast. This will be followed by a bake sale at Asdee Community Centre Sunday, September 1 at 10am (directly after 9.30am mass). A GoFundMe Page has also been set up to help raise funds and can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/miriam-and-roisins-24h-fast-for-nairobi-mission Award-winning, bilingual poet Paddy Bushe will receive the 2024 Daniel OConnell Award at this years Daniel OConnell Summer School, it has been confirmed. It will be a highlight among a weekend of highlights that also includes the launch of Mr Bushes latest book, The Amergin Step, this Friday at 3.30pm in Cahersiveens Ring of Kerry Hotel. School director and local man Professor Maurice Bric was delighted to inform The Kerryman that the Dublin-born, South Kerry poet is the latest recipient of the award, but he was just delighted to say that the 2024 edition will, once again, prove the schools popularity. The one-day and two-day tickets alike are in very limited supply, he said, but if you cant make it, all is not lost. We also have a lot of people watching online, and those number are increasing, he said. He attributes the schools magnetism, partly, to a deep interest in history in the South Kerry region. He is continuously surprised at the attendance numbers at history-themed talks he give locally. However, the schools informality and accessibility could be bigger factors in this regard. Its not an academic event, he told The Kerryman. People are conscious of that, and they only need to come once to realise that. We dont have lengthy lectures that are academic or heavy. Theyre light touch; we always insist, I always tell the speakers, they only have 20 minutes, and thats all theyre getting. If someone says they need 40 minutes, they can be whistling for the last 20! People know that when they get a taste of it, and they come back. People come from Dublin, Cork, and they build their holiday around it, which Im delighted to say. But the locals show a keen interest too. Why wouldnt they when talks address national and international topics one minute, hyper-local the next? At 5.15pm on Friday, August 30, Billy OConnell will give a talk at Con Keating Park on what it meant to be a member of St Marys GAA club in the 1960s and 70s, and as the school moves from its Friday base the Ring of Kerry Hotel to its Saturday base, Derrynane House, one of the many delights will be Eugene OSullivans talk on Glen Olympian Eamon Fitzgerald. And these are just two of many talks. The action begins on Friday at the Ring of Kerry Hotel from 9.30am, and Saturdays events start at the same time in Derrynane house. For many, Fridays highlight will be the 2024 lecture by former Minister and Tanaiste Michael McDowell. Nobody knows what Michael will say, Maurice says, but its always sure to be interesting. The full 2024 programme is available at www.danieloconnellsummerschool.com/. Pre-registration is required if you wish to attend the school or watch online, and both can be done at the above address or by phoning (087) 756 2772. Having served Mary Immaculate College (MIC) for over a third of its 125-year history, Professor Eugene Walls retirement from his career in education was celebrated at a special event held in MIC last Friday. Honouring his contribution to the college in his seven years as President and 44 years in total at MIC, there were congratulatory messages from many names, such as Taoiseach Simon Harris; Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Minister for Education Norma Foley along with many other colleagues across the Irish Education sector. Eugene taught developmental psychology and educational psychology in MIC from 1980 to 1998. For the latter part of that time, he was also Assistant Dean Academic Affairs in the College of Education of the University of Limerick (UL). Following appointment to the role of Registrar/Vice-President Academic Affairs in 1998, he continued to lecture part-time on the Bachelor of Education and the Master of Education programmes on educational psychology and on educational policy issues. He served for 21 years on the Council of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and was a member of several of its sub-committees over that time, including the Coordinating Committee which was responsible for overseeing the development of the 1999 primary school curriculum. He chaired the Councils Primary Assessment Advisory Group. Eugene is co-author of the MICRA-T and the SIGMA-T, the two most widely used standardised tests in Irish primary schools. Eugene was the founding Chairperson of the Learning Hub, which works in partnership with local education providers, families and young people to develop and implement practical and solution focused responses to the high levels of educational disadvantage and early school leaving experienced by local communities on the northside of Limerick City. Your vision and leadership have set a high standard for your successors Following a period as acting President following the untimely passing of Professor Michael Hayes in 2017, he was appointed as President of MIC in 2018, bringing a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to education to the role. Over the course of his leadership, MIC has seen significant growth, both in student enrolment and in the development and expansion of its selection of academic programmes. Presentations on the night included a personalised letter from President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins to Prof Wall in which he wrote: "Your tenure at Mary Immaculate College has been marked by your deep commitment to academic excellence, the development of innovative educational programmes, and the fostering of an inclusive and supportive environment for students and staff alike, remarkable contributions to the College and to the broader academic community in Ireland. "As you embark on this well-deserved retirement, I hope that you take pride in the legacy you leave behind, one of dedication, innovation, inclusivity, one that has left a profound impact on education in Ireland. Your vision and leadership have set a high standard for your successors and will no doubt continue to inspire future generations of educators and students. Bishop Brendan Leahy, Chair of the MIC Trustees and Governing Authority also congratulated Eugene, saying: Eugenes tenure as president has been extremely successful but the six years he has occupied that role make up only a fraction of the 44 years in total that he has spent at MIC, beginning as a lecturer and, prior to his appointment as president, as Registrar/Vice-President for Academic Affairs. "In his distinguished career, he has made an enormous contribution, not just to the College, but to Irish education as a whole in terms of research and active participation in numerous organisations including the Teaching Council, the NCCA, CHoICE and City Connects to mention just a few. He has also enhanced the Colleges international profile and partnerships, adding to MICs appeal as a destination for study, research and work. "I wish him the very best as he embarks on his next chapter and thank him most sincerely for his tireless dedication to MIC and to the Irish education system for the past four decades. Also paying tribute to Professor Wall, An Taoiseach, Simon Harris said: The impact of your successful leadership as President of MIC since 2018, and as an educator in the higher education sector for many more years leaves such a lasting legacy. I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside you during my tenure as Irelands first Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Your willingness to engage, your innovative vision, your dedication to your students and your colleagues was clear always. You were a passionate advocate for the improvement of primary education. So many people have benefited from your expertise and your knowledge throughout your career. Id like to sincerely thank you for both your tenure as President and for your many years of service in the education sector. Adding to the tributes was Minister for Education, Norma Foley who said of Eugene: We have been so much empowered and enlightened by your spirit of endeavour in education and thanked him for all that he had achieved for the education sector. An Tanaiste Micheal Martin thanked him for his incredible and immense service to the education sector. Minister for Higher and Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Patrick ODonovan who is an alumnus of MIC attended the celebration and recounted attending Eugenes extremely entertaining and always engaging lectures. He thanked him sincerely for what Eugene did as an educator and a leader in Mary I and in Limerick and wished him well in the next chapter of his life. MICs President Designate, Professor Dermot Nestor from Caherdavin, is set to step into the role later in November. Mary Walloper takes part in huge community effort to rescue two Dolphins stranded on Louth beach Musician Andrew Hendy among the many who came to the aid of two dolphins on Blackrock beach Community and emergency services join forces to rescue two stranded Dolphins on Louth beach Margaret Roddy The Argus Mon 26 Aug 2024 at 11:54 Two dolphins that were stranded on the beach at Blackrock in Co Louth, were rescued thanks to a massive community effort involving locals, members of An Garda Siochana, Dundalk Sub Aqua Search and Recovery, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWADG) and even a member of The Mary Wallopers. Actor Brendan Gleeson with Marna Jennings, CEO, Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, at the launch of Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice, one of Irelands biggest fundraisers. Picture: Conor McCabe. Brendan Gleeson is encouraging people across Roscommon and Mayo to get behind a 2.4million national fundraising drive to support local Hospice services. The legendary actor is asking everyone to get brewing ahead of next months Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice, which has raised 45.3million for frontline Hospice care since 1992. This years event takes place on September 26 but supporters can host or attend one on a date that suits them, with every cent raised locally going to their local Hospice. Both of Gleesons parents spent their final days in St Francis Hospice in Dublin, which is set to begin work on a new 24 single-room in-patient unit, at a cost of 29 million. Im aware that Im in the final chapters but youre just trying to keep the creaky bits moving as well as possible, said the Oscar-nominated actor as he officially launched the fundraiser in Bewleys Cafe, Dublin. A great quote shared with me years ago was good health is a golden crown which only those who are ill can see, so the person who is sick is seeing how glorious it is. I try to keep an eye on the crown and as long as Im motoring around alright, I appreciate life. I am asking everyone in Roscommon or Mayo on September 26, or whenever suits them, to organise, support or donate to a coffee morning, wherever it might be held. Martina Jennings, CEO of Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, said they are delighted Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice, one of Together For Hospices longest and most loved fundraisers, is now in its 32nd year raising funds in support of Hospice in-patient and community services across Ireland. It is a chance to celebrate our coffee morning hosts, who give so selflessly of their time and energy in their local communities. "This ongoing, unwavering support is invaluable and funds vital services and quality initiatives, enhancing care for patients living with life-limiting illness, said Ms Jennings. Jason Doyle, Managing Director at Bewleys Ireland, said the company was immensely proud to again support the event, now in its 32nd year making it the countrys most successful and longest charity partnerships. Bewleys as an iconic Irish brand, was founded on the principle of caring for people and communities, which ties in perfectly with the ethos of Together For Hospice. We encourage everyone to host a coffee morning to help support the incredible, and often unseen, work that hospices nationwide carry out every day, said Mr Doyle. 24 Hospice and specialist palliative homecare providers make up Together For Hospice, The National Hospice Movement. The ethos at the heart of Together For Hospice is whatever is raised locally stays locally and goes directly to each local Hospice service to innovate, build new facilities, develop new services and deliver quality improvements and extra benefits for patients and their family members. Register to host a coffee morning on Thursday, September 26 or on a date that suits you at hospicecoffeemorning.ie or call 0818 995 996. If you cannot host or attend a coffee morning, you can make a donation at hospicecoffeemorning.ie/donate Students from Scoil Mhuire Strokestown with their CPR 4 Schools award from the Irish Heart Foundation. Two Roscommon schools are beginning the new academic year with an Irish Heart Foundation award for training their students in the lifesaving skill of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Follow Independent Roscommon on Facebook Scoil Mhuire Strokestown and Abbey Community College in Boyle both received CPR 4 Schools awards, which recognise schools, teachers and students for remarkable efforts in CPR promotion and training. They were among 36 schools across Ireland presented with 57 awards as part of the national heart and stroke charitys CPR 4 Schools programme. The charity aims to build a generation of life savers by training students to perform CPR and respond in a cardiac emergency, use an AED (defibrillator) and respond when someone is choking. CPR 4 Schools has been hugely beneficial for our school and has given us hope for a better future, where everyone knows this useful and lifesaving skill, said Scoil Mhuire Strokestown teacher, Sarah McCormack. Abbey Community College teacher, Laura ONeill, said incorporating CPR education into the schools curriculum has instilled important life skills that students can carry with them into adulthood. The impact of our workshops will be felt far beyond the school walls, therefore benefitting the wider community for years to come, she said. Students from Abbey Community College with their CPR 4 Schools awards from the Irish Heart Foundation. Since its inception, 2,630 teachers in 649 post-primary schools have taken part, learning how to deliver CPR and giving the programme a reach of over 350,000 post-primary school students. Brigid Sinnott, Resuscitation Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation, said the charity is delighted to recognise schools, teachers and students. Every year we are blown away by the work and commitment of schools to teach the lifesaving skill of CPR. We know that schools are busy places but they are making CPR a priority for their students and the impact is seen in their homes and communities. The Irish Heart Foundations mission is to build a nation of lifesavers through CPR training and schools are vital in helping us to achieve that. These schools are, quite literally, the beating heart of the programme and are recognised for empowering students with a vital lifesaving skill, said Ms Sinnott. A persons chance of survival is doubled when CPR is started immediately. By learning CPR once in your life, you are 10 times more likely to respond to an emergency than someone who has never received training. Designed to embed within the school curriculum, the Irish Heart Foundations CPR 4 Schools programme is easy to run and takes just one hour to train a class. Post-primary school teachers interested in signing up for the free programme can register by emailing: schools@irishheart.ie or to find out more about CPR 4 Schools, visit irishheart.ie/cpr4schools. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik will present the first Tommy Higgins award at Treacy avenue The late Tommy Higgins, former Alderman, Sligo Corporation and County Councillor is to be remembered with an award named in his honour. The Tommy Higgins Community Recognition Award is to be unveiled and presented by Labour Party Leader, Ivana Bacik, at a special ceremony on September 23rd, in Treacy Avenue in Sligo. Labour Councillor, Nessa Cosgrove said: As someone who only came to live in Sligo a little over 20 years ago I never had the privilege of meeting, or working with Tommy. However, as soon as I began moving in Labour Party and Trade Union circles, his name cropped up regularly. In any conversation about the Labour movement in Sligo, you could not avoid the mention of Tommy Higgins. It was, then, such a pleasure to be contacted by Tommys grandson, Andrew, during the course of the 2024 Local Election campaign. Andrew told me that he, and the rest of the Higgins family, wished to acknowledge the service of an individual who has served the local community for many decades, and to honor the memory of the late Alderman Higgins through the establishment of a memorial award. Andrew said: Tommys name was synonymous with both the Labour Party, and with his Trade Union, SIPTU, and with the community around Treacy Avenue, so for the inaugural award to be presented by Deputy Bacik in Treacy Avenue is entirely fitting. I was brought up with a clear understanding that my grandfather saw public service as both an honour and a privilege. He trained as a printer in The Sligo Champion where he went on to become shop steward. Tommy became Branch Secretary of the ITGWU (Now SIPTU) where he covered the entire North West region. He served as an elected representative, both on Sligo County Council and Sligo Corporation for some 24 years. Tommy was first elected in 1967 and served right through to 1991. During his time in public office Tommy was elected Mayor of Sligo three times, made an Alderman of Sligo Corporation and was awarded the honour of Freeman of the Borough. He played a lead role setting up the first Housing Co-op, Lyndale, that allowed access to homes for many families who otherwise couldnt afford one. He was chairman of the Sligo St. Patricks Day Parade for 35 years, helping to build it up from small beginnings in 1971, to the fantastic community event which it is now. He also established the Mayors Charity Ball in Sligo. Despite these achievements, Tommy did not seek the limelight, nor revel in attention. Tommy, like the first recipient of the award was an ordinary working class man, who gave tirelessly and selflessly to the community he served. He, just like our first recipient, did not do what he did in the hope of reward for himself. I approached Nessa with the idea during the Local Elections and was delighted to get such a positive response from a new generation of Labour Party activists. I find that despite cynicism about many politicians, there is an enduring recognition and respect amongst todays voters for politicians who, like Tommy and now Nessa, are prepared to stand up and fight for the ordinary working person. Politicians who recognise their own potential to do good. Tommy came to politics from his ITGWU background, where he had seen the difference that organised labour could make to the lives of working men and women. I t was during this period that Tommy met the legendary Trade Unionist, Dan Shaw who, recognising Tommys potential, took him under his wing and in due course recommended him as ITGWU Branch Secretary. Councillor Cosgrove concluded: In the days before Ireland joined the European Economic Community (now the EU), the only protection that workers had came from their union. The old ITGWU, now SIPTU, led the way, introducing changes to working terms and conditions that we enjoy now. Pay agreements were won and terms and conditions of employment were improved, locally and nationally thanks to the work of Tommy and his Trade Union colleagues. In Sligo we have a rich Labour heritage. Activists like Tommy Higgins, Dan Shaw and Teddy McGarry, the father of former Mayor of Sligo Marcella McGarry, remain with us, through their work and their descendants. Today, we stand as both benefactors and inheritors of their work. I am looking forward to meeting with the first recipient of the Tommy Higgins Community Recognition Award, and to deepening my understanding of the causes which were important to the late Cllr. Higgins, and the work which he tirelessly pursued. The Waterford Treasures Designated Activity Company will receive 15,000 for a project called The Irish Museum of Time Phase 2 Ardmore and Portlaw in County Waterford are set for a combined funding boost of nearly 100,000 in respect of regeneration projects under the Town Centres First scheme. Separately, the Waterford Treasures Designated Activity Company will receive 15,000 for a project called The Irish Museum of Time Phase 2. Ardmores project received 49,500 and it will examine the regeneration of the Perks site, located at the end of the Main Street in the town. The site currently has many vacant and derelict buildings and land, and the project will examine the future development and repurposing of these lands and buildings, including town housing, a playground, a green area and town centre connectivity. Portlaws project received 50,000 and it will examine the conservation of an old courthouse in the town centre into a community centre which will accommodate a significant number of community activities and services. Welcoming the funding, Green Party TD Marc O Cathasaigh said, This governments investment in town centres in Waterford is essential to help our towns and villages throughout the county thrive. I am delighted to see vacant and derelict buildings being looked at in order to repurpose them for the community in Ardmore and likewise in Portlaw where the old courthouse will be examined for its potential as a community centre. These are the projects we need to see to attract people and business back into our town centres, and to ensure that our regional economy in the south east is not solely concentrated around one or two urban centres. The Irish Museum of Time Phase 2 project involves the extension of the Irish Museum of Time into adjacent Central Hall, to house a cutting-edge interactive presentation of the story of timekeeping through the millennia, identified as lacking in the existing museum, an AI hologram and new exhibits including Waterford Time, four or six Waterford-made timepieces recently acquired from fundraising, and Cuckoo Time, the twenty best cuckoo clocks in the world. ST. Vincent De Paul clearance shop Gorey will be open again this weekend on Friday, August 30 and Saturday, August 31 from 11 to 3p.m. All adult clothing and accessories will cost only 1 and there will also be a large selection of children's and teenage clothing available. Manager Johanne Cussen has said these monthly events have become increasingly successful and as a result they would like to be able to open it more frequently. In order to do this they are looking for more volunteers for the clothing shop, the hours can be very flexible it could be one, two or three days or half days a week depending on what suits the individual. Anyone that would like to volunteer can call in to the SVP shop in Gorey to see Johanne for a chat or email vincents.gorey@svp.ie. Once again, Joanne thanked the community for their continued support as customers, donators and volunteers. The Eircode for the shop is Y25WK25. Davy Holden impressed with tour by New Ross Street Focus tour guide Davy Holden with the New Ross mace at The Tholsel. Davy Holden is a well-known Youtuber and vlogger with over 100,000 followers and one of latest videos is about New Ross. The Co Kilkenny man took a tour of New Ross with Myles Courtney of New Ross Street Focus recently, during which he was shown the towns historic landmarks. His video which runs to just under an hour has already garnered around 6,000 views. Showcasing everything from The Emigrant Flame to the towns former breweries, Courtney gives a fascinating tour. Speaking about Patrick Kennedy, President JFKs ancestor, the video goes on to take in The Emigrant Park, where Courtney discusses the kind of items imported and exported from New Ross Port which once stretched up to where the Graves sign is. Courtney describes how the layout of the town hasnt changed much since medieval times. The story of the Crutched Friars and their curse on New Ross is outlined. A townsman was killed by a friar. They followed the friar back to the friary and burned it, killing three friars in it. The abbot gathered up the rest of his brethren and put them on a boat to leave the town and as they left the town he turned and put a curse on the town. He said that the river would take three lives a year to make up for the loss of his brethren. That curse was believed (by some) when I first came to New Ross in 1977. As a result of that the whole town was excommunicated. Davy Holden on a tour with Myles Courtney in Conduit Lane, New Ross. Depicting the town on a sunny day, Courtney gave personal accounts of people camping overnight waiting for ships and buying tickets. There were refugee type camps in the laneways of New Ross. He recalls how the first temperance society in Europe was founded by Quakers in Priory Lane in the early 1800s. Nearby there was a brewery, ironically, which later became an RIC barracks. The military and religious history of the town is highlighted by Myles, with some information on the architecture of the town also. Jostle stones to save the corners from the wheels of carts are pointed out. The Tottenham landlords are also highlighted, including a rent demand by the Tottenhams instigating Patrick Kennedys decision to leave for America. Leading Irish freight and logistics company Ace Express Freight will host a recruitment evening at the Arklow Bay Hotel on Wednesday, September 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The evening is a recruitment event for a new team that will be based out of the IDA Business Park in Ballynittan, with open roles including warehouse and office staff covering warehouse pickers, despatch coordinators and logistic administrators. Ace Express Freight is a family-owned company with over 35 years of experience and a global partner network in over 173 countries. Experts at moving palletised and specialist freight to and from anywhere in Ireland and worldwide by road, sea and air, the company provides tailored logistics solutions supported by award-winning people and processes. The companys specialist services include domestic distribution for palletised and groupage freight, scheduled UK import and export services, scheduled European import and export services, freight forwarding groupage and full load services, warehousing, logistics, global air and sea freight services, custom clearance and export paperwork. Ace Express Freight will be hosting an open evening at the Arklow Bay Hotel, and we invite all interested candidates to come along, a company spokesperson said. Our friendly local staff make us different, delivering a personal and proactive customer service that you just dont get from anyone else. We are proud to be the only freight forwarding company that has been awarded the Deloitte Irelands Best Managed Company accolade for 15 years in a row, a testimony to our culture of continuous improvement and our philosophy of going the extra mile for our customers. Bernie Smyth and Margaret Stephens at the Military Road event during Heritage Week at the Brockagh Centre, Laragh. Photo: Michael Kelly Thomas Foster, Zachary Hartfiel, Terance O'Flacerty with Thomas, Des and John McEvoy, Killian O'Flaherty, Adrian, McEvoy, Petra O'Flaherty and Niall Brown at a Heritage Week stone cutting event in Ballyknockan, Blessington, Co Wicklow. Photo: Barry Hamilton Ann Fitzpatrick, Hannah O'Kelly, John Lusby, Margaret Birchill, Oran O'Sullivan, Deirdre Burns and Damien Clarke at the barn owls event in Rathdrum Library during National Heritage Week. Photo: Michael Kelly OPW supervisor guide Joan Power with Jorja Gault at the Big Dig during Heritage Week in Glendalough. Photo: Michael Kelly Heritage Week in Wicklow came to a close on Sunday after over 60 events took place throughout the county over a nine day period. The majority of the events held were free and family friendly and sought to strengthen connections with Wicklows rich heritage including nature, wildlife, monuments, folklore and history. Rathdrum Library hosted a presentation on barn owls in conjunction with the Wicklow Barn Owl Group, which is a partnership between Wicklow County Council and National Parks and Wildlife Service established in 2022. Participants learned all about barn owls at the workshop and examined their poo pellets to find fur, feathers, teeth, and bones from the last meal they digested. Liz Tiernan explored the rich heritage of Irelands native trees and delved into the ancient practice of Ogham script at Blessington Library as she guided everyone through the cultural significance and history of these natural treasures, offering insights into their role in Irish art and folklore. Professionals from the School of Irish Archaeology lead participants through a community dig which delved into Glendaloughs archaeological heritage. Those present learnt about the techniques involved in archaeology and through unearthing treasures, with the event taking place at the lawn beside the OPW Glendalough Visitor Centre. An Irish Sign Language tour of Glendaloughs monastic site also took place as part of Heritage Week, while family friendly tours of Glendalough took place too. Participants also got the opportunity to see the medieval model of Glendalough made from Lego and carry out a scavenger hunt based on the model. Ballyknockan Quarries held a stonecutting and heritage exhibition showcasing how they go about their work. Operating since 1820, the quarry has a rich history of supplying granite to Dublin City and surrounding areas. Newcastle Biodiversity Group were joined by entomologist Brian Murray for a bug hunt around the area as he encouraged everyone to start noticing the insect and invertebrate fauna surrounding us daily. Enniskerry Tidy Towns organised a heritage stroll through the village, led by John Prosser and starting at St. Patricks COI Church. Russborough House in Blessington held a fun day under the theme connections, routes, and networks which included the chance to explore the stunning maze for free and enjoy some traditional Irish music. The Bray Cualann Historical Society held talks on the social history of the developments that took place in the area. A tractor clears the rubble after a Russian strike on the Sapphire hotel in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Russia battered much of Ukraine on Monday, firing scores of missiles and drones that killed four people, injured more than a dozen and damaged energy facilities in attacks that president Volodymyr Zelensky described as "vile". Russian billionaire head of controversial app Telegram arrested in Paris Pavel Durov is the victim of a witch-hunt by the West, says Kremlin lawmaker Pavel Durov. Photo Ingrid Melander Mon 26 Aug 2024 at 03:30 The Russian-born billionaire founder of the secretive Telegram messaging app was arrested at a Paris airport shortly after landing on a private jet at the weekend. Mugs such as these depicting Marlon Brandos character from The Godfather will be banned. Photo: Getty It has long been synonymous with the murderous deeds of the Cosa Nostra organised crime network, but Sicily is now cracking down on the sale of Mafia-themed souvenirs in an effort to move away from negative stereotypes. All Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon are safe and accounted for after Israel launched a wave of air strikes across the southern part of the country. Israeli military undertook what it described as pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon early on Sunday, saying it had detected plans to attack Israel. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group based in southern Lebanon, itself launched drones against targets in Israel, saying it was acting in response to the killing of one of its top commanders in an air strike on Beirut last month. Has war between Israel and Hezbollah started? Will it involve Iran? In the early hours of yesterday, Israeli planes mounted simultaneous attacks on thousands of targets in Lebanon, after intelligence showed that the militia was preparing a major missile and drone assault on the Jewish state to be launched at 5am. According to Israeli spy chiefs, Hezbollah was due to strike the Glilot base near Herzliya, an affluent town near Tel Aviv, where the headquarters of the Mossad and several military intelligence units are located. Taken by surprise by the assault from the air, the Lebanese terror group, which has rained thousands of rockets on Israel since October 8, desperately fired hundreds more projectiles over the border, causing scattered damage and injuries. Britain Postman who hid more than 4,000 parcels and letters in loft said he had too many bags to deliver United Nations humanitarian aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, a senior UN official said. "We're unable to deliver today with the conditions that we're in," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "As of this morning, we're not operating in Gaza." India and Poland Upgrade Bilateral Relations to Strategic Partnership In a key milestone for India and Poland, the two nations elevated their bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis maiden visit to Poland on August 21 and 22. The official visit also marked the first time an Indian Prime Minister had traveled to Poland in 45 years. India and Poland are also observing the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modis latest visit to Poland showcases Indias intention to expand its ties to Europe beyond Western states. Following the latest round of discussion between Modi and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw, the two countries agreed to a five-year Action Plan (2024-2028) to enhance cooperation in various areas. Their talks also included a landmark agreement on social security aimed at enhancing the movement of skilled workers. Additionally, both Modi and Tusk expressed a strong commitment to significantly expanding bilateral defense and security collaboration, with Tusk emphasizing Polands desire to play a key role in Indias efforts to boost domestic defense production and modernize its military forces. DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA EXPLORE IN-DEPTH INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS GUIDES. Explore vital economic, geographic, and regulatory insights for business investors, managers, or expats to navigate Indias business landscape. Our Online Business Guides offer explainer articles, news, useful tools, and videos from on-the-ground advisors who contribute to the Doing Business in India knowledge. Start exploring India-Poland Strategic Partnership: Action Plan (2024-2028) Building on the consensus reached by the Prime Ministers of India and Poland during their talks on August 22, 2024, in Warsaw, and recognizing the momentum generated by the establishment of the Strategic Partnership, both sides agreed to develop and implement a five-year Action Plan. This plan will guide bilateral collaboration from 2024 to 2028, focusing on the following priority areas: Political dialogue and security Regular meetings between foreign ministers will be maintained, both bilaterally and in international forums. Both countries will support each others goals in multilateral cooperation based on the UN Charter. Annual political dialogue will be held at the deputy foreign minister level. The countries will hold regular consultations on security and defense, focusing on modernizing military equipment and defense industry connections. The next defense cooperation meeting is planned for 2024. Trade and investment Cooperation will expand in sectors such as high-tech, agriculture, energy, and defense during the upcoming Joint Economic Cooperation meeting at the end of 2024. Meetings will be held at least twice every five years to enhance trade and investment while ensuring balanced trade and addressing economic security risks. Climate, energy, mining, and technology Both countries will collaborate on sustainable technologies, including cleaner energy and waste management. Joint efforts will focus on advancing cleaner energy, clean coal technologies, and innovation in mining. Both nations hope to establish agreements on space exploration, including the safe use of space and cooperation in space ecosystems. Transport and connectivity Both sides will work on enhancing transport infrastructure and expanding flight connections. India-European Union (EU) relations Both countries shall support the early conclusion of the India-EU trade and investment negotiations, the operationalization of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), and the implementation of the India-EU Connectivity Partnership to advance the India-EU Strategic Partnership in trade, new technologies, and security. Way forward The implementation of the Action Plan will be reviewed annually, with the possibility of extending the plan for another five years. India extends business surety to Poland Prime Minister Modi also met with Gawel Lopinski, CEO of Billenium Pvt. Ltd., a prominent Polish IT company with a strong base in Pune, in the western state of Maharashtra. During their discussion, Modi inquired about Billeniums expansion plans in India and raise possible opportunities for India-Poland collaboration in emerging technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and the digital economy. In a separate meeting, Modi met with Alina Posluszny, Managing Director of TZMO India, a leading Polish manufacturer of hygiene products. Torunskie Zakady Materiaow Opatrunkowych (TZMO) has invested in a manufacturing plant in India since 2002 and remains the largest Polish investor in the country. In a joint venture between Polands TZMO Group and Premier Enterprises from India, the company BellaPremier Happy HygieneCare Pvt. Ltd., was established in 2002 in the country. Originating from TZMO, the company initially focused on offering alternative hygienic products for women, including feminine protection and medical disposables. In 2005, they built a Clean Room and received a CE Mark Certificate in 2009 for medical production. By 2013, the company became fully owned by TZMO Group. A new logistics center with a 6000-pallet capacity was opened in 2014. The company has since expanded, now employing around 650 people across various departments in India. In 2014, TZMO India South Pvt. Ltd., was established and headquartered in Bangalore. In the following year, TZMO India West Pvt. Ltd. was founded with headquarters in Mumbai. Scope for cooperation in manufacturing defense equipment and military modernization The scope for defense cooperation between India and Poland is promising, particularly as Warsaw is reportedly undertaking its largest defense modernization effort, replacing outdated equipment with NATO-standard weapons. This dynamic presents a mutually beneficial opportunity for both nations to collaborate on defense upgrades. The WB Group, Polands largest private defense company, already active in India through WB India, offers advanced military systems and electronics. With Indias Ministry of Defense establishing defense industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, WB India is well-positioned to collaborate with private Indian companies in co-designing, co-developing, and co-producing cutting-edge defense equipment, including drone platforms and cybersecurity systems. Although the agreed 5-year Action Plan of the two countries includes various areas of cooperation, defense collaboration is likely to remain central. India and Poland have had long-standing cooperation on a specific model of Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) known as the WZT-3. This vehicle has been co-produced by Polands Bumar and Indias BEML, both of which have been instrumental in supporting the T-72 Main Battle Tank. For some time, both nations have been considering upgrading the WZT-3 to the WZT-3M. In 2023, India issued a new Request for Information (RFI) for ARVs, with Bumar being a key contender due to its extensive experience with India. The recently established strategic partnership and its five-year action plan could help advance the Bumar deal. Key bilateral agreements signed between India and Poland A series of agreements have been established between the Government of Poland and the Government of India, covering various areas of cooperation: January 25, 1977: Agreement on air transport and an agreement on economic, industrial, and technical cooperation. Agreement on air transport and an agreement on economic, industrial, and technical cooperation. June 21, 1989: Agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion on income. Agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion on income. January 12, 1993: Science and technology cooperation agreement. Science and technology cooperation agreement. October 7, 1996: Investment promotion and protection agreement. Investment promotion and protection agreement. March 17, 2003: Defense cooperation agreement. Defense cooperation agreement. May 19, 2005: Economic cooperation agreement. Economic cooperation agreement. September 24, 2009: Agreement on tourism cooperation. Agreement on tourism cooperation. 2012: Agreement on audio-visual co-production. Agreement on audio-visual co-production. 2013: Protocol amending the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. Protocol amending the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. 2015: Agreement on exemption from visa requirements for holders of diplomatic passports. Agreement on exemption from visa requirements for holders of diplomatic passports. 2017: Agreement on cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors. Agreement on cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors. 2019: Agreement on cooperation in coal mining. Agreement on cooperation in coal mining. 2022: Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Matters and Agreement on engagement in gainful occupation by family members of members of diplomatic missions or consular posts. Double tax treaty Poland and India have both ratified the MLI, which alters the method of avoiding double taxation to the tax credit method. Consequently, the application of the double tax treaty between the two countries was revised. For Poland: For taxes withheld at source on amounts paid or credited to non-residents, the MLI provisions apply to events occurring on or after January 1, 2020. For all other taxes levied by Poland, the MLI provisions apply to taxable periods beginning on or after April 1, 2020. For India: For taxes withheld at source on amounts paid or credited to non-residents, the MLI provisions apply to events occurring on or after the first day of the next taxable period beginning on or after October 1, 2019. For all other taxes levied by India, the MLI provisions apply to taxable periods beginning on or after April 1, 2020. The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS MLI) is an OECD initiative aimed at combating tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. It was developed under the OECD G20 BEPS project and allows countries to quickly amend their bilateral tax treaties to implement agreed-upon anti-BEPS measures. Indias Double Tax Treaty Rates Recipient Dividend (%) Interest (%) Royalty (%) Technical services (%) Poland 10; 15 10;15 15 15 To know more about Indias double tax treaty regime, read our article here. Economic relations between India and Poland Trade India-Poland trade relations have progressed over the years. Between 2010 and 2022, trade in goods between the two countries increased fivefold. However, this surge mainly benefited Polish imports from India, widening the trade deficit. India-Poland Trade 2019 to 2024 Trade 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 Indias exports to Poland (US$ million) 1,548.11 1,652.67 2,723.94 2,323.11 2,436.27 Growth % 6.75 64.82 -14.72 4.87 Indias imports from Poland (US$ million) 849.58 706.35 1,124.79 1,366.40 1,504.26 Growth % -16.86 59.24 21.48 10.09 Total 2,397.68 2,359.03 3,848.72 3,689.50 3,940.53 Growth % -1.61 63.15 -4.14 6.80 Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India As of FY 2023-24, Polands imports from India are approximately twice as large as its exports. Poland is Indias largest trading and investment partner in Central & Eastern Europe looking at the data between 2013 and 2023. Nevertheless, despite some progress, the overall trade volumes between India and Poland remains limited. Overall, India is Polands 36th largest export market and 24th largest import partner. Indias Exports to Poland 2022 to 2024 (Value in US$ Million) Commodity 2022-2023 2023-2024 Growth % Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof. 325.60 315.64 -3.06 Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers. 6.06 7.63 25.94 Pharmaceutical products 108.11 123.58 14.31 Plastic and articles thereof. 103.82 82.47 -20.57 Rubber and articles thereof. 59.66 84.63 41.86 Cotton. 15.19 20.04 31.96 Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles. 60.56 78.15 29.04 Iron and steel 150.80 275.61 82.76 Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten. 0.05 0.49 938.94 Coffee, tea, mate and spices. 25.27 27.56 9.06 Oil seeds and olea. Fruits; misc. Grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder. 7.31 10.83 48.16 Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes. 23.22 22.95 -1.16 Ores, slag and ash. 13.05 0.02 -99.85 Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India Indias Import from Poland 2022 to 2024 (Value in US$ Million) Commodity 2022-2023 2023-2024 Growth % Dairy produce; birds eggs; natural honey; edible prod. Of animal origin, not elsewhere spec. Or included. 2.46 6.79 175.38 Edible fruit and nuts; peel or citrus fruit or melons. 21.52 26.38 22.59 Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement. 3.32 7.47 124.90 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes. 442.65 361.68 -18.29 Rubber and articles thereof. 82.40 46.83 -43.17 Iron and steel 165.83 260.75 57.24 Sugars and sugar confectionery. 2.76 2.87 4.09 Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, or radi. Elem. Or of isotopes. 1.17 3.16 169.80 Miscellaneous chemical products. 15.99 19.26 20.39 Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts. 106.68 142.97 34.02 Ships, boats and floating structures. 13.59 38.35 182.15 Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard. 18.64 13.94 -25.23 Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather 5.32 2.91 -45.37 Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India Investment Bilateral investment relations have shown promise, with Indian companies active in various sectors in Poland, from IT to manufacturing. Per the Embassy of India in Poland, Indian investment into Poland amounts to over US$3 billion, while total Polish investment in India is estimated at US$685 million. Prominent Indian companies in Poland: ArcelorMittal Videocon Escorts Strides Arcolab Ranbaxy EsselPropack KPIT Cummins Zensar Technologies Ltd Tata Consultancy Services HCL Technologies Ltd Infosys Wipro Jindal Stainless Berger Paints India UFLEX Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Rishab Instruments CRISIL Polish companies operating in India include the TZMO Group in Dindigul (manufacturing hygiene and sanitary products), Can-Pack Poland in Aurangabad (manufacturing metal packaging), Geofizyka Torun, Famur Group, Solaris (eco buses) and Ekolog (waste to energy), per data from the Embassy of India in Poland. Scope for sectoral collaboration Mining/energy: Polands expertise in clean coal technologies has significantly contributed to Indias mining and power sectors. An MoU signed on February 4, 2019, aims to further bilateral cooperation in coal and mining. Polish public sector companies have also trained Indian engineers in intelligent mining techniques. Polands expertise in clean coal technologies has significantly contributed to Indias mining and power sectors. An MoU signed on February 4, 2019, aims to further bilateral cooperation in coal and mining. Polish public sector companies have also trained Indian engineers in intelligent mining techniques. Agro-food Processing: Polands advanced food processing technologies are well-regarded. Polish companies are encouraged to participate in Indias Mega Food Parks, and a Joint Working Group on Food Processing has been established to enhance collaboration. Polands advanced food processing technologies are well-regarded. Polish companies are encouraged to participate in Indias Mega Food Parks, and a Joint Working Group on Food Processing has been established to enhance collaboration. IT and ICT: Indian and Polish IT companies complement each other, with about 11 Indian IT firms, including Infosys and HCL, operating in Poland. The growing Polish IT sector, supported by rising incomes and high computer literacy, has attracted Indian companies for near-shoring operations in Europe. Indian and Polish IT companies complement each other, with about 11 Indian IT firms, including Infosys and HCL, operating in Poland. The growing Polish IT sector, supported by rising incomes and high computer literacy, has attracted Indian companies for near-shoring operations in Europe. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals: Polands chemical industry is significant, with India being a major exporter of chemicals, particularly organic ones. Opportunities exist for Indian exporters in OTC drugs, food supplements, and generic drugs. Poland relies on India for critical active pharmaceutical ingredients and raw materials. Polands chemical industry is significant, with India being a major exporter of chemicals, particularly organic ones. Opportunities exist for Indian exporters in OTC drugs, food supplements, and generic drugs. Poland relies on India for critical active pharmaceutical ingredients and raw materials. Textiles: Textiles remain the largest export segment from India to Poland, with exports reaching US$645 million in 2023. Despite this growth, there is potential for further expansion in the sector with improved conditions for Indian exporters. Textiles remain the largest export segment from India to Poland, with exports reaching US$645 million in 2023. Despite this growth, there is potential for further expansion in the sector with improved conditions for Indian exporters. Engineering: Polish public sector companies have previously contributed to Indias mining and power sectors through machinery supply, technical know-how, and training, continuing their role in sector development. Time to re-evaluate the roadmap for economic ties Trade relations between Poland and India have steadily grown over the years, yet they still fall short of realizing the full potential of their economic partnership. Experts highlight that Poland is a key growth engine within the EU, while India has consistently been the worlds fastest-growing major economy. Poland offers a large internal market of over 38 million consumers and provides easy access to the broader EU market, with its 500 million consumers, as well as other countries in Eastern Europe. Jakub Kaminski, Senior Consultant, Export Support Department, Polska Agencja Inwestycji i Handlu (PAIH), told India Briefing, Greater bilateral trade volumes may also be influenced by a free trade agreement between the European Union and India, but negotiations on this issue have been ongoing for years, and at this point it is difficult to indicate when the process will end positively. PAIH is the Polish governments trade and investment agency. Kaminski added, India is worth considering an investment in local production under the Make in India program, India has a system of incentives for starting production locally, and this also makes it possible to bypass various trade barriers. Indias emergence as a global powerhouse has been solidified in recent years, with the U.S., EU, and Western European nations deepening their collaboration with the country. However, progress in India-Poland relations has been limited. For Poland to strengthen its approach to India, it must craft a compelling cooperation strategy and allocate more resources to enhancing bilateral relations and exploring new economic opportunities with India. Poland, with its significant investment in modernizing and expanding its armed forces, can be a good business partner for India, helping it reduce its dependence on Russia for arms supplies. In mining, too, Poland has attractive technologies to offer India, which will remain heavily dependent on coal consumption for decades to come. Both sectors were discussed between the two PM today, and the elevation of the relationship to the status of a strategic partnership offer hopes for a deepening of mutual relations. Jakub Kaminski, Polska Agencja Inwestycji i Handlu (PAIH) Recognizing missed opportunities in Asia India-Poland relations have remained stagnant for a decade, owing to lack of political engagement, coupled with slow progress in economic and cultural collaboration. The state of bilateral ties can be described as cordial but lacking in substance and intensity. Despite Asias rising importance, Polands trade with the region remains small. In 2022, only 5.1 percent of Polands exports went to Asia, while 29.2 percent of its imports came from there, leading to a burgeoning trade deficit. In 2021, Poland sent just 2.78 percent of its exports to East Asia and the Pacific, compared to 9.2 percent for Sweden, 11.75 percent for France, and 13.4 percent for Germany. Asian investments in Poland totaled US$11.5 billion in 2022, with South Korea and Japan as leading investors. However, Polands investments in Asia were much lower, at US$1.5 billion. Cultural and scientific exchanges between Poland and Asia have also lagged those between Asia and Western European countries. Efforts to foster dialogue through multilateral forums, such as the Visegrad Group (an informal political and cultural alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), the EU, or ASEM (forum for cooperation and dialogue between Asia and Europe) have been underutilized. Despite key Polish figures holding prominent EU positions, including Donald Tusks presidency of the European Council (2014-2019) and Polish diplomat Tomasz Kozowskis role as the EU ambassador to India (2015-2019), Poland missed the opportunity to reshape EU-India relations or capitalize on growing EU-India cooperation. Nonetheless, several notable decisions over the last decade have laid the groundwork for enhanced future collaboration. Poland opened a cultural institute in New Delhi in 2012, and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency PAIH established an office in Mumbai in 2018. LOT Polish Airlines began direct flights between Warsaw and New Delhi in 2019 (though these were interrupted by the pandemic and resumed in 2022). Such developments have made Poland a more attractive destination for Indian students, with their numbers growing from 263 in 2010-2011 to 2,449 in 2021-2022. Next steps According to media reports, further discussion between India and Poland shall take place in the next Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) meeting scheduled for the end of 2024. Furthering investment and R&D cooperation across multiple sectors will remain a priority technology, defense manufacturing, agriculture, agri-tech, food- tech, energy, climate, green technologies, infrastructure, smart cities, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and mining. Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Embassy In 2025, the unique historic city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan will host the UNESCO General Assembly. For the first time in more than 40 years, a key event of the United Nations cultural organization will take place outside of Paris. The last time a UNESCO General Assembly was held outside of Paris was in 1985, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Since then, Paris has remained the permanent venue for this key event, and the move of the Assembly to Samarkand underlines the importance of this event. Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Embassy Samarkand, one of the oldest and most prominent cities in Central Asia, is famous for its magnificent architectural monuments and rich history. The city was an important hub of the Great Silk Road that connected East and West. Today, Samarkand is known for its historical buildings, such as the Registan, the Ulugbek Observatory and the Shahi-Zinda Mausoleum. These monuments not only reflect the architectural excellence and scientific achievements of antiquity, but also bear witness to the cultural exchange and influence of Samarkand on the development of world civilization. Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Embassy Samarkand's unique historical monuments are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and attract tourists and scholars from all over the world. They not only increase the tourist attraction of the city, but also serve as an important reminder of the importance of preserving cultural and historical heritage for future generations. The UNESCO General Assembly is a key event in which representatives of Member States debate current issues in the fields of education, science, culture and communication. Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Embassy The Assembly plays an important role in shaping UNESCO's global policy, developing new initiatives and creating international standards. UNESCO, founded in November 1945 and headquartered in Paris, brings together 193 member states. Uzbekistan became a full member of UNESCO in 1993, and in 1996 the Organization's Representative Office was opened in Tashkent. Holding the Assembly in Samarkand is not only a recognition of Uzbekistan's contribution to global cultural and educational development, but also an opportunity to highlight the importance of preserving historical and cultural heritage. Photo courtesy: Uzbekistan Embassy This event will provide a unique platform to discuss the future of cultural exchange and sustainable development internationally. Samarkand, which has become a center of global cultural dialogue, will reaffirm its role as an important hub of global culture and science. Indian-origin doctor Dr Ramesh Babu Peramsetty shot dead in USA. Photo Courtesy: Crimson Care Facebook page An Indian-origin doctor was shot dead in the US city of Tuscaloosa on Friday. The deceased medical practitioner was identified as Ramesh Babu Peramsetty. He was 63. Details about the incident is still not celar. Dr Ramesh Babu Peramsetty was originally from Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati district. The Indian-origin physician was reportedly one of the founders of a group of local medical professionals operating under the Crimson network. Crimson Care team confirmed and condoled the death of the doctor by posting a statement on Facebook. It wrote: "As many are aware at this moment, we have been informed of Dr. Ramesh Peramsettys passing. The Peramsetty family ask for us to give them privacy as they grieve his passing. They have received abundant out pouring of love and faith." "We will continue to honor him as he would want us to do. Thank you for your understanding," the statement further said. In a separate post, Crimson Care team said: "Please continue to keep the Peramsetty and Crimson Care Network family in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this challenging time. Our team is prepared to make more statements within the next few days. We will continue to honor his legacy. Our clinics remain open during the transition." His patients mourned the death of the doctor and expressed their tributes in the comment section. One Danielle Taylor wrote: "One of the best doctors that ever treated me." Another Facebook user Jewell Sandoval said: "A wonderful doctor. Condolences." A protest against the RG Kar incident in Toronto by the Bengali community. Toronto/IBNS: Expat Bengali Indians in Canada have submitted a petition to the Consul General of India in Toronto demanding a proper investigation into Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder of a trainee doctor. In a petition addressed to the President of India and the Prime Minister of India, the group which identified themselves as "Bengalis of Canada" said "the news about the rape and murder of the trainee doctor from Kolkata has left us perturbed and yearning for justice to prevail." "This young woman's promising future in the field of medicine has been tragically cut short, leaving a void that cannot be filled and the distressing event has left the victims family in a state of profound grief and trauma," the petition submitted to Consul General Siddhartha Nath said. "Till now the behaviour of police and college [RG Kar] authorities have been suspicious as if they have been trying to safeguard certain people. If there's anything that is more heinous than the crime itself, it is a system that is complicit in the crime," the petition said. "When the whole system is complicit, the last refuge is the people. Thus, this initiative is to ask for support of the people, residing both inside and outside of India to mount pressure on the government.." it said. A protest against the RG Kar incident in Toronto by the Bengali community. Their demands included impartial, transparent and fast investigation, holding the authorities in charge responsible and strictest action against those who were complicit in the crime and in misleading the investigation. They also demanded adequate compensation for the family of the deceased. "The state government must ensure safety and security to all women at their workplace by addressing the systemic issues that can lead to a heinous incident like this," the petition said. Bengali community in Toronto submits a petition to Consul General Siddhartha Nath in his office demanding justice for RG Kar victim. "In light of this situation, I urge the Indian government to take immediate and decisive action to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous act are swiftly brought to justice. I trust that the government will take these concerns seriously and act promptly to address them," each signatory to the petition expressed. Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 15 locations across Kolkata on Sunday morning in connection with allegations of financial irregularities against RG Kar Medical College's ex-principal Sandeep Ghosh, following the brutal rape and murder of the junior doctor at the hospital premises. The CBI also searched the house of Debashish Som, who works in the state's forensic department in Kolkata's Beleghata neighbourhood. The key suspect in the rape and murder has been identified as Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, who was seen on the hospital's CCTV near the crime scene. He was arrested by the Kolkata Police amid a nationwide ongoing protest, strike by junior doctors and fears that there is more to the crime than just an act by the main accused. (Reporting by Suman Das) Photo courtesy: Videograb from X Kolkata/IBNS: Amid people's cry for justice in the RG Kar incident, the Central Bureau of Investigation has claimed a lot of evidences are available against the medical college's former principal, Dr. Sandip Ghosh whose role came under the scanner following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor. The CBI on Sunday raided the residences and offices of Dr. Ghosh, ex-MSVP Sanjay Vashisth and 13 others in Kolkata. When reporters asked whether evidences are found, a CBI official said, "Bahut kuch hai (a lot is there)." The CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch is probing into the alleged financial irregularities by Dr. Ghosh, who was controversially posted to the Calcutta National Medical College by the government after he quit from RG Kar following the students' protests over the rape-murder. Meanwhile, Dr. Ghosh appeared before the CBI on Monday again in connection with the rape-murder case that has triggered massive public outrage across the country and brought the Mamata Banerjee government under scanner over its alleged cover-up. The trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered at the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, which is located in North Kolkata's Belgachia area on the intervening night of August 8 and 9. One person, a civic volunteer, has been arrested in connection with the case but protesting students as well as the victim's parents suspect more people are involved in the case. In a tough question for the Bengal government, which is represented by advocate Kapil Sibal, the Supreme Court asked why a post-mortem was conducted before a First Information Report. The state administration has been asked why a FIR was filed on "Unnatural Death" even when the autopsy report claims rape and murder. In its observation, the top court said, "I have not come across a case like this in my last 30 years, Bengal not following criminal procedure code." Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab from X post of Shehzad Poonawalla Bengaluru/IBNS: In a picture which went viral on social media, popular Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is accused of murdering 33-year-old Renukaswamy, was caught having a tea party and smoking a cigarette along with three others at a lawn inside the Bengaluru prison. VVIP Darshan to murder accused in Bengaluru Central Jail Khata Khat Nyay Model of Karnataka Congress ? Murder accused filmstar Darshan photographed getting VIP treatment inside Bengaluru Central Prison with drink/beverage & cigarettes!! Chatting with history sheeters ! pic.twitter.com/FbCL8LesIX Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) August 26, 2024 In a viral video, a man in a yellow attire starts a video call and then pans the camera to Darshan, who then speaks to the person on the other side of the call. Darshan, who waves at the man on the other side of the call, was seen in a room with curtains behind him. The viral picture and the video have not been independently verified by IBNS. Darshan, his girlfriend Pavithra Gowda are among 17 people who have been arrested for allegedly planning and executing the murder. Kannada Actor #Darshan having a joyride inside jail. He is accused in a murder case. pic.twitter.com/ncNRYtG75Q @diti Bh@rdw@j (@Aditi14Bhardwaj) August 26, 2024 About the murder case According to police, the victim had posted an objectionable comment on Kannada actress Pavithra Gowda's Instagram handle accusing her of causing a rift between Thoogudeepa and his wife Vijaya Lakshmi. This happened after Pavithra posted an Instagram video celebrating his 10-year relationship with Darshan, who has been married to Vijaya Lakshmi for 20 years. Darshan's aides reportedly carried Renukaswamy in a taxi from Chitradurga to their Bengaluru hideout where they tortured the victim to death. After allegedly beating to death, Renukaswamy's body was dumped in a stormwater drain at an area which falls under Kamakshipalya Police Station. Police reportedly got to know from a food delivery man who saw a dog eating the body of the victim. Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab from X post Kolkata/IBNS: Bengali writer-teacher Parimal Dey has said he will return the Banga Ratna Award, an honour conferred on him by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal in 2019, as a protest against the rape-murder of 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Dey, who is from Alipurduar, told ANI, "It's my conscience call. I feel it's the correct step on my part to return the award. I am supporting the state-wide and nationwide protests against the RG Kar rape-murder." "I respect Mamata Banerjee at personal level but I am fond of her way of running the administration," he added. The Banga Ratna award winner, Parimal Dey awarded by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, chooses to return the honor due to the state government's handling of the rape-murder tragedy that occurred at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.pic.twitter.com/Jkpe4Swi1J Tarun (@fptarun) August 25, 2024 The trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered at the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, which is located in North Kolkata's Belgachia area on the intervening night of August 8 and 9. One person, a civic volunteer, has been arrested in connection with the case but protesting students as well as the victim's parents suspect more people are involved in the case. The rape-murder case, which is now being probed by the CBI, that has triggered massive public outrage across the country and brought the Mamata Banerjee government under scanner over its alleged cover-up. In a tough question for the West Bengal government, which is represented by advocate Kapil Sibal, the Supreme Court asked why a post-mortem was conducted before a First Information Report. The state administration has been asked why a FIR was filed on "Unnatural Death" even when the autopsy report claims rape and murder. In its observation, the top court said, "I have not come across a case like this in my last 30 years, Bengal not following criminal procedure code." Photo courtesy: Minu Muneer Facebook page Thiruvananthapuram/IBNS: Malayalam actress Minu Muneer has accused her four actors of sexual harassment amid the shocking revelations of abuse of women prevalent in the industry made by the Justice Hema Committee report, media reports said. In a Facebook post, Muneer has accused Mukesh, Maniyanpiilla Raju, Idavela Babu and Jayasurya of physical and verbal abuse on the set of a 2013 film. "In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable. As a result, I was forced to leave the Malayalam film industry and relocate to Chennai. "I had spoken out against the abuse in a newspaper article. I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured. I request your assistance in taking action against them for their heinous actions," the actress wrote on Facebook. Later speaking to NDTV, Muneer said, "I had a bitter experience while shooting for a film. I had gone to the toilet and when I came out, Jayasurya hugged me from behind and kissed me without my consent. I was shocked and I ran out." In another incident, Muneer claimed she had approached Association of Malayalam Movie Artists secretary Idavela Babu to apply for membership. Muneer said she was physically abused by Idavela Babu at his flat where she was called on the pretense of the membership application. Muneer claimed Idavela Babu had rejected her application to become a member of the association after she turned down his advances. Maniyanpiilla Raju, one of the accused, has demanded a probe into the allegations claiming the accusations are backed by several vested interests. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has formed a seven-member panel to probe into the allegations. Ranjith quits Kerala Film Academy after Bengali actress trades misconduct charges against him Malayalam director Ranjith has resigned as the chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy over the charges of misconduct levelled against him by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra. Ranjith has communicated his decision to step down to state Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian. Sreelekha Mitra, who is now at the forefront of RG Kar protests in Kolkata, alleged that Ranjith had misbehaved with her at his residence in 2009. Sreelekha had reportedly gone there to discuss a project. The actress claimed she felt uncomfortable by "subtle advances" by Ranjith. Photo Courtesy: Yogi Adityanath Instagram page Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday referred to the recent crisis in Bangladesh and emphasised the need to maintain the unity of the nation. Addressing a Janmashtami event, he said: "My brothers and sisters, nothing can be achieved without unity." "The nation can only remain strong if we stay united," he said. "If we divide then we will be chopped off," he said. "We should not commit the mistake that you have seen in Bangladesh," he said. A political vacuum was created in Bangladesh in recent times when former PM Sheikh Hasina and her government were toppled amid violent protests against her regime over the job quota issue. Amid severe demonstrations, Hasina, who returned to power for another term after winning the polls earlier this year, fled to India. Under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, an interim government was formed following Hasina's exit. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government reports emerged that several Hindu houses and business establishments were targeted by radicals in Bangladesh. Photo courtesy: Facebook/Congress Srinagar/IBNS: The Congress and National Conference have reached a deal to share Jammu and Kashmir's 90 Assembly seats ahead of next month's election, senior leaders from each side confirmed Monday evening, ending talks on a successful note hours before the deadline to file nominations for the first phase. The NC will contest the majority of seats - 51 - and the Congress will contest 32, the latter's J&K unit chief, Tariq Hameed Karra, told reporters. #WATCH | On seat sharing between Congress and National Conference for Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections, the state Congress chief, Tariq Hameed Karra says, "...National Conference will contest on 51 seats, Congress on 32 and we have agreed to have a friendly but disciplined pic.twitter.com/mopbnTsArS ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024 He said two seats would be left for the CPIM and Panthers Party. There will be a "friendly but disciplined contest" on five seats, which suggests that differences between the two parties - both of whom are part of the INDIA opposition bloc - were not fully ironed out, even after the Congress rushed two senior leaders to Srinagar this morning. This will be the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade as the 2019 poll was not held after the Centre scrapped Articles 370 and 35A, and bifurcated J&K into two union territories. "It is a matter of great happiness... we started this campaign together against forces trying to divide people here. The INDIA bloc was formed so we can fight forces that want to communalise, divide, and break the country," NC boss and former ex-Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told the press. "Today we have completed negotiations and have completed coordination in a very good (and) cordial atmosphere. The Congress and the National Conference will fight the election together..." INDIA alliance parties gathered in Srinagar for a crucial seat-sharing meeting ahead of the upcoming Jammu & Kashmir elections. AICC General Secretary (Organization) @kcvenugopalmp ji and @JKNC_ President Shri Farooq Abdullah, along with other senior leaders, were present. pic.twitter.com/SSoRHYIX8Q Congress (@INCIndia) August 26, 2024 Congress leader KC Venugopal, one of the two big names deployed, echoed the sentiment. "We have completed our discussion and reached a formula... we will fight together and we will win the J&K election. The Congress and National Conference are coming together to form the next government..." the Lok Sabha MP declared, accusing the BJP of "trying to destroy the soul of J&K". J&K will hold its first Assembly election in a decade over three phases beginning September 18. Voting will also take place on Sept 25 and Oct 1, with the results due on Oct 4. In recent months, particularly around Indian Independence Day, pro-Khalistani groups have intensified their anti-India protests in countries like the US, Canada, and the UK. However, this surge in demonstrations seems to be backfiring. Many Sikhs living in these nations are growing increasingly weary of these actions, leading to heightened tensions and even clashes. In Canada, for instance, the pro-Khalistani protests have dwindled in numbers. Demonstrations that once drew sizable crowds now see only a handful of activistssometimes as few as 20 to 30gathering outside Indian consulates. On August 16, confrontations between pro-India and pro-Khalistani extremists erupted at Malton Westwood Plaza in Mississauga, Ontario. The clash became so volatile that the Peel Regional Police had to step in to restore order. Similarly, at the Laxmi Narayan Temple in Surrey, British Columbia, a pro-India rally organized by the temples management was interrupted by radical pro-Khalistani elements. The confrontation led to heated arguments and flag-snatching, prompting police intervention to separate the groups. In Vancouver, an event commemorating the death anniversary of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, organized by pro-Khalistani elements in front of the Indian Consulate, attracted only a modest crowd of 15-16 people. This turnout starkly contrasts with the once-anticipated large gatherings. Across the Atlantic in Germany, the World Sikh Parliament and Babbar Khalsa International attempted to stage a protest in front of the Indian Consulate in Frankfurt. However, local Sikh participation was dismally low, with only 14 to 15 activists showing up. In a bid to bolster their numbers, the organizers enlisted Pakistani proxies such as Anser Butt and Rehmat Ali. This move drew a counter-demonstration from pro-India Sikhs, who displayed the Indian flag in response. The efforts of a handful of desperate, pro-Khalistani groups to stage anti-India protests appear increasingly ineffective. The once-vocal demonstrations now struggle to muster significant support, while the pro-India Sikh communitys counteractions have proven effective in neutralizing the impact of these rallies. The decline in both participation and enthusiasm for these protests suggests that the pro-Khalistani strategy might be losing its potency, ultimately serving to alienate rather than rally support. (Text and images courtesy: Khalsavox.com) Photo courtesy: IBNS File/Screenshot grab Kolkata/IBNS: In the wake of the Hema Committee report that shook Mollywood, Bengali actress Ritabhari Chakraborty has called out the alleged sexual harassment prevailing in her filmdom calling it a "sugar coated brothel". In an Instagram post, Ritabhari called a few heroes, producers and directors of the Bengali film industry, also known as Tollywood, "predators" alleging their sexual assault. "The hero/producer/directors with such filthy mind and behaviour continue to work without facing consequences of their actions and (are) even seen holding candles for the RG Kar victim as if they think of women as anything better than flesh," Ritabhari writes. "Lets unmask these predators," she added, urging her female colleagues "to stand against these monsters". The actress, who has also worked in some prominent Bollywood films, has asked her "fellow colleagues" to shed their fear and unmask the "influential men". Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab She said, "But how long do we stay quiet? Do we have no responsibility towards the young actresses that come to the business with dreams and are made to believe this is nothing but a sugar coated brothel." Ritabhari has also urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for a probe as well as reform. "@mamataofficial didi - We need a similar investigation in our industry right away. No we dont want another case of rape or assault before we are finally taken seriously. Being in the show business does not give the right to any man to look at us as commodity or their targets to satisfy their thirst of power or sex." The 290-page Hema Committee report has detailed the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, also known as Mollywood. The report by the three-member panel- headed by former judge of the Kerala High Court and constituted by the state government in 2017- has claimed the industry is dominated by a "mafia of powerful men" and that "sexual harassment of women is rampant". It has also narrated poor working conditions where junior artists had no access to toilets, had to run to bushes or behind thick trees and faced physical discomfort during periods. Ukraine witnesses fresh Russian attacks. Photo Courtesy: Screengrab from X page of Volodymr Zelensky Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on Monday said Russia targeted his nation by launching more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones overnight. "Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred Shaheds'," he wrote on X. Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred Shaheds. Like most Russian strikes before, pic.twitter.com/0qNTGR98rR Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2024 "Like most Russian strikes before, this one was equally insidious, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. The energy sector has sustained significant damage, but in every area affected by power outages, restoration work is already in progress," the President wrote. He further said: "It is crucial that our partners uphold the commitments weve made together, in particular regarding air defence systems, missiles for them. And beyond that, we must finally unite in our efforts to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. Today, their targets were in Volyn, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, and Ternopil regions. Across Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours operated in concert with our F-16s and air defence systems. If such unity has proven effective in the Middle East, it must work in Europe too. Life holds the same value everywhere." According to Russian media reports, Moscow has targeted defence industry facilities in Ukraine. An energy facility was hit in Odessa, Sergei Lebedev, coordinator of the pro-Russian Nikolayev underground, told Sputnik. A large number of Kyiv residents shifted to subways amid Russian attacks. The latest series of attacks took place just days after Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Ukraine and met Volodymr Zelensky. During his meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, PM Modi said India never took a neutral stance in the ongoing conflict with Russia but was always on the side of peace. "However, we want to say that India was never neutral in its stance and from the very first day we were on the side of peace," he said during his discussion with the President. Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a conflict for more than two years now. Benjamin Netanyahu says attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon is not 'the end of the story'. Photo Courtesy: Benjamin Netanyahu X page In his strong message, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said the strikes conducted by his army in southern Lebanon were not the end of the story". Netanyahu did not disclose the action it is planing to take amid escalating tension in the region. Country's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X: "The action carried out by the IDF yesterday to curb the Hezbollah attack strengthened the State of Israel, Ben Gabir's statements - weaken us." Escalating the ongoing tension in the Middle East, Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and Israel have announced large-scale military operations against each other, media reports said Sunday. According to a statement from Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, several explosive drones have been launched, targeting key Israeli military sites. Hezbollah said it has launched "more than 320" Katyusha rockets at Israel. In response to the threat, the Israeli military initiated pre-emptive strikes on targets in Lebanon. The IDF announced these strikes early Sunday, stating that they had detected preparations by Hezbollah for "large-scale" attacks on Israeli territory. Israeli Air Force fighter jets have been deployed to neutralise these threats, focusing on Hezbollah positions that posed an immediate danger to Israeli civilians. IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagarim said: "In a self-defence act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians." The IDF released a video showing its aircraft targeting the terrorist infrastructure of Hezbollah. "Our operation in Lebanon targeted the terrorist infrastructure Hezbollah planned to use against us, protecting Israeli families and homes,"the Israeli army wrote on X. What is Hezbollah? Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group, led since 1992 by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Against the backdrop of another major escalation across the Blue Line dividing southern Lebanon and Israel on Sunday, the UNs top Middle East envoy said on Sunday there is no time to lose for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages. Posting on X, Tor Wennesland said he had met Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa following intense exchanges between the Israeli military which said it had carried out large-scale pre-emptive strikes and the militant group Hezbollah based in southern Lebanon which said it had carried out an attack which has now been completed and accomplished. In a statement released later in the day the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply concerned over the "significant increase in exchanges". "These actions put both the Lebanese and Israeli populations at risk as well as threatening regional security and stability", the statement released by his Spokesperson continued, calling for "immediate de-escalation". The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been attempting to broker a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and militant group Hamas in the Egyptian capital Cairo, with Hamas reportedly agreeing to send a delegation this weekend to be briefed on progress, without directly participating. According to news reports, the current sticking point in negotiations is Israels insistence on having a presence along the border between Egypt and Gaza known as the Philadelphi corridor and on the road that bisects the Gaza Strip. Photo Courtesy: Screengrab of viral video on X. Violence returned to Bangladesh on Sunday night when clashes broke out between students and paramilitary force (Ansar) members in the capital Dhaka. At least 50 people are believed to have been injured during the confrontation. The clash broke out around 9:20pm as the students and the people tried to drive away the demonstrators demanding nationalisation of their jobs, witnesses told The Daily Star. According to reports, the Ansar members were blocking the secretariat gates despite assurance from the government that their demands would be fulfilled. At least 40 injured took treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital till 11:00pm, Bachchu Mia, inspector of DMCH police outpost, told the Bangladeshi newspaper. The situation turned violent after over a thousand students and others, many of them equipped with sticks, went to the Secretariat, hearing that Ansar members blocked the Secretariat even after getting assurance of fulfilling their demand, said witnesses. Later, army personnel were seen at the spot. The situation started getting normal after 10:00pm, and Gate-3 of the Secretariat was opened at 10:30pm so that officials who were stuck inside could go home, witnesses told the newspaper. Nahid Islam, information and broadcasting adviser, said the protest by the Ansar members was a part of the conspiracy. "We will take legal action against those involved in the conspiracy," he told The Daily Star. Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud, director general of Ansar and VDP, told The Daily Star, "Those who continued the demonstration even after getting the assurance are not Ansar members. They are outsiders they came with an additional set of clothes and their intention was different." He said lawful action would be taken against them. Following Sunday's clashes, Bangladeshi authorities have prohibited any form of assembly, procession or protest in the areas surrounding the Secretariat and interim government Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus's official residence, State Guest House Jamuna. More than 100 Ansar members, who were trapped in the Secretariat after the clashes, have been taken to Shahbagh police station, media reports said. Bangladesh is currently being ruled by an interim government under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The South Asian country is witnessing major political turmoil after former PM Sheikh Hasina-led government toppled amid violent protests against job quota and her administration. Hasina was forced to escape to India. The interim government took oath after her departure and fall of the Awami League government earlier this month. Meanwhile, Bangladesh's interim government, headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, media reports said. The move to cancel Sheikh Hasina's documents leaves the former Bangladeshi leader in potential limbo. The decision came on the same day a United Nations team arrived in Dhaka to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations. More than 450 people were killed, many of whom died in police fire, during the weeks leading up to Sheikh Hasina's ouster, with crowds storming her official residence in Dhaka and ending her 15-year regime. Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Pakistan, a country battling a tough financial crisis, is planning to introduce plastic currency in the country as an experiment. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recently announced it will change the designs of all currency notes soon. Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, the SBP chief Jameel Ahmad was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune that the new-design notes will be introduced in December this year after approval from the federal cabinet. He did not disclose the value of the plastic note. At present, Pakistan has seven currency notes ranging from Rs. 10 to Rs. 5000 denominations. "The central bank has decided to replace all currency notes from Rs10 to Rs5,000 with new-design currency notes," Ahmad told the committee as quoted by The Express Tribune. "By December, all currencies will be introduced according to the new design. The federal cabinet will soon approve the introduction of the new currency design," he added. At present 40 countries are using polymer plastic banknotes. These were first introduced widely by Australia. According to the Bank of England, these notes have enhanced security features, such as the see-through window and holograms. This makes them harder to counterfeit than paper notes. Photo Courtesy: Pixabay At least 23 passengers were offloaded from buses and trucks in Balochistan's Musakhel area which left at least 23 people dead, media reports said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ayub Achakzai told Geo News that armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway and offloaded passengers from the vehicles. Police and other security officials rushed to the spot. The deceased people were shifted to hospital. Speaking during Geo News programme "Geo Pakistan", Balochistan government's spokesperson Shahid Rind said that the militants had attacked on two to three fonts where they faced retaliation and resistance from the security forces and law enforcement agenceis (LEAs). He said the terrorists exploited the dark to carry out the Musakhel attack where they offloaded the passengers from the buses and shot them after identification. Balochistan has witnessed a spike in terror activities in recent times. Pakistan has also registered a spike in terror activities ever since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. Photo Courtesy: PID Bangladesh The interim government in Bangladesh has relieved two of its diplomats, who were serving in India, from their duties, media reports said. Shaban Mahmud, serving as First Secretary (Press) at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi was asked to resign before the end of his contract, reported NDTV. According to the Indian news channel, the other diplomat was Ranjan Sen. Sen reportedly served in the same capacity in the Bangladeshi Consulate in Kolkata. Bangladesh witnessed a massive political vacuum when former Awami League-led government collapsed amid violent protests over the job quota issue which soon spiralled into a movement against former PM Sheikh Hasina. In the face of demonstrations, Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5, ending her tenure just months after she returned to power in Bangladesh after winning the general polls. Meanwhile, another murder case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina over the death of a 19-year-old college student Mahmudur Rahman Saikat. The case was filed by the deceased student's father Md Mahabubur Rahman on Sunday. The other accused in the case include former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former textiles and jute minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former information state minister Mohammad A Arafat, and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, reported Dhaka Tribune. Photo Courtesy: Wallpaper Cave In separate shooting and grenade attack incidents at least 40 people were killed in Balochistan while 21 terrorists were also eliminated, media reports said on Monday. Armed men launched attacks on Levies and police stations in Mastung, Kalat, Pasni, and Suntsar late Sunday night, resulting in multiple fatalities, reported Dawn News. According to reports, grenade attacks and explosion were also reported from Sibi, Panjgur, Mastung, Turbat, Bela, and Quetta. Officials confirmed to Dawn News that the attackers blew up a railway track connecting Pakistan and Iran near Mastungs bypass area. The overnight incidents across the Kalat district left 11 people, including security personnel dead, and six injured, Kalat Superintendent of Police (SP) Dostain Dashti told Dawn News. According to reports, unidentified people attacked Pasni police station and thrashed personnel. They also set three vehicles and motorcycles on fire. Another police station in Suntsar, a coastal town of Gwadar, was also ransacked by attackers who escaped with weapons. Four Levies sepoys Ahsanullah, Ali Akbar, Rehmatullah, and Nasibullah were among those martyred in the clashes, while police sub-inspector Huzoor Baksh, a tribal elder, and two civilians were also among those who lost their lives, SP Dashti said. Kalat Assistant Commissioner Aftab Lasi was injured in an exchange of fire, district commissioner Naeem Bazai had earlier confirmed to Dawn, adding that the official was in stable condition. At least 23 passengers were offloaded from buses and trucks in Balochistan's Musakhel area which left at least 23 people dead, media reports said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ayub Achakzai told Geo News that armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway and offloaded passengers from the vehicles. Police and other security officials rushed to the spot. The deceased people were shifted to hospital. Speaking during Geo News programme "Geo Pakistan", Balochistan government's spokesperson Shahid Rind said that the militants had attacked on two to three fonts where they faced retaliation and resistance from the security forces and law enforcement agenceis (LEAs). The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Monday said 21 terrorists were killed by security forces during this phase. Security Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies immediately responded and successfully thwarted the evil design of terrorists and sent twenty-one terrorists to hell in ensuing clearance operations, ensuring security and protection of local populace, the ISPR said in the statement as quoted by Dawn News. Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Jio has introduced a range of new international roaming plans, perfect for Indian travellers heading abroad. These plans come with flexible options, offering data, SMS, and calling benefits with validity periods ranging from 7 to 30 days. Whether youre planning a short trip or an extended stay, Jios new plans ensure that you stay connected without spending a fortune. Overview of Jios International Roaming Plans Reliance Jios international plans are divided into three categories based on their validity: 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day plans. The pricing and benefits vary depending on the destination, making it easy for users to find an affordable option that suits their travel needs. Jios International Roaming Plans for Popular Destinations Thailand: For those travelling to Thailand, Jio offers two plans. The base plan is priced at Rs 1,551 and provides 14 days of validity with 6 GB of data, 200 minutes of calling, and 50 SMS. For longer stays, the 30-day plan is available at Rs 2,851, offering 12 GB of data, 300 minutes of calling, and 100 SMS. Canada: If youre visiting Canada, Jios plans start at Rs 1,691, offering 14 days of validity with 5 GB of data, 100 minutes Outgoing (Local + Call back to India) + 100 minutes Incoming, and 50 SMS. For those staying for a month, a 30-day plan is priced at Rs 2,881, which comes with 10 GB of data, 300 minutes of calling (Outgoing + Incoming), and 100 SMS. UAE: Jios plans for the UAE start at Rs 898 for a 7-day plan, providing 1 GB of data, 100 SMS, and 100 minutes Outgoing (Local + Call back to India) + 100 minutes Incoming. For a longer stay, the 14-day plan with 150 minutes Outgoing (Local + Call back to India) + 150 minutes Incoming costs Rs 1,598 with 3 GB of data, while the 21-day plan is priced at Rs 2,998, offering 7 GB of data, 100 SMS, and 250 minutes Outgoing (Local + Call back to India) + 250 minutes Incoming Saudi Arabia: For travellers heading to Saudi Arabia, Jio has plans starting at Rs 891 for 7 days, with 200 minutes of calling (Outgoing + Incoming) and 20 SMS. The 14-day plan costs Rs 1,291 and provides 2 GB of data, 200 minutes (Outgoing + Incoming) of calling, and 50 SMS. For a longer 30-day stay, Jio offers a plan priced at Rs 2,891, which includes 5 GB of data, 300 minutes (Outgoing + Incoming) of calling, and 100 SMS. Europe: Jios Europe plan, covering 32 countries, is available for Rs 2,899. This 30-day plan includes 5 GB of data, 200 minutes (Outgoing + Incoming) of calling, and 100 SMS, making it ideal for those travelling across multiple European nations. Caribbean: For the Caribbean, Jio offers plans starting at Rs 1,671 with 14 days of validity, 1 GB of data, 150 minutes (Outgoing + Incoming) of calling, and 50 SMS. For a longer 30-day stay, the plan is priced at Rs 3,851, providing 4 GB of data, 200 minutes (Outgoing + Incoming) of calling, and 100 SMS, covering 24 countries in the region. Country-wise Breakdown of Jios International Roaming Plans UAE Plans: - Rs 898: 7 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 1 GB data, 100 SMS - Rs 1,598: 14 days, 300 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 3 GB data, 100 SMS - Rs 2,998: 21 days, 500 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 7 GB data, 100 SMS Thailand Plans: - Rs 1,551: 14 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 6 GB data, 50 SMS - Rs 2,851: 30 days, 300 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 12 GB data, 100 SMS Canada Plans: - Rs 1,691: 14 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 5 GB data, 50 SMS - Rs 2,881: 30 days, 300 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 10 GB data, 100 SMS Saudi Arabia Plans: - Rs 891: 7 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 1 GB data, 20 SMS - Rs 1,291: 14 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 2 GB data, 50 SMS - Rs 2,891: 30 days, 300 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 5 GB data, 100 SMS Europe Plans: - Rs 2,899: 30 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 5 GB data, 100 SMS (covers 32 countries) Caribbean Plans: - Rs 1,671: 14 days, 150 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 1 GB data, 50 SMS - Rs 3,851: 30 days, 200 minutes (outgoing and incoming calls), 4 GB data, 100 SMS (covers 24 countries) Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Jio continues to lead the telecom industry with its new international roaming plans, designed to offer affordable connectivity for Indian travellers. Whether youre visiting Dubai, Thailand, or Europe, Jios plans cater to a variety of destinations, making international travel easier and more budget-friendly. Disclaimer: The details and pricing of Reliance Jios international roaming plans mentioned in this article are subject to change. We recommend checking the official Jio website or contacting customer support for the latest information and specific terms and conditions before purchasing any plan. Priyanka Chopra Jonas is currently in her favourite city Mumbai. The actor flew down to India a few days ago to be part of her brother Siddharth Chopra's big day. Her brother got married to Neelam in a intimate wedding ceremony. She started trending for her beautiful retro look in a pink saree and high bun reminding us of yesteryear actresses. Today, Priyanka celebrated 2 years of Anomaly, her hair care brand, in India. Two years ago, Priyanka associated her hair care brand with Nykaa and it was an instant success. Giving her followers a glimpse of her journey as an entrepreneur in this field, PC wrote, "Happy 2 to us. Two years since a match made in heaven came alive, AnomalyxNykaa. A big thankyou from us to you." On this special day, Priyanka says, "This is nostalgic. I always wanted to take the Indian ethos of hair care to the world. And to see it in India being purchased by Indian customers in huge.' Well, Priyanka sure is successful on this front as well. The actor recently wrapped up on The Bluff which was primarily shot in Gold Coast, Australia. She is also co-producing a Marathi film, Paani, which is all set to release on 18th October, 2024. When PCJ is not shooting, she enjoys spending time with husband Nick Jonas and her daughter Malti Marie. In a breathtakingly romantic affair on the Amalfi Coast, British actress and model Amy Jackson and English actor and musician Ed Westwick, renowned for his role as Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, celebrated their love with a second wedding ceremony. After their initial civil union in London earlier this month, the couple celebrated with their friends and family with an extravagant destination wedding in Italy. Amy Jackson is a dream in white satin dress Ever since the beginning of the celebrations, the couple has been serving one look after the other. But, the latest drop by Amy Jackson, a white halter neck dress is what dreams are made of. The bride wore the Saint Laurent satin dress for the welcome party for their wedding weekend and we can't take our eyes off her. The first pictures from the night are now out, check it out below: For the wedding day, the bride wore a classic white gown with a flowing veil, while Ed Westwick complemented her in a white suit. Amy Jackson also wore a stunning Jacquemus sheer dress for one of her pre wedding festivities in Italy itself. According to People Magazine, more than 200 guests, including a host of celebrities and close friends, gathered to celebrate the couple's three-day wedding extravaganza. Among the distinguished attendees were Ed's Gossip Girl co-star Kelly Rutherford, along with Daisy Lowe, Jack Whitehall, Roxy Horner, Mohammed Al Turki, and Dr. Barbara Sturm. For more on lifestyle, astrology and health from around the world please visit Indiatimes Lifestyle. Gopichand Thotakura, India's first civilian astronaut, made headlines as he returned to the country after a remarkable trip to space. Media reports on Monday highlighted the enthusiastic welcome he received upon his arrival in Delhi, a moment of pride for the nation. Thotakura's journey was part of the crew for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin. He participated in the New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission, making history as the first Indian to experience space tourism. Upon his return, Thotakura shared his excitement and pride in representing India. Speaking to ANI, he said, "The feeling has been awaited for a long time. I am very happy to be back home. It is a very proud moment for India as well. I am honoured to be representing the country." Tricolour in space An accomplished pilot and businessman of Indian descent, Gopichand Thotakura created history on May 19 when he took part in Blue Origin's NS-25 mission and went into space. This historic voyage, which was a component of Jeff Bezos' expansive space travel initiative, represented a noteworthy accomplishment for both India and the developing space tourism industry. A video shared by Blue Origin on Instagram showed Thotakura proudly holding a small Indian tricolour while floating in the zero-gravity environment of space. Alongside him, fellow crew members enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime experience, drifting freely inside the spacecraft. Thotakura was joined on the NS-25 mission by five others selected by Blue Origin, including venture capitalist Mason Angel, entrepreneur Sylvain Chiron, software engineer Kenneth L Hess, retired CPA Carol Schaller, and former US Air Force captain Ed Dwight. Who is Gopichand Thotakura? Gopichand Thotakura, a 30-year-old seasoned pilot and entrepreneur, was born in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Preserve Life Corp., a global wellness facility close to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was co-founded by him. According to the Blue Origin website, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive In addition to flying jets commercially, Gopi pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Thotakura is also an avid traveller and adventurer, having successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Also Read: What is EOS-08, the Earth observation satellite that ISRO has successfully placed into orbit? Thotakura's space journey is a significant personal achievement and a proud moment for India in the evolving realm of space exploration and tourism. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. What if taking a bathroom break - at the, er, lobby of a hotel - cost you your job? That's exactly what happened to Richard Becker, who was fired by Lenovo for relieving himself in a hotel lobbyand now he's hitting back with a massive $1.5 million (Rs 12.6 crore) lawsuit. Here's how it all unfolded. Richard Becker, a 66-year-old salesman for Lenovo, found himself in trouble after an unfortunate incident during a work trip in February of last year. Staying at the Times Square Westin, Becker attended a business meeting where he made five trips to the bathroom. But on his walk back to the hotel, he was hit with an "overwhelming" urge and, unable to hold it, discreetly relieved himself behind a column in the hotel lobby. Credit: Unsplash | Representational image Becker, who suffers from a bladder condition and has been under urologist care since 2016, claims he had no other choice due to his medical condition. However, his attempt to stay out of sight didn't go unnoticedanother Lenovo employee spotted him and reported the incident "out of spite and malice," Becker alleges. Four days later, Lenovo fired him. Now, Becker is suing the company for $1.5 million, accusing them of discriminating against him due to his disability. Credit: Canva His lawsuit states that Lenovo knew about his condition and wrongfully terminated him for something that had no bearing on his job performance. Interestingly, the New York Post reports that a Westin worker mentioned the lobby actually has bathrooms. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes Trending. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an unexpected visit to the Karystos hospital on the afternoon of Sunday, after his family encountered an emergency situation while in Greece. Reports indicate that Johnson's son suffered a minor accident that required medical attention, specifically stitches, which were quickly and effectively administered by the hospital's medical staff. Mr. Johnson arrived at the Diocleion Hospital in Karystos, where he was received by the on-duty doctors and nurses. The medical team provided immediate care, ensuring that the situation was handled efficiently. Mr. Johnson expressed his gratitude to the hospital staff, commending them for their professionalism and the quality of care they provided. In a notable comment, Johnson reportedly told Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis that the services offered by the Greek National Health System (ESY) were superior to those of the British healthcare system. iefimerida.gr The coastal city of Volos and surrounding areas are grappling with a disturbing environmental issue as thousands of dead freshwater fish have washed ashore in recent days. The fish, first spotted on Volos' beach, have now spread to nearby areas like Alykes, Nea Aghialos, and Anavros, prompting concern from the Greek Ministry of Environment. Experts believe the mass fish death is linked to recent flooding in the region. Overflowing canals may have carried freshwater fish into the Pegasetic Gulf, where they were unable to survive in the saltwater environment. The incident is not the first of its kind in Volos, which has faced increasing flooding challenges. The devastating Hurricane Daniel in September 2023 caused widespread damage, loss of life, and agricultural disruption. The recent flooding has also raised concerns about drinking water and sea quality, though experts say these are not directly related to the fish deaths. The municipality has mobilized to collect and dispose of the dead fish, but long-term solutions are needed to address the region's vulnerability to flooding and protect its fragile ecosystem. Authorities are urged to implement measures to mitigate flooding risks, safeguard marine life, and ensure the safety of water resources. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the environmental challenges facing Volos and the urgent need for action to protect both the community and its natural surroundings. iefimerida.gr The Federal Government has announced a new policy regarding secondary school leaving examinations. Underage applicants will no longer be eligible to take exams administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO). Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, said this during his appearance on Channels Televisions Sunday Politics broadcast on Sunday night. Advertisement He emphasised that both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) must now impose an 18-year age limit on candidates taking the WASSCE and SSCE exams. The minister further highlighted that this is not a new policy, but rather a strengthening of current legislation. READ MORE: The Situation I Met Them Was Heartbreaking Bobrisky Shares How He Fed 2,500 Prison Inmates His words: It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age which is 18. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time. Even basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission. So, we are not coming up with new policy contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination. The minister also announced that the age restriction for applicants taking the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Boards (JAMB) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will remain at 18 years. The Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, has resigned. His resignation was made known in a statement signed and released to the public by the media aide to President Bola Tinubu, Ajuri Ngelale on Monday. Ngelale also announced the appointment of new Directors-General for the DSS and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), whose DG Ahmed Abubakar had earlier tendered his resignation to the President over the weekend. Advertisement It was gathered that Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi replaced Bichi as the new Director-General of the DSS, Mohammed Mohammed replaces Abubakar the new Director-General of the NIA. READ MORE: NIA DG, Ahmed Rufai Tenders Resignation Over Personal Family Issues The statement reads: President Bola Tinubu has appointed Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi as the new Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed as the new Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). President Tinubu expects that the new security chiefs will work assiduously to reposition the two intelligence agencies for better results and charges them to bring their experience to bear in tackling the security challenges bedeviling the country through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and in surgical alignment with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The President further thanked the outgoing Directors-General of the two pivotal intelligence agencies for their services to the nation while wishing them success in their future endeavours. Israel Adesanya, a two-time UFC middleweight champion, has expressed his thoughts on girls living in Lagos. In a video posted to his social media platforms on Monday, Adesanya said that the majority of them are runs girls. Runs girls is the local slang for call girls. Advertisement According to Adesanya, they enjoy showing off, but their lifestyles are funded by prostitution revenues. Instead of being overly arrogant, he encouraged them to be kind and friendly. Lagos women like to feel themselves and are proud. Most of you are runs girls. I know the meaning of runs girls now. Kobo kobo, ashewo. You want to show off. Keep posing and showing off. Nonsense. Just be nice, be friendly, say hi, he said while speaking in Yoruba. This is coming after Israel Adesanyas triumphant return to Esa-Oke, Osun State, where he was welcomed back with open arms by the community and the traditional ruler, Oba Adeyemi Adediran. READ MORE: Yomi Fabiyi Advocates For Peaceful Protest In Mohbads Solidarity Assembly Ahead Of First Remembrance Despite his recent loss to South African fighter Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305, the Nigerian-born athlete received a heroic welcome when he arrived in Lagos on Wednesday. His return to Nigeria has been commemorated by a series of visits, notably to Oyo, Ibadan, and Esa-Oke, where he was honoured by traditional leaders and residents. Watch him speak below Troops of the 1 Division Nigerian Army on clearance operations in Sabon Birni, Dogon Dawa, Maidaro, Ngede Alpha, and Rafin Kaji areas in Kaduna have killed some terrorists, suspected to be bandits in the state. The Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Lieutenant Colonel Musa Yahaya, in a statement released on Monday, said that several other bandits escaped with gunshot wounds during the operation on Sunday. Musa also added that the troops recovered four AK-47 magazines (three fully loaded with a total quantity of 60 x 7.62mm Special ammunition and one empty magazine), a PKT belt with 86 rounds of ammunition, two motorcycles (one of which was destroyed), a Techno mobile phone, a Baofeng handheld radio, and an Airtel recharge card valued at N5,000 only. Advertisement READ MORE: Kaduna Police Nab Cattle Rustlers, Notorious Gunrunners (Pictures) The statement reads: Troops of 1 Division Nigerian Army while on clearance operation in the general areas of Sabon Birni, Dogon Dawa, Maidaro, Ngede Alpha and Rafin Kaji on 25 August 2024 made contact with elements of terrorists. In the firefight that ensued, troops overpowered and neutralised one of the terrorists while others fled with suspected gunshot injuries. Troops recovered four AK-47 magazines (three fully loaded with a total quantity of 60 x 7.62mm Special ammunition and one empty magazine), a PKT belt with 86 rounds of ammunition, two motorcycles (one of which was destroyed), a Techno mobile phone, a Baofeng Handheld Radio, and an Airtel recharge card valued at 5,000 naira only. The General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army and Commander of Operation WHIRL PUNCH Major General Mayirenso Lander Saraso has commended the troops for the successful operation and charged them to redouble their efforts as well as make life most unbearable for all terrorists, insurgents and their collaborators in the Divisions Area of Responsibility. Ipigansi Ogoniba, Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigerias Bayelsa State Chapter, has reported on Sunday that one person had died in another boat disaster in the state. While speaking with Punch, Ogoniba said, While the other passengers were rescued by concerned citizens from the community, one person drowned due to the rising water level in the area. On Saturday, a speedboat transporting 15 passengers overturned near Okubie in the states Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. Advertisement Although the reason of the disaster is unknown, Ogoniba reported that an individual drowned and the other passengers were rescued by concerned locals. READ MORE: Fire Engulfs Two-Storey Building In Lagos Following the horrific fire that enveloped a wooden boat barely two weeks ago, which sank and killed 20 people, the Bayelsa State Government issued several safety precautions. The regulations included a ban on cooking in wooden boats, a bar on carrying more than the necessary fuel for the journey, and the use of lifejackets, among others. However, speedboat operators are known to guarantee that all passengers wear life jackets. When contacted, Musa Muhammed, the Police Public Relations Officer in Bayelsa State, stated he had no information about the tragedy. Benneth Igweh, Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has condemned the killing of some officers during a clash between Police operatives and some members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN). Igweh, while lamenting the development, said the movement, popularly known as Shiite, have declared total war on security operatives by their actions. He said the killing of police officers and the injury inflicted on others by the protesters wont be taken lightly, and Sundays version would be the last time the Shiites would carry out any protest or procession in the FCT. Advertisement You can see now that these people (Shiites) have killed my men. They even went ahead to injure two policewomen. In fact, theyve even declared war on security operatives. READ ALSO: Two Police Officers, Trader Killed As Shiites Protest In Abuja We spoke to their lawyer, if you heard what he was saying, you would be shocked, you would know that these people have declared total war on us. I want assure you that we wont take that lightly, this is the last protest or procession they will carry out in FCT, the angry Commissioner of Police told newsmen at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. The reaction comes after a clash between police officers and Shiites, turned deadly at Wuse Market in Abuja on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of a trader and two police officers. The incident occurred when the IMN members embarked on an Arbaeen procession, commemorating the 40th day after the Ashura anniversary. The peaceful demonstration quickly escalated into violence as police officers attempted to disperse the protesters using tear gas and live ammunition. The Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has tasked Nigerian politicians to stop weaponising insecurity against their opposition in office. The former minister of Finance, argued that it is impossible to have socioeconomic development without security. Okonjo-Iweala led this out at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, on Sunday. Advertisement She said: We cannot have socio-economic development without security. We certainly cannot have security without development. We all know that security has been weaponised in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now. We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity making it look like they cant govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. This has to stop. READ MORE: Igbos Are Divided People, Attack Each Other Okonjo-Iweala Also addresing oil theft in the Niger Delta region, the WTO boss said that those responsible for stopping the intolerable action of crude oil stealing no longer have excuses. She said: A second aspect of security relates to the security of national assets. Nigerians have seen for years how organised crude oil theft on a massive scale seriously undermines the economic and financial health of the country. All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped. Atiku Abubakar, 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of lying to foreign countries about the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria. In a statement on Sunday, Atiku said Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, Qatar, and France, where he told lies about removing petrol subsidy. Advertisement The former Vice-President who expressed his views in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, added that Tinubus actions would have a negative effect on the flow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into Nigeria. He said despite the claims of removing fuel subsidy, petrol scarcity continues to remain a major challenge in Nigeria. READ ALSO: PDP Crisis: Atiku Wouldve Collapsed If He Had Emerged President Bode George Also, Atiku slammed the Tinubu-led administration for implementing a sham subsidy regime, as revealed in the financial statement recently released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). His words: Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, visited Qatar, visited France where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies. Obviously, this is not a man who is serious about attracting FDI. More worrisome is that he is not even brave enough to admit that subsidy is being paid. The NNPCL admits that N7.8tn is owed to the national oil company by the Nigerian government. IMF estimates that subsidy payments this year will constitute 3% of GDP, which is about $7.5bn. This will be about N11.8tn. Yet, the petrol scarcity continues to linger while the Tinubu administration continues to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and even its own NNPCL facilities. Obviously, the subsidy regime has become an even wider conduit pipe through which monies for funding the 2027 election will come from. Nigerian social media activist, Martins Otse Vincent, also known as Verydarkman, has criticized celebrities who donated over N70 million to Bobrisky during his recent prison stint. Over the weekend Bobrisky had publicly appreciated his benefactors on social media, including prominent figures like Funke Akindele, Tiwa Savage, and Don Jazzy, for their financial support. Verydarkman expressed his disapproval on Instagram on Sunday, stating that he has lost respect for the celebrities who donated to Bobrisky. Advertisement READ MORE: Id Love To Return To Prison For Vacation, Rest Bobrisky He argued that the funds could have been better utilized to support disadvantaged communities in Nigeria, rather than backing someone he believes is not a positive influence. He partly said, Bobrisky is not a Good Role Model, It Was Very Wrong For Popular Nigerian Celebrities to Contribute and Donate Almost N100Million to Bobrisky while he was In Prison, I have lost respect for every single Person who donated money to Bobrisky, The money should have been Donated to Impoverished Communities in Nigeria. Also taking to his Instagram story section in a series of posts, he wrote, Una contribute over 70 million give crossdresser and una no fit help build boreholes for communities wey no get clean water, children no fit go schools because them no get chairs to seat for class and una gather money for crossdresser wey dey deceive youths. Abi dem dey doke ma? Abi he dey pimp for them, this na serious matter oo. Like wtf. Alaye fuck everybody oo. I no need anybodys validation o. Who celebrity friendship help? What validation do I need? There is no penalty for insult. If I call them mumu they should go to Court, they are all mumu all of them and this is my opinion. Peace and love. Ratel says Aluta continua. See some reactions from netizens, veevogee said, You might not l!ke him but he said n0thing but the truth. aralamo_asake1 said, I dont always support VDM but on this, he is 10000% right. johnny.emediong said, I Am disappointed in Don jazzy and Victor . oluchukwu_____ said, Truth is bitter , he said nothing but truth but some sentimental people go say e de pain am . Nigerians and promoting rubbish . SEE POST: Philadelphia police on the 5500 block of North Sixth Street on Friday after the shooting of Abdul Vicks, a.k.a. "YBC Dul." Read more Abdul Vicks, a prominent rapper and West Philadelphia gang member, was driving along North Fairhill Street with a friend on Friday afternoon when another car briefly pulled up next to him and its passengers fired multiple bullets into the vehicle, killing him, according to police and video recovered Monday. Vicks, better known as YBC Dul, had picked up a friend from the 5500 block of North Sixth Street in Olney around 3:30 p.m., said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. Advertisement A few minutes later, surveillance video shows that as Vicks, driving a white Hyundai rental car, slowed to a stop at a red light on the 5500 block of North Fairhill Street, another car pulled up beside him. At least one passenger appeared to fire multiple shots into the drivers side of Vicks car, before speeding off, the video shows. Vicks was struck in the chest and hand, Vanore said. Vicks car then reversed before driving forward. The friend, who was seated in the passenger seat, eventually jumped behind the wheel and drove the half-block back to his house on North Sixth Street. He quickly picked up another man and together, they rushed Vicks, 25, to Einstein Medical Center, where Vanore said he was pronounced dead within minutes. No arrests have been made. Vanore said its not clear how many gunmen were involved or how many shots were fired. Police did not find any ballistic evidence at the scene, he said. READ MORE: How an 18-year-old defied the code of silence and helped convict a West Philadelphia gang Not long after the shooting, police recovered a stolen car that they believe could be linked to the crime. The car had been set on fire and was burning in a lot on the 6900 block of North 15th Street, Vanore said. Ballistic evidence was recovered inside. Vicks is one of the founding members of the Young Bag Chasers, or YBC, a gang based out of the Mantua section of West Philadelphia that has been linked to multiple shootings and homicides since 2019. Prosecutors estimate that, as of April 2024, YBC-related feuds left 30 people shot within just 16 months. Some victims were as young as 15, while others had nothing to do with the conflict, they said. Vicks was a prominent player in Philadelphias drill rap scene, the subgenre of hip-hop known for violent lyrics that often mock shooting victims. READ MORE: Four of the many lives stolen by the Young Bag Chasers Vicks was never charged with any crimes, but his songs, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, were notorious for insulting the dead and their families and claiming responsibility for certain homicides. His nickname was Mr. Disrespectful. In one video shared online, Vicks pretended to dig up an enemys grave at the cemetery. (He later admitted it was not an actual grave, but an unused mound of dirt.) Vicks father, who asked not to be identified out of concern for his privacy, said in a brief interview Monday that recent statements posted to his sons Facebook page were not made by him. He thanked whoever posted it for the kind words, but said he wanted to make clear that he has not yet made any public statements. He declined to comment further. In recent months, Vicks had been spending most of his time in California, Delaware, and New York, according to law enforcement sources and social media posts. Just days before his death, he recorded a video with YouTube influencer Brandon Buckingham discussing the growing number of people who hated him and the potential threats to his life. If I could trade and turn [time] back, and be something else, he said, in a moment of reflection. If I dont make it out the hood now Imma feel like I failed all my homies. A Burlington County teaching assistant may face a grand jury after authorities say he had sexual conversations with a student over social media. Michael Van Kline, 42, of Lumberton, who works as a paraprofessional at Seneca High School, persuaded a student to send him naked pictures and suggested the pair meet to have sex, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw announced in a statement. Van Kline was taken into custody Thursday and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a third-degree felony in New Jersey. He was released Friday after an initial court appearance, and the prosecutor said the case will now be prepared for presentation to a grand jury. The Lenape Regional High School District indicated to authorities that Van Kline will be barred from school grounds and school events. If anyone else believes they were victimized by Van Kline, the prosecutor asks that they contact tips@co.burlington.nj.us. Teacher Hakim Frye shows his eighth-grade students where to line up on the first day of school at F.S. Edmonds Elementary in East Mount Airy. Read more Monday was August Dixons first day of kindergarten, and the 5-year-old stood in the packed F.S. Edmonds Elementary School yard wearing a brand-new Spider-Man backpack practically as big as he was. His mother hugged him tight. Advertisement Youre going to do awesome, Kourtney Dixon said. Augusts dad, Nate Dixon, squeezed the boys shoulder and smiled at him. Nervous at first, August saw a friend he knew from pre-K, his face lit up, and his assessment of the 2024-25 school year rose by several notches. What was kindergarten going to be like? Fun, August said. Monday marked the start of the 2024-25 school year for August and 113,000 other students in the Philadelphia School District. Edmonds, in East Mount Airy, was abuzz with excitement before the first bell: A DJ pumped tunes, students hugged their friends, and parents snapped photos. Dave Malone, a special education teacher at Edmonds, wove in and out of the crowd, showing students where to stand and greeting parents warmly. Twenty-six years into a career in education, the first day of school still brings wonder, Malone said. This is one of my favorite days every year, said Malone. Autumn Mial, 9, said she felt confident about tackling fourth grade. Its harder than third, but you can learn more things, said Autumn. King James Abraham, a brand-new third grader, stood with his dad, until he saw a teacher he knew, then ran straight for her, throwing himself into her arms for a hug. Im thrilled about school starting, said Peter Abraham, who was happy to drop his sons King James and King David, a fifth grader, off at the school they love. Dignitaries including Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., and school board president Reginald Streater shook hands and made speeches with the same bottom line. Today is about new beginnings, the mayor said. Parker, a former high school English teacher, brought educator energy to Edmonds, clapping and cheering for students as they made their way into the school building. Sixth grade! Woo-hoo! Parker yelled as a class of sixth graders walked past her and Watlington. Later, the mayor and superintendent gave a pep talk to a class of eighth graders. No matter where you came from, you can do and be anything, Parker said. We came here to let you know that we believe in you, we support you, and weve got your back, Watlington said. The back-to-class rite marked the start of Parkers first full school year as mayor, and the first year of the extended-day and extended-year school programming that she promised during her campaign. This year, free before- and after-care are happening in 25 schools 20 district schools, including Edmonds, and five charters. Our extended day extended year program will close what we reference as the enrichment gap, giving our students the same opportunities as other students in other communities who are starting school today, and it will support our superintendent, Dr. Watlingtons, mission to continue to improve student achievement, Parker said. READ MORE: Year-round school questions, 347 teachers still needed: roundup from the Philly school board meeting Watlington said the district has a 96% fill rate, or 347 vacant teaching positions but is still in better shape than it was at the same time last year. But, the superintendent promised, we will have a competent and caring teacher in front of every classroom, either through credentialed substitutes or by central office staff with teaching licenses. After Monday, the heat will put a wrinkle in some schools first week plans. Dozens of schools without adequate air-conditioning are expected to send students home early on Tuesday and Wednesday due to high temperatures. Air-conditioning was installed at eight district schools over the summer, but 63 schools are still un-air-conditioned. School officials have said it will take until 2027 before all buildings have air-conditioning. Stephanie DiSpigno is an audiologist with Listen 2 Life Hearing Centers, which has clinics in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. Read more The red flag signs of a hearing-related issue that requires medical attention include sudden hearing loss, or hearing loss in only one ear. Such symptoms should be taken seriously and assessed by a physician, audiologist Stephanie DiSpigno advises. DiSpigno treats hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ear), and fits patients with hearing aids at Listen 2 Life Hearing Centers, which has clinics in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. Advertisement She spoke to The Inquirer about what patients need to know when considering visiting a professional to address hearing complaints. The difference between an audiologist and physician Audiologists assess the severity of hearing loss and can provide treatment options. Physicians, such as ear, nose, and throat specialists, can assess whether hearing symptoms are part of a medical condition. Know the red flags Seek medical attention any time you experience fluid draining out of the ear, sudden hearing loss, hearing loss or ringing that affects only one ear. Balance issues can be another symptom of an ear-related issue that merits seeking medical attention. Anything that is a red flag, we always defer to our ENT partners, DiSpigno said. READ MORE: Hearing aids will now be available without a hearing test. Heres what to know about the new rule. Call your insurer Private and public insurance coverage for hearing aids can vary widely. Among the government-funded coverage programs for seniors and low-income families, Medicaid in Pennsylvania covers hearing aids for children, but Medicare does not for seniors. We help each patient make the best choice, audiometrically and financially, she said. Dont wait Many patients wait for years after being diagnosed with hearing loss to pursue treatment, DiSpigno said. For some patients, hearing loss can trigger feelings of grief and worries about aging. But advancements in treatment options allow patients to quickly regain quality of life. Once they realize that their hearing loss is impacting their quality of life, do something about it, she said. Brith Sholom House, the beleaguered senior housing complex in Philadelphias Wynnefield Heights section that fell into disrepair under the ownership of a family linked to a sprawling fraud scheme, will be purchased by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), under a deal approved by a judge Monday. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle reluctantly authorized the $24 million sale, which will clear the way for PHA to preserve 360 units of affordable housing while enabling lender New World Commercial Credit to cut its losses. The bank had signed off on a $36 million loan, secured by the property, to a company linked to the Puretz family, whose members have been prosecuted for theft of utility payments and conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud. Advertisement The bank chose to deal with Brith Sholom, Coyle said. Sometimes those business decisions result in losses. READ MORE: Empire of Neglect: An N.J. family cashed in while Philly seniors lived in hazardous conditions The dozen or so residents who have made the journey to City Hall for court hearings, meetings with City Council members, and protests against years of city inaction to address critical safety issues at the property applauded and thanked Coyle as she left the courtroom. I feel the stress has been lifted, said Gail Peddle, 73, a resident who uses a walker and said shed been unsure if shed be able to come Monday morning, since the elevator works only intermittently. Residents have complained of leaks, mold, failing hot water heaters, squatters, and innumerable other hazards and annoyances. An Inquirer investigation in July documented how the Puretzes empire of neglect left tens of thousands of poor, elderly, and disabled tenants in dangerous conditions while they stripped the equity from more than 100 affordable housing complexes nationwide. Aron Puretz and his son Eli have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to mortgage fraud in federal court in New Jersey in connection with the dealings of their company, Apex Equity Group, while Arons brother Chaikel is facing charges related to theft of residents utility payments in Indiana. The receivers for Brith Sholom and a neighboring complex that was also owned by the Puretzes alleged similar thefts here, contributing to $1.5 million in utility arrears at Brith Sholom. No criminal charges have been filed here, though, and Coyle lamented that part of that debt would be written off at ratepayers expense. At a PHA board meeting last week, chief executive Kelvin Jeremiah described the purchase as an incredible acquisition made possible with state and federal financial support. The cost, $67,000 per unit not including renovations, was below what PHA typically has to pay. This is a deal, he said. To the tenants, who worked with the Public Interest Law Center and the volunteer-run coalition Renters Justice, it was victory, said Marguerite Byrd, 78. I just want senior citizens to understand youre more important than you believe , she said. You still got the power. But you have to come together and let people know you still have fight in you. I might be older in number, but I still got fight in me. As Chacun McIntyre looks on, her 5-year-old Ethan McIntyre smiles while getting a free haircut from Fadetastic Barber Co. barber Mike Walker at the West Philadelphia YMCA on Sunday. Read more Mike Walker leaned down to shake the hand of 5-year-old Ethan McIntyre, whom the barber had just given a haircut. I want you to have a great year in school, Walker told the kindergartner, moving in closer to be heard over the din of a bustling gymnasium. Advertisement On the eve of the first day of classes for many Philadelphia children, Ethan was one of 403 children who got a free haircut Sunday at the West Philadelphia YMCA as part of the annual Barbers Who Care Inc. back-to-school event. Students could also pick up free school supplies, backpacks, and sneakers while they lasted and get free manicures. The free supplies were provided by sponsors including UnitedHealthcare and the Change Our Future Foundation, which was founded by former Eagle Rodney McLeod and his wife, Erika, and 30 barbers from across the city volunteered their time. With the economy today, it is a big help, said Chachun McIntyre, 42, a school behavioral support specialist from West Philadelphia. Along with her son, Ethan, she also brought her two nephews for haircuts. Over 15 years, Barbers Who Care has given about 4,000 free back-to-school cuts, cofounder Keturah Duncan said, and demand has grown exponentially. The first year, she said, about 70 kids got haircuts at Mane Attraction Unisex Salon, which is owned by her husband and cofounder, Kenny Duncan. There are a lot of thank-yous from parents, said Duncan, as she stood in the middle of the gym and looked out at the 30 volunteer barbers hard at work. It takes so much off my shoulders, said Mary Beiland, a 42-year-old home health-care worker from West Philadelphia. Nearby, her 8-year-old son, Colin Rowen, got a buzz cut. Hes starting second grade at a new school, Beiland said, and wanted to look his best. For Krystina Alfaro, the mother of 11 children between the ages of 1 and 18, the event brought mental and financial relief. The haircut alone is usually $30 and up for boys, plus youve got to tip them, said Alfaro, 37, of Southwest Philadelphia. Thats one less expense to worry about it. Her 17-year-old son, Giovanni Currie, sat in Walkers chair. As the barber gave the teen a high-top fade, he also gave his mother a gift: free cuts for her children all school year at his shop, Fadetastic Barber Co. I appreciate that, she said. It takes a lot off me. As the event drew to a close around 3 p.m., the Barbers Who Care team swept up the buzzed-off locks from under each barbers chair and gathered the remnants at midcourt in the gym. With brooms and hands, they molded all the hair into the number 403. Rafaela Gomez of Reading stands outside her home, which is decorated with signs in support of former President Donald Trump. She said she feels like "the only Trump supporter in Reading," even as the GOP has made gains in the area. Read more Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter Welcome to a new week, Philly. Todays weather is forecast to be mostly sunny, with high temps near 89. Growing support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in majority-Latino cities like Reading could help him win Pennsylvania. Our lead story is the latest in The Inquirers series about the kinds of places that will decide who wins the swing state, and possibly the November election. Advertisement And its the first day of school for Philadelphia students. Below, find a roundup of some of the challenges facing district officials this year, plus the latest on the fight to ban cell phones in schools. Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com) If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here. In small cities within 100 miles of dark-blue Philadelphia, the Republican Party is making inroads with Latino voters. Democrats are still dominant in Berks Countys Reading, one of three majority-Latino Pennsylvania cities alongside Lehigh Countys Allentown and Luzerne Countys Hazleton. But Republican votes for president grew significantly in all three from 2016 to 2020, while Democratic votes stayed roughly level or decreased. Latino officials and voters from both parties told The Inquirer that immigration and the economy are important issues to their diverse community. Voter engagement will be key. The Latino community votes on passion, said Reading Mayor Eddie Moran, a Democrat. They vote on something that is meaningful to them. Reporters Sean Collins Walsh and Aseem Shukla have the story. Philadelphia School District and city officials are expected to formally ring in the academic year at East Mount Airys F.S. Edmonds Elementary this morning the first day of school for 113,000 kids. The start comes as the district rushes to fill hundreds of vacant teaching positions, deals with dozens of buildings without air-conditioning, clarifies its extended day, extended year programming, and fields complaints about antisemitism and Islamophobia, to name just a few challenges. Follow along with our education team for the latest throughout the day. Heres what else to know about the 2024-25 school year: Phone bans: Theres new momentum and a funding-tied law around curbing phone use in Pennsylvania schools, but parents and schools disagree on the best way. Screen time: Springfield Township School District parents pushed back on the pervasiveness of screen time in schools and got YouTube banned during middle school lunches. Looking sharp: On the eve of their first day, 403 children got free haircuts from 30 barbers who volunteered their time in West Philly. With the economy today, it is a big help, one parent said. What you should know today Trivia time What item cant you find in the American Treasure Tour Museum in Oaks? A) A stuffed animal tableau of Dogs Playing Poker B) A working Chuck E. Cheese animatronic band C) A 20-foot-tall Gumby D) A hyperrealistic wax statue of Ronald Reagan Think you know? Check your answer. What (and who) were... Learning: How to vote in Pennsylvania this election. Checking: Which Philly-area hospitals have the busiest emergency departments. Remembering: Roland Johnson, the MLK of the disability rights movement. Unscramble the anagram The Eagles all-time rushing yards leader now headed to the teams Hall of Fame. MESA CYCLONE Email us if you know the answer. Well select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Howie Brown, who solved Sundays anagram: Rob McElhenney. The beloved Philadelphia actor and comedian flew all the way to London to film a cameo for Deadpool & Wolverine, but it was cut from the movie. Photo of the day Your only in Philly story Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if youre not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter. This only in Philly story comes from Inquirer columnist Stephanie Farr, who recalls a wild encounter with a Birds fan who made their commitment permanent: On the night the Eagles won Super Bowl LII I was assigned to cover fans at XFinity Live! Following the win, I followed the crowd out onto Broad Street. For nearly four miles, I walked with a sea of people to City Hall, hugging and dancing with elated Birds fans who pulled me into their celebrations when I tried to interview them. It was never clearer that we were all Philadelphians first that night, even those of us who had to work (Ive never seen police officers and sanitation workers have so much fun on the job). Of the many chants the crowd broke into along the way, one rang out above the rest. It wasnt particularly clever and it didnt rhyme, but it really seemed to capture how Philadelphians felt in the moment. That chant was: F Tom Brady. As I approached City Hall, I saw a man in an Eagles jersey with cling wrap tied tightly around his right thigh and the words F Tom Brady freshly tattooed underneath. He told me he got the ink as soon as the national anthem started. A bold move that worked out in his favor, unlike the man I interviewed in 2023, who got an Eagles Super Bowl LVII tattoo on his thigh before the big game, and then added a crying Michael Jordan over it when they lost. Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. See you back here tomorrow. By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirers Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10. In a competitive insurance market, standardisation of definitions or terms could prove to be too restrictive on insurers pricing capabilities, said Carter. My view is that the focus should be on plain language contracts and definitions which clearly articulate the intention of the cover provided under the contract of insurance to avoid disputes at claim time. The ReCALIbrate program makes a huge impact because women have less money available to them than men, due to the gender pay gap. So, this grant can go a lot further to really help women access opportunities to learn and connect and further their career, she said. As of December 2023, 65% of the companys gross written premium came from property and casualty products, while accident and health accounted for 28%, and life insurance made up the remaining 7%. As of July 2024, Chubb Peru ranks as the 12th largest insurance operation in the country. Chris Young has taken on the role of personal lines underwriting team leader in CRC Groups Alpharetta, Ga., office. Youngs career in the insurance industry spans over 26 years, including his most recent position as a senior personal lines underwriter with an independent wholesale insurance broker and underwriting manager. Citing a statement issued for policyholders, the AM Best report stated that Columbian Life reassured its clients that all policies remain in place and the order would not result in any coverage changes. The company also ensures that it is business as usual with the claims processing and payment operations, notwithstanding the ongoing rehabilitation. However, the company did not specify how long the rehabilitation will last. Property insurance costs have been rising across the board, particularly in states like Florida, Texas, and California, where obtaining coverage has become increasingly difficult. The insurance industry cites more frequent and severe storms, along with rising home prices and material and labor costs, as reasons for premium increases or, in some cases, insurers exiting the market. A Vermont man who was fired from his job after he said a random drug test showed he used medical marijuana while off duty for chronic pain has lost his appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court over unemployment benefits. Ivo Skoric, representing himself, told the justices at his hearing in May that he is legally prescribed medical cannabis by a doctor and that his work performance is not affected by the medicine. On Jan. 9, 2023, he was terminated from his part-time job cleaning and fueling buses at Marble Valley Regional Transit District in Rutland for misconduct after a drug test. His job was a safety sensitive position, and he was required to possess a commercial drivers license and operate buses on occasion, the Supreme Court wrote. After the results of the drug test, he was terminated for violating U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration regulation, the court wrote. Skoric appealed to the state after he was found to be ineligible for unemployment benefits, but the Vermont Employment Security Board agreed with an administrative law judge, saying that Skoric engaged in conduct prohibited by the employers drug and alcohol policy and that because he was discharged for misconduct, he was disqualified from those benefits. He told the Supreme Court justices in May that he should not have to choose between state benefits and the medical care the state granted him to use. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU )of Vermont, also representing Disability Rights Vermont and Criminal Justice Reform, also argued the benefits should not be denied. Skoric sought a declaratory ruling on whether the misconduct disqualification applied to the off-duty use of medical cannabis, but the state declined to provide one. In its decision Friday, the Vermont Supreme Court said that the Labor Department properly declined to issue a declaratory ruling on the matter, noting that his violation of written workplace policy stood as an independent source of disqualifying misconduct. Skoric said Friday that the Supreme Courts decision did not address the merits of his case. It does not discuss whether an employee who is medical cannabis patient in Vermont has the right to use cannabis in the off-hours, he said by email. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Cannabis A worker was killed last Thursday morning after a portion of a rock ledge collapsed onto an excavator with the worker inside, burying it under rocks and boulders at a quarry site in Massachusetts. Firefighters and other rescue agencies responded to the scene. Crews used camera equipment to assess the scene of the collapse and found no signs of life, according to fire officials in Sterling, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Boston. The worker was pronounced dead at 8:39 a.m. The workers identity was not immediately released. The U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration is currently inspecting the site to determine the safety of moving forward with retrieval efforts at this time, local fire officials said. The Sterling Fire Department posted online that it and other agencies were working at the scene off Chocksett Road, where the quarry was located. Please avoid the area. There is no safety threat to the public, the department said. Onyx Corporation, a demolition and excavation company that operates a quarry site on Chocksett Road, posted online that it has closed all locations from Thursday through the weekend, saying it will resume business on Monday. The company issued a statement later Monday saying our hearts go out to the family of our longtime employee and friend who was killed in a tragic accident this morning at our Sterling Sand and Gravel pit. He was operating an excavator within the safety zone of a 100-foot ledge face when the wall collapsed; we are not releasing his name pending notification of next of kin, the statement continued. The company said the Mining Safety and Health Administration had been at the facility as recently as Tuesday for a company-requested inspection due to expanded operations. In February 2018, Onyx announced its new quarry location on Chocksett Road. Whether you be a small landscaper or heavy civil contractor, we have the locations and expertise to provide you with all your sand or aggregate needs, the company posted online at the time. The company posted in January that it transforms hunks of rocks into aggregate materials that are used for roads, drainage, retaining walls, and other infrastructure. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Massachusetts A Pennsylvania school district violated a teachers constitutional rights by falsely suggesting he took part in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal jury has concluded. After an 11-day trial, jurors found the Allentown School District retaliated against Jason Moorehead when it suspended him after the deadly insurrection in the nations capital and asserted he was involved in the electoral college protest that took place at the United States Capitol Building. Although Moorehead was in Washington, D.C., to attend Donald Trumps Stop the Steal rally, he said he never got closer than a mile to the Capitol and was not among the rioters who stormed the building. He has never been charged with a crime. Moorehead, who taught middle school social studies, said individual school board members later orchestrated a public smear campaign against him even though his teaching record was spotless, claiming they acted out of ideological hatred. He said the ordeal has destroyed his reputation and ended his teaching career. Jurors decided on Friday that the district one of the largest in the state with more than 16,000 students should pay Moorehead $125,000 for economic damages. The jury also found that school board member Lisa Conover and former board president Nancy Wilt acted maliciously or wantonly, ordering Conover to pay $6,000 in punitive damages and Wilt to pay $500. One of the school districts lawyers, Shorav Kaushik, said in a brief statement Thursday that the district respects the jurys verdict and is considering its legal options. It is looking forward to continuing its mission to serve the Allentown community and the needs of its students and families. He said the districts portion of the damages will be covered by its insurance company, while Conover and Wilt will be responsible for paying punitive damages. Conover and Wilt did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday. Moorehead, a Seattle native with 17 years of experience in the Allentown district, calls himself a conservative Republican and Trump supporter, but said he kept his politics to himself as a teacher in a city where Democrats predominate. Allentown, a diverse, urban district about an hour north of Philadelphia, is the only place he has ever taught. He has not returned to the classroom in Allentown or anywhere else, saying that would be very difficult unless the district issues an apology. The jury verdict is a good start, Moorehead said in a phone interview. But its still leaving me wanting more accountability from the school district to actually clear my name in the community. The community needs to hear from the district that I did nothing wrong and that Im safe to return to a teaching environment. Francis Malofiy, one of Mooreheads lawyers, vowed to really put the screws to the district, put the screws to those board members, and demand that they put out a formal apology and correct this record. It wasnt forthcoming as of Thursday. Asked about an apology and a retraction, Kaushik, the districts lawyer, said: As of now the district does not intend to make any further statements regarding this matter. At trial, evidence showed the districts lawyer and PR firm advised district officials to issue a brief statement about a teacher having been in Washington. Instead, top district officials signed off on a longer, detailed false statement without even speaking with Jason, said AJ Fluehr, another of Mooreheads lawyers. The district had also found fault with several of Mooreheads social media posts about the events of Jan. 6. At one point, Moorehead posted a selfie of himself on Facebook in a Make America Great Again hat and carrying a Revolutionary War-era flag, captioning it: Doing my civic duty! Moorehead also shared a post that said: Dont worry everyone the capitol is insured, appending his own one-word comment: This. The district told Moorehead that his posts were distasteful, insensitive, inconsiderate, thoughtless, uncaring. Mooreheads suit said school district and top officials retaliated against him based on his protected speech, and the judge instructed jurors that his rally attendance, Facebook posts and political leanings were protected by the First Amendment. You still have the right to assembly, and you have a right to free speech, and you cant cancel that out, Malofiy said. School board members tried to silence and cancel Jason Moorehead. It came back to haunt them. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits The driver of a dump truck learned the hard way that its best not to tempt fate on a covered bridge originally built before the Civil War. The loaded vehicle crashed into the Presumpscot River on Friday afternoon, leaving a hole in the planks in the shape of the truck. The driver suffered minor injuries, police said, but the same couldnt be said for Babbs Bridge, which was originally built in 1840 and rebuilt in 1976 after a fire. The best-case scenario is the bridge will be closed for a few months, officials said. The weight limit on the bridge was 3 tons (2,700 kilograms), and the dump truck carrying crushed stone was multiple times that, said Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation. The truck was crossing from Gorham into Windham when it plummeted into the water. The Gorham Police Department said the mishap remains under investigation. The driver didnt respond to messages from The Associated Press. PHOTO: A hole is seen after a loaded dump truck plummeted through the planks of the covered Babbs Bridge into the Presumpscot River in Gorham, Maine, on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Gorham Police Department via AP) Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Auto New Jersey has raised the cap on fees for attorneys handling workers compensation cases from 20% to 25% of settlements. The primary sponsors of S2822/A3986 were Senator Joseph Lagana and Assemblymen Anthony Verrelli and Robert Karabinchak. The measure passed the Assembly 54-20 and the Senate, 27-9. Proponents of the increase claim it recognizes the additional workload of New Jerseys contingency attorneys and is needed to assure that injured workers obtain quality representation. The hours and labor put in by modern-day workers compensation attorneys has become increasingly complex, which requires these attorneys, in addition to their normal legal and courtroom duties, to also acquire special knowledge in any number of new areas, including the medical field, and also be versed in the gathering of demonstrative evidence to prove their clients claim, said Lagana. This legislation slightly raising the cap on attorneys contingency fees in these cases will allow for more flexibility in the service of their clients and allow for better and more comprehensive representation. The New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) opposed the increase, which it said will raise costs for employers and reduce awards for injured workers. The business group also said there is no evidence an increase is necessary to attract competent counsel to workers compensation cases. NJBIA noted that employers typically end up covering 60% of an attorneys fees while injured workers pay the other 40% out of their final settlement. NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Elissa Frank also told lawmakers that settlement awards, and thus attorney fees, have steadily increased each year based on changes in the state average weekly wage, which has gone up more than 28% over the last decade, thereby providing a direct increase to fees paid to attorneys based on those amounts. Absent evidence demonstrating that increased fee awards are necessary to attract competent counsel to workers compensation cases, NJBIA does not believe there is a need to arbitrarily increase attorneys fee awards at the expense of employers and injured workers, Frank said. Senate President Nicholas Scutari, serving as acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy was away at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, signed the fee increase legislation into law on August 22. The new law went into effect upon signing. Scutari is himself a personal injury attorney whose clients include injured workers. Todays legislation makes a meaningful adjustment to the contingency attorney fee cap, ensuring fair compensation for attorneys and providing workers with the accessible, quality legal representation they deserve, Scutari said in a statement announcing the signing. Scutari also signed legislation (S2470/A3930) that amends various provisions concerning service credit, retirement, and salaries for certain county prosecutors and judges. Topics Workers' Compensation Talent New Jersey Finnish forestry company Stora Enso Oyj suspended some logging activities after thousands of endangered freshwater pearl mussels died at one of its sites. Harvesting was stopped in all areas across Finland that fall under environment-law restrictions, according to a statement from the Helsinki-based company on Monday. Thousands of protected mussels perished at a Stora Enso harvesting site in northern Finland after a contractors logging machines repeatedly crossed their shallow river habitat, stirring up mud and sand that is suffocating more of the animals downstream. While logging was permitted at the site with certain restrictions, crossing the river on the site of the mussel habitat was not. The destruction has sparked a loud public outcry in the Nordic country since the news broke last week. Environmental groups and politicians have joined the public in slamming the company for negligence and carelessness. It also sets Stora up to potentially pay a hefty bill, with the cost of killing a protected freshwater pearl mussel set at 589 ($659) each in Finnish law. Authorities have also noted the company failed to leave an adequate buffer zone of trees on the sides of the river to provide shade for the mussels. While the company hasnt said who bears responsibility or who would compensate the state for the mussels, it pledged to pay the costs of the restoration work at the Hukkajoki river. The river is home to about 120,000 freshwater pearl mussels, or about 5% of the species population in Finland. The incident was discovered Aug. 15, but its unclear how long activity has been going on before then. The Finnish forestry company said it has now taken numerous measures to ensure similar incidents could not happen again after it became subject to an investigation into a serious nature-conservation crime. Stora said it is also offering additional training on environmental policies and guidelines for its workers and contractors and has launched its own internal investigation into the events at the Hukkajoki river. Works wont restart until Stora has reassessed operational guidelines, harvesting plans and risks, it said. Photograph: Harvesting was stopped in all areas across Finland where there are restrictions under the Water Act, the Forest Act or the Nature Conservation Act, according to a statement from Stora Enso Oyj. Photo credit: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. One year on, Chinas ban on Japans seafood makes room for other countries Global Times) 15:37, August 26, 2024 Japan's seafood industry continues to suffer one year after China suspended all aquatic product imports from its neighboring country over food safety concerns due to Tokyo's move to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea, while seafood products from other countries have gained a significant share in the Chinese market, industry experts said on Sunday. While Japan has been calling for the removal of the ban, Chinese officials and experts stressed that the move is to protect food safety, and they urged Tokyo to address serious concerns over its dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. Industry experts said that Japan will continue to miss out on the continuously growing Chinese seafood market. On August 24, 2023, China banned imports of all aquatic products from Japan after Japan, disregarding serious concerns from China and the broader international community, started dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. Following the move, Japan's seafood exports to China, one of the biggest importers of seafood, plunged, and the Japanese seafood industry suffered. While claiming that Japan's scallop industry has overcome the crisis triggered by the ban, the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported on Sunday that inventories of frozen scallops have piled up and warehousing costs have increased losses. Overall, Japan's exports of aquatic products to China, including pearls and coral, plunged from 87.1 billion yen ($592 million) in 2022 to 61 billion yen in 2023 and 3.5 billion yen in the first half of 2024, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Fan Xubing, chairman of Seabridge Marketing, a China-based international company in the fishing sector, and also an aquatic industry insider and analyst, said that China's suspension of imports of Japanese aquatic products has inflicted major losses on the Japanese seafood industry. "The restriction did not have a major impact on the Chinese market because China did not rely too much on Japanese imports," Fan told the Global Times on Sunday. "However, losing the Chinese market has had a major impact on relevant Japanese industries." While Japan's seafood industry is suffering, seafood exports from other countries, including Russia, have grown significantly. For example, Russia's exports of seafood to China reached 1.29 million tons at the end of 2023, an all-time high, Russian news agency TASS reported on July 10. Fan said that China's seafood market will continue to grow amid a consumption upgrade among Chinese consumers. "This created a huge opportunity for overseas seafood companies," he said, noting that Japan's seafood industry will continue to miss out. Zhou Yongsheng, a deputy director of the Japanese Studies Center at the China Foreign Affairs University, said that Japan is responsible for the losses of relevant Japanese industries, as it has been ignoring serious concerns and has been dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. "Japan's aquatic industry will be able to find new markets such as the EU and the US to make up for some of the losses, but losing the Chinese market will be a huge loss for Japan's fishery industry," Zhou told the Global Times on Sunday. Amid mounting losses, Japan has been calling for the removal of the ban. However, Chinese officials insisted that the move is to protect food safety and urged Tokyo to address serious concerns over its dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. "The precautionary measures taken by China and some other countries in response to Japan's move are aimed at protecting food safety and people's health. These measures are entirely legitimate, reasonable, and necessary," Mao Ning, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press briefing on Friday, in response to Japan's call for lifting the ban. Mao urged Japan to seriously respond to international and domestic concerns, fulfill its responsibilities and obligations, and offer full cooperation in setting up an independent international monitoring arrangement that remains effective in the long haul and has the substantive participation of Japan's neighboring countries and other stakeholders. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Du Mingming) Italian prosecutors have placed under investigation the captain of the superyacht that sank off Sicily last week in a storm, killing British tech magnate Mike Lynch and six other people, one of the captains lawyers said on Monday. James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, a judicial source said. Speaking to Reuters, lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti said Cutfield would next be questioned by prosecutors on Tuesday, and could exercise his right to remain silent. The lawyer added that other crew members were questioned on Monday. Complex Salvage Operations Begin as Last Body Is Recovered From Wrecked Superyacht Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. It is still unclear whether other crew members or other people will also be put under investigation. The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-meter-long (184-foot) yacht, was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sank on Aug. 19 within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily. Fifteen people survived, including nine out of the 10 crew members and Lynchs wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. Lynchs 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was one of the six passengers who died, out of a total of 12. Prosecutors said their investigation would take time, and would require the wreck to be salvaged from the sea. The Bayesian is currently lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 meters (54.68 yards). It is likely that the crimes of culpable shipwreck and manslaughter were committed, it is a question of who should be blamed for them, the chief prosecutor handling the case, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday. Maritime law gives a captain full responsibility for the ship, crew, and all on board. Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have made no public comment yet on the disaster. The Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather, Franco Romani, a nautical architect who was part of the team that designed it, told daily La Stampa in an interview published on Monday. He said the yacht could have taken on water from a side hatch that was left open. (Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti, Giselda Vagnoni and Alvise Armellini in Rome; editing by Angus MacSwan and Gavin Jones) Photograph: Italian Firefighters scuba divers bring ashore in a green bag the body of one of the victims of the UK flagged vessel Bayesian, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli) Related: Fires were burning around the oil tanks of a ship that was attacked by Houthi militants in the Red Sea, but there were no signs of a spill so far, the European Union naval force in the region said. Flames were seen in at least five locations on the oil tanker Sounion after multiple attacks last week, according to the EUNAVFOR Aspides. Images posted on X show flames coming from the main holds of the vessel where oil is stored, as well around the ships bridge. The naval force said the ship is an imminent environmental hazard. Update on M/V SOUNION: The MV SOUNION has been on fire since August 23rd. An EUNAFOR ASPIDES unit transiting the area reported that there are fires on at least 5 locations observed on the main deck of the vessel. It is estimated that these are located around the hatches of pic.twitter.com/ta0IuLhIoY EUNAVFOR ASPIDES (@EUNAVFORASPIDES) August 26, 2024 The agency had warned of an ecological disaster earlier due to the large volume of oil on board. Theres a threat of the ship spilling a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, an amount four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster, the US State Department said in a separate statement over the weekend. The Sounion was hit with missiles on Aug. 21 after rounding the Yemeni coast to enter the Red Sea. The tanker, which can carry about 1 million barrels of crude, had called at Iraqs Basrah oil terminal. As of Monday, the vessel remained at anchor in international waters, according to EUNAVFOR Aspides. Yemens Houthi militants have plagued the areas in and around the Red Sea with missile and drone attacks since November, forcing a vast majority of vessels to instead take the longer route around Africa. The rebels said will keep attacking merchant ships to protest against Israels war with Hamas. The Sounions crew were evacuated on Aug. 22 and a French naval destroyer involved in the operation destroyed several missiles launched from Houthi controlled territories. After the evacuation, the Sounion was attacked again on Aug. 23, causing the fires that are now burning on the vessel. Photograph: In this handout screengrab released by the Houthi group media center, fires can be seen onboard the Sounion, in the Red Sea on Aug. 23, 2024. Photo credit: Houthi Media Center/Getty Images Related: Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Energy Europe Oil Gas An appeals court in Washington, D.C. revived the districts lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc on Thursday, saying it plausibly claimed the online retailers pricing policies illegally stifle competition. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed a ruling that had dismissed the lawsuit, which accuses Amazon of harming competition through restrictions on its suppliers and third-party sellers on Amazon.com. Amazon is currently seeking dismissal of another case involving similar claims by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen states. Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said the company disagrees with the appeals court ruling and looks forward to proving its policies benefit consumers. Just like any store owner who wouldnt want to promote a bad deal to their customers, we dont highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced, he said. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb welcomed the courts ruling in a statement. We will continue fighting to stop Amazons unfair and unlawful practices that have raised prices for District consumers and stifled innovation and choice across online retail, he said. D.C. sued Amazon in May 2021 claiming Amazon effectively bans third party sellers from offering products for less elsewhere by refusing to highlight their listings if they do. The lawsuit also claims Amazon has agreements with wholesalers that guarantee it a minimum profit. As a result, the complaint alleges, if Amazon lowers a price to compete with another online seller, the wholesaler must pay Amazon the difference between the price it sells at and the agreed minimum. These payments are a disincentive for wholesalers to lower prices to compete, the complaint said. The D.C. appeals court said on Thursday the judge who dismissed the case in May 2023 set the bar too high, and the attorney general had a plausible claim the practices harmed competition in the online retail marketplace. Topics Lawsuits Legislation Citigroup alleges that a former managing director suing the bank was fired for performance reasons, rather than for what she said were attempts by the bank to give regulators false information. On Thursday, the bank responded to a lawsuit filed in May by Kathleen Martin, a former managing director whom Citi hired in 2021 to help with data issues. Martin said in the suit that her supervisor, Chief Operating Officer Anand Selva, asked her to hide critical information from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about the banks data-governance metrics. The lawsuit alleges that Selva wanted to hide information because it would make the bank look bad and said Martin was fired on Sept. 25, 2023, in retaliation for her complaints. The data-governance work was related to a 2020 OCC consent order, according to the lawsuit. In Citis filing, the bank said Martin became interim data transformation chair when she replaced her former supervisor and mentor Rob Casper, after he left the bank. It said the bank was already dealing with Martins performance issues in May 2023, before the events that Martin alleges were the reason for her firing. The bank also alleged that soon after receiving her mid-year review in July 2023, Martin contacted human resources to say she thought her position was at risk. In its filing, Citigroup said the director did not take on the feedback she was provided and the bank replaced her in the data transformation chair role. Martin was part of a group of Citi employees that have been working to comply with 2020 consent orders by the OCC and the Federal Reserve and fix deficiencies in its risk management, data governance and internal controls. The bank was fined $136 million by the OCC last month for failing to make progress. Martins attorney, Valdi Licul from law firm Wigdor LLP, told Reuters he was pleased with the banks response, saying it signaled the case has legal merit after the bank had previously filed a motion to dismiss the case. Licul said he intends to request depositions of senior Citigroup management, including CEO Jane Fraser. We look forward to conducting the depositions of Ms. Fraser and Mr. Selva to show that they fired Ms. Martin only because she complained about illegal activity, the lawyer added. Citigroup declined to comment beyond its filing. The case is Martin v. Citibank NA et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-03949. Topics Lawsuits Microsoft Corp. is planning a meeting next month with cybersecurity companies that operate at the core of its Windows systems to discuss ways in which they can keep last months worldwide computer crash from happening again. Cyber companies including CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., the firm that rolled out a faulty content update last month that led to widespread outages of Windows systems globally will meet with Microsoft on Sept. 10 at its headquarters in suburban Seattle, the tech giant said. They are scheduled to discuss best practices on deploying updates on Windows computers and whether security firms should continue to have access to the kernel or core of Microsofts Windows operating systems. The CrowdStrike crash, which paralyzed businesses and markets for hours in July, has touched off a fierce debate over whether cyber firms should be allowed to operate at the so-called kernel of Microsofts Windows systems at all by highlighting the risks associated with that type of core-level access. The meeting comes after CrowdStrike in July pushed out a flawed content update that shut down Windows computers around the globe, disrupting air travel, banks and other businesses. Since then, CrowdStrike has announced wide-ranging changes to how it tests and deploys content updates. CrowdStrike is expected to attend the summit, and government representatives will also be invited, according to Microsoft. We look forward to bringing our perspective to the discussions with Microsoft and industry and government stakeholders on the need for a more resilient ecosystem, a CrowdStrike spokesperson said in a statement. Photo: The Microsoft Corp. Windows Recovery screen displayed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, on July 19. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Cyber Top U.S. oilfield services firm Halliburton said on Friday it was working with law enforcement to determine the extent of a computer systems breach and was yet to determine if the incident would have a material impact on its business. The $23-billion company became aware of the cyber attack on Wednesday, it said in its first securities filing about the breach, adding its ongoing investigation and response included restoration of its systems and assessment of materiality. The company also said it had taken certain systems offline to protect them. A spokesperson declined to comment on whether the company had been contacted by the people behind the breach. Reuters was the first to report about the cyber attack on Wednesday. The attack appeared to impact business operations at the companys north Houston campus as well as some global connectivity networks, a person familiar with the matter said. The company had also asked some staff not to connect to internal networks, the source said. The U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday the Halliburton cyber incident had not impacted any energy services. Topics Cyber Law Enforcement The U.S. Department of Justice and eight states sued RealPage on Friday, accusing the property management software company of using algorithms to help landlords illegally collude and drive up rents for apartments. The lawsuit filed in North Carolina accuses Dallas, Texas-headquartered RealPage of letting landlords collude by sharing their pricing information with the companys software, which then recommends rent prices. The software keeps landlords from lowering rent and offering deals to attract renters, the Justice Department said. High housing costs are a key concern for U.S. consumers ahead of the November presidential election, with home prices rising nationally by about 50% and rent going up around 35% in the last five years, according to real estate service firm Zillow. The case is the first time the Justice Department has gone after algorithmic collusion, a growing concern for antitrust enforcers as technology companies offer pricing services based on big data. Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. The Justice Department points to statements by RealPage executives that it says show they realized they were helping to dampen competition in the rental housing market. There is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire industry down, one executive said, according to the Justice Department. The Justice Department also accuses RealPage of illegally monopolizing the market for property management software for multi-family dwellings in the U.S. The attorneys general of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington joined the Justice Department in the case. The lawsuit follows similar cases where the attorney general for Washington D.C. and renters say RealPage illegally drove up rents. Topics USA Personal Auto A federal judge has weakened the Biden administrations effort to use a historic civil rights law to fight industrial pollution alleged to have taken a heavier toll on minority communities in Louisiana. U.S. District Judge James David Cain of Lake Charles handed down the ruling Thursday, permanently blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing what are known as disparate impact requirements on the state. Cain had already issued a temporary blocking order in January. His ruling was a victory for Louisiana officials who challenged the EPA policy, which was based on possible violations of Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act forbids anyone who receives federal funds from discriminating based on race or national origin. Its been used in housing and transportation, but rarely on environmental matters. The EPA under President Joe Biden, however, tried to use it more aggressively. The state sued in May 2023, a move that may have played a role in the EPA dropping an investigation into whether Louisiana officials put Black residents living in an industrial stretch of the state at increased cancer risk. The area, often referred to as cancer alley because of the amount of suspected cancer-causing pollution emitted there, stretches along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. In its lawsuit, the state argued that the Biden administrations plans went beyond the scope of Title VI. The state said the EPA wrongfully targeted pollution policies that unintentionally hurt minorities communities most when the law applies only to intentional discrimination. The state also said the policy is discriminatory because it would allow regulation of pollutants based on the race of those affected. Cain agreed the EPA went too far. While Cains ruling was a victory for Republican state officials Gov. Jeff Landry, who was attorney general when the suit was filed, and his successor in that office, Elizabeth Murrill environmental groups decried it. Louisiana has given industrial polluters open license to poison Black and brown communities for generations, only to now have one court give it a permanent free pass to abandon its responsibilities, Patrice Simms of the Earthjustice organization, said in a news release. The ruling applies only to Louisiana and can be appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Louisiana Pollution The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers Compensation will hold a Brown Bag Series with stakeholders in the workers compensation system this fall, with a half dozen meetings scheduled across the state. The series will focus on dispute resolution and will include members of DWC Hearings executive team. Allen Craddock, deputy commissioner of hearings, Kara Squier, director of the appeals panel and Tiffany Duarte, director of dispute processing, will appear at sessions to answer attendees questions. This series offers a platform for meaningful interaction between system participants and Hearings, said Craddock. During these Brown Bag sessions, we share insights about the dispute resolution process and gather valuable feedback to ensure greater transparency for everyone involved. The sessions will begin in September, with the first meeting scheduled for Sept. 13 in Houston. From there the Brown Bag Series will travel to El Paso on Sept. 20, Dallas on Sept. 27, San Antonio on Oct. 4 and Amarillo on Oct. 11 before concluding Oct. 18 with a Hybrid (Zoom) Austin meeting. The agenda includes: Reorganization of Hearings. Legislative updates that may affect Hearings, including online contested case hearings. Status of new BRO-I process that identifies disputes needing a presiding officers directive (POD). Practice and procedure updates for the Appeals Panel. Proposals to create efficiencies in docketing proceedings to reduce continuances. Proposals to create continuity of hearings across Texas. While there will be time at the end for questions about the dispute resolution process, DWC said it will not discuss specific cases. More information can be found by contacting DWCCommunications@tdi.texas.gov. Topics Texas Ryanair has lost its appeal against a ban on airlines charging extra fees for seat reservations when travellers need to sit next to children under 12 or people with disabilities, Italy's Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) said on Monday. The Irish carrier challenged the ban after ENAC introduced it in 2021. The company lost a first appeal in 2022, in a ruling that has now been upheld by the Council of State, Italy's top administrative court, ENAC said. Ryanair normally charges more to people who want to choose their seat on the plane - something they might do if they wanted to make certain they were sitting next to another specific passenger. According to the airline's website, the surcharge for such a seating arrangement on a one-way flight within Italy can vary from 22 to 30. ENAC said this surcharge should not apply to people accompanying passengers who cannot travel alone, such as young children and people with disabilities. The Council of State agreed, with ENAC quoting its ruling as saying that "the need for proximity of the seats between minor and accompanying person is clearly connected with the safety obligation" that falls upon airlines and which cannot be linked to extra costs. Ryanair told Reuters the ruling "does not require any change" to its current seating policy, and stressed that the company "does not charge any fee for children under 12 travelling with an adult." At an earlier stage in the proceedings in 2021, Ryanair said the way ENAC had characterised the situation was "misleading". A spokesperson said at the time the airline had brought in temporary adjustments to "ensure adult passengers accompanying minors or special needs passengers have several options to avail (themselves) of free allocated seating" Farmers are fearful of the impact that upcoming increases in water charges will have on their business costs. Uisce Eireann has confirmed that a new set of national water and wastewater business charges will come into effect on October 1. Sligo-Leitrim TD Marian Harkin has warned in recent days that vulnerable farm enterprises are being "dealt a further blow" with the recent decision by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to increase the non-domestic water tariffs. The Teagasc Farm Survey for 2023 revealed that just 28% of farms are viable, down from 43% the previous year," deputy Harkin said. "The average annual farm income has declined by 20% in the same period and now stands at a paltry 20,000. Among the most vulnerable are non-intensive farmers, typical of those in the west and the north west, with low numbers of stock on a range of dispersed holdings. "These have multiple water connections using low volumes of water and are going to be the most affected by the increases." 'Walk away from the farm' Sinn Fein's spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny has also warned that for many small farmers, this could be the "final cost that forces them to walk away from the family farm". These farmers dont want to leave the sector. However, for them to stay, it must be viable," Mr Kenny said. The increase in production costs and price volatility has led many to leave the sector, or for their children to make the decision not to take over the family farm. Another arbitrary increase on top of these pre-existing difficulties, the looming fodder crisis, and the recent increase in fuel costs, could be the increase that pushes many farmers and small businesses to breaking point. The burdens placed continually on farmers and small rural businesses need to be taken seriously by this Government." TD and former minister of state Sean Canney has urged the Government to intervene. "The doubling of the standing charges for water connections will place an excessive cost on farmers especially suckler and drystock farmers," Mr Canney said. The Irish Farmers' Association's environment chairman John Murphy said the farms that are to be primarily impacted are "extensive farming systems and the most financially vulnerable with average incomes of 15,000 per annum" The CRU is proposing a 47% increase on standing charges increasing the charge from 43.02 to 83.02 per connection. These proposed increases come at a time when many farm families are under significant financial pressure," Mr Murphy stressed. "Given the economic vulnerability of these farms, the principle of full cost recovery is not justified. "There are serious equity issues that have not been addressed in the proposed increases and they need to be reviewed." Mr Murphy added that farmers' goodwill around the development of the water infrastructure network will be "seriously damaged" if the changes are introduced "without some recognition within the framework of the financial vulnerability of these farming systems and their ability to pay". Dear Stephen, I have worked in the agricultural industry for a number of years for a large company. I have had difficulties in my employment for the last six to eight months. I raised a few health and safety concerns with my employer which led them to arrange meetings with me and I was put on a Performance Improvement Programme PIP which led to more meetings and they are now dismissing me. I feel I have been unfairly penalised because I raised these health and safety claims. What are my options legally and can I bring a claim against my former employer? Dear Reader, Yes, I believe you could potentially bring a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission for unfair dismissal and penalisation. The governing legal provision which is relevant to this scenario is the Unfair Dismissals Acts of 1977 to 2015. Firstly it should be noted there are automatic grounds for unfair dismissal including the following: i) Age ii) Religion, iii) Race, iv) Membership of a particular Trade Union or v) Pregnancy. From the information you have provided, it seems that none of these grounds are applicable to your situation. If an employee believes they are unfairly dismissed they can bring a claim to Workplace Relations Commission. This has to be done within six months of the date of dismissal and they typically have to have 12 months of continuous service to bring such a claim. Your employer will have to show the WRC the dismissal was fair and there are ground for a fair dismissal and these are outlined in Section 6 of the 1977 Act. The four primary grounds are as follows; i) Capability, competence, qualifications of employee ii) Conduct of employee, iii) Redundancy of employee iv) Contravention of law. If you succeed in a claim for unfair dismissal they can be ordered to be reinstated or can be financially compensated for loss of earnings. Your employer need to show the dismissal is not within the automatic grounds and is within the grounds for a fair dismissal and show that they have followed fair and proper procedures in the dismissal. This is often the downfall of employers in the WRC that fair procedures have not been followed. There cant be any bias on your behalf when making a decision and the dismissal should be proportionate to the wrongdoing. The employee should be given the right to appeal a decision to terminate his employment. It is important for all employers to follow the correct legal procedural conduct when dismissing an employee and if they dont follow the correct procedures there is a risk that a dismissal will be deemed unfair. You should check whether your employer had a disciplinary and grievance procedure which should be annexed to the employment contract and check whether the procedure was followed.. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 as amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, provides a statutory framework for the protection of workers who raise concerns about relevant wrongdoing in their workplace from dismissal, penalisation or other sanctions by their employers. A protected disclosure is defined by section 5 of the 2014 Act as a disclosure of information by a worker, which in their reasonable belief, tends to show one or more relevant wrongdoings, which came to the workers attention in a work-related context and is disclosed in the manner. Section 12 of the Act prohibits an employer from penalising or threatening to penalise an employee for having made a protected disclosure. In respect of penalization you can apply to the Circuit Court for interim relief within 21 days immediately following the date of the last act of penalisation by the employer and a claim for penalisation may also be brought before the Workplace Relations Commission within six months of the penalisation complained of. Stephen Coppinger, is a solicitor practicing in Walsh & Partners, Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths, 17, South Mall, Cork. - Email: info@walshandpartners.ie - Web: www.walshandpartners.ie While every care is taken to ensure accuracy of information contained in this article, solicitor Stephen Coppinger does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions howsoever arising, and you should seek legal advice in relation to your particular circumstances at the earliest possible time. A small 15-acre land parcel in West Cork is new to the market but already under offer with Clonakilty-based auctioneers Hodnett Forde Property Services. The holding in question is in the townland of Kilmoylerane, approximately 3km from Ballinascarthy village famous as the ancestral birthplace of American motoring pioneer Henry Ford. The lands enjoy a mature setting with attractive views of the valley. Small parcels such as this one can often sell quickly. Given the fact that this particular property is for sale in lots (composed of 10 and five acres) and its proximity to the N71 (a couple of kilometres to the east), the interest is particularly keen and selling agent Andy Donoghue confirms that it is currently under offer. Theres a good bit of interest as its broken up into two easily managed blocks, says Andy. Its very good ground, all in grass and with great road frontage and very accessible. The guide price is 15,000 per acre, which would reflect its current condition: theres no waste on it at all. It is already under offer and it would be suitable for full-time farmers or part-time hobby farmers. Read More 15-acre chunk of Kerry 'Gold' expecting 20k-25k/acre On a glorious morning in late summer, Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit stepped onto the tarmac at Cork Airport and set off for the Aer Lingus jet tarrying at the edge of the runway. Kensit proceeded with the practiced, unblinking stride of someone who had spent much of her adult life fleeing press photographers. Liam, by contrast, wore a big, ragged grin and walked with a cheery swagger, a rather scruffy-looking backpack swinging from one shoulder. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis getting off the plane at Cork Airport with some of their entourage. Picture: Dan Linehan Dashing alongside Britpops most glamorous couple on that sunny day 25 years ago were a seasoned photographer and a rookie journalist. Gallagher and Kensit were moving so fast it was hard to fire off a question. But finally Liam turned, smiled from behind his John Lennon sunglasses and said something cheery. In my note-book I wrote it down as top gig. And then they were up the stairs and away. Noel appeared a few minutes later. The photographer ran straight over and encouraged Noel to give a thumbs up. The elder Gallagher assented. He looked on top of the world. And with good reason. The previous evening, on August 15, 1996, Oasis had played the second of two sold-out shows at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. And the weekend prior, theyd sang to a cumulative audience of 250,000 at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. For good measure, theyd also performed a brace of shows at Loch Lomond in Scotland. Liam Gallagher of Oasis at Cork Airport. Picture: Dan Linehan This, then, was the week Oasis were unofficially crowned the biggest band of their generation. It was the pinnacle of their imperial phase. They could do no wrong. And Noel and Liam were visibly basking in the moment as they walked across the concrete on that sunny morning in Cork. Cork was our Knebworth, says Jonny Blair, an Oasis fan and travel writer who, as a starry-eyed 16-year-old, made the long trek south from Bangor in Co Down for the Pairc Ui Chaoimh gigs (and who later wrote about the concerts on his website dontstoplivin.net). Those three shows were the best three shows to ever see Oasis at. The Dublin, Wembley, Manchester shows [which Oasis played in 1996] just weren't the same. It was all about being there then at that moment, at that time. We saw Oasis at their peak, at their finest, their finest hour, their most beautiful. Knebworth was recognised at the time as a historic event. Now, on its 25th anniversary, it has been immortalised in a new documentary, Oasis Knebworth 1996, directed by Jake Scott. But of course its hard to separate Knebworth from the Cork gigs which took place just three days later. All were part of the same victory lap for a band which, only a few years previously, were still clawing their way out of student disco obscurity. The view from the front of the stage for the Oasis gig at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare While the scale of Knebworth is rightly heralded with millions of other young fans missing out on tickets the speed of the ascent is all the more remarkable, says Richard Bowes, author of Some Might Say The Definitive Story of Oasis. To put it into context: 12 months previously, Oasis were engaged in the Battle Of Britpop in an attempt to get their second No.1 single. Two years before that, they released their debut album. In August 1993, no-one had heard of them. The gigs Oasis played that week were more than a victory lap, however. They were also self-contained rock festivals. The Knebworth bill had included The Charlatans, The Chemical Brothers, the Manic Street Preachers and others. And in Cork, they were supported by The Bootleg Beatles and The Prodigy. The Prodigy were perfect that day, says Jonny Blair of an event that had a ticket price of 22.50. They got everyone completely hyped up for the main event. Firestarter had the stadium in eruptions. By the time Oasis came on stage, Cork was alive. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis on stage in Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan Oasis were in top form, too. Coming off of Knebworth, they took on Cork as if they still had something to prove. And they went out of their way to honour their Irish heritage. On the second night, playing an acoustic version of Cast No Shadow, Noel Gallagher had even brought out a guitar belonging to the late Rory Gallagher (whod passed away just the previous year). Many of the bands extended Irish family were present and created a celebratory atmosphere, wrote rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky, who photographed Oasis throughout that year and has collected many of the images for her new book Oasis: Knebworth, Those were marvellous shows. Liam and Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis on stage in Cork. Pictures: PA, Dan Linehan Cork had been transformed by the concerts. Nineties kids were experiencing their own version of Beatlemania. And when it was reported that Noel and Liam had popped into a local department store for new socks, it was as if Elvis himself had materialised on the Grand Parade. Noel and Liam and their entourage walked into the shop, Declan Flanagan, manager of the Bishopstown Court branch of Dunnes Stores, told the Irish Examiner in 1996. They went straight over to the mens clothing section and started to admire our range of autumn shorts. When they came into the shop there was pandemonium among the staff. That pandemonium continued as Oasis stepped out on stage shortly before 9pm, having journeyed from their five-star bolthole of Liss Ard Estate outside Skibbereen in West Cork (where they made time for pints at the Skibbereen Eagle bar). Among those watching were Robbie Williams, comedian Lenny Henry and Formula One driver Eddie Irvine. Like the rest of the crowd, they will have sensed they were watching history unfold. Liam was well up for it, says Jonny Blair. His voice was mighty fine that night the best gig I've heard him play live and I've seen him live 12 times. I don't remember much from Noel: I think he wore a striped shirt and was flawless and funny as ever. Liam Gallagher salutes the fans in Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare If Cork and Knebworth were generation-defining, they marked the end of an era too. This was Oasis at the height of their powers. And it was the zenith of Britpop. Thereafter both would enter steep decline. With Wannabe by the Spice Girls having reached number one that summer, the epoch of bands bestriding the charts was already at an end. And never again would Oasis reign unchallenged as the most exciting group in rock. Twelve months afterward the Knebworth shows, Oasis released the much-maligned Be Here Now, which marked the end of their imperial phase, says Richard Bowes. For a band with a legacy so ingrained in contemporary British culture, their imperial phase was surprisingly short. Looking back, it was the time of our lives, says Jonny Blair. We may never experience anything like that ever again. This was Oasis at their peak, their finest hour. Smiles and happiness were all around. Strangers were singing along to Live Forever. We were all singing and jumping up and down like mad. This article was first published on September 21, 2021 A schoolgirl who has held a series of Greta Thunberg-style protests outside the Dail and the Taoiseachs Office earlier this year as she campaigns for better autism services is to meet Simon Harris later today. Shortly after taking office, Mr Harris had promised Cara Darmody that he would talk to the HSE about her demand that the agency set a date by which it would abide by a law that it currently fails to comply. Under the Disability Act 2005, the HSE is legally obliged to have a childs special needs assessed within six months but it has repeatedly failed to do this over the past 19 years. Cara, from Tipperary, raised this among other issues when she met Mr Harris on the first day of protest vigils she held outside the Dail and the Taoiseachs Office in June. The 13-year-old, who is campaigning for better autism services, has two severely autistic brothers, Neil and John. Autism campaigner Cara Darmody is being photographed outside Leinster House, as Sinn Fein Health Spokesperson is interviewed nearby, and another school girl passes. Picture: Neil Michael. She told the Irish Examiner: I do not know exactly what the Taoiseach is going to tell me later on today. But I am very hopeful that it will be good news. I was very impressed with him when I met him in June and he told me there wasn't anything that I had asked for that wasnt unreasonable. On the first day of her summer protest vigils, the Taoiseachs staff invited her in to meet Mr Harris. At that meeting, she asked him to get the HSE to make a commitment in public about the HSEs promise to have a childs special needs assessed within six months. She also asked for him to allocate specific resources for special needs assessments and services, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. Cara added: Parents should not have to fork out to pay for this. This should be covered by the State, and what has been and continues to go on is just plain wrong. I told this all to Mr Harris and I am hoping today he will have had time to reflect on what we spoke about and to come up with a plan, within an acceptable timeframe for the thousands of parents who simply cannot cope anymore. Taoiseach Simon Harris shakes hands while speaking to 13-year-old Cara Darmody and her father Mark The Dail heard earlier this year, for example, that 15,000 children were waiting for assessments. Mark Darmody, her father, said Mr Harris also told Cara that an announcement at the time that the Government was to invest around 7m in autism services was inspired by her. He said he also encouraged her to continue her protests. The schoolgirl, whose mother Noelle is at their Ardfinnan home in Co Tipperary minding her brothers, has had face-to-face meetings with Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin over her campaign. As well as previous visits to the Taoiseach's office as an invited guest, she has also spent time in the Oireachtas itself, speaking to TDs and senators about her campaign. This even led to a Labour Party parliamentary motion on better autism resourcing in 2023. Despite this, however, she says still not enough is being done. Cara became the youngest person in Ireland to pass Leaving Cert maths in August 2023. She was just 12 when she took both ordinary level papers at her national school in Ardfinnan in June that year. Some six years ahead of her time, Cara who is given extra maths lessons every week at home by Mark got 97%. It is the same mark she got when she sat Junior Cert maths in 2022. She decided to sit both exams to raise funds for autism services and awareness about the lack of timely resources for children with autism. High-profile rape cases including that of Dublin taxi driver Raymond Shorten have prompted survivors of sexual abuse to share their stories for the first time on a website set up by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. Since the We Speak website was established in June 2023, more than 60 survivors of abuse have shared their stories anonymously on the site. Sarah Monaghan, who is We Consent manager at the DRCC, said that stories were typically shared to the site at a rate of 1 to 2 per week. But she said that following the conviction of Raymond Shorten for the separate rapes of two women, the rate of stories from survivors increased. She said: "We saw a surge of stories of 6 or 7 in one week after Shorten's case." In July, Shorten was sentenced to 17 years in jail for the rape of two young passengers in the back of his taxi on separate nights two years ago. This was on top of a 13-year sentence imposed just days earlier for the rape of a girl twice when she was seven or eight years old more than a decade ago. Ms Monaghan said that the decision by Blathnaid Raleigh to waive her anonymity after Jonathan Moran, from Tower View, Mullingar in Co Westmeath, was jailed for eight years for raping her with a bottle in Galway in July 2019, has also prompted people to share their story. Ms Monaghan also noted that confidence has been given to survivors of all crimes too following Natasha OBrien speaking out after then soldier Cathal Crotty was given a suspended three year sentence for assaulting her in Limerick city. She said: The women in these cases spoke openly and I think it is important and a brave thing for these women to do and it gives a certain amount of strength to others to speak out. Even if it is in an anonymous way, it is still important because it is reclaiming your story, your experience. Contributors While the website only accepts anonymous stories, it is intended to empower survivors of sexual violence and provide them with a safe alternative to social media to tell their story. She added: "We redact anything identifiable." She explained that the majority of those sharing their story to the site mention they have never told anyone before about being attacked. She continued: "It is not for everyone to go to gardai or therapy, or they may not have someone they can tell." She said some of the contributors did not fully understand that their own experience was sexual assault until they visited the site and read the experiences of others. Reading other peoples experiences which are very similar to their own really helps them to join those dots and acknowledge that feeling of knowing that what happened to them was not right. The DRCC is hoping that use of the We Speak platform by survivors will continue to grow. We have a huge amount of visitors to the site as well people will visit and read stories which is extremely important because they can learn about peoples experiences," said Ms Monaghan. "It is equally important because people are inclined to have a very black and white version of what they think sexual violence is when actually it comes in so many different forms and happens in so many different circumstances. The website can be accessed at www.wespeak.ie. - If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services. Gardai have hit out at "misinformation" surrounding a night of public order incidents in Dublin. Sunday evening saw multiple incidents on the Cappagh Road and Cardiffsbridge Road in Finglas after "suggestions of an inappropriate approach to children or attempted child abduction". In a statement on Monday, gardai said that no such incident had been reported to them. It said gardai were "very conscious of the volume of misinformation, disinformation and fake news circulating on this incident, and in general, particularly on social media and direct messaging platforms." Gardai have appealed to all members of the public and the media to independently verify any information published on social media and/or messaging apps. Gardai appealed to anyone who "directly observed any attempted abduction or inappropriate approach to a child, who has direct knowledge of any attempted abduction or inappropriate approach to a child occurring in the Finglas area" to contact them. The statement added: "An Garda Siochana urge anyone with information relating to any crime to immediately report it for it to be thoroughly investigated by gardai. "In emergency situations such as a crime in progress or when urgent Garda assistance is required, members of the public should always call 999/112." This is the second time this month that the force has had to issue a statement about misinformation . On August 7, ambulance services were called to a medical emergency near the Saggart LUAS terminal. A man aged in his 30s, was taken from the scene to Tallaght Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. However, posts online soon appeared speculating that the incident was linked to immigration and international protection. This led gardai to hit out at the "misinformation". Sixteen people have been released on bail on the condition they stay out of Cork city centre after they were each charged following a serious public order incident in the city on Sunday night. The 13 men and three women, all in their 20s, including sets of siblings, and all with addresses in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Dublin, were all charged with a range of public order offences after a series of linked disturbances in the city centre on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning, during which gardai had to use pepper spray and two gardai were injured. As well as the public order charges, one man faces an additional assault charge under Section 2 of the Non Fatal Offences Against The Person Act 1997, while two others face additional misuse of drugs charges. Sgt Gearoid Davis said Garda investigations are ongoing, and in each case files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in respect of other matters and further more serious charges may follow. The 16 arrested during the incidents were brought before Cork District Court on Monday where evidence of arrest, charge and caution was presented to Judge John King by certificate. They are: Godson Ikebundu, 22, of 36 Bruach Na Sionna, Castleconnell, Co Limerick, who is charged with two public order offences on Oliver Plunkett St, and with one Section 2 assault; Emmanuel Anabo, 25, of 1A Alden, Shamrock Lawn, Douglas, Cork, who is charged with three public order offences, and one charge under Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act; and Maureen Aigbera, 20, of 8 Hazelwood, Riverstown, Cork, who is charged with three offences under the public order act arising out of alleged offences on St Patricks St, and with one offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act. People leave Cork District Court following a hearing in relation to a public order incident in the city on Sunday. Picture: Chani Anderson Also charged with a range of public order offences only were Martin Ekhosnehi, 22, of 6 Willow Gardens, Brooklodge, Glanmire, Cork, arising out of alleged incidents on the Grand Parade, Matthew Ekhosnehi, 23, of the same address, arising out of alleged incidents on Cornmarket St, and Marvin Ekhosnehi, 20, of the same address, arising out of alleged incidents on Oliver Plunkett St. Also charged with a range of public order incidents were Checkwuebka Ian Akaboga, 22, of 7 Inish Fall, Bandon, Co Cork, Dylan Mdangoh Nchantea, 27, of 8 Larchfield, Bridgemount, Carrigaline, arising out of alleged incidents on Oliver Plunkett St, while Malcolm Oshe, 22, of 5 Brooklodge Drive, Glanmire, Co Cork, is charged with three public order offences arising out of alleged incidents on Daunt Square. Melanie Oshe, 20, also of 5 Brooklodge Drive, Glanmire, Co Cork, was charged with two public order charges arising out of alleged incidents on Oliver Plunkett St; Farshid Murphy Lahadjo, 23, of 32 Oakfield View, Glanmire, Co Cork, is charged with three public order offences on Oliver Plunkett St, Djomiou Lahadjo, 21, of the same address, is charged with three public order offences at the same location. Emmanuella Itsede, 22, of 44 Lios Rua, Cahermoneen, Tralee, Co Kerry, is charged with two public order offences on Princes St; Kamji Gotwen, 20, of Apartment 27, Fresh Student Living, Brickfield Lane in Dublin 8, is charged with three public order offences on Princes St; Chimbi Oji, 23, of Grangewood Court, Grange, Cork, is charged with three public order offences, while Kanjisola Akintope, 23, of 24 Elm Vale, Wilton, Cork, is charged with two public order offences on Princes St. Bail Sgt Davis said gardai had no objection to bail on condition that they all agreed to stay out of Cork city centre except for legal appointments or for pre-arranged medical appointments. That condition was amended for one of the accused to facilitate his work in a retail outlet in the city centre. Judge King also agreed to assign free legal aid to each of the accused. All were then released on bail on their own sureties, which ranged from 300 to 400, to appear before Cork District Court again on October 8. Journalist Alison Comyn will contest the next general election for Fianna Fail in Co Louth, the party has confirmed. Ms Comyn, who was born in Drogheda, has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for more than 30 years. She has previously worked for RTE, BBC, Sky News, and UTV Ireland, alongside a stint at Independent Newspapers. During her time at UTV Ireland, she hosted Ireland Live which won an IFTA award in 2016 for its coverage of Brexit. She said that having been "born, raised and educated in Drogheda" she knows the "issues that affect our daily lives, and Im deeply connected to the heartbeat of our town and region". I know the stories, struggles, and successes that have shaped our community because I live in the region and experience them myself, meaning Im not just a candidate, but a neighbour who is invested in the future of our region. Ms Comyn said that the Drogheda area has faced serious challenges in recent years, of which the town is not out of the woods yet. I honestly believe it can be a thriving, vibrant community where everyone can flourish, she added. Ms Comyn will join incumbent senator Erin McGreehan on the ticket in Louth. An 'excellent addition' Tanaiste Micheal Martin said that Ms Comyn would be an excellent addition to the partys election ticket in Co Louth. She is a very accomplished candidate, who will bring a wealth of experience to the campaign, Mr Martin said. The addition of Ms Comyn to Fianna Fails general election candidates follows TV presenter Grainne Seoige officially putting her name forward to contest for the party in Galway West. Ms Seoige is seeking to replace outgoing TD Eamon O Cuiv, who announced his retirement in recent months. There is much discussion at present concerning Valeries Law, a proposal named after Valerie French Kilroy, a woman whose husband was recently convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. If it ever comes to fruition, Valeries Law will result in a parent who intentionally kills their childrens other parent losing their legal guardianship rights over those children. As Valerie French Kilroy was married to the man who murdered her, James Kilroy, his guardianship rights in relation to their three sons remain unaffected despite his conviction, because a married parents guardianship rights cannot be removed from them. This is quite significant because a childs guardian has the right to make the big decisions concerning the childs upbringing, such as where and with whom the child will live, consent to medical treatment that may be required for the child, and consent to a passport for the child. Unlike Mr Kilroy, an unmarried fathers guardianship rights can be removed by the court, but there are stringent statutory preconditions necessary to fulfil as a result of changes made by the Children and Family Relationships Act less than a decade ago. These include requirements that there is another guardian in place or about to be appointed by the court; removal must be in the best interests of the child, and; for substantial reasons, the court considers removal necessary or desirable. However, even where all of these preconditions are satisfied, the law goes on to stipulate that the guardian who is to be removed from office must consent, is unable or unwilling to exercise the powers of guardianship, or has failed in their duties to the extent that the safety or welfare of the child is likely to be prejudicially affected if they are not removed. Thus, even where a parent is not married to the childs other parent, removing them as a guardian of the child is an uphill struggle. This is borne out by the evidence that there are no reported cases at High Court level concerning the removal by the courts of an unmarried father as the guardian of his child, and when the issue has arisen in the District Court or the Circuit Court, a high threshold has been placed for the removal by the courts of an unmarried father as a guardian, most likely due to the stringent, necessary statutory preconditions detailed above. Thus, not only is removal of a guardian not an option in the case of married parents, it is an outcome very rarely achieved even where an unmarried parent is concerned. Prohibited Steps Order However, it seems ludicrous that a parent-guardian like Mr Kilroy, convicted of the most heinous crime against the mother of his three children, should from his prison cell be able to exercise guardianship rights over the children, and this is why the Oireachtas needs to consider post-haste the introduction of a Prohibited Steps Order that would at least restrict a parent-guardian from exercising their guardianship rights over their children in very specific ways. This type of order has been available under the law in England and Wales for quite some time, and has been used effectively by the courts there to restrict a parents Parental Responsibility, which is the equivalent of guardianship under the law there. A Prohibited Steps Order can be made by a court to prohibit a parent from removing a child from school or taking them out of the country; granting or refusing permission for a child to undergo medical treatment; accessing a childs health and education information; or carrying out some other activity in relation to the child, as clearly specified in the order. The duration of a Prohibited Steps Order can vary depending on what the court deems to be in the best interests of the child in each case, but the order can only be relaxed by the court. The introduction of a Prohibited Steps Order through legislation in Ireland would not appear to be particularly complicated, given that section 11 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 already provides that a person who is a guardian may apply to the court for its direction on any question affecting the welfare of the child and the court may make such order as it thinks proper. Although section 11 enables a court to make such order as it thinks proper for the welfare of a child, which implies a wide range of orders, to date this section has predominantly been used by the courts to make orders relating to custody of or access to a child. Indeed, section 11 (2) of the 1964 Act strongly indicates that the making of orders concerning custody, access, and maintenance by a court is what is predominantly envisaged under section 11. Veronica French, David French, Hilary French, and Kevin Hosford outside the Central Criminal Court. David French is calling for guardianship rights to be automatically suspended for a parent found guilty of killing the other parent. File picture: Collins Courts Nonetheless, section 11 could be amended to expressly provide that a court, on application to it by a guardian of the child, could make a Prohibited Steps Order which would restrict the rights another guardian has over a child in a whole range of circumstances, where this is in the childs best interests. This is not to suggest that the outcome desired by those campaigning for Valeries Law, which would see a parent, irrespective of marital status, who is convicted of the murder of their childs other parent, stripped of their guardianship rights, is undesirable. However, given the constitutional protection of the rights of married parents under Article 41 that rather worthy proposal may face an uphill battle to be enacted into law. The legislative solution I propose would effectively curtail a parents guardianship rights in a variety of significant situations, but may not be subject to the same constitutional frailties as the more far-reaching proposal contained in Valeries Law, because legislation permitting a court to make a Prohibited Steps Order for the benefit of a child would not extinguish their married parents guardianship rights for all time, but it would ensure that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration for the court in these cases. This legislative solution attempts to balance the protection of the married family in Article 41 with the constitutional requirements of Article 42A, the Childrens Amendment, and the requirement in the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 (as amended) that in any proceedings before any court, where guardianship is in question, the court, in deciding that question, shall regard the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration. For the benefit of all children, the Oireachtas should move to enact legislation introducing Prohibited Steps Orders into Irish law at the earliest possible opportunity. Brian Tobin is Associate Professor in Law at the University of Galway Disney has U-turned on a bid to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit in the US by relying on the terms of service for a simple streaming trial. The suit was filed by a man whose wife allegedly died after experiencing an allergic reaction at Disney World in Florida. In the case, Disney lawyers had planned to invoke the terms of service that the man agreed to when signing up for a Disney+ free trial, which mentioned that users agree to settle any disputes with the company out of court via arbitration. It appears the U-turn came after a public backlash, rather than a flaw in the legal case. So could a similar thing ever happen in future, where a term in a sign-up contract extends to the use of other services by the same company? At face value, this is quite an old problem, as contract lawyers have been debating exclusion of liability for centuries. However, there is something new in this classic old contract law problem, as this case highlights a growing phenomenon: the increasing embeddedness of certain companies, particularly tech giants, across multiple sectors of the economy. As consumers, we often click I agree to online contracts and user agreements without a second thought, but these seemingly innocuous actions may have far-reaching consequences beyond the service were signing up for. Are we inadvertently signing away our legal protections in exchange for digital conveniences? And if so, how can we protect ourselves in this new landscape? Disney lawyers had planned to invoke the terms of service that the man agreed to when signing up for a Disney+ free trial, which mentioned that users agree to settle any disputes with the company out of court via arbitration. File photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto Public policy studies have warned that the ownership of digital infrastructure and platforms has made big tech companies capable of reshaping the policy landscape and establishing themselves as key actors in the policy process. This cross-sector influence raises critical questions about consumer rights and corporate responsibility. The Disney case is not an isolated incident. As tech companies have grown exponentially, were seeing more instances where agreements in one sphere affect rights in another. ChatGPT Consider the recent integration of OpenAIs ChatGPT into Apple products. A user experimenting on their iPhone with ChatGPT for fun might unknowingly waive their right to sue OpenAI for data breaches caused by this integration. Generative AI models have often faced attacks resulting in the leaking of private information, with ChatGPT more specifically having apparently been the target of attackers. At the time of the integration, OpenAI said that privacy protections are built in when accessing ChatGPT within Siri and Writing Tools requests are not stored by OpenAI, and users IP addresses are obscured. Users can also choose to connect their ChatGPT account, which means their data preferences will apply under ChatGPTs policies. But even when considering this privacy-by-design approach, data breaches are always possible and redacted or obscured information may be reverse-engineered to reveal personal information. Microsoft is another prime example of a company with influence over a massive number of economy sectors, acting as a major cloud provider, AI developer, office software creator and video gaming powerhouse. Do the terms we agree on one service define all the other service contracts? If the answer is yes, is this fair? Legislation Legislators, on both sides of the Atlantic, cannot be blamed for inertia. With such initiatives as the EU Digital Services package, they have sought to address power asymmetries and protect consumers for the digital age. Courts and regulators have also recently started showing their teeth against big tech companies. A federal judge in the US ruled that Google has built an illegal monopoly by breaking anti-trust law. In Europe, the Dutch Data Protection Authority found that scraping the internet for training generative AI models such as GPT-4 will almost always be illegal. And the European Data Protection Board delivered a quite demanding opinion on the use of consent or pay models implemented by large online platforms such as Meta. Yet, at its heart, the legal framework is still underpinned by a prevalent myth: the presumption that parties are fully aware of and understand the terms theyre agreeing to, making unrealistic assumptions for the bargaining power of individual consumers. The Court of Justice of the EU recently held that even companies with a dominant position, like Meta in the social network market, can, in principle, receive freely informed consent from their consumers. Read More White House pushes tech industry to act on sexually abusive AI deepfakes However, a significant amount of research shows that consumers systematically ignore terms of service, as the complexity and length of most terms of service agreements make it virtually impossible for the average consumer to fully comprehend their implications. Especially in the case of dominant companies like Meta, the take it or leave it nature of these agreements leaves consumers with little choice but to accept if they wish to use the service, which is often the only way of socialisation, human connection or even gaining employment for many people. What can consumers do? While the situation may seem daunting, consumers are not entirely powerless. Here are specific actions you can take to protect your rights in the digital landscape: Read before you click. Most users are unlikely to experience anything as extreme as the Disney case. Nonetheless, it is still a good idea to be on top of what we are agreeing to when we tick the box. Although time-consuming, understanding key points in terms of service can prevent surprises later. Focus on sections related to data usage, dispute resolution, and cross-platform implications. Use tools like ToS;DR (Terms of Service; Didnt Read) to get summaries of complex agreements. Learn from and engage with consumer advocacy groups. Organisations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumer Reports, and Which? are fighting for digital rights. Consider donating, volunteering, or amplifying their messages on social media. Be selective and educate yourself. Carefully consider which services are truly necessary and limit your digital footprint. Before signing up for a new service, ask yourself if the benefits outweigh the potential risks to your privacy and legal rights. Lastly, stay informed about digital rights issues through reputable tech news sources and educational resources provided by digital rights organisations. Stergios Aidinlis is assistant professor in AI Law at Durham University. This article appeared on The Conversation, a news and analysis website written by academics. According to its supporters, the Americas Cup, which weighed anchor last week in Barcelona, will bring in 1bn, create 19,000 jobs and, by the time the last sail is furled on October 20, have attracted an extra 2.5 million visitors to the city. The ultimate sporting competition for the super-rich marks the latest attempt by the Spanish city to attract quality rather than quantity tourism. Barcelona was awarded the 2024 edition in 2022 after Ireland withdrew its bid. It had hoped to stage the event in Cork, with local TD Simon Coveney championing the bid. It is the first time Barcelona has staged the prestigious event, which was held in Auckland in 2021 and has previously taken place in Bermuda, San Francisco, Valencia, and New York. The people who follow the Americas Cup are people who love the sea and have plenty of disposable income, said Mateu Hernandez, the head of the public-private body Barcelona Tourism. We are interested in these people. We need to improve the quality of those who visit. But people confuse quality with wealth. What we want is people who come here to do something, whether its to visit museums or enjoy the architecture and the gastronomy. Barcelona has been on the frontline of what has been described as an overtourism crisis in Spain, which last year received a record 85.1 million international tourists, up 19% on 2022. Growing anger and frustration over the unchecked growth of tourism has prompted a number of protests in recent months on the mainland and in the Balearic Islands and the Canaries. To many local people, Hernandezs promise sounds unnervingly like the Monte Carlo model of pricing out all but the wealthiest visitors, with residents suffering the collateral damage. Opponents of staging the Americas Cup in Barcelona say they do not see how people living in the city will benefit. No one has explained where this 1bn is going to be distributed, said Marti Cuso, a spokesperson for the Platform Against the Cup, an umbrella group representing about 150 community organisations. Meanwhile, he says, temporary lettings in Barceloneta, the seafront neighbourhood that is a focal point during the competition, have risen to 4,000-5,000 a month. Were also worried that holding this competition reinforces the idea that the economy of Barcelona has to be based on tourism, whereas what we want is diversification, Cuso said. Elitism The Americas Cup was first staged on and around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Emirates Team New Zealand is the defending champion and will be challenged by boats from the UK, Italy, Switzerland, France, and the US. Hernandez said the 1992 Olympics opened Barcelona to the beach, while the Americas Cup looked to the sea to make sailing, viewed as an elite sport in Spain, accessible to all. The elitism charges may be hard to shake off, however. Marina Port Vell, the company that runs the port, has invited guests to enjoy gourmet cuisine, VIP onboard programmes to watch the competition live from premium vessels, and luxury boutiques featuring leading international brands. Sebastian Rouse, who runs Barcelona Watersports, a sailing school that also runs marine excursions, took a sanguine view. The first thing they did was increase the mooring fee for a sailing yacht from 1,000 to 15,000 a month for the duration of the event, which doesnt say much for their loyalty to a business thats been operating here for over 10 years, he said. The implication is that so much money could be made taking fans out to watch the race that business owners could easily recoup the cost, but Rouse and others in the business say that although they remain optimistic, there have been few takers. Ivy Scrancher, a local skipper, said: You have to pay a lot of money for permission to get close to the race, and even then youll need a big screen onboard to understand whats going on. Jobs creation As for creating jobs, she said virtually none of the race organisers were local. All the people on the chase boats, the engineers, all the people who are actually making money from this big event arent from here, Scrancher said. They come from New Zealand or Australia or elsewhere. They make 12 or 20 grand a month and take it back home. The only Spanish people involved are volunteers. Esther Jorquera, a Barceloneta resident, also railed against the lack of paid jobs for locals. They promised us jobs and then ask us to work for free, she said. The 2,000 volunteers theyve recruited should be 2,000 jobs. On a recent visit to the fan zone in Barceloneta, a few dozen people were watching on a giant screen as the yachts, extraordinary feats of engineering and seamanship, fizzed over the surface of the water while a commentator explained their manoeuvres. Cuso said the comparison with the Olympics, where young people from around the world compete and represent their countries, was erroneous. Were talking about teams sponsored by Prada, Louis Vuitton, Emirates, he said. Its about money. Italian prosecutors will investigate the captain of the superyacht belonging to British tech magnate Mike Lynch that sank off Sicily last week during an intense storm, killing Lynch and six other people, Italian media reports said on Monday. Reuters was not able to independently verify the decision. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. James Cutfield, a 51-year old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, the dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera said. Magistrates spoke to Cutfield on Sunday for the second time in a week, la Repubblica reported, questioning him for more than two hours. It said prosecutors may also investigate a crew member who was on duty when the storm hit and survived the incident. The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long superyacht, was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sank on Monday within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was among those who died. British technology tycoon Mike Lynch While the yacht had been hit by a sudden meteorological event, it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed, the head of the public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday. Maritime law gives a captain full responsibility for the ship, crew, and all on board. Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have made no public comment yet on the disaster. "The Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather", Franco Romani, a nautical architect that was part of the team that designed it told daily La Stampa in an interview published on Monday. He said it was likely the yacht had taken on water from a side hatch that was left open. Romani said the crew underestimated the bad weather and that they should have made sure that all openings had been shut and the anchor removed before the storm hit the boat. Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former US president Donald Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month. US District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case, one of four prosecutions of Mr Trump, after concluding that Mr Smiths appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional. Mr Smiths team then appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, with prosecutors saying in their appeal brief that Ms Cannons decision is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. Special counsel Jack Smith (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts consider a straightforward criminal case but has been derailed by delays, months of hearings before Ms Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, and ultimately a dismissal order that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt. Its unclear how long it will take for the appeals court to decide the matter, but even if it overturns Ms Cannons dismissal and revives the prosecution, there is no chance of a trial before the November presidential election and Mr Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case. The case includes dozens of felony charges that Mr Trump illegally retained classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructed the governments efforts to get them back. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty. Mr Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Mr Trumps handling of the documents as well as his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election ahead of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. Both investigations resulted in criminal charges, though the election subversion prosecution faces an uncertain future following a US Supreme Court decision last month that conferred broad immunity on Mr Trump and narrowed the scope of the case. Defence lawyers in the classified documents case had argued that Mr Smiths appointment violated the Constitutions appointments clause, a motion that prompted Ms Cannon to hold a multi-day hearing in June. The judge sided with the defence, saying no specific statute permitted Mr Garlands appointment of Mr Smith and saying Mr Smith had been unlawfully appointed because he had not been named to the position by the president or confirmed by the Senate. Mr Smiths team is expected to point out that special counsel appointments have been repeatedly upheld by judges in multiple cases, and that an attorney generals ability to name a special counsel is well-established. CICADA RESORT BALI UBUD, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION OPENS IN INDONESIA, EXPANDING THE BRAND'S PRESENCE IN THE COUNTRY Latest Autograph Collection Hotel Brings Experiences Exactly Like Nothing Else with its Heartfelt Design and Hospitality. CICADA RESORT BALI UBUD, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION OPENS IN INDONESIA, EXPANDING THE BRAND'S PRESENCE IN THE COUNTRY Latest Autograph Collection Hotel Brings Experiences Exactly Like Nothing Else with its Heartfelt Design and Hospitality. Indonesia - Industry economy - Hotel opening This is a press release Category: Asia Pacific This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2024-08-26 Autograph Collection Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoys global portfolio of over 30 extraordinary hotel brands today announced the opening of Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection. The resort will join Autograph Collection Hotels portfolio of over 300 independent properties in the most desirable locations across the world, each with its own unique perspective on heartfelt design and hospitality. Located in the pristine natural sanctuary and heritage area of Sebatu, Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection provides an ideal retreat just 10 minutes away from the renowned Tegallalang Rice Fields and a mere 25-minute drive from the breathtaking vistas of Kintamani. The secluded location offers a tranquil escape, giving guests a sense of place where they are intimately connected to their surroundings. We are delighted to welcome Cicada Resort Bali Ubud to our portfolio and expand the Autograph Collection Hotels brand in Indonesia," said Ramesh Jackson, Area Vice President at Marriott International, Indonesia & Malaysia. This marks another step in our journey to highlight Ubuds charm as a cherished global destination, celebrated for its picturesque beauty, rich culture, and transformative experiences. We look forward to continuing to bring the best of our extraordinary brands and delivering hospitality that appeals to travelers around the globe. With no two Autograph Collection hotels the same, each individual property offers The Mark, a signature experience crafted through passion and expert skill, leaving a lasting imprint on guests. At Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, guests can participate in Melukat, a profound cultural session culminating in a sacred ceremony led by a Pemangku - a revered spiritual leader - from Sebatu Village community. This experience allows guests to delve into the spiritual journey of a Balinese purification ritual, believed to cleanse the mind, body, and soul, while promoting inner peace and spiritual transformation amidst the serene surroundings of the resort. The overall design concept of Cicada Resort Bali Ubud is inspired by a tasteful blend of Balinese and modern design using natural materials like wood and stone that reflect Sebatus renowned craftsmanship. This thoughtful design creates a tranquil, aesthetically pleasing environment that connects guests to both nature and local artistry. The resort features 20 suites with stunning valley views and 10 pool villas, each tailored to provide a wellness-focused experience, with an additional 15 rooms expected to be added in the near future. With room sizes ranging from 66 square meters to 142 square meters, guests will have plenty of space to unwind, and enjoy the local artisanal room amenities, a bathtub, LED TV, as well as unparalleled services. Each corner is meticulously designed with dominant wooden materials and thoughtful local touches to create a warm, inviting atmosphere that exudes comfort and relaxation. Through their stay, guests are invited to immerse in indigenous experiences, connecting authentically with local traditions, arts, and rituals by exploring the natural beauty of the renowned rice fields, traditional villages, jungle trekking, waterfalls, and other unique destinations within the vicinity. Bridging storytelling with cuisine, Tangelo Restaurant beckons diners with its enchanting blend of semi-fine dining and a tantalizing array of international cuisine, promising an unforgettable culinary adventure. In addition to the all-day dining options, the hotels signature restaurant offers a curated selection of set menus, including a chefs specialty tasting menu and an international menu tailored to guests' preferences. At Verdant Pool Lounge & Bar, international and local cuisines take center stage. Set against the backdrop of lush greenery and tranquil waters, the restaurant is a reflection of its name and the menu is a testament to its commitment to wellness. Wellness-loving guests can seek inner sanctuary at Pravi SPA, nestled by the gentle flow of Oos River, offering an atmosphere of serenity and relaxation. Guests can expect a profound journey of rejuvenation, enriched by the therapeutic benefits of locally sourced natural products and the sacred touch of holy water. Pravi SPA is not merely a destination; it is a haven where wellness becomes a ritual, and each moment is dedicated to revitalization and renewal. Each visit is crafted to deliver a truly holistic wellness experience, seamlessly integrating ancient healing traditions with modern therapeutic techniques. The fitness center provides guests with various ways to revitalize during their retreat. Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection offers a unique blend of historic architecture, modern dining, and an indulgent spa. The resort is closely intertwined with the local nature and invites guests to forge a meaningful connection with the destination through its heartfelt design and unique signature, said Reka Yanti, the General Manager of Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection. The team is excited to welcome guests and deliver unparalleled services for an enriching stay. Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection participates in Marriott Bonvoy the award-winning travel program from Marriott International allowing members to earn and redeem points for their stay and at other hotels and resorts across Marriott Bonvoys extraordinary portfolio of brands. With the Marriott Bonvoy app, members enjoy a level of personalization and a contactless experience that allows them to travel with peace of mind. About Autograph Collection Hotels Autograph Collection Hotels advocates for the original, championing the individuality of each of its over 320 independent hotels located in the most desirable destinations across nearly 50 countries and territories. Each hotel is a product of passion, inspired by a clear vision, soul, and story that makes it individual and special: Exactly Like Nothing Else. Hand-selected for their inherent craft and distinct perspectives on design and hospitality, Autograph Collection properties offer rich immersive moments that leave a lasting imprint. Autograph Collection is proud to participate in Marriott Bonvoy, the global travel program from Marriott International. The program offers members an extraordinary portfolio of global brands, exclusive experiences on Marriott Bonvoy Moments and unparalleled benefits including free nights and Elite status recognition. About Marriott Bonvoy Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Internationals portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands and 10,000 global destinations, offers renowned hospitality in the most memorable locations around the world. The award-winning travel program and marketplace gives members access to transformative, eye-opening experiences around the corner and across the globe. [ Cicada Resort Bali Ubud, Autograph Collection ] [Website of the company which publishes this press release] 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 Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) What would America be like if it was like Gaza? On October 8, 2023, the Alien invasion long feared by science fiction buffs and Area 51 conspiracy theorists finally materialized, as unidentified anomalous phenomena (a.k.a. UFOs) appeared over Americas skies. The Aliens from beyond Pluto intercepted the US internet and announced that US exploratory satellites had killed thousands of their numbers with toxic electromagnetic transmissions and that they considered all US military personnel and veterans potential security threats. They would proceed to kill all of them. These targets included 1.29 million active duty service members along with 800,000 reserve and national guard members, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. They also included 16 million veterans. The Aliens hacked into all US databases and secured personal details of all these personnel including photos for facial recognition software. They deployed robots with video surveillance capabilities orders to track down and kill them all. The Alien commander, whose name is unpronounceable by humans, announced that all Americans living in the north of the country within 500 miles of the Canadian border must immediately abandon their homes and head south to the middle of the country. The president, the cabinet and the top generals disappear into underground bunkers in Washington, D.C. and Colorado, and their communication with the public is cut. The invaders provoke panic, impelling movement by hitting Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Lewis in Washington State, and Fort Richardson and Fort Wainwright in Alaska. They also began hitting big residential complexes. They brought down the Residences Water Square in Detroit, killing all the families there who hadnt managed to finish packing and leaving; they hit One Eleven in Chicago, with its 58 floors and 504 units, collapsing it on residents; and struck Rainier Square Tower in Seattle, The aliens target bridges, water purification plants, and hospitals. Space lasers sliced through Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan, the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine, and other facilities in the north of the country. Patients tried to hobble into the parking lot, some on crutches, others carrying stands with intravenous solutions and others in wheelchairs with oxygen canisters. Newborn premies were abandoned and died in their neonatal intensive care units when the electricity was cut by the lasers. As panicked families packed what goods they could into their cars and headed south, long traffic jams impeded their progress on routes such as I-15 down from Missoula, Montana and I-35 down from Duluth, Mn. Some take surface roads. Families that did not have a car were forced to try to take buses or to walk, carrying sleeping bags and pup tents. Those families with one of the 16 million military veterans in them often found themselves vaporized from the skies The aliens struck at the veteran at night as he gathered with family and friends, wiping out the vet and his entire family. Liberty under Attack, Digital, Dream / Dreamland v. 3, 2024 As they intensively bombarded the northern states the aliens began going after university campuses. The University of Washington, Seattle, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Northwestern University in Illinois, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and Dartmouth are all vaporized, along with their presidents, provosts, regents, administrative staff, and large numbers of professors and students. Prominent American poets and artists are struck with antimatter beams as they read their verses or sing their lyrics. All bands covering Born in the USA are turned into pink mist as soon as they get through the first few bars. Enormous tent cities grow up in the middle of the country around Dover, Del., Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City, and San Francisco. Since the northern plains farmers couldnt get in their crops, food shortages begin. The aliens knock out bakeries. The entire Panera and Dunkin Doughnut chains are turned into carbon dust. Hungry crowds attack grocery stores and loot canned goods, but often have no way to cook them, since the aliens begin knocking out electricity plants and targeting oil depots. By the end of the first two months of the campaign, 1.5 million Americans are dead and several million more wounded, with half the casualties being children. Then the Alien commander announces that everyone in the middle states must move to the south, as UFOs begin obliterating the cities celebrated in the old Nat King Cole song, Route 66 St. Louis and Oklahoma City among them. New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Fresno, Bakersfield are all reduced to rubble, The aliens concentrate on monuments of nationals pride, melting down the Statue of Liberty, pulverizing the Empire State Building, slicing the Washington Monument in two, leveling the National Cathedral, uprooting the St. Louis Gateway Arch and pounding the casinos along the Las Vegas Strip. They zero in again on universities, leveling Harvard and Princeton, and the Universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and Colorado. Famous novelists are picked off from above with their entire families. Vegas gone Bust, Digital, Dream / Dark Fantasy v3, 2024 By now 200 million people have been expelled from their homes, heading south like famished locusts, looting towns along the way as food grows ever scarcer. The aliens now hit the nations water supply, taking out water purification plants, urban water pipe networks, and the major dams. When their lasers breach the Hoover Dam, the populations of Needles, California; Lake Havasu, Arizona, Laughlin, Nevada;, Yuma, Arizona, and San Luis Rey, Colorado are washed away. People are reduced to drinking from puddles in polluted fields, often the same fields they now use as latrines because so many buildings with indoor bathrooms have been destroyed. Epidemics of cholera, dysentery, and watery diarrhea break out. Babies perish in large numbers from dehydration. Americas new most populous cities are Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., Jackson, Mississippi, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La., Dalls-Ft. Worth, Houston and Brownsville, Texas, Phoenix, Az,, Albuquerque, N.M., and Los Angeles and San Diego in California. Their populations mushroom to twenty million each, like Calcutta or Mumbai or Mexico City. All 340 million Americans are crowded into a narrow band of southern states, living in tents, in squalid circumstances, baking in the heat. 17,000,000 Americans are dead. Most have to be plowed into mass graves by earth movers where fuel can be found to operate them. 60 million Americans are wounded or crippled, half of them children. One-legged and one-armed children are common sights, as are children with extensive burns and disfigured faces. Now the aliens announce an invasion of the southern states and decree the expulsion of residents back up to the middle country, where there are no longer any houses or apartments to live in, where there are no schools, universities or hospitals and only a handful of clinics. Atlanta is reduced to a pile of concrete. Tampas military command, already hit once, is now pulverized. The French Quarter of New Orleans, where the Pirate Lafitte and Andrew Jackson planned the defense of the coast from a British naval invasion, is made into a pile of old rocks. Los Angeles downtown towers, fallen so many times in CGI celluloid, are taken down for real this time. Another wave of American refugees, poorer and more desperate than John Steinbecks Okies of the Great Depression, run for their lives back to the middle of the country. They pitch tattered tents on the ruins of St. Louis and Iowa City. Then it is announced that all Americans will have to live along the Pacific Coast, with new wagon trains or just barefoot pedestrians streaming out West, stuffing 310 million people into the places that 40 million Californians lived. 30 million are dead, 15 million of them children. 80 million are injured or sick. Millions stubbornly refuse to leave their cities in the middle Atlantic and stoically suffer through bombardments. Tens of thousands of people are killed every day. In the far west, people desperately glean crops or burrow into the rubble of Ralphs grocery stores and collapsed Walmarts looking for canned goods. The millions of people sleeping rough in close proximity to one another without toilets and drinking dirty water cause disease outbreaks. A polio epidemic sweeps through infants who were never vaccinated, blighting their bodies and paralyzing and deforming their legs. Millions of huddled refugees in Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach and San Diego become bone thin and emaciated. Bands of orphans form, with millions of children having lost parents and relatives, to forage for food for one another. Some desperate whites try to flee south to Mexico but the Mexican immigration authorities erect an impenetrable wall to keep them out. Millions wander dazed, not knowing where their next meal will come from. Some try to go fishing off the California coast, but the aliens lasers slice their fishing boats in two. The de facto death toll climbs to 34 million. Some 85 million of the 131 million households in the US have been annihilated. People are desperate, but each day brings worse news than the one before. There is no end in sight, as the merciless aliens announce new campaigns weekly. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - Tower Resources Ltd. (TSXV: TWR) ("Tower" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has completed the first phase of its planned 2024 drilling program on the Rabbit North property in the heart of the Kamloops mining district (see Fig. 1) and is planning a larger Phase II follow-up campaign for mid-September. Phase I Drill Program The Phase I campaign comprised 1015 m in five drill holes, Nos. RN24-050 to 054. Holes 050 and 052 tested for a possible northwestern extension of the favourable magmatic-hydrothermal breccia body (see Fig. 2) that hosts last year's Rainbow porphyry Cu-Au-Mo discovery (72.0 m grading 0.27% Cu, 0.40 g/t Au and 0.01% Mo in Hole RN23-042). Holes 051, 053 and 054 tested three of the four shear-hosted Au targets that are the main focus of the 2024 drilling program (see press release of May 23, 2024). Hole 051 targeted the southern shear trend between the Thunder and Lightning Zones. It was designed to cross the east-northeast trending shear zone ~150 m east of last year's Thunder discovery hole RN23-041, which encountered two strongly mineralized intervals 10 m apart averaging 3.28 g/t Au over 13.25 m and 2.19 g/t Au over 10.12 m, and 300 m west of the Lightning Zone which has been intersected in six holes over core lengths of 26.5 to 138.0 m at an average grade of ~1.5 g/t Au (see Fig. 3). Hole 052 targeted the central shear trend ~200 m northeast of the Lightning Zone (see Fig. 2) as a potential source for the eastern part of the Dominic Lake gold grain dispersal train (see press release of April 25, 2024). Hole 053 targeted the same shear trend ~60 m west along strike from last year's Thunder North discovery hole RN23-039, which intersected 25.7 m @ 2.04 g/t Au. The core from Holes 050 to 052 has been cut and submitted for analysis; the remaining core will be submitted as a separate batch. Next Steps Based in part on Lightning-type shearing and alteration observed in the drill core, a larger follow-up drilling campaign of up to ten holes is planned for mid-September. Methods and Qualified Person The drill core is being logged at Tower's leased, fully equipped core facility near Kamloops by Matthew Husslage, P.Geo. and Sean Jubinville, G.I.T. Mr. Husslage has managed or co-managed all of Tower's Rabbit North diamond drilling programs since the discovery of the Lightning Zone in December 2021. Split samples of the core, generally 1.0 or 1.5 m in length, are being delivered directly to Activation Laboratories (ActLabs) in Kamloops, BC, a laboratory certified as ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited (Lab 790) by the Standards Council of Canada. QA/QC samples including blanks and standards are inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a ratio of approximately 1:20. The samples are being analyzed for Au by fire assay and ICP-OES and for Ag and 36 additional elements by ICP-OES using a four-acid, near-total digestion. Any over-limit (>5 g/t) Au analyses are repeated using the same fire assay procedure but with a gravimetric rather than ICP finish. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stuart Averill, P.Geo., a director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Tower Resources Tower is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in the Americas. The Company's key exploration assets, all in B.C., are the Rabbit North copper-gold porphyry project located between the New Afton copper-gold and Highland Valley copper mines in the Kamloops mining district, the Nechako porphyry-associated gold-silver project near Artemis' Blackwater project and the More Creek epithermal gold project on the critical "red line" structural zone connecting the mineral deposits of the Golden Triangle. Reader Advisory This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. 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. Figure 1 - Location of the Rabbit North property. Figure 2 - Locations of Holes 050 to 054 relative to the five targets of the 2024 drilling program. Figure 3 - Block model of the shear-hosted Thunder, Thunder North and Lightning Au zones. The Au component of the Rainbow porphyry Cu-Au zone is included. Vancouver, British Columbia, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NevGold Corp. (NevGold or the Company) (TSXV:NAU) (OTCQX:NAUFF) (Frankfurt:5E50) is pleased to announce a financing of unsecured convertible securities (the Financing) with Mercer Street Global Opportunity Fund II, LP, managed by C/M Global GP, LLC (the Investor or Mercer). The Financing is structured in two tranches with the funded amounts being C$3.5 million for the first tranche and a potential of up to C$4.5 million in a second tranche pursuant to the terms of a convertible security funding agreement dated August 23, 2024 between the Company and the Investor. NevGold CEO, Brandon Bonifacio, comments: We are pleased to announce this financing package and further capital support from Mercer, who have been a strong supportive shareholder of the Company over recent years. The financing will allow us to continue to advance our high-quality portfolio of gold and copper assets in the Western USA, with the proceeds focused on drilling our Nutmeg Mountain and Limousine Butte oxide, heap-leach gold projects, along with advancing our Zeus copper project through the first phase of systematic exploration. Although the financing markets remain challenging with commodity prices reaching all-time highs, this funding package provides a flexible structure which will allow us to rapidly advance our portfolio leading to significant news flow and developments over the coming year. Use of Proceeds The Company intends to use the aggregate net proceeds raised from the Financing for general working capital purposes and to strategically advance its Nutmeg Mountain (Idaho) and Limousine Butte (Nevada) oxide, heap-leach gold projects, and its Zeus Copper Project (Idaho). Closing of each tranche of the Financing is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange). Key Terms of the Financing Tranche 1 (First Convertible Security) Term: 24 months Funded Amount: $3,500,000 Use of Proceeds: General working capital and to advance mineral properties Original Issue Discount (OID) $650,000 First Investment Conversion Terms: Principal amount of $3,500,000 will be convertible at the option of the Investor for a 24-month period into up to 10,000,000 common shares of the Company (each, a Share) at a price per Share equal to the greater of (i) 90% of the volume-weighted average trading per Share (in Canadian dollars) for the five (5) consecutive trading days immediately prior to the applicable date that the Investor provides notice of conversion, and (ii) $0.35. Tranche 2 (Second Convertible Security) Term: 24 months Funded Amount: Up to $4,500,000 Use of Proceeds: General working capital and to advance mineral properties Original Issue Discount (OID) Up to $810,000 The second tranche of the Financing remains subject to confirmation by the Company and the Investor, with pricing and further details regarding the Second Convertible Security to be disclosed in a subsequent press release if the parties decide to proceed with the second tranche. Other Key Terms Other key terms of the Financing include: The Company has the right of prepayment of the securities, at any time during the term; For the purposes of conversion, the OID on the First Convertible Security and the Second Convertible Security accrues in equal monthly installments over the 24-month term of the applicable security. The OID will be settled in cash or in Shares, at the option of the Investor, with any issuance of Shares in settlement thereof subject to the approval of the Exchange; Warrant Issuance: Common share purchase warrants of the Company (each, a Warrant) are to be issued to the Investor in two tranches concurrently with issuance of the First Convertible Security (the First Warrants) and the Second Convertible Security (the Second Warrants). The Warrants for each tranche of the Financing will equal 50% of all funded amounts for the applicable tranche (less the First Closing Fee if applicable for the First Warrants). A total of up to 5,000,000 First Warrants will be issued concurrently with the First Convertible Security. Each Warrant shall entitle the holder to acquire one Share at the warrant exercise price for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance of the Warrant. The Warrant exercise price is equal to 150% of the market price of the Shares as of the price reservation date for the First Warrants or the Second Warrants, as applicable. The exercise price for the First Warrants will be $0.525 per Share; and The Company will pay a closing fee of $120,000 (the First Closing Fee) to the Investor as consideration for the First Convertible Security that will either be settled in 342,857 Shares at the issue price of $0.35 per Share, subject to the approval of the Exchange, or will be settled in cash. The First Convertible Security, the Second Convertible Security, the Warrants and the securities issued under such securities will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day following the date of issue of the First Convertible Security or the Second Convertible Security, as applicable, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. 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 or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Signed Brandon Bonifacio, President & CEO For further information, please contact Brandon Bonifacio at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , call 604-337-4997, or visit our website at www.nev-gold.com. About the Company NevGold is an exploration and development company targeting large-scale mineral systems in the proven districts of Nevada and Idaho. NevGold owns a 100% interest in the Limousine Butte and Cedar Wash gold projects in Nevada, and 100% of the Nutmeg Mountain gold project in Idaho. Please follow @NevGoldCorp on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Companys current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, suggest, indicate and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions may or will occur. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the planned completion of the Financing, regulatory approval, exploration and development plans of the Company and use of proceeds from the Financing. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Companys plans to change include risks related to completing the conditions precedent for each tranche of the Financing, regulatory approval, changes in demand for and price of gold and other commodities and currencies, and changes or disruptions in the securities markets generally. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 /(TSXV:OGN) (OTCQX:OGNRF)("Orogen" or the "Company") is pleased to report profitable financial results from its operations for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Q2-2024 Highlights All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Net Income Before Tax : the Company generated net income before tax of $1,069,473 for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, up 713% compared to $131,616 for the same period in 2023 supported by record royalty revenue. Net Comprehensive Income: after deferred income tax expense of $558,217 (2023 - $Nil), net comprehensive income was $511,256 (2023 - $131,616) for the current quarter, up 288% from 2023. Royalty Revenue: Royalty revenue of $1,908,741 (2023 - $1,178,941) was earned with 610 (2023 - 435) attributable gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") sold at average price of US$2,338 (2023 - US$1,975) per ounce, up 62% from 2023 and 29% from the previous quarter driven by higher gold prices, an increase in ore processed and higher gold grades. G&A Expenses : General and administrative expenses of $858,819 (2023 - $956,030) were incurred in the current period, down 10% compared to 2023. Cash flow : Cash flow of $1,695,612 (2023 - $1,642,658) was generated from operating activities year to date. Cash flow generated from operating activities, excluding changes in non-cash working capital, was $1,750,970 (2023 - $941,798), up 86% from 2023. Working Capital : The Company has working capital of $22,996,411 on June 30, 2024, compared to $18,254,073 at the beginning of the fiscal year, an increase of $4,472,338. The Company has no long-term debt. Paddy Nicol, CEO of Orogen Royalties, commented, "We are pleased to deliver another strong financial quarter with record revenue generated from the Ermitano mine where production continues to outperform First Majestic's initial guidance. Our focus on cost control has resulted in a strong conversion of royalty revenue into cash flow and net profit. Exploration efforts at Ermitano also resulted in the recently announced discovery of the Navidad vein system, located within the Company's royalty area of interest. Although the full impact of the Navidad discovery is not yet known, we are optimistic that the Ermitano royalty will continue to underpin the Company's profitability over the long-term." Mr. Nicol continued, "Meanwhile, the Expanded Silicon gold project continues to advance under AngloGold Ashanti. Recent infill drill results from the Merlin deposit highlight a significant and growing high grade core, with impressive results including 144.5 metres grading 10.53 g/t gold." For complete details of the Company's financial results, please refer to the condensed interim consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the six-month period ended June 30, 2024, and 2023. The Company's filings are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on Orogen's website at www.orogenroyalties.com . Please also see non-IFRS Measures at the end of this news release. Summary of Results Ermitano Royalty - Sonora, Mexico First Majestic Silver Corp. ("First Majestic") operates the Ermitano gold-silver Mine, where the Company holds a 2.0% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty. For the three-month period ended June 30, 2024, $1,908,741 (2023 - $1,178,941) in royalty revenue was generated from the Ermitano mine, up 62% from 2023 and 29% from the previous quarter. This represented 610 GEOs (2023 - 435 GEOs) based on an average price of US$2,338 per ounce (2023 - US$1,975). The increase in revenue was due to high gold prices and increase in production from increases in ore processed and higher gold grades. The mill processed a total of 256,427 tonnes, a 14% increase from last quarter of 224,394 tonnes. Average silver and gold head grades during the current quarter were 69 grams per tonne ("g/t") and 3.52 g/t, respectively, compared to average silver and gold head grades of 72 g/t and 3.16 g/t, respectively, of the previous quarter. Silver and gold recoveries averaged 66% and 94%, respectively, compared to recoveries of 69% and 95% from the previous quarter. During the three-month period ended June 30, 2024, First Majestic completed a total of 2,329 metres of underground development at the Ermitano mine where six surface rigs and two underground rigs completed 15,591 metres of exploration drilling. This represents a 57% increase compared to 9,911 metres of exploration drilling completed in the previous quarter. The total exploration cost for the six-month period ended June 30, 2024, was US$5.2 million. On July 29, 2024, First Majestic announced the discovery of the Navidad vein system 1 , located within the Company's royalty area of interest. An exploratory seven-hole diamond drill program by First Majestic, testing for the fault-offset and high grade western end of the Ermitano vein, intersected multiple banded quartz veins with visible silver sulphides at depth. Six drill holes returned significant intersects from the main Navidad Vein, its splays, and a separate structure in the hanging wall. The Navidad Vein has an apparent strike continuity of 750 metres and dip continuity of 225 metres. Vein thickness for both areas range from 1.5 metres to 6.0 metres. The zone is open in all directions. Due to the early stage of drilling, the full extent and geometry of the Navidad vein system is not yet known and exploration potential remains open in all directions. First Majestic has assigned additional drill rigs to Navidad for the remainder of 2024 with four rigs currently located on the vein system. Expanded Silicon Project - Nevada, US The Company holds a 1.0% NSR royalty on the Expanded Silicon gold project, owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti NA ("AngloGold"). The Expanded Silicon gold project consists of two deposits, the Merlin deposit that currently has an initial inferred Resource of 9.05 2 million ounces gold and the Silicon deposit that currently has an Indicated Resource of 3.40 3 million ounces gold and an Inferred Resource of 0.81 million ounces gold. The Merlin deposit is separate and contiguous to the Silicon deposit. Expanded Silicon gold project Summary of Mineral Resources In AngloGold's H1-2024 Exploration Report 4 , over 66,000 metres of drilling was completed 4 to support the Mineral Resource definition at Merlin, with numerous high tenor results. Recent highlight drill results within the Merlin deposit include 5 : 10.53 g/t gold over 144.5 metres in drill hole MER-24-0267-RD 5.85 g/t gold over 161.6 metres in drill hole MER-23-243-RD 5.12 g/t gold over 190.4 metres in drill hole MER-23-245-RD 8.53 g/t gold over 30.4 metres and 1.18 g/t gold over 67.2 metres in drill hole MER-23-0113-RD In the first quarter of 2024, significant but unspecified intercepts were received from a piezometer hole drilled 900 metres north of the Silicon deposit, underscoring the scale and potential of the mineralizing system 4 . During the second quarter, a Terean passive seismic survey was conducted in the vicinity of this intercept to trial the technique and identify potential fault structures. Drilling and development of the Expanded Silicon gold project continues in support of a Pre-Feasibility Study expected to be completed by the end of 2025 6 . Save the Date - Orogen's Project Generation Showcase Date & Time: Wednesday September 18, 2024, at 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST Zoom Webinar Registration: https://orogenroyalties.com/pgday/ Join Orogen's exploration team to learn more about our portfolio of drill ready precious and base metal projects in western North America that are available for option and sale. The free event is open to anyone including interested companies, geologists and other technical professionals, shareholders and interested investors. Our inaugural event will be dedicated to "Expanded Silicon Analogues", projects sharing geological similarities to the Expanded Silicon gold project (Merlin gold deposit: 9.05 million ounces inferred and Silicon gold deposit: 3.4 million ounces indicated, and 800,000 ounces inferred). Don't miss this opportunity to interact with the technical team responsible for the creation of these projects and for the identification of the Expanded Silicon gold project. Qualified Person Statement All technical data, as disclosed in this press release, has been verified by Laurence Pryer, Ph.D., P.Geo., VP Exploration for Orogen. Dr. Pryer is a qualified person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Certain technical disclosure in this release is a summary of previously released third-party information and the Company is relying on the interpretation provided. Additional information can be found on the links in the footnotes. About Orogen Royalties Inc. Orogen Royalties is focused on organic royalty creation and royalty acquisitions on precious and base metal discoveries in western North America. The Company's royalty portfolio includes the Ermitano gold and silver Mine in Sonora, Mexico (2.0% NSR royalty) operated by First Majestic Silver Corp. and the Expanded Silicon gold project (1.0% NSR royalty) in Nevada, U.S.A, being advanced by AngloGold Ashanti NA. The Company is well financed with several projects actively being developed by joint venture partners. On Behalf of the Board OROGEN ROYALTIES INC. Paddy Nicol President & CEO To find out more about Orogen, please contact Paddy Nicol, President & CEO at 604-248-8648, and Marco LoCascio, Vice President of Corporate Development at 604-248-8648. Visit our website at www.orogenroyalties.com . Orogen Royalties Inc. 1015 - 789 West Pender Street Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 1H2 Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". All statements in this presentation, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Orogen Royalties Inc. (the "Company") expect to occur, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosures regarding NSR royalty payments to be paid to the Company by First Majestic Silver Corp. ("First Majestic") the owners and operator of the Ermitano mine located in Mexico and that the forecasted revenue which are based on First Majestic "NI 43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates" having an effective date of June 30, 2021. In addition to the technical report, the disclosure herein also contains and the updated mineral reserve and resource estimates for the Ermitano mine based on the Santa Elena Mineral Reserve, Resource Estimates with an effective date of December 31, 2023 as announced by First Majestic on April 1, 2024 and as disclosed in their December 31, 2023 AIF, and First Majestic's MD&A for the period ended December 31, 2023. Forward-looking statements are based on several material assumptions, which management of the Company believe to be reasonable, including, but not limited to, the continuation of mining operations in respect of which the Company will receive NSR royalty payments, that the commodity prices will not experience a material adverse change, mining operations that underlie the royalty will operate in accordance with the disclosed parameters and other assumptions may be set out herein. Except where otherwise stated, the disclosure in this news release relating to properties and operations in which Orogen holds a royalty are based on information publicly disclosed by the owners or operators of these properties and information/data available in the public domain as at the date hereof, and none of this information has been independently verified by Orogen. Specifically, as a royalty holder and prospect generator, the Company has limited, if any, access to properties on which it holds royalty or other interests in its asset portfolio. The Company may from time to time receive operating information from the owners and operators of the mining properties, which it is not permitted to disclose to the public. Orogen is dependent on, (i) the operators of the mining properties and their qualified persons to provide information to Orogen, or (ii) on publicly available information to prepare disclosure pertaining to properties and operations on the properties on which the Company holds royalty or other interests, and generally has limited or no ability to independently verify such information. Although the Company does not have any knowledge that such information may not be accurate, there can be no assurance that such third-party information is complete or accurate. Some reported public information in respect of a mining property may relate to a larger property area than the area covered by Orogen's royalty or other interest. Orogen's royalty or other interests may cover less than 100% of a specific mining property and may only apply to a portion of the publicly reported mineral reserves, mineral resources and or production from a mining property. Non-IFRS Measures The Company has included certain results in this news release that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") including total GEOs sold, average realized gold price per GEO, and cash flow from operating activities excluding changes in non-cash working capital adjustments. The Company's royalty revenue is converted to a gold equivalent ounce by dividing the royalty revenue received during the period by the average gold price of the period. The Company has also used the non-IFRS measure of operating cash flows excluding changes in non-cash working capital. This measure is calculated by adding back the decrease or subtracting the increase in changes in non-cash working capital to or from cash provided by (used in) operating activities References 1 https://www.firstmajestic.com/_resources/news/nr-20240730.pdf 2 https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1708693258-PreliminaryFinancialUpdate2023-Report.pdf 3 https://reports.anglogoldashanti.com/22/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AGA-RR22.pdf 4 https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1722929593-H12024ExplorationReport.pdf 5 https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1722933731-HY12024EarningsReleasePresentation.pdf 6. https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1722933111-HY12024EarningsReleaseReport.pdf 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. Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) (the "Company" or "Fathom") is pleased to provide final results from the extremely successful June soil and rock geochemistry program completed at the Company's 22,000+ ha Gochager Lake Property (see Press Release July 18, 2024). In overview, the results clearly demonstrate that the geochemical footprint of the Gochager Lake deposit has been extended by up to four kilometers along trend (approximately two kilometers in both the NE and SW directions). Please join Ian Fraser, CEO in a webinar discussion today (August 26) at 8:30AM MDT for an in-depth discussion of the Gochager Lake geochemistry results. Webinar link Highlights of the June results include: Results from the pXRF analyses of outcrop chip samples and outcrop rock sampling has expanded the variable-textured gabbro footprint in the historic Gochager Lake deposit area, approximately 12.5 times (Figure 2) [1] . . Soil geochemistry results define a Ni-Cu-Co+Cr-Mg in-soil geochemical signal, analogous to the historic Gochager Lake deposit geochemical footprint, over an area of approximately 1.7km 2 ; an area representative of 25 times the area of the historic deposit geochemical footprint. ; an area representative of 25 times the area of the historic deposit geochemical footprint. We identified a very prominent linear trend of coincident and highly anomalous Ni-Cu-Co+Cr-Mg in-soils exceeding 600 meters in length and up to 100 meters in width, indicative of a subsurface mafic - ultramafic source rock. This identified trend occurs approximately 1.2km east-northeast of the historic Gochager Lake deposit and extends northeast towards Weaver Lake and remains open beyond the end of the zone of soil sampling (see Figures 3 and 4) One individual soil sample returned a very impressive 1,650ppm Ni, 116.5ppm Cu and 373ppm Co from a multi-station, multi-element, soil anomaly occurring approximately 1.0km west-southwest of the deposit area. Ian Fraser, CEO and VP Exploration stated, "The Company is ecstatic with the results from this soil and rock geochemistry program. Through our drilling at the historic Gochager Lake deposit over the course of the last 18 months, we have developed a clear understanding of the deposit's geochemical footprint. The combination of highly anomalous Ni-Cu-Co + chrome (Cr) and magnesium (Mg) in-soil, rock geochemistry results generated by pXRF, and rock assay data has expanded the Gochager Lake deposit geochemical footprint dramatically - to an area that now measures, incredibly, some 1.7 square kilometers. That's 25 times larger than the area of the historic Gochager Lake deposit. In addition, we have identified other, separate, very prominent Ni-Cu-Co + Cr-Mg in-soil anomalies outside of this 1.7 square kilometer footprint area. Underlaying this geochemical footprint is a very distinct MAG feature recognized through the ongoing interpretation of the 2008 VTEM survey. We are very confident that our exacting exploration approach will continue to successfully expand the historic Gochager Lake deposit along strike and to depth - in terms of both grade and tonnage. We are also very confident of significant additional discoveries both within the now-expanded footprint, and also the greater Gochager Lake property. Based on continuing results, there is clear and compelling potential for a major discovery to be had here." Figure 1 - Area covered by Geological Mapping and Soil Geochemistry Figure 2 - Cr Rock Sample Geochemistry Map The variable-texture gabbro has unusually high Cr (chrome) values as compared to a typical gabbro. Cr is a unique pathfinder element associated with the variable-textured gabbro that Fathom now recognizes as the container rock, host to the disseminated to semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia mineralization defining the historic Gochager Lake deposit. The high Cr rock geochemistry has significantly expanded the favourable variable-textured gabbro in the deposit area (~12.5 times). Figure 3 - Ni-in-soil Geochemistry Map Two very prominent northeast - southwest trends have been defined by Ni-in-soil results. The MAG feature mentioned conforms to the most prominent trend. Cu and Co values consistently mirror and correspond with the Ni in-soil values. Figure 4 - Cr-in-soil Geochemistry Map The high Cr-in soil is an indication of variable-texture gabbro occurring in the subsurface, or the presence of ultramafic rock occurring in the subsurface; specifically in the very linear feature northeast of the Gochager Lake deposit. The high abundance of Ni-Cu-Co in-soil associated with Cr-in-soil suggests mafic (variable-textured gabbro) to ultramafic rock occurring in the subsurface is potentially mineralized. The Cr-in-soil conforms to areas mapped as variable-textured gabbro and high-Cr gabbro (Figure 2). In addition, the Company is also pleased to announce that the construction of the 20-25-person, all-season camp at the Gochager Lake project has been completed. The Company was able to take advantage of the mobilizing of camp gear to the project to also include the mobilization of the TUZO GeoSurveys Drone MAG equipment and personnel. The Drone MAG survey was completed August 6th - 11th. Results of the 367.2 line-kilometer survey are expected during the first week of September. Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Disclosure Statement The Company contracted the services of TerraLogic Exploration Inc. ("TerraLogic") to conduct its soil and rock geochemistry program within the historic Gochager Lake deposit area. Soil samples were collected using either a hand auger or a geotool at pre-determined sites utilizing a 100m x 50m sample spacing configuration and a detailed 50m x 50m sample spacing configuration. The B-horizon soil was collected at each site, placed in kraft soil sample bags and all metadata associated with each sample location was recorded. Once sorted and logged, samples were shipped to ALS Canada Ltd. ("ALS") in North Vancouver, British Columbia. At ALS, individual samples were dried and sieved to -180 micron (80 mesh) and both fractions were retained. A 0.5g split of the sieved portion was partially digested (Aqua Regia) and analysis of 54 elements was performed by ultra trace ICP-MS (ME-MS41). Rock samples were crushed and pulverized up to 250g, 85% <75um. A 0.4g split was dissolved by 4-acid digestion and analysis of 33 elements was performed by ICP-AES (ME-ICP61). Ore grade measurements were performed by ME-OG62 and Ni-OG62. Platinum, palladium and gold by PGM-ICP27 and total sulphur by S-IR08. ALS is an ISO / IEC 17025 certified laboratory and independent of Fathom. During the soil geochemistry program, TerraLogic crews were instructed to collect one duplicate sample per person per day. In all 63 duplicate samples were collected representing samples collected from either the same sample pit or a new adjacent sample pit. Internal QAQC was performed on all duplicate samples to umpire for contamination occurring between samples. The Company's QAQC approach to the rock samples collected compares to the Company's drill core approach. One Standard and one Blank standard was included into the batch of 51 rock samples. As part of its ongoing exploration activities, Fathom is utilizing a portable Vanta XRF Analyzer ("pXRF") to provide real-time lithogeochemical multi-element data on drill cores from current drillholes and recently on surface outcrop samples at the Gochager Lake project. The Vanta XRF Analyzer is a hand-held device, held in position for a total 120 seconds - beam 1 (30 seconds), beam 2 (60 seconds) and beam 3 (30 seconds) to allow for an effective reading of elements occurring at that specific point, and at that specific surface of a rock sample. All elements detected at that specific point; nickel, copper and cobalt plus key pathfinder elements, chrome and magnesium, are recorded. The reader is cautioned that pXRF data should be treated only as an indication of elements, as the accuracy of the beam position on a particular element is variable. As with drill core sampling a rigid QA/QC process is in place for the collection and analysing of pXRF data. Internal QA/QC protocols were also implemented to ensure that real-time pXRF geochemical data collected on site was of high quality and reliable. Spot scans of SiO 2 blank and certified reference material were conducted every 25 scans, alternating the blank and standards every 50th scan. pXRF data collected on QA/QC material was periodically plotted in graphical form to check for data entry errors and instrument drift. Qualified Person and Data Verification Ian Fraser, P.Geo., CEO, VP Exploration and a Director of the Company and the "qualified person" as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has verified the data disclosed in this news release, and has otherwise reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of the Company. About Fathom Nickel Inc. Fathom is an exploration company that is targeting magmatic nickel sulphide discoveries to support the rapidly growing global electric vehicle market and to secure the supply of North American Critical Minerals. The Company now has a portfolio of three high-quality exploration projects located in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan: 1) the Albert Lake Project, a 90,000+ hectare project that was host to the historic and past producing Rottenstone Mine2 (produced 28,724 tons @3.3% Ni, 1.8% Cu, 9.63 g/t 3E (Pd-Pt+Au) 1965-1969), and 2) the 22,000+ hectare Gochager Lake Project that is host to a historic, NI43-101 non-compliant open pit resource consisting of 4.3M tons at 0.295% Ni and 0.081% Cu3, and 3) the 10,000+ hectare Friesen Lake Project located 40km southwest of the historic Rottenstone Mine and 30km northwest of the historic Gochager Lake deposit. 2 - The Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI #0958) reports the production grades noted above from a small open pit. Fathom cannot confirm the production numbers nor a historic resource estimate that may have been in place ahead of production. The historic pit exists, and the Company trusts the production, as noted in SMDI #0958, to be accurate. The Company has performed test assaying of Rottenstone-type mineralization and results are consistent with production grades. 3 - The Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI #0880) reports drill indicated reserves at the historic Gochager Lake Deposit of 4,262,400 tons grading 0.295% Ni and 0.081% Cu mineable by open pit. Fathom cannot confirm the resource estimate, nor the parameters and methods used to prepare the reserve estimate. The estimate is not considered NI43-101 compliant and further work is required to verify this historical drill indicated reserve. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "seek", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding payment of terms under the Option Agreement, permitting for the Property, receipt of an exploration permit, timing of the exploration program on the Property and the Company achieving the earn-in thresholds under the Option Agreement. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Such forward looking statements 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 forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections. [1] Variable-textured gabbro is the host rock; the container rock, to the disseminated to semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia mineralization at the historic Gochager Lake deposit. With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, following decades of international military intervention and peace negotiations, numerous draconian restrictions were imposed on women. These included bans on secondary and higher education, prohibitions on most forms of employment, and severe limitations on freedom of movement, often requiring women to be accompanied by male guardians when leaving their homes. Under the control of the Taliban, Afghan women have been deprived of their most basic human rights and freedoms. On August 21, a new law imposed additional restrictions, including on their right to sing, read poetry or read in public. While boys and men have also faced oppression under Taliban rule for failing to conform to the official line, women continue to bear the brunt. The case of 15-year-old Arzo illustrates this harsh reality. Arzo dreamed of becoming a doctor, but her aspirations were shattered when the Taliban banned female education in 2021. Confined to her home and barred from pursuing her career, Arzos situation became so unbearable that she attempted suicide by drinking battery acid two years after the Taliban took power. The Talibans ideology calls for the subjugation of women, and its hold on power largely depends on the success of this endeavour. This is gender apartheid. Ultimately, gender apartheid is a severe form of inequality that perpetuates violence against women. Although recognized by many lawyers, NGOs, and international actors, the concept of gender apartheid has not yet been codified in international law. Consequently, the most severe abuses against women often go unpunished. It is imperative to take concrete steps to incorporate the concept of gender apartheid into international law and to muster the political will necessary to achieve this. The push to recognize gender apartheid A global activist movement against gender apartheid has emerged over the past two decades, aiming to isolate, oppose, and reverse its extreme forms, particularly in places like Iran and Afghanistan, but also in all traditional societies across the world where the phenomenon manifests. The movement began to develop in the early 2000s and continues to grow, involving activists from major countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, and numerous European democracies, working to empower those affected and lobbying for robust international laws that criminalise gender apartheid. NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have played a central role in raising awareness about gender apartheid, particularly in Afghanistan and Iran. Human Rights Watch has released numerous reports on the devastating effects of Taliban policies on Afghan women. Amnesty International has also been vocal in criticising these policies and has repeatedly called for international intervention since early August 2021, especially concerning the ban on womens work. There have been significant mobilisation and advocacy efforts. The United Against Gender Apartheid project, launched in 2021 and sponsored by the World Liberty Congress, aims to galvanise international resistance against gender apartheid. Similarly, the End Gender Apartheid campaign, launched in March 2023, partners with the White Ribbon Campaign and other global human rights NGOs. This campaign seeks to raise international awareness about the harsh realities faced by Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule. As for the UN, its Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett recently noted that gender apartheid is a clear and serious violation of human rights and constitutes a crime against humanity. In his report, he underscores the urgent need for both international action and legal recognition. Acknowledging these specific forms of crimes against humanity is not only morally justified but legally essential; failing to do so allows numerous perpetrators to escape accountability while women worldwide continue to suffer. To correct this profound injustice, we must advocate for the recognition of gender apartheid in international human rights and criminal law. Legal gaps on Gender Apartheid This includes advocating for the inclusion of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Putting gender apartheid into international law requires consistent political support backed by diplomatic endeavours. Amendments to the Rome Statute might take long due to complex procedures, or even face opposition from various quarters. But if enough States lend support, they could make it happen sooner rather than later. There is also a need for change within the UN framework. Today, texts such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 and effective since 1981, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted in 1966 and effective since 1976, address various forms of global gender inequities. However, they do not specifically address gender apartheid. By making these instruments more effective and explicitly including new provisions and protocols against gender apartheid, we can help prevent such extreme violations from occurring now and in the future. Amendments to protect the rights of women would send a clear message globally that no form of discrimination against women and girls shall be tolerated anywhere. International organisations, particularly the United Nations, must be at the centre of this process. Among other things, the UN can facilitate dialogue between member states; offer technical aid for legal reform efforts; and oversee compliance with global standards. UN mechanisms like the Human Rights Council or Commission on the Status of Women could become platforms for advocating inclusion of gender apartheid into international law. Call to action In most cases, significant legal amendments happen when there is strong leadership from politicians coupled with joint efforts made at different levels worldwide; such it was with adoption of the Rome Statute after long years of negotiations. Activists and their supporters must consistently engage with policymakers, diplomats, and heads of international organisations to secure political and diplomatic backing. They should also shape public opinion by launching awareness campaigns and leveraging media as an advocacy tool. The current geopolitical landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for addressing gender apartheid on a large scale. While geopolitical rivalries and competing priorities may pose obstacles, there are unprecedented opportunities due to increased global awareness of womens and girls rights violations. This heightened awareness provides fertile ground for advancing legal reforms. Universal recognition of gender apartheid and urgent action towards its abolition are crucial for achieving genuine equality and advancing human rights globally. Until systemic discrimination and violence against women are universally condemned and addressed, meaningful progress remains elusive. This is not an optional pursuit but an urgent necessity, and it is within our reach. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Monday, August 26, 2024 - Blogger Aoko Otieno has launched a scathing attack against President William Rutos daughter Charlene Ruto, weeks after she was released on bond over defamatory remarks. Check out her tweet. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, August 26, 2024 - Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino is still on good terms with Azimio Leader Raila Odinga despite attempting to oust Baba as the leader of the Opposition. Speaking during an interview, the vocal legislator stated that the former Prime Minister was still his mentor and party leader despite seeking to eventually replace him. According to Babu Owino, once Raila becomes the new African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, then he will formally take over as the new Opposition leader. Babu Owino reiterated that there was no harm in him stepping up to the position of opposition leader despite questions over his youth and political experience. Raila has been my political leader and I respect him so much, I have worked under him, for him, and with him and he is still my leader," Babu Owino clarified. "Raila has tried his best for this nation, he has fought for the nation regardless of what people might say we cannot wish away what Raila has done for this nation," he added. The MP further clarified that declaring himself as the Opposition leader was part of the preparatory process before he formally took over the mantle from the ODM party leader. According to the lawmaker, he had amassed adequate experience to handle Odinga's role. "Experience does not come with age, it comes with challenges that you have gone through," the legislator said while dismissing critics. "I have lived for 35 years and experienced challenges and got solutions to those challenges but someone else has lived more years but gone through fewer challenges," stated the vocal MP. On July 10, Babu Owino declared himself Kenyas new Opposition leader, claiming he would wear the cap previously donned by Odinga to liberate Kenya especially since the current regime was not performing to Kenyans' expectations. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Co-operatives and MSME Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya has asked President William Ruto to allow him the space to undertake his ministerial duties. Speaking at his home in Butere during his homecoming, Oparanya appreciated the noble responsibility placed on his shoulders, saying he was up to the task. However, he said he would only live up to the expectation of Kenyans if Ruto would leave him alone to work freely without any distractions or micromanaging him and his ministry. "I will perform my duties. Just allow me the space to work. You know if you are going to interfere, and hold me behind, then I might not deliver. "But if you allow me the space, whenever I see a mistake, I will come to you. "Whenever we get it right, we soldier on," Oparanya told Ruto, who was also present, point blank. In his speech, Ruto assured Oparanya of support and promised not to stand in his way. I know you have asked to be given a chance to serve, let me say that you have the space to deliver," Ruto stated. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Former NTV presenter, Salim Swaleh, has publicly apologized to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi after he was dismissed from his plum job as the Director of Press Service over fraud. Swaleh broke down and begged Mudavadi for forgiveness, admitting that he had betrayed him. In the emotional video, Swaleh is seen addressing Mudavadi directly, explaining that he has been trying to contact the Prime CS for weeks without success. Good morning Your Excellency, I hope this video finds you well. Nimesema nirecord hii video sababu nimejaribu kukutafuta sana for the couple of weeks sijakua nikikupata. "I have sent several people to you, to talk to you but sijakua nikipata majibu yeyote, Swaleh said. He acknowledged that Mudavadi has been a father figure to him since they met, and expressed deep regret for betraying his trust. We built unmatched trust between us. And for the last one and half years I served you with unmatched zeal. I broke the trust. I did. And Im so sorry about it. Im truly remorseful about it, he said, visibly emotional. Swaleh also revealed that the past month has been extremely difficult for him. As a public figure, he said he has been unable to go outside due to the negative attention surrounding the allegations. He admitted to battling suicidal thoughts, saying, A lot of things have been running through my mind, very bad things. Sometimes I feel like taking my own life. He further revealed that he is facing financial difficulties, with bills piling up and loans to pay. He also claimed that his salary has been stopped and that finding a new job has been challenging. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Renson Ingonga, recalled Swalehs case file for the second time last week. Swaleh, along with four others, is accused of being involved in a Sh5.8 million fraud. Reports suggest that Swaleh was arrested for allegedly assisting fraudsters who had been posing as government officials and had easy access to Mudavadis office. Allegedly, these meetings were conducted in Swalehs office. Watch video. Look at how Emotional Ex NTV Journalist Salim Swaleh broke down while asking for forgiveness and a second chance after Breaking Musalia Mudavadis Trust Over Involvement In Alleged 5.8 Million Shillings Fraud. Share widely ifikie Mudavadi! pic.twitter.com/FphN0EDlcD Omwamba (@omwambaKE) August 26, 2024 The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, August 26, 2024 - It is now official that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is resigning as Orange Democratic Movement(ODM) party leader to concentrate on his bid to become the African Union Chairperson. Raila, 80, wants to replace former Chadian Prime Minister Mousa Faki, who is currently the AUC chairperson. Faki is retiring in February 2025 and Raila Odinga and Djibouti Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Youssouf are the two front runners for the top continental job. With Raila Odinga joining the contest, he is required to quit politics in his local country to show his willingness to serve the Continent. Raila Odinga will soon quit as ODM Party leader and the Orange Party has already identified his replacement. Siaya County Governor James Orengo, 73, who is reportedly always drunk, is set to take over as the leader of the party that has been in opposition for nearly three decades. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has lauded President William Ruto for forming a broad-based government with opposition leader, Raila Odinga. Speaking on Saturday during the Maa Community 25th Interministries Union prayers at Inkinyie Primary and Junior Secondary School grounds in Kajiado Central, Kajiado County, Gachagua stated that President Ruto reconstituted an inclusive government to demonstrate the importance of working with even former opponents in elections for the good of the nation. The President has done well in opening up Kenya for talks, allowing us to seek friendship from across the country. "Next week, he will be in the Nyanza region, seeking friendship. That is the way to go, the Deputy President said. He said some people in the country have attacked him in the past for his efforts to unite the Mt. Kenya region. Some people misunderstood my call for unity in the Mt Kenya Region. How can you unite Kenya before uniting the community? How can I ask the Maa to unite when I have not done the same with my people? "For us to get national cohesion, and for the country to be one, all communities must come together first, then we have one nation, he said. Gachagua said he will continue seeking and strengthening traditional friendships between the Mt Kenya communities and the Maa as part of the initiative to build a strong Kenya. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has rescinded his earlier declaration that the government had no money to employ Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers. This is after Kiharu MP and the chairman of Budget Committee Ndindi Nyoro dismissed Mbadis allegation, saying the government had money to hire JSS teachers permanently since they had budgeted for it. Mbadi had authoritatively stated that the government did not have an allocation for the educators' permanent and pensionable employment and that adjustments would not be made due to the constraints occasioned by the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024. "We don't have resources for recruiting JSS teachers on a permanent basis, that I would be lying. We also don't have resources for the additional 20,000," he said. However, in his new sentiments, the CS stated there was money for the foregoing cause. He said the allocation for the teachers' employment beginning January 2025 was already set aside. Mbadi admitted that he had spoken out of ignorance in his earlier statement, but now he knows better. "It is right that there are monies to convert the JSS teachers. I should have been clearer; I was wrong on my end. "There is Sh22 billion available," he said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Kenyans on social media have criticized Muranga Governor Irungu Kangata over his choice of attire during his deputys wedding. Governor Kang'ata attended the ceremony held over the weekend in a bright blue blazer, a plaid shirt, dark trousers, and a pair of open-toe sandals, a choice that has sparked a debate on social media. Many on social media voiced their criticism, suggesting that his attire was not befitting the occasion. See photos and reactions. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, August 26, 2024 President William Ruto and his friend, Raila Odinga, are reportedly in panic mode. This is after Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka threatened to initiate anti-government protests similar to the Gen Z revolution which saw Ruto and Raila come together and form a broad-based government. Addressing a crowd in Githurai yesterday, Kalonzo vowed to spearhead a national campaign against the recently implemented university funding model, denouncing it as overly complex and exclusionary towards lower-income families. He criticized the government's lack of engagement with the public and educational stakeholders before rolling out the new system. "The current administration has plunged education into crisis," Musyoka declared. "We give notice to the government, which appears clueless about managing this essential sector, that we will mobilize the country to oppose this unjust model. "If the plan is to make university education a privilege only for the affluent, then the marginalized will rise to reclaim their rightful access." Musyoka explained the widespread disapproval of the funding scheme among Kenyans, emphasizing that the lack of prior consultation or pilot testing has left many unprepared and disadvantaged. "Education is in a crisis, and it is both impracticable and unfair. Even university administrations admit they were left out of the conversation," he added. The Wiper party leader's strong opposition to the new university funding model resonates with concerns raised across various sectors regarding the transparency and inclusivity of the new system. "How many are ready to stand against this? The poor will rise and claim their position," Musyoka rallied the crowd. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - A contingent of the Kenya Police Service sent to Haiti for a peacekeeping mission has raised issues with the Kenyan government over the non-payment of their salaries for the past two months. In a letter to blogger Cyprian Nyakundi, the police officers claimed Kenya's government had abandoned them after sending them to the Caribbean nation. Nyakundi further said some of police officers are complaining that they didnt get proper medical care when they were sent to Haiti. Other police officers have reported that the Wi-Fi in Haiti is unreliable, forcing them to buy expensive local SIM cards due to high airtime costs. This is what Cyprian Nyakundu wrote on X I am receiving more reports on the Haiti matter I raised a few days ago. The policemen sent to Haiti are facing serious problems. "It's been two months, and they still haven't been paid. "They also say they didn't get proper medical coverage/care. "Also, they say the Wi-Fi there is unreliable, so some officers had to buy local SIM cards, which are expensive because of the high airtime costs, Nyakundi wrote in his X page The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has outlined his vision for Africa once he wins the African Union Commission Chairperson seat. Raila, 79, is contesting the seat following the impending retirement of former Chadian Prime Minister Moussa Faki, who currently holds the position. In his eight-point agenda, the former Premier listed economic transformation, enhancing intra-African trade, financial independence, gender equity and equality, agricultural transformation, climate action, continental integration, and peace and security as his focus areas. As a lifelong Pan-Africanist, I will offer participatory leadership to ensure delivery on the priorities of the African peoples as envisioned in the African Union Agenda 2063, Raila said in his vision statement. He further states that he envisions a united Africa thats characterized by peace, prosperity, and sustainable progress for all while advocating for the continent to harness its vast human and natural resources to take its rightful position in the current century. On continental integration, Raila said he has his eyes set on strengthening regional integration and cooperation to promote trade, infrastructure development, and economic growth. I will support Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and drive the implementation of initiatives to enhance continental unity and prosperity, he said. On Economic Transformation, he speaks of spearheading initiatives that create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, attract investment, and promote innovation and entrepreneurship which are key to achieving economic transformation. I will champion policies that create jobs, reduce poverty and improve lives. "I commit to promoting industrialization, supporting manufacturing, and enhancing innovation through investments in education, technology, healthcare, affordable energy, and skills development. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 Political realignments are taking shape ahead of the 2027 General Election, and former Prime Minister Raila Odingas ODM has not been left out. This is after Railas party hinted at supporting President William Ruto in 2027 as opposed to Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who is banking on Railas support base in the next election. This was revealed by Kisii Governor Simba Arati, who hinted at a potential shift in ODM allegiance, suggesting that the party might support Ruto in the 2027 General Elections. Arati, who is also the Deputy Party Leader of ODM, made these remarks during Wycliffe Oparanyas homecoming event in Kakamega County on Saturday. During his speech, Arati urged ODM Cabinet Secretaries serving in Rutos government to perform exceptionally well, noting that their efforts could influence future political dynamics. "I urge ODM CSs to perform exceptionally in Ruto's government. They should work so well that Ruto is impressed. Remember, Ruto was once part of ODM. If anyone in UDA tries to undermine his government, as ODM Deputy Party Leader, I will invite him to discuss how we can support him in 2027," Arati stated. Aratis comments appeared to be a direct message to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, cautioning him against any actions that could disrupt the cooperation between the two sides. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 President William Ruto disappointed comrades yesterday by blocking Embakasi East MP Babu Owino from attending his town hall meeting with university students, where they discussed the controversial university funding model. This was revealed by the ODM legislator himself who stated that he had been blocked from accessing the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), where Ruto was having the town hall meeting. I went but they denied me access, Babu Owino stated on social media while responding to a comment from a user who expressed his wish to have seen the legislator at the meeting. The youthful MP has been vocal in advocating for students to rise up and reject the contentious model altogether, which is probably the reason Ruto didnt want him in his meeting. Owino, a former Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) leader, has explicitly made it clear he is opposed to the new model, describing it as punitive. "Student Leaders who will meet Ruto today must tell him the truth, the New university funding model is a beast that will consume our education system," he posted yesterday. "Our brothers and sisters will never afford the education that they so deserve to change their lives and this country. Say No!" the MP had posted earlier in the day. While unpacking the funding model, Babu Owino through his handles noted that in the 80s, the government of the day provided grants not loans which eased the cost of education. "If in 1987 University Education was free, why charge Parents and comrades now?" he wondered. The contentious new funding model has attracted widespread criticism, with many arguing that it perpetuates inequality. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - President William Ruto has continued to drum up support for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is vying for the African Union Commission Chairperson post. Speaking in Kakamega County on Saturday, Ruto urged Kenyans to unite and back Raila's bid as it is important for the nation. "We should be united because we have an opportunity as a country to produce the next chairman of the Africa Union Commission, we must work together. "It is not a position that belongs to a person. It is our collective position as a country and therefore all of us must support our former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for that position," Ruto said. The President said that Kenya should position itself appropriately in the African continent as it is the future in all aspects. "It is a position that will allow our country to serve at that level and we have confidence that our former Prime Minister has the requisite experience understanding and knowledge to provide leadership for our continent." Ruto was speaking when he attended the homecoming ceremony of Cooperatives and MSMEs CS Wycliffe Oparanya. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 President William Ruto has once again demonstrated that he knows more about what is happening in his Cabinet Secretaries' respective ministries than they do. This is after he differed with Cooperative CS Wycliffe Oparanya on the exact number of Hustler Fund loan defaulters. Speaking during Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanyas homecoming in Kakamega, Ruto revealed that 80 percent of the borrowers had successfully repaid their loans. He commended Kenyans for maximizing the Hustler Fund to borrow loans and repay them on time. This comes even as Oparanya claimed that out of the 21 million borrowers, 19 million of them had defaulted. This effectively pegs the default rate at 90.48 percent. Late last year, the National Treasury revealed that the number of defaulters stood at 9.9 million people, which it noted was 27 percent of the total borrowers. Nonetheless, the Head of State vowed to inject a further Ksh3 billion to motivate Kenyans and attract more borrowers. He expressed confidence in Oparanyas ability to steer the Hustler Fund towards the right direction including putting in place the right policies to allow for more borrowing through increased loan limits. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - Fresh details have emerged about how African heads of state are opposed to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's bid for African Union Chairperson Raila, 79, wants to replace Mousa Faki, who retires in February 2025 after serving 2 four year terms. With 70% of Africas population being youth, African heads of state are keen to appoint a young person who resonates with the youth. By February 2025, Raila Odinga will be 80 years old, which is contributing to African heads of state's doubts about the former Kenyan premier's suitability for the role. Djibouti Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Youssouf is the preferred candidate among African heads of state due to his age and impressive academic record, unlike Raila, who is an academic dwarf. Born in 1965 and educated in Djibouti, Youssouf furthered his studies in France, the UKwhere he studied business management at the University of LiverpoolCanada, and Belgium at the Universite libre de Bruxelles. He began his diplomatic career in the 1990s, leading the Foreign Ministry's Arab Affairs Department. He later served as Djiboutis ambassador to Egypt and as Minister-Delegate for International Cooperation before becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in 2005. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - In its relentless pursuit to counter trafficking in narcotics, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has made significant strides over the weekend, seizing large quantities of narcotics and apprehending suspects through well-coordinated efforts by officers across the country. On the Migori-Sirare highway, vigilant officers at a checkpoint intercepted a motorcycle rider carrying two bags of marijuana weighing 73.6 kilograms, valued at approximately Sh2,208,000. Despite their efforts, the trafficker managed to slip through their fingers, abandoning the narcotics and the motorcycle at the scene. Along the Nambale-Busia road, a multi-agency roadblock led to the interception of a motor vehicle, KBM 098P Isuzu Pick-Up where one suspect George Willis Obua, 20, was arrested in possession of 350 rolls of bhang weighing 22 kilograms, with an estimated street value of Sh660,000. At a roadblock on the Mai Mahiu-Nairobi road, officers from the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) and the Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) intercepted a motor vehicle, KDN 081H. The driver attempted to flee, causing a chaotic chase that ended when the vehicle got stuck in a ditch. The driver, John Otero Mochoge, was arrested, and a search of the vehicle uncovered 19 packages of cannabis. In Busia, detectives acting on a tip-off arrested Bertha Anyango Wandera, 29, at the Busia main bus stage as she was boarding a public service vehicle bound for Nairobi. A swift search of her brown bag revealed one bale of bhang wrapped in white cello tape, weighing 17.15 kilograms, with an estimated street value of Sh514,500. The suspects will be arraigned today. Meanwhile, the seized narcotics and vehicles are being held as exhibits. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations reiterates its unwavering commitment to counter narcotics trafficking and urges the public to steer clear of this illicit trade, as offenders will face the full force of the law. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, August 26, 2024 - Dadaab Member of Parliament Farah Maalim has praised President William Ruto, calling him the best president to have ever ruled Kenya. Maalim, who faced sharp criticism in June for saying he would have killed 5,000 young protestors who stormed Parliament, stated that Ruto is the best president due to his efforts in stabilizing the shilling and securing loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to repay debts incurred by his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta. Maalim also said Ruto has reduced government wastage by doing away with the offices of the First Lady and the spouse of the Deputy President. This is what Farah Maalim wrote on his X( formerly Twitter) President William Ruto has performed better than any other President before him in the first two years of office. "The Kenya shilling gained massively against all other convertible currencies & continues to get stronger in the midst of all those protests. "He has borrowed from WB & IMF to retire debilitating Chinese loans & Eurobond borrowed by his predecessor. "Both Nigerian & Bangladesh currencies lost big time after protests. "Ruto reduced Government spending to tame wastage beginning with his & First Ladys offices. "Record numbers of Kenyans have found employment outside the country. "The coffee and tea sectors are picking up tremendously. "The sugar sector is equally cruising towards self-sufficiency. "Lets give Ruto space to perform. One wonders why under Uhuru Kenyans didnt raise the issues they are raising now & protest. "To be fair the economy is today doing better than it did 3 years back, The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, August 26, 2024 - President William Ruto has thanked former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for coming to his rescue when the Gen Zs wanted to overthrow him through the anti-government protests. Speaking over the weekend, Ruto praised Raila for softening his stance and agreeing to form a broad-based government with him, which led to the end of the Gen Z protests. The president observed the need for a united country to achieve its aspirations. He suggested a longstanding unity with the opposition chief, foreseeing the successes the country tends to record in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. "We have all agreed to walk this road. I want to thank my elder brother for accepting to walk with us on this journey of uniting all Kenyans...," said Ruto. Ruto and Raila held a consultative meeting in July regarding the anti-Finance Bill protests that had taken the country by storm. The new partnership between Ruto and Raila culminated in the incorporation of some of the honchos from the ODM party into the Cabinet. The Kenyan DAILY POST Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with Ellie Qian, a medical student, to discuss the profound experiences that shape the journey of becoming a compassionate health care professional. Ellie shares a transformative encounter from her first year in medical school, where she practiced medical interviewing with a standardized patient, Chris, who has stage 4 metastatic lung cancer, and his supportive partner, Jordan. This deeply human conversation about end-of-life care, love, and the power of silence offers invaluable insights into the essence of medicine. Ellie Qian is a medical student. She discusses the KevinMD article, Honoring humanity: lessons from a medical encounter. Our presenting sponsor is Nuance, a Microsoft company. Together, Microsoft and Nuance are leveraging their rich digital technology and advanced AI capabilities to tackle some of health cares biggest challenges. AI-driven technology promises to revolutionize patient and provider experiences with clinical documentation that writes itself. The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience, or DAX for short, is a voice-enabled solution that automatically captures patient encounters securely and accurately at the point of care. DAX Copilot combines proven conversational and ambient AI with the most advanced generative AI in a mobile application that integrates directly with your existing workflows. Physicians who use DAX have reported a 50 percent decrease in documentation time and a 70 percent reduction in feelings of burnout, and 85 percent of patients say their physician is more personable and conversational. Discover AI-powered clinical documentation that writes itself. Visit https://nuance.com/daxinaction to see a 12-minute DAX Copilot demo. VISIT SPONSOR https://nuance.com/daxinaction SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended GET CME FOR THIS EPISODE https://www.kevinmd.com/cme Im partnering with Learner+ to offer clinicians access to an AI-powered reflective portfolio that rewards CME/CE credits from meaningful reflections. Find out more: https://www.kevinmd.com/learnerplus The Ugandan government has begun training Ugandans in welding techniques to fill some of the 10,000 jobs expected to be created by the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). According to Linda Nalubanga, the Senior National Content Officer responsible for manpower regulation at the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, the project will require approximately 140 welders, all of whom will be Ugandans. She stated that the training of 36 welders has already started with the aim of increasing national content and developing local capacity in Uganda. As the project progresses, they will keep adding a number of welders to be trained. Weve heard about the national content pillars which is capacity building, knowledge transfer, employment of Ugandans as well as provision of goods and services, she said. The EACOP is a 1,443-kilometer crude oil export pipeline that will transport Ugandas crude oil from Kabaale to Hoima in Uganda to the Chongoleani peninsula near the Tanga port in Tanzania. Parliament has released a tentative schedule for its inaugural regional parliamentary sitting in Gulu. The event is set to take place on Wednesday this week. Planned activities include tree planting, a visit to the resting place of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, and meetings with boda boda riders and womens groups in Gulu. According to the program, Members of Parliament and their staff will depart today for Gulu City. As part of the social corporate responsibility, Parliament has organised a free medical outreach at Pece Primary School ahead of the #GuluSittings2024 slated for 28th to 30th August 2024 at Kaunda Grounds, Gulu City, a statement from Parliament reads in part. The Parliament plenary sitting will commence on Wednesday, with President Museveni scheduled to address Parliament on the second day of the plenary. The regional sitting will conclude on August 31,2024, with the departure of participants from Gulu. By Paul Adude The Entebbe Magistrates court has further remanded Rev Dominic Alinga over the alleged murder of a Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) employee, John Bosco Ngorok to Kigo government prison until September 13, 2024, for mention of the case. Alinga, who is also charged with the attempted murder of Mr Abigaba Mugisha, a boda boda operator who tried to take the deceased for emergency medical care at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, appeared before Her worship Stella Okwong Paculal on Monday. The priest is not allowed to take plea to the charges, which are capital in nature and can only be heard before the High Court. This matter is coming up for mention on the status of inquiries, however as they have just informed me the state attorney is not here, so I dont know how far they have gone with the inquiries but we shall adjourn and then get information for the next date Okwong said. During Mondays hearing, several family members of the late John Bosco Ngorok who were in a sombre mood while attending the hearing, wore black T-shirts with the deceaseds face printed at the front with words, In Loving Memory, John Bosco Ngorok ,02 FEB 1994 -03 AUG 2024. The Priest is accused with malice afterthought of murdering Ngorok on August 3 in Kitooro, Wakiso district, which is contrary to sections 171 and 172 of the Penal Code Act. On the second count of attempted murder, Fr Alinga on the same night, allegedly unlawfully attempted to cause the death of Abigaba Mugisha which is contrary to section 187, cap 128, when he knocked down his motorcycle as he attempted to save the deceaseds life by taking him to hospital. BY REUTERS The Telegram messaging application said on Sunday that its founder, Pavel Durov, had nothing to hide and that it was absurd to hold an owner responsible for abuse of the platform. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving, Telegram said in a statement on the detention of Durov in France on Saturday. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, it said. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all. Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, three sources told Reuters. The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted on Sunday a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack. There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, but two French police sources and one Russian source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan. One of the two French police sources said that ahead of the jets arrival, police had spotted he was on the passenger list and moved to arrest him because he was the subject of an arrest warrant in France. Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a third French police source said. A cybersecurity gendarmerie unit and Frances national anti-fraud police unit are leading the investigation, that source said, adding that the investigative judge was specialised in organised crime. The French Interior Ministry, police and Paris prosecutors office had no comment. Russian lawmaker Maria Butina, who spent 15 months in U.S. prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent, said Durov is a political prisoner a victim of a witch-hunt by the West. Durovs arrest led news bulletins in Russia. Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold. The encrypted application, with close to 1 billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. A coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) promoting womens rights has urged youth to utilize innovative digital platforms to bridge gaps that can lead to misconceptions and misinterpretations of policies. Speaking at the National Legal Empowerment Hackathon 2024 in Kampala, Sandra Aceng, the Executive Director of WOUGNET, emphasized that the event aims to bring together innovators and stakeholders from across the country to develop groundbreaking solutions and ideas that can be adopted by relevant actors to foster womens freedom of expression (FOE) and access to information (A2I). Despite the existing legal frameworks, many women rights defenders continue to face various barriers that threaten the existing and operation of CSOs, she said. She added that the hackathon presents a unique opportunity for CSOs to leverage their collective expertise in technology, law, and activism to safeguard fundamental human rights. 1 of 1 Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore addressed the Rajasthan diaspora in Zurich khaskhabar.com : Mon, 26 Aug 2024 5:11 PM Zurich. Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore elaborated on key policies, including the incubation of startups, infrastructure development, reforms in industrial land allotments, Management under the leadership of Honourable PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji. Addressing the representatives of Marwadi International Federation an organisation of Indian diaspora in Zurich, Switzerland, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Cabinet Minister of Industries, Commerce, IT, Skill and Entrepreneurship Development, Government of Rajasthan, addressed the Rajasthan diaspora in Zurich, highlighting the positive initiatives of the current government under the leadership of Honourable PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji. He elaborated on key policies, including the incubation of startups, infrastructure development, reforms in industrial land allotments, Management, Transfer and improvements in the ease of doing business, which aim to lower operational costs in Rajasthan. The State government is committed for the Single Window Clearance System to expedite it in real sense in the state. Talking about the Rail and road infrastructure development it was emphasised that the Delhi- Mumbai Expressway and Dedicated Freight Corridor are passing through the state and crossing a very long way would be certainly leveraging for industrial development of the State. It is very important to know for all of us that after fully operationalizing these two transport infrastructure projects the distance from first mile to last mile between Delhi and Mumbai would be reduced drastically. It would certainly lower the logistics cost of products of state. Rajyavardhan Rathore urged the diaspora to influence potential investors to consider opportunities in India, emphasizing the importance of their role in attracting investment back to their home state. This call to action aimed to foster collaboration and support economic growth in Rajasthan through diaspora engagement. : , : Like their counterparts across the county, outgoing sixth-year students at Kildare Town Community School (KTCS) are embarking on various paths after receiving their Leaving Cert results last Friday. Principal John Hayes said that on behalf of the KTCS community, he would like to congratulate their students on their excellent results. We are very proud of them and delighted with their success. This years group was directly impacted by Covid in their junior years and it is a testament to each of their determination and resilience to have come through so successfully today, he said. Blanka Maya, Chloe Mackin, Nicole Lee, Chloe Cotter and Barry Gibbons at the school on results day I would like to acknowledge the support given by their families to help them reach this milestone. In KTCS we have a dedicated and supportive staff of teachers, SNAs, clerical and caretaking who consistently go beyond expectations to support and provide opportunities for students to reach their potential. We are delighted with the outstanding results in Irish, Maths and English as well as a variety of subjects like Art and Construction Studies. Congratulations to Alex Moran on 613 points including a H1 in Maths. We are also delighted to see our LCA students receive Distinctions today. This year was also the first year Computer Science was examined in KTCS. There was a lovely celebration in the school today and we wish every student every success in the days ahead. An 83-year-old woman who sat the Leaving Certificate Irish exam in Newbridge earlier this summer received the highest possible grade! Bernadette Hayden, who runs Kildare International School of Excellence for Young Musicians at Herbert Lodge, opened her results live on RTEs Liveline programme and revealed that she earned an O1 grade. Im amazed! she said. Bernadette explained that she loves the language. My mother taught me my Irish and we had great teachers in the Mercy nuns in Ennis, she recalled. Its a wonderful language. Regarding her advice for any students who may be disappointed with their results, Bernadette said nobody should be disappointed. Anybody who sits the Leaving Cert has been brave enough to come through all the discipline of learning their subjects. What they got probably doesnt reflect at all if theyre disappointed whats possible for them. Because exams can be quite challenging." Bernadette, who is originally from Co Limerick, first sat her Leaving Cert back in 1958. Her father did his in 1922 in Newbridge College, her children attended that school and her grandchildren are there now. Last year Bernadette did Music and she returned in 2024 for Irish, as she noticed some of her students were coming from Gaelscoileanna. I registered there with them and they were very helpful and I went in and sat the Irish paper, she told The Ray DArcy Show on RTE Radio. It was challenging enough, there were lots of new poems in it but still I had the basic vocabulary because I was a primary teacher all my life and I had plenty of Irish, my parents were both teachers and they had plenty of Irish. Bernadette told RTE News that her fellow students were magnificent. They couldnt be more helpful to me. Are you sure now you have everything? Do you know the rules for this and that? They were brilliant. Over 4,000 people and 1,000 businesses in counties Carlow and Kilkenny participated in upskilling with a Skillnet Ireland Business Network last year. Figures from the Skillnet Ireland Annual Report 2023, reveal the national agency for workforce development delivered over 29,500 training days in Carlow and Kilkenny last year. Just over half (53%) of those who undertook training were men and 47% were women, while those aged 30 to 39 years were the largest group of people availing of upskilling supports. The vast majority (98%) of the Carlow and Kilkenny companies that upskilled their workforce with Skillnet Ireland in 2023 were small and medium enterprises. The greatest uptake came from the Agriculture sector followed by Tourism & Travel, Services, Technology, Health, Food and Drink and Media/Audiovisual. NETWORKS Companies based in Carlow and Kilkenny undertook upskilling programmes with more than 50 of the 70 Skillnet Business Networks based on the sector in which their company operates, or with one of the Networks in their region, which include Carlow Kilkenny Skillnet, Macra Agriculture Skillnet and Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet. In 2023, Skillnet Ireland provided upskilling and training programmes to the value of 83.4 million to over 26,600 businesses and more than 97,700 workers nationally, across the Irish economy. Companies contributed 31.4 million or 37% of the total investment towards upskilling their staff, a 4.9 million increase on 2022, signalling a high level of buy-in from industry sectors to develop their teams in partnership with Skillnet Ireland. The Irish economy continues to benefit greatly from Skillnet Irelands delivery of industry-led upskilling initiatives for businesses of all sizes, said Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Patrick ODonovan. More than 97,000 people working in companies across Ireland took part in upskilling with Skillnet Ireland in 2023, across areas of increasing importance such as sustainability, digitalisation, innovation, and leadership. One in two people (49%) in Kilkenny didnt take all their holidays last year, according to research on annual leave undertaken by FRS Recruitment. This is above the national average, with 42% of people around the country failing to use up all their leave last year. One in four people (24%) in Kilkenny didnt take five days of annual leave or more, which in employment terms represents a weeks leave. 14% didnt take 4 days, 17% had 3 days which went unused, 15% also opted against using up 2 days of leave and 16% had one day of their holidays remaining. The FRS Recruitment Annual Leave Report also had a range of other findings about how people in Kilkenny make use of their holiday entitlements and the various employment policies in place around the use of annual leave. Almost two in three people (64%) in Kilkenny used annual leave for foreign travel last year and another two in five (44%) used it for domestic travel. A further 4% used it for family reasons, 2% for personal reasons and 3% due to illness. For more than one in four people (27%) in Kilkenny, the longest period of annual leave they took last year was less than a week. In the case of 29% their longest break was one week and 42% took two weeks of holidays. Only 2% say they took a break for longer than two weeks. Before taking annual leave, a majority (53%) of all Kilkenny employees say they have to give their employer two weeks notice. Another 40% must provide one months notice and a further 7% in Kilkenny only have to tell their work about their leave plans one week or less in advance. One in three people (37%) in Kilkenny say unused annual leave is carried into the following year and one in four (27%) receive a payment in lieu. However almost a third of Kilkenny employees (32%) say their leave is lost if it is not used. When it comes to other types of leave taken, one quarter of people (25%) in Kilkenny say they took sick leave last year, 22% took care leave, one in four (24%) took maternity/ paternity leave, 2% took study leave and 2% took leave due to a bereavement. More than four out of ten people in Kilkenny (44%) would like their employer to introduce unlimited leave, while over half (53%) in the county would also be in favour of a 4 day work week, even if it impacted on their salary. A total of 1,886 people took part in the survey used to compile the FRS Annual Leave Report. FRS Recruitment is one of Irelands leading recruitment agencies with 10 offices nationwide. They are part of the multimillion euro social enterprise co-operative, FRS Co-Op. Speaking about the research, Lynne McCormack, General Manager with FRS Recruitment said, Holidays and annual leave are such an important part of professional life for employees in Kilkenny and their employers. Yet before now there havent been many statistics available showing how it is used and the various policies associated with annual leave in the workplace. With this research, we in FRS Recruitment wanted to take a closer look at how annual leave is being treated and get a sense of how widely different leave policies are applied. Holidays are a key point of negotiation between Kilkenny employees and their employers and are vital in maintaining work/ life balance. They play a significant role in how we manage the many demands on our time outside of work. So it is useful to get a practical sense of how they are actually being used. What was surprising was the number of people who are not making full use of their leave, both in Kilkenny and around the country. Even more eye opening are the number of days leave that havent been used, with five days or more not being used by one in four people in Kilkenny last year. Work wise, effectively thats a week of holidays going unused for those people. Not using their annual leave may suit those in Kilkenny who are able to carry their leave into the following year, or who receive payment in lieu. However there is a sizeable number of people locally and nationally who face losing any days that go unused. When we do holiday, it is also interesting to consider the length of breaks we take. The most popular choice nationally and in Kilkenny was two weeks in one go, which would traditionally have been seen as the standard, main holiday of the year. Yet for one in four people, their longest break was less than one week. In FRS Recruitment we have also seen a number of candidates interested in the concept of unlimited leave. While this has gained some traction in the US, it isnt a common policy in Ireland. Yet a sizeable number of people in Kilkenny and nationally would like to see it introduced by their employers, despite the significant proportion of the employees who arent using up their allocated leave as it currently stands. A majority of people would also support a 4 day work week, even though it may impact on their salaries. The use of holidays and annual leave is clearly evolving, both from a policy perspective and in terms of what we do with that time. Longer term this will have implications for how we view our days off and how they are managed by our employers too, Ms. McCormack concluded. Meeting on nominating Great Tea Route to UNESCO heritage list held in Mongolia Xinhua) 16:18, August 26, 2024 ULAN BATOR, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- An academic conference focusing on the nomination of the Great Tea Route, which spans China, Mongolia, and Russia, for the UNESCO World Heritage List was held at the Chinese Cultural Center here in the Mongolian capital on Monday. The conference, sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia and the Cultural and Tourism Department of central China's Hubei province, was co-organized by the Chinese Cultural Center in Ulan Bator and the Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Center, among others. "Today, we are not only discussing the revival of an ancient trade route but also embarking on a new chapter of friendship and cooperation among China, Mongolia, and Russia. The Great Tea Road, a golden ribbon weaving across the Eurasian continent, has witnessed the historical integration and interaction of civilizations from China, Mongolia, and Russia, as well as between the East and the West," said Li Zhi, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia and director of the Chinese Cultural Center, during an opening ceremony. Li emphasized that the Great Tea Road is not just a trade route for tea and other commodities, but also a vital bridge for cultural exchange, sharing of ideas, and emotional connections. "The Great Tea Route and its surrounding things symbolize the history of our past cooperation, the successes of our current collaboration, and the potential for future development and partnership," said Byambasuren Davaatseren, head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Department at the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia. In addition, a cultural tourism event titled "Tea for Harmony -- Mongolia Tour" was held, featuring tea tasting and an exhibition of photos that showcase the history of the Great Tea Route, along with China's tea culture and tourism destinations, at the Chinese Cultural Center on the same day. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Du Mingming) From Radio NZ: More than a quarter of teachers in schools in poor neighbourhoods said most of their pupils had oral language below the level expected of them, compared to just 3 percent of new entrant teachers in schools in rich neighbourhoods. School teachers said some children could not talk in sentences of more than four or five words, spent a lot of time on devices and had little interaction with books. As I discuss with Michael Laws below; ECEs and Schools are trying to cycle up Queen St towing an ocean liner to turn this situation around. I believe that we need a crown entity for Parenting and explain why in the clip. If you want to see where our current patterns lead to, I have just done my annual data process to look at the achievements of every high school in NZ. There are approx. 430 schools in the process. The top 40 schools see 87% of their LEAVERS off with UE under their belt. For the bottom 40 schools it is 2.5%. Parenting is a huge part of this all the way through. Do we have the will to solve it? (for the full data set including rankings for every high school please email me on alwyn.poole@gmail.com) Alwyn Poole alwyn.poole@gmail.com Innovative Education Consultants Ltd Education 710+ Ltd (both sites currently being re-done) alwynpoole.substack.com www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/ Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr By Baek Byung-yeul Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC)-Korea hosted a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on Friday, commemorating the 79th anniversary of Korea's liberation and the 71st anniversary of the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement which ended hostilities of the 1950-53 Korean War. The concert featured about 700 children from FEBC-Korea's 13 regional children's choirs, according to the international Christian radio network's Korea branch. The concert has been held annually by FEBC-Korea since 2011, touring various cities across Korea. This is the station's second performance in the United States, following the first in 2016 at Carnegie Hall in New York. "We organized this concert to enhance the positive image of Korea's future to the global audience gathered in Washington, D.C., through the performance of innocent children, to give strength and courage to Korean Americans and to inspire pride as Korean citizens and a desire for peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula in the next generation," Billy Kim, chairperson of FEBC-Korea, said. President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a congratulatory message, "I believe this concert will be an opportunity to remember the preciousness of freedom and affirm the strong relationship of the Korea-U.S. alliance." Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gave a welcoming address, with other prominent U.S. political figures also attending the event. A day before the concert, the children's choir, along with the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation, held a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, honoring those who fought in the Korean War. At the ceremony, the choir sang the national anthems of both Korea and the U.S., as well as well-known tunes "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace." Through their songs, the children remembered the veterans who responded to their country's call to protect the nation and its people and conveyed gratitude and comfort to the American citizens gathered there. Visitors to the memorial park responded with applause, according to FEBC-Korea. Rising star Go Min-si revels in portraying roles that are markedly different from her real-life self. In her latest Netflix original Korean series, "The Frog," which she calls her favorite show to date, she exemplifies this talent. "I want to be the kind of actor who makes audiences look forward to her next project," she said in an interview with local media on Monday. "While filming the show, I discovered new sides of myself that I didn't know existed. If this experience can serve as a stepping stone for my next project, where I can showcase yet another aspect of my acting, I would be truly happy," she said. In this crime thriller, Go plays Yoo Sung-a, a mysterious visitor who disrupts the tranquility of a remote woodland motel. The eight-part series, released on Friday, marks the 29-year-old's latest Netflix project following her role in the apocalyptic horror "Sweet Home." During a conversation about casting for "The Frog," director Mo Wan-il, known for "The World of Married," mentioned seeing "a glimpse of someone whose thoughts and actions are unpredictable," Go recalled. At their second meeting, she wore a pair of heels, prompting the director's compliment. Her brief pause before responding, "I only wear them on special occasions," apparently revealed the character of Sung-a to Mo. The director later told her this three-second hesitation, rather than her answer, secured her the role. She particularly appreciates the show's challenging narrative style, which some viewers describe as "unkind" due to its requirement that audiences piece together the plot themselves. "It wasn't a particularly easy-to-follow script. But I like scripts like this. I prefer stories where each piece connects to complete a larger picture," she said, adding she thought "the lack of straightforwardness" made the work "more appealing." Before making her debut as an actress, she gained attention with the short film "Parallel Novel," which she wrote, directed and starred in back in 2016. She went on to appear in various films and TV series, including "Cheese in the Trap" (2018), "Love Alarm" (2019-2020) and "Youth of May" (2021), where she played supporting roles. She gained international recognition through the Netflix series "Sweet Home." Recently, she showcased her charming and hardworking real-life persona on tvN's reality show "Jinny's Kitchen 2," created by hitmaker Na Young-seok, where a team of famous Korean celebrities run a Korean restaurant in Iceland. "I didn't pay attention to where the cameras were or how I would appear. I was completely focused on my work," she said, adding, "I felt a bit embarrassed, as it seemed like the real me was exposed. But at the same time, I'm also grateful that my hardworking nature was captured well." As an actress, however, she hopes to come across as completely different from that image. "I always hope to be open to showing who I am, what kind of image I project and how broadly I can transform," she said. "I don't feel afraid of future challenges. Instead, I believe I'll approach them with enjoyment and enthusiasm." (Yonhap) Suga posts handwritten apology on Weverse By KTimes BTS member Suga has issued an apology Sunday in a handwritten letter posted on the fan community platform Weverse, expressing deep remorse for his recent drunk driving incident involving an electric scooter. The apology comes after Suga was investigated by police for driving under the influence on the streets of Seoul earlier this month. In his letter, Suga admitted to his wrongdoing, saying, "I failed to live up to the responsibility that comes with the love Ive received, and I made a serious mistake." He continued, "I deeply regret causing harm to my members and the team, and the pain I feel is indescribable. I have tarnished the precious memories weve built together with our fans and brought disgrace to the name of BTS." Suga also vowed to learn from this incident, promising, "I will strive to never repeat such a mistake and will live with sincere reflection." According to police, Suga was caught driving an electric scooter under the influence on the night of Aug. 6 in the Hannam-dong area of Seoul. His blood alcohol concentration was reported to be 0.227 percent, far exceeding the legal limit of 0.08 percent, which is grounds for license revocation. Despite being heavily intoxicated, Suga initially downplayed the severity of his actions, reportedly telling police that he had only consumed "about one beer," which led to widespread criticism. There was also controversy surrounding the terminology used by his agency, HYBE, which referred to the vehicle as an "electric kickboard" rather than a scooter, leading to speculation that they were attempting to downplay the severity of the incident. Acceptance of consequences In his apology, Suga acknowledged his mistakes and said that he is ready to accept any consequences. "I made the grave mistake of riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk after drinking that night," he wrote. "I apologize for the confusion caused by my hasty first apology on the Aug. 7. I should have thought more deeply and been more careful, but I failed to do so." Suga also expressed his regret for the impact his actions have had on those who support him. "My recklessness has caused pain to everyone who cares about me. I am deeply sorry that my members, who have always trusted me, are now going through difficult times because of me. I fully understand the disappointment felt by the fans who have always supported me,"he said. "I deeply regret and reflect every day, knowing that no words can heal the hurt and disappointment felt by the fans." Investigation and future steps Suga, who is currently serving as a social service agent for his mandatory military duty, appeared at the Yongsan Police Station on Friday for over three hours of questioning. He briefly addressed the media, saying, "I am truly sorry for causing such a huge disappointment to so many people. I am reflecting deeply on my actions." The Military Manpower Administration has said that no additional disciplinary action will be taken since the incident occurred outside of his working hours. However, Suga reiterated in his letter that he is prepared to face whatever consequences may arise. "I will accept the penalties and criticism that will follow," he wrote. "I sincerely apologize for causing social disruption and disappointing so many people." The police are proceeding with the process to revoke Sugas driver's license and are reviewing the details of the investigation to determine any further actions. Given that Suga has admitted to the charges, it is unlikely that he will be summoned again for additional questioning. This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times. By Yi Whan-woo The government is rolling out a series of measures aimed at encouraging consumers to spend more on domestic goods and services during the Chuseok holiday and throughout the remainder of 2024. These measures are being introduced in response to persistently weak consumer spending more than halfway through the year. The sluggish spending is contributing to a slowdown in economic growth, despite a recovery in exports. For instance, the Bank of Korea (BOK) revised down this years growth forecast from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent, Thursday, according to the latest economic outlook update from financial institutions both domestically and internationally. Given the circumstances, it is certainly worth the government's effort to boost private consumption during the Chuseok holiday, said Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at Yonsei University. The professor referred to a joint decision made by the government and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Sunday to supply 170,000 tons of 20 essential food items for Chuseok. This will be a record supply of those items for Chuseok, intended to counteract the impact of heavy rainfall and persistent heat waves, which are expected to affect the harvest of fresh produce and drive up prices. Many of the 20 items are fresh produce, such as apples, pears, cabbages and radishes. Encouraging consumers to voluntarily spend by keeping prices affordable is likely the most effective measure for the government, especially as it grapples with a shortage of taxable income, said Inha University economics professor Kang Byung-goo. The government does not seem to have the financial capacity to stimulate private spending in the second half of the year to meet its annual growth target, he added. Kang pointed out that, in the first half of the year, the government spent 357.5 trillion won ($258.85 billion), which amounts to 63.6 percent of the 561.8 trillion won allocated for projects requiring rapid execution in 2024. Such a strategy of front-loading the budget was primarily intended to quickly stimulate consumer spending and investments. Nevertheless, private consumption contracted by 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous three months. This contraction offset a 0.9 percent increase in exports over the same period, which, in turn, caused the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink by 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period. Against this backdrop, the governments expenditures are further strained by national debt, which has exceeded 1,100 trillion won every quarter since the April-June period in 2022. Additionally, the government is collecting less tax than anticipated due to reduced business activity, with a tax revenue shortfall exceeding 10 trillion won in the first six months of 2024. Regarding other measures to boost private spending during Chuseok, Kang said the government is on the right track with its plans to waive highway tolls and offer discounted KTX and SRT bullet train tickets for travelers coming from the provinces to the capital area for family reunions. He noted that people are increasingly favoring overseas travel and suggested that offering benefits on transportation can help boost domestic travel. Meanwhile, the ruling party asked the government, Sunday, to designate Oct. 1 as a temporary public holiday to mark the 76th anniversary of the Armed Forces. If implemented, this would result in three public holidays in October: Oct. 3 for National Foundation Day, Oct. 9 for Hangeul Day, and Oct. 1 for the Armed Forces anniversary. The party explained that the government will consider various factors, including consumer spending and military morale, when making its decision. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a performance test of various drones, calling for the development and production of more suicide drones to enhance war preparedness, state media reported Monday. Kim supervised the test organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences on Saturday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In the test, the drones flew along various preset courses and correctly destroyed the designated targets, as they have missions to attack enemy targets on the ground and in the sea, the report said. The North's leader stressed that it is important to develop drones of different types and improve their combat capabilities in a bid to prepare for war. "It is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones," Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA. In addition to constantly developing underwater strategic weapon systems and underwater suicide attack drones, he also raised the need for proactively introducing artificial intelligence technology into the development of drones. "Expressing satisfaction over the tactical and technical features and data of the newly-developed drones, he stressed the need to more intensively conduct tests for their combat application and equip People's Army units with them as early as possible," the KCNA said. Photos carried by the KCNA showed two white suicide attack drones hitting and destroying mock targets of what look like K-2 tanks. North Korea has unveiled photos of such weapons for the first time. Among the unveiled drones, one of them appeared similar to Israel's Harop unmanned vehicle, while another model looked akin to Russia's Lancet drone, raising questions about possible cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow in drone development efforts. Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, raised the possibility that Pyongyang may have publicized the test to seek cooperation with Russia in drone technology and production, citing Moscow's use of the Lancet in the war in Ukraine. Suicide drones, also known as loitering munitions, have emerged as important weapons in the war as they can attack tanks and other targets at relatively low cost. When asked whether Moscow may have directly supplied drones to Pyongyang, South Korea's military said more analysis is needed but noted that Russia has gifted the North with some drones in the past. "Whether such drones underwent performance upgrades and other various possibilities require analysis," Lt. Col. Lee Chang-hyun, a spokesperson at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a regular briefing. "Our military is thoroughly equipped with detection and interception systems against North Korean unmanned vehicles," he said. Pyongyang and Moscow have recently deepened military ties, with the North's leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a "comprehensive strategic partnership" pact during their summit in Pyongyang in June. At a year-end party meeting in December last year, Kim ordered the development of powerful unmanned combat equipment, such as spy and attack drones, and means for electronic warfare. In July 2023, North Korea unveiled two types of new reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones at an arms exhibition and a military parade. The North also sent five drones across the border with South Korea in December 2022, with one of them penetrating a no-fly zone close to Seoul's presidential office. The North's test took place as South Korea and the United States are staging their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which is set to conclude Thursday. Pyongyang has long denounced the allies' joint drills as preparations for an invasion against it. (Yonhap) Eleven mpox cases have been reported so far this year in Korea, but all detected cases were the less deadly Clade II variant, health authorities said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the latest case was reported last month, adding that health authorities have bolstered screening at borders to cope with the deadly new variant. Korea reported 151 mpox cases last year. The majority of patients were males aged 20 to 40 in the greater Seoul area, with close skin contact being the primary route of infection. The agency noted that unlike respiratory illnesses, mpox is unlikely to be transmitted through everyday activities and asked the public to maintain basic sanitary measures. "As mpox is a disease that can be prevented and treated, we believe that the outbreak can be managed stably under the current system," the KDCA said, adding that the government will continue to monitor for the possible influx of variants from overseas. Earlier this month, the KDCA decided to redesignate mpox as an infectious disease subject to border screening. Arrivals who have visited eight African nations Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Congo and the Republic of the Congo are required to report to officials if they exhibit symptoms related to mpox, such as fever, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes. (Yonhap) The head of an association of community doctors said Monday he has launched an indefinite hunger strike, calling for the government and lawmakers to make efforts to end a disruption of public health services. The hunger strike by Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), came as a prolonged walkout by trainee doctors has shown little signs of a breakthrough as they left their worksites in late February in protest of the government's plan to boost the number of medical students. "The medical system is on the brink of collapse, with people's lives remaining utterly vulnerable," Lim said. Lim also condemned the government for demonizing doctors and delivering misleading messages to the public, which has led trainee doctors and medical students to leave hospitals for more than six months. "We urge the president and parliament, for the last time, to make a decision to put an end to this medical crisis," Lim added. Despite fierce protests by trainee doctors, the government has already finalized a plan to increase the medical school quota by about 1,500 students next year in an effort to address the shortage of doctors in essential services. (Yonhap) President Yoon Suk Yeol will have a summit with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Seoul next week to discuss bilateral and regional issues, Yoon's office said Monday. Luxon will make an official visit to Korea from Sept. 4-5, during which the two leaders will hold talks focused on strengthening bilateral ties as well as regional and international cooperation, the office said. Yoon and Luxon met last month on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, where they, along with the leaders of Japan and Australia, issued a joint statement condemning the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. (Yonhap) Korea and the United States will hold their seventh round of negotiations in Seoul this week on determining Seoul's share of the cost for stationing the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), official said Monday. The talks are set to take place from Tuesday through Thursday, led by the chief negotiators Lee Tae-woo of Korea and Linda Specht representing the United States as the allies work to renew the current six-year deal, which will expire at the end of next year. Under the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), Seoul has since 1991 partially shared the cost for Korean USFK workers; the construction of military installations, such as barracks, as well as training, educational, operational and communications facilities; and other logistical support. The latest negotiations were launched in April as Korea is seeking to strike an early deal to apparently avoid tough bargaining if former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Under Trump's presidency, Washington had demanded more than a fivefold increase in Seoul's payment to $5 billion. Korea has called for an agreement that will set its share at "a reasonable level," and the U.S. has stressed the goal of reaching "a mutually acceptable" deal. The current SMA committed Korea to paying $1.03 billion for 2021, a 13.9 percent increase from 2019, and increasing the payment every year for the subsequent four years in line with the rise in Seoul's defense spending. (Yonhap) South Korea and the United States began a joint live-fire aerial exercise Monday, the South Korean Air Force said, in the latest move to reinforce capabilities to counter North Korean threats. The three-day exercise got under way earlier in the day over waters off South Korea's western coast, mobilizing some 60 military planes, including South Korea's F-35A, F-15K and KF-16 fighters and U.S. A-10 attack aircraft, according to the Air Force. It said the exercise is designed to inspect response procedures to simultaneous air and land provocations by the North, such as cruise missile launches and long-range artillery firings. During this week's drills, F-35As and F-15Ks will practice firing missiles to neutralize aerial targets, while KF-16s and U.S. A-10 aircraft will drop air-to-ground weapons to destroy simulated origins of provocation by the enemy. On Monday, the F-35As fired AIM-120C medium-range air-to-air missiles, while the KF-16s dropped GBU-31 joint direct attack munitions that can penetrate 1-meter-thick reinforced concrete, the Air Force said. "We will maintain a strong posture to immediately respond to any provocations by the enemy," Maj. Cha Seung-min, a South Korean pilot who participated in the drills, said in a release. The live-fire exercise is taking place in conjunction with the allies' 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise set to conclude Thursday. North Korea has long denounced joint drills between South Korea and the United States as rehearsals for an invasion against it. Later in the day, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo visited the headquarters of the armed forces in Gyeryong, some 145 kilometers south of Seoul, to inspect the ongoing UFS exercise. At the headquarters, Kim called for integrating the military and the government's efforts to sustain support for troops during wartime, according to the JCS. Based on an all-out war scenario, the UFS exercise reflects threats across all domains, including those posed by North Korean missiles, as well as lessons learned from recent armed conflicts. (Yonhap) By Lee Hae-rin An increasing number of Koreans, including minors, have fallen victim to "deepfake" sex crimes, where images and videos combining photos of unidentified individuals with explicit content are circulated in Telegram group chats, according to police and IT industry experts, Monday. Law enforcement authorities have pledged to mobilize additional resources to apprehend the perpetrators, while experts are calling on the government to initiate a nationwide campaign to raise public awareness about the crime and advocate for stricter penalties for the offenders. An online post uploaded Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, disclosed a list of hundreds of middle schools, high schools, and universities where students have become victims of deepfake sex crimes. Whether these schools have actually been affected and the extent of any such impact remains unconfirmed. However, the post received over 57,000 retweets and 26,000 likes as of 2 p.m., Monday, with the numbers continuing to rise as the account accumulates reports from online users about similar cases. In addition, student councils of several schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, including Hongik Design High School, have issued warnings on their social media accounts, alerting students to the potential risks of deepfake sex crimes. The emergency notification read, Currently, deepfake images using photos of Hongik Design High School students and their personal information are being shared on Telegram. It urged students to remove or avoid posting photos of themselves online to prevent becoming victims of deepfake crimes. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Monday, 10 teenagers aged 14 or older were arrested for deepfake crimes in Seoul alone between January and July this year. An overwhelming 75.8 percent of suspects involved in deepfake image and video crimes last year were teenagers, according to data from the National Police Agency. Additionally, approximately 20 percent were in their twenties, resulting in a total of 95.8 percent of suspects being aged between their teens and 20s. The vast majority of these cases involve male students targeting female students, but deepfake crimes are increasingly emerging as a form of school violence or harassment that affects all genders. It is deeply concerning that not only students but also teachers have fallen victim to deepfake crimes, which are proliferating among teenagers who are well-versed in IT devices, a police official said during a regular press briefing. Deepfake sex crimes targeting female soldiers have also come to light. An online chat room with over 900 participants was discovered, where deepfake videos and images of female soldiers, referred to by users as "munitions," were distributed and exchanged alongside degrading and abusive comments. Furthermore, a Telegram chatroom in which paid and free bots immediately turn images into deepfake nude photos was reported by local media last week. The chat room offers the first two deepfake images free of charge, then switches to a paid system that charges $0.49 per photo in cryptocurrency. As of Aug. 21, the chat room has been joined by nearly 227,000 online users. There are approximately 260,000 taxis in Korea. This means the likelihood of encountering a sex criminal in Korea is almost as high as finding a cab on the streets, an online user wrote on X, in response. According to data submitted by the National Police Agency on Wednesday to the office of Rep. Cho Eun-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the number of deepfake-related crimes increased from 156 in 2021 to 160 in 2022 and 180 in 2023. While technology advances rapidly, laws and systems struggle to keep pace in preventing emerging criminal activities. Although an AI Act was proposed during the 21st National Assembly, it failed to pass and was discarded before reaching the threshold for approval. While the 22nd National Assembly is anticipated to consider several AI-related legislations, the revised Sexual Violence Punishment Act of 2020 mandates that perpetrators of deepfake sex crimes, whether producing or distributing such content, face imprisonment for up to five years or fines of up to 50 million won. However, only a few have actually faced punishment. According to the Supreme Court's online ruling system, as of Monday, 35 cases over half of the 71 rulings in the first and second trials related to deepfake crimes were suspended between 2020 and last year. Of the remaining 36 cases, 31 resulted in prison sentences for committing other sexual crimes in addition to deepfake offenses, while only 5 cases were sentenced to prison solely for deepfake crimes. Most first-time offenders received probation. "The government should educate the public about the seriousness and unethical nature of deepfakes. If ethical approaches are insufficient, the law should be used to address the issue," said Kim Myung-joo, a professor of information protection at Seoul Womens University. "The Sexual Violence Punishment Act is not effectively raising awareness because the penalties, which are often lenient for first-time offenders, do not serve as a strong deterrent," the professor said, urging for harsher penalties for deepfake-related crimes. "We will strengthen prevention education to ensure that students understand the serious consequences of criminal behavior and how a criminal record can significantly impact their social and professional lives," said Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik. The Korea Communications Commission plans to respond strongly to deepfake videos, although identifying distributors remains a challenge as Telegram has servers overseas. Artificial intelligence experts and industry executives abroad, including pioneering technologist Yoshua Bengio, signed an open letter in February calling for stricter regulations on the creation of deepfakes. Titled Disrupting the Deepfake Supply Chain, the letter recommends regulating deepfakes, including full criminalization of deepfake pornography and mentions criminal penalties for any individual who creates or facilitates the spread of harmful deepfakes. By Lee Hae-rin Recent data revealed that the number of school violence cases in Korea has increased from the previous year, despite the comprehensive measures announced by the Ministry of Education to address the problem. According to data obtained by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Sunday, a total of 61,445 cases of school violence were reported last year across elementary, middle and high schools. The figure represents an increase of 3,464 cases from the 2022 school year. In April last year, the education ministry introduced a comprehensive set of measures to address school violence for the first time in 11 years. These measures included a plan to factor students' records of school violence into their college admissions starting from the 2026 academic year. However, despite these measures, incidents of school violence have increased in all grades. In particular, incidents of school violence have risen significantly in high schools, with the number of cases reaching 12,273an increase of 1,394 cases, or 12.8 percent, from the previous year. Elementary schools saw 19,805 cases, while middle schools saw 29,007 cases, showing respective increases of 885 cases (4.7 percent) and 1,079 cases (3.9 percent) year-on-year. According to the latest data on school violence across different regions, Gyeonggi Province reported the highest number of cases with 16,155, followed by Seoul with 7,266 and South Gyeongsang Province with 4,752. The number of repeat incidents of school violence increased to 2,338 cases last year, up by 58 cases (2.5 percent) from 2020. Regionally, Gwangju saw 151 students involved in recurring violence, followed by 46 in Gangwon Province and 42 in Gyeonggi Province. In terms of types of school violence, physical violence was the most common, with 13,587 cases. This was followed by verbal abuse at 11,082 cases, sexual violence at 3,685 cases, cyberbullying at 3,422 cases, coercion at 1,777 cases, extortion at 1,772 cases and bullying at 1,701 cases. The education ministry had planned to release the results of the second edition of the School Violence Survey for 2023 at the end of last month, but the announcement has been unexpectedly postponed to September. "The Ministry of Education has been indefinitely postponing the announcement of a survey result on school violence, citing the excuse of preparing measures as the ministrys comprehensive measure showed no effect on reducing school violence," Jin said. "We need to preemptively manage the current status of school violence by city and province by re-examining the overall measures currently in effect." A court on Monday put the brakes on the state broadcasting watchdog's attempt to reshuffle board members of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture (FBC), a major shareholder of public broadcaster MBC. The Seoul Administrative Court accepted requests by FBC chairperson Kwon Tae-sun and others for a temporary injunction to suspend the appointments of six new FBC directors, who were picked by Lee Jin-sook, chair of the broadcasting watchdog Korea Communications Commission (KCC), and KCC vice chief Kim Tae-kyu last month. The court said that Kwon and incumbent FBC directors will suffer irreparable damage if the new directors are appointed. The ruling will bar the new FBC directors capable of picking new MBC management from taking office until the court makes a ruling in the upcoming formal lawsuit. It comes after Lee and Kim selected the six new FBC directors about 10 hours after being appointed by President Yoon Suk Yeol on July 31. On Aug. 2, the opposition-led National Assembly voted to impeach Lee, accusing her of making KCC decisions with only two members while leaving the other three of the commission's five-member standing committee vacant. On Aug. 5, Kwon and two other FBC directors filed the application for the suspension of execution over the KCC's decision with the Seoul court. The plaintiffs claimed that any KCC decisions by only two standing committee members are illegal, whereas Lee has said the decisions by two KCC members are not desirable but lawful, as long as the formation of the five-member system is delayed. Kim, who is now serving as the acting chief of the KCC after the passage of Lee's impeachment motion, said his commission will appeal the Seoul court's decision. (Yonhap) The government plans to invest 30 trillion won ($22.6 billion) in artificial intelligence, semiconductor and other advanced technologies over the next five years, the science ministry said Monday. The pan-government investment plan was unveiled at a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology earlier in the day, ministry officials said. Other advanced technologies include rechargeable batteries, aerospace and ocean engineering, and next-generation communications. (Yonhap) President Yoon Suk Yeol will host a dinner meeting with the leadership of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) later this week, party officials said Monday. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, five Supreme Council members and the party's policy chief are expected to attend the meeting on Friday, according to party officials. During the meeting, Yoon and the party leaders are expected to discuss key policy issues ahead of the regular National Assembly session, which is set to begin next month. It will be the second gathering between Yoon and Han following Han's election in a party convention late July. (Yonhap) Prosecutor General Lee One-seok said Monday that he will respect the upcoming conclusion by a panel of external private experts on first lady Kim Keon Hee's luxury handbag case. Lee made the remarks after referring the case to the investigation review committee, an external body that deliberates on investigations of high public interest, last Friday. Earlier that week, he was briefed that an investigation team from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office decided not to seek charges against the first lady over her acceptance of a Dior handbag from a Korean American pastor in 2022. "I believe the investigation review committee will fairly deliberate on (the case), including all legal principles, because there should not be any more of this wasteful controversy," Lee told reporters on his way to work, adding the prosecution intends to conclude the case more fairly and carefully by listening to the opinions from the outside. Lee noted that the investigation review committee will be independently formed and operated. "While serving as the prosecutor general, I have always respected the opinions of front-line prosecution investigation teams. Likewise, I will respect the opinions of the prosecution investigation team and the investigation review committee," said Lee, whose two-year term ends Sept. 15. Lee said he thinks he will be able to wrap up the first lady's case during his tenure, considering the precedent of the investigation review committee. The committee is expected to be formed this week before beginning its activities in early September. Its conclusions are not binding. (Yonhap) Han steps back from disclosing meeting with Lee By Kwak Yeon-soo Rival parties are still unable to reach an agreement over a special counsel probe bill into the death of a young Marine last year ahead of a contentious meeting, according to political watchers, Monday. A highly anticipated face-to-face meeting between ruling People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Han Dong-hoon and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung was scheduled for last Sunday, but it was postponed after Lee tested positive for COVID-19. The two leaders have expressed their hope to end the political strife and focus on livelihood-related issues. Lee suggested discussing a bill on a special counsel investigation that targets the governments alleged interference in the militarys investigation into the death of a Marine during a flood rescue operation last year, a cash handout initiative plan and the reactivation of the district party system. Han, on the other hand, called on abolishing the financial investment income tax as the top priority to discuss during the planned meeting with Lee. As the two parties are working out a specific agenda, the DPK pressured Han to officially propose a "third-party recommendation proposal for the special investigation adding that it is open to accepting the method. In June, Han had promised during the PPPs leadership race that he would propose a special prosecutor bill allowing third parties, such as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, to initiate a special prosecution to investigate the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun. The presidential office and the defense ministry have been accused of inappropriately interfering in the militarys investigation into the death. Its been over a month since Han took office as the new chief of the ruling party, so excuses that there was not enough time or he failed to secure endorsement from at least 10 PPP lawmakers do not make sense, DPK floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae said during a Supreme Council meeting, Monday. Unless he is just a figurehead, Han should propose the third-party recommendation method by today. However, Han stressed the need for a cautious approach, calling for first seeing the results of the ongoing investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). I think the DPK is trying to divide us by setting a time limit to respond to their request. If they are in such a hurry, they should go ahead and propose a special prosecutor bill allowing the chief justice of the Supreme Court to initiate a special investigation into the death of the Marine, Han said during a press conference, Monday. Han voiced support for the PPPs general idea that a special counsel investigation is conducted after the investigations by the police and CIO are done. After facing a backlash, the PPP chief also took a step back from demanding the DPK accept his offer of livestreaming the meeting with Lee. Although I still believe that it would be better to disclose the meeting to the public, I wont insist on livestreaming the meeting as a precondition for talks, Han said. The two leaders will likely reschedule the meeting after Lee returns to work later this week. Meanwhile, the DPKs decision to investigate the removal of public installations depicting Dokdo will likely weigh on the meeting too. Recently, several Dokdo installations were removed from subway stations and the War Memorial of Korea. The government explained that they were removed temporarily for renewal, but the opposition alleges the move is intentionally aimed at erasing Dokdo from the public consciousness. The PPP accused the DPK of trying to politicize the removal of Dokdo models and label it as a pro-Japanese act. The presidential office dismissed the DPK's claim as "groundless." "Dokdo is our territory historically, geographically and under international law," presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon said in a press briefing. President Yoon Suk Yeol met with the head of the U.S. Senate's armed service committee Monday to discuss ways to bolster the combined defense posture against North Korean threats, his office said. During the talks with U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) in Seoul, Yoon stressed the need to advance the bilateral alliance and trilateral cooperation involving Japan to effectively deter North Korean threats, the presidential office said. Yoon also asked for continued support from the U.S. Congress in strengthening Washington's extended deterrence commitment, the office added. Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. use of the full range of its capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend an ally. "South Korea and the U.S. should keep working together for the complete denuclearization of North Korea and demonstrate the robust deterrence posture based on the ironclad combined defense as North Korea continues provocations and refuses dialogue," Yoon said. Reed assured Yoon of the unwavering bipartisan support for the alliance within the U.S. Congress and expressed hope for the deepening of defense industry cooperation, including the construction and maintenance of naval vessels, as well as those in advanced fields, such as semiconductors and quantum technology, according to the office. (Yonhap) Youth summits can be solid stepping stones for future ties By Park Jin-wan As world leaders grapple with an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape, a quiet revolution is unfolding in the corridors of diplomacy. Youth summits, once dismissed as feel-good photo ops, are now emerging as vital forums for international dialogue. From the inaugural ASEAN-Korea Youth Summit in 2020 to this July's U.S.-ROK-Japan Trilateral Global Leadership Forum in Busan, I've represented South Korean youth on the global stage multiple times. These experiences have granted me insights into the power and limitations of young voices in the diplomatic arena. Youth summits serve as a gateway for young leaders and scholars to experience the intricacies of international relations and connect with like-minded global peers. These events, typically orchestrated by government ministries, municipalities or local embassies, follow a familiar format: they open with remarks from high-ranking officials, progress through model U.N.-style conferences and cultural exchanges and conclude with a presentation of resolutions. The conclusion often features a special commendation or recognition for delegates, designed to create lasting memories. At the recent trilateral youth summit between the United States, South Korea and Japan, participants were surprised by a personal letter from U.S. President Joe Biden. These events, while exhilarating for participants, serve as microcosms of broader foreign policy directions. The trilateral youth summit, for instance, was a direct outcome of commitments made at the Camp David Summit last August, where leaders from the three nations convened. It reflects South Korea's efforts to strengthen ties with key regional partners in the Indo-Pacific. Similarly, the ASEAN-Korea summit, initiated in 2020, was a tangible result of the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern Policy, which aimed to diversify Korea's diplomatic and economic relationships with Southeast Asian nations. In this way, youth summits also became practical manifestations of shifting geopolitical priorities and strategies. Given this political underpinning, however, youth summits face a significant challenge: their transient nature. As administrations change, particularly in South Korea, so do diplomatic priorities. These summits can often lack continuity, their existence and impact fading as swiftly as the participants' jet lag dissipates. Without generating substantive resolutions or outcomes, these events risk becoming symbolic gestures rather than catalysts for change. The real challenge lies in transforming the enthusiasm and goodwill fostered at these summits into tangible, enduring diplomatic results. That's not to say these summits are without merit. At their core, they foster people-to-people connections that can form the bedrock of future diplomatic relations. In an era of increasing polarization, both domestically and internationally, these gatherings provide a rare opportunity to break out of echo chambers and engage with diverse perspectives. This aspect of youth diplomacy is particularly crucial in relationships marked by tension, such as the current South Korea-China dynamic or the Korea-Japan relations in 2019. By bringing young people together in a non-confrontational setting, these summits nurture habits of cooperation among future leaders and help them build trust. Furthermore, these events provide participants with valuable insights into the complexities of international relations and diplomacy. The process of exchanging views and negotiating policy resolutions helps delegates understand not only their own country's stance but also the rationale behind other nations' positions perspectives often overlooked in media narratives. Interestingly, some of the most enlightening discussions occur not between delegates from different countries, but among participants representing the same nation. These internal debates to create a united stance, involving individuals with vastly different experiences, expertise and political ideologies, teach the art of compromise and cooperation skills critically important in navigating today's polarized political landscape. As South Korea continues to refine its global role, youth diplomacy should be viewed as a versatile tool in a broader diplomatic arsenal. Rather than using these gatherings solely to reinforce existing partnerships and friendships, policymakers should leverage them to thaw frozen diplomatic relations. For instance, reviving the bilateral youth exchange program with China, dormant since 2018, could provide a breakthrough in current tensions. Historical precedents, such as the ping-pong diplomacy that helped warm Sino-American relations, demonstrate the often-underestimated influence of soft-power diplomacy. However, to create a lasting impact, youth summits must be complemented by sustained engagement and concrete policy actions. Providing continuity to successful programs, granting youth public platforms to present their discussions and ensuring that summit resolutions reach actual policymakers would signal that these young participants are valued contributors, not mere pawns in a larger political game. By investing in youth diplomacy today, we're not just preparing the next generation of global leaders we're actively shaping a more collaborative and understanding international community for the future. The question now is not whether young people have a place in diplomacy, but how we can most effectively amplify their voices and translate their enthusiasm into tangible diplomatic outcomes. Park Jin-wan is a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University, China, and a nonresident James A. Kelly Korea Fellow at the Pacific Forum. Addressing Korea's low birthrate crisis A major civic organization was formed, Friday, to confront Korea's urgent declining birthrate issue. However, political parties have not yet advanced in their efforts to create a dedicated ministry that could more effectively address this critical demographic challenge. The newly established group features representatives from six major economic organizations, along with experts from the finance industry, academia and religious institutions. It is co-chaired by prominent figures including Sohn Kyung-sik, chairman of the Korea Enterprises Federation; Cho Yong-byoung, chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks; and Lee Kwang-hyung, president of KAIST. This broad-based coalition underscores Koreas dedication to tackling its persistent low birthrate, a challenge that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has identified as a top national priority. However, the government must broaden its support measures, as highlighted by Sohn's call for effective strategies to address the demographic crisis. Both the government and the civic sector need to intensify their efforts to reverse the ongoing population decline. Members of this organization have vowed to use every available resource to achieve meaningful progress, guided by the motto "children are our future." The economic sector has committed to fostering a work environment that balances professional and parental responsibilities. Companies are encouraged to offer generous maternity and paternity leave, provide flexible work arrangements, and support work-from-home options to create a more family-friendly workplace culture. A notable example is Booyoung Group, a construction company that sets a bold precedent by offering a substantial incentive of $75,000 for each child born to its employees. This initiative aims to encourage other companies to take similar measures to boost the birthrate. The financial sector has actively promoted family-friendly financial products and supported projects that enhance social contributions. Notably, Shinhan Financial Group's pledge to donate 10 billion won ($7.5 million) to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in managing workforce challenges related to maternity leave is commendable. This initiative sets a strong example for other financial institutions to follow. The academic sector is responsible for crafting policies to address the issue, while the religious community is expected to emphasize the importance of family life. Although these efforts will take time to produce results, it is essential to start implementing changes with a long-term perspective. With Korea's total fertility rate plummeting to a record low of 0.7 in 2023 the lowest in the world the country is facing a grave threat of demographic decline. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has cautioned that this situation could present a serious economic challenge. To counteract this trend, future policies should focus on making Korea a more livable country by addressing housing affordability, reducing educational costs and enhancing child care and elder care services. Yoon has asserted that addressing the low birthrate would be a Nobel Prize-worthy achievement. It is now time for his administration to prove its commitment by prioritizing the creation of a dedicated ministry to tackle this issue. The proposed Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter-Planning could play a crucial role in this effort. Establishing such a ministry is essential for coordinating and enhancing efforts across all sectors, ensuring a comprehensive and sustained approach to one of Korea's most pressing challenges. The Yoon administration should also remain open to listening to insights from the private sector and the public to effectively address this critical demographic issue. On Thursday, Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, emphasized the need to extend the age range for child care programs from 8 to 12 years old as a measure to address the declining population. He also pledged to work with opposition parties to tackle the demographic challenges, regardless of partisan differences. As Han noted, the declining birthrate has become the nation's most urgent issue, necessitating both the ruling and opposition parties to collaborate closely and swiftly to find an effective solution. By Eugene Lee The month of August has been a hot one in several ways. The most contentious issue was the celebration of Independence Day on Aug. 15. It sparked significant political turmoil, resulting in a deadlock in the National Assembly as parties clashed over the matter. Although I had some knowledge of Korea's independence and had previously written about it, this particular issue demanded extra effort. I began researching extensively, and after reviewing several books, my initial suspicion that the issue had been misrepresented started to take clearer form. First, the contemporary history currently being taught is very narrow, especially for international students. It is often heralded by the diverse works of Bruce Cummings, a professor from the University of Chicago who puts excessive emphasis on U.S. foreign policy, or the sole work of Lew Young-ick. The used literature is rather scarce, and it hardly mentions Chalmers Johnson, who often criticized the American involvement in Korean nation-building. The most recent work by David P. Fields says, "American policy in Korea lurched from disaster to catastrophe" and calls for more research, saying that existing historical materials "have seen shockingly little use." This year, the lack of this knowledge allowed the presidential office to spur the controversy further. What is the issue? Apparently, it is independence itself. Some media even portrayed the issue as a lack of consensus or controversy. As I see it, it isn't a matter of consensus at all; it is a deeper issue of justice. If we look at how independence took place, things become clearer. In 1945, Gen. Douglas McArthur and his team made Japan capitulate, leaving former colonies, including Korea, without effective governance. There was pressure to establish a transitional government and get the country running. The easiest way was to hire those who had run the country under the Japanese, including some Japanese. This was a big difference from Germany. Germany drastically changed and repented, altering its mentality and national spirit and punishing Nazi perpetrators and supporters. In contrast, Japan did not change. It held onto its imperial history and used it later to reconnect with collaborators and sympathizers in Korea. Many of them became administrators under McArthur's provisional government. While the narrative may have changed, the colonial practices and mentality have remained. Today, those ideas and the mentality are still very much alive. That's why the Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI), the prime association of independence fighters, still sees Korea as far from being independent. Therefore, any calls for Koreans to accept the history and be proud of it are futile, as they tell those people, especially those who have suffered and lost their loved ones in the fight for their country, to agree with that history. For these people, there's no compromise. The only goal they have, one way or another, is to seek justice. What will change this stance? What will correct it? The answer to this complicated problem is rather simple. Establish a dedicated history school, one that will research and restore the names of independence fighters and put those names into the national history. That will make people proud of their history. The version of history people are being fed is wrong. Speaking of the colonial mentality being alive today, I saw a recent proposal by some lawmakers to pay foreign workers less. This renders them less than humans and is an attempt to give them less based on their nationalities. This is a wrong idea that is just one step away from colonialism. The proposal, if enacted, will discriminate against everyone, including ethnic Koreans whom I often work with. Korea has always stood for justice, but this proposed law is so unjust. We are not far away from committing the same grave mistake that the Japanese made to ethnic Koreans in Japan. "Some of my students are ethnic Koreans, Koryo saram from Central Asia, and some have jobs. And I just simply feel ashamed for this country to tell them that they are on the verge of getting less. Not only are these people doing manual labor jobs, but also will be treated as second-class human beings if the bill becomes a reality. By creating a dedicated history school, we will not only restore and record history itself but also reeducate these administrators, who often see people as "lemmings," "foreigners," "rabbits," or however they want to label them, but not as equals. Another idea brought up by the current administration is to see those foreigners as a way to change demographic disbalance and welcome them as part of the population a poor population. The picture of near future isn't as rosy as government is trying to portray. It simply tries to institutionalize discrimination first. All for the sake of money. Let's not trade our values for money. Fixing all that and all the historical wrongs starts with a new school dedicated to researching and teaching history, a cornerstone of future change. Eugene Lee (mreulee@gmail.com) is a lecturing professor at the Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. Specializing in international relations and governance, his research and teaching focus on national and regional security, international development, government policies and Northeast and Central Asia. Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are planning to showcase various new artificial intelligence-powered home appliances at the IFA 2024 home electronics show in Berlin next month, industry sources said Sunday. Samsung will present a range of products, including the Bespoke AI Combo, an all-in-one washer-dryer; the Bespoke AI Family Hub, a premium refrigerator product; and the Bespoke AI Steam, a new robot vacuum cleaner product. The company will also showcase the strength of its AI-powered televisions. The Generative Wallpaper feature in Samsung televisions will recommend background images based on users' preferences. LG will unveil a new AI-powered drum washing machine with a reduced width of 25 inches, which is designed to meet the needs of European consumers. The washer features the AI Direct Drive motor, which analyzes the weight, wetness and fabric of the laundry to determine the optimal washing method in order to protect garments. The company will also showcase the newly launched LG Roboking AI All-in-One robot vacuum and the CordZero A9X All-in-One Tower Combo at the Berlin trade show. Senior officials from the companies, including Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and head of Samsung's device experience division, and LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan are known to be planning to attend the event. (Yonhap) By Park Jae-hyuk HD Hyundai has been accelerating efforts to expand its presence in the hydrogen fuel cell market. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), an HD Hyundai subsidiary supervising its shipyards, said Monday that its unit HD Hydrogen acquired a controlling stake in Convion, a Finnish fuel cell system company, for 72 million euros ($80 million). HD Hydrogen is HD KSOEs wholly-owned subsidiary founded this month to produce hydrogen fuel cells. HD KSOE invested 140 billion won ($106 million) in HD Hydrogen. Established in 2012, Convion specializes in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) technologies. It is one of the few companies in the world with a track record of developing and supplying commercial SOFC generation systems. With the latest deal, HD KSOE seeks a two-track strategy to lead the hydrogen fuel cell market. HD Hydrogen will oversee the entire fuel cell business and take charge of the power generation and marine units in Korea, while Convion will continue to develop core fuel cell technologies in Europe. Both SOFC and SOEC technologies are considered critical for the use of hydrogen energy. Additionally, complex technical skills and a long period of time are needed to develop the technologies because SOFC and SOEC are activated at high temperatures. HD Hyundai, therefore, expects HD Hydrogens acquisition of Convion to allow the company to outrun its market rivals. Last October, HD KSOE signed a 45 million euro contract with Elcogen, a leading fuel cell company, to invest in upgrading the large-scale SOFC system. Along with hydrogen fuel cell and water electrolysis technologies, HD Hyundai is also focusing on developing future energy sources, such as small modular reactors, an HD KSOE official said. With technologies to develop the worlds cleanest energy sources, we plan to become the frontrunner in the future green shipbuilding industry. According to the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency, the size of the hydrogen fuel cell and water electrolysis market is expected to increase to 17 trillion won in 2030 from 2.5 trillion won in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 30 percent. The market size is expected to reach 55 trillion won in 2040, once the application of marine hydrogen fuel cells is in full swing and water electrolysis technology is commercialized. IT giant sponsors National Skills Competition for 18th straight year By Ko Dong-hwan The chief of Samsung Electronics is investing in the nations young people to prepare them for this years WorldSkills Competition, a biennial global event that will be held in Lyon, France, next month, according to the global company on Monday. The competition showcases the technical skills of young people across six key industrial sectors. Samsung Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yongs commitment is part of the companys ongoing support for young people since 2007. This mission, along with other company initiatives targeting this age group, reflects his belief that the nations future economy hinges on how well the next generation of workers is prepared. Samsung, the overall event presenter of the 47th iteration of the international contest to be held at Eurexpo Lyon, has been supporting the competition since Shizuoka in 2007 without missing an event. Since 2013 in Leipzig, Germany, the company has been an exclusive event presenter. In addition to supporting the event, Samsung has been providing its young employees who are entering the competition with technological support and necessary training in fields such as industrial machinery and mobile robotics. In 2007, the company established a dedicated bureau focused on training these workers to become national competitors. Currently, 24 employees from the national team are training for this year's competition, while 26 others are preparing to compete in Shanghai in 2026 under the companys guidance. Since Samsung's involvement in the WorldSkills Competition, its employees have contributed 34 gold, 19 silver and 12 bronze medals to the countrys overall tally of 190 during this period. To support the competitive team and bolster the countrys manufacturing competence, Samsung has been focusing on local high school students since 2007. This initiative followed an agreement the company made the previous year with the Ministry of Employment and Labor to enhance the industrial skillsets of the nations young people. As part of this commitment, Samsung donated 250 million won ($189,000) annually to the National Skills Competition for the 18th consecutive year. This years 59th seven-day event kicked off on Saturday in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, with around 1,800 competitors participating in 50 programs across categories including machinery, metal, transportation, electronics, electromechanics, construction, IT and crafts. Samsung has been closely scouting exceptional participants from the competition, having hired 1,600 young people up until last year. For those eager to test themselves on the global stage, the Samsung chairman has provided systematic support. He personally visited the WorldSkills venues in Calgary in 2009 and Shanghai in 2022 to deliver pep talks to the national team. Last year, he also visited Gumi Electronic Technical High School, where he pledged continued support for the students. Our Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) has expanded its focus from university graduates to include high school graduates as well. Each year, we see 6,000 graduates from 54 meister schools (dedicated to technical training and employment after graduation) across the country, and we've decided to support and guide them to help address the labor shortage in the software sector, a Samsung official said. To further accelerate our discovery of young experts, we began hiring interns during school vacations in 2011. So far, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung SDI have hired 2,300 interns." There was no agreement on Sunday in the Gaza ceasefire talks that took place in Cairo, with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to several compromises presented by mediators, two Egyptian security sources said, casting doubt on the chances of success in the latest U.S.-backed effort to end the 10-month old war. A senior U.S. official, however, described the talks as "constructive", saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach "a final and implementable agreement." "The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that the teams would remain in Cairo. Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel's devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Speaking at a news conference in Halifax, Canada, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was still "feverishly" working in Cairo to get a ceasefire and a hostage deal. Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-kilometers-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. Mediators put forward a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties, Egyptian sources said. Israel also expressed reservations on several of the Palestinian detainees Hamas is demanding the release of, and Israel demanded their exit of Gaza if they are released, the sources added. There has been much back and forth between the teams from Israel, the United States and Egypt since Thursday to narrow the remaining gaps, the senior U.S. official said, in preparation for Saturday, when Qatar and Egypt met with senior representatives of Hamas to walk through the proposal in detail. On Sunday, senior officials from Israel joined the talks to address outstanding issues with the support of mediators, the senior U.S. official said but did not provide a definitive assessment on whether there was a breakthrough or not. Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclave's more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins. "We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions," Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the group's Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday. In July, Hamas accepted a U.S. proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source has told Reuters. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding that the group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. (Reuters) Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram who was arrested in Paris, has nothing to hide and it is absurd to hold an owner responsible for abuse of the messaging and social media platform, Telegram said in a statement. Durov, a 39-year-old billionaire, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday from Azerbaijan. The arrest of the Telegram CEO prompted a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights, and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack. Telegram, in a short statement released after midnight Paris time, gave no details of the arrest but said the Dubai-based company abided by European Union laws and its moderation was "within industry standards and constantly improving." "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," Telegram said. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." "Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all." Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a French police source said. A cybersecurity gendarmerie unit and France's national anti-fraud police unit are leading the investigation, the source said, adding that the investigative judge was specialized in organized crime. Telegram was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold. The encrypted application, with close to 1 billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. Durov, who was born in Soviet Leningrad and graduated from St Petersburg State University, lists his political views as "libertarian" and says he was inspired by Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs. Estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, Durov said in April some governments had sought to pressure him, but the app should remain a neutral platform and not a "player in geopolitics." Durov, whose arrest led news bulletins in Russia, came up with the idea for an encrypted messaging app while facing pressure from Russian authorities. His younger brother, Nikolai, designed the encryption. "I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone," Durov said in April about his exit from Russia and search for a home for his company, which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco. Russian lawmaker Maria Butina, who spent 15 months in U.S. prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent, said Durov "is a political prisoner a victim of a witch-hunt by the West." (Reuters) North Korea has taken a stance opposing China's plans to install telecommunications facilities near the border in a recent email to an international frequency management organization a rare revelation of a diplomatic action by Pyongyang to express dissatisfaction with Beijing. According to the email obtained by reporters, North Korea also complained that China failed to consult it about the plans in advance, a sign that the two countries long known for close economic ties may have a problem in bilateral communication. The dispute occurred after the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union made the information about terrestrial networks available to relevant countries in June, including China's plan to set up 191 facilities for purposes such as FM radio broadcasting. This year marks the 75th anniversary of relations between North Korea and China, its long-time economic benefactor. But Pyongyang has sought closer ties with Russia, especially in the defense sector, through activities such as sealing a strategic partnership treaty in June between its leader Kim Jong-un and President Vladimir Putin, a move diplomatic sources in Beijing said displeased China. North Korea said that some of the proposed radio stations are "located in the border areas" with the country and it expressed "objection to the registration of those FM stations" in the email dated July 24. Of the 191, 17 stations including those in Dandong, a border city in northeastern China, could cause "serious interference", it said. Beijing "has never made request for advance coordination" and the move would constitute an "infringement" of an ITU guideline as well as a bilateral agreement signed in 1981, Pyongyang said. Details about the bilateral accord are unknown. "It is a rare occurrence that a confrontation between China and North Korea has been revealed," said Atsuhito Isozaki, an expert on North Korean politics, adding that possible signals of worsening ties were also seen in reporting patterns by Pyongyang's official newspaper. The Rodong Sinmun has not mentioned Chinese President Xi Jinping or the 75th anniversary of the bilateral ties for several months, the professor at Keio University in Japan said, adding that the current status of relations does not seem to be "normal." Japan, the United States and South Korea expressed "grave concern over the increasing military and economic cooperation commitment" between Pyongyang and Moscow during their defence ministerial talks last month. Read the full story at SCMP. Members of the Trine University Class of 2028 stand in a Power T formation on the Trine University football field on Aug. 16. The university expects to enroll nearly 15,000 students across all locations and platforms this semester. Allentown police respond to gunfire that left numerous people wounded the evening of Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, in a parking lot along the 100 block of North Seventh Street, in the area of a Dominican Festival that was ongoing at the time.Mike Nester | lehighvalleylive.com contributor Clerical and secretarial employees with the Bethlehem Area School District wont be joining their colleagues on Monday for the districts first day of school. Teamsters Local 773 has called a strike for the employees over a contract impasse, the Bethlehem Area School District said in an alert on Sunday night. School will go on as planned, the district said in the alert. Negotiations will continue in pursuit of a fair agreement. Teamsters Local 773 President Dennis Hower, in a statement to lehighvalleylive.com late Sunday night, said the clerical workers have always been an afterthought to the BASD administration. Theyre not serious about getting to an agreement, Hower said. We met all weekend. They did absolutely nothing but rehash where we were on Aug. 8, providing no movement. And so were going to strike and well be out there until they get a fair shake. They want to get back to work. They want to take care of the kids and the schools like theyve been doing for decades but they deserve a fair contract. Update on BASD and Teamster Local 773 Clerical and Secretarial Employees Negotiations pic.twitter.com/ci5JA7P0g9 BASD (@BethlehemAreaSD) August 26, 2024 The districts alert said long negotiations over the weekend failed to yield an agreement on a new contract, but did not elaborate. Consequently, the BASDs clerical and secretarial workers have decided to strike on Monday, Aug. 26, the alert said. It was not immediately clear how many workers will join the strike or what their grievances are with the districts contract offer. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. UPDATE: Tuesdays launch was pushed back to Wednesday at the earliest. Mission planners say at spacex.com the launch is eyed for 3:38 a.m. EDT Wednesday, with additional launch opportunities within a four-hour window at 5:23 a.m. EDT and 7:09 a.m. EDT. Backup opportunities also are available at the same times Thursday. Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical. Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit. Next launch opportunity is no earlier than Wednesday, August 28 SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2024 ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The chief executive of a Lehigh Valley-based business is mission commander of a spaceflight scheduled for Tuesday that marks a number of firsts. Jared Isaacman is founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc., a publicly traded integrated payments and commerce technology business with its corporate headquarters at 3501 Corporate Parkway in Center Valley, Upper Saucon Township. The billionaire entrepreneur, as The New York Times described him in a Monday article on Tuesdays launch, is set to return to space via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon crew capsule. Isaacman previously left Earths atmosphere in September 2001 on the Inspiration4 mission also handled by SpaceX, the private spaceflight company owned by fellow billionaire Elon Musk. Isaacman, 41, is commanding a crew of four on the mission set for launch Tuesday, dubbed Polaris Dawn. Its the first of three commercial spaceflights scheduled under the Polaris program. Launch is set from the SpaceX Starship Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:38 a.m. EDT Tuesday, during a four-hour launch window. Astronauts, from left, mission specialist Anna Menon, pilot Scott Poteet, commander Jared Isaacman and mission specialist Sarah Gillis arrive at the Kennedy Space Center for an upcoming private human spaceflight mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.AP Photo/John Raoux Rounding out the crew, according to space.com, are retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Kidd Poteet as pilot; mission specialist Sarah Gillis, who is the SpaceX lead space operations engineer for astronaut training; and Anna Menon, SpaceX lead operations engineer for crew operations development, as mission specialist and medical officer. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew are scheduled to spend up to five days in orbit, with a number of mission objectives, according to polarisprogram.com. Those objectives include reaching the highest Earth orbit ever flown, the websites says, meaning only the astronauts aboard NASAs Apollo missions to the moon have traveled farther through space. At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit, organizers state at polarisprogram.com. With other goals such as testing the Starlink laser-based in-space communication system and research on the health impacts of space travel, Polaris is designed as a prelude to Musks vision of making humanity an interplanetary species. Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits; the development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions, program designers state. Where 2021s Inspiration4 was the first spaceflight to orbit Earth without a professional astronaut onboard, according to The New York Times, Polaris comes with a host of new risks and potential rewards. Among them is the high-radiation environment through which Dragon will take the foursome, according to a mission profile at smithsonianmag.com. The spacewalk is in a class by itself when it comes to testing the bounds of current spaceflight technology. Two of the missions four-member crew will venture out of their Crew Dragon capsule in Earths orbit for a tethered spacewalk, marking the first major test of SpaceXs new spacesuits, Reuters reports. The capsule lacks an airlock and will completely depressurize for the spacewalk, requiring all four crew members to rely on their suits for survival. Umbilicals 12 feet long plus safety tethers are designed to keep Isaacman and Gillis attached to Dragon as they spend about 15 minutes outside the ship, CBS News reports. Commander Jared Isaacman and mission specialist Anna Menon take part in a news conference after they arrived with other crew members at the Kennedy Space Center for an upcoming private human spaceflight mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.AP Photo/John Raoux My desire in human spaceflight is to move the needle, Isaacman told CBS News in an interview. It is not without risk, and youre taking that risk because you want to advance the ball forward, things that help SpaceX open up this frontier for everyone, for lots of people. A webcast of the Polaris Dawn launch is set to go live about 3 1/2 hours ahead of liftoff early Tuesday on spacex.com. All systems are looking good for tomorrows Falcon 9 launch of Polaris Dawn. Webcast will go live ~3.5 hours ahead of liftoff on Tuesday, August 27 https://t.co/WpSw0gzeT0 pic.twitter.com/81xlzKZ9VV SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2024 In addition to his corporate work and space interests, Isaacman is a philanthropist who last October helped St. Lukes University Health Network open the Isaacman Family Childrens Emergency Room at the St. Lukes flagship Bethlehem hospital in Fountain Hill. As a 26-year-old living in Warren County, Isaacman in 2009 broke a world record by completing a flight around the world in a light jet in 61 hours, 51 minutes and 15 seconds. That flight broke a 1991 record of 82 hours, while raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation expects to contract in July 2025 for the rehabilitation and expansion of Bethlehems Hill-to-Hill Bridge, with construction commencing in 2026 and ending in 2029. PennDOT provided an update on the estimated $77.4 million project during a meeting last Wednesday of the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, part of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. The bridge built in 1924 carries some 55,000 vehicles a day on Route 378 over railroad tracks, Sand Island and the Lehigh River, and is a crucial connection to the 24-hour Adult Level I Trauma Center at St. Lukes University Hospital in Fountain Hill. Because of its important role in carrying Route 378 traffic and connecting Center City and West Bethlehem to Southside Bethlehem, project planners hope to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction as much as possible during construction, PennDOT Consultant Project Manager Brian Teles said. PennDOT is also looking to maintain the bridges historic value, which includes retaining both metal trusses over the bridge, Teles told the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study. Also complicating the project is the rail traffic beneath the bridge that must continue during construction, as well as a large amount of utilities in the area of the bridge, Teles said. Elements of the project include adding a new parallel bridge on the eastern side of the Hill-to-Hill to carry northbound traffic about halfway across the spans entire length before the new and existing bridges merge over Sand Island. That allows for a second left-turn lane for southbound traffic, designed to alleviate traffic backups in the area where Route 378 suddenly transitions from a four-lane highway to a city-street grid. A new northbound ramp with direct access from West Second Street on Southside also is planned, along with improvements to the West Third Street and Brighton Street intersections. A screenshot from the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study's videoconference meeting Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, shows elements of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's estimated $77.4 million rehabilitation and expansion of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge.Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com PennDOT has $69 million lined up for the project and is looking to Bethlehem to secure an additional $6 million for work in the area of the bridge connecting to Main Street and $2.4 million for work in the area of Spring Street, according to Teles. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Laois Offaly Gardai paid tribute to Inspector Kieran Keyes as he retired from An Garda Siochana after giving four decades of service. Over the weekend we gathered to mark the retirement of Inspector Kieran Keyes after an impressive 41 years of dedicated service to the public. Throughout his career, he has set a high standard, ensuring the public was represented effectively in the courts and consistently striving for efficiency in service delivery across the Laois Offaly Division as a Garda, Sergeant and Inspector, Laois Offaly Gardai stated. His commitment extended far beyond his official duties. Kieran was instrumental in supporting the Tullamore Show and played a key role in the successful hosting of the Fleadh Cheoil in Tullamore in 2007 and 2008. His efforts helped make these events memorable for the community and visitors alike. Additionally, he selflessly gave his time to the Lions Club Tullamore, embodying the true spirit of community service. We are deeply grateful for his unwavering dedication and the positive impact he has made on so many lives. Thank you, Kieran, for your outstanding service and the legacy you leave behind. We wish you all the best in your well-deserved retirement!, Laois Offaly Gardai said. Laois recorded the highest annual increase in rent in Ireland outside of Dublin in the past year. Thats according to the latest Daft.ie Irish Rental Report for the second quarter of 2024. It compared average rental prices from the second quarter of 2024 with those from 12 months earlier. The results show Laois a 13.4 % increase in average rents. The highest of any country outside of Dublin and almost twice the average increase of 7.3%. On Monday, August 26, there were ten properties available to rent in Laois on the Daft website. These ranged from a four bedroom house in Maryborough, Portlaoise for 2,300 per month to 1,300 a month for a four bedroom house in Silverglen, Mountmellick. The latest report said rental stock is down slightly across Leinster. There were only just over 375 homes for rent in Leinster (outside Dublin) on August 1, 2024, down 4% on the same date a year ago and well below half the 2015- 2019 average of over 850. Author of the Daft report, Associate Professor of Economy at Trinity College Dublin, Ronan Lyons said almost all of the new rental supply was confined to the capital, because of high construction costs. Between 2016 and 2019, there was an average of just over 2,500 rental homes available at any point in time, excluding Dublin. That total fell to below 1,000 during 2022 and 2023 and remains stuck there. As of the start of August 2024, there were fewer than 900 homes available to rent across the country, excluding Dublin. Across Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford cities combined, there were just 150 homes available to rent at the start of this month, he said. Where availability goes, affordability follows: supply is the single most important determinant of rental level. When supply is tight, rents are pulled up. We can see this in the path of rents in Dublin compared to the other cities over the last two years. In the last two years, open-market rents in Dublin have increased by a total of 12%. In the other cities, they have increased by twice as much. This marks a continuation of a trend noticeable since the pandemic: rents in Dublin are up 26%, while rents in the other cities are up an average of 52%. Ideally, more than a decade into a rental housing shortage, we would be talking about the gradual spread of the solution, rather than a return to the core problem. The solution is new supply of market rental homes, in large volumes, in each and every rental market in the country, said Prof Lyons. However, he said the policy environment has only actively promoted the construction of new market rental housing for roughly four years out of the last 12 and much of those four years, construction was hampered by lockdowns related to covid. Between 2018 and 2022, a combination of a favourable macroeconomic environment, the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process and the Build to Rent (BTR) code meant that a significant pipeline of rental homes perhaps as many as 100,000 homes were proposed. With a dramatic shift in the macroeconomic environment and in particular an increase in the yield required to keep investors in housing, as opposed to other assets what Ireland needed was an even stronger policy in relation to the construction of rental homes, said Prof Lyons. "Instead, both the SHD and the BTR were axed. My hunch is that they were axed because of the same issue that plagues housing and gives rise to supply-side scepticism: the long lead-in time between high prices and new supply having its effect. Housing takes time to build, always and everywhere. Housing in Ireland takes longer than in most jurisdictions, because instead of choosing between a zoning system and a permissions system, we have both and more recently we have added the Courts system on top. Apartment housing, the stock in trade of rental homes, takes longer than developments of houses. And of course with lockdowns, apartment housing in Ireland in recent years has taken even longer again," he said. Prof Lyons said it was "most unfortunate that pro-rental policies were scrapped just as the evidence was starting to emerge of their success. Reintroducing pro-rental policies is, however, not a discretionary policy option. It is an imperative choice if Ireland is to have some semblance of a healthy housing system by the end of the decade." A property in County Kildare was among a number of properties which were recently seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). The news was announced by the official An Garda Siochana Longford page on Facebook. The page posted photographs of the seized properties (however, it did not specify which property matched which location), along with the following description: "On foot of High Court applications under the Proceeds of Crime Acts, the Criminal Assets Bureau have taken the possession of a range of assets as part of its work to dismantle a Longford-based Organised Crime Group (OCG) involved in the sale and supply of drugs, and serious feud related activity in Ireland." "In their investigation, the bureau established that these were funded by the proceeds of crime." The page then listed details of the properties: "Ellistown, County Kildare "In the expert opinion of a court appointed Quantity Surveyor, the total cost of the subsequent renovation of the property purchased in 2014, would have been in the region of 64,364 plus VAT. "The money used to renovate the property are determined to have derived from the criminal conduct. "10,150 cash and gold bars to the value of 5,600 also deemed to be the proceeds of crime were seized." Ardnacassa, County Longford A man had his watch and 100 in cash stolen after he was followed, it has been claimed at Naas District Court. Mihai Borhan and Neculai Borhan, aged 41 and 26 respectively and whose address was given as 24 College Green, Maynooth, have been charged in connection with the alleged theft. Sgt Mary Meade said the defendants followed the injured party home. He was caught in a headlock in the driveway and his smartwatch was stolen along with the cash. Read more Kildare news It will be claimed that they ran to a car they had parked at Dunboyne Road and ran away. Defending solicitor Tim Kennelly requested and was provided with the services of a Romanian interpreter. Judge Desmond Zaidan and he also granted free legal aid. At a later hearing a bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Mihai Borhan after defending solicitor Chloe Donegan indicated he was not in court and she did not know where he was. A book of evidence was served on Neculai Borhan, who was sent forward for trial to the present sittings of Naas Circuit Court. Judge Zaidan certified for the services of a Romanian translator to assist the defendant, who was remanded on continuing bail. A man verbally abused his mother and squared up to his father, Naas District Court was told. The man was before the court for breaching a safety order. Garda Sean Smyth told the court the man lives between his girlfriends address and his parents home. Prior to an incident on March 26, the garda said the man had been off alcohol. Gda Smyth also told the court there was a lot of effing and blinding and the man squared up to his dad when he was asked to leave. Read more Kildare news The garda also said he was not seeking to have the man stay away from his parents home. He said the man is engaging with services to get help. Defending solicitor Tim Kennelly said the man is a lovely person when he is not drinking. He noted that the term alcohol comes from an ancient Greek word meaning demon and with some people a demon emerges when they drink prompting Judge Desmond Zaidan to comment that humankind has learned very little. Mr Kennelly said the man spent a night in a garda station cell and is hugely remorseful. He is a gent, a lovely guy and he is disgusted by his behaviour. Mr Kennelly added he was surprised that the incident had taken place and he does not believe that this will happen again. He also said he has apologised. Judge Desmond Zaidan told the man he would not be impressed if someone else behaved towards his mother like he had. Youre wasting your life and hurting the people that care about you, added the judge. Nevertheless, the judge said he would not convict him and he adjourned the case for him to pay 500 to his parents as a gesture of remorse. He applied the Probation Act. A young Irish tourist is recovering after a teenage boy allegedly sexually assaulted her and stole a valuable 8,000 watch from her wrist. The 26 year-old tourist, who was on holiday in northern Italy with her sister and some friends, was returning from a night out in Milano Marittima on Wednesday, August 21 when the incident occurred. It is alleged by Italian media that the woman was followed after leaving a nightclub in Milano Marittima where she had spent the evening by an 18 year-old man, who then sexually assaulted her before stealing her watch. The accused has already admitted robbing the watch from the victim who was holidaying in northern Italy but denies sexually assaulting the woman. The man, who has no previous convictions and reportedly comes from a well-off family, told police that hes addicted to Rolex and has a Rolex tattooed on his wrist, according to the Irish Mirror. The stolen watch was later returned to the Irish tourist, who was hospitalised for several days following the incident. The man spent the day in custody before being released on bail following a court hearing on Thursday (August 22), and is due back in court in October. READ NEXT - Parish priest shocked and angered over 'mass' arrest in Donegal church 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. National Park Foundation Receives Historic $100 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant will support the Foundation's mission to ensure national parks are protected, accessible, and welcoming ? today and for future generations. WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Park Foundation (NPF) today announced a historic $100 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. This transformative grant ? the largest ever received by NPF and the largest grant benefitting national parks ? celebrates a pivotal moment in safeguarding the future of America's treasured national parks. From majestic mountains to vibrant coral reefs to the Lincoln Memorial, national parks embody a tapestry of breathtaking landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and rich cultural heritage. But these cherished places are facing a growing number of challenges, threatening what they have offered visitors for more than a century. Thanks to the generous support of Lilly Endowment, NPF can help meet these challenges. "The National Park Foundation is inspired by, and incredibly grateful for, this extraordinary gift from Lilly Endowment," said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. "For over 50 years, private philanthropy has played a vital role in bridging the gap between park needs and available funding. This grant will allow us to supercharge our efforts to ensure our national parks are for everyone, for generations to come." Lilly Endowment's grant will serve as a catalyst to scale and accelerate NPF's impact. Working together with the National Park Service and park partners, NPF will allocate the funds to four key priority areas: Inspire the Next Generation of Park Stewards: Creating opportunities for youth and young adults that will foster a deeper understanding of history, appreciation for environmental stewardship, and connection with our natural world. Creating opportunities for youth and young adults that will foster a deeper understanding of history, appreciation for environmental stewardship, and connection with our natural world. Conserve and Preserve Threatened Parks and Wildlife : Addressing critical initiatives that will ensure the health and longevity of the fragile ecosystems and diverse species that call our national parks home. : Addressing critical initiatives that will ensure the health and longevity of the fragile ecosystems and diverse species that call our national parks home. Ensure a World-Class Visitor Experience : Securing a future where national parks can accommodate unprecedented growth and leverage new technology, while remaining accessible and awe-inspiring for all visitors. : Securing a future where national parks can accommodate unprecedented growth and leverage new technology, while remaining accessible and awe-inspiring for all visitors. Tell a More Complete Story of America: Delivering a more comprehensive historical narrative, including the experiences of communities whose voices and contributions have not been fully told as a part of the American story. "Our founders were inspired by the beauty and wonders of the natural world and supportive of research and educational programs about archaeology and the cultural history of our nation," said N. Clay Robbins, chairman and CEO of Lilly Endowment. "We are pleased therefore to further their interests through this grant. We believe the National Park Foundation's campaign will enhance the programming in and promote the future vibrancy of our country's marvelous system of parks, monuments, and historic sites." The grant contributes to The Campaign for National Parks, NPF's $1 billion fundraising campaign that will help address the urgent needs of America's 430 national park sites. The Campaign for National Parks also galvanizes the efforts of park partners across the country whose collective goal is to raise $3.5 billion. Together, the campaign will generate more support for national parks than ever before to ensure they not only endure, but thrive, for the benefit of all who cherish them. "The impact of this gift will be felt in our parks and in surrounding communities for generations to come," added Chuck Sams, director of the National Park Service. "This is a truly visionary investment, and an example of how the power of philanthropy can amplify this crucial work that we all believe in so much." To learn more about the National Park Foundation's mission and donate today, visit nationalparks.org. About the National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation works to protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate and engage youth, and connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. We do it in collaboration with the National Park Service, the park partner community, and with the generous support of donors, without whom our work would not be possible. Learn more at www.nationalparks.org. About Lilly Endowment Inc. Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders' wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its founders' hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. SOURCE National Park Foundation 26 august 2024 at 06:15 News published onand distributed by: CCNY's $3.2 billion impact on New York economy NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A staggering $3.2 billion. That was The City College of New York's economic impact on 10 counties in the New York region in fiscal year 2021-22, according to the latest study by labor analytics firm Lightcast. The figure almost doubles the FY 2017-18 tally of $1.9 billion numerated by Lightcast (formerly EMSI) four years ago. The study measures the economic impact of The City College -- the founding college of the largest urban university system in the United States -- on the business community and the benefits it generates in return for the investments made by its key stakeholder groups: students, taxpayers, and society. Lightcast focuses on what it terms the "CCNY Service Region," 10 counties comprising of the Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester. "CCNY promotes economic growth in the CCNY Service Region through its direct expenditures and the resulting expenditures of visitors, students, and regional businesses. The college serves as an employer and buyer of goods and services for its day-to-day, construction, and research operations," said Lightcast. "The college's reputation and activities attract visitors and students from outside the CCNY Service Region, whose expenditures benefit regional vendors. In addition, CCNY is a primary source of higher education to the CCNY Service Region residents and a supplier of trained workers to regional industries, enhancing overall productivity in the regional workforce." Lightcast calculated the impacts created in the region by CCNY in FY 2021-22, when it served 17,491 students, as follows: $365.8 million ? operations spending impact; ? operations spending impact; $46.7 million ? research spending impact; ? research spending impact; $62.4 million ? visitor spending impact; ? visitor spending impact; $36.7 million ? student spending impact; and ? student spending impact; and $2.7 billion ? alumni impact. This adds up to $3.2 billion or equivalent to 25,121 jobs supported by CCNY, which was founded in 1847 and is the oldest institution in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. In addition, total taxpayer benefits amount to $757.5 million, the present value sum of the added tax revenue and public sector savings. For every dollar of public money invested in CCNY, taxpayers will receive $1.70 in return over the course of students' working lives. The average annual rate of return for taxpayers is 3.0%. From the social perspective, New York invested $797.1 million to support CCNY in FY 2021-22,. In turn, the New York economy will grow by $6.5 billion, over the course of students' working lives. Society will also benefit from $270.0 million of public and private sector savings. Overall, for every dollar invested in CCNY in FY 2021-22, people in New York will receive $8.50 in return, for as long as CCNY's FY 2021-22 students remain active in the state workforce. And for students pursuing an education at CCNY, it's a win-win proposition from an investment standpoint. In return for their investment, students will receive a cumulative present value of $1.7 billion in increased earnings over their working lives. This translates to a return of $8.30 in higher future earnings for every dollar students invest in their education. Students' average annual rate of return is 23.2%, according to the Lightcast study. "This study helps to quantify the impact that we know City College and CUNY have on our regional economy ? from the millions of dollars raised and spent by our faculty for high-impact research to the billions in added income that is generated by City College grads," said CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez. "Every dollar invested in City College is returned to the public more than eight times over. When we say that CUNY's 25 colleges and professional schools play a vital role in lifting New York, these are some of the impacts we are talking about." "The modern context of higher education demands that places like City College more deeply concern ourselves with our impact on society," said CCNY President Vincent G. Boudreau. "The Lightcast Economic Impact Study has given an empirically grounded and verifiable account of our contributions to economic development. This study demonstrates unequivocally that the mission animating the founding of the Free Academy in 1847 is alive and well at today's City College." "CCNY provides students with the education, training, and skills they need to have fulfilling and prosperous careers," said Lightcast. "Furthermore, CCNY is a place for students to meet new people, increase their self-confidence, and promote their overall health and well-being." Lightcast sums up that its study demonstrates: "That CCNY creates value from multiple perspectives. The college benefits regional businesses by increasing consumer spending in the region and supplying a steady flow of qualified, trained workers to the workforce. CCNY enriches the lives of students by raising their lifetime earnings and helping them achieve their individual potential. The college benefits state and local taxpayers through increased tax receipts and a reduced demand for government-supported social services. Finally, CCNY benefits society as a whole in New York by creating a more prosperous economy and generating a variety of savings through the improved lifestyles of students." The firm used data for the study from several sources. These include FY 2021-22 academic and financial reports from CCNY, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, outputs of Lightcast's Multi-Regional Social Accounting Matrix model, and a variety of studies and surveys relating education to social behavior. The study applies a conservative methodology and follows standard practice using only the most recognized indicators of economic impact and investment effectiveness. Click here to access the entire report. About Lightcast Lightcast provides colleges and universities with labor market data that help create better outcomes for students, businesses, and communities. Its data, which covers more than 99% of the U.S. workforce, is compiled from a wide variety of government sources, job postings, and online profiles and resumes. Hundreds of institutions use Lightcast to align programs with regional needs, drive enrollment, connect students with in-demand careers, track their alumni's employment outcomes, and demonstrate their institution's economic impact on their region. For more information, visit lightcast.io/solutions/education. Contact: Jay Mwamba, CCNY, [email protected], Tel: 917.892.0374 SOURCE City College of New York, Office of Institutional Advancement and Communications 26 august 2024 at 13:08 News published onand distributed by: Ford Pro CFO to Highlight Software and Physical Services Growth at Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference Ford Pro CFO Navin Kumar will discuss Ford Pro's unique position to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities in the commercial vehicle market, particularly within the software and physical services space, at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Sept. 10 in San Francisco. Kumar will sit down for a fireside chat with auto analyst Mark Delaney at 10:50 a.m. PT (1:50 p.m. ET). They will discuss how Ford Pro's winning combination of propulsion choices and tailored software and physical services bring superior value to Ford's commercial customers. Kumar will also share how Ford Pro drives growth, margins and capital efficiency while reducing cyclicality as part of the Ford+ plan for transformation and growth. The webcast and transcript will be available at shareholder.ford.com. About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company's Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty. Ford develops and delivers innovative, must-have Ford trucks, sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and cars and Lincoln luxury vehicles, along with connected services. The company does that through three customer-centered business segments: Ford Blue, engineering iconic gas-powered and hybrid vehicles; Ford Model e, inventing breakthrough EVs along with embedded software that defines exceptional digital experiences for all customers; and Ford Pro, helping commercial customers transform and expand their businesses with vehicles and services tailored to their needs. Additionally, Ford provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 175,000 people worldwide. More information about the company and its products and services is available at corporate.ford.com. For news releases, related materials and high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com. 26 august 2024 at 16:10 News published onand distributed by: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses media as (back L-R) North Rhine-Westphalia vice State Premier Mona Neubaur and North Rhine-Westphalia's State Premier Hendrik Wuest listen after their visit at the site of a knife attack in Solingen, western Germany, on August 26, 2024. INA FASSBENDER / AFP German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, August 26, pledged to tighten Germany's weapons laws and crack down on illegal immigration after a Syrian man allegedly went on a deadly knife rampage in the city of Solingen. "We will now have to tighten up the weapons regulations... in particular with regard to the use of knives," Scholz said on a visit to Solingen, adding that "I'm sure this will happen very quickly". "We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and must not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported," he added. Friday's attack at a street festival, which left three people dead and injured eight others, has shocked the country and fuelled a renewed debate about immigration ahead of key regional elections next weekend. Read more Subscribers only Solingen knife attack puts Germany's ruling coalition in difficulty After a day on the run, a 26-year-old Syrian gave himself up to authorities late Saturday and confessed, police said. German anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation and the man, named as Issa Al H., has been detained on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and belonging to a "terrorist group." The Islamic State group said in a statement on Saturday that one of its members had carried out the attack in "revenge" for Muslims "in Palestine and everywhere." "The perpetrator of the attack on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State," said a statement from the jihadists' Amaq news agency on the Telegram messaging app. The claim could not be immediately verified. According to the Bild and Spiegel news outlets, the suspect arrived in Germany in December 2022 and had a protected immigration status often given to those fleeing war-torn Syria. Bitter immigration debate German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said the suspect was not known to the security services as an extremist considered dangerous. Germany has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since the Gaza war erupted on October 7 with the Hamas attacks on Israel. The country has been hit by several such attacks in recent years, with the most deadly being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people. Solingen is a city of some 160,000 people located between Duesseldorf and Cologne. Thousands had gathered in Solingen on Friday for a "Festival of Diversity", part of a series of events to mark the city's 650th anniversary. The festival has now been canceled. The attack has reignited a debate about immigration in the EU's most populous country ahead of regional elections next weekend in Saxony and Thuringia, two states in the former communist East Germany. The far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party, which is eyeing big gains in the state polls after recent electoral wins, has accused successive governments of having caused "chaos" by allowing in too many immigrants. In the aftermath of the attack, Friedrich Merz, leader of the main opposition conservative CDU party, urged the government to stop taking in refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Scholz's government had already been under pressure to resume deportations to both countries, after a halt of several years. Members of Scholz's ruling coalition had called for tougher deportation rules after a 25-year-old Afghan stabbed a policeman to death in Mannheim in May, in an attack that targeted an anti-Islam rally. Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-2016 at the height of Europe's migrant crisis a deeply divisive influx that fuelled the popularity of the AfD. At the Katako referral health center in Maniema province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in November 2023. GUERCHOM NDEBO/ALIMA In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the mpox outbreak, authorities are updating their response. Libreville health authorities confirmed the first case of the new Clade 1b virus strain in Gabon on Thursday, specifying that it concerned a young man returning from a trip to Uganda. Read more Subscribers only The mpox vaccine response, an industrial and diplomatic challenge On Monday, the Congolese Ministry of Health held a meeting with the African Union's public health agency, CDC Africa, to adapt its plan to combat mpox, less than a week after the pan-African institution declared its maximum continental alert level. This was followed the next day by the World Health Organization (WHO), which extended the alert internationally (as a public health emergency of international concern, PHEIC) after a case of new-variant mpox was announced in Sweden, then in Thailand. In the DRC, according to CDC Africa, the latest figures for Friday, August 23 were 17,342 suspected cases and 3,167 laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox by the National Institute of Public Health, as well as 582 deaths. "That's more than all the cases in the whole of 2023," warned Dr. Louis Albert Massing, Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) medical coordinator for the whole country. The French NGO is a major partner of the Congolese health authorities, who report that all 26 of the country's provinces have reported at least some cases. Children are the primary victims Kinshasa can count on receiving its first vaccine donations in the week of September 26, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba announced on Monday, pointing out that this is now a "continental emergency." While the US has pledged up to 75,000 doses, the European Union 215,000 and France 100,000, Japan is currently the most generous, having announced that it will send 3.5 million doses from its stocks. This international solidarity is sorely needed, given the scale of the epidemic and the prohibitive cost of the vaccine (100 per dose) for a country like the DRC. Kinshasa had actually planned to roll out a vaccination program in the east of the country as early as October, targeting between 70,000 and 100,000 people. However, in view of the rapidly deteriorating situation, it needs to be able to collect 10 million doses by 2025. More transmissible than the variant that was rife until September 2023 in the DRC, where mpox has been endemic since the 1970s, Clade 1b is extending its grip on its neighbors: 171 cases have been reported in Burundi, which has not yet suffered any deaths, but is experiencing the week's biggest increase. This strain is spreading in Uganda, Rwanda and the Central African Republic. Further afield in Gabon and Kenya, on Thursday, Nairobi and Kampala announced the reinforcement of health surveillance at their air and land borders. You have 62.99% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Chinese companies donate relief supplies to flood-hit people in Bangladesh Xinhua) 16:31, August 26, 2024 DHAKA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese enterprises in Bangladesh have donated over 4.13 million taka to the flood-affected areas, and provided supplies worth about 6.19 million taka, totaling approximately 10.32 million taka (86,940 U.S. dollars) as of Sunday, and donations are still ongoing. Recently, parts of Bangladesh have been severely affected by flooding, impacting millions of people. Chinese companies have stepped forward to donate relief supplies to the flood-hit people, demonstrating the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Bangladesh. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) launched a relief distribution program in the Feni, Noakhali, and Cumilla districts on Sunday. A total of 600 affected families have benefited from this donation, which includes food, drinking water, and other necessities. "The CCECC, as a long-established Chinese company in the Bangladeshi market, has always paid close attention to local livelihoods and actively fulfills its social responsibilities," said Ke Changliang, chairman of CCECC Bangladesh Limited. "In the face of this disaster, the CCECC will continue to uphold the spirit of 'solidarity in adversity' and stand with the people of Bangladesh to overcome these challenges, further strengthening the bond of friendship between China and Bangladesh," he added. Since the flood occurred, many Chinese companies and personnel in Bangladesh have given their hands. The donation program has been widely praised by both the Bangladeshi government and the local people. "Chinese companies extended a helping hand during our most difficult time, and we will always remember this kindness," a local person who lives in Cumilla said. Bangladesh has experienced its worst flooding in years, and the death toll from the floods has risen to 18 and nearly 5 million people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts, the authorities said Saturday. (1 U.S. dollar equals about 120 taka) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Du Mingming) An elevated view of a trio of mill effluent ponds, an independent environmental audit found GVL does not take proper care of, sending foul odor across the landscape. The DayLight/ Derick Snyder Food poisoning led a young Wicklow man to be left paralysed from neck down. A fundraiser has been set up for a young Wicklow man who has been left paralysed from neck down after a sudden illness. Zach Murphy Kenny, aged 24, was suddenly left paralysed from the neck down after suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves. It can cause weakness, numbness or paralysis. To help the family of the young man, who is expected to remain in hospital for several months, a fundraiser was set up. In an update shared on the fundraiser page, the family said Zach was diagnosed with GBS after getting food poisoning. "Day 12 and the doctors have solved the mystery of how Zach became paralyzed and diagnosed with GBS- it was, shockingly, food poisoning. Campylobacter is the name of the bacteria that made him sick weeks ago and ended up triggering his immune system to attack his central nervous system, causing Guillain-Barre syndrome," said the organiser. "The first symptom was a tingling in his leg, but 12 days later its hard to believe everything that Zach has endured. Since being admitted to the hospital, Zach has lost feeling from the neck down, lost his ability to communicate, had a tracheostomy inserted, multiple blood transfusions, and plasma exchanges. Simultaneously, he has had to fight through aspiration pneumonia, two infections, and a 20cm blood clot," they said. Even though he is showing "signs of improvement", the young man remains in the ICU - with a long way to recovery ahead of him. "Thank you for the continuous love and support being sent Zachs way. Hes going to need it as he continues to tackle the challenges each new day brings on his road towards recovery," said the family. So far, 38,882 have been raised to help the family with medical costs. You can donate to the fundraiser here. The Centre plans to revive the strategic sale of state-owned fertilizer companies beginning next fiscal year, two people aware of the matter said, even as it works to boost domestic production and reduce imports. Apart from putting eight major fertilizer public sector units (PSUs) on the block in a phased manner, some shuttered units may be revived and prepared for sale, the people mentioned above said on the condition of anonymity. The eight fertilizer PSUs are Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corp. Ltd, Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore, FCI Aravali Gypsum and Mineral Ltd, Madras Fertilizers Ltd, National Fertilizers Ltd, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, Fertilizer Corp. India Ltd and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp. Ltd, one of the two people cited above said. "Several units of Fertilizer Corp. located in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Sindri in Jharkhand, Talcher in Odisha and Ramagundam in Telangana are also in the disinvestment list," the person added. The plan is at discussion levels and a final decision in this regard will be taken soon," this person said. Eight identified In 2022, Niti Aayog had identified eight fertilizer PSUs for strategic sale; however, the Centre put the plan on hold the next year as it prioritized increasing domestic production. "The Centre is working on reducing dependence on imports and attaining self-sufficiency before opting for divestment of fertilizer PSUs," the second person cited above said. It plans to reduce imports of urea by 30% by the end of 2024. Federal fertilizer subsidies have seen a significant cut, from 1,88,894 crore (revised estimates) in FY24 to 1,64,000 crore (budget estimates) in FY25. However, the stake sale will not affect subsidy payments, the first person said. Also read | Indian welfare: Beneficiaries and benefactors must overlap more Experts said the push to revive old plants and set up new ones have helped, with domestic production increasing by 20% to 31.4 mt and imports dropping by at least 10% annually in FY24. "Recent policy measures have brought the industry and units in the mainstream focus, and effectively helped the country reduce its import bill, initiating from volumes and invariably the overall value. These initiatives and results will bring a boost to these PSUs improving their efficiency and a possible view of being profitable," said Chirag Jain, partner, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP. "The Catch-22 situation with these PSUs after decades of wait has ended, which will help them to reach new heights, bring profitability, address the country's food security challenges and reduce the import bill," he added. In FY24, the Centre imported 7.04 mt of urea worth $2.61 billion, lower than 7.57 mt in FY23, Anupriya Patel, minister of state in the fertilizers ministry informed the Rajya Sabha earlier this month. Ending imports India, which imports urea mainly from Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, plans to completely end urea imports by FY26. "In order to attain self-sufficiency in urea in the country, the Government of India mandated revival of Ramagundam (Telangana), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Talcher (Odisha) units of Fertilizer Corp. of India Ltd and Barauni (Bihar) unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corp. Ltd through joint venture company of nominated PSUs for setting up new ammonia-urea plants of 12.7 LMTPA (lakh metric tonnes per annum) capacity each," Patel said. "The Ramagundam and Gorakhpur units have been commissioned on 22 March 2021 and 07 December 2021, respectively. Also, Barauni and Sindri units started urea production on 18 October 2022 and 5 November 2022, respectively. These plants have added 50.8 LMT per annum of indigenous urea production in the country," she added. Spokespersons for the ministry of finance and the department of fertilizers did not respond to emailed queries. Stable prices In recent months, fertilizer prices have remained stable due to improved domestic production and lower input costs, according to the World Bank. The World Banks fertilizer price index has remained relatively stable in the June quarter, following a 20% annual drop in the March quarter. The index is 24% lower annually in the June quarter, primarily due to a significant decline in phosphate rock prices (-56%) and potassium prices (-17%). Also read | Forecast of rain relief aside, risks remain for fertilizer companies "This broad weakness is due to improved production and lower input costs," the World Bank said in a blog post last month. "Compared to 2023, prices are expected to average lower in 2024 and 2025 but remain well above 2015-19 levels due to robust demand and some export restrictions (particularly from China) and sanctions (mainly Belarus)," it said. "Upside risks to the forecast include potential increases in input costs, especially natural gas. However, a resumption of Chinas exports and lower-than-expected crop prices could contribute to further declines in fertilizer prices," it added. Bengaluru: Fintech startup PhonePe clocked a profit after tax of 197 crores, excluding ESOP costs, in the financial year 2024, compared to a loss of 738 crore a year earlier. The companys standalone payments business also reported an adjusted PAT of 710 crore for FY24 against a loss of 194 crore a year earlier, PhonePe said in a statement on Monday. If ESOPs are included, PhonePe reported a loss. ESOPs or employee stock options, used as a tool to reward or retain employees, can have a substantial cost and tax burden for the company and employees. PhonePe didn't offer details of its ESOPs costs. PhonePe's revenues rose 74% to 5,064 crore during the year, driven by factors including its ability to cross-sell a diverse product portfolio, the statement said. Our financial strategy is anchored on three key pillars: (1) predictable and sustainable growth in revenue, (2) diversification of revenue streams, and (3) continuing improvements to the bottom line, PhonePes chief financial officer Adarsh Nahata said. These factors, he said, have helped the company scale rapidly while maintaining a focus on profitability. Walmart-backed PhonePe said driving operations by automation and other cost efficiencies helped improve revenue and profit during the year. We believe a focus on disciplined financial management will help us continue in the progression towards profitability of our Payments business, the companys founder and chief executive officer Sameer Nigam said in the statement. Recently, the fintech firm launched a credit line on UPI on its platform where users can get access to the provision from banks to pay merchants through credit. This is a new payment option that allows customers at the time of checkout through PhonePes Payment Gateway. Last year, the company announced its entry into the stock broking business through its Share.Market app, which allows users to trade and invest in stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds). It competes with other giants such as Groww and Zerodha in this category. PhonePe also has a commerce vertical called Pincode which focuses on several categories within and outside the open network for digital commerce or ONDC platform. Founded by Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer in 2015, PhonePe has established itself as a leading consumer payments app with 550+ million registered users and a digital payments acceptance network of 40+ million merchants. It processes over 270 million daily transactions with an annualised total payment value (TPV) of over $1.5 trillion. In July last year, when Terra Food Co. raised $800,000 from investors, founder Sriram Nair asserted that the gourmet cloud kitchen platform would double its monthly recurring revenue by November to 2 crore. It didnt seem an audacious claim at the time. Rebel Foods, after a decade of experimentation and pivots, had in 2021 become Indias first cloud kitchen unicorn as covid had habituated people to ordering food online, validating the concept of online-only restaurants, also known as ghost kitchens. Food-delivery platform Swiggy had its own cloud kitchen. And consulting firm Redseer had projected the size of Indias cloud kitchen industry to expand to $3 billion in 2024 from about $400 million in 2019. But in the year since, Terra Food Co. has vacated most of its locations in Delhi-NCR, the startups founder and chief executive Sriram Nair told Mint. In Ahmedabad, three of TFCs brandsTerra Gourmet, Papadum and Zeus Burgeroffer both delivery and dine-in options. The firm plans to start franchising in other cities in Gujarat soon, Nair said. Its not about Delhi. Its about operating cloud kitchens. Cloud kitchens as an industry is not going to be very profitable as expected due to the dependency on Swiggy and Zomato," Nair said in response toMintsqueries. If the city is a metro then the unit economics is even worse as the cost of user acquisition and marketing spend is way higher in these cities, plus immense competition. A hybrid model with dine-in and delivery is the best way to go about it. We have established brands in Gujarat and we plan to be hybrid and not operate only in the cloud." Read this | Zomato, Swiggy and the murky reality of cloud kitchens TFC joins a host of small online-focused restaurants that are re-evaluating their strategy as sustaining their operations becomes harder amid increasing competition and rising costs. According to research platform Tracxn, Terra Foods Co. has raised a total $1.87 million from investors including Zero to One Fund and ah! Ventures, and was last valued at about $4.9 million. TFCs revenue from operations is small, but improved significantly in 2022-23to 5.9 from 3.1 crore in the year before. But its loss expanded to 4.6 crore from 1.2 crore, show financial statements accessed by Tofler. Financials for 2023-24 werent available. In another earlier instance, Ahmedabad-based BigSpoon, the parent company of eight cloud kitchen brands including The Pizza People by Mouni Roy and Mehfil Biryani by Zakir Khan, found itself in hot water in September. Asset financier Grip Invest initiated legal action against BigSpoons founder and chief executive Kapil Mathrani after the startup failed to pay rent for kitchen equipment and other assets, according to an email Grip sent to the companys investors, whichMint has seen. BigSpoon has raised a total of $15 million and was last valued at about $38.5 million, according to Tracxn. Several small eateries that have adopted an omnichannel approachwith both online and offline presenceare considering downsizing operations or joining hands with bigger players, said the founder of a cloud kitchen startup, asking to not be identified. But bigger businesses in the space havent found it easy either. A tough business model Cloud kitchens, which only offer take-out food, saw significant demand even before the pandemic hit, turbocharged by the growth of food-ordering platforms Swiggy and Zomato. Cloud kitchens proved to be a lucrative business owing to their cost-efficient models and lower overhead costs compared with traditional restaurants. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, the restaurant industry suffered significant setbacks as lockdowns and covid protocols forced eateries to pull down their shutters. However, a funding frenzy in 2021 helped large cloud kitchens such as Rebel Foods stay the course. That said, funding into Indias cloud kitchens space has shrunk from about $307 million in 2021 to $105.6 million 2023 and $20.5 million so far this year, according to Tracxn. Rebel Foods, which owns brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani and Over Story Pizza, entered the coveted unicorn club in 2021 with a valuation of $1.4 billion as it raised $175 million in funding led by Qatar Investment Authority. So far, only 2-3 players have been able to thrive on the back of their capital-raising abilities. Without sufficient funding, small eateries dont have a chance unless they consolidate and operate with larger brands," an early-stage investor told Mint on condition of anonymity. Last year, Rebel Foods started setting up physical outlets for Oven Story and EatSure, a food-delivery service the company began in 2020 for its brands and partner restaurants. Rebel Foods also manages US fast food chain Wendys outlets in India as a master franchisee. The move was not unexpected but definitely raised questions about the viability of delivery-only businesses," said the unnamed investor. And this | Gupshups Beerud Sheth: From a deep, dark tunnel to building two unicorns For Rebel Foods, however, delivery will remain the focus, said Raghav Joshi, co-founder and head of acquired brands. The Goldman Sachs-backed company sees offline expansion as part of its mission" for enabling consumers to have both online ordering and dining options, he said. View Full Image Rebel Foods operates cloud kitchen brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl, SLAY Coffee, and Sweet Truth. We believe that having visibility and presence in specific locations adds to us being part of the customer journey and complementing the overall positioning of our brands. This is not a deviation of strategy," Joshi told Mint. In all, Rebel operates more than 450 cloud kitchens across 75 cities in India as well as in West Asia, North Africa, Indonesia, and the UK. But online-first format remains a daunting for many. In March last year, Swiggy sold its cloud kitchen brand, Swiggy Access, to Finnest-backed Kitchens@ as it sought to offload loss-making businesses in preparation for a public-market listing. Changing dining habits With covid fears long gone, Indians have started eating out more frequently, dining out five times a month on an average, according to a report by Bain & Co. and Swiggy. This is estimated to grow 7-8 times by 2030. In that sense, going offline could make sense for cloud kitchens. However, scale remains a question," said the investor quoted earlier. Rebels Joshi, however, believes that the rate of growth in dining out will always be slower than delivery because brands need to get multiple factors such as location and footfall right to offset high infrastructure costs. On the bright side, the absence of delivery expenses allows for higher margins, according to Joshi. Also read | Is the Indian online consumer evolving? A relatively new fee seems to suggest so We are very early in our offline journey, and we are carefully evaluating how it balances our entire business portfolio." (Bloomberg) -- Brazils government is preparing a decree to give the oil regulator greater control over how producers operate natural gas projects in an effort to increase supplies and reduce prices for consumers, according to a draft reviewed by Bloomberg. The decree, which could go through alterations before it is published, would allow the Brazilian National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels to limit the amount of gas that oil producers reinject into reservoirs, and also sets how much gas projects should be producing, according to the document. Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said that the government was maintaining a dialogue with the industry to boost supplies of the fuel, and that the upcoming decree will not be an intervention in the natural gas market. He confirmed that the document would give the regulator more control over gas reinjection levels, but also said that changes would not be made retroactively to existing projects where investments have been made. We have to look for the international average of re-injection, Silveira said at a press conference on Monday in Brasilia. Gas is a public policy. The administration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is prioritizing efforts to increase supplies of natural gas and bring down prices as a way to boost industrial activity. But having the regulator review how much natural gas oil producers reinject into offshore fields a process that increases underground pressure and can help stimulate the production of oil could make oil companies more cautious. No one but the operators themselves understand the needs of their project. A regulation of this nature gets to the heart of the investors decision and brings new risks to the sector, said Rivaldo Moreira Neto, a director at consultancy A&M Infra. The draft decree allows the agency to review the development plans at oil and gas concessions, including those already in operation. It says the government can transfer the concession rights to other operators in cases of non compliance. The plan also mentions the use of a natural gas production hubs that would be shared between several fields to make use of available processing capacity. The regulator could also limit natural gas exports when those shipments are identified as a risk for domestic supply, according to the draft. Petroleo Brasileiro SA is Brazils dominant oil and gas producer. International oil companies including Equinor ASA and Shell Plc are developing offshore oil projects that have large volumes of associated gas. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg) -- Canada will restrict a program that allows companies to recruit low-wage foreign labor after the government was criticized for letting it grow too quickly, and for failing to stop the abuse of temporary workers. The government is reversing two major changes it made in 2022 to address labor shortages, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. Businesses are permitted to hire temporary foreign employees to fill low-wage jobs in at least 20% of their workforce. That limit will soon drop to 10% for most sectors, where it was before April 2022. The government is also bringing back a previous rule that bans the hiring of new temporary foreign workers for low-wage jobs in regions where the unemployment rate is 6% or higher. A handful of industries in which workers are hard to get including farming, fish processing, health care and construction will be exempt. The changes two years ago which the government deemed necessary at the time to help companies deal with a surge of vacant positions have been blamed for an explosion in the number of temporary workers in the country. The economic situation is very different now than it was two years ago, Trudeau said at a news conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The unemployment rate, which was around 5% in mid-2022, has risen to 6.4%, and its 14.2% for younger workers the highest level in more than a decade outside the pandemmic. Its not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and its not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited, Trudeau told reporters in Halifax. To those who would complain about worker shortages, heres my message: There is no better time to hire and invest in Canadian workers. The maximum length of employment for workers hired through the low-wage stream of the program will be reduced to one year from two. The government is also considering changes to another part of the foreign-worker program that deals with higher-wage jobs, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said. A surge in temporary migration to Canada including foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers pushed the countrys population growth rate last year to 3.2%, one of the worlds fastest. It has exacerbated a housing shortage and strained the social safety net, helping sink Trudeaus popularity. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that unscrupulous immigration consultants and employers are taking advantage of the temporary foreign worker program to sell jobs to desperate newcomers. A government investigation that was never publicly released found jobs were sold for between C$10,000 ($7,400) and C$180,000, according to a summary viewed by Bloomberg. A job linked to the program boosts an individuals chance of obtaining permanent residency in Canada, creating an incentive to pay for one. It also ties the employee to an individual employer, making it hard to switch jobs tilting the balance of power so much that a United Nations official said the program allows modern forms of slavery to take place. --With assistance from Jay Zhao-Murray, Randy Thanthong-Knight and Brian Platt. (Revises with details from Trudeau news conference, news release throughout.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Adds new Elliott ownership stake in paragraph 3, information on special meeting in paragraph 4 and company comments in paragraph 5) By Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Elliott Investment Management, which now holds voting power over roughly 9.7% of Southwest Airlines, is telling investors the company needs new outside leadership for a "better future," but it is also ready to press ahead with a planned proxy fight. In a letter to shareholders, the hedge fund is dialing up the pressure on the airline by proposing a new board-level committee that would conduct a thorough business review and "drive transformational change." The hedge fund said it is eager to meet with company representatives on Sept. 9 to discuss ways to tackle the carrier's "immense" challenges. But Elliott also warned that if leaders cannot identify "what is best for Southwest" and its stakeholders, it will push ahead with a board challenge. An investor would need to own 10% of Southwest's stock to call a special shareholder meeting and Elliott is very close to that point now, having increased its stake from 8% previously. The company said on Monday that it is prepared to meet with Elliott on Sept. 9 and that it has gathered feedback in the last several months and met with many shareholders directly. "We welcome the opportunity to discuss ideas that would drive sustained Shareholder value as we work to reach a collaborative resolution," Southwest said in a statement. TURNAROUND PLAN Elliott has been pushing to refresh the board and oust top executives to help improve the carrier's performance. In June CEO Bob Jordan said Southwest has a "great plan" which management will execute," and that he had no plans to resign. The airline has been trying to implement a turnaround plan, including adding seats with more leg room, moving to assigned seats and naming a new board member in July. Its stock price, which has been under pressure, pared losses recently. Southwest's stock traded largely flat at $28.12 at midday on Monday. Earlier this month, Elliott laid out plans to nominate 10 director candidates to Southwest's 15-person board, including former Virgin America CEO David Cush and Robert Milton, the former CEO of Air Canada. In the letter, Elliott said why it wants so many board seats. The hedge fund does not want to be "in charge" but said the board is "purpose-built to serve the interests" of CEO Robert Jordan and his predecessor and current executive chairman Gary Kelly. Elliott has pushed for Jordan and Kelly to be replaced since its stake in the airline became public in June. As a public company, Elliott wrote, Southwest must be accountable to shareholders and is not "an absolute monarchy." Some investors share Elliott's frustration, the letter said, noting that Artisan Partners publicly called for leadership change and urged the board to work with Elliott. Other shareholders expressed concerns privately to the hedge fund, it wrote. The hedge fund also pointed to concerns among Southwest pilots who have called for bold leadership to fix corporate problems. The airline must find a comprehensive solution, "not just some hand-picked new directors beholden to current management and a few long-overdue initiatives," the letter said. While CEO Jordan recently wrote that the fight with Elliott is "a battle for the heart of our company," the hedge fund said it is a fight for Jordan and Kelly to "continue to control Southwest, on their terms, for as long as they wish." Boeings spacecraft has failed to bring back Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore to Earth due to technical glitches. According to The Post's report, Boeing employees are feeling embarrassed over the fiasco. This failure marks another setback for the American multinational, which has been under scrutiny following a series of accidents involving its commercial flights. The spaceship's failure marks another major blow to the credibility of the aerospace giant. The Starliner space capsule experienced problems on its way to ISS, including a helium leak and thruster malfunction, which have left the two astronauts stranded in space for months. The duo embarked on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in June and are still awaiting rescue. We've had so many embarrassments lately; we're under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse, a Boring employee based in Florida told the Post. LiveMint could not independently confirm the development. These comments came after NASA announced it would seek help from Boeing's competitor and Elon Musks company, SpaceX, to bring back the two astronauts. The astronauts' return is now expected in February 2025. The employee added, We hate SpaceX, reported The Post. The employee felt humiliated and said, We talk trash about them all the time, and now theyre bailing us out. Its shameful. Im embarrassed; Im horrified. Boeing has stated that the issues with Starliner have been resolved, but the US space agency has decided to use SpaceX's Crew Dragon for the astronauts' return in February 2025 to avoid further risk. (Bloomberg) -- Ken Griffin is expecting to break ground next year on a 54-story tower in Miami that will serve as headquarters of his Citadel financial empire, enlisting a Philadelphia developer as a consultant on the project. The proposed building at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive will have 1.7 million square feet, combining offices and a roughly 413,000-square-foot hotel on the upper floors, according to plans filed with Miami-Dade County on Monday. The waterfront project is expected to break ground in the third quarter of 2025, a spokesperson for Griffin said. The billionaire founder of hedge fund Citadel and market maker Citadel Securities first proposed the project in 2022, with its cost estimated to be more than $1 billion. That same year, Griffin relocated his family and his businesses to Miami after leaving his longtime home in Chicago. His firms will serve as anchor tenants for the new tower. The building, set to be one the citys tallest, will redefine the Miami skyline, the spokesperson said, adding that it will bolster Miamis reputation as a destination for talented professionals and their families, businesses and culture. Griffin, 55, has tapped Philadelphia-based Gattuso Development Partners to consult on the project, the filings show. The firms co-founder, John Gattuso, has worked on multiple projects with Comcast Corp. Griffin previously dropped Chicago-based Sterling Bay from the project. Foster Partners is handling the design for the Miami tower, which will also include retail and waterfront restaurant space, according to the filings, as well as a public pedestrian path along the water. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg) -- Mexicos President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum appointed the energy economist Victor Rodriguez Padilla to lead state-owned oil driller and refiner Petroleos Mexicanos as her administration looks to revive the companys flagging production and trim its nearly $100 billion debt burden. Sheinbaum tapped Rodriguez, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, for the job to boost Pemexs profitability and rescue the company from ballooning debt and recurring accidents as she seeks to jump start Mexicos green energy transition. He has 42 years of experience in the energy sector and of course hes been a defender of the energy companies of the nation, Sheinbaum said when she announced the appointment during a news conference Monday. We have written a number of academic and opinion articles together. Rodriguez will face the gargantuan task of turning around production that has slumped to about half its peak 20 years ago. The companys debt burden stands at about $99.4 billion, making it the worlds most indebted oil producer. Its been saddled with deadly fires, oil spills and methane leaks in recent years as its infrastructure crumbles. And, it relies heavily on government handouts to stay afloat. Rodriguez, who holds a doctorate in energy economics from Pierre Mendes-France University, has spent the majority of his career at UNAM, where he received degrees in physics and engineering. He also co-authored a paper with Sheinbaum in 2009 on Mexicos energy policies and sustainable development. Returning the drilling and refining behemoth to profitability will be a monumental task. Last quarter, the company posted its worst loss since the global pandemic emerged more than four years ago, mostly due to a slide in the value of the peso in recent months. To stay afloat, the company has relied on government handouts to buoy its finances. Over the course of his term, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has showered the company with capital injections and tax relief totaling as much as $80 billion, though the infusions have done little to reverse oil output. Pemex is also facing billions in late payments to service providers. Repeat accidents in recent years have led many investors concerned with environmental, social and governance metrics to flee. Sheinbaum says she envisions Pemex playing a role in Mexicos transition to cleaner sources of energy and has promised to expand it into green technologies, including hydrogen, lithium extraction and electric-vehicle infrastructure. The company published its first sustainability plan in March after some of its creditors threatened to divest from the company if it didnt clean up its ESG record. Another major question is how Pemex will work with the private sector to turn around production, such as the companys recent deal to farm out some of its offshore production to private drillers. Sheinbaum has vowed to keep state-owned enterprises at the center of Mexicos energy sector, echoing a position taken by AMLO. Sheinbaum has also said she expects to refinance the companys bonds before large maturities come due in 2025. The company has more than $7 billion in bonds maturing next year, according to the latest company data. --With assistance from Maya Averbuch. (Adds details starting in the third paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com The messaging platform Telegram on the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter) responded to the arrest of CEO Pavel Durov in France. In a post on August 26, Telegram Messenger said it abides by EU laws and has nothing to hide, adding that it is absurd to hold a platform accountable for abuse by users. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, it said. Adding, It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all. Also Read | Telegram CEO arrested: Tech titans raise alarm over free speech in Europe Pavel Durov Arrested in France Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on August 24 evening, Reuters reported citing French media TF1 TV and BFM TV. TF1 reported that Durov was travelling aboard his private jet from Azerbaijan and was targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation. It said he was arrested at around 20:00 (18:00 GMT). Both TF1 and BFM said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that resulting criminal activity on the messaging app. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment, Reuters added. Telegram is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine, and the republics of the former Soviet Union. Ranked among the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat, it aims to reach one billion users in the next year. Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born Durov. Forbes estimates Durov's worth at $15.5 billion. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with the government's demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform. After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic and misleading content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. Russia's embassy in France told the Russian state TASS news agency that Durov's team did not contact it after the reports of the arrest, but it was taking "immediate" steps to clarify the situation. Criticisms Over Arrest Pour In Edward Snowden, the former NSA whistleblower now living in Russia, strongly condemned the arrest. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also weighed in with an X post. American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan criticised the arrest, asserting that the French governments actions are driven more by a desire for control than by crime prevention. (Bloomberg) -- Texas Municipal Retirement System is hiring three investment staff as it looks to expand direct investment capabilities in private markets, according to Yup Kim, chief investment officer of the $40 billion pension fund. Philip Hunter OBrien will join as a managing director and head of private equity, Kim said in a statement. OBrien, who previously led technology and consumer direct private equity investments for Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, will also sit on the staff investment committee. Amol Deshpande is joining as a managing director and head of direct investments, and will also be on the staff investment committee. He was previously a managing director and member of the management committee of health-care technology investment firm Redesign Health. Isidora Stankovic will join as director of private equity from Searchlight Capital Partners, where she was on the private equity team in London, according to the statement. TMRS, which invests on behalf of employees in more than 900 cities, had about $40 billion in assets under management as of March 31, according to an investment report. The fund had a one-year return of 11.62%. Private equity investments were 11.5% of the portfolio and private debt was 11.8% as of March 31, below the investment policy allocation of 13% for each of the two asset classes. State pensions have taken varying approaches to private markets investing as distributions to investors from private equity firms remain low. Some funds, such as Teacher Retirement System of Texas, have cut back from private equity, while others, including Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., have increased their allocations. --With assistance from Dawn Lim. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com * FTC and US states argue merger will harm competition and raise prices * Kroger and Albertsons claim merger needed to compete with Walmart, Amazon * Kroger pledges $1 billion in price cuts, plans to sell 579 stores if deal proceeds By Deborah Bloom, Jody Godoy PORTLAND, Oregon, - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission argued in federal court on Monday that Kroger's $25 billion merger with rival grocer Albertsons is bad for shoppers in a case that highlights growing alarm over surging grocery prices. The FTC and several states went to trial in Portland, Oregon, to block the deal, saying it would mean higher prices for consumers and less bargaining power for unionized grocery workers. FTC Chief Trial Counsel Susan Musser told U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson during opening statements in a packed courtroom that it would result in Kroger "swallowing" Albertsons. "Stopping this multibillion-dollar deal will keep in place the vigorous competition that acts as a check on rising grocery prices and spurs improvements in quality and innovation," she said. Kroger attorney Matthew Wolf said in an opening statement that the merger would immediately lower some prices for shoppers at Albertsons, where prices are now 10-12% higher than at Kroger stores. The FTC's bid to bring down prices by blocking the deal shows "they neither understand the industry nor the parties within it," Wolf said. The merger is necessary, said Wolf, in order for the stores to compete with Walmart, the largest grocery retailer in the U.S., bulk shopping mainstay Costco and Amazon.com , which owns Whole Foods. Albertsons' lawyer Enu Mainigi said that Walmart is able to sell certain products at a price lower than the grocery store chain can buy them wholesale, and that a tie-up with Kroger gives Albertsons the best chance to survive. "It could mean layoffs. It could include closing stores. It may include exiting certain markets altogether. These are the kind of things that are on the table if the merger does not go through," she said. The case is a high-profile piece of the Biden administration's push to lower prices for consumers, and comes as high grocery bills take prominence in the U.S. presidential race. It is also a key test of FTC Chair Lina Khan's initiative to use antitrust law to boost wages and mobility for workers. Kroger attorney Wolf said there is no difference between union wages at Kroger stores that are located near Albertsons stores and those that are not. The FTC's Musser said unionized grocery workers secure better pay and benefits by striking at one store and sending customers to a rival. A merger between Kroger and Albertsons would lessen the severity of that threat, she said. The FTC alleges the merger would harm workers in dozens of labor markets. "We don't believe the company's promise that they are doing this for competition," said Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union local in Colorado and Wyoming. The trial is expected to last around three weeks and feature evidence about competition in the grocery industry. Kroger and Albertsons say the lawsuit's focus on traditional supermarkets ignores that consumers typically shop for food at a variety of locations including big-box stores like Target and dollar stores such as Dollar Tree. Kroger has said it will sell 579 of the approximately 5,000 stores it would own if the deal goes through. Part of the trial will focus on whether buyer C&S Wholesale Grocers can successfully run them. Kroger has also pledged to lower grocery prices by $1 billion after the merger. Retailers use multiple levers to lower prices, including negotiating better deals with suppliers, investing in automation in the supply chain or changing the way they label and package products. Although Kroger declined to provide specifics, a source familiar with the matter indicated that the reductions will likely focus on essential and high-demand items first. Musser said the investment represents only 0.5% of Kroger and Albertsons' combined total revenue. Nelson is considering whether to pause the deal while an FTC in-house judge examines how it would impact competition. Such reviews can take years, and companies often abandon paused deals rather than complete the process. Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming and the District of Columbia have sued alongside the FTC. Washington and Colorado have filed their own lawsuits to block the merger, which are scheduled to go to trial after the FTC's case. Okinawa Autotech, an electric two-wheeler maker, is in the spotlight for failing to pay its employees on time. Amid ongoing legal battles and operational challenges, the company's troubles seem to be mounting on a daily basis. Former employees have complained about unpaid salaries, while dealers have reported that the company delivered faulty vehicles to them. One former employee shared that she has not received her salary for three months this year. According to her, the company did not deposit her salary in February and gave no prior intimation about the delay. Our salaries get deposited on the 7th of every month. But that stopped last year when we got our November salary in December. That is when we knew something was wrong, YourStory quoted the employee. (LiveMint could not independently confirm the development of this news) The employee added that her emails to the HR department about her salary status had received no response. Subsequently, she resigned in April after three months of unpaid work, citing financial difficulties. She added, I am yet to get my severance and full and final settlement, reported YourStory. Mid-level management employees informed YourStory that the company has not paid salaries to several employees for months together. The company has allegedly been unable to fulfil dealer obligations as well, a former dealership owner informed YourStory. The company used to send in damaged vehicles, and when we tried to reach out to the company for parts to repair the vehicles to make them ready to be sold, they told us that they have no parts in stock at the moment, YourStory quoted the dealer as saying. Dealers also reported that the company delivered some vehicles with missing parts and that there were instances of some vehicles catching fire. Gurugram-based insurtech startup InsuranceDekho has launched Heph, an affiliate software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm, that will offer digital solutions to help insurance distributors in India manage operations, top executives at the company told Mint . Heph, which offers services ranging from front-end customer interfaces to back-end systems, goes live with its website on Monday, 26 August. Ankit Agrawal, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of InsuranceDekho, said the new affiliate company has been bootstrapped. This marks a departure from the groups usual approach, as CarDekho and InsuranceDekho have collectively raised at least $750 million from marquee investors like Peak XV Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, TVS Capital Funds and LeapFrog Investments, among others. Also read | InsuranceDekho appoints Avendus to help raise around $150 mn They (Heph) broke even from day one and have been Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) positive since the start," said Agrawal. The platform will cover insurance products within health, life motor and group insurance, and will also provide businesses the flexibility to co-create products, and manage and optimize their insurance offerings. To be sure, the platform has been in the testing phase for over 18 months and has already onboarded over 100 insurance distributors, Agrawal told Mint. The company, however, did not disclose further details on its clients, but said they include banks, non-banking financial companies, brokers, original equipment manufacturers, fintechs and other digital players. Our focus now is on continuing to build and scale the business while working on onboarding new clients and offering our expertise built over the past year," he said. Founded in 2017 by Agrawal and Ish Babbar, InsuranceDekho acts as a broker, aggregating insurance agents and helping them sell policies to customers, with a focus on tier-II cities and beyond. The new SaaS firm Heph will operate as an affiliate of InsuranceDekho. Hephs upscaling plans Over the next year, Heph plans to invest in marketing and branding, with a focus to onboard more clients. Weve achieved a strong product-market fit, and now our goal is to broaden our market presence and deepen our engagement within the industries we serve," said Ayush Bagmar, business head of Heph, who is leading the SaaS firms operations. After the initial year, Heph also has aspirations to expand globally. Our tech stack today is built on a very agile and scalable architecture, which does not limit ourselves to any particular region. We are starting with Indian companies, but we will expand globally after the next three-four quarters," Bagmar said. Read more | InsuranceDekho valued at $600 million in Series B round With this, the bootstrapped affiliate entity will compete with existing players like Vymo, Turtlefin and Riskcovry, among others, that are operating within the SaaS insurtech segment and have raised external capital. Intermediaries, like large banks or NBFCs, have robust technology stacks which any new platform must integrate with, which has proven to be a challenge so far. Secondly, many digital tools that have been available so far were not widely adopted," said Bagmar. He believes that despite the presence of competitors in the market, many of the challenges faced by insurance distributors remain unsolved, which Heph plans to address. Pharmaceutical firm Grifols is wounded. The bleeding can be stopped. Between the time it first listed on Spains stock market in 2006 and the onset of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, the Barcelona-based company outperformed the S&P 500 almost fivefold thanks to its role as a supplier of blood-plasma-based medicines and its geographical diversification. Half of its revenue comes from the U.S. Ever since, though, the stock has become reviled and lost more than 70% of its value. During the pandemic, Grifols invested in research on the use of antibodies derived from the plasma of patients newly recovered from the coronavirus as a treatment. The results were disappointing, but that wasnt the pandemics worst impact on the company. Lockdowns prompted blood-collection centers to close, resulting in a plasma shortage that contributed to a 69% drop in the companys net income in 2021. At the start of this year, the company suffered an even deeper cut in the form of a report released by Gotham City Research, the short-seller fund responsible for sinking Gowex in 2014. The Spanish wireless-network provider ended up admitting that it had falsified its accounts. In the post-Theranos era, leveling a similar accusation against a blood-related company tends to make investors a little jumpy, and Gotham did raise some reasonable concerns. One is that Grifolss acquisition spree of the past decade and a half now looks ill-advised. Debt went from amounting to about three times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, to eight times at the end of 2023. During that time, operating margins went from 25% to 11%. Another is that Grifols has an opaque relationship with one of its shareholders, an investment firm called Scranton Enterprises. Shortly after buying Haema and Biotest in 2018, Grifols immediately sold them to Scranton. It also signed a long-term agreement to get plasma from these firms and retained the option to repurchase them. Because of the contraction of its core business, two-thirds of Grifolss 2023 earnings were generated by what it calls minority interestsincluding the two companies it sold to Scranton, together with Grifols Diagnostics Solutions, of which it owns 55%. Gotham argues that Grifols misled investors by reporting results as if these enterprises were fully under its control, overstating earnings and understating debt. Its shares are uninvestable and likely are worth zero," the January report said. Gotham has also warned that Scranton is a Grifols family entity." The family members, which trace the origin of Grifols to 1909 and have held a tight leash on it since, claim that they are only minority investors. Grifols has sued Gotham, insisting that all transactions were done at arms length" and were announced at the time. Regardless of the legality of the whole affair, investors are right to be on guard. A disinterested third party would hardly have engaged in such transactions with Grifols. The pre-existing relationship with Scranton is indisputable, and Grifols seems to have used it to its advantage, acquiring costly firms while keeping the accounting as flattering as possibleor, in the words of the 2018 annual report, to reinforce its financial structure." But this seems to contradict the claim that Grifols shouldnt count earnings from these companies as its own. Indeed, Spanish regulators concluded in March that it does retain control over them. Concerns about the firms financial engineering linger, though. In their review, officials still scolded executives for not having provided debt ratios excluding minority interests in several reports. And, two months ago, Grifols had to restate its accounts from 2020 through 2023, admitting that it had treated its stake in Chinese firm Shanghai RAAS incorrectly. Canadian asset manager Brookfield has been working on the possibility of helping to take Grifols private but, according to a Spanish online newspaper, it has hit snags because of accounting issues regarding RAAS. A more recent report from Bloomberg suggested a takeover is still possible. The silver lining: Grifols has become extremely cheap. Its enterprise value is roughly nine times prospective Ebitda, while its closest competitor, CSL, trades at 21. For 2024 as a whole, a powerful postpandemic rebound in the plasma market has led analysts to expect Grifolss core profit will be almost seven times higher than in 2023, once again dwarfing the contribution of the contentious minority holdings. Most of the RAAS stake has now been sold and has helped pay down debt. Moreover, governance concerns have been addressed in recent months by naming new board members, replacing top executives and reducing the day-to-day involvement of the Grifols family. A penchant for creative accounting is always a bad sign, but it doesnt necessarily make a company worthless, especially if it is willing to repent. Whether the upside comes from a takeover or a revenue recovery, Grifols could be an interesting target for opportunistic investorsas long as they dont faint at the sight of blood. Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com (Bloomberg) -- Brazils state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA is hunting for shale gas deals in Argentina as part of a bigger plan to increase supplies of the fuel to spur industrial growth, according to people familiar with the strategy. Assets in which Petrobras is looking to acquire a stake include those of Tecpetrol SA, a unit of billionaire Paolo Roccas Techint Group, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Petrobras said in a response to questions that its looking to generate value and restore oil and natural gas reserves through opportunities in Brazil as well as abroad, which it outlined in its five-year strategic plan. Tecpetrol declined to comment. Petrobras is looking to expand internationally, with a particular focus on oil and gas projects in Latin America and off Africas Atlantic coast, instead of limiting itself to deepwater fields in Brazil. The strategy is a source of controversy within a government that also vows to prioritize its environmental agenda, including attempts to foster a green transition of Brazils economy. Other major gas producers in Argentinas heralded Vaca Muerta shale patch are state-run YPF SA, TotalEnergies SE, Pampa Energia SA, and Pan American Energy Group, which is 50% owned by BP Plc. Petrobras divested its Argentina assets several years ago but kept a 34% stake in the Rio Neuquen shale gas field, a venture with YPF and Pampa. New momentum in Vaca Muerta means Argentina could export gas to Brazil as soon as next year. But instead of just importing the fuel, Petrobras would like to be involved on the production end, the people said. Argentine engineers are working to reverse the flow of a major pipeline, with the idea that Vaca Muerta drillers can use it to send surplus fuel to Sao Paulo via Bolivia. Bolivia traditionally pipes gas to both its neighbors, but its output is now in severe decline. In August, Argentina pre-authorized Tecpetrol and TotalEnergies to export gas to Brazil, according to the province of Neuquen, which holds the largest share of Argentine shale reserves. Government officials and industry executives are toying with the idea of also extending another pipeline network to be able to send gas directly into southern Brazil, avoiding a circuitous route through Bolivia. Expansion Petrobras production is set to peak around 2030 unless it makes major discoveries or acquisitions. Vaca Muerta, which is often compared to the Permian Basin in the US, could help. The shale formation has seen a series of false dawns over the past decade because of Argentinas tough business climate. But pipeline buildouts and deregulation under President Javier Milei are driving drilling investments and export plans, with production in the Neuquen Basin reaching seasonal highs of the equivalent of more than 1 million barrels a day. Brazils gas ambitions even surpass political rivalry. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has traded barbs with Milei all year as diplomatic ties sour between South Americas two largest economies. But in June, Lula met Neuquen Governor Rolando Figueroa during an investment conference in Rio de Janeiro. Lula also met this month with Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Magda Chambriard to discuss how to grow supplies and reduce prices, while Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira strongly proposes using gas to boost Brazils industry and manufacturing sectors. But importing Argentine gas may undermine Brazils ambitions to become a global leader in the energy transition as the fuel could displace renewables. If South Americas largest economy turns to its gas-fired plants for power, it could be a setback for one of the cleanest electricity grids in the world: About 90% of Brazils grid currently runs on renewable energy sources including hydro, wind and solar. Gas also competes with green hydrogen where Brazil seeks to be a major producer as a feedstock for making fertilizers. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday the central bank is looking at a nationwide launch of a technological platform called the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) in due course to speed up disbursal of credit, especially to rural and smaller borrowers. Speaking at a global conference on Digital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies in Bengaluru, Das said ULI is expected to transform the retail lending system much like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Just like the Unified Payments Interface changed the payments ecosystem, similarly we expect ULI to transform the lending landscape, the governor said. Exactly a year ago, the central bank had developed the Public Tech Platform to enable frictionless credit. It was aimed at providing digital information to lenders to facilitate credit or loans in just a few minutes. RBI realized the data required for credit appraisal was available with different entities like central and state governments, account aggregators, banks, credit information companies, digital identity authorities, etc. The data being available in separate systems created a hindrance in frictionless and timely delivery of loans. The end-to-end digital platform was therefore designed in such a way that an open architecture with open application programming interfaces (APIs) will enable all financial sector players to connect seamlessly in a plug and play model. The tech platform is the culmination of pilot projects that began in 2022, which included end-to-end digitalization of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans and digital dairy loans. These projects saw a significant reduction in turnaround time and brought intended efficiency in the loan processing. The platform was later expanded last year to include other digital loans. According to RBIs annual report, the platform as on 31 March had five loan journeys, including KCC loans up to 1.6 lakh; dairy loans; unsecured micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) loans; personal loans and home loans; with a total of 12 banks participating in the pilot, which commenced on 17 August 2023. The platform currently enables linkage with 31 different data services. ULI is expected to cater to large unmet demand of credit for various sectors for agriculture and MSME borrowers, said Das. This platform facilitates seamless flow of digital information, including land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders. This cuts down the time taken for credit appraisals, especially for smaller and rural borrowers, he added. The digital Public Tech Platform is part of the central banks digitalization of banking services, according to Das. The new platform is also based on consent of potential borrowers, and data privacy is fully protected, he said. Das said that earlier there was the trinity of Jan Dhan Accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile Phones, or JAM, and now a new trinity is being proposed. The new trinity, JAM, UPI and ULI, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to be rolled out gradually, is a revolutionary step in Indias digital public infrastructure journey, he said. This initiative reduces complexity of multiple technical integration, enables borrowers to get the benefit of seamless delivery of credit, quicker turnaround time without requiring extensive documentation, he added. The platform is beneficial to all stakeholders, including consumers, lenders and data service providers. Consumers can get frictionless, tailored credit through consent architecture without the need for paper-based documentation or physical visits to financial institutions. Lenders and data service providers benefit due to the network effect, standardization, efficiency in terms of cost, innovation in lending process, scalability and increasing reach. Going ahead, ULI can continue to unlock even more data from sources such as gig platforms and payment systems for driving deeper insights and smarter credit decisions. J-K Assembly elections: The Congress and Farooq Abdullah's National Conference on Monday has officially reached a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections. In the September 18 polls for 90 Assembly seats, Congress and National Conference will be fighting 32 and 51 seats respectively. Congress J&K chief Tariq Hamid Karra in Srinagar said both the parties agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 other seats. National Conference will contest on 51 seats, Congress on 32 and we have agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 seats, Karra said. Over and above these 88 seats, we have left 1 seat for CPI (M) and 1 seat for Panthers Party, he added. At a joint press conference, Farooq Abdullah said the INDIA alliance was formed to fight those forces which promote communal divide and want to split the country. "Today, we completed our negotiations in a cordial atmosphere. Congress and National Conference will contest the elections together, he added. BJP names 16th candidate The BJP named 16 candidates for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, considerably pruning an initial list of 44 following protests by some party cadre who alleged that "parachute candidates" were favoured over dedicated workers. The original list, which included candidates for 36 segments in the Jammu region and eight in the Kashmir Valley, sparked significant dissatisfaction among party workers. Also Read | J&K: Farooq Abdullah confirms alliance with Congress on all 90 assembly seats The BJP is looking on build on its performance as it faces a rejuvenated challenge from the Congress-National Conference alliance, particularly in the Jammu region. J-K Assembly elections As of now, 14 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the first phase of elections. August 27 is the last date for filing nominations for the first phase. The process of filing nominations for the second and third phases will begin on August 29 and September 5, respectively. The counting of votes for the elections will be taken up on October 4. In the last assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, when it was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats. In an unusual turnaround, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its list of candidates for 44 seats in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024 on Monday, August 26, a few hours after releasing it. According to reports, the BJP leadership will release a fresh and revised list of candidates later in the day. Sources said the saffron party withdrew the list as it wants to first release the names of candidates for the first phase of polling on September 18. Figuring in the withdrawn list were prominent candidates such as Devinder Singh Rana (Nagrota), Arvind Gupta (Jammu West), Shamlal Sharma (Jammu North), Narinder Singh Raina (Jammu South), Yudhvir Sethi (Jammu East) among others. It also included Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, and Mohd Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West. The party had also fielded Adv Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Sushri Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, and Gajay Singh Rana from Doda. The Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly elections will be held in three phases: September 18, 25 and October 1. The votes will be counted on October 4. Among the total 90 assembly constituencies in the Union Territory, 74 are for the general category, nine are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and seven are reserved for Scheduled Castes. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 87.09 lakh eligible electorates, with an equal percentage of males and females. The BJP decided not to form alliances with any political party in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir polls. At the same time, the party said it would support strong independent candidates in constituencies where it is not contesting fielding candidates. Meanwhile, the National Conference has announced a pre-poll alliance with Congress, but the seat-sharing formula is yet to be finalised. National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said that an agreement has to be reached on some seats. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Polls 2024: On Monday, August 26, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) experienced a period of turmoil following the release of their candidate list for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The saffron party released its first list of 15 candidates for the first phase of elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to be held on September 18. Later, BJP also announced Choudhary Roshan Hussian Gujjar as their Assembly poll candidate for Kokernag constituency. Elections to Kokernag will be held in the first phase. The first list includes the names of candidates for a few Kashmir constituencies, including Pampore, Shopian, Anantnag West and Anantnag. In the first list for the first phase of Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir BJP has fielded Syed Showkat Andrabi from Pampore Arshad Bhat from Rajpora Javed Qari from Shopian Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West Syed Wazahat from Anantnag Sofi Yousuf from Bijbehar Veer Saraf from Shangus-Ananatnag East Tariq Keen from Inderwal Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar Sunil Sharma from Padder-Naseni Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah Gajay Rana from Doda Shakti Parihar from Doda Rakesh Thakur from Ramban Salim Bhat from Banihal However, hours later, several BJP leaders, who did not get a ticket to contest in J&K Assembly elections, reached BJP Office in Jammu, demanding a ticket for their candidate. Notably, several former leaders of Congress, National Conference, PDP and Panthers Party, who switched sides and joined the BJP, also featured in the now-deleted list. Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina said he would personally meet each worker who has come to the BJP office. "We are all members of one family, and we work with selfless intent, with spirit of national service, and with 'nation first' mindset", said Raina, whose name was missing along with former Deputy Chief Ministers Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta from the now-deleted list. The BJP had earlier released a candidate list of 44 candidates, which included 10 names for the second phase and 19 for the third. August 27 is the last date for filing nominations for the first phase and the process for the second and third phases will begin from August 29 and September 5 respectively. The elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases -- September 18, September 25 and October 1. Bank Holiday today: Are banks closed today, on August 26, on occasion of Janmashtami or Krishna Janmabhoomi? Yes, in many Indian states. Janmashtami 2024 is a bank holiday in states including Gujarat, Orissa, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Jammu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, and Srinagar. However, banks will remain open in states like Tripura, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, New Delhi, and Goa. Also Read | Bank Holidays in 2024. Check the full list here Janmashtami 2024 Holiday Janmashtami, is a significant Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. It is also known as Krishna Janmabhoomi by those who celebrate. As a result, banks and many businesses may remain closed on this day as well. Notably, in states the Monday holiday for Janmashtami this year, meant this was a long weekend off for bank staff and customers. The weekend began with the fourth Saturday bank holiday on August 24, followed by Sunday off on August 25, and Monday non-working due to Janmashtami on August 26 (today). Customers should know that bank holidays vary by state based on regional requirements. To avoid last-minute confusion and handle emergencies effectively, it is advisable to check the complete list of holidays with your nearest bank branch. Also Read | Are SBI branches near you open today? Read here Bank Holidays in August 2024 Apart from festivals and national holidays, the year will also have a total of two Saturdays and four Sundays off, besides regional and religious festivities. Customers should note that non-working days for banks differs from state to state in India, and it is prudent to check with your local bank branch for their holiday list before to keep informed. Also Read | Is Indian stock market closed today on Janmashtami? August 2024 has at least nine listed non-working days (including weekend leaves). Notably, there is also a long weekend at the months-end, so plan your bank visits accordingly. Here is the full list (public and private banks) to see: August 26: Most states will see their banks closed on this day for the festival of Krishna Janmabhoomi. Most states will see their banks closed on this day for the festival of Krishna Janmabhoomi. Past holidays this month: August 4 (Sunday), August 10 (second Saturday), August 11 (Sunday), August 15 (Independence Day / Parsi New Year), August 18 (Sunday), August 19 (Rakhi / Raksha Bandhan), August 24 (second Saturday), August 25 (Sunday). For cash emergencies, all banks operate their online websites and mobile banking services apps regardless of weekend or other leaves unless notified to users for particular reasons. You can also access any bank's ATMs for cash withdrawals. Types of Bank Holidays The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and state governments create a list of holidays for banks, taking into account national and local occasions, operational requirements, religious celebrations and other cultural observances. The central bank makes the announcement through its official website and notifications to banks and other financial institutions. In India, the RBI oversees the determination of bank holidays, which are categorized as follows: The nations top bankers seek to influence U.S. policy on everything from immigration to tariffs and bank-capital rules. They donate freely to their companies political-action committees and meet regularly with leaders of both political parties. Yet when it comes to siding with one presidential candidate or the other, the chief executives of big banks take a more diplomatic approach. And they almost never contribute directly to presidential campaigns, at least not since the financial crisis of 2008-09 transformed their relationship with Washington. There is little to gain by endorsing a candidate, current and former bank executives say. Doing so runs the risk of alienating employees and customers and straining the banks dealings with the White House and its appointees. It isnt that they dont engage in politics or on policy. The bank CEOs have personally lobbied against Federal Reserve proposals that would have forced their companies to set aside more capital, arguing that the measures would drive up costs and reduce their ability to lend. The tactics were effective: U.S. regulators eventually moved toward a different plan with more modest increases in capital requirements. No bank CEO has been more influentialyet careful to straddle a tight line between presidential rivalsthan JPMorgans Jamie Dimon, the only current big-bank chief executive who has remained in his role since before the crisis. Dimon said during a 2012 television interview that he was barely Democrat, at this point." The comment was a clever way to keep loyalists from both parties happy, said Tevi Troy, a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center who wrote The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry." Being a Democrat appeals to Democrats, but the barely part appeals to Republicans," Troy said. By 2019, Dimons views had evolved somewhat, though they still struck a bipartisan chord. My heart is Democratic, my brain is kind of Republican," he said. In January, he said former President Donald Trump was kind of right" on some policies related to the economy, immigration and China. Two months later, Dimon was in the White House having lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris. He came away from that visit believing she sounded reasonable and was open to improving the governments relationships with U.S. corporations, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is little wonder, then, that Dimons Aug. 2 op-ed in the Washington Post offering his advice to the next president didnt mention any of the candidates by name, or their party affiliation. Even his list of successful leadersPresidents Lincoln, Truman and Eisenhowermade sure to include both Republicans and Democrats. We need to elect a president who is dedicated to the ideals that define and unite us, and who is committed to restoring our faith in America and our indispensable role in the world," he wrote. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan has visited the White House on several occasions to share his views on the economy with President Biden and his predecessors. He has praised Bidens administration for its work in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic while also criticizing policies toward energy projects and corporate dealmaking as bad for business. Bank CEOs didnt always guard their presidential preferences so closely. As recently as 2007, all of the heads of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo contributed to at least one presidential campaign. By the time Barack Obama and John McCain won their partys nominations in 2008, the financial-services industry as it was known was changing dramatically. Since then, active bank CEOs have made only a handful of donations to presidential campaigns. Wells Fargos John Stumpf gave Mitt Romneys campaign $10,000 in 2012. His successor, Tim Sloan, made two contributions to the Republican National Committee in 2017 and 2018. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldmans former CEO, publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, then praised Trumps handling of the economy in 2018. In 2023, his successor, David Solomon, contributed to South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scotts campaign. Many of those big-bank CEOs were more frequent contributors to White House bids before they were promoted to the top job, and after they stepped down. Of their donations since 2008, only 15% occurred when they held the title, according to an analysis of federal campaign-finance data by the Journal. The U.S. government responded to the financial crisis by rolling out many new regulations that sought to rein in banks risks. The banks are under constant supervision and often under siege from a battery of new rules designed to make the financial system safer. Presidents might criticize Wall Street publicly. But in private, and especially in moments of turmoil, they often turn to the big-bank CEOs for their advice and insights into the economy or the marketsas they did in the aftermath of the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine and the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. An election might sweep out a presidents cabinet and the heads of the government agencies, but even in defeat the losing party still holds sway in Congress and on regulators boards. Theres a sense that the Democrats dont go away, and the Republicans dont go away," Troy said. Theyre all here." The biggest banks have hundreds of thousands of employees and customers in nearly every state. As a group, they form a mosaic of political opinions that mirrors the overall electorate. With this years presidential race shaping up to be another close one, the banks leaders are mindful of saying or doing anything politically that might alienate roughly half of their constituents. And like the rest of the country, more of those employees and customers are willing to voice those beliefs than they were a decade ago, current and former bank executives said. Any stance you take, youre going to end up hearing about it from the other side," one executive said. You have to be really careful." Alexander Saeedy and Gina Heeb contributed to this article. Write to Justin Baer at justin.baer@wsj.com and Jack Gillum at jack.gillum@wsj.com Operating margins of primary and secondary steelmakers could shrink by approximately 2% due to the introduction of new cesses by some states following a recent Supreme Court ruling, according to credit rating agency Icra Ltd. Icra said that primary steel producers may see a reduction of 60-180 basis points in operating margins, while secondary steel producers could face a steeper decline of 80-250 basis points (one hundred basis points equal one percentage point). The impact of these new cesses could extend beyond the steel industry, potentially affecting the power sector and aluminium manufacturing, Icra noted. The agency also highlighted concerns about the possibility of states applying the cess retroactively, which could impose additional burdens on companies with existing tax liabilities. This outlook follows Supreme Court rulings on 25 July and 14 August, which upheld the states' authority to levy taxes on mining activities within their jurisdictions and allowed for these levies to be applied retrospectively. "This development is poised to compress operating margins across the sector, impacting both primary and secondary steel producers," Icra said. Although state governments have yet to notify the additional taxes, experts warn that any new levies will likely erode margins for steel producers and increase costs further down the value chain. Read this | Green light for retro tax sends a shockwave across mining and metals companies "The enforcement of the new mining cess by key mineral-rich states can heighten cost pressures for the steel industry. While most states havent set the rates yet, any substantial cess implemented could adversely impact margins, especially for secondary steel producers, as the merchant miners are expected to pass on the increased costs," said Girishkumar Kadam, senior vice-president and group head, Corporate Sector Ratings, Icra. Odisha, a mineral-rich state, serves as a key example. The state has legislation permitting a 15% cess on coal and iron orethe highest allowed for states. Icra predicted that such laws, if implemented, could reduce competitiveness within the steel sector. "If fully enforced, it could result in an ~11% increase in the landed costs of iron ore, directly impacting the cost competitiveness of domestic steel entities," it said. The enforcement of these state laws will play a critical role in shaping the competitive landscape of the steel industry, according to Icra. "The implementation strategies adopted by various state governments will be crucial in shaping the competitive landscape of the steel industry," said Kadam. Meanwhile, steel prices in India have slipped to their lowest in more than three years, hurt by a global supply glut caused by a weak Chinese economy flooding the international markets with its excess production of the alloy. The ripple effects of these margin cuts could also dampen profitability in other industries, such as aluminium and power, ICRA forecasted. The power sector, heavily reliant on coal, might see a rise in supply costs by 0.6% to 1.5%, potentially leading to higher retail tariffs. Similarly, primary aluminium producers, due to their high power consumption, could face cost increases of approximately 1,200-1,300 per tonne ($15-$16 per tonne), assuming a 15% cess, which represents ~0.6% of current aluminium prices, Icra noted. As the industry braces for these additional costs, a significant point of uncertainty remains: whether states will impose these cesses retrospectively, and how they will implement these new levies. "If the cess is applied retrospectively, it could increase financial pressure on steel companies. However, the Supreme Courts provision for staggered payments over 12 years starting from 1 April 2026, without any interest and penalties on past demands offers some financial relief," said Kadam. Also read | Mint Explainer: Significance of the sole dissenter in the mining tax ruling Premier Energies initial public offerings (IPO) garnered 846 crore in anchor book round a day before it opens for subscription on August 27. According to the exchange filing, the Hyderabad-based integrated solar cells and solar modules manufacturer allocated 18,802,666 equity shares to anchor investors at anchor investor allocation price of 450 per equity share. The Board of Directors of the Company at their respective meetings held on 26 August, 2024, in consultation with the Book Running Lead Managers to the Offer, has finalized allocation of 18,802,666 Equity Shares, to Anchor Investors at Anchor Investor Allocation Price of 450 per Equity Share (including share premium of 449 per Equity Share), the company said in the filing on August 26. HDFC Mutual Fund, Nomura Funds Ireland, Abu Dhabi Investment, Nippon Life India Trustee, Kotak Mahindra, Axis Mutual were among the participants in the anchor book round. The company further informed that out of the total allocation of 18,802,666 Equity Shares, 8,834,356 Equity Shares were allocated to 17 domestic mutual funds, (i.e. 46.98% of the anchor allocation to the domestic mutual funds through various schemes). Premier Energies IPO details The Premier Energies IPO will be open for subscription from Tuesday, August 27, to Thursday, August 29. Premier Energies' IPO consists of a fresh issue of 2.87 crore shares valued at 1,291.40 crore, along with an offer for sale of 3.42 crore shares totaling 1,539.00 crore. This makes the mainboard IPO a book-built issue amounting to 2,830.40 crore. The company has set the price band between 427 and 450 per share, with a face value of 1. The minimum lot size for an application is 33 shares, meaning retail investors need to invest at least 14,850. Share allotment is anticipated to be finalized on Friday, August 30, with the company's shares potentially listing on the BSE and NSE on Tuesday, September 3. Refunds for unsuccessful applicants may be processed by Monday, September 2. Bengaluru-based investment management firm Capitalmind Financial Services Private Limited has received in-principle approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch new mutual fund. According to a company press release, this milestone occurred simultaneously with the company's 10th anniversary. "Receiving SEBI's in-principle approval for a mutual fund is both an honour and a privilege. We are grateful for this opportunity and remain committed to building long-term wealth while maintaining the highest standards of regulatory compliance. Our team has established a solid reputation for excellence in performance, service, communication, and research. We plan to leverage technology, partnerships, and distribution channels to capitalize on India's robust growth story. We look forward to establishing Capitalmind Asset Management Company to meet SEBI's final approval requirements," said founder and CEO Shenoy said on receiving Sebis in-principle approval. Capitalmind manages over 2,200 crore for more than 1,150 clients through its Portfolio Management Service (PMS). Under the leadership of Deepak Shenoy, Capitalmind is ranked 25th in terms of assets under management (AUM) in discretionary equity strategies. As of March 31, 2024, there are 74.6 crore PAN cardholders in India, but only 4.5 crore unique mutual fund investors, highlighting a considerable growth opportunity. The industry has experienced rapid expansion, with assets under management (AUM) growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 per cent over the past five years. We are excited to introduce innovative investing approaches tailored to the evolving needs of Indian mutual fund investors. Our goal is to serve the rapidly growing cohort of 4.5 crore mutual fund investors with exceptional products and services while contributing to the growth of the overall Mutual Fund Industry. We look forward to playing a key role in the financialization of India by adding value to the rapidly growing 64 lakh crore mutual fund industry, Shenoy added. Capitalmind appears to be joining the ranks of the expanding list of Bangalore-based asset management companies in India. Other notable AMCs from Bangalore include Zerodha Fund House, Groww Mutual Fund, and Navi Mutual Fund. Since its establishment, the company has consistently doubled its assets under management (AUM) each financial year, thanks to strong portfolio performance and consistent inflows. This impressive growth has led to the creation of over 1,000 crore in wealth for clients in under seven years, according to the press release. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh has assured that the company will honor the job offers extended to new graduates and that they will proceed with onboarding, despite some adjustments in the dates. Parekh's remarks are particularly notable in light of recent reports suggesting that Infosys has postponed the onboarding of 2,000 engineering graduates from the 2022 batch, according to report by news agency PTI. "Every offer that we have given, that offer will be someone who will join the company. We changed some dates but beyond that everyone will join Infosys and there is no change in that approach," Parekh told PTI in response to a question on reported delays in onboarding of 2,000 fresh engineering graduates for two years. The Bengaluru-headquartered IT company has an overall employee base of 315,332 as on June 2024. Recently, IT and ITES union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment against Infosys for delaying the onboarding of 2,000 engineering graduates selected for system engineer and digital specialist engineer roles during the 2022-23 recruitment drive. "These graduates, after being issued offer letters as early as April 2022, have been subjected to continuous delays in the onboarding process, unpaid pre-training programmes, and unexpected additional assessments. Despite fulfilling all requirements on their part, these professionals have been kept in limbo for more than two years...," NITES had said. Shares of DCX Systems a company specializing in system integration and cable & wire harnessing have been on a downward trend for most of August, resulting in an 11.25 per cent decline the largest monthly drop since September 2023. Investors sold off the stock after the company's June quarter performance fell short of market expectations. This decline caused the stock to correct by 25 per cent from its July all-time high of 452 per share. The company's revenue and net profit both declined in the reporting quarter. Revenue for the quarter stood at 138.08 crore, down from 170.10 crore in Q1 FY24. Analysts noted that DCX Systems has traditionally been lackluster in the first quarter, and this quarter was no different. However, Raneal Advanced Systems (DCX's PCBA arm) delivered revenue of 42.4 crore. At the same time, NIART Systems (a railway joint venture) is now ready for mass production, with assets totalling 475.2 crore, according to analysts. Operationally, DCX Systems experienced a 19 per cent year-on-year revenue decline to 138 crore due to the typically slow Q1. Rising raw material costs led to an operating loss of 4.8 crore, and net profit fell 69 per cent year-on-year to 2.9 crore. Management emphasized that the increased raw material costs will be recovered from customers under the BOM guarantee. Much of these costs are tied to one or two programs, and the company expects to receive the funds within two to three months. Also Read | Adopt cautious yet opportunistic strategy in small and midcaps: Vikram Kasat The order book at the end of the June quarter was 1,937 crore, executable over two years, with a significant portion of 1,250 crore, coming from L&T for the manufacturing and supply of electronic modules. The management is also anticipating strong order conversion in the future. The company is seeing strong demand from both domestic and international customers for the supply of cable and wire harness assemblies. It received orders worth 32 crore for these assemblies and continues to experience strong traction in its order pipeline. DCX is also focused on improving its margins and is confident about achieving double-digit margins. This will be supported by three key factors: utilizing Raneal Advanced Systems for internal consumption, NIART Systems preparing its obstacle detection equipment for mass production, and an increased mix of cable and wire harnessing, as per the analysts. Also Read | Paras Defence hits 5% upper circuit as board to consider fund raising next week Strong order book and diversification efforts to drive growth Despite the company missing analysts' estimates for the June quarter, domestic brokerage firm DevenChoksey emphasizes that DCX should not be evaluated on a quarter-to-quarter basis, particularly in the first quarter, which has historically been lackluster. The brokerage expects Q2 to provide more clarity on growth acceleration, supported by the company's robust order book of 1,937 crore. As a result, the brokerage has maintained its earnings estimates for FY25E and FY26E, driven by the strong order book, increased focus on cable and wire harnessing, and the commercial production of Raneal Advanced Systems. It continues with its 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of 519, valuing it at 36x on FY26 earnings. The target price suggests a potential upside of 53 per cent for the stock from its recent closing price of 340 per share. Notably, despite the recent correction, the stock has still achieved a 146% gain over the past 17 months. Shilpa Medicare shares surged over 11 percent to its record high after the company announced a successful outcome in Phase 3 studies for SMLNUD07, a drug known as NorUDCA. This medication is designed to treat patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Shilpa Medicare shares skyrocketed over 11 percent to reach a record high following the companys announcement of successful Phase 3 trial results for SMLNUD07, a drug known as NorUDCA. This medication is developed to treat Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a condition affecting millions globally, including around 188 million people in India. The company heralded NorUDCA as a potential game-changer for NAFLD treatment. In a regulatory filing, Shilpa Medicare stated that the tablets are expected to "revolutionize the treatment of patients suffering from NAFLD." The Phase 3 trial was a multicentric, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study involving 165 NAFLD patients across India. The results of the trial were promising. "No serious adverse events were reported in this Phase 3 study, and the treatment was well tolerated at the dose of 1,500 mg per day for the duration of 24 weeks," Shilpa Medicare added. This success in the advanced clinical trials significantly bolstered investor confidence, leading to a notable surge in the company's stock price. Stock price trend The stock soared as much as 11.6 percent, reaching a new high of 778.20. Following this rally, Shilpa Medicare's shares are now up 162.5 percent from their 52-week low of 296.45, recorded on October 26, 2023. Over the past year, the stock has jumped nearly 93 percent, and in 2024 alone, it has surged around 136 percent, delivering positive returns in 7 of the 8 months so far. August has seen the stock gain over 9 percent, marking its third consecutive month of gains. In July, the stock advanced 19.5 percent, while in June, it rose by 15 percent. The only setback this year came in May, when the stock corrected by 10 percent. Prior to that, Shilpa Medicare was in the green for the first four months of the year, posting gains of 11.5 percent in January, 13 percent in February, 10.5 percent in March, and 19.5 percent in April. NAFLD is the most common liver disease worldwide, estimated to affect about 25 percent of the global population, or approximately 1.2 billion people. In India alone, 188 million individuals are believed to suffer from NAFLD, noted Shilpa Medicare. If left untreated, NAFLD can progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a condition with potentially fatal implications. The Phase 3 trial for NorUDCA resulted in significant clinical outcomes, including at least a one-stage decrease in liver fibrosis and a reduction in fat accumulation in the liver. "The results indicate that NorUDCA could become a new standard of care with significant improvements in restoring liver function in NAFLD patients," Shilpa Medicare stated. The company plans to submit these Phase 3 clinical trial findings to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in India at the earliest, seeking marketing authorization to bring this promising treatment to market. Stocks to buy: Nifty 50, the key index of the Indian stock market, witnessed a healthy gain of 1.2 per cent for the week ended Friday, August 23, extending the gains into the second consecutive week, supported by positive global cues. Recent US macroeconomic data allayed recession fears while rate cut hopes have grown stronger. US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his keynote speech at the Fed's annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the central bank was ready to pivot on monetary policy. He, however, did not reveal the magnitude and timing of rate cuts. According to experts, a 25 bps rate cut in September looks almost certain, and it will augur well for the market. The Indian stock market may witness healthy gains in the medium and long term due to the prospects of solid economic growth and strong domestic buying. However, elevated valuation remains a concern that can cap the market's upside in the short term. Experts advise investors to consider buying stocks with favourable technical indicators for the short term. Based on the recommendations of several experts, here are 12 stocks that can rise 6-25 per cent in the next 2-3 weeks. Take a look: Jigar S. Patel, Senior Manager of Equity Research at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Borosil Renewables | Previous close: 513.55 | Buying range: 510-515 | Target price: 585 | Stop loss: 475 | Upside potential: 14% Borosil Renewables has recently experienced a significant price decline after reaching 573, losing around 15 per cent. The stock has now found support in the 490-500 range, which is a historically strong level. This support zone is critical as it also coincides with the 200-day simple moving average (SMA), a key technical indicator that often serves as a strong level of support. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the hourly chart shows a bullish divergence at this support level, which signals that the stock may be poised for a reversal. This makes the current price levels of 510-515 attractive for taking a long position. "Given these technical indicators, the stock is recommended for buying within this price range, with an upside target of 585. To manage risk effectively, it is advisable to place a stop loss at 475 on a daily closing basis," said Patel. Laxmi Organic Industries | Previous close: 280.10 | Buying range: 278-282 | Target price: 330 | Stop loss: 255 | Upside potential: 18% Over the past seven to eight weeks, Laxmi Organic has been trading within a relatively narrow range of approximately 235-270, indicating a period of consolidation. However, the stock recently broke out of this range and is now positioned near the 280 mark, signalling a potential shift in its trend. This breakout is particularly noteworthy because it has violated a bearish trendline that has constrained the stock's movement for nearly three years, and volume is picking up. The time it took for this breakout to occur makes it a significant event, suggesting a potential change in the stock's long-term trend. Additionally, the RSI, a momentum indicator, has consistently remained above 50 throughout this period. This sign of strength indicates that the stock has maintained positive momentum despite the consolidation. Birlasoft | Previous close: 601.25 | Buying range: 600-610 | Target price: 666 | Stop loss: 575 | Upside potential: 11% After recently hitting the 550 mark, Birlasoft has staged an impressive recovery, climbing up to the 640 level. However, in the past four trading sessions, the stock has experienced a correction, pulling back to the 590 level, which is significant for several reasons. Firstly, this level aligns with the stock's previous breakout top, serving as a crucial support zone. The 590 mark also coincides with the breakout of a bearish trendline, as shown on the chart. This convergence of support factors enhances the importance of the 590 level, suggesting it could act as a strong floor for the stock. On the technical indicator front, the RSI on the hourly chart has reversed from the 40 level, a move that often signals a potential bullish reversal. This reversal in RSI adds to Birlasoft's attractiveness as a buying opportunity at current levels. Vishnu Kant Upadhyay, AVP, Research and Advisory at Master Capital Services Dixon Technologies (India) | Previous close: 13,270.55 | Buying price: 13,200 | Target price: 14,100 | Stop loss: 12,600 | Upside potential: 6% The price has successfully breached a critical horizontal resistance level, which also appears as a double top on the daily chart. A significant increase in trading volumes, surpassing the 21-day volume average, indicates heightened participation from new buyers. The price structure remains robust, characterized by a consistent pattern of higher highs and higher lows. A bullish crossover between the 10-day and 20-day EMAs (exponential moving averages), coupled with positive momentum in the MACD indicator, further supports the likelihood of continued bullish momentum. JK Paper | Previous close: 475.20 | Buying price: 475 | Target price: 520 | Stop loss: 451 | Upside potential: 9% Prices have undergone a healthy correction of nearly 25 per cent from their all-time high. They are now trading near a crucial horizontal support level, previously a significant resistance during the last rally. The potential for a reversal from this level is strong, as the 61.8 per cent Fibonacci retracement of the previous bull run has now been completed. Currently, prices are holding above the 100-day EMA, and the MACD indicator is beginning to show signs of a bullish reversal. InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) | Previous close: 4,710.45 | Buying price: 4,660 | Target price: 5,020 | Stop loss: 4,450 | Upside potential: 7% The price movement has broken out from a tight horizontal range, accompanied by a significant increase in trading volumes. The bullish crossover between the 10-day and 20-day EMAs and the RSI above 50 further solidifies the case for a sustained upward trend. The MACD indicator also reflects bullish sentiment, with the MACD line crossing above the signal line and the histogram printing in green. Mandar Bhojane, Equity Research Analyst, Choice Broking Bajaj Finserv | Previous close: 1,639.90 | Buying price: 1,639.9 | Target price: 1,800, 1,900 | Stop loss: 1,500 | Upside potential: 16% On the weekly chart, the stock shows signs of a potential breakout from a symmetrical triangle, accompanied by a significant increase in trading volume. This suggests strong bullish momentum. "If the price closes above the 1,660 level, it could reach short-term targets of 1,800 and 1,900. To prudently manage risk, it is advisable to set a stop loss at 1,500 to protect your investment in case of an unexpected market reversal," said Bhojane. Westlife Foodworld | Previous close: 878 | Buying price: 878 | Target price: 1,000, 1,100 | Stop loss: 780 | Upside potential: 25% The stock shows signs of a potential breakout from a falling trend line, accompanied by a significant increase in trading volume. This suggests a possible bullish momentum. "If the price closes above the 880 level, it could potentially reach short-term targets of 1,000 and 1,100. To prudently manage risk, it is advisable to set a stop loss at 780 to protect your investment in case of an unexpected market reversal," said Bhojane. Radico Khaitan | Previous close: 1,844.45 | Buying price: 1,844.45 | Target price: 2,000, 2,110 | Stop loss: 1,700 | Upside potential: 14% The stock shows signs of a potential breakout from its daily range, accompanied by a significant increase in trading volume. This suggests a possible bullish momentum. "If the price closes above the 1,850 level, it could reach short-term targets of 2,000 and 2,110. To prudently manage risk, it is advisable to set a stop loss at 1,700 to protect your investment in case of an unexpected market reversal," said Bhojane. Shiju Koothupalakkal, Technical Research Analyst, PL Capital Carysil | Previous close: 892.20 | Buying range: 875 - 900 | Target price: 995 | Stop loss: 840 | Upside potential: 12% The stock has been sliding down with a descending channel pattern on the daily chart. It has indicated a positive bullish candle formation to give a breakout above the channel resistance zone at 855. With bias improving, it is expected to rise further in the coming days. It has just moved above the important 200-period MA (moving average) at 882 to strengthen the trend further, and we can expect further upward moves until the next targets of 960 and 995 levels, respectively. The RSI rising from the oversold zone indicates strength and has much upside potential visible from the current rate. Samvardhana Motherson International | Previous close: 197.72 | Buying range: 194-198 | Target price: 227 | Stop loss: 184 | Upside potential: 15% The stock has witnessed a short period of correction. It has taken support near the 170 level, indicating a decent pullback. It has also taken support near the 50EMA and improved the bias, anticipating further rise. The RSI indicates a gradual rise from the oversold zone, indicating strength, with much upside potential visible from the current rate. Kalpataru Projects International | Previous close: 1,298.25 | Buying range: 1,280-1,310 | Target price: 1,470 | Stop loss: 1,230 | Upside potential: 13% The stock has maintained a strong uptrend. After a short consolidation and taking support near the 100-period MA of 1,220, it has again picked up with a solid bullish candle formation on the daily chart, moving past the 50EMA level of 1,255 to improve the bias. It is expected to rise further, with the chart well-poised for a further upward move. The RSI has indicated a positive trend reversal to signal a buy. Read all market-related news here Tata Sons voluntarily surrendered its registration certificate to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after repaying over 20,000 crore in debt to remain an unlisted entity, according to a report by The Economic Times. As a result, Tata Sons can continue to operate as a closely held company without being required to list its shares on the stock exchange, as mandated by RBI regulations. The repayment of 20,300 crore marks a substantial reduction in Tata Sons liabilities, leaving only 363 crore in non-convertible debentures and preference shares. Additionally, Tata Sons deposited 405 crore with the State Bank of India (SBI) and provided an undertaking to the RBI as part of surrendering its registration certificate. In September 2022, the RBI designated Tata Sons as a Non-Banking Financial Company Upper Layer (NBFC-UL), requiring such companies to go public within three years. In September 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) classified Tata Sons, a core investment company that borrows funds from banks and markets to invest in its group companies, as an NBFC-Upper Layer (NBFC-UL). RBI regulations According to RBI regulations, an NBFC-UL must be listed within three years of this classification. However, after significantly reducing its promoter risk profile through debt repayment, Tata Sons is no longer obligated to list its stock and has offered to surrender its certificate of registration to the RBI. Also Read | Tata Sons goes debt-free as it seeks listing exemption Tata Sons reported a 57 per cent increase in net profits, reaching 34,654 crore for the financial year ending March 2024. During this period, the company's revenues grew by 25 per cent, rising to 43,893 crore from 35,058 crore in the previous year. There was a time not so long ago when luxury handbags made the loudest status statement. If you wanted to claim that you have arrived, without really using words to that effect, one just bought a luxury handbag, the cost of which onlookers could only guess would go into a few lakhs. Things have evolved now and the status statement that a luxury brand represents is not just a logo on a handbag, but it can be on a belt or a cap or even sunglasses. When you cover yourself in brands, it costs a lot of money. Thus, the default statement you are making is, I have a lot of money.. But intuitively we also know that owning luxury brands has zero economic value; recently there was much media uproar over Christian Dior bags which cost $57 to make and were being sold upwards of $2800. In Indian rupees that bag costs upwards of 2.3 lakh. What can you do with a bag worth more than 2 lakh, that you cant with a bag worth 5000? Some will pull out the quality card, but if you consider that 2 lakh can educate at least 10 children in a government school for an entire year, the bags quality would have to be at least the bullet proof kind. This column is not really about the moral values of owning luxury brands but rather that its become so commonplace to see young and old carrying Louis Vuitton handbags and wearing Gucci belts that one has to question whether the premium you pay to display status is really buying you the exclusivity you desire or is it too high a cost to bear? Gender dynamics and disposable incomes Indias middle-class population which is spending, albeit not as much as our government would like, is on every brands radar luxury or otherwise. Our aggregate disposable income has grown roughly 2.5 times in the last decade (up to 2022) to reach 2.72 million. At the same time, according to SBI Research, household savings to GDP ratio has declined from around 24% in FY12 to 19.7% in FY22. The government is not happy with consumption in the economy, which was apparent once again in the union budget speech on 23rd July, at the same time, sales of luxury handbags are increasing at roughly 7% a year. Effects of endlessly social media scrolling, perception of being part of the affluent society thats constantly moving up and double income families with no kids, are all contributors to this kind of luxury spending that goes way beyond the basics; alluding here to personalized hand bags with initials and people fitting in three different luxury brands into one attire. Understanding the why Buying apartments at 50,000-70,000 per square ft in Mumbai, sending your child for a 2 crore plus undergraduate program in the US or wearing a Burberry plain black, round neck t shirt worth 45,000 these are all examples of spending choices that have little or no economic value. Yet these are choices that we are increasingly being nudged to make. In personal finance, spending and saving are two opposite ends and yet large spends are more about emotion, sometimes completely lacking practical use. Think about it, when we talk about budgeting or saving, its usually the groceries and movie outings that get axed rather than the large sized, high-cost home loan or premium car. Luxury brands also have a similar special appeal mostly thanks to the invisible vanity that they come with. Owning them makes one feel like you belong and you arent getting left behind in society. Its the quintessential connection between money and self-worth. Spending on all the luxury has the power to make you feel good about yourself too, not just as a show to others but it can be a deeply satisfying experience for you personally too. You feel good, you feel rich and you feel elevated. One no longer has to buy a big car or a big house to display ones earning capability; Armani jeans and Gucci bags will do just fine. Not to burst your bubble, but cars and houses are assets which can be sold, the former even at a profit. Luxury apparel is perishable (who knows how many washes or outings it lasts) and seconds dont fetch high prices. In trying to create our social and financial status in society, we drastically overestimate the impact of instant gratification thanks to an outright display of status and underestimate the capacity of our savings to compound into lasting wealth over time. Spending always happens at the cost of saving and like it or not, saving is essential to investing and compounding wealth. Also Read | Modern-day handbags spotted in ancient carvings hold secrets Now what? Unless you have an unlimited pot of money, what you spend today, takes away from your tomorrow. Hence, most of us must spend wisely. You will feel a lot more elevated and confident in life, when your savings are enough to fund that venture you always wanted to start or when you are able to afford a suitably sized apartment at a minimum or no loan with the help of your own savings. The key is to strike a balance between luxury today, sustained comfort over many tomorrows, your future financial well-being, your self-worth and your display of status. It will be great to have it all, but in the real world one will come at the cost of the other. Before you spend on the next luxury bag or belt, ask yourself what is the real cost of luxury and what balance are you breaking when you swipe that card? Plus, if everyone has one, is it luxury enough to add to your self-worth? NEW DELHI : The Union Budget 2024-24, presented on 23 July in Parliament, streamlined taxation of most financial assetsbut not real estate. Taxation rules for real estate are still the most complex among all financial assets. There are layers upon layers, from rent to the time of selling to home loans. For instance, most of the rules applicable to a house or commercial property are not applicable to land. If a land owner earns rent, lease, or any other form of income on vacant land (without any construction), such income is not treated as rental income. It must be declared as income from other sources or profit from business. There are separate rules for even under-construction properties (see chart). Further, ownership is divided into three categories: self-occupied, let-out and deemed to be let-out. Now, rules on the taxation of rent, the extent of interest allowed to be deducted and the setting off of losses differ across the categories (see the chart). The rules vary further depending on whether you opt for the new or old tax regime. For instance, if an owner has a home loan on the house they live in, each year, they will have a loss of up to 2 lakh under the income from house property head. This is because, in the income tax return, one has to declare the rent of the self-occupied property as zero and claim the interest paid on the loan as a deduction. This results in a net loss from the house property equivalent to the interest paid. This loss is allowed to be set off against all incomes, including salary. But only in the old regime. So, homeowners living in their own houses will lose this benefit by opting for the new regime. In fact, under the new regime, the loss set-off is not allowed even for let-out and deemed to be let-out houses. Mint has compiled a handy Q&A guide to help you navigate the real estate tax maze (see the chart). View Full Image Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj I have two houses in the same city. I live in one house, while the second one is vacant. Will the second classify as self-occupied or deemed to be let out? The first two houses that are either occupied by the owner or his family or are vacant qualify as self-occupied irrespective of which city they are in vis-a-vis the owners city of residence, according to Mayank Mohanka, founder, TaxAaram India and a partner at S.M. Mohanka & Associates. This condition existed earlier, but now the rule is straightforward. The only condition is that it shouldnt be rented out even partially during the year." I live on rent but own a house in the same city. Can I claim both HRA and deduction on home loan interest? If your property was in a different city, you could straightway claim both HRA on the rent youre paying and interest on your property, irrespective of whether it is occupied by your family, vacant or let out. However, when your property is in the same city, in most cases, claiming the HRA exemption wont be allowed. If your office is far away from the house you own and you can justify that the reason to live on rent is to stay closer to the office and save on commuting, claiming HRA may be allowed. View Full Image Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj The Union budget has disallowed the setting off of losses incurred in selling a property bought before 23 July. Does this also mean I cant claim the 2 lakh loss made on a self-occupied house by claiming home loan interest? Loss set-off is disallowed on capital loss incurred on selling a house. Whereas 2 lakh loss that arises on a self-occupied property by claiming interest on a home loan is loss under income from house property head. Loss set-off disallowance is only applicable to the former. Loss from a house property and long-term capital loss are two separate heads. There are no changes in provisions relating to loss from house property," said Prakash Hegde, a chartered accountant and principal consultant of direct taxation at Acer Tax & Corporate Services Llp. I have carried forward loss under house property. If I opt for the new regime, can I set it off against other incomes? Loss under income from house property cannot be offset against any other income except rental income under the new regime. Loss that is not set off is not allowed to be carried forward to subsequent years either. This extends to carried forward loss from previous years as well, according to Parizad Sirwalla, partner and head, global mobility services, tax, KPMG India. If there is carried forward loss from let-out or deemed to be let-out properties from previous years, you can only set it off against the current years rental income. But, if the current years rent is in net loss, then the previous year's loss cant be set off or carried forward. It becomes a dead loss," she said. View Full Image Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj Take note that carried forward loss from a self-occupied house cant be set off against rent either, as interest deduction on a self-occupied house is not allowed under the new regime. To explain with an example, say you had a loss of 1 lakh from a let-out house in AY24 that wasnt fully set off and carried forward. In AY25, if you opt for the new tax regime, you can't set off this 1 lakh loss against any income but rent. If theres no rent income, the 1 lakh loss becomes a dead loss. Further, while you can claim a deduction on interest on the same let-out house in AY25 also, if it results in loss, you can neither set it off nor carry it forward to AY26. Mohanka said that once a carried forward loss becomes a dead loss, it cant be set off in any subsequent years even if a salaried taxpayer switches back to the old regime. In the same example, say you had 1 lakh loss again in AY25 that couldnt be set off or carried forward. Now, if you opt back for the old regime next year in AY26, you cant recoup the 1 lakh loss each from AY24 and AY25 as they couldnt be carried forward. I took a home loan on an under-construction house. Builder gave possession after seven years. How can I claim interest for the under-construction years? Interest paid during the construction years is accumulated and can be claimed only after the construction is over. The total interest can be claimed in five equal instalments over five years after the construction is completed. However, on the self-occupied house, there are annual caps on the total interest, which includes accumulated interest and the current years interest, that can be claimed. This threshold further varies depending on whether construction is completed within five years or not. If construction is completed within five years from the end of the fiscal year in which the loan was taken, up to 2 lakh can be claimed in one year. If construction is completed after five years, only 30,000 interest per year can be claimed as deduction. Let-out and deemed to be let-out houses dont attract these conditions. Full interest is deductible each year, irrespective of when the construction is completed. The only condition is that pre-construction interest is divided into five instalments. View Full Image Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj Hegde said interest to be claimed each year will depend on whether the house is declared self-occupied or deemed/let out. Lets understand with an example. Say, construction on a house is completed in 10 years, and the total pre-construction interest accumulated is 10 lakh. Each year 2 lakh pre-construction interest is to be claimed for five years. Now, say, in the first year, the house is occupied by the owner. Hence, only 30,000 interest can be claimed. But, in the second year, the house is put on rent. So, in this year, 2 lakh pre-construction interest, along with the current years interest, can be claimed. In the subsequent three years also, the extent of interest to be claimed will depend on the occupancy status of the house. Im selling an under-construction house. Can I add the interest paid on the home loan to the cost of acquisition? With effect from FY24, interest claimed on a home loan has been disallowed to be added to the cost of acquisition or improvement of a property to avoid double deduction on interest. There were cases where taxpayers claimed interest on home loan as deduction under the head income from house property as well as the cost of acquisition/improvement of the property," Hegde said. The point to note is that this resulted in a double deduction, and hence this amendment was introduced. In an under-construction property, since deduction on interest is not allowed to be claimed, it can be added to the cost of acquisition if such property is being sold while it is still under construction," he added. (Adds details and context throughout) Aug 26 (Reuters) - Apple on Monday named insider Kevan Parekh as its chief financial officer, replacing Luca Maestri who will transition from the role on Jan. 1, 2025. Parekh, who has been with Apple for more than a decade and will join the company's executive committee, most recently served as vice president of financial planning and analysis. Before Apple, Parekh held senior leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and General Motors. The leadership change comes ahead of Apple's multiple product launch this fall season, which analysts have called the biggest software upgrade for the iPhone. It includes artificial intelligence features, which are crucial for Apple as it looks to reverse a global sales slowdown, particularly in China. Apple said Maestri will continue to lead the corporate services teams, including information systems and technology, information security and real estate and development, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. As the finance chief, Maestri helped Apple more than double its revenue, with services revenue growing more than five times. The iPhone maker's shares were down 1% in extended trading. Earlier this month, Apple said its third-quarter iPhone sales were better than expected and forecast more gains as it bets on artificial intelligence to attract buyers, even as its overall China business disappointed. At its developers conference in June, Apple announced a slew of AI features under the umbrella "Apple Intelligence", including a revamped Siri and an integration with ChatGPT. In the wake of the massive destruction caused by flooding in Bangladesh's border areas, Mohammad Nahid Islam, an adviser to Bangladesh's interim government, accused New Delhi of non-cooperation and blamed it for opening the sluice gates of Tripura dam without any prior warning. Amid such a backdrop, India's tussle with Bangladesh could further intensify with the planned construction of the Tipaimukh dam on the common Barak River. India's eastern neighbour has been heavily opposed to the dam for several reasons, with protest marches launched at various times to stop its construction. Bangladesh India water disputes: Tipaimukh, Farakka Barrage rows Water allocation disputes between Bangladesh and India date back to 1975, when India constructed the Farakka Barrage over the River Ganga in the districts of Malda and Murshidabad, West Bengal. Tensions between the two countries arose when Bangladesh insisted that the Ganga River be recognised as an international river, requiring the regulation of its flow under a mutual agreement. The issue was finally resolved after Sheikh Hasina's Awami League came to power, leading to the finalisation of a new Ganga Water Treaty in 1996. A more recent source of dispute between the neighbours is the construction of the Tipaimukh dam in Manipur. Tipaimukh Dam: Why Bangladesh opposes it? India has proposed to build the Tipaimukh dam over the Barak river, which is a major transboundary river between India and Bangladesh. The Barak river flows through Assam and, upon entering Bangladesh, bifurcates into two rivers, Surma and Kushiara. According to an analysis by Bangladesh's The Daily Star newspaper, the Tipaimukh dam will reduce the flow of water into the rivers Surma and Kushiara during the dry seasons of autumn, winter and summer. 3. The dry seasons are concerning for Bangladesh, as Boro paddy (a dry crop variety) cultivation is the main economic activity for the country in the Haor basin. 4. Haor basin, in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, is a Ramsar site that contributes majorly to the cultivation of the dry paddy variety. Also Read | Bangladesh crisis: Muhammad Yunus meets distressed Hindus at Dhaka temple (Bloomberg) -- Pavel Durovs laissez-faire attitude to regulation made messaging app Telegram into a giant and gave him a platform to clash with officials from Moscow to Brussels from his perch in Dubai. His decision to repeatedly ignore requests from governments to better moderate content on his platform reached a tipping point this weekend, when he was detained in France over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately combat crime on the app, including the spread of child sexual abuse material. Telegram has been reluctant to remove all but the most violent content under Durov, who has a net worth of $9.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 39-year-old has styled himself as a radical libertarian and cultivates a look riffing off of Keanu Reeves Neo character in The Matrix, usually sporting an all-black wardrobe. With passports from the United Arab Emirates and France, he often documents his globetrotting life, recently posting pictures of his travels throughout Central Asia. Despite the carefree image, Durov faces heightened pressure to monetize Telegram, which is free to use. Ahead of a $2.4 billion bond maturing in March 2026, the platform has been trying to make money off of its 900 million users. Durovs arrest is all but certain to complicate efforts to take the company public, a route he has indicated he favors over selling it at valuations he claims are in excess of $30 billion. It also sets up a battle over free speech, with X owner Elon Musk and former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden among those who have condemned the arrest. Durov is being interrogated as part of a case initiated by a cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutors office. Investigative judges handling the case are looking into a wide range of allegations, which include refusing to help authorities run legal wiretaps on suspects, enabling the sale of child sexual abuse material and aiding and abetting drug trafficking. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, Telegram said in a statement on Sunday. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Durov couldnt be reached for comment. Lightning Rod Telegram has long been a lightning rod for controversy. European Union officials argue it fuels disinformation, including conspiracy theories that sparked recent anti-immigrant rioting in the UK and allegations that Russian intelligence services used the site to recruit agents. The EU has looked at how the platform reports its number of users to see if it can apply its Digital Services Act to force Durov to better moderate content. Durov has repeatedly ignored requests from democratic and authoritarian governments alike to better moderate content on his platform. European Union officials argue Telegram fuels disinformation and promotes pro-Kremlin propaganda. Russia, for its part, tried and failed to block the app after it refused to turn over user messages. Telegram releases very little financial information, making pinning down its value more difficult than many other social media and messaging platforms. Durov is the sole owner of the company, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Telegram is unique among major social media networks in that it doesnt use algorithms to promote content to its users. Instead, users subscribe to channels and see posts and videos in chronological order. While that lets the platform argue it only serves users what they choose to see, bad actors have exploited the platforms structure by posting inflammatory content in mainstream channels and then bringing new followers into more radicalized chat communities. The site played a central role in coordinating violent demonstrations in August in the UK where anti-migrant demonstrators clashed with police and threatened immigrant communities, said Moustafa Ayad, an executive director at the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks extremism. Others have used Telegram to disseminate bomb-making instructions and guides on how to shoot at US power stations as part of plans to cause havoc. Before Telegram, Durov founded Facebook-lookalike VKontakte in 2006, which grew to Russias biggest social network thanks in part to easy sharing of pirated movies and music. In 2012, he and a colleague threw 5,000 ruble notes worth over $150 each at the time from their office window in central St. Petersburg. Durov also took a stand against Russias KGB successor, the Federal Security Service, when it sought to get VKontakte to shut down protest groups that formed in 2011. Durov ultimately was forced to sell his stake in VKontakte. He claims he left Russia after refusing to turn over data on Ukrainian users during the countrys 2013 Maidan protests, which led to the overthrow of its pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych. --With assistance from Irina Reznik and Daniel Zuidijk. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg) -- David Sacks will host a fundraiser with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, the latest effort from the venture capitalist to help Donald Trump return to the White House. Tickets for the Sept. 8 event in Los Angeles go for as much as $50,000 a person, which includes being listed as part of the host committee, participating in a roundtable discussion, as well as having a photo and reception with Vance, according to an invitation obtained by Bloomberg News. Former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. CEO Jeffrey Sprecher are co-hosting the event. Another fundraiser for Vance is slated for Sept. 12 in New York City, with Palantir Technologies Inc. adviser Jacob Helberg as a co-host. Tickets for that event go for upwards of $250,000 per couple, according to the invitation. Spokespeople for Sacks and Loeffler didnt respond to requests for comment. A representative for Helberg confirmed his role for the event, and a spokesperson for Sprecher declined to comment. The fundraiser comes as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee after President Joe Bidens exit from the contest, has pulled ahead in the money race against Trump. The Harris campaign and its affiliates raised $82 million during the Democratic National Convention last week, pushing their total fundraising haul to $540 million since Biden announced he would step aside. Harris money-raising boom has reshaped the race and comes as polls show her largely erasing the lead Trump held nationally and in key swing states. In July, Harris raised $310 million, more than double the $138.7 million Trump raised that month. Harris started August with $377 million cash on hand, the largest war chest at this point in an election cycle, and more than the $327 million Trump reported in the bank. Helberg and Sacks highlight how many business leaders who were once reluctant to back Trump have rallied behind him in this years election. Sacks also spoke at this years Republican National Convention. Trump has enjoyed more visible support from the technology industry this cycle a contrast to 2016 and Sacks has been a key player in bolstering the former presidents fundraising with that group. He hosted an event at his San Francisco home in June for Trump, with tickets that went up to $300,000. It brought in $12 million for Trumps reelection event, according to an attendee. Earlier: San Francisco Fetes Trump on Post-Conviction Fundraising Tour Sacks has also been closely associated with Vance, an investor-turned-senator from Ohio, who was the recipient of most of the almost $2 million Sacks made in political contributions to national candidates in 2022 and 2023. --With assistance from Lizette Chapman and Anne VanderMey. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Adds closing share price, trading volume, Icahn office no comment) Aug 26 (Reuters) - Shares of billionaire investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises closed at a more than 20-year low on Monday after the firm said it will sell up to $400 million depository units through an "at-the-market" offering program. The stock dropped as much as 14.3% to $13.62, the lowest since November 2003, but pared losses to close down 11.5% at $14.07, the weakest since February 2004. About 6.8 million shares changed hands, making it the busiest session in just over a year. In a regulatory filing, the company said it intends to use net proceeds from the offering to fund potential acquisitions and for company purposes. Icahn's office did not immediately provide a comment when called on Monday afternoon. Icahn and his company last week settled charges with U.S. regulators that for years he failed to disclose pledging the majority of the firm's securities for billions in personal margin loans. Together they agreed to pay $2 million in penalties. Icahn Enterprises is still at loggerheads with short-seller Hindenburg Research, which last year accused Icahn of running a "Ponzi-like" scheme to pay dividends by overvaluing its holdings. Hindenburg also raised questions about Icahn's margin borrowing. Jefferies, as sales agent, is handling the share sale program for Icahn Enterprises, a separate statement showed. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday announced the creation of five new districts within the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh: Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the move aims to improve governance in the region and create more opportunities for the people of Ladakh. In pursuit of PM Shri@narendramodi Ji's vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh, the MHA has decided to create five new districts in the union territory. The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people to their doorsteps by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny [sic], Amit Shah posted on X. The Home Minister added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to creating abundant opportunities for the people of Ladakh. What Narendra Modi said PM Modi took to X and posted that the new districts are aimed at improving governance and prosperity and would receive focused attention, he posted. Creation of five new districts in Ladakh is a step towards better governance and prosperity. Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang will now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people. Congratulations to the people there [sic], PM Modi posted on X. Ladakh districts: How many were there Ladakh currently has only two districts Leh and Kargil. Both these regions have autonomous district councils that govern them. Following the announcement of five new districts, Ladakh will now have seven districts in total: Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Leh, and Kargil. Also Read | Army personnel in Leh Ladakh holds Tiranga Yatra before Independence Day | WATCH Until 2019, Ladakh was part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. In August 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370, removing the state's special status and dividing it into two union territoriesJammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Ladakh-China border dispute Ladakh is strategically important for India amid the border disputes with China. Since 1962, there has only been a de facto border between India and China known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC)a notional demarcation that separates the two countries. In March 2024, around 10,000 people from Ladakh marched to the border along China to showcase how much land has been lost to the neighbouring country. Also Read | J&K: Farooq Abdullah confirms alliance with Congress on all 90 assembly seats (Bloomberg) -- Narendra Modi spoke with President Joe Biden about the Ukraine war Monday following the Indian prime ministers conciliatory visit to Kyiv and his earlier public embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine, Modi said in a post on X, without giving additional details. The White House confirmed the phone call between the two leaders later on Monday. Its safe to say they certainly talked about Ukraine and the prime ministers trip to Kyiv and the prospects for moving forward in accordance with President Zelenskiys plan for a just peace, White House spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Ukrainian president, and adding that the US welcomes any nation that is willing to be helpful. Modi, whose country has historic ties to Russia and has for decades relied on Moscow for weapons, signaled his support for Ukraines sovereignty during his first visit to the war-torn nation since Russia invaded two years ago. The Indian prime ministers visit to Kyiv last week is being seen as an attempt to balance Indias relations with the US and Russia, roughly a month after his July visit to Moscow angered US officials. Modi literally hugged Putin shortly after Russia was blamed for an attack on the main childrens hospital in Kyiv, which killed at least 38 people, and as Biden hosted NATO heads of state in Washington. India, which has ruled out a role mediating an end to Russias war, has agreed to relay messages between Putin and Ukraines Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Bloomberg News has previously reported. --With assistance from Akayla Gardner. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com On Monday, actress Namitha reported that she was asked to provide proof of her Hindu identity during her visit to the famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple. She expressed her frustration over what she described as the rude behavior of the temple officials. Namitha, who is also a BJP state executive member, claimed that a temple official barred her from performing darshan and demanded proof of her Hindu faith and caste. They asked for a certificate to prove that I am a Hindu and also my caste certificate. I never underwent such an ordeal in any temple that I visited in the country, she told reporters. She pointed out that her Hindu identity is well-known, noting that she was married in Tirupati and named her son after Lord Krishna. This being the case, they spoke rudely and arrogantly and demanded a certificate to prove my caste and my faith, Namitha said. A senior temple official, however, denied these claims. The official explained that they had stopped Namitha and her husband, who were wearing masks, to verify their Hindu identity and to explain the temple's traditions. After the clarification from them, she was anointed with kumkum on her forehead and taken inside the temple for a darshan of Goddess Meenakshi, he stated. Namitha confirmed that she was only allowed darshan after clarifying her faith and receiving kumkum on her forehead. She added that her visit to Madurai was intended to be spiritual, as she was in town to celebrate Krishna Janmashtami at ISKCON. Theres a way of asking. I was made to wait for 20 minutes in a corner. We had informed the police about our visit on Sunday, she said, explaining that she wore a mask to avoid disturbing other devotees at the Meenaskhi temple in Madurai. Also Read | Naam Tamilar Party Deputy Secretary Balasubramanian hacked to death New Delhi: Despite allocating Fast Track Special Courts (FTSC), the West Bengal government has got a pendency of 48,600 rape and POCSO cases, the centre government targets the TMC run state authorities for failing to implement crucial safety measures for women and girls. The state's inability to operationalise the Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) allocated to it under a centrally sponsored scheme, despite a significant backlog of cases related to sexual offences, was noted by Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi in a letter written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on August 25. A copy of the letter has been seen by the Mint. The minister also emphasised the urgency of implementing strict legal frameworks and judicial processes to ensure the safety and security of women and children in West Bengal. "As regards Fast Track Special Courts, it is stated that for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases pertaining to Rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, in a time bound manner, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (60:40 sharing basis) i.e Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) scheme was launched in October 2019. As of 30.06.2024, 752 FTSCs including 409 exclusive POCSO are functional in 30 states and UTs which have disposed of more than 2,53,000 cases since the inception of the scheme," the letter read Under the scheme, the state of West Bengal was allocated a total of 123 FTSCs which included 20 exclusive POCSO courts and 103 combined FTSCs dealing with both rape and POCSO act cases. However, none of these courts had been operationalised till mid-June 2023. "The state of West Bengal communicated its willingness to participate in the scheme vide letter dated 08.06.2023 committing to start 7 FTSCs. Under the revised target, West Bengal has been allocated 17 FTSCs of which only 6 exclusive POCSO courts have been operationalised as of 30.06.2024. In spite of a pendency of 48,600 rape and POCSO cases in WB, the state govt has not taken any steps to start the remaining 11 FTSCs. Action in this regard is pending with the state government," the letter further read. The Union Cabinet Minister Devi further criticized the West Bengal government for failing to implement key emergency helplines such as the Women Helpline (WHL), Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) and Child Helpline. Predecessor President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Adish C Aggarwala, has asked current President Kapil Sibal to withdraw a controversial resolution passed last week and publicly apologise to members or face a no-confidence motion raised, ANI reported. The resolution in question was passed on August 21, in relation to the doctor rape-murder case at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, it added. In a letter to Sibal, Aggarwala stated that there are serious concerns about the resolution and criticised the SCBA president for describing the incident as a symptomatic malaise and suggested that such incidents are commonplace, the report said. The Concerns Aggarwala alleged that the resolution is invalid as it was not officially approved by the SCBA's Executive Committee. He also accused Sibal of using his position to undermine the gravity of the incident and having a conflict of interest. He noted that since Sibal is representing the West Bengal government in the case, the purported SCBA statement exhibits a conflict of interest. The letter demanded that Sibal should withdraw the resolution and issue a public apology within 72 hours or it could lead to a no-confidence motion against him. Also Read | Maharashtra becomes first state to adopt Unified Pension Scheme for employees Aggarwala's letter accuses Sibal of attempt to undermine the seriousness of the RG Kar Medical College case which is under serious scrutiny by the Supreme Court of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the report added. Aggarwala contends that by mentioning the Chief Justice of India and issuing a purported SCBA resolution, Sibal has not only attempted to influence the apex court and the investigation but has also damaged the credibility and integrity of the SCBA President's role. This action has deeply hurt the medical and legal communities and casts a shadow over the SCBA's reputation, Aggarwala argued. Several members of the SCBA's Executive Committee (EC) expressed similar concerns over the resolution, alleging that it was signed by Sibal and circulated with an SCBA letterhead without being presented to or approved by the EC. Kolkata doctor rape case: The Kolkata Police on Monday clarified that the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the dead body of a 31-year-old trainee doctor was found, had been cordoned off with hospital curtains. The police also denied the evidence tampering allegations that surfaced after renovation work started at RG Kar hospital only a day after the Kolkata doctor's rape and murder took place. Kolkata Police DC CD Indira Mukherjee addressed a press conference on Monday. The place of occurrence which is known to us is basically the seminar hall of RG Kar (Hospital) on the third floor. Social media and some news channels have shown a particular video where it is shown that there are a few people standing. It has been told that there has been tampering of the evidence. This is the allegation, she told the media. "Let me clarify, that seminar hall is a room which is 51 ft by 32 ft and when the body was found, the hospital curtains were used to cordon off the area, Mukherjee added. The CBI on Monday started a second round of polygraph tests on former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh and five others as part of its investigation into the rape and murder of a woman doctor at the institution. According to an officer, over the last 10 days, Ghosh provided inconsistent answers during questioning, prompting officers to conduct another round of polygraph tests. The case centres on the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee woman doctor in the seminar hall of the RG Kar hospital on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day. Durga Puja Committees rejects Mamata govt's money At least six out of nearly 40,000 Durga Puja committees in West Bengal have so far rejected the 85,000 honorarium offered by the Mamata Banerjee government, saying they cannot accept the assistance when women have taken to the streets demanding security. Kolkata doctor rape case: Women and Child Development Minister of Narendra Modi government, Annapurna Devi, has sharply criticized the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government for its alleged failure to implement essential safety measures for women and children. In a recent letter addressed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Devi highlighted the state's significant shortcomings in addressing urgent issues related to womens safety. Devi's letter pointedly criticizes the state for not activating the remaining 11 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), despite a massive backlog of 48,600 cases related to rape and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. Annapurna Devi's response came after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, advocating for a tough central law to penalize rapists. Banerjee proposed that trials should ideally be concluded within 15 days to ensure quick justice, referencing alarming statistics that report 90 rape cases daily nationwide, many of which result in the victims' deaths. The FTSC scheme, launched by the Central government in October 2019, was designed to expedite the trial and disposal of such cases. West Bengal was allocated 123 FTSCs, including 20 exclusive POCSO courts and 103 combined courts. However, as of mid-June 2023, none of these courts had been operationalized. Despite assurances from the state government in June 2023 to launch seven FTSCs, only six exclusive POCSO courts had begun operations by June 30, 2024. Devi emphasized that this delay continues to deprive women and children of crucial support and justice in West Bentgal. Also Read | Bengali actress gets rape threat after protesting against Kolkata doctor murder The minister also criticized the Mamata Banerjee governments failure to implement key emergency helplines, including the Women Helpline (WHL), Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), and Child Helpline. Devi asserted that these services are vital for providing immediate assistance to victims of violence but remain unintegrated in West Bengal despite multiple reminders from the Central government. Devi expressed serious concerns over the state's inaction, stressing the urgent need for stringent legal frameworks and judicial processes to ensure safety and security for women and children in West Bengal. Annapurna Devi also highlighted the importance of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a new national legislation introduced in July 2024, which prescribes severe punishments for crimes against women and children. Sanjay Roy, the civic volunteer arrested in the Kolkata doctor rape and murder case, reportedly said during a lie-detection test on Sunday that the victim was already dead when he spotted her, and that he ran away in fear. Sources told the Times of India that Roy cited multiple "alibis". Also Read | CBI raids 15 sites linked to ex-RG Kar hospital principal in corruption case CBI sources said Sanjay Roy appeared "unnerved and anxious" during the hours of questioning. The lie detector test on Sanjay Roy flagged several "false and unconvincing answers", reported ToI, citing sources. CBI officers conducted a polygraph or lie-detection test on the main accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor of RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The test was conducted at Kolkata's Presidency Jail where Roy is currently lodged, an officer said. Sanjay Roy's lawyer had earlier told NDTV that the accused had told a special court that he was ready for the polygraph test. When the judge asked why he was ready, Sanjay Roy said, according to this lawyer, that he was "innocent" and was "framed". "'I also want the truth to come out through the polygraph test'," the lawyer said, quoting Sanjay Roy, as per NDTV report on August 24. Roy (33), a civic volunteer of the Kolkata Police, was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10, a day after the body of the 31-year-old medic was found in the seminar hall of the medical college. According to news agency PTI, a Bluetooth device found near the medic's body led to Roy's arrest. CCTV footage also showed him on the third floor of the hospital where the seminar hall is situated. The central agency officers also conducted polygraph tests on a couple of others at their Kolkata office, an officer told news agency PTI, adding that the test on Roy was over after around four hours. Four persons, including former principal of the RGKMCH Sandip Ghosh, underwent the polygraph test on Saturday. The CBI had sought permission from a local court in Kolkata to put seven persons including Roy and former principal of the RGKMCH through the lie-detector test. The test cannot be used as evidence during the trial but findings give the agency a direction for the further probe. Meanwhile, the agitating junior doctors at the RGKMCH said that they would continue their cease work unless the deceased doctor gets justice and the Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal resigns from his chair. Sunday was the 17th consecutive day that the junior doctors have been on cease work badly affecting healthcare services in Bengal. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a polygraph or lie-detector test on Sanjay Roy, the main accused in the Kolkata doctor rape and murder case, and a few other people over the weekend. The central probe agency also conducted a search at various places in connection with its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the RG Kar College and Hospital. Kolkata doctor rape case: Here's all you need to know about the latest developments in the case: 1. CBI officers conducted a lie-detection test on the Sanjay Roy on Sunday at Kolkata's Presidency Jail where he is currently lodged. An officer told PTI that the test on Roy was over after around four hours. The CBI officers also conducted polygraph tests on four other persons including Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Saturday. 2. A Times of India report cited sources as revealing details of what Roy said during the polygraph test. Roy reportedly told the CBI that the doctor was already dead when he reached the spot. The lie detector test on Sanjay Roy flagged several "false and unconvincing answers", reported ToI, citing sources. 3. Meanwhile, the CBI searched various places in connection with its probe into the alleged financial irregularities at the RG Kar hospital. Simultaneous search operations were launched on the premises of Sandip Ghosh, ex-medical superintendent and vice principal of the RGKMCH Sanjay Vashisth and 13 others in and around Kolkata, an official said. 4. At least seven officers of the CBI questioned Sandip Ghosh at his residence from 8 AM till 7 PM while other officers grilled Vashisth and another professor of the forensic-medicine department of the medical establishment, among others, officials told PTI. 5. The officials claimed that the CBI team, which reached Ghosh's residence around 6 am, was made to wait for nearly one-and-half hours before he opened the doors. 6. The CBI conducted searches at the home of Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital's former principal Sandip Ghosh for more than 11 hours and left the premises late this evening with multiple documents, NDTV reported. Meanwhile, News 18 reported the probe agency came out of the premises at nearly 8.50 pm, carrying piles of documents. 7. When asked about the evidence, a CBI official told reporters, "Bahut kuch hai (There is a lot)." 8. The anti-corruption branch of the CBI also searched the residences and offices of those engaged in supplying materials for the management and care of patients at the hospital, whose administration has come under scanner after the rape and murder of a doctor. The other officers of the central agency went to the residence of a couple of suppliers in two areas of Kolkata and another in Howrah. 9. In its FIR registered on the directions of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI has booked Ghosh and three Kolkata-based private entities -- Ma Tara Traders of Madhya Jhorehat, Banipur, Howrah; Eshan Cafe of 4/1, Belgachia and Khama Louha. The premises of all these entities named in the FIR were searched during the operation. 10. The initial probe revealed that three special traders got "illegal" tenders related to the hospitals, and a CBI officer told PTI. A complaint lodged by former deputy super of the hospital Akhtar Ali alleged that Sandip Ghosh, during his tenure as the principal of the RGKMCH, along with his associates, issued tenders for the construction of food stalls, cafes, canteens and urinals without the permission of the health department and the College Council. The case pertains to the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee woman doctor. Her body was found in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9, following which a Kolkata Police civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested. The Hema Committee report that revealed shocking details of harassment and abuse women faced in the Malayalam movie industry has potentially triggered a second #Me Too movement in Kerala. The latest of the accusations came from popular Mollywood actor Minu Muneer who accused four co-stars of physical and verbal assaults over the years. Minu Muneer has alleged that she suffered physical and verbal assault from various actors, including a two-time CPI(M) legislator in the Kerala Assembly. Also Read | Ranjith resigns as Kerala Chalachitra Academy chief after Sreelekhas allegation In a post on Facebook, Muneer claimed that four actors -- Mukesh, Maniyanpilla Raju, Idavela Babu and Jayasurya -- had physically and verbally abused her on the sets of a 2013 movie. The accusations come only a day after Malayalam director Ranjith resigned from his chairperson post at Kerala Chalachitra Academy. Ranjith was accused of misconduct by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra. Actor Siddique also resigned from the General Secretary post of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). Junior artist Revathy Sampath had made sexual assault allegations against actor Siddique. What did Minu Muneer allege? Minu Muneer accused a prominent Malayalam actor of having tried to assault her at a hotel during the shooting of Calender (2009) and Nadakame Ulakam (2011). He entered the room and pulled me down on the bed saying that I will have to consider those who have to be considered for getting better chances. Later, I left that place Before that, while travelling by a car, (another actor) told me that he would come to my room the next night. He too had knocked at my door during the night, she claimed, as per Indian Express. Also Read | Sreelekha Mitra accuses Malayalam director Ranjith of misbehaving She also accused a third actor of misconduct in 2008. During a shooting in the state capital, when I was returning from a restroom, Jayasurya caught me from behind and kissed. I pushed him down and ran away. He also invited me to his flat. After I rejected the invitation, there was no issue from his side, she said. On the alleged misbehaviour from Idavela Babu who had been a prominent leader of the Association of Malayalam Movies Artistes (AMMA), Minu said in 2013, she had applied for a membership in the association. A person who acted in three films is eligible for membership in AMMA. When I called him over the phone regarding filling the application form, he invited me to his flat. While I was filling the application form at his flat, he kissed on my neck from behind. I ran out of the flat. I did not get the membership either, she said. Also Read | Hema Committee report reveals sexual exploitation in Malayalam film industry Munner alleged that actor Mukesh, a two-time MLA of the ruling CPI(M), has denied her the membership after she turned down his advances, reports NDTV. The actor said she was forced to leave the Malayalam film industry and to relocate to Chennai due to the bitter experiences. #Metoo in Mollywood: Malayalam actor Baburaj has become the latest Kerala film artiste who faces allegations of sexual misconduct. On Monday, a junior artiste accused the senior actor of sexually assaulting her at his home in Aluwa. Rejecting the allegations, Baburaj, an office bearer of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), suspected that vested interests in the film industry were behind them. Actor Baburaj, known for his villainous movie roles, claimed that the allegation was an attempt to prevent him from becoming the general secretary of AMMA, replacing Siddique, who had resigned on Sunday amid similar charges. The junior artiste claimed that she had been called to actor Baburaj's residence on the pretext of discussing a movie. However, upon arrival at the Aluva (Ernakulam district) home of actor Baburaj, she allegedly found only Baburaj and his assistant present, contrary to his claim that a director, scriptwriter, and production controller would also be there. The artiste told News18, that she was verbally and sexually assaulted by Baburaj when she was resting in a room, where the latter barged into. He (actor Baburaj) gave me a room to take rest. However, after a while, he knocked at the door. When I opened the door, he got into the room and closed the door. Also Read | Ranjith resigns as Kerala Chalachitra Academy chief after Sreelekhas allegation He gave me a room. Later, he invited me for food. When I opened the door, he entered the room and locked it from inside. He started talking vulgarly (sic) and led me to the cot and raped me, the woman told Indian Express. "I didnt complain to anybody then because hes a famous actor and I didnt have support from anyone, the woman told the news media. In a shocking revelation, she also noted that in the Malayalam film industry, women are often asked to make adjustments in order to secure roles. I have no other intention since I have left the industry and am living with family outside Kerala, the woman added. The Malayalam film industry has spiralled into an allegedly unsafe space for female artists after the Justice Hema Committee report made shocking revelations of physical, verbal, and sexual harassment. Also Read | Hema Committee report reveals sexual exploitation in Malayalam film industry The fallout from the report intensified on Monday as more female actors stepped forward with disturbing accounts of mistreatment at the hands of their male counterparts, further inflaming Kerala's political and cultural landscape. Actress Minu Muneer, who has appeared in a handful of movies, levelled sexual abuse allegations against actor-turned MLA M Mukesh, Jayasurya, Maniyanpilla Raju, and Idavela Babu. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- An old joke in Indian policy circles is that whatever the problem of governance or administration being discussed, you always wind up with the same constraint: a lack of state capacity. The Indian state has too few senior officers, and those it does have are generally not experts. Fixing this problem has never been a priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as we saw yet again last week. If that doesnt change, all his plans to transform governance may come to naught. The Indian Administrative Service, the elite bureaucrats who are constitutionally required to make every decision of consequence in the country, number only about 5,000 officers. Those senior enough to hold posts in the central government in New Delhi are about a 10th of that number. This glorious 500 are generalists, rather than specialists. They are selected young, through a fiendishly difficult examination, and many stop learning anything new the moment they pass that exam. This isnt entirely their fault. Officers spend their careers shuttling between ministries and postings. Education policy for hundreds of millions of people might well be made by someone who had just spent three years negotiating agricultural exports to the West. By the time she gets up to speed, she will likely be shifted to something else completely urban housing, say, or mining concessions. Thats why there was a great deal of excitement recently when an advertisement suggested that dozens of mid-career experts might be hired for jobs within the system. The list of senior vacancies was a handy guide to government priorities, in fact: semiconductors, batteries, international law, urban water management. Many of these are sectors where the government must negotiate with private companies, which boast topic experts that can typically run rings around their plodding bureaucratic interlocutors. If you have tens of billions of taxpayer dollars set aside for EV incentives, you might want to have an expert or two on your side to compete with Teslas phalanx of lawyers and engineers. We shouldnt have gotten excited. The advertisement was swiftly withdrawn. This was, reportedly, because it did not align with the prime ministers commitment to social justice as expressed through Indias affirmative-action system. There is no objective reason why lateral entry into the bureaucracy should violate Indias quota system, meant to ensure the representation of historically disadvantaged castes and communities. You could simply order that the appropriate proportion of lateral hires be from those groups or increase the number in the total service so that the proportions stay unchanged. The point is that Modi was unwilling to spend any political capital on something he no doubt saw as trivial. But its far from trivial. The fact is that Indias civil service elite is a relic of the past and a drag on its future. In a very real way, Indians still live under the Raj. The current system is essentially unchanged since it was designed by the British to bring control, rather than governance, to an unruly and diverse subcontinent. White civil servants would keep native politicians in line and ensure that revenue was raised and sent back to Whitehall. They had to be intelligent and adaptive, but hardly needed any qualifications beyond that. How can the same system possibly govern a country of 1.4 billion people that will soon be the worlds third-largest economy? A small cadre of elite generalists are still empowered to make every decision that matters, even as the problems they face become ever more complex. Why should anyone be surprised that decisions are issued late, if ever? One of the very few Indians who does not realize this seems to be our prime minister. He has always viewed Indias bureaucrats as allies rather than impediments. Perhaps that is because his first real job was in his 50s, and he went straight in as chief minister of a large state. His first experience of Indian civil servants was as helpful acolytes, eager to bring their boss up to speed. This is not, to put it mildly, the experience of most companies, entrepreneurs, or jobseekers. If Modi, for the past decade, has not lived up to the hopes that he raised among Indians when he first sought office in 2014, the reason is that the first and most important of reforms transformation of the Indian state into a body of detail-oriented experts was never even on the agenda. If, after 10 years in power, small steps in that direction are cancelled at the first sign of opposition, he can hardly expect his other priorities to become reality. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, he is author of Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion Nabanna Abhijan protest march: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Kolkata police on Monday termed the proposed 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally on Tuesday, August 27, by a student outfit Chhatra Samaj, demanding the resignation of state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the brutal rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee doctor at government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, as "illegal and an attempt to incite widespread unrest in Kolkata". Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Senior West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya along with other party leadersKunal Ghosh and Joyprakash Majumdar, said the 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally has been called without police permission. The minister said it was part of a plan by some elements to disrupt peace and stability in the state. The call for this rally has been given on social media by Chhatra Samaj, which has not intimated police about their plans. We all want justice for the victim and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators. The case has been handed over to the CBI and the demand for the resignation of the CM is politically motivated, Bhattacharya said. Kunal Ghosh questioned the rationale behind the rallys decision to march to Nabanna, the state secretariat. The TMC warned of potential disruptions, including outsiders being brought in and people possibly disguising themselves in police uniforms to provoke violence and blame the state police. What these people - mostly right-wing forces like RSS and ABVP as well as some leftists backed by CPIM - really want is clear from these videos. They want deaths. We have information that people from outside the state are also being brought to foment unrest during the rally. We have also learnt some people in the rally will be wearing police uniforms and fire on people to shift the blame on the police," PTI quoted the TMC leader as saying. "BJP, CPM and Congress are all one. BJP is doing Nabanna movement, Congress is supporting it and whatever CPM says, but they are talking about the protest...Ram-Left are all coming together to create anarchy against TMC & West Bengal" he further said. Meanwhile, West Bengal ADG Police (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Verma also called the Nabanna Abhijan Rally illegal and an attempt to incite widespread unrest in Kolkata. "Nabanna is a restricted area. If any programme is organised here then the organisers should put a request to the police officials and the police will decide after considering the case. So far, no organisation has applied to hold a protest near Nabanna. This is a restricted zone and if anyone needs to organise a protest then they first need to apply for permission from the police...We have very specific inputs that some miscreants might try to create a situation of unrest there (near Nabanna). Tomorrow, an exam is being conducted by NTA, we will ensure that neither aspirants nor the general public are inconvenienced," West Bengal ADG Police (Law & Order) said. Additional Deputy General, South Bengal Supratim Sarkar said, They had announced through social media and the press that they will be undertaking a program called Nabanno Abhiyaan on 27th August, but they did not seek permission, which is a mandatory requirement as far as the High Court directives." Tomorrow there's a UGC net national level exam. Many candidates from the state will write that exam. Allowing any such congregation will invariably result in traffic disruption which will cause serious inconvenience to the candidates.... Sarkar added. Here Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 144 of the CrPC) is in place. But no information has been given. This is illegal, he further added. Reacting to the development, Union Minister and West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said"...Tomorrow West Bengal students are going to protest in a peaceful democratic way, what is the point of obstructing that? Students have announced it through a press conference, which means you (police) know about it... BJP's stand is clear, this is not BJP's movement but we support it...This is a students' movement, it is a non-political movement, we are with the students." Trade and industry minister Piyush Goyal engaged with top executives from leading global firms in Singapore on Sunday, setting the stage for the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) and focusing on bolstering bilateral trade and investment ties, according to a statement from the commerce ministry. The meetings, held with key figures from Temasek Holdings, DBS Bank, OMERS, Keppel Infrastructure, and TVS Motor Company, centred on deepening economic collaboration between the two nations. Discussions highlighted the strategic importance of enhancing bilateral trade and exploring new avenues for investment, the ministry said in a statement. Goyal's visit to Singapore precedes the ISMR, slated for 26 August, which aims to fortify the already robust economic relationship between India and Singapore. The roundtable will emphasize harnessing Indias economic momentum and Singapores investment potential. Key topics of discussion included scaling up investments in Indias small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, improving the investment climate, and promoting sustainable development through decarbonization initiatives. "There was also a focus on identifying synergies for family-owned businesses amid a rapidly evolving global landscape. These dialogues are pivotal in reinforcing the mutual commitment to fostering innovation and economic growth," the statement added. Singapore remains a critical partner for India, being the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) during FY24, with inflows reaching approximately $11.77 billion. The city-state was also Indias sixth-largest global trade partner in FY25, with bilateral trade amounting to $35.61 billion. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Politics is increasingly returning to being a family business in Southeast Asia, despite its large and vibrant democracies. Its a worrying trend. Power is at risk of being concentrated in the hands of an exclusive club of entrenched clans. That will disproportionately disadvantage the regions dynamic youth who are getting more frustrated with nepotism. While Southeast Asia is not an isolated case political dynasties are prevalent in the West (think Bushes and Trudeaus, among others) (1) the difference is just how many of the familiar names are making a comeback, since unrest and financial crisis in recent decades upended the Old Order in many places. Take the Philippines, where clans have controlled money and wielded influence dating back to colonial times. Their privilege allowed them to buy land in the post-independence era, after Manila broke free of US colonial rule in 1946. This enriched and propelled them further up the economic ladder. Wealth proved useful in their attempts to succeed in politics. Six of the countrys last nine presidents have belonged to the Macapagal, Marcos and Aquino families. The current president, Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr., is the son of the former autocrat Ferdinand Marcos. During a reporting trip to Manila for the 2022 election, I was struck by the number of ordinary Filipinos who had conveniently forgotten the corruption and avarice of his regime, toppled amid street protests in 1986 after two decades in power. Instead, they chose to believe in a social media narrative that the younger Marcos would bring back a perceived golden era of prosperity and stability. Tapping into family lore helps with this generations allure for voters. The child of a formidable political force has been elevated in Thailand, too. The former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatras 38-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn, was appointed earlier this month to his old job (which he lost in a coup in 2006). Her aunt and Thaksins sister, Yingluck, previously served in the role before being removed by the Constitutional Court in 2014. Political dynasties arent just confined to raucous democratic systems like the Philippines. In Cambodia, it has been a year since strongman Hun Sen handed over power to his son, Hun Manet, after almost four decades as leader. (For all intents and purposes, he is still running things behind the scenes as president of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and a lawmaker.) And then theres Indonesia, Southeast Asias largest country and economy. Last week, widespread protests suspended parliamentary moves to potentially grant the outgoing presidents son an easier path to political power. The sprawling archipelago had until recently been held up as a model for democracy in a region where corruption and nepotism which never really went away seem to be making an increasingly brazen comeback. When Joko Widodo was first elected in 2014, he was viewed as a breath of fresh air. With a humble demeanor and origins as a furniture maker from a provincial city, he came from outside the usual ranks of generals and elites that have run the country. But Jokowi, as he is popularly known, has used his second term to ensure that his legacy lasts beyond his departure from office in two months. Jokowi has built a coalition with so many parties in parliament that he is getting to the point where he cannot be challenged, because of the power base he has created, Elisabeth Kramer, a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, told me. This allows him, and by extension his family, to protect their privilege and exclusivity, to ensure that only a certain club of people actually run for election and win. Indonesians are used to strong leaders with dynastic ambitions. The archetype was Suharto, whose 32-year dictatorship ended amid violent protests during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998. Among grievances was how the former general turned a blind eye to the growing greed of his children, and how they used their position as his progeny to exploit the resource-rich nations economy, at the expense of ordinary people struggling to make ends meet. Some Indonesians see parallels. A popular news magazine recreated a cover from the Suharto era, only this time with Jokowis face on it calling him Raja Jawa the King of Java. The not-so-subtle insinuation is that Jokowi and his family are out of touch with everyday Indonesians, living a lavish lifestyle. This is a far cry from the man-of-the-people image he so carefully cultivated when he was first elected. For now, at least, Indonesian protesters have managed to keep their democracy safe. The outgoing president and others in Southeast Asia with dynastic ambitions would be wise to look at Sheikh Hasina. The daughter of Bangladeshs founding father was forced to make a hasty and humiliating exit earlier this month, after 20 years of on-and-off rule that became increasingly autocratic, and dismissive of human rights. In the past, kings and queens would fight wars to ensure their children would inherit the throne. But they were not elected leaders, and their subjects had no choice but to put up with them. That is not the case in democracies today. Eventually, the people will make sure their voices are heard. Leaders would be wise to leave their families where they belong: At home. More From Bloomberg Opinion: (1) A 2018 study published in the Historical Social Research journal showed that, on average, one in 10 world leaders comes from households with political ties. The list included former US President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion * MercadoLibre files complaint against MODO for cartel-like behaviour * MODO backed by 36 banks, including Banco Nacion, Santander, BBVA, HSBC * MODO accused Mercado Pago of abusive practices in May * BUENOS AIRES, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Latin American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre said on Monday it had filed a complaint with Argentine regulators against digital wallet MODO backed by local banks, alleging cartel-like behaviour and concentration of the market. MercadoLibre's fintech arm, Mercado Pago, offers its own widely-used digital wallet, with an application to send and receive mobile payments. Tension has been brewing between the fintech platform and local banks over the last year. Mercado Pago's payment QR codes have become ubiquitous in Argentine stores in recent years, and have helped propel MercadoLibre to become Latin America's largest company by market capitalization, now worth more than $100 billion. MercadoLibre accused MODO, a digital wallet backed by a group of 36 banks, of operating a monopoly and of committing acts which harmed the fintech industry and its users. Banks such as Argentina's Banco Nacion, as well as local units of banking giants Santander, BBVA and HSBC, participate in MODO. MODO itself accused Mercado Pago in May this year of using abusive practices to dominate the market. MODO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "The complaint against the major banks is for prohibited concentration, cartelization and coordinated practices intended to harm the fintech industry and its users," MercadoLibre said in a statement. "The 36 banks that are part of the MODO wallet form a cartel to avoid competing with each other with their own digital wallets." MercadoLibre, founded by Argentine billionaire Marcos Galperin, said that its complaint to the regulator "seeks to guarantee a competitive framework for the development of better financial tools." A renowned Indian-origin doctor was reportedly shot dead in Tuscaloosa city of Alabama, in the United States. The incident took place on Friday, August 23. The physician named Dr Ramesh Peramsetty, who used to operate several hospitals in the country, was a native of Andhra Pradeshs Tirupati district. Additionally, Dr Ramesh Peramsetty is credited with establishing the Crimson Care Network and was the medical director of the organisation, reported News 18. The Crimson Care Network is a group of local medical professionals. Taking to social media, the Crimson Care Network Team expressing remorse and grief over the death of the veteran doctor said that it would continue to honour Peramsettys legacy. The Facebook post states, As many are aware at this moment, we have been informed of Dr. Ramesh Peramsettys passing. The Peramsetty family ask for us to give them privacy as they grieve his passing. They have received abundant out pouring of love and faith. We will continue to honor him as he would want us to do. Thank you for your understanding." It added, Please continue to keep the Peramsetty and Crimson Care Network family in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this challenging time. Our team is prepared to make more statements within the next few days. We will continue to honor his legacy. Our clinics remain open during the transition." All you need to know about Dr Ramesh Peramsetty The doctor, who practiced as a physician in Tuscaloosa, died on the spot. He was revered for his significant contributions to healthcare. His efforts were recognised and a street in Tuscaloosa was named in Dr Peramsettys honour. Top news today: On 26 August, a series of events are set to take place right from politics to business. The Indian stock market saw solid gains with the Nifty 50 and the Sensex climbing nearly 1 per cent each as investors welcomed US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech last Friday. BJP distanced itself from Kangana Ranaut's remarks about the farmers' agitation. Russia carried out strikes on Ukrainian soil using more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones, claims Zelenskyy. Stock market today: Nifty 50 extends gains into the 8th consecutive session; BSE mcap rises to record 462 lakh crore The Indian stock market saw solid gains on Monday, August 26, with the Nifty 50 and the Sensex climbing nearly 1 per cent each as investors welcomed US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech last Friday, in which he signalled that the time had come for a policy adjustment. Indian stock market rose, mirroring positive global sentiment as a rate cut in September looks almost certain. Read more Zomato, Nykaa, Paytm, CarTrade and more: Should you buy or sell new-age internet stocks? Experts weigh in with top picks New-age internet stocks have been a topic of intense discussion among investors, especially after a period of significant volatility following their IPOs. Companies like Zomato, Nykaa, and PolicyBazaar have experienced fluctuations in their stock prices, leaving investors wondering whether to hold, buy more, or exit these positions. Read more BJP distances itself from Kangana Ranauts comments on farmers agitation, says MP not authorised to speak The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday distanced itself from Kangana Ranaut's remarks about the farmers' agitation and asked the Mandi sitting MP to refrain from making such statements in the future. Expressing disagreement with Ranaut's comments on farmers' agitation, the saffron party said the actor-turned-politician is not authorised to speak on policy issues. Read more Russia attacked Ukraine with over 100 missiles, around 100 drones, says Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on 26 August claimed President Vladimir Putin-led Russia carried out strikes on Ukrainian soil using more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones. Referring to the drone attacks, Zelensky said in a video message posted on Telegram, as quoted by AFP, It was one of the largest strikes a combined one. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred shaheds. Read more Honasa Consumer shares jump 14% to fresh record high; heres what driving the rally? Shares of Honasa Consumer, the parent company of D2C brands like Mamaearth, The Derma Co, and BBlunt, soared over 14 percent, reaching a record high of 534.90 on the NSE. The stock surged after the company received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal in Chandigarh for the amalgamation scheme involving Just4Kids Services Private Limited, Fusion Cosmeceutics Private Limited, and Honasa Consumer. Read more IndiGo passenger Monik Sharma from Assam lost his bag while travelling on a domestic flight from Kolkata to Guwahati. The bag reportedly contained items worth 45,000. To make matters worse, the airline offered him a mere 2,450 compensation. The check-in luggage was lost a month ago during the Crowdstrike outage. Sharma's friend shared the incident on social media, highlighting the problem. According to the post, Sharma lost his checked-in luggage during a significant Crowdstrike outage that disrupted many airlines. The lost bag contained items valued at 45,000, including crucial documents such as a driving license, PAN card, and Aadhaar card. Boarding pass of the IndiGo passenger. "It was checked in at Kolkata airport. It never reached Guwahati. How can it vanish mid air? Was the plane leaking bags? Around a month later - Indigo has come back offering "compensation" of 2450. It is ridiculous. Just the bag would cost more than that. Apparently, there is a rule that the airline is liable for a maximum of 350 / kg in case they lose the bag. That is just adding insult to injury. If someone from the Indigo social media team is reading this - please help him out. 2450 isn't going to fix it," he wrote in a post on X. I think such luggage mishandling happened during Microsoft blue screen event. Indigo is the second largest airlines in the world by market capitalisation and such things are least expected from it, wrote a user. I think such luggage mishandling happened during Microsoft blue screen event. Indigo is the second largest airlines in the world by market capitalisation and such things are least expected from it, noted a user. Another one said, thanks for this information. Never placing anything worth more than 5250 in the bag LOL. OTTAWA : Canada will slap hefty tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum, positioning itself with allies including the U.S. to protect domestic manufacturing. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday unveiled a range of measures she said are aimed at leveling the playing field for Canadas EV industry and steel and aluminum producers to protect them from unfair competition from Chinese companies. From October, Canada will implement a 100% surtax on all Chinese made EVs, including electric and certain hybrid passenger cars, trucks, buses and delivery vans. The impost will be in addition to a most-favored nation" tariff of 6.1% that is already applied to Chinese-produced EVs imported into Canada. The government also intends to apply a 25% surtax on imports of steel and aluminum products from China beginning Oct. 15, which Freeland said seeks to protect Canadian workers and prevent Chinese goods from being diverted through Canada to other trading partners. The two tariffs match measures introduced by the Biden administration in May, lifting the tariff on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products to 25% from up to 7.5% and the levy on electric vehicles to 100% from 25%. Other jurisdictions have followed, though not to the same degree as the U.S. The European Commission has determined the electric vehicle industry in China benefits from unfair subsidies and in July began applying provisional duties on Chinese-made EVs. Freeland said Canadian workers and critical sectors face an intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity that undermined the countrys ability to compete in domestic and global markets. That is why our government is moving forward with decisive action to level the playing field, protect Canadian workers and match measures taken by key trading partners," she said. Canada imported about $1.6 billion in Chinese electric vehicles in 2023, according to Chinese customs data reviewed by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based foreign-policy think tank. Ottawa estimates the countrys auto industry directly supports more than 125,000 jobs, while the steel and aluminum sectors support more than 130,000 jobs across Canada. On top of the tariffs, the government plans to make changes to which EVs qualify for rebate programs aimed at boosting sales of zero-emissions vehicles. The Liberal government stopped short of matching certain other U.S. measures targeting China, including increased tariff rates applied to semiconductors imported from China, solar cells and batteries and battery parts. Freeland said the government will launch a 30-day consultation concerning such critical industries. Ottawa plans to review the new measures within one year of their coming into force, and said the actions could be extended or supplemented by additional measures as needed. China has emerged as the largest maker and exporter of EVs globally in recent years, and its steel and aluminum producing capacity has continued to grow despite softening demand. Canadas government and leaders of trade partners accuse China of weak standards across its EV supply chain, including poor labor standards, a lack of environmental protections and trade policies that promote oversupply. Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com Amid the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine, Russia on 26 August unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage throughout Ukraine, reported PTI. In the attack, at least three people were reported killed that appeared to target energy infrastructure. This latest attack by Russia on Ukraine is considered to be Russia's biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks, which began around midnight and continued after daybreak. Also Read | Joe Biden mixes up Kamala Harris as Trump, Zelenskyy as Putin during NATO summit There were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles, claimed Ukraine's air force. The explosions were so powerful that they were heard in Kyiv, PTI quoted Mayor Vitalii Klitschko as saying, who added power and water supplies in the city have been disrupted by the attack. The Mayor of Ukraine's western city of Lutsk Ihor Polishchuk, said a multi-story residential building and an unspecified infrastructure object were hit, and one person was killed. Regional head Serhii Lysak said that a person was killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where the attack sparked multiple fires. Also Read | President Zelenskyy calls for resilience amid intense fighting in Ukraine Also, one person was also killed in the southeastern, partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said. In the meantime, Ukraine's private energy company DTEK introduced emergency blackouts, saying in an online statement that energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians. In neighboring Poland, the military said Polish and NATO air defenses were activated in the eastern part of the country as a result of the attack. Zelenskyy on India: During PM Narendra Modi visit to Ukraine, Zelenskyy on Friday, August 23, highlighted India's crude oil trade with Russia in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Emphasising on India's global influence, Zelensky suggested that India can help end Moscow's war in Ukraine by halting the oil trade that significantly funds the Russian military. You can stop Vladimir Putin and halt his economy, and put him really in his place, Zelensky said during the meeting with PM Modi. Despite a day of relative calm in the skies over Israel and Lebanon, tensions remained high Monday over the prospect that a regional war could erupt after Israel mounted what it called a preemptive strike that took out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers. Israeli officials said the assault on Sunday morning, which sent more than 100 warplanes over southern Lebanon, was based on intelligence that Hezbollah was about to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israel as well as drones at a key intelligence center just north of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the killing of its commander in July. Israel declared a 48-hour state of emergency and shut its main airport for several hours, with numerous airlines canceling flights. Iran-backed Hezbollah responded by firing more than 200 projectiles, according to Israel, although officials said very limited damage was caused. One Israeli soldier was killed by falling debris, while three deaths were reported in Lebanon. If Hezbollah had successfully executed an attack on targets in central Israel, the tit-for-tat fighting thats been simmering on the border area for 10 months may have turned into wider warfare. Our hope is that the events of last night do not spill out into an escalation that leads to regional war, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday evening during a visit to Canada. Israeli officials argued that their strikes at Hezbollah made a broader war less likely. Israel reopened air travel and eased restrictions on public gatherings. It was a huge success that we detected the plans and now there is the possibility for both sides not to escalate this very complex situation, said retired Brigadier General Ilan Biton, a former chief of defense for Israels air force. Both Israel and Hezbollah announced that, for the moment, their operations were over despite ongoing low-level fighting. Significantly, negotiations in Cairo aimed at establishing a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamas commenced as planned on Sunday. Although Israeli officials said there was progress, Hamas suggested otherwise. Israel has set new conditions for a cease-fire and is still procrastinating, according to a statement citing Osama Hamdan, a spokesman and leader of Hamas. In a dig at US President Joe Bidens administration, he said its planting false hope by talking about an imminent agreement for electoral purposes. The talks continued Monday, with working groups meeting in Cairo, according to White House spokesman John Kirby. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Monday evening and was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The oil-rich kingdom has been expected to play a role helping to rebuild Gaza after the war, although its unclear who will govern the area. Hezbollah Retaliation Hezbollah said its weekend attack on Israel was the start of retaliation for the killing of its commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said it fired more than 320 missiles, followed up by drones, to target 11 army barracks and military sites in northern Israel. The Mossad intelligence services base in Glilot was the main target of the attack, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting Sunday and said he was determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes, and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us we will harm them. US Support The US has stepped up its naval and air defense presence in the region as a warning to Iran and its allies not to increase hostilities. Asked if Israel had informed the US in advance of its plans to hit at Hezbollah, Sullivan, the national security adviser, sidestepped the question. I cant speak directly to the conversations that unfolded yesterday, other than to say there was continuous communication, and we have been tracking the threat of Hezbollah attacks against Israel for some time now, he said. But despite fresh US statements Sunday affirming support for Israels right to defense, the attack on Hezbollah is a setback for American diplomacy, which has been laser-focused on de-escalation and on the search for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Merissa Khurma, director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center in Washington. In private, the past 10-plus months have showcased various ebbs and flows in US-Israeli relations, and certainly a significant rise in tensions. She said it raises doubts among regional allies about whether the US still has leverage over Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the border since October, when the Lebanese organization entered the fray in support of Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed at least 500 people since then, most of them Hezbollah fighters. In Israel, roughly 30 soldiers and 18 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah attacks. Preventing the skirmishes from escalating even further has been at the heart of international diplomatic efforts to ease tension across the Middle East. Hours after an Israeli airstrike on July 30 killed Hezbollahs military chief in Beirut, Iran blamed Israel for killing the head of Hamas political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate but it has also said it would do so on its own timetable. Israel has repeatedly warned it not to do so. On Sunday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah and Iran that the latest attack isnt the end of the story, and was another step on the way to changing the situation in the north, and return our residents safely to their homes. Evacuations The US has been trying to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to reach a compromise over border disputes. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been evacuated from the border area due to the fighting, and Israel wants Hezbollah to move its fighters away from the border to allow its citizens to return. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the US, says it will continue hostilities with Israel until the country agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza with Hamas, also designated a terrorist group by the US and others. The war in the Palestinian enclave began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants, supported by Iran, invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted others. Israels retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 40,000 people, according to Hamas health officials in Gaza. With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak, Omar Tamo, Marissa Newman, Jenny Leonard, Brian Platt, Jon Herskovitz and Akayla Gardner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday received a call from US President Joe Biden, during which the two leaders exchanged views on various issues including the situation in Ukraine and Bangladesh. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for President Bidens deep commitment to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that the India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity, according to PIB. In a post on X, PM Modi said, Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. PM Modi added that he reiterated Indias full support for an early return to peace and stability. The prime minister further said that the two leaders also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh. The leaders also agreed to remain in touch as they reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad. In June, PM Modi met Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy's Apulia region. Last month, Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House as concerns grew over his fitness for office after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced him as the Democratic Partys nominee. Also Read | How global media reported PM Modis visit to Ukraine as Russia continues its war The phone call between the two leaders took place just days after PM Modi visited Ukraine. PM Modi paid a nearly nine-hour visit to Kyiv in the first-ever trip to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since it became independent over three decades back. The prime minister held wide-ranging talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and also invited him to visit India. The Ukrainian leader said he would be happy to travel to the "great" country. In an attempt to put an end to the rumours on social media regarding the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov at a French airport outside Paris on Saturday, President Emmanuel Macron today said it was in no way a political decision. "The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter," the French President said. Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Macron said, France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so. In a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights, the French president posted. "It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law,' he added. Denouncing the false information circulating about the arrest of Telegram CEO Durov , Macron said it is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter. The arrest follows probes accusing Telegram of being complicit in numerous affairs linked to drug trafficking, apology for terrorism and cyberbullying, French daily Le Monde reported. Meanwhile, the Telegram, in a statement, said the company abides by EU laws including the digital services act, and its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, the Telegram statement read. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all, the statement added. The Russian government has also slammed Durovs arrest. Russian officials have called the Telegram's CEO arrest as politically motivated and have accused the West of double standard on freedom of speech. Republican Donald Trump blamed Democratic 2024 rival Kamala Harris alongside President Joe Biden for the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and said he would demand the immediate resignation of any officials in the government involved with that decision. Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world, Trump said Monday in an address to the National Guard Association conference in Detroit, seeking to tie the Democratic nominee to one of the biggest foreign policy disasters of Bidens administration. When I take office well ask for the resignations of every single official. Well get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day, Trump added. Monday marked three years since a suicide bomber attack at Afghanistans Abbey Gate one of the entrances to the airport in Kabul killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghan civilians. Even though 124,000 Afghans were evacuated during the US pullout that brought to an end the two-decade war, the event has come to epitomize the tumultuous exit from the country and the Talibans takeover spurring some of the sharpest criticisms of Bidens foreign policy. Earlier Monday, Trump went to Arlington National Cemetery to mark the anniversary and to meet with family members of some of the service members killed in the attack. He also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on camera. White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that Trumps appearance was one way to recognize the loss of the soldiers. Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, Kirby said, to make sure that the families of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20 some-odd years that we were in Afghanistan, have the support that they need. Trump has regularly assailed the Afghanistan withdrawal, claiming he would have led a more orderly exit that protected American lives, the countrys image abroad and prevented the Taliban from seizing the billions of dollars in US military equipment left behind. In a post to his Truth Social network earlier Monday, Trump called the withdrawal BOTCHED and the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country. Trump forged a February 2020 deal with the Taliban, but not the Afghan government, that set an initial timetable for US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, which Biden modified. Trump and the Republican Party blame Biden and now Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee to succeed him after the sitting president dropped out of the 2024 race for how the withdrawal was carried out. Not that we withdrew, but the way they did it. We were going to do it with dignity and strength, Trump said in his address Monday. He said the US should have taken the soldiers out last, adding that Americas adversaries had a field day at our expense and our reputation. For more: See {ELEC GO} on the Bloomberg Terminal for US election news Republicans in particular have seized on Harris comments in an interview from April 2021 before the Abbey Gate attack where she agreed with an interviewer who characterized her as the last person in the room when the sitting president made decisions and where Harris indicated she was comfortable with Bidens withdrawal plans. The White House acknowledged that the turbulent withdrawal underscored the need to better plan and more quickly implement evacuations from conflict zones in an after-action report in 2023, even as aides sought to put much of the blame on Trump. But that document was denounced by Republicans. Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them, Harris said in a statement Monday that listed the names of those service members killed in the bomb attack. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. Her statement paid tribute to all our servicemembers who served in Afghanistan and said Biden had made the courageous and right decision to end Americas longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones, Harris said. I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland. With assistance from Akayla Gardner. Since winning the UK general election in July, the Labour government has taken some strong early steps to push forward climate action, such as introducing Great British Energy, a new publicly owned energy company, and scrapping the onshore wind ban. It may have just made its first environmental blunder. [Last week], ministers approved London City Airports expansion plans, directly countering the recommendation from the Climate Change Commission, a government advisory body, that there should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is on track to sufficiently outperform its net emissions trajectory." Its safe to say that the criteria havent been met. There is nuance in the decision, meaning that its not an outright win for the aviation sector. London Citys bid to increase the annual passenger cap to 9 million by 2031 from 6.5 million was approved, but the maximum number of aircraft movementstake-offs and landingswill remain at 111,000 a year. Also read: Business Frequent Flyers Are Failing to Lower Their Carbon Footprint A request for extra flights on weekday mornings was granted, though the weekly 24-hour suspension of flights from 12:30pm on Saturdays has been retaineda small win for local residents desperate for peace and quiet. The application was based on a commitment to allow only more efficient, quieter new-generation aircraft, such as the Embraer E195-E2 and Airbus A220-100, to fly during extended operating periods. Thats a nice thought, but its a far cry from the ambition the sector needs to slash emissions. Serving largely wealthy frequent flyers travelling for business, there are legitimate questions about who benefits from the London City Airport expansion. In 2019, approximately 43% of seats were occupied by folks who fly at least once every two months. Plus, analysis by think-tank New Economics Foundation found that 64% of journeys taken from the airport in 2019 could have been completed in two train journeys or fewer, while more than half could be reached in six hours or shorter via rail. This isnt just about a single airport, however. Globally, the sector is expanding. There are currently 28,400 commercial aircraft in the world fleet, with more than 15,000 on order. Despite all these extra planes coming online, theres not nearly enough extra sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)a term encompassing a range of alternative fuels, some more sustainable than othersto meet that demand. Just 0.17% of aviation fuel was SAF in 2023. Meanwhile, innovative zero-emission aircraft powered by hydrogen or electricity are far from being commercially ready, and theres not yet enough incentives in place to convince airlines or airports to invest and prepare for them in the future. Labour has room to take a bolder approach to ensure aviation has a sustainable future. For instance, the UK and the EU now have SAF mandates. Beginning in 2025, a rising percentage of jet fuel will have to be SAF, with sub-targets for so-called power-to-liquid fuels, which are considered more scalable and able to achieve greater emissions reductions than waste-based jet fuels. The problem is these advanced fuels are far more expensive than conventional jet fuelas much as 120% to 700% more than their fossil fuel counterpartsmaking them cost prohibitive to adopt. But theres a way that Labour could address that while raising necessary funds for the transition. Matt Finch, UK policy manager at Transport and Environment, a European advocacy group for clean transport, told me that any British motorist paid more in fuel duty the last time they filled up the tank than British Airways has ever paid because jet fuel is exempt, and only 30% of aviation emissions are included in the UKs emissions trading scheme, meaning there is effectively no carbon pricing on the fossil fuels that airlines are using. Research from T&E found that a kerosene tax in the UK, at the same rate that motorists pay, would have raised 6.7 billion in 2019. Labour has stressed that theres little money in the coffers. Well, that would raise some. Any airport expansions should also come with conditions. Telling Heathrow that it could have its third runway on the condition that only zero-emission or SAF-powered planes can take off and land there, for example, may just spur airports and airlines to pick up the pace on decarbonization after decades of dragging their feet. Nevertheless, the only sure way to reduce emissions from aviation in the short term is to fly less. That could change, but only if policy initiatives are adopted to shake aviation out of its hubris. Also read: Bacteria can cut CO2 emissions, create sustainable aviation fuel & sneakers With decisions expected soon on expansion applications from Gatwick and Luton airports, Labour ought to carve out a new direction for the industry. bloomberg The recent landmark ruling by the US District Court for Columbia calling out Googles monopoly in online search has reignited global discussion on the dominance of Systematically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs) such as Google, Meta and Amazon. In India, this has significant implications for the debate on the draft digital competition law, which aims to promote user freedom, competition, innovation and consumer empowerment by allowing the use of third-party apps on Core Digital Services. Big Techs dominance in the global digital marketplace, particularly through its app store policies, has faced scrutiny and regulatory challenges. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed two penalties of 1,338 crores and 936 crores on Google for abuse of its dominant position in the Android mobile devices ecosystem and its play store and in-app payments, respectively. These penalties reflect growing concerns about Big Techs market power and its impact on competition and consumer choice. The draft digital competition law sets specific criteria for determining which enterprises qualify as SSDEs. These include user thresholds (core digital service provided by the enterprise has at least 1 crore end-users or at least 10,000 business users) and financial thresholds (turnover in India of not less than 4,000 crore, or global turnover of not less than $30 billion). By focusing regulatory scrutiny on Big Tech meeting these thresholds, the draft law effectively targets entities that wield substantial influence in the digital ecosystem, but without unduly burdening smaller players. This targeted approach enhances the effectiveness and fairness of the regulatory framework. At the heart of the draft digital competition laws recommendations lies the principle of ensuring user choice and promoting a level-playing field. Currently, Big Tech often dictates which apps users can access on their platforms. This stifles competition and limits consumer choice. Users are confined to a narrow selection of apps and services pre-approved by technology platforms. This creates market conditions for duopolies, with dominant players deciding the rules. By mandating the freedom for users to integrate third-party apps into Core Digital Services, the draft law seeks to break this cycle. This integration also fosters innovation and entrepreneurship within the digital marketplace. By opening up Big Tech platforms to external developers, the draft law creates opportunities for smaller app developers and startups to compete on a more level-playing field. This drives innovation as developers strive to create compelling apps that attract user attention and loyalty. Moreover, allowing third-party apps on Core Digital Services enhances interoperability and data portability. Interoperability enables seamless interaction between different apps and platforms, facilitating smoother user experiences and healthy competition. Data portability, on the other hand, empowers users to switch between services easily while retaining their data, thereby reducing lock-in effects and enhancing consumer choice. Big Tech corporations may argue that mandating the integration of third-party apps could compromise security and user experience. However, the Parliament of India has taken steps to address this concern. The passage of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act and the deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a foundational tech layer demonstrate the governments commitment to safeguarding user data and promoting a secure digital environment. The architectural principles of DPI prioritise interoperability, data portability and user control over personal data. These align closely with the goals of the draft digital competition law. By anchoring these principles in the legislative vision of the DPDP Act, the draft digital competition law seeks to establish a comprehensive framework that not only promotes competition but also protects user privacy and security. The DPDP Act provides robust mechanisms for enforcing data protection standards, especially data empowerment and protection architecture (DEPA), consent management systems, and penalties to hold companies accountable for any breaches of user privacy. By integrating these provisions into the regulatory framework governing Big Tech, the draft digital competition law ensures that user data remains protected, regardless of which apps are integrated into Core Digital Services. In essence, while Big Tech may raise concerns about the risks associated with third-party app integration, Indias government has already laid the groundwork to address these concerns through comprehensive data protection legislation and deployment of DPI. By building on these foundations, the draft digital competition law aims to strike a balance between promoting competition and safeguarding user interests. As India navigates the complexities of regulating Big Tech, ensuring user choice remains paramount in shaping a fair and equitable digital marketplace. For New Delhi, that represents the Little Citizens view, even if it is not the Mountain View. When Elon Musk endorsed former President Donald Trumps campaign in July, X was his megaphone to reach his almost 200 million followers. The endorsement not only made Musk one of Trumps most influential supporters, but also represented a remarkable shift in his eagerness to weigh in on political debates compared with just a few years ago. Musk posted about 13,000 times this year through the end of Julyalmost as much as in all of 2023. Thats about 61 posts a day, compared with nine in 2019. If you were to read all his exchanges on X from the past 5 yearsincluding the posts he replied tothat would add up to about 1.5 million words. Thats roughly twice as long as the King James Bible. The words in Musks posts alone added up to more than 300,000not counting emojis. Musk and his representatives didnt respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal about his posting patterns on X, formerly called Twitter. To understand the political evolution of one of the worlds richest men, the Journal captured nearly 42,000 of Musks exchanges on X between 2019 and the end of July. (Thats nearly all his conversations during that period, with a small number of exceptions, such as posts he deleted. Read here for more on methodology.) Musks exchanges included roughly 76,000 postshis tweets as well as his retweets, tweets to which he replied and any quoted tweets. The Journal mapped them using the same technology that powers artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. All told, the Journal classified more than 500 variations of words and phrases related to political and social issues, and nearly 300 as terms related to Musks companies and their industries. In 2024, Musk had roughly 230 times as many exchanges a month containing the political terms compared with 2019. Conversations containing business terms more than doubled, but fell as a share of overall tweets. To dig into the details of the shift, the Journal manually classified each of Musks tweets from July 2019. Roughly two-thirds were about cars or space, both industries central to Musks business empire. The handful that pertained to governmental issues or the media generally related to his business interests. In July of this year, roughly a fifth of Musks nearly 2,200 posts pertained to his rocket and electric-vehicle companies, or those industries, according to the Journals manual review. Nearly 60% of Musks posts were about politics, the media, current events or cultural issues. Five years ago, Musk said he wasnt a partisan. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic marked a turning point. A tweet calling the coronavirus panic" dumb was his first post to get more than one million likes in the Journals analysis. In subsequent tweets, Musk criticized government-mandated lockdowns and sparred with local authorities over reopening Teslas factory in Fremont, Calif. He complained about the power of unelected" officials over pandemic-related mandates, with nine of his conversations on the platform containing the term in May 2020. Musk had courted controversy on Twitter in prior years, such as when his tweets about taking Tesla private led the Securities and Exchange Commission to sue him. But he began taking on a more political tone. In May 2020, he tweeted a reference to the movie The Matrix" that is used by some on the right as a rallying cry. In the movie, the red pill allows the main character to see the reality behind the illusion. Throughout 2020, Musks Twitter exchanges directly named President Biden, who was elected in November of that year, once. In 2021, Musk repeatedly clashed with the president and other Democrats whom he accused of unfairly treating him and his companies. Musk bristled when the Biden administration invited only automakers with unionized workforces to a White House event on electric vehicles in August 2021, excluding Tesla. He continued to complain about the administrations auto industry policies. He also feuded with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. By 2022, Musk was spending more time wading into sensitive political and social issues. More than 250 of Musks Twitter exchanges in 2022 mentioned free speech," disinformation," the media" or similar phrases. That year, Musk offered to buy Twitter. He accused the platform of having a strong left wing bias" and said that he would soften content moderation in the name of free speech if he bought the platform. He completed the acquisition in October 2022 in a deal valued at $44 billion. The move won him many admirers among conservatives and critics of big social-media platforms. Several of his most-liked posts of all time pertain to free speech and his acquisition of Twitter, with some receiving millions of likes. His top most-liked in the Journals analysis: a joke about buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in." The name of the platform appeared in about 900 of his exchanges in 2022. Thats nearly twice as many as mentioned Tesla during the same period. In November of that year, a record 36% of his conversations mentioned Twitter. In a May 2022 tweet, Musk made his split with Democrats explicit. Musk said his shift was fueled in part by how Democrats treated him and his companies. Musk also began expressing more views about international affairs, such as Russias invasion of Ukraine starting in February 2022. Early on, Musk posted his support for Ukraine, tweeting Hold Strong." SpaceXs Starlink, which uses a fleet of satellites to provide internet service, has been a key tool Ukraine has used in its fight with Russia. Later, he voiced concerns about oversight of the U.S. governments spending on Ukraine and the risk of nuclear war. Musk drew ire from Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky over a tweet in which he proposed that Ukraine cede the Crimea region to Russia. Musk responded that he still supports Ukraine. In 2023, Musk replied to, quote-tweeted or retweeted prominent foreign leaders at least 18 times, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Of those exchanges, seven were with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose policies have made him an icon for some on the right. Musk engaged more frequently than in prior years with accounts focused on political commentary. Among the accounts he engaged with the most since 2023 were @EndWokeness, which Musk replied to, quote-tweeted or retweeted more than 470 times. He had about 450 exchanges on the platform with Alex Lorusso, a conservative political commentator, during that period. The term woke" appeared in more than 400 of Musks exchanges since 2023 as he criticized liberals, or amplified others who did. In more than 60 of those, Musk posted about the woke mind virus," his way of labeling what he sees as a herd-like mentality on the left. Musk grew increasingly occupied by issues at the center of U.S. culture wars over the past two years, such as gender and diversity. He has said that his opposition to medical treatment for transgender children often known as gender-affirming care was one of the animating issues in his political shift. In a recent podcast, Musk said he felt tricked into signing documents allowing one of his children to have treatment. I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that," he said. In June 2023, Musk responded to a user who said he had received backlash for rejecting the term cis," which describes people whose gender identity aligns with their sex at birth. Musk also ramped up posting about diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, known as DEI, which he called a form of discrimination, writing in December 2023, DEI must DIE." Since 2023, more than 1,400 of his exchanges included the terms DEI," racist," trans," gender," or similar words related to race, gender and sexuality. Musk also amplified the idea that white people are made to feel guilty about their skin color, replying to a post that included a video of people being asked if they are proud to be white. As Musk spent more time engaging with political controversies, he also at times amplified inflammatory or conspiratorial content. In 2022, in a later-deleted tweet, he posted a link to an article with salacious and unsubstantiated claims about the attack on lawmaker Nancy Pelosis husband. In November 2023, Musk responded to a users post that espoused an antisemitic conspiracy theory by writing: You have said the actual truth." Musk has vehemently denied being antisemitic and said he hadnt meant anything antisemitic by that post. That comment, he said, was one of the most foolish, if not the most foolish thing, Ive ever done on the platform." Since last year, more than 100 of his exchanges on the platform mentioned the billionaire George Soros. Some of his comments about Soros, including a comparison to Jewish X-Men villain Magneto, drew condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League. Musk also amplified claims that the left is importing future left-wing voters" through illegal immigration. This year, illegal immigration has been a focal point of his attacks against Democrats. Musk has called out Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the issue. Hes also raised alarms about high levels of immigration abroad, warning that Europe appears to be headed for civil war" in response to posts from users over the past year citing social unrest. Since January, terms like illegal immigrants," migrants," the border" and similar phrases appeared in more than 900 of Musks conversations. In April, Musk posted, My politics are (I think) fairly moderate anyway." By July, Musk was posting often about Trump and Biden, with 15% of his exchanges on X mentioning at least one of their names that month. He declared his support for Trump in a post on X shortly after the former president was shot in a failed assassination attempt. In recent months, Musk dove into the presidential race, including by hosting Trump on X for a freewheeling conversation that lasted more than two hours. Musk had told others he planned to contribute around $45 million a month to the Trump-supporting America PAC, the Journal previously reported. Musk later said on X that he is donating at a much lower level." The day of the assassination attempt, Musk posted a viral photo of Trump raising his fist in defiance after he was shot. The post garnered roughly 3.4 million likes. It was Musks second-most popular post to date. Ben Warren contributed to this article. Write to Andrea Fuller at andrea.fuller@wsj.com, Alexa Corse at alexa.corse@wsj.com, John West at john.west@wsj.com and Kara Dapena at kara.dapena@wsj.com Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday shared a video across social media platforms of his interaction with Kashmiri women. A 11 minute video included Kashmiri women who were enrolled in various colleges, studying subjects like law, physics, journalism, and political science, said Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi recorded the conversation when he had visited Kashmir. During the interaction, the omen flagged that there has not been a single day when they have not met a woman who has not claimed they were harassed in public transport. Also Read | J&K: Farooq Abdullah confirms alliance with Congress on all 90 assembly seats The video begins with a short teaser where Rahul Gandhi is saying, problem is that the attitude of men toward women is incorrect. The statement was made in context with the Kolkata doctor's heinous rape and murder case that has rocked the nation. During the teaser Gandhi is also seen taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's God remark. Gandhi says one day when you realise you are not god, you are just a human being, then there is a problem. During an interaction with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi jokingly quipped, They (the Kashmiri women) are bullying me. WATCH RAHUL GANDHI'S INTERCATION WITH KASHMIRI WOMEN On women in Kashmir Being a Kashmiri woman I know what problems we face. We have less literacy rate, less employment rate, 76% for women, only one senior professor one Kashmiri student listed to Rahul Gandhi. Also less representation added another participant of the discussion. The women said that women are discriminated against in Kashmir. They claimed the education is limited and backward in Kashmir. No corporate firms, no MNCs, we are far behind the women informed Rahul Gandhi. On women facing sexual harassment in Kashmir, the participants claimed that this began after 2019 (Modi's second term as prime minister). Everything is checked here, so it is not possible that something as big as that is happening and the government cannot control it, the women said. Also Read | Rahul, Kharge in Srinagar today to explore poll alliance chances On PM Modi On the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government, the Kashmiri women agreed when Rahul Gandhi observed that PM Modi does not listen to anyone. The LoP also remarked that PM Modi believes that he is always right, even though he is shown the he is wrong, he will not accept that It comes from insecurity, Rahul Gandhi said. On Kashmir Elections Rahul Gandhi remarked the status or running Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh from Delhi does not make any sense. To this the women agreed, totally. Terming the development depressing, the women said agreed that Kashmir losing its statehood was not called for. That is why we are so sad, they added. On Terrorism in Kashmir When Rahul Gandhi asks, How does the situation here disturb your plans, the Kashmiri women readily answer it stresses them out a lot. Gandhi was referring to Pakistani infiltration and sporadic terrorist activities in the valley. One of the respondents even mentioned that they had considered not continuing their education in Kashmir because its so depressing'. She also mentioned she had been studying political science. To this Gandhi quipped, My experience with political science is what they teach you in universities has got nothing to do with real life politics. Kashmir Assembly Elections Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. Jammu and Kashmir is expected to witness multi-cornered contests in most seats. These are the first assembly polls since the abrogation of Article 370. Elon Musk's space exploration company, SpaceX, is set to embark on a groundbreaking mission that will make history with the first privately managed spacewalk. This ambitious endeavor, part of the Polaris Dawn mission, is scheduled to launch on August 27, 2024, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, which will last six days, represents a significant leap forward in the privatization of space exploration, marking the first time a spacewalk will be conducted without the involvement of government astronauts. The Polaris Dawn mission will see a crew of four SpaceX astronauts, led by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, venture into Earth's orbit aboard a modified Crew Dragon capsule. What sets this mission apart from previous spacewalks is that the entire capsule will be depressurized, forcing all crew members to rely solely on their spacesuits for survival. This risky maneuver, combined with the absence of an airlock, will push the boundaries of current space technology and serve as a major test for SpaceX's new spacesuits. The Crew: Diverse Backgrounds and Expertise Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, is not new to space exploration. He previously commanded the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, the first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth, which was also organized and primarily funded by him in partnership with SpaceX. Isaacman is not just the mission commander but also one of the two crew members who will undertake the spacewalk. Alongside him will be Sarah Gillis, a senior space operations engineer at SpaceX, who has been instrumental in training astronauts for various SpaceX missions. Gillis, who graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with an engineering degree, joined SpaceX as an intern in 2015 and quickly rose through the ranks. Her responsibilities at SpaceX include training astronauts for safety and flight operations, making her an ideal candidate for this mission. As the mission specialist, Gillis will be one of the two crew members to step outside the capsule for the spacewalk. The mission's pilot, Scott Poteet, brings a wealth of experience from his 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force, where he logged over 3,200 flight hours in various aircraft, including the F-16 fighter jet. Poteet's role in Polaris Dawn extends beyond piloting; he will also assist with the spacewalk, provide communication support, and collaborate closely with mission control. Poteet previously served as Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission and was the vice president of strategy at Isaacman's Shift4 company until 2022. Rounding out the crew is Anna Menon, a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, who will serve as the mission specialist and medical officer. Menon, who holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University, is responsible for the crew's health and well-being during the mission. Her background as a NASA biomedical flight controller and her experience in managing crew operations at SpaceX make her a crucial asset to the mission. Pushing Technological Boundaries The Polaris Dawn mission is not just a test of human endurance but also a critical evaluation of SpaceX's technological innovations. The mission's spacewalk, scheduled for the third day, will be the first time a space capsule has been depressurized entirely for such an operation. The Crew Dragon vehicle has been modified to allow its hatch door to open in the vacuum of space, eliminating the need for an airlocka significant departure from standard spacewalk procedures. The crew will don SpaceX's new slimline spacesuits, designed to provide life support in the harsh environment of space. The spacesuits and the spacecraft's electronics will be tested rigorously as the mission ventures into parts of the Van Allen belt, a region filled with charged particles that can interfere with electronic systems and pose health risks to astronauts. The Polaris Dawn mission will orbit Earth in an elliptical path, coming as close as 190 kilometers (118 miles) and reaching as far as 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the planet's surface. This trajectory will take the crew farther from Earth than any human has been since the Apollo moon missions ended in 1972. The mission will also expose the crew to higher levels of radiation, adding another layer of risk. Safety and Scientific Exploration As with any space mission, safety is paramount. However, unlike NASA missions, which are governed by strict safety regulations, private missions like Polaris Dawn do not adhere to the same standards. SpaceX and the Polaris crew have planned for a range of contingencies, including the possibility of an oxygen leak or a failure to reseal the hatch door. Despite the inherent risks, the mission offers a unique opportunity to test new technologies in an extreme environment, providing valuable data that could inform future missions to the moon or Mars. The crew will also conduct a series of scientific experiments, including monitoring their physiological responses during the mission. One critical aspect of the mission is the "pre-breathe" process, where the crew will fill the cabin with pure oxygen to remove nitrogen from their systems, reducing the risk of decompression sickness, commonly known as "the bends." As SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, the Polaris Dawn mission represents a significant milestone in the journey toward making space travel more accessible and advanced. If successful, it will pave the way for future missions that could take humanity even farther into the cosmos. (With inputs from Reuters) Milestone Alert! Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world Click here to know more. 3.6 Crore Indians visited in a single day choosing us as India's undisputed platform for General Election Results. Explore the latest updates here! Innovative ideas contribute to new quality productive forces free from conventional economic growth techniques and paths of production development. In keeping with the current development concept, they exhibit high-tech, high efficiency, and great quality. The actual use of foreign investment in the high-tech manufacturing in the first seven months of 2024 was 69.58 billion yuan (about 9.75 billion U.S. dollar), which accounted for 12.9% of the countrys total actual use of foreign capital, marking a 2.6% increase over the same period last year. Rising 87 percent, 41.3 percent, and 32.4 percent respectively are foreign direct investments in the medical instrument, technique service, computer and office facilities manufacturing sectors. High-quality development is based on green development; new quality producing forces are naturally green; many foreign-funded enterprises are adopting ecological transformation in line with Chinas carbon neutrality trend. Aiming to lower 28,000 tonnes of carbon emissions yearly, a Tianjin Danfoss energy efficiency solution company plant has reached 100 percent green energy consumption. Since the start of this year, Airbuss Tianjin campus has lowered around 2,500,000 carbon dioxide emissions by using green electricity. Data published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows China will support 5,095 green factories, 369 green industry parks, 605 supply chain management businesses and over 35,000 green products. Adding that Siemens often combines digitalization and low-carbon trends to achieve high quality development, President and CEO of Siemens China Xiao Song stated, the cultivation of new quality productive forces provides broad marketing opportunities and new growth points. China is keeping increasing its attempts to draw in international companies and extend its high-level opening. The Knightsbridge Group has established itself as a leading expert in helping investors navigate the complex and dynamic landscape of Chinas economy. With decades of experience in global finance and deep insights into the unique opportunities and challenges of the Chinese market, Knightsbridge provides unparalleled guidance for those looking to capitalize on Chinas growth. From understanding regulatory environments to identifying high-potential sectors, Knightsbridges expertise ensures that investors are well-equipped to make informed decisions and maximize their returns in one of the worlds most important economies. Through a combination of strategic advice, market analysis, and strong local partnerships, the Knightsbridge Group is a trusted partner for anyone seeking to unlock the full potential of investment opportunities in China. Heres a table of U.S. companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that are heavily investing in China: Company Name Ticker Symbol Sector Key Investments in China Apple Inc. AAPL Technology Manufacturing, R&D, and retail operations. Tesla, Inc. TSLA Automotive Gigafactory in Shanghai, large sales market. General Motors Co. GM Automotive Joint ventures with SAIC, manufacturing and sales. The Coca-Cola Company KO Consumer Goods Extensive bottling and distribution networks. Intel Corporation INTC Semiconductors Manufacturing, R&D centers, and sales offices. Nike, Inc. NKE Consumer Goods Manufacturing and extensive retail presence. Starbucks Corporation SBUX Consumer Goods Rapidly expanding retail locations. Qualcomm Inc. QCOM Semiconductors Licensing agreements and partnerships with Chinese firms. Procter & Gamble Co. PG Consumer Goods Manufacturing and extensive sales network. Boeing Co. BA Aerospace Aircraft sales, supply chain, and assembly plants. Mondays executive meeting of the State Council examined and adopted the 2024 version of a negative list of special administrative measures meant for foreign investment access. The negative list indicates that China will speed the opening of sectors including telecommunication, education, and health care services while totally removing entrance barriers in the manufacturing sector, therefore easing limitations on foreign investment. Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla, said the dynamism of the Chinese market, coupled with the governments move to expand domestic demand and attract foreign investment, provides us with a broader space for development. Globally leading AI-driven biotech business has shortened preclinical medication development from many years into just 18 months thanks to research and development team of Insilico Medicine in Shanghai. Shanghai is our first choice to design new medicine, since its the center of biopharmaceutical innovation, said Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO and founding member of Insilico. Whats more, there are so many contract research organizations, talent and vivid communities. Head office located in New York and Hong Kong, Insilico opened a medication research and development facility in Shanghai in 2019. Now among the companys centers and offices worldwide, it is the biggest and most talent-intensive one. Insilico is only one of the several global businesses increasing investment in China to seize more market possibilities and cooperation space in newly developed quality production forces. With innovation leading the way, new quality productive forces mean advanced production unbound from conventional economic growth modes and paths of production development. In keeping with the current development concept, they exhibit high-tech, high efficiency, and great quality. Shayne Heffernan Brendan Gleeson is encouraging people across Longford to get behind a 2.4million national fundraising drive for 24 Hospice and specialist palliative homecare providers that make up Together For Hospice, The National Hospice Movement. The legendary actor is asking everyone to get brewing ahead of next months Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice, which has raised 45.3million for frontline Hospice care since 1992. This years event takes place on September 26 but supporters can host or attend one on a date that suits them, with every cent raised locally going to their local Hospice. Both of Gleesons parents spent their final days in St Francis Hospice in Dublin, which is set to begin work on a new 24 single-room in-patient unit, at a cost of 29 million. Also read: Longford County Council planners deem Ardagh community hall application invalid Im aware that Im in the final chapters but youre just trying to keep the creaky bits moving as well as possible, said the Oscar-nominated actor as he officially launched the fundraiser on Wednesday (August 21) in Bewleys Cafe, Dublin. A great quote shared with me years ago was good health is a golden crown which only those who are ill can see, so the person who is sick is seeing how glorious it is. I try to keep an eye on the crown and as long as Im motoring around alright, I appreciate life. Gleeson said there is a huge need for developments like those at St Francis Hospice, which will give families added privacy in their loved ones final days. Also read: Longford's ambitious Wolfshead Company of Archers hit target with 5k boost His father Francis spent his time there in a four-bed room, which made those moments a bit more difficult. The conversation was a little inhibited; you are in hearing distance of others, trying not to earwig, and at the same time attempting an intimate conversation with your loved one in quite a loud voice! Because patients are at that stage, you have to speak fairly loudly. Single rooms make it so much easier. I am asking everyone in Longford on September 26, or whenever suits them, to organise, support or donate to a coffee morning, wherever it might be held. Also read: Longford Text Alert delivers free community alerts straight to your phone Dan Rooney, Chairperson of Longford Hospice Homecare, said: We are delighted Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice, one of Together For Hospices longest and most loved fundraisers, is now in its 32nd year raising funds in support of Hospice in-patient and community services across Ireland. It is a chance to celebrate our coffee morning hosts, who give so selflessly of their time and energy in their local communities. This ongoing, unwavering support is invaluable and funds vital services and quality initiatives, enhancing care for patients living with life-limiting illness. Jason Doyle, Managing Director at Bewleys Ireland, said the company was immensely proud to again support the event, now in its 32nd year making it the countrys most successful and longest charity partnerships. Bewleys as an iconic Irish brand, was founded on the principle of caring for people and communities, which ties in perfectly with the ethos of Together For Hospice. Also read: New Superintendent for Longford Garda Station and local Inspector receives promotion We encourage everyone to host a coffee morning to help support the incredible, and often unseen, work that hospices nationwide carry out every day. The ethos at the heart of Together For Hospice is whatever is raised locally stays locally and goes directly to each local Hospice service to innovate, build new facilities, develop new services and deliver quality improvements and extra benefits for patients and their family members. Register to host a coffee morning on Thursday, September 26 or on a date that suits you at hospicecoffeemorning.ie or call 0818 995 996. If you cannot host or attend a coffee morning, you can make a donation at hospicecoffeemorning.ie/ donate Also read: Class of '24 Mean Scoil Mhuire, Longford react to LC results Local News By Chris Boyle Published: August 26 2024 Events held across 22nd Assembly District in August to distribute supplies. Assemblywoman Solages at the backpack distribution during Community Outreach Day at Family Life Worship Center in Elmont, hosted by REDZ INC., August 17, 2024. Credit: Office of Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages partnered with local businesses and community groups to pack and distribute 1,000 free backpacks filled with supplies to students in the 22nd Assembly District, just in time for the new school year. The backpacks were handed out at events held across the district, including Green Acres Back to School Bash in Valley Stream, Community Outreach Day by REDZ INC. in Elmont, KNM African Natural Hair Braidings Pop-Up Shop in Elmonteach held on Saturday, August 17thand Gateway Christian Centers Community Day on August 3rd in Valley Stream. Holy Name of Mary RC Church in Valley Stream also held their backpack drive on August 20th with the support of Assemblywoman Solages. Additionally, the New York Islanders have begun distributing backpacks to students in partnership with Assemblywoman Solages community office. This collaboration between Assemblywoman Solages, community groups, and businesses provided students with essential supplies and enjoyable activities at these distribution events as they prepared for the upcoming school year. Supporting our students requires a community effort, and this initiative proves just that, said Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages. By coming togethergovernment, local businesses, and community organizationsweve created something meaningful for our families as they prepare for the new school year. Im incredibly grateful to our partners for their dedication and for making this vision a reality. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: August 26 2024 Caitlyns Vision is a nonprofit raising awareness of pediatric eye diseases and providing eyewear to those in need. Caitlyns Vision hosted its annual gala dinner and auction on August 14th, at Giorgios Baiting Hollow. NYS Senator Dean Murray attended the fundraiser, which honored his colleague, Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano and his Chief of Staff, Penny Hines, as well as Michelle Nash, MD, and Avery Joy Berner. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: August 26 2024 State Disaster Recovery Experts Continue to Assess Damage in Pursuit of a Major Disaster Declaration and Low-Interest Loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Governor Kathy Hochul today announced President Joe Biden has approved her request for a federal Emergency Declaration for Suffolk County as record rainfall and widespread flash flooding resulted in devastating damage throughout the county. Under an emergency declaration, direct federal assistance is available, which authorizes FEMA to provide emergency protective measures including actions to protect critical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, water control facilities, utilities, and mass transit facilities. With this Emergency Declaration secured, New Yorks disaster recovery experts are continuing to work with local and federal partners to determine the states ability to also request a federal Major Disaster Declaration and low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Extreme weather hit Suffolk County families and communities hard this month and I commend the hardworking damage assessment teams on the ground who provided information to secure this important federal disaster assistance, Governor Hochul said. I thank President Biden and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell for their continued support in helping Suffolk County residents get the assistance they need. An Emergency Declaration can be declared for any occasion or instance in which the president determines federal assistance is needed. These declarations supplement state and local efforts in providing emergency services, such as the protection of lives, property, public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the U.S. Extremely heavy rainfall and widespread flash flooding ravaged Suffolk County starting August 18, and continued through the morning of August 19, leaving a trail of destruction that led to multiple swiftwater rescues, severely damaged roads, major road closures, dam failure and flooded residences and buildings that required evacuations. The flooding was so significant that the National Weather Service declared the first-ever flash flood emergency for Suffolk County, which indicates an immediate threat to life safety. This event was a 1-in-1,000-year rain event for the impacted area. Multiple swiftwater rescues occurred, especially in the Town of Brookhaven, during the early morning hours of August 19, and the Mill Pond Dam failed completely causing six families to be displaced. Various roads washed out, including Rocky Point Road, Hagerman Landing Road, and numerous primary and secondary roads were closed due to major flooding, including Route 25A in both directions. Over 2,000 residents and business owners experienced flood damage in some capacity, and Stony Brook University had to relocate and/or shelter hundreds of students and completely cancel move-in day due to the amount of infrastructure damage across campus. Multiple sinkholes were reported as a result of flooding, including in the hamlets of Commack and East Setauket, and several state and local parks experienced significant flooding as well. Various first responders fire apparatuses were damaged due to the flood response. Numerous primary and secondary roads were closed due to downed trees, and individuals were displaced due to structural damage. Furthermore, building damage assessments found more than 70 structures that had major damage or were completely destroyed. On August 23, Governor Hochul Declared a State of Emergency and announced emergency assistance to support homeowners impacted by flash flooding caused by the record rainfall. At Governor Hochuls direction, New York Homes and Community Renewal is launching an emergency repair program for homeowners in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Additionally, disaster recovery experts from the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services have begun working with their local counterparts to assess damage statewide in order to determine the States ability to request federal disaster relief resources from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Under the HCR program, homeowners may be eligible for grants of up to $50,000 to fund or reimburse certain qualifying health and safety related repairs to address damage caused by the storm that are not covered by insurance or other disaster relief programs. Applicants must be homeowners who occupy the home as a primary residence and total household income may not exceed 150 percent of the area median income. The program will be administered by local partners who will work directly with affected homeowners and assist them with insurance claims, the repair and reconstruction process and reimbursement requests. Homeowners are encouraged to complete this form to be notified when applications open. Additionally, the Department of Financial Services staff will be deployed to affected communities to provide insurance help to residents and businesses affected by severe weather and will also be staffing a resource center to assist residents and business owners with insurance-related questions. DFS staff will be deployed to the following affected communities: Tuesday, August 27 Stony Brook University's Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), Room 343, 1500 Stony Brook Road, Stony Brook, NY 11794. 10 a.m. 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 28 Stony Brook University's Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), Room 343, 1500 Stony Brook Road, Stony Brook, NY 11794. 10 a.m. 7 p.m. After contacting insurance companies, residents can also get assistance with insurance information regarding policy coverage for losses and suggestions on how to document their losses and safeguard their property by calling the Department's Disaster Hotline at 800-339-1759. From August 12-30 the hotline will now include extended evening hours and will be open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to help New Yorkers. Flood insurance issued by FEMAs National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is not regulated by the Department. For flood insurance information, contact NFIP at (800) 621-3362 or www.floodsmart.gov. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, I am glad the Biden-Harris administration acted quickly, heeding our call to approve Governor Hochuls emergency declaration request for Suffolk County. Flash flooding and intense rainfall devastated communities across Long Island last week, and Ive been working with local officials and the state ever since to assess the damage with Army Corps on the ground. Together, FEMA, President Biden and Vice President Harris stand ready to help New York. Representative Andrew Garbarino said, Ensuring the swift mobilization of state and federal resources is critical following the significant storm that recently wreaked havoc across Long Island. Im pleased to see that federal resources will be brought to bear to address public safety, as well as damage to roads, homes, and other structures. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said, On behalf of every Suffolk County resident who has been affected by this storm I thank Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Governor Hochul and all of the members of Suffolks Albany delegation for this emergency declaration. We can now move forward and begin to help families and communities begin to rebuild. Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said, I am deeply grateful to Governor Hochul for declaring a state of emergency and for her assistance in providing funds necessary to help our community to become whole again. Thanks to this FEMA declaration we will have the tools and resources required to rebuild, restore our environment and protect the Island from future storms like the devastating rainfall that took place early last Monday morning. Husband Pleads Guilty to Criminal Negligent Homicide, Wife to Reckless Endangerment After Two Sisters Die in a Fire at the Couples Rental Home Crime By Chris Boyle Published: August 26 2024 Peter and Pamela Millers Home Was Found to Have a Total of 29 Code Violations After Post-Fire Investigation. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Peter Miller, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of Criminal Negligent Homicide, and Pamela Miller, 55, pleaded guilty to Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, as a result of a fatal fire that occurred at the Millers rental home, where sisters Lindsay Wiener, 19, and Jillian Wiener, 21, of Maryland, were vacationing with their family in 2022. Both sisters died in the fire. First and foremost, our hearts go out to the Wiener family, who lost these young women in this tragic fire. Such a loss is unimaginable, and our community mourns with them, said District Attorney Tierney. We take all matters involving housing regulations very seriously, as they are crucial for public safety. If you have a rental home, you have a duty to make sure that it is safe. According to court documents and the defendants admissions during their guilty plea allocutions, on August 2, 2022, a Maryland couple and their three children, including Lindsay and Jillian, were vacationing at the Millers home located in Noyac in Suffolk County which was advertised for rental. That evening, the family attempted to use an outdoor charcoal grill located in an outdoor kitchen that was attached to the main house. When the food did not cook, the family removed the food from the grill, closed the lid, and cooked the food in the indoor kitchen. The family ate dinner and then, at approximately 11:30 p.m., they went to sleep. A few hours later, on August 3, 2022, at approximately 3:30 a.m., the mother and father woke up to the sound of glass shattering. When they left their bedroom to investigate, they saw fire in the kitchen and screamed for their children to get out of the house. The couple escaped but the father re-entered the home to locate his children. The heat conditions forced him out of the house and left him with burns on his feet. The couples son opened his bedroom door and heard his sisters screaming but was overwhelmed by the heat and smoke conditions and could not locate them. After realizing the fire had trapped him in his bedroom, the son jumped from a second story window to escape. The Sag Harbor Fire Department was the first of several fire agencies to arrive to the scene. Fire chiefs observed fire in the kitchen, thick black smoke, and intense heat. Firefighters gained access to a second-story bedroom where they located Jillian on the floor. Her sister, Lindsay, was found on the floor of the second-floor bathroom. Both women were transported to Southampton Hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries. The surviving family members and responding fire personnel reported that no fire alarms were heard at any point. Investigators determined that the origin of the fire was the outdoor kitchen, which the Millers constructed on their own without a permit, and without an electrical inspection. The outdoor kitchen was mostly made of wood with low hanging wood ceilings that sat above the charcoal grill and gas stove. The bottom grill vents of the charcoal grill were completely blocked by an attached counter, and the electrical circuits that the outdoor kitchen shared with the indoor kitchen were overloaded and improperly wired. The Millers advertised the rental home in Noyac on multiple popular vacation rental sites. Their listing indicated that the home was equipped with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. However, an electrical inspection report revealed that they were not connected properly, and there was not adequate fire detection throughout the home. The smoke detector in one of the second-floor bedrooms was de-energized by the fire due to overloaded electrical circuits, and no battery back-up existed. The smoke detector in another second-floor bedroom, where Lindsay and Jillian stayed, was also de-energized during the fire and did not have a functioning battery back-up. The smoke detector in the master bedroom, where the sisters parents stayed, was disconnected from the electrical system and did not have a battery back-up. The master bedroom and the hallway outside of it were determined not to have had adequate fire detection at the time of the fire. The Millers were charged with 29 code violations including: Failing to apply for and obtain a rental permit prior to renting; Having a transient rental when prohibited by law; Having a transient rental with tenants contrary to the certificate of occupancy in place; Constructing an outdoor kitchen without a building permit, occupying/allowing a deck/pool without a certificate of occupancy; Failing to assure single/multi station smoke detectors on the wall outside of the second floor bedrooms; Failing to assure the smoke alarm in the second-floor east bedroom was connected properly; Failing to assure that the smoke detector in the second-floor east bedroom had a battery back-up; Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the hallway outside of the first-floor bedroom was connected properly; Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the hallway outside of the first-floor bedroom had a battery back-up; Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the garage was properly connected to a power source; Failing to assure a carbon monoxide detector was installed outside of the second floor bedrooms; Failing to assure a carbon monoxide detector was installed outside of the first floor bedroom; Installing an electrical outlet without a proper electrical box which created an electrical shock/fire hazard whereas it was directly on siding; and Installing an electrical outlet on a counter in the outdoor kitchen without a proper electrical box, creating a shock/fire hazard, whereas it was directly on siding. The Millers were prosecuted for these code violations in Southampton Town Court. On August 22, 2024, Peter and Pamela Miller were arrested after surrendering at the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office. On August 26, 2024, Peter Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of Criminally Negligent Homicide, Class E felonies, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz. On the same day, Pamela Miller pleaded guilty to Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, a Class A misdemeanor, before Justice Horowitz. The Millers are due back in court on November 7, 2024, and are being represented by Edward Burke Jr., Esq. This case is prosecuted by Bureau Chief Timothy Gough and Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty of the Homicide Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Special Investigator John Roberts of the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office, in partnership with Southampton Town Fire Marshal Shane Sharkey, and the Southampton Town Police Department. Crime By Chris Boyle Published: August 26 2024 Arrests Include Aggravated DWI, Two Times Over Legal Limit. Over the past weekend, Suffolk County Sheriffs Office Deputies arrested six impaired drivers for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). One of these drivers was charged with Aggravated DWI and was found to be more than two times over the legal limit. As part of ongoing DWI enforcement by the Sheriffs Office, deputies are always out patrolling for those who are making poor choices when it comes to driving home. Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. has increased DWI enforcement and has taken to social media to remind residents, young and old, to drink responsibly and have a designated driver or call for a ride if they have been drinking. Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol D. Toulon, Jr. thanks his Deputies for their hard work. I commend my staff for their hard work in safely removing these impaired and dangerous drivers from our streets so residents who drive responsibly can arrive home safe. AGGRAVATED DWI On Sunday, August 25th Deputy Sheriffs pulled over Leon Ramsey, 45 of Miller Place, after his 2006 Porsche Cayenne was observed swerving across lanes on eastbound I-495 at exit 57. Upon interviewing the driver, it was observed the driver speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, his movements were unsteady, and there was the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath. He submitted to a chemical breath test resulting in a .20 BAC and Ramsey was arrested for Aggravated DWI. ADDITIONAL DWI ARRESTS INCLUDE: On Friday, August 23, a Deputy Sheriff pulled over Jhonny Fabian Bueno-Pizarro, 28 of Islip Terrace, on Montauk Highway in East Patchogue, for failure to maintain lane. While performing a field sobriety test the Deputy observed a open alcoholic beverage in the vehicles front cupholder. He was arrested for DWI, consented to a breath test, and registered a BAC of .11. On Saturday, August 24, a Deputy Sheriff pulled over Daniel Walsh, 29 of Ronkonkoma, on the I495 Service Road by Nicholls Road for failure to maintain lane. He was arrested for DWI, consented to a breath test, and registered a BAC of .17. On Saturday, August 24, a Deputy Sheriff pulled over Frankie Smith, 33 of Morrisville, North Carolina, on I495 by exit 64 for speeding (approximately 87 MPH), and failure to maintain lane. The driver was found to be intoxicated and arrested for DWI and refused to consent to a breath test. His license to drive in NY was suspended and he was additionally charged with Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle. On Sunday, August 25 a Deputy Sheriff stopped Ruben Sanchez, 28 of Shirley, on the Southern State Parkway by Exit 43 for failure to maintain lane and speeding. He was arrested for DWI, consented to a breath test, and registered a BAC of .12. Additionally, his license was suspended for pending prosecution of a prior DWI, and he was charged with Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a M.V. 2nd. On Sunday, August 25 a Deputy Sheriff stopped Oscar Fernandez Jr. 54 of Copiague, on the Sunrise Highway Service Road by Locust Ave. for failure to maintain lane and speeding. The driver was found to be intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI, consented to a breath test, and registered a BAC of .13. All information contained in this release has been provided for general informational purposes only. To the extent that pending criminal matters are discussed, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. On Saturday, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Al Qaedas branch for West Africa, killed at least 200 people in a massive assault in central Burkina Faso. The strike took place in the vicinity of Barsalogho, a locale not far from the city of Kaya, a large bastion outside of Burkinas capital of Ouagadougou. According to survivors and security officials, an unspecified number of JNIM fighters amassed on a military position near Barsalogho, where dozens of civilians and members of Burkinas Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), a nationwide self-defense militia, were helping the soldiers build defensive trenches and positions. The jihadis then indiscriminately opened fire on everyone within the military position, with survivors reporting to Al Jazeera that men, women, and even children were killed in the attack. At least 200 people were killed, with another 300 wounded. Reinforcements of Burkinabe troops and VDP personnel reportedly helped repel the attack and prevented further casualties. The exact breakdown of killed civilians and military personnel remains unclear, but Burkinabe security officials have noted that large numbers of people from both categories were casualties. Radio France Internationale reported that the casualties also included local government officials. Voice of America, however, reported that the majority of people killed were indeed civilians. Videos published on social mediaseemingly filmed by JNIM members themselvesappear to show mainly civilian bodies in the trenches. Videos filmed by those responding to the scene also show many military vehicles on fire and significant physical destruction of the base. JNIM was relatively quick to claim responsibility for the event, though its official statement was terse. Released through its Az-Zallaqa Media, JNIM simply stated that its forces took complete control over a Burkinabe militia headquarters in Barsalogho in Kaya Province this morning. The group has thus far not yet released a more detailed statement nor any official photos as of this time of publishing. However, it has claimed a series of operations inside northern Burkina Faso in recent days, all of which included photographic evidence. Any official media released by the group on the Barsalogho attack, if and when published, will likely exclusively focus on military casualties, as this would correspond with al Qaedas broad directive to avoid highlighting wanton civilian deaths in official media releases. If civilians are shown, JNIM will likely claim the bodies as VDP members, as this would fit within its twisted ideology of who constitutes acceptable targets. Deteriorating Burkina Faso The ruling military junta in Ouagadougou is shakily struggling to combat the ever-growing jihadi threat from both JNIM and its rival, the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP)though JNIM remains the bigger threat inside Burkina. According to estimates from late last year, the al Qaeda branch controlled at least 40% of Burkinabe territory. However, ISSP continues to strike inside Burkinabe as well. This struggle includes trying to control the fighting inside Burkina Faso, as well as trying to prevent the flow of jihadist violence out of Burkinas borders and into neighboring states like Benin, Togo, Ghana, and now, to a lesser extent, Ivory Coast. Whereas Ivory Coast has seemingly been able to repel JNIMs advances on its territory, and Ghana remains officially silent on any reported JNIM presence within its northern areas, Benin and Togo currently struggle to fight back against JNIM. Though JNIM has been able to build bases in both countries, much of the violence in those countries still emanates from Burkina Faso. Under the current military regime of Ibrahim Traore, the Burkinabe state has increasingly turned to the VDP to try to stymie JNIMs advance. Traores leadership has emphasized the self-defense militia, which has greatly expanded and now essentially acts as another wing of Burkinas formal military. As first stated by Heni Nsaibia, the VDP under Traore became a central pillar of his military approach to JNIM. In response, JNIM has increasingly made VDP positions and formations key targets in its rampage across much of Burkina. In addition, though the use of ex-Wagner forces is not as conspicuous as in its northern neighbor of Mali, Russian mercenaries are in Burkina assisting the regime in various capacities. Russians are mainly currently used in a training role for elite Burkinabe troops and regime protection in Ouagadougou. However, the situation could change if Traore requests more Russian mercenaries and the Kremlin actually deploys them to Burkina. The role of ex-Wagner forces could become similar to their deployment inside Mali, where they take a more offensive part against the jihadists. This weekends massacre in Barsalogho is a stark reminder of JNIMs remaining threat and capacity for violence inside Burkina Faso. In many ways, this unfortunate attack also signals the continued deterioration of the Burkinabe state and serves as a barometer of the Sahel as a whole. Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa. Footage from an airstrike against two senior Hamas members in Jenin on August 17, 2024. The men were wanted for carrying out a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley. (IDF photo) Israel is leveraging the current war against Hamas, Hezbollah, and its Iranian-led allies to carry out a campaign of targeted eliminations against entities involved in terrorist activities in the West Bank. Israeli operations have eliminated members of Palestinian terrorist groups that orchestrate West Bank violence in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. On August 21, Khalil al-Maqdah, a Fatah leader and one of the founders of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, died when a missile hit his vehicle in the city of Sidon, Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the targeting and accused Maqdah of smuggling weapons to terrorist groups in the West Bank and organizing terror attacks. Earlier this year, the Israeli military implicated Khalils brother, Mounir al-Maqdah, in transferring weapons to terrorist groups in the West Bank and fomenting violence under the direction of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Following Khalils death, Mounir affirmed the IDFs suspicion, saying that his sibling was responsible for transferring weapons to the Resistance inside Palestine. The killing of Mounir is undoubtedly not a one-off event after Hamass terrorist attack on October 7. Its only the latest in a string of targeted killings against individuals who are actively supporting, plotting, and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israelis in the West Bank. On July 24, a joint IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation eliminated Hamas member Nael Sakhel in a Gaza airstrike. According to the IDF, Sakhel operated for more than a decade in Hamass West Bank Headquarters, a division in charge of orchestrating terrorism against Israelis in the West Bank. Furthermore, the IDF said that Sakhl was involved in financing and supplying weapons to terrorist cells that promoted terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria. Earlier, on May 27, the IDF eliminated Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamass West Bank operations. Notably, Rabia was involved in the murders of IDF soldiers in 2001 and 2002, according to the Israeli military. Furthermore, the strike killed Kahled Najjar, another senior Hamas member involved in terrorist activities in the territory. IDF and Shin Bet efforts to target Hamas both locally and abroad highlight Hamass growing influence in the recent surge of terrorism in the West Bank, a trend that has been evident since the start of this year. Concerningly, Hamas is not acting alone; it is one of several groups contributing to the violence in the territory. Organizations like Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs have posed serious challenges for Israeli forces operating in the West Bank. However, unlike Hamas, these groups lack the support infrastructure necessary to carry out persistent and sophisticated attacks against Israeli targets. It is worth noting that Israel has also carried out a targeted assassination of a senior Islamic Jihad member in Gaza over his role in arming West Bank cells. On May 9, 2023, Israel eliminated Tariq Muhammad Ezzedine, who the IDF said was responsible for advancing Islamic Jihads weapons capabilities in the West Bank. The looming catastrophe in the West Bank The significant concern is that despite near-daily Israeli counter-terrorism operations over the last three years, Hamas, including other terrorist organizations allied with the Islamist group, persists in carrying out attacks and is establishing a substantial presence in the northern West Bank. FDDs Long War Journal spoke to former IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus (Ret), who voiced concern about the trending dynamic in the West Bank. Specifically, Hamas and other terrorist groups are evolving into a formidable force due to Iranian weapons smuggling. Its only a matter of time before they [terrorist groups in the West Bank] get their hands on anti-tank, anti-air, and standard-grade explosives, noted Conricus. Moreover, the eventual arrival of additional advanced weapons, sometimes referred to as tie-breaking arms, will drastically change the status quo in the West Bank. The entire battle environment will change for the worst, as [Israeli forces] will be forced to go fully mechanized and armored, and the consequences on the civilian population will be dire, warned Conricus. Beyond the efforts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the current situation in the West Bank would not have unfolded without the backing of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2021, Tehran made a calculated decision to increase funding and support for established terrorist organizations in the West Bank. Iranian leaders felt encouraged by the belief that the West Bank was vulnerable to unrest due to Hamass increasing popularity in the territory and a weakened Palestinian Authority (PA). Additionally, Iran likely recognized an opportunity to exploit the mutual distrust between the PA and the Israeli government, using this dynamic to further incite discord within the territory. After more than three years of violence, the inevitable consequences have become apparent. Nevertheless, both the PA and Israel have failed to develop a unified strategy to confront this pressing threat in their backyard. Although it would be mutually advantageous for both parties to come together, neither has shown the political will to take that crucial step. Israels unilateral military campaign against Palestinian terrorist organizations has, at best, merely kept tensions in the West Bank at a simmer. At worst, it is only slowing down the eventual takeover of the West Bank by Hamas and its allies. In terms of Palestinian terrorist activity, the West Bank is increasingly mirroring the Gaza Strip. This alarming trend should raise significant concerns in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Washington DC, and other centers of power. Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East. Explore Chengdu, a city of happiness and vigor 15:37, August 26, 2024 By Liu Ning, Zhang Rong, Wang Yuheng, Oliver Fritzsch, Xian Jiangnan ( People's Daily Online Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, is dubbed the "land of abundance." Nowadays, the city is brimming with boundless energy. A famous historical and cultural city and also one of China's ancient capitals, Chengdu is the birthplace of the ancient Shu civilization. Having a vast history, with 4,500 years of civilization and 2,300 years as an established city, Chengdu boasts distinct cultural features and an inclusive cultural environment. Its unique charm is shaped by elements such as fiery hotpot, rapid technological development, and the world-famous giant pandas. The city strikes a balance between fast-paced living and a laid-back lifestyle, as well as a blend of tradition and modernity. Fiery hotpot offers a glimpse into the hustle and bustle of Chengdu When people talk about Chengdu, spicy hotpot immediately comes to mind. It has become an iconic symbol of the city. The combination of ingredients like slices of beef, tripe, duck intestines, and vegetables, cooked together with chili peppers, creates a mouthwatering and addictive flavor that is both numbing and fresh. The hotpot culture has shaped the personality and character of Chengdu locals, and represents the diversity and inclusiveness of the city. Chengdu hotpot. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Rong) Chengdu has a rich history of embracing spiciness, with chili peppers becoming increasingly popular among the people in the southwestern region since the 19th century. The city's basin location, characterized by a humid and hot climate, provides an ideal environment for preserving chili peppers. Consuming them in moderation is believed to help dispel dampness. The diverse range of ingredients used in hotpot reflects the fusion of cultures in Chengdu. Hotpot not only represents a delicious dish but also embodies the culture and spirit of the city. The deep love and passion for hotpot among Chengdu locals have turned the dish into a cultural symbol of the city. Local residents play musical instruments in a park in Chengdu. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuheng) Technology injects momentum into new quality productive forces Chengdu's inclusive and open cultural atmosphere provides a fertile ground for sci-tech innovation. According to Xu Qin, head of the business division of Chengdu Ruileda Robot Technology Co., Ltd., the comfortable living environment in Chengdu creates a relaxed working atmosphere for technical professionals. Chengdu is nurturing a rising force for sci-tech innovation. It has established national innovation platforms such as the Chengdu Sci-Tech Innovation Ecological Island, the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Supercomputing Center in Chengdu. These platforms cover basic research, technological innovation, and the transformation of achievements. Photo shows a robot developed by Chengdu Ruileda Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Rong) Chengdu Ruileda Robot Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Chengdu Sci-Tech Innovation Ecological Island, is a key company in the Tianfu New Area of Chengdu. According to Zhang Ruirui, chairman of the company, the Tianfu New Area has attracted numerous technology companies and professionals, becoming a destination for top-notch technology companies to settle. Chengdu Ruileda Robot Technology Co., Ltd. focuses on researching human-machine interaction technology and developing humanoid robots. "We've developed over 100 robot products in five series. Currently, we are developing humanoid robots with advanced capabilities in understanding, reasoning, and executing tasks," said Zhang. The company designed and manufactured a robot named "Rong Bao" for the 31st FISU World University Games, which took place in Chengdu in 2023. Chengdu provides favorable policies and a supportive environment for sci-tech research. This includes benefits such as talent settlement, covering the costs of education for children, and support for projects, according to Zhang. "Chengdu is a place where individuals can enjoy a comfortable lifestyle while pursuing their career goals," he added. International cooperation on giant pandas yields fruitful results Giant pandas primarily inhabit the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces in China. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is situated in the Chenghua district of the city, covering an area of 3.07 square kilometers. Photo shows a panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Rong) At the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one can see tourists from all corners of the globe. Vera, hailing from Russia, expressed that the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is a very famous tourist attraction in Chengdu, and is a good place to see giant pandas and red pandas near their natural habitats. "Excellent conditions are made for pandas. They are cuter than I imagined. Its really good," Vera said. Guo Yunxia, a young caretaker at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, joined the team after completing her university studies. Over time, Guo has developed a deep affection for the giant pandas, gaining a profound understanding of the habits of each panda under her care. One of them, named "San You," is 7 years old. Guo described it as having a gentle nature, being a bit timid, and remaining highly vigilant while eating. Photo shows a panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Rong) According to Guo, the daily responsibilities of caring for the giant pandas are diverse, including providing ample food, monitoring their health, ensuring cleanliness and hygiene, tending to panda cubs, and eliminating any potential safety risks. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has partnered with Japan, the United States, Spain, France, Germany, and Denmark to launch an international cooperative breeding program for giant pandas. Through this program, they have successfully collaborated and conducted research in various areas such as giant panda breeding, animal behavior, and conservation education. As of 2023, a total of 37 cubs had been born through international cooperative breeding efforts. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liu Ning) An Israeli warplane preparing for a mission. (Screenshot from IDF archival footage) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used approximately 100 warplanes to confront a large Hezbollah attack in the early morning hours of August 25. This morning, we thwarted a large-scale attack by the Hezbollah terrorist organization targeting northern communities and locations in central Israel, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement on the evening of August 25. The attack by Hezbollah was widely expected for three weeks after Hezbollah vowed to retaliate for an IDF airstrike that killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on July 30. Hezbollah claimed in its Al-Manar media that the attack was the first phase of what might be several attacks on Israel. The Iranian-backed terrorist group has been vowing for weeks to increase its attacks on Israel beyond its usual daily offensives, which usually consist of several rocket launches or kamikaze drone strikes. The vow to retaliate is part of a larger Iranian threat to also retaliate for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Together, these threats put Israel on high alert and caused commercial airlines to cancel many flights to the country. The IDF said it monitored Hezbollah over the previous weeks and used aircraft patrols to prepare for the escalation that began just after four in the morning on August 25. As soon as we identified Hezbollahs intention to carry out the attack, we thwarted the majority of the attack, Hagari said. Israel launched widespread airstrikes to preempt Hezbollahs attack by targeting rocket launchers. Over 270 targets were struck in Lebanon over several hours, which the IDF said disrupted Hezbollahs plans. Approximately ninety percent of the targets struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah planned to harm Israeli civilians. Hezbollah managed to launch only about two hundred and thirty rockets and over twenty unmanned aerial vehicles, the IDF concluded. Most of the projectiles Hezbollah fired were intercepted. Hezbollah claimed that it launched 320 rockets at Israel, the largest barrage since the group began its attacks on Israel on October 8, 2023. The Iranian-backed group has escalated attacks in the past with large barrages, sometimes launching between 100 and 200 rockets and drones in a day. The attacks set off sirens in more than 80 communities in northern Israel, according to an Israeli smartphone application that tracks these alerts. Some communities heard sirens sound more than once as the strikes unfolded from 4:45 am to 7:30 am. Most of the attacks consisted of rockets, but Hezbollah also launched kamikaze drones, both of which targeted the northern Galilee and sites in the Golan. The furthest south that sirens sounded was in the region of Acre, a coastal city around 18 miles south of the Lebanese border. In general, the pattern of Hezbollahs targets on August 2 was similar to those it has struck in the past. Most of its rockets were aimed at northern Israel, including areas already evacuated by civilians. Hezbollah said it targeted 11 sites, including several IDF bases and barracks in the northern Galilee and the Golan. The sites also included the Meron air traffic control base, which Hezbollah has targeted numerous times with rockets. Israels Iron Dome air defense system has intercepted most previous attacks. The IDF said that around 30 Hezbollah terrorists have been eliminated over the past week. In addition, Hagari said that six more members of Hezbollah were killed on August 25. One Israeli sailor serving on a patrol boat was killed by shrapnel from an interception. Considering the large number of Israeli airstrikes, overall Hezbollah casualties on August 25 were low. This toll is typical of the kind of conflict Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in over the last 10 months, where Israels retaliatory strikes consist of using precision munitions to hit terrorist infrastructure rather than Hezbollah personnel. More than 420 Hezbollah members have been killed, and the group has launched more than 7,500 rockets and 200 drones at Israel over 10 months of attacks. Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDDs Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza (2024). IDF troops advance into the outskirts of Deir al-Balah. (IDF photo) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expanded their push into the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, a key city in central Gaza. The operation is one of several that the IDF is undertaking in Gaza as it continues to confront various Hamas threats and attacks by other terror groups. For example, on August 25, Hamas launched a rocket aimed at the Israeli city of Rishon LeTsiyon, one of several recent attempts by the group to use long-range rockets to threaten central Israel. Improvised explosive devices have also taken a toll on IDF forces in several areas in recent weeks, killing and wounding soldiers. The latest IDF operations in Gaza come as Israel faces continued threats from Iran, and public officials have emphasized a need to focus on Hezbollah and the northern front. On August 21, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited southern Gaza and said Hamas Rafah Brigade had been defeated after several months of fighting in Rafah. This followed a visit by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi to the Philadelphi Corridor on August 14, where he warned Hamas that it would face bitter days ahead if it continued to hold Israeli hostages. The IDFs deployment in Gaza has continued along a familiar pattern. In southern Gazas Rafah, the 162nd Division leads operations even as officials believe Hamas is largely defeated in the city. Similarly, in Khan Younis, the 98th Division still operates against Hamas remnants after having defeated the terrorist groups Khan Younis Brigade in four months of fighting that ended in April 2024. The 98th Division, which includes elements of the IDFs Paratroopers Brigade and the 7th Armored Brigade, has incrementally returned to different areas of Khan Younis since July 2024, entering and leaving several neighborhoods. The 98th Divisions presence in Khan Younis enabled the IDF to respond quickly when Hamas launched a rocket at central Israel on August 25. The division pinpointed the launch site and directed a drone to carry out an airstrike in response. The IDFs 252nd Reserve Division is operating in central Gazas Netzarim Corridor, between Gaza City in the north and an area called the central camps. The IDF has been rotating units in and out of the Netzarim Corridor since November 2023, when Israeli forces first completed a rapid movement across Gaza and took control of the area. The IDF estimates that the 252nd Division, which includes the 16th Brigade, 10th Brigade, and 454th Brigade, eliminated over 200 terrorists in several months of fighting. As the IDF expanded operations in central Gaza in August, it issued a number of evacuation orders. For instance, one order directed at the neighborhood of Qarara was issued on August 15. In addition, the 98th Division entered Hamad on August 18. This is at least the second time the same unit has cleared this area, which consists of a planned neighborhood and modern residential towers. The IDF increasingly faces threats from booby-trapped buildings and improvised explosive devices. On August 17, the IDF announced that reservist Major Yotam Itzhak Peled, serving with the IDFs Jerusalem Brigade, was killed by a bomb in the Netzarim Corridor. Another member of the same brigade was also killed while driving in the Zeitun neighborhood, an area the IDF has frequently cleared. Israeli forces deployment in the Qarara neighborhood of Khan Younis enabled the 98th Division to move into the outskirts of Deir al-Balah. The city is one of four urban areas the IDF has not yet cleared of Hamas in 10 months of fighting. The other uncleared areas include Maghazai, Bureij, and Nuseirat, all of which include refugee camps founded in the 1950s that have often formed bases for terror groups. The troops of the 7th Brigade continue to expand operational activity on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah. In the past two weeks, the soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists, and over 100 terror targets were struck in aerial operations in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF said on August 26. Israeli forces found a tunnel that stretched almost half a mile and located munitions, anti-tank missiles, military vests, and knives stored next to a baby crib in a childrens room in a residential apartment, according to the IDF. Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDDs Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza (2024). Security researcher ESET has posted a report about a new phishing attempt by hackers to get your login information for your bank. The attack involves a method used to bypass Apples App Store and its gatekeeping methods and security checks. The phishing campaign involves a phone call that a user gets that is supposedly from a bank, informing the user that the banking app they are using is out of date. After being instructed to select an option on a pop-up that appears, a phishing link is sent through an SMS message. When the user taps the link, a screen appears that mimics app store installationsESET observed installation screens that imitated the Google Play Store but not the Apple App Store and ESET could not confirm that the scam involved fake Apple App Store installation screens, though iOS users are being targeted in this attack. An X post shows what the screens look like. Today is Amazon Prime Big Deal Days! Our editorial team lists the best tech deals here. ] The app that is installed is a Progressive Web Application (PWA), which is essentially a website presented as an app on your phone. (Theyre often called web apps.) The web app is designed to look like the banks app, and when the user enters their username, password, and any other info, it is sent to a server maintained by the attacker. How to protect yourself from an attack Progressive Web Applications themselves are not unique and generally harmlessin fact, before Apple opened the iPhone to third-party apps and created the App Store, Apple encouraged developers to build web apps. Even in todays App Store, many apps are basically repackaged web apps, especially apps for financial institutions and retailers. This attack was observed by clients of a bank in Czechoslovakia and ESET reports the attack appearing in the countries of Georgia, Hungary, and Poland. ESET did not mention the attack occurring in the U.S. or U.K. If you are an iPhone user with a bank app, the safest way to get app updates is through the App Store. The App Store posts update notifications in your account profile, where you can install updates. You can also check the apps entry in the App Store. Do not open links that you get through text messages. Learn more about iPhone malware and viruses. We also have tips on how to protect your phone from hackers. Manchester, VT (05254) Today Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 42F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 42F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. A Boston man who authorities said fired a water gun at police officers during a traffic stop was arrested over the weekend. During the arrest, officers found a real gun in his waistband, according to Boston Police. Police said the episode began around 7:15 p.m. Saturday after officers stopped a car on Warren Street in Roxbury. While sitting in his cruiser, one officer was hit by a liquid from a vehicle driving by. The officers left the traffic stop, pulled over the passing car and told the occupants they had interfered with the stop, according to police. One male passenger told the police he meant to scare them, the officers recounted. The man refused the officers request to exit the car, and police said they noticed the man was hunched forward. After removing the man from the vehicle, the officers said they found a loaded handgun in his waistband as well as a squirt gun inside the car. The man was identified as Danyael Torres, 23, of Dorchester. While the other occupants of the car were released, Torres was arrested on charges of assault and battery on a police officer, carrying a firearm without a license and illegal possession of ammunition. He is expected to appear Monday in Roxbury District Court. If you really want to know about brewing in Western Massachusetts, you probably cant do better than talking to Gary Bogoff of Berkshire Brewing Co. in Deerfield. Bogoff started the brewery with then-business partner Chris Lalli in 1994, making it only the second craft brewery in the area (after the Northampton Brewery, which opened in 1987). That means that Berkshire Brewing will celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with a party at the Franklin County Fairgrounds starting at noon on Sept. 28. Along with great beers and food, music will be provided by the likes of James Montgomery, The Lonesome Brothers, Eilen Jewell, and Briezy Jane & the Hurricane. Legendary British band Oasis may be getting back together for first time in 15 years at least thats what fans are thinking after the band posted a cryptic message to social media Sunday, Aug. 25. Oasis posted a video on X and Instagram seemingly teasing an announcement that is supposed to come at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Many fans took this as a sign that the band will be reuniting for the first time in 15 years. Going to fly from the US to see this, one X user commented. I dont care how much it cost. The last Rock n Roll band are coming back to kill again, someone said on Instagram. The same graphic has also been posted to Oasis website. Liam Gallagher, the lead vocalist of Oasis, replied to fans and critics on X after reunion rumors started circulating earlier in the weekend. I never did like that word FORMER, he said in one post. Gallagher also told a fan that dates for a reunion tour would be released, Nxt Friday. The cryptic hints came 30 years after Oasis skyrocketed to fame with the release of their debut album, Definitely Maybe in 1994. The album became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time, Today reported. Oasis followed that success with (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? in 1995. The project was certified quadruple platinum in the U.S. and produced the bands signature song Wonderwall. The chart-topping band released five more albums, with their last project being Dig Out Your Soul in 2008. Oasis broke up after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in August 2009, according to the BBC. A lucky Massachusetts State Lottery player bought a jackpot-winning Megabucks ticket at a country club in Leicester on Saturday. The ticket, worth $2.64 million, was purchased for $2 at the Hillcrest Country Club on Pleasant Street. Another Massachusetts player bought a winning Powerball ticket worth $50,000 at a Market Basket in Chelmsford on Saturday. In Megabucks, players select six numbers between 1 and 44 and mark the number of drawings they want to use the same numbers for. Each play costs $2, and drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 9 p.m. Players that match all six numbers win the jackpot. They have one in 7,059,052 odds of winning the jackpot. In Powerball, players select five numbers between 1 and 69 and one Powerball number between 1 and 26. They then choose how many drawings they want to use those numbers for. Players that match all five numbers and the Powerball number win the jackpot. They have 1 in 292,201,338 chances of winning this way. Players that match four numbers and the Powerball number win $50,000. They have 1 in 913,129.18 chances of winning this way. The Powerball jackpot prize stands at $44 million as of Sunday. Powerball drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Overall, at least 227 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Thursday, including three in Springfield and nine in Worcester. The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600. So far, the largest lottery prize won in Massachusetts this year was worth $1 million a year for life. The prize was from the lotterys Lifetime Millions scratch ticket game. The winner claimed their prize through a trust on July 10, and opted to receive a one-time payment of $15.4 million. The family members of John OKeefe, a Boston police officer killed in January 2022, filed a lawsuit naming his girlfriend Karen Read and two Canton bars in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday morning. Paul OKeefe, the brother of John OKeefe, is listed as the personal representative of his brothers estate in the lawsuit. John OKeefe II and Margaret OKeefe, the parents of John OKeefe, are also listed as plaintiffs. Read, 44, of Mansfield, was a defendant in a trial for John OKeefes murder earlier this year and a judge declared a mistrial on July 1 due to a hung jury. She will face a second trial in January and prosecutors say she struck John OKeefe while driving her SUV intoxicated and dropping him off at a Canton home after drinking at two Canton bars. Prosecutors say she left him to die outside in the snow. Her attorneys contend she was framed. Read and Canton bars C.F. McCarthys and Waterfall Bar & Grill are the defendants in the 13-count lawsuit seeking a trial by jury in Plymouth Superior Court. The lawsuit claims that Read spread a false narrative about John OKeefes death and caused his family aggravated emotional distress. Notwithstanding her 5th Amendment right not to speak; defendant Read chose to speak publicly, the lawsuit states. She knowingly and deliberately changed her story and fabricated a conspiracy knowing the same to be false. She publicly communicated this false narrative thereby frustrating Justice for JJ. John OKeefe is referred to as JJ throughout the lawsuit, and it says that the relationship between the third-generation Boston police officer and Read was deteriorating in the months leading up to his death. During such time, defendant Read picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness, the lawsuit states. Reads trial drew large crowds and protests to the courthouse between April and July as many of her supporters echoed claims made by defense attorneys that other people were responsible for OKeefes death. Testimony during the trial revealed that the lead State Police investigator, Trooper Michael Proctor, made disparaging comments about Read during the investigation, leading to questions about his bias against Read. Proctor is suspended without pay and is the subject of an internal affairs investigation. OKeefes family accuses the two bars of negligently serving alcohol to an intoxicated person, namely Read. Defendant knew or should have known that defendant Read was intoxicated at relevant times of service on January 28, 2022. Reads second murder trial is slated to begin on Jan. 27, 2025. This past Friday, a judge rejected attempts by her attorneys to dismiss two counts. A 70-year-old man who died Saturday afternoon after being pulled from a lake in Stow was formerly the fire chief in Hudson, according to the Hudson Fire Department. Stow resident Frederick Dusseault was pulled from Lake Boon after police and firefighters responded to a call about a man falling in the lake around 11:30 a.m., Stow authorities said previously. First responders found him in the water being assisted by a bystander and helped the bystander pull him out. First responders administered CPR at the scene before rushing Dusseault to a hospital, but he was declared dead at the hospital later that day, authorities said. No further information about his death has been released. Read more: Man dies after being pulled from Stow lake Dusseault joined the Hudson Fire Department as a provisional firefighter in 1973 and worked his way up the ranks until he became fire chief in 2000, the fire department said. He served in the role for six years. In 2022, Dusseault was awarded the Massachusetts State Firefighter Service Award by the state Department of Fire Services in honor of his over 30 years with the Hudson Fire Department, the fire department said. New England is in for a big show of foliage come the fall. Or the foliage could arrive late and depart early, a result of climate change and troubling weather conditions. But one thing remains true the regions unique characteristics set the stage for a show each fall no matter the weather. Experts disagree about what, exactly, the fall foliage will look like across the region. As Bill Keeton, a professor at the University of Vermont, tells it, predicting the foliage this far from its peak is an inexact proposition. Every year, its kind of a mystery how all this is going to play out exactly, and then, boom, theres this great reveal every year of foliage, he said in a telephone interview. But even if the more pessimistic outlook comes to pass, leaf peepers shouldnt have too much cause for concern. Its always spectacular no matter what, Keeton said. Were talking about subtle differences here year to year. An improvement on last year? Writing in Yankee Magazine, Jim Salge, a foliage expert, predicted a rebound for the regions foliage after a wet summer in 2023 led to a diminished season. In Salges view, most trees, aside from those in northern Vermont and Connecticut, have had a relatively stress-free spring and summer without much rain. Salge said the risks to that forecast would be persistent warmth in September along with continued humidity and tropical systems, which would activate latent fungi. We expect peak color to develop on time in northern New England, compared with historical averages, with the onset of cooler weather, Salge wrote. Colors should be bright, and trending toward a redder year if abundant sunshine allows. Colors should hang on longer than normal before fading and falling slowly. But Keeton, a professor of forest ecology and forestry, said he is seeing some early warning signs about the coming foliage. The critical factor impacting what New Englands foliage might look like is, to put it simply, the difference between the daytime and nighttime temperatures. In the fall, as the evenings and the nights are getting cooler, but the days are remaining warm, thats a signal to the trees to begin shutting down and preparing for winter, he said. As the impacts of climate change have set in, New Englands falls have been diminished, according to Keeton. Specifically, the changing climate is such that it has caused later arriving foliage, which then departs sooner. Now, Keeton is worried that hes seeing some of the same conditions that led to a disappointing 2023. It appears that there is a degree of stress in our trees, and Ive been seeing foliage browning up and falling off a lot earlier than I would have expected, he said. Elevation is a factor Its not just New Englands weather that gives the region such spectacular falls each and every year, but also its topography. Keeton says the mountain ranges that dot many Northeastern states, from the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Adirondacks in New York, create tremendous diversity across the landscape, leading to what he described as a mosaic of colors where trees are turning different colors at different times. But its actually areas with low to middling elevations that provide the best view, according to Keeton, because they have a diversity of trees. Deep valleys surrounded by high peaks and mountain ranges, youre going to have those really vibrant colors across the valley floor and ... extending up the size of the mountain ranges, he said. Salge, in Yankee Magazine, made a similar projection. The best areas are likely to be The Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, the central Green Mounts, most of the White Mountains and western Maine. Eastern Massachusetts might get a glimpse of a good show for the first time in several years, Salge wrote, calling it a bonus. National Guard Specialist and Pittsfield native Xavier Powell is being remembered for his military service after his unexpected death earlier this month. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey ordered that flags be lowered from sunup to sundown on Saturday to honor the 29-year-old, who died on Aug. 11. Xavier Matthew Powell was born on Sept. 30, 1994, in Pittsfield to Derek and Pamela Powell, according to his obituary. He attended Pittsfield High School, graduating in 2013. After high school, Powell attended Hudson Valley Community College where he earned a degree in auto mechanics, according to his obituary. He worked as a mechanic before deciding to enlist in the U.S. Army National Guard. Powell was stationed in the Army Aviation Support Facility 1 at Joint Base Cape Cod when he died, according to his obituary. He was working as a helicopter mechanic and had reached the rank of specialist. Xavier was most proud of being in the military, his obituary reads. Outside of work, Powell enjoyed photography, traveling, spending time with family and friends, vacationing in Gloucester with his grandparents, riding his motorcycle, camping, running with his dad and brother, working out, attending music concerts and festivals and collecting vintage items, according to his obituary. Powell leaves behind his parents, two siblings, great grandmother, grandparents on both sides and many other beloved family members and friends, according to his obituary. His funeral services were held in Berkshire County over the weekend. Gov. Maura Healeys plan to rescue five bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals could cost Massachusetts taxpayers $700 million by 2027, according to a published report. Nine days ago, Healey held a press conference where she announced a financing plan was vetted with legislative leaders and would help save several hospitals as they transition to potential new buyers. The governors office at the time said the plan involved cash advances, capital supports and maximizing federal matches, but didnt offer many additional details. Those are the three sources and were working with the acquirers to make sure they have the funds available so they can meet their bids, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh said on Aug. 16, adding that the state funds involved would continue for three years to help with staffing and capital investments. The Boston Globe first reported the news on Saturday, citing people with direct knowledge of the bailout plan. While Healey publicly disclosed the plan and said it was a win for Massachusetts and closed the book on Steward, her team since then has declined to elaborate on taxpayer costs or estimate the sum of the aid package. Healey was asked Aug. 16 about where the money was coming from for the hospital deals and she said she was working that out with her finance team. Walsh also said the administration was working on sources of funds and neither Walsh nor Healey estimated a total. None of the hospital deals have been approved in federal bankruptcy court, with the next court hearing date coming up on Tuesday. At this time, we cannot comment on financial terms or discussions due to ongoing negotiations, Olivia James, spokeswoman for Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, told State House News Service on Friday, a statement that suggests terms may be evolving. Healeys office and Walsh on Saturday did not directly address a request to confirm or deny the reported $700 million cost of the plan, and its unclear how hospital rescue plan costs will impact other health care spending in Massachusetts. The details here are really going to matter, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said. Howgate said he could imagine that some of the funding could be secured within the MassHealth system but also that some might require statutory action from the Legislature. Understanding the components of the plan sooner rather than later, he said, will be helpful and enable people to understand state versus federal funding splits, for instance, or short-term versus long-term costs. Until we see more of that, its hard to really assess what the plan really is, Howgate said. In a statement released to State House News Service, Walsh didnt confirm an estimate of the states funding plans, and repeated some of the points the administration previously made about their behind the scenes efforts to keep Steward hospitals running into the future. The state has been working to support the bidders as they seek to acquire the right to continue operating these hospitals, Walsh said. To have a smooth transition of ownership at these hospitals and ensure that patients continue to access care, the state will provide some financial assistance, including advancing some of the funds the hospitals would receive anyway by caring for MassHealth patients, Walsh said. The net additional cost to the state will be significantly lower than the total package. The states financial assistance will not require additional legislative appropriation. Details of any state commitments will be made available when the deal is completed. Healey announced deals during an Aug. 16 news conference. They called for Steward to sell St. Elizabeths Medical Center in Brighton and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton to Boston Medical Center, for Lawrence General Hospital to buy the Holy Family Hospital facilities in Methuen and Haverhill, and for Lifespan to take over Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Annes Hospital in Fall River, as long as the deals were finalized and approved. The St. Elizabeths deal also involves the state state seizing land through eminent domain proceedings. The bankruptcy court has approved Stewards plans to close Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer by Aug. 31 and barring a surprise intervention, those two facilities appear to be entering their final week of operations. BOSTON Though the Red Sox suffered a heartbreaking 7-5 loss against the Diamondbacks on Sunday, fans were still given a reason to celebrate as Rafael Devers recorded his 200th career home run in the fourth inning here at Fenway Park. Its consistency, said manager Alex Cora of Devers accomplishment. Looking at his age and what hes done in this ballpark shows that hes really good at what he does. To go straight center on that pitch is impressive. The 399-foot, 106.7-mph blast made him the 11th player in team history to record 200th career home runs. At 27 years and 306 days old, Devers is the youngest player to reach that mark for the franchise. Jim Rice was the previous youngest Red Sox hitter to do it, accomplishing it at 28 years and 62 days old. The milestone can be viewed here. The other 10 Red Sox members of that previously mentioned list are Ted Williams (521), David Ortiz (483), Carl Yastrzemski (452), Rice (382), Dwight Evans (379), Manny Ramirez (274), Mo Vaughn (230), Bobby Doerr (223), Jimmie Foxx (222), and Rico Petrocelli (210). I feel happy to have reached that goal, Devers said (through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benitez). This also feels awesome because so many great baseball players have come through this organization. And this is one of the best organizations in baseball, and for me, being put into that conversation is great. During his debut season in 2017, Devers recorded 63 hits in 222 plate appearances, featuring 14 doubles, 10 home runs, and 30 RBIs. And its only increased since then as the 27-year-old recorded a career-high 115 RBIs in 2019 and 38 blasts in 2021. Now through 117 games this season, Devers is one away from earning his fourth 30-home run season. Cora still remembers when this impressive journey started. (Devers) has been really good since they called him up in 2017, Cora said. His first home run was in Seattle to straight center. Ive seen a lot of them, and Im proud of that. You see the things hes doing right now, this might be one of his best offensive seasons in his career ... and theres more (to come). SPRINGFIELD Negotiating bringing resources to Western Massachusetts is more of a game of chess than checkers, and Malo Brown said he has the skills and strategy to be ready to play. A six-year city councilor whose full-time job is chief of staff to state Rep. Bud L. Williams, Brown said he has the experience to step up to the next level. He is challenging incumbent Adam Gomez for state Senate in the Hampden District in the Sept. 3 election. The Lincoln Plaza Stop & Shop in Worcester will close before Nov. 2, despite attempts from city officials asking the company to reconsider. Stop & Shop Regional Retail Communications Leader Stephanie Cunha confirmed to MassLive that the decision to close the Stop & Shop at 545 Lincoln St. was final and that the company would help those employed at the location remain employed if they wish. Those who choose to continue working for Stop & Shop will be transferred to neighboring stores, according to Cunha. Two Stop & Shop stores at 940 West Boylston St. and at 949 Grafton St. will remain open in the city. Retaining our team of incredible associates has been a priority for us, and associates at all impacted Stop & Shop store locations will be offered other opportunities within the company, Cunha wrote. Our Lincoln Street team will be transferred to neighboring stores so customers will continue to see familiar faces while they shop in our other two Worcester locations. Officials from Stop & Shop and the City of Worcester held a private meeting on July 29 to discuss the closure and the plans to retain employees at the Lincoln Plaza store at different locations, according to both Cunha and Tom Matthews, a spokesman for Worcester City Manager Eric Batista. There will be communication a few weeks prior to the closure via in store signage, the weekly circular, and customer emails, Cunha wrote. The Lincoln Plaza Stop & Shop is one of eight stores in Massachusetts that are being closed by the company. Stop & Shop stores in Brockton, Raynham, Halifax, Shrewsbury, Newton, Springfield, and Pembroke are set to close by the end of the year along with stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. In total, 32 stores will be shut down before the end of this year. Stop & Shops parent company, Ahold Delzhaize, announced the move to shut down these stores in May, with the stated goal of improving the overall performance of the supermarket chain. After the closures, Stop & Shop will still operate more than 350 stores in the northeast. The African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank Groups African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative, in collaboration with the government of Senegal, have launched a series of regional consultations that aim to transform nutrition policy and financing and end malnutrition across Africa. The inaugural two-day consultation for the West Africa region, held in Dakar, Senegal, marks the beginning of an ambitious journey to develop Africas first-ever Multisectoral Nutrition Policy Framework (MNPF) and an investment target for combating malnutrition. The consultation concluded having successfully gathered the data needed to develop MNPF and investment targets, while also building consensus on interventions to reduce stunting, wasting, anaemia, and overweight among women, children, and adolescents. Additionally, the event generated actionable sector-specific insights and recommendations to inform the MNPFs development and ensure effective implementation across all sectors. The event, which held from 19 to 20 August 2024, brought together experts in healthcare, nutrition, education, agriculture, and finance from nine West African countries, as well as representatives of the governments of Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cote dIvoire among others. Civil society organisations, UNICEF and the World Food Programme of the United Nations, and development partners Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, the Canadian International Development Agency, and other key nutrition stakeholders were also present. The initiative is an outcome of a resolution passed during the African Unions 41st Executive Council meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia in 2022, and which called for the development of a multisectoral policy framework, and a nutrition investment target to ensure adequate funding for nutrition initiatives. Ibrahima Gueye, Director of Cabinet for the Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, and President of the countrys National Council for Nutrition Development attended the events opening ceremony. He said, Increased funding for nutrition starts with greater awareness of its importance by our leaders. It is imperative that heads of state and government understand that every dollar invested in nutrition is a dollar invested in the future of our nations. However, this understanding must be followed bystronger ownership of nutrition goals and a firm commitment to mobilising sustainable resources for nutrition and using funds in a timely and effective manner. This regional concertation marks a crucial step in this process. Gertrude Kara, the African Union Commissions Technical Advisor for Nutrition Policy, said, This first regional consultation is a critical step towards developing a unified, continent-wide approach to nutrition policy and financing. The insights gathered here will inform similar consultations across Africa, ultimately leading to a comprehensive framework to improve nutrition outcomes for millions across the continent. Global media outlet CNBC Africa has once again partnered with African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energy 2024 as its official media partner. Taking place in Cape Town from November 4-8, this years conference will see a number of major announcements, deal-signings and industry updates. CNBC Africa will provide real-time coverage of the event, bringing the latest news and insights to a global audience. CNBC Africa represents one of the worlds largest business news outlets, boasting a global audience of over 355 million people a month across various platforms. The media house offers a comprehensive portfolio with a suite of digital products and disseminates news and information to the global economy. As such, CNBC Africas partnership with AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 is poised to enhance the global reach of the event, which unites African governments and policymakers with global financiers and technology providers and represents the official deal-signing platform for the African energy sector. AEW: Invest in African Energy is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit www.AECweek.com for more information about this exciting event. Taking place under the theme, Energy Growth through an Enabling Environment, AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 covers every segment of Africas energy value chain, including upstream exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and processing, and much more. Experts from across every level of the energy industry will lead discussions and deals, including in oil and gas, coal and mining, renewables and green hydrogen and more. Meanwhile though-leaders and innovators from the mining, power, finance, policy, technology, climate and infrastructure sectors will also spearhead discussions at this years expanded event. As a media partner, CNBC Africa is well-positioned to ensure Africas energy message reaches a global audience. CNBC Africas live coverage of the event will not only showcase numerous deals and agreements set to be inked this November but will promote future engagement and investment during Africas biggest energy event. At AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024, the media outlet will cover panel discussions, ministerial forums, presentations, networking events and investors summits. All major deals and announcements will be shared via CNBC Africas digital products. As a global business news outlet, CNBC Africa is a valuable partner for AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 in Cape Town. The event aims to provide a platform for African voices to both engage in and lead global energy dialogue. The partnership will only further this objective. By distributing news and information about the event, CNBC Africa will provide global stakeholders with critical information on AEWs objectives and value for Africa and the worlds energy future. The African Energy Chamber is committed to making AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 a world-class event, and this partnership with CNBC Africa will only serve to enhance this trend, states African Energy Chamber Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk. During AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024, CNBC Africa will be at the forefront of all discussions, capturing exciting news and developments that will be announced during the continents premier energy event. With a focus on networking and deals, this years edition will represent the biggest opportunity for securing newsworthy information about Africas energy future. The Art of Living Foundation (Mauritius) announced the visit of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Mauritius from September 3rd to September 7th, 2024, after 18 years. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a global spiritual leader, humanitarian, and peace ambassador and the founder of The Art of Living. He has played a significant role in mediating conflicts and promoting peace across the world, earning the respect of leaders and communities in over 180 countries. His teachings and initiatives have transformed the lives of millions, and his visit to Mauritius reflects his unwavering commitment to the well-being and harmony of the people of this island. At the core of the teachings of the Art of Living is the Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY), a powerful rhythmic breathing technique taught in the Happiness Programs. This technique harmonises the body, mind, and emotions, helping participants manage stress and improve overall well-being. The Art of Living has two main centres in Mauritius, located at Wooton, Curepipe and Goodlands. These centres are hubs of learning and community engagement, fostering a culture of peace and harmony. Over 100 volunteers have been trained as Art of Living teachers. They instruct participants about this transformative practice, amongst others, across the island. The Art of Living offers courses for people of all ages and backgrounds, including corporates and educational institutions amongst others. In Mauritius, the Art of Living Foundation was created in 1997 and initially registered under the Registrar of Associations. Since 2007, the organization is a Charitable Trust registered with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Mauritius Council of Social Service (MACOSS) as a non-governmental organization. Gurudevs visit will feature two significant events: 1. On the 4th of September, a public event will be held at the Swami Vivekananda International Conference Centre (SVICC), Pailles. The theme will be Our Island Celebrates: An Evening of Wisdom and Music with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar . This main public event will be an extraordinary evening filled with music, meditation, and insightful teachings from Gurudev, bringing together people from all walks of life in celebration of unity and peace. During the event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be exchanged between the Art of Living Foundation (Mauritius) and the Mauritius Prison Service for the deployment of the Prison Program which has already been introduced in Mauritius since two years. Tickets for the event are available online via Ticket Box and at points of sales (Tribeca Mall and United Docks). 2. The second event will take place on the 7th of September at the Hilton Mauritius Resort & Spa at Flic-en-Flac. This meeting with Gurudev is titled The Journey Within: Inner Balance, Outer Success. This event is designed for individuals, leaders and entrepreneurs amongst others seeking to deepen their inner journey and achieve outer success. Gurudev will guide participants through practices and wisdom to cultivate inner peace and fulfillment. The Art of Living Foundation (Mauritius) invites Mauritians to seize this unique opportunity to connect with Gurudev and experience profound wisdom and joy. YUVA Mauritius announced that a team of five talented students, accompanied by two dedicated mentors, will represent Mauritius at the prestigious FIRST Global Challenge 2024, an international robotics competition to be held in Athens, Greece, next month. This global event, which promotes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, will bring together teams from over 190 countries to collaborate and compete in a series of robotics challenges. The Mauritian team is composed of the following students: Shayaan Neetoo (14 years old) St Marys College Sohail Jugbandhan (17 years old) UWC Atlantic Navneet Heerah (17 years old) Sir Leckraz Teelock SSS Yushmita Sinanun (16 years old) Sir Leckraz Teelock SSS Tooshti Beesoony (16 years old) Royal College Port Louis Guiding the students in this ambitious endeavour are two mentors from YUVA Mauritius: Dr Krishna Athal (36 years old) Executive Director, YUVA Devesh Takoor (23 years old) STEM Education Mentor, YUVA The FIRST Global Challenge is more than just a competition; it is a platform where young minds from across the globe come together to solve real-world problems using robotics and teamwork. This years theme, Olympics of Robotics, aims to inspire youth to apply their knowledge and creativity to address global challenges such as climate change, energy efficiency, and sustainable development. Dr Krishna Athal, Executive Director of YUVA Mauritius, expressed his pride in the teams selection: This is a remarkable opportunity for our young students to not only showcase their talents on an international stage but also to engage with like-minded peers from around the world. YUVA Mauritius is committed to empowering the next generation of leaders in technology and innovation, and we are confident that our team will make Mauritius proud. Video Photo The Mauritian delegation will depart for Athens on 23 September to participate in the event, which is scheduled from 25 to 29 September. The team has been rigorously preparing for the competition and is eager to represent their country with distinction. YUVA Mauritius extends its gratitude to all sponsors, supporters, and well-wishers who have contributed to making this participation possible. The organisation also encourages the public to follow the teams journey and cheer them on as they compete in this global challenge. AN appeal has been lodged with An Bord Pleanala following a decision by Mayo County County to refuse the retention of solar panels from the front of an old church. Bruno Loirat and Karine Jacquesson have appealed the decision by the local authority to refuse permission to retain solar panels on the front elevation of the former Holy Trinity Church in Achill, which has been renovated into a dwelling house. The appeal was lodged after Mayo County Council planners found that the solar panels were unauthorised and retaining them would 'significantly distract' from the visual and historical prominence of the former Church of Ireland church . The building which is located across the road from the Achill GAA pitch in Polranny is currently listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. The former Holy Trinity Church building which dates back almost 200 years was purchased by the appellants from the Church of Ireland in 2004 having been on the market for a considerable period of time. At the time the property was lying derelict and in a state of disrepair and Bruno Loirat and Karine Jacquesson were given permission to change the use of the building into a private dwelling. In a letter to Mayo County Council, they stated that since 2004 the property has been well maintained and they incurred significant expenditure in conserving the building and developing it as a home suitable for modern life. They stated that the property is screened by trees, hedges and shrubs and is not visible from the public road except when one looks directly down a narrow driveway from the entrance gate. For energy efficiency and environmental purposes we installed the solar panels on the front facade of the building. The panels blend in perfectly due to its colour and we say that they are not noticeable from the public road. The panels also add to the protection of the front facade of the building from harsh weather, they wrote. Despite being advised that they could cover the whole roof with solar panels they stated that they decided against it because they had completely renovated the roof with natural slate in 2006 and felt the panels would 'interfere with the vista from the surrounding area'. The fact of the matter, in our view, is that without our purchase, conservation and considerate development of the property, it would have long since fallen into a dilapidated state beyond repair, they concluded in the application for retaining the solar panels. The solar panels are 31 square metres in size and encompass most of the front elevation of the building. They were deemed not exempt from development following an application in 2023 and an application for retention was made in May 2024. A submission against the application to retain the solar panels was made by a neighbour, Nora Seoighte who stated that she wished to 'object to the unacceptable damage caused to the special interests of this building by this development'. She stated in her submission that the external materials of the solar panels 'clearly do not match the materials at the back' of the building and as such is in breach of planning conditions set out in 2004. The application for retention was refused by Mayo County Council in early July as the development would interfere with the character of the landscape of which it is necessary to preserve and would be 'contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area'. The appeal was lodged with An Bord Pleanala earlier this month and the decision is due to be made on December 9. LEGENDARY actor Brendan Gleeson is encouraging Mayo people to get behind a fundraising drive in support of hospice services The Banshees of Inisheerin star has asked people to host or attend coffee mornings as part of a 2.4 million national fundraising drive for 24 Hospice and specialist palliative homecare providers that make up Together For Hospice, The National Hospice Movement. The Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice takes place on September 26 but supporters can host or attend one on a date that suits them, with every cent raised locally going to their local Hospice. The initiative has raised 45.3million for frontline Hospice care since 1992. Both of Mr Gleesons parents spent their final days in St Francis Hospice in Dublin, which is set to begin work on a new 24 single-room in-patient unit at a cost of 29 million. Martina Jennings, CEO of Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, described Bewleys Big Coffee Morning for Hospice as one of Together For Hospices longest and most loved fundraisers. It is a chance to celebrate our coffee morning hosts, who give so selflessly of their time and energy in their local communities. This ongoing, unwavering support is invaluable and funds vital services and quality initiatives, enhancing care for patients living with life-limiting illness, said the Mayo woman. Jason Doyle, Managing Director at Bewleys Ireland, added: The ethos at the heart of Together For Hospice is whatever is raised locally stays locally and goes directly to each local Hospice service to innovate, build new facilities, develop new services and deliver quality improvements and extra benefits for patients and their family members. You can register to host a coffee morning on Thursday, September 26 or on a date that suits you at hospicecoffeemorning.ie or call 0818 995 996. Mayo man Johnny Coyne is set to take on a world-first kayaking expedition in aid of childrens cancer charity, Cancer Fund for Children. He and fellow Connacht man Liam Cotter will take on the mammoth challenge of kayaking from Dublin to Istanbul next month. Mr Coyne and Mr Cotter will begin their five-month expedition next Thursday, September 5, on the River Liffey at St Patricks Rowing Club, Dublin, before kayaking through 16 countries to reach the Turkish city. Mr Coyne has been organising the adventure, which is kindly supported by Tusla, for quite some time. I have spent the last 18 months planning out this route. We will pass through 16 countries altogether. Well begin by crossing the Irish Sea and English Channel, and then follow multiple rivers and canals all the way through Europe to the Black Sea, finishing in Istanbul, he said. This journey is going to be tough, but when I think about Cancer Fund for Children and what all the kids and families go through, it wont be anything compared to what they go through. The charity is of particular interest to Mr Coyne as plans are currently underway for a short-break therapeutic centre, called Daisy Lodge, to be built in his local area of Cong. The first Daisy Lodge centre is currently opened in county Down, with Daisy Lodge Cong set to open in 2026 with construction commencing later in the year. We chose to raise money for Cancer Fund for Children as its an amazing cause. But also because their second Daisy Lodge therapeutic centre will be built nearby on the shore of Lough Corrib. Lough Corrib is my home, my pride and my joy. Supporting local is important to me, and of course this is going to be an amazing and well-needed place, explained the Mayo man. Cancer Fund for Children provide emotional, social and therapeutic support to children and young people living with cancer across the island of Ireland. For more information and to support the men on their kayaking journey, see their GoFundMe page. A Mayo man campaigning to bring the 2028 Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann to Ballina is hoping to auction a letter of thanks from President Joe Biden to fund the towns bid for the world-renowned festival. Ballina native Eamonn Walsh received a letter of thanks from President Biden after he received a bodhran which doubled as an invitation for the US President to attend last years Connacht Fleadh. President Biden did not attend the event, which was held in Ballina following his official visit to the town. However, the bodhran made its way to the White House later that summer. Mr Walshs gesture was repaid with a thank you letter personally signed by President Biden himself. A letter of thanks from President Joe Biden to Mayo musician Eamonn Walsh The long-serving politician is due to retire from public office later this year after ending his bid for a second term as President. Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday), Mr Walsh said he would also consider donating the letter to a museum. The Mayo News understands that several high-profile businesses and organisations have been asked to pledge sponsorship towards Ballinas bid to host the All-Ireland Fleadh in 2028. Hollister, a major employer in the Ballina area, have pledged to sponsor the event. Staging the event is expected to cost over 2 million but would likely generate multiples of that in revenue for the Mayo economy. Ballina previously hosted the All-Ireland Fleadh in 1997 and 1998. An estimated 600,000 people attended the event when it was hosted in Wexford town earlier this month. Mr Walsh said: It is imperative that Mayo County Council get behind the Fleadhwithout their support, the 2028 Ballina bid will fail. JOB NOTICE Job Title: Water Supply Lead engineer (LE) Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo Status: Full-Time Posting: August 23, 2024 Perez, APC DRC SARLU (hereinafter referred to as Perez) is seeking a Water Supply Lead Engineer (LE) for the USAIDs Engineering Support Program (ESP) Activity in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC ESP Activity is a five-year Activity for the provision of professional design and Architect-Engineering (A&E) services in support of the USAID/DRC Missions Infrastructure Portfolio (3-year base contract period and two additional 1-year option periods). USAID/DRC has several activities that require the construction and rehabilitation of water and sanitation infrastructure. Services to be provided are primarily for planning and design reviews, construction oversight, and monitoring and evaluation of ongoing Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), Health centers renovation/construction activities and any upcoming biodiversity/ecotourism and energy related activities. The objective of the work is to ensure that USAIDs implemented infrastructures are safe, functional, long-lasting and generate the development results for which they were intended. The LE will be the technical expert for the ESP activity, supporting the Chief of Party (COP) with all technical aspects of the Engineering Support Program, including overseeing water supply and WASH activities. The LE will ensure successful implementation by supervising the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of water infrastructure projects. Responsibilities include leading multidisciplinary teams, coordinating with USAID and stakeholders, and providing technical expertise across WASH activities. The LE will monitor the work of other USAID Implementing Partners (IPs), ensuring alignment with quality standards, timelines, and regulations. They will assess work quality, identify issues, recommend corrective actions, and report findings to USAID and stakeholders. Additionally, the LE will offer expert guidance to contractors and teams, addressing challenges and optimizing solutions. Reporting to the COP, this position is based in Goma with frequent travel to activity sites. Location The position is currently open and will be based in Goma, Eastern DRC. Responsibilities Provide leadership, management, and general technical direction for the WASH engineering component, ensuring seamless program implementation and delivering high-quality, technically sound, and appropriate project technical assistance. Identify potential risks to successful Activity implementation and recommend and implement appropriate adjustments. Review ESP Monitoring tools to ensure they are tailored for monitoring water supply construction or community infrastructures projects. Review design and construction documents, QA/QC plans and activity schedules. Oversee water supply infrastructure and construction activities to ensure quality and compliance during the pre-design and design phase, the pre-construction and construction phase and the commissioning and maintenance phase. Oversee the data collection efforts including key interviews with IPss team, the Contractors team and other key stakeholders. Conduct direct observations at construction sites and use a proprietary software application to collect information and report on the progress Provide constructive inputs responding to technical matters and adjusting programs in response to USAIDs technical direction. Ensure the development of high-quality deliverables and the provision of strong technical support to project partners. Actively participate in strategic work planning, weekly coordination and ad hoc ESP meetings, performance management, strategic communications, contractual and budgetary aspects of program management, and the timely preparation of annual work plans, technical deliverables, and reports. Identify potential risks to successful activity implementation and recommend and implement appropriate adjustments as needed to adapt to changing needs and contexts. Ensure quality control and responsiveness of technical assistance, making necessary adjustments to promote adherence to local laws, USAID rules and regulations, and Perez policies and procedures. Qualifications: Degree in engineering, hydraulic or related field (MS or higher preferred) Minimum 10 years supervisory experience that includes extensive experience in WASH Engineering, especially in technical oversight of construction activities for hydraulic structures (reservoirs, pumping systems, water distribution systems, boreholes, photovoltaic systems, spring catchment, ductile cast iron plumbing, etc.), water quality testing, geotechnical studies and testing of construction materials. Expertise to plan, design, construct, maintain and operate domestic water supply systems and water distribution systems. Experience in technical assistance, monitoring and capacity strengthening activities in construction projects. Understanding of the local (DRC) context, provinces, prefectures, and/or departments where A&E support activities are being conducted. Experience in the use of design and calculation software, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Teams, and Google applications. Experience with similar USAID and/or international donor funded projects and best practices. Strong experience in engaging with sub-contractors and local firms. Strong oral and written communication, analytical, interpersonal, organizational, and team management skills. Demonstrated success in developing and managing multiple small and large project schedules and budgets. Able to work with multiple stakeholders in cross-cultural situations similar to those in DRC Experience working with various USG contract and country policies and procedures. Demonstrated ability to manage a diverse team of technical experts and partners. Excellent report writing and communication skills are required. Fluency in English is required, while proficiency in French is highly preferred. About Perez Founded in New Orleans in 1940, Perez has grown into a national company with international reach. Our in-house multidisciplinary team offers architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, planning, design-build, construction and real estate development services across the country and abroad. We have a diverse portfolio of U.S. federal government project experience throughout the US, Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and the Middle East and are a current holder of USAID Global A&E III IDIQ with over 10 years of successful past performance with USAID as a prime contractor on projects in over 16 countries around the world. Perez currently operates a registered office in Democratic Republic of the Congo. To Apply: Interested individual should submit his/her candidacy via email to espdrc_acquisitions@e-perez.com with the subject line USAID/DRC ESP Water Supply Lead Engineer including a detailed CV and motivation letter by the deadline of September 6, 2024. PEREZ, A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION DRC SARLU 316, AVENUE COL. LUKUSA, IMMMEUBLE SOMINKI, 6eme NIVEAU, GOMBE, KINSHASA, RDC espdrc_acquisitions@e-perez.com| www.e-perez.com by Ray Schultz , August 25, 2024 Mike Kellogg is returning to Oklahoma to serve as publisher of the Enid News & Eagle, a newspaper published by owned by CNHI. Kellogg replaces publisher Jeff Funk, who is retiring after 47 years in the newspaper business. Funk initially retired in 2021 but returned last summer on a temporary basis. He will remain on the newspapers editorial board. Kellogg will also return to his post as publisher of The Stillwater News Press, a position he held from 1997 to 2008. Mikes passion and dedication toward community newspapers will be a great asset to the already talented teams in Enid and Stillwater, says Terry Connor, a CNHI regional executive. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, August 26, 2024 Siding with YouTube, a federal appellate court has rejected vaccine critic and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s request to force the company to restore clips that violated its policies against medical misinformation. In a ruling issued Monday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals essentially said Kennedy failed to show that YouTube infringed his First Amendment rights by removing the videos -- including clips of him being interviewed by podcast hosts Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan. The ruling upholds a decision issued last year by U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson in the Northern District of California. The battle dates to last August, when Kennedy sought a court order requiring YouTube to host videos in which he made controversial statements about vaccinations. advertisement advertisement Thompson rejected the request, ruling that Kennedy was unlikely to prevail on his claim that Google violated the First Amendment, given that Google is a private company. In general, the First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring speech, but doesn't prevent private companies from suppressing content -- unless those companies are considered state actors, meaning agents of the government. Kennedy appealed Thompson's ruling to the 9th Circuit, where he claimed Google was a state actor when it took down his clips. Kennedy specifically contended that Google's medical misinformation policy allegedly relied on government sources, such as the World Health Organization and local health authorities. On Monday, the appellate judges rejected that argument, writing that Kennedy didn't identify any specific communications from a federal official to Google concerning the removed Kennedy videos, or any threatening or coercive communication, veiled or otherwise, from a federal official to Google concerning Kennedy. As Kennedy has not shown that Google acted as a state actor in removing his videos, his invocation of First Amendment rights is misplaced, Circuit Judges Consuelo Maria Callahan, Gabriel Sanchez and District Court Judge John A. Kronstadt wrote in an unsigned opinion. by Colin Kirkland , August 26, 2024 Pavel Durov, the chief executive officer of global social messaging app Telegram, was arrested on Saturday in Paris. The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire is being held by French authorities in relation to the proliferation of criminal activity on Telegram chats. The warrant for Durovs arrest was issued by Ofmin, a law enforcement office in France that is responsible for safeguarding minors from violence. The Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement on Monday that Durov's detainment is in response to a judicial inquiry opened in July involving 12 alleged criminal violations. The group is accusing the CEO of failing to moderate content related to child pornography and drug trafficking, abetting organized crime transactions and fraud on Telegram, and for refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. advertisement advertisement Following news of Durov's detention, Russias embassy in France said it had immediately asked the French authorities for clarification of the reasons and demanded to ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access. The message posted on Telegram said the embassy officials were in contact with Durovs lawyer. Since the arrest, French President Emmanuel Macron posted on the social-media platform X that his country is deeply committed to freedom of expression, but freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights. Macron went on to say that Durov's arrest was in no way a political decision, and that it is up to the judges to rule on the matter. Unlike Metas WhatsApp, Telegram does not implement end-to-end encryption by default for its chats, allowing investigators full access to what the app's 800 million global users are sharing. Durovs arrest and the ongoing investigation, therefore, raises concerns over the level of criminal activity taking place on the app, as well as a failure to enforce proper moderation rules to combat such activity. Durovs detention can be prolonged until Wednesday evening before authorities must release or charge him, the prosecutors office said. Soon after Durovs arrest, Telegram posted a statement on its platform saying that it follows EU laws, and that its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving, adding that it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. by Tanya Gazdik , August 26, 2024 Hyundai Motor America has promoted Sean Gilpin to chief marketing officer after the exit of Angela Zepeda, chief creative officer. Effective today, Gilpin now leads the entire marketing function for Hyundais U.S. business, overseeing both creative and performance. Zepeda elected to depart the company for a new position outside of the automotive industry, according to Hyundai. She tendered her resignation on Friday, a source tells Marketing Daily. Zepeda originally joined Hyundai as chief marketing officer in 2019 after leading the automakers advertising account at Innocean USA. She lost some of her duties to Gilpin during a realigning of positions announced in July. Zepeda could not be reached for comment. Her LinkedIn profile still shows her position at Hyundai as current. advertisement advertisement Gilpins responsibilities now include marketing strategy, creative execution, social, experiential marketing, multicultural marketing, along with media buying strategy, customer communications, tier-two marketing and marketing financial management. In this role, Gilpin reports to Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. Gilpin will also retain his global responsibilities as vice president of global sales marketing for Hyundai Motor Company. Sean is a talented marketing leader who has brought new thinking and strategies to our marketing and advertising, Parker says in a release. There remains a tremendous opportunity to enhance consumer understanding of Hyundais innovation, mobility leadership and vision for the future of transportation. Im confident hes the right person to elevate the Hyundai brand and continue the momentum weve generated over the past several years. According to the automaker, Gilpin has a demonstrated track record of exceptional leadership and strategic vision, helping to drive Hyundais marketing initiatives, brand building and consumer shopping activity. Gilpin rejoined Hyundai in July 2023 from Innocean USA, Hyundais creative marketing partner agency, where he served as the chief business officer. Before Innocean USA, Gilpin was the senior manager of retail marketing at Hyundai Motor America and reported to Zepeda, who was CMO. I want to express my gratitude to Angela for her outstanding efforts that have significantly contributed to Hyundais business growth, Parker said in the release. Angelas leadership has raised Hyundais standing in the marketplace, and her unwavering commitment to creativity and innovation continually inspired her team and our partners to deliver impactful results. by Teresa Buyikian , August 26, 2024 It may not be a $5 meal deal, but its close. Late last week, Subway announced it had joined the unofficial QSR meal deal club by offering its footlong subs for $6.99. The deal includes any of the chains 22 subs or custom orders, hot or cold, including premium newer and returning ingredients such as lavash-style flatbread, Sriracha, BBQ sauces, Cheddar Cheese sauce and SubKrunch, described by the brand as a first-of-its-kind crunchy topping, created for those craving a flavor boost and finishing touch for any sandwich, wrap or salad. Subway previously launched several snacks priced under $5, like Footlong Dippers wraps at $4 such as the Double Cheese, Chicken and Cheese and the Peperoni and Cheese Dippers. The chain also added the $3 Footlong Auntie Annes Pretzel and $3 Footlong Churro, (unfortunately the Footlong Chocolate Chip Cookie is still $6) but this marks the first significant recent discount exclusively for online ordering on the footlong sandwich. advertisement advertisement "Today's diner is stretched more than ever, and too often that means a tradeoff on quality, variety or flavor to find an affordable meal," said Doug Fry, president of Subway North America, explaining the rationale for the deal. The brand has launched a large national advertising effort to support the launch, including network TV, of which one :30 can be seen here, created with Dentsu Aegis. The campaign is also supported by social media on Subways Facebook, YouTube and Instagram pages. In order to get the deal, customers must order via the Subway App or on Subway.com. But footlong lovers need to get a move on; the deal only runs from Aug. 26 through Sept. 8. The chain has not announced any plans to expand the promotion (yet). by Ray Schultz , August 26, 2024 Surfer Magazine, the iconic title that served the surfing community for 60 years, is back in print. The publication put out its first print edition in four years, a limited edition of 50,000 copies. The cover of the issue features world champion surfer Kelly Slater, who also contributes copy to the magazine. Jake Howard is the editor of the new Surfer. John Severson founded Surfer in 1960. But in 2020, owner American Media announced the monthly magazine was shuttering and that its entire staff was being laid off due to the Covid economy. The web site survived, and Surfer now claims to have 2 million Instagram followers. Recently, Surfer announced that it was killing all political opinions in its online forums. IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP THE CONVERSATIONS SURF-RELATED, THE POLITICAL FORUM HERE HAS BEEN REMOVED, the magazine stated. Lets talk surf trips, surfboards, and the latest happenings from around this beautiful, blue planet. by Danielle Oster , August 26, 2024 As families get ready for back-to-school season, and people more generally return to morning routines that tend to get disrupted by the laid-back nature of summer, the California Milk Processing and Education Program MilkPEP) announces that Real Is Back in its latest Get Milk installment. Meanwhile, California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) wants audiences to know that Mornings Mean More with milk-focused recipes. The latest entry in the long-running Got Milk? campaign continues a focus on championing real cows milk over the myriad plant-based pretenders for MilkPEP over the last couple of years, including last years Wood Milk effort with Aubrey Plaza and an Everyone Wants To Be Milk ad featuring fictional alternatives like hot dog milk. advertisement advertisement Real Cakes communicates the message through a story about a man working a long birthday shift at a restaurant. Birthday texts prove little help to lift his spirits, but arriving home to a homemade cake and surprise party (right as his phone runs out of battery) does. Beyond the direct messaging, theres also the implicit message surrounding the word real, suggesting that theres no substitute for authentic dairy in baking recipes. Another, more recent installment, "Real Stories," tells the story of a busy flight attendant whose spirits are uplifted by relatives sharing a home video (centered around milk, naturally). Both ads are running in both English and Spanish-language versions. "Real is Back" is running across multiple platforms and formats, including broadcast and digital video, digital and streaming audio, paid search, social media activations with influencer partners, and out-of-home wallscapes, billboards, and bus shelter installations across California. California Milk Advisory Board (a function of the Department of Food and Agriculture for the state, which is the countrys leading dairy producer) also recently launched a retail campaign for back-to-school season. The effort includes CMAB sharing a series quick recipes to help families navigate busy mornings. According to a statement about the campaign, each of the recipes featured can be made in 20 minutes or less including Magical Cereal Milk Latte with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream. A campaign hero ad concludes with its own real-focused tagline: The goodness is real, which the group shared on its Instagram page with the accompanying message, The Golden State is just a bite away. The campaign will run through Sept. 8, and uses geotargeting around 1,170 California retail locations -- including chains Albertsons, Safeway, and Vons. Supporting campaign elements include in-store media and shopper marketing activations, integrated digital media including targeted banner display ads, digital banner ads Instacart promotions, email marketing, and influencer marketing partnerships featuring sponsored posts on social media. This site uses cookies to deliver our services.By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy Privacy Policy , and our Terms of Use Joby Aviation, a company with Dayton manufacturing plans, recently flew a Cessna autonomously for more than 3,900 miles for the Air Force, the company said Monday. Joby's team flew a fully autonomous Cessna 208B Grand Caravan between military bases and public airports across California and Nevada earlier this month. The aircraft autonomously flew between nine locations while monitored by what Joby called a "safety pilot." The plane completed an autonomous taxi, take-off, and landing at each location, including sites that had not been previously visited by the aircraft, Joby said. The Cessnas are cheaper to operate compared to traditional Air Force cargo aircraft, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) said in its account of the exercise. AFRL cited fiscal year 2023 defense figures, saying the operating cost per hour for a C-130J Hercules is $7,671, and the operating cost per hour for a C-17A Globemaster III is $20,941 per hour. AFRL is based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Joby said it remotely supervised the Cessna using a laptop and a satellite communications terminal, both of which fit in a backpack. "We were pleased to continue demonstrating the capabilities of our autonomy technology during Agile Flag 24-3, where we completed dozens of fully autonomous aerial missions and showcased an ability to perform rapid resupply," Maxime Gariel, autonomy lead at Joby, said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. Air Force as we further develop the suite of technologies that could enable greater automation or full autonomy, first on the Caravan and then on numerous other aircraft types." Earlier this year, the Xwing team took part in a similar exercise, completing more than 2,800 miles of autonomous flight. "The return on investment for the U.S. Air Force with this technology is significant. By using it to handle smaller cargo, we can preserve cargo aircraft for more critical tasks like transporting large parts or engines," said Col. Max Bremer, Air Mobility Command Special Access Program management officer. "This not only enhances the overall capability of the cargo fleet but also ensures they are used where they are most needed." Joby acquired the autonomy division of Xwing Inc., a California-based business which develops autonomous technology for aviation, in June. Production of components for Joby Aviation electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) will begin in Dayton early next year, Greg Bowles, Joby's head of government relations and regulatory affairs, told the Dayton Daily News earlier this month. ___ (c)2024 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Marine Corps veteran Nathan Thornsberry hoped a self-published book might shine a sympathetic light on the violence that shook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Now, it may land him behind bars. Thornsberry, 42, from North Branch, Michigan, was arrested by the FBI on Aug. 22 on multiple criminal charges, including assaulting law enforcement, stemming from his alleged conduct during the deadly Capitol breach, the Justice Department said in a release. Video allegedly captured the Marine veteran facing off with law enforcement during the Jan. 6 riot. But in the months that followed, Thornsberry also sought to put the day into his own words. He self-published "January 6: A Patriot's Story," a 103-page paperback, on Amazon under the alias "Nathaniel Matthews" in February 2022, court documents allege. Read Next: How Do You Change a Command's Culture? This General Tried Being Direct About War with China. Thornsberry's first-person account in the self-published book earned praise from some and raised eyebrows for at least one acquaintance, who flagged it to federal officials. The Marine veteran was charged in D.C. federal court last week with two felonies: obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder; and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. He also faces four misdemeanor charges: entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building or grounds. "His alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election," the DOJ said. Thornsberry is also not the first recent case of a self-published book getting a Marine into trouble. The service launched an investigation last year into Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Champagne, 36, after he self-published a book he described as detailing "a scandalous romantic relationship" with a potential female recruit. Police-worn body camera footage of rioters captured Thornsberry trying to breach a police line by pushing against the metal bike racks that Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police officers were using as a barricade that afternoon, federal officials allege. "Officers then attempted to push the bike racks back, and were met with resistance from Thornsberry and others," the DOJ wrote in the release. "It is alleged that officers directed the crowd of rioters to move back and, in response, Thornsberry can be heard multiple times yelling, 'Bring it!'" Thornsberry is one of more than 200 current and former U.S. service members charged so far in connection with alleged crimes on Jan. 6, according to a terrorism-focused research consortium at the University of Maryland. He enlisted in the Marines in January 2006 and served for five years, first as an air traffic controller trainee and later as a combat engineer, Corps spokesperson Yvonne Carlock told Military.com on Monday. Thornsberry deployed to Afghanistan from December 2009 to June 2010, the service said. While in uniform, he earned the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal -- awarded for meritorious accomplishment in overall performance or for a specific event -- along with other commendations awarded to most troops who served during the war on terror and as part of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. He separated from the military in January 2011 as a corporal with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Screenshots of video footage included in federal court documents that were unsealed last week appear to show Thornsberry sporting a black jacket with a large Marine Corps emblem on the back, as well as a black "Trump 2020" shirt and black gloves that "appear to have reinforced knuckles," investigators said. Thornsberry, who identified himself in a recorded video interview near the police barricade he had fought to break, told the interviewer he "got right up in the front" and linked arms with other rioters to push back against the officers protecting the Capitol. He had pressed his back against a metal bicycle rack being held by multiple police officers on the Capitol's lower west terrace, images included in the court documents show. He later said he believed police were preparing to attack the protesters and "moved to the front near the barrier in order to protect an old man and a young woman," according to court documents. While Thornsberry claimed he was pushed against the police line as the crowd surged, court documents argue that video evidence shows Thornsberry voluntarily pushed against the officers. "I stayed up there for about four different pushes, got blasted over and over and over," he told the interviewer at the Capitol. Court documents noted he appeared to be under the effects of chemical spray during the interview. His self-published book included his motivation and opinion on the breach of the Capitol and the attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election. "For over a year, the mainstream media and establishment politicians have created a narrative of a violent and coordinated insurrection. The reporting has been selective and misleading," the book's description on Amazon reads. "The author gives his opinion on what motivated hundreds of thousands if not millions of protesters to journey to the [nation's capital], recalls what he saw and experienced that day, and shares his thoughts on the aftermath." The Amazon profile for "Nathaniel Matthews" was registered by a person named Nathaniel Thornsberry, with his email and the same phone number connected to Thornsberry's social media, court documents said. An author biography on the site describes Matthews as a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, matching Thornsberry's official service record. The book is still available for purchase. Court documents said the book was later revised and published as "January 6th Redux: A Patriot's Story" on Kindle in March 2023. That version has been removed from Amazon. In the book, Thornsberry said he traveled to Washington to attend the "Stop the Steal" protest, which pushed false claims that widespread voter fraud had stopped incumbent President Donald Trump from winning the 2020 U.S. presidential election, court documents said. The author warned of a "shadowy organization" that had "infiltrated" societies and institutions across the U.S. and around the world. "I sense an internal threat, a threat that played a significant role in the deterioration of the war on terror, perverting it and turning it inward toward our own citizens," Thornsberry wrote, according to court documents. "It is a threat to our way of life, to our freedoms, and to our constitution." Thornsberry also argued that the events of Jan. 6 were "orchestrated to complete the steal of an election" and "justify the government's strong-arm tactics" in silencing Trump supporters. Despite the claims and numerous court cases, there is no evidence of widespread election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. A warrant for Thornsberry's arrest was issued Aug. 20; he was taken into custody in Michigan two days later. Thornsberry appeared in federal district court in Flint on Aug. 22 and was released on a $10,000 bond, pending further court proceedings. He faces a minimum sentence of fines or at least 16 and a half years in prison, up to a maximum sentence of nearly 40 years behind bars. Sanford Plotkin, Thornsberry's lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Almost 1,500 people have been charged for crimes related to the U.S. Capitol breach so far, the Justice Department said. About one-third of them face felony charges of assaulting or impeding law enforcement. At least 231 Capitol riot defendants -- about 15% of those charged -- have U.S. military backgrounds, Michael Jensen, research director at the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, told Military.com on Monday. Nearly 90% of those were not currently serving on Jan. 6. The federal investigation remains ongoing. Related: Marine Vet Who Was Target of Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theories Gets Probation for Capitol Riot Role Pvt. Travis King, the soldier who dramatically ran across the border into North Korea last year, has reached a deal with Army prosecutors and will be pleading guilty to some of the criminal charges against him, according to his lawyer. Frank Rosenblatt, the attorney, told Military.com in an emailed statement that King will plead guilty to five of the 14 offenses that he was charged with under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. One of the five charges King will plead guilty to is desertion, he said. King, who had been stationed in South Korea, made international headlines in July 2023 when he left a tour group and dashed across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, where he was briefly held. He is slated to formally enter his plea at a hearing Sept. 20 in which "he will explain what he did, answer a military judge's questions about why he is pleading guilty, and be sentenced," Rosenblatt said. Read Next: Marine Vet Arrested After Self-Publishing Book About Storming US Capitol on Jan. 6 Plea negotiations began about a month ago, postponing what would have been the first legal hearing in King's case, an Article 32 hearing similar to a grand jury proceeding for civilians. King is being held in Otero County Detention Center in New Mexico, which Fort Bliss, Texas, uses for its pre-trial detainees. The private was facing a host of charges from desertion and child pornography to insubordination, making false official statements, and assault only some of which stemmed from his choice to run into North Korea. King has a long history of legal troubles that began more than a year before he bolted across one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world. In addition to pleading guilty to desertion, Rosenblatt told Military.com in a separate conversation that King will plead guilty to three counts of disobeying a senior commissioned officer and one count of assaulting a noncommissioned officer. "Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him and to all outside of his circle who did not prejudge his case based on the initial allegations," Rosenblatt said. Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel, confirmed that a plea agreement had been negotiated but stressed that "the guilty plea is subject to the acceptance by the military judge." "If Pvt. King's guilty plea is accepted, the judge will sentence King. If the judge does not accept the guilty plea, the judge can rule that the case be litigated in a contested court-martial," McCaskill added in an email to Military.com on Monday. Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for King's family, declined to comment "out of respect for the Army's process." King's ordeal began after a spate of arrests by South Korean authorities led the Army to order the young soldier back to the States for discipline. However, King never boarded his flight and, instead, wound up on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom, a major tourist attraction along the Demilitarized Zone. He left the tour and ran into North Korea on July 18, 2023. In September, North Korea suddenly announced that it would release King back into U.S. custody. After Kings return to the U.S., Rosenblatt said in a social media post last month that the soldier "spent three weeks in debriefings and reintegration at Joint Base San Antonio." Once her son was back in the States, King's mother, Claudine Gates, said that she loved him "unconditionally" and that she was "extremely concerned about his mental health," according to a previous statement provided by Franks. Since the family entered the spotlight, Gates has been adamant that "something happened to [King] while he was deployed." Franks told Military.com last year that "there was just a cluster of problems in the fall of '22" and "everything goes to hell." A person connected to King's family said that period roughly coincided with a time when everyone was deeply emotional over the death of King's little cousin. In addition to Rosenblatt, who is a former Army lawyer and the lead military defense counsel for Bowe Bergdahl, King's legal team includes Sherilyn Bunn, a civilian attorney from El Paso who "has extensive experience on Fort Bliss," according to her firm's website, and two military lawyers. Related: Pvt. Travis King, Soldier Who Fled to North Korea, Faces Desertion and Child Pornography Charges BERLIN Intelligence findings indicating potential Russian sabotage using a drone led to the temporary elevation of the security level at the NATO air base in Geilenkirchen near the city of Aachen last week, German security sources told dpa on Monday. There had been a serious tip-off from a foreign intelligence service "about preparatory actions for a likely Russian sabotage act against the NATO base using a drone," security sources told dpa. Last Thursday, due to a potential threat at the NATO base in the western state of North Rhine Westphalia, the security alert level was raised to the second-highest level, Charlie, for nearly 24 hours. After nothing happened, security measures were rolled back on Friday afternoon to the level that had previously applied, the so-called Level Bravo+. This was a precautionary measure to minimize the potential risk to personnel, explained a spokesman. Due to the intelligence tip-off, all non-essential staff had been sent home. According to the spokesman, flight operations were not interrupted but continued as normal. The second-highest security level, Charlie, means in NATO jargon that an incident has occurred or there is information that some form of terrorist action against the alliance is likely. Special aircraft are stationed in Geilenkirchen, currently used primarily for monitoring airspace in the eastern alliance area. With their mushroom-shaped radar setup, they can locate and identify other aircraft more than 400 kilometres away. About 1,600 people work at the NATO air base located along the German border with the Netherlands and close to Belgium, according to the spokesman. Already in July, there was increased readiness at US military bases in Germany and other European countries due to terrorism threats, according to media reports. At NATO headquarters in Brussels last week, as well as at the Geilenkirchen air base, there was no open discussion about the danger that might have threatened the air base. A base spokesman dismissed speculations about drone overflights as "absurd." "Nothing flew over here," he said. Recently, sabotage cases were also feared at several sites belonging to the German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr. After inspection, the all-clear was given. Police and state security investigated a security incident at the waterworks of the Cologne-Wahn air base on suspicion that the drinking water might have been contaminated. Suspicious observations were also made in Geilenkirchen. According to security sources, someone was temporarily detained near the airport for questioning, but the suspicion relating to that person was not substantiated. 2024 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Hundreds of Air Force reservists focused on space missions are applying for active-duty service, as the Space Force launches a first-of-its kind model to employ both full-time and part-time guardians. The current reservists can retire, put in for retraining with the Reserve, or apply for the Space Force, but they can't stay in their current positions under a law that phases out the space-focused portion of the Air Force Reserve. It's a model that Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations in the Space Force, has promoted saying it would allow active-duty guardians to transfer between full-time and part-time work and bring commercial experience to the Space Force. "Such opportunities will help us attract highly skilled, technologically inclined people in an increasingly competitive space enterprise talent market," he said in congressional testimony. Across the country, most of the Air Force reservists eligible to transfer into the Space Force work for the 310th Space Wing headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base. The reservists with the wing who are eligible to transfer work in specialty areas such as space systems operations, cyberspace operations and intelligence. Current reservists with the wing work side by side with active-duty guardians in various missions such as missile warning at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, space domain awareness at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and GPS at Schriever, said Col. Adam Fisher, wing commander. In some cases, reservists are needed to fill a certain percentage of seats during missions for several months as part of schedules forecast years in advance, Fisher and Chief Master Sgt. Josh Francois said. The transfer of Air Force reservists into the Space Force is separate from the debate over the future of National Guard units with space-focused missions. Colorado is home to seven space-focused National Guard units in Colorado Springs, Denver and Greeley. Earlier this year, governors from across the nation got involved to oppose the Defense Department's proposal to unilaterally move guard units into the Space Force. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, among many others, have argued the the proposal undercuts governors' authority and disregards federal law. While the proposal was removed from the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, it is still in the Senate version of the large must-pass annual bill. Congress has yet to compromise on the final version of the bill. Colorado lawmakers have pushed for a dedicated Space National Guard that would allow existing units to remain in place, an option they argue would preserve the expertise of experienced guardsmen who may choose to leave instead of transferring into the active duty. Conversely, Fisher said a large percentage of his full-time force is interested in transferring into the active duty and a somewhat surprising number of part-time forces who have already applied for full-time work. Since applications opened up June 1, about 200 people from the wing have applied to transfer into the Space Force of about 900 airmen eligible to transfer. Those applying now must be willing to work two years full-time in active duty. Fisher said he expects part-time positions will open in a few years. Fisher expects to be the last wing commander as hundreds of people transfer into the Space Force and he leads the 310th Space Wing through inactivation. The transition could last through 2028 because of its complex nature, he said. It's important the knowledge and experience in the reserve is preserved, Fisher said. So an assignment process will help match applicants to their preferred positions while balancing the needs of Space Force, he said. In some cases, reservists could remain working on the same mission, such as missile warning, when they transfer into the active duty. "The talent in the reserve component and in the citizen airmen is exquisite," he said. He expects leaders in industry will be transitioning into the Space Force through this process. About 400 people are support personnel for the wing who are not eligible to transfer, Fisher said. Those reservists could be eligible to work for the 302nd Air Lift Wing at Peterson Space Force Base. Overall, even though the 310th is going away, the region should not gain or lose jobs. "We're working hand in hand with with the members and Air Force Reserve Command to ensure that they're taken care of," he said, of support personnel. In one unique case, the 6th Space Operations Squadron, charged with helping to run a key satellite constellation for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will transfer into Space Operations Command. The transfer is expected in the near future, Fisher said. In the coming years, one of Fisher's challenges will be managing a shrinking force within the 310th Space Wing, as the full-time space professionals transfer first, leaving behind more part-time reservists. "We have contingencies upon contingencies right now, based upon how many people do end up transferring," he said. ___ (c)2024 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Visit The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at www.gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Former President Donald Trump has vowed to create a Space National Guard if reelected to the Oval Office in November, a policy position that has become highly politicized this year and is opposed by the Air Force, Space Force and the current White House administration. At an event hosted in Michigan on Monday by the National Guard Association of the United States -- a lobbying arm supporting the reserve service's goals and objectives -- Trump, the Republican nominee in the current presidential race, promised to back and support legislation for a Space National Guard, a major policy project supported by the group, and was met with applause from the crowd. "The time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force," Trump said. "As president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard." Read Next: FBI Arrests Marine Veteran After He Self-Published Book on His Role in Jan. 6 Riot at Capitol Trump's endorsement of a Space National Guard comes as the issue hit a boiling point this year after the Space Force decided to go in a different direction. The Space Force has not opted for a National Guard model, like the Army and Air Force, to maintain a reserve force and instead had legislation signed into the law in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act allowing the creation of a part-time, active-duty service model -- a brand-new idea. But every governor in the country and bipartisan groups of lawmakers have opposed a Department of the Air Force proposal to transfer several hundred airmen who are part of Air National Guard units with space-related missions into the active-duty Space Force. The National Guard Association of the United States, or NGAUS, and various lawmakers, namely Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., made numerous pushes in the past to get the Space National Guard model through the cogs of Congress. Trump told the NGAUS crowd during his remarks in Michigan that Rubio is "very much a fan of yours" and said the senator "loves this" idea of creating a Space National Guard. Those past legislative pushes have been opposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which issued a statement in 2021 saying it was "strongly opposed" to a Space Guard component, estimating it would significantly increase costs. The National Guard Bureau has previously said that there are approximately 14 units across seven states consisting of around 1,000 personnel that take on space missions in the Air National Guard, and it has questioned the cost claims. In April, Military.com reported that the Air Force floated a legislative proposal to Congress to transfer some of those Air National Guard units with space missions into the active-duty Space Force by asking for exceptions from section 104 of Title 32, as well as section 18238 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which requires state governors to sign off on such a move. The proposal, which could strip governors' ability to stop the transfer, brought condemnation from every governor in the U.S. In a letter, they claimed the move "undermines long-standing partnerships, precedence, military readiness and operational efficacy." That proposal is currently being ironed out between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate as they work on the NDAA, the annual must-pass defense policy bill. The House version would make governors sign off on such a move, and the Senate version would allow it to go through but would limit the Guard units that could be transferred to the Space Force to six states and roughly 600 people. Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on space policy, told Military.com in an interview Monday that the Space Force's part-time service model is innovative, and that a National Guard model doesn't make sense for a service whose domain is focused outside of the Earth's atmosphere and well outside of state borders. "It's not practical. ... You're going to create a separate branch for that few people," Harrison said. "I guess, more importantly, the Space Force has a better idea for how to incorporate reservists and Guard members into a single Space Force that has part-time and full-time people. I think what they've come up with is the way of the future." In the waning days of Trump's presidency, he oversaw the creation of the current Space Force by signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, an idea he had long mentioned at political rallies. Harrison told Military.com that, as the issue of a Space National Guard becomes politicized, it's understandable that Trump would weigh in on the issue, especially because the creation of it would lead to members of Congress and governors wanting that reserve component to have some foothold in their districts and states. "It's a bad idea all around, but I understand it's good populist politics and that's why you see so many governors and so many members of Congress jumping on the idea, because they know it's gonna make people happy in their state," Harrison added. Related: National Guard Chief Warns of 'Unintended Consequences' of Transferring Air Guard Units to Space Force When Marine Corps veteran Derek Sisson entered the wine and spirits industry, he had virtually no business background. He studied with his GI Bill benefits, but never graduated with a degree. His previous business experience was running an ecotourism company, nothing close to beer or spirits. He began his industry experience by importing Italian wines, but the wineries he worked for only paid him in wine. "They told me they didn't have any money to pay me, so I said, 'All right, it's really good wine,'" Sisson told Military.com. "It's just crazy where things take you in life, isn't it?" Today, Sisson is the CEO of Texas-based Famous Brands, which includes his flagship Merica Bourbon, as well as a line of other spirits. He also just launched Merica Beer, an American pilsner he calls "a working man's beer." "I'll throw it out there: It's similar to the beers that really captured the American heart early on," said Sisson. "We started in the South, and when you're out mowing the grass or spending the time barbecuing with friends, a cold pilsner seems to quench the thirst." (Famous Brands) Sisson started Merica Bourbon in 2017, but his road to entrepreneurship was a long one. He joined the Marine Corps in 1985 and served with the 2nd Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) and the 2nd Force Recon Company. He left the Corps in 1992 and started Eco Action Tours in Puerto Rico (which is still operating). He soon returned home to Texas, where he began working what he calls "the traditional job." "I was working as a sales manager for a fitness company and just wasn't feeling it," he said. "I started an import company, part time, specializing in Italian wines. I was moving containers into Texas representing these wineries, then I said, 'You know what? Why not try to get my distribution license?'" Sisson did just that. For five years, he was distributing products for bigger companies, helping build brands. After building them up, he would pass them on to bigger distributors as a broker. He also built a large professional network. With his years of experience as an incubator for small liquor brands, he began to think about starting his own. Under Texas law, he couldn't be a brand owner and a distributor, so the move wasn't without risk. "It was insanity," Sisson laughed. "Wine was a very, very competitive space, but at the time, the bourbon selection wasn't quite as large as it is now. ... But I saw a niche; I saw better margins. I had a passion for it already, and I had built those relationships up on the distribution side. I'd done pretty much every aspect of the business from doing the demos myself to delivering. But I learned the business; I had made those relationships. I figured out early on the distribution side that it was certainly a relationship business." Merica Bourbon founder Derek Sisson joined in the Marine Corps iat age 18. (Courtesy of Derek Sisson) It was a tough decision to make. Sisson had a family to take care of, and his job provided steady income. His years of experience working in a business gave him a valuable insight into when to make what he calls "the total jump." "I started part time. It was that whole crawl, walk, then run mentality," he said. "I didn't really make that total jump until I had enough revenue coming in that I could feel comfortable about taking the risk." He offers similar advice for new entrepreneurs deciding when to quit their job and focus on growing their startups full time: Have at least a year's worth of savings as a cushion, market-test your concept, get the funding necessary to launch the product and have a mentor to help guide you. His most important advice is to jump in with everything you have. "When I was in the Marine Corps and serving with Force Recon, I always said, 'When you jump out of a plane, you can't jump back in it,'" said Sisson. "So my philosophy is, if you're going to take the entrepreneurial route, jump out and don't have the plans of jumping back in. Just truly go for it." To learn more about veteran-owned and operated Merica brands or to find a store, visit the Merica Bourbon website. Want to Know More About Veteran Jobs? Be sure to get the latest news about post-military careers as well as critical info about veteran jobs and all the benefits of service. Subscribe to Military.com and receive customized updates delivered straight to your inbox. Question: I don't have a lot of time to prepare for my exit from the military. Which should I focus on: a resume or building a LinkedIn profile? Answer: Hmmm, is that like asking, "I have two hungry children. Who do I give the food to?" All kidding aside, transitioning from the military to civilian sector requires time, attention and focus. There are no shortcuts, quick fixes or ways to fake it. To have a meaningful and successful transition into the next chapter of your life will take work -- work you'll have to put in. Let's look at the two transition tools you mentioned: a professional resume and your LinkedIn profile. While very different pieces of your career, they serve a similar purpose. They tell others about your skills, experience and interests. The Resume Your resume offers a look backward at everything you've done professionally. From your schooling, training and certifications to your successes, milestones and professional accomplishments, this document highlights your fit for an open position. Hiring professionals use resumes to assess a candidate's qualifications and potential competency for the job they're hiring. There are requirements and preferences the hiring professional is looking to see on your resume to determine whether you move further in consideration. They want to see whether you have enough training and experience, the right certifications and credentials, and they may evaluate your writing style and ability to communicate your personal brand. What most resumes fail to do, however, is project who you are and what you can offer in the future. Most resumes simply look backward, offering a catalog of bulleted lists of achievements in the hope that the reader (or applicant tracking system) is intuitive enough to extrapolate the value you can offer the company, if selected for the position. The LinkedIn Profile On the other hand, a profile on LinkedIn is like a mini-website for you to promote and position yourself for your career. LinkedIn gives you tremendous real estate on the site to highlight your accomplishments, goals, interests and talents. On your LinkedIn profile, you can explain why you chose your career path, describing your passion for your career, including military service. And you can clarify a career pivot. If, for example, you're leaving the military as a medic and are pursuing your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. On a resume, you're limited on space. Your LinkedIn profile has ample room for explanation. Hiring professionals love to view LinkedIn profiles. As the data supports (and many have shared with me personally), they view LinkedIn as a place to learn more about a candidate beyond what's bulleted out on a resume. For instance, they can see how you write about yourself, the ways you interact and engage with others (in your comments, shares and posts), how you describe your skills in more narrative form and what other people say about you (in endorsing your skills or offering you recommendations on your profile). While a resume is a necessary piece of the job-change toolkit, LinkedIn is a living story of who you are, what you care about and where you're heading. If you're just looking for a job, focus on a resume. Want to build a career? Make sure you have a well-thought-out LinkedIn profile and share knowledge, insights, interests and engage with others regularly. Want to Know More About Veteran Jobs? Be sure to get the latest news about post-military careers as well as critical info about veteran jobs and all the benefits of service. Subscribe to Military.com and receive customized updates delivered straight to your inbox. Title: Echoing Call to Our belovedMate How to Setup It Anywhere (Alexa, Are You There? Setting Up Alexa on Your Huawei Mate 9) The world of technology has never been more convenient than it is today. We use our smartphones and tablets to interact with the internet and perform various tasks that we couldnt do before. But with the rise of, many people have started wondering whether or not they should even bother with setting up an Amazon Echo or Google Assistant to their own devices. In this article, well provide you with tips on how to set up your Huawei Mate 9 so that you can seamlessly interact with the devices. Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the device Before starting, its important to familiarize yourself with your HuaweiMate 9. This includes looking at the front and back of the screen, and understanding the different operating systems and apps that are available on the device. Step 2: Set up Google Assistant Google Assistant is an AI-powered voice that can be used on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets. To set up Google Assistant, follow these steps: 1. Open Google Assistant by searching for Google Assistant on HuaweiMate 9. 2. Once youve opened Google Assistant, go to the settings menu by swiping left from the top menu bar or pressing F8. 3. From there, click on Settings and then Google Assistant. 4. In the Google Assistant settings page, scroll down to the Language & Currency section and select Chinese. 5. Now, enter your first name or ID number when prompted and click OK. You may also need to enter a password if prompted. Step 3: Set up Amazon Echo Amazon Echo is another popular AI-powered voice assistant that can be used on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets. To set up Amazon Echo, follow these steps: 1. Launch Amazon Echo by searching for Amazon Echo on HuaweiMate 9. 2. Once youve launched Amazon Echo, go to the settings menu by swiping left from the top menu bar or pressing F8. 3. From there, click on Settings and then Amazon Echo. 4. In the Amazon Echo settings page, scroll down to the Appearance section and select P Touch 6. 5. Once youve selected your Pich Touch 6, follow the prompts to turn it on and start using Amazon Echo. 6. Make sure to enter your first name or ID number when prompted and click OK. Step 4: Keep yourMate 9 updated Using Amazon Echo or Google Assistant can help you stay connected to your home and stay updated with news and information. However, its important to keep your HuaweiMate 9 up-to-date. A outdated device may experience technical issues and crash frequently, leading to less efficient operations and lower performance. Thats why its essential to regularly check your devices software updates and install them promptly. (Alexa, Are You There? Setting Up Alexa on Your Huawei Mate 9) By keeping your HuaweiMate 9 up-to-date, you can ensure that it stays safe, stable, and productive no matter where you are in the world. Whether youre working out, playing games, or just checking your email, your HuaweiMate 9 will always be a reliable partner. Inquiry us if you want to want to know more, please feel free to contact us. (nanotrun@yahoo.com) Title: The Hero behind the Curtain: The Life of Steve Jobs (The Genius Behind the Curtain: Who Is the Owner of Apple ?) In the world of technology, there is one person whose legacy will be felt for generations to come Steve Jobs. Known as the Father of the Modern World, Jobs genius skills, vision, and unwavering determination have left an indelible mark on the industry. Born in the early 1960s, Jobs grew up in a working-class family and was brought up surrounded by technology and innovation. As he watched his parents work tirelessly on cutting-edge projects, Jobs developed a passion for computers and electronics. He later attended Stanford University, where he studied electrical engineering and science. In 1975, Jobs returned to California after college and founded Inc., the first successful mass market electronics company in the United States. His creativity and innovative thinking quickly led to groundbreaking products like the iPhone and iPad, which transformed the way people interacted with technology. Throughout his career, Jobs has continued to push the boundaries of whats possible in the tech industry. He built up Apples reputation as one of the most innovative companies in history and inspired countless individuals to pursue their own passions and dreams. He remains a symbol of what it means to lead a company that truly believes in its mission and values. As Jobs continues to shape the future of technology, its important to remember the lessons he learned along the way. He faced numerous challenges and setbacks throughout his life, but he always remained true to his vision and commitment to making the world a better place through technology. Today, Apple continues to inspire millions around the world with its powerful tools, high-quality products, and commitment to creating a better future for all. (The Genius Behind the Curtain: Who Is the Owner of Apple ?) In conclusion, Steve Jobs is not just a brilliant inventor and business leader, but also a great mentor and role model who has left a lasting impact on the world. His legacy will continue to inspire generations to come, and we cant wait to see what else he will bring to the table in the years ahead. Inquiry us if you want to want to know more, please feel free to contact us. (nanotrun@yahoo.com) Title: From Idea to Reality: Exploring the Visionary behind Apples Success (The Visionary Behind the Icon: Who is the Owner of Apple ?) At the heart of Apples success lies an intangible force that has been driving it through the years. This visionary owner, named Steve Jobs, has not only built the worlds most successful company, but also made significant contributions to the technology industry. Jobs was born on May 24, 1951, in San Francisco, California. He was a left-handed, visual designer who spent much of his childhood working on small projects at home. As he grew older, Jobs moved to Los Angeles and entered the tech industry, where he created Apples first computer. In 1976, Jobs launched the first electronic Macintosh computer, which quickly became popular among engineers and designers. This machine revolutionized the way people worked on software and hardware, leading to the development of personal computers and smartphones. Under Jobs leadership, Apple has gone from being a small startup to one of the largest and most influential companies in the world. The companys products include iPhone, iPad, iPod, MacBook Air, and many others, all of which have had a profound impact on the way we live our lives. One of Jobs most iconic inventions is the Mac, which is still widely used today by professionals and students alike. The device has become a symbol of innovation and creativity, helping to shape the digital landscape around us. Despite Jobs success, however, there is always room for improvement. The company continues to innovate in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality, all while upholding its commitment to customer service and creating value for consumers. As Jobs considers his legacy, he remains focused on what he is passionate about making a positive impact on the world through technology. He sees the potential for new technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality to change the way we work, learn, and interact with each other. (The Visionary Behind the Icon: Who is the Owner of Apple ?) In conclusion, the vision behind Apples success can be described as a journey of innovation, creativity, and transformation. From the invention of the first computer to the current state of Apple, this visionary owner has truly helped to shape the future of technology and create something truly special. Inquiry us if you want to want to know more, please feel free to contact us. (nanotrun@yahoo.com) The Mets announced that infield prospect Brett Baty suffered a fracture in his left index finger last Thursday, while playing for Triple-A Syracuse. Baty was hit by a pitch during a check swing, and the team estimated a recovery timeline of 4-6 weeks. This means that Batys 2024 season could well be over, barring some quicker-than-expected healing or a return at the very end of September. The injury adds to what has been an overall disappointing season for the third baseman, as Baty hit only .229/.306/.327 over 171 plate appearances in the major leagues. This brings Batys career totals to 15 home runs and a .215/.282/.325 slash line in 602 PA and 169 games about the equivalent of one full season since he made his MLB debut in 2022. It isnt a huge sample size, and the 24-year-old Baty would hardly be the first star prospect to have some initial struggles before going on to have a successful big league career. However, more has been expected from the former 12th overall pick, and Batys place as the Mets third baseman of the future has now seemingly been filled by Mark Vientos, who has hit tremendously well in his first extended taste of MLB playing time. Pete Alonsos possible departure in free agency this winter could conceivably leave first base open so Vientos and Baty could both be part of the 2025 lineup, yet while Vientos seems to be cementing his spot in New Yorks future plans, the jury is still out on Baty. He drew plenty of attention prior to the trade deadline, but there isnt yet any indication that the Mets are open to moving on from Baty. While Baty didnt have much left to prove against minor league pitching, his .262/.358/.528 slash line over 254 Triple-A plate appearances indicated that he was in a groove at the plate, and couldve potentially carried this good form into a September call-up with the Mets. It wouldve been interesting to see how Batys development wouldve been weighed against the Mets efforts to land a wild card spot, yet it now may be a moot point given the finger injury. August 26: The Rays made it official today, announcing that they have selected Ramirez to the roster, with Lopez optioned as the corresponding move. August 25: The Rays plan to select veteran right-hander Erasmo Ramirez from the Triple-A Durham Bulls, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. He will join the team on Monday, in time for the first game of a three-game set against the Mariners. The Rays already have an open spot on the 40-man, although they will need to make room for Ramirez on the active roster. Ramirez, 34, is a 13-year MLB veteran who has pitched for six different clubs since making his debut in 2012. Funnily enough, he spent the first seven years of his professional career (and his first three years in the majors) with the Mariners the team he will likely face in his next big league outing. Ramirez spent the 2012-14 seasons with Seattle before the Mariners traded him to the Rays in March 2015. Two and a half years later, Tampa Bay flipped him back to Seattle at the 2017 trade deadline. He would remain with the Ms through the 2018 campaign. After that, Ramirez spent time with the Red Sox, Mets, Tigers, and Nationals before finding his way back to the Rays in 2023. He re-signed with the club on a minor league deal this past offseason, and he has already spent one brief stint in the majors in 2024, pitching 16 innings with a 4.50 ERA and 5.22 SIERA. The Rays DFAd him in May, but he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, where he has a 3.02 ERA over 47 2/3 frames. Ramirez wont be a high-leverage arm for the Rays, but he can be a valuable innings eater out of the bullpen. He threw 146 2/3 MLB innings from 2022 to 23, and he regularly goes multiple innings in an outing. Tampa Bays relief corps ranks third in the majors in innings pitched since the All-Star break, so they could surely use the extra help. They may have the second-lowest bullpen ERA (2.29) and SIERA (3.11) in that time, but a fresh arm to help shoulder the workload is never a bad thing. The Rays optioned bulk reliever Joel Kuhnel to allow for Jacob Lopez to make a spot start today, so Kuhnel cannot be recalled for at least 15 days unless he is the 27th man for a doubleheader or replacing a pitcher on the IL. Presumably, Lopez will return to Triple-A, despite his strong performance today (5 IP, 1 ER), and Ramirez will take his spot on the 26-man roster. The White Sox announced today that they have claimed infielder Jacob Amaya off waivers from the Astros. The latter club had designated him for assignment on the weekend. Infielder Nick Senzel was designated for assignment by the White Sox in a corresponding 40-man roster move for the claim of Amaya. Infielder Bryan Ramos has been recalled to take Senzels active roster spot. The Sox also recalled left-hander Sammy Peralta and optioned lefty Ky Bush. Amaya, 25, has just five major league games and ten plate appearances but is now joining the fourth organization of his career. An 11th-round pick of the Dodgers, he was flipped to the Marlins in the January 2023 trade that sent infielder Miguel Rojas to Los Angeles. He spent just over a year in the Marlins system but was designated for assignment in April of 2024 before being flipped to the Astros for right-hander Valente Bellozo and cash considerations. Prospect evaluators have long praised Amaya for his defense, but his bat has been more questionable, which is borne out by the numbers. In 450 minor league games from 2021 to the present, he has slashed .240/.335/.384 for a wRC+ of 86. His 12.3% walk rate in that time is strong but he hasnt made a ton of impact when putting the bat on the ball. Amaya can still be optioned for the rest of this year but will be out of options next year. He has mostly played shortstop but has also seen some time at second and third base. The rebuilding Sox dont have a ton set in stone in their future infield. Nicky Lopez has appeared in 105 games for them this year but is hitting a tepid .240/.309/.293 for a wRC+ of 74. He could be retained via arbitration for next year but would be a due a raise on his $4.3MM salary and could be non-tendered. Paul DeJong was traded to the Royals. Yoan Moncada is in the final guaranteed season of his contract and club wont have much interest in picking up his $25MM club option for 2025. Perhaps that will get Amaya a chance to earn some playing time for the rebuilding club. Even if his bat doesnt come around, having a glove-first infielder is a sensible move for a rebuilding team that will undoubtedly be giving plenty of chances to unproven pitchers in the future. That same uncertainty is what opened a spot for Senzel. The White Sox signed him in the middle of July after he was released by the Nationals. He got 32 plate appearances with the Sox but hit just .100/.129/.133 in those. Those struggles have nudged him off the roster and the Sox will have to put him on waivers now that the trade deadline has passed. The Nats signed him to a one-year, $2MM deal in the offseason after he was non-tendered by the Reds. He was designated for assignment by the Nats in July, when a trade was still possible, but he ended up released. Presumably, the interest hasnt been raised during Senzels tenure with the White Sox, so hes likely to end up a free agent again. Though he was once a second overall pick and ten ten prospect in the sport, his bat hasnt played at the major league level. He has over 1600 plate appearances to this point but has hit .232/.299/.363 in those for a wRC+ of 76. The Nats are still on the hook for the majority of that $2MM salary. If another club is intrigued by Senzels past prospect pedigree, they could sign him and pay him only the prorated portion of the $740K major league minimum salary. That amount would be subtracted from what Washington pays. ROYAL OAK, MI - The Detroit Zoo wants you to help name its infant gorilla. Born on August 8 to her mother Bandia, this is the first gorilla born at the Zoo in its 96-year history. Beginning today, you can cast your vote here by choosing among these names: Usala - This name comes from the conservation corridor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also means forest in Kikumu language. Amateka - This name means history in Kinyarwanda language. Mbere - This name means first in Kinyarwanda language. Lobeke - This name comes from the national park in Cameroon, which is home to the highest density of western lowland gorillas in the world. Motema - This name means heart in Lingala language. Voting remains open through Mon., Sept. 9. Members of the public may vote as many times as they want with each vote requiring a minimum $10 donation. The winner will be determined by the name that receives the highest donation amount. The Zoo will announce the winning name shortly after the contest ends. Proceeds from all donations in this naming contest will benefit the SAFE gorilla (Saving Animals From Extinction) Program. The SAFE program utilizes the collective efforts from zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to protect wild gorilla populations through on-the-ground protection of gorillas, research and monitoring, and targeted stakeholder engagement and education. This has been an incredibly fun and exciting time for our entire animal care team, said Mike Murray, vice president of life sciences for the Detroit Zoological Socieity. Bandia is doing an amazing job as a first-time mom; the love, care and dedication she has for her baby is just remarkable to see. Were continuing to closely monitor her and the baby, and so far, everything has gone according to plan. Were really looking forward to having this baby grow up and thrive here at the Zoo. The infant is now the fifth gorilla to call the Detroit Zoo home. The youngster joins the troop with mother Bandia and father Mshindi, along with 20-year-old Tulivu and 11-year-old Nayembi, who all arrived at the Zoo in August 2023. MADISON HEIGHTS, MI -- The parents of a 9-year-old boy who shot himself after finding an unsecured gun have been charged under Michigans safe storage law. According to WDIV-Detroit, the boys mother, Jessie Gean, and stepfather, Jacob Gean were each arraigned over the weekend on charges of firearms-safe storage violation-minor present and inflicted serious impairment of a body function upon self or another. The duo was charged after the victim shot himself in the hand Friday at a residence on Palmer Street. Michigans safe storage law requires gun owners to store their weapons when minors are in their home. Failure to do so can lead to misdemeanor charges, but if the child uses the firearm and injures themselves or others, the charges escalate to the felony level. Fans of the popular PBS home renovation show This Old House knew Roger Cook well. He was a landscaper who always seemed to have an answer for all issues. Cook has died, at 70, according to a post on the shows website. With tremendous sadness, This old House bids farewell to our friend and longtime landscape contractor, Roger Cook, who passed away on August 21, 2024 after a long battle with illness, the post read. Cook was a part of This Old House for nearly 40 years, the show said in the post. I remember every lesson from Roger, the shows executive producer Chris Wolfe said. More importantly, there are millions of people whose lives have been enriched by everything Roger taught them. Cook was a native of Burlington, Massachusetts. He founded K&R Landscape in 1982 with his wife, Kathleen. Per the post, that business is still going today. He began with This Old House in 1982 as well. From the start, Rogers expertise and easygoing manner won hearts, an affection that only grew during the course of his dozens of TOH project houses, hundreds of Ask This Old House House calls, and numerous This Old House magazine articles, the post read. Dad spent his entire life helping people friends, family, and customers, his son, Jason Cook, said. One of the biggest regrets with his illness was that he could no longer help people in the same way. With that in mind Dad asked us to set up a family foundation so that we can continue his legacy as a helper going forward. Dad identified several areas he was passionate about that we intend to focus the foundation on most importantly wildlife and land conservation, medical research, childhood education, and military veterans, he added. Dad will be contributing a meaningful portion of his estate to the foundation and if you are willing to join him, the entire Cook family would be grateful for honoring his legacy. WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI Washtenaw County is included in a heat advisory that goes into effect Tuesday morning across much of southeast Michigan. The National Weather Service advisory goes is in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27 for a large portion of southeast Michigan. The advisory covers Livingston, Oakland, Lenawee, Monroe, Wayne, Midland, Bay, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Genesee and Macomb counties, as well. Heat index values are expected to reach up to 102 degrees. READ MORE: Michigan better get used to very sticky air, heres when it ends Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses, National Weather Service officials warn. The Washtenaw County Health Department advises that people drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives, neighbors and pets. Cooling centers are available to help people beat the heat. All Washtenaw County office building lobbies are available during normal business hours. Libraries and other facilities also serve as cooling sites. A list of sites is available on the countys website, at washtenaw.org/3636/Washtenaw-County-Cooling-Sites Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. Washtenaw County news GENESEE COUNTY, MI Starting today, students at Carman-Ainsworth High School will be eligible for a new, groundbreaking course AP African American History. Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools became the first district in Genesee County to add an advanced placement African American History class to its curriculum at the end of the 2023-24 school year. Students have often inquired about an AP African American course for several years at Carman-Ainsworth, which prompted the district to look into the course. Carman-Ainsworth School Counselor Letitica Stinson collected data that reflected that many students in the Flint Township community and surrounding areas wanted the opportunity to take the class. Stinson approached Jessyca Mathews, a Language Arts instructor with a minor in history with a focus in African American studies, to teach the class beginning in the fall. Mathews happily obliged to teach the class, as it is something she wished she had when she attended Carman-Ainsworth schools in the 90s. Ive heard for decades like, Why dont we have a Black history class? Mathews said. The course was approved by the Carman-Ainsworth Board of Education in April, Superintendent Cathy McGilvery told MLive-The Flint Journal. There will be four core areas of study: Influences of Africa and African Americans throughout the world, resistance to slavery, how African American culture influenced the Harlem Renaissance and feminism, and current events. The last unit is something that students rarely get the opportunity to do in high school history classes discussing current events. There will be an opportunity for debates and students will even take on three-week projects on whatever they feel passionately about regarding African American studies. I think that its important to be seen. Often with history courses, even not just history but literature, we forget that there are groups that are not being seen, Mathews said. ... To have a course where kids can feel seen their whole history, not just one section of it ... its empowering. And kids deserve it. Mathews and McGilvery hoped that other schools follow Carman-Ainsworths footsteps and add AP African American Studies to their own curriculums. Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter. If you would like more reporting like this delivered free to your inbox, click here and signup for our weekly newsletter: Michigan Schools. KENTWOOD, MI - A new rideshare program is being set up to provide a transportation alternative to and from school for students who are experiencing homelessness. Kentwood Public Schools, located in a Grand Rapids suburb, is the first West Michigan school district to offer a rideshare system where longtime caregivers can sign up to transport students. School leaders hope the alternative to busing will provide flexibility for students experiencing homelessness. SAGINAW, MI Stepping into the front yard of his Saginaw Township home, a 15-year-old boy split the night by firing about 20 rounds from an assault rifle. His shots killed one man and wounded two teens. His attorney is not disputing this, but maintains his young client fired in self-defense against a group who meant to do him harm. ANN ARBOR, MI - Ron Weiser, one of two Republicans on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, did not win the partys nomination for the November general election. Weiser, the former Michigan GOP chair, who first won his regents seat in 2016, lost his re-election bid during the Republican partys Saturday, Aug. 24 convention. There are two seats at stake on Nov. 5, with Republicans Sevag Vartanian and Carl Meyers and Democrats incumbent Denise Ilitch and challenger Shauna Ryder Diggs now on the ballot. Weiser, an Ann Arbor real estate developer and one of the universitys largest donors at more than $100 million, attributed his loss of the nomination to the Republican partys fractures in the last few years. The previous chair told a lot of untruths and lies about me, and a lot of those stuck, he said of former Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo. While I had many votes for me and it was a close election, a lot of people voted against me. Weiser, who is Jewish, said this weekends loss was about some Republican perceptions that hes a globalist. The term is seen as anti-Semitic by organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League, as its often used to describe Jewish people as advocating more for Israel than their own country. This election was not about my attributes or my negatives, Weiser said. It was about perceptions. Its hard to change peoples perceptions. A message was left with a Michigan GOP spokesperson seeking comment. Read more: Michigan Dems, GOP announce candidates for highest court, university and state ed boards Weisers most recent term as regent included his key role in securing property to start the universitys Central Campus housing project, which will add 2,300 student beds by the end of its first phase in 2026. It also included the board censuring him in 2021 for calling Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson three witches who were ready for the burning at the stake. Read more: Pressure increases on University of Michigan regent Ron Weiser to resign after Capitol violence His support of the university has included donating tens of millions to establish multiple medical research and care centers for Michigan Medicine, including most recently the breast cancer and pediatric brain cancer centers. He hopes people remember him for those contributions, since those save lives, he said. My legacy will not be as a regent, but as a supporter of the university, he said. Fellow Republican regent Sarah Hubbard lauded Weisers contributions to both the state party and the university during his political career. While the party delegates were looking for something different at the convention, Weiser should be remembered as a top, top supporter of the university, she said. Ron is 100% committed to having a bright future for the University of Michigan, she said. Vartanian and Meyers work in finance, the former as a businessman and the latter as a former Michigan GOP treasurer. Vartanian won the nomination for a seat in 2022 but lost to current Regents Mike Behm and Katherine White. I hope they win in November, and both would serve really well on the board, Hubbard said. Multiple Democrats on the Board of Regents declined to comment on Weisers loss. Despite political differences, board members have complimented Weiser in the past. Regent Paul Brown emailed Weiser support after the Republican was scrutinized for comments made after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Dont let em get to you, Brown wrote in an email obtained by MLive/The Ann Arbor News. Thats life in the big leagues. Read more: Emails reveal tension among University of Michigan regents amid Ron Weisers Capitol riot controversy Regent Jordan Acker has said publicly at board meetings that despite disagreements with Weiser on policy, it is clear that Weiser loves the university. Weiser said he will continue to be involved with the university, both in his remaining few months as regent and beyond. Its been a pleasure to work with my fellow regents, he said. Ill miss working with those people the most. 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. As the temperatures and humidity continue to ramp up over the next couple days, how concerned should we be about the chance for severe weather? The National Weather Service (NWS) says our chance for damaging winds and large hail on Tuesday during the day and/or Tuesday night right now are hovering between 20-40%. Tornadoes are not expected. But some areas could see locally heavy rain and cloud-to-ground lightning if these storms do pop up. Its the humidity and unsettled weather pattern that has us on the edge of severe weather. The NWS team in Grand Rapids explained it this way today in a social media forecast post: We have a 20-40% chance of storms in our forecast for Tuesday & Tuesday night in central-southern Lower Michigan, plus a threat of severe weather, NWS meteorologists said. With this hot and humid air in place, think of it like sitting on a powder keg and waiting for a spark to come along. Not sure if or when. Be aware but dont cancel plans. How hot and humid is it going to get early this week? Monday and Tuesday are the hot-seat days, with temps approaching 90 on Monday and topping the 90-degree mark on Tuesday. Continued humidity will make the heat index soar to around 100, the NWS said. Temps are expected to cool down a bit by Wednesday. 27 National Pro-Life Organizations Call for House Speaker Johnson and Pro-Life Members of Congress to Protect the Pregnancy Resource Movement from Attacks NEWS PROVIDED BY Stanton Public Policy Center Aug. 26, 2024 WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- 27 national pro-life organizations call for House Speaker Johnson and pro-life members of Congress to protect the pregnancy resource movement from attacks. In a hand delivered letter to Speaker Johnson's office, the groups warned of the dangers Kamala Harris and Governor Walz present to these life-affirming women's medical clinics and centers. The letter says in part: "Speaker Johnson, it is critical in a post-Roe America we offer women facing unexpected pregnancies professional medical care, tangible resources, practical and emotional support, and women's wellness care. "Tragically, Vice-President Harris has chosen to attack these women-centric life-affirming centers. As California's Attorney General, she investigated and harassed pregnancy resource centers and spearheaded legislation that would require them to refer clients for abortions." The letter warns: "It is clear, if Kamala Harris became President, her Administration would do all in their power to close or restrict pregnancy resource centers and life-affirming clinics." The groups then ask, "Speaker Johnson we are asking for you, and pro-life members of Congress, to ensure no anti-woman federal legislation would be passed which restricts or attempts to shut down pregnancy resource centers and life-affirming women's clinics." A link to the entire letter can be found here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:va6c2:81239cf1-f4fc-4182-bfb5-b4a8941cad98 The letter was organized by Stanton Public Policy Center, which is a women's advocacy and educational group, based in Washington, D.C. Stanton works on issues of human rights and justice that empower and inspire women. It is affiliated with Stanton Healthcare, which has non-profit life-affirming women's medical clinics in the United States and internationally. Stanton has AAAHC (www.aaahc.org) third party accreditation, and specializes in serving women with unexpected pregnancies by providing professional medical care, tangible resources, practical and emotional support, and women's wellness care with a special outreach to refugees and the marginalized. Brandi Swindell, Founder and CEO of Stanton Public Policy Center, comments: "Speaker Johnson, it is critical in a post-Roe America we offer women facing unexpected pregnancies professional medical care, tangible resources, practical and emotional support, and women's wellness care. "Every woman who walks through the doors of these life-affirming centers and clinics is treated with dignity and equality regardless of their race, political views, religion, educational background or their economic situation. "Speaker Johnson, we are calling for your leadership and all pro-life members of Congress, to ensure these life-affirming women's centers are protected from the attacks of Vice-President Harris and Governor Walz. "Regardless of one's position on abortion, it is critical our nation stands with women who are facing unexpected pregnancies as we offer true choices and support." Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Chief Strategy Officer for Stanton Public Policy Center, adds: "In 2022, pregnancy resource centers and life-affirming women's medical clinics in the United States provided nearly $367.9 million worth of services and material goods to16 million women. We are ready to meet the challenge to make sure every woman facing an unexpected pregnancy in a post-Roe America will have access to life-affirming quality medical care, compassionate resources, tangible support and hope. "It is unconscionable and anti-woman for Vice-President Harris and Governor Walz to attempt to close or restrict these life-affirming women's medical clinics and the pregnancy resource movement. "We respectfully ask that as Speaker of the House, you do all within your power to protect the pregnancy resource movement from these anti-woman attacks from Kamala Harris and Governor Walz." For more information or interviews call Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741 SOURCE Stanton Public Policy Center CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741 Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO Free Report) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 304,343 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,998 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLCs holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $43,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 61.5% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 10,275 shares of the companys stock worth $1,467,000 after buying an additional 3,911 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,867 shares of the companys stock worth $7,118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,368 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 67.0% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 3,925 shares of the companys stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the second quarter valued at approximately $329,000. Finally, Institute for Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.6% during the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,931 shares of the companys stock worth $1,846,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the companys stock. Get Novo Nordisk A/S alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus lifted their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a buy rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Monday, August 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $145.17. Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:NVO traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $136.97. The company had a trading volume of 2,112,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,428,083. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $136.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $614.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.41. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $86.96 and a 1-year high of $148.15. Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.5126 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. Novo Nordisk A/Ss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.83%. Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile (Free Report) Novo Nordisk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Diabetes and Obesity Care, and Rare Disease. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Novo Nordisk A/S Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Novo Nordisk A/S and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Comet Industries Ltd. (CVE:CMU Get Free Report)s stock price fell 5.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$4.25 and last traded at C$4.25. 5,000 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 43% from the average session volume of 3,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$4.50. Comet Industries Stock Down 5.6 % The company has a quick ratio of 6.63, a current ratio of 7.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of C$19.85 million, a PE ratio of 2.54 and a beta of -0.26. The companys 50 day moving average is C$4.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$4.29. Get Comet Industries alerts: Insider Activity In other news, Director Michael Santoro bought 6,400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$4.25 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,200.00. Company insiders own 43.77% of the companys stock. Comet Industries Company Profile Comet Industries Ltd. holds and manages real estate properties in the British Columbia. It also acquires and develops mineral properties. The company holds a 40% working interest in the Iron Mask property located in southwest Kamloops, British Columbia. It also owns a 10% carried net profit interest in a contiguous block of mineral properties; and the surface land titles comprising the crown grants located in Kamloops, British Columbia. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Comet Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Comet Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:FLKR Get Free Report) shares fell 1.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $21.60 and last traded at $21.61. 16,211 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 114,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.97. Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF Stock Up 3.0 % The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.24. The company has a market capitalization of $287.05 million, a P/E ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 1.24. Get Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FLKR. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 342,740 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,496,000 after purchasing an additional 6,550 shares during the last quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC lifted its stake in Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF by 1.4% in the second quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC now owns 208,575 shares of the companys stock worth $4,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF by 4.7% during the second quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 48,542 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,062,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF by 606.9% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,230 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,633,000. About Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF The Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (FLKR) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the FTSE South Korea RIC Capped index. The fund tracks a market cap-weighted index of large- and mid-cap South Korean companies. FLKR was launched on Nov 2, 2017 and is managed by Franklin Templeton. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. iShares MSCI Finland ETF (BATS:EFNL Get Free Report)s stock price were down 1.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $36.45 and last traded at $36.45. Approximately 1,168 shares were traded during mid-day trading, The stock had previously closed at $36.87. iShares MSCI Finland ETF Stock Up 2.1 % The stock has a market capitalization of $18.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 0.83. The businesss 50-day moving average is $35.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.61. Get iShares MSCI Finland ETF alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows An institutional investor recently raised its position in iShares MSCI Finland ETF stock. Marotta Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Finland ETF (BATS:EFNL Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 251,377 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 14,468 shares during the period. iShares MSCI Finland ETF accounts for 1.8% of Marotta Asset Managements investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Marotta Asset Management owned 41.90% of iShares MSCI Finland ETF worth $8,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. iShares MSCI Finland ETF Company Profile The iShares MSCI Finland ETF (EFNL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI Finland IMI 25\u002F50 index, a market-cap-weighted index of Finnish all-cap stocks. EFNL was launched on Jan 25, 2012 and is managed by BlackRock. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Finland ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Finland ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM Free Report) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,287 shares of the technology companys stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLCs holdings in International Business Machines were worth $914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arden Trust Co raised its stake in International Business Machines by 2.8% in the first quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 1,973 shares of the technology companys stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in International Business Machines by 3.3% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,528 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $1,309,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,040 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,736,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 222 shares of the technology companys stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get International Business Machines alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IBM. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a buy rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an underperform rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $184.93. International Business Machines Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:IBM traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.10. 2,321,961 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,278,521. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $183.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.44. International Business Machines Co. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $199.18. The company has a market cap of $180.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.71. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.27. International Business Machines had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 40.59%. The business had revenue of $15.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year. International Business Machines Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. International Business Machiness payout ratio is 75.65%. About International Business Machines (Free Report) International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers a hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. See Also Receive News & Ratings for International Business Machines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for International Business Machines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GOAU Get Free Report)s stock price was down 2.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $20.55 and last traded at $20.72. Approximately 65,188 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 137% from the average daily volume of 27,455 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.18. U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF Stock Up 1.0 % The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.92 and a 200 day moving average of $18.62. The firm has a market cap of $106.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 0.84. U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF Company Profile (Get Free Report) The U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (GOAU) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in materials equity. The fund tracks an index of 28 precious metal mining firms listed in the US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong or South Africa. Holdings are selected by fundamental factors and weighted in fixed tiers. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,020 shares of the insurance providers stock, valued at approximately $207,000. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRV. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Travelers Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 74.2% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Travelers Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Travelers Companies in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.45% of the companys stock. Get Travelers Companies alerts: Insider Transactions at Travelers Companies In related news, EVP Michael Frederick Klein sold 10,000 shares of Travelers Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.44, for a total value of $2,114,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,798 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,820,409.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.33% of the companys stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages have weighed in on TRV. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $213.00 to $207.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Travelers Companies from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $220.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Travelers Companies from $202.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $223.78. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Travelers Companies Travelers Companies Stock Up 1.8 % TRV stock traded up $3.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $221.82. 1,142,811 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,347,290. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $157.33 and a 1-year high of $232.75. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $210.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.50. The firm has a market cap of $50.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.61. Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The insurance provider reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.23 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $11.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.35 billion. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 17.23 EPS for the current fiscal year. Travelers Companies Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. Travelers Companiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.20%. Travelers Companies Profile (Free Report) The Travelers Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TRV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Travelers Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Travelers Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA Free Report) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 728 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $37,000. A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Comerica by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 169,671 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $8,660,000 after buying an additional 11,564 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Comerica by 766.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 66,700 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,404,000 after buying an additional 59,000 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its holdings in Comerica by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 63,537 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,243,000 after buying an additional 7,496 shares during the period. Busey Bank increased its holdings in Comerica by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 7,305 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Comerica in the 2nd quarter valued at about $228,000. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Comerica alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have commented on CMA. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Comerica from $50.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Stephens restated an overweight rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Comerica in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Comerica from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Comerica from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Comerica from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $55.45. Comerica Trading Up 4.7 % Shares of NYSE CMA traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $57.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,549,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,213,217. The firm has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.25. Comerica Incorporated has a twelve month low of $37.40 and a twelve month high of $58.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The companys 50 day moving average price is $52.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.67. Comerica (NYSE:CMA Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.79 million. Comerica had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 15.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Comerica Incorporated will post 5.05 EPS for the current year. Comerica Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. Comericas dividend payout ratio is currently 56.46%. About Comerica (Free Report) Comerica Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services. The company operates through Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, and Finance segments. The Commercial Bank segment offers various products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, payment solutions, card services, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services for small and middle market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CMA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Comerica Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Comerica and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Banc of California (NYSE:BANC Get Free Report) and Jeffersonville Bancorp (OTCMKTS:JFBC Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations. Insider & Institutional Ownership 86.9% of Banc of California shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Banc of California shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Jeffersonville Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Get Banc of California alerts: Dividends Banc of California pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Jeffersonville Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Banc of California pays out -12.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jeffersonville Bancorp pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Risk & Volatility Analyst Recommendations Banc of California has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jeffersonville Bancorp has a beta of 0.34, suggesting that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. This is a summary of current ratings for Banc of California and Jeffersonville Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Banc of California 0 5 3 0 2.38 Jeffersonville Bancorp 0 0 0 0 N/A Banc of California presently has a consensus target price of $15.69, suggesting a potential upside of 7.16%. Given Banc of Californias higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Banc of California is more favorable than Jeffersonville Bancorp. Profitability This table compares Banc of California and Jeffersonville Bancorps net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Banc of California -21.99% 2.12% 0.17% Jeffersonville Bancorp N/A 13.02% 1.53% Earnings and Valuation This table compares Banc of California and Jeffersonville Bancorps revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Banc of California $429.87 million 5.36 -$1.90 billion ($3.33) -4.40 Jeffersonville Bancorp $32.18 million 2.53 $11.18 million $2.48 7.76 Jeffersonville Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Banc of California. Banc of California is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Jeffersonville Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Summary Jeffersonville Bancorp beats Banc of California on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks. About Banc of California (Get Free Report) Banc of California, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Banc of California that provides various banking products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, demand, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; retirement accounts; and safe deposit boxes. It also provides real estate loans to professional developers and real estate investors for the acquisition, construction, refinancing, renovation, and on-going operation of commercial real estate properties; commercial real estate mortgage, residential real estate mortgage, and real estate construction and land loans; commercial loans and leases, such as equipment finance, other asset-based, venture capital, secured business, warehouse, and other lending services; small business administration loans; and consumer loans comprising personal, auto, and other loans, as well as home equity and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company offers international banking, multi-state deposit, and asset and investment management services, as well as cash and treasury management services; and online, mobile, remote deposit, and telephone banking services. It serves small and middle-market businesses, venture capital firms, non-profit organizations, business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals, and high-net worth individuals. Banc of California, Inc. was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. About Jeffersonville Bancorp (Get Free Report) Jeffersonville Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Jeff Bank that provides community banking services to individuals, small businesses, and local municipal governments primarily in Sullivan County, New York. The company offers various deposit products, such as checking, money market, savings, and NOW, as well as demand and time deposits. It also offers commercial mortgage, farmland, construction, real estate, agricultural, residential mortgage, home equity, consumer, installment, and other consumer loans. The company was founded in 1913 and is based in Jeffersonville, New York. Receive News & Ratings for Banc of California Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Banc of California and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG Free Report) by 6.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,069,539 shares of the energy companys stock after selling 76,656 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.47% of Cheniere Energy worth $186,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cheniere Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $220,930,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Cheniere Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $80,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cheniere Energy by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the energy companys stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Cheniere Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 24,439 shares of the energy companys stock worth $4,172,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in Cheniere Energy by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the energy companys stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 87.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Cheniere Energy alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several brokerages have commented on LNG. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Cheniere Energy from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $194.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Cheniere Energy in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued an outperform rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $213.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $196.40. Cheniere Energy Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:LNG traded up $0.36 on Monday, reaching $184.32. 1,042,963 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,842,635. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The company has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $176.45 and a 200-day moving average of $164.73. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $152.31 and a twelve month high of $187.44. Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The energy company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $2.13. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.52 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 28.55% and a return on equity of 48.19%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.61 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 8.29 EPS for the current fiscal year. Cheniere Energy Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.435 dividend. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Cheniere Energys payout ratio is 8.48%. Cheniere Energy declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, June 17th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued. About Cheniere Energy (Free Report) Cheniere Energy, Inc, an energy infrastructure company, primarily engages in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) related businesses in the United States. It owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana; and the Corpus Christi LNG terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas. The company also owns Creole Trail pipeline, a 94-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal with several interstate and intrastate pipelines; and operates Corpus Christi pipeline, a 21.5-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Corpus Christi LNG terminal with various interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LNG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Cheniere Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cheniere Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX:BOQPG Get Free Report) declared a interim dividend on Wednesday, July 3rd, MarketIndexAU reports. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of 1.356 per share on Sunday, September 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of Queensland Price Performance Bank of Queensland Company Profile (Get Free Report) Bank of Queensland Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Australia and New Zealand. The company operates in Retail Banking, BOQ Business, and Other segments. It offers personal banking services comprises savings and term deposits, and transactional accounts; debit and credit cards; home, personal, and car loans; and travel, home and content, landlord, and car insurance, as well as investment services comprising online share trading services, and self-managed superannuation funds. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bank of Queensland Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of Queensland and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank of Stockton lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,523 shares of the financial services providers stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Bank of Stocktons holdings in Bank of America were worth $856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after buying an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the companys stock. Get Bank of America alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the companys stock, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the companys stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,768,513 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,216,504 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an outperform rating and set a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $42.07. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on BAC Bank of America Price Performance Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.77. 45,616,647 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,208,762. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The companys 50 day moving average price is $40.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.06. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firms revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the companys management believes its shares are undervalued. Bank of America Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of Americas previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Bank of Americas payout ratio is currently 35.99%. Bank of America Company Profile (Free Report) Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Bank of America Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of America and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BCK Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE Free Report) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,687 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 135 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up about 0.1% of BCK Partners Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. BCK Partners Inc.s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NEE. Janney Capital Management LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 46,673 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 4,047 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $162,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,308 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $6,411,000 after buying an additional 26,382 shares in the last quarter. Camden National Bank lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 156,631 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $9,514,000 after buying an additional 14,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 379,968 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $23,079,000 after buying an additional 50,899 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the companys stock. Get NextEra Energy alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NEE shares. Barclays upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an overweight rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of NextEra Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $80.00. NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.9 % NEE stock traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.66. 4,999,611 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,233,079. The firms 50-day moving average is $74.56 and its 200-day moving average is $68.66. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $80.56. The company has a market cap of $163.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year. NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energys payout ratio is 56.13%. Insider Activity at NextEra Energy In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total value of $50,646.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 100 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders. About NextEra Energy (Free Report) NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for NextEra Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NextEra Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX Free Report) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 324,306 shares of the medical equipment providers stock after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabamas holdings in Boston Scientific were worth $24,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 542.1% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 366 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors purchased a new position in Boston Scientific during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Boston Scientific during the second quarter worth about $26,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Boston Scientific in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in Boston Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Boston Scientific alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BSX shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Boston Scientific from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Boston Scientific in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Boston Scientific from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Boston Scientific from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.24. Insider Transactions at Boston Scientific In related news, EVP Arthur C. Butcher sold 14,011 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.34, for a total transaction of $1,055,588.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,197 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,641.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Arthur C. Butcher sold 14,011 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.34, for a total value of $1,055,588.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,197 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,641.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Wendy Carruthers sold 6,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.30, for a total transaction of $539,785.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,316,788.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,960 shares of company stock worth $2,638,984 over the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Boston Scientific Trading Down 0.5 % NYSE:BSX traded down $0.41 on Friday, reaching $79.17. The stock had a trading volume of 4,006,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,148,074. Boston Scientific Co. has a 12-month low of $48.35 and a 12-month high of $79.92. The company has a market cap of $116.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.78. The firms fifty day moving average is $76.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Boston Scientific had a net margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 16.80%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Boston Scientific Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year. About Boston Scientific (Free Report) Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BSX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Boston Scientific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Boston Scientific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC cut its holdings in BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ Free Report) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,889 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,274 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.07% of BJs Wholesale Club worth $7,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of BJs Wholesale Club by 23.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,379 shares of the companys stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in BJs Wholesale Club by 9.2% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the companys stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in BJs Wholesale Club during the second quarter worth $583,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in BJs Wholesale Club during the second quarter worth $1,267,000. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BJs Wholesale Club during the second quarter worth $408,000. 98.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get BJ's Wholesale Club alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total transaction of $2,591,742.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,452 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,252,496.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total value of $2,591,742.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,452 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,252,496.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.90, for a total value of $955,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 467,792 shares of the companys stock, valued at $40,651,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 81,544 shares of company stock worth $7,237,084. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the companys stock. BJs Wholesale Club Stock Performance NYSE BJ traded up $1.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $82.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,862,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,515,218. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $87.52 and a 200 day moving average of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23. BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.08 and a 52-week high of $92.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.74. BJs Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. BJs Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 37.78% and a net margin of 2.59%. BJs Wholesale Clubs revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year. Analysts Set New Price Targets BJ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BJs Wholesale Club from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on BJs Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BJs Wholesale Club from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BJs Wholesale Club from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJs Wholesale Club from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $85.93. View Our Latest Analysis on BJs Wholesale Club About BJs Wholesale Club (Free Report) BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for BJ's Wholesale Club Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BJ's Wholesale Club and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM Free Report) (TSE:AEM) by 2.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,119 shares of the mining companys stock after selling 514 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLCs holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines were worth $1,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 7,217 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 6,190 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 4,192 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 4.7% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 5,030 shares of the mining companys stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New raised its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 2.5% in the second quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 9,512 shares of the mining companys stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.34% of the companys stock. Get Agnico Eagle Mines alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of analysts recently commented on AEM shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $81.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $81.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an outperformer rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agnico Eagle Mines has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $82.86. Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Performance Shares of NYSE AEM traded down $0.53 during trading on Monday, reaching $82.26. The stock had a trading volume of 462,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,768,086. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a PE ratio of 86.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.06. Agnico Eagle Mines Limited has a one year low of $43.22 and a one year high of $83.40. The firms 50 day moving average price is $72.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.50. Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM Get Free Report) (TSE:AEM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The mining company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 8.44%. Agnico Eagle Miness quarterly revenue was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Agnico Eagle Mines Limited will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Agnico Eagle Mines Company Profile (Free Report) Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, a gold mining company, exploration, development, and production of precious metals. It explores for gold. The company's mines are located in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico, with exploration and development activities in Canada, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AEM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM Free Report) (TSE:AEM). Receive News & Ratings for Agnico Eagle Mines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Agnico Eagle Mines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC decreased its holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC Free Report) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 218,724 shares of the basic materials companys stock after selling 8,851 shares during the period. FMC makes up about 1.1% of Easterly Investment Partners LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.18% of FMC worth $12,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FMC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,290,219 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $973,987,000 after buying an additional 768,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in FMC by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,547,766 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $791,137,000 after buying an additional 1,666,096 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in FMC by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,061,828 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $322,439,000 after buying an additional 1,316,133 shares during the period. Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 105.1% during the 4th quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,961,857 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $186,745,000 after buying an additional 1,518,053 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in FMC by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,428,010 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $153,030,000 after buying an additional 53,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the companys stock. Get FMC alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have commented on FMC shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on FMC from $65.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $68.63. FMC Trading Up 2.3 % Shares of NYSE:FMC traded up $1.47 on Friday, reaching $65.38. 752,095 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,912,233. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $58.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.84. FMC Co. has a 52 week low of $49.49 and a 52 week high of $89.27. FMC (NYSE:FMC Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.08. FMC had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. FMCs revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year. FMC Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. FMCs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%. FMC Company Profile (Free Report) FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FMC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for FMC Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FMC and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Free Report) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $115.00 to $104.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Several other analysts also recently commented on EL. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $175.00 to $135.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Estee Lauder Companies from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $131.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $141.00 to $108.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $145.00 to $129.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $124.39. Get Estee Lauder Companies alerts: View Our Latest Research Report on EL Estee Lauder Companies Price Performance Shares of NYSE:EL opened at $93.67 on Tuesday. Estee Lauder Companies has a twelve month low of $86.05 and a twelve month high of $165.76. The stocks 50 day moving average is $100.83 and its 200-day moving average is $126.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.62, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.99. Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Estee Lauder Companies had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The businesss revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Estee Lauder Companies will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year. Estee Lauder Companies Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Estee Lauder Companiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.31%. Insider Buying and Selling In other Estee Lauder Companies news, EVP Jane Lauder sold 14,976 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.26, for a total value of $1,815,989.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,389 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,958,990.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Estee Lauder Companies A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,051 shares of the companys stock worth $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 6,102 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Estee Lauder Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd raised its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.0% in the second quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 40,163 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Ecofi Investissements SA bought a new stake in Estee Lauder Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Estee Lauder Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.15% of the companys stock. About Estee Lauder Companies (Get Free Report) The Estee Lauder Companies Inc manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Estee Lauder Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Estee Lauder Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM Free Report) by 73.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,700 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 47,142 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLCs holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $1,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 918.9% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 377 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Exxon Mobil alerts: Exxon Mobil Stock Up 0.6 % NYSE XOM traded up $0.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $116.96. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,883,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,980,660. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $461.17 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.91. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 1-year low of $95.77 and a 1-year high of $123.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $115.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.94. Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend Exxon Mobil ( NYSE:XOM Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.62% and a return on equity of 16.75%. The business had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. Exxon Mobils quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobils dividend payout ratio is 46.57%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on XOM. Evercore ISI raised Exxon Mobil to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $138.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exxon Mobil has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $134.56. Read Our Latest Stock Report on Exxon Mobil About Exxon Mobil (Free Report) Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States and internationally. It operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Exxon Mobil Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Exxon Mobil and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 738 shares of the oil and gas companys stock, valued at approximately $116,000. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLO. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. First Foundation Advisors bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Valero Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Valero Energy alerts: Valero Energy Stock Up 1.7 % Shares of VLO stock traded up $2.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $145.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,523,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,482,840. The company has a market cap of $47.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Valero Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $119.88 and a 12 month high of $184.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.46. Valero Energy Dividend Announcement Valero Energy ( NYSE:VLO Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $34.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energys payout ratio is 21.20%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VLO shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $177.00 price target on the stock. Argus downgraded Valero Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Valero Energy from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $174.00. Get Our Latest Analysis on VLO Valero Energy Company Profile (Free Report) Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VLO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Valero Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valero Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG (NYSE:FMS Free Report) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,450 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Fresenius Medical Care were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fresenius Medical Care by 10.9% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 60,309 shares of the companys stock worth $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 5,946 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fresenius Medical Care in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $127,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,228 shares of the companys stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 5,078 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care during the first quarter worth approximately $110,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care in the first quarter worth $1,293,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.25% of the companys stock. Get Fresenius Medical Care alerts: Fresenius Medical Care Stock Performance Fresenius Medical Care stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.45. The companys stock had a trading volume of 291,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,181. The firm has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.90. Fresenius Medical Care AG has a twelve month low of $16.37 and a twelve month high of $24.48. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Fresenius Medical Care ( NYSE:FMS Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.38. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. Fresenius Medical Care had a net margin of 2.72% and a return on equity of 5.48%. Sell-side analysts predict that Fresenius Medical Care AG will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Fresenius Medical Care in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Fresenius Medical Care from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fresenius Medical Care has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.00. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Fresenius Medical Care About Fresenius Medical Care (Free Report) Fresenius Medical Care AG provides dialysis and related services for individuals with renal diseases in Germany, North America, and internationally. The company offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Fresenius Medical Care Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fresenius Medical Care and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock Flexible Income ETF (NYSEARCA:BINC Free Report) by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 815 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLCs holdings in BlackRock Flexible Income ETF were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock Flexible Income ETF during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock Flexible Income ETF during the second quarter worth $26,000. Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in BlackRock Flexible Income ETF by 927.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 565 shares of the companys stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock Flexible Income ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock Flexible Income ETF in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Get BlackRock Flexible Income ETF alerts: BlackRock Flexible Income ETF Trading Up 0.3 % Shares of BlackRock Flexible Income ETF stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.20. 413,232 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 622,298. BlackRock Flexible Income ETF has a 52-week low of $49.54 and a 52-week high of $53.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.27. About BlackRock Flexible Income ETF The BlackRock Flexible Income ETF (BINC) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in high yield fixed income. The fund provides an actively managed approach to multisector fixed-income exposure globally. It may hold debt and income-producing securities, of any credit quality or maturity, with the objective of maximizing long-term income and capital appreciation. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BINC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for BlackRock Flexible Income ETF (NYSEARCA:BINC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Flexible Income ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock Flexible Income ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT Free Report) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,676 shares of the industrial products companys stock after buying an additional 1,967 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Caterpillar were worth $7,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CAT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Caterpillar by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,353,370 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $14,296,641,000 after buying an additional 129,216 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,029,953 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $8,583,372,000 after acquiring an additional 96,479 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,145,840 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,408,481,000 after acquiring an additional 179,908 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,660,560,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,264,635 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $947,875,000 after acquiring an additional 529,420 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the companys stock. Get Caterpillar alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts have issued reports on CAT shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a buy rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $385.00 to $376.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Saturday, August 10th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued a market perform rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $336.31. Insider Activity at Caterpillar In related news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $527,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,515 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,480,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $527,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,515 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,480,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,975 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.48, for a total value of $1,018,878.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,615 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,347,825.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,991 shares of company stock valued at $2,059,398. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Caterpillar Price Performance CAT traded up $6.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $348.41. 2,183,912 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,706,098. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.35. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $382.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.75. The company has a market cap of $170.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.12. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $5.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $5.53 by $0.46. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.79% and a return on equity of 58.61%. The business had revenue of $16.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.55 EPS. The companys revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.57 EPS for the current year. Caterpillar Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd were issued a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. This is a positive change from Caterpillars previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Caterpillars dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.46%. Caterpillar announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 12.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued. Caterpillar Profile (Free Report) Caterpillar Inc manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, road reclaimers, forestry machines, cold planers, material handlers, track-type tractors, excavators, telehandlers, motor graders, and pipelayers; compact track, wheel, track-type, backhoe, and skid steer loaders; and related parts and tools. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CAT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Caterpillar Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Caterpillar and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM Free Report) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,067 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after selling 1,833 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $4,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TSM. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 670.4% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 208 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing alerts: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Performance Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing stock traded up $4.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.28. The companys stock had a trading volume of 12,189,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,057,435. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $171.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.86. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a one year low of $84.01 and a one year high of $193.47. The firm has a market cap of $888.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( NYSE:TSM Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The semiconductor company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.33 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 25.54% and a net margin of 37.85%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a $0.4871 dividend. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This is a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.95%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts recently commented on TSM shares. Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $168.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $130.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $200.00. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on TSM Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Profile (Free Report) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides a range of wafer fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture complementary metal- oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, embedded memory, bipolar CMOS mixed-signal, and others. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Prudential plc (NYSE:PUK Free Report) by 7.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,934 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 1,890 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Prudential were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its stake in shares of Prudential by 135.7% during the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,183 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Prudential during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Prudential by 369.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,370 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,078 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prudential during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Prudential by 198.0% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,101 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.90% of the companys stock. Get Prudential alerts: Prudential Stock Performance PUK stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.90. The stock had a trading volume of 668,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 913,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. Prudential plc has a 52 week low of $15.96 and a 52 week high of $26.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.91. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Prudential from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Prudential from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Prudential from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Prudential Prudential Company Profile (Free Report) Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia and Africa. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PUK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Prudential plc (NYSE:PUK Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Prudential Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Prudential and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 34,306 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,884,000. A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GEV. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in GE Vernova by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 3,555 shares of the companys stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of GE Vernova by 3.2% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,533 shares of the companys stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of GE Vernova in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new position in GE Vernova in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Timber Creek Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in GE Vernova during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Get GE Vernova alerts: GE Vernova Stock Down 1.5 % Shares of NYSE GEV traded down $2.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $183.29. 4,872,683 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,929,203. GE Vernova Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.00 and a 1 year high of $190.80. The businesss 50 day moving average is $174.65. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades GE Vernova ( NYSE:GEV Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $8.42 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GE Vernova Inc. will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year. Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of GE Vernova in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on shares of GE Vernova in a research note on Friday, June 21st. They set an outperform rating and a $201.50 price objective on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of GE Vernova in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded GE Vernova to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of GE Vernova from $186.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GE Vernova currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $189.83. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on GEV About GE Vernova (Free Report) GE Vernova LLC, an energy business company, generates electricity. It operates under three segments: Power, Wind, and Electrification. The Power segments generates and sells electricity through hydro, gas, nuclear, and steam power. Wind segment engages in the manufacturing and sale of wind turbine blades; and Electrification segment provides grid solutions, power conversion, solar, and storage solutions. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GEV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for GE Vernova Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GE Vernova and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Rithm Capital Corp. (NYSE:RITM Free Report) by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,125 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after selling 12,753 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Rithm Capital were worth $536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Rithm Capital by 605.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,489 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136 shares during the period. American National Bank bought a new stake in Rithm Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in Rithm Capital in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Rithm Capital by 125.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,986 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Rithm Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 44.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Rithm Capital alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on RITM shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Rithm Capital from $10.50 to $12.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. B. Riley restated a buy rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Rithm Capital in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Rithm Capital in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Rithm Capital in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Rithm Capital from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $12.55. Rithm Capital Price Performance NYSE:RITM traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.57. 2,316,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,227,333. Rithm Capital Corp. has a 12 month low of $8.87 and a 12 month high of $11.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.16 and a 200 day moving average of $11.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.82. Rithm Capital (NYSE:RITM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Rithm Capital had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The companys revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Rithm Capital Corp. will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year. Rithm Capital Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Rithm Capitals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%. Rithm Capital Company Profile (Free Report) Rithm Capital Corp. operates as an asset manager focused on real estate, credit, and financial services. It operates through Origination and Servicing, Investment Portfolio, Mortgage Loans Receivable, and Asset Management segments. Its investment portfolio primarily comprises of mortgage servicing rights (MSR), and MSR financing receivables, title, appraisal and property preservation, excess MSRs, and services advance investments; real estate securities, call rights, SFR properties, and residential mortgage loans; consumer and business purpose loans; and asset management related investments. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Rithm Capital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Rithm Capital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Highland Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Free Report) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,872 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 3,210 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLCs holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AMG National Trust Bank grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 15,723 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,528,000 after buying an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 32.7% during the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 3,985 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $224,000. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 44,312 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $4,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the companys stock. Get Morgan Stanley alerts: Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.3 % Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.89. The stock had a trading volume of 3,814,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,422,925. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $109.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $99.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.90. The stock has a market cap of $165.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend Morgan Stanley ( NYSE:MS Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. Morgan Stanleys revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanleys previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanleys dividend payout ratio is presently 67.40%. Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. Insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and cut their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $101.45. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley Company Profile (Free Report) Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Morgan Stanley Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Morgan Stanley and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Invesco China Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:CQQQ Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $32.47, but opened at $31.61. Invesco China Technology ETF shares last traded at $31.50, with a volume of 29,353 shares trading hands. Invesco China Technology ETF Stock Performance The firm has a market capitalization of $593.70 million, a PE ratio of 19.03 and a beta of 1.22. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $33.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.35. Get Invesco China Technology ETF alerts: Institutional Investors Weigh In On Invesco China Technology ETF A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CQQQ. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Invesco China Technology ETF by 1,070.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,117 shares of the companys stock worth $3,257,000 after buying an additional 88,821 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in Invesco China Technology ETF by 24.9% in the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 63,355 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 12,613 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Invesco China Technology ETF by 182.5% during the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 33,470 shares of the companys stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 21,623 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Invesco China Technology ETF by 95.0% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 24,861 shares of the companys stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 12,115 shares during the period. Finally, Syon Capital LLC acquired a new position in Invesco China Technology ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $801,000. About Invesco China Technology ETF Guggenheim China Technology ETF (the Fund), formerly Claymore China Technology ETF, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Funds fees and expenses, of an equity index called the AlphaShares China Technology Index (the Index). The Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stock, American depositary receipts (ADRs), American depositary shares (ADSs), global depositary receipts (GDRs) and international depositary receipts (IDRs) that comprise the Index and depositary receipts or shares representing common stocks included in the Index (or underlying securities representing ADRs, ADSs, GDRs and IDRs included in the Index). Read More Receive News & Ratings for Invesco China Technology ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco China Technology ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Pictet North America Advisors SA decreased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ Free Report) by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 614,862 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 224,291 shares during the quarter. iShares MSCI Japan ETF comprises about 4.6% of Pictet North America Advisors SAs investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA owned about 0.25% of iShares MSCI Japan ETF worth $41,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EWJ. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 0.6% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 25,739 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,756,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Verger Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Verger Capital Management LLC now owns 38,939 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,657,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, SOL Capital Management CO boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 2.2% in the first quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 10,070 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Get iShares MSCI Japan ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Japan ETF Trading Up 2.3 % NYSEARCA:EWJ traded up $1.62 on Friday, hitting $71.93. 8,212,277 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,513,372. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.49 and a 200-day moving average of $68.74. The stock has a market cap of $17.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63 and a beta of 0.73. iShares MSCI Japan ETF has a fifty-two week low of $57.20 and a fifty-two week high of $72.07. iShares MSCI Japan ETF Company Profile iShares MSCI Japan ETF (the fund), formerly Ishares Msci Japan Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Japanese market, as measured by the MSCI Japan Index (the Index). See Also Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Japan ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Japan ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF Free Report) by 19.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 617 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.s holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nvwm LLC lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 100 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Get iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Stock Performance IWF traded up $4.18 on Friday, hitting $368.11. 717,338 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,712. The businesss fifty day moving average is $362.36 and its 200 day moving average is $344.50. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF has a fifty-two week low of $256.01 and a fifty-two week high of $382.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64 and a beta of 1.20. About iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment returns that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of equity securities of Russell 1000 index issuers with relatively higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth. Read More Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC decreased its holdings in iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF (NYSEARCA:IJS Free Report) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,722 shares of the companys stock after selling 662 shares during the quarter. iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF accounts for about 1.0% of Capital Advisors Ltd. LLCs holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC owned about 0.11% of iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF worth $7,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,486 shares of the companys stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. raised its stake in shares of iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF by 140.7% in the second quarter. Family Firm Inc. now owns 173,765 shares of the companys stock valued at $16,902,000 after acquiring an additional 101,564 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF in the second quarter valued at $423,000. Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 41,686 shares of the companys stock worth $4,055,000 after purchasing an additional 7,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital increased its holdings in iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 61,682 shares of the companys stock worth $6,000,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Get iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF alerts: iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF Stock Performance IJS stock traded up $3.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $107.22. The company had a trading volume of 314,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,762. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.79. The company has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.20. iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF has a fifty-two week low of $81.81 and a fifty-two week high of $111.05. iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF Company Profile iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF, formerly iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Value Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P SmallCap 600 Value Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization value sector of the United States equity market and consists of those stocks in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index exhibiting the strongest value characteristics. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. iShares Trust iShares Factors US Blend Style ETF (BATS:STLC Get Free Report) shares dropped 0% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $42.32 and last traded at $42.34. Approximately 256 shares traded hands during trading, The stock had previously closed at $42.35. iShares Trust iShares Factors US Blend Style ETF Stock Down 0.0 % The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.34 and a 200 day moving average of $42.34. See Also Receive News & Ratings for iShares Trust - iShares Factors US Blend Style ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Trust - iShares Factors US Blend Style ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Skyline Champion Co. (NYSE:SKY Get Free Report) EVP Jonathan Wade Lyall sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.90, for a total value of $899,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,243,771.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Jonathan Wade Lyall also recently made the following trade(s): Get Skyline Champion alerts: On Thursday, August 15th, Jonathan Wade Lyall sold 12,448 shares of Skyline Champion stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.88, for a total value of $1,093,930.24. Skyline Champion Stock Down 0.6 % NYSE:SKY traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $91.96. 114,190 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 347,642. The firm has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.33 and a beta of 1.57. Skyline Champion Co. has a twelve month low of $52.12 and a twelve month high of $93.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $76.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.80. Institutional Trading of Skyline Champion Skyline Champion ( NYSE:SKY Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.22. Skyline Champion had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $627.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $600.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Skyline Champion Co. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Skyline Champion by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,047,679 shares of the companys stock worth $597,621,000 after acquiring an additional 62,748 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Skyline Champion by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,642,123 shares of the companys stock valued at $179,004,000 after purchasing an additional 53,965 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Skyline Champion by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,310,969 shares of the companys stock valued at $97,356,000 after purchasing an additional 81,823 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Skyline Champion by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,197,889 shares of the companys stock valued at $81,157,000 after purchasing an additional 3,313 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Skyline Champion by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 844,367 shares of the companys stock valued at $57,206,000 after purchasing an additional 35,880 shares during the period. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Skyline Champion from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Skyline Champion from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on Skyline Champion from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Skyline Champion from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wedbush restated a neutral rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Skyline Champion in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $78.75. Get Our Latest Analysis on Skyline Champion About Skyline Champion (Get Free Report) Skyline Champion Corporation produces and sells factory-built housing in North America. The company offers manufactured and modular homes, park models RVs, accessory dwelling units, and modular buildings for the multi-family and hospitality sectors. It builds homes under the Skyline Homes, Champion Home Builders, Genesis Homes, Athens Park Models, Dutch Housing, Atlantic Homes, Excel Homes, Homes of Merit, New Era, Redman Homes, ScotBilt Homes, Shore Park, Silvercrest, and Titan Homes brands in the United States; and Moduline and SRI Homes brand names in western Canada. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Skyline Champion Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Skyline Champion and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP grew its stake in McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD Free Report) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,269 shares of the fast-food giants stock after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLPs holdings in McDonalds were worth $2,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of McDonalds by 13.5% in the second quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. now owns 1,167 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. My Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of McDonalds during the second quarter worth $1,407,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonalds during the second quarter valued at $81,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of McDonalds by 1.7% in the second quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,484 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS increased its stake in McDonalds by 327.9% in the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 44,760 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $11,402,000 after buying an additional 34,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the companys stock. Get McDonald's alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have commented on MCD shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of McDonalds from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $300.00 to $295.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of McDonalds from $312.00 to $300.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen cut shares of McDonalds from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $280.00 to $275.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonalds has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $303.71. Insider Buying and Selling at McDonalds In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $285,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,780 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,842,800. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $285,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,780 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,842,800. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of McDonalds stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.26, for a total transaction of $371,893.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $387,285.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,695 shares of company stock worth $943,113. Insiders own 0.23% of the companys stock. McDonalds Stock Up 0.1 % Shares of NYSE:MCD traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $289.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,137,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,554,448. McDonalds Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $302.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.98. McDonalds (NYSE:MCD Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.62 billion. McDonalds had a negative return on equity of 178.92% and a net margin of 32.25%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonalds Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year. McDonalds Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. McDonaldss dividend payout ratio is currently 56.71%. About McDonalds (Free Report) McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for McDonald's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for McDonald's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE Free Report) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,578 shares of the technology companys stock after selling 667 shares during the quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLCs holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,986 shares of the technology companys stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.2% in the second quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,365,364 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $28,905,000 after buying an additional 42,131 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the second quarter valued at $321,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 173.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 83,606 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $1,770,000 after buying an additional 53,064 shares during the period. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter worth about $550,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Hewlett Packard Enterprise alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes HPE has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.08. Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise In other news, SVP Kirt P. Karros sold 30,686 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.49, for a total transaction of $628,756.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kirt P. Karros sold 30,686 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.49, for a total transaction of $628,756.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total transaction of $975,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 150,948 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,944,995.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,141 shares of company stock worth $2,850,108 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the companys stock. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 2.3 % NYSE HPE traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.21. 7,959,493 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,076,776. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $14.47 and a 1 year high of $22.82. The stock has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.22. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 4th. The technology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.82 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firms revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Hewlett Packard Enterprises dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.96%. About Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Free Report) Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. It operates in six segments: Compute, HPC & AI, Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HPE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM Free Report) (TSE:GMM.U) by 335.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,235 shares of the auto manufacturers stock after purchasing an additional 2,492 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLCs holdings in General Motors were worth $150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in General Motors by 1,213.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,203,771 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $79,159,000 after buying an additional 2,035,925 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in General Motors by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 86,888 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 32,331 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of General Motors by 317.6% in the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 67,807 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $2,436,000 after purchasing an additional 51,571 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of General Motors by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,327,552 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $370,966,000 after buying an additional 558,765 shares during the period. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 8.4% during the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 6,337,547 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $287,408,000 after buying an additional 492,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.67% of the companys stock. Get General Motors alerts: Insider Activity In related news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total transaction of $27,219,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,198,648 shares in the company, valued at $52,093,242.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total transaction of $27,219,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,198,648 shares in the company, valued at $52,093,242.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Mark L. Reuss sold 14,858 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.01, for a total transaction of $683,616.58. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 162,049 shares in the company, valued at $7,455,874.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,152,621 shares of company stock worth $51,818,111 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In GM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of General Motors from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on General Motors from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America restated a buy rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of General Motors in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley cut General Motors from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $55.17. Get Our Latest Report on GM General Motors Stock Up 4.5 % Shares of GM stock traded up $2.11 on Friday, hitting $48.57. 12,918,085 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,663,523. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.91 and a 200 day moving average of $44.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. General Motors has a fifty-two week low of $26.30 and a fifty-two week high of $50.50. General Motors (NYSE:GM Get Free Report) (TSE:GMM.U) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $47.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $45.13 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 15.77%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 9.94 EPS for the current year. General Motors announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 11th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to buy up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the companys management believes its shares are undervalued. General Motors Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. General Motorss payout ratio is currently 5.87%. General Motors Profile (Free Report) General Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts; and provide software-enabled services and subscriptions worldwide. The company operates through GM North America, GM International, Cruise, and GM Financial segments. It markets its vehicles primarily under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Baojun, and Wuling brand names. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for General Motors Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for General Motors and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN (NYSEARCA:BULZ Get Free Report)s share price was down 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $129.04 and last traded at $131.37. Approximately 51,662 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 156,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.49. MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN Price Performance The stock has a market cap of $96.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.95 and a beta of 4.73. The businesss 50 day moving average is $149.86 and its 200 day moving average is $137.24. MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN Company Profile (Get Free Report) The MicroSectors Solactive FANG & Innovation 3X Leveraged ETN (BULZ) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Solactive FANG Innovation index. The fund tracks 3x the daily price movements of an equal-weighted index of US-listed technology companies. BULZ was launched on Aug 20, 2021 and is issued by REX Microsectors. See Also Receive News & Ratings for MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MicroSectors FANG & Innovation 3x Leveraged ETN and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA Get Free Report)s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $21.17 and last traded at $21.07, with a volume of 49103 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.85. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MWA shares. Baird R W upgraded Mueller Water Products to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Saturday. TD Cowen lowered Mueller Water Products from a buy rating to a hold rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $21.60. Get Mueller Water Products alerts: Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MWA Mueller Water Products Price Performance The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 3.53. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.52. Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $356.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $329.67 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 8.10%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mueller Water Products, Inc. will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.064 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Mueller Water Productss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.06%. Insider Buying and Selling at Mueller Water Products In other news, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $2,751,046.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares in the company, valued at $11,065,549.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Christine Ortiz sold 8,800 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.94, for a total transaction of $175,472.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,699 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $691,898.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider J Scott Hall sold 135,253 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $2,751,046.02. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,029 shares of the companys stock, valued at $11,065,549.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,869 shares of company stock worth $5,141,842 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 4th quarter valued at $1,509,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 3.7% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 757,810 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $12,193,000 after buying an additional 27,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Mueller Water Products during the 4th quarter valued at $14,642,000. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in Mueller Water Products by 43.5% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 256,695 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 77,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the first quarter valued at about $452,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.68% of the companys stock. About Mueller Water Products (Get Free Report) Mueller Water Products, Inc manufactures and markets products and services for the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water used by municipalities, and the residential and non-residential construction industries in the United States, Israel, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Mueller Water Products Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mueller Water Products and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ninety One Group (LON:N91 Get Free Report)s share price was down 2.1% on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 163.70 ($2.13) and last traded at GBX 163.70 ($2.13). Approximately 218,156 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 492,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 167.20 ($2.17). Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ninety One Group from GBX 179 ($2.33) to GBX 173 ($2.25) and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Get Ninety One Group alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ninety One Group Ninety One Group Stock Up 1.6 % Ninety One Group Increases Dividend The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 25.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 168.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 169.42. The company has a market cap of 1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 924.44, a P/E/G ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.67. The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a GBX 6.40 ($0.08) dividend. This is an increase from Ninety One Groups previous dividend of $5.90. This represents a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 18th. Ninety One Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 6,666.67%. Insider Transactions at Ninety One Group In related news, insider Kim Mary McFarland sold 10,034 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 158 ($2.05), for a total value of 15,853.72 ($20,599.95). Corporate insiders own 58.18% of the companys stock. Ninety One Group Company Profile (Get Free Report) Ninety One Group operates as an independent global asset manager worldwide. It serves private and public sector pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurers, corporates, foundations, and central banks, as well as large retail financial groups, wealth managers, public and private equity as well as debt, private banks, and intermediaries. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Ninety One Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ninety One Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of OneMain Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:OMF Free Report) by 33.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 672,952 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 169,339 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC owned about 0.56% of OneMain worth $32,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of OneMain by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,476 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of OneMain by 43.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 743 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in OneMain by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,040 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in OneMain by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,405 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in OneMain by 46.1% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 963 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. 85.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get OneMain alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets OMF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of OneMain from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BTIG Research started coverage on OneMain in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a neutral rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on OneMain from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on OneMain from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on OneMain from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OneMain currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $54.83. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, SVP Michael A. Hedlund sold 3,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.10, for a total transaction of $144,300.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,353,870.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other OneMain news, SVP Michael A. Hedlund sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.10, for a total transaction of $144,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,353,870.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas H. Shulman sold 15,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total value of $694,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 422,474 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $19,560,546.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,500 shares of company stock worth $953,175. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders. OneMain Stock Up 3.2 % OMF stock traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.81. The company had a trading volume of 681,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 959,035. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.64. OneMain Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.00 and a fifty-two week high of $54.94. OneMain (NYSE:OMF Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $918.74 million. OneMain had a net margin of 12.33% and a return on equity of 20.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Research analysts predict that OneMain Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current year. OneMain Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. OneMains payout ratio is currently 81.09%. About OneMain (Free Report) OneMain Holdings, Inc, a financial service holding company, engages in the consumer finance and insurance businesses in the United States. It originates, underwrites, and services personal loans secured by automobiles, other titled collateral, or unsecured. The company also offers credit cards; optional credit insurance products, including life, disability, and involuntary unemployment insurance; optional non-credit insurance; guaranteed asset protection coverage as a waiver product or insurance; and membership plans. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding OMF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for OneMain Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:OMF Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for OneMain Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for OneMain and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Patten Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:EWY Free Report) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,703 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.s holdings in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EWY. Nvwm LLC raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 6,430 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 9,428 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Innealta Capital LLC now owns 33,478 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $2,194,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Founders Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 2,739 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares MSCI South Korea ETF alerts: iShares MSCI South Korea ETF Price Performance Shares of NYSEARCA EWY traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $66.23. 912,237 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,167,276. iShares MSCI South Korea ETF has a 1 year low of $54.49 and a 1 year high of $69.51. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.60 and a beta of 1.25. The companys 50-day moving average is $65.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.95. About iShares MSCI South Korea ETF iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Stock Market Division of the Korean Exchange. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI South Korea ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI South Korea ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Patten Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM Free Report) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,805 shares of the construction companys stock after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.s holdings in PulteGroup were worth $419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in PulteGroup by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,269 shares of the construction companys stock worth $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Certuity LLC purchased a new position in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in PulteGroup by 166.6% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 13,146 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,215 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in PulteGroup by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 297,544 shares of the construction companys stock worth $35,890,000 after purchasing an additional 17,369 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC purchased a new position in PulteGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $719,000. 89.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get PulteGroup alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth PHM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $141.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $131.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on PulteGroup from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut PulteGroup from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $133.14. PulteGroup Stock Down 0.4 % PulteGroup stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $134.64. The company had a trading volume of 467,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,506. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $118.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.59. PulteGroup, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.80 and a 12 month high of $136.47. The company has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.61. PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.56. PulteGroup had a return on equity of 25.67% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PulteGroup, Inc. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CFO Robert Oshaughnessy sold 28,993 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.29, for a total transaction of $3,748,504.97. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 160,330 shares of the companys stock, valued at $20,729,065.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the companys stock. About PulteGroup (Free Report) PulteGroup, Inc, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the homebuilding business in the United States. It acquires and develops land primarily for residential purposes; and constructs housing on such land. The company also offers various home designs, including single-family detached, townhomes, condominiums, and duplexes under the Centex, Pulte Homes, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, and American West brand names. See Also Receive News & Ratings for PulteGroup Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PulteGroup and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Powers Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,001 shares of the railroad operators stock, valued at approximately $226,000. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,037 shares of the railroad operators stock worth $1,731,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 7,838 shares of the railroad operators stock worth $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the railroad operators stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the railroad operators stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the railroad operators stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 80.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Union Pacific alerts: Insider Activity at Union Pacific In related news, President Elizabeth F. Whited sold 3,552 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.59, for a total value of $875,887.68. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,945 shares in the company, valued at $16,014,787.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Union Pacific Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:UNP traded up $2.53 on Friday, hitting $246.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,024,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,270,696. Union Pacific Co. has a 1-year low of $199.33 and a 1-year high of $258.66. The stock has a market cap of $150.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $234.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $2.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.03. Union Pacific had a net margin of 26.90% and a return on equity of 42.62%. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. Union Pacifics revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Union Pacific Co. will post 11.11 EPS for the current year. Union Pacific Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $1.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from Union Pacifics previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Union Pacifics dividend payout ratio is 49.62%. Analysts Set New Price Targets UNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a strong-buy rating and set a $280.00 price objective (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Union Pacific in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Union Pacific from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Union Pacific from $267.00 to $265.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Union Pacific in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Union Pacific from $271.00 to $273.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Union Pacific has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $258.79. Check Out Our Latest Report on UNP Union Pacific Profile (Free Report) Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, operates in the railroad business in the United States. The company offers transportation services for grain and grain products, fertilizers, food and refrigerated products, and coal and renewables to grain processors, animal feeders, ethanol producers, renewable biofuel producers, and other agricultural users; and construction products, industrial chemicals, plastics, forest products, specialized products, metals and ores, petroleum, liquid petroleum gases, soda ash, and sand, as well as finished automobiles, automotive parts, and merchandise in intermodal containers. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding UNP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Union Pacific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Union Pacific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the six analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.40. PRG has been the subject of several research reports. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of PROG in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a neutral rating for the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of PROG from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of PROG from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded PROG from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, August 19th. Get PROG alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Report on PRG PROG Trading Up 4.0 % Shares of PRG opened at $47.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 2.09. PROG has a twelve month low of $26.39 and a twelve month high of $47.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.22. PROG (NYSE:PRG Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $592.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $573.23 million. PROG had a return on equity of 26.30% and a net margin of 4.57%. The businesss revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that PROG will post 3.34 EPS for the current year. PROG Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 20th. PROGs payout ratio is currently 19.59%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On PROG A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of PROG by 136.0% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 63,051 shares of the companys stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 36,336 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in PROG by 497.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,896 shares of the companys stock worth $5,580,000 after acquiring an additional 133,972 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of PROG by 0.8% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 896,075 shares of the companys stock worth $31,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,803 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of PROG during the second quarter valued at $88,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of PROG in the 2nd quarter worth about $123,000. Institutional investors own 97.92% of the companys stock. About PROG (Get Free Report PROG Holdings, Inc (NYSE:PRG) is a financial technology holding company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with three business segments: Progressive Leasing, which offers lease-to-own transactions primarily to credit-challenged consumers through e-commerce and point-of-sale retail partners, via online, mobile, and in-store solutions; Vive Financial, which provides consumers who may not qualify for traditional prime lending with a variety of second-look, revolving credit products through private label and branded credit cards; and Four Technologies, which provides consumers of all credit backgrounds Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options through four interest-free installments via its platform, Four. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for PROG Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PROG and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK Free Report) by 6.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,131 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 5,717 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $9,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 69.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 290 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $30,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Duke Energy alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays increased their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $110.85. Duke Energy Trading Up 0.2 % DUK traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $112.36. 2,732,539 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,961,570. The companys fifty day moving average price is $106.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $116.67. Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The firms revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year. Duke Energy Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from Duke Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energys payout ratio is currently 105.03%. Insider Transactions at Duke Energy In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the companys stock. Duke Energy Profile (Free Report) Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I), and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Duke Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Duke Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX Free Report) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,616 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 1,951 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.19% of WEX worth $13,926,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in WEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in WEX during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in WEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in WEX by 456.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 228 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in WEX by 233.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 187 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get WEX alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research firms have commented on WEX. William Blair raised WEX to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $239.58. Insider Transactions at WEX In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 540 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $97,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,168 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,470,240. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ann Elena Drew sold 1,182 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $204,166.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,584 shares in the company, valued at $964,524.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 540 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $97,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,168 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,470,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,477 shares of company stock valued at $993,307. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. WEX Stock Performance Shares of WEX stock traded up $3.62 on Friday, reaching $185.57. The stock had a trading volume of 259,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 342,850. The stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.54. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.95 and a 1 year high of $244.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.35. WEX (NYSE:WEX Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $673.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $677.44 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 9.32%. Equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.75 EPS for the current year. WEX Company Profile (Free Report) WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for WEX Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for WEX and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Dynatrace, Inc. (NYSE:DT Free Report) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,885 shares of the companys stock after selling 4,191 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabamas holdings in Dynatrace were worth $13,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DT. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Dynatrace in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Dynatrace by 76.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 530 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Dynatrace by 3,813.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 587 shares of the companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Dynatrace in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Dynatrace by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 708 shares of the companys stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Dynatrace alerts: Dynatrace Trading Up 0.2 % Shares of DT traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $50.24. 1,671,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,556,080. Dynatrace, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.42 and a 52 week high of $61.41. The companys 50 day moving average is $45.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.70. The company has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.62, a PEG ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 1.04. Insider Transactions at Dynatrace Dynatrace ( NYSE:DT Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Dynatrace had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $399.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $392.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Dynatrace, Inc. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year. In related news, EVP Dan Zugelder sold 15,404 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.22, for a total transaction of $681,164.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 237,772 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,514,277.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Dan Zugelder sold 15,404 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.22, for a total transaction of $681,164.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 237,772 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,514,277.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick M. Mcconnell sold 50,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.41, for a total value of $2,320,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 732,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,994,907.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 84,274 shares of company stock valued at $3,883,271. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently issued reports on DT shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Dynatrace from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Dynatrace from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Dynatrace in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Dynatrace in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set a neutral rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Dynatrace from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Dynatrace currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $59.70. Check Out Our Latest Research Report on DT Dynatrace Company Profile (Free Report) Dynatrace, Inc provides a security platform for multicloud environments. It operates Dynatrace, a security platform, which provides application and microservices monitoring, runtime application security, infrastructure monitoring, log management and analytics, digital experience monitoring, digital business analytics, and cloud automation. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Dynatrace, Inc. (NYSE:DT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Dynatrace Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dynatrace and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its holdings in Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF Free Report) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 320,381 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 4,292 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabamas holdings in Fidelity National Financial were worth $15,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fidelity National Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Fidelity National Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Fidelity National Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in Fidelity National Financial by 109.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 581 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.17% of the companys stock. Get Fidelity National Financial alerts: Insider Transactions at Fidelity National Financial In other news, CFO Anthony Park sold 85,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.82, for a total transaction of $4,319,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 99,049 shares in the company, valued at $5,033,670.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.20% of the companys stock. Fidelity National Financial Stock Up 2.3 % FNF traded up $1.32 on Friday, hitting $58.72. The company had a trading volume of 785,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,989. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.45. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.10 and a 12-month high of $59.11. Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.27 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.20 billion. Fidelity National Financial had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 6.55%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Analysts predict that Fidelity National Financial, Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year. Fidelity National Financial Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Fidelity National Financials dividend payout ratio is presently 63.16%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research firms have recently commented on FNF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Fidelity National Financial from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fidelity National Financial from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fidelity National Financial presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $59.80. View Our Latest Stock Report on Fidelity National Financial Fidelity National Financial Company Profile (Free Report) Fidelity National Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FNF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Fidelity National Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fidelity National Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Idaho Strategic Resources (NYSEAMERICAN:IDR Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Roth Mkm from $10.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a buy rating on the stock. Idaho Strategic Resources Trading Up 2.0 % Shares of IDR stock traded up 0.22 ($0.24) on Monday, reaching 11.14 ($12.38). The companys stock had a trading volume of 27,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,044. The company has a market capitalization of $144.37 million, a PE ratio of 44.56 and a beta of 0.78. Idaho Strategic Resources has a 12-month low of 4.48 ($4.98) and a 12-month high of 11.81 ($13.12). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.65 and a current ratio of 6.01. Get Idaho Strategic Resources alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, VP Grant A. Brackebusch sold 3,033 shares of Idaho Strategic Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of 9.50 ($10.56), for a total value of 28,813.50 ($32,015.00). Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 128,923 shares in the company, valued at 1,224,768.50 ($1,360,853.89). The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Grant A. Brackebusch sold 6,078 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of 10.03 ($11.14), for a total transaction of 60,962.34 ($67,735.93). Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 125,878 shares in the company, valued at 1,262,556.34 ($1,402,840.38). The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Grant A. Brackebusch sold 3,033 shares of Idaho Strategic Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of 9.50 ($10.56), for a total value of 28,813.50 ($32,015.00). Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 128,923 shares in the company, valued at 1,224,768.50 ($1,360,853.89). The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.66% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Idaho Strategic Resources Idaho Strategic Resources Company Profile Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IDR. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Idaho Strategic Resources by 145.2% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 3,923 shares of the companys stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in Idaho Strategic Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $108,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in Idaho Strategic Resources by 30.0% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 17,354 shares of the companys stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Idaho Strategic Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $496,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Idaho Strategic Resources by 24.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,750 shares of the companys stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 12,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.70% of the companys stock. (Get Free Report) Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc, a resource-based company, engages in exploring for, developing, and extracting gold, silver, and base metal mineral resources in the Greater Coeur d'Alene Mining District of North Idaho. Its portfolio of mineral properties includes the Golden Chest Mine, a producing gold mine located in the Murray Gold Belt (MGB) of North Idaho; approximately 1,500 acres of patented mineral property and approximately 5,000 acres of nearby and adjacent un-patented mineral property located within the MGB; rare earth element projects located in the Idaho REE-Th Belt near Salmon, Idaho; and early-stage exploration properties in Central Idaho. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Idaho Strategic Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Idaho Strategic Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ Free Report) by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,599 shares of the companys stock after selling 454 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLCs holdings in Constellation Brands were worth $411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 5,322 shares of the companys stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS acquired a new position in shares of Constellation Brands in the second quarter worth about $351,000. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 3.9% in the second quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 5,347 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank grew its stake in Constellation Brands by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American National Bank now owns 4,765 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eads & Heald Wealth Management grew its stake in Constellation Brands by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 4,734 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. 77.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Constellation Brands alerts: Constellation Brands Stock Performance NYSE STZ traded up $1.51 on Friday, hitting $245.21. The stock had a trading volume of 637,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,175,121. The companys 50-day moving average is $250.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.74. Constellation Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $227.50 and a one year high of $274.87. The stock has a market cap of $44.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Constellation Brands Announces Dividend Constellation Brands ( NYSE:STZ Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 3rd. The company reported $3.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.46 by $0.11. Constellation Brands had a return on equity of 23.72% and a net margin of 22.70%. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Constellation Brands, Inc. will post 13.57 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Constellation Brandss payout ratio is 30.10%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities analysts have recently commented on STZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Constellation Brands from $291.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Roth Mkm cut their price target on shares of Constellation Brands from $305.00 to $303.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an outperform rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Constellation Brands in a report on Friday, July 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Constellation Brands from $310.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Constellation Brands from $287.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $300.28. Get Our Latest Report on Constellation Brands Insiders Place Their Bets In other Constellation Brands news, EVP Kaneenat Kristann Carey sold 977 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total value of $254,997.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,706 shares in the company, valued at $706,266. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kaneenat Kristann Carey sold 977 shares of Constellation Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total transaction of $254,997.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,706 shares of the companys stock, valued at $706,266. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Garth Hankinson sold 13,583 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total transaction of $3,259,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,702 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,808,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,414 shares of company stock worth $3,982,922. 12.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Constellation Brands Company Profile (Free Report) Constellation Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Familiar, Corona Hard Seltzer, Corona Light, Corona Non-Alcoholic, Corona Premier, Corona Refresca, Modelo Especial, Modelo Chelada, Modelo Negra, Modelo Oro, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding STZ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Constellation Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Constellation Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tnf LLC cut its holdings in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:MUB Free Report) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,778 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 846 shares during the quarter. iShares National Muni Bond ETF comprises 1.9% of Tnf LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Tnf LLCs holdings in iShares National Muni Bond ETF were worth $5,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF by 9.8% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 9,535 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,016,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF by 34.2% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 279,055 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $29,733,000 after buying an additional 71,103 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF by 53.3% during the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 8,040 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 2,794 shares during the period. SNS Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF by 0.6% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 301,614 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $32,137,000 after buying an additional 1,862 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares National Muni Bond ETF by 1.6% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,416 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Get iShares National Muni Bond ETF alerts: iShares National Muni Bond ETF Price Performance Shares of MUB traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.12. 2,400,272 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,477,229. iShares National Muni Bond ETF has a 1 year low of $100.78 and a 1 year high of $108.82. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $107.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.10. iShares National Muni Bond ETF Company Profile iShares National AMT-Free Muni Bond ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index (the Index). Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MUB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares National Muni Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:MUB Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares National Muni Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares National Muni Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of B2Gold (TSE: BTO) recently: 8/14/2024 B2Gold was upgraded by analysts at Cibc World Mkts from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. 8/14/2024 B2Gold was given a new C$3.30 price target on by analysts at CIBC. They now have an outperform rating on the stock. 8/13/2024 B2Gold had its price target lowered by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. from C$7.50 to C$7.00. They now have a buy rating on the stock. 8/12/2024 B2Gold was downgraded by analysts at Cormark from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating. 8/9/2024 B2Gold was downgraded by analysts at Scotiabank from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating. 7/23/2024 B2Gold had its price target raised by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. from C$7.00 to C$7.25. 7/10/2024 B2Gold was downgraded by analysts at Cibc World Mkts from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. B2Gold Stock Performance Shares of TSE BTO traded down C$0.01 during trading on Monday, reaching C$3.86. 912,152 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,268,685. B2Gold Corp. has a 12-month low of C$3.18 and a 12-month high of C$4.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of C$5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.13, a PEG ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firms fifty day simple moving average is C$3.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$3.68. Get B2Gold Corp alerts: B2Gold Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.70%. B2Golds dividend payout ratio is presently -137.50%. Insider Activity In other news, Senior Officer Daniel Bruce Moore sold 150,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$3.88, for a total transaction of C$582,000.00. In related news, Senior Officer Daniel Bruce Moore sold 150,000 shares of B2Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$3.88, for a total transaction of C$582,000.00. Also, Senior Officer Randall Chatwin sold 12,520 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$3.72, for a total transaction of C$46,574.40. Insiders sold a total of 162,558 shares of company stock valued at $628,717 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. B2Gold Corp. operates as a gold producer company. It operates the Fekola Mine in Mali, the Masbate Mine in the Philippines, and the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia. The company also has an 100% interest in the Gramalote gold project in Colombia; 24% interest in the Calibre Mining Corp.; and approximately 19% interest in BeMetals Corp. See Also Receive News & Ratings for B2Gold Corp Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for B2Gold Corp and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Youdao (NYSE:DAO Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($1.86) by $1.74, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $181.88 million for the quarter. Youdao Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:DAO opened at $3.44 on Friday. Youdao has a fifty-two week low of $2.86 and a fifty-two week high of $4.75. The companys 50-day moving average is $3.58 and its 200 day moving average is $3.79. The company has a market capitalization of $415.96 million, a P/E ratio of -9.05 and a beta of -0.04. Get Youdao alerts: Youdao Company Profile (Get Free Report) Further Reading Youdao, Inc, an internet technology company, provides online services in the field of content, community, communication, and commerce in China. It operates through three segments: Learning Services, Smart Devices, and Online Marketing Services. The company provides various learning content, applications, and solutions, which cover topics and target people from various age groups for their learning needs through its websites and mobile applications. Receive News & Ratings for Youdao Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Youdao and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept A push by Zanu PFs wings for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally-mandated two terms has left the partys provincial chairpersons in a quandary as they are unsure if the plan will succeed, Newsday has reported. The push for ED2030 has sparked a power struggle within Zanu PF, pitting President Mnangagwa against his own Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga. While Mnangagwas supporters have been chanting slogans indicating his continued rule until 2030, Chiwenga has openly challenged this campaign, stressing that loyalty should lie with the party and the people of Zimbabwe, not with individual leaders. There is no room for factionalism at any level in the party. Our loyalty is not to individuals but to the bigger agenda, that of the party and the people of Zimbabwe who are supreme, Chiwenga stated. His comments have been interpreted as a direct challenge to Mnangagwas intensifying ED2030 campaign. Mnangagwa and Chiwenga are reportedly engaged in a fierce power struggle over ZANU PFs unresolved leadership and succession issues, which have intensified as the former attempts to extend his rule beyond the 2028 constitutional term limit to 2030. NewsDay reports that the ruling partys chairpersons fear attracting the wrath of Mnangagwas successor. According to the source, party members have found themselves in a quandary over the ED 2030 slogan, which signifies support for Mnangagwas push to remain in power until 2030. The push comes despite Mnangagwa unequivocally stating that he would leave office at the end of his constitutionally-mandated two terms in 2028. It also emerged that some provincial party members have openly refused to chant the ED 2030 slogan, arguing that they should not be forced into demonstrating loyalty to a leader who has indicated that he wants to leave office when his tenure comes to an end in 2028. The source told NewsDay that the members fear repercussions either way risking expulsion from the party if they do not show allegiance, while also fearing that pledging support for Mnangagwa might backfire if he is no longer in power by 2030. Provincial chairpersons in Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland North, who are seen as known Mnangagwa sympathisers, set the ball rolling by resolving that the President should rule beyond his constitutional two-term limit. At a recent Zanu PF meeting, Chiwenga did not chant the ED 2030 slogan, calling for discipline so that we achieve the 2030 vision after youth had chanted the divisive slogan. In what appears to be a clapback to Chiwenga, Vice President Kembo Mohadi, with chanting the divisive slogan. I dont know if it is indiscipline that I have chanted the slogan, but our Constitution provides for freedom of expression, Mohadi said. Zanu PF sources said the partys chairpersons no longer know which agenda to push. There are chairpersons who are known Mnangagwa allies who have been pushing for the 2030 agenda but Chiwenga has fought back and it is now not clear who is going to carry the day. So most of the chairpersons are now caught in-between, the source said. Mnangagwa, speaking at the Zanu PF National Assembly of the Youth League in Harare, declared his commitment to upholding the national constitution and respecting its term limits. Besides being a soldier, I am a trained lawyer. I am a constitutionalist. I want our party, our leadership, our people to be constitutionalists. We must abide by the provisions of our constitution to the letter. Kana nguva yekuti uende [yakwana], enda. (If your time to go comes, leave), he said. This announcement came as a surprise to many within Zanu PF, who have been pushing for Mnangagwa to remain in power beyond 2028, the end of his second term. Last month in Mutare, Mnangagwa also hinted at his impending departure, stating, I did my first five years, so I am serving my last five years, which I will complete soon, and I will go to rest. We will go to Congress and look for someone who will succeed me. My days to rest are close; we will go to Congress and choose the one who will follow in my footsteps. Meanwhile, The youth league, typically a hotbed of political ambition, has also been caught in the crossfire. Tinomuda Machakaire, the leagues national secretary, last month issued a stern warning to those who dare to discuss the succession, particularly those who have already begun throwing spanners on Vice-President Constantino Chiwengas ascendancy to the highest office on land. We are coming out of an election only held last year; we dont want youths who go on social media to talk about the succession of the President. It is not for our age as the youth to talk about the succession of the President. Let the leadership do that and as for us we are there to support their decisions. If we see you talking about the leadership of the country, you are a lost youth, Machakaire declared at a meeting in Goromonzi. Machakaires pronouncements are a clear attempt to quell the growing unrest within the party, which has been fuelled by the perception that Mnangagwas announcement of his retirement is nothing more than a ploy to buy time and consolidate his power. Chiwenga, the mastermind of the 2017 coup that brought Mnangagwa to power, has long been considered a potential successor. However, his health has been a source of speculation, and the deaths of key allies, such as former foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and former air chief marshal Perrance Shiri, have left him politically vulnerable. There are now doubts that Chiwenga will be the heir apparent because of his ill health. Chiwenga is exposed as he no longer wields power in military circles, says Nairobi-based Zimbabwean analyst Tinashe Gumbo. Efforts to get a comment from Zanu PF national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha were fruitless as his phone rang unanswered. Machacha last week admitted that there were frictions in Zanu PF and opposition political parties. We have noticed that there are disputes in both the ruling party and opposition parties. The sons of Zimbabwe are fighting against each other and in Zanu PF, there are frictions, (which is) the same with the opposition, he said while addressing councillors attending re-orientation lessons by the Chitepo School of Ideology. Zanu PF director of information and publicity Farai Marapira, told NewsDay: We never had divisions as Zanu PF, we have been united. As a party we have conversations, ideas and growth. The ideas are only grown by conversations. Previously, former Zanu PF national political commissar Mike Bimha, said the 2030, vaMnangagwa vanenge vachipo slogan was not recognised in the party. As the ED2030 campaign rattles the ruling party, Christopher Mutsvangwa, a former advisor to President Mnangagwa who is also the Zanu PF spokesperson, has publicly defended Mnangagwas leadership, urging the nation to focus on the Presidents achievements rather than succumbing to distracting tittle-tattle about succession. President Mnangagwa deserves to continue his good work at the helm of the government without being sidetracked, Mutsvangwa stated, highlighting the progress made under Mnangagwas administration. Mutsvangwa, has revealed that the partys youth structures launched the ED2030 campaign in response to a plot to force President Mnangagwa to name his successor before his term ends in 2028. Mutsvangwa told The Standard in an interview that there were attempts to subvert the party constitution and coerce Mnangagwa into naming his successor before the right time. He claimed that the plot involved exiled former ministers Saviour Kasukuwere and Walter Mzembi. Kasukuwere and Mzembi have repeatedly distanced themselves from the raging ZANU PF succession wars. However, legal experts point out that Mnangagwa, at 81 years old, would be ineligible to benefit from any constitutional amendments to remove presidential term limits. This raises questions about the legality and feasibility of extending his term beyond 2028. Analysts fear Mnangagwa is likely to lose control of the party during his last term. The end of this reign is important because the jostling in Zanu PF elite circles will be fierce and directed towards building loyalty for the presumed successor [whomever that may be], said Clionadh Raleigh, a Professor of Political Violence and Geography in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex said. Newsday. Breaking News via Email Related Zimbabwe Latest News For those of you who watch YouTube geopolitical talking heads, Chas Freeman, who was Nixons translator on his famed visit to China and later ambassador to Saudi Arabia, is particularly cool, articulate, and measured. We feature a recent video below so that you can get a sense of his temperament. Freeman has also become more unsparing over time due to the rank ineptitude of US conduct: So your humble blogger sat up and took notice when reader johnnyme found these remarks late in a wide-ranging interview by the South China Morning Post: The United States is in the midst of a mounting constitutional crisis that will come to a head with the November 5 elections and the transition to the January 20 inauguration of the next president. Those in Beijing who have come to believe that there is no longer a viable path to peaceful reunification and that the only feasible way to end the division of China is to resort to force might see this period of confusion in Washington as an opportune moment to do so. This would, in my view, be a tragic mistake. The civilian government in Washington may disintegrate at the end of this year, but the US Armed Forces will not, and the American people would not fail to direct their anger at China were they to regard it as responsible for a war over Taiwan. One has to think Freeman still has a lot of contacts, as well as his considerable personal perspective. If his were merely one view, it might be easier to discount it. But people with very different reference frames are voicing similar worries. For instance, Matt Taibbi, in his discussion with Walter Kim of the RFK, Jr. speech throwing his lot in with Trump, in passing expressed doubt as to whether the 2024 presidential election would take place. We have pointed out how it would not be hard to brick the 2024 elections. The usual focus of this concern comes from Team Dem, over the inept efforts by Trump and his allies to contest the 2020 results. Perhaps they will get better this time. Or arguably, the sowing of doubt in a Kamala win would be corrosive to democracy. The wee problem with this position is that the Democrats have shown themselves very willing to put their hands on the dial, witness the how Sanders was denied the wind in his sails of an Iowa win, his 125,000 disappeared votes in Brooklyn, or even an entire documentary based on poll workers seeing shenanigans in California, or now with RFK, Jr., their scorched earth tactic to keep him off the ballot. RFK, Jr. also alleges party operatives leaned on allies to deny him media coverage (his comparisons to how Ross Perot was treated suggest hes not off base). But despite hand wringing about Trump thuggery, there in fact has been nothing resembling a brownshirt show (see Israel settlers for a reality check of what that looks like), save of the perfectly legal sort, that on the threat in some states to prosecute women who get abortions, even out of state. And why should there be? Trump has been ahead. Even with the Kamala fest, the Democrats have not moved into the lead. And Trump has just gotten a vote, money, and media attention boost from RFK, Jr. endorsing him. Consider further this report from a discussion by a reliable reader with a Democrat superdelegate. Even though single-sourced, it is a litany of admissions against interest. The summary of the superdelegate account: The overall take a) the DNC convention was not very good. Policies were never discussed and it is becoming obvious now that there is a severe deficit here. Furthermore, the policies that have been put forward he specifically named price control have been an utter disaster. b) the whole no-show special guest Beyonce or George W Bush thing was a completely incompetent disaster and not a good look. Apparently it was supposed to have been Beyonce but she was very offended by something that happened earlier in the day, possibly with the Kamala advance team c) Trump was already ahead in the real polls he is now well ahead in the RFK endorsement saga the polls in the media are really wrong according to him d) he reiterated that the Kamala idea was literally no ones idea with a brain in the DNC. His prediction is she will be a disaster. There were apparently multiple issues with temper tantrums this past week with aides in tears. e) he still believes this will be a Trump win This tweet came out shortly thereafter. The superdelegate said the speaker was indeed a convention participant and the insiders were shitting their pants. The Twitter views are not overwhelming but one would need to track back to TikTok, where it originated, to get a better sense of whether or not it is going viral. A key statement: When I first got into politics, I thought the Democrats were the party of the people and at the DNC this week, I thought I was in a building with the most elite and out of touch people in the entire world. It very much felt like lets just have a huge party and forget all of our the problems because the vibes are bratI didnt feel any connection to the people that I know right now who are struggling to buy their groceries or pay their rent. Former Democrat Campaign Worker Speaks out after attending DNC pic.twitter.com/rRxroTc7yy TestDummy (@TestDummy04) August 25, 2024 So given the likely trajectory, and the weird terror that the Democrats have instilled in many loyalists, that Trump will impose an authoritarian regime (and maybe even engage in a bit of Pol Pot-ery), it seems more likely that the Democrats will brick an election than the Republicans. People more expert in election rules and Constitutional process are welcome to correct me, but as I read the Constitution, there is no mechanism for delaying the Presidential vote. So it could take as little as imposing martial law in a few key states over violence, real or manufactured or exaggerated, by Trump loyalists, to halt the vote in those states and make it impossible for the election to proceed. An alternative scenario that Lambert likes is space aliens land and we have to pause everything to deal with the threat they represent. I have long wondered why John Podesta was so obsessed with them. With all of our wonderful visual fakery, it would not be hard to fabricate a greatly improved and more lasting War of the Worlds. Readers have noted in the last few years that the number of sighting of UFOs has increased. Lambert further points out that they have been peculiarly concentrated in the US and even more so around nuclear facilities. My pet explanation is that these sighting are actually US experiments with advanced visual and perhaps signal spoofing technology. Needless to say, I hate having to entertain this line of thought. Perhaps Freeman and Taibbi are inhaling too many swamp vapors. We can only hope so. While all indications are that the US, regardless of who the next president is, will continue to support Israels rampage through the Middle East, as well as more confrontation with China, less sure is the direction that Russia policy will take. Were now getting a lot of pieces about the new and improved foreign policy team coming in should Kamala win the presidency. Philip Gordon, the odds-on favorite to replace Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor, is supposed to be a pragmatist who understands the limits of American power. Gordon and deputy national security advisor to the vice president, Rebecca Lissner, have a vision for a humbler approach to foreign policy. Yes theyre Blob neocons, but theyre the more responsible type, were told. I wrote last week about Gordon and reasons to doubt the puff pieces about his more reasonable approach, but wanted to expand on that here. Thats because implicit in these articles championing Kamalas potential foreign policy team is the idea that the reason that the world is in such disarray and the US is at risk of direct confrontation with Russia is because of Joe Biden. Economist Philip Pilkington on his always-interesting podcast Multipolarity recently took up this argument making the case that Biden, due primarily to his senility, failed to keep the Blob crazies on a leash; instead Biden let them loose allowing Ukraine to spiral out of control. While Biden is no doubt a senile, angry old man, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is quite stupid, are there reasons to believe that their exits will lead to a less belligerent foreign policy? While some sort of detente with Russia would certainly be welcome, here are three reasons it is unlikely. 1. We need to remember that the puff pieces about smarter Democrat foreign policy advisers are a genre at this point. The same type of things being said about Gordon and Lissner were being written about Bidens team four years ago. Sullivan, for example, was supposedly wary of foreign adventures and believed that the strength of U.S. foreign policy and national security lies primarily in a thriving American middle class. He was lauded for visiting 112 countries with Hillary Clinton. And what was his focus going to be in the Biden White House? According to Politico, the Covid-19 pandemic: The major focus of the Biden NSCs work, at least initially, will be on beating the coronavirus pandemic and restructuring the NSC to make public health a permanent national security priority, Sullivan said. So all these pieces about the foreign policy brain geniuses on Kamalas team really mean nothing. These people do very little deciding on priorities or policy. So who does? 2. American plutocrats have wanted to return to the pre-Bolshevik days for more than 100 years. The goal to plunder Russia briefly became a reality upon the breakup of the USSR. In the 1990s, The US best and brightest sucked hundreds of billions of dollars out of the country with devastating results. The number of Russians living in poverty jumped from two million to sixty million in just a few years, and life expectancy plummeted. It made the Great Depression in the US look comparatively like a walk in the park. Putin put an end to this national catastrophe inflicted upon the country by the West, and they never forgave him for it. Why is the US and company so dead set on removing Putin and theoretically getting someone more friendly in power? Here are the leading countries based on natural resource value as of 2021(in trillions of dollars): In the eyes of American plutocrats, Russia is too valuable a prize, and they have now backed themselves into a corner by helping drive Moscow and Beijing together. If the thought of Russia controlling its own resources was intolerable, China having privileged access is unfathomable. The anti-Putin policies have been pumped out of corporate-financier think tanks in the US for two decades. Both of Kamalas foreign policy brain geniuses, Gordon and Lissner, for example. have had stints at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR). CFRs funders, according to Influence Watch, include Accenture, Apple, Bank of America, BlackRock, Chevron, Cisco, Citi, ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Google, Hess, Meta, JP Morgan Chase, Moodys, and Morgan Stanley. It also has corporate affiliations with Bayer, Blackstone, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Dell, Eni, KPMG, Mastercard, McKinsey and Company, PayPal, Sequoia Capital, Veritas Capital Fund Management, and others in its Presidents Club program. CFRs corporate affiliates include American International Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, FedEx, Johnson and Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Microsoft, Pfizer, TikTok, Twitter, United Airlines, and Wells Fargo. Think tanks like CFR then steer legislation and foreign policy. The RAND Corporation, which shares many of the same benefactors as CFR, laid out a plan to weaken Russia and topple Putin in its infamous 2019 paper, Extending Russia. It involved economic pressure, as well as starting conflagrations all around Russia in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and in Central Asia. RANDs blueprint has largely been followed more successful in some areas than others. And while its not mentioned in the RAND report, whos to say the US wont try to lead Europe or a portion of it (the Baltics, Poland, Germany?) from behind into more of a direct confrontation with Russia (as long as the US could wiggle out of Article 5 commitments)? Sure, it would be a disaster for any and all of them, but does the US care if the goal is to force Moscow to keep putting out fires? The key question is do US plutocrats view their fight against Russia as existential? Judging by the RAND paper, they likely prefer a world on fire rather than accepting that they must live in a multipolar world. As the RAND report shows, there exists a clear line of thought in the Blob that overextending Russia by upping the chaos all around it will destabilize the country and bring about the downfall of Putin. The opposite has happened so far, but that doesnt seem to matter. As I pointed out in a recent piece examining Philip Gordons career, a major aspect that supposedly makes him smarter than those on the Biden team is that hes more in line with Obama and believes in limits of Americas power. But when you really look at what theyre talking about, its not that they want to give up on regime change in Russia; its that they want to make sure the US isnt getting too involved, that it isnt Americans dying in a direct confrontation. One of the things they hung their hat during the Obama years was leading from behind. Is that not what the US is doing now? No direct confrontation with Russia, Ukrainians and mercenaries doing the dying, and working on setting the Caucasus on fire via Armenia. The flavor of the month is that the US is a responsible actor that might desire a reset with Russia at some point while its now the UK leading the escalation charge. France was recently the most gung-ho with Macron calling for troops. The Baltic states are always crazy. The US has largely been enacting the RAND plan while adhering to Obamas lead-from-behind credo. To the last Ukrainian, as they say. Speaking of Obama, hes given credit for being smarter about Ukraine. Thats because he uttered some true words back in 2016: The fact is that Ukraine, which is a non-nato country, is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what we do. What Obama was arguing was that the US should not go to war directly. But in the same interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic he also echoed the RAND strategy, arguing that the US was successfully overextending Russia: Putin acted in Ukraine in response to a client state that was about to slip out of his grasp. And he improvised in a way to hang on to his control there, he said. Hes done the exact same thing in Syria, at enormous cost to the well-being of his own country. And the notion that somehow Russia is in a stronger position now, in Syria or in Ukraine, than they were before they invaded Ukraine or before he had to deploy military forces to Syria is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of power in foreign affairs or in the world generally. Real power means you can get what you want without having to exert violence. Russia was much more powerful when Ukraine looked like an independent country but was a kleptocracy that he could pull the strings on. Obama also oversaw the 2014 coup in Ukraine as the Blob was likely working from the same script the whole time. It just so happened that Russia started its special military operation while Biden was president rather than Obama. The Blob was able to continue its efforts to bring about a Ukraine-Russia conflict in the interim under Trump despite the freakout over Russiagate. What indication is there that Trump would be able and willing to take these forces on should he become president again? So is there any reason to believe whatsoever that the plutocrats funding the DC think tanks and fueling this new Cold War strategy are going to rethink the plan because Ukraine is defeated on the battlefield and a new administration takes over in Washington? Or is it more likely that the US will continue trying to destabilize regions all around Russia? Is it more likely that the US will accept defeat in Ukraine or try to ensure that Ukraine remains a steaming pile of rubble that Russia must commit men and money towards pacifying Ukraine? Recently the Durans Alexander Mercouris and Alexander Christoforou were talking about the possibility that Zelensky will be replaced with the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, because hes someone who could effectively keep up a terror campaign in a failed state due to his close ties with neo-Nazi groups and his penchant for collecting damaging information on people. 3. Was it just the fact that Democrats were apparently too lazy to update their platform in several areas, including on Russia, or are they trying to tell us something when the Kamala platform reads: President Biden will never turn his back on our allies. In his second term, he will continue to strengthen NATO and stand with Ukraine to stop Putins atrocities and constrain Russias threat to allied nations and Americas vital interests. If there was any doubt, heres Harris in her nomination acceptance speech: And that we strengthennot abdicateour global leadership. Trump, on the other hand, threatened to abandon NATO. He encouraged Putin to invade our allies. Said Russia couldquotedo whatever the hell they want. Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met with President Zelensky to warn him about Russias plan to invade. I helped mobilize a global response over 50 countries to defend against Putins aggression. And as President, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies. Meanwhile the oligarch-funded think tanks keep pumping out material arguing for an open ended Cold War with Russia. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that advocates for a sustained strategy of containment. Gordon co-authored a Council on Foreign Relations report with the Russia hardliner Republican Robert Blackwill. They called for the kitchen sink to be thrown at Russia, including sanctions, weapons, an undying commitment to Ukraine and Europe basically what the US has done since. While Kamala and the Democrats might not be the ones setting the agenda, they are letting the US oligarchs know that they will adhere to their agenda and continue the Russia policy, which could be a decades-long effort. The think tanks are saying this, that the new Cold War is here to stay. Maybe Gordon and Kamalas Obama-esque team is more crafty and takes a step back to regroup but policy will not change. It could potentially get even worse, as a new emphasis on leading from behind could help remove the US from the plans consequences. For now, the narrative works out well. Biden can be blamed for Ukraines defeat and the new and improved Kamala team can arrive to enact a smarter policy thats pretty much the same as the old dumb policy. I would love to be wrong. Azerbaijan, Italy, Albania and Greece could all be found guilty of WAR CRIMES for continuing to send fuel to Israel Foreign oil continues to flow into Israel despite repeated warnings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that exporters could face charges of "complicity in genocide" for continuing to supply the Jewish state with the lifeblood powering its war in Gaza. Back in January, the ICJ ordered Israel to cease all genocidal acts in Gaza following an investigation into alleged war crimes. It also warned Israel's allies not to supply Israel with the fuel needed to continue those genocidal acts, though not everyone listened. Azerbaijan, Israel's primary supplier of oil, has not stopped sending the gas Israel needs, nor have Italy, Albania and Greece. African countries like Gabon, Nigeria and Congo-Brazzaville are also now sending fuel to Israel in defiance of the ICJ's warnings. Many of these countries are also in violation of the Genocide and Geneva Conventions, which makes this a matter of international law. Israel absolutely requires all this imported oil to power its fighter jets, tanks and military vehicles without it, there would be no war. The bulldozers that Israel uses to raze Palestinian homes in the West Bank are also powered by imported oil. (Related: An independent United Nations commission says that both Israel and Hamas are guilty of committing war crimes.) 80% of U.S. fuel exports to Israel occurred after ICJ ruling New research from the nonprofit group Oil Change International (OCI) tracked 65 oil and fuel shipments that were made to Israel between Oct. 21, 2023 and July 12, 2024. Collectively, the aforementioned countries supplied 4.1 million tons of crude oil to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza. Almost half of that 4.1 million tons of oil was shipped after the ICJ issued its ruling back in January ordering Israel to stop committing war crimes in Gaza. Every country still sending oil to Israel knows full well that it faces "complicity in genocide" charges, but has chosen to do so anyway. The ICJ's advisory council issued an opinion stating that because of Israel's actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, all states are "under an obligation not to render aid or assistance" to Israel until the genocide stops. The United States is another major supplier of jet fuel, diesel and other refined petroleum products to Israel. Nearly 80 percent of all shipments of oil from the U.S. to Israel since the start of the war occurred after the ICJ ruling. The president of Brazil, which is responsible for about nine percent of the crude oil shipments to Israel that have occurred since October 7, remains sharply critical of Israel's actions. He wants a ceasefire and could potentially force one by imposing an oil embargo. As for the oil industry, OCI's analysis determined that the following six international oil companies are responsible for around 35 percent of the crude oil supplied to Israel since October 7: BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies. Investor-owned and private oil companies collectively supplied 66 percent of Israel's oil since October 7, this representing a much larger amount than the total supplied by major international oil companies. Most of the U.S.-supplied JP8 Jet Fuel going to Israel is coming out of the Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Tex. Overseas Santorini, one of the key tankers involved in supplying U.S. jet fuel to Israel, recently docked in Israel's Ashkelon port, sparking protests. "This updated analysis highlights the ongoing complicity of these countries and companies," OCI says. "As more and more Palestinians are killed in bombings and pressure intensifies on global leaders, including U.S. presidential candidates, to end the genocide, these suppliers continue to enable the violence." The latest news about the situation in the Middle East can be found at Prophecy.news. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net NaturalNews.com PriceOfOil.org Biden-Harris regime represents final leg of a global human trafficking network, warns Sen. Cruz The Office of Inspector General (OIG), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), released a report this week stating that more than 290,000 illegal alien children who crossed the border are completely unaccounted for, meaning nobody knows where they are. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) says that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are responsible. Because of the Biden regime's open borders policies and because of bipartisan bickering over the passage of legislation to secure the borders human traffickers are successfully bringing in illegal migrant children who are being shipped off to who knows where, only to never be seen again, in many cases. "It is not hyperbole when I say that the Biden-Harris administration is the final leg of a global human trafficking network," Sen. Cruz tweeted. "290,000 children who crossed the border are currently unaccounted for." "ICE has no way of knowing if the children are being exploited, forced into sex-work, or joining gangs. We wouldn't tolerate any foreign nation moving hundreds of thousands of children into bondage, and we shouldn't tolerate it here. We should demand more from the Biden-Harris administration." A wild new report was dropped today from the DHS Inspector General. Over 290,000 children that have come across the southern border illegally under the Biden admin are unaccounted for. ICE also has no assurance they are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor. pic.twitter.com/U8BZwPt8Cg Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 20, 2024 (Related: It is really starting to look as though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might join forces with Donald Trump to take on Biden-Harris this fall.) The southern border has been open for many years To only blame Biden-Harris for this atrocity is somewhat shortsighted as human trafficking, and specifically child trafficking, has been taking place under both Democrat and Republican regimes for decades. Things have likely worsened under Biden, though, and perhaps Sen. Cruz is right that Biden-Harris represents the last stand of the child traffickers. The apparent hope is that Donald Trump will win another turn and take out the last remaining vestiges of human trafficking across the U.S. southern border with Mexico. It could happen, at least according to Sen. Cruz and others who have faith that Trump will deliver. "These kids deserve justice," wrote someone on X. "We deserve to have a government that won't be a part of child trafficking." Another told Sen. Cruz that many Americans have been warning about the child trafficking problem for years, but that only in recent months are some politicians choosing to take notice. "Just like the 'we have 12 million illegals here' figure here in the USA when we know its [sic] actually 35-40 million, now add Biden's 20 million newcomers. Another warned that no matter who is in office, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as long as it exists will continue trafficking not just children but also guns across the southern border. "I am beyond sick and tired of politicians constantly voicing their concerns about the serious issues our country is grappling with on social media," said another to Sen. Cruz. "It's time for action, not just words. Taxpayers don't fund your lavish lifestyles so that you can spend all your time jaw-jacking on X. Get to work, man." Another asked Sen. Cruz what his plan is to address the problem regardless of who wins the White House. "Are we going to talk about it or is anyone actually going to be held accountable?" this person asked. "The federal government is on autopilot. POTUS is relaxing on another vacation. Border Czar is ducking interviews and pressers. We'll wait ..." The 2024 election is sure to be a spectacle. Find out more about it at Rigged.news. Sources for this article include: X.com NaturalNews.com Israel calling up 15,000 reserve troops amid rising Gaza casualties Israel has started calling up soldiers who were previously exempted from service for reserve duty as they grapple with a lack of manpower as they continue to wage war in Gaza. According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is currently calling up for service 15,000 Israelis as old as 35 who carried out their mandatory military service when they were 18 but were then exempted from additional reserve service. They are planning to call these soldiers to reserve duty in three phases. In a statement, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained: The defense minister has instructed to recall reservists who received exemptions from service in the past due to force reductions and are still within the age range requiring service. He added that those who are deemed suitable for reinstatement can expect to be assigned to units in line with the IDFs operational needs. Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset's the Israeli parliament Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, announced they would be advancing a bill that would permit the conscription of reservists who were exempted from service in the past up to the age of 40. The Israeli government also recently voted in favor of a bill that will lengthen the mandatory military service period for male soldiers to three years, with the male soldiers who enlist during the next five years being required to serve for 36 months. This means the order will cover a span of eight years. In June, the government raised the number of reservists the Israeli army can call up from 300,000 to 350,000 amid rising tensions with Hezbollah along the northern border. The war in Gaza has seen the IDF calling up more than 287,000 reservists so far in what has become the biggest call-up of reservists in the history of the Jewish state. More than 10,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured According to the Israeli Ministry of Defenses rehabilitation department, more than 10,000 soldiers have been injured during the 10-month war in Gaza, which equates to more than 1,000 being injured every month. Around 3,700 of these soldiers are suffering from limb injuries, while 690 have spinal cord injuries, 168 have eye injuries, 192 have head injuries, and 50 have undergone amputations. Israeli reports claim nearly 700 soldiers, officers and reservists have been killed during the war so far. Troops are also reportedly suffering from fatigue and stress as political tensions persist in Israel over the unpopular war, which is widely considered genocide against Palestinians. According to The Jerusalem Post, 10,000 reservists have requested mental health support, while thousands of reservists have lost their jobs and 70,000 have suffered academically as a result of their service. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza Meanwhile, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the war so far, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which amounts to roughly one out of every 55 Gazans. More than 92,000 people have been injured, and the enclave is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe, with a lack of medical supplies, food, and water. The war shows no signs of slowing down, with Hezbollah launching dozens of rockets and drones toward northern Israel on Wednesday and Hamas and Israel all but admitting that a pause in fighting is not in the cards any time soon. Sources for this article include: TheCradle.co TimesOfIsrael.com JPost.com CNN.com Malfunctioning driverless taxis disrupt the sleep of residents in San Francisco neighborhood Malfunctioning driverless taxis have been disrupting the sleep of residents in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood. Operated by Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in California and a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. just like Google, the robocars have been having "honk fests" throughout the night and even during the day. Locals were excited when the cars powered by artificial intelligence (AI) were first introduced to the neighborhood. But in recent weeks, residents like Randol White have been hearing frequent honking at all hours coming from the Waymo lot. "At first I actually found it really funny, these cars are honking at each other," White, 57, told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't find it funny anymore." The problem is they do not know where to raise complaints when the cars start to malfunction. "There's no one for me to go down there and have a conversation with because they're a robotaxi," White said. "That's the most frustrating thing, you're just yelling into the void." Meanwhile, Waymo has reportedly taken note of the problem and said they are working on a fix. "We have identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a fix," Waymo said. As residents wait for a fix, their patience is wearing thin, with many simply wishing the honking would stop. (Related: WATCH: Residents of San Franciscos Chinatown set self-driving Waymo car ABLAZE in act of defiance against AI.) Waymo operates 100,000 driverless robotaxi rides a week Big Tech is now trying to control public transportation via driverless cars. Waymo recently announced that it is operating 100,000 robotaxi rides per week. Waymo's co-CEO Tekedra N. Mawakana made the announcement on LinkedIn, saying the company is "building a safer future one ride at a time." In May, the company was only operating 50,000 rides a week. The company, which boasts around 700 vehicles in its fleet, operates the only commercial AI taxi service in the U.S.: Waymo One. "Congratulations to the entire Waymo team on this incredible milestone and thank you to our riders who make this journey possible," Mawakana wrote. However, the company has also been receiving backlash. Regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating more than 20 reports of Waymo cars that either caused crashes or violated safety laws. Still, the driverless taxi service insisted that it is improving road safety because 94 percent of crashes in the U.S. are reportedly due to human error. More than 36,000 people in the U.S. die in car crashes each year, a number the company says it is on a mission to reduce. Moreover, Alphabet pledged up to $5 billion to fund and expand Waymo. Waymo partnered with the ride-hailing giant Uber in Phoenix to bring its service to the app's existing users. In a statement, Waymo said it added 90 square miles to its service in Arizona City in June, making it the largest autonomous ride-hailing "territory" in the United States. Go to Glitch.news for more stories like this. Watch the video below about Google's collusion with communist China involving Waymo. This video is from the David Knight Show on Brighteon.com. More related stories: WAYMO PROBLEMS: Reported accidents involving Waymo driverless cars in San Francisco MULTIPLIED SIXFOLD this year. Young protesters use traffic cones to paralyze self-driving cars in San Francisco. Widow of the first known "Full Self-Driving" fatality: We were sold a false sense of security. Driverless car gets stuck in wet concrete in San Francisco a few days after CPUC approves robotaxi expansion services. Autonomous taxi from Googles Waymo goes rogue and blocks traffic. Sources include: The-Sun.com LATimes.com YouTube.com QZ.com MSN.com Brighteon.com National Guard officer who shared Christian beliefs removed from command in Idaho The Idaho Army National Guard is under fire after removing an infantry officer from command and pressuring him to resign following complaints from another soldier about his Christian beliefs. The officer reportedly expressed his religious beliefs on his private social media accounts, where he shared opinions about the sexualization of minors as well as gender ideology. Some of the comments that drove the soldier to complain about him included his opposition to "the medical mutilation of gender-confused children," drag events at schools and libraries, and the availability of obscene children's books and libraries. He also said that he thinks "no child is born in the wrong body" and that males should not be allowed to compete in female sports. A sensitive subordinate took issue with his stances, even though they were shared outside of the military environment, saying that they indicate he truly hates the LGBTQ community. He was apparently so offended by his Christian beliefs that he filed a complaint that claimed: "I feel like I have been discriminated against because of my sexual orientation and that is [sic] has caused a hostile work environment. The soldier, who claims he is homosexual, added: I am deeply concerned about the hostile and prejudiced behavior I have experienced, which has adversely affected my well-being, work performance, and overall sense of belonging within the workplace/organization." He said that he felt unsafe and accused his superior of hate toward himself as well as his husband and child. This prompted the National Guard to remove him from command, and officials then pressured him to quit. They went on to conduct a formal investigation that took a year and ended with the recommendation that he be barred permanently from command. The officer who investigated him indicated that enlisted personnel who express traditional values and morals are extremists who should not be promoted or serve. He also recommended that the National Guard adopt a policy of looking for political and religious statements that enlisted candidates for high-profile roles have made in public forums. Legal group is supporting officer's right to free speech and seeking his reinstatement The National Guard officer who was the subject of the complaints is being represented by Liberty Counsel, who are fighting on behalf of his right to free speech and pressing the National Guard to restore his career. They have already notified Idaho Governor Brad Little about the violations and are calling for the National Guard to dismiss the frivolous complaint. They asked the governor to respond to them by the end of the month or face further legal action. "In this instance, the Idaho Army National Guard has violated the First Amendment, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Idaho Constitution, and the Free Exercise of Religious Protection Act. In addition, it has become evident that this military branch seeks to implement a policy of discrimination against the religious beliefs of enlisted personnel," they noted. They also stated that the officer believes that everyone is created in God's image and deserves respect. They explained that he is perfectly capable of carrying out his duties regardless of his religious beliefs and any conflicts they may have with the beliefs of others under his command, stating: He is committed to serving those under his command, regardless of political or religious disagreements, and would give his life in defense of his state and nation." Sources for this article include: WND.com LC.org RFK Jr., Childrens Health Defense granted go-ahead to SUE Biden regime for CENSORSHIP A Louisiana district court has ruled that plaintiffs Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running for president in 2024 as an Independent, and Children's Health Defense (CHD) can go ahead and sue the Joe Biden regime for pressuring tech companies to censor social media users and posts. The ruling came less than four weeks after a federal appeals court refused to rule on a preliminary injunction to prohibit the Biden regime from further coordinating with social media giants until the district court came to a decision about the plaintiffs' standing. To establish standing, plaintiffs must prove that they suffered direct and concrete injuries that can be remedied in court through a lawsuit. Responding to the Louisiana district court's green light for the plaintiffs in this case, called Kennedy v. Biden, Kim Mack Rosenberg, CHD's general counsel, announced that he and his team "reached what we believe is the correct conclusion with respect to standing for CHD and Mr. Kennedy." "Judge Terry Doughty carefully and clearly analyzed the law and facts and applied the framework from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Murthy v. Missouri regarding standing," Rosenberg added in a statement to The Defender, the media arm of CHD. "The court also firmly found in plaintiffs' favor that plaintiffs had not waived and indeed had affirmatively raised direct censorship claims in addition to listener claims." ? GREAT NEWS! Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana has found that @RobertKennedyJr, CHD and Connie Sampognaro have standing in the lawsuit Kennedy v. Biden to continue our case in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This means the Biden-Harris Childrens Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) August 20, 2024 (Related: Did you know that Tim Walz, Kamala Harris' pick for vice president, supposedly has ties to "secret police stations" run by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]?) Facebook admits to censorship; Judge Doughty says government conspired with social media giants Facebook, one of the companies involved in the lawsuit, has already fessed up to conspiring with the Biden regime to suppress posts on its platform that were critical of face masks, vaccines, lockdowns and other elements of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic." Mary Holland, CHD's CEO, revealed that Judge Terry Doughty, who is presiding over the case, confirmed that what Kennedy and the other plaintiffs are alleging in their case is traceable to actions taken by the defendants with regard to social media posts on not just Facebook but also Instagram and YouTube. "Further, the judge found that a preliminary injunction, which mandates that the government stop censoring plaintiffs through social media, would redress their injuries," Holland said. In his ruling, Judge Doughty wrote that both Kennedy and CHD "were in positions contrary to Government positions on COVID-19, including mask mandates, vaccine mandates, vaccine injuries, lockdowns, etc.," and that Kennedy was identified by the Center for Countering Digital Hate as being one of the so-called "Disinformation Dozen" who were spreading "anti-vaccine messages" on social media. Judge Doughty looked through emails and meeting minutes between the White House and both Twitter and Facebook throughout 2021. He found that the tech companies in question agreed with the White House that they needed to "de-amplify" certain messages while censoring and putting warnings on others deemed as spreading "vaccine misinformation." "Facebook admitted that although the CHD's posts did not violate its policies, it would suppress content that originated from CHD," Judge Doughty further wrote. "There is not much dispute that both Kennedy and CHD were specifically targeted by the White House, the Office of Surgeon General, and CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency], and the content of Kennedy and CHD were suppressed." The latest news coverage about the destruction of the First Amendment can be found at Censorship.news. Sources for this article include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org NaturalNews.com Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspends campaign, endorses Donald Trump Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Kennedy filed on Aug. 23, to officially have his name withdrawn from the ballot in key swing states, including Pennsylvania and Arizona. In a press conference, Kennedy told reporters that he will throw his support to President Trump. His name will remain on the ballot in other states, however. During the same press conference, the independent presidential candidate also admitted that he has been offered a role in a potential second Trump administration. (Related: BREAKING: RFK Jr. withdraws from ballots in 10 swing states, endorses Trump, promises to tag-team the dismantling of the Big Pharma / Big Food / Big Ag DISEASE industry that preys upon children.) In explaining his decision to keep his name on the ballot in most other states where he has gained ballot access, he noted that it is for his supporters who can feel comfortable that their vote for him won't be spoiled. "Many months ago, I promised the American people I'd withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler," said Kennedy. "If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and [in] red states the same will apply." "But in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I'm going to remove my name," he added. In explaining his decision to withdraw, Kennedy said internal polls indicated that his continued presence in the race would hurt Trump and boost Harris' campaign. He added free speech, the conflict in Ukraine and "a war on our children" as among the other reasons for him to withdraw from swing states. "These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump," said Kennedy at a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona, where he joined the former president in front of a cheering crowd. Kennedy believes he could win "under an honest system" Kennedy believes he could win the election under an "honest" electoral system. "Now, in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election," he said. "In a system that my father and my uncles thrived in, a system with open debates, with fair primaries and with a truly independent media untainted by government propaganda and censorship, in a system of nonpartisan courts and election boards, everything would be different." "After all, the polls consistently showed me beating each of the other candidates, both in favorability and also in head-to-head matchups," he continued. "But I'm sorry to say that while democracy may still be alive in the grassroots, it has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media and for our government and most sadly of all for me for the Democratic Party." Watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s full press conference announcing his decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Donald Trump. This video is from the Real Free News channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Trump says he's willing to offer RFK Jr. a role in his administration if elected in November. Trump says he is "certainly" on board with appointing "brilliant" RFK Jr. to a position in his administration. RFK Jr. says Americans must vote AGAINST the Democrats, the party of censorship and lawfare. President Trump may appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as VACCINE CZAR to combat the DIRTY VACCINE pandemic for 2025 and beyond. RFK Jr. accuses DNC of once again RIGGING the nomination process this time for Kamala Harris. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com Politico.com APNews.com VOANews.com Brighteon.com Trump Force Two carrying J.D. Vance forced to make emergency landing due to door malfunction A plane carrying U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) was forced to make an emergency landing minutes after it took off from Milwaukee on Aug. 16 due to a door malfunction. Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for the Republican vice presidential nominee's campaign, confirmed the incident in a statement. She disclosed that the campaign's 22-year-old Boeing 737-86J aircraft, dubbed Trump Force Two, was the plane involved. Van Kirk said Trump Force Two was en route to Cincinnati. However, approximately four minutes after taking off from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, the pilot detected an issue with the door seal. The pilot advised the passengers including the senator, his wife Usha, a team of advisers, Secret Service agents and journalists to fasten their seatbelts for an immediate return to the airport. (Related: Homeland Security agent posing as Secret Service spotted during J.D. Vance rally in Detroit.) Airport officials reported that the aircraft landed at approximately 1:30 p.m. local time. After landing, the aircraft remained on the tarmac for under an hour. While the plane taxied normally and no injuries were reported among the passengers or crew, the pilot apologized for the incident acknowledging the "elevated heart rates" caused by the emergency. "After declaring an emergency, Trump Force Two returned to Milwaukee. As soon as the issue was resolved, the plane returned to its originally planned flight," she continued. The plane then continued to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, located in Vance's home state of Ohio, without further incident. Trump also experienced mechanical issue with Trump Force Two This incident marks the second mechanical issue involving the two-decade-old Trump Force Two aircraft within a week. On Aug. 9, the same plane had to divert former President Donald Trump to Billings, Montana, due to a mechanical issue. The plane was originally scheduled to land in Bozeman that day but touched down in Billings, 142 miles to the east, instead. According to Jenny Mockel, administrative assistant at Billings Logan International Airport, Trump was en route to Bozeman for a Friday night rally in support of Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Due to the malfunction, Trump continued to Bozeman via private jet and landed there safely as per a video posted on his Truth Social. "I just landed in a really beautiful place in Montana, so beautiful flying over and you just look down and that's the way it's supposed to be," he said. "We have a very high rating in Montana, we have a lot of popularity. I like them, they like me, but I'm here to do some fundraisers and most importantly to support Tim Sheehy who's running for the U.S. Senate and we think he's gonna do really well. We're gonna have a rally and it'll be a lot of fun." VoteRepublican.news has more stories related to the campaign of Republican candidates Trump and Vance. Watch this clip from "The Kenny Report" on Sky News about how U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance will help Trump "consolidate Republican gains" in Rust Belt states. This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: JD Vance, Trumps VP pick, promises to increase weapons and cash shipments to Israel while advancing Abraham Accords. VP nominee JD Vance calls for breaking up Google. VP pick Tim Walz accused of stolen valor by JD Vance and a group of retired MN National Guardsmen. JD Vance: Trumps anti-Iraq war, pro-Israel vice presidential running mate. Why JD Vance is the right guy to help secure Americas wide-open borders. Sources include: The-Express.com MSN.com Brighteon.com Ukraine to BAN CHRISTIANITY unless Ukrainian Orthodox Church cuts ties with Moscow Christianity is under attack by the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the nation's conflict with Russia continues to intensify and spread into the country's devout Orthodox Christian populace. Members of the Verkhovna Rada (MP), the Ukrainian parliament, just passed a new law that will effectively outlaw the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) throughout Ukraine unless it agrees to completely part ways with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Though a definitive link between the two sects of Orthodox Christianity cannot be 100 percent verified, reports indicate that suspected ties between the two are driving Ukrainian authorities to take action by trying to silence religious expression entirely, if need be. The legislation overtly bans all ROC establishments and their affiliated religious institutions in Ukraine. It further threatens to prohibit all other forms of Christianity in Ukraine unless the various sects agree to comply with Zelensky's anti-Russia agenda. "Among the people, it [is called] the law banning the Moscow Church," announced Ukrainian opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak in a series of Telegram posts about the new law, which was approved by 265 deputies with only 29 voting against it and four abstaining. Scheduled to take effect in 30 days, the legislation prohibits all activities of the ROC and its affiliates in Ukraine. The UOC will be given nine months to completely sever all ties with the ROC, whatever they might be. (Related: Did you know that Germany has decided to stop sending new military aid to Ukraine after learning that Zelensky is responsible for bombing the Nord Stream pipelines?) Zelensky says banning Christianity will "reinforce Ukraine's spiritual independence" Back when Russia first began its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, the UOC declared its full autonomy from the Moscow Patriarchate. Politicians in Kyiv, however, say UOC clergy is still communicating with ROC clergy, which is why Ukrainian police raids and arrests at UOC churches and facilities continue. According to Verkhovna Rada Chairman and speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, the new legislation will effectively make "the Russian church in Ukraine" illegal. Zelensky celebrated this by declaring that the ban will "reinforce Ukraine's spiritual independence." The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), the main organization representing all Christian denominations present in Ukraine, fully endorsed the new law. This means every "church" under its banner is in full compliance with Zelensky's anti-Russia platform. The ROC, meanwhile, claims that UOC delegates were not even invited by AUCCRO to participate in negotiations about the law. They were deliberately excluded, Russia says, to reinforce the notion that all Ukrainian Christians are anti-Russia and agree with the law. Interestingly, there are warring factions within the UOC that claim the other does not truly represent the UOC. The two main rival factions are the UOC and the Kyiv-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which was formed as a union of two other Orthodox churches and by several members of the UOC. The UOC remains the largest Orthodox church in Ukraine, boasting more than 8,000 parishes across the country. However, under pressure from the Zelensky regime, some of these parishes have been renouncing the UOC to join the OCU. "Now we've got Zionists trying to reform the Christian Church?" one commenter wrote about the insanity of the Zelensky regime trying to control Christian expression in Ukraine. "What could possibly go wrong?" "Zelensky and his criminal gang are simply doing the work of his father, the devil," wrote another. "Churches will talk to other churches, and to anyone and everyone," wrote another." It's their right. In essence, Ukraine's MPs don't want the church to exist at all." "This is the type of stuff Nero was worried about as Rome burned around him," said someone else. "Hitler banned synagogues and Zelensky bans Christian churches," said another. "The Bolsheviks also banned Russian Orthodoxy." More related news about Ukrainian life under Zelensky can be found at Tyranny.news. Sources for this article include: RT.com NaturalNews.com Sorry, something doesn't look right. Something seems unusual about your device or browser. Please contact support. Pawan Kalyan meets Russian cosmonaut Korsakov, discusses space park in Andhra A ndhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan met Russian cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov and representatives of Space Kidz India on Sunday and discussed the possibility of establishing a space park in Andhra Pradesh to raise student awareness about space technology. Pawan Kalyan, who is also the Minister for Science & Technology, met Korsakov and others at his residence in Hyderabad. He emphasised that advancements in space research could significantly benefit the nation. Korsakov, who spent six months aboard the International Space Station, shared extensive insights into space exploration. Dr Srimathy Kesan, Founder and CEO of Space Kidz India, and Yagna, COO of Space Kidz India, along with their representatives, were present at the meeting. The Deputy Chief Minister emphasised the need for increasing awareness about space technology. He said the state government would encourage students to become scientists Pawan Kalyan, who also holds the portfolio of Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, Rural Water Supply, and Environment, said that if the advancements in space research are used effectively, they can help in further progress of the nation. The actor-politician felt that awareness about space technology should be created among students. The company representatives explained to Pawan Kalyan their research and also a satellite developed by them. The Deputy CM was informed about the functioning of the small satellite deployer made by the company. The representatives of Space Kidz told Pawan Kalyan that India does not have a space park, and it is only NASA in the US which has such a facility. The Deputy CM responded positively when they said that if a space park is developed in Andhra Pradesh, it can help in creating awareness among students about space technology. Pawan Kalyan felicitated Korsakov and presented him with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3. He enquired about the Russian cosmonaut's experiences in space. The Deputy Chief Minister also shared the recipe of choice Russian dishes prepared on the occasion. Pawan Kalyan meets Russian cosmonaut Korsakov, discusses space park in Andhra Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Akshay Oberoi is back 'in the gym' as he gears up for new action role A ctor Akshay Oberoi is preparing for his new action film and said that he is now back in the gym to prepare for his role. The upcoming film requires Akshay to undergo rigorous weight training to gain muscle mass and transform his physique to fit the character's demanding nature. Akshay said: "The journey with 'Fighter' was incredible, and I am grateful for the overwhelming response to my role as Basheer Khan. It was a physically demanding role, and the discipline I maintained during that time has stayed with me." It's all about challenging himself, said the actor. "As I prepare for my next action film, I am back in the gym, focusing on an intensive and rigorous training schedule. This new role requires a different kind of physicality, and I am excited to push myself further and explore new dimensions of action on screen." "It's all about challenging myself and bringing something fresh and unique to the audience." It was recently announced that the actor joined the Yash-starrer 'Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown Ups' cast. The actor had taken to social media, where he shared a welcome gift from the team on his Instagram stories. A source close to the production had revealed: "Akshay Oberoi's addition to the cast of Toxic brings an exciting dynamic to the film. He is an actor who always delivers a powerful performance, and pairing him with Yash is something that fans are eagerly waiting to see". Akshay is currently busy with his next, "Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari" with Varun Dhawan for which he has been shooting for the last few weeks. His upcoming projects also include "Tu Chahiye", "Dil Hai Gray", "Two Zero One Four", "Illegal 3", "Broken News 2" and "Varchasva". It was in 2002, when Akshay made his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama "American Chai". He played his first leading role in "Isi Life Mein". He was then seen starring in films such as "Pizza", "Piku", "Fitoor", "Gurgaon", "Kaalakaandi", "I Love You" and "Gaslight". Akshay Oberoi is back 'in the gym' as he gears up for new action role Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Bihar villagers face severe flood threat in Bhagalpur as Ganga continues to rise T he villagers of Naugachia in Bhagalpur district are currently facing a severe flood threat due to the rising water levels of the Ganga River in the region. The situation worsened after a 200-metre embankment was recently breached in Bindtoli village, which is situated along the banks of the Ganga River. According to an official, the breach has resulted in water inundating around 20 villages. Consequently, many villagers have been forced to live in makeshift tents on the remaining sections of the embankment. However, the district administration has urged them to vacate the area soon. "We have already been displaced from our villages and are now residing on the embankment of Bind Toli. Now, the administration is asking us to vacate the embankment as well. Some villagers have moved in with their relatives, but we have no such option. We are living in a state of uncertainty as we have nowhere to take shelter," said Ram Kumar, a resident of the affected area. Dr. Uttam Kumar, the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the Naugachia subdivision in Bhagalpur, mentioned, "After the embankment was breached, soil erosion started occurring in the region. We have initiated restoration work, which is why we have asked the villagers to vacate the embankment." He also noted that the embankment, which was constructed in 2008 at a cost of Rs 43 crore, has been compromised. Meanwhile, the flood threat is not limited to Bhagalpur alone and other districts are also at risk. Several rivers, including the Ganga, Gandak, Bagmati, Kosi, Ghagra, and Burhi Gandak, are flowing above the danger level, exacerbating the situation and raising concerns about potential flooding in the affected regions. The flood situation in several districts of Bihar continues to worsen as multiple rivers flow above their danger levels due to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas, particularly in the neighbouring country of Nepal. At Dumaria Ghat in Gopalganj district, the Gandak River is flowing 64 cm above the danger level. The current water level at this location is 62.86 metres. The Kosi River is posing a significant threat in multiple locations. At Baltara in Khagaria district, it is flowing 1.11 metres above the danger level, with a current water level of 34.96 metres. At Kursela in Bhagalpur district, it is 84 cm above the danger level, with a current water level of 30.84 metres. In Benibad, Muzaffarpur, the Bagmati River is flowing 98 cm above the danger level. The current water level there is 49.66 metres. The Burhi Gandak River is flowing 95 cm above the danger level in Khagaria district. The Ganga River is flowing 50 cm above the danger level at Gandhi Ghat in Patna district. At Hathidah in Patna district, it is 58 cm above the danger level and at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district, it is 90 cm above the danger level. The Ghagra River is flowing 36 cm above the danger level at Darauli in Siwan district. Bihar villagers face severe flood threat in Bhagalpur as Ganga continues to rise Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Ladakh gets 5 new districts; 'Step towards prosperity', says PM Modi U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday announced that the Centre has decided to create five new districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh -- Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang. "The Modi government is committed to creating abundant opportunities for the people of Ladakh," the Home Minister asserted while attributing the move to Prime Minister's vision for building a developed and prosperous Ladakh. "In pursuit of PM Shri @narendramodi Ji's vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh, the MHA has decided to create five new districts in the Union Territory. The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people to their doorsteps by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny," Amit Shah said in a post on X. Hailing the creation of the five new districts in Ladakh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it is a step towards better governance and prosperity. "Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang will now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people," PM Modi said in a post on X, while extending congratulations to the residents of these districts. Notably, Ladakh currently has only two districts -- Leh and Kargil -- both governed by their autonomous district councils. After the creation of the new districts, Ladakh will now have seven districts in total. Ladakh was a part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir until 2019. The revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, led to the bifurcation the J&K state into two separate Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislative Assembly) and Ladakh (without legislature). The revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, after 2019, made Central laws applicable in the UTs, which was earlier not the case. The creation of five new districts in Ladakh comes close on the heels of the announcement of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the first after 2019. The three-phase elections will be held on September, 18, 25, and October 1. The results will be out on October 4. Ladakh gets 5 new districts; 'Step towards prosperity', says PM Modi Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Tibetan religious head Karmapa calls on Dalai Lama after seven years I n a long awaited meeting, Tibetan religious head and 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje called on the Dalai Lama in Zurich, Switzerland, the first meeting between the two spiritual leaders in seven years. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the representative of Tibetan people both in and outside Tibet headquartered in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, shared photos of the meeting on Monday. The meeting held on August 25, the first since January 2017, has revived hopes among his followers that the Karmapa, considered the third most important Buddhist figure after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, may return to India soon. He has a significant following in the country, particularly in Sikkim. The Dalai Lama and the Karmapa last met during 34th Kalachakra teachings in Bodhgaya in 2017. In 1959, the Dalai Lama along with thousands of others fled Tibet, crossing the Himalayas and taking refuge in Dharamsala. Likewise, the Karmapa, whose literal meaning is 'one who carries out Buddha activity', fled Tibet and sought refuge in India in January 2000. He has mostly lived at the monastery in Sidhbari near Dharamsala with the Indian government treating him as an 'honoured guest'. The Karmapa left for the US in 2017 for medical treatment and later took up citizenship of the Commonwealth of Dominica. According to believers, the escapes of the Dalai Lama (89) and the Karmapa (38) from Tibet at different times show they are more than religious figures, and their presence exemplifies Tibet's ongoing struggle. "The meeting is a reaffirmation of the Karmapa's love and loyalty to the Dalai Lama and to the Tibetan struggle," remarked an observer of Tibetan affairs. After the meeting, the Dalai Lama departed from Switzerland for Delhi. In June, Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had reached out to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, in Delhi and held discussions regarding the prospect of bringing the 17th Karmapa to Sikkim. Tamang also hoped at one of his media briefings that the Karmapa, who heads a 900-year-old lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, may return "very soon". In an interview with Radio Free Asia's (RFA) Tibetan Service in 2018, the Karmapa said that talks (with the Government of India) were going on. "Once these talks are over and the outcomes are fruitful, I am all set to go to India... I cannot confirm the exact dates. There is a conference of Tibetan religious heads being planned in November in Dharamsala. I consider it important to participate in it. That's when I am hoping I can go back," the Karmapa was quoted as saying then. An important institution in the Tibetan religious set up, the Karmapa, the only major monk reincarnate recognised by both the Dalai Lama and China, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect, one of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the richest. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama is expected to return to Dharamsala on August 28. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com) Tibetan religious head Karmapa calls on Dalai Lama after seven years Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Shefali Shah expresses desire to work in Telugu cinema A cclaimed actress Shefali Shah has expressed her desire to work in Telugu films as she said they perfectly blend grandeur with the art of storytelling. Shefali was part of a moderated chat in Hyderabad, where she talked about how much she admires Telugu films. She said: "I truly admire Telugu cinema. I think they perfectly blend grandeur with the art of storytelling. Look at their films, whether it's the 'Baahubali' franchise, 'RRR', 'Kalki 2898 AD' or 'Sita Ramam'--they are truly magical. "I would love to work with them if given a chance." Talking about her upcoming work, Shefali will soon be seen with actors Jaideep Ahlawat and Abhishek Bannerjee in "Hisaab", directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It was on July 1, when the announcement was made on Instagram by the official handle of Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd. The production company shared a picture of the film's clapboard kept next to a small temple on the sets. "Today, we embark on the journey of bringing emotions to life and passion to the screen; the beginning of Hisaab, presented by Jio Studios in association with Sunshine Pictures!" the caption read. Shefali started her journey in Hindi cinema in 1995 with a small role in 'Rangeela'. She was then seen in films such as 'Satya', 'Mohabbatein', 'Waqt: The Race Against Time', 'Gandhi, My Father', 'Commando 2: The Black Money Trail', 'Jalsa', 'Darlings' and 'Three of Us'. Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who is the husband of actress Shefali Shah, started with his journey in the glitzy world of showbiz with the 'Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka', TV serial, which had over 1,000 episodes. He made his film debut by directing the Gujarati movie 'Dariya Chhoru' and transitioned to Hindi movies with 'Aankhen' in 2002. The director then made movies such as 'Waqt: The Race Against Time', 'Namastey London', 'Singh Is Kinng' and 'London Dreams'. Shefali Shah expresses desire to work in Telugu cinema Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! No meeting between Telegram founder Durov, President Putin in Azerbaijan: Kremin R ussian President Vladimir Putin did not have any meeting with Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who has been arrested by French authorities, during his visit to Azerbaijan earlier this month, the Kremlin said on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the clarification at a media interaction here when asked about the arrest of Durov, who was detained at a Paris airport after arriving from Azerbaijan by a private jet on Saturday, RT reported. He, however, refused to comment on the controversial arrest. "We don't know what he's accused of. We have not heard any official statements on the matter. We have to wait for the situation to clear up before we say anything," he said. The spokesman also dismissed media reports claiming that Durov had met President Putin during his visit to Baku on August 18 and 19. Several media outlets at the time reported that the pair were visiting the city at the same time and even claimed that they had a meeting behind the scenes. The French authorities have yet to outline the details of charges faced by the Russian tech mogul, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE, and the Caribbean island nation of St Kitts and Nevis. According to multiple reports, he was arrested on several charges which involved the alleged spread of criminal activity on Telegram The encrypted messaging platform has denied any wrongdoing on Durov's part, stating that it is "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform". It said it abides by the EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. The platform, which has about 900 million active users, has been a critical source of information for the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview with US political commentator Tucker Carlson in April, Durov said Telegram's goal is to be a "neutral" platform and resist requests from governments to moderate. Numerous opinion leaders, both in the West and Russia, including Elon Musk, have slammed the development as a crackdown on free speech, and claimed that the US was behind the arrest. No meeting between Telegram founder Durov, President Putin in Azerbaijan: Kremin Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Global health: Development and role Similarities and differences Global health: Development and role Public health: Development and role Strategies to overcome challenges References Further reading Since both global and public health involve solving large-scale health-related issues and inequities, these two terms are often used interchangeably. However, there are some significant differences between these two concepts, primarily concerning the difference in scale and geographical location. This article will discuss the importance of global health and public health and how they are different. Image Credit: Noor-shine/Shutterstock.com Global health: Development and role The concept of global health developed gradually over eight decades. In the 1940s, the term "global health" first appeared in the scientific literature.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) used this concept for its theoretical foundation. In 2020, scientists redefined global health as "global health is public health somewhere else" .2 Global health professionals are dedicated to removing the impediments that prevent healthy living in all parts of the world. They collaborate with international organizations and governments to provide education or information to underserved communities. They also focus on protecting the global population against the deadliest diseases.3 It must be noted that more researchers began exploring this topic only after global health was promoted under the Global Health Initiative, which is the global health plan signed by former US President Barack Obama.1 The US promoted global health by establishing collaborations across countries to combat potential challenges associated with medical and health issues, primarily through federal funding, education, scientific research, policymaking, and implementation. In line with the US, China also supported the fundamental concept of global health, i.e., "Promoting Health For All," through a collective effort for building "a Community of Shared Future for Mankind" .4 Global health agencies, such as the WHO, aim to protect billions of individuals across the world from health emergencies. In addition, they focus on providing universal health coverage and promoting health and wellbeing. Global health agencies work towards establishing sustainable financing and financial protection, improving surveillance, training the health workforce, providing advice on labor policies, and improving access to essential health products and medicines.5 Global health agencies aim to prevent health emergencies by identifying, mitigating, and managing risks. They support the development of tools that could help manage global pathogenic outbreaks. Furthermore, global agencies deliver essential health services in fragile settings. Besides focusing on preventing non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancers), global health agencies also promote mental health awareness and address issues related to climate change in small island developing states, antimicrobial resistance, and eradication of high-impact communicable diseases (e.g., viral hepatitis, Ebola, and tuberculosis).6 What is global health? Play Public health: Development and role In 1920, Charles-Edward Amory Winslow, an American bacteriologist and public health expert, defined public health as "science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing" .7 During this period, public health officers focussed on uplifting the capacity of community and society to improve personal health. Over the years, the role of public health agencies has undergone significant revisions to expand its scope in terms of disease spectrum, social determinants of health, and community participation to promote the highest standard of health. Public health agencies focus on maintaining environmental sanitation through controlling rodents and conducting routine housing inspections.8 They control communicable diseases through vaccination programs. Public health agencies also offer health education to maintain proper personal hygiene and provide guidance on when to seek medical care. They offer suitable nutrition, school nurses, home visits, and prenatal care to improve maternal and child health. In the US, there are over 1,000 local health departments (LHD) of varying geographic size, urban and rural locality, size and nature of population, and economic circumstances within which they work. LHDs play a complex role in delivering basic public health services to most of the communities in the US.9 The Public Health Agency (PHA), established in 2009, is involved with similar roles in Northern Ireland. It is responsible for protecting every member of the community from harmful diseases and improving health and social wellbeing. Similarities and differences Although both global and public health sectors are involved in promoting healthcare securities, there are certain differences in their approach (Table 1). The key differences between the two sectors are geographical area and spectrum.10 Table 1: Comparison between global and public health Strategies to overcome challenges Researchers are involved in finding solutions to various issues associated with global and public health.10 In terms of global health perspectives, experts around the world highlighted the inadequate investment in resources in core health priorities and systems. Although countries heavily invest in protecting people from terrorist attacks, they fail to offer proper support regarding developing a robust defense system against harmful viral attacks. The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, indicated how a viral infection can become a global threat. A pandemic can significantly affect the health and economy of the affected countries. At present, many researchers are engaged in finding solutions to challenges associated with the rapidly aging population and antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, mental health research has increased due to increased funding and an overwhelming number of people experiencing it. Since public health agencies must quickly adapt to challenging environments with limited resources, they must effectively use advanced health technologies and support and promote biomedical research for better and more cost-effective diagnostic and clinical resources. National funds must be used to bridge the gaps in health systems and health infrastructure across countries. All developed countries must support the most vulnerable countries to promote health equity.11 References Chen X. et al. What is global health? Key concepts and clarification of misperceptions: Report of the 2019 GHRP editorial meeting. Glob Health Res Policy. 2020;5:14. doi: 10.1186/s41256-020-00142-7. King NB, Koski A. Defining global health as public health somewhere else. BMJ Glob Health. 2020;5(1):e002172. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002172 Ruger JP, Yach D. The Global Role of the World Health Organization. Glob Health Gov. 2009;2(2):1-11. Cheng Y, Cheng F. China's unique role in the field of global health. Glob Health J. 2019;3(4):98-101. doi: 10.1016/j.glohj.2019.11.004 Kruk ME, et al. High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution. Lancet Glob Health. 2018;6(11):e1196-e1252. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30386-3. Prestinaci F. et al. Antimicrobial resistance: a global multifaceted phenomenon. Pathog Glob Health. 2015;109(7):309-18. doi: 10.1179/2047773215Y.0000000030. Grant R. A bridge between public health and primary care. Am J Public Health. 2012;102:3(3):S304. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300825. Krieger J, Higgins DL. Housing and health: time again for public health action. Am J Public Health. 2002;92(5):758-68. doi: 10.2105/ajph.92.5.758. Leider JP. et al. The State of Rural Public Health: Enduring Needs in a New Decade. Am J Public Health. 2020;110(9):1283-1290. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2020.305728. Turcotte-Tremblay AM. et al. Global health is more than just 'Public Health Somewhere Else'. BMJ Glob Health. 2020;5(5):e002545. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002545. Maani N. et al. Global Health Equity Requires Global Equity. Health Equity. 2023;7(1):192-196. doi: 10.1089/heq.2022.0169. Further Reading Study: Human Orthohantavirus disease prevalence and genotype distribution in the U.S., 20082020: a retrospective observational study. Image Credit: CI Photos / Shutterstock Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have conducted a study to determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of human Orthohantavirus disease in the United States. The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health. Background Hantaviruses are negative-sense multi-segmented viruses that typically infect rodents. However, spillover hantaviral infection can occur in humans upon exposure to infected rodents excreta or due to rodent bites. Human-to-human transmission has only been documented for a single viral species, i.e., Orthohantavirus andesense, in South America. Old World hantaviruses predominantly circulate in Europe and Asia and have been found to cause hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. On the other hand, New World hantaviruses predominantly circulate in North and South America and have been found to cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome. Hantavirus infections have been reported globally except in Australia, with significant cases in regions like China, Korea, Russia, and parts of Europe and the Americas. Currently, hantavirus infection is a nationally noticeable disease in the United States. Health departments from various corners of the country report acutely infected hantavirus cases to the CDCs national hantavirus surveillance registry. However, a significant challenge noted in the study is the lack of standardized serological or PCR testing across the U.S., which has led to discordant results between CDC-developed assays and commercial diagnostic tests. Reporting criteria of positive cases are based on clinical symptoms and laboratory diagnostic results, including immunoglobulin M (IgM) positive, IgG positive with rising titers, immunohistochemistry positive, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive. CDC reference testing has revealed that IgM false-positive results have been observed from commercial diagnostic assays. This suggests that some acute hantavirus cases may be overestimated in states that do not confirm positive results with reference testing. In this observational study, scientists have determined the prevalence and genotype distribution of human hantavirus disease in the United States from 2008 to 2020. Study design The scientists analyzed multiple datasets, including acute hantavirus cases reported by health departments from 1993 to 2020 and from 2008 to 2020, as well as hantavirus acute and convalescent diagnostic testing performed at CDC from 2008 to 2020. Suspected hantaviral samples submitted to CDC were tested for New World Orthohantavirus- and Old World (O.W.) Orthohantavirus-reactive IgM (acute samples) and IgG (convalescent samples) antibodies. A critical aspect of the study was the sequencing of hantavirus-positive samples to identify specific viral variants and their geographical distribution. Hantavirus-positive samples were analyzed using next-generation sequencing, and available epidemiological and genetic data sets were linked to conduct a genomic epidemiological study of hantavirus disease in the United States. Hantavirus vectors primarily include various rodent species such as the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), and white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) in North America; the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) and yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) in Europe; and the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius) and rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Asia. In South America, the Andean long-tailed mouse (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) is a key vector, particularly for the Andes virus, which can be transmitted between humans. These rodents are natural reservoirs, and human infections typically occur through inhalation of virus particles from contaminated rodent excreta. Important observations Between 1993 and 2020, 833 human hantavirus cases were detected, and 335 cases were detected between 2008 and 2020 in the United States. Of these, the CDC identified 115 New World hantavirus-positive samples, representing 29.2% of the total cases detected. Of these cases, 98 were reported by state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments. This represented 29% of total acute confirmed cases reported by health departments. Among New World hantavirus cases identified by the CDC, about 85% were detected during acute disease. However, some convalescent cases were detected in Connecticut, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Vermont. These regions were not typically associated with hantavirus infections. Among hantavirus cases detected in the United States between 1993 and 2020, about 95% were identified in the west of the Mississippi, and 45% were identified in the Four Corners region. Some cases were also identified in the upper Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Northeastern regions. In contrast, only a few cases were identified in Southeastern regions. Among New World hantavirus cases detected between 2008 and 2020, about 68% occurred between March and August. The study also identified specific viral variants associated with distinct geographical regions. The geographical distribution of Orthohantavirus sinnombreense species was determined by sequencing PCR-positive cases. This led to the detection of the Sin Nombre virus primarily in the west of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the Monongahela virus in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions, and the New York virus in Long Island. However, there was a significant gap in viral sequence data from the Northwestern and Central U.S. Only one case of Sin Nombre virus infection was identified in Indiana. Study significance The study provides an updated view of human hantaviral cases' spatial and temporal distribution in the United States. Nearly 95% of cases were identified west of the Mississippi between March and August. In contrast, only 45% were identified in the Southwest Four Corners region, traditionally associated with hantaviral infections. The study highlights the need for more standardized diagnostic testing algorithms across the U.S. to reduce discordance between different testing methods. A low prevalence of hantaviral disease has been observed in the southeastern and lower mid-Atlantic U.S. This could be due to a lack of spillover human cases or underreporting or under-testing human cases because of mild or asymptomatic infections. Since these regions are within the home range of known hantavirus rodent vectors, rigorous monitoring of spillover human cases is needed to prevent potential public health threats. The study highlights the need for more standardized diagnostic testing algorithms across the U.S. to reduce discordance between different testing methods. Study: Molecular and circuit determinants in the globus pallidus mediating control of cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity. Image Credit: Alex Mit / Shutterstock.com In a recent study published in Neuron, researchers examine how globus pallidus externus parvalbumin-positive (GPePV) cells regulate cocaine-induced behaviors through interactions with ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTADA) cells. A closer look at the interaction between VTADA and GPe neurons Ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTADA) cells are essential to motivation, reward, and substance abuse behaviors. Although targeting the entire dopamine system is ineffective for treating addiction due to potential off-target effects, modulating specific dopamine subcircuits may offer therapeutic benefits with fewer side effects. Previous studies have reported that VTADA cells project to the amygdala in cocaine withdrawal-related anxiety. However, the lack of unique genetic markers to study subtypes of VTADA cells has prevented extensive analysis into their functions. GPe has traditionally been associated with habit formation and motor behaviors. Recently, the researchers of the current study identified that GPe neurons are critically involved in the development of cocaine-induced behavioral changes. These experiments demonstrated that the number and activity of GPe neurons that innervate VTADA cells significantly increases following cocaine exposure. Nevertheless, further research is needed to fully understand the specific mechanisms by which GPe cells influence cocaine-induced behaviors, which will facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies to target these pathways in substance abuse treatment. About the study Cocaine was administered to mice at a dose of 15 mg/kg, while clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) was given at five mg/kg. Carnosic acid was administered intraperitoneally at 830 g/kg, 2.5 mg/kg, and 7.5 mg/kg, and intracranially at 10 M. In transsynaptic tracing/cTRIO experiments, cocaine or saline was administered prior to rabies virus (RABV) injection, followed by the injection of various viral constructs into different brain regions including the nucleus accumbens (NAc), amygdala, dorsolateral striatum (DLS), and VTA. Animals were sacrificed five days following RABV injection. For mapping inputs to GPePV cells in saline- and cocaine-treated mice, specific viral injections were performed, followed by similar RABV injections and subsequent sacrifice for further investigation. Electrophysiology assessments involved whole-cell patch clamp recordings in acute brain slices, with spontaneous and evoked recordings captured continuously. Fiber photometry experiments measured activity in various neuron populations using specific viral constructs and optical fibers implanted in targeted brain regions. Behavioral assays included cocaine-conditioned place preference (CPP) and locomotion tests, with chemogenetic and carnosic acid interventions examined for their effects on cocaine-related behaviors. Study findings The current study explored the role of GPePV cells in controlling cocaine-induced behavioral changes by examining their interaction with VTADA neurons projecting to the lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAcLat). To identify the specific VTADA populations mediate the effects of GPe neurons on cocaine-related behaviors, researchers chemogenetically inhibited both ventral midbrain-projecting GPePV cells and various VTADA subpopulations. Inhibition of GPePVventral midbrain cells using human muscarinic M4 designer receptor exclusively activated by designer drugs inhibitory (hM4Di) delivered through adeno-associated virus (AAV) and CNO-releasing microspheres blocked the development of CPP and sensitization, thus confirming previous findings. Interestingly, this inhibition did not affect anxiety-related behaviors during withdrawal, as demonstrated during the elevated plus maze and open field tests. The researchers also determined whether distinct VTADA cell populations were influenced by GPePV cells. Since GPePV cell activation leads to DA cell activation, inhibiting either population was hypothesized to yield similar effects. To this end, retrograde viral vectors were used to target VTADA neurons projecting to various brain regions, including the NAcLat. Only inhibition of VTADA cells during cocaine administration prevented reward and sensitization. This effect was consistent with the results from RABV mapping and optogenetic studies, which demonstrated that optical stimulation of GPePV inputs reduced the latency to the first action potential in VTADANAcLat cells, indicating a disinhibitory connection. The current study also explored how cocaine influences GPePV cell activity, in which the researchers hypothesized that DA release from VTADANAcLat cells in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) may trigger changes in GPePV cells. Cocaine treatment reduced inhibitory inputs from the DMS to GPePV cells, thereby elevating their activity. Activation of dorsomedial striatum dopamine receptor D2 (DMSD2) cells, which project to GPePV cells, prevented cocaine CPP and sensitization, which mirrors the effects of GPePV inhibition. Voltage-clamp recordings indicated that cocaine decreased spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) in GPePV cells without affecting excitatory currents, thereby suggesting that cocaine reduces inhibitory drive onto GPePV cells. Single-nucleus ribonucleic acid sequencing (snRNA-seq) revealed significant downregulation of the Kcnq3 and Kcnq5 genes, which encode voltage-gated potassium channels crucial for regulating cellular excitability. Subsequent treatment with carnosic acid, a KCNQ3/5 channel opener, reduced GPePV cell excitability and effectively blocked cocaine CPP, sensitization, and volitional cocaine intake in a self-administration model. Thus, targeting KCNQ3/5 channels with carnosic acid could be a promising therapeutic strategy for reducing cocaine reward and preventing addiction-related behaviors by modulating GPePV cell activity. Conclusions GPe neurons are key regulators of cocaine reward and sensitization that modulate dopamine activity in the VTA. By activating KCNQ3/5 channels, reducing GPePV cell excitability effectively diminishes cocaine-seeking behaviors. VTADANAcLat cells, through connections to the DMS, enhance GPePV activity, thereby creating a feedback loop that influences dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. Carnosic acid, a KCNQ3/5 opener, shows promise as an anti-addictive agent, offering a novel therapeutic approach for cocaine addiction. Study: Emergency Allotments in SNAP and Food Hardship Among Households With Children. Image Credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com Question: Were emergency allotments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) associated with a change in the risk of food hardship among households with children? In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers determine how emergency allotment of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) impacts food insecurity in families with children. How does SNAP benefit families? Food insecurity is a grave public health concern in the United States that impacts adults and children by increasing the risk of poor physical health, anxiety, stress, and despair. Minority ethnic and racial groups, particularly those with children, are at the greatest risk of food insecurity. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the U.S. government executed emergency allotments under SNAP to provide low-income families with additional food purchase assistance. Previous studies have shown that SNAP membership reduces poverty and food insecurity, particularly in households with children, while improving their mental and physical health. However, there remains a lack of data on the relationship between emergency SNAP allotments and food hardship in SNAP-participating families with children. About the study In the present study, researchers investigate whether temporary emergency allotments in SNAP were related to changes in the risk of food hardship among U.S. households with children. To this end, researchers analyzed National Survey of Childrens Health (NSCH) data using the difference-in-differences (DID) method to compare the likelihood of food insecurity before implementing emergency SNAP allotments between 2016 and 2019 as compared to during allotment from 2020 to 2022. Parents or caregivers completed NSCH surveys online or on paper in Spanish or English between June and January each year. Families with children and household incomes of less than or equal to 130% of the U.S. federal poverty level (FPL) were invited to participate in the study. The primary study outcome was parent or caregiver documentation of food hardship in their households the previous year. Log-binomial regressions determined the risk ratios (RR) for the analysis and adjusted for household financial aid from the government in the previous year, as well as household adult job status and income. Researchers also adjusted for time-varying statewide economic policies, including minimum wage, Medicaid expansion, refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) rates, and the maximal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefit for three-member households. Sensitivity analyses adjusted for state implementation of broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) policies extending SNAP eligibility by increasing income thresholds from 130% to less than or equal to 200% of the FPL and excluding asset assessment for eligibility. Very low to low food insufficiency was used as the outcome among households that often or sometimes could not afford food the previous year. Study findings Among 44,753 families earning less than or equal to 130% of the U.S. FPL, 23%, 57%, and 20% housed black, white, and children from other races, respectively. Among participating households, children among 38% of households were Hispanic, and 32% of families were aged up to five years. In new @JAMANetworkOpen research, we found that emergency allotments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (ie, higher monthly benefits) were associated decreased food hardship among households with children, though there were differences by race and ethnicity. https://t.co/tIxdZnIiea Anna Austin (@AnnaEAustin) August 17, 2024 The proportion of families suffering from food insecurity declined from 63% in 2016 to 48% in 2021 among SNAP participants and 44% to 39% among income-eligible non-participants, respectively. However, the percentage increased to 58% in SNAP-participating families and 48% among non-participating households in 2022. Emergency allotment in the SNAP program was related to reduced risks of food insecurity in SNAP-participating families as compared to non-participating families with an RR of 0.9. The emergency allotments were associated with a reduced risk of food insecurity in SNAP-participating families with White and Hispanic children as compared to non-participating families. However, this beneficial effect was not observed in families housing Black children. The sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. SNAP-eligible families were provided more government cash assistance, had more non-employed adults, earned up to 65% of the FPL, and had more Black children. Black children were disproportionately represented among families with lower earnings than those with White children. Conclusions Emergency allotment implementation in SNAP reduced the risk of food insecurity in households with children participating in SNAP. These findings emphasize the pivotal role of SNAP in mitigating food hardship, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is needed to determine the impact of terminating emergency allotment in SNAP and whether a minimum monthly SNAP benefit of at least $95 affects food hardship risk. Findings Show Policy Matters: In this cross-sectional study of 44 753 households with incomes 130% or less of the federal poverty level and with children younger than 18 years, implementing emergency allotments in SNAP was associated with a decreased risk of food hardship among https://t.co/QkSMwB67R2 National Pediatric Disaster Coalition (NPDC) (@npdcoalition) August 19, 2024 Study: Prevalence of Critical Errors and Insufficient Peak Inspiratory Flow in Patients Hospitalized With COPD in a Department of General Internal Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Study. Image Credit: AtlasStudio / Shutterstock.com Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung condition characterized by loss of lung elasticity, which leads to dysfunctional gaseous exchange. COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide, with over 3.2 million deaths caused by COPD in 2019. A recent study published in the Journal of the COPD Foundation examines errors in the use or design of inhalers used by hospitalized COPD patients. Differences in inhaler design Inhalers are frequently used for the treatment of COPD. Poor inhalation techniques can impact treatment outcomes in COPD by increasing the risk of impaired symptom control, reduced quality of life, exacerbated illness, and hospitalization. Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) can provide sufficient therapeutic efficacy if the patient inhales strongly and deeply enough to break up the medication-carrying powder to allow it to coat the small airways. If the patient does not achieve adequate peak inspiratory flow (PIF), exacerbation and hospitalization risk worsens. Primary causes of COPD include long-term exposure to irritants such as tobacco smoke, air pollution, chemical fumes, and dust, with smoking being the most significant risk factor. Patients with cognitive impairment or poor manual dexterity may not be able to use inhalers as designed. These sources of error and their prevalence among outpatients have been reported in prior publications; however, few studies have examined both errors in technique and low PIF. These failures among hospitalized COPD patients, including persistent inhaler misuse despite proper training, led to the current study measuring the proportion of inhaler misuse. About the study The single-center study included 96 patients treated at the internal medicine department of the Hospital of Fribourg (HRF) in Switzerland between August 1, 2022, and April 3, 2023. The mean age of the patients was 71.6. All study participants were assessed by a physiotherapist for critical errors in inhalation technique within 72 hours of admission. The evaluation was based on a custom checklist tailored to different types of inhalers. Critical error was defined as any action that could negatively affect the adequate delivery of the drug to the distal airways. If critical errors were observed, the patient was immediately trained. Misuse of an inhaler was identified when the patient exhibited critical errors in inhalation technique and/or insufficient PIF. Unsuitable inhalers were defined as those that either provide insufficient PIF or prevent the ability to optimally use the inhaler despite specific training. PIF was also evaluated with a handheld In-Check Dial G16 device, which measured internal resistance with various inhaler types. What did the study show? Inhaler misuse was recorded if either low PIF, one or more critical errors, or both were observed. The modifying effects of age, sex, acute exacerbation of COPD, or any breathing issue were also reported. An average of three inhalers was used for each patient. Overall, 160 inhalers were assessed. About 69% of hospitalized COPD patients misused inhalers, 66% made critical errors during inhaler use, and 14% had insufficient PIF. An average of 1.4 and 1.3 and critical errors for every inhaler use were observed, respectively. After training patients who made critical errors, the number of inhalers associated with these errors significantly decreased. For example, 20.6% of patients continued to experience critical errors after one session of remedial teaching, compared to 9.4% and 5.6% after two and three sessions, respectively. An inhalation technique that persisted uncorrected, even after two or three teaching sessions, was considered unteachable. Factors contributing to this included impaired cognition, poor fine motor function, and the inability to synchronize inspiration with inhaler activation or hold ones breath for sufficient time. Despite proper teaching, twenty-seven inhalers were not suitable for therapeutic use. This proportion was higher when compared to inhalers used for COPD patients admitted for acute exacerbations or respiratory symptoms. Age and sex did not alter these results. When examined by patient, over 82% of patients misused one or more inhalers, 81% used one or more inhalers with a critical error, and 22% used one with a low PIF. After three teaching sessions, 9.4% continued to experience a critical error with at least one inhaler. Conclusions The study findings emphasize important issues that must be considered for the clinical management of hospitalized COPD patients using inhalers. These include the need to quickly identify and correct critical errors in inhalation techniques at every opportunity due to their high frequency. Low PIF complicates inhaler use in 14% of patients overall; therefore, healthcare professionals must consider PIF in their treatment recommendations. Training the patient reduces critical errors by 45% after one session, with a further decline of 11% and 4% after the second and third sessions, respectively. Despite the benefits of repeated training, a significant proportion of inhalers persistently elude correct usage for various reasons. Therefore, the utility of an inhaler must be determined based on patient-specific characteristics, and the inhalation technique must be frequently monitored. Both the technique and patient profile may change over time and with treatment, both acutely and over the long term, further necessitating regular evaluations. The presence of a respiratory physiotherapist with expertise in inhaler techniques is also important, as most physicians lack this knowledge or time needed to train patients. The assessment of the inhalation technique and the PIF should be part of the standard clinical assessment of patients with COPD during hospitalization, regardless of the reason for hospitalization. In a recent study published in the journal JAMA, researchers attempted to characterize childhood long COVID by investigating its most common disease symptoms in children (6-11 yrs; n = 898) and adolescents (12-17; n = 4,478). Study: Characterizing Long COVID in Children and Adolescents. Image Credit: Deborah Lee Rossiter/Shutterstock.com Introduction They further categorized these symptoms into distinct phenotypes using cluster analysis. Finally, researchers used the results of these investigations to develop an empirically derived index, thereby allowing future researchers greater clarity when diagnosing and treating the condition. Findings revealed that long COVID pathology during childhood is distinct compared to adults and between children and adolescents. Symptoms were observed to take 10% longer (556 versus 506 days) to manifest in adolescents than in children. While 14 symptom phenotypes were shared across school-age children and adolescents, 4 and 3 phenotypes were unique in the former and latter groups, respectively. These findings highlight the need for separate evaluation, research, and treatment against long COVID in these poorly understood populations. Background Clinically termed post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (PASC), long COVID is an increasingly prevalent condition plaguing between 10-78% of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors (n = ~65 million). The condition is characterized by COVID-19 symptoms that persist, relapse, or develop two or more months following recovery from the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. While a growing body of literature extensively researches long COVID in adults, similar studies on childhood long COVID remain severely lacking. Poor clinical elucidation of long COVID in children (6-17 yrs) has led to numerous misperceptions, including that childhood long COVID is rare. That disease pathology is similar to that observed in adults. Together, these misperceptions often result in misdiagnosis of long COVID in children and hamper diagnostic and therapeutic research. The absence of a consistent analytic approach to objectively identify children with PASC hinders the research needed to identify underlying mechanisms of disease and treatment targets. About the study The present study aims to address the current literature gaps by 1. Identifying typical childhood long COVID symptoms, 2. Comparing symptoms across children (6-11 yrs) and adolescents (12-17 yrs), 3. Evaluating if these symptoms cluster into discrete phenotypes, and 4. Deriving an index of childhood long COVID to aid future research initiatives. The dataset used herein is the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Pediatric Observational Cohort Study (RECOVER-Pediatrics) funded by the United States (US) National Institutes of Health. Data for the study was obtained between March 2022 and December 2023 from more than 60 sites spread across the US and comprised participants with (infected) and without (uninfected) laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections. Participants with missing data, unknown dates of first infections, and those with previous or ongoing multisystem inflammatory syndrome were excluded from the analysis. For analysis, long COVID was defined as the presence of COVID-19 symptoms 90 or more days following initial COVID-19 infections. Uninfected participants with long COVID symptoms were analyzed separately to elucidate the impacts of asymptomatic infections. Symptoms were categorized into 75 discrete types (general [n = 12], ENT [n = 15], gastrointestinal [n = 6], heart/lungs [n = 10], dermatological [n = 5], neurological [n = 6], musculoskeletal [n = 3], menstrual [n = 4], and behavioral [n = 14]). Symptoms data was collected using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Global Health Scales. Demographic and medical variables (sex, age, ethnicity, vaccination status, geographic origin, and time of infection) were included in statistical models as covariates. Linear, logistic, and Poisson regression models were used to compute risk differences, relative risks, and odds ratios across investigated subgroups (infected versus uninfected and children versus adolescents). The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model was used to identify the clustering of symptoms, thereby identifying indices for future research initiatives. Study findings Of the 898 children (751 infected, 147 uninfected) and 4,478 adolescents included in the study, 45% and 33% of infected and uninfected children, and 39% and 27% of adolescents were observed to have at least one persistent long COVID symptom. Of the 75 symptoms identified, 26 and 18 were prolonged in more than 5% of children and adolescents. Of these, 14 symptoms were common between groups, while 4 and 3 were unique to children and adolescents, respectively. The most common prolonged symptom among PASC-probable school-age children that also contributed to the PASC research index was headache (57%), followed by trouble with memory/focusing and trouble sleeping (44%) and stomach pain (43%). Among PASC-probable adolescents, the most common prolonged symptoms contributing to the index were daytime tiredness/sleepiness or low energy (80%), body/muscle/joint pain (60%), headaches (55%), and trouble with memory/focusing (47%). LASSO analysis identified 10 (children) and 8 (adolescent) symptoms most commonly associated with a history of COVID-19 infections. These were found to aggregate into four distinct clusters, with Cluster 1 (multisystem symptoms and highest symptom burden) being highlighted as the worst across both groups. Conclusions The present study is one of the first to characterize childhood long COVID in a large (n = 5,376), long-term (n = 21 months) dataset. Study findings highlight that symptomatic manifestation of long COVID in school-age children (6-11 yrs) differs significantly from adults (18+ yrs) as well as from adolescents (12-17 yrs). Notably, while 14 symptoms were found to be shared between children and adolescents, 4 (children) and 3 (adolescents) were unique. Alarmingly, 33% and 27% of asymptomatic children and adolescents were observed to suffer from long COVID symptoms despite a lack of clinical COVID-19 history, suggesting that the prevalence of long COVID in these populations may be significantly higher than previously assumed. Encouragingly, clustering analysis identified four phenotypic clusters (representing 8-10 most common symptoms) that can be used as indices in future research efforts. Although these indices will require further research and validation, this work provides an important step toward a clinically useful tool for diagnosis with the ultimate goal of supporting optimal care for youth with PASC. Study: Evaluation of the 15 Minute Challenge: A Workplace Health and Wellbeing Program. Image Credit: Pixel-Shot / Shutterstock.com The World Health Organizations (WHO) 2020 guidelines recommend 150300 min of moderate-intensity or 75150 min of vigorous-intensity activity per week, which is associated with a 2030% reduction in all-cause mortality risk. In a recent study published in the journal Healthcare, researchers at the University of South Australia investigated the effectiveness of the 15-Minute Challenge, a mobile health (mHealth) initiative that supports workplace wellness by promoting physical activity and improving health outcomes among employees across various workplaces. Encouraging physical activity at work The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that regular physical activity reduces the risk of chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Physical activity is essential for preventing chronic diseases and improving overall health; however, many adults do not meet recommended levels, which significantly contributes to global health issues. Since many adults spend most of their time at work, workplace environments often encourage sedentary behaviors, which increase the risk of various health problems. Thus, workplace wellness programs can be a valuable strategy that promotes physical activity among employees. The 15-Minute Challenge is an initiative that uses mHealth technology and behavioral economics to encourage employees to engage in short, daily physical activity sessions. By focusing on a manageable 15-minute daily commitment, this program aims to make exercise more accessible and sustainable while also incorporating elements of gamification, such as team competitions and social sharing, to motivate participation. New data show that nearly one third (31%) of adults worldwide, approximately 1.8 billion people, did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity in 2022. The findings point to a worrying trend of physical inactivity among adults, which has increased by about 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022. About the study The current study evaluated the effectiveness of the 15-Minute Challenge in improving employees health outcomes and increasing physical activity. To this end, the researchers used a retrospective cohort design to evaluate the six-week wellness program across various workplaces in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The program facilitated daily 15-minute sessions for physical activity, with participants recording their activities using a mobile app. To motivate participation, the app featured gamification elements like team competitions, social sharing, and personal milestones. Study participants reported their health and well-being, including energy, fitness, mood, sleep quality, and overall health, at the beginning and end of the program using a 10-point scale. Usage data, including frequency of app interaction and engagement with specific features, were also collected. The program's effectiveness was analyzed using statistical models comparing baseline and end-of-program health outcomes. Program analytics measured participation and retention rates, while post-program surveys gathered user feedback on satisfaction and perceived benefits. Statistical analyses were performed to assess changes in physical activity levels and health outcomes. Study findings A total of 11,575 participants employed by 73 companies across the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand recorded 19 million minutes of physical activity, with 69.6% of study participants reporting daily activities. By the end of the study period, 70.8% of study participants were still actively participating in the program. The median daily exercise duration was 45 minutes, and participants averaged 34 active days during the study period. Significant improvements were observed in health metrics, as sleep quality, mood, energy levels, overall health, and perceived fitness increased by 7.6%, 7.1%, 11.6%, 7.7%, and 14%, respectively. Additionally, the number of participants meeting or exceeding international physical activity guidelines rose from baseline levels of 57.3% to 95.4% during the program. User feedback was positive, with 92% willing to recommend and rejoin the program; however, only 42% of study participants reported reduced stress levels. Overall, the program effectively increased physical activity levels and improved health outcomes, thus demonstrating its potential as a workplace wellness intervention. My Exercise pagecalendar for recording of exercises; (B) My Exercise pageindividual achievement. Conclusions The 15 Minute Challenge, a workplace wellness program, significantly increased physical activity levels and improved various health outcomes, such as fitness, energy, overall health, sleep quality, and mood among employees. By the end of the program, most of the study participants met or exceeded international physical activity guidelines. High satisfaction levels were also reported, with a significant majority of participants willing to recommend the program. The study findings highlight the potential of work-based interventions to enhance mental and physical health, which could lead to benefits like increased productivity and reduced absenteeism. Notable limitations of the current study include its reliance on self-reported data and the absence of a control group, which could introduce biases and limit the ability to attribute the observed changes to the program directly. Future research should incorporate more rigorous study designs, like randomized controlled trials, to confirm these findings. Exploring strategies to sustain engagement and examining long-term health impacts, as well as the effects of the program on workplace outcomes like employee morale and productivity, would also provide valuable insights. Conflicts of Interest Authors Artem Deev and Anton Deev were employed by the 15 Minute Challenge. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said the central bank is constantly working on policies, systems, and platforms to make the countrys financial sector strong, nimble and customer centric. Addressing the RBI@90 Global Conference on Digital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies, Das recalled various initiatives being taken by the RBI with regard to Unified Lending Interface (ULI) and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The Governor also said that the UPI system has the potential to evolve into a cheaper and quicker alternative to the available channels of cross-border remittances and a beginning can be made with small value personal remittances as it can be quickly implemented. According to the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament in July, remittances to India, the second largest source of external financing after service exports, are projected to grow at 3.7 per cent to USD 124 billion in 2024 and at 4 per cent to reach USD 129 billion in 2025. Das said the Reserve Bank of India is looking forward to the journey towards RBI@100 with considerable optimism. We are constantly working on devising policies, approaches, systems and platforms that will make our financial sector stronger, nimble and customer centric, he said. Speaking on the theme of DPI and emerging technologies, he said over the last decade, the traditional banking system has undergone an unprecedented technological transformation. This process is likely to become even more intense in the coming years, he added. He said DPI spurs market innovation by reducing transaction costs, democratising access, maintaining competition through interoperability, and attracting private capital. Referring to the countrys experience, Das said DPI has enabled India to achieve, in less than a decade, levels of financial inclusion that would have otherwise taken several decades or more. Digital Public Infrastructure refers to basic technology systems, created mainly in the public sector, which are openly available to users and other developers. Indias DPI journey is a unique model, wherein the base technical infrastructure is built, operated and managed in the public sector, while the private sector accesses the DPI to create innovative customer facing services. The advantage of developing DPI in the public sector is that typically the private sector would be averse to capital investment to create infrastructure with uncertain returns, the Governor said and added that privately created infrastructure may not also be amenable to democratised access or interoperability. The Governor talked about Indias advancements in the field of digitalisation of the financial services. He further said Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payment system, has emerged as a robust, cost-effective and portable retail payment system and is attracting active interest across the globe. Continuing on this journey of digitalisation of banking services, last year we launched the pilot of a technology platform which enables frictionless credit. From now on, we propose to call it the Unified Lending Interface (ULI), he said. The ULI platform facilitates seamless and consent-based flow of digital information, including land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders. This cuts down the time taken for credit appraisal, especially for smaller and rural borrowers. He said that by digitising access to the customers financial and non-financial data that otherwise resided in disparate silos, ULI is expected to cater to large unmet demand for credit across various sectors, particularly for agricultural and MSME borrowers. Based on the experience from the pilot project, Das said a nationwide launch of the ULI will be done in due course. Just like UPI transformed the payments ecosystem, we expect that ULI will play a similar role in transforming the lending space in India. The new trinity of JAM-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in Indias digital infrastructure journey, he said. On artificial intelligence (AI) and DPI, Das said for customers, AI enables hyper-personalised products and faster, more relevant services, while for financial institutions like lenders there are benefits from advanced tools for risk and fraud management, streamlined operations, and reduced compliance costs. Such advancements, however, come with serious challenges. Data privacy concerns arise from handling vast volumes of personal information. Ethical AI governance is essential to ensure fairness and prevention of bias, he said. He further said AI technology can also be misused to spread misinformation, potentially causing severe damage and disruption to DPIs as well as other digital systems. They can also damage the reputation and operations of financial institutions. AI promises to make processes simpler and efficient. It can also emulate decision-making to a great extent. However, when it comes to the regulated financial institutions, there should be careful adoption of AI in critical decision-making segments, for example in loan sanctioning, Das said. Das also said with the emergence of fast payment systems across countries and experimentation around central bank digital currency (CBDC), new possibilities are opening up to bring in greater efficiency to cross-border payments. Maximum efficiency gains in such initiatives would come from ensuring interoperability as a key design element, the Governor said. Orient Technologies IPO Allotment Date: The initial public offering (IPO) of information technology solutions provider Orient Technologies Ltd, which concluded on Friday, received a whopping 154.84 times subscription on the final day of bidding. The share allotment is going to be finalised today, August 26. Investors will receive a bank debit message in the evening, if allotted the IPO. The IPO allotment status can be checked on the websites of both BSE and NSE, as well as on the registrar Link Intime Indias portal. The Orient Technologies IPO listing is scheduled to take place on August 28. According to market observers, the grey market premium (GMP) of the companys unlisted shares signals 39.81 per cent listing gains. The Orient Technologies IPO was opened on August 21, 2024. The share allotment will take place on August 26, while its listing is scheduled for August 28. Orient Technologies IPO: How to Check Allotment Status? Once the IPO allotment is finalised on August 26, the status can be checked by following these steps: 1) Go to the official BSE website via the URL https://www.bseindia.com/investors/appli_check.aspx. 2) Under Issue Type, select Equity. 3) Under Issue Name, select Orient Technologies Ltd in the dropbox. 4) Enter your application number, or the Permanent Account Number (PAN). 5) Then, click on the I am not a robot to verify yourself and hit Search option. Your share application status will appear on your screen. You can also visit direct Link Intime portal https://www.linkintime.co.in/Initial_Offer/public-issues.html and check the Orient Technologies IPO allotment status. Orient Technologies IPO GMP Today According to market observers, unlisted shares of Orient Technologies Ltd are trading Rs 82 higher (at Rs 288 apiece) in the grey market as against its issue price of Rs 206. The Rs 82 grey market premium or GMP means the grey market is expecting a 39.81 per cent listing gain from the public issue. The GMP is based on market sentiments and keeps changing. Grey market premium indicates investors readiness to pay more than the issue price. Orient Technologies IPO: Subscription Status, Other Details The Rs 215-crore initial public offering (IPO) of Orient Technologies Ltd, which was opened between August 21 and August 23, is a combination of a fresh issue of Rs 120 crore and an offer for sale of up to 46 lakh equity shares valued at Rs 95 crore, at the upper end of the price band, by promoters. This aggregates the transaction size to Rs 215 crore. The price band of the IPO was fixed at Rs 195-206 a share. On the final day of bidding on Friday, the IPO received a whopping 154.84 times subscription, garnering bids for 1,12,99,91,256 shares as against 72,97,670 shares on offer. According to the latest data, the retail quota received a 68.93 times subscription, while the non-institutional investors category also got a 310.03 times subscription. The QIB category received a 188.79 times subscription. Under OFS, those offloading shares are Ajay Baliram Sawant, Umesh Navnitlal Shah, Ujwal Arvind Mhatre, and Jayesh Manharlal Shah. The proceeds from the fresh issue to the tune of Rs 79.65 crore will be used for funding capital expenditure requirements, Rs 10.35 crore for the acquisition of office premises at Navi Mumbai, and a portion will also be used for general corporate purposes. Investors can bid for a minimum of 72 equity shares and in multiples thereof. Over the years, the company has developed deep expertise in creating products and solutions for specialised disciplines across IT Infrastructure, IT Enabled Services (IteS), and Cloud and Data Management Services. Orient Technologies has a diverse clientele spanning both public and private sectors, including industries like Banking, Financial Services, Insurance (BFSI), Information Technology (IT) & ITeS, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. It has clients such as Coal India, Mazagon Dock, DDcor, Jyothy Labs, ACG, Integreon, Bluechip, Tradebulls. The company primarily operates in India and has sales and services offices in cities across the country, including Navi Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Additionally, it has a branch office in Singapore. As of June 30, 2024, Orient Technologies order book stood at Rs 101.20 crore. Orient Technologies revenue from operations during the fiscal year 2024 increased to Rs 602.89 crore from Rs 535.10 crore in the previous year and profit after tax rose to Rs 41.45 crore in fiscal 2024 from Rs 38.30 crore in fiscal 2023. Elara Capital (India) Pvt Ltd is the sole book-running lead manager for the IPO. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and NSE. Hinduja Global Solutions Block Deal: Shares of Hinduja Global Solutions have climbed more than 4 per cent after Singapore-based Legends Global Opportunities (Singapore) Pte fund bought a 1.52 per cent stake in the company at an average price of Rs 885.11 per share. Legends Global Opportunities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. bought a 1.53 per cent stake in Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd., while New Leaina Investments Limited sold a 0.78 per cent stake. The market capitalisation of the company around the same time stood at Rs 4,378.02 crore. The stocks 52-week high stood at Rs 1,064.75, while the 52-week low stood at Rs 720.25. Part of the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate Hinduja Group, the company provides services such as optimizing customer experience lifecycles, digital transformation, business process management and digital media ecosystem, across nine countries. Hinduja Global Solutions serves more than one thousand brands with business process management (BPM), technology and human resource outsourcing (HRO) solutions. The company had reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,091.9 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2025, down 3.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) compared to revenues of Rs 1,133.5 crore, in the corresponding quarter last year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, for the quarter stood at Rs 16.7 crore, down 78.2 per cent YoY from Rs 76.8 crore, in the year ago period. Hinduja Global had reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 161.5 crore in Q1FY25, up 870.9 per cent from Rs 16.6 crore in the year ago period. The company had accrued a one time profit of 218.5 crore in the quarter due to discontinued operations. The company stock, however, has gained nearly 120 per cent in the past three months. In contrast, the Hinduja Globals stock has lost 52 per cent in the year-to-date period, compared to a gain of 31.87 per cent by the BSE Sensex. Krishna Janmashtami, the Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna, falls on Monday, August 26. Due to the festival, many banks in various cities will be closed, as announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual holiday schedule. Will BSE and NSE Be Open on August 26, 2024? However, financial markets will remain operational. Both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will be open for trading on Janmashtami. The list of trading holidays for the Equity Segment, Equity Derivative Segment, and SLB Segment is released annually at the start of the year. For the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), trading will proceed as usual during both the morning and evening sessions on Krishna Janmashtami. Banks will be closed in Gujarat, Odisha, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Jammu, Srinagar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, and Himachal Pradesh on Monday. Stock Market Holidays for 2024: Gandhi Jayanti October 2 Diwali Laxmi Pujan November 1 (Muhurat Trading will be conducted) Gurunanak Jayanti November 15 Christmas December 25 Krishna Janmashtami Krishna Janmashtami, also known simply as Janmashtami, is a significant Hindu festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm, the festival is observed by millions of devotees across India and around the world. The festivities often include fasting, singing devotional songs, reciting scriptures, and participating in reenactments of Krishnas life, particularly the famous Dahi Handi event where groups form human pyramids to break a pot of curd, symbolising Krishnas playful and mischievous nature. Temples are beautifully decorated, and midnight prayers are held, as it is believed that Krishna was born at the stroke of midnight. Janmashtami is not just a religious observance but also a cultural celebration, reflecting the rich traditions and vibrant spirit of Hinduism. The University of Delhi has released the second round of the seat allocation list on du.ac.in. Students assigned seats in the second round must confirm their allotment by August 27, and the respective colleges will accept admissions by August 29. Students must pay the admission fee by August 30. The varsity has said in its official notice that only candidates who make the payment can opt for Upgrade for the subsequent round. While 24,869 new allocations were done in round 2, as many as 27,554 candidates got a higher preference through their choice of upgrade. As per the policy of the University, in second round, all candidates who were rejected in Round-I due to invalid certificate / document have been reconsidered in the UR category as per their merit and preference, subject to the availability of seats, reads the official notice by DU. DU had earlier released a list of 6,100 vacant seats for the second round of undergraduate admissions. As many as 65,843 seats, or 91.98 percent of seats, were filled in the first round of counselling. DU allotted 97,387 seats, with 52,838 seats going to girl students and 44,549 to male students. This year, 2,45,287 students registered through the DU CSAS portal. Meanwhile, DU offers a total of 71,600 seats for UG courses. DU UG CSAS Admission 2024 Round 2 Seat Allocation List: Steps to Check Step 1: Head to the official website of Delhi University at admission.uod.ac.in. Step 2: On the homepage, click on the Login tab and key in the required details. Step 3: After logging in, look for the Round 2 Seat allocation link and click on it. Step 4: The DU UG CSAS Round 2 Seat allocation list will appear on the screen. Step 5: Download and save the seat allotment result for future reference. Delhi University will declare the allocations to Performance-based programmes and Supernumerary quotas of CW, ECA, Sports, and Ward in the third round of allocations. The schedule for the third round will be declared soon, it has said. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are set to host the Indian Finance Conference, 2024, an annual event that sees faculty, research scholars and industry experts gather to showcase their best work. The event, moving away from the legacy of the older and top-rated IIMs, will be hosted by IIM-Raipur, a younger institute, for the first time from December 19-21. Ram Kumar Kakani, the institutes director, spoke to News18 on the challenges faced by the newer IIMs, why they have not been able to reach the top in the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) despite being tagged as premium business schools, why IITs have an advantage in the rankings, and how, despite all odds, the younger IIMs are making their mark. Edited Excerpts: What is the significance of the Indian Finance Conference, 2024, in particular when its being hosted by a younger IIM for the first time? What does it mean to a newer IIM like Raipur? The conference started in 2008 and this is the 17th such event. It was started together by the three older IIMs Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta. In the initial 10 years, the hosting would rotate among these three. It is only over the last two-three years that the older institutions started giving the other IIMs a chance to take the conference further. This is how IIM-Raipur got the opportunity. The conference gives us a chance to showcase our research and attract international faculty and firms. One of the highest amounts of finance-related research happens in IIM-Raipur apart from IIM-A and IIM-B. It is a fantastic chance for us to showcase our scholars and faculty colleagues. Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta have had a certain head-start, with their legacy attracting different minds. This year, a few New York University-based professors and another from Singapore, I think, are coming down for the December conference. IIM-Raipur is one of the younger IIMs and is located in Chhattisgarh, which is known for Naxal violence. What are the challenges that you face in terms of hiring of faculty and attracting international firms and collaborations with other institutions? There are, of course, a few challenges. However, this is the only IIM that has an airport attached to it; just 16-17 minutes away. We must create a perception that this is a safe and secure place. The moment you say Chhattisgarh or Raipur, people only think of Naxalites. While there is no denying the fact that there is Naxal presence, we need to move beyond that. There is a challenge we face in attracting good corporates who can help with placements. This is why each conference gives us a chance to showcase our work and overcome such issues of perception. Unlike the older IIMs, which have become self-sufficient, funding for the newer IIMs has been an issue for long. How has the institute been overcoming such challenges? According to the government mandate, our performance metrics at the institute level include the amount of surplus we generate from the business window, which has nearly 20 per cent weightage. So, surplus generated is important. We dont take up consultancy or sponsored research wherein the margins are less than, lets say, 10 per cent. We are overcoming the challenge in two ways. First, we pick up businesses and jobs wherein there is a certain amount of earning. For example, now we take up only a limited number of projects which may be 100 per cent socially impactful, but the monetary gain is near zero. Second, we are focusing on CSR funds and are hopeful that these will help us in enabling higher education with academic excellence. Besides this, we are aiming for grants, endowments, and other kinds of support. I would call the younger IIMs unicorns. Look at the number of MBA students we create and the amount of tax they are contributing to the government. Our contribution to the government, in that sense, is equally good. Even though IIMs are premium business schools, many of the newer ones do not make it to the top NIRF rankings in the management category, which is often dominated by IITs. What do you have to say about this? There are two to three aspects to it. First, IITs have the benefit of unlimited access to government funding, grants, endowments, and alumni networks. Second, if you observe, they push and showcase their non-management research as management research. What I am trying to say is that some of those metrics possibly will have to be revisited. Unlimited access to grants and funds results in the legacy institutes becoming bigger. For example, where do you think the largest law college is? It is not Jindal or HNLU or NLSIU, Bangalore. In future, you will see IIT Kharagpur School of Law becoming the biggest because it has maximum funds. So, what I am trying to say is that one needs to understand that the IITs have those kinds of massive advantages. Of late, placements at the younger IIMs have seen a dip, with even summer internships getting difficult. Is it the global economic scenario or has there also been a shift in the kind of profiles that recruiters are now looking for? Yes, placement scenario has not been great, whether it is IIM or any other institution. The impact has definitely been more on smaller and unknown institutes compared to legacy institutes. For IIM Ahmedabad, with an alumni network of 40,000, it is easy to push, pull and place their students whereas for a younger IIM, with just about 3,000-4,000 alumni, there would be some challenges in placing graduates. Despite that, we have been able to get an offer for each of our students last year. Second, our average or median salaries have been around 20 Lakh Per Annum (LPA). I think there has been a reduction of about 5-7 per cent in the 2023-24 session from the past. What was around 21 LPA has come down to 20 lakhs. It is all linked to the global economic scenario and, with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it led to some roles like data analyst being reduced. Also, this year was the year of elections, which led to a lot of scepticism and caution. Summer internships were a problem but it is not right to say that students did not get anything. Maybe, they didnt get what they possibly expected at the time of joining because of the economic downturn. The hiring among giants like Meta too has not been very high. Despite that, on the bright side, this scenario led us to a lot of mid-size organisations that offered jobs to our students. It also helped us meet corporates, understand the needs of mid- and new-age firms and ensure that our admission process and teaching meet those requirements. Former Jharkhand chief minister and senior JMM leader Champai Soren is set join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on August 30, confirmed Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The 67-year-old tribal leader met union home minister Amit Shah and Sarma was also present there. While sharing a photograph of the leaders on social media platform X, the Assam CM said, Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a distinguished Adivasi leader of our country, @ChampaiSorenJi met Honble Union Home Minister @AmitShahJi a short while ago. He will officially join the @BJP4India on 30th August in Ranchi. Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a distinguished Adivasi leader of our country, @ChampaiSoren Ji met Honble Union Home Minister @AmitShah Ji a short while ago. He will officially join the @BJP4India on 30th August in Ranchi. pic.twitter.com/OOAhpgrvmu Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 26, 2024 He earlier hinted that he might float a new political party in the run-up to the state assembly elections. I will not retire from politics. In the new chapter that I have started, Ill strengthen the new organisation and if I find a good friend in the way, Ill move ahead with that friendship to serve the people and state Everything will become clear in a week, the senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader said shortly after he reached his ancestral village Jhilingora in Seraikela-Kharsawan district post midnight last week. There were speculations that he might switch to the saffron camp. Lobin Hembrom, former JMM MLA who fought as a rebel candidate in the Lok Sabha election, had told a media organisation that Champai Soren is in touch with BJP leadership, adding that the time has come to oppose parivarvaad or dynasty politics. Hembrom was recently disqualified as a JMM MLA under the anti-defection law. This led to the speculation of Champai quitting the JMM. Slowly, the buzz snowballed into not just Champai, but Hembram as well as sitting minister Badal Patralekh too tipped to join the BJP in Delhi. But he refuted the rumours of him joining the BJP. Rejecting the reports, Champai had said, I dont know what rumours are being spread. I dont know what news is being run, so I cannot tell whether its true or not. I dont know anything about itHum jahan par hain vahi par hain (I am here only). What led Champais exit from JMM? The JMM leader was anointed to the top post after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. Champai stepped down from the post on July 3 after Hemant Soren was granted bail by Jharkhand High Court. He was unhappy with the way he was unceremoniously removed from the Chief Ministers post to make way for Hemant Soren to become CM again. He complained in close quarters that he felt insulted by the way he was removed, say sources. He is a tribal leader who had always been a perpetual chief minister-in-waiting. He is an Adivasi by birth and a loyalist of the Soren family. WHO IS CHAMPAI SOREN? Champai has earned the sobriquet Jharkhands Tiger for his contribution to the long fight for the creation of a separate state in the 1990s. Jharkhand was created from the southern part of Bihar in 2000. A matriculate from a government school, he started his political career by getting elected as an independent MLA through a by-election from the Saraikela seat in undivided Bihar in 1991. He served as a cabinet minister in the BJP government headed by Arjun Munda between September 2010 to January 2013. When Hemant Soren formed his second government in the state in 2019, Champai Soren became the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Transport. National Conference and Congress on Monday announced an alliance for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the first such polls after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories in 2019. Out of 90 assembly seats, National Conference will contest 51 seats while Congress will field its candidates in 32 constituencies. The parties left one seat each for CPI(M) and Panthers Party. National Conference and Congress also announced that a friendly contest would be held on five seats of the Union territory. Fight Against Those Trying To Divide People: Farooq Abdullah National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said that both parties have come together to fight those forces who are trying to divide people in J&K. It is a matter of great happiness that we started this campaign that both of us will fight together against those forces who are trying to divide people here. The whole country and INDIA alliance was formed so that we can fight those forces who want to communalize, divide and break the country. Today we have completed the negotiations and have done coordination in a very good cordial atmosphere. Congress and the National Conference will fight the elections together, the former CM said. BJP Trying To Destroy J&Ks Soul: Congress Congress leader KC Venugopal alleged that the BJP is trying to destroy the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. INDIA alliances main objective is to save the soul of Jammu and Kashmir so that is why Congress and National Conference is coming together to make a government in Jammu & Kashmir which is totally friendly with the people of J&K. We have done a discussion in accordance and we entered into a formula which our leaders will share now. We will fight together, we will win J&K. We will form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, the Lok Sabha MP said. Will Make Common Minimum Programme for Governance: Omar National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said, I want to categorically state that the Congress party never raised any objection to our manifesto. At the initial stage of our discussions at the local level they had asked if we would consider some kind of common minimum programme and we told them that common minimum programme always comes after winning elections. We are fighting this election to win, if National Conference and Congress get the support of the people then we will make a common minimum programme for governance for the next 5 years. We did not discuss our manifesto with the Congress, nor did we ask the Congress what they were going to include in their manifesto. J&K Election Dates Polls to the 90-member J-K assembly will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results will be announced on October 4. As of now, 14 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the first phase of elections. August 27 is the last date for filing nominations for the first phase. The process of filing nominations for the second and third phases will begin on August 29 and September 5, respectively. In the last assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, when it was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats. Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, will be the partys leading star campaigner for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, scheduled for next month, along with the Delhi chief minister who is currently in jail. Sunita Kejriwal has been leading the AAPs campaign in Haryana too. The AAP on Sunday made public the list of star campaigners for the J&K assembly polls with Arvind Kejriwals name at the top, followed by Sunita Kejriwals. Sunita Kejriwal is a retired IRS officer. While she had been away from politics all these years, the arrest of her husband has made her a prominent name in public rallies and outreach by the party. She also campaigned for the party in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls and in Haryana where elections will be held on October 1. She has been visiting the state almost every week to hold rallies. Arvind Kejriwal has been in jail since March this year after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with allegations that he, along with others, conspired to manipulate the state excise policy to benefit certain liquor vendors unfairly. The first two positions in the list of 40 people declared by the party were captured by the couple followed by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who was also in jail and walked out after 17 months a few weeks ago. Jailed AAP leader Satyendar Jain has also been given space in the list. AAPs Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh, Sandeep Pathak and ND Gupta are also in the top 10 along with Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai. AAP announces seven candidates Soon after announcing that the party will be fighting the assembly polls independently, the AAP also announced the first list of seven candidates for the first assembly polls in the Union Territory. The list covers Pulwama (Fayaz Ahmed Sofi), Rajpora (Muddasir Hassan), Devsar (Sheikh Fida Hussain), Dooru (Mohsin Shafkat Mir), Doda (Mehraj Din Malik), Doda West (Yasir Shafi Matto), and Banihal (Musassir Azmat Mir). AAP is a national party that is ruling in Delhi and Punjab. The party will also fight elections in Haryana without any alliance so far. The J&K polls will be held in three phases from September 18, while Haryana will vote on October 1. The results will be declared on October 4. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released a list of 44 names for the Jammu and Kashmir elections 15 candidates for the first phase, 10 for the second and 19 for the third only to remove it from WhatsApp groups and even the party website and issue a fresh list for the first phase, followed by a second list with just one name. What prompted the BJP action? Two reasons are seen behind the sudden move by the party, which hopes to repeat its performance of 2014, the last time J&K saw a state assembly poll. ALSO READ | BJP Releases First List For J&K Polls, Withdraws It Soon After, Then Announces Two Revised Lists With Just 16 Names DOMINANCE OF TURNCOATS When the BJP released its first list of 44, which now stands withdrawn, it was dominated by turncoats which would have sent a wrong message to the party cadre. Having experienced a negative reaction from the cadre in the Lok Sabha election in in Uttar Pradesh that cost the BJP dear, the party wanted to announce slowly and probably reconsider some names for the remaining two phases, where the message would not give a body blow to the cadre. Syed Mushtaq Ahmad Bukhari, a former minister from the National Conference (NC) who recently joined the BJP, was given a ticket from Surankote, while Devinder Rana, once a close associate of Omar Abdullah, too, was given a ticket from Nagrota. Former PDP leader Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi was fielded from Pampore. Turncoats namely Zulfikar Ali, Murtaza Khan, and SS Salthia, too, were rewarded. But the BJPs revised list of 15, that, too, only for the first phase, did not have names of many of the turncoats. The BJP was apprehensive that the cadre would stop campaigning. But the withdrawn list resulted in something worse an internal fight. Moments after coming out with the turncoat-dominated list, the BJP party headquarters in Jammu witnessed a protest, with supporters shouting zindabad slogans in the name of leaders that were overlooked. MISSING BIG NAMES Another reason the BJP withdrew the list was the absence of the partys own faces and old horses, which would only complicate matters for the party. The BJPs one of the biggest faces from Jammu its former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh was denied a ticket. Former Minister Satpal Sharma, who won with the highest margin of 50,629 votes in the 2014 assembly elections, also didnt make it to the list of 44. While the BJP fielded two Kashmiri Pandits Veer Saraf and Ashok Bhat in the original list to appeal to the core voting base, the absence of big names attracted the spotlight. The BJP has been dismissive of this. It is an internal decision (to withdraw and re-issue candidate list) of the party. We are a cadre-based party, unlike a family-run unit of the Congress, which is rattled that it is losing the J&K election. People of J&K are waiting to reject their separatist politics, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari told News18. But a Delhi-based BJP leader conceded on condition of anonymity that the list was released in haste without considering its implications. Khatron Ke Khiladi 14 is getting intense with each passing week. As the stunts get harder, contestants are struggling to survive on the show. In the recent episode, Aashish Mehrotra faced elimination after losing a task to Sumona Chakravarti and Shalin Bhanot by 9 seconds. The Anupamaa actor was seen finding it hard to hold back tears as he bid adieu to the thrilling reality show. Host Rohit Shetty also lauded Aashish for his zeal on the show. In the video shared by the makers, Karan Veer Mehra was seen consoling Aashish Mehrotra. Aashish has also thanked Rohit Shetty and the makers for the opportunity. He also mentioned that Rohit Shetty is an important figure in his life because he was a judge on the show Indias Next Superstars, which he won. The actor also expressed how grateful he was for the support of his fans, who were rooting for him so far. He posted a picture of himself and wrote, Thank you so much for being part of this beautiful journey of KKK with me guysI am so blessed to have you all by my side as my supportstay tuned for more beautiful things coming your way through me. To all my fans.family/ audience and big thank you to colorsTV and endemol shine for making me part of your family. The show had an interesting Bluff Master week, where Aashish had to bluff Niyati Fatnani, but failed, bringing him to the elimination round. Sumona Chakravarti, Aashish Mehrotra, and Shalin Bhanot had to perform the elimination stunt that involved snakes and electric shocks. Aashish, despite his fear of snakes, was the first to attempt the stunt. Aashish completed the stunt in 6 minutes and 4 seconds, while Shalin Bhanot took 4 minutes and 50 seconds. Sumona Chakravarti took 5 minutes and 55 seconds to complete the task. Last week, Aditi Sharma was eliminated from the Khatron Ke Khiladi 14. Krishna Shroff and Shilpa Shinde were evicted as well. However, the duo were brought back to the show as wildcard contenders. Rupali Ganguly, renowned for her role in Anupamaa, recently took to Instagram to share a touching update. The actress expressed profound grief over the loss of her mother-in-law, Sudarshan Verma, and revealed that her son, Rudransh, celebrated his first birthday without his cherished grandmother. In a heartfelt video, Rupali offered fans a glimpse into the deep connection between Sudarshan Verma and her grandson, reflecting on their special bond. The video features moments from Rudranshs previous birthday celebrations, where his grandmother is seen blessing him on his special day. From cutting the cake with his grandmother beside him to visiting her in the hospital, the video captures the deep love shared between the grandmother and grandson. Alongside the video, Rupali penned, Rudranshs first birthday without that one person who perhaps loved him more than his parentsForever Daadi ka laadla KrishnaSmt Sudarshan Verma your void will be felt always. Cherish the parents and the Grandparentspure unconditional unadulterated blessings. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rups (@rupaliganguly) The emotional post resonated deeply with fans, who quickly flooded the comment section with condolences and heartfelt messages. One fan wrote, May her soul rest in peace. She will forever be a guardian angel for her Rudransh, while another user mentioned, Rudransh may your life be filled with laughter. On the professional front, Rupali Ganguly is currently seen as Anupama in Star Pluss hit show Anupamaa alongside Sudhanshu Pandey and Gaurav Khanna. According to a report by Bollywood Life, the show might undergo another significant leap, with the possibility of a renowned actor joining the cast. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai actor Shivam Khajuria might join the show as Aadhyas (played by Aurra Bhatnagar Badoni) love interest after a leap, though this hasnt been confirmed yet. The makers are also searching for an actress to play the grown-up Aadhya, who would be paired with Shivam. There are speculations that Rupali Ganguly and Gaurav Khanna might leave the show after the leap. The show also features Madalsa Sharma, Arvind Vaidya, Nidhi Shah, Nishi Saxena, Kunwar Amar, Alpana Buch and more. On the personal front, Rupali got married to businessman Ashwin K. Verma on February 6, 2013. The couple share a son named Rudransh. Tech billionaire and founder of Telegram Pavel Durovs detention by French authorities at an airport outside Paris Saturday evening for offences related to the app and failing to address its criminal use has sent shockwaves in the industry. The arrest follows a French warrant issued for Durov over allegations that the lack of moderation on Telegram has facilitated illegal activities including money laundering, drug trafficking, and the sharing of pedophilic content. What Do We Know About Pavel Durov? Pavel Durov, 39, is the founder and owner of Telegram, a prominent messaging app that competes with major platforms such as Metas WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and Chinese platform WeChat. The app aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within the next year. Durov, a free speech advocate, founded Telegram in 2013 with his brother. He fled Russia a year later after refusing to share the data of certain Ukrainian users of VKontakte a social networking app that he founded in 2007 in St Petersburg with Russias security agency. I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone, Durov was reportedly quoted as saying in 2014. Telegram got banned in Russia in 2018 but was reinstated in 2021. Durvo currently lives in Dubai and holds dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France. His estimated net worth is between $9 billion and $15.5 billion. What are the Allegations Against Durov? Researchers believe that Telegram remains a hotbed for criminal activity, as well as extremist or terrorist content and misinformation. Critics have hinted that the Kremlin may have links to or leverage over Telegram, a claim that Durov has dismissed as inaccurate, as per a report by The Financial Times. The app has also been criticized in the UK for hosting extreme channels linked to recent violence. Although it has removed some of the harmful groups, experts say its moderation of harmful content is weaker than other apps. French authorities and European Union tech regulators have been in contact with Telegram regarding its compliance with new online content legislation. The Moscow Times reported that Frances arrest warrant for Durov includes charges of complicity in drug trafficking, crimes against children, and fraud due to the moderation issues on Telegram and his alleged lack of cooperation with law enforcement. What has been Telegrams Financial Journey? Telegrams financial journey began in 2017. Before that, Durov supported the messenger with the funds he received after leaving Vkontakte about $400 million. After realising the need to attract funds, brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov decided to create a blockchain platform called Telegram Open Network (TON) featuring their own cryptocurrency, Gram, according to a report by Russian broadsheet newspaper Pravda. Durov has not sold the company in three years, and the messengers business model does not seem to be self-sufficient. Therefore, he has repeatedly approached investors for help, including those close to the Kremlins top brass. But in 2019, the company was ordered to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay $18.5 million in fines. Apparently, in order to boost demand, Telegram has promised to hold an IPO, during which bondholders will be entitled to convert their bonds into shares at a discount of 10-20%. The 10% discount will apply should the IPO take place before the spring of 2024. It will increase to 15% in 2025 and 20% in 2026. The company launched a paid Telegram Premium subscription in June 2022. Durov said in December 2022 that the number of paid users had reached 1 million, which is only 0.14% of the stated number of app users. Telegrams revenue from in-app purchases in the Apple App Store in July 2023 was $2.4 million. This is 80% of the messenger apps total revenue from the two platforms, as monthly income from in-app purchases by Android users in the Google Play Store over the same month was only $588,000. Durov, who fully owns Telegram, said the company had been offered $30 billion plus valuations from potential investors, including global late-stage tech funds, but has ruled out selling the platform while it explores future initial offering, as quoted by The Financial Times. Telegram investors include Russians David Yakobashvili, who invested $10 million, and oligarch Roman Abramovich. The former is under Ukrainian sanctions, while Abramovich is on the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United States, Switzerland, Canada, Ukraine and other countries. Russian Forbes noted that the founder of Bank 131, Dmitry Yeremeev, also invested in Telegram. Whats Kremlins Reaction to Durovs Detention? Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the head of Russias Security Council, said he had warned him that refusing to cooperate with law enforcement would cause problems in any country. He miscalculated, Medvedev stated. For all our common enemies now, he is Russian and therefore unpredictable and dangerous. Medvedev added, Durov should finally realise that one cannot choose ones fatherland. According to Russian state news agency TASS, the Russian embassy in France has demanded consular access to Durov and insisted that his rights be protected. The embassy noted that France has so far avoided engagement regarding Durovs situation. Russian diplomats are reportedly in touch with Durovs lawyer to address the matter. Local media reported that Durov was travelling from Azerbaijan on his private jet when he was arrested. Frances Ofmin, an agency combating violence against minors, reportedly issued the arrest warrant for Durov. The agency is coordinating a preliminary investigation into alleged offences, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime, and promoting terrorism. Singapore has charged two former bankers who are involved in the countrys biggest money laundering case, marking its first criminal actions against finance professionals in the $2.3 billion scandal. Wang Qiming, a 26-year-old Chinese national, was charged with 10 counts including forging documents for the purpose of cheating the bank, according to charge sheets. He used to work at Citibank Singapore Ltd., according to records with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. While Liu Kai, a 35-year-old who was formerly with Bank Julius Baer & Co., was accused of aiding one of the now-convicted money launderers in submitting a forged Chinese tax document to open a bank account in Switzerland. What Exactly Happened? Singapore Police conducted raids and arrested 10 people of Chinese origin on August 15, 2023 on suspicion of engaging in money laundering and fraudulent activity. All 10 people arrested lived in luxury condominiums. Singapore authorities have seized cash, real estate, cryptocurrencies and other assets totalling about S$3 billion, and sent 10 people of Chinese origin to jail this year for laundering illicit funds from overseas gambling operations and other offences. More individuals involved in the scheme remain at large. In addition, Wang in 2021 forged remittance receipts from an Indonesian company that were used to substantiate two separate S$999,980 deposits into a Citibank account, according to the charges. He also forged a loan document to fool Citibank about the source of Wangs funds, the police said. According to Bloomberg, the 10 accused people, along with their companies and associates, held over S$370 million with a big portion in major banks. Credit Suisse held S$79.6 million, Citigroup S$79.3 million and United Overseas Bank S$41.6 million. What are the Implications? With its zero-tolerance approach to money laundering, the government has introduced stricter regulations to reinforce this approach. The regulations include a law that allows banks to share information about high-risk clients with one another and a mandate requiring property developers to conduct greater due diligence and report suspicious transactions. Bloomberg reported that Singaporean banks are strengthening their client-review procedures, and some have closed the accounts of Chinese clients who hold multiple passports. At least two of the 10 individuals arrested in August in Singapore were wanted in China on the same charges. The scandal has been politically damaging for the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP), which will undergo a rare leadership transition in 2024. The PAP, led by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was already under fire for events that are quite unusual in light of Singapores history and traditions a corruption investigation into its transport minister, the resignation of its parliament speaker due to an extramarital affair. Whats Next? Singapores position as a global financial hub, combined with its strong banking secrecy regulations, has made it an attractive location for foreign investors, which can bring greater risk of illegal transactions. Singapores Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority has proposed tackling money laundering through stronger measures to prevent the establishment of fraudulent businesses. While the exact regulations have not yet been made public, one proposal is to limit the number of directorships an individual can hold in Singapore. These proposed regulations are expected to be considered by parliament in early 2024. By 2021, SFOs in Singapore managed a total of C$90 billion. Current regulations allow for the establishment of SFOs by foreign individuals and provide tax incentives, which makes them attractive to criminals looking to launder money. Sanjay Roy, accused in the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital over two weeks ago, has unrestricted access to the building as he was a civic volunteer with the West Bengal Police. He had allegedly snuck into the seminar room on the third floor of the chest medical department of the hospital where the 31-year-old junior doctor was resting. The accused, who is a trained boxer, allegedly got close to a few senior police officers over the years, following which he was moved to the Kolkata Police Welfare Board and posted at the police outpost at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. What should draw attention of the readers is how a civic volunteer, who is now in judicial custody, gained unrestricted access to the hospital? How are the recruited by the police? And how do they aid the government? Let us answer these questions. Who is a Civic Police Volunteer? Roy has been working as a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police since 2019. He enjoyed certain facilities such as he drove a motorbike belonging to the police, and stayed in the barracks of the Kolkata Armed Police Forces battalion. Reports suggest that he was part of the Kolkata Police Welfare Committee and helped in admission of relatives of police personnel to hospitals. The civic volunteers were initially hired to provide a regular source of income to unemployed youth. It was implemented on a small scale in 2008 under the rule of Communist Part of India (Marxist). During that time, there was a shortage of manpower to carry day-to-day policing. The decision was made to rope in citizens on a contractual basis to fill the gap. Their job was to assist the traffic police in manning busy intersections and perform other minor duties that did not require police personnel. The first batch of the civic volunteers were given green uniforms. Since 2018, they have also been wearing blue uniform besides the old green one. According to a 2021 National Human Rights Commission report that looked into post-poll violence in West Bengal, civic volunteers are generally perceived to be agents of the ruling party as they were recruited during the tenure of the All India Trinamool Congress and maintain touch with the local party leaders. How were they recruited? The process of recruitment for civic police volunteers started in 2011 after the Mamata Banerjee government came to power. In a government order on September 26, 2011, the eligibility criteria for the recruitment required the volunteers to be a resident of that area, should be above the age of 20 years, should have passed Class 10 examination and should not have any criminal record. The qualification was later reduced to just Class 8. The government after the first set of recruitment in 2011, submitted a proposal to engage 1.3 lakh civic volunteers. The honorarium of civic police volunteers is Rs 310 per day (about Rs 9,300 per month). The ad-hoc bonus of such civic volunteers has been increased from Rs 5,300 to Rs 6,000 for the year 2023-2024. They are enlisted at the police station level at a lower rank on a no work, no pay basis and receive a 25-day basic training in traffic control and crowd management before they begin. There are 7,200 civic volunteers with the Kolkata Police, while the strength of the force stands at 37,400. In the State, the strength of the police is 79,024, but there are over 1.24 lakh civic police volunteers. Criticism Against Civic Volunteers The Calcutta High Court raised several questions regarding the process of recruitment of civic volunteers and their legal veracity. Justice Sanjib Banerjee had said in April 2016 that the state government had adopted a pick-and-choose policy while recruiting civic volunteers in Bankura. While taking up the petition in Bankura in 2015 Banerjee said it was not humanly possible for five men to interview 1,351 candidates in the course of a single day for the Sarenga police station. In February 2022, a civic police volunteer and a home guard were arrested for the unnatural death of student leader Anish Khan. After the RG Kar incident, a civic police volunteer was arrested from Bhatar State General Hospital after he threatened a lady doctor. Following the directive from the court, the West Bengal police directorate finally issued guidelines defining the role of civic volunteers in March 2023. The directives said that the civic volunteers would not be entrusted with any law-making decisions. Three people died after a truck allegedly ran over five individuals sleeping on a footpath in the Shastri Park area of northeast Delhi early Monday morning. According to the police, the victims were all homeless, and the incident occurred at Tarbuz market near Shastri Park metro station around 4:30 am. #WATCH | Delhi | This morning, three people died after a truck ran over a footpath in the Shastri Park area where 5 people were sleeping. The driver fled from the spot, leaving the vehicle behind. Further investigation underway: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/aXqJvpBB3C ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024 A Delhi Police officer said the medium goods vehicle was approaching the Iron Bridge from Seelampur when it veered onto the central verge and ran over the five men sleeping on the footpath. The victims were taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, where three were declared dead and their identities are yet to be confirmed, the officer said. Meanwhile, the two injuredMushtaq (35) and Kamlesh (36)were taken to GTB Hospital. The Delhi Police have been formed teams to apprehend the truck driver, who abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. Additionally, authorities are currently working to identify the victims. (With inputs from agencies) The shocking incident in Badlapur, where two young students were allegedly sexually assaulted within their school premises, has sparked widespread outrage across Maharashtra. In response, the states Education Department has announced a significant step toward ensuring the safety of children in schools by mandating the installation of panic buttons in all educational institutions. This decision comes in the wake of mounting public pressure and demands for stricter safety measures in schools. Maharashtra Education Minister, Deepak Kesarkar, made the announcement during a press briefing on Tuesday. He revealed that the government has established a special investigation team (SIT) to expedite the inquiry into the Badlapur incident. The SIT is expected to provide a detailed report, which will be discussed in a high-level meeting on Wednesday. A joint committee has been formed to look into the matter comprehensively. This committee includes the Chairpersons of the Womens Commission and the Child Rights Commission, along with senior officials from the police department. Their findings will be crucial in formulating our next steps, Kesarkar stated. He also indicated that those who attempted to cover up the incident would face severe consequences, hinting at the possibility of criminal charges being filed against them. The tragic events in Badlapur have shed light on the need for better safety protocols in schools, particularly those under the jurisdiction of the Tribal Development Department, which, according to Kesarkar, has limited direct control over school administrations. It is vital that school administration falls under one department to ensure accountability. At present, our schools are managed by both the Zilla Parishad and the Education Department, which complicates decision-making and enforcement, he explained. The decision to install panic buttons in schools is part of a broader strategy to enhance security. Kesarkar highlighted the importance of this measure, saying, When I was a Minister of State, I had proposed the idea of installing panic buttons in schools and providing them to women. The panic button is a simple yet effective tool. When pressed, it immediately alerts the nearest police station and activates a tracking system, allowing authorities to quickly locate the individual in distress. The system, which can operate offline, was developed by a company based in Hyderabad. This move, Kesarkar believes, will significantly reduce the likelihood of such incidents occurring in the future. The panic buttons, which will be installed in strategic locations throughout schools, are designed to be easily accessible to students and staff in case of an emergency. The Badlapur incident has left the community in shock, with parents and educators alike demanding swift justice and immediate reforms. The accused, a 24-year-old school janitor named Akshay Shinde, has been arrested and is currently in judicial custody. Shinde, who was employed on a contractual basis at the school, was responsible for cleaning duties and assisting young students to and from the washrooms. He was reportedly known as Kathiwala Dada among the children. The Education Departments decision to install panic buttons is a direct response to the widespread outcry following this incident. It marks a significant shift towards prioritising the safety of children in schools across Maharashtra. However, many are calling for further reforms, including more rigorous background checks for school staff and stricter penalties for those found guilty of such heinous crimes. As the investigation into the Badlapur case continues, the governments swift action in implementing panic buttons is being seen as a crucial step in restoring public trust and ensuring that schools remain safe spaces for all children. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday alleged that several people including the outsiders were present inside the Seminar room on the fourth floor of Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital where a semi-nude body of a second year PG student was found on August 9. BJP while sharing a video, claimed that the crime scene was completely destroyed with the presence of doctors, policemen, hospital staff and outsiders in the Place of Occurrence (PO). However, the police issued a statement on the video saying that the except a few designated officials, no one was allowed to enter the PO. BJPs allegation Party IT cell head and West Bengal in-charge Amit Malviya shared a footage on social media platform X, where a packed seminar hall with several people can be seen. The footage, which is reportedly from August 9, purportedly featured Prasun Chattopadhyay (PA of former principal Sandeep Ghosh), a lawyer, a forensic demonstrator, and other officers. Shocking footage from Seminar Room of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, soon after the lifeless body of the raped and murdered PGT lady doctor was found.The crime scene was completely destroyed with so many doctors, policemen, hospital staff and OUTSIDERS in the Place of pic.twitter.com/M2iaePpAOc Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 26, 2024 Shocking footage from Seminar Room of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, soon after the lifeless body of the raped and murdered PGT lady doctor was found. The crime scene was completely destroyed with so many doctors, policemen, hospital staff and OUTSIDERS in the Place of Occurrence (PO). One can see these people in the video. There are several others: Sanjeev Chattopadhyaya, OC, RG Kar Outpost, One lawyer Shantanu Dey (in green half shirt). What was he doing there? Prasun Chattopadhyay (in maroon shirt), PA of disgraced former Principal Sandeep Ghosh, Debashis Shome, Forensic Demonstrator, Malviya said in the post. Questions Polices intent The BJP leader questioned the intent of Kolkata Police and said that why the police didnt stop the crowd including the outsiders from entering the crime scene. With Kolkata Police present there, why did they not stop the huge crowd from contaminating the crime scene, leading to destruction of vital evidence? Or was that the agenda? Who called the OUTSIDERS inside the hospital premise? Kolkata Police didnt allow the parents of the deceased to enter the crime scene, then why did they allow the OUTSIDERS to enter? he added. Questions intent of Mamata Banerjee government Referring to the video, the BJP criticised the TMC government and raised several questions on the Mamata government. This raises several questions on the intent of Mamata Banerjee Govt and their calculated attempts to cover up the crime. The out-of-line statements made by the Commissioner of Kolkata Police add to the grisly crime. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, while submitting before the special bench of the CJI, in the Supreme Court had said, Our investigation is a challenge by itself as the PO was altered! Now we know what he meant, Malviya added. Kolkata Polices Response However, the Kolkata Police issued a statement saying that only a few designated people were allowed to enter the PO and the video pertains to the area which is outside the cordon. When the body was found, the area was immediately cordoned off. Forty feet away from the dead body, no one except scheduled number of people, including some police officials, doctors, forensic team, videography/photography team, who were supposed to enter the PO. The video pertains to the area which is outside the cordon. There were several people including the victims family, doctors, in the area, the official said. Whats the case? The case pertains to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 while she was taking rest after completing her shift. The prime accused, Sanjay Roy was arrested a day after. Amid the ongoing protests, some miscreants entered the premises of state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 14 and vandalised portions of the medical facility, where the body of the victim was found. The Calcutta High Court on August 13 had an order to transfer the probe from Kolkata Police to the CBI. The Kolkata case has shaken the country, brought the functioning of RG Kar hospital under scrutiny, led to the ouster of its principal, and triggered massive protests by the medical fraternitys students and civil society. Maharashtra Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday said that CCTV footage from the past 15 days is missing at the Badlapur school where two minor girls were allegedly sexually assaulted. The minister further noted that an investigation is underway to determine how the footage went missing and if any school officials are involved, India Today reported. The school administration and police are under intense scrutiny for their handling of the case. The disappearance of the CCTV footage has further fuelled concerns about the schools response. Kesarkar also announced that the state government plans to install panic buttons in schools across Maharashtra. The minister stated that this proposal was discussed in a meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. Just like CCTVs in schools, panic buttons can also be installedA panic button can also be installed in the hostelsIt is an advanced technology, he stated at a press conference. #WATCH | On the Badlapur incident, Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar says, Just like CCTVs in schools, panic buttons can also be installedA panic button can also be installed in the hostelsIt is an advanced technology pic.twitter.com/EUV1KecTwX ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024 Massive protests have erupted in Thane district, where the school is located, following the alleged assault. The incident, involving a male attendant allegedly assaulting two 4-year-old girls in the schools washroom. The accused, Akshay Shinde, 23, was arrested on August 17. The school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher and a female attendant. Last Friday, the Thane District Education Officer was suspended for failing to report the assault on time, and the Education Officer of BMC faced suspension for not installing CCTV cameras in civic schools. (With inputs from agencies) Indias foreign policy has been in overdrive this week, orchestrating a series of high-profile engagements that signal its growing influence and ambition on the world stage. From bolstering defence ties with the United States (US) to elevating partnerships in Europe and Southeast Asia, and even reaching out amid the turmoil in Ukraine, India has deftly navigated the complexities of international relations with a renewed sense of purpose. Reaching Out to Ukraine Prime Minister Narendra Modis brief but significant visit to Ukraine, amid the ongoing conflict, demonstrates Indias nuanced approach to international relations. While India has maintained a neutral stance on the war, refusing to condemn Russias actions, this visit underscores its commitment to providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and exploring avenues for cooperation. The signing of four agreements in sectors such as agriculture, medicine, and culture sends a message of support and solidarity. It also highlights Indias desire to maintain constructive relations with Ukraine despite the complexities of the geopolitical situation. This visit is a balancing act. India, with its long-standing ties with Russia and dependence on Russian arms, cannot afford to alienate Moscow. At the same time, it recognises the importance of upholding international law and supporting a rule-based order. Modis visit injected a fresh perspective into the discourse surrounding the Ukraine conflict. While he arrived without a grand peace plan, his willingness to engage in a long and intense conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was itself a significant gesture. It demonstrated Indias recognition of Ukraines security concerns, which have often been overshadowed in the broader global narrative. By actively listening to Ukraines perspective and acknowledging its struggle for survival, Modi signaled Indias intent to be more than a passive observer in this conflict that is reshaping the European security architecture. Furthermore, this visit marked a subtle shift in Indias foreign policy posture. For centuries, India remained on the periphery of European conflicts, a consequence of its colonial past and the Cold War dynamics. Modis presence in Kyiv, at a time when the war in Ukraine has become a focal point of global geopolitics, signifies Indias determination to play a more active role in shaping the future of Europe and the international order. It is a move that aligns with Indias growing economic and strategic influence and its aspiration to be a leading voice in global affairs. Beyond the geopolitical implications, Modis visit also served to revitalise the bilateral relationship with Ukraine. Despite historical ties dating back to the Soviet era, the relationship had atrophied in the post-Soviet period. The commitment by both leaders to elevate the relationship to a strategic partnership marks a turning point. It signals a renewed focus on economic cooperation, defence ties, and cultural exchange, potentially unlocking opportunities in sectors ranging from infrastructure development to technology transfer. The visit further reinforces Indias commitment to supporting Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, while also acknowledging the need for continued dialogue and diplomacy to end the conflict. In addition, it also marks India as a key dialogue partner for peace, as was remarked by the White House which called Modis visit helpful. Strengthening the Indo-US Axis The burgeoning partnership between India and the United States took another significant step forward with the signing of two key defence pacts. The Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA) is more than just a bureaucratic agreement; its a symbol of strategic trust. This pact will streamline the process for both countries to acquire critical defence equipment from each other, ensuring a reliable supply chain even during unforeseen crises. Imagine a scenario where tensions flare in the Indo-Pacific, and India requires urgent resupply of critical components for its defence systems SOSA ensures a smooth and expedited process, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles that could hinder a swift response. Complementing SOSA is the memorandum of understanding on the Assignment of Liaison Officers. This agreement goes beyond the usual exchange of pleasantries; it fosters deeper military-to-military cooperation by embedding Indian officers within key US commands, including the Indo-Pacific Command and the Special Operations Command. This not only facilitates seamless information sharing and coordination, but also builds personal relationships and trust between the armed forces of both nations. These agreements build on the foundation of the major defence partner status that the US bestowed upon India in 2016, a recognition of Indias increasing strategic importance. By facilitating closer industry collaboration and operational coordination, these pacts lay the groundwork for a more robust and integrated defence relationship, a significant development in a world marked by growing geopolitical uncertainties. India and Malaysia The visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to India marked a significant milestone in the relationship between the two nations. Its not just about elevating their partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership its about breathing new life into a relationship that has historical roots, but often remained dormant. The signing of nine agreements across various sectors, from education to labour repatriation, demonstrates a commitment to broad-based cooperation. But perhaps the most eye-catching outcome is the planned linkage of Indias Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with Malaysias Paynet. Imagine a future where an Indian tourist in Kuala Lumpur can seamlessly pay for street food using their UPI app, or a Malaysian student in Bengaluru can effortlessly transfer tuition fees from their Paynet account. This initiative not only simplifies cross-border payments, but also fosters financial inclusion and strengthens people-to-people ties. Beyond the immediate economic benefits, this visit underscores a deeper strategic convergence. Both India and Malaysia are vocal proponents of a multi-polar world order and share concerns about Chinas growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. By strengthening their economic and security ties, they are sending a message that they are willing to work together to promote regional stability and prosperity. Poland and India Prime Minister Modis visit to Poland, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in nearly half a century, highlights the growing strategic importance of Central and Eastern Europe in Indias foreign policy calculus. Elevating ties to a strategic partnership is not just diplomatic jargon; it signifies a shared vision for a multi-polar world and a commitment to deeper collaboration on critical issues. Poland, strategically located on NATOs eastern flank and playing a crucial role in supporting Ukraine, offers India a unique perspective on European security dynamics. For Poland, India represents a burgeoning economic powerhouse and a key player in the Indo-Pacific, offering opportunities for trade, investment, and technology cooperation. The social security pact signed during the visit is not just about bureaucratic procedures; its about facilitating the movement of skilled workers and fostering people-to-people connections. This agreement will create opportunities for Indian professionals in Polands growing tech sector and provide Poland with access to Indias vast pool of talent. Beyond these immediate benefits, this strategic partnership sends a powerful message. In a world grappling with the consequences of the Ukraine war and rising tensions with China, India and Poland are signalling their intent to work together to promote a rule-based international order and diversify their strategic partnerships. A Sign of Things to Come? Indias diplomatic whirlwind this week offers a glimpse into its evolving foreign policy. The country is no longer content to be a passive observer on the world stage. It is actively shaping its own destiny, forging new partnerships, and asserting its interests with a newfound confidence. From the war-torn streets of Kyiv to the bustling economic hubs of Southeast Asia, India is demonstrating its willingness to engage with a diverse range of actors. It is balancing its traditional ties with Russia with a growing strategic partnership with the United States. It is reaching out to Europe, recognising the continents importance in a multipolar world. This weeks diplomatic triumphs are not merely isolated incidents. They are part of a broader trend, a deliberate shift in Indias foreign policy posture. The country is embracing its role as a rising power, one that is willing to play a more active role in shaping the global order. The coming years will likely see India continue to expand its diplomatic footprint, forging new alliances and deepening existing ones. The world is taking notice. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Sunday carried out a swift night operation and rescued 11 people from a sinking merchant vessel en route from Kolkata to Port Blair. According to a Coast Guard official on Monday, three crew members remain missing. The Coast Guard ships Sarang and Amogh, supported by a CG Dornier aircraft, navigated through challenging sea conditions to perform the rescue mission. As per the Indian Coast Guard, the merchant vessel ITT PUMA sank 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island while on its passage from Kolkata to Port Blair. The Coast Guard has also released visuals of the nighttime rescue mission. The Indian Coast Guard conducted an unprecedented swift night operation, rescuing 11 precious lives in a coordinated sea-air Search and Rescue (SAR) operation. MV ITT PUMA reportedly sank 90 nautical miles (nm) south of Sagar Island, while on passage from Kolkata to Port Blair. pic.twitter.com/jD7KxetaNg ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024 A senior Coast Guard official said the Mumbai-registered ship with a carrying capacity of 75 metric tons sank around 80 km from Kolkata. Information was received by Coast Guard Haldia from Sagar VTS (Vessel Tracking System) yesterday. Coast Guard Dornier aircraft located it at 9:30 pm and ICG ships Sarang and Amogh reached position at 9:45 pm and commenced search and rescue mission, the spokesperson said. The polygraph test conducted on Sanjay Roy, the main accused in the alleged rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, reportedly flagged several false and unconvincing answers. Days after Roy claimed innocence in the case, he was subjected to the lie-detection test by the CBI on Sunday (August 25). During the test, he said the woman doctor was already dead when he reached the seminar hall of the RG Kar hospital where the body was found on August 9. According to a report published by the Times of India, sources said he appeared to be nervous and anxious when he took the polygraph. He was confronted with multiple evidence to which he cited alibis and told the investigation team that the victim was already dead when he spotted her, following which he ran from the premises in fear, the report said. The report said Roys lawyer Kavita Sarkar alleged that the defence counsel was not informed about the time and venue of the polygraph test. As a result of this, a defence lawyer was unable to be present during the test, which is in violation of guidelines by the National Human Rights Commission. A civic volunteer of the Kolkata Police, 33-year-old Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10. However, after initially confessing to the crime and even providing help in reconstructing the incident, he made a U-turn and claimed innocence saying he is being framed. He was arrested after the police found a Bluetooth device near the doctors body. CCTV footage also showed him on the third floor of the hospital where the seminar hall is situated. Roy reportedly told his jail guards that he does not know anything about the rape and murder at the RG Kar hospital. In fact, he consented to the polygraph test after making similar claims before the additional chief judicial magistrate court in Sealdah. He told the court that he wanted to take the test to prove his innocence. A Hindustan Times report said there are glaring inconsistencies in his claim of innocence and he has been trying to mislead the investigation team. An officer told the newspaper that he could not provide an explanation for the injuries to his face and why he was present in the building around the time the crime was committed. An officer said the lie-detection test was conducted at Kolkatas Presidency Jail, where the main accused is currently lodged. The test was over after around four hours. A team of polygraph specialists were flown to Kolkata from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Delhi. Four persons, including former principal Sandip Ghosh, also underwent the polygraph test on August 24. The CBI has sought permission from a local court in Kolkata to put seven persons, including Roy and Ghosh, through the lie-detector test that cannot be used as evidence during the trial. The findings, however, give the agency a direction to further the probe. Days after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday conducted searches on the premises of former principal Sandip Ghosh, ex-medical superintendent Sanjay Vashisth and 13 others, in and around the city. The searches were conducted at a total of 15 locations, in connection with the alleged financial irregularities at the institute. On Monday, many of those whose premises were searched were summoned by the CBI for questioning. A case against Ghosh and three Kolkata-based private entities Ma Tara Traders of Madhya Jhorehat, Banipur, Howrah; Eshan Cafe of 4/1, Belgachia and Khama Louha, was registered by the CBI on the directions of the Calcutta High Court. ALSO READ | Bluetooth Device Around Neck, Helmet In Hand: CCTV Footage Shows Sanjay Roy In Corridor Near RG Kar Seminar Room The premises of all these entities, named in the First Information Report (FIR), were also searched during the operation. FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES AT RG KAR MEDICAL COLLEGE: TOP POINTS The anti-corruption branch of the CBI, accompanied by central forces, arrived at Ghoshs residence at nearly 6 am on August 25, but was made to wait for nearly one-and-half hours before he opened the doors, news agency PTI reported. At nearly 8 am, at least seven officials from the central probe agency began questioning Ghosh. Other CBI officials, meanwhile, grilled ex-MSVP (Medical Superintendent and Vice Principal), Sanjay Vashisth, along with another professor at the forensic-medicine department of the medical establishment, among others. Another team of CBI also searched the office of the ex-principal and went to the canteen in the academic building. Residences and premises of those engaged in supplying materials for the management and care of patients at the hospital were also searched. The search operations continued for more than 12 hours, after which the probe agency came out at nearly 8.50 pm, carrying piles of documents which they reportedly seized from the premises. When asked about the evidence, a CBI official told reporters, bahut kuch hai, (there is a lot). Following the search operation, a team of CBI officials arrived at the residence of Debabish Shom, Demonstrator, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The officials took Shom to their office at Nizam Palace. However, it was not clear if he had been arrested or detained for questioning. On Monday, most of those whose premises were raided on August 25, were summoned to the CBI office for more questioning. Ghosh and Som had gone to the CBI office today morning. The agency has filed an FIR against Ghosh and other private entities under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, under the Indian Penal Code. Earlier too, Ghosh was questioned by the CBIs special crime unit for nine consecutive days since August 16, in connection with the doctors rape and murder. On Sunday, the CBI also conducted a lie-detection test on the main accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with their ongoing probe into the rape and murder of the trainee doctor. The test was conducted at Kolkatas Presidency Jail, where Roy is currently lodged. The polygraph tests were also performed on a couple of others. The postgraduate trainee woman doctor was raped and murdered in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9, following which a Kolkata Police civic volunteer was arrested. The crime resulted in nationwide protests by doctors and citizens. On August 23, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, during the tenure of Sandip Ghosh, from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the CBI. Nabanno Abhiyaan The Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj who called the Nabanno Abhiyaan on August 27 against the RG Kar incident, on Monday said they dont want any political party to attend the event. On the other hand, Additional Commissioner of Police Kolkata, Supratim Sarkar stated that Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj did not seek permission for the event. They had announced through social media and the press that they will be undertaking a program called Nabanno Abhiyaan on August 27, but they did not seek permission, which is a mandatory requirement as far as the High Court directives. We have received two emails from two different organizations, the email that we have received from Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj is an intimation. Its not a formal permission letter. They have just intimated that we are going to do that program and in this mail also, they have not revealed the details that are required to be shared with the police for peaceful conducting of the program. Hence, their application has been rejected, Sarkar was quoted by ANI as saying. Tomorrow theres a UGC net national level exam. Many candidates from the state will write that exam. Allowing any such congregation will invariably result in traffic disruption which will cause serious inconvenience to the candidates, he added. Five new districts are set to be created in Ladakh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Monday. In an X post, Shah said the decision was taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and that the new districts will take the benefits provided by the government to the peoples doorstep. The new districts will namely be Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang. In pursuit of PM Narendra Modi Jis vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh, the MHA has decided to create five new districts in the union territory. The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people to their doorsteps by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny, the Home Minister tweeted. The Modi government is committed to creating abundant opportunities for the people of Ladakh, he wrote. In pursuit of PM Shri @narendramodi Jis vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh, the MHA has decided to create five new districts in the union territory. The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 26, 2024 The move was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in an X post, said, Creation of five new districts in Ladakh is a step towards better governance and prosperity. Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang will now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people. Congratulations to the people there, the Prime Minister wrote. Ladakh MP, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, also praised the decision and said it would pave the way for the overall development of the Ladakh region. Presently, Ladakh has two districts Leh and Kargil. With the new addition, the Union Territory will now have seven districts in total. A video of a man sleeping on a functional railway track in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj has surfaced online which has garnered the attention of the netizens. In the video shared on X, the man holding an umbrella can be seen falling asleep on a functional railway track. Soon a train approached the track on which this man was resting, but it stopped just in time due to the alertness of the loco pilot and saved the man from getting crushed under the speeding transport. The loco pilot stopped the train in time. He then stepped down on a note of humanity and woke the asleep man up. The man was later removed from the track and then the train passed through. According to the Free Press Journal report, the incident took place in the Mau Aimma area of Prayagraj district under Northern Railway Lucknow division where despite honking, the asleep man failed to respond. A video of the incident that was posted on X has went viral and amassed over 7.8 lakh views, with some users commenting on the mad person. One of the users suggested the man was inebriated, while another called for a serious investigation into the matter and implementation of proper railway safety norms. One user wrote the man was only trying to get his life on track. Some netizens also acknowledged the efforts taken by the loco pilot. My salute to such a loco pilot. The poor fellow stopped the train, then woke up the man, lifted him and removed him from the track, they wrote. There were several railway accidents reported across India in 2024. Recently, Sabarmati Express train derailed near Kanpur this month due to an object placed on the track, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said. Earlier, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) had arrested a YouTuber for placing various kinds of objects on railway tracks for publicity, endangering the safety of Indian Railways and passengers. Five police personnel, including Government Railway Police (GRP) station officer Pankaj Kumar, have been suspended with immediate effect for allegedly extorting money from a trader at Patna Junction. Rajesh Kumar Sinha has been given the charge of Patna GRP. Departmental action has been recommended against all the accused police personnel by the Railways. The policemen who have been suspended include Constable Krishna Kumar Thakur, Sub Inspector (SI) Rakesh Kumar, SI Sanjay Kumar, ASI Ram Chandra Ram along with Pankaj Kumar who was then posted as Patna GRP. The incident took place on August 1. Somnath Naiya, a businessman from West Bengal, was waiting for a train to Howrah at the Patna Junction. Meanwhile, a constable at the station started questioning him as if he was a suspect. The constable took him to the GRP police station, where he was interrogated. We was also threatened that he will be put behind bars. Naiya kept on insisting that he is innocent but to no avail. Later, the policemen told Naiya that he would be released if he agrees to pay Rs 50,000. Naiya had Rs 20,000 with him at that time. Despite giving all of it to the policemen, they refused not spare him and insisted him to pay them the remaining Rs 30,000. Then, Naiya contacted one of his relatives and asked him to transfer Rs 19,000 online which he in turn transferred to the police personnel. It was only after this that he was released from the police station. When Naiya reached West Bengal, he lodged a complaint on the railway helpline number 139 on August 4. As soon as the complaint was received, it led to a stir in the railway police. The investigation was handed over to Railway DSP PK Tiwari. As soon as DSP PK Tiwari started his investigation, the constable who was guilty of extorting money, Krishna Kumar Thakur fled the spot. During the investigation, the DSP collected several evidence including CCTV footage and statements of people. On the basis of the inquiry report, Patna GRP in-charge Pankaj Kumar, sub-inspector Rakesh Kumar, ASI Ramchandra Ram, constables Sanjay Kumar and Krishna Kumar Thakur were suspended. Amid the outrage over the RG Kar incident, the West Bengal child rights body has taken cognizance of a rape threat to the 11-year-old daughter of TMC MP and the partys national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Banerjee is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights has taken suo motu cognizance of a video on social media from a protest rally over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor in Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. According to the panel, one person in the gathering was heard threatening Abhishek Banerjees minor daughter with rape. The person is also reported to have publicly announced a reward of Rs 10 crore to anyone who commits it. Such filthy intention of the miscreant and his indecent remark in public amounts to outraging the modesty of a minor girl and also endangering her safety and security, the commission has said in a statement. The child rights body called upon police to take action in the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the UN Convention on Rights of a Child. While the entire state is mourning the sad demise of the doctor at RG Kar, calling for another rape to settle scores is clearly violative of the law and could send out a dangerous message to society if punitive measures are not taken. This can put not just the minor girl in question but all minor girls at risk, the commission said. Senior TMC leader Derek OBrien commented on the issue and said in an X post, Fight us politically with your filthy tricks. You have done it before. But today you have crossed the line. Stop threatening kids. No words are enough to condemn the gutter-level threats to our National General Secretarys daughter. STOP THIS NOW. A day after a cows tail was purportedly found inside the premises of a temple in Rajasthans Bhilwara, a large number of people gathered in the market to protest against the incident on Monday and forced shops to down the shutters. A crowd had gathered at the scene of the incident on Sunday demanding strict action against the culprits. Right-wing groups had issued an ultimatum to the police that markets would be shut on Monday if the accused were not arrested by 5:00 pm on Sunday. Collector Bhilwara, Namit Mehta said, We got information about an incident where a cow tail was found in front of a religious place and a protest by locals against it. In this connection, talks were held with the local public representatives and saints and the protest ended. They were assured that those behind the incident will be held soon. Police are deployed in sensitive areas. The atmosphere is peaceful. Bhilwara, Rajasthan | Collector Bhilwara, Namit Mehta says, We got information about an incident where a cow tail was found in front of a religious place and a protest by locals against it. In this connection, talks were held with the local public representatives and saints and pic.twitter.com/uTPbKZ9bFu ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) August 26, 2024 According to an Indian Express report, members of Sant Samaj along with local MP Damodar Aggarwal arrived at the scene of the incident on Monday and staged a dharna demanding the immediate arrest of those responsible. Additional District Magistrate Vandana Khorwal said, We tried to manage the situation, but there was so much anger in the youth that they started pelting stones. We will take action against the people who are trying to create problems in the city. We have seized vehicles of people who have pelted stones. We are trying to normalise the situation and not let the market shut down. Police personnel were deployed at all sensitive areas around the city on Monday to prevent any untoward incident, sources said. India is a country where people of all religions stay with great harmony and brotherhood, setting a perfect example of religious tolerance and secularism. We often see Muslims celebrating Hindu festivals and vice versa. Earlier, we saw people belonging to the Muslim community taking the initiative to conduct Durga puja in Kolkata. Today, we will talk about one Muslim man who was recently seen performing rituals on the auspicious day of Janmashtami. The person we are talking about in this article is Bapu Shokat Tasewale. He is aged 58 and is a resident of Ugar Khurd town located in the district of Belagavi, Karnataka. He is a farmer by profession and is also a stage artist. In a recent interview with Local 18, he mentioned that he grew up performing the play Sri Krishna Parijata, since the age of 18. Despite being a Muslim by religion, he has immense devotion to Lord Krishna. He also stated that he has a deity of the god in his home and performs daily worship. This man has set an example for many people across the country. Despite his different religion, his devotion to Lord Krishna is unwavering. If you visit his home, you can see pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses like Krishna, Ram, Shiva Parvati, Lakshmi Narayana, Hanuman, and Sri Shivayogi. He worships each of them with great devotion and performs all rituals. Bapu said that he believes in the quote God is one with many names. His beliefs are fully supported by his wife Amina Begum and daughter Pramila. The 58-year-old man added that his full family is devoted to Krishna. The locals of the area also view his devotion with great respect. With the support of the villagers, he also built a Sri Krishna temple where he performs daily worship and serves Lord Krishna promoting communal harmony and brotherhood. His deep devotion towards Lord Krishna has earned the appreciation of spiritual leader Sri Chandrashekar. As Opposition and opposition-ruled states plan to confront and defy the Centre on the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), the government has reached out to them again to convince them that it would make financial prudence to adopt the UPS and abandon the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Speaking exclusively to News18, Parama Sen, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, who also works in the pension department, said, Every country has acknowledged that something on the lines of the OPS is not financially prudent and viable. So, it would, and I hope they realise it, make sense to switch. In fact, experts do accept that the UPS is an improvement on the new pension scheme, which was not seen to be friendly to the bureacrats who wanted a post retirement secure life, Sen added. Parama Sen said, The bureacrats wanted a couple of reassurances that there would be assured money post retirement, that there would be a family pension scheme, and that it would be inclusive. But the Opposition, especially the Congress, havent seen it as a U-turn and a victory. Party President Mallikarjun Kharge said, The U in UPS stands for Modi governments U-turns! After June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister. However, the Congress has also made it clear that it is not against the UPS and sources say that it is studying it further and will then take a call soon on whether it will adopt it in states where it is in power. Parama Sen, however, said it was not a U-turn and the government studied and realised that it needed to bring these changes. OPS was not sustainable fiscally, UPS is defined contribution. The government and employees are funding it, there is no U-turn from NPS. This is improvement, Sen said. Despite the opp claiming victory , its clear that the govt is convinced this scheme would win the babus over. The Union Cabinet on Saturday, August 24, approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), for an assured pension post-retirement. The UPS will be implemented from April 1, 2025. Under the UPS, there will be a provision of a fixed assured pension, unlike the New Pension Scheme (NPS) which does not promise a fixed pension amount. In the Arabic language, Arbaeen refers to forty, or the fortieth. Arbaeen, observed by Shia Muslims, is a major religious event that draws millions of worshippers to Karbala, the holy city in Iraq. The occasion marks the conclusion of forty days of mourning for Hussein ibn Ali, the third Shia imam and grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Because the Islamic calendar follows the lunar cycle, this year the day of Arbaeen falls on August 26 in India. Arbaeen is also referred to as Chehlum in the Indian subcontinent. It is observed yearly on the twentieth day of Safar, the second month of the Islamic calendar. The pilgrims travel hundreds of kilometres mostly on foot and over 20 daysfrom places in Iran and Iraq to the holy city of Karbala, where they honour Imam Husseins martyrdom. Hussein, the son of Imam Ali and the grandchild of the Prophet Muhammad was slain in battle against Yazids army in 680 AD in Karbala. Yazid wished for Hussain to accept his authority and lend legitimacy to his cruel leadership. But Hussain refused to do so because of his morals and principles. As a result, he was killed alongside his companions while still maintaining their dignity and honour. The ladies and children of Hussains household were captured by Yazids troops following the Battle of Karbala. They were made to march through several towns and cities, including Damascus and Kufa. Shackled, they suffered from mob abuse until they were finally brought before Yazid and condemned to prison. Hussains son Ali ibn Hussain and sister Zainab delivered powerful speeches criticising Yazid in the presence of his ministers, exposing his despicable rule and frightening Yazids counsellors. Ultimately, Yazid recognised that if he left Hussains family at his palace, they would further embarrass him before all of his ministers, so he had to let them go. Following the Battle of Karbala, Hussains family dedicated their lives to spreading his ideology and fighting corruption. As per the Shiite school of thought, Hussains family visited Karbala on the Day of Arbaeen to honour the slain warriors and allow themselves to mourn for their loved ones. In the present day, many pilgrims choose to travel 80 km by foot from Imam Alis grave in the adjacent city of Najaf to Karbala. Those who travel from far-off cities opt to drive. Along the way, pilgrims are fed and provided with water at stalls set up by other believers. For millions of Shia believers, the occasion is one of the most important in the Shia calendar because they show their respect for Hussein and his sacrifice at Karbala, even if participation is not required in the Shia faith. The Arbaeen pilgrimage is regarded as one of the worlds largest religious gatherings and the largest congregation of Muslims. According to the Institute for Political and International Studies, over a week in 2019, about 20 million pilgrims from Iraq and about 5 million pilgrims from other nationsincluding 3.3 million Iraniansattended the Arbaeen pilgrimage at Karbala. Lord Krishna is celebrated, worshipped and interpreted in various ways across the world. His depictions and festivals vary widely, depending on the region and cultural context. This year, Janmashtami is being celebrated today on August 26. The main focus of the celebrations is the worship of Krishna. This is done by offering prayers, singing hymns, and dancing. In some temples, there are special performances of Krishna Lila, which is a play that tells the story of the Lords life. ALSO READ: Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes 2024: Share Gokulashtami Images, Quotes, and Messages with Your Loved Ones! In North India, devotees fast, sing devotional songs, and perform Rasa Lila, reenacting Krishnas playful dance with the gopis. Mathura, believed to be Krishnas birthplace, and Vrindavan, where he spent his childhood, are major pilgrimage sites. In Maharashtra, Dahi Handi is a popular event where teams of young men form human pyramids to break a pot filled with curd, symbolising Krishnas childhood prank of stealing butter. In Gujarat, Krishna is worshipped as Dwarkadhish (the king of Dwarka), and the festival is marked with bhajans and dances. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka celebrate Krishna as the divine child and the ultimate protector. The temples in these regions often feature intricate sculptures and paintings depicting Krishnas life. In Odisha, Krishna is often celebrated as part of the Jagannath triad (with his siblings Balarama and Subhadra) during the Rath Yatra festival in Puri. In West Bengal, Krishnas association with Radha is emphasised, and his divine love is celebrated during Janmashtami. In the United States, the Hare Krishna movement, led by ISKCON, has popularised Krishna worship. Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated with large gatherings, kirtans (devotional singing), lectures, and vegetarian feasts in ISKCON temples across the country. The festival often includes dramatic presentations of Krishnas life. Krishna has also been integrated into broader cultural contexts, with yoga centres and New Age communities sometimes adopting Krishna-centric practices, focusing on his teachings in the Bhagavad Gita. The UK has a vibrant Krishna consciousness community, largely due to the efforts of ISKCON. The Bhaktivedanta Manor, gifted by George Harrison of The Beatles, is a major centre for Krishna worship and Janmashtami celebrations. The event is marked by music, dance, and large gatherings of devotees. Krishna Janmashtami is one of the most important festivals in Trinidad and Tobago, where over 60% of the population is of Indian origin. The community celebrates Janmashtami with prayers, fasting, and devotional singing. Krishnas teachings from the Bhagavad Gita are also discussed in satsangs (spiritual gatherings). In Bali, where Hinduism is a major religion, Krishna is revered as a deity, though the interpretation is often influenced by local traditions and practices. The Balinese celebrate Krishna as part of their broader religious festivals, integrating him into their unique Hindu culture. In many parts of the world, Krishna is primarily seen as the embodiment of divine love, compassion, and playfulness. This devotional aspect is central in ISKCONs teachings, which have global influence. The Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna serves as the charioteer and guide to Arjuna, is a key text that influences Krishnas interpretation globally. His role as a divine teacher, emphasising duty, righteousness, and devotion, resonates with diverse audiences. Krishna Janmashtami is one of the most auspicious Hindu festivals celebrated with great fervour across many parts of India, especially in Dwarka, Vrindavan, Mathura and Barsana. The day is observed to commemorate the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. ALSO READ: Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes 2024: Share Gokulashtami Images, Quotes, and Messages with Your Loved Ones! As per the Hindu lunar calendar, Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated on the eighth day of the dark fortnight in the month of Bhadrapada, which takes place either in August or in September. Dahi Handi festivities are some popular celebratory ways to mark this holy event. On this day, devotees pray to the Lord Krishna and seek his blessings. This year, Krishna Janmashtami falls on August 26. Krishna is portrayed as a deity whose skin is blue. But have you ever wondered the reason behind it? According to Sadhguru, the founder of the Isha Foundation, blue is an all-inclusive hue. When you set your eyes on things that are vast and beyond your perception, you will find that they are generally painted in the blue colour palette, namely the azure sky and the deep oceans. Like Krishna, Shiva and Ram also have blue skin, as per mythology. Sadhguru reveals that the colour indicates that these deities have a blue aura. The concept that Krishna is blue does not necessarily mean that his skin tone is of that particular colour. In fact, it is the deitys aura which has been represented through his skin tint. According to Sadhguru, Krishna might have been dark-skinned, but many described him as blue because of the blueness of his aura. Sadhguru claims that it was Krishnas blue aura that made him unconventionally attractive to others. Even those who were enemies surrendered to Krishna unintentionally because of this all-inclusive blueness they saw in him. As per mythology, Poothana a demon, who intended to kill infant Krishna found herself drawn towards him, completely mesmerised by the deitys blue magic. ALSO READ: Janmashtami 2024: Adorable Krishna and Radha Costume Ideas for Your Child! Sadhguru explains that Lord Krishna was perceived as blue-skinned by those who were spiritually aware, while others saw him with a normal skin tone. He emphasises that devotees should focus on the deeper truth of Krishnas life, rather than getting caught up in the surrounding details, as it is the truth that can truly impact our lives. Janmashtami, also known as Krishna Janmashtami, is one of the beloved Hindu festivals celebrated with great pomp and show across India. Devotees commemorate this auspicious occasion to mark the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The day is said to be one of the most auspicious days of the year, and this year it is being celebrated today on Monday, August 26. On this special day, many people fast throughout the day, flock to temples, perform rituals and seek Lord Krishnas blessings ALSO READ: Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes 2024: Share Gokulashtami Images, Quotes, and Messages with Your Loved Ones! But as per Vedic astrology, it is considered that worshipping Lord Krishna as per ones zodiac sign brings a lot of prosperity and success in ones life. So, heres a comprehensive guide regarding how to worship this sacred day according to your zodiac signs: Aries (March 21-April 19) On the occasion of Janmashtami, people whose zodiac sign is Aries should bathe Radha and Krishna in water and offer them milk products like Makhan, dahi and milk. You can also wear red coloured clothes and decorate the Lord in the same colour and jewellery to bring prosperity and success. Taurus (April 20-May 20) As per astrologers, people with the Taurus zodiac should worship Laddu Gopal by wearing white coloured clothes and silver jewellery on the occasion of Janmashtami. To achieve abundance and prosperity in life, you should bathe the idol of Radha and Krishna in a mixture of milk, water, honey, and curd sugar. ALSO READ: Krishna Janmashtami 2024: Vrat Rituals, Fasting Time, and Story Behind Lord Krishnas Birth Gemini (May 21-June 20) Geminis are advised to worship Laddu Gopal by wearing green-coloured clothes and silver jewellery. Ruled by Lord Buddha, the people with this zodiac sign should bathe Radha and Krishna with milk and offer dry fruits with bananas for a fulfilling life. Cancer (June 21-July 22) You can bathe the deities in Saffron and offer coconut sweets to the Lord. Worshippers with the zodiac sign Cancer should adorn white-coloured clothes while performing rituals for Laddu Gopal. Leo (July 23-August 22) People born under this zodiac should worship Laddu Gopal by wearing red or pink clothes. Devotees should first bathe Lord Krishna with Ganga Jal mixed with honey and then apply an Ashwagandha Tika on Lord Krishna. One can also offer jaggery to the Lord for abundance and prosperity in life. Virgo (August 23-September 22) One should bathe Radha and Krishna with ghee and milk and then offer dry fruits, elaichi and cloves with Tulsi leaves to attract peace and happiness. Worshippers should wear green clothes during the rituals. Libra (September 23-October 22) People born under these zodiacs should give Radha and Krishna a milk and honey bath. Dress in a white dress and worship Laddu Gopal by applying sandalwood paste and offering sweets made of milk and bananas for immense prosperity in life. Scorpio (October 23-November 21) People whose zodiac sign is Scorpio should bathe Lord Krishna with milk, sugar, honey, curd, and water. Offer jaggery and coconut and celebrate the day by wearing red clothes. Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) People born under this Jupiter-ruled sign should worship Laddu Gopal by wearing yellow clothes. Bathe Radha and Krishna with milk and honey and offer fruits like bananas and guavas to the Lord. Capricorn (December 22-January 19) The zodiac sign of Capricorn should bathe Radha and Krishna with Gangaajal wearing brown or blue clothes. Devotees should offer sweet paan to Lord Krishna to bring immense prosperity and success in all areas of life. Aquarius (January 20-February 18) Those falling under the Saturn-ruled sign should worship Laddu Gopal by wearing brown or blue clothes. First bathe Radha and Krishna with honey, milk, curd, sugar, and water and offer red-coloured sweets made of milk with cashew nuts. Pisces (February 19-March 20) People whose zodiac sign is Pisces should offer honey, milk, curd, ghee, and sugar to Lord Krishna. Pisceans should worship Lord Krishna by adorning yellow-coloured clothes. Ahead of the release of her film Emergency, actor and BJP MP Himachals Mandi has sought the help of police after receiving death threats on social media. She is portraying the role of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the film slated to be released in theatres on September 6. A video surfaced on social media in which a man could be heard saying, Aap ye picture release karte ho toh sardaaron ne aapko chappal maarni hai. Laafa toh aapne kha liya. Im a very proud Indian. If I spot you anywhere in my country and in my Maharashtra, Im saying this, not just as a Sikh and a proud Marathi, but all my Hindu, Christian and Muslim brothers will also welcome you with chappals. ALSO READ: Shes Not Authorised: BJP Reacts To Kangana Ranauts Remark On Farmers Protest Sharing the video on her official X handle, Kangana wrote, Please look into this and tagged Himachal, Maharashtra and Punjab police. The veracity of the video can not be independently verified by News18. History cannot be changed. If they portray Sikhs as terrorists in the film, fir yaad rakhna jiska movie kar rahi hai uska kya scene hua tha. Remember who Satwant Singh and Beant Singh were. Jo hume ungli karte hai, vo ungli hi chatka dete hai hum Agar hum sar katwa sakte hai toh sar kaat bhi sakte hai, another person in the video could be heard saying. Soon after the video surfaced on social media, several users expressed concern for Kanganas safety. One user wrote, A user wrote, What is happening in our nation? People are openly threatening the life of BJP MP and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut. simply for portraying Indias history. Is it wrong to tell the story of the Iron Lady of India, who is celebrated as one of the countrys strongest Prime Ministers? Please, increase your security. Were genuinely concerned for your safety. Kangana Ranaut is leaving no stone unturned to promote her upcoming film, Emergency. Kangana is not only playing the lead but has also directed the film. In a recent promotional interview, Kangana revealed that she offered an item song in Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukones Ram Leela. The film eventually featured an item number by Priyanka Chopra. Kangana told NBT, Aap dekh lijiye mujhe Sanjay Leela Bhansali ne bhi Ram Leela film jo hai usme item number ke liye bulaya. Sab logo ne mujhe bola yeh paagal hai, Bhansali ko mana kar rahi. I said main nahi kar sakti. Chaahe Bhansali bula le chaahe koi bhi, I cant do item numbers. Artists need to show such integrity. Women ko aap kaise portray karte hain Posts from the bollyblindsngossipcommunity on Reddit The clip went viral on the microblogging site, Reddit. Several netizens flocked to the comments section to recall Priyanka Chopras performance in the film. This revelation by Kangana comes after she spoke about how Ranbir Kapoor approached her for Sanju and how she has rejected projects with the three khans because of the womans role. In a chat with Siddharth Kannan, Kangana revealed shes turned down offers from some of the biggest names in the industry. But when asked if things get awkward with those shes publicly shaded or rejected, she coolly claimed it hasnt affected her professional relationships one bit. The Emergency actress said, Ranbir himself came to my house, and said, Sanju mein role kar le please. I didnt do it, but that doesnt mean In a recent interview with Raj Shamani, Kangana Ranaut shared that she turned down films with all three Khans because she felt they wouldnt offer good roles for women. She also mentioned rejecting endorsement deals worth Rs 10-15 crores because they promoted fairness creams, which she considers racist. Kangana added, I have turned down deals worth Rs 10-15 crores because they endorse fairness creams. It is racist. I was like this from the beginning, even before I was successful. I have turned down films with the Khans. But let me be clear, all the Khans have been very kind and nice to me. There are people whove misbehaved with me, but Khans were not one of them, she said. Speaking to The Times of India, Kangana recently revealed that industry insiders were warning others not to work with her. She said, Several casting directors and DOPs refused to work with me. Actors were receiving calls to not work with me. There was a lot of conspiracy against me. Kangana Ranaut also praised Salman Khan, dubbing him the biggest star in Bollywood and the most misunderstood. Malayalam actor-producer Baburaj has been accused of sexual assault by a junior artiste, stirring controversy in the film industry. The woman alleges that the incident occurred at Baburajs home in Aluva, where she had been invited under the pretext of discussing a movie role. According to her, upon arriving at the residence, she found only Baburaj and his assistant present, contrary to his claim that a director, scriptwriter, and production controller would also be there. In her statement, the actress recounts the harrowing experience, claiming that Baburaj later entered the room where she was resting, used abusive language, and sexually assaulted her. When I reached his home only Baburaj and his assistant was there. He gave me a room to take rest, however, after a while, he knocked at the door. When I opened the door, he got into the room and closed the door, used some abusive words and attacked me and sexually abused me. I didnt complain to anybody then because hes a famous actor and I didnt have support from anyone, the woman told us. She further alleged that such misconduct is not uncommon in the film industry, where women are often asked if they are willing to make adjustments to secure roles. The actress did not immediately file a formal complaint due to Baburajs prominence and her fear of retaliation in an industry that, she feels, does not support survivors of such incidents. However, she did approach the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in Kochi, who advised her to file a formal complaint. Despite this, she chose not to pursue legal action at the time. In response to these allegations, Baburaj has strongly denied any wrongdoing and asserted that he will take legal action against the complainant. He has questioned the credibility of the accusations, suggesting that the actress might have been employed at his resort and that these allegations are a ploy to defame him. Baburaj speculated that the timing of the allegations might be linked to his candidacy for the position of general secretary in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A), hinting at a possible conspiracy by his rivals within the industry. Actor Siddique has lodged a police complaint against junior artiste Revathy Sampath after she accused him of sexual assault. In his complaint to the Director General of Police, Siddique claimed that the allegations are part of a larger agenda. Currently in Ooty, the actor reportedly filed the complaint via email, dismissing the accusations and stating that his meeting with Revathy had happened in the presence of her parents. His complaint says that there is criminal conspiracy to fabricate and spread false and scandalous allegations against him. He has said that he met the actress only on the day of the preview of a movie along with her parents and that, no allegation of any physical contact or rape was raised by her in her social media post in 2019 and 2021. He also wrote that such an allegation has been raised for the first time since August 24, 2024 and it is a concerted effort to tarnish his reputation taking advantage of the present situation. Kerala | Actor Siddique files a complaint against actress Revathi Sampath following her sexual harassment allegations against him. The complaint has been submitted to the DGP: PRO, Kerala Police ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2024 Revathy Sampaths allegation: Actress Revathy Sampath has accused veteran Malayalam actor Siddique, former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), of sexual misconduct, in the wake of Hema Committee Report. During a recent media interaction, Sampath claimed that the incident occurred when she was 21 years old. She revealed that Siddique initially reached out to her on Facebook, addressing her as Mole, a term commonly used in Kerala to refer to a young girl or daughter. After completing my Plus Two, I had a terrible experience. Siddique sent me messages on Facebook. I had come to discuss a film. This incident occurred when I was 21 years old. He first approached me by calling me Mole. There was abuse from Siddiques side. During the discussion, he sexually abused me. The face he shows now is not the one I saw back then, Revanthy said. Following the allegations, Siddique resigned as AMMAs general secretary on Sunday. AMMA vice president Jayan Cherthala confirmed it. Shahid Kapoors wife, entrepreneur and influencer, Mira Rajput is a hands-on mother to her kids Misha And Zain. Today, Mira is super excited. Reason? Its Mishas birthday. She turns 8. Mira, on her daughters special day, made sure to proudly express her love for her little bundle of joy. In a post on Instagram, she attached a set of endearing pictures with Misha. The photos captured Misha all smiling in an all-white co-ord set with a pink jacket tied around her waist. The final image featured the birthday girl with Mira as they posed happily for the camera. Sharing the album, Mira Rajput wrote, I will spend my whole life loving you. Happy 8th Birthday our darling girl. Sunshine, sparkles and the best of everything for the light of our lives. Smile forever my baby girl, Misha. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mira Rajput Kapoor (@mira.kapoor) Hours before the birthday, Mira Rajput and Misha were spotted by paparazzi. The duo was seen stepping out after their salon visit. The clip that surfaced on social media captured Misha running ahead of her mother, quickly boarding the car as Mira followed her. Mira, for her salon visit, wore a plain black T-shirt with blue bell-bottom jeans. On the other hand, her daughter looked cute in a simple white dress. Misha is a constant on Mira Rajputs Instagram. Not long ago, the mother-daughter attended Taylor Swifts Eras Tour concert in Munich. The mommy-daughter took a selfie at the concert and even rooted for the pop star as she performed on some of her chartbusters. Core memory with my sunshine swiftie. We couldnt believe it! Mother-daughter trip of dreams, Mira wrote. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mira Rajput Kapoor (@mira.kapoor) Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput got married in 2015. The couple welcomed Misha in 2016. In 2018, they were blessed with a son, Zain. In terms of career, Mira Rajput recently launched her skincare line, Akind. As for Shahid Kapoor, he is preparing for Deva opposite Pooja Hedge. Directed by Rosshan Andrrews, the film is set to release on October 1. Additionally, he also has Vashu Bhagnanis mythological epic, Ashwatthama: The Saga Continues. Priyanka Chopra recently took to Instagram to share touching moments from her brother Siddharth Chopras engagement ceremony, which took place on their late fathers birth anniversary. The intimate hastakshar ceremony was a heartfelt affair, with Priyanka posting a video that featured several memorable moments, including the couple receiving blessings from their family, Priyanka cheering for them, and a touching throwback picture with their late father, Dr. Ashok Chopra. The video, set to the emotional song Madhaniya, captured the essence of the family celebration. Priyanka expressed her joy and pride in seeing her brother embark on this new journey, making the occasion even more special by aligning it with their fathers memory. The ceremony was attended by close family members, including Priyankas mother, Madhu Chopra, and cousin Mannara Chopra. However, it was the absence of another cousin, Parineeti Chopra, that caught fans attention. As soon as Priyanka posted the video, fans began to flood the comments section with questions about Parineetis absence. Comments like Where is Parineeti? and Why couldnt Parineeti come? sparked speculation among fans, with some even wondering if there might be tension between the two cousins. However, Priyankas fans were quick to defend the family, pointing out that Parineetis parents were present and appeared joyful, dismissing any rumours of fallout. A closer look at Parineetis social media revealed that she is currently in London, enjoying a British holiday. She has been sharing glimpses of her trip on Instagram, which could explain her absence from the ceremony. Fans noted that while Priyanka missed Parineetis wedding due to professional commitments, this did not indicate any rift between them, suggesting that Parineetis absence was simply due to scheduling conflicts. Priyanka Chopra, who is in India to celebrate her brothers wedding, is also juggling work commitments. The actor, who recently starred in Citadel, will next be seen in the upcoming film Heads of State alongside Idris Elba and John Cena. She is also part of the action-thriller The Bluff. Although her husband, Nick Jonas, and their daughter, Malti Marie, missed the engagement ceremony, Priyankas presence made the event memorable for the Chopra family. As the wedding festivities continue, fans eagerly await more updates, hoping to see the entire Chopra family together for the big day. Rasika Dugal has shared a set of throwback BTS photos from the much-loved and acclaimed web series Delhi Crime Season 2. The first picture captures Rasika and the team sitting on a staircase. Another shot features Rasika striking a pose for the camera. Its clear from these pictures that Rasika had a fantastic time with the team on the sets of Delhi Crime. The final photo, in the series, is extra special as it features a selfie of Rasika with her husband, actor Mukul Chadda, who visited her on the set. The Best Team reporting from the set of Delhi Crime 2, wrote Rasika. She also added descriptions for each picture. It read, The Best Team 2. Neeti Singh having a moment 3. The Best Team again 4. Tough shoes to fill 5. We mean business 6. Too much time in between scenes 7. Visitor on set. Check out her post here: Netflixs Delhi Crime season 2 explores the chilling tale of the Kachcha Baniyan Gang, a notorious criminal group that terrorised northern India during the 1990s. True to their name, this gang reportedly committed crimes while dressed only in undergarments, using tactics like applying oil on their bodies to slip away from being held. Their shocking attire, coupled with their heinous crimes, including robberies, murders, rapes and assaults. The story for this season was inspired by a book written by Neeraj Kumar, former commissioner of the Delhi Police, who recounted the terrifying events of the 1990s. The series boasts a star-studded cast, including Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, Adil Hussain, Tillotama Shome and Anurag Arora. Previously, in 2020, the first season of Delhi Crime made history by winning the International Emmy for Best Drama Series, marking Indias first-ever Emmy win. The second season was released on Netflix in August 2022. As for Rasika, she was most recently seen in the spy-drama series Shekhar Home. In this mini-series, Rasika played the role of Iraboty, alongside stars like Kay Kay Menon and Ranvir Shorey, with support from actors like Kirti Kulhari, Shernaz Patel, Satish Badal and others. Uorfi Javed has made a splash among OTT viewers with her latest series, Follow Kar Lo Yaar. This Prime Video unscripted original dives into both her personal and public life, featuring Uorfi alongside her family members. Since the series began streaming, it has gained traction with her fans and caught the attention of several Bollywood celebrities. Recently, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia DSouza and producer Smital Shintre praised the series, further boosting its popularity. Sharing a poster of the series on his Instagram Stories, Riteish Deshmukh wrote, & its already trending at NO.1. My dearest producer, Smital Shintre, extremely proud of you!! More power to you!! Congratulations Uorfi!! On the other hand, Genelia reshared Riteishs post and congratulated the producer from her side as well. She wrote, My Dearest producer Smital Shintre, I could go on n on of how proud Im of you but your hardwork days it all. Congratulations UorfiI;, sure you have totally owned it. Uorfi Javed first gained recognition on Bigg Boss OTT, where her bold and unconventional fashion choices quickly propelled her to become one of the top social media influencers. Her eye-catching outfits garnered significant attention and sparked diverse reactions from social media users. Now, Uorfi stars in Follow Kar Lo Yaar, a nine-episode series directed by Sandeep Kukreja, which aims to reveal a different side of her life. The show delves into her relationships with her sisters and family, as well as her ongoing efforts to remain in the spotlight. Reflecting on her journey to fame and how she secured her own show, Uorfi shared with India Today, I never backed out. People discouraged me so much. Everyone has always discouraged me, everywhere. Everyone was against me. But, I still did what I did. I am not saying what I did was right or wrong. I did it. No matter how my state was. Even if I was mentally not doing fine, I still got up and did what I did. Consistency has given me this platform. Meanwhile, Riteish Deshmukh is currently seen as the host for Bigg Boss Marathi 5. Earlier, he starred in the series Pill was produced by Ronnie Screwvalas RSVP Movies and developed by Raj Kumar Gupta which started streaming on Jio Cinema in June. Pill was produced by Ronnie Screwvalas RSVP Movies and developed by Raj Kumar Gupta. The series uncovers the secrets of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Genelia was last seen in the movies Trial Period and Ved. Samantha Ruth Prabhu loves posting notes and quotes on Instagram and maintains an active social media presence. Samantha Ruth Prabhu recently shared a post on Instagram that talked about how carving ones body is an art. The post mentioned how it is the ultimate symbol of self-respect. This comes after her recent appearance left fans concerned about her health. The post read, Carving your body into shape is an art. It takes time, hard work, struggle and patience. It cant be bought, it cant be gifted. Its the ultimate symbol of discipline and self-respect. For the unversed, Samantha Ruth Prabhu left her fans concerned when she made a public appearance in Mumbai last week. In a video that surfaced on social media, the actress was seen posing for the paparazzi as she arrived at an event. She sported a black outfit, left her tresses open and opted for minimal accessories. However, soon after the video was shared online, fans rushed to the comments section expressing concern for Samantha. While some mentioned that she looked unrecognisable, others argued that the actress had lost a lot of weight. Meanwhile, on the work front, Samantha Ruth Prabhu will soon be seen in Citadel: Honey Bunny. It is the Indian series within the Citadel universe, originally headlined by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden. Earlier this month, the teaser of Citadel: Hunny Bunny was released when Samantha opened up about working with Varun Dhawan and said, All he thinks about from the moment he wakes up is how to improve his craft. Hes constantly focused on how to perform each scene better. Not only is he dedicated to his work, but hes also one of the nicest human beings Ive ever met. On the personal front, Samanthas ex-husband, Naga Chaitanya, recently got engaged to actress Sobhita Dhulipala in an intimate ceremony attended by their close family members. While the couple has not shed light on their wedding plans, a new report has claimed that Chay and Sobhita have narrowed down two possible dates for the wedding. It is also claimed that the couple has picked out Rajasthan as the wedding venue. News18 Showsha couldnt verify the claims at the time of reporting. Whats keeping Sara Ali Khan busy on a Monday? A great book. The actress on Instagram Stories shared a peek into her relaxing day. To keep the Monday blues at bay, the actress picked Pandoras Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes. Whats more eye-catching is the setup which looks incredibly comfy. Surrounded by pillows and with a steaming coffee mug in her hand, Sara is creating the perfect atmosphere for a cozy reading session. She even shared a snapshot of the book with some lines highlighted. She captioned her post with a sticker with a text, Monday Mood and a few emojis like a tea cup, books, plant and a blue heart. It is clear that Saras Monday is all about mixing relaxation with a bit of literary adventure. No doubt, this is an ideal way to enjoy a chill start to the week. Take a look at her post here: On the professional front, Sara Ali Khan is gearing up for an exciting collaboration for the first time with actor Aditya Roy Kapur in the much-anticipated film Metro In Dino. Directed by Anurag Basu, Metro In Dino is a sequel to the 2007 hit Life In A Metro. Recently, Sara Ali Khan shared a fun photo on Instagram featuring herself, Aditya Roy Kapur and Anurag Basu, which only fueled excitement among the fans. The snapshot, which shows the trio making playful faces and striking goofy expressions, was reportedly taken on a clinic set. Aditya also posted this amusing selfie on his Instagram Stories, alongside another picture with the films crew. In their joint Instagram post, Sara Ali Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur and Anurag Basu said, Metro In Dino Madness mein hum Teeno. Metro In Dino promises a stellar cast, including Pankaj Tripathi, Neena Gupta, Konkona Sensharma, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ali Fazal and others in lead roles. Although initially scheduled for a September release, the films premiere was postponed to April and is now set to hit theatres on November 29. Recently, Anurag Basu said that Metro In Dino will resonate truly with people, reported news agency ANI. He said, It has been a while since I am working on this one and I am glad to be collaborating with a powerhouse like Bhushan Kumar yet again, who has always been like a pillar to me! He added that the concept is really new and topical, and he was looking forward to working with fantastic artists that carry that contemporary atmosphere. Priyanka Chopra made a special trip from the US to Mumbai to attend her brother Siddharth Chopras wedding to long-time fiancee Neelam Upadhyaya on August 26. In the wake of the wedding, a throwback interview with Priyanka has resurfaced and gone viral on social media. The interview, conducted by YouTuber Ranveer Alhabadia, highlights Priyankas grounded nature despite her immense fame. When asked about balancing her high-profile career with family obligations, Priyanka responded candidly. Ranveer questioned, Do you still go for family functions and all that? Can you because of the fame angle because youve reached this level of fame? Priyanka replied, So, youre saying Im not going to dance on the baraat of my brothers wedding? Family is most important to me. My fame is a by-product of my job. It does not define me. My fame is not my job. Its very clear to me. Im not famous for a living. I work for a living. And fame comes with it. She further elaborated on her philosophy of staying grounded. Public people, even though youre seeing a celebrity or someone every day on billboards or magazines, theres still a human being behind them. They also like to eat paratha and achar. They also like to sit in a palti and dance at the baraat of your cousin and make sure that you get great food. Priyankas reflections highlight her belief in maintaining humility and staying connected with her roots. She shared, The desires of a human being are the same. I keep my friends, my family Im a very grounded person. I come from the ground and Im going to stay there. She also mentioned her early career struggles, admitting that fame is fleeting and that consistent hard work is key to success. In his Independence Day address on August 15, 2024, the Prime Minister underscored a critical issue that has long lingered in our national discourse: the need for a Uniform Civil Code. Its time we move beyond these divisive laws that foster inequality and embrace a truly Secular Civil Code one that upholds the principles of justice, equality, and unity, as envisioned by the framers of our Constitution. A Uniform Civil Code would ensure legal certainty in personal laws, providing a clear and consistent framework that applies to all citizens regardless of religion. In its current state, Indias legal system lacks uniformity in personal laws, leading to confusion, unpredictability, and legal uncertainty. The rule of law requires that laws be applied consistently across the board, and a UCC would eliminate the current disparities. The Supreme Court has consistently emphasised the imperative of implementing a UCC to achieve legal uniformity across the diverse populace, transcending religious and cultural distinctions. In Jose Paulo Coutinho vs. Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira & Anr. (2010), Justice Deepak Gupta underscored the judiciarys long-standing concern regarding the absence of a UCC, despite the successful codification of Hindu personal laws in 1956. The judgement highlights the incongruity between the codification of laws for the Hindu majority and the continued reliance on disparate personal laws for other communities, which remains unaddressed despite earlier judicial exhortations in landmark cases such as Mohd. Ahmed Khan vs. Shah Bano and Sarla Mudgal & Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors. These rulings collectively reflect the Supreme Courts recognition of the systemic inequalities perpetuated by the current legal framework, where different personal laws create inconsistencies that undermine the constitutional principle of equality before the law, as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution. Subsequent judicial pronouncements have further substantiated the necessity of a UCC, highlighting its role in rectifying the legal anomalies inherent in the existing system of personal laws. In Sarla Mudgal, the court explicitly stated that with over 80 per cent of the population already governed by codified personal laws, the continued deferment of a UCC lacks rational justification and perpetuates legal fragmentation. This view has been reinforced in cases like Lily Thomas vs. Union of India (2000), John Vallamattom vs. Union of India (2003), and Pannalal Bansilal Pitti vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1996), where the Supreme Court reiterated that the absence of a UCC exacerbates disparities in legal rights and obligations, thus contravening the constitutional mandate for uniformity in the application of laws. The judiciarys consistent advocacy for a UCC underscores its belief that a uniform legal framework ensures equitable justice and legal certainty. The legal philosopher Lon L. Fuller, in his Eight Ways to Fail to Make Law, emphasises that laws must be general, public, clear, stable, and consistent in order to be just. The fragmentation of personal laws in India violates these principles, creating a legal environment where justice is contingent on ones religious identity rather than the uniform application of the law. A UCC would rectify this by ensuring that all citizens are subject to the same legal standards in matters of personal law, thereby upholding the rule of law. A Uniform Civil Code would also play a crucial role in promoting social cohesion and national integration. In a diverse country like India, where religious identities are deeply ingrained, the existence of separate personal laws can contribute to social fragmentation and communal tensions. By unifying these laws under a common civil code, the state can reinforce the idea of a common national identity, where all citizens are equal under the law. Benedict Andersons concept of imagined communities suggests that nations are socially constructed communities imagined by those who perceive themselves as part of that group. A Uniform Civil Code would contribute to this national unity by creating a shared legal framework that transcends religious and cultural differences, fostering a more cohesive and integrated society. Further, Jean-Jacques Rousseaus social contract theory, centred on the general will and the pursuit of equality under the law, provides a compelling philosophical foundation for implementing a UCC. Rousseau suggested that individuals collectively agree to form a society governed by common laws that reflect the collective interest, thereby ensuring justice and equality for all. In this context, a UCC, by harmonising personal laws across different religious and cultural groups, serves as a modern embodiment of Rousseaus principles. It eliminates legal disparities rooted in religious or community-specific codes. Thus, it reinforces the egalitarian tenets of the social contract. While the diversity of Indias cultural and religious traditions is a source of strength, it is essential to recognise that the legal system must evolve to reflect modern values of equality, justice, and human rights. A Uniform Civil Code would balance respecting cultural diversity and ensuring that all citizens are treated equally under the law. It would provide a common legal foundation while allowing for the preservation of cultural practices within the broader framework of human rights and constitutional principles. Aditya Sinha (X:@adityasinha004) is OSD, Research at Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. The young Kolkata doctors rape and murder and its aftermath is undoubtedly the most acute crisis that chief minister Mamata Banerjee has faced in her 13 years of misrule in West Bengal. That is because the great challenge this time is not coming from her political opponents; Banerjee is adept at ruthlessly dodging or demolishing those. The dare has come from the very people of the state over whom she till now held an enviable emotional sway. And defiance has come from her own party and possibly her own family which has been firmly under her thumb. West Bengal has erupted with the kind of spontaneous outrage that even the CMs opponents, the BJP and the CPI(M), fear to openly exploit lest it backfires on them. From lanes and bylanes across the state, women and men have come out of their houses with candles and conch shells, brooms, and the old shoe. Her party colleagues have rebelled. Going against the party line, Santanu Sen and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray demanded action against RG Kar Medical College principal Dr Sandip Ghosh and the vandals who raided the hospital. Sen was removed as spokesperson. Ray was summoned by the Kolkata police. But the bigger story is that the media is reporting a shift between Mamata and her all-powerful nephew Abhishek over the issue. But even with the scale of odds stacked up against her this time, it wont be easy to dislodge Mamata Banerjee. Here are the reasons. First, dont count on Mamata Banerjees conscience. She has tried to prove every high-profile rape, gang rape, and murder of women in her state as fake or staged from Park Street to Kamduni, post-poll brutalities to Sandeshkhali. She wont step down taking moral responsibility. Second, she electorally starts with a 30 per cent consolidated Muslim vote in West Bengal. That kind of deliberately skewed demography makes her almost unassailable. Although, a CPM waking from dormancy with the Kolkata horror protests might slightly dent it. Third, Mamata has created a brazenly corrupt and outlawed underbelly which shields her with money and muscle. Mobs assemble within minutes to ransack, beat up, and intimidate opponents into silence, the police browbeat victims rather than culprits, and a corrupt cabal carries out scams in every aspect of life from Rose Valley to Covid relief, Saradha to Narada, SSC to Muslims in OBC quota, coal to cow with unchecked audacity. It is hard to break that nexus of beneficiaries. Fourth, it is widely speculated in Bengal that the BJP is in cahoots with the TMC. Didi-Modi ek saathe, BJMool have become popular phrases. In spite of the slew of scams, wanton electoral violence, and a near-collapse of law and order, the Centre hasnt taken any strong, decisive action, Bengalis believe. So, people are scared to vote against the TMC and invite retribution. Fifth, and a very potent factor, are the doles that the Mamata Banerjee government hands out in a state ridden with poverty. West Bengal lost 3 million jobs while Maharashtra added 2.4 million workers in the informal sector in just seven years between 2015-16 and 2022-23, show National Statistical Office data. Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 from Lakshmi Bhandar works wonders on poor women, and helps them make ends meet in the family. Never mind that doles have created a Rs 6 lakh crore debt hole for the state. Sixth, the once-invincible Left is almost dead in West Bengal. Although there are some signs of regeneration with the old Left mechanism mobilising the current protests, it may not be enough to revive the force. The state leadership is weak and confused. And seventh, the judiciary has thundered but not rained down on the Mamata regime in spite of its egregious transgressions, especially in law and order. She has got a very long rope from the Milords so far. The current Kolkata High Court and Supreme Court hearings may seem like a harsh reality check for the TMC government, but Kapil Sibal and his battery of top lawyers fighting against justice for the battered victim may still get their way in saving their client, the Mamata government. To deservedly dislodge it, general citizens, doctors, media, and state opposition parties will have to show special resolve. Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Navigating the Russia-Ukraine conflict diplomatically has been difficult for countries like India with historically close ties with Russia and also good ties with Ukraine. The West has given huge support to Ukraine, seeing in the conflict a possibility to durably weaken Russia as a military and economic pole, and change the balance of power not only in Europe but globally as well. India does not see this in its interest, as this will retard the emergence of a multipolar world, thwart the goal of diluting Western hegemony on global affairs, and forestall Indias hope of playing a bigger role in a reformed international system. The West has put open pressure on India to dilute its ties with Russia, which India has rebuffed The West is unhappy with India but also does not want to alienate it by pushing beyond a point on this issue. It wants India to remain tied to the West politically, economically and technologically. India, in turn, has shown readiness to deepen ties with the West, but also wants to preserve the independence of its foreign policy. India has maintained contacts with Ukraine, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at multilateral forums like the G7, and has had telephonic conversations with him. Indias National Security Adviser has been in touch telephonically with the Head of Office of Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister has visited India too. India has participated in several conferences organised to discuss Zelenskyys 10-point peace plan, either at NSA, Deputy NSA or at the level of the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. India, however, refused to invite Zelenskyy to the G20 summit under its presidency despite Western appeals. Modis decision to resume the summit level meetings with Russia by his visit to Moscow in July this year which coincided with the NATO summit in Washington D.C. was perceived very negatively by the US. That despite Russias alleged bombing of a childrens hospital in Kiev, Modi embraced Putin as they greeted each other in Moscow caused a lot of moral outrage (fake) in the US and was virulently commented on by Zelenskyy. There has been much talk in the West and its echo chambers in India about India playing some active role in promoting peace in Ukraine, the argument being that Modi had credibility with all sides, had succeeded in bridging differences between Russia and the West on Ukraine at the G20 meeting under its presidency, and also represents the voice of the global south in seeking an end to this conflict. India, it has been argued, had very good ties with Russia and could exert some influence on Putin. Behind this is also a desire to change Indias posture and drive a wedge between India and Russia. In various multilateral forums and bilateral talks, Modi has been stressing the imperative of dialogue and diplomacy in resolving the Ukraine conflict. During his recent visit to Moscow Modi, while repeating to Putin that today was not an era of war had added that no solution could come from the battlefield. This seems to have created momentum for Modi to visit Ukraine to press for dialogue and diplomacy. By doing this India has no doubt calculated that this would remove a point of pressure on India by the US. The route to Ukraine today lies through Poland by train. Inevitably, therefore, Modis visit to Ukraine has had to be tied to a visit to Poland too. It can be argued that a visit to Poland could have taken place earlier on the strength of its own merits. Poland has been doing very well economically and represents a power shift within the European Union (EU), especially because of the importance the US attaches to it strategically as new Europes frontline state against Russia. Nothing new has emerged in Polands profile which would explain a prime ministerial visit from our side at this juncture. To read into the visit a new focus by India on central and eastern Europe as distinct from our traditional focus on the major European powers such as France and Germany would be over-interpreting the reasons for the visit, even though a renewed focus on Poland as a partner would be desirable in order to broaden our engagement with major EU countries. In fact, the timing of the visit was not the most opportune because of the war in Ukraine in which Poland is deeply involved. Its historical bitterness towards Russia has been sharpened by Russias military intervention in Ukraine. India, of course, would not want to get tangled in this web of traditional Polish-Russia antagonisms. The joint statement issued on the occasion of Modis visit to Poland has succeeded in drafting agreed language on the Ukraine conflict notwithstanding the widely divergent positions of the two sides on the issue. Not mentioning Ukraine at all because of differences would have been unacceptable to the Polish side and therefore they have had to agree to a language which is politically comfortable for the Indian side. There is thus the usual reference to a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with international law, consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity India brought in its concerns about the negative impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for the Global South. Rather oddly, the joint statement says that The two leaders underscored that as the worlds two largest democracies, the EU and India have a common interest in ensuring security, prosperity and sustainable development in a multi-polar World. Why not Poland and India? For Poland, this would have been difficult as multipolarity is being pushed by Russia, China, the BRICS and some members of the global south, and is seen as directed at the USs unipolar tendencies. Poland obviously. did not want to support this concept in its own name, given its very close ties with the US. The joint statement says In the context of this war, they shared the view that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. Why in the context only of this war? It should have been phrased as a general proposition. Clearly, the nuance in this formulation is tilted against Russia. India has gone along with it, keeping in mind that China too has endorsed such language in the Ukrainian context. Unlike Ukraine, with which we baulked at elevating ties from a Comprehensive Partnership to a strategic partnership and left it for the future, and which has supported Indias candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, Poland has not supported Indias candidature despite the agreement to elevate ties to a strategic partnership. With Ukraine, finding agreed language on the Ukraine-Russia conflict was not an easy task. The joint statement with Ukraine talks in general terms of upholding principles of international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states. India has mentioned its principled position and focus on peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, as a part of which, India has attended the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, in June 2024, a formulation that Ukraine has not endorsed. The Ukrainian side has limited itself to highlighting the importance of high-level Indian participation in the next Peace Summit, and stated that the Joint Communique on a Peace Framework, adopted at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, could serve as a basis for further efforts to promote just peace based on dialogue, diplomacy, and international law. In other words, the template for any dialogue and diplomacy has to be Zelenskyys 10-point peace formula. This does not give India much room to manoeuvre. This difference in approach has been further reflected in the joint statement which says that Prime Minister Modi reiterated the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that will have broad acceptability and contribute towards early restoration of peace. This formulation is very different from what Ukraine and its supporters are pushing. While Modi has reiterated Indias willingness to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate an early return of peace, the gap between Indian and Ukrainian positions is wide, and this came out also from the press briefing by the External Affairs Minister in Kiev. The joint statement refers to the potential of enhanced cooperation in areas such as trade and commerce, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, defence, education, science & technology, culture, digital public infrastructure, industry, manufacturing, green energy, etc, which is to be explored by the existing Inter-Governmental Commission. The sides have agreed to hold the 2nd meeting of the Indian-Ukrainian Joint Working Group on Military-Technical Cooperation, established under the 2012 Defence Cooperation Agreement, in the near future in India. The sides also agreed to explore the possibility of involvement of Indian companies in Ukraines reconstruction and recovery, in a suitable manner. Modi has invited Zelenskyy to visit India at a mutually convenient opportunity. While in Kiev, Modi embraced Zelenskyy on three occasions, lay his arms on his shoulder and held his hand while visiting the exhibition on children killed in the war. Since for the West Modi embracing Putin was a geopolitical event, Modi embracing Zelenskyy even more generously should settle the geopolitical score. Unfortunately, Zelenskyy has been lionised so much by the West that he believes he has achieved stardom status, and for him, showmanship and grandstanding are a substitute for mature diplomacy. In his meeting with the Indian press, he questioned Indias continuing purchase of Russian oil, an issue on which India has explained its position numerous times, including in the official talks at Kiev. This urge to put India morally on the defensive is petulance, especially when Europe continues to buy oil, gas, coal and precious metals from Russia. He tried to manipulate the Indian press by claiming that Russia bombing the childrens hospital in Kiev showed that Putin had no respect for Modi. It is India that has to be a judge of the Modi-Putin equation. Why try to do propaganda at this low level? He also diminished Modis bid to advocate peace by stating to the press that India could be part of a peace plan but Ukraine will not compromise on principles and values. Worse, on the question of the next peace summit being held in India, he said quite presumptuously that he had told Modi frankly that the next peace summit could not be held in a country that had not joined the communique of the first summit. On his visit to India, he said he would want to visit early but that he wanted India to be on his side and not balancing between us and Russia. There is little subtlety and nuance in Zelenskyys style of diplomacy. He has a sense of entitlement and has been arrogant with his benefactors too, such as the US, UK, France, Germany, Poland, etc. On balance, by visiting Poland and especially Ukraine, Modi has broadened the base of Indian diplomacy. The Russian media reaction to the visit has been equable, possibly because official Russia was confident that India would do nothing to harm Moscows interests. Kanwal Sibal is a former Indian Foreign Secretary. He was Indias Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Every view has a counter, every opinion can be different, and at News18, we value each one of them. To present these views and opinions to you the reader is not just a job, but also our duty. News18 kicks off a new series, Sticking Point, which will have prominent opinion makers from across India and the world face off on varied topics through their written words. Sticking Point will be the voice of diverse authors, as they debate on a particular subject of national and international importance, and more importantly, one that enlightens our reader. Each of the 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution has an associated national day to celebrate its historical and cultural significance. Most of these days pass without controversy, especially from the non-speakers of that language. However, Sanskrit is an exception. The critics of the ancient language resurface every year on National Sanskrit Day with two distinct arguments: (1) Sanskrit is dead and (2) Sanskrit should be dead. Priyadarshi Dutta largely falls in the first camp, revisiting a variety of well-known arguments in his latest piece National Sanskrit Day: Why Did the Divine Language Get Restricted to Pedagogy? to show that Sanskrit is dead or, at the very best, dying. To an observer, this must seem strange, as Sanskrit is the only Indian language whose death is fervently proclaimed year after year. Surely, a language that has been dead for several centuries should have been forgotten by now, with little need for an annual funerary rite. In such a case, National Sanskrit Day should be seen as Sanskrits punyatithi (death anniversary) a day to celebrate Sanskrits past, perhaps even to lament its demise, but certainly not to perform another autopsy on its long-decayed corpse to demonstrate that it continues to be dead. The first incision in Duttas autopsy of Sanskrit is the claim that Sanskrit enjoys little presence outside academic institutions. In particular, Dutta asserts that there is no presence of Sanskrit in journalism, modern literature, the film and music industries, advertising or public relations. This claim is plainly false to the extent that it undermines Duttas entire argument. Every day, there are numerous Sanskrit newspapers, magazines, journals, and e-newsletters published in Sanskrit across the country, with hundreds of contributors participating from abroad. While Sudharma and Sambhashana Sandesha (Samskrita Bharatis newsletter) are well-known, there are many other, smaller outlets that cater to thousands of readers numbers that remain enviable for several non-scheduled Indian languages. Where traditional print media in Sanskrit has struggled, digital media has filled the gap. The 2020-22 pandemic period represented an inflection point in Sanskrit learning, due to the explosion of free, online resources in Sanskrit. Produced by traditional scholars as well as amateur enthusiasts, online Sanskrit content now spans not only lectures and web seminars but also bites on music, culture, spirituality, health and well-being. One of the most successful of these outlets is The Sanskrit Channel which boasts 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube. There are dozens of similar Sanskrit-related channels on YouTube, with more than a million subscribers in total. Similarly, Sanskrit-related pages and groups on Facebook boast more than a million combined followers and members. In fact, the current generation is likely to be the most Sanskritised since Indias independence, measured by the total hours of Sanskrit-related content consumed, primarily due to the unprecedented exposure to this content. When it comes to modern literature, Sanskrit is one of the richest Indian languages. Several attempts have been made to catalogue the vast literature published in Sanskrit since the 20th century. In 2002, Dr Rajendra Mishra produced one such catalogue of modern Sanskrit literature spanning poetry, prose, plays, translations, and research publications. An updated survey was compiled by Dr Radhavallabh Tripathi for the Sahitya Akademi in 2016. An index produced by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (now Central Sanskrit University) in 2009 counts 38 prominent Sanskrit authors over the past century just in the state of Karnataka! Numerous anthologies of modern Sanskrit writings are also published every year. Unlike most other Indian languages, works in Sanskrit are truly pan-Indian, as authors hail from all corners of the country. However, any such catalogue or anthology is bound to be limited due to the voluminous nature of new literature produced in Sanskrit every year. Over the last decade, more than 20 Sanskrit films have been released a significant increase compared to the 1980s and 90s, which saw only a handful of Sanskrit films. With further democratisation of movie production, this number is expected to shoot up. Similarly, the realm of Sanskrit music has been revolutionised by artists such as Kuldeep M. Pai, whose work has been viewed more than 1.2 billion times on YouTube alone. The recent success of the play Bhagavadajjukam in India and abroad is a further testament to the growing interest in Sanskrit theatre. To claim that Sanskrit is more about the past than the future betrays complete ignorance of this vibrant world of creativity in Sanskrit. Closely following Duttas ignorance are his double standards. He claims that the most accomplished Sanskrit scholars seek teaching positions and therefore define the promotion of Sanskrit as the creation of more such positions. However, this is an empirically untested and potentially untestable claim. Even if the claim were true, it would be applicable to several other languages. Do most accomplished scholars of Bengali not seek teaching positions? What are the major non-academic avenues of employment for scholars of Hindi or Tamil? It is not inconceivable for language scholars to gravitate towards academia and advocate for the expansion of academic positions as a part of the promotion of their language. Preparing for the final incision in his autopsy, Dutta provides a brief survey of Sanskrits glorious past. He cites the Buddha for preaching in a language other than Sanskrit and the Bhakti poets for creating their compositions in local languages. However, a preference for local languages did not mean that the significance of Sanskrit declined. Even during the mediaeval era, when the political circumstances did not always favour Sanskrit, the scholarly output produced in Sanskrit remained unparalleled. Besides commentaries on past texts (such as the famous commentary of Sayana on the Vedas), numerous original works on grammar, literary theory, philosophy, law, arts, mathematics, and the sciences were composed in this period. Students of Sanskrit routinely refer to these mediaeval works and hold them in high esteem. Dutta contends that the dominance of Sanskrit was challenged by local languages in the realm of literature during the mediaeval period. However, he does not realise that the Indian subcontinent always had two distinct but intertwined literary traditions in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Kabir and Tulsi are representatives of this tradition of Prakrit poetry, which borrowed heavily from (and in turn influenced) Sanskrit literature. After his survey of Sanskrit in the mediaeval era, Dutta shifts gears to the British colonial period. He claims, without basis, that Lord Macaulay did not impose English on India with ulterior motives. This claim can be debunked by Macaulays own words, which betray a deep prejudice against Sanskrit: [T]o encourage the study of Sanskrit literature, admitted to be of small intrinsic value, only because that literature inculcated the most serious errors on the most important subjects, is a course hardly reconcilable with reason, with morality, or even with that very neutrality which ought, as we all agree, to be sacredly preservedIt is confirmed that a language (Sanskrit) is barren of useful knowledge. We are to teach it because it is fruitful of monstrous superstitions. We are to teach false history, false astronomy, false medicine, because we find them in company with a false religionAnd while we act thus, can we reasonably or decently bribe men, out of the revenues of the State to waste their youth in learning how they are to purify themselves after touching an ass or what texts of the Vedas they are to repeat to expiate the crime of killing a goat? (Macaulays Minute on Education, February 2, 1835) After dismantling the indigenous system of Sanskrit-based learning, the British set up a handful of Sanskrit colleges, primarily to further the colonial project of understanding and governing the natives according to their laws and traditions. Although a few British orientalists appreciated the value of Sanskrit, powerful officials such as Macaulay wanted to close Sanskrit colleges. Sanskrit learning was revived despite (and not because of) the colonial state by enterprising Hindu leaders and scholars such as Swami Shraddhananda and Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya. Dutta states that these leaders naturally used English, not Sanskrit. This is again not true as both are known to have delivered speeches in Sanskrit and local languages, when addressing non-British audiences. Similarly, Swami Dayananda Saraswati composed his works in both Sanskrit and Hindi to reach different audiences. Dutta is also under a misconception that Sanskritists failed to experiment with new literary forms, such as novels, short stories, essays and travelogues. In fact, these literary forms have always existed in Sanskrit and continue to be explored in our times. Who can forget Banabhattas Kadambari, the stories included in the Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Kathasaritsagara, and Purusha Pariksha, and the numerous standalone literary tracts and essays in Sanskrit? Furthermore, the surveys of contemporary Sanskrit literature cited above show that these literary forms continue to be popular among modern Sanskrit writers. Despite limited government patronage and apathy from the Macaulay-influenced intellectual class, Sanskrit continues to produce men and women of high scholarship and literary merit. They continue to flourish in a world of intense competition (to choose Duttas terminology), as Sanskritists have thrived over the last two millennia, alongside a variety of Indian languages. They also interact with world languages, exchanging words and ideas, as they did with Greek and Persian in the past. They continue to blend the Loka and Veda, the regional and the classical, like their great predecessors who learnt and borrowed from all sections of society. And despite being accused of Brahmanical bias, they continue to preserve Pali and Prakrit, as they did in the past. We are proud of Sanskrits past but we have reason to be excited about its future, as thousands of new scholars and enthusiasts continue to enrich it with their contributions. Imbued with a deep reverence for tradition, modern Sanskritists hesitate to compare themselves with the stalwarts of the past. However, to the extent that English continues to produce new Shakespeares and Miltons, Sanskrit also continues to produce its Kalidasas and Bhavabhutis. We simply need to open our eyes. Kushagra Aniket is an economist and management consultant based in New York, USA. He is also a Sanskrit scholar and an author of multiple scholarly works and can be reached at @KushagraAniket. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday called for unity and asked people to avoid the mistakes that happened in Bangladesh, where massive protests led to fall of Sheikh Hasinas regime. Speaking at a programme in Agra earlier in the day, Adityanath said people remain united in India then the nation will reach the pinnacle of prosperity. Aap dekh rahe hain Bangladesh mein kya ho raha hai? Wo galtiyan yahan nahi honi chahiye. Batenge to katenge! Ek rahenge to nek rahenge, surakshit rahenge aur samriddhi ki parakashtha jo pahuchenge. (Are you seeing what is happening in Bangladesh? Those mistakes should not take place here. If divided, we will be cut. If divided, we will be cut. If we remain united, we will be good, secure and reach the pinnacle of prosperity), Adityanath said. #WATCH | Agra: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath says, Nothing can be above the nation. And the nation will be empowered only when we are united. Batenge to Katenge. You are seeing what is happening in Bangladesh. Those mistakes should not be repeated here Batenge to pic.twitter.com/OMVP4NxVJB ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) August 26, 2024 Yogi Wants To Be PM: Akhilesh In a jibe at Adityanaths remarks on Bangladesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he wants to become the prime minister but should not be already interfering in foreign affairs decisions that are taken by New Delhi. During an interaction with mediapersons here on Janmashtami, when asked about the chief ministers remarks on strife-torn Bangladesh, Yadav said, He (Adityanath) wants to become the prime minister but at least he should not play the role of prime minister. This is the job of the prime minister, the government of India to decide the relations India wants with which country of the world. This is not the first time that the chief minister has done something like this. He has done it in the past too. I hope Delhi-wale will make him understand that he should not interfere in the decisions that are taken by Delhi, the former UP chief minister said. (with PTI inputs) The RG Kar case, in which a 31-year-old trainee doctor was found raped and murdered on the hospitals premises, has triggered widespread protests across Bengal. The latest in the series of agitations is a Nabanna Abhiyan (march to Secretariat) planned by the Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj a 10-day-old students body on Tuesday, August 27, if chief minister Mamata Banerjee does not resign by Monday. Though the rally is not being held under the banner of any political party, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has asked people from all walks of life to come out on the streets and protest. His colleague Sukanta Majumdar also sought the aam aadmis support for the rally. What is Mamata Banerjee so scared of?The Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj' announced a Nabanno Abhiyaan on 27th August. This is an apolitical students movement against the WB Govt and their attempts to deny justice to the RG Kar MCH rape and murder victim. This has given https://t.co/uY66BJUEj8 Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 26, 2024 Sayan Lahiri, who is spearheading the movement, told News18 that the protest began with a Facebook post that made it clear the chief minister was incompetent. We have three demands justice for Abhaya [the trainee doctor], capital punishment for the culprit, and Banerjees resignation because she is not just the health minister but also handles the state police. The TMC is trying to portray that the protest is being led by BJP but we are a part of the common people. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said he will join in. Teachers who have not got justice will walk with us. We have given Banerjee time till 6pm on Monday. Either she resigns or we march to the secretariat. Source told News18 that the group has decided to start the movement from Satraganchi and College Square of Howrah and Kolkata respectively. Two years ago, BJPs march to the secretariat over corruption had turned violent. To avoid a re-run, police have decided to deploy extra personnel and sent a notice to the organisers to find out more details of the movement. ADG South Bengal Supratim Sarkar said they were expecting that miscreants would try and create problems during the rally. We have Intelligence input that they will go to any level and try to create ruckus. Police will be alert. One of the organisers met a politician in a hotel. This rally is illegal as no permission has been sought. Reacting to the rally, TMCs Kunal Ghosh said it was orchestrated by political parties. In a press conference, Ghosh showed two videos to claim that the march was an attempt to destabilise Bengal. They are trying to bring people from outside. They are planning to wear the police uniform and fire in the crowd, leading to chaos. The NET exam is being held on Tuesday. The protesters want to create violence. TMC also wants justice for the doctors family. However, when the investigation is in the hands of CBI now, why they are calling for a march to the secretariat? From Lateral Entry to the new Pension Scheme, the draft Broadcasting Bill, Waqf Amendment Act, and long-term capital gains or indexation proposals the Congress is gleefully listing out instances of U-turns to cite how the Narendra Modi government, in its third term, is prone to rollbacks under pressure from the Opposition and its allies. The government, however, describes these moves as it being cognizant of public feedback, while also demolishing the calling cards of the Congress. This, many in the BJP feel, is a part of reclaiming the political narrative after the Lok Sabha polls and a measure of the political pragmatism shown by PM Modi. Two more frontiers are now being spoken of in power corridors of Raisina Hill for a possible re-look the review of the Agnipath scheme to bring in changes in the structure and addressing the demand of caste census that NDA ally Chirag Paswan has also made a case for. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has, on more than one occasions, said the government is open to changes in the Agnipath scheme to improve it further. The scheme, introduced two years ago for entry to the armed forces, is seen as contributing to the electoral reverses of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections as the Congress made a promise to scrap it if voted to power. Similarly, caste census is an issue that both key NDA allies JDU and LJP are votaries of, given the nature of Bihars caste politics. The state will be going to polls next year. So far, the prime minister has put up a vociferous defence of the Agnipath scheme the latest being in Kargil last month. The government has also firmly rejected all demands for caste census, terming it a divisive move. Another issue that has been simmering is the committee to look into the Minimum Support Price (MSP) issue, with the Opposition demanding a law guaranteeing MSP for farmers. Land Acquisition Bill to Farm Laws Two major decisions which were rolled back, one in the first term and the other in the second term of the Modi government, were the changes to the Land Acquisition Act and the three farm laws, respectively. These rollbacks happened when the BJP had a full majority government at the Centre and party leaders cite them to say it was not the Oppositions pressure but political pragmatism that prevailed in the last one month. The return of caste politics to the central political discourse is also dictating the governments decisions to oppose the Supreme Court judgment on sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes and creamy layer exclusion or introduce the reservation pie in the lateral entry scheme for the first time. The government is also cognizant of the oppositions designs to trigger people into an agitation over such issues and does not want to derail the countrys growth story, a senior BJP leader told News18. Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Anuradha Tiwari courted controversy on social media after she posted a picture of herself flexing triceps with two words, Brahmin genes. After the post went viral, the term Brahmin genes started trending on X (formerly Twitter). While many came out in her support, others urged her to stop promoting casteism. Now, in her latest social media post, Tiwari has urged people to end the hatred against Brahmin genes. Are Brahmins the new Jews of India? False portrayal of Brahmins as oppressors is being dangerously normalised. We cant proudly say who we are, wrote Tiwari in a post on X. Read| Who is Anuradha Tiwari? 10 Points About Bengalurus Brahmin Genes CEO She added, My message to those spreading this agenda: I am Anuradha Tiwari, a proud Brahmin & not an oppressor. End this hatred now #BrahminGenes. Watch the video here: Are Brahmins the new Jews of India? False portrayal of Brahmins as oppressors is being dangerously normalized. We can't proudly say who we are.My message to those spreading this agenda: I am Anuradha Tiwari, a #ProudBrahmin & not an oppressor. End this hatred now pic.twitter.com/m5idHOLNn1 Anuradha Tiwari (@talk2anuradha) August 26, 2024 Earlier, she shared a post on X and asked, In the last 24 hours, thousands have proudly declared their Brahmin identity, trending #BrahminGenes. But how many politicians shared it? When its time to stand up for Brahmins, they vanish. Is Brahmin hate intentional? Are Brahmins being made scapegoats for petty politics? She even doubled her stance on the Brahmin genes post, saying, As expected, a mere mention of the word Brahmin triggered many inferior beings. This reveals who the real casteists are. UCs receive nothing from the systemno reservations, no freebies. We earn everything on our own and have every right to be proud of our lineage. So, deal with it, Tiwari wrote on X. Author Chetan Bhagat also weighed in, suggesting that the focus on caste issues could be politically motivated. The more caste is brought up, the more the consolidated Hindu vote breaks. Opposition has understood this and is playing that game. And yes, even that #BrahminGenes trend is splitting the Hindu vote. Dont know if people realise that, Bhagat stated. Tiwari quoted Bhagats post and wrote, Is hatred against Brahmins uniting Hindus? Is Reservation uniting Hindus? Is the Caste Census uniting Hindus? But when Brahmins decide to take a stand for themselves, suddenly, Hindu unity is in danger. The mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur even claimed that people from her community fear while revealing their full names. Brahmins today fear revealing their full name. So much hatred has been spread against us. We have been made villains by social justice activists & politicians. We dont harm anyone. We get no help from govt. We work hard. Why should we be ashamed of our caste? She even shared a post on the condition of Brahmins in the country. It read, Fairytale of Brahmins in India- Born, study hard, lose college seat despite scoring top marks, no hope of govt job, thanks to reservation, work in private sector, pay most taxes, no help from govt, get abused daily by activists, treated as 3rd class citizens, die. As children, we all imagined living in a chocolate-filled house. Only the thought of residing in a home with chocolate flooring, walls, furniture and everything else provided us with blissful joy. Movies like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory fuelled our fantasies of unlimited sweet treats. As we grew older, we lost touch with our childhood imaginations. However, with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can now visualise our fantasies. A recent AI video offers a virtual tour of a long-forgotten dream. The video, which was shared on Instagram, shows a tiramisu-filled house. The houses exterior is chocolate cake, and the bed is a well-decorated Italian dish. The bed is even sprinkled with tiramisu special cocoa. Everything is chocolatey, including the drawing room, guest room, bathtub and swimming pool. The entire thing is so spongy and creamy that you can actually smell espresso while watching the video. The video resonated with an astounding 95 million viewers on the microblogging platform. A user humorously commented, Phir log bolenge, ladki saara ghar khaa gayi. (Then people will say, the girl ate the whole house.) Another user said, 2 hours with my friends and that entire house is gone. A user mentioned, I want a house like this. I dont want it I NEED IT. House of dreams, said a user. A comment read, Id live on the street for eating the house. Now lets be real: did you know that Paris actually has a chocolate cottage? Created by chocolatier Jean-Luc Decluzeau, its a fully equipped hotel suite designed to accommodate four people. A representative for the business told TODAY Home that he and his son spent 600 hours collaboratively to build the cottage. According to the news site, this almost 200-square-foot dwelling is constructed entirely of 3,000 pounds of chocolate. The French Cottage by Jean-Luc Decluzeau is literally living up to the phrase Home Sweet Home as its made entirely from 1.5 tons of chocolate. @ https://t.co/WQ8uJA375r pic.twitter.com/1ucfHExkq1 Homecrux (@HomeCrux) September 22, 2018 Aside from the roof and walls, the houses interior is also entirely composed of chocolate. A bookshelf, clock, dresser, fireplace, and even a chandelier are among the furniture pieces crafted from the delicious treat. Books, candles and vases are among the many of the little household items made of chocolate. You may be wondering how the home is shielded from actual wildlife and weather. Well, it is secure within a glass house named LOrangerie Ephemere, which is situated in Cite de la Ceramique. British influencer Chloe Lopez has once again found herself at the centre of a controversy after engaging in another shocking act in a new video now going viral. This time, she was filmed removing her underwear at a gas station in Spain and placing it on a gas pump, declaring, Im going to leave the next customer a little donation. This stunt has sparked a wave of outrage online, with many calling for police action. Lopez, whose video was shared across social media platforms, has a history of similar behaviour. She has repeatedly been seen leaving her underwear at various locations, including gas stations, cafes, plants and food stores. These actions have prompted widespread condemnation from the public who expressed their disgust over her reckless behaviour. Her latest post was shared on X by handle named London TV which has garnered over 3 lakh views. British Influencer Chloe Lopez strikes again as she takes off her underwear at a Spanish gas station and leaves it on a gas pump. Im going to leave the next customer a little donation. pic.twitter.com/dAsZ9VXRQI Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 25, 2024 In the comment section, one frustrated user wrote, Why hasnt she been arrested yet. Another echoed this sentiment, questioning, What are Spanish Police doing all this time? Why hasn't she been arrested yet McKaylaRose (@McKaylaRoseRed) August 25, 2024 what are Spanish Police doing all this time? PineAppleontoPizza (@pineapplepi22a) August 26, 2024 Someone else simply stated, Disgusting. She should be arrested, while a different user added, Gross. Leaving bio hazards everywhere she goes. Disgusting.She should be arrested. LBMenefee (@LBMenefee) August 25, 2024 Gross. Leaving bio hazards everywhere she goes. Just Pray! (@March111992) August 25, 2024 Others criticised her lack of self-respect, with one person commenting, Why would anyone want to spend the rest of their life with her? No self-respect. No standards. Ill pass, thank you. Why would anyone want to spend the rest of their life with her? No self respect. No standards. I'll pass, thank you. J.A. Fernie (@J_A_Fernie) August 25, 2024 Another in frustration, commented, What in the hell is wrong with her? Get her off the streets. Lock her up. What in the hell is wrong with her? Get her off the streets. Lock her up. Todster 1986 (@ToddinSRQ) August 25, 2024 An individual commented, Why has she not been stopped, cant be hard to find. Why has she not been stopped, can't be hard to find ringthatbell (@ringthatbell45) August 25, 2024 Some users speculated on Lopezs motives, with one user noting, Everything this lady is doing is working. She knows she is hot, but needs attention to get famous. She found a way to garner tons of attention, however negative it may be, and Im sure shes taking all of that attention to the bank. Everything this lady is doing is working. She knows she hot, but needs attention to get famous. She found a way to garner tons of attention, however negative it may be, and I'm sure she's taking all of that attention to the bank. Dr. Sean Ereight Exel Esq (@Seantzizl) August 25, 2024 Another added, I dont understand why she keeps posting videos in the media of taking off her underwear and hiding her underwear? This behavior is very abnormal. I dont understand why she keeps posting videos in the media of taking off her underwear and hiding her underwear? This behavior is very abnormal. Qing Zhao (@HopegetJustice) August 25, 2024 In her earlier video, Lopez caused a stir when she left her underwear in a bread tray at a Mercadona supermarket in Spain, all while smiling and walking away. Her behaviour drew widespread condemnation. Joey Swoll, a well-known fitness influencer known for his outspoken critiques withing the industry, not only denounced Lopezs actions but also took aim at those who supported her. A video that appears to show a Pakistani woman threatening a crowd with a smirk on her face after allegedly murdering two people has left everyone on social media angry. On August 19, a father-daughter duo was killed in a horrific accident on Karachis Karsaz Road. Natasha Danish, the suspect, has been detained for reckless driving in her Toyota Land Cruiser. In footage that has gone viral since, Natasha is seen standing in the middle of a sizable crowd looking disoriented but smiling. Pakistanis are criticising the manner the accused is being treated preferentially by courts and law enforcement because of her familys influence. The accused has been identified as the wife of entrepreneur Danish Ali, who runs Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited. According to the Pakistani news website Dawn, Natasha was trying to turn her SUV when she struck a motorbike. After that, the vehicle crashed with two more motorcyclists before flipping over and hitting a parked car. In addition to the father-daughter duo who lost their lives, three other people were reportedly injured. Social media users have been angered by videos taken in the moments following the tragedy, which depict the suspect grinning and appearing remorseless. According to the news portal Reviewit.pk, those on the spot stopped Natasha from fleeing. Although preliminary reports indicated that she might have been intoxicated when the accident happened, these assertions have not been verified. In one video, she can be heard saying, Tum mere baap ko nahi jantay (you dont know who my father is). The overlaying text on the viral video reads, Her smile is just a big question mark on our judicial system. A user commented, Deep down shes mocking shell be free because hamaare mulk mai ameero ka koi hisaab nahi (Deep down, shes mocking that shell be free because in our country, theres no accountability for the rich). Another user stated, And they were protecting her. Agar humne aaj na bola, kal ko hume bhi koi isi tarah kuchal jaega phir bhi koi nahi bolega (And they were protecting her. If we dont speak up today, tomorrow someone else will be crushed in the same way, and no one will speak up then either). Lawless country, read another comment. A user suggested, She was like I can kill you all right now and still get away with no jail time. The accused, who now faces various counts under the Pakistan Penal Code, stayed at home instead of being in police custody. Her attorney, Amir Mansub, contended that his client was getting treatment at the Jinnah hospital and that her mental state was not stable. However, hospital documents, as obtained by MM News, indicate that following medical assessments, she was declared fit. Medical professionals determined that no psychiatric intervention was needed at the moment. Due to the suspects psychiatric treatment, the authorities were unable to summon her to court on August 20. According to Dawn, the court only approved a one-day police remand, despite the investigating officers plea for a fourteen-day remand. Flight delays and cancellations are frustrating enough, but what can really push travellers over the edge is the loss or damage of their luggagean all-too-common occurrence. One recent incident highlights this issue. Monik Sharma from Assam lost his bag, reportedly containing items worth Rs 45,000, while flying on IndiGos domestic route from Kolkata to Guwahati. Adding insult to injury, the airline offered him a paltry compensation of just Rs 2,450. One of Sharmas friends posted about the same on social media, drawing attention to the incident. According to his post, the man lost his check-in luggage during the major Crowdstrike outage that left a major section of airlines disrupted. He also shared that the bag had items worth Rs 45,000 along with important documents like a driving license, PAN, and Aadhaar. It was checked in at Kolkata airport. It never reached Guwahati. How can it vanish mid air? Was the plane leaking bags? Around a month later Indigo has come back offering compensation of 2450. It is ridiculous. Just the bag would cost more than that. Apparently, there is a rule that the airline is liable for a maximum of 350 / kg in case they lose the bag. That is just adding insult to injury, he wrote. Every day you learn how the system can mess you up in a new way. @IndiGo6E lost my friend's @nik1220's baggage on a domestic flight (Kolkata-Guwahati). The bag had stuff worth 45k in it along with important papers like Driving License, PAN, Aadhar, etc. It was checked in at pic.twitter.com/L54ZUtOpHr Ravi Handa (@ravihanda) August 24, 2024 Reaching Indigos social media handle, the user urged the airlines to help his friend, adding that the compensation offered was of no help to him. He also shared an image of Sharmas boarding pass. While it is yet to be known if the luggage has been traced, the user added a follow-up tweet, mentioning that he received a call from IndiGos social media team, assuring him of further investigation into the matter. In the meantime, social media users directly took to the comment section and reacted to the incident. A user wrote, The airlines ask you not to keep any valuables (cash and jewellery especially) in the checked-in luggage. Even important documentation like DL, PAN etc. Even a consumer court cant help here, move on, while another commented, IndiGo was not being truthful there, 350/kg is the liability for cargo, not baggage. Its better to try and locate the bag in lost and found (both airports). Its worth the effort for the hassle of documents your friend will have to go through. Its painful though. Unless someone else has mistakenly taken his luggage (also a possibility), a user suggested. In Kerala, Gods own country, the Thrissur Pooram is the peak of magnificence. About 200 years ago, it was first presented as a spectacle. While primarily focused on the elephants, it is an all-inclusive festival. Two groups of fifteen finely tamed elephants compete across the temple premises during the main procession. Witnesses from all across the state swarm Thrissur for this stunning 36-hour spectacle, which has up to 100 captive elephants participating. But things took a surprising turn when one of the elephants brought for the Arat rite at Mandarakadavu about the Arattupuzha Pooram festival attacked another. In a viral video, people were seen running in all directions as a bejewelled elephant charged and struck another giant. Thousands of devotees gathered to witness the final ritual and had to run for their lives on the narrow road after the incident. Eight peopleincluding a childwere hurt during the parade that was part of the well-known Arattupuzha Pooram festival in March, according to The Times of India (TOI). A complete lack of safety measures was acknowledged by officials to TOI. There was no barrier between the elephants and humans, no public announcement system, no alcohol testing of the mahouts, far fewer volunteers than were needed, and no facilities for sedating elephants were in place. Elephant kalesh in pooram festival pic.twitter.com/RnzO6v94FA Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) August 26, 2024 The video is going viral on social media again and has garnered more than 3 lakh views. A user commented, Sometimes elephants get angry and cause a lot of destruction. They get annoyed by too much crowd and noise, therefore they should not be taken to crowded places. This will be good for both elephant and humans. Sometimes elephants get angry and cause a lot of destruction. They get annoyed by too much crowd and noise, therefore they should not be taken to crowded places. This will be good for both elephant and humans. Suman Kumari (@SumanKu89704156) August 26, 2024 Another user mentioned, Every year one or more such incidents happen No solution yet. Every year one or more such incident happen No solution yet Veena Jain (@DrJain21) August 26, 2024 A third user said, Noise causes confined animals pain, fear and other problems. This might be the reason it happened. Noise causes confined animals pain, fear and other problems. This might be the reason it happened. Archana (@1Spring17) August 26, 2024 The predominant discourse among the users concerned the elephants unwillingness to be showcased. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has released photos of its two fidayeens Mahal Baloch and Rizwan Baloch on its official channel, Hakkal, who took part in its recent operation Herof (Black Storm) by its elite group, the Majeed Brigade. Pakistan has called it a terrorist attack. Fidayee Mahal Baloch and Fidayee Rizwan Baloch detonated their VBIEDs at the gates of Pakistani military camp in Bela, commencing Majeeb Brigades operation Herof, BLA said in its statement, indicating a change in its approach by deployment of a woman fidayeen. The operation was launched on Monday, the death anniversary of Akbar Bugti, former CM of Balochistan, who was killed during General Musharrafs regime in 2006. As part of this, they have started to attack and take control of major camps of the Pakistan Army. Other units of the BLA have taken charge of highways and roads across Balochistan to support the Majeed Brigade. The BLA on Monday claimed responsibility for two attacks that killed at least 31 people. Twenty-three people were fatally shot after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Balochistan province, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passers-by, in Qalat district also in Balochistan, authorities said. WHAT ISPR SAID Pakistans Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on the night of August 25/ 26, 2024, terrorists attempted to conduct numerous heinous activities in Balochistan. On behest of inimical and hostile forces, these cowardly acts of terrorism were aimed at disrupting the peaceful environment and development of Balochistan by targeting mainly the innocent civilians, especially in Musakhail, Kalat and Labela Districts. Resultantly, numerous innocent civilians embraced shahadat. In Musakhail district, terrorists stopped a bus in general area Rara Sham and maliciously targeted innocent citizens, working in Balochistan to earn their livelihood, the ISPR said. Security Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies immediately responded and successfully thwarted the evil design of terrorists and sent twenty-one terrorists to hell in ensuing clearance operations, ensuring security and protection of local populace, the ISPR said. However, during the conduct of operations, 14 brave sons of soil, including 10 Security Forces soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies, having fought gallantly, made the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat. Sanitization operations are being conducted and the instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly acts, targeting innocent civilians, will be brought to justice. Security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan in step with the nation, remain determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Balochistan and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve, the ISPR said. Telegram said on Sunday its chief executive Pavel Durov had nothing to hide despite his arrest over allegations that he failed to curb criminal activity on the messaging app. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards, the company said in a statement published via the app. Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, it added. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner Telegram Messenger (@telegram) August 25, 2024 Attack on free speech The Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody. The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted on Sunday a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack. READ MORE: Instagrams Child Exploitation: Musk Fumes Over Telegram Founders Arrest, Asks Why Theres No Action Against Zuck Durov was reportedly arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan. Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a third French police source said. Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold. The encrypted application, with close to 1 billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. (With agency inputs) The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed the responsibility for two attacks on Monday, in which at least 31 people were killed, according to local sources. Twenty-three people were fatally shot after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Balochistan province, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passers-by, in Qalat district also in Balochistan, authorities said. Insurgents also blew up a railway track in Bolan, attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, all districts in Balochistan. No casualties were reported in those attacks. The attack on railway track has cut Balochistan off from the rest of the country. Meanwhile, four bullet-ridden bodies were found in Bolan, which sources claim were of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) handlers. There was also a suicide bomb attack in Lasbela. Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on security forces. The separatists have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Balochistan has persisted. The attack in Musakhail came hours after the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army separatist group warned people to stay away from highways as they launched attacks on security forces in various parts of the province. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in separate statements called the attack in Musakhail barbaric and vowed that those who were behind it would not escape justice. Later, Naqvi also condemned the killings in Qalat. Inputs from the Associated Press The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has started a new Fidayeen operation, Herof (Black Storm), to be carried out by its elite group, the Majeed Brigade. The operation was launched on Monday, the death anniversary of Akbar Bugti, former CM of Balochistan, who was killed during General Musharrafs regime in 2006. As part of this, they have started to attack and take control of major camps of the Pakistan Army. Other units of the BLA have taken charge of highways and roads across Balochistan to support the Majeed Brigade. In a statement, the BLA had earlier asked for complete support from the people of Baloch. The BLA had also requested the residents, police and others to help them as their fight is with the Pakistan military and requested the police not to interfere. Additionally, they also said if they dont understand, the BLA cadre wont hesitate to attack them. Top BLA sources told CNN-News18 that they are exploited by Pakistan without giving them their due. They also said they wanted to draw international attention to the long-standing Baloch insurgency against the ongoing Pakistani military occupation and exploitation of their resources. Millions of people have been abducted and have disappeared, with no idea of their whereabouts, they said. We are struggling to know about our son, father, uncles and relatives for years. We want independence from Pakistan and Iran and this new operation is a complete shift from our earlier Guerrilla style, said BLA sources. WHAT TOP SOURCES IN INDIAN INTELLIGENCE SAY The Baloch Missing Persons Movement is right now at its peak and is headed by Dr Maharang Baloch. This kind of energy and coordination is seen for the first time in Baloch attacks, according to top sources in Indian intelligence. They have control over the highways and roads and all inside activities are in their control, which is significant. This highway and road control is going to hit the CPEC project for some time and can impact Pakistan and China relations. China has always been critical of the Pakistan Army on killings in this area and their workers, too, were killed from time to time, they said. This operation will put additional burden on the Pakistan Army and they will have to stretch themselves in Balochistan. The entry in Bela-type camps is a significant move. This operation is a tactical shift and this will bring Baloch and the Pakistan government to talking table, as beyond a point Pakistan cant afford to lose business around this area, they said. A footage going viral on social media shows a California man singing Tina Turners Whats Love Got to Do With It while profusely bleeding from gunshot wounds caused by police firing. 41-year-old Joseph Gerdvil was shot by police after killing his parents and dog then approaching the responding officer with a metal object in his hand in San Juan Capistrano, California.After being shot he tells the officer he loves them and requests they "finish him off." pic.twitter.com/qnZ4CByxXI Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) August 26, 2024 Joseph Gerdvil, who decapitated his parents 77-year-old Ronald Gerdvil and 79-year-old Antoinette Gerdvil along with their dog was found on a street outside the San Juan Mobile Estates by police officers from the Orange County sheriffs office. A report by broadcaster CBS said that one of the heads was displayed on a counter. Their report said Gerdvil also attacked a maintenance worker. He threw a heavy shovel at police officers. One of the heads was displayed on a counter, according to CBS News. When a deputy ordered Gerdvil to stand down, he charged, prompting the officer to fire five shots from about 10 feet away. The first three shots appeared to have little impact on the 41-year-old, but the fourth brought him down. When blood started gushing from his wounds and medics arrived to treat him, things took a bizarre turn as he started singing 80s love songs. Whats love got to do with it, got to do with it? Whats love but a second-hand emotion? he sang from the 1984 Tina Turner hit. Gerdvil then switched to a Stevie Wonder classic, singing, I just called to say I love you, from the 1984 hit of the same name. The suspect was rushed to a nearby hospital and stabilised. He now faces two homicide charges for the deaths of his parents. HR McMaster, the former US national security adviser, said former president Donald Trump is susceptible to being manipulated. The 25th US national security adviser, who served during the Trump presidency, said his former boss needs a competent team around him. People know kind of how to push his buttons, especially buttons associated with maintaining the complete support of his political base, McMaster said during his appearance on US broadcaster CBS Face the Nation. He can make really sound decisions and disrupt things that need to be disrupted in terms of foreign policy, national security, but oftentimes struggles to hang on to those decisions and see them through, he further added. Donald Trump has argued on the campaign trail that world leaders will walk all over US Vice President Kamala Harris if she were elected president and that she cannot tackle the likes of North Koreas Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei the same way he would. He told host Margaret Brennan that he was unsure about documenting Vladimir Putins relationship with Trump and how tried to manipulate the latter. I struggled Should I write about how Putin tried to manipulate President Trump, or not? And I thought, well, Putin knows how he was trying to do it. So maybe in writing about how Putin was trying to press Donald Trumps buttons, that will make a future President Trump, if hes elected, less susceptible to those kinds of tactics he said. In an op-ed piece published by him in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year he wrote: Putin, a ruthless former KGB operator, played to Trumps ego and insecurities with flattery. McMaster is a retired Army lieutenant general who served as Trumps national security adviser from February 2017 to April 2018. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met twice when he was the US NSA. It was during his tenure as US NSA that the two leaders met for the first time in person on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg in July 2017. They had also met informally in November 2017 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Danang, Vietnam. In a speech Monday to National Guard soldiers in Michigan, former President Donald Trump is expected to promote his foreign policy record and tie Vice President Kamala Harris to one of the Biden administrations lowest points: the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. The speech coincides with the third anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is set to appear at 2 p.m. Eastern time at the National Guard Association of the United States 146th General Conference & Exhibition in Detroit. Since Biden ended his reelection bid, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He specifically highlights the vice presidents statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan. She bragged that she would be the last person in the room, and she was. She was the last person in the room with Biden when the two of them decided to pull the troops out of Afghanistan, he said last week in a North Carolina rally. She had the final vote. She had the final say, and she was all for it. The relatives of some of the 13 American servicemembers who were killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month, saying Biden had never publicly named their loved ones. The display was an implicit response to allegations that Trump doesnt respect veterans and had previously referred to slain World War II soldiers as suckers and losers accusations denied by Trump. Under Trump, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that was aimed at ending Americas longest war and bringing U.S. troops home. Biden later pointed to that agreement as he sought to deflect blame for the Taliban overrunning Afghanistan, saying it bound him to withdraw troops and set the stage for the chaos that engulfed the country. A Biden administration review of the withdrawal acknowledged that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but attributed the delays to the Afghan government and military, and to U.S. military and intelligence community assessments. The top two U.S. generals who oversaw the evacuation said the administration inadequately planned for the withdrawal. The nations top-ranking military officer at the time, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, told lawmakers earlier this year he had urged Biden to keep a residual force of 2,500 forces to give backup. Instead, Biden decided to keep a much smaller force of 650 that would be limited to securing the U.S. embassy. The sound of explosions rang out in central Kyiv on Monday morning during rush hour as Ukraines military warned of a massive Russian missile and drone attack following waves of drone attacks in the early hours. The air force told Ukrainians Russia had 11 TU-95 strategic bombers in the air and confirmed the launch of a number of missiles. Outside the Ukrainian capital, Reuters reporters heard the sound of air defences engaging targets. Local authorities reported explosions in the northwestern city of Lutsk and said that an apartment block had been damaged and that they were verifying possible casualties. The Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said on X that Polish and allied aircraft had been activated after Russia launched the attack which also targeted regions in Ukraines west and near the Polish border. Ukrainians have been expecting a major Russian missile attack for some time. The U.S. embassy issued a warning last week of an elevated risk of attack around Ukrainian Independence Day, which Ukraine marked on Saturday. Ukraine has itself stepped up its long-range drone attacks on Russia to try hit back at Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly: their infrastructure, Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskiys chief of staff, said on Telegram, apparently vowing retaliation. Russia launched two waves of drone attacks earlier on Monday, Ukraines military said, with initial information showing no damage or casualties. Up to 10 drones were destroyed on their approach to the city in the region around Kyiv at about 0230 GMT, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyivs military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to the others war effort. At least 24 people were killed in Pakistans Balochistan on Monday when armed men carried out a targeted attack, offloading passengers from buses, checking their identities, and then shooting them. Two paramilitary soldiers were among the two dozen people killed, most of whom were from Punjab province. The attackers blocked the inter-provincial highway in Musakhel district, forced passengers off trucks and buses, and set fire to 10 vehicles. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the shootings. It claimed that those killed were military servicemen in civilian clothes who were identified and subsequently killed by BLA fighters. BREAKING: BLA Rebels attacked Bela military camp in Turbat, BalochistanMilitants took the camp under control late night. Casualties are believed to be in high double figures. pic.twitter.com/imMJ8lf8cc Sputnik India (@Sputnik_India) August 26, 2024 Terrorist act Balochistan is the countrys largest but poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources. Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on Punjabis and Sinhdis from elsewhere in Pakistan working in the region, as well as foreign energy firms they believe are exploiting the region without sharing its riches. Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar confirmed to the Pakistani newspaper that the victims were from Punjab province and that emergency services were on the scene to transport the bodies to the hospital. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti condemned the attack as a terrorist act. He offered condolences to the victims families and vowed that the provincial government would pursue the terrorists and their accomplices to ensure they face justice. Innocent passengers President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their sorrow over the loss of life, calling the attackers enemies of the nation. The President emphasised that those responsible for the killings must face justice. Pakistan federal minister Attaullah Tarar also strongly condemned the attack. The terrorists showed brutality by targeting innocent passengers near Musakhail, he was quoted as saying in a statement on X posted by PML-N. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, he said. The Musakhel attack comes nearly four months after a similar incident targeting people from Punjab, according to Dawn. In April, nine passengers were removed from a bus near Noshki and shot after gunmen checked their IDs. According to a report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Pakistan experienced 380 fatalities and 220 injuries related to violence during the second quarter of the year. The casualties stemmed from 240 incidents, including terror attacks and counter-terrorism operations. Last October, unidentified assailants killed six labourers from Punjab in Turbat, Balochistans Kech district. Police described the killings as targeted, noting that the victims were from various parts of southern Punjab, indicating a possible ethnic motive. Former US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to criticise ABC News, questioning the networks integrity and fairness ahead of a presidential debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris next month. On Sunday, Trump expressed his disapproval of a recent interview conducted by ABCs Jonathan Karl, whom he labeled as a lightweight reporter and accused of bias. He also targeted ABCs panel of commentators, calling them Trump haters and suggesting that their questions would be unfairly tilted. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS Trump had initially agreed to a debate with US President Joe Biden, scheduled to air on ABC News on September 10. However, after Biden was replaced by Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, Trump questioned his participation in the debate. Despite Trumps reservations, both sides later confirmed that the September 10 debate would proceed as planned on ABC News. Trump had sought additional debates on Fox News and NBC News, but the Harris campaign stated that it would only commit to the ABC News event before considering any further debates. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Will Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) August 26, 2024 In his post, Trump raised concerns about the networks handling of debates, questioning whether Donna Brazile, a former CNN contributor, would provide questions to Harris, similar to allegations made against her regarding another Democratic heavyweight Hillary Clinton. He also inquired about the involvement of George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton aide and current ABC anchor, and slammed Harris for declining debate invitations from other major networks such as Fox, NBC, CBS, and CNN. Trump concluded his post with a challenge to ABC News, stating, Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Stay tuned!!! Trumps comments come one day after Harris accepted the Democratic Partys presidential nomination with a muscular speech that laid down broad foreign policy principles and sharp contrasts with Trump with 11 weeks left until Election Day. The Republican and his aides hope Thursdays boisterous convention finale marks the end of the honeymoon period for Harris, who emerged as the Democratic candidate little more than a month ago, after President Joe Biden exited the race and endorsed her. During Harris acceptance speech in Chicago, Trump attacked her with dozens of posts on his Truth Social platform, calling her a liar, a Marxist and Comrade Kamala Harris. One post simply asked: IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME? Elon Musk came out on Sunday in strong support of Telegram founder Pavel Durov after the Russian-born billionaire was detained in France. The arrest sparked global outrage on social media and was criticised as an attack on free speech. The founder and owner of the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram was arrested at a French airport on Saturday over numerous charges related to his platform and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Since the news of Pavels arrest broke, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has posted several times on his social media platform to protest the arrest. Musk went so far as to attack Mark Zuckerberg, suggesting he should instead be arrested for the massive child exploitation problem on his Meta-owned Instagram. Because he already caved into censorship pressure.Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data. https://t.co/RTTGIaD0gA https://t.co/iPb5NIxIJN Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024 Read More: Pavel Durov, Billionaire Founder And CEO Of Telegram Messaging App, Arrested In France Child exploitation problem Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data, the X owner posted. In an earlier post, Musk said, It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward X posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries. Musk and Zuckerberg have long been rivals, with a much-publicised cage fight once planned between them. However, the highly anticipated showdown was later called off. Musks attack on Zuckerberg came months after the Meta CEO apologized to the families of victims of online child sex abuse during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in February this year. The billionaire entrepreneur told parents, Im sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered. And this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer, he added. Earlier in May, Musk said that Zuckerberg-run Meta is super greedy at taking credit for advertisers who run campaigns on its platform. The X owner replied that we are terrible at claiming credit, and Meta is super greedy at claiming credit. (With agency inputs) Israeli Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar warned in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that Jewish terror is a danger to the existence of Israel, referring to the actions of the Hilltop Youth, who are radical, nationalist Israeli settlers in the West Bank. They oppose the Israeli governments policies and often engage in violent acts against Palestinians and Israeli authorities. They have established illegal outposts in the West Bank. They aim to drive away Palestinians from the West Bank and believe they are reclaiming and settling biblical lands promised to the Jewish people. The hilltop youth trend has long become a bed of violent activity against Palestinians. It isnt crime because its the use of violence to create intimidation, to spread fear. That is terror, Bar said in his letter to Netanyahu. The Shin Bet, officially known as the Israel Security Agency (ISA), is one of the three primary pillars of Israels intelligence community, alongside Aman, the military intelligence division, and Mossad, the foreign intelligence service. While Aman and Mossad focus on military and external threats, respectively, Shin Bets primary mandate is the internal security of Israel. I never agreed to the term nationalist crime. It isnt crime because its the use of violence to create intimidation, to spread fear, that is terror. Its not nationalist crime and certainly not national because it challenges national security, he wrote. In his letter he criticised the actions of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Shin Bet operates independently of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and its chief reports directly to the Prime Minister of Israel. Bar told Netanyahu that the actions of minister Ben-Gvir created a very significant risk to regional security, referring to his recent visit to the compound with hundreds of supporters, many of whom appeared to be praying openly in defiance of the status quo rules. The hillside compound, in Jerusalems Old City, is one of the most sensitive locations in West Asia, holy for both Muslims and Jews, and the trigger for repeated conflict. Bar warned Netanyahu that Ben-Gvirs actions could lead Israel to profuse bloodshed and change the states face unrecognizably. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office immediately put out a statement restating the official Israeli position, which accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the mosque compound, known as Temple Mount to Jews, who revere it as the site of two ancient temples. Bar in his letter warned against the changing nature of Jewish terror from focused covert activity to broad, open activity. From using a cigarette lighter to using weapons of war. Sometimes using weapons that were distributed by the state lawfully. The leaders of the Jewish terrorists want to cause the system to lose control, causing indescribable damage to Israel, he further added. Ben-Gvir has called for the dismissal of Bar at a meeting but Netanyahu and other ministers backed Bar which angered the far-right minister, who stormed out of the meeting. He repeated a call for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, drawing sharp criticism for inflaming tensions as ceasefire negotiators seek a deal to halt fighting in Gaza. The policy allows prayers on the Temple Mount, there is equal law between Jews and Muslims I would build a synagogue there, Ben-Gvir was quoted as saying by Army Radio in a post on social media platform X, following an interview on Monday. President Emmanuel Macron on Monday denied any political link to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov as the tech tycoon spent a second day in French custody following his surprise arrest at a Paris airport. Numerous questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durovs detention. Sources close to the case said Durov is accused of failing to curb the spread of illegal content on Telegram, which has over 900 million users. The company has dismissed the accusations. Born in Soviet times into a family of academics in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, Durov spent his childhood in Italy before building up Russias then biggest social network VKontakte (VK) in his early 20s. He set up Telegram after leaving Russia a decade ago and Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at $15.5 billion. Writing on the X social media platform that he was addressing false information concerning the case, Macron said Durovs arrest took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter, he wrote in a highly unusual comment on a legal case. Durov, 39, holds a French passport in addition to his Russian nationality. Nothing to hide A investigating magistrate extended the Durovs detention on Sunday, according to a source close to the investigation. The initial detention for questioning can last up to 96 hours. When this period ends, the magistrate can either free Durov or press charges and remand him in custody. Durov, who has been based in Dubai in recent years, arrived in Paris from the Azerbaijani capital Baku, and was planning to have dinner in the French capital, a source close to the case said. He was accompanied by a bodyguard and a personal assistant who always travel with him, added the source, asking not to be named. One key question is why Durov flew into France when he would have likely been aware he was wanted in the country. Perhaps he had a feeling of impunity, said a source close to the case, asking not to be named. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Baku on a state visit to Azerbaijan on August 18 and 19 but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that the pair had met. Durov is accused of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform. Frances OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, another source said. Telegram said in response that Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act its moderation is within industry standards, it added. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Enforce the law Telegram has positioned itself as a neutral alternative to US-owned platforms, which have been criticised for their commercial exploitation of users personal data. It also plays a key role since Russias invasion of Ukraine, used actively by politicians and commentators on both sides of the war. But critics accuse it of hosting often illegal content ranging from extreme sexual imagery to disinformation and also narcotics services. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Moscow had received no information from France on why Durov was detained, saying we do not know concretely what Durov is accused of. Elon Musk, who leads the Tesla car group and X, formerly Twitter, posted the hashtag #FreePavel on his platform and commented in French, Liberte Liberte! Liberte? (Freedom Freedom! Freedom?). Macron said that while France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication such freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life. It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden held a telephonic conversation on Monday, discussing a wide range of burning issues, including peace efforts in war-ravaged Ukraine and the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh after a regime change there earlier this month. The two leaders also discussed ties between strategic allies India and the United States. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability.We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 26, 2024 PM Modi recently returned from a trip to Kyiv where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and reiterated that solutions to conflicts cannot be found in the battlefield;. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on the phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability, PM Modi said. In the phone call he received from Biden, PM Modi also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and the safety and security of the nations Bengali Hindu minorities. We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh, he said. Both leaders also committed to further strengthening of the Quad framework. The leaders highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity, a press release said. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi briefed President Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine. He reiterated Indias consistent position in favor of dialogue and diplomacy and expressed full support for early return of peace and stability. The two leaders expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasized restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh, the press release further added. A safety advisor working for Reuters was killed in a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine, the global news agency said on Sunday, as Kyiv claimed further advances into Russias Kursk region. Ukraine meanwhile accused neighbouring Moscow-allied Belarus which allowed Russia to use its territory as a launchpad for the February 2022 invasion of concentrating troops on the border and warned it to stop unfriendly actions. In another bloody day in the two-and-a-half year war, Russian attacks killed at least 18 civilians across Ukraine, while Russian officials said six civilians were also killed in Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions. Reuters said it was devastated by the loss of its security advisor following the strike late on Saturday at the Hotel Sapphire in the city of Kramatorsk, where six of its crew covering the war were staying. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the strike. For all this, the world must not stop putting pressure on the terrorist state, he said, referring to Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Reuters said the strike left two of its journalists in hospital, one with serious injuries, while three others were safe. Ukrainian prosecutors said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile at 10:35 pm (1935 GMT) on Saturday, with the strike also damaging the building next door. Kramatorsk the last major city under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region is often used as a base for aid workers and foreign journalists. Reuters said the advisor who was killed had helped keep so many of our journalists safe as they covered events around the world. He was a dear colleague and friend, and we will miss him terribly. Ukraine claims Kursk advances Kyiv meanwhile claimed further advances into Russias Kursk region, where it launched a counter-offensive on August 6. Zelensky claimed Ukraines surprise incursion into Kursk had yielded small advances from one to three kilometres and taken control of two more Russian settlements. Catching Russia off-guard, Kyivs incursion has rattled Moscow and displaced more than 130,000 people, but has not slowed the Russian troops advance in eastern Ukraine. In Kramatorsk, AFP saw authorities handing out plywood to locals for them to board up their windows. The city lies around 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the front line, with fears over the city rising as Russian forces continue their push into eastern Ukraine. Many locals were heading to bed at the time of the strike. I was watching a film on my phone and then there was such a noise and the glass started smashing, 66-year-old Natalia told AFP, crying. She said she had already been evacuated once after a similar experience but came back, and now will think about leaving again. Its scary to go to bed, she said, her voice breaking. Another resident, 84-year-old Vasily who lives close to the hotel, was fixing plywood onto his window frames after the glass smashed during the strike. We worry all the time and now our turn has come, he said, adding: Its about how lucky you get. Late on Sunday, Kyiv said Ukrainian intelligence had found Belarus was building up equipment and troops on the border under the guise of exercises. The foreign ministry said Ukrainian intelligence had also recorded the presence of fighters from the Wagner mercenary group some of whom are being hosted by Belarus after their leaders failed rebellion last year. It warned Minsk to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraines state border. In 2022, Minsk allowed Russian troops to station in Belarus for drills before Moscow launched its invasion in February. Ukraine also said that military exercises in the border area pose a global security threat due to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant nearby site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster. On Sunday evening, officials said attacks on the Sumy region from where Kyiv had launched its surprise incursion on August 6 had killed three civilians and wounded six more. In the south, officials said Russian strikes that hit outside the city of Kherson killed three people and wounded six, including a one-year-old boy who was left with shrapnel injuries. Over the border in Russia, authorities said attacks on the Belgorod region killed six civilians. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said five people were killed in a strike on the village of Rakitnoye, in an attack that also wounded 13 others. Gladkov later said a man was killed by a Ukrainian drone attack in the village of Solovyevka further south. Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities caused significant disruptions on Monday, including blackouts and the interruption of news broadcasts. Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, and several other cities, prompting air raid alerts across the country. Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred Shaheds. Like most Russian strikes before, pic.twitter.com/0qNTGR98rR Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2024 Missile and drone strikes battered Ukraines power grid, killing at least four people and forcing authorities to introduce emergency blackouts. Officials said 15 regions across the country were targeted in the aerial assault which began during the night and was the biggest in weeks. President Volodymyr Zelensky urged European warplanes to help down drones and missiles over Ukraine in the wake of deadly Russian aerial bombardments across his country. In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence, he said in a post on social media. Blackout: News Broadcast Forced Off Air As Missile Strikes Pound Ukrainian Energy & Military Infrastructure MoDThere have been confirmed explosions in Kiev, Lviv, Odessa and a number of other cities. Air raid alerts are sounding across the country, and its state-owned pic.twitter.com/aB0ewah4Z0 RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 26, 2024 The attacks come as Ukraine presses a major cross-border offensive into Kursk region, where Kyiv has been battling for nearly three weeks and claimed on Sunday to be advancing. Russian terrorists have once again targeted energy infrastructure. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of regions, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said. State-owned electricity system operator Ukrenergo was forced to introduce emergency power cuts to stabilise the system following the barrage, while train schedules were disrupted. Explosions from what appeared to be air defences could be heard in the capital Kyiv early on Monday, while residents rushed to take shelter in metro stations. The Russian defence ministry said it had struck energy infrastructure used to support Ukraines defence industry. Since invading in February 2022, Russia has launched repeated large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, including punishing attacks on energy facilities. Massive rocket fire The attacks on Monday killed four people and wounded more than a dozen people across the country, officials said. The governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, said Russian forces had attacked en masse. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the attack killed one civilian, local governor Ivan Fedorov said. In the western city of Lutsk, Russian bombardment damaged an apartment building and an infrastructure facility, killing one person and injuring five others, mayor Igor Polishchuk said. Russia also attacked railway infrastructure in the northern Sumy region, injuring a man and damaging buildings, national operator Ukrainian Railways said. The attack targeted energy facilities across the country, including the southern Odesa region, the wider Kyiv region and the region of Lviv in the west of the country, authorities said. (With agency inputs) Two Bangladeshi diplomats serving at the High Commission in India have been asked to leave before the end of their contract, days after ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasinas diplomatic passport was revoked. According to a report by India Today, the two diplomats first secretaries (press) Shaban Mahmud and Ranjan Sen were relieved of their duties by the caretaker government in Bangladesh, headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, as per an order that came into effect on August 17. The report said Mahmud was asked to leave from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi while Sen was asked to relinquish his position at the Bangladeshi consulate in Kolkata. They were relieved of their charges on August 24. Sen, whose contract was set to end on 2026, was reappointed by the Sheikh Hasina-led government and may take some time to return to Dhaka, the report said. Earlier this month, India asked its non-essential staff and families of diplomats at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to return. Hasina is now facing the possibility of extradition after her diplomatic passport was revoked by the caretaker government in the neighbouring country. The move to cancel these documents leaves her in potential limbo and poses a diplomatic dilemma for India, where she has been for almost three weeks. The interior ministry said in a statement that Hasinas passport and those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts have to be revoked. The former prime minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held, Dhakas home ministry said in a statement. If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses diplomatic passports have to be revoked, it said. Dhakas new authorities said Hasina and other former top officials during her tenure could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval. When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued, the ministry added. Hasina came to India after being forced to resign on August 5, as a result of a widespread agitation against the quota system in government jobs. The protests before her ouster as well as the violence and anarchy after have claimed more than 600 lives. Hundreds of frustrated Bangladeshis protested and created a ruckus at the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) in Dhaka on Monday after a queue seeking visa approval stretched for at least a kilometre. 1 Kilometres Long Line Outside Indian Visa Center At Asias Largest Mall Jamuna. The Line Started Inside, Involved Many Corridores, Then Came Out side, Went To Main Road, It Kept Going, Going And Going Who Will Process Ur Visa Bro? Majority Of Staff Went Back To India, The pic.twitter.com/PkXAcbCoOC (@iSoumikSaheb) August 26, 2024 The IVAC earlier this month paused visa services owing the unrest caused after the student-led protests which saw the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The Indian embassy in Dhaka had evacuated 190 Indian non-essential staffers and their families posted in the High Commission of Dhaka. Other than Dhaka, India also has high commissions/consulates in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet. Visa applicants also staged protests at the Indian Visa Application Centre in Satkhiras Itagacha. The Indian visa application centre later resumed limited operations on August 13. At the time it had requested visa applicants to arrive at the centre only after receiving a text message to collect their passports. The Bangladeshi visa applicants at the Dhaka centre alleged that they were harassed. They were also angry because they were facing delays despite waiting for several months. Bangladeshi citizens often visit India for travel and tourism and medical purposes. Getting an Indian visa has become a matter of luck. You cant apply again unless two months have passed since your last attempt, Rustam Ali, a resident of Munjitpur, Satkhira told the Dhaka Tribune. We sent police to manage the situation at the Indian Visa Centre in Itagacha. Some passports have been returned, and the remaining applicants have been assured that their concerns will be reported to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Satkhira police official Rafiqul Islam was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Videos shared on social media outlets also showed police presence in Dhakas IVAC and also some members of the Bangladeshi army who were urging the applicants to calm down. Most applicants say they need the visas for urgent medical needs. Ive been waiting for four months without receiving a visa. My wife is very ill, and I need to take her to India for treatment. We have only one demand we want our visas, Tarakanath Das told the newspaper. A British safety adviser working with a Reuters journalist team was killed when a Russian missile hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Saturday. Ryan Evans, 38, was among those at the Hotel Sapphire in the Donetsk region when it was struck, Reuters confirmed. Two other Reuters crew members were hospitalized with injuries from the attack. Local officials reported that an Iskander-M ballistic missile caused the destruction. Associated Press reporters described the hotel as reduced to rubble, with excavators clearing debris. Additionally, a nearby multistory building was also taken out, confirmed Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin. Ukraine's Kharkiv region also faced Russian assaults over the weekend, leaving multiple civilians injured. Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram that a 4-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were hurt in Chuhuiv. In Kharkiv city, eight were wounded when a house was set ablaze by a Russian strike. Meanwhile, Ukrainian shelling killed five in Russia's Belgorod region; Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 12 others were wounded in Rakitone, including a 16-year-old girl in critical condition. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) Brazil's southern Sao Paulo state is grappling with deadly wildfires that have claimed at least two lives, officials confirmed Saturday. Authorities placed 36 cities on high alert as local and federal efforts intensify to combat the flames, according to Sao Paulo state Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas. The fires, fueled by a heat wave and drought, have unleashed havoc outside the city of Sao Paulo, one of the most populous cities in Latin America with over 11 million residents. A significant deployment of 7,300 government workers and volunteers is in place to "contain the advance and put out these fires," de Freitas announced. He also cautioned that strong winds could further exacerbate the situation, despite efforts. Though Sao Paulo city remains largely unaffected, social media videos depict smoke-filled skies and flaming trees in rural areas. The town of Urupes reported two industrial plant employees died on Friday while combating the blaze. Local outlet Folha de S.Paulo cited this year's fires as among the worst seen in decades, recording a staggering 4,973 fires in the region. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) Violence in a restive province of Pakistan took a particularly grim turn Monday: Gunmen stopped vehicles on a highway in Baluchistan, checked the IDs of occupants, and killed at least 23 who had the misfortune of being from the wrong place, report the BBC and the AP. Most of the victimstaken from cars, trucks, and buseswere from Punjab in neighboring India. The Baluch Liberation Army, the most prominent group fighting to create an independent state in Baluchistan, claimed responsibility, per the AFP. Ever get an email or phone call from your boss at home just as you're settling down to binge-watch your favorite show? If you're in Australia, you are now free to ignore that after-hours communication. A "right to disconnect" rule is now in play for workers as of Monday, which doesn't outright bar employers from contacting employees after they've clocked out. Instead, it simply says employees have no obligation to respond, and can't be penalized if they don't, "unless their refusal is deemed unreasonable," per the BBC . Although workers and their employers should try to work out any conflict over this themselves, if they can't, they're to seek resolution from Australia's Fair Work Commission. Workers who don't comply with the FWC's eventual ruling can be hit with a fine of up to $13,000, while employers could see a penalty of nearly $64,000. More than 20 nations, mainly in Europe and Latin America, have similar rules. With Aussie staffers putting in, on average, more than 280 hours of unpaid overtime annually, experts say the new rule will "empower workers," as well as help employers in the long run. "Today is a historic day for working people," says Michele O'Neil, head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, per Deutsche Welle. "Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work." Others aren't on board. "The laws came literally and figuratively out of left field, were introduced with minimal consultation about their practical effect, and have left little time for employers to prepare," says the Australian Industry Group, which represents employers, per Reuters. One worker in the financial industry, meanwhile, shrugs at the effort, though he approves of the concept. "I doubt it'll catch on in our industry," he tells the news agency, per the BBC. "We're well paid, we're expected to deliver, and we feel we have to deliver 24 hours a day." (More Australia stories.) Canada has announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching US tariffs and echoing European Commission plans. This decision follows a meeting between US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau also confirmed a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum, citing unfair competitive advantages provided by Chinese subsidies, which allow Chinese companies to persist without turning a profit. As such, they can sell EVs for prices as low as $12,000. Sullivan, who will on Tuesday visit Beijing for the first time, on Sunday said, "The US does believe that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues benefits all of us." President Biden had imposed tariffs in May on Chinese EVs, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum, and medical equipment, reinforcing the stance against China's advantageous subsidies. Trudeau stated, "We're doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world." The Chinese government has yet to respond, but officials are expected to bring up these tariffs with Sullivan. China argues its manufacturing capabilities and subsidies benefit global markets by keeping prices low and supporting green economic transitions. The only Chinese-made EVs currently imported into Canada come from Tesla's Shanghai factory. Former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques warned of potential retaliation from China, possibly impacting Canadian industries like barley and pork. "China will want to send a message," Saint-Jacques commented. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) The collapse of an ice wall at a tourist destination in Iceland on Sunday killed an American man and injured an American woman, reports the Washington Post. Neither has been further identified following the collapse of an ice cave that is part of the Breiamerkurjokull glacier. On Monday, local officials called off the search for others after determining that everyone had been accounted for, per the New York Times. Initially, officials thought a total of 25 people were touring the cave at the time, but the figure turned out to be 23. All but two of the 23 made it out unscathed. Special counsel Jack Smith has asked a federal appeals court to reverse Judge Aileen Cannon's decision last month to dismiss the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against Donald Trump. In a brief filed Mondaya day before the deadlineSmith argued that Cannon ignored decades of precedent when she threw out the indictment, the Washington Post reports. In her decision, Cannon said Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in a violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. Smith filed his notice of appeal two days after the ruling. In the ruling, "the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel's appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels," the Monday filing said, per the Hill. He noted that attorneys general have appointed special counsels for more than 150 years. The Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania has opted to auction "Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony," a 16th-century artwork, in order to resolve a restitution claim by the heirs of its former owner. Acquired in 1961 from a New York gallery, the painting was attributed to German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop. It originally belonged to Henry Bromberg, a German judge who fled Nazi persecution. Henry Bromberg and his spouse Hertha were forced to sell their art collection, including this painting, while escaping Nazi Germany in 1938. The Bromberg descendants approached the museum two years ago, initiating settlement discussions. The uncertainty about when and where the painting was soldeither in Germany under duress or as they emigrated to the USled to a compromise, with the museum and Bromberg heirs agreeing to divide the auction proceeds. Museum President Max Weintraub emphasized the ethical responsibility to return the painting, stating, "That moral imperative compelled us to act." Christie's will sell the portrait in January at its Old Master sale; the painting's value is still being assessed. Nicholas O'Donnell, the museum's lawyer, highlighted the settlement as an alternative to a court battle. The Bromberg family continues to search for about 80 other artworks lost during the Nazi era. The family expressed satisfaction in the museum's thorough provenance check of the Cranach piece. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) As a three-week hearing kicked off, Albertsons on Monday said that it might resort to store closures and layoffs if its proposed merger with Kroger is blocked. The historic $24.6 billion merger faces opposition from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which argues it could reduce competition and elevate grocery prices amid high inflation. FTC's chief trial counsel, Susan Musser, emphasized the merger would harm consumers by eliminating competitive pricing between the two chains; it is hoping to secure a preliminary injunction to stop the merger while its complaint is heard by an in-house administrative law judge. Albertsons and Kroger countered the FTC's stance, arguing that current grocery market dynamics, including the rise of players like Walmart and Costco in the space, necessitate the merger for sustaining competition. Albertsons attorney Enu Mainigi the company's customers now spend 88 cents per dollar at rivals that have national scale; the only way to compete is to have Kroger's help, she said. They also plan to divest 579 overlapping stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, which owns the Piggly Wiggly brand; the FTC questioned C&S's readiness and willingness to do so. Labor unions oppose the merger, fearing store closures could lead to "food and pharmacy deserts." UFCW members protested, stressing community and worker welfare over corporate profits. Judge Adrienne Nelson will hear from about three dozen witnesses before making a decision; should she block the merger, the FTC's in-house hearings will commence Oct. 1. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) VAUGHAN, ON, Aug. 26, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Harvey's brings back the fan-favourite Pickle Pickle Poutine with a dill-icious update. The Triple Pickle Poutine is made with 100% Canadian cheese curds and potatoes, topped with gravy, two deep fried pickles, diced pickles and now, Garlic Dill sauce. The addition of the Garlic Dill makes the pickle factor three-fold and replaces the original Ranch sauce from its predecessor. Today, Harveys brings back the fan-favourite Pickle Pickle Poutine with a dill-icious update! The Triple Pickle Poutine is made with 100% Canadian cheese curds and potatoes, topped with gravy, two deep fried pickles, diced pickles and now, Garlic Dill sauce. (CNW Group/Harvey's) "Thanks to the overwhelming demand from our guests, we're ecstatic to be bringing back Triple Pickle Poutine to our restaurants," says Meera Patel, Director of Marketing, Harvey's. "If we know one thing, it's that our guests are obsessed with our pickles. And, with the increased guest desire for adventurous flavours, it only made sense to play on those two factors to create this poutine. For us, 2024 is the year of pickles and we intend to keep the momentum going." In 2023, Harvey's launched Pickle Pickle Poutine as a response to a viral video in 2022 that had almost 3,000 shares and 500,000 views. Since then, the poutine has gone viral and sparked much debate on social media about whether or not pickles belong on the classic Canadian dish. The Triple Pickle Poutine is available for a limited time at all Harvey's locations until October 27. For more information, visit https://www.harveys.ca/en/poutine About Harvey's Harvey's is an iconic Canadian restaurant chain that has been feeding Canadian families since 1959. Serving delicious flame-grilled burgers made with 100% Canadian beef and topped the way you want them, Harvey's has been a staple in Canadian communities for almost 65 years. About Recipe Founded in 1883, RECIPE Unlimited Corporation is Canada's largest full-service restaurant company. The Company franchises and/or operates some of the most recognized brands in the country including Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, St-Hubert, The Keg, Montana's, Kelseys, East Side Mario's, New York Fries, Bier Markt, The Landing Group of Restaurants, Original Joe's, State & Main, Elephant & Castle, The Burger's Priest, The Pickle Barrel, Marigolds & Onions, Blanco Cantina, Anejo, and Fresh Kitchen + Juice Bar. RECIPE's iconic brands have established the organization as a nationally recognized franchisor of choice. More information about the Company is available at www.recipeunlimited.com. SOURCE Harvey's Meera Patel, Director of Marketing, Harvey's, [email protected] Starting August 27, McDonald's Canada is rolling out the Big Arch burger at participating restaurants across the country TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2024 /CNW/ - Calling all burger lovers! McDonald's Canada is satisfying cravings like never before with the introduction of the new Big Arch burger, starting August 27th. This BIG menu addition highlights more of the McDonald's ingredients guests know and love, all wrapped into one big, satisfying burger. It's so craveable, even the Hamburglar has set his sights on it! Prepare your appetite! The Big Arch is available at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada starting August 27. (CNW Group/McDonald's Canada) The Big Arch was designed as McDonald's response to guests' desire for a burger that satisfies the extra hungry. It includes two quarter pound* 100% Canadian beef patties perfectly layered with three slices of white processed cheese, crispy onions, slivered onions, pickles, lettuce, and our new, tangy and delicious Big Arch sauceperfect for those big cravings. "We have heard our guests loud and clear and understand they are looking for a bigger, burger on our menu, and we are excited to bring this new global menu item to Canadians," said Alyssa Buetikofer, Chief Marketing Officer at McDonald's Canada. "This satisfying burger combines the familiar McDonald's flavours our fans know and love with some unique new ingredients, including a tangy new burger sauce created for the Big Arch specifically." Like all McDonald's Canada's burgers, the Big Arch is made with 100% Canadian beef sourced from Canadian ranches and farms. McDonald's Canada has a proud legacy of partnering with local farmers and ranchers to make the delicious, craveable beef burgers that Canadians know and love. This burger is so satiating that it seems to have caught the eye of the most mischievous burger fan around: the Hamburglar, whose pursuit of McDonald's burgers is legendary. It's believed he's heard rumblings of the Big Arch's national debut and he is determined to get his hands on one. With Canada being one of the first global markets selected to introduce this new burger to our menu, Canadians should keep an eye out for this notorious burger enthusiast while enjoying this delicious new burger! *before cooking About McDonald's Canada In 1967, Canada welcomed the first McDonald's restaurant to Richmond, British Columbia. Today, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited has become part of the Canadian fabric, serving more than one million guests every day. In both franchised and corporate-owned restaurants, nearly 100,000 people are employed from coast to coast to coast, and more than 90 per cent of McDonald's 1,400 Canadian restaurants are locally owned and operated by independent franchisees. Of the almost $1 billion spent on food, more than 85 per cent is purchased from suppliers in Canada. For more information on McDonald's Canada, visit mcdonalds.ca. SOURCE McDonald's Canada For further information: Canada Impact Team, McDonald's Canada [email protected] Heres a summary of the major problems associated with various Boeing aircraft models and projects, based on the information available up to August 2024: Boeing 737 MAX Crashes: Two fatal crashes (Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019) led to the grounding of the entire fleet due to issues with the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) software. The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 longer in many jurisdictions. Quality Control Issues: Post-crash, numerous quality control issues surfaced, including problems with door plugs, loose bolts, and installation issues, leading to further scrutiny and grounding of some models. Jan 2024, Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 lost a door plug in flight. Incident Overview: A door plug, essentially a cover for an emergency exit that isnt used in certain aircraft configurations, detached mid-flight from a Boeing 737 MAX 9, creating a large hole in the fuselage. This incident led to immediate grounding of similar aircraft models by the FAA for inspections. A review of more planes found more poorly assembled door plugs with missing bolts. FAA Audits: Failed over 37% of FAA audits, highlighting significant non-compliance in quality control for the 737 MAX program. Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Manufacturing Flaws: Issues with the fuselage, including improperly torqued fasteners, leading to halted deliveries. Battery Fires: Early in its service, there were incidents of battery fires leading to groundings. Quality and Production Delays: Significant production issues in South Carolina, with numerous flaws found in quality assurance checks. Boeing 777 and 777X: As of May 2024, the 777 had been involved in 31 aviation accidents and incidents, including a total of eight hull losses (five in-flight accidents), resulting in 542 (including one fatality due to ground casualties) fatalities along with three hijackings. 2014, Kuala Lumpur to Beijing Malaysia flight 370 crashed in the Indian Ocean. US officials believe the most likely explanation to be that someone in the cockpit of Flight 370 re-programmed the aircrafts autopilot to travel south across the Indian Ocean. 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile while flying over eastern Ukraine. As of 2024, the Boeing 777, particularly the 777X variant, has encountered several significant issues: Engine-Related Structural Component Failure: The 777-9, part of the 777X family, experienced a setback when a structural component between the engine and the airplane structure failed, leading to a halt in flight tests. This component, unique to the 777-9, was described as a severed thrust link, which is critical for engine operation. This incident has raised concerns about the aircrafts readiness for certification and delivery, which were already delayed. Delays in Certification and Delivery: The 777X program, which includes the 777-9 model, has been plagued by numerous delays. Initially expected to enter service in 2020, its now aiming for 2025, highlighting significant challenges in design, manufacturing, and certification processes. These delays are not only costly but also affect Boeings reputation and customer trust. Boeing has confirmed a temporary halt in flight testing of its entire 777-9 fleet following the discovery of a failed engine-related structural component. Quality Control and Safety Concerns: Following previous issues with other models like the 737 MAX, the 777Xs problems add to the narrative of Boeings broader quality control and safety oversight challenges. The company has faced scrutiny for its production processes, leading to a comprehensive review by the FAA and internal restructuring. Impact on Boeings Operations and Market Position: These issues, combined with other Boeing aircraft problems, have led to a significant financial impact, including a drop in stock value and a loss of market confidence. The delays and quality issues have also given competitors like Airbus an advantage in the market, particularly with models like the A350. Customer and Regulatory Backlash: The recurring issues have not only delayed deliveries but also led to increased scrutiny from regulators and dissatisfaction among airlines, which have been forced to manage fleet planning uncertainties. This situation underscores a broader crisis in trust towards Boeings ability to deliver safe, reliable aircraft on schedule. These problems with the Boeing 777, especially the 777X, reflect deeper systemic issues within Boeing concerning quality control, engineering oversight, and regulatory compliance, which have been exacerbated by the intense competition in the aerospace industry and the high expectations set by previous model Boeing Starliner (CST-100): Technical Failures: Multiple issues including propellant system valves, flammable tape, parachute issues, helium leaks, and design vulnerabilities in the propulsion system, delaying crewed flights. It had problems on the first manned mission to the Space Station. It will return empty and will not return the astronauts. It was deemed not safe enough for the manned return flight. It is many years late and billions over budget. Space Launch System (SLS): Delays and Cost Overruns: While not directly a commercial or military aircraft, the SLS project has faced significant delays and cost overruns, though specific in-flight anomalies like those with Artemis I have been noted, indicating ongoing technical challenges. It is many years late and billions over budget. Major problems with Boeings military plane programs Cost Overruns and Fixed-Price Contract Challenges: Programs like the KC-46A Pegasus, designed for aerial refueling, have seen significant cost overruns, totaling billions in losses for Boeing due to fixed-price contracts. These contracts require Boeing to absorb any additional costs beyond the agreed price, leading to financial strain. Delays in Delivery and Production: Multiple programs, including the T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer, have faced substantial delays. For instance, the T-7s critical design review was pushed back by nearly two years due to funding and design issues, affecting planned production schedules. Quality and Safety Concerns: The V-22 Osprey has experienced fatal crashes, highlighting ongoing safety and design issues. Similarly, the KC-46A had to redesign its remote vision system due to visibility problems that could affect stealth aircraft refueling. Since its introduction, the V-22 Osprey has been involved in accidents that have resulted in at least 62 fatalities. This figure includes incidents from the 1990s through to recent years. General Issues Across Models: FAA Oversight and Boeings Self-Certification: The relationship between Boeings self-certification processes and FAA oversight has come under intense scrutiny, with critics pointing to a cozy relationship that might have overlooked safety for speed in production. Whistle Blowers Deaths of Whistleblowers: John Barnett: A former Boeing quality inspector who raised concerns about safety flaws, was found dead from what was initially reported as a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March 2024. Despite the police investigation concluding it as a suicide, there was public skepticism and calls for further investigation due to the timing and context of his legal actions against Boeing. Joshua Dean: Worked for Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier, and highlighted manufacturing defects on the Boeing 737 MAX. He died in May 2024 from complications due to a fast-spreading infection. His death, following closely after Barnetts, fueled conspiracy theories despite medical explanations. Public and Legal Scrutiny: Whistleblower Testimonies: Multiple whistleblowers, including Sam Salehpour and others, have come forward with concerns over quality control and safety issues, leading to Senate hearings and increased regulatory oversight. These testimonies have painted a picture of systemic issues within Boeings production processes. Legal Actions and Investigations: Following these revelations, there have been calls for investigations into Boeings practices, with the FAA and other bodies looking into allegations of skipped inspections, falsified records, and other safety protocol breaches. This has led to Boeing facing potential criminal charges and significant fines. Public Sentiment and Media Coverage: Conspiracy Theories: The deaths of Barnett and Dean, coupled with Boeings ongoing issues, have led to widespread speculation and conspiracy theories on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), suggesting foul play or corporate retaliation, though without conclusive evidence beyond the tragic personal circumstances. Corporate Response: Boeing has faced intense pressure to address these allegations, leading to statements defending their safety protocols while also acknowledging the need for improvements. The companys leadership has been criticized for prioritizing profit over safety. The drivers of a motorcycle and ATV were both killed on Saturday when the two vehicles collided in Cumberland County. The motorcycle was traveling south on on Panther Road near Rita Avenue in Vineland at 10:24 p.m. when it rear-ended the ATV, the Vineland Police Department said in a news statement. Vincent P. Hogan Jr, 31, who was driving the motorcycle, and Daniel Teapila-Portillo, 26, who was driving the ATV, both of Vineland, were pronounced dead on the scene, the statement said. An investigation into the crash is still ongoing. The Vineland Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed the crash to call Officer Christian Morales at 856-691-4111 ext. 4942. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today toNJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached atnfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. Jools Lebron is singlehandedly responsible for the resounding chorus of very demure and very mindful on social media this summer. But a recent video shows her in tears over a trademark. Lebrons very demure, very mindful catchphrase took off after she posted a series of videos on TikTok explaining her approach to all things demure and mindful and what that means. Now Lebron has been influencing for brands, making TikTok videos for companies like Southwest Airlines and Verizon. Theres even a very demure, very mindful Netflix category (Ugly Betty, Bridgerton, La La Land and Emily in Paris are among the picks). Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian jumped on the trend, inserting demure and mindful into their videos. Lebron, who is transgender, was happy to report that because of the catchphrases popularity and opportunities that have come with it she recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with guest host RuPaul where she promoted demurity she would be able to finance her transition. MORE: These celebrities have embraced the very demure, very mindful TikTok trend However, the Chicago social media star posted a tearful video saying that she dropped the ball when it came to trademarking her famous catchphrase to sell related merchandise. TMZ previously reported that someone named Jefferson Bates from Washington state had filed to trademark very demure ... very mindful. Ive just invested so much money and time into this, Lebron said, tearing up in a since-deleted video. And I feel like I did it wrong. I feel like I didnt try hard enough. I wanted this to do so much for my family and provide for my transition and I just feel like I dropped the ball. Like, I feel like I f---ed up and someone else has it now. I dont even know what I couldve done better because I didnt have the resources. Jools LeBron, the creator who popularized demure, shares shes unable to launch merch because her viral phrase was already trademarked: I wanted this to do so much for my family and provide for my transition and I just feel like I dropped the ball. pic.twitter.com/FxTVHfb6Lo Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 24, 2024 Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup. Tom Brown Jr., a renowned expert on wilderness survival, has died. The New York Times reports that Brown, 74, died August 16 in Neptune. Brown ran the Tracker School in the Pine Barrens, where he taught about wilderness survival and tracking. People from across the globe sought him out at the Waretown school. He wrote books about survival and nature and served as the technical adviser for The Hunted, a 2003 movie about an FBI tracker hunting an assassin. The film, directed by Oscar winner William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection), stars Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Brown, who was born Thomas Haughey Brown Jr. in Toms River, started learning about hunting and tracking when he was 7 years old. He wrote about his teacher, Stalking Wolfe, who he said was an Apache elder, scout, shaman and the grandfather of his friend Ricky. Brown said he later spent a decade in the wilderness with little to help him get by. Brown initially found little interest in his survival skills, but after he helped police to track a missing man in the Pine Barrens, he began working with law enforcement tracking missing children, wanted suspects and other people. In 1977, Brown drew national attention for helping police track and identify a rape suspect in Ramsey, but the Bernardsville man was later cleared of any wrongdoing. (Police were looking for the Ramsey Rapist, believed to be the same man who broke into the home of young James Comey and held him and his brother at gunpoint. Comey would grow up to become director of the FBI.) Browns first book, The Tracker, as told to author William Jon Watkins, was published in 1978. He founded the Tracker School the same year and went on to write many books covering survival, nature observation, tracking and awareness Grandfather, The Vision and The Way of the Scout among them. He advised students at the Tracker School, which he wrote emphasized a closer attachment to the Earth, that they must be prepared to see their lives and environment in a different light. Brown is survived by his sons Coty, River who will succeed him at the Tracker School and Tom Brown III; stepchildren Kerry, Paul, MacGreggor Sinclair and Shannen Adams; and three grandchildren. Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup. Teresa Giudice is the sole remaining original cast member of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. The table-flipping reality star has been on RHONJ since 2009 and is a core personality in the show. But if she remains on the series after a planned cast overhaul, her co-star promises to depart the show. Giudice, 52, who grew up in Paterson, is seen living with her family in Montville in the popular Bravo series. The objecting co-star? Her sister-in-law. Melissa Gorga, 45, grew up in Toms River and has lived with her family in Franklin Lakes on the show. It is what it is, she told Housewives alums Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave (daughter of John Mellencamp, former cast member from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and Tamra Judge (currently on The Real Housewives of Orange County) of The Two Ts in a Pod podcast. Its unhealthy and its OK, Gorga said. I wish everyone nothing but the best. Her and I are two extremely different characters, so to speak, on the show, Gorga said. She speculated on the future of her reality TV career because Bravo is planning to overhaul RHONJ ahead of the 15th season. While Gorga and Giudice have had their share of bad blood over the series, she said that if the network continues with Giudice, it would be a darker version of the show. Melissa Gorga joined the cast of "RHONJ" in 2011.Theo Wargo | WireImage I do wanna be on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I do not wanna be on that toxic sh--, Gorga said. She said she is prepared for the possibility of Bravo not asking her back to do season 15, and prefers an exit to being on the show with her sister-in-law. Ive had a 14-year run, Gorga said. You cant do it forever ... its a good time to say its time. Giudice has said she doesnt plan to leave RHONJ. Im not leaving, I started the show, she told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, answering rumors in a July appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark. When Bravo wants me to leave, thats when Ill leave, she said. However, Giudice has talked about wanting to leave New Jersey for better weather. She previously said she planned to move after her youngest daughter, Audriana, goes to college. I need to either be in California or Florida, she said on her podcast in 2023. Giudices whole pop culture identity is bound up in the Jersey reality show, but that could raise the prospect of a slot on one of the California shows like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or The Real Housewives of Orange County, which was the first show in the Bravo franchise, having debuted in 2006. Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup. You cant rain on Lea Micheles parade not today. The New Jersey actor welcomed her second child, daughter Emery Sol Reich, with husband Zandy Reich. She made the announcement on Instagram Sunday. Our hearts are so full, Michele said, sharing the babys name in the caption of a photo showing her hand holding the babys foot and Reichs hand resting on the newborns leg, topped by their older childs hand. Michele and Zeich, who got married in 2019, welcomed their first child, son Ever Leo, in 2020. Ever a Leo just turned 4. Michele, 37, a New York native who grew up in Tenafly, announced she was pregnant in March. In July, on Katherine Schwarzeneggers BDA Baby podcast, she shared that she had been diagnosed with endometriosis after having three miscarriages early in pregnancies before becoming pregnant with Emery. Michele previously shared that she had been treated for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) before her first pregnancy. The actor, born Lea Michele Sarfati, broke out with the role of Rachel Berry on Foxs Glee. After replacing Beanie Feldstein in the 2022 revival of the Broadways Funny Girl, Michele, an alum of Tenafly High School, earned rave reviews for her performance as Fanny Brice, a dream role long in the wishing. Speaking to Schwarzenegger, she called the role one of the greatest things Ive ever done in my career and also just personally, aside from being a mother. She said it was a challenge to not put her son to bed every night while she was in the Broadway show, though she did bring him to school, even when she had two shows in one day. It was so, so hard, but Im very proud of myself, said Michele, who had one miscarriage while she was working and experience endometriosis pain while she was onstage. She underwent surgery to treat the condition before pursuing fertility treatment. Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup. Walmart is recalling apple juice sold in 25 states due to elevated levels of arsenic.AP Walmart is recalling nearly 10,000 cases of apple juice sold in 25 states due to elevated levels of arsenic in the product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration upgraded the level of the recall to a Class II recall after announcing the original recall on Aug. 15, 2024. The updated classification means that the product in question could cause health problems but unlikely to cause serious or permanent health conditions, according to the FDA. The recall affects 9,535 cases of Great Value brand apple juice sold in the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia. The affected apple juice cases were also sold in the territories of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Florida-based Refresco Beverages recalled the products after discovering levels of arsenic in the juice that were beyond safe levels. The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority, Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman said in a statement. We have removed this product from our impacted stores and are working with the supplier to investigate. The FDA has not shared how many illnesses are potentially associated with the recall, but levels found in the affected apple juice are low enough that the agency doesnt think it will cause severe health issues. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips. A cult of criminals and their devotees is coming to New Jersey in a fortnight, because Donald Trump is throwing a party for them. Consider this your daily reminder that there is no distinguishable gap between parody and reality in Trumps world: On Sept. 5, he will host a J6 Awards Gala, his third such fundraiser for the legal defenses of the Jan. 6 rioters. Yes, this is happening: Trump is opening up his divot hotel/ex-wife cemetery in Bedminster to his diehards to help raise money for the convicted criminals who tried to end American democracy, because in Trumps world, they celebrate a public riot that led to the death of five Capitol police officers. There is a surreal promotional video for the event, which includes snippets of Trump calling the thugs peaceful and patriots and hostages. He also declared that there have never been people treated more horrifically than J6 hostages, and reminds us that it will be my great honor to pardon the Jan. 6 protesters. But the most cringey aspect is actually the price: General admission is $1,500. But a VIP ticket, which gets you free booze and a photo opportunity with convicted felons because Christmas is just around the corner -- is only $2,500. One guest speaker is Rudy Giuliani. It is unclear whether Giuliani has any open warrants in our state, but if anyone needs to serve Rudy legal papers, this is a splendid opportunity. There might will be a line, however. Another guest speaker is Trump himself, though its also unclear whether hell be in the building, perhaps because his lawyers reminded him that hes not allowed to interact with other convicts. But he cannot forsake these kindred spirits, at least the ones who havent been locked up yet. So far, more than 1,300 of Trumps pals have been charged with felonies like seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers, or misdemeanors such as illegally demonstrating at the Capitol. Nearly 900 of the rioters have had their cases adjudicated and received sentences. Roughly 550 have gone to prison. Hundreds more are still being pursued by the FBI. Initially, their sappy and psychotic devotion to Trump was unrequited. On Jan. 7, 2021 one day after the insurrection he now celebrates Trump called the Capitol riot a heinous attack, and declared that he was outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. And he promised that those who broke the law, you will pay. And now hes helping them pay for their lawyers, assuming he can find enough suckers to pay the $1,500 door charge. There is no denying that Trump is in earnest, however, as the crimes of Jan. 6 have become a cornerstone of his campaign. It was only two months after the riot that he described the mob as loving, claimed that the Capitol police had ushered them into the building, and that the rioters were hugging and kissing the cops. His first major campaign rally included the preview of a song he produced by inmates known as the J6 Prison Choir, which is played regularly at other appearances. Just last week, he reminded supporters that one of his first acts as president will be to pardon every Proud Boy and Oath Keeper and other assorted MAGA muppets. Some will be in Bedminster, where they will be honored for as the flyer says their incredible courage and sacrifice. Give generously. Also, remember the writers from The Onion crawling out onto a window ledge that day. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. It's deeply shameful that a fundraiser glorifying the January 6thinsurrectionists is being held at Trump's NJ golf club. Honoring those who attacked our democracy is a disgrace to the memory of those who defended it, like New Jerseys own Brian Sicknick. https://t.co/L2NMMKNlfM Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) August 25, 2024 Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Three new polls in the New York Times presidential election tracker taken before, during and after the Democratic National Convention show that Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has widened her national lead over former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Activote, which polled from Aug. 15-23, shows Harris has a five-point lead, and Angus Reid Global, which polled from. Aug. 19-23, gives Harris the same five-point edge. Fairleigh Dickinson Universitys latest poll, which surveyed voters from Aug. 16-20, awards Harris a seven-point national lead over Trump. In key swing states, the New York Times tracker breaks down the election this way: National average: Harris 49%, Trump 46% Michigan: Harris 49%, Trump 47% Wisconsin: Harris 49%, Trump 47% Pennsylvania: Harris 48%, Trump 48% Arizona: Harris 47%, Trump 47% Georgia: Trump 50%, Harris 46% The Times joined polling site FiveThirtyEight in its analysis that independent candidate Robert F. Kennedys withdrawal and endorsement of Trump would have little effect on the race. Said the Times: ... his decision may not affect the race dramatically: Kennedys support had already waned, his supporters were less likely to say they would vote come November, and recent polls disagreed on whether he was drawing more votes from Trump or Kamala Harris. The last polling with Kennedy still in the race and drawing only 4% of voters showed Harris with a 46-44% advantage over Trump. In the most recent polls from select pollsters that the New York Times says meet certain criteria for reliability, Harris leads are strengthening. Emerson College (Aug. 20-22): Harris +7% Fairleigh Dickinson (Aug. 17-20): Harris +7% University of Vermont (Aug. 15-19) state polling: Maine: Harris +17% New Hampshire: Harris +5% Vermont: Harris +41% Five weeks ago, when President Joe Biden left the race, the New York Times national average gave Trump a three-point edge. Harris has flipped the race and now has a three-point edge. Biden also was down four or more points in key states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Non-partisan Angus Reid Global said, New data taken during the Democratic National Convention ... finds Kamala Harris extending her national lead over Donald Trump among registered voters. The current vice president has a base built of support from 18- to 34-year-olds (59% Harris to 30% Trump), Blacks (67% to 16%) and Hispanics (57% to 33%). Trump, meanwhile, is the preferred choice among those older than 54 (49% to 40%) and whites (51% to 39%). FDU says Harris support is strongly tied to sex and gender: When voters are thinking about race or sex, Trumps support just plummets. All the time, we hear strategists and pundits saying that Democratic candidates shouldnt talk about identity, but these results show that making race and sex salient to voters is bad for Trump and boosts Harris. According to Activote: Trump leads among rural voters, but Harris leads by a wider margin among urban voters and also has a small lead among suburbanites. Harris leads among the youngest and oldest voters, while Trump narrowly leads among the 30-64 year olds. Harris leads among women, while Trump leads among men. Both lead comfortably among their respective parties, while Harris has a small lead among independents. Trump leads among Whites, while Harris leads among Blacks and Latinos. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Donald Trump had agreed to debate Joe Biden in September, but then backed out when Kamala Harris appeared to be the partys nominee. Then Trump recommitted to the debate and now that Harris has officially been named the partys nominee, will he again back out? The former president laid the groundwork for not taking part in the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News in a lengthy post to his social media site Sunday. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamalas best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! So definitely looks like Trump is laying the groundwork to pull out of the ABC News debate. pic.twitter.com/EQnUqUtpJd Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 26, 2024 Trumps decision to go on ABC sets up a high-stakes moment in an election where Bidens catastrophic performance in the last debate set in motion his withdrawal. Trump had declared he would not debate on ABC and said his agreement with the network had been terminated. He wrote on his social media site that if Harris wouldnt appear on Fox News on Sept. 4 instead, I wont see her at all. Later, he announced a change of heart and tried to pressure Harris to agree to two more September debates on Fox and on NBC. Asked at the time what he will do if a Harris only agrees to the ABC debate, he said: I dont know how thats gonna work out. Wed like to do three debates. We think we should do three debates. Harris told reporters she was glad he has finally committed to debate her on ABC on Sept. 10, the date that had originally been set for a Biden faceoff against Trump and which her campaign has long stuck to. Im looking forward to it and hope he shows up, she said at the time. 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. 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. A tactical team from the New Orleans ICE field office stands together to plan an early morning raid to pick up an illegal immigrant who is a multiple DUI offender and is on the deportation list in Kenner , La. Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate) There are at least 75,000 people in Devon caring for adult family members or friends, according to the 2021 census. Thats some nine per cent of the population and covers only unpaid adult carers, not parents looking after young families, or children under 18 looking after parents or other family members. And according to a GP Patient Survey carried out last year, the figure could be more than double that, with up to 162,000 unpaid carers out of a population of over 800,000 or almost a fifth of all our residents. This is on top of the people who we employ directly and indirectly to provide social care. Almost half these carers spend at least 20 hours a week carrying out their responsibilities, and thats often alongside working or their role within their family. Many people do not recognise themselves as carers - a spouse looking after their elderly or sick partner for example - and this means they can be without support and their responsibilities can affect their physical and mental health, wellbeing and employment. Before I became leader of the council, I was the cabinet member with responsibility for adult care services and my admiration for carers knows no bounds. The county council already provides a range of services, from information and advice to training, peer support, carer assessments, emergency planning, a Carers' Hospital Service and access to respite opportunities. But I was delighted when, earlier this month, my cabinet agreed to the development of a new high level action plan to set out ways in which we can do more to support our unpaid adult carers and their specific needs. One of the ways we will do this is to promote carer awareness among employers and across our communities. There is already some great work going on in Devon and we want to expand that. For example, in East Devon, Seaton Tramway and Seaton Town Council have signed up to our Carer Friendly Devon scheme. In North Devon the district council has given staff carer awareness training. Carers often say they feel lonely and isolated but a recent survey has demonstrated the positive impact of the work that Seaton Town Council has done in improving carers' lives and reducing their isolation. Not only do we need to do more to provide respite breaks from caring we also need to provide wider support for carers to access leisure, sport, arts and culture, education and training, access to IT, opportunities to talk with other carers and encouragement and support. Employers can also play a big part in supporting their workers who have caring responsibilities. The county of Devon has a working age population of 475,000 and statistics from Carers UK suggest that almost 3,000 people in our county will have to give up work to care each year. We know that many will be the most skilled and experienced staff - the 45 to 64-year-olds at the peak of their careers are the most affected age group. By raising awareness of caring in the workplace, reviewing and updating working policies and identifying and supporting carers in work, organisations can retain their staff who are unpaid carers. And that's not just good for the individual carer and their employer. Our economy and the productivity of businesses and employers depends on retaining skilled and knowledgeable staff so this is a win-win situation. Our scrutiny councillors will be monitoring work on this and I will personally be keeping a close watch on how our plan develops. And I can pledge that Devon will also take a strong lead in raising awareness throughout our communities and business groups. More than 70 parkour athletes from home and abroad gathered at Tianmenshan Scenic Area of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province over the weekend to challenge one of the most difficult parkour routes in the world. Competitors need to complete by jumping down a nearly 300-meter-long slope with a 150-meter vertical drop from the top of the 999-step staircase, which leads to the iconic Tianmen Cave. More than 100 sets of obstacles have been placed along the routes, and the contestants need to maintain their balance while also performing at quick speeds. Whoever reaches the destination quickest is crowned the winner. There is also a separate race held to judge the contestants' parkour skills, where they are given scores by a panel of judges on how well they can perform a parkour routine, which often includes kong vault, lache, palm spin, side flips and the wall run. It is the third time the competition is being held at the Tianmenshan Scenic Area. The unique terrain makes the competition more challenging and breathtakingly exciting. If you have any problems with this article, please contact us at app@chinadaily.com.cn and we'll immediately get back to you. After three years of construction, apartments in the former Calumet State Bank building in downtown Hammond are now being pre-leased to new residents. Rebranded as The Banc, redevelopers of the nine-story limestone tower at 5231 Hohman Ave. expect to open the luxury apartments in September. The historic bank building will welcome its first residents this fall. This significant undertaking blends the charm of Hammond's architectural heritage with the comforts of modern living, said Alan Schachtman, one of The Bancs developers. As outlined in the downtown master plan revitalization playbook created by Jeff Speck, the restoration of the Bank Calumet building has breathed new life into a cornerstone of downtown that holds a special place in the community's history, while also setting a new standard for luxury apartments in the area. The building owners say they have led more than 70 building tours so far. "We are thrilled with the enthusiastic response from the community," said Anastacia Fratto, another of the The Bancs developers. "The completion of the Hohman Avenue streetscape improvements has been a tremendous asset, creating a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood that complements the modern living experience we offer at The Banc." Former offices in the century-old, 112-foot tall building have been converted into studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Each apartment has its own washer and dryer. Amenities include a co-working space, a gym and a pet spa. The Bank Calumet tower was constructed by immigrant craftsmen in 1924 at a time when downtown Hammond bustled with department stores, movie palaces, perch palaces and jitneys. Developers are investing up to $24 million to turn Hammond's tallest building into 100 market-rate apartments with ground-floor retail and a co-working space in a two-story vaulted lobby with chandeliers, wood imported from Germany, mammoth classical pillars and a 32-foot-tall ceiling. "We've been working on this project for several years. It's a major transformation and change within the city," developer Don Babcock said. "We made this a reality. It's a dream come true. Historic buildings don't always get preserved. We want to create historical beautiful places for people to live. It's a big win for Northwest Indiana. It's a good story for what could happen in other communities like Michigan City after the (South Shore Line) double-track." The successful renovation could be emulated elsewhere, Babcock said. "The challenge is finding historic buildings in a downtown. We've lost a lot of historic buildings in Northwest Indiana," he said. "We've had some successes like with the Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts on Franklin Street in Michigan City that can be reproduced. But you can't do this without state and city support. The financials don't make sense otherwise." The hope is the historic building will appeal to people looking to take a planned nearby South Shore Line station into downtown Chicago. "Many bankers in Northwest Indiana have fond memories of the building and are excited to see it preserved," Babcock said. "It has a beautiful historical profile. It makes a statement we can rebuild our downtown with that type of building. When we'd go overseas on trade missions to France, London and other European cities, we'd see buildings like this preserved as part of the fabric of the city. It can be a destination or a landmark." Tours are available by appointment. For more information or to schedule a tour, visit thebanchammond.com or call 219.842.2262. In here, it's always Friday, the slogan on the TV ads went. But there's no longer any "in here" left around here for what was long one of America's most prominent casual dining chains. TGI Fridays abruptly closed last week in Schererville in an end of an era. The sit-down chain restaurant at 703 U.S. 41 in Schererville was the last remaining TGI Fridays in Northwest Indiana after the Hobart restaurant closed in 2021 and the Valparaiso location shuttered in 2022. "Thanks for visiting our restaurant. We truly appreciate our loyal guests and it has been our pleasure serving you," a sign on the door says. "Unfortunately, we have made the hard decision to close this TGI Fridays restaurant. Again, thank you for your patronage over all these years. We hope to serve you at one of our other locations." The closest remaining TGI Fridays are in south suburban Tinley Park and Oak Lawn. "As part of the closure, transfer opportunities have been offered to many of the restaurants employees," spokesman Tovah Duffant said. "We want to thank our loyal guests whove supported Fridays during our 19 years in Schererville." Dallas-based TGI Fridays was founded in New York City in 1965. Its founder Alan Stillman claimed TGI Fridays invented ladies night and potato skins and that he was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's bartender in "Cocktail." Short for "Thank God It's Friday," TGI Friday's was originally a singles bar, but switched its focus to serving families in the late 1980s. Over the years, TGI Fridays became a nearly universal staple in suburbia along with similar casual dining chains like Applebee's and Chili's. But the casual dining chains have fallen out of favor in recent years due to to changing consumer tastes and a lack of appeal to younger diners. In a festive atmosphere that included red and white stripes, Tiffany lamps and bric-a-brac like neon Route 66 signs, TGI Fridays served traditional American cuisine like burgers, steaks, seafood, wings and ribs, along with plenty of beer and cocktails. As its entire restaurant category has fallen out of favor after the rise of fast-casual eateries, the chain has been shuttering hundreds of locations around the country. In recent years, TGI Fridays closed its longtime location across from the Southlake Mall in Hobart and at 81 Silhavy Road in Valparaiso at the Valparaiso Walk outdoor shopping center. TFI Fridays often ran deals like two-for-$20 entrees and endless appetizers. For a long time, TGI Fridays servers wore flair, but the restaurant chain banned it after it was mocked in the cult comedy movie "Office Space." The once-ubiquitous chain is down to just five remaining locations in Indiana. It has four restaurants in Indianapolis and one in Terre Haute. Beatriz Ramo, left, and Bernd Upmeyer in the bathroom and sleeping loft of their tiny apartment, which they call the Cabanon. Credit... Ossip van Duivenbode for The New York Times Colorado Republicans have voted to remove their partys chairman amid mounting internal criticism of his leadership, including over recent posts that attacked the L.G.B.T.Q. community and accusations that he had fueled divisions within the party. Dave Williams, a hard-line state representative who was elected to helm the Colorado Republican Party last year, was ousted on Saturday, two months after dozens of state Republican Party members signed a petition to hold the vote. Party members selected Eli Bremer, a former chairman of the party in El Paso County in Colorado, to serve out Mr. Williamss term. According to Michael J. Allen, a Republican district attorney in Colorado Springs, about 88 percent of the 182 or so eligible members voted for the motion at the Saturday meeting to remove Mr. Williams. There has been an open revolt to his leadership of the party across the state, Mr. Allen said in an interview. It has been an accumulation of things at the expense of party unity and real electoral progress. A Latino civil rights group is asking the Department of Justice to open an investigation into a series of raids conducted on Latino voting activists and political operatives as part of a sprawling voter fraud inquiry by the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton. The League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the nations oldest Latino civil rights organizations, said that many of those targeted were Democratic leaders and election volunteers, and that some were older residents in their 70s and 80s. Gabriel Rosales, the director of the groups Texas chapter, said that officers conducting the raids took cellphones, computers and documents. He called the raids alarming and said they were an effort to suppress Latino voters. At a news conference on Monday outside the attorney generals offices in San Antonio, members of the group, known as LULAC, said they were filing a civil-rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. Roland Gutierrez, a state senator, said he was requesting a State Senate investigation into the raids. You dont go after our grandmothers, Domingo Garcia, a LULAC leader, told reporters. The raids were carried out in counties near San Antonio and in South Texas. In a statement last week, Mr. Paxton, a Republican, said they were part of an ongoing election integrity investigation that began two years ago to look into allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting. His office has said that it would not comment on the investigation because it is still underway. Rescuers in Iceland on Monday called off the search of a deadly ice canyon collapse after they determined that, contrary to initial reports, there were no other tourists trapped beneath the debris, the police said. Dozens of rescue workers and law enforcement personnel had been combing the Breidamerkurjokull glacier after part of the narrow canyon collapsed on Sunday. Rescue workers had previously removed one seriously injured tourist and the body of another who was killed in the collapse. It has come to light that no one was hidden under the ice, Logreglan a Sudurlandi, the local police force, said on Facebook. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and another was taken by helicopter to Landspitali, the National University Hospital of Iceland, and was in stable condition, the agency said late on Sunday. A Pennsylvania museum is relinquishing a valuable 16th-century portrait attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop after reaching a settlement with descendants of a German Jewish couple who fled the Nazis before World War II. The Allentown Art Museum agreed to give up Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, following a claim made by the family of Henry and Hertha Bromberg, who fled Germany in 1938. As part of the settlement, the work, an oil on panel dated to around 1534, is to be sold at the Christies Old Master sale in New York in January. The proceeds are to be divided between the museum and the Bromberg heirs, but the parties have not disclosed details of the arrangement. This work of art entered the market and eventually found its way to the museum only because Henry Bromberg had to flee persecution from Nazi Germany, Max Weintraub, the museums president and chief executive, said in a statement. That moral imperative compelled us to act. Israel and Hezbollah moved to talks of containment After Israels military and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah fired back and forth over the weekend in one of the largest cross-border barrages since the war in Gaza began, both sides quickly claimed victories of sorts. By yesterday morning, the two sides were employing the language of containment. Hezbollah announced that it had completed the first stage of its attack to avenge the assassination of a senior commander, Fuad Shukr, and appeared to be calling it a day. Israels defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said that he had spoken with the U.S. secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and that they had discussed the importance of avoiding regional escalation, according to a statement. But tensions are still high in the Middle East, and escalation remains a possibility, experts say. The Israeli military said it was continuing to strike Hezbollah launchers in southern Lebanon. And Iran, Hezbollahs patron, has made unresolved threats toward Israel, which it blames for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of its ally Hamas, while he was in Tehran. For more: For now, the exchange of attacks fell short of the major escalation that many had feared after Shukr was killed. This timeline shows how the attack unfolded. Russia targeted Ukrainian energy in a sweeping attack Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones across a broad swath of Ukraine yesterday. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault as one of the largest strikes of the 30-month-old war. The barrage damaged energy infrastructure across the country. Local authorities in Kyiv and Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, reported blackouts related to the strikes. Officials said four people were killed and more than 30 others were injured. Like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure, Zelensky said in a Telegram post. Ukrainian forces continued to try to advance their offensive in the Kursk region of Russia, which they launched three weeks ago. Zelensky said that Kyivs forces had taken control of two more settlements, but the claim could not be independently verified. In a significant escalation of trade tensions between Western countries and China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada would impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, joining the United States and the European Union in protecting domestic car production. The move aligns Canadas automotive policy with that of the United States, the market for the vast majority of Canadian-made vehicles where President Biden in May announced 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric cars. And it also appears to be a form of insurance for the tens of billions of dollars in subsidies that Canadian governments have committed for the development of electric vehicle and battery factories being built in the country by Honda, Stellantis, Volkswagen, General Motors, LG and others. In addition, Canada will also impose a new 25 percent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum. The tariffs will most likely worsen the countrys rocky relations with China and could raise the possibility of retaliation by the Chinese government against Canadian agricultural exports. I think we all know that China is not playing by the same rules, Mr. Trudeau told reporters on Monday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. What is important about this is were doing it in alignment and in parallel with other economies around the world. A trial that could determine whether the two largest supermarket chains in the United States can merge opened in Portland, Ore., on Monday, pitting the grocery giant Kroger against regulators who argue that its takeover of Albertsons would eliminate competition at the expense of consumers and workers. Before Judge Adrienne Nelson of U.S. District Court, the Federal Trade Commission and the supermarket chains laid out their arguments in court for the first time, as union representatives and workers protested the deal on the courthouse steps. Less competition, the agencys lawyers said, would give Kroger more leverage to raise prices on millions of consumers. The highly anticipated proceedings, set to last three weeks, come as high food prices have become a critical focus in the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has backed a federal ban on price-gouging in the food and grocery industries to combat high grocery costs. Kroger and Albertsons defended the $24.6 billion deal, which would be the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history, saying it would bolster their leverage with suppliers and improve competition against major retailers like Costco, Amazon and Walmart. But the F.T.C. backed by a chorus of unions, consumer advocates, politicians and independent grocery chains reiterated its position that the merger would probably result in higher prices for groceries and worse conditions for workers. When U.S. Steel put itself up for sale in 2023, executives at Nippon Steel in Tokyo saw an opportunity: Buying the American steel maker could help it offset anemic demand in its home country and strengthen its hand in a global business dominated by China. On Dec. 18, the companies announced that Nippon Steel had agreed to acquire U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion, a 40 percent premium to U.S. Steels share price at the time. Analysts praised Nippon Steel as a potential savior of U.S. Steel, a onetime backbone of the American economy that had fallen behind rivals. But almost immediately, the merger incited a backlash in the United States that has prevented it from being completed. U.S. politicians from both parties have condemned the prospect that a storied 123-year-old American industrial company would be acquired by a foreign corporation. The timing was also particularly bad for Nippon Steel: The United Steelworkers union, the group that most forcefully opposed the deal, is based in Pennsylvania, a state that could determine the winner of the presidential election in November. From the outside, Arjav Ezekiel appears to be living the dream. Mr. Ezekiel, 36, is a consummate restaurateur and sommelier. With his wife, the chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, he owns Birdies in Austin, Texas, a counter-service natural wine bar that, since opening in 2021, has become one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. He is smart, funny and personable, a new father who is an ideal restaurant host and a joy to discuss wine with. He also happened to spend much of his professional life as an undocumented immigrant, having come to the United States on a tourist visa with his family when he was 12. People forget that everything they eat is likely to have been touched by somebody who didnt have papers, Mr. Ezekiel said. Whether restaurants, grocery stores or an incredible wine tasting in Napa Valley, the harvesting, the pruning somewhere along the way its hard for me to imagine some undocumented immigrant didnt play a role in that. Precise numbers for unauthorized immigrants in the United States are understandably hard to come by, and in an election season, highly political. But the Pew Research Center, which calls itself a nonpartisan fact tank, estimates that they make up roughly 3.4 percent to 4.4 percent of the American work force, including nearly 12 percent of all food service workers and 25 percent of farm workers. Trouble has horns to hold but not tails. This Somali proverb, suggesting that disaster can be prevented but not easily controlled, feels very apt for East Africa right now. Trouble has certainly arrived. Thanks to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopias expansionist ambitions and reckless designs, the Horn of Africa is on the cusp of a war that would imperil the region and rebound against the rest of the world. It must be stopped before its too late. The catalyst for the conflict is Mr. Abiys obsession with making Ethiopia a coastal state. Last year, he declared that Ethiopia could not stay landlocked and must have access to the sea, either by negotiation or by force. Somalia, the weakest of the five coastal countries that border Ethiopia, was the obvious target. On Jan. 1, Mr. Abiy duly signed a memorandum of understanding with the president of Somaliland, a self-declared breakaway republic in northwestern Somalia. In exchange for officially recognizing Somaliland, Ethiopia would gain a 12-mile naval base on the Gulf of Aden. Mr. Abiy would have his coast. This was a clear violation of Somalias sovereignty and territorial integrity, recalling Ethiopias destructive history of meddling in the country. Somalia immediately rejected the memorandum and mounted a diplomatic offensive, explaining to regional states and international powers that Ethiopia was seeking control of Somali territory through illegal means. The United Nations, the African Union, the United States and the European Union all backed Somalias position, emphasizing the necessity of respecting established boundaries and national sovereignty. Yet despite international pressure, particularly from the Biden administration, Mr. Abiy has remained resolute. He seems to believe that now is the right moment to carry out his plan, as Somalia grapples with an extremist insurgency and the American government is distracted by elections and embroiled in conflicts in the Middle East and Europe. A possible victory for Donald Trump, who Mr. Abiy apparently hopes will either support or be indifferent to his actions, is another boon. Gail Collins: Bret, I cant wait to hear your impression of Kamala Harriss big Chicago speech. Tell, tell. Bret Stephens: As rhetoric? I thought it was strong. She told Americans who she was, where she came from, what her values and dreams are made of, why she loves America, who and what shell fight for. There was hardly a wasted sentence. It was fairly light on policy, but she came across as a plausible commander in chief. The contrast with Donald Trumps Fidel Castro-like performance at the Republican National Convention last month was stark. Do you think shell win? Gail: One more question first. Listening to the speech, I imagined shed written it specifically for you, with tons about American values and the evils of Trump but nothing about her specific plans for the economy. Would she have lost you if shed moved on to raising taxes on the rich, price gouging Bret: Yup. The problem with Harris is that shes a political chameleon a tough-on-crime prosecutor in one phase of her career, a self-described radical in another. Voters will want to figure out whether shes a pragmatist (good), an opportunist (not good) or a phony (doubleplusungood). One way to find out is to insist that she sit down for some serious journalistic interviews and answer a few difficult questions. I can think of some. In February I met a man. Three hours later, he was dead. Mohammed Al-Omari was a paramedic with the Palestine Red Crescent Society; we met in southern Gaza. As the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Ive been one of very few people able to visit there this year. Mohammed smiled; we shook hands and had a brief conversation. That afternoon, while rushing to give medical aid to those in need, Mohammed was killed. He is one of 21 Palestine Red Crescent volunteers to have lost their lives while on duty in the conflict in Gaza so far. Its not just in Gaza where humanitarian aid workers are in peril. Since the beginning of 2024, the Aid Worker Security Database has recorded 187 humanitarian deaths worldwide. This year is on track to be the deadliest on record. Long-established norms that protect humanitarians dont seem as recognized today as they once were. Misinformation, whether inadvertent or deliberate, can suggest humanitarians are taking sides or participating in conflict or conspiracy. That can fuel local resentment and hostility, putting them at greater risk. The attention paid to protecting humanitarians is also insufficient. Some deaths, like those of the international World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza in April, make headlines. But in general it seems the world has hardly noticed the extent to which humanitarian workers are dying. When civilians, including humanitarians, are being killed in unacceptable numbers, all particularly those in governments must ask why and address it. Every death is a profound loss for the communities we serve, leaving fewer trained hands to care for those in need. From wildfires in California and landslides in India to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and drought in Lesotho, our teams respond without hesitation. Every humanitarian death makes our ability to respond that much harder. Aug. 27: This article was updated to reflect postponements of the launch. Three years ago, a billionaire entrepreneur named Jared Isaacman made a groundbreaking trip to space. That spaceflight, which Mr. Isaacman called Inspiration4, was the first to orbit the Earth without a professional astronaut aboard. In the coming days, Mr. Isaacman, the founder and chief executive of Shift4, a payment processing company, is planning to head into space again. This time the itinerary is longer, more daring and riskier, and includes a spacewalk, the first by private astronauts. The mission, named Polaris Dawn, hearkens back to the earliest era of spaceflight, the 1960s, when pioneers like Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union and John Glenn of NASA pushed the boundaries of what had been accomplished in space, learning how to survive and operate in an airless and weightless environment. But unlike those expeditions, undertaken by national space agencies, this is a purely commercial effort. For Polaris Dawn, Mr. Isaacman is collaborating closely with Elon Musk and his rocket company, SpaceX, to start laying the foundations for Mr. Musks dream of someday sending people to Mars. Democrats sued the Georgia state election board on Monday, arguing that measures approved by the board this month seeking to alter the election certification process in the state were illegal and could create chaos on Election Day. The lawsuit claims that the board intended to give local election officials a broad license to hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind, potentially delaying certification and displacing longstanding (and court-supervised) processes for addressing fraud. The lawsuit was filed in state court by local election officials, political candidates, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia with support from Vice President Kamala Harriss presidential campaign. The move comes weeks after the state election board voted 3-2 to pass rules to give election officials authority to conduct reasonable inquiry into elections before certification and to require that county election officials be given all election related documentation before certification. Both rules, the lawsuit argues, create the impression that local election officials have discretionary power over certifying election results. The political spotlight has pivoted back to Georgia in recent weeks, since President Biden withdrew from the presidential race and polls have shown Ms. Harris closing the gap with former President Donald J. Trump in the critical swing state. The increasingly close nature of the race there has thrust the actions of the state election board to center stage. Former President Donald J. Trump wrapped himself in military imagery on Monday, attacking the Biden administration over its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Observing the third anniversary of a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul, the Afghan capital, he visited Arlington National Cemetery, then later spoke in Detroit to a gathering of National Guard members. During his remarks in Detroit, at a conference for the National Guard Association of the United States, Mr. Trump blamed President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the bombing and Americas chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he argued led to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world, Mr. Trump said. He added, It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect. As he has attacked Democrats over foreign policy and national security issues this year, Mr. Trump, who often highlights his allegiance to the troops, has made the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 a central focus. He and his allies have pointed frequently to the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021, which killed 13 American service members and as many as 170 civilians, arguing that the Biden administrations handling of the event showed a disregard for American service members. At the weigh-in before a big bout, prizefighters often taunt their opponents in an effort to try to psych them out. So it goes with the presidential pugilists set to meet next month in the city of Rocky Balboa. The Harris and Trump campaigns squabbled on Monday over the ground rules of their coming ABC News debate in Philadelphia, with each side trying to score political points off the other. And within hours, the Trump campaign found its argument undermined by an unlikely foil: Mr. Trump himself. The tussle began on Sunday when former President Donald J. Trump blasted ABC in a social media post, suggesting that the networks anchors and executives were biased against him and threatening, not for the first time, to pull out of the event. I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Mr. Trump wrote. Then, on Monday, Ms. Harriss campaign went public with an effort to change one of the agreed-upon conditions for the debate: that each candidates microphone be muted when it isnt their turn to speak. A dam that collapsed in Sudan near the Red Sea on Sunday flooded surrounding communities and caused an unknown number of deaths and injuries, local and international officials said. The disaster heaped additional misery on a country where millions are already suffering from war and famine. The Arbaat dam unleashed a deluge of water on the surrounding area, stranding villagers, the Federal Ministry of Health said in a statement. It was unclear how many people had been killed in the disaster, which occurred after days of heavy rain. OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement on Monday that local authorities had confirmed 30 dead but it added that the number was likely to be much higher. A local news outlet, Medameek News, reported on Monday that more than 10 people had been killed. The OCHA report said that the dam, in a remote area near the Red Sea, was the main source of fresh water for Port Sudan, the countrys de facto wartime capital, about 25 miles to the southeast. The dam is over 530 miles from the capital, Khartoum, which is inland. One of Venezuelas top election officials, in a declaration sure to jolt the crisis-weary nation, said in an interview that he had no proof that Venezuelas authoritarian president won last months election. Since the July 28 vote, governments around the world have expressed skepticism, and even outright disbelief, over President Nicolas Maduros claim to victory. But the statement by Juan Carlos Delpino an opposition-member of the government body that announced Mr. Maduros win represents the first major criticism from inside the electoral system. Speaking on the record to a reporter for the first time since the vote, Mr. Delpino said he had not received any evidence that Mr. Maduro actually won a majority of the vote. Neither the electoral body nor Mr. Maduro has released tallies to support assertions that the president won re-election, while the opposition has published receipts from thousands of voting machines that show its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won an overwhelming majority. China will hold live-fire military drills near its border with Myanmar starting on Tuesday, fortifying its boundaries with a southern neighbor that has been engulfed in a civil war for more than three years. Chinas Peoples Liberation Armys Southern Theater Command said on Monday that it would conduct both land and air exercises in the southwestern province of Yunnan to test the joint strike capabilities of theater troops and maintain security and stability in the border areas. China conducted two similar drills in April. The patrols, which will last until Thursday, come less than two weeks after Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, visited Naypyidaw, Myanmars capital, and reaffirmed Beijings support for the ruling military junta, which seized power in a coup in 2021. Analysts say that despite Mr. Wangs pledge of support, Beijing is using the drills to send a signal to the junta that it would like the military to return to Chinese-led peace talks with rebels and refrain from intensifying the conflict. Myanmar, a country of about 55 million long fractured by ethnic divisions, has been thrown into fresh chaos as the military resumed control. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands detained by the junta, which has been accused of committing atrocities and killing civilians by bombarding the country with airstrikes. A Chinese military surveillance plane breached Japanese airspace off the countrys southwestern coast on Monday, marking what Japans defense ministry described as the first known incursion by Chinas military into its territorial airspace. According to a ministry official, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japanese territory near Nagasaki Prefecture around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. In response, Japans Self-Defense Force put fighter jets on high alert and issued a warning to the Chinese aircraft. While Chinese planes frequently appear in international airspace around Japan, this incident represents the first confirmed entry of a military aircraft into Japans territorial airspace. Over the past two decades, Japan has increasingly faced foreign aircraft encroachments. Last year, Japans Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept foreign planes on 669 occasions more than three times the number of such responses two decades ago. The violence began with blasts that ripped through a military camp in Pakistans Baluchistan Province late Sunday night, killing at least one soldier. Around the same time, armed men stormed into at least four police stations in the province, spraying bullets at officers and setting police vehicles on fire, local officials said. By daybreak, militants had destroyed a bridge, bringing the major railway that runs across it to a halt. Then early Monday morning, the violence hit its apex when gunmen held up traffic on a major highway, shooting and killing nearly two dozen people. Over a 24-hour period, the new wave of violence carried out by an armed separatist group has seized Baluchistan Province in southwestern Pakistan and left at least 38 people dead, worsening the countrys already deteriorating security situation. The spate of coordinated attacks in Baluchistan began on Sunday, as the group, the Baluch Liberation Army, or B.L.A., announced that it was starting a new operation across the province. The B.L.A. is one of several insurgent groups that has demanded the provinces independence from the central government in Islamabad. Moscow launched more than 200 missiles and drones across a wide swath of Ukraine on Monday, damaging energy facilities and sending residents of Kyiv into basements and subways to seek shelter. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault as one of the largest strikes of the 30-month-old war. The strikes occurred at a volatile time in the conflict, coming against the backdrop of Ukraines cross-border incursion into southern Russia the first invasion on Russian soil since World War II. On Monday, Ukraines forces continued to try to advance in the region. The offensive into the Kursk region has shifted the dynamics of the war after months in which Kyivs forces were on the defensive in Ukraines East. The push has slowed in recent days, but Mr. Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had advanced by one to three kilometers and taken control of two more settlements. It was not possible to verify the claim independently. At the same time, Russian troops have been attacking relentlessly along the front line inside Ukraine, closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk and razing towns and villages with artillery barrages and glide bombs. The detention of Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, in Paris on Saturday has raised questions about the future of a platform that has come to define the public perception of Russias war in Ukraine. Russias invasion in 2022 helped transform Telegram from a niche communication tool for Russias educated classes into a global phenomenon. The app has allowed millions of people to follow battlefield developments in near real time, turned soldiers into the narrators of the conflict unfolding around them and gave both propagandists and dissidents a pulpit in the struggle for the hearts and minds of those monitoring the war. Telegram was founded by Mr. Durov with his brother in 2013. Mr. Durov, a Russian-born French citizen, was arrested in connection with an investigation opened last month into criminal activity on the app and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement, French prosecutors said. One in two Russian citizens use Telegram today, either to obtain information or to communicate with others, up from about 38 percent at the start of the war, according to the Levada Center, an independent Russian pollster. English fox hunters have tried, for years, to push back against a nearly 20-year-old ban on their beloved sport. The centuries-old tradition of using packs of dogs to chase and kill foxes or any wild mammals became illegal in England in 2005, after a long parliamentary struggle driven by campaigners and lawmakers who opposed it on animal welfare grounds. So far, the law has stood, and fox hunting remains hugely unpopular among the general public: 80 percent of people in Britain think it should remain illegal, according to YouGov, a polling company. Now, a pro-hunting activist has a new plan of attack. Ed Swales, the activist, founded Hunting Kind, a lobby group that aims to protect hunting with dogs and other forms of hunting, in early 2022. He wants to use Britains Equality Act which protects people from discrimination because of their age, race, sexuality or religion, among other things to classify a pro-hunting stance as a protected belief. A day after Israel and Hezbollah traded major cross-border attacks but swiftly moved to contain a bigger war, the focus in the Middle East returned on Monday to the effort to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israels 10-month-long war with Hamas is at the heart of rising regional tensions. Four days of talks concluded on Sunday with no breakthrough, after senior Israeli and Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to meet with mediators. Despite a full-bore diplomatic push from the Biden administration, the two sides remain far apart on several critical issues, including Israeli demands to retain a military presence along Gazas border with Egypt. Both Hamas and Egypt, which is mediating the talks along with Qatar and the United States, oppose those demands. One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said the senior-level talks in Cairo were constructive, and would continue with working-group discussions in the coming days. Hamas officials, as usual, did not participate in the meetings with Israeli and U.S. officials. Negotiators in Cairo were working to refine an American proposal presented last week in Doha, Qatar, aimed at bridging key gaps between the two sides. The so-called bridging proposal builds on an earlier framework outlined by President Biden in May, and includes various amendments aimed at resolving the differences between Hamas and Israel, people briefed on the talks have said. More than 1.2 million doses of the polio vaccine arrived in Gaza on Monday, in preparation for an expansive effort to inoculate more than 640,000 Palestinian children and curb a potential outbreak, the United Nations, Israel and health authorities in Gaza said. The vaccines landed after the first case of the disease in the territory in 25 years was confirmed earlier this month. UNICEF, the U.N. childrens fund, said it was delivering the vaccines in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA; and other groups. UNRWA officials said they hoped to deliver the first vaccines to Gazan children starting on Saturday. But the campaign will be a very difficult operation and its success will depend very much on the conditions on the ground at the time, Sam Rose, a senior official from the agency, said at a news briefing on Monday. After weeks of foreboding, an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah has been averted, at least for now, as both sides returned on Monday to more contained confrontations along the Israel-Lebanon border. But any relief has been tempered by renewed anxiety and uncertainty: Despite the apparent postponement of a bigger regional war, Israels grinding conflicts with both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza still have no end in sight. The trajectories of both wars depend largely on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Yahya Sinwar of Hamas, who both fear for their own political survival should they agree to a cease-fire in Gaza on terms that they or their supporters deem unfavorable. In negotiations for a truce in Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu is pushing for a temporary break in hostilities that will theoretically allow Israel to continue to fight Hamas after a few weeks, thus placating his supporters who oppose ending the war before Hamas is completely destroyed. By contrast, Mr. Sinwar wants a permanent cease-fire that, even if it collapses in a few months, will give Hamas a greater chance of rebuilding its arsenal and retaining power in Gaza. Founded in the year 578, Japans Kongo Gumi construction company is recognized as the oldest continuously operating company in the world. Thousands of companies are founded and liquidated daily around the globe, many of which only operate for a few years, maybe even months. The worlds most valuable companies have only been around for a few decades and with technology changing the business landscape at breakneck speeds, who knows how long theyll be around. Today, there are only a few thousand companies older than 200 years, and even those seem relatively new compared to the worlds oldest continually operating company, Kongo Gumi. Founded in the 6th century by a Korean carpenter specializing in Buddhist temple construction, the Japanese construction company has been operating for a whopping 1446 years. Photo: Public Domain The history of Kongo Gumi can be traced back to Japans very first Buddhist temple, the Shitenno-ji in Osaka. In the late 6th century, Buddhism was spreading fast around Japan, and even though the Asian archipelago was mainly Taoist, the royal family was directly involved in the mass adoption of the new religion. Building a Buddhist temple was an important step towards that goal, but the country had no craftsmen familiar with Buddhist temple architecture, so three such Miyadaiku were invited to Japan from Baekje, a kingdom on the Korean peninsula. Kongo Shiko, one of the three miyadaiku invited to Japan to build Shitenno-ji, the countrys first Buddhist temple, founded the Kongo Gumi construction in the year 578. Records of its work on Shitenno-ji in modern-day Osaka can be found in Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan), the oldest official history of Japan, so it is officially recognized as the countrys oldest continually operating company. After completing Shitenno-ji in 593, Kongo Gumi remained actively involved in the building and restoration of Buddhist temples and shrines throughout Japan for almost a millennia. The Shitenno-ji temple played a big part in its success, but it wasnt enough to ensure its survival for such an incredibly long period pf time. According to Hidekazu Sone, an associate professor at the Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, Kongo Gumi owes is longevity to the skill of its craftsmen and the management ability of its leaders. Photo: Public Domain Records show that throughout its existence, Kongo Gumi employed several groups of Japans most skilled carpenters and craftsmen, and it was precisely the competition between these different groups that led to the discovery and improvement of different techniques which in turn allowed the company to be several steps ahead of any competition. Throughout most of its 1446-year history, Kongo Gumi was run by 40 generations of Kongo descendants, but Hidekazu Sone claims that family never allowed tradition to come before the good of the company. During the Edo Period (1603 1868), Kongo Gumi had serious competition from other groups of carpenters, so to ensure the survival of the family business, it only selected leaders with the necessary carpentry skills to inspire employees and good management skills. Documents show that the Kongo family didnt always put its firstborn in charge of the construction company if they lacked the required qualities, and didnt shy away from replacing leaders if they failed to display a commitment to their position. When the family had no male heirs, it made sure that the daughters married great carpenters and leaders for the good of the company. Kongo Gumi faced many challenges throughout its existence, with some of the most notable being the Showa Depression of the 1920s, when Kongo Haruichi, the 37th leader of Kongo Gumi took his own life due to financial difficulties, and World War II, when demand for Buddhist religious buildings declined dramatically. However, it managed to stay afloat until 2006, when it was acquired by a much younger construction company from Osaka. At that point, it had accumulated large debts and could no longer operate independently. Even though today Kongo Gumi operates as a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group, its impressive history is still an inspiration for its parent company and many others in Japan. No descendants of the Kongo family are involved in the management of the company, and only one descendant is currently employed by Kongo Gumi. The Kongo clan is still very much respected among Japans carpenters. A Chinese woman suffered vision problems and subsequent depression following a botched double eyelid surgery in which her eyeball was accidentally sewn to the corner of her eye. In 2021, Ms. Zhang, a woman from Weifang, in Chinas Shandong Province, underwent a double eyelid surgery at the Weifang Kuiwen Lirendu Medical Beauty Clinic to correct an unevenness of the corners of her eyes. The woman claims that she felt discomfort during the actual surgery but pushed through it only to discover that her left eyeball and the corner of that eye had been stitched together. At first, the doctor who operated on her told her that everything was fine, but then Zhang started experiencing blurry vision and limited eye movement, and despite attempts to correct the damage, she is still struggling with physical and mental issues more than two years after the procedure. In November 2021, I underwent double eyelid surgery because the outer corners of my eyes were uneven. The doctor said he would make some adjustments, but when he was stitching, I felt discomfort in my eyeball, Zhang recently told Sohu Video. After the stitches were removed, I noticed a threadlike connection between my eyeball and the corner. The surgeon, hospital director Wang, assured me it was nothing serious and offered me another operation to separate them. Unfortunately, the follow-up operation was unsuccessful. Zhangs left eye became inflamed, and a week after the procedure, her eyeball and the corner of her eye once again became fused together. Vision in her left eye has been blurred ever since and she can only move her eyes sideways by moving her head. She now hopes to get corrective surgery at a hospital in Shanghai, but lacks the necessary money. The situation has allegedly caused her to fall into a depression. Zhang claims she paid the beauty clinic 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for the surgery, which she asked to be repaid following the botched procedure. However, the doctor who operated on her refused, offering her only $10,000, and reassuring her that her problem was minor and could be fixed locally with another surgery. The woman claims she came forward with her story so that others dont make the same mistake. I asked for 30,000 yuan back, but he said that was too much. He only offered 10,000 yuan, which wouldnt even cover my travel expenses to Shanghai. Also, he kept delaying the payment, and now it has been two years, Zhang said. Double eyelid surgery is a very popular cosmetic procedure in China, but one that can have disastrous consequences when performed incorrectly. Five years ago, we wrote about another Chinese woman who was left unable to fully close her eyes after a botched double eyelid surgery. BlackRock, the high-profile global investment firm, has hired Cornerstone Government Affairs for strategic counsel on asset management industry dynamics related to working with Congress. Due to its past commitment to environmental and social issues, Larry Finks firm has been front and center in the anti-woke backlash. Indiana on Aug. 21 issued a cease-and-desist order against BlackRock for alleged securities fraud tied to its ESG products. Secretary of State Diego Morales accused BlackRock of misleading investors about its efforts to push ESG goals. Despite the Hoosier State tussle, BlackRocks support for shareholder ESG issues is but a fraction of its 2021 peak. It backed 20 of the 493 ESG proposals, or four percent of the total, put forward at annual meetings during the 12-month period ended June. That compares to 47 percent of the 2021 proposals. Cornerstone's David Planning and Christopher Hodgson handle the BlackRock push. Planning was president Donald Trumps special assistant for legislative affairs, handling outreach to the Financial Services and Energy & Commerce Committees. He also also worked on relations with leadership of the Republican Party. Hodgson was vice president Mike Pences special assistant for legislative affairs, and deputy floor directory for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. BlackRock has $10.6T in assets under management. The Vogel Group is working with the Ukraine Future Business Council to promote an environment to support the growth of small businesses in the war-battered company. The goal of the DC-based nonprofit is to counter the corruption and oligarchism that characterized the countrys economy. The UFBC wants to develop a just legal framework that is required to enable Ukraine to become a self-sufficient country with a fair and healthy economy. There are plenty of business opportunities in the rebuilding of Ukraine. UFBC estimates that Ukraine has suffered infrastructure losses of more than $150B since the Russian invasion. Vogel has managing principal Matt Keelen and Nikhill Dhingra handling the Ukrainian effort. THE award-winning Kneecap has been announced as the finale for the Moonlit Movies series in Offaly. In August and September, film lovers have the chance to watch a mini season of classic Irish films on the big screen under the open sky (weather permitting) at some of the countys most unique venues. Screenings in August include; Handsome Devil in association with Offaly Local Development Company in support of Offaly Pride at Kinnitty Castle on Saturday August 24th, a double header at Birr Castle with The Commitments on Friday August 30th and Sing Street on Saturday August 31st and finishing with Kneecap on Saturday September 7th at the Courthouse Yard in Birr. Kneecap is one of the most-talked about Irish films of the year. The fascinating Irish-language biopic sees the hip-hop trio, Moglai Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Provai, playing themselves with Academy Award Nominee Michael Fassbender in tow laying down a global rallying cry for the defence of native cultures. Kneecap won the Audience Prize: NEXT at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival last year after being the first-ever Irish language film to screen at the American film festival. Gary Hoctor, co-ordinator of Moonlit Movies said: We are so excited to give film lovers in Offaly a unique opportunity to see one of the most exciting Irish films in recent years as part of Moonlit Movies. We couldnt think of a better finale to our innovative series of outdoor screenings than Kneecap. The aim of Moonlit Movies is to reignite the love for classic Irish films and also to give people the chance to see these great films on the big screen. Maybe youre young enough never to have seen some of these films the first time around, so why not come along and discover these films with us? Outdoor film screenings on this scale are rare in the county, so Moonlit Movies is definitely not to be missed. Along with showcasing the best of cult Irish cinema, the Moonlit Movies experience also includes food by local vendors at the different screenings and is included in the ticket price. Visit offlinefilmfestival.com for more info and to book your tickets. Pre-booking is strongly advised. Moonlit Movies is thanks to funding from the Screen Ireland Audience Development Fund. Popiplay has been nominated for two prestigious awards at the EiGE and SBC Awards 2024, marking its significant impact on the iGaming industry. Popiplay, a rising star in the iGaming industry, has been nominated for several prestigious awards at the 2024 EiGE and SBC Awards. These nominations underscore the company's rapid ascent and innovative contributions to online gaming. Popiplay Nominated for EiGE Awards in Key Categories Popiplay has secured nominations in two major categories at the European iGaming Excellence Awards (EiGE) 2024. The company is in the running for both Best Game Developer and Best Emerging iGaming Company, highlighting its swift rise in the European iGaming scene. The EiGE Awards, now in their second year, are part of the annual European Gaming Congress hosted by HIPTHER. These awards celebrate outstanding contributions across the iGaming ecosystem, including online gambling operators, software suppliers, and industry innovators. This year's event is set to be even more competitive with the addition of new categories that recognize achievements in tech innovation, marketing, and more. Voting for the EiGE Awards began on August 8 and will continue until August 26, 2024. During this time, industry stakeholders and enthusiasts are encouraged to vote online, contributing to the creation of the Preliminary Shortlists. The top five candidates in each category will advance to the final round of voting. For Popiplay, these nominations represent a significant milestone. The Best Game Developer category acknowledges developers consistently delivering high-quality, engaging games that resonate with players. In contrast, the Best Emerging iGaming Company category celebrates newcomers who have quickly made their mark on the industry. Popiplay Recognized at SBC Awards in Lisbon Popiplay has also been nominated for Casino/Slot Developer of the Year at the SBC Awards in Lisbon, further solidifying its reputation as an industry leader. The SBC Awards, now in their eleventh year, are renowned for celebrating the exceptional contributions of operators, affiliates, and suppliers across various disciplines, including payments, marketing, and platform development. This nomination is pivotal for Popiplay, emphasizing the company's innovative approach and dedication to excellence in casino and slot game development. The SBC Awards ceremony is a critical event in the gaming industry calendar, providing a platform to recognize and celebrate the best achievements of the past year. This year's SBC Awards will occur on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at the iconic MEO Arena in Lisbon. The event promises an evening of celebration, networking, and reflection on the industry's successes, set against the backdrop of the SBC Summit. One Step At The Time Popiplay's EiGE and SBC Awards nominations highlight its impressive growth and impact on the iGaming industry. As the awards ceremonies approach, the company's game development and innovation achievements will be in the spotlight, further establishing Popiplay as a critical player in the global gaming market. The near-catastrophic midair blowout of a door-sized fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 in January was caused by two distinct manufacturing errors by different crews on successive days last fall in Boeings assembly plant in Renton, Washington. The first manufacturing lapse occurred within a four-hour window early Sept. 18. On the evening of the next day, in the space of about an hour, the second error was made by a different crew of mechanics, untrained to work on that fuselage panel, known as a door plug, according to federal investigative and internal Boeing records. Richard Lee Detherage, 71, of Silverton, died Saturday in a motorcycle crash near Estacada. A preliminary investigation by the Oregon State Police found Daniel Lee Aragon, 55, of Estacada, crashed into Detherage when he turned into a driveway while traveling east in a Ford Focus on Oregon 224. Detherage was westbound on a black Harley Davidson. As a bird flew over a nature reserve in North China's Hebei province on Friday, its beautiful song was immediately recorded and its species identified using a special system. "It's a reed parrotbill, constantly emitting short and sharp chirping sounds," said Zhang Jingxing, a staff member at the Nandagang Wetland and Bird Nature Reserve in the Huanghua area of the city of Cangzhou. Zhang learned via an artificial intelligence monitoring platform on his computer that the bird species was roosting at the reserve, and he could see a list of birds whose songs were recorded and the sounds of each. "By 4 pm on Friday, the system had recorded 88 sounds from 37 bird species," Zhang said. Since the system began operation in 2021, it has identified 197 different species, he added. According to Zhang, the AI vocal monitoring system collects bird sounds using unmanned, specially equipped monitoring boats in reed marshes, and real-time sound data is analyzed by AI to record bird activity and analyze species distribution. "By automatically comparing them with 1,569 bird call types in the system, bird species can be identified," he said, adding that the system also records images of birds in motion, which together with the sounds are used to identify bird species. "This effectively addresses the limitations of traditional monitoring methods, improving monitoring efficiency and data accuracy," Zhang said. Last year, with AI technology, the reserve recorded the black-faced spoonbill, an endangered species with only a few thousand remaining worldwide, demonstrating the important role of AI technology in biodiversity conservation, Zhang said. "It has helped enhance bird conservation efforts through technology," he said. Zhang said his work is becoming more meaningful because the Nandagang Migratory Bird Habitat was included on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list as part of the migratory bird sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf area of China. The decision was made during the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which was held in New Delhi, India, last month. There are four other newly included sites as part of Phase II sanctuaries. Phase I sanctuaries were added to the World Heritage list in 2019. The bird habitat in Nandagang has a total area of 3,810.6 hectares, accounting for 50.8 percent of the total area of the Nandagang Wetland and Bird Nature Reserve. "The reserve belongs to a typical coastal wetland type, with the most intact marsh wetland ecosystem preserved in the (Bohai Gulf) ecological zone," said Zhang Jianguo, director of the Nature Reserve Management Office of Hebei's Forestry and Grassland Bureau. More than 100,000 migratory birds were recorded in the reserve last year, compared with 20,000 in 2019. "The increase in the number of birds is closely related to the conservation efforts carried out in the reserve," he said. In recent years, a natural wetland ecosystem has been gradually restored. zhangyu1@chinadaily.com.cn A 21-year-old man was arrested on Sunday night after a drive-by shooting and police chase in Vancouver, officials said. Gavin E. Woods Leonard, of Vancouver, faces likely charges related to the drive-by shooting and attempt to elude officers, as well as assault and driving under the influence. Officers responded to reports of a man shooting into the Woodspring Suites in the 200 block of Northeast 104th Avenue at around 11:45 p.m. Callers reported that the shooter drove away in a silver SUV, according to police. The officers found damage to a glass door and a hallway in the hotel. There were no injuries reported. The suspect and the SUV were captured on security-camera footage, including the cars license plate, police said. Vancouver police then received reports of a man who was being belligerent at the Offramp Bar and Grill in the 400 block of Northeast 112th Avenue, according to police. The man fit the description of the drive-by-shooting suspect and reportedly was also driving a silver SUV. Officers soon spotted the SUV headed northbound on Northeast 112th Avenue. They attempted a traffic stop, but the driver wouldnt pull over, police said. Officers stopped the car using a standard immobilization maneuver. The driver was confirmed to be the suspect in the drive-by shooting, according to police. The SUV was seized pending a search warrant. Police said an investigation is ongoing. -- Yesenia Amaro is an investigative reporter with a focus on social issues and communities of color. Reach her at 503-221-4395; yamaro@oregonian.com. A Washington County judges attempt at saving time by declining to read aloud a lengthy set of legal principles to a jury including that the defendants are presumed innocent unless they are proven guilty has prompted the Oregon Court of Appeals to throw out a mans convictions for repeatedly sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl. In reversing the convictions and 50-year prison sentence of 35-year-old Derek Mitchell Shine, the Appeals Court said it was recognizing the extreme importance that jurors understand the fundamental constitutional rules at play before determining if a person is guilty. Acclaimed author Julia Alvarez has weighed in on the Tillamook School Districts decision to remove her classic coming-of-age novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents from the syllabus of its 10th grade honor English class. In a letter to the Tillamook County Pioneer, a digital news source, Alvarez, now 74 and a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, wrote that to cancel books and eliminate voices from our schools and libraries undermines a core value in education: to create thoughtful, well-informed, big-hearted imaginations in our students. An apparent cyberattack disrupted internet, phones, email and other systems at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for a third day on Monday as Port of Seattle officials worked to investigate the outages and restore full service. Were working around the clock to get necessary systems back online and to mitigate impacts to our passengers, the airports aviation managing director Lance Lyttle said in a press conference Sunday. Firefighters in Kelso, Washington, on Sunday afternoon rescued two dogs from a fire inside a motorhome. One of the dogs was treated for smoke inhalation. Both suffered minor burns. The fire started after 3 p.m. in a motorhome in the 1400 block of South Sixth Avenue, according to a press release from Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue, which responded and rescued the dogs. The fire was extinguished within minutes. No other injuries were reported. Officials said the fire was the result of electrical deterioration. Kelso is roughly one hour north of Portland by car. Matthew Kish covers business, including the sportswear and banking industries. Reach him at 503-221-4386, mkish@oregonian.com or @matthewkish. Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com. Last month, watchdog reporter Ted Sickinger published an in-depth article examining a loophole in the Oregon Lotterys rules. In Oregon, it is perfectly legal to re-sell your winning lottery ticket at a discount, allowing the buyer to claim the prize. Why would anyone do this? Well, if they wanted to avoid having the state seize part of their winnings for taxes or back child support, for example. And why would the state allow this? Lottery officials told Sickinger they were aware of the practice of discounting and despite the fact other states have moved to close down similar schemes elsewhere nothing had been done in Oregon to prohibit the workaround. Sickinger joined Editor Therese Bottomly on Beat Check with The Oregonian to talk about how he got onto the story and how he tracked down participants willing to talk with him. He also talked about reaction to his piece. Listen to the full conversation: Read about the Powerball jackpot winner mentioned in the podcast. More on the public record requirements around winner names. A member of Prosper Portlands board of commissioners accused the board chair of sidelining colleagues over the abrupt departure of the city economic development agencys longtime leader. Michi Slick, who sits on Prospers board, last Wednesday emailed board chair Gustavo Cruz to voice concern over what she described as the lack of communication, transparency, and inclusion of the full Prosper Board regarding the resignation of the agencys executive director, Kimberly Branam. 90 Bible Passages On Catholic Justification, Sanctification, and Faith + Works (from 21 out of 27 NT Books): All Disproving Protestant Faith Alone Soteriology My own biblical citations are from RSV. Protestants believe that we are justified in a one-time occurrence, and that it is imputed (we are declared righteous by God). Catholics agree that initial justification is monergistic: a purely gratuitous act of God alone wholly by His grace without any participation or works on our part; but only faith (over against Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism, or works salvation). Both sides joyfully agree thus far. But we disagree over the following propositions, which Catholics affirm: This paper is an attempt to compile as many biblical passages as possible with regard to this topic: categorized and expressed as briefly as possible, for the purpose of quick referencing and replying to Protestant faith alone arguments. For the background and clarification on basic Protestant and Catholic definitions and significantly different understandings of these terms, see: Justification: Classic Catholic & Protestant Reflections [1994]. Ten Bible Passages That Directly Connect Sanctification to Salvation Acts 15:8-9 And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; [9] and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. The Greek word for cleansed used here is katharizo. It is used many times in the Gospels in reference to the cleansing of lepers (e.g., Mt 10:8; Lk 7:22). 1 John 1:7, 9 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. . . . [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hebrews 10:10, 14 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. . . . [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 9:12-14 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. [13] For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, [14] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (same word: katharizo, for purify here, as is used in 1 John and Acts 15:9 for cleansed) 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 . . . may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, [13] so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans 2:13-16 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. [14] When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them [16] on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. [Phillips: made holy by their faith in me] *** Please Hit Subscribe! If you have received benefit from this or any of my other 4,800+ articles, please follow my 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. My blog was rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT: endorsed by influential Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. 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! 80 Bible Passages That Directly Connect Grace-Produced Works of the Regenerate to Salvation Psalm 7:10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. Isaiah 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. Isaiah 26:2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in. Isaiah 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever. Isaiah 33:15-16 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil, [16] he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure. Isaiah 48:18-19 O that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; [19] your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me. Isaiah 56:1 Thus says the LORD: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Isaiah 57:1-2 . . . For the righteous man is taken away from calamity, [2] he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness. Isaiah 59:18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies; . . . Jeremiah 4:4, 14 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings. . . . [14] O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you? Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD: Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it. Jeremiah 7:23 But this command I gave them, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. (cf. 32:19) Jeremiah 21:12 O house of David! Thus says the LORD: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil doings. Jeremiah 22:3-5, 15-16 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. [4] For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. [5] But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. . . . [15] . . . Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. [16] He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. . . . Jeremiah 26:13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, and the LORD will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you. Ezekiel 36:19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them. Hosea 4:9 . . . I will punish them for their ways, and requite them for their deeds. Amos 5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, Obadiah 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your deeds shall return on your own head. Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the LORD. Matthew 7:18-21, 24 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus you will know them by their fruits. [21] Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.. . . [24] Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock Matthew 10:22 (cf. Mt 24:13; Mk 13:13) . . . But he who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Matthew 19:16-17, 20-21 And behold, one came up to him, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life? [17] And he said to him, . . . If you would enter life, keep the commandments. . . . [20] The young man said to him, All these I have observed; what do I still lack? [21] Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. Matthew 19:29 And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my names sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (cf. Mk 10:29-30) Matthew 25:20-21 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more. [21] His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:34-35, 41-43. 46 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; [35] for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, . . . [41] Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; [42] for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. . . . [46] And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Luke 3:9 (+ Mt 3:10; 7:19) . . . every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Luke 7:47, 50 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little. . . . [50] And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace. Luke 18:26-30 (RSV) Those who heard it said, Then who can be saved? [27] But he said, What is impossible with men is possible with God. [28] And Peter said, Lo, we have left our homes and followed you. [29] And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, [30] who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life. John 3:36 He who believes [pistuo] in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey [apitheo] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. (1 Pet 2:7 uses the same parallelism, with pistuo and apitheo, though RSV translates the latter as do not believe. KJV renders it as disobedient in the same way that Jn 3:36 and several other verses [Rom 1:30; 2 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:6; 3:3] do) John 5:28-29 . . . all who are in the tombs will hear his voice [29] and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. John 15:2, 4-6, 8 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . . [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. . . . [8] By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Acts 2:40-41 And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. [41] So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Acts 10:34-35 And Peter opened his mouth and said: Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, [35] but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Romans 1:5, 17 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, . . . [17] For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, He who through faith is righteous shall live. (cf. Acts 6:7) Romans 2:6-10 For he will render to every man according to his works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. [9] There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. Romans 8:13, 17 for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. [17] . . . heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 10:13, 16 For, every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. . . . [16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? Romans 13:8-14 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. [9] The commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [10] Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. [11] Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; [12] the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; [13] let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. [14] But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 16:26 but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith (cf. Heb 11:8) 1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 13:2, 13 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. . . . [13] So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God. (cf. Jas 4:8) 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed you fail to meet the test! Galatians 3:11 Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for He who through faith is righteous shall live; Galatians 5:14, 19-24 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. . . . [19] Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, [21] envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Philippians 2:12-16 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; [13] for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. [14] Do all things without grumbling or questioning, [15] that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, [16] holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Philippians 3:8-16 Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; [10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [15] Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you. [16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Philippians 4:3 And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Colossians 3:23-25 Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, [24] knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ. [25] For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. 1 Thessalonians 1:3-7 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4] For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; [5] for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; [7] so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. [9] For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 11 inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. . . . [11] To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call, and may fulfil every good resolve and work of faith by his power, 1 Timothy 2:15 Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. 1 Timothy 4:12-16 Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. [13] Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. [14] Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you. [15] Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. [16] Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 6:11-14, 18-19 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. [12] Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. [13] In the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, [14] I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; . . . [18] They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, [19] thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed. Hebrews 5:9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, Hebrews 6:9-12 Though we speak thus, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things that belong to salvation. [10] For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love which you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. [11] And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, [12] so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 10:22-24, 35-39 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; [24] and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, . . . [35] Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. [36] For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. [37] For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry; [38] but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. [39] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls. James 2:14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? . . . [17] So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. . . . [20] . . . faith apart from works is barren . . . [22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, . . . [24] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. . . . [26] . . . faith apart from works is dead. 1 Peter 1:2 chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ . . . 1 Peter 1:14-17, 22 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, [15] but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; [16] since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. [17] And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. . . . [22] Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. 1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice in so far as you share Christs sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 2 Peter 1:5-7, 10-11 For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. . . . [10] Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; [11] so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:10-14 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. [11] Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, [12] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! [13] But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. [14] Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 1 John 2:3-5 And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. [4] He who says I know him but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; [5] but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 1 John 3:24 All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. Jude 20-21 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; [21] keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Revelation 2:5 Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Revelation 2:19, 23, 25-28 `I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. . . . [23] . . . I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. . . . [25] only hold fast what you have, until I come. [26] He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, [27] and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father; [28] and I will give him the morning star. Revelation 3:1-5 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: `The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. `I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. [2] Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. [3] Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. [4] Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. [5] He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Revelation 3:8, 10-12 `I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. . . . [10] Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. [11] I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. [12] He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Revelation 14:12-13 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. [13] And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them! Revelation 20:12-13 . . . And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. [13] . . . and all were judged by what they had done. College can be extremely expensive not just with tuition and dorm costs, but with materials, books, software, and more. You might think you have to spend lots of cash on apps to get you through your degree. But, really, you dont have to spend any money at all! (Except in rare situations where you need a very specific software for class, in which case your college should ideally provide you with a license for it.) Today is Amazon Prime Big Deal Days! Our editorial team lists the best tech deals here. ] Heres a truly useful collection of free apps that are must-haves for students like you, allowing you to outfit your college laptop with the essential tools to get your work done and do more. Bitwarden for safer passwords Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG A password manager is one of several essential cybersecurity tools for college students. Youll probably accumulate lots of different logins for various school accounts and resources, right? Well, a password manager not only keeps all of those logins in one place, but also conveniently fills out login forms on your behalf. Youll never have to remember your passwords again, which means you can freely use long, strong passwords that are unique to each account for maximum online security with close to zero effort. Bitwarden is our favorite free password manager. Its open-source and can sync between your devices, so you can access all your passwords with convenient auto-fill whether youre on your laptop, your phone, or any other device. All of its important features are truly free. Further reading: The best free password managers ProtonVPN for network privacy Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG A VPN can be really useful when youre on a college network. Whether your access to a certain site is blocked or your internet speeds are throttled for certain activities, a VPN can help you get around many restrictions and limitations imposed upon you. Furthermore, VPNs are important for data privacy and security, especially if youre frequently on the go and constantly using public Wi-Fi networks with your laptop or phone (e.g., at coffee shops). While most trustworthy VPNs cost money, there are some excellent free options if you dont need all the bells and whistles. ProtonVPN is our favorite free VPN because its from the same privacy-focused company that created the famous ProtonMail email service. Microsoft OneNote for taking notes Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Did you know one of the best note-taking apps is already installed on your PC? Its called Microsoft OneNote and its excellent for students. Whether you want to type notes, insert images, write with a stylus, or even record audio during a lecture, OneNote can do it all. OneNote is extremely flexible, so its as powerful as you want it to be. Its also cross-platform, so youre leaving yourself open to options by choosing it. If you later switch to a MacBook or Chromebook, youll still have full access and functionality. It also works well on iPads and other tablets, in case you like to review notes on such devices. Microsoft Office for assignments Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Microsofts full-blown Microsoft Office suite with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint normally costs money, but many colleges provide it to students free or charge as part of an agreement with Microsoft. Check with your college acquiring a free educational license for Office. You can also head to Microsofts Office 365 Education website and plug in your school email address to see if you get it for free that way. Even if you cant get Office for free, you can still use Word and other Office apps for free in a web browser or subscribe for $3 per month with a student discount. Microsoft To Do for task management Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft A task management app is essential for keeping track of due dates and staying on top of deadlines. If youre deep into Google apps, you may want to use Google Tasks which is built into Gmail and Google Calendar. Otherwise, I recommend Microsoft To Do. This 100% free to-do app comes included with Windows, and its also available on Android and iPhone devices. Its a powerful, easy-to-use tool thats packed with features, including collaboration. (You can create a shared task list with a roommate or project partner!) Grammarly or Microsoft Editor for writing assistance and suggestions Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Many students use writing assistants to polish up their essays, and Grammarly is the premier writing assistant. Its available both as a browser extension and a Windows app, with the Windows app conveniently integrating with other apps like Microsoft Word. Anyone can use Grammarly Free to get instant access to basic grammar checking and suggestions, but Grammarly Premium with AI writing suggestions costs extra. Some schools offer Grammarly Premium for free to students, but not all of them do. You can also use the Microsoft Editor browser extension, which is completely free and provides similar writing suggestions in your browser. iCloud for Windows to sync your iPhone and Apple services to PC Apple Apple Apple If youre an iPhone user, I highly recommend installing Apples iCloud for Windows app. It provides several integrations with the Apple services youre probably using on your phone. With it, you can see your iCloud Photos in the Windows Photos app, browse your iCloud Drive files in File Explorer, access your bookmarks in your web browser, and get access to your iCloud Keychain passwords. Quick Share and Phone Link to sync your Android phone to PC Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG If youre an Android phone user, check out the Google Quick Share app. It integrates your Windows PC with the Quick Share functionality on Android phones so you can wirelessly send files back and forth between PC and phone. It works with Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and more. Microsofts Phone Link feature, which is included with Windows, is also very useful if you have an Android phone. You can send text messages, take calls, manage notifications, and view/download photos from your phones camera roll, all from your PC. (It kind of works with iPhones too, but it works best with Android phones.) DaVinci Resolve for video editing Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design When it comes to video editing, your mind likely goes right to professional software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Those may cost a pretty penny, but theres an excellent alternative thats just as good (mostly) and completely free: DaVinci Resolve. DaVinci Resolve is an extremely capable, industry-standard video editing and post-processing tool thats actually used by professionals. It might actually be overboard if youre just looking to edit a few clips, although I know some hobbyists who prefer it anyway. If youre interested in video editing or post-production work and youre on a tight budget, you owe it to yourself to try DaVinci Resolve. Adobe Photoshop Express for simple photo editing Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG The Photos app built into Windows is a surprisingly capable tool for performing basic photo edits. But Adobes free Photoshop Express app is another great tool for quick photo touchups. With Photoshop Express, you can crop images, apply effects and filters, fix red-eye issues, and touch-up blemishes. This free photo-editing tool is meant to be simple and quick, so keep your expectations in check. For more powerful photo editing, youll have to look elsewhere. Adobe Photoshop isnt free for students, but Adobe does offer a student discount on its Creative Cloud plans. Spotify for music streaming Spotify Spotify Spotify While Spotify has competition, its still the music streaming service. It has a high-quality Windows app (not just a web player) that integrates nicely with your PC. Unlike some of its competitors, Spotify offers free music streaming to everyone you just need to listen to some ads. If those ads are a problem, you can get a student discount with the Spotify Premium for Students plan, which is $5.99 per month and comes with Hulu. (The bundled Hulu account does have ads, but the Spotify Premium account you get doesnt have ads.) VLC for all-in-one video playback VLC VLC VLC Windows has a capable built-in video player these days, and theres a good chance you dont even need it because youre probably doing most of your watching on YouTube, Netflix, and the like. But if you do find yourself viewing a lot of video files especially videos in many different formats then I have to recommend VLC. Its been the go-to video player for decades. Its the Swiss Army knife of media players that can play anything you throw at it. WizTree for freeing up drive space WizTree WizTree WizTree While Windows provides some built-in tools for clearing up space on your computers storage, one of the best ways to find out whats using up all your space is to use WizTree, a free disk space analyzing tool that shows you visually how your space is used up. WizTree is the fastest way to analyze your disk space usage on Windows. With a quick scan, you can see exactly which files and folders are clogging up your drives, so you know exactly what you need to free up for the most impact right away. Perhaps you need to uninstall a particularly massive video game? Or maybe you have big media files lying around from a project? WizTree makes it easy to spot it all at a glance. VMware Workstation for virtual machines Christoph Hoffmann Christoph Hoffmann Christoph Hoffmann You may or may not need virtual machine software depending on your college major, but if youre studying Computer Science or another along those lines, you might benefit from using virtual machines. Virtual machine software lets you install an operating system within your current operating system, essentially running an isolated instance of that OS within its own sandbox environment. This is a great way to install a full Linux system without giving up Windows, for example. (Or use the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature to run Linux apps on Windows.) VMware Workstation was, until very recently, a paid app. Broadcom now offers it free for personal use. It will likely be your best bet if youre looking for a virtual machine application. Further reading: How to set up virtual machines with VMware Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Chris Hoffman / IDG Microsoft PowerToys is a collection of useful power-user tools that you probably didnt know you needed. Its packed with nifty utilities that can make your life easier, and they all come bundled together in one convenient (and free) package thats easy to install. With PowerToys, you can do things like remapping keys on your keyboard (so they function as other keys), bulk rename lots of files at once, get a color-picking tool that gives you the color code for anything on your screen, and so many other useful things. And there you have it! A full assortment of free apps thatll make your life as a college student that much more productive and enjoyable. For more software recommendations, check out our roundup of useful free apps that are already installed on your Windows PC. Connecting to a VPN server hides your traffic by rerouting it through an encrypted tunnel. Your ISP and other outside parties are no longer able to see your online activitybut the one who owns the tunnel still can. All of your data is then solely handled by a VPN provider and thats why trusting the service to not keep any logs of your activity is imperative. Almost every major VPN provider today will claim to have a no-logs policy. But what does that mean exactly, and why is it critical when choosing a VPN service? Ill break it all down, discuss why it matters, and how to feel safer with your online privacy while using a VPN. Today is Amazon Prime Big Deal Days! Our editorial team lists the best tech deals here. ] If youre looking for a VPN that you can trust, all of my picks for best VPN services have been thoroughly vetted via independent no-logs audits, so you can rest assured your data will be in safe hands. What is a no-logs policy? A VPNs no-logs policy means the service does not collector logany traffic that passes through its servers, such as private data including browsing history, home IP address, cookies, and files downloaded. This policy represents a VPNs stance on data retention and commits the company to comprehensive, across-the-board user privacy measures. The issue with no-logs claims is that its impossible for a user to verify that their data isnt being collected from the outside. Thats why many top VPNs go the extra step of hiring external auditors to substantiate these claims. The very best no-logs VPNs provide as much transparency as possible, not only clearly laying out their data collection practices, but also regularly undergoing independent audits. Of course, VPNs do need to collect some user data to make sure the service is properly maintained and running optimally. If the VPN imposes a device limit, it will need to log connection activity. To make sure that servers are not overloaded, a VPN will need to track data usage. The key here is to make sure that all of these logs are anonymous and/or temporary. A VPN should only store your connection activity for the time youre online and no longer. Data usage should be taken in aggregate across all users rather than user-by-user in order to fully anonymize each individuals traffic. All of these practices should be clearly laid out in a VPN providers privacy policy and verified via independent audits. Why does no-logs matter with a VPN? If youre using a VPN it means that you are trying to gain some privacy and anonymity in one way or another. Even if you only use a VPN to get around geo-blocking restrictions with streaming services, you are still looking to hide your true identity and connection location. Since privacy is the whole point of a VPN, it should go without saying that the VPN shouldnt act in any way to compromise that privacy. This is where a no-logs policy comes in. It is the cornerstone of a VPNs commitment to keeping your activity private and anonymous while connected. Casual VPN users might not be too worried about a VPN recording your traffic, but for political dissidents, journalists, lawyers, and people under oppressive regimes, its a huge concern. Without sounding too hyperbolic, for those in high-risk situations, a VPNs trustworthiness can be a matter of life or death. Even in the worst-case event where a government were to seize control of a VPNs servers, if the service is abiding by a no-logs policy there would be nothing for the authorities to find. This was the case in 2017 for ExpressVPN when Turkish authorities seized one of its servers while investigating a high-profile assassination. ExpressVPNs no-logs policy was ultimately vindicated as authorities were left empty-handed. Im not at all saying that VPNs should be used to hide criminal activity, but they should stay true to the policies they promise. How to check what data your VPN collects IPVanish provides a good example of what a clear and transparent privacy policy should look like. IPVanish provides a good example of what a clear and transparent privacy policy should look like. IPVanish IPVanish provides a good example of what a clear and transparent privacy policy should look like. IPVanish IPVanish If youre looking to use a VPN to keep you safe online, especially when the stakes are high, then you want a service with a clear and transparent privacy policy as well as a proven no-logs track record. For users who demand the utmost privacy from a VPN, its imperative that you meticulously read through the companys privacy policy before using the service. Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to find these privacy policies through the providers website. Your best bet is to do a Google search for (VPNs name) + privacy policy then choose the link directing you to the companys website. Some privacy policies can be extremely detailed and full of legal boilerplate. It might be a slog to get through, I know, but its worth it to find out what data is being collected. As a rule of thumb, if a company does not clearly and transparently describe the data that it does and does not collect, then you should avoid that service. Also, be sure that the policy states how long the VPN keeps collected data. This may include connection logs and overall data usage. All of this should be either anonymized or stored for a short time only. If your VPN uses RAM-only servers your data is likely to be safer as anything collected is deleted when the servers restart. Lastly, while a company may have a transparent privacy policy, youll have to take them at their word unless they can show proof of independent audits. Third-party audits of a VPN service are one of the best (and only) ways a no-logs policy can be verified. Personally, I do not use a VPN unless it has gone through at least an audit in the last year or two. Ideally, a service will go through regular, yearly or twice-a-year audits. Standard Bank has mobilized sustainable finance of over $3 billion this year to advance green and renewable energy initiatives across Africa, thereby driving sustainable growth and energy independence throughout the continent. This was disclosed by Sydney Nii Ayitey Tetteh - Executive Vice President, Energy & Infrastructure, Client Coverage, Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic Bank Ghana, at the 13th Ghana Economic Forum held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra. Speaking on a panel discussion on the topic, Sustainable Energy Financing and Distribution: Key to Driving Economic Activities and Growth, the Stanbic Bank Executive noted the critical role of sustainable energy financing in driving economic growth. He highlighted the increasing importance of green financing as Ghanas energy sector shifts towards sustainability. He noted that, At Stanbic Bank, we are committed to supporting the energy transition through innovative financing. We do this because of our purpose as a bank, which is Africa is our home, we drive her growth and investing in sustainable energy is just one way we are making that happen. In 2023, Standard Bank, our parent company, mobilized $2.7 billion in renewable energy initiatives across Africa and this year, we are investing over $3 billion. Specific areas targeted included solar and wind project, energy efficiency, electricity distribution networks, green buildings, carbon finance and climate change adaptation. Nii Ayitey Tetteh encouraged policymakers in the energy sector to sanitize the sector to attract more investment. He said Investors will always be reluctant to put money in a sector that seems unstable and saddled with huge legacy debts. Initiatives such as the cash waterfall mechanism that ensures that suppliers receive consistent payments and other good initiatives under the Energy Sector Recovery Program has helped to improve the sector, but there are still more things to be done to make the sector credit worthy. While the potential for substantial investment in the sector exists, it is essential that the sectors underlying health is addressed as a foundational step. A strong, stable, and transparent sector is essential to attract external capital. Prematurely pursuing investment without first establishing a solid base is akin to building a house on shifting sands. Therefore, a comprehensive sanitization process must be undertaken to rectify any structural or operational deficiencies, Nii Ayitey Tetteh added. The Ghana Economic Forum was started in 2012 to bring together captains of industry and thought leaders to discuss and debate key issues affecting the Ghanaian economy and offer solutions to enhance the countrys economic growth. The annual Ghana Economic Forum is a corporate event put together to engage corporate Ghana in a panel deliberation on issues affecting the Ghanaian economy and hopefully offer useful solutions and recommendations in favour of an accelerated economic growth of the economy. The event is tailored and structured to offer in-depth analysis, discussions and debate on key issues affecting the Ghanaian economy and to suggest solutions to help overcome the challenges in order to enhance the achievement of the countrys economic development agenda. Furthermore, the event offers a platform for participants to make recommendations aimed at consolidating gains and driving attention to under-served economic imperatives. The forum will also provide opportunities for participants to interact with business experts from the public and private sectors, as well as the countrys top bankers and financial service providers. The 13th edition was held under the theme, Unlocking Opportunities: Re-engineering Ghanas Economic Model for Sustainable Development. 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 Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Trader Advocacy Group Ghana (TAGG), and the Importers & Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG), have thrown their weight behind the Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) amended law, aimed at regulating the shipping industry. This comes amidst concerns raised by the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF). The law, passed recently, seeks to eliminate unfair business practices and protect shippers and consumers. However, GUTA President Dr. Joseph Obeng expressed concerns about the amended law on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. He cited lack of consultation on registration, insufficient discussion on shipment notice submission, late stakeholder involvement, unaddressed permit and license issues, and the reintroduction of the Advanced Shipping Information System. Dr. Obeng urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to assent to the amended law until all concerns raised are addressed. "We were not adequately consulted, and our concerns were not addressed. We fear this law may stifle businesses and increase costs," he stated. GIFF supported GUTA's call. However, in separate statements released on Friday, August 23, 2024, the AGI, TAGG, and IEAG expressed shock at the sudden concerns raised by GUTA. They noted that the GSA is actively engaged in consultation with all stakeholders in the shipping industry on the amended GSA Law. TAGG described GUTA's call to the President to withhold assent to the law as unfounded. "The GSA has demonstrated commitment to considering feedback from the business community. Rejecting the law would only serve the interests of a select few, rather than the broader trading community and Ghanaian citizens," TAGG's statement read. IEAG President Sampson Asaki Awingobit said the law ensures every stakeholder in the commercial shipping value chain acts responsibly and is held accountable. "The law creates a more structured and regulated environment for trade, ensuring that the interests of both importers and exporters are safeguarded. The GSA law is a significant step towards enhancing transparency and efficiency within the shipping and logistics industry," Awingobit asserted. Awingobit acknowledged that further dialogue is needed but urged that the President's assent to the amended law should not be halted. He emphasized continuous engagement between the GSA and key stakeholders to address practical challenges faced by importers and exporters. He also called for clear guidelines and support from the GSA to help businesses adapt to the new regulations. AGI President Dr. Humphrey Ayim Darke believes the amended law will bring much-needed reforms to the industry. "This law will harmonize Ghana's shipping industry with international standards, making us more competitive," he said. Despite GUTA and GIFF's reservations, the AGI, TAGG, and IEAG see the amended law as a step in the right direction. They urged stakeholders to engage with the GSA to address concerns, emphasizing that the law will benefit the industry in the long run. The GSA has acknowledged the concerns and assured that it will use Legislative Instruments to clarify them. 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 Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), a leading conglomerate in Ghana and West Africa, has sought to establish partnerships with Indian businesses at the recently concluded 19th Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) India-Africa Business Conclave 2024, held in New Delhi from August 20 to 22, 2024. The summit, themed "Creating one future," aimed to strengthen ties between India and Africa to boost economic growth. The Head of Delegation and Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Noah Gyimah, emphasised the importance of Ghana-India partnerships, stating, "Our participation demonstrates our commitment to building strong, lasting relationships with Indian counterparts." He added, "We believe that through collaboration, we can harness the potential of both our countries to drive economic growth and create opportunities for our people." The Jospong delegation engaged in high-level discussions with Indian counterparts, exploring avenues for collaboration across various sectors. As Gold Sponsors, the Group hosted an exhibition showcasing its achievements across all areas of operation. According to Communications Manager, Mr. Strive Kakraba, the Group's participation underscored its strategic commitment to expanding operations beyond Ghana's borders, leveraging India's advanced technology and industrial development expertise. "The Group's participation marked a significant step forward in its journey towards creating impactful and enduring partnerships that have the potential to impact many African businesses and nations," he said. The delegation held fruitful meetings with Indian companies in sectors like waste management, water, sanitation, renewable energy, and agriculture, where Jospong Group has significant expertise and experience. These discussions aimed to identify areas of mutual interest and collaborations that could contribute to sustainable development in Ghana and other African countries. The Jospong Group's engagement aligns with its broader vision of becoming a key player in Africa's economic transformation by introducing innovative solutions to address critical challenges in Ghana's infrastructure, sanitation, agriculture, and environmental sectors. The CII India-Africa Business Conclave provided an invaluable platform for the Jospong Group to not only showcase its capabilities but also to reinforce its role as a bridge between Ghana and India in driving sustainable development. Indian Vice President Mr. Jangdeep Dhankhar, highlighted India's investments in African infrastructure projects and its commitment to capacity-building, training, and education. He stressed the potential for deeper economic integration and mutual development through the AfCFTA and India's DFTP scheme. The CII India-Africa Business Conclave is a premier platform for enhancing trade, investment, and technological partnerships between India and Africa, focusing on sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, and information technology. 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 Ghana's nursing profession has been confronted with many challenges in recent times; key among them is the issue of nursing brain drain as well as huge number of unemployed graduate nurses. The trend of unemployed graduate nurses in the country has increased, contributing to Ghana's high graduate unemployment rate hence a call for an immediate government intervention to address the issue. Addressing the gathering during a graduation and matriculation ceremony of Rans-Elliot School of Nursing in Koforidua, the Chief Executive Officer of the school, Rev. Dr. Ransford Kwabena Awuku-Gyampoh, statedthat the continuous delay in posting nurses after passing their licensure exams, will further deteriorate their skill set on the job. According to Rev. Dr. Ransford Kwabena Awuku-Gyampoh, the nursing profession is purely ascience and science requires continuous experiment and practice hence there may be changes to the skills and knowledge acquired if one waits for a long period of time without an opportunity to practise on the job and this may pose a serious threat to Ghana's health care in the future. "Because science is knowledge acquired through a period of experiments,testing of hypotheses and evaluation in order to arrive at proven facts, long periods of waiting time for nurses may lead to extinct knowledge and skills as there may be changes in terms of new knowledge and findings coming into the system. Rev. Dr. Ransford Kwabena Awuku-Gyampoh noted that"the long waiting period experienced by graduate nurses after passing their licensure exams before they are posted by government, could lead to the loss of professional skills acquired. Research indicates that delays in posting newly licensed nurses significantly impacts both the nursing profession and the nation as a whole". "Extended periods of inactivity of the nurse can lead to deterioration of practical skills acquired during the training. Imagine a graduate nurse staying at home for a period of four years justwaiting to be posted and you see such a person struggling to survive". "Graduates who remain home for a long period of time without being posted,may also face serious financial challenges leading to frustrations and potential loss of interest in the profession" he added. "Is it a sin to become a nurse?Is it a taboo to be trained and want to serve ones nation?What exactly could bethe problem?What is in that queue that cannot be removed hence causing long periods of delay in postings? It is my prayer that we will not lose our acquired skills". The Rans-Elliot School of Nursing is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast and is fully accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana (NMC) to run diploma in nursing programs. Reflecting on the theme "Nursing Education: Our Past, Present and Future", the Principal of Rans-Elliot School of Nursing, Mad. Doreen Osae-Ayensu highlighted that the school is for the first time since it received accreditation graduating 11 students and matriculating 15 students for the next academic year. Mad. Doreen Osae-Ayensu also noted the impact of Private Nursing Institutions in Ghana,reiterating that private colleges have expanded access to nursing education, particularly for students who may not have gained admission to public institutions. 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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged the various universities to strengthen ties with the industrial sector, the government and the communities in which they operate. By doing so, he said they would be able to align their research and teaching with the needs of the society to contribute directly to the realisation of national development goals. It is very imperative for universities to remain active and engage in the development process of the country because they are the breeding grounds for the ideas, research and innovations that drive our nation's progress. They are the institutions that train our agriculturalists, computer scientists and programmers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, political scientists and leaders, he added. Promise President Akufo-Addo made the call at the inauguration of a multipurpose building for the University for Development Studies (UDS), Nyankpala Campus, yesterday. Named the Silver Jubilee Building, the three-storey facility consists of lecture halls, offices, library, computer laboratory, conference halls, among others. Constructed in fulfilment of a promise made by the President during the 25th-anniversary celebration of UDS in 2018, the facility is expected to provide a conducive environment for students and faculty members to improve educational outcomes. Shared vision President Akufo-Addo said the building was not just a structure of brick and mortar, but it symbolised the shared vision for a brighter future and commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and development of the country. I vividly recall standing here in 2018 during the celebration of UDS' 25th anniversary, my first time as President of the Republic. it was then that I made a pledge to support this university by providing a three-storey building complex. When I make a promise, it is essential that I follow through; this fulfilment is not just about the building but about upholding the trust you have placed in me and demonstrating that when I make a pledge, I keep it, he said. Quality education Given the crucial role education contributed towards national development, President Akufo-Addo said the government was investing massively in it at all levels to ensure that every Ghanaian child, no matter their background or circumstance, had access to quality education. He added that the government had spent huge resources on the education sector for the past years, as it recognised it as the most powerful tool to transform the nation, stating that, Indeed, the considerable budgetary allocations within the period, totalling some GH12.8 billion, amply demonstrate the shared determination of the Akufo-Addo government to ensure that education becomes a catalyst around which the transformation of our nation revolves. Commitment For his part, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, reiterated the governments commitment towards promoting quality tertiary education in the country. He said, the Northern Region has responded more to the Free Senior High School intervention because about 90 per cent of the youth are moving to secondary schools, followed by the North East and Upper East regions. 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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's final Presidential Pitch event marked a significant milestone in his administration's commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation among Ghana's youth. Held in Accra, the event brought together young entrepreneurs from across the country, showcasing their innovative business ideas and seeking the necessary support to scale their ventures. The Presidential Pitch, an initiative that has gained recognition for empowering the next generation of business leaders, provided a platform for these young visionaries to present their proposals directly to the president and a panel of esteemed judges. The event underscored the governments commitment to youth empowerment, particularly in the realm of entrepreneurship. President Akufo-Addo, in his address, highlighted the critical role that young entrepreneurs play in the nation's economic growth and the importance of supporting their ventures to create jobs and drive innovation. He reiterated his administration's dedication to creating a favourable environment for businesses to thrive, citing the various initiatives and policies implemented over the years to support startups and small businesses in Ghana. This years pitch was particularly competitive, with a diverse range of ideas presented, reflecting the creativity and resilience of Ghanas youth. The winning projects received substantial financial backing, alongside mentorship opportunities, which are crucial for turning their ideas into successful businesses. The judges, comprising business leaders and industry experts, were impressed by the quality of the presentations, noting that the participants demonstrated not only entrepreneurial potential but also a deep understanding of their respective markets. As the final edition of the Presidential Pitch under Akufo-Addos presidency, the event also served as a reflection on the progress made over the years. The initiative has seen many young entrepreneurs who were once participants now running successful enterprises that contribute to the economy. The president expressed pride in these achievements, emphasising that the programmes legacy would continue to inspire and support future generations of entrepreneurs in Ghana. President Akufo-Addo's last Presidential Pitch was a testament to the success of his administration's focus on youth entrepreneurship. The event not only highlighted the governments support for young innovators but also reinforced the importance of nurturing entrepreneurial talent as a means of fostering economic growth. As the curtain falls on this chapter of his presidency, the impact of the Presidential Pitch is set to resonate in Ghanas business landscape for years to come. The NEIP CEO, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for his unwavering leadership and support, which has been instrumental in the success of the Presidential Pitch. This years Presidential Pitch was won by Naamgwimaa Samuel, the founder of Naamgwinaa Technologies. His innovative electronics company specializes in designing and manufacturing the Smart Switch, a state-of-the-art device that optimizes energy management and automation for both homes and businesses. The Smart Switch is versatile, and capable of being installed in rooms, streetlights, cars, air conditioners, and more. 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 next National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, led by John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to transform Ghana's economy, diversify exports, and ensure value addition to create more jobs starting from January 2025. These commitments are outlined in the NDC's manifesto, launched on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at Winneba in the Central Region. Key initiatives include building two factories in the Bono Regiona tomato processing plant and a cashew processing plantto boost local production and employment. Mahama also promised to add value to Ghanas cocoa by increasing domestic processing and refining the countrys gold before export. Additionally, the NDC plans to pursue the long-held vision of an integrated bauxite and alumina industry, with strategic sectors like VALCO and TOR playing crucial roles in strengthening the economy. Mahama also committed to establishing cocoa processing factories in cocoa-growing regions, reducing the reliance on raw cocoa exports. The manifesto also promises the creation of Farmer Co-operatives in every region, which will receive support to enhance their operations. Furthermore, the NDC administration plans to establish factories in each region based on their unique comparative advantages, including operationalising the Komenda Sugar Factory, reviving the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, and restoring the Zuarungu Meat Factory. Source: class fm 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 Founder of the All People's Congress (APC), Dr. Hassan Ayariga, has said he will introduce a three-passport system should he become president of Ghana. According to him, this will ensure that Ghanaian citizens become the sole owners of properties and enjoy all the benefits of a primary citizen of a country. Explaining some of the policies he will embark on in his presidency, during an interview on GhanaWeb TVs Election Desk, Dr. Hassan Ayariga said, I am going to have three passports. The first passport is going to be for people who have both parents as Ghanaians, and this will let them run for president, MP, buy lands, and own properties in Ghana. They will be entitled to benefits every citizen can have. "The second class are people who have one parent as Ghanaian and the other as a foreigner. They are entitled to buy property using the name of the Ghanaian, and they have a lot of limitations. They can't become president, MP, buy lands, or own properties in Ghana. "The last people are those who naturalize. They are not entitled to buy any property or vie for a public position." When asked why he intends to introduce these policies, the APC founder noted that, Ghana is for Ghanaians. We are practically losing our sovereignty because we are underprivileged. Dr. Hassan Ayariga further added that if these policies are not implemented, the real citizens will be neglected, and the country will be taken over by expatriates. Source: ghanaweb.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 National Democratic Congress Flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, has arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, as a special guest at the Nigerian Bar Associations 64th Annual General Conference. Mahama's trip to Nigeria comes less than 24 hours after the NDC launched its 2024 Manifesto for the December 7 general elections. The former president is expected to deliver a keynote address at the conference on Monday, August 26. In a statement, Mahama Campaign Spokesperson, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, stated that the "64th annual general conference theme, 'Pressing Forward - A National Posture for Rebuilding Nigeria,' resonates deeply with Mahama's advocacy for democratic governance, the rule of law, and collaborative efforts toward national development." The statement noted that Mahama "looks forward to discussing innovative approaches to addressing Nigeria's pressing issues with its legal practitioners" while also emphasizing the "importance of accountability and leadership in governance." Read the full statement below: P R E S S S T A T E M E N T *Mahama in Lagos to deliver keynote address at Nigerian Bar Conference.* Accra, Ghana Former President John Dramani Mahama has arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, as a Special Guest of the Nigerian Bar Associations 64th Annual General Conference. Mr Joyce Bawah Mogtari (@joyce_bawah) August 25, 2024 Source: ghanaweb.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 Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has eaten humble pie and issued an apology and retraction to businessman, Ibrahim Mahama, over details he captured in his latest book, The President Ghana Never Got, concerning some supposed debts owed to a bank. In the book, Manasseh Azure alluded that the businessman owed a huge sum to Merchant Bank (now Universal Merchant Bank, UMB), which contributed to its eventual collapse in 2013. The claim, which was later challenged by Ibrahim Mahama, had the investigative journalist also responding to the businessman, insisting that the details captured in his book were not, as was being claimed, inaccurate. What Manasseh Azure said in his book about Ibrahim Mahama: In the book, Awuni alleged that Ibrahim Mahama, the brother of former President John Dramani Mahama, was one of the major debtors of the now-defunct Merchant Bank, a claim that has since been strongly contested. According to a letter from Ibrahim Mahamas legal counsel, Bobby Banson Esq., the businessman has never been personally indebted to Merchant Bank or its successor, UMB Bank. Instead, the letter clarifies that the loan in question was taken out by Engineers & Planners Company Limited, a separate legal entity from Mahama, and that the full loan amount of $28 million was paid off in February 2014. The letter also highlights that despite this repayment, the new management of Merchant Bank (later UMB Bank) failed to report the settlement to the Credit Bureau Agencies and the Bank of Ghana. This led Engineers & Planners to file a court action against UMB Bank in 2023, seeking declarations that the debt had been fully paid and that the banks claims of indebtedness were false. Ibrahim Mahama has never been indebted to Merchant Bank or its successor, UMB Bank. Indeed, our Client has never applied for or received any facility from the said Bank in his personal capacity or for his personal use. Engineers & Planners Company Limited, which is a separate legal entity from our Client, applied for and received a loan facility from Merchant Bank. In February 2014, the amount of $28million was paid by Engineers and Planners Company Ltd to Merchant Bank, in full and final settlement of the loan amount. A copy of the correspondence from Merchant Bank to this effect is attached as Annexure, portions of the letter said. Proof of debt payment to Merchant Bank in 2014 pops up online Following allegations that the financial struggles of Merchant Bank were partly due to significant debts owed by Engineers and Planners, a company owned by Ibrahim Mahama, a document showing the receipt of full payment from Engineers and Planners has surfaced online. The document showed that Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited confirmed receipt of the negotiated settlement amount of US$28 million from AFREXIM Bank in favor of Engineers and Planners Company Limited on January 31, 2014. "In accordance with Clause 3 of the said Agreement, we, Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited, hereby confirm receipt of the negotiated settlement amount of USD 28 million from AFREXIM Bank in favor of Engineers and Planners Company Limited on January 31, 2014. We hereby authorize you to date the Deed of Release and forward the same to AFREXIM Bank in accordance with the terms of the Agreement. "We are pleased to inform you that the Bank has indeed received an amount of US$28.0 million through a SWIFT advice dated January 31, 2014, from African Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM Bank) into our Citibank Account #36056153 in full settlement of your indebtedness to Merchant Bank Ghana Limited," it added. Apology and retraction: But in a post shared via his X handle on Monday, August 26, 2024, Manasseh Azure admitted to the error made in his book and apologised to Ibrahim Mahama. In the post with the title, RETRACTION AND APOLOGY, the journalist wrote: In providing a background to the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) and the circumstances under which its new owners acquired it in 2013, I mentioned the controversy that arose when it emerged that one of the big debtors of the erstwhile Merchant Bank was Mr. Mahama. The fact is that the $28 million debt I referenced was owed by his company, Engineers and Planners Company Limited, the legal entity, and not Mr. Mahama personally. Consequently, I retract the said reference to Ibrahim Mahama as the debtor and apologise for any adverse effect that may have been occasioned by said publication. He also indicated that he is making plans to have the error fixed in the online versions of his book, and subsequently, in new publications of his book. Read his full apology below: RETRACTION AND APOLOGY Businessman Mr. Ibrahim Mahama has, through his lawyers, brought to my attention a fact that needs correction, and I hereby do so unreservedly. i. In my latest book, The President Ghana Never Got, I discussed the banking crisis under the Akufo-Addo administration and how some banks were saved from possible collapse. ii. In providing a background to the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) and the circumstances under which its new owners acquired it in 2013, I mentioned the controversy that arose when it emerged that one of the big debtors of the erstwhile Merchant Bank was Mr. Mahama. iii. The fact is that the $28 million debt I referenced was owed by his company, Engineers and Planners Company Limited, the legal entity, and not Mr. Mahama personally. iv. Consequently, I retract the said reference to Ibrahim Mahama as the debtor and apologise for any adverse effect that may have been occasioned by said publication. v. It was a genuine oversight, which I am taking immediate steps to correct in the online version of the book and in subsequent reprints. Source: ghanaweb.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 A mining company, Clean-Jobs Resources Limited, has issued a stern warning to encroachers at Tano-Anwia forest in the Western Region to stay off what they say it's their property. In a statement, the mining company stated emphatically that they "possess a fully authorized Mining Lease for the Tano-Anwia Forest region, granting us exclusive rights to conduct mining operations within the designated area". "We are currently in the process of securing our entry permit from the Forestry Commission, which is a necessary step for us to commence any activities on the lease. It has come to our attention that illegal miners have recently encroached upon our lease area. This unauthorized activity poses a serious threat to our operations and the integrity of the forest. We have not granted permission or authorization to any individual, group, or entity to enter or conduct activities within our lease area." Read full statement below: Press Release Clean-Jobs Resources Limited Warns Unauthorized Persons in Tano-Anwia Forest A mining company, Clean-Jobs Resources Limited formerly known as Clean-Jobs Ghana Limited wishes to bring to the attention of the public, relevant authorities, and all stakeholders the recent unauthorized activities occurring within our mining lease area at Tano-Anwia Forest in the Western Region. As the duly recognized holders of the full Mining Lease for this area, we want to address the following key points: Authorized Mining Lease: We possess a fully authorized Mining Lease for the Tano-Anwia Forest region, granting us exclusive rights to conduct mining operations within the designated area. Ongoing Entry Permit Process: We are currently in the process of securing our entry permit from the Forestry Commission, which is a necessary step for us to commence any activities on the lease. Illegal Encroachment: It has come to our attention that illegal miners have recently encroached upon our lease area. This unauthorized activity poses a serious threat to our operations and the integrity of the forest. No Authorization Granted: We have not granted permission or authorization to any individual, group, or entity to enter or conduct activities within our lease area. Any such activities undertaken by unauthorized persons are illegal and do not have our endorsement. Action Taken: In response to this encroachment, we have formally notified the Forestry Commission and requested their immediate intervention to address and remove the illegal miners from our lease area. We are actively collaborating with the Forestry Commission to safeguard our investment and the ecological balance of the forest. Public Advisory: We urge the public to disregard any claims or representations made by individuals or groups asserting that they have our mandate or authorization to operate within our lease area. Such claims are false and should be treated with the utmost contempt. Commitment to Protection: We are fully committed to protecting our lease and ensuring that all activities within the area are conducted in compliance with legal and environmental standards. We are working diligently with the Forestry Commission to resolve this issue and prevent future occurrences of illegal mining. We appreciate the support of the public and relevant authorities as we take necessary measures to address this situation. Our goal remains to operate responsibly and ensure the sustainable management of our mining lease in harmony with environmental conservation efforts. Source: 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 acquittal of Wilberforce Francis Mensah, a steel bender, left a complainant in tears in an Adentan Circuit Court on Thursday. The court presided over by Mrs. Sedinam Awo Kwadam, at the end of Mensahs trial, acquitted him on two charges of defrauding by false pretences. Mensah was arrested for obtaining GHC12,000 from Francisca Dosu and GHC11,350 from Sandra Tetteh under the pretext of recruiting them for the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). However, upon hearing Mensahs acquittal, Dosu burst into tears because she was unable to collect her money from her one-time partner. The court determined that the prosecution was unable to prove the accusations brought against Mensah, and that convicting him based on the evidence offered during the trial would be serious. It noted that the prosecution was unable to prove the charges since it did not offer any proof, such as documents or text messages, and that the accused had love talks. According to the court, Mensah had an amorous relationship with the two complainants and promised to get them into GIS despite knowing he was a steel bender. The court said the promise of Mensah could not be used to convict him because in relationships, men give money and women also give money. The accused person is guilty of his behaviour, that is for taking advantage of the women. Mensah, who had been in custody for over a year despite being offered bail by the court, said he would work and refund the money to the complainants. The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo, informed the court that the complainants, Dosu and Tetteh, live in Malejor, while Mensah resides in Michel Camp. According to the prosecution, Dosu became friends with Mensah in March 2023 and later began dating him. It said Mensah told Dosu that he had an Immigration Officer who had a position open at GIS. The prosecution said Mensah collected GHC12,000 from Francisca to give to the GIS officer, who was also friends with Dosus brother, Frank. Mensah avoided Dosu after collecting the money from her. The prosecution said in April 2023, Mensah went to a restaurant and met the second complainant, Tetteh, and proposed to her. Tetteh accepted Mensahs proposal and began a relationship with him. He then informed Tetteh about the opening in the GIS. She expressed interest and called her father in Adense Praso for GHC8,000 cash, to which she added GHC3,350. After collecting the money, Mensah went into hiding. On May 13, 2024, Dosu reported the matter to the police, and Mensah was arrested. The prosecution said Tetteh identified Mensah to police on June 2, 2023, and he admitted to collecting money from the two complainants in his caution statement. 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 The Akuapem Adontenhene, also known as the Akuapem Aburihene, Otobour Gyan Kwasi, has cautioned the youth in his traditional area to abide by the rule of law and follow the electoral processes peacefully to avoid any troubles. According to him, the youth should also refrain from causing trouble and administering instant justice on suspects. Instead, they should rely on the police for redress in such situations. He added that Akuapem Aburi is rapidly developing due to its proximity to the Greater Accra Region, which hosts many high-profile dignitaries. Therefore, there is a need to ensure peace and order in the traditional area. This message was delivered in a speech read by the Queen Mother of the traditional area, Awo Amene II, on behalf of Otobour Gyan Kwasi, during a groundbreaking ceremony to commence the construction of an ultra-modern police station in Aburi. The project, undertaken by Ghana Gas, aims to serve as the Aburi Divisional Police Command. Once completed, the Divisional Police Command is expected to be one of the best in Africa, serving as a model for law enforcement facilities across the continent. Otobour Gyan Kwasi commended Ghana Gas for responding to their request within a short period. Awo Amene, the Akuapem Aburi Queen Mother, also the Adontenghemaa, reiterated on behalf of her chief, Otobour Gyan Kwasi, that the days when chiefs would intervene at police stations on behalf of suspects are gone. The narrative has changed. The Special Guest of Honor at the sod-cutting ceremony was Akuapem Awhirase Adehyehene Nana Opare Kwarfo, who also thanked Ghana Gas for the impactful project, which, when completed, will greatly benefit the community. He spoke about the difficulties and frustrations one faces when accessing the divisional police command in Akropong. 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 Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the Director of Elections and IT for the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has proposed a potential location for the 500-bed state-of-the-art Children's Hospital and Fertility Centre promised by the party's flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama in his 2024 election manifesto. In a Facebook post dated August 24, 2024, Dr. Boamah suggested that the National Cathedral project in Accra could be transformed into the proposed hospital. Dr. Boamah's suggestion comes as part of ongoing discussions on how to best utilize existing resources to meet the needs of Ghanaians. However, Mr Mahama during his Saturday manifesto delivery failed to mention where the hospital would be built but Dr Boamah who plays an integral role in the Mahama campaign is giving clues on social media. He highlighted that repurposing the National Cathedral, which has been a subject of controversy, could serve the greater public good by providing critical healthcare services in the Greater Accra Region. This proposal aligns with Mahama's commitment to improving healthcare infrastructure as part of his broader vision for the country. Source: class fm 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 Ghanaian community in the United Kingdom has organised a vigil in memory of a woman, Alberta Obinim, who was killed from a stabbing incident recently. She was reportedly tragically stabbed to death by 27-year-old son. The video was shared on X by EDHUB on August 25, 2024. Background Alberta Obinim, 43, her husband, 64, and their 17-year-old daughter were reportedly stabbed by their 27-year-old son on August 18, 2024, in their family home in Gorto, East Manchester, UK, over a supposed family dispute. Unfortunately, Alberta died but her husband and daughter were rushed to the hospital while the suspect was arrested. Watch video below: It was a sorrowful moment during a vigil organized by the Ghanaian community in Manchester, UK, yesterday to honour the late Alberta Obinim, who was tragically stabbed to death by her own son. https://t.co/w1SwbTOWXT pic.twitter.com/ZKKYBjyViZ EDHUB (@eddie_wrt) August 25, 2024 A 22-year-old Ghanaian man has been arrested after stabbing his 43-year-old mother, Alberta Obinim, to death yesterday at the family home in Gorton, east Manchester, UK over a family dispute. The suspect also stabbed his 64-year-old father, a church leader, and his 17-year-old pic.twitter.com/yuM54BhG2U EDHUB (@eddie_wrt) August 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 Agriculture continues to be the backbone of the Ghanaian economy, contributing about 20 percent on average to the nations Gross Domestic Product, as indicated by the Ghana Statistical Service. It is one of the nations largest employers, providing a source of income to 30 per cent of the Ghanaian population. With approximately 38.2% of its population between 15-35 years, as stated by the 2021 Population and Housing Census, Ghana can boast of a youthful demographic poised to drive change in the country. For many years, agriculture has been viewed as labour-intensive and a less attractive career option for young people. However, in recent times, the nation has witnessed a paradigm shift with many Ghanaian youth participating in agriculture. This has contributed to the rise of youth-led startups in the ecosystem who are poised to help the nation build a sustainable food system and address key challenges such as climate change. These interventions include precision agriculture, the introduction of climate resitant crop varieties f, irrigation among others. Despite the contributions of these start-ups, the uptake and accessibility of technology and innovation to transform the agricultural sector is in some ways minimal or underutilized. The adoption of precision agriculture which involves the use of technology to monitor and manage agricultural operations with a high degree of accuracy, would revolutionize the quest to mitigate the effects of climate change. Through the utilisation of technology such as GPS, remote sensing, and data analytics, the use of drones and artificial intelligence to help gather, interpret and act on real time data so that farmers can use this data to plan their next activities and deflect any issues like pests, diseases or crop stess, vertical farming for efficient use of space, precision irrigation systems for water conservation . There are also home-grown solutions such as applied technology in mechanization and machinery assemblage that can cause significant results in production and productivity. Climate-resilient crop varieties have proven crucial for sustenance of agricultural productivity in the face of changing climatic conditions. In this regard, leveraging the opportunities presented by advancement in biotechnology to develop crops varieties that that are more tolerant to drought, heat, and pests is key. These varieties, bred to withstand extreme weather conditions, ensure consistent yields even in changing climates. Ultimately, requisite investment in biotechnology, would accelerate the development and dissemination of these resilient crop varieties, ensuring that farmers have access to seeds that can withstand the challenges posed by climate change. The impact of sustainable irrigation practices to deal with the climate change-related problems in the field of agriculture can never be underestimated. In this regard, there is the need for extensive investment in smart irrigation systems. These can be tailored to incorporate local rainfall data, allowing farmers to make informed decisions about supplemental irrigation. By using weather-based controllers and sensors that measure rainfall, these systems can determine when additional watering is necessary, ensuring that crops receive adequate moisture without over-irrigation. Similarly, integrating rainwater harvesting with smart irrigation can significantly enhance water availability. Collecting and storing rainwater during periods of heavy rainfall provides a supplemental water source that can be used during dry spells. Smart irrigation systems can then be used to distribute this stored water efficiently. To fully harness the potential of technology in fighting against climate change, it is essential to build the capacity of actors in the agricultural sector through training and education. It is also helpful to have seminars, platforms and conferences that provide learning opportunities for the successful implementation of some of these initiatives, to serve as cross-learning for actors within the agricultural industry. It is in the light of this that Kosmos Innovation Centre is set to organize the annual Agricultural Innovation for Africa (AIA) as part of efforts to affirm its commitment empowering young people to develop innovative solutions to address sustainable food systems. Under the theme, Empowering Youth Startups and Agri-MSMEs in Africa: Addressing Climate Change, Innovative Financing, Market Efficiency, and Gender Mainstreaming for Sustainable Food System, the conference will bring together experts for insightful discussions on finding solutions to the growing challenges and obstacles in the food system, harnessing the potential of youth start-ups and agri-MSMEs. Ahead of the Conference, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director of KIC expresses optimism saying, Through platforms like the Agricultural Innovation for Africa, we can harness collective expertise and innovation to tackle the pressing issue of climate change to build resilient and sustainable food systems. Source: Amanda Nkansah 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 would like to assure the General Public and all Stakeholders that a stolen BVD cannot jeopardise the integrity of the 2024 Elections. The Electoral Commission takes the incident of an unauthorised person in possession of a BVD very seriously. "We are conducting our own internal investigations and will collaborate with the Police to bring this matter to its logical conclusion," the Commission said in a statement signed by its Deputy Chairman, Operations, Samuel Tettey. According to the Electoral Commission, the voter verification application is designed such that it only works with data that is prepared, audited, encrypted, and signed by a Secure Process. It says access to this process is highly restricted. "Without access to this Secure Process, Voter Data cannot be generated to work with the BVD. The Data that is loaded onto the BVDs are set to be activated for a particular Election Day. A stolen BVD therefore cannot work in the December 2024 Elections. "BVDs are used only to verify voters. They are not used to vote," the Commission said. Background A 52-year-old man, Samuel Yaw Koranteng, has been arrested and handed over to the Nsawam police after he was seen with a biometric verification device (BVD) belonging to the Electoral Commission of Ghana. The suspect, who claims to reside in Tudu, Accra, was spotted with the device, identified by serial number VVD49976, on Friday, August 23, in Nsawam by some local residents. Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Nsawam immediately facilitated his arrest and turned him over to the police for further investigation. Read the full statement from the Electoral Commission RE: MAN ARRESTED IN NSAWAM WITH A BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION DEVICE (BVD) The attention of the Electoral Commission has been drawn to an incident in Nsawam in which a man was arrested on Friday, 23rd August, 2024 in possession of a Biometric Verification Device (BVD). The Commission takes this incident of an unauthorised person in possession of a BVD very seriously. The Commission would like to assure the General Public and all Stakeholders that a stolen BVD cannot jeopardise the integrity of the 2024 Elections. We are conducting our own internal investigations and will collaborate with the Police to bring this matter to its logical conclusion. In the meantime, the Commission would like to address the General Public on this matter as follows: 1. The Public may recall that following the theft of five (5) Laptops which formed part of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Kits from our stores in April 2024, as well as the vandalization of five (5) BVDs and theft of two (2) BVDs from Tarkwa Nsuaem District and North Tongu District respectively during the December 2023 District Level Elections (DLEs), the Commission explained that a BVD in the hands of an unauthorised person cannot be used to compromise an election. It does not affect the integrity of an election. It is nothing more than an off-the-shelf device and cannot be used to compromise an election, without the necessary technical and security protocols. The Electoral Commission undertakes a deliberate process of preparing a Biometric Verification Device (BVD) for any election that ensures that ONLY BVDs that are prepared for a particular election can be used for that election. This process is robust and is not vulnerable to manipulation. The possession of a BVD that has not gone through this rigorous process that is yet to happen for the 2024 Elections does not affect the integrity of the Elections. a. The voter verification application is designed such that it only works with data that is prepared, audited, encrypted, and signed by a Secure Process. Access to this process is highly restricted. Without access to this Secure Process, Voter Data cannot be generated to work with the BVD. The Data that is loaded onto the BVDs are set to be activated for a particular Election Day. A stolen BVD therefore cannot work in the December 2024 Elections. b. The BVD, as part of its Start-Up Process, checks for the integrity of the Data that is loaded onto it. If the Voter Data on the BVD has been altered in any way, the StartUp Process is halted and the BVD will not work. c. Activation of the BVDs involves the use of Activation Codes that can only be downloaded from the EC's Secure System. This system is restricted to Election Officials with the right Access Credentials. A BVD without its Activation Code cannot be used for the verification of Voters. d. The Data that is loaded onto the BVD must conform with the details of Voters on the Voters Register for each Polling Station. This data is not static and changes with every Election Cycle. Since the Voters Register for various Polling Stations for the 2024 Elections will be different from previous Elections, any data on a BVD that was activated for a previous Election will not conform with the Voters Register at the particular Polling Station on December 7, 2024. e. BVDs are used ONLY to verify voters. They are not used to vote. f. Political Party Agents observe the packing of election materials, including BVDS. They record the Serial Numbers of BVDs that are deployed at each Polling Station. g. Additionally, the Serial Numbers of the BVDs that are used on Election Day are recorded on the Statement of Poll (Pink Sheet) for each Polling Station. This provides further evidence as to which specific BVDs were used to verify Voters at each Polling Station. 2. The Commission urges the Police to do everything in their power to unravel the circumstances surrounding the BVD that was found in the possession of the person arrested on Friday. The Commission stands in readiness to work with the Police in its investigations. Thank you. Samuel Tettey Deputy Chairman, Operations 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 Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and flagbearer of NPP, says one of the things which will be the main focus of his administration is the creation of jobs for the youth. Interacting with the media in Accra, Dr. Bawumia said despite the Akufo-Addo government creating more than 2.3 million jobs in the past 7 years, there remains concerns over youth unemployment. He therefore outlined a number of steps he will do, if elected President, to address this situation saying "there are many areas that we will tackle for young people to get jobsWe are looking at the growth of businesses which will make people hire more and we have proposed a number of incentives to businesses to help them grow. He further stated; "We also have a major tax reform programme to create a convenient environment for business in flat tax rate and tax amnesty." "We also believe that training the youth is very important so the investment we are making in TVET will be improved significantly." "We are also committed to training the youth in a broad area of ICT skills and many of our trained youth will have the opportunity to get jobs in Ghana and from various places abroad." The NPP flagbearer reinforced his commitment to the Ghanaian youth during his meeting with journalists on Sunday, August 25. Source: 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 Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has clarified his role as Vice President and put paid to arguments about why he has failed to implement the policies he wants to roll out now, and is rather waiting to do so under his Presidency. Answering a question during his meeting with media practitioners on why he is not implementing his vision now as Vice President, Dr. Bawumia said, as a Vice President, he only assists the President to implement his vision. He continued that he has limited authority but stressed that if elected President in upcoming elections, he will have full authority to implement his policies. Throwing more light on the limited role of Vice President, Dr. Bawumia asked whether the budget that was recently approved by Parliament was his budget or the Presidents. "The budget that was approved by Parliament went to Parliament in the name of the President, so it is the President's budget. It is not my budget. That is why I have outlined my own plans and my own vision which I can implement when I become President with full authority in three months, in shaa Allah, he said. Dr. Bawumia also chipped in a question asking if he who has never been President before is demanded to implement his vision while he is Vice President, then what about former President Mahama who as a former President wants to come back? "Why didn't he do all those he wants to come back and do when he was President? He has been President before with full authority and he could have done all the things he is mentioning now. I have never been President before and I have never had full authority before. That is why I have come out with my own new ideas, he told the media. Source: 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 Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says he is not perturbed by attempts by NDC to label him a liar. The NDC has been seeing the hashtag #Bawuliar as their way of calling Dr. Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, names. But at his interaction with the media on Sunday, Dr. Bawumia stressed he is least bothered by the opposition NDCs efforts to smear his character. In a quick reply, Dr. Bawumia alluded to similar attitude by the NDC members and fanatics in which they tagged President Nana Akufo Addo as a murderer and drug addict, hence, to him, name calling is the stock-in-trade of the NDC. Dr. Bawumia however jabbed the NDC leader, John Mahama, saying "at least I am not called Government Official One" referring to the description given to the former President in the Airbus corruption scandal Dr. Bawumia further made reference to a report by the African Academy for Open-Source Investigations (AAOSI) in collaboration with Joy FM which said the labelling of him is NDCs orchestration to tarnish his image. He commended Joy FM and the AAOSI for exposing his political opponents and their true character. "Interestingly, whenever I come up with something and they say it is impossible and that I am lying, we prove them wrongBut when we do, they don't come back", he teased the NDC. Dr. Bawumia proceeded to list a number of his policy proposals which the NDC find it difficult to understand how the policies end up being a success, hence their resort to calling him a liar which, he stressed, stems from their impossibility mindsets. The policies, he highlighted, include his Ghana Card initiative which is currently used as a travel document, his medical drone delivery which send health supplies through drones to hospitals and patients, his mobile money interoperability whhas lifted Ghana to the number one spot in Africa among others. Source: 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 President Paul Biya of Cameroon is set to contest the country's presidential election again at the age of 93. Biya, who is Africa's longest-serving president, is currently 91 years old. He will contest in the 2026 Presidential Election to seek an eighth term, by which time he will be 93. Founder of the Foreign Press Association Africa, Kennedy Wandera disclosed this Thursday, August 22, citing TheEastAfrican. The report read: "Cameroon is due to hold its next presidential election in 2025, longtime President Paul Biya will be 93. He has confirmed that he will contest. "If he wins the election, and completes the new seven-year mandate, Biya will be 100 years in 2032. According to the report, Biya's decision to delay the election by a year (postponed from 2025 to 2026), and to allow him to contest despite his age, has angered the opposition in Cameroon. The report stated that opposition politicians may not be allowed to contest, leaving Biya free to win again and serve for 7 years. Biya has served as the President for 42 years since 1982. He also served as the Prime Minister for 7 years from 1975 to 1982 before then. He postponed the Parliamentary and Municipal elections until 2026. "Cameroon's parliament last month approved Biya's request to postpone parliamentary and Municipal elections until 2026 to allow some breathing space, claiming that the political calendar is crowded," the report said. 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 Communications Director of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagba, has taken a swipe at the former President and Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, describing him as being out of touch with the realities Ghanaians are currently facing. Richard Ahiagbas statement is stemmed out of the recent manifesto launch by the NDC at the Jophus Anamoah-Mensah conference centre at the University of Education, Winneba on Saturday, August 24, 2024. According to him, all the initiatives the flagbearer of the NDC intends to undertake have already been implemented by the President Akufo-Addo. Posting on his officially X Page on Sunday, August 25, 2024, Mr. Ahiagba wrote, John Mahama appears to be out of touch with the realities facing Ghanaians. It seems he either has a short memory or has entirely forgotten that many of the key initiatives he is proposing are already being implemented by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration, which he claims has done nothing. He further stated that, the former Presidents proposals are mere repetition of what the NPP had captured in the Bawumia-led manifesto. According to Richard Ahiagba, John Mahama lacks fresh ideas hence, his desire to keep dubbing from the ideas of the NPP. He said, Mahamas latest proposals seem to be a mere repetition of the essential parts of the NPP Manifesto, embellished with different wording to appear original but lacking any fresh ideas. Ghanaians witnessed Mahama's presidency from 7th January 2013 to 7th January 2017, and the collective judgment was a decisive rejection. What is new this time seems to be a rebranded attempt to deceive Ghanaians, much like a so-called miracle herbal remedy being marketed as a cure-all for every challenge facing the country. Read Full Post below: John Mahama appears to be out of touch with the realities facing Ghanaians. It seems he either has a short memory or has entirely forgotten that many of the key initiatives he is proposing are already being implemented by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration, which he claims has done nothing. Mahamas latest proposals seem to be a mere repetition of the essential parts of the NPP Manifesto, embellished with different wording to appear original but lacking any fresh ideas. Ghanaians witnessed Mahama's presidency from 7th January 2013 to 7th January 2017, and the collective judgment was a decisive rejection. What is new this time seems to be a rebranded attempt to deceive Ghanaians, much like a so-called miracle herbal remedy being marketed as a cure-all for every challenge facing the country. This raises several critical questions: 1. Where does John Mahama plan to find the funding for all the free initiatives he promises, especially when he claims the economy is bankrupt? 2. Is Mahama aware that Starlink will be operational in Ghana by the end of August 2024? 3. Does he know that automobile assembly is already underway in Ghana? 4. Is he aware that the current government has been heavily investing in free Technical and Vocational Education and Training since 2022? 5. When did Mahama suddenly realize that traditional grammar schools are outdated? This first-half presentation by Mahama raises more questions than answers. The whole "Reset" campaign appears to be nothing more than an effort to mislead Ghanaians into thinking the NDC is offering a new version. Ghana will not return to the tried and failed leadership of John Mahama. We will not buy the Reset to go back. We are moving forward to a future of possibilities... 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 Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has made it known to the media that his economic agenda is in tangent with the guidelines stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the flgabearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the proposal to abolish taxes is a well-thought-through proposal taking into cognisance, the regulations regarding the IMF bail-out programme Ghana went into. Dr. Bawumia maintained that, scrapping of the e-levy, introduction of a tax amnesty, and the implementation of a flat tax regime, will not impact the countrys revenue streams and disrupt the IMF-backed stabilization measures as argued by some economic scholars. He emphasised that his policy framework would support the objectives of the IMF programme while also addressing Ghanas numerous economic challenges. Dr. Bawumia told the media on Sunday that, I dont see any inconsistency at all between what I am proposing and the Fund programme that we are engaged in. If you read my proposals very carefully, I start by saying we are going to bring down government expenditure by 3% of GDP. The proposals in terms of the tax cuts I am proposing will not even come up to 0.5% of GDP." So you have more than enough space to fund what I am talking about. I think the issue at the end of the day for the programme is to make sure we maintain fiscal sustainability, the Vice President said. Dr. Bawumia further highlighted his proposal of amending Ghanas Fiscal Responsibility Act to first make the Fiscal Responsibility Council independent akin to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana that will have oversight of fiscal responsibility and a tighter fiscal rule where expenditure will not exceed 105% of the previous years tax revenue. 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 Eugene Baah, better known by his stage name Choirmaster (Praye Honeho)proved once again why he remains one of Ghana's most dynamic performers. As a former member of the iconic Praye music group, Choirmaster took the stage at the prestigious Ghana Music Awards USA (GMA USA) and delivered a standing performance that left fans in awe. The event, held on Saturday, August 17, 2024, in New Jersey, marked the 5th anniversary of the annual award scheme, which celebrates excellence and hard work among musicians in the United States, Ghana, and beyond. Choirmasters performance was nothing short of magical. As the only artist who truly stood out, he captivated the audience with his energetic renditions of Prayes hit songs, effortlessly blending nostalgia with his signature style. His exclusive verses on these beloved tracks not only got the fans dancing but also reignited the spark that made Praye a household name. The electrifying atmosphere he created on stage demonstrated that Choirmaster still possesses the remarkable talent and stage presence that originally brought him into the spotlight. The GMA USA event, known for its high standards and celebration of musical achievement, provided the perfect platform for Choirmaster to showcase his enduring artistry. His ability to command the stage and engage the audience with such fervor highlights his continuing relevance in the music industry. This year's edition of the GMA USA, much like its predecessors, was a night to remember, with Choirmasters performance standing as one of the evening's most memorable moments. As fans continue to celebrate his extraordinary talent, it's clear that Choirmaster remains a force to be reckoned with, in the world of music. His unforgettable performance at the Ghana Music Awards USA is a proof to his lasting impact and the bright future that still lies ahead for this exceptional artist. https://youtube.com/shorts/Qppxa9TczRU?si=RqFTcybPI4NeggKr 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 Africa Climate Band Campaign, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at solving the biggest climate problems through the powerful combination of music and advocacy, was officially launched in Accra, Ghana. The campaign's mission is to raise awareness and drive action across the African continent, emphasizing the urgent need to implement a key ocean-based solution to the ongoing climate crisis. The launch event, which featured key speakers and stakeholders, underscored the importance of Africa's leadership in the global climate movement. The campaign's flagship anthem, "Africa Will Be The Climate Leader" to be performed by the African Climate Band and joined by many African stars will be the centerpiece of a music video that aims to reach millions across Africa and beyond in order to propel a mass movement of Africans to demand the immediate implementation of the key ocean based solution. This initiative is poised to transform the narrative from "Africa as a Victim" to "Africa as the Leader" in the effort to solve the climate problems that threaten to ruin our environment very soon. Innocent A. Houedji, CEO of Youth Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA), delivered a powerful speech at the event, emphasizing the significance of Africa's role in the global climate movement. He stated; "Africa has always been at the forefront of nature-based solutions, and now, more than ever, we must lead the charge in restoring our planet. The time to act is now, and through the Africa Climate Band Campaign, we are empowering our communities to take decisive action to solve climate problems." Here are the Big 3 Problems currently threatening the continent and the world that the Africa Climate Band Campaign aims to address: Air temperatures will soon too hot for people to work outside. Weather conditions will soon too hot for farms to properly produce food. Ocean acidification will soon will make fish unable to exist. These 3 problems, if left unaddressed, will lead to catastrophic consequences for both the environment and human livelihoods. The campaign's focus on nature restoration, particularly through Ocean Restoration initiatives, offers a viable solution. By restoring ocean eco-systems through the efforts of many groups in Africa, and "100 Villages" worldwide, the campaign seeks to restore plankton levels, which by photosynthesis will naturally reduce atmospheric CO2 levels back to safe levels by 2050 and also solve ocean acidification. Alex Carlin, International Musician and a key figure in the campaign, spoke about how outside Africa there is no movement anywhere that offers any viable solution to the Big 3 Problems, they offer only "Emissions Reduction" which only addresses future additions of CO2. Alex said; "Today's extra 1 trillion tons of CO2 that is sitting in the sky cooking us takes a thousand years to go way by itself. Fortunately, after we restore the plankton to their normal health and abundance, their natural photosynthesis will solve this problem by drawing down enough CO2, and at the same time this solves the acid problem in the ocean." He also said; "Music has always been a universal language, and through this campaign, we are using it to motivate millions of Africans to exert their leadership to get this done quickly. Africa will lead the world in restoring our climate, and the anthem will be our rallying cry." The campaign's music video for "Africa Will Be The Climate Leader" will be filmed during a live concert in Africa, capturing the energy and passion of the African people. The video, which will feature many cameos from African stars, will be promoted all across the continent. Then, after millions of Africans are familiar with the song, the campaign will produce large concerts and press conferences all across Africa. Prof. Georges Kouadio from the Ministry of Environment of Cote d'Ivoire added; "This campaign is not just about raising awareness; it's about implementing real, effective solutions. Africa has the potential to lead the world in climate restoration, and through initiatives like the Africa Climate Band Campaign, we are taking concrete steps towards that goal." The Africa Climate Band Campaign is a collaborative effort that brings together diverse voices and expertise from across the continent. With a focus on empowering local communities, particularly youth and women, the campaign also highlights the importance of traditional nature-based environmental practices in adapting to climate change while we solve the Big 3 Problems. Nii Sowa A, a prominent youth climate activist, concluded the press conference by stating "the youth of Africa are ready to take on the challenge of climate change. This campaign is our opportunity to make a difference, to ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and generations to come". The Africa Climate Band Campaign is set to become a central force in the African climate movement, leveraging the power of music, advocacy and community action to drive meaningful change. For more information about the campaign, the Africa Climate Band and upcoming events, please visit www.climate.band. Source: Nana Kwadwo Asante Agyemang, 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 Someone called 911 Sunday afternoon and claimed they had shot and killed their mother in Harrisburg. On Monday, a similar call landed in Dauphin County dispatch, only this time the man said he had killed his mother and was holding his sister hostage. Both calls were hoaxes and a result of swatting, police said Monday. Swatting involves making a prank call to emergency responders about a made-up incident to incite a large law enforcement response at an address. Swatting calls have been prevalent in central Pennsylvania in recent years, at times placing neighborhoods or public buildings on lockdown while police investigate. Harrisburg police Sgt. Matthew Novchich said the calls Sunday and Monday came from two different Google-generated phone numbers, making the origin of the false reports significantly harder to track. The calls can be from locals or those in other countries. Harrisburg police were first called around 1:15 p.m. Sunday to the 1800 block of Mulberry Street after a male said he shot his mother in the head and left the gun at the scene. No victims were found, Novchich said. Early Monday, a similar call was made to an address in another part of the city, he said. Social media posts claiming a woman was killed in Harrisburg swirled over the weekend in the wake of the 911 reports. According to scanner reports, the victim has succumbed to her injuries. The alleged suspect is a teenage male, approximately 16 years old, who has not been located, one of the posts said, citing the false information. Police have not identified the person or people responsible for the swatting calls as of Monday. Novchich said its unclear if the same person made both calls. Last year, 62 personnel from at least 17 law enforcement agencies were called to a home in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, after getting a 911 call from a man who said he was committing serious crimes. No crimes or suspects were found. We have to treat it as real, Silver Spring police Chief Chris Raubenstine told PennLive at the time. We have to deploy all the services and energies and resources to make sure that it is not real. In the United States, estimates of swatting cases grew from 400 in 2011 to more than 1,000 in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League. By Jonathan D. Salant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS) CHICAGO Pennsylvania residents, get ready for nonstop advertising on TV and on the internet, a steady supply of candidates and their surrogates, mailboxes full of campaign literature, and no shortage of visitors ringing your doorbells. The most populous battleground state wont lack for attention in the 71 days remaining until Election Day. Its a dangerous game to try to win without Pennsylvania, said Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, of neighboring New Jersey. Both parties have come out of their national conventions fired up for the fall campaign. In Milwaukee last month, Republicans saw the hand of God in the fact that their standard-bearer, Donald Trump, narrowly missed being shot to death at a rally in Butler. In Chicago last week, Kamala Harris ignited an enthusiasm missing among Democrats initially prepared to go through the motions and renominate President Joe Biden. To be sure, Pennsylvania isnt the only competitive state this fall. The others are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. But the Keystone States 19 electoral votes are the biggest prize. Biden received 60% of the vote among 18- to 29-year-olds in 2020 while Trump received 36% and bested his opponent, 52% to 46% among voters aged 30 to 44, according to CNN exit polls. Its really one of the most important states in the nation, said U.S. Sen Cory Booker, D-N.J. Where Pennsylvania goes, so will our country. The last time the Democrats won the White House without carrying Pennsylvania was 1948. And Trump won the presidency eight years ago only after turning the state red for the first time since 1988. As an indication of how both candidates see the importance of the Keystone State, both Harris and Trump have been frequent visitors. Both stopped by before their national conventions. Trump is scheduled to return Friday, in Johnstown. The press corps in Pennsylvania is going to run up lots of gas mileage, Trump Pennsylvania campaign spokesman Kush Desai said. The GOP already has spent more on 2024 election ads than it did in 2020, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact, and Harris campaign said it would spend at least $370 million on TV and digital ads from Labor Day to Election Day in Pennsylvania and other battlegrounds. That doesnt include the paid staff, field offices and hundreds of volunteers going door-to-door to get out the vote. There is no substitution for direct voter contact, said U.S. Rep. Nykema Williams, chair of the Georgia Democratic Party. Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, makes a stop at Pat's King of Steaks Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)AP Walz and Vance And both parties vice presidential nominees Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio were chosen with the knowledge that their backgrounds could help them among Pennsylvanias rural and blue-collar workers whose votes may make the difference in 2024. While Harris has been running for president for about a month, the Democratic presidential campaign operation has been in place much longer than that. It just switched over to her from Biden. Its the ground game thats already been established, said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who served on Bidens advisory committee. That just transitions from Biden to Harris. ... Weve got to do it in a hurry but that just intensifies the excitement and enthusiasm. Because the outcome of the presidential race in New Jersey is not in doubt, prominent Democratic officials like Murphy and Booker are preparing to campaign on the other side of the Delaware River to help their partys nominee capture the Keystone State. People are going to think were temporary residents of Pennsylvania, Democratic consultant Modia Butler said. Vice President Kamala Harris holds a rally at the Liacouras Center at Temple University to announce her running mate. August 06, 2024. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com Democratic enthusiasm Those efforts will be helped by the enthusiasm of Pennsylvania Democrats kindled by Harris ascension to the top of the ticket after Biden ended his reelection campaign. People are really, really engaged at this time, said Cathie Huber of Swissvale, a retired teacher who is a member of the Homewood and Vintage senior centers in Pittsburgh. Ive been seeing Kamala T-shirts all over the place. I buy buttons and sell every one of them. Theyre just so anti-Trump and so anxious to have Kamala succeed. Democratic strategist Joel Rubin, a Pittsburgh native now living in Washington, D.C., said Harris was able to tap into the emotions of Democrats in a way that Biden could not. She understood the wave that was about to rise and she got on that surfboard and rode that wave and through her communication laid the case out that Democrats have been desperate to hear, about the danger and the depravity of Donald Trump and how she had a vision for the alternative to that, Rubin said. And that just turned on the engines. Minority turnout If she wins, Harris will be the first Black woman and the first Asian American to ascend to the White House, and that is driving up interest in minority communities. Maryland Secretary of State Susan Lee said Harris candidacy is driving up interest among Asian American voters. When it was announced she was going to be the presidential candidate, there was such an elation, such a joy, Lee said Its going to motivate them, especially the young people. They see her as an inspiration and something to hope for too. Eight years ago, a drop in Black turnout contributed to Trumps victory in Pennsylvania, and Booker, on his trips to the state, is trying to make sure that doesnt happen again. We cant lose an election not because people who are outvoted but people who didnt vote themselves, Booker said. He said he was bringing the receipts we already have from when it was Biden-Harris. That includes capping the price of insulin for seniors; diabetes disproportionately affects African Americans. Black unemployment is down and minority-owned small businesses are up. The bipartisan infrastructure law provides funding to reconnect communities severed by expressways decades ago. Im going to do everything I can from the churches to TikTok to really start communicating this, Booker said. People should know they have power if they use it, and I hope this will be one of times they use it. Former President Donald Trump visits Precision Custom Components in York City to give a speech on the economy. August 19, 2024. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comDan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive. Economic concerns Still, polls continue to show that the economy is the No. 1 issue on voters minds, and they say Trump is better able to fix it. Trumps call to drill, baby, drill is a popular slogan in Western Pennsylvania, a major energy-producing region and one where even Democrats have questioned Bidens temporary pause on approving new terminals to export liquefied natural gas. Over the next two-and-change months, were going to be flooding the zone with a very simple question for Pennsylvanians: Are you better off now than you were under President Trump? said Desai, the Trump Pennsylvania campaign spokesman. The 2024 election is fundamentally a choice between four more years of economic pain, unfettered migration over our southern border, and destructive anti-energy policies under Kamala Harris or a return to the prosperity, peace, and stability of the Trump administration and its a choice Pennsylvanians wont have to think too much about before voting to make America great again in November. Earlier polls showed Biden, 81, struggling to attract young voters against Trump, 78. An April NBC News poll had Biden with just a one-point lead among voters aged 18-34, 44% to 43%. Harris, 59, has had no such problems. Younger voters are using social media and new technologies to spread the message in ways earlier generations could not, Booker said. What youre seeing is next generation energy. young people in America are driving so much of the Harris-Walz campaign, Booker said. This is young people using their power with tools that no generation has ever had before. I think the story at the end of this election mark my words is going to be about what Gen Z did to make this election different. ... Harris has activated and ignited that in a way that Joe Biden was not doing. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)AP Jewish voters At a time of growing antisemitism and the continuing war between Israel and Hamas, the Jewish vote could be key. Pennsylvania has more than 430,000 Jewish residents, behind only New York, California, Florida and New Jersey, according to the American Jewish Year Book. The Republican Jewish Coalition has earmarked $15 million to get out the vote in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada all states that have more Jews than the margins of victory in both 2016 and 2020, according to spokesman Sam Markstein. The RJC has volunteers making calls, sending texts, knocking on doors, and talking about early and absentee voting, and is running TV and digital ads and mailing out literature to Jewish voters. We know theyre going to show up, we know theyre going to vote, and now its a matter of persuading them to support President Trump, Markstein said. He said Trumps strong support for Israel in the war with Hamas will be a heavy argument for Jewish voters. At a recent rally in North Carolina, Trump accused Harris of being totally against the Jewish people. Both she and Biden have expressed concerns over the number of civilian casualties in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. It amazes me how Jewish people will vote for the Democrats when theyre being treated so disrespectfully and badly, Trump said. Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said Israel is not the deciding issue for American Jews, who regularly vote for Democrats. Jews, poll after poll, vote on domestic issues, Rubin said. Israel as an issue in particular is not a determinant. Some Democratic Party progressives are at odds with the policies of the current Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and have called for an immediate cease-fire even without requiring Hamas to release the hostages it captured in the Oct. 7 attack. In her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Harris, who has a Jewish husband, said she will always stand up for Israels right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, while also supporting the right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination for Palestinians. Pittsburgh Jews, Pennsylvania Jews, are smart, Rubin said. They understand the nuance. They understand that theres a need for a long-term solution for Israeli security thats rooted in peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the United States has an indispensable role in that outcome. The hard rock band The Scorpions recently announced they were forced to cancel five upcoming shows in their home country of Germany In a statement on its website, the group said that guitarist Mathias Jabs, who has been with the group since 1978, has an injury that requires surgery and rehabilitation. We deeply regret, especially Matthias Jabs, that due to the accident of our friend and Scorpions lead guitarist, the five concerts on our German tour cannot take place in September as planned and we will work closely with the tour organizer to announce new information as soon as possible, the statement said. We kindly ask for your understanding from all our fans, all the Rock Believers in Germany who were looking forward to the shows with us. There was no further information about the extent of Jabs injury. Per Loudwire, the affected tour dates are between Sept. 11 and 20 and were scheduled to take place in Nuremberg, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne and Frankfurt. The dates were the last stops on the bands Love at First Sting 40th anniversary tour. The Scorpions are best known for such hits as Rock You Like a Hurricane, Still Loving You and Winds of Change Phil Jones, who has been a CBS News correspondent for more than 30 years, has died at the age of 87. The longtime news personality died over the weekend at his home in Florida, leaving behind his son Paul, and daughter Pam. Jones first joined CBS News in 1969 as a reporter when Walter Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News and was considered one of Cronkites Kids. After joining CBS, Jones won an Emmy for his coverage of the war in Vietnam, according to CBS News. Jones was largely known for his coverage of the political battles in Washington, beginning with Watergate. He then served as a White House correspondent during the Ford Administration and also covered the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. CBS News called him a tenacious reporter who followed a story wherever it led. One example of this was when he rode a mule through Burma in pursuit of a drug kingpin back when he was a 48 Hours correspondent. Discussing the impact Jones had made after retiring in 2001 after 32 years at CBS News, his colleague Eric Engberg implied how essential his work was. Every lying, conniving, thieving, sniveling politician in Washington is going to sleep better with you gone, Engberg said at the time. Chelsey Bunner is home in Mechanicsburg for another few days, enjoying a break before taking the next path on her wine industry journey. The 2017 Cumberland Valley grad will start her new job in Washington D.C. for Banville Wine Merchants right after Labor Day. Per its home page, Banville is a national importer of fine wine, spirits, and beer with distribution in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Virginia, Oregon and Ontario, Canada. Hopefully, she said, it will offer some travel once she transitions into the sales job for the New York-based company. Its a perfect step for Bunner, who double majored in French and Agriculture Business at Penn State and earlier this year secured her masters in Wine and Spirits Management at KEDGE Business School, which is located in Talence, one of Bordeaux, Frances largest suburbs. What began as an internship working for the Pa. Liquor Control Board during the summer has taken her to two of the worlds most renowned wine regions Napa and Bordeaux and now brings her back home. I always knew I wanted to work on the East Coast, she says. I always knew like it was going to bring me to either New York or D.C. those were the two cities I was I was looking in and I loved working on the producer side. In Napa, I was just working for one winery, so I became very well equipped for that specific winery, but I wanted to work with a brand or business, whether that be in marketing or distribution or sales, where I would be exposed to a much larger portfolio and so be it would a little bit more dynamic. So Im really mostly excited to be working with a wider portfolio of wines, and just to be a little bit more mobile, to be on my feet a little bit more, meeting people, things like that. She says that finding her way into this career has occurred somewhat organically. Her stepfather, Todd Hopwood, has worked for years in wine sales, including the global brand Terlato, so she says she knew the opportunities were out there. Still, what might have pushed her as much in that direction were the French classes she took from middle school into college and a professor who recommended that she take an agricultural business course. Chelsey Bunner has gotten her hands dirty completing a number of winery tasks over the past couple of years.Chelsey Bunner I had no experience with agriculture. I never considered it a career path, but it was an embedded course that went to France, she says. I think the class was comparing food systems in the United States and France. I think thats what the class was about, and that was my first sort of intro into actually talking about their culture and vineyard management in an educational setting. And I always knew I wanted to do something with my French. and I thought, well, I love food, I love to travel. I want to use my French. So I thought wine would be the [best] path for that. She spent 18 months in France, largely in Bordeaux, and near the end of that term she began working for the Cathiard family, which owned Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte on the Left Bank. After a few weeks of training, she took those skills and her proficiency in French to their new winery in the U.S. named Cathiard Vineyard, located in the heart of Napa. For the past year, she handled multiple tasks for this new project in St. Helena, a historic estate the family acquired right before the pandemic. After spending a couple of years renovating and upgrading, they opened in March 2023. It did quite well out of the gate, landing on Wine Spectators list of top 100 wines. Bunner said her official role with the winery was wine tourism and business development associates, but its such a mouthful and we were such a small team, that I always jumped into a little bit of everything that included tours, tastings and networking events. Its a role that gave her exposure to almost everything, from the vineyard to social media to handling sales and marketing to running the tasting room and developing the wine club. Meanwhile, she wrapped up her graduate work and passed her WSET Level 3 Award in Wines with Merit. Says Chelsea Bunner of her future plans in the wine industry, 'Ill just see where the waves take me.'Chelsea Bunner Now its on to a new role with another family-owned business, with the ultimate destination of ... well, shes not quite sure. The thing about the wine industry, the more Im in it the more my mind changes, she said a few days ago. At one point, I was considering just quitting everything and studying enology so that I can make wine. So I just feel like theres always a new avenue. Id love to eventually land in a role with more international travel, so whether its more of a brand ambassador or a rep,, not quite sure. But Ill just see where the waves take me. The European leg of Taylor Swifts record-breaking, sold out Eras Tour is over. That part of the tour ended on Aug. 20 with Swifts last concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England. She performed three concerts there in June and five in August making her the first solo artist to perform there eight times in one tour. Swift will be back on stage this fall - for nine concerts in the United States and nine in Canada. Her first U.S. concerts will be Oct. 18, Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. The next three will be Oct. 25-27 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fans can buy tickets here to the New Orleans concerts (prices are as of the time of this publication): Friday, Oct. 25 Saturday, Oct. 26 Sunday, Oct. 27 Her last Eras Tour concerts will be on Nov. 1, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The end of the tour includes six concerts Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23 in Toronto, Canada; and three concerts Dec. 6-8 in Vancouver, Canada. The American Red Cross is putting out the call for blood donations as supplies dwindle perilously low following severe weather events. The Red Cross says it is experiencing a national blood emergency as Hurricane Debby and other extreme weather events have forced blood donation events to be cancelled, making it difficult to rebuild the countrys blood supply. Every year severe weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards, affect about 90,000 blood donations. In Pennsylvania 35 donation events have been cancelled so far this year, resulting in nearly 900 donations going uncollected, the Red Cross said in a news release. Blood has a short shelf life and can only come from volunteer blood donors, so disruptions in blood collection can have serious consequences for hospitals and patients, the Red Cross said. The Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nations blood supply. The group is urging donors to set up an appointment for a blood donation. You can download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit the website or call 1-800-RED CROSS. Those who give through Aug. 31 will get a $20 Amazon.com gift card as a thank you. Thos who give betwen Sept. 1 and Sept. 15 will receive a Red Cross T-shirt. The Red Cross reminds everyone to have a disaster plan in place and stay informed about weather emergencies. You can also download the Red Cross Emergency App. Former President Donald Trumps campaign over the weekend announced a string of events for him across three battleground states, including Pennsylvania. Trump will be back in the Keystone State on Friday when hes scheduled to hold a rally at the 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown. The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their first wave of cuts as the team dwindles its roster to just 53 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Among the cuts was former Georgia running back Daijun Edwards, who struggled to get consistent playing time throughout training camp. Edwards signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent with plenty of experience at Georgia but could never parlay that into consistent opportunities behind LaMical Perine and Jonathan Ward. The full list of cuts includes Edwards, cornerback Kyler McMichael, wide receivers T.J. Luther and Jacob Copeland, offensive lineman Tyler Beach and Devery Hamilton, defensive back Kiondre Thomas, defensive lineman Marquiss Spencer, and linebacker Kyahva Tezino. Cutting someone this early usually signals that they will not be brought back on the practice squad, though any of those players listed above could circle back. Players like Thomas and Tezino had just signed with the Steelers, so their spots on the practice squad could come in time as others are released and the Steelers scan the market. Pittsburgh is now down to 82 players. They had 91 on their roster because of edge rusher Julius Welschof, who is from Germany and counts as the teams international exemption on the roster. As a result, he is almost guaranteed a spot on the practice squad. Pittsburgh will have 53 players on the roster by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the official end of the league day. They can designate up to two players to return from injured reserve that would not need to be on the initial 53-man roster. Cam Sutton, who will be suspended, and Cole Holcomb, who will be placed on the PUP list, will not have to be on the initial 53-man roster, either. I knew at that moment I was winning, an elated Maxime Jutras shared with PokerNews referencing a text exchange he had with his brother going into the final table. After nearly 11 hours of play, Jutras did just that as the final day of the 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit $300 Colossus has reached a conclusion here at Playground. After the dust had settled, Jutras defeated Amireza-Jaberi in heads-up play to take home the top prize of $85,000. Winner's Reaction Im feeling pretty good, an understandably excited Jutras shared with PokerNews after being asked how he felt with this victory. He texted his brother that he was going to get the first position to which his brother replied lets do it. When asked about his strategy for the final table Jutras shared that I changed my play to be more aggressive. When there were only two people left I could apply pressure and I think that won me the tournament. I was thinking about going to the Main Event in Vegas, Jutras explained when asked about future plans with the money. Im not sure though Ill think about it, Jutras added before going to celebrate his victory with friends. Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Maxime Jutras Canada $85,000 2 Amireza Jaberi Canada $52,000 3 Ruoxiao Shi United States $34,070 4 Stefano Di Salvo Canada $26,000 5 Christopher Blair United States $21,000 6 Mohammad Saadeghvaziri United States $17,000 7 Bryan Lin Canada $14,000 8 Ysrael-Masliah Moryoussef Canada $11,000 9 Pascal Gregoire Canada $8,000 Final Day Action The Colossus, the first of 15 WSOP-C ring events during this series, was a massive success for Playground, attracting a total of 2,402 entrants to create a massive $564,470 prize pool. Jutras began the day as a shorter stack of the field with 212,000 chips at the start of Day 2. Despite facing an uphill battle Jutras would not slow down as he fought tooth and nail through ladder after ladder. He was able to best early chip leaders such as Bibek Karki to soar to the final table. Bibek Karki Jacob Dugal and Mohammad Saadeghvaziri started the day as chip leaders and continued to apply pressure to add to their stacks. Both players made deep runs finishing sixth and 11th respectively. Ruoxiao Shi began the final table with the chip lead and used patience to choose optimal spots against his opponents. Jutras picked up chips early on in the final table and implemented a style of aggression. Ruoxiao Shi As play became shorter-handed, Jutras stepped on the gas to apply pressure to the smaller stacks at the table. At times, it looked like this strategy would backfire as he got it in an overwhelming underdog against Shi. However, he found a dream river to eliminate Shi and amass an overwhelming chip lead. Heads up play was short lived as Jutras moved all in and was called by Jaberi. Jutras Big Slick held to secure him the victory and his largest tournament cash to date. Heads Up This concludes our coverage for this event, but stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to bring you all the action from the 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit Playground. In a late Sunday evening post, Donald Trump complained about ABC News, hinted that ABC might rig the debate, and questioned the idea of debating Kamala Harris. Trump posted on Truth Social: I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamalas best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! That so-called panel of Trump haters that the ex-president referred to included his former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus who is on the show defending him every week. Trump reportedly has a serious memory issue , which could explain why almost all of his speeches and events are designed to be tightly scripted. Trump usually abandons the scripts and the events go off the rails. The ex-president also refused to debate his much younger challengers in the Republican presidential primary, which has fueled speculation that Trump does want to appear on stage with a younger person as an opponent. Donald Trump, according to current polling, is losing the election. Kamala Harriss lead has continued to grow. The debate may be Trumps last best chance to turn the momentum around. On the other hand, if the old man debate shoe ends up on the other foot, it could effectively end his campaign. If the ex-president wants to have any chance of winning the election, he has to show up. If he doesnt, he will look like a coward and give his Democratic opponent a free primetime network TV special. Trump has never said directly that he would not sign a federal abortion ban, but that didnt stop JD Vance from telling a lie that alienated more voters. Here was the exchange on NBCs Meet The Press: KRISTEN WELKER: Let me just follow up with you a little bit on that point. Because Ive been talking to Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham just last week, who have made it very clear that if Donald Trump is elected, if you are elected, they will continue to press this point. Senator Graham said to me, Im going to keep saying that there should be a federal ban. If such a piece of legislation landed on Donald Trumps desk, would he veto it? SEN. JD VANCE: Well, I think it would be very clear he would not support it. I mean, hes said that explicitly KRISTEN WELKER: But would he veto it? SEN. JD VANCE: Yes, I mean, if youre not supporting it as the President of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it KRISTEN WELKER: So he would veto a federal abortion ban? SEN. JD VANCE: I think he would. Hes said that explicitly that he would. And again, Lindsey KRISTEN WELKER: I dont think hes ever said explicitly that he would. Hes said that to you? SEN. JD VANCE: Lindsey Graham, Kristen, I would be surprised I mean again, I need to see the context on what Lindsey Graham said. Because Lindsey Graham himself has not advocated a federal abortion ban. Lindsey Graham has advocated KRISTEN WELKER: A 15-week federal abortion ban SEN. JD VANCE: a federal minimum standard. Now, to be clear, that is not Donald Trumps view. Donald Trump disagrees with Lindsey Graham on this. But no Republican, at least no Republican with any reasonable power, is saying that we should have a complete national abortion ban. I havent heard that from any of my colleagues. And to be clear, Donald Trump I think has staked his position and made it very explicit. He wants this to be a state decision, states are going to make this determination themselves. Video: Vance redefined an abortion ban as a federal minimum standard, which is an abortion ban without calling it an abortion. A federal minimum standard would result in a loss of rights for women, even if they lived in blue states. Vances claim that Trump has made his position explicitly clear was laughable. Trump has been all over the map on the reproductive rights issue. He has gone from wanting to punish women for having abortions in 2016 to a federal ban to states should decide to I will be great for reproductive freedom to promising not to sign a federal abortion ban. The truth can be found in Project 2025, where Trumps agenda document has a plan to ban abortion without passing an abortion ban through Congress. JD Vances lie hurts Trump both with the anti-freedom right and the rest of the country that supports reproductive rights. Coffee drinkers in the U.S. go through about 20 billion Keurig cups annually. Thats a lot of plastic to toss away. Two Charleston coffee makers have taken it upon themselves to help rid the Lowcountry of the single-use pods that pile up in landfills and now their new recyclable product is hitting supermarket shelves. Cambio Roasters, co-owned by former Keurig Green Mountain executive Kevin Hartley and Ann Hutson, said it's the first brand to make aluminum K-cups. We knew we needed to exit single-use plastics and reimagine the iconic K-cup for the next 25 years, Hartley said. The prepacked aluminum cups are in an early roll-out in Harris Teeter stores with a broader push coming Sept. 1. Customers can buy them for about the same price as coffee packed in plastic K-cups, about $9 for a standard-size box. Were not charging any more than a normal plastic cup, Hartley said, adding that aluminum also makes for better storage since plastic is porous and any oxygen let in can degrade the contents. Aluminum is also almost infinitely recyclable, noted Christina Moskos, program manager with the Charleston County Environmental Management. A beer can, for example, can become another 50,000 cans since it keeps its chemical properties. Other recyclable products like paper and cardboard only have a few turns before they degrade too much. While reusable or compostable products would generate the least amount of waste, Moskos said the responsible packaging has potential to go far in the coffee industry. When Vickey Boyd, 68, of Mount Pleasant went to Tennessee recently to hike the 6,593-foot Mount Le Conte, her fall allergies caught up with her, though the culprit remains a mystery. Theres no telling different kinds of trees, mold and mildew because it is really wet, she said. But thanks to a couple of years of allergy shots, it wasnt that bad, not the way it used to be. My reaction used to be much worse, Boyd said. It is around this time of year that those who suffer from fall allergies like Boyd start to feel it, and thanks to Tropical Storm Debby and recent thunderstorms, it could be worse right now. Just as kids are headed back to school, fall allergies kick in due to weeds, though people might not know that is what it is, said Dr. Maria Streck, a clinical instructor of allergy/immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina. Unlike some of the highly visible tree pollen in the spring that seems to coat everything, the weed pollen can be a little more deceptive because you dont see it floating in the air as much, she said. It can also coincide with the start of cold season, when kids are back in school and begin sharing germs, so it may be unclear what is happening at first, Streck said. Theres definitely a spike in flare-ups of colds and asthma and everything a couple of weeks into school because of colds being passed around, but then also going back to pollen season from the weeds, she said. While there is some overlap in symptoms between colds and allergies, with runny nose and congestion, one way to tell them apart is people might get a fever with colds where that should not happen with allergies, Streck said. The suffering could be a little worse this year because of the recent storms. Data shows those big weather events can actually worsen allergy symptoms, and even thunderstorms can have an effect. Asthma can be triggered by thunderstorms, and one particularly bad storm in Australia in 2016 sent thousands to emergency rooms with sudden asthma attacks. PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 09:00:17 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 424 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Adds Second Day to Event for Customer AppreciationSPRINGFIELD, MO / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Grizzly Industrial is excited to announce the highly anticipated return of our legendary Tent Sale to Springfield, Missouri. After a five-year hiatus, we're thrilled to bring this event back to the community.This iconic event, which in past years has attracted thousands of woodworking and metalworking enthusiasts from across the country, promises to be bigger than ever this year with the addition of a second full day of activities including demonstrations by industry experts, and a special presentation from the stars of NPR's popular woodworking series Woodsmith TV.The centerpiece of the weekend event will be the Grizzly Tent Sale. Over 38,000 sq. ft. of tent space will offer amazing deals on hundreds of "as-is" and "scratch-and-dent" tools and machines. "We ship hundreds of wood and metalworking machines every business day," explains Grizzly General Manager Jack Blackburn. "Inevitably, some get damaged in the process. These are often minor blemishes or small imperfections. We can't sell them as new, but for anyone who is willing to make the repairs themselves or put up with a few dents and scratches, this is an amazing opportunity to outfit your shop with quality tools at a bargain price." The Grizzly Tent Sale will take place on September 14th in the parking lot of the Grizzly Industrial warehouse at 1815 West Battlefield Road in Springfield, Missouri. The sale kicks off at 8:30 AM and concludes at 3 PM, and early arrival is strongly recommended.Because so many Grizzly enthusiasts do show up before the weekend for the big event, Grizzly has added on a "Customer Appreciation Day" on Friday, September 13th. The event will feature several product demonstrations from industry experts including Logan Wittmer and Phil Huber. Logan is the Editor in Chief of Popular Woodworking Magazine, and together with Phil, they host the popular NPR show Woodsmith TV.The September 13th Customer Appreciation event will be hosted in the 36,000 sq. ft. Grizzly Superstore and Showroom, also located at the corner of Battlefield Street and South Kansas Expressway. Doors open at 8:30AM and demonstrations will take place throughout the day along with in-store only discounts, door prizes, giveaways, and other activities. The showroom is open until 6 pm both days.Grizzly Industrial is a leading national retailer of machinery, accessories and supplies for Woodworkers and Metalworkers. The Grizzly Springfield Showroom is open to the public Monday through Saturday.Brian Jensen Brian.jensen@grizzly.com 360-389-3951 www.grizzly.com SOURCE: Grizzly Industrial PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 18:05:13 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 295 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SCOTTSDALE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Dine Development Corporation (DDC), a Navajo Nation-owned IT, engineering, professional, and environmental solutions provider, proudly announces that it has been named a 2024 Best Place to Work in South Carolina by SC Biz News. This marks the fifth consecutive year that DDC has received the award, underscoring its commitment to cultivating an exceptional workplace culture, empowering employees, and driving community advancement.DDC Best Places to Work 2024 DDC Best Places to Work in South Carolina 2024The Best Places to Work program honors top employers in South Carolina, recognizing their contributions in support of the state's economy and workforce. DDC was awarded for excellence in leadership, corporate culture and communications, training and development, compensation and benefits, and corporate engagement. The organization was recognized during an awards event on Thursday, August 22 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, joining 106 honorees across small, medium, and large business categories."This recognition is a testament to the unwavering commitment of our employees," stated Jackie Goodwin, DDC Chief Operating Officer. "Our team fosters a supportive, inclusive environment where every member feels valued and empowered. This award not only reflects our spirit of excellence within the organization, but also reinforces our dedication to our clients, the Navajo Nation, and the communities we serve." The milestone builds on DDC's growth as the family of companies celebrates its 20th anniversary and expands operations across the nation. DDC's 2023 acquisition of Spin Systems, Inc. (SpinSys) integrated a core health IT market and employee base in Charleston, SC, affirming its continued growth and investment in the state.To learn more about DDC's culture and explore career opportunities, visit ddc-dine.com Contact InformationKatie von AllmenSenior Marketing Managerkatie.vonallmen@ddc-dine.com SOURCE: Dine Development CorporationView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 23:00:16 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 600 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Celebrating a Lifelong Legacy of Health and Wellness AdvancementsSCOTTSDALE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D., the Founder and Senior Advisor at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Function, and Board President of Clinical Affairs for the Institute for Functional Medicine, has been chosen to receive the prestigious 2024 Mindshare Leadership Summit Pinnacle Award. This esteemed accolade, presented to a single individual each year, recognizes Dr. Hyman's extraordinary contributions to the field of functional medicine and his profound impact on the improvement of health, worldwide.This lifetime achievement award is a testament to Dr. Hyman's life's work, which has consistently striven for innovative solutions to improve health and well-being worldwide. Over the past 35 years, Dr. Hyman has worked tirelessly to educate the medical world on the impact of functional medicine, passionately educating millions of families and countless healthcare practitioners. His efforts have ushered in a new healthcare era that promotes well-being by addressing the root causes of illness.An internationally respected physician, researcher, educator, and activist, Dr. Hyman's accomplishments also include authoring 15 NY Times best-selling books and hosting one of the leading health podcasts, The Doctor's Farmacy, with over 150 million downloads.He is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he directs a team of physicians, nutritionists and nurses who utilize his comprehensive, life-changing approach to health, involving lifestyle modifications, in combination with nutrition and specialized testing, nutritional supplementation, and medications to address individual needs, from creating wellness to treating chronic, complex medical problems.The prestigious Pinnacle Award will be presented at this year's 2024 Mindshare Leadership Summit, in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an annual gathering of health business leaders and authorities in health and wellness, founded by JJ Virgin, a triple-board-certified health expert, Fitness Hall of Famer, and four-time New York Times best-selling author.The Mindshare Collaborative Community recognizes members' dedication to exceptional outcomes in the realm of health and wellness.Dr. Hyman's honor, as the recipient of the 2024 Mindshare Summit Pinnacle Award, serves as a powerful reminder of his unwavering dedication to enhancing the quality of life for individuals worldwide.For more information about the 2024 Mindshare Leadership Summit, please visit: https://mindsharecollaborative.com/summit/ For media inquiries or additional information about the 2024 Mindshare Leadership Summit Pinnacle Award, please contact: support@ mindsharesummit.com About Mindshare Collaborative CommunityThe Mindshare Collaborative Community is a powerful network of health business owners and health and wellness leaders, who are dedicated to growing their impact to support a collective goal of transforming the health of one billion people. Each year, the Mindshare Leadership Summit Pinnacle Award is granted to a distinguished individual who has made a profound, lasting impact on the health and wellness industry.About Dr. Mark HymanMark Hyman, M.D., is a practicing family physician and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He is the founder and director of The UltraWellness Center, Founder and Senior Advisor for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, a 15-time New York Times best-selling author, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for The Institute for Functional Medicine.Co-founder and the Chief Medical Officer of Function Health, Dr. Hyman is also the founder and chairman of the Food Fix Campaign, dedicated to transforming our food and agriculture system through policy, as well as being a regular contributor for television shows and networks, including CBS This Morning, Today, Good Morning America, The View, Fox, and CNN.Contact InformationMindshare Collaborativemarketing@ mindsharesummit.com (858)376-7187SOURCE: Mindshare CollaborativeView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-27 00:00:11 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 653 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Premier Vehicle Service Contracts for Luxury and Exotic Car EnthusiastsMIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 /duPont REGISTRY, the leading marketplace for exotic and luxury automobiles, is proud to announce the launch of dR Protect, offering bespoke vehicle service contracts tailored specifically for clients and dealerships in the realm of luxury cars and exotics.duPont REGISTRY ProtectWith a commitment to providing unparalleled service and expertise, dR Protect brings a service product offering which is the first of its kind for the luxury and exotic customer. Whether you're in the market for a rare supercar or a classic luxury sedan, our team has put together a product tailored for these unique vehicles, giving our customers peace of mind and the white glove service they should expect from their ownership experience."The repair for an exotic car can vary widely with an average engine repair bill of $32k and the transmission at $20k. In addition, repairs are often needed at the most inconvenient time for our clients; duPont REGISTRY is thrilled to introduce dR Protect as the latest addition to our suite of premier services for our clients and dealerships," said Jeremy Vander Velde, COO of duPont REGISTRY Group. "We understand that acquiring a luxury vehicle is more than just a transaction - it's about how driving and enjoying the vehicle makes our clients feel. With dR Protect, we want to ensure that feeling can be enjoyed long after their purchase." Through a partnership with Alpha Warranty Services, dR Protect has created curated products made specifically to cover vehicles valued above $100k. "This partnership with duPont REGISTRY marks a new chapter for Alpha Warranty Services, where innovation meets tradition to provide duPont REGISTRY branded vehicle protection plans for exotic and luxury vehicle owners. We are proud to collaborate with duPont REGISTRY and its millions of loyal automotive enthusiasts," said Jeremy Lindsey, President of Alpha Warranty Services.Offering services with named exclusionary coverage so that what's covered is transparent. We also provide products that will cover expensive parts like wheels and key fobs over and above your standard vehicle service needs. "Our partnership with the duPont REGISTRY, a brand synonymous with luxury and excellence, aligns perfectly with Alpha Warranty's commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences and cutting-edge technology. With dR Protect, a first-of-its-kind vehicle protection plan offered exclusively to dealers that want to enhance the car ownership experience for exotic car enthusiasts, we are redefining the standard for automotive service products in the luxury market," said Bryan Haakenson, EVP of Strategic Partnerships. We are excited to make dR Protect available to dealers to offer in their showrooms and to all customers directly at www.dupontregistry.com/protect About duPont REGISTRY Group:The heart of the Driven Lifestyle division, the duPont REGISTRY Group is the world's leading luxury ecosystem, encapsulating the culture, community and commerce of the high-end automotive lifestyle. Built by some of the biggest names in the luxury automotive space, duPont REGISTRY Group represents a vibrant community of members worldwide nurtured over nearly four decades. Its portfolio includes duPont REGISTRY, Sotheby's Motorsport, Canossa Events, Cavallino, Petrolicious and FerrariChat.About Alpha Warranty Services:As a veteran-owned business enterprise, Alpha Warranty believes in doing the right thing for our partners and their customers. It was this belief that started our company in 2002 and it's this belief that drives us today. Alpha Warranty Services was founded because another administrator didn't value their customers and refused to honor contracts to dealerships that had a personal relationship with our founder & CEO. Alpha Warranty was formed and covered those claims. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. Today, Alpha Warranty continues to deliver an unrivaled customer experience by providing supercharged service and technology powered by amazing people. Contact us at 800.662.5519 or online at AlphaWarranty.com Contact InformationMedia DRGmedia@ dupontregistrygroup.com 3055078799SOURCE: duPont REGISTRY GroupView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 19:01:15 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 383 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / On the eve of Earnhardt Auto Center's 73rd Anniversary, the Earnhardt Family is donating $73,000 to St. Mary's Foodbank, carrying on both a company & family tradition of supporting the communities that have supported Earnhardt all of these years."Just over four years ago, we lost our patriarch, father, grandfather, greatgrandfather, mentor and leader," says grandson Derby Earnhardt."And his wish was ours one that ensures Earnhardt supports our local communities," says grandson Bull Earnhardt.Over the years, Tex and the Earnhardt Family have supported the communities of the Valley (and beyond) with countless financial and inkind donations, helping everyone from the sick and impaired to first responders, teachers, foster children and more."In 73 years, Earnhardt Auto Centers has grown to have 17 dealerships while also ensuring we support the communities that have supported Earnhardt all these years. Tex wanted everyone to know [and we agree] that we wouldn't be here were it not for the support of our community," says sons Hal Earnhardt III and Jim Babe Earnhardt, "so we want to be sure we always remember that and pay it forward." "The company [today] is based on values and sound principles that Tex instilled in all of us," says grandson Dodge Earnhardt, "... and that [the "Spirit of Tex"] includes the spirit of giving." At 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 27th, the Earnhardt Family will personally present St. Mary's Food Bank with a significant donation of $73,000.St. Mary's Food Bank is located at 2831 N. 31st Ave., Phoenix, AZ, 85009, and the donation ceremony will be coordinated by St. Mary's President and CEO Milt Liu."To be a part of both recognizing and memorializing the spirit of Tex Earnhardt and the company he started 73 years ago is a real honor," Liu said. "This incredible donation will provide more than 360,000 meals to Arizona children, families and seniors in need. On their behalf, we are proud to accept this awesome gift from the Earnhardt family and their continued support of St. Mary's. Food Bank!"Contact InformationChristopher KerrVP, Marketingchris.kerr@earnhardt.com 602-317-3049Jerry BrownDirector of Public Relationsjjbrown@ stmarysfoodbank.org 602-684-0939SOURCE: Earnhardt Auto CentersView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 21:25:45 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 509 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 The Alcohol Alternative is Powered by Bayou City Hemp, Which Boasts an Emerging Portfolio of High-Demand Beverage BrandsHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Bayou City Hemp Company (BCHC) is bringing its full fleet of hemp-derived THC beverages to the Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee markets, now on shelves in hundreds of retail locations throughout the states. Substantial growth is happening across BCHC's product line, led by HOWDY, which launched in Spring 2024, 8th Wonder, which Bayou City acquired in 2023, and Beach Break, which will officially launch in Fall 2024.Bayou City Hemp develops low to mid-dose hemp-derived THC beverages housed within lifestyle brands that aim to educate new customers on the best ways to responsibly enjoy the emerging beverage category as an alcohol alternative or anytime relaxing refreshment. Bayou City combines this branded approach with science and know-how gained with its acquisition of 8th Wonder in 2023, Houston's decade-old brewery and distillery, to become the world's first vertically integrated cannabis and craft beverage company.The high-quality product and science-based processes for extracting THC from hemp have made the company the gold standard for cannabis products across Texas and beyond. The groundbreaking move to introduce hemp-derived THC beverages to these states provides an unmatched level of legitimacy to this new and emerging industry and serves as a massive step forward in the THC Beverage category.Expansion Throughout Florida, Louisiana, and TennesseeRestaurants, music venues, movie theaters, bars, and even family-friendly bowling alleys have embraced cannabis in Texas, proving that hemp-derived THC beverages are quickly becoming the new normal across the country."There's so much energy and momentum in this new category and we're at the front of the pack because we put a lot of consideration into the most enjoyable ways to incorporate these into the flow of your life. There's a reason people keep coming back to our brands, as an alcohol alternative, at bars and restaurants, and at home," said Ben Meggs, CEO of Bayou City Hemp Company. "The consumers are rapidly becoming more educated and refined, they know what they want, there's no longer any stigma. We make our range of beverages to fit into our different customer's lifestyles and strive to make them available everywhere our customers are. With each new market we enter, we see very quick adoption followed by repeat loyalty; we're thrilled to bring that energy for THC-infused beverages in Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee." Nationwide AppealWith placement secured in major metro areas throughout each state, the team at Bayou City Hemp and 8th Wonder have their sights set on additional national expansion in the near future."By expanding our distribution network, we aim to meet the growing consumer interest in these booming markets," adds Meggs. "We are committed to leading and innovating in the cannabis beverage market, leveraging our combined expertise to offer high-quality, trusted brands that resonate with consumers." For more information: bayoucityhemp.com siphowdy.com , 8 thwonder.com Contact InformationRachel AustinPublicistrachel@ rachelaustinpr.com 713-305-0419SOURCE: Bayou City HempView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 19:49:37 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 654 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLPannounces that the Ford class action lawsuit - captioned Guzman v. Ford Motor Company, No. 24-cv-12080 (E.D. Mich.) - charges Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) as well as certain of Ford's top executives with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.If you suffered substantial losses and wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Ford class action lawsuit, please provide your information here:You can also contact attorneys J.C. Sanchez or Jennifer N. Caringal of Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at info@ rgrdlaw.com . Lead plaintiff motions for the Ford class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than October 7, 2024.CASE ALLEGATIONS: Ford is an automotive manufacturing company that develops, delivers, and services a range of trucks, cars, and luxury vehicles worldwide.The Ford class action lawsuit alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Ford had deficiencies in its quality assurance of vehicle models since 2022; (ii) as a result, Ford was experiencing higher warranty costs; (iii) Ford's warranty reserves did not accurately reflect the quality issues in vehicles sold since 2022; and (iv) as such, Ford's profitability was reasonably likely to suffer.The Ford class action lawsuit further alleges that on July 24, 2024, Ford announced second quarter 2024 financial results, revealing that Ford's "[p]rofitability was affected by an increase in warranty reserves" and "higher warranty costs." As a result, Ford also revised its outlook for full year earnings for its electric vehicle segment to "reflect[] higher warranty costs than originally planned," according to the complaint. Analysts and journalists, including The Associated Press and The Washington Post, reported that, in the second quarter, warranty and recall costs totaled $2.3 billion, $800 million more than the first quarter and $700 million more than a year prior, according to the complaint. On this news, Ford's share price fell more than 18%, according to the Ford class action lawsuit.THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased or acquired Ford securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Ford class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Ford class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Ford class action lawsuit. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff of the Ford class action lawsuit.ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading law firms representing investors in securities fraud cases. Our Firm has been #1 in the ISS Securities Class Action Services rankings for six out of the last ten years for securing the most monetary relief for investors. We recovered $6.6 billion for investors in securities-related class action cases - over $2.2 billion more than any other law firm in the last four years. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the largest plaintiffs' firms in the world and the Firm's attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery ever - $7.2 billion - in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. Please visit the following page for more information:Attorney advertising.Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices.Contact:Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLPJ.C. Sanchez, Jennifer N. Caringal655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101800-449-4900info@ rgrdlaw.com SOURCE: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 19:17:50 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 334 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Jonathan Schacher, the visionary founder and owner of Grupo Vision, has been featured in an exclusive online interview with Valiant CEO, where he shares his insights on leadership, innovation, and the intersection of technology and social impact.HONDURAS / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Jonathan Schacher, the visionary founder and owner of Grupo Vision, has been featured in an exclusive online interview with Valiant CEO, where he shares his insights on leadership, innovation, and the intersection of technology and social impact. The interview offers a deep dive into Schacher's journey, exploring how his upbringing and education have shaped his approach to business and how Grupo Vision is driving technological transformation across Central America.In the interview, Schacher discusses his commitment to bridging the digital divide in the region, the importance of fostering a culture of continuous learning at Grupo Vision, and his philosophy on balancing business success with philanthropy. He also highlights a groundbreaking AI-driven agricultural initiative that is helping farmers optimize resources and improve productivity, demonstrating how technology can create positive change in rural communities.Schacher's perspective on risk-taking, leadership, and the future of technology in Central America provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and anyone interested in the transformative power of technology.About Jonathan SchacherJonathan Schacher is the founder and owner of Grupo Vision, a leading technology firm established in 2002 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. With a strong background in finance and international business, Schacher has propelled Grupo Vision to the forefront of technological innovation in Central America. Under his leadership, the company has created over 3000 jobs and played a pivotal role in transforming the region's technological landscape. Beyond his business achievements, Schacher is deeply committed to philanthropy, supporting various charitable initiatives that blend entrepreneurial spirit with community service.To read the full interview, clickhere .Contact: info@ jonathanschacher.com This press release highlights Jonathan Schacher's feature in BMmagazine, providing an overview of the interview and emphasizing his contributions to the tech industry and his commitment to philanthropy.SOURCE: Jonathan Schacher PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 13:30:50 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1036 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SHELTON, CT / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE American:NNVC) (the "Company"), a clinical stage global leader in broad-spectrum antiviral nanomedicines, reports today that it is investigating the possibility of using NV-387 for the treatment of MPOX patients under the WHO MEURI protocol, in light of the recent WHO PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) declaration for the current 2024 MPOX outbreak that is rapidly spreading into more than ten countries in Africa with additional cases detected in Thailand and Sweden.MEURI, i.e. Monitored Emergency Use of Unregistered and Investigational Interventions, is an ethical protocol developed by the World Health Organization to evaluate the potential use of experimental drugs in the event of public health emergencies ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitored_Emergency_Use_of_Unregistered_and_Investigational_Interventions ).The Company believes that the MEURI protocol may be applicable for the evaluation of NV-387 for the treatment of MPOX infection in patients. NV-387 has completed Phase I clinical trial for safety and tolerability studies in healthy subjects with no adverse events reported indicating excellent safety and tolerability. NV-387 has demonstrated strong improvement in survival in animal model studies matching that of the currently approved drug, tecovirimat, indicating excellent effectiveness. MPOX Clade 1/1b require development of new therapeutics due to limitations of existing therapies.Survival Lifespan of Lethally Infected Mice - Intradigital Skin Footpad Infection with Ectromelia Virus (Model for MPOX, Smallpox)TreatmentSurvival, DaysIncrease in Survival, DaysIncrease in Survival, %NV-387, Oral1475%Tecovirimat, Oral1475%NV-387-m-T, Oral17112.5%Vehicle0%Additionally, the Company has also found that NV-387 was superior to or equivalent to existing drugs in non-clinical animal trials in the case of three major classes of respiratory viruses: RSV, Influenza, and COVID; the so-called "triple-demic" respiratory viruses. The Company believes that NV-387, as a single broad-spectrum antiviral drug that can treat a large number of viruses, could be as revolutionary for the treatment of viral infections as penicillin was to bacterial infections, when its effectiveness is proven in human clinical trials.The current 2024 MPOX epidemic is primarily caused by a variant of MPOX virus of Clade 1, called Clade 1b, with Clade 1 cases also present. Clade 1 MPOX has been known to cause more severe disease and greater fatalities than the Clade 2 MPOX that caused a limited global pandemic in 2022. MPOX Clade 1b is spreading more rapidly than its parent Clade 1, and therefore is considered more transmissible and is anticipated to be more severe than Clade 2.New treatments are needed to combat the recurring MPOX pandemics. A few vaccines are available, developed as smallpox vaccines, but are in short supply. The only currently approved treatment for smallpox, namely tecovirimat (TPOXX, Siga), was used in the Clade 2 MPOX epidemic in 2022. However, it is reported that initial results from a recent randomised controlled trial - the best kind of medical evidence - in the DRC suggest that tecovirimat did not speed up healing of painful lesions in children and adults infected with the Clade I variant of MPOX, which is driving the ongoing outbreak ( https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/how-deadly-is-mpox-and-what-treatments-are-available/ar-AA1pkpXl ). Brincidofovir (Chimerix) was recently approved for smallpox but in MPOX patients it caused drug-induced liver injury and has not been used further.NV-387, the Company's novel broad-spectrum antiviral treatment was found in an animal model study emulating the direct skin infection by the virus to be as effective as the current approved drug tecovirimat. Direct skin infection is thought to be the major mode of transmission of the MPOX virus in the current epidemic of MPOX Clade 1 and Clade 1b, just as it was found to be the main mode of transmission in the 2022 MPOX epidemic of Clade 2.In this lethal animal model virus infection study, oral treatment with NV-387 led to the same extent of increase in survival as oral treatment with tecovirimat. Additionally, treatment with the Company's formulation containing both NV-387 and tecovirimat, called NV-387-m-T, led to a much greater improvement in survival than either NV-387 or tecovirimat. Increase in survival is a quantitative indicator of effectiveness of the treatment in this model.In this study, mice were lethally infected with the ectromelia virus, intradigitally by scoring skin on footpads. This model emulates direct infection of the virus by skin abrasion. It is believed that direct skin-to-skin contact is the dominant mode of transmission of MPOX in the current 2024 MPOX Clade 1/1b global public health emergency, as it was in the 2022 MPOX Clade 2 epidemic. Mice in different groups were were treated orally with tecovirimat, NV-387, or NV-387-m-T, or vehicle (negative control). Ectromelia virus is in the same class as smallpox and mpox viruses, and has been used as a validated model for orthopoxvirus drug development.NV-387 acts by a novel mechanism that the Company calls "Re-Infection Inhibition", meaning the drug blocks the virus from being able to infect cells in the first place, a mechanism which is distinctly different from that of neutralizing antibodies or entry inhibitors. Tecovirimat, on the other hand, inhibits the release of the virus particles after they have already made thousands of copies in a cell. These mechanisms are complimentary to each other, leading to enhanced effect when both drugs are used simultaneously. The Company developed a special oral formulation for being able to deliver both drugs simultaneously, called NV-387-m-T.What is a "nanoviricide"?A "nanoviricide" is a uniform polymer that self-assembles into nanoscale droplets called "micelles", that carries on its surface mimics of the cell-side receptor of the virus, and that hides in its belly lipid tentacles. It can also hold other guest APIs in its belly if needed. The nanoviricide thus "looks like" a cell to the virus, and the virus is fooled into binding it. Once the virus binds, we believe, the flexible and shape-shifting nanoviricide micelle would spread over the virus particle by virtue of merging the lipid tentacles that are hidden in its belly into the virus surface, in a well known process called "lipid-lipid mixing." We believe this would destabilize the virus particle, uproot the viral glycoproteins required for binding to and entering the host cell, and thus render the virus particle incapable of PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 22:08:41 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 611 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / National Energy Services Reunited Corp. ("NESR" or the "Company") an international, industry-leading provider of integrated energy services in the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") region, today announced that it will release its financial results for the first half of 2024 on Thursday, August 29, 2024.A conference call is scheduled for 8:00 AM ET on August 29, 2024, to discuss the financial results. Investors, analysts and members of the media interested in listening to the conference call are encouraged to participate by dialing in to the U.S. toll-free line at 1-877-407-0890 or the international line at 1-201-389-0918, approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.A live, listen-only webcast will also be broadcast simultaneously under the "Investors" section of the Company's website at www.nesr.com . Following the end of the conference call, a replay will be available after the event under the "Investors" section of the Company's website.Additionally, NESR announced that the senior management team will participate in the following upcoming investor conferences and industry events.Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference on 3-5 September - NYC, New York - NESR management will host 1x1 meetings with investors. Additionally, NESR CEO will participate in a fireside chat on September 4th from 1:15pm-1:45pm ET;Pickering Energy Partners Conference on 16-18 September - Austin, Texas - NESR management will host a dinner and 1x1 meetings with investors;Gastech Exhibition & Conference on 17-20 September - Houston, Texas - NESR will participate in industry discussions and MENA customer meetings during one of the largest, global natural gas technology conferences;Future Investment Initiative (FII) on 29-31 October - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - NESR CEO will participate in the 8th Edition FII forum, titled Infinite Horizons: Investing Today, Shaping Tomorrow;Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) on 4-7 November - Abu Dhabi, UAE - NESR will showcase new technologies and case studies across its portfolio, including its ROYA directional drilling suite, at the world's largest Oil & Gas industry event;Bank of America Energy Conference on 12 & 13 November - Houston, Texas - NESR management will host 1x1 meetings with investors.Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking StatementsStatements contained in this press release that are not historical fact may be forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, the Company's expectations related to its business performance, financial condition and results of operation. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in our filings with the SEC, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in such filings.About NESRFounded in 2017, NESR is one of the largest national oilfield services providers in the MENA and Asia Pacific regions. With over 6,000 employees, representing more than 60 nationalities in over 15 countries, the Company helps its customers unlock the full potential of their reservoirs by providing Production Services such as Hydraulic Fracturing, Cementing, Coiled Tubing, Filtration, Completions, Stimulation, Pumping and Nitrogen Services. The Company also helps its customers to access their reservoirs in a smarter and faster manner by providing Drilling and Evaluation Services such as Drilling Downhole Tools, Directional Drilling, Fishing Tools, Testing Services, Wireline, Slickline, Drilling Fluids and Rig Services.For inquiries regarding NESR, please contact:Blake Gendron or Stefan AngeliNational Energy Services Reunited Corp.832-925-3777investors@nesr.com SOURCE: National Energy Services Reunited Corp PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 15:00:47 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 675 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Net Savings Link, Inc. (OTC PINK:NSAV), a leading Web3, blockchain and digital asset technology company, is pleased to announce that the company has received DTC Eligibility Approval and NSAV shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through the Depository Trust Company ("DTC"). Achieving DTC eligibility simplifies the trading process for NSAV's shares, enhances liquidity, reduces costs for investors and brokers, and increases the efficiency and speed of transactions. DTC eligibility marks a significant milestone for the company, broadening access to a larger pool of investors, facilitating seamless trading, thus allowing NSAV's stock to be more accessible to brokers and institutional and retail investors, both in the U.S. and worldwide.DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) https://www.dtcc.com/ , a U.S. company that manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through DTC are considered to be "DTC eligible". This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors and brokers, enabling the stock to be traded over a much wider selection of brokerage firms by coming into compliance with their requirements.Alfonso Knoll, CEO of NSAV, stated, "NSAV achieving DTC Eligibility is a milestone for the company that opens up opportunities for future growth and increased participation from the investment community. I look forward to completing the next steps towards the growth of our company." About Net Savings Link, Inc.: NSAV's vision is the establishment of a fully integrated technology company, which provides turnkey technological solutions to the Web3, blockchain and digital asset industries. The Company drives innovation in the digital currency space by developing advanced blockchain technologies, digital assets, and market solutions that bridge the gap between traditional business frameworks and the future of decentralized technology. Over time, the Company plans to provide a wide range of services such as software solutions, e-commerce, financial services, advisory services and information technology.For further information please contact NSAV at info@ nsavholdinginc.com For further information please contact NSAVx.com at hello@ nsavxmail.com The NSAV corporate website can be accessed at https://www.netsavingslinkinc.com The NSAV CEX website can be accessed at https://nsavx.com/ TheAlley.io can be accessed at https://www.thealley.io The AirdropX.co website can be accessed at https://www.airdropx.co/ The Swopx.io website can be accessed at https://www.swopx.io The NSAV Stock information website can be accessed at https://www.nsavstock.com The NSAVx Token website can be accessed at https://www.nsavxtoken.com/nsavx-token The NSAVx Discord Server can be accessed at https://discord.com/invite/7Q2Vv5NmKd The NSAV Twitter account can be accessed at https://twitter.com/nsav_tech 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 Net Savings Link, Inc. to accomplish its stated plan of business. Net Savings Link, Inc. believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward- looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Net Savings Link, Inc. or any other person.ContactNet Savings Link, Inc. info@ nsavholdinginc.com Media ContactOrganization: Net Savings Link IncContact Person Name: James TiltonWebsite: https://www.nsavholdinginc.com Email: info@ nsavholdinginc.com Contact Number: +17185698815Address: 26 Grosvenor Street, MayfairAddress 2: W1K4QWCity: LondonCountry: United KingdomSOURCE: Net Savings Link Inc PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 21:50:12 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1039 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATESVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Rektron Group Inc. ("Rektron" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of its initial public offering (the "Offering"). Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 3,333,334 units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of US$1.50 per Unit (the "Offering Price") for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of US$5,000,001. The Offering was led by Research Capital Corporation, as the sole agent and sole bookrunner (the "Agent").Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant of the Company (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of US$2.25 per Warrant Share at any time until August 23, 2027.The Common Shares issued pursuant to the Offering has commenced trading today, August 26, 2024 on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Exchange") under the symbol " REK.U" The Company will use the net proceeds of the offering for scaling up the Company's trading activities, the costs related to the Offering including selling commissions and other fees, and for working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes.The Agent retains an option for up to 30 days following August 23, 2024 to purchase up to an additional 500,000 Units (in addition to the 3,333,334 Units already purchased) at the Offering Price (the "Over-Allotment Option").The Agent has been paid a cash commission equal to 7.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of the Units pursuant to the Offering (reduced to 3.5% on the proceeds from the sale to the President's List), together with a cash corporate finance fee of $75,000 (plus applicable tax). Additionally, the Company has granted compensation options to the Agent entitling the Agent to purchase up to 163,116 Units at the Offering Price, exercisable on or before August 23, 2027. Each Unit is exercisable under the same terms as the Units issuable pursuant to the Offering.The Offering was completed pursuant to a final prospectus dated March 4, 2024, as amended on June 28, 2024 and August 12, 2024 (the "Final Prospectus"). The Final Prospectus is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca The offered 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 applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to "U.S. persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the offered securities in any jurisdiction.Early Warning Reports The Company also announces the filing of early warning reports in connection with the IPO.Prior to the IPO, Callan Partners Limited, a significant shareholder of the Company owned directly 33,376,077 Shares, representing 43.48% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis. As a result of the closing of the IPO, Callan Partners Limited effectively surrendered 9,450,000 Common Shares, per its share surrender agreements. The Common Shares held by Callan Partners Limited now represent 40.49% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis.Moreover, prior to the IPO, Nile Flow Limited, a significant shareholder of the Company owned directly 40,792,983 Common Shares, representing 53.14% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis. As a result of the closing of the IPO, Nile Flow Limited effectively surrendered 11,550,000 Common Shares, per its share surrender agreements. The Common Shares held by Nile Flow Limited now represent 49.48% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis.The Company is located at Suite 406, 5307 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5P 3V6.The early warning reports will be filed with the applicable securities commissions using the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR+) and will be available for viewing on the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Rektron Group Inc.Ricardo PhielixChief Executive OfficerFOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Manny BettencourtEmail: ir@ rektrongroup.com Phone: +1 (289) 482-0744Web: https://www.rektrongroup.com/ About the Company The Company is the holding and parent company of Rektron AQ Limited, which is the holding and parent company of DL Hudson Limited. DL Hudson Limited is the trading arm of a group of companies, of which there are several subsidiaries that support the group's global commodity trading operations. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, while Rektron AQ Limited is headquartered in London, UK.The Company focuses on maintaining an experienced team of management and traders, extensive geographical and product diversification, trading and logistical expertise, and financial and risk management. The team at the Group is composed of energy and metals traders, City of London and Wall Street bankers. The trading expertise includes principal energy and metals products, particularly ferrous and nonferrous metals, Energy Transition Commodities ("ETC"), recycled metals and crude and Euro VI-compliant refined oil products. The Company transacts across all compliant markets following the international trade regulations and guidelines.FORWARDLOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forwardlooking statements") that relate to Rektron's current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook") are not historical facts and may be forwardlooking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to d PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 19:46:21 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 292 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Kaskela Law LLC announces that it is investigating PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PWSC) ("PowerSchool") on behalf of the company's shareholders.On June 7, 2024, PowerSchool announced that it had agreed to be acquired by private investment firm Bain Capital, LP at a price of$22.80 per share in cash - a premium of just $0.43 per share, or less than 2% , to the stock's prior day closing price of $22.37. Following the closing of the proposed transaction, PowerSchool's current stockholders will be cashed out of their investment position and the company's shares will no longer be publicly traded.The investigation thus far has revealed that the process leading up to the announcement of the buyout appears to have significant conflicts of interest, thus making the sales process as well as the price-per-share appear unfair to the company's shareholders. Notably, immediately prior to the announcement of the proposed transaction, at least one stock analyst was maintaining a price target for PWSC shares of$30.00 per share .PowerSchool shareholders are encouraged to contact Kaskela Law LLC (D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq. or Adrienne Bell, Esq.) to receive additional information about this investigation and their legal rights and options at (484) 229 - 0750, or by clicking on the following link (or if necessary, by copying and pasting the link into your browser):Kaskela Law LLC exclusively represents investors in securities fraud, corporate governance, and merger & acquisition litigation on a contingent basis. For additional information about Kaskela Law LLC please visit www.kaskelalaw.com CONTACT:KASKELA LAW LLC D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.(skaskela@kaskelalaw.com)Adrienne Bell, Esq.(abell@kaskelalaw.com)18 Campus Blvd., Suite 100Newtown Square, PA 19073(888) 715 - 1740(484) 229 - 0750 www.kaskelalaw.com This notice may constitute attorney advertising in certain jurisdictions.SOURCE: Kaskela Law LLC PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 15:00:34 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 345 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Summers Manufacturing, an innovative leader in agricultural equipment, is excited to announce a strategic partnership with CJ Beeps Equipment.DEVILS LAKE, ND / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / Summers Manufacturing, an innovative leader in agricultural equipment, is excited to announce a strategic partnership with CJ Beeps Equipment.This partnership represents a significant milestone for both organizations as they unite to advance Summers' mission of feeding and fueling the world. CJ Beeps' extensive knowledge of regional farming needs aligns seamlessly with Summers' dedication to excellence in agricultural technology."We are excited to partner with CJ Beeps Equipment. This partnership represents a significant step forward in our efforts to make cutting-edge agricultural equipment more accessible to farmers, empowering them to increase efficiency and productivity on their farms," said Matthew Volkmar, Director of Sales and Marketing at Summers Manufacturing.With this new dealer relationship, farmers in Northeast Iowa and the surrounding area can expect a comprehensive range of Summers' state-of-the-art products, including tillage, land rollers, application products, rock removal equipment, and mounted attachments. Further, CJ Beeps Equipment will provide expert guidance and support to farmers, ensuring they maximize the benefits of Summers' technology."We are proud to offer Summers' agriculture equipment. Our customers rely on us to offer the best ag equipment and Summers delivers," explained Eric Lahey, Managing Member at CJ Beeps.The partnership between Summer Manufacturing and CJ Beeps Equipment signifies a shared commitment to driving agricultural innovation and supporting the success of farmers.###About Summers ManufacturingSummers Manufacturing is an innovative leader in the agricultural equipment industry, dedicated to supporting farmers in their mission to feed and fuel the world. Since its inception in 1965, Summers has demonstrated a commitment to advancing agricultural practices through the introduction of new and efficient equipment. With a focus on understanding the evolving needs of farmers and the agricultural industry as a whole, Summers consistently invests in research and development to design and manufacture equipment that addresses key challenges faced by farmers worldwide.Contact InformationAmanda WendlingPartnerawendling@ grit-capital.com +13195941313SOURCE: Summers ManufacturingView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-08-26 19:46:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 515 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2024 / The world's first trading platform to provide instant funding to its users, Ufunded.com , has made another pivotal move in their disruptive journey by natively integrating TradingView into their platform. Ufunded.com is committed to product-led-growth and is fully in alignment with TradingView's mission of empowering traders, which has led them to a user base of over 60 million users. TradingView is where the world charts, and therefore, this native integration within Ufunded.com's platform was inevitable, accomplishing yet another leap forward for its user base. Ufunded.com's users can now chart and trade their provided funding (up to $1m per user) on TradingView's advanced charts, which have been natively integrated and now serve as the platform's primary charting engine. It adapts and merges seamlessly with the other features of the all-in-one platform, like the personal performance dashboard, as well as the automated trading journal. Users can chart and make technical analysis on TradingView charts, they can also execute orders and trade right from the charts with their allocated funding, resulting in a seamlessly interconnected all-in-one trading environment.Besides advanced charting and trading straight from charts, the stop-loss and take-profit functionality is available in-chart and upon execution, as well as multi-charting, 14+ chart types, 20+ timeframes, 90+ drawing tools and 100+ pre-built indicators. Moreover, the platform also supports TradingView's native Account Manager, where the trader can manage his positions from. Upon opening and closing positions, the trades will instantaneously reflect in Ufunded.com's built-in trading performance dashboard, as well as in the trading journal, exhibiting how seamless this integration has been developed for the user. Since inception, Ufunded.com has been exclusively user-centric, carefully listening to its own user base, advisors and key opinion leaders, who can voice their wishes via the public roadmap, influencing the further development of the platform by suggesting and voting on requests.The data feed (providing users real-time market quotes on the 1000+ stocks, major forex pairs, commodities and metals that are tradable on the platform) remains to be powered by Cboe, a resilient and reliable provider in the global exchange industry which is - besides all the user-driven features - another testament to the platform's dedication, a choice which is fueled by the mission of empowering and liberating traders through aligned incentives.The recent opening of Ufunded.com's headquarters, housing anomaly traders, as well as the ecosystem's strategic subsidiaries, is the ultimate testimony that the invite-only platform is long term committed to the vision of standing at the helm of innovation, inevitably becoming the leading funded trading platform.About Ufunded.com Ufunded.com is part of a disruptive fintech ecosystem. The trading platform leverages machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence to generate alpha derived from their users, who receive funding (up to $1m individually) to trade on the platform. The platform includes advanced charting tools powered by TradingView, a personal performance dashboard, a trading journal, and AI-driven real-time market sentiment analysis. The platform operates on an invite-only basis, only accessible through a group of hand-selected leading trading communities.ContactSamantha EvelynUfunded.com pr@ ufunded.com SOURCE: Ufunded.com The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, said on Sunday that no Nigerian child under 17 will be allowed to take the Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE). Students seeking admission into universities, polytechnics, and many higher institutions of learning are required to secure enough credits in the SSCE, which is organised by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), and the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB). Speaking on a Channels Television programme in Abuja, Mr Mamman, a professor, explained that under Nigerian laws, pupils are expected to spend five years in early childhood education, six years in primary schools, three years in junior secondary school, and another three years in senior secondary school. From early childcare to primary school, then Junior secondary school, and then senior secondary school, you end up with 17 and a half, the minister said. The minister, who insisted on 18 as the eligibility age for admission into tertiary institutions, said a child who completes secondary school at 17 and a half years would be ready for admission by the time the school year begins. NECO and WAEC henceforth will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, no sitting for WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examinations, Mr Mamman said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Mamman had asked JAMB, the body in charge of matriculation examinations for Nigerian tertiary institutions, and the institutions to stop admitting students below 18 after this years admission exercise. The minister, who faced mild opposition for his comments during the JAMB policy meeting that was held in July, noted that it was part of Nigerias laws and not a new policy introduced by him, doubling down on it. What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents. This year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age, but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody who is going to apply to go to university in Nigeria must meet the required age, which is 18, he added on the television programme. The Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act (2004) defines a child or ward as a person of primary and junior secondary school age who is between the ages of 6 and 16, whether disabled or not. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has commenced a seven-day warning strike over the abduction of their colleague, Ganiyat Popoola, who has been held captive for eight months. The President of NARD, Dele Abdullahi, announced the strike during a virtual emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the association at midnight on Monday. The strike is total, and there will be no concessions or emergency care during this period. All centres, both federal and state, should ensure full compliance, even as proper handover of patients to consultants should be done, Mr Abdullahi said. He noted that any centre that fails to comply with the strike directive would be fined heavily and denied participation in the forthcoming NARD annual general meeting . Members of the association across the country had earlier staged a protest march in all tertiary hospitals to demand the release of Mrs Popoola. Mrs Popoola, a registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, was abducted in December 2023 alongside her husband and nephew. While her husband has been released after a ransom was reportedly paid, Mrs Popoola and her nephew remain in captivity. 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 kidnappers reportedly demanded a N60 million ransom to release the doctors husband. NARDs directive, nationwide protest On 14 August, NARD issued a 26 August ultimatum for the release of the victim. At a press briefing in Abuja, the association decried the governments inaction over the abduction. It resolved to organise a national press conference and a nationwide protest march in all tertiary hospitals to demand Mrs Popoolas release. When the incident happened, Mr Abdullahi said the association notified all security agencies, the federal government, and the Kaduna State Government but has seen no significant action. He noted that the association communicated its decision to the Nigerian Medical Association, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Kaduna State Government. Its appalling that in a country where we want healthcare providers to stay, one of us has been kidnapped for over seven months and 17 days without any form of relief or directive on how the rescue mission will proceed, Mr Abdullahi said. Insecurity affects health workers Nigeria has been grappling with armed conflicts such as terrorism and banditry, among other issues. The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) identified 19 incidents of violence against health workers in Nigeria in 2023. It also identified 43 incidents in 2022, compared to 56 in 2021, in which 37 health workers were kidnapped, seven others were killed, and health supplies were looted from pharmacies and health centres. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Corruption and state capture over the past decade in South Africa were enabled by an attack on the independence and capacity of its criminal justice agencies. As the country struggles to bring the perpetrators to book and prevent further damage, the question is: are South African institutions up to the task? Some campaigners propose a single anti-corruption agency for South Africa, with full investigative and prosecutorial powers and its independence protected by the Constitution. A powerful single agency may seem like a good idea, but anti-corruption bodies dont have a track record of success in Africa. New Institute for Security Studies (ISS) research on how to effectively tackle corruption in South Africa to be launched on 28 August shows that anti-corruption reforms in developing countries frequently fail or backfire and may trigger political instability. Successful agencies are often attacked or dismantled by powerful elites who do not benefit from the rule of law. The ISS study found no evidence globally that a single-agency model outperforms a multi-agency approach. Examples of countries that have tried without success to set up anti-corruption commissions include Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. These bodies failed to meet high expectations, resulting in budget cuts and increasingly poor results. Corruption is known in systems theory as a wicked problem something intractable and resistant to resolution due to its complexity. Corruption is messy, and those who commit it fight back against attempts to resolve it. Its perpetrators and beneficiaries are usually powerful, and exercise influence over politicians, police, prosecutors and others to inhibit the work of law enforcement institutions. This weakens any agency that threatens them, and they may use violence to protect their interests. Accountability Now favours an independent specialised integrity commission for South Africa, entrenched in the Constitution as a Chapter 9 institution, with sufficient resources, trained staff and leadership who cant easily be removed. These are the so-called STIRS criteria (specialised, trained, independent, resourced and secure in tenure) that emerged from a 2011 Constitutional Court judgement. 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 judgement, known as Glenister II after businessman Hugh Glenister, held that South Africas government was obliged to set up an independent agency to act against corruption. Mr Glenister brought a case to challenge the 2009 disbandment of the effective crime-fighting Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions). The Scorpions demise followed a politically motivated resolution at the ruling African National Congresss 2007 national conference. Established in 2001 with broad powers to investigate and prosecute priority crimes, including corruption, the Scorpions was a specialised unit of the National Prosecuting Authority. The unit was replaced by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), based in the South African Police Service. In Glenister II, the Constitutional Court held that the legislation that founded the Hawks fell short of the STIRS criteria, including independence. However, the case didnt clarify all the requirements for effective anti-corruption enforcement in South Africa. There are different views about the exact powers and functions a new agency should have. In 2020 the governments National Anti-Corruption Strategy said it should be a permanent, statutory or constitutionally entrenched state body, but didnt prescribe whether the agency should have full investigative and prosecutorial powers. A robust single anti-corruption entity with full powers to investigate and prosecute entrenched in the Constitution is an admirable long-term aim. But South Africa should proceed with caution as it sets out to rebuild its anti-corruption architecture. In line with international good practice, the task requires a risk analysis of the political economy and research to ensure the solution suits prevailing conditions. There isnt enough research into South Africas unique types and causes of corruption, and it would be reckless to proceed without first doing this work. Anti-corruption reforms that arent informed by an analysis of local conditions could destabilise the fragile pacts on which South Africas fledgling Government of National Unity rests, creating conditions for a less democratic government to take control. This happened in Brazil, where prosecutors brought formerly untouchable politicians and businessmen to justice. The resulting political instability created an opportunity for a new president, Jair Bolsonaro, to roll back anti-corruption reforms in 2019. ISS research hasnt found a powerful single anti-corruption agency with full investigative and prosecutorial powers entrenched in the Constitution operating anywhere in the world. Not even the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is constitutionally entrenched with full prosecutorial powers. The commission is arguably the worlds most powerful single anti-corruption body. It jailed a former prime minister and recovered billions of dollars embezzled in the notorious 1MDB case. Kenyas Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission reputed among international experts to be one of the more effective such agencies in Africa is founded in terms of the Constitution with preventive, investigative and asset recovery mandates, but not prosecutorial powers. It has made substantial recoveries of the proceeds of corruption, including in high-profile cases, using innovative methods such as unexplained wealth orders. International experts say anti-corruption institutions rooted in local knowledge are the most stable and resistant to political interference. For example, in Nigeria, a project working with small businesses to reduce corruption in the energy sector incentivises business owners to uphold the law and use peer pressure to ensure their neighbours do too. Corruption in South Africa is systemic, which means it is held in place in organisations by unwritten rules that are more powerful than official regulations. These unwritten rules are enforced with rewards (like promotion) and punishment (like disciplinary hearings). The most predominant behaviour facilitating corruption in an organisation, namely bullying, is not necessarily a crime. South Africa cannot prosecute its way out of systemic corruption. Research shows that only a small percentage of people in organisations are prone to corruption. A few take a stand for integrity, while most follow the dominant norms. Any new agency would need a mandate for prevention measures such as helping leaders set an ethical tone from the top, protecting and rewarding whistleblowers, using data to predict patterns of corruption, and building cultures of integrity. Patterns of behaviour in workplaces that enable corruption also need to be changed. Along with these lower risk, lower cost reforms, the ISS study also proposes methods for strengthening existing anti-corruption institutions and creating incentives for cooperation between them. It advises incremental innovations targeting one sector or body at a time and partnering with the private sector in collective action projects. A good example of a collective action project comes from Nigeria, where the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network reduced corruption at the Lagos harbour by 96 per cent. Supported by senior politicians, representatives from business, government and civil society collaborated to provide real-time consequences for bribery and build a culture of integrity in the port authority. South Africas response to corruption will determine its future. It should take note of international good practices, learn from examples of success and failure in Africa, and then forge its own path based on local conditions. Colette Ashton, Research Consultant, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria To find out more, register to attend the 28 August ISS seminar and launch online or in person in Johannesburg. (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 Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, the first black woman to be promoted to full professor at Ithaca College, a university in New York, has recounted her nightmarish experiences that unfolded in the spring of 2024, ultimately culminating in death threats against her. Mrs Soyinka-Airewele is the Chair of the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission and the daughter of the first Nobel Laureate in Literature from Africa, Wole Soyinka. She said she had been subjected to a barrage of racist and violent messages, including threats of sexual assault and assassination. Death threats were also directed against her family and home, she said in a statement obtained by PREMIUM TIMES. This newspaper couldnt immediately confirm when Mrs Soyinka-Airewele started facing these threats. But in a statement, the professor said it all began when a student started exhibiting erratic, harassing and threatening behaviour towards her. These direct threats, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele said, were very severe to the point that faculty members expressed concern for her safety. The professor alongside some of her colleagues and campus police officers made efforts to activate protocols required to ensure her safety. Sadly, she said, these complaints were met with bureaucratic roadblocks, lack of empathy and a denial of simple requests to change the methodology of delivery of lectures in order to enhance her safety and security. The response of some of the top management of the University has been slow, negligent, dismissive and patronising, resulting in a prioritisation of institutional convenience over and above the well-being of faculty, she noted. 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 American university failed to address the concerns raised by Mrs Soyinka-Airewele when PREMIUM TIMES sent a correspondence to it. Instead, the university said, the safety and well-being of our college communitystudents, faculty, and staffis always its top priority. We generally do not comment on specific personnel issues, so I cannot provide any additional information on this situation. However, I can tell you that the College takes threats against members of our community very seriously, Dave Maley, the Universitys Director of Public Relations told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday. When a member of our community brings a safety concern to our attention, the College works with that community member to provide support as appropriate based on the circumstances, Mr Maley said. Concerned persons within the university, in the US and in Nigeria, are calling for greater accountability and proactive measures to address safety concerns within academic settings, especially for minorities and immigrants. They emphasise the urgent need for institutions to move beyond perfunctory acts of diversity. In her statement, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele said despite the odds, she has continued to work to protect other marginalised and vulnerable individuals in the United States as well as in Nigeria and to provide material support for those suffering from poverty and abuse. The professor said she has spoken out this time to ensure that other minorities, especially black students and faculty from Africa are aware they can reach out for support if they face harassment, threats and other forms of discriminatory treatment. Profile Mrs Soyinka-Airewele is the first black woman to be tenured at Ithaca College, New York, and later, the first black woman to be promoted to full professor in the universitys 140-year history. A recipient of the universitys prestigious Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching, Scholarship and Service, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele initiated the Classrooms Beyond Borders programme with a network of participating universities that included Ithaca College, Covenant University and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, An-Najah University, Palestine (with Beth Harris), and the University of South Africa. At one time, she was a fellow of the Global Security and Cooperation Programme of the Social Science Research Council, the Oxford Round Table, United Kingdom and the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship that took her as a visiting professor to support faculty and students at universities in Nigeria and Kenya. Much of her work is dedicated to making rights and protections accessible and attainable to vulnerable individuals and groups through advocacy, emergency support, and other strategies that are sensitive to issues of culture, socioeconomic class, nationality status, gender, faith, and the many factors that affect whether people are treated with justice and equity. Similarly, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele served as the first female president of the Association of Third World Studies Inc. (ATWS), and president of the African Studies and Research Forum, and currently serves as Co-President of the African Womens Initiative of Ithaca (AWI). These platforms provide support and solidarity for participants in the United States and internationally. Every two months, she hosts Verity womens gatherings, where women of faith from across the world meet virtually to discuss subjects that affect them and share their experience, expertise, and mutual support in a lively, safe, transgenerational, and diverse space. She served for many years as an ambassador for Stephens Childrens Home, a centre for over 400 children orphaned by the Boko Haram terrorist assaults in Nigeria. Sadly, after decades of providing protection for extremely vulnerable children, the home was forced to shut down amidst the severe staffing losses of the devastating COVID crisis as the childrens welfare could no longer be guaranteed. She is also a member of the Nigerian Feminist-Womanifesto platform, an umbrella group comprising almost 400 organisations advancing womens rights and well-being in Nigeria, and she formerly served as a co-vice president of the Ithaca City of Asylum. In all these capacities, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele supports community members who feel vulnerable and marginalised as they struggle through court appearances, school disciplinary processes, work discrimination situations, and the aftermath of domestic violence as victims seek emergency shelter, career retraining, job placement assistance, or access to legal services. Having experienced the turbulence of exile and life as an asylee who left her homeland during the turbulent persecution of her family, she has worked to empower women, immigrants and vulnerable individuals of every racial and cultural identity, who have been rendered invisible as they deal with interlocking oppressions of racism, discrimination, and silencing. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Enugu State Government said it had uncovered 2,640 ghost names and deceased pensioners on its payroll. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed this on Sunday in Enugu. Mr Onyia, a professor, said the Pension Verification Authority made the discovery during a recent verification exercise of pensioners in the state. Over 7000 pensioners receive payments The SSG also announced that the state government has commenced payment of pensions to local government retirees in the state. He explained that the payment was in line with the promise of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State to clear outstanding pensions and gratuities inherited by his administration. Mr Onyia said that over 7000 local government pensioners had since received their pensions for August. The SSG stressed that payment of the pensioners followed the governors approval of the recommendations of the Local Government Pensioners Biometric Verification Committee, which conducted the verification exercise. 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 will improve our peoples standard of living, raise purchasing power and promote strong and sustainable economic growth in the state, he said. He added that, in July, a total of 7109 local government pensioners received their monthly payments, totalling about N500 million. Mr Onyia said the 7109 pensioners included 989 newly registered entrants who retired between April 2022 and April 2024 but were not accommodated in the pension scheme. Fraud in the pension system The SSG expressed disappointment that there was high-level fraud in the states pensions system. He said the record provided by the Local Government Pensions Board indicated that the state had been paying over 8760 local government retirees as of April 2024 against the 7109 verified pensioners. Mr Onyia restated the state governments commitment to clear all arrears and stressed that the payment mode adopted by the government would guarantee that backlogs were phased out within the timeline set out by the government. This administration will continue to support our citizens, particularly our senior citizens who dedicated their time and energy serving the state. We will soon phase out all arrears inherited by the administration, he said. The SSG said the state government was reforming the ppensionsystem by making strong institutional policies that can prevent corrupt people from finding their way into the scheme. We have been able to digitalise the institution with measures that would make every transaction and payment transparent, accountable and traceable, he added. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A former Grand Kadi of the Kwara State Shariah Court of Appeal, Idris Haroon, has called for a thorough investigation of the alleged mismanagement of funds at the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) during this years Muslims pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Sunday, Mr Haroon urged the Nigerian government not to spare officials found culpable, given the magnitude of the scandal. The retired jurist said that while he was in the Islamic holy land, some pilgrims complained that they were cheated. This matter is yet to be decided, but I want it to be thoroughly investigated, and whoever is found to be part of this dishonesty that caused suffering to our pilgrims should not be spared. I was in Makkah during the last pilgrimage as a guest of King Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and some pilgrims confessed to me that many of them were only given $200 instead of $500, and when they got to Saudi, they were only given the equivalent of $200 in Riyal. That was how they took money from pilgrims. In fact, it is embarrassing that people who travelled to serve God will be the ones to violate Gods law. You must be just and transparent, he said. He urged the new NAHCON Chairman, Abdullahi Uthman, to return sanity to the commission and know that he represents the entire Muslim community. 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 Haroon, however, appealed to Nigerians to shun corruption and check its prevalence in society to prevent the loss of respect for Nigerians in the outside world. We Nigerians need to re-evaluate ourselves because the prevalence of corruption among the citizens is making the country lose its respect in the sight of other countries, he said. Hails appointment of acting CJN On the appointment of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the retired Grand Kadi commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for respecting the hierarchical order in the judiciary. I want to use this opportunity to appreciate President Tinubu for maintaining the hierarchy in the Judiciary. Hierarchical consideration is highly important in the appointment of the head of the judiciary of this country. I must commend him for respecting and keeping the law, he said. Mr Haroon charged the acting CJN and other judicial officers with safeguarding the judiciary, maintaining social justice, and protecting the country from chaos. The judiciary of any nation is the pillar of social justice and coexistence. Where the judiciary isnt firm enough or fails to disseminate that divine role given by God and society, then that nation or society is bound to fail because it will lead to people taking actions into their own hands, which will cause chaos. Judicial officers should see themselves as having a responsibility given to them by God because when you are placed in a court, you have been handed the trust of a particular nation, and you have to do it with selflessness without any bias. You must believe this job is between you, your conscience, God and society. I will refer my Lord (CJN) and other judicial officers to Quran chapter 4 verse 135, which calls on them to stand firm on justice regardless of who is in question. The retired judicial officer also urged Mrs Kekere-Ekun to learn from her predecessors to succeed in her new role as head of the countrys Judiciary. The newly appointed acting CJN is coming in at a delicate and crucial moment in this country. She can take lessons from her predecessors to know how to navigate her way in office to get success in her work, he said. Speaking on constitutional review, Mr Haroon said the focus of any new constitution should be on entrenching social justice and security for the people. Something is wrong with the Constitution that cant enhance the spirit of sovereignty, that cant guarantee social justice, safety, and security. I think that Nigerias Constitution needs to be examined so that we can have an ideal society with peaceful coexistence and harmony. In doing this, security will be addressed, particularly, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian government has inaugurated the Compressed Natural Gas Initiatives Conversion Incentive Programme in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The initiative seeks to help vehicles switch their energy source from petrol to CNG, following high petrol prices since the removal of the subsidy. The programme director of the presidential CNG initiative, Michael Oluwagbemi, said at the event on Friday that the programme aimed to convert one million vehicles to run on CNG. He commended Ogun State for being a pioneer in adopting CNG for transportation. Mr Oluwagbemi said the programme will partner with conversion centres, with four already signed up in the state. He said the centres would receive free conversion kits from the Federal Ministry of Finance, adding that members of road transport associations and other commercial drivers would have their vehicles converted at no cost. What we are doing here now is to flag off the incentive programme that the president announced in his last speech to the nation, where he talked about the difficulties of all Nigerians. 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 mentioned that a million vehicles will be converted for free. We are here to fulfil the presidents promise in the city of Abeokuta. We are going to work with the conversion centre partners. We signed up four of them here in Ogun State today. It will be the 60th weve signed across Nigeria for the programme. The idea is that this conversion centre will get the kits that the Federal Ministry of Finance has purchased for free. Members of NURTW, NATO, RTEAN, and other commercial drivers could bring their vehicles and kits for free for installation. 50 nominees from each of the three major unions will be utilising this facility and the three others to ensure conversion starts. When that conversion starts, we can fuel in any of the CNG refuelling stations in Ogun State, he said. The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Energy, Jide Onakoya, described the programme as a game-changer. He said it would enable citizens to switch from expensive petrol and diesel to cheaper gas. He also noted that the transition to gas would reduce pollution, enhance commerce, and improve transportation. One of the conversion partners, Wale Adedotun, highlighted the benefits of gas over petrol, citing its safety, cost-effectiveness and environmental advantages. READ ALSO: FG inaugurates CNG conversion centres in Abuja He said a kilogramme of gas could cover 14-15 kilometres, compared to 10 kilometres with a litre of petrol. If you compare gas with petrol, gas is very light. If theres any flame, gas goes up and doesnt go down. In terms of safety, it is better than petrol. Your engine will always look new. Mr Adedotun said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Obi Aguocha, a Labour Party federal lawmaker from Abia State, has said that a group planning a protest against him wants to discredit him. The group is alleging that the lawmaker has not done constituency projects and lacks accountable representation. Mr Aguocha, who is representing Ikwuano, Umuahia North/ Umuahia South Federal Constituency of Abia State, said this in a statement in Abuja on Monday A group going by the name of Niger Delta Youth Peace Builders is being sponsored by certain individuals to cast aspersions on my person in Abuja. The said group is being sponsored to protest under the guise of lack of constituency projects, accountable representation, and the management of rice palliatives in our great constituency, the lawmaker said. He said: While I respect and recognise their rights to a peaceful assembly of citizens and freedom of expression as enshrined in Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. These rights are fundamental to our democracy. We encourage them to carry out their activities peacefully and comply with existing laws. 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 Aguocha said that he valued the safety and well-being of all his constituents, regardless of their political persuasion. He urged them to ensure that their protest remained a positive engagement. Mr Aguocha said that the concerns raised in their notice were not out of place, adding that he has consistently worked hard to secure viable projects for the constituency, including human capital development opportunities in the Appropriations Act 2024. The Appropriation Act is open source and easily verifiable, Mr Aguocha said. The lawmaker said the projects would be executed when the federal government released funds to contractors for their implementation. He, however, stated that it was significant to note that projects in the Appropriation Act do undergo rigorous due process, including their award to eligible contractors. We are committed to maintaining transparency and accountability. We will continue to provide regular updates to our constituents, he said. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A former member of the House of Representatives, Luke Onofiok, has urged the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to initiate reforms in the judiciary. Mr Onofiok, who chaired the House Committee on Judiciary in the 9th Assembly, said the acting CJN has what it takes to reform the judiciary. He stated this in a statement he issued on Sunday. I am confident that, with Your Lordships experience, the Nigerian judiciary will reach new levels of efficiency. I have no doubt that you will usher in reforms that will empower the judicial workforce and improve working conditions, he said. He added, I am eagerly anticipating the significant reforms during your tenure that will strengthen the rule of law and enhance the image of our justice system. During her inauguration by President Bola Tinubu on Friday, Mrs Kekere-Ekun pledged to spearhead reforms to restore public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. The acting CJN is assuming office when public confidence in the judiciary is dwindling and is believed to have further declined during the tenures of Mrs Kekere-Ekuns last two predecessorsTanko Muhammad and Olukayode Ariwoola. 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 confidence crisis the judiciary has been enmeshed in is well-known within and outside the legal profession. In his speech during the event, President Bola Tinubu urged the acting CJN to defend the independence of the judiciary and promote the cause of justice. He tasked her with upholding the highest standards of integrity and fidelity to the Constitution. President Tinubu also encouraged reforms to bolster public trust in the judiciary. New emoluments to help reform efforts- Onofiok Speaking on some of the tasks ahead for the new CJN, Mr Onofiok said the latest salary and emolument package for the judiciary will be instrumental in reforming the sector. The recent assent by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to the bill for an upward review of the salaries and emoluments of judicial officers is a milestone that I believe will have an even greater impact under your leadership. This commitment by the Executive underscores the persistent advocacy efforts over the years, including those during my tenure as chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, he said. Last week, President Tinubu signed into law the bill seeking to increase Nigerian judicial officers salaries, allowances, and benefits by 300 per cent. With the new law, the CJN will now earn N64 million annually, the President of the Court of Appeal will earn N62.4 million annually, and the Justices of the Supreme Court will earn N61.4 million annually. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, has promised to resolve the peoples suffering if elected in the upcoming 21 September election. We are telling them that we are the party, and we will be the government that will resolve the problems and sufferings of the people, Mr Ighodalo said when he appeared on Arise Televisions Morning Show on Monday. With the governorship election 26 days away, the state has been agog with political activities as the serious contenders among the 17 political parties fielding candidates scramble to outdo one another in their campaigns. Mr Ighodalo unveiled his manifesto in June 2024, promising security, increasing the states internally generated revenue, and turning the state into a major tourist destination in Africa. Fielding questions on Arise TV on Monday, pledged to prioritise security. He said he would find resources to create technologically empowered security in the state to aid law enforcement officers in serving effectively. If we dont get security right in Edo State or any state in Nigeria or Nigeria as a country, many of our problems will not go away, he said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Mr Ighodalo, a lawyer, promised to create more jobs and an enabling environment for businesses while ensuring that people get livable wages. According to him, the former chairman of Sterling Bank Plc and the Nigerian Breweries promised to fix the states water problem, which would require N60 to 70 billion. I know where the money is, he said, adding that he would engender trust and transparency in government to attract capital and donors. He said he would turn Edo State into a tourism hub for tourists within and outside Nigeria by leveraging the states cultural heritage and hospitality and showcasing its unique heritage. On Monday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld the validity of the PDPs primary election which produced Mr Ighodalo as the partys Edo State primary election. Mr Ighodalo also alleged on television on Monday that his supporters were harassed in the state and called for the intervention of security agencies. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Osun State Government, on Monday, said two cases of monkeypox, known as M-pox, have been recorded in the state. The state Commissioner for Health, Jola Akintola, said this during a meeting of the Monkeypox Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) pillar in Osogbo. Mr Akintola said the two cases were recorded in the Ilesa West Local Government Area of the state. Providing the situation report on the disease, the State Epidemiologist, Omolola Adeagbo, said, A total of 47 suspected cases were recorded from EPI Week 1 to Week 34 across 13 local government areas (LGAs). All 47 samples were sent to the laboratory, with two confirmed cases, both involving male patients aged five and 25 from Ilesa West. He outlined the actions the government had taken, including the deployment of Rapid Response Team (RRT) members to the field, advocacy and sensitisation efforts in the Ogbon Alafia community and at the index cases residence, as well as community active case search and retroactive health facility search. The confirmed cases were linked to the state hospital in Ilesa West. Mr Akintola, however, assured the public that the state government was actively managing the situation, saying M-pox is a preventable disease. 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 We successfully managed COVID-19 and prevented a cholera outbreak. Now, with two confirmed M-pox cases, the EOC has been activated, and stakeholders will meet every Monday to strategise on preventing the spread of the virus, thecommissioner said. He said during a recent visit to Abuja, he discussed the M-pox situation with the State Epidemiologist, who confirmed that Osun has only seen two cases in the last 34 weeks, compared to hundreds in other states. Mr Akintola also added that the state government had started awareness campaign on five radio stations, thus greatly contributing to managing the outbreak. There is no cause for alarm. Our officers are fully prepared, and just as we prevented cholera, we will also prevent the spread of M-pox. In their remarks, the state coordinator for the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ojediran Oluwatoyin, and the state coordinator for UNICEF, Israel Solomon, commended the state governments proactive steps. They said while there is currently no vaccine for M-pox in the country, the state should continue its sensitisation efforts across all local government areas and strengthen surveillance and community engagement. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Kogi State government has called on the police to arrest the hoodlums who attacked Yakubu Ajaka, a candidate in the states 2023 governorship election, at the Supreme Court premises on Friday. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate was at the court to hear its judgement on his appeal against the return of Mr Ododo as the election winner. The state government made the call in Lokoja on Sunday through the Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo. As a government, we implore the law enforcement agencies to fish out the perpetrators and make them face the full wrath of the law. This is necessary to serve as a deterrent to others and also protect the integrity and safety of our court environments across the country. Kogi government condemns, in the strongest terms, the unwarranted attack that took place moments after the determination of the electoral litigation involving the governors of Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states. The conduct of the hoodlums is barbaric, uncivilised and a grave danger to the institution of justice, he said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He cautioned Nigerians against disturbing the peace in the country. We urge all Nigerians to support the path of constitutionalism and unity, which are the core values of President Bola Tinubus administration. We all must support his lofty policies and values for the progress and development of our dear nation, Mr Ododo pleaded. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Ajaka was reportedly attacked by hoodlums shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the victory of Mr Ododo in the 2023 Kogi governorship election. The court had dismissed Mr Ajakas appeal for lack of merit. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Police officers engaged kidnappers in a shootout on Thursday to rescue the 20 medical students kidnapped a week earlier, an official has said. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said the police secured the release with the support of the office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. He said a kidnap kingpin was killed in the gun battle while two others were arrested. I am pleased to inform you that the kingpin of this notorious gang was neutralised during an exchange of fire with our operatives, Mr Egbetokun said in Abuja, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. Two other members of the gang were arrested, with their weapons recovered. The police chief spoke while handing over the students to their Vice Chancellors in Abuja on Sunday. PREMIUM TIMES reported the kidnap of the 20 medical students on 15 August while travelling through Benue for a medical students conference in Enugu. Twelve of them were from the University of Jos while eight were from the University of Maiduguri. 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 Egbetokun said seven other victims were freed during the rescue operation. He said the successful rescue of the 27 individuals was achieved without the payment of any ransom. The wife of one of the kidnapped medical students also confirmed the release of her husband to this newspaper. PREMIUM TIMES reported that the kidnappers of the medical students had demanded N50 million as ransom. On Sunday, the police chief said the two arrested suspects were already providing useful information to the police. These individuals are currently in our custody where they are providing valuable information that will help in dismantling their criminal network and prevent future occurrences of such abductions, he said. He said the rescue operation was painstakingly difficult and complex, requiring not only deployment of massive resources, but also physical courage, meticulous planning and coordination. In this regard, I must extend my heartfelt appreciation to the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) whose support was instrumental in this operation. I must place on record the personal commitment of the NSA, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to the success of the operation that led to the successful rescue of the victims. I also wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of other security agencies who partnered with us, as well as the local vigilantes who played a crucial role in ensuring the success of the mission, the police chief was quoted as saying by NAN. He said the successful rescue of the victims was a demonstration of what could be achieved through teamwork for a common goal. In their remarks, the vice chancellors of the two universities commended the Nigeria police and other security agencies for successfully rescuing the students unhurt and without payment of ransom. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Tanko Ishaya, said the university management had concluded plans to work on the trauma associated with kidnap in the lives of the students. Kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Benue and many other states in Nigeria. The abductions are done by different armed groups. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the judgment which nullified the People Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in Edo State. The primary produced a banker and lawyer, Asue Ighodalo, as the PDP flag bearer for Edos 21 September governorship election. Channels Television reported that the appeal court set aside the judgment because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit. In a unanimous decision, a three-man panel of the court held that it could not interfere with how the PDP selects its candidate for next months governorship election. A Federal High Court in Abuja last month nullified the 22 February PDP primary on the grounds that it failed to comply with the Electoral Act 2022 the guidelines for the poll conduct and the constitution of the party, PREMIUM TIMES reported. In the judgment, the trial court judge, Inyang Ekwo, held that the exhibit tendered by the PDP was bereft of evidence and ruled that the plaintiffs, through tendered exhibits, were able to establish their case against the defendants. Justice Ekwo had said that based on the PDP exhibit, he found that the returning officer who prepared the result sheet sat down in a place to manufacture the outcome of the primary and therefore held that the exclusion of the 381 delegates was against the provision of the law. 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 I found that the case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit, the judge had said in his 4 July judgment. The suit was instituted by three aggrieved PDP ad-hoc delegates, on behalf of the 378 others. This newspaper reported that the aggrieved ad-hoc delegates had sued INEC, the PDP, its national secretary and the vice chairperson, south-south, as 1st to 4th defendants respectively. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On Monday, sixty media freedom and human rights organisations signed a letter calling on the European Union to take decisive action against Israel for its escalating violations of press freedom and the killing of journalists in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel. The joint statement, according to Al Jazeera, called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the imposition of targeted sanctions on responsible Israeli officials. Prominent among the 60 organisations include the International Press Institute (IPI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Free Press Unlimited (FPU). The organisations said theres an urgent need for action against what they describe as unprecedented violations of media freedom by Israeli authorities. These are part of widespread and systematic abuses committed by Israeli authorities in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and elsewhere, as documented or acknowledged by Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs, UN experts, the International Court of Justice, and in a request for arrest warrants by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the letter said. These violations should trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and further EU targeted sanctions against those responsible. Since last October, Israel has faced accusations of systematic abuses, including the killing of more than 120 Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza, and the arrest and arbitrary detention of at least 49 journalists. Recently, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said 72 out of the 99 journalists killed worldwide in 2023 were Palestinians reporting on Israels war on Gaza, making those 12 months the deadliest for the media in almost a decade. 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 Killings of reporters would have dropped globally year-on-year had it not been for the deaths in the ongoing war on Gaza, the CPJ said in its annual report released on Thursday. Against this background, the press freedom organisations outlined eight actions taken by Israel that require an urgent response by the EU, including the targeted killing of journalists, a ban on independent media access to Gaza, and record-high arbitrary detention of journalists. They also highlighted allegations of torture, enforced disappearances, and significant censorship within Israel and the Palestinian territory it occupies. The cumulative effect of these violations, the letter said, was to create conditions conducive to propaganda and misinformation, ultimately undermining the path to peace and security. The coastal strip of land has been under siege since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli offensive, with little sign of a peace settlement in sight. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print An aide of former Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal has been remanded in prison for sharing a media content considered offensive to the state governor, Ahmad Aliyu. Shafiu Umar was remanded in a correctional facility for allegedly insulting the governor, his wife, and his deputy on a Facebook post. Mr Umar allegedly shared a video of the governor struggling to construct a sentence in English and also posted Mr Aliyus senior secondary school leaving certificate online. A magistrate, Fatima Hassan, barred reporters from covering the court proceedings on Monday. But the polices First Information Report (FIR) obtained by reporters indicated that the government charged Mr Umar with circulating injurious falsehood and engraving matter known to be defamatory, offences, the government said contravened the Penal Code law. According to the FIR, the accused person committed the offences sometimes in July by sharing videos of the governors wife, Fatima Aliyu, spreading money on ground during her birthday ceremony. Mr Umar was also allegedly accused of sharing a document that indicated that Governor Aliyu failed his Senior Secondary School Examination as he scored F9 in English and is not capable of speaking the language fluently. 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 His lawyer, Yusuf Abubakar, later told reporters that Mr Umar denied the charges and made an oral application for his bail. The Chief Magistrate adjourned the ruling on bail application to 6 September and ordered his remand in the correctional facility till then. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has said the arrest of the Telegram founder, Paul Durov, was a part of an ongoing judicial investigation and not a political move. In a post made on X through his official handle, the President, on Monday, said reports that the Telegram CEO was arrested based on political motives are false as the decisions relating to the issue are strictly for the states judiciary. President Macrons statement is the first official confirmation of Mr Durovs arrest. The 39-year-old CEO was arrested and detained on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after arriving through a private jet from Azerbaijan. The absence of an official confirmation created speculations about the reasons behind his detention. But President Macron has responded by stating that he had encountered false information here regarding France following the arrest of Pavel Durov and emphasised that France remains deeply committed to free speech. He also said, France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so. In a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law. The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter. Telegram CEO arrest Mr Durov, a Russian-born business executive, is being accused of having failed to moderate criminal activity on the platform. A police spokesperson informed Reuters that Mr Durov is being investigated by the national cybercrime and fraud offices for his lack of cooperation in cases involving cyber and financial crimes on Telegram. Mr Durov faces allegations that the messaging app facilitates criminality including money laundering and drug trafficking. But Telegram has said its founder supports Telegram financially and ideologically and has nothing to hide. Telegram officials stated that the platform specifically stays away from politically motivated censorship, but it does block terrorist bots and channels. The officials also noted that Mr Durov is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and France. But it is unclear whether he has given up his Russian citizenship. Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in France, on Sunday, also wrote on Facebook that it has been trying to clarify the reasons for the detention and to provide for the protection of Mr Durovs rights and facilitate consular access. French authorities, however, have not been cooperating with Russian officials according to the embassy. Multiple Russian officials criticised the businessmans arrest, arguing that it exposes the Wests double standards regarding free speech and democracy. About Telegram Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app. It is a widely used messaging app which was launched in August 2013. The CEO left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition groups on his VK social media platform, which he later sold and focused primarily on Telegram. In 2021, he acquired his French passport through a special procedure for high-profile foreigners, which exempted him from the usual legal requirements, such as residing in the country for at least five years. The platform allows users to send messages, photos and large files as well as create groups for up to 200,000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited audiences. According to a report by Statista, Telegram is the third most downloaded messenger app globally following WhatsApp and Snapchat. Since its inception, the platform has rapidly gained popularity. It became more popular with the advent of the Russia-Ukraine war and currently serves as a crucial communication tool in conflict zones. However, the Telegram development team is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print At some remove, the current conversation around the appropriate age for admission into our tertiary educational institutions (at least, as framed by extant policy) misses several additional points. A casual commentator on the matter could be forgiven for thinking that the menace of children graduating from university before turning 22 explains graduate unemployment in Nigeria, why teachers turn to petty trading in our schools, why our curriculum might not be suitable for these digital times, etc. You would be forgiven, following reports of the goings-on at a recent policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja, for thinking that a key problem with the countrys education sector is the age at which young people begin tertiary education. Along with other stakeholders in the sector, the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, attended the policy talkfest. And he took the opportunity to remind the country that 18 years is the age at which the Federal Government expects post-secondary educational institutions in the country to offer admissions to entry-level students. Despite pushback from stakeholders at the meeting, the truth is that the minister was simply restating policy. In the end, on the back of the furore that followed the ministers comments, the meeting agreed to allow JAMB admit 16-year-olds this year. But from next year, one supposes that any secondary school leaver below 18 years old would have to wait until they are age-qualified before they can gain admission into a Nigerian university, polytechnic, or college of education. The nuances of the conversation are as interesting as the arithmetic fails to add up. Whether 6-3-3-4 or the so-called modified 9-3-4, our current educational policy presupposes that a Nigerian child would have spent 12 years in primary and secondary schooling before s/he can be qualified to enter a university. In order to meet the 18-year-old hurdle, this means that no Nigerian child should start primary school before they turn six. The conversation, then, hinges on two broad suppositions. The first is that before the age of six, a child is ill-prepared to handle the challenges of primary schooling. The second is that before the age of 18, a child is ill-prepared to handle the challenges of tertiary education. However, empirical evidence abounds that both of these presumptions are untrue. At the very least, it cannot be the case that it is only at the age when a child turns 18 when they can vote and be voted for, enter legitimately into contractual relationships, go to jail, etc. that they are qualified to go to school. The flip side of this argument is that a child under this age would struggle to deal with the rigours of tertiary education. if our tertiary institutions are not conducive to children younger than 18, and our primary schools to children younger than six, then the nature and content of the additional reforms to our education that we need are clearly spelled out: We must make our tertiary education ecosystem less like the Nigerian Correctional Services ecosystem Arguably, the levels of agency required to attend school or go to prison cannot be the same if we are building a modern society. School requires that teachers stand in loco parentis to their wards in a way that the prison warden might not be required to. Thus, if our tertiary institutions are not conducive to children younger than 18, and our primary schools to children younger than six, then the nature and content of the additional reforms to our education that we need are clearly spelled out: We must make our tertiary education ecosystem less like the Nigerian Correctional Services ecosystem (even as we struggle to make the latter a lot like the former in the production of socially-useful adults). At some remove, the current conversation around the appropriate age for admission into our tertiary educational institutions (at least, as framed by extant policy) misses several additional points. A casual commentator on the matter could be forgiven for thinking that the menace of children graduating from university before turning 22 explains graduate unemployment in Nigeria, why teachers turn to petty trading in our schools, why our curriculum might not be suitable for these digital times, etc. What thinking around this latter set of issues establishes is the need for root-and-branch reforms to how we dispense instruction in our schools, especially at the primary and secondary school levels. The Bell Curve and its easy explanation for most such distributions has been proven to be problematic. But in this case, it invites us to consider the outlooks for two types of kids. Those whom, despite the educational systems best intentions run the risk of being left behind. And those who, despite the systems preference for uniformity will run ahead of the curriculum. If the challenge of such reforms is to empower our young ones as early as possible with the knowledge, competencies, and skills that a modern society will require of its citizens, then we can only properly define the operative conditions for meeting this challenge in terms of the need to equalise opportunities. In other words, to give each child a leg up. To understand that in these circumstances, despite our best efforts, different children will proceed through the educational system at different speeds. Is it okay to assume that the vast majority will do so in lockstep? The Bell Curve and its easy explanation for most such distributions has been proven to be problematic. But in this case, it invites us to consider the outlooks for two types of kids. Those whom, despite the educational systems best intentions run the risk of being left behind. And those who, despite the systems preference for uniformity will run ahead of the curriculum. 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 Uddin Ifeanyi, journalist manque and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The problem is well-known, but the lack of political will to implement solutions is evident. Until this lethargy is overcome, true rehabilitation for juveniles will remain an unfulfilled promise in our legislation, devoid of the necessary action. Child justice administration, especially concerning the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law, is a critical yet often overlooked issue in contemporary Nigeria. This neglect is like a malignant tumour, rapidly spreading with dire consequences for the future of our nation. While no comprehensive records exist on the exact number of juvenile delinquents in the country, a 2022 report estimates that around 6,000 children are currently within the criminal justice system. Socio-economic factors such as poverty, pronounced societal inequalities, religious and family conflict, peer pressure, and the negative influence of adult role models contribute to delinquent behaviours. Often, these children are victims of circumstance, rather than being genuine offenders. Whether offenders or victims, the right of a child to legal protection is inviolable, regardless of age, gender, background, tribe, or religion. It is the governments responsibility not only to enact laws governing the administration of child justice but also to ensure the effective implementation of these laws, particularly in protecting and rehabilitating children in conflict with the law. Nigeria has legislation aimed at protecting juveniles, including the Children and Young Persons Act, the Child Rights Act 2003, the Criminal Code, and the Penal Code. Among these, the Child Rights Act of 2003 aligns most closely with international best practices, being an offshoot of the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). However, as a federal law, it only becomes operative in the 36 states of the Federation if re-enacted as state law, due to child rights not being on the constitutional legislative list. In addition, Section 12(3) of the Constitution requires that the bill for such laws must be ratified by all states before becoming law. The Child Rights Act, however, was not ratified by all states due to conflicts with religious and cultural norms, leading to only 25 states re-enacting it into law. Even in states that have enacted the Child Rights Law, the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law remains deprioritised. This article seeks to highlight this issue, considering the growing youth population and the unchecked increase in juvenile delinquency. It aims to provide solutions that will ensure policy reforms on paper translate into tangible changes in the status quo. The Child Rights Act (CRA) 2003 defines a child as a person who is under the age of eighteen. Under the CRA, the purpose of the juvenile administration system is to rehabilitate and properly reintegrate offenders into society. The Act mandates that in all actions concerning a child, whether by individuals, public or private bodies, institutions, courts of law, or legal authorities, the best interest of the child must be the primary consideration. 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 Act stipulates that detention pending trial should be a measure of last resort, used only for the shortest possible time and replaced whenever possible by alternative measures, such as close supervision, care by and placement with a family, or an educational setting. Furthermore, during detention, a child must receive care, protection, and all the necessary assistance, including social, educational, vocational, psychological, medical, and physical support, tailored to his or her age, gender, and personality. The Act also prohibits the imprisonment of children, stating that the placement of a child in a government institution should be a last resort, ordered only if no other option is available. The court must document its reasons for such orders and ensure a vacancy in the intended institution. Despite these laudable provisions, their implementation is hindered by the lack of enabling systems and structures. Presently, there are only three borstal institutions in Nigeria, located in Ogun, Kwara, and Kaduna states, contrary to the Correctional Services Act 2019, which provides for one borstal institution in each state. These institutions are supposed to offer education to young offenders, but they are so neglected and dilapidated that they now contradict their rehabilitative purpose. A 2022 feature by Hum Angle revealed that the Kaduna borstal institution employs total confinement, including a dungeon known as the Black Cell, with living conditions designed to break the resolve of young offenders and dehumanise them. Similarly, the only known remand home in South East Nigeria, located in Abakaliki, has living conditions reminiscent of the slave trade era, which is utterly unsuitable for rehabilitation. It is, therefore, unsurprising that juveniles often end up in overcrowded prisons with adult offenders, both before and after trial, with some having their ages falsified by law enforcement for easier processing. This exposes them to criminal influences from adult inmates, hardening them and making rehabilitation and reintegration nearly impossible. Young people are highly impressionable, and their experiences whether first or second-hand shape behaviours carried into adulthood. While there is no solid empirical data on the rates of juvenile recidivism in Nigeria due to poor data collection and reporting mechanisms, a 2010 estimate put the prevalence of recidivism in Nigerian custodial centres at 52.4 per cent. Given the recent rise in crime rates, there is no indication that this tendency has decreased. Apart from the 2022 news about the inauguration of a Committee for the Reformation of Borstal Institutions by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and a bill proposed by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, to address the challenges of underage inmates, little has been done to remedy this situation. It is crucial that the issue of juvenile rehabilitation is promptly revisited, as this is an essential step in curbing recidivism and promoting preventive justice within our legal system. Rehabilitation and reformation work best with individualised services for smaller groups, as seen in foster programmes. The government should consider partnerships with families and organisations interested in foster programmes, where juveniles are placed with families that provide the attention, guidance, and care they lacked from their parents. Alternatives to institutionalisation should be proactively explored. Research has shown that counseling interventions have the most significant positive impact on reducing recidivism, followed by coordinated services and skill-building programmes. In cases where institutionalisation is unavoidable, borstal institutions should implement group-based, mentoring-focused counseling, combining various types of support psychological, medical, spiritual, educational, and moral. This article builds on several other recommendations on this issue. The problem is well-known, but the lack of political will to implement solutions is evident. Until this lethargy is overcome, true rehabilitation for juveniles will remain an unfulfilled promise in our legislation, devoid of the necessary action. Ruth Soronnadi is a lawyer, chartered mediator, and administrator. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Kaduna state governor, Uba Sani, has given his approval for the disbursement of N470 million to facilitate the accreditation of various courses and programs across five state-owned tertiary institutions and seven technical and commercial secondary schools In a statement by the state commissioner of education Professor Mohammed-Sani Bello, on Sunday, the release of funds for accreditation by relevant regulatory bodies is a vital prerequisite that ensures the validity and legality of courses studied and certificates awarded at the end of study. Mr Bello provided the breakdown of the payments for the accreditation purposes as follows: Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria, N42,495,542.20 College of Nursing and Midwifery, N45,532,000.00 College of Education Gidan Waya, N45,000,000.00 Kaduna State University, N291,481,794.00 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 Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, N26,640,000.00 7 Technical and Commercial Secondary Schools N18,000,000.00 Additionally, he highlighted some of the notable achievements and successes recorded by Mr Sanis administration since taking office in May 2023. Indeed, this is a demonstration of the firm commitment of Governor Sani to ensuring uninterrupted provision of quality education in Kaduna State. Education at all levels remains a top priority of the Uba Sani administration. Since his assumption of office, the Governor has embarked on swift and comprehensive reforms in the education sector with a special focus on improving access, retention, and positive learning outcomes. The administration has also taken teacher welfare, conducive learning environment, and investment in infrastructure seriously. In 2023, Governor Sani announced a downward review of tuition fees across all state-owned tertiary institutions to increase access to education. The fee reductions range from 30% to 50% across institutions to mitigate the effect of rising cost of living. Similarly, the state government has reduced the hitherto N65,000 fee regime in the Kaduna Capital School to N23,000 per academic term. Other initiatives of the administration include the groundbreaking for construction of 62 new secondary schools across the state, completion/commissioning of six new Science Secondary Schools, construction/renovation of several hostels, classrooms, and VIP conveniences. Groundbreaking for construction of 50 additional new secondary schools and renovation of over 200 dilapidated schools facilities are underway. Furthermore, the Kaduna State Government has secured full scholarship for 50 students to pursue ICT courses at Mewar International University, the first Indian International University with a West African campus. The selection process, conducted by the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board, prioritized candidates with the highest JAMB scores from each of the 23 local government areas, with special consideration for female applicants. Additionally, the sum of N205m was released for merit and need-based scholarship disbursement to eligible students. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Sygen Pharmaceuticals Ltd headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria (laygen) and ORx Pharmaceuticals Corporation based in Ontario, Canada (ORx) are thrilled to announce the formation of a groundbreaking joint venture. Sygen-ORx Bioscience is aimed at revolutionising healthcare and addressing pharmaceutical drug security challenges through collaborative innovation. ORX Pharmaceuticals, an affiliate of the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology, North Americas premier post-graduate institute for pharmaceutical technology and research, is renowned for its commitment to advancing medical science and improving patient care. It brings a wealth of expertise and patented technologies in drug development and commercialization. Led by a team of dedicated professionals and guided by a vision of excellence, ORX has consistently delivered transformative therapies across various therapeutic areas, earning recognition as a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Sygen Pharmaceuticals, known for its pioneering spirit and dedication to scientific rigor, complements ORXs strengths with its innovative approach to healthcare solutions. With a focus on developing high-quality medications and enhancing access to innovative treatments, Sygen has established itself as a trusted partner in driving positive change in the healthcare landscape in Nigeria. The joint venture between ORx and Sygen represents a powerful union of vision, expertise, and commitment to improving patient outcomes and tackling pharmaceutical drug security challenges. By combining resources, knowledge, and capabilities, Sygen-ORx aims to accelerate the development and commercialization of cutting-edge therapies, addressing unmet medical needs and improving healthcare access for patients worldwide. According to the framework agreement, the joint venture will be called Sygen-ORx Biosciences Ltd. The joint venture company will focus on the following aspects: Development of improved formulations of generic pharmaceuticals, focusing on products with established clinical efficacy and that have already received regulatory approval and achieved substantial commercial success. 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 * Advancing innovative drug discovery programmes into the regional and global pharmaceutical market. * Reduce cost and increase access to High Quality Branded Generic Medicines in Africa In addition to establishing the joint venture company, Sygen and ORx will provide support to the joint venture company leveraging their expertise gained from global drug discovery research and development and commercialization and distribution, aiming to accelerate open innovation in early-stage drug discovery. Sygen-ORx Biosciences will build upon the foundation of excellence established by ORx and Sygen, ushering in a new era of healthcare innovation, said Dr Alexander MacGregor [ORx Pharmaceuticals CEO], With a shared commitment to scientific excellence and integrity. Sygen-ORX Biosciences is positioned to make a significant impact in the healthcare landscape, shaping the future of medicine for generations to come. Collaboration is at the heart of our mission at Sygen Pharmaceuticals, and we are excited to embark on this transformative journey with ORx Pharmaceuticals, said Charles Ogunwuyi, [Sygen Pharmaceutical CEO] Together, as SygenORx, we have the opportunity to amplify our impact and drive innovation in healthcare, ultimately improving the lives of patients in Africa and beyond. Through our partnership with ORx Pharmaceuticals, we can leverage our collective strengths to deliver meaningful solutions that address critical medical challenges and advance patient care. About ORx Pharmaceutical Corporation of Ontario Canada, ORx Pharmaceuticals stands at the forefront of innovative healthcare solutions, driven by a commitment to advance medical science and improve patients lives. ORx combines cutting-edge research, technology, and collaboration to develop transformative treatments across various therapeutic areas. With a focus on efficiency and innovation, ORx employs rigorous quality standards and strategic partnerships to accelerate the development and commercialization of its pipeline products. With a portfolio of promising products in various stages of development. ORx Pharmaceuticals is committed to revolutionizing healthcare and improving the lives of patients worldwide. For more information visit Link About Sygen Pharmaceutical Ltd Sygen Pharma (Sygen Pharmaceuticals Ltd) Is an innovative life sciences company with a wealth of experience in branded generics and a strong commitment to improving patient outcomes in Africa. Our mission of improving access to high quality medicines drives our focus to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs in the region. We are relentlessly looking beyond our primary therapeutic areas of focus to create holistic healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in collaboration with external partners. Through these efforts, Sygen Pharma stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into making drugs more accessible to patients and empowering healthcare professionals within the region. For more information, visit Link Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Troops of the I Division Nigerian Army have neutralised a suspected terrorist and recovered four AK-47 magazines in Kaduna State. The Divisions acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations, Musa Yahaya, disclosed this on Monday. Troops, while on clearance operations in the general areas of Sabon Birni, Dogon Dawa, Maidaro, Ngede Alpha and Rafin Kaji on Aug. 25, made contact with elements of terrorists, Mr Yahaya, a lieutenant-colonel, said in a statement on Monday. In the firefight that ensued, our troop overpowered and neutralised one of the terrorists while others fled with suspected gunshot injuries, he said. Mr Yahaya said four AK-47 magazines (three fully loaded with a total quantity of 60 x 7.62mm Special ammunition and one empty magazine), a PKT belt with 86 rounds of ammunition, two motorcycles (one of which was destroyed), a Techno mobile phone, a Baofeng Handheld Radio, and an Airtel recharge card worth N5,000 were recovered. He said the General Officer Commanding(GOC), I Division and Commander of Operation WHIRL PUNCH, Mayirenso Saraso, a major general, commended the troops for the successful operation. He said Mr Saraso also charged the soldiers to redouble their efforts as well as make life unbearable for all terrorists, insurgents and their collaborators in the Divisions Area of Responsibility. 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 commended the good people of Kaduna, Kano, Niger and Jigawa States for their continuous cooperation. He also urged them to always use the divisions toll-free line, 0800 002 0204, to communicate actionable intelligence and information to further assist the Division and other security agencies in projecting offensive operations against the criminal elements. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print TAIPEI, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantech is enhancing their support services to offer a comprehensive suite of wireless solutions that surpass industry standards. Committed to technical excellence, they recognize the crucial role of technical expertise in wireless integration. Advantech Industrial Wireless Solutions (AIW) provides the developers with exceptional support throughout the entire product lifecycle. In 2024, Advantech broke new ground in industrial Wi-Fi 7 solutions by collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to develop products specifically for industrial applications Jerry.Chiang, Advantech Director, indicates that "Advantech's AIW product portfolio offers a diverse range of wireless solutions designed for industrial applications." He said, "We meticulously developed products to include Wi-Fi, GPS/GNSS, cellular, Bluetooth, and antennas, all tailored to meet the unique demands of industrial environments." In 2024, Advantech broke new ground in industrial Wi-Fi 7 solutions by collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to develop products specifically for industrial applications, such as the AIW-173. The first Wi-Fi 7 product is set to be released in Q4. "We are excited to collaborate with Advantech in delivering cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7 solutions that empower the next generation of industrial applications." said Shishir Gupta, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies. "Our joint commitment to technological advancement fuels our anticipation for continued collaboration, driving innovative and competitive solutions to market." As the first pioneering Wi-Fi 7 product for embedded market, AIW-173 is a flagship Wi-Fi 7 model featuring the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System . AIW teams up with Qualcomm Technologies to develop and enhance sector-driven features like fast-roaming, softAP, Wake on WLAN from S5. By doing so, AIW could propose a comprehensive and reliable total solution for demands from industrial market. At the core of Advantech's commitment is a specialized team offering tailored consultancy for every project's specific requirements. From inception to product launch, their experts provide detailed guidance to ensure smooth wireless system integration and superior performance. Advantech's technical support spans crucial stages of product development, encompassing RF and antenna design, firmware, and wireless system integration. Addressing common hurdles in Linux or Windows OS, their comprehensive guidelines and support accelerate development and mitigate challenges effectively. Moreover, Advantech's AIW Design-In Service provides specialized tools such as the AIWTool for cellular solutions, enhancing system integration, stability, and monitoring. These tools streamline the development process, empowering developers to achieve greater efficiency and reliability in their wireless solutions. For AIW-173 Wi-Fi 7 solution, please visit Advantech page. For more information on Advantech's Wireless Solutions, a wealth of information is available at https://bit.ly/AIWlanding. For additional details about Design-in Services, watch the video at https://youtu.be/G8KQlePgDSU?si=bje1XRAj5XJtJSJs. Stay tuned as Advantech continues to push the boundaries of wireless connectivity, shaping the future of the industrial IoT landscape. Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patented technologies are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm and FastConnect are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. SOURCE Advantech Top national builder offering single-family homes in 500-acre planned community BRIGHTON, Colo., Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Communities, Inc.one of the nation's largest homebuilders, an industry leader in online home sales, and the highest-ranked homebuilder on Newsweek's list of America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2024revealed it's now selling at Farmlore, Brighton's anticipated 500-acre planned community with abundant amenities. The company is offering two single-family home collections at Farmlore, boasting a versatile lineup of ranch and two-story floor plans. Farmlore Barn Gathering Center | New Homes in Brighton, CO Vail Model Home | Farmlore by Century Communities | New Build Homes in Brighton, CO Inspired by its roots as a flower farm, Farmlore has worked closely with the city of Brighton to create a neighborhood centered around agriculture, nature, and human connection. Contributing to this vision, current and future community amenities include a 7,000-square-foot brick barn gathering center, an outdoor pool and recreation center, and the neighboring Prairie Lakes Regional Park. The community is located just minutes from historic downtown Brighton, one mile from Prairie CenterBrighton's largest retail centerand 16 miles from Denver International Airport. In addition, Denver's attractions and employment hubs are less than 30 minutes south. Learn more and view available homes at www.CenturyCommunities.com/Farmlore. Farmlore Now selling 8 versatile single-family floor plans; ranch and two-story layouts 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2 to 3 bathrooms, and up to 2,435 square feet Current and planned amenities include an outdoor pool, neighborhood park, brick barn gathering center, and miles of trails Quick access to Brighton's Main Street, Barr Lake State Park, and Denver International Airport Location: 1350 Farmstead Street Brighton, CO 80601 303.268.8364 DISCOVER THE FREEDOM OF ONLINE HOMEBUYING: Century Communities is proud to feature its industry-first online homebuying experience on all available homes in Colorado. How it works: Shop homes at CenturyCommunities.com Click "Buy Now" on any available home Fill out a quick Buy Online form Electronically submit an initial earnest money deposit Electronically sign a purchase contract via DocuSign Learn more about the Buy Online experience at www.CenturyCommunities.com/online-homebuying. About Century Communities Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS) is one of the nation's largest homebuilders, an industry leader in online home sales, and the highest-ranked homebuilder on Newsweek's list of America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2024, consecutively awarded for a second year. Through its Century Communities and Century Complete brands, Century's mission is to build attractive, high-quality homes at affordable prices to provide its valued customers with A HOME FOR EVERY DREAM. Century is engaged in all aspects of homebuilding including the acquisition, entitlement and development of land, along with the construction, innovative marketing and sale of quality homes designed to appeal to a wide range of homebuyers. The Company operates in 18 states and over 45 markets across the U.S., and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries. To learn more about Century Communities, please visit www.centurycommunities.com. SOURCE Century Communities, Inc. Cessatech and Proveca enter an exclusive agreement for the commercialization of CT001 world-wide excluding US. Proveca has been granted a non-exclusive option to license Cessatech's CT002 program. Proveca is a global pharmaceutical company specialising in the development and licensing of medicines to address the unmet medical needs in children. Proveca is based in Manchester, England . COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On 26 August Cessatech A/S ("Cessatech" or "the Company") announces that the Company has entered into an exclusive commercialization agreement with Proveca Ltd - a global pharmaceutical company which specialises in the development and licensing of medicines to address the unmet medical needs in children - for the commercialization of CT001 world-wide with an emphasis on Europe and major markets elsewhere. Under the agreement Proveca will be the marketing authorization holder. This agreement leverages the Proveca team's expertise in specialised medicines for children and their strong experience with PUMA licensing (Paediatric Use Marketing Authorisation) in Europe, which today includes four PUMA approvals. The detailed terms of the agreement is not disclosed but includes an upfront payment upon signature and double-digit royalties to Cessatech on the basis of net sales in the licensed territory. There is a large unmet need for acute pain management in children. Despite the many pain-relieving products available for adults, few of these have been developed for children. A study on unlicensed drug prescription revealed that as much as 70 percent of all medications for children currently prescribed in hospital settings are administered off-label, meaning that the use deviates from the approved and intended dose, is not clinically validated, documented, or approved for children. In Europe alone, it is estimated that more than 20 million children are exposed each year to acute and procedural pain without access to adequate approved medicine. Jes Trygved, CEO Cessatech "We are extremely pleased with this agreement, and the partnership with Proveca a company that in many ways share the same vision, 'caring about the medication for children'. From the first meetings we had with Proveca, we knew this was an interesting opportunity and someone who spoke the same language. Financially, this agreement is a very strong asset, and it gives us opportunities to expand our pipeline further and provide more solutions for children an area that is still not prioritized enough. We are truly excited about the partnership." Simon Bryson, CEO Proveca "This partnership between Proveca and Cessatech is founded on our shared ambition to improve the lives of children globally with innovative medicines to address their unmet medical needs. We're excited to embark on our first collaboration with Cessatech as we take CT001 through the next phase of its journey, building on the extensive R&D programme, to register and commercialise the product globally. With projected potential peak sales in the high double digit million euros, this is a significant milestone deal for both companies, and we look forward to extending the partnership further with other opportunities, including CT002 for medical procedural sedation in children." For more information about Cessatech, please contact: Jes Trygved, CEO Phone: +45 9387 2309 E-mail: [email protected] www.cessatech.com For more information about Proveca, please contract: Dr Simon Bryson, CEO Phone: +44 161 468 2627 Email: [email protected] www.proveca.com About Cessatech Cessatech A/S is a Danish pharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing evidence-based and innovative medicines for children for the treatment of paediatric acute pain. Its lead asset (CT001) is an analgesic nasal spray for the treatment of acute and planned painful procedures in children. The advantages include needle-free administration, easy administration, a fast-acting therapeutic effect, and being medically approved for children. CT001 is at its pivotal stage of clinical development, and CT002 is at the early development phase. About Proveca Proveca Ltd is a UK-founded, global, commercial stage pharmaceutical company, with technical and commercial operations across Europe, and a global commercialisation platform. The company specialises in the development, licensing and commercialisation of evidence-based medicines to address the unmet medical needs of children, with a current paediatric product portfolio within the neurology, cardiovascular, gastroenterology and immunology therapeutic areas. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/cessatech/r/cessatech-and-proveca-announce-world-wide-excluding-us-commercial-partnership-for-ct001,c4028357 The following files are available for download: Program offers free, confidential and non-judgmental space to discuss challenges and successes for parents and caregivers across Colorado. DENVER, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Circle of Parents Colorado, a program dedicated to bringing peer-to-peer parent support groups to local communities, announced today the launch of a new weekly online support group for Colorado parents and caregivers. This parenting support group is designed to empower parents and caregivers with knowledge, skills and support to raise resilient, happy children. The new statewide Circle of Parents group meets Thursdays at noon, via Zoom and focuses on general parenting issues. Other existing statewide groups are designed to bring together fathers and male caregivers, Spanish-speakers and parents in recovery. "At Circle of Parents, we recognize the power of peer support in parenting journeys," said Toni Miner, program manager of Circle of Parents Colorado. "Our parent support groups serve as inclusive spaces where caregivers can connect, learn, and grow together, ultimately fostering resilience and well-being in families. We are thrilled to host a new online group for any parent or caregiver residing in Colorado." As an evidence-informed model, Circle of Parents is shown to improve the resiliency in children by increasing the protective factors in their environment through a support group for caregivers. Those include parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children. National and local evaluations of the Circle of Parents model found that participants had statistically significant changes in four out of the five Strengthening Family Protective Factors after they participated in the Circle of Parents program. More specifically: 75% knew where to turn for community resources 82.5% were getting along better with their children 80% improved their parenting skills 72.5% learned to creatively solve problems 90% benefited from sharing ideas/experiences with others In addition to statewide online groups, local Circle of Parents groups can exist anywhere in the community that is accessible and open to parents. Typically, local groups gather in person at family resource centers, schools, health clinics and religious institutions. Some meet virtually over Zoom or offer hybrid meetings. All groups are facilitated by trained professionals and led by other parents. Local Circle of Parents groups meet for general parenting, parents in recovery, fathers and male caregivers, Spanish-speakers, kinship and grandparents, parents of children with special needs and expectant, new and expanding families. Colorado families interested in exploring or joining a support group can find their Circle at www.circleofparentsco.org. Illuminate Colorado, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to strengthening families, organizations and communities to prevent child maltreatment, leads the state chapter of Circle of Parents. About Circle of Parents Colorado Circle of Parents Colorado provides support groups that are led by parents, for parentswhere parents are the experts. Using a peer-to-peer model, our facilitators help create a safe, inviting space where all participants are empowered to seek and share support and build a community that helps them be the parents they want to be. To learn more, or to find your Circle, visit www.circleofparentsco.org. About Illuminate Colorado Illuminate Colorado is a statewide nonprofit strengthening families, organizations and communities to prevent child maltreatment. With a research-based approach that emphasizes building protective factors, Illuminate addresses systemic and multi-sector issues by collaborating with families and partners at the community, state and national level to develop and implement powerful programs, policies and initiatives that build brighter childhoods in Colorado. Visit www.IlluminateColorado.org to learn more. Media Contact: Wendy Artman, GFM|CenterTable 920-819-8968 [email protected] SOURCE Circle of Parents Colorado VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Defense Metals Corp. ("Defense Metals" or the "Company"; (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE: 35D) today announced the resignations of Craig Taylor as Chief Executive Officer and Director, and Len Clough, Director, effective immediately. Guy de Selliers, Chairman of Defense Metals, commented: "We are grateful for Craig's contributions to Defense Metals and are saddened to see him leave the company. Under his leadership, the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Project has progressed to an advanced stage, with a detailed pre-feasibility study nearing completion and results expected by year-end. Craig has also been instrumental in establishing a strong relationship with the McLeod Lake Indian Band, which, along with the broader support from British Columbia provincial authorities, is vital to the company. On behalf of the Board, management team, and our shareholders, we extend our sincere thanks to Craig for his dedication and achievements at Defense Metals." Craig Taylor, commented: "It's time for me to leave Defense Metals to pursue other interests and step back from development of the Wicheeda Project, which I firmly believe is the best of its kind in North America. I take great pride in what we've accomplished and have full confidence that the senior management team, along with the exceptional group of engineers, scientists, and other experts that we've brought together, will do an outstanding job in bringing this project to production in the near future." The Board of Directors has initiated the search for a new CEO. Pending the appointment of a new CEO, Executive Chairman Guy de Selliers will lead the company, working closely with the Board of Directors, President Luisa Moreno and Lead Independent Director Dale Wallster. In addition, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Interim CFO, Alex Heath, will play a key role in supporting the leadership team and guiding the Company through this transition. In connection with this transition, the Company has agreed to issue Mr. Taylor an aggregate of 1,600,000 common shares of the Company as part of his severance. The issuance of the shares is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and will be subject to a four-month hold period. The Company also announces that Len Clough has resigned as a director. Defense Metals extends its sincere gratitude for his contributions and wishes him continued success in his future endeavours. About Defense Metals Corp. and its Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Project Defense Metals Corp. is focused on the development of its 100% owned, 8,301-hectare (~20,534-acre) Wicheeda REE Project that is located on the traditional territory of the McLeod Lake Indian Band in British Columbia, Canada. The Wicheeda REE Project, approximately 80 kilometres (~50 miles) northeast of the city of Prince George, is readily accessible by a paved highway and all-weather gravel roads and is close to infrastructure, including hydro power transmission lines and gas pipelines. The nearby Canadian National Railway and major highways allow easy access to the port facilities at Prince Rupert, the closest major North American port to Asia. Defense Metals is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: www.discoverygroup.ca. For further information, please visit www.defensemetals.com or contact: Alex Heath Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Interim CFO Tel: +1 604-354-2491 Email: [email protected] Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information This news release contains "forwardlooking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements relating to advancing the Wicheeda REE Project, the expectations and plans for the Wicheeda REE Project, the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its project, goals and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of rare earth elements, the anticipated costs and expenditures, the ability to achieve its goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration and metallurgical results, risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and development and cost estimates, the potential for unexpected costs and expenses and those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca). While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, adverse weather and climate conditions, failure to maintain or obtain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to maintain or obtain community acceptance (including First Nations), risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of personnel, materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), risks relating to inaccurate geological, metallurgical, engineering and pricing assumptions, decrease in the price of rare earth elements, the impact of viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, loss of key employees, consultants, officers or directors, increase in costs, delayed results, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law. SOURCE Defense Metals Corp. GUANGZHOU, China, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- According to International Energy Agency's forecasts, renewables will surpass coal to become the largest source of global electricity generation in 2025 and account for over 42% share in 2028, signifying a significant shift in the global power mix. In China, there has been an accelerating transformation with renewable power generation capacity has surpassed coal-fired electricity in the first half of 2024, capturing 38% of the market share. [1] This rapid evolution in the new energy sector has created attractive investment opportunities in area such as clean, renewable energy and low-carbon transition of thermal power plants and steel manufacturing. share of indices by industry classification and net profit growth for indices As China's largest mutual fund manager, E Fund Management ("E Fund") is dedicated to serving both domestic and international investors through a range of relevant ETFs, including CSI New Energy ETF (Code: 516090), E Fund Carbon Neutral 100 ETF (Code: 562990), and E Fund CNI New Energy Battery ETF (Code: 159566), the first two are included in mainland ChinaHong Kong ETF Connect. Among these, CSI New Energy Index primarily focuses on clean and renewable energy and more than 70% of its constituents involved in electrical equipment sector. Conversely, SEEE Carbon Neutral Index differentiates as a more comprehensive index. As of 2023, its composition was weighted at 67.2% towards companies engaged in clean, renewable energy and 32.8% in low-carbon transition. Beyond new energy industry, China is driving a comprehensive green transformation towards a more sustainable economy and the electric vehicle industry serves as a prime example. Data from China Passenger Car Association revealed that in July, retail sales of new energy passenger car outstripped that of conventional vehicles with the monthly penetration rate exceeding 50% for the first time. The CNI New Energy Battery Index is well poised to capture this trend, particularly focusing on energy storage system (ESS) battery manufacturing and integration. The only ETF dedicated to this index, E Fund CNI New Energy Battery ETF, aimed to benefit from the growth potential of its index constituents, with an expected net profit growth rate of 22.6% for 2024. About E Fund Established in 2001, E Fund Management Co., Ltd. ("E Fund") is a leading comprehensive mutual fund manager in China with close to RMB 3.3 trillion (US$ 454 billion) under management.[2] It offers investment solutions to onshore and offshore clients, helping clients achieve long-term sustainable investment performances. E Fund's clients include both individuals and institutions, ranging from central banks, sovereign wealth funds, social security funds, pension funds, insurance and reinsurance companies, to corporates and banks. It is a pioneer and leading practitioner in responsible investments in China and is widely recognized as one of the most trusted and outstanding Chinese asset managers. Note: [1] Data from China Electricity Council [2] As at Jun 30, 2024. AuM includes subsidiaries. Source: PBoC, Wind. SOURCE E Fund Management CHICAGO, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gunlocke, an Allsteel partner brand and leading manufacturer of wood casegoods, has announced a comprehensive brand refresh. This revitalization honors the company's rich heritage while embracing a forward-looking vision to meet the demands of the modern workplace. Careful Consideration for Thoughtful Applications Gunlocke Unveils Brand Refresh Crafted with a focus on sustainability and sophistication, the Gunlocke Stratawood collection is sourced from FSC certified trees and is available for the Silea desking and casegoods and Briefing tables collections. Available in October, the refreshed brand materials will showcase how Gunlocke's timeless products meet the needs of today's modern leaders, continuing to offer versatile solutions as work environments evolve. Whether in collaborative spaces, hybrid work environments, lounges, or private offices, Gunlocke furniture is expertly crafted to blend style, character, and quality into contemporary office layouts. "Gunlocke has a storied history of producing exceptional furniture that performs with excellence," said Natalie Johansen Murray, Vice President of Brand Marketing at HNI Workplace Furnishings. "Our new brand identity captures the essence of who we are and where we are headed. It's a symbol of our longstanding dedication to quality and integrity through thoughtful design, sustainable materials, and an elevated aesthetic." Legacy of Authentic Craftsmanship Since 1902, Gunlocke has been synonymous with superior craftsmanship and design. Gunlocke furniture has occupied the Oval Office at The White House and furnished the workplaces of some of the world's greatest companies and leaders. Gunlocke's skilled artisans seamlessly blend tradition with technology to create distinctive pieces that exemplify craftsmanship. This dedication is evident in practices such as steam bending natural wood and meticulous hand finishing, highlighting Gunlocke's commitment to quality and sustainability. Their Stratawood veneer offerings are precision-crafted from FSC Certified, plantation-grown Obeche and Euro Basswood trees, responsibly sourced and milled to maximize output while minimizing environmental impact. When The Stanley Center for Peace and Security, a Living Building Challenge participant, sought a furniture partner to reflect their commitment to sustainability and equity, they chose Gunlocke. The Silea casegoods, which hold the Declare label, exemplify Gunlocke's cutting-edge and environmentally conscious solutions. This collaboration has exceeded expectations in creating a workspace that embodies the Center's mission and underscores Gunlocke's transparency and dedication to preserving Earth's resources. For more information about Gunlocke's refreshed brand and product enhancements, please visit our updated website at www.gunlocke.com. About Gunlocke Gunlocke is a leading designer and manufacturer of high-quality workplace furniture, known for its exceptional craftsmanship and innovative designs. With over a century of experience, Gunlocke is committed to delivering products that meet the evolving needs of the modern workplace. For more information, visit www.gunlocke.com. About Allsteel Since 1912, Allsteel, an HNI Company, has offered a world-class, comprehensive range of workplace products and solutions. We simplify the office planning process by helping our customers align their workplace strategy with their business strategy. The result is fit-to-business solutions that deliver meaningful change in a way that works for them today, as well as tomorrow. Allsteel has showrooms in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. For additional information, visit www.allsteeloffice.com or follow Allsteel on Facebook , LinkedIn , Instagram , Pinterest and YouTube . SOURCE Gunlocke WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Heffernan Insurance Brokers, one of the largest full-service, independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States, is proud to announce the expansion of its summer internship program. Continuing its commitment to nurturing future leaders in the insurance industry, Heffernan Insurance Brokers has expanded its college intern program to include 30 talented interns across various departments. These interns supported all lines of business in insurance, Wealth Management, and corporate roles such as Finance, IT, Operations, Marketing, HR, and the Heffernan Foundation. Each intern was entrusted with an individual project that added significant value to the company, as well as a group project that addressed pressing cross-functional challenges. These group projects were presented to the executive team, offering innovative solutions for producers, account managers, and wealth managers. Beyond hands-on experience, the interns participated in CIAB education programs, professional skills development sessions led by our corporate trainer, and engaging coffee talks with executives. Their contributions extended beyond the company, as they volunteered at Project Open Hand and The Crayon Initiative, demonstrating Heffernan's commitment to community service. "Our interns have embraced the Heffernan culture and developed a keen interest in the industry. We are excited to expand the program through co-ops during the school year and aim to place interns at every branch next year," said Kate Grasman, CIO at Heffernan Insurance Brokers. "Many college interns have expressed interest in joining the company after graduation, and some have continued on part-time during their final year of college. Congratulations to our 2024 Summer Internsyou have a bright future ahead!" For more information about the Women Empowered group at Heffernan, please contact the Women Empowered Committee or visit Heffernan Internship Program. About Heffernan Insurance Brokers Heffernan Insurance Brokers, founded in 1988, is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States providing comprehensive business insurance, personal insurance, employee benefits and financial services solutions to a wide range of businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has a nationwide presence specializing in customized solutions to serve its clients' unique needs in every industry. Heffernan has been named on the insurance industry's 'Best Agency to Work For' list, and consistently named a 'Top Corporate Philanthropist.' For more information, visit www.heffins.com. License #0564249 SOURCE Heffernan Insurance Brokers Dando vida a la Economia: Giving Life to the U.S. Economy U.S. Latina GDP Report Indicates Tremendous Growth and Key Drivers LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New data from leading researchers indicates that female Hispanics in the U.S. have contributed $1.3 trillion in 2021 to the gross domestic product (GDP), representing over 50% growth in a decade. The U.S. Latina GDP Report, funded by Bank of America, is first of its kind research on the significant and rapidly growing economic contribution of the nation's Hispanic female population. Led by professors Matthew Fienup, Ph.D., California Lutheran University, and David Hayes-Bautista, Ph. D, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, the Latina GDP report found that U.S. Latina GDP grew at 2.7 times the rate of the GDP of Non-Hispanics between 2010 to 2021. Today, the Latina GDP is larger than the entire economy of the state of Florida. "This exciting body of work captures the positive growth and contributions that U.S. Latinas from multiple generations have been making to the U.S. economy, and confirms that Latinas are a driving force. We see similar momentum reflected in our overall business as well as many of the same key drivers found in our own research," said Jennifer Auerbach-Rodriguez, Strategic Growth Markets & Client Development Executive, Merrill Wealth Management. "Following notable reports on U.S. and Metro Area Latino GDP, this new report provides much needed attention to the extraordinary contributions of U.S. Latinas. This research reveals that Latinas outpace their gender and ethnic peers in key economic measures, including record levels of Latina workforce participation, educational attainment, and income growth. It reveals that Latinas are drivers of much-needed economic vitality for the nation," said Dr. Fienup. The key findings in the U.S. Latina GDP Report include: Economic Output The total economic output of U.S. Latinas is $1.3 trillion in 2021, up from $661 billion in 2010, and larger than the economies of all other states except California , Texas and New York . From 2010 to 2021 real U.S. Latina GDP increased a total of 51.1% compared to only 18.8% for non-Hispanic GDP. In other words, the GDP of U.S. Latinas is growing 2.7 times faster. Labor Force Participation From 2010 to 2021, the number of Hispanic females in the U.S. labor force grew a total of 32.9% compared to only 2.7 percent for non-Hispanic females. Despite being just 9.3% of the U.S. population, Latinas are responsible for 30.2% of the growth of the U.S. labor force since 2010. From 2000 to 2021, the Latina labor force participation rate increased 7.5 percentage points, while the rate for non-Hispanic females was flat. U.S. Latinas, who started the century with a participation rate a full 5.0 percentage points lower, are now 2.5 percentage points more likely to be actively working than their non-Hispanic female counterparts. Educational Attainment The number of Latinas with a bachelor's degree or higher education increased 103% between 2010 and 2021, while the number of highly-educated non-Hispanic females increased only 38.3%. Latina educational attainment is growing 2.7 times faster than that of non-Hispanic females. Real Income From 2010 to 2021, the real incomes of U.S. Latinas grew a total of 46.0 percent compared to only 18.5 percent for Non-Hispanic females. In other words, Latina income growth is 2.5 times that of their Non-Hispanic female counterparts. "U.S. Latinas coming of age and entering the U.S. labor force are overwhelmingly second- and third-generation Americans. These daughters and granddaughters of immigrants are combining the extraordinary and selfless work ethic of their elders with rapid growth of human capital to give life to the U.S. economy," said Dr. Hayes Bautista. This data builds directly upon six annual U.S. Latino GDP Reports as well as eight State and a dozen Metro Area Latino GDP Reports released since 2018. Using publicly available data from major U.S. agencies, those reports reveal that Latinos are drivers of economic growth and a critical source of resilience for broader U.S. economy. They document substantial economic growth premiums enjoyed by Latinos of all genders, relative to non-Latinos in the U.S. For example, labor force growth of male and female Hispanics in the U.S. is nine times the growth of the non-Hispanic labor force. Real Latino GDP growth is 2.5 times the growth of non-Latino GDP. These premiums exist across a wide range of economic indicators labor force participation, educational attainment, real income, consumption, and more. To download the full report, please visit: www.LatinaGDP.us The U.S. Latina GDP Report is produced by the Latino GDP Project, a project of Community Partners (www.CommunityPartners.org) with the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting at California Lutheran University (www.clucerf.org) and the Center for the Study of Latino Health & Culture at UCLA (www.uclahealth.org/ceslac). For questions about the report, please contact: Matthew Fienup, Chief Economist ([email protected]); and David Hayes-Bautista, Chief Demographer ([email protected]). Center for Economic Research & Forecasting (CERF) CERF is a nationally recognized economic forecasting center, which provides county, state and national economic forecasts and custom economic analysis for government, business and nonprofit organizations. CERF economists Matthew Fienup and Dan Hamilton are members of the Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting Survey, the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) Economic Outlook Survey, and the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey (formerly, the Case-Shiller Home Price Expectations Survey). CERF was awarded 2019, 2020 and 2021 Crystal Ball Awards for the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey. CERF's U.S. home price forecast received multiple top-3 rankings among more than 100 forecasts included in the survey. CERF is housed at California Lutheran University, a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution. Center for the Study of Latino Health & Culture (CESLAC) Since 1992, CESLAC has provided cutting-edge research, education and public information about Latinos, their health and their impact on California's economy and society. Part of the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, CESLAC is a resource for community members, business leaders and policy makers who want to gain insightful research and information about Latinos. It offers unparalleled insight into Latino issues through an approach that combines cultural research, demographic trends and historical perspective. In addition, it has helped the University of California meet its public service goal by increasing the effectiveness of their outreach to the Latino community. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,800 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC). For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts. Reporters may contact: Carla Molina, Bank of America Phone: 1.512.397.2402 [email protected] Barbra Ramos, UCLA Strategic Communications Phone: 1.310.844.3582 [email protected] Tom Hoener, California Lutheran University Phone: 1.805.493.3890 SOURCE Bank of America Corporation KANAZAWA, Japan, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, used high-speed atomic force microscopy to observe dynamic changes in AMPA receptors, which are vital for brain communication. Their findings, published in ACS Nano, reveal how these receptors adapt during signal transmission and suggest potential targets for neurological therapies. This study, led by Mikihiro Shibata, delves into the complex behavior of AMPA receptors (AMPARs), which are vital for communication between nerve cells in the brain. AMPARs are responsible for fast excitatory neurotransmission, a process crucial for learning, memory, and overall cognitive function. The research particularly focuses on the GluA2 subunit of AMPARs, a key component in transmitting signals at synapses, the junctions where neurons connect. The team employed an advanced imaging technique known as high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) to observe the real-time behavior of the N-terminal domain (NTD) in the GluA2 subunit. The NTD is the starting segment of the protein, playing a critical role in how AMPARs function and cluster at synapses. The study also examined how the GluA2 subunit interacts with TARP 2, a regulatory protein that fine-tunes the receptor's response to signals. One of the key findings is the behavior of the NTD in different states: resting, activated, and desensitized. The researchers discovered that in the activated state, the NTD dimerspairs of NTDscan split into single units or monomers. This process, known as subunit exchange, allows parts of one receptor to swap with another, potentially altering the receptor's function. This novel observation was supported by molecular dynamics simulations, which showed that these monomeric states are stable in their lipid environment, providing a potential mechanism for receptor adaptability and diversity. In the desensitized state, where the receptor becomes less responsive to signals, the NTD dimers separate, but their movement is more restricted compared to the activated state. This desensitization helps protect nerve cells from overstimulation, which could lead to cellular damage. The study's insights into the structural changes of the NTDs in different functional states highlight the dynamic nature of AMPARs and their ability to adapt to various conditions within the synaptic environment. The research also sheds light on the role of neuronal pentraxin 1 (NP1), a protein that aids in the clustering of AMPARs at synapses. NP1 forms a ring-shaped structure that binds to the tips of the NTDs, potentially facilitating the gathering of multiple AMPARs into clusters. This clustering is essential for efficient synaptic transmission, as it brings receptors closer together, allowing for more effective signaling between neurons. By linking multiple receptors, NP1 enhances the strength and reliability of the synaptic connection, contributing to the overall efficiency of neural communication. The study's findings contribute significantly to our understanding of how AMPARs function and adapt during neurotransmission. By revealing the dynamic structural changes in the NTDs and highlighting the role of NP1 in receptor clustering, the research offers new insights into the molecular processes that underlie synaptic plasticitythe ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, which is essential for learning and memory. These discoveries could have important implications for developing treatments for neurological disorders where AMPAR function is disrupted, such as in epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and other cognitive impairments. As the authors conclude, "Our research reveals the dynamic structural changes that occur within AMPA receptors, underscoring their remarkable adaptability. Understanding these mechanisms not only deepens our knowledge of brain function but also opens new avenues for therapeutic interventions targeting synaptic transmission and plasticity." Glossary AMPA Receptors (AMPARs) Proteins on the surface of nerve cells essential for communication between cells in the brain. They respond to signals by allowing charged particles to enter the cell, triggering various processes like learning and memory formation. N-terminal domain (NTD) The beginning part of a protein that influences how the protein behaves and interacts with other molecules. For AMPARs, the NTD helps them cluster together at nerve cell connections. Synapse The point where two nerve cells connect and communicate, allowing signals to pass from one cell to another. TARP 2 A regulatory protein that interacts with AMPARs to control their response to signals. High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) This imaging technique uses a nanosized tip at the end of a cantilever that is scanned over a sample. It can be used to determine the topography of a sample surface from the change in the strength of forces between the tip and the sample with distance, and the resulting deflection of the cantilever. It was first developed in the 1980s but a number of modifications have augmented the functionality of the technique since. It is better suited to imaging biological samples than the scanning tunnelling microscope developed that had been developed because it does not require a conducting sample. In the 2000s Toshio Ando at Kanazawa University was able to improve the scanning speed to such an extent that moving images could be captured. This allowed people to use the technique to visualize molecular processes for the first time. Desensitized state A condition where the receptor becomes less responsive to signals, often to prevent overstimulation. Neuronal pentraxin 1 (NP1) A protein that clusters AMPARs at synapses, improving their signaling ability. Subunit exchange The process where parts of a protein (subunits) swap between receptors, potentially altering their function. Related figure and caption https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/Image_GluA2_1.png High-speed AFM directly visualized the real-space and real-time structural dynamics of AMPARs in the presence of ligands in a liquid environment. 2024 Sumino, et al., ACS Nano Reference Ayumi Sumino, Takashi Sumikama, Yimeng Zhao, Holger Flechsig, Kenichi Umeda, Noriyuki Kodera, Hiroki Konno, Motoyuki Hattori, and Mikihiro Shibata, High-speed atomic force microscopy reveals dynamic dimer splitting of the N-terminal domain of GluA2 ionotropic glutamate receptor-auxiliary subunit complex, Published online 23 August 2024, ACS Nano 2024. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c06295 URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.4c06295 Funding acknowledgements This research was supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan (to M.S.), JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers JP20K21122 (to M.S.) and JP21H01771 (to M.S.), JSPS Bilateral Program Number JP120247404 (to M.S.), the Mochida Memorial Foundation for Medical and Pharmaceutical Research (to M.S.), the Uehara Memorial Foundation (to M.S.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071234, 32271244, 32250610205, and 32411540020 to M.H.), an innovative research team of high-level local universities in Shanghai and a key laboratory program of the Education Commission of Shanghai Municipality (ZDSYS14005 to M.H.), and JST/CREST (JPMJCR1762 to N.K. and H.F.). Contact Kimie Nishimura (Ms) Project Planning and Outreach NanoLSI Administration Office, Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) Kanazawa University Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan Email: [email protected] Tel: +81 (76) 234-4555 About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University Understanding nanoscale mechanisms of life phenomena by exploring "uncharted nano-realms". Cells are the basic units of almost all life forms. We are developing nanoprobe technologies that allow direct imaging, analysis, and manipulation of the behavior and dynamics of important macromolecules in living organisms, such as proteins and nucleic acids, at the surface and interior of cells. We aim at acquiring a fundamental understanding of the various life phenomena at the nanoscale. https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/ About the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) The WPI program was launched in 2007 by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to foster globally visible research centers boasting the highest standards and outstanding research environments. Numbering more than a dozen and operating at institutions throughout the country, these centers are given a high degree of autonomy, allowing them to engage in innovative modes of management and research. The program is administered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). See the latest research news from the centers at the WPI News Portal: https://www.eurekalert.org/newsportal/WPI Main WPI program site: www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-toplevel About Kanazawa University As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities. The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas. http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/ SOURCE Kanazawa University NEWTON, Mass., Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lindamood-Bell Learning Centers in Newton and Hingham, Massachusetts, are kicking off a back-to-school book drive with Miss Massachusetts 2024 Kiersten Khoury. The book drive is a community initiative aimed at fostering a love of reading among children and will run from August 26 to September 27, 2024, at the Lindamood-Bell Learning Centers in Newton and Hingham. Ms. Khoury, diagnosed with dyslexia in fifth grade, will make a special appearance at the Lindamood-Bell Learning Center in Newton, where she will share her passion for the importance of literacy in childhood development. The center's students and their families will have the opportunity to meet Ms. Khoury, hear about her experiences with dyslexia, and try on her Miss Massachusetts tiara and sash. Ms. Khoury is a former student of Lindamood-Bell's Hingham Learning Center. The Lindamood-Bell book drive seeks to collect new children's books to donate to local literacy programs, ensuring that more children in the community have access to the joy and educational benefits of reading. "Every book donated can have a positive impact on a child," says Newton Learning Center Director Victoria Palazzetti. "By giving the gift of a book, we are opening doors to imagination and possibility." Community members are encouraged to drop off new children's books at the Newton or Hingham Learning Center. Each donation will directly support literacy initiatives within the community, helping to place books in the hands of children who need them most. Book Drive Details: Dates: August 26-September 27, 2024 How to donate: Drop off new children's books between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. , Monday-Friday. Drop off new children's books , Monday-Friday. Where to donate: Lindamood-Bell Learning CenterNewton 29 Crafts Street, Suite 450 Newton, MA 02458 (617) 714-9516 Lindamood-Bell Learning Center South Shore Hingham 50 South Street, Suite 201 Hingham , MA 02043 (781) 659-7722 About Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Lindamood-Bell believes that all children and adults can learn to read and comprehend to their potential. For nearly 40 years, their evidence-based instruction has changed the lives of individuals with learning challenges such as dyslexia, ADHD, and autism. In addition to their 50 Learning Centers, they provide professional development for educators worldwide and engage in peer-reviewed research with universities, including MIT and Stanford. Visit www.lindamoodbell.com to learn more. Contact: Victoria Palazzetti, Learning Center Director, [email protected], (617) 714-9516 SOURCE Lindamood-Bell Based on SoftwareReviews data, the 2024 IT Service Management Emotional Footprint Report from Info-Tech Research Group showcases the leading tools that are equipping organizations with advanced decision-making capabilities to adeptly navigate today's shifting market landscape. TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Info-Tech Research Group has published its IT Service Management Enterprise Emotional Footprint Report, naming the three top IT enterprise-level Service Management Champions for 2024. The report findings are based on data from SoftwareReviews, the global research and advisory firm's platform for insights on the software provider landscape. New Emotional Footprint Report From Info-Tech Research Group Names the Top IT Service Management Providers for Boosting Cost Efficiency and Risk Management in 2024 (CNW Group/Info-Tech Research Group) In the rapidly evolving IT landscape, lacking the right IT Service Management (ITSM) software can result in a range of issues, including delays, unresolved issues, and inefficient handling of service requests. These issues can hurt productivity, damage customer satisfaction, increase costs, and raise the risk of data and security breaches. Adopting ITSM software can transform these challenges into opportunities. These tools provide valuable analytics and reporting features that support smarter decision-making, bolster security, and ensure compliance with industry standards. Ultimately, integrating ITSM is a strategic move that leads to cost savings, improved service quality, and a stronger position in the competitive tech market. Survey data from 776 end-user reviews on SoftwareReviews was used to identify the top ITSM software providers. The insights are intended to support organizations that are considering options to streamline service management strategies. The Net Emotional Footprint (NEF) of each software provider is a result of aggregated emotional response ratings across the areas of service, negotiation, product impact, conflict resolution, strategy, and innovation. The NEF is a powerful indicator of overall user sentiment toward the provider and its product from the software user's point of view. The 2024 IT Service Management Software Champions in the Enterprise market are as follows: ServiceNow ITSM, 83 NEF, ranked high for being reliable. TeamDynamix ITSM, 90 NEF, ranked high for being trustworthy. Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, 86 NEF, ranked high for enables productivity. ITSM streamlines processes, speeding up service delivery, incident resolution, and problem management, which not only enhances internal workflows but also improves the end-user experience. Analyst Insight: "Modernizing ITSM software is a long overdue game-changer for organizations. We're seeing increased focus on the customer experience, and rightfully so," says Sandi Condrad, principal advisory director, Info-Tech Research Group and SoftwareReviews. "We need to see a focus on eliminating incidents, not just fixing them faster. It's about improved communications and access to services. It's about strategically enhancing the way service is done in the entire organization and improving surrounding processes to also benefit from improved visibility, improved processes, and reduced workloads. IT is the enabler to the business and needs to help the organization succeed." User assessments of software categories on SoftwareReviews provide an accurate and detailed view of the constantly changing market. Info-Tech's reports are informed by the data from users and IT professionals who have intimate experience with the software throughout the procurement, implementation, and maintenance processes. For more information about Info-Tech's SoftwareReviews, the Emotional Footprint, or the Data Quadrant, or to access resources to support the software selection process, visit softwarereviews.com. Info-Tech LIVE 2024 Conference Registration is now open for Info-Tech Research Group's annual IT conference, Info-Tech LIVE 2024, taking place September 17 to 19, 2024, at the iconic Bellagio in Las Vegas. Exhibitors and media are invited to be a part of LIVE 2024. The conference offers a unique opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their products and services to a highly engaged audience of IT decision-makers. Journalists, podcasters, and influencers will have access to exclusive content, the latest IT research and trends, and interviews with industry experts and speakers. For more information about exhibiting at Info-Tech LIVE 2024, please visit Info-Tech's events page. For media looking to apply for media passes to attend the event or gain access to research and other exclusive content, please contact [email protected]. About Info-Tech Research Group Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world's leading research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT and HR professionals. The company produces unbiased, highly relevant research and provides advisory services to help leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For nearly 30 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations. To learn more about Info-Tech's divisions, visit McLean & Company for HR research and advisory services and SoftwareReviews for software buying insights. Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected]. For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X. About SoftwareReviews SoftwareReviews is a division of Info-Tech Research Group, a world-class technology research and advisory firm. SoftwareReviews empowers organizations with the best data, insights, and advice to improve the software buying and selling experience. For buyers, SoftwareReviews' proven software selection methodologies, customer insights, and technology advisors help maximize success with technology decisions. For providers, the firm helps build more effective marketing, product, and sales processes with expert analysts, how-to research, customer-centric marketing content, and comprehensive analysis of the buyer landscape. SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group Believes that the Board should immediately begin exploring Strategic Alternatives to maximize Shareholder value The Performance of the stock has been abysmal Profitability has collapsed over the past 3 years Insiders own less than 1% of the outstanding stock No insider has purchased a single share of stock in 10 years an unequivocal vote of "no confidence" in the business LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Jewett Cameron Trading Company LTD. Attn: The Board of Directors 32275 N.W. Hillcrest P.O. Box 1010 North Plains, Oregon 97133 Members of the Board of Directors: Parthenon LLC is one of the largest shareholders of Jewett Cameron, with a beneficial ownership of approximately 6.2%. We have been continuous shareholders since 2011. We have generally been very patient and supportive owners. However, over the past two years, we have discussed our growing apprehension and disappointment with the current CEO and the Board Chairman in numerous conversations. Our warnings, which have unfortunately proven even more prescient than we imagined, have largely been ignored. We are writing this letter to express our serious concerns regarding both the business and stock performance and the extremely problematic prospects for the long-term viability of Jewett Cameron as an independent public company. In addition, the near-total lack of ownership by the board and management creates a governance structure with an appalling economic and incentive mismatch between insiders and outside shareholders. Management has failed operationally and strategically, yet continues to implement more of the same failed strategies of the past. Management has not articulated any rational, sound plan to address the serious and growing challenges the company faces. We believe management is in denial about the severity of the hurdles the company must surmount to generate positive returns for shareholders. They seem unaware of the need to act with urgency before more (or all) shareholder value is destroyed. A brief summation of the stock and business performance will serve to illustrate the depth of the problem. Over the past five years ending August 23, Jewett Cameron stock has returned a horrific negative 46.3%, while the Russell 2000 Index is up 62.4% for the same period . For the past 10 years, the total return in the stock has been negative 11.4%. The Russell 2000 is up 118.8% for the same period. The stock collapse has mirrored the business collapse. For the 10 Fiscal Years (FY) ending August 31, 2012 through 2021, Jewett Cameron generated an average of approximately $4 million in EBITDA annually with a low of approximately $3 million in FY 2019. In FY 2022, EBITDA declined to $2.4 million. In FY 2023, EBITDA was slightly below $1 million. This fiscal year, through the first nine months ending May 31, EBITDA was approximately negative $1.2 million. We expect the company to be only marginally profitable (if at all) for the fiscal year ending August 2024. Based on management's comments in the third quarter 10-Q, along with our discussions with management and our own analysis, we fear that Fiscal Year 2025 results are likely to be worse than any of the past three years. The challenges Jewett Cameron must overcome to return to consistent profitability are, we believe, numerous, daunting, and growing. These include supply chain concentration that carries significant geopolitical risks along with rising procurement costs, limited pricing power with its most important customers, and growing competition in several important product lines. The company has introduced few successful new product line extensions over the past decade, and none that have had a meaningful positive impact on profitability. The weight of all these challenges will be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome as a small independent company with limited resources. Our fears for the long-term viability of Jewett Cameron as an independent company have been, as the board knows, echoed by the credit market. The company was forced to search for a new lender for its credit line this past spring after being dropped by their then-current lender. Management was able to secure a new line, but will pay interest computed at the prime rate plus 4.75%. That is now equal to a very painful, and telling, 13.25%. This extremely high-cost debt will weigh heavily on already severely diminished pre-tax profits. Insiders own only 32,518 shares, or 0.93%. That amounts to $141,453 (at market close on August 23), a shamefully miniscule capital commitment. Even more disturbing, nearly all the shares owned by insiders were obtained through grants and options. Over the past 10 years, based on publicly available information, we think that no board member or senior executive has purchased even a single share of stock. This is a clear, and appalling, vote of "no confidence" in the prospects of the company that insiders manage and oversee. In addition, we were incredibly disappointed and angered to see the board attempt to entrench themselves by instituting a staggered board in February 2024. Fortunately, this arrogant and self-serving move was voted down by shareholders (in a true "grassroots" vote, as we are aware of no public campaign waged against the proposal). We feel that Jewett Cameron's branded pet containment, area fencing, and wood panel products, along with the company-owned real estate, could have a value well above the public market valuation to a buyer with the capital, expertise, and infrastructure to maximize the returns. The expense synergies in the right "home" are, we believe, potentially quite large. The board should explore, with the assistance of a qualified outside advisor, if the best path forward for the company and shareholders would be for those products to be part of a larger company with much greater resources. We are very concerned this may be the only viable long-term path forward for Jewett Cameron. We believe the board should immediately begin to fulfill its fiduciary duty to consider the best interests of all shareholders. Sincerely, Thomas A. Corea Chief Executive Officer Parthenon LLC SOURCE Parthenon, LLC SHANGHAI, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from english.shanghai.gov.cn Shanghai unveiled on August 16 an ambitious plan of building "city of sky" in the coming three years by establishing a complete low-altitude industry with its core industrial scale to exceed 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) by 2027, according to official sources. An interprovincial low-altitude passenger transport route connecting Shanghai Pudong International Airport with the Kunshan City Terminal in neighboring Jiangsu province commences commercial operations on August 18. [Video/english.shanghai.gov.cn] Eyeing to build a low-altitude economy highland of innovation, commercial application, as well as operation services, Shanghai is set to form a complete industrial system covering research, development, design, assembly and manufacturing, airworthiness testing and commercial application of new low-altitude aircraft by 2027, according to the action plan on the high-quality development of low-altitude economic industry between 2024 and 2027 unveiled by the municipal government of Shanghai on August 16. At the forefront of low-altitude economic innovation and development worldwide, Shanghai looks to expand the core industrial value of the sector to 50 billion yuan by 2027, according to the action plan. In the meantime, Shanghai will cooperate with cities across the Yangtze River Delta region to build the nation's first batch of cities having low-altitude aviation available across the region, to establish a national low-altitude economic industry demonstration area, and to become a city of the sky with international influence at an accelerated speed, the action plan said. Support will be offered to nurture industrial leaders engaged in low-altitude related businesses including electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), industrial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), new energy powered general aviation aircraft research, development and manufacturing, it said. Iconic products will be developed with breakthroughs made constantly, infrastructure facilities will be improved continuously, applications in commercial scenarios will be enriched and comprehensive support will be in place to facilitate the realization of the plan, said the action plan. Related Stories SOURCE english.shanghai.gov.cn NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Seritage Growth Properties ("Seritage" or the "Company") (NYSE: SRG). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. The class action concerns whether Seritage and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. You have until August 30, 2024 , to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class if you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Seritage securities during the Class Period. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On August 14, 2023, after the market closed, Seritage revealed that there was a "material weakness" in the Company's internal control over financial reporting "due to a deficiency in the design of our control over the identification of impairment indicators for investments in real estate and documentation of evidence of review." Moreover, the deficiency related "to the failure to identify potential indicators of impairment related to development projects in a timely manner." On this news, Seritage's stock price fell $0.86 per share, or 9.67%, to close at $8.03 per share on August 15, 2023. Then, on May 10, 2024, after the market closed, Seritage released its first quarter 2024 financial results, revealing it was "adjusting [its] pricing projections for some of [its] assets." As a result, the gross value of the Company's portfolio of assets was reduced by at least $325 million. On this news, Seritage's stock price fell $2.54 per share, or 27.3%, to close at $6.78 per share on May 13, 2024. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Danielle Peyton Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 646-581-9980 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Franklin Resources, Inc. ("Franklin" or the "Company") (NYSE: BEN). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Franklin 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 August 21, 2024, Franklin subsidiary Western Asset Management Company issued a press release announcing that co-Chief Investment Officer Ken Leech "is on a leave of absence, effective immediately" after "receiv[ing] a Wells Notice from the Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission". That same day, Bloomberg reported that "[f]ederal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether a Western Asset Management executive allocated winning trades to favored accounts, as part of a criminal probe into a practice known as 'cherry-picking.'" On this news, Franklin's stock price fell $2.84 per share, or 12.56%, to close at $19.78 per share on August 21, 2024. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Danielle Peyton Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 646-581-9980 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Globus Medical, Inc. ("Globus" or the "Company") (NYSE: GMED). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Globus 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 August 13, 2024, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Globus disclosed that "on July 16, 2024, Globus Medical, Inc. received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the 'FDA') following an inspection of our facilities in Audubon, Pennsylvania. In the warning letter, the FDA cited deficiencies in the response letters sent by the Company to the FDA following the Form 483, List of Investigational Observations, which was delivered to the Company in connection with the inspection that occurred from February 15, 2024 until March 7, 2024. The letter describes observed non-conformities in establishing and maintaining product complaint procedures, including complaint investigations, trending, risk reconciliation, and Medical Device Report (MDR) procedures including timely reporting, pertaining to the ExcelsiusGPS robotic system." Following disclosure of the FDA's warning letter, Globus's stock price fell $5.73 per share, or 7.84%, to close at $67.32 per share on August 13, 2024. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Danielle Peyton Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 646-581-9980 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP announces that it is investigating Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE: SKIL) on behalf of the company's shareholders. The investigation seeks to determine whether Skillsoft's directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with recent corporate actions. If you are a shareholder of Skillsoft Corp. and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding your rights and options, free of charge, please visit us at: https://pjlfirm.com/skillsoft-corp/ You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation. Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit https://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. SOURCE Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP Session will be Webcast NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Martina Cheung, President of S&P Global Ratings, a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), will participate in the Barclays 22nd Annual Global Financial Services Conference on September 9, 2024 in New York, NY. Ms. Cheung is scheduled to speak at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The "fireside chat" will be webcast and may include forward-looking information. Mark Grant, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, will join for investor meetings. Webcast Instructions: Live and Replay The webcast will be available live and in replay through the Company's Investor Relations website http://investor.spglobal.com/Investor-Presentations (please copy and paste URL into web browser). The webcast replay will be available approximately four hours after the end of the presentation and will remain accessible for 90 days. Any additional information presented during the session will be made available on the Company's Investor Presentations web page. About S&P Global S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) provides essential intelligence. We enable governments, businesses and individuals with the right data, expertise and connected technology so that they can make decisions with conviction. From helping our customers assess new investments to guiding them through sustainability and energy transition across supply chains, we unlock new opportunities, solve challenges and accelerate progress for the world. We are widely sought after by many of the world's leading organizations to provide credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help the world's leading organizations plan for tomorrow, today. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com. Investor Relations: http://investor.spglobal.com Contacts: Investor Relations Mark Grant Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Tel: + 1 (347) 640 1521 [email protected] Media Josh Goldstein Communications Tel: +1 (202) 383-2041 [email protected] SOURCE S&P Global BOSTON, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) celebrates today the kickoff of the second annual National Community Health Workers Awareness week, which brings the opportunity to spread the word and celebrate the unique core roles, contributions to public and community health, and leadership of Community Health Workers (CHWs). The awareness week will be held August 26-30, 2024. NACHW was founded in April 2019 after several years of planning and organizing by CHWs and allies across the United States. As a member-driven non-profit organization, NACHW is a national voice for CHWs and unites the workforce across geography, race, ethnicity, sector, identities, and experiences to support communities in achieving health equity and social justice. "CHW" is an umbrella term that can include promotores in Spanish speaking communities, CHRs in tribal lands, and over 90 additional job titles. CHWs are a frontline public health workforce that is diverse in race, gender, language, geography, and specialization who enjoy unique trusting relationships and share life experiences with the local communities where they live and serve. CHWs are a proven workforce, with more than six decades of evidence showing their effectiveness in improving health outcomes in maternal and child health, oral health, chronic disease, and a multitude of other disciplines. When CHWs are integrated into health care teams, they are crucial in advancing societal healthcare efforts and reduce costs by addressing the social determinants of health. On Thursday, July 25th, Senator Bob Casey (PA) and Representative Raul Ruiz (CA) introduced a Congressional resolution in the Senate and House to formally recognize August 26-30, 2024, as the second annual National CHW Awareness Week. This resolution expresses support for National CHW Awareness Week, recognizes the significant contributions of CHWs, and encourages collaboration at the local, state, and federal levels to raise awareness of CHWs and support the work CHWs do to reduce health disparities. "CHWs serve every population, ethnicity, language group, faith community, geography, gender and lived experience. We stand with those who face life's toughest health and social challenges" said Denise Octavia Smith, Executive Director of the National Association of Community Health Workers. "We serve people experiencing difficult health conditions, national disasters, epidemics and pandemics. CHWs are often underpaid, overworked and without the respect that other professions enjoy. We invite everyone to join us in National CHW Awareness Week to celebrate CHWs: everyday people who do incredible things to improve lives with love, compassion and courage." There are 6 Pillars of CHWs: CHWS ARE A UNIQUE WORKFORCE With a unique set of core competencies, CHWs are an underappreciated yet crucial workforce that promotes social justice and help to achieve health equity and wellbeing for all. CHWS ARE A COMMUNITY-BASED WORKFORCE The history of CHWs goes back centuries the first were tribal healers. As a reflection of the country they call home, they are diverse in ethnicity, language, and culture and have similar lived experiences as their ancestors. CHWS ARE A CROSS-SECTOR WORKFORCE The social determinants of health are of particular interest to CHWs they embrace a holistic health philosophy that considers societal factors and establish networks to leverage their collective strength in their mission to achieve true health equity. CHWS ARE A PROVEN WORKFORCE CHWs have proven how integral they are to clinical, public health, and social systems. 60 years' worth of study and research have shown just how important community health workers are in various medical fields. CHWS ARE A PRECARIOUS WORKFORCE As a majority-female workforce, CHWs face challenges like low pay and discrimination. Work exposes them to possible violence and disease. Given the field's issues, it's not surprising that the CHW profession lacks sustainability in recruitment and retention. CHWS ARE A HISTORIC AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE The history of CHWs goes back centuries the first were tribal healers. As a reflection of the country they call home, they are diverse in ethnicity, language, and culture and have similar lived experiences as their ancestors. To learn more about NACHW please visit: https://nachw.org/ About the National Association of Community Healthcare Workers The National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) was founded in April 2019 after several years of planning and organizing by Community Health Workers (CHWs) and allies across the United States. NACHW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership-driven organization with a mission to unify CHWs across geography, ethnicity, sector and experience to support communities to achieve health, equity and social justice. NACHW is led by an Executive Director who is also a CHW, and enjoys governance from a national Board of Directors of predominately CHWs and allies with decades of research and practice expertise in CHW training and workforce development, community organizing and engagement, intervention design, equity and social justice advocacy, research and policy leadership. Our values self-determination and self-empowerment of our workforce; integrity of character; dignity and respect for every human being, social justice and equity to ensure fair treatment, access, opportunity and outcomes for all individuals and communities guide our work. They are north stars we will use to support our members, foster partnerships, advocate nationally, develop strategic objectives, and assess our impact. Media Contact Jeff Hare /The Artemis Agency (818) 726-9238 [email protected] Bernadine Jeranyama / Associate Director, Communications / National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) 617-279-2257 [email protected] SOURCE National Association of Community Health Workers Up to 25% of water in the real estate sector is wasted; water management industry leader urges decision-makers to adopt a technology-driven approach that will reduce waste NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WINT Water Intelligence, a leader in cutting-edge water management, leak detection and water damage mitigation solutions, challenges stakeholders and governmental institutions to prioritize the management of water in real estate and address some of the most unnoticed sources of water waste. Commercial buildings and institutional facilities consume 17% of the public freshwater supply in the United States and are also significant sources of waste. Up to 25% of that water is ultimately wasted due to the lack of proper monitoring and management of water. A strategic approach to water management using artificial intelligence (AI), signal processing technology and deep data insights can help organizations reduce waste, cut costs, mitigate risk and meet sustainability goals. WINT joins the concerns of experts gathering in Sweden Aug. 2529 for World Water Week, an international conference on global water use, where trailblazers from all over the world share new ideas, learn from each other and collaborate on innovative solutions. "Water is an essential resource, but we don't have an unlimited supply," said Yaron Dycian, chief product and strategy officer for WINT. "The global water system is under increasing stress. Water cooperation is the key to long-term water security and ensuring everyone has access to adequate supplies of clean, safe water. At WINT, we're committed to working with thought leaders and decision-makers to develop and implement innovative strategies and technological solutions for the world's water supply." According to the United Nations World Water Development Report, droughts affect more than 1.4 billion people. As of 2022, roughly half of the world's population experienced severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, while one quarter faced 'extremely high' levels of water stress, using over 80% of their annual renewable freshwater supply. Inefficient management of water supplies in the built environment contributes significantly to water stress and raises organizations' carbon footprint. According to "The Carbon Impact of Water" report: On average, every cubic meter of water consumed generates 23 pounds of carbon emissions. Just one leaky toilet wastes more than 1 million gallons of water and generates 46 tons of carbon emissions in a year as much as a typical passenger car. "To ensure ESG policies and water sustainability are widely addressed, some oversight and regulation can be useful," Dycian said. "It can help create clarity and ensure the right goals are put in place. Yet as with any government intervention, we strongly urge a minimalistic approach that will help guide the market while not creating overbearing requirements that can stifle innovation." WINT is partnering with organizations around the world to advance proactive water management technology throughout buildings' lifecycles and helps its customers reduce water consumption by an average of 20%-25%. Last year WINT saved in total 652 million gallons of water for over 400 leading global enterprises which would have resulted in the release of 22,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. WINT's AI-powered technology can: Monitor water flows to identify leaks and inefficiencies. Enable automatic and remote shut-off of water supply at the source of the leak to prevent water damage. Provide complete visibility to water usage across all water systems within the building. Detect sources of water waste and eliminate them. Accurately measure water consumption in real-time. Present detailed reports and dashboards that provide deep analytics on water and carbon footprint. WINT equips contractors, developers and property management teams with holistic solution for managing water throughout the lifecycle of a building, from construction to operation. It is used globally by customers including Suffolk Construction, HP, PepsiCo, the Empire State Building, as well as many other leading enterprises, general contractors (GCs) and facility owners. The WINT enterprise-grade water management platform includes portfolio-wide water monitoring and analysis for operation in large and mid-sized facilities. Green buildings who deploy WINT can add multiple credits to their overall LEED, BREEAM or NABERS sustainability score to increase their overall ranking towards certification. About WINT WINT Water Intelligence is dedicated to helping manage water in buildings to reduce their environmental footprint, prevent the hazards and costs associated with water leaks, and increase their sustainability ranking. Utilizing the power of artificial intelligence and IoT technology, WINT provides a solution for commercial facilities, construction sites and industrial manufacturers looking to cut water waste and its associated carbon emissions and to mitigate water-leak disasters. In 2023, WINT prevented more than 900 water damage incidents, saving customers tens of millions of dollars while conserving 652 million gallons of water and preventing 22,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. WINT has been recognized by Fast Company and CB Insights as one of the world's most innovative AI companies and has won multiple awards including "Next Big things in Tech" and Insurance Times' claims prevention technology award. It was also listed at the top 30% of Inc 5000 the fastest growing companies in America. For more information about WINT, visit https://wint.ai MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Ripley Ripley PR (865) 977-1973 [email protected] SOURCE WINT Company is in the Process of Being Listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (Canada) at a Proposed Valuation of 40 Million Canadian Dollars VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Zero Candida (the "Company" or "ZC"), an Israeli FemTech medical device start-up, is pleased to announce the launch of a new digital website. The site offers technology that will showcase the Company's story, provide investor updates, and share media. The digital site is now available: Zero Candida - Candida diagnostic and treatment device (zero-candida.com). The company is in the process of applying to the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada to list its shares at a proposed valuation of 40 million Canadian dollars. Zero-Candida's technology is a game-changer that has the potential to change the treatment of women and FemTech industry in the world. The first of its kind technology using a controlled "Blue Light," destroys the fungus at record speed and without side effects. The treatment is carried out by a tampon-like medical device which, according to medical experts, provides an optimal solution for removing the fungus altogether and preventing the recurrence of the disease. Another significant advantage of the Zero Candida device is treatment without side effects, supporting growing demand from women to improve their health without the use of chemicals. Eli Ben Haroosh, Founder & CEO: "Our new website showcases technology that will be a game changer in the field of women's health in the world. The company is advancing in its research with the hope of involving hospitals and academic institutions around the world. Our website will be the link between important health care and our community of women worldwide." "Zero Candida has a potential to become a technological leader and use its ground-breaking technology to expand boundaries of non-chemical candida treatment," added Ben Haroosh. Summary of Transaction Pursuant to the business combination agreement (the "Agreement") between a Canadian reporting issuer (the "Reporting Issuer") and the Company, the transaction is expected to be contemplated by a three-cornered amalgamation, where the Reporting Issuer's wholly owned Israeli subsidiary incorporated solely for the purpose of the transaction, is expected to amalgamate with ZC. Each holder (each a " ZC Shareholder") of ZC Share, other than a ZC Shareholder who exercised Dissent Rights (as defined in the Israeli Companies Law) is expected to receive 8.6277 (eight and six thousand two hundred seventy seven ten-thousandths) shares in the capital of the Reporting Issuer (each a "Resulting Issuer Share") in exchange for each ZC Share held by such ZC Shareholder, resulting in the Company issuing up to an aggregate of 12,223,232 Resulting Issuer's Shares (which will represent approximately 85.94% of the issued and outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares, without taking into consideration any ZC share purchase warrants to be exercised immediately prior to completion of the Transaction, stock options or a concurrent financing). Additionally, the holders of stock options of ZC will be entitled to receive Resulting Issuer Shares, instead of ZC Shares, on the exercise of their options. About Zero Candida: ZC is a private FemTech technology company incorporated under the corporate laws of the State of Israel. ZC is developing an AI smart tampon-like device based on AI on a therapeutic light source with a selected wave-length and intensity that can treat the Candida fungus successfully with 99.999% efficacy as a POC (Proof of Concept). Vulvo-Vaginal Candidiasis ("VVC") affects about 75% of women globally; each year 138 million women are affected world-wide and 492 million over their lifetime. Recurrent VVC (4 or more episodes per year) is increasingly documented to become drug resistant to existing treatments and constitutes up to 10% of the cases of VVC. Existing treatments are unable to overcome the high rate of recurrence, since the root cause of the condition is poorly understood and addressed. ZC has signed pre-clinical agreements with hospitals in Israel and Europe and the company has successfully completed a safety trial for the use of a pre-clinical device in large animals (sheep) ZC continues the development of the final product for human use in preparation for a clinical trial that will take place in June 2025. Zero Candida's device will bring the field of gynecology into the 21st century with hybrid medicine and technology-based diagnostics. At the same time as developing the treatment procedure, Zero Candida is working on creating a technology to enable the hybrid medicine services to be provided by gynecologists to populations that until now received no treatment at all, including, among others, in the developing countries. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Forward-Looking Statements 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. The Company provides no assurance that forward-looking statements and 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 information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, other than as required by law. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Zero Candida. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2420533/4723164/ZERO_CANDIDA_Logo.jpg Contact: Eli Ben Haroosh, CEO & Founder E: [email protected] Website: www.Zero-Candida.com Facebook: @Zero-candida SOURCE Zero Candida 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 New Delhi, Aug 26 : Two men were arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday night, who allegedly fired gunshots at a cafe in southwest Delhi's Satya Niketan area, following an argument over sitting arrangements, officials said. The accused were identified as Ahmed (26) and Mangal (26), both residents of Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said a call was received by the South campus police station around 9 p.m. regarding the shooting. Beat staff from the police station reached the spot and nabbed one of the accused after a chase, he added. Quoting a staff of the cafe, the DCP said some men had come to the eatery for dinner around 8.30 p.m. and one of them sat on a glass table. The cafe owner, Rohit, objected to this and a heated argument ensued, he added. Later, some more men arrived and a fight broke out during which one of them fired in the air outside of the cafe, the DCP said. Police said a case was being registered in connection with the matter. According to police, initial investigation revealed that the accused came from Jahangirpuri to celebrate a birthday. "We have identified all of them and they will be nabbed soon. Further investigation is underway," DCP Meena said. In a similar incident, a 25-year-old man was arrested by Delhi Police after he allegedly opened fire at a sweets shop in the Tilak Nagar area. Police nabbed accused Vishu alias Kranti (25) after a brief exchange of fire. Police said they recovered an automatic pistol and four empty cartridges from Vishu, who is a resident of Kakrola village and is an active member of Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu gang. Jerusalem, Aug 26 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Hezbollah and Iran that the intense airstrikes in Lebanon are "not the end of the story". Addressing the Cabinet, Netanyahu said on Sunday that the strikes "destroyed thousands of short-range rockets intended to attack our citizens and forces in the Galilee". He also claimed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted all drones launched by Hezbollah targeting a strategic area near Tel Aviv, including the Mossad headquarters, according to state-owned Kan TV. Before dawn, nearly 100 Israeli warplanes bombed "hundreds of armed launchers and thousands of launcher barrels, mostly aimed at northern Israel," IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Sunday in a briefing as reported by Xinhua news agency. Hagari described the operation as a "pre-emptive attack" intended to neutralise a broader threat. He noted that most rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah were intercepted. Hezbollah took responsibility for targeting several military sites in northern Israel with 320 rockets, calling it "the first phase" of its retaliation for the assassination of senior official Fouad Shokor in Beirut last month. The group also confirmed drone launches into central Israel, claiming to have caused infrastructure damage. The IDF denied that any military base was damaged, and no casualties were reported on the Israeli side, except for one woman who sustained light injuries from shrapnel. Netanyahu did not name the target but the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, described it as "a military intelligence base 110 km inside Israeli territory" just outside Tel Aviv, an apparent reference to the Glilot military base, home to the Mossad spy agency and military intelligence agencies such as the Unit 8200 electronic surveillance section. With Israel's attack on Lebanon, the prospect of peace is moving even further out of reach Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed in the strikes on Lebanon. An Israeli navy officer was killed and two other service members injured on a patrol boat off the coast of northern Israel that was hit by shrapnel from an Iron Dome interceptor missile. On Sunday evening the armed wing of Hamas said that it had fired an "M90" rocket at Tel Aviv in response to what it said was the "Israeli massacres against civilians". The IDF said sirens sounded in Rishon LeTsiyon, about 15 miles south of Tel Aviv, but the rocket landed "in an open area". A Hamas official also said on Sunday evening that it rejected new Israeli conditions put forward in Gaza ceasefire talks, casting further doubt on the chances of a breakthrough in the latest US-backed effort. "We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions," Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the group's Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday. In a speech earlier on Sunday, Nasrallah downplayed the impact of Israeli airstrikes and portrayed Hezbollah's aerial attack, intended to avenge the killing of a senior commander last month, as a success. Nasrallah said that Hezbollah had used its Katyusha rockets (320 of them according to its official statements) to distract Israel's Iron Dome air defence system from mass drone attacks. He added that all the drones involved had been successfully launched and had entered Israeli airspace, but did not say how many, if any, had reached their intended target. The Hezbollah Secretary General claimed the Lebanese Shia militia had decided not to respond to the killing in late July of its commander, Fuad Shukr, with attacks on Israeli civilians or infrastructure but to focus on exclusively military targets. He added that Hezbollah's arsenal of guided missiles had not been used and had not been damaged by Israeli airstrikes, so could be used in the future. The impact of Sunday's salvo would be assessed before a decision on whether to take further action to avenge Shukr. "If results are not seen to be enough, we will respond another time," Nasrallah said in a televised address. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Los Angeles, Aug 26 : Hollywood stars Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder's relationship is quite unusual, akin to their 'Beetlejuice' characters. Jenna Ortega recently opened up about meeting Ryder, 52, while starring in the 1988 film's long-awaited sequel, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice', reports 'People' magazine. The actress appeared in The New York Times' 'The Interview' podcast, and told the host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that she has "been really, really lucky to work with incredible actresses who definitely had a harder upbringing". As per 'People', the 'Wednesday' star shared that one of these "mentor" figures was none other than her 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' co-star, Ryder. "She was so warm and welcoming and kind and inviting right from the jump, and I couldn't be more grateful", Ortega said of Ryder, who plays her on-screen mom in the upcoming film. "It was at a time where my career was taking a different turn", Ortega continued, adding that she "didn't realise that I needed that from somebody who could relate, but I did". She also reflected on how they connected right out of the gate, as she said, "The way Winona and I got along was quite weird. It was like we were reading each other's minds a little bit". While the actress didn't reveal any of the advice Ryder shared with her telling Garcia-Navarro that "it's hard to pinpoint because I think some of it I would like to keep between us", she did provide one sweet tidbit about her friendship with the veteran actress. "She just made me feel really, really beautiful and special," Ortega said, before underscoring just how crucial Ryder's support really was: "And that was, again, during that time, it meant the world to me". When asked why "that time", the period in which she met Ryder was so pivotal, Ortega explained that it was a very transformative period of her life. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26 : Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in the national capital with a memorandum on the support and assistance from the Centre for the proposed Wayanad rehabilitation project. The CM will arrive in Delhi later in the day. The worst-ever natural disaster in a single place in the state took place on July 30 which has left 416 dead and around 120 people still missing. Four villages in the hilly district were washed away causing untold destruction to life and property. The schools in these villages are now scheduled to open on September 2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited several areas of the ravaged locations early this month. He held a review meeting at the Wayanad Collectorate in Kaleptta where he said that the Centre would provide all the help possible to further the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the landslide-hit areas and asked the state government to prepare a detailed memorandum. Meanwhile, search operations continued in landslide-affected Wayanad areas and on Sunday six body parts were recovered. The search operation on Monday was called off due to heavy rain in the affected areas. Following the disaster the Vijayan government set up over 100 relief camps in the four affected villages and 729 families were moved to it. By now there are very few people left in the relief camps, as the state government has moved the rest to the buildings which have been taken over by the state government. The state is paying the rent wherever it has to be paid. Help has been pouring in cash and kind with contributions crossing Rs 100 crore besides promises to sponsor around 1,000 homes. CM Vijayan has said that the government is planning a self-contained township for which the Centre's help is needed. Another help that will have to come from the Centre is with regards to the loans taken by the affected people as at present what has come is a moratorium on repayments of loans, while the need of the hour is to write off all loans taken. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Aug 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged with the 'Lakhpati Didis' of Maharashtra's Jalgaon, praising their entrepreneurial spirit and the significant strides they have made towards financial independence and empowerment. In a video posted by PM Modi on X, the women, who are beneficiaries of various government schemes aimed at women's welfare, were seen sharing their success stories with the Prime Minister. The women, known as 'Lakhpati Didis' due to their ability to generate an annual household income of at least Rs 1 lakh, expressed their gratitude to PM Modi for the initiatives that have enabled them to support their families and inspire others in their communities. "We are very proud to be Lakhpati Didis. PM Modi is doing great work for the welfare of women," one of the beneficiaries stated. In a notable gesture, when the women welcomed PM Modi with an 'Arti,' the Prime Minister reciprocated by holding the Arti plate and performing their Arti instead. During the interaction, PM Modi asked the women about the key differences between those who have become 'Lakhpati Didis' and those who have not yet reached that milestone. The women credited the welfare schemes for their financial independence and ability to contribute to their households. One woman from Assam shared her journey of becoming a 'Lakhpati Didi' over five years and how she has helped 207 other women achieve the same status. "I now earn Rs 8 lakh per annum," she proudly informed the Prime Minister, who acknowledged her as an inspiration for others in Assam. "Yes sir, I have become a hero from zero," she added. Another woman from Nashik, Maharashtra, revealed that she and 10 other women run a business producing sanitary pads. However, she noted that the stigma surrounding menstruation has prevented others from joining their venture. Despite this, their work continues to challenge social taboos and contribute to women's health. From Nahan, Himachal Pradesh, a woman shared how her family's pride has grown as she transitioned from a housewife to a successful entrepreneur. "My children proudly tell others that their mother has gone to Maharashtra to meet Modiji," she said. Many 'Lakhpati Didis' described how they were once confined to their homes but are now running businesses and empowering other women. Some of them are involved in animal healthcare, while others assist farmers. On Sunday, PM Modi released a revolving fund of Rs 2,500 crore to benefit 48 lakh members of 4.3 lakh Self-Help Groups (SHGs). He also disbursed bank loans totalling Rs 5,000 crore to support 25.8 lakh members of 2.35 lakh SHGs, furthering the government's commitment to women empowerment. Since the inception of the Lakhpati Didi Yojana, 1 crore women have been empowered to become 'Lakhpati Didis,' with the government's goal to elevate 3 crore women to this status. These women not only achieve financial independence but also serve as role models in their communities by adopting sustainable livelihood practices in farming, non-farming, or service sectors. SHG groups, under the Lakhpati initiative, foster collective action and mutual support, providing platforms for essential financial literacy, skill development, and livelihood assistance. The initiative aims to transition SHG members from basic social and financial inclusion to becoming successful entrepreneurs, supported by coordinated efforts from government departments, private sector entities, and market players. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Cairo, Aug 26 : Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown discussed the ongoing developments in the Middle East amid escalation along Israel-Lebanon borders. During the meeting, Sisi emphasised that the current regional situation demands decisive action from the international community and all relevant parties to exert every effort and intensify pressure to defuse tensions, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement. He said that efforts also need to be made to halt the escalation threatening the security and stability of the entire region, warning of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported. Sisi underscored the importance of responding to the joint Egyptian-US-Qatari efforts aimed at achieving an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and facilitating the exchange of prisoners and detainees, which would help to advance the path toward de-escalation and stability in the region. The Egyptian President also highlighted the dire humanitarian conditions endured by the Palestinian people in Gaza, which necessitated an immediate halt to the conflict to deliver the massive amounts of relief and medical aid required. Sisi reaffirmed the need for international efforts to launch a comprehensive political process leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution, as the basis for sustainable regional stability. For his part, the US General expressed his country's appreciation for Egypt's role in supporting stability, security, and peace, according to the statement. He looked forward to promoting joint military cooperation to broader prospects, thereby serving the two countries' mutual interests and reinforcing stability and peace in the Middle East, the statement added. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. Beirut, Aug 26 : Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that his group will continue supporting Gaza from Lebanon. "Any hopes of silencing the support fronts, especially the Lebanese front, will fail; We will continue to support Gaza, regardless of the sacrifices involved," Nasrallah said in a televised speech addressing the latest developments on Lebanon's border with Israel. Earlier in the day, Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs last month. Meanwhile, Israel announced that it had conducted preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, reports Xinhua news agency. Previously, Hezbollah has threatened a definite and painful response to the killing of Shokor at the appropriate time and place. Nasrallah noted in his televised speech that Hezbollah is committed and determined to respond to the "brutal aggression" on Dahieh, but has delayed the response due to US and Israeli mobilisation as well as to give sufficient time for the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks. "We established guidelines for our response, ensuring that targets would not be civilians' or the enemy's infrastructure, but rather military sites directly linked to the assassination operation," he said. Nasrallah said one of the Lebanese armed group's two main targets in its Sunday rocket attacks was the "Galilot" base situated 110 km from the Lebanese border and just 1,500 meters from the border of Tel Aviv, as it houses Unit 8200 that specialises in intelligence gathering and espionage. Regarding Israel's claimed preemptive airstrikes on Hezbollah's rocket launchers, Nasrallah said they "had no impact on our operation today or our fighters," as they only hit two missile launch pads. "We had already evacuated all the valleys containing precision and ballistic missiles, so what the enemy bombed today were empty valleys," he said. The armed group "will consider the response process complete" if it finds the result of Sunday's attacks satisfactory, but "will reserve the right to respond later" if it is not, he said. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. Mumbai, Aug 26 : Actor Akshay Oberoi is preparing for his new action film and said that he is now "back in the gym" to prepare for his role. Mumbai, Aug 26 (IANS) Actor Akshay Oberoi is preparing for his new action film and said that he is now "back in the gym" to prepare for his role. The upcoming film requires Akshay to undergo rigorous weight training to gain muscle mass and transform his physique to fit the character's demanding nature. Akshay said: "The journey with 'Fighter' was incredible, and I am grateful for the overwhelming response to my role as Basheer Khan. It was a physically demanding role, and the discipline I maintained during that time has stayed with me." It's all about challenging himself, said the actor. "As I prepare for my next action film, I am back in the gym, focusing on an intensive and rigorous training schedule. This new role requires a different kind of physicality, and I am excited to push myself further and explore new dimensions of action on screen." "It's all about challenging myself and bringing something fresh and unique to the audience." It was recently announced that the actor joined the Yash-starrer 'Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown Ups' cast. The actor had taken to social media, where he shared a welcome gift from the team on his Instagram stories. A source close to the production had revealed: "Akshay Oberoi's addition to the cast of Toxic brings an exciting dynamic to the film. He is an actor who always delivers a powerful performance, and pairing him with Yash is something that fans are eagerly waiting to see". Akshay is currently busy with his next, "Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari" with Varun Dhawan for which he has been shooting for the last few weeks. His upcoming projects also include "Tu Chahiye", "Dil Hai Gray", "Two Zero One Four", "Illegal 3", "Broken News 2" and "Varchasva". It was in 2002, when Akshay made his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama "American Chai". He played his first leading role in "Isi Life Mein". He was then seen starring in films such as "Pizza", "Piku", "Fitoor", "Gurgaon", "Kaalakaandi", "I Love You" and "Gaslight". New Delhi, Aug 26 : Honoured to be part of India's space history, said Capt. Gopichand Thotakura, who in May became the first Indian ever to tour the edge of space on Blue Origin's crewed flight mission, on Monday. Speaking exclusively to IANS, Thotakura said he is excited for the next generation of Indians who will push the boundaries of space. The Vijayawada-born pilot is also the second Indian to visit space, after Rakesh Sharma's historic flight on Russia's Soyuz T-11 spacecraft in 1984. "I feel very honoured to be a part of this country's history in trying to send more people to space, whether it's through Blue Origin or another organisation," Thotakura said. "I'm very excited for the next generation to take it forward, and really push the boundaries of space," he told IANS. After Rakesh Sharma, three people of Indian origin reached space -- Kalpana Chawla (1997), Sunita Williams (2006), and Raja Chari (2021) as NASA astronauts. Earlier this year in May, Thotakura flew to space on an 11-minute flight, above the Karman line -- an internationally recognised boundary of space that lies 100 km above the Earth's surface. The seventh human flight mission by the Jeff Bezos-owned company also carried: 90-year-old Ed Dwight, Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, and Carol Schaller. Thotakura has always had an interest in the skies, a passion that was kindled at the age of 8 when he visited a KLM plane cockpit. On achieving the remarkable feat years later, he told IANS that "it's not about the age, it's really about trying to achieve what you want to dream, and if you can dream it, then you can do it". In an earlier interaction with IANS, Thotakura had vouched for the Indian space sector's "endless potential" which was demonstrated with the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's South Pole. "Space is not the limit anymore, we can reach far beyond what any other country has already reached. And what you saw with Chandrayaan is just a small example". Meanwhile, ISRO is set to launch Gaganyaan mission -- the country's first crewed flight to space -- in 2025. The mission will carry three Indians to space. India also aims to set up a space station -- Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) -- by 2035 and land astronauts on the Moon by 2040. Jaipur, Aug 26 : Two persons were charred to death in a collision between three vehicles on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway in Rajasthan on Monday at around 5 a.m. while two others sustained grave injuries. The collision was so intense that the cabin of the truck along with the driver and cleaner was charred completely leaving the entire highway blocked. Police officials said that a tanker, a truck filled with bricks and a trolley collided while coming down from a flyover. The truck caught fire and the driver and cleaner sitting inside the cabin were unable to escape and were burnt to death. As the flames were quite intense, people couldnat go near the truck while the two kept screaming for help. The locals tried to put out the flames but the intensity thwarted their efforts. The fire was so intense that the bodies could not be retrieved for long. Fire tenders were rushed to the location to douse off the fire. The other tanker and trolley drivers also sustained injuries in the accident and were rushed to a private hospital. The road was jammed for around two hours due to the accident. SHO Harishchandra Solanki said that two fire tenders were rushed to the location and the fire was doused after hours of hard work. Another officer, ASI Udai Singh said that the police were informed on the phone about the accident. The cabin of the truck has been charred and the papers inside it have also been burnt, he said. Police were trying to identify the victim. Based on the truck number, the details have been sent to the RTO office to identify the victims, Singh said. Further investigations are in progress. Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26 : A week after the explosive Hema Committee report on the working conditions of women in the Kerala film industry came out, two film personalities have quit the posts that they held in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and on Monday fresh allegations have surfaced, involving two-time CPI(M) legislator Mukesh. On Sunday AMMA general secretary Siddique and chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and film icon Ranjith quit their posts. Actress Minu Muneer on Monday said she faced bad experiences with Mukesh, popular actors Manian Pillai Raju, Jayasurya and former general secretary of AMMA-Edavela Babu during 2008 to 2013, following which she left the film industry. Muneer said in 2008, Jayasurya hugged her while she was coming out of the toilet. "This happened and I was taken aback and Mukesh also misbehaved with me by barging into my room. Raju and Babu spoke to me in words that had sexual overtones," said Muneer. She said these four actors played their part after she applied for membership to AMMA and her application was rejected. "After those bad experiences I left the industry and now with the Hema Committee report out and a special police team formed to probe the allegations, I will definitely register my complaint," said Muneer. Meanwhile Raju said that he was convalescing after a surgery and was not able to react earlier. "It's natural that more and more allegations will now surface from those who were not successful in the industry. My take is let there be a probe. We all saw how a hugely popular former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had to face similar allegations," said Raju. Incidentally soon after the resignations of Siddique and Ranjith came, the Pinarayi Vijayan government decided to form a high level police team which includes four women IPS officers. The team will have its first meeting on Tuesday to decide its way forward. Meanwhile State Minister of Culture and Films Saji Cherian on Monday told the media that he has nothing more to add as CM Vijayan has already informed people about what the government is doing. "The Law Minister has also spoken on what is going to happen and hence I have nothing more to add," said Cherian. State Minister of Local Self Government, MB Rajesh said the law would take its course and the state government would play its part. Now all eyes are on the forthcoming AMMA special executive meeting which was planned for Tuesday but had to be postponed. President of AMMA, superstar Mohanlal whose wife is hospitalised in Chennai has expressed his inability to be present at Kochi to take part in the meeting and hence it has been postponed. The meeting has to have the presence of the secretary and president, but with Siddique resigning and Mohanlal seeking a few more days, the AMMA meeting will have to be held some other time. Tripoli, Aug 26 : Stephanie Koury, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Officer-in-Charge of the UN Support Mission in Libya, stressed the role of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission in upholding the ceasefire agreement in the country. Koury made the remarks during a meeting of the Commission in the city of Sirte, which is located some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. "Today, I joined the 5+5 Joint Military Commission at their headquarters in Sirte to discuss the ongoing developments and challenges in Libya, notably on the security front. I emphasised the Commission's crucial role in upholding the ceasefire agreement," Koury tweeted. "We also discussed ways to further implement the ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries. Peace and stability are essential to Libyan citizens as they strive for a lasting political solution," Koury said. The 5+5 Joint Military Commission is a group composed of five representatives from the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and five representatives of the eastern-based national army. It was formed to oversee and implement ceasefire agreements and military arrangements between rival factions in Libya, Xinhua news agency reported. In October 2020, the Commission signed a UN-sponsored ceasefire agreement that ended a war in and around Tripoli between the eastern-based army and the Western-based authorities. Libya remains politically divided between eastern-based and western-based governments. The eastern-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, is allied with the eastern-based government. Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has been plagued by escalating violence and political instability. Bengaluru, Aug 26 : Facing flak over the video showing preferential treatment to actor Darshan in prison, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday directed authorities to transfer the accused actor and his associates to different jails. Darshan is lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison with 13 accused persons in the case of kidnapping and murder. The 13 include his partner, the main accused Pavithra Gowda. Another four accused are lodged in Tumakuru district prison. The official statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) stated that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has considered the case of giving luxury treatment to Darshan in the Bengaluru Central Prison seriously. He has directed the authorities to suspend the responsible officers immediately. CM Siddaramaiah has also given directions to shift Darshan and his associates to different jails across the state. The CM has also directed the Karnataka DGP to visit the prison and submit a detailed report. Meanwhile, the Karnataka prisons department has suspended seven staffers, including two jailers for allowing Kannada actor Darshan to smoke a cigarette and drink coffee inside the prison. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Home Minister G. Parameshwara announced this on Monday. The photo of Darshan seated on a chair outside his barrack with a cigarette in one hand and a coffee mug in another had gone viral on Sunday. In the photo, Darshan's manager and other two jail inmates can also be seen sitting with him. The development had stirred controversy in the state, raising questions about the functioning and rampant corruption in the prisons department. Home Minister Parameshwara stated that following the incident, DG Prisons Malini Krishnamurthy immediately spoke to the officers concerned in the Bengaluru Central Prison and an enquiry was conducted till 1 a.m. Following the preliminary investigation, seven officers attached to the Bengaluru Central Prison have been suspended with immediate effect. The jail superintendent will be transferred as soon as the report is submitted, he added. If the involvement of senior officers is found, without any hesitation and mercy, action would be initiated against them, he stated. Jailers Sharana Basava Ameenagada, Prabhu S. Khandelwal, Assistant Jailer L.S. Tippe Swamy and Srikanth Talwar, Head Warden Venkatappa Murthy, warden Basappa Teli and Head Warden Venkatappa Kattoli and Sampath Kumar Kadapatti have been suspended following the preliminary probe, Parameshwara stated. "This is a lapse and it should not have taken place. As the matter surfaced, the officers concerned were suspended and action was taken. All prisons are sensitised, jammers and CCTV cameras are there. In spite of all this, the incident took place and swift action has been taken to avoid any such incident in the future," the Home Minister said. He added that no mercy would be shown to anyone involved in the incident and a probe was also on to find out who took the photo and how the person got a mobile phone inside prison. The investigation will reveal everything, HM Parameshwara stated. Raids were conducted two days ago by the police department in the central jail, however, no mobile phone was seized at that time. "We will also investigate the matter and look whether the mobiles were hidden or sent out on a tip-off. We are checking the CCTV footage of the jail of the last three days," he stated. When asked whether the government was under any pressure in the Darshan case, HM Parameshwara, said, "We will correct and tighten the system. There is no question of bowing down to any pressure," he reiterated. He clarified that there was no question of weakening the case and action had been taken as per the law and the department would continue to take action in future as well. "There is nothing to hide in the case, facts are facts. I will see to it that the incident is not repeated," he stated. Darshan's video has shocked the family of Renukaswamy, a fan allegedly killed by the actor, his partner Pavithra Gowda and 15 others. The case is in the final stage of submission of a charge sheet and the development is seen as a setback to Darshan who was hoping to apply for bail soon after the submission of the charge sheet. The gruesome murder of Renukaswamy took place on June 8 in Bengaluru. He was kidnapped from his hometown, Chitradurga, brought to Bengaluru, kept in a shed, and tortured to death. After the murder, his body was thrown into a canal. The incident came to light after the security personnel of a private apartment building saw the body being dragged by a pack of dogs. Renukaswamy is survived by aged parents, a pregnant wife and a sister. Washington, Aug 26 : On the concluding day of his US tour, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, where he interacted with members of the Indian diaspora, describing them as a "living bridge" between India and the United States. In his post on X, Rajnath Singh said, "Had a wonderful interaction with the Indian community at Memphis. Their contribution to society, science, and the economy has been exemplary." The Defence Minister engaged with Indian community members from Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and other nearby areas, on Sunday, praising their significant contributions to various sectors, his office said in a statement. He highlighted the pivotal role of the Indian diaspora in fostering close relations and goodwill between the two nations, further strengthening bilateral ties. Additionally, Rajnath Singh commended the community's efforts in establishing an exhibit of Mahatma Gandhi and placing two honourary 'Gandhi Way' street signs near the National Civil Rights Museum during the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019. The National Civil Rights Museum, which traces the history of the civil rights movement in the US from the 17th century to the present, is built around the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The museum also features a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, acknowledging his influence on non-violent resistance. During this final event of his US visit, Rajnath Singh also emphasised India's remarkable growth over the past decade and its promising future potential. Earlier in the day, the Defence Minister toured the William B. Morgan Large Cavitation Channel (LCC) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The LCC is a facility used to test submarines, torpedoes, naval surface ships, and propellers. He was briefed on the centre's operations as India explores the possibility of establishing similar facilities within the country. Accompanying the Defence Minister were the Indian Ambassador to the US, the Director General of the Indian Navy, and defence technology advisors from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The US Navy's Deputy Under Secretary, along with the Commander and Technical Director of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, facilitated the visit and provided detailed insights into the center's operations. The visit aimed to explore opportunities for collaboration between India and the US in establishing such advanced testing facilities in India, with a focus on indigenous design and development. In addition to his tour of the LCC, the Union Minister met with representatives from major US defence industry companies, including Boeing, GE, General Atomics, General Dynamics Land Systems, L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Rolls-Royce, and Thales. These meetings underscore the growing momentum in India-US relations and defence cooperation. Rajnath Singh was on his four-day visit to Washington at the invitation of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, which included a bilateral meeting with his American counterpart and a discussion with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The visit was aimed to further strengthen the global strategic partnership between India and the United States. The Defence Minister also chaired a high-level roundtable discussion with the US defence industry, focusing on current and future defence collaborations. Tehran, Aug 26 : Iran Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov have called for greater dynamism in bilateral relations and expansion of cooperation. The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan on Sunday held a telephone conversation with the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, congratulating him on his appointment as the top Iranian diplomat and wishing him success. They also discussed bilateral ties, development in the Caucasus region as well as some other international issues of common interest, Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported. According to the Foreign Ministry, Jeyhun Bayramov referred to his country's desire to develop friendly relations with Iran based on good neighbourliness, voicing hope that cooperation between Tehran and Baku would further expand during the new period. Araghchi also thanked his Azerbaijani counterpart, stating that the development of friendly relations with Azerbaijan, based on mutual interests, is among the priorities of the foreign policy of the of Iran. Araghchi underlined the need to tap into the existing capacities to that end. The two sides also highlighted the necessity to continue the exchange of high-ranking delegations, consultations between the two foreign ministries, and cooperation between the Iranian and Azerbaijani missions in international and regional organisations. Iran and Azerbaijan share, to a large extent, the same history, religion, and culture. The territory of what is now called the Republic of Azerbaijan was separated from Iran in the first half of the 19th century through the Russo-Persian Wars. Chennai, Aug 26 : There are about 600 scientists and 50 startups working in quantum technology in India, said Ajai Chowdhury, Chairman, Mission Governing Board, National Quantum Mission on Monday. He was speaking at the first-ever International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing (QCMC 2024), to be hosted in India, by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras from August 26 to 30. India launched the National Quantum Mission in April 2023 to build capabilities in quantum-related science and technology. "As we started to work, we looked at how many scientists and PIs are working in this field and found that India had around 600 scientists and 40 to 50 start-ups in quantum technology," said Chowdhury, while delivering an address on India's National Quantum Mission. He added that the country is doing "tremendous amounts of work" in the sector. Chowdhury noted that soon after the launch, "we had an overwhelming response with close to 385 proposals received to set up thematic parks and other areas of quantum technologies". "The plan is to set up four independent Section 08 companies in which the thematic parks will be housed -- computing, communications, sensing, and materials. The whole objective is that we bring together all researchers under the thematic hub," he added. The Chairman noted that they plan to involve startups "in a big way". He added that the mission will also disburse "grants to 10 to 15 good startups" "within the next three months". "We want to see them grow, scale, and go global," Chowdhury said, adding that they also plan to rope in various software companies. The QCMC 2024 aims to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration between physicists, computer scientists, and engineers in the quantum field; accelerate the translation of quantum research into practical applications; and build international partnerships to address global challenges in quantum technology. It will also feature discussions on a broad spectrum of topics from foundational quantum theory to cutting-edge quantum technology applications. "I am happy and excited that this Quantum Conference has come to India for the first time. We have large-scale data and problems that we were trying to solve in the classical computing era, in areas ranging from hardware to logistics and networking problems," said Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras. He noted that quantum technologies can help "scale and speed up" to get "solutions in a time-constrained manner". Dharamsala, Aug 27 : In a long awaited meeting, Tibetan religious head and 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje called on the Dalai Lama in Zurich, Switzerland, the first meeting between the two spiritual leaders in seven years. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the representative of Tibetan people both in and outside Tibet headquartered in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, shared photos of the meeting on Monday. The meeting held on August 25, the first since January 2017, has revived hopes among his followers that the Karmapa, considered the third most important Buddhist figure after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, may return to India soon. He has a significant following in the country, particularly in Sikkim. The Dalai Lama and the Karmapa last met during 34th Kalachakra teachings in Bodhgaya in 2017. In 1959, the Dalai Lama along with thousands of others fled Tibet, crossing the Himalayas and taking refuge in Dharamsala. Likewise, the Karmapa, whose literal meaning is 'one who carries out Buddha activity', fled Tibet and sought refuge in India in January 2000. He has mostly lived at the monastery in Sidhbari near Dharamsala with the Indian government treating him as an 'honoured guest'. The Karmapa left for the US in 2017 for medical treatment and later took up citizenship of the Commonwealth of Dominica. According to believers, the escapes of the Dalai Lama (89) and the Karmapa (38) from Tibet at different times show they are more than religious figures, and their presence exemplifies Tibet's ongoing struggle. "The meeting is a reaffirmation of the Karmapa's love and loyalty to the Dalai Lama and to the Tibetan struggle," remarked an observer of Tibetan affairs. After the meeting, the Dalai Lama departed from Switzerland for Delhi. In June, Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had reached out to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, in Delhi and held discussions regarding the prospect of bringing the 17th Karmapa to Sikkim. Tamang also hoped at one of his media briefings that the Karmapa, who heads a 900-year-old lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, may return "very soon". In an interview with Radio Free Asia's (RFA) Tibetan Service in 2018, the Karmapa said that talks (with the Government of India) were going on. "Once these talks are over and the outcomes are fruitful, I am all set to go to India... I cannot confirm the exact dates. There is a conference of Tibetan religious heads being planned in November in Dharamsala. I consider it important to participate in it. That's when I am hoping I can go back," the Karmapa was quoted as saying then. An important institution in the Tibetan religious set up, the Karmapa, the only major monk reincarnate recognised by both the Dalai Lama and China, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect, one of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the richest. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama is expected to return to Dharamsala on August 28. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com) Mumbai, Aug 26 : Acclaimed actress Shefali Shah has expressed her desire to work in Telugu films as she said they perfectly blend grandeur with the art of storytelling. Shefali was part of a moderated chat in Hyderabad, where she talked about how much she admires Telugu films. She said: "I truly admire Telugu cinema. I think they perfectly blend grandeur with the art of storytelling. Look at their films, whether it's the 'Baahubali' franchise, 'RRR', 'Kalki 2898 AD' or 'Sita Ramam'they are truly magical. "I would love to work with them if given a chance." Talking about her upcoming work, Shefali will soon be seen with actors Jaideep Ahlawat and Abhishek Bannerjee in "Hisaab", directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It was on July 1, when the announcement was made on Instagram by the official handle of Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd. The production company shared a picture of the film's clapboard kept next to a small temple on the sets. "Today, we embark on the journey of bringing emotions to life and passion to the screen; the beginning of Hisaab, presented by Jio Studios in association with Sunshine Pictures!" the caption read. Shefali started her journey in Hindi cinema in 1995 with a small role in 'Rangeela'. She was then seen in films such as 'Satya', 'Mohabbatein', 'Waqt: The Race Against Time', 'Gandhi, My Father', 'Commando 2: The Black Money Trail', 'Jalsa', 'Darlings' and 'Three of Us'. Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who is the husband of actress Shefali Shah, started with his journey in the glitzy world of showbiz with the 'Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka', TV serial, which had over 1,000 episodes. He made his film debut by directing the Gujarati movie 'Dariya Chhoru' and transitioned to Hindi movies with 'Aankhen' in 2002. The director then made movies such as 'Waqt: The Race Against Time', 'Namastey London', 'Singh Is Kinng' and 'London Dreams'. Chennai, Aug 26 : Tamil Nadu Police have taken a man into custody after two beer bottles were hurled at 'Anna Arivalayam', the DMK headquarters in the Teynampet area of the state capital on Monday morning. The arrested person has been identified as Govardhan, who, according to the police, came on a two-wheeler and threw two beer bottles inside the Anna Arivalayam on Monday morning. Police investigation so far has revealed that Govardhan hails from Kannagi Nagar in Chennai. The cops are now interrogating him at the Teynampet police station to find out the reason behind his alleged act. While the political affiliation of the accused is not clear yet, the police are investigating whether there was a political angle behind the hurling of the liquor bottles at the DMK headquarters. Commenting on the matter, DMK Tamil Nadu Organising Secretary R.S. Bharathi told IANS, "The police are questioning the person who threw beer bottles at our party headquarters. It was an unfortunate incident... Let the police probe the matter and bring out the truth." After the brutal murder of Dalit activist and Tamil Nadu BSP President K. Armstrong on July 5, politics in Tamil Nadu has turned murkier with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) cadres coming out in the open against the police and the 'failure' of the state's law enforcement agency in preventing crimes. Armstrong, a lawyer by profession, was hacked to death on July 5 in the Perambur area of Chennai. Police have so far arrested six people, including Ponnai Balu, brother of notorious gangster Arcot Suresh, who was murdered in 2023, in connection with the case. In Tamil Nadu, two Dravidian parties -- DMK and AIADMK -- have been engaged in a bitter fight that often gets dragged to the streets. Bengaluru, Aug 26 : In a move that is likely to stir a controversy, the Karnataka BJP will seek a ticket for senior party leader CP Yogeshwara to contest from the Channapatna Assembly constituency in the bye-election. The Channapatna seat was represented by Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, HD Kumaraswamy and he wants to field his son from there. Speaking to the media, Leader of Opposition, R Ashoka stated on Monday, "We have met CP Yogeshwara and also spoken to Union Minister Kumaraswamy. We will seek a ticket for Yogeshwara from the high command. We will let you know about our New Delhi visit in this regard." The development is likely to create controversy as Kumaraswamy wants to field his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy from the JD(S). Sources said that Kumaraswamy is not willing to give away the seat held by the JD(S). However, he is in a fix as the BJP had given away the Kolar MP seat, held by its candidate, to the JD(S) in the Lok Sabha election. JD(S) candidate Mallesh Babu had emerged as the winner with the support of the BJP. Now, Kumaraswamy is obliged to give in to the demand of the BJP to field its candidate from the Channapatna seat, sources stated. Yogeshwara was defeated by Kumaraswamy in the 2024 Assembly election. Kumaraswamy is yet to react to the latest development even as Yogeshwara had stated that he will not hesitate to contest as an Independent candidate if he is denied the ticket. Yogeshwara had also met the BJP high command and vehemently vouched for his candidature. Sources said that the high command will take a decision after consulting with Kumaraswamy in this regard. When asked about the Congress party's agitation against Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot for giving sanction for a probe against CM Siddaramaiah, he said, "We are discussing the matter with the JD(S) leaders and it is in the preliminary stage. The case in this regard is coming up before the court on August 29. The discussion will be held afterwards." Replying to a question on the BJP's alleged attempt to purchase Congress MLAs in Karnataka, Ashoka stated, "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's government is stuck in a scam. In this background they are trying to divert the attention of the people. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is busy meeting the central leadership in New Delhi. They are in a panic mode about the survival of the Congress government. "We are not making any effort to bring down the government. I challenge the Congress leaders to reveal the names of BJP leaders who had approached them offering money." "The government is mired in the MUDA and tribal welfare scams. There is no way out to save the government and the BJP is being targeted. Their own party leaders are all set to bring down the government," Ashoka claimed. Ashoka professed that the government was planning to increase the tax on liquor for the third time and hike bus and water fares too. "The government has reached the brink of financial emergency without reserving funds for the guarantees. The Congress leaders are speaking lightly about voters who helped them to come to power. In this phase, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Home Minister G Parameshwara, Dy CM DK Shivakumar are making all attempts to become the CM of Karnataka," Ashoka claimed. Kyiv, Aug 28 : Ukrainian agencies and media on Monday alleged that the Russian forces have launched a major missile and drone assault in several regions of the country, including the capital, Kyiv, killing three and wounding many people. Kyiv, Aug 28 (IANS) Ukrainian agencies and media on Monday alleged that the Russian forces have launched a major missile and drone assault in several regions of the country, including the capital, Kyiv, killing three and wounding many people. "The Russian occupiers started the week with a massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities. The free world must unite to put an end to Russian terror," the Ukrainian Defence Ministry posted on X while confirming the assault. At least three people were killed in the attacks, local media reported. The Kyiv Independent reported that air raid sirens blared across the country just before 6 am Monday, with the alert still active at several locations. The DTEK Group, which has heavily invested in energy assets in Ukraine, stated that state-owned electricity transmission system operator Ukrenergo has issued an order to introduce emergency blackouts throughout the country. "Please note that during emergency shutdowns, schedules that can be predicted in advance do not work," it posted in a message on Telegram. Ukrainian media revealed that explosions have been reported from Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. "The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly, their infrastructure. Permission to strike with Western weapons deep into the territory of the Russian Federation. This is necessary. We do it ourselves. But such a decision will speed up the end of Russian terror," said the Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andriy Yermak in a post on his social media channel. Meanwhile, the Operational Command of the Armed Forces Branches in Poland, also issued an alert for citizens in the south-eastern part of the country, alerting them that there may be an "increased noise level" due to the start of operations of Polish and allied aircraft in its airspace. "Since the early morning hours, intensive activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation has been observed, associated with strikes carried out on objects located, among others, in the western territory of Ukraine. The last such increased activity of Russian aviation, during which strikes occurred in western Ukraine, was recorded on July 8 this year. All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been launched, and the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces is constantly monitoring the situation," it said in a statement. The Kyiv Post quoted the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, as saying that the Russian forces have attacked "en masse". "The attack on August 26 was one of the most extensive air assaults on Ukraine, targeting multiple regions and causing significant damage to infrastructure and energy facilities," the leading daily reported. Mumbai, Aug 26 : Bollywood's dapper dude Sidharth Malhotra has heaped praise on his actress-wife Kiara Advani's style and said that her fashion sense is undeniably bold and adventurous. Talking about his wife's fashion, Sidharth told IANS: "Kiara's fashion sense is undeniably bold and adventurous." He said that Kiara maintains a sense of individuality with her style. "She fearlessly embraces the latest trends and isn't afraid to experiment with color and embellishments. While her style is distinctly glamorous, she also maintains a strong sense of individuality," he shared. Sidharth had earlier spoken about his fashion game and had said: "I gravitate towards classic silhouettes with a subtle touch of masculine edge. My style is more about looking effortless than overly styled." Sidharth, who made his debut in 2012 with "Student of the Year" and was later seen in hit films such as "Ek Villain," and "Shershaah," also shared that perfect fit is essential for him. "I ensure to invest time in making sure each piece is tailored to perfection," said Sidharth, who began his career as a fashion model. Sidharth and Kiara started dating in 2020. It was on the sets of "Shershaah", the two met and fell in love. They got married in Rajasthan in 2023. Sidharth started off as an assistant director to Karan Johar in "My Name Is Khan" in 2010. He made his debut in 2012 with the film "Student of the Year." He was then seen in "Hasee Toh Phasee," "Ek Villain", "Kapoor & Sons", "A Gentleman", "Aiyaary,", "Jabariya Jodi" among many others. He made his debut on OTT with the digital thriller series "Indian Police Force," starring Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi. The series was directed by Rohit Shetty. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed New Delhi, Aug 26 : Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi said his heart is full and he will forever be thankful to his wife Ansha Afridi after the couple welcomed their first child - Aliyaar. Taking to social media, Shaheen, expressed his gratitude to his supporters for extending their wishes on the addition of a new member to his family. "This moment changes everything! My heart is full and my life just got a whole lot better. 24/08/2024 will always be special to us. Welcome to the world my son, Aliyaar Afridi. I will forever be thankful to my wife for all the pain and suffering she had to endure. She is literally the support system of our little family. I am grateful for all the lovely wishes and prayers coming our way. Remember my little family in your prayers," Shaheen wrote in the post. Shaheen, who is part of the Pakistan squad for the ongoing Test series against Bangladesh, joined his family in Karachi on Sunday after the hosts endured a 10-wicket heavy defeat in Rawalpindi. The pace spearhead was part of the playing 11 that failed to keep their winless Test record against Bangladesh. As per Pakistan media reports, the pacer will rejoin the squad before the start of the second Test in Rawalpindi on August 30. Shaheen engaged to Ansha, the second-eldest daughter of former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, in 2021. Their nikah was held in a private ceremony in February last year, followed by a week of wedding celebrations and Ansha's rukhsati in September 2023. Bengaluru, Aug 26 : Karnataka Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil on Monday said that the Siddhartha Vihara Education Trust, headed by Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge's son Rahul Kharge, was allotted a CA (civic amenity) plot at Hi-Tech Defence and Aerospace Park at a prescribed price, in accordance with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) norms. Responding to questions from reporters, the minister dismissed allegations made by BJP leader Lahar Singh Siroya, asserting that no rules were violated in the process. "Rahul Kharge is an IIT graduate who has expressed his intention to establish a Research and Development centre on the allotted land. His family has a longstanding involvement in various educational activities. Under KIADB norms, CA plots can be used for setting up R&D centres, centres of excellence, technical institutes, skill development centres, government offices, banks, hospitals, hotels, petrol stations, canteens, and residential facilities. Any interested and eligible can apply for it and allotments will be made after recommendations from the state-level Single Window Committee," Patil said. "In this case, Rahul Kharge has not been allotted an industrial plot at the Aerospace Park but a CA plot for establishing an R&D centre at a prescribed price, with no discounts given." Patil also took the opportunity to criticise the previous BJP government, highlighting that it had allotted 116 acres of land to the Chanakya University in an industrial area for a mere Rs 50 crore, resulting in a Rs 137 crore loss to the state exchequer. "It would be good if Lahar Singh raises concerns about this issue as well," he remarked. The minister emphasised that since he took office, a more transparent system has been implemented, where CA plots are allotted only after the state-level Single Window Committee approval. "Additionally, for the first time, we have introduced a 24.10 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes in the allotment of CA plots," Patil noted. He advised Lahar Singh to consider these facts before making baseless allegations. The BJP Rajya Sabha member had questioned the land allotment to the Congress President's family in the Defence and Aerospace Park. "When did the Kharge family become aerospace entrepreneurs to be eligible for Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) land? How did the Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil consent to this allocation in March 2024? Is this about misuse of power, nepotism, and conflict of interest?" Siroya questioned. He said that it has come to light that Siddhartha Vihara Trust run by Mallikarjun Khargeas family, has been allocated five acres of KIADB land out of a total of 45.94 acres meant for civic amenities, under the SC quota, in the Defence and Aerospace Park. "Interestingly, those who are trustees include Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife Radhabai Kharge; his son-in-law and Gulbarga MP Radhakrishna; another son and minister in the Karnataka government Priyank Kharge; another son Rahul Kharge among others. Is this about misuse of power, nepotism, or conflict of interest?" he questioned. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Union Minister Giriraj Singh issued a direct challenge to Congress on Monday, insisting he contest the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections without forming an alliance. Giriraj Singh also took aim at other regional leaders, including Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP and Farooq Abdullah of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), accusing them of being too "restless" to face the BJP on their own. The Union Minister praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly highlighting initiatives such as Panchayat elections, tourism promotion, and efforts to curb stone-pelting. He claimed these actions have significantly weakened the opposition, leaving them hesitant to compete against the BJP independently. "The works that the Prime Minister carried out by holding the Panchayat elections, carrying out developmental works, booting tourism, and eradicating the stone-pelters, have shattered their (opposition) strength to contest alone," he said. Extending his challenge to Congress for a direct contest, Giriraj Singh questioned, "Rahul Gandhi doesn't dare to fight alone. If he does, why doesn't he contest the elections alone?" He also directed similar remarks at Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah, suggesting that they are intimidated by the development works carried out by the Modi government. The Union Minister further questioned whether Rahul Gandhi's party was afraid to compete without an alliance and asked if the Congress leader would align with JKNC's "Pakistan diplomacy," insisting on a clarification of his stance on Farooq Abdullah's views. Earlier on Sunday also Giriraj Singh criticised Rahul Gandhi, labelling him as a member of the 'Tukde Tukde' gang. He slammed the Congress's alliance with the JKNC for the upcoming elections, suggesting that it aligns with those who once claimed that no one would hoist the flag in Jammu and Kashmir. "It's good actually... Rahul Gandhi belongs to the same 'Tukde Tukde' gang, which claimed that no one will hoist the flag in Jammu and Kashmir. But now, we can see the Tricolour being hoisted on the world's highest railway bridge," Giriraj Singh said. He further questioned whether Gandhi planned to reinstate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and whether he would take Farooq Abdullah to Pakistan for discussions on foreign policy. Jaipur, Aug 26 : Tension prevailed in Bhilwara on Monday after a huge crowd gathered in Parshuram Chauraha protesting against the animal remains being thrown outside a religious premises by anonymous miscreants. However, the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd. The protesters demanded a "bulldozer action" against the accused house and demanded immediate arrest of those involved in the crime. The protesters have asked the police to arrest the accused in two days and after the police gave assurance of immediate arrest, the protestors dispersed. "Traders pulled down the shutters fearing danger after protestors gathered at the Parshuram Chauraha demanding immediate arrest of the accused," an official said. SP Rajan Dushyant has appealed to maintain peace and also appealed to shopkeepers to open the market. A huge police force also has been deployed at the Parshuram Chauraha to maintain peace. Protestors gathered at the Parshuram Chauraha after a social media message went viral inviting people to gather at the circle on Monday at around 11.30 am. Religious figures, along with MP Damodar Agrawal, and MLA Ashok Kothari also gathered with the Protestors. Animal remains were found outside a religious place in Bhilwara on Sunday. The police also took out a flag march on city streets to maintain peace in the area. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday made a strong pitch for unity among citizens and said that this will not only ensure their well-being but will also lead to the country's empowerment. The Chief Minister's pointed message comes against the backdrop of chaos and unrest in Bangladesh, which has been under constant spell of riots and widespread violence for over months now. Addressing an event in Agra, Yogi Adityanath said, "There is nothing bigger than the country. It overcomes everything. The nation can become powerful only when we stay united. Then only, we can remain safe. If we allow division among us, we will be destroyed. See the example of Bangladesh. That mistake shouldn't be repeated here." "Batenge toh katenge, ek rahenge toh nek rahenge (If we get divided, we will be shredded. If we stay together, we will be safe)," he further said at the public meeting. "By standing together, we will reach new heights of success and prosperity. We have to attain new territories of growth, we have to work towards the realisation of the Viksit Bharat," CM Yogi said. The Chief Minister was speaking at the event, after unveiling the statue of Durgadas Rathore. CM Yogi's remark is set to spur many reactions from Opposition parties as the latter is likely to dub it 'communal and polarising'. Notably, the Chief Minister, on previous occasions, also questioned the Cong-led INDIA bloc's 'silence' on the humiliation and subjugation of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. Speaking in Mathura, a day ago, he berated the Opposition parties for being outspoken on the Palestinian crisis but staying mum on the persecution of Hindus and also demolition of temples in violence-hit Bangladesh. A couple of Congress leaders including Salman Khurshid created a flutter in political circles, days ago, when they claimed that Bangladesh-like upheaval was possible in India, drawing BJP's wrath and also stern condemnation from various quarters. Notably, Bangladesh plunged into chaos after the student riots forced Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina's ouster and her sudden escape from the country. What followed was an attack on religious places of Hindus and other minorities. Many houses of Hindus were attacked while their properties were vandalised after the country turned 'headless'. Hindus, constituting about 8 per cent population of Bangladesh, saw the desecration of their temples by the rampaging mob, which, reports said, continued even after the interim government under Mohammad Younus, a Nobel laureate, took charge. Dhaka, Aug 26 : The floods in several parts of Bangladesh have left 23 people dead, affected nearly 6 million, and displaced hundreds of thousands of families. According to the daily disaster situation report by the country's National Disaster Response Coordination Center (NDRCC) under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, 57,01,204 people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts as of Monday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported. The report published on the ministry website said 23 people died in flooding in the country while 12,38,048 families remained marooned in the 11 districts. Two people were also reported missing. TV reports showed that wide areas of land are underwater in parts of Bangladesh as major rivers overflowed since last week. Floods also reportedly caused widespread damage to habitation, crops, roads and highways across vast swathes of the country. Bangladeshi interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Sunday asked all concerned to continue their robust efforts in rescuing stranded people, providing emergency healthcare and extending all-out cooperation for the flood victims. Authorities have rushed teams of disaster response forces to carry out rescue operations, distribute relief materials, and supervise centres where around half a million flood-affected people have taken shelter. In the face of the significant challenges posed by the flooding in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh donated ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, and essential living supplies to the hardest-hit area of Feni on Sunday. Apart from this, the Red Cross Society of China donated to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society $100,000 for emergency humanitarian assistance. Also, the Chinese Embassy here announced to donate $20,000 to the Chief Adviser's Relief and Welfare Fund. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday that former Jharkhand Chief Minister and senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Champai Soren joining the BJP would further strengthen the party. His remarks came amid growing speculation that Champai Soren, who is in the national capital for the past few days, might switch sides from the JMM to the BJP. "I want Champai Soren to join the BJP and strengthen us. However, since he is a very prominent leader, it is not appropriate for me to comment on him. If he is in Delhi, we will try to communicate with him," Sarma told mediapersons. The Assam Chief Minister also shared that while he has had multiple conversations with Champai Soren, they did not discuss politics. "But I feel that this is the right time to talk to him about politics," he added. Responding to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's allegations that the BJP is attempting to divide his party, Sarma said, "Look, I even want Hemant Soren to join the BJP. BJP means devotion towards the nation. There should be no question of dividing the country. We all work together for the country." Sarma, who is BJP's election in-charge for Jharkhand that will go to the polls later this year, also stressed the party's willingness to engage in discussions with Hemant Soren on the issue of intruders in Jharkhand, emphasising that welfare of the state is their priority. "We are ready to talk to Hemant Soren regarding intruders in Jharkhand. We want to save Jharkhand; it is never about the BJP. For us, the country is above all, including the party," he said. The Assam Chief Minister also suggested that if Hemant Soren fulfils his promise of providing five lakh jobs before September 31, "maybe the BJP will not contest the elections". Shifting the focus to the spate of rape cases reported recently, Sarma asserted Assam's efforts to tackle the issue, claiming that while the number of such cases decreased since the BJP came to power, the problem has not been fully eradicated. "We are trying our best to tackle the problem of rapes in the state. After we came to power, the numbers dropped from 3,000 to 900. However, even if the number drops to one, it is still not a matter of satisfaction," he said. He also stressed the need for stricter laws and faster judicial processes to address such crimes. "Even if one rape is committed, no one can rest. A strict law is necessary. I would want the entire process -- from inquiry to trial to conviction -- to be completed within six months. It will have a positive impact," he added. On the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), Sarma noted that the notification is not yet out. "After the notification is out, we will make a decision keeping the employees' convenience in mind," he concluded. Bengaluru, Aug 26 : Karnataka Police on Monday filed three FIRs against jailed Kannada star Darshan, an accused in a kidnap and murder case, in connection with the preferential treatment given to him in Bengaluru Central Prison. Photos and videos showing Darshan enjoying life inside the prison with coffee, cigarettes and making video calls surfaced and went viral on social media in the last 24 hours. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara stated after visiting the Central Jail in Bengaluru on Monday noon that based on the complaint by the prison department, the police have lodged three FIRs. "This is a violation of prison department's Manual and the Prison Act. Action will be initiated against the guilty in the case. An investigation would be done on who provided Darshan and others with chairs, who brought them tea," HM Parameshwara stated. DG Prisons, Malini Krishnamurthy, who also visited the prison in the morning to conduct the probe, stated that in all three FIRs Darshan had been made an accused and the FIRs were filed based on the report by the jail superintendent. "One FIR has been filed on usage of mobile inside the premises of the prison. The second one has been filed on smoking of cigarette in the premises and the third one is regarding the opening of the cell. There are names of prison officers and persons in the picture in it," she stated. "A detailed probe is needed regarding the incident and a senior IPS officer would conduct the investigation," she said. The photo showing Darshan holding a cigarette and a mug of coffee was taken on the evening of August 22, according to preliminary investigations. According to the DG Prisons the CCTV cameras were not working on August 22. Answering a question, she maintained that if they had information about the special treatment being given to Darshan in jail, action would have been initiated by the authorities. "There are black sheep in the department and it is difficult to monitor everyone. The use of AI and installing more CCTVs in the prison premises is being considered," she stated. Sources explained that the authorities were considering shifting Darshan to Hindlaga Central Prison in Belagavi and his associates to various other prisons across the state. Darshan is lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison with 13 accused people in the case of kidnapping and murder. The 13 include his partner, the main accused Pavithra Gowda. Another four accused are lodged in Tumakuru district prison. The Karnataka prisons department has suspended seven staffers, including two jailers for allowing Darshan to smoke a cigarette and drink coffee inside the prison. The video of Darshan seated on a chair outside his barrack with a cigarette in one hand and a coffee mug in another had gone viral on Sunday. In the video, Darshan's manager and other two jail inmates can also be seen sitting with him. The development has stirred controversy in the state, raising questions about the functioning and rampant corruption in the prisons department. Darshan's video has shocked the family of Renukaswamy, a fan allegedly killed by the actor, his partner Pavithra Gowda and 15 others. The case is in the final stage of submission of a charge sheet and the development is seen as a setback to Darshan who was hoping to apply for bail soon after the submission of the charge sheet. The gruesome murder of Renukaswamy took place on June 8 in Bengaluru. He was kidnapped from his hometown, Chitradurga, brought to Bengaluru, kept in a shed, and tortured to death. After the murder, his body was thrown into a canal. The incident came to light after the security personnel of a private apartment building saw the body being dragged by a pack of dogs. Renukaswamy is survived by aged parents, a pregnant wife and a sister. New Delhi, Aug 26 : About 58.5 per cent of organisations in India have increased their learning and development budgets for FY25, according to a report on Monday. The report by Great Learning, a leading global edtech company, is based on trends observed among the company's client partners across various sectors and insights from a survey of over 100 learning and development and business unit heads. It showed that in FY24, four out of five companies reported reduced hiring costs due to effective internal talent development. For 64 per cent of these enterprises, the main goal of investing in workforce training was to cultivate emerging skills among early-career professionals to fuel business growth. About 36 per cent of organisations focused on enhancing productivity, innovation, and creativity to improve overall effectiveness and foster a culture of innovation. Further, the report showed that Indian enterprises led by the IT sector and followed by analytics and digital solutions firms have placed a strong emphasis on training in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, data science, and data engineering. About 76.6 per cent of companies have prioritised these areas. The focus is expected to continue in FY25, as the survey shows that most organisations plan to increase their investment in training employees in these critical fields, it said. "The report underscores a unanimous shift towards developing an adaptable workforce and moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to training. Organisations now recognise that Generative AI training is crucial for achieving business objectives across all employee levels," said Ritesh Malhotra, Enterprise Head at Great Learning. "By extending this training beyond traditional tech roles, companies are adopting a strategic learning and development approach that enables their workforce to streamline processes, automate routine tasks, and drive innovation more effectively, resulting in significant cost savings," he added. The report noted that in FY25, data science and AI-ML remain top priorities, particularly in the consulting (44.4 per cent) and energy (41.7 per cent) sectors, underscoring their drive for strategic decision-making and business innovation. Interest in Generative AI surged across sectors in FY24, driven by its potential to enhance decision-making, foster innovation, and improve competitiveness. In FY25, at least 50 per cent of organisations plan to advance their teams' skills in Generative AI, responding to strong market demand. Notably, enterprises are set to broaden GenAI training beyond technical roles, aiming to include a wider array of functions to automate repetitive tasks and boost efficiency. "Today, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are evolving from being mere recipients of change to active enablers of it. They are investing heavily in training for cutting-edge technologies like generative AI, data analytics, and cloud computing to fuel global innovation and enhance organisational efficiency," Malhotra said. Bengaluru, Aug 26 : Hitting out at the BJP, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that it is impossible to remove him from power as long as he has the blessings of the people. He said this while speaking at an event in Koujalagi town in Belagavi district, where he inaugurated freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna's statue, and the Rayanna Fort. The event was attended by several leaders, including Ministers Lakshmi Hebbalkar and Satish Jarkiholi, MLA Balachandra Jarkiholi, among others. Speaking on the occasion, Siddaramaiah said: "Sangolli Rayanna, a loyal warrior of Rani Chennamma, was a valiant hero. When the British attacked Rani Chennamma's court, it was Rayanna's fight and bravery that led to victory. "Even though he lost the second battle, Rayanna escaped the clutches of the British and formed a guerrilla army, continuing to wage guerrilla warfare that troubled the British greatly. However, it was our own people who betrayed Rayanna and handed him over to the British. Due to this betrayal by our own people, Rayanna fell into the hands of the British. They knew that Rayanna would not be armed while swimming, making it easy to capture him... it was our people who gave the British this idea," he added. "Such traitors still exist among us. The BJP is continuously plotting to dethrone Siddaramaiah. But as long as I have your blessings, it is impossible to remove me from power," the senior Congress leader said. Further criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Karnataka Chief Minister said: "The BJP's ancient ideology is that a person from the backward community should not become the CM or hold power. That is why they are hatching a dangerous conspiracy against me even though I have done nothing wrong. However, as long as the people's blessings are with me, their conspiracy will not succeed," he asserted. The BJP has declared that it won't stop the protests until Siddaramaiah resigns as Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot gave the nod to open an investigation against him in connection with the MUDA land scam. Chandigarh, Aug 26 : Former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Monday claimed victory of the BJP in the forthcoming state Assembly polls, saying the regional parties "are now finished and the contest is only with the Congress, and we will easily defeat the Congress because they have committed so many sins". Chandigarh, Aug 26 (IANS) Former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Monday claimed victory of the BJP in the forthcoming state Assembly polls, saying the regional parties "are now finished and the contest is only with the Congress, and we will easily defeat the Congress because they have committed so many sins". Expressing concern over the increasing incidents of sexual assault and rapes in the country, Vij said, "This country holds women in high regard, so such acts cannot be tolerated, and strict laws should be made for this. Those (guilty) who commit such crimes should be hanged, that's the only solution." Vij was responding to media queries in Ambala. On the list of candidates for Jammu and Kashmir elections, Vij said, "The list for Jammu and Kashmir has been released, and Haryana's will come soon." Regarding the question of extending the polling date, he said that he believed that "the date might be extended". Commenting on the clash between Congress and BJP workers over pamphlets in Rohtak, Vij said, "The Congress is starting to show its true colours." He added, "Nothing has happened or is going to happen, and yet they see themselves as the government in power; that's why they are in such a state." "Is the Congress going to bring back its era of hooliganism?" he questioned. In response to Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi's challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement a caste census or the next Prime Minister would do it, Vij said, "I don't understand why Rahul Gandhi is insisting on a caste census. As far as I know, and considering their (Congress) history, they have been responsible for the Partition of the country based on religion, and they are accused of mass killings. In 1984, they were responsible for the killing of SikhsRahul Gandhi's father justified it by saying that 'when a big tree falls, the earth shakes', but now whose earth do they want to shake?" Haryana will go to the polls in a single phase on October 1. Mumbai, Aug 26 : Actor Abhay Verma, whose horror-comedy film 'Munjya' has bowed on OTT, is celebrating the International Dog Day on Monday. The actor loves dogs and has a dog named Joey. He has shared how adopting a pet changes people's lives for wholesome goodness. The actor said: "'Joey' has brightened my life. Whenever I return from a shoot, he welcomes me with so much joy, it just takes away all the tiredness! And I make sure that I greet him with the same amount of delight, no matter what! I really can't fathom the bliss he has brought into my life." The actor said that he really doesn't mind spoiling his little boy. "When you adopt a pet, you turn into a parent by default! This joy knows no bounds, honestly," he added. Meanwhile, 'Munjya', which breached the Rs 100 crore mark during its theatrical run, is now available on streaming medium. The film is set against the backdrop of Pune and Konkan region in Maharashtra and revolves around Bittu (played by Abhay Verma) who is head over heels in love with Bela (played by Sharvari) but when he goes to his hometown, he discovers his past and ancestral history wrapped around demons and paranormal activity unknown to Bittu. Talking about the film, Abhay Verma said: "I think 'Munjya' chose me and not the other way around. Any creative endeavour like such is too big to choose, it's more than spiritual for me and with Bittu being loved in such a big way; it felt as if my prayers were being answered by the audience as the almighty." The film also stars Sharvari and Mona Singh in the lead roles. Produced by Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik under Maddock Films, the film is directed by Aditya Sarpotdar. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Sikkim Chief Minister P.S. Tamang met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Monday and extended a formal invitation to him to be the Chief Guest on Sikkim's statehood day celebration. The mountain state will celebrate its statehood day on May 16 this year. The upcoming statehood say is set to be of particular significance as the state will commemorate 50 years since Sikkim became the 22nd state of India in 1975. "This historic milestone represents the fulfilment of long-held aspirations, the opening of new avenues for the people of Sikkim, and the state's integration into the democratic framework of India. The merger has been a pivotal moment in Sikkim's development, bringing modern institutions, advancements in science and technology, and numerous opportunities for holistic progress" Tamang said in a social media post after meeting PM Modi. To honour this historic occasion, the Sikkim government has organised a year-long series of events under the theme "Sunaulo, Samridha, and Samarth Sikkim," reflecting on both the pre and post-merger history of the state. "It is a matter of great honour and delight that the Hon'ble Prime Minister has graciously accepted the invitation. His esteemed presence will undoubtedly enhance the significance of the occasion, making it truly memorable. The event will provide a platform to showcase Sikkim's rich cultural heritage and natural beauty in the presence of the Prime Minister" the Chief Minister mentioned. During the meeting, the Tamang conveyed his heartiest greetings and best wishes to the Prime Minister on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. The discussions were described as profound and productive, covering various matters of importance to the state of Sikkim. The Chief Minister has urged all the people of Sikkim to join in the grand celebration, embodying the spirit of the state with zest and fervour. Sindhudurg : , Aug 26 (IANS) The collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on Monday at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg -- which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 -- has kicked up a political row in Maharashtra even as a rattled MahaYuti government attempts to go into a damage control mode. Under fire from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), and Shiv Sena (UBT), as well as Chhatrapati Yuvraj Sambhajiraje of Kolhapur -- the 13th direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj -- Chief Minister Eknath Shinde dispatched his senior Cabinet colleague and PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan to Sindhudurg for a spot assessment. The state government has come under severe fire from various MVA leaders who levelled allegations of corruption against the MahaYuti regime, accusing it of insulting Maharashtra's pride by dealing a blow to the country's image globally. In a strongly-worded post on X, Chhatrapati Yuvraj Sambhajiraje claimed that the statue was erected in 'haste' for its inauguration by the Prime Minister due to which it has collapsed. "We had written then to the PM demanding to change this statue which was basically shapeless and not according to sculpture, and was erected in haste. In Maharashtra, there is nothing more unfortunate than Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's memorial collapsing within a year. In such a situation, with what authority will we talk about Maharaja's forts," Sambhajiraje said in the post. The NCP (SP) top brass including its Working President Supriya Sule, General Secretary Jitendra Awhad, state President Jayant Patil, national spokesperson Clyde Crasto, and others minced no words in slamming the MahaYuti regime over the statue crash. Sniffing graft, Patil demanded a thorough probe into the construction of the memorial, while Awhad rued it as a gross blow to the country's image give how the statue of a national icon has crashed.\ Sule posted a letter dated September 8, 2023, saying the project contractor was from Thane (CM Shinde's home district), as she demanded he (the contractor) be "blacklisted". Congress' Atul Londhe attacked the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP alliance for "consistently misusing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's name for elections", and now even for indulging in corruption in the name of his statue, warning "the MahaYuti will face the consequences". State Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant said "the BJP symbolises corruption and injustice, nothing is safe in this state, and it is a disrespect to the Chhatrapati". Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray sought a detailed probe into the incident as he called for nailing all those responsible for the crash, while some purported supporters of the party led by Kudal MLA Vaibhav Naik swooped on and vandalised PWD offices here demanding FIR against its officials. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Kishore Tiwari claimed that this was not the first structure unveiled by the PM that has crashed, as he demanded a precautionary audit of all roads, expressways, bridges, Metro lines, sea-links, tunnels, monuments, etc. which the Prime Minister has inaugurated in Maharashtra in the past 10 years. Party leader Vinayak Raut demanded a probe against PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan for the "huge corruption" that led to the statue collapse, while Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil demanded to "throw into jail whoever is responsible for this disaster, whether contractors or officers don't spare anybody". Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, meanwhile, told mediapersons that the government will conduct a proper inquiry and take all necessary measures in the matter. Sambhajiraje has called for scientifically rebuilding the statue at the same spot, but sounded a warning that "in the zeal to build it before the (Assembly) elections, we should not make any trouble again". At around 12.30 p.m. on Monday, the grand 45-feet tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, built with bronze and other materials, tottered and suddenly fell, breaking into multiple pieces in the Rajkot Fort, with only the metal feet still standing. As the news spread, officials rushed to cover the crash site with a giant green cloth and barred any unofficial entry into its vicinity. The Rajkot Fort is located on a rocky stretch around 3 km from its more famous cousin, the Sindhudurg Fort, which is situated in the south-west direction in the Arabian Sea. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) Hyderabad, Aug 26 : The Telangana Waqf Board on Monday unanimously opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, terming it a retrograde step to target the Muslim community and Waqf institutions. A meeting of the state Waqf Board, presided by Chairman Syed Azmatullah Husseni and attended by seven members including Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, resolved to reject the proposed amendments to the Waqf Act. Owaisi said that the Telangana State Waqf Board became the first Waqf Board in the country to oppose the "unconstitutional" Waqf Amendment Bill. He thanked Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for his support in opposing the Bill. The Board rejected the bill as a retrograde step to target the Muslim community and Waqf institutions and condemned the divisive agenda being pushed through the controversial bill. It also resolved to meet the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill to present the requisite document/data. It decided to meet all Chairpersons/CEOs of Waqf Boards of states ruled by non-BJP parties. According to a statement released after the meeting, the Waqf Board had gone through carefully and diligently the proposed Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, clause by clause, and had also discussed the issue with legal experts and administrators. It said that it was convinced about the harmful and damaging effects of the provisions of the Bill and passed a resolution rejecting the proposed amendments. "It is obvious to the Board that the proposed bill has been prepared with a particular mindset and aims at destroying the autonomy of the Waqf Board and the very institution of Waqf by bringing the Waqfs under the total control of Collectors who will be free to claim and determine any Waqf property as government property and give directions to Mutawalli (custodians) and its compliance will be binding on Mutawalli," said the resolution. "The bill destroys the structure of Waqf Council and Waqf Board by making them nominated, introducing essentially two non-Muslim members and leaving scope for the Council and Board eventually become non-Muslim dominated," reads the resolution. The meeting also noted that the bill is against the principle of federal governance because it aims at excluding the role of state government from the administration of Waqf and even rule-making power and prescription of formats are sought to be usurped by the Central government. The Telangana Waqf Board also mentioned that the proposed bill seeks to perpetuate communal discrimination as several provisions are in direct contrast with the provisions of the Hindu Endowment Act. The meeting felt that the bill is a direct infringement of Articles 14, 19, 21, 25 and 300-A of the Constitution of India as it interferes with the freedom of religion and right to property, in as much as it prohibits a Muslim from dealing with his/her own property unless he is certified to be a practising Muslim for five years. Kolkata, Aug 26 : A video has gone viral on social media allegedly showing some close confidants of the former principal of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, Sandip Ghosh at the seminar hall after the body of the woman junior doctor was discovered on August 9 morning. However, the body of the doctor who became the victim of a ghastly rape and murder, is not visible in the video, the authenticity of which could not be verified by IANS. Following surfacing of the video allegedly showing Ghosh's confidants, including a lawyer, assembling near the scene of the crime, the leaders of Opposition parties in West Bengal have raised apprehensions about evidence loss and tampering. BJP's state General Secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay told media persons that because of the presence of so many people at the scene of crime, there would surely be footprints and fingerprints of those persons there and the evidence would have been compromised. He also alleged that this could have been done deliberately. "There is a high possibility of tampering with evidence. Those who are responsible for tampering and for the loss of evidence are equally guilty and they should be arrested immediately," he said. Soon after the video went viral a senior officer of Kolkata Police, gave clarifications on its contents, where she indirectly admitted that the video was of the seminar hall. According to Deputy Commissioner (central division) of city police, Indira Mukherjee, the size of the seminar room was 50x32 feet, out of which the police cordoned off a 40 feet radius around the body of the victim immediately after reaching the spot. "The video that has surfaced shows that area of the cordoned-off zone. Only police personnel, members of the forensic team and those who were responsible for shifting of the body were allowed within the 40 feet area which was cordoned off," she said. However, she did not give any answer on what a lawyer was doing at the scene of the crime. "The hospital authorities can give the answer, since probably the lawyer was associated with them," she said. Legal brains, however said that instead of cordoning only a portion of the seminar hall, the entire hall should have been cordoned off barring entry of others in the room. New Delhi, Aug 26 : The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government over the latest disclosures regarding the CCTV footage in Badlapur school, where the two Class IV girls were sexually assaulted. The SS Rajya Sabha MP, speaking to IANS, claimed that a big cover-up was done by the school administration and the Mahayuti government was complicit in the crime as it was shielding the perpetrators, rather than bringing them to book. She claimed that it was a conspiracy by the Shinde government to deny justice to victims, as after so many days, the families of KG girls are running from pillar to post for justice. Priyanka Chaturvedi, shocked over the government's own admission that the CCTV footage of the school has been missing, said that this only adds to the theory that the school administration was getting 'protection' from the administration. Notably, Maharashtra's Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar told the press on Monday that CCTV footage of the last 15 days of the school is missing and also informed that there was no CCTV outside the school toilet. Kesarkar's disclosure assumes importance because the incident reportedly took place on August 12 and 13 and the offence was registered on August 16 only after public outcry. At that time, reports said that all CCTV cameras were not functional in the school but now, the video recordings of 15 days have gone missing. Priyanka Chaturvedi, taking strong objection to 'lame excuse' by state administration said that those who facilitated/permitted such criminality can't be allowed to get away and demanded stringent punishment for the perpetrators. She claimed that the Education Minister's statement lends credence to the theory that the school administration was allowed to destroy CCTV evidence, a claim parents of the victims have also been making. She claimed that the school authorities are directly involved in destroying the CCTV footage, in connivance with top officials. While claiming that it was a blatant ploy to save the culprits, she raised some pertinent questions, "Why the FIR was lodged, four days after the sexual abuse incident? Why was the school allowed to play with the evidence?" She further lambasted the Shinde government over claims of setting up fast-track courts and delivering fast justice. She said that POCSO cases have been registered in Thane regularly, for almost a fortnight but the government, as usual, has been caught napping. "Government makes big promises about the safety of girls and women but fails to accomplish anything, this shows their abject failure," she said. Jerusalem, Aug 26 : The Israeli Defense Ministry said on Monday that since the beginning of its military operations in Gaza, the country has received more than 50,000 tonnes of military equipment and ammunition. "The equipment procured and transported includes armoured vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment," the ministry said. The military transports have been "crucial for sustaining the Israel Defense Forces' operational capabilities during the ongoing war" in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border, it added, Xinhua news agency reported. The ministry did not specify from which countries the arms were purchased, though Israeli government officials had previously said that the majority of its weapons and ammunition were procured from the United States and Europe. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others taken hostage. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 40,400, according to Gaza-based health authorities. Hyderabad, Aug 26 : The next level of growth in Hyderabad's IT/ITeS sector is expected to be driven by several key factors with Artificial Intelligence (AI) being the foremost as the city is concentrating on transitioning from a back-office hub to a leader in AI product engineering, said Duddila Sridhar Babu, Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Electronics and Communication, and Industry and Commerce. In an interview with IANS, the Minister set out an ambitious goal of increasing IT exports from $30 billion to $200 billion annually by 2030. The government is concentrating on attracting more Global Capability Centres (GCCs) to drive further growth in the IT sector while positioning the state at the forefront of the global technology landscape by investing in projects like Global AI City, he said. Here are excerpts from the interview: IANS: What are the initiatives taken or proposed by the state government for attracting new investments to Telangana? Duddila Sridhar Babu: To foster a conducive environment for IT investments, the Telangana government has introduced a range of strategic policies and reforms focused on innovation and infrastructure development. Central to our approach is a strong emphasis on capacity building, which includes the establishment of the Global AI City, and a globally standardised Young India Skilling University. These initiatives aim to nurture talent essential for the growth of key technology areas such as AI, data science, and semiconductor design. The Global AI City will serve as a premier hub for artificial intelligence, offering state-of-the-art infrastructure, including advanced GPU hardware, extensive data resources for AI model training, and robust industry collaborations, including a Centre of Excellence for AI. In addition to these initiatives, we are exploring the creation of a sovereign fund supported by public and private investments to drive innovation and address funding needs. Our strategy also leverages Telanganaas existing strengths in technology, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, defence, and aerospace. To significantly boost growth, we are concentrating on attracting more Global Capability Centres (GCCs), Technology Capabilities Centres (TCCs), and Innovation Centres. The influx of GCCs is anticipated to be a key growth driver for Hyderabadas IT sector. We are also preparing to announce several major GCCs in the near future. IANS: The previous government projected itself as industry-friendly and claimed to have attracted big-ticket investments. How different will be your approach in promoting industry and business? Duddila Sridhar Babu: Our approach is distinctly comprehensive and forward-thinking. We are committed to extending the successes of Hyderabad to the entire state of Telangana. Our strategy focuses not only on fostering a conducive environment for large-scale investments, but also on ensuring balanced growth across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. We are placing a strong emphasis on innovation, engineering, and high-end product development. Our goal is to transition Hyderabad from a back-office hub to a leader in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor design, and product development. By investing in projects like the 200-acre Global AI City and aiming to increase IT exports from $30 billion to $200 billion annually by 2030, we are positioning Telangana at the forefront of the global technology landscape. Additionally, our focus on sustainability is integral to our growth strategy. The upcoming AI City will incorporate green IT, hyperscalers, and smart mobility solutions, aligning with global best practices to ensure long-term development. IANS: Where do you see the next level of growth in IT/ITeS sector in Hyderabad coming from? Duddila Sridhar Babu: Despite a slowdown in growth within the Indian IT/ITeS sector, Telangana has distinguished itself with a notable 11.3 per cent increase in exports for FY24. The sector now employs approximately 946,285 IT professionals, with a net increase of 40,570 jobs in FY24, representing a 4.5 per cent growth in employment. The next level of growth in Hyderabad's IT/ITeS sector is expected to be driven by several key factors. Foremost among these is the AI sector, which is projected to reach $2.2 trillion annually by 2030. Additionally, Hyderabad's emphasis on sustainable development, exemplified by the upcoming AI City, aligns with the global trends and supports long-term growth. By leveraging these domestic strengths and integrating into the global AI value chain, Hyderabad is well-positioned to capture significant growth opportunities in both national and international IT/ITeS markets. IANS: What are the big-ticket investments in the pipeline? Duddila Sridhar Babu: We have garnered significant interests from leading global players in technology, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, defence, and aerospace. We anticipate announcing several major partnerships and high-profile collaborations in the near future. IANS: Hyderabad is going to host the global AI summit. What are your plans to give a boost to AI and other emerging technologies? Duddila Sridhar Babu: On September 5 and 6, Hyderabad will host the worldas largest AI conference, uniting global tech leaders, innovators, investors, startups, R&D professionals, and policymakers. The event will serve as a pivotal platform to address the industry's pressing challenges and evolving needs. By bringing together the key stakeholders under one roof, the conference will reinforce Hyderabadas role as a central hub and gateway for artificial intelligence. IANS: With Chandrababu Naidu back as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, will the development of Amaravati as the state capital and his plans to develop Vizag as an IT hub impact investments to Hyderabad? Duddila Sridhar Babu: We are committed to collaborative development and shared growth. Hyderabad has already established a robust foundation for IT development, featuring world-class infrastructure and a tech talent pool of nearly one million engineers skilled in cutting-edge products and solutions on a global scale. We are dedicated to accelerating this growth exponentially and are actively working towards achieving our ambitious goals. IANS: Will you encourage expansion of the IT sector outside Cyberabad? What are the plans for expansion? Duddila Sridhar Babu: Yes, we are firmly committed to encouraging the expansion of the IT sector beyond Cyberabad. Our industrial development strategy is designed to ensure that Hyderabadas success is replicated across the entire state. As I have emphasised - our industrial development strategy focuses not just on Hyderabad, but the entire Telangana. We are actively working to create a conducive environment for investors at the district and village levels, aiming for balanced growth across all regions, including Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. We will put the necessary infrastructure in place to support companies and ensure that they can thrive throughout Telangana. A new Centre of Excellence (CoE), which will be vertical-based, will drive innovation and research, further advancing our technological capabilities. Our ongoing efforts, led by the CoEs, include comprehensive deep tech training initiatives in AI, ML, and data science under programmes like aAI to Grassrootsa and aTelangana Future 100'. These programmes aim to train future leaders from rural areas in niche skill sets essential for tomorrowas tech landscape. Kochi, Aug 26 : A day after prominent Malayalam director Ranjith stepped down as the Chairman of the state-run Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (KSCA) facing allegations of 'inappropriate behaviour' levelled against him by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra, the latter has now filed an official complaint in the matter with the Kochi city Police Commissioner. The complaint came in the form of an email sent to the top cop by Mitra, a popular face in the Bengali film and television industry, who last week accused Ranjith of misbehaving with her when she went to meet the director at an apartment in Kochi in connection with the latter's film 'Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha' in 2009, which made her feel 'uncomfortable'. The charges against Ranjith created an uproar as it came in the wake of the Hema Committee report which was made public recently, exposing 'rampant sexual abuse' in the Malayalam film industry. What has raised eyebrows is till the other day, Mitra had taken a position that she will not register a complaint in the matter. "I do not want to go down there and submit a complaint because I have work here. The least I expect is an apology," Mitra had said. In the complaint, Mitra claimed that Ranjith had touched her with 'sexual intent', adding that she had also informed scriptwriter Joshy Joseph about the incident. Till now, various ministers in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government were stating that as and when a complaint is filed, action will be taken in the matter. Now that a formal complaint has been lodged, it remains to be seen if the police take up the investigation against Rajnith after filing a case. There is also a buzz in the opposition circles that the CPI-led government is going soft on Ranjith because the son of CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan -- who's an aspiring film personality -- is known to be close to the filmmaker. Ranjith is also known to be close to CM Vijayan, and according to sources, the latter had reportedly backed him earlier when he was caught in a tiff over alleged wrangling in the KSCA. Recalling the incident that allegedly took place in Kochi in 2009, Mitra said last week that she had gone to an apartment where she met Ranjith and other members of his team to discuss a role in the film 'Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha'. During the discussions, Ranjith reportedly made advances towards her, causing her discomfort, she claimed. She left the place immediately after conveying to one of Ranjith's team members that she would not be part of the project, Mitra said. Ranjith has vehemently denied the allegations, saying Mitra was only called for an audition. Visakhapatnam, Aug 26 : In another case of human-animal conflict, a man was trampled to death by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh's Parvathipuram Manyam district on Monday. The incident occurred in Vannam village in Komarada mandal when the man was returning home after taking a bath in a rivulet. Shivdi Naidu, 62, did not notice a herd of elephants on a banana plantation. He suddenly came under attack by the wild jumbos and died on the spot. The incident sent panic among villagers. Forest Department officials went on alert and launched an operation to drive away the elephants into forests. This is the latest in a series of man-elephant conflicts in Andhra Pradesh. Two weeks ago, a herd of wild elephants created havoc in Vizianagaram district, damaging crops and sending panic among people. A herd of jumbos strayed into a couple of villages in Vangara mandal and damaged the crops. Farmers were worried over the damage to their crops and have appealed to authorities to take immediate action to protect them from further losses. Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam districts, bordering Odisha, and Chittoor district, on the border with Karnataka, have witnessed several such incidents in recent months. In May, a farm worker was trampled to death by an elephant at a mango orchard abutting the Sarakallu forest beat of the Thavanampalle mandal in Chittoor. In June, an elephant trampled to death another farmer in Ramakuppam mandal in the same district. The Andhra Pradesh government recently sought help from Karnataka to address human-elephant conflict. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on August 8 met Karnatakaas Minister for Forest and Environment Eshwar Khandre in Bangalore and sought the help of the Karnataka Forest Department in dealing with the problem. At Pawan Kalyanas request, the Karnataka government agreed to provide eight trained Kumki elephants to manage, drive away, and capture wild elephants. Kumki elephants are useful in taming wild elephants and thus keeping both animals and humans safe. In May, the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department officials had placed a request for Kumki elephants before their counterparts in Karnataka. Karnataka is reported to have given 67 kumki elephants to various states. In 2022-23, it provided 21 elephants to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Srinagar, Aug 26 : After hectic daylong discussions between senior Congress and National Conference (NC) leaders on Monday, the two parties have reached an agreement on seat sharing for the J&K Assembly elections, while there will be a 'friendly contest' on five seats. Addressing a press conference here, NC President Farooq Abdullah, senior Congress leaders K.C.Venugopal, Salman Khursheed and JKPCC President Tariq Hameed Karra said that the two parties have reached an agreement on seat sharing on 85 seats out of the total 90 seats in the J&K while the two parties have agreed to a 'friendly contest' on five seats. Tariq Hameed Karra said the two parties will field candidates against each other on these five seats, but 'the contest would be totally friendly and completely disciplined'. Out of the agreed seat sharing of 85 seats, the NC will contest 51 seats while the Congress will contest 32 seats; two more seats - one for the CPI M and the other for the Panthers Party will be spared for these two parties. The five seats where a friendly contest will be held between the NC and the Congress by fielding their candidates are Banihal, Doda, Nagrota and Bhaderwah in the Jammu region and Sopore in the Valley. Omar Abdullah told reporters that the goal of the two parties is much bigger and that is why we have allied. "There were roadblocks in working out the details of the seat-sharing agreement, but these were successfully overcome," Omar said. Talking about his previous decision not to fight assembly elections as long as J&K remained a union territory, Omar said, "It appeared very difficult for me to ask for votes in an election in which I would not be personally taking part. So, I decided to stand in these elections. The Assembly seat from where I would stand will be announced in a day or two." On Sunday, during a meeting of the NC in Nuner village of Ganderbal district which was attended by Omar Abdullah as well, NC Lok Sabha member, Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and NC provincial president, Nasir Aslam Wani announced that Omar Abdullah would fight the Assembly elections from Ganderbal. Islamabad, Aug 26 : At least 53 people, including security personnel, were killed and scores of others injured in a series of attacks in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Monday, officials said. The proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the offensive, launched attacks shortly before midnight, continuing their assault into the morning with gunfire, grenades, suicide bombings, and bomb attacks. The major attack was launched in Musa Khel district in which 23 passengers were killed at close range, Assistant Commissioner of the area Najeeb Kakar told Xinhua news agency. He said that the terrorists blocked the highway connecting Balochistan with the east Punjab province in Musa Khel district, stopping several vehicles and checking the identities of the passengers. "The 23 victims, all from Punjab and travelling to Balochistan for work, were forcibly removed from their vehicles, lined up near the highway, and shot dead. The militants also damaged 24 vehicles during the blockade," he added. In a separate attack in Las Bela district, about five troops were killed when terrorists rammed their explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of an army camp, police sources said. Eight members of a soldier's family residing inside the camp were also killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up near it. In a separate incident, 10 people, including five security personnel, were killed when terrorists stormed a toll plaza, a hospital and the house of a tribal elder in Kalat district of Balochistan province, police sources confirmed to Xinhua. Separately, insurgents blew up a railway track in the Bolan area of the province, leaving at least six people dead, Dost Muhammad Bugti, a senior police official in the area said. Tensions were also high in Mastung district, where terrorists briefly took control of a paramilitary check post. The troops later regained control, but one civilian was killed in the exchange of gunfire, official sources said. In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military wing of the country's army said that they killed 21 terrorists by taking prompt action to thwart the attacks successfully. The Pakistan army claimed that 14 security personnel, including 10 security forces soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies, were killed during the counter-terrorism operations. The railway track was destroyed in the explosion, which resulted in the suspension of train service between Balochistan and eastern Punjab province. Gwadar district also came under attack by the terrorists who torched a police station. "A large number of armed men were seen searching vehicles along the coastal highway and firing at trucks carrying minerals," the sources said. After the night-long militancy, the situation in most of the areas is under control while tension prevails in some, the sources added. Taking notice of the terror incidents, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attacks, directing an immediate probe to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. "The nation stood by the security forces in the war against terrorism...Terrorists' nefarious designs to spoil the country's peace would never succeed," the Pakistan PM said. Kolkata, Aug 26 : The proposed 'Nabanna Abhijan' (March to Secretariat) call given by the students of West Bengal on Tuesday in protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata's R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital is keeping the security establishment of the state on its toes. The aNabanna Abhijana call was given on social media by the state's student community, inviting everyone to join in without carrying the banner of any political party. The organisers have also issued an appeal to all the participants to stick to just two slogans -- 'Dofa ek, dabi ek, Mamata Banerjeer podotyag' (There is only demand -- Mamata Banerjee's resignation) and 'Justice for RG Kar'. They have also appealed to the participants not to enter the premises of state Secretariat Nabanna, which is located in the Mandirtala area of Howrah district adjacent to Kolkata. The proposed Nabanna Abhijan is similar to the call given by the women of the state for a midnight march to 'capture the streets' on the eve of Independence Day seeking justice for the R.G. Kar rape and murder victim. Those willing to join Tuesdayas protest rally have been asked to assemble at College Square in central Kolkata from where the protesters will head towards Nabanna. The state unit of the BJP has already expressed solidarity towards the protest march. According to state BJP President and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, his party would extend solidarity not only to Tuesdayas protest march, but also to any protests seeking justice for the rape and murder victim. However, representatives of the studentsa wings of the Left parties have decided to maintain a distance from Tuesday's protest since they feel that those behind organising the event are actually clandestine supporters of the BJP and RSS. Meanwhile, both the West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police have decided to keep the state Secretariat as well as the different entry points to Horwah district leading to Nabanna under blanket security cover. A total of 2,000 policemen under the supervision of 97 senior officers will be ensuring safety and security in and around the state Secretariat, sources said, while Kolkata Police will depute as many as 4,000 cops with special focus on the points connecting Kolkata and Horwah. Police personnel from other commiserates and district units will also be deployed on Tuesday to prevent any untoward incident. Sources in the Kolkata Police said that barricades will be put up at seven points in the city on Tuesday, while water-cannons will be kept on standby. There will also be drone surveillance of the rally. Last Friday, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court had rejected a plea moved by the West Bengal government seeking a ban on the Nabanna Abhijan. Even the Supreme Court had observed last week that while the law would take its course, peaceful protests cannot be stopped forcefully. Berlin, Aug 26 : German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday vowed to curb irregular migration in the wake of a Syrian asylum seeker being charged with killing three people in a stabbing attack in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia last week and deport those found ineligible or found involved in crime. "This was terrorism, terrorism against us all," he said during a visit to Solingen town where the incident took place on Friday, the BBC reported. The Chancellor said that illegal immigration "must go down" and that his government would do "everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and should not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported" and deportations would be sped up, if needed. Friday's deadly attack gained a political dimension as soon as officials revealed the suspect was Syrian refugee Issa Al H., 26, suspected of links to the terror organisation Islamic State and stirred up the tense debate about migration. Following the attack, conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz sought the country stop accepting refugees from Syria and Afghanistan and stringent controls on all borders while far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel demanded a complete stop to all migration, the BBC said. Scholzas governing centre-left SPD says Germany remains committed to its legal and humanitarian commitments to help those fleeing persecution, but has pledged to deport migrants who have committed serious crimes and people whose application for asylum has been rejected. The Solingen attack suspect came to Germany in 2022 as a refugee, but his asylum application was rejected and he was ordered to be deported to Bulgaria, where he had already registered for asylum. However, officials could not trace him to deport him and this lapse has ignited further controversy. Migration has long been a controversial issue in Germany, which takes in hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers every year, with both supporters and opponents of the policy. However, the Solingen incident may also affect the regional elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia, slated for the coming Sunday, with the AfD, which fancies its chances, already using the attack as part of its campaign. Hyderabad, Aug 26 : Amidst the ongoing drive to demolish illegal structures built on lakes, ponds and other water bodies in Hyderabad, the BJP on Monday threw a challenge at Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to demolish the educational institutions allegedly built on the land of a lake by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. BJP floor leader in Telangana Assembly A. Maheshwar Reddy asked if the Chief Minister dares to use bulldozers on the buildings constructed by Akbaruddin Owaisi allegedly on Salkam Cheruvu. Alleging that the Congress government is unleashing its fury on common people in the name of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Authority (HYDRA), the BJP leader asked the Chief Minister to take action against illegal constructions in the old city. He alleged that for the last 20 years, lakes, ponds, and government lands in the old city were encroached on to construct buildings. The BJP leader asked the Chief Minister to reveal if the government had petrol and diesel to send bulldozers to the old city. Maheshwar Reddy said that if the government is sincere, it should release a white paper on the number of lakes in and around the city and the extent of encroachments on water The BJP leader demanded that the government identify the alienated lands and demolish illegal structures. He said the government should reclaim those lands and fence them. He claimed that 85 per cent of 30 lakes in Hyderabad were encroached. He wanted the government to spell out the deadline for demolishing 13,000 illegal structures. Maheshwar Reddy demanded that the government provide powers and legal backing to HYDRA. He also wanted the government to tell people as to when will it demolish BRS working president K. Rama Rao's 'leased' farmhouse in Janwada village and other encroachments by BRS leaders. He asked the government to demolish the farmhouses of Congress leaders allegedly built on lakes and tanks. Meanwhile, reacting to the demands to demolish the Fatima Owaisi school built by him, AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said he was ready to face bullets but his good work should not be destroyed. Claiming that the institution is providing free education to 40,000 students, the Chandrayangutta MLA said some people who were jealous of his work were demanding demolition. "If someone has enmity with me, come and finish me with swords and guns. But don't try to destroy my good work," said Akbaruddin Owaisi, who is the leader of AIMIM in the Telangana Assembly. Akbaruddin Owaisi, who survived an assassination attempt in the past, made it clear that he would not show his back to the enemies. HYDRA, a body constituted recently by the state government, has so far reclaimed 43 acres of land by demolishing illegal structures on lakes including the N-Convention Centre of actor Nagarjuna, buildings owned by AIMIM MLA Mohammed Mubeen and MLC Mirza Rahmat Baig on heritage lake Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla and the properties of former union minister and Congress leader Pallam Raju's brother Pallam Anand (ORO sports), Kaveri Seeds owner and former member of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) G.V. Bhasker Rao and BJP leader Sunil Reddy, who contested as MLA candidate from Manthani constituency). Moscow, Aug 26 : Russian President Vladimir Putin did not have any meeting with Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who has been arrested by French authorities, during his visit to Azerbaijan earlier this month, the Kremlin said on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the clarification at a media interaction here when asked about the arrest of Durov, who was detained at a Paris airport after arriving from Azerbaijan by a private jet on Saturday, RT reported. He, however, refused to comment on the controversial arrest. "We don't know what he's accused of. We have not heard any official statements on the matter. We have to wait for the situation to clear up before we say anything," he said. The spokesman also dismissed media reports claiming that Durov had met President Putin during his visit to Baku on August 18 and 19. Several media outlets at the time reported that the pair were visiting the city at the same time and even claimed that they had a meeting behind the scenes. The French authorities have yet to outline the details of charges faced by the Russian tech mogul, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE, and the Caribbean island nation of St Kitts and Nevis. According to multiple reports, he was arrested on several charges which involved the alleged spread of criminal activity on Telegram The encrypted messaging platform has denied any wrongdoing on Durov's part, stating that it is "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform". It said it abides by the EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. The platform, which has about 900 million active users, has been a critical source of information for the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview with US political commentator Tucker Carlson in April, Durov said Telegram's goal is to be a "neutral" platform and resist requests from governments to moderate. Numerous opinion leaders, both in the West and Russia, including Elon Musk, have slammed the development as a crackdown on free speech, and claimed that the US was behind the arrest. Paris, Aug 26 : French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov's arrest in Paris was made under "an ongoing judicial investigation" and was not a "political decision". "The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter," he said in a post on his X handle. In the post, the French President said that he has "seen false information regarding France following the arrest of Pavel Durov" and stressed that "France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so". "In a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights. It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law", he wrote. The exact charges the tech entrepreneur could face are still unclear, but media reports suggest that his arrest warrant was issued by France's OFMIN an agency tasked with combating violence against minors in order to conduct a probe into alleged fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism on the encrypted messaging platform, RT reported. The 39-year-old Russian, who also holds citizenship in France, the UAE and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was detained by French authorities after his private jet landed in Paris on August 24 after flying from Azerbaijan. Telegram on Monday said that "it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform". In its first reaction after Durov's arrest, the company said it abides by the EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. "Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of vital information. We're awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation," said the platform which has more than 900 million active users. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Tech giant Apple on Monday announced a special event on September 9, where it is set to launch the new line-up of iPhones along with other gadgets and software services. The company's launch tagline this year is 'It's Glowtime", and the event will broadcast from Apple Park in Cupertino, California, in the US. As per reports, the iPhone 16 lineup will be Apple's flagship rival to the new Pixel 9 series and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold devices. Apple Intelligence (AI) will be a huge leap for Apple device ecosystem at the event hosted by its CEO Tim Cook. Among the big changes coming to the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus is expected to be a switch to a vertically-aligned camera system on the back. Meanwhile, iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max devices may get bigger screens, along with a new bronze colour. This time, all the four models are likely to have the Action Button, which was exclusive to the Pro line with the iPhone 15. The new iPhones may also have a new button dedicated to capturing photos and videos. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Apple Intelligence features are likely to be a big part of Apple's event. The users can also witness a new AirPods 4 and Watch Series 10 at the event, According to sources, the 'Make in India' iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max models available in the country right after the global launch this fall. The India-assembled Apple devices will be available within 1-2 months of the global launch in partnership with leading manufacturer Foxconn's facility in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, iPhone 16 is set to be made available on the first day of global sales in India, just like last year when iPhone 15 arrived in the domestic market on the very first day of the global sale. It will be shortly followed by iPhone 16 Plus models, sources added. Kolkata, Aug 26 : Trinamool Congress on Monday strongly condemned the alleged 'rape threat' to party General Secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee. A video of the 'rape threat' - gone viral - was reportedly given during a protest rally who were protesting against the rape and murder of a woman junior doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata. The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) has taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and directed police to initiate necessary action. Riju Dutta, a spokesman of the state unit of Trinamool Congress condemned the alleged threats and claimed that threats were being issued by "a bunch of animals" under the pretext of 'Justice for R.G. Kar'. Dutta described the perpetrators as "potential rapists and murderers", claiming that they do not deserve to be part of a civil society. He also called for the perpetrators to be held accountable, asserting that such behaviour would not be tolerated. Earlier, Trinamool leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien too condemned the alleged rape threat. "Fight us politically with your filthy tricks. You have done it before but today you have crossed the line. Stop threatening kids. No words are enough to condemn this gutter-level threat to our National General Secretary's daughter. STOP THIS NOW," O'Brien said in a statement posted on X. Earlier the WBCPCR chairperson Tulika Das had written a letter to the superintendent of Basirhat district police asking the police to furnish an action taken report of the case along with copies of the FIR and other relevant documents, to the commission within two days of the receipt of the letter to enable the commission to take further steps in the instant case. New Delhi, Aug 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday discussed the situation in war-torn Ukraine and volatile Bangladesh with US President Joe Biden. "Spoke to @POTUS@JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indiaas full support for early return of peace and stability," PM Modi said in a post on X. The PM also briefed President Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine and underscored Indiaas consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy. Both the leaders also expressed concern at the situation in Bangladesh, where protests led to the resignation and flight of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and an interim arrangement, headed by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, has taken charge. "We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh", he added. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for President Bidenas deep commitment to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that the India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity. The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad, and agreed to remain in touch. PM Modi also talked to another Quad fellow member, his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, earlier on Monday and both leaders took stock of progress in bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad. "Delighted to speak to my friend Anthony Albanese. We took stock of progress in our bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad", he posted on X. Mumbai, Aug 26 : Amid a scathing attack by the opposition in Maharashtra following the collapse of a 35-feet Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said the statue came down due to strong and gusty winds. "The statue was erected by the Indian Navy and not by the state government. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is our idol and his statue is our identity. The design of the statue was also prepared by the Navy itself. After hearing the news that the statue had collapsed, I contacted the District Collector who told me that when the incident took place, a gusty wind with a speed of 45 kmph was blowing in that area, which damaged the statue," he said. The Chief Minister further said: "I want to assure everyone that Navy officials will go there on Tuesday. Sindhudurg district Guardian Minister Ravindra Chavan, who is state public work minister, will also be reaching the spot. Naval officers, and state government officials will inspect the memorial tomorrow. The work of rebuilding the full-length statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will be started from tomorrow itself... once again, you will see Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue standing resplendent and strong in the same place." Shinde expressed strong displeasure over Shiv Sena-UBT legislator Vaibhav Naik's move to vandalise the PWD office after the statue collapsed. "All I can say is that we will rebuild this statue immediately. However, no one needs to take the law into their own hands. Everyone should maintain law and order in the state. No one has the right to take the law into their hands. I would only appeal to all to cooperate in maintaining peace and order in the state," he said. Earlier, Congress, NCP-SP and Shiv Sena-UBT blamed the state government for the collapse of the statue which they claimed was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in haste. NCP-SP state president Jayant Patil held the state government responsible, saying that it paid little attention to the quality of work. "It only focused on conducting an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to unveil the statue. The Maharashtra government only issues new tenders, accepts commissions and gives contracts accordingly," he said. Hyderabad, Aug 26 : Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday distributed financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh each among 135 candidates who qualified for Civil Services Prelims and are preparing for the Mains examination. He distributed the Rs 1 lakh cheques under the Rajiv Gandhi Civils Abhayahsatam programme at the Secretariat. In his remarks on the occasion, Revanth Reddy said the Civil Services aspirants should crack the exams like Arjuna who shot an arrow aimed at the eye of a fish, without worrying about family and financial challenges they encountered during preparation. He said that unemployment was the main issue during the Telangana movement and the Telangana state has been achieved only with the sacrifices and struggles of the unemployed and students. The Chief Minister claimed that 30,000 vacancies were filled within 90 days of the Congress coming to power in the state. He said the government proved its sincerity in providing jobs by issuing notifications to fill another 35,000 jobs through Group-1 Group-2, Group-3, and DSC notifications. Revanth Reddy criticised the previous government for neglecting the education sector, alleging that the hostel facilities were provided in rented buildings and hundreds of students were accommodated with one or two bathrooms. He said that the Congress government is constructing BC, SC, ST, and minority hostels in a single compound on a sprawling 20 to 25 acres in the name of Integrated Residential Schools in 100 Assembly constituencies. For this, Rs 5,000 crore was allocated in the budget outlay, he said. The Chief Minister expressed serious concern over the present education system limited to only issuing certificates. Thousands of students have completed engineering education but they do not have the skills required by the companies, while on the other hand, the companies are facing difficulties in recruiting skilled people, he said, adding that the Young India Skill University has been established to solve the shortage of skilled manpower, with noted industrialist Anand Mahindra as its Chairman and Srinivasa Raju the Vice-Chairman. The Chief Minister said that the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and board members will finalise the syllabus and look after training and management to produce skilled manpower from the university. The state government will play the role of facilitator. The Skill University will offer all certificate and diploma courses. This year, the university will provide training to 2,000 students and from next year the university will offer training to 20,000 students. New Delhi, Aug 27 : JMM leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, who had publicly shared his anguish at his treatment by the party and his unceremonious removal from the top post, will join the BJP on August 30, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced. New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) JMM leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, who had publicly shared his anguish at his treatment by the party and his unceremonious removal from the top post, will join the BJP on August 30, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced. "Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a distinguished Adivasi leader of our country, @ChampaiSoren Ji met Honable Union Home Minister @AmitShah Ji a short while ago. He will officially join the @BJP4India on 30th August in Ranchi," he said in a post on X late on Monday, sharing a photo of the veteran Jharkhand leader meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, along with him. Sarma had earlier on Monday said that Champai Soren's joining the BJP would further strengthen the party. His remarks came amid growing speculation that Champai Soren, who was in the national capital for the past few days, might switch sides. "I want Champai Soren to join the BJP and strengthen us. However, since he is a very prominent leader, it is not appropriate for me to comment on him. If he is in Delhi, we will try to communicate with him," Sarma told media persons. Responding to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's allegations that the BJP is attempting to divide his party, Sarma, who is BJP's election in-charge for Jharkhand that will go to the polls later this year, said: "Look, I even want Hemant Soren to join the BJP. BJP means devotion towards the nation. There should be no question of dividing the country. We all work together for the country." Champai Soren, who held the Chief Minister's post for just five months (February 2-July 4) taking over ahead of Hemant Soren's arrest and stepping down soon after his release, had on August 18 broken his silence on the "affront and insult" he was subjected to within the JMM, and narrated a few incidents which forced him to rethink his association with the party he served whole of his life. He said he was left devastated when his decisions were overturned by some party workers and his programmes as CM were cancelled at the behest of some "overpowering" figure in the JMM. In a post on X, he made some shocking revelations on how he was slighted and subjected to ridicule in the party, and what made him adissociatea from party affairs to chart his own course. "The Chief Minister has the mandate to call a legislative party meeting but the irony is that I wasnat even aware of the agenda of the meet despite being at the helm. I was directed to submit my resignation (after Hemant Sorenas release from jail). I was aghast and shocked at such a directive coming from people with no authority. As I didnat have any attachment to the Chair, I quickly tendered my resignation." "However, the incident deeply hurt me and my self-respect," Champai Soren said. He also noted that he had been slighted and snubbed by the JMM leadership despite dedicating his entire life to the party. The senior leader also said that he was heartbroken over the episode but couldnat turn to anyone as the party supremo (Shibu Soren, Hemant Soren's father) is no longer active in politics, and this made him "look for places where I can find my self-respect". Champai Soren also wrote that it was after the legislative party meeting that he decided his future course of action, mulling over three options - "retiring from politics, floating a new outfit, or uniting with an ally with similar interests" and that all three options would remain open till the day when Jharkhand goes to the polls. Rumours of the former Jharkhand CM joining the BJP gained further momentum after he, along with four other JMM leaders, landed in Delhi earlier this month. However, he told media persons that he had come for "some personal work". Tellingly, he had also dropped JMM from his X bio. Jakarta, Aug 27 : Indonesia has recorded 88 cases of monkeypox (mpox) since it was first detected in August 2022, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin. In 2024 alone, the number of mpox cases has reached 14, Xinhua news agency reported. "The cases in Indonesia are still under control, with a higher prevalence of the Clade IIB variant, which is recoverable and has a low fatality rate. All those who were sick have recovered," Sadikin told reporters on Monday in Jakarta. Jakarta has reported the highest number of mpox cases at 59, followed by West Java with 13, Banten with nine, East Java and Yogyakarta each with three cases, and Riau with one case. The government is readying 4,450 vaccine doses for 2,225 individuals, with each person slated to receive two doses to curb further spread. In 2023, 495 individuals were vaccinated. Yudhi Pramono, the interim director general of disease control and prevention at the Health Ministry, said most of the mpox cases were detected between 2022 and 2024, with the greatest number reported in October 2023. "Between 2022 and today, the fatality rate has been low and the majority of transmissions occurred through sexual contact," Yudhi said on Monday, as quoted by state media. Last week, the World Health Organisation declared the mpox outbreak in Central Africa a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), sounding its highest possible alarm over the worsening situation. The United Nations health agency also convened a meeting of experts to study the outbreak over concerns about the rise in cases in Congo and the virus's spread to nearby countries. Ramallah, Aug 27 : The Israeli army has killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Hebron, said Palestinian sources. "Iyad al-Najjar, 46, from the town of Yatta south of Hebron, was killed after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers," the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday in a brief statement without providing further details as reported by Xinhua news agency. Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Israeli forces shot al-Najjar near the separation wall on the outskirts of the town. So far, the Israeli army has not commented on the incident. With al-Najjar's death, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and bombing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, 2023, has risen to 645, including 147 children, according to data from the Health Ministry. Witnesses told Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansi that an Israeli military unit opened fire at Palestinians near the "apartheid wall," hitting Abdel-Najjar. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. On Sunday evening, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire near the city of Salfit. Over the past few years, Israeli forces have conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which escalated after the war on Gaza last October, which killed more than 40,000 Palestinians. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers. At least 646 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry. In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Gaza, Aug 27 : At least seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a gathering on the beach in Gaza City, Palestinian security and medical sources said. An Israeli drone targeted the gathering of Palestinians, killing seven and wounding dozens of others, the sources told Xinhua news agency on Monday. The Israeli army has not commented on the reported attack, Xinhua news agency reported. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 30 people and wounded 66 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,435 and injuries to 93,534 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement. As the death toll continues to rise, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing an increasingly severe humanitarian crisis. "Families across the Gaza Strip continue to be forced to flee, forced to leave their homes and belongings behind. All they can now do is try to stay alive," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said on social media platform X on Monday. "This is a complete stripping of humanity. A never-ending tragedy," it said. "People have lost absolutely everything." Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. The onslaught has resulted in more than 40,400 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,500 injuries, according to local health authorities. An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins. Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6. With summer vacation in the books and the 20242025 school year beginning, teachers and librarians are raring to go with new lessons, updated spaces, and plenty of books to recommend. Whether these titles are new this yearfrom the sea of ARCs given away at ALA in San Diegoor recent favorites, theyre ready to make their way into the hands and hearts of readers. We spoke with three educators about their top selections and why sharing new books will make all the difference in their students reading lives. Angie Manfredi is a writer and editor of The Other F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce, as well as a teacher librarian at the Los Alamos Middle School in Los Alamos, N.Mex. She calls herself the Hype Woman for books, often wears a Zero Chill About Books t-shirt, and pushes a purple Dolly Carton book cart (named in honor of her idol, Dolly Parton) to get kids excited about reading. A few other ways she does this is by keeping on top of the latest books, closely collaborating with teachers on lessons and book choices, and offering reading electives. We nurture the love of reading recreationally. My goal is to change perceptions and feelings around reading for those who dont like to read. Her top new books for these kinds of readers include the debut middle grade novel Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried by Cindy L. Rodriquez (HarperCollins, Sept. 17). Im always looking for Latinx representation and love the books mix of fantasy and real-life middle grade stressors. Rodriquezs story is about a Guatemalan American girl named Lola who returns to the U.S. from a vacation with something extra. She brings back her fathers worry dolls and they help... until they come to life, Manfredi said. Her tracking down of the dolls parallels her own tracking down and dealing with her worries. Manfredi hopes to encourage teachers and students to research the origins and use of worry dolls, to tie in the study of New Mexico, and plans to contact the International Folk Art Museum for other extensions. Her second book pick is On a Wing and a Tear by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum, Sept. 17). It features a road trip filled with mystery, history, sports, our animal relatives, and more, Manfredi said. I like that it spotlights Indigenous voices and experiences, and has a lot of cross-curricular and inter-generational ties, and positive family interactions. Her third choice, Black Girl Power (Freedom Fire, Nov. 12) is a collection of poems and short stories edited by Leah Johnson. This particular anthology has a wide variety of genres and authors for my students to sampleand hopefully to explore more of its authors, Manfredi said. Contributors include Sharon Flake, Ibi Zoboi, Sharon M. Draper, and Leah Johnson. Shes found that it can be intimidating for some students to read a whole book or to write their own stories. Manfredi believes that the anthologys selections can help them to do both. You can go through the arc of the storyunderstanding the plot beatsin a short time, Manfredi said. Its rewarding while still [helping to] focus on those skills. Posted on the library cart named after her idol Dolly Parton are Partons words: Find out who you are, and do it on purpose! Manfredi models enthusiasm for books and a love of reading, learning, and libraries throughout her school. I want my kids to think of reading, the library, and me, everywherenot just in the library, but in health, gym class, art, social studies, and science, Manfredi said, because the library and reading is everywhereand the key to education. This will give my students a fuller idea of the power of reading, of what a library is, and what a librarian can do! Josie Schneider is a youth services librarian at the Central Library in Kansas City, Mo., the current co-chair of the Early and Family Literacy Committee for ALSC, and a 2024 Geisel Award Committee member. She also serves the neighboring charter school, Crossroads Academy, with two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school that use the public library as their school library. Schneiders public/school library roles keep her hands full year-round with double the storytimes, book/genre talks, displays, book lists, programs, reader advisory services, and books. Three of the new titles she cant wait to share are picture books. The first is My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seals, illustrated by CG Esperanza (Abrams, out now) which she discovered at ALA. Its a sweet story about an Afro-Latina girl who goes on an early morning horse ride with her dad through their neighborhood, she said. Schneider was struck by the books vibrant colors, life-like facial expressions, the juxtaposition of an urban setting with the rural activity of horseback riding, and its family feels. Its a joyful portrayal of the bond that forms between caregivers and their children when they make an effort to spend quality time together, Schneider said. Shell be using it for storytimes, a Dial a Story selection, where readers can call in to hear a recording of a librarian reading the story, and a family celebration. I thought it might be fun to have kids and their caregivers share special memories of the things they like to do together in words and pictures, Schneider said. Her second and third picks are silly animal tales with interesting spins. Caboose by Travis Jonker, illustrated by Ruth Chan (Abrams, Feb. 2025), is about a hippo who loves being line leader at school, but ends up being sent to the back of the line to become the caboose. I think kids are really going to respond to the storys dilemmaand the solution, Schneider said. Being the line leaders huge with kids. Shes planning a few rounds of Follow the Leader to tie-in movement with listening, and to extend the story. This Book Can Read Your Mind by author-illustrator Mariana Copo is about a hare that claims it can read the readers mind. By asking the reader to choose one of the characters in the book and then directing them to a specific page, Eventually, the bunny will indeed read their minds! Schneider said. Kids are going to pore over this book until they figure it out! Schneider finds magic in intentionally choosing new books for students. There have been so many good, diverse books published with new ideas and perspectives. New books have more mirrors and windows. Christopher Stewart is a librarian in the District of Columbias Public Schools at the Columbia Heights Education Campus, as well as a teacher, preacher, and a debut childrens author. Referred to by his students as the Peace and Love Librarian, he is always looking for books that allow his diverse population of students to feel seenand to see others, too. I want my students to see that we are all different, but that these differences are beautiful, and for them to say, I want to know more about you! Stewart said. The first of the three new books Stewart is especially excited to share with his students and teachers is Poetry Hood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology (HarperCollins, out now). Stewart especially likes the anthologys variety of poems, topics, authors, and writing styles for his reluctant and/or struggling readers. We might do a Book Brunch discussion or even a Socratic Seminar [a formal discussion on a text with open-ended questions to help students read widely and deeply] on the street, and invite people to be part of our literary sit-in, Stewart said of the teaching possibilities it offers. He also plans to invite his students to respond to the poetry by writing peer reviews, setting poems to music, performing theatrical productions, or creating their own poetry. In addition, Stewart hopes to collaborate with other educators across content areas and grade levels. This will allow us to dig deep into the poetry: to let it bleed, and allow each of us to see and to celebrate the Black struggle and joy. Stewarts second book choice is one he read about in PW: Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned in School by Tiffany Jewell (HarperCollins, out now). A fan of Jewells other books on anti-bias and anti-racism, Stewart believes that this title will greatly interest his students and encourage critical conversations. Our kids talk about racism and think about it a lot of the time, he said. The librarys a hub where they can have these conversations because its a safe space, and they can speak with me. Stewart also envisions students writing letters to express their concerns and call out inequities that they see in school, their community, and beyond. This will help them use their voices to speak out about real things that they and others are experiencing in their daily lives. His third recommendation is Brownstone by Samuel Teer, illustrated by Mar Julia, (HarperCollins, out now). Its a story about a girl who must stay the entire summer with her Guatemalan father, whom shes never met before, and who speaks rapid-fire Spanish. Together they work on fixing up his brownstone in his Latinx community. I love this title because it deals with a young girl finding herself, building a new relationship with her father, and connecting with the community. Its a love expansion story. Stewart believes that this title and others with diverse representations and narratives will expand his students abilities to share, to care, and to stand up for themselves and others. By exposing them to these types of stories, we can captivate their hearts and minds, and help prepare them to be global and empathetic leaders! As a team of educational neuroscience researchers, Karen Froud, Lisa Levinson, Chaille Maddox, and Paul Smith explore the intricate workings of the brain. Among them, they have decades of experience in experimental neuroscience investigating the brain, language, and literacy. Their work is conducted in the Neurocognition of Language Lab, a brain imaging research facility in the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City. Dr. Froud is the lab director and associate professor of neuroscience and education. Dr. Levinson is a lecturer and senior research scientist in the lab. Dr. Maddox is a senior research associate, and Smith is a Ph.D. student and lab manager. Shively is a freelance journalist and producer who provided editorial support for this article. We asked the team to share their recent findings on the neurological differences in children when reading in print vs. on a digital screen, and the implications for early literacy. In a recent study published in PLOS ONE, our team investigated brain-level differences in children when reading in print vs. on a digital screen. Our study was the first to use Event-Related Potentials, a way of measuring brain activity, to see how children responded to the relatedness of words in a passage of text. Our findings suggested that reading from a page leads to deeper engagement with the text's meaning than reading from a screen. As the debate over print vs. digital reading continues, our study offers new insights into how the reading medium can influence engagement with text. Our study participants were middle-schoolers, ages 1012 years, all reading on grade level. We developed tightly controlled text passages that matched one another on sentence structure and length, complexity of ideas, vocabulary, number of concepts, and more. During the study, we monitored the childrens brain activity as they read these passages either on a screen or in print. After each passage, we presented them with words and asked them to indicate whether each one was related or unrelated to what they had just read. This task allowed us to evaluate how well the children's brains had formed meaning networks for the text. Words varied in their relation to the text: some were closely related (like the word contest appearing after a passage about chess); some were completely unrelated (like the word shade after that same passage). We were most interested in how readers brains would handle in-between words that were sort of related (like club or score after reading about chessthese are words where you can see a connection, but perhaps not immediately). Previous research has shown that the brain activates meaning networks when processing language, which can be observed if we measure the electrical activity that the brain generates as it works. Shifts in this electrical activity tell us how the brain handles different tasks; some of these shifts are so characteristic of brainwaves during particular tasks that they have been given names. One such example is the N400, which is a brainwave that looks larger when a word is unexpected, and smaller when it fits well into context. Our study aimed to determine whether words that were moderately related to the text could still be integrated into meaning networks effectively, indicating deeper engagement with the text. Given past findings suggesting deeper engagement with printed text compared to digital screens, we predicted that the N400 responses would reflect deeper processing when reading from paper and shallower processing when reading digitally. And indeed, our results showed that after reading on screen, the N400 pattern indicated shallower processing. In contrast, after reading from print, the N400 pattern suggested deeper engagement with the texts. Knowing that different mediums are best suited for different kinds of tasks can help educators and parents to be mindful and selective about when print or screens are most appropriate. These findings provide new scientific evidence that our brains process information differently depending on whether we read from paper or screens. Reading from paper seems to encourage deeper understanding and more robust encoding of meanings, compared to reading digitally. So, should we throw our screens away? Wed argue not. Although deep encoding of information is valuable, its not always what is needed. In todays age of information overload, children need to be prepared to selectively and flexibly dig deeply into some texts and commit parts to memory. But with other texts, they might need to engage in quick, shallow reading to identify themes, determine relevance, and evaluate whether more attention is warranted. These different skills could be relevant for different mediums. In addition, our study was only the first of many that need doing. On screens, children can usually change font size, contrast, click on links, engage with text in new ways. Does this greater interactivity compensate for the indices of shallower processing that showed up in our study? We need to investigate that! Screens might be helpful for students with reading difficulties, or with attention problems, because they offer that kind of adaptability. We also only looked at informational text processingbut are kids more engaged when the material they are reading is more highly motivating? Even more than this, the ubiquity of screens in our childrens lives can support equitable access to information in a way thats never been known before. Exposure to diverse texts and opportunities to read are crucial for childrens development, regardless of the medium. Still, knowing that different mediums are best suited for different kinds of tasks can help educators and parents to be mindful and selective about when print or screens are most appropriate. Brain science is only starting to yield insights about how the medium of text presentation matters. Given our findings, and hopefully more work to come, publishers of childrens books might consider emphasizing the benefits of print books for deeper cognitive engagement, while also exploring hybrid formats and tailoring content to build on the strengths of both print and digital mediums. Understanding the differences between childrens interactions with texts on different platforms can guide more effective and engaging content creation. At a critical juncture in the future of childrens literacywhen reading for pleasure has dipped nationwide and access to school libraries has been upended by decreased fundingcomes a national writing project that supports the next generation of budding writers. The National Childrens Book and Literacy Alliance has launched Empowering Young Writers, a series of slideshows and educational resourcesculled from more than 500 childrens trade booksdemonstrating various writing elements and techniques for fourth through ninth graders. The online tools, which are available for free, are designed to assist educators, librarians, and parents as students return to the classroom this year. Speaking Their Language The Empowering Young Writers initiative emerged as a result of Mary Brigid Barretts experience teaching creative writing. In addition to serving as NCBLAs president and executive director, the author-illustrator spent more than 20 years reading and critiquing thousands of elementary and middle school students stories, which proved to be eye-opening. Schools in poverty-challenged communities often do not have access to the same writing instruction materials that are available in affluent communities, she told PW. I learned that teachers, especially elementary teachers, are eager to know more about how they can help their students become better writers. Barrett also witnessed how, for todays students, exposure to screen-based storytelling surpassed reading from printed books. Her concern for a diminished skillsetnamely, kids inability to communicate their observations in writingprompted her to take action and develop a slideshow to share with the NCBLA board members. With their approval, Barrett and her dedicated teamspearheaded by NCBLA VP and founding board member Katherine Paterson, who funded the entire project; assistant director Geri Eddins, who managed website content, electronic publishing, and permission requests; and Cleveland Public Librarys childrens librarian and youth department services manager Annisha Jeffries, serving as literature and diversity consultantgot down to work. Tasked with all research and outreach, Barrett began compiling the art and book excerpts for all 26 slides. Diversity in subject matter was top of mind when selecting materials, as was a range of geographic settings, socioeconomic conditions, and book genres. Also part of the Empowering Young Writers toolkit are educational guides to enhance classroom content. Writing concepts are divided into five categories: Writers Tools, Story Basics, Characters, Plot, and Setting, each with guided activities and themed prompts. Each of the slides featured works amounted to more than 18 months of permissions acquisition, spearheaded by Eddins. NCBLA publications editor Karen Lotz (publishing director-at-large at Candlewick), along with publications agent Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown, Ltd., also assisted in the time-consuming process, which required obtaining permission from the publishers and, in some cases, contacting the writers and illustrators themselves. Barrett tapped James Ransome for use of his artwork in Grandaddys Turn in the Writers Tools: Your Five Senses, as well as Jack Wong for his illustrations from When You Can Swim to incorporate into a slide about developing a sense of wonder. We had a lovely e-mail correspondence He expressed admiration for our work, and I was able to thank him for writing a book that helps kids learn to love water and swimming, she said. Publishers granted permission for five years of access to the featured works, which will be promoted via such organizations as the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Their efforts couldnt come at a better time, according to Barrett, who pointed to a recent Scholastic survey that found that reading for fun drops steadily as children age, most noticeable by age nine, and never recovers. In addition, Barrett cited the essential roles that school librarians play in getting books into kids hands and educators in encouraging and cultivating emerging writers. Teaching young people to read, to write, to understand how a story worksnot only in books, but in the greater media that surrounds themteaches them to think, to observe and assess, to communicate what is important to them and their future, she noted. Reading books and writing fiction and nonfiction stories provides inspiration for their dreams and gives them the tools to achieve those dreams. This article has been updated. If past is prologue, Donald Trump will win Pennsylvania. Eight years ago this week, Hillary Clinton led in Pennsylvania by more than nine points; four years ago, Joe Biden led by nearly six points. Clinton lost Pennsylvania by less than a point, while Biden won it by more than a point. Heading into the Democratic National Convention, the Emerson/RealClearPennsylvania poll showed Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by a point. Averaging together the Pennsylvania polling taken since Harris became the Democratic Partys nominee, the states presidential race is a dead heat. Of the fifty-nine public polls released in 2016 tracking the Pennsylvania presidential race, Trump led in only two. In 2020, Trump led in only five of the eighty-four Pennsylvania polls released. This cycle, Trump has led in thirteen of the seventeen Pennsylvania polls released. In fact, Trump is leading more polls than the previous two election cycles combined, and we have yet to reach Labor Day, when polling frequency intensifies. Considering the previous Pennsylvania election results, todays polling suggests that Trump is poised to seize the largest margin of victory for a presidential candidate in Pennsylvania since Barack Obamas eight-point win in 2008. Its unlikely that Trump can duplicate Obamas margin. Pennsylvania voters are supremely polarized, just like elsewhere in the country. The partisan mobilization of the left and right guarantees a close race. Harriss candidacy has ignited a previously dormant liberal base, while legal persecution and an assassination attempt on Trump crystallized voting as a cultural imperative on the right. Nonetheless, the dramatic polling shift compared with previous presidential election cycles is confounding, as no pivotal factor explains Trumps persistent overperformance. Rather, it appears to be caused by an accrual of factors. One factor may be the reputed shy Trump voters who are no longer inhibited from voicing their support. These voters shocked the world in 2016 and defied 2020 polling. They are now out of the Trump closet, loud and proud. Another factor may be the strength of regional biases. In northeastern Pennsylvania, Biden wore his Scranton Joe moniker proudly, emphasizing his birthplace and hardscrabble roots in the Commonwealth. It helped Biden tap into the regions swing voters in a way that Clinton could not. Now these voters are trending Republican, and Bidens absence from the ticket gives license for them to go with the GOP. Its a similar dynamic in northwestern Pennsylvania. Erie Countys working-class voters, who put both Obama and Trump in office, are unlikely to lean toward Harris, who calls San Francisco home. In Butler County, where Trump was shot and a beloved firefighter was murdered in the crossfire, voters will surge for Trump to a historic level. In the Philadelphia media market, which includes Delaware, daily political coverage included Bidens senatorial career for over forty years. Philadelphia and suburban residents learned about Bidens doings no differently than from their own senators. Biden improved on Clintons historic suburban margins; Harris cannot recreate this affinity. An African-American turnout surge in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, akin to that which propelled Obama into office, is highly likely. However, the anecdotes of Trump getting a closer look from black males are real. He earned 12% of the black vote in 2020, and it is not unreasonable to expect that he could maintain or improve on that performance, which may negate a Harris-driven turnout surge. Driving the wedge with African American males, and with most Pennsylvanians, is the economy. Over 50% of Pennsylvanians rank the economy as the top issue, with Trump carrying a commanding lead over Harris in this regard. Meanwhile, less than 5% of voters rate abortion access as the elections top issue. Most Pennsylvania political analysts cannot recall a time this century when a single issue so dominated voters priorities. The unprecedented shift in Pennsylvanias voter registration is yet another factor. Since 2008, the 1.1 million-voter Democratic registration advantage has whittled down to about 350,000. Prior to the 2024 Pennsylvania primary, all 67 of Pennsylvanias counties saw net gains of Republican voters. Should the trend continue, Pennsylvania will be majority Republican by 2028. Mail-in balloting is relatively new to Pennsylvania. Starting during the 2020 Covid lockdowns, Democratic applicants hold a nearly 3:1 advantage over Republicans. While the margin is daunting, the lack of enthusiasm for Bidens candidacy may hold relief for Republicans. In the 2020 presidential election, nearly 1.7 million Democrats applied for a mail-in ballot; more than half of applicants applied after the third week of August. In the 2022 midterm, more than 900,000 Democrats applied for a mail-in ballot; about one-third applied after the same week in August. This year, about 650,000 Democrats have applied as of last week. To meet 2020s tally, the Democrats have a lot of work to do. Yet all these factors pale beside the stunning polling trend that Trump is experiencing in the Keystone State. 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Price: $ 100,000 Location: 976**, Beatty, Oregon You will be redirected to eBay When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Nearby The leader of a Mexican cartel feigns death and undergoes gender-affirming surgery to become Emilia, the central character of Emilia Perez, a new film premiering on Netflix in November. ADVERTISEMENT The movie stars Karla Sofia Gascon as Emilia and Zoe Saldaia as Rita, a lawyer who ferries Emilia through the process of becoming someone new. Selena Gomez portrays Jessi, Emilia's wife. "When Emilia abruptly returns to Rita and Jessi's life, the stage is set for a collision course that will upend their circumstances all over again," an official synopsis reads. Emilia Perez -- written and directed by Jacques Audiard -- won the Cannes Film Festival's Jury Prize and Best Actress award for Gascon, Saldaia, Gomez and Adriana Paz. "You have a musical that is not a musical, an action movie that is not an action movie, a drama that is not a drama, a comedy that's not a comedy. It is such a great gift, and I'm so proud to be part of it," Gascon told Netflix's Tudum. "It's a dream role that is hard to find because it has so much depth, so much richness." The film incorporates music and was inspired by a loosely developed character in Ecoute, a book by Boris Razor. Emilia Perez lands on Netflix Nov. 13. The streaming service shared a teaser trailer for the film Monday. As the weather begins to cool off and pumpkin spice lattes are back on the menu at Starbucks, it is safe to say that fall is underway in Athens. The change of seasons is sure to bring change in your astrology. 'As on August 25, 94,753 Govindas have been insured.' 'This number is expected to rise further, as proposals for 5,000 to 8,000 Govindas are received daily.' IMAGE: Youngsters fall as they form a human pyramid to break the dahi handi in Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi/span> Large, boisterous festivals like Dahi Handi, Ganesh Puja and Durga Puja have millions celebrating on the streets, prompting insurers to step up coverage and costs for organisers and participants. With festivals now getting government support, organisers are encouraged to opt for comprehensive insurance packages to safeguard their assets and participants. Insurers have covered over 90,000 Govindas, who will form human pyramids on Dahi Handi festival on August 27. "As on August 25, 94,753 Govindas have been insured. This number is expected to rise further, as proposals for 5,000 to 8,000 Govindas are received daily. Last year, the total insured Govindas reached 95,000," said Sachin Khanvilkar, manager at Oriental Insurance Company. "Each participant benefits from an insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh, secured at a nominal premium of Rs 75," Khanvilkar added. "So far, the state government and Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation have contributed nearly Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million) towards premiums, while mandals have taken insurance separately. Over 1,200 mandals have been insured, and we hope to reach 1,500 this year," Khanvilkar said. T A Ramalingam, chief technical officer at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said the premiums collected for festival insurance had increased over threefold, rising from less than Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) five years ago to over Rs 70 lakh (Rs 7 million) in FY24, with the sum insured growing by approximately 200 per cent. "With increased awareness about such insurance, we see more business during these events. Additionally, we have revised our product offerings compared to previous years, enabling us to capture a larger market share," Ramalingam said, adding that the company expects 15-20 per cent growth in premiums for FY25 compared to the previous year. The Maharashtra government has played a key role in providing insurance during Dahi Handi. The government's focus on ensuring the safety of participants and the public during large-scale events has led to higher adoption of insurance policies, according to Sumit Bohra, President of the Insurance Brokers Association of India. This has also encouraged more organisers to consider comprehensive coverage to mitigate risks associated with unforeseen incidents, Bohra said. Insurance packages cover accidental injuries during the formation of human pyramids during Dahi Handi or risk to life during immersion of idols. Damage of idols, mandaps, decorations, public liability and fire hazards is covered too, he said. Insurance underwriting for Ganesh Puja that falls on September 7 will commence after Dahi Handi. Insurers expect to see good traction in insurance for Ganesh Puja ahead of the state government elections, which is a common trend. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com The central governments Great Nicobar development project, proposed around an unprecedented transhipment port, will be executed to keep environmental impact minimal, and is essential as it is of national importance, the government has said amid calls to abort the controversial project due to ecological concerns, the Centre said in an official statement. Photograph: wikipedia.org Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav was responding to Indian National Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Rameshs concerns about the proposed Rs 72,000 crore Mega Infra Project on Great Nicobar Island, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In a letter dated 21 August, Yadav assured that exemplary mitigation measures have been put in place to reduce the environmental impact of the project while considering strategic, national, and defence interests. In a post on X dated 8 August, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raised three major concerns about the Great Nicobar Island projectthe destruction of a unique rainforest ecosystem through the diversion of 13,075 hectares of forest land, the potential genocide of the Shompen tribe due to violations of legal safeguards, and the projects location in an earthquake-prone zone, which risks severe consequences for investment, infrastructure, and the environment. He called for the suspension of the project and a thorough review by the relevant Parliamentary committees. In April 2023, the Kolkata bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had put a two-month stay on the project and asked a high-powered committee (HPC) to scrutinise alleged deficiencies in addressing environmental concerns and possible regulatory violations. In his response, Yadav emphasised that even with the diversion of forest land for the project, 82 per cent of the Great Nicobar area will still be preserved as protected forests, eco-sensitive zones, and biosphere reserves, surpassing the standard requirement of maintaining two-thirds of the area under forest cover. It is only after due deliberations and after incorporating exemplary mitigation measures that the decision on the project was taken by the central government, keeping the strategic, national, and defence interests in mind and without compromising on the environmental and social aspects. "For this, detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies were carried out, and an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has been prepared which, inter alia, includes mitigation measures to minimise the impact during the construction and operation phases of the project, Yadav said in the letter. On the Congress concern that the compensatory afforestation planned for the project is no substitute for the loss of natural forests, Yadav said that due to the lack of available areas for plantation on Great Nicobar Island, efforts are being directed towards planting native species in non-notified forest land, arid landscapes, and urban areas. He emphasised that these efforts would provide greater ecological benefits despite the challenges. Yadav said that the Environment and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Clearance, as well as Forest Clearance for the project, were granted by the ministry on 11 November 2022, following meticulous due diligence. He assured that the clearances were in full compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notifications, extant rules, regulations, and guidelines. Regarding concerns about the projects location in an earthquake-prone coastline, Yadav said that seismologists estimate that while a mega-earthquake like the one in 2004 (9.2 Mw) is unlikely soon, earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.5 to 7.0 Mw are possible within the next 50 years. The project could also effect a potential genocide of the Shompen tribe, Ramesh had alleged, echoing concerns of various activists over the past year. In February, a group of scholars of genocide studies warned Indian President Draupadi Murmu that the project would be a death knell for the indigenous community. Yadav said that the administration is fully dedicated to the objectives of the Shompen policy, which emphasises developing communication and consultation channels based solely on the tribes willingness. He stated that a budget of Rs 201.98 crore has been allocated for tribal welfare initiatives, including the establishment of a special medical unit to be implemented over the next 50 years in compliance with environmental clearances. The minister said that while 73.07 sq. km of land is required for the project, 76.98 sq. km will be re-notified as a tribal reserve, resulting in a net increase of 3.912 sq. km in the tribal reserve area of Great Nicobar Island. Yadav also assured that the development plan aligns with the Shompen policy, allowing for large-scale development proposals with adequate consultation with relevant authorities, confirming that the project will not disturb or displace any members of the Shompen tribe. He highlighted that the HPC thoroughly assessed the projects impact on tribal communities, recommending the de-notification of the tribal reserve only under conditions that protect the interests of the Shompen, ensuring they are not adversely affected or displaced. According to the NGT order, the HPC was mandated to look into the potential destruction of 4,518 corals during the development of the project, along with the legitimacy of the impact assessment report, which had data for one season instead of the required three. A part of the project was also allegedly falling in a coastal regulation zone, where port construction is prohibited. The Congress leader had called the HPCs operations opaque, and its findings inconsistent with submissions by the Andaman and Nicobar Coastal Management Authority. There also have been concerns raised over the autonomy of the panel. The same people who have approved the project are part of the committee that is reviewing it. "There are no independent experts. There is a lack of sensitivity towards those who would be impacted by such infrastructure projects, Debi Goenka, one of the petitioners in the NGT case, had said in 2023. The HPC was headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Other members of the panel were the chief secretary, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Central Pollution Control Board, nominee of Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, nominee of Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, and director, Wildlife Institute of India. The project assumes significance for the central government as no major port has the infrastructure or the geographical location required for the facilitation of mega container ships, and most of the transhipment of huge cargo ships happens in countries like Sri Lanka and Singapore, which are closer to established shipping routes. While India had previously made moonshot attempts at building transhipment ports, most of them have been found to be economically or environmentally unviable. The proposed Nicobar Port project focuses on three key drivers which can result in making it a leading container transhipment portstrategic location in terms of proximity (40 nautical miles) to the international shipping trade route, availability of natural water depth of over 20 metres, and carrying capacity of transhipment cargo from all the ports in the proximity including Indian ports, the shipping ministry had said in January 2023, after getting a green signal from the Union Cabinet. Nine parties, including major players such as Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, JSW Infrastructure, and state-owned Container Corporation of India, have shown initial interest in building the port. The Unified Pension System (UPS), approved by the Union Cabinet on Saturday, is fiscally prudent as it will be funded within the Centres fiscal projections, according to T V Somanathan, the Cabinet Secretary-designate. Speaking to Business Standard immediately after the Cabinet nod, former finance secretary Somanathan, who headed the committee set up in March 2023 to review the National Pension System (NPS), said the UPS will not postpone pension expenditure as it will be contributory and financed each year. It is fiscally prudent in the sense that we will have to absorb it each year in the Union Budget within our budgeted fiscal deficit, he said. It is a fully funded contributory scheme. Importantly, Somanathan pointed out, there will be no burden on any future government. It will not go to any future government In this, we will pay the liability, which is estimated currently at 18.5 per cent, he explained. This throws more light on the point made in a press release issued late Saturday evening by the Department of Expenditure (DoE) in the Ministry of Finance. While benefiting the employees, it will also safeguard the welfare of the common citizens, because the scheme will be fully funded, thus preventing fiscal hardship to future generations of citizens, the DoE release said. Somanathan said these were the features that made the new system different from the old pension system (OPS). We are not doing any pay as you go, which is the kind of thing the OPS does, he said. Under the unified system, employee contributions will remain unaltered at 10 per cent of basic pay plus dearness allowance (DA). The governments contribution will increase from the present 14 per cent to 18.5 per cent. This 18.5 per cent will cost the Centre an extra Rs 6,250 crore in the first year and Rs 800 crore as a one-time expenditure for arrears, Somanathan pointed out. Under the unified scheme, arrears will be paid to retirees after adjusting for withdrawals already made by them. The 50 per cent assured benefit comes with retrospective effect, along with arrears. All employees who have joined from 2004 onwards can continue with the NPS. This includes those who have retired. However, they will have the option to switch over to the UPS, which, according to Somanathan, will benefit most of them. All those who retired since the NPS was introduced can opt for the new unified system, he said. All existing subscribers can switch, and even all retired employees can get the benefit Besides, we will have arrears for all those who retired till now, and also those who will retire until March 31, 2025. Those who are taking voluntary retirement service are also covered in the scheme. This 18.5 per cent increase has factored that in as well, he said. Full assured pension will be available for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years. To those who have served less than that, starting from at least 10 years, a pro-rata assured pension will be given. The scheme can also be adopted by state governments. This is expected to benefit more than 9 million employees (2.3 million Central Government employees, 300,000 employees of Central Autonomous Bodies, and another 5.6 million employees of state governments and 1 million employees of State Autonomous Bodies, if adopted by state governments). States will have to bear the burden if they adopt the system, Somanathan said. 'We participate in the design/development of components and systems for electric vehicles, internal combustion engines, and hybrid vehicles.' Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters It was in August 2022 that Ford Motor Company exited India by winding up its manufacturing units. Even two years after the global automotive giant shut down its unit in Chennai, the same city, through Ford Business Solutions (FBS), is turning out to be the brain behind key design and development aspects of all the globally successful models by the US major in the past two years. According to FBS, the company's top-selling models globally -- including the F-Series, Explorer, Transit, Ranger, and others -- are getting a touch of India in them through the 'design and development of specific components'. FBS oversees the global capabilities of the company through its 12,000 employees at its Global Technology & Business Center in Chennai. The FBS team is assisting the global Ford team in computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering, and software development, an executive said in response to questions from Business Standard. Interestingly, FBS is in the process of hiring around 3,000 more people in Chennai over a period of three years to increase its employee strength to 15,000. "We participate in the design/development of components and systems for electric vehicles, internal combustion engines, and hybrid vehicles in FBS," he said. IMAGE: Ford Motor Company launches the new F-150 pickup truck at its Dearborn truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Photograph: Rebecca Cook/Reuters Among the above-mentioned models, the F-Series is one of Ford's biggest moneymakers. During the first half of this year, it was the highest-selling passenger vehicle in the US and also America's best-selling pickup truck for the 48th consecutive year. It reportedly sold over 750,000 trucks in 2023 and has already moved 352,406 in the first six months of this year. "Ford was again the no. 1 selling pickup manufacturer in the world in the second quarter of this year. The F-Series truck lineup remains America's best-selling truck. Transit, America's best-selling van, posted a new first-half sales record. Ford set an all-time record for sport utility vehicle sales in the US during the first half of 2024, topping the previous record set in 2017," the executive said. Not just in America, brands like Ford Ranger are the best-selling midsize pickup trucks in many markets, including Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. "We also support the development of the Ranger, which is one of Ford's best-selling vehicles globally," he added. "Ford creates wonderful and valuable products and experiences that inspire passion and loyalty in every customer. Team members at FBS work closely with their counterparts in other markets and engineering centres to design and develop specific components, systems, and features (not the entire vehicle)," he said. Several of the products where the FBS team participated in development and design were recognised for their appeal amongst global consumers. For example, the 2024 Ford F-Series Super Duty (part of the Ford Pro offering for commercial customers) is the most appealing large heavy-duty pickup in the JD Power 2024 US Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study. In addition to this, Ford-brand SUVs had a record first half of 2024 on sales of 406,467 -- up 3 per cent, led by Explorer, America's best-selling three-row SUV, with sales totalling 104,803. Ford India closed its manufacturing unit at Maraimalai Nagar in 2022. Ford India announced the phasing out of its unit on September 9, 2021, and stopped production in August 2022. FBS is the group's global talent office that supports all functions in the company. It has centres in Chennai, Mexico City, and Hungary, which support not only technology but also enterprise technology, global data insights and analytics, finance, and human resources, among others. Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours, recommends Shekhar Gupta. IMAGE: Activists of the Anti-Discriminatory Student Movement gather at the University of Dhaka's Teacher Student Centre, demanding the capital punishment for former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina for the deaths of students during anti-quota protests, August 13, 2024. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters The dramatic events in Bangladesh bring the focus back to India's neighbourhood, and the Narendra Modi government's record in dealing with it. To take a deeper look at what's immediate, we need to begin a quarter-century ago, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee made his big move with Pakistan by taking a bus ride to Lahore. 'You can choose your friends,' he said, 'but you can't choose your neighbours.' It followed that improving ties with them was imperative. In 2008, Manmohan Singh took it a step forward with his call of 'neigbourhood first'. In 2014, Mr Modi also put his stamp on it with his characteristic style, inviting all the leaders of the extended subcontinent to his swearing-in. He followed this up with visits to the neighbours, often marked by a mood of resurgent euphoria and, in one case, with an extraordinary sense of drama. This is when he surprised all by breaking a journey in Lahore to greet then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif on his granddaughter's wedding. There was hope now. If India's first leader with a majority in 25 years was showing such commitment to improving relationships in the region of seven sovereign nations with multiple divides and tectonic faults, some caused by ideology, all deepened by history, and some Cold War-era debris cluttering them, then it was possible to repair and clean these breaches and build bridges over them. As Mr Modi's third successive term gets under way, how does his scoresheet look? Bangladesh is the biggest crisis. For 15 years now, Dhaka had been India's closest ally. The pivot to a secure North East for India is located in Dhaka, especially as nobody knows where the centre of gravity is in Myanmar. Pakistan, meanwhile, has seen dramatic changes, with its new regime almost fully breaking off from India after the August 5, 2019, changes in Jammu and Kashmir. Nepal has ratcheted up distrust to a level where it altered its national maps to incorporate strategically important Indian territories, through which ran a pilgrim route to Kailash-Mansarovar. As always happens with competitive and prickly nationalisms, the map also got unanimous endorsement in Nepal's Parliament. Sri Lanka had its own version of a 'colour' or 'maidan' revolution following an economic meltdown, as well as the Chinese acquisition of its prime port at Hambantota. The rise of Mohamed Muizzu in the Maldives on an 'India Out' campaign is a more recent story. Bhutan is under intense pressure from the Chinese to 'settle' its border, ideally on the basis of 'never mind India's interests'. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay inaugurates the Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck Mother and Child Hospital -- a Bhutan-India friendship project -- in Thimphu, March 23, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Is this dramatic turnaround for the worse entirely India's fault? Or is India a victim? How can India claim victimhood when it is such a dominant force? Its gross domestic product today is four times that of the rest of the region together. Its population three times, and global power multiple times. Its people have also earned for their republic that unique quality in this neighbourhood: A stable Constitutional democracy where every transition has taken place democratically, peacefully and credibly. Junk that idea of victimhood. Ours is among the most unstable neighbourhoods in the world. Most neighbours are highly populous, with crowded cities, youthful demographics, and have tasted democracy -- unlike messy regions in Africa. The combination of a large, young, aspirational population, with a taste for democracy, means that public opinion matters. In the immediate context, that's what Sheikh Hasina and India as her friend overlooked in Bangladesh. These are not nations where a dictator, however powerful, can go against public opinion. Each is a much more imperfect democracy than ours. But none is a perfect dictatorship either. In all of these countries, one must deal with the regime, and public opinion. That public opinion also understands sovereignty. If India is seen as hectoring, it causes a dreadful reaction. We've seen this in Nepal, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. That 2015 blockade is an awful scar. The fact is, South Block is mindful of this and mostly correct in what it says. But, what is said in the media, seen as friendly to the government -- which is almost all our news television channels, especially in Hindi -- is tracked closely. This is exacerbated exponentially by ultranationalist social media handles. These put out threads of revisionist, often non-factual history of India's ties with the neighbours and their territories. Some recommend sending in the army to Bangladesh, open the borders for Hindus (there's 14 million of them), create an enclave in Rangpur. IMAGE: External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar meets with Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, August 10, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo On the day External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar ended his visit to the Maldives mostly to pour oil over troubled waters, the canard spread that Male had 'handed' over 28 islands to India. It made it to what passes for prime-time debates on some Hindi TV channels. Somebody even said: 'Muizzu ne ghutne tek diye' (Muizzu has gone down on his knees). We can toss it as a joke but Maldivians won't. A country with about half a million people and a $7 billion gross domestic product has one blessing in the same measure as a rising behemoth like India: Sovereignty. Ultimately, South Block had these tweets deleted. Too late. Put yourself in the chappals of a neighbour who's watching this discourse from India. All they hear about Indian policies is 'muscular, muscular, muscular'. Muscularity is great, but what about those other attributes: Cerebral, cultural, scientific, intellectual? One with the humility to be a teacher to the region, if on the way to be the 'vishwa guru', as Swami Vivekananda imagined in his Chicago address. Are our academic institutions good enough to attract the hundreds of thousands of students from our neighbours who go overseas for education? Do we want them? What about a deluge of scholarships, internships, cultural performances and movies instead of hyper-nationalist media insults? As the sole superpower's record tells you, soft power is not an adjunct but critical to hard power. Does India have think-tanks to house dozens of scholars from the neighbouring countries, invite them to conferences, run its own track-2 processes? It isn't as if India doesn't know this. That's why we buy power from Nepal and Bhutan but export to Bangladesh. These are vital economic linkages and stakes. Forget Adani. The other side of the coin is the overplaying of the Hindu card. The Prime Minister's visits to Nepal and Bangladesh had temple visits as highlights. The larger reality, however, is that along our longest borders, we face large Muslim majorities. They look at us askance when we ask them to treat their minorities fairly. It is a case of disastrously 'perfect' timing that just when Bangladesh is on the boil and our diplomacy is engaged in damage control, Assam this month presented its first CAA (Citizenship [Amendment] Act) citizenship to a Hindu from Bangladesh. IMAGE: Dr Jaishankar meets Nepal Foreign Minister Arzu Rana in New Delhi, August 19, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo For five years now, especially since the war in Ukraine began, India has been talking up multipolarity, strategic autonomy and multi-alignment. Good ideas, but these are available to our neighbours as well, especially with the Chinese shadow, much bigger than ours. They can all play China against us as we might play (however bashfully and clumsily) the US against China. The subcontinent is not our strategic preserve. Even the mighty Americans have failed to subdue Cuba, just next door, and Venezuela, which isn't far away. The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com In retrospect, it appeared that the bitterness of the war was still strong and the Ukrainian success in occupying Russian territory just a few days ago had added to the complexity of the situation. The positive US response to the visit, however, remains a silver lining in the dark clouds, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, August 23, 2024. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Perhaps for the first time in history, a proposed visit of the prime minister abroad became controversial even before the visit was announced. Now that the visit has taken place, there is enough for the government and the doubting Thomases to gloat over the positions, which were taken by them. For the prime minister, the fact that it took place without a hitch was a success in itself. The key point he made that India was not neutral in the conflict, but on the side of peace was a point worth making from the soil of Ukraine, though it did not give Zelenskyy any cause for comfort. He promptly pointed out that he would like to have India on its side and not just on the side of peace. In a way, the visit to Ukraine was for India a return to the Nehruvian era, when India looked at conflicts dispassionately and took positions, even if they appeared incongruent to the principles of nonalignment we championed. India was welcome to participate in international efforts for peace as we did not seem to have an axe to grind. Till 1962, India could afford to be a benign presence in conflict situations. But when we began to look at the world as a victim of aggression, we began seeking justice, together with peace. Our Tashkent experience prompted us to be wary of any kind of mediation in the case of Pakistan and China. Today, India is not seen as a peacemaker, but as a nation which is seeking its place in the world, fighting every inch of the way. We express our views in our enlightened self-interest and even remain alone, if necessary, regardless of the consequences. We have realised that any mediator will want to extract concessions from both parties to reach an agreement as it happened in Tashkent and bilateral negotiations based on fundamental positions were found to be more advantageous, even if the problems remained unresolved. The respect for the UN Charter and commitment to treaties made our arguments credible. IMAGE: Modi and Zelenskyy during the prime minister's one-day trip to Ukraine. Photograph: Kind courtesy Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout/Reuters Prime Minister Modi had his own reasons to turn to peacemaking at this time in world history. The total irrelevance of the United Nations Security Council in tackling the crises of the 21st century is an important factor. 9/11 was a major turning point on the issue of terrorism and it appeared that the UN would take united action urgently against terrorism. But soon the issue of definition of terrorism surfaced and a comprehensive convention on terrorism could not be adopted. The stories of the economic meltdown, COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war and the war in Gaza are no different. The scheme in the UN Charter for preventive diplomacy, ceasefire, peacekeeping and peace building totally failed in all these cases. A veto wielding permanent member waging a war against another member State of the UN and another permanent member shielding atrocities committed by a country in the name of its security for itself are unprecedented. A permanent member blocking action for international cooperation in fighting a pandemic was the unkindest cut of all. The members of the UN have the responsibility to create a new mechanism to deal with the matters of international peace and security. The meetings of the G20 discussed these issues and even produced a consensus on the Russia-Ukraine war at the G20 summit in New Delhi. Moreover, India's position on the war, which did not condemn Russia and retained communication with Ukraine were seen as positive for peacemaking. In the face of a total impasse in negotiations, suggestions were made by several countries that India's unique position should be put to use. Prime Minister Modi's visit to Moscow last month was particularly significant in this regard and it was after weighing all these factors that he announced his visit to Poland and Ukraine. IMAGE: Modi and Zelenskyy embrace each other. Photograph: ANI Photo No summit fails, particularly when the expectations are low. The optics were right because the two leaders ensured that the undercurrents of tension and anxiety were not allowed to surface and both leaders managed to maintain friendliness and cordiality. Things went beyond hugs and PM Modi showed his sympathy by keeping his arm on Zelenskyy's shoulder and all the words heard on television were soothing and reassuring. But former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal listed several 'most improper' comments by Zelenskyy at his press meet. Zelenskyy chided India for buying Russian oil and fueling Russia's coffers and gaining benefits in the bargain. He also said that Putin had showed disrespect to Modi by bombing a children's hospital in Kiev. He also said that India could be part of his peace plan, but Ukraine would not make compromises on principles or values. He said the next peace summit could be held in India, but he told the PM that that it could not be held in a country that had not signed the communique of the first summit. He virtually rejected any mediation by saying that he wanted India on his side and not 'balancing between us and Russia.' In a sense, he wiped out the value of dialogue and India remaining on the side of peace. IMAGE: Modi and Zelenskyy pay homage at the Martyrologist Exposition in Kyiv. Photograph: Kind courtesy narendramodi/X No one had expected that PM Modi's visit would result in a resolution of the conflict. It was a goodwill visit to demonstrate India's good intentions and to demonstrate our strategic autonomy. It was also an answer to the US position that strategic autonomy would not apply in the event of war. PM Modi expected that his visit would create an atmosphere of dialogue and peace. But in retrospect, it appeared that the bitterness of the war was still strong and the Ukrainian success in occupying Russian territory just a few days ago had added to the complexity of the situation. The positive US response to the visit, however, remains a silver lining in the dark clouds. The geopolitical situation of the early years of the 21st century is not an era of peace as we see nations, big and small, are seeking a comfortable space in the evolving world order. The failure of the UN has left a gaping hole in the international system and the best we can hope for is to develop an alternative. India's championing of peace and developing a voice for the Global South should be seen as building blocks in that effort. Ambassador T P Sreenivasan is a long-time contributor to Rediff.com. You can read his earlier columns here. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com A statue of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a fort in Maharashtra's coastal Sindhudurg district just eight months ago, collapsed on Monday, an official said, with the chief minister blaming "strong winds" for the cave in. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, at Rajkot Fort, in Sindhudurg on December 4, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo As the incident caused an embarrassment to the state government and invited scathing criticism from the opposition, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde vowed to rebuild the structure, which he said, was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy. Asked about the collapse, Shinde told PTI, "The wind was blowing at a speed of 45km per hour, which caused the statue to fall. It is very unfortunate the statue has fallen as it was designed and built by the Navy. However, our guardian minister (Ravindra Chavan) has arrived at the spot to assess the situation, and we will rebuild this statue even stronger. Navy officials will also take part in the rebuilding efforts.". Public works department personnel will visit the site on Tuesday, the CM said. Sindhudurg guardian minister Chavan, who holds the PWD portfolio, said, A case has been filed against the proprietor of the firm M/s Artistry, Jaydeep Apte, and structural consultant Chetan Patil (both involved in statue work) in Sindhudurg. The Bharatiya Janata Party minister said, "The Maharashtra government paid Rs 2.36 crore to the Navy for the statue's installation. However, the entire procedure of selection of artist, its design was done by Navy officials. The work order was given on September 8, 2023, he informed. Chavan said, The steel used in making of the statue had started rusting. The PWD had already written to Navy officials informing them about the statue catching rust and requested them to take appropriate steps. The 35-foot statue of Shivaji Maharaj collapsed at around 1 pm at Rajkot Fort under Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district in the Konkan region, around 480km from Mumbai, the official said. Experts will ascertain the exact cause of the collapse, but the coastal district has witnessed heavy rains and gusty winds in the last two to three days, he pointed out. Senior officials of the police and district administration have reached the site to take stock of the situation, and the damage was being examined, he said. PM Modi had unveiled the 17th century warrior king's statue on Navy Day (December 4) last year, and participated in celebrations at the fort. The opposition Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar lashed out at the Mahayuti government over the incident. NCP -SP state president and former minister Jayant Patil said, "The government is responsible for the collapse as it did not take proper care of the statue. The government paid little attention to the quality of work. It only focused on conducting an event where PM Modi was invited to unveil the statue. This Maharashtra government only issues new tenders, accepts commissions and gives contracts accordingly." His party colleague and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule sought a probe into the entire episode. In a post on X, she said, "The statue's collapse within a year reflects poorly on the quality of the work and calls for a thorough investigation into the substandard construction. The statue construction work was given to a Thane-based contractor. It is now clear how he must have done his job. We demand the contractor and his firms be blacklisted." Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader and former cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray was also unsparing in his criticism of the Shinde-led government. "The Shivaji Maharaj memorial on Rajkot Fort was completed in a haste with one eye on the Lok Sabha elections. The responsibility for this incident lies solely with the Shinde government, which prioritises contractors over actual work. More dangerous is the BJP's mindset of getting away with any blunders." "The same arrogance was behind completing the Shivaji Maharaj statue in a haste. They only wanted to reap political benefits," he alleged. Shiv Sena-UBT MLA Vaibhav Naik, who hails from Sindhudurg district, alleged poor quality of work in the construction of the structure. "The state government may try to evade responsibility, but people responsible for the construction and installation of the statue must be probed thoroughly," he demanded. Naik, along with his supporters, allegedly vandalised the local PWD office in Malvan town to protest against the collapse of the statue of the revered warrior king. He entered the office armed with an iron rod and damaged some property, said a police official from Malvan. The police are currently in the process of filing a case regarding the damage caused to the government property, he said. Police security has been stepped at Rajkot Fort. Cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar, who hails from the Konkan region, reiterated the government's commitment to rebuild the structure. "I do not have all the details about the incident. However, it's important to note that PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan, also the guardian minister of Sindhudurg district, has said a thorough investigation will be conducted into the matter," said Kesarkar. "We are committed to erecting a new statue at the same location. The statue unveiled by PM Modi last year pays tribute to Shivaji Maharaj's visionary efforts in building a sea fort. We will take all necessary steps to address this matter promptly and effectively," asserted the Shiv Sena minister. Meanwhile, former Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati posted his old letter written to the PMO on December 12 in which he had said the "statue does not look like a good art work." Seven prison officials have been suspended for allegedly giving special treatment to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is currently in judicial custody in the Renukaswamy murder case. IMAGE: A purported photograph of Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is currently in judicial custody in the Renukaswamy murder case, hanging out with three others has gone viral. Photograph: X A Superintendent of the Central Jail at Parappana Agrahara here has also been transferred following an inquiry after a photo of the actor smoking with a coffee mug in hand emerged on social media on Sunday sparking a row. The picture shows Darshan sitting leisurely on a lawn on the jail premises along with three others, including two alleged rowdy-sheeters. Those suspended are jailers Sharan Basappa Amingad and Prabhu S Khandelwal, assistant jailers L S Kuppeswamy, Srikanth Talwar, head warders Venkappa, Sampath Kumar and warder K Basappa, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters here on Monday. The new jail superintendent will be asked to strictly deal with such incidents of "dereliction of duty," he said. Parameshwara said soon after the matter came to his knowledge he directed the Director General of Police to conduct a probe following which a team of senior police officials visited the jail. Their inquiry confirmed the involvement of the suspended officers in facilitating special treatment to Darshan, he added. Parameshwara said it is a matter of concern that such incidents occur despite the presence CCTVs and jammers inside the prisons in the state. A total of 17 people including Darshan along with his friend Pavithra Gowda are currently in judicial custody in connection with the murder case. According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Gowda, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June 9. Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered. According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries. Police sources said Gowda, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy's murder, claiming that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday urged people to stay united to reach the pinnacle of prosperity, saying the mistakes in Bangladesh should not happen in India. IMAGE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath speaks during an event in Agra. Photograph: @myogiadityanath/X "Batenge toh katenge (if divided, we will be cut up)," he said during an event in Agra. Bangladesh recently saw massive anti-government protests, leading to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The country continued to witness incidents of violence, including targetted attacks on the Hindu minority community, even after the fall of the Hasina-led government. Addressing the gathering at the programme in Agra, Adityanath said, "There can be nothing bigger than the nation, and when will a nation be strong, when we are united and good." "Aap dekh rahe hain Bangladesh mein kya ho raha hai? Wo galatiyan yahan nahi honi chahiye. Batenge toh katenge! Ek rahenge to nek rahenge, surakshit rahenge aur samriddhi ki parakashtha ko pahuchenge," the chief minister said in Hindi. Roughly translated, he asked people if they are watching what is happening in Bangladesh and said those mistakes should not happen here, adding, "If divided, we will be cut, if together, we will be good, secure and reach the pinnacle of prosperity." The chief minister also shared a clip of his speech on X. "We have to realise the resolve of Viksit Bharat (developed India)," Adityanath said after inaugurating a statue of Durga Das Rathore. Rathore was a Rajput noble known for leading the resistance against Mughal attempts to annex the Marwar Kingdom in the 17th century. Central Bureau of Investigation officers turned up at the home of former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh in Kolkata on Sunday.. IMAGE: Former R G Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh opens the door of his residence in Kolkata, August 25, 2024, for a CBI officer. The CBI is investigating the alleged sexual assault and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor and alleged financial irregularities at the R G Kar Medical College, here and below. Photographs: ANI Photo IMAGE: Paramilitary personnel outside former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh's home. IMAGE: CBI officers arrive at former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh's residence. Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff.com Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com Heavily-armed Baloch gunmen killed at least 37 people in separate attacks in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Monday, as the insurgent attacks spiked in the region bordering Afghanistan IMAGE: Armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham district of Musakhel and offloaded passengers from buses. Photograph: X According to the government and security officials, on the intervening night between Sunday and Monday, militants belonging to outlawed separatist groups carried out four attacks leading into Monday in which 37 people were killed. The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan Army, in a statement, said that 21 terrorists were also killed in cleanup operations launched after the attacks. Earlier, Baloch gunmen killed at least 37 people in two separate attacks in Balochistan province on Monday. In the first incident, at least 23 people from Pakistan's Punjab province were killed in a targeted attack in Balochistan's Musakhel district after gunmen offloaded them from buses and checked their identities. According to Musakhail Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar, around 10 heavily-armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham area of the district and offloaded passengers from several buses. The dead are reportedly from Punjab, he said. Apart from killings some of the vehicles were also set on fire. Musakhel is approximately 450 kilometres northeast of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. The rebels regularly target people from the Punjab province by alleging that Punjabis are dominant in the armed forces which have been fighting the militants in the province. Senior superintendent of police Ayub Khoso said: The passengers were told to get down from buses and shot dead after being identified from their national ID cards, Khoso said. Most of those killed belonged to southern Punjab and some are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suggesting they were killed because of their ethnic background, he added. In another incident, officials said that 11 people were killed in Kalat also in Balochistan, including five civilians and six security personnel, authorities said. Kalat is 150 km to the south of Quetta and is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Baloch tribes. The banned militant organisation, Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for these attacks, which coincided with the 18th death anniversary of ethnic Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed in a military operation. The militant groups co-named its violence Operation Heroof' and simultaneously launched a slew of attacks in various districts of the province. The Kalat attack came shortly after militants on Monday stopped passenger buses and trucks in the Rarashim area of the Musakhel district offloaded 23 passengers and shot them dead after identifying them as mostly passengers from Punjab. They carried out the attack early in the morning and then escaped into the nearby mountains, SSP Kalat, Dostain Dashti said on telephone. The attacks took place in the Rarashim area of Musakhel district where militants offloaded passengers mostly belonging to Punjab and shot 23 of them while in Kalat district in another attack on a security check post, they killed 10 people, including the paramilitary Levies personnel and policemen. Four other security personnel were killed in another attack in Kolpur area of Bolan district while in the Kadkucha area in Mastung district, militants also attacked a Levies post compound and left a body behind. The militants also blew up a bridge on a main railway track in Bolan. Balochistan province has been the centre of clashes between separatist groups and security personnel for a while now and militants have frequently carried out attacks targeting workers, labourers or pilgrims passing through or working in Balochistan. These groups have also frequently targeted security and government personnel and installations in different parts of the province. Four months back, nine passengers from Punjab were also killed similarly in the Noshki district after gunmen checked their ID cards while last October six labourers from Punjab were killed in the Tech district. In May, seven barbers also belonging to Punjab were slain by unidentified gunmen while sleeping in their quarters in the coastal area of Sarbandan, approximately nine miles from the Gwadar Port. The killings of innocent passengers in the Rarashim area of Musakhel district after unloading them from trucks and identifying them from their ethnicity is one of the worst terror attacks carried out by the separatist militants in recent times. Balochistan government spokesperson Sadiq Rind said Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti had ordered continuous operations against the militant groups. These cowardly militants took advantage of the night and stopped trucks on the highway before killing those people, he said. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, Radio Pakistan reported. Expressing grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the despicable incident, they prayed for the departed souls and condoled with the bereaved families. Zardari said the brutal killing of innocent people was the killing of the entire humanity and called for the culprits to be brought to justice. Prime Minister Sharif directed the local administration to fully cooperate with the bereaved families and provide medical aid to the injured. He also directed the law enforcement agencies to immediately investigate the incident. The terrorists responsible for this incident will be severely punished, the premier vowed, adding that any kind of terrorism was not acceptable in the country. Both the president and the prime minister expressed Pakistan's unwavering commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti strongly condemned the incident of terrorism. He expressed heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who died in the cowardly act of terrorists. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, he said, adding that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists. In a separate terrorist attack, a railway bridge was blown up in Bolan's Dozan area, said the police. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province but, although it has more resources than other provinces, it is the least developed. The BLA and other Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Punjabis and Sindhis from elsewhere in Pakistan working in the region. They have also targeted foreign energy firms they accuse of exploiting the region without sharing profits. There were at least 170 militant attacks in Balochistan last year which killed 151 civilians and 114 security personnel, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. Gopichand Thotakura, India's first civilian space tourist, received a warm welcome on his arrival in New Delhi on Monday, August 26, 2024. The 30-year-old entrepreneur and pilot was selected to participate along with six astronauts aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin's New Shepard-25 spaceflight. The mission, which lasted 10 minutes, took place at an altitude of 105 kilometres and was the seventh human flight of the New Shepard programme. IMAGE: Gopichand Thotakura arrives in New Delhi, here and below. Photographs: ANI Photo Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com The National Conference and the Congress Monday agreed to contest 51 and 32 seats respectively for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. IMAGE: Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid meet with Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, at his residence, in Srinagar, August 26, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo One seat each has been allotted to the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, the allies announced at a joint press conference at NC president Farooq Abdullah's residence here after day-long negotiations. According to their seat-sharing formula, the NC will contest 51 seats in J-K and the Congress 32. They also said there will be a "friendly contest" on five seats of the Union Territory. The leaders said the list of seats each party will be contesting, as well as the names of the candidates, will be issued later. The NC president said the alliance is up for a fight against the powers "who are dividing the people not just in this state, but across the country." "The INDIA bloc was made with an aim to fight those forces who are trying to create a communal divide in the country. Today, I am happy that the negotiations (over the alliance) have been concluded. They took place in a cordial atmosphere," Abdullah said. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, said the two parties are aiming to protect the "soul" of J-K and the country. "The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is trying to destroy the soul of J-K. Our INDIA alliance aims to save the soul of J-K. That is why the Congress and NC are coming together to form a government in J-K which is totally friendly with the people of J-K," he said. Venugopal also said the BJP has no moral right to criticise the NC manifesto, as it had earlier done. "BJP had an alliance with NC earlier, they also had an alliance with the PDP. The same old NC is still NC and the same old PDP is still PDP. They had alliances with both the parties with the same programme," he said. "Every political party has their programme, manifesto and promises. We have our own promises and manifesto. When we will form the government, there will be a common minimum programme," he added. The politician said the people of J-K have been "cheated" by the BJP. "We have never seen a state being downgraded to a UT. That is why the people want a BJP-free government in J-K. people are suffering because of their divisive agenda and policies, unemployment. Their only agenda is to divide the people. "We believe in unity, in the progress of the people, employment of the youth," the Congress general secretary said. Kashmiri Pandits took out a Janmashtami celebration procession at Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar on Monday Augist 26, 2024. A large number of devotees, including Pandits and other locals, filled the streets with religious slogans, dancing, and joy. Amidst tight security arrangements, the celebrations went off smoothly, ensuring the safety of everyone in the sensitive area. All photographs: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: The Janmashtami procession in Srinagar's Lal Chowk, here and below. Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com The Maharashtra cabinet discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instruction about online registration of women harassment cases and decided to adopt a different approach to prevent such incidents, deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Monday. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the gathering as he arrives at the Lakhpati Didi Sammelan to handover certificates to 11 lakh Lakhpati Didis, in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, August 25, 2024. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (third from left), deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis (left) and Ajit Pawar (right) are also seen. Photograph: ANI Photo During a programme organised for "Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana" in Jalgaon on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed crimes against women an unpardonable sin and said the safety of women should be a priority. His strong remarks came against the backdrop of protests against the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital and the sexual abuse of two four-year-old school girls in Badlapur near Mumbai. Modi pointed out that an entire chapter is dedicated to crimes against women and children in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and if a woman cannot reach the police station, she can file an e-FIR, and no one can make any changes at the police station level. Talking to reporters here, Pawar said, "PM Modi has instructed about filing complaints regarding such incidents online, and we have decided to implement it immediately. Several such cases are coming to the fore. We have decided to take a different approach to prevent such crimes, and the issue was discussed in the cabinet meeting yesterday." The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes. He said, "Perpetrators should get capital punishment in these cases and the trial should be held in the fast-track court." Pawar further rubbished Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan's allegations that people close to the state government were shielded in the Pune Porsche car crash case, in which a juvenile ran over and killed two IT professionals. Terming them an "utter lie", he said if someone has any proof, they can submit it as no one will be shielded. Asked about talks between the Mahayuti constituents (Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party) about the post of chief minister, he said the dispensation will decided once it returns to power after the upcoming state assembly elections. The fallout from the Justice K Hema Committee report on harassment and abuse in the Malayalam film industry intensified on Monday as a case was filed against well-known filmmaker Ranjith, and several female actors stepped forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts. The case was charged against Ranjith after a Bengali actress filed a complaint on Monday with the Kochi City police commissioner. The complaint, sent via email, alleged that Ranjith had touched her inappropriately with sexual intent after inviting her to act in the movie Paleri Manikyam in 2009. Kochi Police Commissioner S Syamsundar said a case under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty) has been registered against Ranjith. Another actress, Minu Muneer, who has appeared in a handful of movies, levelled sexual abuse allegations against prominent actors M Mukesh, who is also an MLA, Jayasurya and Maniyanpilla Raju, as well as small-time actor Idavela Babu who has a prominent role in the actors' association. A more well-known actress from the 1990s also came forward on Monday with allegations of misconduct from years ago against a noted filmmaker. She has expressed willingness to provide a statement to the police. The filmmaker has denied the charges. In a Facebook post, Minu Muneer said, "I am writing to report a series of incidents of physical and verbal abuse I suffered at the hands of 1 Mukesh 2 Maniyan Pilla Raju, 3 Idavela Babu, 4 Jayasoorya (Jayasurya), 5 adv Chandrasekaran, 6 production controller Noble and Vichu, in the Malayalam film industry." "In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable," the actress, who signed as Minu Kurian in her Facebook post, alleged. With the exception of Maniyanpilla Raju, none of the actors has reacted. On the same day, a junior artist accused actor Baburaj, known for villain roles, of sexual assault. Rejecting the allegations, Baburaj, an office bearer in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), claimed it was an attempt by vested interests in the film industry to prevent him from becoming AMMA general secretary, replacing Siddique, who resigned on Sunday amid similar charges. Meanwhile, the serious and elaborate revelations of sexual harassment charges against two-time CPI-M legislator M Mukesh brought embarrassment to the state government. Though the opposition parties have accused the Left government of protecting the predators, its leaders put up a defence, saying a special investigation team has bene formed to probe the allegations. Yet, the continuing charges against Mukesh, who represents Kollam constituency in the assembly, have put the CPI-M-led government under pressure. A harassment allegation levelled by a woman against Mukesh years ago also resurfaced on Sunday. Hours after Minu Muneer's allegations against Mukesh on Monday, workers from Yuva Morcha and Mahila Congress organised separate marches towards his residence in Kollam, demanding that a case be registered against him and that he resign as a legislator. Opposition leader V D Satheesan said he expects that, like Ranjith and Siddique, Mukesh will also step down. Reacting to the revelations against Mukesh, Higher Education Minister R Bindhu said any accusation against any person should be examined on factual grounds. "The wrongdoers should be punished. Innocent people should not be penalised," she told the media. Eminent writer Sara Joseph and Kerala Chalachitra Academy Vice-Chairman Premkumar raised objections against the reported inclusion of Mukesh in the film policy committee of the upcoming cinema conclave of the state government. "The inclusion of Mukesh on the panel is ridiculous. He should resign as MLA if he has any self pride," Joseph said. Mukesh has claimed he is being deliberately targeted by vested interests as he is a CPI-M MLA. The female actor who accused him has also levelled sexual abuse allegations against three other prominent Malayalam actors. Actor Maniyanpilla Raju has called for an overall investigation. "Some people will try to capitalise on the situation," he opined. "Among those accused, there will be both innocent and guilty parties. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation is necessary." Meanwhile, leading actor Prithviraj has called for corrective actions from AMMA and a comprehensive investigation into the various allegations. It came a day after director Ranjith and actor Siddique stepped down from their leadership roles in the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and AMMA respectively, following sexual abuse allegations against them. Amid mounting pressure on the government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team for the probe into the allegations made in the wake of the Hema Committee report being published. There is however no move to conduct investigations on revelations made by women victims in the Hema Committee report. The report by the Justice Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case has revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday briefed US President Joe Biden in a phone conversation on his visit to Ukraine and conveyed India's full support for the early return of peace to the region through dialogue and diplomacy. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden at Raj Ghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi, September 10, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo In a post on 'X', Modi said he and Biden also discussed the ongoing situation in Bangladesh and stressed the need for the early restoration of normalcy and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus. The phone talks, initiated by Biden, came three days after Modi paid a high-profile visit to Kyiv during which he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine and Russia should sit together to end the war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace. "Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated India's full support for early return of peace and stability," Modi said. "We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh," he said. Following the unfolding political developments in Bangladesh, India has been consistently pressing to ensure the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in that country. A statement by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Modi briefed Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine. "While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi briefed President Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine," it said. Modi reiterated India's "consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy" and expressed full support for the early return of peace and stability, it said. "The two leaders expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasised restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh," the PMO said. The prime minister's visit to Kyiv on August 23 was seen in many quarters as a diplomatic balancing act as his trip to Russia last month triggered criticism from the Biden administration and anguish in some Western capitals. The PMO said Modi and Biden also reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad. Interestingly, Modi also had a phone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday that figured cooperation under Quad among other issues. His phone talks with Biden and Albanese came amid speculation that this year's Quad summit may take place on the sidelines of the UN's Summit of the Future in New York next month. On Modi's conversation with Biden, the PMO said the prime minister conveyed his appreciation for the US president's deep commitment to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which it said is based on "shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties". "The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity," it said. It said Modi received the call from Biden and that the two leaders agreed to stay in touch. The Indian Navy on Monday ordered an investigation into the collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg that was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Navy Day last year. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, at Rajkot Fort, in Sindhudurg on December 4, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo In a late-night statement, the Navy said it has deputed a team to immediately investigate the cause of the "unfortunate accident" and initiate steps to repair, restore and reinstate the statue at the earliest. The 35-foot statue at the Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district collapsed around 1 pm on Monday. "The Indian Navy notes with deep concern the damage caused this morning to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that was unveiled on Navy Day on December 4, 2023, as a dedication to the citizens of Sindhudurg," the Navy said. "Along with the state government and concerned specialists, the Navy has deputed a team to immediately investigate the cause of this unfortunate accident and initiate steps to repair, restore and reinstate the statue at the earliest," it added. As the collapse of the statue caused an embarrassment to the state government, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde vowed to rebuild the structure. He said the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy. "The wind was blowing at a speed of 45 kilometres per hour, which caused the statue to fall. It is very unfortunate that the statue has fallen as it was designed and built by the Navy," he said. "Our guardian minister (Ravindra Chavan) has arrived at the spot to assess the situation, and we will rebuild this statue even stronger. Navy officials will also take part in the rebuilding efforts," he said. Amid claims by the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal police of potential disruptions, student organisation Chhatra Samaj insisted that its Tuesday's 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally will be peaceful and focused on demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the arrest of those responsible for the alleged rape-murder of a doctor in RG Kar hospital. IMAGE: Students of St. Joseph's University staged a protest against the alleged sexual assault and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata RG Kar Hospital, at Freedom Park, in Bengaluru, August 26, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo The call for March to Nabanna, the Bengal state secretariat, was separately given by an unregistered students' body Pashchim Banga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Community) and the Sangrami Joutha Mancha (Joint Platform of Struggle), an organisation of state government employees who have been agitating since long demanding their DA to be made at par with their Central government counterparts. The state police have called the scheduled rallies, support for which has been mainly garnered over social media platforms, as "illegal" and unauthorised, and said they have taken necessary precautions to allay apprehensions about potential law and order situations during the march. Addressing reporters at Nabanna, ADG (law and order) Manoj Verma said that police have received credible intelligence suggesting attempts would be made by miscreants to mix among protestors and incite large-scale violence and chaos during the rally. The government has already imposed prohibitory orders near Nabanna under Section 163 of BNSS preventing the assembly of five or more persons. Calling the rally a conspiracy to cause chaos on the streets, the Trinamool Congress released a couple of purported videos of BJP leaders from Ghatal in Paschim Medinipur district planning to incite violence at the rally. Both leaders were detained for questioning by the police. Countering those claims, Chhatra Samaj spokesperson Sayan Lahiri said, "The claims made by the TMC and police are baseless. We aim to raise our demands peacefully. If we are stopped, we will attempt to proceed to the secretariat gate in a non-violent manner to demand the CM's resignation due to her failure to prevent incidents like the RG Kar case which has shocked the nation." Lahiri claimed that the rallies, which will start from College Square, Fort William, and Santragachhi at noon and move towards Nabanna, are organised by an apolitical platform with no affiliations to the BJP, RSS, or ABVP. He noted, "We have informed the police about the rally via email and discussed it with senior officers multiple times. The allegations that our rally is illegal are untrue." Later in the evening, ADG, South Bengal Supratim Sarkar told reporters that the police rejected applications of both organisations which were sent to the police at the eleventh hour. "We have received separate mails from the two organisations only after we held a press conference earlier in the day. The one from Chhatra Samaj' was only an intimation about the programme having no details on the rally and did not seek any permission. Hence it was rejected," Sarkar said. The second application had details of their expected turnout and other relevant information but was also rejected because of two reasons. First, a significant number of students would appear for their scheduled UGC-NET examinations on Tuesday, and second, permission is not granted to anyone to hold any gathering around the Nabanna due to the existing prohibitory orders in that area, he added. Sarkar appealed to people to maintain normal life and not get swayed by provocations or walk into any kind of trap. The secretariat will function like any other normal day and all the arrangements have been ready for that, he said. The Howrah police commissionerate issued an order imposing traffic restrictions in connection with the protest march to the state headquarters which is located in Howrah. Regarding the expected turnout, Lahiri admitted, "Since the movement was organised through a social media campaign, we cannot provide an exact estimate. However, we have urged everyone to maintain peace." In the wake of possible disruption of normal life because of the protest march, several educational institutions will either hold online classes on Tuesday or have declared a holiday. Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday held a second round of polygraph tests on former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and five others as part of their investigation into the rape-murder of a woman doctor at the institution. According to an officer, over the last 10 days, Ghosh provided inconsistent answers during questioning, prompting officers to conduct another round of polygraph tests. The CBI initially conducted the lie-detection tests on Ghosh and others on Saturday, followed by a test on the arrested accused Sanjay Roy at the Presidency Correctional Home on Sunday. Ghosh and former hospital official Sanjay Vashisth are also being investigated for alleged financial irregularities at the institution. Both Vashisth and the hospital's forensic demonstrator Debasish Som were summoned by the agency at Nizam Palace office for questioning in connection with the corruption allegations. The case centres on the rape-murder of a postgraduate trainee woman doctor in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day. The gruesome crime resulted in nationwide protests by doctors and citizens. Doctors in Bihar's East Champaran district have removed several metal objects, including a key ring, a small knife and nail cutters from the stomach of a youth. Image is used for representational purposes only. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images The 22-year-old man was brought to a private hospital in Motihari, the district headquarters, by his family a few days ago after he complained of severe stomach pain. A surgery was performed on Sunday to remove the objects. Dr Amit Kumar, who headed the team of doctors who performed the surgery, said, "The youth was undergoing psychiatric treatment. X-ray reports revealed the presence of metal objects in his stomach." Initially, a key ring was removed during the surgery. "Later, we extracted two keys, a four-inch long knife and two nail cutters from his stomach. When we asked the youth, he said he recently started swallowing metal objects. Now the youth is alright and his condition is improving," the doctor said. The youth has some mental health issues for which he is on medication, he said. The patient will soon be discharged from the hospital, he added. 'The odds were stacked against us.' 'Through it all, we were determined to overcome and prevail we did!' Wing Commander Shailesh Singh on the high-risk flying mission for which he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra. IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu confers the Shaurya Chakra upon Wing Commander Shailesh Singh. During a mission, his helicopter came under intense fire which caused damage to critical systems. Undeterred and unfazed, Wing Commander Shailesh made a timely decision to divert to the nearest helipad and recovered the helicopter and all the personnel safely. Photograph: Kind courtesy Rashtrapati Bhavan India's brave had gathered in the stately hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan to receive medals for extraordinary acts of valour. Wing Commander Shailesh Singh was among them. As he received the Shaurya Chakra from the President for leading a daring mission against anti-national elements, he was overwhelmed by the ultimate honour bestowed upon him by the country. The Shaurya Chakra is the fourth highest medal for gallantry during peacetime. The defence investiture ceremony is one of the most solemn occasions in the Rashtrapti Bhavan calendar. In the hall were an elite group of military men who had served their country to the peril of their lives. Some had been killed in action. Their medals received posthumously by grief-stricken next of kin in what is the most heartbreaking part of the ceremony. The gallantry award winners present in the room knew it was a privilege to march up and get their medals pinned on their chests by the President when several of their brothers-in-arms had laid down their lives in service of their country. 'Death was flying all around us in the form of bullets' The memory of the mission for which he received the Shaurya Chakra was etched in Wing Commander Shailesh Singh's mind. On February 11, 2023, he and his team were assigned a special high-risk operation against hostile elements. The officer was flying the number 2 helicopter in the lead formation through treacherous terrain when they came under a hail of fire. [The IAF did not disclose the location of the mission.] "Our aircraft took the brunt of the enemy's fury and sustained multiple hits which compromised critical systems," said Wing Commander Singh. A Helicopter Combat leader who had conducted hundreds of missions in challenging terrain from sea-level to high altitudes -- during night and day, his years of IAF training kept him steady and focused. "The moment the first rounds struck our helicopter, the world seemed to slow down. Death was flying all around us in the form of bullets." In the barrage of fire, a bullet struck the flight engineer. Troops inside the cargo compartment sustained multiple injuries. The fuel was depleting rapidly; the aircraft had suffered considerable critical damage and could have crashed. "The odds were stacked against us. The thought of giving up never crossed my mind. Through it all, we were determined to overcome and prevail we did!" Displaying exceptional courage, skill and limits of endurance, they responded to enemy fire and inflicted heavy damage to them. The officer guided the helicopter along with crew to safety preserving the lives on board and the aircraft -- the invaluable national asset that was under his command. "I was responsible for the lives of my comrades and the mission's success was hanging on my manoeuver." "It was the ultimate test of my skill, courage and experience," said the officer. "The intense crisis and multiple emergencies on board did not overwhelm me which is solely because of the experience gained through my life in the IAF." IMAGE: The Indian Air Force's aircraft Mi-17V-5, in an operation led by Wing Commander Shailesh Singh, airlifted two critically ill patients along with a medical team from Stingri helipad to Bhuntar after an urgent request from the Himachal Pradesh government, in Kullu, March 9, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo 'The crew was the backbone of our mission' Wing Commander Singh -- who recently flew rescue missions in the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand deluge -- believes it was the professionalism and synergy among the crew that played an instrumental role in the success of their mission last year. The Mi-17 helicopter comprises a four-member crew -- pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and gunner. "In spite of a bullet injury to my flight engineer, his courage under fire, following all instructions, was exemplary." "Inspite of multiple injuries to troops in the cargo compartment, the flight gunner's valour in ensuring befitting retaliatory fire was praiseworthy." "The co-pilot's accurate navigation and critical inputs to handle emergencies helped in ensuring the safe recovery of the helicopter." "The blind trust I could put in my crew was a boon," said the officer whose wife is also a serving IAF officer, while his elder brother is a deputy commandant with the Border Security Force. Last month, the officer's unit celebrated '25 years of Kargil Vijay Diwas' and has already received the prestigious Battle Honour for the Kargil War. "The honour of wearing the uniform and serving under the Tricolour continues to inspire me every day," says Wing Commander Singh who was captivated by the sky since a child and believes extraordinary things can happen when passion becomes profession. WATCH Wing Commander Shailesh Singh Speak Video: Kind courtesy Ministry of Defence, Government of India/Facebook 'Change of self is needed more than a change of scene' Proud and encouraged by the honour bestowed upon him by the country, he has some useful advice for young defence and civil job aspirants. "Always convert a crisis into opportunity because a positive outcome is always wrapped inside what seems to be a problem on the outside," he says. "It is not the mountain that wears you out, but the pebble in your shoe, so work hard with focus and passion." Coming from a brave soldier decorated with a gallantry award, it is one mantra we should try and take with us today. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com They don't make leaders like him anymore, says former Savvy editor Usha Radhakrishnan, paying tribute to publishing pioneer Nari Hira who passed into the ages on Friday. August 23, 2024. Mr Hira, as we called him at Magna Publishing, gave me my first break as an editor way back in 1996. He trusted me with one of his precious magazines, SAVVY, when I was a young journalist with barely seven years of experience behind me and, more importantly, when I had just become a mother for the first time. I still vividly remember the morning he called me to his office on the eighth floor of Magna House. "Will you be able to shoulder this responsibility?" he asked. "I will try my best," I said, excited and nervous at the same time. To which he said, "Trying will not be good enough. Tell me you will be able to, and I know you will." And from that day, he held my hands and helped me navigate the ups and downs that come with being an editor. That was Mr Hira. He trusted young journalists with critical roles and nurtured them to bring out the best in them. Mr Hira had the unique ability to retain his employees. Those who worked for him did not ever wish to move on. He was the most kind, caring, and generous boss I have known. I had to travel from Mulund in the suburbs of Mumbai to Prabhadevi in south central Mumbai, where the Magna House office is located. One evening, as I was headed home after work, I had a nasty experience on the Dadar overbridge. When Mr Hira heard of what I had gone through, he gave me a pepper spray can and told me that I must always keep it handy. He also gave me a car with an unlimited petrol budget to make my travel easier and more comfortable. Everything Mr Hira did was extraordinary. As a publisher, Mr Hira did not ever compromise on editorial integrity. He did not let business or advertising interests come in the way of editorial freedom. Nor did he balk at the suggestion of his magazines being dragged to court for something that had been published. As his journalists, we were never told to mute our voices as long as we spoke the truth and stuck to facts. "Criticism is good. It means people read what you write and take you seriously," he told me once. "And the more the noise the more copies of our magazines will sell," he added with a laugh. I could go on and on describing Mr Hira as a human being and as a boss, and yet would have not said enough. They do not make leaders like him anymore. Mr Hira was one of a kind. The industry has indeed lost a legend. Goodbye, Mr Hira. You will live on in our hearts forever. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com Brattleboro resident Lieslis Shaw stands next to an apartment she was able to add onto her property in 2015 due to the help from Apartments in Homes (AIH) program, an initiative of Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing. You are the owner of this article. Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. Nancy Braus is a regular columnist for the Reformer who writes from Guilford. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media. Robert Beck of Peterborough, N.H. served for 30 years overseas with the United States government in embassies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He now teaches foreign policy classes at Keene State Colleges Cheshire Academy for Lifelong Learning. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave assurances that America would deal with the tragedy by bringing those responsible to justice while protecting the world's democracies. "They will never be allowed to kill the spirit of democracy," Powell said. "They cannot destroy our society. They cannot destroy our belief in the democratic way." President George W. Bush, who won office in 2000 as a candidate who would be cautious about committing U.S. troops to foreign wars, quickly made fighting global terrorism a top policy, and set about establishing an international "coalition of the willing" to carry out the mission. The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan had the primary goal of punishing the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, which had been given refuge in Afghanistan and carried out the deadly 9/11 attacks. And once on Afghan soil, Washington quickly ousted the Taliban regime accused of sheltering Al-Qaeda from power. Costly Campaign But the U.S. experience in Afghanistan ultimately ended in failure, and with the hard-line Taliban group back in power. The nearly 20-year war ended with immense costs in terms of lives lost and money spent. And it made the U.S. public and politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington reluctant to get involved in "forever wars" that could not be won. "More than $2 trillion spent in Afghanistan," U.S. President Joe Biden said on August 31, 2021, in announcing the official end of the United States' longest-ever war. "20,744 American servicemen and women injured, and the loss of 2,461 American personnel." In explaining to the U.S. public that he was "not going to extend this forever war," Biden did not mention the estimated 70,000 deaths among Afghan security forces, more than 46,000 Afghan civilian deaths, and the deaths of more than 4,000 allied troops and U.S. contractors. The withdrawal under Biden has become a lightning rod for debate ahead of the U.S. presidential election on November 5. Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump has blasted Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump, for the "humiliation in Afghanistan," with much of the criticism centered on the chaotic last days of the withdrawal, when 13 U.S. soldiers and 170 Afghan civilians died in a bombing by the Islamic State-Khorasan extremist group. Harris's campaign, meanwhile, has highlighted Trump's role as president in signing the 2020 deal with the Taliban that paved the way for the withdrawal and provided a "virtually impossible" deadline. But experts who spoke to RFE/RL stressed that multiple U.S. administrations, beginning with Democratic President Barack Obama's from 2009 to 2017 -- had come to the realization that what had begun as a fight against terrorism had become an overly costly and potentially "forever" endeavor. "It was an extremely expensive war in a place that was probably least important to the United States," said Vali Nasr, a professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University. "It was a war that the United States started to destroy Al-Qaeda, which it did very quickly, then to dislodge the Taliban from Afghanistan, which it did, and then it became something much bigger, like how to establish a democracy and a functioning government in Afghanistan and sustain it." The question asked by Obama, who initiated an exit strategy by reducing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and later Trump, was whether there was a compelling reason to stay. The United States "was becoming committed to a forever war, or a forever presence at the tune of billions of dollars a year and tens of thousands of troops, in a condition that the threat from Afghanistan had declined and the strategic value of the country was declining," Nasr said. And the economy and civil society established under the protection of the U.S. military, he says, was not something Afghanistan could sustain on its own. "What the United States created is like a tree that never grew roots," Nasr said. "So, at some point you're going to say, 'I'm going to stop watering it, and I'm going to take my hand off from trying to forcibly keep it upright.'" No Good Outcome Rajan Menon, an emeritus professor of international relations at the City College of New York and director of the Grand Strategy Program at Defense Priorities, said that "no matter how long [the United States] had stayed, I don't see what a good ending could have been." The minimal good outcome, Menon says, would have been "a stable country with a government that may not have been democratic, but which could be counted upon not to serve as a platform for terror and which would have a positive relationship with the United States." But in attempting to realize that goal, what you are essentially "trying to do is engage in nation-building," Menon said. Even a "very, very powerful military machine" like the United States has difficulties pulling that off, he said, and there "are no pretty exits." To avoid the chaotic type of withdrawal that took place in Afghanistan, Menon said, "you have to build institutions, political and military and civic in nature." Without that, "once you leave and remove the military protection, the institutions will start crumbling, and that is exactly what happened." U.S. wars and democracy-building efforts were not isolated to Afghanistan during its nearly 20-year campaign there. There were others -- most notably the costly war in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 -- that former Secretary of State Powell argued was necessitated by an alleged Iraqi program to build weapons of mass destruction that was later determined to be nonexistent. Prior to his death in 2021 just six weeks after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Powell said that his arguments before the UN Security Council "was a great intelligence failure." Baghdad and the United States, which sent troops back to Iraq in 2014 to help fight the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, are still trying to repair relations. According to the Soufan Center think tank on September 9, the two sides reportedly have reached an agreement to transition from the United States leading the effort against IS to a bilateral partnership. 'Forever' Ending? So is the U.S. era of "forever wars" over? Many of the unique circumstances that accompanied the Afghan invasion -- a direct attack on U.S. soil, counterterrorism becoming a focal point of U.S. policy, and the idea that nation-building is an effective solution -- are unlikely to repeat themselves, Nasr says. And the mood in the United States amid a hotly contested election campaign could indicate that it will at least think twice. With both Trump and Harris there is "a little bit of a backlash against the so-called forever wars...and I think the American public probably will be much less supportive" of involvement in them in the future," Menon said. But Madiha Afzal, a fellow in the foreign policy program at Brookings, said in written comments that while "some of the lessons from the Afghanistan war" had started being discussed, particularly in the last couple of years of the conflict, "the disaster of the withdrawal...really focused the conversation in America on Afghanistan to be just about the withdrawal." The larger discussion about the war, Afzal said, "has been entirely obscured," with much of the conversation becoming intensely partisan. "I fear that the larger lessons of the 20-year war have been lost along the way," Afzal concluded. Israel has claimed that the successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has likely been "eliminated," while U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris called Tehran the greatest adversary of the United States. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 8 said that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, was an "organization without a head." "Nasrallah was eliminated -- his replacement was probably also eliminated," Gallant told officers at the military's northern command center without providing details. "There's no one to make decisions, no one to act," he added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later echoed those comments, saying, "We've degraded Hezbollah's capabilities." "We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's replacement, and the replacement of the replacement," Netanyahu said. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollahs political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament. Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official and a cousin of Nasrallah, was widely expected to be named to the group's top position, but his whereabouts and condition are a mystery since an Israeli strike hit a suspected Hezbollah leadership meeting on October 2. Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine's fate, although unidentified members have told various media that the group had lost contact with him since the attack. Safieddine has been declared a global terrorist by the United States. Meanwhile, Harris told CBS TV's 60 Minutes program in an interview that she considered Iran to be the greatest adversary of the United States. "Iran has American blood on their hands," she said. "And what we saw in terms of just this attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles, what we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power -- that is one of my highest priorities." Harris -- the Democratic presidential nominee who will face Republican Donald Trump in the November 5 election -- declined to speculate on whether the United States would take military action itself should proof be uncovered that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Tehran has denied it is building such weapons and says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. The comments came as the battered and bloodied leadership of Hezbollah suggested it might be ready to negotiate a cease-fire with Israel Deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a televised speech, for the first time did not suggest that ending the war in Gaza was a precondition to reaching a truce with Israel in Lebanon. Qassem said the group backed an effort by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, to reach a deal to halt the fighting. Late on October 8, the Syrian government said that seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Damascus. A war monitor said the strike targeted a building used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah. Israel did not immediately comment and the reports could not be verified. The Israeli military said earlier on October 8 that it had killed another senior Hezbollah commander, a day after marking the somber anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people. Suhail Husseini, who was responsible for overseeing the logistics, budget, and management of Hezbollah, was killed in a targeted attack on October 7, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. "Husseini played a crucial role in weapon transfers between Iran and Hezbollah," the statement said, adding that he was also in charge of distributing advanced weapons to the group's members and for its "most sensitive projects" that included operations against Israel. The IDF said Husseini was also a member of the Jihad Council, the supreme military body of Hezbollah. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah. The Israeli announcement came after Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets on October 7 into Israel, where President Isaac Herzog led a national moment of silence to mark the start of last year's Hamas attack, which started at Kibbutz Reim in the south of the country. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union. In Washington on October 7, President Joe Biden condemned Hamas on the anniversary, while also stating again the U.S. administration's commitment to reaching cease-fire agreements to end fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon. "On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7 attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day," Biden said in a statement. In Jerusalem, relatives of the some 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, out of a total of 250, gathered outside Netanyahu's residence and stood in silence as a siren wailed in a gesture of protest against what relatives say is the failure of the government to secure their loved ones' release. The conflict in Gaza is still raging while Israel is now fighting on a second front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. Following the October 7 attack, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas. Some 90 percent of the population of Gaza has been displaced and large areas have been destroyed by Israeli bombardments. The Israeli military said on October 7 that over the past year it has bombed more than 40,000 targets in Gaza, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites. Israel in recent weeks has been carrying out air strikes across Lebanon, including Beirut, and has staged a ground invasion into south Lebanon in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah's capabilities and leadership. In the attacks, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and dozens of other leaders of the group. On October 6, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force -- the overseas arm of the IRGC -- had also not been heard from in recent days since traveling to Lebanon. Tel Avivs campaign against Hezbollah prompted Iran to respond by attacking Israel with a large wave of rockets that were largely shot down by Israeli air defenses without causing substantial damage, but the attack renewed fears of a larger regional conflict. Gallant on October 6 threatened Iran that it might eventually find itself looking like Beirut or Gaza -- which has also been battered over the past year -- if Tehran attempts to further harm Israel. With reporting by CBS and AP When protests erupted in Belarus in 2020 after a rigged presidential election, activists turned to Telegram to coordinate action, evading the watch of the authorities in Alyaksandr Lukashenka's repressive society and highlighting the good the messaging app could do. But others with far less worthy causes -- from drug dealers and pedophiles to the Russian military fighting in Ukraine and its propagandists spreading disinformation on social media -- have also gravitated to Telegram, attracted to its encryption features and lack of moderation. The spotlight has fallen on Telegram after the arrest in Paris on August 24 of Pavel Durov, its co-founder. According to French media reports, this was done at the request of a special unit within France's Interior Ministry in charge of investigating crimes against minors. Durov has not been formally charged. A statement by the Paris prosecutor's office was due later on August 26. Telegram said in a statement on August 25 that Durov, a 39-year-old billionaire who also holds a French passport, had nothing to hide, adding it was absurd to hold an owner responsible for the abuse of the messaging and social media platform. What Is Telegram? Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in 2013 in the wake of the Russian government's crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in 2011 and 2012. One of its main advantages is the encryption of communications and the anonymity of users. In groups, the user's phone number is not visible. Telegram has over 900 million users, Durov says, the majority of them in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics, and is the third largest communication platform worldwide after WhatsApp and Messenger. Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is "less secure [and] more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content," said David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher, in comments to AP. Tool Of The Oppressed During the protests in Belarus in 2020, Telegram was key to organizing and sharing information. A Telegram channel, Nexta Live, which was posting live updates from the protests in Minsk and elsewhere, saw its number of followers jump to 2 million in the three days following the disputed August 9 poll. The creator of the channel, 22-year-old Stepan Putilo, was even declared a terrorist by the Belarusian government. In Iran, Telegram has an estimated 40 million users and, in 2018, it was the main source of information as anti-government protests spread across the nation. Many Iranians used private Telegram groups to keep in touch with family and friends. They also subscribe to public channels to get news that is not available on state media. Iranian authorities eventually tried to block Telegram during the 2018 unrest. Illicit Activities Telegram's encryption feature has attracted those trading in images of child sexual abuse and stolen credit card numbers. A BBC investigation in 2019 found that secure messaging apps, including Telegram and Discord, had become popular following successful police operations against criminal markets operating on what is known as the dark web -- an Internet network that can only be accessed by using special tools. The BBC investigation found evidence that pedophiles were using both Telegram and Discord to give people access to illegal material, and that links to Telegram groups were buried in the public comments section of YouTube videos. Propaganda Tool While hardly alone on social media, Telegram has proven to be a powerful tool in spreading disinformation. Telegram is the largest platform for disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe, a 2023 investigative journalism report found, adding that German language channels play an "important role as an extreme opinion hub influencing the rest of Central and Eastern Europe." That has run it afoul of authorities in Germany. In 2022, Germany issued fines of 5.1 million euros ($5 million) against the operators of Telegram for failing to comply with German law. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Telegram has increasingly been used by the Kremlin. During the first months of the invasion, the Kremlin cracked down on Western social media platforms while "continuing to tolerate Telegram and utilize it for its own purposes," said a June report by the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), a disinformation analytical unit of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. "Top channels experienced significant subscriber growth following the February 2022 invasion, but some of the most influential pro-war channels, such as Karaulny, Z SIL0VIKI, and WarGonzo, later experienced declines that have continued into the spring of 2024," the report said. DFRLab also found Russian private military companies (PMCs) used Telegram, namely for fund-raising, recruiting, and information sharing. It noted that the Wagner mercenary group had at least 30 separate channels dedicated to regional recruitment offices. These, however, disappeared after Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor cracked down on Wagner channels during the June 2023 Wagner mutiny against Russia's senior military leadership. Calls To Delete Telegram Content Given its key role as a communication and propaganda tool, Russian bloggers, officials, and others are watching warily as the Durov case unfolds in France. Baza, a Telegram channel affiliated with Russia's security apparatus, said on August 25 that Defense Ministry staff, prominent businessmen, and officers at several security agencies had also been ordered to wipe work-related messages from the application. "For Z-bloggers, for Z-propaganda, these events are truly terrifying because all of their activities are centered on Telegram, all anonymous and semi-anonymous channels," explained Kirill Martynov, chief editor of the Latvian-based Novaya Gazeta Europe newspaper, using the term "Z" to describe pro-Russian bloggers and disinformation. "And it's not just a news source, but it's really an operational tool of sorts, sort of like a modern-day walkie-talkie where people discuss with each other the details of their combat operations," Martynov told Current Time, the Russian-language TV and digital network run by RFE/RL. 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. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Ukraine's global allies to take "decisive action" after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other cities across the country that damaged vital utilities. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here. The Russian strikes targeted several Ukrainian cities early on August 26, killing at least seven people and wounding 47 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Firefighters extinguished 22 fires as 740 rescuers and 176 pieces of equipment were deployed across the country to respond to the consequences of shelling, the Ukraine's Emergency Service said on Telegram. Late on August 26, another strike hit the city of Kryviy Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region. A missile hit a hotel where many civilians were staying, according to Ukrainian media. Local politician Oleksandr Vilkul was quoted as saying "the news is bad." Zelenskiy, in a video message posted on X, said the "vile" attacks, involving more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones, showed the West's restrictions keeping Ukraine from using long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory must be lifted. "Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations," Zelenskiy said. "Weakness and inadequate responses fuel terror.... Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly," he added, while calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "sick creature." The United States also voiced outrage over the major Russian assault. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia's continued war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness as the fall sets upon us," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, calling the assault "outrageous." NATO also strongly condemned attacks against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, noting that Poland said an "object," most likely a drone, entered its airspace and possibly landed on Polish territory. "Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian drone fragments and missiles have been found on allied territory on several occasions," NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said. "While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous." The aerial attack was the largest in weeks from Moscow and comes as Ukrainian forces are advancing as they mount a major offensive into the Kursk region of Russia. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said water and power supplies in parts of the capital had been disrupted as Russia launched its large-scale attack during the morning rush hour. Zelenskiy said there was "a lot of damage in the energy sector," and Ukraines state-run energy authority Ukrenerho said that it was introducing emergency power outages. One person was reportedly killed and a residential building was damaged in the northwestern city of Lutsk, according to the citys mayor, Ihor Polischuk. Two people who were killed in the Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions were among the seven killed, according to local authorities. In the Poltava region, five people were wounded after an industrial facility was struck. Three explosions were reported in the Vinnytsia region. WATCH: One person was killed as a missile hit a cottage area on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro early on August 26. It was a day when Ukraine woke up to a barrage of Russian air attacks. Ukraines Air Force Command had warned citizens not to ignore air raid alerts after it had detected 11 Russian Tu-95MS bombers taking off. The Air Force Command added that it had detected drone movements in Chernihiv, Sumy, Cherkasy, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschukv said Ukraine shot down 201 "air targets" -- 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. This was out of 236 missiles and drones fired. The assault included three Kinzhal missiles, six Iskander missiles, and 28 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea, Oleschukv said. Meanwhile, Russias Defense Ministry claimed that 20 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed overnight. The governor of Russias Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said drones had targeted the cities of Saratov and Engels and damaged two residential buildings. He said the damage was caused by falling debris after air defenses shot down the drones. Russian news agencies said four women were injured in Saratov, with one woman hospitalized. No casualties were reported in Engels. Engels and Saratov are located on the opposite banks of the Volga River, with a strategic bomber military base located around 12 kilometers from where the drones were intercepted. Saratov is around 900 km from the Ukrainian border. Quoting the airports press office, news agencies said flights were restricted at the regional Saratov airport. RFE/RL could not independently verify the reports. Ukraine and Russia insist that they do not target civilians in their attacks but infrastructure critical to war efforts. With reporting by Reuters One person was killed as a missile hit a cottage area on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro early on August 26, according to authorities and local reporters. It was a day when Ukraine woke up to a barrage of Russian air attacks. "What took 10 to 15 years to build has gone to waste. Thanks to the 'liberators'!" a resident of Dnipro's suburban retreat told RFE/RL in a sarcastic reference to Russia. Gordon Deegan Leonora Carey has confirmed that she will be seeking a nomination at the Clare Fine Gael convention to run as a candidate in the next general election in the four-seat constituency. Ms Carey is a sister of Joe Carey TD who confirmed this morning that he will not be standing for Fine Gael in the next general election due to health reasons. In a statement today, Mr Carey, who has been on sick leave since March of last year, confirmed he will not be a candidate in the next general election. Stating that his decision was based on medical advice, Mr Carey informed Clare Fine Gael party members that he had to put himself, his wife and family first and retire from a job that he loved. Mr Carey said: In the past year, I suffered a life-altering medical situation that I will be dealing with for the rest of my time on earth. While I would dearly wish to continue, my decision to step away is based on medical advice. He said: I have had the absolute privilege to serve for the past 25 years as a public representative, eight as a County Councillor and 17 as a TD. I want to express my sincere thanks to my constituents who elected me to represent them on Clare County Council and in Dail Eireann on six separate occasions. In his letter to party members, Mr Carey said he wanted to express his gratitude to them for campaigning with him throughout his political career. It is hard to believe but 25 years have passed since I was first elected to Clare County Council. It has been the greatest honour and privilege to be elected as a Fine Gael TD for County Clare at four successive General Elections." He said: My electoral success would not have been possible without your unwavering support. I also want to sincerely thank the extraordinary people who have worked with me in my office over the years, especially Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Paul Bugler and Ger OHalloran and, more recently, John Stanton and Lorraine OMeara. A big thank you to my election team headed by my Director of Elections, Martin Lynch, and to everybody who canvassed, leaflet dropped, helped in the office, and with postering. He also expressed his appreciation to Clare Fine Gael members, local councillors past and present and the general public for their patience and understanding throughout his illness. He paid special tribute to his sister Leonora and brother Donal, the extended Carey family and his wide circle of friends. The Fine Gael parliamentary party have been really supportive as have Oireachtas members from all political parties and none. I have been blown away by the messages, cards, texts, mass bouquets and get-well wishes. A Clarecastle woman, Leonora Carey - who has served as chair of the partys National Executive Council - is hoping to retain the seat held by her brother, Joe, since 2007. Her father, Donal, served as Fine Gael TD for Clare from 1982 to 2002 and Minister of State from 1995 to 1997. An experienced political strategist at regional and national level, she is currently employed as Occupational Therapist Manager with the University of Limerick Hospitals Group having previously worked with Milford Care Centre. Although I have held positions at officer level in Clare and Dublin Central for almost 30 years, I am fully aware that there is no greater honour than working on behalf of your neighbours, friends and community as a public representative, she said. The issues facing people in Clare and the Mid-West require a new approach to how politicians can make a real difference to the lives of ordinary people. Over the coming weeks, I will be engaging with party members to give me the opportunity to make that difference." If Im fortunate enough to be selected as a Fine Gael candidate and win election to the Dail, I will work full time to deliver a better future for the people of Clare, Ms Carey added. The Fine Gael selection convention will be held in The West County Hotel, Ennis on Friday night, September 6th. Olivia Kelleher Mourners at the funeral of a man, who died when he went to the aid of young people who got into difficulty in the water at Inch Beach, in east Cork last Friday, have been asked to donate to the RNLI in lieu of flowers. Friends of Stephen OCallaghan (55) of Ashburton Hill, Montenotte in Cork have described him as having been a selfless, kind and gentle person. Mr OCallaghan, who was late of Irish Customs, died when he entered the sea at Inch Beach at around 3pm last Friday in a bid to save the lives of young swimmers. Four young people were rescued from the water. Mr OCallaghan was subsequently recovered from the water in a serious condition. Paramedics attended to him on the beach. He was transferred by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he was pronounced dead. A file has been sent to the Coroner and an inquest will be held in due course. Stephen O'Callaghan. Photo: RIP.ie The search and rescue coast guard units at Guileen and Crosshaven, along with the RNLI from Ballycotton and Crosshaven, assisted at the scene. Rescue Helicopter 117 from Waterford was also tasked to to go to Inch Beach. Meanwhile, the deceased will lie in repose at OConnor Bros Funeral Home in North Gate Bridge in Cork city from 5pm to 6pm tomorrow, Tuesday. A Latin mass will take place onsite at 1pm on Wednesday with burial following at St Finbarrs cemetery in Cork city. Mr OCallaghan is survived by his parents John & Kathleen and his siblings Katrina, Keith, Mary and Emmet. He is sadly missed missed by his heartbroken family, relatives and a large circle of friends. Trisha Kar Madhu To Enter Bigg Boss 18? Here's What We Know The rumors about her entering the Bigg Boss house have caused a stir among fans and media alike. Will Trisha Kar Madhu enter the Bigg Boss 18 house?|All of a sudden, social media is going berserk after rumours suggesting that Bhojpuri actress Trisha Kar Madhu might be one of the contestants in Bigg Boss 18. Known for her work in the Bhojpuri film industry, Trisha Kar Madhu has been in the news recently for more controversial reasons, particularly due to an alleged MMS video that went viral on social media. This incident generated significant public attention and placed her in the spotlight, albeit for reasons she may not have wished for. Advertisement The rumors about her entering the Bigg Boss house have caused a stir among fans and media alike. Many believe that her entry could add significant drama and intrigue to the show, given the controversy surrounding her. However, its important to note that these are merely speculations at this point. Similar rumors about her participation in Bigg Boss OTT 3 were circulating earlier this year, but they turned out to be false as she was not part of the final lineup. Trisha Kar Madhu has neither confirmed nor denied her potential entry into Bigg Boss 18, leaving fans in suspense. If these speculations turn out to be true, it could be an interesting opportunity for her to address the controversies and redefine her public image. Advertisement As of now, no official statements have been made by the show's producers or Trisha herself. Fans will have to wait until the official contestant list is revealed to know whether she will indeed step into the Bigg Boss house. Until then, the speculation continues, fueling excitement and curiosity among the shows loyal viewers. Will Trisha Kar Madhu enter the Bigg Boss 18 house and face the spotlight? Only time will tell. Pakistan Terrorist Attack: 23 killed as terrorists opened fire at bus passengers The senior police official reported that the dead were mostly identified as belonging to Punjab. Pakistan Musakhel Terrorist Attack Death Toll Latest News Today: In yet another shocking terror attack in Pakistan, as many as 23 people from Punjab were killed in Balochistans Musakhel district after armed men opened fire at passengers from trucks and buses. Reportedly, the terrorists shot at the passengers after checking their identities, Dawn reported, citing an official. The Pakistani media, quoted Assistant Commissioner Musakhail Najeeb Kakar, who said that armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham district of Musakhel and offloaded the passengers from buses. Advertisement The senior police official reported that the dead were mostly identified as belonging to Punjab. The armed men also set fire to 10 vehicles. The Musakhel attack in Pakistan today comes nearly four months after a similar incident targeting people from Punjab. Earlier in April, gunmen offloaded 9 passengers from a bus near Noshki and shot them after checking their ID cards. Last year in October, some unidentified gunmen fatally shot six laborers from Punjab in Turbat, located in Balochistans Kech district. Advertisement (For more news apart from Pakistan Musakhel Terrorist Attack Death Toll Latest News Today, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman) North American Punjabi Association condemns attack on NRI in Amritsar The executive director of NAPA voiced his concerns in a statement, stressing the seriousness of the incident. North American Punjabi Association condemns attack on NRI in Amritsar: The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) strongly condemned the attack on an NRI in Punjab's Amritsar. The association called the incident "deeply troubling." On Saturday, Sukhchain Singh was shot at by two assailants outside his home in the Daburji village of Amritsar, in front of his family. Singh, who had recently returned from the United States, was attacked while in the presence of his wife and his two children from a previous marriage. The executive director of NAPA, Satnam Singh Chahal, voiced his concerns in a statement, stressing the seriousness of the incident. Advertisement Chahal emphasized that such acts of violence not only harm the victims but also create a sense of fear and insecurity within the diaspora community. He highlighted the importance of safety and respect for NRIs who maintain strong cultural ties and make significant contributions to their home state. Chahal urged authorities to treat the situation with utmost seriousness to prevent further incidents and restore confidence among the NRI community. The attack unfolded when two motorcycle-borne assailants approached Singh outside his home, inquiring about the registration documents of his luxury vehicle. Before he could react, the assailants brandished pistols and forced him inside his house, where they fired three shots at him before fleeing the scene. Advertisement (For more news apart from North American Punjabi Association condemns attack on NRI in Amritsar, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman) August 26, 2024 UPDATE A roundup of local and international news. Newsflash Newsroom, 26.08.2024, 20:00 TAXES The government does not plan to increase taxes, but will focus on accelerating the digitalization of National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), increasing budget collection and reforming public expenditure. The announcement was made by Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, after Mondays meeting with the Concordia Employers Confederation. He promised that, starting next year, there would be consultations with the business environment regarding the tax reform and that no decision would be made in this respect without discussions with the entrepreneurs. The representatives of the executive and those of the business environment also discussed the implementation of the e-Invoice, e-VAT, e-Transport systems, the RetuRO guarantee-return system, the preparation for the implementation of the European minimum wage, as well as the problems in the Romanian tourism. SURVEY The candidates of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca, respectively, would enter the second round of the presidential election in Romania, if elections were held next Sunday, according to the results of a CURS survey published on Sunday. Regarding the parliamentary elections, the PSD leads in the preferences of the electorate, followed by its ruling partner, the PNL. The survey, about which we talk in detail after the news, was conducted between August 6-22, on a sample of 1,067 respondents, with an error margin of plus/minus 3%. POLITICS The PSD PNL ruling coalition in Romania can work in the future as well, according to the Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democrats. He believes the future government could be sworn in before Christmas, on December 23rd. In his opinion, despite the acid statements coming from both sides amid the launch of candidacies for the presidential election this fall, the current government in Bucharest will function until the general elections, scheduled for December 1st, Romanias National Day. In this context, the prime minister said that he would like Romanias budget for 2025 to be approved soon after that date, by the current Government and Parliament makeup. Ciolacu also said that, given the context, PSD sees no other ruling coalition in the future than the one with the National Liberal Party. DROUGHT The Romanian government will discuss, this week, the first set of measures for the farmers affected by the drought. The agriculture minister Florin Barbu and the farmers representatives have recently discussed granting compensations for the damage caused by the drought and for a new package of measures to combat the effects of the drought, a package that the minister is going to present to the government members. The authorities are also considering the creation of a mechanism agreed with the Financial Supervisory Authority for state insurance of an area of about 7 million hectares, with an insurance premium of 3,000 lei (600 Euros) for each hectare. Installing local irrigation systems and forest curtains is also considered. WEATHER Almost all of Romania is in the grip of a heat wave and severe thermal discomfort, with weather alerts in place as temperatures rose to 38 degrees Celsius. In the northwest, center-west, partially in the east and south, there is a code yellow alert for heatwave and high thermal discomfort. The temperature-humidity index will exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. In the coming days, the heat wave will subside and the atmospheric instability will increase. VISAS The US administration is to announce, on October 15, a decision regarding the visa waiver for Romanians, which would apply starting from 2025, Romanian government sources stated. During this period, the Romanian executive is carrying out the We qualify Romania campaign, which aims at including the country in the American Visa Waiver program and at exempting it from obtaining travel visas to the US. As part of the campaign, launched on July 18, Bucharest undertook to meet the technical criteria for joining the Visa Waiver by September 30, 2024, the date on which the American fiscal year ends. Among them is a refusal rate below 3% of US B1 and B2 visas for business and tourism granted to Romanian citizens during the fiscal year 2024. In this sense, the government, through the Foreign Ministry, urges as many Romanian citizens as possible to renew their US visa by September 30. GRADUATES More than 260 young Romanians graduated, on Monday, from the National Training School for Penitentiary Officers in Targu Ocna (east). Attending the event, the Minister of Justice Alina Gorghiu has said that the graduates will work in various prisons in the country. She had previously announced that the penitentiary system in Romania has a deficit of about 3,000 jobs and that, in this sense, she will submit a memorandum to the Government. Also, the minister encouraged young people to enroll in the school in Targu Ocna, which soon starts a new series of prison ward courses. She also said that salaries in the penitentiary system are good, having been increased this year. (EE) Who runs for Romanias presidential seat? According to a survey conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS, the PSD and PNL nominees would go into the second round of the presidential voting if election were held next Sunday A polling Station in Romania Roxana Vasile, 26.08.2024, 14:00 The nominees of the Social-Democratic Party and of the National Liberal Party for the position of Romanias president, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca respectively, might run into the second round of voting due in December this year, says a survey conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, CURS, over August 6 and 22. Ranking first among the electorates preferences is the PSD nominee with 32% followed by PNL with 19%. They are followed by the incumbent NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, who runs as an independent with 15% and George Simion, the nationalist leader of the AUR political group, who would muster 14% of the votes. The two ladies who have made public their intention to run for the presidential seat, Elena Lasconi from the United Right Alliance could get 11% while the controversial Diana Sosoaca from the SOS Romania party only 5% of the voting intentions. We recall that the first round of the presidential election in Romania is to take place on November 24 and the second on December 8. They will take place in the same period as those for the countrys Parliament, due to take place on December 1, Romanias national day. The election campaign for the Parliament seats will be unfolding over November 1 and 30. In Romania voters will be able to cast their ballots on December the 1 between 7 and 21 hours whereas in the Diaspora voting will kick off on 30 November at 7 hours local time and end on 1 December, at 21 hours. Until then, according to the same CURS survey, the first two parties preferred by the voters would muster more votes than their nominees; PSD would get 34%, while PNL 24%. AUR would take 14% and the United Right Alliance 12%. SOS Romania will have 5% and so will UDMR. If the situation doesnt change, the Romanians could be governed by the same two parties, which are making up the incumbent ruling coalition, the Social-Democrats and the Liberals, which are presently enjoying a comfortable majority in the Bucharest Parliament. So, Romanias political stage would be dominated by the same figures who are presently ruling the country. And if the incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu won the presidential election, he would become the first Social-Democratic president in the past 20 years. And if Ciolacu won the race, he would take over the presidential seat from another liberal, Klaus Iohannis. So, the stake is high for both parties! In the end we should mention that its for the first time in Romanias history when the country has seen four types of elections in a year; those for the local administration and the European Parliament were already held in June. (bill) Business sentiment from Germany is the top economic news due on Monday, headlining a light day for the European economic news. At 2.00 am ET, Statistics Norway releases unemployment data for July. At 3.00 am ET, Spain's INE is set to issue producer price figures for July. Prices had decreased 3.5 percent annually in June. At 3.30 am ET, Sweden's central bank releases the minutes of the monetary policy meeting held on August 19. At 4.00 am ET, the ifo Institute is slated to issue Germany's confidence survey results for August. The sentiment index is expected to fall to 86.5 from 87.0 in the prior month. In the meantime, unemployment data is due from Poland. The jobless rate is forecast to rise slightly to 5.0 percent in July from 4.9 percent in June. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Hong Kong will on Tuesday release July figures for imports, exports and trade balance, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In June, imports were up 9.0 percent on month and exports jumped 10.7 percent for a trade deficit of 55.7 billion HKD. China will provide July figures for industrial profits; in June, profits were up 3.5 percent on year. Japan will see July numbers for producer prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.9 percent on year - easing from 3.0 percent in June. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Norway's unemployment rate decreased in July to the lowest level in five months, the labor force survey data from Statistics Norway showed on Monday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate came in at 3.9 percent in July, down from June's stable rate of 4.1 percent. Moreover, this was the lowest rate since February, when it was 3.4 percent. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 3.7 percent. The number of unemployed people was 118,000 in July versus 123,000 in June, the agency said. Data showed that the employment rate stood at 69.7 percent, down marginally from 69.8 percent in June. On a trend basis, the unemployment rate remained stable for the fourth straight month at 4.0 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News McKesson Corp. (MCK) announced Monday that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Community Oncology Revitalization Enterprise Ventures, LLC (Core Ventures). Core Ventures, a and administrative services organization, was established by Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, LLC (FCS), a leading physician-owned community oncology practice. FCS physicians will continue to retain a minority interest in Core Ventures. McKesson will purchase its controlling interest for approximately $2.49 billion in cash, which will represent approximately 70% ownership. Following completion of the transaction, Core Ventures will be part of the Oncology platform, and financial results will be reported within McKesson's US Pharmaceutical segment. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including necessary regulatory clearances. Following the close of the transaction, FCS, a practice with more than 250 physicians and 280 advanced practice providers, across nearly 100 locations in Florida, will remain independently owned and FCS will join McKesson's The US Oncology Network (The Network), a leading oncology organization, dedicated to advancing local and affordable cancer care and better patient outcomes. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Business sentiment in Germany deteriorated for a third month in a row in August as companies judged their current situation as worse and turned more pessimistic regarding the outlook, survey results from the ifo Institute showed Monday. The ifo confidence index fell to 86.6 from 87.0 in July. Economists had forecast the measure to drop to 86.0. The latest reading was the weakest since February, when it was 85.7. The current conditions index of the ifo survey dropped for a second straight month, down to 86.5 from 87.1. The score was in line with economists' expectations. The expectations measure slid to 86.8 from 87.0, marking the weakest reading since February. Expectations eroded for a third month in a row, but the score was just above the forecasted 86.5. "The sentiment among companies in Germany is on a downward trend," ifo Institute President Clemens Fuest said. "The German is increasingly falling into crisis," Fuest added. Significant erosion of confidence was witnessed among the German manufacturers and sentiment also weakened in the services sector. Expectations fell in both sectors. Morale improved in the trade sector after weakening for two months as expectations were less pessimistic. Business sentiment was unchanged in the construction sector as firms were somewhat satisfied with the current situation but were less upbeat regarding the outlook. "The German economy will barely grow in the second half of this year and will at best stagnate for the year as a whole," Commerzbank economist Ralph Solveen said. "Most growth forecasts for the coming year are still likely to be too high. We expect a meagre increase of 0.5 percent for 2025." ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the continuing decline in the Ifo index is another illustration of the German economy's never-ending stagnation. "Still, and as depressing as this new wave of falling sentiment indicators is, don't rule out potential positive surprises in the second half of the year," Brzeski said. "While the highest increase in real wages in more than a decade could still open German consumers' wallets, despite increasing job loss fears, it is industrial production that could still come to the rescue." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The price of crude oil moved sharply higher during trading on Monday, extending the surge seen over the two previous sessions. After jumping $1.82 or 2.5 percent to $74.83 a barrel last Friday, crude for October delivery has shot up $2.36 to 3.2 percent to $77.19 a barrel. With the continued increase, the price of crude oil further offset the mid-August sell-off but remains below its recent highs. The extended rebound by crude oil prices came amid renewed geopolitical concerns after Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border. Israel purportedly launched a preemptive airstrike on Hezbollah missile launch sites in southern Lebanon early Sunday morning. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah still managed to launch hundreds of missiles, but according to Reuters, most were intercepted or fell in open areas. Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah called the attack retaliation for the assassination of senior commander Fuad Shukr last month However, Nasrallah said the barrage had been completed "as planned," partly offsetting worries about further escalation. The increase by the price of crude oil also came as Libya's eastern government said it would shut down crude production and halt exports amid a dispute with the internationally recognized western government over control of the central bank. The oilfields in eastern Libya account for almost all the country's oil production, which totals about 1.2 million barrels per day. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Approximately 100 Israeli fighter jets launched strikes on around 270 targets located in over 40 southern Lebanese towns and villages. The set of strikes was one of the biggest between the two sides since fighting resumed in October. The bulk of the strikes were against short-range rocket launchers that could be used to hit northern Israel. In response, terrorist group Hezbollah fired over 320 Katyusha rockets at 11 military targets inside Israel. Most projectiles were stopped or hit open areas. - The Sunday Times Cabinet office minister Pat McFadden told Britons to expect more economic pain as the government reins in spending. "I understand there are people who are concerned about tough decisions, but it wont be the last tough decision that we have to make in government, McFadden told Sky News. The minister was referring to the decision to stop winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. He added that pension credit and the pensions triple lock should help lessen the pain of poorer pensioners. - Guardian Britain's second largest trade union, Unite, will ask the new government to put in place an emergency 1% wealth tax on the assets of the super-rich. That, Unite said, would provide for a 10% pay hike for public sector workers and allow NHS to fill 100,000 vacancies. Nonetheless, Labour MPs and ministers think that the Trades Union Congress next month, where the demand will be made, will see the truce between many unions and Labour start to break down. - Guardian Nearly half of shareholders at Smith & Nephew came out against plans to boost company boss Deepak Nath's pay. Should he hit all of his targets, Nath stands to make as much as 9.3m. Pearson meanwhile has become the only company at which over a fifth of shareholders have balked at their executives' pay two years in a row. A revolt is also brewing at Ashtead, given that its chief executive officer Brendan Hogan's pay may be nearly doubled. - The Financial Mail on Sunday Marks & Spencer may open a range of clothing boutiques in response to the surge in demand for its lingerie and cashmere jumpers that has seen it reverse years of falling fashion sales. A trial of the new boutiques will open at London's Battersea Power Station later in 2024. The company's fashion business is seeing a revival in demand thanks to its strategy of focusing on younger customers. - The Sunday Telegraph The second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) took place in Singapore, marking a significant step forward in enhancing bilateral cooperation. The meeting focused on key areas including digital technology, skill development, sustainability, healthcare, connectivity, and advanced manufacturing. The Indian delegation, led by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, engaged in discussions with their Singaporean counterparts. Singapore was represented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng, and Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat. EAM Jaishankar described the discussions as 'productive' and expressed gratitude towards the Singaporean ministers for their dedication to strengthening the bilateral relationship. ISMR enables the emergence of a more contemporary India-Singapore partnership, Jaishankar noted on X after the meeting. Earlier, the Indian delegation met with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and attended a luncheon hosted by Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Wong, who led the Singapore delegation at the first ISMR held in New Delhi in September 2022, highlighted the roundtables role in deepening bilateral ties. Glad that progress has been made on several fronts since our last meeting. New ideas for cooperation, including in advanced manufacturing and connectivity, will pave the way for closer strategic cooperation and partnership, Wong said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also met with CEOs of various Singaporean companies, discussing how these stakeholders could further invest in India. Goyal emphasized the alignment of these investments with Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in Gujarat. The ISMR, a high-level mechanism established to chart a new course for India-Singapore relations, also reviewed progress from the inaugural roundtable. The first ISMR focused on emerging areas such as digital connectivity, fintech, green economy, skill development, and food security. Following the inaugural meeting, a FinTech Cooperation Agreement was signed between theand the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in Gujarat. Prime Minister Modi had previously expressed hope that such initiatives would further strengthen bilateral relations. The establishment of the ISMR reflects the unique nature of the India-Singapore partnership and aims to drive future collaboration across various sectors. The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is hosting the prestigious International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement & Computing (QCMC 2024) from August 26 to 30. Marking its 16th edition, this is the first time the conference is being held in India. The event is organized by the Center For Quantum Information, Communication And Computing (CQuICC), a Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras, and is taking place at the IIT Madras Research Park. The conference is supported by sponsors including IIT Madras, Mphasis F1 Foundation, and KLA. QCMC, established in 1990, is a renowned global forum that brings together scientists and engineers in the interdisciplinary field of quantum information science and technology. It serves as a platform for experts worldwide to discuss advancements in quantum computing, communication, cryptography, and sensing. With this event, IIT Madras continues to push the boundaries of quantum research, contributing significantly to Indias National Quantum Mission, which aims to develop indigenous quantum technologies. The QCMC 2024 aims to facilitate collaboration among physicists, computer scientists, and engineers, translating quantum research into real-world applications, particularly in secure communication and advanced computing. The event will also encourage international partnerships to tackle global challenges in the quantum domain. The conference program features 18 invited talks by leading global experts, including Prof. Andreas Walraff (ETH Zurich), Prof. Mark Wilde (Cornell University), Prof. Urbasi Sinha (Raman Research Institute), and Prof. Karol Zyczkowski (Polish Academy of Sciences). In addition, there will be special industry-academia sessions, 20 contributed talks, and over 100 poster presentations by early-career researchers. In a first, the Indian Army has teamed up with the Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon for a leadership programme designed for junior officers. The first batch of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) began their 2-week Leadership and General Management training programme at MDI Gurgaon on Monday, August 19. Its a milestone moment (for us). We are sending JCOs and NCOs for leadership training, said Lt Gen D S Kushwah, Chief of Staff, HQ ARTRAC, at the programme's inaugural, adding that only officers were normally sent to such training. This leadership training programme is a historic occasion, he added. The participating Army officers, the Director of MDI, Prof Arvind Sahay, and senior faculty members attended the inaugural event. We are leaders. At times, we are managers, too. Managers are those who help us find the right path to the destination, identified by the leader said Gen Kushwah, addressing the event virtually while also explaining how theories in leadership and management had first emerged from the Armed forces. Later a lot of research on this was done in the corporate world. You should get all your doubts cleared (in the classroom). Learning, after all, is a two-way exchange process, said Gen Kushwah. Technology has a key role in modern-day warfare, said Gen Kushwah, adding that cyber training was part of the training capsule for the officers. Maj Gen M K Mathur, in his remarks, said: You all (the officers) should contribute wholeheartedly to the success of the programme. It is hoped that you will be able to put into practice what you learn here and usher positive change in your respective units. The MDI Director, Prof Arvind Sahay, welcomed the officers, said: This is the first of its kind initiative of the Indian Army to provide management education to JCOs and NCOs which will enable contemporary management education and exposure. These soldiers of the Army tend to be at the frontline in the face of security incidents. It is a privilege for MDI to be a pioneer in this area and to be able to contribute to the increase in the management capabilities of this group that allows them to be even more effective soldiers. JCOs are the backbone of our Indian Army and MDI is the first institute in India which is associated with this programme. Our Armed Forces have our highest respect, and this programme is a service to the nation that also allows MDI to generate significant revenues and MDP is proud to be contributing in a small way to making our armed forces more effective. Some of the themes/subjects that the participants would be taught as part of the Leadership and General Management programme include Role, Responsibilities and Challenges of a Leader and Emotional Intelligence, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Transactional Analysis and Team Work and Team Building, Forecasting and demand Planning, Inventory Management, and Bid Evaluation, Benchmarking and Negotiations. In her remarks, Prof Sumita Rai, Dean of Industry Connect, said: We hope that the officers spend a memorable 15 days at MDI. MDI Gurgaon has been historically associated with the Forces and has conducted programmes for Paramilitary Forces. Programme Directors Prof Ashok Panjwani, Prof Ritu Srivastava, Prof Sunil Ashra and Prof Vidhu Gaur were also present. Four Indian Union Ministers S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, and Ashwini Vaishnaw are scheduled to represent India at today's India-Singapore ministerial meeting. The primary agenda of the meeting will be to strengthen trade and economic ties between the two countries. The India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) is a unique forum established to shape a new path in the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The inaugural meeting was held in New Delhi in September 2022, initiating a strategic dialogue focused on enhancing bilateral ties. The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is set to engage with leading global business figures in Singapore, including DBS Bank, Temasek Holdings, OMERS, Keppel Infrastructure, and the Owners Forum, as reported. He will explore strategies to bolster bilateral trade and investment, capitalizing on New Delhis burgeoning market opportunities and its dynamic growth trajectory. "Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will participate in the second ISMR along with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, the commerce and industry ministry said. During their visit, the ministers will interact with the Singaporean counterparts and leadership. "This second meeting will enable both sides to review various aspects of their strategic partnership and identify new avenues to further elevate and broaden it", the ministry said. Singapore has notably been a key investor in India, consistently ranking as a leading source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In the fiscal year 2023-24, Singapore was the largest contributor, investing USD 11.77 billion into the Indian market. Over the long term, from April 2000 to March 2024, Singapore's cumulative FDI in India has amounted to an impressive USD 159.94 billion, highlighting the profound and significant nature of this economic partnership. Todays date 26th August this year marks the auspicious occasion of Lord Krishnas birthday. The grand birthday of Lord Krishna is celebrated with deep religious fervor and dedications in India as Janmashtami. The festival has its multiple rituals and usages practiced all over the country, but Mathura and Vrindavan, the places of Krishna's birth, exhibit a special prudence over the celebrations. The day is marked with the decoration of temples with flowers and bright lights. This year the festival is the 5251st birthday of Lord Krishna. The birth of Krishna, regarded as the eighth avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is not an ordinary celebration but more of a spiritual affair that unites people in reflection upon his teachings and role as the guide for mankind to strive for a life of righteousness and devotion. Krishna Janmashtami means more than normal historical celebration. It is an occasion for one's great spiritual awakening and realization, since it reminds one about Krishna's teachings. Of course, one of the important scriptures of Hindus, the Bhagavad Gita, is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna on duty and righteousness in war and reality, focusing on virtue, selfless action, and equanimity in life. This festival further portrays Krishna as the divine lover and protector; his life is full of spellbinding leelas, teaching love, devotion, and divine nature. In Mathura and Vrindavan, the streets where Krishna's life commenced are bursting with processions, dance, and theatrical reenactments that bring about a magic touch. From the UK, with grand ISKCON temple events, to the United States, with all their cultural programs and feasts, communities from around the globe celebrate in so many different ways such is the universality of Krishna and the boundless love that completely transcends cultural and geographic divides. How Does the Story of Krishnas Miraculous Birth Inspires? The festival of Krishna Janmashtami, more popularly recognized as Gokulashtami, really comes to life with mirthful celebrations steeped in deep religious fervor and spiritualism around the world touching the hearts of millions. It is entirely dedicated to the incarnation day of the eighth Lord Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu. We celebrate it on the eighth day of the dark fortnight in one of the months of Bhadrapada, which falls in August or September. Worshipped for the love, wisdom, and divine charm that Lord Krishna had, his birth stands as a historical event in the annals of time and, moreover, is an exulting tribute to the divine spirit of playfulness and the everlasting lessons he imparts. The myth underlying Krishna's birth is shrouded in mystique and relevance. A wicked King Kansa, in Hindu mythology, afraid of the prophecy that said he would be killed by his sister's eighth son, imprisoned his sister and her husband. But despite all those intentions of that evil king, Krishna was born in a dead night in a dark cell of prison. On the day of his visit, divine phenomena marked the entrance of the visitor: the doors of the prison opened; the guards went to heavy sleep; the Yamuna River parted to make way for Vasudeva to take the newborn Krishna to Gokul; where he was taken care of by his foster parents Nanda and Yashoda. It signifies the triumph of good over evil. It also symbolizes that divine power never deserts humanity not so much in its battling with others as its never-ending battle with its own dark side. And it is on this day that Krishna is said to be born at midnight. Finally, the ambiance and stories narrated of the life of Krishna infuse one with an even greater sense of spiritual awareness and kinship with every other living entity. Krishna Janmashtami therefore celebrates the living, divine presence within every heart and seeks to remind that amidst so much chaos in our lives, we are guided through divine play toward love, truth, and enlightenment. As one joins in the celebration, timeless wisdom from Krishna lights up paths and inspires lives of greater purpose and joy. A New Jersey college is offering free tuition to eligible residents in the state. Rider University, a private university in Lawrence Township, recently announced the Rider Tuition Guarantee a new tuition program that is available to students pursuing an undergraduate degree who meet financial and academic requirements. The goal of the program is to fill the gap in financial aid after all other scholarships and grants have been applied. Its available for incoming, first-year and transfer undergraduate students who remain in good academic standing. Were dedicated to removing financial barriers for students through Riders robust scholarship opportunities and innovative financial aid support like the Rider Tuition Guarantee, said Drew Aromando, vice president of Enrollment Management. Through this opportunity, high-achieving students who call New Jersey home can pursue their program of choice. There are several eligibility requirements. Students must reside in New Jersey and have a 3.5 or above GPA on a 4.0 scale. Financially, their household must have an adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less and they must receive both full Tuition Aid Grants (TAG) and Pell Grants. Students must also apply to Rider for the fall 2025 or spring 2026 start terms, submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and make their deposit by the appropriate deadline in order to be eligible. Visit rider.edu/tuition-guarantee for more information about the program. The new program comes as the university faces financial struggles most recently cutting 31 jobs and saving the school more than $2 million, according to NJ.com, the Advance/SILive.coms sister publication. Jobs were cut due to nationwide problems in processing FAFSA forms, officials said, according to NJ.com. The university blamed its enrollment dip on confusion over financial aid, the media outlet reported. Rider is also offering the opportunity for incoming undergraduate students to obtain free textbooks through its Books for Broncs program. Students must complete three qualifying campus visits with the Office of Admission to be eligible. Those terms and conditions are available at rider.edu/books-for-broncs. An 18-year-old was fatally struck by a boat propellers blade in Ocean County over the weekend, officials said Monday. Zeina Mahafzah, of Wayne, was on a raft being pulled by a boat in the waters off Sunset Park in Harvey Cedars around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, said New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron. Sunset Park is on the bay side of Harvey Cedars, which is located on the northern section of Long Beach Island. While attempting to board the vessel, she was struck by the vessels propeller, police said. The incident remains under investigation, police said. No further information was immediately available. On Sunday, Harvey Cedars police said they were investigating a tragic boating accident in the waters off Long Beach Island. As the investigation is in its preliminary stages, we ask that you keep the family and community in your thoughts and prayers, police said in a Facebook post Sunday. Mahafzah graduated from Wayne Hills High School, Wayne Township Superintendent Mark Toback said. We have been in contact with the family and are respecting their wishes, so we have no comment at this time, he said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a voice of reason for many and a target of criticism for others during the COVID-19 pandemic, is recovering from West Nile virus, it was reported. Fauci, 83, was hospitalized for six days earlier this month after contracting the mosquito-borne virus. He is now recuperating at home, the New York Post and other media outlets reported. A full recovery is expected. West Nile virus is commonly spread through the bite of an infected mosquito, PBS reported, quoting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most people dont experience symptoms, about 1 in 5 can develop a fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. About 1 out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. CBS News chief medical correspondent, Dr. Jonathan LaPook, wrote in a social media post that he spoke Saturday with Fauci, who said he was likely infected from a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard. As of Aug. 20, the CDC had recorded 216 cases of West Nile virus in 33 states this year, PBS said. There are no known treatments or vaccines for the virus. Its best prevented by avoiding mosquito bites. The number of mosquitos testing positive for West Nile Virus is significantly higher than the previous year in the five boroughs, according to new data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. So far, no human cases have been reported on Staten Island. Six cases of symptomatic West Nile Virus have been detected in the rest of New York City, according to health department data. West Nile virus is not uncommon in the borough, where conditions that support mosquito egg-laying are abundant. The city Health Department has conducted several larvicide and adulticide treatments on the Island since the start of mosquito season. Fauci was the public face of the COVID-19 pandemic, trusted by many but also a target for criticism. He later acknowledged that his support for prolonged school closures during the pandemic was a mistake. Good morning Staten Island, and welcome to the brand new daily SILive.com morning report. Todays Morning Report, which covers stories from the weekend through today (Monday) includes Mayor Eric Adams ambitious rezoning plan for NYC, the reopening of a vital Social Security office in Staten Island, and an inspiring story of a local man who beat the odds against cancer. Plus, well cover a heartwarming animal rescue operation and a lively community festival. Stay tuned for all this and more! Note that the stories in the report are editorially curated and then summarized and read aloud by artificial intelligence. Some variations in pronunciation, tone or diction may result. To get full reporting on each of these stories, check out the links below: We want to know what you think! All feedback is valuable. After youve listened, take our 3-question survey here to let us share your thoughts. SYOSSET, N.Y. Police on Sunday were investigating the deaths of five people at a suburban Long Island home. Officers responding to a report of shots fired in Syosset at midday found the body of a man outside a home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The bodies of four other people were found inside the residence about 15 miles east of New York City, according to a release from the Nassau County Police Department. Police are investigating five deaths at a home on suburban Long Island. (Google Maps)Google Maps Additional news outlets reported the incident occurred on Wyoming Court. Police said all five victims were pronounced dead by a police medic and that a homicide squad was investigating. Police did not release further information. 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 Social media celebrity and fighter for the rights of renters everywhere Jordan van den Lamb is coming for federal parliament. The activist known as purplepingers, and for his shitrentals.org website where renters post unflattering reviews of landlords and crummy rental properties will attempt to translate his social media following into votes. Jordan van den Lamb aka purplepingers. Credit: Wayne Taylor Do 200,000 TikTok followers translate into a Senate seat? Time will tell. Van den Lamb, 28, is a lawyer and federal public servant who lives in Melbourne and vows to take on the aspirational ruling class. MUSIC/ BIOGRAPHY Radio Birdman: Retaliate First Murray Engleheart Allen & Unwin, $36.99 You really had to see Radio Birdman. Maybe you have some other favourite band but nah, theyre not as good. It really was a cult, one eyewitness recalls inside these pages bristling with the extreme prejudice of hard rock devotion. If you were a fan of Birdman, you pretty well werent allowed to like almost anything else. Full disclosure: I never saw Radio Birdman. Not on their original incendiary streak of 1975 to 1978 anyway. Not many did, in the grand scheme of things. The task of canonising this spiky frontline militia of Sydneys underground revolution falls to a select few. Our prime minister swears by them. So does veteran rock writer Murray Engleheart. According to Murray Engleheart, few acts on the planet ever held a torch of internal animosity quite as high. Its chiefly the authors passion, throbbing like a pulsing jaw beneath the dramatic weight of his prose, that suspends disbelief on this latest death-or-glory mission to secure the Birdman cult its rightful place in history. Half a billion dollars has been ripped from individual public schools this year, according to the NSW opposition, after the Department of Education reallocated millions of dollars in unspent funding principals had accumulated, and slashed operating budgets. Documents obtained by opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell show that schools had accumulated more than $350 million in unspent funds before the Department of Education in April ordered the money be returned. Principals had to absorb a $148 million funding cut while accumulated funds disappeared from their accounts earlier this year. Credit: iStock Under funding changes announced in 2021, principals were told they needed to spend any accumulated money they had saved in their budget under the departments carry-forward policy, in a bid to make sure taxpayer funds were used on the students they were intended for. The previous government gave them until 2025 to spend the previously accumulated money. When the Herald revealed in May the cash had disappeared a year earlier than planned, the Department of Education declined to say exactly how much money schools had lost. In another case, a mother and former Frankston Hospital employee took her life three days after she was discharged from Frankston Hospital on March 3, 2021. Lawyers claim that while the mother was discharged with a plan that involved daily check-ins at home, these check-ins were then changed to every second day. The statement of claim said the mothers family was not told she had been prescribed antidepressants that increased the risk of agitation and suicidal thoughts. These cases have prompted Shine Lawyers to launch an investigation into the standards of psychiatric care being provided by Frankston Hospital and other Victorian public hospitals. Daniel Opare, the firms Victorian medical law practice leader, believes the psychiatric treatment provided by Frankston Hospital was negligent in both these cases. Frankston Hospital needs to take a hard look at how they classify peoples risk of self-harm, he said. Weve come a long way to remove the stigma associated with mental illness. Its heartbreaking to see situations where people have mustered the courage to seek help and then are let down by a hospital. A mother took her own life three days after being discharged from Frankston Hospital. Credit: Paul Jeffers There is a cupboard in Rhiannon Abelings bedroom that is a shrine to her late husband. It contains their marriage certificate, framed photographs of the beaming couple and hand-painted plates that the couples five children decorated for their father. He was my best friend, my soulmate, she said. He shouldnt be dead. She said her husband was discharged from Frankston Hospital a few hours after arriving. She does not believe a proper psychiatric assessment was conducted. Rhiannon said Michaels death traumatised her family, especially her nine-year-old daughter, who discovered him dead. Everyone in the family is receiving counselling. Rhiannon Abeling says her husbands death by suicide also hurt their family financially. Credit: Joe Armao Just the other day, my four-year-old asked me: When is Daddy coming home from heaven? I had to explain to him that Daddys not coming home. He was bawling his eyes out. Michaels death has also hurt the family financially. Loading Rhiannon has been unable to return to her job at the local pizza shop or as a university research assistant. The 43-year-old daughter of the former Frankston Hospital employee who died in 2021 said her mothers suicide had destroyed her. She said her fierce, feisty and hilarious mother should never have been discharged from Frankston Hospital when she was so unwell. While the family had secured a bed at a private mental health facility for their mother, it was not available until four days following her discharge from Frankston Hospital. She died at home three days after leaving hospital. We deserved more communication and more monitoring, said her daughter, who did not want to disclose her name due to the stigma of mental illness. I cant even express how horrible it has been. Loading Shyaman Menon, chief medical officer of Frankston Hospital operator Peninsula Health, said the health and wellbeing of patients was of utmost importance. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families affected in these cases, the adjunct associate professor said. Due to privacy and confidentiality, and as these matters are before the courts, we are unable to comment further. The former Mental Health Complaints Commission revealed that 12 per cent of the more than 1600 complaints it received in 2022-23 related to difficulties accessing mental health services. This was up from 7 per cent the previous year. A spokeswoman for the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission said suicide was at a four-year high in Victoria. We are deeply saddened to learn about these tragic incidents, she said. Professor Patrick McGorry, executive director of Orygen National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, said too many people with mental health issues were winding up in emergency departments due to successive governments failures to invest in community models of care, which he said were sparse and overwhelmed. Orygen executive director Patrick McGorry. He said emergency departments were problematic places to assess and treat people with mental illness. It is the wrong ambience and culture, he said. It is set up for medical emergencies and car accidents. People with mental illness go to the bottom of the queue, even if they are very unwell. It is incredibly risky. It is not the fault of the staff; it is a design problem. He called for a scaling-up of hospital-in-the-home services, which he said could successfully reduce emergency department presentations and provide earlier and more compassionate acute mental health care. A refocus and revival of the Royal Commission into Mental Health blueprint was also urgently needed, he said. She told me the button was working, she said. Amrita Lanka died in hospital aged eight. Credit: Justin McManus Deputy State Coroner Paresa Spanos is examining whether the care Amrita received at Monash Childrens Hospital was reasonable and whether concerns raised by her family were appropriately responded to by staff. Amrita was feverish, vomiting and had stomach pains when she arrived at the hospital at 1.30pm on April 29, 2022. Her father had taken her to a GP, who referred her to the hospital with suspected appendicitis. After she had waited two hours in the emergency department, the hospital conducted an abdominal scan that ruled out appendicitis. The family was told she had gastro and she was given IV fluids. But about 10pm, Tarapureddi said, she had pleaded with nurses and doctors for help when her daughter began to complain of chest pain and difficulty breathing. Amrita died from lymphocytic myocarditis inflammation of the heart about 21 hours after she arrived at the hospital. A review last year found several failings in Amritas care, including doctors not appreciating how severe her condition was until her heart stopped temporarily for the first time. It also found hospital staff wrongly assumed Amritas blood results were falsely elevated and failed to monitor her falling blood pressure, an indication her heart was starting to fail. Her family says that if her earlier tests had been interpreted correctly sooner, her case would have been escalated to the on-call cardiologist, potentially leading to faster diagnosis and treatment. Dr Patrick Tan, the clinician in charge of the emergency department when Amrita died, told the inquest a handover he received at the start of his shift indicated she had suspected appendicitis and gastro symptoms. Amritas family says that if tests had been interpreted correctly sooner, her case would have been escalated to an on-call cardiologist. Credit: Justin McManus Tan said he became aware of more serious concerns for Amrita only when her mother told staff her daughter was deteriorating again at 3am. I recall that I was taken aback by this information, he said. I had understood that Amrita was feeling better and wanted to go home. The inquest heard Tan was about three months into a rotation in the emergency paediatric unit at the time. He said he did not have a lot of experience in treating or diagnosing myocarditis. He testified that it had been a busy shift with several patients requiring high levels of care, estimating he was responsible for overseeing care of about 18 patients. At 3.30am, a nurse performed an electrocardiogram on Amrita to record the electrical signals in her heart. Tan testified that while the results were abnormal, he did not recognise the severity of the abnormality. In hindsight, he said, the results of the ECG were markedly abnormal. He said that when it become apparent Amrita had myocarditis, he felt a sense of urgency and anxiety. There was significant uncertainty on how to proceed, he said. Between 3.30am and 6am, Amrita was not attended to by any doctor, the inquest heard. Tan was asked by lawyers representing Amritas family why he had taken more than 20 minutes to show the ECG results to the most senior emergency doctor there at the time. He was also asked why he failed to escalate the case to a cardiologist and why there was a delay in checking Amritas blood pressure. Tan said he sought advice from another doctor in the emergency department before taking the ECG results to a senior doctor. At the beginning of the inquest, a statement from Monash Health, read out by barrister Fiona Ellis, admitted to failures in Amritas care. Monash Health expresses its genuine condolences to Amritas family on her passing, Ellis told the court. Monash Health accepts there was a failure by it to appreciate the rapidly progressive nature of this condition and the need for timely treatment. It further accepts that Amritas blood pressure should have been monitored more frequently and that the results of her blood tests and investigations required that her care be quickly escalated. The inquest continues. Unhappy passengers will have to wait until next year to complain about flights to the governments new ombudsman, setting up an election season fight over reforms to Australias aviation industry. Transport Minister Catherine King said the government will take submissions until October on the drafting of a passengers charter of rights, leaving only three weeks to develop and introduce laws before parliament rises for the year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to call an election by April next year. King said the interim ombudsman would immediately begin drafting the charter of rights and was not concerned the reforms may fall by the wayside if Labor loses the election. In Australias monopoly-ridden skies, airline companies have alienated customers with temerity. Last year, one in every 27 domestic flights were cancelled and almost one in three delayed, leaving passengers abandoned with little hope of a refund. Transport Minister Catherine King at Parliament House, Canberra, on Monday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen In quest of curbing such bad business practices and promoting an aviation sector that is safe, competitive, productive and sustainable, Transport Minister Catherine King released the long-awaited aviation white paper on Monday, almost one year after issuing a preliminary report for industry consultation. Directing regulation and policy for the next 25 years, initiatives include a passenger charter of rights, an independent aviation ombudsman and cracking down on the misuse of take-off and landing slots by airlines at Sydney Airport, the countrys biggest gateway. Landing slots have been a vexed and confusing issue for years and, according to the Qantas/Virgin-dominated Airport Coordination Australia, erroneously blamed for contributing to budget carrier Bonza and Rex entering voluntary administration. Former Productivity Commission chair Peter Harris in 2020 delivered his report on slot management at Sydney airport. The white paper has committed to implementing his recommendations to give new airlines access, including a direction that would force airlines to be more transparent about flight cancellations and expand slot misuse so that major carriers will be less able to cancel flights without consequences. The charter of rights and independent aviation ombudsman will replace the existing airline customer advocate which, funded by the carriers, has no binding powers. Under the new proposals, passengers whose flights are cancelled or unreasonably delayed would receive cash refunds and have alternative travel arrangements. The new ombudsman will also handle aircraft noise complaints. The industry will be required to provide more support to people with disability while Qantas dominance has prompted reconsideration of parliamentary travel. How many of us have played with the idea, in our heads at least, of starting our own small hotel or guesthouse? Im not talking about opening an Airbnb where the hosts have little contact with guests. Im thinking about that cute hotel on a beach in a magical setting. The country house that has been converted to a homestay. The townhouse in a small village thats now a B&B. Paradise imperfect Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. Credit: iStock Places where owner-managers have a personal touch and are in the hospitality game because they truly love meeting people, exchanging stories and seeing their guests happy. Rome: Italian prosecutors will investigate the captain of the super yacht belonging to British tech magnate Mike Lynch that sank off Sicily last week during an intense storm, killing Lynch and six other people, Italian media reports said on Monday. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. An Italian Firefighters helicopter flies over the harbour of Porticello, southern Italy. Credit: AP James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, the dailies la Repubblica and Corriere della Sera said. Magistrates spoke to Cutfield on Sunday for the second time in a week, la Repubblica reported, questioning him for more than two hours. It said prosecutors may also investigate a crew member who was on duty when the storm hit and survived the incident. Washington: Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has not ruled out the chance that Donald Trump may not accept the election result if Kamala Harris wins, urging Democrats to deliver a victory so resounding it cant be disputed. And as the campaign hits its final stretch, the California stalwart rejected suggestions that Joe Biden was pushed to withdraw, saying he made a selfless decision as president of the United States to pass the torch to another generation, which is greatly appreciated. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Centre in Chicago. Credit: Bloomberg Pelosis comments came as Trump began sowing doubt about Novembers election, increasingly claiming he could only lose if Democrats cheat, and insisting that Biden was the victim of an internal coup. Trump also said he would only adhere to the election outcome if he believed it was a fair and legal and good election. PHILIPSBURG:--- Certified Risk Analyst Terence Jandroep, a Covid-19 Survivor, is ready to file an airtight lawsuit against the Government of Sint Maarten, specifically targeting the Ministry/Inspectorate of Health. In 2020, the Government, as the sole supervisory body and developer of medical policies during the COVID-19 period, allegedly failed to conduct mandatory audits to uncover several severe violations by the Sint Maarten Medical Center from September to December 2020. He makes this statement as a Veteran Expert in Risk management with sound proficiency in the medical field assessments. A separate and correlating lawsuit has been already filed against the Sint Maarten Medical Center, as the policy executing body, in May 2024 and is now a legal process in development. During an extensive investigation, the Risk Analyst discovered that while the hospital administered Fentanyl, Propofol, and Precedex, upon awakening from an induced coma, the patient was given beer on two consecutive occasions, not just once as previously believed, with confirmed underlying conditions of Altered Mental State, Myopathy, Neuropathy and PTSD, meaning mentally and physically challenged. Combining these synthetic sedatives with beer on 2 occasions is a mortal cocktail and not an accident or an incidental happening, in his expert opinion. Additionally, the patient's safety was compromised in the ICU from 6 am to 6 pm, a fact uncovered during his forensic audit. No incident reports or indications of these issues were noted in the patient's medical release form. This circumstance is against all possible existing international medical policies and a serious non-conformity issue in the medical field in Sint Maarten during the time-lapse mentioned. The patient was not suffering from cold turkey syndrome due to alcoholism, and therefore, no medical explanation could be given to justify the questionable acts, the Risk Analyst explains. The high-stakes possibility that these questionable incidents occurred regularly to more patients for whatever reason cannot be excluded, considering that the Risk Analyst's event became known only after he made it public. This means the Ministry/Inspectorate of Health and even the SMMC most likely were not even aware that these incidents materialized in the first place. The disturbing discovery highlights the number of patients who may have died unnecessarily or were subjected to the same treatment but did not survive. There are too many unanswered questions surrounding the deaths of loved ones, fathers, mothers, sisters, and children who lost their parents due to possible similar criminal negligence or possible premeditated intentional acts during the mentioned period. The Risk Analyst emphasizes that the sole duty relies on the Ministry/Inspectorate to control, evaluate, examine, diagnose, analyze, and conduct compliance audits related to the instructed medical policies as the head in the Chain of Command, given the extreme sensitivity of the medical care environment in Sint Maarten. This is not akin to returning a bag of spoiled potatoes at the supermarket; it concerns peoples lives (Local or non Local). Therefore, consistent, thorough and regular compliance audits with a critical approach should have been conducted, which the Risk Analyst asserts would have detected the disturbing incidents perpetuated by the ICU & SMMC staff in their duties. Due to the lack of mandatory audit practices by the Ministry/ Inspectorate of Health, the patient was a victim or overexposed to the following violations by the ICU & SMMC staff: a) Series of unlawful and careless actions against the patient b) Serious breach of patient security and safety c) Health risks overexposure of the patient d) Serious infringement on the right to life of the patient e) Intentional and conscious criminal neglect at the least, of the patient f) Knowingly conducting guinea pig practices on the patient All the above-mentioned points are supported by physical evidence, such as pictures, reports, and witnesses to the disclosed events. The Risk Analyst holds the Ministry/Inspectorate of Health responsible and accountable for all the undetected materialized events derived from several and severe negligence actions by the Head in the Chain of Command in its mandatory obligation to measure the compliance levels of its policies. If the Ministry/Inspectorate approved an external firm to conduct the mentioned audits, the firm failed in all possible ways in its measurements and should also be held responsible and accountable for this medical catastrophe. Subsequently the Risk Analyst explains that he will invoke his patient rights at the highest levels to discover what really happened and why it happened to account for the possible unnecessary Covid deaths that were swept under the rug, but he survived to expose. PHILIPSBURG:---The St Maarten Tzu Chi Foundation has helped hundreds of families in St Vincent and the Grenadines who were affected by Hurricane Beryl's passing on July 1. On August 21 and 22, 2024, the foundation shipped two 20-foot containers, both containing US $54,375 worth of essential food items, to help families in need following the hurricane. The first container left St Maarten on August 21 for mainland St. Vincent, and the second container left on August 22, destined for Union Island, in St Vincent. The two containers contain a combined total of 1,000 bags of rice, 500 bags of flour, 4,000 packs of pasta, 2,000 packs of dried peas, 1,000 bags of brown sugar, 2,000 bottles of cooking oil, 1,000 bags of soap powder, 1,000 plastic basins and1,000 bottles of drinking water. The containers are expected to arrive at their destinations on August 27. Tzu Chi was originally planning to send two 40ft containers to St Vincent and two to Grenada, but several obstacles delayed the initiative. On Saturday, August 17, 2024, about 30 selfless volunteers gave their time to begin packing the large quantities of food items in the two containers. Due to the severity of the damage to Union Island, the Government of St. Vincent transported many disaster victims from Union island to a shelter in the mainland. One of the 20ft containers will therefore be for residents who were transported to the shelter in the mainland and the other will go to Union Island for residents who remained behind. Each family will receive one 10kg bag of Love Rice from Tzu Chi Taiwan, one 25lb bag of flour, four 1lb packs of pasta, four 1lb packs of dried peas, one 2kg pack of brown sugar, two 1kg bottles of cooking oil, six 1 litre bottles of drinking water, one 1kg bag of soap powder, and one plastic basin. Tzu Chi Foundation St Maarten Commissioner Sandra Cheung is happy that the foundation can assist. The world is small. We are deeply grateful to be living on this small island of St. Maarten. We have the opportunity to meet different kinds of people coming from different countries. We all have the same direction and the same mind with one goal - to help the needy, said Cheung. We left our country for a better life, and through Tzu Chi, we can help our own country with our two hands and return our goodness to our homeland. Several St Maarten-based St. Vincent natives were part of this project. St Vincent native Nolie Roberts, age 75, who has been living in St Maarten for many years, was happy to be involved in the operation to help her native land. The energetic senior citizen quietly does her part and cooperates however and wherever she can. She started out receiving assistance from Tzu Chi after Hurricane Irma in 2017 and is now happy to be able to pay it forward. As a single mother, Sister Theona faces many challenges, but she perseveres through the hurdles. Instead of worrying or wasting her time, she decided to put her efforts to good use by helping Tzu Chi carry out its mission of helping others. This mission was special to her heart as it involved helping hurricane victims in their time of need. Another volunteer, who has been familiar with Tzu Chi for more than ten years, is heartened and joyful to be able to help in the relief effort. Originally from St Lucia, the volunteer said Tzu Chi helps others and teaches you how to interact with others with love and care. Upon arrival in St. Vincent, Tzu Chi volunteers will participate in the relief distribution on the spot in mainland St. Vincent and Union Island. Tzu Chi is currently busy with a 40-foot container to help those affected by Hurricane Beryl in Carriacou, Grenada. The foundation is awaiting approval from Spice Isle to transport the container. Cheung is grateful to all those who assisted. She thanked officials and volunteers in St Maarten and St Vincent for helping make this major relief effort possible. "We had originally estimated that approximately 10,000 delegates would visit the country; however, according to the figures from the APEC 2024 Working Group Registration Department, there have been almost 7,000 delegates at all meetings held so far," Vasquez indicated. "Then we have other meetings, including the Leaders' Summit, (...) so we could be talking about 15,000 people in total, perhaps a slightly higher figure ," he added. Indonesia hosts huge multi-national military exercise Sidoarjo, Indonesia, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 Thousands of military personnel from Indonesia, the US, and eight other countries began two weeks of exercises Monday, focused on joint capabilities in the Asia-Pacific. The region, particularly in the South China Sea, has seen tensions rise this year with flashpoints between littoral states claiming sovereignty over disputed islands and waterways. The annual exercises -- known as Super Garuda Shield -- started in Sidoarjo, East Java, with Indonesia deploying more than 4,400 troops to the drills. The Indonesian military said around 1,800 US troops and several hundred from other countries will also take part. The exercise, first held in 2007, has evolved into a "world-class joint/multinational event designed to enhance our collective capabilities", said Major General Joseph Harris, the Commander of The Hawaii Air National Guard. The programme includes expert academic exchanges, professional development workshops, a command-and-control exercise, and field training that culminates with a live-fire event, he added. Training will include staff and cyber exercises, airborne operations, joint strikes, an amphibious exercise, and simulated land operations. Charles Flynn, commanding general of the US Army Pacific, said in a statement last week that the exercises would show commitment to a safe, stable and secure Indo-Pacific. The two-week exercise, which will be held until September 6 in multiple locations across the nation, is also joined by participants from Australia, Japan, Britain, Singapore, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand and France. Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, the Netherlands, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea are participating in the exercise as observer nations. Japan scrambles jets after Chinese aircraft 'violates' airspace Tokyo, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 Close US ally Japan said it scrambled fighter jets on Monday after a Chinese military aircraft "violated" its airspace in a further escalation of regional tensions. The two-minute incursion into Japanese airspace by the Y-9 surveillance aircraft at 11:29 am (0229 GMT) was the first by a Chinese military plane, local media reported. The aircraft "violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture", prompting Japan to deploy "fighter jets on an emergency basis", Japan's defence ministry said. It said steps such as "issuing warnings" to the aircraft were taken. Broadcaster NHK reported that no weapons, such as flare guns, were used as an alert. The defence ministry released a photograph of what it said was the plane. Deputy foreign minister Masataka Okano summoned China's acting ambassador late on Monday and "lodged firm protest", as well as calling for measures against a recurrence, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Chinese diplomat said in response that the matter would be reported to Beijing, according to the ministry. There was no immediate official comment from Beijing. - Beefed up - China's growing economic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region and its assertiveness in territorial disputes -- in particular Taiwan -- has alarmed the United States and its allies. Japan, staunchly pacifist for decades, has ramped up defence spending with US encouragement, moving to acquire "counter-strike" capabilities and easing rules on arms exports. Tokyo is also providing funding and equipment such as patrol vessels to countries across the region and agreed in July on a deal with the Philippines allowing troop deployments on each other's soil. Japan and South Korea have also moved to bury the historical hatchet. Tokyo is also part of the Quad alliance with the United States, Australia and India, a grouping seen as a bulwark against Beijing. - Tense incidents - Japanese and Chinese vessels have been involved in tense incidents in disputed areas, in particular the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea known by Beijing as the Diaoyus. The remote chain has fuelled diplomatic tensions and been the scene of confrontations between Japanese coastguard vessels and Chinese fishing boats. Tokyo has reported the presence of Chinese coastguard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine, in the area. Two non-military aircraft from China -- a propeller-powered plane and a small drone -- were forayed into airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK. - 'Control measures' - The Danjo Islands, the site of the latest incident, are a group of small islets also located in the East China Sea off Japan's southern Nagasaki region. Beijing claims the South China Sea -- through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually -- almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. China said it took "control measures" on Monday against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that had entered waters near the disputed Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea. Multiple confrontations have taken place in recent days around the shoal, located 140 kilometres (90 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometres from Hainan island, China's nearest major landmass. Both sides have in recent months stationed coast guard vessels near Sabina, where the Philippines fears China is about to build an artificial island. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is due to visit Beijing for three days from Tuesday and will meet China's foreign minister Wang Yi in a bid to manage bilateral tensions ahead of US elections in November. burs-tmo-stu/pbt Air France says Tel Aviv, Beirut flights to resume Tuesday Paris, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 Air France will resume its flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut on Tuesday after a two-day halt following Israeli air strikes into Lebanon, the airline said. The French carrier's low-cost subsidiary Transavia will also resume services to both destinations, it said in a statement to AFP Monday. Air France had suspended its Sunday and Monday flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut because of heightened Middle East tensions. Tuesday's resumption of the services would be subject to an assessment of the security situation at both destinations, Air France said. The French carrier, which usually runs a daily service to both cities, had already halted flights to Beirut between July 29 and August 15 but kept flying to Tel Aviv during that period. German airline Lufthansa on Friday extended its Beirut flight suspension until the end of September and said it would not fly to Tel Aviv and the Iranian capital Tehran until September 2. dga/jh/as/sbk US says still a threat of Iran, proxies attacking Israel Washington, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 The United States assesses there is still a threat of a new attack on Israel by Iran or its proxies, the Pentagon said Monday, after Lebanon's Hezbollah launched a rocket and drone barrage over the weekend. Iran and its regional allies have threatened to attack Israel in response to high-profile killings in Tehran and Beirut late last month, and Hezbollah said its recent strikes on Israel were in response to one of those assassinations. "We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we... remain well-postured to be able to support Israel's defense as well as to protect our forces should they be attacked," Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists. On Sunday, the Israeli military said it launched air strikes on Hezbollah targets that posed an imminent threat, with around 100 fighter jets striking more than 270 targets, most of them short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the Israeli strikes came half an hour before his group launched more than 300 Katyusha rockets at 11 Israeli military sites, and that drones then targeted deeper inside the country, in response to the killing of senior commander Fuad Shukr in July. Ryder said that the US was not involved in the preemptive strikes or in shooting down the projectiles, but that it did "provide some intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance support -- ISR -- in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks." He also said that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "has ordered the presence of two carrier strike groups to remain in the region" as part of support for Israel. The Pentagon said last week that the USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying destroyers had arrived in the region. It was due to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but Austin's order means both carriers will be in the Middle East for the time being. Top US military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown meanwhile met on Monday with Israeli security officials including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said that "Iran's aggression has reached an all-time high." "To counter this, we must work together to achieve and project groundbreaking capabilities in all arenas," Gallant said, according to an Israeli statement on the meeting. Brown is on a multi-country trip to the Middle East that has also taken him to Jordan and Egypt. Police say there are "too many suspects" at this stage following the shooting death of a notorious underworld figure known as the "Angel of Death". Tarek Ayoub, 29, was treated by paramedics at the scene of the 3.30am execution-style shooting in Sydney's western suburb of Parramatta on Monday but could not be saved. His killers remain on the run. The Yagoona man was a well-known figure in organised crime circles and was referred to as "the Angel of Death", Homicide Squad commander Danny Doherty said. "Mr Ayoub certainly lived by the sword and died by the sword," he told reporters. "This is no surprise to the police that he was murdered in (this) way." Such was his reputation and links to multiple crime networks, police were having a hard time drawing up a shortlist of potential killers. Detective Superintendent Doherty said there were "too many suspects, too many motives" for killing Ayoub, who had been charged with a string of firearm and drug offences and had been linked to at least one murder investigation. "So far we've established that he was visiting an associate at Parramatta, where he was shot down in the hail of bullets (in an) execution-style murder in this car park," he said. - With AAP This was a very, very dynamic incident, and clearly its going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause, but to get to an understanding of the fire spread so its its too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days. She said: If the UK continues on an upward trajectory of cuts to arts education, and Scotland continues to decimate investment in the sector, breaking promises of support; then we are on a direct course to job losses, exclusion and boring art that is only the privilege of those who can afford to be part of it, as performers or as audiences. With three deaths confirmed in Lebanon and one in Israel, both sides indicated they were happy to avoid further escalation for now, but warned that there could be more strikes to come. "Most likely it was a drone and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile," Jacek Goryszewski, spokesperson for the Polish army's operational command, told news agency Reuters. Housing continues to be a huge problem in Australia, and one man's attempt at a kind offer has fallen flat. With no signs the housing crisis sweeping Australia is slowing down, Australians everywhere are resorting to drastic measures to find a roof over their head. But one man's offer of a patch of grass and a tent in his backyard for $125 has gone down like a lead balloon with some branding the offer "shameful". The controversy erupted last week when a well-meaning man named Mark offered a tent in his Tasmanian backyard for anyone who may need it. "Emergency accommodation for a single person," the advertisement which was posted on Saturday read. The four-man tent was listed for $125 per week with no bills and specified that it didn't include food. But Mark, the disability pensioner behind the offer claims he is just trying to help people who find themselves homeless. The man, who pays $450 a week in rent for his home says he has seven people living at his home in Risdon Vale, an outer suburb of Hobart. "Many times Ive supported people totally who have no finances at all," he told The Mercury. "One guy was here for two years and wasnt able to pay anything. Ive been stolen from and physically abused by people with anger issues." He said he's opened his home up to ex-prisoners who had nowhere else to go with their families and offers a sense of community. Aussie claims he's 'doing his bit' with tent offer Mark, who declares payments he receives from Centrelink, also has a refurbished tin shed he rents out and a lady who lives in his caravan, claiming she lived outside a Kmart before he took her in. Im trying to do my bit," he told The Mercury. If people went to the showgrounds theyd be charged $40 or more a night. A friend of Mark's who originally posted the tent offer said he's "not trying to make a buck" from anyone, but simply "knows people are struggling". Homeless advocate groups have been warning about the rising number of rough sleepers in the state. Source: ABC According to the Tenants' Union of Tasmania, the average renter in the state is paying $7,000 a year more to keep a roof over their head than they were five years ago. What's more, reports suggest rent is rising 10 times faster than income support payments. It's the same story across the rest of the country, with Australia's median rent reaching a record high of $627 a week in April according to CoreLogic. Aussies are doing their best to make ends meet as the cost-of-living crisis rages on, including breaking up with the major supermarkets and even turning to dumpster diving with surprising results. But sadly, some efforts aren't enough to keep people off the streets, something that is an ongoing challenge in Brisbane. People react to $125 weekly tent offer Aussies were less than impressed by the offer, with some branding it "shameless". "I'd rather be set up under the overpass along the highway than pay some f**kwit $125 for the pleasure of their freezing backyard," said one. "Shameful. I know of someone who was trying to charge a pet sitter to look after their pet. This is much worse than that," said another. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. 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Also, a rock opera titled "Nemuritorul/The Ever Living" is in the making, guitarist Cristi Gram told AGERPRES on the occasion of the concert the band gave alongside drummer Ovidiu Lipan "Tandarica" at Romula Fest, the ancient history reenactment festival held on Saturday in Dobrosloveni - Olt County. "Nicu [Covaci] wanted us to continue and that's what we'll do, carrying on his wish. We'll move on and go sing everywhere people call us," said violinist Lavinia Sateanu, answering a question about the future projects of the formation. Guitarist Cristi Gram elaborated, stating that the band is preparing songs that have never been played live so far, and the tour could start in November. "We want to perform ''Orasul scufundat/The Sunken City', 'Fluier in cer/Flute in the Sky', 'Singur/All Alone', 'Haituit/Hounded', these are songs that were representative for Nicu, all of them," said Cristi Gram. He went on to say that "Nemuritorul", a rock opera dedicated to Nicu Covaci, is also in the works in the band's current format, and that "it will be a complete concept, an all-out show. With the lineup that Nicu left as a legacy, Lavinia Sateanu - violin, Costin Adam - vocals, Vlady Sateanu - bass and vocals, Flavius Hosu - drums and vocals in the future, and myself - guitar and vocals," added Cristi Gram. The guitarist emphasized that the band will continue in the lineup left by Nicu Covaci, because it is tight-knit like family. "We are a formation, we no longer just collaborate, we are a family, Nicu Covaci left us like this and this is how we want to stay," Cristi Gram also declared. Speaking about the relationship with former Phoenix members, violinist Lavinia Sateanu said that Ovidiu Lipan "Tandarica" performs with the band, and songster Mircea Baniciu is also open to collaboration. Vocalist Costin Adam pointed out that as long as there is availability, Phoenix is ready to collaborate with former members of the band. "Phoenix is a legacy we are all part of. To the extent that there is availability, we will collaborate in the future, why not? But the Phoenix lineup remains the one left by Nicolae Covaci," Costin Adam said. Speaking about the band's style, bassist Vlady Sateanu said that they try to preserve the already established melodic lines and aesthetics, yet with a present-day twist. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that on Monday he will have a discussion with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Romania's representative to the EU executive, but for the time being it is not known which portfolio Romania will hold. "Today I will have a discussion with the president of the Commission, then I will have a discussion with Mr. Nicolae Ciuca, if necessary with the president of Romania. You know very well that the Commission has not been set up with areas of authority and we wanted to find the best person for certain areas. At this moment my personal proposal is Mr. Victor Negrescu," said Ciolacu, at the PSD headquarters, when asked if he will propose to Brussels on Monday the name of the person who will hold the portfolio of European commissioner on behalf of Romania. He mentioned that "nobody knows" when Romania's portfolio will be decided. "I would like us to be the first country in the European Union to find out the portfolio, but I think that the president is having discussions with all the prime ministers of the European Union at the moment," the PSD leader explained. Ciolacu said that, so far, he has had unofficial talks with Nicolae Ciuca and Klaus Iohannis only "on the portfolio" of European commissioner. AGERPRES The wait is (finally) over, St. Louis: Expat BBQ, Niche Food Groups largest concept to date, will open its doors inside City Foundry STL on Sept. 12. The restaurant has its sights set on showcasing well-traveled barbecue, fusing flavors from around the globe with classic American barbecue technique. Expat will be the 12th restaurant for Gerard Crafts food group and the fourth inside City Foundry STL: Fordos Killer Pizza and the Kitchen Bar sit adjacent to Expat inside the Food Hall, while speakeasy concept None of the Above is steps away. The concept also marks the return of something longtime fans of Niche Food Group will recognize; a pull toward experimentation, a hallmark of the restaurant group since the beginning. I like trying new things and being experimental, Craft says. What we did at Niche was so experimental, and then we built everything around us to be really classic and rooted. Once Niche was gone, we really wanted some of that experimentation back, and thats when we did Fordos, or even Sardella; those were our chances to branch out and do new things. Expat allows Craft and his team to break into new territory in both size and scope, with a multi-experience concept and menu hard to find elsewhere one of the reasons the concept has been a long time coming. Theres just no playbook for this place, he says. Theres not a lot of points of reference out there in the world to say Hey, lets go there and see how they do it. Which makes the way the globally informed barbecue concept came together especially fortuitous, beginning with a call executive chef Sam Nawrocki made to Craft looking for opportunities within NFG. He asked Nawrocki who was working at the 404 Kitchen in Nashville at the time what she was into, and the answer was more than he bargained for. What she started talking about on the call were her collaborations with Marcus Samuelson and working with African ingredients in southern food, and then working with Vivek [Surti] from Tailor in Nashville on infusing Indian ingredients in southern food, Craft says, noting that the path she was on led directly to what in his mind was the foundation for what would become Expat. It was just very serendipitous, and she was a very easy choice, because she can back it up. More importantly, she can cook; talking about it is one thing, but being able to actually do it at a scale this large is not for everybody. Flanking Nawrocki are sous chefs Joe Landis, formerly of BrassWELL, Brasserie, and the opening residency at Urban Chestnut Brewing Co.; Nick Wegman, formerly of Songbird; Nia Pruitt, formerly of Winslows Table who also worked with Nawrocki in Nashville; and John Koines, formerly of Brasserie and Pastaria. The thing Im most excited about right now is the people in the kitchen, Nawrocki says. to work with any of [the four sous chefs] individually would be a godsend, and to have all four of them as a team is just incredible. I could not be luckier. I know what everyone is bringing to the table here, and I just cant wait to see more of it. Rounding out the talent is Melinda Cooper, NFGs director of beverage and bar operations, who will oversee Expats beverage program. For Nawrocki and her team, creativity is paramount, and it weaves its way through the menu gracefully, which underscores the effort and technical skill that went into building it. People think of creativity as something you either are or arent like its not a skill you can train and I disagree, she says. Creativity is like a pixelated photograph; the more influences youve pulled from is the number of pixels you have. Increase the number of pixels by adding more and more input, and you end up with something that appears very creative. To pull off the final menu, Nawrocki researched and gathered inspiration from a wide range of sources to ensure each dish was as dialed in as she wanted. The main floor dining room is lush, with elements that balance and soften the concrete elements of the historic space. An elegantly lighted eight-seat bar gives way to an expansive 120-seat dining room that feels intimate despite its square footage. Three discreet alcoves tuck themselves into the side of the main space, with two seating 10 to 12 and a third with room for up to 25 guests. The beauty lies in the details here; gold chain link curtains throw off a muted glow, colorful vintage travel posters provide playful movement against the natural light that streams in from skylights, and green plants break up the lines and define the space. The third-floor terrace, by delightful contrast, is a stark departure from what lies beneath; high on style and low on pretension, sightlines that extend beyond the walls to the enormous covered patio that overlooks the center of City Foundry. Set to greet guests is Patty, a pink concrete elephant sculpture designed for Expat by Tony Rocca and Kurt Knickmeyer in the style of Bob Cassily, the mind behind the iconic City Museum. The indoor and outdoor terrace areas both decked out in vibrant peach, teal and yellow tones function seamlessly together, able to accommodate 250 guests between the two areas. The visual elements of each floor echo the service style of the multi-concept. The main level will maintain traditional dinner service with an elevated barbeque menu that riffs on classics. Guests can jerk chicken wings served with sweet and spicy sauces; Frito pie with braised black-eyed peas, smoked pork shoulder, toasted gari and crispy collards served over a bag of Fritos; and fried kimchi pickles served with a pickled garlic ranch. Larger format barbecue plates will include pork shoulder marinated in lime, Thai basil, lychee, ginger and fish sauce; beer can chicken rubbed with berbere and smoked over mead; lamb shoulder brushed with pomegranate molasses and rubbed with bay leaf, black and green cardamom, cumin, coriander and clover; and a plant-based twice smoked sweet potato dish featuring sweet potato glazed with sherry barbecue sauce and served with fresh parsley, garlic, capers and lemon. The third-floor terrace menu leans toward fast-casual, with dishes like a beef brisket torta rubbed with chilies, garlic and cumin and topped with avocado salsa verde; a cowboy burger, a double-patty affair with Gochugaru barbecue and fried kimchi pickles on a Martins potato bun; and pulled Vietnamese spiced pork tossed in Hogwash barbecue sauce and served with pickled veggie slaw and fresh herbs. After two and a half years of watching the concept come together in parts, the team is more than ready to hit go on the endeavor. I think the most exciting is finally getting people in here to see what weve been working on for so long. I think the space is one of the most exciting parts, and all the little details of it, Craft says, noting that its far from the only thing the concept has going. The food is awesome. Sam [Nawrocki] is absolutely killing it and really excited for people to taste it. I think its going to be something very unique and special. If you go Where: 3730 Foundry Way Hours: Expat will open operations across all levels on Sept. 12, with limited dinner seatings available for reservation on Tock in the main floor dining room starting Aug. 30. Regular hours (starting Sept. 12) are: Main floor dining room, 5-10 p.m. daily; Third floor terrace, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. More info: expatstl.com Expat BBQ in City Foundry STL Close Expat's mezzanine will be used for private events. The crab & chili cheese dip with rice crackers and cucumbers. The pork shoulder. It's Patty! The potato salad. An array of menu items from Expat BBQ are served up for display. The eatery is Niche Food Groups largest concept to date with three stories and dining spaces. +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 Can new rocket launch pads 'work in harmony' with endangered emu wrens, or will their construction push the species towards extinction? A concept drawing of a launch pad at the proposed site where Southern Launch has applied to clear 24 hectares of habitat used by the Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren. Source: Ashwin Rudder/Southern Launch Plans to build a rocket launch site on the home of a tiny bird that's on the brink of extinction has sparked a furious debate. Southern Launch has applied to clear coastal heathland at Whalers Way, west of Adelaide, which conservationists argue is critical habitat for the Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren just 750 survive in the wild. The bulldozing of habitat, shock waves, noise pollution and potential rocket fuel fires would be a disaster for this beautiful little bird, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) nature campaigner Darcie Carruthers said. The non-profit group has issued a joint warning with BirdLife Australia saying approving the project would erode the publics trust in federal laws designed to protect wildlife. It's not the first time a rocket project has sparked environmental concerns. A separate venture by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX littered the home of rare plants and animals in Texas with debris. But Southern Launch's CEO Lloyd Damp told Yahoo News the success of the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, which provides sanctuary to 1,500 plants and animals shows rockets and wildlife can "work in harmony". Southern Launch is determined to develop a sustainable operation that delivers a net environmental benefit to the region, he added. Damp argues the project will improve other areas of the site, creating a net win for the species. And he maintains the sound of blasts at the site will last for less than a minute and only impact three per cent of bird habitat. The privately owned Southern Launch will fire much smaller rockets than SpaceX. It has just 30 employees but Damp believes the new venture will bring new jobs to the Eyre Peninsula. A female Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren at a separate site. Source: Ashwin Rudder Ecologist warns rocket plan could fragment endangered bird's habitat The projects future lies in the hands of environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who must assess its impact on the wren and other species including the endangered Mallee whipbird, Australian sea lions and southern right whales. All projects submitted for assessment under the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC)] Act are considered through a rigorous and transparent process, a spokesperson for the environment department told Yahoo. Damp has welcomed the projects assessment under the EPBC Act saying his company is only applying to clear a tiny fragment of the wrens habitat and that it will offset the impact. The lower Eyre Peninsula has over 140,000 hectares of native vegetation and 41,000 hectares has been identified as Southern Emu-wren habitat. The Whalers Way facility proposes to remove less than 24 hectares of vegetation, he said. But ecologist Ashwin Rudder who independently assessed the wrens distribution across the region in 2023 for Nature Conservation Council of South Australia, thinks the project could further fragment the species remaining habitat. Anything that could lead to further fragmentation is not a good thing, he told Yahoo. A pair of birds will occupy only a single hectare of habitat, so if you clear 24 hectares, youre looking at almost 50 birds, so when youve only got an estimate of 750 birds, its a pretty significant impact. He describes the species as behaving more like a mouse than a bird, moving low to the ground, and struggling to cross large areas of unsuitable habitat. Because the bird is so sensitive, after a large fire destroyed the north-eastern Eyre Peninsula range in 2005, it appears not to have returned to the site despite the habitat recovering. Rudder isnt against bringing a project like Southern Launch to South Australia, particularly because it could result in new jobs, but he cant understand why the company doesnt build its project on farmland, rather than endangered species habitat. The rocket company has proposed building two launch sites in the area. Source: Southern Launch Concern Australia's nature protection laws are 'broken' Birdlife Australia and Australian Conservation Foundation argue a major problem in preventing the extinction of Australias wildlife is that current laws designed to protect them are broken. Problems with the nations environment protection laws were identified by Plibersek when she became minister. Australia is the mammal extinction capital of the world. The need for action has never been greater, she said in 2022. While the Albanese government has introduced some changes to environment laws, conservationists argue more reform is urgently needed. Australia cant afford to set this dangerous precedent and further erode the publics trust in the laws that are supposed to protect Australias nature from destruction, BirdLife Australias campaigns manager Andrew Hunter said. This is exactly why we need a strong EPA, so that clearly unacceptable proposals like this one, which blatantly contradict national conservation advice, can be firmly rejected to protect our most vulnerable birds and the places they live. A decision from Plibersek on whether to allow Southern Launch to clear the Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren habitat is expected on September 7. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. The police chief of Manchester has reached an agreement with city officials to resign this Saturday, amid an investigation that the city has kept mum about for weeks. The city announced the agreement Monday with the chief, Scott Will. Will, who has been chief since 2019, was put on administrative leave in July as part of what the city only described as an ongoing, independent investigation. The city has yet to explain what he was being investigated for and claimed that details would not be divulged under the states Sunshine Law. After he was put on leave, officials last month would only say that the investigation did not have to do with the Regional Justice Information System, or REJIS, a database of residents backgrounds whose illicit use in the neighboring city of Ballwin has prompted a contentious legal saga. Before becoming chief in Manchester, Will had been a police officer for 33 years in Maryland Heights. The city said the chief will collect his salary and the citys contribution to health benefits as well as compensation for accrued vacation leave through Saturday. He will be paid for unused vacation totaling nearly $7,000. After Saturday, the city wont pay him benefits but will pay the employer portion of his September COBRA coverage. The deal also includes a standard non-disparagement clause to ensure that both parties can move forward amicably, according to a city statement. The city is searching for a replacement chief. Will became chief in January 2019 and made $141,448 in 2022, according to the Post-Dispatchs public pay database. Manchester is home to about 18,000 people, and its police department has about 42 full-time employees. Almost all of them are sworn officers. WEBSTER GROVES Veteran staff members who retire early from the Webster Groves School District this year can receive buyouts to help address declining revenues. Staff members who take the buyout offer of 20% of their salary must be eligible for retirement, which generally means working a minimum of 25 years in the public school system. The Webster Groves Board of Education unanimously approved the early separation incentive plan at its meeting Thursday. Webster Groves anticipates an $800,000 drop in state funding this year due to falling enrollment. The district also eliminated six full-time positions to offset the revenue decline, according to the 2024-25 budget. The board discussed a staff buyout plan in February before administrators realized it was too late in the school year to start the process. At the time, district leaders said an estimated 55 staff members were eligible for the buyouts and could potentially be replaced with new hires at lower salaries. Enrollment in Webster Groves eight schools last year was 4,172 students, down from 4,500 five years ago. School revenue is tied to attendance, which is expected to continue its downward trend nationwide primarily because of declining birth rates. The windfall of federal pandemic relief funds for school districts also dries up this year. Last year, there were 725 employees in the district including 315 certified teachers. Webster Groves maximum salary of nearly $104,099 for the most experienced and educated teachers ranked eighth out of about 550 school districts in the state, according to the Missouri National Education Association. About 15 teachers took advantage in 2016 when buyouts were last offered in Webster Groves for a savings of more than $400,000, district leaders said. The Kirkwood School District has an ongoing early retirement plan for cost savings that 18 employees accepted in 2022-23. Since the fall of 2019, public schools have lost 5,500 students in St. Louis County and nearly 3,000 in St. Louis city. Statewide, public school enrollment has fallen by 20,000 students, or 2%, in the past four years to about 860,000, according to the Missouri education department. Enrollment figures for 2024-25 will be released later this fall. August 26, 2024: The importance of NATO support for Ukraine after the Russians invaded in 2022 has led pro-NATO nations in the Pacific to establish closer relationships with NATO. Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand, as well as the United States are seeking to apply these lessons of how NATO supported Ukraine after Russia invaded to the similar threat in the Pacific where Chinas growing navy is acting more aggressively towards its Pacific neighbors. South Korea and Japan have substantial naval and air forces while Australia is upgrading and expanding its own fleet. Although Australian naval bases are far from China, South Korea and Japan, the Australians know from their World War II experience that they are dependent on keeping sea lanes to the Americas, the Middle East, South Korea, Japan, and India open. While in Europe NATO is largely supporting land operations in Ukraine, in the Pacific any conflict would be over who controls key shipping lanes. Another threat from the Pacific is Chinese support for Russian forces in Ukraine. The Chinese support is unofficial and concealed as much as possible but it is substantial and growing. China believed the invasion of Ukraine was a mistake, but Russia is a long-time military and economic partner that must not be allowed to fail. Russia is already losing in Ukraine and may have to admit defeat and leave Ukraine, and probably all the Ukrainian territory Russia has occupied since 2014. The Russian economy is a mess, in part because the Western economic sanctions caused major problems for Russia and the sanctions wont end until the Ukraine War is over and perhaps not even then. Russia is seen as a long-term threat by NATO countries, and the Pacific nations NATO is now talking to see China as a greater threat to pro-NATO Pacific nations. China insists it has no intention of using military force against its Pacific neighbors. China has the largest fleet in the region, including aircraft carriers. The Chinese fleet is growing and China expects it to be larger than the entire U.S. fleet by the 2030s, though this is doubtful due to corruption and the problems it has manning its existing fleet. Chinese military practices put more emphasis on intimidation than action. China is heavily dependent on seaborne trade and if that is disrupted it would mean China would not get essential food and petroleum supplies. China has to import food to feed its population and imported petroleum is essential to keep the economy going. Based on past performance, China may threaten and sometimes act aggressively but wont deliberately try to kill anyone. The initial Chinese public reaction to a Pacific NATO was to accuse the Americans of seeking such an alliance to sustain U.S. economic and military domination in the Western Pacific. This situation was an aftereffect of World War II. China and Russia sought to resist in Korea, Vietnam and a few smaller wars. Their only success was in Vietnam, but that came at the expense of economic growth, individual prosperity and personal freedoms. Vietnam is still ruled by a communist dictatorship, although one that is trying to, like China, allow a free market economy to operate. Vietnam is still a communist dictatorship that, unlike China, was unable to make the most of free market opportunities. As a result Vietnam currently has a GDP per capita of $4,300 compared to over $12,000 for China. South Korea, which remained an ally of the United States since the end of World War II, is now one of the top ten largest economies in the world with a per capita GDP of $35,000. In socialist North Korea it is $1,200. South Korea is a democracy with elected government officials. North Korea is a socialist dictatorship where the government started by Kim Il Sung in 1948 has been continued by his son and grandson as a hereditary dictatorship. Unlike the constitutional monarchies in Europe that are overseen by an elected government, the North Korean hereditary government is a dictatorship with no input from the population. Because of this situation South Korea welcomes NATO while North Korea condemns it and sells Russia weapons to be used in Ukraine by the Russian invaders. Accessibility and Localisation: How AI Can Create More Accessible Content for Larger Audiences With key streaming services such as Disney+, Amazon, and Netflix trying to drive down production costs across the board, premium content providers have spent considerable time looking at how they can develop or license content which isnt produced in English but can offer global appeal. This is a rather obvious step, as films and shows in several non-English languages account for a significant portion of content consumption on Netflix. For example, in the last half of 2023, Korean accounted for 9% of total viewing; Spanish, 7%; and Japanese, 5%. Global demand for non-English content grew to 40% in 2023, nearly doubling, since it comprised 23% in 2018, according to research from Rise Studios published in February 2024. Standout examples of non-English-language breakout hits in English markets include a wide range of content in languages other than Korean, Japanese, and Spanish, including Germanys Dear Child, with 53 million views; Polands Forgotten Love, with 43 million views; and Indias The Railway Men, with 11 million views. In fact, some of Netflixs biggest hits are in a language other than English. The obvious example is of course Squid Game, a Korean production which is still the most viewed TV series on the service, having racked up more than 2.2 billion hours of viewing since its launch. Amazon Prime has had similar success with Culpa Mia, a Spanish-language film, and Medellin, a 2023 French film that immediately jumped to the top 10 list of non-English language films. Culpa Mia became the number-one movie worldwide and is featured in the top 10 most watched movies in more than 190 countries. While Disney+ doesnt feature a lot of non-English-language content, it still has a significant reach globally, with around two-thirds of its subscribers coming from outside North America and the UK. This means it has a large requirement to translate content for roughly 100 million subscribers in more than 150 territories. Achieving Global Reach Through AI Translation and Titling With the amount of content being produced and the possibility of the content moving from becoming a limited market release to a global breakout hit, the need to localise content effectively has always been essential to streaming services in order to gain as much reach as possible. Historically, making content accessible in terms of multiple-language translationsincluding sign languagehas proven expensive to do well. But with the growth of AI services, it has become apparent that this technology can extend the reach of content while enabling services to support a wider range of languages at a lower cost. During the last 2 years, AI services have made significant leaps forward in delivering highly accurate and contextually relevant subtitles not only for on-demand but for live content as well. Many of the available tools can also modify the subtitle delivery based on the device being used, including changing the colour, size, and positioning of the subtitles, to create a better user experience. Several Big Tech companies have shown prototypes or released new versions of their existing platforms demonstrating new developments in this space during the last 1218 months. For example, Meta showcased its Seamless M4T Universal Speech Translator, a prototype for real-time translation and voice cloning across multiple languages. In dynamic live conversations, the AI seamlessly translated each speakers words into other languages while simultaneously replicating voice style and achieving lip-syncing. Metas Seamless M4T Universal Speech Translator provides dynamic, real-time text and speech translation and even translates code-switching speech that incorporates multiple languages into the same conversation. In February 2023, Google introduced a new feature to Translate. As its name suggests, Local Context considers the local context of phrases and expressions. The result is translations that adapt to regional dialects, slang, and cultural references. In a similar vein, Microsoft Translator rolled out its Custom Speech Models platform, allowing users to train AI models with their own data, encompassing domain-specific terminology and industry jargon. Microsoft Translator is a key component of the new paid Copilot+ service and hardware. The hardware in the form of Surface tablets and laptops will include a feature of Copilot+ Live Captions that will create live English captions on-the-fly from any content, with an audio track that had a total of 40 languages at launch. These major developments demonstrate the general direction of travel in the AI subtitling industry, with a range of suppliers implementing similar context models to improve accuracy around local idioms and content-specific jargon. However, with these large tech firms developing their own processes and models, which will likely be integrated directly into their existing products, this trend may threaten specialist companies in the captioning, subtitling, and AI markets, such as Ai-Media, Nuvo, and others. Live AI-powered subtitling with Ai-Media LEXI 3.0 Of course, how widely these solutions are adoptedand the ability of smaller providers to competewill be largely determined by the accuracy and quality of subtitles. Without these, content services become something of a damp squib. This does suggest that a new area of innovation is underway, as these kinds of in-built offerings from large tech companies may dramatically reduce the need for services to directly translate their video content, as the viewing platform will do that on-the-flyat least in the realm of PCs and mobile devices. The question for the content platforms, in a world where the quality of device-created subtitles is high, is does creating custom subtitles and captions with greater context make economic sense? In the near term, we may see the content platforms increasingly rely on device-based subtitles as they become more prevalent while still producing platform-based subtitles to support dumber devices such as TVs and set-top boxes. Real-Time Subtitling and Translation The heightened speed and performance of these models means that real-time subtitles can be created with almost zero lag for live content. This is a key development for both Amazon and Netflix, as they are now creating and licensing more live content than ever before. During the last 12 months, weve seen a significant increase in the number of services that offer real-time subtitling and captioning, such as Microsoft Azure Speech Services live captioning. These services are beginning to deliver real-time subtitles for live content with a very high degree of accuracy, and so we are reaching the point where it doesnt matter if content is live or on demand: everything can have multi-language subtitles. We should also remember that subtitling makes all content more accessible to those with hearing loss. This is potentially a huge part of the audience in the UK alone, where more than 11 million people have moderate-to-severe hearing loss. This functionality also makes content accessible for those who want to use captions for other reasons, like not wanting sound on in the office or those watching on the bus who dont want to use or find their headphones. Other Ways AI Will Revolutionise Multi-Language Content Distribution Subtitling is potentially only the first step in how AI will revolutionise the distribution of content in multiple languages. Streaming platforms have also been using AI to expand their audio descriptions tools since 2022. Netflixs All the Light We Cannot See limited series demonstrated some of the most detailed audio description of any Netflix content. The in-house AI is able to analyse on-screen video elements, including the locations, the actors present, and their actions, and create the audio description while understanding how these various components interact on screen. AI-powered audio descriptions from the Netflix All the Light We Cannot Seetrailer Beyond these captioning, subtitling, and description services, the next big innovation will be in the dubbing and automated lip syncing for content in new languages. The first step will be the continued development of live audio translation. Some services are already being used extensively in non-video environments. One such example is Spotifys Voice Translation, which translates podcasts into additional languages while simulating the audio replacement in the voice of the original host. Voice Translation is one of several significant developments in this area within the last year. Lip-sync technology has also made great leaps in the last 12 months, with the enhanced ability to produce a convincing lip sync for new language audio dubs as well as simulating the original actors voice in different languages in a similar manner to the Spotify service. These synthetic voices are increasingly capable of reflecting nuances of both emotion and idiom across a range of languages. There are still significant improvements to be made when it comes to accurately replicating an actors voice and style in multiple languages, as the AI technology tends to slightly normalise voices by removing strong regional accents. There is also the issue of the emotional resonance of the content and AIs being unable to always give an authentic performance, which is why, currently, there is not wider adoption of the tech. Finally, regional and cultural factors must be considered to ensure that the content and performance resonate with the audience. As we have seen with a lot of the other AI services, it will probably be simply a matter of time before many of these problems are overcome. Legal questions persist regarding the appropriation of existing actors voices for multi-language dubbing, including using these voices as sources to train AI models. Resolving these rights issues is key to the continual development of the tech, as can be seen with Scarlett Johanssons claim that OpenAI synthesised a voice similar to hers as part of a new release of ChatGPT after she declined its request to use her voice as a model. OpenAI denied that it was meant to be a version of her voice but did remove the option to use it. To ensure AI technologys continuing development and application, a legal framework and payment standards will need to be created to secure AI rights to using actors voices in multiple languages as well as to train AI models. For example, if an AI voice simulation automatically translates an actors lines into a new language and creates something culturally insensitive, how is the actor protected from damage to their reputation? Licensing artists vocal and visual likenesses for use in AI-generated content may prove particularly challenging for content localisation efforts, as the regulatory frameworks may differ across national borders or as rights agreements dont extend internationally. AI, Accessibility, and Sign Language The advances in multi-language dubbing and subtitling have been impressive so far in increasing the accessibility of content to both audiences in different countries and the hearing-impaired. Now, AI may offer a real opportunity to massively expand the accessibility of content through its sign language interpretation. Sign language interpretation has historically been difficult to add to a large amount of content due to its reliance on human interpreters who are willing to appear on camera within content. Added to this is the fact that sign language differs for almost every language in the world, outside of the more common American and British sign languages. These differences have created a bottleneck effect in which the lack of interpreters and their associated cost have limited the amount of content that can be interpreted. Several companies, including Signapse AI, Kara Technologies, and SIMAX, have begun to offer virtual avatars which can be fed either audio or text and will interpret in a number of sign languages. These avatars range from expressive animated characters to photorealistic interpreters. Kara Technologies AI-generated virtual sign language interpreters Although many of these solutions continue to show real progress, by and large, they are not yet ready for widespread use and have a limited number of use cases in which they can be effective. The key areas for improvement are in the overall volume of vocabulary the avatars can interpret and the need for an interpreter to not only use their hands to interpret but also their whole-body movement and facial expression to carry the meanings of words. Sign language interpretation is a highly complex task, which, at its core, requires a very human understanding to produce accurate and easily understood interpretations. However, having seen the rapid increase in accuracy of AI subtitling in the last year, it is clear that AI sign language interpretation is a promising area of development. But it will require much more work, resources, and training to make it a viable option for the future. It is definitely a space worth keeping a close eye on, given that an estimated 1% of the worlds population uses sign language. Virtual Speakers and Actors A final area to look at in terms of AI usage in content localisation is something that is at an even earlier stage than models for sign language interpretation, and that is the world of the virtual presenter/actor. 3D capture of actors and the rendering of virtual doubles for VFX work has been with us for a reasonably long time. However, the recent launch of several virtual speaker services, which allow you to capture a person via a webcam and then render them to deliver a speech to a camera using audio they have recorded or text that is interpreted by an AI simulation of their voice, opens up a whole new world of talent replacement for content. When it comes to localisation, rather than simply dubbing an existing actor into a new language with lip sync, you could, in theory, replace one actors entire performance with an actor who is more popular/more recognisable in that region. Imagine, for example, Chris Pratt appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 in English-language markets, but in India, Star-Lord being played by a photorealistic avatar of Prabhas. The potential for this kind of technology as it becomes more accurate and cost-effective is tremendous, since it creates the possibility of customising a platforms content not only to a region but even to a specific group of users. For example, imagine fans of Tom Cruise watching him as Iron Man. The widespread deployment of this technology is still a fair distance away, but the idea of an actor being digitised once and then used many times in different productions has massive implications. It was at the core of the recent SAG-AFTRA strike. Again, the determining factor will be not only the technology reaching maturity, but also the development of robust agreements between actors and content creators to ensure there is a fair deal for all. The rapid evolution of AI has opened multiple opportunities for content owners and creators to cost-effectively make their content accessible across more territories and to more audiences than ever before. This accessibility will only continue to expand. The key elements for its growth will come down to how quickly the technology develops, the willingness of the platforms to support different requirements for different audiences, and whether they can begin to develop legal frameworks which support the usage of the tech without disenfranchising talent. The potential for cost-effective, highly customisable accessible content for every users language and region is huge. However, there are legal and ethical challenges to overcome to embed these benefits into the platforms long term. In an ever-evolving technological landscape, the real issue may be the ability of creators, legislators, platform owners, and talent to keep up with the speed of change. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Related Articles The parking entrance for the Godeok Paragon Edupore Apartment high rise in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, is pictured on Aug. 26, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes) OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea Local police arrested an airman stationed here on suspicion of drunken driving and crashing into six vehicles at his apartment complex parking lot over the weekend. A resident of the Godeok Paragon Edupore Apartment high rise in Pyeongtaek city, heading to work around 4:35 a.m. Saturday, found his car had been damaged and called police, a Pyeongtaek Police Station officer said by phone Monday. Another five vehicles, models that included Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, showed damaged to front and rear bumpers and a crushed front hood, the officer said. He did not have an estimate of the damage. Police found security camera footage of the unidentified airman in his late 20s going to his apartment and struggling to walk, the officer said. South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity and typically do not identify individuals suspected of crimes except in extreme cases, such as homicide. The airman was speaking incoherently and staggering when the police arrived at his home; a breath test revealed his blood-alcohol content level was above 0.08%, according to the officer. South Koreas limit for drivers is 0.03%. The limit for drivers in all 50 U.S. states is 0.08%. The airman told police he recalled crashing into other cars but was unable to provide specifics, the officer said. The airman was then handed over to U.S. Forces Korea military police. USFK, the command responsible for the roughly 28,500 troops in the country, maintains custody of its personnel in criminal proceedings unless they are accused of serious crimes. Seventh Air Force and 51st Fighter Wing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Monday. Osan, about 30 miles south of Seoul, is about 10 miles north of Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas. A view from Matakina Bridge in Nago city, Okinawa, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes) NAGO CITY, Okinawa A U.S. Marine died after falling from a bridge over a dam over the weekend in this northern Okinawa city, according to the Marine Corps, city fire department and prefectural police. Lance Cpl. Blake Dominguez, 20, was found by Japanese divers and pronounced dead at 2:28 p.m. Saturday after an apparent accident at Haneji Dam in Nago, according to a news release Monday from the 3rd Marine Logistics Group. Dominguez, of Fulton County, Ga., served as a combat engineer with 9th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Hansen. He reported to active duty on Nov. 10, 2022, according to the release. Team 9 mourns the loss of Lance Cpl. Dominguez, battalion commander Lt. Col. Christopher Thrasher said in the release. He was a fierce and dedicated Marine, whose warrior spirit lifted those around him. His absence is deeply felt by the entire battalion, but his legacy will continue to inspire us. Lance Cpl. Blake Dominguez, 20, was found by Japanese divers and pronounced dead Aug. 24, 2024, after an apparent accident at Haneji Dam in Nago, Okinawa. (U.S. Marine Corps) Dominguez was on Matakina Bridge over Haneji Dam in the Taira district of Nago with five friends when the accident happened around 12:20 p.m. Saturday, a spokesman from the Nago Fire Department said by phone Monday. The department received an emergency call at 12:29 p.m. that a man fell from the bridge. First responders arrived around 12:45 p.m. and recovered Dominguezs body from 46 feet below the reservoirs surface at 1:32 p.m. Swimming is prohibited in the area around the bridge and dam. The bridge is about 85 feet above the water, the spokesman said. Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. A view of Matakina Bridge in Nago city, Okinawa, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes) The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the Marines death, the news release said. Chief Warrant Officer 2 William Faffler, a spokesman for the logistics group, declined to provide further details about the incident, citing the ongoing investigation. The Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group transits the Pacific Ocean in 2020. (Jason Isaacs/U.S. Navy) WASHINGTON The Middle East deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has been extended following a weekend of Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah trading heavy fire, the Pentagon said Monday. Given the tensions in the Middle East and given our commitment to continue to support Israels defense and deter potential aggression, the secretary did order an extension of Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman. The Roosevelt and its strike group will remain in the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln and its escorts. The announcement marks the second time the U.S. has positioned two carrier strike groups in the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday on the social media platform X that two strike groups would be postured in the region. Ryder said Monday that the decision was made over the weekend but declined to say if the decision came before or after tensions between Israel and Hezbollah came to a head Saturday. It is unclear how long the Roosevelt, which has already been deployed for eight months, will be extended, with neither Austin nor Ryder indicating a timeline for the extension. Historically, carrier deployments have been extended in 30-day increments. We will do everything we can to ensure we can meet our national security commitments, while also at the same time managing the finite resources that we do have around the world, Ryder said. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt transits in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations on Aug. 10, 2024. Theodore Roosevelt is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy) Israel fired preemptive strikes Saturday, with Hezbollah launching drones and missiles after weeks of cease-fire negotiations and a hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The U.S. provided information, surveillance and reconnaissance support to Israel in tracking incoming Hezbollah attacks over the weekend, Ryder said. But the U.S. did not participate in the firefight; Ryder said Israel was able to defend itself with its own capabilities. Should there have been a need for us to do that, certainly, we are posed and ready to go, he said. The Roosevelt deployed in January from San Diego for an Indo-Pacific region deployment. The aircraft carrier and its strike group were redirected in late June to the Middle East to relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Also in the region is the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and its group. We remain well postured to support Israels defense against any aggression from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah or other actors, as weve been from the start, Ryder said. Schriever Space Force Base is the home of the 310th Space Wing, an Air Reserve component of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service) Hundreds of Air Force reservists focused on space missions are applying for active-duty service as the Space Force launches a first-of-its kind model to employ both full-time and part-time guardians. The current reservists can retire, put in for retraining with the Reserve, or apply for the Space Force, but they cant stay in their current positions under a law that phases out the space-focused portion of the Air Force Reserve. Its a model that Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations in the Space Force, has promoted saying it would allow active-duty guardians to transfer between full-time and part-time work and bring commercial experience to the Space Force. Such opportunities will help us attract highly skilled, technologically inclined people in an increasingly competitive space enterprise talent market, he said in congressional testimony. Across the country, most of the Air Force reservists eligible to transfer into the Space Force work for the 310th Space Wing headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base. The reservists with the wing who are eligible to transfer work in specialty areas such as space systems operations, cyberspace operations and intelligence. Current reservists with the wing work side by side with active-duty guardians in various missions such as missile warning at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, space domain awareness at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and GPS at Schriever, said Col. Adam Fisher, wing commander. In some cases, reservists are needed to fill a certain percentage of seats during missions for several months as part of schedules forecast years in advance, Fisher and Chief Master Sgt. Josh Francois said. The transfer of Air Force reservists into the Space Force is separate from the debate over the future of National Guard units with space-focused missions. Colorado is home to seven space-focused National Guard units in Colorado Springs, Denver and Greeley. Earlier this year, governors from across the nation got involved to oppose the Defense Departments proposal to unilaterally move guard units into the Space Force. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, among many others, have argued the the proposal undercuts governors authority and disregards federal law. While the proposal was removed from the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, it is still in the Senate version of the large must-pass annual bill. Congress has yet to compromise on the final version of the bill. Colorado lawmakers have pushed for a dedicated Space National Guard that would allow existing units to remain in place, an option they argue would preserve the expertise of experienced guardsmen who may choose to leave instead of transferring into the active duty. Conversely, Fisher said a large percentage of his full-time force is interested in transferring to active duty and a somewhat surprising number of part-time forces who have already applied for full-time work. Since applications opened up June 1, about 200 people from the wing have applied to transfer into the Space Force of about 900 airmen eligible to transfer. Those applying now must be willing to work two years full time in active duty. Fisher said he expects part-time positions will open in a few years. Fisher expects to be the last wing commander as hundreds of people transfer into the Space Force and he leads the 310th Space Wing through inactivation. The transition could last through 2028 because of its complex nature, he said. Its important the knowledge and experience in the reserve is preserved, Fisher said. So an assignment process will help match applicants to their preferred positions while balancing the needs of Space Force, he said. In some cases, reservists could remain working on the same mission, such as missile warning, when they transfer into the active duty. The talent in the reserve component and in the citizen airmen is exquisite, he said. He expects leaders in industry will be transitioning into the Space Force through this process. About 400 people are support personnel for the wing who are not eligible to transfer, Fisher said. Those reservists could be eligible to work for the 302nd Air Lift Wing at Peterson Space Force Base. Overall, even though the 310th is going away, the region should not gain or lose jobs. Were working hand in hand with with the members and Air Force Reserve Command to ensure that theyre taken care of, he said, of support personnel. In one unique case, the 6th Space Operations Squadron, charged with helping to run a key satellite constellation for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will transfer into Space Operations Command. The transfer is expected in the near future, Fisher said. In the coming years, one of Fishers challenges will be managing a shrinking force within the 310th Space Wing, as the full-time space professionals transfer first, leaving behind more part-time reservists. We have contingencies upon contingencies right now, based upon how many people do end up transferring, he said. (c)2024 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Visit at www.gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Donald Trump speaks at the National Guard Association in Detroit on Aug. 26, 2024. (Paul Sancya/AP) Former President Donald Trump said Monday that if he is reelected to the White House, he will create a Space National Guard to support the newest military branch that he established under his previous term in office. You want this very badly, but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat Reserve of the U.S. Space Force, the Republican presidential candidate said speaking at the annual meeting of the National Guard Association of the United States. Held this year in Detroit, the annual meeting has hosted at least one major party candidate since 1992. Trump last addressed the group in 2016. Roughly 4,000 people were in attendance, according to the association. Organizers said they also invited Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president. During Trumps first presidential term, he announced the creation of the Space Force as a service branch. It was established under the Department of the Air Force on Dec. 20, 2019. Since then, there has been debate about how creating a part-time Reserve option for the Space Force could help bring talented people into the military who might otherwise seek higher paying civilian jobs. A group of bipartisan senators has filed legislation to create a Space National Guard that has failed to gain traction amid congressional resistance and opposition from the White House. Harris has not spoken publicly on the subject. A report released in April that reviewed the option of creating a Space National Guard raised concerns that recruiting and retaining members for a Space Guard would be challenging because it would only have about 700 personnel at most. The report also described it could be an expensive option, though relatively easy to implement quickly. Instead, the Department of the Air Force is moving forward with plans to allow for part-time service in the regular Space Force. While this infrastructure is established, it is seeking approval to allow the Space Force to absorb space-related units in the Air National Guard. The National Guard Association has been strongly opposed to this plan, so Trumps proposal was met with strong applause Monday afternoon. Space Force has been very important, very, very important, he said. Timeleft members gather for dinner at Sungold in Arlo Williamsburg in New York City on Aug. 14. New York City is Timelefts busiest U.S. market. The service arranges Wednesday night dinners for six-person groups in 170 cities across 37 countries. (Paola Chapdelaine/For The Washington Post) SAN FRANCISCO A sticker on a wall in Lisbon caught Katya Gratchevas attention last fall: No dating or networking. Just breakfast. It led the married 52-year-old, tired of the transactional networking she encountered at home in Washington to download an app called The Breakfast. For a fee, it pairs strangers seeking deep conversation for morning meals in 17 cities worldwide. Gratcheva, who is Russian, ultimately matched with a young Ukrainian woman whose willingness to discuss the conflict between their two countries felt transformational. She was able to see a friend in me even though I represent the nation that bombed her country and killed her friends, Gratcheva said. Gratcheva estimates that shes attended about 30 such breakfasts with strangers in the past nine months. She has lots of company: Apps that offer to connect strangers seeking platonic connections are having a moment. Although they share many features with dating apps, they bill themselves as tools for networking or community-building, not for finding romance, with many like Breakfast targeting isolated remote workers and digital nomads. In July, the dating app Bumble, which also has modes for networking and friend-finding, completed its acquisition of Geneva, an app designed to help people make new friends to spend time with offline. Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones said on an earnings call this month that fostering platonic bonds is core to the companys future business. What we are hearing from our young users is that they are feeling lonely and disconnected, she said. Maxime Barbier, co-founder and CEO of Timeleft, an app that arranges Wednesday night dinners for six-person groups in 170 cities across 37 countries, says fatigue with dating apps is driving people toward in-person, friends-only meetups. We can see that people are craving something that is not a dating app, he said. These services are proliferating at a time when loneliness is common and city dwellers report feeling detached from their local communities. According to a February survey from Gallup, 1 in 5 workers experiences loneliness. Fully remote workers are more likely to feel lonely (25%), the survey found, compared to those who work fully on-site (16%) and hybrid employees (21%). A 2023 survey from the Pew Research Center found that urban Americans are less likely to feel they have local connections. Forty-nine percent of city dwellers reported feeling close to people in their local community, compared with 55% of those in the suburbs and 58% of people in rural areas. Raymond Ou is one of those city dwellers whos had a hard time making friends. The 41-year-old used to attend tech events to meet people, but since he became a broadcast producer at a local television station whose workday starts at 7 p.m., his evenings are no longer free for happy hours or mixers. Ive sacrificed my social life for this job, Ou said over tofu and veggies at a Burmese restaurant in downtown San Francisco, adding that though sacrifice was worth it, hed still like more friends, especially those with availability during the day. Ou signed up for the Creative Lunch Club app after seeing an ad on Instagram that promised to connect people in similar industries. In his first three months as a member, he paid $11 to be matched with two others for a small group lunch. On the day of the meeting, one of those Ou was due to meet canceled citing a work emergency and the other turned out to be this Washington Post reporter. Ou, who also works as a documentary filmmaker, said he wanted to try the Creative Lunch Club because it offered a space separate from the tech scene, which is ubiquitous in San Francisco. Its providing opportunities for different people we want to meet, Ou said. Ou told me that he usually eats lunch alone, making him part of a pattern that spurred Klaus Heller, the founder of Creative Lunch Club, to start the app. I was thinking this could be a good time of the day to meet other people or to be used better, Heller said in a phone interview. Heller, a freelance social media marketer in Vienna, also had a hunch that people in creative industries would find a lot to connect on. That was true for me and Ou. Having spent much of my 20s working nights in journalism, I was able to tell Ou that I knew intimately how an unorthodox work schedule can make it hard to have a social life. We also spoke about the challenges of convincing sources to confide in journalists, how we go about cultivating trust with people weve just barely met and bonded over our love of the Japanese clothing brand, Sou Sou. Meeting Ou was enjoyable, but at times I found myself thinking that a larger group would have helped round out the conversation. Kasley Killam, a social scientist and author of The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health Is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier and Happier, estimated in a phone interview that there are now hundreds of apps trying to address the loneliness epidemic by helping people connect with others just about every week, she hears about a new one. Its easy to meet new people while in college or your 20s, Killam said, but what if you move to a new city or go through a breakup? A lot of people struggle for where to turn for that. Damian Jacobs, a 44-year-old lawyer, faced that conundrum after a recent move from Hong Kong to San Francisco. His wife and children are still thousands of miles away, visiting occasionally as the family finalizes its plans to relocate. Jacobs tried taking himself out to bars and restaurants and striking up conversations with strangers but that didnt take. People at my age tend to be married with kids. Theyre not going out to bars on a Saturday night and mingling with strangers, Jacobs said in a phone interview. Ive found that places Ive gone to, folks are much younger than I am, hanging out with their friends. Things felt very different at his first dinner arranged via Timeleft. Everybody at the table is there to meet strangers, he said. Jacobs paid $25 to access a month of meetups, which combine a different group each week. After each dinner, Timeleft picks a place for the group to move on to for an optional after-party. At the dinner Jacobs attended in San Franciscos Japantown, his dining partners, including this reporter, chose a nearby karaoke bar instead. If you told me I wouldve ended up at a karaoke bar afterward, I wouldve laughed you out of the room, said Jacobs, who isnt normally a fan of the art. Still, he got up on the stage and mouthed the words to Im Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers with the rest of his dinner-mates, later calling the performance a testament to the power of peer pressure. Hes not sure if hell see that group again. But he has a three-month subscription to Timeleft and will be going for another dinner with a new group soon. An MQ-9 Reaper sits on the flight line at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 17, 2019. (Haley Stevens/U.S. Air Force) CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa The Marine Corps has deployed MQ-9A Reaper drones to Kadena Air Base to support surveillance training in southern Japan, according to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and Okinawa prefecture. The drones are with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, wing spokesman 1st Lt. Jude Hydrick told Stars and Stripes by email Monday. The systems arrived on the island on Aug. 13. He did not say how many Reapers were deployed, citing operational security. Operating from Japan provides VMU-3 with realistic domain awareness training that will increase proficiency to help provide critical support to Marines, the Joint Force, and our Japanese Allies in support of the defense of Japan, Hydrick wrote. The Okinawa Defense Bureau, an arm of Japans Defense Ministry, told the prefecture Friday that the U.S. military is planning to temporarily deploy less than six Reapers to Kadena, a spokeswoman for the prefectures Military Base Affairs Division said by phone Monday. The drones will fly from Hawaii and deploy for a year to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities around the Nansei region, the spokeswoman said. The deployment date is unknown, she said. The Nansei, or Ryukyu, island chain stretches from Kyushu, the southernmost of Japans four main islands, to Taiwan. The drones will not fly over residential areas and will be parked far from these areas to avoid noise problems, the spokeswoman said. A C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron delivers MQ-9 Reaper systems at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Aug. 13, 2024. (Gabriel Antwiler/U.S. Air Force) Eight Air Force Reapers and two Navy MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones are already deployed at Kadena, the spokeswoman said. The Tritons will be withdrawn in October as scheduled, she added. As the prefecture, we responded that we have been asking to review the deployment of MQ-9s and MQ-4s, the spokeswoman said. We are still thinking the same way. Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. Air Force Reapers assigned to the 319th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron remain at Kadena and continue to fly intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over Japans southern island chain in close coordination with Japans Ministry of Defense, 18th Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Robert Dabbs said by email Monday. He declined to say how many Reapers are there due to operational security. The Reaper, made by General Atomics of San Diego, is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely operated aircraft used primarily for surveillance, according to the Air Force. They can carry a combination of Hellfire missiles and Paveway laser-guided bombs. The fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii prepares to moor at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (Ian Zagrocki/U.S. Navy) A U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine has docked in Western Australia as a training platform as the Australian navy prepares to maintain its own fleet of nuclear-powered boats. The USS Hawaii arrived Thursday at HMAS Stirling, near Perth, according to a statement posted Friday by the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The Virginia-class boat joined the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land, which arrived at the naval base on Aug. 16. Australian technicians at Stirling are honing skills to service U.S. and British nuclear-powered fast-attack boats under the AUKUS defense pact - so named for Australia, the United Kingdom and United States. The tenders U.S. and Australian crew will perform maintenance on the Hawaii over several weeks, Lt. Cmdr. Rick Moore, Submarine Force commander, said in the statement. The 2021 AUKUS agreement aims to position one British and four U.S. nuclear-powered boats as Submarine Rotational Force-West at Stirling. The defense pacts first phase is on track to bring the vessels there on a temporary basis within three years, Australias nonpartisan Lowy Institute reported last month. More than 30 Australian sailors, supervised by U.S. personnel, will perform maintenance on the sub, Moore said. Tasks will include removal and reinstallation of an antenna located in Hawaiis sail, divers visually inspecting the underwater towed array and torpedo tube muzzles, and simulating the removal and installation of a trim pump, to include full rigging and preparations, he wrote. It will be the first time Australians have maintained a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in Australian waters, Capt. Brent Spillner, commander of the Emory S. Land, said in an Aug. 16 Navy news release. This is an important milestone and learning opportunity as we work together to establish Submarine Rotational ForceWest, where both U.S. and UK submarines will regularly transit through HMAS Stirling, with maintenance and logistics assisted by Australian personnel, he said. Work done in the coming weeks will set Australia on the path toward its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, Cmdr. Dan Jones, skipper of the Hawaii, said in Fridays release. The sub visit coincides with the deployment of an undisclosed number of Air Force B-2 Spirits to Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley for a bomber task force mission in the east coast state of Queensland. Meanwhile, the Australian government announced plans for a new missile factory at Newcastle in New South Wales, also on the east coast. Australia will contribute $577 million toward the facility operated by Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to build naval and joint strike missiles for the Australian Defence Force and international customers, Australian Defense Industry and Capability Delivery Minister Pat Conroy told reporters Thursday. The facility, able to produce more than 100 missiles a year, will start production in 2027, Conroy said, according to a transcript of his press conference. People take shelter in the Teatralna metro station during a Russian air attack, in Kyiv, on Aug. 26, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Roman Pilipey, AFP, Getty Images via TNS) (Tribune News Service) Ukraine said Russia fired more than 100 missiles and nearly as many drones at cities across the country on Monday in a massive attack against power infrastructure that caused blackouts and left at least three people dead. The energy sector has sustained significant damage, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on the X social media network, calling the strike one of the largest since the Kremlins invasion of his country began more than two years ago. Russia has been stepping up efforts to knock out Ukraines civilian infrastructure, including power, heating and water supplies, ahead of the winter season. The latest attack comes as Kyiv continues its incursion in the Kursk region of Russia, which caught Moscow off guard and has prompted tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes. Russias defense ministry said on Monday it targeted gas compressor stations in western Ukraine as well as electric substations and air missile storages across the country. The attacks affected 15 of Ukraines 27 regions, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a post on X, including the capital of Kyiv and the western Lviv region near the border with Poland. The capitals hydro-power plant was among the targets. Emergency power and water supply cuts were imposed in Kyiv. The barrage prompted Zelenskyy to again call on Ukraines western allies to remove limits on the use of long-range weapons to hit military targets inside Russia and deliver more air defenses and missiles. Our defenders cannot be restricted in their weapons when Russia deploys its entire arsenal, including Shaheds and ballistic missiles from North Korea, he said in the post. America, Britain, France, and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. One of the Russian drones entered Polish airspace early on Monday and disappeared from radar around 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) deep into its territory. A search operation was on to find the object. Polish and NATO jets were scrambled to safeguard the countrys airspace, the air force said on the X social media platform, describing the attack as the most intense affecting Western Ukraine since July 8. Lvivs regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, warned missiles were approaching Stryi where gas transmission systems and storage infrastructure is located. An air raid alert, which started after midnight, was continued in about half of Ukraine after a brief intermission. The northwestern city of Lutsk, which has rarely been a target of attacks, was also affected, and a residential house was damaged, local mayor Ihor Polishchuk said, according to Suspilne broadcaster. At least three people were killed in the attack, according to local governments. The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly, Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyys office, said on Telegram Monday. Several districts in Kyiv remained without power and water supply amid the attack due to the situation in the countrys energy system, the citys mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram. Kozytskyi also said that the power supply was interrupted in Lviv region. Ukraines grid operator imposed urgent power cuts, the countrys energy minister, German Galushchenko, said on Facebook. The situation is difficult, and consequences of the attack are being assessed. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said 20 Ukrainian drones attacked targets overnight in several central regions of Russia. Two multistory apartment buildings in the cities of Saratov and Engels were hit during the strike, according to Saratov regional Governor Roman Busargin. Several people were injured, he said. (With assistance from Olesia Safronova, Daryna Krasnolutska and Volodymyr Verbianyi.) 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, on June 8, 2024. (Jack Guez, AFP, Pool Photo, DPA, Abaca Press via TNS) (Tribune News Service) Hours after 100 Israeli warplanes swooped over southern Lebanon, taking out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers in what was called a preemptive strike, the Middle East remained braced for an expanded conflagration that could involve Iran and its allied militias. The assault started at 5 a.m. local time and was based, Israeli officials said, on precise intelligence that Hezbollah was about to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israel as well as drones at a key intelligence center just north of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the killing of its commander in July. Israel declared a 48-hour state of emergency and shut its main airport for several hours, with numerous foreign airlines canceling flights. Hezbollah responded by firing more than 200 projectiles, according to Israel, although officials said very limited damage was caused. One Israeli soldier was killed by falling debris, while three deaths were reported in Lebanon. If Hezbollah had successfully executed an attack on targets in central Israel, the tit-for-tat fighting thats been simmering on the border area for 10 months may have exploded into wider warfare. For now, some analysts said, a brief calm might ensue. It was a huge success that we detected the plans and now there is the possibility for both sides not to escalate this very complex situation, said retired Brigadier General Ilan Biton, a former chief of defense for Israels air force. Both Israel and Hezbollah announced that, for now, their operations were over despite ongoing low-level fighting. Israel reopened its airport and eased restrictions on public gatherings imposed earlier in the day. Significantly, negotiations in Cairo aimed at establishing a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamas commenced as planned on Sunday, according to the prime ministers office. Consequences This exchange is more likely to aid than complicate the cease-fire talks, said Mike Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute. By sending a message that Israel is willing and able to escalate, and that Washington will back it when it does so, the U.S. and Israel have underscored the consequences for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran of continuing to refuse a deal. Hezbollah said its attack on Israel was planned as the start of retaliation for the killing of its commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said it fired more than 320 missiles, followed up by drones, to target 11 army barracks and military sites in northern Israel. The Mossad intelligence services base in Glilot was the main target of the attack, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting on Sunday and said he was determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes, and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us we will harm them. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, noted that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone over the weekend, and that a top U.S. commander in the region had visited twice recently. He declined to say whether the U.S. was given advance warning of Sundays attack, adding, This was an Israeli operation. U.S. support The U.S. has stepped up its naval and air defense presence in the region as a warning to Iran and its allies not to increase hostilities. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder referred questions about Sundays operation to Israel. We continue to closely monitor the situation and have been very clear that the U.S. is postured to support the defense of Israel, Ryder said. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the border since October, when the Lebanese organization entered the fray in support of Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed at least 500 people since then, most of them Hezbollah fighters. In Israel, roughly 30 soldiers and 18 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah attacks. Preventing the skirmishes from escalating even further has been at the heart of international diplomatic efforts to ease tension across the Middle East. Hours after an Israeli airstrike on July 30 killed Hezbollahs military chief in Beirut, Iran blamed Israel for killing the head of Hamas political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate but it has also said it would do so on its own timetable. Israel has repeatedly warned it not to do so. On Sunday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah and Iran that the latest attack isnt the end of the story, and was another step on the way to changing the situation in the north, and return(ing) our residents safely to their homes. Evacuations The U.S. has been trying to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to reach a compromise over border disputes. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been evacuated from the border area due to the fighting, and Israel wants Hezbollah to move its fighters away from the border to allow its citizens to return. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., says it will continue hostilities with Israel until the country agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza with Hamas, also designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and others. The war in the Palestinian enclave began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants, supported by Iran, invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted others. Israels retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 40,000 people, according to Hamas health officials in Gaza. (With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak and Omar Tamo.) 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Nadia Hashmar, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, looks out from her apartment in Haifa, Israel, on Sunday. (Heidi Levine/The Washington Post) JERUSALEM For 26 days after an Israeli missile slammed into a seventh-floor apartment in south Beirut and killed Hezbollahs top military commander, Israel and the region had braced for the group to strike back. Airlines suspended flights, residents of Tel Aviv and Beirut stockpiled water and diplomats raced to head off an all-out war. Now, after a dramatic but short-lived exchange of rockets, missiles and drones shook the border zone early Sunday, many in the region have dared to ask: Was that it? Officials and analysts Monday mostly said yes, believing that the potentially disastrous attacks were, instead, a face-saving moment allowing each of the combatants to step back from the edge of a wider conflict. The limited morning escalation - albeit the largest since the two sides began trading fire in October - has allowed Hezbollah to claim vengeance and Israel to project confidence in its security apparatus. Both [Hezbollah and Israel] are pleased with the results, which makes a descent into full-blown war less likely, said a senior Middle Eastern diplomat familiar with regional discussions. Like others in this story, he spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. The calibrated response from both sides by no means cleared the board of regional threats. A deadly status-quo remains in place, with Hezbollah and Israel immediately returning to lower-intensity cross-border exchanges. Tens of thousands of civilians remain displaced from both sides of the border. The war in Gaza rages on. And all parties are still waiting for Irans expected retaliation for the brazen July assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel declined to comment publicly on the operation but told Washington immediately afterward that it was responsible, U.S. officials said. But Sundays narrow actions, in which both sides stuck to military targets and casualties were limited to three militant fighters in Lebanon and one Israeli soldier, were a source of palpable relief across the Middle East. Talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, which were already moving slowly and might have been derailed entirely by a major escalation, were carrying on, negotiators said. If this was the entirety of Hezbollahs response, its the latest demonstration that the group will seek to avoid escalation with Israel at all costs, said Harrison Mann, a former Middle East analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Hezbollah characterized its attacks Sunday as a victory and denied Israels assertion that it had destroyed most of the groups arsenal before it could be launched. Israel, in turn, rebutted Hezbollah claims that Katyusha rockets had damaged military and intelligence facilities, although Israeli officials did not seem eager to make too loud a point of it. Thats something that Hezbollah and Israel share today: They are both happy, an Israeli official told The Washington Post. They can say they attacked and claim to have hit key military posts, and Israel can say it prevented a larger attack and protected civilians. It was an assessment echoed by the senior Middle Eastern diplomat, who said both sides got enough to satisfy their public relations management. Netanyahu needed to reassure voters he was attuned to the situation in the north, the diplomat explained, while Hezbollah needed a public show of retaliation for last months assassination of Fuad Shukr, a commander close to Hasan Nasrallah, the groups leader. Israel blamed Shukr for a rocket attack last month that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; Hezbollah denied responsibility. Nasrallah said in an address after Sundays attacks his fighters had showcased their ability to strike a blow deep within Israel, claiming that barrage of more than 350 Katyusha rockets and drones wreaked havoc on Israeli military facilities. Israel on Monday denied that any of its bases were hit and said most of the weapons fired from Lebanon were intercepted by air defense systems or landed harmlessly. Even more were destroyed in preemptive predawn strikes by more than 100 aircraft, the military said. The sole Israeli casualty was a sailor killed by shrapnel from an air-defense interceptor missile, officials said. Nasrallah said Hezbollah reserved the right to respond further, but seemed to draw a line under the episode. Lebanon, he said, can breathe a sigh of relief. A Lebanese individual close to Hezbollah said the group would continue to evaluate the results of the attack but was prepared to go back to its role as a support front, keeping up pressure on Israel in the north as long as it continues its war on Hamas in Gaza. We are back to the routine operations which started on October 8th, the individual close to Hezbollah said, referring to the first volleys of rockets launched by the militant group the day after the Hamas attacks on Israel. The excruciating three-week wait for Hezbollahs expected strikes, which caused anxiety to spike among civilians on both sides of the border, allowed Israel to be better prepared, according to the Israeli official. The IDF had a chance to game out multiple attack scenarios and gather enough intelligence to be aware of the impending launch Sunday morning. But analysts said the risk of a broader regional war had only been deferred, not averted, and would remain highly dependent on the progress of Gaza cease-fire talks. Even if Hezbollah is signaling satisfaction for now, its patron Iran remains a wild card. Washington was not involved in Israels preemptive strikes Sunday, a U.S. defense official told The Post, but did provide support to Israel in tracking incoming fire from Hezbollah, and continues to monitor the situation. Mann said the Biden administration cannot afford to be complacent. Every day they prolong the war in Gaza and promise Israel unconditional military support, both against Hamas and against Hezbollah, they are rolling the dice that Netanyahus next escalatory move wont lead to the full-scale war they hope to avoid, he said. In April, Israel and Iran clashed in series of contained strikes and reprisals that played out very much like Sundays exchange with Hezbollah: Israel launched a deadly strike near an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus. Tehran let loose an unprecedented barrage of missiles and drones, but telegraphed its plans so clearly that Israel and a coalition of allies were able to shoot down most of the projectiles. The matter seemed closed. The July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh placed Tehran in a new bind that it has wrestled with for weeks, compelled to respond but fearful of provoking a devastating war. The countrys new leadership is already struggling with domestic turmoil and an economic collapse. Iran will likely retaliate one way or another to what extent and when is unclear but obviously the hope is that progress on [Gaza] talks leads to de-escalation, a second Middle Eastern official told The Post. In the immediate aftermath of the back-to-back assassinations in Tehran and Beirut, some had anticipated that Iran and Hezbollah would respond in a coordinated fashion. Now, that appears less likely, analysts said. Nasrallah said Sunday that Hezbollahs own action was delayed, in part, because the group had been coordinating with Iran and other allied militant groups, ultimately choosing to act independently. Each different player will decide how to respond, Nasrallah said. In Iran, officials cast Hezbollahs attack as a success, continuing to vow their own response while remaining vague on timing. We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it unlike Israel, Irans foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi said in a statement Sunday following a call with his Italian counterpart. Irans retaliation will be definitive and measured, he said. Hudson reported from Tel Aviv, and George, Haidamous and El Chamaa from Beirut. U.S. Army veteran Sean Halpin greets Esmatullah, a former liaison officer with the Afghan defense ministry whom he met in Kabul in 2019 and helped flee that country. (Jonathan Mehring/The Washington Post) As Sean Halpin gears up every morning for the product marketing management he does from his Midlothian, Va., home, he also starts checking in with the 176 Afghan linguists and family members he tracks via a spreadsheet that he has carefully maintained for nearly three years. He wants to make sure those still awaiting a pathway out of Afghanistan are safe. He tries to boost spirits with his messages, adding funny memes and links to music like the theme song from Rocky. When one of these contacts needs money for food or a sudden surgery, Halpin does his best to cover it from his own savings. The former Army intelligence officer estimates that he has spent some $400,000 on such emergencies since the U.S. militarys chaotic departure from Afghanistan in the waning days of August 2021. He even diverted the proceeds from a house sale in Texas, which were supposed to go toward his familys new home in Virginia, and moved his wife and two children into an apartment. The decision nearly ended his marriage. Helping the allies whom American troops left behind has never felt optional. Not for Halpin, nor for other veterans who continue to stand in the gap at significant personal and financial expense. Dozens of loosely formed volunteer organizations with names like Badger 6 and Heart of an Ace have emerged to coordinate the efforts. What happened to those Afghans, in Halpins view, was a soul-crushing betrayal. Yet with tens of thousands of people still thought to be at risk because of their past work for the United States, the veterans are taking stock. The nonprofit Operation Recovery this month launched a website, Impacts of War, a first-of-its-kind project that invites veterans to report their contributions of time and money to Afghan rescue and resettlement. Elizabeth Lynn, an Air Force and Navy veteran who directs government relations for that group, says tallying up these donations and sacrifices is not merely about recording history. Its about making U.S. government leaders understand what the cost of Afghanistans aftermath has been. I dont think that they saw what the impact of the withdrawal was, said Lynn, who has repeatedly wired her own money to the interpreter with whom shed worked most closely during her deployment. We need to hand it to them in black and white and say, This is what the effect of the withdrawal had on our veterans and our civilians alike that worked there for years. This is the financial toll, in addition to the mental toll, the moral injury. Thats not free, because that comes at a cost, and the veterans felt obligated to pay, where the government didnt. The State Department estimates that more than 120,000 Afghans have applied for the visas reserved for allies from that country, waiting 18 months on average to be processed. Biden administration officials say their fate has not been forgotten. On Monday, the U.S. and Philippine governments announced an agreement to temporarily relocate Afghan allies to the relative safety of southeast Asia as they await visa adjudication. But given how modest the impact may be initially affecting only 300 people the veterans say their mission will continue. Indeed, the vets sense of obligation seems to have no expiration date. They describe a complex, enduring guilt over a commitment they feel was broken. How do I put this thing down? asks Peter Lucier, a Marine Corps veteran in St. Louis who has contributed to Afghan relocation efforts since the fall of Kabul. Is there a graceful exit? How does this stop being a part of your life, because it can be so consuming? Or how do you find the balance with it? Some lawmakers are trying to begin making veterans financially whole from their Afghanistan outlays. The Ensuring Voluntary Actions are Compensated (EVAC) Act, a bill introduced last summer by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), would allow any American who expended personal funds to evacuate American citizens, lawful permanent residents of the United States, or Afghan allies from Afghanistan to apply for reimbursement from the U.S. government. The measure, which quickly passed in the House Foreign Affairs Committee but has yet to be brought to the House floor, only covers money spent between August and November 2021. While some veterans are skeptical that it will achieve its goal, Lee considers it a starting point in acknowledging the quiet work so many people have done. Rep. Michael Waltz, a retired Green Beret who served early on in Afghanistan, has for almost two decades personally supported the family of an interpreter who died in his arms. The Florida Republican is perturbed by the costs veterans have borne. I talked to a gentleman who exhausted both of his childrens 529 [education savings] plans and his entire savings and is now in divorce because of it, Waltz said at a roundtable before the committee in January. But he cant not answer the phone. In an interview this month, Waltz said he understood the sense of honor and duty that kept veterans footing visa application fees and rents for safe houses, even as donor funding to organizations supporting resettlement programs dried up and the U.S. government itself moved on. Some administration officials, he added, still dont grasp the moral injury that the veterans community suffered because of the militarys calamitous exodus. Dave Hicks is a retired one-star Air Force general and founder of an organization that resettles and trains Afghan pilots after they arrive in this country. He has encountered numerous veterans who burned out emotionally after trying, at times futilely, to save their onetime Afghan partners. The wars aftermath exacerbated the trauma of combat, Hicks said. It pulled a lot of those scabs off and reopened wounds. Halpin visits Esmatullah in a Midlothian, Va., apartment the former Afghan officer moved into in July. Halpin continues to help him set up a new life here, and the two men see each other regularly. (Jonathan Mehring/The Washington Post) In Halpins last deployment to Afghanistan in 2019, he supervised nearly 200 Afghans as a linguist coordinator. The way he sees it, he was tasked with building friendships with the linguists as part of his military duty and he represented Americas promise to them of protection and a pathway to the United States following their service. Then came the desperate days as Air Force cargo jets took off from the Kabul airport. He fielded calls and texts from interpreters frantic over being left behind amid death threats from the Taliban. I felt betrayed, said Halpin, who the following year resigned his commission in dismay. The thing that resonated with me was, honor the promise, because there was a promise that was made. Most days now, he says, he spends hours during work lulls and down time sending messages and trying to troubleshoot issues that arise for his contacts in Afghanistan, from paperwork concerns to emergent medical needs. Its the same on weekends and holidays, including Christmas, including New Years, including when Im at Disney World. Some 28 of the Afghan families on his spreadsheet have made it to the United States, and hes been gratified to meet them and see them start afresh. Some, however, have been lost. The Talibans killing in April 2023 of former special forces commander Akmal Amir, one of the names on his list, was a jarring reminder of the perpetual danger. Other veterans are working with Afghans who werent promised a special immigrant visa, typically referenced as SIV a category created for civilians who assisted the U.S. military yet still are in danger because of their role. Jim Papp, a retired Army helicopter pilot living in Montana, counted 18 names on his list at one point, all Afghan pilots whom he trained in Abu Dhabi as a U.S. government contractor. The foreign stamps in their passports, signifying their American-sponsored flight training, marked them as enemies to the Taliban. This year, 14 of them have arrived in the United States via refugee visas. He hopes the remaining pilots will get approval before the year is out. Papp estimates hes spent $50,000 on visa fees, living expenses and even a safe house in Islamabad, Pakistan, where several babies have been born. And after three years of representing a tenuous thread of hope for these families living off his retirement pay so he could send checks from his day job overseas he looks forward to celebrating with them in person in Fort Worth, where most have opted to settle. I know these guys personally. Theyre good people, said Papp, who does mountain operations at a resort in Big Sky. They represent the best that Afghanistan had to offer, educated progressives. When you work with them 18 months, and you know these guys, youre just trying to make a difference, trying to save some lives. Teak Brockbank is shown in a photo included in the court records from the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. ( U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado) A Colorado man is facing federal charges of making death threats to election officials, a judge and law enforcement agents in 2021 and 2022. The case comes amid mounting concerns over intimidation of election workers ahead of Novembers presidential election. Federal authorities on Monday announced the arrest of Teak Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, Colo., and charged him with one count of transmitting interstate threats, which is punishable by up to five years in prison if he is convicted. Brockbank allegedly used Gab and Rumble, conservative-leaning social media sites, to post online threats against election officials in Colorado and Arizona ahead of the mid-term elections. He is also accused of threatening a Colorado state judge and federal agents who were investigating his case, the Justice Department said in a news release. Among those whom Brockbank allegedly threatened by name was Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, according to a person with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing legal matter. In one post from Sept. 22, 2021, Brockbank is alleged to have threatened an official in Colorado, according to a redacted affidavit from an FBI agent who investigated the case. I live in Communist Colorado and this Crazed liberal and many others in Communist Colorado needs to- No has to Hang she has to Hang by the neck till she is Dead Dead Dead, an account allegedly belonging to Brockbank posted. In another post from Aug. 4, 2022, the same account criticized election officials. Once those people start getting put to death then the rest will melt like snowflakes and turn on each other , Brockbank allegedly wrote. This is the only way. So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we all [a]re going to do!!!!!! It is time. He also denounced George Soros, a Democratic megadonor, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, saying they were funding efforts to improperly influence elections. In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland called violent threats against public servants a danger to our democracy. The charges against Brockbank, he said, make clear that the Justice Department will see to it that perpetrators answer for their actions. Brockbank could not be reached for comment. The indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in Durango, Colo., and the case is being handled by the Justice Departments Washington-based Election Threats Task Force and the Colorado U.S. attorneys office. Garland established the task force shortly after taking office, citing a surge in threats against election officials during the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, when supporters of President Donald Trump staged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The case against Brockbank is the 18th filed by the task force. Twelve cases have ended in convictions, with the defendants receiving sentences ranging from 30 days to 3 years in federal prison. There has been one acquittal. Five cases are pending. Seven of the cases, including Brockbanks, involve threats to officials in Arizona. Brockbank appears to be a supporter of Trump, who is again the Republican nominee for the White House. According to the FBI affidavit, the defendant allegedly texted his stepfather on Dec. 20, 2023, after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump could be removed from the presidential primary ballot for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Four judges in Colorado have removed President Trump from the ballot in Colorado. their names have been added to my list their names have been moved to the front of my list, Brockbank wrote, according to the affidavit. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Colorado Supreme Courts decision earlier this year. The FBI agent also alleged that Brockbank illegally possessed firearms despite a felony conviction for attempted theft in Utah in 2002. In one text message in 2023, he allegedly acknowledged his felony conviction and, in subsequent messages, indicated he still owned guns, according to the FBI affidavit. [N]ow I do not go anywhere without a firearm, Brockbank allegedly wrote. Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this report. The competition between the United States and China has seen geopolitical and economic flash points sprawl across continents. (U.S. Army) The idea of the Great Game is rooted in a 19th-century clash of empires. The mighty powers of Russia and Britain exerted their rivalry across an expanse of Eurasia, stretching from the waters of the Caspian Sea to the valleys of Tibet. Caught in the middle were an array of fading kingdoms, petty principalities and warring tribes whom the British and Russians variously conquered, co-opted or coerced to meet their grander strategic goals in competition with the other. The workings of this great game coined by a British colonial officer in Afghanistan in 1840 yielded a metaphor that has contemporary resonance, as well. After the end of the Cold War, analysts and journalists saw a glimmer of the great game in the Russian, Western and Chinese jostling for influence among the newly independent states of Central Asia. But experts are now busy charting a far bigger contest reshaping the world. The burgeoning competition between the United States and China has sprawled across continents, with geopolitical and economic flash points in various corners of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. It has led to a kind of tunnel vision among certain circles in Washington, where policy elites increasingly focus their lens on a far-flung region simply to scope out the size of Beijings footprint. The islands of the Pacific offer a striking example of what the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, branded in a report last week as the new great game between China and the United States. An expanding Chinese presence among the regions scattered archipelagoes and island states ranging from Beijings eye-catching security pact with the Solomon Islands to the Chinese-funded construction of Vanuatus new presidential palace have prompted the United States and its regional allies, chiefly Australia, to step up their engagement with countries on the extreme periphery of the American imagination. Chinas interest in the small nations of the Pacific used to be primarily about Taiwan, the island democracy reviled by the Chinese Communist Party that once could boast diplomatic ties with some of these tiny states. But Beijings soft power has steadily deepened Taiwans international isolation, with only Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu left in Taiwans camp. Chinas promise of near-bottomless development aid is an easy incentive for the Pacifics oft-impoverished nations. But Beijings interests have widened, leading to security and policing agreements with some Pacific countries on top of deepening economic and development ties. Chinas diplomatic reach is expanding and targeting strategically important countries and sectors, relentlessly cultivating regional political elites with offers of assistance that meet local political imperatives and provide China with inroads and access, wrote Lowys Mihai Sora, Jessica Collins and Meg Keen. China has become a major player in development finance, diplomatic outreach, and critical infrastructure such as ports, airports, and telecommunications, the Lowy report noted. Working both bilaterally and regionally, China is pushing to play a greater role in key sectors such as the military, policing, digital connectivity, and media. The reports authors added: Traditional partners such as Australia and the United States worry that the regional balance of power is changing and their influence is waning. Theyre not sitting on their hands, though. In the past half-decade, Australia has stepped up its diplomatic profile in its neighborhood, opening a host of new embassies and boosting development aid. President Joe Biden joined in on the act, convening a forum with Pacific island leaders last year and committing hundreds of millions of dollars in new development assistance. The United States and Australia are also tightening their own security cooperation, with the revitalization of Australian airfields to accommodate new U.S. deployments and the much-anticipated AUKUS pact thats slated to deliver a nuclear submarine fleet to Canberra. The United States has ramped up defense ties with allies across the region, including with the Philippines and Japan, as it tries to fend off an increasingly assertive and aggressive China, explained my colleague Michael Miller. Australia offers the United States a stable and friendly government, a small but capable military and a vast expanse from which to stage or resupply military efforts. The authors of the Lowy report fear for the Pacific island states in the middle, for whom the newfound attention and investment may not entirely be a boon. The extent of corruption in the Pacific, including capture of the state by elites and private interests, has seen no material improvements across the years, they note. But the great game of the present age, such as it is, is not about blunt imperial coercion. Pacific leaders have stressed their autonomy and self-interest in their deal-makings with China and the West, as have politicians in other parts of the world not least Africa, where Chinas giant economic reach has provoked new forms of competition. A recent report in the Financial Times detailed how the United States is helping revive the Lobito Corridor, a century-old railway linking the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo to a major port in Angola. The project, which has drawn in financing from major European corporations as well, is perhaps the single biggest U.S. response to Chinas sprawling Belt and Road Initiative, which has seen Chinese state companies set up major infrastructure across the world and, in the process, sometimes, saddle those countries with crippling public debt. Washington hopes to set a different precedent. This is a project that will showcase the American model of development, Tulinabo Mushingi, U.S. ambassador to Angola, told the FT. We need to have allies that agree with our way of doing business. Angolan officials, though, arent interested in taking sides. Angola is doing the smart thing many African countries are now doing: they want to be friends with everyone but they dont want to be owned by anyone, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, an Oxford university professor of African politics, told the British newspaper. President Joao Lourenco does not want Angola to be trapped in a new cold war. When the boys mother intervened, Jamie Fogarty (28) walked over to an 18-year-old waiting for a bus and punched and injured him A drunken man punched a 14-year-old boy walking his dog in a Dublin park, breaking a tooth and leaving him pumping blood in a random, unprovoked attack. When the boys mother intervened, Jamie Fogarty (28) walked over to an 18-year-old waiting for a bus and punched and injured him. Fogarty accepted that the pills and vodka-fuelled assaults were cruel but could not remember them and told a court: I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Judge Treasa Kelly jailed him for 10 months. Fogarty, of Parkview Green, Finglas, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm. Dublin District Court heard the boy and his mother were out walking their dog in the Stardust Memorial Park, Coolock when Fogarty approached, extremely agitated. Fogarty said: I f**king told you, raised his right fist and punched the boy in the mouth. I was completely in shock because I had no interaction with him, the victim said in a statement. A bottom tooth was broken, his lip was split open and his nose began pumping blood, he said. Fogarty went to punch him again, but his mother put her hands up and said stop and the accused walked off and punched a young man waiting at a bus stop. The punch hit me directly on my nose, blood was gushing out of my nose straight away, this man said. I was in shock, I couldnt react. He also suffered a chipped tooth. Fogarty accepted his behaviour was inexcusable and very cruel indeed, his solicitor Tony Collier said. He had substance abuse problems and was alone and at sea after family tragedies. I just want to apologise from the bottom of my heart, I really have no recollection of that day, Fogarty told the court, saying he had taken a lot of vodka and pills. Judge Kelly noted the younger victim now feels fear when he goes out and is very self-conscious of his broken tooth when he smiles. Denis Cernei (37) became aggressive and had to be pepper-sprayed during the episode which happened after he drank to excess A father of four who spat in a garda van and in a cell at the station has been told by a judge that drink is no excuse for his outrageous behaviour. Denis Cernei (37) became aggressive and had to be pepper-sprayed during the episode which happened after he drank to excess. Judge John Brennan said it was a nasty incident and fined him 750 at Dublin District Court. Cernei, of Larkfield Close, Lucan, pleaded guilty to criminal damage, garda obstruction, threatening and abusive behaviour and public intoxication. Sergeant Maria Callaghan said gardai were called to an altercation at Finnstown Hall, Lucan on August 18. Cernei was highly intoxicated and became aggressive to gardai who had to use force to arrest him. He spat all over the cell of the patrol van on his way back to Lucan Garda Station. Cernei continued to be aggressive and violent in the station, spitting in the cell there which had to be cleaned. Separately, he shoplifted 119 worth of clothes from Penneys in Blanchardstown on an earlier date. The public order disturbance happened where Cerneis brother was living, the court heard. The two had been drinking and Cernei drank to excess, his solicitor Danica Kinane said. There was an interaction with a neighbour which precipitated the arrival of gardai, she said. Cernei was spitting because he felt unwell due to the level of alcohol he had consumed. Asked by the judge if this was correct, Sgt Callaghan said pepper spray had to be used during the incident and it may have been a factor. The latest costs order stems from a failed application by Mr Burke seeking to set aside the High Court order restraining him from going to the Co Westmeath secondary school Legal bills continue to mount for Enoch Burke after the sacked schoolteacher was today hit with yet another costs order in his long-running dispute with Wilsons Hospital School. The latest costs order stems from a failed application by Mr Burke seeking to set aside the High Court order restraining him from going to the Co Westmeath secondary school. That application was rejected last month. In a further judgment today on the issue of costs, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said it would be an affront to justice if the schools board of management was not awarded its costs against Mr Burke. The application was inappropriate and should not have been made, the judge said. It is the latest in a series of costs rulings against Mr Burke, who has been in and out of the civil courts for the past two years. Earlier this year, the High Court awarded costs to publishers Mediahuis Ireland after it successfully defended defamation proceedings brought by Mr Burke over an article in the Sunday Independent. The board of management of Wilsons Hospital was also awarded its costs last year after it was successful in its protracted legal battle with Mr Burke. He was also ordered to pay the school 15,000 in damages in that case. The latest costs ruling came just days after Mr Burke again defied the court order restraining him from the school premises despite the threat of once again being returned to prison. Mr Burke turned up at the school on Thursday and later told the Irish Independent he walked into a staff meeting. It remains to be seen if the board of management will again seek his attachment and committal. Mr Burke was released from jail on June 28 by Mr Justice Sanfey, having spent more than 400 days behind bars, in two separate stretches, for contempt of court orders. He was released without purging his contempt. The schoolteacher was suspended in August 2022 after publicly clashing with management following a request that a transgender student be called by a new name and they/them pronouns. He was sacked in January 2023, but is appealing his dismissal. Mr Burke, who is from a well-known family of evangelical Christians in Castlebar, Co Mayo, opposed the request on religious grounds and continued to show up for work despite being suspended and dismissed. The school got temporary injunctions barring him from attending at the school. A permanent order was made by Mr Justice Alexander Owens in July last year. It was this order that was the target of Mr Burkes latest legal application. In his costs ruling, Mr Justice Sanfey said Mr Burke had filed a submission stating no costs order should be made. Mr Justice Sanfey said the teacher had complained that the judge refused to deal with the central issue of what Mr Burke alleged was the lack of a legal basis for the principals request. But the judge said the submission was essentially an attempt to re-argue the application, and to raise grounds which had already been rejected by the court. Nairac was abducted from the Three Steps Inn pub in south Armagh in the early hours of May 15, 1977 Jon Hill, the lead investigator of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR), speaking at a press briefing on the plans to carry out a search for the remains of Robert Nairac. A search in a remote area of Co Louth for the remains of a murdered Army captain is concentrated on three or four sections making up one acre of farmland. Robert Nairac was killed and secretly buried by the IRA in May 1977. The first search for his remains got underway today. It relates to specific areas of farmland, the man leading the search said. Jon Hill, the lead investigator with the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains, said information gathered by his team has been evaluated as more than worthy of justifying the search. Nairac was abducted from the Three Steps Inn pub in south Armagh in the early hours of May 15, 1977. He was taken over the border, where he was interrogated before being shot and buried. He became one of the so-called Disappeared, the name given to those murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles. Speaking to the media, Mr Hill said information regarding the whereabouts of Robert Nairacs remains has been passed to the ICLVR over the years, however it is only recently that enough detail has been gathered to justify a search. I only expect to search no more than three or four sections combined over one acre, he said. This search is unique in that the ground is actually farmland. We have pieces of information that relate to specific areas of ground. Mr Hill said he is more confident of finding Nairacs remains than at any time previously. I'm not 100pc, but it's more a case of we are hopeful. We have the skills and we have the ability [to find the remains]. Mr Hill explained that preparations for the search began a number of months ago and mapping surveys of the land have been carried out. Two diggers are at the site. The investigator said the information his team has gathered in the Nairac case has been deemed more than worthy of a search, which will be carried out in a painstaking manner. Investigations began in May, with police uncovering three illegal warehouses storing the gas cylinders. Spanish police have arrested six people belonging to three criminal organisations over the mass sale of nitrous oxide otherwise known as laughing gas. The operation involved officers from the customs surveillance unit in Malaga and the National Police's organised crime and drugs unit (UDYCO). Investigations began in May, with police uncovering three illegal warehouses storing the gas cylinders. Three raids took place across June and July in the Cost del Sol towns of Torremolinos, Fuengirola, and Marbella and resulted in the seizure of 4,139 bottles of nitrous oxide weighing more than 3,000,000 litres and valued at 300,000. Balloons and nozzles used to inhale the gas were also seized. Following the raids, six people were arrested in Malaga. They are understood to have been in charge of the groups logistics and organised the transport of the goods into Spain as well as their distribution across the country. Legal proceedings are underway in the courts of Torremolinos, Fuengirola and Marbella, Spanish news outlet SUR reports. It comes after two Irish holidaymakers were arrested in Mallorca last month on suspicion of selling laughing gas to other tourists. The teenage pair were held in the resort of Santa Ponsa near Magaluf after police spotted one of the men transferring the gas from a canister into balloons and saw the other diving into a mobile phone shop as officers approached. The older of the two allegedly tried to pass himself off as someone else after being asked to identify himself and showing them a photo of the passport of another man on his phone he later admitted was a friend. Police seized two three-litre canisters of laughing gas from them and 12 balloons as well as nearly 3,000 in cash, which one of the suspects had the money stuffed into his sock. The two teenagers, aged 18 and 19, appeared in court in July and been released on bail pending an ongoing inquiry. Both men, who come from Cork, are being investigated on suspicion of a crime against public health. The older boy is being probed over an alleged crime of identify theft. Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, is a fast-acting gas used as a whipping agent to make whipped cream much quicker than manual whisking or using a mechanical mixer. It is also used as a painkiller in medicine and dentistry. Intensive frequent inhalation of laughing gas can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency which can cause neurological damage. I love you from the bottom of my heart, if you were here youd fix everything, until we meet again The widow of slain mob boss Fat Andy Connors paid tribute to her husband on the 10th anniversary of his unsolved murder this week. Ann Connors told how she has sorely missed her husband since his death in 2014. 10 years gone today my lovely husband, things will never be the same. Things are worse instead of getting better, she posted on social media. I love you from the bottom of my heart, if you were here youd fix everything, until we meet again. Connors was shot dead by a masked man armed with an automatic pistol who walked into his house known as The Ranch in Saggart, Co Dublin. The killer pumped six bullets into Connors before calmly walking out, leaving his target for dead and driving away. While one man was arrested and questioned over the murder he was released without charge and no prosecution has been brought. Fat Andy Connors; (right) with his wife Ann The callous murder was witnessed by members of Connors family, who described the scene at an inquest in 2017. One of his daughters in a statement read out at the coroners court told how she was pushed to the floor by the gunman who entered the house through the back door into the kitchen. A man came to the door wearing a black balaclava, bulletproof vest and black gloves. He walked in the door. He grabbed me and pushed me to the ground. He had a gun in his right hand, she said. Daddy didnt make it to the hall, he shot him. Then he walked out of the house and drove off. I went down the hall and saw mammy holding daddy. Following his murder, Connors was reportedly buried in a 28,000 gold-plated coffin, wearing a 40,000 diamond Rolex watch along with a number of other expensive items of jewellery. A son of Pale Miley Connors, he was known as the leading figure in a network of prolific burglars gangs operating in Ireland and the UK. The gangs trademark modus operandi was to use stolen high-powered cars in ram raids on filling stations in the dead of night to clear out stocks of cigarettes. They showed no fear of the gardai and would drive at reckless speeds to shake off any attempts at pursuit. The gang would hit several targets on a single night, roaming across Ireland from their west Dublin base. Andy Connors invested much of his ill-gotten gains in property around Tallaght and Saggart where he had been based for years. He had previously been a target of the Criminal Assets Bureau which had hit him with tax demands. 'Fat Andy' and wife Ann For a time he put another luxurious property he owned known as The Villa on the market with an asking price of 3 million. A revenue demand for 2.5 million has been in place against Ann Connors, with judgement mortgages on several properties in her name including The Ranch and The Villa. The Sunday World previously revealed how, in the run up to his murder, Fat Andy was putting pressure on Jim Mansfield Snrs former estate, claiming he was owed money which he had invested into dealings carried out by the late millionaire. Members of the burglary gang, including close relatives of Fat Andy, have since been involved in major crime sprees in the UK, Australia as well as in Ireland. His fathers old home at The Avenue in Belgard Heights, Tallaght was sold for 322,000 by CAB earlier this year. Another son of Pale Miley, infamous burglar Jimmy Connors, died in 2019 after choking on food. One member of the gang, Patrick Wall, had his seized house in Newbridge, Co Kildare sold off this year by CAB for 246,000. A Fleming man has been arrested after allegedly attempting to steal from a local business warehouse using a U-Haul. Cayuga County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a commercial burglary alarm at D&W Diesel in the town of Aurelius early in the morning of Aug. 20, Sheriff Brian Schenck said in a news release. There, deputies found Duane M. Lerkins Jr., 52, standing next to a U-Haul truck parked by a warehouse at the business. An investigation determined that Lerkins rented the truck and broke into the business to steal property from inside. He was arrested and charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree grand larceny, both class D felonies. Lerkins was arraigned at the county's CAP court that day and is being held at the Cayuga County Jail without bail. More information about the incident can be sent to Detective Josh Blanchard at (315) 253-3902, or tips can be left at cayugacounty.us/452/send-a-tip. Mob boss Edin Gacanin is still living freely in Dubai, despite a recent seven-year prison sentence imposed in The Netherlands A letter from ENG International to Dubai authorities, left, and Edin Gacanins Dutch passport, top right, and Dubai residency card, bottom right Leaked documents have shown how Kinahan Cartel partner Edin Gacanin set up shell companies in Dubai to hide millions of euro of drugs money and to pay his cronies. Like Daniel Kinahan, a copy of his passport was included in the dump of documents used to allow the super-cartel to funnel their cash through the emirati. The total banking secrecy in the desert kingdom makes it almost impossible to track the gangsters wealth. Like the Kinahans, who have been sanctioned by the US authorities, Gacanin is still living freely in Dubai, despite a recent seven-year prison sentence imposed in The Netherlands. Gacanin, known as the Balkans Escobar, had agreed a deal with authorities there not to challenge evidence in return for a lighter sentence, but has not been extradited from the UAE. UAE authorities have said the extradition paperwork for the Dutch-Bosnian came too late, a claim which Dutch officials denied. Mob boss Edin Gacanin being raided by police The latest batch of leaked documents received by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist (ICIJ) show how Gacanin used tax havens to channel his money. Despite drugs convictions in Rotterdam, he was able to set up firms in UAE and the British Virgin Islandswas helped in this by diplomats from Panama who notarised documents when setting up the firms in Dubais free port. These firms were then used to pay associates as well as to invest in other companies and to set up other entities. A native of Bosnia who grew up The Netherlands, he has been named by the US as the leader of the Tito and Dino cartel and is regarded as one of the worlds top 50 drug dealers. The recent case against him in The Netherlands was based on messages retrieved from hack of Sky EEC Chat in 2021. It also uncovered the network used by the Kinahan to smuggle drugs into Valencia, Spain, from Panama and to launder cash. A letter from ENG International to Dubai authorities, left, and Edin Gacanins Dutch passport, top right, and Dubai residency card, bottom right The information led to Operation Desert Light which saw the arrest of alleged Kinahan associates in Dubai, Ryan James Hale and Anthony Alredo Martinez Meza. It centred smuggling of 700 of cocaine into the port which was seized by Spanish police. Hale and Meza are still wanted in Spain but have not been extradited from the UAE, according to the ICIJ. Gacanin attended the lavish 2017 wedding of Daniel Kinahan and Caoimhe Robinson, at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. included Italian Camorra crime boss Raffaele Imperiale, Moroc Mafia boss Ridouan Taghi and Dutch-Chilean gangster Ricardo Riquelme Vega, known as El Rico. Last May, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed how millions worth of property transaction deals were done in Caoimhe Robinsons name. Despite the US sanctions, Daniel along with his father Christy and brother Christy jr continue to live freely in Dubai. Also still there is gang lieutenant Sean McGovern, shot during the 2016 Regency Hotel attack, despite an arrest warrant for him over the murder of Noel Kirwan. Similarly, trusted cartel members Ian Dixon, a boyhood pal of Daniels, and Bernard Clancy also remain in Dubai since being sanctioned by the US. Mark J Savage, from Swords, Dublin, complained that he was discriminated against on religious grounds for refusing to wear a mask in a clinic during Covid-19 An evangelical Christian who has taken dozens of cases and previously admitted to being addicted to litigation has had his latest complaint dismissed. Mark J Savage, from Swords, Dublin, complained that he was discriminated against on religious grounds for refusing to wear a mask in a clinic during Covid-19. He has taken cases thorough the civil courts and statutory bodies, such as the Workplace Relations Commission. In his latest unsuccessful case Savage claimed he was subject to religious discrimination because he was asked to wear a face mask at the Salus Medical Clinic in Swords on March 3, 2021. He made a complaint to the WRC under the Workplace Relations Act and the Equal Status Act. Summarising Savages case, adjudicating officer David James Murphy said: The Complainant made submissions on the preliminary issue and outlined why he believed the requirement to wear a mask was related to his religion and constituted religious discrimination. Savage argued that as a devout evangelical Christian he is required to bear witness to truth. He said that is a manifestation of his religion and claimed there is no proven truth that Covid-19 exists or that he might transmit it if it does. As such, he claimed he was entitled by way of his religious belief to refuse to wear a mask. However, solicitors for the clinic described Savage as a serial litigant and said there were 41 specific decisions resulting from statutory complaints submitted by him against various parties. These complaints span back to 2007 and have all been unsuccessful, aside for a single complaint of gender discrimination in 2007 in which he was awarded 600, they said. In that case he applied for a job in the security industry and was wrongly told he would need to cut his hair if he was working with the company. Since that one victory, Savage has taken dozens more cases but all have been unsuccessful. Solicitors for Salus Medical Clinic pointed out that the WRC has, in a separate case, referred to Savage as a vexatious litigant. They argued that there was no genuine basis for Savages complaint and it was simply not credible to utilise the guise of religious discrimination as the basis for this complaint when the stated reason for the refusal appears to relate to a belief of the Complainant that the Covid-19 virus was not real. There is no question that the Complainant was treated any differently to another person (hypothetical or otherwise) on religious grounds, they said. The WRC agreed with the clinics legal team that Savage did not have a case. Adjudicator David James Murphy said: The Complainant appears to have adopted a view that if any party disagrees with his subjective view as to the truth and in so doing inhibits him from accessing services, then they are religiously discriminating against him. This is obviously misconceived. He dismissed the case. Savage had another WRC case dismissed in April after failing to turn up for the hearing. As well as taking dozens of WRC cases, Savage has taken numerous High Court cases against dozens of entities and individuals, including the WRC and adjudicators. He spoke to the Sunday World in 2021 after another failed WRC case when he claimed his religious beliefs were being discriminated against after a supermarket stopped him posting homophobic slurs against a named politician on their noticeboard. The WRC heavily criticised Savage for homophobic slurs and said there was not even the remotest suggestion that the accusations were true. At the time he told the Sunday World he was addicted to litigation, saying it was better than heroin. He said: Im addicted to it now. Rather than heroin addiction, its better to have this kind of addiction. It keeps your brain working. It can get very tedious. The paperwork is building up. Once you become more knowledgeable about the law you see how many times your rights become violated. Police have also urged members of the public to avoid online speculation over the investigation The scene in Derry after the body of a woman was found in a flat in Harvey Street, following a fire Presseye/Lorcan Doherty A woman found murdered in a house in Derry has been named as Montserrat Martorell Elias, police have confirmed. The PSNI said the 65-year-olds body was found at a house in Harvey Street on Saturday morning. Firefighters attended the scene after reports of a fire were received. The woman, who was found in the bedroom of the ground-floor flat, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said that the victim suffered a horrific attack and sustained multiple injuries. As part of the investigation, police have also appealed for information about a male they are keen to speak to aged in his 30s who was seen in the area wearing a grey jacket with hood up, blue jeans, trainers and a light coloured shirt between 1am and 2am. Police have also urged members of the public to avoid online speculation over the investigation. Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Kelly said: A murder investigation was launched following the discovery of a body in a house in Harvey Street during the early hours of Saturday, 24th August. Crews from NI Fire and Rescue Service responded to reports of a fire at the house, along with NI Ambulance Service and our officers. Ms Elias was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. From our enquiries so far, we can tell you that the victim suffered a horrific attack and sustained multiple injuries. I am aware of online speculation which is extremely unhelpful and deeply distressing to Ms Elias family, and would ask people to refrain from engaging in this. We will investigate any posts online which could potentially prejudice judicial proceedings. Detective Chief Inspector Kelly continued: Our detectives are working at full pace to establish exactly what happened. At this stage, we are keen to speak with a white man, aged in his 30s, who was seen in the area wearing a grey jacket with hood up, blue jeans, trainers and a light coloured shirt between 1am and 2am. My thoughts at this time are first and foremost with Ms Elias family and friends in Spain, who are left trying to come to terms with their loss. "Our investigation is at an early stage and enquiries are ongoing. I am continuing to appeal to anyone who may have any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to contact detectives on 101. The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed unsinkable by its manufacturer, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed Final body found in wreckage of luxury yacht off coast of Sicily Italian prosecutors have placed Captain James Cutfield under investigation in the probe into the deaths of Mike Lynch and six other people killed when the superyacht belonging to the British tech magnate sank off Sicily last week, Italian media reported on Monday. Reuters was not able to independently verify the decision. The latest comes after a manslaughter investigation was opened into the deaths of seven people, including British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, in the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily, Ambrogio Cartosio, public prosecutor of Termini Imerese, said. The Sicilian prosecutor outlined the order in which the bodies of six people who had been missing following the yacht sinking were retrieved, calling the incident a very grave tragedy. The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed unsinkable by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, public prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said, through a translation provided by the BBC: These six persons who tried desperately to save themselves were finally retrieved. First of all, four of them. Jonathan Bloomer the banker, Christopher Morvillo the lawyer, and all four of them were retrieved from inside the yacht which was 50 metres down. Then, later, the other two were also retrieved. Michael Lynch on the 23rd, yesterday, and then the 18-year-old daughter of Michael Lynch, Hannah, was found yesterday morning. It is a very grave tragedy and in order to reduce the dimensions of the tragedy, we have called upon the co-operation of the firefighters, firefighting divers, who have shown incredible courage and skill, who carried out a very difficult mission indeed and have allowed us to inspect properly the wreck for bodies. On Friday, Hannah Lynch became the final missing passenger to be recovered from the wreckage of the Bayesian superyacht. Termini Imerese Public Prosecutors Office investigators said it will hold a news conference to unveil the first findings of its criminal investigation, which was opened immediately after the tragedy despite no formal suspects having been publicly identified. In a statement, the family of Mr Lynch and Hannah said: The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy. They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue. Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief. The Lynch family also issued a photograph of Mr Lynch and Hannah alongside their tribute. Hannahs sister Esme paid her own tribute, saying: Hannah often burst into my bedroom and lay down with me. Sometimes beaming with a smile, sometimes cheeky, sometimes for advice. No matter what, she brought boundless love to me. Rescue personnel with a body bag containing the remains of tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who was born in Britain to Irish parents, at Porticello harbour. Photo: Reuters She was endlessly caring, passionately mad, unintentionally hilarious and the most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend to me. And on top of all this, she had even more love to give endlessly to all her friends and passion to give to her incredible studies and goals. She is my little angel, my star. Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, said the search for Hannah was not easy or quick, comparing the sunken yacht to an 18-storey building full of water. The bodies of all six missing passengers have now been brought to shore in the small fishing village of Porticello, around 11 miles from the Sicilian capital of Palermo. Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15, including Mr Lynchs wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued after escaping on to a lifeboat. The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the superyacht, was recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday. The boat trip was a celebration of Mr Lynchs acquittal in a fraud case in the US. The businessman, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion dollar (8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard. The Ireland and Munster rugby star and his model wife are preparing to welcome their first child together in November Conor Murray and Joanna Cooper enjoyed a relaxing babymoon at the luxurious Adare Manor over the weekend. The Ireland and Munster rugby star and his model wife are preparing to welcome their first child together in November. The couple have been making the most of their final months as a family of two, recently enjoying a trip to the Algarve in Portugal, where they tied the knot last summer. And ahead of Munsters busy pre-season preparations, Conor and Joanna decided to blow off some steam by making their way to the five-star Adare Manor resort in Limerick to officially celebrate their babymoon. Former Miss Universe Ireland Joanna shared some photos from their getaway on Instagram on Sunday, including snaps of the pair enjoying dinner at the hotel, walking around the grounds, and sipping on some decadent hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. They also took some time to relax at the spa, with Joanna treating herself to a pregnancy massage as her legs feel so heavy at the moment. Conor recently opened up about becoming a dad for the first time. "Joanna is getting a bit bigger and it is becoming a little bit more real and you are feeling the kicks and all that, he told RSVP Live. "We were buggy shopping yesterday, so it is getting real. It will be the first grandchild on our side of the family and my sister is due the day after us as well, so my mam is up the walls for a good reason." Thankfully, Joannas pregnancy has been a breeze so far. "She has been really lucky so far. Not much sickness, just a bit tired. That is it. That is a good complaint, the 35-year-old said. "Touch wood, everything is going so smoothly so far and hopefully it continues that way." Conor and Joanna announced that they were to become parents back in May with a joint post on Instagram. The couple shared a black and white photo of them together, showing Coopers baby bump, captioned Mom and Dad. They announced the news of their first child less than a year after getting married at the Pine Cliffs Resort in Portugals Algarve on June 5. Weeks before the celebrations in Portugal, they held a secret church wedding in Ireland, with just themselves, their dog and two witnesses in attendance. They announced their engagement in March 2022 after four years together when Murray proposed to Cooper during a holiday to Dubai. Adequate funding will help end GP shortage and improve patient care says GenPro - the General Practice Owners Association. The organisation says the chronic shortage of general practice doctors will only get worse until the government steps in to fix the main problem a lack of funding for primary healthcare. General practice doctors are overworked and underpaid. They are overworked because there are fewer doctors and higher patient demand," says GenPro chair Dr Angus Chambers. "And they are underpaid because New Zealand general practices cannot compete with salaries offered by the public sector, other specialties and overseas. The key reason for both these problems is the decades-long shortfall in government funding for general practice." Commenting on media reports saying that New Zealand has a GP workforce crisis that is only expected to deepen, Dr Chambers says that being a GP is a fantastic job with flexibility, interesting work, and the opportunity to form relationships and get unique insights into peoples lives. But it needs to be worthwhile. GPs are dealing with more complex patients and expected to do in 15 minutes what specialists are doing in an hour, Dr Chambers says. General practice is an incredibly rewarding job. A specialist GP does great things for the health and wellbeing of communities. "GPs make long-lasting connections with their patients and work through complex yet rewarding challenges in helping them manage their health." Dr Chambers says no workday is the same. "GPs are always learning on the job, and have workplace flexibility to be owner, partner or locum, rural or urban, full time or part time. Its not about coughs and colds a GP is a general physician managing complex conditions." Dr Chambers says despite these upsides, increasing numbers of GPs are facing burnout and leaving the profession. "In addition, more than half of all family doctors will retire by 2030, placing increasing pressures on those left to maintain high standards of community healthcare." Dr Chambers says it's hard for general practices in New Zealand to compete with salaries on offer in public hospitals or overseas. New Zealand GPs are routinely offered jobs with better pay and better conditions in Australia. GenPro is calling for a significant uplift in funding for primary healthcare and a review of the outdated funding model. Progress in both areas would retain and eventually increase the supply of doctors into general practice, Dr Chambers says. The current Governments plan to bring forward changes to the New Zealand math curriculum has some Bay principals expressing deep concerns. This month, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a new structured maths curriculum for primary and intermediate school children, which included extra professional development for teachers, interventions for children struggling with the topic, and twice-yearly assessments, would kick off at the start of 2025. The Rotorua Principals Association says in a statement the curriculum change was implemented at an alarming pace and placed undue strain on schools and educators. The principals statement says the governments deadline for the changes did not adequately consider the practical challenges faced by schools, particularly in rural areas, and that they believed the demands for extensive professional development and curriculum adjustments lacked the necessary support. We recognise the importance of evolving our education system to address the needs of all students, however, the current timeline for these changes is unrealistic. Education Minister Erica Stanford says she acknowledged there had been a lot of changes in the nine months and there would be more to come because results needed to change. Hinei Taute, Rotorua Principals Association president and Lynmore Primary School principal, told NZME most schools in the Rotorua region had already developed their strategic plan for 2025 and leaders would now need to take extra time to consider the new curriculum. With a shortage of relief teachers nationwide, Hinei says its not unusual for principals to step in and teach classes weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending on the school, impairing their ability to lead effectively and manage curriculum changes collaboratively with their staff. If you really want to make a good shot of implementing a new curriculum, you need the time and the resources to work with your teachers. Hinei says she believed the data used to justify the changes was misrepresented and, in her view, that created a sense of crisis that did not accurately reflect the realities within many schools. In an article published by RNZ, the data was revealed to be taken from a small sample of students and was measured against the 2023 draft of the new maths curriculum that has yet to be introduced in schools. Western Bay of Plenty Principals Association executive president and Omokoroa No 1 School principal Craig Pentecost says it was less common for principals in Western Bay to stand in as teachers due to the larger sizes of schools. But Craig says he had concerns around staffing levels and a lack of applicants for full-time positions, with big challenges ahead next year. Tauriko School principal Suzanne Billington pictured in 2021. Photo / George Novak. Tauriko School principal Suzanne Billington says the adapted curriculum had a very tight turnaround, and educators took about two years to adapt to a new curriculum. My concern would be that the professional learning is in place for school leaders in maths, she says. The government would need to continue providing teacher-only days for the refresh and provide those dates quite quickly so school leaders could understand the changes. We need to have a deep understanding of how the new curriculum is structured, what that means for our existing practice, and how we will adapt to enhance what were doing, Suzanne says. Education Minister Erica Stanford says the Make it Count maths action plan would help turn around the current level of achievement so children were equipped with the knowledge, skills and competencies they needed. I have heard loud and clear from the sector it is not delivering the right service, to the right child, at the right time, Erica says. For too long, teachers have been let down by a system that is not clearly focused on the things they need to make a difference at the frontline. For our kids to get a world-leading education, our teachers need to get world-leading training and professional development. Erica says the government would work with providers to support teachers making this change, including introducing teacher guides and student workbooks in classrooms across New Zealand, and shifting $20 million to become available for professional development in maths. The Teaching Council will strengthen the maths component for student teachers, and Cabinet will soon consider a work programme with priorities of targeting effective learning support interventions for students with additional needs. Erica says she was also establishing a reference group to support this work alongside ongoing engagement with sector reference groups. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says new data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study showed that last year about 50,000 children in Year 8 did not meet the expected benchmark for maths. Theres no way to describe those results as anything other than a total system failure, says Christopher. -Rotorua Daily Post Segina Te Ahuahu is proud her son is growing up travelling in a car that has never been smoked in something she thought would never happen when she was growing up. Segina is the group manager or kaihautu tipu ora at Rotoruas Manaaki Ora Trust, which provides smokefree support among other wellbeing services. She says she was a heavy smoker for over 20 years and felt proud her work at the trust helped break the habit for three generations of smokers in her family. There is one year and four months left to reach the goal of the Stop Smoking 2025 Action Plan of having fewer than 5 per cent of Kiwis smoking by the end of 2025. It was born from a 2019 inquiry into the tobacco industry and the effects of tobacco use on Maori. Manaaki Oras roll is 70 per cent Maori. Smokers wanting to quit or who have tried multiple times could always come back and receive support without a GP referral. Segina says its patients had succeeded in smoking outcomes using vapes as a harm reduction approach. The team connected with potential quitters at events like Te Matatini and offered stop-smoking resources like patches and gum when patients attended diabetes appointments. Segina Te Ahuahu (left) and Chelsea Richardson from Manaaki Ora, Rotorua. Photo / Aleyna Martinez. Manaaki Ora stop-smoking team leader Chelsea Richardson says she had whanau affected directly and indirectly by smoking, and had lost people to smoking-related illnesses. A majority of our practitioners here had whanau passing away from smoking-related illnesses, Chelsea says. The groups work to decrease whanau smoking numbers was a wrap-around service and it would meet with the whole whanau if it was needed. The annual NZ Health Survey 2022/23 found adult smoking across all ethnicities had declined with 6.8 per cent of adults being daily smokers in 2022-23, down from 8.6 per cent the previous year. It found smoking remained heaviest in communities classified as most deprived but that smoking numbers there had also decreased to 10.7 per cent. Daily smoking for adults in the least deprived neighborhoods dropped to 3.1 per cent. Chelsea says she was determined to meet the stop-smoking goals for 2025 and says it caused mauiui to her loved ones, meaning to be weary or sick. Our whanau and whakapapa is being impacted by the effects of smoking, Chelsea says. Smoking is just one aspect of what is happening in someones life but if we can just get in and shift that, then we know theres going to be positive change, she says. Were working for our community and were removing barriers, Chelsea says. Associate Minister for Health Casey Costello was in Rotorua last week asking local providers what they thought would be the best approach for moving the last portion of the population still smoking. Some had been working on the national target for over 30 years, Te Ahuhahu says. In the last three years, 229,000 people had quit smoking 79,000 of them were Maori adults. Maori smoking rates had fallen to 17.1 per cent and Pasifika smokers to 6.4 per cent according to the 2022-23 New Zealand Health Survey. Casey says her inherited portfolio would have achieved smoking cessation targets by doing nothing if trends continued. She says that would not be across all population groups, however. We want to make sure were targeting high-needs groups and make sure theyve got the support and services they need to quit. We need a big energy push into Maori and Pasifika communities, she says. Associate Minister of Health Casey Costello expects a bill to prosecute businesses selling vape products unlawfully to be introduced in Parliament by the end of the month. Photo / Aleyna Martinez. Excise tax increases were first introduced in 2010 she says, acknowledging criticism she received when she cut the excise tax on vape products to 50 per cent in July. In amongst all the noise we forgot to acknowledge that were almost there. Vaping has been a big part of the stop-smoking journey, she says. A bill to prosecute vape retailers and businesses for selling vape products unlawfully would be introduced to Parliament at the end of August and she expected it to be law by the end of the year. Current legislation would only allow those physically behind the counter to be prosecuted under the law. We want to make sure that what we put in place can be enforced, that its suitable and that its not going to create unintended consequences. She also says a stream of work to help those ready to quit vaping would be developed next. -Rotorua Daily Post Concerns are growing within the global medical community about an outbreak of a more deadly variant of mpox. The virus - formerly known as monkeypox is endemic in Africa, but an outbreak with origins in the Democratic Republic of Congo of the more serious Clade 1B variant has been linked to dozens of deaths across the continent. Its not linked to an outbreak of the Clade 2 strain that sparked an outbreak among the gay community in 2022. The virus has now spread to other countries, with cases found in Sweden and Thailand. It has prompted the World Health Organisation to declare this a global health emergency. University of Auckland associate professor and co-director of the Global Vaccine Data Network, Dr Helen Petousis-Harris, told The Front Page mpox is part of the Orthpox family of viruses, and is similar to smallpox. While it doesnt spread easily, it does spread through close contact, and leads to flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills and congestion, then to a rash that can be extremely painful. She says its difficult to ascertain the mortality rate of this outbreak. For a long time, it probably had a lot of impact cases that were going undetected, particularly due to, for example in Nigeria [they] criminalise same-sex activity, also expression of trans people. So if you presented with this pox, you may seem to be affiliated with these practices, which could be very detrimental to you, so you can appreciate why people might keep quite quiet about it. And weve seen a lower mortality rate outside of Africa. So youve also got different populations, youve probably got different healthcare, youre probably also likely to capture all the cases as well. So I think thats a good question, but yes, this one does seem to be more lethal. She says the WHO declaration helps elevate the awareness of mpox, and requires a coordinated international response. It puts more of a priority on it, the focus on therapeutics and vaccines, for example, and also for people to collaborate, countries, nations to collaborate in sharing their knowledge. If you want to dampen down an outbreak or control or eliminate it, you need to collaborate because people just hop on planes all the time. And, of course, the infection, thats how it pops up all over the place and how it spread in 2022; its a plane ride away. -NZ Herald A renowned scientist says ethical, abundant food systems that lasted successfully for thousands of years can be reintroduced again. Dr Lyla June Johnston aka Lyla June (Dine/Navajo, Tsetsehestahese/Cheyenne, and European) is a human ecologist, public speaker, poet, musician and community organiser, and a keynote speaker at the upcoming World Green Infrastructure Congress 2024, being hosted by Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. From her home in Gallup, New Mexico, Lyla says shes excited to attend the event, being held in collaboration with Design for Nature and the World Green Infrastructure Network. The international event promotes the exchange of knowledge, discussing nature-based solutions in urban environments. She says history has many examples of successful food systems, and the sharing of this knowledge between various peoples, making her look to the future with optimism. My main message will be to share about a dozen examples of humanity creating successful, highly productive and deeply ethical food systems that lasted thousands of years. "Each of these examples shows how humanity has not harmed the earth, but has been a great asset to it. And if weve done it before, by god, we can do it again. She has spoken about the American chestnut tree, now nearly extinct. Evidence demonstrates they were planted by humans and cared for by Indigenous peoples, like a vast orchard. Spaced far apart, the trees enjoyed ample access to sunlight, water and nutrients to keep healthy. Indigenous peoples would burn around chestnuts to wipe out competing vegetation and put ash into the soil for fertiliser. The result produced nutrient-dense meadows that would sprout and attract deer, bison and other undulates - herbivores that were also good for food. Lyla has presented soil core samples containing almost 10,000 years of fossilised pollen information, demonstrating that Indigenous people managed a biodiverse food forest of black walnut, hickory nut, chestnut and other edible species for 3,000 years. We need to fall in love with humanity again. Were not pests, were not a stain on the fabric of creation, we actually belong here, especially when were guided by the right practical and ethical compass. We can create beauty for ourselves and other species. Lylas multi-genre presentations have inspired personal, collective, and ecological healing worldwide. At Stanford, she blends her study of human ecology, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and traditional worldview to craft insightful perspectives, solutions, and music. Her doctoral research showed how pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped Turtle Island (the Americas) to create abundant food systems, empowering humanity to connect with the natural world. She also acknowledges the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a crucial pathway to her journey and career. Lyla says shes especially looking forward to engaging with tangata whenua when she arrives for the Congress, being held from September 3-5. Im excited to create more alliances and relationships, to dine with our relatives in Aotearoa. As a person from the settler colonial state of America, Im excited to visit Aotearoa. Every time, I am deeply moved and inspired by Maori, the land, the way they are working towards a better world. Currently writing a book, Lyla says it was important to use an accessible format to communicate the scientific findings of her research to a broader audience. I have to communicate scientific knowledge beyond the university, so that it can help the world. I need to more beyond academic jargon and communicate these ideas through the likes of TED Talks and through this book Im writing now. It shares scientific findings through the medium of story. When asked how scientific peers viewed her research, she says a speech she gave on the greatest technology love received a standing ovation. She argues that the science community, in wanting to be more rigorous, excluded the concept of love and the emotional world from their analyses. Love is as important as gravity. When you try to explain natural phenomena, the only reason the eagle flies back and forth to the nest to feed some ugly birds; is because of love. Love is the greatest technology, even with wealth disparity, and all the technology; powerful telescopes that help see out into space - yet we cant see the person who has no home standing right in front of us. What good is this technology if we are devoid of love? To cut out love, we are denying our own reality. The 11th World Green Infrastructure Congress will be held at the Sir Owen G Glenn Building, Auckland, September 3-5. Read more about Lyla June Johnston. Kate Scott has been appointed chief executive officer of Horticulture New Zealand and will be attending the HortNZ conference in Mount Maunganui this week. Kate has been working in agribusiness for 20 years and has significant experience in resource management, environmental policy and planning and stakeholder engagement. She is currently executive director of environmental consultancy Landpro, chairs the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust and is deputy chair of Thriving Southland. Kate was a Nuffield scholar in 2018 and was a recipient of the Rabobank Australasian Emerging Leader award last year. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (Geography & Political Science) degree from Victoria University. She completed the Leading Professional Service Firms programme at Harvard Business School and the Institute of Directors Governance Development Programme. Barry ONeil, chair of HortNZ, says Kate is a strong and effective leader, a collaborative relationship builder and a practical problem solver. The calibre of candidates for the CEO role was exceptional. Kate stood out for her energy and ability to not only deliver on our strategy and priorities, but also look for opportunities for wider collaboration. She is also experienced in leading organisations and people, fostering a strong sense of team and enabling those she works with to succeed. I am confident Kate will navigate the sector's complexities and be able to unpick and understand the key issues while remaining focused on delivering results that will make a difference for growers and the wider horticulture industry. Barry also paid tribute to departing chief executive Nadine Tunley. Nadine has been amazing in the CEO role. She has always been connected, always looking for the best horticulture and organisational outcomes, and encouraging us to find a better way of working. She led us through some really tough times, including the pandemic, the labour crisis as a result of the closed borders and Cyclone Gabrielle. We wish her all the best for the next stage of her career. Kate will attend the HortNZ conference in Mount Maunganui this week and be formally introduced at a networking event on August 28. Michelle Sands, HortNZ general manager strategy and policy, will stand in as interim chief executive until Kate starts on October 17. The weekend ahead is looking bleak for Waikato residents needing medical help, as doctor shortages drag on. The NZ Resident Doctors Association has reported patient care was significantly reduced at Waikato Hospital this past weekend due to a 60 per cent shortage of doctors. According to NZRDA, the number of medical registrars at the hospital dropped to just 40 per cent of the usual level, exacerbating ongoing staffing issues in the region. Medical registrars are crucial for managing patients with serious conditions such as heart attacks, pneumonia, strokes, and diabetes, says NZRDA national secretary Dr Deborah Powell. This three-month period we have half the number of medical registrars we need to staff the hospital, but things are getting worse with this last weekend down to 40 per cent and next weekend looking equally if not more bleak. Screenshot of email sent to staff addressing the shortage in registrars. Photo: Supplied. Screenshot of email sent to staff addressing the shortage in registrars. Photo: Supplied. Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Waikato has been approached for its response. On Monday, Te Whatu Ora interim national chief medical officer Dr Nick Baker announced more than 500 new doctors will soon join Health NZ hospitals. More than 500 soon-to-be doctors have been guaranteed roles as first-year house officers across Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora hospitals upon graduating at the end of the year. This injection of newly qualified doctors, commencing in January 2025, will make a real difference in helping to meet the health needs of the communities they will serve. Dr Baker emphasised Health NZs commitment to developing a robust and sustainable clinical workforce to improve health outcomes for all Kiwis. To date, 538 medical students who are in their final year of study have been matched into roles, with a further 25 joining the national talent pool which is accessible to all employers. Being able to bolster our health workforce with this many talented new medical professionals sends a clear message to those currently in study and those considering a career in health that there continues to be local opportunities for health graduates. Dr Powell, however, is critical of the current state of Waikatos healthcare system, saying doctors there are burning out. They are also susceptible to winter illnesses exacerbating an already dire situation. Waikato has no answer to the situation other than to reduce the care patients would normally get from their doctors. Dr Powell says one area service that has been reduced is for surgical patients who in addition to their surgical condition have a medical problem. It is normal for the medical registrars to assist medical management of surgical patients, but this service has had to be withdrawn simply because we dont have enough doctors to do the work. NZRDA has been collaborating with Te Whatu Ora to address the shortage, but he notes this progress has stalled as management shifts focus to budgetary concerns. For all the rhetoric about strengthening front-line care, the fact is that both patient care and the workforce we need to provide that care are suffering and the situation is getting worse. We have options, we can strengthen our workforces, but Te Whatu Ora needs to support us to do so which currently is not happening. Dr Baker reiterated Health NZs priority to train and employ a homegrown workforce. He outlined that the matching process places applicants into three categories: New Zealand citizens who graduated from New Zealand, New Zealand citizens who graduated from Australia, and international graduates who studied in New Zealand. So far, 96 per cent of applicants have been matched with roles, including 99 per cent of New Zealand graduates. We remain committed to working with unmatched graduates to find them roles with Health NZ as quickly as possible, says Dr Baker. The talent pool is set to open earlier than planned on Tuesday, August 27. Congratulations to all successful applicants so far and we look forward to welcoming you to the Health NZ whanau, says Dr Baker. The victims in yesterdays horror crash on State Highway 1 in South Auckland have been identified as seasonal workers due to return home to Samoa. Samoan media are reporting the victims are young men who have been in New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme. It is understood the three victims were travelling to Auckland from Bay of Plenty ahead of their return back to Samoa later this week. The crash happened just before 2pm between Ramarama and Bombay, and involved a truck and three other vehicles. All lanes of SH1 remained closed overnight with diversions in place, but have now reopened. Family members and friends of the victims have taken to social media to express their grief, shock and disbelief at the news. Samoa Global News reported that a fourth passenger - also a seasonal worker - was among those injured and taken to hospital. Lying in his hospital bed, he later took to Facebook to describe what had happened to family and friends back in Samoa, as tears streamed down his face. The incident follows several fatal crashes involving RSE workers from Pacific countries in New Zealand and Australia, in recent years. Motorist Tamati Cassin - who arrived on the scene shortly after the crash - says it appeared the truck had been travelling south when it blew a tyre and crossed on to the northbound side, ripping through the barrier wires and hitting a van. Images from the scene show the median barrier wrapped around the trucks front wheels. Counties Manukau road policing manager, Inspector Tony Wakelin, says yesterday it appeared the vehicles had collided while travelling in the northbound lanes, but how it happened was still being investigated. The three deceased were travelling in the same vehicle. This many fatalities at once is shocking and our thoughts go out to all those affected, Tony says. Incidents like this are hard on everyone involved and we are making sure there is support in place for those involved, their families, and our staff who have attended the scene. As well as the three people killed, one person was critically injured and two others with serious injuries were taken to hospital. Tamati says he saw three bodies in the van as well as two injured people in another vehicle. Members of the public had run to their aid, he says. When it happened, everyone just jumped out of the cars and ran over to the van and the truck, because the truck was pretty badly damaged, and the van with the bodies in there, people just didnt know what to do, and [they were] just trying to get them out. The crash caused lengthy delays in both directions. Photo / Facebook. SUR Malaga Monday, 26 August 2024, 15:19 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Spain's state weather agency (Aemet) is forecasting the arrival of a 'Dana' isolated high-level depression on Thursday 29 August, which will bring a change to the weather in the south of the country. This phenomenon will extend until the end of the week and generate instability in large parts of Andalucia, with rainfall in most of the region, as well as a generalised drop in temperatures of between two and five degrees. The director of the Aemet weather centre in Malaga, Jesus Riesco, explained that during today (Monday 26 August) and Tuesday there could be rainfall "locally accompanied by some storms" in the eastern mountain ranges of Andalucia - mainly Almeria, Granada and Jaen provinces - where heavy rains have already been recorded during the past weekend. On Wednesday 28 August, a phenomenon known as the southern circulation - a large-scale movement of air that will enter through the north of the Spanish mainland - will leave "not very significant" rainfall in Malaga and Cordoba provinces, while on Thursday the arrival of a Dana or cold drop is forecast, which will be located in the southwest of the Spanish mainland and will affect "large areas of Andalucia". Related article Weather Watch as surprise summer showers hit popular holiday resort on the Costa del Sol Eugenio Cabezas Looking ahead to September, which begins next Sunday, Riesco stressed that "it is difficult" for temperatures to rise above 38 or 39C. This Monday and Tuesday, the mercury will reach its highest values in the Guadalquivir Valley, with Cordoba and Seville being the most affected provinces where it will reach 37 and 39C, while on the Costa del Sol of Malaga the maximum temperatures will not exceed 30 degrees throughout the week. Meanwhile, the minimum temperatures "will continue to be high", with nights of up to 25C registered on the thermometers. From Wednesday onwards, the director of Aemet Malaga has indicated that the mercury will begin to drop by between three and five degrees in the interior of Andalucia to reach a maximum of between 31 and 36C, with temperatures "considerably lower compared to the heat episodes of previous weeks". However, for Saturday, Riesco pointed out that "there may be a slight rise" in the maximum temperatures. With regard to the behaviour of the minimum temperatures in inland areas of Andalusia, he indicated that "they will be lower than on the coast", ranging between 20 and 21 degrees. Finally, Riesco explained that the winds "are going to be changeable" and dependent on the Dana. During the first part of the week, easterly winds will blow along the Alboran coast, while from Wednesday onwards they will extend to the whole of the Andalusian coast. Inland, the prevailing winds will be westerly during the first few days, he concluded. Enrique Bellver Estacion de Cartama Monday, 26 August 2024, 16:31 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Nakara and its creator and chef, Jesus Lopez, are intrinsically linked, as this restaurant prepares a very personal Japanese-Mediterranean cuisine. For almost ten years he trained in the kitchens of Asian cuisine establishments located mostly on the Costa del Sol, such as Nobu, Playa Padre Beach and Tahini. The pandemic forced him to return to his place of origin and instead of getting depressed he decided to open the only 'Japanese' restaurant in the town of Estacion de Cartama. He soon not only won over the public in the area, but also in a large part of Malaga province. His secret, very simple: to use good quality products, to have very clear ideas of where the tastes of his clientele are and not to scare them with prices. Zoom Along with the most classic dishes of this type of cuisine on the menu, we find other creations that are the result of the creativity that Jesus has imposed in Nakara. One of the things I liked most about my last visit to this restaurant is the deep respect that Jesus has for oriental cuisine, and specifically for Japanese cuisine, especially when it comes to fusing products and techniques, the result of which can be appreciated in the first mouthful. There is his 'volcano of prawns', where the seafood does not lose an iota of its flavour despite the spicy touch and its crunchy texture, or his 'Japanese nugget', a sample of creativity, wisdom and balance. But you should also go to Nakara to enjoy the sushi, niguiris, uromakis and tiraditos, of the latter I'll go for the one with truffled tuna belly and ponzu, and from the Chinese cuisine with their dim sum stuffed with duck and foie gras with shitake sauce and crispy onion. The excellent service of Jose Manuel Heredia and what Jesus cooks, it is no wonder that it has become one of the most recommended Asian restaurants in the province. Moreover, it is an example of how to make good Japanese cuisine without making harakiri on our wallet. Some of the dishes on offer Taco crujiente de wagyu. This is undoubtedly one of the most striking dishes on the menu. Wagyu is in fashion and Nakara prepares it in a taco where the crispness becomes one of its attractions. The point and flavour of the meat is perfect. Zoom Varied sushi To go to Nakara and not try the sushi would be unforgivable. It is precisely in the variety of sushi (salmon, tuna, scallop and tuna) where you can appreciate the professionalism and good work of Jesus to give the rice the right touch. Zoom Volcan de gambas. Another of the dishes that cannot be missing from the menu of any of the establishments where the Nakara group is present. Medium-sized prawns with crispy tempura and a mild yet spicy sauce. Zoom Japanese Pepito This dish is defined by its original and sensible execution. A well-fried bao bread stuffed with tuna belly previously flambeed, which is the base for a quail's egg. The slice of fried green pepper adds flavour and potency. Zoom Contact: C/Toulouse-Lautrec (Estacion de Cartama). Telephone: 951 203 189. Closed: Monday and Tuesday midday. Web: gruponakara.com Prices: Prawn volcano: 12 Stuffed Dim sum: 8.50 Japanese pepito: 7. Rating : Cuisine: 8. Restaurant: 7. Wine list: 6.5. Overall rating: 7.5 / 10 Eugenio Cabezas Torrox Costa Monday, 26 August 2024, 12:29 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads A group of residents and living near the site of a planned electricity substation in the Torrox Park residential area of Torrox-Costa on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol are raising funds to take further legal action after Malagas Public Prosecutor's Office shelved the complaint, filed in 2023, in April this year. Now the group, which includes residents and the parents and teachers association (Ampas) of nearby schools, is preparing a new appeal to try to stop the work, which is financed by electricty supply company Endesa, being carried out. President of the group Antonio Ruiz explained to SUR that the lawyers they have hired are working on the appeal based on the alleged irregularities they have detected in the processing of the project that led to the building permit being granted by Torrox town hall. In addition, As part of the new appeal, lawyers will include proof that in the lead-up to the 2023 local elections, local politicians promised to look for an alternative site for the substation. The families affected feel deceived because all the steps of the project have been deliberately concealed so that they could not present objections within the legal deadlines, Ruiz said, adding: During all that time they told us that the substation would not be in that location, they even agreed to look for another location in a council meeting agreement, which is a political procedure that guarantees compliance with what was agreed. He went on to say, How could we have submitted objections if we didn't know what they were doing? That is a violation of our right to defend ourselves. The project to build a new electricity substation at a cost of nine million euros is currently under way. According to Ruiz, the project isnt complying with what was promised by the town hall and mayor, Oscar Medina. Nor is there zero visual impact, nor undergrounding, nor a favourable report from the UMA [University of Malaga]. Special bank account The group has set up a special bank account to raise money for the fight and they have the financial support of a number of local businesses. If anyone wants to join you can contribute with Bizum: +34 636 40 73 69 or transfer to: ES75 1465 0100 9217 6198 8208, explained Ruiz, who said that there has been a total lack of transparency and respect for the rights of the residents of Torrox. We know that there are still two years to go before it comes into operation, because they have to make many checks and tests. Ruiz explained that, in addition to the substation in the Torrox Park area, the undergrounding of several high and medium voltage lines, which are very close to El Faro primary school and hundreds of homes, is pending. Ruiz highlighted the risks to health of the proximity of the new substation, power lines and a transformer located next to the school. Zoom A high voltage electricity tower near El Faro primary school in Torrox. E. Cabezas Sources from Torrox town hall have declined to respond to this new legal action being taken by the citizens group. Medina said in April that the town hall will continue to demand from Endesa that the radiation be zero when the substation comes into operation in 2025, after an investment of nine million euros by the electricity company. His political party argues that the substation is of fundamental importance for the town to enable new urban developments and avoid power cuts. Marina Ortiz Malaga Monday, 26 August 2024 | Updated 28/08/2024 19:07h. Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Manilva, a municipality on the western strip of the Costa del Sol, has been experiencing some major problems with people squatting in one of its residential developments, namely the Royal Manilva. According to the residents who live there legally, approximately 30 of the 90 dwellings have been squatted, in some cases for about four years. As reported by El Confidencial, the legal owners said it started in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and that the "call effect" meant attempts to enter empty homes without the law's authorisation have not stopped since then. In addition to the insecurity caused by having people living illegally in your own community, recently there was a situation that was the straw that broke the camel's back in this residential development. The property owners have a swimming pool in their grounds, which had been closed for some years for economic reasons. This year, they decided to invest in it in order to open it and enjoy it in summer. But this quickly turned ugly due to the squatters living in the same urbanisation. "The day after it was in a perfect condition for bathing, the swimming pool was filled with squatters and people from outside the development who had been invited. We have videos in which you can see 20 or 30 children from outside, women bathing fully dressed, with the niqab," said the legal residents, according to El Confidencial. But the situation got worse: "They broke the security locks on the gates and, when we put chains to close them, they ripped down the fence to get underneath," which meant that, a week later, the residents had to close the swimming pool. "The pool was filled with squatters and people from outside the development who had been invited" The residents then went to the authorities but, at first, they received no attention: "When we saw all the people in the water, we called the Local Police. They told us that they couldn't come out because they were dealing with a fire. But they also told us that it was a private security problem that they couldn't get involved with. And they blamed us for the fact that people were sneaking in because the locks and fences were broken," a resident told El Confidencial. Some time later, in June, the residents also wanted to report the danger of a minor or any other person drowning in the water due to the pool being shut and no lifeguards being present, asking police for explanations as to why no officers were attending. Some 30 dwellings were successfully vacated With a new complaint in August, and the knowledge of violent altercations and investigation for drug trafficking, added to a possible shooting incident between squatters and "a clan", according to local residents, Guardia Civil and Local Police officers launched an operation that allowed the recovery of some of the squatted houses in Royal Manilva. This was in response to an injunction from the courts in Estepona. A total of 30 properties in the residential development were vacated, but the operation has not been fully completed. According to media sources, most of the squatters agreed to leave the houses voluntarily, so the evictions were carried out without incident. The only exception was the presence of an aggressive dog and a woman who claimed to live with four minors. Her case was referred to the social services department of the Junta de Andalucia. Syracuse, N.Y. -- While Micron Technology has slogged along for nearly two years with environmental studies and permits for its planned complex in northern Onondaga County, the company is already pouring concrete in Idaho. Micron is building a three-story, 4-million-square-foot fabrication plant, or fab, next to its headquarters in Boise. The company plans to build up to four similar-sized plants in the town of Clay. Beijing (Gasgoo)- Recently, Osemitech Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd ("Osemitech"), a Chinese automotive-grade wireless SoC chip company, completed the first tranche of its Pre-A+ round of funding, securing tens of millions of yuan, the company announced on August 26 via WeChat. This investment was led by a fund jointly established by Jinding Capital and KKangxi Communication Technologies. Photo credit: Osemitech The funds from this round will be used to further develop ultra-wideband (UWB) and automotive millimeter-wave radar chips, ensuring the accelerated mass production of these technologies. In the past six months, Osemitech has raised over 100 million yuan across multiple funding rounds. The company has received strong backing from several publicly listed companies and industry capital. Founded in October 2020, Osemitech specializes in the design of UWB and automotive millimeter-wave radar SoC chips. The company boasts a top-tier SoC development team with extensive experience in automotive-grade products, drawn from leading domestic and international chip design firms. Osemitech's UWB SoC products are already in mass production and cater to various applications, including IoT, smartphones, and automotive sectors, with multiple customers placing significant orders. The company's core product line, automotive-grade UWB SoC chips, is currently in a phase of rapid mass production. These chips integrate positioning, communication, and radar sensing, achieving industry-leading performance with a ranging accuracy of 1 cm, an angle of arrival (AOA) deviation of 1, and data transmission rates up to 100 Mbps, all while maintaining power consumption below 50% of leading industry products, said Osemitech. Osemitech is the first to offer a complete domestic digital key and radar chip solution (including in-cabin life detection and kick radar) for automotive clients, having passed extensive testing in complex scenarios with car manufacturers. Syracuse, N.Y. -- A 34-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he was found with an assault rifle in his vehicle near the New York State Fair. Around 7 p.m., State troopers patrolling the area saw Curtis D. Young, of Charlotte, North Carolina, acting in a suspicious manner, according to Trooper Jennifer Jiron, speaking for the New York State Police. Troopers stopped Young, who exited his truck on the exit ramp from I-690 at State Fair Boulevard, to question him, Jiron said. Young admitted to having an AR-15 assault rifle and a 30-round magazine inside the cab of the truck, Jiron said. He illegally had the rifle, she said. Young was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was taken to Onondaga County Justice Center where he will be arraigned in CAP court Monday morning. Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at dstevenson@syracuse.com Its rare for Hoka to discount its best-selling shoes, but right now, shoppers can grab a deal on the Bondi 8 and Clifton 8 at Zappos. The catch? Stock is extremely limited, so youll need to act fast. Why choose Hokas? The American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) Seal of Acceptance recognizes products that benefit foot health. Each item is carefully evaluated by a panel of APMA podiatrists to ensure it supports and promotes overall foot well-being. Limited time sale: Brooks running shoes is having a sale up to 52% off The Bondi 8 is on sale for 20% off.Courtesy of Zappos Bondi 8 - $132 (20% off) The newest addition to the acclaimed Clifton series, the Clifton 8 maintains its reputation for combining softness with lightweight performance. It features a lighter and more responsive midsole while retaining the same smooth ride qualities. The Clifton 8 showcases a sleeker profile and an updated engineered mesh upper for enhanced comfort and breathability. Clifon 8 - $125 (10% off) The newest addition to the acclaimed Clifton series, the Clifton 8 maintains its reputation for combining softness with lightweight performance. It features a lighter and more responsive midsole while retaining the same smooth ride qualities. The Clifton 8 showcases a sleeker profile and an updated engineered mesh upper for enhanced comfort and breathability. Arahi 6 - $112 (20% off) Unexpectedly light for a stability shoe, the Arahi makes a return with the same stabilizing J-Frame as its previous model. It offers a remarkable blend of substantial cushioning and minimal weight, now enhanced with a pull tab and a mesh upper featuring breathable zones. The Arahi 6 is both exceptionally light and incredibly comfortable, providing dynamic support for a variety of runners. Check out the Hoka sale at Zappos here. Police are investigating after five people were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a New York home. The Associated Press reports officers responded to reports shots fired in suburban Long Island around noon on Sunday. They found the body of a man outside a house in Syosset with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound; the bodies of four other people were found inside the residence. Officials have not released more details, but neighbors told ABC7 that a mother and son lived in the home for decades. The woman died last week at age 95, and the family was reportedly in talks with a real estate agent to list the house. The mother who owned the house recently passed away. Family was in, and from what I understand is there was possibly a dispute, a neighbor in the quiet cul-de-sac told the TV station. Newsday reports the man who died by suicide outside the home is believed to be the son who lived in the home with the mother. A funeral was held Friday for Theresa Martha DeLucia, according to her obituary. A real estate agent told the New York Post that she was scheduled to meet with the family on Sunday, but when she arrived it was already a crime scene. The home was estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 on Zillow. Patrick Ryder, the commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department, told News12 that investigators believe DeLucias son was upset over circumstances surrounding the houses sale and killed four people inside and then himself. A neighbor told the Post that he had mental health issues and had lived at the house his whole life. Geddes, N.Y. Hundreds of law enforcement officers, politicians and dignitaries from throughout New York gathered at the State Fair on Monday for a ceremony honoring fallen officers. The noontime event outside the Horticulture Building began as Syracuse police officers, Onondaga County sheriffs deputies and state troopers followed Syracuse Police Lt. Dan Walsh playing his bagpipes. Once the procession ended, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, State Sen. John Mannion, Fair Director Julie LaFave and State Police Superintendent Steven James among others addressed the crowd. Steven James, Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile and Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley then read the names of all the officers in the state who died in the line of duty over the past year. Bricks with their names engraved were then unveiled. Among those named were Syracuse Police Officer Michael Jensen and Onondaga Sheriffs Deputy Lt. Michael Hoosock, who were killed April 14 in a shootout by a man with a semiautomatic assault rifle. The ceremony Monday was part of Law Enforcement Day at the Fair. All police, retired and active, got free admission. One of the most-visited attractions of the day has been a table set up outside a longtime vendor on the Colonnade. Tommy Cs set the table this morning in honor Hoosock and Jensen. The Meiers Creek Brewing Co. created a special label to wrap around its Floatin On By pilsner. The stand is donating $1 of every can sold to the family. This is the least we can do, said owner Tom Centore. Those two guys would be at the Fair today with their families if that hadnt been doing their job on that awful day. Tommy C's, a food and drink stand in the State Fair's Colonnade, has a table reserved for the two law enforcement officers who were gunned down in April. They'll be selling a beer Meier's Creek brewed in their honor and donate the proceeds to the officers' families. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com) **** Charlie Miller is a journalist for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. (AND he pays for what he and his guests eat and drink, just so you know.) You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here. Geddes, N.Y. The 90 minutes spent in a rear-facing bench seat of their familys lime green station wagon felt more like 9 hours. How many times would Terri Faes and her younger sister Melanie Smith have to sing 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall before finally reaching the New York State Fair? When the trip from their Chaumont home finally ended at the main gate, their parents gave them $5 to last the entire day. They barely heard the have fun or noticed the wave goodbye as they ran toward what was always their favorite day of the year. The first time we came here, we knew it was special, Terri said the other day while walking through the Colonnade. It still is, Melanie interrupted. It always will be. Their first State Fair trip was 1968. Terri was 8 and Melanie was 6. Theyve come back together every year since, except 1984 when Melanie was 9 months pregnant with her son. He just turned 40 on Saturday. Melanie Smith (left) and Terri Faes have been coming to the New York State Fair together since 1968. (Provided photo)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com) Their days here over the past 56 years have followed a similar itinerary with a menu thats adjusted with time and tastes. They visit the buildings to see animals, and they share a few meals. We always share because we wanted to make our money last all day, Terri said while sharing a fried chicken dinner with collard greens from Henrys Hen House in the Pan African Village. Their parents used to pack a cooler with sandwiches and instruct the girls to return to the car for lunch. That left them money for fried dough and a caramel apple. Like their mother, they watch at least one concert in Chevy Court. If there was a country act back in the 1970s, their mom would pack some beers in the cooler and sit on a bench for hours before the show. Shed just sit there and get nicer and nicer as the day went on, Melanie said. Terri listed some of the performers theyve watched for free here: The Osmond Brothers (That was before Donny became the famous one.) Crystal Gayle (I wonder if her hair is still really long.) Rick Springfield (Oh, remember, he was joking about getting sued because his butt hit a woman in the audience .) Chubby Checker (He was so generous with his time after the show. He would sign autographs for more than an hour, until everyone got one.) Terri still takes her Fair concerts seriously. In March, she sent state officials a list of musicians she would like to see play here. I am a humongous State Fair fan, her letter to the Fair director read. I go to a minimum of 9 days, and sometimes everyday. I have some ideas for free shows for your consideration. Ace Frehley, the founding guitar player for KISS, topped her list of 19 choices. Frehley played Thursday evening, and Terri and Melanie were there. A look at the State Fair track with the Grandstand before Opening Day in 1977. Terri Faes and her sister Melanie Smith were there and parked in the infield.Syracuse Post-Standard As they grew up, Terri and Melanie would attend concerts at the Grandstand overlooking the dirt track. They preferred parking in the infield so they could return to their station wagon to drop off whatever free stuff they accumulated throughout the day. The Fair, they said, also served as their back-to-school shopping spree. The state demolished the Grandstand and did away with the track in 2016. Its now home to more food vendors, animal exhibits, the Expo Center and the Suburban Park concert stage for acts that command a larger audience. They have heard the complaints from friends about the redesign, but they understand the reasoning. Older people dont like change, and I get that, Melanie said. But I like it. Its wide open. Its cleaner. Its bigger. Its relaxing, and now that Im older I like to relax. They do miss Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Gianelli Sausage and Bakers Chicken Coop, but theyre still able to eat the same saltwater taffy that they chewed as children. And now, theyre finding new vendors serving food theyve never eaten before. Terri is 64 now and lives in the Bayberry section of Liverpool, eight miles away from the Fairgrounds. Melanies in Dexter, but shell still drive an hour and 15 minutes to spend a day at the Fair with her sister. They now bring their children and grandchildren here. Their days and nights at the Fair in 2024 are just as memorable and meaningful as those in 1968, they said. They just look a little different. Its definitely not as dirty. I mean, how many pairs of shoes did we ruin when we were kids? Terri said. And when wed be walking to the car on the dirt track, we had to cover up the Pizze Fritte we were bringing home so it wouldnt get covered in dirt. The lime-green station wagon with the rear-facing seat, however, would turn onto State Fair Boulevard now olive green. Times sure have changed, Melanie said. Terri interrupted, Yes, but were still here, at the Fair, with each other, and thats what matters. **** Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drinks and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. (AND he pays for what he and his guests eat and drink, just so you know.) You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On August 25, NETA Auto officially put the NETA S model's shooting-brake edition onto the market, offering six variants priced between 159,900 yuan and 209,900 yuan. Notably, during the launch event, a pre-sale price of 189,900 yuan was announced for a fully electric version of the NETA S Shooting Brake that features an 800V architecture. Photo credit: NETA Auto In terms of exterior design, the NETA S Shooting Brake is available in five color choices, including two exclusive paint options. The front of the vehicle retains the design of the NETA S' sedan edition, featuring large air intakes on both sides and a diamond-shaped grille below. Top-spec variants will also come equipped with roof-mounted LiDAR. The vehicle is fitted with slim LED daytime running lights, integrated with the main headlights and triangular air intake design on the lower front fascia. Additionally, a special blackout package is available for those looking for a more distinctive look. Photo credit: NETA Auto From the side, the vehicle showcases a sleek waistline that flows seamlessly with the downward-sloping hood, creating a dynamic appearance. The front and rear fenders slightly extend outwards, contributing to a compact wide-body design, and hidden door handles enhance its aerodynamic profile. The vehicle also features dual-tone, five-spoke Y-shaped wheels, available in 19- or 20-inch sizes, accented by red brake calipers. The new vehicle measures 4,980 mm in length, 1,980 mm in width, and 1,480 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,980 mm. At the rear, the NETA S Shooting Brake is equipped with a roof spoiler and full-width taillights, visually extending the car's width. The rear bumper is designed with a minimalist approach, offering a strong sense of three-dimensionality, while the overall rear profile remains full and rounded. The carmaker also highlights a roof rack with a load capacity of up to 100 kg for the shooting-braking model. Photo credit: NETA Auto Inside, the cabin features a unique blue interior color scheme, complemented by glacial-cut texture accents, enhancing its refined feel. The model includes a 49-inch head-up display (HUD), a three-spoke multifunction steering wheel, and a 17.6-inch, 2.5K multimedia center touchscreen in a portrait form. A panoramic sunroof covering 1.47 square meters is also part of the package, with a claimed 99.9% UV protection rate. In terms of other equipment, the new version offers a 6.5-liter in-car refrigerator and the NETA SOUND in-house developed speaker system on some variants. The Max version is equipped with NVIDIA's Orin-X chip platform, offering 254 TOPS of computing power. Optional features include Hesai Technology's AT128 mountain-range-style LiDAR, along with advanced intelligent driving systems and NNP highway navigation assistance function. Power system of the NETA S Shooting Brake range-extended variant; photo credit: NETA Auto Regarding powertrain options, the NETA S Shooting Brake range-extended variant is powered by the HZ-2.0 super range-extending system, featuring a 1.5L range extender with a maximum output of 95 horsepower. The single electric motor provides a peak power of 272 horsepower, paired with a 43.88 kWh battery pack, offering a CLTC battery-powered range of 300 km and a combined range of 1,200 km. The all-electric model comes in both rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive versions, with the rear-wheel-drive version delivering a maximum power of 250 kW, while the four-wheel-drive version offers 503 horsepower, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. Photo credit: NETA Auto The suspension system remains consistent with the NETA S' sedan edition, utilizing a front double-wishbone independent suspension and a rear multi-link independent suspension. The NETA S Shooting Brake will take on such models as the NIO ET5T, the ZEEKR 001, and the ZEEKR 007 Touring Edition set to be launched next year. Through the looking glass: At first glance, it may appear that the Chinese cooling company DeepCool has been sneakily rebranding and reselling its products stateside under the name "Shaking Tank" in an attempt to sidestep economic sanctions imposed by the US government. But things may not be so simple. Back in June, the State Department slapped DeepCool on its sanctions list. The alleged offense was that the company did over $1 million in business with Russian firms involved in the Ukraine invasion. The sanctions barred the company's US subsidiary from conducting any business transactions with its Chinese parent company. US residents were prohibited from any commercial activities involving the DeepCool brand as well. With these restrictions in place, DeepCool should have been legally barred from any sales in the US. However, it appears some entrepreneurial sorts weren't quite ready to ice the DeepCool brand out of the lucrative American market. YouTube tech reviewer Greg Salazar shared some product listings from Amazon on X/Twitter showing the company's coolers and fan hubs conspicuously scrubbed of any DeepCool branding. Dug a bit deeper and found several instances of Amazon storefronts blurring brand logos and selling products under the "Shaking Tank" name. This doesn't appear to be Deepcool-specific, and is likely a reseller's way of circumventing sanctions in order to offload banned inventory. pic.twitter.com/YJOdj0E14J Greg Salazar (@GregSalazarYT) August 23, 2024 Even cardboard packaging shots have had any DeepCool insignias blurred beyond recognition; instead, the products have now adopted a "Shaking Tank" prefix. For example, the DeepCool AK620 air cooler is now listed as the "Shaking Tank AK620." In some cases, the seller hasn't even done a good job at blurring the branding out. The DeepCool logo is still desciperable on an RGB convertor listed on the site, for instance. As for who's behind this, the likeliest scenario is that it's not DeepCool itself pulling a fake rebrand the legal risks would be far too severe. Salazar did note that the rebrand did not seem to be specific to DeepCool either. So, the more plausible explanation is that it's just a third-party reseller who snatched up the company's remaining US inventory and is burning through it by slapping on a new alias. Whatever the reason, buying a so-called Shaking Tank product may not be a good idea because the sanctions have likely also killed any prospects of after-sales service or warranties. What just happened? A new guardian has taken to patrolling the streets of Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward. Wingate City Lights properties recently welcomed a 5-foot-6-inch, 420-pound autonomous robot from Knightscope to help deter criminal activity along Boulevard, a corridor that has seen a concentration of violent crimes. According to Atlanta Police Department data, at least 34 crimes against persons occurred on Boulevard over the past seven months, including incidents of murder, kidnapping, rape, and assault. The gritty stretch has emerged as a trouble spot in what Atlanta City Councilman Amir Farokhi describes as an otherwise "vibrant, walkable, thriving neighborhood." Farokhi told 11Alive that he believes the Knightscope K5 robot, packed with AI capabilities to detect anomalies, could be the leading edge of a new technological approach to enhance public safety. "It makes me feel safer, because it comes right here, scans right here, and then it'll turn around and go back. I love it," says Juanita Johnson of Atlanta. "And it works every day." Learn more at https://t.co/FEPPdFa5zN pic.twitter.com/o5BxQhuJlO Knightscope (@iKnightscope) August 16, 2024 The four-wheeled robot roams autonomously within a given area, using an array of cameras and sensors to identify potential threats or suspicious behavior. When it detects something out of the ordinary, it alerts human operators at a security center who can assess the situation and coordinate an appropriate response. For now, the robot seems to be privately-owned and will only patrol private property, as indicated by the Wingate City Lights properties logo on its front. Wingate is also treating this as a trial run in partnership with local law enforcement. Data gathered by the bot will be shared with Atlanta PD as an "additional source of information," though the company and the police department are still working out the specifics of data retention. "This is looking for information that's publicly available," explained Stacy Stephens, Knightscope's chief client officer. "So if you're in a public place, no different than going to the grocery store or your bank or anywhere else that you have CCTV cameras mounted." Privacy implications are always a concern with surveillance of this sort. But in a neighborhood weary from the violent crime rate, residents simply don't seem to care. Andre Johnson, a local resident, told 11Alive that privacy was hardly attainable anymore. He seemed to be more concerned about the crime levels, adding that the robot's already making the area "more safe than it used to be." It's worth mentioning that this isn't the Knightscope K5's first security stint. The same robot went viral last year after it was put on duty at the Times Square subway station. Mayor Eric Adams' idea was to save money the cost of leasing it averaged out to about just $9 per hour while also enhancing safety. Unfortunately, the idea didn't seem to work out because the robot was retired mere months after it was put into service. Reasons included commuters wanting to abuse it, which had prompted the police to assign officers to chaperone the robot, according to the New York Times. And perhaps more amusingly, it could not use stairs. Image credit: Knightscope In context: The Open Compute Project is a non-profit venture created to promote novel data center designs and industry best practices among its partners. The organization has over 50 members around the world, including major players in the data center business such as Arm, Meta, IBM, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others. The latest project promoted by the OCP is a collaborative effort to test and develop new concrete materials for building data centers. The organization recently announced its idea to create "green concrete," although the actual construction work for the demonstration event took place earlier this month in Northbrook, Illinois. The OCP is partnering with Amazon (AWS), Google, Meta, and Microsoft to increase the adoption of concrete with lower carbon concentrations, while a company called Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE) is leading the actual construction efforts. The organization's stated goal is to find the "magic formula" that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to data center plants to 50 percent per cubic yard or more. Concrete is the foundation of many modern buildings, including data center facilities. The material increases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere in two different ways: first, concrete includes limestone, which releases carbon dioxide when it's heated; second, concrete production requires energy, which creates even more polluting emissions. Several technological solutions have been developed to achieve low carbon concrete mixtures, but adoption is still lacking. In its latest cooperation effort, the OCP worked with WJE representatives to realize a series of slabs containing four different concrete solutions. The most advanced of these solutions would achieve a greater than 50 percent reduction in carbon impact when compared to today's "typical concrete," the OCP explained. The project's implementation team developed a "comprehensive" test plan, which includes proper and extensive laboratory tests performed by industry experts. These experts will contribute their data to a final whitepaper focused on green concrete tech, a document the OCP will eventually make available to the public. According to the OCP, a more environmentally friendly concrete will help data center corporations meet the goal of achieving "net zero" operations by 2030. Big Tech representatives are all busy pursuing this ambitious target, but AWS has been seemingly working to get there faster than anyone else. The company already built 36 data centers with lower-carbon concrete in 2023 alone. Don't Be Evil: DeepMind is a British-American research lab that focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. The company eventually became part of Google with a promise not to misuse AI research for military purposes, but it now seems that Mountain View may be going against that pledge. Around 200 employees of DeepMind signed a letter urging the company to terminate its contracts with military customers. According to a report by Time, the letter was sent to Google's higher-ups earlier this year. However, executives have not addressed the employees' concerns about the potential misuse of AI for harmful or warfare-related applications. The letter was signed by about five percent of DeepMind's workforce, Time notes, which is a small portion of the team working on Google's most advanced AI projects within the research lab. Despite being a minority, these employees represent a growing concern among Google workers about the military use of intelligent algorithms an area that should be off-limits according to Google's own AI development principles. Google's AI principles emphasize optimism about the technology's potential while explicitly stating that the company will not pursue certain applications if the technology could cause, or is likely to cause, harm. The principles forbid the development of weapons or other technologies designed to directly or indirectly cause injury, as well as AI solutions for surveillance applications that violate international treaties. The letter from DeepMind employees, dated May 16, voices concerns about Google's recent involvement with military organizations. While the letter is not specifically addressing current geopolitics or any particular conflict, it does highlight concerns over reports of Google's business dealings with the Israeli Military Defense through a collaboration known as Project Nimbus. Under Project Nimbus, Google is reportedly providing cloud computing capabilities and AI services to Israel's military. The letter also references allegations that Tel Aviv is using AI for mass surveillance to select targets in ongoing bombing campaigns in Gaza. The letter states, "Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles." In recent years, Demis Hassabis and other technology figures, including Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak, have expressed concerns about the weaponization of AI. They have advocated for an outright ban on AI weapons. The latest letter from DeepMind employees calls for a thorough internal investigation into the use of Google services by military and weapons manufacturers, as well as a halt to the use of DeepMind-developed technology for military applications. Three months after the letter was sent, sources familiar with the matter told Time that Google has done nothing in response. Officially, the company has stated that Project Nimbus has no connection to military workloads, weapons, or intelligence services. However, a source told Time that Google's statement is "so specifically unspecific that we are all none the wiser on what it actually means." The big picture: Georgia Tech is reportedly struggling to get its researchers to comply with stringent IT security requirements, a problem that has drawn the attention of the Department of Justice amid its crackdown on cybersecurity compliance among government contractors. Unfortunately, this scrutiny extends to research and development activities funded by federal agencies. The DoJ's Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative, launched in 2021, aims to hold accountable those who misrepresent their cybersecurity practices or knowingly violate federal requirements. In a new lawsuit against the school, the DoJ alleges that Georgia Tech has engaged in such violations. Amid growing concerns over cybersecurity compliance in research settings, the US government has filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Institute of Technology, specifically targeting Dr. Emmanouil "Manos" Antonakakis and his cybersecurity lab. The lawsuit alleges multiple failures to adhere to mandatory security protocols for Department of Defense research projects, raising serious questions about the protection of sensitive government data managed by the institution. The core allegations focus on the lab's alleged non-compliance with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171, which outlines critical security protocols for handling controlled unclassified information. One of the most significant oversights cited in the lawsuit is the failure to install endpoint antivirus software on devices that accessed or stored this sensitive information. The absence of such fundamental cybersecurity measures reportedly heightened the risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches. The government's complaint portrays a troubling picture of negligence, accusing Georgia Tech and Antonakakis of knowingly submitting invoices for DoD projects despite being aware of their non-compliance with security requirements. This, according to the lawsuit, amounts to fraud, as the Department of Defense was provided with technology that was inadequately protected against unauthorized disclosure. The complaint states: "At bottom, DoD paid for military technology that Defendants stored in an environment that was not secure from unauthorized disclosure, and Defendants failed to even monitor for breaches so that they and DoD could be alerted if information was compromised. What DoD received for its funds was of diminished or no value, not the benefit of its bargain." Antonakakis, a key figure in the lawsuit, reportedly resisted the installation of antivirus software, calling it a "nonstarter." Despite repeated requests from Georgia Tech administrators, he opposed this basic security measure, opting instead to rely solely on the school's firewall. Further complicating matters, Georgia Tech submitted a self-assessment score of 98 out of 110 for its security controls. However, this score was based on a theoretical model rather than an accurate reflection of its actual security compliance. Due to the lack of a unified campus-wide IT system, security assessments should have been conducted separately for different setups. The misleading overall score failed to account for varying levels of compliance across departments and labs, creating a false sense of security. The lawsuit also highlights a broader cultural issue at Georgia Tech, where cybersecurity compliance was viewed as burdensome. Researchers, who were instrumental in securing substantial government contracts, wielded significant influence on campus. Their demands to bypass compliance were often met, as the financial benefits of these contracts were considerable. The case came to light through whistleblowers within Georgia Tech's IT staff, who exposed the institution's failure to meet its cybersecurity obligations. According to the whistleblower lawsuit, there was a systemic lack of enforcement of cybersecurity regulations, driven by the institution's willingness to accommodate researchers who found these rules onerous. By pursuing legal action against Georgia Tech, the government aims to send a clear message to other academic institutions: compliance with security obligations is non-negotiable when federal funding is involved. Image credit: Wizzito What just happened? British mobile network operator EE has issued guidance on age appropriate smartphone usage that parents can use to help safeguard the digital wellbeing of minors. The initiative is in response to rising concerns among parents regarding online safety, screen time, and how the use of digital devices can affect a child's wellbeing. EE warns against giving children under the age of 11 a smartphone. Kids in this age group are best served by a limited capability device like a feature phone that only allows for calling and texting, EE said. Smartphones are acceptable for children aged 11 13 although parental controls are a must, access to social media should be restricted, and a family sharing app like Apple Family Sharing or Google Family Link is highly advised. Teens between the age of 13 and 16 can have a bit more leeway, EE notes, although parental controls to restrict access to inappropriate sites is still recommended. Social media access is acceptable but EE recommends linking accounts to a parent or guardian account for proper oversight. A survey from Common Sense Media and the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital last year found that the average teenager uses their phone for more than four hours per day, and that nearly half of that time is spent in TikTok. Worse yet, more than half of respondents said they receive north of 200 notifications each day while some fielded up to 5,000 in a single 24-hour period. Social media is so out of control that the US Surgeon General wants platforms to use warning labels like those found on alcohol and cigarettes to convey risks associated with usage. Dr. Vivek Murthy believes the labels would serve as a regular reminder to parents about the potential harm that social media can have on young minds. The American Psychological Association in 2023 issued a health advisory regarding adolescent social media usage and offered up suggestions that both parents and platform owners could find valuable. WTF?! Chinese-made chips used in popular contactless cards contain hardware backdoors that are easy to exploit. These chips are compatible with the proprietary Mifare protocol developed by Philips spin-off NXP Semiconductors and are inherently "intrinsically broken," regardless of the card's brand. Security researchers at Quarkslab have discovered a backdoor in millions of RFID cards developed by Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics (FMSH). When properly exploited, this backdoor could be used to quickly clone contactless smart cards that regulate access to office buildings and hotel rooms worldwide. According to French researchers, "Mifare Classic" cards are widely used but have significant security vulnerabilities. These chip-based contactless cards have been targeted by various attacks over the years and remain vulnerable despite the introduction of updated versions. In 2020, Shanghai Fudan released a new variant that provides a compatible (and likely cheaper) RFID technology through the Mifare-compatible FM11RF08S chip. It featured several countermeasures designed to thwart known card-only attacks, but introduced its own security issues. Quarkslab analyst Philippe Teuwen discovered an attack capable of cracking FM11RF08S "sector keys" within a few minutes, but only if a specific key is reused across at least three sectors or three cards. Armed with this new knowledge, the researcher made a subsequent, puzzling discovery: the FM11RF08S cards contain a hardware backdoor that allows certain authentication through an unknown key. He ultimately cracked this secret key and discovered that it was used by all existing FM11RF08S cards. Furthermore, the previous generation of Mifare-compatible cards (FM11RF08) had a similar backdoor protected by another secret key. After cracking this second key, Teuwen found that it was common to all FM11RF08 cards and even to "official" Mifare cards manufactured by NXP and Infineon. The newly discovered FM11RF08S backdoor could enable an attacker to compromise all user-defined keys by simply accessing the card for a few minutes, Teuwen said. Customers should be aware that RFID cards based on FM11RF08 and FM11RF08S chips are also used outside the Chinese market, with numerous hotels in the US, Europe, and India employing this significantly insecure technology. "It is important to remember that the MIFARE Classic protocol is intrinsically broken, regardless of the card," Teuwen said. Recovering the keys will always be possible if an attacker has access to the corresponding reader. More robust (and hopefully backdoor-free) alternatives for RFID-based security are already available on the market. TL;DR: Australia's Fair Work Commission announced a government-mandated "right to disconnect." Workers can now ignore after-hours work-related contact "within reason." It aims to strike a fair balance between work and life and ensure employers do not take advantage of workers who feel obligated to perform duties without pay. Lawmakers passed the new rule in February, but it only kicked in on Monday for employees of large enterprises. Small businesses have until August 2025 before it affects them. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) says the rule does not ban employers from contacting workers. Instead, it gives people the right to put off or disconnect any contact with their bosses or coworkers while off work. "It's really about trying to bring back some work-life balance and make sure that people aren't racking up hours of unpaid overtime for checking emails and responding to things at a time when they're not being paid," said Australia's Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt. However, the Commission said that employees are not entirely off the hook. Contact refusals cannot be "unreasonable." While what is within reason can be subjective, the FWC pointed out examples of reasonable contact. First and foremost, employees cannot reasonably refuse messages the employer is legally required to make. Beyond legal reasons, each contact is dynamic, and the Commission will assess certain factors when determining if a disconnection was unreasonable. These conditions include the disruption the call causes, whether the employee receives bonuses or other compensation outside of working hours, role and responsibility levels, and other factors. Media release: Right to disconnect begins today https://t.co/1qPUp0yUxF Fair Work Ombudsman (@fairwork_gov_au) August 25, 2024 For example, the CEO calling the CFO to discuss a meeting scheduled for Monday morning is acceptable. However, calling a low-level employee requesting they email an updated report before returning to work is not. "If it was an emergency situation, of course, people would expect an employee to respond to something like that," Watt explained. "But if it's a run-of-the-mill thing then they should wait till the next work day, so that people can actually enjoy their private lives, enjoy time with their family and their friends, play sport or whatever they want to do after hours, without feeling like they're chained to the desk at a time when they're not actually being paid because that's just not fair." Enforcement is tricky, especially if the employee says the contact was not required and the employer is of the opposite opinion. Currently, enforcement works like arbitration, with the FWC as the judge. Therefore, most, if not all, cases will be employee-initiated. However, to curb unwarranted and false reporting, employees must try to resolve the issue with the employer first. If the conflict persists, the worker can file a complaint, and the Commission will decide if the contact is legal. The line between work and home life is particularly blurred in the post-pandemic landscape. Since most communication with employees who work remotely is electronic, it is easy for employers to cross the line. It's equally easy for employees to allow the intrusion, whether out of habit or an unwarranted sense of obligation, leading to employees working off the clock. Australia's Centre for Future Work found that 70 percent of employees operated outside their scheduled hours without compensation. The survey determined that Australians put in an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023, equating to about $11,055 per year per employee. Unsurprisingly, the labor unions have called the legislation a win, but it's not unopposed. Opposition party leader Peter Dutton called the right-to-disconnect rules a "threat to productivity" and promised to repeal the law if his party gains control after the 2025 federal election. Likewise, the Business Council of Australia said the law comes when Australia's economy is reeling. "[These rules] risk holding Australia's historically low productivity back even further at a time when the economy is already stalling," the Council said on Monday. The world is rapidly transitioning towards renewable energy sources, a critical shift for combating climate change and ensuring a sustainable future. However, as the renewable energy sector grows exponentially, so too do the cybersecurity threats it faces. Recent warnings from the U.S. FBI have sounded the alarm on major threats affecting solar energy infrastructure, as have cybersecurity experts such as Vangelis Stykas of pen testing firm Atropos, who recently sat down with InCyber News to underscore the urgency of addressing these vulnerabilities before they lead to catastrophic consequences. A Stark Warning from the FBI In a recent Private Industry Notification (PIN), the FBI highlighted the increasing cyber threats to the renewable energy sector. The bureau specifically flagged the risk of unauthorized access through solar panel inverters, which convert direct current (DC) energy into alternating current (AC) electricity. The integration of these systems with the internet, while beneficial for monitoring and management, significantly heightens their risk profile, making them susceptible to serious threats, including power disruptions, hardware damage, or ransomware attacks. Until now, these kinds of attacks have been relatively rare, but the FBI clearly believes that, as the green transition accelerates and components like solar inverters are ever-more interconnected, the frequency and severity of these attacks will increase, with the potential that successful attacks could lead to widespread grid destabilization. Vangelis Stykas: Research Uncovers Alarming Vulnerabilities The FBI's warning only confirms what leading security experts have uncovered. Vangelis Stykas, the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of cybersecurity firm Atropos addressed the OWASP conference in Lisbon in June to present a comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities in EV chargers and solar panel components, revealing a disturbing lack of security preparedness among a wide range of manufacturers. "I was able to gain administrator level access on several platforms," Stykas explained to InCyber News, shedding additional insight on the concerning findings he presented at OWASP. "With this access, I could remotely push firmware updates, potentially 'breaking' photovoltaic chargers and EVs and, in some cases, causing them to catch fire." The vulnerabilities that Stykas identified did not surprise him, he told InCyberbut "what was unexpected was the ease with which these vulnerabilities were found and the general ignorance about them." While Stykas did identify a number of vulnerabilities in EV charging equipment, he noted that the manufacturers of the flawed infrastructure (China-based SHENZHEN; China-based GROWATT; Netherlands-based EVBOX; Spain-based WALLBOX; UK-based EOHUB; California-based CHARGEPOINT) all responded at some point to his disclosures and, more or less promptly, resolved the vulnerabilities. Stykas's more alarming findings concerned inherent weaknesses in the APIs used by leading solar technology manufacturers. Stykas identified several critical vulnerabilities in components, specifically PV inverters, which were predominantly manufactured by Chinese companies, such as SOLARMAN, SOLAX, SUNSYNK, and GROWATT. These vulnerabilities include Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR), broken authentication and authorization mechanisms, and remote command execution (RCE) capabilitiesflaws that could allow attackers to gain full admin-level control of solar systems on people's homes, manipulate their settings and potentially disrupt entire power grids. IDOR vulnerabilities, for example, arise when user-controlled values allow access to objects or functions directly and could permit attackers to access user accounts on a solar inverter without proper authorization and alter the system's configuration. In several cases, Stykas found that these vulnerabilities allowed full access to the inverter and its administrative accounts, offering cybercriminals the chance to manipulate and even brick the device. Stykas also managed to obtain Remote Command Execution (RCE) on these inverters, which is a particularly dangerous achievement. The ability to execute commands remotely basically means a hacker can take full control of a device remotely. Given the increasingly important role that renewable energy plays in the overall energy mix, such vulnerabilities pose a major risk to power grids. Are leading manufacturers concerningly slow to take action? One of the most troubling aspects of Stykas's findings was the relatively indifferent response from the companies he notified about these vulnerabilities. "Vulnerabilities will always appear. What matters is how one reacts and how quickly they are fixed. That's what makes a good, reliable provider," Stykas underscored. "Two of the five photovoltaic manufacturers responded and fixed the vulnerabilities after my interventions. The others ignored me. All acknowledged receiving my email, but only two acted. [...] Most vulnerabilities are still present, and unfortunately, someone will exploit them at some point." This kind of attitude toward critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities is certainly concerningand dangerous. The rush to market and cost-cutting measures may have led to the widespread adoption of insecure components, creating a large-scale vulnerability that could easily be exploited by state-sponsored actors or criminal organizations, with major deleterious consequences. The fact that many of the components in which researchers like Stykas have identified vulnerabilities are manufactured by companies in China, given the country's long history of cyber espionageincluding in the energy sectoradds an additional layer of national security concern to the issue. A Threat with Wide-Ranging Potential Consequences Indeed, repeated discoveries of serious vulnerabilities in renewable energy infrastructure components manufactured by a wide range of companies raise the very real fear that bad actors could exploit these flaws to disrupt critical infrastructure in countries around the world. This threat is compounded by the interconnected nature of power grids, where an attack on one part of the system can have cascading effects across entire regions. "There's a thorough study called the Horus scenario," Stykas explained to InCyber. "Willem Westerhof provided theoretical proof that if enough photovoltaic systems are attacked, it could severely destabilize the grid. In Europe, national grids are so interconnected that an attack could black out an entire continent. It's theoretical, but it could happen before other non-renewable energies like nuclear or coal take over to stabilize the grid." A wide range of actors carry their own share of the responsibility to prevent such a catastrophic scenario. "Suppliers should always check their own security, do penetration tests, and follow security checklists," Stykas emphasized. "Unfortunately, governments and other regulatory bodies are lagging. Regulation must start requiring suppliers to have proper security protocols. Regulators, especially in Europe, are good at regulating; that's not the problem. The problem is there's no regulation yet for photovoltaics. [... ] NIS 2 is a good starting point, but we need stricter regulations specific to photovoltaics and EV chargers." As Stykas underlined, the transition to renewable energy is vital for our planet's future but must not come at the expense of security. The continued warnings from law enforcement authorities and researchers alike serve as a stark reminder that the flaws in our renewable energy infrastructure are real and potentially devastating. Addressing these vulnerabilities head-on is essential to building a sustainable and secure future. Donald Trump announced his latest cryptocurrency project called "The DeFiant Ones" pointing out to a new decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, leading this week's top stories for CryptoWatch. This was followed by the recent Toncoin (TON) crash after its founder and Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested upon landing in Paris, France. Moreover, there is also a bank CEO from Kansas who fell for a pig-butchering crypto scam and was sentenced to 24 years in prison for causing HTSB's collapse. Trump Unveils 'The DeFiant Ones,' a New Family-Run DeFi Platform The former President of the United States and current Presidential candidate of the Republican party, Donald Trump, has announced his latest crypto project on his social media network, Truth Social, called 'The DeFiant Ones.' There were only teasers made by the renowned business magnate, and it was reported that it would be run by his family. In this latest announcement, Trump is once again calling upon his followers to "take a stand-together," against the world's banking and financial elites. There was no information yet about this DeFi platform, but from what Trump teased, it stands up against those who are "squeezing" the American people, also asking people to join their new Telegram channel to get updates. Toncoin Crashes After Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Gets Arrested A massive crash was suffered by one of the top cryptocurrencies in the market, Toncoin, best known as The Open Network, seeing as much as a 20 percent plummet that took place only two days ago. This was because its founder and Telegram CEO Pavel Durov had been arrested by the French authorities after landing in the European country. From its valuation of $6.7 earlier that day, the cryptocurrency saw itself crashing to $5.7 losing around 17 percent of its value after the incident. It was revealed by Forbes that this was because of a preliminary police investigation involving Telegram whichreportedly allowed and failed to prevent criminal activity from taking place on the platform. Bank CEO Gets 24 Years in Prison After Being Scammed A bank CEO was recently handed a prison sentence of 24 years by a federal judge after falling for a cryptocurrency scam which led to the bank losing as much as $47 million. It was revealed by that this was because of a pig butchering scam which Shan Hanes was a victim of, failing to realize that he was getting conned by unknown threat actors amidst the almost two-year transaction. Hanes pled guilty to his crimes and was charged with one count of embezzlement against the Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB). Initially, Hanes reportedly stole money from a local church, a local investor club, and his daughter's college fund. From May to July 2023, he stole from HTSB. It was only after Brian Mitchell, his neighbor, reported this to the bank's board that Hanes was stripped of his position and was later sued. Global Church Network Gathers Ministry Leaders from East Africa to Synergize for the Fulfillment of the Great Commission by 2030 More Than 600 Leaders from 10 East African Nations Will Mobilize for 'FINISH East Africa' in Uganda from August 29-30 NEWS PROVIDED BY Global Church Network Aug. 26, 2024 ORLANDO, Aug. 26, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- With a mission to finalize the Great Commission by 2030, Global Church Network (GCN) will host the FINISH East Africa Summit from August 29-30 in Kampala, Uganda, gathering hundreds of ministry leaders from 10 nations across East Africa for networking, equipping and prayer. "God is opening incredible doors for synergistic ministry in East Africa," says Dr. James O. Davis, founder and president of GCN, the largest pastor's network in the world. "Through faithful missionaries, evangelists and pastors, the Gospel is being proclaimed throughout the continent of Africa. Our hope is to join in their efforts and provide them with the resources and connections needed to extend their impact for the Kingdom." In 2012, GCN launched the "Global Hubs of Christianity" to synergize the best relationships, systematize the most relevant training and strategize for ministry to unreached people groups. Today, GCN has established over 180 Hubs throughout the world, and they expect to reach 800 Hubs by 2030. Each Hub provides two years of strategic equipping, with pastors and ministry leaders meeting every six months for training in leadership development, church planting, networking, evangelism, discipleship and global missions. The purpose of this month's FINISH East Africa Summit is to strategize and launch 10 new Hubs in East Africa. In addition to the FINISH West Africa Summit (March 2023) and the FINISH Southern Africa Summit (April 2024), this summit will result in nearly every nation in Africa having been impacted by the launch of a ministry Hub within the past two years. "Airlines and businesses have hubs. Why shouldn't the Church have hubs to make ministry more effective and efficient?" says Dr. David Sobrepena, Founder of Word of Hope Church and GCN Co-chair East Asia. "Through the Global Hubs of Christianity, we are striving equip more than one million ministers." GCN has partnered with over 700,000 local churches worldwide, spanning virtually every denomination and world region. To achieve the goal of mobilizing and synergizing the Body of Christ for the fulfillment of the Great Commission, GCN holds its biennial Synergize Conference and annual leadership summits and provides extensive online resources through the Global Church Divinity School (GCDS) to equip pastors and church leaders from around the world for outreach in their surrounding communities. "I have been serving in the Global Church Network for nearly 20 years. Our team has set a goal to equip at least 1,000 young ministers in the next two years in Uganda in the Global Church Divinity School," states Dr. Alex Mitala, Founder New Birth Pentecostal Fellowship. "We are honored to host FINISH East Africa in Kampala, Uganda, continuing the work of FINISH 2030 which the Global Church Network launched on November 1, 2017, in Castle Church, Wittenberg, Germany, at the graveside of Martin Luther." "There is nothing quite like synergizing with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from various nations, tongues and tribes," says Dr. Davis. "During our meetings, I am reminded of our mission and the great challenge that is before us all. However, fulfilling the Great Commission is only possible if we move past ego and logo and embrace we go." To learn more about Global Church Network, visit https://gcnw.tv. About Global Church Network Established in 2001, Global Church Network is a growing coalition of more than 2,750 Christian ministries and 700,000 churches synergizing their efforts together to build the premier community of pastors worldwide and has helped plant five million new churches for a billion-soul harvest. The Global Church Divinity School has helped train tens of thousands of Christian leaders since 2002. For more information, visit gcnw.tv. SOURCE Global Church Network CONTACT: Roy Kamau, A. Larry Ross Communications, 972-267-1111, roy@alarryross.com Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On August 21, Chinese smart electric vehicle maker XPENG held a launch event in Bangkok, Thailand, unveiling the right-hand-drive version of its XPENG G6, the first model XPENG introduced into the Thai market. Photo credit: XPENG Since its debut at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2024 in March, the XPENG G6 has garnered widespread praise from Thai consumers for its striking design, long-range capabilities, fast charging, spacious interior, and advanced smart vehicle system, said the carmaker. The recent market launch of the G6 model signifies a major step forward in XPENG's strategic expansion into Southeast Asia. Thailand, one of Southeast Asia's most important automotive markets, offers significant growth potential. The right-hand-drive G6 aims to provide local consumers with a fresh and intelligent mobility experience. Initially, the vehicle's interface will be available in English, with a Thai-language version planned for the future to better cater to local customers. XPENG also intends to establish a comprehensive marketing and service network across major Thai cities to support its customers. Since the beginning of this year, XPENG has significantly accelerated its global expansion efforts, achieving notable success in various European markets and intensifying its presence in Southeast Asia. Following the launch in Thailand, XPENG plans to introduce the G6 model in Malaysia later this month, with further rollouts in Singapore, Australia, and other markets scheduled for the coming months, offering consumers more options and enhanced driving experiences. By the week's end, Halliburton unveiled that it was a recent victim of a cyberattack that led to taking down some of its systems offline, leading last week's top news stories in this new Tech Times Weekly Wrap. It is followed by the rumors behind Chick-fil-A's plans to launch a new streaming platform focusing on family-friendly content, with significant investments already made by the fast-food chain. Lastly, there is also DeepLens' massive development of an AI-powered optical lens design that looks to change mobile phone cameras. Halliburton Cyberattack Some Systems Offline for Investigation The renowned oilfield services, also regarded as the second-largest in the world, Halliburton, recently unveiled that the company was a victim of an unknown cyberattack. After discovering that they had been breached by the still-unknown threat actors, the company shut down some of its systems that they believed were illegally accessed by the criminals. Towards the end of last week, Halliburton also went forth with shutting down some of its systems as it launched an investigation to get to the bottom of it. Halliburton and the United States Department of Energy confirmed that despite shutting down some of its systems, its energy services continue and are not affected. Read Also : Gmail Brings New Gemini AI Feature Called 'Polish' to Transform Drafts Into Formal Emails Chick-fil-A Streaming Platform Rumors: Investments Made Chick-fil-A is rumored to have a new venture, and it is not with AI and robots that add tech to its restaurant chain, but for a new streaming platform which the company plans to launch soon. This will focus on family-friendly content in the form of game shows, centering mostly on original content which the chicken restaurant is now investing in. It was reported by Deadline that people familiar with Chick-fil-A's new venture confirmed this, with the company already in talks to acquire and license content to use for its platform. Moreover, Chick-fil-A is ready to invest as much as $400,000 for a half-hour show and its unscripted content, already purchasing 10 episodes of an unknown show from Sugar23. Other production companies are also reportedly in talks with the chicken restaurant. DeepLens: AI-Powered Optical Lens Design for Cameras Researchers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) introduced their recent development known as 'DeepLens,' a new type of hardware that is set to change the mobile phone landscape. This latest development leverages the power of artificial intelligence that would improve much of what smartphone lenses have to offer. According to Interesting Engineering, DeepLens pioneered a groundbreaking technique that KAUST researchers dubbed as "curriculum learning." It will reduce the development time and costs of mobile phone cameras, all while enhancing the image quality whichtakes into account key imaging system parameters like aperture, resolution, and field-of-view (FOV). The latest Made by Google event ended not less than two weeks ago, but there are no leaks behind a new Google Pixel 9a, the budget smartphone version of its mainline releases. There would be massive changes coming to this version of the cheaper smartphone version but it was said to feature the same Tensor G4 chipset that currently powers its recent Pixel 9 series. Google Pixel 9a Renders Leak: No Camera Bar, Flat-Edge Design As originally posted by a Vietnamese fan group dedicated to the Pixel, new renders of the Pixel 9a leaked online and showed off the new look of the budget device. The existing images of the new Pixel 9a were later reposted by renowned insider and leaker, ShrimpApplePro via X, offering a first look behind the new smartphone and features massive changes to its design. One of the most noticeable changes here is the rear camera bar on the alleged Pixel 9a or its lack thereof. Instead of having a bar that stretches the width of the device, the Pixel 9a would only have the dual lens and flash array. Another focus of this leak is Google's embodiment of the iPhone-like design which centers on flat edges with rounded corners, fully letting go of its curved and rounded design from older Pixels. What to Expect from the Google Pixel 9a According to ShrimpApplePro, the leaker was an employee, hence the post's deletion. However, it was not revealed if the original poster was a Google employee or that of its manufacturer. It is also believed that the Pixel 9a will be available by the end of the year and will be offered in four color options including a new silver color. That being said, this information is not yet confirmed, so take it with a grain of salt. Google's Pixel Development The latest in Google's smartphone offerings is the Pixel 9 series which now introduced a four-variant release which isthe first time from the renowned internet company. This centers on the Pixel 9 base variant, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and its newest, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold which is the rebranded Google Pixel Fold that is now part of the numbered series. One of its main selling points for the Pixel 9 series is the Tensor G4 chipset which uses the latest 4nm process from Samsung, and focuses on its capabilities to carry on-device AI, better than the G3. However, initial reviews on its benchmark tests claim that it only saw small improvements compared to the last-gen chipset, with the Pixel 9 Pro XL scoring 1.17 million points on its benchmark. Now that the Pixel 9 series is here and many are marveling at what the new flagship smartphone lineup has to offer, customers are considering what to purchase from Google. However, for those who want a cheaper version of the device, there is an upcoming Pixel 9a which will see less costs from the regular releases, but would have to wait until possibly, the end of 2024. A security breach has occurred at a regional Victorian medical software company, Power Diary. The company's email-sending system was compromised, leading to the distribution of spam emails to patients of its healthcare clients. This incident highlights the vulnerability of even reputable software providers to cyberattacks. What does the company's co-founder say about the recent attack? Spam Emails Pose as Legitimate Communication from Healthcare Providers Just a month ago, Power Diary unveiled a new simplified pricing for global health practices that is considered cost-effective. Recently, the company was hit by a cyberattack. The Ballarat-based company, which offers practice management software to healthcare clinics in over 23 countries, announced the incident on Sunday, Aug. 25, raising concerns among its global user base. According to Australian newspaper ABC News, the breach resulted in phishing emails being sent to patients and healthcare providers using Power Diary's system. These emails appeared to originate from the software itself, exploiting "system-generated ID numbers" to enhance their credibility. Furthermore, the messages falsely encouraged recipients to click on a link to claim a fake prize, and they contained references to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies, further complicating the situation. The hackers skillfully mimicked the template and branding of the clinics involved, making the emails seem like genuine communication from trusted healthcare providers. By automatically including personal details like names, the phishing emails were made to appear even more legitimate, heightening the risk of patients falling victim to the scam. No Compromise of Personal Information Despite the alarming nature of the attack, Power Diary has reassured its clients and their patients that no personal information was compromised in the breach. The company emphasized that while the hackers gained the ability to send emails through the system, they did not gain access to the sensitive personal data stored within Power Diary's platform. Paul Adler, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Power Diary, reiterated the company's commitment to security and transparency in the wake of the incident. "We take this incident seriously and are committed to transparency with our customers," Adler stated in a public release. He assured clients that the company is conducting a thorough review of all security protocols to identify and rectify any potential vulnerabilities within the system. Power Diary's Response and Future Security Measures In response to the breach, Power Diary has already taken several steps to address the issue. The company has been in direct communication with affected customers, providing them with regular updates and guidance on how to protect themselves from any potential fallout. Additionally, Power Diary has issued several public updates detailing its ongoing investigation and the actions being taken to strengthen its security measures. Power Diary's swift response could mean that it's dedicated to maintaining the trust of its clients and their patients. The company's commitment to enhancing its security protocols is evident as it works to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future. Ensuring Client Confidence Amidst Growing Cybersecurity Threats Cybersecurity threats won't stop at any time that's why organizations need to double-time in improving their defenses. Companies like Power Diary are under increasing pressure to protect their systems and client data from sophisticated attacks. Power Diary's transparent approach to managing this crisis and its dedication to improving its security infrastructure will likely play a crucial role in restoring client confidence. The company's proactive communication and rapid response demonstrate its understanding of the critical importance of security in the healthcare sector. While the breach at Power Diary serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in digital systems, it also illustrates the vital role of effective incident management and communication in mitigating the impact of such attacks. Ride-hailing giant Uber has been slapped with a substantial fine by the Netherlands' privacy watchdog for violating the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The penalty, amounting to 290 million or $324 million in US dollars, is one of the largest imposed on a tech company since the GDPR came into effect. As Uber continues to roll downhill because of its financial struggles, it needs to figure out a solution how to come out of this new loophole. Data Transfer Violations Done by Uber According to Reuters, the fine stems from Uber's transfer of drivers' personal data from the EU to the US. The GDPR imposes strict regulations on the transfer of personal data outside the EU, particularly to countries with less stringent privacy protections. GDPR Penalties and Compliance The GDPR allows for fines of up to 4% of a company's global annual turnover for non-compliance. While Uber's fine falls short of this maximum, it remains a significant amount, reflecting the seriousness of the data breaches. Investigation and Complaints The Dutch regulator, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), initiated an investigation into Uber's data practices following complaints from over 170 drivers in France. The complaints alleged that Uber had failed to adequately protect drivers' personal data during transfers to the US. "In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care. But sadly, this is not self-evident outside Europe," Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen wrote in a statement. Wolfsen also noted that businesses should be obliged to be serious about storing the personal data of European drivers outside the region. He added that the app did not meet GDPR's requirements to ensure data protection level regarding US transfers. Uber's Previous Fines and the GDPR Uber has faced previous GDPR fines, including a 10 million penalty earlier this year. However, the recent 290 million fine is a significant escalation, placing Uber among the tech giants with the largest GDPR penalties. Data Safeguarding and US Surveillance The AP determined that Uber had failed to "appropriately safeguard" data transferred outside the EU. According to TechCrunch, the breach is related to US national security intelligence agency surveillance programs, which have been found to pose a risk to EU citizens' privacy rights. The EU-US Data Transfer Dilemma The clash between EU privacy protections and US surveillance practices has created a challenging environment for US tech giants operating in Europe. The GDPR requires companies to implement additional measures to protect data transferred outside the EU, but this can be difficult when dealing with US authorities. Uber Claims Compliance With GDPR's Standards Uber has strongly contested the fine, claiming that its data transfer processes were compliant with the GDPR. The company has vowed to appeal the decision and argues that the legal landscape surrounding data transfers has evolved over time. The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), a prominent industry group representing tech giants like Google, Meta, and X, has urged the Malaysian government to reconsider its plan to mandate licensing for social media platforms. This move has sparked concerns about the potential impact on innovation and the digital economy. Call for Clarity on Licensing Requirements Malaysia's communications regulator announced a new initiative requiring social media platforms with over eight million users in the country to obtain a license in July. This measure aims to fight the rising threat of cybercrime. According to a local newspaper, the government has given social media companies until January 1, 2025, to comply, warning of legal action for non-compliance. However, the AIC, which also includes major companies like Apple and Amazon has raised alarms over the lack of clarity surrounding the proposed regulations. In an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, AIC Managing Director Jeff Paine expressed that the licensing requirements are "unworkable" and could impose excessive burdens on businesses, thereby stifling innovation. Related Article : Dutch Data Watchdog Slaps Uber With $324 Million Fine Over Personal Data Sending in the US Lack of Public Consultation Creates Uncertainty A significant concern highlighted by the AIC is the absence of formal public consultations regarding the licensing plan. The group argues that this has led to widespread uncertainty within the industry about the specific obligations social media platforms would need to fulfill. Paine emphasized in the letter that no platform can be reasonably expected to register without a clear understanding of the requirements. The Malaysian communications ministry has declined to comment on the AIC's letter, and the prime minister's office has not responded to requests for clarification. This silence further deepens the uncertainty faced by tech companies operating in Malaysia. Impact on Malaysia's Digital Economy The AIC's letter also points to the potential negative impact of the proposed regulations on Malaysia's burgeoning digital economy. The country has seen significant investments in its digital infrastructure and technology sectors this year, and the group warns that the new licensing regime could jeopardize this progress. While the AIC acknowledges the Malaysian government's commitment to addressing online harms, it argues that the proposed timeline for implementing the licensing requirements does not provide the industry with sufficient clarity or time to assess the full implications of the changes, as per Reuters. Government's Response to Rising Online Threats The Malaysian government has reported a sharp increase in harmful content on social media platforms in recent months. This surge has prompted authorities to call on companies like Meta and TikTok to intensify their content monitoring efforts. The proposed licensing is seen as part of a broader effort to ensure that social media platforms are more accountable for the content shared on their sites. Balancing Regulation with Innovation The tension between regulating social media platforms to protect users and fostering a thriving digital economy is a challenge faced by governments worldwide. In Malaysia, the debate over the proposed social media licensing underscores the delicate balance that must be struck between ensuring online safety and encouraging innovation. As the January 2025 deadline approaches, it remains to be seen whether the Malaysian government will address the concerns raised by the AIC or proceed with the current licensing plan. The outcome will have significant implications not only for the tech companies involved but also for Malaysia's position as a growing digital economy in Southeast Asia. Beijing (Gasgoo)- On August 25, Chery's JETOUR brand officially released its Shanhai L6 plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) SUV onto the market. The new model is available in three variants, with prices ranging from 123,900 yuan to 144,900 yuan. Photo credit: JETOUR Positioned as a compact SUV, the Shanhai L6 is equipped with Cherys Kunpeng 1.5TD engine paired with a CVT Super Electric Hybrid DHT, offering a battery-powered range of 125 km and a combined driving range of up to 1,400 km. JETOUR also revealed its upcoming product plans. Two different editions of the JETOUR Traveler model will hit the market in 2025, alongside the modified versions of the T-1 and T-5 models. Additionally, a modified P-5 pickup truck is slated for market release in 2026. In terms of dimensions, the Shanhai L6 measures 4,630 mm in length, 1,910 mm in width, and 1,684 (1,690) mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,720 mm. Photo credit: JETOUR Inside, the vehicle features a striking interior design, including an embedded full-LCD instrument cluster and a 15.6-inch floating central control screen, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip and an AI voice assistant. Other notable features include cloud-feel sofa seats, a Sony 9-speaker sound system, 64-color ambient lighting, a 540-degree panoramic camera, a power tailgate, and L2 intelligent driving assistance. As JETOUR's first plug-in hybrid compact SUV, the Shanhai L6 is powered by Cherys advanced Kunpeng Super Hybrid C-DM technology, which combines a 1.5T four-cylinder engine with an electric motor, delivering a maximum engine power of 115 kW and a top speed of 180 km/h. The inclusion of a ternary lithium battery enhances its battery-powered range, catering to consumers' growing demand for eco-friendly transportation. CORRECTED: Brazil deploys military planes in 'war' on wildfires Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 The Brazilian government is deploying military aircraft as part of a "war" against wildfires ravaging the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, where dozens of cities are on high alert, officials said Sunday. Following a crisis meeting of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's cabinet, Environment Minister Marina Silva announced a "war against the fire" and said federal police were investigating the "atypical situation" that has caused extensive damage and disruption. Tarcisio de Freitas, the Sao Paulo governor, decreed a state of emergency in 45 municipalities and said two people suspected of starting fires had been arrested. With dense smoke drifting across a wide swath of Brazil -- even reaching capital city Brasilia 720 kilometers (450 miles) to the north -- several flights have been canceled and travel on some roads has been halted. "I stuck my nose out last night around 7:00 pm and I had a lot of trouble breathing," 66-year-old retiree Carlos Rodrigues told AFP. "I've lived here 32 years and I've never seen anything like it." Two factory workers died Friday in Urupes, in the northern part of the state, while fighting a fire, officials said. The military aircraft being deployed include a KC-390 Embraer, a converted troop transport craft that can drop up to 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water on fire zones. The Embraer was sent to one of the cities most threatened, Ribeirao Preto, about 300 kilometers from Sao Paulo. But Minister Silva said the plane "was unable to operate because of the amount of smoke," adding: "That gives you an idea of the problem." Videos posted on social media showed the city plunged into near-darkness by a dense layer of smoke. Some residents have had to evacuate. "It's apocalyptic," a person is heard saying on one video. Around the region, farm fields have burned and scores of cattle have died. Governor de Freitas said 10 million reais (around $1.8 million) was being allocated to help farmers who lose crops or livestock. Amid prolonged drought, Sao Paulo state is experiencing its worst month for fires in decades, with 3,480 separate blazes identified, according to INPE, the National Institute for Space Research. Brazil waging 'war' on wildfires in crowded Sao Paulo state Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 Brazil was deploying military aircraft as part of a "war" against wildfires ravaging the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, with authorities warning on Sunday that arsonists were setting blazes. Following a crisis meeting of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's cabinet, Environment Minister Marina Silva announced a "war against the fire" and said federal police were investigating the "atypical situation" that has caused extensive damage. "So far we have not detected any fire caused by lightning, which means there are people starting fires," Lula said in a video that he posted on X after meeting with Silva. Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of Sao Paulo, by far the country's most populous state with some 44 million residents, decreed a state of emergency in 45 municipalities and said two people suspected of starting fires had been arrested. The president promised federal assistance to the states in fighting the blazes, saying there were already 3,000 firefighters working nationwide. With dense smoke drifting across a wide swath of Brazil -- even reaching capital city Brasilia 720 kilometers (450 miles) to the north -- several flights have been canceled and travel on some roads has been halted. "I stuck my nose out last night around 7:00 pm and I had a lot of trouble breathing," 66-year-old retiree Carlos Rodrigues told AFP. "I've lived here 32 years and I've never seen anything like it." Two factory workers died Friday in Urupes, in the northern part of the state, while fighting a fire, officials said. The military aircraft being deployed include a KC-390 Embraer, a converted troop transport craft that can drop up to 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water on fire zones. The Embraer was sent to one of the communities most threatened, Ribeirao Preto, a city of 700,000 inhabitants about 300 kilometers from Sao Paulo. But Silva said the plane "was unable to operate because of the amount of smoke," adding: "That gives you an idea of the problem." Videos posted on social media showed the city plunged into near-darkness by a dense layer of smoke. Some residents have had to evacuate. "It's apocalyptic," a person is heard saying in one video. Authorities were hoping rains that fell Sunday would help alleviate the crisis. Around the region, farm fields have burned and scores of cattle have died. Governor de Freitas said 10 million reais (around $1.8 million) were being allocated to help farmers who lose crops or livestock. Amid prolonged drought, Sao Paulo state is experiencing its worst month for fires in decades, with 3,480 separate blazes identified, according to INPE, the National Institute for Space Research. The government directly linked the situation to climate change. "Even the deniers can no longer deny the climate crisis," Lula said on X. "We have to fight climate change with a lot of intelligence, and with financing from the richest countries that have already destroyed their forests." Magnitude 6.9 quake hits Tonga as Pacific leaders meet Nuku'alofa, Tonga, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 The Pacific Kingdom of Tonga was jolted by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, as foreign leaders gathered for a key regional summit. Tonga's seaside capital Nuku'alofa is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres among the high-profile delegates. Although the quake did not trigger a tsunami warning, some businesses near the coast briefly evacuated to higher ground. The offshore tremor -- which struck at a depth of about 106 kilometres (66 miles) -- rattled buildings at the forum's newly built venue. But it was soon back to business as usual in a city where earthquakes are relatively common. Tonga sits atop the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Huge swathes of the Tongan archipelago were blanketed in ash and pummelled by a tsunami after the immense Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption of 2022. Company halts Finland logging after deaths of endangered mussels Helsinki, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 A Finnish-Swedish forestry group said Monday it had halted parts of its logging operations in Finland after an incident resulted in the deaths of thousands of endangered freshwater pearl mussels. A protected species in Finland since 1955 and only found in around 100 streams and rivers across the country, the freshwater pearl mussel can live up to 200 years and is dependent on clear, streaming water for its survival. Part of their habitat was destroyed and thousands of mussels died on August 15, when forestry machines transporting timber between sites owned by the Stora Enso forestry company crossed the shallow and protected Hukkajoki stream in eastern Finland. Police said last week that they were investigating the incident. The company said on Monday that it had launched several measures including "suspended harvesting in all areas throughout Finland where there are restrictions under the Water Act, the Forest Act or the Nature Conservation Act". "Harvesting has been suspended until the operational guidelines, harvesting plans and risks related to these sites have been reassessed," Stora Enso said in a press release. "Any non-compliance that may be detected will be assessed in cooperation with the authorities". The incident is being investigated as a serious nature conservation offence and has caused a public outcry in Finland. Greenpeace Finland on Monday criticised Stora Enso and the forestry industry at large for inadequately taking environmental concerns into account in their operations, saying the case was not isolated but only revealed the "tip of the iceberg". "Logging is carried out with inadequate information and guidance everywhere, including in areas protected by law", the group said in a statement. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees they would need to work "long hours at a high intensity" after taking over Twitter and said those unwilling to do so should leave. Richard Bord/Getty Images Employees at Elon Musk's X have to deal with an "extremely hardcore" working environment. Now, they are being told to justify their contribution to the company to get their stock options, per The Verge. Staff at X have faced late-night meetings and sleeping in the office since Musk took over in 2022. When Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, he told the company's staff they would need to work at an "extremely hardcore" rate to build Twitter 2.0. Now, he's reportedly making them explain why they should be given their stock options. In an email sent to staff, reported by The Verge, Musk reportedly said that the company would reward stock options based on employee impact and that workers would need to submit a one-page summary of their contributions to X to get them. ADVERTISEMENT One source also told The Verge that employees were still waiting for their annual equity refresher, which was expected in April. It comes nearly two years after Musk gave staff at the company a famous ultimatum. In a late-night email, the billionaire told employees they would need to work "long hours at a high intensity" and be "extremely hardcore" and that those unwilling to do so should quit. Around half the company took the second option, and those that remained have seen Musk keep his word. Former employees who worked under the Tesla CEO at X have talked about being forced to sleep in the office to meet "impossible" deadlines. Musk has also shared images on X of engineers working late into the night. Other employees reportedly joked that they had to monitor spiking heart rates on their Apple Watches amid the rollout of Musk's X paid subscription service. X is now planning to relocate its HQ to Texas and close its San Francisco office, although X CEO Linda Yaccarino told employees the company would still have a presence in the Bay Area through a space shared with xAI in Palo Alto. Former Uber and Skype engineer Gergely Orosz described X as "the definition of a ruthless workplace" in a post on the site. Story continues "Push people working there to the max with expectations above most (all?) other tech companies but STILL make these people prove they deserve market comp. Just wow," he wrote in response to The Verge's report. X did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside normal working hours. Read the original article on Business Insider Equinor to extract Norway oil near 'current levels' till 2035 Oslo, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2024 Norwegian energy giant Equinor intends to keep its oil and gas production in the country "around current levels" for another decade, its CEO said Monday, despite calls to transition away from fossil fuels. Oil, gas and coal companies like Equinor are under pressure to move away from the polluting energy sources, which are the biggest contributor to climate change. "Equinor aims to maintain oil and gas production from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) around current levels for at least another decade," chief executive Anders Opedal said at an energy conference in Oslo, quoted by the NTB agency. The state-owned company produced the equivalent of around 1.37 million barrels of oil per day on the NCS last year and expects to maintain the same level this year. It also invested $5.4 billion last year in exploration and production in Norway. Equinor plans to hold Norwegian oil production at 1.2 million barrels per day until 2035 and expects to produce 40 billion cubic metres (52 billion cubic yards) of gas a year by 2035. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Norway has become Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas. In May, Equinor and its partners agreed to invest 12 billion kroner ($1.1 billion) to further develop the Scandinavian country's Troll gas field in the North Sea, which supplies around 10 percent of Europe's gas needs. ef/sbk/lth LOS ANGELESPheromone expert and vice president of pheromone fragrance brand Eye of Love, Jacqui Rubinoff, took the stage to speak at the third annual "Sex On The Beach" event in Venice Beach, Los Angeles on the evening of Aug. 8. Actress Serena Kerrigan hosted the event, and Margie Plus moderated a Q&A panel with Rubinoff on the science of pheromones. The panel discussion explored topics like the power of pheromones to improve friendships and careers, myths about pheromones, and fragrance-layering with odorless pheromone perfume. The following are key takeaways from the discussion: While odorless by nature, pheromones get picked up by the vomeronasal organ (VNO) in humans. One of the easiest ways to notice their presence is by paying attention to signaller effects. If you are obsessed with the way a person smells, most likely, there are pheromones at play. Labeled as an "invisible ally," pheromone perfumes help highlight a persons natural pheromones, which they tend to mask in their everyday lives, therefore making them more attractive to others. Gender-fluid pheromone perfumes, like Eye of Loves "Matchmaker Attract Them" are a unique option on the market to make new social connections as they attract people of different genders The night included workshops, brand activations, tarot readings, and a sex toy station for guests to learn about all things pleasure. Eye of Loves bestselling products were present in over 200 gift bags. Said Rubinoff, "It was an honor to share my knowledge about pheromones at the 'Sex on the Beach' event. As pheromone perfumes increasingly become an integral part of the wider beauty category, were witnessing a significant shift in consumer interest. Its an exciting time for pheromone brands, and events like 'Sex on the Beach' are not only spotlighting this niche but also paving the way for startups to innovate and thrive in the space." Shared Nicole Rourke, Ethereal Agency CEO and founder, "For three consecutive years, 'Sex on the Beach' has been a huge success and we are delighted to have hosted Jacqui Rubinoff as our panelist. Our events provide a unique platform for brands and experts to showcase their innovations and engage with a dedicated audience, further blending the sexual wellness and beauty industries. We strive to support up-and-coming brands, giving them a voice and a platform, while educating consumers on newest trends and products." The event which has featured other Little Leaf Agency clients in past years, was organized by creative agency Ethereal, which specializes in beauty and sexual wellness. In addition to the general public, the attendees included influencers, educators, celebrities, press, and retail buyers. Special guests included Kate Balestrieri of the "Get Naked With Dr. Kate" podcast, Emily Morse of the popular "Sex With Emily" podcast, and more. Explore the full Matchmaker collection of perfumes and sensual massage candles on Eye of Loves official website. Expert tips on what you need to do to successfully launch your small business idea. A surprising number of Australian companies have indicated they are confident about the state of the economy despite inflationary pressures and high interest rates, which have caused many businesses to collapse in the past 12 months. National Australia Bank, the countrys largest business bank, interviewed 700 small- and medium-sized enterprises and found 60 per cent planned to invest to grow their business next year a positive signal for the economy. Sixty per cent of businesses surveyed by NAB say they plan to grow their business in 2025. Credit: Penny Stephens Were starting to see the emergence of a two-speed economy, said Krissie Jones, NABs executive general manager for small business in her first interview since taking over the role a month ago. Some businesses are thriving, some businesses are struggling, but theres a positive sentiment. The Australian economy, whilst it has been challenged, is really resilient and really impressively. These small business customers can adapt quickly. The news Australians can now refuse to monitor, read or respond to work communication outside of paid hours unless doing so is unreasonable, after right-to-disconnect laws came into effect on Monday. The right to disconnect doesnt apply to emergencies, and working out whats reasonable includes the reason for making contact, how disruptive it is, the nature of someones job and their personal circumstances, including caring responsibilities. A legal right to disconnect has taken effect for Australian companies with 15 or more employees. Smaller businesses are to follow next year. Credit: iStock The laws have sparked fierce political debate from unions, business groups and other advocates, including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who has vowed to overturn them if elected. 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 Once upon a time in Hollywood, the bad guys holed up in anonymous hotel rooms or shabby bedsits. They were rootless; they took what they could get. If their lairs happened to be in places of former grandeur castle ruins or sunken hotels it was just a neat visual reminder of their moral decay. But around the mid-century, things started to shift; the sophisticated baddie took hold. Today, modernist architecture is movie shorthand for menace. Such houses can be read as cold and stark. But they can also be idiosyncratic, built into rocks, or perched in canyons like strange birds, transcending house-as-shelter. If the house reflects the self, then it follows that whoever lives in such places might see themselves as inviolate, removed from the hustle and hassle of everyday life. So if we are drawn to the dream houses of movie villains, does this indicate some latent badness within, our shadow self of wealth and taste? Martin Landau and James Mason inside Vandamms house in North by Northwest (1959). Credit: Alamy My own love affair with lairs started with the Vandamm house in North by Northwest (1959). In the movie, Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) is a communist spy softly spoken, elegant and ruthless. Hes gunning for ad-man Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), whom he has mistaken for a CIA operative. Its all cat-and-mouse and crop-dusting until Thornhill brings him down and wins his lady, the real CIA plant. We know Vandamm is evil, but his badness is enhanced when we find him in his natural habitat: a modernist glass-and-stone dwelling on top of Mount Rushmore. Like Frank Lloyd Wrights famous Fallingwater (1935), the house has dramatic angles; it is arch and imposing. It lurches over darkness symbolically, the villain is never far from the void. Film lore tells how Hitchcock approached Lloyd Wright to design it, but quailed at the architects proposed fee (10 per cent of the films budget). In the end, he hired production designer Robert Boyle and his team to build a copycat house on the MGM stages in Culver City: beams, balconies, floating stairs, limestone feature fireplace, landing strip and all. The sophisticated baddie is a complicated beast. He wants to be admired, but also, he will crush you. He says: We are not so different you and I but then: How do you like my island, Mr Bond? Advertisement Bond villains, of course, get the most lairy lairs, most from the fervid imagination of production designer Ken Adam. In The Man with the Golden Gun, Scaramangas island lair is built into the rocks, right next to the ocean. Inside there is a labyrinth/maze, and the whole is generated by a high-tech solar power plant. In his long, illustrious career, Adam also designed the sets for Dr Strangelove, the car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and an 18th-century frigate in Captain Horatio Hornblower. He had an affinity for impossible sites and built lairs in space (Moonraker), underwater (Dr No), and in the heart of a hollow volcano (You Only Live Twice). Of the volcano, Adam said: Once I started designing it, I went on and I went on and I went on. I never talked to a cameraman, I just thought, well, somebody can light it. I learned that from Stanley Kubrick, who was also a great photographer; he would never accept from anybody that something couldnt be done. The volcano lair designed by Ken Adam for The Man With the Golden Gun. Credit: Getty Images Loading You can visit James Bond Island its part of Ao Phang Nga National Park in Thailand but you wont find the lair. The exterior was a facade, the usual movie trickery, and the interiors were all sets built at Pinewood Studios. Frank Lloyd Wright Jrs Sowden House in Los Feliz (1926) is a real-life villains lair, famous for once being home to George Hodel, a gynaecologist and sadist who hosted sex parties in his gold bedroom, and beat his sons in the basement. Hodel has been linked (by son Steve Hodel) to the Black Dahlia murder, among others. Advertisement Sowden House features in the TV drama I am the Night (2019), which delves into the case. The home, nicknamed the Jaws House, looks like an ancient Mayan tomb; its front features jagged jaws jutting from the centre. A virtual tour shows black and silver interiors, a stainless steel toilet, an aquarium wall. Any blood spill could be easily cleaned from those shiny surfaces. The walls are super-thick; the better to muffle your screams. Frank Lloyd Wrights Sowden House, pictured during a fundraising event, became a real-life villains lair. Credit: New York Times It is ironic that in the beginning, the promise of modernist architecture was one of utility and democracy above filthy lucre. Like Australias Small Homes Service, Californias Case Study houses (1945-1966) were designed to be cheaply made and easily constructed to service the post-war housing boom. The style was organic, favouring clean lines, open-plan living, and natural materials. Often their makers were innovative, meeting the challenges of place. John Lautners famed Chemosphere (1960). Credit: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images John Lautners famed Chemosphere (1960) was built on a hillside that had a 45-degree slope. Lautner essentially built a pod on a pole, with windows all around and a funicular railway for access. Advertisement The Chemosphere has hosted villains in films ranging from Body Double to Charlies Angels even The Simpsons has paid homage, replicating its spaceship likeness for disgraced movie star/deviant Troy McClure and his sham-wife Selma Bouvier. Inside the Chemosphere. Credit: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images In his 2007 film-essay Los Angeles Plays Itself, Thom Anderson offers a line-up of lairs from Frank Sinatras Palm Springs pad as a mob boss residence in The Damned Dont Cry (1950), to the mid-century Hollywood Hills hide-out in The Night Holds Terror (1955) (A straight drop, says Thug #2. I wouldnt try it.) Anderson is deadpan regarding Hollywoods poor treatment of modernist houses. The most heinous case is Lautners iconic Garcia House (1962) in Lethal Weapon 2. The house resembles an eye of glass and wood on stilts so slender that Mel Gibson can sling a cable around one, attach it to his tow-bar and bring the whole crazy-beautiful structure crashing into the canyon. Frank Sinatras house in Palm Springs was used as a mob boss residence in The Damned Dont Cry (1950). Credit: Getty Images Since Andersons film, there have been several variations on this theme: Curator/creative Benjamin Critton has produced two zine/broadsides: Evil People in Modernist Homes in Popular Films (2010) and Sad People in Modernist Homes in Popular Films (2019). Advertisement Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Save this article for later Remove items from your saved list to add more. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Star chef Alejandro Saravia opens Morena Restaurant and the less formal Morena Barra in the glitzy 80 Collins precinct next week. Heres what we can look forward to. As featured in the September 2024 hit list. See all stories . When Peru-born chef Alejandro Saravia opened his contemporary Peruvian restaurant Morena in Sydneys Surry Hills in the early 2010s, the market wasnt ready for it, he tells Good Food, and it closed a few years later. It was before its time, he figures. 1 / 7 Executive chef Alejandro Saravia at his new Melbourne restaurant, Morena. Simon Schluter 2 / 7 Rib-eye steak, spanner crab arepa and butter lettuce salad with cucumber and shallots are on the menu at Morena. Simon Schluter 3 / 7 The elegant Morena dining room. Simon Schluter 4 / 7 Morenas beef empanadas. Simon Schluter 5 / 7 Saravia is setting a new standard for Latin American food in Australia with the opening of Morena in Melbourne and Sydney in 2024. Simon Schluter 6 / 7 Abrolhos Islands scallop at Morena. Simon Schluter 7 / 7 Ox tongue anticuchos, a hit at Morena in Sydney, will be on the Melbourne menu. Edwina Pickles Previous Slide Next Slide In the years since, as more Australians have travelled around Latin America, soaking up the many cultures and cuisines and its restaurants have garnered global acclaim the market has changed. His reincarnation of Morena, which opened in Sydneys Martin Place this April, gained a hat. And now hes readying its Melbourne counterparts, the neighbouring Morena Restaurant and Morena Barra, to open in the 80 Collins precinct next week. Saravia executive chef at Farmers Daughters and Victoria by Farmers Daughters, and formerly of Peruvian restaurant Pastuso wants to set a new standard for Latin American food in Australia, expanding diners minds and paving the way for other chefs. Before Twitter, slogan T-shirts were the preferred medium for telling others to Choose Life, Thats Hot and Im with stupid. They continue to make noise in the age of social media, with the trends revival now requiring more meaningful calls to action on cotton. Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson is asking you to drink your milk to fight shame in the LGBTQ community, Camilla and Marcs latest T-shirt highlights Ovaries. Talk About Them as part of the brands campaign for an early detection test for ovarian cancer, while Melbourne designer Erik Yvon wants you to be Reborn for the environment and homelessness. T-shirts without a cause. Victoria Beckhams My Dad Had A Rolls-Royce T-shirt; Zendayas I Told Ya top from Loewe and Kim Kardashians vintage I Love Nerds T-shirts were not for charitable causes. Credit: Instagram, Getty Raising money and awareness for charities and scientific causes is the latest spin on the fashion cycle. Zendaya silently says, I Told Ya, Kim Kardashians vintage top suspiciously proclaims I Love Nerds and Victoria Beckham made the public service announcement My Dad Had A Rolls-Royce. Replacing luxury logos with pointers to popular causes has drawn accusations of virtue signalling but wearing slogan T-shirts can be about doing good while looking better. A Qantas 787 Dreamliner has suffered cracks in panelling and a flap after tread from a wheel was propelled at high speed into one of its wings during take-off from Romes busiest airport. Photos of the damaged aircraft show cracks in part of the wing, as well as extensive scuff marks from the wheels tread hitting it. The damage has forced Qantas to temporarily remove the long-haul aircraft from service while inspections and repairs are undertaken. Cracks in the Qantas 787s wing after it was hit by tread from a wheel during take-off in Rome. The incident occurred during take-off from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport on Friday as the aircraft was en route to Perth on a 16-hour flight. Qantas Flight QF6 was carrying 195 passengers. Qantas confirmed that tread separated from one of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners tyres during take-off in Rome, damaging the lower right wing of the aircraft. The story of that civilian government, Myanmars first civilian government for 60 years, has been completely overshadowed by a coup and by some of the bad things that went on, Turnell says. I really wanted to get on the historical record that the reform program that they brought in, or tried to bring in, was incredibly bold and had a very coherent vision of an alignment between democracy, economics and freedom. He stresses the vision was a locally driven one, and I was there to help. Protesters with pictures of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon in the aftermath of the 2021 coup. Credit: AP This was a homegrown story of these, you know, incredible people with courage I wanted to get down what they were tried to do on the record because they dont have a voice. So in some ways, mate, I had to be their voice. As with the man himself, the book is livelier and funnier than might be expected given the subject matter. Turnell chirps over a long black as he describes being left without smell after being diagnosed with COVID five times while in prison, grimaces at describing having to replace teeth damaged during his ordeal, and suppresses a snigger as he says his wife, Dr Ha Vu, teases him about his criminal record. The only good thing about it, right, is that dinner parties and things like that, its nice to be able to claim, well, actually, I am a convicted spy. I mean, I have a court that said I am a spy. Sanction the banks Of the best-laid plans that went awry when Suu Kyis government was ousted in the week it was due to start a second term, Turnell was most looking forward to fixing Myanmars banks. Now, he believes targeting these institutions is an essential weapon against the junta, as it relies on state-owned banks to funnel foreign exchange and purchase munitions from Russia and China. He says Australia could do better at applying sanctions to the banks, which in turn might tip the balance on the battlefield. By really getting at the finances, thats the way in which the juntas military advantage could be negated, Turnell says. Its a real key vulnerability, and it does open up an opportunity for somewhere like Australia. Suu Kyi received international criticism for not standing up to the military over the genocide of the Rohingya, but Turnell says army leader Min Aung Hlaings coup was driven by a fear her government would send him to the International Criminal Court. The two had zero chemistry and talks between them broke down immediately before the coup. The trigger was very personal, he says. Then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton with Aung San Suu Kyi at the Yangon residence in 2011. Credit: AP Being Sydney, talk inevitably turns to property: there are forces in the junta trying to sell Suu Kyis house in Yangon against her wishes. A second attempt failed this month after no bidders turned up. Turnell says the fact no crony was willing to put themselves forward so stridently against her is a real giveaway of the unpopularity of that regime. Suu Kyi is unlikely to return home unless the regime falls, and she has been moved from prison to a military compound in the capital, Naypyidaw. The army said it was for her comfort in the face of extreme heat, but her allies suspect ulterior motives. Her physical circumstances might be a little bit better now, but that story is not so positive because what, equally, I think has happened is that theyve moved her to be a human shield, Turnell says. So my understanding is that both her and the president, U Win Myint, have been moved into an area where very senior military people are. Naypyidaw came under attack from drones from the opposition. And our belief is that thats what thats about, you know, moving her closer to them to protect themselves. Loading As the junta is being defeated on the battlefield, the honorary professor of economics at Macquarie University can also see it struggling financially. Turnell says, Its just a question of when the regime will fall. Theres a lot of brutality that the regime can do on the way out, and theyre going to be desperate, he says. Therell be no holding back. But at the same time, everything is pointing towards their defeat. Successful businesswoman and deputy lord mayor aspirant Erin Deering is definitely injecting some unconventional new energy into local government politics, the basement tier of democracy. Deering, on a ticket with former acting lord mayor Arron Wood, is a former AFR Young Rich Lister who sold out of bikini business Triangl in 2016 and is still worth millions. On Sunday, her new-age influencer kook and Town Hall politics collided with a thud. Erin Deering on Instagram. Credit: @erinkdeering Deering took to Instagram ahead of her big parks and gardens press conference with Wood to perform a Get Ready With Me (for readers unfamiliar, it is a behind-the-scenes social media preview). She started with a political declaration: a large pimple on her forehead she needed to conceal, before spraying on some grounding perfume (calming before the cameras) and pondered which crystal to wear. Boys at single-sex private schools have been outperformed by their peers at all-girls and co-education schools in Victoria in the past decade, data from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority shows, despite charging some of the highest fees. Melbourne High School was ranked 10th for performance in 2021, the only medium-sized all-boys school to have a high proportion of students achieve a study score of 40 or above (out of 50) in the past five years. Melbourne High School VCE students Vraj Shah (left), Aaron Zhang and Harry Hermann are among the schools high-achieving cohort. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui Students typically sit an exam to gain year 9 entry to the highly competitive selective government school in South Yarra, which does not charge fees to attend. Principal Tony Mordini said Melbourne High students achieved a median ATAR of 94.7 in 2023, with 53 students achieving a score of 99 or above. Ive always been interested in welding, ever since I was taking engineering classes in school. I wasnt interested in getting an ATAR but this means I can still graduate from year 12. And I can start working earlier as Ive already started my apprenticeship. VCE Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs are one of the options offered to students as part of the VCE, which gives them the opportunity to study at a registered training organisation such as TAFE. Students undertaking VET can receive credit towards their VCE, VCE VM and Victorian Pathways Certificate a more flexible, individualised option and gain nationally recognised qualifications. There are 28 VCE VET programs with 55 qualifications to choose from, including animal care, dance, information technology, hair and beauty, and trades such as building and construction, and plumbing. VCE VET students can also use certain VET courses to gain an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) through graded assessments, including at least one exam. The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority says VET students gain practical skills and knowledge that can complement their other studies. Bendigo Secondary College tailors the vocational major to the students interests. For example, if you want to be an engineer and you are studying VCE physics and VCE mathematical methods, you can develop practical skills, technical knowledge and industry insight by doing VCE VET engineering, the authority says on its website. Students must display a consistent application of skills and knowledge to a workplace standard to be marked as competent in their units of study. Lavena says she has always wanted to complete a high school certificate, and is interested in further study after she graduates. I dont know whats next but I want to study in the future, she says. I want to finish the apprenticeship first and then I might go and work for a few years, then do another course for something else. I might do a security course and work with my sister. In the meantime, shes saving some of the money she earns on her apprenticeship and hopes to buy a car next year. Its pretty interesting, she says. Im also learning how to work with other people, problem-solving and how to not always ask for help with tasks. Thats one of the big areas that Ive been working on. When I first started I was asking a lot of questions but now I am just trying to work more independently. New enrolment data has revealed that 56,000 Victorian students enrolled in vocational education and training (VET) programs at school in 2024 an all-time high. Of those, more than 25,000 students are doing the new VCE Vocational Major (VM), which was introduced last year in a shake-up of the high school certificate. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has reported a steady increase in VET take-up since 2018, bucking an interstate trend of largely declining enrolments. The VCE VET programs offer students industry experience and hands-on training, giving them an employment edge when graduating in a tight labour market. This can lead to nationally recognised qualifications, allowing students to take a skills-based rather than academic pathway. University of Melbourne education policy expert Professor John Polesel says it is important for students to have options in year 11 and 12 to suit their needs, talents and abilities. Not all students want to go to university and not all students need to go to university to realise their ambitions, he says. But Polesel says the level of support for alternative pathways is dependent on individual schools and teachers. There are now many schools which value vocational education and teachers who are committed to excellence, he says. Its important for students to find a school that will provide them with the subjects they need to achieve their ambitions. Jessica House received a VCE Premiers Award for Outstanding Vocational Major. Students and parents need to be open to non-university pathways, schools need to build and maintain quality vocational options and employers need to be supportive by providing a range of work experience options, internships, workplace training and mentoring. Among the in-demand skills that students can train for are: digital media and technologies (e.g. Certificate III in information technology); community services and early childhood education (e.g. Cert III in early childhood education and care); clean energy and engineering (e.g. Cert II in electrotechnology, Cert II in engineering studies); health (e.g. Cert II in health support service, Cert III in allied health assistance). The two-year VCE VM study program prepares students for apprenticeships, traineeships, further education and training, university, or a job straight after school. Students do not qualify for an ATAR, but it is possible to achieve the ranking through some VCE VET programs. For the first time, the VCE Premiers Awards featured the Outstanding VCE Vocational Major Students Award. One of the recipients was Jessica House, 18, who was instrumental in the rollout of the new program at Mordialloc College. House helped ensure VCE VM students were involved in school activities, developed resources and worked on policy development. Choosing VCE VM relieved me of the stress and pressure involved in completing Year 12 exams which was a significant reason I chose [it], she says. I have dyslexia, and exams would have been extremely stressful and challenging for me. Although I didnt receive an ATAR, I intend to go to university to further my qualifications and one day become a ... teacher. Read more stories about VCE and life after school Find our your schools VCE results Which degrees will lead to the biggest pay packets? Feeling overwhelmed by uni applications? Heres what year 12 students need to know Midland residents fed up by noise caused by a new Metronet railway crossing are calling on the transport minister to intervene. They say the bright lights and loud bells in the early hours of the morning could be blocked out with window treatments and sound proofing. The new Cale Street crossing replaces the old Helena Street rail crossing less than 500 metres away. It closed to make way for the new Midland Train Station. Due to the built-up area and land constraints around Cale Street, through which passenger and freight trains pass, a new level crossing was the most feasible solution to maintain north-south access to the town centre, according to the Public Transport Authority. The second reason was its role in Labors 1987 election victory. One had to be in the Sydney Opera House to grasp the transformative effect of this promise, wrote Freudenberg. There was still life in the old Labor Party and it galvanised the whole campaign for a hard-won victory. The first was the specific policy a new payment that accompanied it. That policy was delivered, wrote Freudenberg, and was a step towards a goal and an ongoing aspiration. Not a small step, either: in 2017 the head of the Australian Council of Social Service, Dr Cassandra Goldie, told this masthead that Hawke had reduced child poverty by a full 30 per cent. Weve had no PM do the same since. Freudenberg wrote the line, but Hawke accepted unflinchingly the unspoken contract that the person who delivers the speech owns it. Accordingly, Hawke later said he regretted it. But there were two reasons Freudenberg stood by it. In May 2019, Bob Hawke died. Just two months later, the great Labor speechwriter, Graham Freudenberg, died too. Before he did, he wrote a piece explaining the value of Hawkes promise that by 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty. Its hard to imagine a Labor leader making a similar campaign promise now. That is partly a result of Hawkes failure to deliver on his pledge, which left such rhetoric, both specific and grandiose, looking overblown. But there is another reason, which is that the Labor Party has changed. Freudenberg wrote that Hawkes payments were the last great Labor reform in the old Labor tradition. Later, the centre of Labor gravity set firmly in the broader middle class. Loading Which raises an interesting question about political trade-offs. Fighting for the broader middle class means you offer something tangible to more voters, which may make you well liked. But that is a different thing from electrifying. Do political parties which choose to appeal to broader groups of people effectively give up their chance of exciting voters? The types of causes we think of as inspiring often come from fighting against injustice; fighting for a small, or voiceless, group of people. Pundits say there are fewer votes in such policies; they play to the base. But that dismisses the power of excitement. The shift from fighting for those doing it toughest to representing the middle classes is tied to two other shifts. Campaigns have had to shift: instead of inspiring voters, centre-left parties generally try to cajole them instead. The ambition of centre-left parties has also changed. Once, there was value in arguing that society should be reshaped not through revolution, but through dramatic structural changes. But those same parties now speak to people more likely to be happy with the broad shape of things because they judge that they have benefited: they want change, but not too much. So thats what the politicians offer them. This goes some way to explaining the parallels between Britains new Labour prime minister, Keir Starmer, the new Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and Anthony Albanese. The then-Coalition government accepted most of the commissions 29 recommendations in full or in principle but failed to legislate before losing power. Nearly 18 months after taking office, Labor has yet to signal its intentions to the ICAC. NSW ICAC chief commissioner John Hatzistergos. Credit: Michele Mossop The chief commissioner has written two letters to, and met with, the current NSW government about the recommendations, an ICAC spokesperson said. A letter sent in October went unanswered for five months. A follow-up letter sent in May received a response from Special Minister of State John Graham last Wednesday, following questions from the Herald on Tuesday afternoon. This is important work that is ongoing and the NSW government intends to get it right, Graham said. [The public should know] who ministers are meeting with, what the subject matter is and if theres any cause for concern. Associate Professor Yee-Fui Ng from Monash University In January, the NSW government announced funding to the ICAC, along with four other integrity agencies, was being put at arms length of government. This month, reforms were introduced to parliament that will strengthen that independence and expand parliaments role in independently overseeing ICAC funding. Monash associate professor Yee-Fui Ng says the lobbying industry in NSW is governed by woefully inadequate rules. Monash University associate professor Yee-Fui Ng, a lead author of a discussion paper that informed the ICACs lobbying report, said it was a shame no action had been taken. Our current rules are woefully inadequate, Ng said. We do deserve better in terms of the public knowing who ministers are meeting with, what the subject matter is and if theres any cause for concern. NSW Labor wasnt always so relaxed when it came to the influence of lobbyists. A decade ago, in opposition, it promised to ban them from meeting with ministers, their staff and departments. In 2019, before Minns became party leader, NSW Labor called for a ban on lobbyists making political donations, similar to the prohibition on property developers, which it said had helped to remove the perception of undue influence. But Labor then accepted more than $100,000 in donations from lobbyists in the lead-up to last years election and more than $60,000 between last July and March. The government has failed to implement a 2023 Labor platform commitment to require ministers every month to publish a diary of every meeting they have had with lobbyists, MPs or private companies relating to commercial transactions or decisions. Premiers past and present Iemma, who quit as premier in 2008, remains a member of NSW Labor but holds no other position. After serving on several boards, he co-founded Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory as a bipartisan lobby firm with former Liberal MP Chris Patterson in 2019 and lobbied ministers of the previous government. Loading Since Labors victory, dozens of new clients have sought out the firm, which boasts an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of government and the bureaucracy that drives the decision-making processes in the state. Iemma has been described as a political mentor to Minns, who worked for him in the 2000s when Iemma was health minister and then premier. The former leader played a key role in Minns local re-election campaign last year (he says he helped but did not run the campaign) and Minns has since employed two of Iemmas sons, one in the premiers office, the other in his Kogarah electorate office. One later left the role. Last year, Iemma was appointed chairman of Venues NSW after a shortlisting process that involved the Premiers Department. He was forced to resign soon after due to ill health. Asked whether he believed his relationship with Minns created a perceived risk of undue influence, Iemma gave a firm no. The administration of the government and the premiers office is very meticulous in adhering to the rules and I am too, he said. Im conscious that his political enemies and I daresay mine would seek to make something of nothing. Ministerial diaries published online show Minns and Iemma saw each other in February and March in what were described as catch-up meetings. After the opposition asked why no lobbying client was listed, as required by the diary rules, the government said the meetings were strictly personal or party political and their disclosure was voluntary. Morris Iemma first employed Chris Minns when he was health minister in the Carr government, then again when he was premier. Credit: Jon Reid Iemma said he had always abided by the lobbyist code of conduct, which requires them to keep lobbying and party political activity separate, and he had conducted himself with the utmost professionalism and integrity. He said the discussion over coffee had included a general discussion about the state of play, obviously the new government settling in, how it was travelling, overview of state politics, federal, mainly local, local issues, commitments that had been made. They also discussed preserving time for family and how Minns could keep his profile and momentum going locally. The government runs the government, the ministers are in charge, the premier is the premier, Iemma said. He takes his own counsel. He makes his own decisions. The curfew-free Western Sydney Airport is due to open in late 2026. Credit: Janie Barrett Iemma has met with Minns once on behalf of a client, Ingham Property Group, which owns land next to Western Sydney Airport, to discuss road matters in February. Minns, who has met with a wide range of people and organisations as premier, including the Sydney Morning Herald, declined to elaborate on the road matters meeting with Iemma. Since being elected, the premier has met and had contact with former premiers and prime ministers, Labor and Liberal, discussing both leadership and politics, a spokesperson for Minns said. This is entirely appropriate. All the meetings have been disclosed as required. If there are any allegations of wrongdoing, put them forward, but quite frankly there is nothing wrong with meeting with former leaders. Planning Minister Paul Scully says his discussions with Morris Iemma were about high-level planning policy, not individual projects. Credit: Rhett Wyman High-level planning discussions A number of former Labor leaders, including ex-premier Bob Carr and former prime minister Paul Keating, have also had contact with Planning Minister Paul Scully, but Iemma is the only registered third-party lobbyist. In his lobbyist capacity, Iemma arranged for Scully to visit Spring Farm on Sydneys south-west fringe in April to inspect a walling system used by the home builder AV Jennings. Scullys ministerial diaries show he met the former leader twice, to discuss housing affordability and planning matters last May and planning matters in April. Iemma said he did not appear on behalf of a client at either meeting. He said they discussed how affordable housing was entirely doable, as well as the importance of strategic planning functions held by the Greater Sydney Commission, a body he had previously served on after an appointment by the Baird government. The pair also discussed the co-ordination of infrastructure for the Western Sydney Aerotropolis development, he said. Iemmas clients include property developers delivering housing developments and Ingham Property Group, which owns land within the aerotropoliss core precinct. Asked whether any of his clients had an interest in the topics he discussed with the minister, Iemma said no. The Ingham meeting had been addressed at the premiers meeting [in February]. Thats on the record, he said. We didnt discuss any specific client or specific issue to a client. A spokesperson for Scully said the meetings related to strategic planning matters, not individual projects and that they had been properly disclosed. The minister often discusses high-level planning policy with industry, councils, community organisations, and former leaders and ministers from both sides of politics, the spokesperson said. According to public records, Ingham Property Group secured three meetings through Iemma between October and March: first with the department, then the premier, and finally Roads Minister John Graham, who is also the special minister of state corresponding with the ICAC. The Allan government has offered the companies building the already-delayed and over-budget Metro Tunnel subway additional payments worth up to $888 million, as it tries to ensure passengers can catch a train on the new rail line by the end of 2025. A leaked legal letter, obtained by The Age, outlines a series of financial incentives to the Cross Yarra Partnership construction consortium to secure the completion of the train line under central Melbourne. The legal document, with each page marked strictly confidential, is dated June 22 this year. That was two days after an auditor-generals report tabled in state parliament found the Metro project was running over budget and behind its originally contracted opening date of September 2024. The Metro Tunnel is a nine-kilometre underground project that will transform Melbournes rail network, with five new stations allowing train access to Parkville for the first time, and linking South Yarra to North Melbourne in just 11 minutes. A preselection battle for the safest Greens seat in Victoria is being seen internally as a fight over the future direction of the party as members prepare for it to exacerbate factional rifts. Many members view preselection for the seat about to be vacated by former leader Samantha Ratnam as a fight between longer-serving branch members motivated by social justice and environmental concerns, and younger, more activist members united by LGBTQ and trans-rights policies. Almost five months after announcing she would quit as Victorian leader, Ratnam is poised to leave state parliament in the coming weeks. Voting will begin on Wednesday to determine her replacement, with eligible party members given one week to cast their ballots. Greens MPs arrive at Parliament House in April to elect a new leader after Samantha Ratnam stood down. Credit: JOE ARMAO The Greens have recently grappled with a broader debate over whether party members can raise concerns about trans rights if they conflict with the rights of biological females, which trans groups argue is discriminatory and harmful. The conflict has led to Greens councillors and members quitting the party, as the executive expanded its definition of transphobia. Kyiv: Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Tuesday, with Ukraines air defence forces saying all of the country was under the threat of a Russian ballistic weapons attack. The size of the second day of Russian attacks was not immediately known, but Ukraines air force said it recorded the launch of several groups of drones and the take-off from Russian airfields of strategic Tu-85 strategic bombers and MiG-31 supersonic interceptor aircraft. Kyiv regions air defence systems were deployed several times overnight to repel missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital, the regions military administration said on Telegram. Reuters witnesses reported at least three rounds of explosions overnight in Kyiv. Dont ignore the air raid alerts, seek cover, Ukraines air force said on the Telegram messaging app. 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 David Greenberg has an ancient T-shirt that he likes to wear in summer. It bears the slogan: Kennedy for President. But this year he had to take it off. I couldnt wear it. I kept getting odd looks. The shirt took on new meaning, says the Rutgers University professor of US history. The T-shirt was a memorial to the great hero of the Democratic Party, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. Although it might equally refer to his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, another darling of the Democrats, who also fell to an assassins bullet, in 1968 when he was running for the White House. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump welcomes Robert Kennedy Jr to his rally in Arizona on Friday. Credit: AP But the shirts meaning was overtaken in recent months by the political campaign of RFKs son, the last of the Kennedy dynasty in national politics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, 70, who decided to run for the presidency this year as an independent. At its peak, his candidacy was polling around 15 per cent nationally, enough to be a serious spoiler for the main party candidates. Advertisement RFK Jr, as hes known universally, is blessed with the familys good looks but none of its, ah, good sense. He blamed a brain worm. No, not a worm as metaphor for a mental quirk but a brain abnormality that he said was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died. Many Americans might have overlooked this, except that he fell into a flirtation with conspiracy theories, a flirtation that became a fixation. Most damagingly for his public standing, he promoted misinformation about COVID vaccines. But last week, RFK Jr announced that he was suspending his campaign as an independent. He would support Donald Trump instead. Illustration: Andrew Dyson Credit: Dr Donald bleach Trump embraced the anti-vaxxer on stage at a rally on Friday and welcomed his support. Hed earlier called him the dumbest member of the Kennedy family, but last week lauded him as a brilliant guy. Trump suggested that he might give him a job in a Trump administration. Five of RFKs siblings mourned this new alliance in a statement as a sad ending to a sad story. Why sad? Because it was a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. Advertisement As Greenberg says, the Kennedy name is synonymous with John F. Kennedys restoration of an optimistic, liberal, can-do politics to the White House in 1961, and Bobbys campaign represented something similar in 1968, the spirit of so-called Camelot. I think all these ideals have clung to the Kennedy family even though its suffered numerous scandals, says Greenberg. It was a myth, but it was a myth that was not without some substance. What was disturbing is now depressing, Greenberg says, as RFK Jrs kookiness gives way to political, ideological and policy faithlessness in the arms of Donald Trump. One of the Kennedy dynastys signature issues has been environmental protection, a priority shared by RFK Jr for decades. A fellow environmental activist, Michael Brune, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with RFK Jr when the two opposed the construction of a super-controversial oil pipeline, Keystone XL. Both were arrested at a protest outside the White House in 2013. When Trump became president, he gave the go-ahead to the pipeline; as soon as Joe Biden became president, he cancelled the pipeline. Advertisement By now supporting Trump, RFK Jr is joining a candidate whose biggest applause point at rallies is drill, baby, drill! as he promises a free hand to fracking and oil exploration. Its sad, says Brune, who went on to become head of the Sierra Club environmental group, and surreal. Surreal indeed. RFK Jr keeps an emu among other exotic pets, and he recently confessed to leaving a dead bear cub in Central Park years ago as a prank. When the major parties excluded him from the recent Biden versus Trump debate, he debated himself. While the president and former president debated on a TV screen, RFK Jr watched and pressed pause every now and then to insert his own views for his assembled fans. Loading Why did he drop out? Partly because he was a victim of Kamala Harris campaign. She drew about half his support base to the Democrat ticket. And partly because he was having trouble getting his name onto ballot papers in many states; he managed to make it in only 26 of the 50 states. So how will his remaining followers perhaps 5 per cent or so of the likely electorate cast their votes in the vital swing states, where his name will not appear on the ballot? Will they vote for Trump or Harris? A poll on the weekend by The New York Times and Siena College showed that RFK followers were split right down the middle, with 35 per cent going to Trump and 34 per cent to Harris. Most are likely to stay home. Pew Research Center points out that his supporters were only ever feebly attached to him in any case fewer than a quarter were extremely motivated to vote even when he was still running, whereas the corresponding figure was 70 for Harris and 72 for Trump. Advertisement FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 26, 2024 Hyundai Motor America has promoted Sean Gilpin to chief marketing officer, effective today. Gilpin will lead the entire marketing function for Hyundais U.S. business overseeing both creative and performance. His responsibilities include marketing strategy, creative execution, social, experiential marketing, multicultural marketing, along with media buying strategy, customer communications, tier two marketing, and marketing financial management. In this role, Gilpin reports to Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. Gilpin will also retain his global responsibilities as vice president of global sales marketing for Hyundai Motor Company. Sean is a talented marketing leader who has brought new thinking and strategies to our marketing and advertising, said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. There remains a tremendous opportunity to enhance consumer understanding of Hyundais innovation, mobility leadership and vision for the future of transportation. Im confident hes the right person to elevate the Hyundai brand and continue the momentum weve generated over the past several years. Gilpin has a demonstrated track record of exceptional leadership and strategic vision, helping to drive Hyundais marketing initiatives, brand building and consumer shopping activity. With a deep understanding of the Hyundai brand and an innovative approach to customer engagement, Gilpin will continue to create better connections with consumers and improve brand opinion. Gilpin rejoined Hyundai in July 2023 from INNOCEAN USA, Hyundais creative marketing partner agency, where he served as the chief business officer. Before INNOCEAN USA, Sean was the senior manager of retail marketing at Hyundai Motor America. Preceding this role change for Gilpin, Angela Zepeda, chief creative officer, elected to depart the company for a new position outside of the automotive industry. Zepeda originally joined Hyundai as chief marketing officer in 2019 after leading the automakers advertising account at INNOCEAN USA. I want to express my gratitude to Angela for her outstanding efforts that have significantly contributed to Hyundais business growth, added Parker. Angelas leadership has raised Hyundais standing in the marketplace, and her unwavering commitment to creativity and innovation continually inspired her team and our partners to deliver impactful results. Hyundai Motor America Hyundai Motor America offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles, while supporting Hyundai Motor Companys Progress for Humanity vision. Hyundai has significant operations in the U.S., including its North American headquarters in California, the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama assembly plant, the all-new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (in development in Georgia), and several cutting-edge R&D facilities. These operations, combined with those of Hyundais 835 independent dealers, contribute $20.1 billion annually and 190,000 jobs to the U.S. economy, according to a recent economic impact report. For more information, visit http://www.hyundainews.com. Embraer sells A-29 Super Tucano to the Uruguayan Air Force South America Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay The country will become the sixth operator of the aircraft inalong withand MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Aug. 26, 2024 -- Embraer today announced the sale of up to six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU). The contract, which is part of a fleet renew program to expand FAU's operational capacity, provides for the acquisition of one aircraft plus the commitment to acquire five additional units, with deliveries scheduled from 2025, including mission equipment, integrated logistics services and a flight simulator. With this order, Uruguay becomes the sixth nation to operate the A-29 Super Tucano in South America along with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay. Due to its operational flexibility in the South American region, the aircraft is used for several missions, mainly for control of illegal activities, border monitoring, reconnaissance and advanced training. A regional fleet of more than 160 Super Tucanos operate in the most austere and demanding environments in South America, from the humid and warm Amazon rainforest, the cold regions of southern Chile to the heat of the desert further north, from mountainous regions of Colombia and Ecuador to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. "We are honored by the decision of the Uruguayan Air Force, another South American nation to choose the A-29 Super Tucano, an aircraft that is a reference in its segment in the international market. With this acquisition, Uruguay will have differentiated capabilities that will greatly contribute to the surveillance of its borders and increase FAU's operational readiness," said Bosco da Costa Junior, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. "Uruguay seeks to strengthen its airspace surveillance and threat response capabilities, and it does so rely on Brazilian technology, which proposes a very suitable platform for these purposes, such as the A-29 Super Tucanos," Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs Omar Paganini said. "With this addition, we are taking a great leap forward in improving our defense capabilities and responding to the needs of controlling our territorial sovereignty and fighting crime in all its forms," said Uruguayan Minister of National Defense, Armando Castaingdebat. "It should be noted that since 1981 our country has not acquired new combat aircraft. It is precisely for this reason that the aforementioned purchase of aircraft will generate great motivation and professional satisfaction within the Air Force," said the Commander in Chief of the Uruguayan Air Force, General Luis H. De Leon. The A-29 Super Tucano is the global leader in its category, boasting over 260 orders, surpassing 570,000 flight hours, with 60,000 of those in combat. The number of air forces operating the A-29 Super Tucano steadily expands due to its unmatched combination of features, making it the most cost-effective, accessible, and versatile choice. For Air Forces seeking a proven, comprehensive, efficient, reliable, and cost-effective solution on a single platform, coupled with great operational flexibility, the A-29 Super Tucano offers a wide range of missions such as close air support, air patrol, special operations, air interdiction, JTAC, forward air controller (FAC), air and tactical coordinator (TAC), Armed ISR, border surveillance, reconnaissance, air escort, basic, operational and advanced training, transition to air superiority fighters, JTAC/LIFT and FAC training. The A-29 Super Tucano is the most effective multi-mission aircraft in its category, equipped with state-of-the-art technology for precise target identification, weapons systems, and a comprehensive communications suite. Its capability is further enhanced by advanced HMI avionics systems integrated into a robust airframe capable of operating from unpaved runways, in austere environments and without infrastructure. Furthermore, the aircraft has a simple maintenance concept, which offers high levels of reliability, availability, and structural integrity with low life cycle costs. Images:https://embraer.bynder.com/share/21BB965F-9E4E-4F6E-B5ED09AD24901407/?viewType=grid [embraer.bynder.com] About Embraer A global aerospace company headquartered in Brazil, Embraer operates in the Commercial Aviation, Executive Aviation, Defense & Security and Agricultural Aviation segments. The Company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, and provides after-sales Services & Support to customers. Since its foundation in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 9,000 aircraft. On average, every 10 seconds, an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off from somewhere in the world, transporting more than 145 million passengers annually. Embraer is a leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats and the main exporter of high value-added goods in Brazil. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service centers and parts distribution, among other activities, in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. OH Canada - Chinese EV Hit With 100% Import Tariff TORONTO Aug. 26, 2024 China Overhead view of electric vehicles parked at a port awaiting to be loaded on to a card ship docked near by. (CNW Group/Unifor) Overhead view of electric vehicles parked at a port awaiting to be loaded on to a card ship docked near by. (CNW Group/Unifor) /CNW/ - Unifor welcomes the federal government decision to impose an additional 100% tariff on all new energy vehicles imported fromas well as a new 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum. "Canada can and must protect auto and manufacturing jobs here in this country, which thousands of workers rely on for their livelihoods," said Unifor National President Lana Payne. "There is no justification to trade away high-paying, high-skilled jobs for cheap high-carbon intensive vehicles build under deplorable working conditions. Our union welcomes the Canadian tariff that matches the U.S. to present a united front in support of the auto sector and the communities that benefit from it. We must all remember that cheap comes at a very high cost a cost to good Canadian jobs and communities." In the union's recommendations during the government's consultations on Chinese trade practices in electric vehicles Unifor recommended a federal tariff of 100% above MFN rate on all new energy vehicles imported from China. Unifor also recommended a 25% tariff above MFN rate on battery products and battery-related components of importance to Canada that it will continue to push the government to enact during the just announced second consultation period. Unifor does welcome the eligibility restrictions on Chinese EVs from the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles, Medium and Heavy Duty Zero Emission Vehicles and the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, although the federal government has not yet committed to extending these programs, which remains a concern. Unifor also strongly supports the proposed additional 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum products from China, a move that will further support thousands of Unifor members producing goods that, for years, have had to unfairly compete with Chinese-made goods. Read Unifor's submission and full recommendations here. Story continues In under four years, Canada secured nearly $50 billion in major auto and EV battery supply chain investments, including nine large "greenfield" factories. These nine investments are expected to create at least 12,000 new, direct jobs in Canada. Forecasters now expect annual Canadian passenger vehicle production to expand in the coming years by 37% to approximately 1.8 units by 2031. "A flood of low-cost EV imports from China would undermine everything being done to rebuild and grow a strong and truly national automotive sector, one that competes on the world stage. Measures to address unfair trade advantages, obtained through improper and illicit practices, are overdue," said Payne. "We will not allow Chinese automakers to undermine Canadian workers and the development of an advanced, future-facing auto industry with the good union jobs and economic benefits it will bring to our communities. Our members have worked very hard to get here and make no mistake we will not go back." Unifor represents more than 40,000 workers in heavy and light-duty vehicle and powertrain assembly, as well as automotive component parts manufacturing, distribution as well as engineering, clerical and security operations. Thousands more Unifor members work in vehicle dealerships and vehicle servicing businesses throughout the country. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future. SOURCE Unifor A Mandan man who was sentenced in 2020 to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography has been turned over to Morton County authorities and is facing charges in state court stemming from the same set of accusations. The reason is unclear, though potential differences in how convictions in the two jurisdictions impact criminal background checks later in a convict's life might be a factor, according to a local attorney with knowledge of similar proceedings. Kyle Kennedy, now 39, was arrested by Morton County authorities on Aug. 25 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, according to a court document and jail records. Other documents indicate he is being held without bond at the Burleigh Morton Detention Center, where he faces four felony charges and a misdemeanor. The most serious accusation of gross sexual imposition carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The other charges carry sentences ranging from 20 years in prison to nearly a year in jail. The Federal Bureau of Prisons lists Kennedy's expected release date as Nov. 21, 2026. Answers to Tribune questions posed to attorneys involved in both cases regarding why Kennedy has been transferred from federal to state jurisdiction after serving only part of his federal sentence have all pointed to the "dual sovereignty clause" arising from U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding Fifth Amendment guarantees against a person being tried twice for the same crime. All other questions remain unanswered. Double jeopardy Under the Fifth Amendment, a person may not be tried twice for the same crime. But the Supreme Court has ruled that prohibition does not apply to a person being tried for an offense in both federal and state court. The federal and state judicial systems operate separately from one another, according to the high court. In the 1932 case of United States v. Blockburger, the justices ruled a defendant found not guilty of either state or federal charges may be tried for those offenses in the other court. A summary of the court's opinion states "the Supreme Court held that 'where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.'" The Blockburger ruling confirms similar rulings dating as far back as 1876 in the case of Jack McCall, who was was found not guilty of killing Wild Bill Hickock by a state jury but was convicted of the same crime in federal court. In McCall's case, the federal sentence was death by hanging. More recently, the standard was used in the case against Terry Nichols. Nichols was a member of the two-person conspiracy that bombed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. One hundred sixty-eight people were killed in the blast. Many of them were children and employees of a day care facility occupying space not needed by federal offices. Following Nichols' capture, it was determined only eight of the victims fell under federal jurisdiction as far as prosecution. Nichols was convicted on all eight counts, but Oklahoma authorities brought 168 counts in state court, and Nichols was convicted in all 168 cases, receiving consecutive life sentences in each case. Timothy McVeigh, the other member in the conspiracy, was tried, sentenced to death and executed while his case remained under federal jurisdiction. Accusations Affidavits filed in both state and federal court say Kennedy either sexually assaulted boys under the age of 15 or shared sexually explicit images of other minors engaged in sex acts on electronic devices during a period from 1998 to 2018. While the Morton County affidavit identifies three victims, the federal affidavit refers to only two. All of the victims are identified only by initials and their years of birth. Both documents refer to the boys undergoing examinations that revealed potential injuries, and interviews with authorities that describe a number of instances of alleged sexual assaults and exposure to images Kennedy reportedly possessed on a cellphone and a laptop. The Morton County affidavit describes a number of computer files discovered both on Kennedy's phone and computer following their seizure after police executed a search warrant. That document describes more than 1,500 separate files on Kennedy's computer and nearly 400 files on his phone containing images of alleged child sexual exploitation or child pornography. Those files are also mentioned in the federal affidavit. The federal affidavit also mentions interviews conducted with two of the boys, who described numerous occasions of alleged sexual contact by Kennedy. Charging documents from Morton County mention alleged sexual activity between Kennedy and a third victim taking place between 1998 and 2007. Those documents also mention the same two boys as the federal affidavit. Kennedy was originally charged in federal court in May 2018. Morton County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in June 2018 while Kennedy was subject to federal detention, according to court documents. Those documents indicate he entered the guilty plea in the federal case in September 2019 and in exchange, charges of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, possession of images depicting the sexual exploitation of a child and transfer of obscene images to a minor were all dismissed at the request of federal prosecutors. While three of the four counts originally brought against Kennedy by federal prosecutors dealt with possession and transmission of child sex images, the indictment didn't necessarily address what might be considered "hands on" sex offenses, and those could be a factor in the decision by Morton County authorities to seek local prosecution, according to a local attorney with knowledge of similar cases. The attorney told the Tribune that in many cases, federal charges don't show up during criminal background checks, but state charges and convictions, including a person's status as a sex offender, does. Of the five charges brought against Kennedy in Morton County, four include mandatory registration as a sex offender should he be convicted. A preliminary hearing in Kennedy's case is scheduled for Sept. 16. He could enter pleas at that time. 3 MP villages becomehotspot for thieves, riseon national crime map RAJGARH : DOTTED with palatial bungalows and sprawling campuses, a cluster of three villages stands out as an outlier in Madhya Pradeshs Rajgarh district on economic prosperity. Just that it is powered by activities on the wrong side of the law. The recent theft of valuables worth Rs 1.45 crore by a 14-year-old boy during a wedding at a five-star hotel in Rajasthan capital Jaipur brought these villages Kadiya Sansi, Gulkhedi and Hulkhedi into prominence on the national crime map. The local police estimate that 1,000-1,200 criminal cases have been registered across the country against boys, men, girls and women from these villages. With a population of about 5,000, Kadiya Sansi is the epicentre of the illegal activities. But, its not easy for enforcement agencies to make arrests here. A police team from Tamil Nadus Coimbatore, under security cover of the local cops, was attacked in Gulkhedi, under Boda police station, during one such attempt on August 10. Local cases are few but the people of these villages, especially Kadiya Sansi, face criminal cases in different parts of the country. We learn about those only when outside police contact us. There must be 1,000-1,200 cases registered against these people across India, Boda police station in-charge Ramkumar Bhagat told PTI. Bhagat said that the lure of easy money drives the residents of these three villages, about 50 km from district headquarters, to break the law. They get easy money through loot, theft and other crimes. They appear to inspire one another. Since most of these people are associated with it (crimes), there is no one to stop it. Women are more expert in this field than men, he said. Bhagat said that a local police team was also attacked with stones when it accompanied their counterparts from Tamil Nadu to find out about the accused in a crime committed in Coimbatore. A search is underway to track down those who hurled stones at the police team, he said.Asked about reports that outsiders are also being trained at Kadiya Sansi village for stealing, theft and other criminal activities, Bhagat claimed ignorance, saying the people from this village cluster carry out recce before committing crimes. However, this is not the first time a police team has come under attack in these villages, also notorious for illegal liquor trading Mohan Singh, sarpanch of Kadiya Sansi village, claimed that the people are well educated and work in different jobs in major cities. There may be some people who could be involved in such incidents. But the people here are well educated and 2-3 persons from every household work in big cities. Our children are studying in good private schools, Singh told PTI over the phone. The village head rejected the reports about the area being a breeding ground for criminal activities. There is no truth in those reports, he said. Singh also denied the reports about training being given by the people of these villages to children to make them experts in committing crimes. AI VIRTUAL WALL Starts functioning in PTR too Staff Reporter : AFTER successful implementation of AI virtual Wall in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve ( TATR) at Chandrapur, the Artificial Intelligence (AI)- based wildlife monitoring system has now become functional in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) of Nagpur district. PTR, in its commitment to reducing human-wildlife conflict and ensure safety of its people in buffer area from wildlife, has established a wildlife management system along with a portal commonly known as Virtual Wall in its buffer areas. The virtual wall is a chain of smart inter-linked AI cameras with internet access. The cameras are strategically located on the boundaries of villages near forests. These cameras are capable of transmitting images through an Internet ofThings (IoT) platform to a cloud server, where processing is done using AI mechanism. The machine learning algorithms are used to identify tigers by comparing the obtained image with a database. In case of human-tiger conflicts, the images can be used to track tiger movements. These cameras, with their animal detection algorithm, detect any movement of wildlife, especially carnivores, from forest to villages and send real time updates to forest officials and field staff. The platform is also capable of identifying unique tigers. Similarly, the platform can identify and capture human activity within the restricted hour, and can identify humans with guns, etc. Further, it can identify the density of herbivores in a specific area. It is capable to find a particular tiger from the database and track its last sighting and its nearby tigers. Alerts in the form of emails and messages are generated for forest officials in the event of tiger sightings. The system is designed to use the internet speed optimally, so that it can transfer data in low network areas too. Besides, it can capture the image during low light period also during which most of the animal movement happens, Dr Prabhu Nath Shukla, Deputy Director, PTR told The Hitavada. We have installed six such AI virtual walls in Paoni range of PTR and more such equipment will be installed soon. One AI wall can cover a distance of one kilometre in all direction and soon after installing more such cameras we can extend the range to monitor more areas, said Dr Shukla. System uses sustainable energy solution using solar panels for harnessing solar power.With the utilisation of 200 Ah batteries, LED lights and cameras, can be operated continuously without conventional electricity sources. PTR have specially modified these cameras in portable mode so that they are movable and can be used in areas which have more incidences of human- animal conflict. So, it will reduce the cost as it will not require to place chain of cameras permanently. The virtual wall system is aimed at mitigating humantiger conflict by creating a real-time monitoring system that can detect tiger and other carnivore movements and provide an early warning to the forest officials, thereby reducing the risk of attacks on humans and cattle, said Dr Shukla. Children raped in various parts of country Man, 41, rapes 7-yr-old girl in UP DEORIA (UP), A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl was allegedly rapedonSundayby a man here, police said. The incident took place when the girl had go net o purchase milk at a nearby shop whenSafiullah(agedabout41 years), belonging to another community, took her inside the shop and allegedly raped her,AdditionalSPDeependra Nath Chowdhury said. Theshopkeeperwasknown to the accused, police said. Hearing the screams, people gathered there and nabbedtheaccused,beathim up and handed him over to the police. Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma said an FIR has been registered in the matter. Local BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi reached the spot and asked the police to take stern action against the accused. Punjab: 8-yr-old girl raped in Kapurthala KAPURTHALA, Aug 25 (PTI) AN EIGHT-YEAR-old girl was allegedlyrapedbyamanhere, police said on Sunday. According to police, the accusedwholivedinthesame localitywas arrestedafterthe girls mother lodged a complaint. The mothertold the police that the incident happened when her daughter went to graze goats on Friday. The accused lured herinto hishouseandallegedlyraped her, police said. Later,thegirltoldhermother, who works as a labourer, aboutthe incident,they said. 10-yr-old raped by neighbour in Thane district THANE, Aug 25 (PTI) A MANwasonSundayarrestedfor allegedly rapinghis 10- year-old neighbour in Kalyan town ofMaharashtras Thane district, police said. The 32-year-old accused has been booked on the charges of assault and rape under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, an official said. The assault took place on Saturdayafternoonwhenthe child went to the accuseds house to play with his children. The accused was alone in the house at the time, and heallegedlytouchedherinappropriately andrapedher, he said. The girl returned home andinformedherparents,following which they approached the police, the official said. 42-year-old man held for raping 12-yr-old in Mah PALGHAR, Aug 25 (PTI) POLICE on Sunday arrested a42-year-oldmanforallegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in his neighbourhood in Maharashtras Palghar district, an official said. Accused Rama Ganpat Bhoir,aresident of Tarapur, allegedly committed the crimeonSaturdayafternoon, he said. Bhoir entered the girls home when she was alone and raped her. He fled from the spot after she raised an alarm. Afterbeinginformedbyher about the sexual assault, the girls parents filed a police complaint, the official said. Policehaveregisteredacase againstBhoirunderBharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 64 (rape) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said. DECODED: How UPSis better than OPS NEW DELHI : THE Central Government has introduced a new pension scheme, the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) which will come into effectfromApril 1, 2025.InUPS,theGovernment has offered several advantages of the previous Old Pension Scheme (OPS) like assuredpension,family pensionandindexationbenefits. This pension scheme is only for Government employees unlike New Pension Scheme (NPS)whichisofferedtoboth Government and private employees. NowGovernment employees will have the option to choosebetweentheUPS and the New Pension Scheme (NPS) to get a pension. The Old Pension Scheme is also applicable to Government employees in some States. Lets understand UPS first. UnderUPS,pensionwould be given to Government employees by the Central Government.IfaGovernment employeeretiresafterserving for 25 years, 50 per cent ofhis basic salary for the last 12 monthswillbegivenasapension.The specialthing about this scheme is thatithasprovisionsforanassuredpension. Difference between UPS, NPS and OPS UPS is only for Governmentemployees.NPS is for both Government and privatesectoremployees.OPS wasalsoforGovernment sector employees. InUPS,50per centofthe averagebasicsalaryofthelast 12 months will be given as a pension after retirement. There was no provision for a guaranteed retirement pensioninNPS,whereas, in OPS, 50 per cent of the last basic salary wasgivenasapension. UPS and OPS is a secure scheme. However, NPS is linked to the stock market. Like NPS, in UPS, 10 per centofthesalary (Basic+ DA) will be deducted. However, the government's contribution to this will be 18.5 per cent, earlier it was 14 percent.Therewasnodeduction in OPS. UPS has a provision for alumpsumamountonretirement, which will be calculated as one-tenth of the employee's basic salary and dearness allowance for every sixmonthsof service. In NPS, out of the total amount deposited during service, 60 per cent could be withdrawn in a lump sum on retirement and40per cent couldbe kept for annuity. In UPS and OPS, no investment has to bemade to getapension,whereas,inNPS, 40 per cent of the fund has to be invested forapension. Thebenefitofindexation inpensionisavailableinUPS and OPS. However, this benefit is not available in NPS. Assured minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month on superannuation after a minimumof 10 yearsof service in UPS. There is no suchprovisioninNPS,whereas in OPS there is a provision for 40 per cent pension commutation. Hanging onto misogyny India recently celebrated its 78th Independence Day with much gusto. But a poignant question one must ask here is, are we really independent? Yes, we gained Independence from the British rulers but not from a patriarchy, not from misogyny. And this can be proven by the fact that even after seven decades of Independence women and girls do not feel completely safe. They are not safe on the streets and they are not even safe in their schools or workplaces. A glaring example of this is the R G Kar Hospital rape and murder case. Imagine the hard work the young woman must have put in, right from her school days, to finally be on course of b e c o m - ing a doctor one day. What sacrifices m u s t have been made by her and her family to help her get there. But as fate would have it, during her 36-hour night duty in the hospital, she met with an end no less brutal than anyones worst nightmare. This is just one of the latest gory incident that questions our claims to progress.There are others too.The list is never ending. By Swanandi Bhadade Illicit drug trade global issue: Shah Union Home Minister Amit Shah with (L) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai during the inauguration of Narcotics Control Bureaus zonal unit office in Raipur. (PTI) RAIPUR : UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the illegal narcotics trade is not only a challenge for India but also a global issue, stressing that the country can combat the menace if it pursues with determination and strategy. The money generated through the illicit narcotics trade is also used for anti-national activities like spreading terrorism and Naxalism and weakening the countrys economy, he said. Addressing a meeting at a hotel in Nava Raipur on the scenario of narcotics substances in Chhattisgarh, Shah emphasised the need to adopt four formulas of drug detection, network destruction, culprit detention and addict rehabilitation in achieving success. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to make the country drug-free in 2047 when the 100th year of the countrys independence will be celebrated and gradually the resolution has become the resolution of the 130 crore population. I believe that the resolution of a drug-free India is very important in making a prosperous, safe and glorious India, Shah said. The illicit drug trade is not only a challenge for India but also a global issue, he said, pitching for the need to raise awareness of this menace. This battle is at such a juncture that if we pursue with determination and strategy, we can win this fight, he said, cautioning, several countries have lost their fight against it. The problem of narcotics in India is not just a problem of illicit drugs, but it is also linked to national security. Besides aiming at destroying youth, the money generated through the trade is also used for anti-national activities like spreading terrorism and Naxalism and weakening the countrys economy, he said. It is also our national responsibility to make the country drug-free with a zero-tolerance policy, he said. Shah also expressed concerns over the use of narcotic substances in Chhattisgarh. He said the percentage of sedative use in Chhattisgarh is 1.45 which is more than the national average. Chhattisgarh has reported 4.98 per cent use of ganja which is more than the national average of 2.83 per cent and it is a matter of concern, he said. Chhattisgarh shares its borders with seven States, including Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, from where drug smuggling is done. Chhattisgarh is also close to the Bay of Bengal and the coastal connectivity of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh creates a drug trade route, he said. Drug smugglers are changing the trend and shifting from natural drugs to synthetic ones which cause maximum harm, said Shah. He further stressed the need for focusing on scientific investigation with a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach in dismantling the drug trade network. If a packet of drugs is found in a small shop, then we will have to investigate from where it came and where it was manufactured. To dismantle the background of this entire system, we will have to develop the habit of doing investigations scientifically. We will have to adopt a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, he said. The Union Minister said all rehabilitation and de-addiction centres should be a key part of the fight against the drug menace. The one who cosumes drugs is a victim of the system and the one who deals in drugs is a criminal. Keeping this in mind, we will have to fight against narcotics, he said. The Union Minister underscored the need to strengthen the drug detection strategy and said instances have come to the fore wherein e-commerce platforms, delivery through drones and telehealth services were used in the narcotics business. In the last 10 years, the performance of NCB has improved significantly and the fight against drugs has become stronger. We have succeeded in taking the fight to its logical conclusion, but a lot of work is still left to be done, he added. No artificial tankfor immersion ofShri Krishna idols Staff Reporter : NMC claims to install tanks soon. Says, for now, citizens can immerse idols at Sonegaon, Gandhi Sagar artificial tanks WITH the arrival of festive season, the sale of clay and Plaster of Paris idols is rampant in the city. As the city is gearing up to celebrate the Janmashtami festival on Tuesday, the sale of Lord Krishna idols is also in full swing. However, the immersion of Lord Krishna idols is going to be amatter of huge concern for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)as it is yet to install any artificial tank in the city for the purpose. The civic body is putting emphasis on smooth conduct of theupcoming Ganeshotsav, but it seems to have no plans forJanmashtami, when thousands of small Shri Krishna idols will beimmersed in various water bodies. On one hand, NMC is appealing to citizens to use artificial tanksfor immersion of Ganesh idols during visarjan, on the other handthe civic body has yet to set up artificial tanks in city before theJanmashtami festival. We have artificial tanks in Gandhi Sagarlake premises and Sonegaon lake as well. People can immerseidols in these tanks and we will installed more artificial tanks soon,Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Commissioner, Solid Waste Deputy Commissioner, SolidWaste Department told The Hitavada. Normally, citizens place the Lord Krishna idols after Janmashthami near water bodies due to ban on idol immersion in water bodies and absence of adequate artificial tanks in different parts of the city.This year also NMC may have no plans to install artificial tanks for this festival as the whole machinery is busy in arrangements of upcoming Ganesh festival. To avoid idol immersion in lakes of the city, NMC barricaded the water bodies with tin shades. Some lakes also have artificial tanks but there is no water available for immersion so far. The civic body should fill the tanks before the festival and install artificial tanks at different parts of the city for Lord Krishna idol immersion. ONEROUS DEMAND FOR BAIL By ADV. R. S. AGRAWAL : The question for consideration, which arose before the Court was as to whether the petitioner was entitled to the relief of treating the personal bond and one set of sureties already furnished as holding good for the other bail orders also? I N THE Judgment of the case- Girish Gandhi v.The State of Uttar Pradesh and Others, delivered on August 22, 2024, Justice Bhushan R. Gavai and Justice K.V.Viswanathan, at the Supreme Court, have dealt with problems arising from onerous conditions being imposed by trial courts and High Courts while granting bail, and quite tersely stated that bail attached with onerous conditions is no bail. This writ petition was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeking an appropriate writ/direction to the effect that the personal bonds and sureties executed by the petitioner in connection with FIR of January 21, 2021 registered at the Police Station Sadar, District Gurugram, shall hold good for 11 other bail orders passed in his favour from the Courts of different States. The question for consideration, which arose before the Court was as to whether the petitioner was entitled to the relief of treating the personal bond and one set of sureties already furnished as holding good for the other bail orders also? Very broadly, the prosecution case is that the company with which the petitioner was concerned, namely, White Blue Retail Pvt. Ltd. allowed the use of its trade name through franchisee agreement for opening of Grocery Shops. The Company also took the franchisee amounts and refundable security. The gist of the allegation is that the Company, which was to give space to open store on rent in some cases and made other promises, failed to deliver those. Totally, 13 FIRs came to be registered against the petitioner under various sections-406, 420 and 506 of IPC. The petitioner had submitted that he had already furnished personal bail bonds with one surety of Rs 50,000/- in the Trial Court in respect of FIR No.00302021 of 2021 registered at the Police Station Sadar, Gurugram. The petitioner also submitted that he had fulfilled conditions of bail with respect to the order passed by the Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thalassery, Kerala in FIR No. 53/2020 registered at the Police Station, Pinarayi, Kerala. The petitioners contention has been that that he was the main bread earner of the family. He has claimed that he was merely working in the Company as In-charge (Accounts), though this was disputed by the prosecution. The claim of some of the complainants in some of the FIRs is that he was the Director of the Company. The Court was not interested in resolving that issue in this case. The petitioner had further contended that his wife was physically handicapped and was a teacher in a private school and barely earns enough to eke out a living for herself and their son. Petitioner has also stated on oath that he has an aged mother to take care of. The main plea of the petitioner was that he was not in a position to furnish separate sureties, as directed in the remaining 11 bail orders. In view of that he sought for treating the sureties already furnished in two cases in such a manner as to enure to the benefit of all the other 11 cases. On April 8, 2024, the Supreme Court passed the order, issuing notice, in response to the petitioners prayer for other 11 bail orders. A perusal of the chart revealed that while in the State of Uttar Pradesh there are 6 FIRs with other two in Haryana, one in Punjab, two in Rajasthan and one in Uttarakhand and also one FIR in Kerala. According to the SC, it is undisputed that that in the 13 matters the petitioners stand enlarged on bail. The bail orders have become final and have not been challenged by the prosecution. In two of cases at Sadar in Gurugram in Haryana and Pinrayi in Kerala, sureties already stand furnished. Inspite of obtaining bail in 13 cases, the situation today is that the petitioner was unable to furnish sureties. As has been mentioned earlier, the cases against the petitioner are in six States. Insofar as the case in Kerala is concerned, he has already furnished sureties and there is only case in that State. In Haryana, in one case he hasfurnished sureties and in the case hehas been ordered is Fixed DepositReceipt for a sum of Rs one lakh. TheSupreme Court is not inclined to interfere with this order. In remaining States U.P., Rajasthan, Punjab andUttarakhand, even though in the casesbail has been ordered, the petitioner isstill in custody because he is unable tofurnish sureties. The Oxford Dictionary defines surety as a person who takes responsibility for anothers obligation. AdvancedLaw Lexicon by P. Ramnatha Aiyar, 3rdEdition 2005 defines surety to meanthe bail that undertakes for another manin a criminal case. After recalling the memorable wordsof Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer in the judgment of the case Motiram and Othersv. State of Madhya Pradesh (1978)4SCC 47 para 33, the SC proposed torelieve the petitioner from the directionto produce a local surety. Keeping the principles discussed inmind, the SC directed that for the FIRspending in each of the States of UttarPradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab andUttarakhand, in each State, the petitioner will furnish his personal bond forRs 50,000/- and furnish two suretieswho shall execute the bond for Rs30,000/- each, which shall hold good forall FIRs in the concerned State, for thecases mentioned in the chart. The sameset of sureties is permitted to stand assurety in all the States. According to the Court this directionwill meet the ends of justice and will beproportionate and reasonable. The Supreme Court has stated thatthis condition will supersede the condition imposed in the respective bail orders. The petitioner may pursue independent proceedings with regard to fourcases, specifically mentioned by theSupreme Court in this judgment withFIR numbers related to those cases. TheSupreme Court has allowed the writ petition in terms of its directions. PM Modis appeal for peace BY SUSHIL KUTTY : SO India is a big country with abig influence on the Russian economy and Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy wants India and Indians to change their attitude towards Russia. For then, there will be peace as Russian President Vladimir Putin will then end the war. Apparently, Zelenskyy doesnt like Modis crude oil deals with President Vladimir Putin. President Zelenskyy does not like Indiasrecord breaking deals for oil from Russia. Indias energy purchases from Russia figured in the discussions and Zelenskiy was told about the energy market scenario and the need for prices to remain reasonable and stable. Prime Minister Narendra Modis Ukraine visit came a month after he went to Moscow and lots of people were upset when he and Putin shared a warm embrace. Also, the same day a number of Ukrainian targets were hit by Russian strikes including a childrens hospital in Kyiv. To cap it all, India overtook China as the biggest importer of Russian crude oil on that very day. Also, to date, India hasnt condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are questions galore: Does India favour Russia over Ukraine? Did Modi find it difficult to convince President Zelenskyy that India was non-aligned? Did Prime Minister Modi envisage a personal role for himself in the pursuit of peace. Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit was historic as he was the first Indian Prime Minister since 1992 to visit Ukraine. Modi started his tour of two countries from Poland, from where he took a special train to Kyiv, where he met members of the Indian community and was taken to a multimedia exposition on children who had lost their lives in the ongoing RussiaUkraine War. President Zelenskyy was by Modis side when Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed a soft toy at the shrine to the children killed in the war so far. Perhaps Ukraine did not want Modi to forget, or forgive. Modi also met Ukrainian students studying Hindi in Kyiv and he paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi by bowing to a statue of Bapu in Kyiv. Modi apparently told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he will personally intervene to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia. Of course, Modi also embraced Zelenskyy. The question coalesces to will Russian PresidentVladimir Putin give Modi the chance to broker peace? Diplomacy is not the break one can expect from PresidentVlaidmir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who isnt a Modi fan like President Vladimir Putin is. Modis warm hug to Putin in July was criticised by Zelenskyy, who at the time was swearing vengeance on Moscow for a series of deadly Russian strikes on Ukrainian targets, including one on Kyivs biggest childrens hospital. Modi has told President Putin a couple of times that todays era was of no wars and Putin should embrace peace; that the battlefield is no place for friends. Both sides will have to sit together and look for ways to come out of this crisis, Modi told Zelenskiy on Friday. Prime Minister Modi was also the first international leader to visit since Ukrainian forces crossed into Russias Kursk region. Ukraine grabbed more than 1,250 sq km of Russian territory and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expects Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to talk peace. Friday, the optics from Kyiv werent all that encouraging for brokering peace; the smiles were few and far between. The awkward hug between the two leaders went unnoticed by the Indian contingent as also the diplomatic tightrope for both Modi and Zelenskyy following recent happenings on the battlefield. The 40-killed in Russian strikes onUkraine on the day Modi hugged Putinin Moscow. The strike on the OkhmatdytChildrens Hospital in Kyiv. On Friday, Modi said he was overwhelmed with grief when he placeda soft toy at the shrine for the children. Also, an image of Modi, with hisarm around Zelenskyys shoulder, foundits way to Modis social media with themessage that his heart went out to thefamilies of the children killed in theRussian strike. It was after this that Modi offered to personally initiate peacetalks between Russia and Ukraine. Asexpected Indian media reacted withModis dialogue and diplomacy wouldend the fighting. On August 23, Prime Minister Modi and President Zelenskyy discussedUkraines latest incursion into Russianterritory. The exact conversation is not available, but India was at the Ukraineled peace summit in Switzerland in Junethis year, where Russia was not there. In Kyiv on Friday, Zelenskyy and Modi gave a joint call for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. Theworld has appreciated Prime MinisterNarendra Modis offer to mediate andbring about permanent peace betweenRussia and Ukraine. Will Modi get thechance he craves for? Shah for expansion of co-operatives in Cgarh Staff Reporter : RAIPUR, UNION Home Minister and Minister of Co-operation Amit Shah chaired a review meeting regarding expansion of cooperatives in State at Hotel MayFair Lake Resort in new capital city Nava Raipur Atal Nagar of Chhattisgarh on Sunday. Amit Shah also launched Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) in the 33 districts to work as Water Committees in their respective districts. Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Vishnu Deo Sai, Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Arun Sao, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Co-operation Dr Ashish Kumar Bhutani, BJP State President Kiran Singh Deo, BJP leader Pawan Sai and others were present in the meeting. In his address at the Co-operative Review Meeting, Union Minister of Co-operation Shah said that a co-operative society is being formed in every panchayat of the country to realize the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modis dream of Sahkar Se Samriddhi. He said that the Chhattisgarh government should come up with a new public dairy scheme with a focus on tribal development. He said that the scheme should envisage PACS to work like a multi-purpose unit also catering as dairy and fisheries cooperative institutions. Shah further said that all 2058 PACS of Chhattisgarh have adopted the Model Bye-Laws. He said that the National Cooperative Database should be used to find the dry area in Chhattisgarh which will help in the expansion of co-operatives. He stressed that with computerization, every PACS should be made a Common Service Center (CSC) so that the benefits of various activities done by PACS can reach the rural people. Amit Shah said that there should be a contract between NCCF, NAFED and the state for ethanol production so that farmers can be encouraged towards maize cultivation. He said that the cost in maize cultivation is also low and all the maize of the farmers will be purchased by the central government at the Minimum Support Price. Shah said that 100% registration should be done by PACS on NAFED and NCCF portals for the sale of farmers agricultural produce. Shah said that it should be mandatory for every trader, PACS and co-operative society of every market to open an account in the District Cooperative Central Bank. Chhattisgarh has 4 co-operative sugar mills out of which only one mill has an ethanol production plant. Shah said that multi-feed ethanol production plants should be set up in the remaining 3 co-operative sugar mills within 6 months so that ethanol can be produced from maize and sugarcane. He said that the central government will help in this regard. He said that there is a need to promote the cultivation of maize and pulses in Chhattisgarh and for this the state agriculture department should take initiative. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah returned to Delhi from Raipur by a special plane on Sunday afternoon. He left Swami Vivekananda Airport Raipur by the special plane at around 3.51 pm. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, Food Minister Dayaldas Baghel, Industry Minister Lakhanlal Dewangan, Health Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, Revenue Minister Tankram Verma, Raipur MP Brijmohan Agrawal, MLAs Guru Khushwant Saheb, Anuj Sharma, Rajesh Munat, Dharamlal Kaushik, Amar Agrawal, Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Director General of Police Ashok Juneja, other public representatives and senior officers gave farewell to Union Home Minister Shah at Swami Vivekananda Airport Raipur. He was on a three-day visit to Chhattisgarh. STATES FIRST NuclearMedicine Deptt in GMCHLikely to start functioning within 15 days Staff Reporter : NAGPURS Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) is all set to become the first in the State to house a Nuclear Medicine Department. One may usually find this department in private set-ups. GMCH will be the first Government-run entity where this important department has occupied space. The department is ready with infrastructure. The process for appointment of staff too has been completed. Now, it is awaiting its official inauguration. The Nuclear Medicine Department will function at the ground floor of Super Specialty Hospital (SSH), GMCH. The hospital had to wait for over seven years to get this department. In the recent past, Dr Raj Gajbhiye, Dean, GMCH, followed up this issue with the Government and finally got it approved. Deputy Chief Minister and Guardian Minister of Nagpur district Devendra Fadnavis took a lead in this matter and sanctioned over Rs 9.5 crore from the District Planning Committee funds. Dr Gajbhiye told The Hitavada, This department will change the thereapeutic and diagnostic modalities. There will be a marked improvement in healthcare treatment in GMCH.There was a time when patients have to go to Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru etc. Now we have all treatment facilities in Nagpur. As a Dean I am feeling very happy for this particular development. Dr Gajbhiye pointed out, The nuclear medicine department will bring a revolutionary change to the GMCH. The patients suffering from heart and cancer ailments along with problems of endocrinology, thyroid, kidney, neuro will be the major beneficiaries. We have developed an infrastructure while the independent staff and other manpower has been outsourced. The agency has taken all responsibility. Once the department is inaugurated, the healthcare scenario of Central India will be changed. Explaining about Nuclear Medicine, Dr Gajbhiye said, Specially designed cameras will create images of the inside of the body. These images can help doctors see how organs or tissue are functioning, or to target and destroy damaged or diseased organs or tissue. Nuclear medicine scans can be used to diagnose tumors, infections, organ enlargement, blood circulation, heart problems, brain problems, breast cancer etc. It is useful in treating diseases like cancer. Nuclear Medicine can notice the spread of this dreaded disease after which doctors can plan treatment modalities. The two important imaging modalities Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT ) and Positron EmissionTomography (PET) scans are parts of Nuclear Medicine. Unified Pension Scheme Sir The Central Government has announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for its employees with effect from 1.4.2025. The UPS has immense benefits for the employees. Theres an assured pension amount for the employees unlike the New Pension Scheme (NPS).Theres no need for employees to contribute towards pension. The pension amount under UPS will increase twice every year when the Dearness Allowance (DA) is sanctioned to the employees/pensioners. The pension amount will also increase when the pay commission revises the pay of the employees/pensioners once in ten years. A minimum of Rs 10000 is guaranteed under the UPS for employees who have put in a minimum of ten years in government service. Family pension (60% of the pension) is also guaranteed under the UPS. A lumpsum superannuation payout in addition to gratuity benefits at the time of retirement has been sanctioned under the UPS. This scheme is more like the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Some states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have reintroduced the OPS for its employees replacing the NPS. Its time the states like Tamil Nadu also adopted the assured pension scheme to its employees as demanded by the employees unions. S.Sankaranarayanan unpardonable sin: PM Guilty in should not be spared JALGAON : PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday termed crimes against women an unpardonable sin, adding the guilty should not be spared. Modis strong remarks follow protests against the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkatas RG Kar Hospital and the sexual abuse of two four-year-old school girls in Badlapur near Mumbai. Speaking at the Lakhpati Didi Sammelan in north Maharashtras Jalgaon, Modi said the safety of women should be a priority. The safety of mothers, sisters, and daughters is the countrys priority. I have repeatedly raised this issue from the Red Fort. Be it any state of the country, I understand the pain and anger of my sisters and daughters, he said. Modi said that he would tell every political party and state Government that crime against women is an unpardonable sin. Whoever is guilty should not be spared, he added. Those helping the perpetrators of crimes against women should not be spared. Be it a hospital, school, Government or police station, at whatever level negligence occurs, everyone should be held accountable. The message should go from top to bottom. This sin is unpardonable. Governments will come and go, but protecting life and womens dignity is a big responsibility of all of us, both as a society and as a Government, Modi said. Modi said his Government has done more for women in the last ten years than all the previous regimes since Independence. Till 2014, less than Rs 25,000 crore loans were given to women self-help groups but in the last 10 years, Rs 9 lakh crore help was given, Modi said, referring to the Governments Sakhi Mandal programme. Modi, who interacted with Lakhpati Didis at Jalgaon, released the Rs 2,500 crore revolving fund benefiting 48 lakh members of 4.3 lakh self-help groups. The Lakhpati Didi scheme is not only about boosting the income of women, but also about empowering future generations, Modi said. You must have heard that India is going to become the third-largest economy in the world. Women play a massive role in it. However, it was not the case a couple of years ago, Modi said. Women guarantee the prosperity of every home and every family. However, there was no one to guarantee help for the women, he said. Women did not have property in their name, and if they had to take a loan from a bank, they could not avail it, he said. In such a situation, they were not able to build their own small business, he added. Therefore, I, your son and brother, resolved to ease your lives. We took decisions in the interest of women year after year, Modi said. He said that of the 3 crore new houses that will be constructed under the Governments housing scheme, most will be allotted to women. Modi said women were the major contributors when Jan Dhan accounts were opened. The Mudra scheme offered loans to people without any guarantee, and 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of this scheme turned out to be women. Some people opposed this scheme, citing risk factors and claimed it might become (bad) debt. But I trusted the women and their honesty. Many have repaid their loans, he said. Now, the upper limit for Mudra loan, offered to non-corporate, non-farm and small and micro enterprises, has been increased to Rs 20 lakh, the PM said. When I visited you during the Lok Sabha elections, I promised we would make three crore sisters Lakhpati Didi. This means women who work in self-help groups and have an annual income of more than one lakh rupees, he said. In the last ten years, one crore Lakhpati Didis were made, and in just two months, 11 lakh more Lakhpati Didi were added, he said. Out of the newly-added 11 lakh more Lakhpati Didis, one lakh are from Maharashtra, he said. Modi also said Maharashtra needs the BJP-led Mahayuti Government to continue for years to come to ensure the States stability and prosperity. Maharashtra is the shining star of a developed India. The future of the State lies in more investment and job growth, he said. Modi expressed his anguish over the Nepal bus accident in which 14 persons from Jalgaon district were killed. We sent our minister Raksha Khadse to Nepal, Modi said. Modi recalled his recent visit to Poland and the respect people there have for the people of Maharashtra. The PM said that during World War II, the Kolhapur settlement housed Polish refugees, including women and children, and the Polish people respect the people of Maharashtra for this gesture. This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week. Up Mandan is opening the school year on Wednesday with a shiny new $94 million high school. It's been in the works since 2021 after city voters approved construction of a high school and Lakewood Elementary, which opened last fall. The new high school is modern and impressive, and it's sure to be a hit with both students and staff. And there is room for growth -- the new school is built to accommodate up to 1,400 students, about 200 more than are enrolled this year. Mandan has needed a new high school for a long time due to the deterioration of the old one, and its inconvenient location. Voters saw the need, and the dream has finally come to fruition. Furthering public education -- in any manner -- is always a positive. Down Bismarck Public Schools is having some hiring challenges as the new academic year begins. It's not a new phenomenon, and the district certainly isn't alone. But it's having an impact on at least one program. The district cut the fourth-grade orchestra program for this school year due to unexpected openings of two positions at the end of last school year. Superintendent Jeff Fastnacht says the district filled one of the positions but couldn't fill the other, so it cut the program so parents didn't needlessly acquire instruments and equipment. In the meantime, the district will invest more resources in its fifth grade and middle school orchestra programs. And Fastnacht says the district next year will see if it can find someone to fill the fourth grade orchestra position. Up Large street projects are almost always a pain for motorists and people who live in the area. But once they're done, they're usually appreciated. Crews are about two months away from wrapping up the $20 million seasonlong reconstruction of South Washington Street and Burleigh Avenue in Bismarck. It includes a new roundabout at that intersection. Main earthwork operations are mostly done. Underground piping work is scheduled to be completed by early September. And the roundabout should be ready for traffic by late October. Knife River Corp. spokesperson Tony Spilde says "It's all coming together and will be a nice upgrade." Down The fall from grace continues for former Republican state Sen. Ray Holmberg of Grand Forks. He served for more than 45 years and was chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. But he resigned from the Legislature in April 2022 while under scrutiny, and he ultimately pleaded guilty to a child sex tourism charge. Former U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon calls it arguably the most significant political scandal in North Dakota history. And now -- the Grand Forks Herald, the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce, the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, and the North Dakota Library Association have all rescinded awards and honors they previously bestowed on Holmberg. Separately, the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board voted unanimously Friday to permanently revoke Holmbergs teaching license, though he hasnt taught students in many years. Q: Why does Chinese culture seem to have so little influence on western countries? A: The influence of Chinese culture is so large people take it for granted. If one visits any palaces in Europe, say the Palace of Versailles, one cannot escape seeing the beautiful artifacts of china. China is named China because, for a long time in history, only China can produce china. Every household has some china dishes now. Tea has been the main beverage that originated in China. American Independence began from the Boston protest of tax on tea imported from China. Our books are printed on paper. China invented paper and printing. Can any country be without books and libraries? China has had a great impact on Human progress and we still living on those achievements. Niels Bohr led the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics. The scientists were puzzled about how to comprehend Quantum mechanics. Niels Bohr solved the problem because Niels Bohr had his philosophy influenced by Taoism. The statue of Bohr in front of Copenhagen University has the inscription of the Yin-Yang Taoist icon. Chinese foods are part of American culture. Tofu is a Chinese invention. When it rains outside, New Yorkers would like to order a Chicken Noodle from a nearby Chinese Restaurant and have a cup of tea, which is Chinese culture. Jewish Americans would like to go to Chinese restaurants at Christmas. Our world is connected by trade depending on shipping by sea. All the ships are built with separate sealed compartments, an invention of China. All the cargo ships use real control, a Chinese invention. Ship navigation using the compass, a Chinese invention. The only difference in Chinese influence is that China did not invent Intellectual Property Rights for their inventions of paper, printing, tofu, the compass, and shipbuilding. We enjoy the influence of Chinese Culture without feeling its existence. Five Free and Cheap Family Things To Do in Middle Tennessee In a significant move, the Federal Government of Nigeria has recently approved the dismissal of workers who secured employment using fake degrees from institutions in Benin and Togo. This action, while necessary to maintain the integrity of the nations workforce, serves as a poignant reminder of a time when academic qualifications from certain institutions in India were not recognized in Nigeria. The embarrassment and disappointment experienced by those who had invested time and money in such unrecognized degrees should serve as a lesson to current and prospective students. Without a doubt, the allure of foreign degrees is undeniable. For many Nigerians, the hope of obtaining an international education, especially from neighboring countries like Benin and Togo, appears to be a fast track to better job prospects and social standing. However, the recent crackdown on fake certificates has exposed a harsh reality: not all degrees are created equal. Years ago, Nigerians who pursued academic qualifications from various institutions in India faced a similar predicament. Upon their return, many found their degrees were not recognized by Nigerian employers or professional bodies. The result? A waste of resources, time, and, perhaps most damagingly, a tarnished reputation. The situation today is no different. Workers who used fake degrees from Benin and Togo are now facing the consequences, with their jobs and careers hanging in the balance. This ongoing issue highlights the importance of due diligence when pursuing educational qualifications. It is not enough to simply earn a degree; Nigerians must ensure that the institutions they attend are accredited and that their qualifications will be recognized and respected at home. The financial investment in education is significant, and the repercussions of obtaining an unrecognized or fake degree can be devastating, both professionally and personally. The embarrassment that comes with being exposed for holding a fake or unrecognized degree cannot be understated. It is not just the loss of a job; it is the loss of trust, credibility, and the opportunities that come with a solid educational background. In todays competitive job market, where qualifications can make or break a career, the importance of obtaining a legitimate, recognized degree cannot be overstated. Nigerians must learn from the past and exercise caution in their educational pursuits. Before enrolling in a foreign institution, prospective students should verify the schools accreditation status and confirm that its degrees are recognized by relevant authorities in Nigeria. This due diligence is crucial, especially considering the substantial amounts of money and time invested in obtaining these qualifications. In fact, the Federal Governments decision serves as a warning to all Nigerians. This is as the pursuit of education is noble, and given the fact that it must be done with integrity and foresight. The reason for the foregoing view cannot be farfetched as the cost of a fake or unrecognized degree is too high to bear, and the repercussions can last a lifetime. As the adage goes, To Be Forewarned Is forearmed. Let this serve as a reminder to all, fake degrees lead to real consequences. Expectedly, the news of job terminations that arose therefrom within Nigeria's federal government has sparked heated debates across the nation. While some view these actions as harsh and inconsiderate, it is crucial to understand the broader implications of employing individuals with fake degrees in the public sector. The consequences of such fraud go beyond individual careers; they undermine the quality of production and services in workplaces and, more importantly, and put those who have earned their degrees legitimately at disadvantage. Not only that, fake degrees are not just a personal deception; they are a societal threat. When individuals secure positions using fraudulent qualifications, they bring a lack of competence that can severely impact the quality of work within their respective fields. Whether in education, healthcare, engineering, or any other sector, the presence of under qualified personnel can lead to disastrous outcomes. For instance, a doctor with a fake medical degree could jeopardize lives, while an engineer without proper credentials could contribute to infrastructure failures. In a similar vein, quality production and service delivery hinge on the expertise and competence of the workforce. When individuals with fake degrees infiltrate the system, they diminish the overall efficiency and productivity of the workplace. This not only hampers organizational growth but also undermines the nations development as a whole. In fact, one of the most glaring injustices of employing individuals with fake degrees is the unfairness it creates for those who have genuinely earned their qualifications. The journey to obtaining a degree is often long, demanding, and costly. Students and professionals who have invested their time, resources, and effort into gaining valid degrees deserve to compete on a level playing field. Allowing those with fraudulent credentials to occupy positions of responsibility is a slap in the face to hardworking individuals who have earned their qualifications through legitimate means. Moreover, retaining individuals with fake degrees in the workforce sends a dangerous message that dishonesty and cutting corners are acceptable paths to success. This erodes the moral fabric of society and encourages a culture of deceit, which can have far-reaching consequences beyond the workplace. The Nigerian governments decision to terminate the employment of those found with fake degrees should not be viewed as an act of inconsideration or wickedness. Rather, it is a necessary measure to protect the integrity of the workforce and ensure that public service is delivered by competent and qualified individuals. By taking a firm stance against academic fraud, the government is upholding the value of education and setting a standard that competence, not deception, should be the foundation of employment. It is important to note that the governments actions are also in the interest of national development. A nation can only progress when its public servants are genuinely qualified to perform their duties. The decision to remove individuals with fake degrees from the workforce is a step towards building a more competent, efficient, and trustworthy public service. The termination of jobs over fake degrees is a necessary action that should be understood in the context of maintaining the integrity and quality of Nigerias workforce. While it may seem harsh to those affected, it is a fair and just move that protects the rights of individuals with valid degrees and ensures that public service is delivered by those who are truly qualified. The governments responsibility is to ensure that every public servant is competent and that the nations development is not hindered by fraud. In this light, those relieved of their jobs should not see the government as inconsiderate, but rather as upholding the principles of fairness, competence, and national integrity. The Federal Government has confirmed that only five universities in Benin Republic and three in Togo are officially accredited to offer degree programmes. It is understood that students who graduated from these schools are exempted from any punitive actions. The Education Minister, Prof. Mamman Tahir, announced this on Channels Televisions Sunday Politics. In Togo, the three accredited universities approved by the Nigerian government are: Universite de Lome, Universite de Kara and Catholic University of West Africa. In the Benin Republic, the five accredited public universities are: Universite dAbomey-Calavi, Universite de Parakou, Universite Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingenierie et Mathematiques, Universite Nationale dAgriculture and Universite Africaine de Developpement Cooperatif. These universities are the only ones recognized by the Federal Government for Nigerian students. Recall that the Federal Government on Friday approved recommendations to sack workers in the public and private sectors who used fake certificates from unaccredited universities in Benin Republic and Togo to get jobs. Prof. Mamman disclosed that over 22,500 Nigerians obtained fake certificates from these countries between 2019 and 2023. Out of these, over 21,600 came from unaccredited universities in Benin Republic, and about 1,105 from unaccredited universities in Togo. He said, From all indications, the figure is higher than what we have already. This is because some of the people choose not to participate in the mandatory NYSC scheme and other engagements that would have enabled us to harvest their data. Sadly, these people have used the fake certificates to apply and secure job opportunities in government and private organizations with the mindset that they schooled abroad, while people who studied day and night are out there looking for job opportunities. Even within the countries, Benin and Togo, these universities are not accredited to offer degree programmes. I dont know how Nigerians chose to go to unaccredited institutions abroad to study. Our investigations also indicated that many of the people never even attended the school physically. Delhis brand of politics being played out CM is co-operating line | The question still stands and that is whether Imphal has the spunk and the conviction to question why the Centre has still now not bothered to inform the State Government on the status of the SoO pact ? And this question has come not from any exercise of shooting in the dark or from the realm of speculation but from the very fact that it took none less than the Chief Minister himself to admit that there has been no official information from the Centre on the status of the SoO pact. Something is just not right with the politics of Delhi and the reason why the admission of the Chief Minister rankles follows from the fact that while there has been no official statement on whether the pact has been extended or not, after its expiry on February 29 this year, the Chief Minister himself admitted on the floor of the Assembly that the SoO pact still stands in response to a query from Congress MLA K Ranjit on August 8 this year. Common sense says that if a pact is not extended or renewed then its validity has expired, but it is more than obvious that this universal understanding of validity does not extend to the Kuki militants and this is where it becomes obvious that Delhi may just be more than willing to strangle Manipur with the hands of geo-politics. This is not the time for Imphal to pussy foot the issue and raise its stand in clear cut terms before Delhi. And as things stand now, Manipur is being given to understand that the State Government has not been kept posted on the status of the SoO pact and this is where one can see primacy being given to the push and pulls of geo-politics over the fate and continued existence of a State of the Indian Union. Not the first time that The Sangai Express has commented on Delhi giving primacy to the need of geo-politics over a State of the Union and it is politics of this kind which will only further give more credence to the widely held belief of alienating the North East and its people. Imphal need to rise to the occasion and educate the high browed leaders of New Delhi that the SoO pact is an agreement involving the Centre, the State Government and the Kuki armed groups. Any move to sideline the State Government from the tripartite agreement cannot and should not be taken lying down and what is needed for Imphal is to have more spunk and the ability to speak out where it stands. If Delhi is under the impression that the SoO pact should continue, then let it say so openly and not try to hoodwink Manipur with the politics of silence and indifference. That the people can see through such politics should be plain to everyone. This is where it also becomes extremely crucial for Imphal to demonstrate that it can rise to the occasion and acknowledge that since May 3, 2023, Delhi has not done anything substantive to address the issue in Manipur. It is time for the State BJP leadership to also question themselves on why the Prime Minister has till date refused to meet anyone from Manipur. With what face can I meet the Prime Minister, after the loss in the Lok Sabha elections, is nothing but a line that could have come only from refusing to accept the reality. The Lok Sabha election results came out on June 4, 2024 and by then Manipur had been in flames since May 3, 2023 and the Prime Minister Office could have granted an audience to the political leaders of Manipur anytime before the election results were announced. If the Centre had demonstrated it was concerned with the violence in Manipur, then who knows, the Lok Sabha results here could have been very different with the BJP even in a position to field its own candidate in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency. Fifteen months is 450 days of violence and like everyone else in Manipur, The Sangai Express had kept quiet for months hoping that something substantive would come from New Delhi, but the last 450 days have more than made it clear that Delhi is more concerned with its own brand of politics and in the process totally sideline the State Government on issues as crucial as keeping it updated on the status of SoO. For days, even the position of the Chief Minister vis-a-vis the Unified Command, was kept under a veil of confusion and it was only when the official intimation from the Chief Ministers office to the Security Advisor and the DGP on the militants build up at Jiribam, went unacknowledged that things fell into place. This is certainly not the way to deal with a crisis which has dragged on for over 15 months and to repeat a line, What did the Union Home Minister mean when he said the Chief Minister is cooperating on the floor of Parliament some time back ? The BJP is planning to further intensify its agitation over the R G Kar rape and murder case in the state. The BJPs state president, Sukanta Majumdar, on Sunday announced a continuous series of protests pressing for the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Speaking at the site of the partys ongoing protest at Shyambazar, Mr Majumdar, announced several programmes to press the demand. Mr Majumdar called for lighting candles at home on Monday as a form of protest. He further stated: We support every protest against this incident. If the protesters are oppressed, we will stand by them with ambulances. From 28 August, there will be a sit-in protest at Esplanade. If the police do not grant permission, we will go to court. The path to the court is open. He also expressed anger against the State Womens Commission, saying: The State Womens Commission sleeps all year long. It only wakes up if a central delegation comes. The doors of the sleeping Womens Commissions office will be locked by ou Womens Morcha wing leadership. Primarily, the BJPs womens brigade will lead the movement. Mr Majumdar urged the partys female members to join the protests with at least one woman companion each. On 29 August, the BJP has planned a district-wide programme to lay siege to the District Magistrates offices. The siege will start at 12 p.m. that day. After this, on 2 September, BJP workers across the state will hold a one-day sit-in protest in every block. On 4 September, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m, the BJP will block roads in every mandal. Mr Majumdar said: Not a single vehicle will be allowed to move on that day. Bengal will be brought to a standstill for one hour. BJP workers will only cooperate in essential services. Advertisement Climate change is increasingly impacting the world and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps us to make more up-to-date predictions about changes in the environment, said experts who took part in an international conference on the role of AI to combat global climate change. The seminar was organised by the Future for Nature Foundation and New Bengal Consulting (NBS). Ms Swati Nandi Chakraborty, noted environment scientist and president of the Future for Nature Foundation said: AI will allow us to take up mitigation efforts earlier and can save more lives and livlihoods. Mr Debashis Sen, former chairman of HIDCO and founder CEO of NBS, said combining AI with satellite imagery provides powerful tools for tracking deforestation as well. This capability is crucial for conserving forests and reducing carbon emissions from deforestation, thereby protecting vital ecosystems. AI also plays an important role in climate research by processing large datasets and runing complex simulations, he said, emphasising AIs ability to process vast amounts of data and provide insights in transforming our approach to addressing climate challenges. The speakers further said that to meet the urgent need to address climate change, AI stands out as a transformative force. By harnessing its potential, significant steps can be taken to reduce emissions, optimise resource use and protect the planet earth for future generations. Through real-time monitoring and optimisation of industrial processes, AI helps industries reduce their carbon footprints. The experts who took part in the international seminar included Prof Asutosh Ghosh, vice chancellor RRGU, Prof Anupam Basu, pro vice chancellor SNU, Prof Sarbani Roy, of the department of computer science and engineering, Ja davpur University, Prof Ramit Debnath, University of Ca mbridge, Prof Biplab Paul, IIT, Kharagpur among others. Advertisement In addition to the perils of old dilapidated structures, the danger posed by old mobile towers has given the Kolkata Municipal Corporation cause to look for solutions. The civic body is considering plans to pull down non-functional mobile towers on rooftops that are posing threats to the residents in the surrounding area. According to mayor Firhad Hakim, earlier, several telecom service providers installed mobile towers on rooftops paying some processing fees to the KMC. The companies were responsible for the maintenance of the mobile towers. However, later, some of the companies wrapped up their business in the city and the towers were left abandoned and in poor condition. Mayor Hakim, speaking during the weekly Talk To Mayor programme, said the KMC is considering holding a meeting with the telecom operators and seeking the list of defunct mobile towers in each ward of the municipal corporation. He said this in response to a caller who complained abo ut bits falling from the mo bile tower on a high rise posing a threat to public safety. I will soon hold a meeting with the telecom service providers and ask for the list of such defunct mobile towers in every ward. Once received, the Building Department will verify the list and ask the building owners to take up the dismantling of the dangerous towers. In cases where owners are not willing to dismantle the dangerous mobile towers, the KMC would make arrangements to pull those down and sell the material as scrap. Advertisement The visit of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India in end June this year raised the Teesta water sharing issue again in public domain with strong opposition from the Government of West Bengal for various reasons. The Centre is willing to send a technical team to visit Bangladesh to discuss conservation and management of Teesta river, it was reported. The West Bengal Government is of the view that so far, water sharing with Bangladesh has changed the Gangas morphology and affected lakhs of people in West Bengal owing to river erosion, and similar consequences are expected in the Teesta case as well. Teesta is one of the 54 rivers on the India Bangladesh border. Of these, there is already a water sharing agreement (1996-2026) on the Ganga river. The sharing of water on other important rivers such as Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar in West Bengal, and Feni, Manu, Muhurt, Khowel, Gumti in Tripura is yet to be decided for various reasons. The origin of Teesta river can be traced in Sikkim. The river flows through Jalpaiguri town in West Bengal and joins the Brahmaputra river at Teestamukh in Bangladesh. The drainage area of Teesta is about 12,000 sq km, of which 89 per cent lies in Indian territory. There are hydroelectric projects in Sikkim. Thus there is no consumptive use of water and no effect on monsoon flows. Teesta Barrage, 90 km upstream of the Indo-Bangladesh border at Gajoldoba in Jalpaiguri, was constructed by West Bengal while Bangladesh has constructed the Doani/Dalia barrage downstream, 15 km from the international boarder. Advertisement However, during the period from November to April, shortage of water for irrigation occurs. In July 1983, India and Bangladesh reached an understanding for ad hoc sharing of Teesta water flows during the dry season: an allocation of 39 per cent for India, an allocation of 36 per cent for Bangladesh and the remaining 25 per cent unallocated. However, no agreement has been reached. Between the two countries past discussions for reaching an agreement on the interim sharing of Teesta river were on the following lines: (1) during lean season, Teesta river flow should be measured jointly at three locations i.e. at Indian barrage at Gajoldoba, at Bangladesh barrage at Dalia, and downstream at Kunia, Bangladesh; (2) after the collection of data the 90 per cent dependable flow data in the Teesta river should be worked out; (3) after deduction of environmental flow and 450 cusec for its use, India should release water at Gajoldoba barrage in such a way that 50 per cent of the water available at Gajoldoba should go to Dalia barrage in Bangladesh. This arran gement was considered as a feasible proposition because of geological conditions which cause about 25 per cent water regeneration between Gajoldoba barrage (India) and Dalia barrage (Bangladesh). It would ensure that the West Bengal Government would have to release only 25 per cent of water available at Gajoldoba, which when added to 25 per cent regeneration, would result in receipt of water by Bangladesh equivalent to half of the water available at Gajoldoba. Unfortunately, the Government of West Bengal is not agreeable to this proposition as they are agreeable to share only 25 per cent of available water at Gajoldoba plus the river flow (about 8 per cent). The State Government feels that the proposed formulation is vague as there could be years when regeneration of water between Gajoldoba and Da lia may not be 25 per cent; in that situation committing half the water available at Gajoldoba may affect their Teesta barrage project in the eastern region involving irrigation potential of 9.22 lakh ha and operation of 67.5 megawatt of hydropower. In any resolution for international water sharing, the underlying international principles call for adopting an equitable, non discriminatory guiding principle for sharing of water resources as per The Helsinki Rules (1966) and UN Water Course Convention (1987). All riparian states should cooperate on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual benefit, territorial integrity and good faith in order to attain optimal utilization of any international water course. Unfortunately, India, Bangladesh and China are yet to ratify the 1987 UN Water Convention. In fact, there is a need to resolve the Teesta river water sharing problem following these UN guidelines. The Indian Constitution under Article 253 has given powers to Parliament to make any Law for any part of territory of India to implement any treaty, agreement with anyother country. Before Parliament enters into any such water sharing treaty, there is a need for mutual beneficial solution between the affected states such as West Bengal. A political consensus between the Union government and the Government of West Bengal is required in this regard. The controversy on Teesta river water sharing has been going on for the last few years. Bangladesh has raised the issue of Teesta river due to non-release by India from its barrage at Gajoldoba in lean season while the West Bengal government claims the availability of less water over there leading to shortfall. Collection of water data at Gajoldoba barrage and at Dalia barrage should be the basis for examining the claims of Bangladesh and West Bengal relating to water related information. The hard data on the ground must show that India (especially West Bengal) will not be a loser with Teesta river water sharing arrangements, especially assuring its non-detrimental impact on the Teesta river project. There is a need to gather, analyse, and share technical data by India and Bangladesh which should convince both the countries (and West Bengal) about the efficacy of a mutually beneficial solution. Cooperative water management fosters, in the case of transboundary water basins, cross border harmony and cooperation. Conserving and managing a water-related ecosystem plays a critical role The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, TERI, New Delhi and a former Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India Going by a Calcutta High Court order, passed on Friday, which directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the state-run R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of West Bengal Police handed over all related papers and documents to the central agency officials on Saturday. Sources from the state police said that while the direction of the single-judge Bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj to the SIT was to complete the process of document handover by 10 am on Saturday. The process was finished by 9.30 am, 30 minutes earlier than the court deadline. While directing the CBI to take over the probe into the financial irregularities at R G Kar during the tenure of the former principal Sandip Ghosh, Justice Bharadwaj observed that since the central agency was already investigating the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar, it was better for the same agency to carry out the probe into the charges of financial irregularities at the hospital. Advertisement CBI officials have been grilling Ghosh on a daily basis for 12-14 hours since 16 August in connection with the doctors rape and murder case. The Calcutta High Court has given the investigating agency officials the task to find out whether there is any direct or indirect link between the two cases. Already, representatives of the medical fraternity have claimed that the ghastly rape and murder had a number of hidden factors. They claim that there was a probability of the woman doctor being aware of some of the irregularities going on at R G Kar. Doubts on this count have been strengthened by the fact that soon after Justice Bharadwajs Bench ordered the CBI probe, Ghosh approached a Division Bench of Calcutta High Court challenging the single-judge Benchs order. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday came out in support of Telegram Founder Pavel Durov, saying Mark Zuckerberg should instead be arrested for massive child exploitation problem on his Meta-owned Instagram. The billionaire reacted after Russian-born Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France over numerous charges related to his platform, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Musk said that Meta Founder March Zuckerberg has already caved into censorship pressure. Advertisement Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data, the X owner posted. He further said that Its 2030 in Europe and youre being executed for liking a meme. It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward X posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries, the tech billionaire mentioned. In February this year, Zuckerberg apologised to the families of victims of online child sex abuse during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill. The billionaire entrepreneur told parents that Im sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered. And this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer, he added. In May this year, Musk said that Zuckerberg-run Meta is super greedy at taking credit for advertisers who run campaigns on its platform. The X owner replied that we are terrible at claiming credit, and Meta is super greedy at claiming credit. The rivalry between Musk and Zuckerberg is well known. They were apparently set for a cage fight some time back dubbed as the fight of the century. However, the much-anticipated showdown between the duo was cancelled. In a prompt action taken by the Delhi Police, its team has cracked a blind case of kidnapping of a four-year old girl child in Rohinis Begumpur, within hours of the incident, the police said on Monday. The cops have arrested the alleged accused person, who is a 35-year-old plumber, and safely reunited the child with her parents, a senior police official said. According to the police, the incident occurred on August 24, when the girl was abducted while she was playing on the street in Bharat Vihar, Begumpur. Advertisement The police received a PCR call regarding the incident and immediately a case was registered and a special team was formed in view of the childs safety. During the probe, the special team roped in local informers and analyzed CCTV footage of the cameras installed in the area. Finally, the alleged person was zeroed down with the concerted efforts of the team, who was also found to be a resident of Begumpur. Accordingly, the girl was safely rescued within four hours of the incident, a police official added. The accused used to work as a plumber and also a part time painter, and is presently under polices custody, an official added. Scores of devotees on Monday thronged various temples across the city including Birla Mandir, Chhatarpur Mandir, ISKCON temple and other religious places to pay obeisance on the occasion of Janmashtami festival, which marks the birth of Lord Shri Krishna, and is celebrated with great religious fervour and enthusiasm. Small children dressed as Radha Krishna were seen visiting temples with their parents, while cultural programmes were also organised on the occasion and various places to celebrate the spirit of the festival. Temples, big or small were decked with flowers and beautiful lighting and different kinds of decorations across the city in view of the festival, while police have made proper arrangements so that the entire festivities go smoothly and without any untoward incident. Advertisement A shobha yatra was also organised with beautiful jhankies (tableaux) by the Birla Mandir in view of the festival. Police had made elaborate arrangements and also issued traffic advisories in view of the festivities, for smooth transition. BJP MP from New Delhi Bansuri Swaraj also joined Janmashtami celebrations at the iconic Birla Mandir, Mandir Marg and ISKCON temple at East of Kailash. Swaraj also extended greetings on the occasion to all and also prayed for everyones well being. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and several other leaders also joined celebrations at the various places across the city. Lord Shri Krishna considered good deeds as supreme, gave teachings for human upliftment and inspired by that, BJP workers are determined to serve humanity,said Sachdeva. Janmashtmi Melas have been organised across the city at various locations where food stalls, joy rides and many other stalls have been set up along with tableaux depicting different facets of Lord Krishnas life and his teachings. Many group housing societies across the Delhi- NCR region also organised events on the occasion with participation of the residents coming together to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. Delhi Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi visited ISKCON temple in Dwarka sub- city on the occasion to offer prayers to Lord Shri Krishna. She extended best wishes to everyone on Krishna Janmashtami and wished that Gods blessings remain on everyone and happiness and prosperity come to everyones home. Janmashtmi is an important festival for the Hindus and celebrations include recitation of religious texts, enactments of Lord Shri Krishnas life and its different phases as per the religious texts and records. Singing of bhajans takes place till midnight, when he was born, while people also observe a day long fast, and usually break it at midnight. Shefali Shah, celebrated for her powerful roles in films like Dil Dhadakne Do and Delhi Crime, has expressed a strong admiration for Telugu cinema and a keen interest in joining the industry. During a recent event in Hyderabad, Shah engaged in a lively discussion with over 400 women present and more than 3,000 viewers online. The actress, known for her compelling performances across various media, praised Telugu films for their unique blend of grandeur and storytelling. I truly admire Telugu cinema, Shefali Shah remarked. Their films, whether its the Baahubali series, RRR, Kalki, or Sita Ramam, are truly magical. The way they mix epic scale with captivating narratives is exceptional. I would love to collaborate with them if given the chance. This revelation has sparked excitement among fans who are eager to see how Shahs dynamic acting style could infuse new energy into Telugu films. Advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shefali Shah (@shefalishahofficial) Shahs career began on the Gujarati stage and transitioned to television with notable roles in shows like Hasratein and Kabhie Kabhie. Her film debut came with a minor part in Rangeela (1995), but it was her role in the 1997 TV series Hasratein that brought her significant recognition. She continued to build her reputation with impactful roles in films such as Satya (1998), for which she received a Filmfare Critics Award, and Gandhi, My Father (2007), where her portrayal of Kasturba Gandhi earned her the Best Actress award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Shahs versatility was further highlighted in films like Monsoon Wedding (2001), Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), and Lakshmi (2014). Her performance in The Last Lear earned her the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress, cementing her status as one of Indias most respected actresses. With such an impressive track record, the prospect of Shah entering the Telugu film industry promises to be an exciting development for both her fans and the industry itself. With more and more women actors coming out in the open revealing their traumatic experiences of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry, prominent personalities in Mollywood are going into a panic mood, not knowing when their glamorous cover will be blown away. These revelations are fast developing into a movement in Mollywood similar to Hiollywoods # MeToo which was triggered by allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the powerful producer and co-founder of MiraMax Films, in 2017. On Sunday, the revelations of Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra and a Malayalam actress led to the resignation of film director Ranjith from the position of chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and actor Siddique as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). Advertisement The shockwaves that followed the release of the Hema Committee report continued to reverberate on Monday with more women actors coming out with shocking revelations. Actress Minu Muneer claimed that actors, Mukesh, Maniyan Pilla Raju, Idavela Babu, and Jayasurya had abused her physically and verbally on the sets of a 2013 movie project. She revealed that she also faced abuse from advocate Chandrasekharan, production controller, Vichu Mukesh, CPI-M MLA from Kollam, who is facing another assault charge from casting director Tess Joseph. Tess Joseph, on Saturday, accused Mukesh of inappropriate behaviour during an event some years back. Actress Geetha Vijayan told the media that she had a bad experience with director Thulasidas in 1991, during the shoot of his film Chanchattan. She said he inappropriately behaved with her during the filming of the movie Chanchattam. Another actress Sreevedika also came out with some serious allegations against Thulasidas. She said he had misbehaved with her on the sets of the 2006 movie, Avan Chandiiyute Makan. Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) joint secretary Baburaj is also facing such allegations. A junior artist said she was sexually assaulted by the actor at his residence in Aluva a few years ago while offering a role in a film. Meanwhile, actor Siddique filed a police complaint against actress Revathy Sampath for raising sexual assault allegations against him. In his complaint to the director general of police, he alleged that some agendas are behind the allegations against him. Revathy Sampath, on Saturday, alleged that Siddique had sexually assaulted her at a hotel in 2016. She said he contacted her through a fake social media account under the guise of discussing a film project in 2016. In this connection, Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra filed a sexual assault complaint against film director Ranjith which was sent to the Kochi city police commissioner via email. Mitra on Friday revealed that Ranjith had misbehaved with her when she came to Kerala for an audition for Ranjith-directed movie Paleri Manikyam in 2009. Following this, he resigned from the position of the chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on Sunday evening. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has submitted a memorandum to Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya calling for immediate action by the state government against several organisations that have issued threats against a section of the Muslim community in Upper Assam. The AIUDFs plea came in the wake of rising communal tensions in the state with various organisations reportedly demanding that Muslims, particularly those identified as Miyas, leave the Upper Assam districts or face dire consequences. Upper Assam, comprising nine districts, has become a focal point of concern for the AIUDF and other community leaders. Advertisement The term Miya, historically a derogatory reference to Bengali-speaking Muslims, has been co-opted by the community in recent years as a symbol of defiance. The AIUDFs memorandum describes the situation as a serious threat to communal harmony and the safety of the Muslim community in the region. The party has called on the state government to take strict legal action against the organisations responsible for these threats, including initiating legal proceedings and deploying adequate security forces to protect vulnerable communities. The AIUDF also urged the government to issue a public statement condemning the threats and reassuring all communities that their safety and rights will be protected. The growing tensions in Upper Assam were exacerbated by a recent incident in Sivasagar, where members of the Marwari community publicly apologised for an alleged assault on a 17-year-old girl by a local businessman. This incident, combined with the ongoing threats against Muslims, has deepened concerns about the potential for further violence. In response to these developments, the Sivasagar District Administration has taken proactive measures to prevent any escalation of unrest. Executive Magistrate Nakib Sayeed Baruah has issued summons to 27 Indigenous leaders from various organisations, including prominent figures such as Basanta Gogoi, president of the All Tai Ahom Students Union (ATASU), and Sringkhal Chaliha, Administrative Secretary of Bir Lachit Sena Asom. These leaders are accused of participating in unlawful gatherings and using high-decibel speaker systems to incite tensions between communities. The summons, issued under Section 164(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), requires the leaders to appear before the Executive Magistrate on August 25, 2024, to justify their actions. They are also required to provide a bond of Rs 2.5 lakh, along with a surety of Rs 50,000, as a guarantee of their commitment to maintaining peace over the next six months. Non-compliance could result in severe legal consequences, including possible arrest and fines. Amid barrage of condemnation from various quarters, the BJP on Monday distanced itself from its MP Kangana Ranauts remarks on farmers protest and said the actors views do not reflect the stance of the party. The Congress, which has slammed the BJP over the Mandi MPs remarks, demanded her expulsion from the saffron party. The actor-politician stirred a controversy after she compared the farmers protest to potential Bangladesh-like anarchy in India. She claimed outside forces were conspiring to destabilize the country, and credited the governments leadership for preventing such efforts. Advertisement Bangladesh-like anarchy could have happened in India also like in the name of the farmers protest. Outside forces are planning to destroy us with the help of insiders. If it would not have been the foresight of our leadership, they would have succeeded, Kangana added. In a statement, the BJP said, The statement made by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut in the context of the farmers protest is not the opinion of the party. The BJP expresses disagreement with the statement of Kangana Ranaut. The BJP said Kangana is neither permitted nor authorized to make statements on policy issues of the party. Kangana Ranaut has been directed not to make any such statement in future. The BJP is determined to follow the principles of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas, the party said. Reacting to the BJPs statement, Congress Chairperson of Social Media Supriya Shrinate at a press conference at the party headquarters said, If you have any objection to what your MP Kangana said, then expel her from the party. Tell Kangana to apologize to the farmers with folded hands. If you cannot do this then you yourself should apologize to the farmers of this country. By saying this is not our opinion, it will not work. Those who insult farmers have no right to sit in Parliament, she said. Earlier in the day, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) condemned Kanganas remarks and demanded her to apologise. In a communique, the SKM said, The SKM has taken note of the shockingly derogatory and factually incorrect comments made by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut in an interview. It is extremely painful that this MP, who is a habitual abuser of farmers, has now taken the extreme step of calling Indian farmers murderers, rapists, conspirators, and anti-national. We demand that BJP MP Kangana Ranaut immediately issue an unconditional apology to farmers of India for her inappropriate and incorrect statements and uphold the dignity of her office, failing which SKM shall have no option but to issue a call for her public boycott, it said. The Congress enthusiasm over the introduction of the Unified Pension Scheme an initiative they have labelled as a rollback of the BJP-led governments policies has elicited a fresh critique from the BJP. The party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned when Congress will fulfil its election promises, especially regarding the pension scheme. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi has his government implemented the Old Pension Scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh? stated Prasad, a former Union minister who handled the law portfolio. The Congress party has become so wary of the glaring falsehood of its pension assurances that it lacked the courage to include it in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, the former minister said. Advertisement Governing India is a serious business. The Congress party merely makes announcements to attract votes, and now the public has lost trust in its promises, he added. Ravi Shankar Prasad further questioned Rahul Gandhi: Has your government in Himachal Pradesh implemented the old pension scheme? In the Karnataka elections, you cleverly stated that it would be implemented for employees before 2006. Rahul Gandhi keeps deceiving the public. He should do what he says. If he does nothing, he should not make promises. The Unified Pension Scheme retains many aspects of the pre-2004 Old Pension Scheme, offering government employees a lifelong monthly benefit equivalent to 50 per cent of their last drawn basic pay. In contrast, the New Pension Scheme, introduced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2004, linked pension payouts to contributions made by both the government and employees. At that time, several Opposition states opposed this scheme, and five states chose to continue with the Old Pension Scheme. The Unified Pension Scheme, set to take effect from April 2025, will be a contributory scheme. Employees will be required to contribute 10 per cent of their salary, while the government will contribute 18.5 per cent, with the possibility of the governments contribution increasing. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had earlier criticised the BJP by saying that the U in the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) stands for U-turn, a term he claimed was becoming a hallmark of the third term of the BJP-led government. Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav on Monday slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital over the incidents of crime in the city and said Delhi has become crime capital of the country. Referring to the recent incidents of crime in the national capital, Yadav said, With heinous crimes like murder, assaults on women, snatching, robbery, knifing and mafia dons operating from foreign countries through their local henchmen threatening businessmen for ransom, Delhi has become the crime capital of the county. Attacking the Centre, he said, It is a matter of grave concern that these crimes were happening under the very nose of the Union Home Ministry, which controls Delhi Police. Advertisement Asserting that Delhi has become so unsafe that people can be killed anywhere, any time, Yadav said, According to a latest data, Delhi has witnessed a 65.96 per cent rise in crime in the last five years. The Delhi Congress chief said, The shooting incident at a sweet shop in Tilak Nagar yesterday and a firing incident at Paschim Vihar in West Delhi point to the disturbed law and order situation in the capital, with the AAP government and BJP clashing for petty things, but not in improving the law and order situation. Taking a jibe at the AAP government in Delhi, he said, A directionless AAP government-led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, has woefully failed to check crime. Shockingly, most of the crimes were happening during the day, and in the night, it has become easy for criminals to operate, as in most areas of Delhi, the street lights would not function. He claimed that women are the most vulnerable as they become easy targets of criminals in the capital in the absence of a robust law and order situation. The Delhi Congress chief added, In absence of a responsible Government in Delhi, criminals have become emboldened with shoot-outs and murders becoming an everyday occurrence. Leaders of Delhis rural belt have met and decided they will soon hold a Mahapanchayat of the entire 360 villages in the city and make future strategy to start a movement to push for their long pending demands for the citys villages, chief of Delhis Palam 360 Khap, Surender Solanki said on Monday. Regarding the issues, 360 villages of Delhi will call a Mahapanchayat and make further strategies and start a big movement. We are not going to rest till these problems are solved. If our problems are not resolved before the assembly elections, we will also boycott the elections, the Khap leader said. Speaking to reporters after meeting the protesting villagers at Matiala Assembly constituencys Daulatpur, Solanki sending a clear message to the governments has said that they must resolve the long pending issues of the villages, and also set a deadline for completion of the works, as he claimed that since long assurances have been given and fresh time is suggested for resolving the issues of the rural belt, but things are not taking place on ground. Advertisement The Khap leader said that Last year, when the village representatives started the movement, out of the 11- point demands, only 4 of the problems could be solved. He added that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the Chief Minister had asked for time to solve the remaining problems, but it is unfortunate that a year has passed, and despite this, the CM did not solve these problems nor took any cognizance. He added that some problems were solved by the LG, while time was sought on the remaining issues. The Khap leader has informed that people of different villages in Delhi are sitting on protest with their demand for bringing master plan 2041 as said by the government, and he further added that it had been almost 17 years, the master plan has not come in place, while no date has been announced, which he said is unfortunate. He added that the issue of land mutation in villages and extension of Lal Dora and the eleven points that were put forward by the people earlier, only assurances were given on some of those points. He claimed that Land Pooling policy and GDA policy which was made for Delhis rural belt in 2007 is yet to be implemented at ground level. Raising doubts on the governments intention regarding villages of the city, he said that it is quite unclear as the current situation of the citys rural areas has become such that they no longer remain to be villages, neither have been urbanized, and are currently in a bad state, the rural leader said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the Indian diaspora in the United States as a living bridge between India and the US, fostering close relations and goodwill between the two nations. He was interacting with the Indian diaspora from Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and other nearby areas on the last day of his four-day visit to the US. Mr Singh lauded the achievements of the Indian community in the US and hailed its contribution to society, science and economy. Advertisement He also acknowledged the efforts of the Indian community in establishing an exhibit of Mahatma Gandhi and placing two honorary Gandhi Way street signals near the National Civil Rights Museum on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019. He underlined Indias growth story in the last decade and the countrys immense potential. The defence minister also visited the National Civil Rights Museum and interacted with the Indian community in Memphis, Tennessee on the last day of his tour. The National Civil Rights Museum traces the history of the civil rights movement in the US from the 17th century to the present and is built around the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968. It also has a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, acknowledging his inspiration for non-violent struggle. Mr Singhs landmark visit saw the US approving a possible foreign military sale of anti-submarine warfare sonobuoys and related equipment to India at an estimated cost of $ 52.8 million for the multi-mission MH-60R Seahawk helicopters. During the course of his visit, he had significant meetings with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and other key officials during which the two sides deliberated on the evolving geopolitical situation and the ongoing defence industrial collaboration between the two countries. The second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) was held in Singapore on Monday. The Indian side was represented by four top ministers in the Modi government: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The delegation from Singapore was led by Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Gan Kim Yong. During the meeting, the two sides emphasised ways of further enhancing cooperation between India and Singapore in emerging and futuristic areas. Both sides deliberated upon six pillars identified under ISMR, which include digitalisation, skill development, sustainability, healthcare and medicine, and advanced manufacturing and connectivity. Advertisement The two sides also discussed plans for commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore, alongside regional and global cooperation, including ASEAN and G20 developments. They noted that the discussions during the first round of ISMR have resulted in the successful conclusion of MoUs on healthcare, education, skill development, digital cooperation and semiconductor ecosystem cooperation. Earlier, the Indian ministers called on Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and discussed ways to further take forward the bilateral strategic partnership. Honoured to jointly call on President @Tharman_S of Singapore. Conveyed the warm greetings of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister @narendramodi. Value his guidance on ways to further take forward the India-Singapore Strategic Partnership, Mr Jaishankar said in a post on X after the meeting. They also met Prime Minister Wong. The Indian Coast Guard on Monday rescued 11 crew members from the distressed MV ITT Puma during a challenging night-time search and rescue operation. The Mumbai-registered general cargo vessel was en route from Kolkata to Port Blair when it reportedly sank about 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island (West Bengal). The Maritime Search & Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Chennai initially received a distress signal late Sunday evening. The ICGs Regional Headquarters (North East) in Kolkata promptly mobilised two ICG vessels and a Dornier aircraft to the site. Advertisement The Dornier aircraft, equipped with advanced night-capable sensors detected adrift life rafts and sighted survival red flares from the distressed crew. Guided by the aircraft, the ICG ship reached the coordinates where two life rafts were found tied together, housing the survivors. Despite challenging weather conditions, the ICG ships Sarang and Amogh, alongside the Dornier aircraft, executed a coordinated sea-air rescue, ensuring the safety of the crew during the late hours of yesterday and early hours today. Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim Bank), under its Grassroots Initiatives for Development (GRID) programme, has engaged with Khurja Pottery Manufacturers Association (KPMA) to establish a 3D Design Studio. Earlier this year, the Bank organised a design development workshop for 25 master artisans, in association with National Institute of Design, working in this sector in Khurja. The objective of the programme is to empower local pottery makers and artisans in Khurja with advanced design skills and technologies for making their products globally competitive. Advertisement Khurja boasts over 300 manufacturing units engaged in tableware crockery and technical ceramics, that provide employment to more than 30,000 skilled and unskilled workers. The design studio was inaugurated today at Khurja, by Harsha Bangari, Managing Director, India Exim Bank. The 3D design studio offers several benefits to the 250+ local pottery units who are members of KPMA, by providing access to state-of-the-art technology and expert guidance. The studio will empower them to experiment with new designs, reduce production costs, and improve the overall quality of their products. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday spoke with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and took stock of progress in bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad. Delighted to speak to my friend Anthony Albanese. We took stock of progress in our bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad, Mr Modi wrote on X later. The Quad is a grouping that brings India, Australia, Japan and the United States under a common umbrella to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. Advertisement China has taken kindly to the formation of Quad as it believes the grouping is aimed at containing its increasing influence. After two days of hectic discussions on seat sharing between the Congress and the National Conference leadership for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the two parties on Monday sealed an agreement under which the National Conference will contest on 51 seats and Congress on 32. We have agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 seats. Over and above these 88 seats, we have left one seat for CPI (M) and one seat for Panthers Party, J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra told newsmen in Srinagar. Karra said that tomorrow is the last day for filing nominations for the 24 seats that will go to polls in the first phase on 18 September. We have a stated number of seats also in the other two phases. Polling for 26 seats and 46 seats will be held in the second and third phase. Advertisement After a final round of meeting with Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid, the National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah said: It is a matter of great happiness that both of us will fight together against those forces who are trying to divide people here and the whole country. The INDIA alliance was formed so that we can fight those forces who want to communalize, divide and break the country. Today we have completed the negotiations and have done coordination in a very good and cordial atmosphere. Congress and the National Conference will fight the elections together, he added. NC MP from Srinagar Aga Ruhullah Mehdi said: The major factor was that we dont want to leave any space for the BJP to exploit. There are many constituencies in Jammu where the National Conference is not very strong, and we feel that in those areas, the Congress can give a good fight to the BJP. If we support Congress in those areas, that fight will convert into victory. That is the most important factor of this alliance. We dont want a situation where the BJP wins a significant number of seats and repeats what they have done to the state over the last 10 years. We want to bring this to an end. It is worth mentioning that seat sharing between the two parties appeared to have hit a roadblock as NC and Congress activists at eight places were not in favour of leaving the seat for the other party. Venugopal and Khurshid, who were rushed to Srinagar by the Congress high command, reached the residence of Farooq Abdullah this morning to discuss the seat-sharing issue between the two parties. They said the meeting was necessitated after some differences cropped up in seat-sharing arrangements during the talks between the local leadership of the parties. At least 23 people were killed in Balochistans Musakhail district after armed men intercepted vehicles and shot passengers after checking their identities, Pakistani English daily Dawn News reported on Monday. According to local authorities, the gunmen blocked the highway and offloaded the passengers from buses and trucks. After reportedly checking their identity, the gunmen executed them one by one. Most of the dead are said to be from Punjab province in Pakistan. Advertisement The attackers also set around 10 vehicles on fire. Soon after getting the information, police and rescue team rushed to the spot and transported the bodies to the hospital. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, this marks the second such incident this year. In April, nine passengers were similarly offloaded from a bus near Balochistans Nushki city and shot dead after their ID cards were checked. Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot, the daily quoted police officials as saying. Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan met Russian cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov and representatives of Space Kidz India on Sunday and discussed the possibility of establishing a space park in Andhra Pradesh to raise student awareness about space technology. Pawan Kalyan, who is also the Minister for Science & Technology, met Korsakov and others at his residence in Hyderabad. He emphasised that advancements in space research could significantly benefit the nation. Korsakov, who spent six months aboard the International Space Station, shared extensive insights into space exploration. Dr Srimathy Kesan, Founder and CEO of Space Kidz India, and Yagna, COO of Space Kidz India, along with their representatives, were present at the meeting. Advertisement The Deputy Chief Minister emphasised the need for increasing awareness about space technology. He said the state government would encourage students to become scientists Pawan Kalyan, who also holds the portfolio of Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, Rural Water Supply, and Environment, said that if the advancements in space research are used effectively, they can help in further progress of the nation. The actor-politician felt that awareness about space technology should be created among students. The company representatives explained to Pawan Kalyan their research and also a satellite developed by them. The Deputy CM was informed about the functioning of the small satellite deployer made by the company. The representatives of Space Kidz told Pawan Kalyan that India does not have a space park, and it is only NASA in the US which has such a facility. The Deputy CM responded positively when they said that if a space park is developed in Andhra Pradesh, it can help in creating awareness among students about space technology. Pawan Kalyan felicitated Korsakov and presented him with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3. He enquired about the Russian cosmonauts experiences in space. The Deputy Chief Minister also shared the recipe of choice Russian dishes prepared on the occasion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a telephone call on Monday from US President Joe Biden. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Prime Minister briefed President Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine. Mr Modi conveyed his appreciation for President Bidens deep commitment to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity. Advertisement The two leaders had a detailed exchange of views on a number of regional and global issues. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Prime Minister briefed the US President on his recent visit to Ukraine. He reiterated Indias consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy and expressed full support for early return of peace and stability. The two leaders expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasised restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh. The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad. The two leaders agreed to remain in touch. Preparations have started in the Central Command headquarters here for organising Joint Commanders Conference by the Army for the first time in Lucknow. Security drill for the 2-day conference on September 4 and 5 has started too. Before the conference, work has been started to strengthen the security arrangements in the entire cantonment area. Additional CCTV cameras are being installed. There will be high alert for two days. Apart from the cantonment area, security at railway stations, airports, bus stands woukd also be enhanced due to this conference, sources here on Monday said. Advertisement The conference will focus on making the country strong and secure. Defence Minister, Chief of Defence Staff and heads of Army, Navy and Air Force will attend the conference. There will be discussion on upgrading theater command and army. Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan will address on September 4, whereas on the second day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the conference. Apart from this, top commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force will present statements on strengthening the armies, requirement of equipment, etc. The theme of the two-day conference has been Strong and Secure India: Transformation of the Armed Forces. Under this, issues related to military will be discussed. Besides, there will be discussions on issues like manufacturing of defence equipment under Make in India and presentations will be given by the directorates of the armed forces. There will also be a discussion in the conference regarding creation of theater command. Theater command is used during war when it comes to coordination between the three armies. This will play an important role in creating coordination between the three armies. The leaders of SP and BSP were back to attack each other on Monday. BSP chief Mayawati in a tweet vented out her anger against the Congress and the SP over attack on her in 1995. SP President Akhilesh Yadav replied back with tweets. Although Akhilesh Yadav did not take the name of any party or leader in his tweet, he gave his answer by talking about PDA. The SP President said: The truth is that this gratitude goes to those people who have been showing their active protest by taking to the streets for the last two days to protect their honour and dignity. The root cause of this protest is the public insult by a BJP MLA to a respected former woman Chief Minister from an exploited-deprived society. Advertisement He further said: The unity and solidarity of this new consciousness that has come today among the people of the neglected and despised society against the mental-physical-economic-social oppression being carried out by the dominant society for centuries will write the golden egalitarian history of tomorrow. Akhilesh Yadav wrote: This is a good sign that the PDA society has now started understanding the divisive game of the hegemonic rulers.Taking advantage of the compulsion of a few people, these disruptive rulers may hold hands and force some people to say or write anything, but at heart those few helpless people are also with us because such helpless people also know that these dominant people can never even think about their welfare. Around 99 per cent people of the society, exploited and deprived for centuries, are now seeing their golden future in the PDA only. He said the political powers, which, in order to save their power, have been forcing the oppressed society to sign their self-serving letters, now their bad days have begun. Akhilesh Yadav further said that 99 per cent awakening has come among the 90 per cent. This awakening that has come in the PDA society, which is fighting for respect by breaking the boundaries of political parties. Those who are yet to join will also not be left in the times to come. Only 100 per cent integration of the 90 per cent population of the society, that is, PDA will be a revolution of social justice. Only this unity, solidarity, and unity will end the injustice that has been going on for hundreds of years. The PDA is the future of the exploited and the deprived. We are one, will remain one. Long live PDA unity!, he wrote. Earlier Mayawati had said: Where were the Congress people in 1995, when the Samajwadi Party attacked me. At that time, there was a Congress government at the Centre, Why did the Congress not fulfill its responsibility? Mayawati further said that when Kanshi Ram ji, despite his serious illness, had to leave the hospital at night to meet the Home Minister and the opposition also surrounded the Parliament, then only this Congress government came into action. Mayawati said that at that time, the entire opposition including the BJP, as a human being, had fulfilled its duty to save me from the criminal elements of the SP. Then why does the Congress keep facing problems from time to time? She also advised his people to remain alert. Indias strategic interests in South Asia have always been intricately linked with its relationship with Bangladesh. Over the past 15 years, the India-Bangladesh partnership flourished under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas leadership. However, recent political shifts in Bangladesh have created new challenges for India, exposing vulnerabilities in its foreign policy approach and necessitating a recalibration of its strategy. The fall of the Hasina government and the unexpected rise of a student-led protest movement that ousted her have taken India by surprise. Indias inability to gauge the depth of public dissatisfaction with Sheikh Hasinas authoritarian governance, economic struggles, and perceived proximity to India highlights a crucial misstep in its diplomatic outreach. The simmering resentment among the Bangladeshi populace was inflamed by statements from Indian political and military leaders that were seen as derogatory by many in Bangladesh, exacerbating anti-India sentiments. As Bangladesh navigates this period of political transition, the prospect of an unfriendly government coming to power poses a significant threat to Indias security. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has a history of accommodating fundamentalist elements and anti-India insurgents, could once again become a conduit for external actors like Pakistan to destabilise Indias eastern borders. The potential for Chinese influence to grow in Bangladesh, particularly through military and economic channels, further complicates the security landscape. Chinas long-standing goal of establishing a foothold in Bangladesh could lead to a strategic encirclement of India, undermining its regional dominance. Moreover, the fate of the Hindu minority in Bangla desh remains a sensitive issue for India. While there has been no state-sponsored persecution, sporadic attacks against Hindus during periods of political unrest cannot be ignored. Ensuring the protection of minority communities in Bangladesh must be a priority for India, as any escalation in violence could have serious repercussions for bilateral relations and Indias broader regional strategy. To safeguard its interests, India must act swiftly and decisively. Advertisement The upcoming BIMSTEC summit offers a crucial opportunity for India to engage with the interim government in Bangladesh and re-establish diplomatic ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modis outreach to the Bangladeshi public, coupled with a robust economic package and renewed efforts to resolve the Teesta River water-sharing dispute, could help rebuild trust. Military cooperation should also be enhanced, recognising the pivotal role of the Bangladesh Army in the countrys political landscape. Furthermore, India must adopt a more nuanced approach to its public messaging. Ideological rhetoric that alienates neighbouring countries can no longer be afforded. India must demonstrate that it respects Bangladeshs sovereignty and is committed to a partnership based on mutual benefit, not dominance. Regaining the confidence of the Bangladeshi people is crucial for Indias national security. This period of political uncertainty in Bangladesh presents both risks and opportunities. By leveraging diplomacy, economic cooperation, and strategic patience, India can ensure that its neighbour remains a reliable partner in a region where external powers are increasingly vying for influence Monkeypox (Mpox) has once again surged to global attention and unlike the 2022 outbreak, the 2024 outbreak is impacting a broader demographic globally, a latest Lancet report has warned. The report mentioned that with the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the epicentre of this outbreak, the viruss spread beyond Africa has raised international alarm, particularly with the emergence of a new clade, 1b. Health authorities are scrambling to contain the virus amid limited vaccine supplies, inadequate testing, and the need to balance responses to multiple public health threats, it noted. Advertisement The World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 14 declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya also declared it a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS). Clade 1b of mpox is of particular concern due to its higher transmissibility and potential for more severe clinical outcomes, according to the report. According to an epidemic intelligence report issued by the Africa CDC, there have been 18,737 mpox cases (3,101 confirmed and 15.636 suspected) across 12 African countries since the beginning of the year, resulting in 541 deaths. In contrast, Africa recorded 14,838 mpox cases (1,665 confirmed and 13,173 suspected) across seven countries, with 738 confirmed deaths, throughout 2023. Unlike the 2022 mpox outbreak, which predominantly affected men who have sex with men, the 2024 outbreak is impacting a broader demographic. The virus, primarily spreading through direct contact, has been reported among men, women, and children. According to the Lancet report, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mpox cases have been reported in all 26 provinces, children younger than 15 years account for 66 per cent of reported cases and more than 82 per cent of deaths. Merawi Aragaw Tegegne, Acting Head of the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response at Africa CDC, said that Mpox is endemic in our region, and with endemic diseases, exposure is inevitable. However, a severe lack of testing and surveillance is obscuring the full picture of the outbreak. Dimie Ogoina, WHOs IHR Committee Chair, highlighted the significant testing challenge, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where less than 30 per cent of cases might be tested. There is currently no reported case of mpox in India, and the government is continuously monitoring situation. Mpox is a viral disease that causes fevers, headaches, and muscle aches, as well as painful boils on the skin. South Korean healthcare authorities on Sunday discussed ways to minimise possible fallout from a looming strike by a nationwide union of nurses and medical workers next week. On Saturday, members of the Korean Health and Medical Workers Union, which has some 30,000 nurses and medical workers at 61 hospitals as members, voted in favor of a strike plan over calls for an improvement in working conditions. If an ongoing arbitration by the labor relations committee fails, the unionised workers plan to launch simultaneous strikes on Thursday, reports Yonhap news agency. Advertisement In an interagency meeting of health care-related authorities chaired by Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, officials discussed measures to minimise the inconvenience to the publics access to medical services if the planned strike by union proceeds, according to officials. At the meeting, officials emphasised that even if the strike proceeds, essential medical services, such as emergency rooms, intensive care units and surgeries, must continue to operate as required by the related labour union laws. The government said it will work closely with local governments to continuously monitor whether essential services are being maintained to ensure that there are no disruptions to critical care. In the event of a strike, the government plans to maintain a 24-hour emergency medical system at emergency centres to ensure uninterrupted care for emergency patients. Additionally, emergency medical services will be reinforced, focusing on public medical institutions that do not participate in the strike. Last week, Kyoo-hong pledged to take stern measures against attempts to obstruct junior doctors return to hospitals. The health minister also urged resigned junior doctors to apply for the new recruitment procedures. Hospitals have announced new recruitment notices for trainee doctors following a lacklustre response from the medical community to the initial round, with some medical professors warning of a boycott of the training of new applicants. At least 13 people have died and 14 others remain missing after a migrant boat capsized off Yemens coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Sunday. According to field reports from the IOM, the vessel, which had embarked from Djibouti, was carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and two Yemeni nationals when it capsized on Tuesday near the Dubab district in Bani Al-Hakam sub-district, Xinhua news agency reported. The bodies of the deceased, 11 men and two women, have been recovered, while search operations are currently underway to locate the remaining missing persons, said the IOM, adding that the cause of the shipwreck remains unclear. Advertisement This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the perils faced by migrants on this route it is imperative that we do not normalize these devastating losses and instead work collectively to ensure that migrants are protected and supported throughout their journeys, said Matt Huber, the acting chief of mission for IOM Yemen. Despite repeated warnings and interventions, the waters off Yemen continue to claim lives at an alarming rate. Vulnerable migrants, often fleeing desperate circumstances in search of safety and opportunity in the Gulf states, are frequently exploited by smuggling networks and pushed into perilous conditions. The IOMs Displacement Tracking Matrix recorded over 97,200 migrant arrivals in Yemen in 2023, surpassing the previous years numbers. However, the ongoing conflict and deteriorating conditions in Yemen have left many migrants stranded, with limited access to basic services and constant exposure to violence and exploitation. The IOM is calling on all actors to increase support and address the root causes driving irregular migration, including conflict, poverty, and climate-related challenges. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollahs rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. Advertisement During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. This morning we detected Hezbollahs preparations to attack Israel, Netanyahu said. In consultation with the defence minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was successful. In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israels first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are not the end of the story, adding that Israeli forces will strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows. After Hezbollahs rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have cancelled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollahs main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollahs actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a significant and courageous attack against Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt the Israeli aggression. Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and de-escalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanons stability and prevent a state of comprehensive instability in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypts chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. And how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take til he knows Advertisement That too many people have died? Bob Dylan, Blowin in the Wind Every 16 minutes, a woman is raped somewhere in India. From what data the National Crime Records Bureau reveals, in 96.8 per cent cases, the accused is known to the victim. Regardless of whether she is an innocent infant or an elderly woman in the twilight of her years, the cruel reality remains that victims of assault know no age constraints. Yet, despite the unequivocal nature of such atrocities, the relentless tide of victim shaming persists unabated. The accusatory barrage of questions What was she wearing? Why was she alone? Why was she outside at night?serves only to shift the burden of guilt from the perpetrator to the victim, perpetuating a culture of blame that is as insidious as the crime itself. This systemic failure to protect and honour the dignity of all individuals, irrespective of their circumstances, underscores a profound societal malaise that demands urgent redress. The horrifying and mortifying details surrounding the rape and murder of a young trainee doctor (call her Abhaya or Tilottama, if you may) on 9 August this year at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata have reverberated across the nation, plunging the collective conscience of society into a state of acute dismay. This barbaric act, perpetrated within the very walls of an institution dedicated to healing and care, has not only shattered the sanctity of a place meant to safeguard lives but has also cast a dark shadow over the moral fabric of our society. The sheer brutality of the incident has forced us to confront unsettling questions about the direction in which humanity is heading. The violation of a womans dignity and safety, in a space where she should have been protected, is a stark reminder of the systemic failures that allow such atrocities to occur. Hearing the suo motu case, the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra focused on three key issues: the significant delay between the discovery of the body and the lodging of the First Information Report, the classification of the death as unnatural despite the postmortem examination and the sealing of the crime scene more than 12 hours after the incident. The Judges suggested that these factors collectively contributed to the perception of a severely flawed investigation. Medical professions have become vulnerable to violence.due to ingrained patriarchal biases, the women doctors are targeted more, CJI Chandrachud noted, adding, As more and more women join the workforce..the nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change on the ground. Existing enactments do not adequately address the institutional safety standards for doctors and medical workers. The Supreme Court issued directives to prevent the dissemination of the victims identity and photographs on social media. Additionally, the Court mandated enhanced security measures at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and called for the establishment of a task force to investigate incidents. The CJI also debunked the arguments circulating on social media related to the presence of 151 mg of semen in the body of the 31-year-old trainee doctor. However, this is not the sole instance of misinformation proliferating on social media. Mysteriously, and without any credible basis, the names and photographs of several trainee doctors and interns have surfaced, with online speculators alleging their direct involvement in the crime. Speaking to The Statesman, Dr Shreya Shaw of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital stated, We are completely at a loss as to why these individuals have been unfairly targeted and accused of such a heinous offence. The determination of their involvement, if any, is a matter for the ongoing CBI investigation. We categorically refuse to engage in speculation and urge the public to refrain from unjustly maligning our doctors. Another doctor, who wished to remain anonymous, added, While a few were indeed on duty that night, to brand them as offenders solely on that basis is not only irrational but deeply unjust. Meanwhile, the primary accused in the crime, Sanjay Roy, has been remanded to judicial custody until 6 September as of Friday. Roy, a civic police volunteer, was apprehended by the Kolkata Police on 10 August, one day following the commission of the crime. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has obtained judicial approval from the court to administer a polygraph test on Roy. Furthermore, in response to a petition submitted by whistleblower Akhtar Ali, former deputy medical superintendent at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj of the Calcutta High Court has ordered that a court-monitored probe by the CBI be conducted into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of former principal Sandip Ghosh. The grim reality that women are not safe anywherebe it in the ostensibly secure confines of their homes, the professional sanctity of their workplaces, or the public spaces they traversestands as a stark indictment of our society. The mere act of existing as a woman has become fraught with peril, as threats to their safety are omnipresent and indiscriminate. In their homes, where they should find refuge, women are too often subjected to the horrors of domestic violence, their autonomy and well-being compromised by those who should be their protectors. In workplaces, the promise of professional fulfilment is marred by the pervasive spectre of harassment, where power dynamics are exploited to undermine their dignity and career aspirations. The Supreme Court, though, has established the Vishaka Guidelines to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, only a few cases are actually reported. The Vishaka guidelines served as the basis for the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. Even in public spaces, where the freedom to move and interact is a fundamental right, women are met with the constant threat of violence and objectification. This pervasive insecurity, rooted in deeply entrenched patriarchal norms, highlights a grievous failure to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms that should be afforded to all individuals, regardless of gender. But, that is not all. A recent report revealed that the internet has been trawled in search of videos of the grave offence that took place on the fateful night of 9 August. This twisted curiosity, where some derive perverse satisfaction from witnessing acts of violence and exploitation, highlights an abject moral corruption. It is imperative to recognise that this voyeuristic predilection not only reflects but also reinforces deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that commodify and objectify womens suffering. When the entire country and even a few cities abroad in the UK and the USA took to the streets on 14 August with the Women, Reclaim the Night movement, the visibility of women at odd hours showed an act of resistance, a refusal to let fear dictate where women can or cannot be. The movement challenged the status quo and called for a legal and cultural reassessment of how womens safety and freedom are addressed in society. Historically, the Reclaim the Night movement originated in Leeds in 1977 as a pivotal component of the Womens Liberation Movement. Throughout England, marches advocating for womens right to freely traverse public spaces after dark continued until the 1990s. The first Reclaim the Night protests occurred in Leeds on 12 November 1977. These demonstrations were partly a reaction to the Yorkshire Ripper murders and the subsequent police advisories instructing women to avoid public areas after dark. Participants carried placards bearing slogans such as No Curfew on Women Curfew on Men. By occupying these spaces, women tried reclaiming their right to exist freely and without intimidation, asserting that the world is as much theirs in the darkness as it is in the light. Pakistan has long cried hoarse and portrayed itself as a victim of extremism and terrorism. As recently as June 2024, its federal government approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign to eradicate terrorism through coordinated, multi-faceted efforts. While it is true that terrorism has surged exponentially in Pakistan in recent years, the blame lies squarely with its own rulers and military establishment. After nurturing various terrorist groups for over four decades, Pakistan is now entangled in the self-created chaos it hoped would only afflict its neighbours. Pakistans relationship with terrorism is long and complex. While scholars and analysts generally agree that Pakistan first began employing Islamist militants as tools of its regional policy during the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, however, this is factually inaccurate. Advertisement Pakistans association with and use of non-state actors dates back to its very emergence as a nation-state in 1947. Within two months of its existence, the newly created Pakistan pushed thousands of tribal lashkars (militias) to invade and seize Kashmir in what was construed as a holy war (jihad) to reclaim the Muslim majority region. It followed up this duplicitous use of terrorism in 1965 when Pakistan Army pushed hundreds of armed insurgents, mostly its soldiers, under the so-called Operation Gibraltar, into Kashmir to incite the locals against the state, something that could serve as casus belli for Pakistan against India internationally. Furthermore, during its genocidal campaign in then East Pakistan (Bangladesh), Pakistani Army used Islamist groups, labelled as rezakars, to fight against the Bangla nationalists in 1971. For the credit of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistans military ruler, he institutionalised and incentivised the use of non-state actors in the countrys foreign policy. The 1980s were a period of global significance, with the Cold War between the US-led capitalist bloc and Soviet Russias communist bloc unfolding in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, ultimately tilting towards the Wests victory by the decades end. For Islamabad, Kabul had become a major bete noire due to its refusal to recognise the contested Durand Line the British-drawn border dividing the Pashtun heartland and its support for Pashtun nationalists advocating for an independent Pashtunistan since Pakistans creation in 1947. When Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979, General Zia-ul-Haq, backed by the US and Gulf Arab allies like Saudi Arabia, positioned Pakistan as the frontline state in the so-called anti-communist jihad. The Pakistan Army established an extensive network of training centres, often disguised as madrassas (Islamic schools), along its border with Afghanistan in North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province), led by Darul Uloom Haqqania of Akora Khattak, to produce mujahideen Islamist insurgents who would fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Thus began Pakistans enduring association with Islamist militant groups whom it continued to use strategically for is regional interests, particularly against India, after Russians withdrew from Afghanistan. This strategy was bolstered by Zias Islamisation of state institutions and the armed forces, embedding Islamist ideology within Pakistans establishment. This institutionalisation of Islamist forces has persisted, with Pakistans military struggling to purge their influence from its ranks, particularly under General Pervez Musharraf post the 9/11 era and US-led War on terror. Pakistans intelligence agency, the ISI, played a pivotal role in the creation of the Afghan Taliban in 1994 and supported their rise to power in 1996, prior to their ouster by the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Interestingly, after 2001, while publicly backing the US, Pakistan covertly provided safe passage to Afghan Taliban and other insurgents into North Waziristan. After recognising the effectiveness of using Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan shifted its focus to Kashmir where it had made earlier attempts to incite local unrest. As such, Pakistan military redeployed the battle-hardened Afghan returned mujahideen to fight in Kashmir from 1989 onwards in an attempt to replicate their success against India. Pakistan Army organised these foreign fighters under dozens of militant insurgent groups, known as askari tanzeems, including Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Harkat-ul-Ansar/Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuA/HuM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), along with Hizbu1 Mujahideen (HM) and Al-Badr, among others. These groups have been responsible for numerous acts of terrorism in Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians and significant destruction of public property. However, as the saying goes, one cannot nurture a snake in ones house and expect it to bite only the neighbours. Pakistans policy of using terrorism as a state tool has long backfired, with many of the groups it once supported turning their guns on the Pakistani state from the mid-2000s onwards. Most notably, Deobandi Pashtun groups, who coalesced under the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in 2007, have fiercely opposed the state, especially after Pakistans decision to join the American-led War on Terror in 2001. A prime example of an asset gone rogue is the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group. For years, Pakistan tried to differentiate between good and bad Taliban, with Hafiz Gul Bahadur being classified as a good Taliban leader due to his focus on assisting Afghan Taliban fight the American forces in Afghanistan rather than targeting the Pakistani Army or civilians. Interestingly, in 2006, after a peace accord, the Pakistani establishment allowed Bahadur to establish a Shura council in North Waziristan, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), granting him the authority to enforce taxes and penalties. This effectively made him the leader of the local Taliban in the region. The Pakistan Army allowed him to maintain ties with the Afghan Taliban, particularly the Haqqani network, to ensure a degree of influence over the Afghan group and demonstrate support against the American forces. Despite granting Hafiz Gul Bahadur considerable autonomy due to his groups utility in Afghanistan, Pakistan ultimately faced the consequences of nurturing militant factions. Hundreds of suicide attacks resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers, and caused extensive destruction of public infrastructure, especially between 2011 and 2014. Under Guls watch, North Waziristan became a haven for Afghan Taliban, foreign insurgents, and TTP affiliates, as the Pakistan Army refrained from conducting military operations in the region for over eight years. The situation changed dramatically after the devastating Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar in December 2014, in which TTP militants based in North Waziristan killed over 140 people, most of them children. This tragedy forced the Pakistan Army to launch Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the region, driving Hafiz Gul Bahadur into Afghanistan and ultimately transforming him into a bad Taliban in the eyes of the Pakistani state. Another failure of Pakistans terrorism as a state policy is symbolised by the overall failure of Afghan policy. While it facilitated Afghan Talibans return to Kabul in August 2021 and overthrow the Afghanistan Republican political system, with the hope of gaining strategic depth in the country and undoing the gains of countries like India, whom it presumes adversarial nemesis, the policy went haywire within merely a year. Its once nurtured militant groups and current nemesis have only been bolstered to continue targeting the Pakistani state institutions. Despite frequent militant attacks which has left Pakistans internally security highly vulnerable, Islamabad refuses to learn from its mistakes and continues to employ terrorism as a policy against its neighbours, particularly India in Kashmir. The recent surge in terrorist activities in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, carried out by Pakistan-based and sponsored militants, reflects the persistence of this approach. As such, while Pakistan may launch numerous internal anti-terrorism campaigns, as long as it maintains this duplicity and continues to support externally focussed terrorist groups like those targeting India, it will struggle to achieve internal stability and will remain synonymous with terrorism. The sooner it learns this hard reality, the better it will for Pakistan. Turkish Airlines, Turkiyes flag carrier, cancelled its flights to and from Beirut on Sunday due to security concerns, the countrys NTV broadcaster reported. The cancellation of two flights follows recent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, according to the NTV. Tickets for flights from Istanbul to Beirut are currently unavailable on the Turkish Airlines website, though bookings for flights on Monday remain open, Xinhua news agency reported. Earlier, about 100 Israeli warplanes struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rockets and missile launcher barrels to be launched at the country, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday. Advertisement The strikes targeted more than 40 launch areas in southern Lebanon, which began before dawn, the IDF said, adding that most of the launchers were aimed at northern Israel, with some directed toward central Israel. Whoever hurt us we hurt them, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement. Meanwhile, Lebanese military sources said that three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others injured on Sunday following Israeli bombings in Lebanon. The sources, who requested anonymity, reported that two Hezbollah members died in an airstrike targeting a house in al-Tiri, a village in Lebanons border area. Another Hezbollah member was killed and three others were wounded in an Israeli raid on the outskirts of Deir Seryan in Lebanon. Additionally, a member of the Amal Movement was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in Khiam, a village in the southeast. The sources also reported that three other individuals, including a displaced Syrian, were wounded in an airstrike on the city of Tyre in Lebanon. The Israeli strikes were a response to a large-scale attack, carried out by Hezbollah on Sunday with hundreds of drones and rockets. Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that it had launched drones and rockets from various positions, crossing the Lebanese-Palestinian border to its intended targets, declaring its military operation for the day complete. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt the Israeli aggression. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) issued a joint appeal for a ceasefire and restraint from further escalation in light of the recent developments along the Blue Line. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have intensified since an Israeli raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut on July 30, which killed seven Hezbollah members, including senior military commander Fouad Shokor. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had previously promised a severe response to the Israeli action. "We have dozens of meals everyday," says Ankit Gupta, who is the co-founder of 'Burma Burma' Restaurant and Tea Room, Indias only Pan India specialty Burmese restaurant. With his family roots in Burma (present-day Myanmar), Ankit made sure to carry a bit of his lineage to India. When he co-founded 'Burma Burma' with his childhood friend and businessman Chirag Chhajer, the idea was to make Burmese immigrants in India feel closer to home, and to present an eclectic mix of traditional flavours with a modern touch. A decade later, they have successfully fulfilled the task. "How then do you not gain weight?" one asks, curious about how the multiple meal plan works on ones body. "You see the food? It is light, snackable and healthy," he says. It is indeed true. Burmese cuisine is one that promises taste with health. Steamed vegetables, rice, soups, and salads form an important part of Burmese cuisine. This is why when the restaurant was launching a new menu, celebrating 10 successful years of operation, they brought in inspiration from various parts of Burma from the hilly terrains of Kachin to the bustling streets of Yangon and the borderlands of Kokang. They also took note from the different eating and cooking practices be it the tribal cooking methods or the family heirloom and curated a menu of their own. From the Burmese highways, where food must be quick, easy and on-the-go, came the Highway Meal Parcel From Yangon (steamed rice and curry, accompanied with a salad and fresh herbs). Salads too, take centre stage with dishes like Siman Thoke from the Prom tribe in the Shan region, made with chickpea tofu shreds and raw papaya, and a Steamed Rice Tofu Salad from Yangon. A touch of sustainability comes from the monasteries of Bago, in the form of Kho Poong with Pebok Chet, a one-pot dish, among others. Refreshing Burmese drinks have been incorporated to complete the meals - Mont Let Saung, by the traditional Burmese cooler from the town of Inle, with palm jaggery, coconut milk, and toasted coconut shavings while the Durian Float highlights Burmas infamous durian fruit with a blend of durian banana milk, black grass jelly, and nata de coco and so on. Their desserts are a sweet ode to Burma too the Burmese Milk Tea Cheesecake - infused with Burmese tea and topped with brown butter streusel, Burmese Tropical Fruit Pavlova with coconut Chantilly, tropical fruit salsa, mango gel, ginger coconut ice cream, and mango passion caviar, and more. Steamed Rice Tofu Salad | Ashish Kumar When planning his first Burmese restaurant, Ankit wanted it to be a true ode to his lineage and so, in 2011, he undertook his first visit to Burma to explore the idea of a speciality restaurant. His mother and her family who were brought up in Burma had a great influence on him. This inspired him to further understand the country and its culinary landscape. He travelled across Burma eating at the homes of friends and family, explored street food culture across different regions including Mandalay, Yangon and Sagaing, visited local markets to source ingredients, and connected with the locals. Armed with recipes and extensive research from his visit, he then returned to India, ready to bring the experience here. To test the customer feedback, he participated in several pop-ups in Mumbai and Goa presenting a wide selection of dishes over the next three years. It was then that the restaurant finally saw light and had a Burmese menu that was as authentic as possible. The Ten-Year Trail dine-in menu will be served in the restaurants from August 12 to September 30. First opened in 2014, Burma Burma is currently present in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata with a pan-India expansion plan. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has set September 1 deadline for telecom companies to block messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links and call-back numbers that are not registered. Currently, only headers and templates are registered with telecom companies and the content of the messages are not included. From September 1, telcos including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are required to verify the content of such messages, following which non-registered content will be blocked. Telcos have sought to extend the deadline, saying their DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) platforms need to be updated. The message content gets registered in these plaforms. However, TRAI pointed out that enough time was allotted for the transition. In total, Indian users get around 1.5 to 1.7 billion commercial messages daily. The latest move could affect genuine financial notifications if the content is not registered with the telcos. The DLT platforms were first set up in March 2021, when transmission of unregistered messages were disrupted. The latest move could result in a similar disruption. Innovations centring around Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and IoT (Internet of Things) are cutting across sectors and are going to play an important role in the future. It should be our aim to leverage these technologies for both personal and professional use. For instance, in sectors such as healthcare and transportation IoT sensors and the use of IoT have emerged as very important technology. Besides this, in the automotive sector, there are a lot of innovations which are coming up around clean energy space... These observations were made by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures and Co-Founder Infosys while announcing the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) the 20th edition of its flagship India Innovation Summit- Innoverge 2024' which will be held in Bengaluru from 4th to 6th September 2024. These thoughts were also echoed in by Kamal Bali, the President and MD Volvo Group India, who pointed out that in every sector the changes in the technology legacy system are so many that new initiatives are required. We have been talking about industry 4.0 for many years but today we are talking about industry 5.0. In our automotive sector the kind of shift we are observing in terms of technology innovations we have not gone through in the last 100 years. We had to start with a prime mover IC engine that was produced 130 years ago will become much lower in terms of demand. However it will still continue as there would be certain clean fuels that will be used on the IC engine. For instance, we are looking at Hydrogen as a fuel for the IC engine. This innovation summit is going to look at some of the examples and innovations of IC engine with Hydrogen. The pace of change is very dramatic as far as new innovations are concerned and we are trying to capture such innovations across sectors, remarked Bali. The theme for the 20th edition of CII's flagship India Innovation Summit- Innoverge 2024 will be India@100: Building for a Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive India. Over three days, the summit will bring together essential components of a thriving innovation ecosystemuniversities, major corporations, startups, policymakers, and multi-stakeholder collaborationsemphasizing the pivotal role of institutions and accelerators from emerging regions in fostering inclusive and scalable innovation. The event will also host thought leadership addressing an inclusive ecosystem in Ten different sectors such as Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, Mobility-Automotive and Transportation, Semiconductors, Tourism and Hospitality, Healthcare and Med Tech, Energy Transition/Sustainability, Education and Skilling, Space sector, Agri and Food, Retail and E-Commerce. The summit will be addressed by CEOs, industry experts and distinguished academia. The summit will aim at harnessing innovation for organizational growth where attendees will get to learn from experts about the best ways to invest in innovation and learn how businesses are adopting high-end technology to maximize business outcomes. The summit's program will also include a conference, Tech Showcase, Apollo Health-tech (a platform to pitch ideas), Innoverge Recognitions, products, international collaborations and many more. The government of Karnataka will be the Partner State for 2024, and will be addressed by stakeholders from Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology and Large and Medium Scale Industries and Infrastructure Development from the Karnataka government. Days after resigning from the post of general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists following sexual assault allegations, actor Siddique filed a complaint with Kerala police against Revathi Sampath on Monday. Siddique reportedly called the allegations a publicity stunt. The actor, who is currently in Ooty for a films shooting, reportedly filed the complaint with the state police chief via email. In the complaint, the actor alleged Revathi Sampath had first levelled the allegations against him in 2019, during the #MeToo movement, and she only accused him of using offensive words then. Siddique alleged Sampath had changed her stand after the release of Hema committee report and there was some agenda behind the allegations. Initially, she alleged that I used offensive words against her. But now, she is alleging that I sexually assaulted her. She has changed her allegations against me when the Hema Committee report came out, Siddique said in his complaint. Siddique resigned from AMMA on Sunday following the allegations, a day after conducting a press meet to explain the associations stand on the Hema committee report. Revathi Sampath had said she contacted Siddique when she was 21. The senior actor told her to come to the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram to meet him. "There, he locked me in the room and sexually abused me. I had to escape from there," she added. The actress said she had raised the complaint before too but nothing happened. Sampath added that she was expelled from movies and hence decided to come forward once again with the allegations. Sampath said she had evidence against Siddique and would proceed legally. Sampath sought assurance from authorities that justice would be served. Ever since the Justice Hema Committee report on harassment faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry was released, there have been calls from several quarters to initiate action against the guilty. The report has recorded explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation and ill-treatment of female professionals. It also alleged that a "criminal gang" was controlling the industry where unyielding women were squeezed out. The panel report also alleged there was a "power nexus" consisting of a handful of producers, directors, actors and production controllers. The commission was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case involving actor Dileep to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam cinema. A junior artist in the Malayalam film industry has accused actor Baburaj of sexual assault, alleging that he invited her to his Aluva home and took advantage of her. However, the actor has rejected the allegations, saying he knew that he would be targeted next after similar allegations were raised against prominent Malayalam film artists. This comes after the release of Hema Committee Report, which revealed alleged abuse of women in the state film industry. The woman claimed that the actor told her a director and filmmaker were at his house and she would be cast in a feature film. However, when she went there, Baburaj allegedly entered the room where she was resting and sexually assaulted her. She alleged that other women were assaulted by the actor but are keeping silent because of fear. Earlier, sexual harassment allegations were raised agaist director Ranjith by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra when she auditioned for Paleri Manikyam movie. Following this, actress Revathy Sampath alleged that actor Siddique sexually assaulted her and that she has proof against him. Revathy said she currently she has no plans to file a formal complaint against Siddique and will review her decision only if the government assures that she will get justice. She also alleged that actor Riyaz Khan made sexual advances over a phone call late at night. She said a photographer has gave her phone number to Riyaz without her permission and the actor allegedly asked her if she was interested in a sexual relationship. On Sunday, a 2018 post by casting director Tess Joseph resurfaced, wherein she had accused actor and CPI(M) MLA Mukesh of constantly harassing her when she was 20 years old. On Monday, actress Minu Muneer alleged that actors in the industry had demanded compromises in order to gain membership in the actors' organisation, AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists). She alleged that actors Jayasurya, Mukesh, Idavela Babu and Maniyanpilla Raju misbehaved with her. The comes in the backdrop of Hema Committee Report, which revealed alleged sexual abuses and harassments faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. Malayalam actress Minu Muneer has alleged that an actor in the industry has demanded compromises in order to gain membership in the actors' organisation, AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), according to reports from local media. The comes in the backdrop of Hema Committee Report, which revealed alleged sexual abuses and harassments faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. The actress has also alleged that actors Jayasurya, Idavela Babu, Mukesh and Maniyanpilla Raju misbehaved with her, according to Manorama Online. She said she opened up now because the state government urged victims to come forward. Recalling her ordeal in 2008, Minu claimed she first experienced such misbehaviour from Jayasurya during a film shooting in the Secretariat, alleging that the actor hugged and kissed her from behind and even invited her to his flat. She told media that she was afraid to speak up due to fear. She said by 2013, she acted in six movies and to get a membership in AMMA an actor only needs to be cast in three films. When she called up actor Idavela Babu, Minu alleged that he invited her to his flat to fill a form. While filling the form, he allegedly kissed her on the neck, following which she left the building immediately, the actress said. She alleged that later, actor Mukesh spoke to her inappropriately over phone and in person, and even invited her to his villa. Minu claimed that actor Maniyanpilla Raju misbehaved with her and spoke to her inappropritately while travelling in a vehicle. She went on to add that someone from the actors' association called her up and told her that she would not be given a membership. Following this, left for Chennai as she said was tired of such experiences. Nine prison officials, including Chief Jail Superintendent and a Jail Superintendent, were suspended on Monday for allegedly giving special treatment to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is currently in judicial custody in the Renukaswamy murder case. Kannada actor Darshan, who is imprisoned for the alleged murder of a fan, was in the news yet again on Sunday, after a picture of him sitting on a lawn inside the prison surfaced online. The jailed film star was seen smoking a cigarette and holding a mug in his hand while chatting with other inmates who sat by his side. ALSO READ | Darshan kept contact with rowdies across Karnataka, hid them amidst fan club ranks: Police The undated picture kicked up a storm online, as people were furious about the unexplained privileges a convict was getting. According to reports, a video of Darshan speaking to someone over a video call is also doing rounds online. Accused of the infamous Renukaswamy murder case, Darshan is held as an under-trial prisoner in Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara jail. Calling it a "lapse" on the part of the officials concerned, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara ordered a probe. As many as seven prison officials were suspended as of Monday. Already seven officers have been suspended. After gathering more information after visiting the place, the Chief Jail Superintendent Sheshumurthy and Superintendent Mallikarjun Swamy have been suspended as it was a lapse on their part, the Minister said. Other officers who have been suspended apart from Chief Jail Superintendent V Seshumurthy and Jail Superintendent Mallikarjun Swamy are jailers Sharan Basappa Amingad and Prabhu S Khandelwal, assistant jailers L S Kuppeswamy, Srikanth Talwar, head warders Venkappa, Sampath Kumar and warder K Basappa. Why is Darshan in jail? Renukaswamy, the 33-year-old auto driver who was allegedly kidnapped from Chitradurga and murdered at a shed by a group hired by Kannada actor Darshan. ALSO READ | Renukaswamy's torture device bought online by accused to hurt loan defaulters, suspect police; Darshan confesses of having paid Pradosh Renukaswamy reportedly sent obscene messages to Pavithra Gowda, for souring Darshan's relationship with his wife. Gowda tipped off Darshan, who hired members of one of his fan clubs to track down and kidnap Renukaswamy. His body was found in Bengaluru on June nine. A total of 17 people including Darshan along with his friend Pavithra Gowda are currently in judicial custody in connection with the murder case. Amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Malayalam actors emerging, the actors' organisation, AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists) may get actor Jagadish as its new secretary. Jagadish said that strong action should be taken against the alleged perpetrators. This development comes after actor Siddique stepped down as AMMA secretary following sexual assault allegations by actress Revathy Sampath. She has claimed that she has proof against the actor but currently she has no plans to file a formal complaint and will review her decision only if the government assures that she will get justice. The executive meeting of AMMA scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed as actor Mohanlal would not be able to attend. Earlier, Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra alleged that director Ranjith sexually harassed her when she auditioned for Paleri Manikyam movie. A junior artist in the Malayalam film industry on Monday accused actor Baburaj of sexual assault, alleging that he invited her to his Aluva home and took advantage of her. However, the actor has rejected the allegations. On Monday, actress Minu Muneer alleged that actors Jayasurya, Mukesh, Idavela Babu and Maniyanpilla Raju misbehaved with her. On Sunday, a 2018 post by casting director Tess Joseph resurfaced, wherein she had accused actor and CPI(M) MLA Mukesh of constantly harassing her when she was 20 years old. A day after actor-politician Kangana Ranauts remarks on farmers protests triggered a controversy, the BJP on Monday clarified that her comments do not reflect the partys views. The party said Kangana has been directed to not make such remarks in future. The Mandi MP, in a video shared on X on Sunday, had suggested that the farmers' protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation in the country if the top leadership was not strong enough. She further alleged that bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place during the farmers' protest. Kangana Ranaut: Bangladesh like anarchy could have happened in India also like in the name of Farmers protest. Outside forces are planning to destroy us with the help of insiders. If it wouldn't have been foresight of our leadership they would have succeded. pic.twitter.com/05vSeN8utW Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) August 25, 2024 The All India Kisan Sabha condemned Ranauts remarks saying she was trying to please her "external and internal bosses who want to devour agriculture". As the controversy raged, the BJP expressed its disagreement with Ranauts statement saying she is neither permitted nor authorized to make statements on the party's policy issues. "The statement made by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut in the context of the farmers' movement is not the opinion of the party, it said in a statement. The party further said it is committed to follow the principles of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas' and social harmony. The Congress, meanwhile, demanded that BJP expel Ranaut from party if it disagrees with her statements. "No leader till date has used the words Kangana Ranaut has used against the farmers. When Kangana's statement created outrage, the BJP was asked about its official stand," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said. Shrinate said Ranaut doesnt have the right to sit in parliament and that she should apologise to the farmers. CBI sleuths on Monday started grilling former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) Sandip Ghosh and ex-medical superintendent and vice principal Sanjay Vashisth in connection with their ongoing probe into alleged financial irregularities in the institute, an officer of the agency said. Ghosh, whose Beliaghata residence was searched by CBI officers on Sunday, appeared at the central agency's office in Salt Lake on Monday morning with files and documents, he added. Vashisth, whose house was also raided by the CBI officers, appeared before the central agency's detectives at Nizam Palace, the officer said, adding that a forensic medicine department professor was also called for questioning at the same office. "After yesterday's search operations, we have several questions for them," the officer told PTI. On Sunday, the CBI launched simultaneous search operations on the premises of Ghosh, Vashisth and 13 others in and around Kolkata in connection with their probe into alleged financial irregularities in the medical establishment, officials said. The anti-corruption unit of the CBI also searched the residences and offices of those engaged in supplying materials for the management and care of patients. According to a complaint lodged by Akhtar Ali, former deputy superintendent of RGKMCH, Ghosh, during his tenure as the principal of the hospital, along with his associates, had issued tenders for the construction of food stalls, cafes, canteens, and urinals without the permission of the health department and the college council. Initial probe revealed that three traders got these "illegal" tenders, the officer said. A postgraduate trainee woman doctor was allegedly raped and murdered in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9, following which a Kolkata Police civic volunteer was arrested. The gruesome crime resulted in nationwide protests by doctors and citizens. On the direction of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI registered cases into the killing as well as alleged financial irregularities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to US President Joe Biden over phone and discussed a range of regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. In a post on X, Modi said he reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability. We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh, the prime minister said. In a statement, the Prime Ministers Office said Modi conveyed his appreciation for President Bidens deep commitment the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity, it said. The PMO said Modi briefed Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine. Modi also reiterated Indias consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy and expressed full support for early return of peace and stability. The two leaders also expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasised restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh, it said. Both Modi and Biden further reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad. How Buffalo Schools can open a new $40 million commissary a building in which fresh, diverse meals could be prepared, chilled and delivered to both district and charter schools across the city is vital to the future of about 38,000 students, many of whom dont take their next meal for granted. That is one thing all School Board members and district administrators agree upon. At a moment when progress toward that goal was possible, verbal sparring among board members during a meeting Wednesday derailed discussion and ignited underlying tensions. Confusion about a late-submitted resolution on a new commissary reached a boiling point when Paulette Woods and Jennifer Mecozzi, board members since 2016, yelled over each other for about 10 seconds, shortly after a disagreement between President Sharon Belton-Cottman and Terrance Heard. Several board members then apologized to the districts cabinet in the audience at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts for the public disarray. We have to talk to each other, Mecozzi said, exasperated. This, right here, is clear-cut miscommunication. 'Enough is enough': Buffalo Schools, City of Buffalo criticized for commissary project Shovels were supposed to break ground in September 2023 on a new central food hub for Buffalo Schools. Slated to open in fall 2025, the facility would be a headquarters to prepare fresh, healthy meals to serve 28,000 children in 60 schools. Instead, students will continue to eat mostly processed foods for the foreseeable future. The board resolution proposed that Superintendent Tonja M. Williams Knight renegotiate with McGuire Development, the local developer that contracted with the district in the projects infancy two years ago, on a lease agreement. The one-page resolution essentially laid the framework for Williams Knight to engage the developer with a plan that did not require the City of Buffalos involvement. The resolution pointed to specific accountability measures to which the School Board wanted Williams Knight to hold McGuire in a new agreement, such as milestones, proof of financing and maximum cost. Armed with completed construction designs, McGuire has waited the entire summer on the school district to determine the next step while being unable to recoup the $1.8 million it has spent on the development plan. Money and timing Presentation was part of the problem. North District representative Cindi McEachon, the resolutions sponsor, submitted it to board members about 24 hours before Wednesday nights meeting, well shy of the 48-hour advance deadline. The timing was decried by several of her peers. Throughout the hourlong discussion, the board appeared to lack a general understanding of what approving the resolution would accomplish. They conflated the resolutions stated purpose a procedural step to bring life to a stagnant project with big-picture concerns of the roughly $40 million endeavor. Cuts, addbacks and expectations: Inside Buffalo Schools' nearly $1.2 billion budget Superintendent Tonja M. Williams said she heeded feedback and managed to keep a wide range of priorities in place despite the financial cliff of Covid-19 relief funds' expiration and a need to "right-size" the district. Money was the root of the conflict. Belton-Cottman and Woods shared a late-breaking revelation from their sources within the state Education Department, who said alternative state funding for the project might be available. The state was asking, they said months ago, Why is Buffalo not asking for aid? Belton-Cottman said. Woods accused the district of putting the cart before the horse and not having a solid plan. What is two weeks to get it right and have unanimous support and respect for the community? she asked. Parents groups say Buffalo schools commissary project has stalled Leaders of three Buffalo Schools parent groups published a petition that seeks to raise public awareness that the new commissary is far less certain to move forward. Chief Financial Officer Jim Barnes and Chief Operating Officer David Hills insisted they confirmed with the state twice in the past two years, including once in the last six months, that a new commissary building does not qualify for building aid. The resolutions sponsor said funding discussions could still carry on. If we voted on this tonight and chose to move forward, McEachon said, this doesnt change that communications can continue about a third option for funding. Because the board voted to waive the 48-hour rule, the resolution which originally had seven co-sponsors required a supermajority, or six votes of the nine, to pass. It received five, as a few of the original sponsors got cold feet. Why is this so hard? What is the most responsible path to make a new commissary a reality? Decision-makers believe pressure to meet an urgent need given the citys high child poverty rate and an inadequate current facility while working within the constraints of the district budget and by the rules of the state. Through two years of formal discussion and rising cost estimates, the magnitude of the project and risks of getting it wrong have loomed. Williams Knight said it is one of the biggest individual projects the district has weighed. Its $40 million price tag rivals some of the citys biggest recent endeavors, such as the $60 million development cost of the Northland Workforce Training Center by the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation in 2017. The district has the money to pay for the commissary, but the $31 million of surplus in the districts food budget is limited in how it can be spent. It cannot be used to purchase a building, Barnes said, but it can pay off a lease. The food budget surplus has, for a few years, far exceeded the cap allowed by the state, and Barnes said it should be spent soon to avoid penalty. If the School Board can drum up state support, then Woods believes at least some of the $31 million could be used in other areas, such as paying teachers and repairing aging buildings. Long-term efforts by Hills, Ruth Conner of the districts Child Nutrition Services Department and leaders from Plant Services have pushed the project close to the shovel-ready stage, with McGuire Development as the designated developer. Because district administrators could not settle on its strategy to access the new commissary it first tried a lease-to-purchase effort banned by state education law, then was balked at by the City of Buffalo when it asked them to hold title on a straight purchase its original agreements with McGuire expired. We are causing the problem for McGuire because we do not have the authority to start lease negotiations, said Barnes, speaking on behalf of district administration. The last resolution proposed by the School Board had directed the district to pursue a purchase agreement. Pleas for better food, wellness grow louder as Buffalo Schools commissary project stalls Parents and students believe reliance on largely processed, frozen food will cause Buffalo's academic achievement to continue to lag, spark further behavior and safety concerns, and allow the city's child poverty rate to remain around the 40% reported by the state comptroller. A contingent of board members was not the only group to ask for a pause. An improved school meal solution has been part of decade-long advocacy for student wellness by parent leaders, spearheaded by Jessica Bauer Walker, Khadijah Hussein and others. As community speakers Wednesday, three parent leaders pumped the brakes on the resolution. Frustrated that their input, and student voices, were absent from the resolution, they requested for it be tabled. Although the resolution was not ultimately tabled, board members essentially acquiesced. Mecozzi and McEachon, in response, added a friendly amendment that mandated the superintendent continue to engage with the BPS stakeholder community to receive input on the development of the commissary. What happens now? In the aftermath of Wednesdays messy meeting, the path forward is fairly clear. In the next month, two meetings are likely. The Buffalo School Board, Williams Knight and district administrators are expected to meet with the parent advocates and, potentially, the larger community. Meanwhile, board members who claim state aid is possible will explore those options with Barnes, the chief financial officer. It is expected that a similar resolution on the commissary will be presented in September to the Buffalo School Board in another attempt to restart negotiations with McGuire. District administration believes it has done its due diligence and is resigned to not owning the building, a decision that saves it from starting the entire project from scratch. Approving the resolution would start positive action on probably the most feasible way this is going to get done, which is a lease, Barnes told the board. Lease payments for the commissary have been factored into the districts four-year financial plan. The School Board, at least for now, is not yet ready to give the green light. There are certain board members who are not comfortable at this point, Belton-Cottman said. We need to be comfortable to move this forward. The CBI team, which raided the premises of former principal of RG Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh in Kolkata, were made to wait for 75 minutes at his doorsteps before Ghosh finally let them in. The raid was carried out in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the hospital during his tenure as the principal. The CBI team of seven people, including a woman official, arrived at Sandip Ghosh's residence at around 6:50 am. However, the gate appeared locked, according to Anand Bazar Patrika online. Though the officials knocked on the door and rang the bell, there was no response. All efforts to contact Ghosh were unsuccessful as he did not attend the phone call. The officials waited until one of the CBI officials approached the Beleghata Police Station to discuss the next steps. However, around 8:05 am, Ghosh finally opened the door and let the officials in. Also read: CBI raids RG Kar former principal Sandip Ghosh's residence, 14 other locations over financial irregularities #CBI leaves residence of Dr Sandip Ghosh after conducting search for more than 12 hrs. Ghosh has been questioned into alleged financial irregularities in #RGKarMedicalCollegeHospital. Seeing him at the gate the crowd gathered infrnt his house chanted Chor slogan infront of CBI https://t.co/Lu4W2BaTXn pic.twitter.com/NcNuj1IOMR Rajesh Saha (@Journo_Rajesh) August 25, 2024 The search went on for 12 hours and 40 minutes. The CBI detectives left the former principal's Beleghata house at 8.46 pm with certain documents. However, another team of CBI officials entered the former principal's house around the afternoon, which triggered speculations. The officers also reportedly questioned Ghosh while the searches were being carried out. This was the ninth consecutive day of quizzing Ghosh in connection with the rape and murder case. To a reporter's query whether there was enough evidence, a CBI official said: "There is a lot." However, there is no official statement from the team in this regard. Besides Ghosh, the team also questioned vice-principal Saptarshi Chatterjee. The team has also raided the office of former vice-principal Sanjay Vashishth at his home in south Kolkatas Entally. There was also a CBI search at the Kestopur home of Debashis Som, the former forensic medicine demonstrator at RG Kar. Som was later summoned to the CBI office for questioning. The CBI registered a case of alleged financial irregularities at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College at the instructions of the Calcutta High Court. The High Court transferred the case to the central agency "in the interest of ensuring a comprehensive and unbiased inquiry" and directed the CBI to submit a progress report on the investigation within three weeks. Meanwhile, the accused in the rape and murder of the trainee doctor at R G Kar Hospital was subjected to a polygraph test on Sunday. The test was conducted at Kolkata's Presidency Jail where he has been lodged. Hamas has rejected new conditions put forward by Israel during the talks on a potential ceasefire in Gaza, diminishing chances for a thawing of tensions in the Middle East. Ten months on, Israel is not ready to end its military campaign in the Palestinian territory unless Hamas releases the remaining hostages taken by the militant group's October 7 attack. The talks are mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. One of the major issues raised by Hamas is the Israel's refusal to withdraw from the 14.5km-long Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's Egyptian border in the south. "We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions," Hamas official Osama Hamdan told a local TV news channel. He was referring to the Hamas's July agreement to begin talks on hostage release. Though White House said progress has been made in the latest round of talks, Hamas dismissed any hope in resuming the on-off ceasefire unless its demands are met. Hamas had said that they would not engage in talks directly and instead meet with senior Egyptian officials for updates. Armed men who took over a highway in Pakistan's Balochistan province shot dead 23 people after offloading them from buses and trucks in Musakhail district on Monday. The assailants reportedly checked their identities before firing at them. The incident happened on a highway in the Rarasham area of Musakhail. The armed men created a roadblock on a highway before stopping buses and trucks moving to and from Punjab. They checked the identities of the passengers before shooting them dead. "The dead are reportedly from Punjab," Musakhail Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar was quoted by Karachi-based newspaper Dawn. He added that assailants inspected the vehicles and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot. The senior police official said three of the victims were from Balochistan and the rest from Punjab. "Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot," Kakar added. Another senior official said the armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal. At least 10 trucks were set on fire after their drivers had been killed, the official added. Meanwhile, Reuters said a statement by the Balochistan Liberation Army group said its fighters had targeted military personnel travelling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified. However, Pakistan's interior ministry said the dead were civilians. The group has been fighting ethnic insurgency demanding the secession of resource-rich Balochistan from Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in a statement, vowing that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice. This isn't the first time such targeted attacks have happened in Pakistan. Last October unidentified gunmen fatally shot six labourers hailing from Punjab in Turbat in Balochistans Kech district. Police had then said that all victims belonged to different areas of southern Punjab, hinting that they were targeted for their ethnic background. In 2019, gunmen stopped a bus near Ormara near Gwadar district, and shot dead 14 people, including personnel of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guards, after checking their identities. In retaliation to Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region, Russia launched over 100 missiles and drones at Kyiv on Monday. At least five people were killed and major energy facilities were hit in the attack. Ukraine accused Russia of 'calculated attacks' targeting its power grids and critical infrastructure ahead of winter when people require electricity and heating the most. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's overnight barrage on Ukraine involved over 100 missiles and about 100 drones. "It was one of the biggest combined strikes...And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," he said. Zelenskyy said the energy sector suffered a lot of damage. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said 15 regions had sustained damage. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said there would have to be a Russian response to Ukraine's incursion. "Such hostile actions cannot remain without an appropriate response," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred Shaheds. Like most Russian strikes before, pic.twitter.com/0qNTGR98rR Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2024 Putin had said that Ukraine would receive a "worthy response". A Ukrainian drone hit a 38-storey residential building in Saratov, Russia. 4 people injured in the 9/11 style terrorist attack by Ukraine. Hope the retaliation is powerful! pic.twitter.com/f2BYj60LCy BALA (@erbmjha) August 26, 2024 Amid Russias massive strike, Zelenskyy called upon the Western partners to step up their assistance. "Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike...Across Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours operated in concert with our F-16s and air defence systems. If such unity has proven effective in the Middle East, it must work in Europe too," said the Ukrainian leader. Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations, he said. Morning in #Ukraine Kyiv residents took shelter in the subway as russia launched massive missile attacks across the country. pic.twitter.com/HVHGjikcG5 Olga Stefanishyna (@StefanishynaO) August 26, 2024 Zelenskyy said the US, UK, France and other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now. The Kremlin also dismissed any talks on negotiations. "The topic of negotiations at the moment has lost its relevance," said the spokesperson. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border on August 6 in a surprise attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the front. Mumbai, Aug 26 (PTI) More than 1.36 lakh employees of Central Railway and Western Railway are likely to benefit from the newly announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) of the Union Government, officials said on Monday. On Saturday, the Narendra Modi-led Centre approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for central government employees who joined service after January 1, 2004. Employees under National Pension Scheme opting for UPS will be eligible for an assured pension of 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months before superannuation; the minimum qualifying service has been kept at 25 years. Central Railway has 96,039 employees currently, of which 70,778, or 73.69 per cent, are New Pension Scheme subscribers, who will benefit from UPS, said general manager Ram Karan Yadav. "Out of 96,000 employees of Western Railway, about 66,000, or 70 percent, are New Pension Scheme subscribers. Majority of WR employees will benefit from UPS," informed Ashok Kumar Mishra, the zone's general manager in a media interaction at Churchgate. Railway officials said since the UPS is not market-linked like the NPS, it will end the uncertainty about the pension amount, which was the main concern of the employees. In UPS, since the government or employer contribution has increased to 18.5 per cent from existing 14 per cent under NPS, there will be some financial burden on the zonal railways, officials admitted. The current contribution of Central Railway is Rs 45.5 crores per month for all the employees who are covered under NPS, while it is Rs 42 crore for WR. Employees will be given the option to choose between NPS and UPS once details are received from the railway board, they added. The UPS will be implemented from April 1, 2025, and it is expected to benefit 23 lakh Central government employees. MUMBAI, India, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hettich, one of the world's largest manufacturers of furniture fittings gets BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Certification for its Onsys Hinges and KA Ball Bearing Drawer Runners. BIS certification is a pinnacle of trust & authenticity and it further validates the exceptional quality of these products. Commenting on this new development, Mr. Andre Eckholt, Managing Director of Hettich India said, "It is a matter of great pride to have received BIS Certification for two of our highest-selling products. With this certification, we continue to set industry benchmarks, demonstrating our unwavering dedication to quality and compliance." He added, "Achieving BIS certification after a thorough audit of our manufacturing processes and successful sample testing underscores the superlative quality of our products, inspiring trust among our customers and partners." Hettich manufactures its indigenous products at state-of-the-art plants located in Indore and Vadodara, utilising the latest fully automated machinery from Germany. This advanced technology ensures flawless production of furniture fittings, right from raw materials to finished goods, while stringent quality checks guarantee consistency. It is a testament towards their commitment to 'Make in India. Make for the World' philosophy under the Government of India's clarion call for Atmanirbhar Bharat. Currently, the Onsys Hinges and KA Ball Bearing Drawer Runners have been BIS certified with other products to follow soon. About Hettich: Hettich is a 136-year-old family-owned German lifestyle brand, being one of the world's largest manufacturers of Furniture Fittings with a global turnover exceeding 1.5 billion euros. In India, Hettich started operations at the dawn of the new millennium and within a short span of time gained an undisputed leadership position in the Indian furniture fittings and hardware industry. Hettich's product portfolio comprises a repertoire of Furniture Fittings & Door Hardware made with cutting-edge German quality complemented by Wire Products, Aluminum Profiles, Shelving Systems, Built-in Appliances and Furniture Lights, thereby providing holistic fitting solutions for all residential and commercial spaces. It is also the recipient of 'Best Brands 2022 & 2023' by the Economic Times and the 'Most Trusted Brands of India 2023 & 2024' by Marksmen Daily recognitions for its unwavering customer trust and strong brand equity. Visit: https://www.hettichindiaonline.com/ Media Contact: Samina Zaidi Mob: +91 8655706940 Email: samina.zaidi@hettich.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2489197/HettichIndia.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2437651/HettichLogo.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, Aug 26 (PTI) In light of Telegram Chief Pavel Durov's arrest in Paris for offences related to his messaging app, IT Ministry has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs for an update on where things stand in the Indian context and if there are any violations here as well, sources said. An email query sent to IT Ministry on the issue, elicited no immediate reply. Sources, meanwhile, said, "In light of what has happened in France, IT Ministry has asked Ministry of Home Affairs to check on complaints pending against Telegram and what action can be taken." They pointed out that IT Ministry is not an investigating agency in this regard, and that even CERT-In under the Ministry focuses on cybersecurity offences not cybercrimes per se. "The basic question here is are there any complaints, is there similar situation in India, and what is the status, and what action is required," according to sources. Asked if Telegram, being a messaging app, can cite safe harbour clause, sources said in that case they will have to collaborate with law enforcement agencies, provide information where needed and assist with any investigation. Telegram's founder and CEO was detained at Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform was used for offences like money laundering and drug trafficking. A dual citizen of France and Russia, Durov, 39, was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday after landing in France from Azerbaijan, as per reports. Kochi, Aug 25 (PTI) Noted actor Siddique on Sunday resigned as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A.) following sexual assault allegations raised by a woman actor on August 24. Talking to a television channel, the senior actor said he had sent his resignation letter to the President of the organisation, Mohanlal. "Yes. I have tendered my official resignation to the president of the organisation, Mohanlal. Since there were allegations against me, I have decided not to continue in the post and resigned," Siddique said. A female actor had on Saturday alleged Siddique had sexually abused her after inviting her for a movie discussion. The allegations came in the wake of the churn in the Malayalam film industry following the release of Justice Hema Committee report, which pointed towards numerous incidents of casting couch and sexual abuse in the field. The report had revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty. Mumbai, Aug 26 (PTI) Malayalam star Parvathy Thiruvothu on Monday said greatness is all about how people feel when you are around, and not about mere words, and that's something common between the late Irrfan Khan and her "Thangalaan" co-star Vikram. The actor, who is paired opposite Vikram's Thangalaan in the Tamil period drama, made her Hindi film debut with 2017's romcom "Qarib Qarib Singlle" in which she shared the screen with Irrfan. At the press event of "Thangalaan", Parvathy was asked whether there are any similarities between her two colleagues. "It's definitely the generosity I see in both of them. Irrfan used to help me out with things because Hindi is not my native language. He used to help me get into that space... "You are as good as the other person on set... I find that greatness comes from that saying about people who don't remember what you might have said or given them. It's about how you make them feel. That's the similarity in Irrfan sir and Vikram," she told reporters here. Parvathy, who plays Gangamma in the Pa Ranjith directorial, recalled how Vikram would make everyone's day on set when he would share 'kamarkattu', a traditional South Indian candy. "It's called kamarkattu. It has jaggery palm sugar... He'd just be walking around, he'd shake hands and suddenly you have a toffee in your hand. He just brightens the mood for everybody... I miss getting all the toffees," she added. Both on screen and off screen, Vikram was like a true leader, said the actor. "Everybody's like 'Have you eaten or not?' But (he would ask) genuinely. There's a concern about how everyone is doing. Our shooting location was very difficult. It was one of the harshest locations. It was all real locations that they shot in. He had everyone's back. In that sense, he was our Thangalaan. He was leading the pack." Set in the 19th century, "Thangalaan" is based on the real story of the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) during its discovery by the British, who exploited and looted it for their own gain. The film, which released in the South on August 15, is set to have a north India release with the Hindi version arriving in theatres on August 30. Produced by Green Studio, "Thangalaan" also stars Malavika Mohanan and British actor Daniel Caltagirone. Jerusalem, Aug 26 (AP) Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signalled their most intense exchange in months was over. The cross-border attacks came as high-level talks resumed in Egypt aimed at a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that also would ease regional tensions. The Hamas and Israeli delegations later left Cairo, and an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy said the talks were expected to continue. Hezbollah claimed to hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, and Israel claimed its dozens of strikes had been preemptive to avert a larger attack. Neither offered evidence. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attack, a response to Israel's killing of a top militant commander in Beirut last month, had been delayed to give the Gaza cease-fire talks a chance, and so fellow Iran-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether to attack Israel all at once. Israeli and U.S. military deployment also played a role. We will now reserve the right to respond at a later time if the results of Sunday's attack aren't sufficient, Nasrallah said, adding that allied Houthi rebels in Yemen -- and Iran itself -- had yet to respond. But he told the Lebanese people: At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax. Israel and Hezbollah said they aimed only at military targets. Israel said no military target was hit by Hezbollah but that one soldier with its navy was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor for incoming fire, or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the centre of the country. I repeat this is not the end of the story," he added. Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel's international airport closed and diverted flights for about an hour. Israel's military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said about 100 Israeli planes struck 270 targets, 90% of them rocket launchers aimed at northern Israel. He said they were investigating the percentage of incoming rockets and drones intercepted but said the vast majority were thwarted. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a large number of drones. Some Israelis were shaken. In the northern city of Acre, retired teacher Saadia Even Tsur, 76, said he was at the synagogue and arrived home five minutes after his bedroom was damaged. I went up and saw the size of the miracle that happened to me, he said. A window was broken and debris was on the bed. Lebanon's caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam, after an emergency government meeting, said officials were feeling a bit more optimistic about a de-escalation after both sides confirmed that the operations had ended. President Joe Biden was closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon," according to Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council. The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and ordered both US carrier strike groups in the region to stay. The US military has been building up its forces across the region in recent weeks. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown, arrived in Israel late Sunday for meetings on what the Israeli military called joint preparations in the region as part of the response to threats in the Middle East. Danny Citrinowicz, an expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, said Hezbollah might be trying to balance the equation without escalating into war. Each side hopes their narrative will be sufficient for them to declare victory and avoid a wider confrontation, he said. Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006, is believed to be far more powerful now. The United States and Israel estimate it has some 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel. The group has also developed drones capable of evading Israel's defenses, as well as precision-guided munitions. Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major Hezbollah attack. It has an extensive multi-tiered missile defense system, and it is backed by a US-led coalition that helped it shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired from Iran earlier this year. Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which has also threatened to retaliate against Israel for the killing of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not said whether it was involved. Iranian state media played up the Hezbollah attack, calling it a success, but there was no immediate comment from Iranian officials. The US and other mediators see a cease-fire in Gaza as key to averting a wider Mideast war. Hezbollah has said it will halt its strikes on Israel if there is a cease-fire. The talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at bridging gaps in a proposal for a truce and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas. The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. The Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations. In the occupied West Bank, Israel's military said it killed two people who allegedly tried to run over soldiers in Ariel, slightly hurting one. (AP) NSD NSD Singapore, Aug 26 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday called on Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and discussed ways to further take forward the bilateral strategic partnership. The four ministers are here for the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) to be held on Monday to discuss bilateral cooperation and exchange views on issues of mutual interests. "Honoured to jointly call on President @Tharman_S of Singapore. Conveyed the warm greetings of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister @narendramodi. Value his guidance on ways to further take forward the India-Singapore Strategic Partnership," Jaishankar said in a post on X after the meeting. They also met Prime Minister Wong. "Delighted to call on Prime Minister @LawrenceWongST of Singapore today morning along with my colleagues @nsitharaman, @PiyushGoyal and @AshwiniVaishnaw. We conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi. Appreciate PM Wongs continued engagement with the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable," Jaishankar said. At the ISMR, the four leaders will be joined by their Singaporean counterparts and will review the progress from the first ISMR held in New Delhi in September 2022. The ISMR is being held here ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's likely visit to the city-state next month. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong will lead the Singapore delegation. The Singaporean delegation will also comprise Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng, and Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat. The ISMR is a unique mechanism established to set a new agenda for India-Singapore bilateral relations. The meeting will enable both sides to review various aspects of their strategic partnership and identify new avenues to further elevate and broaden it, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said on Saturday. Dhaka, Aug 26 (PTI) Bangladesh's interim government chief Muhammad Yunus on Monday met the countrys Hindu community and vowed to promote interfaith harmony as he hosted a reception for them coinciding with Janmashtami. The minority Hindu population has faced vandalisation of their business and properties and devastation of Hindu temples in the students violence that ensued for days following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5. "There can't be any divisions among people in our country. We are equal citizens. The interim government is determined to protect the rights of every citizen of the country," the chief advisers (CA) office quoted Yunus as saying. According to the statement, Yunus expected to build Bangladesh where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded. Bangladesh is a large family where the responsibility of the government is to protect the rights of every citizen, his office quoted him as saying on X. Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Bashudeb Dhar, Ramkrishna Mission of Dhakas principal Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, and Hindu community leaders including Kajol Debnath and Monindra Kumar Nath were present during the meeting. We spoke with Professor Yunus for almost an hour and he said all Bangladeshis are members of a single family. We will eliminate any sense of communalism, Dhar told PTI. Yunus greeted the countrys Hindu community leaders and promised to promote interfaith harmony, the statement said. The CA office statement said the Hindu leaders greeted Yunus on the auspicious occasion, saying they sought blessings of the Lord Sri Krishna for the harmony and prosperity of the nation and the interim government. Hindu leaders praised the Chief Adviser's recent comments at the Dhakeshwari Mandir, a sacred temple in Old Dhaka, saying it would help build a non-communal society in the country and ensure religious harmony in the society, the statement read. Simultaneously, they raised the issue of Hindu property grabbing, including the land of Hindu temples. The reception came as tens of thousands of Hindus celebrated Janmashtami by rallying at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple and other temples and Hindu monasteries by singing Vedic hymns, kirtans and bhajans. Janmashtami is a public holiday in Bangladesh to mark the birth celebration of Lord Krishna. Kathmandu, Aug 26 (PTI) Nepal maintains friendly relations with both India and China in a "balanced" manner, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Monday, underlining that occasional problems between neighbours are "natural" and can be resolved through "open dialogue". Speaking at a book release function here, Oli said, "We don't allow our land to be used against any of our neighbours." He said the Himalayan nation maintains "good and friendly relations with both neighbours in a balanced manner by observing honesty and neutrality." The 72-year-old four-time prime minister said it is natural to occasionally have problems with neighbours. "We can resolve them through open dialogue," he said. "The problem will not arise if we seek justifiable and appropriate solutions on the basis of facts and proofs by maintaining international obligations without elaborating on the matter much," Oli said while speaking as the chief guest at the book release function. "We adhere to the principles of the United Nations and seek neutral and peaceful solutions to the problems," he said, asserting that it is not appropriate to always blame geopolitics for hiding internal weakness. He also asked the Indian side to accept the report prepared by the Nepal-India Eminent Persons Group (EPG Report) which includes among other things the matter relating to the review of the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950. He said it would facilitate dialogue to sort out border issues and other matters. Recalling the signing of the Trade and Transit Treaty with China during his previous tenure as the prime minister, he said it was indeed a big achievement. Oli, widely regarded as pro-China, saw the signing of the 2016 Transit and Transport Agreement (TTA) which gave the landlocked Himalayan country access to Chinese sea and land ports for its foreign trade. Toronto, Aug 26 (AP) Canada's government on Monday announced it is imposing a 100 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles that matches US tariffs and follows similar plans announced by the European Commission. The announcement came after encouragement by US national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet ministers on Sunday. Sullivan is making his first visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Trudeau said Canada also will impose a 25 per cent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum. Actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace, he said. There was no immediate response from China. Chinese officials are likely to raise concerns about American tariffs with Sullivan as Beijing continues to repair its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. US President Joe Biden in May slapped major new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment. The US does believe that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues benefits all of us, Sullivan told reporters on Sunday. Biden has said Chinese government subsidies for EVs and other consumer goods ensure that Chinese companies don't have to turn a profit, giving them an unfair advantage in global trade. Chinese firms can sell EVs for as little as USD 12,000. China's solar cell plants and steel and aluminum mills have enough capacity to meet much of the world's demand. Chinese officials argue their production keeps prices low and would aid a transition to the green economy. We're doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world that recognise that this is a challenge that we are all facing, Trudeau said of the new tariffs. Unless we all want to get to a race to the bottom, we have to stand up. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada also will launch a 30-day consultation about possible tariffs on Chinese batteries, battery parts, semiconductors, critical minerals, metals and solar panels. China has a intentional state-directed policy of overcapacity and oversupply designed to cripple our own industry, Freeland said. We simply will not allow that to happen to our EV sector, which has shown such promise. The only Chinese-made EVs currently imported into Canada are from Tesla, made at the company's Shanghai factory. Canada "had to go with the US position, when you think about the economic integration that we have with the US. More than 75 per cent of our exports go to the US, said a former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques. This reflects the fear that the next president of the United States might be Donald Trump, and so they know we have to be pretty much aligned in all of this. Saint-Jacques said Canada can expect retaliation from China in other industries, adding that barley and pork are candidates because the Chinese can get it from other countries. China will want to send a message, he said. (AP) GSP Nice (France), Aug 25 (AP) The founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other offenses, French media reported on Sunday. Pavel Durov, a dual citizen of France and Russia, was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan, according to broadcasters LCI and TF1. Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs department, notified Durov, 39, that he was being placed in police custody, the broadcasters said. Durov's representatives couldn't be immediately reached for comment. French prosecutors declined to comment on Durov's arrest when contacted by The Associated Press on Sunday, in line with regulations during an ongoing investigation. French media reported that the warrant for Durov was issued by France at the request of the special unit at the country's interior ministry in charge of investigating crimes against minors. Those include online sexual exploitation, such as possession and distribution of child sexual abuse content and grooming for sexual purposes. Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in the wake of the Russian government's crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012. The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, adopting regulations that forced internet providers to block websites and cellphone operators to store call records and messages that could be shared with security services. In the increasingly repressive environment, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news. In 2018, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor moved to block Telegram over its refusal to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to fully restrict access to the app. Telegram continued to be widely used including by government institutions and the ban was dropped two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor said that Telegram was working with the Russian government to a certain extent and had removed more than 256,000 posts with prohibited content at Roskomnadzor's request. Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war, and deliver missile and air raid alerts. Telegram did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Sunday. A French judicial official suggested that Durov could appear before a judge later Sunday to determine whether he will remain in custody. The official wasn't authorised to be named publicly during an ongoing investigation. If the person concerned is to be brought before a judge today, it is only in the context of the possible extension of his police custody measure a decision that must be taken and notified by an investigating judge, the official said. Western governments have often criticised Telegram for lack of content moderating on the messaging service, which experts say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking and allowing the sharing of content linked to sexual exploitation of minors. Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is less secure (and) more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content, said David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher, who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation, at its Internet Observatory. In addition, Telegram appears basically unresponsive to law enforcement, Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none. In 2022, Germany issued fines of 5.125 million euros (USD 5 million) against the operators of Telegram for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said that Telegram FZ-LLC hasn't established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms. Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram over its failure to surrender data on neo-Nazi activity related to a police inquiry into school shootings in November. Russian government officials expressed outrage at Durov's arrest, with some highlighting what they said was the West's double standard on freedom of speech. In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned the Russian court's decision to block Telegram, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Do you think this time they'll appeal to Paris and demand Durov's release? Zakharova said in a post on her personal Telegram account. Officials at the Russian Embassy in Paris had requested access to Durov, Zakharova told Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti, but she added that French authorities view Durov's French citizenship as his primary one. In a statement to the AP earlier this month, Telegram said that it actively combats misuse of its platform. Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring and user reports in order to remove content that breaches Telegram's terms of service. Each day, millions of pieces of harmful content are removed, the company said. (AP) PY PY Beijing, Aug 26 (AP) China's military is carrying out armed patrols near the Myanmar border this week, where the government is concerned about potential fallout from fierce fighting in a civil war on the other side. Troops were deployed to Yunnan province in southwestern China on Monday to test their ability to maintain security in border areas, the military's Southern Theater Command said. An alliance of ethnic militias has dealt a series of setbacks to Myanmar's military in the country's northeast, which is near China. Five people were injured on the Chinese side in January by a stray artillery shell. Live-fire drills will be held from Tuesday to Thursday in four locations including two in Ruili city, the Yunnan government said. The units will carry out armed patrols and joint air-ground patrols to test their ability to mobilize quickly, block and control and strike together, the southern command said in a statement. The military previously held live-fire drills near the Myanmar border in November. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, said earlier this month that his country opposes chaos and war in Myanmar," according to Chinese state media. Beijing helped broker a cease-fire in January, but that fell apart in June when one member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched new attacks. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military government, alleged recently that foreign countries were backing the ethnic militias, a likely reference to China, which has long ties to the groups. Wang, who was on a visit to Myanmar, told Min Aung Hlaing that China opposes the attacks in Shan state, according to Myanmar state television. China's top diplomat also expressed hope that Myanmar will effectively safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in the country. The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar issued a reminder this month to citizens in Shan state to strengthen their security precautions and stay away from conflict zones or return to China. (AP) NSA NSA Gondia, Aug 26 (PTI) NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Monday said the Sharad Pawar-led party will stake claim to Tirora, Arjuni Morgaon assembly seats in Gondia and Tumsar in Bhandara. The Maha Vikas Aghadi, of which NCP (SP) is a part along with the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), will fight the upcoming assembly elections together and unseat the Eknath Shinde government, he asserted. "We will claim these three seats as we have sitting MLAs there," said the former state home minister, who was here to take part in a meeting of NCP (SP) workers. He also claimed Bhagyashree Atram, daughter of state minister Dharamrao Atram, had met Sharad Pawar and Jayant Patil and was desirous of contesting against her father from Aheri. Deshmukh refused to give a direct answer when asked if he would contest against Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West, only saying he would fight from whichever seat his party tells him to. Deshmukh slammed the Shinde government for rise in crimes against women and alleged law and order had collapsed in the state. He said the Ladki Bahin Yojana was an election gimmick, but added the scheme would not be closed if the MVA comes to power. The financial aid for women under the scheme will be raised from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3000 if the MVA comes to power, he added. Mumbai, Aug 25 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday said the Union government and BJP's economic comprehension had plummeted from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 1,500, an apparent reference to the party's talk about bringing back black money and depositing Rs 15 lakh in the accounts of people and the Rs 1,500 aid to women under the Maharashtra government's Ladki Bahin Yojana. "Look at their faulty economic model. They once talked about Rs 15 lakh for each and have now have reduced it to Rs 1,500 per month. When we were in power, the BMC had bank deposits worth Rs 92,000 crore. Now, an RTI query had found more than Rs 2,000 crore have been withdrawn by the civic body's administration. What sort of financial model is this under BJP regime." he questioned. Talking about an old statement of prime minister Narendra Modi about too much of BMC's funds being locked up in fixed deposits, Thackeray said, "It is inaccurate to oppose the increasing FDs. Entrusting all of Mumbai's work to a single industrialist is not advisable. Thanks to these FDs, we have been able to operate efficiently without raising taxes in the city." The projects undertaken by the Eknath Shinde government in the past two years have not been completed, he said, adding that concretization of roads is pending and there are corruption allegations in supply of vending machines and sanitary pads. Mumbai, Aug 26 (PTI) More than 50 lakh vehicles travelled on Atal Setu, the country's longest sea bridge, since it was opened for traffic on January 13 this year, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority said on Monday. In a release, the MMRDA said 50,04,350 vehicles, including BEST, NMMT and MSRTC's Shivneri buses, have travelled between January 13 and August 26 on the sea bridge linking Sewri in Mumbai and Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai, which suggests a daily average of 22,000 vehicles (over 227 days). "The vehicles comprise 47.40 lakh cars, 50,020 mini buses and light motor vehicles, 59,799 double-axle vehicles, 73,074 three-axle vehicles, 80,277 four-six axle vehicles and 503 oversized vehicles," a spokesperson said. The sea bridge was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 12, while it was thrown open to the public the next day. "The extraordinary usage highlights the bridge's role in easing congestion and reducing travel time between south Mumbai and key destinations such as Panvel, Pune, and Navi Mumbai. Atal Setu's impact extends beyond mere traffic management. It has significantly improved connectivity between south Mumbai and other major regions, including the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport," the release said. "The Worli-Sewri elevated road, now 75 per cent complete, will soon provide a rapid 5-10 minute connection from Worli Seaface to Atal Setu. The development of an elevated road between the Chirle Interchange and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway promises even faster commutes between South Mumbai, the western suburbs, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Pune, and the Mumbai-Goa Highway," it added. Imphal, Aug 26 (PTI) Manipur minister L Susindro said police would be deployed at petrol pumps in the state. Addressing a press conference, he warned fuel retailers of legal action if they refuse to sell fuel despite having stock. Susindro, the state's consumer affairs, food & public distribution minister, said several instances have come to the fore in which people after re-fueling have left the petrol pumps without payment. "Such incidents have led to many petrol pumps downing their shutters because of financial losses," he said. "We will be deploying police personnel and staff of the Food and Public Distribution Department at petrol pumps," he said, appealing to people not to indulge in extortion. With several petrol pumps closing down in the Imphal Valley, a severe fuel crisis has hit the region. "Legal action will be initiated against those petrol pump operators who refuse to sell fuel despite stocking it. There is enough fuel in the state," Susindro said. He also said that frequent landslides along the national highways have disrupted the transportation of LPG cylinders to the state, causing a shortage. Kolkata, Aug 26 (PTI) The Indian Coast Guard on Sunday night successfully carried out a rescue operation, saving 11 crew members from cargo ship MV ITT Puma which was en route from Kolkata to Port Blair, officials said, adding that the vessel sank 70 nautical miles south of Sagar Island due to inclement weather. According to a Coast Guard official on Monday, three crew members remain missing. "In an unprecedented night operation, Coast Guard personnel rescued 11 persons in a sea-air coordinated operation. MV ITT PUMA sunk, 70 nm south of Sagar Island," a Coast Guard spokesperson said. The challenging rescue involved coordinated efforts by Coast Guard ships Sarang and Amogh, as well as support from a Dornier aircraft, he added. A senior Coast Guard official said the Mumbai-registered ship with a carrying capacity of 75 metric tons sank around 80 km from Kolkata. "Information was received by Coast Guard Haldia from Sagar VTS (Vessel Tracking System) yesterday. Coast Guard Dornier aircraft located it at 9:30 pm and ICG ships Sarang and Amogh reached position at 9:45 pm and commenced search and rescue mission," the spokesperson said. Bahraich (UP), Aug 26 (PTI) The Forest Department in UP's Bahraich district is utilising elephant dung and urine to drive away a pack of wolves that has been terrorising the Mahsi tehsil. The wolves are believed to have been responsible for multiple attacks and the death of five children in the area in the last 40 days. IFS officer from Barabanki, Akashdeep Badhawan, who is leading the special operation, said, "We identified six wolves using high-frequency drone cameras. Out of these, three have already been captured. Our primary goal is to ensure the safety of villagers by first driving the wolves away from residential areas." The impacted area falls in the Terai region with dense forests in the northern reaches of the district, which also shares an international border with Nepal. Badhawan said the strategy put in place includes using elephant dung and urine from the Katarniaghat forest. "The dung is set afire to create a scent that simulates the presence of elephants. Wolves, which are pack hunters, tend to avoid large animals like elephants. "By creating this illusion, we aim to push them away from inhabited areas. We have also set up traps with bait in remote areas," he said. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh said the wolves have been attacking about two dozen villages in Mahsi tehsil since March. "Over the past 40 days, there have been approximately 30 attacks, resulting in the deaths of five children and injuries to more than 30 people. We have managed to capture three wolves, which have been relocated to various zoos. Attacks have intensified since July," Singh added. Singh said the wolves follow a specific pattern as they attack children sleeping in their homes and drag them to secluded areas to kill and consume their body parts. Recently, the wolves have altered their attack timings following the increased night patrols by the Forest Department, police and local residents, he noted. In response to the situation, police, administration and local teams are conducting round-the-clock patrols. BJP MLA Sureshwar Singh has joined the night patrols and is advising the villagers to keep their children indoors and patrol in groups. "I am participating in the patrols and holding village meetings to boost morale. We are encouraging residents to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions," Singh said. Chief Conservator of Forests (Central Zone) Renu Singh, who visited the affected areas, instructed the Forest Department to expedite the rescue efforts. "We are intensifying our rescue operations and ensuring that all necessary measures are taken to protect the villagers," she said. Regarding the recent death of eight-year-old Khushboo, whose body was partially consumed by animals, Singh expressed concerns over the investigation. "There are discrepancies in the manner of her death. The body was found with the clothes removed, which raises questions about the investigation's thoroughness," Singh said. However, Superintendent of Police Vrinda Shukla dismissed these doubts, saying, "Post mortem and forensic reports confirm that the death was caused by a wolf attack. There are no additional signs suggesting foul play. We have thoroughly investigated all potential angles." Meanwhile, District Magistrate Monica Rani said the government has provided Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and is offering financial aid and free treatment to the injured. "We have deployed a team of 16 officials to oversee the situation. Solar street lights will be installed at 40 locations and high-mast lights at 10 sites to improve security. "Additionally, we are working to ensure that all households have proper sanitary facilities and doors to prevent wildlife from entering," she added. Srinagar, Aug 26 (PTI) National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah, who had vowed not to participate in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections till restoration of statehood, Monday dropped major hints on his likely participation in the polls for the Union Territory assembly, saying he cannot expect people to vote for his party if he himself does not accept the legislative body. Speaking to media after the NC and Congress announced the seat-sharing arrangement, Abdullah said he does not want to send out a "wrong signal" by asking his party colleagues to contest and the people to cast their votes for an assembly "that I may be suggesting that I look down upon". "I am conscious of one thing which I had not thought over fully, which is my mistake. If I was not ready to contest election for an assembly, how can I get the people ready to vote for that assembly? "How can I hope that my colleagues will seek votes for an assembly which I am not ready to accept or may be suggesting that I look down upon? It has put a pressure on me and I do not want to give a wrong signal to the people," he said. Abdullah asked the media persons to give him a day or two. "You will get to know when the party releases the list." Before the announcement of the polls, the NC leader had vowed not to contest elections for the UT assembly as he had headed a state assembly as chief minister in a unified J&K that included Ladakh. However, there are speculation that Abdullah might contest from his family bastion of Ganderbal in central Kashmir from where he had won the 2008 assembly polls. On Sunday, at a joining function in Ganderbal, Abdullah was requested by party leaders to reconsider his decision of not contesting the polls. They also suggested he could contest from Ganderbal. However, on Monday the NC vice president said, "I am talking with my colleagues about this." Asked about the NC-Congress alliance and the announcement of a "friendly contest" on five seats between the alliance partners in J-K, Abdullah said those five seats were difficult for both the parties to leave for the alliance. "Three seats are those which were difficult for us to leave and two seats are those which were difficult for Congress to take a decision on. So, we decided that both the parties will field their candidates on those five," he said. The NC leader also said the alliance faced another problem during the negotiations as the CPI(M) wanted to fielded a candidate from Devsar constituency as well. "We would have had problems in Kulgam (which the alliance has allotted to CPI(M)'s M Y Tarigami) and we thought we have to fight a friendly contest there as well. But, Farooq Abdullah talked to Tarigami and requested him that there shouldn't be any candidate from Devsar and he has accepted. So, we have left Kulgam seat for Tarigami," he added. Asked if there was any issue between the alliance partners over the NC's manifesto, Abdullah said there was none. "None whatsoever. Let me be categorical, at no point in time did the Congress party raise any objections to our manifesto," he said. In the initial stages of the discussions, at the local level, the Congress had asked whether they should have a common minimum programme, he said. "We told them very clearly that a CMP (common minimum programme) is always arrived at after you receive a verdict from the people, after you win election and, therefore, obviously we are fighting this election to win. If the NC and the Congress receive the support of the people, then we will form a CMP for the governance for next five years," Abdullah said. He said the NC has neither discussed its manifesto with the Congress nor has it asked its alliance partner what they are going to include in their manifesto. To a question about the BJP's criticism of the NC's manifesto, Abdullah said the BJP is expected to say such things. "Do you think the BJP will put its stamp on our manifesto? The BJP should see inwards. "Today, what their situation was, I have seen it for the first time that the BJP deleted a (mandate) list within ten minutes of issuing it. Today, chairs were broken in their office. The BJP should set its own house in order," he said. Asked why the PDP is not a part of the alliance, he said it was the Congress' decision to make. "The Congress is the biggest partner in the INDIA bloc and it found convenient to talk to us. How can I force them to talk to someone else? They did not mention the PDP and so the issue was put to an end there," he said. On the Centre's decision to create five districts in Ladakh, Abdullah said he congratulates the people there. "However, we will have to see what is the ratio that they have applied. We have always tried to give equal to both Kargil and Leh. "But, if they have created five districts, then somewhere there will be some discord. So, we will have to see where the injustice has been done," he added. New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The BJP's ally in Jharkhand and AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahato Monday met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah here and discussed the prevailing political scenario in the state ahead of the assembly elections. His visit comes on a day when senior JMM leader and former Jharkhand deputy chief minister Champai Soren also arrived in Delhi for the second time in 10 days amid speculation that he may meet senior BJP leaders here to discuss his future political course of action. Speaking to PTI after he met with Shah, Mahto said, "We discussed the prevailing political scenario in Jharkhand. We also discussed how we can go together and win people's faith in the state". "We also discussed at the meeting the functioning of the JMM-led government in the state and its impact," he added. The issue of Chapai Soren expressing his resentment with the JMM was also discussed at the meeting, Mahato told PTI. Champai Soren had taken over as the chief minister of Jharkhand earlier this year following the arrest of the then-chief minister Heman Soren by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case. He later had to step down to enable Hemant Soren to come back at the helm after he was granted bail in the case in June. Champai Soren has expressed his resentments with the party after his stepping down as the Jharkhand chief minister. In the twist and turns of politics, Champai Soren recently visited Delhi amid speculation of him switching sides and joining the BJP. Champai Soren, who is considered to have influence over 14 assembly segments in the Kolhan region of Jharkhand, recently said that he would not quit politics and asserted that an option to float a new political outfit was always open to him. He said he was firm on his plans after "facing humiliation at the hands of the leaders of JMM", a party to which the veteran leader claimed that he devoted his entire life. Speaking to PTI ahead of his meeting with Shah, Mahato said he has not spoken to Champai Soren in connection with the developments so far. "But it is a massive political development in Jharkhand as Champai Soren is a big face in Jharkhand politics," he said. Champai Soren has expressed his mind following the way he was made to step down as the Jharkhand chief minister to make way for Hemant Soren, Mahato said. "He has options before him today and he has to take a decision now," the AJSU party chief said. New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court-appointed National Task Force (NTF) to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, sources said. The 10-member task force was constituted by the apex court last week after it took suo moto cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital which sparked widespread protests including by healthcare staff, impacting medical services. The Supreme Court had said the cabinet secretary, home secretary, health secretary, National Medical Commission chairperson and the National Board of Examinations president shall be the ex-officio members of the task force. The members of the task force include Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin, Director General (Medical Services, Navy); Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, the Chairman and Managing Director of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr M Srinivas, the Director of AIIMS-Delhi; Dr Pratima Murthy, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru; Dr Goverdhan Dutt Puri, AIIMS Jodhpur Executive Director; Dr Saumitra Rawat, Chairperson, Institute of Surgical Gastroenterology, GI and HPB Onco-Surgery and Liver Transplantation and Member, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. The other members are: Professor Anita Saxena, Vice-Chancellor of Pandit B D Sharma Medical University, Rohtak; Dr Pallavi Saple, Dean, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai; Dr Padma Srivastava, former professor at the Department of Neurology, AIIMS-Delhi. The Union Health Ministry last Wednesday issued a memorandum mentioning the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the NTF). The ToR mandates the NTF to formulate effective recommendations pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters. The apex court had asked the NTF to formulate an action plan under two sub-heads -- 1. Preventing violence, including gender-based violence, against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions' 2. Prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals. The NTF will look into putting in place a baggage and person screening system at every entrance of a hospital to ensure that arms are not carried inside the medical establishment and also to prevent intoxicated persons from entering the premises, unless they are patients. On infrastructure development, the ToR says there should be provision of separate resting rooms and duty rooms in each department for male doctors and female doctors, and male nurses and female nurses; and a gender-neutral common resting space. The NTF will also explore the possibility of establishing police posts in medical facilities commensurate with the footfall, bed strength and facilities. New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The ongoing stalemate between the JNU administration and its students' union, which has been staging a hunger strike for the past 15 days over various unresolved issues, may soon come to an end as the two sides have reached a consensus on several demands. The university has agreed to fulfill at least six of the 12 major demands of the protesting students' union. These include reinstating the old in-house entrance exam system -- JNU Entrance Exam (JNUEE) -- for admissions, conducting a caste census of the campus, increasing scholarship amounts, and proposing a reduction in the weightage given to the viva for admissions. Despite these developments, the union has continued its protest, with President Dhananjay and Councillor Nitish Kumar remaining on hunger strike, which entered its 16th day on Monday. They are demanding written confirmation of the agreed-upon demands. The hunger strike started on August 11. "Dhananjay has lost more than 5 kg and has a ketone level of 4+, which indicates severe pressure on his kidneys due to the hunger strike. He has also developed jaundice and urinary tract infection (UTI). Nitish has lost around 7 kg and has become extremely weak, suffering from severe joint and muscle pain," the students' union said in a statement. The JNUSU has called for a relay hunger strike and night vigil to press their demands. In a negotiation meeting held on August 23, the day of the long march to the Ministry of Education by the JNUSU, Rector-I of the university, Brijesh Kumar Pandey, assured the students that the university would accept some of the demands raised, according to a statement by the students' body. When contacted, Pandey said, "The administration will accept all the positive demands of the students in their best interest. Anything beyond our authority cannot be fulfilled." He added, "The university is currently facing a funding crunch. We will write to the UGC to request an allocation so that we can increase the scholarship amount as demanded by the students. As for the caste census, the data regarding the categories in which students have been admitted is already available on our website. That won't be an issue." According to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), the university has agreed in principle to increase the merit-cum-means scholarship from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 and extend the provision to students of the School of Engineering and the School of Management. Reinstating the JNUEE was a central agenda item in the Charter of Demands. The Rector-I has verbally assured that admissions will be conducted through JNUEE starting from the next academic session, the union said. Conducting a caste census was another prominent agenda item in the Charter of Demands. The administration has verbally assured the union that they will publish the category-wise data of JNU students, faculty, and staff within the next 15 days, it added. The university has also agreed to present the Nafey Committee report at the upcoming Academic Council (AC) meeting for approval, which recommends reducing the weightage of viva marks to 10-15 percent in admissions. "Reducing the weightage of viva marks has been a longstanding demand of the JNUSU. Three committees have been formed over time to address this matter. The Nafey Committee, chaired by renowned scholar Professor Nafey, unequivocally recommended that the viva weightage be reduced to 10-15 percent," the statement said. Furthermore, the administration has also agreed to drop the inquiries initiated against students who were part of a water protest outside the VC's residence and in a sexual harassment case where the survivor staged a protest at the North Gate of the campus, blocking the main entrance for several days. However, the parties could not reach a consensus on the opening of Barak Hostel, which has remained shut since its inauguration in January. The demand to include JNUSU in Academic Council meetings, where policy-level issues such as deprivation points and viva weightage are discussed, will be addressed by Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit on August 27. Previously, the JNUSU was included in AC meetings, but this practice was discontinued during the tenure of the previous Vice-Chancellor. Kota (Rajasthan), Aug 26 (PTI) A 35-year-old woman and two children, including her eight-year-old son and 15-year-old nephew, were electrocuted to death in the Bundi district on Monday, a police official said, adding that another man of the family sustained injuries in the incident. They had come in contact with a high-tension power line passing over the rooftop of their house in the Ramnagar village under the Bundi Sadar police station area in the Bundi district. Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota MP Om Birla expressed grief over the incident and conveyed condolences to the family. Birla also spoke on phone to the family and directed officials to conduct a fair probe into the matter and provide adequate compensation to the family of the deceased. The incident took place in the morning when the woman, identified as Karmabai Kanjar (35), was sweeping the rooftop floor and she came in contact with a high-tension power line passing over the house, DSP Bundi City Amar Singh said. The woman's son, identified as Kartik, and nephew Akshya (15) attempted to rescue the woman but they also were electrocuted to death on the spot, he said. Meanwhile, the woman's brother Pawan also climbed up to the rooftop to rescue them but he too got an electric shock and sustained injuries, the DSP said. The family members accused officials of the Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVNL) of negligence and demanded compensation and a criminal case be lodged against the officials, the DSP said. Police lodged a case of unnatural death under the relevant section of the BNS Act, Circle Inspector Bhagwan Sahay Meena said. The power department officials were called on the spot and were ordered to shift the high-tension power line over the houses in the village, he added. Chandigarh, Aug 26 (PTI) Congress general secretary Kumari Selja on Monday said youths in Haryana are falling victim to drug addiction, with 13 of the 22 districts being severely affected by the scourge. The Sirsa MP also said drug abuse is more prevalent in Haryana areas bordering Punjab and Rajasthan. Hisar, Sirsa, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, Ambala, and Kurukshetra are affected, and similarly, in the constituencies bordering Uttar Pradesh, such as Karnal, Sonipat, Faridabad, and Gurugram, drugs are being widely sold, Selja alleged in a statement. The once-famed land of "milk and yoghurt," Haryana, now presents a terrifying picture, she said. "Statistics confirm this situation. Out of the 22 districts in the state, 13 are severely affected by drug abuse and have become hot spots for drug trafficking. The government remained inactive on this issue, and if they had acted, drug traffickers could not have operated on this land," she said. Once the Congress government is formed, the first step will be to work towards making the state drug-free, Selja said. Haryana goes to polls on October 1 and Congress is eyeing to wrest the power from BJP. The former Union minister Selja said that Punjab became known as 'Udta Punjab,' "and now the BJP government has turned Haryana into 'Udta Haryana' due to the growing drug menace". "The Congress repeatedly warned the government on this issue, but instead of taking action against drug traffickers, the government indulged in events like 'Raahgiri,' government festivals, and bike safaris. "Today, the government's 'Narcotics Control Bureau' admits that 13 out of the 22 districts in the state are in the grip of severe drug addiction. Drugs are being smuggled into Haryana and the NCR region from abroad," she said. Selja said that not just 13 districts but the entire state has become a hub for drugs and the government has no concern for the youth of Haryana. "During its 10-year tenure, the BJP government has turned the state into a hub of drugs, crime, and unemployment," she claimed. "In Sirsa, one youth after another is dying due to drug overdoses. Synthetic drugs have now reached villages in addition to cities," she said, adding that the conditions of de-addiction centres in the state is also poor, and there is a shortage of psychiatrists. The Congress has raised this issue time and again, she said. The number of people visiting OPDs for drug abuse treatment is increasing year by year, Selja said. "In 2021, around 95,863 drug users visited OPDs, including 28,283 women. Out of these, 2,765 people were admitted. The number of people falling into the trap of drug addiction has been continuously increasing in 2022 and 2023. "According to NCRB data, 329 deaths have occurred due to drug overdoses since 2014. In the last one and a half years, 33 deaths due to overdoses have occurred in Sirsa district alone, with the victims aged between 18 and 30 years," she said. Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26 (PTI) A female actor in Malayalam cinema levelled sexual abuse allegations against four prominent male actors, including M Mukesh, on Monday, causing further upheaval in the film industry already reeling from the Justice K Hema Committee's explosive findings of harassment and abuse of women professionals. Hours after the actress levelled the allegations against Mukesh, a CPI(M) MLA, in interviews with news channels, workers from Yuva Morcha and Mahila Congress organised separate marches towards his residence in Kollam, demanding that a case be registered against him and that he resign as a legislator. The Kollam MLA has not responded to the allegations. The female actor also levelled sexual abuse allegations against three other prominent actors in the Malayalam film industry. Meanwhile, actor Maniyanpilla Raju has called for an investigation into the allegations surfacing in the Malayalam film industry. He told reporters that many more revelations will come out, and there will be multiple interests behind them. "Some people will try to capitalise on the situation. Among those accused, there will be both innocent and guilty parties. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation is necessary," Raju said. This development comes a day after director Ranjith and actor Siddique stepped down from their leadership roles in a state-run film academy and the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), respectively, following sexual abuse allegations against them. Amid mounting pressure on the government to take action against alleged predators in the film industry, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a high-level meeting with senior police officials on Sunday and announced the establishment of a seven-member special team to investigate the atrocities faced by women actors. The report by the Justice Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government post the 2017 actress assault case, has revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty. IDF: Changes in the Home Front Command Defensive Guidelines Following a situational assessment, it was determined that as of today (Tuesday) at 6:00PM, changes will be made to the Home Front Commands defensive guidelines. As part of the changes, it was decided that in the area of the Haifa Bay (HaMifratz), specifically the communities of Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Yam, and Kiryat Motzkin, the activity scale will be changed from Partial Activity to Limited Activity, meaning educational activities are prohibited. The rest of the countrys guidelines remain unchanged. The instructions published on the official Home Front Command channels must be followed. The full instructions are updated on the National Emergency Portal and the Home Front Command app. WATCH: IDFs 98th Division Conducts Targeted Raids Against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon The IDFs 98th Division, including the Paratroopers Brigade, Commando Brigade, 7th Brigade, and Yahalom Unit, has carried out a series of targeted operations against Hezbollah strongholds near Israels border with southern Lebanon. During these limited raids, the division has eliminated hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists, dismantled several underground tunnel routes, and destroyed dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and combat compounds. Hezbollah had embedded hundreds of weapons along the border, which were located and destroyed by the IDF. The ongoing operations aim to neutralize Hezbollahs capabilities in the region. https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/08103301/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-08-at-10.30.15-AM.mp4 https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/08103309/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-08-at-10.30.00-AM.mp4 https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/08103318/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-08-at-10.29.49-AM.mp4 Hezbollah Fires Rockets Into Central Israel Interceptions seen over Central Israel after Hezbollah fired rockets. No reports of injuries. https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/07162808/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-07-at-4.26.19-PM.mp4 Air France Extends Flight Suspensions to Tel Aviv and Beirut Due to Regional Security Concerns Air France announced on Monday that it will continue suspending flights between Paris and Tel Aviv until October 15, and between Paris and Beirut until October 26, citing ongoing security concerns in the area, according to a company spokesperson. Netanyahus Address at the State Ceremony to Mark One Year since the October 7 Massacre Following is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus address at the state ceremony to mark one year since the October 7 massacre [translated from Hebrew]: Citizens of Israel, A year ago, on October 7th, we were all hurled into a critical battle. That day, a Saturday, the Sabbath and the holiday of Simchat Torah, will be etched in the history of our nation as a day of grief and loss, of unimaginable agony. On that day, the Hamas monsters attacked our communities, our brothers and sisters, who are so dear to our hearts. They murdered and kidnapped babies and children, adults and old people. They tortured, maimed, raped, burned and destroyed. The memory of our citizens who were killed in the terrorist attack, and the memory of all the fallen heroes from the IDF and security forces, will be cherished forever. On October 7th, we were all hurled into a critical battle, but we were not defeated. On the contrary, it is we who are acting to defeat and deter our enemies. And, as we have often experienced in our history, it is in dark moments such as these that we exude our great inner power. We rallied together to defend our country, our homeland. We mustered immense mental strength. We outlined the goals of the war and we are achieving them: toppling the rule of Hamas; bringing all the hostages home, the living and the deceased alikethis is a sacred mission and we will not stop until we complete it; eliminating any future threat from Gaza to Israel; and returning the residents of the south and the north safely to their homes. We are doing this with solidarity unlike anything among the nations. When put to the test we proved, once again, that we are the Eternal People. A people that fights to bring light to this world, that aspires to spread good and eradicate evil. A people that rises like a lion, leaps up like a lion. Every time my wife and I meet with our soldiers, our wounded, with bereaved families, we hear the same message over and over again: we mustnt stop the war prematurely. As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight. We will not forsake any of them. I will not give up. As long as our citizens have not returned to their homes safely, we will continue to fight. We will continue to fight, and unitedwe will win. And when we win, not only for our sake but for the sake of future generations and for all humanity, we will rebuild the Tekuma region even bigger. When we hold onto the roots, the tree of life will grow back . Laly Derai, the mother of Saadia, who fell in battle said: Shadow is not darkness. Shadow is a sign that there is light from behind. Even if a mountain of grief obscures the light, we must all, as a nation, climb the mountain, because the light exists. We must always aim up, towards the light. Citizens of Israel, my dear brothers and sisters, Victory is the light. Victory guarantees eternity. October 7th will symbolize for generations the cost of our revival, and for generations it will demonstrate how determined we are and how strong our spirit is. Together we will continue to fight. And together, with Gods help we will win. Am Yisrael Chai! NOW: Hamas Protests At Brooklyn College Pro-Hamas protestors are at Brooklyn College, as thousands are expected to protest at multiple locations around NYC on Monday. https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/07142419/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-07-at-2.23.01-PM.mp4 Home Front Command Eases Restrictions in Parts of Northern Israel, Allows Limited Educational Activities Following a situational assessment, it was determined that as of today (Monday) at 7:00PM, changes will be made to the Home Front Commands defensive guidelines. As part of the changes, it was decided that in the areas of the Lower Galilee, Southern Golan (in communities in the Emek HaYarden Regional Council) and Central Galilee (in some of the communities in the Lower Galilee Regional Council) the activity scale will be changed from Limited Activity to Partial Activity, meaning educational activities can be held in a place from which a standard protected space can be reached within the time available to reach shelter. The rest of the countrys guidelines remain unchanged. FLASHBACK FEARS: Paragliders in Northern Israel Cause Brief Panic on October 7th Anniversary Thousands of Israelis in the north were briefly alarmed Monday afternoon when they spotted three paragliders flying around, triggering memories of the Hamas attacks exactly a year ago on October 7th. However, authorities confirmed the paragliders were civilians, and there was no connection to any terrorist activity. https://yeshivaworlds3.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/07113116/WhatsApp-Video-2024-10-07-at-11.29.00-AM.mp4 A 26-year-old man has turned himself into police, saying he was responsible for the Solingen stabbing attack that left three dead and eight wounded at a festival marking the citys 650th anniversary, German authorities announced early Sunday. Duesseldorf police said in a joint statement with the prosecutors office that the man stated that he was responsible for the attack. This persons involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated, the statement said. Federal prosecutors said they were investigating on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The suspect was to make a first appearance before a judge later Sunday. The suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany, police confirmed to The Associated Press. The dpa news agency reported, without citing a specific source, that his asylum claim had been denied and that he was to have been deported last year. On Saturday, the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that the perpetrator carried out the assaults Friday night to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere. The claim couldnt be independently verified. Fridays attack plunged the city of Solingen into shock and grief. A city of about 160,000 residents near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf, Solingen was holding a Festival of Diversity to celebrate its anniversary. People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time Friday that a man had assaulted several people with a knife on the citys central square, the Fronhof. The three people killed were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims throats. The festival, which was due to have run through Sunday, was canceled as police looked for clues in the cordoned-off square. Instead, residents gathered to mourn the dead and injured, placing flowers and notes near the scene of the attack. Warum? asked one sign placed amid candles and teddy bears. Why? Among those asking themselves the question was 62-year-old Cord Boetther, a merchant fron Solingen. Why does something like this have to be done? Its incomprehensible and it hurts, Boetther said. Officials had earlier said a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion he knew about the planned attack and failed to inform authorities, but that he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said. The attack comes amid debate over immigration ahead of regional elections next Sunday in Germanys Saxony and Thueringia regions where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to do well. In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that the country would start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer dead and four more people injured. The IS militant group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria about a decade ago, but now holds no control over any land and has lost many prominent leaders. The group is mostly out of global news headlines. Still, it continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that killed dozens of people. Its sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq still carry out attacks on government forces in both countries as well as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters. (AP) Most Israelis rejoiced over the massive Hezbollah attack that was thwarted by IDF preemptive strikes early Sunday. However, the residents of Akko, which was targeted by Hezbollah in the limited strike it carried out shortly after the Israeli attack, had less reasons to rejoice. Many rockets scored direct hits in Akko, including on private homes, buildings, and a kindergarten, causing extensive property damage. One resident was lightly injured by shrapnel. The cities of Tzfas, Katzrin and Maalot were also targeted but the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. The Saade family in Akko experienced an incredible neis. Although their house is currently uninhabitable, with shattered windows and collapsed ceilings, the mothers intuition saved her life and the lives of her four daughters. The family home does not have a safe room so when Red Alert sirens sound, they climb into a shoe closet in a concert shaft in the basement. The closet is only a meter wide so the the first neis was the fact that five people climbed into the closet and managed to close the door. Ami Saade told Radio 104.5FM about the neis: My wife was in the bedroom upstairs with our four daughters. My wife had a premonition and woke them up a minute before the Red Alert siren sounded and took them downstairs to our protected space which is a shoe closet in a concrete shaft. While they were sitting inside, they heard a boom and the entire house shook. I had just left for work and my wife called me and told me to hurry back. I have no house to live in. The girls rooms everything is damaged, glass everywhere, on their beds, holes in the walls, the ceilings fell. Akko Mayor Amichai Ben-Shlush said: What happened this morning was a huge neis. It was a difficult morning. Shrapnel from interceptor rockets an entire building destroyed, stressed residents. People were miraculously saved because they heeded instructions. The video below shows the kindergarten hit by a rocket. Also, Gershon, a resident of Akko, tells how he and his family were miraculously saved from harm but his house sustained heavy damage and his computers and and equipment for his photography business were destroyed. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Another country is expected to attack Israel within days, the BBC reported on Sunday. The report comes after the IDF thwarted a massive Hezbollah attack on Israel from Lebanon early Sunday morning. According to the report, which quoted an anonymous security source, its believed that an attack will be carried out by the Houthis in Yemen. Last month, Israel carried out airstrikes against multiple Houthi targets in the Hodeidah port area in western Yemen, targeting oil refineries, a power plant, and weapon warehouses, killing and wounding dozens. The attack was in retaliation for the Houthis launch of a drone that struck Tel Aviv on July 18, killing one and wounding eight others, and about 220 previous attempts to attack Israel since October 7. The Houthis have vowed to retaliate for the Israeli attack. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) For over 10 months, Israel and the United States have been collaborating intensively in their search for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. However, according to a report by The New York Times on Sunday, the intelligence-sharing arrangement has become increasingly imbalanced, with Israel benefiting more than the US. The report, which cites over two dozen unnamed officials from both countries, reveals that Israel and the US both of which classify Hamas as a terrorist organization have invested significant resources in the hunt for Sinwar. This includes advanced technologies such as ground-penetrating radar, provided by the US. Despite the depth of cooperation, described by one Israeli official as priceless, another source indicated the collaboration has been lopsided, with Israel offering far less intelligence in return. American officials have reportedly shared data that led to the targeting of other Hamas leaders, hoping Israel would reciprocate with intelligence to help locate the remaining American hostages held by Hamas. However, Israeli contributions have been more limited. The joint Israeli-American intelligence team, set up to track Sinwars communications, initially monitored his electronic interactions at the onset of the Gaza conflict. However, Sinwar has since shifted to using couriers due to fuel shortages and the desire to avoid interception, significantly complicating efforts to locate him. During the period of electronic communication, Israeli forces eavesdropped on Sinwars calls with other Hamas leaders, gaining insights into his life in Hamass tunnel network. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant even advocated for resuming fuel shipments to Gaza to power cell networks, hoping Sinwar would continue to communicate electronically. However, by November, Sinwar had abandoned electronic communication altogether, making him more elusive. In early stages of the war, Sinwar was believed to be hiding beneath Gaza City before moving to tunnels under Khan Younis. According to The New York Times, Sinwar narrowly escaped capture at the end of January, fleeing moments before Israeli forces raided his bunker, leaving behind approximately a million dollars in shekels. As part of its campaign against Hamas, Israel has eliminated several key figures within the organization. Among the leaders targeted were former political head Ismail Haniyeh and top military figure Mohammad Deif. Haniyeh died in an explosion in Tehran in July, and Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Sinwar, now the highest-ranking Hamas leader still at large, remains a primary target. Some officials believe that Sinwars death would mark a significant victory for Israel and could pave the way for the end of military operations in Gaza. However, the impact of his death on ongoing hostage negotiations remains uncertain, as Sinwar reportedly plays a crucial role in approving developments in ceasefire talks occurring in Doha and Cairo. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A US defense official has revealed that the United States provided intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support to Israel in tracking the recent barrage of rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah. However, the official emphasized that the US was not involved in Israels preemptive strikes in Lebanon or in shooting down incoming projectiles. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said, The US was not involved in Israels preemptive strikes last night. We did provide some ISR support in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks, but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required. The official added that the US continues to closely monitor the situation and remains prepared to support Israels defense against attacks by Iran and its proxies. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) In Jerusalems Old City, nearly all souvenir shops are closed. In Haifas flea market, forlorn merchants polish their wares on empty streets. Airlines are canceling flights, businesses are failing and luxury hotels are half empty. Nearly 11 months into the war with Hamas, Israels economy is struggling with the war in Gaza showing no signs of ending and threatens to escalate into a wider conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to allay concerns by saying the economic damage is only temporary. But the bloodiest, most destructive war ever between Israel and Hamas has hurt thousands of small businesses and compromised international trust in an economy once thought of as an entrepreneurial dynamo. The Hamas assault that destroyed kibbutzim and daily attacks on Israel by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon have also driven tens of thousands of people from their homes along Israels northern and southern borders and caused large-scale damage. The Israeli economy has recovered from previous shocks, including shorter wars with Hamas. But this longer conflict has created a bigger strain, including the cost of rebuilding, compensating families of victims and reserve soldiers, and vast military spending. The drawn-out nature of the fighting and the threat of further escalation with Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, have an especially harsh impact on tourism. Though tourism is not a major driver of the economy, the damage has hurt thousands of workers and small businesses. The hardest thing is that we dont know when the war will end, said Israeli tour guide Daniel Jacob, whose family is living off savings. We need to finish the war before this years end. If its another half a year, I dont know how long were going to make it. Jacob, 45, returned in April from six months of duty as a reserve soldier to find out that business had dried up. He was forced to shutter the tourism company he spent two decades developing. His only income is aid from the government, which pays him half his prewar salary every few months. Meir Sabag, a Haifa antiques dealer whose shop sat empty, said business is worse now than during the COVID-19 pandemic. On a recent weekday, the formerly bustling port of Haifa, a major hub of Israeli import-export where massive container ships would often stop, was still. With Yemens Houthi rebel group endangering ships passing through Egypts Suez Canal, many long-haul ships have stopped using Israeli ports as hubs, said a port official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was sharing internal information. He said Israeli ports saw a 16% percent drop in shipping in the first half of the year, compared with the same period in 2023. Renewed U.S.-led cease-fire efforts appear to be sputtering, and Iran and Hezbollah have threatened to avenge the recent assassinations of top militant leaders, raising the threat of a wider regional war. These fears have prompted major airlines, including Delta, United and Lufthansa, to suspend flights in and out of Israel. Yacov Sheinin, an Israeli economist with decades of experience advising Israeli premiers and government ministries, said the total cost of the war could amount to $120 billion, or 20% of the countrys gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic activity. Of all 38 member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israels economy underwent the biggest slowdown from April to June, the organization reported Thursday. The Israeli GDP was projected to grow 3% in 2024. The Bank of Israel now predicts a growth rate of 1.5% and thats if the war ends this year. Fitch downgraded Israels rating from A-plus to A earlier this month, following similar downgrades by S&P and Moodys. The downgrading could raise the governments borrowing costs. In our view, the conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025, Fitch warned in its rating note, which cited the possibility of significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and more sustained damage to economic activity and investment. In another worrying sign, the Finance Ministry this month said the countrys deficit over the last 12 months has risen to over 8% of GDP, far exceeding the 6.6% deficit-to-GDP ratio the ministry projected for 2024. In 2023, Israel s budget deficit was roughly 4% of its GDP. Meanwhile, many small businesses have closed because their owners and employees were called up for reserve military duty. Others are struggling amid the broader slowdown. Israeli business information company CofaceBDI reports that some 46,000 businesses have closed since the start of the war 75% of them small businesses. (AP & YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) There is one phenomenon that worries Hamas almost as much as the Israeli military in Gaza: the thousands of informants who risk their lives for Israel, the Jewish Chronicle reported. Without informants, there would be no hostage rescue operations and targeted killings of senior Hamas officials. But what motivates the informants and how are they recruited? Informants fundamental mission is to locate targets: Hamas leaders, weapons production tunnels, and Hamas terrorists who operate in the Gaza Strip in civilian clothing. The informant then transmits the information to his Israeli handlers but rarely by phone or other devices due to fear of exposure. Instead, the information is conveyed in person at one of the Israeli kibbutzim in the Gaza border area. The only time a phone or another device is used is in exceptional circumstances such as when the information is hot for example, in the case of a senior Hamas leader visiting a certain place for an hour or two or information about the location of hostages who will soon be relocated. In such a case, the informant will call the number of an Israeli-Arab, for example, his aunt who asks him about the situation in Gaza. Of course, the aunt is an Israeli intelligence agent. One of the informants who provided information that led to the elimination of Hamas leader Mohammed Deif was a 19-year-old Hamas messenger, whose job was to pass handwritten notes between Hamas members in tunnels underneath Gaza. The informant is no longer located in Gaza as his handlers promised him that if Deifs elimination was successful, he would be flown at Israels cost to the United States and provided asylum. The process of recruiting an informant is long and complex. The first step is to uncover the potential informants weak point and what he needs money, medical treatment, or an Israeli work permit. An informant who urgently needs something Israel can provide is the best candidate. Other informants weak points are social or psychological the universal need to feel important and appreciated. Since the war began, the Shin Bet has recruited hundreds of Gazans and the information they provided has led to impressive operations. One Hamas terrorist who was captured by Israeli security forces during the war was recruited by Israeli intelligence forces. His Shin Bet handler gave him shoes with electronic chips and asked him to walk through the tunnels. His presence in the tunnels did not arouse suspicion because he was a known terrorist. The scans were sent directly to the Shin Bet headquarters in Ashkelon, eight miles from Gaza. Shin Bet operatives also recruited an especially valuable informant a Gazan contractor who was involved in the excavation of the tunnel network under the Strip. He provided his handlers with a map of the tunnels and provided details such as their size and the type of concrete he used which helped the Air Force determine which bombs to use to destroy them. This informant was almost captured by Hamas but his handlers eventually managed to smuggle him into Israel. Thousands of collaborators who fled Gaza and the Shomron after being exposed are now living in Israel, including all the Gazan informants who facilitated the rescue of four Israeli hostages from Gaza in June. Twelve members of two families were relocated to Israel, where they were granted citizenship and a monthly allowance until they find employment. One of the family members, a 12-year-old boy who is ill with cancer, is receiving free medical treatment at an Israeli hospital. According to the IDF, 942 collaborators from Gaza and the Palestinian Authority were shot during the 1987 intifada, murdered by their own brethren in broad daylight in the town square in front of hundreds of locals as a warning. But this grisly history didnt cause Palestinians to stop the dangerous work of collaboration. In fact, it increased over the years, reaching its peak after Hamas took control of Gaza and began attacking Israel almost daily firing rockets and sending suicide bombers into Israeli cities. Gazans are also motivated to become informants because of their anger at Hamas. The reports author, Elon Perry, a former IDF commando who took part in hundreds of operations to locate and eliminate terrorists in Gaza in the 1980s, quoted his friend Saeed, a Gazan dentist, as saying: It is Hamas that is killing us, not the Israeli army. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The United States has delivered more than 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to Israel since the onset of the ongoing war, according to Israels Defense Ministry. The logistical operation involved 500 transport planes and 107 ships transporting critical supplies to support Israels military efforts. The shipments include a variety of equipment vital to sustaining the operational capabilities of the IDF. Among the supplies are armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment, the ministry said. The Defense Ministry stressed the importance of the deliveries, calling them crucial for sustaining the IDFs operational capabilities during the ongoing war. The extensive logistical effort has been managed by the ministrys Directorate of Production and Procurement, its mission to the U.S., the IDFs Planning Directorate, and the Israeli Air Force. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) An attempted assassination against a senior Hamas official took place in Sidon, Lebanon, early Monday afternoon, but failed. Despite a missile being fired at him during the attack, the Hamas official survived, sustaining only minor injuries, according to Lebanons LBC International. The vehicle involved in the attack caught fire. Lebanons National News Agency, which is affiliated with the government, reported that Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier twice over Sidon and areas north of the Litani River earlier in the day. This follows recent airstrikes in the Sidon area by the Israel Air Force (IAF), which resulted in the elimination of Samer Mahmoud al-Haj, a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon. Al-Haj had been involved in orchestrating terrorist activities and missile launches against Israel. The targeted official in Mondays attempted assassination, though not publicly named, is believed to be connected to Hamas operations in the region. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) News / National by Staff reporter Justice Priscilla Chigumba, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), has called for the registration of political parties to address the challenges encountered during the 2023 elections.She stressed the importance of amending the Electoral Act, proposing that if the registration of political parties is not politically feasible, a limit should be set on the timeframe for candidates to appeal their candidature before elections.This suggestion aims to prevent the disarray seen in last year's harmonised elections, where electoral courts were overwhelmed with cases almost until the day of the polls.Justice Chigumba shared these insights during a joint induction workshop with the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Thematic Committee on Human Rights in Bulawayo.She also detailed ZEC's functions and highlighted how numerous appeals delayed the printing and delivery of ballot papers during last year's elections, affecting the timely opening of polling stations."To resolve the chaos around the nomination process, I made two recommendations: register political parties or impose time limits on electoral court challenges. This means the electoral court would not accept any challenges 30 days before election day," she explained.Justice Chigumba pointed out that Zimbabwe lacks legislation for registering political parties, leading to accountability issues. She noted that in other countries, political parties are registered like companies, making them more accountable, with the risk of deregistration.In Zimbabwe, accountability for political parties and candidates only begins once they have successfully filed their nomination papers."There is no political will to register political parties. ZEC can only legally engage with political parties at the Nomination Court. The Nomination Court process often results in significant confusion, as this is the stage where candidates must comply with established procedures," Justice Chigumba concluded. As Jeremy Clarkson likes to remind us at this time of year, getting lousy GCSE and A-level results doesnt necessarily land you on the scrap heap. After all, some of the UKs top businessmen and women either flunked their exams, like Clarkson (a C and two Us), or couldnt bear to waste another nanosecond at school. Virgins Sir Richard Branson is perhaps the best-known entrepreneur who escaped the classroom as soon as he could. Nearly a third of the 2,000 school leavers interviewed regret career choices. Two thirds said they are not doing what they dreamed of while studying As did mobile phone tycoon John Caudwell, Dragon Dens Deborah Meaden, and X-Factors Simon Cowell. For truly aspirational leaders who avoided higher education, think Walt Disney and Steve Jobs. Yet these are the exceptions. So too are those who know exactly what they hope to achieve in life. Most youngsters dont. Careers advice in Britain is notoriously hopeless, and in many schools almost non-existent. Ill never forget the look of pride on the face of a young apprentice I met at the Bentley factory in Crewe. He had left school at 15 to work in a garage because he liked mucking around with cars. But he hated it. By chance, he managed to wangle work experience at Bentley. By the time we met, he was one of Bentleys advanced apprentices and studying for an engineering degree part-time at college. And, as he remarked, he had no debt. He was also one of Bentleys ambassadors, visiting schools telling students what they were missing out on. Genius. Why dont more businesses run schemes like this? Most teachers are time-poor. They also dont know enough about apprenticeships or the job market especially cutting-edge industries like artificial intelligence to advise their pupils. A study from Saatchi & Saatchi to coincide with exam results shows how bleak the situation is. Nearly a third of the 2,000 school leavers interviewed regret career choices. Two thirds said they are not doing what they dreamed of while studying. More worrying, around half said school had not prepared them for their jobs. And over two-thirds say they dont have the right skills for what they are doing. There was also an astonishing gap in satisfaction between those at state schools and their peers at private and specialist schools. Around half of state pupils say they like what they do. Yet more than two-thirds of private school leavers and 70 per cent at specialist schools say they are satisfied. Thats not a surprising gap. Teachers at private schools are more likely to be more engaged with pupils. Parents tend to put their offspring more readily in touch with contacts and prospective employers. Call it nepotism if you will but, like it or not, we are nothing if not tribal creatures. Saatchi & Saatchi undertook the research because of fears that state schools are failing students, and that they know next to nothing about the creative fields. Which is daft as the creative industry is big business, worth around 100billion annually employing two million people. Improving careers advice should be a top priority for Labour; contented people tend to be happier and indeed healthier. Instead of destroying private schools with its vindictive VAT hike, the Government should find out how and why pupils at private and specialist schools are so much more satisfied in their jobs and why their results are consistently higher. And its not just money, as the off-the-scale results at the state-run free Michaela school in Wembley, north-west London, have shown. Heaven forbid, other teachers might want to poach their methods. Buy-now-pay-later firms such as Klarna and Clearpay are braced for tough new rules as Labour pushes ahead with plans to regulate the industry. The Treasury is set to announce reforms by the end of next month three years after rule changes were first considered in 2021. Britons have spent nearly 55billion through the buy-now- pay-later lenders (BNPL) since then. Crackdown: The Treasury is set to announce reforms to the buy-now-pay-later industry by the end of next month three years after rule changes were first considered in 2021 BNPL is an unregulated form of credit that allows consumers to defer payments or pay for products in instalments. Critics blame providers for trapping users in a spiral of debt as affordability checks are not tough enough. But platforms have welcomed Labours commitment to new rules. It comes as Swedish giant Klarna, the biggest BNPL provider in the UK, continues with long-standing plans to list in New York, where it is reportedly targeting a 15.5billion valuation. Ministers are in talks with lenders and consumer rights groups and aim to make an announcement on the sector within Labours first 100 days of Government. Before the election, Labour said it wanted BNPL firms to do affordability checks on customers and track their credit records more closely. It indicated that customers should be given clearer information on signing up and be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service when something goes wrong. Plans by the previous government to regulate stalled amid fears that lenders would quit the UK for countries with more relaxed rules. Simon Trevethick, at debt charity StepChange, welcomed a clear commitment from the new Government to regulate. BNPL is often marketed aggressively at the point of checkout, he said. Affordability checks are also inconsistent and a uniform approach is required. The sector is ready, it just needs the political will. Some 9.4billion has been spent by British consumers through BNPL services in 2024 an increase of 3.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to figures by Adobe. The purchases made up 15.6 per cent of the total amount spent by online shoppers in the year to the end of July. News / National by Staff reporter The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) has raised concerns about the growing number of complaints against unregistered online media outlets operating within the country.In a recent statement, the VMCZ highlighted issues with these illegal media platforms, noting that their lack of transparency complicates dispute resolution and undermines professional standards.The VMCZ pointed out that the opacity surrounding these online media outlets, including the absence of physical offices and unclear ownership, erodes public trust and hampers efforts to enforce ethical and legal standards.The statement also addressed concerns about copyright infringement, citing a recent case where ZimDaily used a photograph without proper attribution. This incident led to complaints from media practitioner Emma Zihonye and the Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers.The VMCZ reminded media professionals that copyright violations are a serious legal offense. To address the issues posed by unregistered online media houses, the VMCZ is committed to promoting ethical journalism and ensuring transparency in media operations."By registering and operating transparently, media outlets can help preserve the integrity of the profession and maintain the trust of their audiences," the statement concluded. News / National by Staff reporter A man from Harare, McDonald Katumba (31) of Aspindale Park, is facing charges of embezzlement involving funds entrusted to him by his Australian-based friend.The accusations state that Katumba received money from his friend, Nashile Chibanda, for specific purposes including the purchase of trucks and residential stands. Katumba was also expected to deliver vehicles to Chibanda.According to State prosecutor Chyvonne Nhira, in August 2023, Chibanda sent Katumba US$27,000 intended for the purchase of a residential stand. Instead of using the funds as directed, Katumba allegedly misappropriated them for personal use.Between August 2023 and January 2024, Katumba was also entrusted with three vehicles - one Mazda Demio and two Nissan Notes - by Chibanda.Chibanda instructed Katumba to deliver these vehicles to the CEO of a non-governmental organization interested in buying them. However, Katumba reportedly avoided fulfilling this instruction.In another instance, Katumba is accused of using US$20,000 given to him by Chibanda to purchase two Toyota Toyoace trucks. These trucks were intended for use by Zesa Holdings under a contract that Chibanda planned to finalize.Instead, Katumba allegedly squandered the money and failed to deliver the trucks as agreed.The total amount of prejudice in this case is estimated to be US$58,000. News / National by Staff reporter The trial of five alleged hitmen accused of plotting to murder prominent businessman Oliver Tendai Chipindu is scheduled to continue this Friday, with the State presenting evidence from the second witness.Last week, Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje rejected the defense counsel's request for recusal, ruling that the application lacked merit and allowing the trial to proceed.The suspects, Moses Monde (Johannesburg), Malvin Manzinde, Malvin Tatenda Nyamuranga, Norbert Muponda, and Joshua Mapuranga (Cape Town), are accused of attempting to kill Chipindu after a failed deal involving fuel gas tanks that defrauded him of US$800,000.The defense had argued that the magistrate should recuse himself, suggesting the case be moved to a different court due to previous interactions with the matter. However, prosecutor Ephraim Zinyandu argued that the application lacked legal basis and that it was the court's discretion to determine trial locations.The State revealed that the alleged mastermind, Obrian Obert Mapurisa, is still at large. Mapurisa had arranged with Chipindu to purchase liquefied petroleum gas tankers from Turkey but misappropriated the US$800,000 Chipindu provided. When Chipindu discovered the shortfall and Mapurisa's evasiveness, he demanded a refund.Mapurisa, in response, allegedly devised a plan to kill Chipindu, hiring the five suspects to carry out the murder. The hitmen were provided with Chipindu's address and photo and were lured to Zimbabwe, where they met Chipindu at a Harare lodge on March 19. During this meeting, Chipindu recorded their conversation in which they discussed kidnapping him and causing him harm. The police were alerted, leading to the hitmen's arrest. News / National by Staff reporter PAVEL Durov, billionaire co-founder and chief executive of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV said, citing an unnamed source.Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France.The 39-year-old is understood to have been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at about 8pm local time (6pm GMT).Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday.The Russia-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn (12bn), left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.Russia's embassy in France is taking "immediate steps" to clarify the situation.Citing a representative from the Russian embassy in France, TASS reported there had been no appeal from Durov's team to the embassy, but that it was proactively taking "immediate" steps.Durov and his brother Nikolai founded the messaging app in 2013 and it has about 900 million active users.Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging, and users can also set up "channels" to disseminate information quickly to followers. A Letterkenny parish priest said he was "shocked" and "angry" and that precautions will be taken to prevent a repeat of unruly scenes during mass last week. Fr Ciaran Harkin spoke to parishioners at Sundays 11:30am mass at the Church of the Irish Martyrs in Aughaninshin, a week on from an incident that saw five men arrested and charged with various offences including public order and possession of offensive weapons. Like many in the parish, I was deeply shocked and indeed angry that you, our 11:30 congregation, had to witness the complete disregard for human life last week and a complete disregard for the sacredness of this chapel and its grounds, Fr Harkin said on Sunday. For many of you, I know it was a frightening experience and of course, only for the prompt and efficient work of the Gardai, it could have been a very serious, violent incident. Without going into any detail, I certainly am a little wiser after this incident. Indeed, more precautions will be taken to ensure that an incident like this will not take place again and any of our parish masses. A week previously, Fr Dominic Thoomkuzhy was saying mass when a feud broke out, which required a massive garda presence to diffuse. Bickering began in the porch of the chapel, which then spilt inside as Fr Dominic Thoomkuzhy was about to start to Gospel. A group dispersed outside into the carpark, where there was a significant Garda presence outside, who broke the feuding parties into fractions and held them for some time. Inside, parishioners sat in fear as the mass was temporarily postponed for over five minutes before swiftly concluding. In a message passed onto Fr Thoomkuzh by the local sacristan, Siobhan O'Connell, those in attendance were told to wait inside the chapel for 10 minutes until things had cleared outside, where things had been quieten with a large number of gardai surveying things. Declan Nee, who runs the church choir, apologised to Fr Thoomkuzhy on behalf of the local community. A word of thanks from all of us to the Gardai for their efficient and effective response last Sunday, Fr Harkin added. A word of thanks too, to the church community who communicated with the congregation last week - to Siobhan, to Fr Dominic and to Declan - and indeed to all who helped diffuse the anxiety and fear of some of you during the 11:30am mass. At a special sitting of Letterkenny District Cort last Monday, five men - Michael McDonagh, of the Big Isle in Letterkenny; Michael Reilly Junior, of Kishogue Park, Lucan, Dublin; Michael Reilly Senior, Thomas Reilly, and John Paul Reilly of Tailteann Drive, Windtown, Navan, Co Meath - were released on bail to September 16 to await directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Dublin Airport fire service were rushed to one of the departure gates at Dublin Airport earlier today, as a vehicle collided with an airplane set to travel to the US. Just before 12:30 this afternoon, the on-site fire service were called to gate 408C at Dublin airport, as a baggage vehicle had reportedly collided with the engine of a passenger plane at the gate. The baggage vehicle struck the engine of United Airlines aircraft N76055, a 23 year old Boeing 767. United said in an exclusive statement that thankfully "there was no damage". The severity of the crash was minimal, as soon after the callout, fire service engines returned to base, and the engine damage was dealt with by engineers. Once the engineers gave the all-clear, the plane continued on its way to Washington Dulles International Airport. The flight is expected to land only few minutes later than its expected arrival time. READ NEXT - Irish tourist sexually assaulted and 8,000 Rolex torn from wrist in horror attack in Italy Two Tipperary schools have received awards from the Irish Heart Foundation for their work in learning CPR. They were among 36 schools across Ireland presented with 57 awards as part of the national heart and stroke charitys CPR 4 Schools programme. Ursulines Secondary School in Thurles and Newport College both received CPR 4 Schools awards, which recognise schools, teachers and students for remarkable efforts in CPR promotion and training. Newport College teacher, Jane Keating explains the importance of the programme to the school. Newport College runs this programme each year and wants to acknowledge the valuable lifesaving skills being offered in our school community. This academic year, our transition year students trained our whole community in CPR, providing an extremely valuable lifesaving skill to our student body, said Ms Keating. The Irish Heart Foundation say they aim to build a generation of lifesavers by training students to perform CPR and respond in a cardiac emergency, use an AED (defibrillator) and respond when someone is choking. Irish Heart Foundation Resuscitation Manager Brigid Sinnott said the charity is delighted to recognise schools, teachers and students. Every year we are blown away by the work and commitment of schools to teach the lifesaving skill of CPR. We know that schools are busy places but they are making CPR a priority for their students and the impact is seen in their homes and communities. The Irish Heart Foundations mission is to build a nation of lifesavers through CPR training and schools are vital in helping us to achieve that. These schools are, quite literally, the beating heart of the programme and are recognised for empowering students with a vital lifesaving skill, said Ms Sinnott. A persons chance of survival is doubled when CPR is started immediately. By learning CPR once in your life, you are 10 times more likely to respond to an emergency than someone who has never received training. Designed to embed within the school curriculum, the Irish Heart Foundations CPR 4 Schools programme is easy to run and takes just one hour to train a class. Post-primary school teachers interested in signing up for the free programme can register by emailing: schools@irishheart.ie. Since its inception, 2,630 teachers in 649 post-primary schools have taken part, learning how to deliver CPR and giving the programme a reach of over 350,000 post-primary school students. News / National by Staff reporter Farai Maguwu, founding director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, has criticized the mining activities in Zimbabwe, particularly those involving Chinese companies, describing them as "organized crime."Speaking during a virtual discussion hosted by Bubi Community Parliament, Maguwu expressed concern over the negative impact these mining operations have on local communities, leaving them impoverished and underdeveloped.Maguwu contrasted the operations of companies like Zimplats, which have invested in infrastructure and community development, with those of Chinese miners.He noted that while Zimplats has built roads, housing, and a town that will endure beyond its mining activities, many Chinese companies do not invest in local communities or improve the areas they operate in.Instead, they leave behind environmental degradation, such as unfilled pits, and fail to provide basic amenities like toilets for their workers.He further criticized the working conditions in these mines, stating that some workers are forced to steal from their employers to supplement their income.Maguwu's remarks align with a recent study by Ronald Chipaike of the Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe, which highlighted a significant increase in Chinese investment in Zimbabwe, especially in mining.In 2023 alone, the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency licensed 247 Chinese companies, with the majority focusing on mining. News / National by Gideon Madzikatidze/Simbarashe Sithole In the wake of road carnage, indigenous churches have promised to intensify spiritual prayer cleansing ceremonies meant to arrest the scourge including educational awareness and multi-stakeholders engagement. Speaking on the sidelines of their church's 10th anniversary celebration in Epworth (Solani) over the weekend, founder of the Kuera Apostolic Church, Arch-Bishop Honest Mupepe has expressed their commitment towards reducing spike in road carnage."We have decided to improve our fight against road carnage through intervening spiritually. As you have witnessed previously, we embark on a spiritual cleansing of Beitbridge Highway and the country enjoys a reduction in road carnage that period," Mupepe said."We have gathered more than ten apostolic and pentecostal indigenous churches in our quest to spread these cleansing along our major highways including Mutare which has become a major death trap countrywide," Mupepe added."As indigenous churches, we express our gratitude to the government for ensuring development of our road infrastructure which ensures safe and efficient traffic flow amongst our cities. The only thing that is left is for spiritual complement of the same infrastructure to reduce spike in accidents," Mupepe said.Meanwhile, Bishop Gladys Tukunyuku has also echoed the same sentiments claiming it is high time indigenous churches should consider multi-stakeholders engagement to reduce road carnage along major highways."Road carnage require complex initiatives through multi-stakeholders engagement. This involves educational awareness amongst road users, uses of proper road signage, avoid driving at night, adhering to prescribed speed limits, among others," Tukunyuku said."There is also need to train ambassadors who will visit various communities along major highways and teach them how to monitor movements of livestock adjacent to high accident zones. Opinion leader or local authorities including chiefs and village heads should also get involved in training their local citizens so that they drive the message to their subjects as defined by their contextual frameworks," Tukunyuku said.Meanwhile, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe managing director Munesu Munodawafa said that Zimbabwe is losing over US$400 million in costs related to road traffic accidents every year.Munodawafa announced that at least 150 people die in an average of 4 250 accidents that occur every month throughout the country.He added that it was disturbing that the country continued to register a high rate of accidents when there were so many driving schools.Munodawafa added that on average, 6 people die in road traffic accidents every day, which translates to over 150 people per month, while 38 people are injured daily, adding that a road traffic accident is recorded every 15 minutes in the country."At least 4 250 is the average number of accidents caused by your products every month. These are the students whom you taught and who passed their examinations and are causing these accidents," Munodawafa said."Last year 2 099 which I think is about 5.8 people who die every single day on our roads. These are your products who are causing this. The students who would have passed through your driving schools and passed their tests are the ones who are giving us these figures," said Munodawafa then while addressing driving school owners. VAUGHAN, ON, Aug. 26, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Harvey's brings back the fan-favourite Pickle Pickle Poutine with a dill-icious update. The Triple Pickle Poutine is made with 100% Canadian cheese curds and potatoes, topped with gravy, two deep fried pickles, diced pickles and now, Garlic Dill sauce. The addition of the Garlic Dill makes the pickle factor three-fold and replaces the original Ranch sauce from its predecessor. Today, Harveys brings back the fan-favourite Pickle Pickle Poutine with a dill-icious update! The Triple Pickle Poutine is made with 100% Canadian cheese curds and potatoes, topped with gravy, two deep fried pickles, diced pickles and now, Garlic Dill sauce. (CNW Group/Harvey's) "Thanks to the overwhelming demand from our guests, we're ecstatic to be bringing back Triple Pickle Poutine to our restaurants," says Meera Patel, Director of Marketing, Harvey's. "If we know one thing, it's that our guests are obsessed with our pickles. And, with the increased guest desire for adventurous flavours, it only made sense to play on those two factors to create this poutine. For us, 2024 is the year of pickles and we intend to keep the momentum going." In 2023, Harvey's launched Pickle Pickle Poutine as a response to a viral video in 2022 that had almost 3,000 shares and 500,000 views. Since then, the poutine has gone viral and sparked much debate on social media about whether or not pickles belong on the classic Canadian dish. The Triple Pickle Poutine is available for a limited time at all Harvey's locations until October 27. For more information, visit https://www.harveys.ca/en/poutine About Harvey's Harvey's is an iconic Canadian restaurant chain that has been feeding Canadian families since 1959. Serving delicious flame-grilled burgers made with 100% Canadian beef and topped the way you want them, Harvey's has been a staple in Canadian communities for almost 65 years. About Recipe Founded in 1883, RECIPE Unlimited Corporation is Canada's largest full-service restaurant company. The Company franchises and/or operates some of the most recognized brands in the country including Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, St-Hubert, The Keg, Montana's, Kelseys, East Side Mario's, New York Fries, Bier Markt, The Landing Group of Restaurants, Original Joe's, State & Main, Elephant & Castle, The Burger's Priest, The Pickle Barrel, Marigolds & Onions, Blanco Cantina, Anejo, and Fresh Kitchen + Juice Bar. Story continues RECIPE's iconic brands have established the organization as a nationally recognized franchisor of choice. More information about the Company is available at www.recipeunlimited.com. SOURCE Harvey's Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2024/26/c4253.html Mary Wilson, minister responsible for military affairs, presented a certificate of the Nobel Peace Prize to UN peacekeeper Douglas Cosman in Saint John. (Sam Farley/CBC - image credit) In their blue berets and uniforms, adorned in medals, nine New Brunswickers received an honour over the weekend that's been a long time coming. United Nations peacekeepers, an international force made up of civilians, military and police personnel deployed to areas of conflict, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. However, few from Canada have ever been formally recognized for the honour. On Sunday, nine peacekeepers and their families gathered at the Ridgewood Veterans Wing in Saint John for a recognition ceremony. Lee Boudreau from Saint John joined the peacekeeping force 1957 and was deployed to Egypt and later spent 25 years in the Canadian military. "I think it's well-deserved, for the amount of people and for friends of mine who are not alive," Boureau said."Very few of us at our age are alive. "The sacrifice that these people put in during the time, it was not a very good time involved in peacekeepeing. You're in between the people that are shooting through you, so it's not a very good time." Lee Boudreau deployed to Egypt in 1957 as a peacekeeper, and said Canada hasn't recognized it's peacekeepers like other countries have. Lee Boudreau, who joined a peacekeeping operation in Egypt in 1957, says Canada hasn't recognized its peacekeepers the way other other countries have. (Sam Farley/CBC) Boudreau said he only learned of the Nobel Prize honour last year, just over 30 years after the fact. "Other countries honoured their peacekeepers, but Canada didn't seem to do it, really," he said. The ceremony in Saint John is one of four the province is holding this month across the province at the request of Fred LeBlanc, a Fredericton peacekeeper. He founded the group the Blue Helmets, an association for those who served with the peacekeepers. LeBlanc was unable to be present at the Saint John ceremony, but will be at another in Fredericton next week. "He has been determined to make sure that our peacekeepers are recognized for the time that they served," said Mary Wilson, the provincial minister responsible for military affairs. In a speech before giving the peacekeepers a certificate and letter from the premier, Wilson said more than 125,000 Canadians served as peacekeepers between 1948 and 1988, and 131 lost their lives in service. UN peacekeepers were deployed to more than 19 missions in that time, she said. "I'm deeply humbled by Mr. LeBlanc's passion and continued dedication to bringing more visibility and recognition to New Brunswick peacekeepers," Wilson said, adding that the honour was "long, long overdue." Dennis Ripley was another peacekeeper honoured on Sunday, who deployed to Cyprus as a cook in 1974 but ended up participating in patrols on his days off because the UN force was short-staffed, he said. Ripley also participated in several tours to Egypt and the Golan Heights through the 1980s and 1990s. Dennis Ripley deployed on several missions to Cyprus, Egypt and the Golan Heights between the 1970s and 1990s, and said it was good to be recognized. Dennis Ripley deployed on several missions to Cyprus, Egypt and the Golan Heights between the 1970s and 1990s. At the ceremony in Saint John on Sunday, he said it was good to be recognized. (Sam Farley/CBC) "I've done my share of peacekeeping," Ripley said. "I have the medal for the Nobel, but to get the actual certificate, it's a good thing," he said of Sunday's ceremony. Boudreau said it's important to remember the sacrifices peacekeepers took. "It's our friends and our brothers, people you meet that get killed who were with you at the time, and you think of them. You never forget it," he said. "There's still a few of us around, not too many." Anthropic Announces Cautious Support for New California AI Regulation Legislation Anthropic has announced its support for an amended version of California's Senate Bill 1047 (SB 1047), the "Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act," because of revisions to the bill the company helped to influence, but not without some reservations. "In our assessment the new SB 1047 is substantially improved to the point where we believe its benefits likely outweigh its costs," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 21. "However, we are not certain of this, and there are still some aspects of the bill which seem concerning or ambiguous to us." California's proposed bill on AI regulation, SB 1047, advanced by State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat, mandates safety testing for many of the most advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to develop or those that require a defined amount of computing power. If the bill passes, developers of AI software operating in the state will need to outline methods for turning off the AI models if they go awry, effectively implementing a kill switch. The bill would also give the state attorney general the power to sue if developers are not compliant. Senator Wiener recently revised the bill to appease tech companies, relying in part on input from Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI safety and research company backed by Amazon and Alphabet. The revised bill did away with a provision for a government AI oversight committee. (See "California AI Regulation Bill Advances to Assembly Vote with Key Amendments.") In his letter, Amodei listed what he sees as the pros and cons of SB 1047. His list of pros included: "Developing SSPs and being honest with the public about them." The bill mandates the adoption of safety and security protocols (SSPs) similar to those used by top AI developers like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. Some companies haven't adopted these measures or have been vague about them, and there are no safeguards against misleading claims. "It is a major improvement, with very little downside, that SB 1047 requires companies to adopt some SSP (whose details are up to them) and to be honest with the public about their SSP-related practices and findings." "Deterrence of downstream harms through clarifying the standard of care." AI systems are more adaptable than most technologies, and SSP-like measures by companies like Anthropic can reduce misuse risks. SB 1047 ties companies' liability to their SSPs, incentivizing the creation of effective protocols to prevent catastrophic risks. "As a company developing foundational models that also invests heavily in safety, Anthropic thinks it is important to systematize and incentivize this attitude across the industry." "Pushing forward the science of AI risk reduction." AI safety is an emerging field, with best practices still being developed. While early, strict legislation may be premature, it's crucial to push AI companies to invest in safety science. By requiring Safety and Security Protocols and tying them to liability, the bill encourages companies to address foreseeable risks and develop mitigation strategies before their models become societal risks. His list of concerns included: "Some concerning aspects of pre-harm enforcement are preserved in auditing and GovOps." One of Anthropic's original concerns about the bill was the Frontier Model Division's (FMD) prescriptive guidance, reinforced by pre-harm enforcement. The company found it too inflexible for AI's early development stage. The amended SB 1047 eliminates the FMD and narrows pre-harm enforcement, though some powers have shifted to GovOps, which can now set binding requirements for private auditors. The relationship between these entities is complex, with GovOps providing non-binding guidance but influencing mandatory audit conditions. Right now the hotness that awaits us inpires us to consider DJ, influencer, fitness diva & hottie Sommer as we check pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Take It Easy Today Kansas City 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.: Kansas Citians warned to limit outdoor activity Those in the Kansas City metro have been warned to schedule outdoor activities for the morning or evening as an Ozone Alert has been issued. Deadly Deep Dive In The Dotte Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office investigates possible drowning One man was declared dead at the scene. Sunday Leftovers . . . New Pastor Brings Generations of Faith to the Pulpit The Rev. Sarah Are Speed, daughter of a well-known local pastor, joins Second Presbyterian Church serving as the seventh generation of pastors in her family. Show-Me Sign That Somebody Sold You Out & Shared Info Why do Missouri political campaigns use text messaging? Because it gets your attention Missouri political reporter Jason Rosenbaum shares his frustrations with getting bombarded with political text messages this election season. Rock Chalk Traditions Cont'd At America's longest-running Black rodeo, 'real cowgirls and cowboys' carry on a rich history The longest-run Black rodeo in the nation, the Roy LeBlanc Okmulgee Invitational Rodeo takes place every year in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. This year, hundreds of spectators and competitors from across the country celebrated the rodeo's 69th anniversary. Show-Me Big Gamble Campaign to bring casino to Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks sues to get measure on ballot A campaign to bring a casino to the Missouri tourist destination of the Lake of the Ozarks on Tuesday sued to get the proposal on November's ballot. Copa King Still Thrills Cowtown 'I still look fabulous and so do you': Inside Barry Manilow's last Kansas City concert For the last time in Kansas City, Barry Manilow wowed the T-Mobile Center crowd, playing his biggest hits. Meet the fans & see the set list. Sommer Forever . . . Sommer Ray Takes Over Las Vegas In Her Bikini! Sommer Ray has been livin' it up in Las Vegas this summer ... Spinning her discs, sporting some sexy swimwear and giving quite the poolside show! Step behind the booth and see Sommer heatin' up in the desert! Survey Seyz Polling Still Sketchy Harris leading Trump by 7 points: Poll Vice President Harris holds a 7-point edge over former President Trump nationally in a new poll, marking the latest gain for the Democratic presidential candidate as the general election approaches... MAGA Argument Ahead Trump is expected to tie Harris to chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on 3rd anniversary of attack Former President Donald Trump is expected to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 service members. Holy Land Tensions Skyrocket Iran says Hezbollah's attack shows Israel losing its deterrent power Iran said on Monday that Israel had lost its power to deter and that the strategic balance in the region had shifted against it, following attacks by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Eastern Europe War Fatalities Cont'd Ukraine: Reuters journalist missing after strike in Kramatorsk The news agency says its team was staying in a hotel in Kramatorsk, which was struck by a missile. American Royalty Argue In Public Kennedy Family Comes Out Swinging Against 'Obscene' RFK Jr. Several prominent Kennedy siblings, including Kerry Kennedy and Max Kennedy, condemned their brother's decision to endorse the Republican nominee for president. Actually, Skully Was EXCEPTIONAL Gillian Anderson says her sexy Nineties photoshoots were 'preposterous' 'They didn't represent me at all,' the 'Sex Education' star said, while recalling an era in which she was voted 'World's Sexiest Woman' Local Pupper Precautions Pet shelters facing critical levels nationwide: how one KC shelter is avoiding crisis The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City is a non-profit animal shelter and care clinic that first opened back in 1912. More Deets On August Heatwave FIRST WARN FORECAST: Heat Advisory through Monday The intense heat continues through tomorrow with Heat Advisories in place through 8 p.m. Monday. Post Malone - "I Had Some Help" is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. Nakheel, a member of Dubai Holdings pioneering real estate arm, Dubai Holding Real Estate, has awarded Jan De Nul Dredging Ltd an AED810 million ($220.5 million) for the marine works on Palm Jebel Ali. Part of the leading international Jan De Nul Group, the company will be responsible for dredging, land reclamation, beach profiling and sand placement, directly supporting the construction of villas across all fronds, a WAM report said. With mobilisation activities already under way, Jan De Nul Dredging is expected to complete the entire scope of marine works at Palm Jebel Ali in just over two years. Importantly, the first eight fronds of the project are expected to be site-ready by the first quarter of 2025, allowing for the commencement of villa infrastructure and civil works. New public access road Following Nakheels recent award of two major infrastructure contracts, works have also commenced on the construction of a new public access road, which will provide access from Sheikh Zayed Road, in addition to roadway and lighting enhancements from the mainland to Palm Jebel Ali. Revealed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Palm Jebel Ali will offer an exceptional breadth of luxury lifestyle amenities for residents, families and visitors. Supporting the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, the project also marks the beginning of a new growth corridor in the Jebel Ali area, underlining the expansion of the emirate. Khalid Al Malik, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Holding Real Estate, said: Partnering with Jan De Nul Dredging reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation. As Nakheel intensifies its development activity under Dubai Holding, the expertise of Jan De Nul Dredging in marine, civil construction and environmental projects is pivotal as we accelerate progress on this transformational development. Global destination Aligned with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan vision, Palm Jebel Ali is set to become a global destination that will offer residents the opportunity to experience a luxurious waterfront lifestyle with access to sweeping beachfronts and pristine waters, while setting new standards in quality living and sustainability. Last year, Palm Jebel Ali launched more than 700 units of its Phase 1 frond villas, featuring eight unique styles that blend indoor and outdoor living in a serene coastal setting. Progress on infrastructure and marine works directly supports the delivery of these homes, scheduled for handover late 2026, and advances Palm Jebel Ali's vision as a major residential and leisure destination. The island will ultimately span 13.4 kilometres, featuring 16 fronds and 91 kilometres of beachfront, aligning with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan's goal of expanding public beach access.--TradeArabia News Service | By Laura Lee A $500,000 grant from the state of Maryland will expand an innovative sexual violence prevention program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) with the power of photography, empowering more middle school-aged youth to combat destructive ideas that lead to sexual violence. A Maryland Carey Law student leads students at John Ruhrah Elementary/Middle School in a restorative justice circle. The funding will support the Erin Levitas Initiative for Sexual Violence Prevention, a collaborative effort between the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) in partnership with the Erin Levitas Foundation. Launched in 2018, the Levitas Initiative aims to prevent sexual violence among middle schoolers through its E.R.I.N. Talk curriculum, which uses restorative justice principles to teach middle schoolers about healthy relationships, communication, and bystander intervention. Beginning in fall 2024, the grant will enable the Levitas Initiative to expand its curriculum to additional schools and community partners, implement a new train-the-trainer model, and integrate youth perspectives using Photovoice, an innovative participatory research method. The program currently operates at John Ruhrah Elementary/Middle School and City Springs Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. This recognition by the Maryland General Assembly that we need to be infusing funds into early prevention work is groundbreaking, said Quince Hopkins, JD, LLM, JSD, who leads the Levitas Initiative at Maryland Carey Law. Most funding for sexual violence work supports efforts only after violence has occurred, and then, primarily for criminal legal system response. The amount that comes to prevention is so small in comparison. According to Marissa Jachman, executive director of the Levitas Foundation, the Levitas Initiative is a testament to what can be achieved when passionate organizations come together. By combining the expertise of Maryland Carey Law and the University of Maryland School of Social Work with the support of the Erin Levitas Foundation, were mobilizing students and scholars by engaging young people in conversations early and therefore addressing the problem of sexual violence early, before harm escalates, she said. Laurie Graham, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at UMSSW, will lead the Photovoice project, which will be a key component in enriching the E.R.I.N. Talk curriculum with youth perspectives. The project will provide young people ages 11 to 14 with cameras to document their thoughts and experiences related to sexual violence prevention. The insights gathered from these Photovoice sessions will directly inform updates to the E.R.I.N. Talk curriculum. By incorporating visual elements and perspectives directly from the target age group, the program aims to become more relatable and effective for middle school-aged youth. Were excited that this is a really meaningful project that will collect data and information directly from and in partnership with community members and young people, Graham said. My hope is that the findings will also shape sexual violence prevention and other violence prevention programs elsewhere moving forward. The Levitas Initiative honors Erin Levitas, an aspiring law student and sexual assault survivor whose life was cut short by cancer. The program aims to carry on her commitment to sexual violence prevention and survivor support. ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) was founded in 1807 as the Maryland College of Medicine, which now stands as the nations oldest public medical school. In response to growing social and cultural needs, UMBs mission has evolved and grown tremendously. Widely recognized as a preeminent institution, UMB serves as the academic health, law, and social work university of the University System of Maryland, and is guided by a mission of excellence in education, research, clinical care, and public service. UMB is a thriving academic health center combining cutting-edge biomedical research, exceptional patient care, and nationally ranked academic programs. With extramural funding totaling $663 million in Fiscal Year 2023, each tenured/tenure-track faculty member generates an average of $1.5 million in research grants each year. More than 3,100 faculty members conduct leading-edge research and develop solutions and technologies that impact human health locally and around the world. World-class facilities and cores, as well as interprofessional centers and institutes, allow faculty to investigate pressing questions in a highly collaborative fashion. As a result, the more than 7,000 students, postdocs, and trainees directly benefit from working and learning alongside leading experts as they push the boundaries of their fields. For a listing of the organized research centers and institutes, visit: https://www.umaryland.edu/research/umb- research-profile/research-centers-and-institutions/ ABOUT THE ERIN LEVITAS FOUNDATION The Erin Levitas Foundation (ELF), a nonprofit organization located in Baltimore, Md., is dedicated to ending sexual assault. The nonprofit works by providing early education resources for youth, young people, caregivers, and educators to deconstruct negative attitudes and perceptions that give rise to sexual violence and support healthy behaviors. Through programs at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law that serve two Baltimore City middle schools, and additional programs offering virtual resources, and parent programming, ELF is reaching families throughout the country and bringing awareness to, investing in, and providing early education to prevent sexual violence. Visit the Erin Levitas Foundation for more information. CHIPPEWA FALLS A Menomonie woman has been charged with driving drunk with a minor in her car stemming from an arrest on July 9. Veronica D. Sandlin, 41, 1503 15th Ave., was charged in Chippewa County Court with OWI-3rd with a minor passenger in the vehicle, which is a felony. Judge Benjamin Lane released her on a $100 cash bond and set a return date for Sept. 24. Sandlin also was cited for driving without a valid license. According to the criminal complaint, the Chippewa Falls Police Department received a tip of a drunk driver at 2:52 a.m. July 9, and there was a small child in the vehicle. An eyewitness told police that Sandlin had been drinking since noon on July 8 and had not stopped. Multiple people at the residence said they told Sandlin not to drive away. The officer located Sandlins vehicle on Seymour Cray Boulevard and observed it cross the fog lines multiple times. It also was traveling 50-55 mph in a posted 70 mph zone. The officer pulled over the vehicle and observed Sandlin had slurred speech, glossy eyes, and she failed field sobriety tests. She was arrested and taken to Mayo Clinic Health Systems hospital in Eau Claire for a blood draw. A preliminary breath test showed a .21 blood-alcohol level, more than twice the legal limit. The Wisconsin State Laboratory tested her blood and it showed a .25 blood-alcohol level. Court records show Sandlin was convicted of her second drunk-driving offense in Dunn County Court in 2021. As terms of her release, Sandlin cannot consume or possess alcohol or enter taverns. She must take daily preliminary breath tests, and she can take them at the Dunn County Jail as long as there is no cost to Chippewa County. As the new academic year kicks off, universities in Texas and Virginia have revised their free speech and demonstration policies, responding to the shifting dynamics of campus expression following widespread spring protests over the Israel-Gaza conflict. The University of Texas Board of Regents amended its free speech policy last week to prevent the system and its 14 universities from adopting political or social positions. The new policy states that, "Institutions should not, in their official capacity, issue or express positions on issues of the day, however appealing they may be to some members of the university community." However, individuals are still free to express themselves in a personal capacity. This change comes as the UT system, like many others across the country, navigates the challenges of managing free speech in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The war has ignited intense debates and protests on campuses, particularly at UT-Austin, where clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police led to numerous arrests earlier this year. Meanwhile, the University of Virginia also updated guidelines this week that now regulate how expressive activities, such as protests and demonstrations, can occur on campus. According to UVA President Jim Ryan, the policies are designed to ensure that the university remains a place of open inquiry while also protecting the rights of all community members to access shared spaces without disruption. Notably, the new policies restrict the use of structures like tents in the historic Academical Village, prohibit outdoor events between 2 and 6 a.m., and place limitations on camping and the use of face coverings during protests. "The right to free expression and free inquiry is foundational to our democracy and to UVA," Ryan said in a Monday statement. "In that spirit, we do our best to ensure that any regulations we place on expressive activities are content-neutral and strike the right balance, promoting free expression and ensuring that our Grounds are safe, welcoming and accessible for everyone." In cases of noncompliance with these rules, UVA officials will follow a tiered enforcement process, ranging from warnings to suspensions and potential arrests for persistent violations. The university emphasizes that it supports the right to protest but expects all activities to comply with these new guidelines. As both Texas and Virginia universities implement these new policies, they join a growing list of institutions striving to balance free expression with campus safety and neutrality in an increasingly polarized environment. Indiana University's Board of Trustees approved a new policy in July regarding campus demonstrations following an independent review of the school's response to pro-Palestinian protests this past spring. The new policy, which went into effect Aug. 1, supports protests that don't disrupt university operations or hinder the expressive activity of another individual or group. While the new policy permits actions such as assembly in public areas, peaceful protesting, making speeches and carrying signs, it prohibits constructing temporary structures without approval at least 10 days in advance, outdoor amplified sounds that disrupt others and applying permanent markings to university property. The University of Pennsylvania also introduced temporary protest guidelines this summer, explicitly banning encampments. And Harvard University announced it wouldn't make official political statements, impeding protesters' efforts to push institutions to take a stance on the Israel-Gaza war. Universities are also showing stronger solidarity with Jewish students, some of whom have sued their schools over hostility or harassment during the protests. This could impact how future demonstrations are handled. (@FahadShabbir) The Finance Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organized a one-day stakeholder consultation workshop here to kick-start the implementation of the new Fixed Asset Management Policy 2024 (Health Department and Elementary and Secondary Education Department), said a press release issued on Monday PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) The Finance Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organized a one-day stakeholder consultation workshop here to kick-start the implementation of the new Fixed Asset Management Policy 2024 (Health Department and Elementary and Secondary Education Department), said a press release issued on Monday. The policy was recently approved by the Provincial Government in order to ensure effective management and utilization of fixed assets to improve service delivery. This policy is a significant move towards ensuring transparency, efficiency, and fiscal responsibility in managing public assets. Special Secretary Regulation Abidullah Kakakhil, Additional Secretary Finance Gul Bano, Financial consultant Waqas Paracha, and many officials of the Health, Elementary, and Secondary Education and Planning and Development Department participated in the workshop. The workshop brought together key stakeholders from the Health Department, Elementary & Secondary Education Department, Planning & Development Department, and Finance Department. Muzammil Aslam, Advisor to the Chief Minister for Finance, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led the workshop and emphasized the critical importance of this policy in ensuring the optimal use of investments in public assets. He highlighted that while substantial amounts are spent annually on repairs, maintenance, and the creation of new fixed assets, a systematic approach is essential to ensure these investments are optimally utilized. Participants in the workshop engaged in in-depth discussions on the implementation challenges of the policy and provided valuable insights on strategies to overcome these challenges. Muzammil Aslam reiterated the government's commitment to allocating the necessary resources and support to ensure the successful implementation of this policy, which will enhance financial prudence, optimize resource allocation, and improve service delivery across KPs health and education sectors. At the conclusion of the workshop, Muzammil Aslam congratulated the participants and called upon all departments, and officials to embrace this change and work collaboratively towards its success. (@FahadShabbir) Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday said that the government will continue to engage with stakeholders and take necessary steps to ensure the successful implementation of Pakistan Raises Revenue Programme (PRRP) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday said that the government will continue to engage with stakeholders and take necessary steps to ensure the successful implementation of Pakistan Raises Revenue Programme (PRRP). The minister chaired the Steering Committee Meeting on the Pakistan Raises Revenue Programme (PRRP), which was attended by the the Minister of State for Finance & Revenue Ali Parvez Malik, Chairman Federal board of Revenue, Secretary Economic Affairs Division and Secretary Planning Development and Special Initiatives, said a press release. Secretary Maritime Affairs, Ms. Tania Airdus CEO Waseela, Salman Nasir CEO Ayesha Spinning Mills Limited Kamran Khalid Chief Product Officer Netsol Technologies, senior officers from concerned ministries and FBR and key stakeholders from the private sector and relevant agencies also attended the meeting. The meeting focused on the strategies to enhance Pakistan's revenue generation capacity. During the proceedings participants discussed multiple initiatives and reforms aimed at broadening the tax-base, improving tax compliance, and reducing revenue leakages. The committee explored innovative approaches to enhance the efficiency of tax collection mechanisms and ensure equitable distribution of the tax burden. The Steering Committee Meeting concluded with a strong consensus on the need for concerted efforts to implement the PRRP and achieve its objectives. The government will continue to engage with stakeholders and take necessary steps to ensure the successful implementation of the program. The Pak-Azerbaijan Business Forum, scheduled for September 16th in Baku, will be led by Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, with Federal Minister for Board of Investment Abdul Aleem Khan also participating ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) The Pak-Azerbaijan Business Forum, scheduled for September 16th in Baku, will be led by Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, with Federal Minister for Board of Investment Abdul Aleem Khan also participating. The Secretary of Commerce will co-chair the 4th Pak-Azerbaijan Joint Working Group meeting, said a press release issued on Monday. The forum aims to enhance bilateral trade, with 43 Pakistani companies confirmed to attend, span various industries, including rice, fruits, vegetables, processed food, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, glass products, ceramics, transport and logistics, IT, engineering goods, and chemicals. Their participation is expected to explore potential business ventures and further strengthen trade ties between Pakistan and Azerbaijan, Jam Kamal Khan said. The forum will explore business opportunities and strengthen trade ties between the two nations. Ambassador Khazar Farhadov assured visa facilitation for Pakistani participants and highlighted broader areas of cooperation, including renewable energy and infrastructure. He also announced the upcoming inauguration of the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce in Islamabad. The discussion emphasized the importance of ensuring robust participation from Pakistan's private sector to maximize opportunities for collaboration. Minister Jam Kamal Khan expressed optimism about the forum, describing it as a crucial step towards increasing trade volumes and laying the groundwork for sustained economic collaboration between the two countries. Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs, and President of Pakistan Muslim League-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Engineer Amir Muqam, on Monday visited Shangla, inaugurating various development projects, participating in a school ceremony, and offering condolences to several families PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs, and President of Pakistan Muslim League-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Engineer Amir Muqam, on Monday visited Shangla, inaugurating various development projects, participating in a school ceremony, and offering condolences to several families. During his visit, Federal Minister Amir Muqam participated in a special ceremony at Government Centennial High School Alpuri, where he highlighted the significance of education for the future of Pakistan. "Today's children are our future; they will be the ones to take care of the country's affairs when they grow up," said the minister. He praised the school for its achievements despite limited resources, noting the immense talent of children from mountainous regions. The minister pledged to advocate for the reconstruction of the school and personally announced a donation of three lakh rupees for talented students. He commended the principal and teachers for their hard work in elevating the school's standards, emphasizing that investing in students' futures is crucial. Earlier in the day, the minister inaugurated a new electricity feeder in Alpuri, a project completed at a cost of 32.45 million rupees, which addresses the low voltage issues in the area. The minister also met with various delegations and listened to their concerns and directed relevant authorities to address their issues. Vice Chairman Saddar Town, Karachi, Abdul Rahman Motiwala on Monday said that ample arrangements were made to facilitate the mourners on the occasion of the main procession of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A), and his companions KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Vice Chairman Saddar Town, Karachi, Abdul Rahman Motiwala on Monday said that ample arrangements were made to facilitate the mourners on the occasion of the main procession of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A), and his companions. Eminent scholar Allama Syed Shahshah Hussain Naqvi, who participated in the main procession of Chehlam, met Abdul Rehman Motiwala and Municipal Commissioner President Noor Hassan Jokhio. On this occasion, Municipal Commissioner Noor Hassan Jokhio said that 90 per cent of the main procession of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A) Chehlum passes through the limits of Saddar Town. He said that the town administration made all-out efforts to provide necessary facilities to the mourners on the occasion of the Chehlum procession. He said that objectionable posters and provocative slogans were removed on the route of the main procession, all encroachments and branches of trees were also razed and patchwork of roads was carried out while closed circuit cameras were installed on the main procession route. Besides, special arrangements were made for sanitation, sewage, and lighting. Apart from this, the Emergency Control Room was established in the main office of Saddar Town to monitor the arrangements, he said. The Chelum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A) was observed in the district with great solemnity and reverence amid tight security arrangements DERA ISMAIL KHAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) The Chelum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A) was observed in the district with great solemnity and reverence amid tight security arrangements. In this regard, mourning processions were taken out and majilis were held to pay homage to the martyrs of Karbala. The speakers at Imambargahs highlighted the supreme sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A) and devoted companions who rendered their lives for the glory and existence of Islam. They also urged the Muslims to evolve unity and follow the teachings of islam to successfully meet the challenges. The district police had also made elaborate security arrangements to ensure peaceful observance of Chehlum. District Police Officer (DPO) Nasir Mehmood also visited and inspected the route for the Chehlum of Imam Hussain(RA) central procession. The DPO had issued special directives to ensure effective measures for the peaceful observance of Chehlum. He instructed that all personnel stationed at internal and external routes must conduct thorough checks of everyone coming and going. He directed that no vehicles or motorcycles should be parked within 50 meters of the procession route or Imambargahs. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) A delegation from the Kenyan Embassy, led by Mr. Daniel Nganda, Deputy Head of Mission, visited the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore to engage in discussions with the Registrar regarding support for Kenyan students at the university. The delegation included prominent officials of the Kenyan Embassy, Mr. Soita Khwatenge, Mr. Rasam J. Masoud, and Mr. Hussein Dida. Mr. Raees Alam, Commercial Manager at the Kenya Consulate in Lahore was also with the delegation. The meeting aimed to explore opportunities for enhancing cooperation and increasing the enrollment of Kenyan students at UET. During the discussions, Muhammad Asif, Registrar UET, highlighted the universitys commitment to providing quality education and a supportive environment for international students. The delegation emphasized the importance of fostering educational ties between Kenya and Pakistan. The delegation also met the Kenyan students studying at UET. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq, Senior Warden and Dr. Amna Niazi, International Students Advisor, were also present, contributing valuable insights on how to improve the experience for the Kenyan students and facilitate their integration into the university community. Both parties are optimistic about the potential for collaboration that could benefit Kenyan students and enhance their academic opportunities at UET Lahore. As a gesture of goodwill, the Registrar presented university souvenirs to the visiting diplomats, symbolizing the strengthening ties between UET and the Kenyan Embassy. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Monday expressed profound grief and sorrow over the loss of precious human lives in the despicable and shameful incident near Musakhail, Balochistan. In a message he said , "The loss of precious human lives would never go to waste, and the whole nation stands united to eradicate the menace of terrorism." He prayed for the departed souls and granted patience to bereaved families. He said," The brutal killing of innocent people is tantamount to the killing of the whole humanity. " He also demanded that the culprits and criminals involved in such heinous acts against humanity must be apprehended and brought to justice. Deputy Speaker NA Ghulam Mustafa Shah has also expressed deep sorrow over the tragic loss of innocent human lives in Musakhail Balochistan. He prayed for the grant of the highest place in Jannah to departed souls and for the grant of fortitude to bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss. He termed the brutal killings of innocent travellers in Musakhail, Balochistan, as a serious crime against humanity. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Nishtar Medical Unversity (NMU) organized an awareness seminar on Mpox previously known as Monkey Pox to sensitize healthcare providers and public about it and precautionary steps MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Nishtar Medical Unversity (NMU) organized an awareness seminar on Mpox previously known as Monkey Pox to sensitize healthcare providers and public about it and precautionary steps. All the faculty members and Nishtar Hospital staff participated in the moot. Prof Dr Zahra Nazish briefly discussed the epidemiology, clinical features and management of the disease. The main features of disease are skin rash and having Lymphadenopathy in 85 pc cases. Assistant professor Dr Aliya presented the skin manifestations in mpox patients. Head of Pathology department, Dr Ashgar Ali Javaid, elaborated the method of sample collection, its transportation and reporting mechanism. Dr Shoaib from Community Medicines Department discussed the preventive measures taken by health professionals if any mpox patients will pour into Nishtar Hospital. Moreover he also briefed about the public awareness campaigns. At the end of session, Medical Superintendent Dr Kazim Khan told the participants about the measures taken by hospital administration for the disease. NMU VC, Dr Mehnaz Khakwani, in her closing remarks stated that infectious diseases especially mpox should be dealt by healthcare provider with courage and preventive measures should be adopted both by patients and medics to avoid its outbreak in community. (@FahadShabbir) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday expressed his condolence on the death of Rana Afzal Hussain, elder brother of Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain. Expressing his sympathies with the Federal minister and the bereaved family, the president prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and for the bereaved family to bear the loss with equanimity, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release. RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has sealed and demolished illegal commercial properties in Sherpao Colony and Saidpur Scheme. According to RDA spokesman, the RDA Enforcement Squad on the directives of the Director General (DG) RDA, Kinza Murtaza conducted a targeted operation against unauthorized commercial buildings in Sherpao Colony and Saidpur Housing Scheme, Rawalpindi and demolished a hut and a shop constructed on Plot No 17 in Sherpao Colony and sealed Medical Company Zaib Distributor and Shah Cement Agency at Plot No 375 in Saidpur Housing Scheme. The operation was carried out by the Enforcement Squad, which included the Assistant Director of Building Control, Building Inspectors, and other officials as the property owners, identified as Muhammad Mushtaq and Shafiq violated approved building plans and maps. Despite prior notices issued by the RDA, the owners continued to flout regulations, breaching the Punjab Development of Cities Act 1976 and the RDA Building and Zoning Regulations 2021 by constructing illegal commercial buildings without obtaining the necessary approvals and No Objection Certificates. He informed that the DG had directed the Land Use & Building Control (LU&BC) Wing to take strict action against encroachments, unauthorized constructions, and illegal commercial activities without any discrimination. The spokesman urged the citizens not to indulge in illegal constriction activities and remove encroachments if any to avoid legal action. (@ChaudhryMAli88) DERA ISMAIL KHAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) The districts emergency service rescue 1122, Lakki Marwat tackled a total of 156 emergencies over the last week under the leadership of District Emergency Officer Atif Sardar. Giving details, the spokesman said the rescue service responded to different kinds of emergencies over the week which includes 126 medical, 19 road traffic accidents, five fight and bullet injuries and six emergencies were recovery-related. During these emergencies a total of 155 patients were provided with first medical aid promptly and subsequently shifted them to hospitals. He said a total of 2264 calls were received by the emergency service, but 1121 of them were irrelevant or fake calls. During the 64 referral-related emergencies over the last week, the spokesman said a total of 64 patients were benefited. He said the rescue 1122 teams were fully equipped with all necessary equipment and they had been efficiently rendering their services during emergencies. The Grand Imam, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, on Monday received Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, at his office on the sidelines of the 35th International Conference of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs being held in Cairo ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) The Grand Imam, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, on Monday received Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, at his office on the sidelines of the 35th International Conference of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs being held in Cairo. The meeting was also attended by Pakistans Ambassador to Egypt, Sajid Bilal, and senior officials from Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. During the meeting, Salik briefed the Grand Imam on the efforts of the Government of Pakistan towards promoting interfaith harmony, fostering peace, brotherhood, and unity within the country. He expressed Pakistan's deep respect and admiration for His Eminence, recalling the cherished memories of the Grand Imams one-year stay in Pakistan. The discussions also covered potential avenues for further cooperation between Pakistan and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in promoting a peaceful, progressive, and welfare-oriented interpretation of islam. The situation in Gaza and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and their implications for regional and global peace, were also addressed. The Grand Imam appreciated Pakistans participation in the conference and welcomed the proposal for enhanced cooperation between Pakistan and Al-Azhar in spreading peaceful and progressive Islamic teachings. Both sides agreed to accelerate existing collaborations, ensuring continued interaction in the months ahead. Salik also extended an invitation to the Grand Imam to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience. SARGODHA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Six shopkeepers were booked accused of profiteering from various parts of the city here on Monday. According to official sources,the price control magistrates inspected various points including Sillanwali road,Istaqlabad,Chungi no 12 and netted six shopkeepers including Sultan,Saleem,Mukhtiar,Azam,Saeed and Muhammad Ali for overcharging and imposed hefty fines. Cases were registered against them. KABUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) More than 260 international flights cross Afghanistan airspace every day, and the number of flights is on the constant rise, an Afghan official said Monday. "In the past, the number of flights over Afghanistan airspace was 110 flights every 24 hours, but the number has increased and we have 265 flights using the country's airspace every 24 hours over the past two months," Mawlawi Fatihullah Mansoor, acting deputy head of the Ministry for Transport and Civil Aviation, said in a speech as quoted by the state-owned Radio and Television of Afghanistan. A total of 40,016 international flights have passed through Afghan airspace over the past year, according to the official. A large number of international flights reportedly have avoided flying over the middle East due to tensions while choosing to cross Afghan airspace, which has become relatively safer for international airlines. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Russia said Monday that it had carried out a massive attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and hit all its targets Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Russia said Monday that it had carried out a massive attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and hit all its targets. In an unusually detailed description of the attacks, Russia's defence ministry said it targeted electrical substations in nine regions incuding Kyiv and Odesa. "This morning Russian armed forces carried out a mass strike using long-range high-precision weaponry," the ministry said on Telegram. After Ukraine said it had suffered a barrage of attacks across 15 regions, Russia said these were aimed at "critically important energy infrastructure facilities". "All the set targets were hit," it added, saying it had caused electric power cuts and cut off rail supply routes to the front line. The ministry described the weapons used as long-range missiles launched from aircraft and vessels at sea as well as aircraft and attack drones. It also said it targeted gas compressor stations in three regions, which "ensure the functioning of Ukraine's gas transport system". The targets were chosen because they "make possible the work of (Ukraine's) military-production complex," Moscow claimed. Russia also claimed to have attacked stores of weapons supplied to Kyiv by Western countries, which it said were located at airfields in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions Jung-Eun Kang The University of Wyoming Department of Music will host guest pianist Jung-Eun Kang Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall. The recital is free and open to the public. The program will feature Haydns Piano Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:48; Bartoks Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Op. 20; Ives Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass.; and Liszts Annees de Pelerinage, Premiere Annee: Suisse, S. 160. A native of Seoul, South Korea, Kang graduated from the Korea National University of Arts. She received her Master of Music, Graduate Performance Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Kang has won numerous competitions, including the grand prize in the Samic Competition in Korea; the Washington, D.C., Catholic University Competition; the Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition; and the Russell C. Wonderlic Memorial Competition. She also is a recipient of the Pauline Favin Memorial Award at the Peabody Institute. An outstanding soloist, Kang frequently performs throughout major concert halls in South Korea. She also has appeared as a soloist with a number of major orchestras, including the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Seoul String Ensemble, the Citiphilharmonic Orchestra and the KT Orchestra. Her performances have been broadcast on KBS. Formerly a faculty member at the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute, Kang now serves as a professor at Jeju National University. For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu. Prospects for Environmental Technology Investors in Vietnam Vietnams commitment to sustainable development and achieving net-zero (carbon emission) goals offers significant opportunities for environmental technology innovation and foreign investment. As the world grapples with the escalating challenges of climate change, Vietnam could emerge as a leader in sustainable development. Leveraging its strategic location, abundant natural resources, and supportive government policies, Vietnam can become a pioneer in environmental technologies. By transitioning to green policies and fostering a collaborative approach, Vietnam is poised to lead the way in environmental sustainability. We discuss key considerations in this op-ed. What is environmental technology? Environmental technology, also known as green or clean technology, encompasses a broad spectrum of tools and practices aimed at mitigating the environmental impact of human activity. This field includes advancements in energy, transportation, agriculture, and waste management, all striving for a sustainable and eco-friendly future. Technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind energy represent significant strides towards building a more sustainable world. Vietnams potential in harnessing environmental technology Vietnam is rapidly becoming a prime destination for sustainable investments, attracting foreign investors with favorable policies and increasing public demand for eco-friendly practices. Green investment in Vietnam focuses on projects that reduce carbon emissions, enhance energy efficiency, and develop sustainable infrastructure. Vietnams green growth journey Vietnam has integrated green growth into its national strategies and action plans, achieving significant milestones: Environmental benefits: Increased forest cover, improved air quality, and a slower rate of greenhouse gas emissions growth. Increased forest cover, improved air quality, and a slower rate of greenhouse gas emissions growth. Economic opportunities: Investments in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and eco-tourism, creating economic opportunities and green jobs. Investments in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and eco-tourism, creating economic opportunities and green jobs. International reputation: Attracting foreign investments and partnerships, with notable foreign direct investment (FDI) in green sectors. Risks and challenges Vietnam faces potential economic and social risks due to climate change, with costs projected to range between 12 percent and 14.5 percent of GDP annually by 2050. It is estimated that one million people could face acute poverty by 2030 as a result of climate impacts. Commitment to net-zero emissions At COP28, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reaffirmed Vietnams commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The Vietnam business community and foreign investors are eagerly anticipating robust sustainability policies to drive collaboration towards a sustainable economy. The government has so far released national action plans focusing on air quality, water conservation, and plastic waste pollution, underscoring the urgency of transitioning from the red carpet to the green carpet to ensure a sustainable future. Transition from a Red Carpet to Green Carpet approach Vietnams initial economic reform strategy, known as the red carpet approach, successfully attracted investors with various incentives. This strategy has positioned Vietnam as a top FDI destination in ASEAN, attracting approximately US$455 billion in registered FDI by September 2023. However, this approach now faces challenges: Global minimum tax (GMT): Reducing the appeal of current tax incentives. Internal economic changes: Declining advantages of a young workforce and affordable labor costs. Climate change and consumer behavior: Growing consumer concerns over environmental issues compel manufacturers to adopt sustainable practices. The green carpet strategy promotes sustainable policies and solutions to attract high-quality investments, focusing on fostering innovative and knowledge-based industries. Policy components Electricity supply and renewable energy Ensuring a stable electricity supply and integrating renewable energy sources is crucial for Vietnams sustainable development. Implementing the Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) will facilitate the direct purchase of electricity from renewable sources, promoting cleaner energy consumption. The development of green industrial zones, supported by Decree 35/2022/ND-CP, aims to encourage the establishment of eco-friendly industrial zones and convert existing parks into ecological zones. The Vietnamese government has approved the National Energy Master Plan (NEMP) through Decision Number 893/QD-TTg for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision extending to 2050. The NEMP broadly aims to: Ensure national energy security Reduce carbon emissions to meet Vietnams commitment to net-zero by 2050 Ensure the energy industry is independent and self-sufficient The plan projects that Vietnam will produce enough energy to support an economy growing at 7 percent per annum between now and 2030, and 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent between 2031 and 2050. To achieve these ambitious goals, it is estimated that Vietnam will require up to VND 4,808 trillion (US$203 billion) in investment capital between 2021 and 2030. Additionally, a further VND 14,590 trillion (US$615 billion) will be needed between 2031 and 2050, totaling VND 19,398 trillion (US$818 billion). Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards The Vietnam ESG Initiative is among key efforts to support the implementation of Vietnams Green Growth Strategy for the period 2021-2030 and Decision 167/QD-TTg 2022. This initiative results from collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MOPI). Its goal is to facilitate private sector involvement in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth. Embracing ESG and sustainable practices will enable businesses to seize new opportunities in the context of the green transition and enhance their competitiveness in the global supply chain. Role of central and local government in institutional framework and policies Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA): Under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), VEA issues regulations, standards, and permits, and performs inspections. MONRE oversees air pollution, water resource management, and waste problems. Under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), VEA issues regulations, standards, and permits, and performs inspections. MONRE oversees air pollution, water resource management, and waste problems. Ministry of Construction (MOC): Responsible for the Water Supply and Sewerage Law, promoting modern infrastructure development. Responsible for the Water Supply and Sewerage Law, promoting modern infrastructure development. Ministry of Public Security (MOPS): Ensures enforcement of environmental protection laws. Ensures enforcement of environmental protection laws. Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT): Issues industry-specific regulations and conducts inspections. Scope for sustainability investment Water supply and wastewater treatment Agriculture and aquaculture are vital economic pillars for Vietnam as it progresses toward becoming an industrialized nation by 2045, a goal set by the government. Currently, Vietnam is a leading exporter of products such as rice, coffee, pepper, nuts, shrimp, and catfish. With a population exceeding 98 million, it is projected that by 2030, half of the population will reside in urban areas. The countrys intensive agricultural activities, rapid growth in industrial sectors such as metallurgy, garment, paper, dairy, and furniture, along with fast-paced urbanization, necessitate urgent sustainable water resource management. In 2020, Vietnams water consumption was 3.6 billion cubic meters for municipal activities, 7.5 billion cubic meters for industry, and 94 billion cubic meters for agriculture. Forecasts indicate these figures will rise to 5.7 billion cubic meters, 15.6 billion cubic meters, and 103 billion cubic meters respectively by 2030. Currently, only 15 percent of Vietnams wastewater is collected and treated. A substantial amount of wastewater from residential areas, animal husbandry, and various small and medium-sized economic activities is discharged into the environment without proper treatment. According to ICHAM, Vietnam is among the top five countries that discharge the largest amount of water into the sea after China, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Additionally, municipal solid waste is a significant contributor to underground water pollution in Vietnam. As per a 2022 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment report, wastewater treatment mechanisms in industrial parks have improved and 91 percent of industrial parks in Vietnam have a centralized system. Yet, as ICHAM notes, these parks often lack standard or have inefficient wastewater treatment systems in place leading to poor outcomes were companies treat wastewater arbitrarily or discharge directly impacting nearby ecosystems. Key challenges to meet environmental targets include low investment capital and limited financial capacity that hinders infrastructure development in some localities, business lack of awareness of environmental damage, The industrial wastewater treatment sector is dominated by domestic enterprises and joint ventures with foreign companies. Key players include Envico, Envitech, Navitechco, Tam Nhin Xanh, SEEN Technologies Corp., and Ecoba ENT. By 2022, 50 wastewater treatment plants with a total design capacity of approximately 1.8 million cubic meters per day were planned, with 80 percent utilizing activated sludge technology. However, this technology faces challenges in control and optimization, requiring large construction areas and bio-energy. In contrast, developed countries use AOP, nanotechnology, and biodegradation to treat persistent pollutants, save electricity, optimize treatment processes, and reuse water resources. Air pollution control The increasing regulatory stringency and need for pollution control technologies present opportunities for foreign companies, particularly in the industrial sectors. Solid waste management There is a growing market for advanced waste treatment technologies and systems, driven by increasing waste generation and inadequate existing infrastructure. Environmental consulting and engineering Demand is rising for environmental impact assessments, pollution control technologies, and advanced engineering services to address Vietnams environmental challenges. Renewable sector opportunities Vietnam has significant potential to generate 160 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, and hydropower, according to a 2019 McKinsey report. This potential offers numerous investment opportunities for foreign investors in Vietnams transition to clean energy. Solar energy investments Vietnams tropical climate, with an average solar irradiation of 5 kWh/m per day, is ideal for solar energy projects. Prime locations such as Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, and Tay Ninh receive the highest solar radiation levels in the country, making them suitable for large-scale solar farms. Wind energy investments With a coastline of over 3,000 kilometers, Vietnam has excellent conditions for both onshore and offshore wind farms. Regions like Binh Dinh, Quang Tri, and Gia Lai are particularly attractive for wind energy investments due to their consistent and strong wind speeds. Hydropower investments Vietnam is rich in rivers suitable for hydropower, including the Mekong, Red, and Song Ma rivers. Regions such as Lao Cai, Son La, and Thanh Hoa have already seen significant hydropower development due to their abundant river resources and high rainfall. Overall, Vietnams abundant natural resources and favorable conditions create a promising landscape for renewable energy investments, driving the nations transition to sustainable and clean energy. Leading companies and initiatives Dragon Capital Group: Invested over US$1 billion in renewable energy projects through its Renewable Energy Fund II. LEGO Group: Building a carbon-neutral facility with solar panels in Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. Google and Facebook: Investing in renewable energy projects and data centers powered by renewable energy. Google has a solar power plant in Ninh Thuan province. Samsung: Constructing a solar-powered factory for green manufacturing. Conclusion Vietnams commitment to green growth and clean energy to address power shortages, coupled with its rapid economic development and favorable investment environment, presents substantial opportunities for investments in environmental technology and sustainable solutions. Foreign investors can play a crucial role in driving the country towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future by leveraging innovative technologies and creating strategic partnerships. Vietnams shift to a green carpet investment strategy is essential for maintaining its investment attractiveness and ensuring sustainable development. Success will depend on the governments ability to remain flexible and adaptive in its policies to allow Vietnam to be competitive and align with global trends. Sushi sliced with samurai skill at Stefans secret speakeasy? Try saying that five times fast. For Charlottesville fans of Asian cuisine, Yoshihiro Tauchi is not a new name. Since arriving in the U.S. from Japan roughly 40 years ago, Tauchi has established or preserved some of the citys top Asian eateries, from Ten on the Downtown Mall to Lemongrass on the Corner and back to the Downtown Mall where he opened his own eatery, Kokoro later renamed Mican due to a trademark dispute which closed some eight years ago. Today, Tauchi is back on the Mall, crafting maki rolls at the end of the bar inside Vitae Spirits tasting room at 107 E. Main St. What started as a pop-up experiment dreamed up by Vitaes owner, venture capitalist-turned-restaurateur Stefan Friedman is now a permanent partnership. Friedman is constructing a six-seat sushi speakeasy inside Vitae, where Tauchi can keep practicing his craft and drawing in customers. Friedman cant believe his luck. I was like, Oh my God, how do I not have the best sushi guy in Charlottesville? Hes available, and so one thing led to another, Friedman told The Daily Progress. People love it. I mean hes really the guy. Sushi by Tauchi the pair are fielding a better name has been rolling up seafood creations, including sashimi carpaccio and volcano rolls piled high with tuna, salmon and hamachi, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights since the beginning of June. The men formally agreed to make Tauchi a permanent fixture at Vitae on Aug. 16, Friedman said. Once the yet-to-be-named speakeasy is completed sometime in the mid- to late fall, customers will be able to buy tickets in advance for a chance to order off Tauchis prix fixe menu. Its going to be a very serious, L.A. sushi experience, said Friedman. Tauchi told The Daily Progress, through his wife, Yukiko, acting as translator, he was excited about bringing an omakase experience to Charlottesville. Omakase, which translates to Ill leave it up to you, is a phrase often heard in upscale Japanese restaurants, where the diner leaves the fate of their meal and their appetite in the hands of the chef. Executing an omakase dining experience demands a high level of expertise from a chef, an artistic, culinary feat Tauchi is prepared to take on. Friedman credits the sushi virtuosos success to his formidable and precise skills with a knife as well as his adherence to only using primo ingredients. What goes on the plate as sushi or sashimi has to be perfect, Friedman said of Tauchis taste in ingredients. Tauchis fish is sourced directly from Japan through old connections who share his and Friedmans commitment to quality, Friedman said. Its all about quality, he said. This is a world filled with fast food where people will take good enough, and thats just not what I want to do. Sometimes it means this is not the cheapest place in town to eat, Friedman added. I recognize that, and this is not the cheapest sushi in town, but a lot of our customers will tell you its the best and thats what I want. Tauchi, and his wife have long been a presence in the Charlottesville culinary scene, but they took some time off after selling Lemongrass and closing Mican to visit family in Japan. Friedman, who only just moved Vitae from its old location on Water Street to its more prominent location on the Mall next door to his seafood eatery Bonny & Read, never intended to combine cocktails and sushi. Instead, Vitaes patrons were offered a menu of Spanish-style conservas alongside their tastings of craft rum, gin and liqueurs. Considered a delicacy in areas along the Spanish and Portuguese coastline, conservas are canned and preserved seafood served with crackers. This is not a 29-cent can of tuna. This is like a $12 octopus or $8 anchovies-stuffed olives and things like that, said Friedman. The way its served is, theres a bit of a kitsch factor to it, because you serve it in the tin and put it on a plate. We put it on with our house-made Old Bay-seasoned chips, and then you just eat. When Friedman heard that Tauchi had returned stateside, he jumped at the chance to collaborate with the sushi master and expand Vitaes offerings. It was purely opportunistic, Friedman said. Friedman knows a thing or two about opportunity. The onetime venture capitalist helped develop Digitrade, the first online stock trading platform back in the 1990s. Still an entrepreneur, Friedman now is the owner or part-owner of multiple Charlottesville hot spots, including Vitae and Bonny & Read downtown, Littlejohns New York Delicatessen on the Corner and Ace Biscuit & Barbecue in Rose Hill. Ace is currently undergoing repairs after a bitter former employee ransacked the place causing more than $50,000 worth of damage back in March. Friedman hopes to have the dining room reopened in the next week or so and the entire restaurant open for late-night dining four to six weeks after that. Friedman is also redeveloping what was once Draft Taproom on the far east end of the Downtown Mall. Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the bar at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, he said. And though he doesnt have a firm date yet, he said he hopes to have Draft Taprooms next iteration, and its dozens of beer taps, open sometime next month. And Friedman is planning on bringing new life to the real estate above Littlejohns, the former home of Michaels Bistro & Taphouse, as an extension of Draft Taprooms new concept. Back at Vitae, the transition to the new Mall location has boosted foot traffic, Friedman said. A growing number of patrons, he said, are simply curious, or thirsty, passersby on the high-traffic pedestrian thoroughfare. Vitae Spirits sales are not only growing at its downtown tasting room. The distillerys products were recently added to 80 more ABC store shelves, making us the most widely distributed craft liquor in Virginia, said Friedman. His restaurant empire may be growing, but Friedmans presence is felt in every single establishment quite literally. He dines at his own restaurants on a weekly basis. Its important to keep an eye on things, he said. There are so many absentee owners. ... I couldnt even imagine how you have a successful business without really being there to touch, taste, smell, see. Sen. Donna Frett-Gregory, from left, Brigadier General Sally Petty, Torhera Durand, Deanna James, Georgia State Sen. Tonya Anderson, National Organization of Black Elected Legislative (N.O.B.E.L.) Women president from Georgia, Massarae Webster-Sprauve, former Sen. Janette Millin Young, and Sen. Marise James at the N.O.B.E.L. event held recently on St. Thomas. The deep-sea area in Kampot provinces Kilo 12 village is where Bou Teap and other fisherfolk ply the waters for fish, crabs and shrimp. But as port developments and other infrastructural projects multiply along the coast, Teap and others say the fishing culture has dramatically changed. "They [developers] filled in that wiped the seagrass and all the places where the fish lay eggs and have their nursery, so there was no place to fish, she said, as she sat on a boat and removed garbage from her nets. [Now] we go deep into the sea to fish, Teap added. A rush of infrastructural growth along the coast in addition to a surge of major private investments that have also filled large parts of Cambodias southern shoreline have reshaped life for residents of Kilo 12 and elsewhere. Beyond just a price tag, the cost of these works also includes major environmental impacts. While officials say the economic benefits of mass infrastructure development will more than make up for the ecological toll, those living at the forefront may struggle to realize these gains. For fisherfolk such as Teap, a series of new shipping and maritime projects have already hurt traditional livelihoods drawn from the sea. In response, the fisherwoman said her peers are now working the waters in increasingly remote areas, or migrating elsewhere along the coast. Some borrow money from microfinance institutions to make a living. "In the past, even if we did not go fishing for a month, we had money, we did not take loans from the bank," she said. "When the net broke or was lost, when a machine broke down, we had our own money to fix it. But after the fisheries decreased, we didn't have enough money when the net is lost and the machine breaks down, we borrow money from others." Such experiences highlight some of the tradeoffs of development. The Kilo 12 village area is also the home of the Kampot Multi-Purpose Port recently re-named from the Kampot International Port which is owned and operated by the Kampot Port company. The port is connected to the Kampot Special Economic Zone, all of which is controlled by the tycoon Vinh Huor, who holds dozens of registered businesses across Cambodia. Since about 2006, the company has been gradually filling its portion of the sea with sand to develop its facilities, which today represent one of just two modernized deep-sea ports in the country. In June, the company inaugurated a $140 million expansion planned as the first stage of a renovation scheme. The port has typically been used to import and temporarily store coal, which some neighboring residents complained has led to potentially hazardous coal dust blowing in the wind from the piles to settle on the roofs of their homes. A phone number on the Ministry of Commerce business registration website listed for the port company connected to a person who said they were unaffiliated with it. The coast of Kampot and the neighboring province of Kep is fertile territory for corals and seagrass, with extensive meadows of the latter that make critical habitat for a wide variety of marine life. A 2021 field study from non-governmental organization ActionAid Cambodia found some of the largest seagrass meadows around Kilo 12, with fields extending along the coast where other major developments are currently in the works. The intensive work in Kampot is not an isolated affair. In the hopes of driving broad economic growth, Cambodia is in the midst of what its government hopes will be an infrastructure development boom. Last year, the state unveiled a 174-project master plan that described $36.6 billion worth of projects. These included major upgrades of the deep-sea port at Sihanoukville, the countrys main international port. They also include the much-publicized construction of the Funan Techo Canal, a new shipping waterway that would link Phnom Penh to the Gulf of Thailand near the countrys existing ports. Besides the projects listed in the plan, developers recently finished a new tourism port also in Kampot that was built on land donated by Vinh Huor and with backing from the Asia Development Bank. Conservationists contacted by a reporter declined to comment on the coastal developments or the canal, citing the political sensitivity of these projects. Matthew Owen, project development executive at Ben Line Agencies and vice-chairman of the Transport and Logistics Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, said expansion of the countrys ports will help lift the economy as a whole. Boosting the capacity of Cambodia to accept larger vessels increases trade with neighbors and foreign countries, Owen said in a message. This will help to bolster Cambodia's agricultural exports, increasing employment and economic trade with the world, making Cambodia a player on the major stage. At the inauguration ceremony for the Kampot Multipurpose Ports expansion, which was completed on June 6, Prime Minister Hun Manet stated the facility is the first port in Cambodia to meet international standards. "This port will contribute to becoming a new major artery for Cambodian maritime transport and upgrade to increase trade activities and exchange of goods, as well as help promote economic growth in Kampot as well as the socio-economic development of Cambodia, said Hun Manet, adding the port will contribute to both local and more widespread job opportunities. While these improvement projects move in the background, in 2022, a different group known as the Kampot Logistics and Port company has also been filling part of the Kampot coast in hopes of constructing a new $1.5 billion port. Though ostensibly led by businessmen Ly Yim and Meas Thom, the companys registered address is a private residence in Phnom Penh also used by Papa Petroleum and other companies linked to the the U.S.-sanctioned timber tycoon Try Pheap . That same property had also been the registered address for a now-dissolved organization known as the Kampot Multi-Purpose Port company, which had the senators son Try Daphors listed as its chairman. Its unclear if this company is connected to Vinh Huors port project, which now has the same name. In his inaugural address for that operational port, Hun Manet said hed changed its name with an official sub-decree. Phone calls to numbers for the company listed on its website went unanswered, as were others made to a number listed for Meas Thom on the Commerce Ministry website. Emails sent to the company by VOA also received no response. Back at Kilo 12 village, business at the expanded international port is running as planned. Roth Vutha, a fisherman living in Kilo 12 village, said some fishermen got jobs from the port, while others continued to fish in remote areas away from the coastline. Vutha said he was a truck driver at the port, earning between $200-250. Before the port development disrupted fishing in local waters, Vutha said he averaged $500-600 per month with his catch. "In the past, there was no port and we would easily make a living from fishing, he said. [After] the port came in, there was not much area to do fishing, it was completely demolished. Anyway, if we work on a salary, it is not enough, its difficult. The salary from the port jobs is low, but if the salary was high, it would be OK." To supplement his income and support his family, Vutha said he still fished when he wasnt working. Government officials and provincial authorities did not respond to VOA inquiries in detail about the impact on fishermen and did not provide any environmental impact assessment reports for the Kampot Multipurpose Port. Kampot provincial administration spokesman Khun Usaphea directed questions to deputy governor Ung Chhay, who did not respond. Khvay Atiya, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, told VOA Khmer briefly that he would look into the matter. However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport told VOA in a message that the Kampot Multipurpose Port, as well as the special economic zone, would have factories that could provide more jobs for local people. Spokesman Phorn Rim said about 200 people living in the area were currently working for the port company. "Some fishermen who are strong, not too old, they came to work with the port company, causing their lives to be stable, he wrote. When asked about the neighbors health concerns about coal dust, Rim was dismissive. "The company has been careful to protect [against] this issue, there is protection during transport and so on, he commented. Out Latin, project coordinator for the advocacy group Cambodian Youth Network, told VOA that developments that help the economy can be positive, but that any new plans should consider impacts on people and the environment. "In order to prevent people from being [treated] unfairly by development and to reduce the destruction of biodiversity or damage to local ecosystems, environmental impact assessments [should] be guaranteed," he said. "With the participation of local people, development partners such as companies and the royal government should work together to show transparency and efficiency of projects." This story was supported by Internews Earth Journalism Network through the Strengthening Transparency in Infrastructure Development Through Environmental Reporting in Southeast Asia project. A Pakistani judge has dropped charges against a man accused of spreading misinformation on social media that contributed to recent rioting in Britain. Farhan Asif, 32, a web developer, was accused of posting false information online that a Muslim asylum-seeker was responsible for the deadly stabbing spree on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Britain that killed three children on July 29. The misinformation about the name and identity of the attacker fed into anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments, fueling unrest and riots in England and Northern Ireland. British police later named the attack suspect as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 18, who was 17 when the attack took place. Rudakubana was born in Britain to Rwandan parents. Pakistans Federal Investigation Agency arrested Asif last week on cyberterrorism charges but was released Monday after a court appearance in Lahore. Asif told the judge that he shared a post on social media that contained false information but deleted it after realizing that it was not correct. Mumtaz Hussain, a lawyer representing Asif, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the FIA dropped all charges against Asif and released him after being unable to find evidence against him. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. The Chinese government responded angrily to the news this weekend that 39 companies in China and Hong Kong had been added to a list of entities that face special export controls when doing business with U.S. firms. The so-called Entity List, maintained by the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), identifies companies, individuals and even places of business, to which U.S. firms cannot transfer goods without a license. This most recent addition to the list concerns entities that have been helping companies affiliated with the Russian military obtain U.S.-made goods that cannot legally be sold to them. BIS has taken aggressive actions, in concert with our allies and partners, to impose strict export controls in response to Russias illegal, unprovoked, and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Todays action is an extension of this critical and ongoing work, Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, said in a statement. We will continue our multilateral approach to attack this problem from all sides and use every tool in our arsenal to prevent Russia from gaining access to the advanced U.S. technology needed for its weapons, he said. Long-arm jurisdiction According to the state-run Xinhua news service, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that Beijing resolutely opposes the addition of Chinese firms to the Entity List. In an article that appeared to paraphrase remarks from a spokesperson that were not published elsewhere, Xinhua wrote, The move is a typical act of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, said the spokesperson in an online statement. It undermines the international trade order and rules, impedes normal international economic and trade exchanges, and affects the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains. The statement called on the U.S. to immediately stop its wrong actions and said, China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. Technology firms Among the items that the U.S. has been trying to prevent Russia from obtaining are sophisticated semiconductors and other technologies necessary to build high-tech modern weaponry, such as missile guidance systems. One way that Russia has been avoiding those sanctions has been to pay companies outside of Russia to purchase the necessary materials from U.S. suppliers, claiming that they are intended for domestic use, or for non-military applications, and to transfer them to Russia after they have been delivered. The list of Chinese companies named in the most recent Entity List addition includes a large number that appear to be in the computer technology distribution field. Among those named are AllChips Limited; Chipgoo Electronics Limited; Hong Kong Haiheng Electronics Co. Ltd.; Shenzhen Bailiansheng Electronic Science and Technology Co., Ltd.; and Superchip Limited. In total, entities from 10 countries were added to the list in the most recent update. Other than Russia, which was home to approximately half of the new additions, China was home to the largest number. While none of the Chinese companies added to the Entity List this weekend were household names, some high-profile entities within China are subject to its restrictions. For example, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been on the list since 2019. Harbin Institute of Technology, a major public university, is also on the list. In total, it includes more than 600 Chinese companies. Impact of inclusion After a company is placed on the Entity List, it becomes illegal for U.S. companies to transfer any goods to them that were made in the U.S., were ever present in the U.S., or were made in another country but contain U.S.-made components equal to 25% or more of the products value. Inclusion on the Entity List can be a devastating blow for companies, because not only are they cut off from U.S. suppliers, but they may also find themselves blacklisted by non-U.S. firms that refuse to do business with them for fear of running afoul of U.S. authorities, said Clif Burns, a senior counsel with the law firm Crowell & Moring. It can essentially shut them down, particularly if they are dependent upon U.S. goods in their supply chain, Burns told VOA. Plus, as a practical matter, given the way most U.S., European and first-world countries handle screening, if you're on the Entity List, they just generally will not do any kind of business with you at all. China on Sunday expressed its opposition to the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged ties to Russia's war in Ukraine, saying it will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of the country's businesses. The U.S. announced Friday sweeping sanctions on hundreds of firms in Russia and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russias war effort and aiding its ability to evade sanctions. The U.S. Department of State said it was concerned by the magnitude of dual-use goods exports from China to Russia. The Ministry of Commerce in China in its statement firmly opposed the U.S. putting multiple Chinese companies on its export control list. The move bars such companies from trading with U.S. firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license. The ministry said the U.S. action was typical unilateral sanctions," saying they would disrupt global trade orders and rules, as well as affect the stability of the global industrial and supply chains. China urges the U.S. to immediately stop its wrong practices and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interest of Chinese companies, it said. The U.S. action is the latest in a series of thousands of U.S. sanctions that have been imposed on Russian firms and their suppliers in other nations since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The effectiveness of the sanctions has been questioned, especially as Russia has continued to support its economy by selling oil and gas on international markets. According to the U.S. State Department, some China-based companies supplied machine tools and components to Russia companies. China has tried to position itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, but it shares with Russia high animosity toward the West. After Western countries imposed heavy sanctions on Russian oil in response to Russia sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, China strongly stepped up its purchase of Russian oil, increasing its influence in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin also underlined the importance of China by meeting in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon after being inaugurated for a fifth term in the Kremlin. A dam collapsed in Sudan's eastern Red Sea state, sending water flooding over nearby homes, the country's health ministry said. Local media said dozens of people are missing. In a statement late Sunday, the ministry said that the Arbaat dam had collapsed and that resources had been deployed to the area to help the people who had been stranded. The statement said at least four people had died in the floodwaters but did not give an estimate of how many were missing. However, a local official told the Sudanese news site Al-Tagheer that he believed there to be at least 60 dead. Amr Eissa Taher, the head water resources official for the Red Sea state, said the damage was extensive. The Sudanese news outlet Medameek, citing the country's air force, reported more than 100 people were missing, and that many other villagers had climbed to rocky hilltops to avoid the rising waters. The dam, in a remote area 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Port Sudan, supplied drinking water to the Red Sea city. Many of the country's top officials and civilians have fled to Port Sudan from the capital Khartoum since a brutal conflict broke out in the country in April 2023. The war, pitting the country's military against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has thrown Sudan into a humanitarian crisis. The top military general traveled to the Red Sea province on Sunday. In a video released by the military on social media, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan walked through muddy plains next to valleys filled with floodwaters and met with first responders. The war has wrecked civilian infrastructure and an already battered health care system. It has killed thousands of people and pushed many into starvation, with famine already confirmed in a sprawling camp for displaced people in the wrecked northern region of Darfur. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. Over 2 million of those have fled to neighboring countries. Most recently, a cholera outbreak, fueled by flooding and poor sanitation facilities, has killed at least two dozen. In the month since the first suspected cases of cholera were reported, more than 650 cases and 28 deaths have been reported in five states, the World Health Organization said Friday. WHO said an initial cholera vaccination campaign in Kassala in eastern Sudan has reached more than 50,000 people. It said more than 450,000 additional doses of oral cholera vaccine are in the pipeline to be delivered. Sudan's dams help it manage heavy seasonal precipitation in a largely desert climate. The Arbaat dam, some 34 kilometers (22 miles) from the Red Sea, was built for holding spring and rainwater and its reservoir had a capacity of 25 million cubic meters, according to the news site Al-Tagheer. The dam burst Saturday night following heavy rains, according to local media reports. Information has been difficult to gather in the area due to mobile network outages. Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents' knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave. A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal. Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it, she said. Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe. Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spains Interior Ministry. While most migrants leaving Senegal are young men, aid workers in the Canary Islands say they are increasingly seeing young women like Ndiaye risk their lives as well. Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat. The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone. Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains. But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. Barsa wala Barsakh, or Barcelona or die in Wolof, one of Senegals national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route. Even if we stay here, we are in danger, said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegals capital that Ndiaye is from. If you are sick and you cant pay for treatment, arent you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we dont, he added. Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal. Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing. These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net, Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water. Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we dont find enough, just a little, he adds. Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult. Ahead of the Spanish prime ministers visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiayes mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating. These kids dont know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they wont leave, Niang says. But if not, well, we cant make them stay. Theres no work here, she said. Authorities in Pakistan reported Monday that insurgents had killed more than 40 civilians and security personnel in separate overnight attacks across the turbulent southwestern province of Baluchistan. The violence started late Sunday, with armed men blocking an interprovincial highway in the Musakhail district and killing at least 23 passengers after forcing them off multiple buses and trucks, the authorities said. Ayub Achakzai, a senior area police officer, told reporters that the victims mostly were from Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan. He said the attackers inspected the passengers' identities before executing them and set fire to 10 vehicles before fleeing. Separately, authorities reported that insurgents had also carried out hit-and-run raids against police and military targets elsewhere in the sparsely populated province Sunday night. At least 14 soldiers, four police officers, and five civilians, including a pro-government tribal elder, were killed, the Pakistani military and local officials reported. An outlawed insurgent group, the Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, took responsibility for the overnight violence, claiming it targeted those working for Pakistani security forces and reported a much higher casualty toll. The separatist group often issues inflated claims and is notorious for launching deadly attacks on residents from other parts of Pakistan who come to work or travel through Baluchistan, which is rich in natural resources. The military's media wing announced Monday afternoon that its forces, along with other local law enforcement agencies, retaliated and killed "21 terrorists in ensuing clearance operations. However, the BLA confirmed the deaths of six fighters in clashes with Pakistani forces and described the slain insurgents as suicide bombers. Neither claim could be verified by independent sources. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Sunday's terrorist attacks on passenger vehicles and in several other districts of Baluchistan, his office said. The BLA claimed in its statement that its latest attacks are part of a new operation launched across Baluchistan and warned residents of the province to stay away from the highways and cooperate with the Baloch fighters. The separatist group, in a subsequent statement Monday, claimed that after having achieved their objectives, BLA fighters had been ordered to end their road blockades and vacate their positions. The series of insurgent attacks marked the deadliest day Baluchistan had experienced in recent years. BLA, listed as a global terrorist organization by the United States, and several other banned ethnic Baluch groups routinely conduct attacks in Baluchistan, claiming to be fighting for its independence from Pakistan. The impoverished province shares the countrys border with Iran and Afghanistan. It hosts major China-funded infrastructure projects, including the Chinese-operated deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. BLA has warned Beijing repeatedly against investing in Baluchistan and allegedly taking away its natural resources. They have targeted Chinese nationals associated with these projects. Pakistan and China reject insurgent allegations of exploitation and have pledged to combat the security threat jointly. Authorities in central Iran on Monday publicly hanged a man who was convicted in the shooting death of a lawyer, the country's official judicial news agency said. The man, who was not identified, had been convicted of fatally shooting the lawyer with a hunting rifle in front of his wife and son in the city of Shahroud in the northern Semnan province in August 2021, the Mizan news agency said. Irans official IRNA news agency said the man was 20 and had confessed to having been hired by a gang to kill the lawyer. No further details were provided. Monday's execution was carried out in accordance with the Islamic Sharia law of "retribution," IRNA reported. It was the first public hanging of the year in Iran, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, which tracks executions in the country. The group's director, Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, urged the international community to condemn such public executions. Iran typically carries out executions by hanging inside prisons, often for the crime of drug smuggling, Iran Human Rights says. The country executed 500 convicts in 2022, the group says. In 2022, Iran publicly hanged a man convicted of fatally stabbing two members of a paramilitary force during violence connected with nationwide protests challenging the countrys theocracy. Iran executes more people annually than any other nation except for China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. Talks over a possible Gaza deal ended without agreement in Cairo, with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to several compromises presented by mediators, two Egyptian security sources said on Sunday. Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signaled their most intense exchange in months was over. The founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other offenses. And 100,000 fans swarm to Anime NYC 2024 convention. Japan scrambled fighter jets on Monday after a Chinese military aircraft "violated" Japanese airspace, the defense ministry said. The Chinese aircraft was "confirmed to have violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture," the ministry said in a statement, adding it had launched "fighter jets on an emergency basis." China's "Y-9 intelligence-gathering" aircraft entered Japanese airspace at 11:29 am (0229 GMT) for around two minutes, the ministry added. There was no comment from Chinese authorities. Local media including public broadcaster NHK said the incident marked the first incursion by the Chinese military's aircraft into Japan's airspace. The ministry said steps were taken by the SDF such as "issuing warnings" to the aircraft, but NHK reported that no weapons, such as flare guns, were used as an alert. In response to the incident, vice foreign minister Masataka Okano summoned China's acting ambassador to Japan late Monday, and "lodged firm protest" with the official, as well as calling for measures against a recurrence, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Chinese diplomat said in response that the matter would be reported to Beijing, according to the ministry. Japanese and Chinese vessels have previously been involved in tense incidents in disputed areas, in particular the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, known by Beijing as the Diaoyus. The remote chain of islands have fueled diplomatic tensions and been the scene of confrontations between Japanese coastguard vessels and Chinese fishing boats. Beijing has grown more assertive about its claim to the islands in recent years, with Tokyo reporting the presence of Chinese coast guard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine. In the past, two non-military aircraft from China a propeller plane and a small drone were confirmed to have forayed into the Japanese airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK. Beijing claims the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. The Danjo Islands are a group of small islets located in the East China Sea, off Japan's southern Nagasaki region. Japan in recent years has strengthened security ties with the United States to counter China's growing assertiveness in the region, boosting defense spending and moving to acquire "counter-strike" capabilities. At the same time, it has boosted military ties with the Philippines, which has also been involved in recent territorial standoffs, as well as South Korea. Kyiv under fire in massive Russian air assault. Tensions are high in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah exchange airstrikes over the weekend, however both sides say they do not want to escalate hostilities. Kim Jong Un oversees the development of suicide drones in North Korea and African leaders warn that violent gangs are hampering their ability to treat and prevent mpox. Plus, are tech companies and their executives personally liable for the criminal activity of their customers? France, it appears, says yes. Australian employees now have the right to ignore their bosses outside working hours thanks to a new law which enshrines the "right to disconnect." The legislation, which passed in February and came into force Monday, protects workers who refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from their employers after the hours of work. More than 20 countries, including France, have brought in similar laws. Millions of Australians can now break free from the stress of after-hours calls and emails from work. The Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt told reporters in Queensland that it was not acceptable for workers to take constant calls or constant emailswhen theyre not getting paid to do it. Research has indicated that each Australian worker undertakes an average of 5.4 hours per week of unpaid work, which equates to billions of dollars in lost wages. Sally McManus, the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Monday that the new law is fair. Australian workers now have a right to disconnect, which is really awesome. Not all employers but some employers have completely blurred or crossed over those boundaries and are expecting people to be connected and answer their emails and look at their phones 24/7 and that is just not on, said McManus. Business groups, however, insist the right to disconnect law could hamper productivity and they complain about more layers of bureaucracy. Companies found in contravention of the measures could face large fines. However, any refusal by workers to respond to out-of-hours contact from their bosses must be considered to be reasonable but its not clear what that means. Brent Ferguson is from the Australian Industry Group. He told local media that it is a grey area. What is reasonable or unreasonable is going to depend on the individual circumstances and that uncertainty is part of the difficulty that industry is really grappling with at the moment, he said. The legislation only covers companies with more than 15 members of staff. Employees of smaller businesses will be able to disconnect after work in a years time. Experts have said that the COVID-19 pandemic and working from home blurred the lines between employment and the private lives of workers. They believe Australias right to disconnect law is an attempt to rebalance the working day and protect the free time of millions of employees. Police in Iceland called off a search Monday for two tourists initially believed missing after the collapse of an ice cave that killed one person and seriously injured another, saying they now believe no one is missing. Icelandic authorities said they called off the search after examining the tour operator's records and determining that only 23 people were on the trip, not 25 as was first believed. One person died and one person was seriously injured Sunday when the cave collapsed shortly before 3 p.m. local time. Both victims are American citizens, police said. A moment ago, the police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved, police said. It has come to light that no one (was) hidden under the ice. Rescuers had worked by hand to cut through the remnants of the collapsed ice cave as they searched for those they had believed to be missing. The search, which was suspended overnight when conditions made it too dangerous, had resumed at about 7 a.m., Icelandic broadcaster RUV reported. Video showed rescuers working inside two large craters surrounded by the sand-blackened ice of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier. But by the end of the day, they were satisfied that a mistake had been made in record keeping and that no one else was missing. Police said there had been misleading information about the number of people on the trip. Based on what initially was available, it was deemed necessary to continue the search until rescuers could be assured no one was under the ice, police said. Ukraines military issued air alerts Tuesday for regions across the country, warning of Russian missile and drone attacks a day after a large wave of attacks targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The Monday attacks involved about 200 drones and missiles, which killed at least four people and knocked out power in several cities. It was Russias most intense aerial attack in weeks, and came 20 days after Ukraine surprised Moscow with a cross-border incursion into Russias southern Kursk region. U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russias Monday assault, calling it an attempt to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness. Biden, in a statement, reiterated U.S. support for Ukraines military and highlighted efforts to bolster Ukrainian air defenses and help repair Ukraines energy grid. Let me be clear: Russia will never succeed in Ukraine, and the spirit of the Ukrainian people will never be broken, Biden said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his calls for more long-range attack capabilities for his forces, saying that is necessary to target the areas in Russian border regions that Russian forces are using to launch missiles and drones at Ukraine. This is the optimal anti-terrorist tactic that every one of our partners, from whom we expect decisions regarding our long-range capabilities, would rightfully employ and certainly use to protect themselves, Zelenskyy said late Monday. Russia's defense ministry said its forces used high-precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine that it said supported the military-industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons. Poland said an "object" had entered its airspace and that it may have landed on Polish territory. A search for the object was underway. "Most likely it was a drone, and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile," a spokesperson for the Polish army's operational command told Reuters. Meanwhile, Russian forces have advanced in eastern Ukraine, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk. Russias defense ministry said it shot down Ukrainian drones early Monday over the Bryansk and Yaroslavl regions. Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said one of the drones was downed as it tried to attack an oil refinery. Russias Saratov region was the main target of overnight Ukrainian drone attacks, with the Russian defense ministry reporting it destroyed nine of the drones. Officials in Saratov said falling debris damaged a residential complex and injured one person. The governor of Russias Belgorod region reported two injuries from a Ukrainian drone attack on a car. Russian air defenses also shot down Ukrainian drones over the Kursk, Tula, Oryol and Ryazan regions, the defense ministry said. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Switzerland hosted United Nations Security Council members at a meeting in Geneva on Monday to recommit to international humanitarian law, describing an "alarming" global context characterized by over 120 armed conflicts, with Russia the only member absent. Switzerland, which is one of the 15 members, organized the informal meeting to commemorate the Geneva Conventions, signed 75 years ago after World War II in the Swiss city to limit the barbarity of war. "I call for us to raise respect of the Geneva Conventions to the level of a top political priority," Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told the meeting attended by envoys from a range of countries, including 14 of the 15 U.N. Security Council members. Asked about Russia's absence, he said that all members were invited to think about international humanitarian law collectively but said attendance was not compulsory. A Russian envoy in New York described the meeting as a "waste of time." "We believe that the Security Council should be focusing on more important matters than traveling around Europe," said Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative in New York Dmitry Polyanski in a message sent by the diplomatic mission in Geneva. Russia is a 'P5' member which holds a permanent seat within the broader Security Council alongside the United States, France, Britain and China. At the same meeting the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric described the Geneva Conventions as "under strain," referring to the Gaza conflict as well as Ukraine. Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine on Monday, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities. U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked a federal appeals court to revive the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of retaining classified documents, after a lower court dismissed the indictment in July, according to a court filing. In their brief, Smith and his team of attorneys urged the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to overturn the July 15 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in which she concluded that Smith was unlawfully appointed and did not have the legal authority to bring the case. "Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law," they wrote. "The district court's contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government." The Justice Department had previously said it planned to appeal the ruling. In Monday's brief, Smith's office also asked the appellate court to schedule oral arguments. Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, found that Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision to appoint Smith in 2022 violated the U.S. Constitution. She also found that his budget, which is funded through an indefinite appropriation, was unlawful. Trump's lawyers had previously challenged the legal authority for Smith's appointment, arguing that Smith's office was not created by Congress and the special counsel was not confirmed by the Senate. Trump's campaign said on Monday that the court should reject Smith's request and that other cases facing the former president should be dismissed. Not only should the dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida be affirmed but be immediately joined by a dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Comrade Kamalas Political Opponent, President Trump. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. Cannon's ruling has faced staunch criticism, with many attorneys saying it flies in the face of prior court decisions which all upheld the legality of the rules that the Justice Department has relied on for years in appointing special counsels. "The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded," Smith's office wrote, adding that Cannon had "deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent" and also "misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel's appointment." Cannon's decision to dismiss the case marked a legal victory for Trump and came not long after the Supreme Court ruled that he had broad criminal immunity from prosecution for official actions he took during his time in office. That Supreme Court decision has led to major delays in Smith's second criminal case against Trump, in which Trump is facing charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Smith faces a Friday deadline to tell the judge overseeing the election subversion case how he wishes to proceed in light of the Supreme Court's ruling. Trump, who is running in the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, was convicted in May on New York state charges involving hush money paid to an adult film star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 election. His sentencing has been postponed following the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity. In the documents case, Trump was indicted on charges that he willfully retained sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 and obstructed government efforts to retrieve the material. Canada, following the lead of the United States, on Monday said it would impose a 100% tariff on the import of Chinese electric vehicles and also announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa was acting to counter what he called China's intentional, state-directed policy of over-capacity. But he did not specify if tariffs will be softened or will be the same on Tesla TSLA.O, whose shares were down over 3% on Monday after the announcement. "I think we all know that China is not playing by the same rules," he told reporters. The tariffs will be imposed starting October 1 this year. "What is important about this is we're doing it in alignment and in parallel with other economies around the world," Trudeau said on the sidelines of a three-day closed-door cabinet meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa was not immediately available for comment. Ottawa will continue to work with the United States and other allies to ensure that customers around the world are not unfairly penalized by non-market practices of countries such as China, Trudeau said. Ottawa is also looking at further punitive measures such as tariffs on chips and solar cells, Trudeau said, without giving any details. U.S. President Joe Biden in May announced a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%, a doubling of duties on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, as well as new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic goods including steel to shield firms from Chinese excess production. The European Union earlier this month imposed tariffs of up to 36.3% on imports of EVs. Ottawa is trying to position Canada as a critical part of the global EV supply chain and has come under pressure from domestic industry to act against China. Tesla China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, although it trails far behind the United States. Data from Canada's largest port in Vancouver show imports of automobiles from China at the port jumped 460% annually in 2023, when Tesla started shipping Shanghai-made EVs to Canada. Tesla does not disclose its Chinese exports to Canada, which began in the first half of 2023. However, vehicle identification codes showed that the Model 3 compact sedan and Model Y crossover models were being exported from its Shanghai Gigafactory to Canada. "In response to the tariffs, I would expect Tesla would shift its logistics and potentially export autos to Canada from the U.S.," said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar. "The market is likely reacting to the tariffs and weighing a potential profit impact if Tesla has to export vehicles to Canada from its higher-cost production base in the U.S.," Goldstein said referring to the drop in shares. The EU imposed a new reduced extra rate of 9% for Tesla, lower than the 36.3% it had imposed on other Chinese EV imports. Canada has inked deals worth billions of dollars to bring in top European automakers in all parts of the EV supply chain to bolster its manufacturing heartland. "We feel vindicated and motivated. Let's now get to the business of defending our market with the best of Canadian innovation and resolve," Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said via email. Implementation of the U.S. tariffs has been delayed until September and there is a possibility that planned duties might be softened this week. The two U.S. presidential candidates Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican challenger, former president Donald Trump have never met or even spoken to each other, but they are quarreling over the terms of their first face-to-face encounter at their planned September 10 debate. When the two campaigns agreed to the 90-minute, nationally televised debate on ABC News in the eastern city of Philadelphia, it was on the same terms that Trump debated President Joe Biden in late June, with microphones muted when the other candidate was speaking. Now, Harris is looking to leave the microphones on throughout the debate. Its a move that could lead to livelier, direct exchanges between the two candidates or so much crosstalk that the millions of viewers expected to watch might have trouble hearing the candidates competing viewpoints. Brian Fallon, a Harris campaign spokesman, contended that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own." He said that Harris "is ready to deal with Trump's constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button." Trump seemed to indicate that it didnt make much difference to him, telling reporters Monday, "We agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me. ... The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted." "The truth is they're trying to get out of it, Trump claimed about the Harris campaign. Trump himself suggested in a Sunday evening post on his Truth Social platform that he might not show up for the ABC debate. Trump voiced his discontent about the network's Sunday news talk show with a "so-called Panel of Trump Haters" and rhetorically asked, "Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" He urged followers to "Stay tuned!!" The June 27 Trump-Biden debate played a pivotal role in the 2024 presidential campaign. The 81-year-old Biden stumbled so badly, losing his train of thought and failing to directly challenge Trump, that Democratic allies in Congress called for him to end his reelection campaign. He withdrew July 21 and endorsed Harris, with key Democratic officials quickly embracing her candidacy. Harris and Trump have never met in person or spoken on the phone, even though they regularly lob political taunts at each other. When Trump was president, Harris attended his State of the Union addresses in the cavernous House of Representatives chamber but sat at a distance from the podium where Trump spoke. Microphones have been unmuted for both major-party candidates in most of the previous televised presidential debates. If Harris gets her way and mics are unmuted throughout the debate, the prospect for civilized exchanges between the two candidates is likely diminished. In 2020, when Trump and Biden first debated, the mics were unmuted and the two candidates frequently interrupted each other and talked over each others remarks. Political analysts called the encounter a disaster, one of the worst presidential debates ever. The second 2020 debate with microphones muted was widely acclaimed as more substantive than the earlier matchup. The Ukrainian military has come to rely on aid from allies around the world for arms and tactical training. But billions of dollars' worth of supplies and equipment has been donated to Ukraine from inside the country and around the world. Omelyan Oshchudlyak met one industrious monk raising money for the countrys Armed Forces. The Biden administration has expressed deep concern about reports from Iran that police shot a mother of two in her car last month and left her partially paralyzed, apparently for her refusal to wear a hijab as mandated. A State Department spokesperson made the comment in a statement sent exclusively to VOA on Sunday. These reports, unfortunately, are consistent with the Iranian regimes horrific use of gender-based violence against women and girls, it said. Rights activists have said 31-year-old Arezou Badri was partially paralyzed after police opened fire on her vehicle as she was driving with her sister in northern Irans Mazandaran province on July 22. The activists have cited sources in Iran as saying police shot Badri because her car was under a confiscation order for her refusal to wear a hijab in the vehicle. Iranian authorities toughened enforcement this year of an Islamist law that requires women and girls to cover their hair with a hijab in public, even inside a vehicle. Iranian morality police enforcing that law in September 2022 detained and assaulted another young woman, Mahsa Amini, whose death in their custody sparked months of nationwide protests against Irans authoritarian Islamist rulers. The State Department said the shooting of Badri shows that the [Iranian] regime has learned nothing in the two years since the tragic and senseless killing of Amini ... and that the regimes violent crackdown on women and girls continues unabated. The spokesperson added, The Iranian regimes brutal treatment of women and girls is a key reason why it remains a pariah on the international stage and why young people leave the country in droves for opportunity and fundamental freedoms. The Iranian government tried last week to limit outrage over Badris shooting. Iranian state news site Tasnim published a video on August 19, showing Badri as she lay in a hospital bed in Tehran. In the Tasnim video, a reporter holding a microphone toward the bedridden Badri asks whether she is feeling better and eating well, and she makes several brief responses in the affirmative. Her father, standing next to the bed, also tells the reporter that his daughter is feeling better. Iranian state media have said police opened fire on Badris car because it ignored orders to stop. An Iranian judiciary spokesman told an August 20 press conference that the shooter was detained and placed under investigation, but denied there was any connection to enforcement of the hijab mandate. Iranian womens rights activist and VOA Persian TV host Masih Alinejad published the first social media photos and video of the hospitalized Badri after the shooting, with Alinejad saying she obtained them from an informed source. In an interview for VOAs Flashpoint podcast, published Friday, Alinejad said the Tasnim video of Badri and her father appeared to have been coerced by Iranian authorities. My sources told me that authorities tried to pressure Arezou and her family members to say that the shooting had nothing to do with the mandatory hijab issue. So far, the family has resisted, and the authorities have failed. But at the same time, their lives are at risk [from further pressure], Alinejad said. She said Iranian authorities are seeking to prevent hijab-related controversies and protests from erupting as Iran approaches the second anniversary of Mahsa Aminis death next month. VOA has not seen any reports from Iran of street protests related to the shooting of Badri since Alinejad began posting social media images and information about the case on July 29. The Iranian regime is trying to control the information. That is why there are so few people learning about what is going on in the hospital where Arezou is under pressure, Alinejad said. Alinejad added that her social media posts about Badris case have prompted some individual acts of protest. As soon as I published information on my social media, I got videos from Iranian women walking unveiled in the street, referring to Arezou, Alinejad said. Those women said, We are not going to give up. We know what happened to Arezou, but we will still take off our hijab and walk in the street until the day that we are free. The United States is warning of a potential ecological disaster in the Red Sea following an attack by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on an oil tanker last week. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said late Sunday the U.N. Security Council must condemn the Houthi attack on the MT Delta Sounion The Houthis brazen actions threaten to create an ecological disaster with devastating consequences for the region, Thomas-Greenfield said on X. She said the U.N. Security Council should demand immediate compliance with a January resolution calling on the Houthis to immediately stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthis said Thursday they targeted the Greek-flagged tanker as part of their campaign against commercial shipping in the region in solidarity with the Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Rescuers evacuated the tankers crew following the attack, which left the ship in flames. The European Unions Red Sea naval mission Aspides said the tanker was carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Saturday that the Houthis have made clear they are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems that Yemenis and other communities in the region rely on for their livelihoods, just as they have undermined the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to the region through their reckless attacks. The Houthi campaign has disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, prompting many shipping companies to reroute ships to longer and more expensive routes. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters Stars from Angelina Jolie to George Clooney will gather this week at the Venice Film Festival, bringing a high dose of Hollywood pizzazz back to the watery city's sandy Lido. With 21 films vying for the top Golden Lion prize, the 81st edition of the prestigious festival kicks off Wednesday, with Lady Gaga, Daniel Craig and Brad Pitt expected on the red carpet during the 10-day affair. The dazzle is welcome after the Hollywood strikes last year kept most studio films and their A-lister stars away from the world's longest-running festival, known as "La Mostra." In the spotlight, but out of competition, is "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," the long-anticipated sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 cult classic that opens the festival Wednesday, with Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder reprising their original roles. High-profile contenders in the main competition include Todd Phillips' "Joker: Folie a Deux," the sequel to the U.S. director's 2019 Venice-winning film that sees Joaquin Phoenix paired with Lady Gaga; and "Queer" from Italy's Luca Guadagnino, starring Craig and based on the William Burroughs novel set in 1940s Mexico City. Jolie headlines "Maria," a Maria Callas biopic from Chile's Pablo Larrain, who returns to Venice following his Diana drama "Spencer" in 2021, while Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas star in the erotic thriller "Babygirl" from Dutch director Halina Reijn. To keep the drama on the screen and avoid it behind the scenes "Maria" will premiere on the festival's first full day Thursday, while "Wolfs" starring Jolie's ex, Brad Pitt, will screen out of competition Sunday. Joining Pitt in the Apple TV+ film from "Spider-Man" director Jon Watts is Clooney, with the actors playing rival professional fixers in the action comedy. The main competition also includes the first full-length film in English for a Venice regular, Spain's Pedro Almodovar "The Room Next Door" with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore while "The Order" from Australian director Justin Kurzel sees Jude Law playing an FBI agent investigating a terror ring in the Pacific Northwest. Weaver, Costner and Kline Wednesday's opening night will feature the introduction of the international jury led by its president, French actress Isabelle Huppert, and the awarding of an honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to "Alien" star Sigourney Weaver. Also having its out-of-competition debut is the second chapter of Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga." The first part of the actor-director's Western epic premiered at Cannes in May. Running until September 7, the international festival has increasingly become known for showcasing films that go on to Oscar glory for its directors and cast members, including former Golden Lion winners "Poor Things," "Nomadland" and "Joker." Unlike at the rival Cannes Film Festival, Venice accepts films produced by streaming services in competition, especially Netflix, which has found great success launching titles such as "Maestro" and "Roma" at the Italian festival. Besides "Wolfs," Apple TV+ also produced "Disclaimer," a thriller series starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen, which is also having its premiere in Venice. Health authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa said armed gangs and rebel groups are obstructing their access to towns and villages that are suspected of having mpox cases. The United Nations said international awareness is needed to reduce the upsurge of the virus, which is transmitted to humans by other humans and by infected animals, and which has been designated a public health emergency of international concern. Officials in the Central African Republic say health workers striving to contain an outbreak of the mpox virus are complaining of difficulties gaining safe access to towns and villages where armed gangs operate. Government troops are fighting rebels to stop violence and political turmoil that began in 2013. Health Minister Pierre Somse, speaking on state TV, said armed groups should know that civilians need urgent assistance. The country had 10 suspected cases in 2023, and 45 so far this year. But additional cases in in remote areas may be unreported. Armed groups in conflict zones, like Bayanga town near the Congo border, should assist the government in stopping the disease, Somse says. The Democratic Republic of Congo is another country with internal armed conflict, and WHO says that the country has more than 95% of the total of about 17,000 cases of mpox reported globally this year. The central African state has reported close to 530 deaths from the disease. The U.N. said within the past few months, the virus has spread to five of Congo's neighbors - Central African Republic, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Longunza Malassi Joseph, adviser to Democratic Republic of Congo's environment minister, said the virus spreads rapidly because humanitarian workers have difficulty securely visiting conflict-prone Sub-Saharan communities. "People run from areas where there is conflict and in that running away, there is no observation of hygiene. People just run for their lives," Longunza told VOA. "This poses a problem because you can't teach people to observe health measures when they are first running for their own lives. Health professionals sometimes have to cross areas that are not secured. They can be attacked. They can be killed. Cameroon officials also said rebels are making it nearly impossible for health workers to have safe access to English-speaking regions where there are ongoing conflicts between government troops and armed separatists fighting to carve out independent states or regions from the French-majority country. Since July, Cameroon has reported at least 40 suspected mpox cases with three deaths. About a dozen of the more than 40 cases are documented in Cameroon's English-speaking southwest region where government troops are fighting separatists. The Republic of Congo says it has confirmed 19 of 60 suspected cases in its territory. Nigerian officials said humanitarian workers were being restricted from educating civilians to protect themselves from mpox after 32 states reported at least one confirmed case of the virus. Nigeria has been fighting for more than 10 years against Boko Haram terrorists near its northern border with Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo are deploying government troops to protect civilians and health care workers from rebels and armed groups. None of the Sub-Saharan countries have reported deaths of humanitarian workers. We, the people of Virginia's 5th Congressional District, are entering a new era. To quote our former first lady Michelle Obama, "Hope is making a comeback!" To my family, friends, fellow residents of the best region of the commonwealth, I write to you with a feeling of excitement we haven't witnessed in some time. I love Virginia, and Southside is part of my DNA. I'll always believe in our potential and growth. Now, as our district and America changes, we see citizens uniting in the name of democracy and loyalty to country rather than one person's allegiance to self. This great experiment, these United States deserve respect, equality, justice, compassion and, yes, freedom. Join me in supporting Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz for the top of the ticket on Election Day. Let's learn more about Gloria Witt and her plans for our congressional district and send Tim Kaine back to the Senate. This vote is about democracy, not just one person or party; it is about protecting and restoring the principles that so many of us hold dear. I would be remiss if I didn't show appreciation to President Joe Biden for his leadership. Nov. 5 is just around the corner. Hold on to the joy. Let's reclaim the term "patriotism" and show America our new district is just as inclusive, vibrant and strong. We're going to move Virginia forward to victory! Beep, beep. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images BTSs Suga has been fined for driving an electric scooter while drunk. He previously apologized twice over the August incident. Case closed September 10: Officials announced on Tuesday that BTSs Suga has been fined for driving an electric scooter while under the influence of alcohol, per Yonhap and Korea JoongAng Daily. Prosecutors filed a summary indictment, which is used for minor offenses and means the case is not being referred to a trial. Suga is said to have driven an e-scooter while his blood alcohol level was 0.227 percent (the threshold for getting your drivers license revoked is 0.08 percent). In South Korea, having a BAC level above 0.2 percent could reportedly result in a punishment of between two to five years in prison. But in Sugas case, as many fans have been manifesting, there was only a fine. According to Yonhap and Korea JoongAng Daily, a BAC level above 0.2 percent could be met with a fine between 10 million won (~$7,442) and 20 million won (~$14,884). The amount of money that Suga was asked to pay was not disclosed, but we doubt that anyone is wondering if he can afford it. Suga issues two apology statements August 26: BTSs Suga promptly apologized to fans earlier this month for driving an electric scooter while drunk, after police in South Korea suspended his license. The rapper atoned for his careless and wrong behavior in a WeVerse post in Korean on August 7, a day after the incident on August 6, per Billboard. His label, BigHit, also posted two separate statements at the time, sharing more details from the night and apologizing to fans. But apparently, that all still wasnt enough. Suga posted another WeVerse apology on August 25, this time saying he was sorry for his first hastily posted apology in Korean, also per Billboard. In his new statement, Suga took an even more repentant tone, apologizing for damaging his reputation and disappointing fans while opening himself to any further punishment. Suga has yet not been sanctioned over the incident, but police said he admitted to charges during questioning on August 23. We at Vulture dont condone drunk driving, but some rock stars havent had to be so sorry. This post has been updated to clarify the type of scooter. Romaeuropa Festival runs from 4 September to 17 November 2024. Rome's multidisciplinary arts festival returns with a cutting-edge programme of contemporary dance, theatre, art, music, technology and events for kids. Under the title "Open Space", the 39th edition of the festival will feature 100 different shows taking place in 20 venues across the city, with more than 700 artists from around the world. The Romaeuropa programme opens on 4 September when the prestigious Ballet de lOpera de Lyon combines Mycelium a choreography commissioned by Christos Papadopoulos and inspired by the world of nature and Biped by legendary dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, together with the musical composition of the same name by Gavin Bryars, on stage with his ensemble. The opening week of REF2024 also pays homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of the most significant figures in the contemporary music scene, with an open-air performance at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. The Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brosse performs Sakamoto's most famous cinematic compositions in Music for Film, while at the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts, the film Opus by Neo Sora tells the story of the final performance that the Japanese maestro dedicated to his audience. Events in the Cavea at the Auditorium continue with the writer Alessandro Baricco who, together with Giovanni Sollima, Enrico Melozzi, 100 Cellos and with Stefania Rocca and Valeria Solarino, presents Thucydides. Athens against Melo, and with the choreographer Rachid Ouramdane who, in Outsider, directs 21 dancers from the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve and four contemporary tightrope walkers to the music of Julius Eastman to give life to a piece that challenges the law of gravity. The first week of the festival concludes at the Auditorium Conciliazione where the German choreographer Sasha Waltz renews her research on the relationship between dance and music, dialoguing with Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven and with a composition specially commissioned from the musician Diego Noguera. Highlights over the course of the two-month festival include Baro d'evel, headed by French artist Camille Decourtye and Catalan Blai Mateu Trias, with a cast of musicians, acrobats, actors and ceramists; the Morocco Groupe Acrobatique of Tangier between acrobatics, break-dance, taekwondo and freestyle; and Japanese composer Keiichiro Shibuya with pushes the boundaries of music by creating sounds with artificial intelligence. For full festival details (in English), including programme, venues and tickets, see Romaeuropa website. Cover image: Sasha Waltz & Guest Diego Noguera - Beethoven 7 Roxane Gilmore, who passed away on Aug. 7, leaves a large legacy for many things, not the least of which was her support for Virginia's tourism industry. The public relations staff at the Virginia Tourism Corporation worked closely with her during her husband's years in office from a media trip to Montreal to positioning Virginia during a London trip and to multiple cities in Germany. Never seeking publicity for herself, she kept many structured appointments in service to the commonwealth. She even worked in the heat in an archaeological dig at Jamestown. Portlaw National School has been at the forefront of innovation to enhance children's school experience. During the last academic year, the school was named as a Changemaker School by Dublin College University (DCU), an initiative that aims to help students add their voice to the running of their schools. Portlaw N.S. also introduced the Gen Free initiative, whereby parents of students agree not to give their child a smartphone until they reach the post-primary stage. As the new school year approaches, Principal Brian Barron spoke with the Waterford News & Star about the the progress of these new projects, and the support that is needed to help every child receive the best education possible. The Changemaker nod was in recognition of the school's programmes for children, including their Green School Committee and School Council. As Principal Barron explained: "As a Changemaker, their role will be to organise our Student Council, to organise our Green School Committee, and to try to get basically pupil voice more active in the running of the school." The new approach is a departure from the more traditional form of student councils. He went on: "When I was in school, there was a student council, but they weren't particularly representing the views of the pupils, or they weren't informing policy in the school. "We're trying to get a wide range of voices that actually reflect the reality of the children in the school, because that's who we're here to serve. It's not our school, per se, it's the children's school." Gen Free Initiative The Gen Free project attracted a hugely positive response from families and students, and not just in Waterford. Principal Brian said: "What's been amazing is the amount of people, principals, parents, associations, who've gotten on to me since to say, 'Can we replicate this in my school in Dublin', or 'There's a group of us here in Naas who are doing it like all over the country, people are like, there's a real hunger now." Political promises Earlier this summer Principal Barron went to Leinster House with other principals of rural schools to speak with political representatives about education and met with Sinn Fein Uachtaran Mary Lou McDonald. He said: "We're hoping to meet more political leaders in the autumn. "Our view as a group of principals is that parties need to make manifesto promises increasing the funding for primary schools in these particular areas, like the ancillary grants, the capitation grant. They're not fit for purpose anymore. "It's our opinion, as principals, that the Department of Education don't have any real records of the level of complex needs in our school. Our solution to that is that we use a system to feedback all information (to the department), called the POD system, so on that system, we put in how many children are using English as a visual language, for example." Complex needs He added: "The department need to start recording the amount of children with complex needs and then give schools adequate supports to address that." In recent weeks, parents of children with additional needs have protested at Leinster House over the lack of adequate supports in schools. According to Principal Barron: "We could have children with all sorts of needs, complex needs, different needs. The department have no record of that. "Now, I have no way to inform, so the teachers I have, and the support I have in the school, are not reflective of the pupils coming in." A well-known and popular woman from Waterford City was joined by family and friends recently as she celebrated her 100th birthday. Annie Kelly, from Hennessy's Road celebrated her milestone birthday in Waterford Community Care Centre where she is extremely popular among fellow clients and staff members. Annie has witnessed an enormous amount of history throughout her lifetime including the Great Depression, the World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Vietnam War, a number of currency changes in Ireland and the rural electrification scheme to name but a few. Annie Kelly from Hennessy's Road who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at Waterford Community Care, also included are two of Annie's sons Bernard and Kevin. Photo: Joe Evans Originally from Arundel Square, in Waterford City, Annie spent 70 years living in Hennessy's Road, also in the city, and it was there she set up home with her beloved late husband, Jim, who was the Roanmore area. Jim passed away eight years ago, aged 91. The couple met in the Olympic Ballroom and spent over 69 happy years or marriage together and raised a family of five sons: Tony, David, Bernard, Eamonn and Martin. Annie Kelly from Hennessy's Road who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at Waterford Community Care, pictured with Annie are sisters, Pat, Ber and Dor, with were Annie's neighbours on Hennessy's Road. Photo: Joe Evans Educated in St Joseph's School, in Parnell Street, Annie worked a short time in Cahill's Cafeteria which was a popular eatery in Gladstone Street. Annie has always been a jolly and friendly person whose inherent kindness is still evident today. "If she has something she has to share it out, even to this day," her son Bernard told Waterford News & Star. Annie Kelly from Hennessy's Road who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at Waterford Community Care, four generations, Teddy, Caroline, Annie and Kevin. Photo: Joe Evans Annie's birthday party was held in Saturday, August 24, in the Waterford Community Care Centre and she took great delight in cutting her cake. She was also presented with her letter from President Higgins, acknowledging her milestone birthday. Annie Kelly from Hennessy's Road who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at Waterford Community Care, Annie is pictured here with her sons, Bernard, Kevin, Eamon and Tony and missing from photo is Martin. Photo: Joe Evans She was joined on the day by her family including her grandchildren and some of her great-grandchildren. The staff in the centre also took great delight in helping Annie celebrate her birthday. Annie Kelly from Hennessy's Road who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at Waterford Community Care, also in photo are Diann, Sophia, Jaimie and Ciara. Photo: Joe Evans "The staff are absolutely fantastic there," said Bernard. It was a great day for the family and a fantastic celebration of a very special Deise lady. A bilingual poetry workshop is due to take place in County Waterford next month. The event is due to take place at Woodhouse Estate in Stradbally on September 14. The workshop is being organised in conjunction with Waterford County Museum. The workshop will take place from 10am to 12noon and from 2pm to 4pm. It will be hosted by award-winning poets, Clodagh Beresford and Aine Ui Fhoghlu. There will be free tea, coffee and biscuits available. That evening, from 7pm to 9pm, there will be readings by attendees, facilitators and the internationally acclaimed poet, Thomas McCarthy. There will also be music by Sean Feehan and 'Crab Lake Circus'. There will also be a short tea break. The cost of attending will be 60 - for the full workshop - and 10 for the evening event. The evening event will be free-of-charge for those attending the workshop. For more information or to book a place email info@waterfordmuseum.ie And in other news, WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has refuted reports the polyphagous shot-hole borer has been found in the Shire of Harvey, castigating the Liberal Party for what she described as irresponsible rumour-mongering. During a press conference on Monday, Jarvis revealed Shire of Harvey officers appeared to have mistaken the European house borer a well-known and established pest for the South East Asian pest responsible for destroying 3000 trees in the Perth metropolitan area. The rumour is understood to have arisen just over an hour after the state announced millions in funding to combat the shot-hole borer. It was later republished by The West Australian newspaper. But Jarvis declined to place blame at the feet of shire officers, instead accusing the Liberal Party of seeking to politicise the matter and creating fear and angst in the process. Read the full article here. Israels military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said about 100 Israeli planes struck 270 targets, 90 per cent of them rocket launchers aimed at northern Israel. He said they were investigating the percentage of incoming rockets and drones intercepted but said the vast majority were thwarted. This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah drone over north Israel during the exchange. Credit: AFP What targets were hit Israel and Hezbollah said they aimed only at military targets. Israel said no military target was hit, but one soldier with its navy was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor for incoming fire, or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the centre of the country. I repeat this is not the end of the story, he added. Flights diverted as air raid sirens wail Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israels international airport closed and diverted flights for about an hour. Israels Home Front Command later lifted restrictions in most areas. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a large number of drones. Loading Israels military said its intelligence base near Tel Aviv wasnt hit. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said an initial assessment showed very little damage in Israel. How likely is an all-out war? Sundays exchange of fire did not set off a long-feared war, and the heavy firepower and lack of civilian casualties might allow both sides to claim a sort of victory and step back. But tensions remain high. Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas surprise attack into Israel on October 7. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies, each backed by Iran. Israel has responded with airstrikes, and the near-daily exchanges have escalated in recent months. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also more than 100 civilians and noncombatants. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the tense border. Israel has vowed to bring quiet to the border to allow its citizens to return to their homes. It says it prefers to resolve the issue diplomatically through US and other mediators but will use force if necessary. Hezbollah officials have said the group does not seek a wider war but is prepared for one. What would a full-blown war look like? Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that left much of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon in ruins, and drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes on both sides. Everyone expects any future war to be far worse. An image showing the airstrikes by Israel on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon that was shared on social media. Credit: https://x.com/sentdefender Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting all parts of Israel. It has also developed an increasingly sophisticated fleet of drones and has been experimenting with precision-guided missiles. A full-scale war could force hundreds of thousands of Israelis to flee, paralyse the Israeli economy and force the army, which is still engaged in Gaza, to fight on two fronts. Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major Hezbollah attack that would likely devastate Lebanons civilian infrastructure and economy, which has been mired in crisis for years. Beiruts southern suburbs, and towns and villages across southern Lebanon, where Hezbollahs main strongholds are located, would likely be flattened. An Israeli ground invasion to root out Hezbollah could drag on for years. The militant group is far more advanced and better-armed than Hamas in Gaza, which is still putting up a fight after 10 months of intense Israeli bombardment and ground manoeuvres. Would a war draw in others? An all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah could spiral into a region-wide conflict. Iran is a patron of Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Iran has vowed to carry out its own retaliatory strike over the killing of Hamas top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a blast in its capital last month that was widely blamed on Israel. Israel has not said whether it was involved. Iran-backed groups across the region have repeatedly attacked Israeli, US and international targets since the start of the war in Gaza and could ramp them up in a bid to take pressure off Hezbollah. The United States, meanwhile, has pledged ironclad support for Israel and moved a vast array of military assets to the Middle East in recent weeks to try and deter any retaliatory strike by Iran or Hezbollah. The USS Abraham Lincoln recently joined another aircraft carrier strike group in the region. A US-led coalition helped shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired by Iran toward Israel in April in response to an apparent Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Both sides downplayed an apparent Israeli counterstrike on Iran, and tensions gradually subsided. What does this mean for Gaza? The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas. Those efforts have gained urgency in recent weeks, as diplomats view such a deal as the best hope for lowering regional tensions. The USS Abraham Lincoln had been deployed to the region. Credit: AP Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Its unclear whether Hezbollah or Iran would halt or scale back their threatened retaliatory strikes over the killing of Shukur and Haniyeh, but neither wants to be seen as the spoiler of any cease-fire deal. The EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme funded by the European Union, in partnership with the East African Community (EAC), held a workshop on self-certification in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 22 to 23 August 2024. The workshop saw the participation of origin experts from Member Customs Administrations and Ministries responsible for Trade. The workshop is building on needs expressed by EAC and its Members to the RoO Africa Programme. Mr. Donald Tindamanyire, Principal Customs Officer (Tariffs & Valuation) at the EAC Secretariat, in his opening remarks mentioned the successful collaboration with the WCO and the EU on various topics under both HS and rules of origin. He stressed that self-certification of origin would facilitate trade while allowing for the control of government revenue. Self-certification is provided for in the revised EAC rules of origin legislation from 2015, but not yet implemented by Members. The workshop would provide an opportunity for Members to learn how best to start the implementation to make sure that economic operators benefit to the maximum extent possible from free trade agreements. Mr. Martino Vinci, Acting Head of Section, Infrastructure and Regional Development, at the EU delegation to Tanzania and EAC opened the meeting, highlighting that the workshop is part of a long standing cooperation between the EU, the WCO, EAC and other African partners. He highlighted the importance of regional integration and mentioned that the outcome of the workshop would help define the technical support needed under the future partnership, stressing that the EU would continue to be a reliable and available partner for EAC and its Members. The WCO presented global trends and guidelines on origin certification, and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) introduced their new tool, Genesis, which can contribute to streamlining the self-certification process and complete the procedure through digitally certified declarations via Chambers of Commerce who act as a trusted third party between governments and businesses. Participants shared national experiences on origin certification and discussed recommendations and a road map for the effective implementation of self-certification in EAC. The participants also discussed needs for technical assistance in relation to rules of origin in general and self-certification in particular and how the RoO Africa Programme can contribute. The Programme will continue to support EAC and its members with the aim to provide meaningful and targeted capacity building and technical assistance. For further information please contact EU-WCORoOAfrica.Program@wcoomd.org Malaysian 5G wholesale operator in Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) said on Friday that Telekom Malaysias share subscription agreement (SSA) to buy a stake in DNB has been terminated after it failed to meet the deadline to finalise the SSA. Telekom Malaysia signed its SSA along with CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile and YTL Power International in December 2023 to take a 14% stake each in DNB for a collective 70% stake. While the other four telcos completed the SSA process at the end of June, TM received a deadline extension until August 21, as it had to await approval from shareholders at an EGM on that date in accordance with its governance requirements. However, Telekom Malaysia said in a statement on Friday that it needed more time to resolve matters related to the EGM, and had applied to DNB on July 18 for another extension to the deadline. DNB rejected that application, as well as an appeal, and officially terminated the SSA on Friday. Telekom Malaysia added that the tenure of Nik Azli Abu Zahar, its nominee to serve on the DNB board, has also ceased. Telekom Malaysias ouster from DNB leaves CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile and YTL with a 16.28% stake each in DNB for a collective 65.12% stake. The Minister of Finance (MOF) owns the remaining 34.88% stake in DNB, as well as a Special Share for a designated period. This allocation has been in place since June as a contingency in case Telekom Malaysia was unable to finalise its SSA. Telekom Malaysia said the termination would not impact its financial results for the year ending December 31, 2024. Under the SSA, each telco is required to inject MYR233 million (US$50.1 million) into DNB. Telekom Malaysia also stressed that its ouster from DNB is an ownership matter and doesnt affect its service. This turn of event does not affect TMs current 5G offerings to customers, as its 5G wholesale service subscription from DNB remains in place, the statement said. The telco also said it will continue to play a key role in supporting the nations 5G ecosystem and transition to the 5G dual network, citing its fibre broadband business. Two of St Colman's College (Claremorris) Leaving Cert students received fifteen H1 grades between them. Eoghan Brogan received seven H1 grades and Eoin Treanor received eight H1 grades. Eoghan plans on studying Global Commerce at UCD while Eoin has been accepted to Oxford University to study Classics. Principal Roy Hession said: "We are very proud of these students and indeed of all the lads from St. Colman's College who did extremely well in the state examinations this year." LISMOES, MENLOUGH, BALLINASLOE, CO. GALWAY ASKING PRICE: 425,000 An exquisite home in the peaceful townland of Lismoes, just a two-minute drive from Menlough village, has hit the market in Galway. The home features dual-zoned heating and a large solid-fuel stove in one of the spacious living areas. The stunning interior includes a beautifully designed fitted kitchen. For more details: CONTACT: PAT CALLANAN PROPERTY SALES - TEL: 091 844818 This story was originally published in our Daytripping section on May 19, 2023. Travelers on U.S. Highway 95 seeking to bypass Grangeville have likely stopped at the outhouse at Tolo Lake at least once or twice. But the 36-acre lake is more than just a scenic rest stop on a gravel road; its a historical meeting site for the Nez Perce Tribe, the site of a major mammoth discovery, and a popular fishing and birding spot. The pond is the largest natural body of water on the Camas Prairie and an affiliated site of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. The lake had served as a rendezvous site for bands of the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce used for gathering food and meeting with neighboring bands, according to the National Park Service. The canyon was also part of an ancient transportation network that connected the Salmon River and the Snake River drainages. The lake was a gathering spot during the Nez Perce flight of 1877, in which at least 600 members of the tribe were driven from their traditional lands to resettle on the smaller Nez Perce Reservation near Lapwai, according to the National Park Service. The lake is now owned and managed by Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The department has said it will stock Tolo Lake with 700 rainbow trout in May. The lake supports a warm water fishery. In 1994, state officials sought to improve fish and wildlife habitat at the lake and in the process found a huge bone. It was later determined to be a Columbian mammoth. A paleontological recovery effort found three mammoth skeletons and an ancient bison skull. Space junk that fell in Eastern Cape was a car-size meteorite Meteorites are rare and hold deep scientific value as they give us a glimpse of the make-up and birth of our solar system. The space junk that fell over the Eastern Cape on Sunday morning was a meteorite. Scientists from Wits University and Nelson Mandela University have closely monitored the event, including media and online reports of so-called space debris that entered the Earths atmosphere between 8:30 and 9 am on Sunday morning. Eyewitnesses saw, and some took videos of, a streak of bright light in the sky over St Francis Bay. What some speculated might be space junk from a satellite seems to have entered the atmosphere at a relatively low trajectory, breaking up as it burnt up. The captain of a whale-watching boat reported seeing objects splashing into the ocean off Cape St Francis. However, says Professor Roger Gibson from the Wits School of Geosciences, Based on scientific assessment, the incident is consistent with a rocky asteroid about the size of a car entering Earths atmosphere at very high speed. Friction with the atmosphere created a spectacular fireball and caused it to break up in flight. He added, We have reports that someone has found several fragments of a meteorite near Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape, over 100 km from Cape St Francis. This may indicate an exceptional fall area. Wits University is one of a few internationally-accredited repositories for meteorites in South Africa. Gibson and his colleagues keep a close watch on meteorite finds and falls in the country. The last meteor fall in South Africa occurred in Lichtenburg in 1973. Meteorites are rare and hold deep scientific value as they give us a glimpse of the make-up and birth of our solar system, so it is extremely important for us to track, trace and find possible meteorites that may have fallen in our country, says Gibson. The way they interact with Earths atmosphere is also important as they pose a potential threat. Only 51 meteorites have been documented in South Africa, and only 22 meteorite falls have been recorded. Just like fossils, meteorites are items of national heritage and the sale and trade of meteorites are regulated by law through the South African Heritage Resources Act. Gibson and Wits colleagues Professor Lew Ashwal and Dr Leo Vonopartis, together with Dr Carla Dodd from the Department of Geosciences at NMMU, are extremely interested to learn more of Sundays meteorite fall, and invite anybody who has seen, heard or found anything that they may suspect of being related to the meteorite event to contact them. Some people heard its sonic boom as far away as Plettenberg bay over 200 km from Gqberha; others felt ground tremors caused by the sonic boom, or actually saw the meteor. We would be extremely interested to hear from any witnesses of this event, says Gibson. This is a perfect opportunity for people to become involved in citizen science. We want to know what people saw or heard so that we can piece together the meteors trajectory, and also if anyone thinks they have found any meteorite fragments. We would like people to record their perceptions and contact us to tell their stories. To the untrained eye, meteorites can look like normal rocks. However, they should have a smooth, glassy black appearance called the fusion crust that is formed from the burning of the meteorite as it enters the atmosphere. Many attract a magnet. The inside of the meteorite will look like a normal rock. Should pieces of meteorite be found, people should be careful not to destroy or damage them. Before you touch it, photograph it on the ground and take several photographs of its environment. Record a GPS pin of where you found it, wrap it into a piece of aluminium foil and place it securely in a zip-lock bag, then contact us to collect it. All of this provides vital scientific information, says Vonopartis. Eyewitnesses of the event are invited to contact roger.gibson@wits.ac.za and Leonidas.vonopartis@wits.ac.za. Advice coming from the Idaho School Boards Association defines general first aid as a medical service covered by the parental rights act. While it may not be the legislative intent of the sponsors to require explicit permission to provide a Band-Aid, ISBA guidance is that school districts and charter schools do need to receive permission from parents or guardians to administer general first aid to their student. Theres just one gaping problem: Not every child is living with a parent or a legal guardian. Some, for instance, are being raised by grandparents who may or may not be legal guardians. The previous law allowed for surrogate decision-makers, such as relatives or those who are close to a minor, to consent to health care in some cases. Its causing a lot of chaos because there are many children in Idaho that dont have a (biological) or adoptive parent present in their lives, and they dont have another legal guardian available to consent for their health care, Caitlin OBrian, a health care attorney, told the Idaho Statesmans Ian Max Stevenson. Nor does it make allowances as the earlier law did for minors to be treated for sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, substance abuse or in cases where the child understands the nature of the medical treatment without parental consent. This comes on top of disclosures from Idaho Reports Ruth Brown that the parental rights act stops victims of child abuse from getting a sexual assault exam, or a rape kit, without parental consent. Thats a problem because 93% of child abusers know their victims and 34% of those who abuse children are family members according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. And now it turns out that teenagers those older than 14 have lost the protection of confidentiality the previous law provided to their therapists. Its not as if they werent warned. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee told the bills sponsors, including Majority Leader Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, that their bill wasnt fully baked. Chief among its flaws was how it failed to take into consideration how many Idaho children do not live in well-functioning traditional families. But just as theyve ignored medical professionals who are pleading for a health exception to the states abortion ban or refused to listen to librarians and library patrons, lawmakers brushed off the notion that experts might know more about the medical realities facing children and young people than they do. Instead, they responded with moral indignation and pushed ahead. Even some common-sense Republicans those with the courage to stand up for libraries, for instance toed the line here. Perhaps it was one fight too many in the ongoing battle to purge the GOP of those deemed insufficiently ideologically pure. But it makes you wonder: What else have these lawmakers got up their sleeves for next year? M.T. Discover more Ai business tools. Rayst is a chrome extension that provides in-depth insights into any website you visit, showcasing company details, statistics, and technologies used. Designed to help modern investors, businesses, and individuals understand websites at a glance, Rayst aims to accelerate research and maximize opportunities for users. By revealing the latest and greatest technologies employed by a website, Rayst enables users to stay on the edge and build better. Features Supercharge Research: Rayst allows users to understand any website they visit for the first time, providing valuable insights that can help with lead generation, competitor analysis, and identifying ideal customers based on the technologies they use. Browser Extension: With Raysts chrome extension, users can easily access company information, statistics, and technologies with a simple click, making it convenient for teams and individuals to uncover valuable data. Illuminating Insights: Teams and individuals looking for illuminating insights into websites can rely on Rayst to provide comprehensive details that can aid in decision-making and strategy development. With Rayst, users can unlock a wealth of information about websites, making it a valuable tool for businesses looking to gain a competitive edge in the online space. Pricing Rayst offers a free plan with unlimited website lookup and basic features. The upcoming Basic plan will include website data export, priority support, and more upcoming features. Visit ray.st for more. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter , Facebook and Instagram. Businesses that pay contractors in specific sectorssuch as building and construction, cleaning, courier and road freight, information technology (IT), or security, investigation, and surveillanceare reminded that the deadline to lodge the Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) is fast approaching. Government entities that provide grants to individuals or organizations with an Australian Business Number (ABN) are also required to submit a TPAR. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has set the due date for lodgement as 28 August 2024. Failing to lodge on time could result in penalties. What is the TPAR? The Taxable Payments Reporting System (TPRS) is designed to ensure that contractors in these specific industries accurately report their income. The system aims to create a level playing field, ensuring that all businesses meet their tax obligations fairly. ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding emphasized the importance of the TPAR in maintaining tax compliance. TPAR data strengthens our ability to detect and deal with dishonest operators trying to gain an unfair advantage over the majority who do the right thing. It also protects billions of dollars in missing taxes each year, money that funds essential community services, like health, education and natural disaster management. In the 202324 financial year, we provided visibility of more than $451 billion in gross TPAR payments from almost 177,000 businesses to almost 1.3 million contractors. In doing so, we have helped contractors complete their income tax returns through the pre-fill and transaction services report. Key Achievements of the TPRS In the 202324 financial year alone, the TPRS provided visibility into more than $451 billion in gross payments reported by nearly 177,000 businesses to around 1.3 million contractors. This data has been instrumental in helping contractors complete their income tax returns through the ATOs pre-fill and transaction services report. Between 2019 and 2023, the ATO issued approximately $9 million in penalties to over 5,200 businesses that failed to lodge their TPAR. These penalties underscore the importance of compliance with TPAR requirements. Lodging Your TPAR The ATO encourages businesses to lodge their TPAR online, as the process is quick and straightforward. For businesses uncertain about their obligation to lodge, resources are available at www.ato.gov.au/TPAR. Additionally, businesses can consult their registered tax or BAS agent for assistance. As the 28 August deadline approaches, its crucial for businesses to review their reporting obligations and ensure they meet the requirements to avoid penalties. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Singaporeans lose $295M to scams in H1 as cases rise to new peak The number of scams in Singapore increased by 16.3% year-on-year to a record-high 26,587 in the first half of 2024, leading to over S$385.6 million (US$295 million) in losses. Compared to the same period last year, Singaporeans lost 24.6% more to scams in the first half, The Straits Times reported, citing Singapore polices mid-year scam and cyber-crime statistics released last Thursday. Projections suggest the figure could reach S$770 million by the end of the year, exceeding the previous record of S$660.7 million set in 2022. E-commerce scams, job scams and phishing scams were the most prevalent scams in the first half, according to CNA. However, in terms of financial loss, investment scams, job scams, and government official impersonation scams topped the chart. Investment scams, despite representing only 12.5% of all cases, resulted in the largest financial losses, totaling S$133.4 million, with an average of S$40,000 per case. Job scams, comprising 21% of all cases, led to S$86 million in losses, averaging S$15,055 per case. Government official impersonation scams, which made up just 2.18% of cases, cost victims S$67.5 million, or S$116,500 per case on average. To combat online scams, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in June introduced new codes of practice requiring Meta's Facebook and Carousell, a local second-hand marketplace, to verify the identities of sellers flagged as high-risk, Nikkei Asia reported. The codes are part of the Online Criminal Harms Act passed last year, which also requires social media and messaging platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp, to implement systems to detect scams and malicious activities by the end of 2024 and to submit annual reports to authorities. According to the police, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were notably prevalent among the platforms used by scammers in the first half. The MHA is also exploring options to grant the police enhanced authority to limit scam victims' banking transactions. One of the measures under consideration is allowing the police to impose temporary restrictions on banking transactions when there is suspicion that victims may be sending money to scammers. This would allow officers to intervene and persuade victims that they are being defrauded while also investigating the recipients of the funds. The Central Provident Fund, Singapores mandatory social security savings scheme, also announced last Thursday that it will cut the daily withdrawal limit from S$200,000 to S$50,000 as part of its anti-scam strategy, as reported by The Business Times. "Lowering the maximum daily withdrawal limit provides a greater deterrence to scammers and can help to limit the potential losses in a scam," it said. National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will officially launch a direct route between Hanoi and Phnom Penh on Oct. 27. The route, with a schedule of four flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, will offer a new option for passengers in addition to the current four routes between Vietnam and Cambodia, which are HCMC- Phnom Penh; Hanoi, and HCMC- Siem Reap; and one trans-Indochina route. The total number of flights between the two countries will increase to 86 flights per week. Vietnam Airlines is the only Vietnamese airline operating the direct flight route from Hanoi to Phnom Penh. With this route, passengers traveling from Hanoi to the capital of Cambodia will have their travel time reduced to just over two hours. The new route is expected to enhance the connection and trade network between the two countries, thus creating great attraction for tourists from Japan, South Korea and European countries who want to travel to Vietnam and other destinations in the region. On the occasion, Vietnam Airlines is offering a promotion with round-trip tickets priced from $262 for passengers purchasing tickets from now until Sept. 30, with the travel period from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. Vietnam's National Assembly on Monday approved the appointment of Nguyen Hoa Binh, Ho Duc Phoc, and Bui Thanh Son as three new deputy prime ministers for the 2021-2026 term. With these new appointments, the government for the current term is now composed of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and five deputy prime ministers - Nguyen Hoa Binh, Tran Hong Ha, Le Thanh Long, Ho Duc Phoc, and Bui Thanh Son. The assembly dismissed Tran Luu Quang from his position as deputy PM on Monday, after he was assigned by the Communist Party's Politburo to take office as Head of the Party's Central Economic Commission. Nguyen Hoa Binh, 66, holds a PhD in Law and is a prominent member of the Politburo, the Central Party Committee and the National Assembly. His extensive career includes significant roles in the public security sector, as well as serving as the Party secretary of the central province of Quang Ngai. He became the head of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy in August 2011 and was later appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court in April 2016. Ho Duc Phoc, 61, has a PhD in Economics and is also a member of the Central Party Committee and the National Assembly. He served as the Party secretary of Nghe An Province and chairman of the Nghe An Peoples Council from March 2013. He was appointed State Auditor General in 2016 and became minister of finance in April 2021. Bui Thanh Son, 62, holds a Master's degree in International Relations. He has been a member of the Central Party Committee, the Defense and Security Council and the National Assembly. Son has held various positions in the diplomatic sector, ultimately being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in April 2021. Phoc and Son will continue to serve as finance and foreign affairs ministers, while Binh's position as chief justice has been filled by Le Minh Tri, formerly Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy. The assembly on Monday also appointed Nguyen Hai Ninh, member of the Party Central Committee and Party Secretary of Khanh Hoa Province as Minister of Justice, to succeed Long who was appointed a deputy PM earlier; and Do Duc Duy, member of the Party Central Committee and Party Secretary of Yen Bai Province, as Minister of Natural Resources and Environment to replace Dang Quoc Khanh who was dismissed the same day. 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. Vietnam to elect new president in October Bui Van Cuong, General Secretary of the National Assembly, speaks at a press conference. Photo by the National Assembly Media The election of Vietnam's new president will be carried out during a National Assembly session in October according to a Party's resolution, the assembly's General Secretary Bui Van Cuong said Monday. At a meeting with former Party and state leaders on Aug. 15, Party General Secretary and President To Lam had announced that the NA session in October will complete the process of appointing high-level leadership positions. The National Assembly held an extraordinary session on Monday to conduct personnel affairs. It appointed three new deputy prime ministers, new chief justice of the Supreme People's Court, new chief prosecutor, and two new ministers. The child tax credit is getting a lot of attention in the presidential campaign. Learn a new skill this September! Free Welsh lessons for youngsters and teachers Young people aged 16-25 and school staff across Wales are being invited to take up the opportunity to learn Cymraeg for free. The free Welsh language lessons scheme, funded by the Welsh Government, has been running for two years, with over 3,200 people benefitting in 2023-24. In July, the Welsh Government introduced the Welsh Language and Education Bill in the Senedd. The legislation aims to ensure that all pupils are independent Welsh language users, at least, by the time they reach the end of compulsory school age, equipped to use the language in both personal and professional settings. For young people aged 16-25, the free lessons offer those who didnt learn to speak the language at school a second chance to become Welsh speakers. One young person who has benefitted from the scheme is 23-year-old American-born Isabella Colby Browne who moved to Flintshire at a young age. Actress Isabella won the Bobi Jones prize for Welsh learners at this years Urdd Eisteddfod. She said: I started learning Welsh three years ago. I mainly learn the language through weekly online lessons, and last year I went on an an exciting trip to Nant Gwrtheyrn for an intermediate residential course. These sessions are all free to me because Im under twenty-five, and I feel incredibly blessed for the experiences and opportunities open to me. Having won the Bobi Jones Medal at the Urdd Eisteddfod, I feel my hard work has paid off and I cant wait to see whats next. A teaching workforce able to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh is crucial to achieve the goal of one million Welsh speakers by 2050. The free Welsh lessons are provided through the National Centre for Learning Welsh. The Centres Chief Executive, Dona Lewis, said: The number of people learning Welsh is increasing. The Centre is pleased to be able to continue to offer opportunities for young people to learn for free. They can do so by joining lessons in class or virtually. The Centre has also introduced the Education Workforce Learning Welsh programme, which offers a range of courses for teachers and teaching assistants. We look forward to implementing these programmes over the next year and welcoming more people to join us to learn Welsh. Prif Weinidog Eluned Morgan said: Through this scheme, were making it easier than ever for people to learn Welsh and pass the language on to others. Im delighted that so many have already signed up for the courses. The Welsh language belongs to us all, and whether youre looking to gain confidence in using the language in your daily life or to connect more with Welsh culture, now is the perfect time to give it a go. Click here to sign up for the free courses and explore all available learning options online, in your workplace, or in the community. North Wales Police Cybercrime team warns of rise in HMRC phishing scams North Wales Police Cybercrime Unit has issued a warning about a recent surge in HMRC scam emails. Over 700 cases have been reported to Action Fraud this month alone. These scam emails, which falsely claim to be from Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC), typically inform recipients that they are owed a tax refund. The prospect of a refund often leads people to click on the included links, which direct them to convincing phishing websites designed to steal personal and financial information. How the Scams Work The phishing emails are crafted to resemble official communication from HMRC, complete with authentic-looking branding and language. The message usually promises a tax refund or requires the recipient to verify their information, urging them to click on a link. Once clicked, victims are taken to a fake website that mirrors the HMRC site, where they are prompted to enter sensitive information such as their National Insurance number, bank details, and other personal data. This information is then harvested by scammers for fraudulent activities. An officer from the North Wales Police Cybercrime Unit explained the dangers: These phishing websites are highly sophisticated and can appear very convincing. The goal is to make the recipient feel that the site is legitimate, encouraging them to provide their personal and financial information, which can then be used for identity theft or financial fraud. Rising Cases of HMRC Scams While HMRC scams are not new, the recent spike in reports highlights the growing sophistication and frequency of these attacks. The North Wales Police Cybercrime Unit emphasises that everyone should remain vigilant, especially as these scams often increase around tax deadlines and during times of financial uncertainty. Phishing scams can catch anyone off guard, especially when they promise something like a tax refund, a representative from the unit said. The best defence is to be sceptical of unsolicited emails and to take steps to verify the source before clicking on any links or downloading attachments. How to Protect Yourself To protect against HMRC phishing scams and other types of fraud, consider these steps: Be Wary of Unsolicited Emails: If you receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, be cautious, especially if it requests personal or financial information. Dont Click Suspicious Links: Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments in unsolicited emails. Verify the Source: If you are unsure about the legitimacy of an email, contact HMRC directly through official channels, not via any contact information provided in the suspicious email. Report Suspicious Emails: If you receive a suspicious email claiming to be from HMRC, forward it to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk to report it. Educate Yourself About Scams: Familiarise yourself with common scams and learn to recognise warning signs. HMRC provides resources on its website to help identify genuine communications. Steps to Take If Youve Been Targeted If you believe you have fallen victim to an HMRC phishing scam, its important to act quickly. Contact your bank immediately to secure your accounts and report the incident to Action Fraud, the UKs national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. Examples of HMRC related phishing emails, suspicious phone calls and texts QR codes HMRC uses QR codes in our letters and correspondence. The QR code will usually take you to guidance on GOV.UK. We will tell you if the QR code takes you anywhere else. You will never be taken to a page where you have to input personal information. When you are logged into your HMRC account, we may use QR codes to redirect you. For example, to take you to your banks login page. If were using QR codes in communications youll be able to see them on the genuine HMRC contacts page. To help fight phishing scams, send any suspicious emails containing QR codes to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk then delete them. Text messages HMRC does send text messages to some of our customers. In the text message we might include a link to GOV.UK information or to HMRC webchat. HMRC will never ask for personal or financial information when we send text messages. We advise you not to open any links or reply to a text message claiming to be from HMRC that offers you a tax refund in exchange for personal or financial details. To help fight phishing scams, you should send any suspicious text messages to 60599 (network charges apply) or email phishing@hmrc.gov.uk then delete them. Image showing an example of a scam HMRC text message which is trying to get you to click on a hyperlink and enter personal details. Coronavirus (COVID-19) scams Text scams COVID-19 refund SMS Beware of various text scams offering an HMRC tax refund in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not reply to the text and do not open any links in the message. Tax refund and rebate scams Emails HMRC will never send notifications by email about tax rebates or refunds. Do not: click on the links to visit a website mentioned in a tax rebate email open any attachments disclose any personal or payment information Fraudsters may spoof a genuine email address or change the display name to make it appear genuine. If you are unsure, forward it to us and then delete it. Example of a phishing email and misleading website Image showing an example of a scam email with a hyperlink which directs you to a phishing website. Image showing an example of a phishing website designed to trick you into disclosing personal information. Suspicious phone calls HMRC is aware of an automated phone call scam which will tell you HMRC is filing a lawsuit against you, and to press 1 to speak to a caseworker to make a payment. This is a scam and you should end the call immediately. Other scam calls may refer to National Insurance number fraud or offer a tax refund and ask you to provide your bank or credit card information. If you cannot verify the identity of a caller, we recommend that you do not speak to them. If youve been a victim of a scam and suffered financial loss, report it to Action Fraud. Phishing calls use a variety of phone numbers. To help us investigate, share call details on our suspicious phone call reporting form. Include the: date of the call phone number used content of the call WhatsApp messages If you have subscribed to the UK Government channel on WhatsApp you will receive updates that might include occasional tax-related reminders. These will be single message alerts and you will not be able to reply. HMRC will not communicate with you for any other reason using WhatsApp. Social media scams HMRC is aware of direct messages sent to customers through social media. A recent scam was identified on X (formerly Twitter) offering a tax refund. These messages are not from genuine HMRC social media accounts and are a scam. We never use social media to: offer a tax rebate request personal or financial information If you cannot verify the identity of a social media account, send the details by email to: phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and ignore it. Refund companies HMRC is aware of companies that send emails or texts offering to claim tax refunds or rebates on your behalf, usually for a fee. These companies are not connected with HMRC in any way. You should read the small print and disclaimers before using their services. HMRC customs duty scams HMRC is aware of a text and email scam where the customer is told they must pay customs duty to receive a valuable parcel which does not exist. These scams should not be confused with changes introduced on 1 January 2021, advising that some UK consumers buying goods from EU businesses might need to pay customs charges when their goods are delivered. Find out more about these new rules on GOV.UK. If in doubt, we advise you not to reply to anything suspicious, but to email HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gov.uk straight away and read HMRC phishing and scams guidance. Plaid Cymru urges UK Government to rethink Winter Fuel Payment cut amid energy bill hike Plaid Cyrmu has urged the UK government to reconsider its cut to Winter Fuel Payments. It comes after Ofgem announced a 10 per cent increase in the energy price cap starting from 1 October 2024. The increase will see the average annual energy bill for a dual-fuel household paying by direct debit rise to 1,717, adding approximately 12 per month to the typical bill This increase comes as part of Ofgems quarterly adjustment of the energy price cap, which limits the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge customers per unit of energy and through standing charges. Although the new cap represents a significant increase over the previous quarter, it is still six per cent lower than the same period last year, when the average bill was 1,834. Ofgem has stated that the primary driver behind this latest hike is ongoing volatility in the global energy market, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions and extreme weather events that have intensified competition for gas supplies. The announcement from Ofgem comes just weeks after the UK government announced plans to introduce means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment, which is designed to help pensioners manage higher heating costs during the colder months. This means that the payment will be restricted to individuals over the state pension age who are also receiving pension credit or a select few other benefits, including income support, income-based jobseekers allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, and universal credit. As a result, eligibility has been drastically reduced from 11.4 million people to approximately 1.5 million. According to Plaid Cymru cutting the Winter Fuel Payments will put the health of millions of older people at risk. The party is now calling on the UK government to reconsider its proposals to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment of up to 300 for 10 million pensioners. Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: A typical households energy bill will rise by 149 in October under the new Ofgem price cap, in yet more worrying news for households as we approach winter. In this harsh context, the Labour UK Governments decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment of up to 300 for 10 million pensioners risks putting the health and finances of millions of older people at risk. This follows a painful reduction in support for disabled people when cost-of-living payments for those on benefits were cut in February this year. Labour holds the power to protect vulnerable households this winter. Plaid Cymru urges them to act now and ensure no pensioner is left to suffer in the cold. The UK Government must reconsider its decision to axe the Winter Fuel Payment for most pensioners. Speaking in the House of Commons earlier this month Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: I am making the difficult decision that those not in receipt of Pension Credit will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment from this year onwards. Let me be clear: this is not a decision I wanted to make, nor is it one that I expected to make. But it is a necessary and urgent decision I must make it is the responsible thing to do to fix the foundations of our economy and bring back economic stability. The overall risk to the UK population from mpox remains low says Public Health Wales Public Health Wales has confirmed that there are no cases of Clade I mpox currently reported in Wales, nor any other variant. They said this week, We are working with the Welsh Government, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland, and Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, and we are ready to respond to cases of mpox in Wales should they occur. The overall risk to the UK population from mpox remains low. Common symptoms of mpox include a skin rash or pus-filled lesions which can last several weeks. It also can cause fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes. If you develop any symptoms of mpox, and you have recently travelled to central Africa or you have been in contact with a confirmed case of mpox Clade I, please telephone NHS 111 or call your GP for an assessment. Please do not attend a healthcare facility unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional. Cases of mpox in the UK, including in Wales, are reported on the UKHSA website via Gov.UK/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview. (*the PHW link in their self hosted statement is still broken) AT&T workers: what are your conditions like, and what are you fighting for in your strike? Tell us by filling out the form below. All submissions will be kept anonymous. The strike by 17,000 AT&T workers throughout the US Southeast is being threatened with a betrayal as it enters its second week. The Communication Workers of America union has announced the acceptance of the companys offer of federal mediation to oversee the remainder of contract talks. AT&T workers on strike in Florida. [Photo: CWA Local 3108] The CWA District 3 bargaining committee commented: We remain optimistic that the mediator will help us gain ground on securing a contract that is acceptable to our members. While we know that everyone has questions and concerns about what is going on, please know that we are working diligently to get the current issues resolved and to get everyone back to work. However, the government will not be involved as a neutral arbiter but as the political agent of corporate America. Its top aim will be to break the strike and ram through a deal favorable to the company. The Biden administration in particular has used mediation and direct involvement in major national contract talks to screen its attack on workers. This was the role, for example, that a federal mediation panel played against the railroad workers in 2022. When workers rejected that deal, the Biden administration and Congress pre-emptively banned a strike and imposed the contract. This state intervention into the strike signals its imminent sell-out by the union bureaucracy. The CWA is working behind the scenes to enforce a new contract that meets workers demands even less than the previous rotten contractwhich contained a no-strike clausepushed through after the sell-out of the six-day 2019 strike. The seriousness with which the state will seek, through its intervention, to shut down the strike must not be underestimated by the rank-and-file membership. As the World Socialist Web Site previously reported, the CWA bureaucracy has extremely close ties with the Democratic Party, with a delegation invited to attend and speak at the recently concluded Democratic National Convention. In his address to the DNC on its opening night, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. praised the Biden administrations response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemicin reality, its complete elimination of even the piecemeal measures implemented at the start of 2020. He added that Vice President Kamala Harris gave the CWA a seat at the table...while creating good union jobs. But this is a seat at the table for the bureaucracy, not for rank-and-file workers. The Biden White House is working closely with the bureaucrats to deal with internal dissent, summed up in Bidens declaration in August that the AFL-CIO was his domestic NATO. Workers responded to the CWAs Facebook post of Cummings speech with scathing criticism: Missed opportunity to maybe mention that 17,000 of your paying union members are on strike not getting a paycheck.. wonder if that would have put any pressure on [AT&T]? Embarrassing. Why is he not talking about the entire Southeast being on strike basically? Talking about creating union jobs, but we got 17,000 of those jobs on strike! I feel like we were sold out by him not mentioning our [Unfair Labor Practice] strike in District 3, which was broadcast on every major network and news channel. Sent an online message yesterday asking why we werent mentioned and Ive received no email or call back. 24 year 4 month paying member, along with my 17,000 brothers and sisters deserve an answer. Why on earth did he not mention whats going on in district 3??? That absolutely wouldve put pressure on AT&T.man what a missed opportunity and an expensive one for me For its part, the CWA bureaucracy is attempting to divert strikers into toothless appeals with a petition campaign addressed to AT&T CEO John Stankey. While acknowledging in its petition that AT&T made over $16 billion in profits in 2023, it begs the CEO to respect the dedicated employees who work every day to provide service and support AT&Ts customers. At this critical juncture for the strike, rank-and-file CWA member must break the spell of the union bureaucracys corporatist maneuvers, take control of the strike and contract talks, and make the broadest appeal to their brothers and sisters throughout the CWA, and in other unions, to unify in collective struggle against the corporations and state apparatus. CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt has acknowledged that Teamsters are refusing to cross picket lines to deliver packages to AT&T locations. But the Teamsters bureaucracy is currently actively engaged in betraying their railway brothers and sisters in Canada, who are being set up by the Canadian government and the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to accept the dictates of Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). The experiences of federal mediation, utilized by the union bureaucracy and corporations in both Canada and the US against railroaders and west coast dock workers in 2022 and 2023, underscores the dangers posed to AT&T strikers. The collective strength of the international working class must be mobilized and united in order to defend its interests against the corporations, state apparatus and the union bureaucracies. The latter which effectively serve as a labor police force to keep the rank-and-file membership imprisoned behind the bars of capitalist exploitation. AT&T strikers throughout the US Southeast must establish direct channels of communication across picket lines, and strategize how to defend and continue their strike against the company. A step in this direction should be the demands for no federal mediation in the contract talks, for direct rank-and-file oversight and live streaming of the talks, and for AT&T workers throughout the country to unify in a nation-wide strike against the company. For this, a political break with both the Democratic and Republican Parties, the twin parties of Wall Street and the Pentagon, is essential. This month marks World Humanitarian Day, an opportunity to honor the daily sacrifice of all humanitarian aid workers who labor in some of the worlds toughest places, often at great risk to their own safety. They provide aid and relief to the worlds most vulnerable and desperate populations. And the United States honors their dedication, compassion, and humanity. Humanitarian crises continue to put far too many people in harms way and humanitarian work remains critical to respond to this deepening plight, even as it becomes more dangerous. Indeed, last year, 280 humanitarian aid workers were killed while selflessly caring for others, capping the deadliest year ever for humanitarians. From crises in Sudan, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere, these humanitarian workers often operate in the most challenging circumstances, including active conflicts, to ensure that life-saving assistance reaches those who need it most. Their actions support communities in their most dire moments of need, and contribute to a safer, more secure world. The United States is committed to continuing to stand alongside humanitarian workers and dedicate critical resources to save lives and alleviate suffering worldwide. Thats why in 2023, the United States provided nearly $15 billion in humanitarian aid and, in 2024, has stepped up to address the unprecedented level of need around the world. The United States is dedicated to addressing humanitarian crises and helping to resolve conflicts through coordinated international responses and diplomatic engagement, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement. He also demanded immediate, safe, and unhindered access for humanitarian workers across conflict lines, so they can reach those who need help the most without interference. As nearly 300 million people now require humanitarian assistance and protection, the United States reaffirms its steadfast commitment to this work and continues to urge international partners to join in stepping up their contributions to address growing humanitarian needs around the world. Working together, said National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett, we can make meaningful life-saving change in countless lives. On Thursday, steelworkers from Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) blocked the factory gates at the Hamborn/Beeckerwerth site in the north of Duisburg. At times, the main road was also blocked with forklift trucks, wheel loaders and benches, which led to major traffic jams and hours of delays, including in tram traffic. IG Metall protest against the entry of billionaire Daniel Kretinsky into Thyssenkrupp Steel in April 2024 Workers from Huttenwerke Krupp-Mannesmann (HKM) from the south of the city also took part in the protest action. The HKM plant is to be sold. The future of the remaining 3,000 or so employees is completely uncertain. Production stoppages and protests also took place at several other Thyssenkrupp sites, for example in Hagen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen. The works council spoke of massive guerrilla action in the fight against the planned job cuts. Two days earlier, the IG Metall trade union issued a dramatic appeal warning of the destruction of 10,000 jobs at Thyssenkrupp. Leaflets titled Only half a steel works were distributed at all locations. They state that the companys CEO Miguel Lopez was pursuing a radical plan and wanted to halve the steel works. The planned reduction in production at Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe from the current level of around 11 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes would have catastrophic consequences. Several sites would have to close, the works council and trade union said in the leaflet. Thyssenkrupp operates steelworks not only in Duisburg, but also in Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Hagen, Siegen and Finnentrop, among other locations. The protest action on Thursday was also held under the slogan: Someone has to stop Lopez! The speakersrepresentatives of the supervisory board, the works council, IG Metall and politicians from the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens who were presentall took aim at the CEO of the group as a whole, Lopez, who allegedly has no idea about steel and was endangering Germany as a steel-producing country. In contrast, the CEO of the steel division Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), Bernhard Osburg, was praised as the best steel CEO we have ever had and his business plan was applauded, despite its also providing for the destruction of thousands of jobs and the closure of plants in close cooperation with the works council. Media reports quote the deputy chairman of the works council as saying: We fully support Osburg. Many steelworkers are justifiably deeply concerned about their jobs and the future of their families. They are looking for a way to organise real resistance to the planned job cuts. But the protest actions of IG Metall and the works council on Thursday and similar actions during the Thyssenkrupp supervisory board meeting next week have nothing to do with a serious fight to defend jobs. On the contrary. They are part of a stitch-up in which works council reps and IG Metall play a key role in implementing job cuts. They sit on all the management committees, on the supervisory board and on the company economic committee, are well informed about all the plans, have often worked out the plans themselves, advise the top management, organise protests at the same time to let off steam and use their extensive apparatus to suppress any serious struggle to defend jobs and social rights. The most important task facing workers at Thyssenkruppas well as those in the auto and supplier industry and other sectorsis to break the control of the corrupt trade union apparatus and its mafia-like company structures and take the defence of jobs into their own hands. This requires the establishment of independent rank-and-file action committees that fight for the rights and interests of the workers and put them above the profit interests of the corporations and investors. And it requires an international strategy that coordinates the growing resistance and combines it into a common international struggle. At Thyssenkrupp, the establishment of a new and independent resistance organisation is very urgent. At the end of April, company spokespeople had already announced the job cuts and the entry of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky into Stahl AG. At the time, IG Metall immediately went on the barricades. It gathered several thousand steelworkers from all locations in front of the Thyssenkrupp steel administration building in the north of Duisburg and the company headquarters in Essen, where they were to listen to the cacophony organised by the apparatchiks from the works councils and IG Metall. But the protest was not about halting the planned destruction of the livelihoods of many thousands of steelworkers and their families. It was about keeping the bureaucrats lucrative jobs in the joint venture that would be created when Kretinskys company, EP Corporate Group (EPCG), took over 50 percent of Thyssenkrupp Steel. The bureaucrats feared that the new company might have its headquarters outside Germany, thus eliminating the legally regulated corruption known as Montanmitbestimmung (co-determination in the coal and steel industry). The works council reps and trade union members on supervisory boards receive high, up to six-figure salaries each year. For them, it really starts to pay off when they move up to chair the personnel board. Then many a union functionary becomes an income millionaire in no time at all. Markus Grolms (chief human resources officer) and Oliver Burkhard (CEO of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems) are just two of them. That is why the functionaries and full-time works council members fight passionately when it comes to their own interests. The workers serve them only as a means of pressure in their dispute with the groups top management. When an agreement was reached that stipulated the transfer of the current co-determination regulations of Thyssenkrupp AG to the new holding company, the trade union and works council agreed to the job cuts, but as usual demanded no compulsory redundancies. In fact, since German reunification in 1990, half of all jobs in the German steel industry have been destroyed, a total of 90,000, without a single steelworker being laid off compulsorily. The renunciation of compulsory redundancies is the modus operandi by which the trade union apparatuses destroy jobs in their social partnership with the corporations. They know numerous other ways to drive workers out of the company. There are still around 90,000 men and women working in the steel industry in Germany. The global growth of trade wars and military wars is driving competition for raw materials, energy and markets to dangerous levels. This is putting the steel industry in Germany and throughout Europe under considerable pressure. In June, the insolvency of the largest steelworks in the Czech Republic was confirmed by the courts. The Liberty Ostrava plant belongs to Liberty Steel, which in turn is part of the GFG Group, owned by the British-Indian billionaire Sanjeev Gupta. GFG took over the plant from the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal Group in 2019. With more than 5,000 employees, it is one of the most important employers in the region. In Italy, ArcelorMittal pulled out of the insolvent steelworks in Taranto, one of the largest in Europe, four months ago. Acciaierie dItalia (ADI)the Italian steel company formerly known as Ilvawas only taken over by ArcelorMittal in 2018. Now, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has placed it under state supervision. Some 8,000 employees fear for their jobs. A few weeks ago we wrote: In this situation, steelworkers must not allow themselves to be chained to the companies and the federal government by IG Metall. They are in the process of sacrificing their livelihoods to the ruling elites war plans. Immediately after the start of the war in Ukraine, IG Metall Baden-Wurttemberg issued a joint statement with the Sudwestmetall employers association in support of the NATO proxy war against Russia and announced: These measures will demand sacrifices from all of us. Last year, the IGM also took part in the concerted action convened by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss how the billions involved could be passed on to the working class. Together with the defence industry, the union is calling for the build-up of the countrys war and weapons industry. Oliver Burkhard, a former trade union official, is head of one of Germanys largest defence companies, namely Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). This close network of works council reps and union officials, supervisory board members and personnel directors is now introducing the next round of social cuts. The steelworkers at Thyssenkrupp, HKM, Salzgitter, ArcelorMittal, Georgsmarienhutte, etc., are confronted with this united front. They are supposed to pay for the pro-war policy with their jobs. This must not be allowed. The struggle against job cuts must be linked to the struggle against war. This is only possible against the IG Metall, not with it. We call on all Thyssenkrupp workers to participate in the establishment of an action committee to defend all jobs and workers rights in principle. Contact us! Its time to act and organise a rebellion against IG Metall and the works council dictatorship. Send a WhatsApp message to +491633378340 or register using the form below. On Saturday morning, a man carried out an arson attack on the synagogue at Grande-Motte, near the southern French city of Nimes. Armed with a handgun and, according to some reports, an axe, he used bottles filled with a flammable liquid to set fire to the entrance of the synagogue and several vehicles in the parking lot. One of these vehicles contained a bottle of gas which exploded, wounding a municipal policeman on duty at the synagogue. According to police, the man wore a keffiyeh and draped himself in a Palestinian flag during the attack, and did not try to hide his face from security cameras at the synagogue. French military police identified him and hunted him down by tracking his cell phone, which he had with him at the synagogue. They apprehended him Saturday night in Pissevin, a working class suburb of the city of Nimes. He traded fire with police units, who shot him in the arm and the face before arresting him. Interior Ministry sources identified the attacker through far-right magazine Current Values as 33-year-old Algerian immigrant El Hussein Khenfri. Available information indicates that he carried out the attack driven by antisemitic sentiments inflamed by the Israeli regimes genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. While the attack was reactionary, so are the utterly hypocritical and false denunciations of the attack by French capitalist politicians who back the Israeli genocide in Gaza. It is politically obscene for them to posture as fighting antisemitism in a country where the capitalist state fully participated in the Holocaust of European Jewry during World War II, and when French imperialism and its NATO allies are backing today a new genocide in Gaza. Our thoughts go to the worshippers of the Grande-Motte synagogue and all the Jews of our country, wrote President Emmanuel Macron on X/Twitter, adding: The struggle against antisemitism is a struggle of every moment, that of the united nation. Outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who traveled to the scene of the crime with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, blamed the attack on left-wing forces sympathetic to the people of Gaza since the October 7, 2023 uprising in Gaza and the Israeli governments launching of the Gaza genocide. We see very well that, especially since October 7, certain forces have incited a certain climate, many confusions have been generated by those who incite hatred of Jews in our country, Attal said. He added that he did not want to go further, since every person has his or her own idea on this issue. However, capitalist media promptly identified the target of Attals remarks as Jean-Luc Melenchon and the millions of workers who voted for Melenchons France Unbowed (LFI) party in the 2022 presidential elections and the recent July 7 elections. The Macron governments attempts to blame antisemitic attacks on left-wing sentiment in the working class are political lies. Racial hatreds and race murder are abhorrent to left-wing workers in France and internationally. Those who incite racial hatreds are not those sympathetic to the innocent men, women and children being massacred in Gaza, but French politicians, starting at the top of the Macron government, who back the Gaza genocide and incite far-right moods inside France. Indeed, as it has relied ever more on the riot police to repress mass opposition to its policies of austerity and war, the Macron government has resorted to inciting far-right sentiment that is rife inside the police. Interior Minister Darmanin is infamous for his statement in 2011 that he hates seeing kosher or halal foods in French grocery stores. The most significant statement, however, was made by Macron himself. In 2018, as he sent riot police to assault yellow vest protests against social inequality, Macron hailed Philippe Petain, the convicted traitor and Nazi collaborationist dictator, as a great soldier. It was an unprecedented declaration of respect for far-right politics and collaboration with Nazism by a French head of state. The Macron governments legitimization of far-right sentiment ultimately led it to an alliance with neo-fascism in support of the Gaza genocide. Last year, its officials joined leaders of the far-right National Rally (RN), whose founder Jean-Marie Le Pen denied the Holocaust, in marches backing the Israeli governments war on Gaza. This year, Macron invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who now faces international arrest warrants for genocide, to attend the Paris Olympics. The struggle against antisemitism cannot be waged by uniting France, as Macron claims, especially when the state itself legitimizes political racism and genocide. Indeed, the governments false argument that opposing antisemitism requires supporting Israel implicitly encourages antisemitism among those who, watching the relentless, industrial slaughter in Gaza, conclude that they utterly oppose the state of Israel. The attack at Grande-Motte is an urgent warning of the necessity of uniting and mobilizing workers, including Muslim and Jewish workers, in struggle against the capitalist police state and the Gaza genocide. This underlies the bankruptcy of Melenchons position on the Grande-Motte attack. He responded with a tweet declaring: Arson attack against the Grande-Motte synagogue. An intolerable crime. Our thoughts go to the worshippers and believers who are thus assaulted. Secularism and freedom of conscience are the daughters of freedom of worship. Let us never forget that. Capitalist media and political forces close to Macron responded by denouncing Melenchons tweet, because it did not explicitly refer to antisemitism. These statements, like the Macron governments previous denunciations of Melenchons statements of solidarity with Gaza as antisemitic, are shameless lies. Opposition to the Gaza genocide, now estimated to have claimed the lives of over 186,000 men, women and children, is in fact critical to fighting the incitement of political racism by the ruling class and by the Macron government. But Melenchon and the New Popular Front (NFP) formed this year by LFI, the big business Socialist Party, the Greens and the Stalinist French Communist Party have worked to stifle working class opposition to Macroneven when Macron refused to let the NFP try to form a government after winning the 2024 legislative elections. The Gaza genocide, Macrons pension cuts, and his call to send French troops to Ukraine to fight Russia are all massively unpopular. Yet since winning the elections in July, the NFP has called no protests or strikes. This reactionary suppression of mass political opposition in the working class creates a surreal, demoralizing atmosphere in which political racism flourishes without any visible opposition. Significantly, an LFI candidate, Charles Menard, won the July 7 election in Nimes with 54 percent of the vote. Particularly in immigrant suburbs like Pissevin, where Khenfri lived, there is substantial opposition to Macron and to the Gaza genocide. Yet this opposition cannot find any concrete, collective expression under conditions where the NFP and the union bureaucracies block the building of a movement in the working class against capitalism, war and genocide. It is in these putrid conditions that more disoriented elements, outraged by the genocide in Gaza, become vulnerable to racist moods and ultimately carry out antisemitic attacks. The decisive question in combating political racism and genocide is the mobilization of the working class, independently of the NFP bureaucracies, in an international, socialist anti-war movement. As President Emmanuel Macron finishes his meetings today with group leaders of Frances parliamentary parties, the New Popular Front (NFP) coalition led by Jean-Luc Melenchon is stepping up its appeals to Macron to let it form a government. To date, Macron has refused to let Melenchons France Unbowed (LFI) party and the other parties in the NFP, which won the July 7 elections, try to form a parliamentary majority. For nearly two months since the elections, Melenchon and the union bureaucracies backing the NFP have taken no action to mobilize workers against Macrons trampling on the election results. The reactionary implications of this policy are rapidly emerging. After Melenchons statements this weekend, it is evident that he and LFI are preparing to serve as parliamentary supporters of a right-wing NFP government controlled by Macron. Melenchon appeared Saturday afternoon on TF1 news to announce that, faced with Macrons refusal to name a government if it contained LFI ministers, LFI would be happy to support an NFP-led government in which LFI did not participate. Asked if LFI would support a NFP government led by 37-year old Finance Ministry bureacrat Lucie Castets without any LFI ministers, he replied: We will never be on the side of the problem, we will always be on the side of the solution. So to answer your question very frankly, I in turn have a question for the three pro-Macron parties and the right. If the government of Lucie Castets contained no LFI ministers, do you pledge not to vote to censure it and to allow it to apply the program based upon which we arrived in the lead in the legislative elections? Workers must be told the truth. An NFP government without LFI ministers would be a government led by the big-business Socialist Party (PS) of former President Francois Hollande and containing a few Stalinist and Green ministers with records of allying to the PS. Workers across Europe have long and bitter experience with the policies of austerity, war, and police-state reaction imposed by the PS and Europes other social-democratic parties. Melenchons argument that such a government would implement the few token social programs promised in the NFPs program is a political fraud. With its program of war in Mali, pension cuts, its draconian labor reforms, its two-year state of emergency, Hollandes 2012-2017 PS government set into motion the policies of Macron today. Indeed, Macron served in Hollandes government as economy minister. Melenchon is rushing to support a right-wing,PS-led government because he is terrified that Macrons overt trampling of the July 7 election result could radicalize the workers, triggering a movement far to the left of what he is willing to countenance. This is the content of the latest note on Melenchons blog, titled Last warning to the captain of the Titanic. It does not set out to summon to struggle the millions of workers who voted for him in the 2022 presidential elections and for the NFP in the 2024 legislative elections. Rather, it implores Macron to change course before his attacks on the NFP discredit the institutions of the French capitalist state in the working class. Warning that the political establishment and the population contains various generations each with experience or lack of experience with political crises and especially crises of rule, Melenchon told his opponents to think well about the message they are sending to the country. He warned that the refusal to respect elections result could push masses of workers in France to draw political conclusions with far-reaching implications: What do they want to tell the country? That there is no legal recourse against an autocrat? That there are no means within the institutions to oppose a coup against democracy? That parliamentary democracy, as is understood and practiced by virtually every country in the world, is no longer valid in France? Or that there is no use in voting? What path are they thus laying out, what acts of violence are they thus inciting? French workers have concluded that Macron rules against the people, as he pursues an agenda of war and austerity in the face of overwhelming popular opposition. Polls show 90 percent of French people reject both the call by Macron to send troops to Ukraine for a war with Russia, and his pension cuts last year to fund war at workers expense. There is also deep opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza supported by the NATO powers. Melenchon is speaking, however, not to encourage workers to draw revolutionary conclusions, but to warn Macron that given his constant and now overt trampling upon public opinion, the NFP may not be able to control political anger in the working class. For workers, Melenchon held out only the fantasy that the PS and factions of the Macron government itself will shift dramatically to the left and begin building opposition to Macron. He sought to promote illusions in precisely the type of government he discussed on TF1 this weekend. He wrote that the PS was moving to support LFIs calls to impeach Macron, which face opposition by a broad majority in the National Assembly: The warnings made by LFI have already had a result: they radicalized the PS, which now supports a censure motion that it believes is better than calls for impeachment. This is a good result. The censure motion is thus guaranteed to be adopted. We can already say that presidential maneuvers have less of a future. Those who have decided to get aboard the Titanic to finish the cruise will certainly therefore have to revise their dreams of having power. But the PS and the forces working to strengthen its ties to Macron are not moving to the adopt the token social promises made by LFI in the NFPs election program. They are moving to implement the NFP programs pledges to send troops to Ukraine and to strengthen French intelligence and military police agencies. This emerged in the comments of Raphael Glucksmannthe son of the late former 1968 student protester Andre Glucksmann and head of the Public Square (PP) party who headed the PS election list in the June 2024 European elections. Glucksmann, infamous for publicly denying the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, told the pro-Macron magazine Le Point last week that he was a determined opponent of even the limited social concessions to workers proposed by LFI. I have never believed in magically overcoming the extremely deep differences we have with LFI, Glucksmann said. Denouncing the weakness of those in the PS who maintain their alliance with Melenchon in the NFP, he said: My responsibility is to build an intellectually dominant social democratic force, with a credible project to transform society, implanted throughout the country, and that can beat the far right in the next elections. Workers and youth are confronted with a breakdown of democratic forms of rule as the capitalist class plunges into war and unsustainable levels of social inequality. The fact that this occurs in France as Donald Trump continues the coup plotting that led to the January 6, 2021 attempted fascistic putsch against the US Capitol underscores the international character of this crisis. Workers must draw the most far-reaching conclusions. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity will be a dead letter unless workers mount a struggle to take power out of the hands of the ruling class and build socialism. The essential precondition for such a struggle is that it has an international character and cannot be waged through the existing political and trade-union institutions of the national state. It requires the organization of the working class independently of Stalinist and social-democratic union bureaucracies on the Trotskyist perspective of Permanent Revolution. The force that is fighting for this in France is not the NFP or its various pseudo-left political satellites, but the Parti de legalite socialiste, the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. Israel launched its largest attack on southern Lebanon since 2006 on Sunday, involving over 100 air force fighter jets. The Israel Defence Forces claimed that the attacks involved over 40 targets. Israeli soldiers fire a mobile howitzer in the north of Israel, near the border with Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. [AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg] Shortly afterward, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon announced that it was beginning an attack on Israeli military positions in retaliation for the assassination of Fuad Shukr, its senior military commander, in an attack on Beirut last month. Israels strikes on Lebanon are part of a US-backed military escalation throughout the Middle East, with the central target being Iran. The US is simultaneously sponsoring Israels genocide in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 people. Three people were killed in the strikes in Lebanon, while no deaths were reported inside Israel. One Israeli soldier was killed on an Israeli warship after an Israeli air defense missile exploded over it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that they intercepted all of the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in the center of the country. The Israeli attack was the most serious since Israels 34-day invasion of southern Lebanon in 2006. US and Israeli officials had made it clear that they were in close coordination over the attacks, with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaking with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant twice over the weekend to discuss Israeli actions to defend against attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah. Israeli officials said they had briefed the US before carrying out the attack on Lebanon. On Sunday, the Pentagon reported that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered two US aircraft carriers to remain in the Middle East, reversing a plan that would have sent one of them home. US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett endorsed Israels attack on Lebanon, declaring: We will keep supporting Israels right to defend itself. In an interview on Sunday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added that there was continuous communication, and we have been tracking the threat of Hezbollah attacks against Israel for some time now. In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Netanyahu threatened to continue attacks on Lebanon, declaring the strike was not the end of the story. He threatened: We are determined to do everything we can to defend our country whoever harms uswe harm him. In April, an Israeli strike killed a group of Iranian military officers meeting in Damascus, to which Iran responded with a strike on Israel with 300 missiles and drones, nearly all of which were intercepted. In July, Israel assassinated Fuad Shukr with a strike in Beirut, followed by the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh at a military guesthouse in Iran. Israel is the largest annual recipient of US foreign aid and has received $12.5 billion in weapons since October 2023. The US has provided it with dozens of advanced fighter jets, including F-35s. Earlier this month, the US approved a $20 billion arms sale to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank ammunition, high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles. Israel is also the only state in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons. Since October, Israel has killed nearly 500 people in southern Lebanon, more than the number of people killed in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, alongside strikes against Iran, Syria and Yemen. During the same time, nearly 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed by attacks from Hezbollah. Against the backdrop of Israels strikes, negotiations over a possible exchange of hostages between Hamas and Israeli officials broke off on Sunday with no agreement. The discussions reportedly included CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israels Mossad intelligence agency. Israels attack on Lebanon takes place in the context of its genocide in Gaza, which the Lancet has estimated may have killed as many as 200,000 Palestinians. Israels escalation against Lebanon follows the July 24 address by Netanyahu before the US Congress. Netanyahus remarks were not merely a justification and defense of the Gaza genocide, but an argument for US intervention targeting Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. Following the address, US Vice President Kamala Harris stated: I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollahan effective green light to expand the war beyond Gaza. Israel and the United States have seized upon the events of October 7 to carry out long-held plans to reorganize the Middle East under US domination targeting Iran. The escalating Middle East war is part of a global offensive of US imperialism throughout the world whose main targets are Russia and China, with the aim of restoring imperialist domination of the former colonies. While the Biden administration is widely reviled for its sponsorship of the Gaza genocide, Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, has made it clear that she would only continue this policy, rejecting any limits on US support for Israel. In her speech last week at the Democratic National Convention, Harris declared: Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israels right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Developments this week in the case of Marcellus Khaliifah Williams, a prisoner on Missouris death row, have exposed the brutality and arbitrary character of the state killing machine in America. An execution date looms for a man who by all accounts is innocent. He has always maintained his innocence, but all his appeals and post-conviction pleadings have been unsuccessful. Williams, 55, was convicted and sentenced to death for the August 1998 murder of Felicia Anne Gayle, 42, a well-known St. Louis reporter. Gayles husband found her dead at the foot of the stairs in their home, stabbed 43 times, with the knife still in her neck. Williams has been on death row for murder for nearly two-and-a-half decades. No forensic or eyewitness evidence, or motive connects him to the crime for which he stands accused. No court has reviewed DNA evidence that could have ruled him out as the perpetrator. Despite this, the current Missouri governor, attorney general and state supreme court have upheld the conviction, working assiduously to see to it that Williams is put to death. Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated two decades ago after spending years on death row, speaks at a rally to support Missouri death row inmates Marcellus Williams on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Clayton, Missouri. [AP Photo/Jim Salter] In 2021, the Missouri legislature passed a law that allows a prosecutor to challenge convictions in cases where the prosecutor has information that the convicted person may be innocent or may haven erroneously convicted. The law came in response to developments in forensic science and growing recognition that not considering such new evidence can lead to wrongful convictions. The legislation says that a hearing must be held on such challenges; it also allows the attorney general to participate in the proceedings. In line with this law, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney General Wesley Bell filed a motion to overturn Williams conviction. Bell is running for the US House after defeating the incumbent, Representative Cori Bush, in the Democratic primary. Bell said the two main witnesses against Williams, both of whom stood to profit financially from giving their testimony, were not credible; the prosecution had excluded prospective jurors because they were black; and the bloody fingerprints, shoeprints and hair found at the crime scene were not those of Williams. Critically, analysis of DNA found on the murder weapon excluded Williams as having committed the murder. New developments surrounding this DNA evidence were at the center of last weeks developments. An evidentiary hearing at the St. Louis County Courthouse in Clayton, Missouri had been set for August 21 to hear Bells arguments on Williams innocence. But those assembled in the courthouse, including Williams and his legal team, instead were hit with a bombshell. Matthew Jacober, a special counsel representing Prosecuting Attorney Bell, revealed that the knife used to kill Gayle had been contaminated by the prosecution team due to its being mishandled and improperly stored. A new round of testing had determined that traces of unknown male DNA on the murder weapon could not exclude the prosecutors investigator as the source. This meant that the DNA evidence could not be presented to support the prosecuting attorneys claim of Williams innocence. Despite the lack of evidence pointing to Williams guilt, Bells case was weakened. If the exoneration motion were to fail, Williams would run out of options and face imminent execution. Instead, Bell proposed, and Williams and his counsel accepted a deal in which Williams would enter a so-called Alford plea, where he would maintain his innocence but agree that the state has enough evidence to convict him, while avoiding a death sentence. Key to the deal, Williams would have the right to appeal his sentence if new exculpatory evidence came to light. The presiding circuit court judge, Bruce F. Hilton, accepted the deal, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected, saying that the judge had exceeded his power and did not have his consent as the exclusive authority to review death penalty cases. He asked the state Supreme Court to intervene. In its ruling, the court blocked the plea deal and said that Judge Hilton had to go ahead with the evidentiary hearing or argue why he shouldnt have to do so. On August 22, the judge scheduled the hearing for August 28. It is in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheldevery time, without fail, Bailey said in a statement following the Supreme Courts ruling. I am glad the Missouri Supreme Court recognized that. We look forward to putting on evidence in a hearing like we were prepared to do yesterday. Instead of taking the opportunity to prove his innocence at the hearing scheduled originally, Williams instead tried to plead guilty to a crime he claims he did not commit. No innocent man is willing to spend the rest of his life in prison unless he knows he is guilty, Baileys statement added. Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an attorney for Williams and executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, told CNN that the presence of law enforcements DNA on the weapon proves the State of Missouri disregarded critical protocols in the investigation of this case, including mishandling pivotal evidence. She added, But regardless of who may have touched the weapon between 1998 and today and deposited DNA on it, there is no doubt that Marcellus Williams did not do so, she said. She emphasized that the plea deal would have kept Williams alive while the fight continued to prove his innocence. Williams had faced two prior execution dates. In 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court stayed his execution after DNA testing first showed he was not the source of DNA found on the murder weapon. However, in 2017, without conducting a hearing, the special master appointed by the Supreme Court to review the evidence sent Williams case back to the court, which again scheduled an execution date. Then on August 22, 2017, just hours before Williams scheduled execution, then-Governor Eric Greitens, a Republican, stayed his execution and convened a board of inquiry to investigate the case and issue a formal report. On June 29, 2023, the current governor, Republican Mike Parson, dissolved the board of inquiry, which had not issued a report or recommendation. Attorney General Bailey sought a new execution date, which was set for September 24, 2024. The Missouri Attorney Generals Office has opposed every innocence claim for the last three decades. Bailey, who is seeking reelection in November, is seeking the support of the most reactionary, pro-death-penalty forces in the state and beyond. Despite the attorney generals efforts to stop their release, Missouri death row inmates Kevin Strickland and Lamar Johnson were exonerated, in 2021 and 2023, respectively. There are 12 prisoners currently on death row. The execution of Christopher Leroy Collings is scheduled for December 12. Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Missouri has sent 99 individuals to their deaths. A petition demanding the halt of Williams execution has so far received more than 523,715 signatures. Just over a month before the election of Austrias National Council, the countrys lower house of parliament, the various parties are competing to offer the most right-wing programme. The Austrian election campaign is dominated by incitement against refugees, war propaganda and the demand for a police state. Under these conditions, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) leads the polls with around 30 percent. Depending on the poll, the ruling Austrian Peoples Party (OVP) and the opposition Social Democrats (SPO) are both considerably behind the FPO. Trailing far behind, at about 9 percent, are the Greens, the OVPs coalition partner. The right-liberal NEOS have the same level of support as the Greens. The Beer Party and the Communist Party (KPO) also have a chance of entering parliament. Herbert Kickl, leader of Austrian Freedom Party (FPOE), gestures during the traditional FPOE May day event at the Urfahraner fair in Linz, Austria, Wednesday, May 01, 2024. [AP Photo/Christian Bruna] The FPO, which is notorious for its despicable, racist election campaigns, is once again unrestrainedly inciting against refugees. We need remigration, FPO leader Herbert Kickl explained publicly at the presentation of the election programme. To this end, the party first wants to prevent the hitherto applicable family reunification of asylum seekers and further reduce the number of asylum applications to zero. Healthcare, social benefits and education should only be available to Austrians, according to the party. The election programme of the right-wing extremists is aptly entitled Fortress Austria, Fortress of Freedom. It openly promotes ethnic nationalism and backward-looking ideology, combined with calls for internal and external rearmament, as well as massive tax cuts for companies. Already in the European elections in June, the FPO became the strongest party, while the governing parties suffered severe losses. The right-wing extremists were able to win votes, especially among the young voters. But voters from the SPO and OVP also migrated to the FPO. The vote gains for the right have nothing to do with mass support for a fascist program. In fact, there is a widespread rejection of such policies. Rather, it is the right-wing politics of the other parties that has been preparing the ground for the right for decades. Since 2020, the OVP and Greens have been governing in Austria, largely implementing the FPOs policy. Under several Green health ministers, all public health measures were dropped during the peak phase of the COVID pandemic. Spending on the military, police and intelligence services has been greatly increased, and although Austria is not a member of the military alliance, the government is fully behind the NATO war against Russia. As in Germany, the Greens are also the leading warmongers in Austria. Vice Chancellor and Green Party leader Werner Kogler stood on stage with a Ukrainian flag at the partys Federal Congress on the second anniversary of the start of the war and gave a vicious pro-war speech. Numerous Greens, such as National Council member Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic, have long been vehemently in favour of arms deliveries to Ukraine. More and more Greens see the countrys official neutrality as an obstacle. Werner Kogler of the Greens [Photo by BMKOS / CC BY 2.5 The character of the OVP/Green government became clear in the spring of this year. On March 21, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (OVP) announced at a press conference that more deportations had been carried out in 2023 (12,900 people) than in any year since the creation of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum. With egregious cynicism, he declared 2023 to be the Year of Deportations. He explicitly praised the backbreaking work of the authorities carrying out the brutal deportations and announced a stepped-up clampdown for the current year. The Peoples Party and Greens also explicitly support the genocide in Gaza. Austria was one of the few countries to vote against the UN General Assembly resolution to improve the humanitarian situation and for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Ernst-Dziedzic, like all politicians and governments that defend the genocide, justified this on the grounds of Israels right to self-defence. Here, too, the government is in line with the FPO, a party founded by antisemites and in which Nazi positions are widely represented. Like many right-wing parties, it supports the Israeli government in its onslaught against the Palestinians. The SPO, which leads the government in several federal states, is no better than the parties of the federal government. Its election campaign is also dominated by the topic of internal security. Under the slogan More policemen on the street, it calls for the personnel and material strengthening of the security forces. In practice, the SPO has sufficiently demonstrated its agreement with the OVP and FPOs policies on immigrants and refugees. For decades, the SPO dominated Austrian politics and carried out increasingly violent attacks on social and democratic rights. The SPO supports both the war against Russia and the genocide in Gaza. The Social Democrats in the capital Vienna have expelled several younger members after they participated in a peaceful demonstration against the crimes of the Israeli government. The question of which party will head the government after September 29 remains open. It is up to Federal President Alexander van der Bellen to assign the responsibility of forming a government. Publicly, both the OVP and the SPO exclude cooperation with the FPO. But since 2000, the OVP has twice formed a coalition with the far right in the federal government. The SPO has also formed coalitions with the FPO at the state [provincial] level. The FPO currently governs in three federal statesin Salzburg together with the OVP, in Lower Austria together with the OVP and SPO and in Upper Austria with the OVP, SPO and Greens. No matter which government the parties agree on in the end, they will come into sharp conflict with the population. Social tensions have intensified extremely in recent years. In the country, which has less than 10 million inhabitants, 1.5 million people are considered at risk of poverty. Some 22 percent of children fall under this category. In the past, Vienna was considered a large city in which, due to a large supply of social housing and a relatively regulated housing market, even middle-income and low-income households could live well. But this has changed dramatically. In 2024 alone, rents in the capital rose by up to 11 percent. On Friday, the federal Labor government placed the construction division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) under administration and removed 270 union officials from their posts. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) with former Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke November 27, 2022 [Photo: Facebook/Anthony Albanese] The CFMEUs construction division and all of its branches across the country are now under the control of Mark Irving, a lawyer hand-picked by the Labor government to run the union on behalf of the capitalist state. For at least the next three years, Irving will hold the position of CFMEU dictator, empowered to dismiss union officials, employees and workplace delegates, determine when and under what circumstances elections can be held and oversee the unions day-to-day operations. Anyone removed from a union position through this process will be prohibited from running for office or being employed in any union, or serving as a bargaining representative, for five years, except with the express permission of the Fair Work Commission. This includes the 270 already discharged and any who voluntarily stepped down between July 1 and August 23. Among those sacked were New South Wales (NSW) secretary Darren Greenfield, Queensland secretary Michael Ravbar, and Derek Christopher, who had been expected to take over leadership of the Victorian branch after John Setkas sudden departure last month. National secretary Zach Smith, Western Australian secretary Mick Buchan and acting Australian Capital Territory secretary Michael Hiscox have retained their positions. The sudden action, less than 24 hours after new legislation to enable it was officially proclaimed, underscores that the Labor government views the crippling of the major industrial union as a matter of the utmost urgency. It has been just six weeks since the first Nine Media articles were published alleging the CFMEU leadership was rife with corruption and links to organised crime. Now, without any of these claims having been proven in court, 80,000 construction workers have been stripped of the right to have any say in the leadership of their union. The attack on the CFMEU is not about purging the union of rogue elements, as the establishment and most of the Australian union apparatus claim. Instead, the CFMEU bureaucracy has come under attack because it has failed to fully suppress the demands of a historically militant section of the workforce. While still far short of the rising cost of living, the 56 percent annual pay rises in recent CFMEU deals are unacceptably high for the ruling elite. This is a frontal assault against not just construction workers but the entire working class. While the legislation passed last week only applies to the CFMEUs construction division, there is no reason for workers to believe that it will not be broadened to include any or all unions. A clear precedent has been established: If the law does not provide the mechanisms necessary to crack down on a section of workers, it will simply be changed. This was done with the support of virtually the entire political establishment. The Liberal-National opposition demanded several amendments to make the legislation harsher, to which Labor quickly agreed. The Greens waited until the bills passage was a forgone conclusion before issuing token criticism. They stated: Labor and Liberal have ensured [shadow workplace relations minister] Michaelia Cash will be able to appoint a new administrator of the CFMEU if there is a change of government. The Greens have no opposition to workers rights being subordinated to state control as long as a Labor government installs the leader. The passage of the legislation has been celebrated in the financial press, making clear that the target of this operation is working-class wages and conditions. Earlier commentary claimed that placing the union in administration was too limited and that the CFMEU should be deregistered entirely. But now, the importance of the move is being more openly expressed. On Friday, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) quoted an unnamed building industry leader as saying that the administration was an extraordinary juncture in the industrial relations landscape of the building industry. Another construction industry figure cited anonymously by the AFR said, I think this is the most significant thing Ive seen in my 40 years in the industry. I saw the [Builders Labourers Federation] deregistered in 1986but that pales to nothing in comparison to the impact of this. Those comments underscore the magnitude of the attack that is underway. The deregistration of the BLF by the Hawke/Keating Labor administration, working in tandem with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), was a spearhead of the Accords between government, business and the union leadership that deregulated the economy and involved a massive offensive against the working class. The deregistration cleared the way for the sacking of thousands of builders labourers and the smashing up of rank-and-file organisations on building sites that had led the fight for wages and conditions. The BLF leadership capitulated to the attack by the government without lifting a finger, while workers paid the price through deepening exploitation. Indicating similar motives behind the current attack, the AFR reported this week that at least six builders including two big companies whose workers are covered by the CFMEU are planning to remove so-called veto clauses from their enterprise agreements. These measures allow the union to keep contractors with lower wages and conditions off major projects. The major builders are seeking to destroy the clauses in order to drive down their overall labour costs by engaging cheaper contractors, effectively undermining the wages and conditions contained in existing CFMEU agreements. To modify existing agreements, employers will have to put the proposed changes to a vote by workers. But, as the AFR explained, companies are more confident about pushing ahead with the changes once the CFMEU is in administration. This is because any opposition from workers in the union, from strikes and industrial action to posters and text messages calling for a no vote, will ultimately be subject to the approval of the state. With the construction union neutered, minor changes to one or two clauses in enterprise agreements will only be the beginning of a major onslaught on jobs, wages and conditions in the building industry. Construction workers can draw no confidence from the administrators comment Friday that The administration will be a union conducted independently of government and regulatory control, except to the extent required by law, and will act lawfully to pursue the purposes of the union and serve its members. Irving has been appointed to the more than $600,000 a year position to impose the demands of the corporate and financial elite. He will be answerable only to the government and shielded from any legal action arising from his actions as administrator. Already, signs have emerged suggesting Irvings claim, the union will continue to operate as normal is a complete fraud. Advertisements for rallies opposing the administration were taken down from the CFMEUs NSW and Victoria Facebook pages within hours of being posted. The rallies, to be held around the country tomorrow morning, themselves express the bankruptcy of the ousted CFMEU leadership and that of the Electrical Trades Union, Maritime Union of Australia (a division of the CFMEU), and other unions promoting the demonstrations against administration. Not a single action was called by the CFMEU, or any other union, to fight this unprecedented bipartisan attack on the democratic rights of the working class until the deal was done. Moreover, when a group of CFMEU members called a protest to be held outside the ACTU offices on August 5, the same unions now promoting the rallies tomorrow demanded that it be cancelled. Now, the protests have been called to provide a safe channel for workers to express their anger and opposition, within the framework of an organisation they no longer have even a semblance of control over. The reality is that the leaders of the construction union have never actually opposed the administration process, only that it has been taken out of their hands. From the outset, they have engaged in backroom negotiations, including Smiths immediate proposal to place the Victorian branch under administration. Appearing on Channel 7 last night, Setka alleged that his sudden resignation as secretary of the Victorian branch, before the first article alleging malfeasance was even published, was the result of one such backroom deal. Setka claimed that then Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, and I assume [ACTU secretary] Sally McManus, struck an agreement with Smith that the CFMEU would be left alone if Setka resigned, but subsequently reneged on the deal. While unconfirmed, Setkas allegation is plausible. It would certainly help explain why Smith, who was elected last year to the Labor Partys national executive, is one of just three CFMEU leaders to have retained his position. McManus and the ACTU have publicly backed the attack on the construction union to the hilt and were integral, along with building industry interest groups, to the drafting of the anti-CFMEU legislation. The refusal of the unions to mobilise workers against the administration of the CFMEU is entirely in keeping with their role as an industrial police force, suppressing the struggle of workers against management attacks on their jobs, wages and conditions. The union apparatus has supported, enforced and relied upon the Fair Work Act and its draconian anti-strike provisions since they were introduced by the Rudd Labor government in 2008, and these latest amendments will not change that. The attack on the CFMEU is an attack on the jobs, wages and conditions of the entire working class and must be fought. But this is impossible within the framework of any of the trade unions, which are tied by a thousand threads to the Labor government and the financial and corporate elite. This means workers need to take matters into their own hands. Rank-and-file committees, democratically run by workers and independent of any union, must be built to fight the dictates of the administrator. Construction workers cannot wage this fight alone. What is required is a joint industrial and political struggle against the assault on the working class and the subordination of society to the demands of big business. Palestinians gather near the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, July 16, 2024 [AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana] As millions of students are re-entering their classrooms in schools and on college campuses across the United States, a blunt warning must be issued: The threat of world war and fascism is greater today than at any point since the 1930s. In the Middle East, the genocide in Gaza is intensifying, as Israel and the US continue to provoke a broader war with Iran. In Europe, the proxy war by US and European imperialism against Russia in Ukraine has cost the lives of an estimated half a million Ukrainians and tens of thousands of Russians. The recent invasion of Russian territory by NATO-armed Ukrainian troops raises more directly than ever the prospect of a direct clash between NATO and Russia, which threatens a nuclear war. In the US 2024 presidential elections, the fascistic coup-plotter Donald Trump is pitted against Joe Bidens vice president Kamala Harris, who has been deeply implicated in the genocide, the war in Ukraine and the war preparations against China. Meanwhile, the ruling class has engaged in a war on public health, allowing the COVID-19 pandemicnow in its 9th waveto rip through the population, while new viruses like Mpox are spreading. These political shocks have already begun to radicalize a new generation of youth and workers. Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, millions of people around the world and hundreds of thousands in the US have demonstrated against this historic crime. Campuses have been a center of protests since the genocide began. Terrified that this movement could spread beyond the universities, both the Democrats and Republicans have responded with a campaign aimed at eliminating free speech on campuses and completely subordinating academia to the interests of US imperialism. Based on the slanderous lie that opposition to war and genocide is antisemitism, they have initiated the most far-reaching attack on free speech since the McCarthy period. Several university presidents were forced to resign, and, for the first time since 1968, riot police were called upon by university administrations to violently suppress student protests. As the new semester begins, the ruling class has escalated this campaign. Encampments are now banned at the University of California, the California State University system, Rutgers University and Columbia University. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has imposed particularly far-reaching restrictions on free speech, effectively abolishing the right to due process and fair hearings with faculty oversight, while severely curtailing freedom of speech and expression. New York University has effectively banned any criticism of Zionism. The coming semester is set to see renewed and potentially even larger protests. But this raises the critical question: What way forward? The protests of the past 10 months have failed to bring about either an end to the genocide or the attack on democratic rights. This is because, so far, they have been dominated by middle class forces like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which functions as a left faction of the Democratic Party, and the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL). While appealing to the anti-imperialist sentiments of youth with radical rhetoric, they have advanced a perspective that threatens to derail and demoralize the protests. First, they have limited the protests to attempts to pressure the Democratic Party, the principal enabler of the genocide, and university administrations, which are tied by a thousand threads to Wall Street and the war machine. Second, they have attempted to separate the genocide in Gaza from the war in Ukraine and the history of decades of wars by US imperialism. This has served to undermine any understanding that the root cause of the Gaza genocide lies not in the choice of individual governments or politicians, but in the objective crisis of world capitalism and the emergence of an imperialist redivision of the world. Third, they have sought to preempt students and youth from directing their protests, not toward the ruling class but toward the principal revolutionary force in society that can stop the genocide: the international working class. The tasks and the dangers facing young people and workers are immense. The genocide in Gaza is part of a far broader normalization of mass death by the ruling class, which began with the pandemic and the normalization of a potential nuclear war against Russia. In the US, as in many other countries, the threat of fascism is very real. Trump is threatening mass deportations of immigrants and the arrest of political opponents, emulating the rhetoric of fascist regimes. Democratic rights, however, cannot be defended by supporting the Democratic Party. Harris is running to intensify the policies of global war of the Biden administration. In the attack on democratic rights at home, the Democrats have forged an alliance with the fascist Republicans who sought to overthrow the constitution on January 6, 2021. The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), the student and youth organization of the International Committee of the Fourth International, therefore calls upon youth and students to take up the fight to build a socialist, anti-war movement that is rooted in an entirely different social and political force: the working class. We propose the following principles as the basis of this fight: The struggle against war must be based on the working class, the great revolutionary force in society. The union bureaucracies and the Democratic Party have worked feverishly to preempt any independent expression of working class interests and struggle. But a rebellion against the stranglehold of the union bureaucracies and the decades-long attacks on living standards is brewing among autoworkers, teachers, nurses and other sections of the working class in the US and internationally. This growing movement by the working class must be linked directly to the fight against war. The ruling class cannot wage war abroad without waging a war on the democratic and social rights of the working class at home. This is why opposition to war is being criminalized everywhere. In Ukraine, Trotskyist youth leader Bogdan Syrotiuk was arrested because he fought to unify workers in Russia and Ukraine against the war. This underscores that the fight against war is inseparable from the fight to defend the social and democratic rights of the working class. The fight against war is a fight against capitalism and for socialism. There can be no serious struggle against war and the attack on democratic rights without a struggle to put an end to the dictatorship of finance capital and the economic system that is the fundamental cause of militarism and war. This struggle must therefore be conducted in complete independence from all bourgeois parties. In the US, this includes, above all, the Democratic Party, which has been the chief instigator of imperialist violence around the globe for decades. The fight against war and the threat of fascism can only succeed as an international struggle. As the International Committee stated in 2016, The permanent war of the bourgeoisie must be answered with the perspective of permanent revolution by the working class, the strategic goal of which is the abolition of the nation-state system and the establishment of a world socialist federation. This will make possible the rational, planned development of global resources and, on this basis, the eradication of poverty and the raising of human culture to new heights. Youth and students cannot wage such a struggle without taking up a serious study of history and Trotskyism, the Marxism of the 21st century. In the coming weeks and months, the IYSSE will be organizing public meetings on the fight against war and fascism, the 2024 elections, and the perspective of Trotskyism on campuses throughout the country. We call upon all students and high school youth to attend these meetings. Contact us today to build a club of the IYSSE at your college or high school! Turn to a serious study of the history of the Trotskyist movement! Take up the fight for Marxist politics among workers and youth! After eight years in office, during which the already shocking social conditions have deteriorated seriously, the Labor Party government in Australias geo-strategically crucial Northern Territory (NT) suffered a sweeping defeat in Saturdays territory election. The right-wing Country Liberal Party (CLP) will hold as many as 16 of the 25 seats in the NT legislative assembly. Labors vote crashed from 39 percent to around 30 percent, allowing the CLP to pick up 48 percent, with the rest going to the Greens and local independents. Deserted Labor Party campaign booth in Drysdale, Northern Territory, on election day August 24, 2024 [Photo: Facebook/lawler4drysdale] Depending on the final vote counts, Labor will be reduced to a rump of just four or five seats, most likely losing all but one of the urban seats it previously held in the capital, Darwin and nearby Palmerston. Labors Chief Minister Eva Lawler was thrashed in her own electorate, suffering a 20 percent loss of votes. Only eight years ago, the widely reviled CLP had been reduced to two seats. Lawler had been installed as chief minister last December in a last-ditch effort to prevent a landslide defeat. Her predecessor, Natasha Fyles, abruptly resigned, becoming the fourth Australian state or territory Labor Party leader to do so within six months. Fyles also had been in office for just 19 months since the sudden departure of her predecessor, Michael Gunner, in May 2022. However, none of the leadership switches altered Labors right-wing course. Although the NT is Australias smallest jurisdiction in populationabout a quarter of a million peoplethe collapse in Labors vote is not a local aberration. It is in line with national polls, which indicate the likelihood of a minority government after the federal election due by May, to be headed either by Labor or the Liberal-National Coalition, which includes the CLP. Moreover, the result has a particular significance because the NT covers vast areas of northern and central Australia, where the Albanese Labor government is ramping up the US military presence without any popular mandate. It is transforming the territory into a base of operations for a potentially catastrophic US-led nuclear war against China. The landslide defeat is a measure of the discontent with Labors pro-business record in the NT and nationally, compounded by the worsening working-class cost-of-living crisis and the deplorable conditions in the public schools, hospitals and housing, significantly affecting the indigenous people who make nearly a third of the NTs population. Contrary to the media coverage claiming that the CLP has won a remarkable victory, the results do not express mass support for it. In fact, almost as many people did not vote at all as voted for the CLP. Despite voting being compulsory, voter turnout fell from 75 percent at the last NT election in 2020 to 57.6 percent, the lowest on record. That is, 42.4 percent of the enrolled voters did not cast a ballot. This reflects the deepening disaffection and disconnect among indigenous people, and workers and youth more generally, with the corporate-dominated political system as a whole. In some remote areas, the participation rate fell to around a third. In many of these areas, the Labor government continued to deprive Indigenous communities of even basic services such as clean water and sanitation, let alone adequate schools, health care and housing, Throughout the election campaign, Labor joined hands with the CLP to turn it into a foul contest as to which could be the harshest on a law and order agenda of further boosting repressive measures. Both vowed to spend millions of dollars to build new prisons in Darwin and Alice Springs and sharply increase police numbers in the NT, which already has the highest incarceration and per-capita police rates in Australia. Backed by the corporate media, both parties thus sought to bury the real issues that confront the population across the countrythe worsening living conditions, deepening social inequality and the Albanese governments further militarisation of the continent, in line with its support for the US-supplied Israeli genocide in Gaza, the US-NATO war against Russia and the preparations for war against China. The CLPs incoming Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro vowed to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 during the first week of the new parliament, as well as introduce youth boot camps, laws to bar most bail applications and impose further arrest powers for police. She also declared she would bring back truancy officers to punish students and parents for non-school attendance. Labor responded by matching many of the proposals. Lawler, for example, pledged to expand residential youth justice facilities, where detainees would be held for three to six months. Labor has been in office in the NT for 19 of the past 23 years. Its record includes: Public hospitals remained understaffed and underfunded, resulting in numerous crises and failures. Because of widespread poverty, hospitals are overwhelmed with diabetes admissions, with some patients, including younger and younger Indigenous people, requiring amputations. In public schools, Labor maintained a punitive attendance-based funding model. Some school buildings lack power and water, and 78 remote indigenous communities have no access to local secondary education, resulting in high dropout rates, social problems and substantial rates of criminal convictions. Across the territory, homelessness affects 16.5 percent of people under 18. A High Court case brought by 70 tenants from Ltyentye Apurte/Santa Teresa, approximately 85 kilometres from Alice Springs in central Australia, showed that the NT housing department had refused to rectify critical, even potentially life-threatening faults in indigenous social housing, such as the lack of a back door, no air conditioning, water leaks, broken toilets, and insect infestation. Aboriginal prisoners account for 84 percent of adult prisoners and 96 percent of youth detainees. Most of the supposed government Indigenous expenditure in the NT has gone to running prisons holding Indigenous inmates. Last year, Albanese personally joined the NT Labor government in responding to a media witch hunt about youth crime by reimposing alcohol and other restrictions on indigenous communities, as well as two curfews in Alice Springs. In effect, Labor reinstituted police-state measures imposed during the socially disastrous 2007 police-military intervention into the NT by the federal Howard Coalition government. This record further exposes the claims of the Albanese government that last years failed October 14 referendum on inserting an Indigenous Voice assembly into the Australian Constitution would have meant better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Far from a uniform swing to the CLP, Labor also lost votes in Darwin suburbs for its youth crime offensive and its pursuit of fracking and other gas projects, with one seat possibly going to an independent and another to the Greens. Last year, backed by the CLP, Labor gave the go-ahead for gas fracking exploration by Tamboran Resources and other companies for a possible 6,000 wells in the Beetaloo Basin in the NTs interior, between Katherine and Tennant Creek. That decision overrode strenuous objections by scientists, indigenous leaders, environmental groups and cattle industry pastoralists. With the CLPs total support and $3.5 billion in federal funding by the Albanese government, Labor also vehemently pushed ahead with plans to clear away a mangrove-clad peninsula to build a huge new port facility on Darwin Harbours Middle Arm, partly to export Beetaloo gas. What was not mentioned in the election campaign was that this project, first initiated by the previous Morrison Coalition federal government, is tied to US plans to make Darwin a central base for war, reprising its role against Japan during World War II. In March 2022, the then-Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who is now the Coalition leader, said the Middle Arm project could support military development. That followed the US military's announcement that it would construct a $270 million, 300 million litre, above-ground jet fuel storage facility at Darwins East Arm. Darwin has become a frequently visited port for US warships transiting through the Pacific or across the Indian Ocean and hosting visits from the Seventh Fleet based in Japan. Since a deal struck by the Gillard Labor government with the Obama administration in 2011, the US has also maintained a rotational deployment of US marines in Darwin, with numbers now reaching up to 2,500. The transformation of Darwin and the NT into a US war platform was highlighted last week when Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, said Darwin was the central base of operations in the Indo-Pacific to counter the threat from China. For geographic and strategic reasons, about 30 bases in Australia are increasingly pivotal to American global military and intelligence operations designed to encircle and confront China. They include seven airfield, port or troop facilities and training grounds in or near Darwin, the Tindal air base 300 kilometres away at Katherine and the Pine Gap satellite surveillance facility, near Alice Springs, which covers the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East. No one voted for any of this last Saturday. In an attempt to corral left-leaning workers and youth outraged over unending war and widening inequality into supporting the right-wing campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in the last week the Democratic Party has repeatedly deployed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to provide a left fig leaf for the ticket. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont speaking during the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, August 20, 2024, in Chicago. [AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite] Playing a similar function as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the nominally independent, and sometimes democratic socialist senator from Vermont, is attempting to block the emergence of a genuinely independent socialist movement in the working class against both political parties by using what little progressive credibility he still retains to hoodwink his dwindling pool of supporters into supporting the Harris-Walz campaign. This is becoming an increasingly difficult prospect as Harris has long since shed all the left and progressive positions she briefly touted while running for president in 2019. As Harris reiterates her devotion to the military aggression of American imperialism and her support for capitalism, she continues to pile up campaign cash, garnering over half a billion dollars in the last month. Seeking to paper over this reality, in an extended interview Sunday with Jonathan Karl on ABCs This Week, Sanders touted all the alleged achievements of the Biden-Harris administration, while deflecting from the genocide in Gaza, and Harris backtracking of all her 2020 policy proposals. Karl started the interview noting that in Harris convention speech she declared that the US military needed to be the most lethal in the world and talked tough on Iran and China. Karl noted that Harris did not support an arms embargo to Israel and instead pledged to give the Zionist state everything it needs to wage war, i.e., continue the genocide in Gaza and extend the slaughter elsewhere. Asked to comment, Sanders said he agreed with the vice president, we want the strongest defense in the world. Asked by Karl if he saw any daylight between Biden and Harris on the genocide in Gaza, Sanders replied: Well, I hope so. He added that, in all fairness to the vice president, you know, shes been the candidate for all of one month So, they are still working through their policies. Sanders disdain for viewers and his supporters is palpable. To claim that Harris is too busy to have articulated a policy on the genocide in Gaza is an obvious lie. The reality is, the Harris war policy will be the same, if not even more aggressive, than Bidens. This is the reason why not a single Palestinian was allowed to speak at the Democratic National Convention, while dozens of Republicans, former military-intelligence officials and corporate CEOs were given ample opportunity to tout their support for Israel/Harris. Neither Sanders nor Karl deigned to raise the war against Russia and the continued incursion by Ukraine in Kursk, which threatens all of humanity with a nuclear catastrophe. After papering over Harriss pledges to wage global war, on the domestic front Karl noted that Harris had touted her law and order credentials and promised to sign the anti-immigrant border bill that greatly expands the border police and wall. It also provides no pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, over 2 million immigrants brought into the United States as children. When Harris ran for the Democratic nomination against you and others in 2020, she said she favored decriminalizing illegal border crossings, Karl observed. She even suggested she would be in favor of abolishing ICE. Asked to comment on Harriss transformation, Sanders metaphorically put on his red MAGA hat. We have a crisis at the border, he replied. Weve got to make sure that fentanyl does not get into this country. We have to crack down on illegal immigration. Sanders role as a key agent of the Democratic Party was on display at the convention in Chicago last week. In his remarks, Sanders touted the fantasy that the Biden-Harris administration has been a boon for workers, while papering over his and the administrations role in blocking railroad workers from striking in 2022, which led directly to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio two months later. In an interview with Politico prior to giving his speech, Sanders claimed that Biden was the most progressive president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Then in his speech, Sanders, like virtually every Democrat, thanked Biden and claimed that in the last 3 1/2 years working together we have accomplished more than any government since FDR. Using the same lines from his 2016 campaign, Sanders called for getting big money out of our political process. In his quick reference to the Gaza genocide, Sanders declared, We must summon the courage to stand up to wealth and power and deliver justice for people at home and abroad, which included ending this horrific war in Gaza. Sanders did not call for a permanent ceasefire, only that the hostages be brought home and an immediate ceasefirewhich Israel, with the support of the US government, will break whenever it pleasesbe implemented. More important than Sanders stale and hollow political rhetoric is the context it was given in, which exposes all of Sanders rhetoric as completely phony. Sanders spoke after New York Senator Chuck Schumer, commonly known as the Senator from Wall Street due to his subservience and connections to the financial oligarchy. In his remarks, Schumer called for a vote for Harris because she will deliver on building an opportunity economy. After Sanders mildly critiqued the ultra-wealthy, Illinois Democratic Governor and billionaire hotel-chain heir, J.B. Pritzker took the stage to boast of his immense, unearned wealth. Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich, said Pritzker, But take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing, stupidity. Pritzkers billionaire brag received a larger applause than anything Sanders said at the convention. After Pritzker spoke, multi-millionaire Kenneth Chenault, the former chair and CEO of American Express and current managing director of Catalyst Venture, took the stage to tout American capitalism and Harriss record in defense of it. Chenault claimed Harris understood, its possible, in fact necessary, for a president to be both pro-business and pro-worker. She knows that a market-based economy needs a strong and effective government, he added, noting that Kamala Harris understands that we need to help entrepreneurs turn good ideas into thriving companies. Chenault has an estimated net worth of $200 million, due in large part to his obscene compensation packages as CEO. In 2007, Chenault was paid over $50 million, while in 2008 he collected a nearly $25 million bonus, bringing his yearly compensation that year alone to $42,752,461. In addition to being a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, Chenault sits on several major corporate boards, including Bilt Rewards, a rental payment processor, Airbnb, Berkshire Hathaway and the Harvard Corporation. He was also a member of former President Barack Obamas Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and granted emergency use authorization Thursday for updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax. The action came on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, one of innumerable superspreader events being held with the full support of the Biden-Harris administration and public health officials, who have abandoned any serious effort against the pandemic. The DNC nominated Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential candidate, after a four-day celebration in which the COVID pandemic was portrayed as something in the rear-view mirror, an accomplishment for President Biden to boast about when it was even mentioned (rarely). The truth is, however, that Biden is already responsible for far more COVID deaths than his predecessor. At a 2020 debate, Biden correctly said that the 200,000 deaths of Americans that had already occurred should disqualify President Trump from remaining in the White House. By the time Biden departs the White House next January, the death toll during his four-year term could well be more than one million people. The last thing any Democratic Party politician wanted to do was to stand before the convention and a national television audience and talk about the daily toll from the pandemic, now estimated to be 1.3 million new cases per day, with nearly 100 deaths. And this before the return of students to the classrooms and college campuses. According to modeling estimates by Dr. Mike Hoerger on national SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations, there have been 179 million COVID infections in the US just in 2024. He noted, Keep in mind, November and December will be particularly bad, and now through October is still bad too. By comparison, in all of 2023, 248 million Americans were infected, or roughly three-quarters of the population. At the current rate, 2024 could surpass that. In all, he estimated that there have been more than 1.1 billion infections, just in the United States, since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths have been climbing since the lows in May 2024. Deaths are up to 690 per week as of the end of July, up nearly 20 percent from the same point the previous year. Presently, 26,000 people have died from COVID in 2024 thus far. At this rate between 50,000 and 60,000 deaths acute deaths can be expected not accounting for excess deaths or those caused by health complications as result of infection or reinfection. Why werent public health efforts advanced when the summer surge indicated not everything was well? Why werent the vaccines made available then? Simply put, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA were told not to rock the boat which the Biden administration devoted its efforts to promoting war and nationalism, ending the social spending triggered by the COVID emergency and funneling these funds into military aid to Ukraine, support for Israel in Gaza, and a further build-up against China in the Indo-Pacific. Although the FDA had advised manufacturers in June that they should use the JN.1 strain for their latest formulation, rapid viral evolution spawned the KP.2, KP.3, and KP.3.1 strains that are now dominant in the US, compelling the agency to request Pfizer and Moderna to utilize the KP.2 strain, if feasible. Even this version of the vaccine is trying to catch the tail of a fast-moving target. The KP.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2 now accounts for less than three percent of all currently sequenced viral genomes. Even the New York Times, the semi-official publicist for the forever COVID policy, offered the following accurate assessment of the state of the ongoing pandemic: For the frailest Americans, who have been dying of COVID in growing numbers this summer, the shots could offer a reprieve from a virus that disproportionately endangers those whose vaccinations are out of date. But the approval is occurring months after wily new variants began driving up infections, a matter of consternation for some scientists who have urged faster turnabouts for updated shots. In the FDA statement informing of the EUA approval, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, wrote: Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention. These updated vaccines meet the agencys rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality. Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants. Despite the limitations, the uptake of the vaccines is vital for the health of the population. The shots have a strong, proven safety record and do prevent severe disease and potentially reduce the risk of Long COVID, as studies have indicated. However, they do not prevent infections and the immunity they offer is short lived given the the constant mutation of the virus. Therefore, the FDA assertion that vaccinations are a cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention is false and foments public mistrust. The only real preventive measure is a systematic public health mobilization to eliminate the virus. Stopping SARS-CoV-2 from continually spreading through the population remains feasible and is the only scientific solution to the growing public health crisis posed by Long COVID, which has become the most common ailment across the globe. A recent study by Long COVID expert Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly estimated that by the end of 2023, there were at least 410 million people with Long COVID. The study put the global economic cost of the condition at about $1 trillion annually. The boosters from Pfizer and Moderna are expected to be available at pharmacies by the first week of September for those six months of age and older. Novavax, which uses the viruss spike protein instead of the mRNA, as a target for the immune system, expects its updated version to be available later. Children ages 5 to 11 wait in line with their parents to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic set up at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, Calif., Nov. 9, 2021. [AP Photo/Jae C. Hong] However, with the Federal Bridge Access Program set to end on August 31, 2024, the 26 million uninsured and tens of million more with inadequate coverage, an estimated 43 percent of adults age 19 to 64, will have to weigh the decision to obtain a vaccine that costs between $120 to $130 per dose. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis from February 2024, estimated that people in the US owe at least $220 billion in medical debt;14 million owe over $1,000 and about three million owe more than $10,000. Given the abysmal rates of vaccination last year, the end of the program will only mean that the current campaign to get people vaccinated will have little success. The year-to-year trend is unmistakeable. On October 22, 2022, six weeks after the first bivalent COVID boosters were introduced, more than 18 million people received the vaccines. By mid-October 2023, six weeks after the second iteration of the COVID boosters was introduced, only seven million Americans had taken the vaccines. By the four-month mark, or mid-January 2024, at the height of the winter wave, only 20 percent of the population had received a booster. As a Minneapolis physician, Dr. Zeke McKinney recently observed, We dont have the community push or diffusion of vaccines the way we once did. Its mostly up to everyone on their own to figure it out. In its report on the FDA approval and the roll-out of the COVID boosters, the Times wrote, the prospects of any meaningful impact remains dim... The availability of boosters has not translated into actual vaccinations. By spring, only one in five adults had received last years updated Covid vaccine. Even older Americans, who are at far greater risk of being severely sickened, largely spurned the shots, with only 40 percent of people 75 and older taking last years vaccine. Nursing homes and long-term care facilities have seen a significant delay and decline in their vaccination status. According to the CDCs dashboard, as of the end of July, only 31 percent of nursing home residents are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. Contrary to the suggestion of the Times, the blame for the poor uptake of vaccine boosters cannot be placed on the elderly, and still less on nursing home residents. The main reason is the lack of resources to make vaccines available, and the desire of the corporate elite to look on the bright side of the pandemic. Mass death among the elderly, the infirm, and the immuno-compromised is viewed as a positive good by the financial aristocracy, which begrudges every penny spent to keep people alive who no longer produce profits for the capitalist class. This homicidal logic is increasingly embraced by the capitalist politicians of both parties. At an online livestreamed event on X/Twitter August 16, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein announced that her running mate will be Rudolph Butch Ware III, an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Shortly after the announcement, the Green Party officially nominated both Jill Stein and Butch Ware as its candidates in the 2024 US presidential election. The nomination of Stein and Ware, a professor of African History, African-American History, and Islamic Intellectual History and a practicing Muslim, has been hailed as historic by layers of the upper middle class and pseudo left immersed in identity politics. A typical response from a Green Party supporter was, Im voting for the only presidential ticket that includes a Jew and a Muslim who will stop funding genocide. Following the livestream announcement, Stein wrote on X/Twitter, This is truly a historic ticket bringing together a Jewish woman and Black Muslim man against genocide, endless war, climate collapse, and rampant injustice, and for an economy that works for working people, a livable future for our children, and an America and a world that works for all of us. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks during a rally at Union Park during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in Chicago. [AP Photo/Alex Brandon] The upper-middle-class left employs skin color and other aspects of personal identity to disguise the real issues of political program emerging from their class position. Parties and candidates must be judged on the basis of the class interests they represent, as demonstrated by their political program and history. Recent American history, in Democratic Party administrations in particular, have been full of such examples: the first black president, who ordered drone missile assassinations, including of American citizens; the first woman presidential candidate of a major party, who bayed for war with nuclear-armed Russia; and now the first African-American and Asian-American woman to be nominated by a major party, a firm supporter of Israeli genocide in Gaza and the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, which risks the destruction of the planet. And that is to say nothing of the African American, female or gay corporate CEOs, mayors, governors, police chiefs and other wielders of authority and power on behalf of the capitalist billionaires, who are just as deadly enemies of the working class as their white, male or straight counterparts. Professor Ware is described loosely as an activist, an epithet employed by a range of middle-class pseudo-left and progressive political figures, generally aligned with the Democratic Party. He has no history of significant involvement in any social struggles. In listing Wares qualifications, Jill Stein wrote on X, His personal experience overcoming systemic injustice, his deep knowledge of history and peoples movements, and his commitment to building a sustainable, just, peaceful world make Butch the ideal candidate. What is clear is that Ware has spent the last several decades deeply immersed in the world of academia at several elite American universities, long the ideological center of anti-Marxist postmodernism and irrationalism. Ware earned his Ph.D. in history in 2004 from the University of Pennsylvania, and taught at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan before his current position at UC Santa Barbara. According to his online UCSB profile, Wares research and teaching focuses on Islamic thought, anti-slavery movements in West Africa and the African Diaspora, and the broader intersection of Race, Religion, and Revolutionary Thought. Typical of this social layer, Ware rejects a class-based analysis of social and political development. In a video posted recently on social media, he states, [Democratic Party politicians] are not your friends. And if you are an independent, proud black voice that even attempts to speak up for liberation they will humiliate you and make sure that you are cast out of the corridors of power. And if you dont believe me, ask Jamaal Bowman and ask Cori Bush. Butch Ware [Photo: Butch Ware/Jill Stein] Bowman and Bush, members of the pseudo-left Squad in the House of Representatives and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), were both defeated in primary elections by established Democratic Party opponents who were heavily funded by the Zionist American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Far from being independent voices of social justice and peace, Bowman and Bush, despite voicing milquetoast criticism of the ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, are loyal Democratic Party politicians who have supported the partys central priorities of escalating imperialist war abroad and attacks on the living standards of the working class domestically. In an X/Twitter post from August 19, Ware further demonstrates his postmodern, subjective, irrational approach to politics and social development. He wrote, Donald Trump has been scared of men like me every day of his life. Misogynistic Racial Supremacism always flows from a deep wellspring of insecurity and inadequacy in the recesses of the psyche. Someone please be so kind as to sound those out for him, and then explain them. According to Ware, the threat of fascist dictatorship is to be understood as a result of the racist psyche of insecure white men, not as a symptom of the deepening crisis of the prevailing social-economic system, of capitalism. As the Socialist Equality Party in the United States wrote in its main resolution adopted by the Eighth Congress of the SEP (US), The fundamental objective causes of the turn of the ruling class toward fascism and dictatorship are: 1) the escalating global imperialist war; and 2) the extreme growth of social inequality. The working class faces a growing threat of an all-out nuclear third world war provoked by US imperialism and its allies, unending mass death and infection from Covid-19 and the threat of new pandemics, environmental degradation, unprecedented social inequality, mass layoffs, ruthless exploitation and the turn by the ruling class to authoritarian forms of rule. The Stein-Ware ticket and the Green Party are attempting to keep opposition among workers and youth contained within the framework of bourgeois politics, and block the emergence of a genuinely independent movement of the working class against the profit system. The Stein-Ware campaign platform accepts the permanence of the capitalism, seeking to sow illusions in the possibility of reforming this decaying socio-economic system. The words working class, capitalist class, capitalism, imperialism, revolution, socialism, are nowhere to be found in the platform. Instead, entire sections are dedicated to the maintenance of national borders and identity-based issues, particularly upper-middle-class demands for racial reparations, which is aimed at enriching a small privileged section of the population and dividing the working class. The Green Party is a nationalist, pro-capitalist party. In class terms, it is a party of the upper-middle class hostile to the working class and the development of an independent socialist movement against the capitalist profit system. It has for decades operated as a pressure group oriented toward the Democratic Party. During elections, the Greens have consistently corralled votes for Democratic candidates, arguing that their presence pressures Democrats to take more progressive political positions. This is evident today in Steins appeals to the Biden administration at one antiwar protest after another to reverse its support of the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, and the Green Partys support for the subordination of the working class to the corporatist trade union bureaucracy: the labor police force of wealthy bureaucrats employed by the ruling class to discipline workers under conditions of escalating imperialist war abroad. Workers and young people must have no illusions in the Green Party and draw the critical political lessons from the experience of the working class internationally. Wherever the Greens have come to power, they have quickly abandoned their principles and worked hand-in-hand with the various bourgeois parties to defend the interests of the corporate and financial oligarchy. In 2020, the Austrian Greens entered into a coalition government with the right-wing Austrian Peoples Party, adopting the polices of the far-right Freedom Party, including attacks on immigrants. In New Zealand, Australia and numerous other countries, the Greens have backed the homicidal pandemic policy of profits over lives. The experience of the Greens in Germany serves as the worst expression of the outcome of the nationalist, pro-capitalist politics of the Green Party. From 1998 to 2005, the Green Party, in power for the first time, oversaw the first German combat mission since the Second World War, in the NATO war in Serbia, while assisting the Socialist Democrats in carrying out the most sweeping attack on welfare programs in Germany in the post-war period. For nearly 30 years, the Greens have been competing for the title of most pro-war party in Germany, supporting the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, the war against Russia in Ukraine and the Gaza genocide, all while scapegoating immigrants and refugees fleeing these wars and supporting the governments austerity policies. Critical lessons must be drawn from these experiences. Were Stein and Ware or any other Green Party politicians to come to power in the US, despite their pacifist and leftist phraseology, their nationalist and pro-capitalist outlook would compel them to defend the interests of American imperialism. Workers and youth interested in ending the genocide in Gaza and broader threat of a nuclear third world war, stamping out the threat of fascism, defending basic democratic rights and reversing the destruction of the environmentwhich threatens the very existence of humanity through evermore devastating pandemics and rising temperaturesmust be armed with a revolutionary socialist, a Trotskyist, political perspective that is aimed at uniting the international working class in a mass movement against the source of social inequality, genocide, war, climate crisis and fascism: the capitalist system. Striking Dakkota Integrated Systems workers in Chicago, August 2024 On Sunday, Dakkota Integrated Systems auto parts workers in Chicago voted down a fourth attempt by the United Auto Workers bureaucracy to ram through a sellout contract, defying threats from union officials of a lockout and the loss of their jobs. The contract was rejected by 54 percent in a snap re-vote on the deal, called by the UAW immediately after workers rejected a third contract on Friday. The defeat of four UAW-endorsed tentative agreements by autoworkers is unprecedented in recent memory. Dakkota workers marched into an explosive meeting Sunday determined to stand their ground. Workers chanted, Hell no! We vote No! ahead of the meeting, taking with them a recent statement of the Dakkota Workers Rank-and-File Committee calling for a No vote and rejecting the UAW-corporate blackmail. The courageous rebellion by the 450 Dakkota workers on Chicagos Far South Side, who have been striking for nearly a month against poverty wages, urgently requires the active support of autoworkers and rank-and-file UAW members everywhere. Workers at Ford, Stellantis, General Motors, along with other parts makers such as Lear and Flex-N-Gate, have a class duty to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters at Dakkota. This includes, in particular, workers at the Ford Chicago Assembly plant, which Dakkota is currently supplying with scab-made parts. Workers are fighting against horrible conditions, which the UAW is jointly imposing with management. The agreements proposed by the company and the UAW have all contained poverty wages, the latest with starting wages of just $16.80 an hour and top wages of $22, rising slightly to $18 and $26.50 by 2027. In forcing workers to vote again and again on the same contract, the UAW bureaucracy is drawing from a well-worn playbook, used at Volvo Trucks, John Deere, Dana, Clarios and Lear. But the UAWs utter contempt for Dakkota workers democratic rights has been truly extraordinary, even taking into account the decades-long record of sellouts and betrayals by the union apparatus. At Sundays meeting, union officials hardly made any effort to conceal that they were acting as spokespersons for the company, delivering the corporate threats of a last, best and final offer, a lockout and the permanent loss of workers jobs. The role of the UAW has been, in effect, to help hold the gun that the company is pointing at the heads of workers, declaring with management, Surrender, or else! Workers, however, have fought back, to the shock of the UAW bureaucrats. A group of the most militant workers has taken the critical step of forming the Dakkota Workers Rank-and-File Committee, which has played the central role in organizing opposition to the UAWs sellouts. At a meeting called by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees Sunday to oppose mass layoffs at Stellantis Warren Truck and in the global auto industry, Dakkota workers made a powerful appeal for support. One Dakkota worker said that a UAW representative told us that if we dont go back to work, Dakkota can kick us out and fire us. We still said No to that. We are continuing to stand for better wages. I want everybody in the auto industry to stand strong with usall around the worldto let them know they cannot continue doing this. Another Dakkota worker said, The union has no strategy, so us workers are taking it into our own hands now. We started organizing our rank-and-file committee because our own union reps arent doing anything. The Dakkota workers have begun to recognize that they are not just fighting for themselves but for workers everywhere. The battle at Dakkota is part of a global corporate assault on workers jobs and living standards. Stellantis has announced it will permanently cut 2,450 jobs at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant near Detroit. The layoffs are part of a jobs bloodbath, which has accelerated following the UAWs sellout of the 2023 Big Three struggle, during which it kept the majority of workers on the job in impotent stand-up strikes. The UAW bureaucracy, resorting again to its reactionary nationalism to divide workers, has sought to blame layoffs on foreigners. At the same time, UAW President Fain is issuing an empty strike threat at Stellantis in a bid to head off explosive independent action by workers. Last Monday, while the UAW bureaucrats were trying to shut down the Dakkota strike, Fain stumped for the Biden-Harris administration at the Democratic National Convention. While presenting the White House, which infamously banned the railroad strike in 2022, as a friend of workers and even in favor of strikes, he denounced Trump as a scab. Workers might have responded: It takes one to know one! The UAW apparatus is forcing Ford Chicago workers to handle scab parts from Dakkota, while starving workers on the picket line without strike pay. At the same time, the UAW has pledged over $1.5 million to the Democrats. For Dakkota workers to mount a successful struggle, a powerful rank-and-file counteroffensive of autoworkers must be developed immediately: Workers at Ford Chicago should take collective action to stop handling scab parts from Dakkota. Solidarity actions must also be prepared by workers at Ford Kentucky Truck, Stellantis Toledo Jeep and other plants that Dakkota supplies. Dakkota workers should appeal across autoworker Facebook groups for support, as well as sending delegations to Ford Chicago, Stellantis plants in Kokomo, Indiana, and the auto plants throughout Detroit. Strike pay must be immediately doubled to $1,000 a week. The UAW is sitting on a strike fund estimated at approximately $800 million, built from workers dues money, while hundreds of bureaucrats at the misnamed Solidarity House headquarters are continuing to receive their bloated six-figure incomes. Autoworkers across the United States and around the world must rally to the defense of Dakkota workers, as part of a global strategy to fight poverty and mass layoffs. The threats against striking Dakkota workers jobs go hand in hand with the destruction of jobs by the transnational auto companies who exploit workers in every country. In addition to threatening thousands of jobs at the Warren Truck plant, Stellantis is planning to destroy over 12,000 jobs in Italy, putting 13,000 more auto parts jobs at risk. Similar mass job cuts are taking place by Ford in Europe and GM in China. Above all, the revolt by Dakkota workers against the UAW bureaucracy must be expanded and rapidly developed. The struggle at Dakkota is demonstrating again that when workers enter into a struggle for their interests, the immediate obstacle they confront is the pro-corporate union apparatus. The autoworkers rank-and-file committee network must be expanded to every plant. While the corporations relentlessly assert their right to profit and cut costs, workers in the US and internationally must begin to assert their right to a job and a high standard of living. Just two years after the April-July 2022 popular uprising in Sri Lanka, neighbouring Bangladesh has been convulsed by mass protests during July-August 2024, sending shock waves through the ruling classes around the world. Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse and former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena/Kimimasa Mayama] Whatever the particular differences in origin, both uprisings were driven by the same crisis of global capitalism affecting every country. They are part and parcel of the upsurge of class struggle developing internationally as governments heap the burden of the economic crisis onto the backs of workers and the poor. Drawing the necessary political lessons from these upheavals is essential for the working class in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and internationally in preparation for the revolutionary struggles ahead. In 2022, protests and strikes erupted throughout Sri Lanka amid skyrocketing prices after supply chains were seriously disrupted by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia. The crisis in Sri Lanka was particularly acute as foreign reserves plunged in early 2022, forcing the government to default on foreign debt and halt vital imports. The government of President Gotabaya Rajapakse provided no relief as long queues formed to obtain what food, fuel and medicines were available. Lengthy power cuts became the norm each day. The masses took to the streets with the demands that the president resignGota Go Homealong with all parliamentariansNo to 225. The movement spread like wild fire with the eruption of spontaneous protests and pickets. Thousands permanently occupied Galle Face Green in central Colombo and repeatedly defied the threat of state repression when Rajapakse imposed a state of emergency and curfews. Trade unions worked desperately to prevent the working class from entering the struggle as an organised force. However, as large groups of workers began to join the protests, the union bureaucrats were compelled to call limited actiontwo one-day general strikes on April 28 and May 6. Millions stopped work, cutting across ethnic and sectarian lines, in opposition to attempts by the government and racists to foment communal hatred to divide the mass movement. Faced with a mass uprising, the government collapsed and Rajapakse was forced to flee the country and resign. Protesters gather in a street leading to the Sri Lankan presidents residence, July 9, 2022, just days before Gotabaya Rajapakse fled the country. [AP Photo/Amitha Thennakoon] However, what was to replace the Rajapakse regime was left in the hands of the defenders of capitalismthe parliamentary parties, their trade unions and fake lefts such as the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). The bourgeois opposition parties called for an interim government to stabilise capitalist rule, while the trade unions and the FSP subordinated the working class to this demand. As a result, the discredited parliament was able to anti-democratically elect pro-IMF, US stooge Ranil Wickremesinghe as executive president to replace Rajapakse. Over the last two years he has ruthlessly implemented the IMFs austerity program using police-state repression backed by draconian legislation to suppress the opposition of workers. As a Socialist Equality Party (SEP) election statement said: It was not inevitable that the 2022 uprising should end in the coming to power of the Wickremesinghe regime. The SEP, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), insisted there was no solution for working people within the capitalist system. The working class therefore had to take initiative in rallying the urban and rural poor in the struggle to defend democratic and social rights on the basis of socialist program. We called workers to build action committees in every workplace, in the plantations and rural areas to take matters into their hands independent of all bourgeois parties and the pro-capitalist trade unions. In what was a significant political advance in this fight, the SEP urged working people and youth to campaign for the convening of a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses comprised of delegates of these action committees. In contrast to parliament, which is dominated by bourgeois politicians, such a congress would provide the means for representatives of working class to thrash out a strategy to defend their vital social and democratic rights. However, the critical issue in any mass movement is that of political leadership. To wage a political struggle against capitalism and all its defenders, we explained that the SEP had to be built as the mass revolutionary party necessary for the working class to take power and establish a workers and peasants government to implement socialist policies. In Bangladesh, under the banner of Students for Anti-Discrimination (SAD), university students began their protests in early July against the regressive and divisive job quota system reenacted by the judiciary, under the aegis of Awami League government. As tens of thousands of students joined the demonstrations, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unleashed the police and military, along with Awami League thugs, killing scores of students. Protesters shout slogans as they celebrate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. [AP Photo/Rajib Dahr] The accumulated mass anger against this bloody crackdown, and repressive measures banning internet and imposing curfews, exploded. The SAD called a march to Dhaka in early August in which millions joined, expressing deep-seated anger over grinding poverty, social inequality and the ruthless exploitation of workers. They demanded Hasina and her government resign. Unable to hold back the tide, the military stepped in to force the prime minister to resign and flee the country to India. Then the military-installed interim administration with the backing of SAD and so-called civil groups, appointed Mohammad Younus, a former banker, as chief adviser. Younus, who has close connections with the US and European imperialist powers, immediately made clear he would undertake robust and far-reaching economic reforms to restore macroeconomic stability and sustained growth, with priority attached to good governance and combating corruption and mismanagement. Robust and far-reaching economic reforms has only one meaning: savage pro-market austerity measures to make working people pay to ensure the profits of big business and foreign investors. Moreover, the interim administration, backed by the military, remains in power indefinitely to ensure the measures are implemented. No election has been announced. The right-wing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) has pledged its full support for interim rule as have the various Stalinist parties grouped in the Left Democratic Alliance and the pro-capitalist trade unions. Like their counterparts in Sri Lanka, the Stalinist parties, which have history of backing the Awami League and the BNP, worked alongside the trade unions to prevent the working class intervening as a class in the mass uprising to fight for its independent interests. Working people are justifiably hostile to the Awami Leagues autocratic and corrupt rule over the past 15 years. Its ruthless suppression of democratic and social rights is nothing but the ugly face of the capitalist class which is determined to preserve bourgeois rule at any cost. The onslaught on workers, young people and the rural poor will only intensify under the interim regime and whatever capitalist government finally replaces it. Behind the administration stands the capitalist state, above all the military, that will stop at nothing to suppress any opposition to its austerity policies. The lesson from Sri Lanka in 2022 is that the working class cannot fight for its class interests outside of a political break from all the capitalist parties, their left appendages including the Stalinists, and their trade unions. Independent rank-and-file committees democratically elected by workers are necessary to prosecute any genuine struggle. There is no solution for working people to the immense social crisis they confront within the capitalist system. In his Theory of Permanent Revolution, Leon Trotsky demonstrated that the bourgeoisie in countries of a belated capitalist development such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, tied as it is to international finance capital, is organically incapable of meeting the democratic and social aspirations of the working class and rural toilers. What is necessary is the fight for powerfor a workers and peasants governmentto fundamentally refashion society to meet the needs of the masses, not the profits of the tiny wealthy elites. Such a struggle, as Trotsky explained, necessarily has to be waged on an international scale against global capital. In the presidential election in Sri Lanka, the SEP is actively campaigning to build the unity of the working class in Sri Lanka, throughout South Asia and internationally as an integral component the ICFIs struggle for world socialist revolution. The recent mass uprisings in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka point to crucial issues encompassing the entire region. In 1947-1948 the British colonial imperialist rulers carved up the Indian sub-continent on a reactionary sectarian basis into a Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan to divide the working class and maintain their influence. Sri Lanka was established as a separate state as a base of British operations in the region. The ruling classes in South Asia have only maintained their rule through the same reactionary methodspromoting divisive communalism and nationalism that has led to pogroms, civil conflict and wars. The struggles against brutal exploitation and repression that led to the establishment of Bangladesh in 1971 have resolved none of the fundamental issues facing working people. The SEP in Sri Lanka urges workers in Bangladesh to form their own independent action committees to defend their interests against the interim administrations austerity agenda and to link up with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committeesan initiative of the ICFI to unify the struggles of workers internationally. Above all, what is needed in Bangladesh is the building of a section of the ICFI, the international Trotskyist movement, to join with us in waging a struggle for a federation of socialist republics in South Asia as part of the struggle for international socialism. We urge young people and workers in Bangladesh to take up this political challenge. Read the World Socialist Web Site, study our program and perspective and contact us through the WSWS. We stand ready to offer you our political assistance. The $4.75 million Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERVICE/Reuters "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli must surrender his Wu-Tang Clan album copies by Friday, a judge has ordered. The order is a victory for an NFT collective that bought the original "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin." The collective sued Shkreli after saying he boasted of sending copies to "chicks" and receiving sexual favors. A federal judge in Brooklyn has ordered "Pharma bro" Martin Shkreli to surrender all copies of his supposedly one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album by noon on Friday. The preliminary order is a victory for PleasrDAO, the NFT collective that purchased the album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" for $4.75 million in 2021. The collective sued Shkreli in June after alleging that he repeatedly boasted of sending copies of the CD to various women in violation of a purchasing agreement, which banned its reproduction. The new preliminary order by Judge Pamela K. Chen, first reported in artnet, is the latest development in that lawsuit. Shkreli had recently boasted online that he "burned the album and sent it to like, 50 different chicks," the lawsuit said. "Do you know how many blowjobs that album got me?" the lawsuit said he bragged. The judge is requiring Shkreli to turn over any copies in his possession to his lawyers, and to swear an affidavit attesting that he has done so, PleasrDAO attorney Steven Cooper told Business Insider on Monday. "Then, by September, he has to provide a full accounting of all the copies he's made, the money he's made to date from those copies, and who he has distributed them to, along with their names and addresses," the lawyer added. Martin Shkreli AP Photo/Susan Walsh Edward Paltzik, an attorney representing Shkreli in the lawsuit, stressed that the order is a preliminary measure to "maintain the perceived status quo" and has no bearing on the outcome of the case. "Crucially, the Court did not find that PleasrDAO is likely to succeed on the merits or that the DAO's allegations are true, and instead ruled that Mr. Shkreli's forthcoming motion to dismiss should proceed without delay," Paltzik said. Whether any copies actually exist is another matter. Shkreli's lawyer hasn't said either way. No copies have surfaced, despite Shkreli's boasts, Cooper said. "But he's said it a number of times," the lawyer said. "We think there's a strong possibility that there are copies of it, and he did not deny that he made copies in his opposition papers" to the lawsuit, he said. Shkreli even once livestreamed what he bragged was a portion of the album while boasting, "Of course I made MP3 copies; they're like hidden in safes all around the world," the lawsuit said. Story continues "I'm not stupid. I don't buy something for two million dollars just so I can keep one copy," he added, according to the lawsuit. Shkreli became rich and notorious after price-gouging the life-saving drug Darprim in 2015. He bought the only copy of "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" directly from Wu-Tang Clan that same year for $2 million. The album had been seized and sold to PleasrDAO by the US government for $4.75 million in 2021 after Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud. This story was updated to add comment from Shkreli's lawyer. Read the original article on Business Insider A group of 4,500 Indian tourists will visit Vietnam from August 27 to September 7. (Photo: hanoimoi.vn) The Indian group schedules to stay at about 10 high-end hotels in Hanoi. The group of tourists have high spending levels and also requires high standards. Services must be arranged at 4-5 star quality, the accommodation system and restaurants must meet standards. Currently, units are making efforts to add a number of services suitable to the culture, needs, interests and habits of the group. Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel has cooperated with a team of Indian chefs to prepare different regional menus that will change every day to be suitable to tastes of the tourists. Many ingredients are imported from India. InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72 Hotel also invited Indian chefs from 5-star hotels of IHG group in India to Hanoi and support cooking of the most authentic dishes. In addition, to improve the professionalism and behavioral culture of staff, the hotel trains and helps employees participate in courses on Indian culture. Mr. Patrick Verove, General Director of InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72 Hotel said that the menu includes many typical Indian dishes of different regions and vegetarian dishes. Indian tea and coffee are also served. In addition to strict requirements on cuisine, the Indian delegation also has its own requirements for the venue. Melia Hanoi Hotel will be the venue for 6 gala dinners with 650 - 750 guests for each program. Welcoming the above high-class delegation is also an opportunity to promote tourism in Hanoi and many localities. Therefore, the hotels, in addition to preparing Indian-style menus, also introduce some typical Vietnamese dishes such as pho, soft noodles, fish cakes and Vong village green rice. According to the travel schedule in Vietnam, the 4,500 Indian tourists are expected to visit President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi); Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh) and Trang An Eco-tourism Area (Ninh Binh)./. Ted Danson Has a New Comedy Series Coming Out This Fall Ted Danson is returning to the small screen with a new comedy. The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor reunited with Mike Schur, the creator of The Good Place, for the forthcoming series A Man on the Inside (formerly known as A Classic Spy). The comedy is based on the documentary The Mole Agent, which was a 2021 Academy Award nominee for best documentary feature. "Mike changed it to make it a little funnier," Danson previously told Parade. "But kept the same sweet heart part of it." A Man on the Inside centers around a retiree who ends up becoming a mole in a secret investigation. "It's funny," Danson shared, noting, "You don't think of retirement homes as funny, but ours is! Before the Cheers alum serves up laughs on TV once again, here is everything we know about A Man on the Inside... Netflix When does A Man on the Inside premiere? The series premieres this November. How to watch A Man on the Inside? A Man on the Inside will stream on Netflix. Related: Ted Danson on Saying Goodbye to 'Curb' and the Secret to His Decades-Long Marriage to Mary Steenburgen (Exclusive) How many episodes of A Man on the Inside will there be? Viewers can look forward to eight episodes. What is A Man on the Inside about? According to the show's logline, Danson's character Charles is a retired man who "gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a PI and becomes a mole in a secret investigation." The Mr. Mayor star explained to Parade the show came from a documentary out of Santiago, Chile. "Somebody who had a parent in the retirement home was accusing them of mistreating their mother. So this private detective hires this older gentleman to be a spy and be in the retirement home trying to find out what's going on," Danson said of the documentary, revealing that Schur changed it to make their show a little funnier. The Good Place alum pointed out, "It's kind of a lovely message about, you know, don't let go of your parents completely just because they're in a retirement home." A Man on the Inside Netflix Who is in the cast of A Man on the Inside? In addition to Danson as the lead, the cast of the new Netflix series includes: Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Emily, a married mother of three boys and daughter of Charles Brooklyn 99's Stephanie Beatriz as Didi, the managing director of the Pacific View Retirement Residence in San Francisco. Chicago Med's Lilah Richcreek Estrada as Julie, a San Francisco-based private investigator, who hires Charles to be her mole and pretends to be his daughter Fences' Stephen Mckinley Henderson as Calbert, a transplant from Washington, D.C. All In The Family's Sally Struthers as Virginia, who "takes a shine" to Charles. The Good Place's Eugene Cordero as Joel, who is Emilys husband and a 10th grade science teacher. The Color Purple's Margaret Avery as Florence, who is Virginias best friend. Grace and Frankie's John Getz as Elliott, Pacific Views resident lothario, who feels threatened by the attention Charles gets when he moves in. L.A. Law's Susan Ruttan as Gladys, who is a glamorous former costume designer from New York and neighbor to Charles at Pacific View. Joy Ride's Lori Tan Chinn as Susan, who is the President of the Pacific View resident council. Never Have I Ever's Clyde Kusatsu as Grant, who is a Princeton grad at Pacific View. Brooklyn 99's Marc Evan Jackson as Evan, who is a client who hires Julie to investigate the theft of his mothers necklace. A Good Place's Jama Williamson as Beatrice, the Pacific View Activities Director. Next, I Tried the Famous 'Ted Danson Sandwich' and It's a Fresh Twist on a Deli Favorite Tremaine Brown, a prominent figure in the Amarillo community, in August has been named the 7 Brew Hero, a national honor that recognizes individuals who embody the coffee chains mission to "cultivate kindness." Browns story will be featured on menu boards at every 7 Brew location across the country throughout September. Tremaine Brown receives a check for $1,400 from 7 Brew, after he was named the 7 Brew Hero for August, at the chain's Amarillo location. Brown, the owner of Shi Lees BBQ and Soul Food and founder of the Vessel of Humanity and Compassion foundation, is celebrated as a community leader dedicated to uplifting children and families in Amarillo through numerous community events. I mean, to pluck me from Amarillo, Texas, out of 256 stores, thats like finding a needle in a haystack, he said. Its pretty incredible. The recognition comes as part of a nationwide campaign by the business, which honors individuals for their dedication to community service. The man, who has been deeply involved in caring for children, the homeless, and the elderly, expressed his gratitude for the recognition. When you think about it on a national level, with countless nominations, it's a tremendous honor, he said. My heart would hope that there are tons of people out there doing great work for their communities. Anybody who is actually doing good work should be applauded. He also hopes that his story might inspire others to take similar actions in their own communities. Its really cool that my name and mission are being carried further. Thats the priceless part about it, he said. The best thing about being on a mission is knowing that its reaching further and impacting more lives. Nominated by a local community member, Brown was selected from a pool of nationwide nominees for his unwavering commitment to helping children. Tremaine Brown, owner of Shi Lee's BBQ and Soul Food, stands by his food truck with a coffee from 7 Brew. Tremaines passion, heart, and commitment to ensuring the entire city is provided for is a truly special quality that has helped uplift and strengthen the lives of so many children in our community, said Jolene Miller, who nominated Brown for the honor. Our community would not be the same without Tremaine and his work. To honor Browns achievements, the 7 Brew Amarillo team held a back-to-school drive at their stand on Aug. 11, further supporting Browns mission to create future leaders through his after-school programs. More: 8th annual Braids and Fades gives students supplies, fresh cut or style to start off school year In an interview, 7 Brew spokesperson Noah Lockhart explained the significance of the program. "We choose one hero each month who has made a profound impact in their community," Lockhart said. "For August, that hero is Tremaine Brown, whose work with The Vessel of Humanity and Compassion has touched countless lives, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic." Lockhart elaborated on how Brown will be featured. "Every 7 Brew location has a digital menu board, and one of the slides will showcase Tremaines story, including his efforts in Amarillo, Texas. Its a way to highlight his contributions to a national audience." Brown received the title earlier this month and will see his story displayed throughout September. "This is a nationwide recognition, so every 7 Brew customer will learn about Tremaine and the incredible work hes doing in Amarillo," Lockhart said. The recognition includes more than just accolades. 7 Brew presented Brown with a $1,400 donation to support his organization, along with free drinks for the next year. "We really want to support individuals like Tremaine who are aligned with our ethos of cultivating kindness," Lockhart emphasized. At the end of the year, all 12 monthly heroes, including Brown, will be eligible for an additional prize, decided by a public vote in December. "This vote will take place on our website, and its another way for the community to support their local hero," Lockhart noted. "Were hoping that by spreading the word now, people will be ready to cast their votes in December and help Tremaine further his mission." Lockhart also mentioned that anyone can nominate a 7 Brew Hero through the companys website. "Tremaine was nominated by Jolene Miller, a mother whose child benefited from his organization. Its truly a community-driven initiative." Reflecting on the importance of the program, Lockhart said, "Our goal at 7 Brew is to uplift those who uplift others. By highlighting heroes like Tremaine, we hope to inspire kindness across all the communities we serve." Related story: 7 Brew enters the Amarillo coffee wars with grand opening This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Tremaine Brown earns 7 Brew national honor for August Photo by Meron Menghistab Sophon is one of the 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024. The restaurant boasts this years Best Beverage Program, mixing cocktails that feature fish sauce, sawtooth coriander, and a global array of spirits. At Sophon, a Cambodian restaurant in Seattles Phinney Ridge neighborhood, every dish channels Khmer identity. Some, like mouthwatering braised pork belly braised in soy-coconut milk, are what chef-owner Karuna Long calls family authentic, while otherslike karaage-inspired local mushroomspull inspiration from the Pacific Northwest. Sophon is an ode to Longs mother, who escaped Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge. Arising from such tragic circumstances is an abiding spirit of creativity, melding Khmai flavors and cooking methods in clever, compelling ways. BNR Sophon - Interior Photo by Meron Menghistab This approach is clear in the restaurants layered, ingenious cocktails. Ingredients like floral makrut lime leaves, sawtooth coriander simple syrup (derived from the herb common in Southeast Asian cooking), and Kampot peppercorns (a warm and sweet varietal with a kick, grown and shipped from the mineral-rich soil of the Kampot region) pay direct homage to Cambodian cuisine. Bar manager Dakota Etley also creates house-made components that nod to deeper cultural connections. A Brie-washed American rye hints to both Cambodias French colonization as well as the United States occupation during the Vietnam War. A kabocha squash tincture references the countrys agricultural pasta crop first ushered in by Portuguese traders before gaining prominence in Japan. In cocktails like the Mekong, a spin on a pina colada, fish sauce provides an intriguing earthy pungence. Named after Southeast Asias longest river, this frozen wonder draws inspiration from Cambodias unofficial national dish of amok: fish steamed in coconut cream and fragrant kroeung spices. The bar menu is primarily Khmer-focused, Etley says, but its also a little touch of the Pacific Northwest as well. Heres how the Mekongs star ingredients come into play. Coconut cream Coconut cream is a must in amok. Long recalls seeing Mae Ploy in his mothers kitchen throughout his childhood. The Thai brand offers its trademark velvety texture to the Mekongs final form, and the can doubles as a charming drinking vessel. Ripe and green mangoes BNR Sophon - Mango Photo by Meron Menghistab To create a balance of sweetness and acidity, Etley blends in creamy Carabao mangoes from Cambodias neighboring isles, the Philippines, along with a tart Thai green mango syrup thats made in-house. Seattles Mekong Asian Market supplies both fruits. Fish sauce BNR Sophon - Fish Sauce Photo by Meron Menghistab A little goes a long way! This bold staple provides curious depth and appears throughout Sophons drinks menu. In addition to being a key component in the peanut orgeat syrup, the bar keeps a squeeze bottle of it handy and drops a spoonful into the cocktail just before blitzing. Peanut orgeat syrup This riff on an almond syrup common in tiki drinks swaps in roasted peanuts and features salt, cane sugar, and fish sauce. Fragrant kroeung flavors of turmeric, galangal, and lemongrass balance the sharpness of the punchy fermented fish. BNR Sophon - Ginger Lemongrass Photo by Meron Menghistab Kelp Granules and Garnishes BNR Sophon - Garnish Photo by Meron Menghistab A sprinkle of this seaweed nods to Seattles coastal character, providing the drink a touch of brine. My mom taught me to forage and appreciate Pacific Northwest flora and fauna, says Etley. While Sophon pays tribute to Longs mother, Etley honors his own matriarch here with the inclusion of kelp. Fresh mint and an edible orchid round things out with added aroma and pops of color. Originally Appeared on Bon Appetit More Restaurant Stories From Bon Appetit Man Traveling from Egypt to Japan Without an Airplane Has Relied on Foot, Train and Even Camel (Exclusive) Nok tells PEOPLE he took sabbatical from his job in order "to fulfill my dream of exploring and adventuring around the world" Omar Nok Omar Nok Omar Nok began his journey from his native Egypt to Japan on Feb. 8, 2024. By any stretch, the more-than 10,000-mile journey would be a tiresome one. But for Nok, who opted to take the trip without traveling by air and without any car of his own, it's been even more arduous. "I came up with the idea of doing this journey without flying so I could visit and see as many places and people as I can along the way," Nok, 30, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. He continues: "Flying is like a shortcut from one place to another, and I wanted to explore as much as I can on the way, especially [since] I had never traveled in Asia before." 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 juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Omar Nok Omar Nok Related: The 9-Month World Cruise Is Almost Over, Leaving One of Its Famous Passengers Feeling Conflicted Prior to his trip, Nok was working in financial reporting for a European tech company. But his wanderlust eventually took over, prompting him to take a two-and-a-half year sabbatical from his job, in order "to fulfill my dream of exploring and adventuring around the world." While he didn't have a set itinerary, he knew his starting point Cairo, Egypt and his final destination: Japan, which he says he settled on due to being so far from home. "It's the farthest, allowing me to explore more of the continent since I'm not flying," Nok tells PEOPLE. Omar Nok Omar Nok on a camel Without the ease of airplanes, Nok has relied instead on a number of more unique modes of travel. To cross the Red Sea from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, he took a cargo ship. To cross the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, he went by horseback. "Also, I hitchhike a lot," Nok says, adding that one of his more interesting journeys was "on the back of a mini-truck used for transporting livestock." "So, I was standing there in the middle of hay, and some other stuff..." he adds. Omar Nok Omar Nok Related: Woman Recounts How She Became Trapped in Arizona Canyon for 13 Hours While Hiking with a Friend Nok shares highlights from his more-than 185-day journey with his 90,000 followers on TikTok. Along the way, he has visited holy sites in Saudi Arabia, camped in the desert in Iran, mingled with locals in Afghanistan and on a train in Uzbekistan. In one video, he shares what it's like waking up in a yurt in Kyrgyzstan before hiking in the mountains. In another, he showcases the scenic views of central Asia. Some parts of the trip have been long like a 46-hour train journey in Kazakhstan and others, more scenic, like when he rode a Mongolian Camel in Turkistan. Then there are the more traditional modes of transport like a three-hour taxi he paid just $8 for in Iran. Omar Nok Omar Nok Nok tells PEOPLE he now estimates that he'll arrive in Japan "sometime in October, making the journey about eight months long, give or take." As of August, he had already covered some 17,500 miles. "By the time I finish, I expect the total distance covered to be somewhere around 24,000-27,000 miles," he says. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. When Hilton Horizons Academy in Kingsport, Tennessee opened its doors on August 5th, it became one of the first in a growing number of new schools to launch this academic year. I felt there had to be something different, said the schools founder, Candice Hilton, who quit her job as a public school teacher last December after seven years in the system. Her daughter had just started kindergarten that fall and it provided a new lens through which Hilton could view todays schooling. Her teacher was amazing, said Hilton, but she told me how bored she was doing worksheets. At the same time, Hilton was reflecting on all of the required standardized testing in todays schools and the pressures it was creating for students and teachers alike. We tested the kids so many days straight. It was just a sad space to be in for our education system, recalled Hilton. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter After leaving the public school system, Hilton began researching what it would take to homeschool her daughter. It was through that research that she decided to become a microschool founder. She opened Hilton Horizons Academy in a cheerful rented space inside a culinary school with a dozen K-8 students. A hybrid microschool, Hiltons students attend the mixed-age program two or three days a week for individualized academics and enrichment. Tuition for the three-day program is $4,900 a year. All of Hiltons students are legally homeschooled, with the vast majority of them new to homeschooling this academic year. Most of my students are coming from public school. Most of them are first-time homeschoolers, said Hilton, adding that only two of her current students were previously homeschooled. At Noema Learning, which opened in Goodyear, Arizona one week after Hilton Horizons Academy, founder Elisa Hernandezs 14 microschool students are a mix of homeschoolers and those coming from traditional public or private schools. A high school English teacher who taught in the public school system for 10 years, Hernandez quit for reasons similar to Hilton. Post-Covid, she noticed that schools became even more focused on standardized testing, perhaps as a result of more attention being paid to alleged learning loss during pandemic school closures. There was a shift where we were told to teach to that standardized test. Your worth as a teacher was now tied to that score, or your students scores. That was a big shift for me, recalled Hernandez. Last year, she began a small tutoring business on the side while still teaching full-time in the public schools. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to turn the tutoring business into a dedicated microschool, leaving her teaching job at the end of the school year in May. Hernandez wanted to create the type of school in which she knew children would thrive. I think that learning should be fun and learning should be personalized. If those two things are happening, that can be groundbreaking and world-changing, she said. Students attend Hernandezs home-based program for sixth to twelfth graders up to four days a week at an annual cost of $5,600. She intentionally set her tuition below the approximately $7,000 that all Arizona K-12 students are now eligible to receive under the states universal education savings account (ESA) program. I wanted to make sure that they had enough money left over to do sports, clubs, whatever it is that they want to do, said Hernandez. Microschools and similarly creative schooling options gained increased popularity in the wake of the pandemic, and they continue to gain momentum. Not only are new schools and spaces opening across the U.S. but existing ones are expanding. New data from VELA, a philanthropic nonprofit organization and entrepreneur community, reveals that over 90 percent of the unconventional learning environments it surveyed had more learners last fall than they did at their launch date, and the median compound rate of growth for these programs was 25 percent a year. As parent demand for more individualized, innovative education options grows, more everyday entrepreneurs are stepping up to meet that demand, while finding greater personal and professional satisfaction as school founders. Many of them are former public school teachers like Hilton and Hernandez who grew tired of one-size-fits-all standardized schooling and wanted to create an alternative. According to its 2024 sector analysis, the National Microschooling Centers estimates that over 70 percent of todays microschool founders are current or former licensed educators. Im not a business person. Im an English teacher, Hernandez says, acknowledging that she initially felt intimidated by the idea of starting a school. She, like Hilton, decided to join the KaiPod Catalyst program earlier this year to gain support and mentorship before, during, and after launch. Started by Amar Kumar, founder of the national microschool network, KaiPod Learning, the Catalyst program provides business startup support and ongoing operational assistance to school founders. The cohort-style program is free to participants, with a small revenue-sharing agreement if they decide to launch a school following the program. We started KaiPod Catalyst because we saw tens of thousands of educators looking for alternative career paths in many of the same communities where families were looking for alternative education options, Kumar told me, adding that applications for the fall cohort are now open. Amanda Lucas, the founder of New Jerseys Lucas Literacy Lab thats set to open its doors next month. (Kerry McDonald) The new school founders I spoke with say the support from KaiPod Catalyst has been invaluable as they move from their role as teachers to teacher-entrepreneurs. I think that something that stopped me from starting a microschool earlier was the lack of mentorship, said Amanda Lucas, who taught in private and charter schools throughout New York City for about a decade. She also participated in a KaiPod Catalyst cohort earlier this year. I didnt have any mentors, and I didnt have anyone to go to and to help me get through the tough times and answer questions, added Lucas. Her microschool, Lucas Literacy Lab, launches on September 4th in a leased, home-like space in Old Bridge, New Jersey. She currently has 10 enrolled students, ages 6 to 13, with two additional teachers. Her full-time program costs $15,000 a year, with various part-time enrollment options. Lucas expects to expand in the coming months given the increased number of inquiries she has been receiving from interested families, but she plans to remain a microschool for homeschoolers, rather than become a recognized private school. Private schools, like charter schools, dont give you all of the freedom that a microschool does, said Lucas. I want full autonomy, and I want absolute freedom in education. I also really believe in homeschooling and if we have too many students, I wont be able to tailor the education the way that I want to, she said. As the new school year begins, new schools are sprouting across the country, offering the personalization, freedom, and flexibility that enable both students and teachers to flourish. Disclosure: Stand Together Trust provides financial support to Vela Education Fund and The 74. Organizer Chow Chong says goodbye to Kites Over Lake Michigan in Two Rivers TWO RIVERS Nearly 20 years ago, Chow Chong who owned a kite-selling business in the citys downtown came up with an idea to bring folks to town. I went to kite-flying festivals in other areas, and I thought how cool it would be to bring one to Two Rivers, Chong said. At the time, people thought, Yeah, whats a kite festival but a few guys on the beach flying kites? I wanted them to see its so much more. Chong also wanted to help businesses like his own Unique Flying Objects, which opened at 2022 S. Washington St., in 2000. Shops were hurting as a result of road construction, and he was brainstorming ways to bring tourists to the area. He launched the beloved Kites Over Lake Michigan, held first at Neshotah Beach and now at Two Rivers High School as Lake Michigan water levels have eaten up beach space. The popular event grew from drawing crowds of 3,000 in 2005 to one that fills local hotels and attracts up to 30,000. Despite its popularity, Chong has decided the festival will have its final flight this Labor Day weekend. Im trying to make it the best one possible, he told the Herald Times Reporter. I love working on it, but its time to move on to the next thing. Making Manitowoc County: Chow Chong's Kites Over Lake Michigan a Labor Day weekend tradition in Two Rivers His wife Kim retired in January, and Chong said theyd like to go camping and travel during the summer months the time hes usually busy planning the kite festival. And for many years, he was tied to the kite store during prime summer months. He also closed his physical storefront in Two Rivers in 2022 and sold kites online, although he said hes no longer doing that. Business was fine at the shop, he noted, but he struggled to find part-time employees or items to restock shelves after the pandemic. Unique Flying Objects' Chow Chong poses at his store, Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Two Rivers, Wis. Chong said that he just resumed his regular hours for his store. Chong acknowledged hed hoped to make it to 20 years before ending Kites Over Lake Michigan. Thats a nice round number, he said. But you know, it just really felt like it was time to move on to the next thing. He and the board considered handing the event off to other organizers, but Chong said that likely wont happen. We thought, Lets go out on top, he said. This year's event will take place Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 at Two Rivers High School, 4519 Lincoln Ave. Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be sold at the concession stand by local nonprofit service clubs. Chong expects some strong emotions when this years event winds down. Were very proud of how the festival evolved, he said. We learned something every year. We added elements that were successful and took away things that didnt work. The board was selective about the kite flyers and shows allowed into the event, he said. He added something new each year to bring people back, and always tried to make it family friendly with kids' activities and make-your-own-kite sessions. Just exposing people to kite flying as an activity was great, Chong said. Kite flyers are very friendly, and I encourage people to go up to them and ask questions. Moving from the beach to the high school five years ago changed the vibe of the event, he said. The high school provides more space, more parking and easier handicapped parking access and a better traffic flow. But they lost the feel of being on a beach, Chong acknowledged. Two Rivers Main Street Director Jason Ring said Kites Over Lake Michigan was one of the first big events he helped with when he moved to the area as director of the Manitowoc Area Visitor and Convention Bureau 13 years ago. I got to experience it close up, he said. Working with Chow was amazing. Seeing the areas natural resources of the beach and lake utilized for this was amazing, too. It was wonderful to see it become the spectacular event it is today. He said the community will miss the event and hes glad Chong and his wife will remain in the area. Chow might be small in stature, but hes big in personality, Ring said. I wish him the best in retirement. Chong and Kim have friends in Two Rivers, and love the community. But they might visit a warmer climate in winter. Final flight: Kites Over Lake Michigan to fly for last time Aug. 31-Sept. 1 in Two Rivers A few years ago, Chong told the Herald Times Reporter he didnt have a store or giant kite festival in mind when he came to the United States from Malaysia in 1980 to attend the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He moved to the Frozen Tundra not because he was eager for long winters, but because a friend from home also was enrolled here. The choice was Wisconsin or Arizona State, Chong recalled, and when he visited Arizona in August, the heat index was more than 100. I thought, I am not moving to a place hotter than home, said the genial Chong, in his usual T-shirt, flip flops and ponytail. And it was really exciting when the first snow fell. I had never seen snow, never experienced it. By the second year, it was not so exciting anymore. Unique Flying Objects owner Chow Chong arranges merchandise at his store in Two Rivers. He graduated with a business and marketing degree, and he and Kim, who met in college, moved to Arizona to be near her parents. They both found work a short time after relocating, and he began his march up the Seagram corporate ladder. We sold everything and packed what we had into a little two-door car, he said. And my famous parting words were, Im never moving back to a place this cold again. But as life happened, he and Kim found themselves living in Texas. While on vacation, they stopped at numerous shops in Galveston, including a kite store. They had lots of colorful things, Chong said. They had windsocks, my wife loves windsocks. We walked in and walked out with $150 worth of stuff. He wanted to be his own boss, and by 2000, Kim was ready to come back to Wisconsin. I said if we come back, I want to be by the water, he said. You always seek the water. So, he took a few days off from work and the couple stayed at a hotel in the Manitowoc area, driving along the Lake Michigan coast looking for a place to open a kite store. They at first thought of Door County and the thousands of tourists it attracts, but changed their minds when they saw Fish Creek is home to a similar store. We went back to Texas and I gave my notice, Chong recalled. I gave up a lot. I had a really good job. I had a car, I never had to buy a car, I never had to pay for gas. It was a learning curve. Nonetheless, the couple packed up their belongings in the RV, settled in Two Rivers, and opened Unique Flying Objects. The first few weeks were scary, we had no idea what we were doing, Chong said. But I always had confidence in my ability to sell. So at first we put all the proceeds from sales and profits back into merchandise, our selections grew. People were also very good about coming in and supporting a new business. He chose Labor Day weekend for Kites Over Lake Michigan because a hotel owner said rooms never fill up then. Today, thats no longer a problem, as folks visit from all over the U.S. for the event. Chow Chong flies a kite outside of Unique Flying Objects on Aug. 7, 2018, in Two Rivers. Flying kites, of course, depends on the weather. We have always had at least one great day, Chong said. Weve had rain. Weve had fog. Weve had no wind. Weve had everything in between. The only thing we have not had is snow. We just deal with it. The one thing we like to tell people is we dont have a schedule. Our schedule is kite time. If the wind is up, we will be flying kites on the beach. And chances are youll continue to see Chong flying kites on the beach even after retirement. Contact reporter Patti Zarling at pzarling@gannett.com or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X @PGPattiZarling and on Instgram @PGPatti. This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Chow Chong talks about Kites Over Lake Michigan ending in Two Rivers Head injuries can bleed a lot. I mean a lot a lot. Id heard this before, but now I know it for a fact. Thats because I fell and hit my head hard during a recent month I spent in Oslo, Norway. Hard enough to bleed, well, a lot. But now Im getting ahead of myself. Heres how it all went down. For several weeks, my husband Brent and I had been swimming at the outdoor public pool in a park near our apartment. As you enter the pool area, youre supposed to step through this small trough of water to wash dirt or debris off your feet. The first time I walked through the trough, I checked to ensure it wasnt slippery. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement It wasnt slick, so I assumed it had been coated with a slip-resistant coating. Excellent! Nothing to worry about! Theres a handrail in the picture above, but I never even noticed it. (Michael Jensen) On our last swim day, which was chilly and a little rainy, I finished my workout and climbed out of the pool into the bracing air. When I reached the trough, I stepped into it like I had a half-dozen times before. What happened next is a blur. One minute, I was enjoying the drizzle on my face; the next, I lay in that shallow pool of water, shock ringing through my body like a gong being struck. Brent, who had wisely chosen to walk the path around the trough on the way out, heard an unsettling crack, as if something had hit the ground. A concrete wall separated us, but he says he instantly knew exactly what had happened. He ran to my side, splashing through the water, and he says he asked me if I was okay, but I dont remember that. I do remember him being nearby and shouting, Help! We need help over here! ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement At some point, I sat up, hesitantly touching the back of my head. When I saw how bloody it was, I thought, That cant be good. Is this what it is to be in shock? Then the pain hit an avalanche of it crashing through my skull, bouncing off of one side and back to the other. It hurt so much that it was hard to have coherent thoughts. Then Brent was back at my side with someone else a lifeguard? They started helping me up, and I saw more blood dripping down my face, onto my chest, and down to my swimming trunks. Even then, I knew I should have been scared, but I wasnt. I suppose I was in shock. Instead, my mind pulled into itself, down to the core, where we become less human and more animal. I wasnt Michael at that moment. I was just a hurt, scared, and confused creature. Brent and the lifeguard Id later learn his name was Oskar finally got me to the lifeguard office. Then Oskar and the other lifeguards started treating my bloodied head. The lifeguard office. (Michael Jensen) I heard talking, but I wasnt sure what was being said. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement I felt bandages applied to my head, but I was still soaking wet, and the office wasnt heated. I began to shiver. Brent started wrapping me in the towels wed brought from home. He must have gone to the locker room to get them, I thought. When did he leave? My head cleared enough for me to realize Brent and Oskar were talking to an emergency operator, trying to decide if I needed an ambulance. Brent relayed to the operator exactly what had happened. Despite the bandages, blood still ran down my face. By now I felt coherent enough to speak. Let me talk to the operator, I mumbled. Someone held the phone to my face. The operator asked me if Id ever lost consciousness. No, I dont think so, I said. Another question. No, my neck doesnt hurt. Well, not much. Someone asked me what day it was and I didnt know. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Brent immediately said, somewhat cheekily, Uh, Im not sure he knew the day even before he hit his head. We are self-employed digital nomads, after all. I also sometimes forget what city were in. But I could name the month and the year, reassuring both the emergency operator and Brent. I felt embarrassed being fussed over so much, so I kept trying to hold the compress to my head myself. But each time, Oskar kindly said, Its okay. Ive got it. Finally, it was decided that I didnt need an ambulance, but I did need to go to the emergency room right away. Brent called an Uber. Oskar led us out to the street and insisted on waiting with us until the Uber came. He also continued to put pressure on my injury. Is there still a lot of blood? I asked Brent. Its not too bad, he said. Dont worry about it right now. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement But I could see a lot of blood. Take some pictures, I said to him. What? Im not taking pictures at a time like this! If you think Im not writing about this, I said, youre crazy. He shook his head but took a couple of pictures. Thankfully, at this point, I had yet to see myself. (Brent Hartinger) But after that, he didnt look much reassured. I now felt anxious myself. Did I have a concussion? After all, I had hit my head hard. Might my brain be hemorrhaging as we sat there? The Uber arrived, but by then, my shaking had grown worse. I also worried about getting the car seat wet or, worse, bloody. What if the driver took one look and refused to take me? But Oskar quickly explained everything to the driver, Richard, who immediately said, I know a faster route to the hospital. Ill get you there as quickly as possible. Once I was in the car, Oskar leaned in and said, Good luck. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Thank you for everything, I said. Richard did drive fast. But this turned out to be not such a great thing. Because of our speed, the car swayed back and forth, especially on the turns. Id felt dizzy before now I felt downright nauseous. Once again, my mind retreated into itself but my nausea didnt go away. All I could think was: I will not throw up in this nice mans car. I will not throw up Desperate to get to the hosptial before I toss my cookies. (Brent Hartinger) I felt Brents hand on my leg. Are you okay? he said. I think Im going to puke, I said. He quickly handed me a plastic bag. Later, he told me Oskar had given it to him for the car ride. I started retching, but nothing came up. Richard seemed more concerned about me than worried about his car. Then we reached the hospital, and Richard instantly had my door open and was helping me out. Good luck, he said. Within minutes, I was in a hospital room. I had never properly dried off and still hadnt gotten out of my wet clothes. Now I shivered almost uncontrollably. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Do you have any blankets? Brent asked the nurse and she did. They wrapped them around me, which helped, but only a little. A doctor arrived. I never got his name, but even in my addled state, I could see he was young and handsome. I took it as a good sign that I noticed that. Brent Hartinger Dr. McDreamy checked me out, examining my head, looking into my eyes for dilation, and my ears for something too. He gently touched my hands and arms, then my legs and feet, making sure I could still feel everything. He asked me a series of questions, and I answered them all. Finished, he said, Youre lucky. It looks like only a minor concussion. But hell need stitches, right? Brent asked. Dr. McDreamy nodded. Thats what I get for having a bald spot, I said. Less protection when I fall. Dr. McDreamy smiled. But it makes it easier to sew you up. Dr. McDreamy to the rescue. (Brent Hartinger) After the stitches, the nurse cleaned me up with a sponge. I admit to being surprised by all the blood that had been on my face. I was shocked again later when Brent showed me the earlier photos Id insisted he take. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Head injuries really do bleed a lot a lot. Dr. McDreamy returned and said, Ive been consulting with my supervisor, and he thinks it wouldnt be crazy for you to have a CT scan. Everything looks good, which is why I didnt recommend it before. But youre on the bubble, age-wise. The choice is up to you. Brent and I asked him more questions about the procedure. Then Brent finally asked what Id been thinking: How much will the CT scan cost? All stitched up. (Brent Hartinger) Dr. McDreamy gave us a puzzled look. Theres no extra charge. Its all one fee for whatever you need. No charge for the CT scan? I thought. Thats not how things work in America. We had the scan, which turned up nothing. If you have any questions or concerns, please call and let us know, said Dr. McDreamy. Good luck, said the nurse. A few minutes later, Id been discharged. But there was still the matter of the bill. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The total cost of our visit, which included treatment by Dr. McDreamy, a fantastic nurse, anesthesia and stitches, a CT scan, and a brief consultation with a specialist about the scan, came to $166 USD. Good luck, the cashier said as we left. A lot stands out about my experience. But what stands out the most is how decent and humane Norwegian society appears to be. At every point, nothing seemed to matter except taking care of me and getting me the help I needed as quickly as possible. At the pool, there was no accident report to fill out in case I decided to sue. No one quizzed me about why I fell, trying to ensure they wouldnt be blamed. I learned later that there was only one emergency room in Oslo, but it was relatively deserted when we arrived. I suspect this is partly because everyone in Norway has affordable access to good healthcare, so the emergency room isnt clogged with uninsured people with no other care option. During admittance, they asked for my Norwegian ID number. When I said I was American and didnt have one, they just needed Brent to fill out a small card with my name, address, phone number, and birth date. I wasnt asked for proof of insurance or a credit card, and I wasnt forced to sign a form saying I was responsible for all charges. And the care itself was based on what I needed, with no concern for cost, including that CT scan. Of course, none of this was free or even cheap. Norwegians pay the total cost with their taxes. It helps that theyre a wealthy country. But my home country, America, is even wealthier. And depending on how you calculate it, overall taxes in Norway are only slightly higher than in America. When it comes to healthcare, America makes different choices. Americans care much more about individual wealth, which, yes, probably leads to more innovation, including medical advancements, that benefit the whole world. But back in America, Brent and I pay a total premium of almost $22,000 a year for an insurance policy with a $6000 deductible and we pay another 20% of all treatment beyond that. Fortunately, the full cost is partially subsidized by the ACA/Obamacare. Still, if Id hit my head in America, I cant imagine what I wouldve had to pay for all this treatment. A CT scan in an American emergency room starts at $2000 and can go much higher. I think America cares too much about individual wealth and not enough about individuals. Norway has its problems. But even before my accident, I looked longingly at how they lived. Now Im downright jealous. I think back on everyone who wished me good luck: Oskar, the lifeguard. Richard, the Uber driver. My nurse. Even the hospital cashier. But I didnt need their good wishes. By having my accident in Norway, Id already had my share of good luck. An approximately 160-year-old giant sequoia. Giant sequoias are among the largest trees in the world and can live to be around 3000 years old. Sina Schuldt/dpa Entering the colossal grove of giant sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park to find the stump of the Discovery Tree is like creeping through a beautiful mansion, looking for a body. From the parking lot off Highway 4 where yellow school buses dusted with pine needles unload excited fifth graders one of the most stunning hikes in California leads into the forest. The gentle 1.5-mile North Grove loop passes by towering sequoias, some wider than a house, and older than the Roman empire. There are the Siamese Twins two sequoias that grew so close together they form a single mass for the first 50 feet, before splaying toward the clouds. There's Old Bachelor, an ancient gnarled specimen whose upper reaches are dead and may soon fall back to earth. The Father of the Forest, a behemoth that fell centuries ago, is scratched with a thousand Calaveras County teenagers' initials. The towering Empire State, thought to be the largest tree in the grove, stands like a monument to the mountains. The park's chief attraction though is the remains of a long dead, desecrated relative. An awe-inspiring tree that, through man's idiocy, was turned into a dance floor. Augustus Dowd was a bear hunter. One day in the spring of 1852, as most men in the mountains were looking for gold, Dowd shot a grizzly bear and followed its lumbering, bleeding body into the woods. There, he stumbled upon a tree so magnificent it would change the way Americans treat the natural world forever. Now known as the Discovery Tree, the giant sequoia Dowd saw was about 300 feet tall, and 30 feet across its base. "Surely, he mused, it must be a dream," an article published in 1859 recounted, of Dowd's discovery. "But no, the great realities were before him." Back at nearby Murphy's Camp, where Dowd worked for the Union Water Company, no one believed his tall tale. He later told his acquaintances he had killed the biggest grizzly in the forest and needed help hauling it in, only to lure them to the tree. Word of the natural wonder soon spread across California, America and the world, but within weeks, the majestic tree was felled. Snuffed out of existence by greedy men who saw money in its bark. It took five men 25 days to bring down the tree Dowd found. No saw was big enough for the job, so 10-foot-long pump drills were used to repeatedly carve through its innards. After about 1,000 years growing in that quiet grove in the Sierra foothills, it crashed to earth on June 27, 1853. A massive cross section was hauled to San Francisco, where it was put on display on Bush Street for curious city folk to see at 50 cents a pop. It was then shipped around Cape Horn and exhibited in New York City, but was destroyed by a fire before it could make it to another exhibit in Paris. Back in Calaveras County, the base of the Discovery Tree was further humiliated. On July 4 that year, 32 people had a dance party on the stump, as musicians and onlookers gathered around. A two-lane bowling alley and saloon were built on a fallen section of the trunk, and a hotel was built next door. Even by 1850s standards, the abuse of nature alarmed some. The New York Times called the tree the "greatest and most wonderful production of the vegetable kingdom ever known," when reporting that it had been "sacrilegiously cut down." John Muir wrote an essay decrying the desecration of the Discovery Tree titled "The vandals then danced upon the stump!" Another giant specimen in North Grove, known as the Mother of the Forest, was stripped of its bark a year later for profit (that tree's bark was sent to London and exhibited at the Crystal Palace). Skinned alive, its natural fire protection was gone, and it soon burned. The Mother of the Forest's charred skeleton still stands today, a bleak reminder of man's thoughtlessness. In the years after Dowd's discovery, criticism grew in the American press regarding treatment of the giant sequoias in Calaveras County. The big trees had likely been known for centuries by the Miwok people, and unharmed (Miwok grinding rocks can be found across the park), but the "discovery" of the trees by European settlers was close to a death sentence. The felling and profiteering of the Discovery Tree was directly referenced in a speech given by California Sen. John Conness in 1864, that led to passing of the Yosemite Grant, which would forever protect Yosemite Valley and eventually lead to the foundation of the national parks system. The Calaveras Grove, and the 1,000 ancient trees within, would finally become a state park itself in 1931. Finding the Discovery Tree stump today is a strange experience. Its sheer size is impressive, but the magnitude of sadness that surrounds it may be more dumbfounding. After serving as a dance floor, the giant slab of wood was used as a wedding venue, concert stage, a newspaper print shop and even a school house, according to Carol A. Kramer's excellent history book on the grove. Today, school children gather around it and learn about the unique history of what is thought to be California's oldest tourist attraction. Climbing the 10 steps up onto the ground zero of the big trees, as thousands do each year for a photo opportunity, still feels a little disrespectful. But the sorrow there may be salved by the rest of the trail, and true majesty of the still living, and forever protected, giant sequoias on the North Grove Trail. Each tree is quietly teeming with life. The thousands of roots, which only burrow a few feet deep into the soil, but spread out up to 150 feet from the trunk, pull nutrients and water up to the tree's lofty crown. Sunlight is turned to sugar in each tiny leaf, to nourish the tree. The spongy bark, sometimes up to 2 feet thick, is used for bird nests and tunneled through by carpenter ants. Clever red-breasted sapsuckers drill holes in the bark to trap insects in the sap and return later to feast on them. There's a magic to the giant sequoia. The most massive tree on earth only grows here, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Its bark somehow evolved to be fireproof, and no one is quite sure how and why they got so large when compared with other flora in the region. Reaching out to touch a giant sequoia's bark can feel like a religious experience. John Muir once called them "the greatest of all living things," and walking the grove, it's hard to disagree. The stump of the discovery tree in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Discovery Tree might have been largest known tree, but it was cut down. By Pekon. dpa How women of color with Christian and progressive values are keeping the faith outside churches Ellen Lo Hoffman, the co-founder of Soul Reparations, a nonprofit providing free spiritual support to women, poses for a portrait near her home Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Bothell, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Brandi Brown has yet to find a Black church near her Southern California home that feels right for her. So when she wants to talk about God, she relies on someone over a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Like her, Ellen Lo Hoffman, who lives just outside Seattle and is Chinese American, is a progressive Christian. They have known each other through a Christian fellowship for six years. But for the past three years, Hoffman has supported Brown, a former minister, through monthly virtual chats. How Black women and how women of color experience God is different than how other people experience God, said Brown, who is Black. If I imagine myself, like, sitting on a bench trying to talk to God, Ellen is there too to sit on the bench with me and point out observations and allow me to interpret things that Im experiencing." For some Christian progressives, the lack of acknowledgement by their churches or ministries of the 2020 racial reckoning was the final push to go elsewhere. Some women of color have been disappointed and upset by evangelical Christian churches both predominantly white and multiracial whose leaders failed to openly decry racism or homophobia. Traditional pastors and other leaders often see congregants' concerns through a patriarchal lens, leaving many feeling dismissed or overlooked. Still, others said they felt alienated by evangelical supporters of former President Donald Trump, with whom they disagree on politics. Many are now finding solace and reaffirming their faith on their own terms through what they call spiritual directors," who are not necessarily priests, pastors, counselors or therapists, but can help others explore thoughts about God or broader concepts around a higher power. With nearly 24 years of ministry leadership experience, Hoffman has been a self-employed spiritual director for the past seven years. The 2014 death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was a pivotal moment for her. She gathered staff members of color, as the associate regional director of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, in a discussion. Hoffman came away vowing to be a better ally. So when the murder of George Floyd and anti-Asian hate crimes soon dominated national conversation, Hoffman wanted to do more than march in protests and facilitate bystander training. She said she noticed that a lot of people of color needed care in the midst of racial trauma." So with her husband, she created Soul Reparations, a nonprofit providing free spiritual support to women. With the people that I was already meeting with, the impact of the racial trauma in 2020 was constantly coming up, Hoffman said. And then the people who were reaching out looking for a spiritual director was all women of color looking for spaces to process. The sessions are intimate one-on-one chats in person or over Zoom. It's the client who drives the conversation. Often, there's no Bible talk or preaching from Hoffman. The discussions can be more philosophical. Simply allowing them to tell their story, giving them space to share their pain is really healing for them and it restores a sense of identity, Hoffman said. Churches, religious leaders and officials don't get to have the last word on how women choose to express their Christianity. She has since recruited seven other women of color to serve as directors. In total, they have helped more than 200 women, including queer women, over the past three years. The demand hasn't waned. Recently, Hoffman had to close a 60-person waitlist. That number doesn't surprise Jessica Chen, of Los Angeles, who virtually meets with Hoffman monthly. I do see this kind of movement of women of color whove left kind of the traditional church environment to create these spaces for other women of color, Chen said. So, sort of reimagining what community can look like for women of color, I think thats very much needed. Only in the last few years did Chen consider she might be limiting herself by only hearing male pastors who have a specific perspective that's been universalized, she said. While her last church was diverse and multigenerational, she felt like she wasn't growing as a person. I want to hear from Black women, Asian women, Indigenous folks ... queer folks. What has your faith experience been and how can I learn from your experiences as well? Chen said. And I think that makes our understanding and relationship with God or spirituality a lot richer. In 2020, Rebekah James Lovett, of Chicago, tried to broach the subject of social justice with her evangelical pastor. She stayed up till 4 a.m. crafting a written plea to him. The pastor met with her but she came away feeling like he was simply placating her. Raised in Christianity by Indian immigrant parents, she said she came to a realization, I cant ever go back to white, male-dominated churches that don't consider other viewpoints. She felt liberated but also a bit rudderless. Then she heard Hoffman speak on a podcast, Reclaiming My Theology. The idea of going to a woman who also is pastorally trained was interesting to me, Lovett said. Christianity as weve been sold it is built on this sense of certainty that somebody has the answer and you just have to look to the Bible and its all right there. Whereas for Ellen, theres this invitation to wonder. That was never there before. After adding her name to the waitlist, Lovett became a regular client of Hoffmans in fall 2021. Hoffmans rates for spiritual direction range from $85-$100 per session or, in some cases, are free. Her paying clients, or directees, dont seem to mind. They liken it to a regular check-up or therapy session. I do feel like it is a wellness practice as well as a spiritual practice. Its something that keeps me centered, Brown said. Im not trying to reach a goal. My only desire is to, deepen my personal relationship with God. Many have left churches across the U.S. over the past few decades. Around 30% of Americans identify as the nones" or people with no organized religion affiliation, according to a 2023 AP-NORC poll. They include atheists, agnostics and people who are nothing in particular." The Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, who last year became the first woman and woman of color elected general minister and president of the socially liberal United Church of Christ, agrees churches are often patriarchal. They continue to be exclusive and bring narratives of hatred, diminishing the human spirit and decrying peoples humanity," she said. While UCC congregations have become more racially and ethnically diverse, Thompson wants to see that diversity reflected at the top as well. We continue to include the voices of all in the leadership as best we can paying attention to those whose presence and voices have been historically underrepresented in the life of the UCC," Thompson said in an email. Spiritual direction has actually reinvigorated Brown to not give up on looking for a church. Im excited about joining a church that talks about justice, that cares about LGBTQ+ people, Brown said. I want to be a part of a community." ___ This story has been corrected to show Hoffman's group has assisted more than 200 women or 70 per year, not 70 overall. 1 Dead, 3 Injured After Alaska Landslide: 'Never Seen a Slide of This Magnitude' "My thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Ketchikan tonight," Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy wrote in a statement Anna Laffrey/Ketchikan Daily News via AP A worker clears debris after a deadly landslide in Ketchikan, Alaska. One person is dead and three are injured after a landslide in Ketchikan, Alaska. The incident occurred at 4:15 p.m. local time on Sunday, Aug. 25, in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, local leaders said in a joint statement posted to Facebook. "Friends, is with a heavy heart we relay that a landslide in the city has taken a life, caused several injuries, damaged homes and impacted our community," borough mayor Rodney Dial wrote. "As we work through this, please keep the affected families in your prayers and know we will do everything we can to recover from this event as quickly as possible and help those in need." Related: Catastrophic Landslide Causes Highway Between Wyoming and Idaho to Collapse and Close Indefinitely "In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude," added city mayor David Kiffer. "With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our State geologist. The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes." The officials said that one person admitted to Ketchikan Medical Center had been released and two were being treated. 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. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy also issued a state of emergency in the area. "This afternoon I verbally declared a disaster declaration for the landslide that struck Ketchikan earlier today," Dunleavy's post on X read. "All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed. My thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Ketchikan tonight." This afternoon I verbally declared a disaster declaration for the landslide that struck Ketchikan earlier today. All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed. My thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Ketchikan tonight. Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) August 26, 2024 Per ABC News, the Ketchikan region has a rainfall average of about 3 inches this August, when it usually uses about 6 inches. Over the weekend of Aug. 24 and 25, the area had 2.5 inches of rain in areas of lower elevation and 5-9 inches in areas of higher elevation, with more rainfall expected later this week. Per the outlet, landslides, which refer to "the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope," per the United States Geological Survey, sometimes occur when there is a lot of rain in an area at once after an unusually dry period. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Specifically, Vietnams 5% broken rice export price is being traded at 575 USD a ton, 14 USD a ton higher than the same type of rice from Thailand and 34 USD a ton higher than Pakistani rice. Vietnams 25% broken rice also increased to 539 USD a ton, 27 USD a ton and 22 USD a ton higher than the same type of rice from Thailand and Pakistan, respectively. Compared to the worlds top rice exporting countries, Vietnams rice export price reached the highest rate. This is a recovery sign for Vietnams rice exports, because in July, its export prices were lower than those of Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar. The rice packaging line for export at Phuoc Thanh II Company Limited in Long An province. (Photo: HNMO) The Vietnam Food Association said that the main reason is the imbalance between supply and demand; with supply failing to meet market demand. In addition, the major import market, the Philippines, has reduced import tax from 35% to 15%. This has stimulated Filipino businesses to increase rice imports. Not only in traditional markets, the countrys rice export prices have also increased in many markets. Specifically, in Brunei, the price of rice reached 959 USD a ton, while it was 868 USD a ton in the US. Other markets such as the Netherlands, Ukraine, Iraq and Turkiye also saw rise in export prices. The increase in most markets helped Vietnam become the country with the highest rice export price in the world. According to VFA statistics, in the first seven months of 2024, Vietnam exported nearly 5.3 million tons of rice, with an estimated value of 3.34 billion USD. The amount of exported rice increased by only 8.3%, but the value increased sharply by 27.7% compared to the same period last year./. 1 dead after gas station shooting in Ohio A person is dead after a gas station shooting in Ohio early Monday morning. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Officers responded to the 4500 block of Reading Road in Paddock Hills on reports of a shooting at 3 a.m., according to our news partner WCPO in Cincinnati. Police found the victim shot behind the counter. Medics transported the person to an area hospital and pronounced dead, officers told WXIX TV. Two people have been detained. The shooting remains under investigation. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] 'Beloved' dad who volunteered to help at scene ID'd as man killed in Alaska landslide A 42-year-old husband and father has been identified as the man killed in a landslide in Ketchikan, Alaska, on Sunday, officials said. Sean Griffin, a Ketchikan native and member of the city's public works team for 17 years, was killed when he responded to help during his scheduled time off, according to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. "Sean and another team member were clearing stormwater drains when they were caught in the landslide," Ketchikan officials said in a statement. PHOTO: A worker clears debris after a deadly landslide in Ketchikan, Alaska, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (Anna Laffrey/AP) MORE: Summer scorcher: Extreme heat hits Midwest, South before moving to Northeast "Sean was a beloved husband, father, son, neighbor, and coworker," Ketchikan officials said. "He spent his life serving his family and his community. ... He started as a solid waste collector, moved up to solid waste facility operator, then to streets maintenance technician, and finally promoted to senior maintenance technician. " "Sean is remembered for his dedication, positive spirit, and unwavering devotion to his family, his friends, and to the community," the statement said. PHOTO: Sean Griffin, a member of the City of Ketchikan Public Works team for seventeen years was killed in a landslide, Aug. 25, 2024. (City of Ketchikan) Mandatory evacuations were put in place after the landslide swept through streets on Sunday afternoon, according to Kacie Paxton, a public information officer for the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. Three people were injured and hospitalized following the landslide, according to Paxton. One of those people was later released, she said. PHOTO: An area affected by a landslide is seen in Ketchikan, AK, Aug. 25, 2024 in this picture obtained from social media. Ketchikan Gateway Borough/via Reuters (Ketchikan Gateway Borough/via Reuters) Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an Alaska Disaster Emergency Declaration. A separate Joint Disaster Emergency Declaration was issued by borough Mayor Rodney Dial and city of Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer. "In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude," Kiffer said in a statement. "With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our state geologist." "The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes," he added. PHOTO: An area affected by a landslide is seen in Ketchikan, AK, Aug. 25, 2024 in this picture obtained from social media. Ketchikan Gateway Borough/via Reuters (Ketchikan Gateway Borough/via Reuters) Photos released by the borough appeared to show a pile of trees and loose soil up against several hillside homes, at least one of which appeared to have been pushed into another home. Other photos appeared to show roads covered with debris, including trees. "Our prayers are with the families, the injured, those recovering, and the community," Sen. Dan Sullivan said on social media, later adding, "My team and I stand ready to help facilitate any federal assistance that may be necessary." PHOTO: The aftermath of a deadly landslide is seen in Ketchikan, Alaska, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (Anna Laffrey/AP) This landslide comes as Ketchikan saw about 3 inches of rain this month -- about half its average rainfall for August. Ketchikan received over 2.5 inches of rainfall over this weekend, and higher elevations in the Ketchikan Range reported 5 to 9 inches of rain. Too much rain at once after a drier period can cause a landslide. The rain continued on Monday but is forecast to dry off through Tuesday. More rain is expected Wednesday and Thursday as a new frontal system moves in. Landslides are common in southeast Alaska. Six people were killed, including an 11-year-old girl, in a major landslide in Wrangell, about 100 miles north of Ketchikan, last November. ABC News' Emily Shapiro contributed to this report. 'Beloved' dad who volunteered to help at scene ID'd as man killed in Alaska landslide originally appeared on abcnews.go.com (KRON) A reptile owner trying to escape the police left their 10-foot python in a vehicle, according to Californias Vallejo Police Department. The Vallejo Police Department estimated there were around 500 vehicles participating in a sideshow in the area Friday night and blocking an intersection. Residents often complain to police about sideshows which can happen late at night and are often quite loud as drivers perform doughnuts skidding the car in tight circles and fill the air with noxious smoke from the burning rubber. VPD officials told Nexstars KRON that officers responded to the sideshow at 11:12 p.m. The law enforcement response included officers from multiple agencies, according to VPD. Police car struck in massive Richmond sideshow The California Highway Patrol Air Operations Unit noticed that multiple people inside a 2007 Cadillac CT6 were pointing lasers inside their flight deck as they were performing doughnuts in the street. The occupants were also beaming the laser in Vallejo officers eyes, according to VPD. An officer with the 10-foot python. Image provided by the Vallejo Police Department Image provided by the Vallejo Police Department Vallejo police officers tried to stop the Cadillac, but the driver did not comply, leading police on a pursuit that ended in Hercules, roughly 10 miles south of Vallejo, where all four suspects fled on foot. Police said they located a 10-foot python inside the sedan. According to VPD, the driver was arrested on several charges, including felony evading. The three passengers received misdemeanor citations and were released from the scene, police said. The Cadillac was towed. Vallejo PD said the python was returned to its criminally charged owner. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. 10-year-old boy dies after being hit while riding bicycle in Clearfield CLEARFIELD, Utah (ABC4) A 10-year-old boy died after being hit while riding his bicycle in Clearfield over the weekend. According to police, a call came in on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 4:46 p.m. about an accident with a vehicle and bicyclist at 1900 South Chelemes Way. Memorial at the scene of the crash. (KTVX/Rebekah Adams) The 10-year-old boy was reportedly traveling south on Chelemes Way when the vehicle, traveling east on 1900 South, hit him. Police said this happened at a four-way stop intersection in a residential neighborhood, and the vehicle had begun moving into the intersection as the bicyclist tried to cross it. Medical personnel attended to the boy at the scene before he was taken to the Holy Cross Hospital where his condition worsened and he died from injuries received in the accident. Police said the boy was from Layton, and further details on his identity will not be made public. The driver of the vehicle reportedly stayed on the scene and is cooperating with the investigation. Medical personnel from the North Davis Fire Department and officers from the Clearfield Police Department responded to the incident, which is still under investigation. At this time, no charges have been filed or citations issued. The Clearfield Police Department wrote in a press release that it sends its sincerest condolences to the family members, friends, and all those affected by the accident. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Inside the Tennessee Senate chambers. (Photo: John Partipilo) (This story was originally published by ProPublica.) ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. When Belle got a call last September that her 10-year-old had been sent to the vice principals office, she rushed over to the school. Her son Lee looked on anxiously as the vice principal explained the situation: The fifth grader had angrily pointed his finger in the shape of a gun. Belle scolded him for not thinking before he acted, agreeing with administrators at the East Tennessee public elementary school who felt that he had misbehaved. While Lee sat at home for a few days serving a suspension, the principal called Belle. The school had conducted an investigation and determined that Lee would be kicked out for an entire calendar year. I regret that it has come to this, the principal wrote in a subsequent letter, which Belle provided to ProPublica. (At Belles request, ProPublica is identifying her and her son only by their middle names and leaving out the name of the district and school to prevent her child from being identifiable.) In the letter, the principal added that the district and the state of Tennessee take such threats very seriously. Belle was horrified. Lee had never even been sent to school detention before. His grades sometimes flagged, but he had been working hard to improve them. The family didnt own a gun and Lee would have no idea where to get one. Belle recalls the principal saying on the phone that she knew Lee was a good kid. His punishment, Belle thought, seemed like an extreme overreaction. The assistant director of schools declined ProPublicas request for comment, even though Belle signed a form giving school officials permission to speak about Lees case. The principals action was the result of a new state law that had gone into effect just months earlier, heightening penalties for students who make threats at school. Passed after a former student shot and killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville, the law requires students to be expelled for at least a year if they threaten mass violence on school property, making it a zero-tolerance offense. Tennessee lawmakers claimed that ramping up punishments for threats would help prevent serious acts of violence. What were really doing is sending a message that says Hey, this is not a joke, this is not a joking matter, so dont do this, state Sen. Jon Lundberg, a co-sponsor of the legislation, told a Chattanooga news station a week and a half after the law went into effect. Over the last couple of years, Tennessee and several other states have been making it easier for schools to suspend or expel students. But study after study has shown that harsh disciplinary practices such as mandatory expulsions are ineffective at reducing violence in schools. Whats more, research shows that such practices often lead to Black students and students with disabilities being disproportionately suspended and expelled, making them more likely to end up in the criminal justice system. Tennessee school officials have used the law to expel students for mildly disruptive behavior, according to advocates and lawyers across the state who spoke with ProPublica. (In Tennessee and a number of other states, expulsions arent necessarily permanent.) Some students have been expelled even when officials themselves determined that the threat was not credible. Lawmakers did put a new fix in place in May that limits expulsions to students who make valid threats of mass violence. But that still leaves it up to administrators to determine which threats are valid. In some cases last school year, administrators handed off the responsibility of dealing with minor incidents to law enforcement. As a result, the type of misbehavior that would normally result in a scolding or brief suspension has led to children being not just expelled but also arrested, charged and placed in juvenile detention, according to juvenile defense lawyers and a recent lawsuit. While they are expelled, some students have found it hard to get any kind of education. Tennessee allows school districts to decline to enroll students who have been suspended or expelled in another district. Some children expelled for making threats, like Lee, end up staying at home and muddling through online programs alone or getting no education at all. Lees mom worried that her sons minor mistake could derail his future. Hes kind of turned into a little bit of a recluse, she said. He doesnt want to go back to school at all. When he started fifth grade last fall, Lee was a new kid at his elementary school. His family had recently moved to the area from Middle Tennessee. Normally outgoing and sociable, he had a hard time making friends. In the second month of the school year, a girl in Lees class asked him if he had been vaccinated for COVID-19, Lees mom said. Lee told her he wasnt sure. The following week, as students walked outside for recess, Lee realized his classmates were avoiding him and he had no one to play with, according to his mother. She said he assumed that the girl had spread a rumor that he hadnt been vaccinated and discouraged others from talking with him. As the fifth graders filed back into the school at the end of recess, Lee expressed his frustration to a classmate, Belle told ProPublica. Her son told her that he said, Im so angry, I could just and then folded his hand into a gun shape and mimicked a machine guns staccato. According to Belle, the classmate reported what Lee had said to a teacher, who told school administrators. The principals letter, which offers scant details of the incident, gave Belle the option to appeal the expulsion, but Belle instead decided to homeschool Lee. She worried that teachers and other students at the school would consider Lee a bad kid, especially given the pervasive fear in the months after the Nashville school shooting. I was like, These people are going to totally overreact about this, she said. Theres no way that they would be able to treat him fairly after this. Months later, when her concern for her sons struggles with learning from home made her even angrier about the schools actions, she consulted a lawyer. But the window to appeal had long passed, and the lawyer told her that the law seemed to allow the schools actions. Theres really no point in fighting this, Belle recalled thinking. The Tennessee House of Representatives on the first day of the 2024 legislative session. (Photo: John Partipilo) Tennessee makes it difficult to determine how many students have been expelled for threats of mass violence; the state does not collect data on the reasons for expulsions. It asks school districts to inform the state of all incidents related to threats of mass violence, but some districts have reported accidentally sending inaccurate data. ProPublica requested the number of expulsions for threats of mass violence from the states 20 largest school districts as well as five other smaller school districts where we received tips about specific cases. Ten school districts provided those numbers, reporting a total 66 expulsions last school year. Tennessee has nearly 150 school districts. Several districts provided data showing they expelled students for making threats more often once the law was on the books. For example, Metro Nashville Public Schools reported 42 expulsions for making any type of threat in the 2023-2024 school year, including 16 threats of mass violence. The prior school year, before the law existed, the district expelled 22 students for making any type of threats, despite investigating roughly the same number of incidents. A spokesperson for Metro Nashville Public Schools attributed the increase to the creation of the zero-tolerance law, along with the seriousness of the offenses and heightened sensitivity and awareness following the Covenant shooting. South of Nashville, Rutherford County Schools reported 33 expulsions for making threats last school year, including 27 expulsions specifically for threats of mass violence. The previous school year, it reported just six expulsions for any type of threat, despite investigating a larger number of incidents. When ProPublica asked officials to explain why the number had gone up so significantly, a spokesperson cited a change in state law that required expulsions for mass threats. State law leaves it up to the school districts to decide whether students who have committed a zero-tolerance offense are required to attend alternative school while they are expelled. Some districts, like Metro Nashville, require it, while others, like Rutherford County, do not in most cases. Alternative schools in Tennessee primarily serve students with disciplinary issues who have been suspended or expelled from their traditional schools. Several school districts told ProPublica that students who make threats of mass violence may be sent to alternative schools without officially being expelled. This past school year, Anderson County Schools, northwest of Knoxville, sent 17 students to its alternative school or offered them virtual education options. Robertson County Schools, just outside of Nashville, sent four students two 8-year-olds, a 7-year-old and one 6-year-old to the local alternative school. The 7-year-old and one of the 8-year-olds were removed from their regular schools for an entire calendar year. A lawsuit filed in May on behalf of two families with children in Williamson County Schools, a suburban Nashville district, illuminates the way some officials hastily removed students from school in response to the new law. The lawsuit was first reported by Tennessee Lookout. It describes how a 14-year-old student was arrested, held in juvenile detention and kept out of school for weeks last August and alleges that it all stemmed from an unsubstantiated rumor that he had joked about shooting up the school. The complaint said the middle schooler had been talking about another student who he heard bragging about the number of guns his grandfather owned. The student was sent to the local alternative school, located in the juvenile justice center, where he received a significantly inferior education to that offered by his regular school, according to the lawsuit. He sat in a classroom trying to teach himself on a Chromebook while a teacher went over different material with other students in the room. At first, the school principal told the family that the law required the school to suspend the 14-year-old for a full year. The family appealed the discipline at the school level. When the school denied the appeal, the family then went to the district superintendent. Under the law, only a superintendent can reduce the punishment of a student who makes a threat of mass violence. About a month after the student was suspended, the superintendent allowed him to return to school, saying he had served an appropriate amount of time at the alternative school. After the teenager returned, the principal allegedly told him he never thought of him as a threat and that his suspension was a result of the zero-tolerance law. You can blame Governor Bill Lee, the principal told the family, according to the lawsuit. Williamson County Courthouse in Franklin, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo) The Williamson County school board filed a motion in August to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that the students received all the process they were due under the law. The 14-year-old was notified of the charges against him and given chances to defend himself, the board wrote in a separate filing, and the process he was provided worked in his favor by significantly reducing his suspension. The school board also said in the filing that threats made in jest disrupt students learning and strike fear into parents, staff and other students, especially in the aftermath of recent school shootings. While both threats may not have been serious, the board wrote, they nevertheless warranted punishment. The board also argued in the filing that school officials had to punish the students to the full extent of the law, noting that its policy required that Plaintiffs be punished as zero-tolerance offenders regardless of the threat level because they made threats of mass violence. The school district did not respond to questions or to requests for its total number of suspensions or expulsions for threats of mass violence. Tennessee has put in place a safeguard to prevent students from receiving overly harsh punishments for inconsequential threats. Threat assessments which bring together school officials and police officers to determine whether students pose a real danger to others provide context before school officials finalize discipline. They also can help determine whether students need other resources, such as mental health services. Some Tennessee districts have been carrying out threat assessments for more than a decade, but the state only required all school districts to use them starting in 2023. A new state law that went into effect in May clarified that a threat assessment had to be complete and determine a threat was valid before school officials can proceed with expulsion. But according to parents and juvenile defense lawyers who spoke with ProPublica, school officials often carry out threat assessments inconsistently, with districts using varying definitions for what makes a threat valid or credible. And some officials allow law enforcement to take the lead in incidents that would otherwise be handled at the school level. It just essentially delegates all of what should be handled as a relatively minor matter in the school, said Larry Crain, the lawyer representing the families in the lawsuit against Williamson Countys school board. (A third family recently joined the lawsuit, which also now names the local district attorney as a defendant.) Theres an almost automatic reaction to anything of this nature thats referred to law enforcement, which is horrible for the child. The lawsuit states that school officials let law enforcement take charge of investigating the 14-year-olds comments during the threat assessment process. After police arrested the teenager and took him into custody, the principal told parents there was nothing he could do, the lawsuit says. In its legal response, Williamson Countys school board said state law compelled school administrators to report the threat-related speech to law enforcement and does not allow any discretion on that matter. The district attorney for the 21st Judicial District did not respond to a request for comment. The tenor of a disciplinary investigation or threat assessment often becomes more serious once law enforcement gets involved, lawyers and advocates told ProPublica. A recent analysis by the Government Accountability Office found that arrest rates more than doubled in schools with police compared to those without and that arrests were more common when police were involved in student discipline. Cashauna Lattimore, an assistant public defender in East Tennessee, has represented several students in cases involving threats of mass violence over the last few years. All of them, she said, were expelled, and most were arrested. Lattimore described the alleged details of one incident from last school year: In the Jefferson County School District, a high school student who was known as a class clown made an offhand joke about committing an act of violence. Rumors spread among the students about his comment, warping it in the process. He was called to the principals office, where a waiting police officer asked whether he had a gun in his backpack. He showed them that he didnt and insisted that he had just been making a joke, encouraging them to search his house if they didnt believe him. Law enforcement did not send anyone to his home. School officials initiated a threat assessment and gathered statements from the students who heard the joke, which were then used as evidence against him. He was expelled for a year. The schools investigation was not intended to protect the student from unfair discipline, Lattimore said. That was to make their case against this young man. It was not to determine whether or not the threat was real. According to data that the Jefferson County School District provided to ProPublica, just two students were expelled for making threats last school year, even though in both cases the threats were labeled as transient, which the district describes as having no sustained intent to harm. In both cases, according to the districts data, the students were also charged in juvenile court. Conversely, several students made what the district considered to be substantive threats, but none were charged or expelled. School officials declined to answer questions from ProPublica about the disparities that the data revealed or the case Lattimore described. Lattimore said schools should help keep students who dont pose a threat from being arrested instead of referring the incidents to law enforcement. Theyre taking the easy way out so that they as the educational entity dont have to deal with it, she said. Because once law enforcement gets involved, they can just expel the kid and wash their hands of it. After a student is disciplined for making a threat of mass violence, no matter the specifics of the incident, the punishment can function like a scarlet letter. The 14-year-old boy whose family sued Williamson County Schools has transformed from a top student into a disengaged one, according to the lawsuit. He has struggled to make up assignments he missed during the weekslong appeals process. Once he returned, he noticed classmates gossipping behind his back, saying they were scared of him and falsely calling him a drug dealer. He suffered a severe and serious emotional injury and was unable to adequately cope with the mental stress engendered by the circumstances of his case, the lawsuit says. Lee, who turned 11 during his expulsion, also struggled to adjust. Instead of sitting in a classroom in front of his teacher, he spent the rest of the school year and summer with his mother in her small home office, using an online program to finish fifth grade. He complained to Belle when her phone calls to her boss and colleagues distracted him from his lessons. In some ways, Belle has watched her son drift backward, becoming less able to emotionally regulate without the structure of a school day or the opportunity to regularly socialize with kids his own age. Just before the expulsion, he had finally caught up to grade level in math after falling behind during pandemic remote learning. But while learning from home, he howled in frustration when he couldnt understand a math problem. Belle took time to help him with his lessons, which sometimes meant relearning the subject herself and falling behind on her own work. She sent him up to his room to play video games to give him a mental break between assignments. It is pulling teeth every single day, Belle said. In late July, after school administrators declined to comment to ProPublica on Lees case, Belle emailed the director of schools and asked her to shorten the expulsion. Belle hoped he could start his first year of middle school on day one rather than weeks later. The director of schools responded that he could start middle school immediately. Before any expulsion was put into place, the email stated, you chose to remove him and homeschool him. Therefore, the expulsion was never activated. (The original letter Belle received was clear about Lees expulsion, and a follow-up two days later explained that Lee was barred from re-enrolling regardless of whether he was withdrawn to be homeschooled. District officials did not respond to ProPublicas questions about the expulsion not being activated.) Belle was overwhelmed by a mix of confusion, relief and apprehension at the news that her son would be returning to school. She wrote a long email to all of Lees teachers introducing herself and explaining that he might need a bit of extra help filling gaps in his knowledge after months of homeschooling. I will do what I can to get him in a good place, she wrote. But Belle still worries that her son will struggle in school or make another mistake. She wonders if she should quit her job so she can homeschool him full time. Its not an easy choice, but she wants to protect him from what might happen at school. Paige Pfleger of WPLN contributed reporting. Is 100-degree heat returning to Sacramento? See forecast + whats in store for Labor Day After a brief cooldown, temperatures in the Sacramento area are set to soar again. The capital city will experience high temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s this week heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Sacramento residents expressed sadness about the rapid departure of false fall via social media. It was crazy how much it felt like fall really started, only to be whiplashed back into our ghost pepper summer, Reddit user Duckington_Wentworth wrote. Fingers crossed for real fall to make a return sooner than later. Heres what is in store this week: Will Sacramento see 100-degree temperatures? Although earlier forecasts called for 100-degree temperatures this week, the weather services latest forecast indicates Sacramento wont get quite that hot. As of Monday morning, the highest temperature forecast the area for the next seven days was 99 degrees on Wednesday, the agency said. Whats in the weather forecast for the Sacramento area? On Monday, Sacracramento was expected to see a high temperature near 94 degrees with a low temperature around 62 degrees, according to the weather services seven-day forecast. On Tuesday, the high will be near 98 with a low near 64, the weather service said. After Wednesday reaches a high of 99, the nighttime low will dip to around 64 degrees. Thursday and Friday will have high temperatures near 97 and 95, respectively, with low temperatures around 63 and 61. For Labor Day weekend, Sacramento-area residents can expect a high near 91 during the day on Saturday and a low around 60 on Saturday night. Sunday will see a high of 89. Itll be sunny all week. What will Labor Day look like in Sacramento? Sara Purdue, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that the Sacramento area will likely be mostly sunny with some occasional breezy wind on Monday, Sept. 2 Labor Day. The Sacramento Valley can expect temperatures in the 90s on the holiday, while the city may see a range from 89 to 95 degrees, Purdue said. What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com. The Los Angeles Police Department is searching for three young girls who have gone missing from a Los Angeles neighborhood, all of whom are under the age of 16 and one of whom is a mother to a newborn in need of daily medication. According to the LAPD, 14-year-old Amoria Brown was last seen with her 3-week-old daughter Omoria Brown and 15-year-old sister-in-law Sanaii Brown in the 5200 block of Huntington Drive in L.A.s El Sereno neighborhood. Amoria is described by authorities as a Black girl who stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs approximately 140 pounds and has black hair with brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a multi-colored shirt, gray shorts and gray sandals. Her daughter, Omoria, is a newborn with a heart condition and requires daily medication, police said. Authorities recover body of woman who went missing in Grand Canyon after flash flood Sanaii, 15, stands 5 feet, 1 inch tall, weighs approximately 150 pounds and has black hair with brown eyes, according to police. What she was last seen wearing is not known. The girls may have been heading to the high desert area, LAPD stated. Anyone with information surrounding the whereabouts of Sanaii, Amoria and Omoria Brown is urged to contact LAPD Hollenbeck Division Detective J. Rider by calling 213-479-2827. In case of an emergency, dial 911. Anonymous tips can be submitted to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers by calling 1-877-527-3247 or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.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 KTLA. BOSTON (WWLP) A Massachusetts animal shelter is searching for special adopters for a 15-year-old cat who was hit by a car. Share your photos for National Dog Day The senior cat, called Mittens, was hit by a car on March 24th and both of his front legs were broken as well as his jaw, according to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell (MSPCA). This caused him to be unable to walk or stand and was impossible for him to eat. He was forfeited to the MSPCA-Angell on June 20 after his former owners didnt pay a bond, as ordered by a judge, following a state law updated in 2016 that allows entities such as the MSPCA-Angell and municipalities that are holding animals to cover the cost of caring for animals seized as part of cruelty prosecutions. MSPCA-Angell MSPCA-Angell MSPCA-Angell MSPCA-Angell We got Mittens four days after he was injured when a warrant was issued authorizing us to seize and hold him, explained MSPCA-Angell Vice President of Animal Protection, Mike Keiley. It was clear that he badly needed medical attention, so we knew we needed to get him to Angell (Animal Medical Center in Boston) as soon as possible, so he could get the specialized care he needed to live out his golden years healthy and happy. MSPCA-Angell spent over $20,000 healing Mittens, so the organization is asking that if anyone can donate to help offset that cost, do so at mspca.org/mittens. Mittens is available for adoption now and it is believed that he would do well in a home with a dog or other cats and may be able to live with children who will be gentle. As part of the MSPCA-Angell and MASS coalition Felineanomenon adoptathon, he can be adopted fee-free from August 26 through August 30. At 15 years old, hes the oldest adoptable cat weve ever neutered, but he still has plenty of good years left, and we know hell make a perfect companion for the right adopters! Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. A string of dingo attacks at one of Australias most popular tourist and camping destinations has local politicians urging for greater caution. The Fraser Coast mayor now wants to enforce a ban on children under 12 camping outside of fenced-in areas on Fraser Island (renamed Kgari in June, 2023), a world heritage site sand island east of Brisbane. Fears are mounting that these attacks could turn deadly. This is getting to the stage where it is frightening, whether the next one will be a fatality or not, Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour told ABC News Australia. Already, just in 2024, there have been 16 high-risk dingo attacks at Kgari, according to the Australian Department of Environment, Science and Innovation. Nine of those involved children. The most recent attack left a 4-year-old girl so badly mauled she had to be air-lifted to a hospital. The wild dog grabbed the toddler by the chest, causing a puncture wound and numerous cuts, according to Department of Environment rangers at Kgari. Its already recommended that children camp in fenced-in areas. Mayor Seymour is now working with local authorities to turn that recommendation into an official ordinance. I just dont think that it is an appropriate place for children to be, given the number of attacks, the changing nature of attacks, and the potential for a fatality here, the mayor said. Dingos Want to Eat Your Baby K'gari Island Kgari only has a population of 152 residents. But the world heritage site sees between 400,000 and 500,000 visitors annually as of a 2021 census. It is the largest sand island in the world, and unlike most sand islands, plant life thrives on Kgari. Wildlife is abundant, too. There are 74 different species of reptiles on Kgari, 350 species of birds, and 25 to 50 species of mammals. The dingos on Kgari are one of the areas most iconic animals. Its believed they are the last species not yet cross-bred with dogs in Eastern Australia. As such, the dingos are protected by law, and dogs are not allowed at Kgari. Typically, the dingos wont bother people on Kgari. They usually hunt kangaroos, wallabies, feral pigs, wombats, and small mammals or scavenge for dead animals. So, human attacks are relatively rare. But theyve become an increasing issue for Kgari tourists, especially those traveling with children. These wild dogs are known to target children because they pose less of a threat, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. There have only ever been a handful of child fatalities from dingo attacks. But Fraser Coasts Mayor fears another fatality is imminent if something isnt done to prevent it. Of the 16 high-risk interactions recorded so far in 2024, victims were lunged at, nipped, or bitten by dingos. The proposed ordinance would potentially prevent more dingo attacks at campgrounds. But, Queensland Minister for the Environment Leanne Linard warned that people, and families in particular, should always be wary when visiting the world heritage site. The risk is not isolated to camping areas, Linard told ABC News. People must remain vigilant on the island at all times. The post 16 Dingo Attacks This Year Prompt Possible Camping Bans at World Heritage Site appeared first on GearJunkie. The victims of the Aug. 24 shooting in Whitfield County, Ga., were between the ages of 17 and 21, authorities said Google Maps Pleasant Grove Park in Dalton, Ga. A teenager was arrested after four people were found dead in a Georgia park, authorities said. The 16-year-old suspect, whose name hasnt been released by authorities, was taken into custody on four counts of felony murder, 11 Alive, WTVC and Atlanta News First report, citing the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office. The sheriffs office said deputies were called to Pleasant Grove Park at around 11:15 p.m. local time on Saturday, Aug. 24, on a report of a shooting, according to a news release. When they arrived, deputies found four dead Hispanic men. The victims' names have not been released, but the sheriff's office said that they were 21, 19, 18 and 17, according to 11 Alive. Two men were from Dalton, Ga., while the other two were from Rome, Ga. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. "We have absolutely no reason at all to believe it's gang related whatsoever. Thing is, sadly, just a very isolated incident, Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said at a press conference held on Sunday, Aug. 25, per WTVC. Authorities noted that the investigation is ongoing, and they are on the lookout for an "SUV type vehicle" as well as "a dark in color hatchback vehicle," both of which are "likely to have sustained gun shots" during the incident, per their news release. Anyone with information on the deadly shooting is asked to contact the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office at 706-278-1233 or the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at 800-597-8477. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. An overview of 15th National Assembly's eighth extraordinary session (Photo: VNA) Attending the event are Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, standing member of the Party Central Committees Secretariat Luong Cuong, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Do Van Chien, other Party and State leaders, and leaders of centrally-run agencies and localities. During the one-day session, the legislature plans to discuss and give opinions on the removal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy who are about to take on other duties. It will also approve the removal of one Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice for other duties, as well as the removal of another Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment from their work. Additionally, one member of the 15th NA will be dismissed at this session. The legislative body is also expected to discuss and provide opinions on the addition of one Deputy Prime Minister for the 15th NA term; and approve the appointment of three other Deputy Prime Ministers, along with the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and the Minister of Justice; and elect the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy. NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man asked deputies to promote democracy, uphold a strong sense of responsibility, and thoroughly review and discuss the personnel decisions to ensure that the personnel work is done in a strict manner compliant to laws and aligns with the Party's regulations and the States laws, thus resulting in a high level of consensus and unity./. LAURINBURG, N.C. (WBTW) A 16-year-old has been charged with murder in connection with last weeks shooting and ATV crash in Laurinburg, police said on Monday. The teenager was taken to a juvenile detention facility. The charge is in the death of Zahquan Thyzee Stewart, who police said was shot and suffered injuries in an ATV crash. Officers responded to the area of Deluca and Berry Streets at about 8 p.m. Thursday for a call of shots fired and found a 14-year-old boy lying next to the road who said he didnt know if he had been shot or not, police said. Officers also found Stewart dead in the bushes next to an ATV that had crashed into a tree. They learned that a 13-year-old boy with a gunshot wound had already been taken to Scotland Memorial Hospital in a private vehicle. Investigators determined that all three had been riding the ATV together on Deluca Street and were passed by two other males who shot at the ATV, hitting the 13-year-old victim and causing the driver, Stewart, to lose control and strike a tree. The 13 and 14-year-olds were taken to a hospital in critical condition, though no update on their conditions were immediately available. * * * Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) Staff have said their final goodbyes to a rare Sumatran tiger who called the Louisville Zoo home for two years. According to the zoo, 16-year-old Kami arrived in Louisville in 2022, leaving a notable legacy behind. Kami had sired six tiger cubs, the most recent born in July. Endangered tiger gives birth at Louisville Zoo for the first time in 20 years The zoo in a news release said that as Kami got older, he began to show signs of advanced age and an unexpected decline in his health. Despite intensive care, medications, and pain management, further examination revealed that Kami was suffering from a decline in kidney function and anemia, which is often indicative of underlying cancer, such as lymphomaa condition frequently observed in geriatric tigers, the Louisville Zoo said. It was a difficult decision, the zoo said, but medical staff ultimately decided to euthanize Kami. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Saying goodbye to a member of our extended family is hard, but we always consider an animals wellbeing and whats best for their overall outcome, said Dan Maloney, director of the Louisville Zoo. Our focus now is celebrating the incredible legacy Kami has left behind, both from his offspring and his impact as an ambassador for his species. Throughout his life, Kami helped inspire millions of guests to care deeply about wildlife and we honor his contribution to tiger conservation efforts. Kamis final tiger cub is still spending time bonding with his mom, but the zoo said it hopes to invite guests to meet the cub soon. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. These 17 New Hampshire beaches have notices for cyanobacteria, fecal bacteria Swimming in water with too much cyanobacteria can cause rashes, fevers, headaches, mouth blisters, vomiting, acute liver damage, according to DES. Here, a bloom on Phillips Pond in Sandown in 2021. The pond currently is on a cyanobacteria watch. (Courtesy of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services) With Labor Day weekend approaching, more than a dozen beaches around the state had active notices Monday for types of bacteria that can pose serious health risks. From late May to early September, New Hampshires Beach Inspection Program monitors public beaches for fecal bacteria. And with reports from residents, the state also tracks cyanobacteria blooms, growths that can be dangerous to humans and pets. As of Monday afternoon, 17 beaches around the state had active notices for cyanobacteria or fecal bacteria, including Lake Winnipesaukee. These beaches arent closed, but state officials advise residents to avoid or act with caution around these waters. Up-to-date information can be found on an online tool maintained by the Department of Environmental Services called the Healthy Swimming Mapper. Residents should note that beaches may still have hazards even if they dont have active notices. Beaches arent tested daily, and the state relies on resident reports of potential cyanobacteria blooms, which can be done through an online form. These bacteria can be dangerous. Cyanobacteria which thrive in warm, sunny, nutrient-rich environments are often toxic. They can cause rashes, fevers, headaches, mouth blisters, vomiting, acute liver damage, and more, according to DES. They can sometimes lead to neurological issues like numbness and seizures. These blooms are expected to become more common with climate change-driven warming. They can be blue, green, yellow, white, or brown and look like spilled paint, scum, or blotches. Fecal bacteria pose risks, too. They can bring on nausea, vomiting, respiratory illness, and infection, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Four beaches had fecal bacteria advisories as of Monday afternoon. An advisory for fecal bacteria is issued when a water sample contains levels that exceed the state standard, indicating unhealthy swimming conditions, according to DES. The following places were flagged: Corcorans Pond Beach in Waterville Valley since Aug. 20 North Hampton State Park Beach since Aug. 21 Troy Town Beach since Aug. 22 Seabrook Harbor Beach since Aug. 23 Three beaches had cyanobacteria watches, also called alerts. Alerts mean residents should be on the watch for a potential bloom, according to DES. These places had alerts as of the start of the week: The Alton area of Lake Winnipesaukee since Aug. 19 Phillips Pond in Sandown since Aug. 22 Locke Lake in Barnstead since Aug. 23 More serious are cyanobacteria warnings, which mean that cyanobacteria have been found at a concentration where harmful toxins could be present and threaten public health. Ten beaches had warnings on Monday afternoon: Province Lake in Effingham and Wakefield since Aug. 2 Baboosic Lake in Amherst since Aug. 5 Halfmoon Pond in Kingston since Aug. 8 Tucker Pond in Salisbury since Aug. 15 The Wolfeboro area of Lake Winnipesaukee since Aug. 19 The Tuftonboro area of Lake Winnipesaukee since Aug. 20 Showell Pond in Sandown since Aug. 21 Arlington Mill Reservoir in Salem since Aug. 22 Keyser Pond in Henniker since Aug. 23 Lake Monomonac in Rindge since Aug. 23 18-year-old on life support after being shot in head near Rock Hill McDonalds, police say An 18-year-old man was on life support at a hospital after being shot in the head outside a Rock Hill McDonalds near Winthrop University Sunday afternoon, police said. The male victim was talking to people inside an SUV around 6:30 p.m. when he was shot, Rock Hill Police Department Lt. Michael Chavis said. One of the people inside the SUV shot the victim, a police statement said. The victim taken to Piedmont Medical Center has not been identified. The vehicle, believed to be a gray midsized SUV, fled after the shooting, police said in the statement. On Monday, police charged a Chester man with accessory after the fact in connection to the shooting. Chester County deputies arrested Jameson Larone Dunham, 20, before Durham was taken to the Rock Hill jail, police said. It is unclear what role Dunham allegedly had in the incident. Police have not released details about a possible motive for the crime. The shooting happened across Cherry Road from the Winthrop campus, south of Oakland Avenue. Classes for the fall semester started at the college last week. Theres no known connection from the shooting to the school, Winthrop Police Department Chief Charles Yearta said Monday morning. Winthrop sent out a notification to students and staff Sunday advising them about the violent crime near campus, Yearta said. The investigation remains ongoing. The teacher of a former Twiggs County High School student who was shot and killed remembered him as a smart student who sought to resolve conflicts. The fatal shooting happened Aug. 2 in the 900 block of Dorothy Street. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found 19-year-old Hunter Hall suffering from a gunshot wound lying in the driveway, according to a Bibb County Sheriffs Office press release. Hall was pronounced dead on the scene. Reginald Cordy, Dublin High School ninth grade academy principal, was Halls eighth grade social studies teacher at Twiggs County Middle School. Cordy described Halls graduating cohort as a smart, special group of students because they helped make a big jump in the schools passing rate. Despite having worked in education for 20 years, Cordy said Hall was his only former Twiggs County student he knew who died as a result of gun violence. Thats one of the things Ive always preached to my students about making sure they do the right thing because life is short, Cordy said. When I heard the news, it was tough because how could you do that to a person who was just beginning to live life? Bibb County deputies arrested 18-year-old Dominque Brezial in connection to the death of Hall, authorities announced Aug. 5 in a press release. Brezial was booked on charges of murder at the Bibb County Jail. Hall graduated from Twiggs County High School in 2023, according to a grieving announcement the Twiggs County School District posted on Facebook earlier this month that encouraged the community to keep his family uplifted. Hall was an active member of the Future Farmers of America and Art Clubs while attending high school, the post says. Cordy said he remembered Hall nagging him a lot in class, but couldnt help but to love him due to his caring personality and desire to learn. He was going to be the class clown, but when it came down to business, Hunter worked. He was intelligent, he said. When there were conflicts in the classroom, Hunter was that student who would get in between people and get them to calm down and respect one another. Halls funeral service was held at Bentley and Sons Funeral Home in Macon on Aug. 17. Tybee Island Ocean Rescue is reminding visitors to stay out of the water if they see double red flags after they rescued a man from the water over the weekend. The double red flags have been in place since Thursday morning. Your safety is our priority always check in with your lifeguards and respect the oceans power, rescue officials said. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] On Saturday, Tybee Island Ocean Rescue team got a call about a paddle boarder stuck in a marsh on Little Tybee. On their way to check on the paddleboarder, rescuers found another victim, a 19-year-old, caught in a rip current near the 18th Street jetty. The rip current pulled the young man about 300 yards out into the water. Several lifeguards rushed to the victims side and brought him back to shore with a rescue board. The victim, exhausted, had a brief loss of consciousness in the water, swallowed and aspirated water, and would have possibly not survived without the coordinated efforts of our team, the department said. Tybee Island Ocean Rescue said Saturdays close call should be a reminder to listen to the warnings. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN) Two people from Murfreesboro were taken into custody in Mt. Juliet Sunday morning after a vehicle caught the attention of the citys license plate recognition system. The Mt. Juliet Police Department said its Guardian Shield program notified officers on Sunday, Aug. 25 about a license plate that was reported stolen from Nashville in early July. Mt. Juliet police apprehend man wanted for aggravated burglary Authorities said they quickly intercepted the vehicle on Lebanon Road near Lookout Drive, where they discovered evidence related to catalytic converter thefts inside the car. Police said they arrested a 31-year-old man for theft and a 30-year-old woman who had an outstanding warrant from Rutherford County for probation violation. (Source: Mt. Juliet Police Department) (Source: Mt. Juliet Police Department) Our detectives are continuing to investigate their involvement in local thefts, the department posted on social media. No additional details have been released about Sundays incident, including the names of the two people taken into 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 WKRN News 2. TEXARKANA, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) A man and woman have been arrested after a prostitution sting on August 20. Officials say that members of the Texarkana Texas Police Departments Special Investigations Unit conducted a prostitution sting on August 20th and arrested 34-year-old Christopher Harper at a local hotel for promoting prostitution. Texarkana area law enforcement now have Geaux Bags at their disposal Officers discovered an advertisement for sexual activity on the a website and called the phone number listed. Posing as a customer on the phone, the officer made an agreement to pay $140 for a half hour of sexual activity with a woman. Police say that when the woman arrived at the hotel room rented by police a short time later, she was arrested for prostitution upon entering the room. Harper, who we learned had arranged the meeting and dropped the woman off at the hotel, was arrested for promoting prostitution minutes later in the hotels parking lot. Harper remains in custody at the Bi-State Jail, where his bond has been set at $25,000. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com. 2 charged with murder after body found in car trunk at Palmetto park, deputies say Two men are under arrest on murder charges after Palmetto police officers found a body in the trunk of a car early Sunday morning, deputies say. Officers with the Palmetto Police Department were patrolling the Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve when they found 32-year-old Manuel Escobar shot dead in the trunk of a car at around 2 a.m. Sunday, according to the Manatee County Sheriffs Office. Deputies with the sheriffs office arrested 25-year-old Freddy Sandoval on Monday in connection with the shooting and issued a second-degree murder arrest warrant for Idus Murkerson, 20. Shortly after announcing the search for Murkerson, the sheriffs office announced the Florida Highway Patrol Florida Highway Patrol arrested Murkerson Monday morning in Santa Rosa County in North Florida. Homicide detectives said they determined Murkerson shot Escobar in East Bradenton in an argument over money on Saturday. Escobars body was later left in an abandoned car at the nature preserve, according to a news release. Around 10:20 a.m. Monday, divers with the Manatee County Sheriffs Office were at the Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve. Further information about the murder investigation was not immediately available. Manatee County Sheriffs Office divers and and boats were present on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, at the Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve, where Manuel Escobar was found shot dead in the trunk of a car early Sunday morning, deputies say. Manatee County Sheriffs Office divers and and boats were present on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, at the Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve, where Manuel Escobar was found shot dead in the trunk of a car early Sunday morning, deputies say. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Two people are in the hospital after an early morning shooting in Uptown, Medic says. This occurred at the 4800 block of South Tryon Street. Medic says they transported two patients emergency to Atrium Main. No word from CMPD on whether they have anyone in custody or the conditions of the victims. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. CAIRO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a woman standing in a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was "successful." In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows." After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have canceled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollah's main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollah's actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt "the Israeli aggression." Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and de-escalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanon's stability and prevent a state of "comprehensive instability" in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt's chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. Editor: Zhang Zhou 21-Year-Old Who Had Just Been Baptized Dies Trying to Save Drowning Girl: 'He Didn't Think Twice' "He was trying to support his family back in Mexico," Jacob Bell, a boater who ended up rescuing the girl and finding Lincer Lopez's body, tells PEOPLE Carmen Mata/GoFundMe Lincer Lopez The victim, identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner as Lincer Lopez, was baptized at Lake Waxahachie just moments before a girl from the church group began to drown Jacob Bell ended up rescuing the drowning girl and later brought Lopez's body to shore, he tells PEOPLE "He was trying to support his family back in Mexico," says Bell Moments after being baptized, a 21-year-old man died attempting to save a girl from drowning at a Texas lake. According to the Waxahachie Police Department, authorities responded to a drowning call at Boat Dock Park at Lake Waxahachie around 12:45 p.m. local time, on Saturday, Aug. 24. Upon arrival, they discovered that the man drowned trying to rescue the girl. A nearby boater pulled the girl, who was part of a large church group from Garland, Texas, out of the water, according to police. She was revived and taken to a hospital for further care. Related: 'Hero' Teen Dies on Vacation Saving Kids He Didn't Know from Drowning: 'Our Family Is Devastated' The 21-year-old male was recovered from the lake and transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced deceased, the statement read. The department didnt share the victim's name, but ABC affiliate WFAA reported that the medical examiners office identified him as Lincer Lopez. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner 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. Lincers family and friends told WFAA that he was at the lake for his baptism and that afterwards, the church group was enjoying the water when the teenage girl began to drown. In an interview with PEOPLE on Monday, Aug. 26, Jacob Bell, the boater who ended up rescuing the drowning girl, says that he and his friend Craig McDonald were out fishing that morning. After he dropped off McDonald at the boat ramp, Bell, 47, says he heard some screaming. I looked over there and I saw this little girl swimming towards me, and I was probably a hundred yards from her, Bell says, sharing that he saw she was "holding onto somebody else" whose head was "down in the water." Bell, who pulled both girls into the boat, recalls the drowning teen appeared blue when he began administering CPR. I just kept pumping, he says. And then she started vomiting and she started taking deep breaths again." By the time he got ashore and police began helping with the girl, Bell said that he could hear a group of people talking in Spanish about how there was somebody else still out there. I ran out the lake and where they were pointing to, Bell says. I dove down a few times and then I could feel them down there on the bottom. He was probably 12 feet down and pulled him up off the bottom and kind of [dragged] him over to where the police were. Related: Man Dies After Drowning in Lake Outside SoFi Stadium: 'He Went Underwater and Did Not Resurface' As for Lincer, Bell says that he was told the 21-year-old had been baptized less than an hour before the incident, and that "he was trying to support his family back in Mexico." Lincers uncle, Jacobo Lopez, told WFAA that his late nephew was a hero. "He didnt think twice about rescuing someone else," Lopez said. Related: 2 Men Save Dad and His Young Sons from Drowning in Colorado River A GoFundMe was established so that the man's family can bring his body to his hometown of Chiapas in Mexico. As of Aug. 26, the fundraiser has generated approximately $13,000. PEOPLE reached out to the GoFundMe organizer for additional information. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. A 21-year-old Sacramento motorcyclist was killed Sunday after crashing into a guardrail in Placer County, according to the California Highway Patrol. Officers were called about 9:40 a.m. for a call for a crash at Old Auburn Foresthill Road, west of Foresthill Road in unincorporated Placer County, a news release from the CHPs Auburn office said. A motorcyclist crashed into a metal guardrail on the shoulder of Old Foresthill Road. The Sacramento man, who has not been identified, died while he was being taken to a hospital, the release said. The Placer County Coroners Office is expected to identify the victim after his family has been notified. Officers are investigating the circumstances around the crash, the release said. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the CHP at 916-663-3344 or 800-835-5247. Residents may also email 220POP@chp.ca.gov. U.S. Army soldiers with the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion walk a grid pattern fighting the Boulder Fire in Idaho's Boise National Forest on Aug. 22, 2024. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun) BOULDER FIRE, BOISE NATIONAL FOREST Up since 5 a.m., U.S. Army First Lt. Andrew Harveys cheeks and yellow fire-resistant shirt are streaked with ash as he walks a grid pattern along the fire line, searching for any signs of heat. Its Harveys first time fighting a real wildfire, and he wouldnt rather be anywhere else. Harvey is one of 250 active duty U.S. Army soldiers who arrived in Idaho last week to help fight five wildfires that are burning in and around the Boise National Forest. Collectively, the West Mountain Complex fires have burned more than 30,000 acres, threatened structures and mandated the closures of highways, forest service roads, trails and popular recreation areas such as Warm Lake. This is a mission set that actually helps us save American people, help American people reduce property loss and save some lives, Harvey said in an interview with the Idaho Capital Sun at the Boulder Fire line on Thursday. So all my guys are super excited, pumped up to be here. And honestly, its a privilege to be out here with you guys. The soldiers are from the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. An additional 63 support personnel, including civilian and military personnel, are also part of the Armys response, said Capt. Eric N. Smith of the U.S. Army North Public Affairs Office. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX U.S. Army soldiers providing support to firefighters already on the ground The Army soldiers are supporting the wildland firefighters and U.S. Forest Service personnel who have already been fighting the West Mountain Complex. Altogether, there were 1,048 people responding to the five fires in Idahos West Mountain Complex on Friday, firefighters said. We got out here about a week ago, and were just out here supporting the (National Interagency Fire Center), said U.S. Army Sgt. Nicholas Hage, who is fighting his first major wildfire. Were helping out any way we can working with the hot shots, pulling holes for places, trying to put out some of these smaller things before they start getting going. Were trying to preserve the forest out here. Were trying to protect the homes of the people who live by you know. All-in-all, were just trying to save whatever we can. Boulder Fire Idaho Boise National Forest Hage said he just joined the 14th Brigade Engineering Battalion just a few weeks before deploying to Idaho, and initially wasnt sure what to expect. I was expecting a whole different animal, Hage said. But its really great working with the guys who do this job, and theyre giving us a lot of great insight. We can look at something like, Hey, this is how its going to work. This is whats going to happen. You dont have to panic. And so were spreading that across our guys, and were all learning so much and really putting in a good effort to control, contain and help out everywhere we can. Even though several soldiers who spoke the Sun said it was their first time fighting a wildfire, the soldiers said their Army training and experience prepared them. Luckily, our Army training does assist us with being able to train on firefighting stuff, Harvey said. Even though its not the same stuff, the communication skills that we learn in the Army are very similar, and then our language is very similar. Prior to deploying to Idaho, the Army firefighters completed training at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Harvey said. They followed that up with additional field training upon arriving in Idaho. So overall, a lot of guys are new to the wildland firefighting thing, but were not new to walking in the woods, were not new to using hand tools to dig out, because these engineers are trained to provide mobility, countermobility and survivability to the Army out when were deployed, Harvey said. The Boulder Fire is one of five lightning-caused fires that make up the West Mountain Complex that is burning in the Boise and Payette national forests. The Boulder Fire started Aug. 5 and is located about nine miles southwest of the town of Cascade. As of Friday, the Boulder Fire has burned 2,305 acres, with containment estimated at 44%, according to the Great Basin Team Two InciWeb report on the fire. Army veteran teams up with active duty soldiers fighting Idahos West Mountain Complex fires U.S. Army veteran Sam Bowen is helping lead crews of U.S. Army firefighters who are helping with the response to the Boulder Fire in Idaho. Bowen is superintendent of the new all-veteran Mark Twain National Forest Veteran Crew that is based in Missouri. We bring in six to eight new veterans every year, Bowen said. We give them about three weeks worth of training, and then work them on our crew. And then, after a season with us or a year with us, we then get them placed in positions on other Forest Service crews or other agencies crews. On the Boulder Fire in Idaho, Bowen is working as a military strike team leader, helping manage resources and leadership. So each morning, we have our briefing, figure out where were going, Bowen said. Then as the strike team leader, we break up the crews and put them in on whatever different missions we have. Sometimes theyre all working together. Sometimes were split up, depending on what the job is for the day. And then delegate those missions down to the individual crew. Bowen was an infantryman in the U.S. Army for almost five years 27 months of which he spent in Iraq. When he was preparing to leave the Army, a childhood friend of Bowens found the job and told Bowen to look into it. Initially, Bowen wasnt sure what to expect, but gave it a shot and committed to staying for a fire season. Now, Bowen has been fighting fires for 15 seasons. He has fought wildfires in every Western state, including the 2021 Dixie Fire in California one of the largest and most destructive fires in California history. Bowen said working with veterans from across the country with the Mark Twain National Forest Veteran Crew has changed his life. I would say, you know, especially after getting out of the military and coming home after Iraq, Bowen said. My first season was in a forest service veteran program, and I got to be around a lot of other vets, and it really helped my transition back to the civilian workforce, yeah. And being able to just have that camaraderie and support network and a mission to feel like were really doing good work for the American people, it gives you a lot of purpose. I definitely also saw a lot of people that came through the same program as me that were really struggling and I think this job saved them. Harvey, an active duty Army soldier, said it is great fighting the fire with a military veteran and experienced firefighter like Bowen. Its definitely helpful for all of us, being able to integrate, especially with the Mark Twain vet crew, because theyre veterans, they speak the same language as us, so they can relate it back to what we know, Harvey said. Wildland firefighters experience long, smoky days in rugged terrain Each morning the soldiers fighting the fires in Idaho wake at 5 a.m., dress quickly in their yellow and green flame-resistant clothing, eat breakfast and receive a briefing for the day. The soldiers wear hard helmets, long sleeves, long pants, boots and gloves. Boulder Fire Idaho U.S. Army support Everything they need for the day, including a gallon of water, lunch and a fire shelter, is packed into a blue backpack that they shoulder and carry through the steep, mountainous terrain of the Boise National Forest. Soldiers are served two meals a day for a total of about 6,000 calories because of the work they do and energy they need to do it, Smith said. The soldiers sleep in tents about a 25-minute drive away from the fire line and call lights out at 10 p.m. in anticipation of waking up at 5 a.m. the next morning to do it all again. Part of the soldiers work involved walking grid patterns along the fire line, looking for hot spots or burning embers to mop up, some of which could be several feet underground. When some finds burning embers or a hot spot, they yell out Hold for heat! and the entire crew stops while they assess the situation and how to deal with it. To do their work, the soldiers carried hand tools for digging and clearing that they sharpened with files, chainsaws and portable backpack pumps filled with water. We feel the ground for any heat thats coming up, and if we do find some, we dig it up, we douse it with water, Hage said. If we have (a hot spot) we turn it up, make it nice and cool, and keep on going to make sure this area doesnt flare back up and push into an area where we dont want it. U.S. Army soldiers fighting the Boulder Fire told the Sun that they expect their assignment fighting fires in Idaho to last for 30 days. Bowen, the veteran firefighter and military strike team leader. The crew has been pretty busy, Bowen said. Theyve been getting a lot of great work done every, every day that weve been here. Weve been mopping up a lot of heat yesterday. This crew specifically found about a dozen spot fires outside of the line. They caught all those to keep those fires in the box that were trying to keep it in, called in the helicopter and rank bucket work. A lot of valuable work has been done. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST U.S. Army soldiers with the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion walk a grid pattern fighting the Boulder Fire in Idahos Boise National Forest on Aug. 22, 2024. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun) BOULDER FIRE, BOISE NATIONAL FOREST Up since 5 a.m., U.S. Army First Lt. Andrew Harveys cheeks and yellow fire-resistant shirt are streaked with ash as he walks a grid pattern along the fire line, searching for any signs of heat. Its Harveys first time fighting a real wildfire, and he wouldnt rather be anywhere else. Harvey is one of 250 active duty U.S. Army soldiers who arrived in Idaho last week to help fight five wildfires that are burning in and around the Boise National Forest. Collectively, the West Mountain Complex fires have burned more than 30,000 acres, threatened structures and mandated the closures of highways, forest service roads, trails and popular recreation areas such as Warm Lake. This is a mission set that actually helps us save American people, help American people reduce property loss and save some lives, Harvey said in an interview with the Idaho Capital Sun at the Boulder Fire line on Thursday. So all my guys are super excited, pumped up to be here. And honestly, its a privilege to be out here with you guys. The soldiers are from the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. An additional 63 support personnel, including civilian and military personnel, are also part of the Armys response, said Capt. Eric N. Smith of the U.S. Army North Public Affairs Office. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX U.S. Army soldiers providing support to firefighters already on the ground The Army soldiers are supporting the wildland firefighters and U.S. Forest Service personnel who have already been fighting the West Mountain Complex. Altogether, there were 1,048 people responding to the five fires in Idahos West Mountain Complex on Friday, firefighters said. We got out here about a week ago, and were just out here supporting the (National Interagency Fire Center), said U.S. Army Sgt. Nicholas Hage, who is fighting his first major wildfire. Were helping out any way we can working with the hot shots, pulling holes for places, trying to put out some of these smaller things before they start getting going. Were trying to preserve the forest out here. Were trying to protect the homes of the people who live by you know. All-in-all, were just trying to save whatever we can. Hage said he just joined the 14th Brigade Engineering Battalion just a few weeks before deploying to Idaho, and initially wasnt sure what to expect. I was expecting a whole different animal, Hage said. But its really great working with the guys who do this job, and theyre giving us a lot of great insight. We can look at something like, Hey, this is how its going to work. This is whats going to happen. You dont have to panic. And so were spreading that across our guys, and were all learning so much and really putting in a good effort to control, contain and help out everywhere we can. Even though several soldiers who spoke the Sun said it was their first time fighting a wildfire, the soldiers said their Army training and experience prepared them. Luckily, our Army training does assist us with being able to train on firefighting stuff, Harvey said. Even though its not the same stuff, the communication skills that we learn in the Army are very similar, and then our language is very similar. Prior to deploying to Idaho, the Army firefighters completed training at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Harvey said. They followed that up with additional field training upon arriving in Idaho. So overall, a lot of guys are new to the wildland firefighting thing, but were not new to walking in the woods, were not new to using hand tools to dig out, because these engineers are trained to provide mobility, countermobility and survivability to the Army out when were deployed, Harvey said. The Boulder Fire is one of five lightning-caused fires that make up the West Mountain Complex that is burning in the Boise and Payette national forests. The Boulder Fire started Aug. 5 and is located about nine miles southwest of the town of Cascade. As of Friday, the Boulder Fire has burned 2,305 acres, with containment estimated at 44%, according to the Great Basin Team Two InciWeb report on the fire. Army veteran teams up with active duty soldiers fighting Idahos West Mountain Complex fires U.S. Army veteran Sam Bowen is helping lead crews of U.S. Army firefighters who are helping with the response to the Boulder Fire in Idaho. Bowen is superintendent of the new all-veteran Mark Twain National Forest Veteran Crew that is based in Missouri. We bring in six to eight new veterans every year, Bowen said. We give them about three weeks worth of training, and then work them on our crew. And then, after a season with us or a year with us, we then get them placed in positions on other Forest Service crews or other agencies crews. On the Boulder Fire in Idaho, Bowen is working as a military strike team leader, helping manage resources and leadership. So each morning, we have our briefing, figure out where were going, Bowen said. Then as the strike team leader, we break up the crews and put them in on whatever different missions we have. Sometimes theyre all working together. Sometimes were split up, depending on what the job is for the day. And then delegate those missions down to the individual crew. Bowen was an infantryman in the U.S. Army for almost five years 27 months of which he spent in Iraq. When he was preparing to leave the Army, a childhood friend of Bowens found the job and told Bowen to look into it. Initially, Bowen wasnt sure what to expect, but gave it a shot and committed to staying for a fire season. Now, Bowen has been fighting fires for 15 seasons. He has fought wildfires in every Western state, including the 2021 Dixie Fire in California one of the largest and most destructive fires in California history. Bowen said working with veterans from across the country with the Mark Twain National Forest Veteran Crew has changed his life. I would say, you know, especially after getting out of the military and coming home after Iraq, Bowen said. My first season was in a forest service veteran program, and I got to be around a lot of other vets, and it really helped my transition back to the civilian workforce, yeah. And being able to just have that camaraderie and support network and a mission to feel like were really doing good work for the American people, it gives you a lot of purpose. I definitely also saw a lot of people that came through the same program as me that were really struggling and I think this job saved them. Harvey, an active duty Army soldier, said it is great fighting the fire with a military veteran and experienced firefighter like Bowen. Its definitely helpful for all of us, being able to integrate, especially with the Mark Twain vet crew, because theyre veterans, they speak the same language as us, so they can relate it back to what we know, Harvey said. Wildland firefighters experience long, smoky days in rugged terrain Each morning the soldiers fighting the fires in Idaho wake at 5 a.m., dress quickly in their yellow and green flame-resistant clothing, eat breakfast and receive a briefing for the day. The soldiers wear hard helmets, long sleeves, long pants, boots and gloves. Everything they need for the day, including a gallon of water, lunch and a fire shelter, is packed into a blue backpack that they shoulder and carry through the steep, mountainous terrain of the Boise National Forest. Soldiers are served two meals a day for a total of about 6,000 calories because of the work they do and energy they need to do it, Smith said. The soldiers sleep in tents about a 25-minute drive away from the fire line and call lights out at 10 p.m. in anticipation of waking up at 5 a.m. the next morning to do it all again. Part of the soldiers work involved walking grid patterns along the fire line, looking for hot spots or burning embers to mop up, some of which could be several feet underground. When some finds burning embers or a hot spot, they yell out Hold for heat! and the entire crew stops while they assess the situation and how to deal with it. To do their work, the soldiers carried hand tools for digging and clearing that they sharpened with files, chainsaws and portable backpack pumps filled with water. We feel the ground for any heat thats coming up, and if we do find some, we dig it up, we douse it with water, Hage said. If we have (a hot spot) we turn it up, make it nice and cool, and keep on going to make sure this area doesnt flare back up and push into an area where we dont want it. U.S. Army soldiers fighting the Boulder Fire told the Sun that they expect their assignment fighting fires in Idaho to last for 30 days. Bowen, the veteran firefighter and military strike team leader. The crew has been pretty busy, Bowen said. Theyve been getting a lot of great work done every, every day that weve been here. Weve been mopping up a lot of heat yesterday. This crew specifically found about a dozen spot fires outside of the line. They caught all those to keep those fires in the box that were trying to keep it in, called in the helicopter and rank bucket work. A lot of valuable work has been done. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST This article was first published by the Idaho Capital Sun, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and X. The DeKalb County District Attorney has indicted three parents on murder charges this month for leaving their guns unsecured, resulting in the deaths of their children. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] District Attorney Sherry Boston said there have been more child fatalities from unsecured firearms in the last six months than she has seen in the previous six years. Channel 2s Tyisha Fernandes spoke to Boston, who said all the deaths were preventable. It doesnt bring us any pleasure but at the same time, we have to hold people accountable for these tragic situations because they are avoidable, Boston said. TRENDING STORIES: Sekani Brunson is one of those children. In October 2022, Channel 2 Action News reported on the death of the two-year-old, who found a gun under a pillow in a bed he was sharing with his father. The father now faces a second-degree murder charge and a cruelty to children charge. Boston said hes one of many parents in the same situation. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] The stories are generally the same Didnt mean to. Thought I put it away. Came home tired, left it in my room, my nightstand, my area, she said. We cant go in with this idea that theres ever a space thats off limits. You either have to have it in a safe, preferably a fingerprint safe because we know kids figure out passwords really quick, or youve got to have it with a gunlock where the key is not accessible. To prevent these tragedies, the DAs office is distributing free gun locks and a limited number of lock boxes for securing guns in cars. Its not going to cost you anything but a few minutes of your time to save a life, said Boston. Residents can visit the courthouse to receive free gun locks and learn how to use them. 3 Tourists Drown After Trying to Save Woman in Whirlpool While Canyoneering in California The victims have been identified as David Bell, Jeannine Skinner and Peter On David, Jeannine, Peter Celebration of Life and Friendship/Facebook David Bell, Jeannine Skinner and Peter On Three tourists from Utah died when two tried to rescue the third from a whirlpool in California last week. Fire officials found three deceased people near the hiking area Seven Teacups after they received a report just before 5:20 p.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 23 about a possible drowning, according to NBC affiliate KGET and KSEE/KGPE. The trio had been sucked into a whirlpool while they were canyoneering with 13 others along the Kern River, NBC affiliate KSL reported. The victims have been identified as David Bell, Jeannine Skinner and Peter On, per the reports. The Tulare County Fire Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Getty Kern River Related: 23-Year-Old Man Found Dead in Michigan Lake After Going Out for a Swim During Family Outing In a Facebook post on Aug. 24, Cyndi Bell Miller, identified by KGET as David's sister, wrote that the three were on their very last rappel when the tragic incident unfolded. She went on to say that Skinner "rappelled into the pool of water and she got caught in a whirlpool." 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 juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "Another man, Peter On, jumped in to save her and they were both caught in the whirlpool, her post continued. Related: 28-Year-Old Son of Carnegie Mellon University President Dead After Tragic 'Drowning Accident' Miller added that Bell then jumped in to save them before all three drowned. They were able to get their bodies out in about seven minutes and they did CPR on them immediately and kept doing CPR for about 20 minutes but they were not able to revive any of them, she wrote. A GoFundMe campaign has been created to support Bells family with unexpected expenses and funeral costs. "The pain is indescribable as we face this [loss]," the organizer wrote. More than $10,000 has been raised as of publication. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Three Utah residents died Friday after being caught in a whirlpool during a canyoneering trip in Californias Sierra Nevada mountains. Tulare County fire officials told local NBC news affiliate KGET that crews responded to a reported drowning at the Seven Teacups hiking area around 5:20 p.m. on Friday. Upon arriving, the found the three victims, who were identified as David Bell, Jeannine Skinner and Peter On. On Facebook, David Bells sister, Cyndi Bell Miller, wrote that the three were part of a group finishing a day of canyoneering and rappelling into a pool of water when Skinner was caught in a whirlpool. Another man, Peter On, jumped in to try and save her and they were both caught in the whirlpool, Miller wrote in her post. She added that her brother then jumped in to try and save his two companions before all three drowned. They were able to get the bodies out in about seven minutes and the CPR on them immediately and kept doing CPR for about 20 minutes, but they were not able to revive any of them, Miller wrote. A GoFundMe started for David Bells family had raised more than $11,000 as of August 26. The Seven Teacups The Seven Teacups trail, located near the town of Johnsondale, California, follows Dry Meadow Creek as it descends through a slick rock canyon containing a series of teacups, or pools, before emptying into the Kern River. It is rated as a Class 3C canyon, meaning that it features water with a potentially strong current. Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at MHauptman@gannett.com This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 3 hikers drown after flooding forms whirlpool in California canyon CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) Four people from Maryland face felony cocaine-related charges after a traffic stop last week in Currituck County. It happened around 7:24 p.m. on August 20 in the 100 block of Caratoke Highway, near the Virginia/North Carolina line, according to the Currituck County Sheriffs Office. A deputy made the stop for a potentially impaired driver, and after a brief interaction authorities established probable cause to search the vehicle, the sheriffs office says. Authorities say the search revealed a substantial amount of narcotics and a concealed gun. Here are the charges for each suspect: 38-year-old Baltimore resident Shannon Thrasher, the driver of the car, was charged with three counts of felony trafficking in cocaine, felony maintaining a vehicle for controlled substances and multiple drug-related misdemeanors. 37-year-old Travis Dukes, of Pikesville, Maryland, was charged with felony possession of cocaine. 55-year-old Reginald Dennis, of Glencoe, Maryland, was charged with three counts of felony trafficking in cocaine, felony possession with intent to sell or distribute cocaine, and several drug-related misdemeanors. 41-year-old Laleh Vint, of Baltimore, was charged with felony possession of cocaine and drug-related misdemeanors. Each suspect received a bond of at least $100,000 and remained incarcerated as of Saturday night. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) A woman is dead after a two-vehicle crash Sunday evening at a Dayton intersection. Montgomery County Regional Dispatch reports officers were sent to the intersection of Frederick Pike and Rivers Edge Boulevard Aug. 25 around 6 p.m. Dayton Police believe the driver of a Ford Expedition overcorrected when the vehicle went off of the right side of the roadway. Police believe that the overcorrection caused the Expedition to travel left of the center line, where it struck a Buick sedan head-on. Woman dead, another hospitalized after crash Sunday Authorities confirmed the driver of the Buick died at the scene. The Montgomery County Coroners Office has since identified that driver as 35-year-old Brittany Shanks. The Expedition driver was taken from the scene to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening leg injuries. Three juveniles were passengers of the Buick. All three were transported to a nearby hospital with varying serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. Stranded passengers wait at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Some major European airlines, including Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, suspended their flights to and from Israel and Lebanon on Sunday, with some extending the suspension until Wednesday. BRUSSELS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Several major airlines in European countries announced the suspension of flights to and from Israel and Lebanon Sunday following escalating hostilities between the two Mideast countries. According to French news channel BFMTV, Air France has decided to suspend its flights to Israel's Tel Aviv and Lebanon's Beirut until at least Monday due to growing tensions in the region. "Today's and tomorrow's flights are canceled," an Air France spokesperson said, noting that the suspension could be extended after the company conducts a new assessment on Monday. Similarly, British Airways announced a suspension of flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv until Wednesday. "Due to the escalating situation in the region, Wizz Air is temporarily suspending flights to and from Israel on the 25th of August," Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air also posted on its website. This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines canceled several flights to Israel and Beirut on Sunday. Its official website listed three flights to Tel Aviv and two flights to Beirut, including one scheduled for Monday, as canceled. German airline giant Lufthansa extended its suspension of flights to Beirut until Sept. 30, and to Tel Aviv and Tehran until Sept. 2. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah claimed that it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows the building of the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Following the most severe exchange of fire between the two sides in the Middle East, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey both called their respective counterparts in Israel on Sunday, urging for an immediate ceasefire in the region, according to their posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. In early August, as tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border began to mount, many European countries urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Meanwhile, some European carriers, including Air France and Romania's national airline TAROM, suspended their flights, although they later resumed services before this latest escalation. Editor: Zhang Zhou Russia launched a massive airborne assault early Monday against 15 of Ukraine's 24 regions, killing at least three people, injuring four and knocking out power and water supplies a day after the body of a British security adviser working with a internationa news team was recovered from beneath a hotel in Kramatorsk in the east of the country destroyed in a rocket attack Saturday night. Photo courtesy State Emergency Service of Ukraine/EPA-EFE Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Russia mounted a massive airborne assault early Monday against 15 of Ukraine's 24 regions, killing at least four people, injuring 13 and knocking out power and water supplies. More than 200 missiles and drones targeted provinces across the country as local officials said a 69-year-old man was killed in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a man was killed in a strike on a private residence in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a woman was killed in Zhytomyr Oblast and another person was killed amid damage to an apartment building in the city of Lutsk. Three people were injured in Ivano-Frankivsk in the west, three in Mykolaiv and four in Odessa in the south of the country and three in Kyiv province with blasts reported in the capital, Kyiv, causing power outages in several districts with the knock-on effect disrupting water supply in the west of the city, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. "There are power outages in several districts of the capital. As experts note, this is due to problems in the national energy network," he said in a post on X. "On the right bank of the Dnieper River, due to a power outage, there are interruptions in the water supply." The Kyiv Regional Military Administration said it had established "communal facilities" including phone charging and Internet access facilities for residents who had lost power to use. Photos in local media showed residents waiting out the attack in the Kyiv subway, underground parking garages and underpasses. State-owned Ukrenergo, which operates the national power transmission grid, issued an order implementing what it called an "an emergency blackout," warning in a post on X that it was not possible during emergency shutdowns to say when normal supply would be restored. Kharkiv as well as the south central provinces of Kremenchuk, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kryvyi Rih, as well as Lviv, Rivne and Vinnytsia in the west, were also targeted. The Ukraine Air Force said on social media that MIG-31s from Russia's Savasleika Airbase east of Moscow and 17 bomber aircraft were used to air-launch missiles followed up by at least 11 waves of attack drones and guided missiles from multiple directions, including the Black Sea. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned the attacks which he said mainly targeted "critical civilian infrastructure and our energy system," saying in a post on X that it was part of a "cowardly war against civilians," making them war crimes. The attacks came a day after a British security adviser for the Reuters news agency was killed and two journalists were injured, one of them seriously, in a Russian missile strike on their hotel in the eastern province of Donetsk. Ryan Evans, 38, a former soldier in the British Army, was part of a six-person war-reporting team from the British news wire staying at the Saphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a few miles west of the frontline with occupied Donetsk. The U.S. State Department confirmed Sunday night that an American citizen was injured in the attack on the hotel. 4 people injured in Russian attack on Kyiv Oblast, among them children photos Four people were injured as a result of the Russian attack in Kyiv Oblast on 26 August. One of them was a child. Source: Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, on Facebook Quote: "As a result of the attack, 4 people were injured, including one child." Photo: Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of Kyiv Oblast State Administration Details: Kravchenko said the destruction occurred in all seven districts of the region, resulting in damage to energy facilities, over 40 houses, 5 cars, warehouses, garages, and fences. Photo: Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of Kyiv Oblast State Administration Background: Debris from a UAV fell on the Obukhiv road in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district, causing a car to burn out and injuring the driver. The Kyiv Oblast Military Administration warned that the air defence network was responding to Russian drones, and civilians were asked to remain in cover. As of noon on 26 August, combat against Russian kamikaze drones was underway in several regions of Ukraine, including the capital city. In the small hours of 26 August, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure with over 100 missiles and approximately 100 Shahed-type UAVs. Support UP or become our patron! 5 dead in Long Island murder-suicide just days after matriarchs death as family prepared to sell home Five people were killed in a slay-suicide horror on a quiet cul-de-sac in Nassau County on Sunday days after the familys matriarch died and kin were set to sell the house, cops and sources said. All of the victims were shot to death in the tiny blue home on Wyoming Court in Syosset, while the gunman believed to be the son who lived at the home with his late mother killed himself on the front lawn, Newsday said. The mom just died, and they were selling the house, said Mary Macaluso, a local real estate agent, noting she was supposed to meet the relatives at the home around noon but that authorities had closed the street by the time she arrived. Cops unearthed a grisly murder-suicide scene at this Long Island home Sunday. Google Maps The homes former owner, Theresa Martha DeLucia, died last week. The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come to look at the house, Macaluso told the outlet. She said one of the children had asked her to meet with the family so theyd know what to do before listing the home, which was estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 on Zillow. They wanted it done quickly, too, because two of the family members had come up from Florida for the funeral and were headed back soon, she said. Four dead victims were reportedly inside the house, while the gunman was discovered fatally shot from a self-inflicted wound on the lawn. James Staubitser A real estate agent was on her way to the house on the same day of the murder-suicide. James Staubitser The homeowner, identified through public records as Theresa Martha DeLucia, died early last week at the age of 95, according to her obituary. It appears to be a murder-suicide, Patrick Ryder, commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department, told Newsday at the scene. We do know that the subject on the front lawn did shoot and kill himself. Ryder later told News12 that investigators believe DeLucias adult son who lived in the house was upset over circumstances surrounding its impending sale and killed four people inside the home and then himself. A neighbor who lived across the street from the mother and son told The Post that the man suffered from mental health issues and was distraught over his mothers death and losing the house where he had lived his whole life. Democrats closed out their convention in Chicago last week, catapulting the 2024 campaign cycle the presidential race and downballot contests into the final stretch before Election Day. At this point, the fate of the House majority hangs in the balance. President Bidens exit from the presidential race, and Vice President Harriss quick ascension as the Democratic nominee, upended the 2024 election, shaking up predictions for White House and congressional contests. Decision Desk HQ paused its House forecast after the unprecedented change at the top of the ticket. Democrats, nonetheless, are hopeful they can flip at least four seats to retake the majority, while Republicans are confident they will keep and expand their edge in the chamber. Here are five House races to watch this cycle. New Yorks 22nd Congressional District In 2022, Republicans flipped four seats in New York that were central to taking control of the House. Now, Democrats say their trek back to the majority runs through the Empire State. Key to that plan is New Yorks 22nd Congressional District, which is represented by first-term GOP Rep. Brandon Williams. Williams kept the seat in Republican hands in 2022 when he beat his Democratic opponent to succeed former Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), who was retiring. But the district which includes Syracuse and Utica is now one of Democrats top pickup opportunities. Williamss seat one of 17 GOP-held districts Biden won in 2020 is rated lean Democrat by the nonpartisan handicapper Cook Political Report. The incumbent will take on two-term Democratic state Sen. John Mannion in November. The contest has taken on outsize interest in Washington, a nod to its importance in the race for control of the House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) campaigned with Williams in February, saying his race may very well be one of the decision points on whether we keep the majority, grow the majority in the House. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), meanwhile, is supporting Mannion as part of its Red to Blue program. Williams and Mannion will meet face-to-face in four debates ahead of Election Day, with the first set for Oct. 1. Washingtons 3rd Congressional District Its a rematch in Washingtons 3rd Congressional District. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D), a first-term lawmaker from the Evergreen State, will once again take on Republican Joe Kent, whom she defeated in 2022 in an upset victory for Democrats. Kent, who is backed by former President Trump, beat then-Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in last cycles GOP primary, knocking out a Republican who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In the general election, however, Gluesenkamp Perez, who was the owner of an auto repair shop, reigned victorious over Kent by less than 1 percentage point, flipping the district which Trump won in 2020 blue. Cook Political Report rates Round 2 of the Gluesenkamp Perez-Kent match-up a toss up. Gluesenkamp Perez has worked to build a reputation as a moderate throughout her first term in Congress, frequently breaking from her Democratic colleagues on various votes. More recently, she drew headlines amid the debacle over Bidens candidacy, suggesting to a local outlet that the president should resign from office and then refusing to endorse Harris. The congresswoman also made news this week for being one of several vulnerable Democrats who skipped the partys convention in Chicago, opting to spend time in her district and concentrate on her reelection bid a fact Republicans seized on. The National Republican Congressional Committee set up a mobile billboard at the convention calling out Gluesenkamp Perez and other Democrats for skipping the event. The billboard read have you seen me? Harris enablers. Kent, meanwhile, has emphasized his closeness to Trump. Earlier this month, the Republican argued that Trumps adversaries censor the former president because when people hear directly from him they cant help but like him. His policies arent radical, they are common sense. This is what they fear. New Yorks 17th Congressional District Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) is on a mission to reclaim his perch in the lower chamber. Jones, who was defeated in a messy Democratic primary in 2022, is running against first-term Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) for his old seat in a race that is one of the most competitive House contests this cycle. Cook Political Report rates the seat a toss up. Lawler is another of the 17 Republicans who represent a district Biden won in 2020. Jones was elected to represent New Yorks 17th District in 2020, but, after redistricting, opted to run in the Empire States 10th District to avoid a race against then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who headed the DCCC that cycle. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) beat Jones in the primary. Since reemerging on the political scene, Jones who was one hailed as a progressive rising star has appeared to moderate his stances as he vies for his old seat in a swing district. The former congressman, for example, endorsed the primary challenger against Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) George Latimer, who won because of the incumbents stance on the Israel-Hamas war. The district has a sizable Jewish population. Lawler, meanwhile, has quickly developed a name for himself during his first term on Capitol Hill, making the rounds on cable news and emerging as a leadership ally, particularly during former Speaker Kevin McCarthys (R-Calif.) stint at the top of the conference. Pennsylvanias 8th Congressional District Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) is in a fight for his political life as he faces a challenge from Republican Rob Bresnahan, a businessman, in a district Trump won in 2020. Cartwright, who is listed as one of the DCCCs front-liners, is beating Bresnahan in the money game: Cartwright has raised $5.66 million this cycle, more than double Bresnahans $2.56 million, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Bresnahan loaned his campaign $400,000 last quarter. The large numbers were reported as the Democratic Party enjoys a jolt of momentum powered by Harriss rise to the top of the partys ticket. While Democrats are hopeful the excitement on the ground will translate to wins up and down the ballot, leading election handicappers say the effect remains unknown and that it may not be as helpful for candidates running in some battleground or more conservative districts. David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report, told The Hill earlier this month that Cartwright, who represents Bidens hometown of Scranton, may be one of those candidates. Cartwright and Bresnahan are set to debate on Oct. 22. Michigans 7th Congressional District Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) announced in February 2023 that she was launching a campaign for the Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), opening up a seat in the states competitive 7th Congressional District. Former Michigan state Sens. Tom Barrett (R) and Curtis Hertel Jr. (D) are set to face off in November in a district that has significant implications for control of the House next year. Michigan overall is also a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential race. Cook Political Report rates the seat a toss up. Slotkin defeated Barrett by just more than 5 percentage points in 2022. The Wolverine States 7th District has a checkered political history, both in terms of presidential races and representation in the House. Before Slotkin, a Republican represented the seat, which was previously held by a Democrat. Biden narrowly won the district in 2020, but it was captured by Trump in 2016. A poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights for Inside Elections released last month shows Barrett with a sizable lead over Hertel 48 percent support to 41 percent with 11 percent of voters still undecided. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 Hill) Democrats closed out their convention in Chicago last week, catapulting the 2024 campaign cycle the presidential race and down-ballot contests into the final stretch before Election Day. At this point, the fate of the House majority hangs in the balance. President Joe Bidens exit from the presidential race, and Vice President Kamala Harris quick ascension as the Democratic nominee, upended the 2024 election, shaking up predictions for White House and congressional contests. Decision Desk HQ paused its House forecast after the unprecedented change at the top of the ticket. Democrats, nonetheless, are hopeful that they can flip at least four seats to retake the majority, while Republicans are confident that they will keep and expand their edge in the chamber. Here are five House races to watch this cycle. New Yorks 22nd Congressional District In 2022, Republicans flipped four seats in New York that were central to taking control of the House. Now, Democrats say their trek back to the majority runs through the Empire State. Key to that plan is New Yorks 22nd Congressional District, which is represented by first-term GOP Rep. Brandon Williams. Williams kept the seat in Republican hands in 2022 when he beat his Democratic opponent to succeed former Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), who was retiring. Trump, Harris campaigns clash over muting mics during scheduled ABC debate But the district which includes Syracuse and Utica is now one of Democrats top pickup opportunities. Williams seat, one of the 17 GOP-held districts Biden won in 2020, is rated lean Democrat by the nonpartisan handicapper Cook Political Report. The incumbent will take on two-term Democratic state Sen. John Mannion in November. The contest has taken on an outsized interest in Washington, a nod to its importance in the race for control of the House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) campaigned with Williams in February, saying his race may very well be one of the decision points on whether we keep the majority, grow the majority in the House. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), meanwhile, is supporting Mannion as part of its Red to Blue program. Williams and Mannion will meet face-to-face in four debates ahead of Election Day, with the first set for Oct. 1. Washingtons 3rd Congressional District It is a rematch in Washingtons 3rd Congressional District. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), a first-term lawmaker from the Evergreen State, will once again take on Republican Joe Kent, whom she defeated in 2022 in an upset victory for Democrats. Kent, who is backed by former President Donald Trump, beat then-Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in the GOP primary, knocking out a Republican who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In the general election, however, Gluesenkamp Perez, who was the owner of an auto repair shop, reigned victorious over Kent by less than 1 percentage point, flipping the district which Trump won in 2020 blue. Cook Political Report rates round two of the Gluesenkamp Perez-Kent match-up a toss up. Gluesenkamp Perez has worked to build a reputation as a moderate throughout her first term in Congress, frequently breaking from her Democratic colleagues on various votes. More recently, she drew headlines amid the debacle over Bidens candidacy, suggesting to a local outlet that the president should resign from office and then refusing to endorse Harris. The congresswoman also made news this week for being one of several vulnerable Democrats who skipped the partys convention in Chicago, opting to spend time in her district and concentrate on her reelection bid a fact that Republicans seized on. The National Republican Congressional Committee set up a mobile billboard at the convention calling out Gluesenkamp Perez and other Democrats for skipping the event. The billboard read have you seen me? Harris enablers. Kent, meanwhile, has emphasized his closeness to Trump. Earlier this month, the Republican argued that Trumps adversaries censor him because when people hear directly from him they cant help but like him. His policies arent radical, they are common sense. This is what they fear. New Yorks 17th Congressional District Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) is on a mission to reclaim his perch in the lower chamber. Jones, who was defeated in a messy Democratic primary in 2022, is running against first-term Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) for his old seat in a race that is one of the most competitive House contests this cycle. The Cook Political Report rates the seat a toss up. Lawler is one of the 17 Republicans who represent a district Biden won in 2020. Jones was elected to represent New Yorks 17th District in 2020, but, after redistricting, opted to run in the Empire States 10th District to avoid a race against then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who headed the DCCC that cycle. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) beat Jones in the primary. Since reemerging on the political scene, Jones who was one hailed as a progressive rising star has appeared to moderate his stances as he vies for his old seat in a swing district. The former congressman, for example, endorsed the primary challenger against Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) George Latimer, who won because of the incumbents stance on the Israel-Hamas war. The district has a sizable Jewish population. Tight Montana Senate race spotlights tribal safety concerns Lawler, meanwhile, has quickly developed a name for himself during his first term on Capitol Hill, making the rounds on cable news and emerging as a leadership ally, particularly during former Speaker Kevin McCarthys (R-Calif.) stint at the top of the conference. Pennsylvanias 8th Congressional District Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) is in a fight for his political life as he faces a challenge from Republican Rob Bresnahan, a businessman, in a district Trump won in 2020. Cartwright, who is listed as one of the DCCCs front-liners, is beating Bresnahan in the money game: Cartwright has raised $5.66 million this cycle, more than double Bresnahans $2.56 million, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Bresnahan loaned his campaign $400,000 last quarter. The large numbers were reported as the Democratic Party enjoys a jolt of momentum powered by Harriss rise to the top of the partys ticket. While Democrats are hopeful that the excitement on the ground will translate to wins up and down the ballot, leading election handicappers say the effect remains unknown and that it may not be as helpful for candidates running in some battleground or more conservative districts. David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report, told The Hill earlier this month that Cartwright, who represents Bidens hometown of Scranton, Pa., may be one of those candidates. Cartwright and Bresnahan are set to debate on Oct. 22. Michigans 7th Congressional District Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) announced in February 2023 that she was launching a campaign for the Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), opening up a seat in the states competitive 7th Congressional District. Former Michigan state Sens. Tom Barrett (R) and Curtis Hertel Jr. (D) are set to face off in November in a district that has significant implications for control of the House next year. Michigan overall is also a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential race. Cook Political Report rates the seat a toss up. Slotkin defeated Barrett by just more than 5 percentage points in 2022. The Wolverine States 7th District has a checkered political history, both in terms of presidential races and representation in the House. Before Slotkin, a Republican represented the seat, which was previously held by a Democrat. Biden narrowly won the district in 2020, but it was captured by Trump in 2016. A poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights for Inside Elections released last month shows Barrett with a sizable lead over Hertel 48 percent support to 41 percent with 11 percent of voters still undecided. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The Marion County Sheriffs Office recovered an estimated $495,000 in merchandise stolen from retail stores while serving a search warrant at a property on Evergreen Ave. in northeast Salem on Aug. 19. The search was part of months-long investigation into an organized retail theft ring, the Sheriffs Office said. Cirque du Soleil acrobat hospitalized after fall during Portland performance During the search warrant service, investigators found a large amount of new merchandise believed to be stolen from stores, including over 2,200 Lego sets, over 8,500 videos and video sets, DVD, 4K, and Blu-Ray, over 800 vinyl records, and over 1,000 toys, the MCSO said. More of the recovered merchandise said to be stolen through organized crime. (Marion County Sheriffs Office) Will Kroger, Albertsons merge? Case begins in Portland Sheriffs deputies arrested 48-year-old Salem man Salvador Barraza in connection to the suspected retail theft ring. Barraza is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. on Sept. 16, and faces charges of organized retail theft, money laundering, and theft by receiving in the first degree. The Salem Police Department, the Oregon Department of Justice, Target, Barnes & Noble Walmart and Fred Meyer helped the sheriffs office with the investigation. The Marion County Sheriffs Office successfully apprehended the suspect in this organized retail theft investigation, Salem PD said. Regional agencies, like Salem Police, lent some assistance. Their investigative efforts made an impact on the problem in and around the Salem-Keizer 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 KOIN.com. (Getty Images) Entrepreneurs in Appalachia have ideas for renewable energy projects, but finding funding in rural and low-income areas can be challenging. A new initiative, the Green Bank for Rural America, could help channel funds to small, rural, nonprofit lenders to support projects like community solar arrays, apprenticeships in renewable energy fields and electrified public transit, just to name a few. The green banking movement began as a way to finance small green energy projects. Banks loan money to businesses all the time, but loan processes can be difficult for business owners in low-income or rural communities. Community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, play a crucial role in supporting projects that otherwise might not get financed. CDFIs kind of serve as the on ramp for communities and banks on the highway, Donna Gambrell, president of Appalachian Community Capital (ACC), said. The firm works to leverage resources toward low-income Appalachian communities through CDFIs. These small, community-based lenders are often better positioned to help businesses and people in under-invested areas. New federal funding will help ACC provide more assistance to their small lender network. The steering committee for the Green Bank includes multiple CDFIs from across the Appalachian Region, including CommunityWorks Carolina, Grow America, Coalfield Development, Inc. and others. The Environmental Protection Agency awarded ACC $500 million in seed funding to start a Green Bank for Rural America. The bank will prioritize the Appalachian regions 582 counties, while also serving other communities across rural America, particularly low-income communities, communities of color, and communities in transition from fossil fuels. Gambrell said the bank will leverage private capital to create thousands of jobs in renewable energy. We wanted to make sure that these were high impact projects, green projects, renewable energy projects that were in low wealth rural communities, Gambrell said. The projects themselves would help create jobs that stay in hard hit communities. The funds are part of the EPAS $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created explicitly to support nonprofit lenders with a history of deep community relationships and investment in local projects. They are also intended to leverage further private investment, which ACC predicts could amount to $1.6 billion for the Appalachian region in total. The Green Bank is intended to raise the capacity for community lenders and allow for increased investment in all phases of energy transition and climate resilience, including workforce training, renewable energy storage, electric transit, home energy efficiency and disaster relief. The money will support work thats been going on in communities for a long time, Robin Gabbard, the president of Eastern Kentuckys CDFI, the Mountain Association, said. In Eastern Kentucky, the Mountain Association supports rural community centers, groceries, small businesses, charities and homeowners by financing solar panels and energy retrofits that have saved them thousands. Gwen Christon runs an IGA grocery store in Isom, a town in Eastern Kentucky that already struggles with exorbitantly high power bills and a lack of grocery options. Climate change is worsening both problems. When her store was devastated by a flood, Christon had to start over, turning her town into a food desert as she searched for ways to reopen, Gabbard said. The Mountain Association helped Christon get funds for improved coolers, heating and air. Theyre reaping the benefits of reduced energy costs, so that they can reinvest back into their businesses and continue to grow their workforce, provide lower cost groceries, Gabbard said. Western North Carolina is served by five members of Appalachian Community Capital: Carolina Small Business Fund, Carolina Community Impact, Mountain BizWorks, Institute Capital and Piedmont Business Capital.The institutions are preparing to be ready to go when the new funding becomes available in 2025. This story is republished from Blue Ridge Public Radio and is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. The 500th flight carrying U.S. military equipment to Israel since the Israel-Hamas war began has landed, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced Monday. That is an average of more than one flight per day, plus more than 100 sea shipments. They delivered armored vehicles, munitions, personal protection gear and medical equipment "crucial" to the Israeli military since the war started more than 10 months ago, the ministry said in a statement. "This operation has delivered over 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel," the ministry said in a statement. Military flights are still flying to Israel, but U.N. humanitarian aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders for a swath of central Gaza, a senior U.N. official told Reuters. Israeli officials said the evaucations were necessary because the military was pursuing Hamas militants in the area. The U.N. official, said the agency's staff had to be moved so quickly that equipment was left behind. Attacks by Israel, Hezbollah: Could they ease tensions instead of fueling war? Developments: The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,435 Palestinians have been killed and 93,534 have been wounded in Israels war against Hamas that began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killed almost 1,200 people and seized more than 200 hostages. The Israeli military said it destroyed a Hamas tunnel the length of almost eight football fields in central Gaza. Incubators stand empty after premature Palestinian babies were transported from Al-Aqsa Hospital to Khan Younis' Nasser hospital following Israeli evacuation orders for areas in the central Gaza Strip on Aug. 26, 2024. US says cease-fire talks are making some progress White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that Brett McGurk stayed in Cairo an extra day to help transition truce talks between Israel and Hamas to the working group level without top officials. All parties, including Hamas, will be represented. The U.S. expects those talks to take place over the next several days. Kirby said the departure of McGurk and other top officials was a sign of progress in that "you didn't need that the mediators all there and the leadership there." "The talks actually progressed to a point where they felt like the next logical step was to have working groups at lower levels sit down to hammer out these finer details," he said. "There's no truth at all to the fact that they broke down. Quite the contrary." He could not provide specifics publicly on what form the progress had been taken, but he said that one issue the working group will be fleshing out is the exchange of hostages that Hamas is holding and prisoners by Israel. "What that exchange looks like, how many ... some of the details of exactly who will be released on either side and at what pace, those kinds of things," he said. Francesca Chambers Israeli minister: Jews should be allowed to pray atop Temple Mount Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir drew outrage after telling Army Radio that Jews would not be prevented from praying atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and one of Islam's holiest sites. An unwritten agreement allows Jewish visitors to visit the Temple Mount, but they must pray at the nearby Western Wall. Israel's tight restriction over the mosque were among reasons for the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas leaders say. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement calling on international allies to "pressure Israel to force it to put an end to Ben Gvirs practices, statements and provocative stances. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel called on Netanyahu to remove Ben Gvir from his post overseeing Israel police, warning that his irresponsible comments put into doubt Israels strategic alliances with Muslim states" against Iran. Hostage families, government at odds over attack remembrance Tens of thousands of Israelis are expected to attend an alternative remembrance marking the first anniversary of Hamass Oct. 7 attack, Israeli Channel 2 reported. The event is being organized by victims of the attack and their families who do not want to participate in the government's ceremony. Families of hostages have repeatedly criticized Netanyahus efforts to free the hostages, and some accuse the government of using the official ceremony to avoid responsibility for the role it played in failing to prevent the attack and for failing to care for the communities in the attack's aftermath. Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is organizing the government event, drew added criticism when he dismissed the concerns of the families as "noise." Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israeli war: 500th US aid flight arrives; truce talks move forward Seven civilians were injured in Kherson Oblast as a result of Russian attacks on 26 August. Source: the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Quote: "The investigation reports that on 26 August at about 3:00 Russian troops once again struck the settlement of Antonivka using UAVs. An explosive was dropped, injuring a 57-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman. At about 9:40 a 61-year-old resident of the settlement of Zolota Balka was injured." Details: At 13:00 the Russians launched a large-scale attack on the city of Kherson. A residential building was struck, and a hall of residence, private houses, a school and an administrative building were damaged. Early reports say artillery was used for the attack. Reportedly, four locals received injuries of different degrees of severity. Law enforcement initiated pre-trial investigations into the violation of the laws and customs of war. Support UP or become our patron! This photo taken with a mobile phone shows an overturned bus in a ravine in southwest Pakistan's Lasbela on Aug. 25, 2024. Twelve people were killed and 22 others injured when the bus carrying the pilgrims fell into a ravine in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday morning, police sources said. The accident happened in Lasbela district when the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle due to brake failure. The passengers were traveling from the eastern Punjab province to Iran for pilgrimage, the sources from the district told Xinhua. (Str/Xinhua) ISLAMABAD, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Twelve people were killed and 22 others injured when the bus carrying the pilgrims fell into a ravine in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday morning, police sources said. The accident happened in Lasbela district when the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle due to brake failure. The passengers were traveling from the eastern Punjab province to Iran for pilgrimage, the sources from the district told Xinhua. The injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital, with several of them in critical condition, the sources said. Road accidents frequently happen in Pakistan due to poorly maintained roads, violation of road safety rules, and reckless driving. This photo taken with a mobile phone shows an overturned bus in a ravine in southwest Pakistan's Lasbela on Aug. 25, 2024. Twelve people were killed and 22 others injured when the bus carrying the pilgrims fell into a ravine in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday morning, police sources said. The accident happened in Lasbela district when the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle due to brake failure. The passengers were traveling from the eastern Punjab province to Iran for pilgrimage, the sources from the district told Xinhua. (Str/Xinhua) People search for victims after a bus fell into a ravine in southwest Pakistan's Lasbela on Aug. 25, 2024. Twelve people were killed and 22 others injured when the bus carrying the pilgrims fell into a ravine in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday morning, police sources said. The accident happened in Lasbela district when the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle due to brake failure. The passengers were traveling from the eastern Punjab province to Iran for pilgrimage, the sources from the district told Xinhua. (Str/Xinhua) Editor: Zhang Zhou 9-Month World Cruise passengers Andrew and Ale Kennedy shared their 'scary' evacuation from the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa on Aug. 22 Getty Volcanic activity in Iceland Andrew and Ale Kenney a couple who are passengers on the Royal Caribbeans Ultimate World Cruise shared that they were evacuated from the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa in Iceland due to a volcanic eruption on Thursday, Aug. 22. According to Forbes, the latest eruption is the sixth time the area has reported a volcanic eruption over the last year. The couple shared the scary update and their evacuation experience on Instagram and TikTok. In the video, Andrew said that the volcano fire alarm is going off and that they were at the hot springs at the time. In another video, Ale added that it was a bit of a terrifying experience as she walked out of the lagoon to safety. Getty Iceland's Blue Lagoon Related: Royal Caribbean Confirms 9-Month Cruise Will Not Go Through Red Sea and Suez Canal Due to Middle East Unrest Its pretty terrifying for that alarm to go off when youre way in the back of the pool, she continued. They rushed us and were still soaking wet. Andrew said that they were told, Dont even change, dont even shower, while they were evacuated. We didnt pay and we had balances and everything and theyre like just go, get out. He also added that according to the staff, last time [an eruption] happened, it took five hours to get over here, so time is on our side." The video then switched to a view of the eruption taking place as the couple drove out to safety. They pulled over to take some other videos of the lava bubbling up as Ale said, "This is crazy." The couple eventually got back to the cruise. Related: The 9-Month World Cruise Is Almost Over, Leaving One of Its Famous Passengers Feeling Conflicted Ale added that the whole experience was very scary, but were all safe. In the caption of the video, the couple wrote, "Thankfully the employees at the Blue Lagoon were so professional and efficient at getting everyone out of there in a timely manner! Very scary and definitely not on our Bingo card. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The Ultimate World Cruise departed Miami back on Dec. 10, 2023. According to the official website, the cruise spans 274 nights and goes through 160 total destinations. The cruise will travel back to Miami and officially conclude on Sept. 10, 2024. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) The preliminary hearing for a Colorado man accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl in Bakersfield was postponed Monday to October. Joshua Michael Stehle, 30, is now scheduled for an Oct. 28 hearing on charges of kidnapping, contacting a minor to commit a sex act and possession of child pornography, among other offenses. Hes being held without bail. On March 17, family of the girl reported her missing around 5:30 a.m., telling authorities theyd last seen her at about 2 a.m. Deputies gathered evidence pointing to Stehle as the suspect, pinged his cellphone and alerted authorities in Utah after learning the device was headed there on Interstate 70, according to court filings. Stehles pickup was stopped near Salina, Utah, with him and the girl inside, the filing says. He was arrested and extradited to Kern County. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Abuse of thousands of migrants at federal immigration detention centers in Louisiana is rampant, inhumane and meets the legal definition of torture, according to a report published on Monday by a coalition of human rights groups. Accusations include the shackling of detainees for lengthy periods in painful positions, filthy drinking water, food contaminated by rat feces and served in meager portions, and a denial of or restricted access to medical and mental health treatment. Additionally, the report alleges, women are routinely refused essential menstrual products, some restrained detainees were denied food, water, exercise or restroom facilities for more than 24 hours at a time and others were taunted, beaten or sexually assaulted by guards. The allegations draw on interviews over a two-year period with more than 6,200 people held in nine Louisiana detention centers under the purview of the New Orleans immigration and customs enforcement field office (Nola Ice). The report paints a damning picture of a miserable life in the facilities, eight of which are run by private contractors that have made substantial financial contributions for lobbying and to various politicians campaigns. These individuals have fled persecution and violence only to be thrown in civil detention and left to fend for themselves in an abusive, profit-driven and manipulative system, said Sarah Decker, staff attorney at Robert F Kennedy Human Rights and one of the reports lead authors. Weve heard horrific stories that have been corroborated by extensive documentation. Our findings further support what detained people and their advocates have long demanded. The Nola Ice jails must be shut down. In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, Ice ERO (enforcement and removal operations) said it was firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and that a continual review of immigration centers nationally monitored the quality of life and treatment of individuals among other factors relevant to the continued operation of each facility. Geo Group, one of the two companies named in the report, issued a strongly worded statement rejecting the findings. Geo categorically denies the claims being alleged by politically motivated groups who have a long history of making such claims for the purpose of ending immigration detention and stands by our provision of contract compliant support services in accordance with all established federal standards, it said. The 107-page report, entitled Inside the Black Hole: Systemic Human Rights Abuses Against Immigrants Detained and Disappeared in Louisiana, was authored by RFK Human Rights, state and national offices of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Project and Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy. It notes that Louisiana is the second-largest state for immigration detention behind Texas and that on any given day more than 6,000 people, comprising recently arrived asylum seekers as well as longer-term US residents from other countries, are in Ice custody there. Nola Ice officials operate immigration detention centers as punishing prisons designed to break the will and harm the mental wellbeing of detained people, the report states. Officials rampantly violate human and civil rights, locking [detainees] in punitive conditions indistinguishable from those in criminal jails and prisons, in some cases for prolonged periods lasting years. In some instances, the abuses that detained people describe first-hand in this report meet the definitions of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under international human rights treaties to which the US is a party. Many are forced to stay longer than they otherwise might because of communications issues and a denial of access to immigration lawyers or libraries at the facilities containing legal books, the report says. For years, we have been on the ground in Louisianas detention facilities, many of which are in isolated rural areas, conducting Know Your Rights presentations and providing legal assistance to as many individuals as we can, said Andrew Perry, ACLU of Louisianas immigrant rights staff attorney. The conditions in these facilities are inhumane, as this report shows in heartbreaking detail. The federal government has turned immigration detention into a profit machine at the expense of both asylum seekers and longtime residents of the US. These facilities must be shut down. Along with physical and mental abuse, detainees at the facilities mostly in northern Louisiana recounted sleep deprivation and poor or nonexistent nutrition. Detainees at one institution say they were frequently woken at 3am for minuscule breakfast portions while others earning $1 a day for menial tasks found that a single bag of Doritos in the facilitys store was priced at $9. Immigration detention is lucrative, even more so when jails avoid providing basic services like suitable food and clothing, the report states. To ensure maximum profits, Nola Ice jails are incentivized to cut costs by understaffing facilities, paying detained people subminimum wages for custodial and other labor services, and denying sufficient food, clothing, and medical care, among other abuses. The human rights groups detail what they call the perverse financial incentives of the two companies that operate eight of the states nine detention centers between them. Geo Group, a Florida-based company, in February reported annual revenues of $2.41bn for 2023. No contact details were listed on the website of the LaSalle Corrections, which says its 1,250 staff operate 18 correctional centers and other facilities in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Last year, the company was required to pay $7m to settle the case of a Texas woman whose family claimed she was denied water and medical care in one of its prisons and that LaSalle staff falsified records after her death. LaSalle, according to the report, touts itself as a family-run business [that] does not publicly report its earnings. In its statement, Ice said: The agency continuously reviews and enhances civil detention operations to ensure noncitizens are treated humanely, protected from harm, provided appropriate medical and mental health care, and receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in Ice custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering Ice custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergent care. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Authorities in Vancouver say theyve arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with a drive-by shooting late Sunday night and short police chase in the overnight hours. Gavin E. Woods Leonard was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail on charges of drive-by shooting, attempt to elude, assault in the third degree, and driving under the influence, according to the Vancouver Police Department on Monday. Police say officers responded to the Woodspring Suites on Northeast 104th Avenue around 11:45 p.m. Sunday after callers said a man had shot into the building with a gun before driving away in a silver SUV and found evidence of a glass door damaged by gunfire. Cirque du Soleil acrobat hospitalized after fall during Portland performance No one was injured in the shooting, but police say the suspect, later identified as Woods Leonard, and silver SUV were caught on camera and then learned the vehicles license plate information. As police officers investigated the scene of the drive-by, Vancouver authorities say they received a report about a man being belligerent at the Offramp Bar and Grill on Northeast 112th Avenue, and that the man had the same description as the suspect in the drive-by and also had a silver SUV. When Vancouver officers arrived in the area, they found the silver SUV going north on Northeast 112th Avenue and tried to make a traffic stop. Police say Woods Leonard then tried to drive away and a short chase happened until officers were able to stop the SUV with a precision immobilization technique (PIT) was used and Woods Leonard was taken into police custody, after which he was confirmed to be the suspect in the earlier drive-by shooting. Examining the pros and cons of Oregon Measure 118 Police say the silver SUV was seized pending a search warrant and that officers observed a firearm, unspent ammo and shell casings inside of it. The investigation is 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 KOIN.com. Flights in and out of Hilo, road closures, outages linger HONOLULU (KHON2) The effects of Hone are still being felt on the Big Island. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Hone stranded travelers in and out of Hilo over the weekend as Hawaiian and Southwest Airlines canceled flights to and from the city. Hilos airport was bustling Monday morning as travelers tried once again to get on a flight. Youre packed, but you probably didnt think of this Hawaiian Airlines said they were adding additional flights to accommodate travelers Monday. Road Closures Meanwhile, some road closures are still affecting the Big Island. Does Hawaii have what it takes to stop this? As of 7 a.m., the DOT said Bayfront Highway between Waianuenue and Pauahi remains closed. Mamalahoa Highway from MP 56.5 to 62.5 Punaluu Junction to Naalehu police station also remains closed. Power outages HECO said some customers still have outages on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu. Around 1,902 customers still have no power on the Big Island as crews from Oahu travel to assist with restoration. The Hawaii County Parks and Rec department is opening two shelters for those experiencing prolonged power outages from the effects of Hone. They are located at Keaau Armory at Shipman Park and Pahoa Neighborhood Facility at Billy Kenoi District Park. Both are pet-friendly and have WiFi available. Those using the shelters will need to bring all their own necessities. HECO said most of the 64 Upcountry customers still without power should have it restored later Monday. The company is investigating the cause of a power outage affecting 62 customers in Mililani and Schofield. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2. ADEL, Iowa Two Adel parents have been arrested after law enforcement officers allegedly found several dogs and juveniles living in a feces, trash-filled home on Sunday. According to the Adel Police Department, on Sunday at around 8:15 p.m. officers responded to a report of an animal neglect situation at the home of Corey Allan Robinson and Angie Lynn Collins in the 100 block of North 13th Street. According to court records, the tip claimed there was a dog at this residence that reportedly had matted fur and was covered in feces. During the execution of a search warrant at the home officers found two juveniles and multiple dogs inside. According to a criminal complaint, officers found piles of trash, rubbish, feces, flies, expired food, non-running water, and a house in non-habitable conditions. Construction crew hits gas line in Altoona, church evacuated The juveniles were removed from the care of Collins and Robinson and placed with family members and the dogs were transported to AHeinz57 Pet Rescue for treatment, the police department said. Collins and Robinson were both charged with multiple counts of animal neglect and child endangerment and were booked into the Dallas 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 who13.com. Wisconsin participants in the 'Care Can't Wait' campaign pose in front of the campaign's bus during their visit to Milwaukee Monday. (Courtesy, Care Can't Wait campaign) A campaign to elevate the importance of caregiving to the U.S. economy kicked off Monday with a stop in Wisconsin, aiming to throw the weight of care providers and the families who depend on them into the fall elections. Groups in the Care Cant Wait coalition and campaign are highlighting the high cost of care whether child care or care for people who are aging or who have disabilities as well as the lack of paid leave for workers who are sick or who need to provide care for family members. Every day, families struggle with care whether its child care, paid leave, or home care, said Corrine Hendrickson, a New Glarus child care provider, at an afternoon rally in Milwaukee. The campaign, she said, aims to inspire action and call for transformative investment in our nations care system. The campaign is led by Caring Across Generations, a nonprofit advocacy group, and is a joint project with several other groups focused on health care, child care, family leave and related issues. It also includes the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), among whose members are long-term care health workers and, in some states, child care workers and home health workers. We have a crisis in our care economy, Louis Davis, executive director of SEIU Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Examiner Monday. You can talk to anyone up and down the spectrum of the life cycle: Whether youre having a child that youre trying to find affordable child care, you have a parent that youre trying to get care for thats aging or you have a loved one who has a disability, finding quality care regardless of where you are on the spectrum of the issue. Milwaukee was the second stop on the campaigns bus tour that launched in Chicago Monday morning. Stops are planned Tuesday in Michigan and later this week in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina and Georgia. Advocates in early education and health care have been calling attention to the need for care and for ways to better support caregivers for several years, particularly in child care and long-term health care. Now theyve brought together those varied kinds of care into a single concept: the care economy. Care is its own economy, Hendrickson told the Wisconsin Examiner Monday. Without care, we dont have an economy. The child care system is struggling under a paradox: Quality care is too costly for parents, Hendrickson said, while what parents can afford wont sustain livable wages for high quality caregivers. Long-term state and federal investment are needed to bridge the gap between what families can afford and the pay needed to maintain and build the caregiver workforce, such as restoring the Child Care Counts program that bolstered child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. Davis said Care Cant Wait is a very strategic and deliberate [campaign] to make the connection between political outcomes and investment into the care economy. That includes looking to Wisconsins 2025-27 budget but also elections for the Legislature, Congress and the White House in November. SEIU was the first union to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination when President Joe Biden stepped away from seeking a second term. We believe [her election] is the best chance for care workers to have a strong investment and policy agenda that will be advanced through the White House, Davis said, while a prospective Trump administration would make that near impossible [and] will actually be regressive to the care economy. With Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now officially nominated, our first priority is to make sure that they win, Davis said. But as we do that we have a responsibility to push even our allies to prioritize the investment into the care economy in their policy agendas. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX How this new AI application could help Vermonters seek employment Burlington, VT. The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and technology company Skill Lab have launched a new AI tool, called Vermont Employment Pathfinder, to help match Vermonters to career opportunities. The application can help users build resumes based on personal digital profiles. VEP was first created in 2022, with the goal of linking prospective employees to employment, education, and training. VEPs creators specifically highlighted the importance of this application for new Americans, English-learners, those entering the work force for the first time, and more. The application is free and available to job seekers across the state. For more information, Vermonters can visit their website. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC22 & FOX44. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology has made it easier to create believable but totally fake videos and images and spread misinformation about elections, experts say. (Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images) In June, amid a bitterly contested Republican gubernatorial primary race, a short video began circulating on social media showing Utah Gov. Spencer Cox purportedly admitting to fraudulent collection of ballot signatures. The governor, however, never said any such thing and courts have upheld his election victory. The false video was part of a growing wave of election-related content created by artificial intelligence. At least some of that content, experts say, is false, misleading or simply designed to provoke viewers. AI-created likenesses, often called deepfakes, have increasingly become a point of concern for those battling misinformation during election seasons. Creating deepfakes used to take a team of skilled technologists with time and money, but recent advances and accessibility in AI technology have meant that nearly anyone can create convincing fake content. Now we can supercharge the speed and the frequency and the persuasiveness of existing misinformation and disinformation narratives, Tim Harper, senior policy analyst for democracy and elections at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said. AI has advanced remarkably since just the last presidential election in 2020, Harper said, noting that OpenAIs release of ChatGPT in November 2022 brought accessible AI to the masses. About half of the worlds population lives in countries that are holding elections this year. And the question isnt really if AI will play a role in misinformation, Harper said, but rather how much of a role it will play. How can AI be used to spread misinformation? Though it is often intentional, misinformation caused by artificial intelligence can sometimes be accidental, due to flaws or blindspots baked into a tools algorithm. AI chatbots search for information in the databases they have access to, so if that information is wrong, or outdated, it can easily produce wrong answers. OpenAI said in May that it would be working to provide more transparency about its AI tools during this election year, and the company endorsed the bipartisan Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, which is pending in Congress. We want to make sure that our AI systems are built, deployed, and used safely, the company said in the May announcement. Like any new technology, these tools come with benefits and challenges. They are also unprecedented, and we will keep evolving our approach as we learn more about how our tools are used. Poorly regulated AI systems can lead to misinformation. Elon Musk was recently called upon by several secretaries of state after his AI search assistant Grok, built for social media platform X, falsely told users Vice President Kamala Harris was ineligible to appear on the presidential ballot in nine states because the ballot deadline had passed. The information stayed on the platform, and was seen by millions, for more than a week before it was corrected. As tens of millions of voters in the U.S. seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote, reads the letter signed by the secretaries of state of Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Mexico. Generative AI impersonations also pose a new risk to the spread of misinformation. In addition to the fake video of Cox in Utah, a deepfake video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis falsely showed him dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Some misinformation campaigns happen on huge scales like these, but many others are more localized, targeted campaigns. For instance, bad actors may imitate the online presence of a neighborhood political organizer, or send AI-generated text messages to listservs in certain cities. Language minority communities have been harder to reach in the past, Harper said, but generative AI has made it easier to translate messages or target specific groups. While most adults are aware that AI will play a role in the election, some hyperlocal, personalized campaigns may fly under the radar, Harper says. For example, someone could use data about local polling places and public phone numbers to create messages specific to you. They may send a text the night before election day saying that your polling location has changed from one spot to another, and because they have your original polling place correct, it doesnt seem like a red flag. If that message comes to you on WhatsApp or on your phone, it could be much more persuasive than if that message was in a political ad on a social media platform, Harper said. People are less familiar with the idea of getting targeted disinformation directly sent to them. Verifying digital identities The deepfake video of Cox helped spur a partnership between a public university and a new tech platform with the goal of combating deepfakes in Utah elections. From July 2024, through Inauguration Day in January 2025, students and researchers at the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy and the Center for National Security Studies at Utah Valley University will work with SureMark Digital. Together, theyll verify digital identities of politicians to study the impact AI-generated content has on elections. Through the pilot program, candidates seeking one of Utahs four congressional seats and the open senate seat will be able to authenticate their digital identities at no cost through SureMarks platform, with the goal of increasing trust in Utahs elections. Brandon Amacher, director of the Emerging Tech Policy Lab at UVU, said he sees AI playing a similar role in this election as the emergence of social media did in the 2008 election influential but not yet overwhelming. I think what were seeing right now is the beginning of a trend which could get significantly more impactful in future elections, Amacher said. In the first month of the pilot, Amacher said, the group has already seen how effective these simulated video messages can be, especially in short-form media like TikTok and Instagram Reels. A shorter video is easier to fake, and if someone is scrolling these platforms for an hour, a short clip of misinformation likely wont get very much scrutiny, but it could still influence your opinion about a topic or a person. SureMark Chairman Scott Stornetta explained that the verification platform, which rolled out in the last month, allows a user to acquire a credential. Once thats approved, the platform goes through an authorization process of all of your published content using cryptographic techniques that bind the identity of a person to the content that features them. A browser extension then identifies to users if content was published by you or an unauthorized actor. The platform was created with public figures in mind, especially politicians and journalists who are vulnerable to having their images replicated. Anyone can download the SureMark browser extension to see accredited content across different media platforms, not just those that get accredited. Stornetta likened the technology to an X-ray. If someone sees a video or an image or listens to a podcast on a regular browser, they wont know the difference between a real and a fake, he said. But if someone that has this X-ray vision sees the same documents in their browser, they can click on a button and basically find out whether its a green check or red X. The pilot program is currently working to credential the states politicians, so it will be a few months before they start to glean results, but Justin Jones, the executive director of the Herbert Institute, said that every campaign theyve connected with has been enthusiastic to try the technology. All of them have said were concerned about this and we want to know more, Jones said. Whats the motivation behind misinformation? Lots of different groups with varying motivations can be behind misinformation campaigns, Michael Kaiser, CEO of Defending Digital Campaigns, told States Newsroom. There is sometimes misinformation directed at specific candidates, like in the case of Governors Cox and DeSantis deepfake videos. Campaigns around geopolitical events, like wars, are also common to sway public opinion. Russias influence on the 2016 and 2020 elections is well-documented, and efforts will likely continue in 2024, with a goal of undermining U,S, support of Ukraine, a Microsoft study recently reported. Theres sometimes a monetary motivation to misinformation, Amacher said, as provocative, viral content can turn into payouts on platforms that pay users for views. Kaiser, whose work focuses on providing cybersecurity tools to campaigns, said that while interference in elections is sometimes the goal, more commonly, these people are trying to cause a general sense of chaos and apathy toward the elections process. Theyre trying to divide us at another level, he said. For some bad actors, the misinformation and disinformation is not about how you vote. Its just that were divided. Its why much of the AI-generated content is inflammatory or plays on your emotions, Kaiser said. Theyre trying to make you apathetic, trying to make you angry, so maybe youre like, I cant believe this, Im going to share it with my friends, he said. So you become the platform for misinformation and disinformation. Strategies for stopping the spread of misinformation Understanding that emotional response and eagerness to share or engage with the content is a key tool to slowing the spread of misinformation. If youre in that moment, theres a few things you can do, the experts said. First, try to find out if an image or sound bite youre viewing has been reported elsewhere. You can use reverse image search on Google to see if that image is found on reputable sites, or if its only being shared by social media accounts that appear to be bots. Websites that fact check manufactured or altered images may point you to where the information originated, Kaiser said. If youre receiving messages about election day or voting, double check the information online through your states voting resources, he added. Adding two-factor authentication on social media profiles and email accounts can help ward off phishing attacks and hacking, which can be used to spread misinformation, Harper said. If you get a phone call you suspect may be AI-generated, or is using someones voice likeness, its good to confirm that persons identity by asking about the last time you spoke. Harper also said that theres a few giveaways to look out for with AI-generated images, like an extra finger or distorted ear or hairline. AI has a hard time rendering some of those finer details, Harper said. Another visual clue, Amacher said, is that deepfake videos often feature a blank background, because busy surroundings are harder to simulate. And finally, the closer we are to the election, the likelier you are to see misinformation, Kaiser said. Bad actors use proximity to the election to their advantage the closer you are to election day, the less time your misinformation has to be debunked. Technologists themselves can take some of the onus of misinformation in the way they build AI, Harper said. He recently published a summary of recommendations for AI developers with suggestions for best practices. The recommendations included refraining from releasing text-to-speech tools that allow users to replicate the voices of real people, refraining from the generation of realistic images and videos of political figures and prohibiting the use of generative AI tools for political ads. Harper suggests that AI tools disclose how often a chatbots training data is updated relating to election information, develop machine-readable watermarks for content and promote authoritative sources of election information. Some tech companies already voluntarily follow many of these transparency best practices, but much of the country is following a patchwork of laws that havent developed at the speed of the technology itself. A bill prohibiting the use of deceptive AI-generated audio or visual media of a federal candidate was introduced in congress last year, but it has not been enacted. Laws focusing on AI in elections have been passed on a state level in the last two years, though, and primarily either ban messaging and images created by AI or at least require specific disclaimers about the use of AI in campaign materials. But for now, these young tech companies that want to do their part in stopping or slowing the spread of misinformation can seek some direction from the CDT report or pilot programs like UVUs. We wanted to take a stab at creating a kind of a comprehensive election integrity program for these companies, Harper said. understanding that unlike the kind of legacy social media companies, theyre very new and quite young and have no time or kind of the regulatory scrutiny required to have created strong election integrity policies in a more systematic way. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WRBL) An Alabama State Trooper finds himself on the other side of the law and has resigned from his position with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) after being arrested by deputies from the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office. Ryan Rhodes, who joined ALEA in 2020, was taken into custody on Friday, August 23, on allegations of Electronic Solicitation of a Child, Traveling to Meet a Child for an Unlawful Sex Act, and Resisting Arrest. The arrest is reportedly the culmination of an ongoing Montgomery County Sheriffs Office investigation. Rhodes allegedly engaged in electronic communication with a minor, intending to meet for illicit purposes. When deputies moved to apprehend him, Rhodes reportedly resisted arrest. ALEA has not commented on the specifics of the arrest but confirmed Rhodes resigned following the charges. Any further inquiries into the matter have been directed to the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, which is continuing its 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 WRBL. Alaska Airlines flight forced to return to Sea-Tac after Boeing 737s engine shuts down Passengers on a flight from Seattle to Oakland had a scare when their plane had to return to Sea-Tac Airport Sunday afternoon. Alaska Airlines Flight 1240 a Boeing 737-900 left Sea-Tac at 12:22 p.m. Shortly after takeoff, the plane had to head back to the airport after one of its engines failed. According an airline spokesperson, the engine on the left wing one of the aircrafts two main engines shut down. A passenger on the flight told us the experience was terrifying, but said the pilots did great. Credit to the crew for following standard procedures for this situation and landing safely and without incident. We took care of our guests and they arrived in Oakland at 5:35 p.m. We apologize for the inconvenience of the delay, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson told KIRO 7. Were speaking to a passenger who was on the flight and will have an update to this story later Monday. Alaska proves ranked choice is bad? Why did it produce the states most popular official? | Opinion Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltolas 2022 victory in Alaska has served as a bogeyman for opponents of ranked choice voting. How could a Democrat wind up winning in a deeply red state? Isnt this evidence that ranked choice is a failure? Clearly not. Alaska just held an all-party open primary (of the same rough type that is proposed by the Open Primaries Initiative, where each voter selects one candidate, and the top few vote-getters advance to the general election). Peltola received a slim majority of total votes cast (50.4%) in a field with 12 candidates. The two other serious candidates in the race, Republicans Nick Begich and Nancy Dahlstrom, received a combined total of 46.9%. So Peltola looks to have a good shot at being re-elected under ranked choice or any other ordinary voting system. Its a close race, and the outcome is far from certain, but thats the way things are leaning now that voters have had two years with Peltola as their representative. This is far from some rigged game that hoodwinked Alaska voters, as ranked choice opponents often baselessly claim. But how could a Democrat win and be popular in a state that hasnt picked a Democratic presidential candidate since LBJ? One answer is that Peltola is far from a model Democrat. She was the first Democrat to be endorsed by the National Rifle Association since 2020, as the Washington Examiner reported. She was the fourth most likely member of the U.S. House to buck Democratic Party leadership during her first term, as Alaska Public Media reported. She was one of only two House Democrats to join Republicans in opposing federal rules governing pistol braces. Shes worked with Republican senators to open more oil drilling in northern Alaska, and she voted against a Biden-backed deal to avert a freight rail strike, arguing it was unfair to impose a deal on workers that didnt include paid sick leave. It looks like ranked choice voting is doing exactly what it promises: putting parties in the back seat and voters in the front seat. Alaskans are widely opposed to gun control, polling by the Anchorage Daily News shows. And though the Democratic Party generally favors gun control measures, Peltola has generally sided with her voters over her party. Alaskans also overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage rights, Pew polling shows. Peltola sided with her voters here too by supporting the Respect for Marriage Act. Doing what her voters want rather than what a narrow set of party big-wigs want is paying off. High favorability The latest poll by Data for Progress shows that Peltola is probably the most popular elected official in the state. Statistically, her favorability is on par with Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Dan Sullivan and former President Donald Trump (nominally, shes beating them all, though its within the margin of error). And she has significantly lower unfavorability ratings, leaving her with the highest net favorability rating of any statewide elected official. Her secret to winning elections seems to be that a lot of voters like her and not many dislike her. This is probably the outcome that opponents of ranked choice voting, predominantly political operatives and party loyalists, fear most. Ranked choice supports a kind of genuine populism, where it pays to vote the way that most of your voters want you to vote most of the time. The current party-based primary system instead incentivizes voting in line with the wishes of the hardest-line 20% or so of the dominant political party which happens to include all the political operatives and their friends. As a States Newsroom story notes, opposition to ranked choice isnt a Republican position; its the joint position of prominent Democrats in blue states and prominent Republicans in red states. The attacks on ranked choice are best seen in that light: a simple expression of the fact that people who have managed to corner more power than they deserve might be reduced to the level of an ordinary person. Bad for them, but good for ordinary people. Bryan Clark is an opinion writer for the Idaho Statesman. Alert at NATO base in Germany was due to drone threat, source says BERLIN (Reuters) - Last week's alert at a NATO base in Germany housing the Western alliance's fleet of AWACS surveillance planes was due to a potential drone threat, a security source said on Monday. Geilenkirchen air base in western Germany raised its security level to "Charlie" - the second highest of four - during most of Friday. German news agency dpa, citing security sources, said there had been a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service about a possible Russian act of sabotage. But the security source told Reuters no drones had been seen and could not confirm any evidence of a Russian role. "The word Russia was never mentioned. We talked about a threat caused by drones," added a NATO spokesperson at Geilenkirchen. The German government press office, the interior ministry and Moscow's embassy in Berlin did not immediately comment on the media report of a Russian threat. Western forces are on high alert amid widespread reports from intelligence services and Western media of possible Russian acts of sabotage against nations supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has rejected the assertions and accuses the West of aggression towards it. Last week, Geilenkirchen base also raised the security level after a nearby military base was temporarily sealed off as authorities investigated possible sabotage to the water supply. (Writing by Rachel More, Sabine Siebold, Thomas Escritt; Editing by Friederike Heine and Andrew Cawthorne) HONOLULU (KHON2) New details were released about the bus shooting in which a 16-year-old male was injured in Kalihi. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Court records state that surveillance video showed a blue moped travel through a convenience store parking lot, heading for the bus at 3:34 p.m. on Aug. 9. Once next to the bus, suspect 1, who has since been arrested and identified as 19-year-old Johnathan Ten, hopped off the moped and fired when the rear passenger door opened, seriously injuring the victim. 19yo charged with attempted murder for Kalihi bus shooting Ten then got back on the moped, which was operated by a second suspect and they drove west on North School Street. One projectile and one cartridge case were recovered at the scene as well as video footage. Officers were able to locate and recover an extensive amount of video surveillance footage which tracked the suspects path of travel prior to and after the incident. The victim later told detectives that he had seen both suspects at a restaurant he and his friends ate at several minutes before the shooting. Why mass shootings and violence increase in the summer He said the suspects tried to call to him but he just ignored them and walked onto the bus. That was the only interaction the victim said he had with the two suspects. On Aug. 19, an officer was able to positively identify Ten while reviewing the surveillance video. Ten was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in the second degree and firearms charges. Bail was set at $1 million. Ten is set for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 28. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2. ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) The Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Altoona is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The church located at 5514 Roselawn Avenue was established in August 1924 in the Eldorado section of Altoona. According to their website, the first mass for the new parish was offered by Bishop McCort on Sunday, August 17, 1924. We were blessed to have the bishop here with us. And you think back a hundred years and the beautiful people and their great faith in which they invested everything to build this church and that same faith exists in the beautiful people at Saint Rose of Lima Parish today, Father John Lynam, Pastor of the Parish said. Several priests whove served the parish over the years helped celebrate mass for the hundreds of members who attended the service. Rose Nasralla is one of them, and shes also 100 years old. She said its great to see such a milestone. It doesnt feel any different than being ten years old, and not everybody gets to do that. Ive been coming here since I was born, I think, Nasralla said. Veterans Home holds softball game for suicide prevention walk Her sister, Carmeline Maniglia has also attended the church since she was born. The pair were raised in a home just blocks away. I like the people. Yes. Well, whenever you go to this church almost 100 years, you get to know some people and really appreciate it and enjoy them, Carmeline said. Father Lynam said he is looking forward to what the future holds. Im excited about the prospects for the future. Like I said, we are dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants. And so the Lord has brought the fulfillment one century here, and we believe the Lord is going to continue to work in us and through us, he said. To volunteer for parish ministries or to learn more about Saint Rose, you can schedule a meeting with the pastor or contact them through their online 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 WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. Alva man who shot father, put him in duct-taped freezer pleads no contest, gets 30 years Jake Hemmert, 32, accepted a plea in his father's 2023 death on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. An Alva man accused of shooting his father and putting his body in a freezer changed his plea Monday, nearly one year after authorities discovered the remains. Jake Hemmert, 32, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder; fraudulent use of a credit card; tampering with or fabricating physical evidence; and abusing a dead human body. Lee Circuit Judge Nicholas Thompson accepted his plea and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Assistant State Attorney Andreas Gardiner, who prosecuted the case for the state, read a short note written by Jake Hemmert's sister, Jessica Hemmert. Jessica Hemmert said she has been "tormented" the "last 364 days," adding that their father has missed birthdays and other family milestones. The investigation into Jake Hemmert began Aug. 28, 2023, when his grandfather reported the disappearance of Jake's father, Brian, according to court records. Jake Hemmert pleaded no contest on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, to the charges in the 2023 death of his father, Brian Hemmert. Authorities went to Brian Hemmert's home, where Jake Hemmert arrived driving his father's vehicle, according to an arrest report. Jake Hemmert told detectives his father was on a hunting trip in the western U.S. and that he had recently spoken to him on the phone. But Brian Hemmert's cellphone pinged to the father-son's shared Alva home. Kayla Rincon-Miller murder: Mother, aunt of teen accused in Kayla Rincon-Miller murder violate probation During the investigation, Lee County sheriff's deputies learned Jake Hemmert had an outstanding warrant for theft in Maricopa County, Arizona. Deputies arrested him. A detective obtained a search warrant and found Brian Hemmert's cellphone and credit card in a drawer in Jake's bedroom, the report states. Blood was also visible in the master bedroom bathroom. As the investigation continued, a detective learned a large chest freezer was delivered to the home June 22, 2023. This coincided with a change in Brian Hemmert's credit card usage and cellular activity, according to the report. During a Sept. 7, 2023, search, the sheriff's office's homicide unit team found the freezer duct-taped shut and running. They opened it, revealing a male body, which was later identified as Brian Hemmert. An autopsy revealed Brian Hemmert had two gunshot wounds, and the death was ruled a homicide. Lee County sheriff's detectives arrested Jake Hemmert on Sept. 13, 2023, when he admitted to shooting his father in bed, saying it was a suicide request. He also confessed to cleaning up the scene, destroying the mattress and spending as much as $30,000 on his father's card. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Alva man changes plea year after father found dead in duct-taped freezer Indiana and Ohio give tax-funded vouchers to just about anybody, regardless of income, so the vast majority of voucher money is enriching families whose children already attend private church schools, writes columnist John Schaaf. (Getty Images) Many Kentucky churches are losing members and money, but theyre hoping taxpayers will vote to bail them out of their financial problems. Church lobbyists pushed Amendment 2 onto the November ballot, and if their scheme passes, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars will flow into questionable religious schools operated in church basements across the commonwealth. Judging by whats happening in other states, Kentucky would likely pay churches at least $8,000 in public money for each child in their schools, but many of the teachers in the schools will be untrained volunteers recruited from church congregations. Unfortunately, the schools will have no accountability when those teachers fail to teach and students fail to learn. Paul Prather, the insightful writer who is pastor of Bethesda Church in Montgomery County, recently discussed data showing that only about 5% of Americans regularly attend church. (Regularly means attending services at least three out of four weeks.) As in the rest of the country, few Kentuckians regularly attend church, and even fewer put their children in church schools. However, if Amendment 2 passes, politicians will force every Kentucky taxpayer to pay for two school systems one public, and one consisting of schools run by Baptist and Catholic churches. The churches, which pay no taxes to anybody, will use taxpayer dollars to teach their religious doctrine to students they choose to allow into their schools. Thats right the school choice behind Amendment 2 belongs to the church schools, which can choose the children they want and reject the ones they dont want. Even worse, a church school could accept a childs voucher money, then for reasons real or contrived, they could kick the child out a month or two into the school year and keep the tax dollars they already collected. Sadly, there are examples of this failed voucher scheme across the river in Indiana and Ohio, and in other states like Arizona, Florida and Wisconsin. Indiana and Ohio give tax-funded vouchers to just about anybody, regardless of income, so the vast majority of voucher money is enriching well-off families whose children already attend church schools. In the 2023-24 school year, Indiana paid $439 million in tax dollars to private schools, with church schools grabbing 98 percent of that amount, and almost 70 percent of it paid for students who previously attended private school without a voucher. Like Indiana, Ohios spending on private schools grew dramatically after politicians opened the voucher program to everybody, regardless of income. In just four years, overall spending on vouchers nearly doubled, going from $557.5 million to a projected $1.05 billion in FY 2025, and close to 100 percent of the money goes to church schools. Arizona opened its taxpayer-funded voucher program to everybody in 2022, helping create a $1.4 billion budget hole that caused severe cuts for state universities and cancellation of road projects, school construction and water infrastructure projects. As in the other states, more than 70% of Arizona voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools (90 percent in church schools) and had been paying for it without a handout from taxpayers. Florida spends really big on vouchers $3 billion in the 2023-24 school year, with 82% of voucher recipients attending a church school. In Wisconsin this year, taxpayers will pay $12,731 for each voucher student in grades 9-12, and 96% of the money goes to church schools. With politicians diverting more than $700 million per year to private schools, Wisconsins local school districts are frequently forced to ask residents to raise their property taxes to make up for lost state contributions. Kentucky voters should consider these examples of taxpayer dollars flowing into unaccountable and mediocre church schools when deciding Amendment 2. Icelandic police have called off rescue efforts after a glacier partially collapsed during a tourist outing on Sunday, killing one American and injuring another. Rescuers responded to the incident at the Breiamerkurjokull glacier just after noon upon receiving reports that a hiking group in the area requested help. They found a male dead at the scene and a female was taken to hospital by a Coast Guard helicopter where they remained in stable condition, The victims, who have not yet been named, are believed to be a couple. Officials had believed 25 people were traveling in the area and that two remained missing, but on Monday realized that the numbers were inaccurate and that everyone was accounted for. After the cave collapse authorities requested all available emergency personnel, about 200 people from the countrys southern and capital regions, respond to the scene, along with the Coast Guard helicopter squad, as officials worked to construct a rescue plan. The terrain in the area complicated the search. Officers had to largely work by moving the ice by hand or using chainsaws and ice picks. One person who visited the cave shortly before the incident described it as being between three and five meters deep. Einar Runar Sigursson said he was one of the first emergency responders at the scene. In a Facebook post, he said that the tons of ice that fell is overwhelming. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, Monday, Aug, 26, 2024. (AP) The police in the South would like to thank all the responders involved in the search and rescue operation, Icelands law enforcement agency said on social media. It shows and proves in projects like this that we have powerful and solution-oriented people to be in charge when there is danger. An investigation into the incident remains ongoing. The tour group included people of different nationalities who were exploring ice caves when the accident happened. Breiamerkurjokull is one of the countrys most popular tourist attractions and is the largest glacier in Europe. Its known for its crystal blue ice caves formed from the sheet of the glacier. In 2019, a similar incident took place when part of the glacier broke off, generating a large wave at Vatnajokull National Park near tourists. The excursion group was forced to run to higher ground for safety as the wave came toward them. PENNSYLVANIA (WTAJ) The American Red Cross has announced an emergency blood shortage and is asking the community to consider donating. As the remnants of Hurricane Debby and other severe weather events across the country continue to complicate efforts to rebuild the nations blood supply, those who remain in unaffected areas are urged to donate. In Pennsylvania, more than 680 blood drives have been canceled due to weather over the last 10 years, including 35 so far this year. This has resulted in nearly 900 donations going uncollected in Pa. in 2024. Because blood has a short shelf life and can only come from volunteer blood donors, any disruptions in the ability to collect lifesaving blood can have serious consequences for hospitals and patients. September is National Preparedness Month, and a strong blood supply is key to preparedness for disasters and medical emergencies. As disasters occur more often and become more powerful due to the climate crisis, the Red Cross also encourages people to get their households ready for emergencies. Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters. Donors are encouraged to either register through the Red Cross App, visit their website or call 1-800-733-2767 to make an appointment at a local drive. All donors who give through Aug. 31 will receive a $20 Amazon E-Gift Card. Additionally, those who donate between Sept. 1 15 will receive an exclusive Red Cross t-shirt. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) According to the American Red Cross, severe weather such as blizzards, tornadoes, flooding and hurricanes impacts about 90,000 blood donations made annually to the Red Cross. The Red Cross said that weather in recent weeks has added to the summer shortfall in donations by forcing the cancellation of nearly 60 blood drives throughout the country, many of which were caused by Hurricane Debby, which caused widespread flooding and damaging winds from the Florida Gulf Coast to as far north as the New York Finger Lakes. The storm resulted in approximately 1,500 lifesaving blood products to go uncollected. Central Ohio city has hottest ZIP code in America, Realtor.com finds Over the last 10 years, 763 blood drives have been canceled in Ohio due to weather over the last 10 years, including 26 so far this year. This has resulted in about 270 donations going uncollected in the Central & Southern Ohio Region to-date in 2024, in part because of a record-setting year with 65 confirmed tornadoes in the state. Thus, the Red Cross says now is a critical time for blood donations and it is asking for first-time donors and those who give regularly to help blood-supply recovery. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). In thanks, all who come to give through Aug. 31 will get a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. See RedCrossBlood.org/Help for details. Those who come to give Sept. 1-15 will receive an exclusive Red Cross raglan T-shirt, while supplies last. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Amherst man dead after motorcycle crash in Town of Collins BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) An Amherst man was pronounced dead following a motorcycle crash Saturday afternoon in the Town of Collins, New York State Police announced. Police said around 12:24 p.m., troopers identified one motorcycle off Zoar Valley Road near Otto Road. An investigation found that 68-year-old Mark Burkholder was traveling eastbound on Zoar Valley Road when he lost control after he ran over gravel, struck a ditch on the north side of the roadway, and was thrown from the motorcycle, officials said. Troopers provided lifesaving measures and Gowanda EMS arrived to continue aid for head and neck injuries, police said. Burkholder was then transported to Bertrand Chaffee Hospital and was pronounced deceased, according to NYSP. Latest Local News Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view 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 News 4 Buffalo. By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's decision to send Boeing's Starliner capsule home without astronauts follows years of missteps by the planemaker in its space business and raises doubts over the future of the unit, analysts and industry sources said. Taking NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) was to have been a turning point for Starliner after years of delays, technical glitches and supply chain mishaps. Starliner has cost Boeing $1.6 billion in overruns since 2016, according to a Reuters analysis of securities filings. The astronauts were to stay at the ISS for about eight days, but problems with Starliner have extended that to eight months. Starliner's propulsion system malfunctioned and NASA deemed the troublesome thrusters unsafe for the return journey. So Wilmore and Williams will be brought home in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule next year, the latest humiliation for Boeing at the hands of Elon Musk's dominant space company. The mission was meant to be a final test before NASA could certify Starliner for routine flights. Boeing's new CEO Kelly Ortberg now must decide whether to keep pouring money into Starliner, which analysts doubt will ever be profitable, or to unravel the capsule business and focus on rebuilding the tarnished reputation of its core planemaking division. Elsewhere in its space business, U.S. government watchdogs have repeatedly reported Boeing is years behind schedule and several billions of dollars over budget as main contractor on NASA's giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, a centerpiece vehicle of America's moon program. And the aerospace giant is already trying to sell a separate rocket launching firm it jointly owns with Lockheed Martin, Reuters reported last month. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said he spoke to Ortberg on Saturday and left that conversation 100% sure Starliner would fly astronauts again. But that is no guarantee of a long-term commitment if Starliner's troubles persist. Asked whether Boeing would stay in the program after Starliner's current mission, a Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment, telling Reuters the company is focusing on getting the spacecraft back safely. "I am not sure the decision will ultimately be NASA's. Boeing is going to have to foot much of this bill, as they have been," said Lori Garver, former NASA deputy administrator who was a key architect of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Ortberg, who started as CEO this month, is busy trying to convince Boeing workers, investors, airline customers and the flying public that safety issues are under control after a panel dramatically flew off a 737 MAX jet in midair in January. Analysts said Boeing will probably keep Starliner alive, partially because Boeing has experienced worse in other programs in its defense business. In the future, Starliner could serve customers other than NASA, such as private space stations meant to replace the ISS after 2030, but those efforts could change. NASA'S BIND NASA sees Boeing as a crucial backup to Musk's SpaceX, the only entity capable of putting humans in orbit other than U.S. rivals Russia and China. Boeing has spent more than half of its $4.5 billion NASA contract awarded in 2014 and Starliner has yet to be certified. The contract, which has swelled by $300 million despite its fixed-price structure, includes six post-certification Starliner missions that will fall farther behind schedule with each mishap. SpaceX's Crew Dragon was certified in 2020 and has flown 10 crewed missions for NASA since signing a contract initially worth $2.6 billion. NASA has bought more Crew Dragon missions to make up for Boeing's delays, boosting SpaceX's contract to $4.9 billion. Boeing may have to re-do the astronaut mission to the ISS in order to get the space capsule certified by NASA. The company already had to repeat an uncrewed 2022 mission at a cost of nearly $500 million. "I wouldn't rule anything out. We have options for how we move forward," NASA's space operations chief Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut, told reporters on Saturday when asked if Starliner can be certified without a do-over. He did not specify the options. It has been five years since the Starliner's first uncrewed test failed because of several critical software glitches. Since then, SpaceX has outpaced Boeing in rocket launches, crewed space flight and satellite manufacturing. NASA's inspector general has estimated Crew Dragon's mission price as around $55 million per seat, while Starliner's is around $90 million. DEEP PROBLEMS For years, Boeing's space unit has suffered an exodus of skilled staff; many have joined SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Boeing's clunky supply chain makes designing spacecraft more complicated than for Musk's more nimble, largely vertically integrated operation, according to 10 people who have worked with Boeing's space unit. Boeing, in a statement to Reuters, said the company is proud of its Starliner workforce and noted that it has acknowledged the workforce and supply chain challenges on earnings calls. Throughout Starliner's development, the hardware and sometimes the software of the propulsion system have been persistent issues. New problems were found just hours before the spacecraft made an initial attempt to launch this summer. Helium, used to pressurize the propellant, was leaking through a small seal in a flange. NASA saw the leak as low-risk and allowed Starliner to launch. Yet officials said the propulsion system had a "design vulnerability" Boeing must address before its next mission. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is another problem for Boeing's space unit. An August report by NASA's inspector general cited deep issues with quality control, while saying Boeing's SLS workforce in Michoud, Louisiana "lacks sufficient aerospace production experience, training, and instruction." A Boeing spokeswoman said the company disagrees with many of the report's "assertions, including any suggestion that our Michoud workforce is unqualified." Unlike Starliner, NASA foots the bill for delays and development problems with SLS. The extent of cost overruns are unclear because NASA does not accurately track them, inspector general reports have repeatedly said. NASA is trying to hand ownership of SLS to Boeing and co-contractor Northrop Grumman to bring the costs down, but that appears unlikely. "Boeing's other businesses aren't terribly vulnerable to disruption. But space? That's another story," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst. Aboulafia believes Ortberg will crunch the numbers and negotiate with NASA to make Starliner viable, although he is not convinced that is the right step. "If I were an advisor to Kelly Ortberg, which I'm not, I'd say... for space, well boss, you might want to consider selling it," said Aboulafia. (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Joe Brock and David Gregorio) Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at UNC-Chapel Hill this spring returned to court for a Monday hearing in Hillsborough. Supporters filled five rows in Orange County District Court. The hearing was largely uneventful until a conservative political journalist used a courtroom break to take photos of the protest defendants. The group gathered at the back of the courtroom to block the womans efforts, and she moved to another seat, posting the photos she obtained to Twitter. Im Jewish, said Sloan Rachmuth, president of the Education First Alliance, when asked why she was taking photos of people in the courtroom. I want to make sure Im safe. I want to make sure these guys get justice. Eighteen of 39 people arrested in April and May protests will go to trial Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, defense attorney Gina Balamucki said after Mondays court appearance. Another 19 defendants have still not decided whether to accept plea bargains, she said. Graffiti found after protest Student protesters returned to campus last week for the fall semester, prompting two demonstrations on campus and in downtown Chapel Hill, where graffiti was left Saturday night on the East Franklin Street courthouse. The graffiti called for Death to Cops and to Burn the Prisons, town officials said. Saturday rally was organized by the group Triangle Stop Cop City at Peace & Justice Plaza outside the courthouse to show solidarity with victims of police violence, global colonialism and genocide, and the prison industrial complex, according to the groups social media. As we stare down the barrel of another election cycle in which politicians argue and posture about who will best maintain the domination of racial capitalism and this world of genocidal violence, we must find a way to break with the spectacle of electoralism. We must find ways to act directly towards the world we desire, the group said in an Instagram post. The event followed a disorientation rally as students returned to campus Thursday organized by Students for Justice for Palestine. The rally was held in front of UNCs South Building, which houses campus administrative offices. Samuel Scarborough speaks during a pro-Palestinian rally outside UNC-Chapel Hills South Building on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. The campus chapter of Students for Justice for Palestine hosted a disorientation event, drawing dozens of demonstrators. Protesters in court, offered plea deals District Attorney Jeff Nieman has offered plea deals ranging from deferred prosecution to a conditional discharge to the 39 protesters charged this spring with pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Chapel Hill. Balamucki said the prosecution has offered to dismiss the charges if the defendants complete roughly 24 to 36 hours of community service and pay any fines. In April, 36 protesters were charged with trespassing after refusing police orders to end a four-day Gaza solidarity encampment on Polk Place, outside South Building. Six were taken to jail to face additional charges, including resist, delay and obstruct and assault on a law enforcement officer. On May 8, three more protesters were arrested at a demonstration ahead of UNCs commencement ceremony on charges that included assault on a government official, impeding traffic, disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer. Red paint and graffiti were splattered on South Building during the May 11 commencement protests, prompting UNC police to obtain a search warrant for private account information of the UNC Students for Justice for Palestine Instagram account. The organizers of a July 30 rally outside the Chapel Hill Courthouse said they want to leverage their power as a group to support each other through the court proceedings. Several local residents turned out to support the defendants in court Monday, including Kady, a Lebanese immigrant who declined to share her last name. She lived in Lebanon during the countrys civil war, emigrating to the United States in 1986, Kady said. The war in Gaza and the young people demonstrating for Palestinians to have the freedom to live free of violence and oppression is very personal for her, especially since she still has family in the region, she said. I want to support anybody who stands for justice and peace, and for the poor and vulnerable, Kady said. I love the fact of such young people who stand for this kind of cause. Maintenance workers pressure-wash the steps to UNCs South Building after protesters splattered red paint on them earlier this afternoon. Graffiti painted on courthouse during march The protesters have used the court hearings to bring attention to the war in Gaza, which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians since Hamas and other militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 more, the Associated Press reported. Israeli evacuations have displaced at least 90% of Gazas 2.1 million inhabitants, the Associated Press reported. The pro-Palestinian protesters are asking UNC to meet a number of demands, including that to disclose and divest from investments in companies that support Israel and end study abroad programs to Israel. Last weeks protests were the first held since spring over the war in Gaza and were largely peaceful. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators struggle with a counter-protester as Pro-Palestinian demonstrators replace an American flag with a Palestinian flag Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at UNC-Chapel Hill. Police removed a Gaza solidarity encampment earlier Tuesday morning. On Saturday, the protesters stayed at Peace & Justice Plaza for about 45 minutes before marching down East Franklin Street to Graham Street, near the Carrboro town limits, said town spokesman Alex Carrasquillo. The return route took marchers along Rosemary Street, with a Chapel Hill police escort stopping traffic along the way, he said. The graffiti was spray painted on the building, which also houses a U.S. Post Office, during the march. When there are demonstrations, our priority is to make sure that if it does move into the street that traffic is stopped so that people can do it safely, Carrasquillo said. We followed the plan that we normally follow, and its unfortunate that that happened. Public works staff had to stop its efforts to remove the paint to avoid damaging the building, so it could remain a while, and will probably have to be outsourced to private company, he said. The town does not have video surveillance cameras around the courthouse, and no charges are expected at this time, he said. Staff writer Korie Dean contributed to this report. Barbara Gibson for The 19th This post originally appeared on The 19th. Willie Carver has been a teacher in Kentucky since 2007, now working with college students. For over two years, he has worked with the American Federation of Teachers National LGBTQ+ Task Force, an advocacy arm of the influential labor union created to counter the rise and repression brought by anti-LGBTQ+ laws. One of the countrys most draconian anti-trans measures became law in Carvers home state last March. The law has required teachers to put politics before the wellbeing of their own students and reshaped how students see and treat each other. It bans them from being taught about gender identity or sexual orientation, using restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity and learning about human sexuality. The law also made gender-affirming care illegal for trans youth. In October, after the new school semester started, Carver noticed a woman staring at him as he walked off stage at a Pride event in rural Kentucky after talking about issues faced by LGBTQ+ educators and students. He could tell she needed to talk. Her voice was shaky, he recalled. She cried as she spoke to me. The woman, a fourth-grade teacher, told Carver about one of her students, a boy who was being bullied because he has two moms. His tormentors two boys about the same age lobbed slurs at him and chased him around. The teacher intervened, saying to all her students, In this classroom, all families get treated with respect. And thats when her problems started. Carver said the school administration reprimanded the teacher, telling her that she had broken state law by talking about gender and doing it in a way that infringed on the political choices of the boys families. The teacher became terrified of the prospect of losing her job and torn about what to do. If she tried to save the student from being bullied, she could endanger her own child by losing access to her income and their health insurance. She was trembling by the end of the story, Carver said. Kentucky teachers want to do the right thing, but they are desperately scared, he said. They are exhausted and afraid of repercussions if they speak out. Some have chosen to leave Kentucky, including the states previous education commissioner, Jason Glass, who decided to resign last September instead of enforcing the states new law. After watching what has happened in his own state, Carver was not surprised to hear that conservative forces are pushing a vision and version of the country where trans-affirming teachers could be labeled as sex offenders. As he sees it, war has been declared on LGBTQ+ people and the idea of protecting children is a linchpin for that war. What they want is a very clearly defined society in which straight White men are on top, men earn money and women are subservient, Carver said. That society is built on strict definitions of marriage, family, femininity and masculinity a binary lens that excludes many Americans and creates a divisive narrative that ascribes value to people based on gender. This vision is articulated in a 920-page policy blueprint known as Project 2025. Created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in the nations capital, it lays out a far-right Christian vision for Donald Trumps second term in the White House if he wins in November and draws on the same harmful rhetoric that states have written into anti-transgender legislation. Though these laws target LGBTQ+ communities, advocates say that their reach and harm impact all families because of the exclusionary version of country they embrace. No one fits the very narrow view of what a person is supposed to be under Project 2025, Carver said. Project 2025 equates being transgender or adopting transgender ideology to pornography and declares that it should be outlawed. Under this plan, the federal government would enforce sex discrimination laws on the biological binary meaning of sex, and educators and public librarians who spread the concept of being transgender would be registered as sex offenders. The plan says that children should be raised by their biological fathers and mothers who conceive them, unless those biological parents are found unfit by a court. These ideas have drawn national attention for their far-reaching scope, but they didnt appear out of thin air. They all have roots in anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation that conservative lobbying groups and think tanks have supported for years, like the law that took effect in Kentucky. Contributors to Project 2025 include senior staff from Alliance Defending Freedom, whose lawyers have helped write anti-transgender legislation in a number of states and defended those laws in court. Members of the conservative groups Family Research Council and the American Principles Project, which have similarly pushed anti-LGBTQ+ bills and anti-trans rhetoric, have served on the Project 2025 advisory board. The content of Project 2025 has been the goal of the people pushing anti-LGBTQ legislation at the state level and across the country. Its been their goal all along, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank that tracks LGBTQ+ legislation. Democrats have pointed to Project 2025 as evidence of a Republican party gone off the rails. The projects director, who once had a role in the Trump administration, recently stepped down after Trump and his campaign publicly disavowed Project 2025. Despite the Trump campaigns insistence that Project 2025 does not speak for the former president, many of Trumps own proposals align with those laid out by the Heritage Foundation, as The Washington Post reported. This includes policies targeting LGBTQ+ Americans. It is a big escalation of attempts that weve seen on the state level, and theyre trying to find ways to nationalize this and to continue to take this to the extreme, said Julie Millican, the vice president of progressive research group Media Matters. Republicans have been most effective at implementing anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation in schools, she said, in part by framing the issue around parental rights. To Carver, requiring that educators who spread transgender ideology are classified as sex offenders would impact all families and students, if anything because of the simple fact that broad policies with unclear language and enforcement risk impacting everyone. In the face of such a vague policy, teachers would back away from any topic that might be tangentially related to transgender ideology, he said. The real effect is that youre going to have teachers in the classroom who start maintaining these hyper-rigid forms of gender that are being enforced on everyone, he said. Even if you are the politically conservative family that has a boy whos a little sensitive, youre going to start seeing that boy criticized in class for his sensitivity. States have tried and failed to define male and female based on reproductive organs and to base definitions of mother and father on rigid views of gender defined by biological sex. In many ways, these attempts were early previews for Project 2025 proposals, drawing on the same narrow definition of sex that underlines the majority of anti-trans state policy. For example, in Missouri, a failed state law introduced this year would have placed teachers and school counselors on the sex offender registry for providing any support to a child regarding their social transition. When someone socially transitions, they start using a new name and new pronouns, or they might change outfits or hairstyles to better match their gender expression or identity. Although this is a standard part of gender transition for many transgender people, cisgender people also express themselves in similar ways as they explore their own identities. Under Project 2025, narrow definitions of sex and parenthood would become the official stance of the federal government. The plan states that policies supporting single mothers and LGBTQ+ equity should be replaced with those that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families, the authors write and it lays out specific ideas of how American families should have kids. JD Vance, Trumps running mate with ties to the Heritage Foundations president, Kevin D. Roberts, has shared similar views publicly. A year before he was elected to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate, Vance suggested that parents should have a greater ability to use their voice in the countrys democracy than people without kids, by being able to cast more votes. During his campaign, he also pledged to oppose federal protections for same-sex married couples. Its a vision that dovetails into a Project 2025 proposal to ban three-parent embryo research. (Mitochondrial replacement therapy, a controversial procedure that treats infertility via a three-parent embryo when conventional in vitro fertilization has failed, is already effectively banned in the United States due to FDA requirements, but is legal in the United Kingdom and a few other countries). Although the document does not suggest restricting IVF, it does suggest that adults trying to conceive or have children in alternative ways would be subject to higher scrutiny by the federal government. In the context of current and emerging reproductive technologies, HHS policies, write the authors, using the abbreviation for the federal Department of Health and Human Services, should never place the desires of adults over the right of children to be raised by the biological fathers and mothers who conceive them. At least 17 states have laws in place that protect parents who have children through in vitro fertilization or through the use of egg or sperm donors, regardless of their marital status, according to the Movement Advancement Project. These laws ensure that such parents are legally recognized. Casey sees Project 2025 as a threat to these protections for same-sex couples and heterosexual couples who rely on assisted reproductive technology. I think its not only a threat to assisted reproduction statutes, I think its a threat to marriage equality itself, to basically any pathway to parental recognition for people who are not in Project 2025s vision of a heterosexual, nuclear, married family, Casey said. So its not just about LGBTQ+ people. As Project 2025 purports to protect families, it also lays out familiar anti-trans policies in an effort to protect children from being exposed to LGBTQ+ people. This playbook that has been carried out in states as politicians portray gender-affirming care as the mutilation and forced sterilization of children. This kind of anti-trans rhetoric is an entry point to restrict freedoms elsewhere, Millican said. It capitalizes on a lack of public knowledge about trans people in order to garner support for the government restricting what kind of medical care people can have. We Listened to the Conversation Between Donald Trump and Elon Musk So You Dont Have To The meandering two-hour conversation was billed as Trumps triumphant return to the social media platform that skyrocketed him to fame. Part of that effort to limit childrens exposure to LGBTQ+ identities has been taking place online. Within the last several years, at least two states, Florida and Iowa, removed online content geared towards the safety of LGBTQ+ and transgender students with little to no explanation. Project 2025 calls for the closure of telecommunications and technology firms that spread the concept of being transgender. To Casey, the proposal to restrict online information about trans identity is related to the federal Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Major national LGBTQ+ rights groups now support the revised legislation, but when it was first introduced, the Heritage Foundation appeared to endorse the bill in a commentary piece falsely claiming that big tech turns children trans. Last year, two West Virginia bills aimed to protect minors from indecent displays of a sexually explicit nature including transgender exposure. The bills failed to pass in 2023 and again this year. Many other states have tried to ban drag performances in the name of protecting children from sexually explicit content, but West Virginia stands out for making the effects of its proposed law on transgender people especially clear. Now, Project 2025 declares that transgender ideology should be labeled as pornography and outlawed. In Kentucky, Carver, who advises the American Federation of Teachers on the needs of LGBTQ+ educators and students, has seen how anti-LGBTQ+ laws that pledge to protect children from harm actually enable it. The story he heard from the fellow teacher at the Pride event is one example of how the state has instituted bullying as a formal policy. Teachers in his state are terrified, he said and looking for answers in situations that have become impossible to navigate. There is no easy way out of this other than better laws. Theres no easy way out of this other than protections for teachers, who try to keep students safe, he said. Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for them.'s weekly newsletter here. Originally Appeared on them. Two houses damaged in Lutsk and one person injured in large-scale Russian missile attack Consequences of the Russian attack on August 26 in Lutsk. Photo by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine Two residential buildings have been damaged and one person injured in Lutsk in Volyn Oblast as a result of a large-scale Russian missile attack. Source: Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk on Telegram; Ukrainska Pravda correspondent; Yurii Pohuliaiko, Head of Volyn Oblast Military Administration (OMA), on Telegram Quote from Polishchuk: "An apartment building has been damaged as a result of an enemy attack on Lutsk." Details: Polishchuk added that he was at the scene of the strike. "Details about casualties are being confirmed," he concluded. A few minutes later, Polishchuk reported that another explosion had occurred in Lutsk. A UP correspondent reports that the power supply has been cut off in part of the city. Updated: Later, Yuriii Pohuliaiko, Head of Volyn OMA, reported that around 10:00, another residential building in Lutsk was damaged in a Russian attack and there was one casualty. Polishchuk added that the water supply had been cut off in most districts of Lutsk as a result of a power outage. Quote from Ihor Polishchuk: "Engineers from Lutskvodokanal [the local water supply and wastewater disposal company] will go to the sites to switch on generators and restore the water supply as soon as the air-raid is over." Background: Earlier, Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles on the territory of Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were responding to the Russian attack on Kyiv and Lutsk, and explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and other cities. Support UP or become our patron! Trans activists left the October 2022 Florida Board of Medicine rule-making committee meeting on gender-affirming care yelling, "The blood is on your hands," to conduct a die-in protest just outside the meeting. (Photo by Erin Reed) Florida can enforce its law banning gender-affirming care for minors and restrictions on adults pending appeal of a federal court ruling that the ban is unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit sided with Florida in allowing the states ban on hormone replacement therapy for minors and limits on what kind of providers can administer hormones to adults. The court also ordered expedited proceedings in the appeal. The order reverses a July ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee, in which he reaffirmed his block on the ban while the case went through appeals. Parents of transgender children and trans adults brought the case in 2023 after the Florida Legislature passed SB 254. In an unsigned opinion, the appellate court ruled, 2-1, that the defendants, including Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and the Florida Board of Medicine, are likely to succeed in the appeal. The district court likely misapplied the presumption that the legislature acted in good faith when it concluded that the prohibition and regulation provisions, and the implementing rules, were based on invidious discrimination against transgender minors and adults, the majority, comprising judges Britt Grant and Robert Luck, concludes. Former president Donald Trump appointed both judges. Judge Charles Wilson dissented, arguing against government interference in private medical decisions. On balance, evidence in the record demonstrates that the plaintiffs and class-members would suffer if the stay were granted withholding access to gender-affirming care would cause needless suffering, Wilson wrote. In contrast, denying the stay would support a ruling grounded in the public interest. This matter is a medical issue, where patients are best left to make decisions alongside health professionals, with access to complete, unbiased information, as needed. The decision comes as a blow to clinics in the state that had resumed their hormone replacement therapy services, such as 26Health in Orlando, following Hinkles strike of SB 254, as well as their patients. Weighing harm But the appellate court concluded that the harm Florida would suffer from inability to enact the will of the Legislature to avoid irreversible health risks to its children is greater than the harm caused to transgender Floridians. As to harm to others, even with the law in effect, physicians may continue to prescribe and administer puberty blockers and hormones to adults. And minors who were already receiving them may continue to do so, Grant and Luck wrote. Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), one of the human rights organizations litigating the case, said the order was disappointing and called SB 254 a textbook example of a law that is based on bias. I think it is very wrong. Its a divided panel, two to one. I think the two-judge majority just disregarded the district courts very thorough, very careful factual findings, Minter said during a telephone interview with Florida Phoenix. The tone of the appellate courts order is starkly different from Hinkles rebuke of the 2023 law. In June, Hinkle ruled that SB 254 targeted transgender people and compared the discrimination transgender people face nowadays to racism and misogyny. During a press conference in June, Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted that Hinkles decision would be overruled. This will be reversed, theres no question this will be reversed, DeSantis said at that time. He referred to a ruling by the Eleventh Circuit in favor of an Alabama law banning genital surgeries on minors, which are not contested in the Florida suit. AR Father accuses school officials of coercing son to confess to making threats against school WYNNE, Ark. A family says a 13-year-old Arkansas student has been arrested for making online threats about a school. However, his family claims he was forced to confess to something he didnt do. The father of the 13-year-old said his son didnt make the school threat, he only shared a screenshot he found online. I want to see justice behind everything that everybody has done against him, his father said. Accusing him (and) making him write out a statement and kidnapping him and taking him elsewhere. The father asked WREG not to use his name but said that his 13-year-old son, an Arkansas student, was arrested and taken from school after a social media threat was made against Wynne Junior High School Friday. However, his family said hes innocent and was coerced into confessing. Juvenile shot by another juvenile; adults left in charge arrested The father said Wynne Police showed up at their home. He claims that officers said they didnt find what they looking for. Friday at 1 a.m. in the morning, they went through his phone and didnt find anything, he said. But they stated to us that they were looking for a tablet. I told him my son doesnt own a tablet. He has an iPhone. Later that day, the boy attended school and his father received a frantic phone call. My boss called me and said the school contacted him and said I needed to go to school asap, he said. When he arrived at the school, he was asked to sign over custody of his son to the police. He refused. Teen suspect released from hospital after crash kills 3, injures 7 When he arrived with the teens mother, the principal said their son was no longer there and had confessed to the post. But his family claims the boy cant write well enough to have written the confession statement. They made him write the letter, he said. The three officials that were in the office at the school made him write it and they told him if he didnt cooperate, his brother would be charged. Now, the father said theyve been denied access to their son for the last 72 hours. WREG asked the Wynne School District about the claims. The matter is being handled by law enforcement and theres no immediate danger, the District said in a statement. WREG reached out to Wynne Police who the father said made the arrest and the Craighead County Juvenile Detention where the father said his son is being held. They both refused to 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 WREG.com. Chris Love of the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign spoke at an April 17 news conference in Phoenix. In an interview, Love said a history of miscarriages and an abortion as a teenager led her to advocate for reproductive rights. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror) Editors Note: This is part of a series of conversations about voter-initiated efforts to restore abortion access across the country. Three months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion, Arizonas former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation banning abortion after 15 weeks. When the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision came down in June 2022, GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the judiciary to lift a block on a dormant Civil War-era abortion ban, Arizona Mirror reported. Though both of those restrictions got caught up in court post-Dobbs, eventually, the 15-week ban with no exceptions for rape, incest or genetic abnormalities became law. All of the back-and-forth led to a lot of confusion for people seeking abortion services and providers, said Chris Love, Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson. The confusion was obviously the point, right? The erosion of abortion access lit a fire under reproductive rights advocates like Love in the state. A group called Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom launched a ballot initiative in 2022 to put the question to voters about codifying abortion protections in state law, but with just a couple of short months to gather signatures, the organization failed to meet the states deadline, according to the Mirror. A few months later, voters elected Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, Democrats who ran on protecting reproductive health care, to replace Republicans Ducey and Brnovich. Advocates started planning to get an abortion measure on the ballot in 2024. They succeeded: A proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November aims to restore the right to abortion up to fetal viability and beyond to preserve a persons mental or physical health, and their life. Like similar efforts across the country, abortion-rights advocates faced pushback from opponents who launched a decline to sign campaign, and they dealt with Republican lawmakers who described ballot measures using anti-abortion language. In April, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of a 19th century near-total ban. The legislature repealed that law before it could take effect. But the courts decision boosted momentum for the ballot campaign, leading to an increase of volunteers and donations, Love said. States Newsroom spoke with Love on Aug. 16, in the midst of court battles over a voters pamphlet featuring anti-abortion language and a bid by opponents to kick the measure off the ballot entirely. Loves group lost the first lawsuit but won the second. Shes been working on reproductive rights advocacy for almost 10 years, starting out as a Planned Parenthood Arizona volunteer, and said when it comes to the tactics of abortion-rights opponents, theres nothing new under the sun. She discussed her history of advocacy, pregnancy loss and why its important to say the word abortion. The following interview has been edited and condensed. States Newsroom: Was there a certain moment or situation where you felt called to work in reproductive rights? CL: Yeah, absolutely. I was pregnant once upon a time. I had health insurance that did not cover my pregnancy, because I was on an independent plan as opposed to a large employer plan. My husband and I were already engaged and had planned our wedding, and we had to get married a month before our actual wedding date in order for me to access reproductive health care. Unfortunately, I miscarried. The services that I was provided during that time were life-saving. I was really appreciative of the care I received, but also I recognized that through my pregnancy journey I got pregnant again and miscarried again I recognized that accessing that care that I needed wasnt as easy as it should have been. In particular, I can remember having a miscarriage and not being offered a D and C [dilation and curettage] and literally having to wait eight weeks after my miscarriage to have a D and C. That should have been care that would make things easier for me as a person suffering through a loss and trying to get pregnant again. I also have my own other abortion stories. I chose to have an abortion when I was 19. I think this popped up over and over again in my life, and thats why this is the advocacy that Ive chosen to engage in. SN: Thanks for sharing those experiences. There have been several Republican-led efforts to block the initiative. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the phrase unborn human being could remain in the first sentence of a pamphlet sent to voters. Can you talk about why those three words are significant, and what neutral, nonpartisan language looks like? CL: In our process here, the Legislative Council actually gets to craft the language that goes into a voter pamphlet to every Arizona voter throughout the state. It is required by law to describe all of the initiatives in neutral terms. The one change that we asked for was a reference to unborn human being. Other places in that language use the term fetus, which is the scientific, medically-accurate language. We recognize that unborn human being is something that is tinged with anti-abortion sentiment. Weve seen that that phrase has been used by the opposition and folks who oppose abortion. The change that we asked for was not granted by the Legislative Council, so we decided to sue. And the trial court judge got it correct. We understand, and everyone understands, that unborn human being is literally an anti-abortion phrasing. SN: For folks who look at a 15-week ban and think thats not as severe as a near-total ban, explain how broadening abortion rights in the state helps Arizonans. CL: The current ban does not have exceptions for victims of rape and incest. The current ban does not have the broader medical exceptions for the physical and mental health of a pregnant person. The one exception that that ban does have is clearly undefined. Its something that weve seen in other states where pregnant women are on deaths door before they can get the treatment that they need. We just dont believe that pregnant Arizonans should have to go through that in order to get necessary and life-saving health care services. The current ban that we have simply harms pregnant patients here in our state. What were seeking to do is essentially go back to before the Dobbs decision was decided in 2022. SN: Did the team ever consider asking voters to also secure the right to fertility treatments like IVF and contraception? CL: I think that we are all focused on the broad bundle of reproductive rights and reproductive freedom. However, we had to create an initiative that was basically something that would pass based upon our laws in our state that limit us to posing laws that address a single subject. We felt that by simply addressing abortion at this point in time was something that would ensure that we wouldnt get kicked off the ballot for trying to do more than the single subject law would allow. SN: Youve been vocal about disdain for words like choice and euphemisms like Roevember. Why do you take issue with that particular language? CL: Though Ive been working in reproductive rights for a very long time, I try to use a reproductive justice lens in all of my advocacy. I recognize it has done our movement a bit of a disservice not to say the things, to say what were fighting for is abortion. To understand that even with a right to abortion, a lot of pregnant folks dont have choices. They dont have a choice in respect to issues of access to abortion for a number of different reasons. Planned Parenthood as an organization stopped using pro-choice/pro-life framework in 2013, more than 10 years ago. Its time for everyone to catch up on that, because the conversation is more nuanced, obviously. Those frameworks dont capture that nuance. But right now, abortion is the thing thats being attacked. Abortion is the right that was basically stripped by the Dobbs decision. Abortion is the right that were fighting for in this initiative. And I think we need to be clear about that. Abortion is a medical procedure. Its not a dirty word. We dont need to whisper it. Youre using a medically accurate, scientific term. And theres nothing wrong with that. I would encourage folks all the time to lean in to saying the things you mean. When were talking about abortion, we should say abortion. When were talking about birth control, we should say birth control. When were talking about IVF and fertility treatments, we should say those things so that were absolutely clear about destigmatizing all kinds of reproductive health care. SN: You talked about being dedicated to a reproductive justice framework, which was a concept founded by Black women. Whats it like being one of the faces of this campaign in Arizona as a woman of color? CL: Hard. [Laughs.] Quite honestly, its one of those things as a Black woman in a political space, were always doing a lot of hard work. When its said and done, we might not get the credit for it when we win. But when we lose, we absolutely get the blame for it. Its one of those things that Ive had to wrestle with every day being in this space. And being a Black woman in Arizona, where we make up so little of the population here. But we were also intentional about building an inclusive group of leaders and organizations. So, the leadership of our campaign is mostly women of color. Also, we have a lot of queer folks representing our organization. Were an organization that is really led by women. Were trying to center the folks that are really most impacted by the issue of abortion. The paperwork-heavy and complex criminal case against individuals accused of attempting to subvert President Joe Biden's 2020 win in Arizona took a step forward Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court. In a packed courtroom, prosecutors spent the morning presenting their request to limit access to grand jury information. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes' office filed a motion asking the court to issue a protective order for the grand jury transcript and exhibits. The state wants defense lawyers, entitled to review the grand jury materials, to be restricted from sharing that information. Prosecutors asked for an order to be imposed that would require the defendants to meet with their lawyers in person to review those grand jury materials rather than allow them to keep their own copies. Prosecutors cited leaks in the Georgia fake elector case as a justification, saying some grand jury members there received death threats after their names were made public. The fact that there's 18 and now 16 defendants, it leads to a greater chance of even inadvertent disclosure, which could cause harm to the state grand jurors, said Krista Wood of the Arizona Attorney General's Office. The defendants' lawyers all opposed the restrictions. They claimed that curbing their clients' ability to review grand jury information, including grand jury names, would limit their ability to discuss potential legal issues. There are several defendants who live out of state. This limitation and this burden of having defendants have to travel from out of state to defense counsel's office is not an appropriate limitation, said Anne Chapman, who is representing Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump's chief of staff in 2020. All defendants in the high-profile case attended Monday's hearing, though several, including Meadows, appeared virtually. Though Judge Bruce Cohen did not rule on the motion, he proposed a compromise of redacting grand jurors' names to protect their identities, making it less risky to give defendants copies of grand jury documents. Later in the day, lawyers for three of the defendants Jim Lamon, an Arizona Trump elector in 2020; Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump in 2020; and John Eastman, another Trump attorney argued for dismissal of the indictment, saying that it did not demonstrate crimes had taken place. They claimed their clients' behaviors outlined in the complaint were not crimes because there were no laws prohibiting their specific actions. Dennis Wilenchik, Lamon's attorney, told the court that his client had a right to sign as an elector and certify a vote for Trump. If the U.S. Supreme Court had decided to overturn the election via one of the cases being litigated at the time, Lamon and other Trump electors' votes would have become official, he argued. According to Wilenchik, Lamon had no intention of competing with the official slate of elector votes signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey. In response, the Arizona Attorney General's Office said that if Lamon's vote was a contingency, he should have made that clear to Congress. Furthermore, prosecutors said whether Lamon and other electors believed their votes were contingent on lawsuits was an issue for trial, not a motion to dismiss. The state argued the indictment should stand because the defendants were part of a conspiracy to subvert voters' will, and their individual acts needed to be considered in that context. Cohen did not rule on Lamon, Giuliani and Eastman's motions to dismiss Monday. Oral arguments on different motions to dismiss the indictment based on an Arizona law enacted to prevent lawsuits filed as retaliation began late in the afternoon and were expected to continue Tuesday. Several defendants have sought to dismiss the case under the law known as an anti-SLAPP statute. SLAPP stands for "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Their argument focuses on whether the defendants have shown the state was "substantially motivated by a desire to deter, retaliate against or prevent the lawful exercise of a constitutional right." Cohen on Monday set a January 2026 trial date. Not their hero: Foo Fighters say Donald Trump had no right using song in AZ Who are the defendants in Arizona's fake electors case? In April, a state grand jury delivered a nine-count indictment against 11 Arizona Republicans who claimed they were legitimately chosen electors for Donald Trump and seven Trump allies who allegedly encouraged the Arizonans to give Congress a path to stop Biden's win. Two defendants have resolved their cases since the indictments were revealed. Jenna Ellis agreed to testify against the other defendants in exchange for her charges being dropped. Ellis was an attorney for Trump who encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election. Loraine Pellegrino, one of the Arizonans who signed the false certificate of Trump's win, pleaded guilty to a less severe charge earlier this month and was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation. The remaining defendants are: Tyler Bowyer , an executive with Turning Point USA and Republican National Committee member Nancy Cottle, chair of the Arizona Trump electors State Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek State Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale Jim Lamon , former U.S. Senate candidate Robert Montgomery, former chair of the Cochise County Republican Committee Samuel Moorhead, former leader of the Gila County Republican Party Greg Safsten, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party Kelli Ward, former chair of the Arizona Republican Party Michael Ward, Kelli Ward's husband and GOP activist Christina Bobb, attorney for the Trump campaign John Eastman, attorney for Trump was an architect of the plan to change the outcome of the election in six contested states Boris Epshteyn, attorney and adviser to the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaign Rudy Giuliani, attorney for Trump and former mayor of New York City Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff in 2020 Michael Roman, director of "election day operations" for Trump's campaign, according to the indictment Miguel Torres is a criminal justice reporter for The Republic. Reach him at miguel.torres@arizonarepublic.com. Stacey Barchenger is a politics reporter for The Republic. Reach her at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Court sets trial date in Arizona's fake electors case Allies of former President Donald Trump who tried to subvert the 2020 election results in Arizona will go to trial in Jan. 2026, a judge announced at a hearing on Monday, CNN reported. In April, an Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Republicans, including Trumps chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, on charges including fraud, forgery and tampering with public records, among other charges. Most of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Other defendants in the case include conservative attorney John Eastman and Republican National Committee lawyer Christina Bobb. Because they were charged with multiple felonies on the same occasion, a conviction would likely include time in prison. The defendants are accused of orchestrating or otherwise taking part in an effort to fraudulently promote pro-Trump activists as Arizona's legitimate electors. Though scheduled for 2026, Arizona state Judge Bruce Cohen said Monday that the actual trial date is a moving target and could be changed in the future. Though Trump himself was not charged in the case, jurors who indicted his allies also wanted to indict the Republican nominee, CNN reported earlier this month. In court filings, Trump is described as unindicted co-conspirator 1. Michigan, Georgia and Nevada have also pursued charges against Trump allies involved in 2020 election subversion efforts. The announcement comes as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has gained momentum in swing states. She currently leads Trump, by five percentage points in Arizona, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll. She also leads in North Carolina while Trump leads in Georgia and Nevada. The Arizona Police Association announced Monday it is throwing its weight behind Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in the Arizona Senate race, despite endorsing Republican Kari Lake in her gubernatorial bid last cycle. As a Marine combat veteran, we know Congressman Gallego understands the complexities of modern policing in American society today, while at the same time recognizing the publics expectations, Arizona Police Association President Justin Harris said in a statement on the social platform X. The APA does not take our endorsements lightly; we recognize the importance of having a U.S. senator that can bring people together to improve society for all, he continued. We believe Congressman Gallego will be that U.S. Senator. The association noted Gallegos support around legislation like the Invest to Protect Act and Enhancing COPS Hiring Program Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act. The group just days ago backed former President Trump in the presidential race against Vice President Harris. The Arizona Police Associations decision to do a split-party endorsement is especially notable given it endorsed Lake in 2022 when she was running for governor against Gov. Katie Hobbs (D). Still, Lake has earned endorsements from other law enforcement groups, including the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs and Arizona Law Enforcement Association. An aggregate of Arizona surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ shows Gallego leading Lake 48 percent to 42 percent. I am proud to have the APAs support and look forward to working with them in the Senate to ensure Arizonas law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to combat fentanyl trafficking, train the next generation of officers, and, above all, keep Arizona families safe, Gallego said in a statement shared through the group. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Demonstrators supporting Palestinians in Gaza barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall, an academic building at Columbia University which has been occupied in past student movements, on April 30, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images) Twenty-four state attorneys general, led by Arkansas Tim Griffin, are urging Brown University to reject a proposal for the Rhode Island school to divest from certain companies that do business with Israel. The proposal, Brown Divest Now, triggers anti-boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) laws in several states that prohibit contracting with, investing in or doing business with companies and entities that discriminate against Israel, Griffin wrote in a letter Monday to Brown University trustees and fellows. We urge the Brown University Corporation to reject this antisemitic and unlawful proposal that stems from the violent threats against Jewish students at Brown last spring, the letter states. The proposal comes from Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that Griffins letter alleges is linked to entities designated by the United States government as foreign terrorist organizations. Griffin notes in the letter that nearly three-quarters of the states have BDS laws and that Arkansas law, which has survived federal court challenges, is among those aggressively combating antisemitic conduct. Brown University President Christina Paxson, who has rejected previous efforts since at least 2012 to divest from Israel-supporting entities, has said the Brown Divest Now proposal will be on the corporations October agenda and that a vote will be held. If adopted, the Brown Divest Now proposal will have immediate and profound legal consequences, Griffins letter says. According to the letter, the proposal would have Brown divest from companies including Textron, Safariland, Volvo Group, Airbus, Boeing, General Dynamics, General Electric, Motorola and RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon and United Technologies) because they do business with Israel. Act 710 of 2017 prohibits the state of Arkansas, its agencies, and its colleges and universities from contracting with or investing in any entity engaged in a boycott of Israel. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statute against a challenge brought in Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip. Joining Griffin in the letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. Port Angeles Police Department officers arrested an armed suspect Sunday evening following a lengthy standoff that began after the suspect fled from officers on Highway 101. The incident, which unfolded over several hours, involved multiple law enforcement agencies and required significant resources from Clallam and Jefferson counties. The situation began around 7:15 a.m. when Port Angeles police started investigating a report of an overdue person. During the investigation, officers identified a vehicle on Highway 101 near Fairmont connected to the case and had probable cause to arrest the owner for assault. When an officer attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect refused to pull over, leading police on a chase that continued up Little River Road and Black Diamond Road. In coordination with Clallam County deputies, officers deployed spike strips that partially disabled the suspects vehicle. The suspect eventually stopped at the intersection of 16th and Pine, where he brandished a shotgun. As the situation escalated, law enforcement quickly contained the area and evacuated nearby homes. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office Crisis Response Team, Clallam Interagency Crisis Negotiation Team, and additional resources from Washington State Patrol, Washington Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Border Patrol were called in to assist. A command post was established nearby, with Sergeant Dave Arand of the Port Angeles Police Department assuming command of the operation. Tactical paramedics from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District 3 were also on standby. Throughout the day, crisis negotiators attempted to contact the suspect by phone while tactical teams remained in place. During the standoff, PAPD detectives secured search warrants, and Clallam County Sheriffs Office deputies located the original person of interest in the overdue party case, who was found safe. The standoff finally came to an end around 6:45 p.m. after law enforcement deployed multiple rounds of gas into the suspects vehicle, leading to his surrender. The suspect, who was armed with a shotgun, was taken into custody without further incident. Port Angeles Fire Department paramedics examined him before being transported to Clallam County Jail. The suspect was booked on charges of Assault 4 and Felony Elude, with additional charges pending a review by the prosecutor. The recent arrest of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was "in no way a political decision," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Aug. 26. Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport on the outskirts of Paris on Aug. 24 after landing in his private jet. The French authorities extended his detention on Aug. 25. Born in St Petersburg, Durov obtained French citizenship in 2021, but is believed to live in Dubai. The CEO is "accused of being passive with regards to cyber and financial crimes being committed" on Telegram, Reuters reported on Aug. 26, citing a French police spokesperson. The Russian Embassy in Paris claimed they asked for consular access to Durov on Aug. 25, but "the French side has so far avoided cooperation on this issue." Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and owner of the social media platform X, shared his public support for Durov on social media, writing "Free Pavel" among other posts. Macron said there is now "false information regarding France" circulating following the arrest of Durov. "France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so." Read also: Russia blocks Signal messaging app, reportedly plans to block WhatsApp "It is up to the judiciary, in full independence, to enforce the law. The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision," Macron added. In a statement published on Aug. 25, Telegram said that the platform "abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Actits moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving." "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels regularly throughout Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. We're awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation." Durov, who has a net worth estimated at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on Russian social media platform VK, which he subsequently sold. While VK is banned in Ukraine, Telegram is one of the most popular social media platforms among Ukrainians. A September 2023 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicated that 44% of Ukrainians use Telegram to receive information and news. Telegram is also widely used by Ukrainian officials and various government bodies. Read also: How Ukrainian social media influencer raised over $50 million for military thanks to typing Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. German Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs Nancy Faeser (L) and Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann speak during a press conference after the attack at the Solingen city festival, which left several people dead, during a visit to the Joint Counter-Terrorism Center (GTAZ). Kay Nietfeld/dpa Calls for the German government to tighten rules for asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan mounted on Monday, three days after the deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen. Resuming deportations to the two countries has been a hot-button issue in Germany, particularly in the wake of the killing of a policeman by a knife-wielding Afghan migrant in the south-western city of Mannheim in May. The latest attack, by a 26-year-old Syrian, has only intensified the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said he wants to step up deportations of unauthorized migrants on a visit to the crime scene on Monday. Deportations should be accelerated "with legal regulations if necessary," Scholz said in Solingen. But Germany's opposition has demanded that the government go even further, with the head of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz calling for a comprehensive ban on admitting refugees from Afghanistan and Syria. Scholz is set to meet with Merz this week to discuss the attack and possible consequences for migration policy, CDU lawmaker Thorsten Frei said. According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, the two could meet as early as Tuesday. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stressed that negotiations are ongoing with third-party countries to "enforce deportations to Afghanistan and Syria, especially of dangerous and violent offenders." The minister is convinced the plans are feasible, a ministry spokeswoman said in a statement. However, a Foreign Office spokesman said carrying out such deportations to countries with records of human rights violations, such as Syria, could be difficult. Scholz'sSPD rejects call to limit immigration Three people were killed and eight people were wounded in the stabbing at a city festival in Solingen on Friday evening. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the case and is investigating the suspect for murder and suspected membership of the Islamic State terrorist group. Earlier on Monday, the general secretary of Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), Kevin Kuhnert, rejected opposition leader Merz's proposal to limit immigration from Syria and Afghanistan following the Solingen attack. Many of Merz's proposals stood in contrast to the country's constitution, known as the Basic Law, which upholds the individual's right to asylum, Kuhnert said on public broadcaster ARD's morning programme. "The answer can't be that we now slam the door in the face of people who are themselves fleeing from Islamists because they are being persecuted by them for their way of life," Kuhnert said. Instead, it had to be clarified why the suspected perpetrator, who should have been deported to Bulgaria last year, was never returned there, the SPD politician said. Under the provisions of the Dublin Regulation, the first European Union country reached by an asylum seeker is responsible for processing their asylum application. Dpa was told on Sunday that the attacker entered the EU via Bulgaria. Kuhnert said Bulgaria had been prepared to accept the man. "The federal states are responsible for deportations in Germany, which in this case would have been North Rhine Westphalia," Kuhnert said, referring to the western state where Solingen is located. He called on state authorities to examine why no action was taken in the man's case. Kuhnert said that the government, a coalition led by the Social Democrats partnering with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), was working on solutions to facilitate the deportation of serious offenders, including to Syria and Afghanistan. Berlin was also making progress on gun laws and knife bans, he added. More focus was now needed on the issue of the radicalization of individual offenders, an area where Germany is "not making good progress at the moment," Kuhnert said. The head of the Greens, Omid Nouripour, also criticized Merz's demand to reject all refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. "I would love to hear from the CDU how they would implement that with a Basic Law that is highly individualized and takes into account people's need for protection and not their country of origin," Nouripour said. He conceded, however, that people who seek protection in Germany and commit serious criminal offences will lose their protection status. "Murderers and terrorists are not welcome in this country," Nouripour said. German Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs Nancy Faeser (L) and Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann speak during a press conference after the attack at the Solingen city festival, which left several people dead, during a visit to the Joint Counter-Terrorism Center (GTAZ). Kay Nietfeld/dpa Attorney Was 'on Top of the World' Before Yacht Tragedy, Planned to Make Up for Lost Time with Family (Exclusive) Chris Morvillo had missed a lot," but after a recent legal win, he was looking forward to "devoting" himself to his family, a friend and former colleague says Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty After a years-long legal saga that resulted in the acquittal of his client Mike Lynch, Christopher Morvillo was looking forward to finally getting some time to relax and spend more time with his family, a former colleague and friend tells PEOPLE. Sadly, the New York City attorney and his wife, jewelry designer Neda Morvillo, died after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily. Ed OCallaghan, a former Justice Department official and close friend of the attorney, tells PEOPLE that Morvillo, 59, hoped to spend time with his wife, 57, and two adult daughters, Sabrina and Sophia Morvillo. He missed a lot, OCallaghan says. He was just buried in putting together the defense for Lynch. And I think he really thought the near future was going to be a lot of wonderful payback time with the family. Related: Captain of Sicily Yacht Under Investigation for 'Negligent Shipwreck and Homicide': Reports Chris and Neda were among the guests aboard the Bayesian to celebrate the fact that Lynch had been acquitted of 15 fraud and conspiracy charges. Then, on the morning of Monday, Aug. 19, a powerful storm sunk the 183-foot vessel. Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and the ships chef Recaldo Thomas also died in the tragedy. OCallaghan, who worked with Morvillo both at the N.Y.C. office of Clifford Chance and when they were federal prosecutors, says the attorney was ebullient after winning the court case. It is just an enormous degree of satisfaction that you can take as an attorney, OCallaghan tells PEOPLE. The percentages are not with you going to trial in a federal criminal case as a defense lawyer, and to win an acquittal across the board in a case like that, the Department of Justice is literally put over a decade of work into is a career accomplishment that very few very top-tier lawyers experience in their careers. In a post on LinkedIn following the June verdict, Chris thanked the team of trial lawyers which he co-led defending Lynch, noting that he was so glad to be home after the San Francisco trial, and ended his post by writing, And they all lived happily ever after. Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty OCallaghan says, noting that in addition to being a celebration, the yachting trip was supposed to be a way for Morvillo to relax. He's invited to celebrate a tremendous victory on his billionaire client's yacht, OCallaghan says. I mean, that's some amazing stuff...and he rightfully was going to have at least some period of time where he didn't have client demands." Related: Captain of Sicily Yacht Under Investigation for 'Negligent Shipwreck and Homicide': Reports But more than anything, he says his friend was "looking forward" to "really devoting himself" to the "family life that he had missed out on" with his wife and kids. "He was on top of the world," O'Callaghan shares. "It's just heartbreaking." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Lawyers for former House Speaker Michael Madigan have asked a federal judge to exclude a laundry list of potentially prejudicial evidence from his upcoming racketeering trial, including details about controversial gaming legislation, Madigans influence over hiring at Metra, and payments made to a political operative who was accused of sexual harassment. In a 41-page motion filed Monday, Madigans legal team said extensive pretrial publicity including the Tribunes ongoing series on Illinois Culture of Corruption is already undermining Madigans right to a fair trial, and that adding irrelevant evidence about sensitive or peripheral topics would only make it worse. It is irrelevant and highly prejudicial propensity evidence masquerading as enterprise evidence,' the defense motion stated. If admitted, admission of this evidence will violate Madigans right to a fair trial, and result in speculation, confusion, and cajole the jury into finding guilt for improper reasons. Madigan, 82, is charged in a 23-count indictment alleging he participated in an array of bribery and extortion schemes from 2011 to 2019 aimed at using the power of his public office for personal and political gain. Also charged was Madigans longtime confidant Michael McClain, 76, a former state legislator and lobbyist who was convicted last year of orchestrating an alleged bribery scheme by Commonwealth Edison. McClains sentencing in that case is pending. Madigan and McClain have each pleaded not guilty and the trial is set for October. In a pair of pretrial filings earlier this year, prosecutors revealed they want to introduce evidence of a secret plan to funnel money to ex-aide Kevin Quinn, who was ousted from Madigans 13th Ward organization for sexually harassing a campaign worker. The Tribune first reported in June 2019 that the feds were looking into the Quinn payments, which came from McClain and a series of Madigan-connected ComEd lobbyists. Among the recordings prosecutors want to play is one where McClain allegedly tells a former top Madigan aide he wants to keep the circle of people who knew about the plan real small because the more people that know its too easy for people to babble. In their motion to exclude the evidence, Madigans legal team said both the Quinn evidence and testimony in general about the sexual harassment scandal that engulfed Springfield is irrelevant to the charged conduct and would unfairly paint Madigan in a bad light. The risk of unfair prejudice is staggering, the motion stated. Injecting sexual harassment allegations into a trial post-MeToo is certainly one of the most efficient ways to elicit an emotional response and irreparably prejudice the jury against defendants. Prosecutors also are asking to play a recording of Madigan talking to McClain about getting a job for the wife of a state representative, identified only as Public Official E, who had gone to Madigan because he needed money. The state representative, whom the Tribune has confirmed is Jaime Andrade, a Chicago Democrat, was later recorded thanking McClain for their efforts, which resulted in his wife landing a spot with the Illinois secretary of states office, according to the filings. The defense argued Monday, however, that the evidence is only marginally probative because recordings dont show whether Madigan was aware or not that Andrades wife, a competent attorney, was qualified for a position. It would be prejudicial, the defense added, to have the jury speculate on guilt based on efforts by McClain and Madigan to find people jobs that are not directly charged in the indictment. Other evidence the feds want to introduce deals with efforts to pass a comprehensive gambling bill. State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, is cooperating with the investigation and has already testified at two related trials that McClain put him in charge of overseeing the gaming legislation at Madigans behest a situation prosecutors said shows McClain took marching orders from the speaker. Madigans lawyers, though, say any value the evidence has is outweighed by the publics generally negative views of gambling, whether its legal or not. Vices like gambling are usually associated with prostitution, drugs, violence, pornography, money laundering, etc., the defense stated in its motion. Consequently, the evidence will be inescapably intertwined with inflaming the prejudice of potential jurors who hold religious, moral, and/or personal beliefs that gambling is immoral or associated with degeneracy. The same rules should apply to evidence about a secret 2014 report by the legislative inspector general about Madigans moves to help political allies with government positions at Metra, the suburban commuter train service, according to Madigans defense team. The report, which was discussed in emails sent to Madigans inner circle by then-political director Will Cousineau, explained in detail how Madigan navigated the intersection of public business and ward-style patronage through his Southwest Side office and Illinois Capitol suite, the Tribune has reported. While widely reported in stories about Madigans influence, the so-called Metra scandal is not a feature of this case, and should be excluded, the defense wrote. The government never alleged Madigans purported requests to Metras governmental affairs department were a part of some quid pro quo or that there was any supposed corrupt intent, the defense wrote. Madigans trial is expected to last up to three months and represents perhaps the greatest blow against the old Democratic political machine that held sway in Illinois and Chicago politics for generations. The Tribunes Culture of Corruption series, which launched Sunday with a deep history of self-dealing in Illinois and the environment that fosters it, includes Madigan in a list dubbed the Dishonor Roll, featuring some 200 Illinois public officials who have been indicted, convicted or otherwise accused of wrongdoing going back more than a century. Madigan features, of course, in this overwhelmingly negative publicity, his attorneys wrote dryly in a footnote in Mondays filing. jmeisner@chicagotribune.com mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com Ukraine's Defense Ministry and the State Customs Service have discovered that from March to July, various military units did not receive the designated humanitarian aid worth nearly Hr 172 million ($4.2 million). In Ukraine, the "humanitarian aid" label used by customs includes goods meant for the army, such as protective equipment or cars. Such goods are free of customs fees. The joint audit by the ministry and customs service found that a number of goods imported as "humanitarian aid" and meant for specific military units have never made it to their alleged destination, meaning that the goods were likely deliberately mislabelled to avoid customs fees. These problematic imports included nearly 500 tons of goods, carried in 424 vehicles, the statement read. As a result, the ministry appealed to law enforcement agencies to investigate unspecified officials, alleging illicit enrichment, embezzlement, and abuse of power. In 2023, the State Customs Service said that almost a third of imported "humanitarian aid" did not reach the Ukrainian military due to customs violations. The agency reported checking 9,000 instances of importing goods labeled "humanitarian aid" during the first nine months of 2023. In some 3,000 of such cases, the Customs Service said, the designated military units could not confirm that they had received the goods. On March 1, 2022, days after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine and humanitarian aid poured into the country, the government issued a decree allowing the import of certain goods tax-free. In December 2022, the list of goods that can be imported tax-free as humanitarian aid was amended. According to the State Customs Service, some importers allegedly used these provisions to avoid tax. Read also: Ukrainians see customs, parliament, Cabinet of Ministers as most corrupt, survey shows Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A NASCAR appeals officer on Monday upheld a penalty assessed to Austin Dillon for his overly aggressive driving at Richmond Raceway, meaning Dillon will not be in the Cup Series playoffs unless he wins the final race of the regular season Sunday. The decision to deny Dillon and Richard Childress Racing's appeal came from appeals officer Bill Mullis. It strips Dillon's automatic playoff berth for his victory, which came on Aug. 11 after he wrecked Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano coming out of the final turn and headed for the finish line. It was Dillon's first victory in two years. Three days after the race, NASCAR announced that Dillon could keep the prize money and trophy, but took away his spot in the 16-driver playoffs. Dillon's initial appeal was denied last week by a three-member panel, after which Dillon took the case to Mullis. Mullis is the owner of Langley Speedway, a short track in Hampton, Virginia, and was appointed NASCAR's final appeal adjudicator for the 2024 season. Dillon is 29th in the current Cup series points standings. As a result of Monday's ruling, three playoff spots remain open headed into Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the final race of the regular season. A total of five drivers still could win the last three spots, or only two if there is a new winner Sunday. Based on points, drivers hanging on to playoff spots include Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. Click on nascar.com/standings/nascar-cup-series for the current standings. Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Austin Dillon loses final appeal, stripped of NASCAR Cup playoff berth AUSTIN (KXAN) The U.S. Department of Energy named the Austin Independent School District the recipient of a multi-million-dollar grant to expand the districts solar panel program. Austin ISD received the $15 million grant to help fund the addition of solar panels to 14 historically underserved communities, the district said in a release Monday. It was the sole Texas school district to receive funding from the federal governments Renew Americas Schools Grant program. Right now, 14 Austin ISD facilities have rooftop panels installed, which produce two megawatts of energy. That energy amount could power 230 homes locally, per the release. Through the grant funding, Austin ISD officials said an extra five megawatts of energy will come online. Modernized schools built through the districts 2017 bond program are already solar ready, along with numerous schools incorporated in the 2022 bond program. The federal grant will fund rooftop solar panels at these schools: Allison Elementary School Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Eastside Early College High School Govalle Elementary School Houston Elementary School LBJ Early College High School Norman-Sims Elementary School Rosedale School Sanchez Elementary School T.A. Brown Elementary School Widen Elementary School The following campuses will receive both rooftop solar panels and building automation controls through the funding: Liberal Arts and Science Academy Mendez Middle School Rodriguez Elementary School Overton Elementary School will be the recipient of building automation controls courtesy the funding, Austin ISD added in the release. This isnt the first time Austin ISD received federal grant dollars to support solar panel installations. The U.S. Department of Energy also allocated funding to the district in 2023. Those federal grant dollars supported the addition of solar panels to 16 school buildings. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. AISD interim superintendent Matias Segura and AISD board president Arati Singh speak at a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, at Ann Richards School For Young Women Leaders in Austin. AISD announced TEA had provided them an alternative pathway in place of a conservatorship over Special Education. The Austin school district and Disability Rights Texas have reached a settlement agreement over a 2021 lawsuit in which the disabilities advocacy nonprofit accused the district of failing to provide timely special education services to five students. The districts school board voted Thursday to approve the settlement, but neither the district nor the nonprofit had released details about the settlement as of Friday. The settlement announcement comes as the Austin district works to satisfy the requirements of a September 2023 order from Texas Education Agency over the districts failure to evaluate students for special education services and provide other services. The school district and Disability Rights are pleased to reach this agreement and now await final approval from the court, according to a joint statement from the two entities. In the March 2021 lawsuit, filed on behalf of five students identified only by their initials, Disability Rights accused the district of failing to serve students with disabilities because of a yearslong backlog of evaluation requests from children seeking services. Under federal law, once a parent requests their child to get evaluated for special education services, a school district must complete that analysis within a strictly prescribed timeline. Austin for years had racked up hundreds of overdue evaluations, in part because of staffing churn and data collection issues, among other matters. In September, the state education agency installed a monitor over the Austin district because of this backlog. A monitor is the least severe of state sanctions, allowing districts to maintain full autonomy as long as local officials and school boards meet the requirements of the order. In Austin, the TEA order required aggressive timelines for clearing the backlog, updating district data systems, extensive staff training and providing additional services for students who filed grievances with the state, among other things. Since then, the district has made progress toward completing parts of the state-mandated order such as reducing the backlog and closing corrective action plans for students who filed grievances with the state, according to the district. During 2023, district staff members reduced overdue evaluations from 1,780 in January to 306 in December. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: AISD, Disability Rights Texas settle lawsuit over services backlog AUSTIN (KXAN) A woman who had been reported missing last week was found safe after search efforts spanned across multiple states over several days, according to authorities. Brenna Swindell, 29, was previously reported missing after last being seen on August 22 in Spicewood at Poodies Hilltop Roadhouse, a bar located in the 22300 block of State Highway 71, according to the Austin Police Department. Police said she was at the bar with her ex-boyfriend, Morgan Guidry. The Travis County Sheriffs Office said Tuesday morning Swindell had been found safe overnight. TCSO added that Swindell was with Guidry, who was arrested on a Travis County Sheriffs Office warrant and is in custody. The sheriffs office said additional information will be released as soon as possible. Brenna Swindell, 29, was last seen around 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Poodies Hilltop Roadhouse, a bar located in the 22300 block of State Hwy. 71 in Spicewood. (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Brenna Swindell, 29, was last seen around 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Poodies Hilltop Roadhouse, a bar located in the 22300 block of State Hwy. 71 in Spicewood. (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Brenna Swindell, 29, was last seen around 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Poodies Hilltop Roadhouse, a bar located in the 22300 block of State Hwy. 71 in Spicewood. (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) Neither Swindell nor Guidry were seen for several days, and both of their phones had been turned off since Aug. 23. Police said Swindell wasnt in contact with any of her family or friends, which added concern about her safety, police said. Police had said she couldve been traveling in a white 2022 Kia Carnival with the Texas license plate VFS 7528. That vehicle was last seen in Colorado Springs, Colorado or Denver. Editors note: The above video is from previous reporting before Swindell was found. Travis County court documents obtained by KXAN Monday revealed Guidry has been charged with Assault with Injury Family Violence Strangulation, a third-degree felony. The arrest warrant signed on Friday and filed Monday details an alleged incident that happened on July 7. The victim told the Travis County Sheriffs Office shed been choked by her boyfriend, identified in documents as Guidry. The victim claimed her boyfriend had choked her multiple times in addition to other bodily injuries she allegedly sustained from him, per the affidavit. As of Monday evening, APD said the Travis County Sheriffs Office had taken over 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 KXAN Austin. (Bloomberg) -- Australians can now legally ignore unreasonable after-hours work calls and emails under new government legislation that came into effect on Monday, drawing criticism from business groups. Most Read from Bloomberg Under the laws, employers face fines of up to A$93,000 ($63,000) for getting in touch with an employee for non-essential reasons outside of working hours. Just as people dont get paid 24 hours a day, they dont have to work for 24 hours a day, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday, adding that he expected the changes to boost productivity. For many Australians, I think theyre getting frustrated that theyre expected to be on their phones, their emails, all of that, for 24 hours a day, he said. Its a mental health issue, frankly. Australia follows nations such as France, Spain and Belgium in introducing right to disconnect laws to protect workers from unreasonable contact outside of hours, while other governments around the world are considering similar measures. Local business groups have already expressed concerns around the new laws. Andrew McKellar, chief executive officer of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described the changes as a thought bubble and said business wasnt consulted on them. Any disputes over attempts by employers to contact workers outside office hours could be escalated to Australias industrial relations umpire, the Fair Work Commission, for a final determination, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said Monday. However he added that he hoped employers and employees would be able to resolve any disputes through discussions, without needing to escalate. The right to disconnect will apply to employees from medium and large enterprises immediately, while small businesses will have 12 months before their workers are affected, according to the government. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Australia's new 'right to disconnect' law goes into effect A new law went into effect in Australia on Monday allowing employees to ignore employer phone calls and other digital messages during off hours. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A new Australian law went into effect on Monday that protects workers from being contacted by their employers outside of their work hours via phone calls and emails. Under what is dubbed as the "right to disconnect" law, employees can refuse contact from work unless that refusal is "unreasonable." The law is meant to curb employee contact with employers through the Internet, which has grown over the years. Ubiquitous contact means through social media and cell phones after being described by workers and employee rights experts as "digital leashes" for employers. Some have complained the constant contact has made unpaid work commonplace in Australia. While the new law does not prevent employers from contacting their employees after hours, it allows employees the option not to respond without fear of retribution. Australian officials said countries in Europe and Latin America have already placed similar laws on the books. A company could face fines of up to $64,000 for violating the new law. "Unions welcome the new right-to-disconnect laws coming into effect today as a cost-of-living win for working people," the Australian Council of Trade Unions said in a statement. "Today's new rights will empower workers to refuse unreasonable out-of-hours work contact, enabling greater work-life balance and reducing the burden of unpaid labor while families face cost-of-living pressures." Academic Gabrielle Golding told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in work-at-home with employers using email, social media and text methods to reach employees. But when workers returned to the office, she said the employer's digital contact with employees did not subside after hours, opening the door for the new law. A former Florida sheriffs deputy charged with killing a U.S. Air Force Airman from Atlanta who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed toward the ground was arrested on Monday, officials said. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille announced Friday. The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Duran was booked into the county jail Monday, records show. Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille confirmed his arrest to The Associated Press. RELATED STORIES: Authorities say Duran had been directed to Fortsons Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false. After repeated knocking, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side, and pointed down. Authorities say that Duran shot him multiple times; only then did he tell Fortson to drop the gun. On Friday, the day the charge was announced, candles and framed photos of Fortson in uniform graced the doorway of the apartment where he was killed. Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded his life was not in danger when he opened fire. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Maxar satellite imagery of the 2023 Burning Man Festival held in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada. Credit - Satellite image (c) 2024 Maxar TechnologiesDigitalGlobe/Getty Images A woman died on the first day of this years Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, over the weekend. The festival is an annual counter-cultural event known for its performances and art installations that draws thousands of people and goes until the beginning of September. Burning Mans emergency services responded to a report of an unresponsive individual at 11:29 a.m. on Sunday, the Burning Man Project said in a press release. Officials performed life-saving measures on the woman, but were unsuccessful. Authorities have identified the woman, but the Pershing County Sheriffs Office said in a Facebook post that officials are withholding her name until her next of kin can be notified. The office said the cause and manner of death are under investigation. The Burning Man Project declined to release any further details at this time, out of respect for the privacy of the grieving family. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss, the Burning Man Project said in its press release. The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident. The Burning Man festival, held in Nevadas Black Rock Desert, generated controversy last year, when a 32-year-old man died after being found unresponsive. Last years festival also had issues when heavy rainfall left thousands of attendees stranded in the desert for several days due to the ground being extremely muddy. Contact us at letters@time.com. Authorities seek to identify man wanted in connection with sexual assault on Brown Line train Authorities seek to identify man wanted in connection with sexual assault on Brown Line train CHICAGO Authorities are asking for help identifying a man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on a Brown Line train in early July. According to Chicago police, the incident, which police described as an aggravated sexual assault, unfolded on a Brown Line train between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 7. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines On Friday, officers provided photos captured by CTA surveillance cameras of the person responsible, who officers say is believed to be a man in his early 20s. Authorities are asking for help identifying a man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on a Brown Line train in early July. Authorities are asking for help identifying a man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on a Brown Line train in early July. Authorities are asking for help identifying a man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on a Brown Line train in early July. Authorities are asking for help identifying a man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on a Brown Line train in early July. In the photos, the man can be seen wearing a white hoodie with blue and orange graphics on it, as well as grey pants and sandals with socks. Police advise the public to remain aware of their surroundings and stay free from distractions. According to officers, anyone who is confronted by an assailant should try to remain calm. Authorities warn the public never to pursue a fleeing assailant and instead work to remember any unique physical characteristics of the offenders. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Police say those who fall victim or witness a crime should call 911 immediately and provide authorities with a detailed description of the offenders. Anyone with information is asked to contact CPD Area Five Detectives at 312-746-6554 or dial 911. Those with information that could help detectives in their investigation can also 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. Auto designers to the stars feuded for years, until one got shot in his Miami-area driveway Fifteen years ago, Rolando Ramirez and Alex Vega competed against each other in the rough-and-tumble business of customizing high-end cars for sports celebrities and other flashy clients, until they had a falling out over a debt that Vega owed to Ramirez. To resolve their $92,000 dispute, Vega closed his business in Kendall, turned over his assets to Ramirez and went to work for him in Doral, but their truce would not last long. Soon they were fighting in court over money, customers and a non-compete agreement. Their lawsuit was settled in 2012, though not amicably. Seven years later, Vega wound up nearly dead with three bullet wounds after a hit man ambushed him as he pulled into his Kendale Lakes driveway in his black Range Rover. In late August 2019, Vega told Miami-Dade police detectives while he was being treated at Kendall Regional Hospital that he believed the prime suspect behind the attack was Ramirez, saying his ex-business partner threatened to kill Vega in 2011, according to an incident report. Now Ramirez, the owner of Exclusive Motoring Worldwide, is being held at a federal lock-up in Miami on charges of conspiring with other associates in the August 2019 murder-for-hire plot to kill Vega. The shooter and getaway driver, who at first were mum about the mastermind behind the hit on Vega, were convicted last year and sentenced to 35 and 50 years, respectively. As cooperating witnesses for the feds, they have since turned against Ramirez, 50, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that carry up to life in prison. Detains Ramirez, former UM football player Ramirez, who as a boy came to Miami from Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, was ordered detained before trial on Friday by a magistrate judge who found him to be a danger to the community because of his 15 prior convictions and possession of firearms in his home. Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid also detained a co-defendant, Rasheed Fresh Ali, 38, a former University of Miami football player, for the same reason, noting he had weapons and marijuana in his Pinecrest home upon his arrest. But the judge allowed another defendant, Tamrat Shifta Mason, a California music producer and recording artist charged only with obstruction of justice, to be released on bond. He will be required to wear an electronic ankle and can only travel between his home and California and South Florida. Marc Anthony, Usain Bolt are clients Absent from Fridays detention hearing was Vega. Hes the owner of The Auto Firm, a Kendall business that designs sports-car renovations for many celebrities, including Grammy-winning singer Marc Anthony, rapper Rick Ross and Jamaican Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt, to name a few. Vega and Anthony have become good friends in recent years as Vega renovated several of the stars cars. Vega was also featured in a 2017 reality TV series called The Auto Firm with Alex Vega. During the detention hearing on Friday, federal prosecutor Michael Gilfarb said Vega fingered Ramirez as most likely the one who wanted him dead. From his hospital bed the victim [Vega] named Ramirez as the primary suspect in the shooting, Gilfarb said during the five-hour hearing. The reason he named him is because Ramirez sued him in federal court in what the pleadings demonstrate was a bitter business dispute. Gilfarb said Ramirez was obsessed and full of rage over his business rival, Vega. Gilfarb said investigators, including Miami-Dade police and FBI agents, discovered a cash payment to the getaway driver in the Vega shooting that led them to Ramirez, Ali and Mason, who communicated on burner cell phones to hide their tracks. He noted that Ramirez and Ali were close friends, and that Ali and Mason were both friends and partners in Timeless Entertainment. He also accused both Ali and Mason of dealing in marijuana, though neither has been convicted of a crime despite multiple arrests. Fellow prosecutor Abbie Waxman argued that all three defendants were a danger to the community, highlighting Vegas continued sense of vulnerability since the shooting at his home. The court can see this gallery is packed with people who support the three defendants, Waxman told the judge, pointing out that Vega was absent because of the fear. Ramirezs defense attorneys, Philip Reizenstein and David Kubiliun, sought to deflate the prosecutions case against their client, saying that Vega had numerous enemies not just Ramirez. They also said so much time had passed between the settlement of the legal dispute between Ramirez and Vega and the shooting at Vegas home that it was illogical that Ramirez would still be obsessed and full of rage over a lawsuit that was resolved some 3,000 days before the shooting. Sure, he doesnt like Vega, but a lot of people dont like Vega, Kubilian argued. Theres no direct evidence he was involved. Concerns over pot, weapons found in home During the detention hearing, however, FBI special agent Ryan Dreibelbis said that although there may be several suspects in the Vega shooting, Ramirez was the only one who had a relationship with the getaway driver. The agent said a witness told the FBI that Mr. Ramirez hated the victim and called the victim nasty names, and that after the shooting, Ramirez talked about Vegas clients being up for grabs. There is objective black-and-white evidence ... of Mr. Ramirezs negative feelings towards this victim [Vega], Waxman, the prosecutor, said. Waxman also argued that Ali, the former UM football player, was connected to the getaway driver in Vegas shooting and was the middle man between Ramirez and the driver. Waxman accused Ali, who won a $5 million settlement after being badly injured by a United Parcel Service driver in 2013, of dealing marijuana and keeping packages of pot along with four firearms in his home. She said he has had no income in recent years yet he owns a Rolls Royce and a Bentley. Where does the court believe this money is coming from? Waxman said. Alis defense attorneys, Joseph Nascimento and Dave Raben, tried to portray him as a family man who doted on his two children and was still close to his ex-wife, who was in the courtroom at Fridays hearing. They also said Ali volunteered a lot of time to youth sports and has invested some of his money in an affordable housing project in Florida. But Reid, the magistrate judge, expressed concern about the marijuana and weapons found in his home, along with several drug-trafficking arrests in his past despite the lack of convictions. Reid showed more sympathy for Mason, 39, the Timeless music producer and recording artist, who has not been accused of conspiring with Ramirez and Ali in the murder-for-hire case only obstruction of justice. His defense attorney, Dustin Tischler, questioned the basis for the obstruction case, saying theres a lack of evidence that Mason misled investigators. He also questioned the relevance of Mason putting several hundred dollars into the commissary account of his friend, the getaway driver in the shooting, at the Federal Detention Center, challenging the prosecutions claim that he was trying to buy his silence. FBI raid of body shop Tischler said Mason wasnt in the country when the Vega shooting occurred in 2019, and that he flew from California to South Florida to surrender to authorities after he learned that Ali and Ramirez were arrested earlier this month. The FBI raided Ramirezs body shop, Doral Collision, on Aug. 16. A federal grand jury charged Ramirez and Ali with solicitation to commit a crime of violence, stalking, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder for hire and obstruction of justice. Each faces life in prison if convicted. Car guru Alex Vega, owner of The Auto Firm, in his Kendall shop, where several celebrities have had their high-end cars customized, on Sept. 13, 2018. The indictment accuses Ramirez and Ali of recruiting two men to carry out the hit on Vega: Jaime Serrano and Julian Jimenez. They flew from New York to Miami on an American Airlines flight on Aug. 21, 2019, rented a blue Nissan Rogue and stalked Vega, according to court records. Six days later, in the early evening of Aug. 27, Serrano drove Jimenez in the Nissan to Vegas Kendale Lakes home. Eight shots fired in Kendale Lakes driveway Jimenez, wearing a surgical mask and gloves and carrying a gun that Serrano gave to him after they had arrived in Miami, got out of the front passenger seat, approached Vega in his car and started shooting, according to a statement filed with Jimenezs plea deal. He fired eight shots, including three that struck Vega. A witness told FBI agents that the men were offered $60,000 to carry out the hit, though that has never been confirmed, Jimenezs attorney, federal public defender Abigail Becker, said at his sentencing. Jimenez, 27, pleaded guilty to his part in the murder attempt and a judge sentenced him to 35 years in prison in November. Hes the son of Marcos Jimenez Marc Anthonys sound engineer and occasional property manager, according to court documents U.S. District Judge Roy Altman sentenced Serrano, 46, who was convicted at trial of arranging the shooting and the trip from New York to South Florida to carry it out, to 50 years in prison. A jury determined Serrano was not the shooter, but played an important part in planning the operation including buying the airline tickets from New York to Miami, renting cars in Florida, and obtaining the .40 caliber handgun that Jimenez used to shoot Vega. Although he didnt pull the trigger, Altman repeatedly referred to him as the architect of the plot to murder Vega during his sentencing hearing. Altman also said Serrano was more connected to the people who wanted Mr. Vega dead. Neither Serrano nor Jimenez ever gave up who commissioned the hit on Vega. Read More: Second man gets 50 years for role in hit attempt on famous Miami car designer to the stars Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this story. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Even before getting their licenses, students spent time this summer, taking part in Sinclairs Automotive Summer Camp. The camp goes beyond driving, giving students a glimpse of potential future careers. Basically, my whole life Ive been into cars, says 13-year-old Ayden Hockett who attends Watts Middle School. He and about 30 other students are getting real-life lessons in their passion. If I get a flat, Ill know how to change a tire, says Hockett. For 15-year-old Parker Burke, the camp is preparing him for when he gets behind the wheel. Me and my friends thought it would be a good idea because were about to get our temps this upcoming year. So we need to be ready for our driving experience, says Burke, who goes to Carroll High School. Cars are cool, right? I mean, Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, Teslasthose are cool. People love that. I think its part of the American culture that people love cars, says Justin Morgan, who is Sinclairs Automotive Technology Chairperson. I was very fortunate to go and work on cars with my dad. This is an outlet for young people that want to learn about cars but may not get that opportunity at home. Morgan has served as chair since 2013, and hes been with Sinclair since 2005. Theyre learning life skills, basically, like how to change oil. And they also get to learn how to do a spare tire change. Yesterday, they disassembled a small engine. They learned how an engine operates. Tomorrow theyll be doing ride-alongs on our self-driving cars. So, we have a Mercedes-Benz, a Cadillac and a Tesla. Theyre also going to learn about electric vehicles, describes Morgan. The camp gives them the basics, but it goes even beyond that, driving an interest in the industry. A lot of people think of this being a greasy field, not that it can be at times, but I mean, students are using Bluetooth devices and laptops to connect wirelessly to cars, to communicate over bus systems, and talk to infotainment systems. I think just the technology thats on the vehicle, right? I mean, cars have 30 to 50 modules nowadays. And so, when you talk about that stuff, I mean, a lot of times youre closer to an electrical engineer than you are a typical automotive technician from the 80s and 90s, describes Morgan. Daniel Walter is 16 and is a new driver. He has aspirations to become a mechanic. Working with cars, its kind of like adult Legos. You can just take them apart and put them back together. And its super satisfying to, you know, take something down all the way and then put it back together. And it works! exclaims Walter. Kevin Smith is a lab technician at Sinclair and is a product of the community college. Grew up playing with hot wheels, model cars, just tinkering, always kind of my passion, says Smith. Smith is a model for students, turning his dream into a job. Its kind of nice to see that lightbulb in some of the younger students and kind of pass on the knowledge I have learned over the years, says Smith. While the camp is an introduction into a high-demand field, its also helping pave the way for a career in the automotive field while giving them life skills at the same time. Even if they dont go into automotive technology the goal is to get life skills, right? So, if you want to change the oil in your car, if youre standing on the side of the road, they know how to basically change their own flat tire, states Morgan. Sinclair is able to offer this to students with the help of a grant through the National Science Foundation, as well as contributions from local dealerships. They start taking applications for the camp around March. To learn more, 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 WDTN.com. Just days after endorsing former President Donald Trump on stage in Glendale, the Arizona Police Association said Monday it was backing Democrat Ruben Gallego for the states U.S. Senate race. The APA, which represents thousands of law enforcement officers in Arizona, had endorsed Republican Kari Lake during her 2022 gubernatorial campaign but praised Gallego for backing $168 billion in support for police and for his military background as a Marine combat veteran. The shift away from Lake this time, however, comes after Lake called her former Republican Senate challenger, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, a total coward during a candidate forum in May. The APA endorsement could hand Gallego a notable defense against Lakes routine charges that he sought to defund the police and was a rubber stamp for policies under the Biden administration that she claims have led to a rise in crime. Violent crime has fallen in 69 of the nations largest cities in the first half of the year, according to figures from the Major Cities Chiefs Association. As a Marine combat veteran, we know Congressman Gallego understands the complexities of modern policing in American society today, while at the same time recognizing the publics expectations, said Justin Harris, president of the APA, in a statement announcing the endorsement. The APA singled out Gallegos support for measures allowing local authorities to use federal funds for recruitment and retention pay and for providing benefits to families of officers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Harris praised Trump during an 11-minute endorsement on stage with Trump standing behind him at Fridays rally in Glendale. Gallegos statement thanking the APA noted their shared goal of community and officer safety. It also said he wants to ensure officers have the resources necessary to combat fentanyl trafficking, train the next generation of officers, and, above all, keep Arizona families safe. Lake has made the scourge of fentanyl overdoses a major theme of her campaign and argued that law enforcement hasnt had a reliable partner under Democrats. In a statement Monday, the Lake campaign said Gallego supported defunding the police and vilified law enforcement while serving in Congress. He supports open borders and is weak on crime. Kari Lake will always back the blue and support law enforcement and safe communities. It is a reference to some of Gallegos activities around the early days of protests after the 2020 slaying of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of police that triggered a national reckoning on race. In June 2020, Gallego noted in a social media post that Peaceful protestors arent bad guys, they are citizens. The bad guys were the ones behind the police line not in front of them. In an interview on MSNBC about the same time, Gallego said American police had not been trained in using some of the weapons used in war zones like that which he used in urban combat in Iraq. They dont know how to use this in a proper manner and a safe manner. And also, to a certain degree, its just not necessary. Our streets are not combat zones, our police are not the military, our civilians are not combatants, he said. Lakes campaign touts the backing, for example, of the Arizona Law Enforcement Association, the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs and the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association. But she alienated some in law enforcement with her personal comment about Lamb. Lake attacked Lamb while she argued she had fought for election integrity for making the baseless claim that her 2022 gubernatorial loss and Trumps 2020 election loss owed to fraud. Lamb, she said during the online event, didnt do anything about the problem. Theres not many people who have the ability to fight. I took every hit fighting for security in our elections. Sheriffs have the ability to fight, and the sheriff of Pinal County cowered. Hes a total coward when it comes to election integrity. Nine of the states 14 other county sheriffs later joined in a statement condemning Lakes remark. Kari Lakes recent comment calling Sheriff Mark Lamb a coward is both unfounded and disrespectful. We want to make it clear: neither Sheriff Mark Lamb nor any law enforcement officer who wears a badge and uniform, putting the life on the line every day to protect and serve our communities, is a coward. Arizona voters expect better from a political candidate, especially when they are running for the U.S. Senate. The statement was signed by: Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, Gila County Sheriff Adam Shepard, Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred, La Paz County Sheriff William Ponce, Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner, Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster, Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse, Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes and Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot. For his part, Lamb responded to Lake at the time by saying she didnt complain about election problems in her race until she lost the 2022 gubernatorial election while he hunted for evidence of widespread fraud in his county. I dont think Joe Biden got 81 million votes, but I dont live in the world of feelings and thoughts, he said. I live in the world of evidence, what you can prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt. Any one of these people, including Kari, or any one of them could have brought me the evidence that was actionable in court for me to do something about it. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ Police Association backs Ruben Gallego over Kari Lake for Senate Bakersfield man sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for conspiracy to sell methamphetamine, heroin: US DOJ BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A Bakersfield man who previously pleaded no contest to a charge of solicitation of murder, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for drug conspiracy, officials said in a release. Jose Luis Zambrano, 40, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months to prison on federal charges of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, the U.S. District Attorneys Office in Fresno said. Wasco State Prison inmate dies after alleged attack by 2 other inmates Saturday: CDCR Zambrano pleaded guilty in March. Prosecutors said Zambrano sold a pound of methamphetamine and nearly 12 ounces of heroin over a three-month period beginning in October 2016. Wiretaps indicated Zambrano was the supplier of drugs to Manuel Teodoro Aros, 49, of Santa Maria, and was the intended recipient of heroin from a supplier in Mexico. Aros was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for his involvement in the drug conspiracy. Zambrano pleaded no contest in 2022 to a charge of solicitation to commit murder in connection to a deadly 2017 shooting outside a Family Dollar store on Union Avenue in Bakersfield. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A man pleaded guilty Monday to attacking a couple in West Baltimore and setting them on fire, and is expected to admit in court Friday that he killed tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere. Jason Billingsley, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder, charges stemming from a September home invasion during which authorities said Billingsley forced his way into a basement apartment in Upton, bound a couple at gunpoint and raped the woman before dousing them in gasoline and setting them and the residence ablaze. Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert K. Taylor said Mondays plea was part of a package deal with prosecutors that will see Billingsley admit in court Friday to killing LaPere three days after the home invasion. He is charged with first-degree murder in LaPeres death. In the home invasion case, Taylor sentenced Billingsley to two terms of life in prison, to be served simultaneously, rather than one after the other. Taylors punishment followed an agreement Billingsley struck with prosecutors that could allow him an opportunity for parole much later in life. I dont see any point in me giving a lecture. The facts speak for themselves, Taylor said. People convicted of crimes of violence in Maryland become eligible for parole after serving 50% of their sentence, but its up to the Parole Commission whether to grant someone early release. Prosecutors in the office of Baltimore States Attorney Ivan Bates previously indicated they would seek penalties of life in prison without the possibility of parole the maximum penalty under Maryland law if they secured convictions in both the home invasion and murder cases. In a statement, Bates, a Democrat, said his offices hearts continue to be with the survivors and that he hoped the outcome brings them, their loved ones, and their community some measure of closure and healing. Todays plea ensures that a dangerous individual will spend the rest of his life behind bars, unable to harm anyone else, Bates said. The horrific acts of false imprisonment, assault, and attempted murder have left a lasting impact on the lives of not only the victims but our city as a whole. Early on the morning of Sept. 19, 2023, Billingsley identified himself as a maintenance worker as he banged on the door of the basement apartment and yelled that there was a flood upstairs, Assistant States Attorney Tonya LaPolla said in court. When April Hurley came to the door, Billingsley kicked his way in and pointed a gun at her and her boyfriend at the time, Jonte Gilmore, according to charging documents. Billingsley then bound Hurley with duct tape and handcuffed Gilmore before sexually assaulting Hurley repeatedly and slashing her neck with a knife. When Ms. Hurley pretended to be dead, LaPolla said, the defendant poured gasoline on her and Gilmore and set the residence ablaze. LaPolla said Hurley escaped from a window to get help. Medics took her to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and Gilmore to the burn center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Both sustained second- and third-degree burns, according to charging documents, and LaPolla said Gilmore required several skin grafts. The impact that this heinous attack has had on my life is nothing short of devastating, Hurley told Taylor on Monday, saying that she suffers from constant fear for her safety, many sleepless nights and post-traumatic stress disorder that requires therapy and medication management. She said she struggles to be in public now because when people speak to me, now I can see their eyes are focused on the scars on my neck. Hurley also testified to being repulsed by the thought of intimacy. My body has been violated, she said. LaPolla said Hurley and Gilmore identified Billingsley as their assailant. The Baltimore Sun typically does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Hurley and her lawyers held a news conference to announce their lawsuit against Billingsley and the companies that employed him as a building maintenance worker. In a statement Monday, the attorneys representing Hurley in her civil case, of the firm Murphy, Falcon and Murphy, said they were relieved that Billingsley will spend the rest of his natural life in prison. Yet, no sentence can undo the trauma she endured not only at the hands of Jason Billingsley but also due to the negligence of those who were responsible for property where she lived, the civil attorneys said. Detectives wrote in charging documents that they found fruits of the crime in a backpack found in the bushes in the backyard of the Upton rowhouse. In the black and lime green backpack, investigators found a serrated knife, rolls of duct tape, several pieces of used tape with hair on them, handcuffs, a hooded sweatshirt and condom wrappers, charging documents say. Next to the backpack, they found a bleach container, a gas can and a lighter. LaPolla also said police recovered a used condom, and that DNA testing revealed Billingsley had used it and indicated he sexually assaulted Hurley. Billingsleys attorney, public defender Jason Rodriguez, advised his client of the various rights he was giving up by pleading guilty, but did not say anything about the charges or Billingsley in court. A spokesperson for the Office of the Public Defender did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Six days after Billingsley broke into the basement apartment, on Sept. 25, 2023, Baltimore Police rushed to an apartment building in Mount Vernon where someone found a womans body on the roof, bloodied with apparent head trauma, charging documents say. Medics immediately declared LaPere dead. Her killing rocked the tight-knit tech community of Baltimore, where the 26-year-old LaPere was beloved and considered an up-and-coming leader. As the community mourned her, homicide detectives reviewed security camera footage from her apartment complex. The video showed LaPere enter the buildings lobby around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and later a man in a gray hoodie summoned her to the front door with a wave, according to charging documents. Investigators saw the man get on the elevator with LaPere. Later, detectives wrote of the footage, the male suspect can be seen leaving the stairwell into the lobby with his gray hooded sweatshirt in his hand scrambling for an exit. The Black male located the front door and could see him (sic) wiping his right hand on his shorts before exiting the building. A witnesss review of the security video and department databases helped detectives identify Billingsley. Billingsley spoke with investigators for about two hours following his Sept. 28 arrest near a train station in Bowie. Taylor previously ruled that prosecutors could play video of his interrogation at the murder trial, denying a request from his lawyer to exclude the footage. LaPeres killing inspired two bills in the Maryland General Assembly last session, one of which, proponents said, would prevent people like Billingsley from being in a position to attack LaPere when he did. In 2015, Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but 14 years behind bars suspended, for a first-degree sex offense. He was released early in October 2022 after earning diminution, or good time, credits while incarcerated. One of the bills passed in LaPeres honor will prohibit people convicted of first-degree rape from earning diminution credits. Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, that law takes effect Oct. 1. LaPeres family said in a statement Monday that theyve endured persistent pain since she was killed, 339 days ago. Justice may be served, but it will never fill the void, erase the grief, or replace the impact Pava would have had if given the full life that she deserved, the family said. They added that they would expand upon their statement in court Friday. In a historic turn of events in Bangladesh, Gen-Z student-led protests forced the downfall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country with an iron fist since coming to power in 2009. A brutal crackdown by security forces and activists from her Awami League party and the ensuing violence resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands more injuries. The swearing in of Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus earlier this month as interim leadera key demand of the student protestershas brought enough hope in the strife-torn country that many in Bangladesh are calling it a second liberation, half a century after the country won independence. Read More: 5 Takeaways from TIMEs Interview With Sheikh Hasina To ensure that Bangladesh 2.0 is successful, key reforms must not wait for a democratically elected government. The current interim government does not have a vested interest in keeping old and corrupt institutions intact. But in the future, newly elected governments might seek to reform institutions to their advantage. Rebuilding key institutions now will help guardrail against democratic backsliding under any future government. Three areas of reform are key: the police and military, the constitution, and the judiciary. Reining in the deep state The security sector in Bangladesh faces a severe legitimacy crisis. The military and the police were implicated in gross human rights violations during the student movement and prior to the protests. Both the police and the military became highly politicized during Hasinas regime. Most people have lost their trust in these institutions. Moreover, many police officers fled their positions in the wake of Hasinas departure out of fear of retaliation, leaving a security vacuum. The first step to increase trust and legitimacy should be to dismantle the police units and individuals involved in violence, particularly the Rapid Forces Battalion (RAB), which has a long record of violating human rights. The individuals should be replaced with a diverse set of recruits, including women and ethnic and religious minorities, as well as by those who achieved merit and were not simply promoted because of ties to the Awami League. The military is already purging and reshuffling personnel who were implicated in the atrocities during the protests. These investigations should continue, and suspected personnel must be put on trial. Units such as the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, which have been implicated in human rights violations and ran a secret prison, should be dismantled or reformed. The military also must commit to a democratic process, disclose all business interests, and support the interim government by ensuring the security of all citizens during the transition. For both the police and the military, an independent commission should oversee these processes. They should also call on U.N. entities, such as the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, for guidance and oversight. Implementing constitutional reform Bangladeshs recent authoritarian turn is a byproduct of a concentration of power in the Prime Minister and the executive branch. The country has only nominally independent state institutions. Restructuring the presidency as a purely non-partisan institution should be at the heart of constitutional reforms. The de facto practice of the Prime Minister appointing the President should be discarded in favor of collective voting. Current provisions that force the President to act on the advice of the Prime Minister significantly undermine checks and balances and must also be done away with. Meanwhile, the President should be granted authority to appoint the heads of key state bodies with recommendations from nonpartisan experts. Doing so would curb executive influence and ensure these institutions operate free from political pressure. The constitution should also introduce more legislative oversight over government. An important first step is abolishing the requirement that members of parliament vote in their partys favor. Depoliticizing the judiciary and state institutions Yunus has already made judicial reforms a priority. Currently, the appointments and promotion of Supreme Court judges are heavily influenced by incumbent preferences. The interim government needs to abolish the controversial two-year extension rule that allows for reappointing retired judges, disincentivizing senior judges to seek favors from the incumbent government. It is vital to shield all key state institutionsincluding the Election Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Public Service Commission, and the Human Rights Commissionfrom ruling party influence. As Bangladesh approaches an election, an independent and neutral election commission is non-negotiable for a credible rotation of power. The top-level appointments in state institutions must be done with recommendations from an independent committee representing political parties, the judiciary, and civil society. These appointments should also require parliamentary approval, including a certain threshold of opposition support, so that no single party controls the process. Ultimately, the success of the student-led movement presents an opportunity for Bangladesh to refrain from making the mistakes of its past. The economy is doing reasonably well and civil society is strong. Yunus can seize this moment. His government must not allow those who marred Bangladesh with political violence from its inception to continue to hold the reins of power. It is time for a democratic Bangladesh, led by the people, and for the people. Contact us at letters@time.com. Barack Obama was the target of a failed KKK assassination attempt back in 2008, an FBI informant claims. The New York Post reports that an FBI counterterrorism informant named Joe Moore prevented the racist groups plans to kill the former President in 2008. An excerpt from his book, White Robes and Broken Badges, which was released on Tuesday (Aug. 13), spoke about the KKKs machinations and every detail of the plot, including the time, date, and location. Moore claims to have joined the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan and wowed the white supremacists with a fraudulent background consisting of military expertise and being a skilled gunsmith. Moore recounts being initiated into the group in 2007. As they crept closer to their planned attack, he had been selected as the trigger man to kill Barack Obama. I had to follow [my orders] and do whatever it took to prevent the assassination of Barack Obama, Moore wrote in an excerpt from the book. Because I was the only one who could. President elect Barack Obama (L) acknowledges his supports along with his wife Michelle (R) and daughters Malia (2nd R) and Sasha to during an election night gathering in Grant Park on November 4, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama defeated Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by a wide margin in the election to become the first African-American U.S. President elect. The book details how Moore couldnt stand bullies and Moore took his mission to thwart the scheme seriously. As the mission was the FBIs first-ever undercover operation focusing on the KKK, Moore had to play his role as a supremacist expertly. As a result, Moore claimed to have rooted himself into the KKKs culture, participating in rituals, cross-burnings, and being at the scene of violent actsall of which he witnessed while rocking a wire. Additionally, Moore claims to have come into contact with numerous current police officers and government officials who all had sworn allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan. The deeper I became entrenched in the Klan, the more of a challenge it became to leave all that at the door when I went home to my wife and son, Moore added. All I could visualize were members kicking in the door to come get me after learning my true purpose. Lesley McSpadden (2L) and Michael Brown Sr. (C), parents of Michael Brown, march in a protest for their son on August 30, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed teenager, was shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on August 9. His death caused several days of violent protests along with rioting and looting in Ferguson. After stopping the assassination attempt in 2008, Moore took on a second campaign in 2013. The book claims that even after Obama took office, the Klans ranks were bolstered by his presence as United States President and the murder of Michael Brown the following year. During this stint undercover, Moore thwarted a plan by the KKK to murder Warren Williams, a Black man who was the target of a grudge held by a few members of the group. However, that dramatic interaction ultimately blew his cover, forcing him and his family into hiding and living under witness protection. I take great pride in dealing a hateful organization a devastating near deathblow, the man continues. The overall movement in general, though, was far, far from dead or even in decline. Moore insists that hateful groups like the KKK and what happened on January 6, 2021, should be reminders that the fight isnt over. He predicts that things could get scarier as former President Donald Trump looks to become commander-in-chief again. The Klan and the like-minded groups it has produced have learned to balance bullets with bluster and pistols with paper, both of which have the potential to do far more irrevocable damage on the state of our democracy than the former, Moore wrote in his book. With the 2024 election looming, and democracy itself on the ballotwe should be very afraid. Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. More from VIBE.com 'Barcelona or die.' For Senegalese dreaming of Europe, the deadly Atlantic route is not a deterrent CORRECTS FAMILY NAME TO NDIAYE - Salamba Ndiaye, a 28-year-old who tried to migrate to Europe twice, checks her school certificates at her house in Thiaroye-Sur-Mer, Senegal, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to flee poverty and the lack of job opportunities in the West African country each year to head to Spain. More than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands from January to mid-August this year, (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag) THIAROYE-SUR-MER, Senegal (AP) Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents' knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave. A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal. Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it, she said. Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe. Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spains Interior Ministry. While most migrants leaving Senegal are young men, aid workers in the Canary Islands say they are increasingly seeing young women like Ndiaye risk their lives as well. Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat. The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone. Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains. But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. Barsa wala Barsakh, or Barcelona or die in Wolof, one of Senegals national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route. Even if we stay here, we are in danger, said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegals capital that Ndiaye is from. If you are sick and you cant pay for treatment, arent you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we dont, he added. Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal. Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing. These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net, Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water. Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we dont find enough, just a little, he adds. Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult. Ahead of the Spanish prime ministers visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiayes mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating. These kids dont know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they wont leave, Niang says. But if not, well, we cant make them stay. Theres no work here, she said. ___ Associated Press writer Ndeye Sene Mbengue in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration A Lexington councilwoman who has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by a fellow councilwoman said Monday the allegations are false and driven by politics. I can assure the press, the public, my constituents and any other interested party that the allegations are patently false. I do not know exactly what is driving this sudden unexpected derogatory accusation, but it does not escape attention that the allegation has been made within 90 days of our next City Council election in which I am on the ballot as the incumbent 4th District Council member for the city of Lexington, said Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilwoman Brenda Monarrez. Mondays statement is the first time Monarrez has spoken about the allegations. Monarrez faces Emma Curtis in the November general election. Council races are nonpartisan. On Aug. 8, fellow Lexington Councilwoman Denise Gray applied for a restraining order called an interpersonal protection order, alleging Monarrez was sexually aggressive toward her on two occasions over the past three years. An emergency protection order was granted, and the two were ordered not to have any contact. Denise Gray, left, and Brenda Monarrez During an Aug. 20 hearing, Fayette Family Court Judge Traci Brislin ordered Monarrez to work from home and not attend any council meetings in person. Monarrez will attend meetings virtually. A full hearing where both sides will be able to produce evidence is scheduled for Oct. 16. In her statement, Monarrez also noted that interpersonal protection orders are civil, not criminal, matters, and she has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. The present court status regarding the allegations against me is that no court has yet made any determination as to whether any inappropriate conduct occurred. The court has taken the usual steps of ensuring separation of the parties until an evidentiary hearing can be held, Monarrez said. Monarrez said she looks forward to clearing her name. I look forward to the opportunity to have all the true facts come to light with respect to the baseless accusations that have been made against me, and I look forward to the day this vile attempt to smear my personal and political reputation is exposed for what it is, Monarrez said. Gray has declined comment on several occasions since filing the interpersonal protection order. She is running unopposed for reelection. Monarrez and Gray were both elected in 2022. The captain of the luxury Bayesian yacht that sank near Porticello, off the coast of Sicily, last week will face an investigation into possible charges of manslaughter and negligent shipwreck, the Italian prosecutors office announced Monday. James Cutfield, 51, was the head of crew aboard the 56-meter (184-foot) sailing boat when it capsized in the throes of a ferocious storm last Monday, killing six passengers, including British tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. The yachts chef Recaldo Thomas also likely died in the wreck. The other victims were Morgan Stanley International director Jonathan Bloomer, prominent American lawyer Chris Morvillo, and both of their wives Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo. Chris Morvillo, a partner at Clifford Chance, was involved in successfully defeating the US fraud case against Lynch in June. Cutfield and 14 other people survived the sinking, including Lynchs wife, Angela Bacares. A weather phenomenon known as a waterspout one of several types of tornadoes is thought to have capsized the yacht. But Italian authorities are investigating whether the crews actions and their handling of the boat contributed to the deadly sinking. New-Zealand born Cutfield is not in custody, according to Italian prosecutors, but he cannot leave the country while the investigation is ongoing. Maritime law gives a captain full responsibility for the ship, crew, and all on board, according to Reuters. Italian prosecutors speak on August 24, in Sicily, southern Italy. They announced an investigation into negligent shipwreck and manslaughter, over the sinking of the Bayesian yacht that killed seven people. - Alessandro Fucarini/AFP/Getty Images Those killed were likely asleep at the time of the storm, a prosecutor said at the weekend, which is why they were unable to escape. On Saturday, the prosecutor and head of the fire brigade recovery team both said five bodies were found in the same room of the ship, which may have meant they were searching for an air pocket while the ship sank. Investigators warned that the circumstances of the sinking remain largely unclear, including whether there was a black box onboard the ship, and if some of the ships hatches were left ajar which would explain why it sank so rapidly. The CEO of the firm that owns the boats manufacturer, The Italian Sea Group, claimed the yacht was unsinkable. Giovanni Costantino told Sky News sailing ships are the safest in the most absolute sense. Salvage crews are expected to raise the Bayesian named after the statistical theory on which Lynch made his fortune in the coming weeks. Under Italian law, the cost of raising and salvaging the ship falls on the ships owner. As Bacares company owns the vessel, they must find a salvage company and raise the ship, which is then handed to Italian authorities as part of the investigation, the main prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said on Saturday. After the yacht is raised, investigators will determine if the hatches were open during the storm, Cartosio added. Italian prosecutors will also investigate whether the ships chief mate was on the bridge when the ship sunk, and if anyone tried to warn the passengers of imminent danger. CNNs Catherine Nicholls and Kara Fox contributed reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Belarusian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries on manoeuvres in 2023 - BELARUS MINISTRY OF DEFENCE/AP Belarus is massing troops and equipment along its border with Ukraine under the guise of military exercises, Kyiv has warned. Ukrainian officials urged the Kremlin-allied nation not to make tragic mistakes and ordered it to withdraw its forces. The build-up in the Gomel region, near Ukraines northern border, is said to include special forces and former Wagner mercenary fighters, along with tanks, artillery, air defence systems and engineering equipment. Ukrainian government sources told The Telegraph that its intervention was not meant to be seen as a warning of imminent danger at the border. However, Kyivs foreign ministry said in a statement that if Belarus violated its territory, Ukraine would defend itself and every group of troops, military facility, and military supply route in Belarus will be legitimate targets. The warning came during Ukraines incursion into Kursk and Russias advance into eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said they had intelligence that Belarus was concentrating a significant number of personnel, including special operations forces, weapons and military equipment under the cover of military drills. We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscows pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraines state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belaruss systems, they added in a statement. Belarus, which is politically and economically reliant on Moscow, allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a launchpad for their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Kyiv has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people. They added that military exercises in the region posed a global security threat because of their proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Forces ill-equipped Last week, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, claimed Ukraine had earlier this month sent more than 120,000 troops to the border between the two nations - a claim denied by Kyiv. He said that Minsk had deployed nearly a third of its armed forces to the region in response. Konrad Muzyka, a defence analyst at Rochan Consulting, said it was unlikely Belarus is considering offensive action against Ukraine at this stage. He added: Our long-term assessment is that the Belarusian armed forces primarily function as a mobilisation force, which would require a significant increase in manpower through mobilisation to conduct any offensive operations. Even then, their forces primarily rely on post-Soviet equipment that has seen minimal modernisation, leaving them ill-equipped for contemporary battlefield demands. Mr Muzyka said Kyiv had heavily fortified parts of its border with Belarus and it was unlikely Minsk could muster the force to break through. Mathieu Boulegue, a consulting fellow at the Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera that Belarus was a vassal state to the Kremlin and more valuable as a launchpad for operations than for it to enter the war itself. He added: The moment they do that, it creates much more instability than necessary, with the risk of losing regime stability in Minsk, and forcing a hard international response. Russia meanwhile launched its largest drone and missile barrage in weeks, again striking Ukraines battered energy grid and triggering more blackouts. Hundreds of drones and missiles forced state-owned electricity supplier Ukrenergo to announce emergency power cuts to stabilise the system. Top Kyiv officials again urged their allies and arms suppliers to allow long-range strikes into Russia. Mr Zelensky also redoubled his call for allies to join the country in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drones and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields. Click here to view this content. 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. BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) The city of Bella Vista says its offices and library will reopen to the public at its normal time on Aug. 27 after they were closed for several days due to a cybersecurity incident, according to a press release. The citys Information Technology Director John Moeckel said he is pleased with the progress being made, but work still needs to be done. We have determined all infected devices and are at 100% containment, he said. We have not paid any ransom and restorations are proceeding forward. Moeckel says he has not been alerted of any breach of personal information. All of the citys network systems including internet and phones were shut down on Aug. 19 after a possible cybersecurity attack was identified on Aug. 18 through a system that monitors the citys cybersecurity. City of Bella Vista offices closed through Wednesday after possible cyber incident Offices were closed to the public and the release says employees worked remotely throughout the week. The city says police and fire response was not disrupted since they operate on an unaffected separate system. One remarkable result of an event such as this was that it was not crippling to the citys operations as one may expect, said Mayor John Flynn. Because of the pandemics widespread shift to remote work, we were able to maintain continuity within the city and still serve our residents. The city says it is insured against cyber threats through the Arkansas Municipal League. It says it has been following the AMLs guidance for restoration which has been in phases including containment, forensic investigation and recovery. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A beloved metro Atlanta Mexican restaurant is closing its doors after 26 years. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Mi Barrio Mexican Restaurant in Grant Park announced over the weekend that they will permanently close their doors on Nov. 16 of this year. TRENDING STORIES: Mi Barrio served authentic Mexican food out of a quirky red building across the street from Oakland Cemetery. The restaurant ran out of the familys home kitchen until 2003, when they took over the building on Memorial Drive. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Our parents, Martha Lopez and Jesus Lopez, have decided their time has come to retire! the couples children wrote on Facebook. This decision wasnt easy, but its time for our family to focus on the next chapter of our lives. There was an outpouring of support from customers on social media, most of them wishing the owners well in their retirement. Youve given Atlanta so many great memories but Im glad your parents will be taking time for themselves, one Facebook user wrote. I hope they have the best time in retirement. BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (WOOD) An officer opened fire on a driver speeding toward a crowd of people in Benton Harbor early Saturday, according to police. Around 3:45 a.m. Saturday, an officer with the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety discovered a disturbance surrounding a car on Vineyard Avenue between Pipestone Street and Cedar Street, police said. The officer got out of his cruiser and walked toward the crowd as the car drove east on Vineyard Avenue, stopped and turned around. Then the car accelerated toward the crowd of people, police say. Two people were swiped by the vehicle as it stopped for a moment then accelerated again toward more people and the officer standing near his cruiser. When the vehicle reaccelerated, the Officer was in a position between the vehicle speeding towards him and his patrol car. He then fired into the vehicle, wrote the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety in a release. The driver, 18-year-old Elajah Walker of Benton Harbor, was shot in her right hand. She was taken out of the car and given first aid. Walker was taken to the hospital before being booked into the Berrien County Jail on felony charges. Police say the situation was caused by a love triangle. The officer who fired the weapon was placed on administrative leave during the investigation, which is standard protocol. Michigan State Police is investigating. This embedded content is not available in your region. BHDPS said camera footage from the officers body cam and patrol car will be released after being reviewed and authorized for release by the Berrien County Prosecutors 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 WOODTV.com. BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD)- A 30-year-old Berkeley County man is facing charges in connection with the 2020 death of a child who authorities said died after choking on an object. Caleb Jochen Carter was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of unlawfully placing a child at risk of or causing harm or willfully abandoning the child, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Ladson mother charged with Homicide by Child Abuse after death of infant An arrest affidavit states that the child died in October 2020 after Carter did place or allow to be placed an unsafe mouthpiece in the victims mouth which resulted in upper airway obstruction. The victim whose age was not provided also had multiple injuries, including bruises on the chest, back, eye, ear, and jaw, according to a separate affidavit. Authorities did not specify how Carter was related to the child, but affidavits state that the child was in his care at the time of their death. Carter was booked into the Edgefield County 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 WCBD News 2. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) A 15-year-old high school student was charged with making bomb threats against Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School back in May, the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) said. He and a 12-year-old boy from Pennsylvania are believed to be responsible for the threat on Thursday, May 16, which led to a lockdown of the school and the deployment of SWAT, K-9 units and other resources. MCPD said the two were also responsible for making bomb threats to Walt Whitman High School and Bethesda Elementary School on the following Friday. Montgomery County student charged for allegedly making bomb threat towards high school The 15-year-old is accused of reaching out for help on social media to have someone call in a bomb threat at his school. The FBI and MCPD identified the 12-year-old as the caller. The Bethesda teen was charged with threats of mass violence, extortion and other felony charges related to the incident. The 15-year-old and 12-year-old allegedly communicated with each other while the incident was happening, providing information, updates and instructions as the threats were being made. The caller demanded a certain amount of money in order to prevent bombs from detonating at the school. Maryland state law prevents charges from being filed against the 12-year-old. However, MCPD emphasized that both boys caused disruption to the school day, forcing a lockdown and taking an emotional toll on the students, staff and community. After searching the campus that day, it was determined no bombs were present, and students were dismissed for the day. The 15-year-old has since been released to his family after being handed his charges. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Supporters with signs stand on the state capitol building steps during a rally by Better Boundaries in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Better Boundaries kicked off its campaign to encourage Utahns to vote no on a constitutional amendment saying lawmakers have the power to amend or repeal citizen-led initiatives. We have heard from thousands of Utahns from all backgrounds, from all political beliefs united in defeating this power grab by politicians, said Katie Wright, executive director of Better Boundaries. Our constitutional rights are sacred and we will not give them away to politicians who think they know better than us. The organization, known for its work on the 2018 initiative to establish an independent redistricting commission, held a press conference with other speakers Monday at the Utah Capitol steps. Utahns filled the steps holding up signs that said Vote No and Hey lawmakers, listen to us, We the People as well as simply Listen. The crowd periodically broke out into chants of Vote No as speakers made their cases against the amendment. Better Boundaries Board Member Ryan Bell speaks during a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Why rally speakers do not support the amendment Our state constitution gives the people the right to enact laws directly through the initiative process and it has become clear that when the people exercise this right, the Legislature gets defensive of what they do, said Ryan Bell, board member of Better Boundaries. Bell said the Utah Legislature showed it was defensive by rejecting the maps from the independent redistricting commission and drawing their own. The Utah Legislature was sued over this and a recent state Supreme Court decision allowed the suit to move forward. The decision said when it comes to initiatives that alter or reform the government, the Utah Legislature can only make changes by showing they have a compelling government interest. Republican lawmakers have said this creates uncertainty because cases could be made any initiative alters or reforms government, and the legal standard amendments are held does not have hard and fast rules. Legislative leadership reacted to this decision with what can only be called a tantrum, said Bell, citing language from a statement Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, released which called the decision one of the worst outcomes weve ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court. This is the language of politicians who are accustomed to exercising total power while being accountable to no one, said Bell. He called the amendment the nuclear option and said he could not think of anything less conservative than rewriting the constitution to give lawmakers more power and people less. The people of Utah do not answer to the Legislature, said Bell, adding that the people are the ultimate authority. Emma Petty Adams, co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, led off her remarks by saying this issue is not a partisan one. The whole American experiment is built on the idea that citizens have a critical role to play in determining the quality of our government, said Adams. Today we are here to affirm that Utahns will continue to claim our right to guide and reform that government now and into the future. Adams said they believed voting for elected representatives, litigation and initiatives were three ways people can seek when the balance of power in state government begins to slip. Melarie Wheat also with Mormon Women for Ethical Government, said the Utah Supreme Court in one of the checks on the Legislature that can balance power. But we propose that the voters of Utah should be recognized as another, said Wheat. One of a handful of Republican lawmakers who voted against putting the amendment on the ballot, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said this moment is one of awful consequence to the state of Utah. Over the 100 years, citizens have passed seven initiatives, said Thatcher, and the Legislature has made amendments to almost all of them. Only once have we ever just flat out said, were not doing that. Only once have we actually impaired or overturned the legislative rights of the people. Rep. Rosemary Lesser, D-Ogden, said the barriers to pass initiatives is intense. She said the Legislature has thrown a few bones such as increasing the number of days citizens have to gather signatures to repeal laws. But it doesnt matter whether we have 60 days or 600 days, said Lesser. If at the end of those days, the Legislature says your voice will be ignored. Executive Director of Better Boundaries Katie Wright talks with supporters after a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Retired Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham said she was concerned about the way legislators have spoke to the press about the impact the amendment would have on the state. They suggest frequently that well become California, said Durham There is no basis on which this opinion would create California in Utah. She said she did not think outsiders would bring in lots of money to alter or reform state government. Durham, who served on the independent redistricting commission, said the group was bipartisan and worked across party lines. She said the Legislature did not have to be accountable as to why they rejected the maps and the commission did have to be accountable. Its become more and more difficult over the years to get any kind of bipartisanship because theres no need for it, because we have a one-party state, said Durham. Why others support the amendment Schultz and Adams have both told the Deseret News they think the Legislature needs the ability to amend initiatives to allow lawmakers to make good policy. What we are fighting for is Utahns having control over the process, said Adams. Were not trying to take away any of their rights or any of their abilities. The initiative process has not changed at all. We just want to make sure that we keep Utah, Utah. We just want to keep things the way its been for the last 130 years in the state of Utah and to show that were sincere in that we opened up the back end of that for referenda, making it easier for citizens of the state to hold the legislature accountable, said Schultz. Supporters with signs stand on the state capitol building steps during a rally by Better Boundaries in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Better Boundaries Board Member Ryan Bell shakes hands with former US Rep. Karen Shepard after speaking at a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Retired Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court Christine Durham speaks during a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Supporters with signs stand on the state capitol building steps during a rally by Better Boundaries in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Emma Petty Adams, left, and Melarie Wheat, right, speak on behalf of Mormon Women for Ethical Government during a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Better Boundaries Board Member Ryan Bell hands the microphone to Executive Director of Better Boundaries Katie Wright during a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Executive Director of Better Boundaries Katie Wright talks with media after a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Executive Director of Better Boundaries Katie Wright speaks at a rally by Better Boundaries on the steps of the state capitol building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News President Biden mourned the three-year anniversary of the attack at the Kabul airport, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed. He named the 13 service members in a statement Monday, also noting that more than 100 innocent Afghans were killed in the airport bombing. These 13 Americansand the many more that were woundedwere patriots in the highest sense. Some were born the year the war in Afghanistan started. Some were on their second or third tour. But all raised their hand to serve a cause greater than themselvesrisking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, Allies, and Afghan partners, Biden said. The chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal was one of Bidens first major foreign policy moves as president, and Republicans have continued to criticize him and his administration over his handling of the exit. The troops died when a bomb went off at the airport as U.S. forces were working to evacuate thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghan civilians. Today, our longest war is over. But our commitment to preventing attacks on our homelandor our peoplenever will be. We will continue to disrupt terrorist activity, wherever we find it. We will continue to deliver justice to terrorists who plot against Americajust as we have over the last three years with the leader of al-Qaeda and the global leader of ISIS, Biden said Monday. Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Dover Air Force Base three years ago to observe the dignified transfer of the U.S. service members who died in the suicide bombing. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, days after the most prominent leader from a nation that maintains a neutral position on Russias invasion of Ukraine visited Kyiv. Modi said in a posting on X that he spoke to Biden about Indias full support for early return of peace and stability" in Ukraine. He said the leaders also discussed India's concern about the safety of Hindus and other religious minorities in neighboring Bangladesh after this month's ouster of the country's long-serving prime minister. The White House said Biden commended Modi's engagement with Ukraine as well as his visit last week to Poland, one of Ukraine's closest Eastern European allies. We welcome any other country that wants to help President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy work towards this just peace, and any country thats willing to come at that discussion by starting with President Zelenskys perspective, by hearing him out, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. Zelenskyy and Modi during their meeting last week discussed at length Ukraines peace formula, which prioritizes territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops, according to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We say it very loudly and clearly that we support the respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, Modi said during the meeting. Its our highest priority." The Kyiv visit came after Modi last month met with Putin in Moscow. Zelenskyy had criticized Modi for the visit with Putin, which came on the same day Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, killing scores of people. During the visit, Modi was photographed giving Putin a warm embrace. India, which has a long-running relationship with Moscow, has largely avoided weighing in on the Russian invasion. India started building a strong relationship with the then-Soviet Union in the mid-1950s during the Cold War, then strengthened those ties over conflicts with neighbor Pakistan. The Soviet Union helped mediate a cease-fire between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 war over control of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Then, during Indias war with Pakistan in December 1971, the Soviet Union used its veto power to support India at the United Nations, while the U.S. ordered a task force into the Bay of Bengal in support of Pakistan. Early in the war, Biden referred to India as somewhat shaky as he was rounding up allies to squeeze Moscow's energy income. India has become a key buyer of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies that shut most Western markets off to Russian exports. India now gets more than 40% of its oil imports from Russia, according to analysts. But as a key economic and strategic ally in the Indo-Pacific, the White House has sought to play down Biden and Modi's differences over Russias war in Ukraine as the war in Europe grinds on. Modi said he also discussed the situation in Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India this month. Her ouster was triggered by student-led protests against a quota system for government jobs. After clashes between protesters and government forces that led to hundreds of deaths, the movement grew into a broader rebellion against the leader and her government. There have dozens of attacks against against Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh since Hasinas ouster. Modi said during the call with Biden he underscored "the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh. Biden took part in the call from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is vacationing with family. Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, attends an event at the Alabama State Capitol on March 21, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. Elliott has introduced a bill that would allow private schools to enter contracts with local law enforcement agencies to employ school resource officers. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama state senator has filed a bill that would allow law enforcement to contract with non-public schools to provide school resource officers (SROs). SB 4, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, would authorize a sheriff and county commission, or chief of police and city council, to provide SROs to those schools so long as SROs are available to all public schools in the county or municipality. Elliott said in a phone interview Friday that after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, mayors and law enforcement in Baldwin County, where his district is located, got together to find a way to place an SRO in every school. They are trained specifically as school resource officers and do great work interacting with kids, families, teachers, administrators, etc., and so I want to expand that and make sure we have school resource officers all over the state, he said. But its hard to overlook the large number of private schools that we have in the state, and those kids really ought to have the benefit of the same protection. Elliott said Baldwin County Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack had brought the bill to Elliott. Mack said in an interview Friday that there are 17 private school campuses in Baldwin County, and that his department receives requests for SROs from those schools. Elliott said that there is an Attorney General opinion floating around that says that SROs arent allowed to contract with nonpublic schools. The senator said law enforcement can do side jobs but cant be assigned full time. In 2022, the Attorney Generals Office wrote that a private school in DeKalb County could not contract for security with the local sheriffs department, saying there was no specific authorization for that in state law. Although the DeKalb County Sheriff may not contract with a private religious school to partially fund and place a school resource officer at the school, individual deputy sheriffs may lawfully be hired by the school during their off-duty hours to provide this service, the opinion said. Elliott said that schools would be required to pay the total cost of the contract for the law enforcement officer and also carry insurance to cover the activities of that law enforcement officer. So that thats not something thats necessarily falling on the local governing body, he said. Non-public schools include home schools. Elliott said that those were included in the bill so that they werent excluded and said that some home schools are a group of kids coming together with families. I will say on the homeschooling side of things, I do think it would be cost prohibitive for them to take advantage of this, he said. But again, its just something I wanted to make sure we included them if possible. The bill was filed in last springs legislative session. It passed the Senate but did not make it through the House of Representatives. Elliott said the bill had been amended with feedback from the Sheriffs Association and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA). A message seeking comment was left Friday with Sonny Brasfield, the executive director of the ACCA. Mack said since the Parkland shooting, SROs have moved more towards a relationship and community-based operation. Students feel more comfortable speaking with an SRO with whom they have a relationship, he said. Its very important that you have consistency with those school resource officers and the students and the staff, which builds positive relationships, if you just had a different officer there every day of the week, or every other week or whatever, it doesnt afford the opportunity to have those relationships, he said. The 2025 legislative session begins in February. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Actor Billy Baldwin has ripped into Robert F. Kennedy Jr., criticizing him for what he called a cynical, hypocritical betrayal of his political values after the former presidential candidate brought his campaign to an ignominious end and endorsed Donald Trump. Baldwin, 61, the younger sibling of Alec Baldwin, said in a lengthy X post on Sunday evening that hed known Kennedy, 70, for decades. They have been photographed together over the years: Baldwin was spotted alongside Kennedy and daughter Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy at Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas wedding ceremony in New York City in 2012. We were friends, he wrote. I loved his politics. His speeches inspired me. We were neighbors. Our kids were friends. We carpooled the kids to school for a few years. Robert Kennedy, Jr. (C), daughter Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy (L), and actor Billy Baldwin (R) attend Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas' wedding ceremony at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on June 30, 2012. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Baldwin said that their relationship had since shifted, and that he now completely disavowed and disassociated himself from Kennedy. The actor went on to denounce Kennedy for running for president in the first place, saying it was a Hail Mary by a desperate man with political ambition who saw the door rapidly closing. For him to end his pursuit of the presidency and endorse Trump is not only a betrayal of the values and traditions of the Kennedy family but it is also a cynical, hypocritical betrayal of his own political beliefs and personal feelings about Trump which have been publicly documented for years and years, Baldwin wrote. His endorsement of Trump demonstrates his political cowardice. He has sold his political soul and desecrated the historic work and legacy of his father Robert and his uncle President John Kennedy. I have known Bobby Kennedy Jr. for decades. We were friends. I loved his politics. His speeches inspired me. We were neighbors. Our kids were friends. We carpooled the kids to school for a few years. Bobby Kennedy has had presidential ambitions his entire adult life. In 2006, pic.twitter.com/Be6JGWn5i2 Billy Baldwin (@BillyBaldwin) August 25, 2024 Kennedys decision to back Trump also incensed his family, who have condemned him for his hateful COVID-19 rhetoric and dangerous candidacy numerous times over the past year. Five of his eight surviving siblings released a new statement following Kennedys endorsement on Friday calling it a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. They added, It is a sad ending to a sad story. Kennedy publicly offered Trump his support almost immediately after mothballing his campaign, appearing alongside him at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, a few hours later. Walking onstage to Foo Fighters My Hero, Kennedy was greeted by thunderous applause as he hailed Trump as someone with the ability to free Americans from corporate corruption. William Baldwin and Robert Kennedy Jr during Court TV and the Creative Coalition Host a Screening of "Memento" at City Cinemas in New York, NY, United States, circa 2000. Sylvain Gaboury/FilmMagic via Getty Images It marked a stark departure from Kennedys previous remarks about the former president. In 2018, the political scion published an op-ed for NBC News castigating Trumps policies as a discredit to democracy. When exactly his stance shifted remains unclear. But Baldwin, the second-youngest brother of the clan of actors, has been publicly calling Kennedy out since at least last April, when he announced his candidacy. In an X rant at the time, Baldwin took Kennedy to task for his incessant philandering during his marriage to second wife, Mary Richardson, a friend of Baldwins. Richardson died by suicide in 2012 in the midst of the couples divorce. 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. Actor Billy Baldwin ended his long friendship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the former presidential candidate suspended his bid as an independent to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump. I have known Bobby Kennedy Jr. for decades, Baldwin began a long social media post publicly severing his relationship with the 70-year-old Kennedy. According to Baldwin, not only was Kennedy a friend and a neighbor, but their children were friends, too. He and Kennedy even shared political views, according to the 61-year-old brother of Emmy Award winner Alec Baldwin. Baldwin claims Kennedy had several opportunities to enter politics throughout his life, but finally did so out of desperation in the 2024 presidential race because time was running out on the ambitious septuagenarian. It was a Hail Mary, Baldwin charged. With polling showing Kennedy stuck at around 5%, the Democratic Party scion withdrew from the race last week and got behind Trumps election efforts. His endorsement of Trump demonstrates his political cowardice, Baldwin wrote. Baldwin, like his more famous older brother, supports Democratic candidates. Kennedys family has arguably become the most celebrated political clan in the United States over the past century. RFK Jr.s decision to break ranks drew criticism and pity from several family members, as Baldwin notes in his X post. Our brother Bobbys decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and family hold most dear, five of his relatives wrote in an open letter posted online. It is a sad ending to a sad story. Kennedys family had earlier spoke out against his candidacy in a statement questioning his values and judgment. I too completely disavow and dissociate myself from Bobby Kennedy Jr., Baldwin said in his digital Dear John letter. Baldwin responded to critics on social media by stating things like ethics, values, morals, principles, character, integrity, loyalty, truth, facts, democracy all mean for more to me than his or any friendship. To his siblings chagrin, Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the four Baldwin brothers, has expressed support for Trump. ________ WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Lawmakers spent time Monday gathering facts about the July 13th assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. Lawmakers say they have more questions than answers and question why spots around the stage werent more secure. They say their goal is to make sure Americans know their candidates and elected officials are secure. Congressional members got a new perspective of the shooting from the rooftop where it happened. We can get a sense of the area and just how close these buildings were to that stage where President Trump stood that day, said Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.). A bipartisan task force is investigating the assassination attempt. In the United States, you do not get to attempt to assassinate our elected officials and our candidates. Its unacceptable, said Rep. Jason Crowe (D-Colo.). Body camera video from local law enforcement shows an officer saw Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof with a gun right before Crooks started shooting. While the official task force was in Butler, Pennsylvania touring the site other Republican members of Congress discussed the shooting at a Washington, D.C., based think tank. The building he shot from is outside of the perimeter. And the video we can see him clearly, just a mere 130 yards away, said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas.). They questioned a member of the SWAT team who says he was on the scene that day and felt unprepared. We really felt like we were on the back foot and just tried to overcome that throughout the day and gather what we could, said SWAT team member Ben Shaffer. Five of the Secret Service agents who oversaw the planning of the event are now on administrative leave. The former director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned because of the assassination attempt. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) The suspect in the death of a 40-year-old Birmingham woman has pled not guilty in relation to the case. Body of missing woman found in Birmingham Cedric Robertson, of Birmingham, pled not guilty Monday to capital murder by reason of mental disease or defect, according to Jefferson County District Attorneys Office. Robertson is accused with the kidnapping and death of Nakita Davidson in April. He was taken into custody on a first-degree kidnapping warrant after Davidson was found dead inside her 2008 Saturn Outlook in southwest Birmingham. Birmingham police responded to the corner of Sixth Avenue SW and MLK Jr. Drive around 2:11 a.m. on April 11 regarding a call about a two-vehicle crash. Officers at the scene discovered one vehicle, pink Nike shoes and criminal evidence. The BPD stated it believes Robertson shot Davidson, placed her inside her car and left the scene. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42. Body camera footage released from an Ohio police department put to rest some stipulations regarding the fatal shooting of a Black man accused of stealing a U-Haul truck. The Akron Police Department said in a release they approached 54-year-old Michael Jones on Aug. 17 after receiving a report from U-Haul about a rental vehicle that wasnt returned at the agreed upon date. Officers located the vehicle at a gas station with Jones inside. According to the body camera video released Saturday, an officer approached the car, knocked on the window and then opened the door. The officer then repeatedly ordered Jones to step out of the vehicle. Whats going on? Jones asked in the video, which is age-restricted and can only be viewed on YouTube. Youre under arrest. Get out of the car, the officer responded. For what? Jones asked, per the video. Without answering his question, the officer then reached for Jones and tried to drag him out of the car, per the video. The two struggled before Jones appeared to pull off while the officer hung onto the driver door and another officer was inside on the passenger side. Youre going to get f-cking shot, one officer barked. Within seconds, Jones was shot twice by the officers. In the video, Jones head flys back and his arms flail upward before he slumps over. What police say happened next bears inconsistencies with the footage. Police said in a press release prior to the video that the officers immediately rendered aid to Jones. However, the video shows them removing him from the truck and handcuffing him before grabbing their medical kit and calling EMS. Police also said a gun was recovered from inside the truck. However, following the video release, authorities released a new statement clarifying the firearm was found on or near Jones after he was removed from the vehicle. The last conflicting piece of information comes from two 911 calls made regarding the incident. The department said one caller alleged Jones was shot while in handcuffs. Though, the footage showed he was shot while operating the vehicle. The officer who shot Jones, who has not been named publicly yet, has been placed on administrative leave, the department stated. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has joined the police department in investigating the incident. Its unclear the circumstances around Jones rental of the U-Haul. However, his family retained legal counsel following the incident to fight for justice. The children of Michael Donnell Jones had a private viewing of the video which showed the last, tragic moments of Michaels life, and were devastated by what they saw, said attorney Bobby DiCello in a statement via 3 News. They struggle to understand why the officers leapt into the truck, why they then tased him, and why they shot him, especially when Michael made no threats toward them of any kind, For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So far this year, 26 blood drives have been canceled in Ohio due to weather. Severe weather across the country, including remnants of Hurricane Debby, has impacted blood donations this year, leaving the American Red Cross in a national blood emergency. On Monday, the American Red Cross of Central & Southern Ohio encouraged Ohioans to donate blood if they are able. "Weather in recent weeks has added to the summer shortfall in donations by forcing the cancellation of nearly 60 blood drives throughout the country, many of which were caused by Debby," Monday's release reads. That's about 1,500 donations that went uncollected. In Ohio, the Red Cross said 26 blood drives have been canceled so far this year due to weather, and about 270 donations uncollected in the central and southern region of the state. "Because blood has a short shelf life and can only come from volunteer blood donors, any disruptions in the ability to collect lifesaving blood can have serious consequences for hospitals and patients," the release reads. Those who wish to donate blood can do so by making an appointment through the Red Cross Blood Donor App, online at the Red Cross website or by calling 1-800-733-2767. Those who donate through Aug. 31 will get a $20 Amazon gift card, and those who donate between Sept. 1-15 will get a Red Cross raglan T-shirt. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Red Cross reports national blood emergency: Here's why and how to help Jonathan L. Clayton, interim city clerk in Peabody and former director of economic recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce, went missing Aug. 3 amid investigations into his handling of COVID-19 federal funds. The body found in a crashed pickup truck in Harvey County was Jonathan L. Clayton, a former Kansas Department of Commerce official under investigation over suspicions he embezzled federal pandemic relief funds, Claytons partner confirmed Monday. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a Sunday night news release that it was investigating a fatal crash involving a pickup owned by Clayton near the interchange at I-135 and U.S. 50 near Newton, known locally as the Peabody exit. Harvey County Sheriffs Office received a call at approximately 2:45 p.m. Sunday from a property owner who found a 2011 Chevy Silverado crashed on his property. The KBI said a mans body was found inside the truck but added positive identification remains pending. Christopher King, Claytons partner and a member of the Peabody City Council, told The Eagle on Monday that Clayton was identified based on the contents of his wallet and items he had on him. He said it appeared that Clayton had crashed the day he went missing and had been in the truck for three weeks. Its a very steep ravine, and he hit a tree, and it was a very steep ravine there by the highway, so a bunch of us drove right past it, King said. King said he hopes an autopsy will shed light on Claytons cause of death. Investigators suspect the vehicle was driven off the road, where it crashed into a tree, the KBI said in its news release. No other details about the circumstances of the crash were released. The KBI, Harvey County Sheriffs Office and Kansas Highway Patrol are all participating in the investigation. Clayton, 42, was last seen Aug. 3. He had been working as the interim Peabody city clerk when news of past felony convictions in Pennsylvania began to spread locally and his handling of American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds came under increased scrutiny. Clayton previously pleaded guilty to theft and forgery in Pennsylvania stemming from his misuse of an employers credit cards to bolster his and his partners fledgling theater company. He was sentenced in 2018 to five years probation and was ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution. In Kansas, Clayton had worked as director of economic recovery at the Kansas Department of Commerce, a position that involved overseeing programs involving millions in federal pandemic aid. The agency has said it didnt know about his felony convictions when it hired him, originally as a regional project manager. More recently, grants overseen by Clayton in Peabody and Mullinville had come under scrutiny. The Kansas Department of Commerce earlier this month went to court to obtain a temporary restraining order preventing the Mullinville Community Foundation from spending roughly $211,000 in grant funding. KDOC has been advised that Defendants secretary treasurer is the subject of a missing person report and has been alleged to have embezzled funds from Defendant, the affidavit said. Clayton disappeared the same day that he and his husband were served in a debt collection lawsuit, according to court documents. Newton Medical Center is suing the couple, seeking $335.95 plus interest, one of what King described in a previous interview as several surprise unpaid bills that have surfaced since Claytons disappearance. Clayton had been listed on the KBIs missing persons page. As of Sunday night, his page was no longer listed. The circumstances surrounding Claytons death are sure to be part of the investigation after state and local officials and journalists received a pre-scheduled email from his account on Aug. 8. The email said this message is only being provided after my death, I pray that those named below may be reviewed for any participation in my untimely demise. Clayton claimed in the email that his disappearance was related to his role in a scheme to steer pandemic aid toward pre-selected awardees at the direction of Lt. Gov. David Toland, a Democrat who is also the Kansas secretary of commerce. Clayton also alleged that Toland ordered him to be on the board of directors for the Iola Theatre Association, which Toland also served on until last year, and to fundraise for the restoration of the historic theater in Tolands hometown during work hours at the Commerce Department. The Kansas Department of Commerce has not directly responded to Claytons allegations. A spokesman said the agency has been made aware of allegations of misconduct against a former employee in connection to activity that occurred after they left state employment. We are reviewing the matter to determine what, if any, impact the alleged activity may have to the agency or community partners, Commerce spokesman Patrick Lowry said last week. He added that due to the ongoing investigation, we will have no further comments at this time. Additional allegations have surfaced since then. The Kansas Department of Commerce is suing the Mullinville Community Foundation to claw back a $425,398 BASE grant awarded in 2022 after the foundation failed to file various reports accounting for the spending. At the time, Clayton was overseeing that grant program for the state of Kansas and working as the secretary treasurer for the Mullinville Community Foundation. One day after the cryptic email went out, Claytons replacement as director of economic recovery, Erin Starr, filed an affidavit in Kiowa County District Court saying that the Kansas Department of Commerce has been advised that (Mullinville Community Foundations) secretary treasurer (Clayton) is the subject of a missing person report and has been alleged to have embezzled funds from (Mullinville Community Foundation). The BASE grant program comes from a large pool of federal ARPA funds distributed to Kansas under the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program. Since receiving the money, the Community Foundation has failed to report, cooperate with KDOC, or otherwise respond, court records show. The Kansas Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to questions about the Mullinville Community Foundation award on Monday. Last week, The Marion County Record reported that the Mullinville Cemetery Board was missing about $70,000. Clayton was a member of the board, which is funded by property taxes in Kiowa County. King said he does not know if Clayton had any role whats being investigated in Mullinville. As recently as last week, King said he believed Clayton was still alive and potentially eluding authorities. He now says he believes Claytons death was an accident. It tracks with an accident, King said. It looks like he, you know, hit that curve (that) he drives way too fast. He texts. Hes used to traveling around the state, but hes almost run off that same curve before with a friend a couple of weeks before (he went missing). He was on his phone and she said they almost went right into that same place, and she had to take his phone away from him and say, Watch the road! Or it could have been some kind of health issue, King said. But we dont know anything solid for sure. At this time, Im waiting for KBI to get back to me and let me know. The Kansas City Stars Jonathan Shorman contributed reporting. Jonathan L. Clayton, interim city clerk in Peabody and former director of economic recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce, went missing Aug. 3 amid investigations into his handling of COVID-19 federal funds. The body found in a crashed pickup truck in Harvey County was Jonathan L. Clayton, a former Kansas Department of Commerce official under investigation over suspicions he embezzled federal pandemic relief funds, Claytons partner confirmed Monday. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a Sunday night news release that it was investigating a fatal crash involving a pickup owned by Clayton near the interchange at I-135 and U.S. 50 near Newton, known locally as the Peabody exit. Harvey County Sheriffs Office received a call at approximately 2:45 p.m. Sunday from a property owner who found a 2011 Chevy Silverado crashed on his property. The KBI said a mans body was found inside the truck but added positive identification remains pending. Christopher King, Claytons partner and a member of the Peabody City Council, told The Eagle on Monday that Clayton was identified based on the contents of his wallet and items he had on him. He said it appeared that Clayton had crashed the day he went missing and had been in the truck for three weeks. Its a very steep ravine, and he hit a tree, and it was a very steep ravine there by the highway, so a bunch of us drove right past it, King said. King said he hopes an autopsy will shed light on Claytons cause of death. Investigators suspect the vehicle was driven off the road, where it crashed into a tree, the KBI said in its news release. No other details about the circumstances of the crash were released. The KBI, Harvey County Sheriffs Office and Kansas Highway Patrol are all participating in the investigation. Clayton, 42, was last seen Aug. 3. He had been working as the interim Peabody city clerk when news of past felony convictions in Pennsylvania began to spread locally and his handling of American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds came under increased scrutiny. Clayton previously pleaded guilty to theft and forgery in Pennsylvania stemming from his misuse of an employers credit cards to bolster his and his partners fledgling theater company. He was sentenced in 2018 to five years probation and was ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution. In Kansas, Clayton had worked as director of economic recovery at the Kansas Department of Commerce, a position that involved overseeing programs involving millions in federal pandemic aid. The agency has said it didnt know about his felony convictions when it hired him, originally as a regional project manager. More recently, grants overseen by Clayton in Peabody and Mullinville had come under scrutiny. The Kansas Department of Commerce earlier this month went to court to obtain a temporary restraining order preventing the Mullinville Community Foundation from spending roughly $211,000 in grant funding. KDOC has been advised that Defendants secretary treasurer is the subject of a missing person report and has been alleged to have embezzled funds from Defendant, the affidavit said. Clayton disappeared the same day that he and his husband were served in a debt collection lawsuit, according to court documents. Newton Medical Center is suing the couple, seeking $335.95 plus interest, one of what King described in a previous interview as several surprise unpaid bills that have surfaced since Claytons disappearance. Clayton had been listed on the KBIs missing persons page. As of Sunday night, his page was no longer listed. The circumstances surrounding Claytons death are sure to be part of the investigation after state and local officials and journalists received a pre-scheduled email from his account on Aug. 8. The email said this message is only being provided after my death, I pray that those named below may be reviewed for any participation in my untimely demise. Clayton claimed in the email that his disappearance was related to his role in a scheme to steer pandemic aid toward pre-selected awardees at the direction of Lt. Gov. David Toland, a Democrat who is also the Kansas secretary of commerce. Clayton also alleged that Toland ordered him to be on the board of directors for the Iola Theatre Association, which Toland also served on until last year, and to fundraise for the restoration of the historic theater in Tolands hometown during work hours at the Commerce Department. The Kansas Department of Commerce has not directly responded to Claytons allegations. A spokesman said the agency has been made aware of allegations of misconduct against a former employee in connection to activity that occurred after they left state employment. We are reviewing the matter to determine what, if any, impact the alleged activity may have to the agency or community partners, Commerce spokesman Patrick Lowry said last week. He added that due to the ongoing investigation, we will have no further comments at this time. Additional allegations have surfaced since then. The Kansas Department of Commerce is suing the Mullinville Community Foundation to claw back a $425,398 BASE grant awarded in 2022 after the foundation failed to file various reports accounting for the spending. At the time, Clayton was overseeing that grant program for the state of Kansas and working as the secretary treasurer for the Mullinville Community Foundation. One day after the cryptic email went out, Claytons replacement as director of economic recovery, Erin Starr, filed an affidavit in Kiowa County District Court saying that the Kansas Department of Commerce has been advised that (Mullinville Community Foundations) secretary treasurer (Clayton) is the subject of a missing person report and has been alleged to have embezzled funds from (Mullinville Community Foundation). The $150 million BASE grant program ((which has been rolled out in two phases) comes from a large pool of federal ARPA funds distributed to Kansas under the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program. Since receiving the money, the Community Foundation has failed to report, cooperate with KDOC, or otherwise respond, court records show. The Kansas Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to questions about the Mullinville Community Foundation award on Monday. Last week, The Marion County Record reported that the Mullinville Cemetery Board was missing about $70,000. Clayton was a member of the board, which is funded by property taxes in Kiowa County. King said he does not know if Clayton had any role whats being investigated in Mullinville. As recently as last week, King said he believed Clayton was still alive and potentially eluding authorities. He now says he believes Claytons death was an accident. It tracks with an accident, King said. It looks like he, you know, hit that curve (that) he drives way too fast. He texts. Hes used to traveling around the state, but hes almost run off that same curve before with a friend a couple of weeks before (he went missing). He was on his phone and she said they almost went right into that same place, and she had to take his phone away from him and say, Watch the road! Or it could have been some kind of health issue, King said. But we dont know anything solid for sure. At this time, Im waiting for KBI to get back to me and let me know. The Kansas City Stars Jonathan Shorman contributed reporting. Authorities in Cowley County are working to identify a body found Sunday near K-15 and U.S. 77 highways. The body was discovered on railroad tracks by an employee of BNSF railroad, the Cowley County Sheriffs Office said in a news release Monday. Deputies were dispatched to the site, which is west of the highway junction, around 2:30 p.m. An autopsy has been requested by the Coroner at the Kansas Forensic Science Center to identify the remains, the release said. This case is still under investigation by the Cowley County Sheriffs Office. No other information was released Monday morning, including the persons gender or approximate age. A preliminary cause of death also wasnt immediately available Monday, Sheriff Dave Falletti said by email. Cowley County is southeast of Wichita. Truck of missing ex-Kansas official involved in fatal crash, with one dead, KBI says Mans body found in the trunk of a car in west Wichita, police say Body of Massachusetts man who went missing while on vacation found under home Authorities in South Carolina said they have found the body of an endangered Massachusetts man who went missing over a week ago while vacationing with his family on Hilton Head Island. Stanley Kotowski, 60, had not been seen since leaving his family's vacation rental in Sea Pines the morning of Aug. 16, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office incident report. He had been experiencing a mental health crisis prior to his disappearance, authorities said. His body was found under a home in a crawl space in Sea Pines on Monday, upward of 600 feet from where he was last seen, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said. His cause of death was asphyxiation by hanging and it has been ruled a suicide, Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said during a press briefing on Tuesday. PHOTO: The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office released this Ring camera still of Stanley Kotowski in the clothes he was last seen wearing before going missing. (Beaufort County Sheriff's Office) Authorities responded to the home around 11:30 a.m. Monday "in connection to suspicious activity," the sheriff's office said in a statement. A Sea Pines security officer who was walking in the neighborhood noticed a "foul odor" and flies in the area and contacted the sheriff's office, Beaufort County Sheriff's Lt. Eric Calendine told reporters Tuesday. The body was recovered from a 3-foot-high crawl space about four hours later, the sheriff's office said. Kotowski was determined to have died the day he went missing, though the exact time is undetermined, Ott said. Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner called the discovery "deflating" following the massive search by deputies and the community for Kotowski. "Just wish the outcome was different," he told reporters Tuesday. MORE: Massachusetts man goes missing while on vacation in South Carolina Tanner described the crawl space as "unusual" and its entry point as "very unique," in explaining that he understood how it may have been missed during the search. Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff's Office Master Sgt. Daniel Allen. He was listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said. According to the incident report, Jackie Kotowski told deputies her husband "believes Sea Pines is a 'set up' and has a conspiracy that the people here are out to get him." She also reported he had made "several statements of people at this place 'watching him,'" the incident report stated. His wife also told deputies that, before he left, Stanley told her, "Promise me you will go on without me," according to the incident report. PHOTO: The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office released this missing person flyer for Stanley Kotowski. (Beaufort County Sheriff's Office) He had been struggling with anxiety before he went missing, his family told Savannah, Georgia, ABC affiliate WJCL following his disappearance. "He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing," his wife, Jackie Kotowski, told WJCL. "He doesn't have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse and he started to get a little paranoid, and he thought someone was chasing him." Kotowski had sought medical attention days before his disappearance for his mental health issues, according to Calendine. MORE: Former MLB pitcher Greg Swindell's daughter found after going missing, father says He had not taken any personal items, such as his phone or wallet, when he left the rental, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. Tanner said they are not releasing the exact location where his body was recovered out of respect for those living and vacationing in the community. Authorities thanked the community for their efforts in attempting to find Kotowski, including searching their properties and checking security cameras. "I'm very thankful for the community itself for what they did during this whole endeavor," Calendine said. If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Body of Massachusetts man who went missing while on vacation found under home originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The body of a woman who went missing during a devastating flash flood in the Grand Canyon was recovered on Sunday, the National Park Service confirmed. Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was found dead by a commercial river trip on the Colorado River, the Park Service confirmed in a news release on Sunday. Her body was recovered by helicopter and transported to the Coconino County Medical Examiners Office. The Park Service and the medical examiners office are conducting an investigation into her death. Nickerson was hiking in the Havasu Canyon on Thursday when a catastrophic flash flood struck the region, catching dozens of tourists and local residents of the Havasupai Indian Reservation off guard. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs deployed the states National Guard with a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to the area on Friday after a request from the Havasupai Tribal Council. A total of 104 people, including both tourists and Havasupai locals, were evacuated from the area, local station Arizonas Family reported. The Havasupai Council has since indefinitely closed the trails to their eponymous campsite and waterfalls due to extensive flood damage. Nickerson was last seen around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday near the Colorado River Confluence, where the Havasu Creek meets the larger river. The Park Service said she was seen getting swept into the creek without a life jacket. Her body was eventually discovered about 19 miles from the confluence, the Park Service confirmed. We regret to inform you that our sweet Chenoa has been found deceased, the hikers family said in a statement to local station NBC 12 in Phoenix, Arizona. Our hearts are heavy with grief. 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. Over the weekend, NASA finally made the decision to return Boeing's plagued Starliner without a crew on board. That means stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will now have to wait for a SpaceX Crew Dragon to return them from the International Space Station in February, stretching an eight-day journey into an eight-month one. In other words, the aerospace giant's first crewed test flight has been a disaster, with technical issues afflicting Starliner's propulsion system proving insurmountable and putting the company in the position to be "rescued" by its biggest competitor in space tech. Unsurprisingly, NASA's decision to return the capsule with no crew on board has been a major blow to morale. As the New York Post reports, Boeing employees were left "humiliated" following the announcement. Worse yet, it's not just Starliner's messy test flight Boeing has been dealing with numerous crises, from passenger jets falling apart mid-flight to reports of major mismanagement. "We have had so many embarrassments lately, were under a microscope," one Boeing worker told the NY Post, speaking under condition of anonymity. "This just made it, like, 100 times worse." "We hate SpaceX," he added. "We talk shit about them all the time, and now theyre bailing us out." Boeing's development of its Starliner spacecraft sometimes felt doomed from the start. During its first uncrewed test flight in 2019, flight software issues forced it to plummet back down to Earth without ever reaching the ISS. Last year, investigators found serious problems with the vehicle's parachutes and flammable tape inside it, forcing Boeing to stand down at the time. NASA and Boeing appear to have disagreed strongly on Starliner's ability to safely return Wilmore and Williams. Boeing has remained adamant that it could reenter and safely land but NASA had the final say. The employee acknowledged the risks involved but still blamed NASA. "They have their own PR issues and dont need two dead astronauts," he told NYPost. "But we didnt think that there would be dead astronauts. Wed never have recommended that they use us if they thought that it was going to be unsafe for them." During a press conference over the weekend, NASAs Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich characterized the argument as a "little disagreement about risk." Officials even invoked the agency's fatal Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003 respectively. "We lost two space shuttles as a result of there not being a culture in which information could come forward," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson during the announcement. "We have been very solicitous of all of our employees that if you have some objection, you come forward." "Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest, and even at its most routine," he added. "And a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine." NASA's decision is a major black eye for Boeing, a company already under intense scrutiny. Despite NASA and Boeing committing many billions of dollars to the project, Starliner has yet to successfully deliver and then return a crew to the ISS. Meanwhile, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was developed under the same NASA contract, already has just shy of a dozen crew missions under its belt without anything even approaching Boeing's level of drama. Where NASA will go from here remains to be seen. As Ars Technica suggests, there's a good chance Starliner won't launch again with a crew on board until 2026. NASA officials have also mentioned the possibility of another test flight. Boeing's staff will now have to pick up the pieces while hoping that Starliner manages to undock and return in one piece. "Its shameful," the Boeing employee told the NYPost. "Im embarrassed, Im horrified." More on Starliner: It's Official: NASA Will Rescue Its Stranded Astronauts With SpaceX, Not Boeing's Plagued Starliner BOLIVAR, Mo.- One local police department is bringing back a former event they used to create community growth in the Ozarks. The Bolivar Police Department hosted their National Night Out Sunday at the Bolivar Recreation and Aqua center. Lieutenant Zack Palmer with the Bolivar Police Department said that most people only encounter fire or law enforcement when they are having a bad day. Palmer said having these events creates opportunities for the community to have positive interactions. The community connection and the positive impact on people and being able to communicate with them, see them outside of the bad days and just things like this is great, Palmer said. Monett police looking for man involved in assault In order to make local neighborhoods safer places to live, National Night Out is an annual nationwide community-building initiative that looks to foster strong police-community collaborations and neighborhood togetherness. Those in Bolivar had the opportunity to join local emergency crews at the recreation center to create a better sense of community. Palmer said he is excited to see the event return. We used to do this event several years ago, and due to some staffing changes and things, we stopped doing it, Palmer said. Were just bringing it back this year, Its our first annual moving forward. Group takes custom-built raft on epic adventure down Missouri River At the National Night Out event, people took advantage of free swimming, a police K9 demonstration, food and visiting local vendor booths. We are doing community booths, a lot of area businesses that put up booths and different things, theyre giving things away and talking to people about safety, Palmer said. Polk County Health Center is here giving away bicycle helmets. Theyve also provided equipment, food, and theyre doing safety demonstrations. The department says they are looking forward to hosting more events like this to continue community growth. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. Both victims of Bristol, Va. house fire expected to survive BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) The Bristol Virginia Fire Department released new details in a house fire that injured two people on Saturday. According to the Bristol, Virginia Fire Department, firefighters responded to a house fire in the 300 block of Heritage Drive just before 3:30 p.m. Upon arrival, heavy smoke was visible from a bedroom window at a single-story house. PREVIOUS: Two elderly residents injured in Bristol, Va. house fire Engine 3s crew was familiar with this residence and the infirmed occupants, a release from the department stated. Knowing that a rescue of the occupants was very likely, mutual aid assistance was requested from Washington County Fire-Rescue. Two victims, described as elderly by the department, were reportedly found inside the home. One was located inside a hallway and the other in a bedroom, the department stated. Once outside the home, the victims were treated by EMS. Both appeared to have smoke inhalation and one had burn injuries. The victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Both are expected to survive, the release stated. No firefighters were injured during the incident. The cause of the fire 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. We bought time to fix the Colorado River. What happens when the money runs out? We have a good story to tell about the Colorado River (I know. Since when have I typed those words?) Consider where we are: Lake Mead and Lake Powell the nations two largest water reservoirs remain relatively stable, despite only average runoff this year. Thats largely because Arizona, California and Nevada the Lower Basin states that rely on Lake Mead have put their water use on a heavy diet, consuming 5.8 million acre-feet of water in 2023. Thats the lowest in 40 years and well below the 7.5 million acre-feet of water to which they are entitled. (For context, 7.5 million acre-feet is enough to put the city of Phoenix under more than 22 feet of water. Its a lot.) Lake Mead is stable, which helps Lake Powell Imperial Irrigation District field manager Haskell Jacobs, who works in the Holtville Division, installs a lock on a gate used to deliver Colorado River water to Imperial Valley farm fields, on Aug. 13, 2024. The locks will halt water to farm fields for up to 60 days. Meanwhile, the three states are well on their way to leaving an additional 3 million acre-feet feet of water in Lake Mead by 2026, a commitment they made to the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the lakes. Californias Imperial Irrigation District, which is entitled to more Colorado River water than all of Arizona, inked the latest and largest deal, agreeing to leave 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through 2026. These savings are critical because they essentially eliminate the structural deficit that has caused Lake Mead to steadily decline, even when weve had decent runoff. This deficit is largely driven by evaporation and other losses that arent accounted for in the Lower Basins water allocations. And because Lake Mead survives only because of releases from Lake Powell, those losses also have drained the upstream reservoir. Eliminating the structural deficit wont build back the water weve lost. But it has stopped the decline for now, and thats good news, indeed. We're spending billions to temporarily save water Except (you knew that word was coming, didnt you?) Were achieving these savings largely because billions of dollars in federal money are funding them. Most of that cash is simply paying people to temporarily not use water. Proposals to find more permanent water savings are still being vetted. And the commitments to temporarily not use water are only good through 2026. Which is a problem, considering what we are facing in 2027 and beyond. Thats when the current operating rules for the reservoirs expire. Its anyones guess what the next round of rules will entail. The major parties are deadlocked on a rudimentary point, which is whether the Upper Basin states that rely on Lake Powell should be expected to contribute extra water when the reservoirs fall to dangerously low levels. We bought time, but we're not using it wisely But there is wider agreement that Arizona, California and Nevada should continue to own the structural deficit past 2026 meaning well need to continue leaving at least as much water in Mead as we are now. Were going to have to live with a lot less water. Probably permanently. And were not going to have billions of dollars in federal money to pencil it out. How much more water do we need? Why it's so tough to answer How do we do that? Thats what worries me. The point of shoring up Lake Mead through 2026 was to buy time so we didnt have to make last-minute deals and emergency decisions. We need time to fully think through the unintended consequences of our actions. But were deadlocked on who must contribute and not talking nearly enough about how we sustain lower water use without billions in federal largesse. And the clock is ticking. Reach Allhands at joanna.allhands@arizonarepublic.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @joannaallhands. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Lake Mead is as stable as it's been in years. But there's a catch Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza has stopped state funding to the city of Dolton after Mayor Tiffany Henyard refused to turn over a financial reports and a financial audit, as required by state law. Mendoza said she may fine the city if it fails to turn over the reports. Henyard is under fire for what critics call extravagant spending, which allegedly included spending $40,000 on Amazon in a single day. In April 2022, the city had a $5.6 million budget surplus. But an investigation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot found the city now has a $3.6 million deficit. The post Brickbat: Cutting You Off appeared first on Reason.com. It was a decision which left ministers blindsided. Barely 48 hours after sealing a bumper pay deal from the Government, the train drivers union, Aslef, unveiled plans for three months of strikes as part of a separate dispute. In came the criticism from commentators hailing this as proof that Labour was being played by its union paymasters. David Frost, former Brexit negotiator, argued that Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, must be feeling really stupid as the strikes emerged so soon after the pay deal. Business leaders did not take long to weigh in with their own warnings over plans to give unions more power, fearing they could be held to ransom by small numbers of aggrieved staff. Union chiefs realise this is a huge moment for them, but not everyone agrees on their approach. Rival union bosses were left wincing by Aslefs move. One union veteran called the decision a c--- up, while another said it had left many feeling perplexed. Click here to view this content. There are fears an overly hostile or unrealistic stance from some could damage negotiations for all. As one union official gushes, this is the honeymoon period with the Government. Even Whitehall meet-ups between unions and business groups have ticked along nicely, as Labour plugs a new era of partnership between the two sides to tackle deep-seated workers rights issues. There are nervous bosses and political rivals on the lookout for any clue that such a partnership will not work. Aslefs decision was the first to be considered a mistake but cracks are emerging elsewhere too. Demands for pay restoration deals in the public sector do not excite everyone. While a call to make up for a decade of real-term salary cuts is set to prove popular at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) annual conference next month a motion backed by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) others think its an impractical ask. Restoring public sector pay to the same levels as 2011 in real terms is forecast to cost the economy more than 50bn. One official said: There are varying degrees of bonkers among hard-Left NECs [national executive committee members]. We wouldnt go for a blanket everyone needs a pay rise. The concern is that those on the hard-Left of the union movement will push things too far at a crucial, promising time. An ex-adviser to Tony Blair last week described Sir Keir Starmer as the most trade union-friendly prime minister since the 1970s, when union membership was around double what it is now. An ex-adviser to Tony Blair describes Sir Keir Starmer as the most union-friendly prime minister since the 1970s - Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Europe But there are disagreements on how to best take advantage of this time, after years of feeling ignored by the Conservatives. Theres a schism growing between unions, a senior union official told the i, after the pay restoration plans emerged last week. Another union executive accused the PCS of engaging in cosplay, telling the newspaper that other unions realised they needed to be more measured in what they asked for because they knew how cash-strapped these organisations were. The executive added that part of this is about the unions who love nothing more than to be let down by a Labour government. Ouch. A PCS insider dismissed the comments as nonsense. More holes in it than Swiss cheese It does not end there. Even Labours flagship workers rights plans, championed by unions, have caused a split. Before the election, Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite the Union, slammed Labours revised proposals for workers as having more holes in it than Swiss cheese while other unions backed the package. Unlike others such as Unison, TUC and Usdaw Unite the Union did not release a public comment on the proposals following a recent Whitehall meeting to discuss the plans with unions and business lobby groups. Tensions between Unite the Union and the pro-business wing of Labour run deep Grahams predecessor Len McCluskey once vowed to purge remaining supporters of Tony Blair from the party and kick the New Labour cuckoos out of our nest. Unions also want to prove they have their own houses in order ahead of Labours sweeping package of reforms there will be further rifts if anyone lets the side down. One union worker acknowledges how certain changes coming up, such as a right to switch off from work, will be impossible for many union staff to do in practice. I work 50 hours in a 36.6 hour week, the union worker admitted, adding that unions were not necessarily harmonious places to work themselves. A tribunal ruled earlier this year that two workers who had been dismissed from the TUC the umbrella group for trade unions had been unfairly dismissed. There is no question that union leaders are now more powerful than they have been for decades. But with fundamental disagreements on what is reasonable, the trade union movement is at risk of tearing itself apart. There is zero patience for games, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned there would be no blank cheques for public sector workers. She has a long list of people to keep happy and very limited money. The UK has already spent 4.7bn more than forecast this year and almost 6m people are employed by the state. As well as trying to appease unions the Government is also battling to keep businesses on their side and restore faith in politics among the general public turnout for the election this year was the lowest for more than two decades. If unions start making demands that look unreasonable the balance could quickly tip away from them. The honeymoon period cannot last forever. 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. An ex-British soldier has been killed in a suspected Russian missile strike on a hotel in Ukraine. Ryan Evans, a safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, was in the Hotel Sapphire in the eastern city of Kramatorsk when it was hit on Saturday night. In a statement, the agency said it was devastated to learn of his death and that two of its journalists were also injured, one seriously. Mr Evans was part of a six-person team staying at the hotel while covering the war in Ukraine. A tractor clears the rubble after a Russian strike on the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk (AP) President Volodymyr Zelensky said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile in a deliberate attack. The Russian Defence Ministry has not responded to a request for comment. Mr Evans had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryans family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly, Reuters said in a statement. Evans had worked for the news agency since 2022 (Reuters) According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Evans was from the Cheshire area and had previously worked for nine years as an Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office operations manager in Libya. In his evening address on Sunday, Mr Zelensky said: A regular city hotel was destroyed by a Russian Iskander missile. Deliberately. Calculated. Seven people were injured, and one person lost their life. My deepest condolences to the families and loved ones. The three other members of the Reuters team who were in the hotel at the time of the strike were accounted for and safe, the agency said. The Donetsk provinces regional prosecutors office said in a Telegram post earlier on Sunday that the body of a British citizen had been found in the rubble. Four foreign journalists aged 38, 40, 41 and 46 suffered blast injuries, a brain injury, a broken leg, concussions, cuts and bruises, it added. The US State Department has confirmed the injured included an American. Donestsk war crimes prosecutor assesses the damage in Kramatorsk (Telegram/ Kramatorsk City Council) The Independent has contacted the UKs Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Mr Evans death. A spokesperson said: We are aware of reports of a British national missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities. The airstrike on the eastern city was one of several Russian missile and drone strikes on northern, eastern and southern Ukraine that injured at least 37 people on Saturday night, according to the Ukrainian military and local authorities. They targeted Ukraines frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraines air force said on Telegram. In the attack on Kramatorsk, which has become a hub for humanitarian workers and journalists, two women were also injured in their homes, local authorities said. Emergency services worked into the night at the Hotel Sapphire (Reuters) Russia has been pummelling Ukrainian border regions with strikes, and Kyiv said its surprise incursion earlier this month into Russias Kursk region aimed to hinder Moscows ability to stage such attacks. Most of the missiles did not reach their targets, the air force said, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided air missiles. A missile attack on the northern region of Sumy killed one person, injuring at least 16 more, including three children, local authorities said on Telegram. Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in the east, posted that at least 13 people were injured in the Russian attacks, including a 4-year-old child. Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv city, said a gas pipeline was damaged in the city and at least two houses were destroyed and 10 damaged. The strikes came as Ukraines forces advanced a further 3km (1.86 miles) in Russias Kursk region, taking control of two more settlements there, Ukrainian Mr Zelensky said in his evening address on Sunday. How do you scare people away from one of Britains favourite seaside hotspots? The answer, according to a group of frustrated hoteliers in Bournemouth, is to bring in a rushed-through tourist tax. Its the threat which looms over the future of the Dorset town, and its neighbours Christchurch and Poole, where a council-backed scheme to charge an additional 2.40 a night to visitors is on the cusp of being introduced. Those behind the planned charge argue it is less than the price of a cup of coffee and are adamant tourists will not be driven away. They say it will raise 2.6m a year, which can be fully reinvested into marketing and placemaking, helping to support events such as the under-threat Bournemouth air show. With opinion heavily split, hoteliers on the sun-kissed stretch of sandy coastline are now at war with each other in a messy legal fight. A postal ballot on the tax narrowly passed earlier this year with 16 hotels voting in favour and 15 against. But accusations of a flawed voting process and an ensuing appeal lodged with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have slammed on the brakes. Bournemouths hoteliers, and others around the country looking on with interest, are now holding their breath ahead of a decision expected in the autumn. Weve no option but to bring in a visitor charge Plans for the divisive tax were hatched after cost-cutting measures from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council threw future events and marketing for the coastal area into doubt. In an effort to plug the financial black hole, the local Accommodation Business Improvement District (Abid) conjured up the plan of bringing in a visitor charge and rake in 12m in the next five years. Unlike in Scotland, English councils have no powers to impose tourist taxes, but a legal workaround allows the levy to be imposed by Bids. Such is the case in Manchester, where a 1 per night tax (plus VAT) has generated 2.8m in its first year. The BCP area wants to follow in Manchesters footsteps and go a step further by doubling the rate to 2.40, including VAT. Rosie Roswell, Fiona MacArther, David Bailey and Eytan Krips are all in favour of introducing a tourist tax in Bournemouth - John Lawrence Rosie Radwell, chairman of the Abid, said: We have no option but to do this because theres no other way to fund anything. All were doing is future-proofing our destination. This charge is less than a cup of coffee. She said the council is faced with shutting down the districts crucial tourism websites unless Abid finds the cash to keep them afloat. The group said the area has deteriorated and is in decline, but the money can help it bounce back. It will become a nicer place to visit, explained David Bailey, president of the BH Area Hospitality Association. There would be more things for people to do, and marketing of the area would improve enormously, which would increase visitor numbers and make hotels busier. If its approached sensitively, visitors wont have a problem with it. Theyve experienced it elsewhere around the world. Edinburgh is on course to become Scotlands first city with a tourist tax, while other European cities have long charged an accommodation levy. Amsterdams is as high as 12.5pc per booking, while Venice has brought in a seasonal 5 fee for daytrippers. Click here to view this content. Hoteliers fighting back before town suffers hugely Campaigners behind the appeal are fearful potential guests will shun the Bournemouth area if a visitor charge is introduced, and head to Weymouth or other nearby coastal resorts instead. Josephine Butterworth, who runs multiple hotels at Sandbanks in Poole with her husband John, said: This has put a huge negative cloud over the Bournemouth area, and people are going to think twice about coming here. The town will suffer hugely. Some people might argue, Oh, whats a tenner? on top of a few nights stay. But for a lot of people its actually a matter of principle. They can quite simply go down the road to another hotel that doesnt charge a tax. Josephine Butterworth runs multiple hotels with her husband John and worries Bournemouth will 'suffer hugely' - John Lawrence David Howard, of Leisureplex Hotels, said: The feedback weve had is that customers arent happy to pay this levy. Only hotels with a rateable value of more than 40,000 are liable for the charge meaning those below the threshold are exempt and guests will not be forced to pay. Airbnbs also get off scot-free, much to the outrage of long-term hotelier John Butterworth. Were getting flooded with them now and its made a huge difference to us this year in terms of our occupancy and our revenue, he said. Weve bumped into some guests who would have been regulars with us, but went with Airbnb instead. They arent going to be subject to this tax, so they get even more of an advantage. Its completely unfair and unjust. The Abid team argued that everyone who was supposed to be included was included in the postal ballot and stressed that everything was done above board. They said smaller hotels are exempt as admin costs mean it would cost more to collect the tourist tax from them than is owed. Airbnbs also arent in the equation as they dont have a rateable value and dont pay business rates. We absolutely agree Airbnbs should be included, but unfortunately, there is no government regulation covering them, Mr Bailey said. Its not very welcoming to us visitors On the beach, which stretches uninterrupted for 15 miles and boasts 11 Blue Flags, visitors and residents are split on the tax plan. Beach hut owner and long-term resident Bob Underhill argued it is a terrible idea, while others are more sympathetic to its introduction. Hotels are expensive as it is and now they want to put the prices up further, Mr Underhill said. If it was a four or five-star hotel itd maybe be more understandable, but there arent that many decent hotels here. People arent going to pay an arm and a leg to stay here. Beach hut owner, Bob Underhill, has argued against the tax - John Lawrence Louisa Metcalfe, a daytripper visiting with her family from Somerset, questioned: Why here? Not exactly welcoming is it? I understand places like Venice doing it if overrun with tourists, but Bournemouth surely wants more people to come. Fellow visitor Christopher Boyd said: The vast majority wont fancy paying extra to visit a place in their own country, I think itll sadly go someway to killing the town. But Ian Tyrrell, a long-term Bournemouth resident, backs the planned levy: Ive no issue with it and I support the premise of it, he said. Weve all been doing it going to Europe for years. Id rather them tax tourists than us local people. If it can raise money to help improve the town then thats good, Bournemouth needs to be more family-friendly again. Long-term resident, Ian Tyrrell, says he'd rather see the council 'tax tourists than us local people' - John Lawrence Its that family-friendly feel which the town has seen slip through its fingertips in recent years. Crime is also an increasing issue. A man was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually assaulting two teenage girls in the sea, and, in May, personal trainer Amie Gray, 34, was fatally stabbed on Durley Chine Beach. Chancellor not in favour of tourist taxes Abid stressed that the 2.40 fee is not a tourist tax and urges that the term visitor charge should instead be used. Yet whatever the terminology, the scheme seemingly wont have the backing of Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Three days before the general election, the then-shadow chancellor told the BBC she was against the idea of any form of holiday tax. Im not in favour of new taxes on tourists or anything else, she said. Im not in favour of making the staycation more expensive than it already is. When were in the middle of a cost of living crisis as we are today, I dont think its the right thing to do. The Telegraph approached the Treasury for comment. Waiting with bated breath The new tax was planned to come into force on July 1 ahead of the summer season. But the appeal, lodged amid concerns of a rushed-though ballot, has left things hanging in the balance. The appeal is said to be backed by 42 of the 75 hotels at risk of having to charge the tax. Paul Harper, of Bournemouth Sands Hotel, and one of the leading figures behind the appeal, said: We recognise that we as hotel operators do have a role to play and are happy to do so however, what we have ended up with puts all the burden on less than 50pc of the accommodation providers. His group of battling hoteliers are confident they can get the levy overturned, but the same can be said for the opposing side. Should the Abid team be given the go-ahead to introduce the visitor charge, Ms Radwell said that as well as steadying the ship, there are big plans for what to do with the money. Were talking to people about bringing world-class events here to put us on the map as a destination for a Europe event, she said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Aug. 26 marks the anniversary of the 19th Amendment being ratified; giving women the right to vote. However, the legislation was not inclusive to all women. More than four decades would go by before Black women would also acquire suffrage. Less than 100 years after women of color acquired the right to vote, and a few decades shy of 200 years since the suffragist movement began, we now have a historic first: a Black woman running for president on the Democratic ballot. 2 NEWS spoke with Patricia Smith Griffin, a historian and descendant of one of Daytons earliest womens rights activists about what the early suffragist movement looked like. The fight for voting rights began with the abolition movement. To have that hope of citizenship is to have a say in politics that rules your life, so you must be free, said Griffin. Griffin is a broadcaster, genealogist, speaker and founder of Charitys Children Project, Inc. She is the fourth great-granddaughter of Charity Davis Caesar Broady, a nurse and early suffragist who was inducted into the Dayton Regional Walk of Fame in October of last year. Broady was taught by white abolitionist doctors and was active in the Underground Railroad. She was listed among the attendees at the 1851 Womens Rights Convention in Akron. Griffin comes from a long line of activists, her great-grandmother Jewelia Galloway Higgins is on record infiltrating the Dayton Womens Suffragist Association meetings in the 19th century. Her work would later culminate in the founding of the Montgomery County Equals Association. National efforts like Susan B. Anthony and Cady Stanton working with Frederick Douglass, to further the cause of suffrage. But when that 15th amendment was passed, they broke ties. They broke ties and were known to say some very racist things because they simply felt that white women should have the right to vote before black men, said Griffin. Though decades would go by before the women in Griffins family would receive the right to vote, their grandmother Jewelia was actively campaigning in the streets of Dayton. Her grandmother had what she called The Monday Booth, which was set up each Monday at the courthouse. There, she would give speeches, pass out pamphlets, and invite other community speakers. An unwelcoming response from the Dayton Womens Suffrage Association ultimately left her to create her own opportunities in the fight for equality. One of my favorite historians told me that, part of the break between black women and white women in the suffrage movement came when white suffragists were told that if you continue this effort jointly with black women, white southerners will no longer support you, said Griffin. When reflecting on the upcoming 2024 presidential election, Griffin reiterated the importance of community and storytelling. When we tell all of the history, we are more connected than we are separate, said Griffin. What is often overlooked in our family story, is the fact that our family stories are American history. Our family stories are Americana. Our family stories describe why we are Daytonians and still Daytonians 200-some years later. And on what it means to have the chance to vote for a Black woman to be president. Whether you mark that X for one party or the other, you have to acknowledge the work of the women who supported her and lifted her to where she is today, said Griffin. To learn more about the Charitys Children Project, check out their website where you can listen to their podcast, read about their family history, and connect with the organization. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. BRUNSWICK, Ga. (WSAV) A Brunswick man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for rape and aggravated child molestation of a 14-year-old girl. According to District Attorney Keith Higgins, Troy Rogers III was found guilty by a Glynn County jury on Friday of one count of rape, two counts of aggravated child molestation and one count of child molestation. Troy Rogers III (Glynn County Sheriffs Office) Higgins said according to evidence presented at trial, back in March 2023, the victim was making lunch at home when Rogers knocked on the door and demanded $20 from her stepfather. When she said her parents werent home and she didnt have money to give him, Rogers pushed his way inside and picked up a bat. 11-year-old sentenced in Noah Bush case According to court testimony, Rogers raped the victim and forced her to have oral sex. He admitted to the accusations but said he didnt use force and that he had fun with her; that he looks for girls like that and that he was mad because the victim told on her. Higgins said the victim continues to undergo mental health treatment from the trauma she endured. Rogers received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 19 years in prison. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV. BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) A Buffalo man was arrested Monday in connection with a homicide that occurred earlier that day, Buffalo police announced. Officials said around 3:45 a.m., officers responded to a fight call inside a residence on the 300 block of Rhode Island Street. Upon arrival, officers saw a female victim with severe lacerations and stab wounds, police said. The 29-year-old woman, of Buffalo, was pronounced dead at the scene. The male suspect, 46-year-old Antonio Prieto, was also found at the scene suffering from apparent self-inflicted wounds, police said. He was then transferred by ambulance to ECMC where he remains in critical condition while in police custody. Prieto was charged with one count of second-degree murder. Latest Local News Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view 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 News 4 Buffalo. TOPEKA (KSNT) Built for Zero is a model based around the idea that homelessness can be more than just managed, but rather solved. With 140 different communities across the country using this model, now including Topeka, they all have the same end goal, and thats to reach functional zero. Once at functional zero, this means a system has the availability to house more homeless people every month than the number of those experiencing life out on the streets. In other words, making homelessness a rare occurrence in a community. To see if this is possible, 27 News went to the source for Built for Zero. She says in order to do this, communities have to come together and agree with one another to work towards a shared goal. And that foundation of really seeing this as a community-wide effort is kind of the basis for built for zero, Community Solutions Dor. of Large Scale Change, Melanie Lewis Dickerson said. And thats what weve seen really be transformational across communities across the country. While Dickerson says theres been notable success among other communities, its no secret that they find different routes to achieve that success. So approaches that may work for one city, might not work for another. However, if theres one thing in common for all of them, its a real-time data approach. While having the data is great, Lamanda Broyles with the Topeka Rescue Mission has her concerns. We have data that is showing that multiple people are wanting to access housing, multiple people are trying to get resources in place, and so if our community doesnt have those things though, the data piece of showing everyone that needs the resources is not going to help solve it, because we dont have the recourses in place to match it, Broyles said. If implemented correctly, Broyles does believe movement and change can be made with Built for Zero. She says TRM hopes to be a partner in this change if done correctly. One city that Dickerson tells 27 News has seen this change is Denver. Over the last four years, in Denver, veteran homelessness dropped thirty percent. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (KRON) A woman who was attending the 2024 Burning Man event in Nevadas Black Rock Desert has died, according to the Pershing County Sheriffs Office. The PCSO was notified at around 11:37 a.m. Sunday about the potential death of a festival attendee. Deputies responded to the location provided and confirmed that the woman had died. It is with heavy hearts that Burning Man Project confirms the death of a participant in Black Rock City in Nevadas Black Rock Desert, read a post on the festivals website. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss. The woman was identified Monday as 39-year-old Kendra Frazer. An investigation into Frazers death is ongoing until the cause and manner can be determined, the sheriffs office said. Frazers hometown was not disclosed by authorities. Bicyclists take over Bay Bridge Saturday, two detained According to the festival, Burning Man emergency services personnel responded to a report of an unresponsive person at around 11:29 a.m. Life-saving measures were attempted, but they were not successful. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kendras family and friends, said Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen. The Burning Man Festival was first held on San Franciscos Baker Beach in 1986 before later relocating to the Nevada desert. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Attendees dance during the annual Burning Man Festival in the early morning of September 5, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) A womans death is being investigated after she was found unresponsive during the opening weekend of this years Burning Man festival in Nevadas Black Rock Desert. Burning Man Project released a statement on Sunday (August 25) confirming that the unnamed woman had died and that local authorities were investigating the matter. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss. The participant has been identified by the Pershing County Sheriffs Office, organizers said. On Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 11:29am, Burning Mans emergency services personnel responded to a report of an unresponsive individual. Once on scene, life saving measures were immediately attempted but were unsuccessful. The statement continued: The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident... Out of respect for the privacy of the grieving family, we will not be providing further details at this time. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen told the Reno Gazette-Journal that his deputies responded and were notified of the death at 11:37 am local time. Thick mud caused by heavy rain plagued Burning Man festival in 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the decedent, the sheriffs office said. This is the first reported death on the playa this year and unfortunately it has happened on day one, Allen added. Last year, a California man died at the mud-impacted Burning Man festival from drug intoxication. Leon Reece, 32, was found unresponsive while the unusual rain event affecting the Playa that year delayed the arrival of local officers. Reece was declared dead at the scene by first responders. Around 70,000 attendees found themselves trapped at the Burning Man festival last year after the Black Rock Desert was drenched by an unexpected rainstorm. The heavy rainfall turned the normally dry desert into a sea of mud, prompting organisers to shutter the entrance to the festival and tell attendees already there to hunker down. Revellers were urged to conserve water, food and fuel and shelter in place until the storm passed. Black Rock Rangers are available to provide peer support services 24/7 at Ranger HQ (5:45 & Esplanade) and Outposts (behind the 3:00 and 9:00 Plazas). Black Rock Citys Emergency Services Departments Crisis Support team are available 24/7 at the ESD stations located at 5:15 & Esplanade and behind the 3:00 and 9:00 Plazas. From the Boiling Frogs on The Dispatch The longest argument Ive ever had with a Dispatch colleague came on a Friday evening a few months ago. And no wonder. Logically, Friday nights are prime time for squabbles among political junkies. For most of the population, its the opposite. The last thing a normal human wants to do to unwind at the start of the weekend is talk politics. But nerds like me (and you, dear reader) are a breed apart. We spend all week in mounting annoyance at the news and opinion weve been mainlining and then, finally free of professional duties, the resentments weve been nursing come spilling out. With help, perhaps, from a beverage or two. Our own Steve Hayes maintains he was not imbibing when he touched off a brawl among Never Trumpers last Friday night on Twitter. Grim moment in our politics, he wrote. Some conservatives embracing a nutty conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. and others fluffing a statist progressive [like] Kamala Harris. What a mess the modern conservative movement is. Amid the hundreds of frothy replies he received from MAGA types eager to defend the nutty conspiracy theorists honor came this one from Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell: Honestly, what are you talking about Steve? The sad state of the conservative movement has nothing to do with some conservatives voting for a Democrat to keep Trump away from power. The widespread capitulation to and ultimate embrace of Trump destroyed the conservative movement. Thus began a long back-and-forth, with Longwell accusing Steve of being stuck in tribal muck and Steve countering that he, not she, is the one whos been anti-tribal. Longwell was indignant. Ive read you and [Jonah Goldberg] since I was a young conservative, she replied. You were both so influential on me. Watching your tedious rationalizations about why youll stand on the sidelines instead of taking a stand against the worst threat to American ideals in our lifetimes has been so deeply disappointing. She went on to call Jonahs recent G-File gently scolding David French for endorsing Kamala Harris almost spirit-breaking. To quote George Will: Well. Jonah himself soon replied at length, siding with Steve. Atlantic contributor Tom Nichols, another prominent anti-Trumper, chimed in on Longwells side. David, ever the peacemaker, tried to find a middle way over at Threads. Andrew Egger, whos worked for both Steve and Sarah, gave his view. Within hours, the Never Trump equivalent of the gang fight in Anchorman had broken out. Now I, the Brick Tamland of The Dispatch, must step forward and throw my trident. I dont know whom to throw it at, though. My weaselly yet honest opinion is that both sides in the Hayes-Longwell divide have a point. Ultimately, the argument between them isnt over Kamala Harris or Donald Trump or Never Trump-ism. Its over persuasion. As pundits and writers, persuasion is the business we have chosen. But in this case, theres an important difference of opinion on two fundamental questions. What, precisely, are we trying to persuade people to do? And whats the most effective strategy for persuading them to do it? Conservatism versus anti-Trumpism. You wouldnt know it by listening to some of our critics, but the respective missions of The Dispatch and The Bulwark are distinct. The mission of The Dispatch, I think, is to promote the sort of traditional conservatism thats been forsaken by the Republican Party. The mission of The Bulwark is to defeat Trump and right-wing authoritarianism. Those two missions overlap substantially in 2024, enough so for me to have published a newsletter not two weeks ago that ended with a Bulwark-ian plea to Vote Harris. Steve himself reminded his critics on Twitter at one point this weekend that in 2020 he voted for Joe Biden. The David French column that inspired Jonahs allegedly spirit-breaking G-File was essentially an exercise in marrying Dispatch and Bulwark Never Trumpism. Im voting for Harris this year, David wrote, because we must defeat Trump to promote traditional conservatism. In the short term, he argued, a Harris victory will mean having a president whose foreign policy is closer to Ronald Reagans than Trumps is. In the longer term, itll mean discrediting Trumps brand of boorish populist authoritarianism among the American right as electorally unviable. The staffs of both publications would be happy to see Davids prediction come true, Im sure. But given the difference in our respective missions, its inevitable that Dispatch-ers wont feel the same enthusiasm for a Harris victory as Bulwark-ers do. And enthusiasm is key here. The most important word in Steves tweet that set this brawl off was fluffing. I didnt take him to mean that conservatives shouldnt vote for Harris. (If he did, its weird that he hasnt fired me.) And I certainly didnt take him to mean, as Longwell seems to, that Republican enthusiasm for Harris is a major cause of why the modern conservative movement is a mess. His point, I thought, was that the cult of Trump has polarized supporters and opponents on the right so intensely that each has twisted the things they once believed beyond recognition to accommodate their feelings about him. Steve is reflecting the ethos of this publication: If youre trying to persuade people that conservatism is the best governing model for America, how do you do that by evincing earnest excitement for a San Francisco progressive? Vote for her as the lesser of two evils if you must. But if youre enthusiastically fluffing her, youre sending a decidedly mixed message, shall we say, about the supposed importance of small government and traditional values. And by doing so, you may end up getting more than you bargained for. We can all name people formerly of the right who have moved towards the left so enthusiastically in their strident Never Trumpism that theyre now almost indistinguishable from Democratic partisans. Morning Joe. The Lincoln Project. George Conway. Ana Navarro, who parlayed her Republican who hates Republicans stature into a guest-hosting slot at the Democratic convention last week. If Trump were to be crushed in November and the right were to revert to traditional conservatism in 2028, some or all of them might conceivably come marching home to the GOP, but would anyone bet on it at this point? Maintaining an ideological allegiance to the right is psychologically difficult once youve enthusiastically aligned yourself with a party of the left, especially if that alliance has been reinforced with praise and (in some cases) financial opportunity. And its asking a lot of middle-aged adults who uprooted their careers by abandoning their party once before to uproot their careers again by returning to that party once its seen the light. What Steve fears, I think, is that the conservative marriage of convenience with Democrats for the mutual goal of defeating right-wing populism will, in many cases, become a love fest. When Trump is gone and the smoke clears, all thatll remain on the right is his proto-fascist base and conservatives clinging to the Republican label whove let their antipathy to Trump seduce them into becoming dependable cheerleaders for liberals. Thats not a problem if your mission is simply to defeat Trump and authoritarianism. When Steve was interviewed on The Bulwark podcast some months ago, for instance, host Tim Miller admitted that he was willing to gild the lily a bit in spinning events favorably for Joe Biden. And why not? Good press for Biden serves the goal of beating Trump. Ditto for Longwell, who often excitedly praises the Democrats deep gubernatorial bench on Bulwark podcasts. I understand that: Unless there are some dramatic changes in the GOP within the next decade, odds are good Ill be voting for Josh Shapiro or Wes Moore someday. But if your mission is to advance traditional conservatism, you shouldnt be gilding the lily for any Democrat. (If Never Trump is about truth-telling, Jonah pointed out, it cant just be truths that hurt Trump.) And just in case Republicans do regain their moral bearings soon-ish, you shouldnt be excited at the prospect of sustained Democratic rule. Steve wants to persuade readers to support traditional conservatism, and the Bulwark-ers want to persuade them to defeat Trump. Both goals are noble, but one is obviously more conducive to enthusiasm for Democrats than the other. And the other, I think, is more likely to actually convince conservative voters. If you hope Nikki Haleys Republican primary supporters will flip to Harris in the general election, as I do, my guess is that youll do better to persuade them by acknowledging the reasons for their reluctance than by broadcasting a sense of excitement about Harris (fluffing, lets call it) that will seem foreign and suspicious to them. The Democrats campaign is vacuous to the point of being intellectually insulting. Social conservatives will getand should expectnothing from her presidency. Theres nothing to recommend her agenda on fiscal grounds either except, perhaps, that Trumps pro-tariff psychosis might plausibly prove worse. But Harris is neither crazy nor a coup-plotter, and the right deserves a brutal beating for what its become. Hopefully, such a shellacking would knock some sense into the movement, which is why conservatives should cross party lines in spite of everything. They might listen to that. If nothing else, theyll (hopefully) respect you as an honest broker for being frank about Harris weaknesses. But if you sound enthusiastic about voting for her, thats when theyll start to suspect that youre not so much trying to beat Trump as you are trying to convert them into Democrats. Thats why our friend David took so much flak for his recent column: Right-leaning voters are used to lesser of two evils arguments, but when you tell them that real conservatism means voting for a progressive, many will think youre selling them something. Permission, reluctant or not. I dont think Longwell much cares about conservative enthusiasm, though. She and Steve ended up talking past each other because she mistook his original tweet as an attempt to both sides the moral decline of the right by blaming crazed populists and Harris-supporting conservatives for it equally, which he wasnt doing. (The Dispatch exists for a reason!) As to his actual point, about some Never Trumpers losing their ideological bearings, I suspect Longwell is indifferent: If Republicans want to wear hair shirts and flog themselves while reciting Reagans A Time for Choosing speech as they trundle to the polls to vote for Harris this fall, shes fine with it. What she wants is for Steve and Jonah to say that Republicans should vote for her. Shes trying to persuade people to vote against Trump, in keeping with the mission of her publication, and she believes their endorsements could help marginallyif only in clarifying for right-leaning voters that Trump is the greater of two evils. Genuine question [Steve]: Which scenario is more dangerous for our country and for our allies abroad? she tweeted on Friday. Trump winning or Harris winning? I dont believe for one second you think Kamala Harris is more dangerous than Donald Trump. Its all about so-called permission structures, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. The reason I feel obliged to endorse Harris and why, I assume, our friend David felt obliged at his much bigger perch at the New York Times is because parties inspire powerful tribal loyalty and it takes a lot of persuasion to get partisans to consider leaving, even for just one election. The more conservative commentary there is out there encouraging support for the Democrat this fall, the more comfortable conservative voters will feel about it (in theory). There might be some Haley Republicans who are weighing their options right now and could be moved by a cumulative nudge from people they respect, including Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg. Longwell is trying to build a permission structure for those voters and cant understand why Steve and Jonah dont want to participate, I think, especially when shes willing to forgo the fluffing part. They dont need to be enthusiastic about Harris, merely forthright about Trump being the greater evil. Instead, theyve been reluctant to explicitly take a position on that question. And in this case, not explicitly taking a position amounts to taking a position, no? Steve and Jonah may intend it that way (the latter called the election a hard choice on Saturday, with which I respectfully disagree) but readers might understandably interpret their ambivalence as a comment on just how freakishly unfit for office they believe Harris to be. If the founders of a publication as righteously anti-Trump as The Dispatch cant bring themselves to endorse Trumps opponent post-January 6, however reluctantly, the alternative on the ballot must be reallylike, really reallybad. And if shes that bad, those readers might conclude, maybe they shouldnt turn out in November to try to beat Trump after all. More than that, neutrality between Trump and Harris implies that conserving the constitutional order isnt an important priority of conservatism. Or at least no more important than, say, fiscal responsibility or restricting abortion is. We conservatives should feel a little excitement that Captain Coup is no longer on the glide path to reelection that he was five weeks ago, no? We dont need to fluff Harris by ignoring her policy flaws to feel relieved that shes made the race competitive and hopeful that we might avoid another Trump administration bent on retribution and full-spectrum abuse of executive power. I can muster a degree of enthusiasm as a conservative for the prospect of a presidency in which thats not a concern and the government functions traditionally, without monthly constitutional crises. I dont think Steve or Jonah would disagree. But a cynic could read their refusal to endorse Harris in November as ambivalence about whether an administration with conservative policies that operates outside the law is preferable to an administration with liberal policies that operates within it. Thats what drove Longwell to the pathos about spirit-breaking, I assume: Treating a right-wing policy agenda as a higher (or equal) priority as respect for the American civic tradition is the hallmark of anti-anti-Trumpers, not The Dispatch. There are other publications where you can find that viewpoint but its not supposed to be here. And it isnt. This is why Jonah has been tearing his hair out lately over critics treating his vote as a mirror into his soul: People infer waaaay too much about ones political preferences from the simple fact of preferring one candidate over another in a binary choice. But thats the problem, Longwell would presumably say. If preferring one candidate over another doesnt mean much, why the reluctance to clearly prefer Harris over Trump, grudgingly or not? Lurking beneath all this agita is one more important difference between The Bulwark and The Dispatch. The former is an activist site in a way that the latter is not. Longwell was a political operative before becoming a publisher, and she still is. The PAC she runs, Republican Voters Against Trump, has embarked on a $50 million effort this year to persuade right-leaning voters to cross the aisle for Harris by circulating dozens of video testimonials from average-joe Republicans whove already made a commitment to do so. (Now thats a permission structure.) As Tom Nichols put it, she has a specific definition of what it means to be Never Trump: It means not only criticizing him, but stopping him. The Dispatch is different, as Jonah made clear by framing his defense of Steve and opposition to fluffing in terms of journalistic ethics. I have no problem with journalists writing favorably or unfavorably about candidates theyre voting for, he wrote on Saturday. But the idea that they are required to write, report, and argue in ways consistent with how theyll vote is the purest horsest. Journalists arent supposed to be de facto party hacks. In fact, as a matter of company policy, The Dispatch doesnt endorse candidates as an institution. Right, I know: No one is asking Jonah or Steve to spend the rest of the campaign propagandizing for Harris, just for a simple shes bad but still better than Trump affirmation. But if Never Trump journalists are morally obliged to approach the race as activists, given the high stakes for the country, shouldnt they propagandize for her? What sense does it make to endorse her as the only feasible alternative to a dangerous man and then to go on criticizing her unsparingly, knowing how that criticism will undermine the endorsement? If your highest priority is to beat Trump, not to promote conservatism, your attempts at persuasion will inevitably reflect that. This is what Steve was worried about with fluffing. Once youre an activist more so than a journalist, youre destined to pull your punches. I admit Im not harping on Harris faults because I think its important to beat Trump, one Never Trump conservative said on Twitter this weekend, which is fine for the average voter but not fine for a commentator at a publication like this one that aims to hold politicians of both parties to honest account. Start down that road and soon you might find yourself, well, gilding the lily. Then again, I endorsed Harris and dont seem to have any trouble maintaining my objectivity toward her. (Although, as Anchorman fans know, Brick Tamland is special.) Last week, when writer Jeryl Bier wondered why there are so few conservatives willing to endorse Harris while continuing to criticize her on conservative grounds, a Twitter pal retorted, Why is it so hard for people to believe that Allahpundit Republicans exist? Why indeed, my friend? Why indeed? 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. Local historians disagree on how best to count Delaware Countys succession of courthouses. The number depends on how one defines the word "courthouse." In the most literal interpretation, a courthouse is a structure sheltering a circuit court courtroom. By that definition, weve had six Delaware County courthouses. The first was a two-story wood-frame structure built in 1829. It was replaced in 1837 by a two-story brick building with a cupola, then a sandstone edifice in 1887, followed by a courthouse of concrete and steel in 1969. The Delaware County Justice Center (the old jail) opened in 1992 and included a circuit courtroom. Second Delaware County Courthouse. Finally, in 2021, the Delaware County Justice and Rehabilitation Center opened in the renovated Wilson Middle School building near Middletown Park. Circuit court cases are now all heard at the Justice Center. The second interpretation counts only four courthouses: the 1829 wooden structure, the 1837 brick building, the 1887 sandstone courthouse, and the formidable 1969 concrete colossus that still stands. This view defines "courthouse" broadly as a building to house the countys government its courts, political offices, sheriff, bureaucrats and judges essentially, the "city hall" of Delaware County. Neither definition of courthouse is accurate anymore, at least not for us. Its hard to call the countys building downtown a courthouse when it doesnt have any courts. We also cant really label the Justice Center way out on Tillotson the seat of county government when much administration remains downtown. Putting the courthouse at the center of town The original notion of erecting a courthouse in a public square dates back to the 19th century. Unlike decadent Europe, with crusty old monuments and gloomy churches at the center of town, the cities of the new republic would radiate around the rule of law, or so the thinking went. Most early Hoosier county commissioners adopted this Jeffersonian ideal and set their courthouses in a centrally located public square. After Muncietown was selected as Delaware Countys seat of justice in 1827, three settlers William Brown, Lemuel Jackson and Goldsmith Gilbert donated property to the state for a county courthouse and jail. The land was bounded by Washington, Walnut, Main and High streets. Yet, strangely, the first courthouse was built west of the public square on what is now a parking lot at 109 N. High St. I suspect the reason why was because Goldsmith Gilbert didnt actually have title to the property he donated. In 1826, Gilbert had agreed to buy Rebekah Hackleys land reserve for $960. A year later, when he gifted some of this land for Muncietowns public square, he hadnt yet paid Hackley. In fact, he didnt settle up until a judge ordered him to do so in 1835. Two years after the title cleared, a new brick courthouse opened on Muncietowns square. The historian Thomas Helm described it as 45 feet square, and 28 feet high, surmounted with a cupola. An annex was added in 1848. Muncie's courthouse becomes a disgrace The courthouse proved inadequate by the late 1870s, cramped and smelly. Local editorials and op-eds began calling for something new. An elegant courthouse would not be a bad thing to have, the Muncie Morning News bemoaned in summer 1880, let the courthouse question be agitated. Third Delaware County Courthouse in the early 20th century. Within a year, the building had become a statewide embarrassment. After a sensational, weeklong murder trial in the hot summer of 1881, the Indianapolis Journal wrote that Delaware County ought to be ashamed of the old tumbledown, ramshackle Court-House. It is a disgrace to so rich a county, and a blot to so fine a city. The Muncie Daily Times concurred, writing commissioners would not hesitate in the matter, if they had been compelled to remain cooped up in that miserably ventilated and incommodious room. Still, commissioners balked. Vocal constituents, led by valley farmers living along the Mississinewa River, opposed any new courthouse tax. The debate raged for years, but in January of 1884, commissioners moved forward with a new building. The Morning News heralded, the circumambient is already filled with resounding hosannas at the resolve of commissioners to build a new Court House. May the structure be a thing of beauty and a joy forever. The county hired Fort Wayne architect Brentwood Tolan to design it. Brentwood and his late father, Thomas, were respected regional specialists in municipal architecture. The Tolans had recently completed ornate courthouses in LaGrange, Parke and Kosciusko counties. The Morning News described Brentwood as well-known to several of our citizens as a man of honor, perfectly reliable and abundantly capable. The old courthouse was demolished in the summer of 1884. Court was temporarily moved across High Street to Walling Hall, a two-story building located on the site of the first courthouse. The county treasurer, recorder, auditor and surveyor all moved to J.L. Streeters new building on the squares north side. Contractor Charles Pierce won the bid to build with a budget of $195,618.46, about $6.3 million today. Commissioners contracted with Mock Brothers Brick Yards on Macedonian Pike to produce 3 million bricks. Sandstone was selected as the facade. Construction began in spring of 1885 with the first delivery of stone. On April 13, the News reported that workmen commenced this morning to cut it into sizes and shapes for the building. Tolans courthouse was built in the French Renaissance style of architecture, according to the Morning News. Citizens could enter the building from any side, with grand staircases at east and west entrances. The Main Street access, elegantly adorned, served as the primary entryway. The whole thing was capped with a clock-towered dome. Next courthouse is 'one of the finest in the State' The first floor was completed in fall of 1885. Sadly, no local newspapers survived from 1886, so we dont have a detailed history about the rest. The Indianapolis Journal, however, reported in September that the new court-house at Muncie, said to be one of the finest in the State, is now ready for the tower and roof. Delaware Countys grand palace of justice opened for the peoples business in spring of 1887. Delaware Circuit Court moved in later that summer. In October, a Munsonian told a Daily Times reporter that it was the finest building I ever saw. I believe it is as nice as the State House. The latest courthouse for Delaware County This courthouse stood for 80 years. By 1960, it had become a cramped, smelly place echoing the conditions of its predecessor. Its neglected exterior was routinely covered in nasty starling guano. In 1966, commissioners had it demolished. The current building, the fourth Delaware County Courthouse, was completed four years later. Fourth Delaware County Courthouse. Photo by Chris Flook. If the day ever comes when the shortsighted raze our last downtown courthouse, Im going to go down with it. Ill chain myself to that weird cantilever thing jutting out toward Walnut Street. Though I dont understand its design, Ive come to love the county building for its uniqueness and symbolism. For me, its Delaware Countys last link to a more noble age of public squares and grand architecture. Chris Flook is a Delaware County Historical Society board member and a Senior Lecturer of Media at Ball State University. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Delaware County courthouses through the centuries UPDATE (4:39 p.m.) The California City Police Department said an 11-year-old boy reported missing earlier in the day has been located. BAKERSFIELD, Calif (KGET) The California City Police Department is asking for the communitys help in searching for a missing 11-year-old boy. Police say Adrian Ramirez, 11, is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. He was last seen in the area of Xavier Avenue and 91st Street. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and white and blue Jordan shoes. Derby Acres losing its only park due to state regulation Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the California City Police Department at 760-373-8606. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert! SB 94 IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS LEGISLATURE ENTERS THE HOME STRETCH This is it, the final week of the 2023-24 legislative session. On Saturday, the Legislature adjourns for the rest of the year. But dont expect this week to go by quietly. A fight is brewing over SB 94, a criminal justice bill by Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, to allow for inmates sentenced before June 5, 1990, who have served at least 25 years in custody to petition for re-sentencing. It specifically exempts serial killers, sex offenders and those found guilty of killing police from this process. The proposal didnt go over well with legislative Republicans, to put it mildly. When violent murderers brutally take a life, they lose their right to freedom. Their punishment is in the name life without parole, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-Santee, said in a statement. Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, added, The fact that Democrats are debating whether or not to keep violent murderers behind bars shows how out-of-touch they really are. Laura Pettigrew, of the group Crime Victims United, said in a statement that SB 94 is opening up the nightmare and anxiety of having to go back to court and face the monsters, followed by the possibility of a lifetime of parole hearings. I am disillusioned and in anguish wondering when victims families can mourn quietly for their loved ones without worrying about legislation that will reopen up wounds from their past, she said. In a press release last week, Republicans brought out a series of cases of people convicted of murder that they alleged would be eligible for resentencing to parole under the bill as its currently written. This prompted Cortese to release his own statement, slamming his GOP colleagues for spreading misinformation about his bill. He argued that his bill creates a tough, four-tiered process in which the courts will have complete discretion to leave the sentence unchanged or refer it to the Parole Board and ultimately the governor. At each level, public safety is paramount, by utilizing the four-tiered process we are ensuring that only those who have rehabilitated pursuant to a judicial court, the Parole Board, and our governor have the potential to be released. All three must agree. Only those having already served a minimum of 25 years may request a hearing, Cortese said. He reiterated that his bill will not let a single person out of prison, and called it a conservative, narrow bill tailored to a specific subsection of our incarcerated population who may not have received the same sentence had they been convicted in the present day. SB 94 currently sits on the Assembly floor, and will likely be taken up sometime this week. QUOTE OF THE DAY RFK Jr. was recruited to run by MAGA activists. His campaign was funded by Trumps largest donor. Now hes taking his far-right ideas and joining the Trump camp. No surprise there. #BrainWormsUnite. - Senate President pro Tem Mike McGuire, discussing Robert F. Kennedy Jrs decision to suspend his campaign and endorse former President Donald Trump, via X. Best of The Bee: California man cited in operation against alcohol sales to minors nabbed for something else, officials say Northern California officials cited two people during an operation against purchasing or providing alcohol to minors, but one of them was cited based on something they inadvertently shared with the decoy that he had a warrant. The operation was conducted on August 19 by the Sutter County Sheriffs Office and the California Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The sheriffs office said that the suspects were involved in the operation in Yuba City and Live Oak. One of the suspects did right by not buying alcohol for the minor, but he was still cited after sharing that he wouldnt make the purchase because he had a warrant. Sacramento Police detain some individuals as Camp Resolution closes He was instead contacted by officials, cited and released for a $1,000 warrant and for allegedly having cocaine. The other suspect bought alcohol for the minor and was also arrested on a $15,000 warrant, the sheriffs office said. We conduct these operations to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth, said a statement from ABC Director Joseph McCullough. By preventing underage drinking we can increase the quality of life in our communities and reduce DUIs. Cyclist dies in California state recreation area after crash In these shoulder tap operations, minors under the supervision of law enforcement stand outside of businesses and ask incoming customers if they will buy them alcohol, stating that they are underage and that they cannot make the purchase themselves. Adults who do purchase alcohol for minors can be arrested and cited, with penalties of a minimum of a $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Authorities said the death of an inmate Friday at California State Prison, Sacramento, near Folsom is being investigated as a homicide following a fight with five other inmates. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said guards saw inmates Darryn Mayberry, Robert Keller, Tray Watson, Marcell Battiest and Otis Wyatt, attack fellow inmate Darryl Hudson in the dayroom at the facility known as New Folsom just before 3 p.m. Thursday. Hudson was allegedly hit by Mayberry several times and lost consciousness, corrections officials said. Guards stopped the fight by shouting verbal orders and immediately called for emergency services. Officials said they had limited movement on the yard where the fight took place. Hudson was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. Friday. Corrections officials said no staff or additional inmates were injured in the altercation. Hudson, 40, was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Contra Costa County in 2009 and sentenced to life without parole. In 2021, he was convicted of an in-prison offense of battery on a non-prisoner in Kern County and sentenced to an additional seven years. The Sacramento County Coroners Office will determine Hudsons official cause of death, CDCR said. The five inmates involved in the fight were placed in restricted housing while corrections officials and the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office conduct an investigation into the homicide. Mayberry, 30, was serving a 10-year sentence for second-degree robbery. Keller, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Watson, 58, was sentenced 18 years for assault with a firearm. Battiest, 29, was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and second-degree robbery and serving life without parole. Wyatt, 27, was sentenced to life without parole for second-degree murder. Ongoing mpopx outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries can be controlled and stopped but require aid and effort from across a broad worldwide spectrum, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus wrote Monday. Photo courtesy of World Health Organization/Twitter Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization on Monday revealed a joint global plan with Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop the spread of mpox after declaring it a global health emergency. Ongoing mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries can be controlled and stopped but require aid and effort from across a broad worldwide spectrum, a WHO official says. "Doing so requires a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our Member States," WHO's Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus wrote Monday in a news release. WHO member states will offer insight after receiving a briefing Friday on the plan, which Ghebreyesus said will be based on "the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors." This fresh mpox plan aims to build on other temporary recommendations by WHO and will focus on the implementation of "comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness and response strategies" to help with "advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines," and will look at "minimizing animal-to-human transmission" and also aims to empower communities to "actively participate in outbreak prevention and control." It would cover a six-month period beginning in September through February of next year, as the WHO envisions the global response effort will cost an estimated $135 million and said a fundraising appeal will be made "shortly" to its member states. At the global level there is an emphasis being placed on "strategic leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical countermeasures for the most at-risk groups in affected countries," according to WHO. The WHO added at a coming virtual scientific conference on Aug. 29-30 with Africa's CDC, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will meet "to align mpox research with outbreak control goals." In Africa, considered "ground zero" so far with the spread of mpox, the WHO said it and Africa's CDC have agreed on a "one-plan, one-budget approach" on the continent as it seeks to manage the spread as part of what it described as Africa's "Continental Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan" which is now under development. "At the national and sub-national level, health authorities will adapt strategies in response to current epidemiological trends," the WHO said. Though Africa's CDC considers mpox to be a crisis on the continent, it has an impact on a global scale as EU member states have joined the African CDC and WHO's effort to rally nations to share vaccines, treatments and other critical resources with currently affected countries. The latest mpox outbreak was declared a global public health emergency by the WHO on Aug. 14. Another global emergency, declared after an outbreak in 2023 ended last May. The emergency designation signifies WHO's highest level of alert to member nations aimed to ramp up preparation, funding, research and key international public health resources in cooperation against the disease in affected nations. A first batch of 10,000 mpox vaccines by American authorities will arrive this week in Africa. Since December the United States. "has been working to prepare domestically" for mpox and since then has been "closely monitoring the spread of mpox, specifically clade I mpox," the CDC said Thursday. The U.S. last year allocated more than $2 billion in bilateral funding to Central and Eastern African nations to combat infectious diseases. Last week, UNICEF made an appeal for $16 million to scale up its own mpox response and preparedness across the region in Africa. Meanwhile, the European CDC on Aug.16 released an updated mpox risk assessment after an MPXV clade Ib case had been reported. The ECDC advised that the risk of mpox infection for Europe's general population is low, but warned that for Europeans traveling to or living in nations affected by mpox that the risk is high and imported mpox cases may likely go up. In a letter on Friday, Europe's health agency urged EU member states to donate mpox vaccines to Africa before the end of the month in a letter in response to the global health emergency. "Several member states and third countries have announced their intention to donate doses to affected countries and Africa," wrote European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides. Donations from Europe, she said, "will have more immediate impact if they are coordinated and channeled with the tried and true Team Europe approach, as was successfully done during the COVID-19 pandemic." On Monday, WHO said strategic vaccination efforts will focus on individuals at the highest risk, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers aimed at interrupting mppox "transmission chains." The mpox virus is now in more than 12 African countries and so far this year has caused more than 517 deaths with more than 17,541 confirmed and suspected human cases reported. After the 2022 global emergency declaration, mpox infected nearly 100,000 people, killing roughly 200 people. WHO said Monday its regional offices and own headquarters have established "incident management support teams" to lead "preparedness, readiness and response activities," and are "significantly scaling up staff" in nations affected so far by the virus. Mpox is a viral disease that can be spread between people and certain animals, according to the U.S. CDC. It often causes a rash on hands, feet, chest, face, mouth or near the genitals. During an incubation period of 3-17 days there are no symptoms, but they start within 21 days of exposure to the virus. Other symptoms include a fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches, headache and respiratory symptoms. When police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University earlier this year, officers doused Moataz Salim's hands and arms so thoroughly in pepper spray, he says, they burned for days. Salim, a graduate student studying clinical psychology who says he has lost more than 160 relatives in Gaza, wasnt among the dozens of people arrested that day in May. But after the raid, Salim decided to take a leave of absence from his education in part, to focus on his activism, but also so he might avoid disciplinary repercussions from his university. Salim, 27, said hes spent the summer speaking out alongside members of Congress and attending protests, mostly recently during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus controversial visit to Washington. Although he and others are facing disciplinary hearings for their involvement in the encampment, Salim said, its clear the student body wont be deterred from protesting in some form as classes resume. "These students and myself, we aren't taking on these repercussions and consequences because it's fun," he said. "It's because it's the right thing to do." As the fall term gets underway at many colleges, administrators are preparing for another possible surge in campus activism. The last school year ended acrimoniously as anti-war protests persisted on many school grounds, disrupting graduation ceremonies and jeopardizing some students academic standing. Though on-campus demonstrations lulled this summer as students dispersed, the conditions that motivated the recent wave of activism havent changed dramatically since the spring. While several high-profile college presidents have left their roles, many schools havent substantively changed their investing strategies a demand made by the lions share of protesters but a complicated ask in practice. International negotiations over a potential cease-fire in Gaza are tenuous. And members of Congress continue to see political opportunity in inserting themselves into the debate over how campuses should go about quelling unrest. As young activists prepare to ramp up the momentum again, harsher rules await them on some campuses. Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, a private school in Connecticut, hopes others in his shoes have learned a few lessons from the chaos of the last school year.His approach to encampments like those that sprang up at many schools, including his, is not a uniform, across-the-board stance, but rather a nuanced one. If you have a space of expression and not intimidation, it should be encouraged, he said. If it veers into a space of intimidation or harassment its the responsibility of the university to shut it down. Tougher rules, bans on clubs A protest encampment at Indiana University Bloomington lasted for nearly 100 days before students voluntarily took it down in response to the new expressive activities policies that went into effect on Aug. 1, according to Bryce Greene, founder of the schools Palestine Solidarity Committee. The policies effectively ban encampments on campus by prohibiting camping. The rules require advanced approval for signs and temporary structures and state that protest activities must occur between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., according to the Herald-Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. The standards were adopted after the university came under fire for quietly changing an on-campus event policy that had been in place since 1969, suddenly requiring tents and other "structures" to obtain prior approval. They led to the arrest of more than 50 people, the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network reported. The prosecutor's office in Monroe County called the process behind the change constitutionally dubious and declined to charge dozens of people arrested, the Herald-Times reported. Greene, a doctoral student involved in the Indiana University protests, said he was among those who had the criminal charges against them dropped. He said that although students view the new rules as a threat to their ability to protest, theyre still willing to make their voices heard. What this means is that we have to be hyperaware of the ways in which our university intends to crack down on us, and we have to be creative in some ways, he said. Sometimes we decide to stay within the boundaries when that suits, but our major plan for the fall is rejuvenizing the energy that we felt over the summer, getting people to rallies, getting people to marches, and specifically training. Many student activists organized last year through a network of clubs, some of which are banned at specific campuses headed into the new school year. The George Washington University chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, which bills itself as an anti-Zionist organization, have been suspended through the spring of 2026, according to the schools list of disciplined clubs. In a statement, university spokesperson Julia Metjian said the school has an obligation to address violations of university policy, and does so without regard to the content of the message those demonstrating seek to advance. Read more: Do college protests pay off? Wins are varied and sometimes lasting, experts say Punishing protesters: Discipline varies across campuses Allie Wong, a doctoral student, said she was arrested outside a student-occupied building on Columbia Universitys New York City campus this spring and thrown to the ground by police officers, leaving her with an injured hand, bruised ribs and golf ball-sized welts on her head. But she said the trespassing charge against her was later dropped, and she was one of the few students arrested that night who didnt face disciplinary action from her university. I explicitly told the head of my department the day of that I would like to be arrested, she said, speculating that that request possibly deterred officials from punishing her. On some level, I think that probably had to do with it. Last week, congressional Republicans criticized the university for, in their view, not adequately punishing student protesters who violated school policies last semester. According to disciplinary records received by the House education committee, 18 of the 22 students arrested after occupying the building Wong was in were returned to good standing." Three faced interim suspensions. Republicans escalated their pressure on the university Wednesday, issuing a subpoena for documentation of any conversations among high-level administrators related to antisemitic incidents on campus since Oct. 7. Wong, who said she is still shaken from the violence of her arrest, decided to take a break from organizing over the summer. The 38-year-old muted the Signal chat used by her peers in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition, spent time abroad with family and started seeing a new therapist to help process what happened to her. It was a pretty dramatic experience and one that I don't think I realized, like, the physical impact of until later, just kind of the anxiety, the stress, the ways that that has manifested in my life, she said. Meanwhile, Wong said her fellow students have been hosting healing circles and trainings to gear up for a fresh wave of actions in the fall. Though the university faced criticism over changes to its protest policies earlier this year, an administrative body of faculty and students spent the summer poring over revisions to how the campus, which became a flashpoint in nationwide divisions over the war, will handle protests going forward. Read more: How Columbia University became the epicenter of disagreement over the Israel-Hamas war They will certainly be seeing more of us, she said. The punishments for anti-war protests have differed significantly across campuses. At Purdue University in Indiana, one student who faced disciplinary action was required to read the book Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, according to the campus newspaper. (Trevor Peters, a spokesperson for the school, said in an email that federal privacy laws prevent Purdue from commenting on specific students or cases, but there is a standard process for reviewing and determining sanctions.) Federal judge intervenes at UCLA In the meantime, at the University of California, Los Angeles, administrators have taken the hardest line that they could against the faculty and students arrested during protests, according to Graeme Blair, an associate professor of political science and a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine. More than 200 people were arrested in early May a day after a mob of counterprotesters attacked a previously peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment. In June, dozens more were arrested when students tried to reestablish the encampment, the Daily Bruin, the schools newspaper, reported. A protestor confronts a campus police officer during a demonstration at the University of Southern California, where several hundred people are protesting the ongoing war in Gaza. Blair estimated about 70 students received notice of disciplinary proceedings against them and he expects the bulk of them will be resolved before the school year starts in October. But Blair said being in limbo has been especially difficult. The disciplinary action has prevented students from graduating, disrupted their plans to apply for summer jobs and barred them from accessing housing. It is a punishment regime that is out of touch with what students were trying to do, which was to speak up for vulnerable people and to talk about one of the most important and difficult issues in our society today, Blair said. Michael V. Drake, the president of the larger University of California system, warned last week that his 10 campuses will be streamlining a set of rules about protests. Those policies include strict bans on encampments and face masks meant to conceal protesters' identities. Clear communication and consistent application of policies and laws are key to achieving the delicate but essential balance between free speech rights and the need to protect the safety of our community and maintain critical University operations, Drake wrote in a public statement. The message came after a federal judge weighed in about campus access in response to a lawsuit from three Jewish UCLA students. The students argued in court that their access to campus was limited in a discriminatory way during recent protests. Lawyers for the university said the students lacked legal standing to sue. The court order, in the university's view, was unnecessary to keep the school compliant with federal anti-discrimination laws. U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, in a scathing decree, said if the university cant make sure that its ordinarily available programs and campus areas are available to Jewish students, it will have to restrict those things for all students, too. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith, he wrote in the preliminary injunction. The university has appealed. Read more: Campus protests across the U.S. result in arrests by the hundreds. But will the charges stick? Will agreements with protesters make a difference? The tumult of the last school year reminded George Boggs, a former community college president in California, of a protest he responded to in the 1990s. After a debate about faculty hiring choices, trustees made comments that professors and students of color perceived as racist. The students, wanting to make their voices heard, pitched an encampment similar to the ones which, decades later, were erected in the months following the Israel-Hamas war. Though he acknowledged the 90s demonstration happened at a different time in American history, Boggs said he did come away from the experience with a valuable lesson: Take students seriously. Theyre not the enemy, he said. We have to realize that our current Jewish students are not the Israeli government, and Muslim students are not Hamas. At some colleges, including Brown University, protests in the spring arrived at more amicable conclusions. The private school in Rhode Island struck a deal with student groups in late April to end the schools encampment, and, as part of the arrangement, students were allowed to make their case to top administrators about why the university should divest from companies the students said wrongly support the oppression of the Palestinian people. School officials are set to vote on the matter in October. Eli Grossman, one of the architects of the pact, is optimistic. Though he graduated in the spring, the 24-year-old has found time away from his demanding new job fighting wildland fires to check back in with student organizers. The cost to our learning community of completely ignoring this issue, and letting it fester and build resentment, is not worth pissing off a few donors that happen to have strong opinions, he said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colleges brace for return of Israel-Hamas war protests (Bloomberg) -- Most Read from Bloomberg Canada will impose new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, aluminum and steel, lining up behind western allies and taking steps to protect domestic manufacturers. The government announced a 100% levy on electric cars and 25% on steel and aluminum, confirming an earlier report from Bloomberg News. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled the policy Monday in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where hes gathered with the rest of his cabinet for a series of meetings about the economy and foreign relations. The surtax on electric vehicles will take effect Oct. 1 and will also include certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses and delivery vans. It will be added to an existing 6.1% tariff that applies to Chinese EVs. The levies on aluminum and steel will come into place Oct. 15. The government released an initial list of goods on Monday and the public will have a chance to comment before it is finalized on Oct. 1. Trudeaus government is also launching a new 30-day consultation on other sectors, including batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar products and critical minerals. We are transforming Canadas automotive sector to be a global leader in building the vehicles of tomorrow, Trudeau told reporters in Halifax. But actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace, compromising the security of our critical industries and displacing dedicated Canadian autos and metal workers. Canada, an export-driven economy that relies heavily on trade with the US, has been closely watching moves by the Biden administration to erect a much higher tariff wall against Chinese EVs, batteries, solar cells, steel and other products. Canadas auto sector is highly integrated with that of its closest neighbor: The vast majority of its light vehicle production which was 1.5 million units last year is exported to the US. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, the most powerful person in Trudeaus cabinet, has been one of the most prominent voices in favor of a harder approach to Chinese vehicle exports, and becoming a closer trade ally with the US. Freeland said in Halifax that the Chinese policy of oversupply was built on abysmal labor and environmental standards. We are not going to build Canadian policy based on abuses of workers in China and based on pollution in China, she said. The government also announced it will limit eligibility for electric vehicle incentives to products made in countries that have negotiated free-trade agreements with Canada. It will review the new levies within a year of them coming into effect. All Necessary Measures Chinas embassy in Ottawa said the move was a typical act of trade protectionism and political domination in defiance of World Trade Organization rules and inconsistent with Canadas position as a self-proclaimed advocate of global free trade and climate action. Canadas accusation of overcapacity is groundless, it said in a statement, arguing that Chinas rapid development of electric vehicles relies on technological innovation, sound production and sufficient market competition. China will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the embassy said. China has retaliated against Canada before. It previously restricted imports of Canadian canola seed for three years a move seen as retribution for a decision by Canada authorities to arrest Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a US extradition warrant. Meng returned to China in 2021. The European Union has also announced proposed new tariffs on electric vehicles important from China, though at lower levels than the US and now Canada are proposing. Chinese leaders plan to raise the issue of tariffs when US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visits this week, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Sullivan is due to meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and may also meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The value of Chinese electric vehicles imported by Canada surged to C$2.2 billion ($1.6 billion) last year, from less than C$100 million in 2022, according to data from Statistics Canada. The number of cars arriving from China at the port of Vancouver jumped after Tesla Inc. started shipping Model Y vehicles there from its Shanghai factory. However, the Canadian governments main concern isnt Tesla, but the prospect of cheap cars made by Chinese automakers eventually becoming available. BYD informed the Canadian government in July that it intends to lobby lawmakers and officials about its plans to enter the country. Trudeau also faced political and industry pressure to protect domestic jobs and wages. The government has bet big on automakers and manufacturers from democratic allies: the government has agreed to to multibillion-dollar subsidies for electric vehicle plants or battery factories for Stellantis NV, Volkswagen AG and Honda Motor Co., among others. With an upcoming review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2026, there is simply too much at stake for the auto industry and economy if Canada is misaligned with the US, Brian Kingston, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, said in a statement. Steel and aluminum producers in Canada have also publicly and repeatedly urged the government to restrict Chinas access. Catherine Cobden, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said the move wont create major supply chain challenges. Of course there will be adjustments that will have to take place, but were confident theres enough steel to meet the needs of Canadian and American consumers without unfairly traded, highly subsidized Chinese steel, she said in an interview. --With assistance from Curtis Heinzl and Jacob Gu. (Adds Freeland quote, reaction from China, industry groups starting in paragraph eight.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. The News The Canadian government will impose a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, becoming the latest Western government to move to curb Chinas dominant EV sector. Were doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world that recognize that this is a challenge that we are all facing, the Canadian leader said. The duty matches US tariffs that are expected to be finalized this week and is similar to a plan proposed by the European Commission. Trudeau also announced a new 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum. The new EV tariff is also set to apply to US carmaker Tesla, which imports vehicles made at its Shanghai factory into the country. Teslas EVs are the only Chinese-made electric cars currently sold in Canada, although BYD is reported to be eyeing an entry into the market. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is likely to bring up tariffs and trade barriers when he meets with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday, Chinese state newswire Xinhua reported. Chinas export-driven economy heavily relies on trade with the United States, and Ottawa has been closely monitoring the Biden administrations moves in order to keep the two North American economies aligned, according to Bloomberg. But Ottawa is also preparing for a potential second Trump term that would be more economically hostile against China, a former Canadian ambassador to the US told the Associated Press. They know we have to be pretty much aligned in all of this, the ambassador said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with reporters during a news conference at the Federal ministers cabinet retreat in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Kelly Clark/The Canadian Press via AP) TORONTO (AP) Canada announced Monday it is launching a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching U.S. tariffs imposed over what Western governments say are China's subsidies that give its industry an unfair advantage. The announcement came after encouragement by U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cabinet ministers Sunday. Sullivan is making his first visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Trudeau said Canada also will impose a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum. Actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace, he said. One of the Chinese-made EVs imported into Canada is from Tesla, made at the companys Shanghai factory, though the U.S. company could avoid the tariff by switching to supplying Canada from factories in the U.S. or Germany. Chinese brands are not yet a player in Canada. However, Chinese EV giant BYD established a Canadian corporate entity last spring and has indicated it intends to try and enter the Canadian market as early as next year. Chinese officials are likely to raise concerns about the American tariffs with Sullivan as Beijing continues to repair its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. President Joe Biden in May slapped major new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment. The U.S. does believe that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues benefits all of us, Sullivan told reporters on Sunday. Biden has said Chinese government subsidies for EVs and other consumer goods ensure that Chinese companies dont have to turn a profit, giving them an unfair advantage in global trade. Chinese firms can sell EVs for as little as $12,000. Chinas solar cell plants and steel and aluminum mills have enough capacity to meet much of the worlds demand. Chinese officials argue their production keeps prices low and would aid a transition to the green economy. Were doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world that recognize that this is a challenge that we are all facing, Trudeau said of the new tariffs. Unless we all want to get to a race to the bottom, we have to stand up. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada also will launch a 30-day consultation about possible tariffs on Chinese batteries, battery parts, semiconductors, critical minerals, metals and solar panels. China has an intentional state-directed policy of overcapacity and oversupply designed to cripple our own industry, Freeland said. We simply will not allow that to happen to our EV sector, which has shown such promise. The Chinese Embassy said Ottawa disregarded Beijing's repeated objections and said the move will damage trade and economic cooperation. "This move is typical trade protectionism and politically-motivated decision, which violates the World Trade Organization(WTO) rules and goes against Canadas traditional image as a global champion for free trade and climate change mitigation, the embassy said in an emailed statement. China will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. Canada "had to go with the U.S. position, when you think about the economic integration that we have with the U.S. More than 75% of our exports go to the U.S., said a former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques. Saint-Jacques said Canada can expect retaliation from China in other industries, adding that barley and pork are candidates because the Chinese can get it from other countries. China will want to send a message, he said. ___ This story has been corrected to say Tesla is one of the Chinese-made EVs imported into Canada, not the only one. Canada makes decision that will have lasting impact on lucrative industry: 'Part of our commitment to ... reconciliation' The Canadian government will ban open-net salmon farms by mid-2029 to protect the culturally and ecologically significant fish of British Columbia. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had initially pledged to ban open-net salmon farms by 2025. On June 19, the government announced the new order for 2029. For a smooth transition, Canada's Fisheries and Oceans will renew existing salmon aquaculture licenses for five years. The organization's minister, Diane Lebouthillier, also noted there would be "stricter conditions around managing sea lice on farmed fish, reporting requirements for the industry, and monitoring of marine mammal interactions." One of the complaints from campaigners about open-net fishing is that it can spread lice and diseases to wild fish, so stopping the practice will help preserve the fish in the area. Salmon farming is also a big industry in the region, supporting 7,000 jobs and bringing in about $1.09 billion to the economy annually, according to data from the BC Salmon Farmers Association cited by Reuters. Some First Nations communities have campaigned for open-net fishing to end, but for others, it's part of their livelihoods, and they are upset about the transition's speed and the lack of consultation on the matter, per Reuters. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson indicated efforts would be made to ensure a smooth adjustment period. "We recognize the importance of meaningful and thoughtful engagement with First Nations partners and communities as we move forward, in order to ensure that economic impacts are mitigated," Wilkinson said in a press release. According to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, there are seven species of wild salmon in British Columbia, including Chinook, Pink, Steelhead Trout, Chum, and Sockeye. Of these, 9,000 populations are in the area, but around half are in decline. Declining populations are hazardous, as they aren't just a food source for humans. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, they are also a food source for wildlife, including killer whales, bald eagles, and bears. Endangered Southern resident killer whales, in particular, primarily eat Chinook salmon, while salmon carcasses even provide food and nutrients to tiny aquatic insects and other invertebrates. Without salmon, the ecosystem would collapse. While British Columbia isn't the only place where salmon populations are declining, there is hope because some are returning to areas where salmon had vanished. For example, in 2023, the San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network didn't see any coho salmon returning to Olema Creek to spawn. Just a year later, the fish had made a significant return. Elsewhere, river restoration efforts have revitalized local waterways. Many organizations are working to protect salmon populations as well, and you can donate to them to help ensure these fish continue being a food source for wildlife and humans. "Wild Pacific salmon is part of who we are as British Columbians," Minister of Citizens' Services Terry Beech said in the government press release. "This measure is part of our commitment to environmental stewardship and reconciliation. We will work with Indigenous communities, industry, governments, and stakeholders to restore the abundance of wild salmon for the benefit of future generations." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. (Bloomberg) -- Canada will restrict a program that allows companies to recruit low-wage foreign labor after the government was criticized for letting it grow too quickly, and for failing to stop the abuse of temporary workers. Most Read from Bloomberg The government is reversing two major changes it made in 2022 to address labor shortages, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. Businesses are permitted to hire temporary foreign employees to fill low-wage jobs in at least 20% of their workforce. That limit will soon drop to 10% for most sectors, where it was before April 2022. The government is also bringing back a previous rule that bans the hiring of new temporary foreign workers for low-wage jobs in regions where the unemployment rate is 6% or higher. A handful of industries in which workers are hard to get including farming, fish processing, health care and construction will be exempt. The changes two years ago which the government deemed necessary at the time to help companies deal with a surge of vacant positions have been blamed for an explosion in the number of temporary workers in the country. The economic situation is very different now than it was two years ago, Trudeau said at a news conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The unemployment rate, which was around 5% in mid-2022, has risen to 6.4%, and its 14.2% for younger workers the highest level in more than a decade outside the pandemic. Its not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and its not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited, Trudeau told reporters in Halifax. To those who would complain about worker shortages, heres my message: There is no better time to hire and invest in Canadian workers. The maximum length of employment for workers hired through the low-wage stream of the program will be reduced to one year from two. The government is also considering changes to another part of the foreign-worker program that deals with higher-wage jobs, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said. A surge in temporary migration to Canada including foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers pushed the countrys population growth rate last year to 3.2%, one of the worlds fastest. It has exacerbated a housing shortage and strained the social safety net, helping sink Trudeaus popularity. Trudeau said there were ongoing conversations about immigration levels, including permanent resident targets. Last year, the government set targets of welcoming 500,000 permanent residents in 2025 and 2026. It plans to update those figures by November while also setting targets for temporary residents for the first time. Were making sure that the entire package makes as much sense as possible for the needs of Canadians and for the needs of our economy, he said. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that unscrupulous immigration consultants and employers are taking advantage of the temporary foreign worker program to sell jobs to desperate newcomers. A government investigation that was never publicly released found jobs were sold for between C$10,000 ($7,400) and C$180,000, according to a summary viewed by Bloomberg. A job linked to the program boosts an individuals chance of obtaining permanent residency in Canada, creating an incentive to pay for one. It also ties the employee to an individual employer, making it hard to switch jobs tilting the balance of power so much that a United Nations official said the program allows modern forms of slavery to take place. --With assistance from Jay Zhao-Murray, Randy Thanthong-Knight and Brian Platt. (Adds Trudeau comments on permanent resident targets in paragraphs 10-11.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Canadas Class I railroads are back to work. Two days after Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon sent contract negotiations between the countrys two major railroads and 9,300 union employees to binding arbitration, Canadas federal labor board supported the decision, affirming Saturday that the railroads must resume operations and that employees must resume their work duties. No further labor stoppage can occur during the arbitration process. More from Sourcing Journal The board has concluded that, in this case, it has no discretion or ability to refuse to implement, in whole or in part, the ministers directions or to modify their terms, Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) chairperson Ginette Brazeau wrote in a pair of rulings. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) had both locked out the Teamsters-represented employees ahead of an intended strike set for Aug. 22. With the boards ruling, CN ended its lockout on Friday, while CPKC lifted its stoppage on Saturday. CPKC restarted railway operations in Canada 12:01 a.m. Monday, with the company asking union employees to return to work for the day shift on Sunday in preparation. CN trains had started running again as early as Friday morning before the Teamsters served the rail with a 72-hour strike notice in a longshot bid to challenge the CIRB decision and keep a work stoppage in play. CN resumed operations again early Monday. With the notice, the Teamsters at CN intended on going on strike Monday at 10 a.m. That strike notice was voided the next day once the CIRB made the decision. While the Teamsters said Saturday that it would lawfully comply with the boards decision, the union also said it would appeal the ruling to federal court. This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent, said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, in a statement. It signals to Corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflict short-term economic pain, and the federal government will step in to break a union. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today. The major concern in the leadup to the work stoppage was the halting of freight throughout Canada, particularly products like grain, lumber, iron ore and coal, with many businesses arguing that rail service was essential in keeping the countrys public health afloat. The CIRB had determined that the service was not essential, allowing for a strike to occur, but admitted that a work stoppage would result in economic hardship for Canada. As such, shippers had to scramble to figure out alternate ways for cargo to enter the country, with more product being diverted away from the Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert to U.S. ports like Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles and Long Beach. MacKinnons decision merely 16 hours after the lockout began suggests that the federal government grew more concerned about the impact of a suspended nationwide rail system, despite initial claims that it wanted the parties to hash out a new contract on their own without appointing a third party. In a Saturday statement, CPKC said it will take several weeks for the railway network to fully recover from this work stoppage and a period of time beyond that for supply chains to stabilize. As specified in the CIRBs order, the existing collective agreements between the company and the union remain in force. The labor board will convene a case management meeting with the parties on Thursday to discuss the imposition of final binding interest arbitration. CSX, BNSF and Norfolk Southern reach tentative deals months ahead of deadline At the same time the Canadian railroads have been struggling to find middle ground with the union, three major U.S. railways have made headway with several unions well ahead of contract deadlines in an effort to avoid a similar labor disruption. CSX has reached tentative deals on new five-year collective bargaining agreements with 12 unions covering more than 50 percent of its union employees. Terms include average wage increases of 3.5 percent per year over five years and unspecified improvements in paid vacation and health care. Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway also said Friday reached agreements with four unions and three labor groups, respectively. The railroad pacts have similar terms to the CSX deal, and cover approximately 30 percent of the unionized Norfolk Southern employees and 15 percent of BNSF workers. The deals were stuck more than four months before the current collective agreements become amendable under the federal Railway Labor Act. All the tentative agreements are subject to ratification by the unions membership. According to Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) directing general chairperson, John McCloskey, the agreements, if ratified, take away the uncertainty of when the next round of national negotiations will be completed, and if and when annual pay increases will be implemented. HONOLULU (KHON2) Grounded flights, power outages, and flooding are some of the major issues the state is dealing with as Hurricane Hone passes the islands. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Families waiting for their loved ones back home on the Big Island and Maui may have to wait a little longer. As of Sunday afternoon, Hawaiian Airlines canceled ten flights to and from Hilo. Southwest Airlines canceled 13 flights from both Hilo and Maui. Hone expected to downgrade to tropical storm by early Monday They delayed us a couple of times and then finally the last one they canceled, stated Kahale Huddleston, a resident from Hilo. Hurricane Hone passes south of the Hawaiian islands on Aug. 25, 2024 (Courtesy NOAA) The Big Island is getting the brunt of Hurricane Hone. My husband said its been raining and windy and tree branches falling down on our property, said Hilo resident, Susan Mirles. All the electricity had gone out this morning. Youre packed, but you probably didnt think of this Strong winds on Maui are also becoming a problem as the Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) works to clear roads of fallen trees. The current rain has caused some landslides that our crews are addressing right now, stated Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, MEMA Administrator. Limiting any kind of non-essential travel, avoiding the roadways is really important at this time. Animal cruelty prevention has a new advocate Hawaiian Electric (HECO) said its crews continue work in hazardous conditions while thousands are left without power. With the high winds and the rains, theyve been causing damage to lines and that has been affecting service to our customers, said Darren Pai, HECO Spokesperson. Weve had crews working since yesterday dealing with these outages and responding and trying to get the power back on as quickly as we can. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2. POSEY COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT) Candidates from local and state races spoke at the Cream the Candidate event in Posey County. Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater was in attendance. Rainwater hopes to become Indianas next governor. I believe that in 2024 what Hoosiers need is better government, not bigger government, not more taxes taken away from them, says Rainwater. Rainwater ran in 2020, saying Hoosiers were concerned about how the global Covid-19 pandemic was mishandled. Now he says Hoosiers are concerned with finances. Rainwater says he is focusing on reforming property tax and getting rid of the state excise tax on gasoline. We have a property tax problem in the state of Indiana where many senior citizens who have lived in their homes, all their lives, raised their children made 30, 40 years worth of memories are being forced to sell their homes because even though they paid their mortgage off, they cant afford to pay their property taxes anymore, says Rainwater. Over the past 4 years, Rainwater says he hasnt held a political office, letting voters know he hasnt played a part in the state of Indianas economy. Im just an everyday Hoosier. Im not a millionaire. I did not serve as a state representative or as a U.S. senator for six years. I didnt serve as a state superintendent of public instruction for four years from 2016 to 2020. None of whats going on in state government today can be directly linked back to anything Ive done, says Rainwater. Hes running against Republican Mike Braun and Democrat Jennifer McCormick. All three candidates will take part in a debate on October 24. The election is Tuesday, November 5. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). We cannot compromise when it comes to preserving wilderness Emigrant Peak Trail in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest (Photo by Jacob W. Frank of the National Park Service). In the 1930s, Bob Marshall (for whom the Montana wilderness is named) started the Wilderness Society. Marshall declared at the organizations founding: We do not want those whose first impulse is to compromise. We want no straddlers, for, in the past, they have surrendered too much good wilderness and primeval areas which should never have been lost. Marshall realized long ago that wilderness designation is the gold standard for conservation. If you want to protect an areas ecological function, wildlife and wildness, there is no better way than formal wilderness designation. Tragically, most of the so-called conservation groups in Montana, including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wild Montana (formerly Montana Wilderness Association), have forgotten Marshalls admonishment. Today, these organizations support the Gallatin Forest Partnership, a proposal to reduce wilderness protection acreage in the Gallatin Range south of Bozeman. Congress gave the Gallatin Range interim wilderness status in 1977 as part of Senate Bill 393. The legislation designated the 155,000-acre Hyalite-Buffalohorn-Porcupine Wilderness Study Area. The Act requires that the wilderness study areas designated by this Act shall, until Congress determines otherwise, be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture so as to maintain their presently existing wilderness character and potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. The word shall means the Forest Service has no choice but to protect the wilderness quality of the WSA. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has neglected its obligation to maintain wilderness character with the express support of the above organizations. Approximately 155,000 acres of the Gallatin Range are within S. 393, while the Gallatin Partnership proposal only proposes 104,000 acres for wilderness designation. Worst for wildlife and wildlands, the Partnership proposes changing WSA status for two of the Gallatin Ranges most important wildlife areasthe Buffalo Horn and Porcupine drainages to permit mechanical access by dirt bikes and mountain bikes permanently, The Gallatin Range deserves full wilderness protection for the 155,000 acres of the S. 393 WSA and up to 100,000 acres of additional roadless lands for a 255,000-acre wilderness. We cannot create wilderness. We can only lose it. We must acknowledge Marshalls admonishment and keep the (fence) straddlers from compromising away one of the best wildlands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. George Wuerthner has published three books on Yellowstone and the surrounding area. He formerly was on the board of the Montana Wilderness Association (Wild Montana) and worked for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and was a frequent contributor to Wilderness Magazine once published by the Wilderness Society. I can't bring myself to vote for Trump. But let me tell you why other conservatives can. Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan surprisingly spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week to tell Republicans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Despite his policy disagreements with Harris, Duncan urged voters to recognize the significant threats that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump poses to our republic. "These days our party acts more like a cult," Duncan said, "a cult worshiping a felonious thug." While I agree with Duncans sentiments about Trump, I disagree with his suggestion that Republicans ought to turn around and vote for Harris. Instead, I suggest abstaining entirely from the presidential race to show our disapproval. However, I know why many conservatives will feel bound to vote for Trump. I'm not voting for Trump, but I understand why other Republicans are Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, Michigan, U.S., August 20, 2024. In the face of two candidates entirely unfit for the presidency, I will abstain. My position has not changed on this matter for years, and I fail to see how it possibly could before the election. Trump has done nothing to change my mind about him. I will most likely vote down the ballot for Republicans and skip both Trump and Harris for the presidency. I will instead use my vote as a signal to the Republican Party that it hasn't earned my presidential support or that of other conservatives who refuse to vote for Trump. I'd prefer that than to use it to benefit either candidate. Dear Kamala Harris: We need more than vibes to know what you're all about In my eyes, Trumps actions following the 2020 election should prevent him from holding public office again. But I do understand why other conservatives feel they don't have a choice. Though somewhat diverged from conservative principles, the Trump administration's policies are far easier to bridge ideologically than those of a potential Harris administration. While a Trump presidency is dangerous in my eyes, wannabe policy tyrants like Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are a significant threat to conservative beliefs. Trump is dangerous because of his disregard for the rule of law. A Democratic administration is dangerous because of the policy harm it would do. Harris is proposing genuinely socialist economic policies such as price controls and looking to curtail the Second Amendment further than any president before, and her vice presidential choice doesnt even believe in the freedom of speech. Trump loves to lie: Crime has declined since Donald Trump was president. He insists on lying about that. The expansion of government power, along with the changing of citizens rights, is a real threat if Democrats get their wish list of proposals, so much so that it should be disqualifying for any voter who resembles a conservative, regardless of their opinions on Trump. Republicans who dislike Trump should work to rid the GOP of him instead Democratic Presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her acceptance speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. Trumps embarrassing loss in 2020 should have ended his political career. But he found a way to survive with claims of a stolen election. His cultish base naturally believed the lies he told and tied the Republican Party to Trump for at least two more election cycles in the process, even after Republicans failed to get their red wave in the 2022 midterm elections. I have little reason to believe that Trump wont do the same thing this time if he loses again. He has already laid the groundwork. In the minds of us anti-Trump Republicans, it's easy to think that Republicans can only take so much losing before they finally divert course back to something resembling conservatism. However, from what Ive seen out of the Trump base over the past eight years, no amount of losing can betray their loyalties to him. 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. Frankly, I don't know which path is a more direct route to ridding our party of Trumpism. A victory cements his vein of conservatism as the future of the Republican Party, whereas a loss means he will likely run for a fourth time in 2028. Ultimately, Republicans have to decide. However, what I do know is that conservatives who want Trump out of the party don't have to vote for Harris. We need to do the difficult work of building a conservative alternative to MAGA after this particular election. America is sadly stuck with Trump's influence on American politics. Those looking for a quick fix ignore the problems that got us here in the first place. Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should Republicans vote for Kamala Harris? No and here's why. Italian prosecutors are investigating whether the captain of Mike Lynchs superyacht was at fault when the ship rapidly sank off the coast of Sicily last week, killing Lynch and six other people, a judicial source told Reuters. James Cutfield, 51, the captain of the Bayesian yacht, is now under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to the source and Italian media. Rescuers spent days searching for Mike Lynch and five other passengers of the yacht before their bodies were recovered last week. Apart from bad weather, authorities in the nearby town of Termini Imerese are investigating multiple crimes of manslaughter and causing a shipwreck in connection with the disaster, according to Ambrogio Cartosio, the head of the public prosecutor's office for the town, who made the announcement during a news conference on Saturday morning. Investigators have interrogated Cutfield twice since the ship went down just before sunrise on August 19, capsizing its 22 passengers. Prosecutors have interviewed passengers and the eight other surviving crew members, but have not yet named any other parties under investigation. Cutfield and his surviving crew members have not yet commented publicly on the disaster. A request for comment sent by USA TODAY to a social media account apparently belonging to Cutfield went unanswered on Monday. Under Italian law, people under investigation need to be notified before autopsies can be performed on the deceased. The investigation will not necessarily lead to charges, including against Cutfield. The Bayesian, a luxury yacht owned by Lynchs wife, Angela Bacares, sank off the coast of Porticello as a storm swept through the area, whipping up a tornado over the water. In the immediate aftermath of the wreck, 15 passengers were rescued and Recaldo Thomas, the ships cook who also goes by Ricardo, was found dead. Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and four other passengers were found dead inside the ship following a days-long rescue operation. The victims included Chris Morvillo, an American citizen and lawyer for Clifford Chance, his wife, Neda Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy Bloomer. Maritime law expert says captain could be at fault Martin Davies, Admiralty Law Institute professor of maritime law at Tulane University, said there are two factors in the lead-up to the shipwreck that could put Cutfield and his crew at fault the positions of the ships hatch covers and its keel. The ship's retractable keel could counterbalance the weight of its mast, one of the largest in the world, when down. A failure by the crew to lower it could factor into the investigation, Davies said. With a giant mast like it's got, it might make more sense to put the keel down, because that would make it less likely to capsize, he said. The yacht may have filled with water from an open side hatch, Franco Romani, a nautical architect who helped to design the ship, told daily La Stampa in an interview on Monday. "The Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather," Romani said. Davies said if the hatch covers were open, the ship is going to sink more quickly, once it has capsized." Since the Bayesian was registered in the U.K., British authorities will be obliged to open their own investigation, Davies said. That investigation could also target the ships captain or crew for negligence. Bacares, the ships owner, would almost certainly not be a target in a criminal investigation, he added. Davies said that under U.K. law, the owner is only to blame if they "knowingly and willfully caused or allowed the fault that led to the shipwreck. Davies said although it is likely too early in the process to pin down negligence charges, Italian authorities may have implicated Cutfield in order to assert their authority to continue investigating the case. They have to find a peg upon which to hang their ability to investigate, and I think that's what they've done, Davies said. Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Captain of Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht under investigation New Zealander James Cutfield, 50, is reportedly under investigation after seven people died in the sinking on Aug. 19 PERINI NAVI PRESS OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A handout photo of the Bayesian The captain of the sunken Sicily yacht is under investigation after seven people died in the tragedy, according to multiple news reports. The Bayesian a 183-foot-long superyacht is said to have sunk quickly on Monday, Aug. 19 around 5 a.m. local time off the coast of Porticello after what the Italian coast guard called a violent storm. Authorities have said that 22 people were aboard, including 12 passengers and 10 crew. Fifteen people were rescued and authorities have since identified the seven people who died. Per CNN and Politico, the boat's commander, James Cutfield, 50, of New Zealand, is being investigated for potential negligent shipwreck and manslaughter. Related: Acquitted of Fraud, Mike Lynch Was Elated but 'Struggling to Accept' New Reality Before Yacht Sinking, Reporter Says According to the Italian news service ANSA, the captain had been questioned by prosecutors from the Termini Imerese Prosecutor's Office on Sunday, Aug. 25 for the second time in a week, with topics focusing on the position of the keel, whether the hatch was open and when an alarm was raised amid the worsening weather conditions. ANSA reported that during the two-hour session on Sunday when the captain was reheard, authorities reconstructed the approximately 32 minutes that passed from when the sailboat began taking on water to the firing of the first distress flare at 4:38 a.m. ALESSANDRO FUCARINI/AFP via Getty Divers recover a body following the sinking An Italian criminal lawyer told PEOPLE that being placed under investigation "does not imply guilt (innocent until proven guilty) and does not automatically mean charges will be brought against the person." "It does mean that the people under investigation are able to appoint their own medical expert to the autopsies that are taking place their week, a very useful defense measure if they are later formally charged at a later date," they added. Local newspaper Giornale di Sicilia reported that the commander had been invited to appoint a defense lawyer ahead of the autopsies, which are expected to begin on Monday, Aug. 26 and continue through Thursday, Aug. 29, per the outlet. PERINI NAVI PRESS OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A handout photo of the Bayesian The update comes after Sicilian authorities held a press conference on Saturday, Aug. 24 to identify the victims. Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, confirmed that British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's body had been found on Aug. 22, before the body of his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch was recovered the following day on Aug. 23. 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. ALESSANDRO FUCARINI/AFP via Getty Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano and the chief of the public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, give a press conference on Aug. 24, 2024 in Termini Imerese, Sicily Related: Could Open Hatches or a Large Mast Have Contributed to Sicily Yacht Sinking? What We Know So Far He also said that on Aug. 22, authorities recovered the bodies of prominent New York City attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda, and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy. Lynch, 59, was acquitted of fraud and conspiracy charges just two months before the sinking, and a source close to the survivors told PEOPLE passengers on the yacht were celebrating Lynchs recent acquittal when the storm hit. Morvillo, also 59, worked on the case, and Bloomer, 70, was a close friend to Lynch. Chef Recaldo Thomas' body was also recovered in the days after the sinking. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) If traffic enforcement cameras have a top critic, it would be Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson. If the city is breaking the law to make money on the citizens, its a money grab, and thats what were alleging, Anderson said. Andersons going to court challenging speed cameras in construction and school zones. Virginia Code states: any prosecution shall be instituted and conducted in the same manner as prosecution for traffic infractions. Anderson is troubled by third-party vendors sending $100 fines for speeding in these zones, and not issuing standard summons through the courts. Previous: Suffolk receives over $5.2 million in speed camera citations, since September You cant get a bill like this in the mail for a speeding ticket because that has to be done through the courts, Anderson said. Thats what the General Assembly said. And the cities are not following the rules. Thats why we brought the lawsuit. The third-party vendor sent a $100 ticket to the driver of a white car that is part of Andersons evidence. It alleges speeding on George Washington Highway in March, doing 48 mph in a 25 mph school zone. That is 23 mph over the speed limit, which is considered reckless driving. Its fraudulent, you send it to Cleveland, Ohio, Anderson said. Thats not where the Chesapeake Police Department takes fines. They go through the courts. Make no mistake, the traffic enforcement cameras are bringing in millions. Since April 2022, Chesapeake brought in $9.8 million through mid-June, and over in Suffolk, $14.1 million through July. And if youre not going to follow the rules, and youre going to do it simply to make money, its a money grab, Anderson said. Suffolk Mayor Mike Duman thinks Anderson is wrong. I think Tim is mistaken, Duman said. This is about safety. Duman is aware of Anderson legally challenging use of third-party vendors to catch speeders. I believe [Anderson] is making a case of the legal process, Duman said. Whether there is a point of contention there, there may be. From an intent standpoint, this had nothing to do with money. However, theres lots of money coming in. According to Suffolks Public Safety Committee, which oversees the program, through July 31: Revenue collected: $13.4 million Vendor paid: $3.5 million Uncollected revenue: about $5.6 million The available funds are distributed to safety programs in the city. Citizens can even go online and communicate with our Public Safety Committee to those needs they may have in their neighborhood, Duman said. Duman said $1.3 million has already been spent, and he provided a list of where funds have already been applied: A new crosswalk between Kings Fork High School and Kings Fork Middle School thats under construction A new bomb detection dog named CRASH School flasher updates Mills Street guardrail Sheriff Department bulletproof vest Suffolk Police Trikkes Public input is important, and the public can contact us and let us know how to spend that money, Duman said. Duman also pointed out since cameras went up, the number of violations is going down. Speed enforcement cameras at every single one, be it a school zone or work zone has decreased 78% to 82%, Duman said. Its not just an anomaly or just in one area. It is across the board. Said Anderson: Its fine to let them issue these tickets, but they have to follow the rules. They have to give them summons. They have to give court dates. The people have to pay the money to the courts, and not just to this company up in Maryland, and people have to be given due process. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. CDC guidelines: Students dont have to be sent home from school early with lice CDC guidelines: Students dont have to be sent home from school early with lice OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) If you thought your child would have to go home from school early with lice, national health guidelines actually said they dont. KFOR spoke with a local expert who said she understands why they state that, but still disagrees. Their parents struggle with getting rid of lice and theyve been struggling for days and the school wont let them back in and so theyre the parents will end up facing truancy charges, Frances Dickerson said, referring to her understanding of the guidelines. Dickerson owns Liceology, a lice treatment facility, in northeast Oklahoma City. While she said she understands the CDCs guidelines, she doesnt necessarily agree. Lice can spread very easily, so it puts everyone else at risk, she said. The guidelines state students can go home at the end of the day, get treated and return the next day. A couple districts we spoke to have policy requiring the opposite. Oklahoma City Public Schools procedure requires getting a parent to come get the student to take them home. If they cant get them, the student will be accommodated in the classroom and excluded at the end of the day. If nits, or eggs, are found, the student cant come back until theyre gone. The same goes there for Mustang Public Schools. Getting all the nits out is very important, Dickerson said. Summit Middle School goes virtual due to water main break The American Academy of Pediatrics and National Association of School Nurses are on board with the CDCs policies. They also advocate for an end to no-nit policies, because they state that its unlikely for those eggs to transfer to someone else among other reasons. Nits could be due to hatch at any moment, Dickerson said. 95 percent of the time we start combing theres bugs in there. While only a nuisance, lice cant fly or jump and dont carry disease. However, Dickerson said its still best to go home if theyre found. It is definitely a hazard to everyone else, Dickerson said. The CDC doesnt make any recommendations on what products to use while treating lice infestations, but both prescription and over the counter products are available. There are also places like Liceology that are professional lice removers. Both districts policies as well as the Oklahoma State Department of Healths guidance are attached to this story. Below are also some statements from three districts. We will assess the recently released CDC guidelines in conjunction with existing board policies to evaluate any necessary adjustments. Additionally, our team will follow recommendations from local and state public health agencies. Mid-Del School District OKCPS will follow our Board Policies and/or Administrative Regulations regarding any health related matter. We also adhere to guidance from our local (OCCHD) and state (OSDH) public health agencies concerning head lice and other communicable diseases. Oklahoma City Public Schools Moore Public Schools follows guidance on incidents of lice offered through the Oklahoma State Department of Health, and we adopted a revised MPS Board Policy on April 8, 2024. We will soon review new guidance developed by the CDC and will look to the Oklahoma State Department of Health for changes on guidance against our newly-adopted policy. Moore Public Schools Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City. Celebrating Maple Day at the Fair (WSYR-TV) Maple Day is an opportunity to not only get some samples of the sweet treat but to learn more about the industry. Dan Weed, the New York State Maple Producers Association President stopped by Bridge Street to talk about their work on the fairgrounds and beyond. Topics Covered: What goes into making maple syracuse What you can learn inside the Horticulture Building The mobile classroom More about the association To learn more about the association visit NYSMaple.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 WSYR. Charlamagne Tha God is clapping back at Plies for stating that Vice President Kamala Harris doesnt owe anyone an explanation. On Sunday (Aug. 25), Plies took to X/Twitter where he went on a mini-rant about Harris and her unwillingness to do too many interviews. The Florida rapper voiced his frustration with Black men who are quick to shoot her down and ask things of her that they wouldnt ask of former President Donald Trump or any other white man. Stop asking a mothaf**king Black woman to explain theyself to you, if yall aint willing to ask a mothaf**king white man to explain hisself, Plies asserted. Yall cool with the white man not explaining himself to you Yall just want something to mothaf**king say. Now, if she was President and didnt do something then thats a whole different ball game. Charlamagne responded to Plies comments on Monday (Aug. 26) during a new episode of The Breakfast Club. The talking head stated that it was absolutely wrong for Plies or anybody to say or imply that Black people should settle for their candidate. I dont understand Plies or any Black person for that matter, telling Black people to just settle. Just accept whatever the candidate is giving you. Dont ask questions, just vote. They dont have to explain anything to us. No, Charlamagne expressed. Dear Mr/Mrs @kamalaharris Need To Explain Herself To Me. An To Mr/Mrs Why She Aint Do It While Shes Been In The White House The Last 3 1/2 Years!!!.. #Plies ?? pic.twitter.com/rYlpqASSVD Plies (@plies) August 25, 2024 Plies is absolutely, positively wrong, Charlamagne continued. If people are asking questions, thats great I dont even know why Plies is making this a Black woman vs. Black men thing. This isnt about Black men and Black women. Its about elected officials and potential voters. The South Carolina native explained the point of campaigning during an election year and why it is paramount for candidates to take interviews. Charlamagne doubled down on his assertion that Kamala Harris definitely needs to explain herself to the American people if she wants Black folks to vote for her. The whole point of the campaign season is for candidates to go out there and explain to the American people why they should be the one in charge of this country. Votes are earned, not given. And they are earned by you going out there and explaining yourself. Kamala Harris hasnt given that many interviews since she accepted the political baton pass from President Joe Biden in July. Since then she has turned down an appearance at the NABJ and opted to interview at the event virtually. However, the National Association of Black Journalists turned down her alternative. On the other hand, Donald Trump appeared at the convention and took questions from the panel. After the Democratic National Convention, Charlamagne defended her decision to avoid interviews. He looked at it as a great strategy and hypothesized that she would do more interviews, possibly after her upcoming debate with Trump on Tuesday (Sept. 10), per Fox News. I think what shes been doing has worked because you know what shes been doing is hitting the ground, he said. Shell get to interviews after the DNC. But, you know, this week I think she got shes got bigger fish to fry, like going out there tomorrow and knocking a home run speech out the park. More from VIBE.com MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) A woman accused of killing her boyfriend Thursday at a Mobile apartment complex has been denied bond, according to court documents. Foley mans SNAP card declined learns he was scammed Jennifer Heathcoe (Mobile County Sheriffs Office) 31-year-old Jennifer Nicole Heathcoe was arrested for the murder of 33-year-old Taylor Rawlins at Charleston Apartment Homes. Upon arrival, officers observed a male victim deceased inside of the apartment unit, a Mobile Police Department news release said. Upon further investigation, officers discovered the victim was cut by a knife during an altercation with a known subject. Heathcoe is set for arraignment on Aug. 28. MPD has said that the deadly stabbing in West Mobile was domestic-related. Six people shot early Sunday morning in Mobile, neighbors react Its tragic for both sides, for the victim and the subjects family, MPD Public Information Officer Blake Brown, 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. Charlotte man charged in 2010 murder no longer representing himself CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The man accused in the 2010 first-degree rape and first-degree murder case involving his cousin is no longer representing himself. Late Monday morning, Derek Ward asked the judge for his public defender, Michael Kabakoff, to take over the remainder of the case. Ward offered to act as his own attorney for most of the trial, which has been highlighted by multiple objections from the prosecution towards Ward, admonitions from the judge towards Ward towards any commentary, due to Ward making wide-ranging statements in court. Ward has previously been considered mentally unfit for trial but a judge recently ruled that Ward is aware of his charges and the consequences of those charges, and allowed the trial to move forward. Ward is accused of raping and strangling Brittini Ward. Brittini Ward died in May 2010 in a Charlotte apartment. Brittinis family members said Derek Ward ingratiated himself into the family after initially meeting them for the first time and was allegedly able to convince Brittinis mother that her daughter was under some sort of possession by a demon. Mother of slain Charlotte woman takes the stand, directly faces accused killer at trial The evening Brittini was declared dead, family members said Derek Ward told them Brittini was in the middle of demonic possession, but they reported she was cold to the touch and her skin had turned purple. After calling elders from the local Jehovahs Witness Kingdom Hall was a call to 911 made. The trial started last week with two days of jury selection before formal proceedings began. Throughout the length of the trial, Ward, representing himself, has had to be reminded multiple times by the judge in the case to stick with the facts and evidence of the case. Ward has been seen and heard during the trial going on tangents, resulting in multiple objections from prosecutors and admonition from the judge. Topics ranged from a brief discussion of his anatomy to taking on the affectation of a mentally handicapped person, to calling a witness soft and weak and describing himself as a dominant person, and asking whether a crime scene investigator was a mail boy. Testimony started Monday morning with the cross-examination of Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner Thomas Owens. During questioning, Derek Ward attempted to make the case that Brittini Ward died by other means, which Owens repeatedly pushed back on. During cross-examination, Ward was told multiple times to avoid commentary by the judge. Mental health of suspect questioned as poltergeists, Illuminati, and Donald Trump mentioned in Charlotte murder trial Derek Ward repeatedly asked Owens about the possibility that Brittini Wards injuries came from being tased, which Owens testified that there was no evidence of. Owens maintained that it was his medical opinion that Brittini Ward was strangled to death. As a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department DNA expert took the stand, Ward made the request for the change to allow Kabakoff to become his primary counsel for the remainder of the trial outside the presence of the jury. The judge reminded Derek Ward and Kabakoff that there will not be any re-litigation of things you (Kabakoff) wouldve done differently, but would only be serving as counsel from the time of the request, forward. The judge also noted that this change is coming more than halfway through the trial. Prosecutors said the DNA expert they had called to the stand was their last witness. The expert testified to the DNA evidence, which initially precluded Ward, but upon retesting, later indicated that Derek Ward or his paternal relatives were a possible contributor to the evidence. Defense, at one point, questioned previous issues within the CMPD Crime Lab, but prosecutors noted that those associated with those issues have had no contact with the Ward case. Additionally, the CMPD DNA expert who was testifying was the one who reported the issues within the Crime Lab once they were discovered earlier this year and stressed there was no loss of accreditation. Derek Ward was listed as a possible witness on the defense witness list, but Kabakoff indicated that Ward would not testify on his behalf. Proceedings ended Monday afternoon with the state resting its case. The defense will present its case on Tuesday, and the judge has ordered both the prosecution and defense in the case to be ready for jury instructions and closing arguments as early as 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 Queen City News. Charlotte City Council is scheduled to discuss a potentially transformative transit plan at their meeting Monday, ahead of a scheduled vote on Sept. 3. They should reevaluate it before its too late. The plan, which has been one of the citys biggest aspirations for some time, would build and expand commuter rail and provide increased funding for bus service and roads. If the plan is approved, draft legislation would be sent to the North Carolina General Assembly for permission to place a sales tax referendum on the ballot. If that permission is granted, Mecklenburg County voters would have to approve a sales tax increase in order to fund the plan. Its long awaited, and much needed, especially as Charlotte continues to grow. But the version of the plan theyll discuss Monday isnt the right one. Perhaps one of the biggest flaws of the plan is that it does not have the approval of a key suburb. Matthews is not on board, and for good reason, because the plan would replace the uptown-to-Matthews segment of the proposed Silver Line with bus rapid transit. As WFAEs Steve Harrison reported, that plan faces doubts, particularly about whether its even feasible to build true BRT along that corridor. And that doesnt just impact Matthews it would strip east Charlotte of certain transit benefits, too. The plan also does not rectify one of the Silver Lines biggest problems: the fact that it does not actually go all the way to the airport. Instead, the airport stop would be located a mile from the terminal, and people would have to take an additional form of transit, like a bus or people mover, to close the gap. If a transit systems success is determined by its ridership, and ridership is determined by how convenient it is for people to use it, then the decision to bypass the actual airport may very well hinder its success. Why would people choose to take two trains or a train and a bus to get to the airport when a single car ride is still more convenient? Sure, you cant make everyone happy, and you probably cant address every single transit need in the entire region in a single plan, either. Particularly not when the plan states that only 40% of sales tax revenue would go toward light rail, hindering Charlottes ability to fund the full extent of its original vision. The reason for that is to try to appeal to the GOP-led legislature, which has historically been bearish on sales tax referenda and has stated that the citys plan should focus more on roads. Its understandable why the city is so eager to move ahead with this plan. The Red Line finally seems like it might actually be possible, which means towns in northern Mecklenburg County are finally on board. Its the most momentum the plan has had in a while, so why wouldnt they want to capitalize on it? But Charlotte may only have one chance to get this right. If the General Assembly allows a sales tax referendum, and voters approve it, thats it. They cant come back in five years and expect voters or the legislature to approve more. Sure, maybe some version of the plan may sound better than nothing right now, but will that still hold true in the long run? Whats most troubling, though, its still not entirely clear which projects would be funded by the sales tax and which ones would not or why some projects appear to be prioritized over others. Local leaders say that will happen after, not before, the General Assembly approves the referendum. City Manager Marcus Jones said a new regional transit authority would be the ultimate decision-maker over what projects will be funded by the plan, but that authority doesnt exist yet, nor would it exist when the sales tax referendum would hypothetically appear on the ballot. That alone begs the question: why approve a plan when key details of the plan remain undecided? Why ask legislators to approve a referendum for a plan that hasnt been solidified yet? When you ask someone to essentially approve billions of dollars of spending, its usually a good idea to let them know what exactly you plan to spend it on. Charlotte can do better than a plan built on broken promises and unanswered questions. It has to. Charlotte is planning to spend $91 million to purchase railroad tracks and land for the long-awaited Red Line project. The city would spend $74 million to purchase 22 miles of rail corridor from Norfolk Southern and an additional $17 million for 1.6 acres of right of way, or land, along Graham Street near the Gateway Station, according to a Monday presentation to Charlotte City Council. Charlotte began negotiating in 2023 with Norfolk Southern, which for years had refused to consider allowing commuter rail on the tracks. The City Council will vote Sept. 3 on the purchase agreement and proposed state legislation for a sales tax increase to pay for transportation projects. The city hopes to get a 1-cent sales tax increase on ballots in November 2025, but a referendum requires approval from a Republican-led state legislature thats been skeptical of Charlottes transit plan. Charlotte plans to use short-term debt for the Red Line purchase. The proposed state bill ensures the city can be reimbursed for the purchase with the new sales tax. Charlotte would own the corridor until a new transit authority is created, which would then take ownership of the railway and operate the Red Line commuter rail. Thats in the draft bill the legislature also needs to approve. The rail corridors appraised tax value is $69.2 million, and the Gateway right-of-ways is $15.9 million, city staff told council members. Council member Ed Driggs, who chairs the councils transportation committee, described the decision facing city leaders as daunting but exciting. Theres no question that we need to make a large investment, the District 7 Republican said. Some council members said they still need more information and to further deliberate before they decide how theyll vote. I want to make sure that, for me, that I understand exactly what Im voting for, Council member Tiawana Brown said. A map shows the current stops planned along the Red Line. Iredell Countys involvement The purchase on the table only includes the portion of the railroad corridor in Mecklenburg County. The Red Line plan for years called for a Mount Mourne stop in Iredell County. But Mooresville and Iredell officials raised concerns earlier this year about Charlotte acquiring tracks in their jurisdiction, and the state legislature passed a provision giving them approval over any purchase. Under the purchase plan, the Red Line would now end in Davidson. It would cost an additional $17.75 million to purchase the 7-mile stretch of O Line tracks in Iredell County, according to Mondays presentation. The citys agreement with Norfolk Southern would allow for the future purchase of all 7 miles, a portion of it or a lease-like agreement for access. Conversations with Mooresville and Iredell County officials are ongoing, interim Charlotte Area Transit System CEO Brent Cagle told reporters ahead of Mondays council meeting. CATS held public meetings in the spring to get public input on potential updates to the Red Line plan, but Cagle said Monday it would be tricky to add additional stops because its commuter rail. Under the proposed agreement, Norfolk Southern would still be allowed to use the tracks infrequently for freight trains. What about the Silver Line? On Monday, council members also continued to raise questions about the future of the Silver Line rail project, which would run from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport through east Charlotte and into Matthews. But the draft legislation under consideration may jeopardize the project. City staff said they havent officially changed the 2030 transportation plan, which includes the full Silver Line. Cagle said Monday the Metropolitan Transit Commission, which currently shares governance over CATS with Charlotte, would reevaluate the plan starting in the fall through summer 2025. But staff also acknowledged under the current proposal, there will not be enough money to fund all the rail projects in the 2030 plan, and that the plan prioritizes the Red Line. Matthews has already been vocal with its concerns it could lose out if the eastern portion of the Silver Line is scraped or converted to bus rapid transit. Changes to the Silver Line plan would also impact east Charlotte, some on council noted. Are we creating two cities? at-large Council member Dimple Ajmera asked. Child reunited with parents after being found by police DENVER (KDVR) A young boy was found by good Samaritans in Aurora on Sunday evening and was later reunited with his parents. According to the Aurora Police Department, the boy was found in the 12000 block of E. Archer Place just after 7 p.m. on Aug. 25. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox Aurora police said at around 10:30 p.m., that the child was reunited with his family and is 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 FOX31 Denver. China accuses US of repression ahead of US security adviser's visit China has accused the United States of continued repression just before US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit to Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Sunday criticized the US for attempts to "contain and suppress China," despite recent diplomatic efforts following the November meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. Sullivan, scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, is set to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit, planned to last until Thursday. Sullivan's upcoming visit is an "important step" in advancing the agreements made in San Francisco, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. The discussions between the two men are expected to cover several critical issues, including the Russian war against Ukraine, the Middle East conflict, South China Sea tensions, and the Taiwan issue - where US support for Taiwan remains a point of contention with Beijing. The agenda is also likely to address punitive tariffs affecting trade between the world's two largest economies. Sullivan is the first US national security adviser to visit China in eight years. Wang and Sullivan had previously met in Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok in recent months. (Bloomberg) -- Chinas broad budget expenditure contracted and income from land sales for local governments fell at a record pace, a sign of fiscal weakness that may further increase calls on Beijing to add stimulus to support the $17 trillion economy. Most Read from Bloomberg The combined spending in the general public budget and the government fund account was about 19.7 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) in the first seven months of the year, down 2% from the same point in 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the Ministry of Finance on Monday. Behind the decline was a 8.9% decrease in land-related expenditure that includes payments for primary land development and compensation for existing rural infrastructure in preparation for a potential sale. Local governments have been cutting spending as their budgets come under strain from a severe housing downturn thats made developers reluctant to purchase land. The property fallout on public finances is becoming increasingly evident on the balance sheets of indebted local governments. Their revenue from land sales in July shrank just over 40% on year to 250 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg calculations, the sharpest fall since comparative data became available in 2016. Total revenue under the two budgets came in at 15.9 trillion yuan in the first seven months, down 5.3% on year. That translated into an augmented deficit a broad measure of the fiscal gap of 3.8 trillion yuan. We see significant downward pressure for fiscal funding this year from falling tax and land sales revenue, besides the multi-year deleveraging by state-owned companies known as local government financing vehicles, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists including Lisheng Wang wrote in a note after the data release. Its a reference to Beijings campaign to curb local governments exposure to off-balance-sheet debt risks. On Monday, six government departments including the Ministry of Finance issued measures to strengthen oversight of municipal infrastructure projects to prevent hidden debt. The actions bar local governments from selling bonds to fund projects with zero or little returns. Policy at Crossroads The spending contraction came during a month when Chinas ruling Communist Party convened for its most important economic policy meetings for the second half of the year. The countrys top leadership pledged to make boosting consumer spending a greater focus but fell short of outlining decisive new measures. At a regular meeting on July 31, Chinas cabinet vowed to study additional steps that would be strong enough to reach companies and households. The Goldman economists estimate fiscal expenditure growth rebounded in July, citing a broad deficit metric of their own that combines major on- and off-budget channels. They also expect government bond net issuance to increase notably in coming months to support fiscal spending and government-led investment. Calls are meanwhile intensifying for the Chinese authorities to ramp up fiscal stimulus. Domestic demand has struggled to pick up as the persistent real estate crisis, price competition between companies and a gloomy job market weigh on business and consumer confidence. A growing chorus of state-linked economists has urged Beijing to raise this years official deficit ceiling to allow more central government borrowing. Late last year, China lifted the ratio to 3.8% of gross domestic product from the original 3% with the sales of an additional 1 trillion yuan of sovereign bonds. Among the challenges facing local governments is finding quality infrastructure projects to invest their special bond funds. In response, the economists have proposed using part of the money raised from any additional government borrowing this year to pay for subsidies for less well-off households as well as address the local debt risks and help rescue the property market. A shift in the use of government bonds has already started. China is tapping some of the 1 trillion yuan of ultra-long special sovereign bonds its selling this year to subsidize purchases of new equipment by companies and consumers Beijings key initiative aimed at boosting consumption. Policymakers are also considering a proposal to let local authorities use these bonds to fund their purchases of unsold homes as part of efforts to prop up the housing market, Bloomberg reported last week. The issuance of local special bonds mostly meant for infrastructure investment accelerated in August after staying slow earlier this year, partly as large amounts of sovereign debt hit the market. Sales of new local special notes have reached 632.7 billion yuan so far this month, already the largest volume since June 2022. --With assistance from Ailing Tan, Jing Zhao and Lucille Liu. (Updates with measures to strengthen oversight of local infrastructure projects in seventh paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. China is conducting military patrols near the Myanmar border as civil war rages on the other side FILE - Myanmar government troops stand on a rooftop on the Myanmar side, near a Chinese flag from the Chinese border town of Nansan in southwestern China's Yunnan province, Sunday, Aug 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan. File) BEIJING (AP) Chinas military is carrying out armed patrols near the Myanmar border this week, where the government is concerned about potential fallout from fierce fighting in a civil war on the other side. Troops were deployed to Yunnan province in southwestern China on Monday to test their ability to maintain security in border areas, the militarys Southern Theater Command said. An alliance of ethnic militias has dealt a series of setbacks to Myanmar's military in the country's northeast, which is near China. Five people were injured on the Chinese side in January by a stray artillery shell. Live-fire drills will be held from Tuesday to Thursday in four locations including two in Ruili city, the Yunnan government said. The units will carry out armed patrols and joint air-ground patrols to test their ability to mobilize quickly, block and control and strike together, the southern command said in a statement. The military previously held live-fire drills near the Myanmar border in November. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, said earlier this month that his country opposes chaos and war in Myanmar," according to Chinese state media. Beijing helped broker a cease-fire in January, but that fell apart in June when one member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched new attacks. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military government, alleged recently that foreign countries were backing the ethnic militias, a likely reference to China, which has long ties to the groups. Wang, who was on a visit to Myanmar, told Min Aung Hlaing that China opposes the attacks in Shan state, according to Myanmar state television. China's top diplomat also expressed hope that Myanmar will effectively safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in the country. The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar issued a reminder this month to citizens in Shan state to strengthen their security precautions and stay away from conflict zones or return to China. (Bloomberg) -- China will bring up issues related to Taiwan and arbitrary measures like tariffs when US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visits this week, a trip aimed at maintaining dialogue between the geopolitical rivals. Most Read from Bloomberg The Chinese side will focus on raising serious concerns, articulating its position and laying out serious demands on issues related to the Taiwan question, the right to development and Chinas strategic security, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, citing a Foreign Ministry official. Beijing would also broach tariffs, export control, investment review and unilateral sanctions during Sullivans trip, which is scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday and include a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Sullivan may also meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Sullivan and Wang have met face-to-face every few months as part of President Joe Bidens push to keep open lines of communication despite friction with China. The visit will be Sullivans first to the Asian nation as the presidents top national security aide. Beijing has long complained about US measures to cut off China from high tech, including semiconductors, and about the White Houses efforts to work with allies on security and economic issues. It has also expressed anger about Washingtons support for Taiwan, the democracy of 23 million people that Beijing has pledged to bring under its control someday. Biden has repeatedly said the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked, and Washington is Taipeis main military backer. Last year, the US for the first time approved the transfer of weapons to Taiwan under a program usually reserved for sovereign states. Sullivans trip comes months before the US presidential election in November. A senior US official, who had earlier briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said Sullivan would aim to make clear he wont speak for the next administration, whoever may win. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have said theyll get tougher on Beijing, with Trump threatening across-the-board tariffs against all countries and a 60% duty on imports from China. Sullivan will raise US concerns over Chinas continued backing of Russian President Vladimir Putins forces, and restate positions on the South China Sea and Taiwan, the senior official said. The US has not yet accused China of providing direct lethal support to Russia but has instead said Beijing is enabling the war by supporting the Russian defense-industrial base. Also on Sunday, Beijing urged the US to stop its wrong practices after Chinese companies were included on a sanctions list designed to target supply chains feeding Russia and hobble its wartime economy. The Xinhua article also indicated that Beijing would raise the topic of people-to-people exchanges, saying that the US should work in the same direction with China and take more measures to facilitate the flow of people between the two countries. Xi recently pledged to bring 50,000 US students to his country to stabilize ties but so far those efforts have been marked by scripted events lacking open dialogue. Ambassador Nicholas Burns has also complained that Chinese security officials have interfered in US embassy and consulate efforts to host dozens of public events. (Updates with more details.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. China threatens to take 'necessary measures' over U.S. sanctions United States President Joe Biden meets with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China in November 2023, in Woodside, Calif. On Sunday, Beijing threatened to take action against the United States after the Biden administration sanctioned dozens of Chinese companies. File Photo via MFA China/UPI Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Beijing is threatening to take "necessary measures" against the United States over the Biden administration's sanctioning last week of dozens of Chinese companies over their alleged support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In a statement on Sunday, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce said Beijing "firmly opposes" the United States inclusion of Chinese entities and companies on the export control list. "The U.S. actions are typical examples of unilateral sanctions and 'long-arm jurisdiction,' which undermine international trade order and rules, hinder normal international economic and trade exchanges and affect the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains," the spokesman said. "China urges the U.S. to immediately stop its erroneous practices and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises." The Biden administration on Friday announced it was adding 123 entities, including 42 in China, to its export control list for shipping U.S.-origin and U.S.-branded items to Russia. U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security officials described the entities as shell companies and transhippers that have profited by aiding Russia's war against Ukraine, which began Feb. 24, 2022. "The fact that nearly half of these parties are located in countries outside Russia should serve as a stark reminder: it doesn't matter whether you're in the People's Republic of China or Turkiye -- if you send Common High Priority List items (or a range of other items) to Russia, you risk being added to the BIS Entity List," Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said in a statement. The Friday move by the Commerce Department coincided with the U.S. Treasury and State hitting nearly 400 people and entities in Russia and other nations, including China, with sanctions. It also came after the Biden administration in February added 93 entities, including eight in China, to the export entity list. Since Russia's invasion, more than 1,056 entities have been added to the Entity List in response of the war. FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of the contested Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea MANILA (Reuters) -The Philippine government slammed China on Monday for "repeated aggressive, unprofessional and illegal" actions in the South China Sea after a string of clashes and incidents on air and at sea over the past week. The Philippines' national maritime council said Chinese aircraft made unsafe manoeuvres against a civilian aircraft conducting patrols over the Scarborough shoal and Subi reef. On Sunday, Chinese vessels also "blocked, rammed and fired water cannons" against a government fisheries vessel while doing a resupply mission to Filipino fishermen in Sabina shoal, it said. These actions are "alarming", the maritime council said in a statement. "[It] calls into question China's supposed commitment to de-escalate the situation in the area and create a conducive environment for dialogue and consultation," the council said. The Philippines added it will continue to pursue diplomacy in managing the maritime issues, and urged China "to return to the path of constructive dialogue" on South China Sea matters. Philippine Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro separately said on Monday that China's actions were "patently illegal" following the clash near Sabina shoal. "We have to expect these kinds of behaviour from China because this is a struggle. We have to be ready to anticipate and to get used to these kinds of acts of China which are patently illegal as we have repeatedly said," Teodoro told reporters. In the incident at Sabina shoal on Sunday, Manila's South China Sea task force accused Chinese vessels of ramming and using water canons against a Philippine fisheries vessel transporting food, fuel and medicine for Filipino fishermen. The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessel "ignored repeated serious warnings and deliberately approached and rammed" China's law enforcement boat, resulting in a collision. On Monday, another incident transpired around the same shoal when two Philippine Coast Guard vessels (PCG) were forced to abort their mission to transport supplies to crew aboard another coast guard ship on extended patrol in Sabina. China deployed "an excessive force" comprised of 40 vessels, including three navy warships, to obstruct the resupply operation, the PCG said in a statement late on Monday. But China's Coast Guard said it took "control measures" against the two PCG vessels that "illegally intruded" into the waters around Sabina, and then approached Chinese coast guard vessels in a "dangerous manner and incited hype." China refers to Sabina Shoal as Xianbin Reef, while the Philippines calls it Escoda Shoal. It is an atoll located 150 km (93 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan. Asked if the Sunday incident would trigger treaty obligations between the United States and the Philippines, Teodoro said: "That is putting the cart before the horse. Let us deter an armed attack, that is the more important thing." The Philippines and the United States have a mutual defence treaty and Washington has vowed to aid the Philippines against armed attacks on its vessels and soldiers in the South China Sea. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, including areas claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei. An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruled that China's claim had no basis under international law, a decision Beijing has rejected. China's Ministry of State Security said in a statement on Tuesday that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea have sufficient historical and legal basis. "China has exercised great restraint and patience in relevant disputes, and has always been committed to properly handling China-Philippines maritime disputes through dialogue and consultation," the statement said. "The Philippine side should immediately stop infringing on the rights (of China), provoking, smearing and hype, otherwise the Philippine side will bear all the consequences arising therefrom." (Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Additional reporting by Liz Lee and Bernard Orr in Beijing; Editing by John Mair, Michael Perry and Bernadette Baum) A Chinese military spy plane violated Japan's airspace for the first time, Tokyo says A Chinese military spy plane violated Japan's airspace for the first time, Tokyo says Japan says a Chinese military intelligence aircraft violated Japanese airspace on Monday. Japan scrambled fighter jets in response to the unprecedented incident. Maps provided by the Japanese Defense Ministry showed the Y-9 aircraft's flight path. Japan accused China of flying a spy plane into Japanese airspace on Monday. China regularly deploys military aircraft into international airspace above the East and South China Seas, and into contested airspace, but this incident would be the first known time that one of its planes has directly violated Japanese territorial airspace. Japan's Ministry of Defense reported the unprecedented incident on Monday, noting that the Chinese Y-9 intelligence-gathering plane briefly entered Japan's airspace near the Danjo Islands, located to the southeast of Nagasaki. The Chinese military aircraft was in Japanese airspace for three minutes, from approximately 11:29am to 11:31am, per Japan's defense ministry. Japan's Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets in response, but they didn't fire any weapons or flares. The Japanese defense ministry also shared maps of the Chinese Y-9's flight path. A map of a Chinese Y-9 aircraft's flight path in Japanese airspace. Japanese Defense Ministry Per the map, the Y-9 briefly enters the territorial airspace for the Danjo Islands before circling around to return to China. A closer look of the Y-9's flight path. Japanese Defense Ministry In response to the incursion into its airspace by the Chinese plane, Japan warned China against further reoccurrences, with the Japanese Foreign Ministry saying Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned a senior official from the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to discuss this matter. China regularly operates military aircraft in international airspace, which international law allows. But Monday's event, per Japanese allegations, is the first publicly confirmed time a Chinese plane has entered Japan's territorial airspace. The incident comes at a precarious time for Chinese-Japanese relations, which have warmed in recent months after years of tense territorial disputes and trade spats. After a meeting with his Japanese counterpart last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said relations between the two nations were at a critical stage. "China's policy towards Japan has always maintained stability and continuity. It is hoped that the Japanese side will establish an objective and correct perception of China and pursue a positive and rational policy towards China," Yi told Japan's Yoko Kamikawa in July per a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout. During their conversation, the two diplomats discussed various issues affecting the bilateral relationship, from the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant last fall to matters relating to Taiwan. Although Monday's incident marks the first reported airspace violation, tensions in the air have long been something of a strain on the Chinese-Japanese relationship. Between April 2023 and March 2024, Japan scrambled jets over 600 times, mostly in response to Chinese military aircraft. Read the original article on Business Insider [Source] China's Civil Affairs University announced the launch of its undergraduate marriage program, which is set to begin in September. Dubbed "Marriage Services and Management," the undergraduate course aims to promote Chinas positive marriage and family culture to students and the public. Around 70 students from 12 different provinces are expected to enroll in the course. These students will also contribute to sectors such as family counseling, high-end wedding planning and the development of matchmaking products. For the first time in nine years, China reportedly saw an increase in the number of marriages in 2023, reaching 7.68 million, approximately 845,000 or 12.4% more than in 2022. However, this figure is still short of the peak of 13.47 million recorded in 2013. Trending on NextShark: Chinese dad wearing a bear costume for working daughter tugs netizens heartstrings Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, stands of the Pledge of Allegiance in the House Chamber on the first day of the legislative session at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) The Utah Legislatures move to call a special session and ask voters to change the state constitution to sidestep a Utah Supreme Court ruling that upset the Republican majority may just be the beginning. Citing growing frustration among conservatives that Utahs judges are disconnected from Utahns, Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, told Utah News Dispatch last week more legislative action could be forthcoming to bring reforms to Utahs judicial branch. Legislative proposals that could surface as soon as the Utah Legislatures next general session in January may include changing how Utahs judges are sent to the bench, FOX 13 first reported. Currently, Utahs judges are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, but Schultz said some members of the House want to explore making Utahs judges elected by Utah voters. Is that something we should do here in the state of Utah? Im not saying that it is. But the conversations coming, he said. The conversations going to happen. Schultz acknowledged Utah voters already have the ability to weigh in on Utahs judges through retention elections, but he said oftentimes voters dont know enough about those judges to make an educated decision on whether they should keep their jobs or not. He said legislation could also seek more transparency around retention, as well as consider term limits for Utah Supreme Court justices. Everythings on the table right now, Schultz said. Moving the judiciary closer to the people is a trend thats happening nationwide. And, you know, its starting to percolate here in Utah. The 2025 general legislative session is likely to kick off a discussion, the speaker said, but he added any changes could take a couple years. We dont want to rush into any type of decision, Schultz said. We want to do whats right. We want to go through a good process. We want the public to be involved in that process, and well see what that looks like. Why are Utah lawmakers frustrated with the Utah Supreme Court? A unanimous Utah Supreme Court decision last month handed a major win to anti-gerrymandering groups when it remanded that lawsuit over Utahs redistricting process back to district court. All five of Utahs justices ruling that the district court erred when it dismissed the League of Women Voters claim that the Utah Legislature violated the Utah Constitution in 2021 by repealing and replacing Better Boundaries voter-approved initiative. That unanimous opinion affirmed that while the Legislature can alter the implementation of ballot initiatives seeking government reform, it cant fundamentally undermine them an interpretation of the Utah Constitution that clashed with Utah lawmakers long standing belief that the constitution gave them ultimate authority to repeal or replace any type of ballot initiative. The ruling upset Republicans so much so that Utahs GOP-controlled Legislature used its emergency powers to call itself into a special session to place a question before voters asking them to sidestep the courts interpretation of the constitution, despite cries of a power grab from Democrats and anti-gerrymandering groups. The proposed constitutional amendment that will now appear on the Nov. 5 ballot will ask voters whether to amend the Utah Constitution to make clear the Utah Legislature has the ultimate power to amend, enact or repeal a law adopted by a ballot initiative, as well as ban foreign individuals, entities or governments from influencing an initiative or referendum. While the special session showcased a high-profile clash between Republican lawmakers and the Utah Supreme Court, Schultz said that decision isnt necessarily what spurred discussions over potential judicial reforms in Utah. He said those frustrations have been stirring for a while now, and not just in Utah. We go to conferences, they talk about what theyre doing in other states, they talk to other lawmakers and things like that, Schultz said, though he added the Utah Supreme Court decision on ballot initiatives certainly didnt help. Another high-profile Utah Supreme Court ruling this summer also highlighted Republicans frustrations with the court. On Aug. 1, the court upheld an injunction on the states 2020 near-total abortion ban thats been on hold while a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood Association of Utah litigates its constitutionality. That decision also drew outrage from many Republican lawmakers, and prompted the sponsor of the 2020 trigger law, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, to say hed be asking legislative leaders for a special session to restrict Utahs current 18-week abortion law down to six weeks while court battles over the trigger law continue to play out. Last weeks special session did not include that agenda item, and its not yet clear whether McCays call for a special session on abortion by the end of the year will be answered. Another lawmaker, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, who co-sponsored the proposed constitutional amendment, issued statements earlier this month criticizing not only the Utah Supreme Courts decision in the redistricting case, but also one saying he was deeply appalled by the courts decision in the abortion lawsuit. In that statement, Teuscher deemed the Utah Supreme Court an activist court stretching to reach its opinion. I am deeply appalled by the activist Utah Supreme Courts decision this morning in upholding the injunction continuing to allow for abortions in the state. This ruling stretches the bounds of judicial interpretation, disregarding the historical context and intent of our states pic.twitter.com/u975VHCwD4 Jordan Teuscher (@jordanteuscher) August 1, 2024 National trend of declining trust in courts Its true there has been a national trend of declining trust in the courts along with other institutions. A 2023 national survey conducted for the National Center for State Courts said for the past several years, we have tracked declining public public confidence in the courts, spurred by declining confidence in a wide range of American institutions generally and the U.S. Supreme Court in particular. Notably, the 2023 survey showed a plateau or even a very small reversal of this trend on most of our key metrics. However, an analysis of the survey also stated only time will tell if 2023 represents a brief respite or a true turning point in public attitudes toward the courts. In his 2024 State of the Judiciary speech to lawmakers in January, Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Durrant urged the importance of maintaining Utahs judicial independence and warned against a system of elected judges. He said many states have departed from the vision of the founders in how they have structured their own governments, especially with respect to their judiciaries. These states have contested elections for judgeships, some partisan, some nonpartisan, and in those elections, weve seen candidates raising more and more money, Durrant said, which he warned can draw special interest groups and build a system that creates a perception of bias. It undermines trust in the courts. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX So how did we get here in our country? Well, its a bit complicated, Durrant continued. He said historically state supreme justices throughout the country were appointed and given life tenure, until President Andrew Jackson was swept into power in 1829 on a wave of populism, and he advocated for elected judges. Over time many became dissatisfied with this approach, Durrant said. People were concerned that state judiciaries had become too politicized and needed to be restored to their former dignity and impartiality. As a result, there were a number of reform movements nationally, and we in Utah were the beneficiary of one of those movements. Utah is very, very fortunate, Durrant continued, that it has a constitution that mandates that judicial selection be nonpartisan. And our selection process is as thorough and rigorous as any in the country. It is one that, when it operates as it should, helps ensure that judges will be selected not based on how much money they can raise or how well they can campaign, but on whether theyve developed a reputation for integrity, intellectual strength, hard work, and fairness, Durrant said. That system has given us a truly extraordinary judiciary, one that is widely viewed as the best or one of the best in the country. Despite Durrants comments that Utah has been fortunate to maintain judicial independence, efforts to transition to elected judges appear to be brewing. Its far too early to say what bills may surface during the Utah Legislatures 2025 general session, but Schultz said the conversations coming. Well see what happens. Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, who is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment related to citizen initiatives, speaks in favor of his legislation during a special legislative session at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Is the Senate on board? In a media scrum with reporters after Wednesdays special session, two Senate legislative leaders left the door open to discussions around judicial reform in Utah. Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and Senate Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, said they understand why lawmakers would be frustrated, but they didnt say definitively whether theyd support a proposal to make Utahs judges elected. Adams said given the current process involves the governors appointment and confirmation from the Senate, I can kind of see how the House feels left out. No disrespect to the House, they dont do advice and consent, and we have judges making decisions, I can see why the House would have questions as to what the process is like and whether the process is fair, Adams said. Cullimore said there does appear to be some frustration, particularly among House members about judicial accountability to the people. Its the branch of government most removed, and if theres some appropriate public pressure on the judicial branch, then maybe we look at some of those options, Cullimore. Teuscher told reporters Wednesday hes spoken with the House speaker about frustration with Utahs judicial system, and I think he strongly believes that all political power is inherent to the people. So all branches of government should be accountable to the voters, and that there is a little bit of a disconnect right now between what the general populace thinks and what the judiciary might think, Teuscher said. And especially when the judiciary starts getting into that policy making role, then they need even more accountability. Tuescher said lawmakers are looking at all options to ensure that judges are accountable to the people. When asked how making judges elected officials would prevent them from legislating from the bench, Tuescher told reporters, theres nothing preventing legislating from the bench today. Pressed on whether he agreed with the House Speakers perspective, Adams hedged and told reporters right now Im focused on this current session. The Senate discusses a proposed constitutional amendment related to citizen initiatives during a special legislative session at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings, and some cooling centers have opened across the QCA. The Clinton County Administration Building, 1900 N. 3rd St., Clinton, will be available as a public cooling center during regular business hours Monday, August 26, according to a news release. Clinton County policy allows for the County Administration Building to open as a cooling center during its regular business hours when an excessive heat warning is issued. Any members of the public in need of a place to cool off may use the buildings cafeteria through 4:30 p.m. Monday. The building opens at 8 a.m. Those needing assistance outside of those hours are encouraged to contact the Red Cross at 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). That number is answered 24 hours a day. Clinton County Emergency Management recommends that if you have neighbors who are elderly or have medical issues, to check on them periodically to ensure that they can keep cool. Residents in the following areas can visit these locations that are set up as temporary cooling centers through Thursday, August 29: GALESBURG: YMCA Lobby 1324 W Carl Sandburg Drive Monday through Thursday 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Knox County Housing Authority Shelter 525/527 Iowa Court 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Galesburg Public Library 264 W Main Street Monday Thursday 9:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m. EAST GALESBURG: East Galesburg Fire Station 411 S State Street 24 hours through Thursday evening ONEIDA: Oneida Fire Station 210 N Sage Street 24 hours through Thursday evening WATAGA: Wataga Fire Station 310 W Willard Street 24 hours through Thursday evening Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) The first Monday of September marks Labor Day, giving workers nationwide a chance to celebrate the occasion by unwinding with friends and family. With a federal holiday comes closures, however, leading many San Angelo residents to ask an age-old question: Whats closing for Labor Day? City Operations Closures According to the City of San Angelo, several of its offices, departments and services will be closed in observance of Labor Day. These operations include the following: Animal Shelter City Hall and the Community Development building City Hall Annex Fairmount Cemeterys business offices Municipal Court Parks and Recreation offices San Angelo-Tom Green County Health Department Southside and Carl Ray Johnson recreation centers Station 618 and Santa Fe Crossing senior centers Women, Infants & Children office These operations will reopen at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, the day after Labor Day. Trash Services The City stated that there will be no interruption of garbage collection services during Labor Day. The landfill will be closed on Saturday, Aug. 31, though. Recreational Facilities The Municipal Pools last day of public operation for 2024 will be on Labor Day. The public may swim at the pool from noon to 6 p.m. from Saturday to Monday during Labor Day weekend. Admission to the pool is $5 for ages 3-64, free for children 2 and younger and $3 for 65 and older. For more information, visit cosatx.us/pool. Day passes to Middle Concho and Spring Creek parks at Lake Nasworthy are available at their entry gates for $5 per vehicle. Season entry passes, which are valid through Labor Day weekend, can also be purchased for $20 for ages 65 and up and for those with disabilities or $30 for the general public. Camping permits cost $10 per campsite per night. Permits can be bought at the entry gates and at Spring Creek Marina. Season entry passes can also be purchased for $20 for ages 65 and older and for those with disabilities or $30 for the general public. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Coast Guard calls off search for missing boater in Vermilion Bay VERMILION BAY, La. (KLFY) One person was rescued and another remains missing after their boat capsized in Vermilion Bay over the weekend, authorities said. Brandon Boutte, 49, and a friend were on their 16-foot aluminum boat when it reportedly capsized. At about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing boater, according to Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Walsh, USCG Sector New Orleans, Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator. We offer our deepest condolences to Brandons family and friends in this incredibly heartbreaking time, Walsh said. The decision to suspend a search is never made lightly. We are grateful to have rescued one survivor and thankful for the exhaustive search efforts carried out by our Coast Guard crews and local agency partners. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KLFY Daily Digest Coast Guard assets assisting in the search efforts were USCGC Moray, USCGC Daniel Tarr, a Air Station New Orleans MH-60 aircrew, a Aviation Training Center Mobile HC-144 aircrew and Station New Orleans Response Boat-small boatcrew, officials said. Latest news Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLFY.com. RICHLANDS, Va. (WJHL) Southwest Virginia Community Colleges Education Foundation is establishing a scholarship in honor of a well-known local paramedic who recently passed away. On Monday, the college announced the William Bill Akers, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, which will be dedicated to supporting emergency medical services (EMS) students. Akers, a long-time faculty member and director of the colleges EMS programs, died on Thursday. The college said the new scholarship will celebrate Akers contributions to EMS in Southwest Virginia. Dr. Bob Mueller, a friend and former colleague of Akers, contributed initial funding of $5,000 for the scholarship. Bill Akers epitomized a dedication to improving emergency medical care throughout Southwest Virginia by elevating the training and skill levels of pre-hospital providers, Mueller said in a release. He will be greatly missed. This scholarship will ensure his passion endures. The college is seeking additional donors to match Muellers gift, with the goal of endowing the scholarship with a minimum of $10,000. Donations can be made through the SWCC Education Foundation. Every contribution will help the college reach its goal, support more students, and ensure that this scholarship remains available to students for years to come, the college said in a release. Those interested in donating are encouraged to contact Dr. Susan Lowe at 276-964-7304, visit sw.edu/foundation, or email susan.lowe@sw.edu. Akers served in many roles during his career, including being a chemistry teacher at St. Paul High School, a flight parademic with Virginia State Polices Med-Flight program, and captain of the Lebanon Lifesaving Crew. He also mentored paramedic programs across the Commonwealth. In 2023, Akers was awarded the Governors EMS Award for Excellence in EMS by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (Bloomberg) -- Colombias biggest airline, Avianca, said its limiting ticket sales while Latam Airlines Group SA canceled some flights in the country due to a shortage of jet fuel. Most Read from Bloomberg Measures taken by the companies are at odds with the governments insistence that fuel supplies have normalized after a refinery outage. Avianca said Monday that its taking steps to conserve fuel after distributors warned they will limit supply until the start of September. Measures include adjusting itineraries, temporarily suspending the sale of some tickets online, and carrying out some stops to refuel outside of Colombia. Meanwhile, Latam Airlines said it is canceling 36 flights scheduled for Tuesday to avoid greater disruptions later this month. On Sunday, the airline said that it had been warned that fuel supplies in Bogota, one of South Americas busiest airports, were at critical levels, while there was no supply in airports in Bucaramanga, Leticia and Monteria. However, Leticia and Pasto now have adequate fuel, it said Monday. At the same time, President Gustavo Petro, the Energy Ministry, the Transport Ministry and state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA all insist that fuel supplies are normal. Ecopetrols refinery in Cartagena on the nations Caribbean coast suffered a loss of power more than a week ago, but is now operating normally, Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Roa said at a press conference Monday. In the meantime, to help meet demand the state energy company is importing some aviation fuel. The company will be able to meet 100% of demand itself from Sept. 1, he added. In an Aug. 25 letter addressed to Transport Minister Maria Constanza Garcia and published by local media, the International Air Transport Association, known as IATA, warned some companies have announced the suspension of supply to some airlines in airports including Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena. Minister Garcia told reporters there is enough fuel to meet demand, and any shortfall may be related to logistical problems. The government is reviewing the decisions that aviation companies take, she said, without elaborating. Petro said in a post on X that there is full availability of jet fuel from Ecopetrol, and that hell ask regulators to investigate why it isnt arriving to some airports. (Adds Latam comments from first paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Former state Rep. Dave Williams tenure as chairman of the Colorado Republican Party was already a mess before the summer began, but things went from bad to worse a couple of months ago. Indeed, it was in early June when the state GOP chair issued a call to burn all Pride flags, at which point several local party officials decided it was time to show Williams the door. Two months later, they appear to have done exactly that. Colorado Public Radio reported: Members of the state Republican Party drove from across Colorado to a church in Brighton on Saturday morning, where they voted to remove state party chairman Dave Williams from his leadership position. They also voted to replace the partys vice-chair and secretary. The vote was 161.66 votes to remove Williams, with 12 opposed. (Some of those voting only get fractional votes). Only members of the state partys central committee and their proxies were allowed to cast votes. The vote was not close, though it is apparently being contested. In fact, after the vote to remove Williams as the state Republican Party chair, the Coloradan dismissed the meeting as illegal and illegitimate, claimed that he was still the state GOP chair, and said the matter would actually be resolved by a separate vote at a different meeting. His reaction suggests a legal dispute is inevitable, which probably isnt what party officials want to see as the election season takes shape. I wont pretend to know how, when or whether this will be resolved, but the circumstances sure are familiar. Earlier this year, for example, the Republican Party of Michigan removed Kristina Karamo as state party chair after months of infighting and weak fundraising. Karamo claimed the votes didnt count, and as of the weekend, shes still asking the courts to reinstate her. Soon after, the Republican Party of Florida removed Christian Ziegler as its state party chair after he faced allegations of rape and video voyeurism. Two weeks later, Republican Party of Arizona Chair Jeff DeWit resigned following the release of a dubious audio recording of a conversation he apparently had with failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. A month after that, Ronna McDaniel resigned as chair of the Republican National Committee after losing Donald Trumps support. Taken together, just this year, three state Republican Parties have ousted their chairs, one state Republican Partys chair quit, and the Republican National Committees chair also quit. All of which is to say, things could be better in GOP politics. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Colorado GOPs central committee overwhelmingly voted to remove the states party chairman, Dave Williams, who recently made headlines for a series of homophobic emails and messaging. Michael J. Allen, a Republican district attorney in Colorado Springs, told the New York Times that around 88% of the partys roughly 182 eligible members voted on the motion at a meeting on Saturday, August 24 (the vote was 161.66-12, to be precise). The attendees elected former El Paso County GOP chair Eli Bremer to serve the rest of Williams term. Allen and other unnamed party members told the Times that Williams tenure has stoked division within the party, after he reportedly funneled party resources for Republican state candidates into his own failed Congressional bid and attacked fellow Republicans with whom he does not feel aligned. The move also comes just over two months after the Colorado GOP sent out a June email with the subject line God Hates Pride. Signed by Williams, it referred to the LGBTQ+ community as godless groomers and contained a video of a sermon by anti-LGBTQ+ evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll with a thumbnail of Jesus superimposed over a rainbow flag with the text GOD HATES FLAGS. After Denver-based journalist Kyle Clark shared a screenshot of the aforementioned email newsletter on X, the official X account for the Republican party quote-tweeted his post with a GIF of animated flames, writing, Burn all the #pride flags this June. Shortly after the email newsletter went viral, Colorado Politics reported that 113 Republican politicians across the state signed a petition calling for Williams removal from office. Meanwhile, Aurora Councilman Curtis Gardner announced his decision to quit the Colorado GOP in response to the newsletter, which he described as the partys latest hateful stunt. In a June statement to local news outlet Denver7, Williams refused to apologize for putting his name on the now-viral email. We make no apologies for saying God hates pride or pride flags as its an agenda that harms children and undermines parental authority, and the only backlash we see is coming from radical Democrats, the fake news media, and weak Republicans who bow down at the feet of leftist cancel culture, he said at the time. Colorado GOP Calls LGBTQ\+ People Godless Groomers, Says to Burn Pride Flags A mass email from the states Republican party featured an anti-LGBTQ\+ sermon from evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll. Williams, also known for falsely insisting Trump won the 2020 presidential election, was ousted from his role as chairman shortly after an email sent on behalf of the Colorado Republican party and signed by Colorado Republicans rejected the decision as fraudulent. The Colorado Sun reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee released a statement saying that it will recognize the results of Saturdays meeting. However, according to Colorado Public Radio, Williams has dismissed the meeting as illegal and vowed to stay in power. This wasnt the first time that Williams has come under fire for anti-LGBTQ+ messaging. The ex-chairman previously supported a 2020 measure to ban same-sex marriage. In 2023, he created an issue committee which Coloradans use to advocate for or against getting legislative measures on the ballot to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here. Originally Appeared on them. Rep. Yadira Caraveo said Monday she sought treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center for symptoms of depression that worsened in recent months. Caraveo, a first-term Democrat facing a competitive reelection bid in Colorado, said she was disclosing her treatment "because I believe we need to de-stigmatize mental illness" nationwide. "In recent months, my depression became more severe, so I decided to take my own advice and seek treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center," the Colorado Democrat said in a statement, in which she thanked the medical team who cared for her. She joins a list of Capitol Hill lawmakers who are speaking openly about their battles with depression, most notably Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who spent six weeks in treatment fo r depression in 2023. Others who've spoken about their own struggles include Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). Caraveo, a pediatrician and the first Colorado Latina in Congress, won her seat by a little more than 1,600 votes in 2022 for a newly drawn district north of Denver. She is expected to face a competitive reelection bid against Republican Colorado state Rep. Gabe Evans this fall. She received words of support from her colleagues. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said, in a statement, "I admire Yadiras strength and courage, as we all must work together to end the stigma around mental health care." Dave Williams, the Colorado Republican Party chairman, was forcibly removed from his position by members of his party amid a string of controversies (Denver7 / YouTube) Members of the Colorado Republican Party forcibly removed its chairman on Saturday amid calls for his resignation over his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Dave Williams, a state representative who was elected to lead the Colorado GOP last year, faced scrutiny for several months after the party blasted out a fear-mongering email warning of godless groomers and declaring God hates flags during Pride Month. He later doubled down on the sentiment, calling for all Pride flags to be burned. Williamss leadership had already been questioned internally after he used the Colorado Republican Party to promote his campaign for Congress and spent party money on ads to attack his political rival. Hes also been openly critical of fellow Republicans who dont embrace his views. The backlash against Williams became more intense after the Colorado GOP endorsed 18 candidates in competitive primary races something the party never does. Of those endorsed, only four won their elections. Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, was removed by a majority vote from his party on Saturday after a myraid of scandals plagued his tenure (AP) Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert had even warned Williams to support his party or face removal back in July. With Williams rejecting calls to step down, members of his party met over the weekend, voting 161.66 to 12, in favor of ousting the head of the Colorado GOP (some of those voting only get fractional votes, according to CPR). Attendees chose to elect Eli Bremer, the former El Paso County chairman, to replace Williams for the rest of his term. As the newly elected Chair of the CO GOP, my first official act was to endorse ALL our Republican candidates on the November ballot in CO, Bremer wrote on X. I look forward to serving all CO Republicans and am thankful for all the support and well wishes! Williams has rejected the vote, claiming in an email that the meeting on Saturday was a sham and did not follow proper procedure. The Colorado GOP said that a properly called meeting will take place on August 31. The Colorado Republican Party bylaws say an elected officer can be removed by a vote of three-fifths of the entire membership of the [Colorado State Central Committees] eligible voters at a meeting called for that purpose. That could mean 60 percent of those present at the meeting or 60 percent of the entire central committee. Members of the central committee at the meeting chose to interpret the rules as meaning 60 percent of those present. Meeting attendees also voted to remove the Colorado Republican Party vice chairwoman and secretary for helping Williams maintain his seat amid the controversy. A spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee told The Colorado Sun they would support Saturdays vote because it took place in accordance with party bylaws. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Gas prices in the Columbus area took a tumble last week, nearly doubling the previous weeks decline, to total over 27 cents in two weeks heading into Labor Day weekend. After prices dipped by over nine cents the previous week, the cost of a gallon of gasoline dropped by 18.1 cents last week, according to GasBuddys survey of 500 stations, making the average price in the Columbus area $3.27. Columbus Gas Prices Tracker The current price is 35.9 cents per gallon lower than one month ago and 24.3 cents lower per gallon than this time one year ago. In Ohio, the average price of gas also dropped by 17.1 cents per gallon, from $3.37 per gallon to $3.20 per gallon. The cheapest gas station in the Columbus area was priced at $2.75 a gallon, while the most expensive was $3.69, a difference of 94 cents per gallon. Nationally, gas prices also experienced a drop of 6.2 cents per gallon to reach $3.30, while the price of diesel continues to hit new lows since January 2022, settling at $3.67 per gallon. Bicyclist dead after crash in northeast Columbus According to GasBuddys head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan, prices could continue to fade after the busy travel weekend ahead. It seems fitting that, in the run-up to Labor Day, the national average has fallen for four straight weeks to its lowest point since February, giving Americans one last chance to hit the road with gas prices being less of a factor, said De Haan. These numbers will continue to look better every week as we move into fall. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Column: Newsom and lawmakers bow to Google, sticking it to the news industry California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters in the spin room after a presidential debate between President Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Trump in Atlanta on June 27. (John Bazemore / Associated Press) Gov. Gavin Newsom once talked big about forcing internet giants to pay for the products they heist and profit off. But last week he scuttled legislation to require payment for news stories. The governor read tax increase in the legislation and sent word hed veto it. And thats politically understandable. But it conflicts with what Newsom said in his first State of the State address shortly after being sworn in as governor in 2019. He talked about people having a right to know and control how their data is used by internet companies making billions off it. And the governor added importantly or so it seemed that Californians should be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data. And so Ive asked my team to develop a proposal for a new Data Dividend for Californians because we recognize that your data has value and it belongs to you. Yes, youd think that articles produced by news organizations would belong to them and they could sell the work rather than having it ripped off. The new governors declaration created some excitement within the news media. The industry broadly interpreted data to include its products. The big internet and social media platforms have been grabbing journalists work without paying for it and building their own profitable advertising programs around the pilfered articles. Or they seize the info and create their own posts. Read more: California's news industry is in steep decline. Here's what is at stake Consequently, newspaper advertising has been drying up. And because of the platforms manipulation, the revenue isnt being replaced by newspaper digital ads. Roughly a third of the nations newspapers have closed shop since 2005. In California, small and medium-sized towns are in danger of becoming so-called news deserts. But nothing came of Newsoms data dividend idea. Some legislators, however, have tried for two years to craft bills to force Google and other tech giants to pay news outlets for distributing their products. One measure, by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), would have required large platforms such as Google to pay news outfits for their articles. Another bill, by Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), would have imposed a data extract fee a sales tax on platforms that gross more than $2.5 billion annually from advertising to state residents. That would have hit Google, Amazon and Meta and generated $1 billion annually half to fund partial tax credits for reporters salaries and 40% for schools. Negotiations were intense between Wicks, working with the California News Publishers Assn., and the internet behemoths. Read more: Deal reached in feud between California news outlets and Google: $250 million to support journalism but no new law But Google and its colossal compatriots are so powerful they can pretty much dictate to the Legislature and easily intimidate the governor. Theyre reminiscent of the railroad robber barons of more than a century ago that were finally corralled by Progressive reforms. No major politician is leading a charge against the tech monopolies today, although near election time theres a stampede to Silicon Valley for campaign contributions. The big platforms ran disingenuous ads blasting the legislation as an internet tax as if consumers would have to pay the government to sign into Amazon. The huge techies feared that any California legislation requiring them to pay news organizations significantly would set a pattern for the rest of the nation, so they kept the bite to a minimum. And Newsom was in no mood to fight them or sign any bill that smacked of a tax increase. No way was the governor going to sign either of the bills. He viewed them as a tax, says former Assembly Speaker and Sen. Bob Hertzberg, who was Wicks chief negotiator while she was bogged down chairing the busy Assembly Appropriations Committee. So how do we get money for journalism? he asks. Politics is the art of the possible, Wicks answers. Read more: Get paid or sue? How the news business is combating the threat of AI They negotiated a deal with Google and Newsom that doesnt require legislation. Just a pledge from the governor to commit $70 million in state money over the next five years even though hell be out of office in two. Google will put up about $173 million. In all, therell be nearly $250 million starting with $100 million next year. The public-private partnership will be administered by UC Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. Most of the money will be doled out to journalism entities. Some will be spent on developing ways for journalists to use AI technology. The agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians, Newsom said in a statement. But Glazer asserted the agreement does not provide sufficient resources to bring independent news gathering in California out of its death spiral. The newspaper industry was split. The publishers association called the deal a positive development, but complained it does not fully address the critical needs of Californias news industry. The financial commitments from Google and other tech companies should have been more robust, given the substantial revenues they generate from the distribution of journalistic content. Leaders of journalists unions questioned whether the state has done more harm than good by agreeing to a disastrous deal. Read more: Column: Don't let Big Tech monopolies kill local news. Democracy is at risk But, hey, journalists unions have absolutely no political leverage over elected officials. Unlike other unions, it would be unethical for them to make campaign contributions even if they had money to donate. And it would be unethical to threaten to boycott coverage of lawmakers. So, be grateful for what we got. Googles day is coming just as it did for railroads long ago. This is a continuing story. 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. EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) Two Republicans are hoping to turn one of Rhode Islands U.S. Senate seats red this fall. One of the candidates, Ray McKay, joins 12 News at 4 to talk about his campaign and what he would do with his time in office. Where They Stand: US Senate candidate Ray McKay Watch the full conversation in the video player above. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WPRI.com. (COLORADO SPRINGS) The Salvation Army hosted its annual block party in Colorado Springs on Friday, Aug. 23, creating a lively atmosphere on its downtown campus. The first 600 attendees received free In-N-Out burgers, while the community enjoyed food vendors, crafts, a bouncy house, and live music, creating a carnival-like atmosphere. Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Sean Scott Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Sean Scott Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Sean Scott Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Sean Scott The Salvation Army offers family services, feeding programs, shelter and supportive housing, and emergency assistance to people of all ages. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Company failed to protect workers who now need lung transplants, feds say Company failed to protect workers who now need lung transplants, feds say A Chicago countertop manufacturer failed to protect its workers from silica exposure, leaving a father and son in need of lung transplants, federal labor officials said. Florenza Marble & Granite exposed employees to silica levels up to six times greater than permissible, leaving a 31-year worker, his 59-year-old father and a co-worker with silicosis, an incurable lung disease, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday in a news release. In addition, a 47-year-old Florenza employee had been treated for unresolved work-related lung disease for more than three years, the agency stated. Federal inspectors in February found workers at the company laboring in a haze of dust and using required respirators improperly, with few controls to reduce silica exposure as they cut stone countertops for residential and commercial use, the Labor Department said. Silica dust risks A hundred times smaller than a grain of sand, silica dust can lead to lung cancer and silicosis, an irreversible scarring and stiffening of the lungs, among other conditions, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Florenza Marble and owner Brad Karp did not have a safety program to monitor its six workers. Two workers compensation insurance carriers refused to insure the company in 2022 and 2024 for not providing air sampling or proof of protections, according to the agency. Karp did not respond to a request for comment. OSHA cited Florenza for 32 safety and health violations and is proposing more than $1 million in penalties. The two workers suffering from silicosis have limited English and did not receive any information from their employer about the dangers of silica exposure or training in the use of equipment to protect themselves, according to labor regulators. The life expectancy for those with silicosis is reduced by about 11 years, and the chances of surviving at least 15 years after a lung transplant are less than 11%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Hampshire confirms death of person with mosquito-borne EEE 2 workers killed at Atlanta Delta facility after reported tire explosion Veterans and spouses find strength through bakery fellowship program Members of the bipartisan congressional task force established to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump promised Monday to get to the bottom of the security failures of that day even if it may be a slow process, after the group toured the Pennsylvania rally site where the shooting took place. Accompanied by local law enforcement, including the Butler County Sheriff and Pennsylvania state police, lawmakers walked the Butler Farm Show grounds where the July 13 rally was held, going first to the area where Trump took the stage and was shot at. The lawmakers then made their way across a small field to a cluster of buildings and climbed on top of the roof where the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired from. During a news conference in front of the field where the rally was held, members of the task force repeatedly said their goal was not to jump to conclusions about the failures that day but rather to get at the heart of who was responsible for them. Getting to the truth is a slow process, said task force Chairman Mike Kelly, whose district includes Butler. The bipartisan task force, made up of six Democrats and seven Republicans, was approved by the House in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 416 to 0, but the appointment comes at a fraught political time as members work to prove to both parties that theyre thoroughly investigating the attempted assassination. While House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries have called for members to put politics aside on the investigation, a group of ardent Trump allies on the Hill held their own forum Monday in Washington, DC, lambasting federal officials and calling for quick and strong accountability. Kelly also said it was too early to determine whether there was criminal negligence from those involved in the failures that day. Lets make sure that were sure when we say something, because this has lasting effects on people, Kelly said, criticizing other lawmakers who have been quick to call for severe actions against federal law enforcement involved in that day. Rep. Lou Correa said the task force is still working to determine who, ultimately, was responsible for decisions made around security planning, saying that Trumps security staff in his campaign played a role. The campaign had a lot to do with planning, Correa said, questioning whether the Secret Service or the campaign has ultimate say in certain security preparation. Ranking member Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger, highlighted the bipartisan nature of the task force. The 13 lawmakers have until mid-December to issue a final report and recommendations in the investigation. You dont have to be a Democrat or a Republican to say theres no room for political violence, Crow said, adding that the group was focused on a full, thorough investigation. Multiple representatives also noted how impacted they were by seeing in person just how close Crooks was able to get to Trump the day of the shooting. Whats impressive to me is the proximity of everything here, particularly the position of the shooter and the position of the president, said Rep. Madeleine Dean. Separately, in Washington, DC, a group of conservative congressmen held a counterprogramming event on their separate efforts to investigate the assassination attempt, despite not having any significant investigative power and not being affiliated with the task force. While this is the first hearing of its kind to come together, it wont be the last, said Rep. Cory Mills, who hosted the event alongside fellow Republican Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz and Chip Roy. Mills said, that if we are not selecting people based on meritocracy, that independent investigations such as this will continue to move forward, that there are members and conservatives who will not be silenced, and that we will continue to strive for accountability in government, as well as transparency for America. CNNs Haley Talbot and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com DENVER (KDVR) U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo announced Monday that she recently sought care from Walter Reed Medical Center for her depression. Caraveo is a Democrat representing Colorados 8th Congressional District, which includes most of Adams County and some of Larimer and Weld counties. On her U.S. House of Representatives website, Caraveo says she is a pediatrician and was Colorados first Latina federal representative, elected in 2022. Republican party members vote to remove Williams as state chairman In a statement released Monday afternoon, Caraveo said her struggle with depression became more severe in recent months, leading to her seeking care at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. As a doctor, I always urge my patients to take care of their health first and receive the support that they need, Caraveo said. I am grateful for the time and attention their team has provided me with the type of care every American deserves while continuing the work for Colorados 8th district. She went on to say she shared her struggle in an effort to de-stigmatize mental illness for Coloradans and Americans alike. It is my hope that the millions of people who struggle with depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety or any other mental health issues seek help, she said. I will continue to fight for access to counseling and mental health services so that any American that ever needs it, has access to it. Caraveo has been the primary sponsor of three bills regarding mental health in the 118th Congress: the Latino Youth Mental Health Empowerment Act, the Youth Suicide Prevention Research Act and the Strengthening Our Pediatric Mental Health Workforce, all of which were referred to various subcommittees in May. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat representing Colorados 1st Congressional District, released a statement of support for her colleague, calling her an exceptional legislator with incredible promise. I am glad to see that she is taking the steps necessary to care for herself, and I know that she will come out stronger on the other side, DeGette wrote. Mental health care is health care. Millions of Americans are impacted by mental health conditions, and they deserve access to the care they need to live happy and healthy lives. I admire Yadiras strength and courage, as we all must work together to end the stigma around mental health care. First drafts of property tax bills published ahead of special session Caraveo is in the throes of a reelection race against state Rep. Gabe Evans, set to culminate with the election in November. He gave a statement to FOX31 on Monday. My heart goes out to her and I wish her only the best. Im glad to hear she is getting the treatment she needs. As someone who has witnessed and consoled several friends and colleagues who have faced depression privately, Im glad to see her discuss her challenges publicly, Evans said. Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib also lent his voice to the conversation with a statement issued Monday afternoon. It takes an incredible amount of courage for anyone to share their personal struggles so openly. Rep. Caraveos willingness to share her experience with depression is an important show of strength, as well as support for anyone who may be feeling similarly, said Murib. If Rep. Caraveos announcement helps even just one person seek care that can help them address their own challenges, thats a significant and important outcome. We look forward to continuing to work with Rep. Caraveo to ensure that every single constituent of hers, and every Coloradan, can receive the medical support they need to live a great life. Caraveo isnt the first member of Congress to seek help for mental illness. In May, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, told MSNBCs Joe Scarborough that treatment works, that mental health is not a matter of whos tough and whos not and anyone struggling should seek treatment. FOX31 Democratic political analyst Any Boian talked about the unique struggles of politicians. Ive watched elected officials lose marriages, Ive watched them fall into depression, Ive lost some friends to suicide Its everything from the pressures of the job to feeling lonely, to feeling like youre not being productive in Washington on the federal level, to feeling like everything you do you get counterpunched, to feeling defeated, to house members feeling like they have to run every two years, Andy Boian said. Boian also provided some context on how this could impact Caraveos run for reelection. Politically, obviously, its risky to admit any kind of frailty or difference in what people know about you already, particularly this close to an election. That being aside, everything else about this is courageous, brave, strong, Boian said. A licensed psychologist at CU Anschutz Medical Campus said it can be empowering for someone in a position of authority or visible to the public to be willing to talk about their struggles. Shes willing to say, yeah, well its kind of like I had to go in and get my diabetes treated or get my heart disease treated, so its sort of that double standard of what do we reveal, what do we not reveal, Dr. Liz Chamberlain said. This is something you can keep to yourself, you dont have to share it if you dont want to Please work with your doctor, work with your primary care physician, work with a therapist And to know that there is hope. If you are thinking of hurting or killing yourself: Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Please get help immediately. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Embryologist Ric Ross holds a dish with human embryos at the La Jolla IVF Clinic February 28, 2007 in La Jolla, California. The clinic accepts donated embryos from around the country through The Stem Cell resource which are then given to stem cell research labs for research. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker | Getty Images) When Missourians head to the polls in November, they may get to vote on whether to overturn their states near-total abortion ban and legalize abortions up to the point of fetal viability. But one lawmaker says the results of that vote may not matter if his colleagues approve his bill declaring that fetuses are people. Missouri state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican, plans to reintroduce a bill in January that would grant unborn children the same rights as newborns, building on a similar Missouri law that has been on the books since the 1980s. Seitz said the bill would provide protections for embryos and fetuses regardless of that vote in November. Absolute abortion bans remain unpopular, even in conservative-led states and among Republican women. So during this legislative session, many GOP state lawmakers pivoted to protecting the rights of fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. And when the national Republican Party released its official platform in July, it made no mention of a federal abortion ban. Instead, the GOP affirmed states prerogative to pass laws protecting life under the Constitutions 14th Amendment, which has been used in legal arguments to support fetal personhood. Fetal personhood, a longtime cornerstone of the anti-abortion movement, is the idea that a fetus, embryo or fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a person who has been born. If the law considers fetuses to be people, the thinking goes, then abortion would legally be considered murder. At least 19 states either through state law, criminal statutes or case law have declared that fetuses at some stage of pregnancy are people, according to a 2023 report from Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that conducts research and advocates for the rights of pregnant people, including the right to abortion. When a pregnant persons rights conflict with fetal rights, fetal rights tend to trump them. Rebecca Kluchin, researcher and professor at California State University, Sacramento Missouri is one of several Republican-led states where lawmakers have taken a renewed interest in fetal personhood legislation in the two years since the U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and dismantled the federal constitutional right to abortion. If you elevate a fetus to the status of a person and grant it citizenship rights equal to that of a pregnant person, then now you have a clash of rights, said Rebecca Kluchin, a history professor at California State University, Sacramento, who is writing a book on the history of efforts to establish fetal personhood in the United States. Kluchin said one goal of the recent fetal personhood bills is to get a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Dobbs decision, and the conservative bent of the current court, have created an environment where lawmakers are saying, Lets try it, she said. If one of them gets it right, then others can pass identical laws. Seitz thinks his bill could fulfill that purpose. If it does get to the Supreme Court, due to the makeup of the court right now, I think they would see this commonsense legislation is, in fact, truth, he said. Critics, meanwhile, warn of legal chaos. The possible implications of fetal personhood bills extend far beyond abortion to fertility treatments, birth control and even child tax credits. In states that have enacted such laws, pregnant women have faced criminal charges for actions that might harm their pregnancies. When a pregnant persons rights conflict with fetal rights, Kluchin said, fetal rights tend to trump them. IVFs chilling effect Seitzs bill didnt make it out of committee before Missouris legislative session ended in May. He attributed that failure to the GOPs reluctance to push an anti-abortion bill in an election year, a concern that might have been justified: Missouri abortion rights supporters gathered more than double the number of signatures needed to get their constitutional amendment on the ballot. As of press time, the ballot petition signatures were still being reviewed by local and state officials. But Seitz said the bill will be the first he introduces when the legislature returns in January. With election season behind them, he said, I think it will be very easy for my Republican colleagues to come on board and support this. Conservative lawmakers in Alaska, Illinois, South Carolina and West Virginia introduced similar fetal personhood bills in their most recent legislative sessions, though none made it out of committee. Then in February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through in vitro fertilization are children under state law, and that people can be held liable for destroying them. The court cited Alabamas constitutional amendment, passed by voters in 2018, that confers personhood on fetuses and affirms the states responsibility to protect the rights of unborn children. The courts decision generated a national uproar, ignited bipartisan ire and halted fertility treatments statewide until Alabamas Republican supermajority legislature hastily passed a law protecting fertility service providers. The backlash underscored how many lawmakers hadnt fully considered the far-reaching implications and legal bedlam that can be created by fetal personhood laws. And it had a chilling effect on fetal personhood bills. In February, a Florida Republican state senator sidelined her bill that would have covered fetuses under wrongful death lawsuits after some lawmakers worried it would hurt IVF providers. In March, the Iowa House passed a bill to criminalize the death of an unborn person, but Republicans in the Senate declined to take up the bill over concerns it could criminalize IVF. Similarly, the Kentucky House refused to hear a bill that the Senate passed that would have granted the right to retroactively collect child support for costs incurred during pregnancy. Through the back door Last year, Arizona Republican state Rep. Matt Gress introduced five pregnancy-related bills that he said were inspired by his experience growing up in a family headed by a single mother. Im the youngest of four and raised by a single mom in a single-wide trailer house in rural Oklahoma. We grew up very poor, Gress said in an interview with Stateline. These bills, to me, represented a policy approach that helps women and families. One of the bills would have allowed families to retroactively claim child tax credits in the year before a baby is born; another would have allowed pregnant women to drive alone in a highway car pool lane, their fetus counting as a separate passenger. Yet another bill would have allowed a woman, after having a baby, to collect child support backdated to the date of her positive pregnancy test. Arizonas Democratic state legislators accused Gress of taking a back-door approach to inserting fetal personhood language into state law. But Gress denies that codifying fetal personhood was his intent. That didnt even cross my mind, he said. The way I read the bills, there were no rights being afforded to anybody besides women and families. Gress noted that he was the first Republican, and one of the few, who supported Democratic state legislators bid to repeal Arizonas near-total abortion ban, which dated to 1864. The repeal effort eventually succeeded in early May. Arizonas legislature passed two of Gress pregnancy bills, but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed both. Gress said he doesnt intend to reintroduce the bills unless a new governor is elected who might support them. Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri tried but failed to pass similar fetal child support laws this year. Georgias 2019 heartbeat law, which went into effect in 2022, grants child support benefits for fetuses. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, now the speaker of the House, introduced a similar bill in Congress in 2022, and was explicit about its purpose. In a statement, he called it a first step toward updating federal laws to reflect that life begins at conception. Beyond abortion Fetal personhood laws, like abortion bans, end up having broader effects on all pregnant people and pregnancy-related care, said Dr. Daniel Grossman, an OB-GYN and the director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a research program at the University of California, San Francisco, which focuses on abortion and reproductive health. Grossman points to cases in which pregnant patients experiencing obstetric emergencies had to be airlifted out of states with strict abortion bans, such as Idaho, because doctors were afraid of violating the law. In states such as Florida, North Carolina and Texas, pregnant women who werent seeking abortions but who experienced possible miscarriages or other emergencies have been turned away from hospitals. Stories of pregnant women being turned away from emergency rooms spiked after Roe was overturned, a recent Associated Press investigation found. Fetal personhood has implications for birth control, too. Hormonal contraceptive methods such as IUDs and birth control pills typically work by preventing an egg from being fertilized, but theres a small chance that some forms can also prevent a fertilized egg from being implanted in the uterus, said Grossman. So, if state law considers a fertilized egg a person, that could create a legal basis for banning any contraception that could possibly prevent implantation. Grossman also worries about increased scrutiny these laws create for people who experience miscarriage or stillbirth. Before Dobbs, people were arrested and criminally prosecuted for allegedly trying to end a pregnancy on their own, he said. Im already concerned thats going to become more common, especially in places with fetal personhood laws. The laws also have resulted in women being criminally charged for actions that might harm their pregnancies, said Lourdes Rivera, president of Pregnancy Justice. Riveras organization documented nearly 1,400 instances of pregnant women being charged, often for substance use, in the 16 years leading up to the June 2022 Dobbs decision. Most of the cases occurred in a handful of Southern states including Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee that have expanded their definitions of child abuse to include fetuses, fertilized eggs and embryos. Nearly 85% of pregnancy criminalization cases in the Pregnancy Justice report involved charges against a pregnant person who was legally indigent, and the laws were disproportionately applied to poor women and women of color, Rivera said. These laws are forcing pregnant people to give up their bodily autonomy, their health and well-being, she said, and to be surveilled and criminalized for actions that would not be criminal if they were done by people who were not pregnant. This story was originally produced by Stateline which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Fayette County Public Schools officials are sending conflicting reports and lack of clarity about whether bathrooms in a new middle school would be gender neutral or designated exclusively for boys and girls, a Kentucky lawmaker said Monday. Fayette County Public Schools needs to be open and completely honest with the residents of Fayette County and the parents of the students within their system, said Rep. Matt Lockett, a Nicholasville Republican. The statements made by (school district) officials have clearly indicated the removal of gender-specific restrooms in Britton Middle School. However, now that the broader public has been made aware of these efforts, they want us to believe a narrative that is a complete reversal from everything they have said since announcing the new school and that of what is in their own facilities plan. Fayette school officials issued a new statement Monday night. In response to Rep. Locketts recent statements regarding the proposed bathroom designs at Fayette County Public Schools newest middle school, Mary E. Britton, FCPS is in alignment with his expressed desire to provide students with a traditional boys and girls restroom, said district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith. Signage will clearly label each space as serving either boys or girls. FCPS will also have family and/or gender-neutral restrooms available in the building, similar to those found in other public buildings in the Commonwealth, for anyone to use. We are looking forward to hosting Representative Lockett for a tour of Mary E. Britton in the spring. Plans for the bathrooms have a new configuration and 2023 facility programming guidelines said non-binary or inclusive toilet design that is not gender specific should be discussed as an alternative to traditional designs. Multiple unisex restrooms are an acceptable alternative to providing separate facilities, the district documents say. Last week, district officials told the Herald-Leader that the restrooms would be gender specific -- designated for boys and for girls. The district followed up with a statement that said, in part, Our current construction projects, including Mary E. Britton Middle School, will include individual restrooms specifically designed to address privacy, security, and supervision concerns raised by our students, families, and safety experts. Unfortunately, a false narrative has circulated, so it is important to clarify that FCPS is not seeking to eliminate gender-specific bathroom facilities. Instead, we are adding options that provide a safer and more secure environment for all students, while maintaining traditional gender-separated facilities where appropriate. The district added: These changes are a proactive response to issues like vandalism, bullying, and vaping challenges that have unfortunately increased in school bathrooms across the Commonwealth in recent years ensuring that all students feel safe and supported within our schools. The plan calls for a slightly different design from previous school bathrooms. Single-person restrooms will be floor-to-ceiling, the district said, and doors will automatically shut when theyre occupied. Dia Davidson-Smith, spokesperson for the district, said the facilities would remain separated by gender. Kentucky lawmakers on the General Assemblys Interim Education Committee in Frankfort last week questioned Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins about whether Mary E. Britton Middle School in Lexingtons Hamburg area would be gender-neutral rather than gender-specific. School bathrooms have become a hot-button issue for Republican lawmakers across the country in recent years as districts grapple with whether to install new policies that cater to transgender students. Parents in Fayette County have contacted the school district and elected officials with their concerns about this model. However, many have voiced frustration about the conflicting reports and lack of clarity from FCPS officials, Lockett said Monday. Since day one of this project, parents in Fayette County have been concerned about the proposed bathroom model, Lockett added. There has been more confusion and contradiction each time FCPS has released a statement. The public deserves to know how many of these restrooms will be gender-specific or gender-neutral and where the district believes gender-specific restrooms are appropriate. The intent of the school district is clear, he added. They want to implement gender-neutral restrooms despite the safety and privacy concerns expressed by parents and community members. Just because the school district does not use the term gender-neutral to describe the restrooms does not mean they are anything but that. These are restrooms where middle-school aged boys and girls will be side by side, and sharing the same facilities. The school district should respect the parents of Fayette County enough to be open and honest about their actions and clearly answer the questions asked, Locketts statement on Monday said. The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) confirmed on Aug. 26 that controversial lawmaker Artem Dmytruk illegally crossed the border in Odesa Oblast and entered Moldova. Under martial law, Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60, with some exceptions, are not allowed to leave the country as they may be called up for military service. Lawmakers can travel abroad if permitted by the head of the parliament. Dmytruk had no such permission. Dmytruk fled the country on Aug. 24, the day before Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin charged the lawmaker with assaulting a soldier and a law enforcement officer in separate altercations. The Prosecutor General's Office did not directly name Dmytruk, but sources within law enforcement agencies confirmed to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda that the suspect was Dmytruk. Dmytruk did cross the border illegally, Tetiana Sapian, DBR's communications advisor, said on national television. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the lawmaker didn't officially pass a Ukrainian border crossing point. Authorities are investigating several people, including border control officials, suspected of aiding Dmytruk in illegal crossing. Dmytruk, who was elected to the parliament as a representative of Zelensky's Servant of the People party but later kicked out of it, was involved in two separate altercations with authorities. While in Odesa, Dmytruk, along with accomplices, allegedly caused minor bodily harm to an on-duty law enforcement officer during an argument. He also allegedly attempted to steal the officer's weapon. In another incident in Kyiv, Dmytruk allegedly got into an altercation with a soldier, hitting him on the head several times and causing moderate bodily harm. Sapian also confirmed that the investigation against Dmytruk had been ongoing for a long time, but the charges against the MP were awaiting the prosecutor general's signature. There are no grounds to strip Dmytruk of his parliamentary mandate as of now, Serhii Yevtushok, deputy head of the parliamentary committee on parliamentary ethics, said on national television. The grounds may include a court verdict, which is not yet available in Dmytruk's case, deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship if a person has dual citizenship, death, or resignation, Yevtushok added. If the court verdict is issued, "the parliament will strip this MP of his powers," Yevtushok said. In a post on Telegram on Aug. 24, prior to fleeing the country, Dmytruk acknowledged that law enforcement officials conducted a search of the MP's hotel room in Kyiv, as well as his apartment in Odesa. Dmytruk, without evidence, claimed that the search was politically motivated, as a result of his previously pro-Russian political views, as well as support for the Kremlin-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). First elected as an independent MP representing Odesa in 2019, Dmytruk later joined and was subsequently expelled from the Servant of the People faction in parliament. While serving in parliament, Dmytruk took a number of pro-Russian stances on various issues. A staunch supporter of the Moscow-backed church, Dmytruk allegedly posted bail for the priest of the church who allegedly collaborated with Russia. Law enforcement officials told Ukrainska Pravda that Dmytruk fled Ukraine through Moldova and took a flight to Rome the same day. The Kyiv Independent can't independently verify these claims. Read also: Zelensky signs law potentially banning Moscow-linked church Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) The Mahoning County Coroners Office has ruled the May 28 death of a man who was killed when the Realty Tower exploded as an accident. Read next: Walmart employee says he was stabbed by alleged shoplifter, then fired A coroners report released Friday said the cause of death of Akil Drake, 27, was blunt force injuries to the head and neck. Drake, who worked at Chase Bank in the building, was killed after a natural gas explosion in the building which ultimately led to it being demolished and tenants at a nearby building evacuated until the Realty Towers building was stable. The last of those tenants returned home over the weekend. The report said Drake was found at about 11:05 p.m. under debris in the basement of the building. Drakes estate is suing the owner of the building, the property management company and the gas company in a wrongful death lawsuit. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. The southern Japanese island of Okinawa has been looking forward to opening day of a local Costco for a while now, and the wait is finally over as of August 24, 2024. The grand opening was met with a surprisingly robust reception. According to a Reddit post, the line to get inside the 14,000-square-meter store covered a huge portion of the parking lot as hundreds of people started patiently lining up outside before the sun had yet risen. Possibly due to just how large the crowd had become, the Costco in Okinawa's Nanjo City opened about three hours earlier than anticipated -- sometime around 7 a.m. instead of 10 a.m.. Unfortunately, that didn't make the wait go any faster, as some people found themselves waiting a full five hours in line before they could finally get inside. Whether they were looking to enjoy Costco Japan's unique food court or stock up on Costco's delicious frozen dim sum, the new store must be pleased to see just how well received it's already been. Alongside Costco's baseline offering of wholesale discounts on groceries and household goods, the Okinawa location will offer a pharmacy and gas station. It will be interesting to see how the arrival of this international grocery chain will affect local Okinawa businesses, but if the community's willingness to show up before dawn and wait for hours to get inside indicates anything, it's that there is a welcoming consumer market in the area looking to cash in on the brand's unique discount offerings. Read more: 20 Popular Chain Grocery Stores For Meat, Ranked Costco Increases Its Global Expansion Post-Pandemic Costco Japan membership counter with workers - Macky Albor/Shutterstock Costco is an American corporation that went global shortly after its debut in Seattle, Washington, in 1983. The first international store location opened near Vancouver, Canada, in 1985, just two years after the first Costco was established. Japan is Costco's third largest market outside of the U.S., with the Okinawa location bringing the current total up to 35 different locations throughout the country. Canada is Costco's first largest international market and Mexico is its second largest. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down Costco's pace as the company continued to expand into new territory. On average, the wholesale chain opens 23 new locations every year, and plans on increasing that number in the short term have resumed as the economic and logistical uncertainty surrounding the pandemic have largely subsided. The new Nanjo City location will provide hundreds of jobs to local residents with many of those positions being full-time employment. If opening day is anything to go by, the store is going to need all the help it can get to handle the high demand. The seemingly constant crowds that flock to Costco stores worldwide have become something of a meme, but that just means the retailer brand is offering prices and goods that many people desire. If the lines continue to form before the store opens at 10 a.m., maybe the Okinawa location will start handing out free pastries before doors open like Costco China. Read the original article on Tasting Table. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) The El Paso County Commissioners Court is scheduled to vote on and possibly adopt a tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 26. The Commissioners Court can adopt any rate below the Voter-Approval Tax Rate. Going above that rate would require voter approval. County commissioners will hear public comments and decide on a rate appropriate to meet the needs of this fiscal year, according to the County. Here is a breakdown from the County: The Voter-Approval Tax Rate as calculated by the tax assessor collector is 0.478306 per $100 taxable property value. The No-New-Revenue Tax Rate as calculated by the tax assessor collector is $0.426323 per $100 taxable property value. A county official told KTSM that the Court is expected to adopt the No-New-Revenue Tax Rate on Monday. The current tax rate is .458889, so if the court adopts the No-New-Revenue tax rate, that would be a 3 cent decrease to the current tax rate. And it would be a rate almost equal to what the tax rate was 10 years ago, according to the County. Mondays meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in the Judge Alicia R. Chacon County Commissioners Courtroom, 500 E. San Antonio. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The couple killed when their home near Excelsior Springs was destroyed in an explosion have been identified, a spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriffs Office said Monday. The bodies of 70-year-old Oliver W. Campbell and 65-year-old Katherine A. Campbell were found mid-day Friday among the rubble of their home in the 14400 block of Kimberly Drive in rural Clay County, said Sarah Boyd with the Clay County Sheriffs Office. The couples deceased dog was also found at the scene of the blast. The Missouri State Fire Marshals Office, which is investigating the explosion, also confirmed Monday that there was a gas leak. Because of the force of the explosion and extent of structure damage, no cause could be identified as to the source of the gas leak or the ignition source, the fire marshals office said in a statement released by Boyd. The Missouri Division of Fire Safety classified the explosion as undetermined. The full incident report will take up to 30 days to be available. The explosion occurred around 4:40 a.m. Friday. Callers called the sheriffs office, reporting that their neighbors home exploded. The blast was felt for miles around. Arriving deputies reported that the home was leveled entirely from the blast, and the house was on fire. Boyd said that the explosion also damaged nearby homes and blew open some doors, but no neighbors were hurt. Because homes in the neighborhood use propane for heating and cooking, investigators looked into whether a gas leak led to the explosion. Officials with the Missouri Propane Safety Commission responded to help investigate the explosion. In this photo illustration, social media apps are seen on a mobile phone. Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images. Maryland is one of two states, with California, to pass a so-called Kids Code law legislation aimed at providing privacy and other protections to children using online platforms. But a federal appeals courts decision this month to uphold much of a lower courts injunction of the California law on which Marylands law is based is raising new fears about the vulnerability of the Maryland law to court challenge. Theres definitely, for those of us who are constantly looking at the legality of these provisions, there are some open questions, said Meetali Jain, director of the Tech Justice Law Project an organization that has supported the passage of Kids Code laws. The Aug. 16 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held some positives for Kids Code supporters: It said a lower court may have gone too far when it issued a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds. But the appellate court largely agreed with the lower court that tech firms were likely to succeed on their claim that the law violates free speech protections, by requiring them to review products they believe would be used by children looking for content that could be harmful. Those portions of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act amount to a restraint on speech, the court said. That was the claim made by NetChoice, a tech industry group that has aggressively opposed state efforts to impose regulations. The group has lobbyists in more than two dozen states. The effort in Maryland is in addition to lobbyists hired by individual members including Google, Facebook parent company Meta, and Amazon. Maryland passed its Kids Code law this year, and advocates consider it an evolved, upgraded version of the California law. I think a lot of people believe that the district court in California got it wrong, but just because they got it wrong doesnt mean that folks cant try and strengthen the bill against a legal attack in Maryland, said Nichole Rocha, a California-based data privacy rights attorney who worked on both the California and Maryland laws. So absolutely, there was a lot of consideration given to amendments to make it legally stronger. A similar bill passed this year in Vermont, but Gov. Phil Scott (R) vetoed it and lawmakers there were unable to override his veto. The Maryland bills House Bill 603 and Senate Bill 571 were signed into law in May and take effect in October. It will require default privacy settings and safety measures for children. The law limits the collection of data, including geolocation data, from minors by social media and other companies, as well as the sale of that data. And it requires that companies complete assessments in 2026 of new features, focusing on the effects on children. I think a lot of people believe that the district court in California got it wrong, but just because they got it wrong doesn't mean that folks can't try and strengthen the bill against a legal attack in Maryland. Nichole Rocha, California-based data privacy rights attorney Negligent violations of the law are punishable by a fine of $2,500 per child per instance, while intentional violations carry a fine of $7,500 per child per instance. Attorney General Anthony Brown, in a letter to Moore, said that while the law was not clearly unconstitutional, there are potential constitutional issues within the act. Key among them were the states data privacy provisions. Brown wrote that there is risk that a reviewing court will construe some of the Maryland Acts provisions to regulate speech or other expressive conduct, and as such, subject them to heightened scrutiny under the First Amendment and find those provisions unconstitutional. But Brown concluded that any individual provisions struck down by the court could be severed from the rest of the law. So far, there has been no legal challenge. Rocha said she and others believe NetChoice could be biding its time in Maryland while awaiting a final decision on the California law. Theyre just waiting to see what happens so they can position themselves, Rocha said. A spokesperson for NetChoice said the group does not publicly discuss legal strategy. Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the House version of the bill, said in May that he was confident the Maryland law would be the first to withstand judicial scrutiny. Solomon did not respond to a request for comment on the impact of the California ruling. A key change in the Maryland law is language making it clear that there is no intent to censor content or limiting access to content, Rocha said. Additionally, Maryland more clearly defines best interest of the child and includes physical, financial and psychological harm. And advocates point out that Maryland included language that prevents the entire law from being struck down if a court finds one or more provisions are unconstitutional. Appeals court strikes down part of California law California passed its version in 2022. NetChoice whose members include Amazon, Google, Meta, Netflix and X sued in federal district court on Dec. 14, 2022, and it asked for a preliminary injunction of the law on Feb. 17, 2023. The district court agreed with NetChoice, temporarily blocking the law on Sept. 18, 2023, sparking the appeal to the 9th Circuit. The appeals court ruling was, in some ways, a setback for supporters of the California law. In a 44-page decision handed down on Aug. 16, a three-judge panel agreed that a required data protection impact assessment in California law violated the First Amendment. The assessments requirement that covered businesses opine on and mitigate the risk that children may be exposed to harmful or potentially harmful materials online facially violates the First Amendment, the court panel said. The appellate court remanded the case back to the lower court for additional review. In the opinion, the panel said it was unclear, based on the initial court review, if other challenged provisions of the California law violated the First Amendment. Lawsuit watch in Maryland The lack of litigation against the Maryland law so far does not mean it is in the clear. Jain said the appeals court ruling in the California case leaves four open constitutional questions: Are data privacy protections and design safeguards constitutional; can the rest of the law stand if the court finds data privacy impact assessments unconstitutional; can social media platforms be required to verify or estimate the age of a user; and are duty of care provisions constitutional? The Maryland law goes into effect in October. A legal challenge could still come when Maryland implements the law. Marylands law is very similar to (the California law), especially the Data Protection Impact Assessment provision, which the Ninth Circuit focused on as likely unconstitutional under strict scrutiny. That is an even higher standard than the District Court reviewed it under, Krista Chavez, a spokesperson for NetChoice, wrote in an email response to questions. U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va, has been sent a cease and desist letter from former President Donald Trump for including his name on signs, despite his endorsement for Good's opponent John McGuire. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury) Nearly four weeks after the recount in the GOP primary in Virginias 5th Congressional District confirmed Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, as the winner, the court has called back election officials from five of the districts 24 localities to another hearing in Goochland County Wednesday to resolve some minor discrepancies in their reporting of votes. The court will also review a petition filed by Brad Marss, an attorney representing U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, and the incumbent, objecting to some of the expenses billed to Goods campaign for the recount. Goochlands Chief Judge Claude Worrell, who heads the three-judge panel presiding over the recount, said at a hearing in July that the cost would amount to about $96,500. But Diana Shores, a spokeswoman for Good, said on Monday that the campaign had been billed $103,000 and was disputing some of the charges. Election officials from Amherst, Cumberland, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties and the city of Danville were summoned to appear at Wednesdays hearing, but the additional review of ballots is not expected to change the outcome of the election. Jason Corwin, the general registrar in Mecklenburg County, said in a phone interview that after the recount, his office reached out to the court after his staff discovered several minor math errors made during the recount in two of the countys 22 precincts. When we took the original recount certification sheet, we put down a couple of wrong numbers. One was 36 and should have been 37, and one was for early voting where we put down 283 and 128, and they were both off by one vote, Corwin said. But the total number of votes cast in his locality remains accurate and did not change after the recount, Corwin said. We saw that we had made a mistake on our end, which almost forced the judges to make one, but they were willing to have another look, because we wanted the order to accurately reflect what we had done. Corwin said that the court has since asked his office to bring all the hand counted ballots back to Goochland for the upcoming hearing. We went over to the clerks office and packed everything up, and its been locked and secured there until Ill leave on Wednesday. Danvilles General Registrar Peggy Petty said that she was summoned back to Goochland after her team found that a ballot initially counted as an undervote which is a ballot not counted because of unclear marking by the voter had been marked for Good. This was reported on our original paperwork, but the court did not pick it up for whatever reason, Petty said. It was a very clear vote for Mr. Good, it was taken to the court and for whatever reason they did not account for it. Petty said that she wasnt too happy about having to make the 130-mile road trip from Danville to Goochland Wednesday to deliver a single ballot. Its definitely an inconvenience, she said. David Richards, a politics professor at the University of Lynchburg, said it was very unusual for the court to hold another hearing almost one month after the recount concluded. I think it speaks to how careful the court and the registrars are being. But the new hearing is not indicative of any major discrepancies with the vote count itself, Richards said. The count was done by scanning the votes, and from what I know, the scans have been tested and shown to be 100% correct. However, undervotes are examined by hand carefully. If there is a question about a singular ballot and how it was counted, it is probably because the recount court is making sure every vote is counted that can be legitimately counted. Virginia election officials are trained professionals who take their job very seriously, Richards said. I feel certain that the court is making absolutely sure that if anyone comes behind them, that each vote is clearly counted in the proper manner. Good requested the recount in the June 18 primary election after losing to McGuire by a mere 374 votes out of 62,792 cast. Under Virginia law, the localities involved cover the cost of a recount when the margin of victory is 0.5% or less, or if the candidate who petitioned for the recount is declared the winner. But because McGuire led the incumbent by 0.6%, Good had to raise money to pay for the recount. When the recount wrapped up shortly before midnight on Aug. 1, Good had picked up just four more votes, reducing McGuires winning margin to 370. Shores, Goods spokeswoman, said that the campaign was surprised to learn that officials from five localities had been called back to Goochland for another hearing. Never before had we heard of a case where counties or cities were recalled to the court after a recount was conducted, she said. We trust the three judge panel is doing its due diligence to ensure that every vote has been legally counted and we look forward to finalizing this process on behalf of the voters of the district. Shores added that the campaign has the funds to pay for the recount. We had almost 600 people donate to the efforts. About $103,000 was billed, but depending on what the judge outlines as acceptable billing on Wednesday, that number could change. In his petition, Marss, Goods attorney, objected to mileage or other travel expenses beyond those contemplated being assessed to the campaign. Virginia law only allows for payment of the sum of $10 and mileage only to officers of election, and only for each time (an officer of election) delivers poll books and ballots to the polling place, and each time he delivers returns and ballots to the appropriate official after the polls close, the petition said. Unfortunately, with only one exception (Campbell County), every other locality has sought to assess Good for the mileage expenses paid to officers of election for merely commuting to and from their place of work. Commuting expenses are not generally compensable in the law. Good also objected to any attempt to assess him for any allocated portions of salaries of sheriffs deputies or other law enforcement officers who performed duties during the recount proceedings, such as escorting election officials carrying ballots to Goochland. The expenses of such officers salaries did not increase due to their involvement in this particular judicial action, and such expenses are not assessable as costs, whether in this recount matter, or in any other civil action, the petition said. Other contested expenses include catered meals for election officials, technical support for voting machines, and portions of the salaries that some local officials had billed to the campaign. Goods petition further argued that the five localities summoned back to Goochland for Wednesdays hearing should have to absorb all expenses their errors may generate. McGuire on Monday did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment, but Sean Brown, a campaign spokesman, said that if Goods campaign has the money as they claim, they should pay what they owe to localities, instead of short changing registrars, law enforcement officers, and all those that facilitated Bobs failed recount effort. Wednesdays hearing has been set for 1 p.m. at the Goochland County Circuit Court. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST As COVID wave wallops California, new vaccines arrive this week. Will it be a turning point? New COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available as soon as this week, a promising development amid California's potent and enduring summer wave of the disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the distribution of the updated Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-25 season on Thursday. And in preparation for winter, when COVID typically surges again, federal officials said Americans will soon be able to register to receive four free tests in the mail. Major retailers including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons and Safeway are already accepting appointments for the new COVID-19 vaccines, or soon will. Kaiser Permanente expects to begin administering the shots by mid-September, and possibly earlier in some locations. The new vaccines have been reformulated in hopes of providing optimal protection against the most commonly circulating coronavirus strains, a process that can be comparable to development of the annual flu shot. Read more: FDA approves updated COVID-19 vaccines; shots should be available in days The arrival of the latest vaccines comes amid a surprisingly powerful summer COVID wave the strongest in terms of infections since 2022. Increased circulation of new hyperinfectious subvariants has sickened many Americans, ruined vacations and weddings and forced people to miss work. Coronavirus levels in wastewater are considered "high" or "very high" in 45 states, including California, as well as in the District of Columbia. Coronavirus sewage levels were considered "moderate" in Michigan, New Jersey, Vermont and West Virginia; no data was available for North Dakota. Earlier this year, some of the coronavirus subvariants that succeeded last winter's dominant strain were collectively nicknamed FLiRT a play on some of the technical terms for their mutations. That group included a strain officially known as KP.2. A successor subvariant, KP.3, had a different mutation and so was nicknamed FLuQE pronounced "fluke." An even more contagious subvariant, KP.3.1.1, had a mutation that was deleted, giving it the unofficial moniker deFLuQE, or "de-fluke." For most people, September and October are the best months to get vaccinated against both COVID-19 and flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Everyone age 6 months and older should receive updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and can get both during the same visit, the CDC said. "The important part is getting it done," CDC Director Mandy Cohen said at a briefing. "If September, from a calendar perspective, works better for folks, great. October gets you closer to the to the winter season. But the important part is getting it done." Read more: Rising COVID clashes with carefree California summer as cases jump, precautions fade Dr. Cohen said Friday that peak winter hospitalizations for COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV a triple-header that has strained hospitals in the past are expected to be similar to last year's, or even slightly improved. But that forecast could prove overly optimistic, she said, if some assumptions end up being wrong for example, if fewer people get vaccinated than expected. COVID-19 continues to circulate at a very high level nationally and in California. The rate at which coronavirus tests are coming back positive continues to rise. For the week that ended Aug. 14, 14.4% of reported coronavirus tests were positive in California. That's higher than the peaks seen last summer and winter, and up from about 11% a month ago. But depending on the region, "I think we are potentially seeing some indication of a plateauing of the summer increase in COVID-19," said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who heads the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Still, "we're not out of the woods yet," he added. Read more: 'The virus wants to live.' California's big COVID spike isn't expected to ease anytime soon There are now 26 states, including California, where COVID-19 is projected to be "growing" or "likely growing." That's down from 44 states in those categories about six weeks ago, according to the CDC. There are initial signs that the summer surge may be starting to peak in some areas, including Los Angeles County, although trends won't be clear until there are a few weeks of sustained declines. For the week that ended Aug. 18, there were an average of 421 coronavirus cases a day in L.A. County. The week prior, there were 484. Out of all emergency department encounters countywide for the week that ended Aug. 18, 3.9% were related to the coronavirus, down from the previous week's 4.3%. Last summer's peak was 5.1%. COVID hospitalizations are essentially flat. For the week that ended Aug. 17, a daily average of 478 coronavirus-infected people were in hospitals in L.A. County. The week before, there were 481. Last summer's peak was 620. "Given that this is just one weeks data, its too soon to know if these declines will continue or indicate if transmission has plateaued or peaked," the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a statement to The Times. Coronavirus levels in the county's wastewater are up, but that metric has a longer lag time than other indicators. For the 10-day period that ended Aug. 10, coronavirus levels in L.A. County sewage were measured at 87% of last winter's peak. That's up from the 10-day period that ended Aug. 3, when coronavirus levels were at 76% of the winter peak. Overall, coronavirus levels in California's wastewater have been largely flat in recent weeks. In general this summer, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID have been rising, but, fortunately not as sharply as during earlier waves of the pandemic. "While the COVID virus continues to mutate and change faster than the flu virus, our underlying immunity from prior vaccines and prior infections provides some protection," Cohen said. "But we know that protection decreases over time, and certain groups continue to be at higher risk from COVID and other viruses, and we need to continue to protect ourselves and our loved ones." COVID remains more of a threat than the flu. "In terms of what is hospitalizing more folks and what is killing more folks, COVID continues to be a more dangerous virus than flu," Cohen said. Nationally, at least 50,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since October, compared with at least 25,000 flu deaths. CDC estimates on flu deaths will be updated later this year. That's why it's so important that people get freshly vaccinated heading into fall, doctors say. Those at highest risk include seniors and immunocompromised people who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 in more than a year. Read more: California COVID surge is surprisingly stronger, longer-lasting than experts had expected As of the end of last winter, just 29% of seniors nationally had received the previous COVID-19 vaccination, according to data on a subset of Medicare beneficiaries. As of July 31, 37% of California seniors had received at least one dose of that vaccine, which first became available last September. It's not just seniors who can be at risk. "Remember ... 80% of the adults in the country have some sort of underlying condition that could put them at some sort of increased risk," Cohen said. And the very young can be vulnerable, too. "When we look at who went to the emergency room for COVID, we actually saw that it was highest for those under the age of 5," Cohen said of this summer's wave. "We can't forget that at every age group, there are risks, including our young children." Each new infection also carries the risk of long COVID in which symptoms, sometimes severe enough to be debilitating, can emerge, persist, resolve and reemerge over a period of weeks, months or years. "I have a tremendous empathy, having seen people struggle with long COVID in their 30s and 40s, people who you might think were otherwise low-risk," Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's vaccine chief, said Friday. There are estimates that getting vaccinated can reduce the risk of developing long COVID by 50%, Marks said. Read more: Long COVID risk has decreased but remains significant, study finds People who might want to consider getting the updated COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible include those who are older or immunocompromised and haven't been vaccinated in more than a year. Those groups are at highest risk for being hospitalized with COVID-19 now, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. "I would love them to get protected, if they would want to go and get the vaccine now," Chin-Hong said. Another consideration is whether you are about to go on a trip, or planning an unmissable event or experience. "Right now, if they want to prevent infection, it's a good time to get something, because it's so closely matched to what's going around," Chin-Hong said of the new vaccine. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine now will offer good protection against severe disease through the winter, he said. Read more: COVID surging in California. Is it time to bring back masks, hand sanitizer? What experts say Chin-Hong said the best protection against infection is within roughly six to eight weeks after getting vaccinated though that window can be wider if the vaccine is a close match to circulating subvariants. Marks said timing is a matter of personal choice, but he already has his own vaccine appointment scheduled. "Getting vaccinated now probably gives you the maximum amount of protection that you can get against what's currently circulating, and that will last for several months at least," he said. The many people who have recently had COVID-19 may wait for as long as three months to get vaccinated, according to the CDC, as an infection in many cases imparts strong, if fleeting, protection against the virus at least for a few weeks or months. But there are some reasons to get the vaccine soon after an illness, such as if you, a family member or household member are at high risk of severe COVID illness, or if transmission is elevated where you live. And for people who just got vaccinated against COVID over the summer with the older formula, they can wait two months before getting the updated one, Chin-Hong said, "so October would be fine for them." "To me, the sweet spot is always October," he said, as it's closer to the peak of the late fall and winter respiratory virus season, as well as major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. Read more: COVID and bird flu are rising. Here's how to keep yourself safe Another measure health officials recommend, particularly when transmission is elevated, is testing when you feel sick, or before events especially if medically vulnerable people are going to attend. Starting in late September, free COVID tests from the federal government will be available for order at covidtests.gov. The CDC has also simplified recommendations on who should get vaccinated for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The agency now recommends that all adults age 75 and up, as well as those 60 to 74 at increased risk for severe RSV disease, get vaccinated. Those risk factors include having chronic heart or lung disease, a weakened immune system, certain medical conditions like severe obesity and severe diabetes, and living in a nursing home. The RSV vaccine is not annual, meaning people who got one last year don't need to get another one at this time, the CDC said. Those who didn't can get it on the same visit as their flu and COVID shots. An RSV vaccine is also available for expectant mothers at weeks 32 to 36 of pregnancy to pass protection on to their fetuses. An RSV antibody is available for babies and some young children, too. "All of these vaccines prevent the worst of these infections," Cohen said. "That means fewer visits to the doctor, fewer hospitalizations, and more time to enjoy the fall and winter with family and loved ones." 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. Donald Trumps critics are putting him on blast after the former president hinted that he may pull out of the scheduled Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump late Sunday night fired off a rant aimed at debate host ABC on his Truth Social website, calling the network FAKE NEWS and attacking some of its personalities by name. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? he wrote, presumably referring to George Stephanopoulos, host of This Week and co-host of Good Morning America. Stephanopoulos is not one of the moderators of the debate. He also complained that ABC has a so-called Panel of Trump Haters. Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? he wrote. Stay tuned!!! The debate was initially set to be between him and President Joe Biden. Since Biden quit the race and Harris took over the ticket, Trump has wavered on the debate. CNNs Kaitlan Collins told Bill Maher on Friday that Trump was looking for an out, saying, he really does not want to do it and calling whether it happens an open question. On Sunday night, Trump seemed to suggest he might not do it and his critics mocked him over it: He is a total coward. It will be very embarrassing for him if he drops out. Its embarrassing that he is even considering it. https://t.co/EturpWlzJo MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 26, 2024 Here we go Donald Trump now suggests he won't do the ABC debate with Vice President Harris: And I ask, why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network? What a coward. pic.twitter.com/Ppyz7Kbarq Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 26, 2024 Seems like it. He watched her acceptance speech and had a meltdown. https://t.co/wMUXitXnfs Professor Darren Hutchinson (@dissentingj) August 26, 2024 the biggest chicken from the standpoint of chickens https://t.co/xQSzWy9M5Hpic.twitter.com/wgfuhnZ2ry K (@chunkled) August 26, 2024 CHICAGO Authorities in Chicago are offering a warning to residents across the city after several people were robbed during fake social media marketplace sales. According to Chicago police, during each robbery, the perpetrators listed an item for sale on a social media marketplace and instructed the buyer to meet a specific location, but when the buyer arrived they were confronted by a group of armed thieves who stole their belongings. Chicago police did not provide specific details on what social media marketplace was being used by the thieves. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Officers said they believe the crimes were conducted by a group of two to six people ranging in age from 15 to 35. The offenders all stood between 5-foot-6 and 6-foot-1 and were spotted wearing dark clothing with hoodies. At least one of the individuals responsible is believed to have dreadlocks or a braided hairstyle, police said. Police want to remind the public that a local police station is a safe location to meet up for social media marketplace transactions. Authorities warn the public never to pursue a fleeing assailant and instead work to remember any unique physical characteristics of the offenders. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Police say those who fall victim or witness a crime should call 911 immediately and provide authorities with a detailed description of the offenders. Anyone with information on the robberies is asked to contact police. Those with information that could help detectives in their investigation can also 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. EXETER, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) A two-car accident on Friday afternoon in the town of Exeter has sent five people to the hospital, according to New York State Police. Troopers out of Richfield Springs responded to the two-car accident at approximately 1:20 pm on Friday, August 23. Numerous fire personnel and EMS responded as well to the incident in the area of County Road 23 and Wing Hill Road in the town. A preliminary investigation found that the first car driven by Nicole Rinaldo of Ilion was making a left turn onto a sharp curve on Wing Hill Road. According to police, the driver did not see an SUV driven by 52-year-old Michael Salon of Herkimer coming from the opposite direction. The two vehicles collided with each other, causing Rinaldos car to catch on fire. Salons car caught on fire soon after. Police say that a passerby with a fire extinguisher assisted in getting Rinaldo and her family out of their car. Another person on the scene assisted Salon in getting out of his vehicle. Three LifeNet helicopters were called to transport the people involved to various hospitals. A total of five people, including both drivers, were transported to the following hospitals: Two people a female child and Salon were both transported to Albany Medical Center via helicopter. According to New York State Police, their injuries are deemed to be non-life-threatening. Two people a male child and Rinaldo were transported to Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown via ambulance. According to State Police, their injuries are also deemed to be non-life-threatening. A male child was transported to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse via helicopter. His injuries are deemed to be serious. New York State Police were assisted at the scene by LifeNet, the fire departments of Middlefield, Richfield Springs, Schuyler Lake and West Exeter, the Otsego County EMS corps, and the Otsego County Emergency Services. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WUTR/WFXV - CNYhomepage.com. In the first half of 2023, Boston had 18 homicides. In the first half of 2024, it had foura 77 percent drop. Mesa, Arizona, saw a drop of more than 70 percent, from 21 to six. Homicides in New Orleans fell by almost 40 percent. In Baltimore City, Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Phoenix, homicides declined by around 30 percent. These dramatic numbers come from a midyear crime report published by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which takes data from 69 police and sheriffs departments. In aggregate, the study documented a 17 percent drop in homicides. If the trend persists in the latter half of the year and holds true for the whole country, the total number of homicides will end up where it was in 2015, at around 15,500, and will represent the largest single-year decline in at least 65 years, exceeding the previous record declineof 12 percent, set just last yearby almost a third. Meaning: The entire Covid-19 homicide spike will have vanished. It may seem risky to extrapolate the midyear data from just 69 departments to the year-end results from 18,000 local departments, but historically, midyear data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and national year-end data track each other surprisingly well. (For those who want to dig into the weeds, I dive deep here.) The tl;dr: Barring some sort of shocking shift, 2024 seems on pace for historic or near-historic declines. The plunge is unambiguously good news. It is also unexpected good news. Rising homicide rates create the very real risk of vicious cycles that do not end simply because weve started a new statistical year. Homicide trends tend to be quite long. From 1963 to 1980, homicides rose every year except one. After a brief decline in the early 1980s, they rose again most years between 1985 and 1994, at which point all violent crime began a steady, decade-long drop. There are clear reasons for the cyclical nature of the phenomenon. One study in Chicago found evidence that each shooting led to an average of three more retaliatory and counter-retaliatory shootings; some led to dozens more; at least one led to over 100 more. Slowing and then reversing these cycles of revenge can be challenging, yet it happened over the past few years, not long after the chaos and violence of 202021, and with surprising rapidity. This is the sort of news that should spawn dozens of media pieces digging into what, exactly, caused so quick a reversal. Yet that is not what we have seen. Excluding pieces in Axios and Bloomberg, the MCCA report has largely gone unnoticed (and neither of those articles dug into why the decline occurred). To the extent these declines have popped up elsewhere in the media, it is less as a newsworthy development in and of itself and more as a means to fact-check false claims from Donald Trump. (Take, for instance, Vox on August 12: Trump says crime is out of control. The facts say otherwise.) Contrast this reticence with how the media handled the Covid-era homicide spike, which was covered by major outlets like The New York Times and NPR in multiple extensive pieces. That attention made sense: The 2020 surge was the largest increase in homicides in at least 55 years; no other years increase comes within half its size. It had huge human costs. But the present decline demands equal attentionand could be put to good political use by the Harris-Walz campaign, should it want to. There are important stories here. One of the most compelling explanations for the homicide declines that started in 2023 is a story of defundingbut not of the police. Contrary to claims that defund the police decreased budgets, police employment and especially police budgets have remained fairly constant; it was local nonpolice employment that was decimated during the pandemic. John Roman, a researcher at the University of Chicagos National Opinion Research Center, has argued that the surge in homicides seems closely linked to the Covid-driven layoffs of civilian government employees, whose jobs are not framed as law enforcement but who regularly help reduce crime and victimization: teachers, social workers, drug counselors, people running after-school programs. Furthermore, the timing of the homicide decline lines up with local nonpolice government employment returning to its pre-pandemic levels. Now, Im not saying Romans theory is the only explanation (and I doubt he would either), but it merits careful consideration. Yet as far as I can tell, it has received almost none. The asymmetry heredeep explorations of rising homicides, passing references in political stories to sharp declineshas very real political costs. Crime is a powerful issue politically, but also one that is quite geographically concentrated. Most people go through their days with little direct exposure to it. Unlike other politically salient topics such as the economy and employment, most peoples understanding of crime is heavily shaped by how the media chooses to frame and discuss a phenomenon they do not personally experience. If the media highlights the increases and downplays the declines, it will help produce an electorate that is excessively pessimistic about crime and how to respond to it. The politics of crime in New York in 2021 and 2022 highlights the role the media can play. In the wake of the Covid homicide spike, the states bail reform law faced intense oppositionand legislative rollbacksfrom politicians and other defenders of the criminal legal systems status quo. And its likely that appeals to peoples fears about crime helped propel Mayor Eric Adams to his razor-thin victory in 2021. They may have flipped just enough upstate House seats to give the GOP its increasingly narrow control of the House. As a 2022 Bloomberg piece pointed out, however, violent crime in New York City was far lower than in the 1980s and 1990s, and actually pretty stable during the Covid era. Media coverage does not correlate much, if at all, with actual crime trends. It does, however, seem tightly linked to politicians efforts to exploit crime as a political tool. That the media is not covering a decline in violence as much as an increase is perhaps unsurprising: If it bleeds it leads has been an adage for a long time. It is somewhat more surprising that the Harris-Walz campaign is not pushing these numbers more aggressively, because there are good reasons to do so. Not least among them, the decline offers a promising way for the Harris-Walz campaign to appeal both to those in the party who want to see radical changes to the criminal legal system and to those in the more centrist blocs, who want change but hold far more favorable views of police. The crime drop gives Harris room, should she want it, to distance herself from Bidens still-unenacted plan to fund 100,000 more police officers. At the same time, she can point to how the Biden administrations American Rescue Plan helped bolster police staffing (which would appeal to the moderates) while also providing funding to many police alternatives that likely contributed to the homicide decline (which would appeal to those desiring more aggressive reforms). If nothing else, good news on crime has thrown the Trump campaign off-balance. Many of the biggest declines have been in cities the Trump campaign regularly cites as examples of failed Democratic leadership: Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, New York City (which isnt in the MCCA data, but has reported a roughly 10 percent year-to-date drop in homicides). Just days ago, Trump canceled a meeting with The Detroit News to discuss crime once reporters started asking questions about data showing declines in Michigans crime rates. While one might expect Trump to stick with his usual line regardless of the data, his retreat from the interview suggests hes genuinely rattled by these declines. Barring a shocking surge in violence in the latter half of 2024, the country seems to be on the cusp of the largest one-year drop in homicides in a generation. If nobody gives this the attention it warrants, we should be rattled, too. This article was produced in partnership with the Garrison Project, an independent, nonpartisan organization addressing the crisis of mass incarceration and policing. Crime Reports: $700 worth of bovine, deer meat reported stolen in Abilene burglary Editors Note: The following arrest and incident reports were supplied by the Abilene Police Department. All information below comes from reports made by responding officers, and all suspects are considered not guilty unless determined otherwise in a court of law. Incidents 5800 block of Kala Drive Assault Family Violence A victim reported she was physically assaulted by her ex-boyfriend when he grabbed her throat and squeezed to the point where she couldnt breathe. 800 block of Sycamore Street Burglary of Habitation A citizen reported an unknown suspect used force to gain entry inside of a residence he was working on. 5600 block of S 1st Street Assault Family Violence 5600 block of S 1st Street Criminal Mischief A south Abilene business was vandalized by a known suspect who caused $800 in damages. 2600 block of S 21st Street Theft of Property Coins were reported stolen. 6900 block of Maple Street Theft of Property Coins were reported stolen. 2300 block of Hollis Drive Assault A victim said she was assaulted by a suspect, who did not wish to pursue charges. 3100 block of Over Street Theft of Property A vehicle was reported stolen. 3100 block of Buffalo Gap Road Assault Family Violence An assault was reported. 3300 block of Turner Drive Aggravated Assault Deadly Weapon A report for aggravated assault was taken after a call for service. 900 block of ES 27th Street Assault Family Violence Officers responded to a disturbance in south Abilene where a victim alleged she was assaulted by her boyfriend. 4200 block of Woods Pl Assault A victim reported he was assaulted by a suspect in south Abilene. 1800 block of Santos Street Assault A report for assault was taken in south Abilene. 5300 block of Hunters Circle Assault Family Violence A report for assault was taken in south Abilene. 1400 block of Pioneer Drive Burglary of Building A suspect was arrested for evading arrest, resisting, burglary of a building, and burglary of a habitation. 1500 block of Cherry Street Burglary of Habitation A victim reported an unknown suspect took tools, a lawn mower, and $700 worth of bovine and deer meat. UNDISCLOSED LOCATION Injury to Child/Elderly/Disabled A victim reported she was assaulted by her boyfriend during a disturbance. 1200 block of Jeanette Street Criminal Mischief A victim reported two unknown suspects caused $250 worth of damage. 800 of Grape Street Assault Family Violence A suspect was arrested for assaulting his wife at their place of employment. 4200 block of Wood Place Assault An assault report was taken in south Abilene. 00 block Lakewood Drive Assault Family Violence A victim reported her ex-boyfriend caused her injury and pain. 200 block of S 22nd Street Assault 2100 block of S Willis Street Assault Family Violence A report for assault family violence was taken in south Abilene. 3600 block of Cedar Run Road Assault Family Violence 2100 block of Jameson Street Deadly Conduct 800 block of S Treadaway Boulevard Assault A report for assault was taken in south Abilene. 600 block of N Pioneer Drive Assault Family Violence A victim was assaulted after an argument. 2300 block of Jeanette Street Burglary of Vehicle Police responded to a burglary call where a suspect is accused of breaking the window to a vehicle and taking several tools. 5400 block of Questa Drive Theft of Property A suspect reported a group of juvenile suspects knowingly damaged his property. 900 block of Bruce Way Violation of Bond/Protective Order A victim contacted police after her husband violated a protective order. 1400 block of Cedar Street Criminal Mischief A victim got into an altercation with the father of her unborn child, where she allegedly damaged his vehicle. 1600 block of Hwy 351 Assault A victim was assaulted by an unknown group of people. 1300 block of Buccaneer Drive Burglary of Habitation A house was broken into in south Abilene. 2000 block of S Clack Street Burglary of Vehicle A mirror was reported stolen. 5300 block of Memorial Drive- Theft of Property $100 worth of cash was stolen. Arrests Brandon Mast Public Intoxication David Cargill Public Intoxication Charles Zara Assault Family Violence, Warrant, Failure to Identify Benjamin Hernandez Harboring Runaway Child Noah Perez- Assault Family Violence Crystal Bhandari Warrant, Possession of Controlled Substance Kaylea Ward Warrant Valeria Valerio Possession of Controlled Substance, Tampering/Fabricating Physical Evidence Sierra Moser Possession of Controlled Substance Rico King Aggravated Assault Deadly Weapon Kacy Hood Public Intoxication Jasmine Sanchez Driving While Intoxicated David Nichols Possession of Controlled Substance Charles Carnagey Public Intoxication Justin Kerry Evading Arrest Detention, Resist Arrest Search or Transport, Burglary of Habitation, Burglary of Building Cesar Montoya Assault Family Violence Bobbie Fletcher Warrant Gregory Guzman Driving While Intoxicated, Warrant Tristen Carnagey Assault Family Violence Patrick Wilson Public Intoxication Slater Bethel Possession of Controlled Substance Alyssa Salazar Assault Family Violence, Assault Threat/Contact Victoria Hudson Warrant Cornelius Wooden Manufacture Delivery of Controlled Substance Merilu Pratt Warrant Juan Torres Noise Violation, Evading Arrest Detention Justin Babb- Assault Family Violence, Assault Peace Officer Nathaniel Vinson Driving While Intoxicated Emily Krakat Assault Family Violence Juan Hernandez Public Intoxication Henry Webber Driving While Intoxicated Gabrielle Wright Warrant Luis Benitez Possession of Marijuana, Unlawful Carrying of Weapon Zachary Leggett Driving While Intoxicated Eric Trevino Warrant Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Little has changed since the conception of many of Ecuador's indigenous communities, with nature at the forefront of many. From the mountain top, elders of Angochagua, Celso Charro and Ines Granda, overlook their community. Photograph by Ben Pipe Senora! Wait! Im on the side of an Ecuadorian mountain and a woman in full Andean dress has just streaked past on a motorbike, her peacock-feather hat wrapped in a black bag against the rain. The woman, named Mayra Perugachi, stops, turns and laughs at our team with our cameras and hopeful faces. She grins readily for her close-up, while smoothing her embroidered maroon skirt and adjusting her gold beaded necklace. We follow her up the mountain, as we share the same destination: La Magdalena, a community within the parroquia (parish) of Angochagua, in Imbabura province. Communities across Angochagua offer visitors a glimpse into the lives of Indigenous Andean Kichwa people, including food, crafts and rituals. We do trekking, horse-riding, milking cows, wool combing, says Tania Endara, community leader of La Magdalena, as she ushers us into La Casa de los Girasoles: a family home and tourism centre. Each house tries to show their normal lives. The women of the Angochagua community are recognised globally for their weaving and brightly coloured embroidery. Photograph by Ben Pipe On a woven tablecloth are jugs of blackberry juice and baskets of tortillas de tiesto, the fluffy corn tortillas that have been a staple here for centuries. Everything has been made by our own hands since pre-Inca times, says Tania. We are proud of our culture. Proud though they may be, the Andean Kichwa culture is under threat from technology and globalisation. Old people speak fully in Kichwa, says Tania. But the younger people speak in a mixture of Kichwa and Spanish, and the youngest fully in Spanish. Tourism gives the Kichwa an economic incentive to maintain their traditions and language. After breakfast, we drive further into the mountains to meet the community of Angochagua, which shares its name with the wider parish. We pull up and hike a short distance to a hilltop wreathed with cloud. As we arrive, were played in by the galloping rhythms of a cumbia band: guitar, accordion and a metal guiro with rasping ridges. Community leader Milton Chuquin calls for hush as he begins a ritual to cleanse bad energy and remind those gathered what is truly important a spiritual reset, so to speak. Scattered in a spiral before him are the natural riches of Ecuador: fruits, herbs and rose petals, plus a water-filled clay pot and a harmonica. The spiral represents our lives and our needs, he says. We need food, water and air, yes but we do not live just to breathe. We live to make. At this point, he picks up the harmonica and blows a solitary note. Even the birds seem to have fallen silent. What is money, when you reach the end? he cries. What is money, if it has been made by exploiting the forests, by exploiting the Earth? Our responsibility is to serve the planet. Imelda Chuquin, a member the Rinconoda Community, Angochagua Parochia, Imbabura Province in Ecuador. Photograph by Ben Pipe Carlos Chuquin, a member of the Rinconoda Community, Angochagua Parochia, Imbabura Province in Ecuador. Photograph by Ben Pipe With the ritual over, the band strikes up again and the villagers dance around the spiral. Really, we are just passengers on this Earth, Milton says to me. We want people to learn our ways so that they take greater care of our planet. We descend to the community of La Rinconada, known for its traditional ceramics. At the Allpa Manka studio, visitors learn how clay vessels are made, and can try making them themselves. Craftsman David Guaman picks up a dull grey-coloured rock. We take the clay from these mountains, just as we did centuries ago, he says. He smashes it with a wooden stick, then sifts the granules through a metal pan, ready to be mixed with water. Ive been joined by Jose Alvear, Angochagua parish president. You dont see much plastic here, he says, smiling, as David spreads out a leather hide, upon which he begins to knead the clay. The Chilco Community, Angochagua Parochia of the Imbabura Province in Ecuador, gather together to play music. Photograph by Ben Pipe Our goal is to maintain the legacy of our ancestors among young people, Jose continues. Tourism enhances our economy and allows us to show our culture and roots to the world. Of the various communities in Angochagua, perhaps the most documented is Zuleta. The Hacienda Zuleta estate is still partly owned by the Plaza Lasso family, which gave Ecuador two presidents; the latter, Galo Plaza Lasso, instituted land reforms that returned large tracts of land to Indigenous families. Indigenous Zuletenos are known for embroidery: they sell their wares locally and teach their skills to visitors at the hacienda (now a hotel). At La Casa del Bordado, one of the many embroidery shops in the village of Zuleta, I meet Tania Bozmediano and Maria Chachalo, quietly sewing among a riot of floral handkerchiefs. Everything we do is according to the natural environment we have, the flowers and the mountains, Tania tells me. Every garment we make is unique; you will not find it anywhere else. Around 45, 46 years: thats how long this job has sustained me, my family, my children and their education, adds Maria. Not on a large scale, no. But on a level, at least, where we find that we dont want for much. This paid content article was created for Ecuador Tourism. It does not necessarily reflect the views of National Geographic, National Geographic Traveller (UK) or their editorial staffs. To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only). More cuts by Scottish and UK ministers to culture spending will lead to job losses, exclusion and boring art, the head of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has warned. Speaking as the 2024 Fringe came to a close, chief executive Shona McCarthy said the fragility of the performing arts community was palpable. Although 2.6 million tickets were issued during this years event, she said there was no doubt that the current environment for artists across the UK is of great concern. She added that an outward veneer of success cannot mask the struggle for artists to emerge, let alone thrive, in the UK right now. Nicola Benedetti, the world-renowned violinist and director of the Edinburgh International Festival, also expressed concern about a tumultuous backdrop of funding crisis. Their interventions came after Creative Scotland shut down a major grant for freelance artists earlier this month. The agency also warned that nearly 10 million had been cut from its budget. More than 100 organisations and artists signed an open letter to John Swinney, the First Minister, Angus Robertson, the SNP Culture Secretary, and Kate Forbes, the Economy Secretary, warning of the impact. They said the SNP government was betraying promises from Humza Yousaf, the former first minister, that funding for Scotlands arts sector would grow by 100 million. Shona McCarthy warned that the 'fragility' of the performing arts community was 'palpable' - Paul Faith/PA Archive In another open letter, Ms McCarthy said: If the UK continues on an upward trajectory of cuts to arts education, and Scotland continues to decimate investment in the sector, breaking promises of support; then we are on a direct course to job losses, exclusion and boring art that is only the privilege of those who can afford to be part of it, as performers or as audiences. Here at the Fringe and across the UK, the pipeline of creative potential is under threat. Artistic risk and ambition is hamstrung by an operating context that squeezes out emerging artists that have made the Fringe globally renowned, unique and joyful. Tumultuous backdrop This year 3,746 shows were registered at the Fringe and 60 countries were represented on stage. But Ms McCarthy warned artists were bearing the brunt of the cumulative effect of the relentless rise in the cost of everything. From the availability of affordable accommodation, blunt policy changes which have consequences for major events, to continuous public sector cuts; we need to ensure that the hard-won and fragile success isnt met with complacency by those who can influence change, she said. Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Festival said it had attracted more than 125,000 people and showcased 21 world, European, UK and Scottish premieres. Thousands of people attend Edinburgh's Fringe Festival every year - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Europe Amid a drive to make the festival more affordable and accessible to the broadest possible audience, more than half of tickets were sold for 30 or less. Double the number of free tickets were taken up by NHS staff, charity workers and low-income benefit recipients. Ms Benedetti said: Against a tumultuous backdrop of funding crisis, two aspects of our identity were reinforced and strengthened. We are deeply rooted in Scotland, and will continue to present the best of Scottish talent alongside our international counterparts. Francesca Hegyi, the international festivals chief executive, said: As we celebrate this years festival, we must also recognise the current fragility of the Scottish cultural sector. With 50 per cent of our 2024 artists hailing from Scotland, the festival relies on exceptional local talent both on and off the stage and we are deeply concerned about the ongoing survival of our creative community. A Scottish Government spokesman said it already provides significant funding to Creative Scotland each year and will continue to do so. They added: The Culture Secretary is in regular contact with the sector to discuss the issues it currently faces and how to address those challenges. We will continue to do everything within our powers and resources to protect our world-class arts and culture sector. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. The icon of the Telegram app can be seen on the screen of a smartphone. Fabian Sommer/dpa Telegram founder Pavel Durov remains in police custody after being arrested in France two days ago over alleged offences relating to the messaging app, local media reported on Monday, citing investigators. Police custody for Durov, who is wanted in France and was detained after arriving at Paris' Le Bourget airport on Saturday on arrival from Azerbaijan, was reportedly extended on Sunday evening. His arrest came amid a preliminary inquest into Telegram's lack of moderation and cooperation with law enforcement regarding drug trafficking, fraud and child-abuse offences on the social media platform, according to local media. In a statement released following Durov's arrest, Telegram said the online messaging service was complying with EU laws and had not violated any regulations. Telegram said in a post on X on Sunday evening that it "abides by EU laws," including the Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to ensure that platforms remove illegal content from their pages quickly. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform," Telegram said. "Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," the company added. Telegram has long faced accusations of not taking a strong enough stance against hate speech and other illegal activities. The company said its moderation was "within industry standards" and was "constantly improving." According to reports, French authorities launched preliminary investigations into Durov some time ago, under suspicion that he was complicit in drug trafficking, fraud and several offences relating to child abuse due to a lack of intervention at Telegram and insufficient cooperation with the authorities. It was initially unclear why Durov, who was born in Russia and holds French citizenship, had travelled to Paris while being wanted in France. The Paris public prosecutor's office initially refused to comment on the case. The Russian embassy in France has taken up the case, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Moscow quoted by the Russian state news agency TASS. The French authorities have been called upon to allow consular access to Durov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "The only problem is that Durov also has French citizenship," she said. "Accordingly, France will regard him first and foremost as its citizen." Durov's relationship with the Russian authorities is considered difficult. Durov and his brother Nikolai founded Telegram after launching VK, a Russian-language social media platform. Telegram is one of the most important online networks in Russia and is used by many authorities and politicians. Ukrainian authorities, politicians and the military have also been using Telegram extensively to publish information on the state of the full-scale Russian invasion. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. The representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) once again visited persons of Armenian origin under arrest in Baku, the head of the public relations department of the ICRC office Ilaha Huseynova told Trend. Meanwhile, it is reported that personal meetings were held with the detainees, and conditions were created for them to communicate with their families. Under its mandate, the ICRC assesses the treatment and conditions of detention of these persons. The ICRC also creates conditions for these persons to re-establish or continue contact with their families. According to ICRC procedures, observations and recommendations for visits are transmitted and discussed only with the detaining party, the information emphasizes. To note, in July, ICRC members visited persons of Armenian origin reported by the Azerbaijani side. Personal meetings were held with the detainees, and conditions were created for them to communicate with their families. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) When gunfire attacks took down two electric substations in North Carolina in 2022, 45,000 people were left without power. One woman using an oxygen tank died. Just this past February, investigators released a photo of a van seen on surveillance camera near the scene of the crime, but there are still no arrests. This led 6 News to investigate the safety of the power grid in Tennessee. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls, gas pumps and schools are just some of the things that could suddenly shut down in a power grid failure. Sevier County launching new resource initiative on Overdose Awareness Day We wanted to find answers to the following questions: How secure is our power grid? What safety mechanisms are in place to protect us in Tennessee if it fails? We traveled to different parts of the state to get some answers, starting in Nashville. At Tennessee Emergency Management Agency headquarters, we went behind the scenes inside the Emergency Operations Center. It was quiet during our visit, but no one knows what tomorrow might bring. This is where officials go when an emergency is activated. TEMA Director Patrick Sheehan said his office and law enforcement encourage you to speak up if you see something unusual. Anytime something seems suspicious, dont worry about over-reporting, Sheehan said. So, if you see something, you hear something suspicious, if you are out for a walk or driving, you see some damage to a substation, let that utility provider know. Let local law enforcement know. The goal is to protect the grid which Sheehan said takes all utility companies working together. Very close to the TEMA offices is the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, so the cooperatives work together. Tennessee Valley Authority works with all of their customers and their utility providers to try to make sure that theyre communicating in real time the impacts on usage in the grid, and if theyre experiencing problems so they can be responsive together, Sheehan said. Often, bad weather is the culprit, like in December 2022 when Tennessee faced rolling blackouts during winter storm Elliot. We have plans in place and when we have unusual situations arise, then were going to work to protect the grid and make the discomfort and inconvenience as minimal as possible, said Chris Jones, President and CEO of Middle Tennessee Electric Cooperative. Still, they were the worst power outages in TVAs 90-year history. TVA invested more than $120 million in 2023 to prepare for future cold weather in grid reliability updates, warming technology, and equipment upgrades. However, the biggest concern by far is cybersecurity attacks. Tennessee grad Butch Wilmore stuck in space until February with fellow astronaut TVA is the largest federal energy utility in the country. Its a huge target. We get attacked from a cyber standpoint about a million times a day, said Aaron Melda, Senior Vice President of Transmission and Power Supply for TVA. Melda showed us TVAs Security Operations Center, in Chattanooga, which keeps track of 17,000 miles of wires throughout a seven-state region and 500 substations. Most of those million cyberattacks a day, Melda said, are low-level pings that arent a threat, but 10% get elevated, meaning TVA needs to take action. Melda said that the attacks have not led to any power loss, but, who makes up that 10%? Its everything from, youve got a computer I want to see what I can do. Literally not really intending to threaten anything, all the way to some of the big nations we know that are threats to the U.S. that are deliberately trying to see what they can do, Melda explained. Man charged after domestic incident, police pursuit in Knoxville Inside the S.O.C. staff can pinpoint problems even in your neighborhood, 24/7. The question we wanted answered is simple: Are we safe? I would say we are safe. What I would tell you is there are more threats than ever, but we continue to evolve as those threats evolve, Melda said. We continue to build higher fences, more locks, more controls, of course, we have an advantage at TVA. We have a police division thats able to help us with that and also the advancement of technology. Just like you go into a Walmart now, youre on video the whole time. You come near any of our facilities, youre on video. What can you do? Report any unusual activity or damage at your neighborhood substation. Electric companies say always be prepared for short-term outages. Know where your flashlights are and have a simple emergency kit with basics, including a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WATE 6 On Your Side. When D.L. Hughley Publicly Apologized for Repeating Lies About Kamala Harris, It Was a Cautionary Tale For Us All Who wouldve thought wed see the day comedian D.L. Hughley actually admits he was wrong?! The actor is known for his strong and divisive takes, but on the final night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Hughley sang a different tune about Vice President Kamala Harris. If you told 15-year-old me that [Id] be on stage supporting a prosecutor and a teacher... theres no way that I wouldve believed you, Hughley said during his Thursday night speech. The actor went on to say he made unfair assumptions about Harris without actually doing any research first. Like many of Harris criticizers, Hughley often repeated the false claim that as district attorney, Harris sent thousands of Black men to prison for marijuana offenses, according to an interview with DJ Vlad. The actor said he was simply repeating what he heard instead of taking the time to fact check. The truth is out of the total 1,956 convictions for misdemeanor and felony marijuana offenses during Harris run, only 45 were sent to prison, many of whom werent even Black. The Soul Plane actor told the DNC I was wrong about Harris. Apparently, the vice president invited him to her house where ...she put her hand on my shoulder, and she asked me to do some research, he recalled on stage. DL Hughley apologizes for not doing his research on Kamala Harris record during the #DNC: pic.twitter.com/4vjPA1T5zJ philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 23, 2024 Before then, Hughley admitted to never doing research on the Democratic nominee. He continued saying research is something a lot of people I know had never done before. Imagine attacking someones character without a single Google search. The truth is Hughley isnt alone and serves as a cautionary tale for many of us, who just run with what we hear or read on social media. According to a 2023 study conducted by Gallup, only 32 percent of Americans actually pay attention to politics. With less than half of the country being politically engaged, most voters cast their ballots without the necessary information to make informed voting decisions Hughley included. After doing his investigation on Harris, Hughley said he changed his mind. Im so very glad I was wrong because, Kamala, you give me hope for the future, he continued. Hughley supported President Joe Bidens bid for reelection profusely, even calling George Clooney and others cowards for suggesting the 81-year-old drop out of the race. But when Harris stepped up to the plate, Hughley simply wasnt convinced. Now, the Original Kings of Comedy star confessed he was loud and dead wrong about her. I believe that your apology should be as loud as your accusation, and Im here apologizing in front of the world damn world, he proclaimed to a roaring crowd. To Hughleys credit, it takes a lot of guts to stand on a national stage and admit you were wrong. Although Hughley had a change of heart, some online had mixed emotions about it. On X, user @TaylorInChief said the people who he impacted with his harmful rhetoric were not watching the DNC to hear his change of heart. I think what irritates me the most about DL Hughleys apology is that the people who he impacted with his harmful rhetoric were not watching the DNC to hear his change of heart. Theyre still where he left them or even further damaged by his misdirection. https://t.co/ABz0ivutia the prototype. (@TaylorInChief) August 23, 2024 In his role as a radio personality and well-known comedian, Hughley mightve underestimated his impact on his listeners and voters. A Pew Research study found Black men vote at disproportionally lower rates than any other group of voters. Keeping this in mind, Hughley spewing falsehoods about Harris couldve negatively impacted her more than he truly knew. As Harris is hoping to engage more Black male voters, Hughleys endorsement could help convince more Black men and other disengaged Americans to join her cause after, of course, doing their own research. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. DAs office weighs in on seeking death penalty in Shadyside baby death despite statewide moratorium PhD student Nicole Virzi flew in from California to see her friends twin boys. Now, shes charged in one of their deaths. >> Woman charged with killing baby in Shadyside, injuring his twin Channel 11 told you last week that the Allegheny County District Attorneys Office is seeking the death penalty in Virzis case. It was something that I hoped wouldnt be sought, but I expected that it was a possibility, Virzis defense attorney, David Shrager told Channel 11. David Shrager is Virzis defense attorney and says she maintains her innocence. Shrager called her family to tell them about the death penalty decision. I prepared them for this possibility. And we discussed the potential outcomes, and they are 100% supportive of their daughter. They love their daughter. Theyre doing everything they can to support her, Shrager said. According to detectives, Virzi also hurt Leons twin brother. While the parents took that baby to the hospital, thats when police say she killed Leon. As weve reported on, former Governor Tom Wolf issued a moratorium on the death penalty years ago, and Governor Josh Shapiro has agreed to uphold it. Whether or not theres a moratorium is a political decision. The DA probably has to make that decision based on the family, the law, and leave the politics to the politicians, Shrager said. We asked the DAs office why hes adding another penalty to the countys list if it may never happen. A spokesperson told Channel 11 that the decision was made after careful and serious consideration. She added that they arent making a political statement nor playing games, and have taken the decision seriously considering the law. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Sheetz holds surprise pop-up concert in Bethel Park Saw Mill Run Boulevard closure could delay some Pittsburgh Public School bus routes Playa Bowls opens in Pittsburghs Strip District VIDEO: Yellow Piano installation in Pittsburgh pays tribute to hostages in Gaza through music DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Dacusville Farm Show returns this weekend in Pickens Co. PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) The Dacusville Heritage Association is welcoming friends, family and neighbors to support their annual Dacusville Farm Show this weekend. The 10th Annual Dacusvill Farm show begins Saturday, August 31 and ends Sunday, September 1st. The Parade of Power will start at noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Organizers said the event is full of family fun, farm heritage, exhibitors showcasing their tractors, steam engines, cars, trucks, wonderful craft and food vendors with a kids play area and more. Admission is $5 according to the association. Parking is free and children along with individuals with a military ID get into the event for free. For more information call (864) 270-4455, text (864) 414-6063 or visit the website at dacusvilleheritageassociation.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 WSPA 7NEWS. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Monday on the Daily 8, were looking at an apple juice recall impacting 25 states, free tuition given to GRCC students, Michigans most notorious train robber and more. You can watch the full Daily 8 for Aug. 26, 2024, in the video player above or check out any of the stories mentioned below: Each weekday, the Daily 8 brings you the top eight stories we are keeping an eye on in and around West Michigan. Join us again Tuesday for the Daily 8. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Summer scorcher: Dangerous heat to head to Northeast after slamming Midwest Extreme heat is gripping the Midwest before moving into the Northeast. Chicago is in the center of an excessive heat warning that stretches north to Madison, Wisconsin, and south to Springfield, Illinois. PHOTO: Seven-year-old Harper Perkins, center, and her sister Brielle of Princeton, MN, cool off in a misting fountain at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, MN, Aug. 26, 2024. (Mark Vancleave/AP) PHOTO: People work to cool off in the Lake Michigan waters at Kohler-Andrae State Park in Sheboygan, WI, Aug. 26, 2024. (Gary C. Klein/USA Today Network) The heat index -- what temperature it feels like with humidity -- soared to a scorching 115 degrees in Chicago on Tuesday. Chicago's actual temperature hit 99 degrees, breaking the city's daily record of 97 degrees. In Detroit, public school students were released three hours early on Tuesday due to the heat. MORE: 1 dead as landslide sweeps across roads, into homes in Alaska, officials say Next, the dangerous temperatures will move east. On Wednesday, the heat index is forecast to climb to 104 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee; 100 degrees in Indianapolis; 105 in Philadelphia; and 103 in Washington, D.C. PHOTO: extreme heat map (ABC News) D.C. may hit a new record-high actual temperature of 100 degrees. By Thursday, the Northeast will cool down. But temperatures will stay in the 90s in the South as the week ends. PHOTO: record August heat map (ABC News) There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher. Last year marked the most heat-related deaths in the U.S. on record, according to JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. Click here for tips on how to stay safe in the heat. Summer scorcher: Dangerous heat to head to Northeast after slamming Midwest originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen: 'We live in the century of Africa' Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, attends the meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Denmark intends to significantly expand its engagement in Africa, also aiming to counteract the influence of China and Russia on the continent. Jens Buttner/dpa Denmark intends to significantly expand its engagement in Africa, also aiming to counteract the influence of China and Russia on the continent. The Danish government, when presenting a new comprehensive Africa strategy on Monday, stated that Denmark, like the European Union as a whole, must become better at responding to the wishes and priorities of African countries. According to the strategy, equal partnerships with African states are a central component. The strategy covers trade, migration, conflict resolution and adaptation to the effects of climate change. As part of the new orientation, Denmark is opening embassies in Senegal, Tunisia and Rwanda. The "diplomatic muscle" at the embassies in important countries such as Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana will also be strengthened, the Danish Foreign Ministry said. By contrast, the embassies in Burkina Faso and Mali will be closed following a series of military coups. "We live in the century of Africa," explained Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen and Minister for Development Cooperation Dan Jrgensen, in the foreword of the strategy. They said that Africa's geopolitical relevance has never been greater in view of growing populations and economies as well as an equally growing self-confidence. A stronger commitment by Germany and Europe in Africa remains an important goal for the government in Berlin as well. This is not only in light of decades of Chinese involvement on the continent, for example, when it comes to securing so-called rare earth elements. Here, Germany and the EU aim to become more independent, especially in connection with the expansion of renewable energy - a project where Denmark, as a pioneer in wind power, could be an important partner. From a security policy perspective, Russian involvement in Africa is also highly problematic for Berlin and Brussels. DANVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) When Justin and Kasey Padgett married in 2018, they knew they wanted to have their own children, but they said God had a different plan. We tried to have a baby on our own, and it just did not work out for us. And so, we applied to become foster parents in 2020, said Kasey Padgett. Then one day, in March 2021, one of Justins 5th-grade students at Highland Elementary School, told him something not all teachers are prepared to hear. Jayden called me over to his Chromebook and said, Hey, Ive got to get adopted,' he said. So, that night, he went home and told Kasey what was going on. But if they decided to adopt Jayden, they wouldnt just be adopting him, theyd be adopting his three other siblings as well. Id been praying for a very long time to become a mom, and I really felt like that was my answer from God. As soon as he said that, I was like, Okay, this is where its at. Were going to do this,' said Kasey. Read more of the latest Lexington & central Kentucky news By the end of July 2021, the kids moved in with their new foster parents and on March 3, 2022, they were officially adopted. Becoming, as Justin calls it, a party of six. To come to my school and to be in my 5th-grade class, I mean, it wasnt a coincidence for sure. God had a plan for us and for these kids, and its been remarkable, said Justin. It wasnt an easy road for now-16-year-old Hailey, 14-year-old Jayden, 12-year-old Alexis and 9-year-old Jase. They ended up in the foster care system after facing abuse and neglect from their biological family. But now, the kids said theyre in a family where they feel stable and have parents they can trust. I got a family that loves me, and that takes care of me. So, Yeah, its way better than before, Jayden said. Since the family has officially been together for a little over 2 years, Justin and Kasey both stress the importance of adopting and not overlooking older kids. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Adoption is such a, a very its a high need in the state of Kentucky and across the nation of Kentucky especially, said Justin. So, we need people that are willing to take, take that, that, that leap of faith and, and get involved. If it werent for that leap of faith, they mightve still been a party of two today. We thank God for everything because without him, were nothing, said Kasey. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. DARE COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) Dare County deputies made a traffic stop that resulted in a drug bust. Around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, deputies stopped a vehicle for speeding in a work zone on Highway 64 just west of the Midway Intersection. A Dare County Sheriffs Office K-9 was deployed during the stop and alerted deputies to a controlled substance inside the vehicle. Deputies searched the vehicle and recovered and seized psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The driver of the vehicle, Kyle Orville Laviana, 28, of West Suffield, Connecticut, was arrested and charged with felony possession of a schedule I controlled substance. He was also cited for speeding as well as possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. Laviana was given a $4000 secured bond. Continue to check WAVY.com for 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 WAVY.com. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. Azerbaijan strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pakistan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry wrote on its page on X, Trend reports. "Appalled by the horrifying news of a terrorist attack that killed dozens in Balochistan, Pakistan. We vehemently condemn all forms and manifestations of terrorism threat, offer heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this awful attack, and express our firm solidarity with brotherly Islamic Republic of Pakistan," the statement said. As a result of the militant attack on passenger buses in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, according to the latest data, 51 people were killed. David Jolly: What the American people need to see in Harris' first interview as a presidential candidate This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 25 episode of "Alex Witt Reports." This week, Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to sit down for her first interview as a presidential candidate. Since entering the race, Harris has been criticized for her lack of interviews and press conferences. Earlier this month, she promised to sit down for an interview by the end of August. With less than a week to go, NBC News is now reporting Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, will take part in a joint interview in the coming days, though its unclear with whom or precisely when that will happen. This first interview is critically important for the Harris campaign. It could help keep up the incredible momentum shes built since entering the race. Its also a very important moment for the country. Republicans and Democrats alike need to see Harris engaged in an interview with a sober, serious reporter. She needs to be asked tough questions and provide answers to the American people on the record. Have any of her policy positions shifted since she ran for president in 2019? If so, why did those shifts occur? Im sure shell get pressed on her role within the Biden-Harris administration on hot-button issues like immigration and the border. She may even get questions on foreign policy and the Afghanistan withdrawal. But, in some ways, its more about how the vice president answers these questions than the actual answers themselves. There will likely be some uncomfortable moments for Harris, but its those moments that are the most important. The American people need to see how she handles being asked tough questions and how she reacts under pressure. The Trump campaigns first attack ad against Harris included an exchange between the vice president and NBC News Lester Holt during a 2021 interview. When Harris was asked by Holt why she had not visited the border as vice president she quipped back that she had also not been to Europe. Is that the Harris well see this week defensive under pressure? Or will we see the strength and directness shes displayed over the last four weeks? This article was originally published on MSNBC.com (Bloomberg) -- David Sacks will host a fundraiser with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, the latest effort from the venture capitalist to help Donald Trump return to the White House. Most Read from Bloomberg Tickets for the Sept. 8 event in Los Angeles go for as much as $50,000 a person, which includes being listed as part of the host committee, participating in a roundtable discussion, as well as having a photo and reception with Vance, according to an invitation obtained by Bloomberg News. Former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. CEO Jeffrey Sprecher are co-hosting the event. Another fundraiser for Vance is slated for Sept. 12 in New York City, with Palantir Technologies Inc. adviser Jacob Helberg as a co-host. Tickets for that event go for upwards of $250,000 per couple, according to the invitation. Spokespeople for Sacks and Loeffler didnt respond to requests for comment. A representative for Helberg confirmed his role for the event, and a spokesperson for Sprecher declined to comment. The fundraiser comes as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee after President Joe Bidens exit from the contest, has pulled ahead in the money race against Trump. The Harris campaign and its affiliates raised $82 million during the Democratic National Convention last week, pushing their total fundraising haul to $540 million since Biden announced he would step aside. Harris money-raising boom has reshaped the race and comes as polls show her largely erasing the lead Trump held nationally and in key swing states. In July, Harris raised $310 million, more than double the $138.7 million Trump raised that month. Harris started August with $377 million cash on hand, the largest war chest at this point in an election cycle, and more than the $327 million Trump reported in the bank. Helberg and Sacks highlight how many business leaders who were once reluctant to back Trump have rallied behind him in this years election. Sacks also spoke at this years Republican National Convention. Trump has enjoyed more visible support from the technology industry this cycle a contrast to 2016 and Sacks has been a key player in bolstering the former presidents fundraising with that group. He hosted an event at his San Francisco home in June for Trump, with tickets that went up to $300,000. It brought in $12 million for Trumps reelection event, according to an attendee. Earlier: San Francisco Fetes Trump on Post-Conviction Fundraising Tour Sacks has also been closely associated with Vance, an investor-turned-senator from Ohio, who was the recipient of most of the almost $2 million Sacks made in political contributions to national candidates in 2022 and 2023. --With assistance from Lizette Chapman and Anne VanderMey. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. On This Day, Aug. 26: 19th Amendment goes into effect More than 25,000 women take to New York City's Fifth Avenue on October 23, 1915, advocating for womens voting rights. On August 26, 1920, eight days after it was ratified, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect -- giving women the right to vote. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI Aug. 26 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1920, eight days after it was ratified, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect -- giving women the right to vote. In 1964, Democrats nominated U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey. They won easily in November. In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected the 263rd pope and chose the name John Paul I. He died 33 days later. In 1983, catastrophic flooding in France and Spain destroyed much of the old town of Bilbao, Spain, when the Ria de Bilbao burst its banks. Dozens died. On August 26, 1964, Democrats nominated U.S. President Lyndon Johnson (L) and Hubert Humphrey. They won easily in November. UPI File Photo In 1996, a court in South Korea sentenced former President Chun Doo-hwan to death for the coup that put him in power. Chun's death sentence was commuted in 1997. In 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed decrees recognizing the independence of Georgia breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Medvedev said granting them independence was an act of necessity and he urged other nations to make similar diplomatic moves. In 2014, Palestinian militants and Israel agreed to end seven weeks of hostilities that left more than 2,000 people dead. The cease-fire was arranged in Egypt. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI In 2015, a former employee of WDBJ-TV in Virginia opened fire on his former colleagues on live television, killing news reporter Alison Parker and videographer Adam Ward. Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed at the time of the shooting, was injured. In 2021, a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport killed more than 180 people, including 13 U.S. service members working to evacuate people as the United States withdrew from the Afghanistan War. Flowers and balloons can be seen on the the grave of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee at Arlington National Cemetary's Section 60. Gee was one of 13 U.S. service members killed outside of Kabul's airport on August 26, 2021. File Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Dayton police have released an update on an officer-involved shooting that happened last week. The incident occurred late Friday night in the De Soto Bass Apartments. Officers arrived at the scene on Custer Place where they say Eric Grady had a gun. They told him to drop it, but he refused. Thats when officers shot Grady in the leg. Body of missing swimmer recovered from Madison Lakes On Monday afternoon, Dayton police released 911 calls and body camera footage of the moments leading up to the shooting. Chief Kamran Afzal says they got several calls about a man outside with what witnesses believed was an Uzi. Officers responded twice, not finding anyone suspicious during their first response. Hours later, they returned after another 911 call was made. Thats when they located Grady. Officers repeatedly told him to drop his weapon, and he refused. Shortly after, one officer fired three shots, and another once, hitting him in the leg. Seconds later, officers called for medics. Police say they recovered two weapons at the scene, both Rugers. One had a drum with 45 rounds and the other had an extended magazine. Afzal says while officers dont want to fire their weapons, the public and officers have rules they must follow in these circumstances. You have to abide by directions. And he definitely should not be pointing a gun at anybody let alone an officer, or charging an officer with a knife. Any of that stuff. Comply. And if you have an issue with the behavior of any officer in the nation, especially in Dayton, we have mechanisms to address them, said Afzal. Fraudulent parking violation placed on local vehicle The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office is conducting a criminal investigation of the shooting, which will be followed by an internal investigation conducted by Dayton PDs Professional Standards Bureau. Grady is expected to recover and could face several charges. There has been no word on what those charges may be. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced that detectives have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a 1-year-old boy in Southeast D.C. On Aug. 22, just before 11:30 a.m., officers were called to a home in the 1800 block of 18th St. for an unconscious child. Once on the scene, medics took the young child 1-year-old Jordan Ballard to the hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. Teen, 2 adults injured in District Heights triple shooting Police said doctors performed several life-saving measures, but the boy died. On Aug. 23, the staff at the Officer of the Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia revealed that the child suffered from multiple blunt force injuries, ruling his death as a homicide, according to MPD. Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Under Missouri's new cannabis regulations, labels and packages for marijuana-related products must have limited colors and can't appeal to children or resemble candy. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/The Missouri Independent) Marijuana companies face a hard deadline to meet Missouris new plain packaging requirements on Sept. 1 more than a year after the rule was initially put in place. For decades, theres been a global movement urging plain packaging on tobacco products or packaging with limited colors and frills after numerous studies found it makes cigarettes less appealing to young people. Missouri is now a testing ground to see if plain packaging has the same impact for recreational marijuana. When voters passed the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in 2022, it included a provision that labels and packaging for marijuana-related products, shall not be made to be attractive to children. Now under new state rules, packaging can only be one primary color, and it can have up to two logos or symbols that can be a different color or several different colors. This approach to packaging is familiar to all of us, said Amy Moore, director of Missouris Division of Cannabis Regulation, during a legislative committee hearing last year. You think about the cereal aisle versus tobacco packaging or over-the-counter medicines. The initial deadline for compliance was May 1, but regulators heard from licensees that potential delays in global shipping could impact their ability to receive the packaging in time. Now starting on Sept. 1, marijuana manufacturers must package and label all products in division-approved designs before sending them to a dispensary. Dispensaries can continue to sell non-compliant products they already have in the store until Nov. 1. The new rules also require the division to pre-approve the labels, a process that didnt exist under medical marijuana rules. Nick Rinella, CEO of Hippos Cannabis, said companies have seen delays in the states approval of their submitted designs. The state just doesnt have the manpower to go through and approve them, Rinella said. And until theyre approved, they cant go onto the shelves in their new packaging. Since the approval process opened on Sept. 1, 2023, the division has received nearly 150,000 submissions, said Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the division. Half of those were submitted within the last 60 days. Licensees have had a year to submit applications for approval, Cox said, and five months notice that they should not expect another extension. Cox said all applications are being processed within 60 days. The constitution says that no marijuana facility can sell edible marijuana-infused candy in shapes or packages that are attractive to children or that are easily confused with commercially sold candy that does not contain marijuana. Penalties include fines of up to $5,000 and a loss of a business license. The packaging requirements are part of Missouris new cannabis regulation rules that went into effect on July 30, 2023. In the divisions first draft of proposed rules last year, it required companies to have only one color on the label. That caused an uproar from the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, which argued in a letter to lawmakers that marijuana businesses had already invested many millions in packaging designs. And companies did so, the trade association contends, because attractive, interesting, and attention-grabbing packaging is essential to effectively advertise and promote marijuana product sales. After the pushback from both MoCann Trade and some legislators, the agency changed the rule to allow limited colors. Another compromise, Moore told lawmakers, was allowing for QR codes on the labels to send consumers to their website for more information. Missouri becomes one of few states that require plain packaging in the adult-use cannabis market, according to the Network for Public Health Law. The others include Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Moore said the rules align with what voters asked for in the constitutional amendment. The requirements regarding childrens safety are more stringent than what was included in the constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana in 2018. We have to notice that, she said, and say, Apparently were to do more, were to do better for children and for health. By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -Emergency crews in the Alaska tourist hub of Ketchikan braced on Monday for more landslides after a large, rain-drenched slope gave way on Sunday, killing one person, injuring three others and leaving dozens of homes damaged and without power. Photos from the aftermath of the slide showed a wide tract of a steep, thickly wooded hillside stripped of vegetation, and a tangle of twisted, broken pine trees and other debris that lay heaped against several buildings at the bottom of the slope. Four or five homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, and about four dozen dwellings were placed under mandatory evacuation and left without electricity, according to Cynna Gubatayao, an emergency operations center official. "In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude," Mayor Dave Kiffer said in a statement posted online. One man was confirmed killed, and three other people were injured, two of whom were hospitalized, according to a joint statement from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the city of Ketchikan. Officials later identified the man who died as Sean Griffin, a senior maintenance technician for the city public works department who was clearing stormwater drains with another crew member when they were caught in the landslide. Griffin's age was not given. No one was reported missing from the disaster. Authorities said the area around the slide remained unstable, with a potential secondary landslide zone identified south of the original site and emergency response teams standing by. Gubatayao told Reuters by phone that Sunday's slide, which occurred at about 4 p.m., followed a day of heavy downpours. Forecasts called for showers to continue across the region through Monday. Ketchikan, the sixth most populous city in Alaska with some 8,000 residents, lies at the southern tip of the coastal channel known as the Inside Passage connecting the Gulf of Alaska to Puget Sound in Washington state. The town is surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, one of the world's last remaining intact temperate rain forests. A hub of tourism and commercial fishing in Alaska's scenic southeastern panhandle, Ketchikan is known as the gateway to the Misty Fiords National Monument, one of the area's major outdoor attractions. The slide came less than three weeks after more than 100 homes in Alaska's capital Juneau, about 235 miles (378 km) to the northwest, were damaged by a burst of glacial flooding, an increasingly frequent phenomenon exacerbated by climate change. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler and Lincoln Feast) State officials are warning residents of Massachusetts towns to take precautions due to a heightened risk of the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus that can be carried by infected mosquitos. State officials from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said in a press release Saturday that 10 communities in the state have been raised to high or critical risk for the EEE virus. As a result, areas in Plymouth County will receive aerial spraying for mosquitos and parts of Worcester County will have truck-mounted spraying for mosquitos. We have not seen an outbreak of EEE for four years in Massachusetts, Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in a statement. This years outbreak and activity raise the risk for communities in parts of the state. We need to use all our available tools to reduce risk and protect our communities. We are asking everyone to do their part. Officials are urging residents to take preventative measures to avoid mosquito bites, including wearing long pants and long-sleeved clothing while outdoors, avoiding peak mosquito time and wearing insect repellant while outdoors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people infected with the EEE virus do not develop symptoms. The incubation for those who develop symptoms ranges between four and 10 days, according to the agency. The CDC said the infection could range from febrile illness or to a neurologic disease. The disease can turn deadly if the infection leads to encephalitis, which is the inflammation of the brain, according to the CDC. About one-third of those with encephalitis end up dying, according to the CDC, with the survivors often needing long-term care. Town officials in Plymouth, Mass., have closed all public parks from dusk to dawn in response to the increased risk of the virus, according to a press release on Friday. The state reported its first human case of EEE on Aug. 16 in Worcester County, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Death of woman on 1st day of Burning Man festival under investigation This image released by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of the Burning Man 2024 festival, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, in Black Rock City, Nev. (Satellite image 2024 Maxar Technologies via AP) RENO, Nev. (AP) Authorities said Monday that they are investigating the death of a woman at the counterculture festival known as Burning Man, which is held annually in the northern Nevada desert. The Pershing County Sheriffs Office said emergency personnel responded to a call about a woman found unresponsive around noon Sunday in Black Rock City a temporary city erected for the festival, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Reno. The Burning Man Projects emergency services personnel were unsuccessful in attempted life-saving measures on the woman. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss, festival organizers said in a statement. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident." About a half-dozen other deaths have been reported at the festival since it moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock desert in 1990. Last year, a 32-year-old California man died from suspected drug intoxication after being found unresponsive on the festival grounds. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement that Sunday's death will remain under investigation until a cause and manner can be determined, which will be updated at the conclusion of an autopsy. A call to the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiners Office wasnt immediately returned Monday. Allen said the womans name and age wont be released until her relatives can be notified. The festival, which combines wilderness camping with a weeklong celebration of art for art's sake, kicked off early Sunday after the gates had been closed for 12 hours following rain and muddy conditions. An estimated 20,000 people were already on the playa before the gates officially opened to all ticket-holders. Burning Man runs through Sept. 2 . Organizers expect more than 70,000 people to attend this year's event. Known for its colorful theme camps, towering sculptures, drum circles, art cars and avant-garde theatrics, it grew from a gathering of about 4,000 in 1995 to 50,000 in 2010 and now temporarily becomes Nevada's third-largest city after metropolitan Las Vegas and Reno. In 2023, the 35th annual Burning Man festival was attended by an estimated 73,000 people with an additional 95,000 participating in regional events around the world. It was disrupted by a protest blockade that was shut down by local authorities and about a half inch (about 1.3 centimeters) of rain turned the playa into mud, making it difficult to drive and pedal bicycles. Authorities brought in cell towers and asked attendees to stay put until the rain cleared. Other deaths recorded at Burning Man over the years included a woman who was hit by a bus in 2014 and an attendee who fell under a trailer in 2007. In 1996, a friend of Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey was killed in a collision with a van while riding his motorcycle at night. Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by the Justice Department to investigate former President Donald Trumps mishandling of classified documents, wants to revive the case. He formally filed Monday to appeal a district court judges dismissal of the case in July. In a fiery 81-page brief filed on Monday, Smith argued that District Court Judge Aileen Cannons decision to dismiss the case deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsels appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels. Prosecutors asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the decision and allow the case to continue. Cannon, a district judge in Florida appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, dismissed the case on July 15. Earlier the same month, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have some immunity to prosecution for official acts taken while in office. Trumps Judge Cannon Found Her Legal Tutor: Clarence Thomas However, Cannons ruling did not cite the Supreme Courts landmark decisioninstead, it argued that the Justice Department had erred in appointing Smith in the first place. The controversial decision came after Cannon allowed the defendant to continuously delay pretrial proceedings for months after the former president was indicted in June 2023. Cannons ruling was likely based on Justice Clarence Thomass concurring opinion to the immunity decision, where the conservative justice argued If there is no law establishing the office that the Special Counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution. A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former President. In the filing on Monday, the Justice Department cited precedent and history as evidence to overturn the decision. The district courts contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government, prosecutors wrote. The Dramatic Meeting Now Stalling Trumps Mar-a-Lago Case Congress granted itself the power to appoint special counsels after it passed the Ethics in Government Act in the wake of the Watergate scandal. However, Smiths filing argued that this act in no way took away that same power from the attorney general, and cited several examples of the practice since thenincluding the special counsel appointed to investigate Jimmy Carters peanut warehouse, Lawrence Walshs appointment to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal, and Robert Fiskes appointment to investigate the Whitewater scandal during the Clinton administration. Smiths filing also took aim at the claim that a private citizen could not prosecute a president, noting that Smith was a sworn officer of the Justice Department. They also argued that Cannons decision could imperil other federal agencies that rely on the executive branchs authority to appoint inferior officers. The district courts rationale would likewise raise questions about hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch, including in the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Labor, which all rely on statutes resembling Sections 509 and 510 to support their Secretarys authority to appoint inferior officers. 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. Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. Artillery units conduct exemplary live-fire tactical exercises under the training plan for 2024, Trend reports, referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. Based on the exercise plan, the units, withdrawn from the points of permanent deployment to the assembly areas accomplished the activities of capturing firing positions and preparing artillery installations for combat use and other tasks. The focus of the exercise is to maintain the high-level combat capability of the units, to increase the knowledge and skills of the military personnel, and to improve the command staff's skills in controlling artillery units. Did you get your school supplies? Check! DId you get new school clothes? Check! Are you all set to send your children back to school for the academic year? Oh yeah, that's a big check. The final week of August has started and Labor Day is approaching next weekend. It's time for children to start heading back to school. What to do when you see a school bus: Do's and don'ts of driving near school buses in Delaware, according to state law Which Delaware schools return before Labor Day? Monday Red Clay Consolidated Monday will mark the first day of school for Red Clay's Early Years Program, kindergarteners with last names A-L, grades first to sixth and high school freshmen. Tuesday, the same kindergarteners report alongside all other students. By Wednesday and Thursday, the other half of kindergarteners, names M-Z, report instead to make it a split week for kindergarten. With such a strenuous first week back in the classroom, students can look forward to no class on Friday or Monday. Colonial Monday will be the first day for kindergarteners with last names A-L, grades first to sixth, and high school freshmen, as Colonial begins a staggered start. That Tuesday will then also welcome grades seventh and eighth, alongside sophomores and seniors. By Wednesday, the rest of the kindergarten class should arrive, followed by all of pre-K on Sept. 3. Laurel Scott Smith, a history teacher at Mt. Pleasant High School, leads his African American studies course in a daily lesson. Monday will welcome ninth graders in Laurel School District. Then, the next day will bring in all pre-K to high school seniors into school across the Sussex County system. POLYTECH This Monday will be the first school day for all students at POLYTECH High School. Seaford Monday will be Day No. 1 for just pre-K, kindergarten, third, sixth and ninth grade. By the following Tuesday, Aug. 27, all students should be reporting for duty in Seaford. Woodbridge Students from first grade to sixth, high school freshman and kindergarten (group A) will see their first day of school Monday for Woodbridge. The next day, the seventh and eighth, alongside the rest of the high school students, head to class. By Wednesday, Aug. 28, the second half of kindergarteners will report. Tuesday Brandywine Monday will be the first day for grades first to sixth, high school freshmen and seniors, according to the district calendar. It also serves as kindergarten orientation day, though times vary across schools. By the following day, Wednesday, Aug. 28, all K-12 students report for school. Milford Tuesday will offer a "transition day" for kindergarteners, first and sixth grade, as well as high school freshmen. The next day, Aug. 30, will mark the first day of school for K-12 in Milford. New Castle County Vo-Tech Vo-Tech's first week of school will come at a staggered start, and it all starts this last Tuesday in August. Students will then see no school on Friday, Sept. 1, before all students are in attendance by Tuesday, Sept. 5. Sussex Technical For Sussex County Vocational Technical School District, Friday, Aug. 23, will see open doors to just freshmen. And they can expect all fellow high school students to join the ranks once they've settled in, the next Tuesday, Aug. 27. Thursday Lake Forest Lake Forest is hosting a half-day "transition day" for kindergarteners, fourth and sixth grade, as well as high school freshmen that Thursday, Aug. 29 while the next week, Tuesday, Sept. 3, will mark the first day of school for all grades. Which Delaware schools return after Labor Day? Sept. 3 Appoquinimink The first Tuesday in September will welcome Appo's first through ninth grades, alongside kindergarteners with last names A-L. The next half of kindergarten and the rest of high school join in by Wednesday, followed by all of pre-K on Thursday. Caesar Rodney Tuesday will be the first day of school for Caesar Rodney students. Capital This Tuesday will also mark the first day of school for Capital's kindergarten through ninth graders. The remaining high schoolers will stagger by one day, heading to school Wednesday. Christina Tuesday will welcome Christina's grades one to six, alongside high school freshmen, alongside an orientation for kindergarten. The first day of school for the rest of K-12 comes the next day. Delmar On Tuesday, the fifth and ninth grades kick off the school year for Delmar. All grades report by Wednesday, Sept. 4. Indian River Grades kindergarten, sixth and ninth, alongside the Howard T. Ennis school, start the school year for Indian River on Tuesday. Then the first day for the rest of K-12 comes Wednesday. Preschool will begin the following Tuesday, Sep. 11. Smyrna This first Tuesday in September will mark the first pupil day for K-12 students in Smyrna, though sophomores, juniors and seniors are asynchronous. The remaining students report the following day. Sept. 4 Cape Henlopen Wednesday is set to be the first day for students to report back to school at Cape Henlopen, according to the school calendar. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: See the first day for public schools in Delaware MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA) A Florida delivery driver put a 4-month-old child back in his stroller after striking the baby boy and his mother in a hit-and-run crash, police said. Miami-Dade police said in a statement that the mom was pushing her son in a stroller and walking her dog when the driver struck them at a Miami intersection on Thursday, Aug. 22. The infant was ejected from his stroller and landed on the ground, while his 30-year-old mother was knocked off of her feet, police said. Following the crash, investigators said the driver got out of the vehicle, set the stroller upright, and put the baby back inside before driving away. Apple juice sold at Walmart in 25 states recalled due to arsenic levels According to NBCs South Florida affiliate, WTVJ, the mother sustained a skull fracture and a brain bleed, and her infant suffered a forehead laceration. Police said both were treated at Memorial Regional Hospital. The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Sarahy Naybeth Parra-Ovalles, was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury. WTVJ reported that Parra-Ovalles was an Amazon delivery driver and that she was arrested after officers interviewed a witness whose security cameras recorded the crash. Although police did not disclose the company that Parra-Ovalles worked for, WTVJ and CBS News affiliate WFOR reported that an Amazon spokesperson released the following statement: This is a terrible incident, and our thoughts are with the family. Were looking into the matter and will support law enforcement in their investigation. The driver in question is no longer delivering on behalf of Amazon. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. AUSTIN (KXAN) Delta Air Lines will soon offer nonstop service between Austin and New Orleans. Flights will operate twice daily beginning Feb. 27. An airline spokesperson said the route will launch as part of its Mardi Gras special event package, and service will then remain yearround. Flights will depart AUS at both 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Return flights will leave New Orleans at both 10:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. Flights will operate on Embraer 175 aircraft by SkyWest Airlines, which operates as Delta Connection. New Orleans is a top destination from Austin, and connecting these two cities adds to Deltas growing momentum in both communities, an airline spokesperson told KXAN. AUS Data Hub: Passenger totals, busiest months and new flights in 2024 and 2025 Southwest Airlines currently operates an Austin-New Orleans route. American Airlines also flies the route, but the airline announced it will discontinue it in October. Ghizlane Badawi, CEO of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, called the new route another exciting expansion. The timing of this frequency increase is perfect for Austinites and Central Texans traveling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and Spring Break, Badawi said. We cant thank Delta enough for their continued investment into our community. Delta has launched several new routes from Austin in recent months. Service to Nashville, McAllen and Midland/Odessa began in April 2024, while flights to Harlingen are set to begin Oct. 7. So far in 2024, Delta accounts for about 14% of all passengers at AUS, making it the third-largest airline at the airport behind Southwest and American. More than 1.5 million passengers flew in our out of Austin on a Delta flight between January and June. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Trump's no tax on tips transactional pander, though petty policy, is serious politics, for the same reason Nevada is the battleground state where Harris tends to poll the weakest: Nevada has spent virtually the entire 21st century getting economically pummeled harder than any state in the country. (Photo: Shaun Griswold/Source New Mexico) Throughout much of last weeks Democratic National Convention, multiple observers commented on the conventions aggressive appeals to independent voters and Trump-weary Republicans. Those of you who subscribe to the Daily Current newsletter may recall the newsletters email subject line Tuesday morning was Democrats to nation: We like you. By the end of the convention, the message out of Chicago had become Democrats to nation: We are you. Well! Friday Donald Trump showed that he isnt confined to just doubling down on his base and hoping/praying theres more of them than of everyone else. No sirree. He wants everyone to know that he too can reach out that he can expand his message beyond the MAGAfolk. And to prove it, he welcomed the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his brain worm. Kennedy, whose name evidently will still be on Nevadas general election ballot whether he likes it or not, has spent more than a year running for president with a very simple message: Look at me! I am a quack! But I am also a Kennedy! Celebrity and quackery! What could be more attractive to U.S. voters in the 2020s? Except Kennedy phrased it differently. Its not as if Kennedy didnt have a point. Multiple high-profile careers, especially Trumps, demonstrate that in the 21st century mediascape, quackery can be a hot sell. Add a famous name and, to borrow Michele Obamas phrase, the affirmative action of generational wealth, and something like Kennedy and his brain worm shooting across the political firmament was always inevitable, to the point of being banal. (Kennedy has said Trump offered him a job in a Trump administration, a premise of hopefully no practical consequence but one that is amusing to speculate about. Trump didnt confirm it, so was Kennedy spewing nonsense when he said Trump offered him a job? Or, if Trump did offer him a job, was Trump lying? Or, did Trump really say hed give him a job, and meant it, but Kennedy cant count on that because Trump has no sense of loyalty to or regard for anyone but himself? Each of those scenarios are plausible.) The Kennedy noise aside, Trumps more substantial attempt to reach voters beyond the fold of his cult is his pitch to tipped workers: vote for the authoritarian and women will never have control of their own bodies but at least tips wont get taxed. His no tax on tips event in Las Vegas Friday, a modest affair to begin with, sort of got short shrift in the news cycle, thanks to Kennedy and his brain worm. Trump did say something interesting in Las Vegas though, something that appears to have gone unnoticed except by Nevada Current reporter Jen Solis: You know how Democrats have glommed on to the no tax on tips thing but also tried to leverage it into getting rid of the hideous federal subminimum wage by which people in some states can be paid as little as $2.13 an hour? Trump wants to make sure that employers get to keep paying the subminimum wage. Nevadas one of a handful of states that already outlawed the subminimum wage. But one likes to think Nevada workers care about their fellow service employees in other states. Meanwhile, to reiterate, Trumps no tax on tips pander, though petty policy, could be serious politically, for the same reason Nevada is the battleground state where Harris tends to poll the weakest: Nevada has spent pretty much the entire 21st century getting economically pummeled harder than any state in the country. That understandably makes for an owly electorate. The higher costs of groceries, insurance, energy, and rent that accompanied the emergence from the pandemic have hit Nevada households especially hard, because Nevadas economic recovery from the pandemic (just like its recovery from the Great Recession) is largely a low-wage affair. And Nevada workers suffer even more than most Americans from pandemic-driven rises in prices, because Nevada workers pay one of the nations highest sales tax rates when buying shoes, a sandwich for lunch, or a used car. Granted: -Occasional seemingly significant polling results notwithstanding, independent candidates almost always perform much more poorly in elections than they do in polls, and Kennedys candidacy was already disappearing before our very eyes. -Democrats just concluded what was arguably the most successful televised makeover in the history of televising or makeovers. -Trumps schtick is old and boring. And for the vast and overwhelming majority of Nevada workers, the benefit of eliminating the tax on tips would equal exactly zero dollars. But the gimmick makes rhetorical contact with the issue that, according to polling anyway, will impact the election in Nevada more than any other, voters perception of the economy. As Democrats repeatedly reminded everyone in Chicago, the election is going to be close. Harris has a good shot at winning in Nevada. Alas, so does Trump. Tim Walzs well sleep when were dead thing should be taken especially seriously by Democrats in Nevada. A version of this column was originally published in the Daily Current newsletter, which is free, and which you can subscribe to here. The Georgia State Election Board was sued Monday by several election officials and Democrats over recent rules passed by three Trump-approved board members. The plaintiffs want to make sure the new rules don't prevent the November election results from being certified on time. The two rules at issue require election officials to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" into the accuracy of results before certifying them, and to allow individual members of county election boards to look at "election related documentation created during the conduct of elections. The Georgia county election officials and Democrats who are suing acknowledged that the rules, on their face, appear to respect certification deadlines because they only allow a "reasonable inquiry" or "examinations" that wouldn't push certification past the legal deadline. Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance attend campaign rally, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., August 3, 2024. REUTERS/Megan Varner However, the rules could still delay certification by giving officials license to hunt for any kind of election irregularity, according to the lawsuit. "At minimum, these novel requirements introduce substantial uncertainty in the post-election process andif interpreted as their drafters have suggestedinvite chaos by establishing new processes at odds with existing statutory duties," the plaintiffs said. The five members of the Georgia State Election Board didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. In comments provided earlier, member Janelle King, who is one of the three to back the new rules, told USA TODAY no approved rules would allow county officials to violate state law by delaying certification. "In fact it works in the reverse. Ensuring that every County election board member has access to all election-related documentation actually strengthens the certification process," said King, who is the former deputy state director for the Georgia Republican Party. Former President Donald Trump praised King and the other two members who ultimately backed the rules Dr. Janice Johnston and Rick Jaffares by name at a campaign rally Aug. 3, describing them as "pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory." Republican board members face calls to resign Also on Monday, Democratic lawmakers from Georgia called for the three members praised by Trump to resign at a press conference, local Atlanta news channel Fox 5 reported. Georgia state Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes said the integrity of the state's electoral process "is under serious threat," while U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath said failing to protect democracy could mean "falling into chaos." In response to ethics complaints against the board, Republican Gov. Brian Kemps office released a letter saying, This office has received Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes and others letters alleging ethics violations by members of the State Elections Board. Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code Section 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the Attorney Generals advice regarding the application of the statute to the letters. We will respond following receipt of this advice and further evaluation of the letters. Kemp refused Trump's requests for help overturning the 2020 election in Georgia. King told the local outlet that she joined the board "to do the right thing" and she doesn't have any partisan allegiance. "Before I agree to do anything, I ask all the right questions, I talk to attorneys, I make sure that I'm walking within the steps of the law." In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs noted that many Georgia county election officials have objected to certifying elections since 2020, including one county official as recently as March of this year. They are asking the Fulton County Superior Court "to prevent chaos in November" by making clear through what's known as a "declaratory judgment" that the state deadlines for certifying the results are mandatory, and the new rules don't change that. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Swing state election board sued by Democrats over alleged power grab U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) pays tribute to the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago on Aug. 18, 2024. Photo by Josh Kurtz. CHICAGO On the night before the start of the Democratic National Convention, while dozens of delegates from Maryland were gathering at an Irish pub along the Chicago River for their welcome party, I was on the South Side of Chicago, in the ornate but crumbling headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, for a tribute to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson was also hailed the next night on the convention stage, but this Sunday evening event, while far bigger and impossibly long, seemed more intimate, more heartfelt, and as much a call to action as a celebration of the elderly and ailing icon of the civil rights movement and pioneering presidential candidate. It was also incredibly stirring, and moving, but also depressing in a way. The dilapidated Rainbow PUSH headquarters, once a synagogue, felt a little like a metaphor. I heard rhetoric that night and political movements discussed and recalled in a certain way that I hadnt heard in 40 or 50 years. I even saw a gray-haired woman wearing a T-shirt for The War at Home, a documentary about the 1960s anti-war movement in Madison, Wisconsin, that faded into obscurity after its release 45 years ago. Jackson was one of the great orators in American history, whose best phrases, like Keep hope alive! are still very much a part of the American political lexicon. Now 82 and fighting Parkinsons, he uses a wheelchair and is unable to speak beyond a mumble. But he sat in the front row of the Rainbow PUSH auditorium during the tribute, and dozens of people stopped by to say hello. The night got me thinking about the through-line between Jackson and Black political leaders today, including Gov. Wes Moore (D), Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) and other Marylanders. I also wondered why there was no one that I recognized there from Maryland, other than Larry Cohen, the retired leader of the Communications Workers of America, who is white, and has long been associated with the far left of the Democratic Party (U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a former general counsel for the National Rainbow Coalition, a predecessor to Rainbow PUSH, was supposed to speak, but had a last-minute scheduling conflict). It was said often, on both nights in Chicago, that there wouldnt be a Kamala Harris, there wouldnt be a Barack Obama, without Jesse Jackson, and in some respects, thats true. Jackson made it plausible for voters to imagine a legitimate Black presidential candidate, even though his was much more of a protest candidacy than Obamas or Harris. Just as significant, Jackson challenged party rules and inveighed against the growing influence of corporate interests in the Democratic Party. (I cannot think of him referring to the old Democratic Leadership Council, which sought to move the party closer to the political center in the 1980s and 90s, as Democrats for the Leisure Class, without laughing.) The former literally made it easier for Obama to defeat Hillary Clinton for the White House nomination in 2008, because it loosened the grip of party leaders on the presidential nominating process. Who can forget the image of Jackson shedding tears on the night Obama was elected president, overwhelmed by the fruits of his labors being realized to a degree, at the campaigns giant celebration in Chicagos Grant Park? But Jacksons push to move the party away from corporate interests? That seems to have run aground. Jackson ran insurgent campaigns in 1984 and 1988, and the only thing that has come close since are the presidential runs of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. Sanders, one of dozens of speakers at Rainbow PUSH that night, said as much, noting that Jackson was the first prominent political leader to publicly call health care a human right. Thats where Jesse Jackson was 30 years before I was, Sanders said. Thirty years ago, he was talking about profoundly changing our health care system. A stained sign at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. Photo by Josh Kurtz. Sanders added: I happen to believe that Jesse Jackson is one of the most significant political leaders in this country in the last 100 years. Obama was initially the underdog against Clinton in 2008 and perceived as slightly more progressive. But he was, and Harris is, a conventional politician treading a conventional political path. You can look at what Jackson was espousing during his presidential campaigns and throughout his career and say, yes, the Democratic Party has moved slightly to the left over the years and is now embracing calls for expanding health care access, eradicating poverty, and more equity and inclusiveness in every aspect of society. But that embrace has been slow, and progress incremental. At the same time, many of the rights Jackson fought for over the decades are being eroded by Republicans and federal courts. The long, moral arc of history may bend toward justice, as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, but it sure runs into a lot of roadblocks. At the Democratic convention in Chicago, Maryland had the most diverse delegation in the country, and thats worth celebrating. Marylanders can point with pride to the success of Moore and Alsobrooks and dozens of rising political leaders in the General Assembly and in local governments and think, part of Jacksons dream is being fulfilled. Jackson during his campaigns was a little like the poor kid pressing his nose against the window watching the swells at a debutante ball. Now Black political leaders often sit at the head of the table. And thats progress by any measure. But these too are largely conventional politicians treading conventional paths, preaching action but exercising caution, a little too comfortable cozying up to the big-moneyed interests that still dominate our politics, especially in Annapolis. That convention welcome party at the Irish pub was sponsored by a Baltimore/Annapolis lobbying firm, a utility contractor, and a Prince Georges County development company. A lobbying firm and a health care giant sponsored two of the Maryland delegations breakfasts. Spend any time in Annapolis during a General Assembly session and you know how depressingly easy it is for special interests to sway a debate. At the Rainbow PUSH headquarters, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones (D), who faced expulsion from the legislature because he protested for gun control on the House floor, was given a heros welcome. In Annapolis, the few legislators who most vocally embrace Jacksons most radical positions and tactics on economic equality, on making the rich and corporations pay their fair share, on Palestinian statehood, on tenants rights, on workers rights, on Medicare-for-all, on aggressive climate action are often marginalized, if not outright ostracized. As U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a forceful progressive despite representing Silicon Valley, said in Chicago, We cant celebrate Rev. Jackson without listening to what Rev. Jackson is calling on us to do. The Republican National Convention last month was teeming with God talk. Much of it was what we have come to expect from a party that cloaks itself in faith, even while worshipping its standard-bearer as a false idol. Tim Scott, speaking on the first night of the convention, described the attempt on former President Donald Trumps life like so: Our God still saves. He still delivers, and He still sets free. Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared. U.S. Senate candidate Leora Levy offered a Jewish prayer for Trump, yet as she deployed Jewish language, a wall of screens behind her projected images of American flags flying next to Christian crosses and churches. The awkward marriage between the RNCs performance of whats known as civil religiona 1960s notion that fuses a symbolic and emotional commitment to the nation-state that mirrors traditional religious devotiontends to increasingly reflect a sectarian, white, Christian worldview that holds itself out as secular. On Monday night at the DNC, Sen. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, embraced faith from the political left in a way that was dramatically different. Warnock called out Trump for weaponizing religious symbols and speech in ways that violate core religious values and leveled blame at certain churches for a willingness to endorse Trumpism at all costs. Warnock is hardly the first Democrat to refuse to cede the language of religious faith to the GOP and to root progressive values in faith values. But these efforts still seem unfamiliar on the left. I spoke to Ilyse Hogue, a senior fellow at New America, the author of The Lie That Bindsa history of the religious rights authoritarian crusade against abortionand the first person to, in 2016, tell her own story of elective abortion for the stage at the DNC, about what a robust progressive embrace of a thick civic religion could look like. Our conversation, which took place over email, has been edited and condensed for clarity. Dahlia Lithwick: You have long said that it is a tactical mistake to simply allow the GOP to occupy the faith field for decades. How is it that this came about, and why is any effort to root progressive values in religion seen as inherently divisive and counterproductive? Ilyse Hogue: The 1980 election was a defining moment for the role of religion in party politics. Through the 70s, Jerry Falwells Moral Majority teamed up with Phyllis Schlaflys Eagle Forum to wrest power from the more dominant Rockefeller Republicans who had advanced a socially liberal, fiscally conservative framework for the GOP. This new religious right coalition was joined in common cause to reverse the significant advancements of the Civil Rights, gay rights, and womens rights movements of the 60s and 70s. Their cynical ploy was to use the candidacy of Ronald Reagana divorced actor cum politicianas a stalking horse to advance their radical vision for a white patriarchy to retain hegemonic power in America. When Reagans long-shot bid successfully ousted the overtly devout incumbent Jimmy Carter, it sent both sides reeling. That equationembedding a racist and misogynistic view of social order in a religious ideologyis recognizable as the playbook followed by Falwells descendants and disciples in the 2016 election of Donald Trump. The subsequent political reorganization was predictable, even if ultimately limited. Liberals across the spectrum became wary of religious doctrine as a potential tool to be weaponized and faith as specifically fraught when applied to a vision of a more pluralistic union. In searching for a counterargument to the new rights religious fundamentalism, Democrats sought to strike a balance: Recognize that many embrace religion, while neutralizing the potential risk of it to fracture their coalition. This required a delicate dance of preaching individual tolerance with an orthodox adherence to the constitutional commitment to separate church and state. I file all this under well-intentioned and legally expedient, but it was too antiseptic to satiate a growing need for collective frameworks to make sense and seek purpose in an increasingly complicated world. The rights flattened narrative was often cruel but always clear. The GOP easily framed all Dems as godless, waging war on the religious. While many responded defensivelyand in fact the party and coalition does include many religious peoplethese were individual declarations of faith that failed to meet the need for a collective investment in a new vision. Democrats fell short of a road map to a more perfect union and relied on a chaotic hodgepodge of issues, bills, and elections, which are piecemeal at best in a country where so many people, and indeed so many liberals, seek greater purpose. More importantly, we ceded the idea that effective politics are a vehicle for connecting people to one another in service of actualizing a higher ideal of our lives and our surroundings. Warnock told the Atlanta Voice that he was attempting to recapture the moral seriousness of Martin Luther King Jr., who was so comfortable connecting liberal political goals to faith values. I think progressives tend to forget how much religion animated the civil rights battles of the past two centuries. What would reembracing that language look like? I see it a little differently. Broadly speaking, I think there is a high awareness among progressives of the role of faith in the traditional Civil Rights Movement. I just think its viewed as a discrete outlier that fails to scale when applied to the diversity of a multifaith coalition. The rights effective instrumentalization of religion as a tool to dominate and oppress has embedded an unease among liberal political activists about the intermingling of both. And the sheer number of religions, and belief systemsnot to mention the doctrinal rejection of bothhoused under the big tent makes organizing exponentially more complicated for Democrats than for their GOP counterpart, with its handful of more homogenous religious factions. The mental gymnastics of attempting to unify so many constituencies while engaging in transactional politics is exhausting. Once you add in the authoritarian rights often-successful attempts to wedge the Democratic coalition by pitting factions against one another, the impulse to forfeit rather than contest the faith ground is understandable even if ill-advised. And then theres the practical matter that some of these religious doctrines are actually in tension with one another. Look at the issue of the day. While some progressive Christian denominations acknowledge legal abortion as a human right, others maintain that it is a sin. Jewish theology has a different take on when life begins. Afraid of inflaming differences, the party took this powerful issue off the table entirely for a long time, instead opting to affirm the legal right in as few words as possible. Unlocking the now-undisputed power of this issue required accepting those internal theological differences as innate to democracy and then, instead of letting them divide, asserting the higher-order value that was universal, the value of freedom. To build durable movements for pluralistic democracy, we first need to distinguish between religion, which is defined by distinctions and differences, and faith, which is a universal component of the human experience. Simply being alive requires faith to make sense of a chaotic and often cruel world. Faith acknowledges common value in connecting disparate communities and cultures. Faith sustains individuals who often reflect on a life that struggles to measure up by individual metrics. Faith addresses primal needs for meaning and spiritual sustenance that transcend any specific religion or belief system. Warnocks speech on Monday night stepped into that breach. When he acknowledged his 2020 victory as an advancement for Black Georgians and in the next breath honored the victory of his friend and colleague Sen. Jon Ossoff as a first for Jewish Georgians, he bound our fates and our joys in one. He modeled that we can be proud of our distinctions while celebrating our universal humanity. He showed a refusal to yield an inch to the divide-and-conquer tactics of the right. Ultimately, he took two separate and individual electionspivotal, yes, but elections nonethelessand recast them as interconnected and significant milestones made possible by the collective action of a broad movement of people willing to have faith that they could advance the best in the American covenant. People dont want a thank-you for voting, but they do want that vote to amount to more than the sum of its parts. With that line, Warnock made visible the people who were investing in something larger than him. We need more of that. One of the sections so many of us found most arresting in Warnocks speech was his conclusion, which also sounded a key of deep spirituality: I need my neighbors children to be OK so that my children will be OK. I need all of my neighbors children to be OK. Poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia. I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza. I need Israelis and Palestinians. I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK because we are all Gods children. I think this passage was so resonant because it breathed life into the liberal belief system underlying so many of our principles and policies. And we too often take for granted that voters can see that notion for themselves. The GOP vision is a clear version of Christian doctrine that pits individuals against each other in a zero-sum race for survival. Every day on earth is Daniel in the lions den, where the winner takes all and success is a mark of Gods approval no matter how its achieved. Being on edge and ready to strike is not a cruelty but a necessity in this worldview. The view that God has graced America with the cunning Donald Trump is the walking manifestation of this vision. The fact that Donald Trump has achieved wealth and power through coercion and corruption is a testament to the fact that God graced him with the cunning necessary to win in a brutal world. Any transgressions against Gods other commandments can be dispensed with through pantomimed atonement and performative prayer. Its a worldview as neat as it is twisted. That passage was Warnocks way of modeling that to win, we need to offer more than competing policy platforms. We need to model a compelling and clear belief system that sharply contrasts the right. One that illuminates the understanding of our interdependence as an asset and makes the application of universal rights, freedoms, and opportunities more than a feel-good aspiration or tagline. Its a mission that binds us in our collective destiny. Working for that transcends politics and becomes a spiritual act. All of this requires faith that this nation of ours can be healed. A faith that Warnock acknowledged has been profoundly shaken. But Democrats and liberals should take heed that restoring faith in our nation requires a willingness for the party and the movements that undergird it to invest in a framework that respects our individual identities and ladders up to our common humanity. Then our votes will be the kind of prayer the reverend speaks of, one for the world we desire for ourselves and our children. From the Dispatch Politics on The Dispatch Happy Monday! Former President Donald Trump seems to have revealed his nickname for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: Tampon Tim. The moniker, which others on the right have used, is a reference to a bill Walz signed that Trump has said mandated Minnesota school districts place menstrual products in boys bathroomsthough the reality is a bit more nuanced. Up to Speed Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign for the White House and endorsed former President Donald Trump on Friday. Kennedy appeared onstage with Trump at a rally in Arizona after his campaign said he would seek to remove his name from the ballot in several key battleground states (although it may be too late to do so in states like Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin). In his brief remarks in Arizona, Kennedy talked about his various concerns about free speech, the state of the Democratic Party, and toxic chemicals in food. Dont you want a president thats going to make America healthy again? he said to cheers. Trump drew the ire of some pro-life commentators Friday after he declared, My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights in a Truth Social post. Asked later that day if the post represented a change in his stance on abortion, Trump gave a rambling answer in which he reiterated his desire to bring the issue to the states. Im very strong on womens reproductive rights, the IVF, very strong. I mean, were leaders in it, and I think people are seeing that, he said at a press conference in Nevada. And votes are being taken, and thats what theyve wanted. For years, for 52 years, theyve wanted votes to be taken by the states, and they wanted Roe v. Wade to be brought into the states. Then, on Sunday, Trumps running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, said the former president would veto a national abortion ban if it made it to his desk. He would not support it. If youre not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it, he told NBCs Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. After Welker asked him more directly if Trump would veto a ban, Vance replied: I think he would. Hes said that explicitly, that he would. Trump also suggested that he would drop out of the September 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris thats set to be hosted by ABC. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? he said in a Truth Social post Sunday night, telling readers to stay tuned. Politico reported Monday morning that a dispute had arisen between the two campaigns over whether both candidates microphones should stay on during the debate. Where President Joe Biden demanded candidates microphones be muted when they were not speaking, Harris is now asking that the microphones stay hot the whole time. In response to a question from a reporter Monday, Trump said he would rather the microphones be on, but added that he did not want the rules to change. We agreed to the same rules, same rules and same specifications, and I think thats probably what it should be, he said. Trump previously backed out of the ABC debate he had agreed to do with Biden after Harris entered the race, only to recommit to it less than a week later. ActBlue, the primary fundraising platform for small-dollar donors to give to Democratic candidates, said Friday that it raised more than $100 million during the week of the partys convention, with $7.2 million coming during the hour that Harris gave her nomination acceptance speech. Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom dropped out of the race for the states at-large House district Friday after finishing third in last weeks nonpartisan primary, in which the top four finishers advance to the ranked-choice general election. Republican leaders in Alaska had feared having multiple Republicans on the ballot in the fall might split the GOP vote and help Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola, who finished first. Second-place finisher Nick Begich, who lost to Peltola in the 2022 midterms, had vowed to leave the race if he finished behind Dahlstrom, who had endorsements from both Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. The race for the fourth-place finisher was too close to call as of Monday, with Republican Matthew Salisbury and John Wayne Howe of the Alaska Independence Party receiving about 0.6 percent, tens of thousands of votes behind the top three finishers. Out of the Spotlight, Democrats Dream of Restructuring the High Court Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group photo following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill on October 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) CHICAGOThe Democratic National Convention closed out Thursday night with Vice President Kamala Harris portraying herself as a centrist who would cut middle-class taxes, curb illegal immigration, and be a president for all Americans. But off center stage earlier that day, two powerful congressional Democrats, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, appeared on a panel where they discussed plans for a more partisan and progressive agenda if their party controls the White House and Congress next year. If Democrats capture the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, Whitehouse said, Senate Democrats would be virtually certain to pass a Supreme Court reform bill by a simple majority, evading the current 60-vote requirement for legislation. The senator said Democrats would tie their Supreme Court legislationimposing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and establishing ethics and recusal rulesto an omnibus package that would include a bill creating a national right to abortion and other top Democratic priorities. To get around the filibuster, were going to have to have a process that allows very substantial debate from the Senate minority, Whitehouse said at an event hosted in Chicago by the Brennan Center for Justice. We are not going to want to give the Republicans multiple stalls, multiple filibusters on this, so the bill that gets around the filibuster will be virtually certain to include permanent reproductive rights, permanent restored voting rights, getting rid of corrupting billionaire dark money, and Supreme Court reform. If youve got a bill like that moving, thats going to have spectacular tailwinds behind it. Last month, Harris and President Joe Biden called for establishing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and giving presidents a new Supreme Court appointment every two years. Biden and Harris provided few details about how their plan would work, refusing to say explicitly whether they would pursue term limits by legislation rather than by a constitutional amendment. Whitehouse told Dispatch Politics on Thursday that he expects Harris will support legislation to enact Supreme Court term limits. They have not gone so far as to say, We endorse your bill. They have said that your bills are precisely aligned with what we are talking about, he said when asked if he had received any formal indication from Harriss campaign that the vice president supports his term-limit legislation. As chairman of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on the courts, Whitehouse introduced a bill last year that would create the same 18-year term limits and biennial presidential appointment pattern Biden proposed. Only the nine most recently appointed justices would be allowed to vote in almost all of the important cases, meaning that if the bill were enacted tomorrow the winner of the presidential election would effectively be able to replace Justice Clarence Thomas in 2025 and Chief Justice John Roberts in 2027. Whitehouses Supreme Court term limits bill in its current form requires an intervening presidential election before taking effect, but the senator was noncommittal when asked if thats an essential piece of the legislation. Everything is subject to the will of the Senate and the House and the input from the president as we do these things, Whitehouse told Dispatch Politics. The point of that is that we want to make it seem a little bit less like its an immediate targeting of Supreme Court justices. Conservatives have disputed the constitutionality of Whitehouses bill, which faces some skepticism even inside the Democratic Party. Adam White, a legal scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who was appointed by Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, wrote for The Dispatch last month that any legislation purporting to strip individual justices of their duties would be unconstitutional and amount to court-packing by another name. Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told The Dispatch last month: I think it has to be a constitutional change. But Whitehouse said on Thursday he thinks he will be able to convince his colleagues that his legislation is constitutional. Whether Democrats control the Senate in 2025 could depend on the outcome of the Senate race in Montana, where incumbent Democrat Jon Tester narrowly trailed Republican Tim Sheehy 48 percent to 46 percent in an early August poll conducted by Emerson College. In every other race in which a Democratic seat is in play in 2024, the Democratic candidate currently leads in the polls. In comments to reporters last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was confident that in a 50-50 Senate with the tie-breaking vote of a Vice President Tim Walz, the Senate would change filibuster rules next year. In 2022, Schumer held a vote to bypass the 60-vote rule in order to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act by a simple majority, but Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona opposed changing the rules. Sinema and Manchin voted no; thats why we couldnt change the rules. Well, theyre both gone, Schumer told reporters last week while previewing a legislative agenda for 2025. Schumer was not asked about Supreme Court reform, but said the party will discuss also changing filibuster rules to enact federal abortion legislation. When the moderator at Thursdays Supreme Court panel asked why there had been so little talk of court reform from speakers at the Democratic convention, Raskin said that he submitted a 5,000-word speech to convention organizers, mostly focused on the Supreme Court, but was asked to cut it down to 500 words. There was a half sentence where I described them as the kangaroo Supreme Court, and I got that in, but that was all I could get, Raskin said. The most important thing that we can do is introduce Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the American people as people, Whitehouse said. Were not talking about climate change here. Were not talking about the court capture here, because were doing something different here in order to make sure that we have the best launch after an outstanding month to get through to November. Harris Convention Week Money Haul Gives Her Lots of Options Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images) In a lengthy public memo on the state of the 2024 presidential race released Sunday, the campaign manager for Kamala Harris included an eye-popping fundraising number. In just over a month since we launched our campaign, Team Harris-Walz raised $540 million a record for any campaign in history, wrote Jen OMalley Dillon. She went on to say the campaigns coffers crossed the $500 million mark just before Harris spoke Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, with the New York Times reporting that the campaign raised a total of $82 million during the week of the convention. Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day, OMalley Dillon added. The impressive figure caps off a successful week in Chicago for Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, as well as a successful month since the vice president entered the race. Harris quick and easy clearing of the Democratic field after President Joe Biden withdrew last month, the enthusiastic reception she received at the DNC, and this influx of money underscore how fired up the Democratic Party is for their new nominee as the final stage of the 2024 election approaches. A post-convention bounce for the vice president would be icing on the cake, though there may not be any room for much more growth in the polls. Since July 24, Harris has gone from a lead of less than a point over former President Donald Trump to a 3.4-point advantage, according to the FiveThirtyEight polling average. Those numbers have not yet factored in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s suspension of his campaign and endorsement of Trump; the Kennedy family scion was registering somewhere between 4.5 percent and 6 percent in the same polling average over the course of the last month. And what will matter more than a bounce in the national polls is how Harris performs in key swing states. Heres how she and Trump sit post-convention in all seven of them: Arizona: Harris +1.2 points Georgia: Trump +0.7 points Michigan: Harris +2.9 points Nevada: Harris +0.5 points North Carolina: Even Pennsylvania: Harris +1.6 points Wisconsin: Harris +3.6 points And this is where Harris massive money haul could be a decisive factor. While a fundraising advantage is no guarantee of victoryHillary Clinton far outraised and outspent Trump in 2016, for instanceit does allow the better-resourced candidate to play offense rather than defense. The Democratic ticket can boost itself through TV and digital ads in the must-win states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where Harris and Walz already enjoy their largest leads among the swing states. But with the kind of cash Harris campaign is working with, the campaign can also play ball in those Sun Belt states that Trump and the GOP thought they had sewn up when their rival was a flailing Biden. But what if the Trump campaign, which reported starting the month of August with a not-too-shabby figure of $327 million cash on hand, is forced to divert some of those precious dollars to defend its position in, say, North Carolina, which Democrats have won at the presidential level only once in the last 11 elections? Better fundraising means better positioning. The polls and the money are two factors to watch here, but so is the expenditure of the most precious resource a presidential campaign has: its candidates time. Watching where both Harris and Trump appear on the trail will be instructive in the coming weeks. The vice president will make a long-awaited campaign stop in Savannah this week, her second trip to Georgia since launching her campaign. Trump, on the other hand, will be in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the same day, followed by a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Notable and Quotable Okay, maybe she has changed her position on things like taking away your health insurance or confiscating your gun. If she has changed her position, she owes it to the American people to come out and say in her own words when she changed and why she changed. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, to ABC News Jonathan Karl on Vice President Kamala Harris policy positions, August 25, 2024. 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. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. Azerbaijan's Lachin has celebrated City Day at the Flag Square, the Ministry of Culture told Trend. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Special Representation of the President of Azerbaijan in the Lachin district with support from Baku Maintenance Service LLC. Officials, cultural figures, and other guests, as well as Lachin residents who had returned to their hometown, attended the City Day. The event was held in a festive atmosphere. The military band of the Ministry of Defense performed the national anthem of Azerbaijan to start the ceremony. Masim Mammadov, the Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the Lachin district, congratulated the residents on Lachin City Day. He highlighted that this was the second year of celebrating, which was established by President Ilham Aliyevs order dated July 31, 2023, On Establishment of Days of Cities in the Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan Liberated from Occupation. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Democrats, with the backing of Kamala Harris presidential campaign, on Monday sued to block controversial new election rules in Georgia that they warned could lead to post-election chaos in the presidential battleground state in November. The lawsuit, filed in Georgia state court by the Democratic National Committee, the Georgia Democratic Party and Democratic members of several county election boards, takes aim at two rules passed recently by the Georgia State Election Board that allow election officials to conduct a reasonable inquiry before certifying election results and permit members of county election boards to investigate ballot counts. The lawsuit marks a significant escalation of a controversy that has been brewing for weeks over the action of three Republican members of the state elections board, who recently won praise from former President Donald Trump for their moves. Trump lost Georgia by just over 10,000 votes in 2020, and it was at the center of his attempt to overturn the election with claims of voter fraud, though none was found. Democrats are seeking a court ruling that makes clear that election superintendents do not have the discretion to delay the certification of election results or to refuse to certify the results altogether. They are asking for the court to declare that absent a valid judicial order to the contrary, election superintendents must certify the results of the November 5, 2024 election no later than 5:00 P.M. on November 12, 2024. The complaint cites several cases dealing with Georgia elections to argue that Georgia law has long treated election certification as non-discretionary. If election officials have concerns about possible election irregularities, they are free to voice those concerns at the time of certification, so that they may be considered and adjudicated, by judges, in any subsequent election contest, the lawsuit said. But they may not point to those election irregularities (or anything else) as a basis for delaying certification or denying it entirely. Absent a valid court order, certification by the deadline is mandatory. Certification is the official confirmation of voting results. It is a mandatory part of the voting process as a final check to verify the results with the secretary of states office. Typically, the five-member state election board is tasked with ministerial duties ahead of the election, but recently arrived partisan appointees have pushed the limits of the boards power. The three new, relatively unknown Republicans, who were appointed to the board this year by the state legislature and the Georgia GOP, were thrust into the spotlight after Trump mentioned them by name at one of his recent rallies in Atlanta. The mention by Trump raised red flags for critics of the new board who believe the State Election Boards GOP members are working officially or not to appease the former president who has made Georgia a target of his false claim of massive voter fraud. This is about protecting all voters, GOP board member Janelle King told CNN in an interview earlier this month. I am making sure I am doing the right thing. I am appreciative of the presidents support, but I am not working on behalf of anyone. Georgia state Democrats and voting rights advocates are calling on GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to investigate the Republicans on the state election board. And last week, Democratic state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes filed a formal state ethics complaint alleging election board members Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Dr. Janice Johnston broke state law in pushing the rules changes so close to the general election. The state election board does not exist to help Republicans win elections or enrich its members, state Sen. Islam Parkes said. This story has been updated with additional details. CNNs Nick Valencia and Mounira Elsamra contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Georgia Democrats called on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp Monday to remove three GOP members of the State Election Board for approving 11th-hour changes to state elections laws they say could disrupt the November elections. The board has adopted rules changes in recent weeks that, among other things, would empower local election officials to delay or refuse to certify election results. Democrats say that could sow chaos and uncertainty following the Nov. 5 elections and pave the way for former President Donald Trump to capture Georgias 16 electoral votes, even if Vice President Kamala Harris has won more votes. What is unfolding in Georgia is nothing less than an effort to subvert democracy and move us backward, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, said Monday during a news conference at the state Capitol. We must not allow our State Election Board to be taken over by Donald Trump. This is not just unethical. Its illegal, added state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, who filed a formal complaint last week asking that board members Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King be removed from the board. Their actions undermine the will of the people. One of the groups that has advocated the rules changes, VOTERGA, released a statement Monday arguing that none of the rules changes conflict with state law. We have led the election integrity movement in Georgia for over 17 years and believe it is important to distinguish the difference between Georgia election law and political theater, said Garland Favorito, a co-founder of the group. Democrats are asking Kemp to refer the complaint to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which would appoint an administrative law judge to hear the case for removal. A spokesman for Kemp said Monday the governor has received letters calling for removing the three board members. Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code Section 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the attorney generals advice regarding the application of the statute to the letters, Garrison Douglas wrote in an email. We will respond following receipt of this advice and further evaluation of the letters. Dentist and Son Charged After Woman Found Stabbed to Death Following 'Chilling' 911 Call Amber Spradlin was found fatally stabbed in the home of Michael McKinney ll, who has been arrested alongside Michael McKinney lll and Josh Mullins Amber Spradlin/Facebook, Rowan County Detention Center, Floyd County Detention Center Amber Spradlin (left); Michael McKinney III; and Michael McKinney II Authorities in Kentucky have arrested three people, including a renowned dentist, in connection with the murder of a woman found dead in his home last year. State troopers responded to a Martin, Ky., home on June 18, 2023, and found Amber Spradlin with life-threatening injuries as a result of suspected foul play, Kentucky State Police said at the time. Following a year-long investigation, authorities arrested Michael McKinney ll, Michael McKinney lll and Josh Mullins on several charges, police said on July 31. McKinney III, 24, was arrested on charges of murder and several counts of complicity to evidence tampering, KSP said in their statement. McKinney II, 56, and Mullins, 23, are also facing several counts of complicity to evidence tampering, per police. McKinney ll, who began as a dentist in 1994, is highly reputed in his community, according to testimonials on the website for his practice, where he also identifies McKinney III as his son. Floyd County Detention Center Josh Mullins A lawsuit filed by Spradlins family has made several allegations against McKinney II and McKinney III, among other parties, including members of the local police department. Claims made in the lawsuit, which was shared by local outlet Mountain Top Media, have not been confirmed or denied by KSP. PEOPLE has reached out to both KSP as well as the Prestonsburg Police Department for their comments on the allegations, but they did not immediately respond. The complaint alleges that hours before the murder, McKinney III (referred to as MK in the document) and one Roy Kidd left a local inn, owned by McKinney II (referred to as McKinney Senior) with Spradlin and went to McKinney Senior's home. Hours later, Prestonsburg police received a 911 emergency call, which was made by MK, the lawsuit alleges. McKinney Senior allegedly got on the call to ensure that no emergency response was going to be sent to his home, the complaint claims. The complaint further alleges that no one from the police department went to the residence for a wellness check and that MK stabbed Spradlin several times following the initial 911 call. The lawsuit further alleges McKinney Senior called Randy Woods, who was a Prestonsburg police chief at the time of the incident, before the second 911 call, and that Spradlin may have been alive at the time. A Floyd County judge has since said there was a third 911 call from the residence that morning was "chilling," per NBC. The lawsuit also alleges "defendants" at the residence possibly removed security cameras and did not report Spradlins death until after efforts were made to cover up the crime. It wasnt immediately clear if authorities are investigating others named in the lawsuit. 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. McKinney Senior was released on $250,000 bail and has pleaded not guilty, NBC further reported, citing court records. McKinney Jr is being held on $5 million bail, per court records, and has pleaded not guilty. McKinney Senior was not available for comments when contacted at his practice on Monday. Woods has denied the allegations, according to a court filing, per NBC. The publication also noted that Mullins was indicted on multiple counts of tampering and pleaded not guilty. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. DENVER (KDVR) Extra clouds linger over the Front Range to start the week with chances for afternoon storms in the Denver weather forecast. Weather today: Extra clouds, spotty storms A few morning sprinkles will help to keep the extra clouds around on Monday. Highs will make it into the upper 80s with chances for some afternoon storms. Missing Doberman puppies part of homicide investigation in Clear Creek County Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on Aug. 26 Weather tonight: Gradual clearing Skies will continue to clear overnight, and drier weather looks to return to the Front Range. Monday nights low temperatures will be in the upper 50s, making for a nicer start to Tuesday morning. Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on Aug. 26 Looking ahead: Drier and seasonal Mainly sunny skies are back for Tuesday afternoon with warm highs in the upper 80s. Man shot, killed by Fort Collins police connected to 2019 cold case Wednesday looks to be the hottest day of the week with highs near 90 degrees and sunny skies. Thursday will be very comfy with high temperatures in the lower 80s and plenty of sunshine. Pinpoint Weather 7-day forecast for Denver on Aug. 26 Friday keeps the more seasonal temperatures in the upper 80s with a few afternoon clouds. The weekend starts with warm highs in the upper 80s and a mix of sun and clouds. Sunday finishes off the weekend with more clouds, isolated storm chances and highs in the middle 80s. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. A DeSoto County deputy jailer was arrested in connection to the escape of inmate Joshua Zimmerman, from the county courthouse in Hernando earlier this year. Ronnie Hunt, 32, was arrested and charged with escape of prisoners and conveying articles useful for the escape of prisoners. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says additional charges are probable. According to the DeSoto County Sheriffs Office, Hunt has been fired from his job with the sheriffs office. He is currently being held at the Lafayette County Jail. On June 14, Zimmerman escaped from the county courthouse where he was scheduled for a hearing in a case where he was facing an attempted murder charge. He made it past the courtroom, down the stairs, past the metal detectors and guards at the front entrance without being noticed. Manhunt underway after inmate escapes from courthouse in DeSoto County, MS He is accused of attacking an elderly Southaven man. He is also facing a murder charge in Houston, Texas in connection to a womans death. The extent of Hunts alleged involvement in Zimmermans escape is unclear. But from what WREG knows now, the initial speculation from the Sheriff about the escape appears to be completely wrong. This is what Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II told WREG following the escape: The notion that he had help, thats false. The notion that he had an extra set of clothes, thats false. This is a career criminal. He knew what he was doing. Zimmerman was taken into custody in Chicago after an hours-long standoff with U.S. Marshals on August 21. Escaped MS Inmate back in custody after standoff with U.S. Marshals in Chicago After Zimmerman was apprehended, the DCSO said that the gaps in how he escaped would be filled. But people WREG spoke with said Hunts arrest doesnt come as a complete surprise. Thats because they believed it was an inside job. It had to be somebody inside because how would he be able to get away, Hernando resident Inge Rose said. They keep them shackled when they take them from courtroom to courtroom. The Sheriffs Office is now directing all questions to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the inquiry into Zimmermans disappearance. The DeSoto County District Attorneys Office initially had a lot to say about the escape but a judge has since told them not to make any further public comments. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The front page of the Deseret News on Aug. 25, 1944, as Gen. Charles de Gaulle made a triumphant entry into Paris. A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives. When the battle rages in your own community, your emotions are oh so close to the surface. Paris in the summer of 1944 was the site of intense fighting and high drama. So on Aug. 26, 1944, when French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi occupation, the party was on. And blow-by-blow accounts were provided by newspapers in the U.S., including the Deseret News. German forces were occupying Paris, while resistance fighters worked to keep the hope of freedom from takeover alive. As rumors that Germans were preparing to disarm local police grew, the uprisings began in earnest. On Aug. 19, resistants seize police headquarters near Notre Dame Cathedral, build barricades throughout Paris. German tanks threatened to crush the uprising but a cease-fire reached. It looked like some French leaders were prepared to enter into a truce with the Germans, but de Gaulle would not be denied. On Aug. 22, Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower, responding to de Gaulles threat to go it alone with French forces, agreed to the Allied assault on Paris. On Aug. 24, Americans covered French forces, who were given the honor of liberating Paris. When the French got bogged down by German resistance, some U.S. forces were ordered to Paris. On Aug. 25, the French and Americans battled their way into Paris, forcing a German surrender. Th next day, de Gaulle led a procession down Champs-Elysees to Notre Dame despite worry over sniper fire. De Gaulle, who died in 1970, transitioned to statesman in the ensuing years, chairing the Provisional Government of the French Republic until 1946. He returned as prime minister in 1958, and was later elected president of France until he resigned in 1969. A.E. Hotchner, Associated Press As an interesting side note, there were reports through the years that writer Ernest Hemingway, then a war correspondent, on the day Allied troops marched into Paris, made straight for one of its most luxurious hotels and liberated the Ritz bar. Per reports, Hemingway was covering the war with General George Pattons 3rd Army for the American magazine Colliers. De Gaulles famous speech On June 18, 1940 one day after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his Their Finest Hour speech over radio airwaves de Gaulle himself broadcast to German occupied France, and rallied the French Resistance to him in London. With threat of an armistice with Germany imminent, de Gaulle refused to accept that the fight for his country was over; Quoi quil arrive, la flamme de la resistance francaise ne doit pas seteindre et ne seteindra pas, he said, or Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not and will not be extinguished! But the BBC didnt record the speech. And few heard his famous line. So, the furious de Gaulle repeated his message in a speech that was heard much more widely on June 22. This time it was recorded. De Gaulle was recognized by Churchill as the leader of all Free Frenchmen, wherever they may be and made many more broadcasts to France. Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about those moments in history, and how French resistance fighters and French collaborators were remembered and treated: A lucky drive through WWII France Liberation of Paris Paris recalls its recovery of honor Paris awes liberators withy riotous party and a few potshots Opinion: When D-Day veterans are gone, will we remember? This week in history: De Gaulle returns to power Chronology of liberation Aug. 15 End of occupation brought woe to French collaborators The logo of the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is displayed at the entrance to the station's headquarters in Berlin. Monika Skolimowska/dpa A court in Istanbul on Monday upheld a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months against Deutsche Welle (DW) journalist Bulent Mumay. DW - Germany's state-owned international broadcaster - and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), for which Mumay also worked, said the reporter's appeal was denied. DW is reportedly set to take the case to the Turkish constitutional court. Mumay reportedly received a suspended sentence in May 2023 after criticizing a construction company with ties to the government. The journalist told dpa that the sentence was an effort to intimidate and silence him, as any minor offence could lead to his arrest. The case involved a series of posts on the social media platform X from 2020 in which Mumay shed light on how the company successfully prevented reports of a construction scandal from spreading online and in the press. Mumay was convicted for allegedly publishing "personal data" illegally. DW director Peter Limbourg described the accusations as unfounded, saying: "Bulent Mumay is an intrepid, experienced and critical journalist who apparently is to be silenced by the Turkish power apparatus." FAZ publishers added: "We reject any attempt to politically and legally harass reporters." Mumay writes the regular "Letter from Istanbul" column for the FAZ and is the coordinator of DW's Turkish editorial team. Two years ago, Turkey blocked DW's websites in the country. The broadcasting authority justified the decision on the grounds that the company did not have the necessary licence. However, observers considered the measure to be politically motivated. Earlier this year, as schools across the country struggled to deal with a botched overhaul of the federal student aid application system, education leaders in Fort Worth warned that the situation would derail the college plans of many graduating high school seniors. But after high school counselors and college attainment specialists spent months helping students navigate a maze of delays, technical meltdowns and long hours spent listening to hold music, North Texas schools appear to have avoided the worst effects of the bungled rollout. During the spring, Fort Worth area school districts posted declines as high as 50% in the number of students who had completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. But figures released earlier this month show declines closer to 10-15% numbers that education leaders say arent ideal, but are nowhere near as dire as they once were. David Ximenez, associate vice chancellor for enrollment and academic support services at Tarrant County College, said the community college district saw a 2.1% increase in the number of recent high school graduates enrolled for the fall semester, which started last week. Its not great, but its better than a decline, Ximenez said. Botched FAFSA rollout left seniors frustrated The issues stem from the Education Departments rollout of the newly redesigned FAFSA. Department officials say the new form is shorter and easier to deal with than the old version, which included more than 100 questions. But students didnt get access to the new form until the end of December, about three months after theyd typically be able to begin working on it. Even then, technical glitches kept many students from submitting. Filing for student aid was a particularly difficult process for students in families where at least one parent was undocumented, because for months there was no way for parents without Social Security numbers to enter their financial information. Tarrant County students told the Star-Telegram that they regularly ended up on hold with the Education Departments help line for hours. Although federal education officials either fixed or introduced work-arounds for most of the issues, the headaches caused by the rollout of the revised FAFSA arent over. This month, Education Department officials announced the new form may not be released until Dec. 1, two months after its typical release date. Ximenez said if the department actually releases a working FAFSA by Dec. 1, it wont cause the college too many issues. Although the delay isnt ideal, he said, it still leaves students with plenty of time to fill out the form and submit it, and the colleges financial aid office plenty of time to process those applications before the fall semester begins. But if students run into the same problems they did this year, the challenge could be more daunting, Ximenez said. This year, the delays and technical issues left the colleges financial aid office with far less time to process paperwork, meaning financial aid award letters went out later than usual. The college usually begins sending those letters in February or March. This year, they didnt go out until early in the summer. FAFSA filings down 12% in Fort Worth As of Aug. 9, FAFSA completions from high schools in Fort Worth were down about 12% compared to the same time last year, according to an analysis of federal student aid records by the nonprofit National College Attainment Network. Any decline in filings represents fewer high school students taking the first steps toward going to college. But that 12% decline could actually be an encouraging sign. In April, Fort Worth high schools had a 44% decline in FAFSA filings compared to the same time last year, an indication that large numbers of students were still shut out of the filing process. Bill DeBaun, senior director of data and strategic initiatives for the National College Attainment Network, said the growth in FAFSA filings that happened in the spring is likely due to at least two factors: By that point, the Office of Federal Student Aid had smoothed out many of the problems, giving access to at least some students who had been locked out of the system. And high school counselors and college attainment organizations across the country were laser focused on helping students get their applications filled out before high school graduation. But that momentum didnt carry through the summer, DeBaun said. Once high school seniors graduate, its harder for them to access help with their financial aid applications. So despite the Herculean efforts of states, districts, schools, and college access programs across the country, DeBaun said, FAFSA filings are still down about 10% nationwide compared to last year. Its hard to predict how much of an impact the delayed release of next years FAFSA will have on the college aspirations of students who will graduate high school next summer, DeBaun said. On one hand, the delay compresses the filing process, forcing high school counselors to do about seven months worth of work in five months. But on the other hand, those counselors dealt with a timeline that was condensed even more this year, so they at least have an idea of what to expect, he said. And assuming the 2025-26 form doesnt have the same technical problems as this years version, the rollout should go more smoothly once the form goes live, he said. DeBaun said its also important for recent high school graduates to understand that it isnt too late for them to fill the application out. Students who dont plan to start college until the spring semester have plenty of time to complete the form, he said, and some universities with rolling admissions are still accepting FAFSAs for the fall semester. At TCC, for example, students who havent completed their FAFSAs could still enroll in late-start classes. The colleges registration deadline for 12-week classes is Sept. 12, so students still have a few weeks to submit their financial aid applications. Ximenez, the TCC official, said the college accepts financial aid applications for fall classes until the last day of the semester. College enrollments climb, but not much Jason Titus, managing director of programs for the T3 Partnership, said all of the colleges and universities the organization partners with saw increased enrollments this year, although the gains werent as big as college officials had hoped for. But many of those colleges loosened their admissions standards this year, Titus said, meaning they admitted students who might not have made the cut otherwise. Less rigorous admissions requirements can lead to student retention issues, he said some of those students who were admitted on the margins might not be prepared for college-level work. Colleges will need to be ready to support those students and make sure they have the help they need to succeed if they want to see them come back for their sophomore years, he said. That support needs to come not just from the colleges themselves, but also from the broader community, Titus said. The T3 Partnership, also known as Tarrant To and Through, focuses on helping Tarrant County students get to college and graduate with a degree. Historically, college attainment organizations have focused on helping students get to college, and assumed colleges and universities could handle everything from there, he said. But the FAFSA challenges have been a reminder of the need for broader support, Titus said. College students have to resubmit their financial aid applications each school year. Many students in Tarrant Countys colleges and universities will need help completing the application before next years deadline, even if theyve done it before, he said. That community support may be harder to provide next year, Titus said. As the FAFSA rollout progressed and problems compounded into a crisis, the Education Department sent $50 million in grant money to local organizations that help students complete their paperwork. T3 used a $240,000 grant to hire more staff members to work with students. By the end of the summer, the organization had helped more than 5,000 graduating seniors submit their financial aid applications, Titus said. But theres no indication that the Education Department will offer those grants again this year. That means T3 and other groups like it will be left with their permanent staff and any help they have from their partner organizations. If the version of the FAFSA that the Education Department releases in December is unveiled on time and is free of bugs, T3 and its partner organizations will most likely be able to manage the delays without too many problems, Titus said. But if it has the same technical issues as this years rollout, there could be challenges ahead. Im hoping its bug-free, he said. To be able to have FAFSA go back to being one of the important steps the student completes to get to college, as opposed to the biggest barrier to get to college, will be helpful. The League of United Latin American Citizens is demanding a federal investigation into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's probes of alleged illegal voter registration efforts after a number of law enforcement raids in the past week targeted Latino activists. During a news conference in San Antonio on Monday, members of the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights group and community advocates gathered to decry the raids by Paxton's Election Integrity Unit as an invasion of privacy, a violation of civil rights and an attempt at voter suppression. "It is evident through his (Paxton's) patterns of lawsuits, raids, searches and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting," Roman Palomares, the national president of LULAC, said during the news conference. "LULAC will not stand idly by and allow our members to be to be targeted, harassed, bullied or intimidated." On Friday, the Texas director for LULAC, Gabriel Rosales, first announced that several members of the group had been served search warrants at their homes in South Texas, prompting the organization to seek federal assistance in responding to what it views to be a series of civil rights violations. A request for an investigation into the voter registration probe is being submitted to Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights with the U.S. Department of Justice, the group's leaders confirmed Monday. "We're going to continue to work on this, no matter what this attorney general thinks he's going to do," Rosales said. "We didn't break any laws. All we did was go out there to increase the political participation of the Latino community." Ken Paxton arrives on the Senate floor for his impeachment trial last September. He was acquitted of all charges. More: How can you get a Texas ID, and how to vote in the 2024 election without it? A spokesperson for the Justice Department said the federal agency is aware of the matter and declined to comment further. In a statement last week, Paxton touted the execution of multiple search warrants in Frio, Atascosa and Bexar counties tied to ongoing investigations into alleged voter fraud and vote harvesting during the 2022 election cycle. Paxton has not publicly released evidence pointing to voter fraud in the election. The state's top attorney also celebrated the successful start of "undercover operations" in major metropolitan areas in Texas to identify and prevent possible illegal voter registration, accusing nonprofit organizations of setting up registration drives near Texas Department of Public Safety driver's license offices. Students pass a voting site at the University of Texas in March. Paxton, who has vowed to investigate "every credible report we receive" pertaining to criminal activity tied to elections, argued that citizens have the ability to register to vote when renewing or registering for a driver's license with the DPS, "so there is no obvious need to assist citizens to register to vote outside DPS offices calling into question the motives of the nonprofit groups." Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old retired teacher from San Antonio who was targeted in the raids, said she opened her front door at 6 a.m. Aug. 20 to nine officers from the attorney general's office who were there seeking information about her efforts to register voters. Just having returned home from the hospital after a bout with a respiratory infection, Martinez said she was surprised by the officers' presence and that they would not let her change from her nightgown as they rummaged through her home for several hours. "'What do you want out of me? I'm an old woman, Martinez recounted telling an interrogator. "I said, 'I help the seniors. I help the veterans. What do you want from me? Gov. Greg Abbott greets National Guard troops at a news conference about border policies in Eagle Pass in February. Amid the raid on her home, Martinez said she was compelled to hand over her laptop, appointment book, cellphone and information tied to her work registering voters. "I don't know when I have an appointment with my doctors. They took my cellphone; they took all the information that I had," said Martinez, uncertain of when or whether her belongings would be returned. Paxton's office has not responded to American-Statesman requests for comment on LULAC's response to his office's voter fraud probes. He also hasn't released additional information on the search warrants that were served to Martinez; Cecilia Castellano, the Democratic candidate for state House District 80, whose home was also raided last week; or others who were targeted by law enforcement. More: LULAC calls for federal probe as members targeted in AG Ken Paxton's search for voter fraud "The lack of information in the warrant regarding the reason and the phone they sought left me questioning their motives," Castellano said Monday. "As I stood there with my family by my side, I couldn't help but feel a sense of injustice." Gov. Greg Abbott gave a nod to the effort to remove names from the state's voter rolls Monday, pointing to more than 1 million people who have been erased from the rolls since 2021, including more than 6,500 "potential noncitizens" of which approximately 1,930 had a voter history. "I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crackdown on illegal voting," Abbott said in a statement, touting legislation passed last year that makes illegal voting a second-degree felony. "These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state." State Sen. Roland Gutierrez speaks at a Texas AFL-CIO COPE U.S. Senate Democratic debate in January. This is not the first time state officials and LULAC have clashed over voter registrations, as a previous dispute with the secretary of state's office over voter roll maintenance resulted in a settlement agreement and a congressional probe. As part of the 2019 agreement, the secretary of state's office, which oversees elections in Texas, revised its process for maintaining its voter rolls to limit and prevent naturalized citizens from being accidentally removed. After the settlement, congressional lawmakers took interest in the situation, which led the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform to begin an investigation. Paxton's office refused to cooperate. More: Why a Texas senator wants to ban tax-funded lobbying and leave the advocating to parents Outside of federal action, Sens. Roland Gutierrez and Jose Menendez, both Democrats from San Antonio, said during Monday's news conference that they would soon send a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asking for a Senate investigation into the probes Paxton's office is conducting. A vocal critic of Paxton, Gutierrez chastised the attorney general Monday for a recent 18-month pretrial intervention agreement that resolved a nine-year securities fraud case against Paxton as well as Paxton's previous attempt to evade being served a subpoena. "The net effect of what this does and we've seen this show from this crooked Ken Paxton over and over again it is only voter suppression and voter intimidation," Gutierrez said. "When the police showed up to his office on multiple occasions and knocked on his door, nobody pointed a gun at him," he continued. "He is pointing a gun and intimidating our abuelitas." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: LULAC decries Ken Paxton's Texas voter fraud probes as intimidation BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. The issue of green hydrogen was a key topic of discussion regarding the Azerbaijan-EU green energy corridor, Elnur Soltanov, Deputy Minister of Energy, COP29 CEO, told Trend. "We asked our consultants to examine the potential of green hydrogen. By converting green electricity into green hydrogen, we can export energy as molecules instead of electrons, depending on feasibility," he said. The Presidential Action Agenda includes green hydrogen as a crucial element, highlighting its global novelty. "We don't have functioning markets, agreed-upon certification measures, or infrastructure for transport yet," the CEO noted. "Economically viable and scaled-up infrastructure is still lacking." He pointed out the existence of promising pilot projects worldwide and praised Azerbaijan's active role. "Azerbaijan is conducting numerous feasibility studies. The initial feasibility study by EBRD indicated that green hydrogen produced in Azerbaijan could be competitive in European markets. This inspires us to continue on this path". Soltanov reiterated the significance of green hydrogen in Azerbaijans action agenda. "We will address related issues and expedite the process. Additionally, we aim to showcase Azerbaijan's efforts and plans in this field". The COP29 CEO underscored the essential role of green hydrogen and other green gases in the global energy transition. "The importance of green hydrogen, or green gases, stems from this fact: Electricity cannot replace all energy needs that we have," he stated. "There are certain sectors of the economy, especially in industry, where we lack the technology to supply energy through electricity". Soltanov also noted the critical role of green molecules, including green hydrogen, green ammonia, and potentially E-fuels. "Without them, it will be impossible to achieve a complete transition in the energy sphere," he asserted. Former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel pleaded guilty to 27 of 31 felony charges in court on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, as part of a plea deal. (Photo courtesy A&E) Former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel pleaded guilty to 27 of 31 felony charges in court Monday as part of a plea deal in a massive corruption case that could land him in prison for more than a decade. Noel, a prominent Hoosier Republican, was charged with more than two dozen felonies for allegedly misusing money from the fire and EMS departments which he oversaw. A plea agreement submitted to the Clark County Circuit Court shows Noel agreed to plead guilty to charges of theft, money laundering, corrupt business influence, official misconduct, obstruction of justice and tax evasion. Four charges of ghost employment were dismissed as part of the agreement. Noel faces a 15-year prison sentence but with three of those years suspended to probation if the deal is approved by the judge, according to the plea agreement. He would get credit for time served, beginning June 8. Story continues below. Plea Agreement Special Judge Larry Medlock, of Washington County, said Monday he wants to hear from victims affected by Noels actions before making a decision. Special Prosecutor Ric Hertel, of Ripley County, said in a news briefing after the plea hearing that a sentencing hearing could take more than a day to allow for victims to testify in open court. I think that an agreement to 15 years of sentence at least proposing to the court and the judge weve come a long way since the initial hearing back in November of 2023, Hertel said. I feel like theres been a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of heartache, trying to take into consideration the folks in Clark County, the victims in Clark County , Hertel continued. I think that (Noel) going to prison for 12 years, if the judge accepts this agreement, should be a pretty big deterrent for a guy who lived a lifestyle that he lived leading up to this. .. Its about to be a wake up call if the judge accepts this agreement. Plea deal now in judges hands Additionally included in the plea deal is an agreement for Noel to pay back more than $3.1 million in public funds: $2,870,924 to the Utica Volunteer Firefighters Association; $61,190 to the Clark County Sheriffs Department; $173,155 to the Indiana Department of Revenue; and $35,245 to the Indiana State Police. Noel agreed to the plea deal nearly a year after he was arrested and Indiana State Police investigators raided his home in southern Indiana. Noel posted a $75,000 bond in November, but has been held in the Scott County jail since April after Medlock raised his bond to $1.5 million. The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in November. Using findings from a long-term Indiana State Police investigation, state prosecutors alleged Noel used millions of taxpayer dollars from the Utica Volunteer Firefighters Association and New Chapel EMS to buy cars, planes, vacations, clothing and other personal luxury purchases. Investigators said public funds were also used to pay for college tuition and child support. The disgraced former sheriff is additionally accused of tasking county employees with jobs related to his personal collection of classic cars. At least 40 vehicles were confiscated by law enforcement, including a bevy of classics, such as two 1970 Plymouth Superbirds, a 1959 Corvette and 1966 and 1968 Chargers, according to search warrant returns. Court documents further point to at least $33,000 worth of public funds used by Noel to make contributions to various Republican candidates and campaigns between 2020 and 2023. Noels wife, Misty who has since filed for divorce from her husband and daughter, Kasey, separately face charges of theft and tax evasion. Both have pleaded not guilty. On Monday, the judge set a trial date of Oct. 28. Medlock said the trials can be combined if the two sides can agree on how to handle the jury pool. Other pending cases Earlier this year, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita lodged two civil cases in an effort to force Noel to pay back the state agencies he allegedly took public funds from to pay for personal spending. In one lawsuit, Rokita said Noel should be required to reimburse the Clark County jail commissary fund more than $900,000 for funds misappropriated, diverted, or misapplied, which were cited in an audit report filed by the State Board of Accounts in February. Rokita also requested a restraining order that would temporarily restrict Noel from selling real estate properties, stocks and bonds, vehicles, firearms, clothing and jewelry while the attorney generals legal challenges are pending. A May court ruling prohibited the Noel family from selling any assets. The civil cases are still ongoing. Medlock said Monday the job is not finished. Although he would not say for certain, the prosecutor seemed to leave the door open for other charges to be filed against additional individuals associated with Noel. Clark County councilperson John Miller and former councilperson Brittney Ferree, who Noel shares a child with, are the latest to face charges in relation to the corruption case. Both are accused of voting in favor of funding appropriations for the fire and EMS service while they received personal benefits paid for by the services funds. Miller and Ferree were arrested last week and both pleaded not guilty in court Monday morning. Medlock set a pretrial hearing for February. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Disneyland to remove stereotypes from one of its classic rides Disneyland to remove stereotypes from one of its classic rides (NewsNation) Disney is planning to update one of the oldest rides at Disneyland to correct stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people. Peter Pans Flight was one of the original rides when Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955. It has now come under scrutiny for its racist portrayal of Tiger Lily and her tribe. The current scene shows tribal members including the chief with his arms crossed sitting around a campfire. Some Reddit users complained the current ride characters are problematic and called them caricatures of native people. The update was inspired by a recently revised Never Land Tribe scene at the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The company says riders can expect to see those revisions at all its locations globally, but did not provide a timeline. TikTok names Songs of the Summer: Which is No. 1? Before the update in Orlando, Tiger Lily and her tribe were also depicted sitting around a fire with crossed arms while others drummed. The tribesmen have exaggerated features such as broad noses and large feathered headdresses. The updated figures show Tiger Lily and her grandmother dancing around the fire and men drumming in the background. We consider ourselves constant learners and as we identify ways that can make our attractions and experiences more authentic and relatable, and our stories connect more deeply to our guests, we make thoughtful changes, Disneyland officials said in a statement. View of an unidentified woman and a child as they ride the suspended Peter Pans Flight attraction at Disneyland in September 1962. (Photo by Tom Nebbia/Corbis via Getty Images) The update received praise from many on social media. Drum circle and dancers, I love it. Someone put a lot of thought into the update rather than just removing it, a Facebook user commented. However, not everyone was impressed with the change. Go woke go broke, another user commented. How does Spirit Halloween choose its locations? Disneyland officials said in their statement that the company has a longstanding history of making updates and enhancements to attractions and experiences, so they remain fresh and relevant. Back in 2018, the parks Pirates of the Caribbean ride was updated to remove the scene of tied-up women being presumably auctioned off to pirates, The San Bernardino Sun reported. The scene now shows a female pirate overseeing an auction. Disneyland is also working to reimagine Splash Mountain into Tianas Bayou Adventure. In recent years, Splash Mountain has drawn heat since it featured characters and music from the 1946 animated feature Song of the South, a movie criticized for its stereotypes of Black men and its romanticized view of the post-Civil War South. The rides new storyline focuses on Princess Tiana, Disneys first Black princess, and the events that took place after the 2009 animated hit Princess and the Frog. KTLAs Imam Palm 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 PIX11. DNA helps ID woman decades after her body was found 2,500 miles from home The body of a missing Canadian woman was identified using modern forensic tests, nearly two decades after her remains were found in 2005 about 2,500 miles away from her home. Tammy Eileen Penner was last seen early that year, with an official missing person report filed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Feb. 7, according to Othram, a U.S.-based company that works with law enforcement to help resolve unsolved murders and disappearance cases by identifying victims through investigative genetic genealogy. Canadian authorities used the company's services to identify Penner, whose remains until recently were known only as Rockwood Jane Doe. Citing law enforcement involved in the case, Othram said Penner's body was originally found in August 2005 in the picnic area of a rest stop off of a highway between Guelph and Rockwood in the Canadian province of Ontario. At the time, authorities determined the remains belonged to a woman who was potentially as young as 25 or as old as 45 when she died. They said her left cheek, nose and eye socket had all been broken before her death and had time to heal while she was still alive. Investigators didn't and still don't know what caused Penner's death. But the circumstances around it were deemed suspicious. Othram said her body was discovered under a sleeping bag at the rest stop. She wasn't wearing jewelry or carrying identification, and authorities believed the clothing she wore when she died had been purchased somewhere in or around Montreal, which is almost 400 miles from Rockwood. Authorities back then created and released composite images showing what the mysterious woman may have looked like, hoping a member of the public would recognize her. / Credit: Othram Despite their efforts, she remained unidentified for years until the Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto Police Service reviewed the case in 2023 and sought out Othram for genetic genealogy testing. The company uses DNA from a victim or crime scene to build a genetic profile that can then be compared with profiles of other people, with the goal of finding potential matches and, in turn, possible relatives. The genetic profile for Rockwood Jane Doe allowed Toronto police to develop new leads in the case, ultimately confirming that the remains were those of Penner, who had lived before she died in British Columbia, on the opposite side of Canada. She was 41 when she died. Randy Gaynor, a detective inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police, told the Canadian news organization CBC News that he has been in touch with Penner's family. He said he hopes people who may have known the woman during her life will come forward with tips that could aid the investigation into what happened to her. "We're hoping that people will recognize and name Tammy Penner as being in Ontario or even being in British Columbia and coming to Ontario with someone, and we're hoping that anyone that has information will come forward with any information they have that will assist us in determining her cause of death," Gaynor said. "Beg-Knows America:" Stories of kindness and courage White House marks 3 years since terrorist attack at Kabul Airport H.R. McMaster reflects on time as Trump's national security adviser in new book Tohono OOdham Nation Chairman Vernon Jose (Photo/ Malavika Ramakrishnan for Native News Online) Native Vote 2024. This year marks 100 years since the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act which granted Native Americans the right to vote. 2024 is an important election year and the community is more than ready to cast its vote. The Native American caucuses at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were spaces of excitement, hope and determination. Excitement about the Harris-Walz ticket, hope for the communitys future and determination to ensure that Donald Trump is not reelected to the White House were the focal points. Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Its a powerful combination, and Native Americans are aware the Native vote could make the difference. It feels historical at this moment. I always say we are the first Americans and now we are not invisible, said Carole Cadue-Blackwood, a member of the Kickapoo tribe and the only Native delegate from Kansas state as far as she knows. Blackwood was breathless with joy and smiling as she stepped away from taking pictures with Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan who spoke at the second caucus on August 22. This convention is Blackwoods second and she said there was more excitement now more than ever before given the change in leadership. I never thought I would live long enough to see a woman of color in the White House, and I dont think I have another 50 years for this to happen. Trish Carter-Goodheart sees Biden stepping down from the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as succession planning, which Goodheart said has been practiced by tribes for millennia. Goodhearts husband Dayne was a delegate from Idaho. Trish Goodheart is a candidate for Idaho House of Representatives. They are both members of the Nez Perce tribe. Its about leadership guiding their replacement and helping them in the new role because our leaders recognize that without this good guidance in the process the whole tribe suffers, Carter-Goodheart said. A lot of excitement is due in part to Kamala Harris choosing Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz is the governor of Minnesota and if elected, Flanagan will take his place as governor of Minnesota. Flanagans connection with Walz and the latters compassion for Native communities plays a significant role in this election. I feel good about our future and Peggy will ensure we have a brighter future for our children. I felt that Tim Walz saw us I melted in my chair when he addressed us at the first caucus meeting, Blackwood said. Walz made a surprise visit to Monday mornings Native American Caucus meeting. On the other hand, the idea of a second Trump term is depressing according to Julie Dye, a tribal citizen of the Pokagon Potawatomi tribe and one of the four Native delegates representing Michigan at the convention. I fear for not just the state and country but the world. Authoritarianism and dictatorship are not good for anybody in the world and we must do all the work to prevent a second Trump term, Dye said. At the caucuses and the convention, there was an emphasis on regaining tribal sovereignty and several speakers made clear that in this election, sovereignty and democracy were on the ballot. Alysia Coriz, a citizen of the Santo Domingo Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, said Trump did not really understand what tribal sovereignty meant. Coriz is part of the New Mexico chapter of Native Vote which works to increase Native representation in elections and encourage voters to get out and vote. Alysia Coriz (Santo Domingo Pueblo) was a New Mexico delegate, All of the great work that was done in the Obama administration was wiped clean. It hits home for us because he reduced the protected area of the Bears Ears Monument, said Coriz. Bears Ears is a national monument in Utah established by President Barack Obama in a December 2016 proclamation that recognized the extraordinary archaeological and cultural record and the sites sacred meaning to Native American tribes. Just 11 months later, President Donald Trump reduced the protected area by 85%. Moves like this one are what Native delegates are afraid of, should Trump win in November. With Joe Bidens administration, we are working to rectify these situations. Were doing a lot of good work and lets not undo that, Coriz said. Verlon Jose, chairman of the Tohono Oodham Nation in southern Arizona believes that Democratic policies have given Native Americans a seat at the table and have been favorable to the community. Its a fact that they have given minorities and original people of the Americas a seat. Theyve opened that door with willingness just like we were. Just as our people have always been. Weve always welcomed people too, Jose said. If Trump gets reelected, we will have to work with him, but it will be devastating. Native American delegates fear that a second Trump administration will see an erasure of Native culture and less investment in the community. The Biden-Harris administration has had a hard task of undoing damage from Trumps presidency, and a Harris-Walz win would continue this work. Top issues in this election are protecting the environment and sacred sites, promoting education, child welfare and revitalizing languages and economic investment in the community. I know that the Harris-Walz leadership will enforce Native American curriculum taught in schools from history, language and culture and I know our children will see the revitalization of culture, Blackwood said. For Jose, protecting sacred areas is a high priority. Everything is sacred to us. I would not go into anyones place of worship and destroy it. So why is it okay for someone to come to ours? You want to know my holy place? Its all around us. Jose also pointed out that challenges by right-wing organizations to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) "as we saw last year, was reminiscent of when Native children were taken away pre-ICWA." Trish and Dayne said real investment in rural communities is needed. We need real investment in our rural communities; that means jobs, infrastructure, education system, saving our libraries, restoring forests and public lands, being energy sovereign, having access to your own tribal resources, Trish said. Trish and Dayne come from one of the staunchest red states in the country and know their task is going to be hard. Our impact is there even though we are in small numbers. A lot of Native Americans arent registered voters yet. Another challenge is voting booths are far away and many cannot afford to take a day off work to go vote, Dayne said. However, there is a general sense that the time is right, that a brighter future is on the way. Every time we left an event at the convention, there was so much energy. I believe people have been asking for this moment for a long time. The timing is right and the people must seize the opportunity, Jose said. Its hard to go to sleep with all this excitement. About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net." Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net Documentary reflects on 20 year anniversary of hurricane trifecta that hit Polk County Documentary reflects on 20 year anniversary of hurricane trifecta that hit Polk County POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) Its been 20 years since three hurricanes crisscrossed through Polk County. A new documentary aims to show thousands of new residents that hurricanes are a real threat, even to inland areas. Prior to 2004, hurricanes in the Polk County area were minimal, the narrator says at the start of the documentary. As 2004 Trifecta lays out, that trend can change in a matter of weeks. It really was just total devastation, said an official interviewed in the documentary. The film, produced by Polk County Government Television (PGTV), reflects on the 2004 hurricane season, which saw a historically high four hurricanes hit Florida. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne hit Polk County between Aug. 13 and Sept. 26. Hurricane Ivan hit Floridas panhandle on Sept. 16. The film includes interviews with current and former officials, including Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, county commissioner Neil Combee, former emergency management director David Cash and current director Paul Womble. Weve got a lot of new folks that have moved to Polk County that they may not have any hurricane experience, said Womble. Womble said one of the main goals was to inform newcomers to Polk County about how hurricanes can impact inland areas. While there is no threat of storm surge, high winds and heavy rain can be catastrophic. If you get 6, 8, 10, 12 inches of rain in a short amount of time, we have low lying areas all over Polk County, its gonna flood, said Womble. It seems like it was yesterday, really, said Sharon Woods. Woods provided pictures for the documentary of damage at her east Polk County home. Hurricane Charley stripped bare the oak trees that were a part of her childhood. My trees were naked. They were just, I was just destroyed. It broke my heart, she said. Woods said she lost power for two weeks after Charley. Exhaustion had set in by the time Frances and Jeanne arrived. At this point, I was kind of numb. Ok, well lets do this again, she said. Woods said Hurricane Jeanne dropped more water than she had ever seen and ripped apart her roof and shed. The 2004 hurricane season taught her, she said, to always be prepared for a hurricane. It is a lesson Womble hopes others take away from the 2004 Trifecta documentary. I hope that it doesnt happen but we have to be ready and thats the way everybody should take it, said Womble. To watch the documentary, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrSIrxHurU&t=593s. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, speaks with Department of Human Services Secretary Cynthia Persily in the Senate Chamber in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The secretary of the Department of Human Services told lawmakers that the funding for child care centers is not in crisis. Her comments came after dozens of child care providers closed this year due to uncertain funding and an inadequate subsidy amount. Leaders with DoHS previously told lawmakers in April that a Sept. 1 funding cliff was coming, estimating the shortfall around $23 million. Without funding, the program could shrink eligibility, removing thousands of children from the states child care assistance program and financially impacting providers. There are some ways we can manage the funding that we have, DoHS Secretary Cynthia Persily said Monday to lawmakers in a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance. Lots of things [are] coming, but there is not an immediate crisis. But we need to be planning, and we are. The shortfall was due to a federal mandate in February that states reimburse child care centers that serve children using state assistance programs based on enrollment rather than attendance. The state has been using Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to cover the cost so far; Persily said it was hard to predict when those funds would run out. Those TANF funds are going to run out at some point. The cost for child care changes every month because it costs more for babies than school-aged children, she said, adding that using the federal money on the problem was an effort to support the states workforce development. Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, said that he worried about using TANF funds, which provide cash to families for food and necessities, to cover the shortfall. My fear is that well say, Hey, great youve got child care, but you dont have a jacket when you come home, then you have an increase in foster care. That can get out of hand, he said. Im really happy to hear you foresee an end to using the TANF funds. While West Virginia needs more than 20,000 child care spots, 60 providers have closed this year largely due to issues surrounding the subsidy. The states assistance program, which requires a parent or guardian to be employed, directly pays child care centers for enrolled children. About 15,000 West Virginia families used the child care assistance program in 2023. Providers and families held a rally at the State Capitol on Sunday, calling on DoHS and lawmakers to address the funding shortfall just one of many issues contributing to the states child care desert. Persily told lawmakers that her department had a $200 million surplus. She hasnt yet dipped into a $180 million reserve fund created by lawmakers, which could be used to pay for the child care funding. She is also exploring grants that could help pay for subsidies. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX From Helena Moriah Road, the planned site of the Moriah Energy Center disappears up a dirt driveway and behind a large dirt mound. Nearby residents and environmental groups are worried about the air pollution that will float over that dirt and into homes along the rural Person County roads if Dominion Energy is allowed to move forward with a planned liquefied natural gas storage facility on the site, near Rougemont. Dominion plans to build the facility in two phases, with a pair of towering tanks capable of holding up to 25 million gallons of liquefied natural gas, or gas that is cooled down to extremely low temperatures in order to be shrunk and stored more easily. When the gas is needed, Dominion would heat it back up and inject it into a nearby pipeline, with the gas in each tank expanding to as much as two billion cubic feet. The company is seeking a minor air permit from the N.C. Department of Air Quality, the final approval Dominion needs before it can start construction on the Moriah Energy Center. Emissions come when the facility is heating and cooling gas, but also when it burns off the non-methane chemicals that are removed before the gas is cooled. Dominions calculations of its air pollution likely underestimate how much formaldehyde, acrolein and other toxins will be emitted from the natural gas facility, a coalition of more than a dozen environmental groups told DAQ in a comment letter. Some of those undercounts could be so significant, they said, that Dominion should be required to seek a more stringent major air permit and conduct constant monitoring around the plant. During a public hearing in early August, dozens of residents from Person County and nearby Durham urged the Department of Air Quality to reject Dominions permit. If nothing else, they said, the company should be monitoring the air. I was shocked to learn that regular air quality monitoring is not a requirement for this facility. People just assume that air pollution monitoring will be in place to ensure compliance with standards, Julie Nye, who lives a mile from the site, said at the hearing before asking for robust, ongoing monitoring if the permit is not denied. An aerial view of part of the Moriah Energy Center construction site in Rougemont on Tuesday, August. 6, 2024. Questions about formaldehyde levels Formaldehyde is one of the chemicals environmental groups are particularly concerned about. It was one of four air pollutants for which DAQ required Dominion to model concentrations, along with acrolein, benzene and hexane. All four are toxic. Dominion had to show its emissions would keep air concentrations in surrounding communities below levels considered dangerous. For formaldehyde, that ambient air level is 150 parts per million averaged over a one-hour period. Dominions modeling showed its emissions will peak at 116 ppm over that time frame. But environmental groups say modeling frequently underestimates toxic air pollutants. If trends hold at the Moriah Energy Center, they told DAQ, formaldehyde and other chemicals could actually be at unsafe concentrations around the Dominion facility. There are two air monitors that measure formaldehyde from North Carolina industrial facilities, representatives from groups like Appalachian Voices, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Person County Community Action Network noted in a comment letter. Those monitors have measured formaldehyde concentrations that are 1.4 and 1.8 times higher than the maximum shown in the model for nearby facilities, while national data indicates that formaldehyde emissions are usually twice as high as models show. If Dominions formaldehyde emissions are higher by the same proportion as the two other North Carolina facilities, the Moriah Energy Center would cause concentrations in nearby air to be out of compliance with federal standards. Formaldehyde is a probable human carcinogen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with exposure linked to lung and nasopharyngeal cancer. Exposure to high levels of the chemical can cause coughing, wheezing and irritations of the eyes and throat. To ensure that ambient air levels remain within acceptable ranges and protect neighboring communities, the environmental groups asked DAQ to require that Dominion pay for third-party monitoring for acrolein and formaldehyde specifically at the facilitys border and in the surrounding community. We recommend air monitoring be used as a way to ground truth modeling data, the groups wrote in a joint public comment letter. We understand that this is typically required in response to violations of a facilitys permit, but waiting until the community has already been polluted and exposed is unacceptable in our view. Dominion insists that its models are based on technical data required by North Carolina air quality officials who then signed off on the companys estimates. Dominion Energy is confident in its air dispersion modeling, which was conducted in accordance with NCDEQ regulations and was submitted to the agency for verification. The modeling demonstrates that the Moriah Energy Center would operate below acceptable ambient levels (AAL), which have been established to be protective of human health, Persida Montanez, a Dominion Energy spokeswoman, wrote in an email. In August, researchers from Cornell University, the Environmental Defense Fund and the University of Oklahoma published a peer-reviewed study that found measured benzene levels near refineries were between three and 95 times higher than model predictions based on self-reported emissions during unplanned releases at 14 Texas refineries between 2019 and 2022. When there are discrepancies between measured and modeled concentrations, that means either the models themselves are flawed or information such as emissions that is being put into the model is inaccurate, Libby Mohr, the Environmental Defense Funds petrochemicals team senior data analyst and one of the studys authors, told The News & Observer. The latter could stem from using flawed methodologies to estimate emissions of a given chemical from a given activity. While models are never perfect, we continue to find more and more evidence that emissions are being underestimated in many cases, and that this plays a substantial role in observed discrepancies between measured and modeled pollution levels Mohr said in an email. An aerial view of the Moriah Energy Center construction site in Rougemont on Tuesday, August. 6, 2024. New gas in Person County The Moriah Energy Center is one of several new natural gas facilities planned for Person County. Dominion is also proposing crossing the county with a new pipeline, although Montanez has consistently said that the new pipeline would not connect with the gas storage facility. Dominions pipeline would include a leg running north to the shore of Hyco Lake, where Duke Energy is proposing closing a coal-fired power plant and replacing it with a pair of gas-fired plants. Environmental groups have expressed concerns about all of the projects. They note that methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas even if it doesnt last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Sierra Club estimates found that the use of natural gas from the Moriah Energy Center could cause greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.3 million tons of carbon dioxide, or the annual emissions of about 264,000 gas-powered cars. At a time when we need to quickly transition away from fossil fuels, the (Moriah Energy Center) and related gas projects put us further down the road to climate hell, the environmental groups wrote in their public comment letter. This rendering shows Dominions proposed Moriah Energy Center, a facility in Rougemont where the company will cool and then store natural gas. Person County Commissioners granted the facility a key zoning decision on Monday. Effectiveness of flares Another comment focused on the flare Dominion is proposing to use to burn off chemicals that are removed from the gas before it is cooled. Ron Sahu, an environmental engineering consultant working for the Environmental Integrity Project, told DAQ that Dominions application says the flares will be 98% efficient at burning those chemicals off. But that can change quickly based on winds and chemicals in the so-called waste gas, which can impact a flares speed and temperature. Increasing emissions from the flares could quickly result in the facility having more emissions than allowed under the permit, including of carbon monoxide. Dominions draft permit says the facility is capable of 95.76 tons of carbon monoxide emissions annually. At 100 tons, Dominion would need to seek a major permit. We note that small changes in control efficiency have a dramatic effect on the emissions. For example, a drop from 98% to 97% in the control efficiency results in a 50% increase in the calculated emissions this is simply how the math works, Sahu wrote. Only by constantly monitoring, Sahu argued, will DAQ be able to ensure that Dominion is remaining within the bounds of its requested permit. The public comment period has closed, and DAQ is now considering the application. 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 This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump participated in a wreath laying ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery Monday, the third anniversary of a terrorist attack amidst America's exit from Afghanistan. The Aug. 26, 2021 attack at Abbey Gate outside Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 American service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Trump's campaign bashed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in a statement about the appearance, tying her to the chaotic retreat from Afghanistan. "Kamala Harris failed our soldiers and their families. President Trump never will," the campaign said in a statement online about the anniversary. USA TODAY reached out to the Harris campaign for a response. This is what a Commander in Chief looks like:pic.twitter.com/LqwV3WMYi6 Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) August 26, 2024 Arlington Cemetery appearance comes as Democrats move to take patriotic position Trump's appearance at the Arlington National Cemetery comes days after military veterans took the stage at the Democratic National Convention to make the argument that Democrats are the patriotic way forward for the country. Trump has been criticized by veterans after he questioned whether former Vietnam POW John McCain was a war hero, suggested the Presidential Medal of Freedom is better than the military Medal of Honor, and JD Vance accused Tim Walz, who served 24 years in the Army National Guard, of 'stolen valor.' Trump's comments about the anniversary continues a larger pattern of tying Harris tightly to President Joe Biden's legacy. "This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country. Gross Incompetence," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Kamala's and Biden's incompetence left 13 dead warriors, hundreds of civilians killed and grievously wounded." Some families of American soldiers who were killed in the exit from Afghanistan criticized Biden at the Republican National Convention, saying he has not addressed them publicly. Harris and Biden released statements about the anniversary and the fallen soldiers. "These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe," Harris' statement said, also praising Biden's decision to leave Afghanistan. Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Dan Morrison, Phillip M. Bailey, Joey Garrison, David Jackson, This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump lays wreaths at Arlington on attack anniversary, bashes Harris ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, August 26. The governor of Iran's Golestan province, Ali Mohammad Zanganeh, has announced plans to establish a joint free trade zone (FTZ) with Turkmenistan, a move expected to significantly enhance economic cooperation and development for both nations, Trend reports via Iranian media. According to the information, the ongoing discussions mark a strategic effort to deepen ties and create new opportunities for trade across the shared border. The proposed free trade zone in Iran's Incheh-Borun, a critical gateway to Central Asia, is projected to create 47,000 jobs and boost the exchange of goods via railways to 13.7 million metric tons and by road to 6.3 million metric tons. Zanganeh highlighted the project's potential to stimulate industrial growth and economic integration between the two countries. This initiative aligns with broader efforts by Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), which recently hosted a seminar to explore trade opportunities between Iran and Turkmenistan. The seminar, part of preparations for a specialized agrofood exhibition in Turkmenistan, attracted key officials, including TPOs Export Coordination Director-General Mahmoud Bazari. He emphasized Turkmenistan's importance as a market for Iranian goods and services, particularly within the context of the International North-South Corridor, which could further enhance export activities and regional economic collaboration. These developments reflect a concerted push by both nations to capitalize on their geographical and economic advantages, aiming to drive growth and strengthen their regional influence through closer economic partnerships. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Don't be fooled: How to find out if your Social Security Number was hacked The hacking group USDoD is accused of stealing billions of personal records, including Social Security numbers, affecting millions of individuals. According to a class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and reported by Bloomberg Law, the breach occurred around April 2024. USDoD allegedly claims to have stolen the data of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data. There are ways to check if your personal information has been breached. Ways to spot signs of fraud Individuals concerned about potential identity theft can review their credit reports for any signs of fraud. Credit reports allow people to monitor for any unusual or unexpected activity. You can request a free credit report once a year from the following sources: What are the benefits of a free credit report? Obtaining a free credit report offers several benefits: Fraud Detection: Regularly checking your credit report allows you to spot signs of identity theft or fraudulent activity, such as unauthorized accounts or inquiries. Credit Score Monitoring: By reviewing your credit report, you can monitor changes in your credit score, helping you understand factors that may be impacting it positively or negatively. Error Correction: Credit reports can contain errors, such as incorrect account information or outdated data. Reviewing your report gives you the chance to identify and correct these inaccuracies, ensuring your credit history is accurate. Financial Planning: Understanding your credit report can help you make informed decisions about loans, credit cards, and other financial products. It provides insight into how lenders might view your creditworthiness. Loan and Credit Approval: Regularly monitoring your credit report can help you maintain a good credit history, increasing your chances of being approved for loans or credit with favorable terms. Debt Management: A credit report provides a comprehensive view of your outstanding debts, helping you manage and prioritize repayment more effectively. Awareness of Credit Usage: Reviewing your credit report keeps you aware of how much credit youre using and whether youre nearing your limits, which can help you manage your credit responsibly. By taking advantage of the free annual credit report, you can stay informed about your credit health and take proactive steps to protect and improve it. How to freeze your credit If you suspect that your personal information or identity has been compromised, getting a credit freeze can offer valuable protection against fraudulent activities. A credit freeze limits access to your credit report, serving as a preventive measure to safeguard your financial well-being. Freezing your credit is a straightforward process and can be done through the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Heres how you can do it: 1. Equifax Online: Visit the Equifax Credit Freeze page. By Phone: Call Equifax at 1-800-685-1111. By Mail: Send a request to Equifax, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, GA 30348. Include your name, address, Social Security number and copies of documentation proving your identity (like a driver's license, utility bill, or bank statement). 2. Experian: Online: Visit the Experian Credit Freeze page. By Phone: Call Experian at 1-888-397-3742. By Mail: Send a request to Experian Security Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013. Include your name, address, Social Security number and proof of identity. 3. TransUnion: Online: Visit the TransUnion Credit Freeze page. By Phone: Call TransUnion at 1-888-909-8872. By Mail: Send a request to TransUnion, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094. Include your name, address, Social Security number and proof of identity. Personal Information: Full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and possibly other personal details. Identification: You might need to provide a copy of your drivers license, passport, utility bills or other documentation to verify your identity. Why You Should Avoid Sharing Your Social Security Number If you're trying to open a bank account, enroll in school, buy a house or rent an apartment, your social security number is required for these transactions. However, you should never provide your Social Security number to individuals, businesses, or websites you dont trust. According to the Texas attorney general's office, fraud can occur from sharing your personal, financial or health plan information over the phone, through the mail or over the internet unless you have a trusted relationship with the requestor and you initiated the contact. Fraudsters can open credit accounts in the victim's name as well as other scams once they have your information. -USA Today contributed to this report This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How to check if you social security number was breached WEST DES MOINES, IOWA Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines is dismissing early on Monday after a mechanical failure that will leave the school without air conditioning on what could be the hottest day of the year in central Iowa. Temperatures are forecast to climb up to 97 degrees on Monday. Dowling announced it is closing at 10:30 am on Monday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to who13.com. By Sonia Rolley PARIS (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo no longer expects to receive its first delivery of mpox vaccines this week, the head of its response team said on Monday, as Congo battles a new variant of the virus that has spread beyond its borders. The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency on Aug. 14 for the second time in two years. On Aug. 19, Congo's health minister said the Central African country hoped to receive its first doses of a vaccine by this week, following promises from the United States and Japan to help it fight its outbreak. But asked whether Congo would begin receiving the doses this week, Cris Kacita, the head of Congo's response team, told Reuters: "No. There are still several processes to follow." He said the Congolese pharmaceutical regulatory agency would first need to be in touch with Danish drugmaker Bavaria Nordic for guidance before the vaccines arrive in the country. "So we're waiting," Kacita said. Bavarian Nordic, one of the few drug firms that currently has an mpox vaccine available, said in mid-August it had informed the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that it can manufacture 10 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2025. It said it could already supply up to 2 million doses this year. The vaccine doses' arrival would help to address a huge inequity that left African countries with no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while the vaccines were widely available in Europe and the United States. Since January 2023, there have been more than 27,000 suspected cases and 1,100 deaths in Congo, according to government figures, mainly among children. Mpox vaccines have already been made available in more than 70 countries outside Africa. (Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Alison Williams) Anthony Fauci, the doctor who became synonymous with the American government's response to the COVID pandemic, was hospitalized with a virus this time the rare West Nile virus, according to The New York Times, though he's now recovering at home. Fauci, the 83-year-old former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS that he started feeling tired, chilly and feverish earlier this month. After he tested positive for West Nile, Fauci surmised that he must have gotten a mosquito bite, the main vector for the virus, while he was in his backyard. A spokesperson speaking to the NYT confirmed that Fauci was now home after hospital treatment, and that a full recovery is expected. https://twitter.com/DrLaPook/status/1827365262477418793 The news about Fauci's illness solicited online well wishes for his recovery, but it also attracted people with not-so-kind words, lingering blowback from his prominent position among people who hated the pandemic lockdowns or the COVID vaccines. An ongoing misinformation campaign has been leveled against the doctor, who for years previous had been seen as a mostly non-partisan medical expert, serving both Democrat and Republican presidents until anti-vaccine activists and political opportunists painted him as Public Enemy No. 1 for the government's faltering response to the COVID pandemic and the public push for vaccines. There's very little evidence that the COVID vaccine does much besides prevent severe coronavirus symptoms, though conspiracy theorists have continued to insist without evidence that it alters your DNA or causes various medical problems. As for West Nile virus, there is no known vaccine approved for human use. Like what Fauci experienced, the common signs of the virus include fevers, chills, muscle aches and nausea. People infected by a mild form of the virus should expect a full recovery, but the worst cases can lead to brain damage or death. And though relatively rare compared to the common flu, it's still considered the most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States, with more than 2,000 people diagnosed with West Nile each year. But West Nile's spread is projected to become worse with the rising impact of climate change, which may necessitate the development of a vaccine for the greater public. Will the people who scoffed at Fauci seek such a vaccine if West Nile becomes a big enough problem? Their track record points towards no, and ultimately that's their loss. More on Anthony Fauci: Dr. Fauci Catches Covid for the First Time Driver arrested for suspected DUI after hitting, killing pedestrian in Pacific Beach SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A driver is facing DUI charges after fatally hitting a pedestrian in Pacific Beach Saturday night, police say. San Diego Police are investigating a fatal vehicle vs. pedestrian accident that happened at 8:52 p.m. Saturday in the 4200 block of Mission Bay Drive. Chula Vista police save employee from burning store; man facing arson charges According to police, a man was running mid-block across Mission Bay Drive Saturday night. When an approaching pickup truck stopped for the pedestrian, a 23-year-old driver in a Subaru WRX in the next lane hit the pedestrian that was blocked from their view by the large pickup truck. Police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene after colliding with the right front of the Subaru. Police have not released his identity. Man arrested in Colorado in deadly Lemon Grove hit-and-run San Diego Police report the driver of the Subaru was arrested and is facing DUI charges. The incident is under investigation by the SDPD Traffic Division. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Murderer: Family reacts after Oxford man accused of killing boy in stolen car crash held on bail A man charged in connection with a crash involving a stolen SUV on Route 1 in Plainville that left a 10-year-old boy dead over the weekend faced a judge on Monday. Michael Escolas, 42, of Oxford, was arraigned in Wrentham District Court on charges including motor vehicle manslaughter, operating under the influence, and larceny of a motor vehicle, according to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey. Escolas was held on $100,000 bail, ordered to have a non-contact order with the victims family or witnesses, must remain alcohol-free and use a scram device three times a day. He also cant drive without a valid Massachusetts license. The family of 10-year-old Jaylen Bush-Victorian called Escolas a murderer as he walked out of Wrentham District Court in handcuffs. Three pews filled with the victims family members sobbed quietly. He was a good kid, he was so happy he was a beautiful child he was loved and adored by everyone, said the victims grandmother. Escolas is accused of stealing a Jeep Cherokee that belonged to a Vermont couple who had parked the vehicle in lot P10 outside Gillette Stadium to attend the Kenny Chesney concert on Saturday night. Investigators say Escolas then crashed the Jeep into a Nissan Altima with Rhode Island plates that was occupied by a family of six, including a mother, father, and their four children. Escolas and all six family members were taken to area hospitals, where a 10-year-old boy died from his injuries. The Nissan was stopped at a traffic light on Route 1 near the intersection of Interstate 495 when the crash occurred, according to investigators. Investigators said Escolas admitted to drinking whiskey in the parking lot from 1 p.m. to the evening. They said he never went into the concert but walked to another lot and stole a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a key inside. According to charging documents, the following is an excerpt from a recorded phone call Escolas made to his wife: Escolas: Still, still one too many, one too many. Messed up...Its your car. Wife: Huh, you have the car? I really dont... Escolas: Ill find out what I did Officials said when they asked Escolas where he was coming from, he said a pizza shop in Millbury. They said it wasnt until they pointed out a floor seat wristband he was wearing that he said he was at the concert. He needs to stay in jail we want him to be held accountable for this, said the victims grandmothers. Investigators said this is Escolas second time being charged with an OUI, although he wasnt convicted for his first one. His defense team said hes lived in Oxford his entire life and has three kids of his own under 20 years old, and he works as a manager at an automotive shop. Massachusetts State Police troopers who were working at the Chesney concert responded to the scene of the wreck. Their child is no longer here to raise him to raise him to watch him to continue growing and be just the beautiful soul that he is, the victims family said. They did not want to comment further outside of court. We are deeply saddened and extend our sincerest condolences to the family who has tragically lost a loved one, Gillette Stadium spokesperson Stacey James said in a statement. We are working with the Massachusetts State Police, who are doing the investigation under the jurisdiction of the Norfolk District Attorneys Office, to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragic event. Morrisseys office noted that the deadly collision was followed by crashes involving three other cars. Occupants of those cars did not require ambulance transport. Dealing with this chaotic scene and evacuating seven people to area hospitals required the help and participation of many partner agencies, Morrissey said in a statement. Plainville police and Massachusetts State Police were assisted by fire and ambulance assets from Plainville, North Attleboro, Wrentham, Foxboro, Mansfield, and Franklin, and personnel from the Wrentham Police Department. I offer my thanks to all who responded, and my sincere condolences to the family who lost their son. An investigation remains ongoing. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Drone possibly flew into Polish territory during mass Russian attack on Ukraine, Polish military says An unidentified airborne object, likely a drone, probably flew into Polish territory in the morning of Aug. 26 amid a mass Russian attack across Ukraine, Polish military officials said. Russia used at least 100 missiles and 100 drones in a wide-scale attack across the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least five people have been killed and eight were injured as of the time of this publication. The Polish Operational Command said earlier in the day that Polish and other allied jets were active in the southeastern part of the country amid the Russian attack on Ukraine. Jacek Goryszewski, a spokesperson for Poland's Operational Command, told Reuters that "most likely (the object) was a drone, and we assume so because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile." Major General Maciej Klisz, the Operational Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, said at a briefing that the object probably crossed the border at 6:43 a.m. Polish time from the direction of the Ukrainian city of Chervonohrad, Lviv Oblast. "The object disappeared after (traveling) approximately 25 km (15 miles) into Polish territory," Klisz said. "The object was not confirmed by either allied or Polish aircraft," the major general added. According to spokesperson Goryszewski, "the object is being searched for by 100 soldiers on the ground and one helicopter." Due to weather conditions, the origin of the object was not possible. Klisz said that the search was being conducted near the Polish town of Tyszowce, located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Ukrainian border. It is not the first time there has been spillover from the full-scale war in Ukraine onto Polish territory. In December 2023, a Russian missile entered Polish airspace, putting the country's defenses on high alert. In another incident in November 2022, a missile flew onto Polish territory during a Russian mass attack, killing two civilians. Polish investigators later concluded that it was a stray Ukrainian anti-air projectile launched to intercept the Russian attack. Read also: Drone wreckage found in Romanian town near Ukrainian border Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have discussed the climate challenges facing island states in Tonga, Trend reports via the COP29 page on X. Productive meeting today between COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga. Together, were working to amplify the voices of the Pacific Islands and build a more resilient, sustainable future ahead of COP29, the post reads. 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. COP - the Conference of the Parties - is 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 at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel (KRON) A Dublin homicide suspect was on the run for 24 hours before detectives found him at a Walmart store nearly 400 miles away from the crime scene. The suspected killer, 38-year-old Nicholas Paleveda, was apprehended by police on August 24 in a Walmart parking lot in Barstow, California, East Bay police said. Dublin Police would like to thank both the community and surrounding law enforcement agencies for their assistance in getting this dangerous individual off the streets so quickly, the Dublin Police Department wrote. Paleveda is accused of shooting a man in the head on the afternoon of August 23. The killing happened inside an apartment at Emerald Park Apartments, located at 5050 Hacienda Drive in Dublin. A 37-year-old male victim was located with a gunshot wound to his head. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene, DPD wrote. The killer slipped away before police arrived at Emerald Park Apartments. East Bay police entered Palevedas vehicles license plate into a database. On Saturday afternoon, an Automated License Plate Reader camera in Barstow sent out an alert that the vehicle was parked outside Walmart. 10-foot python found in car after police chase from Vallejo sideshow Detectives watched the vehicle until Paleveda attempted to drive away. The Barstow Police Department wrote, Palevedas vehicle was towed to the police department, and officers contacted detectives from Alameda County, who responded to Barstow, interviewed Paleveda, and took his vehicle back to Alameda County for additional processing. Paleveda was booked into a San Bernardino County jail in Adelanto. He will be extradited back to Alameda County to face charges. The Dublin Police Chief declined to release the victims name on Monday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Duke Fuquas Daytime MBA will be more than half women for the first time in the programs history History is happening right now at Duke University. After receiving the most applications ever to its Daytime MBA program, the Fuqua School of Business has enrolled 51% women for the MBA Class of 2026 that began classes earlier this month the first time in the programs storied history that it has achieved gender parity. After years of coming close, Duke Fuqua joins an exclusive club of B-schools, including USC Marshall School of Business, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University School of Business, and Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. We are thrilled to reach gender parity in a Daytime MBA class for the first time, Shari Hubert, the Fuqua Schools associate dean for admissions, tells Poets&Quants. It is fitting that we are celebrating this extraordinary milestone just weeks after Mary Frances Luce stepped into her interim dean role making her the first woman to be named dean in the schools history. DUKE FUQUA DAYTIME MBA BY THE NUMBERS, 2018-2024 Duke Fuqua 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 Applications Received 3,808 3,292 3,539 3,762 3,356 3,036 3,557 Admits 744 729 727 723 838 695 798 Class Size 427 385 399 447 408 395 440 Acceptance Rate 19.5% 22.1% 20.5% 19.2% 25.0% 22.9% 22.0% GMAT 80% Range 660-760 670-760 660-760 670-750 660-740 600-770 650-750 GPA Range 3.17-3.89 3.10-3.89* 3.1-3.9* 3.06-3.86* 2.70-4.00 2.65-4.00 3.10-3.88 Average Undergraduate GPA 3.54 3.49 3.46 3.48 3.50 3.50 3.49 GRE Average Score 318 317 317 317 315 319 319 GRE Percentage 47% 37% 35% 33% 38% 23% 14% Women 51% 45% 48% 48% 46% 43% 42% URM Students 40% 27% 25% 25% 23% 17% 16% International Students 41% 47% 57% 47.0% 38.0% 28.6% 38.0% First-Gen Students 18% 18% NA NA NA NA NA Hold Advanced Degrees 16% 21% 18% NA NA NA NA Military/Veterans 11% 19% 9% NA NA NA NA Countries Represented 45 51 55 54 44 44 44 *80% range Source: Duke Fuqua DUKE RECEIVED 3,808 MBA APPS LAST CYCLE UP 15% FROM THE YEAR BEFORE Shari Hubert, Duke Fuqua associate dean for admissions. Duke photo Hubert says the Fuqua School owes much to the way its alumni and students have helped to create a pipeline of women applicants to the program. This year, weve held several events prominently featuring women in our community and piloted new campaigns engaging alumnae across our most senior alumni boards to provide outreach and connect with admitted women, she says. We hope this has helped women applicants develop the sense of connection and belonging that is at the core of Fuquas culture. Story continues The school, currently ranked No. 6 in P&Qs ranking of top U.S. business schools, received the most MBA applications in its history in the 2023-2024 cycle, 3,808, up more than 15% from the previous year. The school had lost 12.5% of its app volume between 2021 and 2023. The turnaround allowed Fuqua to seat its biggest class (427 students) since the pandemic year of 2021 and to achieve a new high in diversity: The class is comprised of 40% under-represented minorities, up from 27% last year, and 56% U.S. students of color. Our Team Fuqua values rest on the foundation of embracing difference and harnessing the power of what diverse teams can achieve in solving the worlds most pressing problems and those values have not changed, Hubert says. We are very proud of our continuing efforts to create a class that reflects the diversity, across many different dimensions, that exist not only in the U.S. but around the world. She adds that 18% of the new class identify as first-generation college students, matching the level in the MBA Class of 2025. TECH LAYOFFS CONTRIBUTE TO JUMP IN DOMESTIC APPS The Fuqua Schools acceptance rate declined for the first time since 2021, to 19.5%, while its yield grew to 57.4%, up from 52.8% last year. The school admitted 744 students, the most in a non-pandemic cycle since 2018. The increase in overall applications was driven by a jump in domestic interest, which was accompanied by a corresponding decline in international apps. The result was a drop in international enrollment to 41% from 47%. Shari Hubert notes that several factors may have contributed to the increase in domestic applications, pointing to growth in the overall market due to economic changes. She also mentions the tech layoffs that have spurred many in that sector to return to school to seek new skills. After a few years of seeing fewer campus visits, we now have more people visiting us in-person again, Hubert says. Given our location in Durham, North Carolina, having prospective students be able to see our campus and experience our unique Team Fuqua culture first-hand helped us drive more applications as applicants were able to experience life as a student. Regarding the drop in international enrollment, she adds, From our perspective, we see this as a natural fluctuation in the market and it has more to do with the growth in domestic applications at Fuqua than any decline in interest from international students. In any given year we recruit talent from around the world and have been fortunate for that talent to come from an extensive range of regions and countries. See the Duke Fuqua Daytime MBA Class Profile here. Q&A WITH SHARI HUBERT, DUKE FUQUA ASSOCIATE DEAN OF ADMISSIONS Poets&Quants: The obvious big news in this class profile is the 51% women in the new cohort, which is the first time the Fuqua School has reached parity after years of coming close. What are your thoughts on this historic achievement? Shari Hubert: We are thrilled to reach gender parity in a Daytime MBA class for the first time. It is fitting that we are celebrating this extraordinary milestone just weeks after Mary Frances Luce stepped into her interim dean role making her the first woman to be named dean in the schools history. I am especially proud of the ways our alumni and students have supported our efforts to build a pipeline of women applicants. This year, weve held several events prominently featuring women in our community and piloted new campaigns engaging alumnae across our most senior alumni boards to provide outreach and connect with admitted women. We hope this has helped women applicants develop the sense of connection and belonging that is at the core of Fuquas culture. We will have to see how future classes unfold over the next few years to give us a clearer picture of what makes the greatest impact in terms of supporting women throughout the application process, but were delighted to see our classes become more diverse and will continue working on it. Fuqua has managed to maintain a high level of under-represented minorities in its Daytime MBA. What does this say about the schools priorities in a time of widespread political attacks on DEI and other diversity efforts in higher education? Our Team Fuqua values rest on the foundation of embracing difference and harnessing the power of what diverse teams can achieve in solving the worlds most pressing problems and those values have not changed. We are very proud of our continuing efforts to create a class that reflects the diversity, across many different dimensions, that exist not only in the U.S. but around the world. For instance, we are just as proud that 18% of our class identify as first-generation college students, and when these students arrive, they will find affinity and support through our Low-Income, First-Generation Experience Club. Has Fuqua ever had as many applications as this year? 3,808 is the most going back at least as far as 2018 what do you make of this big jump (more than 15%) from last year? This is a record number of applications for us in the history of the program. There are several factors that could have contributed to the increase in domestic applications, from growth in the overall market due to economic changes to tech layoffs and more. After a few years of seeing fewer campus visits, we now have more people visiting us in person again. Given our location in Durham, North Carolina, having prospective students be able to see our campus and experience our unique Team Fuqua culture first-hand helped us drive more applications as applicants were able to experience life as a student. Our Fuqua Impact Scholars program was launched four years ago, and now has more market recognition and robust programming to be an application draw in and of itself. This program is a collaboration between Admissions and Fuquas five research centers, which are unique and dynamic hubs of academic research, experiential learning, and leadership development. Our Admissions team also returned to a more robust travel schedule and has seen increased interest and attendance at in-person events. We made changes to the support we provide applicants, including an increased number of office hours for individual or small-group chats and hosted events that provided more immediate value to attendees as they went through the applicant process, like interview and essay workshops. Is the increase in apps the reason for class size jumping so significantly this year? Is this the size that the school wants its MBA classes to be? We experienced an increase in applications as well as yield, which contributed to an overall increase in the class size compared to last year. Historically our class size has fluctuated around the 390-450 range. Our ability to be flexible on class size enables us to create the student-driven and team-focused culture that allows our students to thrive. Internationals, however, declined from 47% to 41%. What do you see as the cause and what are the ramifications for Fuqua (and other B-schools, where this effect has been also seen and/or suggested this year)? From our perspective, we see this as a natural fluctuation in the market and it has more to do with the growth in domestic applications at Fuqua than any decline in interest from international students. In any given year we recruit talent from around the world and have been fortunate for that talent to come from an extensive range of regions and countries. Last year was an incredibly successful year for us to find the right talent internationally, and the class was by far the highest international representation we have ever had in the program. We feel exceptionally fortunate to have similar international talent from 45 countries join us this year and note that this is the second-highest percentage of international students we have ever had in a class. DONT MISS DUKE FUQUA REPORTS MBA APP DECLINE, BECOMING THIRD MAJOR U.S. B-SCHOOL TO DO SO (2023) and FIRST-GEN, LGBTQ+, MILITARY & MORE: KEY MBA CLASS PROFILE DATA AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS The post Duke Fuqua Received More MBA Apps Than Ever For Fall 2024 And The Result Was Historic appeared first on Poets&Quants. Paul Slack got an early start on homeownership and building wealth when he bought this house in Minneapolis at age 22. A proposal touted by Vice president Kamala Harris would help thousands of other Americans follow the same path. (Photo: Paul Slack) Paul Slack was 22 years-old when he bought his first home. That was 10 years ago in Minneapolis. Slack, who now lives in Durham, had just finished college in Atlanta. After graduation, he returned home to Minneapolis and moved in with his parents. The stay at his parents home was a short one. My dad came down with a list of chores he wanted me to do after I came home, and I said, no sir, Slack joked. That pretty much put the idea in my head that I couldnt live at home. I could live in an apartment, or I could buy a house. My uncle always said why throw money away on rent when you can own something. A fast (and atypical) start at a young age Slack turned to Zillow. He took a look at several houses before settling on one that he bought for $125,000. With $6,000 in downpayment assistance in the form of a zero-interest loan, it cost Slack a $1,000 to move into his new home. Five years later, Slack sold the home for $250,000. He needed the hefty profit made from the sale of the home in Minneapolis to jump into the expensive and volatile Triangle housing market where the median sales price of a single-family home was $445,290 in July, according to Triangle Multiple Listing Services. The downpayment needed to buy a home in Durham priced at $450,000 sent Slack into sticker shock. I could get the $450,000 house and put down $45,000, Slack said. I had the $45,000 to put down but I didnt want to kill my whole savings. He eventually paid $434,000 for a home that required a $35,000 down payment, he said. At 31, Slack has already owned two homes and is well ahead in the housing game. With high housing costs and rents and student loan debt, many of his contemporaries find it difficult to save enough money to make large down payments. The best thing I did for myself was I bought a house the first chance that I got and it didnt matter that that house wasnt a forever house and it didnt matter that my girlfriend who came to live with me didnt love the house. None of that mattered because that [house] was an asset that grew for five years and put me in a position that I would never be able to be in. That house bought this house [in Durham]. Slack doesnt believe he has a single friend in his age group who can afford to save $2,000 a month to put toward a down payment on a house. The reality is, Im 31, people are having kids now and that takes away their ability to save life is expensive, Slack said. I just dont know anybody who can save, and I talk to my friends all of the time. Recent data compiled by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and shared in the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard Universitys State of the Nations Housing 2024 serve to confirm Slacks observation. The report shows that first-time homebuyers are indeed older and wealthier than in the past. In 2023, the average age of a first-time homebuyer was 35 years-old, which was down from the record high of 36 in 2022, but well above the 30-33 range that prevailed in the 1990s. The median household income of first-time homebuyers also jumped to $95,900 in 2023 after having averaged $79,200 over the previous three years, the NAR reported. Harris downpayment assistance proposal could be a game changer State housing advocates and real estate agents see promise in a $25,000 downpayment assistance program for first-time homebuyers that Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled in her recent visit to North Carolina. Harris is the Democratic nominee for president. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a speech First-time homebuyers who have paid rent on time for two years would be eligible for the downpayment assistance. Harris has not shared how she would pay for the program. Twenty-five thousand dollars will assist in helping making homeownership more affordable for first-time homebuyers if theyre able to leverage it with other down payment programs, said Brenda Green, a certified housing counselor for the Choanoke Area Development Association (CADA) of NC, Inc. CADA is private nonprofit that assist low-income individuals in Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Martin and Northampton counties achieve self sufficiency through education, housing counseling and community development. Were rural, and a lot of our residents are challenged with their credit but also just being able to locate land [to build homes on] and then with the cost of construction since the pandemic, its hard to be able to meet those challenges, Green said. Most CADA counties have very little affordable housing stock, Green said, so homebuyers more often than not must build new homes. Kimberly Williams, a Durham real estate agent who attended Harris campaign rally said the downpayment assistance proposal is a step forward for affordable housing. There are quite a few barriers to homeownership that her plan, it will ease some of that strain thats put on potential homebuyers, said Williams, who served as Slacks real estate agent. A big problem, Williams said, is that home prices are going up, but salaries are not. According to the NAR, as of 2023, the typical mortgage downpayment for a first-time homebuyer was 8%, while the typical downpayment for a repeat homebuyer was 19 percent. Kimberly Williams The $25,000 downpayment assistance would be a game changer for a first-time homebuyer who has paid rent on time for two years but could not afford to save a large amount of money for a down payment to purchase a home, Williams said. To save that $25,000 downpayment, its very tight because salaries have not increased, Williams said. Not only have salaries not increased but all of the other expenses and cost of living have increased, so the ability to save, its just not one of those things thats happening at the rate it was years ago. Harris proposal would be a head start for someone who hasnt been able to save a downpayment but has shown fiscal responsibility by paying rent on time for two years and staying current with other expenses, Williams said. Thats a reward to someone who wants to be a contributing member of society and who can take advantage of all of the benefits of being a homeowner, she said. During Harris campaign rally in Raleigh to unveil her economic plan, the vice president noted that as the price of housing has gone up, so has the size of downpayments. If elected president, Harriss downpayment assistance program would be provided to more than four million people over four years. If aspiring homeowners saved for years, it often still is not enough, so in addition, while we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide first-time home buyers with $25,000 to help with the downpayment on a new home, Harris said. We can do this to help more Americans experience the pride of homeownership and the financial security that it represents and brings. In addition to the downpayment assistance program, Harris housing plan calls for: Creating a tax incentive to encourage builders to build starter homes. Expanding existing tax incentives. Creating a $40 billion innovation fund that would empower local governments to fund local solutions to build housing. Working with the housing industry to build three million housing units rentals and for purchase by the end of her first term that are affordable for middle income families. Carl Harris We will make sure those homes actually go to working- and middle-class Americans and not just investors, Harris said. You know some corporate landlords, some of them buy dozens if not hundreds of houses and apartments then they turn them around and rent them out at extremely high prices and it can make it impossible then for regular people to be able to buy or even rent a home. In a statement, Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Homebuilders (NABH) applauded the vice presidents downpayment assistance proposal. While he expressed frustration that the plan makes no mention of reducing onerous federal regulationsthatincrease on the construction of a multifamily unit, he also said, We are pleased that the foundation of her plan calls for the construction of three million new housing units because the primary way to tackle the nations housing affordability crisis is to increase the nations housing supply. The Dutch Data Protection Authority said it fined Uber $324 million on Monday for failing to use the proper tools when transferring the data of its European drivers to the United States. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The Dutch Data Protection Authority on Monday fined ridesharing app Uber $324 million for transferring the personal data of its European drivers in the United States without proper protections. The DPA accused Uber of a "very serious" violation of collecting sensitive information on drivers in Europe and keeping them on servers in the United States without using transfer tools that would protect the data. "In Europe, the [General Data Protection Regulation] protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care," Aleid Wolfsen, the Dutch DPA chairman, said in a statement. "But sadly, this is not self-evident outside Europe. The DPA said Uber collected data, including account details and taxi licenses, as well as more personal information such as location data, photos, payment details and identity documents over a period of more than two years and transferred the data from Europe to Uber's U.S.-based headquarters. It added that criminal and mecidal records were also stored and transferred in some instances. "Think of governments that can tap data on a large scale. That is why businesses are usually obligated to take additional measures if they store the personal data of Europeans outside the European Union," Wolfsen said. "Uber did not meet the requirements of the GDPR to ensure the level of protection to the data concerning transfers to the United States." The investigation was launched after The Human Rights League of France filed a complaint to the French DPA on behalf of more than 170 French drivers. The Dutch DPA said Uber would appeal the fine. "Uber's cross-border data transfer process was compliant with the GDPR during a 3-year period of immense uncertainty between the EU and U.S., " an Uber spokesperson told the BBC. "The flawed decision and extraordinary fine are completely unjustified." The authority said this marks the third time the DPA fined Uber and the largest. The DPA fined Uber $670,485 in 2018 and $11.17 million in 2023. JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) An East Tennessee judge is being remembered for his drug recovery work after he was struck and killed by a car early Sunday morning. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, O. Duane Slone was walking east on E Highway 25/70 towards Mountain Vista Trail around 1:30 a.m. when he walked out into the roadway and was struck by a car. The Jefferson County Sheriff said Slone had a flat tire, which was why he was walking along the highway. Man charged after domestic incident, police pursuit in Knoxville No charges are pending, according to THP. Slone was first elected to the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in 1998 and co-founded his judicial districts Drug Recovery Court in 2009. He was known for his work helping people overcome addiction. The Fourth Judicial Circuit has jurisdiction in Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, and Sevier counties. He was the recipient of the National Center for State Courts William H. Rehnquist Judicial Excellence Award in 2019, the nations highest state court judicial honor, in recognition of his work addressing the opioid crisis. Charlotte Booker went through drug recovery court with Judge Slone in 2014 after winding up in Sevier County Jail. Sevier County launching new resource initiative on Overdose Awareness Day Rev. Debra Schultz, Judge Duane Slone and Charlotte Booker (Courtesy of Charlotte Booker). He was just a one-of-a-kind man. He believed in everybody, thats the thing, because a lot of us addicts dont believe in ourselves. But he was one that believed in me, Booker said. Booker was also pregnant when she started the recovery process. Unfortunately, my baby passed away nine months after she was born, but for that nine months I got to be with my baby and if it wasnt for Judge Slone and his recovery court, that wouldnt have been possible, Booker said. Thanks to the court and her own hard work, shes now five years clean. She also now works at an addiction treatment center, helping others overcome the same battle she did. Lydia Stoutt was 21 years old when she first met Judge Slone, after probation and rehab proved unhelpful to her. Knoxville woman wants answers about changes to citys dialysis transportation It was always this excitement. This, yes, we got some clean time. Yes, we got a job. Yes, we got our drivers license. Yes, weve reunited with our families. You know, there was always that encouragement every single time, she said. Lydia Stoutt completing Drug Recovery Court with Judge Slone (Courtesy of Lydia Stoutt). In February, she celebrated 10 years clean, and still remembers what he taught her. He helped me to be able to see that, Im not a bad person, its a bad situation, I made a wrong mistake, she said. And as long as I take accountability for those actions, I can become a better person from that. So he instilled that in me at a very crucial part of my recovery. See more top stories on WATE.com Despite the loss of Judge Slone, his impact will be felt for generations to come, as people continue to overcome addiction in East Tennessee. He just helped me plant the seed in recovery in 2014 to get me to where I am today in 2024, and Im so thankful for that, Booker 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 WATE 6 On Your Side. A person holds up a sign as abortion-rights activists and Women's March leaders protest as part of a national day of strike actions outside the Supreme Court on June 24 in Washington. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Our bodies are on the ballot! Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, got it right when she declared that during her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. Theres no question that the right to control your own body should be on the minds of every voter in the November election. Kamala Harris has made the aggressive defense of reproductive rights a main goal of her vice presidency, and Donald Trump's three antiabortion appointments to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe vs. Wade. But abortion access has been making its way onto state election ballots ever since the Supreme Court took away the federal constitutional guarantee to that right in its 2022 ruling in Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organization. And in every case, voters have supported ballot measures guaranteeing a right to an abortion while defeating those that would have constitutionally outlawed it, even in conservative-leaning states. Voters understand the danger of repressive state bans on abortion that intimidate healthcare providers into not performing emergency abortions until women are critically ill. Read more: Opinion: Trump dangerously misunderstands how voters feel about abortion access Thats why its impressive and exhilarating to see, with each passing election cycle, guarantees of reproductive freedom established from state to state. Legislators should never be able to dictate when and if a woman decides to have a baby. This year there are 10 states with abortion rights measures on their ballots. And some of those measures are desperately needed. Nearly half the nation is now a patchwork of abortion bans. There are 14 states that ban abortion with limited exceptions. Eight other states ban the procedure somewhere between six weeks of gestation (when women usually dont even know they are pregnant) and 18 weeks. Measures on November ballots would restore access to abortion in Missouri, South Dakota and Florida where there is none or little to the point of viability, or about 24 weeks. In Arizona, where abortion is banned after 15 weeks, a measure would extend the right to the point of viability. In Nebraska, voters will choose between two opposing constitutional amendment proposals. One would protect the right to an abortion in the state until viability (it is now allowed up to 12 weeks of gestation), and the other would prohibit abortion after the first trimester. Read more: Editorial: Don't be fooled by Trump's and Republicans' abortion myths Measures in Colorado, New York, Maryland, Montana and Nevada where abortion is either allowed up to 24 weeks of viability or limits are not specified would solidify the right to abortion in their state constitutions. Previously, voters in California and Vermont, where abortion was already protected, added the right to their constitutions in 2022 as did those in the state of Michigan. That year Kansas and Kentucky voters turned back antiabortion measures. Ohio passed a measure in 2023 including abortion rights in its state constitution. At both state and national levels, support for abortion rights is only getting more forceful and unapologetic. As well it should. A Pew Research Center poll says most adults 63% in the U.S. believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That number goes up to 86% for religiously unaffiliated Americans. Even 59% of Catholics think it should be legal. Read more: Abcarian: The role of the post-menopausal female in society? JD Vance has some thoughts It's also encouraging that reproductive rights figured so prominently at the Democratic National Convention. In front of millions of Americans, women told their stories of struggling to get an abortion when they desperately needed one. Oprah Winfrey reminded the audience that if you do not have control over how and when you have children, "there is no American dream." And Harris talked of hearing womens stories of miscarrying in parking lots, developing sepsis and losing the ability to have children again because restrictions on when emergency abortions are permitted make doctors afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. She noted that "America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives." We agree. Reproductive freedom is about having the power to make choices. And that is something that we must vigilantly work for and protect at all levels of government. 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. We are very glad, as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced yesterday, that provisional CDC data shows that NYC opioid overdose deaths fell 3.1% for the year ending in March 2024 and declined 9% in the rest of the state, as she listed some of the steps being taken to slow this scourge. However, missing from the list is the most effective way to save lives: Giving addicts a safe place to take their drugs just in case they OD. You cant really police away or disincentivize people from overdosing. To some extent, they cant help it; many dont even want to continue abusing substances but cannot stop, burdened by a mix of psychological and chemical dependence. Simply punishing them or trying to push them away from using drugs in certain sites just means theyll end up doing so elsewhere, perhaps where theyre further from prying eyes and more likely to die. Heroin or crack addicts arent thinking about the potential ramifications and future criminal consequences of their conduct; theyre often thinking just as far ahead as that next hit. This doesnt mean that we should excuse or condone open drug abuse, but it does mean that the heavy-handed approach just doesnt really work and often backfires. Instead, we should focus on providing pathways out of this cycle, which many of those afflicted will take if theyre readily available. Among the most important first steps is just keeping people alive. You cannot receive treatment to turn your life around if youre dead. Overdoses can be fatal, yet are almost invariably reversible if caught and counteracted quickly enough. This simple premise undergirds the establishment of overdose prevention centers, like the two OnPoint centers that have been chugging along for years in Upper Manhattan. Theyve seen hundreds of overdoses reversed and zero deaths, along with clients directed to in-house treatment and recovery services, all under one roof. This painstaking labor requires and deserves support and funding, and they should receive it without delay. Beyond these centers, we need more people to be trained in and have access to opioid antagonists like naloxone, which Hochul properly highlighted. We commend the City Council for having last year passed a bill to stock naloxone in schools, though theres still a general dearth of availability in some of the neighborhoods its most needed. Some critics balk at the idea of naloxone in public places, particularly schools, claiming it somehow encourages drug use. Thats about as sensical an argument as saying the presence of fire extinguishers encourages arson. If and when someone is reaching for an extinguisher, things have already gone very wrong, but youre certainly glad to have one on hand. As Hochul explained, there are a number of things that can keep people recovering and stable, including access to treatment, including inpatient treatment beds when necessary, medication-assisted treatment programs, mental health services and the general necessities of life, particularly housing. Someone who is trying to stay on the path out of drug dependency will have a much easier time doing so if they have their own apartment to return to at the end of the day, as opposed to the chaotic environment of a shelter. Only all these things coming together can get the OD numbers to drop lower and lower. ___ 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. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) El Paso County will be hosting its second annual 100 percent anonymous community Gun Buyback event on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the El Paso County Coliseum. The County along with the El Paso County Attorneys and El Paso County Sheriffs Office is offering the public money in the form of prepaid Mastercard gift cards in exchange for their unwanted firearms. The County says nonfunctional firearms and ammunition will also be accepted. However, ammunition will not be reimbursed and ghost guns will not be accepted. The County has provided a list of firearms that will be accepted at the event, those are the following: Non-functioning firearms $50 Rifles or shotguns $100 Handguns $150 Assault rifles $200 The County says anyone can participate and can turn in up to 10 firearms for prepaid gift cards with no identification needed and no questions asked. All guns that are turned in will be destroyed following county and federal guidelines. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla. (KFDX/KJTL) A 79-year-old man from Lawton, Oklahoma, is dead after a pin-in collision on Monday morning in Comanche County. Map of fatal crash in Lawton, Okla. on the morning of August 26, 2024 According to the crash report from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the collision occurred just before 8:30 a.m. on Monday, August 26, 2024, at Southwest 97th Street and Southwest Coombs Road, about a mile west of Lawton in Comanche County. LOCAL CRIME: Man pulls large knife in Wichita Falls Taco Bell The OHP report said a 2001 Toyota 4Runner was traveling northbound on 97th Street and a 2016 Mazda 3 was traveling eastbound on Coombs Road. The driver of the Toyota ran a stop sign and struck the Mazda. Authorities said OHP troopers, the Comanche County Sheriffs Department, the Cache Fire Department, and Comanche County Memorial EMS responded to the scene. The crash report said the driver of the Toyota 4Runner was pinned in the vehicle for around 15 minutes before being freed by a passerby. LOCAL NEWS: 68-year-old man fatally shot in Bryson, suspect in custody According to OHP, the driver of the Toyota, Jimmy Roach, 79, of Lawton, was transported by EMS to Comanche County Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased by an ER physician. The driver of the Mazda and a 9-year-old passenger were transported to the hospital by EMS, where they were both treated and released. The crash report from OHP said Roach was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. This is a developing story. Stick with Texomas Homepage for updates as more information becomes available. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Texomashomepage.com. This combination photo shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an event, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo) The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. President Joe Bidens campaign team made microphone muting a condition of its decision to accept any debates this year. Trump on Sunday suggested he might not show up for the ABC-hosted debate. Trump traveled to Michigan on Monday to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit. He was joined by former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who endorsed him. Meanwhile, Harris' campaign said it has now raised $540 million and saw a surge of donations during the Democratic National Convention last week. Follow the APs Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024. Heres the Latest: Strategist who ran DeSantis ill-fated bid is working with Musk to help organize voters for Trump Ron DeSantis senior political aides were gathered last year at the Florida governors campaign headquarters, an office across the street from a Red Lobster on Tallahassees north side, planning the announcement of his candidacy for president. Some wanted the Republican to go to a baseball stadium in Tampa, near where he grew up and starred in Little League, for what they hoped would be a photogenic rally with his young family. Campaign manager Generra Peck supported a different idea, according to people familiar with the matter one she had quietly been working on for weeks with Elon Musk, the then-new owner of the platform still known at the time as Twitter. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose internal deliberations. DeSantis opted for an audio-only conversation with Musk on Twitter Spaces. Initially drawing interest and curiosity, the call was a disaster. The feed crashed due to technical glitches, creating an inauspicious opening for what would ultimately be DeSantis ill-fated campaign. Peck, who was demoted three months into DeSantis candidacy, and Musk are now working together again, this time on a super political action committee, America PAC, dedicated to electing Donald Trump, who beat DeSantis on his way to winning this years Republican nomination. Read more here. Georgia judge rules independent and third-party candidates ineligible A judge says four independent and third-party candidates are ineligible to appear on Georgias presidential ballot. The final decision is now up to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Mondays rulings by Michael Malihi, an administrative law judge. If affirmed, the rulings would block independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, as well as the Green Partys Jill Stein and the Party for Socialism and Liberations Claudia De la Cruz. Kennedy has said he wants to withdraw his name in Georgia and some other closely contested states after he endorsed Donald Trump. Democrats legally challenged whether all four qualify for the ballot, seeking to block candidates who could siphon votes from Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris after Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020. Raffensperger must make a decision before Georgia mails military and overseas ballots beginning Sept. 17. Spokesperson Mike Hassinger said Raffenspergers office is reviewing the decisions and will decide each as soon as possible. If finalized by Raffensperger, the rulings mean that Georgia voters will choose among only Harris, Trump and Libertarian Chase Oliver in the presidential race. Voter Voice: I wish he would just state the facts Michelle Boyack of Salt Lake City was heartened by Trumps speech because, she said, I appreciate the way he supports the military. And although Boyack, a 45-year-old national guard spouse, plans to vote for Trump, she said she wished he would have been less aggressive in criticizing Biden and more focused on policy. Its hard because were not supposed to be political, said Boyack. I wish he would just state the facts of what he plans to do if elected, and not so much going after Biden. Jill Stein will remain on Wisconsin presidential ballot Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a Democratic challenge seeking to oust her. The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a deciding factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes. The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court decided against hearing the challenge brought by David Strange, an employee of the Democratic National Committee, who sought to oust Stein from the ballot. The court did not explain its reasoning. Michael White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, called the complaint a mark of fear by the Democratic Party and hailed the courts decision not to consider it. Stein last appeared on the Wisconsin ballot 2016, when she won just over 31,000 votes more than Donald Trumps winning margin of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year. Voter Voice: Unfortunately, decorum has gone out of town Karen Dill said she didnt mind Trumps harsh criticism of Biden, the U.S. militarys commander in chief, in part because both major party candidates were invited to speak. Harris declined the invitation. There is a big difference between our military now and before, when he was president, said Dill, the 66-year-old retired accountant whose husband is a 42-year-retired national guardsman. So, I didnt think it was out of order. And, unfortunately, decorum has gone out of town, said Dill, who plans to vote for Trump. Would it be great if he didnt act like that? Wouldnt that be great and wonderful. Its just where we are now. Families of killed service members are still fighting for answers In a media call on Monday with Trumps running mate JD Vance and Republican congressmen, families of some of the service members who were killed by the bombing three years ago said they had not heard from Harris and they are still fighting for answers on how their loved ones died. Alicia Lopez, the mother of Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, said she wanted to be present when they fired those responsible for the operation that led to their deaths. For them to think that is OK and treat it as another page in a book that theyre just flipping over for the next chapter it saddens me and frightens me all at the same time, she said. I do have a son thats currently serving, and I pray that I dont get another knock on my door because of the lack of responsibilities this administration has for our military. Mark Schmitz, father of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, said he wanted politicians from both parties to ask harder questions at the Afghanistan War hearings. This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue, this is an American issue. This is a lack of leadership, and this is the result. America needs to recognize that when choosing a leader, he said. Those that are privileged enough to challenge these people in the committee setting need to take full advantage of that to get to the bottom of it. Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump against former foe Harris Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has endorsed Donald Trumps presidential bid, furthering her shift away from the party she sought to represent four years ago and linking herself to the GOP nominees critiques of Vice President Kamala Harris and the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal. Appearing Monday with Trump in Detroit, Gabbard, a National Guard veteran who served two tours of duty in the Middle East, said that the GOP nominee understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives. The pair appeared at the National Guard Association of the United States on the third anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans. Gabbard accompanied Trump earlier Monday to Arlington National Cemetery, when the former president laid wreaths in honor of three of the slain service members Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. Read more here. Takeaways from the APs review of Tim Walzs descriptions of his military record Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, rising through the enlisted ranks and receiving an honorable discharge. It is a record seen as one of his political strengths. Republicans are trying to turn it into a weakness. They have seized on criticism from former National Guard members denouncing Walz, the Minnesota governor, for retiring from the military in 2005 to run for Congress shortly before his unit was deployed to Iraq and for overstating the rank he held after he left the service. They also have pointed to a comment Walz made that implied he had seen combat, when he had not. It is a risky strategy for Republicans that invites comparison between Walz, with decades of military service, and former President Donald Trump, who received a series of deferments to avoid serving in Vietnam, including one attained with a physicians letter stating he suffered from bone spurs in his feet. Read more here. Trump takes stage at National Guard Association's conference in Detroit Former President Donald Trump has taken the stage at the National Guard Association of the United States general conference in downtown Detroits Huntington Center conference hall. Its the first of several stops for the Republican presidential ticket this week in Michigan, a pivotal state in the race for 270 Electoral College votes. Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance plans to campaign in Michigan Tuesday and Trump plans to be back Thursday. Walzs exit from Minnesota National Guard left openings for critics to pounce on his military record John Kolb, a retired Minnesota National Guard colonel, knew Tim Walz by reputation as an excellent leader who adroitly guided the enlisted troops in his field artillery battalion. But Kolb was stunned by what he saw when Walz left the military and entered politics. Walz retired from the National Guard in 2005 to run for Congress just before his unit received an order to mobilize for the war in Iraq. Then during the campaign, Walz overstated the rank he held at the point he left the service. That is not the behavior I would expect out of a senior noncommissioned officer, Kolb said in an interview. Those two sides of Walzs service have been in the spotlight now that the Minnesota governor is the Democratic nominee for vice president. Supporters have lauded Walzs 24 years of service in the National Guard, where he rose through the enlisted ranks and received an honorable discharge. Read more here. Shes the sitting vice president. Shes the candidate of change. How Harris is having it both ways Shes the sitting vice president who has been in office for 3 1/2 years. Shes also the presidential candidate of just five weeks promising a new way forward. Kamala Harris is having it both ways as she hits the campaign trail after the Democratic National Convention, taking credit for parts of President Joe Bidens record in rallies staged in front of Air Force Two while casting herself as a new leader who rails against the politics of the past. In every presidential cycle candidates run on experience or freshness, but Harris so far appears to be successfully harmonizing two seemingly competing messages, much to the frustration of former President Donald Trump and his allies. She has this powerful and unique and interesting advantage that we have never seen before in our politics, said Patrick Gaspard, CEO of the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund and a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee under President Barack Obama. Read more here. Harris campaign says its raised $540 million and saw a surge of donations during the convention Vice President Kamala Harris campaign says it has now raised $540 million for its election battle against Republican nominee former President Donald Trump. The campaign has had no problems getting supporters to open their wallets since President Joe Biden announced on July 21 he was ending his campaign and quickly endorsed Harris. The campaign said it saw a surge of donations during last weeks Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, accepted their nominations. Just before Vice President Harris acceptance speech Thursday night, we officially crossed the $500 million mark, campaign chair Jen OMalley Dillon wrote in a memo released by the campaign on Sunday. Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day. Read more here. Trump tries to connect Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on anniversary of attack Former President Donald Trump on Monday is tying Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of three of the slain service members Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. Later in the day, he was going to Michigan to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference. Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed the American service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Read more here. Trump would veto legislation establishing a federal abortion ban, Vance says Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance says Donald Trump would not support a national abortion ban if elected president and would veto such legislation if it landed on his desk. I can absolutely commit that, Vance said when asked on NBCs Meet the Press whether he could commit to Trump not imposing such a ban. Donald Trumps view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we dont want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue. The Ohio senator also insisted that Trump, the former president who is the Republican nominee this year, would veto such legislation if it were passed by Congress. I mean, if youre not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it, he said in an interview that aired Sunday. Read more here. Behind the rhetoric, a presidential campaign is a competition about how to tell the American story Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. America, Barack Obama thundered, is ready for a better story. JD Vance insisted that the Biden administration is not the end of our story, and Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans to write our own thrilling chapter of the American story. This week, comedian and former Obama administration speechwriter Jon Lovett said Thursday on NBC, has been about a story. In the discourse of American politics, this kind of talk from both sides is unsurprising fitting, even. Because in the campaign season of 2024, just as in the fabric of American culture at large, the notion of story is everywhere. This years political conventions were, like so many of their kind, curated collections of elaborate stories carefully spun to accomplish one goal getting elected. But lurking behind them was a pitched, high-stakes battle over how to frame the biggest story of all the one about America that, as Harris put it, should be the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. Read more here. In boosting clean energy in Minnesota, Walz lays foundation for climate influence if Harris wins When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz strolled onstage to welcome a conference of clean power advocates to Minneapolis in May, he was quick to note that his state is now getting a little over half of its power from renewables. In the next breath, Walz said Minnesota would never get to 100% a goal he helped set without changing what he called outdated permitting laws. There are things we are doing that are too cumbersome, they dont fit where were at, they add costs, and they make it more prohibitive to get where we need to go, Walz told the industry group American Clean Power. A few weeks later, he signed legislation to speed things up. Developers no longer have to demonstrate that a clean energy project that is, solar and wind, storage and transmission projects is needed as part of Minnesotas energy system. And they no longer have to study alternative sites and transmission line routes a requirement that had effectively doubled the possible opponents for a project. Walzs effort to resolve a major obstacle to the clean energy transition nationwide is getting new attention since he was tapped as Kamala Harris running mate. His experience enacting such laws in Minnesota could position him as a leader on climate issues if Harris wins in November. Read more here. ELLIOTT COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) The start of a new school year is always an exciting time but can also be nerve-wracking for students. The same goes for educators, especially those starting a new role Monday morning Elliott County schools welcomed a new superintendent and shes already a familiar face on campus. After graduating from college, the new leader of Elliott County schools Dolly Fannin is no stranger to the community, Fannin returned to the classrooms where she was once a student Superintendent Fannin began her teaching career in Elliott County as an elementary teacher and has held several positions within the district. Still, 29 years later, Fannin said that Elliott County is home. As she begins her next chapter with Elliott County Schools, she said her goal is to help improve the district as a whole and create an environment where students can thrive. Read more of the latest Kentucky news When they graduate, when they, or, you know, if they move away that they feel confident and competent in their abilities to be able to be successful in whatever they want to do, said Fannin. When I was principal for a little while, I just started seeing things that I thought that I can improve our district. So that made me go back and get my superintendent certification. So, it just sort of experiences that I was placed in and support from colleagues of Dolly you can do this. But as the return to school may be dreaded by students, staff members say teachers are ready to help educate, care for, and change their lives. Elliott County Schools is helping establish a welcoming and supportive environment for the district. Fannin said staff will be focusing on what the future of education will look like in Elliott County. Over the last few years, an initiative called Portrait of a Learner has helped focus on creating a well-rounded student and is a vision for what success looks like beyond academics. Its broken into five categories; responsible and adaptable learner, creative and critical thinker, motivated and engaged citizen, confident and effective communicator, and resourceful and collaborative contributor. Fannin said the framework of this initiative will impact the classroom for years to come. If we can have them to be, you know, engaged and engaged citizen, that theyre able to communicate, that theyre able to think outside the box as critical thinking, that theyre able to work with others having those, soft skills, I guess, per se, to be able to enhance their academics. So, no matter what field they go in that theyre able to adapt and be successful in whatever role that they choose to follow, Fannin said. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Fannin is also expanding a new program called JAG, which stands for Jobs for Americas Graduates. It was an initiative in the high school last year and is now transferring to the middle school. It helps get students job-ready by developing skills they may not get to sharpen in the classroom. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. End of the line for Red Rails classic Mochamotive train caboose in Kennewick Red Rail Espresso, the small Kennewick coffee chain with a devoted following, will leave its iconic caboose in Southridge for a new spot just a stones throw away. De De and Raney Maurer, the mother-daughter duo behind Red Rail, expect to move to 2601 S. Union Place, a newly-built retail center next to Cynergy Centre and Costa Vida, in September. The exact date depends on construction and final inspections. De De and Raney Maurer, the mother-daughter duo behind Red Rail, will soon move out of the iconic caboose to 2601 S. Union Place, a newly-built retail center next to Cynergy Centre and Costa Vida, in September. The Maurers are putting the caboose behind them, but their new spot retains one key aspect of the old: Both look directly at the south Kennewick edition of Dutch Bros. Coffee. The caboose is on one side of 27th Street, the new spot on the other, with the rival in between. The competitors will have drive-thrus that are almost directly across from one another. The Maurers are unconcerned. Red Rail, they said, came first. Its been part of the neighborhood since 2016, when the family took over the caboose, at 4301 W. 27th Ave., which had been operating as Mochamotive. They rebranded it as Red Rail. and say their business is largely unaffected by Dutch Bros., which opened in late 2021. Red Rail and Dutch Bros. both sell coffee (and other) beverages. The resemblance ends there with each boasting a unique customer base. They came across from us. Were just leapfrogging over, De De said. A second Red Rail opened on South Washington Street in 2018. It offers an expanded coffee menu, real ice cream milkshakes, pastries and breakfast sandwiches. The familys caboose connections predates Red Rail. Red Rail Espresso will soon be moving their West 27th Avenue location out of the iconic caboose to a nearby building at 2601 S. Union Pl. in Kennewick. De De and Raney Maurer, the mother-daughter duo behind Red Rail, plan on moving into a newly-built retail center near Cynergy Centre and Costa Vida. Raney worked at Mochamotive as a Southridge High student and later while attending Columbia Basin College. She enjoyed the job and when the owners wanted to sell, she moved back to the Tri-Cities to operate the business with her mother. They werent looking to leave their classic caboose, but say it had its limits. It is small, hot in the summer and leased. The owner declined their repeated attempts to buy the property, which they said they needed to warrant investing in broader updates to support the business. When one of their regular customers offered space in the South Union Place building being constructed by Aden Masonry, they were intrigued. At 900 square feet, the coffee shop space on Union Place is four times the size of the caboose. It has room for indoor seating and ample storage, a win that will let Red Rail expand its beverage offerings and order in bulk. The rent is also very competitive, they said. We love the caboose and were sad to leave, but we dont own it, De De said. The move doesnt signal bigger plans for the small, feisty chain. The Maurers want Red Rail to stay small and family-focused and arent considering additional locations. Red Rail is one of three tenants for a new, 7,900-square-foot building built near the intersection of Union and 27th Avenue by Don Aden. CrossFit 12 Stones relocated from a nearby studio. The third space is being fitted out for a muscle recovery business. The Maurers hope to move Red Rail to its new digs by early September. Watch its progress on Facebook @redrailespresso or on Instagram. Sign Up: Boom Town Tri-Cities Stay up to date on Tri-Cities growth and development with our weekly business newsletter. Get the latest on restaurant and business openings and closings, plus the regions top housing and employment news. Click here to sign up. In your inbox every Wednesday. The Erie County Fair is only one day away, but Sunday royalty was crowned in Wattsburg ahead of the weeklong fair. Sunday was the Erie County Fairs setup day at the Wattsburg Fairgrounds, but also the crowning of the fairs queen and princesses. Erie kids get free haircuts, school supplies ahead of new school year The fair crowned 5 different girls from ages 4 to 20. The fairs queen coordinator said she hopes the girls grow with the program until they can compete for queen, which then they can compete for the Pennsylvania State Fair Queen title. First responders swing for the fences at annual Guns N Hoses game For a total year, the whole queen court which consists of 5 people in the court, 5 girls. They go around to different fairs. They go to parades. They go to different events. They promote agriculture. They promote tourism, and they promote the Erie County Fair, said Tina Elder, queen coordinator. Monday at the county fair there will be a harness racing event at 2 p.m. and a circus starting at 5:45 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 WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. (Bloomberg) -- Erste Group Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Peter Bosek criticized how little the Austrian population seems to be concerned that Russia may expand its war on Ukraine to other countries. Most Read from Bloomberg While many in the Baltic region are convinced that there will be a war with Russia over the next years and preparing for such a scenario, that prospect is not an issue that seems to be on the minds of many people and politicians in Austria, Bosek said at a conference on Monday. Bosek returned to his home country to take the Erste post in July after serving as CEO of Estonia-based Luminor Bank AS for a few years. Austrias economy benefited from strong ties with Russia before the country invaded Ukraine in early 2022, and many Austrian companies have since struggled to adjust. Russia still accounts for more than 80% of Austrias gas imports, though the government has announced plans to wean itself off deliveries by 2026. Theres also a strong political current in Austria that opposes harsher political action against Russia. The far-right Freedom Party, which criticizes European support for Ukraine, is leading polls ahead of federal elections on Sept. 29. Austria is one of few European Union countries that is not a member of the NATO military alliance. Coming back now to Austria, the biggest change for me personally is the sense of urgency when it comes to Russia, Bosek said at the conference. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. EU Ambassador urges Kyiv's allies to provide Ukraine with more aid defence after massive Russian attack The European Union's ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, has called upon Ukraines allies to send Kyiv more air defence after a massive Russian attack on 26 August. Source: Maternova on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda Details: According to Maternova, Russia launched a massive attack that lasted many hours and damaged the energy infrastructure in 15 Ukrainian regions with drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Quote: "Civilians were killed and wounded. This brutality must be stopped, Ukraine needs more air defence. Russia will be held accountable," Maternova tweeted. Another heinous mass attack by Russia this morning for many hours. Energy infrastructure in 15 regions was hit by drones, cruise & ballistic missiles. Civilians were killed and wounded. This brutality must be stopped, needs more air defence. Russia will be held accountable. Katarina Mathernova (@kmathernova) August 26, 2024 In the small hours of 26 August, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure with over 100 missiles and approximately 100 Shahed-type UAVs. The Russian missile attack caused power outages in some of Kyiv's districts, and an apartment block in Lutsk, Volyn, was damaged. During the attack, Poland reported a violation of its airspace. It was also reported that power outages were recorded in Moldova, following the massive Russian attack on Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)- Evansville Protestant Home is set tor receive a prestigious award in recognition for a century of service and achievements in the Evansville community. City of Mt. Vernon polls public on possible skatepark The Community Impact Award will be presented to the Evansville Protestant Home by Mayor Stephanie Terry during a special ceremony this morning. We are deeply honored to receive this award from Mayor Terry and the City of Evansville, says Executive Director, Michelle Perry. This recognition is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of a our staff, resident sand the entire community that has supported us over the years. We look forward to continuing our mission of providing exceptional care for generations to come. The Community Impact Award presentation will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the North Lobby of the Evansville Protestant home. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) An Evansville mom convicted in the death of her two-week old child was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday. Taylor Smith was convicted of neglect of a dependent resulting in death as well as possession of meth and other drug related charges. Authorities say Smith reported her child was unresponsive in June of 2022 after she went to sleep with the infant. Smith had previously been ordered by DCS to not be around the child due to a prior investigation. Before she was sentenced, an emotional Smith made a statement to the court stating that the childs death was an accident, and she lives with that every day. The judge explained that it was a sad case all around with no winners, but with Smith violating a child protective order among other factors, the sentence of a level one felony was warranted. The judge said the sentence is to be carried out at the Indiana Department of Corrections where Smith will receive treatment for substance abuse. Smith said she plans to appeal the sentence. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 26. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trend reports. The two sides discussed the current state and prospects of Kazakh-Russian cooperation. They stressed the importance of fully implementing the high-level agreements previously reached in the trade, economic, and energy sectors. They agreed to ensure thorough preparations for Vladimir Putin's upcoming state visit to Astana. The presidents also shared their views on key international issues. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also expressed his gratitude for the invitation to the BRICS summit in Kazan. Evergy headquarters in downtown Topeka, Kansas (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector). Evergy confused and angered its Missouri customers in 2023 when it rolled out time-of-use rates that meant prices would run highest when people use the most electricity. Missourians, especially those on fixed incomes, complained of high costs and having to choose between things like groceries and their medications or powering their homes during peak hours. Now, Evergy Missouri West, which has a monopoly on service for much of the western part of Missouri outside of Kansas City, is heading back to its regulator to ask for more from the 340,000 users in the region. (Heres how you can weigh in.) Evergy wants the Public Service Commission to OK a 13.99% increase in electric rates, giving the company up to $104.5 million more in revenue a year. In 2023, the company reported $731 million in earnings. As people do we pick between: are we eating, or are we paying our power bill? said Kelly Smith, who showed up to testify at a public hearing in St. Joseph on the proposed rate hike. My bill is just shy of $300. I work all the time. Im hardly ever home. My thermostat is set to 75 degrees. The Public Service Commission held several hearings across Evergys coverage area in late July. Dozens of Missourians, including lawmakers, showed up to argue against the rate hike. They shared stories of $700 bills, finding every energy-efficient upgrade to their home they could and making tough choices about which bills to pay. Just because the company asked for a rate increase doesnt mean itll get what it asked for. The commission started an 11-month review in February. It will decide in December how much rates might go up starting Jan. 1. Why is Evergy asking for a rate increase? Evergy argues it needs the higher rates to recoup money it spent on two natural-gas plants and for a range of upgrades to withstand severe weather and surges of demand for electricity. The upgrades in the grid have already been made, said Gina Penzig, a spokesperson for Evergy. We make the investments and the power grid, and then we go to the commission and ask to recover those investments, Penzig said. So we are asking for money that the company has already spent. The company is asking for funds to aid in its purchase of part of a natural-gas plant in Pleasant Hill to generate more electricity for the region. Its also reupping its longtime request to make back some of the cost of transporting power from a natural-gas plant in Mississippi to Missouri, a request the state regulators have previously denied. Evergy has conducted studies that show transmitting the energy from Mississippi to Missouri is the most cost-effective method of serving some customers. If they cant recover those costs, Evergy may have to revisit the issue in the future to find another way to transmit that energy, Penzig said. The rate hike request alarmed some Evergy customers, which drew the attention of lawmakers. Theyd already been hearing complaints about the time-based plans mandated by the commission. They said that the average customer was supposed to have a rate decrease, said Rep. Dean VanSchoiack, a Republican who represents parts of the state north of St. Joseph. Ive not met that average customer yet. He takes issue with how Evergy is passing along the costs of its upgrades to customers, who dont have the choice of simply switching providers if they cant keep up with the bill. From what I understand right now 13.99% its mostly to cover the expenses they did upgrading their poles and lines, VanSchoiack said. I was in business. You have to make moneybut there are certain costs of doing business that you dont get to expense right away. But because utility companies are monopolies, they arent faced with the same burdens of a typical business in a free market. Utilities are basically glorified construction companies, said Geoff Marke, the chief economist at the Missouri Office of Public Counsel, a sort of ombudsman. When they build assets, they make a return on it. So they have a perverse incentive to build as much as they can. Evergy says its rates lag its peers across the country. But the OPC said that lacks context. When Evergy was formed in 2018 from the merger of Kansas City Power and Light Co. and Westar, regulators froze its rates for five years. In 2018, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law that allowed utilities to access plant-in-service accounting, which spreads out the cost of investments over years. Those costs are typically passed on to the consumer. Id say its much less We didnt ask for anything, said John Clizer, the senior counsel for the Office of Public Counsel, and much more about We delayed asking for a lot of things, but you are still going to pay for all of that. They may not have gotten the rate increases, but youre also seeing all these other increases to certain charges. The Public Service Commissions options The Public Service Commission consists of five members and has the power to approve the rate increase as is, deny it or respond with a rate different than what Evergy asked for. The commissioners are appointed by the governor. Gov. Mike Parson has appointed all but one of the current members, who have a staff of over 200 at their disposal. The commission is structured like its regulatory counterpart in Kansas, the Kansas Corporation Commission. The KCC has three members, also appointed by the states governor. They approved a rate increase in November for Evergys central Kansas customers, also to cover costs associated with power plant investments and new infrastructure. The proposed rate increase comes as many Republicans in Jefferson City are looking to regulate the regulator. After frustration over the time-based plans, some lawmakers want to add two more people to the commission and require more varied professions. Some proposed legislation looks to require some members to have farming or utility backgrounds. Kayla Hahn is the current chair of the commission. She was most recently Parsons policy director. Three other members previously served in the Missouri General Assembly. The most recent addition to the commission is John Mitchell, who spent over three decades in various roles at Burns & McDonnell Engineering in Kansas City. Renew Missouri, a group that advocates for the state to move toward cleaner energy sources, says the most recent appointment is breaking from the traditional model. Generally its been lawmakers and aides to the governor who are on there, said James Owen, the groups executive director. I think its good to see different professions represented there. Some lawmakers, like VanSchoiack, want to see commissioners who arent necessarily politicians. Theyre working too much for the power companies, not enough for the people, VanSchoiack said. Owen said the commission is pro-utility. They need to be confronted with the fact this is not just some line on a balance sheet, Owen said. It is actually real people who are struggling and suffering. VanShoiack isnt confident that all of the legislature or Republican leadership sees the need to take another look at the structure of the commission. We need to be looking at things that really do truly help people, VanShoiack said. I think wed be better off if we did try to focus more on some of these issues and less on the political issues. This article first appeared on Beacon: Missouri and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. From evictions to chicken coops, these 10 Missouri laws will take effect this week Missouri will have new laws surrounding Planned Parenthood, property taxes, chicken ownership and more starting Wednesday, Aug. 28. This years session was remarkably unproductive, as the House and Senate passed just 28 non-budget bills, a record low in the modern era. Republican infighting was a constant this election year, as voters will choose senators and legislators in November. A number of prominent measures died before the end of the session in May, including a bill to ban child marriage and an attempt to overhaul ballot initiative petitions. But some measures made it to Gov. Mike Parsons desk that could still affect Missourians. Here are 10 of the Missouri laws that take effect this month. Protesters stand outside of a St. Louis Planned Parenthood after abortions were banned in Missouri in 2022. The state blocked Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements in 2024. Public funds, including Medicaid reimbursements, can no longer go to Planned Parenthood under this new bill, HB 2634. For years, elected officials have attempted to defund the reproductive health care organization in various ways, including the budget and tax renewal. The new rule, SB 756, allows homeowners 62 or older to indefinitely freeze their property taxes at 2024 levels. Previously, only those eligible for Social Security could participate in the program. The specifics of the tax freeze vary by county. This law, HB 1751, effectively blocks a proposed landfill south of Kansas City by requiring the approval of additional surrounding cities to build it. The bill follows two years of lobbying and debate in the statehouse between developers and residents. Bilal Hakim and his wife, Cherrie, are helping to raise their three grandchildren in a house they rent. Getting around is difficult for the 86-year-old Korean War veteran and amputee. The couple are among hundreds of people in Jackson County and millions of renters across the country who are facing eviction. Cities and counties are prohibited from instituting or enforcing eviction moratoriums, unless approved by state law under HB 2062. This comes as a response to Jackson County stopping evictions at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This law specifically prohibits recklessly discharging a firearm within city limits. The first offense brings a misdemeanor penalty of up to one year in jail and/or a fine up to $2,000. Also called Blairs Law, SB 754 is named after an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet in 2011 in Kansas City. Higher penalty for attacking or killing a police animal A dog tag and tennis ball are seen placed on a Kansas City Police patrol car as a memorial for KCPD Officer James Muhlbauer at police headquarters on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Muhlbauer and his K-9 police dog Champ were killed in a car crash Wednesday when a vehicle struck their patrol car. A nearby pedestrian was also killed in the crash. The same crime law, SB 754, increases the penalty for attacking or killing a police animal to up to seven years of incarceration. Previously the penalty for assaulting a law enforcement animal was a misdemeanor of up to 15 days in jail and/or a fine up to $700. The bill is named Maxs Law, in honor of a St. Joseph police dog killed in the line of duty. No arrest warrant for unpaid traffic violations SB 754 also prohibits courts from issuing an arrest warrant for failure to pay or appear in court for a traffic violation. Instead, the court will schedule a second court date and if that person does not appear, the driver might receive the default judgment. Charging minors as adults Finally, the crime law, SB 754, will raise the minimum age a child can be charged as an adult for some felonies from 12 to 14 years old. Establish an office of entrepreneurship The Department of Economic Development will establish an Office of Entrepreneurship with one staff member under SB 894. The goal of the office is to support businesses with less than 10 employees, including those of marginalized groups like racial minorities, veterans and women. HOAs cant block chicken ownership The bill, HB 2062, prohibits homeowners associations from banning small flocks of chickens. Neighborhood groups can ban roosters or groups of more than six birds. The Stars Jonathan Shorman, Kacen Bayless and Natalie Wallington contributed to this report. Have more questions about Missouri laws? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com. Alison Esposito was a New York City police lieutenant in 2016 when she and fellow officers from a Manhattan gang unit went to an East Harlem apartment one night to arrest a suspect in several shootings. They made that arrest. But they also cuffed a 16-year-old girl and charged her with punching and scratching Esposito. Those charges were dropped several months later, and the city wound up paying $25,000 to settle a lawsuit by the girl, who alleged that Esposito had made up the assault claim against her. Republican Alison Esposito has entered the 2024 race for New York's 18th Congressional District to challenge Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan Five years after that settlement, Esposito is a Republican candidate for Congress, running for a House seat in the Hudson Valley area where she grew up. That bid for office, which follows an unsuccessful 2022 statewide run for lieutenant governor, is anchored in her 25-year career as a cop who rose to the rank of precinct commander. She'll vie against Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan on Nov. 5 for New York's 18th Congressional District, which takes in all of Orange County, most of Dutchess County and part of Ulster County. Esposito's campaign denies any wrongdoing in the 2016 arrest that led to a court settlement. But in emails recounting the case to the USA Today Network, the Brooklyn attorney who represented the girl alleged serious missteps by Esposito, starting with her illegally barging into the apartment without a warrant or the residents' consent. "Although the police did not have either an arrest or search warrant and were expressly told that they could not enter without such a warrant, Esposito pushed into the apartment," attorney Andrew Miller said. "There was no exigency that justified Espositos action, she simply got frustrated with the delay and decided to act in violation of the law." Once inside, he said, Esposito immediately grabbed 16-year-old Rebecca Cuevas, who was recording the encounter on her phone, and knocked the phone from her hand. Cuevas "was then brought to the floor where she was cuffed, only to then be dragged back to her feet by her hair" by Esposito, Miller said. "It was our position that the arrest occurred because she was videotaping," he said. Conflicting accounts of what happened Police gave a starkly different account in their charging document. They alleged that the teen pushed herself between Esposito and the suspect she was trying to handcuff, then punched and scratched the officer "causing redness and swelling to Lt. Esposito's cheek and scratches to her neck." Cuevas was charged with felony assault and a misdemeanor count of obstructing governmental administration. Both charges were dismissed less than five months later, according to the lawsuit Cuevas and her mother brought in 2017. Their case leveled claims of malicious prosecution, assault, a civil rights violation and other offenses by Esposito and the police department. It was settled for $25,000 in 2019. Ben Weiner, Esposito's campaign manager, disputed the version of events outlined by Cuevas' attorney, calling it "absurd." "The reality is that Cuevas interfered with officers who were lawfully arresting her boyfriend a violent, drug-dealing gang member wanted for shooting a rival gang member three times," Weiner said in an emailed response to the USA Today Network. He added that Esposito was "fulfilling her responsibility to protect the community a duty she upheld faithfully for 25 years." What does the video show? The phone video Cuevas allegedly shot that night appears to corroborate her attorney's account of an unauthorized entry. Shared with the USA Today Network for viewing but not for publication, since Cuevas was a minor at the time, the 29-second video shows an apartment hallway and partially opened door as several voices repeatedly tell police they cannot enter. "Without a warrant you're not allowed to come into the house," a male voice says twice, shortly before an officer who appears to be Esposito pushes her way inside and toward the camera. Then comes a clamor of voices and chaotic camera movements before the video cuts out a few seconds later. Weiner, Esposito's campaign manager, didn't answer directly when shown the video and asked if Esposito and her group had a warrant to go inside. The only thing that video shows," he said, "is Alison jumping into action to arrest a very dangerous gang member and getting him off the streets. Miller said the worst part of the incident for his client was having false charges "hang over her head," including a felony assault count that could have led to up to seven years in prison if she was convicted. "At that time, Cuevas was 16 years old and maybe 5 ft tall and no more than 90-100 lbs," Miller wrote. "The idea that Cuevas assaulted the Lt. (Esposito) is absurd. No one believed it. And the City of course paid out." Campaign launch: Orange County native Alison Esposito launches bid for Congress after 2022 state run Who was the suspect police were seeking? The charging document says police went to the apartment to arrest Tysheem McGregor. According to court documents and published reports, McGregor was alleged to belong to the East Army gang in East Harlem and tied to four shootings over territorial disputes in 2015. He was convicted of attempted murder and other charges in 2017, but the case had by then taken a strange turn: a juror admitted a romantic relationship with a prosecution witnesses. That led to the verdict being overturned on appeal and to a long second trial, with a very different outcome. In 2021, a new jury acquitted McGregor on all but the least serious charge against him, enabling him to walk free. Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Hudson Valley House candidate faced false arrest lawsuit as NYC cop FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) A former Florida sheriffs deputy charged with killing a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed toward the ground was arrested on Monday, officials said. Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille announced Friday. Eddie Duran (News 5 file photo) The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Duran was booked into the county jail Monday at 3:02 p.m., according to Okaloosa County records. He has been denied bond. Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille confirmed his arrest. Gov. Kay Ivey names Baldwin Countys new sheriff Authorities say Duran had been directed to Fortsons Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false. After repeated knocking, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side and pointed down. Authorities say that Duran shot him multiple times; only then did he tell Fortson to drop the gun. On Friday, the day the charge was announced, candles and framed photos of Fortson in uniform graced the doorway of the apartment where he was killed. Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded his life was not in danger when he opened fire. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. FILE - Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference with attorney Ben Crump on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) A former Florida sheriffs deputy charged with killing a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman who answered his apartment door while holding a gun pointed toward the ground was arrested Monday, officials said. Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille announced Friday. The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Duran was booked into the county jail Monday, records show. Marcille confirmed his arrest to The Associated Press. He did, in fact, turn himself in, Marcille said in a telephone interview, adding that Duran's initial court appearance will be via video link Tuesday morning. He will be held in custody pending his initial appearance. An attorney representing Duran did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Authorities say Duran had been directed to Fortsons Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false. After repeated knocking, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side, pointed down. Authorities say that Duran shot him multiple times; only then did he tell Fortson to drop the gun. On Friday, the day the charge was announced, candles and framed photos of Fortson in uniform graced the doorway of the apartment where he was killed. According to the internal affairs report of the shooting, Duran told investigators that when Fortson opened the door, he saw aggression in the airmans eyes. He said he fired because, Im standing there thinking Im about to get shot, Im about to die. Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded his life was not in danger when he opened fire. Outside law enforcement experts have also said that an officer cannot shoot only because a possible suspect is holding a gun if there is no threat. Duran is a law enforcement veteran, starting as a military police officer in the Army. He joined the Okaloosa County sheriffs office in July 2019, but resigned two years later, saying his wife, a nurse, had been transferred to a Naval hospital out of the area. He rejoined the sheriffs office in June 2023. Okaloosa personnel records show he was reprimanded in 2021 for not completing his assignment to confirm the addresses of three registered sex offenders by visiting their homes, telling a colleague he didnt care about them. Then assigned to a high school as its on-campus deputy, he was also disciplined that year for leaving the school before the final bell and the students departure. Florida law requires that an armed guard be on campus when class is in session. Records of 911 calls show deputies had never been called to Fortsons apartment previously but they had been summoned to a nearby unit 10 times in the previous eight months, including once for a domestic disturbance. ___ Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. Martin reported from Atlanta. (KTVI) Forty percent of high school students say they experience feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Thats a slight drop 2% from 2021 to 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC surveys teens and mental health every two years with their latest study shining a light on how teens fared during and after the height of the pandemic. The CDC also illuminated concerns students expressed about violence either at or en route to school. Fox 2s Jasmine Huda spoke with CHADS Coalition Executive Director about the improvements and declines shown in the study, and how parents and schools can best help teens, as they return to 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 FOX 2. We are excited for their return, DC Public Schools welcome students back to class WASHINGTON (DC News Now) It was an exciting day at Jackson-Reed High School where nearly 2,000 students headed back to school for the first day of classes. There are a lot of new and exciting things happening this 2024-2025 school year. D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) just launched its five-year road map to student achievement called A Capital Commitment 2023 to 2028 to improve math and literacy. The plan focuses on ensuring DCPS students are safe, loved, challenged, and prepared to positively influence society and thrive. New craft shop opens in DC to help families express creativity Staff proudly noted six DCPS students were recently inducted into the prestigious National Education Equity Labs Honor Society. They earned those spots for performing in the top 20% nationwide in their college courses. DCPS said more than 50,200 of its students are committed to graduating from high school prepared for college and work. Prince Georges County doctor offers back-to-school advice Officials said Jackson-Reed High School is D.C.s largest and most diverse high school. We want our students and parents to know we are excited for their return and we are really looking to build on the momentum we established last year, said Principal Sah Brown. Safety is a top priority for the school. School staff also held signs around the school reminding parents, staff and students to slow down and drive no faster than 15 miles an hour near 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Explainer-How has Communist-run Vietnam's graft campaign shaken up its politics? FILE PHOTO: Vietnamese President To Lam at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's parliament appointed three new deputy prime ministers, as well as new ministers of environment and justice in a government reshuffle that follows months of political turbulence amid a sweeping anti-graft campaign. Monday's appointments follow the sudden exits of leading figures, many after accusations of wrongdoing as the Communist-run country stepped up its anti-graft drive over the last two years, but which dented its reputation for political stability. WHICH LEADERS HAVE STEPPED DOWN? Vietnam has four top leaders who usually begin five-year terms at the same time as it ushers in a new legislature. The next date for this will come in 2026. These are the party chief, which has become the most powerful position in recent years, along with the president, the prime minister and the chairman of the parliament. In January 2023, president Nguyen Xuan Phuc quit, kicking off an unprecedented spate of high-profile resignations, after the party blamed him for "violations and wrongdoing" by officials under his control. His successor, Vo Van Thuong, resigned just about a year into the job in March 2024, accused of having violated party rules. A month later, in April, parliament chairman Vuong Dinh Hue left his job for unspecified violations and shortcomings. During that turbulent period, hundreds of senior state officials from deputy prime ministers to ministers and members of the party's elite Politburo quit, with some being detained in a sweeping anti-graft campaign called Blazing Furnace. WHAT IS THE "BLAZING FURNACE"? Launched by late party leader Trong about a decade ago, it aimed to curb widespread corruption by making use of corrupt officials as "firewood" for the burning furnace, he said. Though welcomed by many, the campaign fanned critics' fears that party factions would expoit it to eliminate rivals. It ensnared high-flying corporate executives, such as real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, whose arrest sparked a run on one of the country's largest private banks by deposits, Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), whose rescue has cost the state more than $24 billion by June. After the campaign launched, Vietam's ranking improved to 83 in 2023 from 113 in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index. WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY? Graft remains a problem, however, with people in some provinces saying they pay bribes to secure services in public hospitals, a 2023 survey by the U.N. Development Programme and other bodies showed. The uncertainty caused by the continuous changes at the top has blunted foreign investors' sentiment in the export-oriented industrial hub that hosts the factories of several big multinationals and is highly reliant on overseas funding. Foreigners mostly sold Vietnamese securities during weeks of political upheaval, data shows, and Western direct investment has lagged that from China in recent months. The graft fight has also slowed reforms and projects, as fear of repercussions led many officials to delay decisions. The administrative paralysis forced Vietnam to forfeit foreign aid of at least $2.5 billion between 2022 and 2024. Western, East Asian and Russian investors often voice concern over delays in approving projects, cumbersome administrative procedures and inadequate regulation, usually blaming the anti-graft drive. WHAT'S NEXT? The turbulence brought into the top position To Lam, the long-serving head of the powerful public security ministry, which is a key player in the anti-graft campaign. Now president of the country and head of the party, Lam is expected to relinquish the presidency. He wields a relatively firm grip on power that many investors, diplomats and analysts hope will reduce political turmoil. While he is not expected to make significant changes to foreign and economy policy, "the downside is that Vietnam's political climate may become more authoritarian," Le Hong Hiep of Singapore-based think tank ISEASYusof Ishak Institute said in a recent article. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Russia attacks Ukraine with over 100 missiles, around 100 drones, Zelensky says Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack against Ukraine on the morning of Aug. 26, killing seven people, injuring nearly 50 others, and targeting the country's energy infrastructure once again. In a post on Telegram, President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 100 missiles and 100 drones had been used in the "dastardly" attack. Rescue operations were completed by 8:30 p.m., the State Emergency Service said. Almost 740 rescue workers were involved in the response to the attacks. Across Ukraine, seven people were killed and 47 were injured, according to the State Emergency Service. Among the wounded were four children, with the youngest less than a year old. Air raid sirens sounded across the country just before 6 a.m., with the alert in Kyiv lasting nearly 8 hours. Kyiv Independent reporters heard explosions in the city shortly before 8:30 a.m, with several more a few minutes later. More explosions were heard just after 9:00 a.m. shortly after Ukraine's Air Force said Russian MiG-31s, used to launch Kinzhal ballistic missiles, were in the air. Explosions were also reported in Kharkiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kryvyi Rih, as well as in Lviv, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said 15 of the country's 24 oblasts had been targeted during the attack "primarily targeting critical civilian infrastructure and our energy system." "There have been civilian deaths and injuries, as well as damage to energy facilities," he said in a post on X, adding: "Russia continues to wage a cowardly war against civilians, which constitutes war crimes." People take shelter in Kyiv during a massive Russian aerial attack on Aug. 26 (The Kyiv Independent) In the city of Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, an apartment building was damaged, the city's mayor, Ihor Polishchuk, said. He later reported that one person in Lutsk had been killed. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Governor Serhii Lysak said a 69-year-old man had been killed as a result of the attack. In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Governor Ivan Fedorov said a man had been killed when a private residence was struck. "The world must stop the terrorist country," he added. In Zhytomyr Oblast, Governor Vitaliy Bunechko said one woman had been killed. And in Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleg Sinegubov said a man had been killed in the Izyum district. In Mykolaiv Oblast, Governor Vitalii Kim said three people had been injured. Four people including a 10-year-old boy were injured in Odesa Oblast, Governor Oleh Kiper said, and three people were injured in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Three people are reported injured in Kyiv Oblast, the police said in a statement. One of those injured was hurt when a downed drone fell on a road, "completely destroying" a car, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. Rescue workers in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during a massive Russian aerial attack on Aug. 26 (State Emergency Service/Telegram) Shortly after 9:00 a.m., DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said emergency power shutdowns were in place across Ukraine. "The desire to destroy our energy sector will cost the Russians dearly, (it will cost them) their infrastructure," Ukraine's Presidential Office head, Andriy Yermak, said in a post on Telegram. Klitschko said there were power outages in "several districts" of the capital, and later added there were problems with the water supply on the right bank of the city. Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, said infrastructure facilities in Kyiv Oblast had been hit, adding authorities were setting up "points of invincibility," communal station points that provide phone charging facilities and internet access for residents affected by power cuts. In a later post, he confirmed two infrastructure facilities were damaged, along with 22 houses. Later on Aug. 26, Tymofiy Mylovanov, an adviser to Zelensky's office, said a dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Plant, had been hit during the attack. The Russian morning attack struck the Kyiv hydro dam. While the dam holds, the hydro power plant appears to be damaged. If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be floodedpic.twitter.com/tGRVP62LhD Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 26, 2024 In Lviv Oblast, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said energy infrastructure had been attacked and power outages were in place as a result. Damage to infrastructure facilities was also reported in Zaporizhzhia and Vinnytsia oblasts. In a preliminary report on the attack, Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said Russian forces used dozens of kamikaze drones, an initial wave of 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers, and four Kalibr missile carrier ships. Later, the launch of another six Tu-22m3 strategic bombers was recorded, as well as MiG-31Ks, used to launch Kinzhal missiles. The exact number of missiles and drones used in the attack is still being established. "After complex maneuvers, cruise missiles entered Kyiv in very dense groups from different directions," Popko said. "During the attack of these cruise missiles, the enemy launched several ballistic missiles in the direction of the capital in a row, including Kinzhals. About one and a half dozen missiles were hit by air defense." Zelensky described Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as a "sick creature," which "everyone has understood for a long time." He then called on Western allies to allow Ukraine to lift restrictions on using their weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia. "He can only do what the world allows him to do. Weakness, inadequacy of decisions in response feeds terror," he said. Read also: Ukraines new Palianytsia missile-drone pictured for first time Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 26. KazMunayGas JSC (KMG, Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company) and Shell Oil and Gas Company discussed the construction project of a gas processing plant (GPP) at the Karachaganak field, Trend reports. According to information, the discussions were held during a meeting between KMG Chairman of the Board Askhat Khassenov and the Executive Vice President of Exploration and Production of the Oil and Gas Division of Shell Peter Costello, and the Chairperson of Shell in Kazakhstan Ali Al Janabi. The meeting discussed the implementation of the important Karachaganak GPP construction project for processing 4.5 bcm of gas per year. The participants of the meeting also discussed further development of the Kashagan field, issues of further development of new directions for oil export, and joint geological research. At the end of the meeting, the parties emphasized further strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between the companies. Severe flooding struck Chester and other parts of Vermont in 2023. The state enacted a law this year that seeks to charge fossil fuel companies for the damages caused by climate change. Scott Eisen/Getty Images Vermont is the first state trying a new approach to climate policy: charging fossil fuel companies money to cover the damages caused by natural disasters worsened by climate change. Other states could be close behind. New York lawmakers passed their own measure in June, though its unclear if Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign the bill. And legislators in California, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey have introduced similar bills, which environmental advocates in those states have identified as a top priority for upcoming sessions. Were certainly hoping that Vermont will be in good company soon, said Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, an environmental nonprofit. The so-called climate Superfund measures are based on the polluter pays concept of the 1980 federal Superfund law, which covers the cleanup of toxic waste sites. Under the proposals, states would determine how much to charge fossil fuel companies based on their historical role in producing the emissions responsible for climate change. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The proposals could bring in billions of dollars to deal with disasters such as the flooding that has ravaged Vermont in the past year. Other states could use the cash to address the damages caused by sea level rise, wildfires or droughts. But such measures are likely to face stiff legal challenges from the oil and gas industry, making some state leaders wary of an expensive courtroom battle. And some lawmakers fear the bills will be linked to threats of higher gas prices, although advocates argue they wont raise costs for consumers. Legislators and advocates say the efforts in Vermont and New York are emboldening leaders in other states. But a veto from Hochul, they warn, could raise doubts elsewhere and slow that momentum. Vermont goes first The new law in Vermont, which took effect July 1, tasks the state treasurer with calculating the damages from climate change-caused disasters, as well as the expenses the state is incurring to adapt to changing conditions such as increasing precipitation. The state will then collect money to cover those costs from any company responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the past 30 years, proportional to its share of global emissions. The law and similar measures are underpinned by an emerging field known as attribution science, which uses computer modeling to determine whether climate change caused or intensified a natural disaster. Theres a wealth of information out there dating back before 1995 indicating that the [oil] industry knew of the risks associated with its products, said Elena Mihaly, vice president of Conservation Law Foundation Vermont. It is wholly fair and reasonable to apply retroactive liability to those parties, given what they knew and when. The bill passed 93-39 in the Vermont House and 26-3 in the Senate, and Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed it to become law without his signature. Scott said the state has been hit hard by climate change but expressed concern about the legal costs of taking on oil companies. Oil industry groups have disputed the credibility of attribution science and claim states have no grounds to punish them for extracting, refining and selling a legal product. The American Petroleum Institute did not grant a Stateline interview request, nor did Energy In Depth, a research, education and public outreach campaign of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Both instead issued statements decrying climate Superfund policies. Mandi Risko, a spokesperson for Energy In Depth, wrote that the bills are based on shoddy attribution science which arbitrarily picks winners and losers according to an ideological agenda. Risko also claimed the bills would raise energy costs. While no lawsuits have been filed against Vermont yet, advocates are preparing for a battle. Theyre hoping they wont have to fight alone. Hochuls hesitation Soon after Vermonts bill became law in May, New York legislators voted to pass their own measure. The New York bill would apply to roughly three dozen fossil fuel companies, collecting $3 billion per year over 25 years to help cover the costs of climate change. Advocates say climate change-caused damages are likely to far exceed that figure. Dont you think the people who are responsible for a significant share of whats happening ought to be on the hook for some amount of the costs we are facing? said Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger, who sponsored the bill. This bill is an attempt to get polluters to at least pay part of it. Krueger said the biggest challenge that backers encountered was lawmakers fear of facing the oil industry in court. Hochul may be considering that factor as well, though her office would only say that she is reviewing the legislation. The governor has until the end of the year to decide the bills fate, and climate advocates dont expect her to act until after the November election. Krueger said a veto from Hochul would be disturbing, given New Yorks potential to be a climate leader. Dont you think the people who are responsible for a significant share of whats happening ought to be on the hook for some amount of the costs we are facing? New York Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger Other states are waiting patiently in line, wanting to do the same thing, hoping we deal with the litigation before they jump in, she said. In a statement to New York lawmakers, the oil industry challenged the accuracy of greenhouse gas accounting. At best the state can only estimate emissions; and these estimates are imprecise and not accurate enough to base a prorated share of a $75 billion dollar penalty, the American Petroleum Institute wrote in a 2023 statement to lawmakers as they debated climate Superfund legislation, according to media outlet City Limits. Backers note that the program only charges companies that emitted 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases over a 19-year period. Many gas companies in New York wont be affected, and some will pay a smaller amount based on their share of emissions. Advocates say that the biggest polluters, such as Saudi Aramco, the company most liable for emissions under the bill, will still have to compete with companies that are not being penalized. If youre Aramco and youre on the hook for 20 cents a gallon and you raise your price 20 cents, nobodys gonna fill up there, said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. Waiting in the wings New Yorkers arent the only ones hanging on Hochuls decision. In the Massachusetts context, its really important that she move forward on this, said Dan Zackin, legislative coordinator with 350 Mass, an environmental nonprofit that is pushing for a similar approach. Our leaders in Massachusetts have been fairly risk-averse and hesitant to do things that would take on the fossil fuel industry, so we really need that precedent to be set so we know whats going to come when we pass this. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, a Democrat who sponsored the Massachusetts bill, said Hochuls potential veto is a real concern. Sometimes in Massachusetts we look to see if something passes in a couple other states before we pass it ourselves, he said. But he said environmental advocates are increasingly supporting the proposal as the concept gains traction and backers are building momentum for the next legislative session, regardless of the outcome in New York. Lawmakers in California, Maryland and New Jersey have drafted similar bills, and activists expect more states to follow suit especially if Hochul signs the New York measure. Californias bill progressed through three committees this year, but did not receive a full Senate vote before the end of the legislation session. This is going to be our top-priority bill for the next session starting in September, said Maggie Coulter, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit. We were blown away by the support. States like Vermont charging ahead and being willing to engage with a litigious industry group is inspiring and puts a little bit of pressure on states like California to step up to the plate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Onlookers check out a flooded road on July 10, 2023, in Chester, Vermont. Torrential rain and flooding has affected millions of people from Vermont south to North Carolina. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images) Severe flooding struck Chester and other parts of Vermont in 2023. The state enacted a law this year that seeks to charge fossil fuel companies for the damages caused by climate change. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images) Vermont is the first state trying a new approach to climate policy: charging fossil fuel companies money to cover the damages caused by natural disasters worsened by climate change. Other states could be close behind. New York lawmakers passed their own measure in June, though its unclear if Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign the bill. And legislators in California, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey have introduced similar bills, which environmental advocates in those states have identified as a top priority for upcoming sessions. Were certainly hoping that Vermont will be in good company soon, said Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, an environmental nonprofit. The so-called climate Superfund measures are based on the polluter pays concept of the 1980 federal Superfund law, which covers the cleanup of toxic waste sites. Under the proposals, states would determine how much to charge fossil fuel companies based on their historical role in producing the emissions responsible for climate change. The proposals could bring in billions of dollars to deal with disasters such as the flooding that has ravaged Vermont in the past year. Other states could use the cash to address the damages caused by sea level rise, wildfires or droughts. But such measures are likely to face stiff legal challenges from the oil and gas industry, making some state leaders wary of an expensive courtroom battle. And some lawmakers fear the bills will be linked to threats of higher gas prices, although advocates argue they wont raise costs for consumers. Legislators and advocates say the efforts in Vermont and New York are emboldening leaders in other states. But a veto from Hochul, they warn, could raise doubts elsewhere and slow that momentum. Vermont goes first The new law in Vermont, which took effect July 1, tasks the state treasurer with calculating the damages from climate change-caused disasters, as well as the expenses the state is incurring to adapt to changing conditions such as increasing precipitation. The state will then collect money to cover those costs from any company responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the past 30 years, proportional to its share of global emissions. The law and similar measures are underpinned by an emerging field known as attribution science, which uses computer modeling to determine whether climate change caused or intensified a natural disaster. Theres a wealth of information out there dating back before 1995 indicating that the [oil] industry knew of the risks associated with its products, said Elena Mihaly, vice president of Conservation Law Foundation Vermont. It is wholly fair and reasonable to apply retroactive liability to those parties, given what they knew and when. The bill passed 93-39 in the Vermont House and 26-3 in the Senate, and Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed it to become law without his signature. Scott said the state has been hit hard by climate change but expressed concern about the legal costs of taking on oil companies. Oil industry groups have disputed the credibility of attribution science and claim states have no grounds to punish them for extracting, refining and selling a legal product. The American Petroleum Institute did not grant a Stateline interview request, nor did Energy In Depth, a research, education and public outreach campaign of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Both instead issued statements decrying climate Superfund policies. Mandi Risko, a spokesperson for Energy In Depth, wrote that the bills are based on shoddy attribution science which arbitrarily picks winners and losers according to an ideological agenda. Risko also claimed the bills would raise energy costs. While no lawsuits have been filed against Vermont yet, advocates are preparing for a battle. Theyre hoping they wont have to fight alone. Hochuls hesitation Soon after Vermonts bill became law in May, New York legislators voted to pass their own measure. The New York bill would apply to roughly three dozen fossil fuel companies, collecting $3 billion per year over 25 years to help cover the costs of climate change. Advocates say climate change-caused damages are likely to far exceed that figure. Dont you think the people who are responsible for a significant share of whats happening ought to be on the hook for some amount of the costs we are facing? said Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger, who sponsored the bill. This bill is an attempt to get polluters to at least pay part of it. Krueger said the biggest challenge that backers encountered was lawmakers fear of facing the oil industry in court. Hochul may be considering that factor as well, though her office would only say that she is reviewing the legislation. The governor has until the end of the year to decide the bills fate, and climate advocates dont expect her to act until after the November election. Krueger said a veto from Hochul would be disturbing, given New Yorks potential to be a climate leader. Dont you think the people who are responsible for a significant share of whats happening ought to be on the hook for some amount of the costs we are facing? New York Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger Other states are waiting patiently in line, wanting to do the same thing, hoping we deal with the litigation before they jump in, she said. In a statement to New York lawmakers, the oil industry challenged the accuracy of greenhouse gas accounting. At best the state can only estimate emissions; and these estimates are imprecise and not accurate enough to base a prorated share of a $75 billion dollar penalty, the American Petroleum Institute wrote in a 2023 statement to lawmakers as they debated climate Superfund legislation, according to media outlet City Limits. Backers note that the program only charges companies that emitted 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases over a 19-year period. Many gas companies in New York wont be affected, and some will pay a smaller amount based on their share of emissions. Advocates say that the biggest polluters, such as Saudi Aramco, the company most liable for emissions under the bill, will still have to compete with companies that are not being penalized. If youre Aramco and youre on the hook for 20 cents a gallon and you raise your price 20 cents, nobodys gonna fill up there, said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. Waiting in the wings New Yorkers arent the only ones hanging on Hochuls decision. In the Massachusetts context, its really important that she move forward on this, said Dan Zackin, legislative coordinator with 350 Mass, an environmental nonprofit that is pushing for a similar approach. Our leaders in Massachusetts have been fairly risk-averse and hesitant to do things that would take on the fossil fuel industry, so we really need that precedent to be set so we know whats going to come when we pass this. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, a Democrat who sponsored the Massachusetts bill, said Hochuls potential veto is a real concern. Sometimes in Massachusetts we look to see if something passes in a couple other states before we pass it ourselves, he said. But he said environmental advocates are increasingly supporting the proposal as the concept gains traction and backers are building momentum for the next legislative session, regardless of the outcome in New York. Lawmakers in California, Maryland and New Jersey have drafted similar bills, and activists expect more states to follow suit especially if Hochul signs the New York measure. Californias bill progressed through three committees this year, but did not receive a full Senate vote before the end of the legislation session. This is going to be our top-priority bill for the next session starting in September, said Maggie Coulter, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit. We were blown away by the support. States like Vermont charging ahead and being willing to engage with a litigious industry group is inspiring and puts a little bit of pressure on states like California to step up to the plate. Stateline originally published this article. Like the Alaska Beacon, 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 X. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Claim: Technology mogul Elon Musk called for getting rid of all electronic voting machines. Rating: Rating: Correct Attribution Context: While the claim went viral through a satirical post, and Musk did not use the exact language in the article, he did indeed call to "eliminate" electronic voting machines in an authentic June 2024 post on X. A rumor that technology mogul Elon Musk called for banning all electronic voting machines circulated widely online in August 2024. For example, SpaceXMania posted an article in August 2024, with the headline, "Breaking: Elon Musk Says "We Should Get Rid Of All Electronic Voting Machines." The article stated: Elon Musk, the tech mogul known for his ambitious ventures and futuristic innovations, has recently stunned the world by advocating for a return to paper ballots, calling for a complete ban on electronic voting machines. The man who is pushing the boundaries of technology with self-driving cars, brain-computer interfaces, and space colonization, now believes that when it comes to voting, simplicity is key. In a lively discussion on Twitter Spaces, Musk shared his thoughts on the state of voting technology. "Electronic voting machines are too complicated and vulnerable," Musk stated. "We need to go back to the basics. Paper ballots are reliable, straightforward, and most importantly, they leave a clear, verifiable trail." Musk's stance on voting technology comes as a surprise to many, given his strong advocacy for technological advancement in almost every other area of life. From electric vehicles to space travel, Musk has championed the use of cutting-edge technology to solve modern problems. However, it seems that when it comes to the democratic process, he prefers a more traditional approach. [...] Despite the mixed reactions, Musk seems undeterred. In fact, he's already thinking about ways to improve the paper ballot system. "Imagine using Tesla's AI to count paper ballots," Musk suggested. "Or sending ballots to remote areas with SpaceX drones. We can combine the reliability of paper with the efficiency of modern technology." Musk even floated the idea of a new startup focused on revolutionizing paper ballots. "Who says paper can't be high-tech?" he quipped. "We could develop a smart ballot that's secure, verifiable, and eco-friendly. Maybe even add some solar panels to power the voting booths." SpaceX Fanclub, a Facebook page affiliated with SpaceXMania, shared the same article, and another version of the story appeared on esspots.com, which describes itself as a subsidiary outlet of SpaceXMania. (Facebook user "SpaceX Fanclub") Variations of the rumor spread on Facebook, as well, with people voicing their agreement with the claim. One post stated: "Elon Musk says it's time we get rid of electronic voting machines. I couldn't agree more!" Another post from a conservative Facebook page stated, "Elon Musk says we should get rid of ALL electronic voting machines!" While the rumor originated from a source that is satirical in nature, Musk has indeed called for the elimination of electronic voting machines on X. In June 2024, Musk stated on X, "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high." While we rate the above claim as "Correct Attribution," we should note that Musk did not make all the statements in the above satirical article. We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024 Musk was responding to a post on X by then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who called for paper ballots after Puerto Rico's primary elections in June 2024 came under scrutiny for discrepancies discovered from the electronic voting machines. SpaceXMania labeled the article in question as "Satire" and describes its website thus: Now, let's talk about our digital lair it's not just a website; it's a happening spot on social media where we hang out, shoot the breeze with you, spill the tea on breaking news, and flaunt our latest satirical masterpieces. Quick heads up, though every single article on our site is about as real as a unicorn sipping on a rainbow smoothie. They're pure fantasy, folks, not a snapshot of reality. We take pride in being the cool cats who offer you a front-row seat to our Satire/Fantasy News extravaganza. Our satirical pieces? They're like a breath of fresh air, a break from the ordinary, giving you a giggle or two about the stuff our Tater friends would totally vibe with. Musk was part of a growing number of conservative-leaning voices, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, calling for paper ballots. A number of these voices have linked this demand to numerous false claims of voter fraud. However, election-security experts pushed back saying there was no evidence that any irregularities were enough to change the results of an election. In Puerto Rico, for example, which used Dominion machines, the irregularities were caught and a full vote tally was conducted through auditing paper receipts from voting machines. The company stated the software issues came from the digital files used to export results from the machines. According to election experts from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit public policy institute at New York University, most votes already have a paper trail: Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are calling for the use of paper ballots in the 2024 election. They're right on the policy: paper ballots are one of the most important security measures states can adopt. When selections are recorded on paper, voters can easily verify that their ballot accurately reflects their choices before casting their vote. But they're misleading on the facts: states are already doing this. Nearly all votes cast in the 2024 election will be recorded on paper. [...] As states continue to upgrade voting equipment and phase out paperless systems, nearly all voters now live in jurisdictions with voting systems that have a paper record of every vote. Nationwide, we expect around 98 percent of all votes to be cast on paper in the 2024 general election (based on data from Verified Voting and the Election Assistance Commission's Election Administration and Voting Survey). This represents an increase from 93 percent of votes four years ago. Counties in all but two states have moved to voting systems with a paper trail; the remaining counties in Louisiana and Texas plan to transition soon, but this will likely not be completed by the fall. Importantly, all the swing states that are most likely to determine the winner of the 2024 presidential election Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin use voting systems with paper records. In some states, voters fill out paper ballots by hand. In others, after the voter makes selections on a touch screen, the machine prints a paper ballot or record for the voter to review before casting their vote. Snopes has addressed similar stories about voting fraud in previous election cycles, including a false 2020 claim that Dominion machines caused millions of votes for Trump to be deleted. For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical. Sources: "Breaking: Elon Musk Says "We Should Get Rid Of All Electronic Voting Machines."" SpaceXMania, 24 Aug. 2024, https://spacexmania.com/breaking-elon-musk-says-we-should-get-rid-of-all-electronic-voting-machines/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024. Gedeon, Joseph. "Rage Against the Voting Machine." Politico, 17 June 2024, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-cybersecurity/2024/06/17/rage-against-the-voting-machine-00163612. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024. Robin, Alex. "Elon Musk: 'We Should Get Rid Of All Electronic Voting Machines.'" Esspots, 24 Aug. 2024, https://esspots.com/elon-musk-we-should-get-rid-of-all-electronic-voting-machines/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024. "Some Good News for Donald Trump: We Already Use Paper Ballots." Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/some-good-news-donald-trump-we-already-use-paper-ballots. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024. "Voting Machine Contract under Scrutiny Following Discrepancies in Puerto Rico's Primaries." AP News, 11 June 2024, https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-primaries-discrepancies-voting-problems-machines-8019db17829c7b1fbae5fb3fde623a4b. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024. Updates: Aug. 27, 2024: The article was amended to reflect the cause of the discrepancies in the electronic voting machines. Fact check: Steils spin on Baldwin and abortion is off U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Janesville Republican, takes the stage during a press conference on crime and safety, hosted by Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance, in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. Mandatory Credit: Scott Ash / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - USA Today Network Long before Wisconsins U.S. Senate race was set in the August primary, voters had been hearing about the top two candidates and their stance on issues like abortion. U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin, called out U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, on abortion in an interview on UpFront on WISN-TV (Channel 12) in April. When asked about Donald Trumps position on abortion, Steil said: At the national level what were often talking about is whether taxpayer dollars should be used. You have someone like Tammy Baldwin that believes taxpayer dollars should be used for abortion. And somebody like me that comes down on the side of life. To be clear, Baldwin is running against Republican Eric Hovde, a madison businessman, not Steil, who is in his own race against Democrat Peter Barca. But is Steil right that Baldwin supports using taxpayer money for abortions? Baldwin votes related to abortion When we asked Steils office for evidence, his staff noted that Baldwin voted against the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act in January 2019. Baldwins vote contributed to the measure failing in the Senate. A January 2019 story from Politico called the vote on the legislation a largely symbolic effort timed to coincide with the countrys largest annual anti-abortion demonstration in Washington. Asked if Baldwin supported tax dollars paying for abortions, Baldwin campaign spokesman Andrew Mamo did not answer the question directly, stating only Baldwin will always vote to support womens freedom to make their own health care decisions. Meanwhile, Steils office also pointed us to two amendments in 2021 proposed by U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, related to the potential use of taxpayer dollars for abortions that Baldwin voted against. But in the way Washington operates, there can be many reasons for a no vote from opposition to cost to other items in the measure, or as a response to political maneuvering. Baldwin introduces bill on reproductive health travel Finally, Steils office also pointed to Baldwin introducing a bill in the Senate dubbed the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023. According to the text of the bill, the measure would authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related expenses and logistical support for individuals seeking abortion services, and for other purposes. The proposed legislation offers funding for organizations that work with pregnant women on things such as travel, meals, logistics, childcare, patient education, and even doula care. Its clear by its own description that taxpayer funds could be used to help people who are trying to get an abortion. However, the bill also states that an eligible entity receiving a grant under this section shall not use the grant for costs of an abortion procedure. So, its far from as clear cut as Steil tried to make it. Half true Our ruling Steil claimed Baldwin believes taxpayer dollars should be used for abortion. His office pointed to several bills and amendments related to abortion as evidence, but none are directly on point. The central piece of evidence he cited is a bill Baldwin introduced that would provide funding for travel costs and other aspects of reproductive healthcare, including access to abortion but the same bill specifically states the federal funding cannot be used for an abortion procedure. Baldwin, meanwhile, does not help her own case, in that a spokesman did not directly answer if the senator was in favor of taxpayer funds paying for abortions. Our definition of Half True is the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. That fits here. Sources Rep. Bryan Steil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsik1l4Gcz4, April 28, 2024 No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act in 2019, https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1161/vote_116_1_00007.htm, last checked June 7, 2024 Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2152, last checked June 7, 2024 Lankford Amendment #3792 to S. Con. Res. 14, https://www.congress.gov/amendment/117th-congress/senate-amendment/3792, last checked June 7, 2024 Lankford Amendment #1031 to Schumer substitute #89, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4268/text, last checked June 10, 2024 Lankford, Daines stand for life during partisan budget debate, https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/press-releases/lankford-daines-stand-for-life-during-partisan-budget-debate/, March 6, 2021Politico, Senate measure banning abortion funds defeated, Jan. 17, 2019Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin, interview on UpFront This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Steil says Baldwin believes taxpayers should pay for abortions, Former President Donald Trump keeps displaying a chart that includes a significant lie. And he keeps citing that deceptive chart to deliver his own lie about immigration trends in his last year in office. The chart the one Trump had fortunately turned his head to look at when a gunman tried to kill him at a campaign rally in July is a bar chart about the monthly number of official encounters with migrants at the southern border. It features a large red arrow pointing to a month with a particularly small bar. And it says in red text beside that arrow: TRUMP LEAVES OFFICE. LOWEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN RECORDED HISTORY! The monthly bars get bigger right after that, insinuating that illegal immigration suddenly began rising from a Trump record low when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in. And on numerous occasions, including in his recent public conversation with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, Trump has declared that the chart shows that the record low was set in his very last week in office. You see the arrow on the bottom, the red arrow on the bottom, thats the lowest point. That was the week I left office. Look what happened after I left office. Look at that, Trump said at a rally earlier this month in Montana. If you look at the arrow on the bottom, thats the lowest level, the one on the bottom, heavy red arrow thats the lowest level of illegal immigrants ever to come into our country in recorded history, right there, right there. And that was my last week in office. And then you see what happened after I left. Look at the rest, Trump said in his speech at the Republican National Convention in July. But thats not true. Facts First: Trumps claims are false. Illegal immigration was not at its lowest point in history in Trumps last week in office in January 2021 and contrary to the text on the chart, the red arrow does not actually point to January 2021. Rather, the arrow points to April 2020, when Trump still had more than eight months left in his term and global migration had slowed to a trickle because of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. After hitting a roughly three-year low (not an all-time low) in April 2020, migration numbers at the southern border increased each and every month through the end of Trumps term. In other words, the number of Border Patrol migrant encounters in between ports of entry at the southern border a figure often used as a proxy for unauthorized border-crossings had been rising for about three-quarters of a year when Biden and Harris took over from Trump. The numbers did spike under Biden and Harris, but this increase represented an acceleration, not a reversal, of the upward trend at the end of the Trump era. What the numbers show The number of Border Patrol migrant encounters in between ports of entry at the southern border fell to 16,182 in April 2020, the month after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared. That was the lowest monthly number in about three years, not in US history; the monthly number was lower in four separate months earlier in Trumps term, March through June 2017, including a Trump-era low of 11,127 in April 2017. (The number of Border Patrol encounters at the southern border was also much lower in the early 1960s, but distant historical comparisons are complicated by significant differences in laws, policies and staffing levels.) Then, after April 2020, Border Patrol migrant encounters at the southern border rose in each of Trumps remaining eight full months in office plus a ninth month, January 2021, in which he was president for most of the month. The size of the bars on Trumps chart appear to be roughly correct, though its impossible to tell if theyre precisely accurate. But the red arrow purporting to show when Trump left office is clearly in the wrong spot. Trumps false claim that the red arrow points to the week he left office has been fact-checked repeatedly, including by FactCheck.org after he used the chart at a rally in Wisconsin in April. But Trump has never stopped making the false claim; in his Republican National Convention speech in July, he delivered it as the chart was displayed on multiple screens above him and beside him. Asked why Trump continues to repeat the false claim, campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not respond directly on Monday. Instead, she credited a variety of Trump border policies for the low level of illegal immigration in 2020. Other inaccurate claims As PolitiFact reported in July, Trumps chart appears to be based on a chart from Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Johnson told Fox News in July that he showed Trump his chart on a plane trip to a rally in Wisconsin in April, gave it to Trumps staff after Trump liked it, and then they made a few changes in terms of graphics. But the changes that appear on Trumps chart include significant inaccuracies. Johnsons chart does not include the red arrow pointing to April 2020 or the red text wrongly claiming that the arrow points to when Trump left office. Johnsons chart also does not include other false or unsupported statements on Trumps chart. For example, text at the top of Trumps chart, which Johnsons chart doesnt have, claims that MANY of the migrants who have arrived under Biden are FROM PRISONS AND MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, a frequent Trump claim that he has never corroborated and that experts say is baseless. Text added to the top of Trumps chart also claims the chart shows ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION numbers even though the text at the top of Johnsons version shows that his chart includes migrants who arrived at legal ports of entry and were turned away. Johnsons office did not respond to a CNN request for comment on Monday. Leavitt did not respond to a request to address whether Trumps staff added the inaccuracies to the chart. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Two Chinese nationals were killed in an explosion near the international airport of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday night, the Chinese embassy in Pakistan said, in what it described as a "terrorist attack". Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, which they said had targeted Chinese nationals, including engineers. Here are some facts about the group, which has specifically targeted Chinese interests in the past. WHAT ARE THE BLA'S GOALS? The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan, a province located in Pakistan's southwest and bordering on Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west. It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the federal government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan's rich gas and mineral resources. Balochistan is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by mining giant Barrick Gold and believed to be one of the world's largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province. WHAT ARE THE BLA'S TARGETS? The BLA often targets key infrastructure projects and security posts in Balochistan, but has also launched attacks in other areas - most notably in Karachi, where a convoy from the Port Qasim Electric Power Company was attacked near the airport on Sunday. In August, the BLA launched several coordinated attacks in Balochistan, killing more than 70 people. The BLA specifically targets Chinese interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province. It has previously killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing's consulate in Karachi. The BLA showed its muscle when it stormed army and naval bases in 2022, and has expanded its traditional use of guerrilla gunmen to include women suicide bombers, as seen in an attack on Chinese nationals on a university campus in Karachi, also in 2022. The group has also targeted both military and Chinese officials, including launching an attack on Gwadar in March. The BLA, separately, was also at the centre of tit-for-tat strikes earlier this year between Iran and Pakistan over what they called militant bases on each other's territory, which brought the two neighbours close to war. THE ATTACK'S SIGNIFICANCE Pakistan is preparing to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the capital Islamabad next week, which authorities have vowed to secure, as high-level Chinese representation is expected, as well as the first visit to the country by an Indian foreign minister in a decade. Beijing and Islamabad are working together in the aftermath of Sunday's attack, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying that the country would "leave no stone unturned" to ensure the security and well-being of its "Chinese friends". Balochistan is an important part of China's $65 billion investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a wing of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative. The decades-old insurgency has continued to keep the province of some 15 million people unstable and created security concerns around Pakistan's plans to access untapped resources under Balochistan's desert and mountainous terrain. It is Pakistan's largest province by size, but the smallest by population and strategically located. Balochistan also has a long Arabian Sea coastline in the south, not far from the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane. Hundreds of Balochs, many of them women, have protested in Islamabad and in Balochistan recently over alleged abuses by security forces - accusations the Pakistani government denies. (Reporting by Asif Shahzad, Gibran Peshimam and Charlotte Greenfield; additional reporting by Pushkala Aripaka; editing by Mark Heinrich and Sharon Singleton) Factbox-SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission: Who are the astronauts doing the spacewalk? (Reuters) -The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission carried out its spacewalk on Thursday with two astronauts emerging out of the capsule in Earth's orbit, tethered to the Crew Dragon spacecraft in the vacuum of space. The mission launched on Tuesday - after being delayed by more than a week due to some technical issues - with a crew of four using SpaceX's new spacesuits and a redesigned spacecraft. Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 41, was the first to exit at about 6:52 a.m. ET (1052 GMT), followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, 30, becoming the first two non-government individuals to conduct such an excursion in space. The spacewalk officially ended around 8 a.m. ET. Here's a look at the profile of the astronauts: JARED ISAACMAN Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of payments processing firm Shift4 Payments and a seasoned pilot, is commanding the Polaris Dawn mission and will be one of the two members - along with Sarah Gillis - performing the spacewalk outside the capsule. He is bankrolling the mission under his Polaris program, but declined to disclose the total expenditure, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The mission will be his second foray into space, following his leadership of the first all-civilian Inspiration4 mission to orbit Earth in 2021, organized and primarily funded by him in partnership with SpaceX. After Polaris Dawn, Isaacman has two more missions planned under the Polaris program - another flight on Crew Dragon followed by a flight on Starship, SpaceX's next-generation rocket under development. He has not announced crewmates or dates for those flights. SARAH GILLIS Gillis has trained astronauts and now is becoming one herself. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with an engineering degree, began as an intern at SpaceX in 2015 and is now the company's senior space operations engineer. Her responsibilities include training astronauts on safety and flight operations. Gillis, Polaris Dawn's mission specialist, has trained NASA astronauts for several operations, including International Space Stations Dragon missions Demo-2 and Crew-1 and Inspiration4 mission in 2021. SCOTT POTEET Poteet, the mission pilot for Polaris Dawn, had a 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force, with more than 3,200 flight hours in various aircraft including the F-16 fighter jet. Poteet's involvement in the private space sector began when he served as Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission. The New Hampshire native's role in the latest mission extends beyond just piloting the spacecraft to assisting with the spacewalk, providing communication support and collaborating with mission control. Poteet was the vice president of strategy at Isaacman's Shift4 company until 2022, according to his LinkedIn. Until 2020, he was a business development director at defense contractor Draken International, founded by Isaacman, before he sold a majority stake in the firm to Blackstone in 2019. ANNA MENON Menon is a mission specialist and medical officer for the program and is a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations, ensuring that procedures and protocols are in place for astronauts during their missions. The former NASA biomedical flight controller will be responsible for the crew's health and well-being during the Polaris Dawn mission, monitoring their physiological responses and providing medical care if needed. She holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University. Menon is married to Anil Menon, a former SpaceX flight surgeon who is currently a NASA astronaut-in-training. (Reporting by Akash Sriram, Yuvraj Malik, Priyanka G and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid) By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ramadan Abed CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, forcing more families to flee, saying its forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas. The Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people. In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military urged residents in certain zones to move immediately to the west, as the area they are in is "considered a dangerous combat zone". Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people were sheltering, two at a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Seven others were killed in two separate Israeli strikes, five in a car in Khan Younis and two people at a school in Gaza City, medics said. Later on Monday, an Israeli strike on a tent on the coast in Gaza City killed six Palestinians and wounded several other people, medics told Reuters. The new orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardments. The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement on X on Sunday night that an explosion approximately 250 meters (820 feet) away from the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital triggered panic. "As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment." From around 650 patients, only 100 remain in the hospital, with seven in the intensive care unit, it said, citing Gaza's health ministry. "This situation is unacceptable. Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care," it added. The Israeli military said it killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen in the area of Khan Younis and the outskirts of Deir Al-Balah in the past 24 hours and located large quantities of weapons. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters clashed with Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and sniper fire in several areas across Gaza. Gaza's Ministry of Health called for the 100 patients inside the hospital, and the medical teams who had remained to care for them, to be protected. In a separate statement, it said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 66 others across the enclave in the past 24 hours. DIPLOMATIC IMPASSE Sawsan Abu Afesh said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times. "I left half of my children behind me near my furniture and I am now with my little ones and my daughter, only God can help us...I have no money for transportation. I will go to area 17 where my family is staying on my foot. I took my kids and three are left behind. No idea where," the woman said. The escalation comes with little hope of an end in sight to the war as diplomacy by mediators, Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. has so far failed to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders traded blame over the lack of an accord. Neither Hamas, nor Israel, agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said. A senior U.S. official, however, described the talks as "constructive," saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach "a final and implementable agreement." Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new conditions made by Israel during the talks, which the group didn't attend, and added that U.S. comments over an imminent ceasefire deal were false and aimed to serve election purposes. U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the U.S. over aid for Israel ahead of November elections. More than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say. The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, by Israeli tallies, with more than 250 taken hostage. (Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Ramadan Abed in Gaza and Steve Scheer in Jerusalem; Editing by Sharon Singleton, William Maclean) Relatives of a Howell man who overdosed on drugs in state prison say officials should have monitored him because his struggle with addiction was well-known. They're now suing. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor) The family of a man who fatally overdosed in East Jersey State Prison has sued the state for wrongful death, saying officials routinely turn a blind eye to drug smuggling behind bars and thereby create dangerous living conditions for people who struggle with addiction. Michael Cassella, 40, of Howell, died of acute fentanyl toxicity on Aug. 18, 2022, at the state prison in Rahway, according to a lawsuit filed last week in state Superior Court in Union County. Cassella had a history of drug addiction and should have been monitored accordingly, attorney Brooke M. Barnett wrote in the complaint. Despite the state Department of Corrections zero-tolerance policy for the possession, sale, or use of drugs and alcohol, East Jersey State Prison tolerates a pervasive and systemic pattern and practice of substance smuggling by correctional officers and incarcerated people, as well as grossly inadequate medical treatment provided by deliberately indifferent staff, Barnett wrote. Cassella was dead for awhile by the time an officer found him unresponsive in his cell, she added. His aunt called the prison several times about him when he failed to contact her, but prison officials didnt notify her of his death until days afterward, the lawsuit says. Heroin and fentanyl are clearly infiltrating the prisons. Attorney Brooke M. Barnett The serious medical needs of inmates, including Mr. Cassella, are given cursory attention, when not entirely ignored, and when acknowledged at all, treated with slipshod, hasty, inefficacious, rubber-stamp patch-jobs, designed to quiet inmate complaints, rather than treat the medical needs of human beings, Barnett wrote. The complaint, filed by Cassellas aunt, Donna McNichol of Freehold, names Department of Corrections Commissioner Victoria Kuhn as a defendant, along with the department, the prison, and unnamed correctional officers and prison medical staff. It accuses them of failure to protect, state-created danger, negligence, and wrongful death. Heroin and fentanyl are clearly infiltrating the prisons, Barnett told the New Jersey Monitor. They have a duty to protect these people. Im not saying that its got to be the Hilton Hotel, but you expect these correctional officers and the medical departments in there to do what theyre supposed to do. If we dont file these lawsuits, everything stays behind the four walls and nothing will be exposed. I look forward to getting some answers. Daniel Sperrazza, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said he could not comment on pending litigation. But he said correctional agencies nationally, including in New Jersey, have seen a substantial increase in the prevalence and illicit use of synthetic drugs entering facilities disguised in regular mail. This has contributed to the rising number of assaults on staff and threatening the safety of all persons within the correctional setting, Sperrazza said. Officials will implement mail scanning and screening technology by the end of the year with state funding provided in the 2025 budget lawmakers approved in June, Sperrazza said. The heightened postal scrutiny comes after officials launched a pilot program last year intended to strengthen safeguards against drug smuggling by mail. This mail scanning technology processes original documents off-site, scans them, and then distributes copies of the mail to the population to stem the flow of contraband, Sperrazza said. East Jersey State Prison, which incarcerates about 1,200 men, has a history of both drug-related deaths a Newark man incarcerated there died in 2020 after reacting badly to synthetic drugs in his cell and drug smuggling by staff and others, including gang members and mob bosses. Cassella was serving a 20-year prison sentence for an October 2011 car crash that killed a Mount Arlington police officer. In that incident, Cassella was under the influence of several drugs when he crossed a median on Route 80 in Roxbury Township and hit officer Joseph Wargos cruiser head-on. Wargo died soon after at the hospital. Cassella told a trooper at the scene he was in recovery for heroin addiction, court records show. He pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in 2013. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A family who roadtrips 4,000 miles a year shares the best hidden-gem destinations in the US Rob Taylor, a Florida-based road trip expert, has traveled to 48 states with his family. Taylor focuses on educational trips, visiting lesser-known destinations for unique experiences. He recommends stopping at under-the-radar destinations in Alaska, Utah, and on the East Coast. International destinations can be awe-inspiring but road trips around the states can feel just as unique, from New England to the coast of Alaska. That's according to Florida-based road trip expert Rob Taylor, who has traveled to 48 states. Over the last 13 years, he and his husband, Chris, have driven their two kids to 30 states. "The US is so large, and you can get such variation in experiences, activities, landscapes, cuisine, and culture from one corner of the country to another," he told Business Insider. "We're making our way. Eventually, we will hit all of them." Regarding family road trips, Taylor seeks out lesser-known destinations where the kids can learn something new. "So much of our travel specifically focuses on education and making sure that we're not just going to theme parks," he said. "We're actually out there doing programs with the rangers and educators." Typically, Taylor takes the kids out of school three to four times a year for up to two weeks at a time. He added that the educational factor makes teachers more supportive of their travels during the school year. "That's why we feel OK pulling them out of school as much as we do," Taylor said. "We've never had a complaint that we've missed too much school." Taylor shared with BI his favorite hidden-gem road trip stops around the US for families and some are in popular states you wouldn't expect. An Alaskan landscape seen from Hatcher Pass. brucemaloneatx/Getty Images Avoid crowds on the eastern side of Glacier National Park. Saint Mary Lake on the east side of Glacier National Park. Education Images/Getty Images "Glacier National Park is definitely not a lesser-known place, but so many people approach it just from one side," Taylor said of the mountainous park in Montana. "A lot of people just overlook that whole other half of this national park." In Taylor's experience, tourists crowd the park's west side. "But the east side of Glacier National Park, where it meets the Blackfoot Nation, is really incredible," he said, referring to the Native American reservation also known as Blackfeet Nation. "It has far fewer people than the west side. It's one of those spots where you can still have a detached-from-the-rest-of-the-world experience." In Utah, swap out Zion National Park for Canyon Lands... A trail at Canyon Lands National Park. Matthew T. Carroll/Getty Images Utah may not be the first place you think of as a hidden gem but it can be. "With Utah having so much public land, it's a great place to get away from people," Taylor said. "So many people think of going to Zion National Park, but there are other parks in Utah that are just as incredible." Canyonlands National Park, for example, is less frequented than Zion, he said. "It's very red and orange and gold, and the land is a lot of canyons and washouts," he said. ... or Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Adam Cohen/500px/Getty Images "Capitol Reef is not crowded at all," Taylor told BI of this national park in Utah's south-central desert region. "And it is astounding with the landscape and tons of history within the park in terms of western settlement." Aside from having fewer tourists than Zion National Park, Taylor said Capitol Reef will "give you a totally different spin on Utah." "There are really large monoliths of sandstone in the middle of mountain ranges that are dark gray and flaming red," he said. "There are contrasts of hot and cold colors everywhere with really dramatic landscape features, like natural bridges that form because of really intense erosion." Taylor recommends Capitol Reef for families who want to "geek out on geology." "If you're traveling with kids, it's one of those spots where there's literally science around every corner," he said. On the East Coast, take the less-traveled route through South Carolina and stop in Columbia. Congaree National Park (L) and Columbia, South Carolina (R). kellyvandellen/Getty Images, Alex Potemkin/Getty Images Taylor said the East Coast is full of historic cities, and Columbia, South Carolina, is a hidden gem off the major highway. "Columbia is not on the 95," he said, referring to the interstate that connects Florida to Maine, "but it's not difficult to veer off that north-to-south route that everybody ends up driving here on the East Coast." "Columbia has lots of wonderful history in terms of civil rights and civil war reconstruction history," he added. Taylor also recommends visiting Conagree National Park, just outside the city. "It's an incredible Cypress swamp full of snakes and alligators and birds and fireflies," he said. "It's beautiful, it's creepy, and it's squishy. It's a unique park visit with kids." Instead of visiting the coast of Maine, go to the highlands. Moosehead Lake in Piscataquis County, Maine. DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images "Maine is one of those places that surprises me with each visit," Taylor told Business Insider. "A lot of people think of Maine as a place to see lighthouses and maybe eat some lobster, but the Maine Highlands are really cool." The highlands are in the middle of Maine and attract fewer tourists than coastal destinations, according to a 2023 economics report by Maine's Department of Administrative and Financial Services. "It's really a wonderful place for wildlife, and you get to see what the northeast was like before all the cities were booming," Taylor said. Now that you know where to go, check out Taylor's best tips for family road trips in his book, "The Road Trip Survival Guide." Read the original article on Business Insider Photo: Official Information Source of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 26. Kazakhstan remains committed to further cooperation within the OPEC+ framework, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said during a meeting with OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais, Trend reports. "We support the organization's initiatives and adhere to restrictions alongside other countries, including current voluntary commitments," Bektenov emphasized. According to the official source, the Prime Minister highlighted OPEC's crucial role in ensuring the stability of the global oil market. He noted that coordinated actions by oil producers and exporters within the OPEC+ framework help mitigate potential negative impacts and stabilize market conditions. In turn, Al Ghais acknowledged Kazakhstan's significant role in the global oil market and underscored the impact of measures taken by the country on balancing and providing predictable oil pricing. Following the meeting, Beiktenov and Al Ghais reaffirmed their intention to continue successful and productive cooperation. Kazakhstan has been a participant in the OPEC+ Agreement since 2016. The countrys oil production involves over 90 operators. CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) Crews were called to Chicopee State Park on Monday to assist in the rescue of a young deer trapped in the parks spillway. Weather Alert: Threat of heavy rain, thunderstorms in western Massachusetts The operation, which involved members of local rescue teams and a biologist from the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, resulted in the safe release of the animal. Courtesy of Chicopee Fire Department Courtesy of Chicopee Fire Department Courtesy of Chicopee Fire Department Rescue personnel worked alongside the biologist to carefully free the young deer from the spillway. After being freed, the deer was assessed for injuries, tagged for tracking, and safely released back into the wild. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. FBI offers $5K reward for information about death of woman on New Mexico highway SHIPROCK, N.M. (KRQE) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the death of a woman on Highway 491 near Shiprock. Officials said Tiffany Deanna Benallie was hit by a vehicle near mile marker 95 at approximately 1 a.m. on May 18, 2024. The driver of the vehicle left the scene. The FBIs Albuquerque Field Office and Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations in New Mexico are asking anyone with information about the crime to come forward. Information can be shared through the FBIs toll-free tipline at 1- 800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You may also contact your local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. The security alert at Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany last week, which you can read more about here, was due to fears of a possible Russian drone attack, according to multiple German media reports. The latest development comes amid growing fears of Russian-inspired aggression against Germany, including drones, but also various other hybrid warfare tactics. As the main operating base for NATOs fleet of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), the base plays a critical role for the alliance including around Ukraine. The security alert at Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany last week, which you can read more about here, was due to fears of a possible Russian drone attack, according to a German media report. The latest development comes amid growing fears of Russian-inspired aggression against Germany, including drones, but also involving various other hybrid warfare tactics. As the main operating base for NATOs fleet of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), the base in Geilenkirchen, near Aachen, plays a critical role in the alliance including in regards to Ukraine. A satellite image of Geilenkirchen Air Base, dated September 2023. Google Earth An unnamed source within German intelligence confirmed that the security scare at Geilenkirchen was caused by signs of preparatory actions for a likely Russian act of sabotage using a drone, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported today. The tip-off reportedly came from an undisclosed foreign intelligence service. #BREAKING Intelligence findings indicating potential Russian sabotage using a drone led to the temporary elevation of the security level at the NATO airbase in Geilenkirchen near the city of Aachen last week, German security sources tell dpa. pic.twitter.com/Q7fFEDe0Ue dpa news agency (@dpa_intl) August 26, 2024 On the other hand, an unnamed security source told Reuters that no drones had been seen in the vicinity of Geilenkirchen and that they could not confirm any evidence of a Russian role. The word Russia was never mentioned. We talked about a threat caused by drones, a NATO spokesperson at Geilenkirchen told Reuters. As TWZ previously reported, on August 22 the security level at Geilenkirchen Air Base, in the west of the country, was raised to Charlie level, in what NATO described as a precautionary measure to minimize potential risk to our organization and personnel. The alliance added that all non-mission essential staff had been sent home as a precautionary measure but that the AWACS fleet was still functioning with minimal staffing as a precautionary measure while operations continued as planned. Meanwhile, the German Ministry of Defense confirmed that it had received intelligence information indicating a potential threat, without providing any more details. Operators wear oxygen masks as they work during an emergency exercise in a NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft during a flight over northern Germany from Geilenkirchen, on June 20, 2023. Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images INA FASSBENDER The next day, NATO announced that it had lowered the security level at Geilenkirchen to Bravo. In a post on X, NATO said: The temporary rise to Charlie was a precautionary measure to minimize potential risk to our organization and personnel. All scheduled operations are proceeding as planned. Turning to the alert levels, NATOs security level Charlie is the second highest from a total of four. It indicates that an incident has occurred, or intelligence has been received indicating that some form of terrorist action against NATO organizations or personnel is highly likely. As we have discussed before, NATOs AWACS fleet at Geilenkirchen is a multinational force and one that plays a hugely important role in the alliances air operations, providing airborne early warning, command and control, and battle management capability in Europe and elsewhere. Since before the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022, this has included constant missions close to the Ukrainian border as well as over the Black Sea, providing the alliance with an overview of Russian and Ukrainian air activity in the region. NATO E-3 Sentry running a circuit right on the border of Ukraine pic.twitter.com/fu7voN1W4c OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 25, 2022 Lots of fun over Romania along the Black Sea. We have 2 Rivet Joint, an American (JAKE17) and a UK one (RRR7219), an American P-8 Poseidon (N/A), and a NATO E-3 (NATO001): pic.twitter.com/E0EfU1lbap Flying Chicken Fella (@loutrebrule) January 19, 2024 The drone scare at Geilenkirchen followed a security alert the previous week, in response to reports of an attempted trespassing incident at the base. This came at the same time as fears of possible sabotage of the water supply at nearby Wahn Barracks. A full sweep was made of the premises at Geilenkirchen without finding any trespassers, while the Wahn Barracks incident proved to be a false alarm. While no further details of the nature of the presumed drone threat against Geilenkirchen have been released, its notable that there have been other drone incidents in Germany in recent weeks, with Russia widely assumed to be implicated. The entrance to Geilenkirchen Geilenkirchen on August 23, 2024. A day earlier, the air base announced that it was raising its threat level and ordered all non-mission-essential staff to work remotely. Photo by Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Sascha Schuermann There has been a spate of reports of unexplained drone activity in the north of the country, including over an industrial park in Brunsbuttel, northwest of Hamburg, which is home to a major floating liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal. Prosecutors in Germany have said they consider it likely the drone flights are related to espionage activity for sabotage purposes and also cite repeated drone flights over critical infrastructure. Reports of drone flights over the area began on August 8 and its been claimed that the craft have proven difficult to track due to their high speeds reportedly around 60 miles per hour and their approach from the sea. Pipelines run in front of the liquefied natural gas terminal in the Elbe port of Brunsbuttel, on April 11, 2024. Photo by Axel Heimken/picture alliance via Getty Images picture alliance While TWZ has been prominent in its reporting on mysterious intrusions over critical infrastructure and very high-security military bases in the United States, its a newer phenomenon that these troubling incidents are now becoming more common in Europe, too. The fact that Russian-inspired attacks of other kinds have been planned against military bases in Germany is, at this point, an established fact. In April, two German-Russian nationals were arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting sabotage attacks, including on U.S. military facilities in the country. One of those individuals was accused of making plans to carry out bomb and arson attacks on military facilities and had allegedly taken photos and videos of military transports and equipment. At least some of those targets also had a direct link to the war in Ukraine, with one of them being the U.S. Armys Grafenwoehr base in the southern state of Bavaria, where Ukrainian soldiers are trained to use U.S.-supplied M1 Abrams tanks. In July, intelligence concerns about possible sabotage attacks by Russian-backed actors saw U.S. military bases across Europe including in Germany placed on a heightened state of alert, for the first time in a decade, according to CNN. The entrance to Geilenkirchen Air Base on August 23, 2024. Photo by Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Sascha Schuermann More generally, these incidents reflect growing concerns across Europe about the risk of an expanding campaign of sabotage, including cyberattacks, inspired by the Kremlin. This is also something that NATO has increasingly warned about, notably in June when NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outlined what he said was evidence of a surge of sabotage, cyberattacks, instrumentalized migration, and other hostile actions by Russia. TWZ has previously looked at exactly why a hybrid warfare campaign might be especially attractive for Russia. Simply put, an effort of this kind is a relatively low-cost and low-risk way of trying to undermine support for Ukraine within Europe. Its a means of creating disruption and sowing fear and, so long as it uses proxies to achieve its aims, it remains very hard for such activities to be directly traced back to the Kremlin. Pilots sit in the cockpit of a NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft, which was participating in the German-led multinational exercise Air Defender 23, on June 20, 2023. Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images INA FASSBENDER Germany is not alone in being targeted by hostile actors. In only the last few months, other incidents, suspected to be connected to Russia, if not orchestrated directly by Moscow, have been reported in other NATO countries including the Czech Republic, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Last week, we also reported on the disclosure of a sabotage incident at Evenes Air Station, a strategic air base in northern Norway. While a potential drone attack against a major NATO air base would be a notably bold operation, it could also be attempted, at least, using relatively low-cost drones including short-range types that could be launched from fairly close to the installation. Experiences from the war in Ukraine demonstrate that it can be hard for even modern air defense systems to cope with such a threat, especially when weaponized versions of small, hobbyist-type drones are employed. Somewhat ironically, Russian AWACS equivalents A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft have previously come under drone attack at their base in Belarus, apparently after they were launched by Belarusian partisans. While videos released subsequently did not reveal any damage to the radar planes, they confirmed that drones succeeded in reaching the aircraft on at least two occasions, demonstrating a significant degree of vulnerability. -50 https://t.co/868XBBbQZE pic.twitter.com/kaD11ivwr1 MilitaryAviationInUa (@MilAviaUA) March 3, 2023 For the foreseeable future, tensions between Russia and the West look to be a fundamental part of the European security landscape. The latest incidents certainly lend weight to the idea that Germany, and its many military bases and critical infrastructure, are very much on the front line of a developing hybrid war being fought in parallel to the conflict in Ukraine. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit challenging the Second Amendment Preservation Act, arguing it has undermined federal drug and weapons investigations (Getty Images). A Missouri law declaring some federal gun regulations invalid is unconstitutional because it violates the U.S. Constitutions supremacy clause, a federal appeals court in St. Louis unanimously ruled on Monday. A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a district court ruling from last year that blocked Missouri from enforcing the Second Amendment Preservation Act, a law passed in 2021 that penalizes police for enforcing certain federal gun laws. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US Among the laws provisions is a $50,000 fine for law enforcement agencies thatinfringe on Missourians Second Amendment rights. Some of the gun regulations deemed invalid by the law include imposing certain taxes on firearms, requiring gun owners to register their weapons and laws prohibiting law-abiding residents from possessing or transferring their guns. Because the (Second Amendment Preservation) Act purports to invalidate federal law in violation of the Supremacy Clause, we affirm the (district courts) judgment, Chief Judge Steven Colloton, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the unanimous opinion. The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit challenging the law arguing it has undermined federal drug and weapons investigations. Late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Attorney General Andrew Bailey to allow Missouri to enforce the Second Amendment Preservation Act while its appeal is ongoing. In a statement through his spokeswoman, Bailey said he is reviewing the decision. He added: I will always fight for Missourians Second Amendment rights. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas released a statement Monday afternoon praising the courts decision. Two years ago, Missouri enacted an unconstitutional law, claiming to invalidate federal gun laws, Lucas wrote. The law was rejected in federal appeals court today I am saddened that our state expended the time and energy of many in our legal system in service of this clearly unconstitutional effort. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) A judge has decided the murder case against a former Michigan State Police detective sergeant will be moved to federal court. In a ruling filed Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Hala Jarbou agreed with former sergeant Brian Keelys defense team that though he was employed by MSP he was acting as a federal officer on the day that Samuel Sterling died and that the case therefore falls under federal jurisdiction. Keely was acting solely in his capacity as a federal task force officer, performing a task given to him by a federal superior, within the scope of his federal office, the judge said in a written opinion. Inside woodtv.com: Samuel Sterling case Jarbou, who heard arguments in the matter last week, highlighted that MSP officers assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service task force had to be approved by the federal agency, that Keely took an oath of office with the Marshals and that the Marshals conferred on him a special title and authority. Although Keely was employed by the MSP, the USMS appointed him as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal with authority to execute warrants accepted by the USMS task force. He was exercising that authority at the time of Sterlings death, which makes him a federal officer for purposes of the removal statute, the opinion said. Lewis Langham with Cooley Law pointed out a few things that may be considered a little different in federal court. Theres a larger jury pool, approximately 55-56 counties in which jurors would be selected from versus just one county, Kent County, where the incident occurred, said Langham. In a statement to News 8 Monday, Keelys attorney Marc Curtis said the defense team was pleased by Jarbous ruling. Keely was operating as a member of the US Marshals task force to bring a violent and dangerous felon into custody, Curtis stated. We look forward to continuing our vigorous defense against the AGs wrongful prosecution of TFO (Task Force Officer) Keely in Federal Court. Attorney Ven Johnson, who is representing the Sterling family, released a statement after the decision. On behalf of the Sterling family, we, of course, will continue to support the criminal prosecution of Keely for killing an unarmed Samuel Sterling, irrespective of the forum in which it takes place, Johnson wrote, in part. Family shows News 8 a photo of Samuel Sterling. On April 17, authorities tracked the 25-year-old Sterling, who was wanted on a number of warrants, to a Kentwood gas station. Police say he ran away when they moved in to get him. Officers chased him on foot to a nearby Burger King while Keely pursued in an unmarked cruiser. Video released by MSP shows Sterling being hit by Keelys SUV near the restaurants entrance. Sterling was hospitalized and died hours later. The Michigan Attorney Generals Office ultimately charged Keely, 50, of Grand Rapids, with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Judge sends ex-MSP sgts murder case to trial The federal decision pulls the case out of Kent County courts. A Kent County District Court judge had ruled last week that there was sufficient probable cause to send the case to Kent County Circuit Court for trial, saying there is evidence to suggest Keely knowingly created a very high risk of death or great bodily harm when he chased an individual on foot by a 4,000-pound automobile. There was testimony that there was no weapon observed on the decedent during the pursuit and no force was used by the decedent, Judge Amanda Sterkenburg also pointed out. No other officers continued in vehicle pursuit, therefore there does not appear to be justification for the defendants conduct. Prosecutors argue there is evidence Keely steered his SUV toward Sterling, but Keelys defense attorneys say there is also evidence he was braking when the crash happened. They say Keely didnt mean to hit Sterling and instead intended to block him from getting into the Burger King. Sterkenburg acknowledged there is conflicting evidence as to whether Keely acted with malice and said that there are arguments to be presented to a jury about the speed of Keelys SUV, braking, the effect of wet pavement on the crash and whether Keely was warranted in his belief that Sterling could threaten or harm someone in the Burger King. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Tennessee is one of only 10 states that have not accepted Medicaid expansion, leaving 300,000 Tennesseans without health insurance. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Tennessee is one of only 10 states that have not accepted Medicaid expansion, leaving 300,000 Tennesseans without health insurance. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Tennessees Medicaid safety net program unlawfully terminated coverage for thousands of Tennessee families, running afoul of the Constitution, federal Medicaid law and protections for people with disabilities, a federal court ruled Monday. TennCare which provides health coverage for about 1.5 million Tennesseans failed to properly evaluate the eligibility of thousands of families, intentionally withheld information those families needed to have their coverage reinstated, and sat on its hands for months before it fixed system-wide errors that resulted in wrongful terminations of disabled individuals, according to U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaws ruling. Crenshaw was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016. A class of 35 children and adults who had been terminated from TennCare filed the class-action suit in 2020, alleging that flaws in TennCares eligibility determination process caused around 250,000 children to lose coverage because of paperwork issues. As Tennessees Medicaid program, TennCare is the main health coverage provider for people in rural areas, people with disabilities, children and the elderly, according to the Tennessee Justice Center, a nonprofit that is among the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. Poor, disabled and otherwise disadvantaged Tennesseans should not require luck, perseverance, or zealous lawyering to receive healthcare benefits they are entitled to under the law, the ruling states. Those who lacked those apparent prerequisites and have not yet had their coverage reinstated and backdated more likely than not faced both financial hardships and adverse health outcomes on account of TennCares unlawful actions. Reached via email Monday, TennCare Communications Director Amy Lawrence said TennCare is still reviewing the lengthy opinion and determining what our next steps will be, but declined to comment further on a pending legal matter. After its initial filing in 2020, the case was put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, when federal law required the state to maintain health coverage for almost everyone enrolled. The case continued to pick up plaintiffs in the meantime, including a rural Middle Tennessee family who lost coverage for three years for failing to respond to crucial paperwork that they never received; TennCare had mistakenly mailed it to a horse pasture in a clerical error. The case went to trial in November 2023. The unreliability of TennCares eligibility determination system has been criticized for years. In 2019, a Tennessean investigation found at least 220,000 Tennessee children were unenrolled or at risk of being cut from TennCare insurance thanks to a system that was heavily dependent on mailed paper forms. TennCare has made attempts to improve the system, but was largely lethargic in its response, the opinion states. TennCare Director Stephen Smith, who was appointed in March 2020 by Gov. Bill Lee, said eligibility errors were due to the computerized system receiving inaccurate data, worker error, or some other systems defect, the ruling states. The court, however, found that TennCare is ultimately responsible for errors made by both the system and its employees. TennCare could have added questions to its questionnaires to give enrollees a chance to submit information the system struggled to recognize, the ruling states. TennCare does have a system in place for granting reasonable accommodations, but the court found it requires revision and its lack of staff and organization all but guarantees that disabled enrollees slip through the cracks. The court has not yet ruled on the plaintiffs request for an injunction that would reinstate coverage for those who lost it and to bar further cuts until TennCare establishes a redetermination process that complies with the Medicaid Act, the Due Process Clause and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Before an injunction is considered, the court requires the state and the parties representing the plaintiffs, including the Tennessee Justice Center, the National Health Law Program, National Center for Law and Economic Justice and law firm Selendy Gay PLLC, make two earnest, in-person attempts at mediation with an agreed-upon mediator. The plaintiffs and the state have 30 days to select a mediator, and will then have up to four months to shape a plan to rectify TennCares issues, according to Tennessee Justice Center Executive Director Michele Johnson. This is a tremendous win for the plaintiffs and all TennCare members who have lost their vital health coverage due to TennCares unlawful policies and practices, Johnson said in a Monday news release. We are proud to have stood with the courageous families that brought the case in order to protect the health coverage of many thousands of their neighbors across the state. We will continue to fight as this case moves forward. The state could also choose to appeal the courts ruling. TennCare ruling WASHINGTON D.C. (KNWA/KFTA) Richard Barnett has been informed by federal prosecutors that they will not defend an obstruction conviction against him on appeal, according to court documents filed on Friday. Barnett, 64, of Gravette, was found guilty in January 2023 on eight counts, four felonies and four misdemeanors, related to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. There can no longer be any doubt that his appeal is meritorious, his public defender, Courtney L. Millian, wrote in Fridays filing. Millian argued that without the obstruction charge, Barnett should have received an 18-month to two-year sentence instead of the 54-month sentence he received. At this point, he has already served and has credit for high end of the guidelines sentence. Therefore, immediate release is appropriate, Millian wrote. Little Rock man sixth Arkansan arrested in connection to Jan. 6 insurrection Barnett has been credited for 22.5 months in prison, according to the filing. He appealed his conviction in June 2023 with his attorneys arguing about the validity of the obstruction charge he was convicted for. Barnett gained notoriety from the insurrection after he was photographed putting his feet up on a desk in former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis office suite. Youve become a face of this and I think you like it, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said during his sentencing. Barnett is currently incarcerated at the Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution in Texas and is set to be released on September 30, 2026, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (KRON) A felon brandishing a firearm outside of a grocery store in Millbrae was arrested, according to the San Mateo County Sheriffs Office. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, sheriffs deputies were dispatched to a Safeway in the 500 block of El Camino Real. Deputies were informed that a male suspect brandished a gun in the establishments parking lot. The suspect then fled in a car. Alameda County firefighter goes on racist rant against community member in TikTok video Deputies located the getaway car traveling southbound in the 200 block of El Camino Real, where they conducted a traffic stop. Deputies said they found an unregistered loaded handgun in the investigation. The suspect was identified as 36-year-old Redwood City resident Mateialona Tangatailoa. He was arrested and booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility for several charges including: Brandishing a firearm Possession of a firearm by a person with a felony conviction Possession of ammunition by a felon Carrying a loaded firearm on a person or in a vehicle Concealed firearm in vehicle Child abuse Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Felon shot by police admits he punched the officer, attempted to steal weapon ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) A man is expected to spend 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to new felony charges against him Monday for the assault of a Rochester police officer last year. According to prosecutors, last year Sept. 25, an officer went to the area of Seventh Street in Rochester to investigate gunfire when he encountered Jamie James, who is now 27 years old. At the time of the incident, the officer attempted to pull over James who then drove off, crashing into a pole before running away again. After a brief chase through a backyard, James punched the officer multiple times and attempted to steal his gun. Rochester police said the officer shot James after an unsuccessful attempt to tase him. Both James and the officer were taken to the hospital with injuries. Two loaded handguns and narcotics were taken by police in this investigation. James, a two-time violent felony offender, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 6. Hes expected to receive 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst. BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, August 26. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has advised Kyrgyz citizens working in taxi and delivery services in Russia to exercise caution amid threats of potential terrorist attacks by international terrorist organizations, Trend reports. Kyrgyz diaspora representative in Russia, Kubanychbek Osmonbekov, shared this warning in a Facebook post. "According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, terrorists might use delivery services to transport explosive devices and activate them along with the courier in crowded places. Taxi drivers and couriers should be particularly vigilant regarding the packages they are asked to deliver. It's crucial to pay attention to who sent the package, what it contains, and where it is supposed to go," Osmonbekov said. Following the terrorist attack at the Crocus Hall in Russia, there have been calls to tighten migration policies. A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma, proposing to prohibit labor migrants from working in medical, pharmaceutical, and educational sectors, including both school and preschool education. The bill also suggests restrictions on foreign couriers if their monthly salary exceeds 100,000-120,000 rubles (approximately $1,000-$1,300). CHICAGO Felony charges have been filed against a Chicago man accused of stealing from a Cook County States Attorneys office last month. According to Cook County deputies, 44-year-old Jordan Jose Ocampo has been charged with felony theft and felony burglary. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines The charges were handed down after an investigation into the disappearance of laptops and other items from the Criminal Court Administration Building in the 2600 block of South California Avenue in late July. 44-year-old Jordan Jose Ocampo has been charged with felony theft and felony burglary in connection with a theft from a Cook County States Attorneys office in July. Deputies said on Tuesday, July 23, Sheriffs Police Detectives were notified about a theft that occurred at the building after employees noticed three laptops and other items were missing from the 12th-floor office. Following a review of security footage from the night before, authorities spotted an individual, who was later identified as Ocampo, allegedly leaving the building with the missing items that evening. Person of Interest sought in computer theft from Cook County States Attorneys Office Authorities eventually met with Ocampo, who had been in custody at the Cook County Jail since Aug. 14 on unrelated aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and attempted criminal sexual assault charges, on Tuesday and said he allegedly admitted that he had been in the building on the night of July 22, and had taken the laptops and other items before leaving. Ocampo made his initial court appearance on Sunday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. KALB-TV's Colin Vedros, left, moderates a debate Aug. 22, 2024, between 6th Congressional District candidates Quentin Anthony Alexander and Peter Williams at the Holiday Inn Downtown in Alexandria. The party-endorsed candidates in the race, Democratic state Sen. Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge and Republican Elbert Guillory of Opelousas, opted not to participate. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) It takes very little to persuade me into taking a road trip somewhere, anywhere, in our beautiful state, so when KALB-TV in Alexandria asked me to be a panelist for its 6th Congressional District candidates debate, it was an easy yes. But I was disappointed to learn both of the party-endorsed candidates in the election state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, and former state Sen. Elbert Guillory, R-Opelousas had declined to participate. Its a peculiar decision from both men when you consider theyre hoping to represent a brand new district and voters theyre reaching out to for the first time. Another 6th District entrant, Opelousas Democrat Wilken Jones Jr., also passed on the KALB debate, citing a campaign conflict that well assume was more worthwhile than the ample free air time the television station was providing. Were definitely seeing a worrisome trend of perceived frontrunners opting out of whats often the only chance for voters to see them explain or defend their platforms. Then-candidate Jeff Landrys decision to skip nearly all debate-format events in the governors race last year certainly didnt hurt him. But its most incompatible with any claims he makes about being accessible, accountable and transparent. With three candidates skipping the debate, Quentin Anthony Anderson of Baton Rouge and Peter Williams from Lettsworth each had ample time to field questions from a panel of four journalists. Despite being outnumbered, the participants did a solid job of sharing their stances and explaining why voters should back them. It was easy to see why Anderson is considered a rising progressive star in the Democratic ranks, having ascended from a volunteer intern in the 2007 Obama presidential campaign to a statewide field organizer. He currently leads a progressive advocacy group and runs a small marketing firm. A successful tree farm owner and also a Democrat, Williams effectively communicated his points on a variety of topics, including the states dearth of mental health care providers and what it will take to keep young people from leaving Louisiana. The five candidates, all of whom are Black, are running in a revised 6th Congressional District, which takes a meandering path between Shreveport and Baton Rouge to favor a minority candidate in a state where one-third of the population is Black. Its the states second majority-Black seat of Louisianas six in the U.S. House, joining the New Orleans-based 2nd District. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX How state lawmakers came up with the new 6th District boundaries is at the heart of an ongoing federal lawsuit. A group of white plaintiffs insist the lines were racially gerrymandered and are therefore illegal. A similar lawsuit ended with the demise of a previous version of Louisianas 4th Congressional District, which Fields represented from 1993-97. Anderson and Williams pointed out that Fields helped draw the lines of the new 6th District, suggesting he was complicit with approving a map that could eventually be thrown out. Fields was following the direction of Gov. Jeff Landry and the Republican majority in the Legislature when he supported the 6th District revisions, Williams said, describing the entrenched GOP officials as the club. Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the Legislature, were required to add a U.S. House seat that favors Democrats, but they werent compelled to make sure it passed legal muster. However, it should be noted that the bill to redraw the 6th District had support from every Black member of the Louisiana Legislature. The no votes in each chamber came entirely from Republicans, most of whom were displeased with parishes being split among multiple congressional districts in the final version. The 6th Districts current representative, Garret Graves, a white Baton Rouge Republican, chose not to seek reelection in the majority-Black district. He has predicted it wont hold up to a legal challenge. But such a decision wouldnt erase a court ruling that dictates Louisiana must have a second Congressional district from which a minority representative stands a better chance of being elected. The absence of Fields and Guillory from the debate certainly isnt an indication a second majority-Black district isnt merited, but you could understand if some voters read that meaning into it. If the two party favorites dont think its important enough to take part in the only televised debate of the election, why should they bother to show up on Election Day? Both men owe more to the 6th District, no matter its longevity. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST A pilot in his mid-20s remains in critical condition after the crash of a single-engine plane in Ventura County on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The man was being airlifted to a burn center in Los Angeles, Santa Paula Police Chief Don Aguilar told The Times on Sunday evening. The identity of the pilot, who is from the city of Santa Paula, has not been released by authorities. The crash east of Santa Paula Airport was reported shortly before 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. No passengers were aboard the small plane when it went down in an industrial area in the city of Santa Paula and sparked a blaze, said Andy VanSciver, a firefighter and public information officer for the Fire Department. Several businesses are in the area where the plane crashed, but the fire was contained to the plane, and no other injuries were reported, VanSciver said. A photo posted by the agency on X shows the nose of the plane and propeller attached to a completely bare frame, apparently incinerated by the blaze. A single wheel is visible near a pile of ash and debris. Aguilar told The Times the plane crashed in an open yard area, disturbing stacked pipes that were laid out. It came to rest next to a large metal trash bin, which is visible in the photo. Firefighters responded to extinguish the fire and care for the patient, VanSciver said. A video posted by the Fire Department appears to show the pilot being taken to a waiting helicopter on a gurney. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Santa Paula Police Department were at the scene investigating, and the National Transportation Safety Board was notified. Another small plane made an emergency landing in Ventura County on Saturday, CBS News reported. No injuries were reported in the incident, in which the aircraft landed in a dry riverbed in Fillmore, the outlet said, and the FAA was also investigating that incident. 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 Thai court will sentence Thursday a Spanish film star's son charged with murdering and dismembering a Colombian plastic surgeon he met online. The case against Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, the 30-year-old son of actor Rodolfo Sancho, has generated enormous interest in his home country, with scores of Spanish reporters flying in for the trial. The younger Sancho, a chef with a YouTube channel, is accused of murdering and dismembering Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Pha Ngan last year. His trial on charges of premeditated murder, hiding a body and destroying documents was held in April on nearby Koh Samui, another tourist hotspot known for its turquoise waters and rave parties. Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, the son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre is escorted while assisting Thai police with investigations after he was arrested on charges of murder in the death and dismemberment of his Colombian travelling companion Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Phangan, Thailand August 7, 2023. / Credit: STRINGER / REUTERS Sancho denies premeditated murder, but remains in detention after admitting he killed Arrieta, 44, in what he says was self-defense. He has also admitted hiding the body, but denies destroying the Colombian's passport. The two had agreed to meet up after getting to know each other online. The trial heard that Sancho had placed parts of Arrieta's body in plastic bags and distributed them around Koh Pha Ngan. Sancho led police to seven sites, where he allegedly disposed of the victim's dismembered body in plastic bags, BBC News reported. Though his crimes are punishable by the death penalty, Arrieta's family has said they would prefer life in prison. "Let him be left in Thailand so he can take time, all the time that God gives him to live, to think about what he did," Darling Arrieta, the victim's sister, said in an HBO documentary about the case. "He not only dismembered my brother, he dismembered a family." Sancho's father said in the same documentary that Arrieta had threatened his son, after which "there was a fight, and in this fight there was an accident." According to IMDB, Rodolfo Sancho has dozens of film and TV credits to his name and starred in "El Ministerio del Tiempo" ("The Ministry of Time"). "He finished him off" The defense maintains that Sancho acted in legitimate self-defense after Arrieta tried to force him to have sex. Sancho told Spanish news agency EFE he had been a "hostage" to the victim, who was obsessed with him, BBC News reported. "He tried to rape me, and we fought," Sancho said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily El Mundo. According to the paper, Sancho said he didn't immediately inform the police of Arrieta's death because he was in shock, and because it was all "an accident." But a lawyer for the victim's family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said in a recent interview with El Mundo that Sancho was living a "false reality." "He continues to deny responsibility for what he did," he said. A picture of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, allegedly murdered by Daniel Sancho in Thailand, is displayed during a ceremony at a church in Monteria municipality, Cordoba department, Colombia, on August 10, 2023. / Credit: Photo by JOSE PERDOMO/AFP via Getty Images The Thai police, he added, "have done a commendable job" reconstructing the crime and finding evidence. "When Sancho went to report the disappearance of Edwin Arrieta looking for an alibi, they already knew the author of the crime was him," he said. Ospina said it was proven at the trial in April that Sancho had bought knives, plastic bags and cleaning supplies ahead of the crime, and kept them in the room where the killing took place. "This is indisputable," he added. He said Sancho acknowledged at trial that Arrieta went into convulsions after he hit him. "In his statement he admitted that afterwards, he finished him off. That is to say, he murdered him," he added. However, a lawyer for Sancho's family, Carmen Balfagon, told the Spanish news program Cronica that they were "very optimistic, because in the trial we demonstrated that there was no premeditation." Daniel Sancho Bronchalo assists Thai police with an investigation after he was arrested on charges of murder in the death and dismemberment of his Colombian traveling companion Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Phangan, Thailand August 6, 2023. / Credit: DAILYNEWS via Reuters Koh Pha Ngan is famed for white sandy beaches and draws thousands of backpackers to its notoriously wild "full moon" parties. In 2014, another tourist island Koh Tao was rocked by the double murder of two young British backpackers. Two Burmese nationals are serving sentences of life imprisonment for the murders, but rights groups have accused Thai authorities of using the men as scapegoats. "Beg-Knows America:" Stories of kindness and courage H.R. McMaster reflects on time as Trump's national security adviser in new book Dr. Anthony Fauci recovering after week-long hospitalization for West Nile virus Firefighters get upper hand on Road 2620 Fire Firefighters battling the Road 2620 Fire in Brinnon appear to be getting the upper hand on the flames. According to the Western Washington Incident Management Team, the fire is now 81% contained. Duckabash Road is back open, but Mt. Jupiter Road remains closed to the general public. All evacuation levels have been rescinded. The fire started on August 14 around 5:00 p.m. The cause remains under investigation. By Roberto Samora, Marcelo Teixeira and Andre Romani SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Two of the largest sugar and ethanol producers in Brazil late on Monday disclosed initial estimates of damages from fires that have burned sugarcane fields in the country's top state for sugar production. Four men have been arrested on suspicion of setting the fires, which spread quickly amid extremely dry conditions across thousands of hectares of cane fields, burning into the weekend in Sao Paulo state, the largest sugar producing state in the world's top producer and exporter of the sweetener. Brazil's largest sugar group Raizen SA estimated that about 1.8 million tons of its sugarcane, including what it sources from suppliers, had been affected by the fires, or about 2% of the total expected for its 2024/25 crop. In a securities filing, Raizen said it did not expect the fires to lead to material losses to its results as it is prioritizing the crushing of the affected sugarcane to mitigate adverse effects. The burned sugarcane can still be harvested and processed, said Caio Carvalho, a sugar expert with Canaplan consultancy, but added mills will need to rush because the cane starts losing quality after just a couple of days following the burning. Earlier in the day, Raizen said it had resumed operations at its Santa Elisa mill on Sunday, after fires forced the plant to be evacuated and shut last week. Sao Paulo said there were no more active fires in sugarcane fields in the state on Monday, but dozens of municipalities were still on high alert for fires. Another large Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer, Sao Martinho said on Monday in a securities filing that 20,000 hectares of its sugarcane were impacted by the fires. Sao Martinho maintained its 2024/25 total production guidance, adding it will process the affected cane in coming days but that it expects a reduction in the industrial efficiency in the conversion to sugar. "As a result, a reduction of 110,000 tons of sugar is estimated, offset by a proportional increase in ethanol production," Sao Martinho said. It also disclosed additional investments of 70 million reais ($12.7 million) from its initial capex guidance for the 2024/25 crop to preserve productivity in the coming harvests. Citi analysts said the drought and the fires will likely have a negative impact on the next crop in 2025, since some burned fields had cane growing for the next season. Brazil's sugar and ethanol industry group UNICA said on Monday it will start to make an assessment of the situation in the fields in the coming days. ($1 = 5.4968 reais) (Reporting by Roberto Samora and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Marcelo Teixeira in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Michael Perry) General Larry Ellis, a retired four-star general who served in that rank under George W. Bushs administration, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in a letter exclusively obtained by ABC News. This is the first time Ellis, who served as the commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command, has endorsed a presidential candidate, writing that this is not a decision I take lightly, but one I believe necessary. PHOTO: Gen. (retired) Larry Ellis discusses the needs of the 4th Infantry Division Mission Command Element in Germany and Europe at the MCE headquarters on Grafenwoehr, Germany, July 29, 2015. (Sgt. 1st Class Jacob McDonald/4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office, FILE) "Donald Trump has demonstrated that he is wholly and dangerously unfit for Commander-in-Chief. He praises and emboldens our enemies that seek to weaken our country. He has denigrated our brave men and women in uniform, Ellis writes. MORE: RFK Jr. says he's suspending 2024 campaign, joins Donald Trump at Arizona rally Ellis adds that if any service member were to ever act just a bit like Trump, then he or she would be immediately removed from the leadership position, admonished, and separated from military service. Former Bush, Romney and McCain staffers endorse Harris More than 200 Republican staffers who previously worked for either former President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney, or the late Sen. John McCain also endorsed Harris in a letter Monday obtained by ABC News. The letter was first obtained by USA today. The letter calls on moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states who voted for President Biden in 2020 to vote for Harris in November. Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. Thats to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable, the letter says. MORE: Trumps post of fake Taylor Swift endorsement is his latest embrace of AI-generated images The letters of endorsement come on the same day that Trump is reaching out to U.S. service members. On the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal and bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members, Trump slammed the Biden administrations handling and sought to tie Harris to the chaotic withdrawal. The humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world, Trump said to the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit. In response, Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement to ABC News: The Biden-Harris Administration inherited a mess from Donald Trump. Trump wants America to forget that he had four years to get out of Afghanistan, but failed to do it. All he did was continue our longest war. Trump cannot be trusted to keep us safe, but Vice President Harris is a proven leader on the world stage. First to ABC: Retired 4-star general, 200 former GOP staffers endorse Harris originally appeared on abcnews.go.com First of Californias long-awaited military aircraft in use to fight wildfires. See it fly A military aircraft converted to fight California wildfires is in the air after years of federal delays. The first of seven C-130 aircraft transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard and retrofitted is now combating the states wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsoms office announced Monday. The climate crisis has made wildfires more destructive, and we need to match these threats with new resources. This aircraft will beef up Cal Fires ability to hit fires earlier and harder, better protecting Californians, Newsom said in a press release. Its part of our overall strategy that adds more boots on the ground and state-of-the-art technologies to Cal Fires world-leading capabilities, along with our huge ramp up in forest management. California is the first state to have this type of plane, a C-130 Hercules airtanker, to fight wildfires. Getting it airborne took more than five years: In 2018, Congress told the U.S. Air Force to convert seven surplus Coast Guard aircraft into firefighting tankers for Californias fire protection agency, Cal Fire. A series of delays caused by the pandemic, contracting issues and construction hurdles prevented the job from being completed. At the end of last year, the state took over retrofitting the aircraft for wildfire fighting. California was able to do this because in 2023, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., put a provision in a defense spending bill to transfer control of the C-130 aircraft to California immediately, done or not. With the completed transfer of federal airtankers to Cal Fire, we are equipping Californias firefighters with significant new capabilities to protect our communities and save lives, said Padilla on Monday. Cal Fires wildfire fighting fleet Cal Fire, which already had more than 60 aircraft in use, is the worlds largest civil firefighting fleet. The agencys contingent already contained about two dozen S-2T air tankers, which can hold 1,200 gallons of fire retardant. In comparison, C-130s giant four-engine turboprops traditionally used for transport and aerial refueling can carry up to 4,000 gallons. The aircraft, which can fly 800 miles with the retardant, has the greatest speed and range of Cal Fires fleet, Newsoms office said. As wildfire frequency and severity increase across California, the introduction of this aircraft will undoubtedly play a crucial role in helping us achieve our initial attack goals, said Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler, particularly in our efforts to keep 95% of fires at 10 acres or less. Retardant is used around a fires perimeter to slow its spread. Its effectiveness depends on winds, weather and terrain, but firefighters rely on fire retardant to quickly contain blazes. Delays go back a decade Cal Fire is expected to add the seven C-130 aircraft to its fleet up and down the state as theyre done being converted to fight fires. The military was able to do some modifications before handing them over to Cal Fire. The Bee reached out to Cal Fire asking when the other six C-130s will be operational. The Air Force was originally charged with updating these aircraft a decade ago: In 2013, under a 2014 federal spending mandate, the surplus Coast Guard planes were supposed to go to the U.S. Forest Service. Years of delays and rising cost estimates led the Trump administration in late 2017 to scrap the idea. Through efforts by Cal Fire and late Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2018, Congress directed in the 2019 defense spending bill that the planes go to California, which had a robust firefighting fleet and worsening wildfire seasons. The soonest planes were expected to get to California was 2021, Roll Call reported at the time. A fresh round of delays caused by the pandemic and often glacial federal contracting procedures prolonged the wait. California wildfires have worsened Meanwhile California has seen some of the largest, deadliest and most expensive wildfires in the states history. The 2020 August Complex burned the most acres in the states history. The 2021 Dixie Fire was Californias largest single fire. And the 2018 Camp Fire was the states deadliest and most destructive. Rising global temperatures indicate wildfires could become more common and severe. The Park Fire is Californias largest in 2024. It is now the fourth-largest wildfire in state history: Almost 430,000 acres have burned as of Monday, according to Cal Fire. Its the states largest ever allegedly caused by arson and started in Upper Bidwell Park, adjacent to the city of Chico in Butte County, on July 24. It is 82% contained as of Monday. More than 832,000 acres have burned across the state this year, according to Cal Fire. CONCORD, N.H. (AP) A New Hampshire prosecutor told jurors Monday that a former youth detention center worker took exactly what he wanted, where he wanted it and when he wanted it when he repeatedly raped a teenage girl, while his attorney said the accuser concocted the allegations for money. The case against Victor Malavet marks the first criminal trial arising from a five-year investigation into allegations of abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center, though unlike the other eight men facing charges, Malavet, 62, worked at a different state-run facility. Charges against a 10th man were dropped in May after he was deemed incompetent to stand trial. An 11th man who was charged died last month. While the others worked at the Manchester facility formerly known as the Youth Development Center, Malavet worked at the Youth Detention Services Unit in Concord, where children were held while awaiting court disposition of their cases. Hes charged with 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, all against a girl held there in 2001 when she was 15 and 16. Prosecutors say Malavet started paying special attention to the girl soon after she arrived, treating her better than other residents and giving her special privileges. He's accused of assaulting her in a candy closet, storage room and TV room. This defendant took exactly what he wanted, Assistant Attorney General Audriana Mekula said in her opening statement. He raped a child, a child locked away in a detention facility, isolated from her family and the outside world. He used his authority as a youth counselor at YDSU and his control over her daily grades and restrictions and her special privileges to take what he wanted. Malavets attorney, Maya Dominguez, argued that the girl, now 39, made up the allegations in an attempt to get money from the state. She is among more than 1,100 former residents who are suing the state alleging abuse that spanned six decades. The accuser "has a million-dollar motive to lie, Dominguez said. Money can change almost anything. It can change memory, it can change motive, it can even change someones morality. But the one thing that not even millions and millions of dollars can change? Thats the truth. Dominguez said the allegations initially were made up by another girl seeking to cause trouble for the accuser. The alleged victim told investigators at the time that she and Malavet had never so much as hugged, but she kept that seed in her pocket for nearly two decades, Dominguez said. Mekula, who displayed a photo of the teen, said the girl didn't tell investigators at the time because she was scared. She also was scared every time she was raped, because if she did not give him what he wanted, he had the power to control her life at YDSU," she said. The other girl mentioned in the defense's opening statement was among the first witnesses called by prosecutors Monday. She testified that she and the alleged victim were friends not enemies as the defense suggested and that she reported inappropriate behavior she witnessed, including Malavet making out with the girl and what appeared to be the girl touching him sexually. It was scary to tell at that point but I knew something was going on, she said. The witness also said Malavet later groped her breasts and suggested she was jealous of her friend, but she didnt tell authorities about that until recently when she filed her own lawsuit. Jurors also heard from Evelyn Clark Smith, a former staffer at the facility. She said she reported Malavet after watching him feed shrimp to his accuser in a suggestive manner and seeing the girl lick sauce off his finger. She also investigated how the girl was repeatedly able to wear her own black thong instead of state-issued underwear and suspected Malavet had retrieved it from a locked storage room. According to court documents, Malavet's accuser was transferred to the Concord unit from Manchester after she assaulted a staffer with a metal pipe and escaped. After being tried as an adult, the girl spent 10 years in prison for the assault. In a 2021 interview, the woman said she was too scared to report the abuse she suffered. I didnt want it to get worse, she told The Associated Press. In the only civil case to go to trial so far, a jury awarded David Meehan $38 million for abuse he says he suffered at the Youth Development Center in the 1990s, though the verdict remains in dispute. Together, the two trials highlight the unusual dynamic of having the state attorney generals office simultaneously prosecute those accused of committing offenses and defend the state. While prosecutors likely will be relying on the testimony of the former youth center residents in the criminal trials, attorneys defending the state against Meehan's claims spent much of that trial portraying him as a violent child, troublemaking teenager and delusional adult. The AP generally does not name people who say they are the victim of sexual abuse unless they come forward with their story publicly, as Meehan has done. ___ This story has been edited to correct that the prosecutor who gave opening statements is Assistant Attorney General Audriana Mekula, not Senior Assistant Attorney General Meghan Hagaman. First search begins for undercover British Army officer abducted and murdered by IRA in 1977 The first search for an undercover British Army officer who was abducted and murdered by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) almost 50 years ago has begun in remote countryside near the Irish border. Capt Robert Nairac was kidnapped by a gang of republicans while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh and taken across the border to Flurry Bridge in Co Louth, where he was killed. Capt Nairac, whose remains were never found, is considered to be part of a group of 16 people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups. His friend Col Herbert Jones led the initial search operation before he was himself killed in action at the Battle of Goose Green in 1982 during the Falklands War, for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The first major search for Capt Nairac is being carried out by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), which has located the remains of a number of the Disappeared. Capt Robert Nairac is one of the 16 'Disappeared' who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups - PHOTOPRESS BELFAST Oxford-educated Capt Nairac joined the Grenadier Guards in 1971 after leaving school and was posted to Northern Ireland two years later during the Troubles. After doing outreach work in Belfast, he became involved in intelligence work and was sent to south Armagh, a dangerous posting for a British Army officer of any stripe. From June 1976, he began to provoke the disapproval of his seniors as he took to visiting republican pubs in disguise in a bid to gather information on IRA members. On the night of May 14 1977, Capt Nairac went to the Three Steps pub in Dromintee in what some have said was an undercover mission to meet a potential informer. Capt Nairac was abducted at the Three Steps pub in Dromintee, Co Armagh - PHOTOPRESS BELFAST Posing as a Belfast republican called Danny McErlaine, it is said he had a few pints of Guinness before blowing his cover after getting up on stage with the local band and singing three republican ballads. It is thought that junior IRA men present suspected that, given that his Belfast accent was less than flawless, he was either an undercover British soldier or a loyalist planning an attack on the pub. He was then attacked in the pub car park, losing the Browning pistol he had on him, and then bundled into a car and driven across the border. There, he was interrogated but maintained his cover before he was marched to a nearby field to be executed. It is said that he even staged a last-ditch attempt to wrest the revolver that delivered the fatal head shot from his killer, but failed. Jon Hill, the lead investigator for the ICLVR, said that while information about the location of Capt Nairacs remains had been passed to the commission over the years, they were now at a point where they had enough credible information to undertake a search. It comes after a damning report earlier this year found the actions of Stakeknife, the British Armys top spy within the IRA, probably cost more lives than they saved. Crown jewel of British intelligence The notorious double agents actions should have rung alarm bells among senior Army figures. However, he was treated as the crown jewel of British intelligence. The spy, who is believed to have been Freddie Scappaticci, a former bricklayer, worked secretly for the British Army while he was part of the IRAs internal security unit, which tortured and killed suspected informants. He died of natural illnesses in April last year, aged 77. Mr Hill said: The land is farmland and is on the Hill of Faughart, which some people might know as an old battlefield site. That has introduced into our thought processes, and reasoning, a number of factors we have had to take into account. Not least because there will be or may be archaeology there or may be remains that we may come across. We have had conversations with National Monument Ireland for advice and support in what we are doing. He said archaeologists would assist at the search site. Human remains discovered Having looked at the mapping, we know that there has been human remains discovered in and around all of that area, particularly when the motorway [M1] was being built, he added. He said that the discovery of other remains isnt beyond the realms. We should get a good indication as to where Robert Nairacs remains might be and then we will recover them in the normal fashion, he added. Mr Hill said that while Capt Nairac was one of the highest profile of the Disappeared, they had had very little to go on. In almost every other case, we have [had] engagement with the republican movement, former people who have supported [us] throughout the process to recover all of the Disappeared, he said. Unfortunately, they havent been able to in relation to Robert Nairac. There are a number of reasons why that might be, because some of the significant people who might have been involved would now be dead. It might equally be the case that some people dont want to talk about it for various reasons, or it may be that peoples memories are fading and their recollection is not as good. Lengthy process Mr Hill said that Capt Nairacs family were aware of the search, which he described as a lengthy process. The family are aware and they are philosophical, he said. They are very private people and they have no wish to make any comment other than they hope Robert can be found and brought home for a Christian burial. He said that the search should not last beyond a few months because the ground was stable. Im not 100 per cent confident of finding his remains but its more a case that we are hopeful. We have the skills and ability and the experience to be able to recover his remains if he is there, Mr Hill added. The ICLVR has also reissued an appeal for information about other remaining Disappeared cases, including Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire. All information is treated in the strictest confidence, it said. The ICLVR can be contacted by telephone on 00353 1 602 8655, by email at secretary@iclvr.ie or by post at ICLVR PO Box 10827. Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 or the untraceable anonymous online form can be found on crimestoppers-uk.org. 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. EXETER The First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter (FUUSE) recently welcomed its new minister, Rev. Ariel Aaronson-Eves, whose first service is at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 8. A graduate of Carleton College and Starr King School of Ministry, Ariel comes to FUUSE from the UU Congregation of Franklin, New Hampshire, where they served as the part-time minister since 2021. Before serving in Franklin, Aaronson-Eves was an intern minister for the UU Churches of Belfast, Castine, and Ellsworth in Maine. Rev. Ariel Aaronson-Eves In addition to their ministerial work, Ariel served as network coordinator of the NH Queer Farmer Network. My work as a farmer introduced me to the divine in beautiful and magical ways, Ariel said. I see the sacred woven through everything but am especially present to it in the growth of plants. This knowing of God, this agrarian theology, is grounded in my firsthand, embodied experiences on the land. Ariel is passionate about social justice and has extensive experience in pastoral care, considering it one of the most meaningful privileges of ministry. Were excited about the strengths and fresh perspectives Rev. Ariel will bring to FUUSE," said FUUSE Board Chair Alexandra Allen. "And were excited to have a new director of religious education and director of music, whose talents will enrich us all. If you are seeking a welcoming community and spiritual home for yourself or your family, FUUSE welcomes you! Ariel looks "forward to collaborating with church members and staff, especially the new directors of religious education and music, bringing together our respective gifts to create meaningful worship and lifetime faith formation opportunities. Ariel will be available in the FUUSE community room for a meet and greet on the following days: Wednesday, Aug 28, from noon-1 p.m.; Thursday, Aug 29, from 6-7 p.m.; Tuesday, Sept 3, from 10:30-11:30 a.m.; Thursday, Sept 5, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.exeteruu.org. The First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter is at 12 Elm Street in Exeter. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter welcomes new minister Five charged in connection to Pennsylvania retail theft organization HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) Five individuals were charged in Dauphin County for their alleged involvement in an organized retail theft organization that stole $71,000 worth of goods from stores across Pennsylvania. The group targeted popular retailers, including Giant, Wegmans, and Weis Markets, across nine counties in 40 documented incidents that spanned three months, said Attorney General Michelle Henry. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now WHTM Morning Weather Additionally, the group prioritized stealing over-the-counter medications and other health and beauty products. According to Attorney General Michelle Henry, Marlin Polanco, Malik McDonald, Cartier Hardy, Homario Oldacre, and Lorenzo Walters were charged in Dauphin County with organized retail theft and related crimes. However, Hardy, and Walters, both 20, have not yet been apprehended by police, said Henry. Polanco, McDonald, and Oldacre are currently in custody. These thefts not only impact businesses but also harm our communities by affecting the availability of essential products, said Attorney General Henry. The collaboration between my office, multiple district attorneys, and local police departments has been instrumental in fighting for justice. Our commitment is to tackle these crimes head-on to protect our communities from these harmful actions. Deputy Attorneys General Kelsey Ashworth and Philip McCarthy of the Organized Retail Crime Unit are prosecuting the case. All charges are accusations. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) A Charleston Pilot Fleet Captain rescued two men who were in serious peril being stranded on a jetty this weekend. Capt. John Miles saw the two men stranded about a mile in the ocean off the coast of Sullivans Island around 6 p.m. Saturday. Capt. Miles was headed to pick up a harbor pilot from a ship at sea when he saw the men waving from the jagged rocks. Strong winds were blowing, creating rough seas, but Capt. Miles navigated the risky conditions, getting close enough for the men to swim safely to his boat. Once aboard, the men said they were kayaking with two others launching from Sullivans Island that afternoon. When they attempted to return, the current was strong, and dark rain clouds were approaching, so the group split up, according to a harbor pilot release. The two men on the jetties who were rescued were attempting to walk up the rocks back to the shore without a lifejacket, shoes, radio, or cell phone. The other two were paddling to shore for help. Rescuers are unsure how long the two men were stranded, but experts say jetties submerge at high tide, which would have pulled the men into the water. According to the harbor pilots, Capt. Miles took the duo back to Sullivans. Once there, the other two kayakers who were with the men had not returned to shore. The Coast Guard was notified and put a be on the lookout notice for the other two. They paddled onshore around 20 minutes later, Capt. Miles said. He is a 45-year veteran mariner who commands pilots that transport harbor pilots through the Port of Charleston. I believe Captain Miles has made more trips through the jetties than anyone in history, said Former Coast Guard Captain of the Port John Cameron, the Charleston Pilots Executive Director. Hes been operating pilot launches daily to and from the rendezvous point for ships and pilot boats, about 20 miles offshore, for a third of the time the jetties have been in existence. Captain Miles has been cited and awarded many times by the United States Coast Guard for rescuing boaters and fishermen in distress, and we were thankful he was able to do it again. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCBD News 2. Florida gas prices are changing. What about holiday travel? See how much were paying Gas prices are going down in Florida. But will the pattern stick around as we travel for Labor Day? Floridians planning to hit the road for Labor Day weekend are likely to find the lowest gas prices for the holiday weekend in three years, AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said. Prices across the state dropped 2 cents a gallon as of Monday, according to AAA. Prices in the Miami area slid more than 3 cents a gallon thats down more than 14 cents a gallon from a month ago and more than 42 cents cheaper than a year ago, according to GasBuddy. The Bradenton area saw a 2-cent drop from last week, AAA says. North Florida remains the cheapest region to get gas in the state, in some places about 25 cents less per gallon than South Florida. Palm Beach County is among the most expensive areas for gas. Heres what to know if youre commuting or traveling in Florida: Gas prices on a trend. Gas prices in South Florida Miami-Dade: The average price: $3.28 a gallon, down 3.7 cents from last week, according to GasBuddys survey of nearly 1,700 stations in the region. Cheapest gas in the Miami area was $2.91 and the most expensive $4.99. Fort Lauderdale: $3.31, according to AAA. West Palm Beach/Boca Raton: $3.43, according to AAA. Florida price at the pump Average: The average price for a gallon of gas in Florida on Monday, according to AAA, was $3.27, a 2-cent drop from last week. Gas prices around Florida Monday prices, according to AAA: Bradenton/Sarasota: $2.23 Fort Myers: $3.24 Jacksonville: $3.24 Naples: $3.36 Orlando: $3.24 Panama City: $3.06 Pensacola: $3.05 Port St. Lucie: $3.26 Tallahassee: $3.31 Tampa/St. Pete: $3.27 U.S. price at the pump Average: The average price for a gallon of gas across the country on Monday, according to AAA, was $3.35, a decrease of 6 cents from last week. What the experts are saying Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy: It seems fitting that, in the run-up to Labor Day, the national average has fallen for four straight weeks to its lowest point since February, giving Americans one last chance to hit the road with gas prices being less of a factor. Mark Jenkins, AAA spokesman: Low oil prices have kept pump prices in check. How to find cheap gas near you Theres an app to help: The GasBuddy app was built to show motorists prices around them and a fuel tracker can update users on stations that have or dont have fuel based on supply changes. WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) The Flower Memorial Library in Watertown has announced improvements to two of its areas for children. In a post of the librarys Facebook page, the remodel of the toy room and story area has been completed. Whats in a name? Flower Memorial Library lions given new monikers The library said they were able to replace our play room furniture, kitchen set, market set, dining table set, and story time chair. They also added bean bag chairs, new play sets (like the medical trolley and barbecue set), alphabet foam letters, new role playing costumes, and story time puppets. Library officials were also able to give back to the community by giving away old items for free. Flower Memorial Library thanked its Director, Board of Trustees, and the Northern New York Community Foundation for supporting and funding this project. (Courtesy of Flower Memorial Library) Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. Hawthorne has around 3,100 of Mineral County's 4,500 residents. (Photo Credit: Travel Nevada) One rural county in Nevada has found much-needed reprieve after years of ongoing teacher shortages: foreign teachers from the Philippines. We wouldnt be able to operate without them, says Mineral County School District Superintendent Stephanie Keuhey. It really has saved our district. Mineral County School District is one of thousands of school districts across the country that have embraced the hiring of teachers with J-1 cultural exchange visas, which allow foreign teachers to work in the United States for three to five years. J-1 teachers now make up a third of the 46 teachers within Mineral County SD, says Keuhey. They can be found teaching the districts approximately 600 students in most grade levels and subjects, including key areas like English language arts, math, and special education. All of them hail from the Philippines, though the J-1 program is not exclusively for teachers from the island country. Prior to the embrace of J-1 visa teachers, Mineral County struggled with teacher shortages. Keuhey, who was a principal in the district for 14 years before becoming superintendent, says elementary school teachers had to be assigned subjects and teach across grade levels rather than having dedicated classrooms. We had four teachers to cover three grade levels, she recalls. It was stressful on our teachers, having 120 students in a day. We knew we couldnt sustain that. But finding teachers has been difficult. Mineral County is in west-central Nevada, and while it boasts being in good proximity to outdoors areas like June Mountain and Mammoth, it lacks the creature comforts available in cities, making it a tough sell for some applicants. The countys largest community, Hawthorne, only has around 3,100 residents. Its second largest community is the Walker River Paiute Reservation of about 830 people. Ive hired teachers whod come to the community and say, I cant live here. Theres not a Walmart, says Keuhey. The visa program has been a boon for the district, offering the foreign teachers an American experience that many Americans never experience and offering districts much-needed support during times of teacher shortages. Additionally, theres the cultural benefit to the residents of Mineral County. Unlike Nevada as a whole, the rural county isnt known for its diversity. The Walker River Paiute Tribe helps make the non-white population one-third countywide, according to Census data, but in Hawthorne, where 3,100 of the countys 4,500 reside, the population is 77% white alone. In addition to having each other, the Filipino teachers in Mineral County have found camaraderie and support from fellow work visa holders who work at Mt. Grant General Hospital. For this years Armed Forces Day celebration in Hawthorne, the school and hospital workers collaborated on a parade float highlighting Filipino culture, complete with traditional regalia and dances. That was so great to see, said Keuhey. Theyre doing everything they can to bring a different perspective to our district and community. Keuhey emphasizes that the J-1 program is a temporary solution to the teacher shortage and that the goal should be to have teachers who can stay beyond the five years allowed by the J-1 program. But for now, the district is celebrating being able to start an academic year with no teacher vacancies. And state lawmakers are looking to Mineral County for insight into how to improve J-1 programs in other districts where negative experiences have been reported. Capitalism at its finest Clark County School District teacher Jemimah Cancino, a J-1 visa holder in her second year at a Title-1 elementary school, told lawmakers on the interim committee on education last month that while she is grateful for the cultural and professional development her J-1 visa has provided her with, she she sees plenty of room for improvement of the program, particularly when it comes to fees charged by the agencies that help bring teachers to the United States. Cancino said on top of the standard agency fee of $5,000, she shelled out $2,000 for the flight from the Philippines to the United States, and had to pay rent covering the month prior to her arrival. And the fees havent stopped upon arrival. There is also an annual administrative fee for extension of the program ($1,500) and monthly fees for insurance ($55) and an agency-organized carpool ($175). Its a significant financial burden, she added. Democratic Assemblywoman Erica Mosca a former teacher and the first Filipina elected to the Nevada State Legislature told the committee that teachers can end up paying anywhere from $5,000 to upwards of $30,000 in fees. In the most extreme cases, teachers cant pay the upfront fees, take a loan from the agency, and then leave the country still owing money. Some of the horror stories we hear from folks are: There are three people living in a room that are then charged a full rate as if they were the sole occupant, she said. Thats the experience Ive heard from other constituents, that its not cost sharing. From my perspective, just having standards could help alleviate some of this. Debra Schwartz, who oversees the J-1 program at CCSD, said the majority of its J-1 visa teachers are sponsored by for-profit agencies, which typically charge more than non-profit agencies. They upcharge just about everything, she said. Democratic Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, who chairs the legislative interim committee on education, sardonically described it as capitalism at its finest. Keuhey believes Mineral County has been able to avoid such horror stories because of Claire Hayhurst. Hayhurt, a U.S. citizen originally from the Philippines, was a preschool teacher within the district and approached the administration with the idea of hiring J-1 visa holders. She stepped up to directly recruit teachers and, once they arrived, assisted them. She drives them from the airport, helps them find housing, says Keuhey. She helps them get drivers license, social security cards. She walks them through every step. Hayhurst is now a principal and the dedicated mentor for the J-1 teachers who is able to help at every step of the process. Her involvement means the teachers dont have to rely as much on the third-party agencies and their excessive fees. Schwartz told lawmakers CCSD is pursuing becoming a direct sponsor in order to reduce the financial burden currently falling on teachers. Meanwhile, Mineral County SD is hoping to establish a H-1B visa program, which would allow teachers to be hired by the district for a longer period of time (six years rather than five) while also opening up immigration paths to allow them to stay longer. The J-1 is a non-immigrant visa, meaning teachers with it are not permitted to apply for a green card. Keuhey says an H-1B program would likely mean higher initial costs for the district but provide more year-to-year stability for everyone. Thats worth it, she added. Looking forward A spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Education said it does not track the statewide number of teachers working on J-1 visas, saying in a statement that educators are not identified by their visa status in our licensing system database. CCSD Chief Human Resources Officer RoAnn Triana in July estimated the district this year would hire 175 J-1 teachers from seven different countries up from 62 hired for the 2019-20 school year and 154 hired for last school year. Nevada is now considered the 9th most popular state for J-1 visa teachers, she added, which was up several spots from the prior years rankings. Keuhey said shes seen some hesitation from certain districts in Nevada but in the right environment it can be very successful. The superintendent acknowledges there are challenges but notes that all programs designed to help with teacher shortage have downsides. She points to Nevadas alternative route to licensure (ARL) program, which allows college graduates to work as a teacher while simultaneously earning the educational requirements needed for full licensure. When you look at ARL, it comes with challenges because they have a BA in something but not education, so theyve never been in the classroom, said Keuhey. J1 (teachers), they have been teaching, they know the content. ARL doesnt know that. The interim education committee plans on sponsoring legislation to address predatory agency fees. Two bills tackling the issue were introduced last session but neither made it to a first floor vote. Keuhey said the discussions last session centered on establishing a cap on fees and made her really nervous, but after calculating the costs incurred by her districts teachers she is now more open to the idea. Now that Ive learned more about the process, I dont see capping the fees as a bad thing, she added. The committee also plans on sponsoring legislation to encourage districts with J-1 teachers to become sponsors to reduce fees for teachers, to encourage districts to research the possibility of employing teachers via an H-1B instead, and to encourage the states federal delegation to support nationwide changes to the program. Former Alabama state trooper, 10 others face child sex charges after undercover sting Eleven men, including a former Alabama state trooper, are facing child sex charges after a two-day undercover operation. Ryan Christian Rhodes, 26, of Tallassee, is charged with electronic solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act and resisting arrest, reports from the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office show. Rhodes is a former Alabama state trooper, said Wesley Richerson, assistant chief deputy of the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office. Rhodes, who was a senior state trooper, resigned after his arrest on the charges, said Lt. Jeremy Burkett, a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. The arrests came after the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, the Montgomery Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Covenant Rescue Group conducted the operation. Suspects allegedly used social media and other online services to contact minors for sex. Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey speaks as the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office announces arrests in a sex trafficking sting operation during a news conference in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday August 26, 2024. Results of the effort were announced at a Monday afternoon news conference. We are not only talking about people who live here, we are talking about people coming here to prey on our young people, said Sheriff Derrick Cunningham. We in law enforcement are sick and tired of it, and our message is, 'No. No. No. More: US attorney for Middle District of Alabama resigns months after appointment One of those charged is from New York, one is from Atlanta and one is from Louisiana, reports show. Cunningham called the operation a sting, where suspects allegedly contacted what they thought were minors and then traveled Montgomery to carry out unlawful sex acts. This type of effort, these type of results happen when all of us work together to make this city, and make this area safer, said Interim Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys. Richerson said a similar operation eight months ago netted 15 people arrested on similar charges. District Attorney Daryl Bailey more operations may be conducted in the future. Lets be clear, these were grown, adult men going to hotels to have sex with children, he said. Those arrested and charged are: Chen Dai Xing, 45, New Albany, N.Y., Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Subin Choi, 34, Atlanta, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. James Clifford Grier, 44, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Michael Lynn Hester, 54, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act and attempting to elude police officers. James LeGregory McGhee, 47, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. William Robert Ogburn Jr., 44, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Ryan Christian Rhodes, 26, Tallassee, Electronic solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act and resisting arrest. Justin Gregory Tomberlin, 36, Deatsville, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Joseph Carroll Vasseur III, 38, Opelousas, La., Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Owen Delma Walker, 57, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. QuDarrius DArcy JaQuan White, 24, Montgomery, Human trafficking (Attempt), electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act. Rhodes, the former state trooper, is not facing attempting human trafficking charges. His alleged actions as part of the operation did not meet the legal requirements to be charged with that crime, Richerson said. He was not given any preferential treatment because he was a law enforcement officer, he said. We target criminals, Richerson said. If they commit crimes we are going to arrest them. Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Former Alabama state trooper, 10 others face child sex charges BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, August 26. IndiGo, India's airline, is ready to commence flights on the Delhi-Bishkek-Delhi route, Vice President at IndiGo for Aviation Policy and Industry Rajan Malhotra told, Trend reports. He made the statement during discussions with Kyrgyzstan's Ambassador to India, Askar Beshimov. Malhotra noted that IndiGo has been appointed as the official carrier by the Government of India and has received approval to operate this route seven days a week. During the meeting, the ambassador expressed his willingness to support the initiative and highlighted that Indian nationals holding long-term multiple-entry visas from countries such as the US, the UK, and the Schengen Area benefit from a visa-free regime of up to seven days with the right to re-enter after 21 days. Malhotra also requested the consideration of easing visa requirements for Indian citizens with six-month or annual UK visas or one-month Schengen visas. Moreover, the parties discussed opportunities to boost the tourism sector by organizing group tours from India to Kyrgyzstan, promoting relevant advertising campaigns, and strengthening ties between travel companies. IndiGo is India's largest airline by passenger numbers and fleet size, holding a 61.6 percent share of the domestic market as of May 2024. As of August 2024, the airline operates over 2,000 daily flights to 122 destinations88 domestic and 34 international. Its main hub is Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Former Alabama state trooper charged with trying to meet with child for sex BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) A former state trooper with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency has resigned following his arrest on several sex charges involving a child. On Friday, Ryan Rhodes resigned from his post in the wake of his arrest in Montgomery County on charges of electronic solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act and resisting arrest. Birmingham man pleads not guilty in connection to womans death According to court records, Rhodes was arrested at a hotel on the eastside of Montgomery at midnight Friday, after he allegedly had communicated with a minor about having sex with them. In addition, Rhodes reportedly resisted arrest, trying to push deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office off of him. The case 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 CBS 42. CHICAGO Charges have been filed against a Chicago police officer accused of attacking another officer who he was reportedly in a relationship with. Chicago police said 30-year-old Francisco Galvan has been charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery and one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. He was also given a citation for transporting or carrying an open alcohol container. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines According to the Chicago-Sun-Times, the charges stem from an alleged attack on another CPD officer who Galvan was in a relationship with. Authorities have not provided details on what led up to the alleged incident or updates on the condition of the victim. 30-year-old Francisco Galvan has been charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery and one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. He was also given a citation for transporting or carrying an open alcohol container. Police records indicate that Galvan was taken into custody just before 12:20 a.m. on Thursday near the CPD 7th District station. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland CPD officials said that Galvan was relieved of his police powers on the same day the incident allegedly unfolded. Because an investigation into the incident by Chicagos Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is ongoing, authorities would not provide further details on 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 WGN-TV. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), who left the Democratic Party in 2022, announced Monday she is endorsing former President Trump in Novembers election. Gabbard, who has become a regular presence in conservative media, made the announcement during a National Guard Association gathering in Michigan where Trump was also speaking. This [current] administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before, Gabbard said. This is one of the main reasons why I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can once again serve us as our commander in chief. Gabbard ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in the Democratic primary in 2020. In the years since ending her bid, she has exited Congress, left the Democratic Party and appeared at events such as the Conservative Political Action Conference. The former congresswoman has huddled with Trump in recent weeks as part of preparations for next months scheduled debate between the former president and Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee. Arguably the most notable moment of Gabbards unsuccessful 2020 White House bid was when she attacked Harris on the debate stage over her record as a prosecutor. Gabbards endorsement comes days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent White House bid and backed Trump, which the former presidents campaign touted as a significant development in battleground states. Gabbard and Trump have a lot in common they have both earned the praises of white supremacists and other extremists, celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and campaigned for dangerous election deniers, Democratic National Committee spokesperson Alexis Floyd said in a statement. Rather than focusing on earning the support of hardworking Americans, Trump is more fixated on winning the backing of extremists like Gabbard and RFK Jr. and theyll do nothing but weigh down his sinking ship of a campaign. Updated at 7:18 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. Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Democrat until she left the party in 2022, endorsed former President Donald Trump on Monday in the 2024 presidential race, as she called on Americans to "reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power." File Photo by Jonah Elkowitz/Medill News Service Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii endorsed former President Donald Trump on Monday at a campaign event for veterans in Michigan, citing her experience as an Iraq War veteran and Trump's understanding of "the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives." "This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before," Gabbard told the crowd at the National Guard Association of Michigan. "This is one of the main reasons why I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can once again serve us as our commander in chief." "I was a Democrat for over 20 years. Today, I endorsed Donald Trump for president," Gabbard added Monday in a post on X. I was a Democrat for over 20 years. Today, I endorsed Donald Trump for President. WATCH to hear why: pic.twitter.com/lwA8FYFx8h Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) August 26, 2024 During Monday's speech, Gabbard talked about her time serving in the Iraq War, the high price of ongoing conflicts and what the Republican nominee would do to end it. "I am confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war," she said. "We cannot be prosperous unless we are at peace and we can't live free as long as we have a government that is retaliating against its political opponents and undermining our civil liberties, weaponizing our very institutions against those they deem as a threat," Gabbard said before turning to Kamala Harris, who she claimed has "done this over the last 3.5 years." "President Trump has been their first and foremost target in this because they don't want us as voters to even have the option to vote for him. I've been their most recent target added to a secret domestic terror watch list after exposing the truth about what kind of dangers we would face if Kamala Harris is elected as president," Gabbard said. "We as Americans must reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power. We can't allow our country to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom and our future," she added. "I am proud to stand here before you today, whether you're a Democrat, a Republican or an independent. If you love our country as I do, if you cherish peace and freedom as we do, I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump," Gabbard concluded. Gabbard's endorsement comes days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his independent run for president and joined forces with Trump, adding that he would be removing his name from the ballot in battleground states. Kennedy endorsed Trump on Friday and appeared with the Republican nominee at a rally in Arizona. Gabbard, who ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat, announced in 2022 that she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent. She said she could "no longer remain in today's Democratic Party," which she claimed is under control of "an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness who divide us by racializing every issue." In addition to endorsing the former president, Gabbard has been tapped to work with Trump in preparation for his upcoming debate with Harris, which is scheduled for Sept. 10. Former Dickson County corrections deputy booked into very jail he once helped supervise DICKSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) News 2 has uncovered new information in the arrest of a former Dickson County jailer accused of making sexual contact with female inmates. That former jailer is 41-year-old Calvin Wayne Lewis, who worked at the Department of Correction (DOC) from June 2007 until June 2023. Corrections officials told News 2 that Lewis rose to the rank of captain at the Turney Center Industrial Complex, a facility that houses male inmates. PREVIOUS: Dickson County corrections deputy charged with multiple counts of sexual contact with inmates With close to 17 years of experience, Lewis was hired at the Dickson County Sheriffs Office (DCSO) in June 2023. He was promoted to corporal in June 2023, then promoted again in November to Security Sergeant with more responsibilities. According to Dickson County Sheriff Tim Eads, allegations from a female inmate rose around March 20, 2024. According to Eads, the woman was trading sex for access to vapes. I am very comfortable and confident that as soon as that disclosure was made, the wheels started turning, Eads said. Calvin Lewis being booked into Dickson County jail (Source: WKRN) Eads added that when confronted, Lewis denied that the entire event had taken place. But the county invested heavily, in the last few years, in upgraded video, so there was a lot of video evidence, Eads said. Lewis was suspended. After a 5-month internal affairs investigation and a criminal investigation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the veteran corrections officer was terminated and charged with three counts of sexual contact with inmates. After his indictment on August 22, Dickson County warrant officers joined deputies in Humphreys County to arrest the ex-corrections officer at his home. The deputies then drove Lewis to the Dickson County jail that he once helped supervise to book him on a $25,000 bond. Man charged with attempted homicide following stabbing at South Nashville bar Lewis has since made his bond and is due back in court on September 9. When News 2 asked Eads if it was difficult arresting someone with the Dickson County Sheriffs Office, he had this to say: It can be, but these are serious charges. We have a code of ethics, code of conduct and you cannot do that. It is highly inappropriate and it is a crime. According to Justia Law, sexual contact with an inmate is a Class E felony, which can carry between one to six years per count if convicted. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Former flight attendant pushing a beverage cart from Boston to New York in remembrance of 9/11 colleagues WILLIMANTIC, Conn. (WTNH) A former flight attendant is making a trek from Bostons Logan Airport all the way to Ground Zero in New York City. The beverage cart that he is pushing is like an actual beverage cart from an airplane. It weighs about 60 lbs. Veneto is greeted by well wishers all along his route, getting escorts from local police and fire departments, and being cheered on by local residents. Paul Veneto says with each breath of the 200+ mile trip, hes thinking of his flight attendant colleagues from the 4 flights that crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. I dont know the what the words are, but I know its something thats driving me, Veneto said. He does all of this for free, saying he made it his own personal priority to make sure that people do not forget what he calls the first, first responders in the sky on Sept. 11. Watch the full story above. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTNH.com. Former Gov. Nathan Deal to dedicate new elementary school named after his late wife Sandra Deal Hall County Schools will hold a formal dedication ceremony on Monday for its newest elementary school. Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School opened its doors to students earlier this month. Its named after the former Georgia first lady who died in 2022 after a battle with cancer. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Deal worked as a school teacher and chose early childhood education as her focus during her time in the Governors Mansion. A portrait of Deal will be unveiled during the dedication ceremony at 5 p.m. Former Gov. Nathan Deal will also read his new childrens book, Veto: The Governors Cat, that his wife inspired him to write. My wife, as the first lady, had taken on literacy as her primary project. And I think the statistics are overwhelming. She read in every one of 159 counties, every one of the 181 school districts in a thousand different individual classrooms, Deal told Channel 2s Karyn Greer last week. Deal said his book is full of many colorful characters he created in the book---with all the personality and passion he hopes will be shared with children. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Former Kentucky State Police officers not guilty in case of alleged excessive force A federal court jury acquitted two former Kentucky State Police officers accused in an excessive force case, according to their attorneys. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty Friday evening for Derrek Lovett and Michael Logan Howell after deliberating for about eight hours, said Greg Ousley, a Somerset attorney who represented Lovett. Ousley said Lovett was adamant that he had done nothing wrong. He literally put his faith in the criminal justice system . . . and in this case it came out the way it should have, Ousley said of his client. He can go on with his life now. The case dated to August 2020, when someone started a fire at a house Lovett was having built in Whitley County. Howell, Lovett and Jeremy Elliotte were among the officers who went looking for a man named Bradley Hamblin who police wanted to talk to about the arson. When they got to the house where Hamblin was staying, Elliotte went to the door. When Hamblin came to the door, Elliotte stepped a short distance inside and brought him out, according to the court record. Hamblin later claimed in a lawsuit that officers beat him after he was handcuffed, breaking bones in his face and causing a head injury. A federal grand jury charged that Elliotte and Lovett violated Hamblins Constitutional rights by using excessive force on him. The grand jury charged all three officers with conspiracy to come up with a false story to cover up the assault, also with lying about what happened. The camera inside Howells police cruiser picked up audio from his cell phone calls with Elliotte and other officers after the incident, including Howell saying the use of force against Hamblin was pretty bad, according to the indictment. Elliotte pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of going into the house where Hamblin was without a warrant, which was a violation of the right of other people in the house to not be subjected to unreasonable search. The government moved to drop other charges against Elliotte as part of his plea. U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom sentenced Elliotte in June to six months in jail followed by six months of home detention. Howell and Lovett maintained their innocence and went to trial beginning Aug. 19. Ousley said the defense argued that statements cited in the charges against the officers, such as what narrative they were sticking with and Howells comment about the use of force being pretty bad, were taken out of context. The officers were comparing notes, not making up a story, and Howell was referring to how Hamblin looked, not the use of force, Ousley said. Lovett resigned from the state police before the trial and the agency fired Howell, according to Ousley. Lexington attorney G. Scott Hayworth, who represented Howell in the criminal case, said they had no comment because Hamblins civil lawsuit against Howell and others is pending. Former New Mexico postal worker sentenced for crime involving out-of-state minor NEW MEXICO (KRQE) A former New Mexico postal worker has been sentenced for enticing a 13-year-old girl from Washington. In 2021, Lucas Murphy drove from Los Lunas to Kennewick, Washington, after communicating with a 13-year-old in the area over Snapchat. VIDEO: Smokestacks demolished at northwest New Mexico power plant Federal officials said Murphy gave the teenager alcohol, marijuana and sexually abused her while driving her back to New Mexico. The girl was found in Murphys home several days later. Earlier this month, Murphy was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A former Kettering Middle School choir director has pleaded guilty to child porn charges, according to a spokesperson from the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Matthew Koehler, 37, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor on Friday. Koehler was incited on charges of pandering obscenity involving a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance in June, according to a previous News Center 7 report. He previously pleaded not guilty to the charges but has since withdrawn the plea. In November 2023 a 19-year-old reported to police that when he was in middle school, Koehler acted inappropriately and had exchanged texts of a sexual nature, according to a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office. >> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Music teacher facing child porn charges waives right to speedy trial Prosecutors said a search of Koehlers phone found two videos depicting child pornography and child sexual assault. Kettering City School District placed him on unpaid administrative leave in November, according to a previous News Center 7 report. Koehler submitted his resignation letter to the district on June 27, which was approved by the board on July 9. As previously reported by News Center 7, Koehler posted a $50,000 bond and is currently on house arrest. According to the prosecutors office, Keohlers sentencing is scheduled for October 3, 2024, at 1 p.m. We will continue to follow this story. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, August 26. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Myakhri Byashimova has met with Sok Chea, the newly appointed ambassador of Cambodia to Turkmenistan, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ashgabat, Trend reports via the Turkmen ministry. During the meeting, the sides discussed the potential for strengthening political and diplomatic relations, highlighting the positive experience of collaboration in international and regional forums, particularly through the UN. They also considered the possibility of establishing closer ties between the parliaments of Turkmenistan and Cambodia. The conversation further delved into opportunities for expanding trade and economic cooperation, with an emphasis on organizing joint business forums and exhibitions to foster commercial partnerships. The diplomats expressed a shared interest in enhancing cultural and humanitarian connections, discussing potential exchanges in the fields of science, education, culture, and tourism. As part of the formalities, Ambassador Sok Chea presented copies of his credentials and received warm congratulations from the Turkmen side on his new appointment. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Former official wanted in Poland over corruption in procuring generators for Ukraine On Monday, 26 August, the National Prosecutor's Office of Poland added Michal Kuczmierowski, former head of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, to the wanted list. Kuchmerowski is specifically accused of organising a dubious tender for the purchase of generators for Ukraine. Source: Polish Prosecutor's Office on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda Details: According to the brief message, the prosecutor issued an arrest warrant on Michal Kuczmierowski, the former head of the State Agency for Strategic Reserves, on Monday. Last week, the court agreed to place Kuczmierowski in custody. If found guilty, he may face up to ten years in prison. The case against him stems from an investigation into the violations at the State Agency for Strategic Reserves, which is in charge of public procurement, as well as allegations of participation in organised crime. Kuczmierowski was involved in an investigation in June after alleged misappropriation of funds intended for purchasing electric generators for Ukraine in 2023. According to the media, the former head of the State Agency for Strategic Reserves encouraged a contract for the purchase of generators with the event agency that had previously provided services to the then-ruling party Law and Justice (PiS). As a result, the generators were of poor quality and never arrived in Ukraine; instead, they were allegedly given to Polish firefighters as part of Kuczmierowski's election campaign for MP from Law and Justice. The Polish governments current prime minister, Donald Tusk, promised to reveal the details of his PiS predecessors financial abuse. Support UP or become our patron! SULLIVAN, Ill. (WCIA) A former Shelby County teacher has been charged with grooming a second victim. Last week, 45-year-old Jason Engler of Shelbyville was charged in Shelby County for grooming and indecent solicitation of a minor after inappropriate communications with an Okaw Valley high school student. Engler worked as a middle school teacher in the district. Okaw Valley teacher accused of inappropriate communications with student named, charged From the initial investigation, investigators learned of a second victim, a minor from Bethany. Officers found a journal in Englers house where he referenced the victim by name multiple times, and wrote about his desire to take the victim to Ohio to marry and make the victim his wife. Bethany Police officers said Engler sent the pornography of himself and asked the victim for pornographic images in return. Engler was charged on Monday with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, grooming, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All three charges are felonies. A judge appointed Engler a public defender. He is being held in custody while he awaits 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 WCIA.com. LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) Former President Donald Trump will continue his presidential campaign here in Michigan, stopping in Detroit at The National Guard Association of the United States 146th General Conference and Exhibition. The National Guard Association will host an annual business meeting at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit with officials saying his campaign will address more than 4,000 Guard Officers, their spouses, and other special guests who registered to attend. Trumps choice of MI venue raises some concerns The event begins at 2 p.m. The former president plans to visit a steel manufacturing plant in Potterville on Thursday. Trump to campaign in Potterville Thursday Stay with 6 News for updates about Trumps visit. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News. Former President Trump to hold rally in Johnstown Former President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Johnstown on Friday afternoon. The rally will be held at 4:30 p.m. at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. Fridays rally will mark Trumps fourth time back to Pennsylvania since the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler. >> Butler Trump rally attendees describe panic as shots rang out during attempted Trump assassination The former president plans to return to Butler in October. An exact date has not been set yet. Click here to register for tickets for Trumps Johnstown rally. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Sheetz holds surprise pop-up concert in Bethel Park Saw Mill Run Boulevard closure could delay some Pittsburgh Public School bus routes Playa Bowls opens in Pittsburghs Strip District VIDEO: Yellow Piano installation in Pittsburgh pays tribute to hostages in Gaza through music DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Former Prince George's County Council Member Mel Franklin pleaded guilty to perjury and a theft scheme of more than $100,000. He's scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 13. Photo courtesy Prince George's County Council. Former Prince Georges County Council Member Jamel Mel Franklin pleaded guilty Monday to perjury and a felony theft scheme over $100,000 for redirecting campaign funds to his personal use. The plea, accepted Monday by Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Mark W. Crooks, formalizes a plea agreement Franklin signed May 30 two weeks before he abruptly resigned from his at-large seat on the council and three weeks before the Maryland State Prosecutors Office unveiled the charges against him. Council records show that Franklin continued to attend council meetings and committee meetings virtually, from May 30 through June 14, when he stepped down. According to a statement from the State Prosecutors Office, Franklin admitted to directing $124,450 from the Friends of Mel Franklin campaign account to pay for personal loans, credit card debt, rent on his apartment and international travel. The expenses also included over $11,500 on cosmetic procedures for him and a close personal friend among other items, according to a statement of charges. The prosecutors office said that beginning in 2021, Franklin directed an additional $8,718 in campaign funds to others, for personal credit card expenses, upkeep on his car, a deposit on international travel, hotel stays and cosmetic surgery for his friend, among othr expenses. All the funds came from his campaign account between 2020 and December of last year. In addition to the theft scheme, Franklin pleaded guilty to perjury for concealing the use of the campaign funds and falsifying information on campaign reports he signed and submitted to the state Board of Elections. Court documents state Franklin established his campaign committee in 2009 to raise funds for his election to the council, and chaired the committee since its inception. Franklin represented the countys 9th District, which sprawls over most of South County, on the council from 2010 to 2018. When he was unable to seek reelection because of term limits, he ran for one of the countys two at-large seats, representing the entire county, winning election in 2018 and reelection in 2022. Elected officials should be held accountable if they violate the public trust and exploit the Maryland electoral process for personal financial gain, State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III said in a statement Monday. Im proud of our offices hard work in uncovering this extensive fraud. According to the plea agreement, the theft scheme charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or $25,000 fine, while the perjury count has a maximum penalty of 10 years. Under the deal, the prosecutors office will recommend a sentence of five years for the theft scheme, with all but one year suspended and three years of supervised probation. The state will recommend a concurrent sentence for the perjury charge. In addition to pleading guilty, the deal calls on Franklin to appoint a new treasurer for his campaign committee and to make restitution of $133,168.67 to the committee, with the money to be distributed to a charitable organization of his choosing. The deal allows Franklin to argue for a lesser sentence when he appears for sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 13 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Prince Georges County Council Chair Jolene Ivey (D) declined to comment Monday on the guilty plea. Ivey, who currently represents the countys 5th District, is one of two candidates who will vie this fall for Franklins vacant at-large seat, after a special primary election was held earlier this month. According to official results posted Wednesday by the Prince Georges County Board of Elections, Ivey received 29,758 votes against a crowded field of nine Democratic candidates. Bowie Mayor Tim Adams came in second with 19,100 votes. The remaining seven candidates received a total of 13,754 votes. Ivey would be heavily favored to win the seat in the deeply Democratic county against Republican Michael Riker, a retired police officer who received 1,238 of the total 2,750 votes. He faced three other Republican opponents in the special election. The general election is Nov. 5. Former state leaders coming to UP for conversations about election integrity UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WJMN) A bipartisan group of legislators and non-partisan organizations are set to host a prominent county clerk in a tour across northern Michigan for conversations about election integrity as the upcoming November election approaches. In a release, statewide organizations Keep Our Republic and Michiganders for Civic Resilience announced that former Michigan House Democrat Leader Christine Greig and former Michigan Republican Senator and House Rep. Tonya Schuitmaker are hosting conversations around northern Michigan to discuss election integrity. This is a collaborative effort to offer residents a deeper understanding about the elections process and what happens after voters cast their ballots, read a news release from the organizations. To help them, the organizations and former state leaders have recruited Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons to have in conversation as they tour five communities this week. Tuesday, Aug. 27: Traverse City, 5:30 7 p.m. Northwest Michigan College Scholars Hall, Room 217 1701 E. Front St. Traverse City, MI 49686 Wednesday, Aug. 28: Marquette, 12 noon 1:30 p.m. Marquette Township Hall 1000 Commerce Dr. Marquette, MI 49855 Escanaba, 5:30 7 p.m. Ludington Park Pavilion Loren W. Jenkins Memorial Dr. Escanaba, MI 49855 Thursday, Aug. 29: Cheboygan, 12 noon 1:30 p.m. Cheboygan Opera House 403 N. Huron St. Cheboygan, MI 49721 Alpena, 5:30 7 p.m. Alpena Community College CTR107 Granum Theatre Alpena, MI 49707-1495 Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJMN - UPMatters.com. Former Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan sentenced in absentia in Russia The Basmanny Court of Moscow has handed down a verdict in absentia to former Ukrainian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Petro Vrublevskyi under an article on incitement to hatred. Source: Russian media outlet Meduza with reference to the press service of Moscow courts of general jurisdiction Details: The court sentenced Vrublevskyi to six years in prison. It is noted that since Vrublevskyi is not in Russia, his sentence will be calculated from the moment of his extradition to Russia or from the moment of his detention in Russia. Background: At the end of August 2022, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan summoned Petro Vrublevskyi, the Ambassador of Ukraine, and expressed protest against his remarks about Russians. The reason for summoning the ambassador was his interview on 21 August with Kazakh blogger Dias Kuzairov, in which Vrublevskyi said, in particular: "We are trying to kill as many of them as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the fewer our children will have to kill." In September 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan said that Ukrainian Ambassador Petro Vrublevskyi had apologised for his words. On 5 October, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed a protest to Kazakhstan over the non-expulsion of Ukrainian Ambassador Vrublevskyi. Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova, the director of the information and press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that they expect the expulsion of "this odious nationalist". She called the Ukrainian diplomat a "pro-Bandera emissary". On 19 October 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing Petro Vrublevskyy from the post of Ukraine's ambassador to Kazakhstan. Support UP or become our patron! GREENE COUNTY, Mo. Former Willard mayor and alderman Corey Hendrickson has been sentenced to three years in prison by a federal court for stealing nearly $300,000 from his former employer, Prime Inc. The court says Hendrickson has to self-surrender by September 30 before 2:00 p.m. or he will face a longer sentence. He is also ordered to pay $298,737 in restitution to his victims. On October 24, 2023, Hendrickson pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. He was accused of stealing funds from Springfield-based trucking company Prime Inc., his previous employer, from 2016 to 2021. Court documents say Hendrickson used his position as a fleet dispatcher at Prime Inc. to access drivers personal information and take money out of their fuel expense accounts to put in his personal bank accounts. Over 500 people were affected by Hendricksons fraudulent transactions. One of his victims was in court today saying he will be dealing with the fallout of Hendricksons crimes for the rest of his life. Zero traffic deaths by 2040? City of Springfield says goal isnt impossible Federal prosecutors said they wanted the punishment to reflect the lasting impact of his crimes. The defense asked for a lesser sentence saying Hendrickson cooperated with the investigation. Hendrickson addressed the court himself saying he was sorry and was aware of all the wrongs he committed. Hendrickson previously served as Mayor of Willard from 2015 to 2021 and as an alderman in Willard from 2022 to 2023 before he resigned on the same day he entered his guilty plea. Following todays sentencing for Hendrickson, Willard Mayor Troy Smith says the code of ethics ordinance is something that city leaders have discussed at length. Community Blood Center of the Ozarks to host Chiefs-themed blood drive Its just what the state entail or what the state stipulates is that if theres any kind of conflict of interest by the Board of Aldermen or any elected official with the city when it comes to business transactions and things of that nature, that those things be disclosed, said Smith. Smith even wanted to take it a step further by creating their own code of ethics. We had discussions at length about creating our own code of ethics, Smith said. But then unfortunately, in talking to our legal counsel, they advised us there really was that those code of ethics at the local level really dont have much teeth and theres not a lot you can do unless somebody is doing something thats illegal. After news of Hendricksons actions came to light, Angie Wilson, a concerned citizen, was pushing for a state audit to be done on the city. Closure on this ugly chapter in Willards history will not happen until residents are confident that they have the answers they need. A state audit will help accomplish that, said Wilson in a statement to Ozarksfirst. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. A former Willard alderman who had also served as mayor was sentenced in federal court Monday for one felony count of wire fraud and one felony count of aggravated identity theft. Corey Hendrickson had pleaded guilty earlier to both counts and was sentenced by Judge Brian Wimes in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri to a total of three years in prison without parole. Hendrickson also was ordered to pay more than $318,000 in restitution, according to electronic court records. Before taking his seat as an alderman, Hendrickson was mayor of the town for three two-year terms, according to previous News-Leader reporting. He was first elected in April 2015 but then lost his fourth reelection run to the previous mayor, Sam Snider, in 2021. He took the alderman seat in April 2022 and resigned on the same day the federal charges were filed in late October. The charges stem from Hendrickson's time as a fleet dispatcher at Prime Incorporated, a trucking company in Springfield. According to court documents, he stole money from the company from approximately Sept. 9, 2016, to Aug. 17, 2021. In total, he embezzled almost $300,000. With the time of the embezzlement overlapping with Hendrickson's time in office, some Willard residents have called for a state audit of the city's finances. While the Willard Board of Aldermen budgeted roughly $100,000 for the costs of the audit, they left it up to citizens to petition for the audit instead of requesting it themselves. Former Willard alderman and mayor Corey Hendrickson. What did Hendrickson do? According to the court documents filed with the charges, all drivers for Prime Inc. had individual accounts and purchasing cards through ComData that gave them access to money to buy fuel for their trucks. The accounts were accessible via each driver's Social Security number. Hendrickson had access to the personal information of the drivers and their ComData accounts. The court documents state Hendrickson used drivers' names and Social Security numbers to gain access to their accounts and withdrew money into his various personal financial accounts. It is estimated that Hendrickson made 1,078 fraudulent transactions and accessed the accounts of 500 different drivers throughout the five-year period. He also wrote checks from drivers' accounts to the Travel Center of America gas station in Strafford, which he would then cash to use for his personal expenses. At Monday's sentencing, one of the victims, William Ullom, addressed the judge and emphasized the harm done by Hendrickson will be something that will jeopardize his and his daughters' futures forever. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney called on Hendrickson to serve 36 months for the wire fraud and an additional 24 months for the identity theft. "I don't know if this ever stops, if the harm done by Mr. Hendrickson ever lets up," Carney said while addressing the court. Carney said that if Ullom had not reported the crime to the Springfield Police Department, Hendrickson would have never been caught and would have continued to defraud people. Carney believed the total 60-month sentence "could be bordering on generous" if the court considers the plethora of other charges that could have been filed, including money laundering or even possible tax fraud. Hendrickson's attorney, Joseph Passanise, emphasized his lack of a criminal record, dedication to serve the community through public service and cooperation during the court process as he sought a lighter sentence of just 24 months for identity theft. "He's lost everything," Passanise said regarding Hendrickson's job, standing in the community and broken trust. More: New mayor for Willard, Fair Grove alderman elected in special election Tuesday In his statement, Hendrickson said he took full responsibility for the damage he had done and apologized to the innocent people he had harmed. Wimes landed in the middle of the dueling recommendations with a total sentence of three years, supervised release for two years and restitution of more than $318,000. He said the psychological damage and the impact on individuals' financial safety and security is "devastating" in these types of offenses. In addition to the restitution, Hendrickson will also have to pay $200 in special assessments and forfeit more than $290,000. Hendrickson will be allowed to self-surrender on Sept. 30 before 2 p.m. He requested to be detained at the Yankton federal prison, a minimum-security male prison in South Dakota. While Wimes said that request will be made, he could not guarantee that Hendrickson will be placed there. Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Former Willard mayor charged with wire fraud, identity theft sentenced (Bloomberg) -- Frances outgoing prime minister, Gabriel Attal, called on the country to fight back against antisemitism after authorities opened a terror probe into a blast near a synagogue in southern France. Most Read from Bloomberg Once again, French Jews were targeted and attacked because of their faith, Attal said. It outrages us. Attal, who traveled to the seaside town of La Grande Motte along with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin after the attack, added that authorities had registered an increase in antisemitic acts across the country since Oct. 7. Two cars outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande Motte were set on fire Saturday morning. A police officer was wounded by a gas canister that exploded near one of the vehicles. Two other fires were started by the entrance to the synagogue, authorities said. Police arrested a suspect late Saturday in nearby Nimes, along with two other individuals. Authorities are investigating the case as a potential terror attack and tightened security at Jewish sites. President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the attack, saying in a post on X that fighting against antisemitism is a constant battle, one of a united nation. (Updates with details on arrest in fifth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected fourth paragraph to show that authorities now say officer was wounded by exploding gas canister near a car set on fire.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. FRANKLIN COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) Public access to Franklin State Forest in Franklin and Marion counties will resume following a temporary closure due to a vandalism incident in July. Officials with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture said vandals broke into the forest, damaging and stealing state-owned forestry equipment. The incident happened sometime between July 10-14, according to agriculture officials. Five Tennessee Division of Forestry (TDF) dozers and one dozer transport truck and trailer were vandalized, rendering the equipment inoperable and causing at least $1 million in damage. Equipment was also stolen from the vehicle, according to officials. TN Dept. of Agriculture investigating vandalism, theft in Franklin County forest The forest was immediately closed to public access while law enforcement agencies collected evidence for the still-ongoing investigation. While we are frustrated by the destruction of equipment used to keep our forests and communities safe from wildfire, we are grateful for law enforcements thorough investigation and efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, State Forester Heather Slayton said. We continue to pursue our mission to protect, conserve, and enhance the working forest at Franklin State Forest through active management practices. We welcome the public back and hope they will engage with us to understand the importance of active management to ensure healthy and thriving state forests for generations to come. According to the department, during the course of the active investigation and closure three individuals trespassed on the forest and attempted to evade law enforcement. Agricultural Crime Unit (ACU) officers apprehended the individuals, and they are now facing criminal felony and misdemeanor charges. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com The investigation involving the ACU, TBI and FBI is ongoing, according to the department. A $10,000 reward is being offered by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for information leading to the apprehension, arrest, and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the vandalism and theft on Franklin State Forest. Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact ACU at 844-AG-CRIME (844-242-7463) or agriculture.crime@tn.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 WKRN News 2. During the three years Fabrice Mauries has served as the French ambassador to Haiti, his nations presence hasnt always been well received, and Washington at times appeared to have paid France little heed when trying to rally the international community around the troubled countrys crises. But as Mauries prepares to bid adieu as Frances emissary to Haiti, the diplomat, known for his frankness in discussions with members of the countrys political class, can say he tried to speak to everybody, from a twice-deposed president to a rabble-rousing presidential candidate. Among the last encounters Mauries had as he wound down his diplomatic tour this month was a meeting with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the twice-exiled former president whose supporters still blame France for his second exile after he demanded reparations for Haitis independence debt to the European power. He has also held conversations with Jean-Charles Moise, the former presidential candidate whose involvement in the current nine-member Transitional Presidential Council was key as the 15-member Caribbean Community helped Haitis political and civil leaders forge a transition to restore order. I tried to speak to as many people as possible, Mauries said. First to understand, second to convince that it was time to work toward elections and fight against violence, third to fix what is broken. Mauries is ending his diplomatic tour in Port-au-Prince after arriving in the country in September 2021. Hes being replaced by Antoine Michon, Frances charge daffaires at the Organization of American States. Mauries tenure in Haiti has been challenging, from the spreading gang violence and growing number of killings and displaced persons to the near collapse of the government earlier this year. My dominant feeling is one of unfinished business, Mauries said. I am leaving the front lines while in the middle of a war, a war against abject violence, crime and widespread cynicism. I continue thinking that any way out of these... crises requires a moral perspective and thinking about the reasons why Haiti and why only Haiti in the region is in this situation. How is it not possible to be outraged daily? Despite the recent reconfiguration of the government and forced resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Haiti continues to struggle with governing itself. The presidential council is under a cloud of scandal. Prime Minister Garry Conille is trying to restore security and prepare the country for elections. Financial aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis and support an armed multinational security force headed by Kenya has been slow in coming. At a farewell reception Mauries hosted Friday at the ambassadors residence, the guests included two members of the presidential council, a former president under Canadian sanctions and former ministers and members of parliament, as well as the ambassadors of the United States and Spain. The disparate group, Mauries said, reflected both his approach to his job and Paris policy of tapping into Haitis fractious politics in hopes of better understanding the factions and issues fueling the crises. Neither has been easy. Some Haitians and foreign diplomats have criticized the approach. And while security remains a top priority for many Haitians, Mauries believes the government has been a key part of the problem. Haiti is a dream for libertarians: No state, no regulation, he said. As long as there are no global awareness that the restoration of the state should be the number one priority, no one will succeed. Delphine Gardere, CEO of Rhum Barbancourt, said Mauries curiosity led him to understand the complexities of the Haitian political and cultural chessboard, which enabled him to hold high level meetings across the board without avoiding the tough conversations. Over the years Ive seen many ambassadors come and go from Haiti. Fabrice Mauries stands unique in his knowledge of some of the most unspoken intricacies of Haiti, the businesswoman said. His sincerity and directness is also something that I personally appreciate. Before being posted to Haiti Mauries was Frances ambassador to Peru. He also served at the French Embassy in Beijing between 2003-06, before being serving as deputy director for Southeast Asia. His next assignment is as ambassador to Gabon, a former French colony in West Africa and an assignment he requested. In his departing speeches, Mauries highlighted the excellent bonds of friendship between Haiti and France, and relations he says have been strengthened throughout his mandate in areas such as culture, education and support to the Haiti National Police. French judicial authorities on Aug. 25 extended the detention of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, following his arrest over alleged offenses linked to the messaging app. Durov, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport on Aug. 24, marking a dramatic development in the career of one of the world's most prominent tech figures. The extension of Durov's detention, which could last up to 96 hours, was ordered by the investigating magistrate overseeing the case, according to a source familiar with the investigation, the Guardian reports. Once this phase concludes, the judge will determine whether to release him or press charges and extend his custody. French investigators had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism, and cyberbullying. Durov, who has a net worth estimated at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he subsequently sold. He has said that Telegram should remain a neutral platform, resisting various governmental pressures. In a statement released on Aug. 25 via X, Telegram said: "Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Actits moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving." "Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels regularly throughout Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation." Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted messaging and enables users to create channels for sharing information with followers. Particularly popular in the former Soviet Union, the app is frequently used by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his associates, as well as by politicians across Ukraine, to distribute updates about the war. Read also: Media: Special unit of GRU recruiting saboteurs through social media Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. FILE -A light show is projected from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) PARIS (AP) French performer Barbara Butch carried the Paralympic torch Sunday evening in an act of defiance after being targeted by hate speech over her appearance in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. I chose not to be afraid to exist in the public space, Barbara Butch, a popular DJ and LGBTQ+ icon said in an interview with broadcaster France Info before walking onstage with the torch at a musical event in Saint-Cloud, a western suburb of Paris. I know I represent France in the same way as anyone else, she added. The performer filed a formal legal complaint alleging online abuse after suffering online harassment, death threats and insults following her performance in the July 26 Olympics opening show. Five other artists and performers, including the ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, made similar complaints after suffering a torrent of abuse. Butch said she has received tens of thousands of hate messages. A specialized team has managed to identify hundreds of people who had sent ... the most violet messages," she said. "Justice will do its job and then we will tackle the international level, Butch said. Butch was among nearly 1,000 torch bearers - who will carry the Paralympic flame, split between 12 torches, to 50 cities across France in the next few days to highlight communities that are committed to promoting inclusion in sport and building awareness of living with disabilities. Other torch bearers include former Paralympians, young para athletes, volunteers from Paralympic federations, innovators of advanced technological support, people who dedicate their lives to others with impairments and people who work in the non-profit sector to support carers. The 12 flames will become one again when the relay ends in central Paris on Wednesday after visiting historical sites along the citys famed boulevards and plazas before lightening the cauldron during the three-hour opening ceremony. Follow AP's Paralympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games By Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out naming a prime minister from the leftist New Popular Front alliance and will instead start a new round of consultations on Tuesday with parties to try to form a new government, Macron's office said. Realising a government led by the New Popular Front (NFP) would immediately face a no-confidence vote in parliament from all other parties, Macron will confer with party heads and political leaders, the statement said on Monday. The NFP is a broad alliance of parties ranging from the moderate Socialists to Jean-Luc Melenchon's far-left France Unbowed. Macron's announcement suggests there is no imminent end in sight to the country's political crisis after he called a shock snap election that delivered an unwieldy hung parliament. No grouping emerged from the snap election earlier this summer with a majority, with the vote evenly split between the New Popular Front, Macron's centrist bloc and the far-right National Rally. The New Popular Front won more votes than any other party, and has argued that its candidate, little known civil servant Lucie Castets, should be named prime minister. Castets told Macron on Friday that the left is entitled to form the next government. The Elysee statement came after the New Popular Front said it would not take part in any new consultations unless it was to discuss Castets' nomination. Leaders from France's far-right National Rally said earlier on Monday their party will block any prime ministerial candidate from the New Popular Front, narrowing Macron's options to resolve the stalemate. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the political tag team that runs the National Rally, met with Macron on Monday. After their one-hour meeting, Bardella said the NFP was a "danger" for the country. "The New Popular Front in its programme, in its movements, as well as the personalities who embody it represents a danger to public order, civil peace and obviously for the economic life of the country," Bardella told reporters. "We intend to protect the country from a government that would fracture French society." It remains to be seen who Macron will turn to. The eventual name, someone with the broadest possible appeal, will still need to win approval from lawmakers, and if they say no, Macron will have to go back to the drawing board. Macron had until now ignored the New Popular Front's nomination, and a source close to him said he believed the balance of power lies more with the centre or centre-right. Some possible candidates that Macron is mulling include a conservative regional president, Xavier Bertrand, and former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, sources have said. French media recently mentioned Karim Bouamrane, the Socialist mayor of an impoverished Paris suburb, as another possible name. Le Pen suggested Macron could call a referendum to chart a path out of the chaos, and said she was opposed to a so-called "technical" government of apolitical technocrats, saying "there are only political governments hiding behind technical names." (Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Gabriel Stargardter, Andrew Heavens and Cynthia Osterman) French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged Monday that authorities had arrested the founder and CEO of the widely used messaging app Telegram, saying it was "not a political decision at all" and that Pavel Durov's fate was in the hands of France's independent judicial authorities. French media said Durov was detained Saturday over Telegram's alleged failure to moderate criminal activity on the platform, which has also been used by pro-democracy activists worldwide. French police did not immediately confirm Durov's arrest, which was reportedly carried out at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, but in his own Monday post on social media platform X, Macron said he was "reading false information here" about the detention. Macron said France remained committed to the tenets of "freedom of expression and communication, to innovation and entrepreneurship," but added that "freedoms are exercised within a framework established by law to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights." "It is up to the justice system, in total independence, to enforce the law. The arrest of the president of Telegram on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation," Macron said. "This is not a political decision at all. It is up to the judges to decide." Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov delivers his keynote conference during day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira Gran Via complex in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 23, 2016. / Credit: Manuel Blondeau/AOP.Press/Corbis/Getty In a statement issued later Monday, the Paris prosecutor's office also confirmed Durov's arrest and said the case had been referred "to the Centre for the Fight against Digital Crime (C3N) and the National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) for the continuation of the investigations." The prosecutor's office said Durov's detention was extended on Monday for up to 96 hours, meaning he could remain in custody until at least Wednesday for questioning. The statement confirmed that the tech CEO he was detained as part of an investigation into alleged complicity in a wide range of cybercrimes, including links to organized crime and the transfer and creation of imagery of child sexual abuse and of narcotics. Durov, thought to be worth more than $15 billion, was reportedly detained shortly after touching down in his private jet at the Le Bourget airport. Macron did not offer any detail of the ongoing investigation, but it comes after years of criticism that Telegram has allowed anyone, including those linked to organized crime, terrorism and far-right extremism, to use the app without scrutiny. Communications via the app are encrypted, meaning governments cannot censor or regulate what is said or shared on it. Asked about ISIS members' use of Telegram in the wake of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, and whether law enforcement should be allowed a backdoor into the app, Durov defended the platform, saying: "The interesting thing about encryption is it cannot be secure just for some people." Telegram said in a statement that it abides by EU laws, including the 2022 Digital Services Act that seeks to stop the flow of disinformation online, adding that "its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving." The company said Durov "has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe" and called it "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams said she could personally attest to the wide use of Telegram during the war in Ukraine, which she has covered extensively. She said the app was relied on heavily by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and by journalists reporting from the front lines since Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion in February 2022. It has also been used as a vital tool by pro-democracy protesters in Russia, as well as Hong Kong and Iran. Durov was born in Russia but left the country in 2014, after refusing to shut down anti-government content on a previous app that he launched. Task force members visit scene of Trump assassination attempt Harris and Trump campaigns in debate dispute over muting microphones Seattle-Tacoma Airport hit by suspected cyberattack PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) On Sunday, FSU Panama City welcomed first-year students to the campuss annual freshman convocation. Family and friends had the chance to watch around 70 first-year students receive their ceremonial robes, recite the Seminole creed, and sign the Seminole family book. The formal freshman convocation marks the entrance into the life and traditions of FSU and extends the support of the university to its newest members. Fort Walton Beach Police Department investigating a traffic homicide So I got here and I was just expecting, you know, were going to come in real casual. Just sit down. Well have some speakers. But no, I came in, they gave us robes. They gave us some gifts as well. And it was very formal. I was surprised, FSU student Seth Michael Shambelin said. The ceremony caps off FSUs welcome week. That includes move-in days, events for students, and retreats for faculty. Classes will start for students on Monday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com. (NerdWallet) When electioneering, the best pledges are catchy enough to get stuck in a voters head. During this election, no tax on tips seems to be the phrase fitting that bill. Both presidential candidates are embracing the promise to exempt workers from paying taxes on their tips. But the problem with no-tax-on-tips proposals, experts say, is that theyre clearly a bid for votes rather than a substantive solution to address the fundamental needs of tipped workers. This wouldnt help very many workers, and it could actually be very harmful to millions more, with the real benefits of this policy change going to employers and the wealthy at the expense of working people, says David Cooper, researcher from EPI Action, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization. How a no-tax-on-tips promise entered the election On June 9, former President Donald Trump made a promise to end taxes on tips in front of service workers in Las Vegas. Last weekend, in Las Vegas, Vice President Kamala Harris made a similar pledge. Its no coincidence that both candidates made the announcement in Las Vegas leisure and hospitality is the dominant industry in the metro area, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. On Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden also supports eliminating taxes on tips for service and hospital workers, as well as raising the minimum wage. The policy is undeniably appealing for tipped workers and the unions that represent them. After all, who doesnt want a tax break when they can get it? Experts say the message to voters may be effective, but the policy is less likely to be. Id say, thumbs down to the policy proposal; its bad tax policy, says Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow studying federal tax policy and reform at American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. How do tips factor into wages? Tipped workers are some of the most visible workers: Theyre taking your coffee order, cutting your hair, serving your meals in restaurants, delivering your groceries and ridesharing you around town. And yet, the Budget Lab at Yale University estimates there are only about 4 million workers in tipped positions in 2023 about 2.5% of the entire U.S. workforce. The most typical tipped work is in the service and hospitality industry. Tipped workers also tend to be younger than the rest of the working population 20 to 34 years old, according to Yale Budget Lab. In order to qualify as a tipped worker, you must earn more than $20 per month in tips. In tipped positions, workers must receive a subminimum wage, also known as a cash wage, of $2.13 per hour. A subminimum wage is combined with tips in order for workers to earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. If an employee earns a subminimum wage plus tips less than $7.25 per hour, an employer must make up the difference. Theres also something called tip pooling thats often done in restaurants; its where the front of the house (servers and bartenders) share their tips with each other, as well as with the back of the house (such as cooks and dishwashers). In this scenario, all employees who receive pooled tips including the workers who earn the tips must make at least the federal minimum wage, according to the Department of Labor. Its unclear how often restaurants properly adhere to wage rules because tipping is notoriously underreported. Although, thats less of an issue now since most people pay electronically and dont leave cash tips as often anymore, says Howard Gleckman, senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute. How do taxes on tips work? Tips are considered taxable income. But not all income is taxed; that depends on the amount a worker actually earns. Median weekly wages, including tips, are $538 among tipped workers, compared to a median of $1,000 among non-tipped workers, according to 2023 estimates by Yale Budget Lab. Many tipped workers earn so little they already arent required to pay federal income taxes; Yale Budget Lab estimates this is the case for about 37% of tipped workers. Its likely only a small sliver of the tipped worker population would get the tax advantage that Trump and Harris propose and thats without knowing what specific income limits would be set by either candidates plan. Think about somebody who is a server at Bobs Diner it has a $9.95 special and [the server] is going to get two bucks, says Gleckman. If youre a server at some fancy downtown steakhouse where dinner is $200, youre going to get 40 bucks, right? So for those higher income servers, this [policy] can make some difference. But for most people, it wont really matter at all. Theres another important distinction about tips and taxes: Even when workers dont have a federal income tax obligation, workers and their employers must pay federal payroll taxes, which fund Social Security and Medicare programs. That also means they must continue to report tips, even if federal taxes on tips are eliminated; also, the proposals would not affect state income tax requirements. Neither Trump or Harris has specified whether their proposals would apply only to the federal income tax. But if the No Tax on Tips Act, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), is any indication, the exemption would likely only apply to federal income taxes. How much would no-tax-on-tips save a typical tipped worker? Tip earnings are hard to characterize since the amount varies drastically based on the type of service that workers provide, as well as local minimum wage laws. But the Tax Foundation offers an example: Say a server earns $19,000 per year in wages plus $15,000 in tipped income. Their adjusted gross income is $34,000. They take a standard deduction of $14,600, which leaves them with $19,400 in taxable income. Under this example they owe $2,096 in federal income taxes. With a no-tax-on-tips policy in effect, their adjusted gross income is $19,000 since the $15,000 income in tips isnt considered taxable. They take a standard deduction of $14,600, which leaves them with $4,400 in taxable income. Under this example, their tax liability is $440. Its the difference of $1,656 from the previous example. As the Tax Foundation points out, a cashier who makes the same $34,000 without tips would have the same $2,096 federal tax liability in either scenario, and so would be paying vastly more in taxes than the server under a no-tax-on-tips policy. Experts say no taxes on tips is bad policy Suffice to say, tax and wage experts are unimpressed with the no-tax-on-tips proposal. This wouldnt help very many workers, and it could actually be very harmful to millions more, with the real benefits of this policy change going to employers and the wealthy at the expense of working people, says Cooper. Here are some reasons why experts say exempting tips from taxes could have negative repercussions, depending on how the policy is structured. Social programs and other tax benefits could be impacted If a no-tax-on-tips proposal includes an exemption for the payroll tax in addition to the income tax, it could impact both worker eligibility for Social Security and Medicaid, as well as the solvency of the program itself, says Cooper. This scenario isnt necessarily likely. Even though Trump has not specified if his proposal would apply to both the federal income tax and the payroll tax, Cruzs No Tax on Tips Act applies the exemption only to the federal income tax. Its difficult to see Harris applying the exemption to the payroll tax. But depending on how the law is written, no-tax-on-tips could make it more difficult for workers to get other tax benefits like the earned income tax credit or the child tax credit, experts say. If youre a household with children, those credits phase-in with earned income, meaning that they are larger the more income you earn, up to a certain point, says Pomerleau. But if you were to structure this tax exemption as an exemption from adjusted gross income, it would directly interact with the earned income tax credit in the child tax credit and reduce those benefits for households. No matter what, says Pomerleau, no-tax-on-tips would add tax complexity for a population of tax filers that, generally, do not have access to accountants to help them through the process. That could result in more workers not filing taxes or not being able to access the benefits they are eligible for. High earners could find a loophole A tax exemption on tips leaves open the possibility of exploiting the system. Some in high-income positions like lawyers, for example, could restructure how their earnings are reported to avoid paying taxes on a portion of their income. You could envision a lot of scenarios where this would be really grossly abused by highly paid individuals, says Cooper. The Harris campaign told The Washington Post that, under her plan, the tax exemption would only apply to workers who earn below a certain threshold in select industries. This would prevent high earners in nontraditional tipping positions from gaming the system. There is currently no bill from Democrats in Congress that matches Harris plan. Trumps proposal and the No Tax on Tips Act from congressional Republicans doesnt narrow industry eligibility or impose income limitations. It could reduce employers need to raise wages The tax benefit presents a double whammy benefit to owners: a tax benefit that appeals to workers and an opportunity to save money by shifting the pay burden from owners to consumers. Its a win-win for restaurant owners, hotel owners, like, for example, Donald Trump, says Gleckman. But its much more ambiguous and much riskier for tip workers, particularly low-income workers. Cooper says this policy wont incentivize employers to raise raises for workers because theres a tax benefit inherent to the job. But it could incentivize businesses to reclassify certain positions as tipped occupations. The tipping system, as it currently exists, is rife with wage theft and discrimination, says Cooper. It opens up workers to abuse from customers and colleagues because they feel like they have to tolerate bad behavior, lest they put their kids at risk. So this [policy] would grow a system that is problematic in a lot of ways and spread it to more occupations. Thats not something that we should be incentivizing. The deficit would increase, although not substantially Tax cuts lead to a decline in revenue, which could, over time, exacerbate the federal deficit; its currently about $1.52 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the cost of exempting tips from federal income tax would be $100 to $200 billion over a decade. If tips are also exempted from payroll taxes, the total could run to $250 billion. If the policy makes tips exempt from the payroll tax, it would have broader repercussions for Social Security and Medicaid programs, experts say. These programs are already facing a fiscal shortfall and will need to be dealt with, in as little as ten years, says Pomerleau. If they were to remove $38 billion, potentially from the face of Social Security and Medicare, I would accelerate this problem. It could exacerbate tipping backlash As the CRFB notes, whats not included in its calculations are changes in tipping behavior, which could result in consumers giving less than they do now if they perceive tipped workers as getting an unfair tax advantage. A backlash to tipping culture has already resulted in 7% lower tipping among service-sector workers from November 2022 to November 2023, according to a payroll analysis by Gusto, a payroll provider. It could fuel worker resentment On the flip side, excluding certain tipped jobs by field or income could stir the pot among workers and the unions that represent them. Cooper says, Why would we be giving preferential income tax treatment to this very small subset of workers when there are lots of other hard working, low-paid workers people providing daycare, childcare, eldercare that this would do nothing for? Gleckman says the policy violates a cardinal rule of good tax policy, which is to tax people making the same income at the same level. Im not sure I quite understand why a low wage worker somehow should enjoy more benefits than a low wage worker of another kind whos getting the same income, says Gleckman. If you really care for a bunch of low wage workers, there are plenty of other things you could do. Unions and businesses groups support no-tax-on-tips Despite criticism of the no-tax-on-tips proposal, it would benefit workers who are eligible. Adding limitations by industry and income could prevent the exemption from being a regressive one. Shortly after Harris announcement, Culinary Union Local 226 in Nevada endorsed Harris for president and lauded the proposal without acknowledging Trumps. The union, along with the Bartenders Union Local 165, represents 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno. The Culinary Union argues that the tax exemption could help millions of workers that earn a subminimum wage. The fact that many companies pay tipped workers across the country $2.13 an hour is outrageous and ending taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers would significantly help millions of workers provide for their families, including in Nevada, the union wrote in its press release endorsing Harris. Businesses that employ tipped workers also support the plan. At least, Cruzs plan, which would not limit the exemption by industry and income. Two of the biggest associations for the top tipped industries the National Restaurant Association and the Professional Beauty Association both endorsed Cruzs proposal. Tipped employees are a critical part of the restaurant industry, and anything that strengthens their economic condition is a positive for them, said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association in a press release announcing Cruzs bill. The No Tax on Tips Act would provide immediate tax relief for more than 2.2 million restaurant employees and their families, putting more money in their pockets at a time when were all feeling the squeeze of higher prices. Ending the subminimum wage would pack a bigger punch During the campaign rally in Las Vegas last weekend, when Harris made her promise to end tax on tips, she also said she would raise the minimum wage. What she didnt promise to do is eliminate the subminimum wage, which would have a bigger impact on tipped workers. Why not do something like raise the minimum wage if you really want to improve outcomes for tipped workers in the United States? says Cooper. The federal minimum wage for all workers has been $7.25 per hour since 2009. However, 30 states plus the District of Columbia have set minimum wages above that amount. Again, the federal subminimum wage is $2.13 per hour. Right now, 36 states have set minimum wages for tipped workers below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The tipped workers who earn the most, nationwide, are in Los Angeles ($16.78 per hour); Seattle ($17.25 per hour); and New York City, where tipped workers earn $15 per hour with the exception of delivery workers, who earn a minimum of $17.96 per hour. Other places have eliminated the subminimum wage practice altogether. So far six states have banned subminimum wages for tipped workers, including Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon and Washington. It is outrageous that over a million workers in this country are not guaranteed a fair minimum wage in 2024, the Culinary Union 226 wrote in a release endorsing Harris proposal. Employers across the nation need to take responsibility for paying a real minimum wage and Congress must ensure it. Beyond raising the minimum wage, there are other levers that could be pulled to help low wage workers, experts say. That includes expanding income supports like the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit or Medicaid. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. GA Democrats claim members of state election board working to help Trump win. Heres what they want Georgia Democrats are urging Governor Brian Kemp to open up an investigation into allegations of misconduct involving members of the state elections board. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Channel 2s Richard Elliot was at the state Capitol Monday, where Democrats claimed during a morning news conference that three board members violated the Code of Ethics and state law, accusing them of working to help Donald Trump win the election. In a statement, the Governors Office said it isnt sure Kemp has the legal authority to do that. He must not allow our state elections board to be taken over by Donald Trump, Rep. Lucy McBath said. The controversy stems from last-minute election rule changes made by the board, which Democrats say make it easier for county election officials to delay or refuse to certify votes. Democrats also point out that Donald Trump publicly praised three board members Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffries, and Janelle King during his rally in Atlanta. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Theyre doing a great job. Three members. Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffries, and Janelle King. Three people, all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory, Trump said at the rally. Janice Johnston was present at the rally and waved to the crowd. RELATED STORIES: We need a formal investigation into these claims. Its the least he can do, State Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes said. The governors office responded in a statement writing: Due to uncertainty whether this office has the authority to act in response to these complaints, we have sought the attorney generals advice. Garland Favorito of Voter-GA, a supporter of the board, dismissed the accusations as political theater designed to psychologically program the base. There is no word yet on when the attorney general will make a decision, and it remains unclear if an investigation will be launched or if any rule changes can be reversed. BAKU. Azerbaijan. August 26. Reasons for detention include drug possession, possession of dangerous weapons, and attacks on emergency services personnel, Trend reports. Police in the British capital detained 90 people following the first day of the Afro-Caribbean culture carnival in London's Notting Hill district, with three people receiving stab wounds, some of them serious. "Hundreds of thousands of people came to Notting Hill to enjoy a fantastic celebration. Unfortunately, a small number of people came to commit crime and take part in violence," London police said. According to police, of the three people who were attacked with bladed weapons, the condition of the 32-year-old woman is the most worrisome - she is in hospital, her life is in danger. Men aged 24 and 29 were also injured. According to police, of the three people who were attacked with bladed weapons, the condition of the 32-year-old woman is the most worrisome - she is in hospital, her life is in danger. Men aged 24 and 29 were also injured. In total, about 7,000 police officers were involved in ensuring security, and their powers to search any suspicious persons were expanded. The second and final day of the carnival will be held on Monday. The traditional Notting Hill Carnival in northwest London has been held since 1964. This largest street festival in Europe is visited annually by more than a million Britons and tourists. During the days of the carnival in London, the level of violence and the number of crimes increases sharply, especially those committed with the use of knives, as well as those related to the use and illegal drug trafficking. Gails is facing a fresh revolt over plans to open a new branch in an historic seaside town. The proliferating bakery chain has encountered opposition to its proposals for a new cafe in Worthing, Sussex, over fears it will force independent firms out of business. The Worthing Society, which aims to conserve and preserve charming architecture in the seaside town, has also expressed concerns that the Gails aesthetic is not in keeping with the historic street on which it is set to open. The backlash comes after residents in Walthamstow launched a petition to safeguard the soul of the trendy east London enclave after plans for a Gails branch were announced. A poster on the future site of the bakery reads: Hello Worthing, well be baking here soon. Freshly baked bread and pastries in Gail's branch in Hampstead - Alamy Stock Photos Tushar Patel, who has owned Cafe Traditionale on Chapel Road for two months, felt the Gails opening would affect his trade. He said it could force some businesses to close their doors. He told The Telegraph: Because Gails is new, some of my customers will try it, and we are losing opportunities as a result. We might lose those customers for good. Allowing more cafes to open will have a knock-on effect on existing businesses. Existing businesses are struggling as it is. Somebody will have to close their doors very soon here. He added: It is frustrating. The council should look after the existing businesses by not allowing new cafes to open. Similarly Baz, the owner of Bites, who chose not to give his second name, said he was worried his customers would want to try Gails because it is new to the town. Speaking to The Telegraph he said: People will want to try it, because it is new. I would estimate that I would lose at least two tables a day going there. There are already enough cafes. Nobody can make money, nobody can survive, its just becoming that difficult. Nobody seems to be doing well. The council should be managing this before it gets too late. Warwick Street is one of the most historic areas in Worthing - Steve Reigate In response to the planning application for new signage for the cafe on Warwick Street, the Worthing Society wrote a letter saying: This building is located in Warwick Street, one of the most historic areas in Worthing and set within the South Street Conservation Area. It said that the plans for an illuminated hanging sign would not be consistent with or enhance the conservation area. The society wrote: Warwick Street is one of the narrowest shopping streets in Worthing. Whilst we can appreciate the need for a hanging sign we consider it does not need to be illuminated. Saying the branding would not enhance the conservation area, the letter added: Given the scale of the building, an illuminated sign could be overly dominant and set a precedent. Worthing Borough Council was contacted by The Telegraph for comment. Gails, which opened in 2005 and has 130 shops across the UK, is often associated with middle-class areas. Constituencies with Gails bakeries The Liberal Democrats targeted constituencies with Gails bakeries at the 2024 election as they tried to unseat Tory MPs from the Blue Wall, while the Princess of Wales was once a regular at the Battersea branch in south London. The chains plan to open in Walthamstow Village, the oldest part of Walthamstow, reflects how the suburb has been gentrified over the past decade, as it attracts wealthier residents. In Gails prices are often higher than their competitors, with cinnamon buns three times more expensive than Belgian buns in Greggs, and a flat white coffee costing 3.30. A Gails spokesman said: We understand the concern, but our view is that a healthy high street is one with a diversity of quality offers, each delivering their best. High streets evolve over time and we open our small bakeries often in closed banks or stranded restaurants. All of our bakeries exist in areas where the choices are wide and growing we should be celebrating the improvement in our food landscapes. Bringing our bakery to Worthing, with such a dynamic and thriving food scene, is something weve wanted to do for a while. Were looking forward to having a small footprint in a place that we love and admire and are excited to fire up our ovens for the Worthing community. 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. Gambling? Nudists? What was going on behind the 8-foot fence in Edmond? Site work for apartments can be seen on the property known as "the compound" along Edmond Road just west of Kelly Avenue. The property was hidden for decades behind 8-foot-high fencing and barb wire. EDMOND If you know, you know. And among those who know about the compound, conclusive answers could never be found as to why the property at Edmond Road and Kelly Avenue was surrounded for decades with 8-foot-high fencing topped with barb wire. Part of the fencing finally came down this summer, but who put up fencing and why remains one of Edmonds longest running mysteries. Richard McKown took down the fencing in July after buying it for the development of Kelly Hollow, a 250-unit apartment complex. He has disappointing news for those long curious about what was hidden behind the fencing. There were just the ruins of a foundation of an old house that was there, McKown said. There were trees growing out from it. The house had been torn down for a long time. A section of fencing that surrounded "the compound" can still be seen along Edmond Road. Photo by Steve Lackmeyer Some say the fencing was put up around a house that once stood on the property to hide illegal gambling involving wealthy and powerful interests. Other rumors, some salacious, also are repeated by those who have been around long enough to remember when the fencing was originally built around the approximately 15-acre property. The rumor is that nudists lived there, McKown said. Thats my favorite rumor. I havent heard any others but that. And Im going with that. McKown rules out another rumor that the property was home to the ruins of the fabled Gandinis Circus. That property is located further north along Kelly, just north of the Chateau Villas neighborhood. As far as we know, the circus had nothing to do with this property, McKown said. Property records show the property was owned through the 1970s by the Spearman family, who moved to Edmond in 1917 and built Bronco Theater and the early-day home of Edmond Hospital. The building is now occupied by Othellos Italian Restaurant. The Crawfords sold the property in 1979 to Leslie Ray White and Theresa A. White, who then sold it to a limited liability company in 2013. Longtime broker and developer Mike Henderson, now retired, represented the buyer but declined to discuss the property with The Oklahoman. For years the only neighbors along Kelly Avenue were a scattering of farmhouses. Edmond Road Baptist, 1207 W Edmond Rd., opened in 1980 immediately west of the compound. Rachel Munson, whose husband Chuck Munson is the church pastor, has been a member for more than 30 years dating back to childhood. The reason for the fencing and what was going on behind the barb wire forever remained a mystery to those at the church next door. Weve heard a bunch of rumors, Munson said. We never found out why it was put up. As long as I can remember, its been there. Im glad it will go away. Munson wonders if the fence was put up by a disgruntled owner unhappy with the city. Randall Shadid, a longtime attorney, remembers seeing the fencing being built shortly after he was elected to the Edmond City Council in 1979. Edmond was a small town facing rapid growth at the time, jumping 108% from 16,633 in 1970 to 34,637 in 1980. Edmond is now the fifth largest city in Oklahoma with a population of 94,428 in the 2020 U.S. Census. A farmhouse stood in the center of the compound when the fencing went up. Its roofline could still be seen over the fencing until the house was torn down about the time it was sold to the investors in 2012. I remember when the fencing went up and everyone wondered why, Shadid said. I had clients try to buy it. My bet would be that it was someone disgruntled with the city. There was some discussion at the city about what to do about it, but I dont remember anything being done. Shadid also heard the nudist rumor. I could never substantiate that. I wasnt able to get in if that was the case, Shadid joked. Something was going on behind the fencing. Trash cans could be seen being regularly placed at the curb of Edmond Road for pickup throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Kelly Hollow, a 250-unit apartment development by SSLM, is being built on a property that for decades was hidden behind 8-foot-high fencing and barbed wire. Humphrey and Partners. David Chapman, an Edmond broker and former city councilman, said the property was long eyed by area developers who wanted to build housing for Edmonds growing population. That piece of land has been curious to us for a long time, Chapman said. Its been an interest for those of us who assemble land. It was untouchable. Nobody could buy it, nobody could list it, nobody knew what was going on. The apartments are set to open in 2026 and will feature a pond, walking trails, pickleball courts and residences that will feature a mix of covered parking and private garages. McKowns partner, Kara Lewallen, said the fencing will be torn down once the apartments are completed but new decorative fencing will take its place. Gates will be included to provide pedestrian access to the church and the nearby Aldi grocery. This will be a gated development, Lewallen said. But it will be open fencing. We want to make sure its an inviting community. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Gambling, nudist rumors persist after fencing removal at 'the compound' By Dani Morera Trettin CAMBUQUIRA, Brazil (Reuters) - It was June 12, Lover's Day in Brazil. Leo Nunes, 24, had spent a few days talking to someone he met on Hornet, a popular gay dating app, before arranging their first encounter in Sao Paulo's middle-class Sacoma neighborhood. A security camera captured the moment that two men on a motorcycle showed up in the alley where he was waiting, grabbed his phone and shot him dead. The Nunes family, who shared details of the investigation with Reuters, said one suspect had been arrested. Sao Paulo police said they are investigating the shooting as a robbery resulting in a homicide, but did not provide further information or confirm if there had been an arrest. Nunes was one of at least five gay men killed since March 2024 after planning encounters through dating apps in Brazil, according to news reports. Dozens more victims have described on social media suffering armed robberies after being lured by fake profiles on gay dating apps. Police have also warned of "love cons" involving straight men lured into kidnappings, without providing figures. The string of murders and assaults has shaken the gay community in Brazil, which is large and vibrant but still often wary of law enforcement. This reluctance makes it a target for criminals, according to three people who said they had been attacked, as well as LGBT advocates. "Because of structural homophobia, criminals know that LGBT people are vulnerable. They know they will be more easily intimidated," said Wanderley Montanholi, a lawyer for the family of Heleno Veggi Dumba, a gay doctor who was found dead in April in Sao Paulo after being shot in the head. Montanholi said Dumba was killed by criminals in an attempted robbery after they had lured him into an ambush through a dating app. Sao Paulo police said they had arrested three suspects in Dumba's death who remain in police custody awaiting trial. They declined to give more details. Montanholi said the crimes repeated a pattern in which criminals target gay men through dating apps and groom them for days with fake profiles across different social media platforms. Police declined to comment on whether they had identified a broader pattern of murders and robberies linked to gay dating apps, saying only that investigators in Sao Paulo had cleared four cases involving "love cons" in general. Gabriel, a gay man who declined to give his surname, citing privacy, said in late March he had arranged a date on the same street in Sacoma where Nunes was shot dead. He was lured by the same dating profile as several other victims, he later learned. "One man put a gun to my stomach and asked me the password of my phone," he said. With that, the criminals accessed his bank accounts, stole his savings and maxed out his credit card. Gabriel said a group of women who offered him comfort afterwards had witnessed a nearly identical episode the night before. He detailed the assault in a police report and in a group chat, both seen by Reuters, with six other men who said they had reported to law enforcement experiencing the same violent con. Police declined to comment on their cases. Gabriel said he and others had also flagged their incidents involving the same false profile to Hornet. He said the fake profile stayed online for weeks after he made his report, which Reuters could not independently verify. "An investigation could have happened before Leo's case. It didn't have to get here," Gabriel said. Gerry Monaghan, head of operations at Hornet, said that "all reports are looked at and reviewed by Hornet." After the killing of Nunes in June, he said the company had added staff to a team that works around the clock responding to user reports and changed its global reporting system to prioritize more serious issues, without elaborating. A spokesman for Grindr, another gay dating app, said the company is "aware that in Brazil, digital platforms such as ours are occasionally abused to target LGBTQ+ people." He added that the app includes security advice and features, and the company collaborates closely with law enforcement. FEAR AND SHAME Like many young LGBT Brazilians, Nunes had left his small hometown, Cambuquira, for the more liberal metropolis of Sao Paulo four hours away. He planned to become a psychotherapist and help people struggling with homelessness and addiction, his mother Adriana Rodrigues recalled. She took comfort in the "LGBT family" that embraced him in the big city. Although Sao Paulo boasts a lively gay scene and the world's largest Pride parade, friends of Nunes said they discussed their frequent run-ins with homophobia and transphobia. "We all had our story," said one friend, Vinicius Reis, who recalled Nunes looking out for vulnerable members of their LGBT community, including some forced to leave their family homes. Nunes came out with the support of his parents in Cambuquira, who called his death a hate crime. "Criminals know their victims won't go to police," his father Aurelio Nunes said, holding his wife's hand in an emotional interview. "Sometimes, they do not even tell their family because of shame." The Brazilian Forum on Public Security, a civil society group tracking public safety issues, recorded 214 murders motivated by homophobia and transphobia last year, up 42% from 2022, while flagging that such crimes are likely underreported. Brazil's Supreme Court codified homophobia as a crime in 2019, but three lawyers said in interviews that police and judges often avoid using the label, preferring broader categories such as assault or theft. Vanessa Vieira, a public defender serving the LGBT community in Sao Paulo state, said she has seen "great resistance to categorize crimes as homophobia from judges and police officers." That skepticism has contributed to LGBT victims' reluctance to come forward about crimes, Vieira added. "There is a lot of fear to report, for how it might hinder their lives," she said. (Reporting by Dani Morera Trettin; Editing by Stefanie Eschenbacher, Brad Haynes and Rosalba O'Brien) George Latimer, the longest serving mayor in St. Paul history, was honored during a Monday funeral in the adopted city he affectionately served for a 14-year tenure in City Hall and for many decades beyond. Latimer, a labor lawyer who worked as mayor from 1976 to 1990, was remembered as a gregarious, kindhearted leader whose accomplishments in the legal realm never overshadowed his quip-laden, day-to-day interactions with everyday residents. That said, he was not unimpressed with himself, joked former St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, now the chief executive officer of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, who delivered Latimers eulogy at the Church of the Assumption in downtown. Coleman remembered Latimers penchant for family road trips with multiple grandchildren in tow, and family dinners at the Latimer house marked by polite debate and large servings of red meat. Every opinion was respected, Coleman said. He assumed you had a brain and he wanted you to use it a man who loved his childrens spouses so deeply he felt they were his own children. When I had a tough decision to make in City Hall, George was the first call that Id make, Coleman said. When he called me, hed say, Tall mayor, this is the short mayor. Period of change Latimer served in elected office during a period of deep demographic change in St. Paul and across the nation. Middle-class white families continued leaving urban areas for the suburbs in the 1970s, taking jobs and other opportunities with them. After the Vietnam War era, Hmong refugees relocated to St. Paul in three large waves. Latimer took pains to protect the Landmark Center on Rice Park and other aged buildings in danger of demolition during a period of declining population, Coleman said, and his dedication to downtown urban renewal led to construction of some of the citys most recognizable office buildings. Not all of his decisions were well received. When residents along Snelling Avenue objected to the proposed Hubert Humphrey Job Corps Center a residential work training program for troubled teens Latimer waved away threats that the homeowners would vote against him, Coleman said. People were just vicious, recalled Joe Nathan, a youth training advocate who managed two of Latimers political campaigns, in a brief interview. Latimer, known during his elected term for enjoying social drinking in downtown bars, once fell asleep in his car outside City Hall, prompting a concerned St. Paul police officer Melvin Carter II, father of the current mayor to drive him home. When the media got wind of the story, Coleman said, Latimer quickly confessed to having taken a public nap, and heaped praise on the officer. He smartly avoided the type of scandal that could have unfolded over months, Coleman said. Coleman noted that Latimer had delivered the eulogy for his own father former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Nick Coleman Sr. and had requested that Coleman do the same for him. Also in attendance in the overflowing Catholic church were U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and former Mayor Jim Scheibel. The Rev. John Malone, a former longtime leader of the Church of the Assumption, and the Rev. Philip Rose of Episcopal Homes officiated. Among Latimers titles over the decades, he served as a regent at the University of Minnesota, dean of Hamline University School of Law, an under secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration, chair of the National Equity Fund, president of the National League of Cities and a member of the St. Paul school board. He was also named a distinguished professor at Macalester College, a labor arbitrator and a member of any number of volunteer boards and committees. Grew up in working class Schenectady, N.Y. The youngest of three boys, Latimer grew up in working-class Schenectady, N.Y. His family ran a neighborhood grocery store and deli named Latimers, which would would later draw fond memories of his mother creating large batches of potato salad in the stores back room, according to his prepared obituary. He would go on to graduate from Columbia Law School and find employment with a Twin Cities law firm before running for St. Paul school board. Latimer, who entered hospice care in 2022 only to graduate after several months, died on Aug. 18 at the Episcopal Homes senior residences on University Avenue, where he had lived since 2014, the same year the Green Line light rail launched outside its doors. He was 89. Latimer was preceded in death by his brothers, William and Philip, and his wife of 47 years, Nancy Moore Latimer. His ashes were interred later Monday in Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul, alongside his wifes. Latimer is survived by five children and 11 grandchildren. His prepared obituary said he is also survived by his longtime friend, Dusty Mairs, who for years would visit with him daily and bring him multiple newspapers to read, one of his favorite pastimes. Related Articles CARROLLTON, Ga. (AP) A sheriffs deputy has died days after he was shot while serving a search warrant in west Georgia, authorities said. The Carroll County Sheriffs Office announced late Friday that Investigator Taylor Bristow died from his injuries from the shooting Tuesday. Bristow was shot and critically wounded while serving a Georgia Bureau of Investigation warrant in a neighborhood in Carrollton. Tonight, we mourn the passing of Investigator Bristow, who has left this earth and gained his heavenly wings, the sheriffs office said in a statement. He served our community with unwavering passion and dedicated his life to protecting the citizens of Carroll County. Bristow had been hospitalized at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Carrollton is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta. Bristow was assisting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation execute a search warrant by its agents with the child exploitation and computer crimes unit. The GBI said the suspect, Christopher Bly, ran into the home before firing a handgun, striking himself and Bristow. Bly, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene. Our hearts are heavy this morning as we join the Bristow family, the Carroll Co. Sheriffs Office, and all Georgians in mourning the loss of Investigator Taylor Bristow, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp posted on X. May God give them strength and comfort during this painful time, and may He keep all our law enforcement safe. The GBI said during its search that agents located and seized multiple electronic devices that contained child sexual abuse materials. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (C), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called for the perpetrator in the fatal knife attack on the western city of Solingen to be punished quickly and severely. "We feel deeply what a terrible crime this is. It moves us all, and none of us will forget it," Scholz said on a visit to the crime scene, adding that he was "furious." The attack on Friday took place at a market square in Solingen's city centre during the Festival of Diversity, which was being thrown to celebrate the city's 650th anniversary. Three people were killed and eight others injured, with the 26-year-old suspect subsequently remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (R), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (C), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday promised to tighten laws on the carrying of deadly weapons, days after three people were killed in a knife attack in the western city of Solingen. "This should and will happen very quickly," Scholz said on a visit to the city. Scholz said he was sure that a draft bill would be quickly approved in the German parliament. The attack on Friday took place at a market square in Solingen's city centre during the Festival of Diversity, which was being thrown to celebrate the city's 650th anniversary. Three people were killed and eight others injured, with the 26-year-old suspect subsequently remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (R), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa An employee of the Uniper energy group stands next to a pipe on the site of the company's hydrogen storage facility. The facility will be used to test the storage of hydrogen under real conditions for two years. Lars Penning/dpa German energy company Uniper is to begin testing an underground hydrogen storage facility by the North Sea, as Germany seeks to transform its energy system. The facility in the northern district of Krummhorn will be used to test how materials and technology react with the gas. Carbon-neutral hydrogen is expected to play a crucial role as a green fuel for industry. Experts expect a large demand for storage facilities in Germany. Uniper, which was recently nationalized, is Germany's largest natural gas storage operator and sees itself as a pioneer in the development of a European hydrogen economy. The test facility in Krummhorn is located at a depth of around 1,700 metres, with a diameter of 16 metres, a height of 30 metres and volume of around 3,000 cubic metres. The storage chamber is conveniently located, with the planned hydrogen pipeline network set to pass nearby. Olaf Lies, the economy minister in the German state of Lower Saxony, said: "This project can play a key role in the ramp-up of the German hydrogen economy." Thanks to its location on the North Sea and existing infrastructure, Lower Saxony is set to take a leading role in Germany's energy transition, according to the minister. The storage chamber is due to be filled in late September. Uniper director Frank Holschumacher said green hydrogen would be delivered to the facility by tanker. If storage proves economically viable after the two-year test phase, Uniper plans to enlarge the chamber for commercial use, a process that could take three to five years at a cost of up to 500 million ($558 million). The enlarged chamber would have a capacity of around 250 gigawatt hours. A view of the above-ground part of the Uniper energy group's hydrogen plant. The facility will be used to test the storage of hydrogen under real conditions for two years. Lars Penning/dpa A pipe labeled "hydrogen" leads upwards from the underground storage facility of the Uniper energy group. The facility will be used to test the storage of hydrogen under real conditions for two years. Lars Penning/dpa BAKU. Azerbaijan. August 26. "Sharq Taronalari" is considered one of the largest festivals in Central Asia, Trend reports. The opening ceremony of the XIII International Music Festival "Sharq Taronalari" ("Melodies of the East") will take place in the historical city of Uzbekistan, Samarkand, on Monday, August 26. The main goal of the festival is to demonstrate achievements in the field of national musical art, preserve and develop the culture and traditions of peoples, support talented youth in the field of music and singing, as well as expand international creative ties, promote ideas of peace, friendship and mutual understanding. The festival was first held in 1997. Then, more than 100 musicians from 31 countries performed on Registan Square, the main attraction of Samarkand. The festival is organized every two years. The last time "Sharq Taronalari" was held in 2019 with the participation of over 300 musicians from 75 countries. Samarkand is preparing to host a grand festival after a five-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants will include musicians not only from Central Asian countries, but also from Austria, Azerbaijan, China, Russia, Iran, South Korea, India, Germany, Egypt, France, Great Britain and Turkey. SOLINGEN, Germany (AP) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to toughen knife laws and step up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers Monday as he visited the scene of the knife attack in which a suspected Islamic extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people. Scholz, speaking after he joined regional officials in laying a white rose at a makeshift memorial in the western city of Solingen, said he was furious and angry about the attack, in which eight people also were wounded. The suspect turned himself in to police on Saturday evening, a day after the attack at a festival marking the city's 650th anniversary. Federal prosecutors said Sunday that he shared the radical ideology of the Islamic State group, which he joined at a point that remains unclear, and was acting on those beliefs when he stabbed his victims repeatedly from behind in the neck and upper body. The 26-year-old had had his asylum application rejected and was supposed to be deported last year to Bulgaria, where he first entered the European Union, but that failed because he disappeared for a time, according to German media reports. That has revived criticism of the government on migration and deportation, an issue on which it has long been vulnerable. It has taken steps to defuse the issue, for example with legislation intended to ease deportations of unsuccessful asylum-seekers that was approved by lawmakers in January. It also has launched legislation to ease the deportation of foreigners who publicly approve of terrorist acts. We must do everything to ensure that such things never happen in our country, if possible, Scholz said of the attack. He said that would include toughening knife laws in particular and this should and will happen very quickly. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser earlier this month proposed allowing only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters (nearly 2.4 inches) to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) that is allowed now. We will have to do everything so that those who aren't allowed to stay in Germany are sent back and deported, he said, adding that we have massively expanded the possibilities to carry out such deportations." Scholz said there had been a 30% increase in deportations this year already, but we will look very closely at how we can contribute to raising these figures even further. He said measures including border checks on Germany's eastern frontiers have reduced the number of migrants arriving irregularly, but there's room for improvement there too. Following a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant in Mannheim at the end of May that left one police officer dead and four more people injured, Scholz vowed that Germany will start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again. Germany does not currently carry out deportations to those countries. The government has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban in Kabul, and so far considers the security situation in Syria too fragile to allow deportations there. But Scholz said in June that his government was working on solutions to enable the deportation of convicted Afghans to Afghanistans neighboring countries, and there has been discussion in Germany about allowing deportations to Syria. Critics say there has been little movement since. Interior Ministry spokesperson Sonja Kock said Monday the government is still working intensively on that. Scholz spoke alongside Hendrik Wust, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state and a member of Germany's mainstream conservative opposition, which has long criticized the government on migration. He said was thankful that more action had been announced but announcements alone won't be enough. Action must follow, Wust said. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, the leader of Wust's Christian Democratic Union, complained on ARD television Sunday evening that we have been discussing the consequences of Mannheim for three months ... it's enough. We must now do something together. We have people in Germany we don't want to have here, and we must ensure that we don't have even more coming, Merz said, arguing that such migrants should be turned back at the country's borders. The Solingen attack came ahead of state elections this weekend in two eastern regions, Saxony and Thuringia, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany party is very strong and the parties in Scholz's three-party coalition already looked set for dismal results. ___ Moulson reported from Berlin. Police officers are carrying out searches in a green area and in bushes near the refugee accommodation where the suspected perpetrator of the fatal knife attack in Solingen lived. Christoph Reichwein/dpa German police have searched an area near the refugee accommodation centre in the city of Solingen where the alleged perpetrator in Friday's deadly stabbings resided, a police spokesman said. The police spokesman would not say exactly what prompted the new search on Monday beyond that fresh clues had been received during the investigation. A dpa reporter saw a pedestrian tunnel near the refugee centre cordoned off. Three people were killed and eight people were wounded in the stabbing at a city festival in the western German city of Solingen on Friday evening. A 26-year-old Syrian is in custody for the crime. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the case and is investigating the suspect for murder and suspected membership of the Islamic State terrorist group. The police found traces of the suspect's DNA on the weapon used in the attack, sources close to the investigation told dpa on Monday. The 15-centimetre-long blade was discovered a few hundred metres from the scene of the crime. Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the state of North Rhine Westphalia, told the Rheinische Post newspaper that a holder had been found in the suspect's asylum accommodation into which the knife had fitted. Police officers cordon off a pedestrian tunnel near the refugee accommodation where the alleged perpetrator of the fatal knife attack in Solingen lived. Christoph Reichwein/dpa A Discover Airlines passenger plane is towed by a tug at Frankfurt Airport while a Lufthansa plane takes off. Arne Dedert/dpa Germany's Discover Airlines on Monday sharply criticized two trade unions for organizing a four-day strike due to be launched this week, during the height of the summer holidays. The pilots' union VC and cabin crew union UFO are set to strike from Tuesday to Friday, affecting all of the leisure airline's departures from Germany. "Discover Airlines condemns the call for strike action by the two trade unions UFO and VC in the strongest possible terms," the Lufthansa subsidiary stated. Discover said the strike was irresponsible at such a busy period, especially given that a collective agreement was reached with verdi, a larger German trade union that also represents the company's in-flight workers. The airline said that agreement guarantees salary increases up to 38% for cabin crew and 16% for pilots. "The unilateral escalation of the sectoral trade unions since the announcement of the collective agreement with verdi, as well as the call for a strike, clearly shows that this is not about the interests of the employees of Discover Airlines," it argued. Employees from the UFO and VC unions recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike in separate ballots. The unions argue that verdi lacks sufficient membership within the airline's operations and was established as a bargaining partner by Lufthansa management. Discover Airlines, founded in 2021, operates 27 aircraft from Munich and Frankfurt to various holiday destinations in Europe and overseas. Its fleet is expected to grow to 33 aircraft by 2027. The airline has a staff complement of almost 2,000, including 500 pilots and 1,400 cabin crew, with the remainder in administration. The exact number of unionized employees is unknown. The effects of an initial round of industrial action by the two unions earlier this year were limited. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C) and Hendrik Wuest, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, arrive for a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Thomas Banneyer/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday visited the western city of Solingen, three days after a deadly knife attack which shocked the country and reignited debates on Germany's migration policy and sharper knife laws. Speaking after laying a white rose at the crime scene, Scholz said he was "furious," calling for the suspected perpetrator - a 26-year-old Syrian man who has been remanded in custody - to be punished. "We feel deeply what a terrible crime this is. It moves us all, and none of us will forget it," Scholz said. "This was terrorism. Terrorism against us all, threatening our lives, our sense of community, the way we live," the chancellor added. The attack on Friday evening came during a festival celebrating the city's 650th anniversary. Two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman were killed while eight others were wounded, four of them seriously, according to the local police chief. A judge issued an arrest warrant for the Syrian man on suspicion of murder and membership of the Islamic State terrorist group, among other charges, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said on Sunday. Scholz visits crime scene Scholz's visit to Solingen included a memorial service for the victims at the site of the attack, as well as discussions with the city's mayor, Tim Kurzbach. The chancellor was also accompanied by the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wust. In remarks at the scene, Scholz lashed out at Islamists who "threaten peaceful coexistence." "We will not allow our community spirit to be destroyed by evil criminals who pursue the worst ideologies, and we will take action against them with the utmost rigour and severity," the German leader promised. The stabbing in Solingen, which came just over a week before important state elections in Saxony and Thuringia where the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to do well, has sparked renewed discussions about reforming knife laws and asylum rules. The suspect, who arrived in Germany in 2022, was reportedly due to be deported to Bulgaria under the European Union's Dublin Regulation, but police were unable to locate him. Scholz said he wants to step up deportations "with legal regulations if necessary," and called for "consistent, practical enforcement" of existing laws. Chancellor under political pressure While Scholz promised a hard line against the suspect, his comments are unlikely to satisfy political opponents seeking a crackdown on illegal migration. Wust, from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the attack would have consequences. "The question is whether people who have no permanent right to be here should be able to leave this country more easily - or preferably not come at all," he said. Deadlines, bureaucratic obstacles and loopholes make it difficult for local authorities to deport people, even to other countries in Europe, the state premier argued. Wust said deportations to parts of Syria and Afghanistan should also be possible. His remarks were echoed by Herbert Reul, the North Rhine-Westphalia interior minister, who on Monday advocated for stricter checks at Germany's borders and for the rejection of refugees. "I believe there is no other way," Herbert Reul said on the Deutschlandfunk public radio station. Germany's opposition has stepped up its anti-immigrant rhetoric since the attack, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz calling for an immediate halt to the admission of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Scholz promises knife law reform Scholz also promised to tighten laws on the carrying of deadly weapons. "This should and will happen very quickly," Scholz said during his visit to Solingen. Scholz said he was sure that a draft bill would be quickly approved in the German parliament. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (R), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (C) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Thomas Banneyer/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the press at the Evonik Chemical Park in Marl, during his trip through the Ruhr region. Fabian Strauch/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday visited the western city of Solingen, three days after a deadly stabbing attack which shocked the country and reignited debates on Germany's migration policy and sharper knife laws. Speaking after laying a white rose at the crime scene, Scholz said he was "furious," calling for the suspected perpetrator - a 26-year-old Syrian man who has been remanded in custody - to be punished. "We feel deeply what a terrible crime this is. It moves us all, and none of us will forget it," Scholz said. "This was terrorism. Terrorism against us all, threatening our lives, our sense of community, the way we live," the chancellor added. The attack on Friday evening came during a festival celebrating the city's 650th anniversary. Two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman were killed while eight others were wounded, four of them seriously, according to the local police chief. A judge issued an arrest warrant for the Syrian man on suspicion of murder and membership of the Islamic State terrorist group, among other charges, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said on Sunday. The police found traces of the suspect's DNA on the weapon used in the attack, sources close to the investigation told dpa. The 15-centimetre-long blade was discovered a few hundred metres from the scene of the crime. Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the state of North Rhine Westphalia, told the Rheinische Post newspaper the knife's sheath had been found at the refugee accommodation centre where the suspect had been residing. The dead and injured were stabbed in the neck and areas of the upper body. Scholz visits crime scene Scholz's visit to Solingen included a memorial service for the victims at the site of the attack, as well as discussions with the city's mayor, Tim Kurzbach. The chancellor was also accompanied by the state premier of North Rhine Westphalia, Hendrik Wust. In remarks at the scene, Scholz lashed out at Islamists who "threaten peaceful coexistence." "We will not allow our community spirit to be destroyed by evil criminals who pursue the worst ideologies, and we will take action against them with the utmost rigour and severity," the German leader promised. The stabbing in Solingen, which came just over a week before important state elections in Saxony and Thuringia where the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to do well, has sparked renewed discussions about reforming knife laws and asylum rules. The suspect, who arrived in Germany in 2022, was reportedly due to be deported to Bulgaria under the European Union's Dublin Regulation, but police were unable to locate him. Scholz said he wants to step up deportations "with legal regulations if necessary," and called for "consistent, practical enforcement" of existing laws. Chancellor under political pressure While Scholz promised a hard line against the suspect, his comments are unlikely to satisfy political opponents seeking a crackdown on illegal migration. Wust, from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the attack would have consequences. "The question is whether people who have no permanent right to be here should be able to leave this country more easily - or preferably not come at all," he said. Deadlines, bureaucratic obstacles and loopholes make it difficult for local authorities to deport people, even to other countries in Europe, the state premier argued. Wust said deportations to parts of Syria and Afghanistan should also be possible. His remarks were echoed by Reul, the state interior minister, who on Monday advocated for stricter checks at Germany's borders and for the rejection of refugees. "I believe there is no other way," Herbert Reul said on the Deutschlandfunk public radio station. Germany's opposition has stepped up its anti-immigrant rhetoric since the attack, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz calling for an immediate halt to the admission of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Scholz promises knife law reform Scholz also promised to tighten laws on the carrying of deadly weapons. "This should and will happen very quickly," Scholz said during his visit to Solingen. Scholz said he was sure that a draft bill would be quickly approved in the German parliament. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the western German city of Solingen, three days after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three people. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Henning Kaiser/dpa-Pool/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was set to visit the western German city of Solingen on Monday, three days after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three people. The attack took place on Friday evening at a market square in Solingen's city centre during the Festival of Diversity, which was being thrown to celebrate the city's 650th anniversary. Two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman were killed while eight others were wounded, four of them seriously, according to the local police chief. Scholz's visit, set to begin at 9:30 am (0730 GMT), includes a memorial service for the victims at the site of the attack, as well as discussions with the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, and emergency services, according to Germany's Federal Press Office. Scholz is set to be accompanied by the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wust. The suspect in the knife attack, a 26-year-old Syrian, has been remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. A judge issued an arrest warrant for the man on suspicion of murder and membership of the Islamic State terrorist group, among other charges, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said on Sunday. The alleged perpetrator of the knife attack in Solingen is taken by a helicopter after being brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Uli Deck/dpa The alleged perpetrator of the knife attack in Solingen is taken by a helicopter after being brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Uli Deck/dpa The alleged perpetrator of the knife attack in Solingen is taken by a helicopter to a motorcade to transport him to the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), who will decide on an arrest warrant. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Uli Deck/dpa By Rachel More BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to step up deportations on Monday during a visit to Solingen, where a deadly mass stabbing linked to Islamic State has emboldened the far-right opposition and stoked criticism of his government's handling of migration. "We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported," Scholz told reporters in the western city, where he laid a flower at the scene of the crime. "This was terrorism, terrorism against us all," he added. The attack, in which a 26-year-old suspected Islamic State member from Syria is accused of killing three people, has fuelled political tensions over asylum and deportation rules ahead of three state elections next month. The militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Friday evening during a festival celebrating Solingen's 650-year history. Alongside the three killed, eight were injured, some seriously. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which campaigns for a crackdown on migration, is leading in the polls in Saxony and Thuringia, where state elections are set for Sunday, and in Brandenburg, which has its election on Sept. 22. The AfD seized on the attack in its election campaign, with Thuringia's leading candidate for the party, Bjoern Hoecke, pitching to voters the choice of "Hoecke or Solingen". Opinion pollsters Stefan Merz of Infratest dimap and Manfred Guellner of Forsa told Reuters the attack would be unlikely to translate into more votes for the far-right party because its supporters had already been mobilised by migration issues. Infratest dimap's Merz cited the possibility that the centre-right CDU could benefit at the expense of Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats. BOTCHED DEPORTATION The attack puts pressure on Scholz as his Social Democrats, alongside their Green and Free Democrat coalition partners, bruised from months of quarrelling, are trailing in the polls. In a sign of tougher rhetoric, Scholz promised in October 2023 to ramp up deportations "big style" - a promise he repeated after his visit to the Solingen attack scene. Again in June, Scholz said he would take a tougher stance on deportation after an Afghan man stabbed a police officer, who later died of his injuries, during an attack on a right-wing demonstration in the city of Mannheim. Scholz said on Monday deportations had increased by some two thirds compared to 2021 levels. "But that is no reason for us to sit back and relax," he added, saying the government was looking at legal and practical ways to boost the numbers. Authorities had planned to deport the suspect in Friday's attack to Bulgaria last year under European Union asylum rules, according to German media. The deportation was unsuccessful because the man had not been at his refugee accommodation when authorities tried to carry out the measure, the reports said. A government spokesperson said the deportation plan had "failed in practice" rather than on any legal basis. (Additional reporting by Miranda Murray and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Ludwig Burger in FrankfurtEditing by Friederike Heine and William Maclean) Secretary General of Germany's Social Democratic SPD party Kevin Kuehnert speaks during the party congress of Germany's social democratic SPD party in Berlin. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa The general secretary of Germany's ruling Social Democrats (SPD), Kevin Kuhnert, has rejected calls by the opposition to limit immigration from Syria and Afghanistan following the fatal knife attack in the western city of Solingen. Three people were killed and eight people were wounded in the stabbing at a city festival on Friday evening. Police have arrested the suspected perpetrator, a 26-year-old man from Syria. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the case and is investigating the suspect for murder and suspected membership of the Islamic State terrorist group. Following the attack, Germany's opposition stepped up its anti-immigrant rhetoric, with Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), calling for an immediate halt to the admission of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Social Democrat Kuhnert on Monday rejected the demand. Many of Merz's proposals stood in contrast to the country's constitution, known as the Basic Law, which upholds the individual's right to asylum, for example, Kuhnert said on public broadcaster ARD's morning programme. "The answer can't be that we now slam the door in the face of people who are themselves fleeing from Islamists because they are being persecuted by them for their way of life," Kuhnert said. Instead, it had to be clarified why the suspected perpetrator, who should have been deported to Bulgaria last year, was never returned there, the SPD politician said. Under the provisions of the Dublin Convention, the EU country first entered by an asylum seeker is responsible for processing their asylum application, and dpa was told on Sunday that the native Syrian had entered the European Union via Bulgaria. Kuhnert said as far as was known, Bulgaria had been prepared to accept the man. "The federal states are responsible for deportations in Germany, which in this case would have been North Rhine Westphalia," Kuhnert said, referring to the western state where Solingen is located. He called on state authorities to examine why no action had been taken in the man's case. Kuhnert said that the government, a coalition led by the Social Democrats partnering with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), was working on solutions to facilitate the deportation of serious offenders, including to Syria and Afghanistan. Berlin was also making progress on gun laws and knife bans, he added. More focus was now needed on the issue of the radicalization of individual offenders, the area where Germany is "not making good progress at the moment," Kuhnert said. The opposition continued to press for changes to the asylum law on Monday. Alexander Throm, domestic affairs expert from the CDU, told ARD's morning programme that only very few applicants were granted asylum under Germany's Basic Law. Most applicants, especially those from Afghanistan and Syria, were granted subsidiary protection as they were not persecuted or threatened personally in their home country, Throm said. Since no more fighting was taking place in Afghanistan, and Syria was only seeing localized fighting, "subsidiary protection for Afghans and Syrians must be abolished." The parliamentary group of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has requested a special meeting of the committee for internal affairs to discuss the attack in parliament this week, CSU vice-chair Andrea Lindholz told broadcaster RTL/ntv. During the meeting, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will be grilled on what measures the federal government is planning and how it intends to improve the security situation, Lindholz said. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the western German city of Solingen, three days after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three people. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Henning Kaiser/dpa-Pool/dpa Sahra Wagenknecht, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), speaks at an election campaign event in Eisenach, ahead of the state elections in Thuringia. Hannes P. Albert/dpa Firebrand politician Sahra Wagenknecht has rejected claims from the Central Council of Jews in Germany that she stirs up anti-Israeli sentiment with her criticism of the Gaza war. "If everyone who criticizes the government of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and its brutal warfare in the Gaza Strip is an Israel-hater, then a significant proportion of Israelis would be Israel-haters," Wagenknecht, who heads the newly formed Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), told the German daily Die Welt. In an interview with Die Welt just over a week ago, Central Council President Josef Schuster accused Wagenknecht and her BSW alliance, an offshoot of a hard-left party, of fuelling "hatred of Israel in Germany" with what he called a "rather populist position." Schuster charged that Wagenknecht does not recognize that Israel is defending itself against a terrorist organization. Schuster called it "completely inappropriate" for the BSW leader to charge that Israel's military campaign has "traits of a campaign of annihilation." For her part, Wagenknecht drew a comparison with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine: "Imagine if Kiev looked like Gaza. What an outcry there would be among the German public - and rightly so," she said, adding that a ceasefire is neeed in the Middle East. Wagenknecht emphasizes Israel's right to exist Wagenknecht accused the Central Council of not sufficiently condemning Israel's conduct of the war. "I miss the Central Council's clear criticism of the Netanyahu government and its barbaric war," said Wagenknecht, who is an MP in the Bundestag. "I will always defend Israel's right to exist," Wagenknecht made clear. Israel does have the right to defend itself against "Hamas and its terrible attack in October." She added: "But the campaign of destruction in the Gaza Strip has long ceased to be self-defence." Wagenknecht broke with her former party, the hard-left Die Linke, in part over her right-wing views on immigration and some other hot-button social issues. She holds generally left-wing positions on economic issues, and has campaigned against Germany's support for Ukraine. Joint scientific expedition on ecological environment of Aral Sea starts in Tashkent Xinhua) 15:25, August 24, 2024 TASHKENT, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- A joint scientific expedition on the ecological environment of the Aral Sea aimed at addressing the ecological crisis of the Aral Sea and jointly promoting green innovation cooperation in the region kicked off Friday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Abdukhakimov Aziz Abdukaxarovich, minister of ecology, environmental protection and climate change of the Republic of Uzbekistan, expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its continuous support for scientific cooperation between the two countries at the launching ceremony. He said that the expedition not only holds significant scientific value but will also play an important role in the future development of the Aral Sea region and the lives of local residents. Chinese Ambassador to Uzbekistan Yu Jun described the ecological protection and restoration efforts in the Aral Sea region as an important part of practical cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, as well as between China and Central Asia. He said that these efforts have been included in bilateral and multilateral documents multiple times and have become a consensus at the leadership level. The joint scientific expedition will lay a solid research foundation for the comprehensive management of the Aral Sea, he said. Zhang Yuanming, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), noted that the expedition, which is led by Chinese scientists, will conduct field studies on the biodiversity, soil, hydrology, and geomorphology of the dried-up lakebed to explore the mechanisms of ecological degradation in the Aral Sea. The expedition also aims to propose "a roadmap for restoration and green development for the Aral Sea," he said. Shakhlokhon Turdikulova, vice president of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, said that China's experience in large-scale environmental management and restoration is very valuable to Uzbekistan. The expedition, running from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, is initiated by the XIEG of the CAS in collaboration with scientists from Uzbekistan, Russia and other countries. Since 2013, the institute has carried out experiments and demonstrations of green innovation technology in the Aral Sea region, including efficient water-saving agriculture and the selection and promotion of salt-tolerant plants. An ecological environment monitoring network covering the entire basin has also been preliminarily established. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning) BAKU. Azerbaijan. August 26. A clash between police and local residents took place in the commune of Tarn in France, Trend reports. Residents damaged construction equipment and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police in protest against the construction of the Toulouse-Castro highway. Police used tear gas against the disgruntled crowd, and one person was arrested. The construction of the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway has caused serious discontent among environmentalists and scientists. In their opinion, this road will lead to the destruction of arable land and green spaces, a decrease in groundwater levels and a disruption of the moisture balance. It should be noted that in previous months there had been clashes between protesters and police over the construction of the road. (Bloomberg) -- Ghanas vice president backed plans to introduce draconian anti-LGBTQ laws, courting conservative voters in his bid to become the West African nations next president. Most Read from Bloomberg Mahamudu Bawumiasaid his assent to a bill passed by lawmakers earlier this year would be automatic, provided the Supreme Court finds the draft legislation is constitutional. Ghanaian citizens have challenged the legality of the proposed law that calls for anyone who identifies as LGBTQ to be jailed for as many as three years. Addressing the anti-LGBTQ bill at a conference Sunday in the capital, Accra, Bawumia exclaimed a phrase in his native Hausa language that translates as We wont agree! The comment drew cheers from some members of the audience. Bawumia and his closest rival, John Mahama, are in a tight race for the presidency three months before elections on Dec. 7. While both candidates have made anti-LGBTQ comments in the past, theyve previously stopped short of saying whether they back the bill. Bawumia is fueling Ghanaian sentiment against the LGBTQ community to amass support, Alex Kofi Donkor, the director of activist group LGBT+ Rights Ghana, said by phone. The fate of LGBTQ lives has become a scapegoat for political advancement. Bawumia is a member of Ghanas Muslim minority, while Mahama hails from the Christian majority. Religious leaders from both groups have voiced their condemnation of sexual and gender minorities in recent years. Ghanas Finance Ministry warned in March that the bill may jeopardize $3.8 billion of World Bank funding over the next six years, if it becomes law. It may also derail a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout and hamper the countrys efforts to restructure $20 billion of external debt, the ministry said at the time. Investors in Ghanaian eurobonds in June reached an accord to forego more than a third of the principal amount they are owed by the government, while also agreeing softer repayment terms as part of a debt-restructuring exercise. President Nana Akufo-Addo has refused to receive the bill until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality. The incumbent, whose second and final term ends in January, hasnt said what hed do if the bill were deemed lawful by the nations highest court while hes still in office. Presidential assent is the final step required for the anti-LGBTQ bill to become law. The president may also reject the bill or transfer it to the Council of State for further advice after receiving it. The LGBTQ issue is an outlier issue in Bawumias election campaign, which has mainly focused on the economy at a time when Ghana faces slowing economic growth and a cost-of-living crisis spurred by annual inflation that continues to hover at more than 20%. (Updates with comments from LGBTQ activist in fifth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A man has been arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a preteen girl while she was walking with her mother in Mt. Tabor Park. Court documents say police responded to the alleged assault on Aug. 16, when witnesses called 911 after the 12-year-old girls mother called out for help, reportedly yelling, He touched my daughter. Man dead from hit-run in Southeast Portland, driver at large The mother then began pursuing the man in question, later identified as 32-year-old Fernando Garces. The documents further allege that Garces proceeded to mock the girls mother after she pulled out her phone to record him, stating Youre just trying to be famous. When the mother reportedly shouted back at Garces to stop touching children, he responded, I was touched every day. Cirque du Soleil acrobat hospitalized after fall during Portland performance A short while later, Garces sprinted out of the park, followed by multiple witnesses. He was then arrested responding officers. When police conducted a follow-up interview with the mother and daughter the day after the incident, the daughter claimed that Garces had come out of nowhere and lunged at her, mumbling incoherently. He then allegedly grabbed the girls arm with one hand and groped her over her running shorts with the other. When he tried to pull her towards him, she managed to break free. Garces is currently facing a charge of first-degree sexual abuse and remains 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 KOIN.com. A local childrens hospital is celebrating National Dog Month with furry friends who play a special role in care and recovery of families and patients. Therapy dogs were gifted treats at Shriners Childrens Erie Monday morning to celebrate National Dog Month. Erie County Fair celebrates 139 years of fun on opening day A child life specialist said the dogs make a huge difference in the lives of patients. She said the dogs are welcoming and inviting and set the stage for the rest of the visit. Zabawa volunteers speak on record-breaking year for festival Theres interesting things that happen when kids have therapy sessions or any kind of procedure that we do here the dogs change the vibe in the room and children can relax its a nice welcoming distraction for them it helps everything, said Kristin Maguire, a child life specialist for Shriners Childrens Erie. Maguire said its also important to recognize the work of the volunteers who make appearances at the hospital several times a month with the dogs. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. Goodwill Industries of Arkansas receives nearly $500,000 grant to provide mental health training focused on youth LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The Goodwill Industries of Arkansas received a grant of nearly half a million dollars to put a focus on mental health in the younger community. Officials with Goodwill announced that the organization received $499,950 from the Arkansas Department of Human Services Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to expand training at The Academy at Goodwill. Goodwill Training & Education Center bringing new opportunity to Arkansans The Academy at Goodwill is offering free training in courses focused on signs and symptoms in adults and for those who work with adolescents ages 12-18. Registration for Mental Health First Aid for Adults and Youth Mental Health First Aid is open, and classes will begin Sept. 10. Training in Teen Mental Health First Aid will be available at a later date. Courses will teach teenagers ages 14-18 how to recognize and respond to signs of mental health issues and substance use among their peers. Salt Bowl contributing to a good cause with Goodwill donation drive Sr. Vice President and Chief Mission Officer Edie Stewart said the grant will better prepare individuals to respond to mental health crises in the state. We are excited to receive this grant, Stewart said. The grant will allow our Academy to continue to expand our training and prepare even more first responders, teachers and other individuals to become better equipped to tackle the critical challenge of mental health well-being in our state. To register for the Mental Health First Aid for Adults and Youth Mental Health First Aid, visit GoodwillAR.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 KARK. Harriss party has sought to cast themselves as underdogs, even as her entry into the campaign has supercharged Democrats down in the dumps over President Bidens chances of reelection. As Democrats guard against overconfidence, the Trump campaign and Republicans feel they still have multiple paths to victory and advantages on the issues that matter the most to many voters. Trump, who has faced calls from Republicans to change his campaign strategy given his new opponent, recently dismissed the idea that Harris is gaining ground. He also last week ridiculed those who say he should avoid personal attacks on his opponents, who he noted are happy to go on the attack against him. No, shes not having success. Im having success, Trump told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum on Thursday. Im doing great with the Hispanic voters. Im doing great with Black men. Im doing great with women, because women want safety, Trump said. No, its only in your eyes that they have [momentum], Martha. Were doing very well in the polls. The polls do show a very tight race that is likely to come down to seven familiar states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina. At the same time, there is no question polling has shifted in Harriss favor. A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average of polls shows Harris leading Trump in Michigan by 2 points, North Carolina by 1 point, Pennsylvania by 1 point and Wisconsin by 3 points. Trump leads Harris by 3 points in Georgia and 1 point in Nevada, while the two candidates are deadlocked in Arizona, according to polling averages. Both sides are aware of the numbers, and do not want their supporters to take anything for granted. I think we are in an era of close elections, and the default is, everything is close, Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. But that also means that small shifts are significant. I think its probably a good chance that Harris moved the race a couple of points in her direction with the convention this week. Harriss late emergence as the Democratic nominee left the two campaigns with roughly 100 days to motivate their base voters and appeal to those still undecided. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s announcement Friday that he was ending his independent bid and endorsing Trump was a reminder of how quickly things could still shift in the final two months of the race. [Trump] understands media enough to know hes lost control of the narrative and I fully expect [him] to try and get that back, said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, who served as Harriss communications director until last year. I do believe that he will search for a new moment to change the trajectory of the race. So there will be dramatic moments, Simmons predicted. Democrats have had a remarkable turnaround in the past month, going from resignation over the fate of the race to a state of sheer jubilation with Harris atop the ticket. Last weeks convention was a joyous gathering for the party, which found itself in the unexpected position of having to guard against overconfidence. This is a brutal, tough business. I want you to be happy. One of the reasons that President-to-be Harris is doing so well is that were all so happy, former President Clinton told the convention crowd Wednesday night. But you should never underestimate your adversary. Harris herself continued to describe the party as the underdogs in the presidential contest. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), told supporters during his acceptance speech, therell be time to sleep when youre dead. Republicans and the Trump campaign have been adamant the odds remain in their favor. Polls have shown voters trust Trump more than Harris on issues such as immigration and the economy, both of which are likely to be key considerations when voters cast their ballots. Senior Trump campaign advisers have also maintained the former president has multiple paths to 270 electoral votes. Harriss campaign likely needs to sweep the blue wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020 by a combined total of fewer than 200,000 votes. I just want to urge everybody out there we cannot take this for granted, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said Thursday on Fox News. We have got to get the vote out. We got to stay focused. We got to stay focused on the future. Trump allies have also argued Harris is experiencing an extended honeymoon phase with voters that has led to inflated poll numbers that overstate what her support will be in November after she faces weeks of bruising attacks and questions about her policy views. Harris and Trump will square off in a debate Sept. 10, which is likely to be the next major inflection point in the race. Act I of the Harris-Walz campaign ended last night, and it played to rave reviews, said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way. Act II starts now, and this is where the two sides mix it up, highlighted by multiple debates. The race is dead even. Amie Parnes contributed. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Someone once asked me who I thought would be the Democratic equivalent of Donald Trump would be. My answer: Kanye West. He's world-famous, extremely wealthy, narcissistic, unstable, politically ambitious, lacks any self-awareness and is manifestly unfit except it turned out that he's actually a right-wing anti-semite. I might have answered Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at one time, except he's now endorsed Donald Trump. I'm sure there must be some truly crazy lefty out there who would be a bridge too far for many Democrats but that combination of authoritarianism, pathological character flaws, overwhelming ignorance and demagogic talent seems to inevitably drift toward the right these days. That is not to say that voters aren't always subject to emotional attachment to their leaders in both parties. In recent decades, Republicans practically worshipped Ronald Reagan and Democrats were head over heels for Barack Obama. There was even a time when even George W. Bush was practically deified. Still, the Trump phenomenon is different from those examples because he is so unfit for office that it has shaken many Americans' belief in democracy. How could our system allow such a person to dominate our political culture for more than eight years and be within striking distance of the presidency again after having been roundly defeated in the last election? I thought about that as I watched the Democratic convention last week and a small group of Republicans and former Republicans took the stage to speak out against their former president and exhort their erstwhile comrades to vote for Kamala Harris instead. It wasn't the first time members of the opposing party spoke at a convention. I think of Jeane Kirkpatrick, a Democratic foreign policy expert who drifted into the right wing with those other Democratic apostates known as the neoconservatives. At the 1984 Republican National Convention, she gave the keynote speech, calling the Democrats the "Blame America First crowd" for their alleged lack of patriotism. Back in 2004, former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, a Democrat, also gave the keynote speech at the GOP convention to re-nominate President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. It was brutal. Still in the throes of the Iraq war, he condemned John Kerry and the Democratic Party as weak on national security. 2024 wasn't the first time that Republicans spoke at a Democratic convention either. In 2020 former GOP Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey gave speeches exhorting voters not to vote for Donald Trump. This year we heard from former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham. former Georgia Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan and a few others as well. But it seems to me that the big difference between these GOP apostates and the Democrats who left the party to join the Reagan Revolution or back George W. Bush is the fact that the Democratic apostates left their party over policy differences. They didn't like what they saw as the leftward ideological drift of the Democrats so they moved over to the Republicans, There were plenty of voters who went that way too, especially during the Reagan years. But the Republicans who've spoken at the last two Democratic conventions have done so almost exclusively out of disgust with Donald Trump, personally, and his lack of ideological principles. It's true that there was some talk about the Democrats being better on foreign policy with support for Ukraine and opposition to authoritarian tyrants like Putin and Kim Jong Un, but for the most part, their entreaties to vote for Harris were simply based upon the need to defeat Trump because of his bad character, criminality and dangerous unfitness. Some even went so far as to say that Harris needs to be elected in order to save the Republican Party from the MAGA cult. These people represent the Never Trump faction which has set ideology aside for the moment in order to create a popular front to defeat Trump. Some of them are openly endorsing Kamala Harris, telling their followers that she is preferable to Trump in some ways on issues but mostly arguing that policy differences just don't matter at the moment because the threat of Trump is so dire. But they aren't the only Republicans who know the threat exists. Former Attorney General Bill Barr knows that Trump tried to overturn a legitimate election. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell understands that Donald Trump was a disaster as president. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley made it clear that she thinks Donald Trump is unfit to hold office. Yet they are all voting for him anyway. Whether it's because they have Fox News brain rot and are convinced that Antifa is the greatest threat America faces, as Bill Barr does, or that loyalty to the GOP brand is paramount, as McConnell does, they are simply incapable of reacting seriously to the threat. Saying they will write in someone else's name, as former Vice President Mike Pence and former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton, are saying they will do is a silly affectation. And those others who have written books and given interviews spilling the beans from the inside on what an utter catastrophe Trump's first term was and yet are refusing to step up and publicly endorse Harris or even go on TV to condemn Trump, the only reasonable explanation is that they are, as The Bulwark's Tim Miller writes, "chickenshit." Apparently, they can't be bothered. Miller calls out people like former White House Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Kelly, former defense Sec. Gen Jim Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates. Former Trump National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, it should be noted, is currently pushing his new book declaring that Russian President Vladimir Putin had Trump wrapped around his little finger. (Yet he went on TV this weekend and absurdly claimed that he believes that writing his book will persuade Trump not to let Putin do that in the future.) As Miller writes: There are two options for president. On the one hand you have a woman who just presented herself as a mainstream Democrat who plans to respect and uphold the fundamental American political traditions at home and abroad. On the other you have a candidate who you have acknowledged is the most flawed person you have ever encountered, a danger to the country, and an existential threat to our system of governmenta convicted criminal, an abuser of women, and a moron. How in Gods name do you justify silence in the face of that choice? This is not a close call! It is not a close call. I don't know if I will ever be faced with a situation like this. But I would like to think that if some famous loon were to capture the imagination of Democratic voters and he or she threatened the future of the nation, I would have the guts to oppose him or her and throw my lot in with the saner other party. Anyone's first responsibility should be to stop a dangerous demagogue and argue about ideology and policies later. If you don't do that, as Trump himself likes to say, "you won't have a country anymore." Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. The Douglas County Sheriffs Office is mourning the unexpected death of one of their own. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Last week Tuesday, Douglas County Dep. Marco Miranda-Perez died at his home. According to the sheriffs office, it is believed the deputy died of natural causes. TRENDING STORIES: Miranda-Perez connected with many in the community, including the Douglas County District Attorneys Office. We are saddened by the sudden passing of Deputy Marco Miranda from the Douglas County Sheriffs Office (Georgia). He worked closely with our office throughout the years, and it is a great loss for all, the DAs office said. Arrangements are still pending. We are keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers, the sheriffs office said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Green Party candidate did not qualify for U.S. House race in metro-east district A Green Party candidate aiming to run for Congress in Illinois 13th Congressional District this November did not qualify for the ballot, according to a ruling from the Illinois State Board of Elections on Friday. Chibu Asonye of Urbana did not gather enough signatures to appear before voters in the election for the congressional district that stretches from the Metro East to Springfield and Urbana-Champaign. Asonye gathered 1,557 signatures, according to the states top election authority. However, 12,710 is needed under state law. The Green Party hopeful would have needed a far greater number of signatures than her Democratic and Republican counterparts. U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Springfield needed 727 signatures to qualify, and Republican challenger Joshua Loyd of Virden needed 567 signatures, the News-Gazette reported earlier this summer. Candidates from the two major parties need signatures from 0.5% of qualified primary voters from their party in the congressional district. For parties not on the ballot for the last election, candidates must collect signatures from 5% of all general election voters, according to state law. The Friday decision follows a recommendation from the boards hearing officer, which its general counsel confirmed. A Springfield resident initially made the objection to the state board in July. Carolyn Kopel, a frequent contributor to the Democratic Party, has donated $6,600 to Budzinskis campaign in the past two years, the News-Gazette reported. Asonyes campaign said in a statement that she was unsurprised by the boards decision and has filed the necessary paperwork to be a write-in candidate. As our team anticipated, Illinois Democrat-affiliated operatives successfully removed Chibus name from the General Election ballot, her campaign said. They are dismissing the voices of every Illinoian who saw themselves in Chibu. Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly redrew congressional districts in 2021 to gain a U.S. House seat. In 2022, Cook Political Report projected Democrats would have a 3-point advantage in the 13th District. But Budzinski cruised to victory, winning her seat by 13 percentage points. In a close election, a Green Party candidate attacking the incumbent Democrat from the left could have siphoned off some of the most liberal voters. With Asonye officially off the ballot, the race is set between just Budzinski and Loyd for the Nov. 5 general election. BAKU. Azerbaijan. August 26. An engine malfunction was detected on the vessel, Trend reports. The passage of ships through the Bosphorus Strait has been temporarily stopped in both directions due to a breakdown of the 171-meter oil tanker "Sredina" under the Panama flag. "The 171-meter-long tanker developed an engine malfunction at the northern entrance to the Bosphorus Strait while it was traveling from Romania to Libya. Tugboats were immediately sent to the vessel," the department reported on its X page. Meanwhile, the Marinetraffic ship monitoring service indicates that the tanker was traveling to Benghazi from the Russian port of Novorossiysk. At the same time, the Vesselfinder website indicates that "Sredina" arrived at the Bosphorus from the western part of the Black Sea from Bulgaria. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks during a rally at Union Park during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) MADISON, Wis. (AP) Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a Democratic challenge seeking to oust her. Democrats are concerned that third-party candidates could draw votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris and help Republican Donald Trump win Wisconsin. The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a deciding factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes. The court decided against hearing the challenge brought by David Strange, an employee of the Democratic National Committee, who sought to oust Stein from the ballot. The court did not explain its reasoning. We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks, the court said in its unsigned order. Strange argued that the Green Party cant nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin because the party does not have any state officeholders or legislative candidates authorized to nominate presidential electors. The Green Party and Republicans countered that the party met all of its legal requirements and that Stein should be allowed to remain on the ballot. Stein praised the decision, saying the Green Party beat back the DNC's attack. Today justice prevailed, she said in a statement. Michael White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, called the complaint a mark of fear by the Democratic Party and said the attention generated by it had motivated Stein backers. It was an inevitable conclusion because the complaint had no merit to begin with and we knew that, he said. Democratic National Committee spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the decision disappointing and said the Green Party should not be on the ballot. Stein last appeared on the Wisconsin ballot 2016, when she won just over 31,000 votes more than Trumps winning margin of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year. Strange had challenged a Wisconsin Elections Commission decision in February to grant the Green Party ballot access. The commission did so because a candidate from the party won more than 1% of the vote in a statewide race in 2022, meeting a requirement under the law. Sheryl McFarland got nearly 1.6% of the vote while finishing last in a four-way race for secretary of state. The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify which candidates can appear on the ballot. Democrats are also challenging the placement of independent candidate Cornel West on the ballot. A Republican National Committee employee is challenging independent Shiva Ayyadurais candidacy. The Wisconsin Supreme Court kept Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins off the ballot in 2020 after the elections commission deadlocked on whether he filed proper nominating signatures. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to appear in Florida next week Photo/Jill Stein campaign Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will be on the Florida ballot in November, and shell be in the state to make a couple of appearances next week. Stein will be in Tampa on Sept. 3 to attend the opening day of the federal trial of Omali Yeshitela and two other members of the International Democratic Peoples Uhuru Movement, which has a base in St Petersburg. They face charges of working with three Russian intelligence agents to sow discord, spread pro-Russia propaganda, and interfere in U.S. elections. A spokesperson for Stein calls the charges unfounded and unjust. On Sept. 4, Stein will appear in Jacksonville in a public conversation with International Studies Professor Jorge Majfud at Terry Concert Hall on the Jacksonville University campus at 5:30 p.m. Stein is running on the Green Party ticket with Rudolph Butch Ware, an associate professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Stein was on the ballot as the Green Party presidential nominee in Florida in both 2012 and 2016. In 2012, she received just 8,947 votes, 0.1% of the total vote. However, in 2016, she received 64,399 votes, a total of 0.7% of the vote in Florida. An August poll from ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos shows Stein getting about 1 percent of the national vote. GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) Deputies with the Greenville County Sheriffs Office are investigating a shooting that killed one person Sunday evening. Officials responded to Dorsey Boulevard in reference to the shooting shortly after 9 p.m. When deputies arrived on the scene, a man suffering from at least one gun wound was discovered on the front porch of the residence. The victim was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced deceased. The Greenville County Coroners Office has identified the man as 55-year-old Ernest Berry Sibert Jr. An autopsy has been scheduled for Monday. The shooting remains under investigation by the Greenville County Sheriffs Office. 7NEWS will continue to update once 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 WSPA 7NEWS. GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) Law enforcement officers with the Pitt County Sheriffs Office responded to reports concerning child abuse on April 24, of this year. Police were called to Maynard Childrens Hospital at the ECU Health Medical Center to start investigating a child abuse case. The Major Crimes Unit took over the case and began working with family members, DSS, and ECU Health to gather evidence. The process took several months. On August 12, law enforcement officers received the medical records needed for the case. The evidence was then presented to the magistrate, who issued warrants for 37 year old Greenville resident Brandon Ward Garris. Garris is being charged with felony child abuse resulting in serious physical injury. Garris was arrested on August 16, and given a $150,000 secured bond. He has been placed in the Pitt County 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 WNCT. It was moving day for the people of Ava Park apartments. The city of Griffin condemned the apartment complex after complaints of mold, rodents, and other issues. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Im angry because it was like a short notice, long-time resident Carolyn Rucker told Channel 2s Audrey Washington. Rucker said she remembers when she first moved into the apartments. Groundhog Day, 1982, Rucker said. Now decades later, Rucker and her neighbors are out. Last week, after the complex failed an inspection, the city inspector ordered everyone at the complex to leave. Resident Clifford Hamilton broke down in tears on Monday. He said he started a petition months ago to help get repairs done. I know God orchestrated this. He let this happen to uncover a lot of stuff, Hamilton told Washington. TRENDING STORIES: Millennia Housing Management owns Ava Park apartments. The company was also linked to the infamous and now-demolished Forest Cove apartments in South Atlanta. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development banned Millennia from obtaining new Section 8 contracts. However, some Ava Park residents said the City of Griffin needed to step in earlier. In a lengthy statement to Channel 2 Action News, the City Manager Jessica O Connor wrote in part: In partnership with the community, the mission of the City of Griffin is to protect and enhance the quality of life for all citizens. I am proud of our city employees, the Griffin Housing Authority, contractors, and local community advocates who continue to demand decent, safe, and sanitary housing for the residents of Ava Park Apartments. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Millennia Housing Management placed the Ava Park apartments residents in temporary housing. Its awful. I dont like staying in a hotel, Rucker explained. Griffin city officials said the property will eventually be completely rehabilitated.HUD is expected to receive the inspection reports by Monday. IN OTHER NEWS: Volunteers with People Power for Florida helped Florida A&M University students register to vote on Aug. 21, 2024. (Picture courtesy of Allison Minnerly) A voter registration group that Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani founded helped 728 students register to vote and update their addresses on eight college campuses across the state, surpassing its previous such efforts. The presidential election combined with the proposed abortion-rights and recreational marijuana amendments that will be on the ballot in November fueled students interest in registering, said Allison Minnerly, communications director for People Power for Florida, in a phone interview with the Phoenix. Its partially credited due to the presidential election. Theres a lot of people that have that on their mind, but its also because of these ballot amendments that are really specific to young people that are really of interest that were seeing such higher interest and engagement, she said. Were just really proud also to have had the volunteer capacity to reach all these students and have grown our movement enough that we could have enough people on the ground. Since 2021, People Power for Florida has been hosting voter registration drives on college campuses, called Dorm Storms, during the time students move in for new terms. This year, volunteers worked during the past two weeks at: Florida State University University of Florida Florida Atlantic University University of Central Florida University of North Florida Florida A&M University University of South Florida Florida International University The group had the most success at UCF, where 176 students registered or updated their registrations. Eskamani represents part of Orange County and recently earned a PhD from that university. Minnerly cited the diverse student body and the groups connections in Orlando for the number of people registered at UCF. People Power for Florida held a Dorm Storm at UNF for the first time this year. They helped 47 students register to vote and update their registrations. Adapting to new third-party voter registration group regulations A 2023 Florida law levying hefty fines for third-party voter registration organizations that make certain errors meant that People Power for Florida had to have their volunteers sign declarations that they had not been convicted of felonies and were U.S. citizens. However, the group still worked with paper forms, as opposed to having tablets for people to sign up directly on the Florida Division of Elections website, as the state has suggested they do to avoid the fines. Other groups, such as the League of Women Voters of Florida, use QR codes to direct potential voters to the online form from the state. A lot of these laws like SB 7050 dont apply to the online voter registration. They apply to the paper forms, Minnerly said. We are still using the paper forms because we believe strongly that, when we are on the ground, pen and paper is the fastest and most accessible way for people to register to vote. Minnerly said the group chose the public university campuses because private universities tend to have more rules about who can table on campus, but Nicholas Biscardi, a first-time volunteer, said USF officials told the group not to set up a tent and to remain outside. The 40-year-old from the Tampa Bay region helped students register to vote from Thursday to Saturday. The first day was pretty rainy, but we did a lot better than expected, Biscardi told the Phoenix in a phone interview. During the three days at USF, 161 students registered to vote and updated their addresses. Parents get involved Students were not the only ones eager to register to vote; parents were also encouraging, FAMU junior Darchelle Pickett said. She decided to volunteer with People Power for Florida on Aug. 21 because she wanted to learn from the group as a member of the College Democrats. The Rattler team helped register 55 people. It was a great experience getting people registered to vote, especially with their families there, she said. Of course, the parents were super excited to see us there because a lot of parents were also wondering about if there was a precinct or if their kids would be able to vote on campus. People Power for Florida plans to host additional voter registration drives ahead of the Oct. 7 deadline to register for the general election. Next month, the group will host organizing boot camps with the sponsor of the abortion-rights amendment at five campuses. GROVE CITY, Ohio (WCMH) A cocktail bar located in Grove City is shutting down after more than five years of business. Zassys Cocktail Lounge at 3940 Broadway announced over social media that its closing permanently on Aug. 31. According to the companys website, the owners of Zassys decided to close this chapter. Thank you to all of the amazing people weve met and made friends with throughout the years. We truly appreciate all of you, according to the post. This embedded content is not available in your region. Known as an upbeat and fun gathering space, the lounge offers a variety of specialty made cocktails and drinks. The taproom has a menu of drinks for customers to choose from including bourbon cocktails, different types of mules, margaritas, martinis and has a food list. The owners mentioned in the post they are excited for their next chapter, but did not mention what that is. Theres also no mention of what is next for the lounge building once it closes. Zassys will remain open until the end of the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday. For more on the taproom, 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Gunmen kill dozens in multiple attacks in one of the deadliest days in a Pakistani province Volunteers and relatives load the body of a passenger, who was killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, into an ambulance after collecting it from a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan killed at least 38 people in three separate attacks on Monday, officials said, while the military said security forces killed 21 insurgents, marking one of the deadliest days of violence in the restive Baluchistan province, with reports of other shootings and destruction in the area as well. Twenty-three people were fatally shot overnight after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passersby, in Baluchistan's Qalat district, authorities said. The bodies of six people were found in Bolan, where insurgents also blew up a railway track. They also attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, all districts in Baluchistan. No casualties were reported in those attacks. The military said 14 security forces were martyred while responding to the attacks. Those appeared to be included in the overall death toll. Sanitization operations are being conducted and the instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly acts, targeting innocent civilians, will be brought to justice, the military said in a statement. Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Baluchistan, told reporters in Quetta that operations against the insurgents are underway, and those who killed our innocent civilians and security with be dealt with a full force. Baluchistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on security forces. The separatists have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted. The attack in Musakhail came hours after the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army separatist group warned people to stay away from highways as they launched attacks on security forces in various parts of the province. But there there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings. In a statement on Monday, the BLA only said it inflicted heavy losses on security forces in attacks in the province. Pakistan's military and government did not immediately comment on that claim. The group often provides exaggerated figures of troop casualties. It said one female suicide bomber also took part in the attack on security forces. Separatists are known to ask people for their ID cards, and then abduct or kill those who are from outside the province. Many recent victims have come from neighboring Punjab province. Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, denounced the latest killings, saying the attacks are a matter of grave concern and urging the Baluchistan government to step up efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in separate statements called the attack in Musakhail barbaric and vowed that those behind it would not escape justice. In May, gunmen fatally shot seven barbers in Gwadar, a port city in Baluchistan. In April, separatists killed nine people after abducting them from a bus on a highway in Baluchistan. They also killed two people and wounded six in another car they forced to stop. The BLA claimed responsibility for those attacks. Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the latest killings of non-Baluch people are an attempt by separatists to harm the province economically. Ali told The Associated Press that most such attacks are carried out with the aim of weakening Baluchistan economically, noting that the weakening of Baluchistan means the weakening of Pakistan. Separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province. Most such previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed group and others demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. The Pakistani Taliban also have a presence in the province, and they are closely connected to the BLA. In a separate attack on Monday in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a roadside bomb killed four people and wounded 12 others in North Waziristan district, said local administration official Abid Khan. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. ___ Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report. GMT Watch Safari (day 3). Ever wondered how Jaquet Droz helps to preserve the arts of Grand Feu enamel, engraving, micro-sculpture and miniature painting? Heres the afternoon programme for Day 3 of the inaugural GMT Watch Safari, a week-long immersion in the heart of Switzerlands finest watch manufactures, which takes place from 27 October to 1 November 2024. Join us on Watch Safari! To mark its 24th anniversary, GMT Magazine is offering 24 watch enthusiasts an unprecedented week-long adventure from Geneva to Schaffhausen, via Neuchatel and the Vallee de Joux. Participants will enjoy exclusive access to the workshops and manufactures where exceptional timepieces are born. Heres a sneak peek of Day 3, which begins with a morning visit to Zenith and continues with an afternoon at the Jaquet Droz Manufacture. Watchmaking workshop Jaquet Droz Artistic crafts, the essence of creation A short drive from Le Locle brings you to the outskirts of La Chaux-de-Fonds, where the Jaquet Droz Manufacture, part of the Swatch Group, stands an elongated contemporary building sheathed entirely in glass. Step inside and youre immediately enveloped in an atmosphere that deftly balances disruption and tradition. Disruption, because that has been Jaquet Drozs philosophy since 2021, encapsulated in their motto Disruptive Legacy. And tradition, because the brand founded by Pierre Jaquet-Droz in 1738 remains committed to fostering and reinventing rare artistic crafts. These time-honoured skills are injected into unique, mostly bespoke pieces that run the gamut between pure classicism and avant-garde exuberance. Among these crafts, the Manufactures artisans have mastered Grand Feu enamelling, creating dials with unparalleled colour and texture. Once completed, these dials become virtually indestructible, their lustre preserved for centuries. Miniature painting offers intricate, hand-crafted decorations that often require weeks to complete. While the techniques remain traditional, the designs evolve: Jaquet Droz is known for personalising its pieces with provocative flair. Engraving and micro-sculpture are also integral to Jaquet Drozs repertoire of rare craftsmanship. Whether worked on gold, platinum or minerals, in relief or intaglio, these skills bring exceptional automata to life, creating moving tableaux on richly decorated dials. The list of crafts doesnt end there; gem-setting, intaglio, mosaic work and many others flourish within the Jaquet Droz workshops, with new skills continually added to meet creative demands. Enamel workshop Jaquet Droz A unique experience Visitors to the manufacture have the privilege of witnessing every stage of watch creation: assembly, adjustment, engraving, miniature painting, finishing and quality control. Its a captivating experience, made even more special by Jaquet Drozs exquisite hospitality. With no boutiques or retail outlets, the workshop serves as the brands sole showcase, welcoming collectors both in person and virtually. In this phygital age, Jaquet Droz has joined forces with Studio 8, an innovative workshop where customers and artisans can collaborate remotely on new creations. A prime example is the Tourbillon Skelet Ceramic Skull Pink Pointillisme watch, adorned with over 3,000 dots of hot pink paint, each applied by hand using incredibly fine brushes, some no thicker than a hairs breadth. From initial brief to 3D renderings and final approval, Studio 8s 4K cameras help bring collectors wildest dreams to life. The Jaquet Droz workshop visit concludes with a wine tasting hosted by CEO Alain Delamuraz a perfect opportunity for participants to make the most of their afternoon, before heading to a surprise dinner and overnight stay at the Hotel Beaulac in Neuchatel. If youd like to join the GMT Watch Safari, from 27 October to 1 November 2024, you can sign up here! Storms hit Southern New England with hail, flooding NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) Parts of Southern New England were impacted by stormy weather Monday afternoon. The line of storms brought heavy rain, gusty winds, and even some hail to certain areas, along with flash flooding. All watches and warnings were canceled as of 6:30 p.m. RADAR: Check our interactive weather map View Now: Warwick fire truck caught in flood Video Now: Hail falls in Warwick Video Now: Flooding in New Bedford Video Now: Hail falls in Wareham Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Pinpoint Weather 12 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 WPRI.com. Harris Campaign Co-Chair Says Wave Of 'New Energy' Could Help Win Georgia Mitch Landrieu, the national co-chair for Vice President Kamala Harris campaign, said Sunday he believes she could surge to victory in Georgia a key swing state in November, pointing to a wave of new energy since she became the Democratic nominee. We really think that we have a chance to win Georgia, Landrieu said on MSNBCs The Weekend. Were going to make Donald Trump defend every ounce of ground in America. As the Harris-Walz campaign looks to maintain its momentum out of the DNC, the campaigns co-chair @MitchLandrieu discusses how they're turning momentum from the convention into action. pic.twitter.com/bmNfXnNOot The Weekend on MSNBC (@TheWeekendMSNBC) August 25, 2024 Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will head to southern Georgia on Wednesday. The vice president will hold her first campaign event there since announcing her bid for the White House and the pair will embark on a short bus tour to meet with voters before Harris holds a rally in Savannah. Polls have shown the Harris-Walz campaign surging around the country, but Georgia remains a tough battleground. Trump soundly won the state in 2016, but Biden did so in 2020 by a margin of just 11,779 votes. The results are the crux of one of Trumps indictments as he attempted to overturn the results there including a call in which he suggested the Georgia secretary of state help him find the votes he needed to win. Trump and his surrogates are also focused on Georgia as the former president seeks to shore up support in swing states. But his allies have voiced concerns that if some regions slip away, Trump could have an impossible path ahead. If we dont win Georgia, I dont see how we get to 270, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on CNNs State of the Union this weekend. I do believe Georgias ours to lose. Its really hard for Harris to tell Georgians that were on the right track they dont believe it. Landrieu pointed to the tidal wave of support behind Harris following last weeks Democratic National Convention, noting the campaign said it had raised $540 million to support her bid. Last week was an incredible week. You havent seen something like that in a long time, he said Sunday. From the beginning, we said no matter how excited you are, we have a close race and you need to get to work. $540 million is a lot, by a lot, by any measurement, and the idea now is to put it to work, Landrieu added. Related... Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Milwaukee during the scheduled during the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024 Credit - Anna MoneymakerGetty Images Donald Trump stunned a roomful of Black journalists this month when he claimed Vice President Kamala Harris happened to turn Black a few years ago. The former President has also in recent weeks repeatedly mispronounced Harris' first name and said she would be treated as a play toy by world leaders. The first woman of color running as a major party's presidential nominee is expected to continue to draw political attacks with racist or misogynistic undertones until Election Day. For many women of color at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, the advice they had for Harris for the next 10 weeks could be summed up in four words: Don't take the bait. Some things you dont even need to dignifyact like you didnt even hear, says Rev. Shari Nichols-Sweat, a 66-year-old retired high school music teacher from Chicago, who belongs to the same historically Black sorority as Harris, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Nichols-Sweat was at the United Arena on Thursday night, having just watched Harris convention speech. Speaking to the country, Harris described how she saw first-hand as a child the challenges her mother faced as a brilliant, five-foot-tall, brown woman with an accent who emigrated to the U.S. from India at the age of 19 with a dream to become a breast cancer research scientist. But she never lost her cool, Harris said. She was tough. Harris is taking the same approach. Instead of expressing outrage at Trumps comments or calling them racist and sexist, she has often responded with a light touch, saying such comments are a part of the same old show of disrespect, and dismissing Trump and his allies as weird and Trump himself an unserious man. Harris will come face-to-face with Trump in a primetime debate in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, where he may further question her racial identity and level personal attacks against her in front of a nationally televised audience. Shes already doing debate prep sessions to plan out how she will respond to Trumps tactics in person, according to campaign officials. Former First Lady Michelle Obama, during her convention speech on Tuesday, addressed the racist rhetoric and attack lines that have been wielded against Harris, warning that people are going to do everything they can to distort her background and accomplishments. My husband and I, sadly, know a little something about this, she said, before calling out by name Trump, who peddled unfounded birther allegations against Barack Obama. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black, she said. Obama offered a piece of advice to Harris: Going small is never the answer, she said. Small is petty, its unhealthy and, quite frankly, its unpresidential. Like Harris, Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic Senate candidate who had a primetime speaking slot at the DNC on Tuesday, could also make history this cycle as Marylands first Black Senator. She tells TIME the racist and demeaning attacks against Harris are a sign Trumps worried about losing: He attacks her because she wins, she says. Harris candidacy has excited and engaged people and she should continue to be exactly who she is and continue working, Alsobrooks says. Alexandria Alston, 33, a fashion designer and embroiderer from Chicago who attended Harris speech Thursday night, said the Vice President is playing it right to not give Trumps insults too much oxygen. She is keeping her focus on what she needs to keep it on. Sometimes when people attack you, you have to look forward and not necessarily give them so much attention. Those baiting comments were effective distractions in previous election cycles, Alston says. But she thinks this time is different. You know this is a tactic of his, and so I dont think were taking it, Alston says. Rather than hurt Harris, the attacks diminish the one lobbing them, says Krystal Kidd, from Southfield, Michigan. "Im really disappointed because I really thought he was a dynamic businessman once upon a time," she says. "They show he hasnt done his due diligence to be competitive in this race." Like so many others at the convention this week, Kidd hopes Harris continues to ignore such efforts by Trump. "She doesnt have to do anything to push back against him," says Kidd. "Everything shes worked for speaks for her." Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com. Hundreds of staffers that served under President George W. Bush, Arizona Senator John McCain, and Utah Senator Mitt Romney jointly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, writing that another presidency under Donald Trump would be untenable. Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. Thats to be expected, the group wrote in a letter. The alternative, however, is simply untenable. At home, another four years of Donald Trumps chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions. Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies, the letter continued. We cant let that happen. The letter received 238 signatures in allsignificantly more than endorsed the 2020 edition of this letter, in which 150 former Republican staffers announced their intention to vote for President Joe Biden. Some of the signees include former McCain chiefs of staff Mark Salter and Chris Koch, former McCain legislative director Joe Donoghue, McCains 2008 press secretary Jennifer Lux, and George H.W. Bush chief of staff Jean Becker. The endorsement underscores how divided traditional Republicans feel from other conservatives as Trump, Project 2025, and increasingly extreme factions of the right tighten their grip on the future of the party. Some of that tension has actually been stoked by Trump himself: While running for president in 2015, Trumpwho famously avoided the Vietnam War draft with a timely diagnosis of bone spursmocked McCain for being taken prisoner while serving in Vietnam, declaring that the 2008 Republican presidential nominee was not a war hero and that he like[s] people that werent captured. But Trumps anti-military rhetoric isnt just in the past. Instead, its been a point of contention for the MAGA candidate even in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump came under fire for arguing that the Presidential Medal of Freedom he awarded to one of his billionaire donors was much better than the nations highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. That comment rubbed veterans the wrong way, who connected Trumps disrespectful rhetoric to a 2020 Atlantic report that caught the former president repeatedly referring to fallen soldiers as suckers and losers. Vice President Harris, the Democrat nominee for president, marked the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, when 13 U.S. service members were killed. Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe, she said in a statement. She named the 13 service members and said she is also thinking about the service members who died in Afghanistan over the duration of the war. Harris also backed President Bidens decision to withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling it the right decision. As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end Americas longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones. I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland, she said. The Afghanistan withdrawal was one of Bidens first major foreign policy moves as president, but it proved to be one of the most tumultuous with the Taliban once again having swiftly taking over Kabul. Republicans have continued to criticize him and his administration over the handling of the exit. The troops died when a bomb went off at the airport as U.S. forces were working to evacuate thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghan civilians. Harris has been hit with criticism over the withdrawal on the campaign trail as Republicans will work to associate and blame her for any shortcomings of the Biden administration. On Monday, former President Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to mark the anniversary, seeking to turn the chaotic pullout against Harris. He was joined by family members of the service members, some of whom also spoke at the Republican National Convention. Biden also mourned the troops on Monday, reinstating a commitment to preventing future terrorist attacks and disrupting terrorist activities. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Harris-Walz co-chair: We really think that we have a chance to win Georgia Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair for the Harris-Walz campaign, said Sunday he is optimistic about Vice President Harriss chances of winning Georgia in the general election this November. We really think that we have a chance to win Georgia, Landrieu said in an interview on MSNBCs The Weekend. Theyre going to compete there in a very hard way. And were going to make Donald Trump defend every ounce of ground in America, he continued. Landrieu said the campaign is a hundred percent committed to carrying Georgia, when asked in the interview. Focused on Georgia, they got new energy when the vice president took over, Landrieu said, referring to the moment President Biden stepped aside and Harris emerged as the partys presumptive nominee. Senator Warnock, as you know, gave an incredible speech at the convention. And Senator Ossoff is there, as well as Lucy McBath and a bunch of other folks, he continued, noting Democratic officials who represent Georgia in the U.S. Congress. Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are scheduled next week to head to Georgia, which is set to be one of the closest races in the election. Of all the battleground states in play for Harris, she fares the worst in a head-to-head match-up with former President Trump in Georgia. In The Hill and Decision Desk HQs polling average for Georgia, Trump leads Harris by 2.7 percentage points, 49.2 percent support to 46.5 percent. That performance is significantly worse than her national average, which shows Harris leading Trump by 3.6 percentage points, 49.5 percent to 45.9 percent. Trump is also leading Harris in Nevada, but by only 1 point, 47.3 percent support to 46.3 percent. And in Arizona, the two candidates are virtually tied, with Trump at 47.3 percent support and Harris with 47.2 percent. Harris, meanwhile, leads Trump by 1.9 percentage points in Michigan, 48.3 percent to 46.4 percent. She leads Trump by 1.1 percentage points in North Carolina, 48 percent to 46.9 percent. She leads by 0.9 percentage points in Pennsylvania, 48.4 percent to 47.5 percent. And she leads by 3.3 percentage points in Wisconsin, 49.5 percent to 46.2 percent. President Biden beat Trump in Georgia in 2020 by an exceedingly slim margin, and Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Georgia in 2016. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Environmental & Energy Law Professor Richard Wallsgrove joins producer/host Coralie Chun Matayoshi to discuss how Hawaii is doing in meeting its energy and transportation goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2045, why renewable energy sources can help avoid rolling blackouts and increase resiliency during disasters, settlement of the Navahine lawsuit filed by Hawaii youth, and recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have significantly impaired the Environmental Protection Agencys ability to limit air and water pollution, regulate the use of toxic chemicals, and reduce greenhouse gases. Q. Last month, we experienced the hottest day on Earth ever, with no end in sight for heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes. Greenhouse gas emissions trap the suns heat, and we know that about 2/3 of global emissions come from fossil fuel-based energy systems. Hawaii has been a leader in trying to move the needle towards renewable energy and net zero emissions. How are we doing? In some ways, Hawaii is doing great. For electricity, in 2015 Hawaii became the first state in the U.S. to mandate that we shift completely away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. Over that decade, the greenhouse gas intensity of our electricity system has declined steadily each and every year and it continues to go down. Those declines put us nearly on track for an electricity system free of carbon pollution in time for the states 2045 target. And as a bonus, the transition to renewable energy is also saving money. That suggests that this transition will continue speeding along and Hawaii can continue to be a model for other parts of the world However, as the emissions from electricity go down, it is leaving our transportation system as the largest remaining source of emissions. And so on that front there is much work to be done. Q. Is electricity from renewable sources able to help avoid rolling blackouts? Absolutely yes. Traditional fossil fuel plants were the root cause of blackouts that occurred earlier this year when the two large oil-burning generators at the Waiau power plant failed without warning on the same day. The close call last week happened when the Kalaeloa private power plant went offline without warning. The long outage downtown this summer was caused by the failure of an underground power line. Modern renewable energy can be less clunky and more resilient against outages because it relies less upon big power plants and physical wires to move power from those plants out to homes and businesses. After more than a decade of increasing renewable energy on Oahu, outages have been less frequent in recent years than they were 10 years ago. This type of resilience can be seen in the thousands of rooftop solar systems powering Hawaiis grid. To unexpectedly lose 100 megawatts of renewable energy, 10,000 solar-powered homes would have to break down all at once. Its the difference between putting all your eggs in one basket, versus thousands. A study released earlier this summer from the University of Texas reaffirmed what we are seeing on the ground here it found that a modern electricity grid relying primarily on diverse smaller sources of electricity like rooftop solar can maintain grid reliability and extend the life of old utility wires and poles while cutting costs by 40%. Essentially, we are sitting right at the divide between two competing visions for how to best transform the electricity system. Traditionally, electric utilities have relied on large, centralized power stations that feed electricity into a one-way grid that delivers electricity to homes and businesses. As a result, other parts of our energy systemsuch as how we move power around on transmission and distribution lines, and how utilities earn their revenuehave been tailored to that centralized model. Sticking to the status quo calls for developing renewables in the same way, with large solar and wind farms. But the UT study (and many others) set out a competing vision for modern electricity systemsrelying much more on decentralized sources of power like rooftop solar and home batteries, to match up with the decentralized demands for power. In that vision, the electric grid will become a two-way platform, and we will all be both consumers and producers of energy. Hawaiis recent energy gains in rooftop solar and community solar are setting us up to benefit from resilience of this newer vision. Living on islands that are not connected to each other by power linesand not connected to a continental gridmakes this particularly important and valuable. Q. Even though the Big Island and Maui generate a large portion of their renewable power from wind farms, some are concerned by environmental factors like noise and harm to wildlife. The Hawaii Community Development Authority recently announced a partnership with Kanoa Winds Inc. to study a wind turbine that has been used in Japan to generate clean power for over 15 years. Tell us more about this. Every source of energy has some impact on our environment. Fossil fuels have been particularly harmful, with impacts that cover the entire globe and that are as extreme as the extinction of entire species. Other energy sources have impacts that are more localized, such as the need to be cautious about the impacts of wind turbines on some species of birds and bats. This reality is that there is no silver bullet. This means making energy choices is really a process of balancing tradeoffs. For wind turbines, the energy they can produce goes up dramatically even with a small increase in size. And when a single turbine can harness lots of energy, that means the electricity it generates has a lower price in terms of dollars and cents. Other parts of the world are installing turbines that dwarf the size we typically see here in Hawaii. But a bigger turbine also means that the blades move faster, creating a bigger risk for birds. There are ways to lower that risk such as stopping or slowing the turbines at times of day when birds and bats are more active. But the tension between impact and cost efficiency remains. Used in the right way, technological advancements can help with this tension. For example, the Hawaii Community Development Authority in partnership with Kanoa Winds is evaluating something called a vertical-axis turbine. Instead of large blades that rotate, these are more like towers that spin. They do not create the same risks for wildlife, but they also tend to generate much less power. They could be a good choice for places without as much space, but where having lots of smaller poles might fit alongside existing urban infrastructure such as Kakaako Makai where HCDA is testing the vertical axis design. They also might be an option for places with large populations of the types of birds that can be affected by a traditional wind turbine such as Kauai which currently uses no wind power because of the need to protect nesting seabirds. Q. The other big consumer of energy is transportation. Tell us about the Navahine lawsuit that was filed by Hawaii youths against the State Department of Transportation. For transportationwhether on the ground, in the water, or in the airthe vast majority of our energy still comes from fossil fuels. The law is fuzzy, and that is a big part of the problem. Other than an overall target to have a clean energy economy by 2045, the state has not adopted a clear policy on clean transportation targets. In 2017, all four Hawaii Mayorsadopted a soft policy target of 100% clean transportation by 2045, but those targets do not have the same implementation mechanisms as the electricity mandate. Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation is a lawsuit filed by youth plaintiffs right here in Hawaii, asking the state to come up with a plan to reduce carbon pollution from transportation. It is part of a legal movement by youth plaintiffs across the U.S. and the globe, all asserting the idea that future generations have a right to a life-sustaining climate system. Here in Hawaii, the legal basis for that idea is the constitution, which provides a right to a clean and healthful environment. It is also based on something called public trust doctrine, also found in Hawaiis constitution. The doctrine states that all natural resources such as the atmosphere are held in trust for the benefit of present and future generations of the public. This is a powerful legal principle that has roots in Kingdom of Hawaii law. The transportation sector was targeted in the Navahine lawsuit because greenhouse gas emissions are a growing part of Hawaiis emissions. Earlier this summer, Governor Green and HDOT Director Ed Sniffen agreed to settle with the youth plaintiffs by agreeing on tangible benchmarks and a plan to catalyze decarbonization for transportation. The benchmarks include, over roughly the next year, preparing a plan to reduce greenhouse emissions sufficient to meet the states existing 2045 target. Over the next five years the state will work with counties to complete pedestrian, bicycle and transit networks to make them more accessible and cleaner. The state also committed $40 million to expanding public electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, and establishing a volunteer youth advisory group to help guide these transformative changes Q. Why is the settlement important? It is the first of these cases in the world to specifically target carbon pollution from the transportation sector (asking that HDOT prepare a plan to support decarbonizing transportation systems) and the first youth atmospheric trust case in the U.S. to reach a final resolution. Q. Why did HDOT settle the case? When they first filed the complaint, the youth plaintiffs asked for a ruling that there is a constitutional right to a life-sustaining climate system. Subsequently, in the Hu Honua case concerning electricity emissions and a proposed power plant on the Big Island, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled exactly as the youth plaintiffs had asked. The youths transportation trial was scheduled for June and the plaintiffs had a strong legal and factual case. Also, it is the right thing to do. The youth plaintiffs were clearly making a case based on the public interest, on a topic where their lives and livelihoods are threatened but they lack political power to protect themselves. It was a bad look when the youth plaintiffs were deposed aggressively by state lawyers hired from the mainland, and an equally bad look when the state submitted testimony essentially disclaiming any responsibility for reducing our carbon pollution (arguing that Hawaii is too small to matter). Q. Is Hawaii too small to matter? Will the settlement make any difference? When Hawaii passed its 100% renewable electricity law in 2015, people said the same thing. But within a few years roughly two dozen other states and territories adopted similar laws sometimes with express credit given to Hawaiis leadership. Today, roughly half of all U.S. residents live in places that have committed to decarbonizing the electricity system. Hawaii was clearly a leader on electricity policy, and the settlement means that it can become a leader in the next phase of climate solutions reducing transportation emissions. Q. Can Hawaii impact federal law? It seems that the U.S. federal government is so politically polarized that it prevents productive discussions on solving the climate crisis unlike what is being done in Hawaii. The Navahine settlement built on an ecosystem of increasingly effective climate and energy law here in Hawaii, including the recent series of decisions by the Hawaii Supreme Court affirming that we each have a right to a climate system that is not destabilized beyond repair by carbon pollution. Justice Eddins, for example, used powerful language in rejecting the Hu Honua powerplant yesterdays good enough has become todays unacceptable. Other courts are sure to take notice. The Montana Supreme Court, for example, is considering another climate case where youth plaintiffs succeeded at trial in demonstrating that their right to a livable climate system was being denied by a law that forbid Montana officials from even considering climate impacts when making policy decisions. Some federal judges are taking this same approach recognizing the importance of solving the climate crisis, that the law has played a role in making it possible to pollute the atmosphere without consequence, and that the law has a role in fixing that problem. Other federal judges have acknowledged that climate change is a big problem but have ruled that it is such a big problem that the courts cannot play any role in solving it. Hawaii and the Navahine settlement are busting that myth of a helpless legal system. Q. In the last 2 years, the United States Supreme Court has issued rulings that have significantly impaired the Environmental Protection Agencys ability to limit air and water pollution, regulate the use of toxic chemicals, and reduce greenhouse gases. Can you tell us more about this? The recent ultra-conservative turn of the U.S. Supreme Court is difficult to justify from the perspective of legal precedent, and even harder to explain to law students. Many observers find that the only credible explanation is that the current conservative majority on the Court is comprised of activist judges who are making decisions based on their personal political, ideological, and religious preferences, rather than making decisions based on foundational principles such as precedent and stewarding the legitimacy of the judiciary. This has not been limited to environmental cases, but certainly the federal EPA has been attacked by the current court in a series of decisions that are untethered from reality of a healthful environment e.g. concluding in W.V. v. EPA that the EPA cannot hold coal powerplants accountable for the cost of carbon pollution, concluding in the Sackett case that the EPA cannot prevent pollution into wetlands unless those wetlands have a visible surface connection to interstate waters (i.e. pretending that hydrological systems are only connected if that connection is visible), and overruling its longtime precedent on Chevron deference concluding this summer in Loper Bright that judges, rather than technical experts who work for federal agencies, are best positioned to determine how those agencies can most effectively achieve the outcomes mandated by laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. In short, federal law is a mess on these issues right now. Many legal experts believe that the focus should be on ensuring that states continue to protect the public interest in the environment, and on so the recent news from Hawaii is promising. Q. What happens next here in Hawaii? The Hawaii Department of Transportation decarbonization plan for transportation systems will be important (although the state only controls some elements of the transportation system like roads and airports) by finally creating a plan it can help to lay a foundation upon which citizens and private enterprises can create more and more viable options for transportation that is cleaner and more affordable transportation than the current fossil fuel status quo. It can create new opportunities, for example, for local innovators like the companies paired with the Energy Excelerator a technology and startup incubator right here in Hawaii that works on sustainable solutions. That transportation plan will depend, in large part, on a renewable electricity system that can support more electrified transportation options. So, the transition away from fossil fuels in electricity continues to be fundamental. This coordination is a good thing Hawaiian Electric calculated a few years ago that each time a new electric vehicle comes online in Hawaii, it actually reduces the cost of electricity for everyone (even those still driving fossil fuel vehicles). Combining our steady progress in recent years with these sorts of opportunities paints a promising picture. It will also be important that we keep our eyes on these changes in the big picture, so that we dont fall prey to misinformation like the misinformation at the heart of the lawsuits filed by Honolulu and Maui counties against the oil industry for using deceptive tactics to market fossil fuels. The data is irrefutable renewable energy is helping to stabilize and lower energy costs at the same time it is helping us be more responsible for our carbon emissions. And with the proliferation of rooftop solar systems and battery storage across each island, the transition is also making us more resilient to things like price spikes or other disruptions in the global oil markets. Not all the news is good news, however. We have heard some recent concerning statements by Gov. Green suggesting that his administration would like Hawaii to sink billions in new fossil fuel systems by transitioning the old oil-burning power plants to liquefied natural gas. From one fossil fuel to another like switching from cigars to cigarettes in the name of healthy lungs. This LNG idea is expensive and polluting, and it threatens to distract us from the progress being made on decarbonization. Q. Given Hawaiis progressive climate laws, would liquified natural gas (LNG) be allowed? The laws specifically on electricity might allow for LNG on a short-term basis before 2045. But that creates a problem fossil fuel infrastructure is long-lived. To pay it all off by 2045 would make it expensive. And unless federal law clamps down on how much LNG is leaked into the atmosphere before it would even reach Hawaii, it can be worse for the climate than coal. As weve discussed, the polarized state of the federal government makes it risky to rely on federal rules. The law would require our Hawaii energy regulators to look closely at these expenses and emissions. I find it hard to see a scenario where LNG could pass muster if it is looked at objectively. More broadly, the law calls for us to reach net-zero emissions or better for the entire economy by 2045. Although this is a policy target rather than a law that binds any particular carbon emitter, it has influenced the Hawaii Supreme Courts thinking in these climate cases, and it forms a basis for the Navahine settlement. Investing in new fossil fuels would push in the opposite direction back toward the status quo. So in my view, the answer is no the law does not favor large investments in LNG. To learn more about this subject, tune into this video podcast. Disclaimer: this material is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The law varies by jurisdiction and is constantly changing. For legal advice, you should consult a lawyer that can apply the appropriate law to the facts in your 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 KHON2. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes name most major conditions, and treatment today has changed radically from decades past. Except for one: death. But, according to Sam Parnia, associate professor of medicine at New York Universitys Langone Medical Center, what we believe about death is fundamentally wrong. It is not the end, he says, but a reversible state. Parnias 30 years of research into where life ends and death begins have made him a leading resurrectionist, with a fundamental desire to change how we view both. He outlines his discoveries in Lucid Dying, to be published on Thursday: a book that charts compelling evidence that reviving the dead isnt as difficult as we might think, and his research into what happens when consciousness ebbs away. Parnia, who is British and trained at Guys and St Thomas in London, has come to see a flatline on an ECG (electrocardiogram) as meaningless. You can reverse death, and its not just a wish, its the reality, the 52 year-old says. People used to think you could never go beyond the boundaries of [flying], let alone going beyond the atmosphere of the Earth. And if you always believed that, then youd never try. Death, he adds, is suffering from terrible PR. If we remove that social label that makes us think everything stops, and look at it objectively, its basically an injury process one that, he believes, can be treated. Sam Parnia's new book 'Lucid Dying' charts compelling evidence that reviving the dead isn't as difficult as we might think - getty Research produced in the past five years has made it clear that our idea of dying is simply a social convention that does not conform with scientific realities. This new frontier of science, as Parnia terms it, feels at least a little revolutionary, fundamentally challenging one of lifes two certainties (taxes sadly seem less prone to reversal). But he remains frustrated that existing theories about death, which are either outdated and frankly wrong, or at best inadequate and inaccurate, persist given the research and tools now at our disposal. In 2012, resuscitation rates following cardiac arrests at his hospital in New York were 33 per cent (compared to a US average of 16 per cent); he believes his team are the only ones in the world to be giving patients cocktails of drugs similar to those proven to successfully preserve pig organs following CPR, which have significantly improved survival. Parnia, who has an eponymous research lab at NYU Langone, says brains remain salvageable for not only hours, but possibly days of time. In one case, brain cells were found to retain full function 48 hours after being removed from a persons body in spite of the ice being used to preserve the organ melting due to a delayed DHL delivery. So thats a whole game-changer. In recent years, such discoveries have come thick and fast. Parnia cites Yale Universitys 2019 study detailing how decapitated pig brains had been revived for up to 14 hours post-mortem as among the most compelling pieces of proof for the same being done in humans (the research was labelled Frankenstein-style the year prior to publication). Another study published by Yale in 2022 demonstrated how a modified heart and lung machine combined with a series of drugs could restore organs in pigs. It is just a matter of time before those same results transcend the pig-person barrier, Parnia thinks. While the promise to reverse death would be compelling at any point, our current obsession with thwarting time is insatiable; there are supplements and tinctures filling health store shelves and social media feeds; and record-breaking podcasts making stars of their DNA-defying supremos. Last month, excitement ramped up anew when news of Tomorrow Bio, Europes first cryonics startup, circulated, with its deep-freeze services going for 170,000 a pop. Founded in 2019, Tomorrow Bio is the first company to offer cryopreservation to the public so they can be reanimated in the future - Getty Images Cryonics has yet to prove that it is capable of returning people to life (Parnia calls it wishful thinking), though the idea that cooling the body is highly protective is true. He points to the case of a British woman who developed hypothermia while hiking in Spain in 2019, whose heart stopped for six hours while rescue teams tried to locate her. Thats way past what we consider dead for humans, Parnia says. Yet after being flown to a specialist centre with an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO, which takes on the function of the heart and lungs when the body is unable to do so), she was revived. She was lucky they had [ECMO]. They did it, they didnt give up on her. If they had taken her to another place, she would have been declared dead. (In another similar case, a woman was brought back to life seven hours after being found in the cold in a park.) Back from the dead These are reported as exceptional cases, but Parnia says they neednt be. For the most part, CPR, which was introduced in 1959, remains our sole revival method in spite of the fact it has a 10 per cent success rate, and many hospitals have ECMO machines. Why do it with something thats so inferior, which either doesnt work properly or it ends up bringing people back but leaves them with brain damage? Parnia rails. It doesnt make sense. Still, it is not only the will that is holding medical professionals back from mounting a full-time resurrection mission. With hospitals overstretched NHS waiting lists hit a record high in August, rising for the fifth consecutive month the likelihood of departments having the resources and staff to keep at patients bedsides 24/7 feels perhaps more far flung than the idea of people returning from the dead in the first place. But Parnia is convinced it is possible, the fact he is part-way through an intensive care shift when we speak is doing nothing to dilute his fervour. Though his fascination with the subject began in 1994, when a man he had been chatting with an hour earlier suddenly flatlined in the hospital where he was working, the pursuit has only recently begun to feel personal. Giving up too soon? He notes that his age and gender makes him a prime heart attack risk, so I tell everyone, look, Im going to have a cardiac arrest soon. And Im appalled at the treatment Im going to get... Its atrocious what we have to go through when [interventions] are possible, he says. If I have a heart attack and die tomorrow, why should I stay dead? Thats not necessary anymore. Parnia doesnt believe everyone who dies needs to be brought back someone with multiple organ failure is obviously an unsuitable candidate for life-extension. But of the many heartbreaking cases of people who die while in otherwise good health (Parnia cites a young mother stabbed to death in a Sydney mall attack earlier this year, or those killed in war), we are giving up too soon. You just need someone to go to the operating room, find where the laceration was, stitch it together, and put blood back into your body again, he says. Those who die while otherwise young, who are otherwise healthy those people are all potentially salvageable. To Parnia, these ideas arent ghoulish, but hopeful, astonishing and life-affirming. Just as bringing people back via CPR would have been considered the stuff of fantasy 100 years ago, I have little doubt that, in the future, people who would be declared dead today will be routinely brought back to life. He acknowledges that major shifts of this kind are unlikely to have fully taken hold by the time his own death comes, but he remains optimistic, he says. As I look forward, I am excited to think about what will be discovered. Lucid Dying by Sam Parnia is out on August 29. 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. Hearts are shattered: 5-year-old dies after shooting self with parents gun **Related Video Above: How a dog is helping keep guns out of this Ohio school school district** SANTAQUIN, Utah (WJW) The parents of a 5-year-old boy are mourning the loss of their son after he reportedly found a handgun in their Utah home and accidentally shot and killed himself last week. 11-year-old on bike hit by car in Perry Township The Santaquin Police Department confirmed to the Associated Press that the boy was found with a single shot to the head in his parents bedroom. The boys father reportedly ran to his aid after hearing the 9 mm gun go off, but authorities said the child was confirmed dead at the scene. The family released a statement to local TV station KUTV following the tragedy: On August 22, 2024, the Wilson and Hunsaker families experienced an unimaginable tragedy, losing a cherished member who will be deeply missed. However, through our faith in Jesus Christ, we will get through this trial, as we feel his love so abundantly. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who responded and to the community for their overwhelming support and compassion. This heartbreaking incident has taught us difficult lessons, and we deeply regret that it unfolded this way. Our hearts are shattered, and we hope that our familys loss serves as a poignant reminder of how quickly life can change. We hope this tragedy serves as a reminder for others to take every precaution to ensure the safety of their children. As we come together to grieve, we kindly ask for privacy during this difficult time as we mourn the loss of our beloved little boy. 14-year-old dies in Ohio dirt bike crash It was not made clear how the boy found the gun, and no charges have been filed in this 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. CHPTR_.8 [KAIROS] features a pure aesthetic with its stainless steel case. Incorporating all the characteristics of the 44mm bestseller, this version embodies the quintessence of contemporary watch design, highlighting simplicity and sophistication in perfect balance. CHPTR_.8 Kairos BA111OD Finally, the CHPTR_.9 2-Tone is adorned with an elegant two-tone combination, pairing steel with a yellow gold PVD coating. This fusion of materials offers a look that is both classic and contemporary. CHPTR_.9 BA111OD A hymn to Time that counts The brands founder, Thomas Baillod, is proud to present BA111ODs first manufacture complication. While the minute hand travels around the dial in the usual way, the hour is indicated by a small dot following a hypocycloidal path within a triangle, creating a non-linear experience of time. "I particularly appreciate this aspect. Besides being mesmerizing, it's the symbolic aspect of life that fascinates me. Like those precious moments that last or slip away... the hour dot slows down and then speeds up again in a movement that appears irregular yet is perfectly calibrated and precise." A hypocycloidal reading of time This project, initially imagined by the designer Diego Bottger-Zevallos, turns out to be complex to realize. Thomas Baillod takes on the challenge. To ensure its technical development and production, he once again calls upon the brilliant watchmaker Olivier Mory, who is already responsible for the paternity of the BA111OD Chapter 4 Tourbillon. "There is hardly anything but the transcendent beauty of mathematics to obtain a triangle using only things that rotate in circles! And it is a discreet tribute to the several centuries-old use of the cycloid in watchmaking. Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Euler, Cantor or Roberval, to name but a handful, have all worked on the amazing properties of these curves," says Olivier Mory. Rather than simply rotating a hand around a central axis, the movement was designed to "roll" a satellite hour wheel around a fixed central hour wheel. When a wheel is rotated around another wheel, the trajectory described by any point on this satellite wheel is a cycloid. There are several types of cycloids, some of which have particular trajectories, depending on the size ratio between the fixed wheel and the satellite wheel, as well as whether the satellite wheel rotates inside or outside the fixed wheel. In this new chapter for BA1110D, the chosen cycloid is a deltoid (with a ratio of 1/3), and as a result, the trajectory described by the tip of the hour hand is... a triangle. A particular shape highly appreciated by BA111OD is the triangle. With its three legs, this geometric shape that rises up represents direction and determination. It symbolizes stability and balance. This balance echoes the brand's business model, which is based on three letters, BAC (Business Afluendors Clients), breaking with the linearity of traditional distribution (B2B, B2C). Even the name BA111OD incorporates the number 3, with its three 1's. CHPTR_.9 BA111OD Conception, design, development, production, and assembly Swiss made: Between local collaborations and in-house work. Few watchmaking houses have taken the step of developing their own in-house movement module; those that have are well-established and have already built a solid reputation. BA111OD stands out in this regard. The young Neuchatel-based brand is embarking on this adventure, despite having been founded just under five years ago, on October 11, 2019. However, according to its founder, this is a natural progression: "From day one, BA111OD has been about a different way of looking at watchmaking. Here, we also offer a new way of reading time." Accustomed to highlighting the artisans with whom he develops his models, Thomas Baillod is no exception in this case. He pays tribute to Diego Bottger-Zevallos, the initial designer of this movement, with an engraving of Module 09310 on the dial, which, when read backwards, offers a nice nod to this Neuchatelois, as his first name can be discerned. Heat-related deaths are on the rise, according to new study Heat-related deaths are on the rise, according to new study Americans are more at risk from the deadly effects of heat than ever before, a new study found. Researchers from the Journal of the American Medical Association say there were 21,518 deaths from 1999-2023 where heat was either the underlying cause or the contributing cause of death, a possible underestimation, they say. In total, heat-related deaths have increased 117% since 1999. The authors of the study, which was released Monday, used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to calculate the mortality rates. While the number of heat-related deaths fluctuated year to year, there was a sharp uptick in the last seven years. According to the data, heat-related deaths increased by 16.8% per year from 2016 to 2023 - and researchers expect the numbers to continue climbing. "As temperatures continue to rise because of climate change, the recent increasing trend is likely to continue," the authors wrote. Dr. Jeffrey Howard, co-author of the study and associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said a mix of factors contributed to the upward trend after 2016. "It is likely that continued increases in average temperatures, the number of 'hot days' and the frequency and intensity of heat waves could be playing a role," he said. "There is also a social and behavioral component as well, including differences in access to air conditioning, outdoor work, the number of unhoused individuals, and things like that." Last year was not only the hottest year on record but also the most deadly, with a total of 2,325 people dying from heat, the study found. Around 120,000 people were admitted to the emergency room for heat-related illnesses from January to December 2023, according to CDC data. Over 90% of those visits occurred during the peak summer months of May to September. Data from the study indicates that heat-related deaths were the highest in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas. "This not terribly surprising because we know that these are some of the hottest regions in the country, but it does reinforce that the risk varies regionally," Howard said. Rising temperatures due to climate change have led to record-breaking heat across the country in recent years. After recording the warmest July on record in 175 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on a call this month that there is a 77% chance that 2024 will be the hottest year yet. The international community is also grappling with the deadly effects of heat. A recent study published in Nature Medicine estimated that 47,000 people died last year in Europe due to heat. Experts say the number of heat-related deaths in the U.S. and globally is likely an undercount. That has to do with the way that heat-related deaths are tracked. "People may present to the Emergency Department or the hospital with a heart attack, stroke, asthma attack, or kidney failure, and heat is often not recorded in medical records as the underlying cause," Dr. Celine Gounder, CBS News medical contributor, told CBS News earlier this month. Howard said local and state officials, clinicians and researchers should take heed of the sharp increase in heat-related deaths in the last seven years and make adjustments to ensure deaths are counted properly. "There is a still a lot of variability in the procedures for completing death certificates across all of the counties in the US, which could be enhanced with additional standardization," he said. As the temperatures climb each year, states are scrambling to put life-saving measures into place. The Journal of the American Medical Association authors recommend local governments invest in cooling centers, air conditioning and hydration centers to help people beat the heat. Other ways to protect against extreme heat, Dr. Gounder said, include taking advantage of state and federal tax credits for residential renewable energy installation projects, and making sure your home is properly insulated. On an individual basis, Dr. Gounder said she recommends cold showers and taking breaks in the shade if you're outdoors. New Hampshire confirms death of person with mosquito-borne EEE 2 workers killed at Atlanta Delta facility after reported tire explosion Veterans and spouses find strength through bakery fellowship program ultrasound is performed to verify a pregnancy at the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, An ultrasound is performed to verify a pregnancy at the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La. Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in two Republican-led states, and lawmakers in other states have considered similar legislation. (Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press) Read more Stateline coverage on how states are either protecting or curbing access to abortions. Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other states. Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw abortion trafficking, which it defined as recruiting, harboring or transporting a pregnant minor to get an abortion or abortion medication without parental permission. In May, Tennessee enacted a similar law. And Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma introduced abortion trafficking bills during their most recent legislative sessions, although those bills failed to advance before the sessions ended. Those five states are among the 14 that enacted strict abortion bans following the U.S. Supreme Courts June 2022 Dobbs decision, which dismantled the federal right to abortion. Now, conservative state lawmakers are pushing additional measures to try to restrict their residents from getting them in states where it remains legal. A lot of folks thought Dobbs was the floor and its really not, said Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat whos challenging Tennessees trafficking law in court. [Anti-abortion lawmakers] are coming for state travel and the ability to even talk about abortion. Abortion-rights advocates have filed lawsuits in Alabama, Idaho and Tennessee, arguing the laws are vague and violate constitutional rights to free speech and travel between states. A federal judge has temporarily blocked Idahos law from being enforced while the case is ongoing. Proponents of the laws argue theyre needed to protect parental rights and to prevent other adults from persuading adolescents to get abortions. This is a parental rights piece of legislation, Idaho Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt told Stateline. We cant control someone getting an abortion in Oregon. But you cannot take a child to get an abortion without the parents knowledge because, at least in the past, we would have called that kidnapping. Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, But critics warn that abortion trafficking laws could have grave implications not only for interstate travel, but also for personal speech and communication between friends, or between children and adults they trust. If courts go down this road, it could change the scope of the First Amendment, Mary Ziegler, a legal historian and law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, told Stateline. It could have an effect on what else qualifies as crime-facilitating speech, and that could limit the kinds of things people can say and do online and in other contexts. Opponents also question whether states should be permitted to interfere in the business of other states. Criminalizing travel within an abortion-ban state to reach another state for a legal abortion would allow prosecutors to project power across state lines, said Ziegler. We havent seen states try to interfere in whats happening in other states in quite the same way in a long time, she said. Thats why there is legal uncertainty because were not talking about something where we have a lot of legal precedent. Republicans say legislation reinforces a parents right to do whats best for their child Tennessee state Rep. Jason Zachary, a Knoxville Republican, defended Tennessees legislation as a parental rights bill that reinforces a parents right to do whats best for their child, in remarks he made to the Tennessee General Assembly before the bill passed. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law in May. The following month, Behn joined with Nashville attorney and longtime abortion access activist Rachel Welty to file a lawsuit challenging the new law. Behn and Welty sued nearly a dozen district attorneys in Tennessee, alleging they ignored Weltys requests to define what behavior would be deemed illegal under the new law. The Tennessee law says that abortion trafficking occurs when an adult intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion or an abortion-inducing drug without parental consent, regardless of where the abortion is to be procured. A hearing to determine whether the court will grant a temporary injunction blocking the Tennessee law, which is currently in effect, is scheduled for Aug. 30. After Idaho passed its law in April 2023, two advocacy groups and an attorney who works with sexual assault victims sued the state attorney general. The plaintiffs claim Idahos law is vague and violates the First Amendment right to free speech, as well as the right to travel freely between states. The right to interstate travel isnt spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, but its implied, legal experts say. The Idaho law directly applies to travel within the state, but it also notes that defendants are not immune from liability if the abortion provider or the abortion-inducing drug provider is located in another state. Megan Kovacs, a board member with the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, which is a plaintiff in the case along with the Indigenous Idaho Alliance, said it is so clearly unconstitutional to disallow people from accessing health care from within or outside their state. Kovacs added that her group also wants to protect its volunteers from legal liability. Neither the Idaho nor the Tennessee law exempts minors who become pregnant after being raped by a parent. If that person had to go to a parent who didnt believe them or wanted to defend that family member who was the abuser, that only impedes healing even more, said Kovacs, who has spent a decade working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Ehardt, who sponsored the Idaho bill, said any adult who is told by a child about an incident of incest should call authorities rather than helping the minor obtain an abortion without parental consent. You have to call the police, and they will be the ones to help protect the childs safety, she said. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing in May in Seattle, and Kovacs said she expects to learn in the next few weeks whether the court will uphold the temporary injunction blocking Idahos law while the lawsuit rolls on. In July 2023, a group of health care providers sued Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall and district attorneys, asking the court to prevent the state from prosecuting people who help Alabamians travel to get abortion care in states where its legal. The providers filed the lawsuit in response to remarks that Marshall made on a radio show in 2022, when he suggested that some people who aid a pregnant patient in planning or traveling to get an abortion in another state could be prosecuted under the states criminal conspiracy laws. A judge denied Marshalls motion to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this year, and the case is ongoing. Tennessee, Idaho laws mirror model legislation published by National Right to Life Committee The Tennessee and Idaho laws mirror language in model legislation that was published in 2022 by the National Right to Life Committee, which bills itself as the nations oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. With this model law, we [are] laying out a roadmap for the right-to-life movement so that, in a post-Roe society, we can protect many mothers and their children from the tragedy of abortion, said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life Committee, in a June 2022 statement introducing the model anti-abortion law. Anti-abortion-rights organizations, like other interest groups, have long coordinated strategies to promote their preferred legislation to state and federal lawmakers. The Idaho and Tennessee laws focus specifically on minors, even though they comprise a small fraction of people who get abortions. Those under 19 accounted for 8.1% of abortions, and those under age 15 accounted for just 0.2% of abortions in 2021, the most recent year for which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published data. Kovacs and Ziegler say the bills zero in on minors access to abortion because policies that regulate children and teens tend to be more politically acceptable than broader restrictions that affect adults. Such bills also tend to be more likely to survive legal challenges in court. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Opponents say law has a chilling effect Nobody in Tennessee or Idaho has yet been prosecuted under the abortion trafficking laws, but an Idaho woman and her son were charged with kidnapping last fall for allegedly taking the sons girlfriend, a minor, out of state to get an abortion. One main goal of a law such as Tennessees, Behn believes, is to create a chilling effect so that average people are scared to help anyone who might need an abortion, for fear of breaking the law. These bills create an environment of suspicion, fear and misinformation, said Behn. But I do think we will see more aggressive district attorneys start to prosecute these cases. [The law] widens the permission structure to start prosecuting people. Laws criminalizing abortion travel and imposing other abortion restrictions may be designed to provoke a legal challenge, Ziegler said. With a 6-3 conservative majority, the U.S. Supreme Court might be inclined to support them. Abortion-rights advocates argue that restrictive abortion laws end up harming even those people who live in states where abortion is still legal. Oregon, for example, has some of the strongest abortion protection laws in the nation. And yet the strict abortion ban next door in Idaho has made it more difficult for Oregonians to access care, said Kovacs, who lives in Oregon. These bills create an environment of suspicion, fear and misinformation. But I do think we will see more aggressive district attorneys start to prosecute these cases. Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn Before Idahos ban, many people in Eastern Oregon traveled to Idaho for abortion care, she said, because its clinics were closer than Oregons clinics, most of which are concentrated on the western side of the state. Last year, in response to increasing abortion restrictions in other states, Oregon passed a sweeping health care omnibus bill that strengthens protections for abortion providers and explicitly allows minors to seek abortions without parental consent. It was signed into law and took effect in January. Ziegler said its not hard to imagine that if abortion trafficking laws are upheld in abortion-ban states, at some point prosecutors in those states could file charges against providers in safe states for providing abortion help, such as mailing abortion pills. I think its not intended to just stop with the people who are in the ban states, Ziegler said. Stateline, like the Idaho Capital Sun, 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 X. An ultrasound is performed to verify a pregnancy at the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La. Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in two Republican-led states, and lawmakers in other states have considered similar legislation. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press) (This image cannot be republished unless you have an AP subscription.) Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other states. Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw abortion trafficking, which it defined as recruiting, harboring or transporting a pregnant minor to get an abortion or abortion medication without parental permission. In May, Tennessee enacted a similar law. And Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma introduced abortion trafficking bills during their most recent legislative sessions, although those bills failed to advance before the sessions ended. Those five states are among the 14 that enacted strict abortion bans following the U.S. Supreme Courts June 2022 Dobbs decision, which dismantled the federal right to abortion. Now, conservative state lawmakers are pushing additional measures to try to restrict their residents from getting them in states where it remains legal. A lot of folks thought Dobbs was the floor and its really not, said Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat whos challenging Tennessees trafficking law in court. [Anti-abortion lawmakers] are coming for state travel and the ability to even talk about abortion. Abortion-rights advocates have filed lawsuits in Alabama, Idaho and Tennessee, arguing the laws are vague and violate constitutional rights to free speech and travel between states. A federal judge has temporarily blocked Idahos law from being enforced while the case is ongoing. Proponents of the laws argue theyre needed to protect parental rights and to prevent other adults from persuading adolescents to get abortions. This is a parental rights piece of legislation, Idaho Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt told Stateline. We cant control someone getting an abortion in Oregon. But you cannot take a child to get an abortion without the parents knowledge because, at least in the past, we would have called that kidnapping. But critics warn that abortion trafficking laws could have grave implications not only for interstate travel, but also for personal speech and communication between friends, or between children and adults they trust. If courts go down this road, it could change the scope of the First Amendment, Mary Ziegler, a legal historian and law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, told Stateline. It could have an effect on what else qualifies as crime-facilitating speech, and that could limit the kinds of things people can say and do online and in other contexts. Opponents also question whether states should be permitted to interfere in the business of other states. Criminalizing travel within an abortion-ban state to reach another state for a legal abortion would allow prosecutors to project power across state lines, said Ziegler. We havent seen states try to interfere in whats happening in other states in quite the same way in a long time, she said. Thats why there is legal uncertainty because were not talking about something where we have a lot of legal precedent. Parental rights Tennessee state Rep. Jason Zachary, a Knoxville Republican, defended Tennessees legislation as a parental rights bill that reinforces a parents right to do whats best for their child, in remarks he made to the Tennessee General Assembly before the bill passed. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law in May. The following month, Behn joined with Nashville attorney and longtime abortion access activist Rachel Welty to file a lawsuit challenging the new law. Behn and Welty sued nearly a dozen district attorneys in Tennessee, alleging they ignored Weltys requests to define what behavior would be deemed illegal under the new law. The Tennessee law says that abortion trafficking occurs when an adult intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion or an abortion-inducing drug without parental consent, regardless of where the abortion is to be procured. A hearing to determine whether the court will grant a temporary injunction blocking the Tennessee law, which is currently in effect, is scheduled for Aug. 30. After Idaho passed its law in April 2023, two advocacy groups and an attorney who works with sexual assault victims sued the state attorney general. The plaintiffs claim Idahos law is vague and violates the First Amendment right to free speech, as well as the right to travel freely between states. The right to interstate travel isnt spelled out in the U.S. Constitution but its implied, legal experts say. The Idaho law directly applies to travel within the state, but it also notes that defendants are not immune from liability if the abortion provider or the abortion-inducing drug provider is located in another state. Megan Kovacs, a board member with the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, which is a plaintiff in the case along with the Indigenous Idaho Alliance, said it is so clearly unconstitutional to disallow people from accessing health care from within or outside their state. Kovacs added that her group also wants to protect its volunteers from legal liability. Neither the Idaho nor the Tennessee law exempts minors who become pregnant after being raped by a parent. If that person had to go to a parent who didnt believe them or wanted to defend that family member who was the abuser, that only impedes healing even more, said Kovacs, who has spent a decade working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Ehardt, who sponsored the Idaho bill, said any adult who is told by a child about an incident of incest should call authorities rather than helping the minor obtain an abortion without parental consent. You have to call the police and they will be the ones to help protect the childs safety, she said. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing in May in Seattle, and Kovacs said she expects to learn in the next few weeks whether the court will uphold the temporary injunction blocking Idahos law while the lawsuit rolls on. In July 2023, a group of health care providers sued Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall and district attorneys, asking the court to prevent the state from prosecuting people who help Alabamians travel to get abortion care in states where its legal. The providers filed the lawsuit in response to remarks that Marshall made on a radio show in 2022, when he suggested that some people who aid a pregnant person in planning or traveling to get an abortion in another state could be prosecuted under the states criminal conspiracy laws. A judge denied Marshalls motion to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this year, and the case is ongoing. A coordinated effort The Tennessee and Idaho laws mirror language in model legislation that was published in 2022 by the National Right to Life Committee, which bills itself as the nations oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. With this model law, we [are] laying out a roadmap for the right-to-life movement so that, in a post-Roe society, we can protect many mothers and their children from the tragedy of abortion, said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life Committee, in a June 2022 statement introducing the model anti-abortion law. Anti-abortion-rights organizations, like other interest groups, have long coordinated strategies to promote their preferred legislation to state and federal lawmakers. The Idaho and Tennessee laws focus specifically on minors, even though they comprise a small fraction of people who get abortions. Those under 19 accounted for 8.1% of abortions, and those under age 15 accounted for just 0.2% of abortions in 2021, the most recent year for which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published data. Kovacs and Ziegler say the bills zero in on minors access to abortion because policies that regulate children and teens tend to be more politically acceptable than broader restrictions that affect adults. Such bills also tend to be more likely to survive legal challenges in court. A chilling effect Nobody in Tennessee or Idaho has yet been prosecuted under the abortion trafficking laws, but an Idaho woman and her son were charged with kidnapping last fall for allegedly taking the sons girlfriend, a minor, out of state to get an abortion. One main goal of a law such as Tennessees, Behn believes, is to create a chilling effect so that average people are scared to help anyone who might need an abortion, for fear of breaking the law. These bills create an environment of suspicion, fear and misinformation, said Behn. But I do think we will see more aggressive district attorneys start to prosecute these cases. [The law] widens the permission structure to start prosecuting people. Laws criminalizing abortion travel and imposing other abortion restrictions may be designed to provoke a legal challenge, Ziegler said. With a 6-3 conservative majority, the U.S. Supreme Court might be inclined to support them. Abortion-rights advocates argue that restrictive abortion laws end up harming even those people who live in states where abortion is still legal. Oregon, for example, has some of the strongest abortion protection laws in the nation. And yet the strict abortion ban next door in Idaho has made it more difficult for Oregonians to access care, said Kovacs, who lives in Oregon. Before Idahos ban, many people in Eastern Oregon traveled to Idaho for abortion care, she said, because its clinics were closer than Oregons clinics, most of which are concentrated on the western side of the state. Last year, in response to increasing abortion restrictions in other states, Oregon passed a sweeping health care omnibus bill that strengthens protections for abortion providers and explicitly allows minors to seek abortions without parental consent. It was signed into law and took effect in January. Ziegler said its not hard to imagine that if abortion trafficking laws are upheld in abortion-ban states, at some point prosecutors in those states could file charges against providers in safe states for providing abortion help, such as mailing abortion pills. I think its not intended to just stop with the people who are in the ban states, Ziegler said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST An ultrasound is performed to verify a pregnancy at the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana An ultrasound is performed to verify a pregnancy at the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport. Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in two Republican-led states, and lawmakers in other states have considered similar legislation. (Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press) Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other states. Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw abortion trafficking, which it defined as recruiting, harboring or transporting a pregnant minor to get an abortion or abortion medication without parental permission. In May, Tennessee enacted a similar law. And Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma introduced abortion trafficking bills during their most recent legislative sessions, although those bills failed to advance before the sessions ended. Read more Stateline coverage on how states are either protecting or curbing access to abortions. Those five states are among the 14 that enacted strict abortion bans following the U.S. Supreme Courts June 2022 Dobbs decision, which dismantled the federal right to abortion. Now, conservative state lawmakers are pushing additional measures to try to restrict their residents from getting them in states where it remains legal. A lot of folks thought Dobbs was the floor and its really not, said Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat whos challenging Tennessees trafficking law in court. [Anti-abortion lawmakers] are coming for state travel and the ability to even talk about abortion. Abortion rights advocates have filed lawsuits in Alabama, Idaho and Tennessee, arguing the laws are vague and violate constitutional rights to free speech and travel between states. A federal judge has temporarily blocked Idahos law from being enforced while the case is ongoing. Proponents of the laws argue theyre needed to protect parental rights and to prevent other adults from persuading adolescents to get abortions. This is a parental rights piece of legislation, Idaho Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt told Stateline. We cant control someone getting an abortion in Oregon. But you cannot take a child to get an abortion without the parents knowledge because, at least in the past, we would have called that kidnapping. But critics warn that abortion trafficking laws could have grave implications not only for interstate travel, but also for personal speech and communication between friends, or between children and adults they trust. If courts go down this road, it could change the scope of the First Amendment, Mary Ziegler, a legal historian and law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, told Stateline. It could have an effect on what else qualifies as crime-facilitating speech, and that could limit the kinds of things people can say and do online and in other contexts. Opponents also question whether states should be permitted to interfere in the business of other states. Criminalizing travel within an abortion-ban state to reach another state for a legal abortion would allow prosecutors to project power across state lines, said Ziegler. We havent seen states try to interfere in whats happening in other states in quite the same way in a long time, she said. Thats why there is legal uncertainty because were not talking about something where we have a lot of legal precedent. Parental rights Tennessee state Rep. Jason Zachary, a Knoxville Republican, defended Tennessees legislation as a parental rights bill that reinforces a parents right to do whats best for their child, in remarks he made to the Tennessee General Assembly before the bill passed. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law in May. The following month, Behn joined with Nashville attorney and longtime abortion access activist Rachel Welty to file a lawsuit challenging the new law. Behn and Welty sued nearly a dozen district attorneys in Tennessee, alleging they ignored Weltys requests to define what behavior would be deemed illegal under the new law. The Tennessee law says that abortion trafficking occurs when an adult intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion or an abortion-inducing drug without parental consent, regardless of where the abortion is to be procured. A hearing to determine whether the court will grant a temporary injunction blocking the Tennessee law, which is currently in effect, is scheduled for Friday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX After Idaho passed its law in April 2023, two advocacy groups and an attorney who works with sexual assault victims sued the state attorney general. The plaintiffs claim Idahos law is vague and violates the First Amendment right to free speech, as well as the right to travel freely between states. The right to interstate travel isnt spelled out in the U.S. Constitution but its implied, legal experts say. The Idaho law directly applies to travel within the state, but it also notes that defendants are not immune from liability if the abortion provider or the abortion-inducing drug provider is located in another state. Megan Kovacs, a board member with the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, which is a plaintiff in the case along with the Indigenous Idaho Alliance, said it is so clearly unconstitutional to disallow people from accessing health care from within or outside their state. Kovacs added that her group also wants to protect its volunteers from legal liability. Neither the Idaho nor the Tennessee law exempts minors who become pregnant after being raped by a parent. If that person had to go to a parent who didnt believe them or wanted to defend that family member who was the abuser, that only impedes healing even more, said Kovacs, who has spent a decade working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Ehardt, who sponsored the Idaho bill, said any adult who is told by a child about an incident of incest should call authorities rather than helping the minor obtain an abortion without parental consent. You have to call the police and they will be the ones to help protect the childs safety, she said. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing in May in Seattle, and Kovacs said she expects to learn in the next few weeks whether the court will uphold the temporary injunction blocking Idahos law while the lawsuit rolls on. In July 2023, a group of health care providers sued Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall and district attorneys, asking the court to prevent the state from prosecuting people who help Alabamians travel to get abortion care in states where its legal. The providers filed the lawsuit in response to remarks that Marshall made on a radio show in 2022, when he suggested that some people who aid a pregnant person in planning or traveling to get an abortion in another state could be prosecuted under the states criminal conspiracy laws. A judge denied Marshalls motion to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this year, and the case is ongoing. A coordinated effort The Tennessee and Idaho laws mirror language in model legislation that was published in 2022 by the National Right to Life Committee, which bills itself as the nations oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. With this model law, we [are] laying out a roadmap for the right-to-life movement so that, in a post-Roe society, we can protect many mothers and their children from the tragedy of abortion, said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life Committee, in a June 2022 statement introducing the model anti-abortion law. Anti-abortion-rights organizations, like other interest groups, have long coordinated strategies to promote their preferred legislation to state and federal lawmakers. The Idaho and Tennessee laws focus specifically on minors, even though they comprise a small fraction of people who get abortions. Those under 19 accounted for 8.1% of abortions, and those under age 15 accounted for just 0.2% of abortions in 2021, the most recent year for which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published data. Kovacs and Ziegler say the bills zero in on minors access to abortion because policies that regulate children and teens tend to be more politically acceptable than broader restrictions that affect adults. Such bills also tend to be more likely to survive legal challenges in court. A chilling effect Nobody in Tennessee or Idaho has yet been prosecuted under the abortion trafficking laws, but an Idaho woman and her son were charged with kidnapping last fall for allegedly taking the sons girlfriend, a minor, out of state to get an abortion. One main goal of a law such as Tennessees, Behn believes, is to create a chilling effect so that average people are scared to help anyone who might need an abortion, for fear of breaking the law. These bills create an environment of suspicion, fear and misinformation, said Behn. But I do think we will see more aggressive district attorneys start to prosecute these cases. [The law] widens the permission structure to start prosecuting people. Laws criminalizing abortion travel and imposing other abortion restrictions may be designed to provoke a legal challenge, Ziegler said. With a 6-3 conservative majority, the U.S. Supreme Court might be inclined to support them. Abortion-rights advocates argue that restrictive abortion laws end up harming even those people who live in states where abortion is still legal. Oregon, for example, has some of the strongest abortion protection laws in the nation. And yet the strict abortion ban next door in Idaho has made it more difficult for Oregonians to access care, said Kovacs, who lives in Oregon. These bills create an environment of suspicion, fear and misinformation. But I do think we will see more aggressive district attorneys start to prosecute these cases. Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville Before Idahos ban, many people in Eastern Oregon traveled to Idaho for abortion care, she said, because its clinics were closer than Oregons clinics, most of which are concentrated on the western side of the state. Last year, in response to increasing abortion restrictions in other states, Oregon passed a sweeping health care omnibus bill that strengthens protections for abortion providers and explicitly allows minors to seek abortions without parental consent. It was signed into law and took effect in January. Ziegler said its not hard to imagine that if abortion trafficking laws are upheld in abortion-ban states, at some point prosecutors in those states could file charges against providers in safe states for providing abortion help, such as mailing abortion pills. I think its not intended to just stop with the people who are in the ban states, Ziegler said. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST This report was firs published by Stateline, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. Its supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and X. HENRY COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) Henry County Emergency Services are urging parents and children to beware of a dangerous medicine being distributed in the area. Henry County EMS took to Facebook to note that if a child has been prescribed Clonidine oral suspension and that prescription was filled at the MedSave in Eminence, parents should not give it to their children. The belief is, there was something wrong with the shipment. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Parents should watch for unconsciousness, unexplained crying, and a slow heart rate, among other symptoms, if the child has already taken the medicine. Emergency officials are reminding parents to make sure they can monitor their children before going to sleep so that any adverse reactions can be caught. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. Donald Trump is not feeling great. This year alone hes been found liable by a jury for sexual assault, convicted by another jury on 34 felony counts of fraud, and shot at by a young registered Republican at a campaign rally, the one previously safe space where the president could comfortably rant and complain to certain applause. Then he had to spend a week at home watching Democrats pull off their convention without a hitch, just a month after an unprecedented switch at the top of the ticket. The former presidents own campaign is publicly predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris will now surge in the polls (after already leading, nationally, by an average of about 3.6%). In a similar situation, the current president and his team decided it was time to debate, saying a televised contest would reset the race; the subsequent performance cost Joe Biden the Democratic nomination. Perhaps thats why Trump himself is doubting his own commitments. Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Trump posted on social media Sunday night, complaining about an ABC News interview with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and panel discussion earlier that day, saying the former was biased and the latter full of Trump Haters. The Republican nominee filled the rest of his post with tedious name calling Crooked, Marxist and attacks on the insufficiently fawning journalists of ABC. Theyve got a lot o questions to answer!!! Trump posted just after 10 p.m. Eastern. Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! The former president already agreed to debate Harris on Sept. 10, which was originally slated to be the second of two televised confrontations with Biden. He did so after previously trying to pull out of the event when Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, initially claiming the debate was off because Biden was out of the race and then trying to move it to the friendlier waters of Fox News, a media platform that was forced to pay out $787 million after admitting that it cynically aired what its knew to be MAGA lies about the 2020 election. It is possible, even likely, that Trump will still show up next month, not wanting to miss an opportunity to be on prime-time television (Harris has previously said she would appear whether her opponent did or not). What his evening anger suggests, however, is that the 78-year-old knows hes not the favorite not in the race, and not even on TV, the platform that made him a reality star. He has to appreciate she is charismatic and charming on television in a way he fancies that he is, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius commented Monday morning on MSNBC. The camera loves Kamala Harris, he continued. Shes learned in the cadence of her speeches, the way she presents herself, to be a formidable TV presence. Donald Trump knows TV. Hes smart enough to know hes got a problem here. The Harris campaign, in turn, knows that it benefits from voters being reminded of what Trump is like, not just when he goes off script but when he gets flustered. As Politico reported Monday, it not only wants Trump to show up on Sept. 10, but it wants people to hear literally everything he has to say. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast, Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon told the outlet, which noted that hot mics were the norm in previous years, including in 2020, when the Trump campaign insisted on them. This time around, the Harris campaign clearly goading the former president, as it would like to do on TV is claiming Trumps team is trying to shield him from the public by having the candidates microphones muted when they are not talking. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own, Fallon told Politico. We suspect Trumps team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they dont think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button. Speaking Monday on MSNBC, Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, urged Trump to show the public how he really feels, saying itd be a huge disappointment for the American people if he pulled out of the Sept. 10 debate. But he also suggested Trump, not just his team, is now wary of letting voters see the contrast between the two candidates, contrasting Harris support for reproductive and other freedoms with the hard-right Project 2025 agenda for a second Trump term. This former president is so scared to get on the debate stage, Harrison charged. But I guess if I had his positions, Id be scared to let the American people know what they were as well. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. The push for hot mics is a pivot from the cautious Biden campaign, which seemed to fear Trump steamrolling their candidate and appearing more energetic and forceful more than than it saw an advantage in letting an elderly man continue to rant and rave when his time was up. With the Democratic candidate now a 59-year-old former prosecutor, letting Trump talk (and talk) is no longer a concern. The Harris team wanting to unmute Trumps debate mic so that he can interrupt her suggests they may have finally learned the lesson liberals until now have not: the key to beating Trump is not muzzling him, but letting voters hear him unfiltered so they remember whey they dislike him, Yair Rosenberg, a columnist at The Atlantic, posted on social media Monday. Past efforts to limit public viewing of Trumps outbursts, whether online or on the debate stage, just sanitizes his image for the public, Rosenberg argued, making him look more reasonable that he is. Radley Balko, a reporter who previously covered criminal justice issues for The Washington Post, likewise credited the Harris campaign with having "figured out" Trump. The Republican nominee may well pose a threat to democracy, at home and abroad lauding dictators like Vladimir Putin while calling for the "termination" of the U.S. Constitution but that is perhaps a better point to be made by analysts, Balko suggested, allowing Trump to "project strength." Calling him a "weird" old man who only cares about himself? "It's driving him nuts," Balko wrote on social media. "And it's why he's now terrified of debating her." By Mohammed Aty and Emilie Madi BEIRUT/TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Residents of Lebanese cities felt only partial relief on Monday that one of the biggest exchanges of fire between armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military the previous day was over, worn down by the relentless tension of 10 months of conflict. Early on Sunday, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel to avenge a commander killed in an Israeli strike last month. Israeli jets struck dozens of targets in south Lebanon, in what residents there said felt like the "apocalypse". Many feared that the exchange of fire, the heaviest since hostilities began between Hezbollah and Israel in parallel with the war in Gaza, could trigger a regional conflagration. But by the end of the day, both sides appeared to signal that the episode was over - for now. "People are relieved, or are relieved a bit, because they took a breather after this attack," said Mohamed Ftouni, a Lebanese shop owner in the southern port city of Tyre. "We hope that something good will happen, to have some commercial activity and for the situation to improve. Our only hope is that there will be a ceasefire so that we can be done (with war) in Gaza and here, for people to relax more." Hezbollah has said that it will not stop firing at Israel without a ceasefire for Gaza. Talks on a truce have yet to produce a deal. IMPACT ON TOURISM The intensity of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has ratcheted up steadily, displacing tens of thousands of people on either side of the Lebanese-Israeli frontier and striking a blow to Lebanon's tourism industry, which relies heavily on the summer season. Fears of a major escalation spiked after a strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last month killed 12 young people. The Israeli military assassinated Hezbollah's top military commander Fuad Shukr in response, and Hezbollah vowed to avenge him - leaving the region anxious that a full-scale war was looming. However, after Sunday's exchange, both Israel and Hezbollah appeared to resume the previous pace of strikes. Hezbollah claimed two attacks on Israeli military posts by Monday, and an Israeli strike in south Lebanon targeted an official from Palestinian faction Hamas. He survived, a security source said. Ibrahim Hussein, another shopkeeper in Tyre, said Lebanon was now back to "the same situation as before". But the situation has been enough to rattle many Lebanese. On Monday afternoon, Israeli jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut, shaking glass throughout the city. Talal Sidani, the owner of an artisanal shop in the capital, said he would rather get a war over with than be constantly nervous about when it could start. "War? Let there be war. We want to work. There's no work, here we are sitting. Especially us, we have touristic stores, and we rely on tourism - if there is no tourism, bye bye my dears," he told Reuters. (Reporting by Mohammed Aty in Tyre and Emilie Madi in Beirut; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alison Williams) Theres a plea for help from the American Red Cross for blood donors to roll up their sleeves as it faces an emergency shortage. The organization reports the national inventory dropped by more than 25% in July alone. The Red Cross says summer is already a challenging time for donations because more people are traveling but this years record-breaking heat has also affected turnout. The extreme weather impacted more than a hundred blood drives over the last month. We need donors to give blood regularly and to stay committed to the process of giving blood on a regular basis, said Admiral Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Admiral Levine said a steady supply of blood is necessary for healthcare. Thats because more than a quarter of all blood supplies are used in emergency room and critical care situations each year. Admiral Levine added that this shortage can affect medical decisions. If someone has a severe accident and needs an operation, the doctors might have to decide how much blood they can give, and it could actually put someones health and even their life at risk, she said. The Red Cross reports all blood types are in demand right now especially O positive and O negative. It warns that hospitals have been given less type O blood recently because of the low supply. Admiral Levine said theres also a need for diverse donations from African American and Latino blood donors. For example, for patients with sickle cell disease who rely on, often, regular transfusions and there might be specific blood types and complex blood needs for those patients, she said. August also marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season. Officials say storms and flooding also lead to more blood drives being canceled and fewer donors coming out to the ones that are held. 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 Theres a plea for help from the American Red Cross for blood donors to roll up their sleeves as it faces an emergency shortage. The organization reports the national inventory dropped by more than 25% in July alone. The Red Cross said summer is already a challenging time for donations because more people are traveling, but this years record-breaking heat has also affected turnout. The extreme weather impacted more than a hundred blood drives over the last month. We need donors to give blood regularly and to stay committed to the process of giving blood on a regular basis, Admiral Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said. Levine said a steady supply of blood is necessary for health care. Thats because more than a quarter of all blood supplies are used in emergency rooms and critical care situations each year. Levine added that this shortage can affect medical decisions. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] If someone has a severe accident and needs an operation, the doctors might have to decide how much blood they can give, and it could actually put someones health and even their life at risk, she said. The Red Cross reports all blood types are in demand right now, especially O positive and O negative. It warns that hospitals have been given less type O blood recently because of the low supply. Levine said theres also a need for diverse donations from African American and Latino blood donors. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] For example, for patients with sickle cell disease who rely on, often, regular transfusions and there might be specific blood types and complex blood needs for those patients, she said. Atlantic hurricane season is also underway and officials say storms and flooding also lead to more blood drives being canceled and fewer donors coming out to the ones that are held. For more information on how you can donate locally, visit the OneBlood and Lifesouth websites. 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. Despite this weekends continued search efforts, Stanley Kotowski, the 60-year-old Hilton Head vacationer from Massachusetts who has been missing for eleven days, has still not been found. Today, members of the community were asked to join in a search for the missing man but minutes before the scheduled search time was set to begin, organizers canceled the effort. When reached for an explanation, the organizer declined to provide a reason. Approximately 30 volunteers had turned out for the 1 p.m. effort. Search helicopters and drones went up again this weekend in search of Kotowski. On the ground search efforts also continued into the weekend, from boat searches to door-knocking efforts, said Master Sgt. Danny Allen of the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office, the agency leading the search. The sheriffs office is continuing to partner with security companies, businesses and property managers during the search to make sure that newly vacant units and security cameras are checked for signs of Kotowski. Some businesses, Allen said, have never had to check their cameras, so it might take a bit longer to get that footage. On Saturday, the sheriffs office released video of Kotowski leaving his vacation rental on South Sea Pines Drive. It was the last confirmed sighting of the man, who has now been missing for over a week. The doorbell camera video, just over a minute long, shows Kotowski, barefoot, walking down the front steps to the condo and out onto the path toward the parking lot. Halfway through the video, Kotowski stands in the parking lot with his hands on his hips facing away from the rental. After a few seconds, he turns right and walks out of frame. There have been no confirmed sightings of Kotowski since this video was captured around 9:30 a.m. Friday, August 16, said Allen. According to Allen, the sheriffs departments search efforts today will be in and around the southern portion of Sea Pines. As always, tips or other leads will be followed as they become available. Anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of Kotowski should call (843) 524-2777. Cancer patient Kate Middleton was seen in public for the first time since early July 2024. The wife of Prince William joined the family, which went to the royal residence in Balmoral. ADVERTISIMENT According to the photos published by the Daily Mail, 42-year-old Kate was in a good mood when she arrived at a local church on Sunday with her husband. The King and Queen of Great Britain were also caught on camera. William was driving, smiling and talking to his beloved, and Prince George was in the back seat. Meanwhile, Charles, 75, and Camilla, 76, appeared in brightly colored suits. The Queen chose a bright green jacket decorated with red details and buttons. Her husband wore a kilt and a gray jacket. ADVERTISIMENT Middleton is slowly and gradually returning to public life following news of her health issues. Kate will be joining the royal family in Balmoral this month, which will be her longest trip since she revealed her diagnosis. She and the Prince of Wales have been coming to the estate in the Scottish Highlands every summer since their wedding in 2011. Some insiders feared that this year would be different due to the princess's health. Her presence is seen by many as another confirmation: Kate is making "significant progress" after her diagnosis. The annual vacation to Balmoral is a tradition for the royal family, where they can relax in the peaceful countryside. ADVERTISIMENT The last time Middleton was seen in public was during the men's Wimbledon 2024 final. Kate personally handed the award to the winner. The princess took her 9-year-old daughter Charlotte and younger sister Pippa with her. Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote about how the Prince and Princess of Wales recorded a video for British athletes on the occasion of the 2024 Olympics in Paris: in an iconic sweatshirt and with stubble. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT Gov. Eric Holcomb talks to reporters on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Holcomb will be making his 25th international economic development trip this week to Slovakia and Italy. (Leslie Bonilla Muniz/Indiana Capital Chronicle) Indianas chief executive will leave for Europe this week on an international economic development trip with a focus of defense, mobility and racing partnerships. The delegation will include Indiana Adjutant Major General Dale Lyles of the Indiana National Guard, with visits in both Slovakia and Italy. Indiana and Slovakia have a three-decade-long partnership that has only strengthened over the last mission driven eight years, Holcomb said in a statement. I look forward to building upon our shared priorities in defense and honoring the sacred anniversary of when the Slovaks regained their freedom. As we travel on to Italy, we will likewise build upon Indianas front-row seat in the growth and innovation in the future of motorsports and life sciences. Holcomb has spent several weeks so far this year his last in office traveling on four other trips to eight countries. This will be his 25th international economic development trip as governor and costs for his travel will be covered by private donations to the Indiana Economic Development Foundation. The Indiana National Guard will cover travel costs for Slovakia. Holcomb will leave for Slovakia Tuesday, Aug. 27 with Lyles to meet Slovak government leaders and commemorate the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising during World War II. Both will attend ceremonies in Banska Bystrica and visit Hoosier soldiers and airmen in Slovakia. The Indiana National Guard and Slovak Republics purposeful and productive military partnership is three decades strong, said Lyles in a release. Commemorating the 80th anniversary of one of Slovakias proudest moments alongside Gov. Holcomb is meaningful to the Hoosier soldiers and airmen representing our nation and state in Slovakia and demonstrates the enduring bond Indiana and Slovakia share. This weeks visit will be Holcombs third to Slovakia, including one in 2018 and another in 2022. The Indiana National Guard has a strong 30-year partnership with the country, which includes joint military training and security cooperation, according to the release. The Guard delivered F-16 fighter aircraft purchased by Slovakia to the country in July 2024. Indiana and Slovakia exchanged $1.14 million worth of goods in 2023 and three Hoosier companies have local business facilities: Berry Global Group, Eli Lilly & Company and Green Cubes Technology. Following his time in Slovakia, Holcomb will travel to the Lombardy region of northern Italy on Saturday, Aug. 31, along with representatives from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. This leg of the trip will focus on motorsports partnerships, including a delegation trip to Milan to attend the 2024 Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio dItalia race at Autodromo Nationale Monza on Sept. 1. There he will meet with industry leaders, including representatives from Arrow McLaren Racing, Prema Racing and Sparco. Holcomb has also scheduled meetings with local government officials including U.S. Consul General to Milan Douglass Benning and Lombardy Region President Attilio Fontana and a roundtable discussion hosted by President Fontana. Indianas team will then travel to the headquarters of Dallara, the exclusive designer and manufacturer of chassis for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Dallaras only facility outside of Italy is in Speedway. Holcomb has visited Italy in an official capacity once before in 2018. Indiana has 35 Italian business facilities, largely with a racing and mobility supply chain focus. In addition to Dallara, such companies includes Sirmax, Coram USA and OMR Automotive. The two countries exchanged more than $5.16 billion worth of goods in 2023, ranging from chemicals and machinery to transportation equipment and electronics. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The first of two trials for a 33-year-old man accused in a pair of grisly crimes that rattled Baltimore last fall is slated to begin with jury selection Monday. Law enforcement authorities claim Jason Billingsley broke into a home in West Baltimores Upton neighborhood in September, restrained a couple at gunpoint, sexually assaulted the woman and set both people on fire three days before strangling and bludgeoning tech entrepreneur Pave LaPere to death. Prosecutors have filed notice of their intent to seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in each case, if they secure convictions against Billingsley on the most serious charges. He is scheduled to stand trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court first in the home invasion case in which he is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, first-degree assault and false imprisonment. Billingsleys attorney, public defender Jason Rodriguez, did not respond to a request for comment. According to charging documents, the woman Billingsley is charged with sexually assaulting told authorities she heard a loud banging noise in the early morning of Sept. 19, 2023. There was a man at her door who identified himself as a maintenance worker, according to charging documents, kicked in the door and pointed a gun at the woman and her boyfriend. The woman said the assailant duct-taped her and handcuffed her boyfriend before raping her repeatedly and slashing her neck with a knife, detectives wrote in charging documents. The assailant then poured liquid on the couple and set them and their basement apartment ablaze. Medics took the woman to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and the man to the burn center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Charging documents say they both sustained second- and third-degree burns. Another unidentified person also was injured. Fire officials estimated that the blaze caused $15,000 in damage. Detectives wrote that they found fruits of the crime in a backpack found in the bushes in the backyard of the Upton rowhouse. In the black and lime green backpack, investigators found a serrated knife, rolls of duct tape, several pieces of used tape with hair on them, handcuffs, a hooded sweatshirt and condom wrappers, charging documents say. Next to the backpack, they found a bleach container, a gas can and a lighter. Detectives wrote in charging documents that they identified Billingsley through security footage from the day of the break-in, which showed him wearing a mask, and the day before, when Billingsley was pictured fixing things, doing yard work, and walking inside of the location. The womans boyfriend also identified Billingsley from a photo array. The man and woman Billingsley is accused of attacking, April Hurley and Jonte Gilmore, sued him and the companies that employed him as a building maintenance worker. The Baltimore Sun typically does not identify victims of sexual assault without their consent, but Hurley and her lawyers held a news conference to announce the suit. On Sept. 25, 2023, six days after police say Billingsley broke into the Upton rowhouse, Baltimore police responded to an apartment building in Mount Vernon where someone found a womans body on the roof, bloodied with apparent head trauma, officials said. It was LaPere, a tech entrepreneur of local renown, and medics immediately declared her dead. Homicide detectives pored over security footage from the apartment building. According to charging documents, video showed LaPere enter the buildings lobby around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and later let a man wearing a gray hoodie, who waved her to the front door, inside. Detectives watched as they got onto an elevator together. Later, detectives wrote of the footage, the male suspect can be seen leaving the stairwell into the lobby with his gray hooded sweatshirt in his hand scrambling for an exit. The Black male located the front door and could see him (sic) wiping his right hand on his shorts before exiting the building. Police used departmental databases and a witness review of the security video to identify Billingsley, according to charging documents. He is charged with first-degree murder and with wielding a deadly weapon with the intent to injure another. Detectives noted that there was a brick next to LaPeres body. Billingsley is set to stand trial on charges stemming from LaPeres death immediately after his first trial concludes. A separate jury will be selected to hear that case. Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert K. Taylordenied a request by Billingsley to exclude video of his police interrogation from the murder trial, meaning prosecutors likely will play the two-hour video in court. News of the 26-year-old entrepreneurs killing sent shock waves throughout Baltimore last fall, hitting especially close to home in the citys tight-knit tech scene, where LaPere was regarded as a leader. The Johns Hopkins University graduates death also inspired bills in the Maryland General Assembly, one of which, proponents argued, could prevent attacks like hers. In 2015, Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but 14 years behind bars suspended, for a first-degree sex offense. He was released early in October 2022 after earning diminution, or good time, credits while incarcerated. One of the bills put forth in LaPeres honor will prohibit people convicted of first-degree rape from earning diminution credits. Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, that law takes effect Oct. 1. (FOX40.COM) The mayor of Marysville in Northern California was reportedly assaulted in broad daylight by someone who was identified as an unhoused man with a lengthy criminal record. On Aug. 22, Marysville mayor Chris Branscum was with Marysville councilman Dom Belza in the Downtown area when he was sucker-punched, according to the Free California organization. Belza is also the chairman for Free California. Yuba City vs. Marysville: Honkers take home win after first rival matchup in 15 years I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye and he was somebody that probably needed to be kept an eye on as he was walking by, Belza told the Appeal-Democrat Newspaper. And then he just reached back and hit him (mayor) right in the back and took off running. Belza added, He swung his arm back and gave a good right hook. I was chasing him down, and he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, turned, and hit me in the side of the head. Then I took him down to the ground and restrained him. The suspect, 36-year-old Derek Hopkins, was arrested an booked into the Yuba 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 FOX40. Gov. Gavin Newsoms executive order allowing state and local officials to dismantle homeless encampments has drawn mixed reactions from homelessness experts within California as state officials continue to try and find a permanent solution for the ongoing crisis. The executive order was issued in response to a Supreme Court decision in late June that granted officials authority to remove the encampments and ticket people for camping in public in Grants Pass, Oregon. The executive order calls for state agencies to remove homeless encampments from state lands, such as state parks, beaches, agency buildings, highways and the areas beneath them. Unprovoked, violent attacks by homeless part of a broader problem, advocate says Californians were swift to react after news of the executive order was shared. Some people, like San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, applauded the governors executive order. However, others, like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, have called the decision unfortunate, expressing that she believes it will usher in a new wave of criminalization elsewhere, according to LAist. So, what do homelessness experts think about Newsoms latest executive order? KTLA spoke with Jeff Levine, the chaplain and executive director of Long Beach Rescue Mission, a Christian-based organization that provides services to unhoused individuals, and Dr. Margot Kushel, a professor and director at Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. What we know from homelessness displacement or sweeps is that it does a fair amount of harm and disconnects the people from service providers. It also removes people from their belongings, which includes sentimental things like peoples pictures of their families, medications and peoples documents, some of which can prove their identity, Kushel told KTLA. A lot of harm can come from sweeps, and ultimately, if you dont offer people a real outcome, theyre just going to have to move someplace else because they cant dematerialize; they will show up someplace else. Kushel also explained that on an individual level, struggles with mental health or addiction could lead that person to experience homelessness as well. U.S. national parks receiving record-high gift of $100M On the other hand, Levine told KTLA that introducing accountability to those who dont do their part to help solve the issue is a good thing, but execution could be challenging. Were not going to arrest our way out of homelessness, but we do need the tools and ability to address situations where public health is compromised. I dont think it should be OK to smoke fentanyl at 2 p.m. on the sidewalk outside of Target. I think there needs to be order and just laws that protect our communities and establish a healthy moral standard for the community. I also believe that, in many cases, this will help people consider their lives and their trajectory and engage in services, Levine told KTLA in an emailed statement. Kushel emphasized that experts know what drives homelessness and how to solve it. The cause [of homelessness] is a lack of affordable housing, and every single solution that has ever been shown to work has to focus on that, Kushel said. LAPD alerts West L.A. communities over surge in break-ins, burglaries According to a May Rental Market Report from Zillow, the typical rent in Los Angeles was $2,920 per month, meaning tenants will need to make almost $117,000 a year to live comfortably. Similarly, the percentage of state residents who could afford a home dropped to a 16-year low last year. Levine believes more affordable housing is a step in the right direction but not a silver bullet for the homelessness crisis. A balanced approach of compassion and accountability will take us a long way. A multi-faceted model is needed to address a very complex situation. Housing First is a philosophy for approaching homelessness that has incredible value for some. But it is not a silver bullet. There is a difference between a family who falls into homelessness for the first time because they were priced out of an apartment and a person who has been living on the L.A. River in an encampment for 18 years, Levine stated. He noted that while Long Beach Rescue Mission offers temporary housing to unhoused individuals, they also focus on equipping men and women with the life skills and soft skills needed to succeed when transitioning into permanent housing. Funding for programs is essential, and if required before subsidized housing, it can reduce recidivism and provide a margin in which more housing can be developed. We have to talk about housing, but it cant be the only thing we talk about. We have to discuss employment, but thats only part of the conversation. We have to create more long-term treatment facilities for those suffering from severe mental illness and, when necessary, conserve those who cannot take care of themselves on the streets, Levine said. 3 people die in whirlpool during trip to Californias Sierra Nevada Kushel applauded the Newsom administration for addressing the ongoing crisis and its root cause but noted that California would have to make strides in closing the income and housing cost gaps so people can afford housing while also working to increase capacity at shelters so more unhoused individuals could utilize that option. The Long Beach Rescue Mission is doing its part to increase shelter capacity. We are growing and will break ground on a new 60-bed shelter for women and children this year. Beginning next year, we will break ground on a new shelter for men aged 18-24. Were expanding because the need is great. We are at capacity in our shelters, but if someone is ready to come in, well make a way, Levine said in a statement. As for Newsoms executive order, local officials are not legally bound to follow it, though it says they are encouraged to adopt the same policies. In the past, Newsom has threatened to withhold money from local governments that didnt take action to address the issue. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SYOSSET, N.Y. (PIX11) A man who mistakenly thought he was being cut out of his moms will shot and killed four family members before turning the gun on himself on the front lawn of his Long Island home Sunday, authorities said. In 41 years, thats probably one of the most horrific scenes Ive ever seen, NCPD Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a briefing Monday. Joseph Delucia Jr., 59, fatally shot his three siblings and niece while they gathered in the den in the back of the home on Wyoming Court in Syosset at around noon, according to the Nassau County Police Department. More Local News The victims, Joanne Kearns, 69, Frank Delucia, 64, Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, were each shot multiple times and died at the scene, officials said. Delucia fired 12 shots before shooting himself in the chest on the propertys front lawn, police said. The shotgun was recovered at the scene. The entire family is now gone, officials said. The shooters mom died on Aug. 19, and he mistakenly thought he was being cut out of her will, authorities said. Delucia was not cut out of the will but would have had to move from the home he had lived in his whole life, according to police. He was panicking. He was being taken care of in the will, but he would have had to move, an NCPD official said. Before the incident, neighbors told police Delucia made threatening comments, like, If you hear shots, dont call the police. It will be too late. If Delucia had been reported to have mental health issues, cops would have been able to take the otherwise legal weapon from him, officials said. As a community, we hear things, and if we dont say something, sometimes the outcome is like what we saw yesterday, the NCPD commissioner said. Neighbors told PIX11 News that Delucia was a volunteer firefighter who quit last week in the wake of his mothers death. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. It is a free, 24/7 service that offers support, information, and local resources. You can also click here for additional hotlines within your state. Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC 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. Huntsville Utilities to close lane of Madison Street for maintenance work HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) Huntsville Utilities (HU) said workers will close part of Madison Street for work Monday morning. On Monday, August 26, Huntsville Utilities Natural Gas Operations will close the inside, northbound lane and turning lane of Madison Street at the intersection of St. Clair Avenue. Victim of shark attack to be honored with parade in Mountain Brook Saturday The closure will begin at 8:30 a.m. and HU said it will last four to six hours. HU asks drivers to avoid the area as much as possible and to plan alternate routes. If alternate routes are not available, drivers can expect shifting traffic patterns and possible delays. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. TechCrunch TikTok is growing fast as a destination for news, but news and politics accounts make up less than one percent of accounts followed by U.S. adults, the Pew Research Center says. Around half of all TikTok accounts followed by U.S. adults are influencers and creators, the study shows. Plus, content related to news and politics is considered rare, with only about 10% of the followed accounts that showed up in the study posting about these topics. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference at the German Foreign Office. Wolfgang Kumm/dpa The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said he will lead a team visiting the the Kursk nuclear power plant in western Russia on Tuesday. The facility is about 30 kilometres away from the fighting that erupted nearly three weeks ago when Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russian territory. "Given the serious situation, I am personally leading the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in the Russian Federation," Rafael Grossi said in a statement. "The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA." The nuclear power plant is located on the Seym river near the town of Kurchatov. Last week, Russia told the IAEA that a drone had been intercepted near the plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of an attempted attack on the site, without offering any evidence. It is still unclear whether the nuclear =plant is a target of the Ukrainian advance. Grossi has visited the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya several times and even stationed an IAEA team there. The permanent presence of the international experts not only serves as a way to monitor the situation, but also to deter hostilities that could trigger a nuclear accident. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia on Aug. 27 due to safety risks associated with Ukraine's ongoing incursion, according to his statement. The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located nearly 80 kilometers (49 miles) from the town of Sudzha, which was captured by Ukrainian forces in mid-August during Kyiv's ongoing incursion into Kursk Oblast. On Aug. 9, the IAEA called on Ukraine and Russia to "exercise maximum restraint" to avoid a nuclear accident with potentially severe radiological consequences. Grossi said that after the "increased levels of military activity" near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, he closely followed the developments on the ground. The only way to confirm the safety of a nuclear power plant is to visit it to assess its condition, Grossi added. "The safety and security of nuclear facilities must, under no circumstances, be endangered," Grossi said. "This is an evolving situation, and it is vital when I arrive at the plant tomorrow (Aug. 27) that I see first-hand the situation and discuss modalities for further activities as may be needed to evaluate the nuclear safety and security conditions of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant," he added. Russian media reported that Russia is preparing to defend the Kursk plant as Ukrainian troops approach and have begun constructing defensive lines near it. Earlier, Russia claimed that Ukraine was planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, without providing evidence. "We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies," Heorhii Tykhyi, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's spokesman, said on Aug. 16. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of using the plant for nuclear blackmail and endangering its safety. Kyiv said on Aug. 11 that Russian forces set fire to "a large number of automobile tires in cooling towers" at the nuclear plant in an effort to "create panic in the settlements (nearby)." The IAEA said that nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia power plant had not been affected. Read also: Kursk operation: What Ukraine achieved so far and potential future gains Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. American director Quentin Tarantino has stunned fans with a loud statement. The 61-year-old man claims that actor Alec Baldwin is partly to blame for the death of Ukrainian cameraman Galina Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust". ADVERTISIMENT According to the celebrity, undoubtedly, the main responsibility lies with the gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun with live ammunition. However, he believes the famous entertainer should have independently verified that the gun was safe for use, the Daily Mail reports. "In this situation, I think it's fair enough to say that the gunsmith - the person in charge of the weapon - is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that weapon.... but, but, but, but... the actor bears 10% of the responsibility," the director opined. ADVERTISIMENT Quentin Tarantino noted: convinced that every entertainer should personally check the firearms appearing in the frame, because if an accident occurs, the celebrity will become partially responsible for the incident. Recall, 42-year-old cameraman Galina Hutchins died on the set of "Rust" on October 21, 2021, receiving a through wound in the chest. The Ukrainian took her life because of Alec Baldwin, who inadvertently fired a weapon loaded with live ammunition. Despite the fact that the actor tried with all his might to prove: did not pull the trigger, the FBI denied this information and put forward the celebrity criminal responsibility. ADVERTISIMENT In April 2023, due to the lack of sufficient evidence from Alec Baldwin were dropped charges of involuntary manslaughter, and the shooting of the scandalous tape continued. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! An IAEA mission led by the agency's director general is scheduled to visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant tomorrow, 27 August. Source: Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Twitter (X) Quote from Grossi: "Given the serious situation, Im personally leading tomorrows IAEA mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia." Grossi said that in light of recent events and the increased level of military activity near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, he is closely monitoring the situation on the ground, particularly in relation to the plant. "This is an evolving situation, and it is vital when I arrive at the plant tomorrow that I see first-hand the situation and discuss modalities for further activities as may be needed to evaluate the nuclear safety and security conditions of the KNPP," Grossi added. Background: It was recently reported that Rafael Grossi planned to visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant the following week. Support UP or become our patron! "Republicans seem to have a chronic and seemingly incurable allergy to putting some respect on any Black persons name," writes author Thembisa Mshaka. Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: John Jay, Getty This column is part of HuffPosts She the People series, stories by Black women exploring Kamala Harris historic candidacy. To read more, visit our hub. GOP leaders have a tough time with Black people and respect. From the insistence that former President Barack Obama was not a native-born U.S. citizen to the Republican Party going on the record with 210 of 211 of its congresspeople voting nay on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act unsurprisingly, the lone yes-voting Republican, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) later affirmed that his yes vote was accidental Republicans seem to have a chronic and seemingly incurable allergy to putting some respect on any Black persons name. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas whose lack of integrity, marriage to Jan. 6 insurrection accessory Ginni Thomas, and widely documented corruption have recently earned him an articles of impeachment filing from Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) may be the exception, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), whos on the home team and called resurrecting the legislation a nonstarter. As we watch America respond with unprecedented enthusiasm around now-official presidential nominee and sitting Vice President Kamala Harris, this context is important. The disrespect hurled at her since President Joe Biden endorsed her as he declined to seek reelection runs deeper than Donald Trump being a proud bigot, criminally liable sexual predator and 34-time convicted felon. VP Harris very being is offensive to the vast majority of the GOP. The offense is not limited to her professional ascension, accomplishments and current stature. It is rooted in her very existence. VPOTUS Harris represents a strident middle finger to the flawed notion that Black people, and specifically Black women, should know and stay in a place designated for them by white men in positions of power. Project 2025 is blatant evidence that women and Black folks, among other segments of the U.S. population, are no longer acceptable as empowered members of American society, and thus, must be put back in that place the GOP remembers fondly. The overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Senate floor death of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act are but two recent GOP wins that gave the party the green light to go full-throttle with the rollback of civil and human rights. All politics are identity politics. When white conservative Christian men run for office, its about 'values'; when Black women run for the highest office in the land, its a threat to those values. A viral snuff film featuring then-Officer Derek Chauvin as the murderous villain putting George Floyd in his place and the global protests that followed led then-Sen. Harris to coauthor the Senate version of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Of course it didnt make it through the Senate, sending two messages to the world: American police terror is acceptable, and Sen. Harris puts forward zero legislation that the GOP members of Congress are bound to respect. Fast forward to 2024, and the Black Woman the GOP Loves to Hate has had a tremendously successful term as vice president of the United States. The Biden administration expanded overtime protections, passed legislation to protect communities from gun violence, sought to erase billions in student loan debt, and signed a massive infrastructure bill to rebuild roads and bridges nationwide. Its clear that Biden-Harris have recovered the country from the brink of insurrection and worked to mitigate the economic harm done by the Trump presidency. Then, in a historic chess move, Biden opted out of reelection and passed the baton to his VP. Naturally, Trump is coming undone, and his unhinged, nonsensical vitriol goes right along with it. First, he wants a refund for the funds he used to campaign against Biden. Then, he pulls out the sexist playbook and calls Harris intelligence into question. Hes been heard calling her a bitch on more than one occasion, according to The New York Times. In a bizarre spew during his conversation at the NABJ convention in July, Trump posited that Harris, a Howard University alumna and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., suddenly happened to turn Black. Trump detractor-turned-running-mate JD Vance piled on, joining the Fox News chorus calling VP Harris a DEI hire when she was actually duly elected. (Theyve clearly learned little from losing that $787.5 million disinformation lawsuit.) A barrage of disgusting attacks that are sexual in nature and too foul to repeat have aired on television in reference to Harris from the mouths of anchors, pundits and podcasters. And in the most obvious sign of disrespect, the GOP keeps mispronouncing and butchering her first name when they could simply refer to her as Vice President Harris. All politics are identity politics. When white conservative Christian men run for office, its about values; when Black women run for the highest office in the land, its a threat to those values the same values that use Jesus as a shield for banning books, criminalizing migrant workers, exempting corporations from paying taxes, vilifying drag queens and policing womens wombs. VP Harris brings her identity to the race for president, and with that comes a determination to advance the rights and protections of women, Black people, marginalized people, incarcerated people, working people, the American people. From Shirley Chisholm and Lenora B. Fulani to Stacey Abrams, Ilhan Omar and Cori Bush, Kamala Harris is part of a long, powerful history of Black women in American politics whose policies aim to make life better for the disenfranchised, and by extension, for all Americans. Identity politics is a phrase used pejoratively when discussing politicians who arent straight white men who practice identity politics just as boldly, with full knowledge of the xenophobia, transphobia, racism and misogyny their policies reflect. Identity politics are only a problem when the face of politics is nonwhite, female, Muslim or LGBTQ+. The practice isnt new, and neither is the double standard. Hopefully, American voters will reject and pink-slip the double standard this November. In a setback for Illinois Democrats and Gov. JB Pritzker, the Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a downstate judges ruling that found unconstitutional a Democrat-passed law preventing the slating of legislative candidates for the November election in races where political parties did not field contenders. The high courts ruling Friday was not typical of the seven-member body, which is made up of five Democrats and two Republicans. Two of the justices, Democrats P. Scott Neville and Joy Cunningham, recused themselves while the remaining five justices were divided enough that the court couldnt make a ruling. Under the Illinois Constitution, four concurring justices are needed to decide on cases before the court. As a result, Sangamon County Judge Gail Nolls ruling in June was upheld by default but only for the November election. Noll earlier this year declared the election law signed by Pritzker on May 3 unconstitutional because it impermissibly burdens candidates who had been following the previous law from their right to vote and to have their names placed on the November ballot. Before Democrats moved to change the law, local Democratic and Republican committees regularly filled vacancies for legislative spots on the general election ballot in races where no candidates from their party had run in the primary. The candidate slated by the political party was still required to obtain candidacy petition signatures to run in the general election. Under the decision, the new law stays on the books. That means, if there is no law change, political parties beginning in the 2026 elections will have to run candidates in the primary in order for those candidates to appear on the general election ballot. Pritzker has defended the constitutionality of the new law, saying it forced candidates to run in the primary and prevented backroom deals where some small group of people in a smoke-filled room decided who would run in the general election. But the attempt to block slating was viewed by many, especially Republicans, as an effort to give the Democrats a boost in the Nov. 5 general election before a vote was even cast. Democrats in Springfield already hold sizable supermajorities in the House and Senate and the GOPs inability to slate opponents for late general election challenges would only help Democrats keep their advantage. The court case was brought by the conservative Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center on behalf of GOP candidates who were circulating petitions for the November ballot when Pritzker signed the new law, which had an immediate effective date. Illinois Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove on Friday welcomed the Supreme Courts decision. Gov. Pritzker once again signed a purely partisan law that violated the constitutional rights of Illinois citizens. This latest attempted power grab by Gov. Pritzker and the legislative Democrats that would have reduced voters choice in the upcoming election was thankfully rejected by the courts for the final time, and voters, rather than politicians, will have the final say on Election Day, Curran said in a statement. Pritzkers office had no immediate comment Monday about the Supreme Court decision. Republicans contended Democrats rushed the measure to protect one of the partys few downstate House Democrats from a challenge. But Jay Keeven, the slated GOP challenger to Democratic state Rep. Katie Stuart, of Edwardsville, had gathered enough signatures and filed to get on the ballot with the Illinois State Board of Elections before Pritzker signed the new bill into law. After losing at a lower court, the Illinois Democratic Party appealed directly to the Illinois Supreme Court and lost. As I have said every time, with each attempt to kick me off of the ballot, our campaign continues to gain momentum, Keeven said in a statement Monday. At least three other GOP candidates also will be allowed to run for House seats in November against incumbent Democrats in light of the high courts ruling. They include Republican Donald Puckett, who is running against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Anna Moeller of Elgin; an Aurora-area race in which Republican Teresa Alexander is running against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Barbara Hernandez; and a Northbrook race in which Republican Daniel Behr will face off against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl. Not affected by Nolls ruling are provisions of the law that also will place three nonbinding advisory proposals on the November ballot. The first asks voters if earners of $1 million or more annually should be taxed extra to pay for property tax relief. The second asks if candidates for office should face civil charges for attempting to interfere with election workers. And the third asks whether voters favor insurance coverage protections for in vitro fertilization. A maximum of three nonbinding proposals are allowed on the ballot and the move by Democrats was aimed at crowding out attempts by conservatives to try to place their own advisory question asking if parental consent should be required for gender counseling, therapy or modification procedures. Chicago Tribunes Olivia Olander contributed to this story. IMF reaches staff-level deal for Liberia on $209 million new credit facility FILE PHOTO: IMF logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement for Liberia on a new 40-month extended credit facility arrangement for $209 million, the IMF said in a statement on Monday. The arrangement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, the IMF said, adding the board discussion is scheduled for Sept. 25. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese) Immigrant hotel owners say NYC bill that bans outsourcing jobs would destroy their American Dream A new group of South Asian immigrant hotel owners is fighting a proposed bill they say would destroy the Big Apples hospitality industry and stomp out their American Dreams. Indian-Americans behind the New York City Minority Hotel Association own some 120 non-union hotels mostly outside of Manhattan and they are pushing back against a controversial plan that would ban them from outsourcing jobs like housekeeping. Our coalition is the embodiment of the American Dream hard working immigrant families who came to this nation, took a chance to build their small businesses and, over decades, created a community within the walls of their hotels, said Mukesh Patel, a New York City hotelier and a founding member of the group who moved from India 30 years ago. The New York City Minority Hotel Association has spoken out against the controversial Safe Hotel Act from the City Council. Christopher Sadowski As it is currently imagined, [the bill] has the potential to destroy all of that progress, put thousands of people out of work and shut down small businesses all over the city. He said the Safe Hotels Act is a bid to force hotels to unionize while driving up costs. The bill, sponsored by Upper East Side Democratic Councilwoman Julie Menin, would require that hotels apply and reapply for a license every year. The city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection would regulate the hotels. The measure, backed by the union representing hotel workers the Hotel Trades Council would bar hotels from outsourcing cleaning jobs and front desk work to private forms. I dont think most council members are aware of the consequences this bill will have on the hotel industry, Patel said. The Safe Hotel Act was sponsored by Councilwoman Julie Menin. Paul Martinka We have not fully recovered from the COVID pandemic. We are still struggling. He said the new licensing authority could trigger unfair revocation of licenses, and banks would no longer bankroll loans for hotels because of uncertainty. Patel also said the city, state and federal governments as well as the HTC outsource certain services to private firms and hotels should have the same option. Whats the interest here? This is just not right, he said. The hoteliers said workers whether direct hires or contact employees already undergo sex-trafficking awareness training and other trainings. Our industry supports thousands of families all over New York City, many of whom are hardworking immigrant and minority families hoping to secure stability in this great city, yet the City Council is willing to play politics with their livelihoods, Nikul Patel, a hotel owner in New York City and a founding member of NYCMHA, who is not related to Mukesh. Menin defended her bill, noting support from the five district attorneys and the city Police Benevolent Association, who claim the stricter regulation will bolster safety and curb crime such as sex trafficking in and around hotels. With 39 murders at hotels and 14,000 complaints to the NYPD [since 2019], theres a reason the five District Attorneys and the PBA support the Safe Hotels Act and why cities all across the country successfully license hotels, said Menin, who is jockeying to become the next council speaker. HTC agreed with Menin. An association founded by a hotel operator with properties that have generated hundreds of 911 criminal complaints is exactly why we need legislation to improve safety and health standards, said HTC spokesman Austin Shafran. Some business owners want to remain unaccountable but hotel workers, guests, and neighbors deserve better. Indian PM talks to Biden after visit to Ukraine Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he discussed the situation in Ukraine with US President Joe Biden in a telephone conversation after his visit to Ukraine. Source: Modi on X (Twitter) Quote from Modi: "Spoke to Joe Biden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine." Details: Modi said he had reiterated India's full support for the speedy restoration of peace and stability. Background: On 23 August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ukraine. This was the first official visit by an Indian prime minister since Ukraines independence was proclaimed in 1991. During Narendra Modi's visit to Ukraine, agreements were formalised regarding cooperation between Ukraine and India in the medical, agricultural, humanitarian and cultural spheres. Support UP or become our patron! HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) Officials say with extreme summer temperatures expected in Indiana over the next several days, cooling centers will be open across the state for those in need of a safe and cool place to stay, and some of those are in southwestern Indiana. According to Indiana 211, the cooling centers are: Vanderburgh County Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library 960 Koehler Drive Evansville 2100 Stringtown Road Evansville 2000 West Franklin Street Evansville 3001 Oaklyn Drive Evansville 200 Southeast Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard Evansville 840 East Chandler Avenue Evansville 120 South Red Bank Road Evansville Salvation Army Evansville 1040 North Fulton Avenue Evansville United Caring Services 324 Northwest 6th Street Evansville CK Newsome Community Center 100 East Walnut Street Evansville Evansville Rescue Mission 500 East Walnut Street Evansville Gibson County Salvation Army Princeton 202 South Gibson Street Princeton North Side boil advisory extended to Wednesday Officials say people can call 211 or 866-211-9966 to find their nearest cooling center. People can report or add a cooling center by contacting the organization Indiana 211 by email at in211database@fssa.in.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 Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). A new report from the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute cautions that scaling apprenticeships programs statewide will be challenging. (Jetta Productions Inc./Getty Images) As Hoosier education leaders lean deeper into a statewide model that emphasizes work-based learning, a new report from the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute cautions that while apprenticeships are widely considered to be a gold standard of workforce training, scaling the programs to meet current needs will be challenging. Employer demand for workers continues to outpace Indianas supply of individuals looking for work, said IFPI President Stephanie Wells, who authored the policy brief. Like many other states, Indiana is now seeking to create robust youth and adult apprenticeship programming. Those learning opportunities allow high school students as well as adults re-entering the workforce and those who are currently employed but want to increase their skills to earn necessary experience and credentials through firsthand career exposure that is directly tied to an industry or employer. State and local organizations have repeatedly emphasized apprenticeship programs and work-based learning in recent years. Indiana lawmakers are also buying in, so far establishing new Career Scholarship Accounts which provide $5,000 scholarships to pay for apprenticeships or career-related coursework and funding initiatives like youth apprenticeship grants. But achieving a lasting apprenticeship model that can adequately train up large numbers of Hoosiers wont be an easy feat. The IFPI brief, published last week, recommended that state lawmakers simplify the regulation and oversight of youth and adult apprenticeships to make it easier for employers and intermediaries to navigate the system. State-funded incentives to pay for workforce training and education, plus subsidies for apprentices wages through grants or tax credits, is also especially recommended. Access to better apprenticeship data, at both the state and national levels, will be critical, too. Scaling apprenticeship will take time, investment, and leadership, Wells wrote, noting that sustainable and scalable programs in the U.S. have required consistent marketing, employer incentives, tuition assistance, and ongoing grant funding for intermediaries. Overwhelmingly, the research suggests that scaling apprenticeship will be difficult without more resources to educate employers on the benefits of apprenticeship and also how to establish their own programs, she said. Indianas employment landscape According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Indiana has 72 available workers for every 100 open jobs. In April 2024, Indianas unemployment rate was 3.6%, compared to a national average of 3.9%. At the same time, the Hoosier labor force participation rate was recorded at 62.5% representing the percentage of Hoosiers who are eligible to work and are actively seeking employment. Wells noted in the policy brief that Indianas labor force participation rate was at or exceeded 65% for most of the past 40 years, with participation peaking at more than 70% in 1995. The employment report further showed 32,000 Hoosiers were not in the labor force but would be willing to work now. These are typically adults that have barriers to employment such as lack of affordable childcare and lack of transportation, Wells said. Story continues below. IFPI Advancing Apprenticeships August 2024 Combined with those that are unemployed and are actively seeking work, that means that there are 153,506 potential Hoosier workers who are not currently employed. To address talent needs, state policymakers created the Next Level Jobs programs in 2017, which consist of employer training grants and tuition support for individuals looking for short-term training opportunities. In 2018, Gov. Eric Holcomb additionally created the Office of Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship through executive order. And in recent legislative sessions, Hoosier lawmakers have approved multiple measures that aim to make career-centered education available to Indiana high school students. The U.S. Department of Labors job finder currently shows more than 800 apprenticeship opportunities available in Indiana. Even so, the IFPI brief noted dismal apprenticeship completion rates nationally, only 35% of students finish a program once enrolled. In Indiana, policies and program design will need to be implemented with an eye to increasing this completion rate over time and to making the program more available to diverse populations, Wells said. Despite low completion rates, research still indicates that participating employers receive a positive return on investment for hosting apprentices. The brief pointed to data showing that for every dollar invested in an apprentice, the employer earns $1.44 in benefits a 44% return. Research also shows that apprentices experience significant wage gains through participating in such programs, particularly among women and people of color. However, there is no data that there is sufficient organic employer demand for these programs in Indiana, Wells said in the brief. Indiana will need to devote significant resources towards employer recruitment. Equity also continues to be a problem in Indiana. Wells noted that 80% of Indiana apprentices are white and 87% are male. As apprenticeship enrollment continues to increase in the state, providing more opportunities for other populations of Hoosiers should be a policy priority, she wrote. Major education changes on the horizon Indianas top education officials are currently hashing out a massive high school diploma redesign meant to maximize flexibility and allow students to personalize learning pathways and experiences, including with college courses taken while still in high school. Internships, apprenticeships, military experience and other work-based learning will also be allowed to count toward graduation requirements. Paramount to their proposal is an ambitious, statewide youth apprenticeship program modeled after the renowned system in Switzerland, where apprenticeships start in high school. Switzerlands dual system combines learning on the job and being paid a learning wage with one to two days of theory at school. Nearly two-thirds of Swiss youth aged 16-18 participate in apprenticeships. Employers invest in the programming, and most recoup their investments while the youth is enrolled as an apprentice. Typical apprentices earn 12% of an occupations typical wages, Wells noted in the brief. Although the model has gained overwhelming popularity among the Swiss, Wells cautioned that there are still challenges. Some parents and policy makers continue to push back on making 14 year-old-students make such important career choices. Also, the Swiss vocational education system, which is the path for many professional occupations in Switzerland, is not as valued outside of Switzerland, where other countries value a higher education degree for many of these occupations, Wells wrote, adding that, in the United States, many of the occupations that are apprenticeable in Switzerland are aligned with degree programs in our public and private institutions of higher education. If the proposed high school redesign is successful, state officials say the new education model could be a game changer for how employers and educators in Indiana guide students toward career-education pathways as well as boost labor participation rates. But if Indiana decides to go all in on apprenticeships, then much attention must be paid to recruiting employers, Wells said. While we know that employers indicate that they are actively seeking talent, there is no evidence that there is employer demand for these programs, she wrote in the policy brief. No known evaluation of the sensitivity of Indiana employers to participating in these programs exists. In 2024 alone, there are 86,547 high school juniors and 85,133 high school seniors enrolled in Indianas public and private schools, according to state data. By those numbers, Hoosier employers would need to enroll over 15,000 students each year if only 10% of students are interested in apprenticeship programming. In future years, that means that realistically if employers are expected to provide work-based-learning experiences for high school students, they will have to drastically increase their internal capacity to do so, Wells emphasized. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Amelia Haggard was too shy to talk about her future, but her father wasnt. Shes going to be an astronaut, boasted David Haggard as she started kindergarten at Indianapolis new Girls IN STEM Academy. Amelia, just 5 and already wearing a Girls IN STEM shirt, smiled and bashfully buried her face in her shoulder. Shes just big into science, Haggard explained. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Parents of the 65 girls who have enrolled in the all-girls elementary charter school told similar stories at its opening on Aug. 1. Their daughters, still too young for serious career plans, but with a spark for one or more of the elements of STEM science, technology, engineering or math needed a school to nurture that interest. Created from a partnership between two highly successful charter school chains the Paramount and Purdue Polytechnic schools along with the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, the school aims to give girls a head start in STEM fields traditionally dominated by men. Girls IN STEM, with the IN a nod to Indianas postal abbreviation, is one of a handful of schools nationwide with such a focused mission. Though STEM schools have been growing nationally, there are few enrolling only girls. The U.S. Department of Education and the International Coalition of Girls Schools could point to only three other girls elementary schools with a dedicated STEM focus Innova Girls Academy in New York, Rise STEM Academy for Girls in Kentucky and Solar Preparatory School for Girls in Texas. The new Girls IN STEM school had just 65 students when the elementary school opened Sept. 1, but hopes to have 300 in a few years. (Patrick ODonnell) With women making up just a third of the STEM workforce and about the same majoring in STEM fields in college, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and American Association of University Women, experts see a need to start encouraging girls early in a STEM focus. In addition, some experts believe girls can do better in STEM in settings without boys. A Gallup poll last year of Generation Z ages 13 to 27 found many more men than women, 85% to 63% had interest in STEM fields. There are also racial disparities in STEM nationally, another barrier Girls IN STEM is breaking: 80% of the students in the first academic year are Black, Hispanic and multi-racial, with the remaining 20% of the students white. The school is small now, serving just kindergarten through sixth grade, though it aims to add grades seven and eight in the next two years and grow to nearly 300 students. Principal Chrystal Westerhaus said the school symbolizes a new chapter in the pursuit of empowerment and opportunity for young women. You may be aware of the alarming data for girls in this very community, she told parents at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the school. The data concerns you and the data concerns us. We know that our girls are limitless Here theres a network of support where girls can inspire one another, share ideas, lead unapologetically and build lasting relationships. Girls IN STEM students copy letters on dry erase boards on the first day of school. (Patrick ODonnell) Along with the regular science classes other Paramount charter schools offer, Girls IN STEM students will also have an extra STEM class every other day, alternating with physical education, to offer more hands-on experiments and instruction. We want to make science fun, said STEM teacher Renee Barlow. Lead STEM teacher Carolyn Caver said classes would be very hands-on They will touch and see and have chances to ask questions on every experiment and every section that they will be doing with us. Those lessons will likely include robotics, DNA, the absorbency of polymers used in diapers and other products and the science behind the first flights. Barlow and Caver have taught at other all-girls programs before, including the Girls STEM Institute, a summer program run by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Students at Girls IN STEM Academy meet other students on the first day of school. (Patrick ODonell) Students from the highly-regarded Purdue Polytechnic High Schools will mentor the younger students, with the high school hoping Girls IN STEM students will become a pipeline, eventually boosting the female attendance there, as well as at colleges. The Girl Scouts, who have pushed for a girls STEM school in Indianapolis for years, will take students to STEM lessons at its camp nearby. Girls IN STEM teachers will become troop leaders and the STEM classes at the school will eventually line up with Girl Scout badges in STEM topics like cybersecurity, robotics, engineering and coding, allowing students to earn badges through class. The school will also designate a character issue the Girl Scouts highlight as its theme for each month, starting with sisterhood in August and entrepreneurship, leadership and service coming soon. Elizabeth Knight said her daughter Victoria, 9, wavers between chemistry and her current career interest of becoming a veterinarian. That makes the school worth the 30-minute bus ride from Plainfield, a suburb 15 miles west. Victoria is highly interested in science, said Knight. She considers herself a scientist and likes doing experiments. And she also is interested in the all-girl environment. She thinks that itd be a better fit for her in terms of the ability to learn. Though Girls IN STEM leaders have high aims, theres still a lot of work to do. The school opened in a temporary location in a Hebrew school just north of the city while it converts the former Witherspoon Presbyterian Church into its permanent home. The school faced delays winning zoning approval for that site after opponents challenged the need for a charter school in that area. And, there have been complaints the Girl Scouts have traditionally not served people of color well. Leaders of the Girls IN STEM Academy cut the ribbon on the new school Aug. 31. (Patrick ODonnell) Those challenges have the school looking different from other Paramount schools. Typically, the school walls would be lined with prints of fine art as a way of teaching students art of many cultures. Since Paramount cant drill hundreds of holes in the wall of a temporary home, that will have to wait until art and Girl Scout materials can go up at the permanent school. In addition, teachers still need training as troop leaders and in the Girl Scout science curriculum, which will come after the school settles into the year. As a former Girl Scout and her daughter currently a Brownie, Knight said she was thrilled to see the school partnering with the Scouts. I would have picked it without Girl Scouts, said Knight, but it added to its prestige. WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) An Indiana man charged with soliciting a 12-year-old for sex has been arrested and extradited to Walton County. In April of 2024, the Walton County Sheriffs Office received a report concerning information found on a 12-year-olds phone. The legal guardian of the victim discovered emails between the 12-year-old and 23-year-old Spencer Tomlinson of Lafayette, Indiana. According to WCSO, the case was forwarded to the Criminal Investigations Bureau, and in May a search warrant was served to Google. The results of the search warrant showed emails and images passed between the victim and Tomlinson, where he knowingly had a sexual relationship with the 12-year-old. On August 15, Tomlinson was taken into custody by members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force, officials said. We applaud the diligence of the guardian who took it upon themselves to check the victims phone and other devices, said Sheriff Michael Adkinson. We encourage parents to talk to their children about the dangers of online relationships and interacting with people you dont know on the internet. On August 25, Tomlinson was extradited to Walton County and charged with online solicitation of a minor for sex and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. He was given 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 mypanhandle.com. German supermodel of the 90s Claudia Schiffer has become a symbol of a fashion era that still inspires admiration. On August 25, the beauty celebrates her sweet 54th birthday and still remains a shining gem for style connoisseurs. ADVERTISIMENT Unlike her colleagues like Kate Moss, Schiffer has never made headlines for her antics. "I've never had a desire to be in the spotlight," she admitted to ELLE magazine in 2017. Schiffer has always been considered diligent, disciplined and free from scandals, DW writes. "Over the past 30 years, I have had a reputation as a kind of 'Ice Queen,'" the model said about her 30-year career in her autobiographical book. She was spotted at a disco ADVERTISIMENT Representatives of a modeling agency spotted the 17-year-old on the dance floor of a disco in Dusseldorf. At the time, she aspired to follow in her father's footsteps and become a lawyer. But the shy girl from Rheinberg, a northwestern German town, soon became a star. Her blond locks and legendary pouty nose were featured in advertisements for fashion, cosmetics, and automotive brands around the world. In addition to catwalk walks for the haute couture brand Chanel and modeling for companies such as Mango and Accessorize, Schiffer's face soon graced the front pages of more than a thousand magazines. It was a lucrative career: today, the supermodel's net worth is estimated at around 200 million euros. ADVERTISIMENT Karl Lagerfeld's muse In 1989, German photographer Ellen von Unwerth photographed Claudia Schiffer in a legendary shoot for the German magazine ELLE, describing the 19-year-old model as "a girl with a stunning smile" and comparing her to Brigitte Bardot. Her resemblance to Bardot meant that Schiffer was particularly well received in Paris. Already in 1988, designer Karl Lagerfeld signed her to a contract with Chanel, helping La Schiffer become the highest-paid model in the world. "I will be forever grateful to him," she wrote after the designer's death in 2019, adding that he taught her about fashion, style, and how to survive in the fashion industry. ADVERTISIMENT Soon, Schiffer's career went beyond catwalks and modeling, becoming her own brand. Star designers Dolce and Gabbana wrote about Claudia: "Her perfect beauty struck us from the very beginning: luxurious, shining golden curls, eyes as blue as the Sicilian waters, a physique reminiscent of ancient statues of goddesses." Quiet life in an English town Schiffer retired from the catwalks when she was in her 20s. In 2018, she reappeared at Donatella Versace's show alongside 90s supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni and Helena Christensen. But the famous model still graces the covers and continues to be the face of major brands. ADVERTISIMENT Today, Claudia lives with her husband, film producer and director Matthew Vaughan, and their three children in the countryside in Oxfordshire, about 100 kilometers from London. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! INDIANAPOLIS A Marion County trial ended in a guilty verdict for an Indianapolis man accused of carrying out a 2021 triple homicide when he was 16 years old, according to prosecutors. Friday, a jury ruled Caden Smith guilty of three counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of robbery and multiple other gun and drug-related charges following a five-day trial. A sentencing date has not been scheduled in online court records. The charges stem from the October 2021 deaths of Joseph Thomas, 18, Michael James, 22, and Abdulla Mubarak, 17 all of whom were found by an Indianapolis officer working security on a grassy path near the 4400 block of South Meridian Street near I-465. The trio died from gunshot wounds. Does freezing gun remove DNA: Teens online searches used to charge him with 3 murders The killings fueled rumors of a serial killer in the city, which police pointedly debunked. Police arrested Smith weeks later using witness interviews and phone records, determining he brought the three victims to the fields to show them how a Glock switch works. The subsequent case in the courtroom soon was marked with setbacks, particularly after a judge ruled the warrant used to carry out Smiths arrest may have been unconstitutional and allowed Smith to be released. The teen landed back in jail soon later on marijuana possession charges. Caden Smith: Judge orders teen triple homicide suspect be held without bond after pretrial release arrest The ruling resulted in multiple delays until the jury trial began Aug. 19. It was a long and challenging road for these families, but thanks to the steadfast commitment of the investigators, deputy prosecutors, and the multitude of agencies, justice has been secured for Abdullah, Joseph, Michael, and their families, Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a prepared statement. Contact IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana man guilty in triple homicide that fueled serial killer rumors The first conversation DeCaree Lewis had about a gun was with his mother, Latavia. He remembers it as more of a lecture. And even at 10 years old, he said he wasnt scared it felt like a normal part of his environment. This is my gun, his mother told him. Dont go trying to find it or anything. Lewis said his upbringing was "fun" but it was hard to ignore his mothers drug use and other violence within his family. His mother died of a drug overdose in 2022 when he was 12. Multiple friends and family members were lost to gun violence. Simply put, Lewis is a teen and has endured more than most will in a lifetime. He said hardships come with life but each he's faced has made him a better person. I just want to be different, he said. 'Talking Guns Project' takes honest look at youth gun violence Allison Luthe said it's unimaginable the number of funerals she's attended for children killed by gun violence during her nearly 10 years as executive director of the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis. The first she attended was that of David Lowery Jr. in 2020, a promising 16-year-old in the MLK Center's teen work crew and player on the Indy Steelers youth football team. His death has stayed with her through the years, driving her to work to understand why more Indianapolis teens are carrying guns. Indianapolis' youth homicide rate tripled between 2016 and 2023, according to a report by the IUPUI ONeill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The report states that Black youth are nine times more likely to be a victim of gun violence than white and Hispanic youth. It also points to social media, the prevalence of guns and prior exposure to gun violence as key factors in the increase. The report was conducted in partnership with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. 'Gun locks are free': 2 Indy children critical in self-inflicted shootings hours apart Preparing youth: Meet the man tasked with reducing violence among Indianapolis youth In 2023, Indianapolis police investigated 25 homicides in which a person 17 years or younger was killed. That number was even higher for Marion County when including three youth homicides handled by Speedway and Lawrence police. "It's clear we need to get out of this mindset of punishment and control," Luthe said. "Instead we should try listening and centering youth voices." Over the summer Luthe teamed up with Lewis, an Indianapolis Public Schools student at Crispus Attucks High School, to do just that. The two interviewed 10 Indianapolis teens who were charged with gun crimes in the past five years. Allison Luthe and DeCaree Lewis pose Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in a park near the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis. The two have produced a short film titled Talking Guns Project, which takes an honest look as to why Indianapolis teenagers carry guns and what can be done about it. The research, not part of the community center but rather Luthe's American Studies doctoral program dissertation at IU Indianapolis where students are asked to "engage problems and issues significant to contemporary American life," takes an honest look as to why Indianapolis teenagers carry guns and what can be done about it. Lewis has known Luthe for six years. When the project was introduced through a casual conversation, he jumped at the opportunity. Lewis remembers the exchange it was inside the centers Best Buy Teen Tech Center as he worked on producing music and other videos. "I just understand because I'm a Black male and I grew up in that poverty," he said. "Guns have impacted my family a lot. Kids and guns just don't go together. Interview questions for the project were carefully crafted and explored everything from why the teens carried a gun to the arrest and detention process and what life has been like after their gun charge. Lewis helped interpret questions and translated slang for Luthe. She said he made her more approachable, as he knew the participants from outside the project. This might be his people, she said. But its not OK. He gets that. Participants' answers were then digested into a nearly 11-minute short film created by Lewis. Narration carries viewers through the film that ends with a gut-wrenching 911 call. 'I will never forget that day' Luthe met Lewis and his mother at the community center when he was 9, on the first day of an after-school program. I will never forget that day, Luthe said. "I still have a picture of him reading in the basement." She said she was sitting at the front desk and noticed his charisma when he walked in. He was bossing around and playing with friends, full of confidence and not a care in the world. The community center has supported Lewis over the years when it felt as if those closest to him had let him down and the carefree nature of his life ended, he said. A young DeCaree Lewis reads in the basement of the Martin Luther King Community Center. When my mother died I feel like I didnt have a support system, he said. My grandmother, she helped me out. But, you know, when I got closer to the MLK Community Center, I felt like I had a support system. Lewis has taken advantage of what the center can offer, like its teen work crew and the Tech Center, where he's learned video production skills. Luthe said she's seen neighborhood teen music videos featuring very adult situations. She hopes the Tech Center offers a more productive avenue for their video production. We could either let them make music videos with lots of drugs and alcohol and guns," Luthe said. "Or we can try to make some videos that could make a difference." Staying out of the way of gun violence Whether it was toothpaste dried on one participant's cheek during filming or the shooting death of 17-year-old film participant DeVon Robinson Jr., Luthe's urgency to push the children-with-guns conversation forward was reinforced. For her, the most surprising result from their research was that most participants saw a 30-day sentence in the juvenile detention center as a slap on the wrist. They viewed their stay as traumatic and said it didn't fix the environment they would have to return to. Less surprising was that none of the participants had any gun training. When asked, Lewis said nothing any participant said surprised or was new to him. It was all really normal to me, to be honest," he said. Indianapolis violence: Indy courts fill with teens turning to Glock switches to settle disputes Tackling disparities: Indiana's juvenile detention centers disproportionately detain Black boys Even if some kids carry guns, Luthe said, the purpose isn't always to use them. She also said some children are simply victims of their environments. "It's hard to not do what your environment is doing when you're stuck in a place," one participant in the film said. For Lewis, the hardest part of the project was being different. Not in what clothes he wears or the food he eats but in the people he associates with and the relationships into which he puts his effort. Im entering a new life, he tells those who are still searching for the best way to stay out of the way. Staying out of the way for Lewis means focusing on goals and leaving negativity behind, no matter what the environment. From inside a closet, Talking Guns Project is produced A lacked stability in his life has plagued Lewis since his mother's death. Home now is a bedroom inside his brother's apartment. It's small, he said, but he's appreciative. It's where he spent his time while editing the film. During the more than 100 hours of editing, Lewis said sometimes he'd sit on his bed and sift through footage. Other times he'd sit at a desk he squeezed into his closet because it was too big to fit next to his bed. The film pushes adults to be more intentional in their interactions and connections with youth. Listening is also urged, rather than lecture-based relationships that teeter on a youth's ability to be successful in an unforgiving society. When kids are in trouble they need help the most, Luthe said. Allison Luthe and DeCaree Lewis walk Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, near a park at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis. The two have produced a short film titled Talking Guns Project, which takes an honest look as to why Indianapolis teenagers carry guns and what can be done about it. On a recent Wednesday evening, Lewis and Luthe ordered a few pizzas and set out a variety of candy inside a small room at the community center. They would screen the film in front of 11 children and six youth workers to gather feedback. The children pleaded for the film to be shown at their schools. Luthe said she hopes that two upcoming public screenings, aimed towards policymakers, youth workers and adults, continue the conversation and help push for real change. Though free, an RSVP is required as seating is limited. So far, Luthe said she's seeing the right people reserve a spot to watch the film, from members of the IMPD to a youth judge, youth therapists and scholars researching the city's youth gun violence. In completing the editing process, Luthe and Lewis discussed to whom they'd dedicate the film. By text message, the two landed on the same person Lewis' mother. "To Latavia Lewis: Without you, we never would have met," a screen reads as the film begins. On its surface, the statement is simple but at its core it speaks deeply to the importance of relationships that, if nurtured, can change the trajectory of someones life. Contact IndyStar photojournalist Mykal McEldowney at 317-790-6991 or mykal.mceldowney@indystar.com. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis teen's 'Talking Guns Project' takes on youth gun violence Inmate dies within hours of beating at California prison Six inmates have been placed in restricted housing following the suspected beating death of another inmate at Wasco State Prison in Kern County over the weekend. Officials identified the deceased inmate as David Dominguez, saying he was attacked sometime Saturday at the prison located near Bakersfield. Prison staff contacted Dominguez, 29, after seeing other inmates helping to support him in the dayroom around 2:30 p.m., the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated in a news release. David Dominguez He told staff he had suffered a seizure and fell, the Department stated. Emergency medical staff was summoned and determined Dominguez needed a higher level of care. Life-saving measures were performed in a triage and treatment area while staff awaited an ambulance. Dominguez was pronounced dead by a paramedic just after 4 p.m. The cause of death is still to be determined by the Kern County coroner. A subsequent review of the audio-video surveillance system showed incarcerated persons Jose Landeros, 27, and Michael S. Padilla, 37, entering Dominguezs cell and engaging in a physical altercation, the Department stated. Jose Landeros (left) and Michael Padilla Landeros and Padilla, along with four other inmates were moved to restricted housing pending further investigation. The other inmates were identified as Robert Rubalcava, 40, Leonel A. Torres, 40, Zakary W. White, 27, and Mario Aguillon, 37, but officials did not indicate what roles they may have played in the incident. Dominguez arrived at the prison from San Diego County in October of last year. He had been sentenced to three years for extortion by means of force or threat and assault with force likely to produce great bodily harm, with enhancements for street gang act. Landeros is currently serving a nearly 20-year sentence for multiple convictions including second-degree robbery with an enhancement for use of a firearm, assault with a firearm and false imprisonment with violence. Padilla is currently serving a 22-year sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, a second-strike offense, with enhancements for fleeing the scene and for a prior felony conviction of a serious offense. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 helicopter from the Italian fire service in the air on the fifth day of the search and recovery operation after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a storm on Monday whilst moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello, Sicily. The search continues for the final person missing from the wreck of the yacht after five bodies were brought to shore in the small fishing village of Porticello. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa After the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesian off Sicily, which resulted in seven fatalities, the prosecution has launched an investigation into the captain, Italian media reports said on Monday. He is being investigated for negligent homicide and shipwreck, the news agency ANSA and the daily newspaper La Repubblica reported. On Sunday, he was questioned for the second time within a week. The accident, near the shore of the Italian Mediterranean island, claimed the lives of British billionaire Mike Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter last Monday, as well as two couples who were friends and the ship's cook. Fifteen people were able to be rescued. The billionaire software entrepreneur had intended to celebrate a court acquittal on a sailing trip with family, friends and business partners. According to investigators' findings, at around 4 am (0200 GMT), the Bayesian was hit by a downdraught during a storm with wind speeds of more than 100 kilometres per hour. It sank within minutes. It is presumed that the victims were caught in their cabins while asleep and could not save themselves from the water. During the most recent questioning of the captain, the reports said the focus was partly on whether doors and hatches were open or closed during the incident and when the alarm was triggered. He was subsequently added to the register of suspects. The investigators are currently also questioning the other crew members. It is not ruled out that some crew members may also be investigated. An Italian coastguard boat on the water on the fifth day of the search and recovery operation after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a storm on Monday whilst moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello, Sicily. The search continues for the final person missing from the wreck of the yacht after five bodies were brought to shore in the small fishing village of Porticello. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa Four Iowa community colleges have received federal funding to expand their CDL training programs. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Four Iowa community colleges will receive support for their commercial drivers license training programs through U.S. Department of Transportation grants. Des Moines Area Community College, Hawkeye Community College, Iowa Central Community College and Western Iowa Tech Community College will receive a combined total of almost $510,000 to expand their CDL programs, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. Improving pathways for eligible individuals to secure commercial drivers licenses is a simple way we can boost the economy, Grassley said in the release. These resources will unlock good-paying jobs, address labor shortages in the trucking industry and streamline supply chain operations. Ive seen firsthand the efficacy of commercial drivers license programs in Iowa and am confident our community colleges will use this federal investment to build on their proven successes. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Hawkeye Community College will receive the largest grant of $132,375, followed by Western Iowa Tech with $131,000, DMACC with $127,400 and Iowa Central with $119,000. DMACC also received $1 million in federal funds this summer for its transportation institute, which houses the CDL training program and is currently being renovated. U.S. Rep Zach Nunn announced the funding at DMACC in June and later traveled to Indian Hills Community College in July to announce a $1 million investment in the colleges CDL program for a new driving pad. Funding for both programs was awarded through the Community Project Funding process and included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, signed in March. State leaders have also sought to support Iowas truck driving training programs, with Gov. Kim Reynolds announcing last October that 10 community colleges would receive a combined $4.8 million in Iowa CDL Infrastructure Grants. The funding would go toward remodeling or constructing training facilities and purchasing equipment, according to a news release from the time. The pathway to finding a job as a truck driver, one of our most-needed occupations, runs through getting a CDL license, Reynolds said in the release. Its important that we do everything we can to not only make it easier for individuals to obtain these licenses, but also to support the long-term viability of the programs that made it possible to gain that experience right here in Iowa. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Absentee ballots in a mailbox. (Photo by Jim Small/Arizona Mirror) Iowa voters can begin requesting absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 general election beginning Tuesday. While Iowans can begin requesting absentee ballots beginning Aug. 27, it will still be some time before absentee voting will kick off. County auditors will begin sending out requested ballots on Oct. 16 the same day that voters will be able to start voting early in person. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in an August news release that planning ahead is key to successfully casting a ballot, asking Iowans to make a plan to participate in the upcoming election. Whether you choose to vote by mail, vote absentee in person at your county auditors office, or vote in person on election day, now is the time to prepare, Pate said in a statement. Iowans can rest assured that when they cast their vote in the general election, we will ensure it is counted accurately and fairly. There have been some changes to the absentee voting process in Iowa since the last presidential election in 2020. While active registered voters received absentee ballot applications by mail in the 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2021 law prohibited the Iowa Secretary of State from mailing requests to all registered voters without legislative approval. Voters can download absentee ballot requests from the Iowa Secretary of States website, and can return them in person or by mail to their local county auditors office. To request a ballot, Iowans must provide proof of identification through the ID number on their drivers license or non-operators ID, or with the four-digit PIN found on their voter identification card. The 2021 voting law also included a requirement that requests must be received by county auditors by 5 p.m. at least 15 days before the election, meaning that the request forms must be returned by Oct. 21 this year. Iowans must be registered to vote in order to request and receive an absentee ballot. To register, a voter must be a U.S. citizen, Iowa resident and 18 years old by Election Day. Iowans seeking to register can do so online through the Iowa Secretary of State website, using an Iowa drivers license, non-operator ID, or by filling out and returning a registration form to their county auditors office. Voters can also register to vote on Election Day. Iowa allows same-day voter registration, allowing Iowans to register when they go to vote at polling locations that will be open from 7 a.m. through 8 p.m. on Nov. 5. People registering to vote must show identification such as a drivers license, U.S. passport, or signed Iowa Voter Identification Card as well as additional proof of residence if their ID does not include their current address through documents like a residential lease or utility bill. Registered voters must also bring a form of identification to their polling site, as required through the 2017 state Voter ID law. Displaced Palestinians evacuate the Faculty of Da'wa affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate the faculty, claiming that it is located in a combat zone. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani have again called for a ceasefire to be implemented in the Gaza Strip, after nearly 11 months of fighting between Israel and Palestinian extremist group Hamas. Iran welcomes Doha's efforts in mediating in the conflict, Araghchi said after receiving the Qatari minister in Tehran on Monday, state news agency ISNA reported. Tehran, which is allied with Hamas, would accept "any agreement" that accepts the militant group. Negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, have reportedly once again reached a stalemate. Bin Abdulrahman, who also serves as Qatar's prime minister, is the first senior foreign official to visit Iran after the new government was sworn in following the helicopter crash that killed former president Ebrahim Raisi. Iran, which considers Israel as its arch-enemy, has threatened to retaliate after the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran last month in a suspected Israeli attack, fuelling fears of a wider regional conflict. Iran's highest-ranking general, Mohammed Bagheri, has struck a more moderate tone, however, saying Iran shouldn't fall into "the enemy's trap." "The Islamic Republic of Iran will decide for itself when to take revenge, and the Axis of Resistance will act separately," Bagheri said, referring to a group of regional powers including Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, Yemen's Houthi rebels and Hamas that Tehran considers its allies in the fight against Israel. Displaced Palestinians evacuate the Faculty of Da'wa affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate the faculty, claiming that it is located in a combat zone. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa On the morning of August 26, explosions were heard in Kyiv during an air raid alert. Russian occupants have launched missiles at the Ukrainian capital, and air defense is operating. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported in the Telegram of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration. They urged citizens to stay in shelters and not to film the work of Ukrainian defenders. An OBOZ.UA correspondent reported that a lot of people gathered in the Kyiv metro during the Russian missile attack, waiting for the alarm. ADVERTISIMENT Local Telegram channels reported that power was cut off in different parts of Kyiv. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko noted that there were interruptions in water supply on the right bank due to the power outage . NPC Ukrenergo ordered to introduce emergency power outages. DTEK pointed out that during emergency outages, schedules that can be predicted in advance do not apply. ADVERTISIMENT The Kyiv City State Administration reported that the Vydubychi metro station is operating in shelter mode due to a significant increase in people. Trains are running on the green line: - from Syrets station to Zvirynetska station; - from Osokorky station to Chervony Khutor station. Vydubychi and Slavutych stations are operating in shelter mode. Later, the head of the KMIA, Serhiy Popko, said that the main target of the complex, combined attack of all these numerous cruise, ballistic, airborne missiles and attack drones was infrastructure. "The cruise missiles came at Kyiv after complex maneuvers, in very dense groups from different directions. During the attack of these cruise missiles, the enemy fired several ballistic missiles in the direction of the capital in a row, including the aerial ballistic missile "Kinzhal"," noted the head of the KMIA. ADVERTISIMENT According to him, the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces and means destroyed about a dozen missiles. Right now , Kyiv is being attacked by strike UAVs from different directions, Popko said as of 12:17. Since the night, air defense soldiers have already destroyed a total of about a dozen enemy drones heading for the capital. The air alert in Kyiv lasted for over 6 hours. "Due to the missile attack, Ukrenergo ordered emergency blackouts. There are problems with power supply in many parts of the capital. Therefore, I issued an order to deploy all the Unbreakable Points in Kyiv. Power engineers are working to bring light back to the homes of Kyiv residents. Don't panic and stay calm," urged the head of the KCIA. As a reminder, on the morning of August 26, Russia launched Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers for missile strikes on Ukraine. At this time, the occupiers had already attacked our regions with groups of kamikaze drones, then launched missile carriers into the sea, followed by launches of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. ADVERTISIMENT After 08:00, explosions occurred in Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia region, and later in Dnipro, Kyiv, and Odesa. As reported by OBOZ.UA: - On the outskirts of Kyiv on the night of August 26, the defenders of the sky destroyed about a dozen Russian kamikaze drones of the Shahed-131/136 type. The attack was without consequences for the capital. - On August 25, the Russians attacked the village of Svesa in Sumy region - the enemy dropped guided bombs directly on the residential area of the village. Two people were killed in the attack. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! A Hezbollah UAV is intercepted by Israeli air forces over northern Israel on Sunday - JALAA MAREY Iran and its allies are planning more attacks on Israel, the chief of staff of Tehrans armed forces warned on Monday. Tehrans renewed threat came after Hezbollah claimed to have fired over 300 rockets at northern Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the killing of one of its commanders. Israel in return said it sent 100 fighter jets to attack thousands of rockets in Lebanon in a preemptive strike. Major General Mohammad Bagheri said: The blood of Martyr Ismail Haniyeh will definitely be avenged by the Axis of Resistance and the Islamic Republic of Iran. He emphasised that the retaliation would come from multiple fronts, saying: The Islamic Republic of Iran will determine its course of action for revenge, while the Axis of Resistance will carry out its own independent and separate response, as we saw yesterday. Nasser Kanaani, Irans foreign ministry spokesman, said that despite the comprehensive support of states like the United States, Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance. Mr Kanaani said Israel now had to defend itself inside its territory, showing how the strategic balances have undergone fundamental changes in the region. Israel had lost its deterrence power, he claimed. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, also threatened Israel, saying his countrys response to the assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month is definitive, and will be measured and well calculated. We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it unlike Israel, he said. Nasser Kanaani said that despite the 'comprehensive support of states like the United States, Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance' - Anadolu Hezbollahs attack on Sunday did little damage inside Israel, with one Navy soldier killed by what appeared to be shrapnel from an Iron Dome missile that intercepted a drone. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, also dismissed the claim by Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, that rockets had hit major Israeli military bases, saying most of them either fell on their way to Israeli territory, landed in open areas, or were intercepted by air force defence systems and Navy ships. Mr Hagari added: Approximately 90 per cent of the targets struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah managed to launch only about 230 rockets and over 20 drones. Meanwhile, ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel finished on Sunday. Some progress had been made, an Israeli official told The Telegraph. The fact that a lower level working team stayed in Cairo to continue talks shows a willingness to get this deal done, the official said. A man in Acre, Israel, inspects the damage of a house after it was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon - Amir Levy/Getty Images While the main sticking point is still the Philadelphi Corridor, the official believed it would be possible to make some compromises on the level of Israeli control over the buffer zone. We hope that the high-level delegations will resume talks next week, the official said. Hamas, however, poured cold water on the prospects of a deal on Sunday, saying that it had rejected the most recent demands put forward by Israel in Cairo. Despite not directly participating in the ceasefire talks, Hamas was physically present in Cairo, with messages being passed back and forth between mediators and the terror group. Hezbollah has stated repeatedly that it will stop its daily attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, giving Jerusalem as well as the US, Qatar and Egypt, an even bigger incentive to reach a deal. Click here to view this content. (Bloomberg) -- With domestic and international attention focused on Israels war in Gaza and escalating tensions with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus administration has stalled discussions on next years budget set to be the most challenging and crucial in decades. Most Read from Bloomberg Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insist there will be a fiscal framework in place for 2025 but havent explained delays in its formulation, leaving markets and investors guessing on how it will be put together at a time that the conflict is causing the budget deficit and debt issuance to soar. Budgeting is usually well underway by this time of year. Top central bank and finance ministry technocrats have joined credit-rating agencies and business leaders in warning that a hiatus will cloud Israels economic prospects and elevate the already-high risk premium on its assets. Tensions over the budgetary process were evident in a letter Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron wrote to Netanyahu this month. He urged the prime minister to follow up on a meeting they held weeks ago to discuss ways to steady the nations finances including trimming spending and raising taxes. Yaron, who under Israeli law is the governments top economic adviser, argues that permanent budgetary adjustments totaling some 30 billion shekels ($8 billion) are needed next year to sustain increased defense and other war-related expenditure. They are also necessary, he said, to steady Israels debt-to-gross domestic product ratio which the central bank sees at 67.5% this year, up from around 59% in 2022. Maintaining the budget framework for 2024 and promoting the orderly process of structuring the budget for 2025 are critical, the governor wrote. GDP grew just 2% last year, almost half the rate the finance ministry expected prior to the outbreak of the war, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. sees an expansion of just 1.4% this year after cutting its forecast twice over the past two weeks. Disquiet over Israels economy, the governments handling of its finances and the risk of intensified fighting is becoming evident in the financial markets. Yields on the governments 10-year shekel bonds have risen almost 90 basis points this year, while their spreads over US Treasuries are at an 11-year high. Israels dollar bonds are among the worst performers in emerging markets this year, Bloomberg indexes show. Fitch Ratings cut Israels rating by one notch to A, the third-highest level, on Aug. 13. That followed a similar move by Moodys Investors Service in February. The conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts, Fitch said. Fighting erupted after Hamas militants swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage. Israel responded with an air and ground assault that have reduced large tracts of the Gaza Strip to rubble. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel and Hezbollah have also been engaged in tit-for-tat strikes since the war began. Those escalated on Sunday, when 100 Israeli warplanes swooped over southern Lebanon, taking out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers in what it termed a pre-preemptive strike, and the group responded by firing more than 200 projectiles across the border. Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran and are designated as terrorist organizations by the US. Israel has spent 88 billion shekels on the war so far almost 5% of GDP and has raised more than 190 billion shekels through July to help fund the military and plug the fiscal deficit. If sustained, this years borrowing will break the record set during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The deficit rose to 8.1% of GDP in the 12 months through July. The finance ministry and central bank expect it be around 6.6% for this year as a whole, but thats presuming the conflict with Hezbollah doesnt worsen. Fiscal policy is the elephant in the room as far as markets are concerned, Yaron said last month. If you wait for the last minute, you make bad decisions. Budget proposals are typically drafted early in the Israeli summer, brought to the cabinet for approval by August and passed by parliament by year-end. Under Israeli law, the process can be extended until as late as the end of March. The government automatically collapses if it isnt concluded. Netanyahu and Smotrich met last week to discuss the budget, but theyve yet to agree on a basic framework and finance ministry officials say almost no substantive discussions have taken place so far. An official at the prime ministers office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said spending and financing plans can be comfortably approved even if they are placed before the cabinet as late as October a time line technocrats say isnt feasible. The politics surrounding the budget are fraught, with some money directed toward entities headed by ultra-religious and nationalist politicians who form part of Netanyahus coalition and are key to him retaining power. Those discretionary budgets alone totaled 6 billion shekels this year, including funding for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and religious causes that have stirred controversy. The government stalls because the unveiling of a budget involves public scrutiny, and if controversial expenses arent cut it will be slammed domestically and may precipitate another downgrade in Israels credit rating, Avigdor Lieberman, an opposition leader who preceded Smotrich as finance minister, said in an interview. Its likely that the government will choose to increase the deficit and its external debt. The stalling is vintage Netanyahu and he is likely to dismiss any criticism as politically motivated, according to Mazal Mualem, a political analyst who recently published a biography on the Israeli leader. For the prime minister, procrastination is a management strategy, she said. --With assistance from Srinivasan Sivabalan and Julius Domoney. (Updates with comparative performance of bonds in eighth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions continues in the Middle East, even with Hamas rejecting the latest iteration over the weekend. The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal. Latest Developments Aug 27, 1:25 PM Hostage was alone when found by Israeli forces Qaid Farhan Alkadi was alone when he was located by Israeli forces in a tunnel in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces officials told ABC News. In the last few days, IDF and Israeli security agency forces had been operating in the area where Alkadi was found and rescued, according to IDF officials. The forces operated underground, in a complex environment where there was suspicion of the presence of hostages, terrorists and explosives, the officials said. Farhan was located by Israeli forces when he was alone, without his captors, and was rescued from the tunnel, the officials added. -ABC News' Dana Savir Aug 27, 12:01 PM Hostage families renew calls for cease-fire after hostage rescue Hostage families are calling for an immediate cease-fire, calling the rescue of Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi -- a Bedouin father of 11 from south of Rahat -- from a tunnel in Gaza, "nothing short of miraculous," in a statement. "However, we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror. A negotiated deal is the only way forward," the hostage families said in a press release. Al-Qadi was kidnapped from his security job at Kibbutz Magen's packing factory on Oct. 7. He is the eighth hostage that Israeli forces have rescued alive since Oct. 7, according to an IDF official. "Every single day in captivity is one too many. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another such miracle," hostage families said. -ABC News' Dana Savir Aug 27, 10:38 AM Israel to use all means to return remaining hostages IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told a press conference on Tuesday of the complex rescue mission that freed Qaid Farhan Alkadi from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. He is back home in Israel, Hagari said of Alkadi. He is only the eighth hostage rescued alive from Gaza by the IDF, and the first rescued alive from a tunnel under the strip. Alkadi was among scores of people seized in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack. We cannot go into many details of this special operation but I can share that Israeli commandos rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi from an underground tunnel, following accurate intelligence, Hagari said. PHOTO: The brother of freed Israeli hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi takes a picture with him at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva in southern Israel, Aug. 27, 2024. (Farhan family) His medical condition is stable and he will undergo examinations in hospital. His family had been waiting 326 days to receive the news they did today. But there are still 108 hostages, whose families are still waiting to hear news that their loved ones are home. And they should know that we will not rest until we fulfill our mission to bring all our hostages back home. We will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible. I repeat, through all means possible." -ABC News Morgan Winsor Aug 27, 10:26 AM Israeli forces rescue hostage from Gaza The Israeli military announced Tuesday that it had rescued an Arab citizen of Israel who was among scores of people abducted in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack. Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, from the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued "in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip," according to Israeli authorities. He is the eighth Israeli hostage to be rescued alive from Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces and the first hostage to be rescued alive from a tunnel in the war-torn territory, an Israeli official said. PHOTO: Undated photo shows Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, who was held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP) An Israeli source told ABC News that Alkadi is currently at Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. In a joint statement, the IDF and Israel Securities Authority said Alkadi "is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital." A spokesperson for the Soroka Medical Center told ABC News he "is fully conscious and in good general condition." The spokesperson added that Alkadi had "already met with a family member with great excitement." The Hostages Families Forum -- a group representing family members of those taken hostage on Oct. 7 -- said in a statement that it "commends the rescue." It described Alkadi's return home as "nothing short of miraculous," adding: "We must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror. A negotiated deal is the only way forward." MORE: At DNC, parents of Israeli-American hostage make emotional plea for cease-fire deal Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X: "This is a happy moment for the State of Israel and for Israeli society as a whole. I wish for the immediate and speedy return of our 108 abductees who are brutally held captive in Gaza." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the leader had spoken with Alkadi by phone. "The prime minister congratulated Farhan and told him that the entire Israeli people are excited by his release," the office said in a statement. "The prime minister clarified in the conversation that he will continue to do everything to return all our abductees home." Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the "bold and determined" operation "joins a series of impressive operational activities, which bring us closer to achieving all the goals of the war." -ABC News' Morgan Winsor, Jordana Miller, Dana Savir and Anna Brund Aug 27, 5:17 AM Top US general ends Israel visit Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. has completed a visit to Israel amid intensifying fighting across the Lebanese border and continued uncertainty about a potential Iranian attack on Israel. Brown met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in Tel Aviv on Monday. The officials discussed Hezbollahs weekend rocket and drone attack and the need to de-escalate tensions to avoid a broader conflict, per a Pentagon readout. Hezbollah launched its attack in retaliation for Israel's killing of Fouad Shukr in Beirut last month. Brown told Reuters during his return trip to the U.S. that Iran may still be preparing a response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, an operation Iran has blamed on Israel. How Iran responds will dictate how Israel responds, which will dictate whether there is going to be a broader conflict or not, Brown said, adding he believed Iranian leaders want to do something that sends a message but they also, I think don't want to do something that's going to create a broader conflict. -ABC News Luis Martinez Aug 26, 3:27 PM Cease-fire talks moving forward after strikes: Kirby Cease-fire talks are now moving forward at a working group level in Cairo over the next few days to hammer out specifics, according to National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby. This weekend's strikes by Israel and Hezbollah have "not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get this cease-fire deal in place," Kirby told reporters Monday. PHOTO: Displaced Palestinian children haul water to their tent in a makeshift camp in the perimeter of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip following renewed Israeli evacuation orders for the area on Aug. 26, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images) Kirby also rejected any suggestion that talks broke down this weekend, instead saying they were "constructive" enough to work on "finer details" at lower levels. "There was no breakdown," he said. "They made enough progress that they were willing to, or needed to transition to a working group level so you didn't need the mediators all there and the leadership there." Brett McGurk, a top senior adviser on the Middle East at the White House, stayed in Cairo an extra day to kick off the meetings and is still there, Kirby said, adding that all parties are being represented in these discussions. "One issue that will be for the working groups to flesh out is the exchange of hostages and prisoners that Israel's holding -- what that exchange looks like, how many, some of the details of exactly who will be released on either side and at what pace, those kinds of things," Kirby said. -ABC News' Justin Gomez Aug 26, 12:32 PM Al-Aqsa Hospital still operating despite evacuations Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah is still operating, despite new temporary evacuation orders from Israeli forces to leave the surrounding area near the hospital. Out of the 650 patients in Al-Aqsa Hospital, only 100 remain in the hospital that are being treated, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said. PHOTO: A woman sits on a bed in a room of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Aug. 25, 2024. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged they have been "operating in recent days in the Deir al Balah area," but they said the evacuation orders did not include "the hospitals and medical facilities in the area," in response to an inquiry from ABC News. Three out of 18 water wells are still functioning in Deir al Balah due to "ongoing military operations," the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in a post Monday. PHOTO: A Palestinian woman prepares to evacuate with her newborn from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip following renewed Israeli evacuation orders for the area, Aug. 26, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images) -ABC News' Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller Aug 26, 9:07 AM World Food Programme operations 'severely hampered' in Gaza The World Food Programme, the U.N.'s worldwide food assistance program, is being "severely hampered" by the "intensifying conflict" in Gaza. The agency said border crossings have been limited and roads in Gaza have become so unusable that urgent repairs are needed in order to transport basic needs, like food and medicine. "Transporting food, water, medicine and hygiene equipment is critical for the survival of communities in Gaza today and will be needed for months to come," Antoine Renard, the country director for Gaza, said in a statement. "Roads are part of this lifeline." PHOTO: TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images) Aug 25, 6:26 PM Hospital in central Gaza under evacuation order after nearby explosion Israeli forces issued an evacuation order in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, urging people to flee, according to a statement from Doctors Without Borders Sunday. "An explosion approximately 250 meters away triggered panic with many choosing to leave the hospital," the organization said. PHOTO: Children sit in the back of a small vehicle as Palestinians flee with their belongings Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Aug. 16, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images) Of the approximately 650 patients in the hospital prior to the explosion, only 100 remain, with seven in the intensive care unit, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Doctors Without Borders is considering suspending wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain lifesaving treatment, according to the statement. "This situation is unacceptable," the organization said. "Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care." Aug 26, 12:30 AM Sirens sound in Tel Aviv as Hamas fires rocket from Gaza Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv Sunday night for the first time since January as Hamas launched a single rocket toward central Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said the Hamas rocket fell into an "open area" in Rishon LeTsiyon, south of Tel Aviv. Israeli emergency services officials said no one was injured by the rocket, but a 26-year-old woman was hurt going to a shelter. Hamas confirmed it fired an "M90" rocket at Tel Aviv. -ABC News Victoria Beaule The escalation that long felt inevitable arrived in a blaze of cross-border attacks over the weekend, but a Middle East on edge woke Monday having escaped all-out war for now at least. The intense exchange between Israel and Hezbollah followed weeks of threats that stoked fears of a wider regional conflict. And on Sunday, Israel launched what it said were pre-emptive strikes on southern Lebanon after saying it had detected preparations for a large-scale attack by the Iran-backed militant group. Soon after, Hezbollah aimed hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel and claimed to have hit a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv revenge, it said, for the assassination of a senior commander last month in Beirut. It was the heaviest fire the two sides have traded in 10 months of simmering conflict. A man looks out from a damaged home in Acre, north Israel, following a strike Sunday. But both Israel and Hezbollah quickly signaled they were happy to leave things there, for now. Tehran, reiterating its own vow of "definitive" retaliation against Israel, touted the Hezbollah attacks as a success. And Washington, a staunch ally of Israel, voiced continued hope for efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza. The exchange of fire alongside the Israeli-Lebanese border ... and the post-strike messages from both Israel and Hezbollah seemingly indicate neither is interested in an all-out war, Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and negotiator, said in an analysis shared with NBC News on Sunday. He said the round of violence could bring some calm to the region and bring an end to the anxious period of waiting for rounds of retaliatory strikes that could very well have led to an all-out war. The escalation came amid ongoing talks in Egypts capital, Cairo, to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas that would end the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. The high-level talks in Cairo ended Sunday without any final agreement, though theyre expected to continue at lower levels over the coming days in an effort to close remaining gaps in the negotiations, a U.S. official told NBC News. The talks have been constructive and were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement, the official said. A Hezbollah drone is intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet over the Lebanon-Israel border Sunday. In an address to Lebanese civilians Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group had delayed its response to commander Fuad Shukrs assassination in order to allow negotiations to continue, and had no intention of targeting civilian infrastructure. Now, Nasrallah said, Lebanon can rest. But he warned that if the results of Sundays operation were not sufficient, we reserve the right to respond. Hezbollah, which has the largest missile arsenal of any nonstate actor in the world according to weapons watchdogs, has previously said it would halt its attacks on Israel if a cease-fire deal is struck. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah's attack might have appeared more subdued because of what Israel has described as its pre-emptive strike carried out by dozens of fighter jets. Part of this attack looking not as big was our self-defense attack in the morning before their attack, Shoshani told NBC News. Hezbollah said it ultimately fired around 320 Katyusha rockets toward 11 Israeli bases and military sites. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least three people were killed amid the Israeli strikes, with Reuters reporting that a fighter from the Hezbollah-allied Shia group Amal had been killed. Lebanese men watch a televised address by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Sunday. During a news briefing Sunday, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military was aware of at least six militants killed in the strikes. He said that one IDF soldier died of injuries after the patrol boat he was in was hit by an Iron Dome interceptor or interception fragments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv that Sunday's hostilities were "not the end of the story," however. Iran, which has vowed its own retaliation against Israel for the assassinations of Shukr and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, has yet to act. The country's new foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said late Sunday that Iran's response "is definitive and will be measured and calculated. And early Monday, his spokesman praised the Hezbollah attack as highlighting that Israel has lost its deterrence power. Despite the comprehensive support of states like the United States, Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani wrote on X. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com By James Mackenzie JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli officials and media reacted with satisfaction on Monday after a long-expected missile attack by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement appeared to have been largely thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel seemed content to let Sunday's attack, in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month, count as settled for the moment. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a "crushing blow" from the Israeli strikes but that a longer lasting solution was still needed. "The current situation is not sustainable," he told a briefing, referring to the tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, a situation mirrored on the other side of the border in southern Lebanon. "Israel will do its duty and return its population to our sovereign territory." Hopes that children might return for the start of the new school year in September have evaporated, with financial assistance for residents evacuated from their homes extended to Sept. 30. However there was some optimism that the exchange of fire, which did not cause the kind of extensive damage many in Israel had feared, might help talks aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza and bringing Israeli and foreign hostages home. Palestinian militant group Hamas has said it will not agree to a deal that allows Israeli troops to remain in the band of territory at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt. But some commentators said Sunday's exchange of fire might prove that Hamas lacked the kind of support it would need to push the conflict outside Gaza. "Maybe - just maybe - Israel's success at foiling Hezbollahs retaliation might pave the way to concessions by Hamas in the negotiations over a hostage deal, given the failed bid to see the war expanded to engulf the entire region," wrote Avi Issacharoff, a commentator in Israel's biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Early Sunday, around 100 Israeli jets hit dozens of Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon, destroying thousands of rockets the military said were aimed at Israel. Hezbollah did launch hundreds of missiles, but most were intercepted or fell in open areas. Exchanges of fire continued on Monday, but were muted by comparison. Israel said it struck a Hezbollah military structure in southern Lebanon, and that a number of suspicious aerial targets had entered its territory from Lebanon. Most of the targets were intercepted and there were no injuries. Hezbollah denied that its response on Sunday to the killing of its senior commander Fuad Shukr had been defused, but said the operation had been completed successfully, drawing hopes that a line might be drawn under the incident, at least for now. Iran, which has vowed retaliation against Israel for the assassination in Tehran last month of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, also said it was not looking to fuel regional tensions. (Reporting by James Mackenzie. Additional reporting by Maytaal Angel; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Rod Nickel) (Adds additional reporting credit) WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States continues to assess that the threat of attack against Israel by Iran and its proxy groups still exists, the Pentagon said on Monday, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander. "I would point you to some of the public comments that have been made by Iranian leaders and others ... we continue to assess that there is a threat of attack," Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier that Iran's aggressive activities towards Israel had never been higher, adding Israel and the U.S. must be prepared to prevent the Islamic Republic from gaining nuclear weapons. Gallant was meeting with top U.S. military officer General C.Q. Brown, who is on a trip to the region aimed at preventing Israel's war with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza from engulfing the region. In one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare, Israel on Sunday struck Iran's Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah with around 100 jets in what it said was a pre-emptive strike aimed at thwarting a much larger attack. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also met with the Israeli military's Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi. "We are very determined to continue degrading Hezbollahs capabilities, eliminating more commanders. We are not stopping. Our mission is to return the residents of the north to their homes in safety," Halevi told Brown. With three deaths confirmed in Lebanon and one in Israel following Sunday's missile exchange, both sides indicated they were happy to avoid further escalation for now, but warned that there could be more strikes to come. (Reporting by Idrees Ali, Additional reporting by Maytaal Angel, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Cynthia Osterman) Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits Al-Aqsa compound also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City By James Mackenzie JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel's hardline Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir repeated a call for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, drawing sharp criticism for inflaming tensions as ceasefire negotiators seek a deal to halt fighting in Gaza. "The policy at the Temple Mount allows praying there. Period," Ben-Gvir told an Army Radio interviewer. "The prime minister knew when I joined the government there would not be any discrimination. Muslims are allowed to pray and a Jew is not allowed to pray?" Asked if he would build a synagogue on the site if he could, Ben-Gvir replied "Yes, Yes". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office immediately put out a statement restating the official Israeli position, which accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the mosque compound, known as Temple Mount to Jews, who revere it as the site of two ancient temples. "There is no change to the status quo on the Temple Mount," Netanyahu's office said. The hillside compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, is one of the most sensitive locations in the Middle East, holy for both Muslims and Jews, and the trigger for repeated conflict. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said calls to tamper with the status of Al-Aqsa appeared intended "to drag the region into a religious war that will burn everyone". The foreign ministry of Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem including Al Aqsa mosque, said it considered Ben-Gvir's statement "a violation of international law and an unacceptable incitement that requires a clear international position to condemn and confront it." Ben-Gvir, head of one of two hardline religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu's coalition, has a long record of making inflammatory statements appreciated by his own supporters, but conflicting with the government's official line. Monday's comment was condemned by some of his own cabinet colleagues, but Netanyahu's dependence on the support of Ben-Gvir's party to hold his right-wing coalition together means that the minister is unlikely to be sacked or face any significant penalty. Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit but refrain from prayer. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past. Education Minister Yoav Kisch said any change to the status quo at the mosque, especially in wartime should be carried out "professionally in the cabinet along with an examination of all the meanings and consequences." "Minister Ben Gvir's irresponsible statement in the media on this issue is unnecessary and stupid populism," he said in a statement on X. Monday's comments came less than two weeks after Ben-Gvir triggered outrage by visiting the compound with hundreds of supporters, many of whom appeared to be praying openly in defiance of the status quo rules. With negotiators trying to reach a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring back 109 Israeli and foreign hostages, and with tensions running high with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, Ben-Gvir's comments were criticised for weakening Israel's position. "Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary and irresponsible act. Ben-Gvir's actions endanger the state of Israel and its international status," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who has clashed repeatedly with Ben-Gvir, said in a statement on X. Ben-Gvir has also been criticised by some Orthodox Jews, who consider the site too holy a place for Jews to enter. (Additional reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Steve Scheer; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Editing by William Maclean) ISW analysts find out where Russia redeployed troops to Kursk Oblast from The Sudzha checkpoint at the Ukrainian-Russian border. Photo: KIRILL CHUBOTIN / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images Russian troops are redeploying forces from lower-priority frontline areas in Ukraine to the line of contact in Russias Kursk Oblast. In particular, military personnel who had previously been on the Kharkiv and Siversk fronts and in the area of Chasiv Yar were spotted there. Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Details: ISW has reported the deployment of units from the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, 155th Naval Infantry Brigade and 11th Guards Air Assault Brigade in Kursk Oblast. Additionally, there is evidence indicating that the Russian military leadership has recently shifted elements of the 56th Guards Air Assault Regiment from the Robotyne front in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast to Kursk Oblast. While ISW has not yet observed reports confirming the presence of the 51st Guards Air Assault Regiment in combat within Kursk Oblast, the fact that the regiment's commander provided a briefing to Putin alongside leaders of other units recently transferred to the area strongly suggests that parts of the 51st Guards Air Assault Regiment have also likely been moved to this area. Elements of the 51st Guards Air Assault Regiment have been active on the Siversk front in recent months, operating alongside other units from the 106th Guards Air Assault Division. It seems that Russia has redeployed elements of the 810th and 155th Naval Infantry Brigades from their previous positions in northern Kharkiv Oblast and likely shifted elements of the 11th Guards Air Assault Brigade from the broader Chasiv Yar front. The Russian military command appears to be under pressure to avoid diverting forces from its primary offensive push to capture the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. Therefore, it is likely to continue redeploying forces from lower-priority offensives elsewhere in the theatre to strengthen defences in Kursk Oblast. To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 25 August: Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian forces recently regained lost positions in Kursk Oblast amid reports of continued Ukrainian attacks in the area on 25 August. The Russian military likely continues to redeploy forces from lower priority sectors of the front line in Ukraine to the front line in Kursk Oblast. French authorities arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov on 24 August, prompting concern among Russian ultranationalist milbloggers about their ability to report freely on the war in Ukraine. ISW has not observed any direct evidence indicating that Durov's arrest will affect Telegram operations in the near term, however. Russian milbloggers reacted to Durov's arrest by focusing on how Russian soldiers rely on ad-hoc communications, including Telegram, for organising operations in Ukraine and called on the Russian military command to establish an adequate official communication system. Russian forces recently advanced near and within Toretsk and southwest of the city of Donetsk. Support UP or become our patron! On August 26, the aggressor country of Russia once again attacked the Kyiv region with the help of kamikaze drones. Unfortunately, infrastructure facilities were damaged and one person was wounded. ADVERTISIMENT This was announced by the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Ruslan Kravchenko, the KRMA press service reports. Residents of the region were urged not to ignore the air raid alert. "The enemy has been attacking the region with missiles and attack drones all night and morning. There is damage to infrastructure facilities. We already have information about a wounded person. He has been taken to one of the district medical institutions and is receiving the necessary assistance. We also record damage to private houses as a result of falling debris from downed enemy targets in 4 districts. More details later," said Kravchenko. ADVERTISIMENT The head of the KRMA added that by order of Ukrenergo, emergency power outages were introduced in the Kyiv region. The districts and communities were instructed to promptly launch "points of invincibility" so that people could recharge their phones. For its part, the press service of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported that pre-trial investigations into the violation of the laws and customs of war have been launched. "According to the investigation, on August 26, the Russian armed forces launched a combined attack on Kyiv region. The enemy targeted critical infrastructure facilities in the region. In one of the districts of the region, a woman was injured as a result of the enemy attack. Residential buildings, outbuildings, and a vehicle were damaged," the prosecutor's office added. ADVERTISIMENT The Kyiv regional police reported that 22 private houses were damaged and one house was destroyed as a result of the Russian attack. In addition, two cars, a garage, an outbuilding, and a fence were damaged. A grass flooring also caught fire. "Three people were injured, including a five-month-old child," the police said. Later, KRMA added that a woman born in 1965 was injured in the attack and taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds. A woman born in 1984 with a five-month-old child was also injured. Preliminary, the mother has a head injury. The baby fell out of the stroller and suffered a scratched thigh. In addition, two power facilities were damaged in the Kyiv region. ADVERTISIMENT As reported by OBOZ.UA, the terrorist country of Russia attacked Ukraine on Monday, August 26, using missiles and kamikaze drones. During the air raid, the Kyiv metro turned into a security island, where Ukrainians came with their pets. Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT On May 26, 2023, nearly a year after winning the 2022 national election to become Italys prime minister, Giorgia Meloni addressed a political rally in Catania, Sicily. The first woman to govern Italy, and the most far-right politician to do so since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Meloni told her cheering supporters that despite her electoral success, victory was not yet complete. There was one last left-wing holdout in Italian society, she said: the cultural sector. I want to liberate Italian culture from a system that you can only work in if you are from a certain political camp, she said. It was a clear signal of intent, a threatening shot in the countrys culture wars, and the promise of a right-wing counteroffensive to the supposed left-wing hegemony over Italys film, television and arts scenes. More from The Hollywood Reporter Meloni has appeared to be true to her word. One of her first acts as prime minister was to appoint Giampaolo Rossi, a journalist known for defending Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Hungarian far-right leader Viktor Orban, as head of Italian public broadcaster Rai. Rossi said he wanted to rebalance media narratives and reclaim media spaces usurped by the left. Other appointments followed. Gennaro Sangiuliano, another right-wing journalist, was named culture minister and spoke of countering Anglo-Saxon cancel culture and a dictatorship of wokeness. Conservative critic Alessandro Giuli took over at Maxxi, Romes most important contemporary art museum. Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, arguably Italys most acclaimed right-wing intellectual, was named president of the Venice Biennale, the institution that oversees a vast series of cultural events, including the Venice Film Festival. This season the fences will come down, Buttafuoco declared before his appointment. A home will be given to those who have not had one until now. As the film world descends on the Lido for the 81st Venice Film Festival and the unofficial start of awards season, whats the state of Italys culture wars? What impact could Italys far right have on the industry? Italian filmmakers are worried. Last summer, virtually all of the countrys top directors, including Luca Guadagnino (Challengers), Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah) and Alice Rohrwacher (La Chimera), signed a petition protesting a move by Melonis government to take over the management of Romes Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the worlds oldest and still one of the best film schools, interpreting the move as a violent and crude attempt to impose a new political orthodoxy. In May of this year, several journalists at state-run broadcaster Rai staged a 24-hour strike to protest what they said were threats to freedom of speech and cases of suspected censorship since the Meloni government took power. The strike came just days after media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders downgraded Italy in its annual index of press freedom, moving the country into the problematic category alongside Hungary, which has seen sharp restrictions on political speech under Prime Minister Orban. There is an obvious loss of the plurality of voices and offering [on Rai], says Giuseppe Candela, a journalist working for online publications Dagospia and Il Fatto Quotidiano who specialises in the television industry. Those who dont align [with the government] are antagonised. But Italy isnt Hungary, at least not yet, says Tommaso Pedicini, an Italian cultural journalist based in Germany. There are definitely fewer government-critical voices on Rai, but they have not disappeared entirely. And the left-wing protests have gotten louder. Andrea Minuz, a professor of cinema history at Romes Universita La Sapienza and a member of the Centro Sperimentale board, notes that political appointments in Italy are the rule, not the exception. When in power, left-wing governments have put their people in the top jobs. Under Meloni and new culture minister Sangiuliano, theres been talk of the right wanting to take revenge, to settle scores [with the left], says Minuz, but so far he thinks the impact has been minimal because the majority of Italys cultural bureaucracy remains solidly left-wing. If what lies underneath the surface doesnt change, nothing will change, he says. Beyond this, the Italian right, which is a combination of traditional nationalists, free-market capitalists and anti-government states rights proponents, lacks a unified cultural vision. Melonis primary cultural indulgence appears to be fantasy novels. Shes a self-professed Lord of the Rings superfan who once posed next to a statue of Gandalf for a magazine photo shoot. Last December, Meloni hosted a four-day fantasy-themed Christmas season political rally with a guest list including Elon Musk and Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spanish right-wing party Vox. J.R.R. Tolkiens stories were, somewhat bizarrely, appropriated by a section of the Italian right in the 1970s, who interpreted him as a voice for tradition against progress, representing the struggle to defend Western, Christian identity against modernization, globalization and foreign invasion. The right wing has a point when they say cultural institutions are dominated by the left, notes Pedicini, but even if the right wanted to take over [the cultural industries], they dont have the personnel. Italian cultural institutions have been dominated by the left for decades and there just arent enough right-wing intellectuals, qualified people, to replace them. Students participate in an anti-fascist protest against Giorgia Meloni on June 20 in Rome. Biennale president Buttafuoco is one of the few qualified cultural right-wingers, according to Pedicini: Hes a bona fide intellectual and an excellent writer and thinker. A Meloni ideologue, however, he is not. Buttafuoco has defended the idea of a deep right-wing tradition in Italy but is also a recent convert to Islam and now a practicing Muslim. If you look at his politics, hes less of a Meloni-style Italian nationalist and more of a right-wing anarchist, notes Pedicini. Many of his opinions are counter to that of the Meloni government. Hes doing very well, adds Minuz. Look at the decision of naming Willem Dafoe as the new artistic director of the theatre section of La Biennale: Thats a great choice. Fears that Buttafuocos appointment as Biennale president signaled the start of a new far-right agenda at the Venice Film Festival have so far not been realized. In May, Alberto Barbera, the long-running artistic director of the film festival, and a left-wing appointee, renewed his contract for another two years, through 2026. Barbera is widely credited for reviving Venice and making the festival a must-attend awards-season springboard. I felt an immediate understanding with Alberto Barbera and I have great respect for the expertise, professionalism and passion he has demonstrated in the years that he has directed the Venice Film Festival, said Buttafuoco in a statement at the time. I am extremely pleased that La Biennale will continue down this path with him. Ahead of this years festival, Barbera nailed his political colors to the mast, announcing on X that he was quitting the social media platform after a series of posts by Musk in which he railed against Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and claimed the U.K. was on the verge of civil war following anti-immigrant riots sparked by far-right agitators. After the latest statements by the owner of Twitter (or rather, sorry, of X), I have definitely lost the desire (already weakened) to remain on a platform, the objectives and purposes of which I no longer share, Barbera wrote. In his festival selections, Barbera has continued to show his political independence from the Meloni government. Last year, he picked several titles, including Garrones Io Capitano and Agnieszka Hollands Green Border, which look at the suffering of migrants trying to enter Europe and can be read as a direct rebuke to Romes anti-immigrant policies. The 2024 selection includes Joe Wrights M. Son of the Century, a scathing TV series about the life of Mussolini, based on the novel by prominent Meloni critic Antonio Scurati. Theres been no censorship, no crackdown, no obvious right-wing agenda, notes one prominent Italian film critic and Biennale regular. But Melonis government is just two years old. I fear they might just be getting started. This story first appeared in the Aug. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrates with his daughter Hope, son Gus and wife Gwen at Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, in Chicago. The Walzes clarified this week that they didnt use IVF but another kind of fertility treatment to grow their family. (Photo by Justin Sullivan, Getty Images.) The broader scope of fertility treatments entered the spotlight last week after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen shared that they had children through a less commonly known procedure. Since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Gov. Walz as her running mate, he has discussed his familys fertility journey during speeches in Pennsylvania, Nebraska and mostly recently at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. It took Gwen and I years, Walz said on Wednesday night. But we had access to fertility treatments. And when our daughter was born, we named her Hope. Last week, the Walzes clarified that they conceived via intrauterine insemination, not in vitro fertilization. IUI involves injecting sperm into the uterus during or just before ovulation to increase the chances of fertilization and pregnancy. Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience. Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family, Gwen Walz said in a statement provided to States Newsroom. The only person who knew in detail what we were going through was our next door neighbor. She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process. During IVF, eggs and sperm are combined in a lab and an embryo is inserted into the uterus. IVF has been drawn into national reproductive rights debates for much of this year, and Walz has been talking about it on the campaign trail while discussing his familys fertility journey. U.S. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, accused his opponent of lying about how he and his wife had children. In an Aug. 20 social media post, Vance said, Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that? He also shared a clip of Walz talking about fertility care and families on Aug. 9. In a statement, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said, Governor Walz talks how normal people talk. He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments. Experts said that patients commonly get IUI and IVF confused or refer to them interchangeably, given that in vitro fertilization is more popular. Theres such a huge sort of alphabet soup that comes along with assisted reproduction, said Kimberly Mutcherson, a professor at Rutgers University-Camden who specializes in reproductive justice, bioethics, and family and health law. Dr. Kelly Acharya, a fertility physician and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University, said patients partners are more likely to mix up the two treatments or rope related procedures into IVF. A lot of times in my line of work, I see people that are referring to other things, like egg freezing, they call that IVF, even though technically its not, she said. Both Acharya and Mutcherson said the main differences between IUI and IVF are where fertilization occurs, the price and effectiveness. Intrauterine insemination or IUI is basically less invasive. Its typically less expensive, and it is often what is recommended as the first thing that somebody tries, Acharya said. When somebody has mild forms of infertility, like if there are mild differences in the semen analysis, or if somebody is young and theyre not quite sure why theyre not getting pregnant, then often a provider will recommend that they do IUI as a first step to help things along. IUI is performed during or near ovulation, and it typically takes 10 minutes and is a minor procedure, according to Acharya. The price of IUI varies, depending on insurance coverage, from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. Mutcherson noted that some people also confuse IUI with intracervical insemination, or ICI. During this method, the sperm is inserted into the cervix the passageway to the uterus, according to the Carolina Fertility Institute. Doctors often recommend ICI or IUI as a precursor to IVF, which Mutcherson said can cost $12,000 to $15,000 per cycle or more with grading and genetic testing. During IVF, fertilization happens outside of the body, Acharya said. IUI, the treatment the Walz family used to have children, is not under the same scrutiny as IVF, which has faced opposition from anti-abortion hardliners. It sometimes is listed as being less controversial than IVF, because its just helping along the natural process of getting the sperm inside the uterus and then expecting fertilization to happen inside the body, Acharya said. But Mutcherson said that could also be attributed to the fact that its a less well-known procedure. I think the really big issue when it comes to something like artificial insemination is that it allows people to create families that a lot of these folks unfortunately, in the Republican Party and folks who are evangelicals dont approve of: families with two moms, families with two dads, single women who are having children, she said. Price is a significant barrier to fertility care. Only 21 states require insurers to cover fertility procedures, Stateline reported. A successful birth via IVF can cost more than $60,000, according to a 2022 study published in Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology. It requires a lot more physically, emotionally and economically to be able to do IVF, Mutcherson, who conceived via IUI, said. IVF became a national reproductive rights issue in February after the Alabama Supreme Court likened frozen embryos to unborn children in a ruling. The plaintiffs were couples who sued for damages under an 1872 wrongful death of children law after their embryos were accidentally destroyed in a clinic four years ago, Alabama Reflector reported. Alabamas fertility clinics temporarily closed after the ruling until Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation in March shielding providers from criminal and civil liabilities, the Reflector reported. But theres still uncertainty over whether embryos and fetuses in the state have legal personhood rights. Despite the new law, two fertility clinics in Alabama announced plans to close by the end of the year, though one denied the decision was related to the ruling. Since the Alabama ruling, polls have shown most Americans back IVF. A survey conducted by Pew in April found that 70% said IVF is a good thing, while 22% said theyre not sure, and 8% said its a bad thing. Awareness is growing, too: 42% of Americans said they or someone they know have had fertility treatments, according to a 2023 Pew poll. Nationally, Republicans and Democrats condemned the Alabama Supreme Courts ruling and filed bills seeking to protect IVF this spring, though all of them stalled in Congress. The Republican Partys platform featured support for both IVF and the equal protections clause of the 14th Amendment, which conservative legal scholars argue can be used to solidify fetal personhood along with effectively banning abortion. And in June, the Southern Baptist Convention the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. voted to condemn IVF, particularly the destruction or donation of embryos that are not implanted in the uterus. People who believe that life begins at conception, people who believe that an embryo is no different than a 5-year-old sitting in a kindergarten classroom, those are people who have really deep and abiding principles related to procedures like in vitro fertilization, Mutcherson said. The number of babies born in the U.S. using assisted reproductive technology has increased in recent years: 2.5% of newborns were conceived using fertility treatments in 2022, according to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Thats up from 2.3% in 2021, per federal data. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrates with his daughter Hope, son Gus and wife Gwen at Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, in Chicago. The Walzes clarified this week that they didnt use IVF but another kind of fertility treatment to grow their family. (Justin Sullivan | Getty Images) The broader scope of fertility treatments entered the spotlight last week after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen shared that they had children through a less commonly known procedure. Since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Gov. Walz as her running mate, he has discussed his familys fertility journey during speeches in Pennsylvania, Nebraska and mostly recently at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. It took Gwen and I years, Walz said on Wednesday night. But we had access to fertility treatments. And when our daughter was born, we named her Hope. Last week, the Walzes clarified that they conceived via intrauterine insemination, not in vitro fertilization. IUI involves injecting sperm into the uterus during or just before ovulation to increase the chances of fertilization and pregnancy. Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience. Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family, Gwen Walz said in a statement provided to States Newsroom. The only person who knew in detail what we were going through was our next door neighbor. She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process. During IVF, eggs and sperm are combined in a lab and an embryo is inserted into the uterus. IVF has been drawn into national reproductive rights debates for much of this year, and Walz has been talking about it on the campaign trail while discussing his familys fertility journey. U.S. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, accused his opponent of lying about how he and his wife had children. In an Aug. 20 social media post, Vance said, Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that? He also shared a clip of Walz talking about fertility care and families on Aug. 9. In a statement, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said, Governor Walz talks how normal people talk. He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments. Experts said that patients commonly get IUI and IVF confused or refer to them interchangeably, given that in vitro fertilization is more popular. Theres such a huge sort of alphabet soup that comes along with assisted reproduction, said Kimberly Mutcherson, a professor at Rutgers University-Camden who specializes in reproductive justice, bioethics, and family and health law. Dr. Kelly Acharya, a fertility physician and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University, said patients partners are more likely to mix up the two treatments or rope related procedures into IVF. A lot of times in my line of work, I see people that are referring to other things, like egg freezing, they call that IVF, even though technically its not, she said. Both Acharya and Mutcherson said the main differences between IUI and IVF are where fertilization occurs, the price and effectiveness. Intrauterine insemination or IUI is basically less invasive. Its typically less expensive, and it is often what is recommended as the first thing that somebody tries, Acharya said. When somebody has mild forms of infertility, like if there are mild differences in the semen analysis, or if somebody is young and theyre not quite sure why theyre not getting pregnant, then often a provider will recommend that they do IUI as a first step to help things along. IUI is performed during or near ovulation, and it typically takes 10 minutes and is a minor procedure, according to Acharya. The price of IUI varies, depending on insurance coverage, from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. Mutcherson noted that some people also confuse IUI with intracervical insemination, or ICI. During this method, the sperm is inserted into the cervix the passageway to the uterus, according to the Carolina Fertility Institute. Doctors often recommend ICI or IUI as a precursor to IVF, which Mutcherson said can cost $12,000 to $15,000 per cycle or more with grading and genetic testing. During IVF, fertilization happens outside of the body, Acharya said. IUI, the treatment the Walz family used to have children, is not under the same scrutiny as IVF, which has faced opposition from anti-abortion hardliners. It sometimes is listed as being less controversial than IVF, because its just helping along the natural process of getting the sperm inside the uterus and then expecting fertilization to happen inside the body, Acharya said. But Mutcherson said that could also be attributed to the fact that its a less well-known procedure. I think the really big issue when it comes to something like artificial insemination is that it allows people to create families that a lot of these folks unfortunately, in the Republican Party and folks who are evangelicals dont approve of: families with two moms, families with two dads, single women who are having children, she said. Price is a significant barrier to fertility care. Only 21 states require insurers to cover fertility procedures, Stateline reported. A successful birth via IVF can cost more than $60,000, according to a 2022 study published in Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology. It requires a lot more physically, emotionally and economically to be able to do IVF, Mutcherson, who conceived via IUI, said. IVF became a national reproductive rights issue in February after the Alabama Supreme Court likened frozen embryos to unborn children in a ruling. The plaintiffs were couples who sued for damages under an 1872 wrongful death of children law after their embryos were accidentally destroyed in a clinic four years ago, Alabama Reflector reported. Alabamas fertility clinics temporarily closed after the ruling until Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation in March shielding providers from criminal and civil liabilities, the Reflector reported. But theres still uncertainty over whether embryos and fetuses in the state have legal personhood rights. Despite the new law, two fertility clinics in Alabama announced plans to close by the end of the year, though one denied the decision was related to the ruling. Since the Alabama ruling, polls have shown most Americans back IVF. A survey conducted by Pew in April found that 70% said IVF is a good thing, while 22% said theyre not sure, and 8% said its a bad thing. Awareness is growing, too: 42% of Americans said they or someone they know have had fertility treatments, according to a 2023 Pew poll. Nationally, Republicans and Democrats condemned the Alabama Supreme Courts ruling and filed bills seeking to protect IVF this spring, though all of them stalled in Congress. The Republican Partys platform featured support for both IVF and the equal protections clause of the 14th Amendment, which conservative legal scholars argue can be used to solidify fetal personhood along with effectively banning abortion. And in June, the Southern Baptist Convention the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. voted to condemn IVF, particularly the destruction or donation of embryos that are not implanted in the uterus. People who believe that life begins at conception, people who believe that an embryo is no different than a 5-year-old sitting in a kindergarten classroom, those are people who have really deep and abiding principles related to procedures like in vitro fertilization, Mutcherson said. The number of babies born in the U.S. using assisted reproductive technology has increased in recent years: 2.5% of newborns were conceived using fertility treatments in 2022, according to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Thats up from 2.3% in 2021, per federal data. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case, one of four prosecutions of Trump, after concluding that Smiths appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional. Smiths team then appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with prosecutors saying in their appeal brief that Cannons decision is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts consider a straightforward criminal case but has been derailed by delays, months of hearings before Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, and ultimately a dismissal order that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt. Its unclear how long it will take for the appeals court to decide the matter, but even if it overturns Cannons dismissal and revives the prosecution, theres no chance of a trial before the November presidential election and Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case. TRENDING STORIES: The case includes dozens of felony charges that Trump illegally retained classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructed the governments efforts to get them back. He has pleaded not guilty. Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trumps handling of the documents as well as his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Both investigations resulted in criminal charges, though the election subversion prosecution faces an uncertain future following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month that conferred broad immunity on Trump and narrowed the scope of the case. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Defense lawyers in the classified documents case had argued that Smiths appointment violated the Constitutions Appointments Clause, a motion that prompted Cannon to hold a multi-day hearing in June. The judge sided with the defense, saying no specific statute permitted Garlands appointment of Smith and saying Smith had been unlawfully appointed because he had not been named to the position by the president or confirmed by the Senate. Smiths team is expected to point out that special counsel appointments have been repeatedly upheld by judges in multiple cases, and that an attorney generals ability to name a special counsel is well-established. IN OTHER NEWS: Donald Trump has been convicted of 34 felony counts in the New York hush money casebut theres a lengthy appeals process ahead. And what ever happened to the other three cases against himJack Smiths federal election interference and classified documents cases, and Fani Willis Georgia election interference case? All three have hit various roadblocks. To make it easier to follow all of Trumps ongoing legal entanglements, each Monday, well keep you updated on the latest developments in Keeping Up With the Trump Trials. Special counsel Jack Smith is taking a long, hard look at his election interference caseand a New York Times report says Smith has decided against asking for a comprehensive review of evidence and witness testimony in a high-stakes hearing scheduled for next week. Meanwhile, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is considering whether to delay Donald Trumps sentencing for a second time in the hush money case or let it continue as planned, despite Trumps defense team appealing the case on the grounds of presidential immunity. And after a nearly six-week-long wait, on Monday Smith finally filed his appeal of Judge Alieen Cannons decision to dismiss his classified documents case. Two weeks ago, Jack Smith requested an extension of an Aug. 9 filing deadline so he could have more time to figure out his next move in his election interference case. Now the special counsel is also against holding a hearing that would decide which of Trumps charges should stick after the Supreme Court ruled Trumpand all future U.S. presidentshas a level of presidential immunity for actions taken while in the White House. This prospective hearing could have turned into a mini-trial, where witnesses and experts get called to testify and make the case for why Trumps charges should remain or should be dropped. Its an exercise judges in all of Trumps ongoing criminal cases will have to go through in order to apply the Supreme Courts presidential immunity decision. And unnamed sources told the New York Times that Smith is now against holding a mini-trial in his own election interference case, as it would inevitably lead to a highly publicized airing of critical evidence mere weeks before the presidential election. Trumps defense team would most likely object to this type of hearing, claiming its unfair to his ongoing presidential campaign. Meanwhile, anonymous sources familiar with Smiths decisionmaking also told Bloomberg that his team is revising their case against Trump. Both Trump and Smith have to formally detail their preferences for how Judge Tanya Chutkan should consider the federal election interference charges in light of the Supreme Courts ruling by Aug. 30an extension that Chutkan agreed to after a separate request by Smith. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5. If Smith decides not to recommend any witness testimony or debate over evidence, it would be a big win for the former president. From the onset of Smiths case, Trump has railed against the special counsel and his investigation, claiming political persecution. If Trump wins the November election, hes expected to direct his Department of Justice to drop Smiths casebut if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, the special counsels case will have a new lease on life. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told Justice Merchan that hes not opposed to delaying Trumps sentencing, currently scheduled for Sept. 18, which Trump has asked to push back pending his presidential immunity appeal. And now the decision lies in Merchans hands, with the presidential election a mere 10 weeks away. Ordinarily, if the defendant asks for a delay, and the prosecutor doesnt object, then it would absolutely be granted, Adam Pollock, former assistant attorney general of New York, told Slate in an email. However, most judges want to resolve cases quickly, allowing all parties involved to get some closure, and Pollock believes there is a not-insignificant chance that Merchan will stick to Sept. 18 and simply proceed with sentencing Trump. If Merchan does not further delay sentencinghe already did once after the Supreme Courts presidential immunity decision was released in JuneTrumps immunity appeal could still upend it, especially if the appeal is successful. Given that, Pollock noted that delaying Trumps sentencing until after his appeal is resolved could save the justice some effort. Another factor to consider is whether Merchan will sentence Trump to prison. Pollock believes thats unlikely, given this is a nonviolent crime and Trump is a first-time offender. However, if Merchan keeps the Sept. 18 sentencing and does not give Trump prison time, it could be used as fodder in his appeal to suggest the hush money case was nothing but political theater. But if Merchan decides to give Trump prison time on Sept. 18, it could tangibly impact the November election. Merchan has said hell announce his decision to either delay or keep Trumps current sentencing date on Sept. 16. New court filings made public on Monday revealed that the special counsel has officially filed an appeal against Judge Aileen Cannons decision to dismiss his classified documents case, nearly six weeks after filing a notice of appeal. In July, Cannon dismissed the classified documents case, arguing that Smith was improperly appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, and therefore he cant legally prosecute Trump. On Monday, Smith pushed back on that assertion, writing that Cannon misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsels appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney Generals appointments of special counsels. Smith points to the Watergate scandal, which also used a special counsel to investigate Republican president Richard Nixon back in 1973. That appointment came after the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon that the AG did have statutory authority to assign special counsels. Smith argues Cannon is the only judge who has ever challenged the high courts decision. The Supreme Court regularly uses qualifying language to indicate assumed premises but included no such caveat in Nixon when discussing the Attorney Generals authority to appoint the Special Prosecutor, Smith wrote. Nixon therefore binds this Court, just as it did the district court, and reversal is warranted on that ground alone. Smith filed his appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already laid out a schedule for the appeals process in this case. Both Smith and Trump are required to file briefs through mid-October, and oral arguments will likely be held a few months after that. The timeline suggests that Smiths appeal of Cannons decision to dismiss will stretch well beyond Novembers presidential election. And if Trump wins, his DOJ will almost certainly drop this case. Special counsel Jack Smith is urging a federal appeals court to revive the classified documents case against Donald Trump, after a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the charges in a shock ruling that argued Smiths office was unlawfully created. Mondays filing with a Florida appeals court cites several longstanding precedents and Supreme Court rulings that appear to contradict District Judge Aileen Cannons conclusion, which Smiths team calls nonsensical. Prosecutors also warned that Judge Cannons rationale would jeopardize hundreds of similarly appointed offices. The district courts contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government, Smiths team argued. This Court should reverse. Last month, Cannon argued that the prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law. Legal experts and prosecutors considered the theory far-fetched, and it wasnt adopted in court until right-wing legal groups began promoting it. Trumps lawyers did not make the same argument to try to dismiss the federal election interference case, despite the fact that Smith is also prosecuting that case exactly the same way. Cannons ruling deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the special counsels appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels, according to Smiths team. Prosecutors did not ask the court to recuse Cannon from the case at least not yet. Special counsel Jack Smith is urging a federal appeals court to revive the Mar-a-Lago case against Donald Trump (AP) The former president faced 40 separate charges stemming from allegations that he withheld hundreds of classified documents after leaving the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, then conspired to obstruct government attempts to retrieve them. The 93-page order from Cannon who was appointed to the bench by then-President Trump in 2020 did not speak to the facts of the case or any of the evidence against Trump. In July, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas filed a wholly separate opinion in an unrelated landmark ruling on presidential immunity to cast doubt on the constitutionality of the special counsels office, which appeared to give Trump and Judge Cannon a legal pathway to dismissing the Florida case. Days later, Trumps attorneys argued that Thomass opinion adds force to Trumps claim that Smiths appointment and funding raise grave separation-of-powers concerns. Cannons decision to dismiss the case referenced Thomass opinion three times. An undated image released by the US District Court Southern District of Florida, and attached as evidence in the indictment against Donald Trump shows stacks of boxes in a bathroom and shower at Mar-a-Lago, the former presidents private club (US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/AFP via) The Mar-a-Lago case marked the first federal indictment of a former president, and stemmed from law enforcements recovery of more than 13,000 documents including 300 marked classified at his Florida compound in 2022, after the National Archives and Records Administration had spent more than a year trying to get them back. Following Trumps announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign in 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Smiths appointment as an independent prosecutor, in the hopes of insulating the agency and administration against the perception of political interference. Still, Trump and his allies have baselessly accused President Joe Biden of conspiring against his Republican rival and leading politically motivated investigations in an attempt to derail his path to the White House. Susan Cavailhon earned her bachelors and juris master degrees at Florida State University but when she decided to pursue a law degree, she gravitated toward the fledgling law school launched by Jacksonville University. She started her classes in the VyStar Tower when JU was temporarily leasing space there. This semester, she and her fellow students moved to the former Atlantic Bank building in downtown where JU and the city partnered on a $12 million renovation of the historic building that dates back to 1908. Cavailhon said compared to being in the VyStar Tower, the building where "College of Law" is posted in big letters over the entrance feels like a more permanent fixture for students. "Here, it feels like our building, you know, our home, and hopefully we've kind of made our mark that way," she said. The downtown law school has been a town-gown joint venture. The city is providing $6.5 million of the $12 million in renovation work. That is on top of $5 million the city previously budgeted to help JU get the new law school off the ground. The city's support started during Lenny Curry's time as mayor and has continued under Mayor Donna Deegan. "So many of our peer cities across the country have a law school in the heart of their thriving downtowns," Deegan said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning. "As one of the fastest growing cities in America, I am glad to say we've joined those ranks." "Place matters," JU President Tim Cost said. He said JU has plans for more expansion of its main campus in Arlington, but for the law school, "we wanted to be downtown because we thought that was the right thing to do." The JU law school kicked off classes two years ago in the VyStar Tower with 14 students. The following year, the incoming class grew to 27 students and that increased again to 44 newly arriving students this year. A total of 86 students are currently enrolled across all classes. The law school fielded about 200 applications in 2022 and that was up to 700 applications this year. University officials say the renovated 50,000 square feet of space has room for more of that growth across four floors. The tall early 1900's Atlantic Bank building provides the entranceway to the new JU School of Law and some of the school's interior space and the later bank addition from the 1950's to the left houses the majority of the school's classroom space. The official opening ceremony was held for the new campus of Jacksonville University's College of Law which is now located in the historic Atlantic Bank building on Forsyth St. in downtown Jacksonville Monday, August 26, 2024. The campus is composed of 50,000-square-foot of space in the century old building. "It's ready on time, on budget, and on top of everything else, it's a spectacular learning place," said JU College of Law Dean Nick Allard. JU opened its law school after Florida Coastal School of Law, a private institution, closed its Jacksonville campus in 2021. City Council member Kevin Carrico said he is confident that city taxpayer dollars for the JU law school will have staying power for downtown because of Cost's track record leading the university. "We trust him," Carrico said. "We know the institution to be a institution of higher learning that is really cutting edge and above the rest." He said he hopes as the law school grows, the presence of students will generate other activity that downtown greatly needs. "It's going to bring some life downtown," he said. "It's going to bring some vibrancy downtown. It's going to bring some students some young people that want to stay up late and stay out all night studying. Maybe we can get a Waffle House or a White Castle or something down here (and) give these kids a place to eat in the middle of the night." The University of Florida has said it wants to build a new graduate campus in downtown. UF has not announced a specific site but if it follows through on that plan, downtown would gain more activity from higher learning. Florida State College at Jacksonville already has staked a place in downtown with 20 West Housing on Adams Street a few blocks from the College of Law building. FSCJ renovated the historic building for 58 apartment-style residences for student housing. Cavailhon, who is on track to graduate in spring 2026 with a JU law degree, said Urban Grind Coffee Company, Bellwether and The Happy Grilled Cheese are among the favorite eateries for students in walking distance of the College of Law building. The shops and restaurants of Riverside are a short drive away. JU law school student Susan Cavailhon. The official opening ceremony was held for the new campus of Jacksonville University's College of Law which is now located in the historic Atlantic Bank building on Forsyth St. in downtown Jacksonville Monday, August 26, 2024. The campus is composed of 50,000-square-foot of space in the century old building. "There is definitely room to grow but I think there are enough places to at least keep us entertained for the moment," she said. She said her parents are Cuban immigrants and that influences her interest in politics and public policy. She said she might pursue a career in lobbying after earning her degree and she'd like to do that in Jacksonville. She said after going to FSU, she saw what a law school is like on a large scale. She wanted a school with an "individual plan for me" that has smaller class sizes and more interaction between students and professors "I'll walk by Dean Allard's office and he'll say 'Come in, let's have a conversation,'" she said. "My professors and I have coffee, so the expectations I've had, I've been able to get that." This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville University renovates historic building for law school Jamey Noel pleads guilty to 27 charges in Indiana court. Here's what comes next Former Clark County, Indiana Sheriff Jamey Noel pleaded guilty to 27 of 31 charges in court Monday as part of a plea deal, nine months after he originally plead not guilty to 15 charges, including theft and official misconduct. Special Judge Larry Medlock said he was not opposed to a plea deal, but needed more time to hear from victims of Noel's alleged crimes before accepting a guilty plea. Four of the original charges surrounding ghost employment were dismissed Monday. Noel could face up to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of probation. A new hearing date was not scheduled in court. The jury trial scheduled for Nov. 6 was canceled. More from the Jamey Noel case: Misty Noel files for divorce as family awaits trial dates The state, using findings from an Indiana State Police investigation, alleged Noel used New Chapel EMS funding to buy personal items. Noel was also accused of tasking county employees with jobs on his personal properties, which included a house in Jeffersonville and a storage facility for his classic car collection. "I want the taxpayers (of Clark County) to know that I want to listen to them," Medlock said in court. Former Clark County, Indiana Sheriff Jamey Noel listened to the judge after pleading guilty to 27 of 31 charges in court Monday as part of a plea deal. August 26, 2024. Noel posted a $75,000 bond in November, but has been held in the Scott County jail since April after Medlock raised his bond to $1.5 million. He was also later found to be in contempt of court for violating a term of his original bond, but that ruling did not impact his bond. Noel's wife, Misty, and daughter, Kasey, face charges of theft and tax evasion. They have both pleaded not guilty. Their jury trials are both scheduled Oct. 28, but their cases will not be joined together after a motion to do so was denied by Medlock last week. Former Clark County councilperson Brittney Ferree (green jumpsuit) and current Clark County councilman John Miller (orange jumpsuit) sat with their attorneys during a hearing on Monday. Ferree and Miller are facing counts of felony conflict of interest in the Jamey Noel case - both have pled not guilty. August 26, 2024. Clark County councilperson John Miller and former councilperson Brittney Ferree also face charges in relation to the case. Both are accused of voting in favor of funding appropriations for the fire and emergency medical service while they received personal benefits paid for by the service's funds. They both posted bond after pleading not guilty to their charges Monday, Clark County Court Administrator Tom Lowe said in a statement. Noel also faces a number of civil lawsuits. Notably, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued him in an effort to get him to repay New Chapel EMS, for the funds he allegedly used to buy personal items. The children of Noel's brother, Leon Noel, are also seeking compensation, accusing their uncle of shorting them their inheritance, based on records from the Indiana State Police investigation. Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jamey Noel case: Guilty plea entered in massive IN fraud investigation [Source] Japans Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) released a video titled Study in Japan encouraging more foreign students to enroll at its universities. Shared on June 28, the video highlights the accessibility of English education at its universities and the experiences of international students, such as those from India, France and the U.S. MEXT deputy director of international affairs, Takeda Kuniko, told The PIE News, We felt the need to promote study abroad in Japan by reaching out to more diverse countries and regions. So, we made this video aiming to make the Japanese experience visible for many and to negate misconceptions regarding study abroad in Japan. Trending on NextShark: A continuation of LOONA: ARTMS dives into their journey of resilience and rebirth [interview] Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese military plane, for the first time, violated the island nation's airspace, the Japanese government confirmed Monday. According to Japan's Defense Ministry, a Y-9 intelligence-gathering plane at about 11:29 a.m. local time flew over the East China Sea near the Danjo Islands off the southwestern prefecture Nagasaki for roughly two minutes. The incursion prompted the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble its fighter jets, defense ministry officials said. The Y-9 reportedly circled above the water southeast of the islands multiple times before it entered Japanese airspace and before flying back toward China at about 1:15 p.m. local time. Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned China's Charge d'Affaires Shi Yong on Monday to issue an "extremely serious protest" and "strong request" over the airspace intrusion, Kyodo News and Japan Times reported. Japan said it wants to ensure a similar flight won't occur, the Foreign Ministry said. At the meeting, the Chinese diplomat said officials "would report the matter to their home country." The two nations have been at an impasse for some time now over the area around the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Chinese coast guard vessels also have reportedly entered Japanese territorial waters multiple times. Last year, Japan's Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept foreign planes 669 times, according to Japan's Ministry of Defense. And of those 669 cases, 479 were in response to Chinese aircraft sightings. On Monday, August 26, Russian occupants launched a combined attack on the Poltava region. An industrial facility, a private house, and critical and civilian infrastructure were hit. Six people were injured. ADVERTISIMENT The head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration, Filip Pronin, and the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office reported the results of the shelling on Telegram. It is noted that UAV debris damaged a private house in the Lubny district. A woman who lived there was injured. Five more people were injured as a result of the shelling of an industrial facility. According to Pronin, preventive and emergency power outages were introduced in the region due to the shelling. Later they were canceled and a schedule of hourly blackouts was introduced from 14:30 to 23:59, four stages will be applied simultaneously. Local authorities urged citizens to conserve electricity, especially during peak hours. ADVERTISIMENT The Poltava Regional Prosecutor's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into criminal proceedings over violations of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Emergency services are working at the scene. As a reminder, on August 26, Russia launched a combined attack on Ukraine, using kamikaze drones and various types of missiles. After the nighttime explosions from Shaheds, in the morning they were followed by cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in many cities: damage, casualties, and emergency power outages were reported. ADVERTISIMENT 15 regions have been affected by the Russian massive attack today. The enemy used various types of weapons: UAVs, cruise missiles, and "Kinzhals". There are wounded and dead. As reported by OBOZ.UA: On August 26, Russian terrorists attacked the Dniprovskyi district of Kherson, and in Zolota Balka they dropped explosives from a UAV on a civilian car. At least 5 people were injured in the attack: two men and three women. On August 26, Russians massively attacked the Dniprovskyi and Kryvyi Rih districts of the Dnipro region. A 69-year-old man was killed and another injured as a result of the war crime. There were also explosions in Kyiv during an air raid. The Russian occupiers launched missiles at the Ukrainian capital, and air defense systems were activated. The head of the KRMA, Serhii Popko, said that the main target of the complex, the combined attack of all these numerous cruise, ballistic, aerial ballistic missiles and attack drones was infrastructure. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! [Source] Japanese government officials believe that a massive increase in tourism may be one of the reasons for the countrys decreasing rice stockpile. Rice inventories in the private sector fell to 1.56 million tons in June, the lowest level since Japan began gathering data in 1999 and 20% lower than the 1.97 million tons recorded in June 2023. Over 3 million tourists visited Japan in March, a 69.5% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Despite the declining rice stockpile, farm ministry official Hiroshi Itakura told Agence France-Presse that we are not in a situation of facing shortages of rice. Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! Japan said it scrambled fighter jets on Monday after a Chinese military aircraft violated its airspace in a further escalation of regional tensions. The incident comes just weeks after the U.S. military intercepted several Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska. The two-minute incursion into Japanese airspace by the Y-9 surveillance aircraft at 11:29 a.m. was the first by a Chinese military plane, local media reported. The aircraft "violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture", prompting Japan to deploy "fighter jets on an emergency basis", Japan's defense ministry said. It said steps such as "issuing warnings" to the aircraft were taken. Broadcaster NHK reported that no weapons, such as flare guns, were used as an alert. The defense ministry released a photograph of what it said was the plane. This photo provided by Japan's Ministry of Defense shows a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. The Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane came from China, and violated the Japanese airspace above the Danjo Island off the southwestern coast of Japan's southern main island of Kyushu on Monday for two minutes while circling around the area, the Joint Staff said. / Credit: / AP Deputy foreign minister Masataka Okano summoned China's acting ambassador late on Monday and "lodged firm protest," as well as calling for measures against a recurrence, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Chinese diplomat said in response that the matter would be reported to Beijing, according to the ministry. There was no immediate official comment from Beijing. According to Japan's military, it scrambled jets nearly 669 times between April 2023 and March 2024, about 70% of the time against Chinese military aircraft, though that did not include airspace violations. Last month, two Russian Tu-95s and two Chinese H-6s entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, NORAD said. The bombers were intercepted by U.S. F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, along with Canadian CF-18s and other support aircraft, a U.S. defense official confirmed to CBS News. Japanese defense officials are increasingly concerned about growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces, and China's increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace. It led Tokyo to significantly reinforce defenses of southwestern Japan, including remote islands that are considered key to Japan's defense strategy in the region. China's growing economic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region and its assertiveness in territorial disputes -- in particular Taiwan -- has alarmed the United States and its allies. Japan, staunchly pacifist for decades, has ramped up defense spending with U.S. encouragement, moving to acquire "counter-strike" capabilities and easing rules on arms exports. In April, President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans for closer military and intelligence cooperation. Tokyo is also providing funding and equipment such as patrol vessels to countries across the region and agreed in July on a deal with the Philippines allowing troop deployments on each other's soil. Japan and South Korea have also moved to bury the historical hatchet. Tokyo is also part of the Quad alliance with the United States, Australia and India, a grouping seen as a bulwark against Beijing. Yee Kuang Heng, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said the Y-9 in Monday's incident "was likely probing Japan's air defense network, collecting electronic intel such as Japan's radar signals and coverage." Recent tense encounters Japanese and Chinese vessels have been involved in tense incidents in disputed areas, in particular the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea known by Beijing as the Diaoyus. The remote chain has fueled diplomatic tensions and been the scene of confrontations between Japanese coastguard vessels and Chinese fishing boats. Tokyo has reported the presence of Chinese coastguard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine, in the area. Two non-military aircraft from China -- a propeller-powered plane and a small drone -- were forayed into airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK. The Danjo Islands, the site of the latest incident, are a group of small islets also located in the East China Sea off Japan's southern Nagasaki region. Beijing claims the South China Sea -- through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually -- almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. China said it took "control measures" on Monday against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that had entered waters near the disputed Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea. Multiple confrontations have taken place in recent days around the shoal, located 90 miles west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 750 miles from Hainan island, China's nearest major landmass. Both sides have in recent months stationed coast guard vessels near Sabina, where the Philippines fears China is about to build an artificial island. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is due to visit Beijing for three days from Tuesday and will meet China's foreign minister Wang Yi in a bid to manage bilateral tensions ahead of US elections in November. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Task force members visit scene of Trump assassination attempt Harris and Trump campaigns in debate dispute over muting microphones Russia hits Ukraine's energy infrastructure with large-scale drone and missile attacks TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) -Japan's defence ministry said it had scrambled jets against a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft that had briefly breached its airspace on Monday morning. The aircraft was identified as a Y-9 reconnaissance plane that flew over the Danjo Islands to the west of the southern island of Kyushu between around 11:29 a.m. and 11:31 a.m. The ministry said it was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japan's airspace, and that the government had lodged a strong protest against Beijing through diplomatic channels. Separately, the Japanese foreign ministry said Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano had summoned a senior official at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to lodge a protest against the incursion and to strongly demand the prevention of such breaches. Chinese foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, Kiyoshi Takenaka, Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo, Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Bernadette Baum) JD Vance making campaign stop in Erie this week Erie, Pa (WJET/WFXP) Vice presidential Nominee JD Vance will be coming to Erie this week as the race for the Whitehouse continues to heat up. According to the Trump Campaign website, Senator Vance will be in Erie on Wednesday, Aug. 28 starting at 3 p.m. at the Team Hardinger warehouse at 1280 W 18th St. Vance will be speaking on the economy and energy in Erie citing Vice President Kamal Harris position to ban fracking. Donald Trump will also be holding a rally of his own on Aug. 30 in Johnstown, Pa. Doors will open for the event at noon and you can register for the event online 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 WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. Former President Donald Trump's campaign for president accidentally on the stump used a former plane recently that was once owned by Jeffrey Epstein because Trump's jet had mechanical problems. It wasn't the first time Trump rode on aircraft owned by Epstein, the sexual predator who lived part time on Palm Beach, according to flight logs released in two lawsuits. But that was 30-plus years ago. Trump flew while Epstein was alive in the 1990s. Trump lives in Palm Beach at his private club, Mar-a-Lago. Epstein in 2008 pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related felonies in Palm Beach County in the so-called "deal of the century" and served only 13 months in the county Jail. In 2019, he was charged by federal prosecutors in New York with sex trafficking minors. He was found dead, hanging in his jail cell, less than a month later. More: Is Donald Trump all over Jeffrey Epstein documents released in Palm Beach Post suit? While he was alive, Epstein hobnobbed with many politicians and celebrities, including two who had either reached or were to reach the White House. Trump wasn't the only president to hitch a ride on Epstein's jets. Bill Clinton also took flights after he left office in early 2001. Trump was long from being elected in 2016. Here's what to know about some of Epstein's famous passengers: More: Jeffrey Epstein 2006 grand jury documents are public. Read for yourself what happened On Jeffrey Epstein's plane: Naomi Campbell, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker and a strange incident involving Sarah Ferguson Some big names, including Great Britain's Prince Andrew, either flew into or out of Palm Beach International Airport (PBIA), where Epstein parked his planes when he stayed at his mansion on El Brillo Way. In a strange entry in 1998, a pilot noted that Sarah Ferguson and her children met the plane at the Lantana airport after an emergency. The Cessna had been flying from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, but there was no note that Prince Andrew was onboard, only Epstein. Epstein's housekeeper, Juan Alessi, testified that the divorced Duchess of York dropped by Epstein's Palm Beach mansion one time, according to documents in a lawsuit released in January. "I think Sarah was there only once and for a short time," he said. "I don't think she slept in there. I cannot remember. I think she was visiting Wellington and she came to the house and we met her." Epstein reportedly once restructured and paid off a debt for the duchess. I, personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me, she said in 2011 before he was arrested on charges in New York. I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say. British top model Naomi Campbell says she met Jeffrey Epstein in 2001. Celebs included supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker. Campbell took five flights aboard the Lolita Express in 2001 and 2003. Two originated in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned his own island that was known to be a place of debauchery. A couple of the flights went to the Sao Paulo, Brazil area. More: Paris Fashion Week 2023: See Florence Pugh, Naomi Campbell, more stars at stunning shows Epstein was always present at Victoria's Secret shows where Campbell saw him. She said she met him in 2001 after her boyfriend Flavio Briatore, of Bennetton clothing fame, introduced him. Campbell has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epsteins sexual offenses, saying: What hes done is indefensible. And when I had heard what he had done, it sickened me to my stomach just like everybody else. Right now I stand with the victims." Inside the grand jury documents Post got Jeffrey Epstein prosecutor called 2 underage victims 'prostitutes.' Were they charged? It's impossible to tell whether any of these passengers flew while underage girls were aboard. Pilot notes used mainly initials and first names for passengers. Donald Trump flew 8 times on Epstein's plane in 1993-97, once took wife, Marla, daughter Tiffany, brother Mark Trump flew on Epstein's planes at least eight times, according to flight logs, most of the time to and from the airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, where Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges in July 2019. Trump's family tagged along on a May 15, 1994, trip to Washington, D.C. Aboard were then-wife Marla Maples and their daughter, Tiffany. She was about 7 months old and her nanny was in tow. Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, at the Braves/Expos spring training. (Greg Lovett/Palm Beach Post) Trump's third child and second son, Eric, flew on an Aug. 13, 1995, flight with his father from Palm Beach International to Teterboro, flight logs show. Teterboro is 12 miles from Manhattan, where Trump resided starting in 1983 until he claimed Mar-a-Lago as his residence in 2017. His penthouse in Trump Tower is 11,000 square feet and three stories high. Teterboro is considered a "reliever" airport, which handles smaller aircraft that weigh less than 100,000 pounds. No scheduled aircraft fly in or out of the airport, according to its website. Trump and Epstein had ties in Palm Beach. In the 1990s, they sometimes partied together. More: Making sense of Jeffrey Epstein's grand jury transcript and the 5-year fight to release it They also got into a bidding war in 2004 for a Palm Beach oceanfront estate offered in a bankruptcy auction. It was owned by Abe Gosman, the nursing home magnate who had hit hard times. Trump won, paying more than $41 million. Trump has never been accused of having anything to do with Epstein's predation of underage girls. He once said his neighbor was "a great guy," but when he was arrested in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges, Trump said, "I'm not a fan." Bill Clinton flew out of Siberia, China, Morocco among other places on Epstein's plane, sometimes possibly without Secret Service Clinton was aboard at least 17 flights in 2002-03 after he left office in 2001. The former president went to some exotic places aboard those flights Siberia, Morocco, China and Armenia, to name a few with some famous people such as actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker. News reports said Spacey and Tucker flew to help the Clinton Foundation with its battle against AIDS. More: Jeffrey Epstein secret transcripts: Victim was asked, Do you know 'you committed a crime?' Flight log notes show Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker flying on one of Jeffrey Epstein's planes Flight logs indicate that Spacey took a flight from the U.S. Virgin Islands to PBIA on Sept. 15, 2002, with Epstein and Clinton. The flight with Chris Tucker, which didn't appear to include Clinton, occurred six days later going from JFK International Airport in New York to Vilo do Porto, Portugal. Clinton's aide Doug Bands was on most of the flights that Clinton was. Two trips with Clinton had no notes that indicated U.S. Secret Service agents were aboard. Epstein picked up Clinton in Siberia and flew him to a U.S. Naval base in Japan on May 20, 2002. Secret Service were not noted. Most entries concerning Clinton did. One other flight possibly did not include agents, but part of the entry was illegible. That was on Nov. 9, 2003, from Hong Kong to Sichuan Province in China. Clinton took off from PBIA in February and March 2002 to Miami International and JFK, respectively. Flight logs don't indicate why any of the trips were taken. A Clinton spokesperson said in 2019 that he knew "nothing" about the crimes Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida or the sex-trafficking crimes he was charged with that year. Epstein's own relatives who live in Palm Beach County: Family aboard Epstein flew family members several times, often to New York or nearby. His parents, Seymour and Paula, lived in a West Palm Beach condo. Epstein and his brother, Mark, grew up on the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Seymour worked for the New York Parks Department. Mark, Jeffrey's younger brother, took at least one flight. More: POST EXCLUSIVE: Never-before-seen Jeffrey Epstein biography surfaces Paula flew several times aboard Jeffrey's jets in the late 1990s and early 2000s, almost always between PBIA and Teterboro. Once she went to Westchester County Airport. Paula held on to their West Palm Beach condo until she died in 2004. Seymour had passed in 1991. Former Epstein girlfriend who was Miss Sweden, family also flew Glenn and Eva Andersson Dubin, who have a waterfront home in Palm Beach, flew on Epstein's aircraft occasionally. Eva was Epstein's girlfriend for more than a decade before she married Glenn in 1994. Glenn and Eva are philanthropists involved in New York and that's often where they flew, most often with their three girls in tow and the nannies. Glenn is a venture capitalist and Eva is a physician who established the Dubin Breast Cancer Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She had had breast cancer herself. Eva testified for Epstein's next girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in Maxwell's trial on sex-trafficking charges in December 2021. Maxwell was convicted. Eva said she saw no inappropriate conduct from Epstein. More: How does this doctor-model-survivor keep her energy up? After Epstein had served his 13 months at the Palm Beach County Jail for pleading guilty to two prostitution-related felonies, Eva in 2009 famously told his probation officer that she was "100% comfortable" with him being around her girls at Thanksgiving dinner. The children were under 18 at the time. The couple distanced themselves from Epstein after he was arrested on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. Holly Baltz is the investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@pbpost.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Flew on Jeffrey Epstein's plane: Trump, Bill Clinton, Naomi Campbell This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 25 episode of "Inside with Jen Psaki." Shunned by Democrats and estranged from his family, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been desperate for validation. So desperate, in fact, that he has now joined forces with Donald Trump. Of course, as the most prolific anti-vax conspiracy theorist in the country, Kennedys endorsement of Trump was a long time coming. Frankly, the two have a lot in common: Both have enormous egos that cloud their judgment, both rely on misinformation to prey on peoples fears, and both leverage their last name for their own self-interest. But for Kennedy, this endorsement also marks another act of rebellion against his family and the institutions they helped build. Although he shares the same name as his father, he could not be more different. His dad the original Robert Kennedy was driven by a genuine concern for the health and welfare of the American people. He was a champion of the underprivileged and the vulnerable. He appealed to peoples better angels, not their worst instincts. When it came to modern medicine, he said those with power and influence have a duty to aid the less fortunate. As Kennedy told a group of doctors in Indiana in 1968, We have to recognize those of us who have the advantages that you have and that I have that we have an obligation of responsibility to those who do not. In other words, Kennedy believed that it was not enough to merely "do no harm" he felt strongly that people in a position to help others have an obligation to do so. Needless to say, the apple has fallen pretty far from the tree. Kennedy has not only failed in his obligation of responsibility, hes actually done the opposite. Hes used his privilege and his name to encourage the most vulnerable Americans to turn their backs on modern medicine. Hes used falsehoods to stoke widespread fear of even routine vaccines, including the vaccines that eradicated measles, mumps and polio. If Trump and Kennedy have their way, parents will once again have to worry that their kids could be susceptible to life-threatening diseases at school. But heres the thing: Kennedy is not only insulting his fathers legacy, hes also trying to sabotage the party that his family has shaped and influenced for more than six decades. Remember, his endorsement comes just days after new reporting showed his candidacy was now costing Trump more votes than Vice President Kamala Harris. We also cant forget that Kennedys political ambitions were, in part, financed by one of Trumps biggest billionaire donors. By endorsing Trump, Kennedy is simply confirming what we suspected all along: that his goal is to be a spoiler for the Democratic ticket. And while we still dont know what the real impact of this endorsement will be, we do know that the headlines shouldnt read: Kennedy endorses Trump. They should read: Dangerous conspiracy theorists join forces. Join Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow and many others on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Brooklyn, New York, for MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024, a first-of-its-kind live event. Youll get to see your favorite hosts in person and hear thought-provoking conversations about what matters most in the final weeks of an unprecedented election cycle. Buy tickets here. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO/AP) South Dakotas only member of the House of Representatives in Washington is expressing concerns about online retailers Temu and Shein. What we know from the reports that our select committee on China did, is that these enterprises use slave labor. And they do a terrible job of trying to keep slave labor out of their supply chains, Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson said Friday. This is well-documented. Johnson, who sits on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, traces a link through that party to forced labor and eventually to online retailers an American might visit. The Chinese Communist Party is running these forced labor camps, they are making that labor available to vendors who get this, these items to Shein, to Temu, who then turn around and sell it to American consumers, Johnson said. Johnson also brings up the Uyghur people; both the Biden and Trump administrations have accused China of genocide against the ethnic group. At the select committee on China, we have heard people who have escaped Uyghur concentration camps, forced labor camps, and they have asked Americans not to give money to the Chinese Communist Party and their partners who are using that slave labor to make a buck, Johnson said. Officials warn of Pennington County scam The attorney generals became concerned after the congressional hearings that Temu, which is essentially a platform much like Amazon, was gathering Americans personal information, providing that to others including communist China for profit, and we were also concerned that many of those products were a result of forced labor, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said Friday. For his part, Jackley has signed on to a letter to Temus president seeking information about consumer data and slave labor. The attorney generals stepped in and indicated we would like answers to both: are you gathering data on our citizens, if you are, what are you doing with that data, and what are you doing to protect against slave labor, Jackley 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 KELOLAND.com. JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) A Johnstown man has pleaded guilty in federal court to violating drug laws by trafficking drugs, according to United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan. Rodney Smith, 68, pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 26 before Senior United States District Judge Kim R. Gibson. According to court documents, from Jan. 2021 to June 2021, Smith conspired to distribute heroin, cocaine and other drugs. He was caught as part of a federal wiretap investigation. PREVIOUS STORY: Dozens arrested from Cambria County in multi-state drug bust Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 13, 2025. The law provides for a total sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, or both. The Federal Bureau of Investigations Laurel Highlands Resident Agency and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Smith. Additional agencies include: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation United States Postal Inspection Service Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Pennsylvania State Police Cambria County District Attorneys Office Indiana County District Attorneys Office Cambria County Sheriffs Office Cambria Township Police Department Indiana Borough Police Department Johnstown Police Department Upper Yoder Township Police Department Richland Police Department Ferndale Police Department Other local law enforcement agencies Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters. Assistant United States Attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. In an After the Cut web exclusive published Monday by The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart opens the studio floor to take questions from Gen Z audience members, covering everything from how to stay optimistic to what books to read to how to be responsibly politically engaged on college campuses. Of the latter, Stewart said that engaging in political divides on college campuses can be a beautiful thing, and he advised students to be open to people, but be convicted. I just wanted to ask for advice about navigating the political landscape, especially during election season, on college campuses and engage in conversations with people who might have opposite beliefs, an young male audience member asked Stewart. Watch the full segment in the video below: The line of questioning, of course, came at a time when political demonstrations are under particular scrutiny nationwide, with pro-Palestinian and -Israel protesters clashing this last spring at UCLA, Columbia and elsewhere. As the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza going into the 2024-25 school year, measures have been made to ensure safety on campuses. Just last week, University of California banned protest encampments and masks that obscure protesters faces at all of its schools. Such measures, however, should not stop students from engaging responsibly in the political moment, according to Stewart. Listen, the beautiful thing about college is that its built for you to push the limits of who you think you are and who you think you want to be. Its a wonderful experience, the host said in Mondays video. The thing that I would say to you is have the courage in the internal barometer that youve developed over the years for yourself about right and wrong and dont necessarily just allow the conditions that you find yourself in to shape that. Youre here for a reason, and youre that way for a reason, and be strong in that. Be open to people, but be convicted. I think its a wonderful experience for kids. Stewart then added, humorously, that he doesnt buy into the habit of disparaging younger generations while thinking his own was all awesome. Shut the fk up, he quipped. Every generation is like, That generation sucks. We were awesome. And Im like, Meh. I know my generation we were doing whippets in 11th grade. Elsewhere in the After the Cut segment, Stewart explained why Kurt Vonnegut is his favorite author (and he recalls a cherished memory of interviewing him before his 2007 death) and explained why Gen Z needs to know the power they hold in the political decisions that are around them. Your voice is can I tell you something about advertisers? Stewart posed. Do you know that advertisers, they look at different demographics, but the largest demographic that they look at is 18-24. Thats the one that means everything to them. Use that power, the power of the purse. He continued: Im 61 Im not even listed anymore. They literally, companies will be like, What about people over 55? Theyre like, I think they might be dead.' Watch the full Daily Show web segment in the video above. The post Jon Stewart Says Political Tensions on College Campuses Can Be a Beautiful Thing, Advises Students to Show Conviction | Video appeared first on TheWrap. A lunar rover called Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover or simply VIPER was designed to search for ice on Earth's satellite. However, due to funding problems, NASA announced that it was canceling plans to send the work to the moon. ADVERTISIMENT The space agency spent half a billion dollars and three years to develop VIPER. According to experts, this vehicle could be crucial to American monthly ambitions, so it is necessary to look for ways to launch it into space, writes CNN. According to NASA, VIPER, which weighs 430 kilograms, is designed to explore the moon's south pole to find water ice. This is a key resource that could be turned into drink for astronauts or even rocket fuel. This could contribute to NASA's plans to establish a permanent settlement on the moon as part of Artemis. However, due to lack of funding, the explorer's trip has been canceled for now. VIPER may not be able to see the moon Commercial space companies are trying to submit proposals to NASA, suggesting ways to save the project. A petition with more than 4,500 signatures asking Congress to reinstate VIPER is circulating. ADVERTISIMENT Scientists say that while it is not the only NASA-led project to search for water on the moon before astronauts arrive, VIPER is one of the best. While other projects include satellites remotely collecting data or stagnant drilling, this lunar rover is designed to roam the moon's surface, collecting data on specific resources and digging up soil where needed. Ways to solve the problem According to experts, at present, the future of the project may unfold in three ways. First, lawmakers will intervene and order NASA to launch the lunar rover. Second, VIPER, in which NASA has already invested 450 million dollars, can be dismantled and sold for parts. And the third option - some commercial company could buy out the work and invest some money to save the groundbreaking vehicle. ADVERTISIMENT According to the Planetary Society, which is closely monitoring how the VIPER program may develop, NASA has been approached by many companies with options for a possible solution to the problem. However, the space agency has yet to comment. Intuitive Machines co-founder and chief technology officer Tim Crane said VIPER is "essentially ready and has a small amount of testing ahead of it." Under Intuitive Machines' proposal, it will use a new, larger version of its Nova-C landing module called Nova-D to deliver VIPER to the lunar surface as early as late 2026 or mid-2027. To achieve that goal, Intuitive Machines will have to raise its own funds to complete the finishing touches on VIPER before launch. ADVERTISIMENT NASA and its commercial partners have already estimated that the lunar rover requires about $100 million in additional investment - mostly for testing and ground systems to support the mission - before it's ready to go to the moon. And Tim Crane said he thinks that's a "good number." But, he said, if Intuitive Machines takes control of the rover, the company will negotiate with NASA to reduce those costs. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Dustin Holden (2022 booking photo Courtesy JPD) SPRINGFIELD, Mo. A Joplin man is sentenced in federal court for drug conspiracy and firearm charges, according to a release. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Monday that Dustin Holden, 34, was sentenced last Friday to 22 years and nine months in federal prison without parole. It comes after a guilty plea for the following back in February of this year: one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, 2019: Arbor Hills neighborhood on alert until K-9 Fighter detains man for arrest Thursday evening Holdens sentencing stems from an incident back in January 2022 when his co-defendant, Britton Friday, 42, of Nixa, was stopped while driving in Ozark, Missouri while in possession of 32.8 grams of methamphetamine. Friday was arrested and Holden admitted to selling him (and others) methamphetamine for $350 an ounce. Members of the Joplin SWAT team and ODET (Ozark Drug Enforcement Team) searched Holdens residence in February 2022. Thats where authorities said they found several ounces of methamphetamine and multiple long guns and pistols. Friday was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to drug conspiracy charges and admitted to buying a total of 1.6 kilograms of methamphetamine from Holden. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Reality Check is a Star series holding those with power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email our journalists at RealityCheck@kcstar.com. Sen. Josh Hawley was clear about his word choice. He said rigged. Theyre rigging their own elections I believe is my exact phrase, Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told The Star a few days after President Joe Biden ended his presidential campaign and the Democratic Party quickly aligned behind Vice President Kamala Harris. And they are. Theyre totally rigging it. Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for President in Chicago last week, capping off an unlikely ascension that appears to have injected enthusiasm into a Democratic Party that, for much of the past year, had appeared listless. But as Democrats spent the past month learning what brat summer means and donating to Harris, Republicans like Hawley have sought to cast doubt on the new nominee. Elections experts have repeatedly stressed the Democrats were legally allowed to switch their nominee before the convention. It hasnt stopped Republicans from using words like rigged to describe Harriss nomination. A common refrain has even begun to spread among former President Donald Trumps supporters that Harris won the Democratic nomination without a single vote. It appears to be an attempt to transform what was admittedly an unusual situation, with a presumptive nominee stepping aside, into something nefarious, said Daniel Weiner, an elections expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. When, in fact, the entire process from start to finish has been completely lawful. In an era of stark partisan division, it has become increasingly common for politicians to use language questioning the legitimacy of the democratic process when an election doesnt go their way, Weiner said. Some of those claims catch hold. As of September 2023, 63% of Republicans said they believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to polling by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit that surveys politics, religion and culture. Hawley was among the Republicans who questioned the validity of the election in 2020 and the first Senator to say he would object to the results. Now, as both Democrats and Republicans gear up for legal battles following Election Day, Hawley is once again gravitating toward language that elections experts say undermines faith in democracy. These are claims based on a fundamental lie, and thats why thats problematic, said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. And they are specifically designed to sow doubt about an election that they may believe their candidate is going to lose. Hawleys argument At the Capitol last month, Hawley said he didnt believe using the word rigged gives ammunition to voters, particularly Republicans, who are concerned about the security of U.S. elections and question the integrity of the democratic process. This isnt a security issue, this is a changing the rules in the middle of a game issue, Hawley said. But Im not a Democrat, Im not a Democrat voter. If they want to do that, its up to them. Hawley said he was making an argument about the Democratic establishment, saying elite donors were determining the results instead of voters in an echo of the populist political message he often employs on the campaign trail. Democratic lawmakers and donors did effectively push Biden out of the presidential campaign in late July, as his poll numbers cratered among an electorate that believed the 81-year-old was too old to serve as president for another four years. Bidens decision to step down came while he was still the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. When states vote in party primaries ahead of the nominating conventions, theyre electing delegates, not the candidate themselves. The candidate doesnt become the nominee until the delegates from each state cast their votes, awarding the candidate the nomination of their political party. When Biden dropped out of the race, the delegates chosen to attend the convention were free to vote for any candidate they wanted. But those same delegates everyday people who are involved with Democratic politics quickly aligned behind Harris. The Democratic Party chose its candidate, Weiner said. I dont expect the Republican Party to like it any more than I expect the Democratic Party to like the Republican candidate that was chosen. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican who has become a surrogate for Trump, has attempted to put the focus on Democratic voters, not Republicans. Since Harris became the nominee, Schmitt has suggested that the Democratic Party ignored its voters. I think its disingenuous to dismiss what actually happened in the last year and a half, which is, he ran, he won in a primary, but now wont be the nominee, Schmitt told The Star. Schmitt, who signed onto a lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election as Missouri Attorney General, has often chafed at arguments that Trump has attempted to undermine democracy in his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. In an interview with CNN this week, Schmitt accused the Democrats of installing Harris as nominee. But polling seems to indicate that Democratic voters dont mind the switch from Biden to Harris. Where Biden appeared to be losing to Trump, Harris appears to be leading. The New York Times/Siena poll found a 7 percentage point swing in Harris favor across the battleground states most likely to decide the election, marking a significant shift from when Biden was the nominee. Theres no evidence that large numbers of Democratic primary voters even feel disenfranchised, Weiner said. The only people complaining about it are their opponents. A larger campaign Hawley and Schmitts rhetoric around Harris nomination comes as both Republicans and Democrats appear to be preparing for legal battles following the November election. Trump and the Republican National Committee introduced an election integrity program in April to monitor against any violation or fraud. Harris campaign has also built out a large legal team that includes Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias and Bob Bauer, an attorney who worked for both Biden and former President Barack Obama. The focus on litigation both before and after the election marks the current reality in politics. Increasingly, candidates are unwilling to concede their elections and are willing to embark on bare knuckle legal battles in order to change the result. Trumps campaign launched more than 60 legal challenges in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, soundly rejected the challenges of his campaign and supporters. Congress also attempted to make it more difficult to undermine the results of a presidential election, passing the Electoral Count Reform Act around two years after Trump pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The law now says the vice president has only a ceremonial role in the certification of the election, eliminating the Trump campaigns argument that Pence could have stopped the vote. The law also raised the threshold for when lawmakers can challenge the results of a states vote. Instead of requiring just one representative and one senator to object before heading to a vote, the new law requires 20% of Congress to object. Our elections today are by every objective measurement in blue and red states, run by Democrats and Republicans, hundreds of thousands of election officials more secure, transparent and verified than ever before, Becker said. A federal judge has halted the Missouri attorney generals investigation of the progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America over its report last year that major sponsors advertisements were appearing next to extremist content on Elon Musks X.com. As advertisers left the platform, Musk sued Media Matters, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey served civil investigative demands on the watchdog group. Media Matters sued to block the investigation, citing the First Amendment. More from Deadline In granting a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote that Missouris interest in enforcing its consumer protection laws must give way when a state actor uses them to retaliate against a media organization for protected speech. Bailey also sought a civil penalty against the group. The court does not discard lightly the presumption of regularity generally afforded to prosecutorial decision-making, the judge wrote, as he cited court precedents. But it falls on the judiciary to ensure that the First Amendment is not reduced to a parchment promise. And the most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends. That apparently is what has occurred here. Read the Elon Musk Media Matters decision. Earlier this year, Mehta also granted an injunction to halt Paxtons investigation, also on First Amendment grounds. As Mehta noted in his opinion, after Media Matters published its piece on November 16, an ally to Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, sent a tweet implicitly calling upon conservative state attorneys general to investigate Media Matters reporting on X. Within hours, Defendant Bailey responded that [his] team is looking into the matter.' Musk, meanwhile, threatened a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters for what he said was a fraudulent attack on our company. He accused Media Matters of manipulating Xs algorithm to artificially force placement of the ads next to extremist content. Musk filed a lawsuit against the group, but the advertiser exodus also followed criticism of his endorsement of a users antisemitic post. He later told advertisers to go f yourself, and recently filed a lawsuit against sponsors, claiming they engaged in a boycott that violated antitrust laws. In a statement, Media Matters President and CEO Angelo Carusone said, A federal judge has clearly seen this coordinated effort by state attorneys general for what it is sucking up to Elon Musk and abusing the power of their offices to intimidate researchers and stifle accurate reporting by Musks critics. Andrew Bailey was one of those AGs that took up the call and he was defeated. A representative for Bailey did not immediately return a request for comment. Mehta referred to Baileys own comments in concluding that his investigation was politically motivated. He cited Baileys comments that Media Matters were progressive tyrants masquerading as [a] news outlet[]. The judge also pointed to an interview Bailey gave to Donald Trump Jr. in June, when he said out loud the true purpose of his investigation. Per Mehta, Bailey said, Its a new front in the war against the First Amendment . . . Weve seen a direct assault by the deep state and President Bidens Administration. The judge wrote, Although tough talk is not foreign to the law enforcement arena, such overt political messaging is atypical. A reasonable factfinder is likely to interpret Defendants words as targeting Media Matters not for legitimate law enforcement purposes but instead for its protected First Amendment activities. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Judge orders Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album FILE - Martin Shkreli gives an interview on the Fox Business Network in New York, Aug. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) NEW YORK (AP) Martin Shkreli, once dubbed Pharma Bro for boosting the price of a life-saving drug, was ordered by a federal judge Monday to turn over all copies of Wu-Tang Clans unreleased Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album to his lawyers by Friday. Judge Pamela K. Chen in Brooklyn wrote that Shkreli must produce all copies of what is sometimes referred to as the world's rarest album and report the names of anyone he distributed the music to by Sept. 30, along with any revenues he received from it. In June, Shkreli was sued by a cryptocurrency collective that bought the only known copy of the album for $4.75 million. The collective, PleasrDAO, accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies of the album in violation of their deal and disseminating them widely among his social media followers. PleasrDAO attorney Steven Cooper said in a statement that Chen's ruling was an important victory for our client. He added: "We are pleased that Judge Chen recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr. Shkreli. Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email that the judge's order maintained the perceived status quo of the lawsuit's progression and has no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case. He also noted that the judge did not make a finding that PleasrDAO was likely to succeed on the merits or that its allegations were true. The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating Once Upon a Time in Shaolin before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multiplatinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art. Shkreli bought the album for $2 million before he was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars in two failed hedge funds he operated. In 2021, Once Upon a Time is Shaolin was sold to satisfy some of Shkrelis court debts. Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving much of a seven-year sentence. Judy Lowe Neighborhood Park near JD Vances home closed until further notice ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) In response to a request from the United States Secret Service (USSS), the Judy Lowe Neighborhood Park near JD Vances home will be temporarily closed until further notice. Starting on Aug. 25, the park, located at 1 & 7 E. Del Ray Ave., closed with several restrictions to the public. Officials said the park perimeter will be barricaded and monitored 24/7 by law enforcement. 45th Takoma Park Folk Festival coming to town with live music, food and more According to the town, the unit block of E. Del Ray Avenue, between Commonwealth Avenue and Clyde Avenue, will be restricted to people who live in the community. The following conditions will be in effect during the closing period: No on-street parking will be permitted on the unit block of E. Del Ray Avenue or the east side of the 2200 block of Commonwealth Ave. The Commonwealth Avenue travel lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks will remain open. USSS and the Alexandria Police Department will provide affected E. Del Ray Ave. residents with direct points of contact for questions. At this time, it is unknown why the USSS requested the park to close and when it will reopen to the community. In the meantime, officials said park-goers can use the nearby playgrounds at Simpson Park, Mount Jefferson Park, Goat Hill Park and Landover Park. A complete list of other nearby parks 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Jury selection began Monday in the second trial for a 23-year-old man who two years ago was the first defendant in Placer County to charged with murder in a fentanyl death. Carson David Schewe, who has remained in custody at the Placer County Jail since his February 2022 arrest, is accused of selling fentanyl in December 2021 to 20-year-old Kade Kristopher Webb, who later died from an overdose in Roseville. Fentanyl is a powerful and potentially addictive synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The California Department of Justice has said two milligrams of fentanyl can result in overdose and potentially death. Placer Deputy District Attorney Devan Portillo, who is prosecuting the case, argued in the first trial that Schewe knew of fentanyls dangers; people close to him died from its toxicity and he overdosed himself. Yet, he didnt care and sold the fentanyl that took Webbs life, the prosecutor said in court. Brad Whatcott, Schewes defense attorney, cast doubt that Schewe supplied the drug that killed Webb. Whatcott planned to call a defense expert witness, a doctor, who would question if fentanyl toxicity caused Webbs death. The defense attorney told the jury in the first trial that his client was guilty of selling drugs but argued there was no malice to support the murder charge. But Schewes first trial ended abruptly March 1, four days after it began, after a lab failed to provide the prosecution and the defense a report detailing a summary of results from the victims blood tests. Placer Superior Court Judge Michael Jones was forced to declare a mistrial and order a second trial for Schewe with a new jury. On Monday morning, the judge said arguments and testimony in Schewes second trial was estimated to continue through Sept. 26. Along with the murder charge, Schewe faces two counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of selling the narcotics. The prosecutor told the judge that prospective jurors should be asked whether they are aware of the countys public awareness campaign on fentanyl called 1 Pill Can Kill. The campaign warns parents and their children about the dangers of fentanyl. The campaigns website includes testimonial from Laura and Chris Didier, the parents of 17-year-old Zachary Didier. The Rocklin teen purchased what he thought was Percocet from Virgil Xavier Bordner on Snapchat. His parents have said their son instead unknowingly bought and ingested the synthetic opioid and died Dec. 27, 2020, from fentanyl poisoning. Bordner of Sacramento in July 2022 pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of selling drugs to a minor, and he was later sentenced to 17 years in prison for Didiers death. Judge Jones agreed that the prospective jurors should be asked about fentanyl awareness campaign and know anyone who has been charged with a fentanyl-related crime or someone who has used the drug. On the countys website, Schewes criminal case is listed among five cases in which a defendant has been charged with murder for fentanyl dealers whose sales resulted in a death on a web page titled Fighting Fentanyl in Placer County. Last week, James Scott Teahan Jr., 34, became the fifth person in Placer County to be charged with murder in connection with a fentanyl death. Teahan is accused in the April 24 death of Stephen Windham. Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire and other prosecutors in California have taken a new approach to fentanyl deaths, filing murder charges against people who sell or provide fentanyl to someone who later dies from ingesting the drugs. Schewes case is the only Placer County murder case in a fentanyl death that has gone to trial. SYOSSET, N.Y. (PIX11) A man fatally shot his three siblings and niece before taking his own life in Syosset on Sunday, according to the Nassau County Police Department. The shooting happened in a house on Wyoming Court just before noon. A neighbor heard Joseph Delucia Jr., 59, yelling outside of the home he lived in with his mother before he shot himself, according to authorities. He just snapped, I think, Wendy Paisner, a longtime neighbor, previously told PIX11 News. Delucias mother passed away on Aug. 19. He was concerned he was left out of his mothers will and would be displaced, police said on Monday. More Long Island News While Delucia wasnt cut out of the will, he wouldve had to leave the home, according to authorities. They were going to sell the house, Paisner said. Hes lived there his whole life. He really needed support. Delucias three siblings and niece were waiting at the house for a realtor, who showed up 30 minutes after the shooting, according to authorities. The victims, Joanne Kearns, 69, Frank Delucia, 64, Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, were each shot multiple times and died at the scene, officials said. Delucia had past mental health issues, police said. Officers visited the home in 2022 for a welfare check. Other neighbors told PIX11 News that Delucia was a volunteer firefighter who quit last week in the wake of his mothers death. I didnt think it was that he would take his whole family I thought maybe he was distraught and maybe he did this to himself, Paisner said. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. It is a free, 24/7 service that offers support, information, and local resources. You can also click here for additional hotlines within your state. 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. In her acceptance speech at last week's Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris promised to deliver "a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans." Her campaign has yet to flesh out the details of that idea, but what little is known about Harris' tax proposals suggests that middle-class families will face a tax hike in a Harris administrationalbeit an indirect one. Nearly all Americans would face a higher federal tax burden if Harris followed through on President Joe Biden's proposal to raise the corporate income tax to 28 percent from 21 percent. The New York Times reported this weekend that Harris' campaign has signaled that she supports Biden's plan for $5 trillion in tax hikesincluding an $1.3 trillion increase of the corporate income tax. Confusingly, the Times also specifies that "no one making less than $400,000 a year would see their taxes go up"a talking point that Biden has used for years and that Harris is apparently preparing to adapt (and the Times is happy to parrot). But that is simply not true. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a bipartisan congressional number-crunching entity, ran the numbers on that corporate income tax hike when Biden proposed it earlier this year. According to the committee's analysis, even Americans in the lowest income category (those earning less than $10,000) would see a tax hike if the corporate income tax was increased. That's because higher corporate taxes are passed along to consumers, employees, and investors in the form of high prices, lower wages, and lower investment returns. If you buy things, have a job, or save for retirement, higher corporate income taxes will fall on youno matter how many times Biden, Harris, and the Times pretend otherwise. Harris should be asked about the effects of higher corporate taxes on the middle class, when and if she ever holds a press conference. Of course, Harris isn't the only candidate in this year's election promising an indirect tax hike on virtually all Americans. Former President Donald Trump's proposal for new tariffs of 10 percent (or even 20 percent, as he's said more recently) on all imports would cost Americans an estimated $300 billion annually. And Trump's campaign is also refusing to acknowledge reality. In an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker this weekend, Sen. J.D. Vance (ROhio) was asked about the fact that consumers ultimately the cost of tariffs. "What it really does is penalize importers," Trump's running mate responded. Saying that tariffs penalize only importers is almost exactly like saying that a corporate income tax affects only corporations. Both are deliberately myopic attempts to ignore the consequences of these policies. And in both cases, the candidates are assuring voters that someone else will pay the cost of these tax hikeswealthy corporations or Chinadespite a well-established track record showing that both forms of taxes are passed along to consumers and workers in various ways. You can try to tax corporations and you can try to tax imports, but all taxes are paid by people in the endincluding lots of people who make less than $400,000 annually. The post Kamala Harris' Plan To Hike Corporate Income Taxes Would Fall on All Americans appeared first on Reason.com. The News Kamala Harris presidential campaign has raised $540 million since its launch last month, her team said Sunday, calling it a record for any campaign in history. The US vice president got $82 million in donations during last weeks Democratic convention where she accepted her historic nomination, a third of which were from first-time contributors, according to her campaign. The cash boost reflects Harris surging momentum over her Republican rival Donald Trump only months before Novembers presidential election. Both candidates are now turning their attention to crucial swing states this week: Trump is set to campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin, and Harris will visit Georgia where the two are neck and neck according to recent polls. In one of the villages of Bucha district, Kyiv region, the wreckage of a Shahed downed by air defense forces on August 26 destroyed a private house whose owner had managed to leave for work 5 minutes before the incident. A deep crater has formed at the site of the enemy drone's crash. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by an OBOZ.UA correspondent. The air alert in the region lasted 12 hours and 40 minutes. Thus, on Monday, August 26, the aggressor country Russia attacked the Kyiv region with missiles and kamikaze drones. Air defense forces were operating in the region to destroy enemy targets. Unfortunately, the shelling damaged residential buildings and injured four people, including a 5-month-old child. ADVERTISIMENT In particular, in one of the villages of the Bucha district, a downed Shahed fell a few meters from one of the houses. According to the owner of the house, he had left home for work 5 minutes before. He returned when firefighters and police were already working. He was not allowed in the yard until the wreckage of the drone was removed and examined. ADVERTISIMENT "The rabbits died, the chickens flew away," the man added with regret. To clean up the wreckage and burnt boards, the man was helped by concerned neighbors. It is worth adding that 100 meters from the crash site of the Shahed is a church that was not damaged. ADVERTISIMENT ADVERTISIMENT ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! JUNCTION CITY (KSNT) An employee with a northeast Kansas school district received a big six-figure salary, more than what the U.S. president is paid in a year, in the 2023-2024 semester. 27 News is finding out why. David Wild, while employed at Geary County Unified School District 475, was paid a whopping $631,000 during the 2023-2024 school year, jumping hundreds of thousands of dollars from the previous school years pay, according to a report from The Sentinel. Amounting to a good deal more than the presidents salary, set at $400,000 a year, 27 News asked the school district what the reasons were for Wilds large paycheck. Christina Kausler, assistant to the superintendent and Board of Education clerk, responded to 27 News with a written response to several questions explaining Wilds pay. She provided some statistics on Wilds pay starting with the 2021-2022 school year. 2021-2022: $114,632.45 2022-2023: $93,181.65 2023-2024: $631,071.87 Once-in-a-lifetime nova to shine over Kansas next month Wild previously served in the district as chief operations officer and construction program manager, reporting to the districts Superintendent Dr. Reginald Eggleston. He is currently not employed with the district with his final day arriving on April 2, 2024. Economically speaking, this puts Wild far above what would be considered middle class in Kansas. The lower end of the middle class is just below $46,000 while the upper end is considered to be around $137,000, according to a report from The Hill earlier this year. Wilds pay comes from the districts connections with the nearby Fort Riley military post and its Intergovernmental Support Agreement (IGSA). Eggleston posted an explanation of how this program works on USD 475s social media on Aug. 18. Geary County Schools USD 475 entered into an Intergovernmental Support Agreement (IGSA) in 2021 with U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Fort Riley for design-build, capital improvement, repair, and maintenance projects on post. In 2022, USD 475 signed a 10-year agreement to continue these services. The Secretary of the Army is authorized to enter an IGSA on a sole-source basis with state or local governmental units, and USD 475 is one of several entities involved in such agreements. Under this IGSA, USD 475 earns 8 percent of all contracts through Fort Riley. Of this 8 percent, 1 percent was allocated to Mr. David Wild as our employee responsible for managing the agreement. Both the district and Fort Riley agreed that Mr. Wilds background and experience with contracting made him a viable candidate for this work. This compensation came from the IGSA funds and was not paid from the school districts federal, state, or local budget. USD 475 Superintendent Dr. Reginal Eggleston Kausler said as of July 30, 2024) the district had received more than $6.8 million through its partnership with IGSA as of July 30, 2024. IGSA funds are designated for federal projects at Fort Riley post only and are not to be used for school district projects. The remaining 7% of funds retained by the district are invested into school projects, ongoing maintenance and other capital outlay needs. Tarantulas on the march in Kansas, what to know Eggleston emphasizes in his Aug. 18 statement that none of the IGSA funds are sourced from local tax dollars. The partnership between Fort Riley and USD 475 helps to support the military posts federal projects while also giving the district cash to help support its students and community. Kausler said the first $935,440 had been received by the district. The 7% of IGSA funds was put into capital outlay for daily operations. Another $4 million is being invested to pay for extracurricular activities. Half of the students enrolled in USD 475 are connected to the military with five of the 17 schools in the district located on Fort Riley. Five new schools have been added to the district since 2012 to serve the communities of Junction City, Fort Riley, Grandview Plaza and Milford. The district had more than 7,300 students in it during the 2023-2024 school year and employs 650 certified staff and 700 classified staff. What happened to these Kansas counties and why do they no longer exist? 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. Future Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo attends the GOP gubernatorial debate at the Mackinac Island Policy Conference, June 2, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins Being the chair of the Michigan Republican Party can be a thankless job, and that reality was never more on display than it was Saturday when the current leader was loudly booed by delegates, the previous chair was forcibly removed from the premises, and another former chair was denied the opportunity to run again for his elected position. The MIGOPs convention at the Dart Financial Center in Flint ran a full 12 hours and concluded with delegates selecting candidates for Michigan Supreme Court, State Board of Education, as well as the boards of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. The Michigan Democratic Party held its own state convention in Lansing on the same day, where there also was drama surrounding a contested race for two U of M regent slots, ending with pro-Palestinian supporters threatening to withhold their votes from the party in November. In Flint, the divisions that have been the hallmark of the Michigan GOP the last few years were on full display. They began relatively early when former Chair Kristina Karamo, who had been removed from the position in January, said she wanted to show support for Alexandria Taylor, who unsuccessfully sought a Republican nomination for Michigan Supreme Court. But current party officials said she was not a registered delegate and had police escort her out. Im here on behalf of Alexandria Taylor, and this is why the Michigan Republican Party is failing as an organization currently. We have corrupt people. Instead of trying to unify and focus on winning the election, instead theyre kicking out their political enemies from the convention [that] I have a right to be at, Karamo said as she was being escorted off the convention floor by Flint law enforcement. Karamo said Taylor was a candidate who had the right to have representatives supporting her and the fact that she was removed even though serving Taylor in that capacity was a sign that the partys integrity had been compromised. We will not tolerate globalist cult members infiltrating our party and electing Republican posers who are nothing more than uniparty members who destroyed the country slower than Democrats, said Karamo on social media afterward. Michigan GOPs executive director Tyson Shepard said Karamo was not a registered delegate, adding that she had been offered a guest credential, which she refused. She was asked to politely leave but refused. Law enforcement was called and escorted her out of the building for causing a disruption and clogging up the floor, and we thank them for their handling of the situation, Shepard said in a statement. Due to the disruptive actions of a handful of participants, law enforcement have decided to increase their presence to ensure a safe and smooth convention. The division only escalated when current Chair Pete Hoekstra who is still involved in a legal fight with Karamo, who claims shes the rightful leader of the party got up to address the delegates and was met by jeering from the party faithful, many of them grassroots supporters of Karamo. This is why he was so aggressively booed multiple times by the convention delegates, because he has corrupted the party on so many instances, said Karamo. This was just the straw that broke the camels back. Despite the internal turmoil, the delegates did get about the business they had gathered for, nominating state Rep. Andrew Fink (R-Adams Twp.) and Branch County Circuit Judge Patrick William OGrady to run for two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court this November. Im honored to have received the support of so many and I look forward to the next phase of this campaign, posted Fink. As a team, over the next 73 days, we can spread the message of justice for all across Michigan and work to rebuild a Rule-of Law Supreme Court. Delegates notably chose Fink over Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. GOP former attorney general nominee Matt DePerno, who is facing charges related to stolen election equipment after the 2020 election, had pulled out of the Supreme Court race just prior to the convention. Democrats currently control the states highest court with a 4-3 majority. If Republicans win both seats, they can flip control. Fink will run for an eight-year term on Nov. 5 against University of Michigan law professor Kimberly Ann Thomas, who was nominated by Michigan Democrats at their convention Saturday in Lansing. That seat is opening up with the planned retirement of GOP-nominated Justice David Viviano. OGrady, meanwhile, will vie for a partial four-year term against incumbent Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who was appointed in 2022 by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Also up for nomination was Ron Weiser, the state GOP chair who preceded Karamo, as he sought to run again for University of Michigan regent. However, the delegates rejected Weiser, a former ambassador who has donated millions to U of M, and instead chose asset manager Sevag Vartanian, and former MIGOP Treasurer Carl Meyers. It was just the latest in a string of defeats for Weiser, who chaired the party in 2022 when Democrats took control of the Legislature for the first time since 1984. Weiser was also censured by the U of M board and stripped of his committee assignments after referring to Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, as witches, who needed to be defeated by burning at the stake. Also not selected for renomination was Auburn Hills attorney Dan Kelly, who sought to retain his seat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, which he currently chairs. Instead, delegates chose Plymouth Township real estate broker Mike Balow, who unsuccessfully ran in 2022, and former Novi City Council Member Julie Maday. Delegates did renominate Michael Busuito to retain his seat on the Wayne State University Board of Governors, along with self-described entrepreneur and philanthropist Sunny Reddy, a newcomer. Delegates renominated both GOP incumbents to the State Board of Education, former state Rep. Tom McMillin and Nikki Snyder, who has embarked on congressional and U.S. Senate runs. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court in July 2024. - Credit: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Karen Read is facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the brother of her late husband, Boston Police Officer John OKeefe. Paul OKeefe filed the suit on behalf of his family, accusing Read of drunkenly running over John with her SUV and leaving him to die outside during a snowstorm in Jan. 2022. The lawsuit also named as co-defendants the two bars in Canton, Massachusetts, where Read and John were drinking before Johns death, the Waterfall Bar & Grille and C.F. McCarthys; both establishments are accused of negligently serv[ing] alcohol to an intoxicated person, namely [Read]. More from Rolling Stone The civil suit comes nearly two months after Reads first criminal trial a 10-week ordeal that went viral among true crime fanatics on TikTok ended with a mistrial and a deeply divided hung jury. Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death after Johns body was discovered. She pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied killing John. Her retrial is tentatively scheduled for early 2025. The new civil suit echoes a lot of the claims prosecutors leveled against Read in the criminal case. It notes that Read had nine drinks at the two bars over the course of the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and alleges that she was under the influence of alcohol and unable to drive a motor vehicle safely when she took OKeefe to a friends house to an afterparty just after midnight on Jan. 29. Over the course of the night, the suit alleges, Read and OKeefe had been in an argument. According to the suit, the couples relationship was deteriorating already, and Read allegedly picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness. By that night, the suit alleges, Read knew that her relationship with [OKeefe] had run its course. After OKeefe got out of Reads car at the afterparty, the suit claims, Read drove her SUV and hit him. She then allegedly fled the scene and returned to [OKeefes] residence, even though she knew that it was snowing, knew there was an impending blizzard and knew or should have known that leaving [OKeefe] outside in the blizzard would likely result in serious injury or death. The lawsuit also accuses Read of inflicting emotional distress on the family. They cite the allegedly false narrative Read and her defense team have pushed that OKeefe was actually killed by guests at the afterparty many of them his fellow police officers and that law enforcement conspired to frame Read. The lawsuit also says Read inflicted serious emotional distress on OKeefes 14-year-old niece, whom Read allegedly woke up at 4:30 in the morning to tell her that OKeefe had not come home the night before. A lawyer for Read, as well as the two bars, did not immediately return Rolling Stones request for comment. Best of Rolling Stone The family of a Boston police officer whose death is at the center of the Karen Read murder case has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two Massachusetts bars they went to before his death. John O'Keefe III, 46, was found dead the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, police said. The civil lawsuit, filed Monday, alleged that his girlfriend, Read, struck him with her car while intoxicated and left him for dead. The lawsuit, which includes O'Keefe's brother, parents and niece as plaintiffs, is suing Read and two bars -- C.F. McCarthy's and Waterfall Bar and Grille -- for unspecified damages, alleging wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress. MORE: Karen Read murder case: Judge sets 2025 date for retrial Read's attorney told ABC News her defense team is not commenting on the lawsuit at this time. A representative for C.F. McCarthy's had no comment when contacted by ABC News. ABC News was unable to reach the owner of Waterfall Bar and Grille. The lawsuit comes after a judge declared a mistrial last month in the case against Read, who was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She had pleaded not guilty. PHOTO: Karen Read looks toward the jurors, as they are greeted by Judge Beverly J. Cannone during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP) Prosecutors alleged she hit O'Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier in the day. Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case on July 1 after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Attorney's Office said they planned to retry the case, and the new trial has been scheduled to start on Jan. 27, 2025. Cannone last week denied a request to dismiss two of Read's charges -- second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident -- in the retrial. Read's attorneys had argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges. In her ruling released on Friday, Cannone concluded that double jeopardy was not at issue "because the defendant was not acquitted of any charges and defense counsel consented to the court's declaration of a mistrial." Read has strenuously denied the allegations, and her lawyers alleged that a fellow police officer was involved in O'Keefe's death and colluded with others in a cover-up. MORE: Judge denies bid to dismiss murder charge against Karen Read after mistrial The lawsuit alleges Read and O'Keefe's relationship had been "deteriorating" in the months leading up to his death, during which time Read "picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness." Read was served seven alcoholic drinks over roughly an hour and a half while at C.F. McCarthy's with O'Keefe on the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and "showed signs of intoxication," the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit then alleges she carried out her drink and went to Waterfall, where she was served one shot and one mixed alcoholic drink, before leaving with O'Keefe shortly after midnight and driving him to a residence in Canton. PHOTO: This undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O'Keefe. (Boston Police Department via AP, File) The lawsuit alleges the two had an argument and she "drove her SUV and hit" O'Keefe, then fled the scene and went to O'Keefe's home. The lawsuit claims Read returned to the residence later that morning and observed him "laying on the ground, buried in the snow, where she had earlier left him to die." O'Keefe suffered trauma injuries before becoming hypothermic, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges the two bars negligently service alcohol to an intoxicated person, and that Read "intended the reckless conduct that resulted in [O'Keefe's] injuries/death." The lawsuit also alleges Read "intentionally and/or recklessly inflicted severe emotional distress" on O'Keefe's then-14-year-old niece, who was under his care. Read allegedly returned to his home, woke the teen up and told her something had happened to her uncle, that "she hit her uncle or a snow plow hit her uncle," according to the lawsuit. Karen Read sued by family of police officer boyfriend she's accused of killing originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Photos by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0 After months of stalling, a judge has for a second time ordered Kari Lake and her husband to hand over documents to Stephen Richer that pertain to her defamatory statements about the Maricopa County Recorder. Lake, the Republican nominee for U.S. senator from Arizona in the November election, shared lies about Richer on podcasts and social media after she lost the 2022 election for Arizona governor and labored to blame that loss on nonexistent election fraud. In her ongoing attempt to get the courts to overturn her loss in that election, Lake failed to prove that any fraud took place, and the attorneys who represented her were disciplined for lying to the court. She claimed that Richer, who is also a Republican, intentionally made changes to ballot printers that resulted in Election Day printing problems because he wanted to sabotage the 2022 general election. And, Lake repeatedly asserted, Richer was responsible for 300,000 illegal, invalid, phony or bogus early ballots being counted in Maricopa County. While Lake has continued to say publicly that her statements about Richer were true, she accepted a default judgment in March, meaning that she legally conceded to the court that the statements were false. She later said she defaulted because she didnt want to participate in a witch hunt and accused Richer of using the lawsuit to distract her from her run for Senate. Richer filed the suit in June 2023 against Lake, her husband, her campaign and a nonprofit company that raised money on her behalf after dealing with months of unfounded claims from Lake and her supporters that he orchestrated election fraud in Maricopa Countys 2022 election. Since the default judgment, the lawsuit has been in the discovery phase, but Richer and the attorneys representing him have struggled to compel Lake to hand over a long list of documents and communications pertaining to her false claims. These documents would serve to show how the false claims that Lake made about Richer were disseminated and to how many people, the people involved in concocting the lies and any possible financial incentive for doing so. The discovery process will help the court determine how much in damages Richer is owed for money spent on things like security cameras, and how much Lake should pay for damage she caused to his reputation. Lakes wealth will be considered to help determine punitive damages. Lakes continued stonewalling is indefensible, Daniel Maynard, an attorney for Richer, wrote to the court on Aug. 2. While Lake is free to file yet another meritless (appeal), she may not simply defy the Courts order because she disagrees with it. But Lakes attorney, Dennis Wilenchik, argued to the court that many of Richers document requests to both Lake and her husband, Jeff Halperin, were outside of the scope of the lawsuit. He accused Richer of chasing social media clout, saying the county recorder was only requesting some of the documents so that he could post them on the social media site X, formerly Twitter. Despite Plaintiff Richers efforts, the judicial system is not a tool for political campaigns and rivalries, and should not be used as one here, Wilenchik told the court on Aug. 2. While the judge instructed Richer to narrow his requests, he also told Lake and Halperin to hand over some of the documents. The Court directed the parties to narrow the issues with respect to document production, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner wrote in an Aug. 14 ruling. They have done the opposite. Instead of reasonably tailoring the requests, Plaintiff has expanded them. Instead of producing documents on subjects the Court has already deemed relevant, Defendant repeats unwarranted objections. Warner explained that, as he had previously ruled on July 10, Richer was entitled to documents from Lake that are relevant to the dissemination of false statements, and to Defendants degree of culpability. But he added that Richer filed far too many broad requests for documents, and issued a list of 11 categories of documents that he deemed relevant to the case. Warner ordered Lake to supply those documents to Richer by Aug. 26, and to submit a signed affidavit to the court by the same date detailing her search for the documents. After months of dragging their feet, the defendants have now been ordered by the court to produce documents and respond to discovery requests, Janine Lopez, an attorney for Richer, told the Arizona Mirror. Documents in the list included any analysis that Lake or her team made of media reports about the defamatory social media posts she made about Richer, communications with or between Kari Lake for Arizona or workers for Save Arizona Fund a dark money nonprofit that Lake formed after the 2022 election to raise unlimited sums without disclosing donors about the social media posts and documents showing an effort to fact-check those posts. Others on the list were any analysis that Lake or her team made of media coverage of events or podcasts where she made defamatory statements about Richer and any communications or solicitations for donations that Lake sent which included a link to any of Lakes defamatory comments and how much money she raised from those communications. Lake agreed to produce some categories of documents, including those related to her and her husbands wealth, which the courts take into consideration when determining punitive damages in civil cases. Richers attorneys had previously subpoenaed several other people for information they might possess regarding Lakes false statements, including Colton Duncan, Lakes campaign manager in her bid for Arizona governor; Merissa Hamilton, a conservative activist and the executive director of Save Arizona Fund; Mike Lindell, the election conspiracy theorist and CEO of MyPillow; and Michael Malice Krechmer, a podcaster and Fox News contributor. The only person on that list who has provided documents so far is Hamilton, who printed 100,000 pages of physical documents instead of providing them digitally. Hamilton told the court that the cover letter accompanying the subpoena from Richers attorneys did not specify that the documents should be provided electronically. She asked for more than $32,000 in reimbursement for the time and cost to locate them and make copies. Maynard argued that Richer should not be responsible for the cost of printing the documents since he did not specifically request them in physical form and any attorney would know that the request was for documents in their original form, in this case, digital. But Warner conceded that the subpoena was lengthy and likely to be confusing for a lay person, and ordered Richer to reimburse Hamilton $25,000 upon receipt of the documents. Hamilton delivered the physical copies to Richer on Aug. 21, as ordered by the court. Warner denied Hamiltons request for an additional $7,000 in for clerical costs because the bill she presented wasnt itemized and because 280 hours the equivalent of seven people working full-time for a week is an unreasonable amount of time to spend on producing documents. He also ordered Hamilton to provide the documents in digital form, for which Hamilton requested to again be reimbursed. Over the next few months, Lake and the other defendants in the case are expected to produce documents and give depositions, with a trial to determine how much Richer is owed in damages, expected to happen sometime in 2025, with a pre-trial conference set for February. We look forward to reviewing the information, taking depositions, and making our case on behalf of our client at trial next year, Lopez, an attorney for Richer, told the Mirror. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Kathy Hochul to meet with NY college presidents as officials try to avoid more anti-Israel campus chaos The meeting is aimed at preventing rogue protests occurring last semester that were marred by vandalism and violence and fueled antisemitic venom against Jewish students. Gov. Kathy Hochul will meet virtually with New York college presidents as officials try to prevent more campus chaos after spring anti-Israel protests descended into vandalism and violence. The super Zoom meeting is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and will include presidents from both public and private universities across the Empire State to discuss safety plans for the new academic year, The Post has learned. Classes begin this week or after Labor Day for most colleges and officials are on high alert after previous protests fueled antisemitism and had Jewish students on edge. Gov. Kathy Hochil will meet virtually with New York college presidents as officials try to prevent more campus chaos after spring anti-Israel protests descended into vandalism and violence. AFP via Getty Images Governor Hochul is committed to ensuring every single college student can learn in a safe environment, Hochul spokesman Avi Small told The Post Sunday. To that end, she is convening public and private college presidents from across New York to discuss their safety plans for the upcoming semester and reiterate that there is no place for hate, bias or antisemitism in New York, The governors office has developed an inter-agency plan to address campus safety, which includes representatives from the executive chamber, New York State Police and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Hochul directed her team to work with colleges to ensure a safe return to campuses this fall, previously deploying the director of State Operations, Kathryn Garcia, to meet with school leadership to discuss their action plans. We want to know your safety plans. What are you doing to get ready to protect your students on campus? Because every student has a right to walk and go to class freely and not be harassed, Hochul said last week, in anticipation of the meeting. Hochul has yet to release a report she ordered last fall to investigate alleged antisemitism at City University of New York campuses. The probe is headed by former top state judge Jonathan Lippman. The super Zoom meeting is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and will include presidents from both public and private universities across the Empire State. Getty Images The ongoing Gaza conflict sparked after the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 fueled protests across the country. New York colleges saw clashes on campus with both large pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian student populations. Outside pro-Hamas agitators also infiltrated campus demonstrations. Columbia Universitys embattled president Minouche Shafik recently announced her resignation after tumult that included pro-Hamas demonstrators taking over and vandalizing Hamilton Hall. Police arrested dozens of people but nearly all escaped prosecution and expulsion. At City Colleges Harlem campus, anti-Israel criminals caused at least $3 million in damages and the need for extra security funded by taxpayers. Hochul has yet to release a report she ordered last fall to investigate alleged antisemitism at City University of New York campuses. The probe is headed by former top state judge Jonathan Lippman. Getty Images At at The Cooper Union, 10 Jewish students filed a federal civil rights suit saying school officials failed to protect them and their classmates from antisemitism during a 2023 incident where they while locked in the campus library as angry pro-Palestinian protesters marched nearby. Columbia, Cornell University and Cooper Union are also among the schools being investigated by the US Department of Education over complaints of rampant campus antisemitism and Islamophobia. Meanwhile, CUNY in June entered into a settlement agreement with the DOE to resolve nine discrimination complaints alleging antisemitism, Islamophobia and other harassment incidents including many that happened before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Jewish advocacy groups the Secure Community Network and Hillel International recently announced campus safety measures to help protect Jewish students and staff at more than 50 colleges and universities across the country for the fall semester. The training will instruct Jewish students on what to do when confronted by protestors and how to report incidents to police. Multiple siblings of former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the weekend condemning their family member after he suspended his campaign and endorsed the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, defying the Kennedy familys decades-long association with the Democratic Party. Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.s sister, went scorched-earth on cable shows against her brother, claiming she was planning to separate and disassociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my fathers memory. I think if my dad were alive today, the real Robert Kennedy would have detested almost everything Donald Trump represents, Kerry told Jen Psaki, the former Joe Biden press secretary, on her MSNBC show on Sunday. Im outraged and disgusted by my brothers gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump. Kerry Kennedy: I am disgusted by my brothers obscene embrace of Donald Trump. And I completely disavow and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant efforts to desecrate my father's memory. pic.twitter.com/iW8pmRQRdn Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024 Kerry, one of RFK Sr.s 11 children, has had a long career as a human rights lawyer and serves as the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rightsthe nonprofit established shortly after his assassination on the campaign trail for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. She was also married to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, before they divorced in 2005. She was also one of five members of the northeastern political dynasty to sign on to a statement denouncing the endorsement. Other signatories included four of their siblings: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Chris Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy. I love my brother, but this is an outrage, Kerry had earlier told CNNs Kaitlan Collins on Friday night. When the CNN anchor asked the Kennedy heiress if she had spoken to her brother recently, she gave a frank no for an answer. I saw him a few weeks ago at my daughter Mariahs wedding. But Bobby knows my view and feelings very, very well, she added. How RFK Jr. Went from Camelot Heir to Kennedy Outcast Max Kennedy, another younger sibling of RFK Jr., made his own statement, publishing an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday that echoed many of Kerrys points. His is a hollow grab for power, a strategic attempt at relevance, Max wrote of his brother. It is the opposite of what my father admired: the unselfish spirit that exists in the United States of America, quoting a speech his father gave at the University of Kansas in 1968. Max insisted he still loved his brother, but hated his move to endorse the Republican nominee. It is worse than disappointment, he wrote. We are in mourning. Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally as former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., August 23, 2024. Go Nakamura/Reuters Meanwhile, the former independent candidate appeared on Fox News Sunday, where he spoke more on the possible rift opening up in his family. I understand that theyre troubled by my decisions, RFK Jr. told host Shannon Bream. But you know whatI love my family. I feel like we were raised in a milieu where we were encouraged to debate each other and debate ferociously and passionately about things, but to still love each other. They are free to take their positions on these issues. He said he had many, many members of his large family that were working in his campaign and were supporting him. I think we all need to be able to disagree with each other and still love each other. Famous friends: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Kerry Kennedy attend the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2022. Andrew Kelly/Reuters The former independent candidates campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast. RFK Jr. said he was going to be campaigning actively, promised that Trump would make a series of announcements about other Democrats who are joining his campaign. I want to make America healthy again, and so does President Trump, he added. 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. Hazard, the Perry County seat, on March 26, 2024. (Photo by Austin Anthony) The Eastern Kentucky city of Hazard is facing another legal obstacle in its effort to begin collecting a restaurant tax. Attorney General Russell Coleman is appealing a Franklin Circuit Court order that said Hazard was eligible to pursue the tax. He called it an unlawful tax for the city of about 5,200. The restaurant tax, created by the state legislature in 1980, is levied in about 50 of Kentuckys 418 cities on retail sales of food and beverages in all restaurants in the city. The tax rate is not to exceed 3% and revenue from it is to be used to promote tourism. Hazard sued the state, claiming it was being discriminated against by not qualifying to enact the tax. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd last May ruled in favor of Hazard, opening the door for it and other communities to join the list of those imposing the tax. He ordered the Governors Office of Local Government to include on the list of cities eligible to impose the restaurant tax all similarly situated cities under the population of 8,000 like Hazard. At the request of Hazard, Shepherd amended his order on Aug. 15 to say it applies only to the city of Hazard and has no broader application (to other cities) because this suit is not a class action suit. The judge also deleted his previous requirement that the Governors Office of Local Government must include a list of other cities eligible to impose the restaurant tax. Ed Jones, a Paducah attorney who is representing Hazard, said the city sought the amended order. Ours was not a class action suit. We thought it should only apply to Hazard and the judge agreed with us. We talked to some cities about joining us earlier but they decided not. Other cities interested in imposing the restaurant tax now must start their own legal challenge if they want to pursue it, he said. Morgain Patterson, director of municipal law for the Kentucky League of Cities, agreed. She said the judges order last spring purported to expand the number of cities that can assess the restaurant tax on a prospective basis, but the language of the ruling is unclear as to which cities that may include, except that it specifies the city of Hazard is eligible. Now the judge has dropped from his initial order any other city besides Hazard from seeking eligibility for the tax, she said late last week. She said the judges initial and amended orders preserved the right of cities that currently assess a restaurant tax to continue to do so. Shepherds amended order on Aug. 15 was good news for Hazard until Attorney General Coleman a few days later decided to appeal Shepherds ruling to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. We were ready to go with the tax but the attorney generals appeal has stopped it for now. We hope this is only temporary and we can proceed with the tax, said Hazard Mayor Donald Happy Mobelini. I really dont understand the reason for the appeal. Coleman said in a statement, The Attorney Generals office will continue to defend the statute and oppose attempts to impose an unlawful tax. In his appeal filed Aug. 19, Coleman said allowing Hazard to implement a restaurant tax now is a recipe for confusion given that this court (the Court of Appeals) might reverse the circuit courts judgment. He said the appellate court should stay or put on hold the circuit courts judgment while the states appeal is continuing. Neither Gov. Andy Beshear or the state Department for Local Government were parties in the lawsuit. Both were dismissed by an agreement to follow any court order entered in the case, said department spokesman Logan Fogle. In his ruling last spring, Shepherd took issue with parts of a state law KRS 91A.400 that say which cities may impose the tax. Before 2015, Kentuckys cities were divided into six classes based on their population at the time of classification. There were more than 400 classification-related laws on the books that affected issues like public safety, alcoholic beverage control and revenue options. After Jan. 1, 2015, that classification of cities was changed, making Louisville and Lexington 1st-class cities and others home rule class. The amended restaurant tax law allowed the state Department of. Local Government to maintain a list of authorized cities that as of Jan. 1, 2014, were classified as cities of the 4th- or 5th-class. The law said in addition to a 3% transient room tax placed on lodging, the legislative body in an authorized city could levy a tax on tourism. Shepherd said the restaurant tax law makes an unconstitutionally arbitrary distinction of cities eligible to enact the restaurant tax based on population and classification status on an arbitrarily chosen date, Jan. 1, 2014. The judge added that the law fails to provide a pathway to correct the misclassification of cities like Hazard, whose population has always met the statutory criteria for belonging in the 4th class (with the authority to enact the restaurant tax) rather than the 3rd class. But Shepherd declined to hold all of the law unconstitutional, especially in light of the financial reliance some cities have on the tax. He noted that many tourism projects have been funded by cities authorized to levy the restaurant tax and that many bonds are financed using proceeds generated by the tax. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball, center, spoke to lawmakers on July 30 about access to computerized records of child and elder abuse cases. Ombudsman Jonathan Grate is at left and Alexander Magera, general counsel in the auditor's office, is at right. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd) Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball has filed a lawsuit against the Beshear administration in Franklin Circuit Court in her ongoing effort to ensure the office of the ombudsman has access to information about abuse and neglect cases. This move comes after Ball and the administration have gone back and forth on access for the past two months. The lawsuit names Gov. Andy Beshear, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander and Ruth Day, the chief information officer of the Commonwealth Office of Technology. In the lawsuit, Ball pointed to efforts to resolve the dispute with the cabinet and says regrettably, the time has now come for the judiciary to step in and end the cabinets and the governors obstruction. The governor supports changing the law in the next legislative session to provide access. In the meantime, the administration has tried to work with the auditors office to provide them with the maximum access allowed under the current law, but they have refused, Crystal Staley, a spokeswoman for Beshear, said in a statement. On numerous occasions the cabinet believed a resolution had nearly been reached, only to find the auditors office had changed its position. Todays action shows the auditor would rather play politics than work with the cabinet on a solution one that meets the requirements set forth by the General Assembly. In response to that Beshear statement, auditor spokesperson Joy Pidgorodetska Markland said Beshear is the only one making this political. As outlined in our lawsuit today, our office has never changed our position, Markland said. The auditor and ombudsman want to help vulnerable Kentuckians across the commonwealth and need iTWIST access in order to do so. This is not political; this is doing the job they were sworn to do. The governors administration is obstructing access and has repeatedly changed positions throughout our negotiations. The closest we came to reaching an agreement was while he was auditioning to be Kamala Harris running mate. Balls office assumed oversight of the ombudsman on July 1, thanks to a new law enacted last year by the legislature, Senate Bill 48. The ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints about agencies in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, including protective services for children and elderly Kentuckians. The ombudsman appointed by Ball, Jonathan Grate, cant do his job without access to iTWIST, (the Workers Information System), Ball previously told lawmakers. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) believes access to the computer system iTWIST is limited by state law to cabinet social service officials under Kentucky Revised Statute 620.050, with some exceptions for certain parties within the cabinet, law enforcement and prosecutors, outside medical or social service officials and the parent or guardian of the child in question, the Lantern has reported. Balls office says the ombudsman is covered under that statute despite having moved out of CHFS and into the auditors office. There is simply no legitimate reason for the cabinet to refuse to allow the office to have full, direct and real-time access to iTWIST, the Monday lawsuit says. The Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman needs access to iTWIST to serve the people of Kentucky, especially its most vulnerable children and adults, Ball said in a statement. We have tried everything in our power to reach an agreement with the cabinet to restore iTWIST access. But unfortunately, Governor Beshear and the cabinet are more interested in placing unworkable and unlawful constraints on our access than helping the Commonwealths endangered children and adults. I am committed to pursuing every path forward to ensure the well-being of all Kentuckians. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The votes are in: The horse won. In an Election Day tradition, many voters in Kentucky will be given an I Voted sticker when they leave the polls this November. But this year, state officials solicited designs from school-aged children across the state, and residents voted this month on the winner. The winning design, announced Monday by Secretary of State Michael Adams, features a drawing of a horse overlaid on a tattered flag submitted by Carlisle County middle schooler Lillian Bonczkiewicz. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and thanks to my family for the support and believing in me, Lillian said in a news release from Adams office. Adams said Lillians drawing narrowly beat a design from a second-grade student named Cash that took the internet by storm last week. The winner of our first "I Voted" sticker contest is middle schooler Lillian Bonczkiewicz of Carlisle County. The margin, while close, is outside the recanvass threshold and Lizard Man has graciously conceded. pic.twitter.com/qfNx64fvpC Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) August 26, 2024 Cashs design featured a Spider-Man villain named Dr. Curt Connors, also known as The Lizard. In Marvels Spider-Man Comics, Connors tests out a regeneration serum based on lizard DNA in an effort to regrow his arm. The serum is stronger than he thought, and he transforms into a human-sized lizard. A version of the villain was also featured in the movies The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). When the contest was announced in April, Adams said the goal was to encourage civic participation with younger generations. People were invited to vote on their favorite design earlier this month at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. Seven of the eight finalists featured traditional American and Kentucky motifs, like eagles and horses, with The Lizard as the exception. I want to congratulate Lillian on winning a tight race, and to thank every student across Kentucky that submitted a design, Adams said in the news release. Stickers with Lillians design will be available at voting locations in Carlisle County, and other county clerks can request them too. The smallest elephants in the world, living in the northeast of the Malaysian island of Kalimantan (Borneo), may disappear from the face of the Earth. The number of these dwarf elephants reaches only 1000 individuals. ADVERTISIMENT The IUCN conservation body emphasizes that the Bornean elephant has lost much of its habitat due to deforestation. However, animal rights activists hope to save the unique species of endangered elephants, BBC reports. Palm oil production is developing rapidly in Malaysia and Indonesia. This has led to large-scale deforestation and loss of wildlife. In search of food, elephants often enter human plantations, where they are poisoned by agricultural chemicals. And there are cases where elephants are sometimes even killed for destroying land. There is also poaching, hunting for expensive ivory. ADVERTISIMENT The Bornean elephant, which is a subspecies of the Asian elephant, lives only on the island of Borneo. However, the origin of these dwarf elephants is still a matter of debate among scientists. Some scientists believe that Bornean elephants have lived on the island of Kalimantan for thousands of years, separating from mainland elephants and becoming a separate population. However, archaeological evidence does not confirm the existence of elephants on this island before the 18th century. DNA tests show that the Bornean elephant population has evolved independently for 30,000 years. So where these cute dwarfs came from on the island of Borneo and why there are no other similar ones anywhere else in the world is a big mystery to scientists. Therefore, the conservation of this unique species is extremely important. ADVERTISIMENT Benoit Goossens, a wildlife biologist at Cardiff University and director of the Danau Girang Field Center in Sabah, emphasized that there is hope to save these small elephants through conservation work. According to the scientist, the Red List of Threatened Species can help raise awareness of the plight of endangered animals and increase their support. "In Sabah, there are many organizations, including the government, that are working hard to preserve this species of elephant," said Benoit Goossens. ADVERTISIMENT Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London said the Bornean elephant is unique, from its baby face to its small size. "We hope that the listing of Borneo's elephants in the Red List will galvanize conservation efforts to protect their habitat. The authorities will now see that the eyes of the world are on this species," Lister said. Elephants in Borneo are listed in the IUCN Red List as a distinct subspecies of the Asian elephant. "Habitat loss, combined with human-wildlife conflict, continues to pose a threat to both wildlife and the communities that live alongside them. And this has been highlighted by the assessment of Borneo's critically endangered Asian elephants," said Mike Hoffmann, Head of Wildlife Recovery at ZSL. ADVERTISIMENT The latest update to the Red List of Threatened Species highlights the dire data around the world. The IUCN has estimated more than 163 thousand species of animals, of which 45 thousand are endangered. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Hundreds of Kenyan police officers leading an international policing force in Haiti have not received their full pay for two months, the latest complication in what has been a rocky start to the security mission in the gang-plagued Caribbean nation. The first Kenyan officers deployed to Haiti arrived in June, the vanguard of a multinational security support mission (MSS) that is being funded largely by the United States. There are now around 400 Kenyan police in the country, many from specialized units. In an August 25 statement acknowledging delays to payments, the MSS announced that officers could expect the missing funds to hit their bank accounts this week. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about (regarding) welfare issues of the MSS officers, since mainstream processes have been finalized, the MSS added. In a progress report released Monday, Kenyas National Police Service (NPS) said that the officers were continuing to draw their NPS salaries while waiting for the supplemental pay for their MSS duties. Police from Kenya stand at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport after landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on June 25, 2024. - Marckinson Pierre/AP/File Kenyan officers had expected to be paid a significant supplement for their Haiti deployment a grueling assignment more typical of a military than of a police force. Officers are not allowed to leave their base in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince during non-working hours. Speaking to CNN, some officers expressed frustration and concern about the missing supplemental payments. With schools reopening in Kenya this week, some say they need the money urgently to manage school fees and other expenses for their families back home. The officers feel frustrated after not having been paid for two months. And we hear that the money has already been sent to Kenya but they havent paid us, so please help us out, one officer in Haiti told CNN before the police statement was released, requesting anonymity. The MSS force is expected to ultimately grow to 2,500, with more troops expected from Jamaica, Benin, Chad, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados and Belize. The force is hoped to bolster the Haitian National Polices battles against an alliance of gangs that controls an estimated 85% of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Around 600,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes due to gang violence, and some 2 million people live in gang-ravaged areas where fear of attack is constant, Haitian interim Prime Minister Garry Conille said in an interview with CNN in early August. The MSS is financed through a UN-managed trust fund, to which the US, Canada, France and Spain have contributed millions of dollars. The United States has committed at least $380 million overall in support of the mission, largely in the form of equipment and materiel. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Mothers of children killed in a school shooting brought their ashes to court but justice was still denied Rosie Yanas Stone and son Chris Stone (left) and Rhonda Hart with her daughter Kimberly Vaughan (Right) (Courtesy Rosie Yanas Stone and Rhonda Hart) For days the families of those killed in the Santa Fe High School shooting had sat in a Texas courtroom and heard how the shooters parents had ignored the warning signs that their son needed psychiatric intervention and didnt secure the guns he then used to massacre 10 people. So, on the day of closing arguments of the civil suit, some of the moms brought in their childrens cremated remains. They sat the urns on a ledge within view of Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, the shooters parents, who were being sued by the victims families. When Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos saw the urns, they cried, according to Rhonda Hart, whose 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was shot and killed in the 2018 attack. But I was glad that we did it and we got on their nerves, because theyre just bad people, as far as Im concerned, Hart told The Independent. They created a little monster, and they felt no responsibility for that, so I feel like we got our little dig in. The pump-action shotgun and .38-caliber revolver 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis used to fatally gun down eight classmates and two teachers at his Santa Fe, Texas high school in fact belonged to his parents, who had legally purchased both weapons. However, Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos have since refused to accept any blame for their sons actions. And now, they have formally been found blameless by a jury of their peers in Galveston County Court. Rose Marie Kosmetatos, left, and her husband, Antonios Pagourtzis, parents of the accused Santa Fe High School shooter, during their civil trial in Galveston County Court (Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News) The shooter, who is severely mentally ill and sang Queens Another One Bites the Dust as he pumped multiple rounds into his victims, should never have been allowed access to the firearms, according to trucker Christopher Stone and wife Rosie Yanas Stone. Their 17-year-old son Chris was shot dead in the terrifying massacre on May 18, 2018 during art class. A deeply committed Dallas Cowboys fan, Chris was buried in a Cowboys casket emblazoned with the dates of each of the teams Super Bowl wins. I guess its just the hand we were dealt, Stone told The Independent. And it can be dealt to anybody. Although the shooter, who is now 23, confessed to the crime and was charged with capital murder, he was found incompetent to stand trial and has not yet been prosecuted. They created a little monster, and they felt no responsibility for that Rhonda Hart, whose child was killed in the 2018 school shooting In the meantime, the Stones filed a civil lawsuit against his parents: Pagourtzis, who owned the shotgun, and Kosmetatos, who owned the handgun he used to kill 10 and wound 13 others. They had not properly stored their weapons, giving their underage son the tools needed to carry out his deadly plan, the Stones suit contended, which also named Lucky Gunner, the Tennessee-based online retailer that sold the shooter his ammunition. Chris Stone was just 17 when he was fatally gunned down during art class (Courtesy Rosie Yanas Stone) The pair also ignored a multitude of red flags that their teenager was in desperate need of psychiatric intervention, the suit alleged, as they believed his increasingly disturbing behavior an affinity for Nazis, an obsession with guns, a Facebook posting of a T-shirt reading, Born to Kill was something hed eventually grow out of. The Murderer pulled the pistols and sawed-off shotguns triggers, but also upon them, pressed just as firmly, were the fingers of his parents, who utterly failed to teach their son any respect for life whatsoever and who negligently and grossly negligently failed to secure their weapons in a reasonable and prudent way and put them directly and proximately into use as authors of a community-wide tragedy and incomprehensible loss, the lawsuit states. The kids are going to have to monitor themselves, because grown-ups dont want to take responsibility. Christopher Stone, whose son was killed in the shooting, says justice has not been served Those who made it out alive are now living with the unshakable memories of the bloodshed. A police officer who nearly died that day lost as much blood as a person can lose and still survive, according to the trauma surgeon who saved his life. At least one Santa Fe High School shooting survivor has suffered lead poisoning thanks to the shotgun pellets that remain in her body, her mother told The Independent. Sarah Salazar, who was 16 when she was shot at Santa Fe HS, not only found herself with severely elevated lead levels, she also found herself partially disabled from a gunshot wound that required a total shoulder replacement, according to Sonia Lopez, Sarahs mom. And although Lopez said Sarah is unable to work due to the depression and PTSD she still has from the shooting, she was still denied Social Security benefits, putting additional financial strain on her and her family. In a scenario where the shooter couldnt have gotten his hands on a gun, the lawsuit says his hidden black rage might well have continued to simmer within, but, the lifes blood of his teacher and peers, including decedent Christopher Jake Stone, would not have been so horribly, callously and needlessly spilled. Kimberly Vaughan was proud to be a Girl Scout, her mom said (Courtesy Rhonda Hart) On Monday, a Houston jury let the shooters parents entirely off the hook , finding them not legally liable for their sons crime. Instead, jurors laid the blame entirely on the shooter himself and Lucky Gunner, where the teen bought his ammo. Its shameful that our whole country has to deal with this, Stone told The Independent. The kids are going to have to monitor themselves, because grown-ups dont want to take responsibility. The verdict came roughly four months after James and Jennifer Crumbley were sentenced to at least a decade behind bars for having gifted their son Ethan as a Christmas present the gun he used in his deadly November 2021 rampage. (Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos were never charged with a crime.) Although the jury did not find the Santa Fe shooters parents liable, the court awarded the Stones and other affected families more than $300 million in damages for pain and mental anguish. Still, Stone said he is disappointed in the jurors, who he believes had their minds made up before they walked in there. His wife said she found the jurys decision truly heartbreaking, disappointing.. In my heart, I just never felt that [there] was going to be zero accountability, Yanas Stone told The Independent. We all saw the same evidence. On top of the irresponsible gun ownership, the neglect of him, his health issues. I cant believe they just ignored it all. Christopher Stone (left) and son Chris. The loyal Dallas Cowboys fan was buried in a Cowboys casket (Courtesy Rosie Yanas Stone) Yanas Stone, who was in court with her husband throughout the proceedings, said she cared not a whit about the money part. I just wanted guilty or not guilty, she said. You know, accountability or not accountability. And so after [the parents were found not liable], I left. It was difficult being in the same room with the people thats responsible for my son not being here, Yanas Stone went on. And although the verdict did not go her way, Yanas Stone said judgment has already been passed by us, and were really the only ones that matter. Hart, Kimberly Vaughans mother, said she also wishes the jury had assigned a portion of the blame to the parents. They either didnt want to see their sons obvious issues, or they just didnt care, Hart told The Independent. So, yeah, Im disappointed but Im ultimately not surprised Texas loves its guns more than its children, she said. Hart, who signed onto the Stones lawsuit as a plaintiff, said she doesnt think the shooter will ever be tried criminally, so we should take this [civil court win] and be happy with it. At the same time, Hart, a US Army veteran, said she was particularly incensed by Pagourtzis testimony, during which he refused to accept any responsibility at all for his son having gotten his hands on his shotgun. Neither of the parents had reached out to apologize for their sons actions, or even acknowledged their presence in the courtroom, according to Hart, until they brought in the urns carrying their children. Hart said she and some of the other moms joked that it was Take Your Kids to Work Day, explaining that gallows humor was all they had left at this point. Rhonda Hart (left) says she isnt confident the teen who gunned down her daughter Kimberly Vaughan (right) will ever be prosecuted (Courtesy of Rhonda Hart) Life since the shooting has been torture, for Yanas Stone. But, she insisted, the civil case, for all of its various shortcomings in the end, has undoubtedly helped her in other ways. Every single bit of information, we have had to fight for it, and its an inhumane way to live, Yanas Stone said. Like, you wake up every single day and youre just lost, and you have more questions and more questions. Whats true, whats not true. And this trial has brought a lot of closure to that. I can speak for myself, that this has brought me a lot of peace, knowing that I have some real, concrete answers. Yanas Stone thinks stricter gun laws would absolutely help to slow down the seemingly unceasing rate of school shootings, which occur again and again in the United States but rarely anywhere else in the world. Yet, she argues, We cant fool ourselves to think that we can put something in place thats going to eliminate it. Victims and survivors, I think that were going to be the ones to make those changes, Yanas Stone said. Weve been through the trenches. Weve been dragged through the dirt. Weve done it. So were just going to continue pushing forward and see what we can do for the future. To Christopher Stone, the answer, such as it is, is simple. Raise good kids, he said. It dont take much, honestly. Love your children. Teach them love. Seems impossible to some. But, you know, it came pretty easy to me. Kim Kardashian is making an appeal to President Biden to make clemency a significant part of his legacy before he leaves office next year. The reality TV star, a criminal justice reform advocate, posted on the social platform X on Monday that last week she visited the Justice Department in Washington and met with U.S. Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer. We talked about some of the many men and women who have taken accountability for their crimes, worked hard to turn their lives around, and are ready to come home from our prisons and be with their families, Kardashian, 43, wrote. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the Kardashian meeting in a statement to ITK, saying that Oyer regularly meets with stakeholders and clemency advocates as part of the offices public engagement work. Starting this week, I will be highlighting some of their important cases on my stories, Kardashian said in a message to her more than 75 million followers. I hope President Biden takes the opportunity to make clemency a significant part of his legacy before he leaves office, she said. In 2018, then-President Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a Black woman who had received life imprisonment for a nonviolent drug offense. Kardashian had pressed Trump to pardon Johnson, meeting with him in the Oval Office. Kardashian joined Vice President Harris in April for a roundtable focused on criminal justice reform. In October 2022, Biden announced pardons for thousands of people who had been convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. Updated at 6:11 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. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov in Jakarta, Indonesia on Aug. 1, 2017. - Credit: Tatan Syuflana/AP Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire tech entrepreneur who with his brother Nikolai Durov co-founded the encrypted messaging app Telegram and serves as its CEO, is in custody after being arrested at an airport outside of Paris, law enforcement officials in France confirmed on Monday. He could be detained through Wednesday in connection with a probe into illegal activity on Telegram. After that, he would have to be released or charged. Its not currently clear whether charges have been brought against Durov himself, as a press release from French prosecutors only describes his arrest as part of an ongoing judicial investigation of an unnamed individual alleged to be complicit in a range of crimes encompassing fraudulent transactions, the sale of narcotics, and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). More from Rolling Stone Police sources indicated that the arrest stemmed from Telegrams lack of moderation and failure to comply with authorities looking for evidence of crimes on the platform. Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing government demands to censor anti-Putin commentary on his social network VK (he also sold his stake in the site) and now holds dual citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates. Russia banned Telegram, which was popular among pro-democracy organizers, in 2018, but lifted the block in 2020 in part because users were getting around it with VPNs. One Moscow politician, Maria Butina, said that the arrest of Durov by Frances anti-fraud police unit as he disembarked from a private jet from Azerbaijan means that freedom of speech in Europe is dead, and described the Russian exile as the victim of a witch hunt. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Durovs detainment is not a political matter. In part because of the privacy afforded by Telegrams end-to-end encryption for secret chats, the app has proved popular not just among those mobilizing against repressive regimes but terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and conspiracist movements including QAnon. Telegram communications among the far-right gang known as the Proud Boys came to light during the prosecution of members accused of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. White supremacists used Telegram to recruit during a recent wave of U.K. riots stoked by anti-immigration sentiment. Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended the app for not turning over data related to antisemitic groups tied to a pattern of hate crimes targeting Jewish people in the country. Researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory have argued that Telegram implicitly allows the trading of CSAM in private channels. Critics further allege that the app is tolerant of fraud, scams, and bots, as well as drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearm dealing operations illicit businesses that also led to the downfall of Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 in connection with his online black market Silk Road. Following Durovs arrest, Telegram issued a statement in its defense, claiming that the company abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. It also stated that Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, adding that Telegram has more than a billion users worldwide and calling it absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. The post linked to a March message from Durovs personal Telegram account in which he wrote that large social media apps are easy targets for criticism due to the content they host and promised that as the platform continued to grow, we shall solve any potential challenges the same way we do everything else with efficiency, innovation and respect for privacy and freedom of speech. Daphne Keller, platform regulation director at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, called Durovs arrest unsurprising in a thread on X (formerly Twitter) and noted that the same could have happened under U.S. law. CSAM, terrorist content, and drug sales are all regulated by federal criminal law, she wrote. Platforms have no immunity from that law. She compared any potential attempt to hold Durov and Telegram liable to Ulbrichts case. As early reports of Durovs arrest first broke on Saturday, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk were among those to argue that he was the victim of a crackdown on free expression. Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies, Carlson tweeted, sharing an interview he had aired with the Telegram CEO in April. Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world. Musk sounded an ominous note as well, commenting Dangerous times on a tweet that mentioned the detainment. Some hours before that, however, he attempted to make light of the situation, quote-tweeting news of Durovs arrest with the somewhat hyperbolic caption: POV: Its 2030 in Europe and youre being executed for liking a meme. As the owner of a social platform increasingly light on moderation itself, Musk might prove sympathetic if Durov is held accountable for crimes facilitated by Telegram. He already views European regulators with a certain disdain; the European Commission concluded at the end of a six-month investigation in June that X has violated the Digital Services Act, which went into effect in 2023, by allowing malicious actors to deceive other users and lacking adequate transparency on its advertising and in providing data to researchers. Musk vowed to battle any fines or requirements to modify the X platform in court. But siding with Durov could be more uncomfortable should he be charged with complicity in allowing underground distribution rings for CSAM on Telegram, or stonewalling law enforcements efforts to prosecute such crimes. For now, the free speech cause offers a convenient rallying cry it just may not in the days to come. Best of Rolling Stone SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) Early voting continues all week long ahead of next weeks state primaries. Students in western Massachusetts return to school Monday In Springfield, early voting will be offered at Springfield City Hall from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. between Sunday and Friday. Voters will also be able to head to the Ray Jordan Senior Center, but only on Tuesday, August 27, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. In Greenfield, early voting is open at the city clerks office every morning at 8:30 a.m. To find out where you can go for early voting in your city or town, visit www.WhereDoIVoteMA.com. The early voting period will continue through Friday, August 30. There is only one contested primary statewide, and thats the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The winner will go on to face Senator Elizabeth Warren in November. Here in western Massachusetts, there are three contested Democratic primaries for seats in the Legislature. There is a primary for the State Senate in the Hampden District, a primary for the State House of Representatives in the 11th Hampden District, and a primary for the State House in the Third Berkshire District. Voters who applied to vote by mail, but have not yet returned a ballot can still vote in person, if they wish. Those who have already returned their mail-in ballot will be marked off on the voting list and will not be able to vote again. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is now firmly in the public eye after being named as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. A previous high school social studies teacher, with roots in rural America, Walz is arguably among the more relatable candidates taking center stage during the 2024 election. During his speech at a Democrat rally in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, Walz contrasted his financial background with that of the Republican presidential candidate. Donald Trumps not fighting for you or your family, he told the crowd. He never sat at that kitchen table like the one I grew up at, wondering how we were going to pay the bills. Walz made headlines when it recently came back to light that the former six-term Congressman does not invest in any stocks, bonds, or other securities, according to a U.S. House of Representatives disclosure in 2019. As of August 2024, Walz still does not have any investments of this kind, per Axios. This sets him apart from many of his government counterparts says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania I'm not easily surprised by political information. But to see that he owns no stock? Jamieson told TIME. I think there are a whole lot of people out there saying, Hey, yeah, that's kind of who I am. I've got a little pension, if I'm lucky. Walzs limited financial portfolio also extends to his other assets, which contain his state and federal pensions as a former teacher and former Congressman, life insurance and college savings, the House disclosure shared. The disclosure also showed that Walzs wife, Gwen Walz, earned income from a Minnesota public school and law firm Hogan Lovells. Read More: Key Moments From Tim Walzs DNC Speech As a Governor, Walz earns about $127,000 in salary per year. If Walz and Harris win the 2024 election, he is poised to earn a salary of $235,100 as Vice President. According to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Walz was offered an increase in his salary, but in August 2023 the Compensation Council had received communication from the Governor's office that he declined the raise and his salary will remain the same. Walz and his wife also sold their home in 2019 for $304,000 after moving into the Minnesota Governors Mansion, according to the New York Times According to the Wall Street Journal, utilizing their 2023 tax returns, the couple had a total income of about $299,000, with $135,000 of that coming from pensions or annuities. But, theWall Street Journal also recently reported that Walz pulled $135,000 from his retirement savings to pay for his daughter Hopes college educationsomething only available to the father-of-two through his accumulated pensions from the National Guard, Congress, and teaching. The publication reported that those pensions could add up to an additional $800,000 to the couple's net worth, which was originally appraised as between $112,000 and $330,000 in 2019. Forbes estimates that Walzs net worth as of 2024 stands at just over $1 millionthe least wealthy of all candidates on a major party ticket this election cycle. Contact us at letters@time.com. Kremlin says there will be a response to Ukraine's Kursk attack MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that there would have to be a Russian response to Ukraine's incursion into the western Kursk region and that the idea of ceasefire talks with Kyiv was no longer relevant. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border on Aug. 6 in a surprise attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the front. "Such hostile actions cannot remain without an appropriate response," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "There will definitely be a response". Putin has said that Ukraine will receive a "worthy response," but has yet to set out in public what that response is. Peskov dismissed media reports that there had been some kind of ceasefire negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. "There were no negotiations," Peskov said. "There are a lot of reports about various contacts in the media, and not all of them are correct." "The topic of negotiations at the moment has pretty much lost its relevance." (Reporting by Gleb Stolaryov; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Kremlin says it has yet to see accusations against Telegram's Durov Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Monday it did not know what Telegram founder Pavel Durov, arrested by French police on Saturday, was accused of, and said Russia would wait for an official statement on his detention before commenting further. Durov, the Russia-born billionaire owner of the Telegram messaging app, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside the French capital shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday, three sources told Reuters. "We do not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing. "We have not yet heard any official statement on the matter, and before we say anything, we should wait for the situation to be clarified. "With what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov? Without (knowing), it would probably be wrong to make any statements," Peskov said. Durov was still in detention on Monday and was being questioned by police, French media reported. Paris has not officially confirmed his arrest. Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes to be committed using his platform due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a French police source told Reuters over the weekend. The encrypted Telegram app, based in Dubai, has close to 1 billion users and is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. Durov himself left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on the VKontakte social media platform, which he also founded and has since sold. Peskov on Monday said Russian President Vladimir Putin had not met Durov last week in Baku, where the Kremlin leader was on a state visit. (Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew Osborn) The Lynk & Co 06 budget crossover is the result of a collaboration between Volvo and Geely. It is the Swedish brand that has the greatest influence on the young company in terms of technology and design. ADVERTISIMENT Photos of the Lynk & Co 06 were shown on the CarNewsChina website. This is a restyled crossover that costs from $20,000 in the Chinese market. But soon the novelty will be sent to Europe. The length of the budget crossover is 4350 mm with a wheelbase of 2640 mm. The width is 1820 mm and the height is 1625 mm. The car is comparable in size to the Nissan Qashqai. The affordable model has a powerful hybrid powertrain, which includes a 1.5-liter gasoline engine with a capacity of 120 hp and a 218-horsepower electric motor. The maximum speed of this modification will be 178 km/h. A 19 kWh battery pack will allow the car to travel about 100 km on electric power alone. ADVERTISIMENT In addition, Lynk & Co 06 will be available in a basic gasoline version. In this case, a 1.5-liter engine with 190 hp will be under the hood. A dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, was struck during a massive Russian attack across Ukraine on Aug. 26, Timofiy Mylovanov, an advisor at the President's Office, said. Russia used at least 100 missiles and 100 drones in a wide-scale attack across the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least four people have been killed and eight were injured as of the time of this publication. Mylovanov said that while the dam "holds," the plant was damaged in the attack. "If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be flooded," Mylovanov said. At the same time, there is conflicting information about the strike on the plant and the resulting damage. Forbes Ukraine wrote, citing an energy official who remained anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the attack, that the plant had been targeted. Andrii Kovalenko, the head of an anti-disinformation department at the National Security and Defense Council, then said that there was "no threat" to the dam and that "it is impossible to destroy it with missiles." Russians are using perceived threats to the dam's structural integrity to "incite panic," Kovalenko added. The Russian morning attack struck the Kyiv hydro dam. While the dam holds, the hydro power plant appears to be damaged. If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be floodedpic.twitter.com/tGRVP62LhD Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 26, 2024 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed in July that Kyiv was allegedly preparing to destroy the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant and the Kaniv reservoir. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry denied Zakharova's accusations, calling them "absurd." "There can be no realistic purpose or motive for Ukraine to destroy its own infrastructure or endanger its own people," the ministry said at the time. Zakharova's statement came slightly over a year since Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the adjacent dam in Kherson Oblast, causing a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine. Read also: Russia attacks Ukraine with over 100 missiles, about 100 drones, Zelensky says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant has 'no critical damage' after Russian mass attack, governor says Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant was not critically damaged in the recent Russian attack on Kyiv Oblast, Governor Ruslan Kravchenko said on Aug. 26 on national television. Russia launched on Aug. 26 its largest attack on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, using 127 missiles and 109 drones. Russian forces targeted 15 oblasts, including Kyiv, damaging civilian and energy infrastructure. At least seven people were killed, and 47 suffered injuries, including four children, according to the State Emergency Service. A dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, was also struck on Aug. 26. Following the morning attack on Kyiv Oblast, the Kyiv dam was closed for means of transport until 5 p.m. local time. The Kyiv Independent reporters on the site confirmed that the power plant appeared to have some localized visible damage and didn't appear to be in a critical state. Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that hydroelectric power plants cannot be destroyed by missiles. Kovalenko added that the attack on the Kyiv dam should not be compared to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Kherson Oblast in 2023, as it was blown up from the inside. Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the adjacent dam in Kherson Oblast on June 6, 2023, causing a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine. The floods caused by the breach killed over 30 people in Ukrainian-held territories and between dozens and hundreds more in the Russian-occupied areas. At least tens of thousands of people were affected by the floods, while hundreds of thousands were left without access to clean drinking water. The breach also resulted in extensive damage to the environment and agriculture. Critical infrastructure facilities were destroyed, and the draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir upstream from the dam threatened the operation of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Read also: Looking back at the Kakhovka Dam explosion one year later (Photos) Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. As new ministers are discovering, there is a perilous tightrope to be walked once youve made the transfer from opposition to government. That is true for the Conservatives as well as Labour: the tensions between the expectations of the party and the limitations of office can all too often lead to recrimination and accusations of betrayal. Those criticisms are always more intense in the Labour Party, however. An essential and immoveable part of the partys culture is its members devotion to the principles of socialism. This is frequently performative but has nonetheless led, historically, to perennial tensions between Labour governments and the partys grassroots. These came to a head in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Labour prime ministers and chancellors were mocked and abused at their own conference as class traitors. That general distrust, that suspicion that the leadership will, once in office, inevitably betray the working class, is a fundamental part of the Partys culture. And so activists are forced to take sides, for or against the government they helped elect. This is turn leads to institutionalised fibbing. It is rarely discussed or admitted publicly, but those seeking nomination for parliament can be expected to sound far more Left-wing in a selection meeting than they will a couple of years into their tenure as MP, especially if they are ambitious and want to serve on their partys front bench. Despite the cynicism of this process, its accepted by all concerned. If it were possible to count the number of times a typical Labour MP used the word socialist in his or her life, there would be far, far more instances before election day than after it. But its not just about a sleight of hand: there is an abiding conviction in the party as a whole that those on the Left are the keepers of the flame. They may be a tad unrealistic in their views, but they serve to keep others grounded and reminded of the partys noble, socialist purpose. And this socialist martyrdom has been welcomed and amplified by some at the top of the party who should really know better. In 2010, for example, the party chose to indulge its socialist credentials by electing Ed Miliband, rather than his better-qualified brother, David, as party leader. A poll at the time revealed that a majority of Eds supporters believed he would never be prime minister, but that didnt dissuade them from supporting him anyway. Five years later, they elected Jeremy Corbyn, a reliable echo chamber for all the most popular socialist sound bites, and a man who ticked all the boxes that the Left-wing believed were important, even if they were irrelevant to most Labour voters: anti-Israel, anti-Nato, anti-Trident, pro-nationalisation, pro-high tax. In other words, a relic. But he was one that Labour members felt comfortable supporting in very large numbers. Keir Starmer likes to point out that under him the party has changed. It has not. Many, if not most, of those who supported Miliband and Corbyn are still in the party. Many of them voted for Starmer in 2020. Was this because they had experienced some sort of epiphany? No, it was because Starmer promised to support the same things that Corbyn did. Starmers leadership campaign was an explicit admission that no candidate offering a moderate policy platform could win the leadership. Fortunately, Starmer has since reneged on most, if not all, of the promises he made to members at the time. But those pledges sugges that Labour in 2024 is little different from the Labour of 2015, when Corbynism triumphed. The party membership remains far more socialist than social democratic. None of this matters much, unless the cynicism of our governing party at every level is enough to put you off politics entirely. But it might matter if members become too impatient with whatever U-turns, concessions and compromises this government will have to make as it attempts to tackle Britains seemingly insoluble problems. And it could matter a great deal more if there were to be another leadership election, and that election were held on a one member, one vote basis. All it would take would be for a handful of well-meaning but terminally naive Labour MPs to lend their nomination to a fringe candidate in order to broaden the debate, and this time, instead of having a leader of the opposition whos entirely unsuited to fill that position, we have a prime minister with the same lack of qualification. It hardly bears thinking about. Which leaves Prime Minister Starmer with a vital task to perform. He needs to revive his previous plan to bring back the electoral college for electing leaders. He needs to do it now, at this years conference, while his authority in the party is at an election-winning all time high. He needs to make sure that all those ordinary socialists in his party never again have the chance to indulge their student politics ambitions. If he doesnt make that reform, Labour can never again be considered a safe pair of hands. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. The gunman or gunmen who exchanged fire with security forces outside a Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland gate in Texas remain at large more than a week later, according to authorities. Police continue to investigate the pre-dawn shooting at the Chapman Annex Gate on Aug. 17, and no arrests have been made, San Antonio Police Department spokesperson Ximena Alvarez said in an email. Alvarez declined Monday to provide further information on the incident. At least one person opened fire from a vehicle that was passing by the gate near the bases Chapman Training Annex at about 4:30 am on Aug. 17, officials said. Security forces airmen returned fire, and the vehicle fled. Stefanie Antosh, the head of public affairs for the 502nd Air Base Wing at Lackland, referred questions on the shooting to the police department. Antosh declined to say whether bullet holes or other damage from the shooting had been found at the gate or elsewhere in the base. Antosh told the San Antonio Express-News after the shooting that it was not an active threat to the installation. The base closed the gate for a few hours, but the entire base was not locked down. It remains unknown how many shots were fired, or whether more than one person in the vehicle opened fire. The Chapman Annex is best known as a training hub for airmen who wish to become combat controllers, special reconnaissance, tactical air control party airmen. It is named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Master Sgt. John Chapman, a combat controller who died fighting al Qaida terrorists on an Afghanistan mountaintop on March 4, 2002, during Operation Anaconda. Lackland is where the Air Force conducts basic military training, as well as training activities for enlisted aircrew, security forces, special warfare airmen, and the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, which provides professional military education, aircrew instruction, and technical training to personnel from allied and partner nations in the Americas. Laid off employees can find help at Black Hawk resource fair Laid off employees can find help at Black Hawk resource fair Employees who have been recently laid off can find resources and help filing for unemployment. Black Hawk College and the Illinois Department of Employment Services (IDES) are co-hosting an Unemployment Assistance and Resource Fair at Black Hawk Colleges Quad Cities Campus, 6600 32nd Avenue in Moline on September 3-4 from 9 a.m. 3 p.m. to help anyone whos currently job hunting. The fair will be in the upper lobby of Building 1. Participants are asked to park in Lot 1, off 70th Street. Employers and community resources will be available for displaced workers and IDES reps will help with unemployment applications. Contact Angela Striegel in the Black Hawk College Career Services Center at (309) 796-5129 or email striegela@bhc.edu for more information or 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. Lake County looking for proposals on how to distribute opioid lawsuit settlement funds The Lake County Board of Commissioners is seeking proposals from local organizations to spend nearly $2 million in its first distribution of funding from the state in opioid lawsuit settlements. Indiana was devastated by the opioid epidemic, according to a release from the Indiana Attorney Generals Office. From 2012 through 2016, there were 58 counties where opioid prescription rates were greater than 100 prescriptions per 100 residents, according to the release. The state has received about $925 million from various pharmaceutical companies in settlements from lawsuits addressing the opioid crisis, according to the attorney generals release. Indiana received $508 million from the $26 billion national settlement with Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson; $59.4 million from the $3.1 billion national settlement with Walmart; $219 million in an agreement with CVS and Walgreens; $128 million from the $5.27 billion agreement with Allergan and Teva and $7.6 million from the $350 million national settlement with Publicis, according to the attorney generals release. Lake County has received $1.6 million in restricted funds and $380,000 in unrestricted funds from the states opioid settlement funds, said Lake County Board of Commissioners attorney Matt Fech. The board will likely award 20 grants, with individual awards of up to $25,000, according to a release from the Lake County Board of Commissioners. The point of it all is to positively impact those who were negatively impacted by the opioid crisis, said Commissioner Michael Repay, D-Hammond. The commissioners are seeking proposals from organizations that can deliver innovative, evidence-based approaches to addressing substance use in Lake County. The funds will go toward projects that address treatment, prevention, recovery support and harm reduction, according to the county release. Additionally, the funds can go toward projects that create or expand community-based efforts to support prevention, education and harm reduction; support initiatives that reduce substance use-related stigma; expand access to testing and treatment for infectious diseases; fund media campaigns to prevent substance misuse; educate the community on safe drug disposal; fund community anti-drug coalitions; create or expand support for children and families impacted by substance use; increase naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, distribution, training and availability throughout the community and expand, improve or develop data-tracking software applications, according to the release. The commissioners will consider alignment with those objectives, clarity and feasibility, use of evidence-based strategies, measurable outcomes, budget appropriateness and sustainability, and implementation timeline, according to the release. The project proposals have to be submitted from non-profit and for-profit community-based organizations that operate within Lake County and should be designed to be completed within 12 months, according to the release. I think what we want to do more than anything is put fuel on the fire of something thats not getting the attention of big donors but doing big work, Repay said. The proposals should be handed in to the Lake County Auditors Office in the Lake County Government Center, 2293 N. Main Street, in Crown Point by 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 2., Fech said. akukulka@post-trib.com Your landlord might be using an algorithm to raise rents. If Kamala Harris has her way, that could be banned. Kamala Harris unveiled the outline of a housing plan that includes a crackdown on abusive landlords. She supports legislation to prevent landlords from colluding with each other to raise rents. A record number of US tenants are rent burdened. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, recently unveiled an ambitious plan for US housing that includes cracking down on abusive landlords. Harris announced she'd back legislation banning landlords from using algorithms that are said to allow them to collude to raise rents in coordination with other property owners. The bill, called the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, is designed to regulate companies like the real-estate tech firm RealPage, which is facing lawsuits alleging it's using its price-setting algorithm to overcharge renters. "Some corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices, often using algorithms and price-fixing software to do it," Harris said in a recent speech on economic policy. "It's anticompetitive, and it drives up costs." Housing costs have skyrocketed in recent years, largely because of a severe housing shortage. Rents across the US have risen by about 19% since 2019, and more tenants than ever are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. American voters are acutely concerned about it; in a recent survey, 83% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans said they thought a lack of affordable housing was a significant problem. Rent-setting algorithms are facing legal scrutiny Companies like RealPage have attracted heavy scrutiny from law enforcement following investigative reports into their practices. RealPage, based in Texas, sells software called YieldStar that recommends apartment rent prices to its clients landlords and property managers based on nonpublic information it gathers in a given real-estate market. The attorneys general of Arizona and Washington, DC, have filed lawsuits against the company, alleging that it illegally colluded with its clients to set rent prices above competitive levels. And on Friday, The New York Times reported that the US Department of Justice had sued RealPage, alleging anticompetitive, collusive behavior. Kris Mayes, Arizona's attorney general, said landlords who used RealPage "are not charging what the market can bear they are controlling the market." She said she found that 70% of rental homes in Phoenix and 50% in Tucson were owned by companies that used RealPage. In DC, the attorney general accused RealPage and its clients of operating a "District-wide housing cartel" that controlled more than 30% of multifamily units in the city. "They're promising higher prices by a small but significant amount, even though occupancy is going down," Maurice Stucke, a law professor at the University of Tennessee who was formerly a DOJ antitrust-division prosecutor, told Business Insider last year. "Typically, that's the telltale sign of collusion." A spokesperson for RealPage didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Kamala Harris has centered her housing plan in her presidential campaign. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Addressing the housing shortage In addition to targeting landlords using price-setting algorithms, Harris backed a piece of legislation designed to crack down on Wall Street investors who buy homes in bulk. But these efforts would address the housing crisis only on the margins. While rent-setting algorithms might be driving up prices in some markets, much bigger supply and demand forces are to blame for the broader affordability crisis. But it's politically popular to go after Wall Street investors and landlords engaged in predatory behaviors. Republican lawmakers, including JD Vance, have supported cracking down on investors buying up homes. "There's sort of a belief that big landlords have more power than they actually do," Jenny Schuetz, an expert on urban economics and housing policy at the Brookings Institution, told Business Insider. But she argued that trying to prevent these practices isn't a bad idea. "The question is what do you do at the end of the investigation, and is there actually action that's going to help consumers?" she added. There's a risk that regulating landlords, either in how they set rents or in which homes they purchase, could backfire by reducing investment in homes and thus hurting supply. "If you actually cracked down really hard on private equity, it would be less capital going into this space, less capital going into investing in new homes," Ben Metcalf, the managing director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, told Business Insider. Redfin's chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, argued that Harris was prioritizing regulating predatory behavior by landlords as a way to appeal to first-time homebuyers and renters who feel taken advantage of and outcompeted in the market. It can be harder for the average voter to understand how supply and demand affect the cost of their housing, so Harris is targeting a clear adversary in addition to addressing the underlying issue of the housing shortage, she said. A large part of Harris' housing plan focuses on boosting the supply of housing, with a pledge to build 3 million homes in four years. "Harris is acknowledging the way that everyday people feel the housing market is broken," Fairweather told Business Insider. "She's addressing a lot of the specific concerns of first-time homebuyers who feel like they're being outcompeted by investors and their landlords are jacking up rent." Has your landlord raised your rent significantly? Are you willing to share your story? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com. Read the original article on Business Insider A total of 15 oblasts of Ukraine have been affected by an air attack by the Russian Federation on 26 August. Source: Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Telegram Quote: "Today, 15 oblasts suffered from a large-scale Russian attack. The enemy used various types of weapons: UAVs, cruise missiles and Kinzhal missiles. People were injured and killed. Our sincere condolences to their families and friends. Russian terrorists have once again targeted energy infrastructure. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of oblasts. Ukrenergo, Ukraine's national energy transmission system operator, has been forced to introduce emergency rolling blackouts to stabilise the system. The heads of the regional authorities have been tasked with setting up invincibility centres if necessary." [Invincibility centres are heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts ed.] Details: Shmyhal once again stressed that in order to stop the barbaric attacks on Ukrainian cities, ihe sites from which Russian missiles are launched must be destroyed. To do this, Ukraine needs long-range weapons and the authorisation of its partners to use them against Russian targets. The Ukrainian government is counting on the support of its allies. Background: Russia launched several dozen Shahed kamikaze drones on Ukraine on the night of 25-26 August. Russia also attacked in the morning with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Lutsk, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kharkiv and other cities. The aftermath of the Russian large-scale attack is being established. Support UP or become our patron! Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for U.S. Senate as an ostensibly moderate Republican who can work across political divides, is actually no friend to LGBTQ+ people, say activists and elected officials from his state. In a recent teletown hall, he evaded questions on his record when asked by someone who identified as gay. At that recent campaign event, the gay Marylander confronted him about his failure to sign some bills that would protect LGBTQ+ rights and people. Hogan alternately said he didnt know what bills the person was referring to or that he didnt oppose them and they became law anyway. Hogan let several pro-LGBTQ+ bills become law without his signature and opposed others. He was governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023, and he is running against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks for the Senate seat being vacated by Ben Cardin, also a Democrat, who is retiring after three terms. Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince Georges County, has the endorsement of Cardin, the Human Rights Campaign, People for the American Way, many labor unions, and other progressive groups. "I am a gay Marylander, and I'm very aware that as an ex-governor, there were many LGBTQ rights bills that passed without your signature, including laws that outlawed the LGBTQ panic defense," the caller said in a recording obtained by The Advocate. "Your decision to not sign these bills is concerning to me, because I'm aware that in the Senate, many bills pass or fail by a single vote. So as a gay Marylander, how can I count on you to protect me and my peers?" Hogan responded, "Bills passed, and they became law, and I did not oppose them, and so I don't know exactly which bills you're referring to or when they passed." In 2014, while running for governor, Hogan told The Baltimore Suns editorial board he opposed a bill to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing, and public accommodations. It was passed by the legislature and signed into law by his predecessor as governor, Democrat Martin OMalley. Hogan once said he was not a proponent of marriage equality, but he would not interfere with voters approval of it. OMalley signed a marriage equality bill into law in 2012, but opponents gathered enough signatures to refer the issue to voters in a referendum, which appeared on Maryland's ballot as Question 6. Voters did affirm the law that year. In the 1990s, he opposed President Bill Clintons effort to lift the ban on military service by gay, lesbian, and bisexual people (the plan, which hit a wall in Congress, resulted in the compromise of dont ask, dont tell). In 1992, he ran against incumbent Democrat Steny Hoyer for U.S. House and lost. A few months after the election, preparing for another run he ultimately decided against, Hogan criticized Hoyer for supporting Clintons plan to allow gays in the military, according to The Washington Post. Later, as governor, Hogan failed to sign bills passed by the legislature expanding the definition of hate crimes to include those based on gender identity; prohibiting medical professionals and facilities from discriminating against patients for their sexual orientation, gender identity, or numerous other traits; banning the gay and trans panic defenses in assault and murder cases; making gender identity a protected characteristic; and several other pro-LGBTQ+ bills. He did not veto them, but they became law without his signature. He did sign a bill in 2018 barring health care professionals from subjecting minors to conversion therapy, which is designed to turn LGBTQ+ people straight or cisgender. Major medical and mental health groups have denounced the practice as ineffective and harmful. He also had to reissue an anti-bias order because his original order did not protect state employees from discrimination based on gender identity or marital status. Hogans campaign website doesnt include a section on LGBTQ+ issues. In contrast, Alsobrookss site section on Equality notes that as Prince Georges County executive, she appointed the countys first LGBTQ+ liaison. She will continue to stand up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, including the right to marry, grow their families, and live free from discrimination, in the Senate, the section continues. She will strongly oppose Republican efforts to undermine equality and promote discrimination including the recent wave of anti-trans legislation in some Republican led legislatures. Angela believes we must speak out against anti-trans hate and violence, from bullying in our schools, to violent hate-based crimes, to discriminatory legislation. In endorsing Alsobrooks, HRC President Kelley Robinson said, Angela Alsobrooks has always been a champion for equality and freedom, from her support for the state law that legalized same-sex marriage in 2012, to becoming the first Maryland county executive to authorize flying the Progress Pride flag over county buildings, and much more. With everything at stake and democracy itself hanging in the balance, Marylanders deserve that kind of champion. Angela is a trailblazer who is poised to defeat Trump-endorsed Republican Larry Hogan and become the first Black woman from Maryland to serve in the U.S. Senate. The Human Rights Campaign is excited and proud to put our full support behind Angela Alsobrooks and help rally Marylands voters to elect her in November. In the endorsement release, Alsobrooks said, I am very honored to earn the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign. In the United States Senate, I will always stand up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans and make sure we have a future where our freedoms are always protected. Thats why this race is so critical. This race will determine who gets the 51st seat and which party will control the agenda. Other Democratic Maryland politicians are speaking out as well, both on the need to elect an LGBTQ+ ally over the unreliable Hogan and to maintain Democratic control of the Senate. "Republican Larry Hogan cant rewrite history, Anne Kaiser, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the states Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, said in a statement to The Advocate. Hogan made clear throughout his time as governor that he will not stand up for Marylands LGBTQ+ community. If elected to the Senate, Hogan could be the 51st seat Republicans need to push forward an agenda thatll rip away rights from LGBTQ+ Marylanders. Republicans need one more Senate seat to control the agenda, added Mary Washington, a state senator who is also a member of the LGBTQ+ Caucus. If Larry Hogan is elected, hed turn the Senate over to Republicans and help roll back the progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made to ensure that ALL families in Maryland have the protections we need. Our community cant afford a Republican-controlled Senate flipped by Larry Hogan. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill intervened in the possible release of a teenager suspected of plotting a terror attack following a judges ruling, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned. Joshua Robles was 16 when Las Vegas Metro police arrested him in late November. Because of his age at the time, the courts and police kept Robles name and details about his arrest confidential. Earlier this month, a judge certified Robles as an adult before a Clark County grand jury indicted him on terror-related charges, including providing material support for acts of terrorism or terrorists and attempting to commit or cause an act of terrorism. Las Vegas Justice Court Pro Temp Judge Lauren Diefenbach initially set Robles bail at $10,000, adding should Robles post bail, he would be placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring. Prosecutors argued for Diefenbach to set the amount at $1 million. Though Robles did not post bail, the sheriff sent a letter to the court citing two state laws, which allow him to deny putting an inmate on house arrest amid a potential public safety risk. Our investigation has revealed that Robles is radicalized to commit terrorism on behalf of the designated foreign terrorist organization the Islamic State, McMahill said. He has assisted the Islamic State in recruiting others and has radicalized to Islamic State. In addition, lawyers for the Metro police noted that Nevada is a presidential and senatorial battleground state and said political rallies ahead of November present targets for terrorist attacks. Metros lawyers also note the planning of a terror attack in Europe at a Taylor Swift concert involving teenagers. Robles was never released and remained in custody as of Monday. Following Robles grand jury indictment, a district court judge reset Robles bail at $1 million. On Nov. 29, 2023, police raided Robles home finding components they said could be used to make an explosive device. Specifically, police believe Robles was building explosive devices similar to the ones that killed three and injured hundreds in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Police suspect Robles may have been interested in carrying out an arson attack on Jan. 1, 2024, they said. Documents indicate Robles was searching for information and floorplans for Chaparral High School in the east valley. Items shown during a press conference involving the arrest of Joshua Robles. (LVMPD/KLAS) Police also found a passage in a notebook about The Islamic State-Las Vegas Province and using improvised attacks, documents said. During an interview with police, Robles said he did not intend to carry out an attack but was posting to troll other users, documents said. During a news conference announcing Robles arrest in November, police said they found terrorism propaganda, a handmade ISIS flag, a headband and patches in Robles home. Evidence also included ISIS and Al-Qaida propaganda, radicalization materials, and guidance for conducting a terrorist attack, investigators said. Police also found self-portraits of the suspect wearing the material and surrounded by propaganda, self-produced terrorism propaganda and anti-Semitic threats, they said. In court last week, Robles pleaded not guilty. A judge will readdress bail on Wednesday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. On August 25, 2023, near the village of Singury, Zhytomyr region, Ukrainian pilot Andrii "Juice" Pilshchykov crashed during a collision between two training aircraft. As a child, the hero wanted to connect his life with aviation; as a result, during the full-scale war, he became one of the "Ghosts of Kyiv". ADVERTISIMENT The mother of our defender, Lilia Averyanova, told OBOZ.UA little-known facts about the Jus. Her son defended the Ukrainian sky for each of us. It was not the first time that Pilshchykov entered the Kharkiv National University of the Air Force named after Ivan Kozhedub, as his eyesight failed him. But the future pilot made a correction to fix it. ADVERTISIMENT "I can't say that I would have told him not to go, to take care of himself, or to find some other mission. No. He was already on his way, and it was only necessary to support him along the way, to say the right words," Averyanova said. The warrior received his call sign, Juice, in September 2019 during a visit to a U.S. air base in California. This is how his foreign colleagues began to call him. "We had a night off, went out to bars. Of course, adults ordered something alcoholic. Andriy did not drink alcohol with me. It was a principle... And they just kept seeing him asking for juice," explained Hero's mother. ADVERTISIMENT A year before the full-scale Russian invasion, the pilot left the service. He had a conflict with his command because he demanded better working conditions for young pilots. "It was not a protest, it was a reasonable conversation. We should have listened to it, not humiliated the guys. He wasn't the only one who quit. So many episodes have accumulated over the past five years... The last straw in this problem was the attitude to the investigation of the crash of the An-26 in Chuhuiv with the airborne troops (26 soldiers were killed then - Ed.)," the Ukrainian said. According to her, the servicemen "saw how it was all being stonewalled," and the trials in the case were delayed. ADVERTISIMENT After the outbreak of full-scale war, Pilshchikov returned to military aviation. He had the largest number of combat missions in his brigade. Pilshchikov actively promoted the idea of the need to transfer F-16s to Ukraine. He repeatedly traveled to the US, visited the Pentagon, met with US senators, and recorded videos on this topic. "Juice's" mother said that her son "knew everyone" and knew how to talk. In addition, the soldier prepared his fellow pilots for training even before the training officially started. "He organized the training - language, technical... It took a whole year to get this issue politically approved," Averyanova said. ADVERTISIMENT As OBOZ.UA previously reported, during her farewell to her son, Lilia Averyanova asked the commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykola Oleshchuk, to give her the opportunity to at least sit in the cockpit of the first F-16 to arrive in Ukraine. A year after the downing of the Juice, when F-16s are already piercing the Ukrainian skies, Oleshchuk fulfilled his promise. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Photos of damage caused by the McBride Fire in 2022 included in a lawsuit filed against PNM and its vegetation management contractor. Some lawmakers say they are considering bills that could reduce liability for utilities accused of wildfires, saying such lawsuits could ultimately hurt ratepayers. (Photo from lawsuit documents) A lawsuit against PNM on behalf of hundreds of victims from a fire two years ago in Ruidoso is on its way to trial, and some state lawmakers are calling for a law preventing utilities and their customers from being on the hook for wildfires in increasingly fire-prone forests. The McBride Fire in Ruidoso began in April 2022, destroying hundreds of structures and killing an elderly couple. It burned a few miles east of the South Fork Fire, another deadly fire that began in June this year and destroyed hundreds of homes. Shortly after the fire, lawyers began suing PNM and its contractor, Trees, Inc., ultimately representing hundreds of plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges that the McBride Fires cause was a pine tree that blew over onto a power line maintained by the utility. They say PNM and its contractor were negligent in allowing the tree to be tall enough and close enough to the power line to cause a fire on a windy day. PNM denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Source New Mexico: Public reports have noted a tree spanning approximately 50 feet tall that was outside of our right-of-way had contacted a powerline due to unanticipated wind gusts of over 90 miles per hour, said spokesperson Eric Chavez. PNM proactively employs vegetation management and wildfire mitigation practices that comply with applicable authorities. As part of its response to the lawsuit, PNM says it took adequate steps to prevent its property from starting a wildfire. It released a 91-page wildfire management plan that listed the Ruidoso region as one of the states 13 Hazardous Fire Areas, which the utility identified as high-risk and so targets for increased inspection, maintenance and other fire prevention efforts. The utilitys tree management contractor has admitted in court filings that a reportedly tall and healthy pine tree outside of PNMs right-of-way was blown over by high winds, which resulted in a fire. But they also deny any wrongdoing. Jacob Payne, a New Mexico-based attorney for law firm Singleton Schreiber, held a town hall Wednesday evening for clients the firm is representing in the lawsuit. He said the lawsuit is scheduled for trial in February, and all indications are that the lawsuit wont settle in the meantime. The case is now in the middle of depositions and discovery. The lawsuit alleges that PNM and its contractors negligently allowed a hazardously large tree, especially given the ongoing drought, historical propensity for wildfires starting from vegetation falling into utility lines and the extraordinarily high level of fire danger in Ruidoso in April 2022. This is a very complex and multifaceted case, Payne said in the virtual town hall to about 10 clients who attended. We have numerous experts, from metallurgists who talk about the composition of the cables and what temperature the metal melts, to weather experts who will talk about the weather on the day in question, to vegetation management experts who will come in and say what utility companies should be doing. Clients seeking damages from PNM and its contractor include residents, AirBnB owners, the village of Ruidoso, insurance companies and others. Several law firms began advertising for clients soon after the fires were out, including Singleton Schreiber and Watts Guerra. Those law firms are also representing people harmed by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, the result of botched federal prescribed burns in northern New Mexico. If the lawsuit goes to trial, a small number of bellwether clients will be heard in court first, Payne said. Those clients were chosen at random to provide a baseline. Any decisions by a jury for or against PNM will be considered afterward in mediation for everyone else, Payne said. Electric costs are going to be so high we cant afford it Paynes client meeting occurred the same week that state lawmakers met near the South Fork Fire burn scar to discuss ongoing challenges from wildfire recovery and the potential downstream effects of future fires in New Mexico. Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview) didnt mention the McBride Fire by name, but he did say the state should find a way to limit liability for electric providers from wildfire lawsuits. We have to figure out a way to mitigate their liability, or the electric costs are going to be so high we cant afford it, he said. Anytime an electric utility is sued, that is passed right in to the ratepayer and electricity cost goes up. Woods, in an interview after with Source NM, said he was not referring to the McBride Fire case in his comments, saying he wasnt familiar with the ins and outs of the lawsuit. But he did say he intended to draft legislation for the upcoming legislative session that seeks to limit liability for utilities, including electrical co-ops, so long as they are shown to be maintaining clear rights-of-way and taking good-faith precautions to prevent wildfires. Asked whether ratepayers would end up footing the bill of any judgment from the McBride Fire, Chavez, the PNM spokesperson, said the utility is always concerned about impacts to our customers from extreme weather and natural disasters. We appreciate the thoughtful discussion from our elected officials who want to mitigate impacts to New Mexicans. We welcome an opportunity to collaborate on this effort, he said in a statement to Source NM. At the LFC meeting, Rep. Joe Sanchez (D-Alcalde) asked whether the state could impose a cap on liability specifically for rural electrical co-ops. A lawsuit against the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, where Sanchez used to work, ultimately had to pay $25 million for its role in the Las Conchas Fire in 2011, he said. Any lawsuit would put the co-ops in bankruptcy, and all thats going to do is drive up costs for poor people in our rural areas, he said. Sanchez said the amount of risk co-ops face from wildfire lawsuits limits the amount of insurance they can get. After the Las Conchas Fire, the co-op can only get $2 million to $3 million in coverage, he said. Payne, the lawyer suing PNM, said it was hard to evaluate the lawmakers proposals before theyve been drafted or debated at the Legislature. But he said, generally, that large, private utilities should have to pay for the harm they cause. For-profit companies should be the ones that, when they harm people, fix that harm, and the victim should be made whole, he said. And so when you cap or limit what a for-profit company does, or shift that burden to consumers, as opposed to the shareholders who are part of that company, thats a problem. Asked whether electrical co-ops should be shielded from wildfire liability, he declined to comment, apart from saying that co-ops are owned by and accountable to the communities they serve. Theres a difference there, he said. Sanchez said he wants to work on possible legislation in consultation with the state Office of the Superintendent of Insurance. A statewide task force is in the works to handle wildfire insurance-related issues, lawmakers said. He did not respond to a request for further comment Friday. As long as utilities follow the rules, like keeping their electrical lines clear of trees, Woods said, they should not be held responsible for weather events. If they are following those rules, they should have some kind of protection against a line going down, if its actually a God-caused deal, he said at the LFC meeting. Photos of damage caused by the McBride Fire in 2022 included in a lawsuit filed against PNM and its vegetation management contractor. Some lawmakers say they are considering bills that could reduce liability for utilities accused of wildfires, saying such lawsuits could ultimately hurt ratepayers. (Photo from lawsuit documents) A lawsuit against a New Mexico power company on behalf of hundreds of victims from a fire two years ago in Ruidoso is on its way to trial, and some state lawmakers are calling for a law preventing utilities and their customers from being on the hook for wildfires in increasingly fire-prone forests. The McBride Fire in Ruidoso began in April 2022, destroying hundreds of structures and killing an elderly couple. It burned a few miles east of the South Fork Fire, another deadly fire that began in June this year and destroyed hundreds of homes. Shortly after the fire, lawyers began suing PNM and its contractor, Trees, Inc., ultimately representing hundreds of plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges that the McBride Fires cause was a pine tree that blew over onto a power line maintained by the utility. They say PNM and its contractor were negligent in allowing the tree to be tall enough and close enough to the power line to cause a fire on a windy day. PNM denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Source New Mexico: Public reports have noted a tree spanning approximately 50 feet tall that was outside of our right-of-way had contacted a powerline due to unanticipated wind gusts of over 90 miles per hour, said spokesperson Eric Chavez. PNM proactively employs vegetation management and wildfire mitigation practices that comply with applicable authorities. As part of its response to the lawsuit, PNM says it took adequate steps to prevent its property from starting a wildfire. It released a 91-page wildfire management plan that listed the Ruidoso region as one of the states 13 Hazardous Fire Areas, which the utility identified as high-risk and so targets for increased inspection, maintenance and other fire prevention efforts. The utilitys tree management contractor has admitted in court filings that a reportedly tall and healthy pine tree outside of PNMs right-of-way was blown over by high winds, which resulted in a fire. But they also deny any wrongdoing. Jacob Payne, a New Mexico-based attorney for law firm Singleton Schreiber, held a town hall Wednesday evening for clients the firm is representing in the lawsuit. He said the lawsuit is scheduled for trial in February, and all indications are that the lawsuit wont settle in the meantime. The case is now in the middle of depositions and discovery. The lawsuit alleges that PNM and its contractors negligently allowed a hazardously large tree, especially given the ongoing drought, historical propensity for wildfires starting from vegetation falling into utility lines and the extraordinarily high level of fire danger in Ruidoso in April 2022. This is a very complex and multifaceted case, Payne said in the virtual town hall to about 10 clients who attended. We have numerous experts, from metallurgists who talk about the composition of the cables and what temperature the metal melts, to weather experts who will talk about the weather on the day in question, to vegetation management experts who will come in and say what utility companies should be doing. Clients seeking damages from PNM and its contractor include residents, AirBnB owners, the village of Ruidoso, insurance companies and others. Several law firms began advertising for clients soon after the fires were out, including Singleton Schreiber and Watts Guerra. Those law firms are also representing people harmed by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, the result of botched federal prescribed burns in northern New Mexico. If the lawsuit goes to trial, a small number of bellwether clients will be heard in court first, Payne said. Those clients were chosen at random to provide a baseline. Any decisions by a jury for or against PNM will be considered afterward in mediation for everyone else, Payne said. Electric costs are going to be so high we cant afford it Paynes client meeting occurred the same week that state lawmakers met near the South Fork Fire burn scar to discuss ongoing challenges from wildfire recovery and the potential downstream effects of future fires in New Mexico. Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview) didnt mention the McBride Fire by name, but he did say the state should find a way to limit liability for electric providers from wildfire lawsuits. We have to figure out a way to mitigate their liability, or the electric costs are going to be so high we cant afford it, he said. Anytime an electric utility is sued, that is passed right in to the ratepayer and electricity cost goes up. Woods, in an interview after with Source NM, said he was not referring to the McBride Fire case in his comments, saying he wasnt familiar with the ins and outs of the lawsuit. But he did say he intended to draft legislation for the upcoming legislative session that seeks to limit liability for utilities, including electrical co-ops, so long as they are shown to be maintaining clear rights-of-way and taking good-faith precautions to prevent wildfires. Asked whether ratepayers would end up footing the bill of any judgment from the McBride Fire, Chavez, the PNM spokesperson, said the utility is always concerned about impacts to our customers from extreme weather and natural disasters. We appreciate the thoughtful discussion from our elected officials who want to mitigate impacts to New Mexicans. We welcome an opportunity to collaborate on this effort, he said in a statement to Source NM. At the LFC meeting, Rep. Joe Sanchez (D-Alcalde) asked whether the state could impose a cap on liability specifically for rural electrical co-ops. A lawsuit against the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, where Sanchez used to work, ultimately had to pay $25 million for its role in the Las Conchas Fire in 2011, he said. Any lawsuit would put the co-ops in bankruptcy, and all thats going to do is drive up costs for poor people in our rural areas, he said. Sanchez said the amount of risk co-ops face from wildfire lawsuits limits the amount of insurance they can get. After the Las Conchas Fire, the co-op can only get $2 million to $3 million in coverage, he said. Payne, the lawyer suing PNM, said it was hard to evaluate the lawmakers proposals before theyve been drafted or debated at the Legislature. But he said, generally, that large, private utilities should have to pay for the harm they cause. For-profit companies should be the ones that, when they harm people, fix that harm, and the victim should be made whole, he said. And so when you cap or limit what a for-profit company does, or shift that burden to consumers, as opposed to the shareholders who are part of that company, thats a problem. Asked whether electrical co-ops should be shielded from wildfire liability, he declined to comment, apart from saying that co-ops are owned by and accountable to the communities they serve. Theres a difference there, he said. Sanchez said he wants to work on possible legislation in consultation with the state Office of the Superintendent of Insurance. A statewide task force is in the works to handle wildfire insurance-related issues, lawmakers said. He did not respond to a request for further comment Friday. As long as utilities follow the rules, like keeping their electrical lines clear of trees, Woods said, they should not be held responsible for weather events. If they are following those rules, they should have some kind of protection against a line going down, if its actually a God-caused deal, he said at the LFC meeting. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Congressional funding chiefs on Monday pressed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for more information on what theyre describing as a food shortage crisis facing tribes nationwide. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) led the letter requesting the information, along with the ranking members on each committee and subcommittee heads on both sides. The letter particularly singles out the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, stating tribes are in a dire situation due to a failure to ensure food has been received by Tribes in a timely manner via the program. The program serves some of the most vulnerable people in our country, and recipients have reported bare shelves, having received expired food items, and inconsistent food deliveries for over four months, the letter stated. Tribes are deeply worried about when food will arrive and when USDA will resolve this situation. It is the federal governments responsibility to uphold its trust and treaty obligations to Tribes, and this situation must be resolved immediately. Lawmakers also raised concerns about similar potential issues with the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, noting seniors rely on this supplemental food, and any delay is unacceptable. The Hill has reached out to Coles and Murrays offices for further information. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not returned a request for comment. The letter comes not long after Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers calling on the USDA to take immediate action to restore food deliveries and engage in meaningful consultation with impacted Tribes, while raising concerns about the impact of the agency cutting down on food delivery contractors. In March 2024, USDA consolidated the food delivery contractors to one sole-source contractor, Paris Brothers, Inc. in Kansas City, MO, they wrote. And since that change took effect in April, many participating Indian tribal organizations have experienced some type of delivery disruption, the senators said, citing the National Association of Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations. To fill the gaps, some Tribal families are working with local food banks to provide basic necessities. Some Tribal governments are even using emergency funds to purchase food for impacted families without assurances that they will be reimbursed, the letter stated, while also calling on the agency to promptly establish plans to prevent a situation like this from occurring in the future. Among the questions raised by appropriators in their Monday letter were inquiries about the changes to contractors by the agency, actions taken to address delays in food delivery and the impact of cutting down on contractors on other food distribution programs. The uncertainty for our Tribal communities who rely so heavily on these food deliveries cannot continue. We expect you to use all available resources and authorities to rectify this situation as quickly as possible, Cole and others said Monday. If you find you need additional resources and authorities, please notify us immediately, as we want to work with you to resolve this expeditiously. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LAWRENCE COUNTY, Mo. A man from Republic, Missouri has died in a single-vehicle crash near Miller on Monday, August 26. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 34-year-old Justin Warnow was driving a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze north on State Highway 39 four miles north of Miller at 11:15 a.m. when the crash occurred. The crash report says Warnows vehicle went off the right side of the highway and crashed into a utility pole, causing the car to overturn. Willard man arrested in shooting involving juvenile Warnow was pronounced dead by the Lawrence County coroner at the scene. The next of kin have been notified of his passing. Warnow was a former eight-year veteran of the Republic Police Department. He served his community from August 2014 to October 2022. Justin was highly regarded and respected within the department and across the community, Justins legacy of courage, compassion, and exceptional dedication continued to inspire even after his departure from law enforcement, said a Facebook post from the Republic Police Department. This is the 69th fatality for MSHP Troop D in 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. (Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron is continuing consultations on appointing a prime minister on Tuesday after ruling out a government led by leftist candidate Lucie Castets in favor of a possible centrist coalition. Most Read from Bloomberg Macron began a series of meetings on Friday to sound out party chiefs on a compromise to try to end weeks of uncertainty following his decision to call snap elections that left no group with a majority in the National Assembly. Castets, the candidate proposed by the New Popular Front alliance, would immediately be rejected by all the other groups in parliament, according to a statement distributed late Monday by Macrons office following talks with Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally and other party leaders. Discussions with centrist parties allied to Macron identified possible avenues for coalition and cooperation, according to the statement. These groups have shown openness to supporting a government led by someone from outside their ranks, it added, inviting Socialists, Greens and Communists to cooperate more widely. Olivier Faure, who leads the Socialists within the New Popular Front, said the presidents comments were unbelievable. Rejecting the vote of the French people, explaining that its not legitimate, essentially saying that hell propose a government of the defeated, he told France 2 television on Tuesday. How have we come to such a denial of democracy? Theres a democracy problem in France. The alliance, which also includes the far-left France Unbowed, claimed the right to propose a premier after it won the most seats in the election and nominated 37-year-old civil servant Castets. Le Pen told Macron on Monday her group would oppose a New Popular Front prime minister, saying she wont back anyone from the alliance because it includes Jean-Luc Melenchons France Unbowed. She dismissed comments he made this weekend suggesting hed be open to a Socialist-led government without any ministers from his party. This changes strictly nothing, she told reporters after meeting with the president in Paris. Its Jean-Luc Melenchon who would actually rule this government. The New Popular Front has 193 out of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, meaning Castets would be vulnerable to a no-confidence motion that would bring down her administration. While the choice of premier is not up to Le Pen, National Rally and its allies have 142 lawmakers, making them a key part of Macrons political math. The presidents aides had been dismissive of Castets, citing reluctance in parliament to work with Melenchons movement. The conservative Republicans have also rejected the idea. According to Macrons statement, a New Popular Front government would immediately be censured, with an absolute majority of 350 lawmakers against it. What Bloomberg Economics Says... A very fragmented parliament means the most extreme political outcomes have become very unlikely. But finding a majority will be tough the next government will be fragile and political uncertainty will remain elevated...This unstable political situation makes it even less likely France will manage to comply with EU fiscal rules and bring debt back to a sustainable path. This is making markets jittery. Maeva Cousin (Economist) and Eleonora Mavroeidi (Economist). Click here for full INSIGHT. Macrons decision to call a snap vote after his group was trounced by the far right in European Parliament elections in June triggered a major selloff in French assets and led to weeks of political uncertainty. French stocks tanked relative to the rest of the European Union and have yet to recover. The spread of 10-year French debt over equivalent German bunds, a measure of perceived additional risks, has also barely declined. Addressing entrepreneurs at the annual conference of business lobby Medef on Monday, National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet said the euro areas second-biggest economy cant afford to ignore its public-debt challenges and that it needs stability to preserve the trust of investors. We must avoid policies that dogmatically destroy reforms that have gotten results, she said. While it takes 10 years to build confidence, it takes only a few days to undo it. Speaking to BFM Business TV at the same event on Tuesday, Eric Trappier, the head of Rafale fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation SA, said the New Popular Fronts economic program involving increased taxation and public spending had us worried and said the next government must bring reassurance. Industry works on the long term, it needs stability, theres a lot to work on and a lot of investment needed, and to invest, you need a climate of confidence, he said. Better to have money from abroad coming to France than French money leaving the territory. Since the elections in July, France has been governed by a caretaker government that cannot be toppled by the National Assembly, which is divided into roughly three forces: the left, the center and the far-right. Potential candidates for prime minister floated over the weekend include Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominque Senard and Pascal Demurger, head of mutual insurance company Maif. The president, whose role it is to appoint a new prime minister, has said he wants parties that represent republican forces to build a broad majority from the political center, with Macron typically excluding the National Rally and France Unbowed from that group. --With assistance from William Horobin and Jenny Che. (Updates with chief executive comment starting in 17th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. New leaders, projects & more: What to know as Centre County students head back to school With students returning to classrooms across Centre County this week, districts and administrators are preparing for the start of the year. Classes began Thursday in the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District, but most other Centre County schools start on Tuesday. The Centre Daily Times has rounded up some news you may have missed for each public school district. Bald Eagle Area Bald Eagle Area is beginning construction on its new forestry building, which will continue throughout the 2024-2025 school year. The $3.3 million project will include a new forestry building and convert the existing building into a new weight room. The former weight room will be renovated for special education offices. Bald Eagle Area is also starting the year with a new superintendent, Chris Santini, who began in July after taking over for interim superintendent Joseph Clapper. Both a State High and Penn State graduate, he was director of pupil services at Central Cambria School District before moving to Bald Eagle Area. Bald Eagle Area School Districts new superintendent Christopher Santini outside of the high school on July 2. James Orichosky, the principal of both Wingate and Mountaintop Elementary schools, was named president of the Pennsylvania Principals Association. He will serve a two-year term, ending in 2026. Before becoming president, Orichoksy served as a board member for the association from 2012-2023. Bellefonte Area Construction started in June for the districts new $55.3 million Bellefonte Elementary building behind the high school. The 98,000-square-foot K-5 building is expected to be completed in summer 2026. No plans have been made for the current Bellefonte Elementary, which was last renovated in the 1960s and no longer meets ADA standards or student needs. In August, the board discussed possible dates for a Section 780 hearing, a public meeting to discuss the closing of school buildings, to discuss the future of Bellefonte Elementary. Bellefonte Area also welcomed a new superintendent this summer, with Roy Rakszawski starting with the district in July. Rakszawski is a former music teacher and former superintendent of Edgewater Park School District, a K-8 school system in New Jersey consisting of an elementary and middle school. He takes over from Tammie Burnaford, who retired at the end of June. Roy Rakszawski, the new Bellefonte Area School District superintendent, chats with Rep. Paul Takac at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new elementary school on June 21. Penns Valley Area Construction on Penns Valley Areas $8.5 million parking lot renovation will be completed just in time for the start of the year, superintendent Brian Griffith said. The Safe School Route 45 Corridor Improvement Project included a complete renovation of both the high school and intermediate/elementary school parking lots as well as safety improvements along state Route 45. Superintendent Brian Griffith said parents and students should plan for some delays on the first day as people learn the new layout and routine. He said the district is awaiting signage to help direct people to the new entrances and will have helpers on the first day to direct traffic. Were going to be doing some one-way traffic that will prevent parents from having to cross traffic or have students students walk through traffic, Griffith said. Philipsburg Osceola Classes began Thursday for the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District In a letter to the school community, superintendent Daniel Potutschnig shared information about the high schools school culture program, Mountie Pride. Over the course of the upcoming school year, students will engage in lessons that foster social and emotional competencies, Potutschnig wrote. Additionally, teachers will participate in ongoing professional development that will allow them to meet SEL standards while providing students with the skills necessary to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, show empathy for others, and make responsible and caring decisions. The district is also working to update its comprehensive plan to guide district improvement for the next three years. State College Area Two new elementary principals will welcome students at Ferguson Township and Mount Nittany Elementary on Tuesday. In May, the board approved Kara Treweek as the new principal of Ferguson Township and Beth Solensky as principal of Mount Nittany Elementary. The former dean of students, Treweek replaced Shelly Buckholtz, who retired in June. Before becoming dean, Treweek taught kindergarten at Grays Woods Elementary and first grade at Bellefonte Areas Pleasant Gap Elementary School. Solensky took over in June after former principal Mark Feldman retired. After graduating from Penn State, Solensky taught in South Korea, Japan, Michigan and Minnesota. Before joining the district she was principal at Ridge Wood Elementary School in Northville, Michigan. State College Area is also moving forward on two major construction projects, the new Park Forest Middle School building and the Mount Nittany Elementary renovations. An Act 34 meeting has been scheduled on Sept. 30 for the public to see the proposal for the Mount Nittany additions. Following the planned project timeline, the board will accept bids in December. Planning for the $89-$100.5 million Park Forest Middle School project is still ongoing, with plans expected to be presented to the board in the fall. One of SCASDs elementary schools will also have a unique partnership this school year. In August, the school board approved a yearlong partnership between Easterly Parkway Elementary and musician/educator Malik McPherson. McPhersons program SEL Hip-Hop visited Easterly Parkway during the 2023-2024 school year. His new partnership, Creating a Culture of Belonging Within Our Schools, will include student music workshops, teacher training and team-building activities for faculty. We thought about creating a yearlong partnership that not only had touch points with the students but also worked with educators as well and working with parents through community engagement events, McPherson said during an Aug. 5 board meeting. The radical land tax proposal that has garnered support from both the Right and the Left Residents in the wealthy area of Wimbledon would be among the hardest hit by a land tax overhaul - Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy Stock Photo Early in his career Winston Churchill attacked what he called the mother of all other forms of monopoly: land. Profits from rising land values were not only unearned, Churchill warned in a 1909 speech, but positively detrimental to the general public because high land prices become a barrier to development. Churchill would go on to lead the traditional party of rural landowners the Conservatives. But at the time he was in the ruling Liberal Party, whose chancellor, David Lloyd George, had proposed a land tax. However, instead of redistributing wealth across the country, the plan triggered a constitutional crisis and two general elections. More than a century on, calls are growing for Rachel Reeves, the incumbent Chancellor, to do what Lloyd George couldnt: abolish Britains current system of property taxation which now consists of council tax, stamp duty and business rates and replace it with a land tax. Liberal chancellor David Lloyd George proposed a land tax more than a century ago - George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images Such a levy would be a flat tax charged annually based on the value of peoples land, and potentially the buildings on top of it. The radical proposal has garnered surprisingly broad support, from John McDonnell, who once brandished a copy of Maos Little Red Book in the House of Commons, to a former adviser to Rishi Sunak. Campaign group Fairer Share is preparing to send a joint letter from a variety of cross-party MPs and peers to the Chancellor in the next month, calling on her to look at the idea. Supporters of the campaign include Labour peer Dame Margaret Hodge and Kevin Hollinrake, shadow business secretary. Writing in the Financial Times earlier this month, Charles Goodhart, former Bank of England economist, argued that Reeves has the best chance since Lloyd George of introducing a land tax. Labour has a massive majority and the House of Lords is no longer as dominated by Tory peers as it was back in 1909, he told The Telegraph. Punishing the wealthy Supporters argue that a land tax could simultaneously unlock growth and provide additional revenue for the Treasury. But overhauling the system would punish wealthy land and property owners from Wimbledon to Windsor. If it were done wrong, it could also trigger a heavy slump in property prices that would hurt anyone on the property ladder. Even many critics of a land tax agree, however, that our existing system of property taxation is a mess. Stamp duty is only charged when people buy a house and therefore discourages people from moving, making both our housing market and labour force less efficient. Council tax is based on property valuations from 1991 and contributes to major regional inequalities. In Westminster, one of the richest boroughs in the country, the annual council tax bill for a typical home this year is 973. By contrast, in Hartlepool, a heavily deprived part of the country, homeowners in the equivalent tax band are charged 2,278. Imagine if Labour were to serve two terms that 10 years of government would take us to 2034, says George Dibb, associate director of economic policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Wed be looking at using property valuations that were more than 40 years old for council tax. That just seems utterly unfeasible to me. Then there are business rates, a land-based tax for businesses that critics say is out of date and doesnt reflect the rise of online shopping nor the declining value of high street premises. Supporters of reform put forward several possible solutions. Stuart Adam, senior economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and an author of the 2011 Mirrlees Review of the tax system, argues that the best route would be taxing the value of both land and buildings for residential property, while only taxing land for business properties. Goodhart argues tax should only be imposed on the value of land, not the buildings on it, so as not to discourage construction. Fairer Share argues that some tax needs to be imposed on buildings otherwise local authorities with very low land values would receive too little council tax. It proposes scrapping council tax and stamp duty and replacing both with a flat 0.48pc rate across the whole value of a home. Winners and losers There would be winners and losers. Analysis for Fairer Share found its proposals would mean a tax cut for 77pc of the country and a rise for 23pc. Residents in the City of London, Westminster and Wimbledon would see the largest proportions of homeowners losing out. A typical homeowner in north Cornwall would save on average 700 per year while a typical homeowner in Kensington would see their tax bill go up by 1,100. A typical homeowner in North Cornwall would save on average 700 per year - John Lawrence Fairer Share has suggested capping the extra cost for wealthier households at 1,200 per year until a person moves and gets the benefit of paying no stamp duty. Land tax has widespread support on the Left. John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor and now an independent MP, is president of the Labour Land Campaign, which has campaigned for a land tax since the 1990s. The centrist Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has in recent years also called to shift the balance of taxation away from earned income towards unearned income and land and property. The UKs warped system of property taxation is in urgent need of reform the current system is a constraint on growth, says Thomas Smith, the TBIs director of economic policy. Surprisingly, there is serious support on the Right too. Tom Clougherty, formerly head of tax at the Centre for Policy Studies and now head of the Right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs, has called for land-based taxes very similar to the proposals put forward by Adam at the IFS. Tim Leunig, a former adviser to Rishi Sunak, last week published a paper with the centre-Right think tank Onward calling for stamp duty and council tax to be replaced with two separate forms of a proportional property tax. He argued for council tax and stamp duty to be scrapped and replaced with both a local and national land tax. Reeves may be being presented with the idea closer to home. Reeves has made clear that tax rises will be in pipeline in her maiden Budget in October - Kirsty O'Connor/Treasury In 2021, IPPR published a report arguing that replacing stamp duty and council tax with a combined property and land tax would address inequality and build a stronger economy. Carys Roberts, the think tanks former executive director, was hired as a special adviser in the Downing Street Policy Unit in July. The Labour manifesto did not discuss residential property taxes, bar a plan to add one percentage point to stamp duty rates for overseas buyers. It did promise to replace the business rates system, so that we can raise the same revenue but in a fairer way. The Treasury declined to comment on whether the Chancellor is considering a land tax. Reeves has made clear that tax rises will be in the pipeline at the Budget as she scrambles to fill a 22bn blackhole in the public finances. But most of the economists backing property tax reform argue that it should be revenue neutral at least initially. Using land tax as a revenue raiser would be potentially destabilising if it were introduced too fast. Goodhart calculated that raising 22bn immediately through a land value tax would trigger a 7pc drop in property prices. Andrew Dixon, founder of Fairer Share, isnt holding his breath. I dont think, at this stage, she will be brave enough to tackle the property tax issue, he says of Reeves. But he adds: The thing that may sway it is the need for growth. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. The Washington Post, having studied more than 100 videos and photographs taken since the beginning of the Kursk operation, has confirmed the capture of at least 247 Russian soldiers. Source: The Washington Post Details: This includes video footage shot by the Ukrainian soldiers themselves and footage taken by a Washington Post photographer at a prisoner of war camp where Russian conscripts are held, among others. The article also notes that young Russian soldiers appeared to surrender without resistance. The Washington Post noted that the journalists had not checked all the videos and photos of prisoners that continue to appear online and therefore assumes that the number of Russian military personnel captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces is much higher. Background: On 18 August, The New York Times reported that a Ukrainian prison in the country's north had accommodated 320 prisoners of war from Kursk Oblast, 80% of whom were conscripts. Support UP or become our patron! I left my 3 kids behind to celebrate my 40th birthday on a Swiss mountain. Being alone was just what I needed. To celebrate her 40th birthday, Wendy Altschuler was not interested in dragging around her three kids. Her husband agreed to take over parenting duties while she traveled solo to explore Switzerland. She wanted her children to see her as an adventure-seeking human and more than just a mom. I've found that women are often expected to give up parts of themselves after entering motherhood. We're pigeonholed into a world where we're supposed to be innate nurturers who only care about our children, not ourselves. For my 40th birthday, I wanted to follow my interests and passions and do something just for me. My goal was to avoid having to consider anyone else or alter my plans for the greater comfort and welfare of my family. Rather than drag my three kids on an adventure that would ultimately turn into a trip that wasn't about me at all, I left my brood at home and traveled to a Swiss mountain town. I wanted to hike with bell-clad cows, climb a via ferrata, and go kayaking. And I wanted to do it all alone. Alone, alone, alone. I fought off mom guilt I felt incredibly grateful that I was in a privileged position to make this choice in the first place. Many mothers are just trying to make ends meet, to survive, and planning an elaborate birthday romp across the Atlantic Ocean isn't an option. I was fortunate enough to have a husband who was willing and able to take on all the parenting duties at home while I traveled abroad. As we didn't have the option of childcare, going solo was the only option for a kid-free trip. Of course, I was worried that if something happened and my kids needed me, I wouldn't be there. Guilt is an overpowering force field that many moms deal with ad nauseam. Ultimately, though, I didn't want life to pass me by, leaving my bucket list unchecked. Why should I have to wait until my kids are fully grown to have an adventure of my own? Plus, who knows what my health will be like then or what other responsibilities might take precedence? For me, on this birthday, Dolly Parton's words rang true: "If there's something that you need to do, want to do, can afford to do, and got the nerve to do, I think you should do it if it's going to make you feel better about yourself." The author kayaked solo across Truebsee Lake, an alpine loch at the foot of Mount Titlis. Wendy Altschuler The travel itinerary was focused on my interests The moment I arrived in Engelberg, about an hour and 15 minutes from Zurich Airport and in the heart of Switzerland, I let out an audible sigh. As someone who grew up in Montana, with nature and wildlife all around, mountains have always felt like home to me even in a town with a different language and culture. In this small hamlet of under 5,000 residents, I could breathe again. With a long list of things I wanted to do, I began by making my way to the famous Benedictine Monastery, built in 1120, where monks still live and work. Next, I bundled up and took a cable car to the top of Mount Titlis in the world's first revolving cable car where, no matter what time of year it is, there's only one season: winter. I walked across the highest suspension bridge in Europe; wandered through the glacier cave, illuminated and still; sat on the glacier chairlift to snap photographs; and took my place in line to go sledding at Glacier Park, where a large tourist family laughed and tossed snowballs at each other, making me painfully miss my three boys at home. My brood would have loved to play in the snow; I had to fight back feelings of lonesomeness. The older I get, the more obsessed I get with longevity Using my body fully has become a priority as I age, so that was a must for this trip. The next couple of days were filled with outdoorsy escapades, where I hiked on numerous paths full of trailside cheese stands, wildflower-dotted mountainsides, and mooing cows. I felt butterflies in my stomach on the via ferrata, a thrilling climbing route that uses fixed steel cables, ladders, and other systems to safely help you navigate steep and rocky terrain. At the top, I felt powerful and itty bitty at the same time. The rain poured down in sheets the day I went kayaking across Truebsee Lake, an alpine loch at the foot of Titlis mountain, high above Engelberg, reached only by cable car or intrepid foot. With the lake completely to myself, I paddled around and surveyed the clouds as they seemed to pucker and blot out the mountains. The cacophony of sound was so great that I could only hear the shower and my own thoughts. I closed my eyes, put one hand to my heart, and smiled. I want my kids to see me as more than just a mom There was no guilt, no desire to justify my choices; I simply felt delighted for making the resolution to take care of myself, for carving out time to celebrate who I am as an individual, separate from my kids. I'm a whole being, and I was one before parenthood; I have my own curiosities and aspirations, and my identity includes much more than my cherished title of "mom." I want my children to see that I'm an adventure-seeking human who loves traveling, moving her body in nature, and learning about other cultures and destinations because that is exactly what I want for them. A physical reset helped me to return home invigorated and appreciative. Read the original article on Business Insider On August 26, the aggressor country Russia launched a combined attack on Ukraine, using kamikaze drones and various types of missiles. After the nighttime explosions from Shakedowns, in the morning, many cities were hit by cruise missiles and ballistic missiles: damage, casualties, and emergency power outages were reported. ADVERTISIMENT The Armed Forces of Ukraine provided minute-by-minute updates on the threat to each region. The regional military administrations also urged citizens not to ignore the sirens and to go to shelters. According to monitoring channels, at 04:30, 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers carrying missiles were spotted taking off from the territory of the terrorist state. In particular, six from the Olenya airfield, four from Engels and one from Diaghilevo. ADVERTISIMENT These planes were expected to arrive at the border of Saratov and Volgograd regions of the Russian Federation and the Caspian region, from where the enemy usually attacks Ukraine with missiles, around 05:50 to 07:50. "Accordingly, the launch of Kh-101/55 missiles and their possible entry into the airspace of Ukraine is likely starting at 06:30," the Monitor War Telegram channel noted. As of 05:20, air alert was declared in most of Ukraine, except for Odesa, Vinnytsia and western regions. Shahideen continued to circle the borders of a number of regions. And the occupiers launched UAVs in the frontline regions. In addition, the invaders launched three Kalibr cruise missile carriers (16 units in total) into the sea. At about 06:00, a MiG-31k, the main carrier of the Russian hypersonic air defense missile system Kh-47m2 "Kinzhal", was also present in the air in Russia. ADVERTISIMENT According to preliminary information, at about 07:05, the enemy gave the command to launch air-launched cruise missiles from the Saratov region of the Russian Federation. Already at 07:40, the air force reported missile strikes and that there were six Tu-22M3 aircraft (carriers of Kh-22 missiles) in Russian airspace. Following this, cruise missiles were spotted in many regions of Ukraine, and enemy ballistic missile launches were also reported. Around 08:00, explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia region, and later in Dnipro and Kyiv. Air defense was operating in the regions. ADVERTISIMENT At around 08:40, repeated explosions were heard in Kharkiv. In some parts of Kyiv, the powerwent out during the attack. Odesa was under attack, where smoke rose after the explosions. As a result of an enemy attack in Lutsk, an apartment building was damaged due to the fall of debris from a downed drone. Later, the enemy attacked an infrastructure facility in the city, killing one person. DTEK CEO Serhiy Kovalenko said that Russia is shelling Ukraine's energy system. Emergency blackouts were introduced in Cherkasy, Mykolaiv, Dnipro and Kyiv regions. ADVERTISIMENT As reported by OBOZ.UA, aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynsky pointed out that it is impossible to calculate how many more missiles the enemy can launch at Ukraine, since Russia does not have a clear constant number of missiles that would be produced in a certain period. The aggressor has not established mass production - it has situational work that depends on the receipt of certain components. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 22, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go in everyone I meet I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step, in the incredible journey that is America. Vice President Kamala Harris in her Democratic nomination acceptance speech We are so back. At national political conventions, theres usually no shortage of billowing American flags and people donning an array of red, white and blue garb from light-up hats to star-spangled jackets. Yes, theres always a performative and pro forma nature to the spectacle, but we missed all of that in 2020 when COVID upended the conventions. And last months Republican National Convention seemed less like a celebration of America and more like a cult gathering with the stagecraft of another Apprentice season, replete with giant, gaudy gold lights spelling TRUMP. Something very different was happening at last weeks Democratic National Convention in Chicago, though. It became apparent to me on the first night when the most well-known member of The Squad, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), gave a barnburner of speech. America, when we knock on our neighbors door, organize our communities and elect Kamala Harris to the presidency on Nov. 5, we will send a loud message that the people of this nation will not go back. We choose a new path and open the door to a new day, one that is for the people and by the people. God bless. God bless you all, she said. AOC has always been gifted at articulating a hopeful vision for America far more than her mentor, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who, like many men in their 80s, are too consumed with the past (and are somewhat cranky). But it was her ending that really stuck with me that unapologetic expression of religiosity thats usually absent in leftist circles. Now its clear that AOC has aspirations far beyond her House seat. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) might actually retire one day, nobody seems to like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and pundits have been buzzing about AOC running for president even before she took her first oath of office in 2019. But AOCs speech embodied the spirit of the DNC this year. From leaders down to grassroots, Democrats embraced a muscular, liberal patriotism, from breaking into spontaneous U-S-A! chants to filling the hall with a sea of American flags during key speeches. Contrary to the sour observations of former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan who complained in a recent Wall Street Journal column that Democrats stole traditional Republican themes (faith, patriotism) and claimed them as their own loving God and country are not exclusive to one political party. Nor should they be in a healthy nation. Republicans, however, have openly ceded this ground by centering their party around former President Donald Trump, who helped foster an attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021, and has since gone on to be convicted of 34 felonies and be held legally liable for sexual assault. More and more GOP officials are following his lead and abandoning our decades-long commitment to our allies and backing democratic efforts across the globe and instead flirting with isolationism and nuzzling up to brutal dictators like Putin, Assad and Orban. At Trumps rallies, you can still find American flags, but many are also emblazoned with Trumps image and they can be drowned out by Confederate, Gadsden, Trump 2024 and yes, F-ck Joe Biden flags (even though the president has dropped out of the race). In her speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president last week, Harris laid out her vision for America and her promise to citizens Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred Americas fundamental principles. From the rule of law. To free and fair elections. To the peaceful transfer of power, she said. The DNC prominently featured law enforcement officials like Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, veterans and Defense Department officials like Leon Panetta and Republicans like former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, which both projected strength and underscored the partys status as a united front against creeping authoritarianism. And Harris, who would be the first female president, made her case for why she would be a strong commander-in-chief. As president, I will never waver in defense of Americas security and ideals. Because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and where the United States of America belongs, she said. Since 2015, Trump has been yelling that America is a crime-ridden hellscape thanks to immigrants and whatever outgroup hes targeting at the moment. In his first campaign, he was fond of telling us, I alone can fix it. By this, his third go-around, hes all-in on nihilism essentially making the case to any undecided voters that the world is burning anyway, so why not hand him some lighter fluid, matches and TNT and see what happens? I use the term, often time in closing, We are a nation in decline. We are a failed nation. And I think its a beautiful phrase, Trump declared at a rally this month. Its not exactly the Gippers soaring vision of Morning in America. But Harris is seizing the mantle of optimism. And she isnt afraid to tell us why she loves our country, without fear of sounding cringe or mindlessly nationalistic. Fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go in everyone I meet I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step, in the incredible journey that is America, she said Thursday night. I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation. That inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. Nothing is out of reach. An America, where we care for one another, look out for one another, and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us. That none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed. And that, in unity, there is strength. This isnt a simplistic regurgitation of the idea, popular among some on the right, that I love my country, right or wrong. America is a deeply flawed nation, born in the fire of righteous, republican revolution, but forever marred by slavery. Since 1776, Black people, women, Indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people and people of color have had to fight for the rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness promised in the Declaration of Independence. But while progress can be agonizingly slow, it has reshaped our country and made for a more perfect union. Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, understands that and sees the United States as a nation worth fighting for. Thats also a repudiation of the blame America first ethos that does dominate some leftist circles. Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, understands that and sees the United States as a nation worth fighting for. That's also a repudiation of the 'blame America first' ethos that does dominate some leftist circles. Susan J. Demas The vice president ended her speech on a distinctly patriotic note. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and grandchildren, and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment, she said. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done. Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love. To fight for the ideals we cherish. And to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth. The privilege and pride of being an American. Harris delivered a pitch-perfect speech that captivated and inspired the standing-room only crowd. But I have to say that I was partial to the closing remarks earlier that evening from U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), a former Pentagon and CIA official whos now running for U.S. Senate. This November, lets elect a president who will lean forward to embrace the future, Slotkin said. Because America doesnt follow. We do not retreat. We are the damn United States of America. We lead. Those words have stuck with me ever since. Maybe thats because, like Slotkin, Im a bicentennial baby. Maybe it was because she delivered the speech with such familiar Michigan frankness. But it reminded me why I am proud to be an American and why we shouldnt be afraid to say so. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST A Rock Hill man already serving life in a South Carolina prison received another life term plus 30 years after a jury found him guilty last week of a 2019 violent crime spree that left one woman dead and two other women maimed. Marques Quantez Heath, 40, was convicted Aug. 20 after a trial at the Moss Justice Center that spanned four days, according to prosecutors and court records. The jury found Heath guilty of murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of kidnapping, one count of assault and battery and four weapons charges, records show. The jury deliberated for about four hours in the case where heath targeted three women he knew from previous relationships, prosecutors said. Marques Quantez Heath, in yellow, in York County, South Carolina court on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, with his lawyer, York County Public Defender B.J. Barrowclough. Heath is in a South Carolina prison on a life without parole sentence but faces another trial in August for murder and other charges from an alleged 2019 violent crime spree. This verdict ensures Mr. Heath will never be out on the streets of York County again, 16th Circuit Assistant Deputy Solicitor Chris Epting said. York County Judge Bill McKinnon sentenced Heath to a consecutive life term for the murder and the additional 30 years for the other charges. Heath shot the three women at two different houses in Rock Hill in the 2019 violence, said Epting, who prosecuted the case with senior solicitor Dan Porter. Shanijela Shamichael Williams, 20, died at a Leach Road home where Bethany Farrar was wounded. Another person was hit with a hammer, prosecutors said. At a second house miles away on Farlow Street, Heath shot Laquata Wilson before he fled to North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police caught him near South Boulevard. Prosecutors praised the courage of the surviving victims who testified at the trial. Heath is already serving a life sentence without parole from December 2019 for drugs and weapons in Rock Hill. Those convictions were from a 2018 arrest. Heath still remains accused of using a shank to stab his cellmate to death at a Columbia prison last year, according to arrest warrants released in March by the S.C. Department of Corrections. That case is separate and still pending in Richland County. Dr. Stephen Loyd, the new head of the state Office of Drug Control Policy, presents to lawmakers on the Joint Standing Committee on Health on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) Starting this week and for the first time since January 2023 the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy has a permanent director. Dr. Stephen Loyd, an internal medicine and addiction medicine physician from Tennessee, began work on Monday after being named as head of the agency last month. With a medical degree from East Tennessee State University, Loyd previously worked as the chief medical officer at Cedar Recovery in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. He also sat as chair of the states Opioid Abatement Council. Before that, he served as Tennessees top drug policy expert, holding the position of opioid czar for the states Department of Mental Health and Substance Use for about two years. Loyds first act as head of the state Office of Drug Control Policy was presenting to lawmakers on the Joint Standing Committee on Health, where he shared what his approach will be in his new office and what he believes could help the state be successful in confronting the ongoing drug and overdose epidemic. West Virginia has been ground zero for the opioid crisis. Its where it started. Its where its continued today, and there have been a lot of really great people in this state that have worked really hard and because of whatever reasons, we are where we are, right? Loyd said. I think it would be a great thing if West Virginia showed the rest of the country how to get out of this crisis, and I think that we can do that. An integral part to confronting the epidemic, Loyd said, is increasing attention on measurable outcomes of what works when it comes to addiction. He said the state needs to get creative in approaches and ensure that responses are coordinated and strategic, with communication between different agencies that deal with people impacted by substance use disorder. The first places he plans to look at, he said, are the states criminal justice system and Medicaid. Theres no state in the United States thats going to address the opioid crisis effectively in their state without addressing criminal justice. Its not going to happen, Loyd said. So many people are imprisoned in our jails and our penitentiaries in the United States that are secondary to substance use disorder. That number is so big, it wont matter what you do outside of there, if you dont address it there, we will be failures, I promise you that. When people who have substance use disorder are released from incarceration, they are 40 times more likely to overdose and die in the days after their release than others in their communities, Loyd said. That is one of the biggest gaps that we have right now, Loyd said. That is low hanging fruit, and we can go after that, but weve got to have quality places in our community that are treating people, that accept Medicaid, that have standards of care that I think that this legislative body can put in place to ensure this happens. Im going to bring those ideas before you, I promise you that in short order. Generally, Loyd said, the state needs to improve its use of data analytics. Loyd said he would like to see the state make a small investment up front to create a roadmap for response. Loyd previously worked as a voluntary co-chair of The Helios Alliance, an Alabama-based organization that is using innovative, transformative [and] evidence-based technologies to confront the opioid epidemic while educating the public on interventions. He is not currently listed on the organizations website as a co-chair and its unclear when he left that position. In March, Loyd told KFF Health News that he believes statistical modeling and artificial intelligence can be used to create a simulation of the opioid crisis that could predict what kinds of programs would be most effective at saving lives. That modeling, he said, can help direct local officials on how to best invest money they receive through opioid settlement funds. Its unclear where the efforts to create this modeling which was estimated to cost about $1.5 million for Alabama currently stands. According to KFF, the Helios Alliance was also in discussions with leaders in Tennessee and West Virginia to create simulations. When it comes to getting creative with responses, Loyd said leaders should be looking at policies and laws that already exist and potentially using them in a new way. He referred to mental hygiene holds, which allow for people who have the potential to harm themselves or others being held for several days to undergo psychological evaluation. If that law could be used for someone who injects drugs which, he said, presents a clear danger to the person providers could use that time to try and get the person into a system of recovery. To do that, however, there must be a dependable system in place for them to enter into. He said he plans to start immediately learning about West Virginias recovery infrastructure and what challenges exist there. Loyd told lawmakers that part of what drives his dedication to addiction work is his own experiences with the disease. The inspiration for Michael Keatons character in the Hulu limited series Dopesick (based on the 2018 book of the same name by journalist Beth Macy), Loyd has been in recovery from opioid and benzodiazepine addiction for 20 years. He wants to ensure that, through his work, people who live with substance use disorder are afforded the same opportunities he was to enter a system of recovery that works and reclaim their lives. This is my life, Loyd said. I wake up every morning with one goal, and thats to help as many people find recovery as humanly possible. Thats it. I dont care really about anything else. Different people, Loyd said, will have different paths to recovery. The important thing is ensuring that there are sound and dependable systems in place for them to utilize, no matter what their path looks like. We have to talk about evidence-based prevention strategies that are going to work. And guys, I dont care about what the politics are behind it. I dont care about what the push is behind it, Loyd said. I want to do things that work and that save peoples lives and give them an opportunity to do the things that Ive been given an opportunity to do in my life. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Lithuania to procure 8 million worth of drones from local manufacturers for itself and Ukraine The Lithuanian Defence Resources Agency is purchasing drones from five local manufacturers to the tune of 8 million. Source: European Pravda; Baltic states news website Delfi, citing a statement by Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas Details: The drones will be handed over to the Lithuanian and Ukrainian armed forces. The Defence Resources Agency has signed contracts with five Lithuanian companies: Dangolakis, RSI Europe, Ltmiltech, Granta Autonomy and Unmanned Defense Systems. The Lithuanian Armed Forces will receive over 2,300 First-Person View drones worth 3 million, and Ukraine's Armed Forces will be supplied with almost 5,000 drones of the same type valued at 5 million. The drones for both the Ukrainian and Lithuanian armed forces are being acquired with all the necessary accessories, equipment, and training for their deployment and operation. "We want to encourage the production of drones and anti-drones in Lithuania... The tests that took place in Ukraine and the signing of the contracts are a huge impetus and a significant step for our drone manufacturers. This procurement is undoubtedly tied to the core interests of national security," Kasciunas said. The first drones are scheduled to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of September this year. All drones will be delivered to both the Ukrainian and Lithuanian armed forces by the year's end. Background: Earlier, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte announced a new military aid package featuring air defence systems and other equipment to be delivered to Ukraine by early September. Additionally, in August, Lithuanian-made combat drones underwent another round of testing in frontline conditions near Kyiv. These tests were organised to allow Ukraine to select the products that best meet the needs of its military. Support UP or become our patron! BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) The Bloomington Revivalists hosted a public forum at the Bloomington library on Sunday, trying to come up with solutions for the current housing crisis. The groups mission is to improve their community through bottom-up solutions. Panelists with the Bloomington-Normal Community Land Trust and McLean County Co-Housing discussed issues like homelessness, the increasing prices of homes and apartments and community engagement. Bloomington-Normal officials react to Regional Housing Recovery Plan President of the Bloomington Revivalists, Noah Tang said having individual developers, instead of corporate developers, is one way to make homes affordable again. Other cities that are more comparable incisively to Normal would be South Bend, Indiana, and Muskegon, Michigan. Theyve done similar things, opening up their code, really advocating for this infill-type development that is more financially strong. Building a six-unit apartment is going to be much more expensive than building two buildings that are three units each. Allowing for that type of development is very important, Tang said. You can learn more about the Bloomington Revivalists 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 CIProud.com. Local fiddler played at Betty Stone Encounter Center for Have Fiddle Will Travel SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) Bill Peterson took the stage to play the fiddle at the Betty Stone Encounter Center Sunday. Bill Peterson is an expert fiddle player who has played for many years. On Aug. 25, at 2 p.m. Peterson along with his musical partners and traveling companions told stories and played tunes from travels to different fiddling meccas in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Sioux City Geek Convention brings comic-con fun to Siouxland Peterson also frequently travels to countries like Norway, Sweden, and, most recently, Ireland to learn more about the different kinds of fiddle music. At the Betty Stone Encounter Center, Peterson played what he learned overseas and explained the different variations of music from culture to culture. Peterson say he loves sharing his passion and hopefully inspire the next generation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Usually its all about keeping sidewalks clean on Charlotte Mecklenburg school campuses, but this pressure washing job is leaving something behind. Pretty much the dirtier the sidewalk, the longer its going to stay there, said Tracie Campbell, senior health manager for the Office of Violence Prevention, for Mecklenburg County. Its a message CMS and Mecklenburg County officials hope leaves a lasting effect on students at 25 middle and high schools. Its called clean graffiti and is the brainchild of Torrie Savage, founder and owner of The Savage Way. Back to School: A new year, a new era for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools I was helping my dad pressure wash his back sidewalk, added Savage. I wrote the name Savage and a flower with the pressure washer, right. I had this aha moment like this could be an ad, this could be something. That was 12 years ago, Savage is known for creative projects. Her company creates a lot of moss art which is seen in the city, and there is a good chance youve seen many different clean graffiti pieces on sidewalks around the crown. She says you just need a stencil and a dirty sidewalk. It is a niche guerilla marketing tactic, said Savage. But to date, we have been in over 80 cities and going strong. For the last two years, the Mecklenburg County Office of Violence Prevention has been using the violence-free zone messaging. Weve really had so much positive feedback from placing these stencils down, we typically place them in high-traffic areas where people are going to be walking or standing, said Campbell. In neighborhoods where we might see more violence occurring. This is the first year that clean graffiti has been allowed on CMS campuses. Union County heads back to school Monday as population booms What better way to set the tone and environment for a safe space than to have these clean graffiti placed in the front of the school building and in the back where the students are getting off of the bus entering into the schools, added Campbell. Its fun to do advertising, but when we can actually do community messaging that is our heart, we love this, says Savage. Its a way to help students start the year by seeing the good at school. Schools should be a safe place for all of our students to attend, said Campbell. The messaging is in English and Spanish to reach more students. The clean graffiti can last anywhere from 30 days to 3 months. It depends on the foot traffic in the area and the hope is to add more schools to the program next 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 Queen City News. Local man convicted in 2017 rape of child dies WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) A Champion man convicted of multiple counts of rape involving a young girl in 2017 has died. Read next: Woman arrested in police chase from Austintown to Ravenna According to the Trumbull County Prosecutors Office, Verl Gibson, 86, died Aug. 18. Gibson was serving a 25-year to life sentence at the Richland Correctional Institution. He died at Ohio State University Hospital in Columbus. Gibson pleaded no contest to seven rape charges involving a girl under the age of 13, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutors Office. Gibsons cause of death was not released. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. With one candidate suspending his presidential campaign, the outcome of the election could look differently come November. Robert F. Kennedy Junior suspended his presidential campaign this weekend and local political officials said that could change how some people vote this election. Erie County Fair crowns new fair royalty ahead of day one RFK Junior announced on Friday that he will be suspending his political campaign, removing his name from ballots in 10 battleground states and keeping it on the ballot in others. In doing so, he also endorsed Donald Trump for president and criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. RFK struggled to get over 7 percent in terms of polling numbers, and his campaign didnt seem to be going anywhere so he did the thing that is most logical for candidates that dont have a viable campaign, said Joe Morris, a Mercyhurst University senior political analyst. Morris said Kennedy could have thrown his support behind Trump for a potential role in the Trump Administration. What to know about the upcoming Trump-Harris debate Although Kennedy had started his campaign as a Democrat, he said on Friday that the party had become a party of war, censorship and corruption. After RFK Jr. dropped out of the presidential race this weekend, the Erie County Republican Party Chairman said that could have an impact on how people vote this November. You could see in the polls that he was taking from both candidates, but I think with him endorsing Trump, I think its going to kind of slide in favor of Trumps favor, and especially if he gets out of there on a campaign trail and talks in favor of Trump, said Tom Eddy, chairman of the Erie County Republican Party. Eddy said a lot of independent voters may keep Kennedys endorsement of Trump in mind at the polls. On the Democratic side, Erie Countys Democratic Party chairman said he isnt exactly sure why Kennedy went against his familys history to endorse Trump, but some of RFLs voters could support Harris in November. Now that hes out of the race, its kind of hard to say. I think its kind of a wash. I think some of his voters will go to Kamala, some will go to Trump, and some may even stay home or seek other options with independent candidates, said Sam Talarico, chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party. Talarico said in a close race like this one, every vote counts, and Kennedys endorsement of Trump could have an impact on the outcome of the election. First responders swing for the fences at annual Guns N Hoses game Voters will vote for their presidential candidate in 71 days on November 5. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. On Monday, August 26, during a massive attack on Ukraine, a Russian Shahed crossed the border into Poland. Even though Warsaw had already sent its air force into the air when enemy missiles and drones were approaching western Ukraine, the Polish military did not shoot down the Russian UAV over its territory, citing weather conditions. ADVERTISIMENT The incident, which occurred around seven in the morning Polish time, was reported by Polska Agencja Prasowa and Polskie Radio. "The Shahed flew into the territory of Poland near the Ukrainian city of Chervonohrad, Lviv region. During a briefing to journalists, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said that the object was under "full control, under full supervision." However, it could not be shot down due to bad weather conditions. This was stated, in particular, by the operational commander of the Armed Forces, General Maciej Klisz. He said that the object crossed the Polish border at 6:43 a.m. Polish time near Chervonohrad. According to him, this place has been repeatedly attacked by the Russian occupiers because of the power plant located there. Klish emphasized that the object is probably still on the territory of Poland. ADVERTISIMENT "The object disappeared after about 25 kilometers on the territory of Poland. Due to weather conditions, I was unable to give the command to shoot it down because of non-compliance with procedures, i.e. the so-called visual confirmation of the object's destruction," the Polish general said. He explained that the current rules require that before deciding to shoot down a flying object, the pilot of a combat aircraft must visually identify, i.e. see with his own eyes, the object being shot down. This provision is intended to prevent the military from accidentally shooting down, for example, a civilian aircraft with which there is no radio contact. ADVERTISIMENT General Klisch said that the object "was under full control, under full surveillance" and he was ready to shoot it down. He had been in contact with the Minister of National Defense, Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, General Wieslaw Kukula, about this. But the "full control" did not last long, and after a while, the object disappeared from the radar without being shot down. According to the general, the object was not confirmed by the allied powers, and by its characteristics, it was not a missile, but a UAV, which he calls an UAS (unidentified aerial object). The search for the drone continues in the area of the Tyszowce commune, Lublin Voivodeship, Klisz said. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! The News Big game, small world Is globalization intensifying, or ebbing? Neither? Both? The political scientist Daniel Drezner spotlights two recent pieces in the Financial Times and Vox that appear to argue opposite cases but which, Drezner argues, cohere around the notion that the global economy has somehow overcome a seemingly unending series of geopolitical shocks for now. Great power governments and violent non-state actors have done their darnedest to push the world towards economic segmentation, and it just aint happening, Drezner writes. In many ways the current period might resemble the global political economy of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, he continues. Even as countries were raising tariffs, improvements in technology and infrastructure swamped those effects, causing globalization to continue to grow. Drezner acknowledges one possible cloud on the horizon, however: Of course, that era ended with the First World War. Jokes on you When a graphic artist in 1987 depicted Augusto Pinochet as Louis XIV on the cover of a magazine, the Chilean dictator responded by confiscating every copy of the publication, and jailing the magazines editors for extremism: Such is the power humor can have over dictators, Authoritarians succeed when their extremism and exceptionalism is normalized, the scholar of fascism Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote in her newsletter, Lucid. Humor that calls this out can be deeply validating. Autocrats and their opponents all use humor in differing ways, and to differing ends. The former seek to humiliate critics and allies alike, in an effort to showcase their strength. The latter group try to use jokes and satire to undermine the seemingly all-powerful dictator. One trend she notes: As strongmen consolidate their power, they become more insecure and thus less tolerant of criticism, even if that criticism is made in jest. A friend in deed Technology and the internet are changing society in ways we are only beginning to grasp. Take, for example, friendship. Pre-internet, people were largely limited to maintaining friendships in their immediate geography, and a relative lack of mobility meant those connections were fairly stable. Those factors are gradually eroding, and the impacts are not being felt equally: Those with higher levels of education are more likely to report having close friends than those with less education. That doesnt, however, mean that friendship is in inexorable decline. The new social landscape requires a more purposeful and attentive approach to developing and sustaining social relationships, Kelsey Eyre Hammond writes in American Storylines, reviewing a new book about the changing nature of friendship. One conclusion: If [friendships] seem more difficult to manage and maintain its because they are. [Source] An 8-year-old girl from Quzhou, Zhejiang, received widespread praise on social media for her ingenuity after becoming separated from her grandfather on the way home on July 30. Instead of asking a stranger for help, the child located a nearby ATM booth, where she pressed on its red emergency button to be connected to the banks monitoring center. She reached Zhou Dongying, a staff member from the Quzhou Rural Commercial Bank, who alerted the police and kept the girl calm until officers arrived and reunited her with her grandfather. In China, many local ATMs are equipped with two types of emergency buttons: an "emergency call" button for contacting the bank and a red "emergency alarm" button for alerting the police. This incident highlights the effective use of ATM emergency buttons, a method previously used in similar situations. Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order about election integrity on Monday, Aug. 26 at the Louisiana State Capitol. Landry said he was signing an executive order that states that all Louisiana agencies while they must offer voter registration with every application for service and assistance, theyre going to make sure that they inform people that it is illegal to register to vote if you are not a citizen. He said that they will make sure agencies will not provide voter registration forms to people who are in the country illegally. Landry said, This order will be in the form of a disclaimer on the declaration form and just because you receive a voter registration form doesnt mean youre eligible to vote. Secretary of State Nancy Landry said, It is illegal for noncitizens to register and to vote in our state. She said data is used from Louisiana OMV and the Social Security Administration to verify individuals who register to vote. She said anyone who cannot be verified through that data is asked to submit more information. Attorney General Liz Murrill said, Only Louisiana citizens can register, and only Louisiana citizens can vote and we want to make sure through the executive order and through the actions of the secretary of state that that is communicated clearly when they receive the paperwork that they receive when they apply for other benefits. During the press conference, Landry said 48 noncitizens have been removed from the voter rolls since 2022 but no proof yet if any of them have voted. Were still assessing that and trying to run reports to see if they have. So well know shortly. But I dont have that information right now, she said. Supreme Court rejects GOP push to block 41K Arizona voters, but partly OKs proof of citizenship law After being asked why the implementation of the executive order is important, as the number of noncitizens is not hundreds or thousands, Secretary of State Landry emphasized that every vote matters. So registering to vote is the door to voting. And we have multiple races every election season that are decided by fewer than 48 votes, including my own first election, which was decided by 33 votes. And so every vote is critical and every ineligible voter that is registered to vote opens the door to an ineligible voter voting in that election. And it can make a difference in a race in Louisiana, she said. In reaction to the executive order, BRPROUD reached out to the Power Coalition, which President and CEO of the Power Coalition Ashley Kennedy Shelton said: They are moving a narrative that is not real, there is no evidence that non-eligible voters are trying to participate in elections in Louisiana. The Governor and Secretary of State had an opportunity to address real issues voters are facing and opted to perpetuate a lie. The integrity package should focus on accessibility, equal access, and confidence that all communities will have their voices heard. Ashley Kennedy Shelton, President/CEO of the Power Coalition The Open Primary/Presidential/Congressional Election in Louisiana is set to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Latest News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to BRProud.com. Lung cancer vaccine: How does it work? A new vaccine that primes the immune system to recognise and fight lung cancer is being tested for the first time on patients in the UK. Researchers leading the trial said the treatment could improve survival rates among people with the disease, with hopes that it could eventually become the standard of care worldwide. Christoph Schmidt / dpa A trial to determine the safety of a novel vaccine for lung cancer will take place at sites across England and Wales. The first UK patient received the jab at the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Clinical Research Facility in August. But what is the vaccine and how does it work? The vaccine, known as BNT116, utilises messenger RNA (mRNA), the same technology used in the Covid-19 vaccines. The jab works by presenting the immune system with tumour markers from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This primes the body to fight the cancer cells that are expressing these markets while leaving healthy cells untouched. How is it administered? This trial will aim to recruit people with NSCLC from early-stage before surgery or radiotherapy, to late-stage disease or recurrent cancer to have the jab alongside standard immunotherapy. The first patient to have the vaccine Janusz Racz, 67, from London had six consecutive injections given five minutes apart over a half hour period. Each jab contained different RNA strands. He will get the vaccine every week for six consecutive weeks and then every three weeks for a year and then every three weeks for a total of 54 weeks. What are the potential outcomes for lung cancer patients who have the jab? Professor Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), which is leading the trial in the UK, said he hopes the vaccine will prevent lung cancer from coming back. Immunotherapy has made big progress, according to Prof Lee, but still does not treat all lung cancer patients successfully. He describes the jab as another additional immune approach attack and said it could be an extra boost to improve survival rates for people with the disease. What could happen next? As a phase one study, this trial will determine the safety of the BNT116 vaccine. When a phase one trial is successful, researchers usually move on to phase two, which will look at effectiveness and usually includes a larger number of patients. A phase three trial is larger still and usually compares a new treatment to standard treatment. Prof Lee said he hopes this vaccine eventually becomes standard of care worldwide and save lots of lung cancer patients. Are there vaccines for other types of cancer? Yes. In April, a final phase three trial involving a personalised mRNA jab for melanoma was launched at UCLH. The vaccine is custom-built for each patient in just a few weeks and works by telling the body to hunt down cancer cells and prevent the disease from coming back. A phase two trial, involving pharma firms Moderna and MSD, found the treatment dramatically reduced the risk of the cancer returning in melanoma patients. In June, it also emerged the first patient in England had received an mRNA vaccine for bowel cancer, which is being developed by BioNTech and Genentech. The trial at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham forms part of NHS Englands Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad. What do jabs like these mean for cancer care and what could the future hold? Prof Lee described vaccines like this as the next big phase of cancer treatment. BNT116 is made by BioNTech, which signed an agreement with the Government in July 2023 to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030. NHS Englands Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is also working to fast-track patients to get vaccines at the earliest opportunity. The captain of a super yacht that underwent a shipwreck in Sicily last week killing seven people, including the owner of the yacht, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, is now under investigation. James Cutfield, 51, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to reports by local Italian news outlets. Charges have not officially been filed against him for the accident involving the 184-foot luxury yacht, named the Bayesian. However, investigators decided to look into Cutfield after interrogating him for a second time in a week, Italian news agency Ansa reports. A total of 22 people were on board the luxury yacht when the incident occurred, 15 of whom were rescued after the deadly wreck Lynchs 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, along with Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, Jonathans wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo, Christophers wife Neda Morvillo, and Recaldo Thomas, a chef on the Bayesian, were also killed. Lynchs wife, Angela Bacares, survived. It took authorities days to locate the bodies of the deceased, but they confirmed that most of the dead were found in the same part of the ship, indicating they have been trapped, according to investigators. Officers initially thought the shipwreck was caused by the ship being struck by a tornado. But Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said that investigations indicated that the accident occurred rather quickly after the yacht was impacted by a downburst, a powerful downdraft from a thunderstorm. Notably, however, a nearby sailboat was largely unharmed by the same downburst. For me, it is probable that offenses were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate," Cartosio previously said. Its unclear if other crew members are under investigation for the incident. Lynch had been celebrating his acquittal from fraud charges with family and those who defended him during the trial when tragedy struck. Contact us at letters@time.com. THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. Tiffany Henyard has enjoyed near-unanimous support on the Thornton Township board, but thats now changing following a series of WGN Investigates reports on her spending. Today, I am breaking my silence and speaking out against Thornton Township Supervisor and Mayor of Dolton Tiffany Henyard, who I believe has engaged in unethical and predatory behavior throughout her tenure, trustee Carmen Carlisle wrote in an emailed statement to WGN. For the past two years, Henyard has manipulated employees, vendors, and residents, using her position to increase her influence, all while projecting a false image of success, funded by the hardworking taxpayers of Thornton Township and the Village of Dolton. Carlisle acknowledged at a recent board meeting that she rarely raised questions about lavish trips and other spending charged to township taxpayers. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Mayor, money and mistrust in Dolton I trusted the administration, Carlisle said on Aug. 15 while looking at Supervisor Henyard. Carlisle and other township trustees then voted to put new restrictions on spending for special events and access to credit cards. I am standing up, not just for myself, but for others who have been affected by what I see as Henyards abusive leadership, Carlisles statement said. I believe there are many more victims who have been retaliated against, fired or lied to by Henyard, but have yet to speak out. Henyard ridiculed Carlisles new-found challenge at an August meeting. I think Im going to get you a new nickname: Lyin Carlisle, Henyard said in front of a packed audience. Im tired of everyone in here. There always has to be a show. SEE ALSO: Fine dining, first class travel costing taxpayers in south suburbs In January, WGN Investigates reported Henyard and her entourage racked-up $67,000 in charges for trips to Portland, Austin, Atlanta and New York City in a five-month span. Carlisle was on at least one of the trips along with other trustees and township officials. In Atlanta, the group stayed at the Four Seasons and brought home a bill of $9,347. However, WGN Investigates has learned the township spending is just the tip of the iceberg. Watch WGN News at 9 p.m. Tuesday to see credit card charges billed to Dolton taxpayers that Henyards administration fought to keep hidden. Catch-up on our reporting 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 WGN-TV. A Macon man was arrested after he allegedly crashed into a deputys patrol car on purpose Saturday, according to the Bibb County Sheriffs Office. The crash happened at the end of a chase, which started when deputies tried to pull over Matthew Eric Harper, 42, for driving with high-beam headlights on Broadway around 9 p.m., a news release said. Officers also discovered the Ford Expedition had a canceled registration and no insurance. The driver refused to stop, leading deputies on a brief pursuit, a media release from the sheriffs office said. While fleeing the driver intentionally rammed a deputys patrol vehicle head on. The sheriffs office Special Response Team arrested Harper Sunday morning after he fled on foot, according to Sgt. Christopher Williams. One deputy sustained a non-life threatening injury and was taken to a medical facility, the sheriffs office said. Harper also had minor injuries and was taken to a medical facility for treatment. After Harper was released from the facility, he was taken to the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center. He was denied bond and faces charges of felony fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers, felony aggravated assault on a peace officer, not having valid insurance, and multiple other traffic and equipment violations, according to the sheriffs office. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, speaks in the ballroom of Muenster's historic town hall at the award ceremony for the International Peace of Westphalia Prize. Macron called the 24 August attack on a synagogue in the south of France "a terrorist act" that a unified France would fight. Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa More than a month and a half after parliamentary elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron was continuing consultations on Monday to find a stable government. He received the president of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, on Monday morning. Macron was also scheduled to speak with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella from the far-right National Rally party, their ally Eric Ciotti, as well as the president of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, throughout the day. It is expected that the president will inform the public of the results of the consultations on Monday evening. However, according to French media, there is likely to be another round of discussions on Tuesday before Macron possibly appoints a new prime minister by Wednesday evening, coinciding with the start of the Paralympic Games in Paris. In the snap parliamentary election, the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) landed in first place, ahead of Macron's centrist forces and the far-right led by Le Pen. No faction received an absolute majority in the National Assembly, making the formation of a government difficult. Macron's centrist faction envisions a sort of grand coalition, but the conservatives have already ruled out participating in such a government. Moreover, Macron's team does not want to collaborate with the leftist party France Unbowed and its firebrand founder Jean-Luc Melenchon, which is part of the left-wing alliance. The alliance, in turn, intends to present a united front. On the morning of August 26, the terrorist state of Russia attacked an infrastructure facility in Lutsk, Volyn region. One person was killed as a result of the aggressor's actions. ADVERTISIMENT In addition, a high-rise building in the regional center was damaged during a drone attack, Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said on his official Telegram channel. "Air defense is working. Please stay in the shelters," he wrote at 08:23, and then added that he was already at the scene under the damaged building. The head of the Volyn Regional Military Administration, Yuriy Pogulyayko, clarified that this was the result of the fall of the wreckage of a Russian drone shot down by air defense forces. At about 08:55, another explosion was heard in the city. Later, the mayor reported that an infrastructure facility had been damaged. "There is currently information about one dead person," said Polishchuk. UPDATE (Aug. 27, 2024, 3:04 p.m. ET): Donald Trump on Tuesday, after calling for ABC News to be "shut out" of the presidential debates a day earlier, said he will participate in the network's Sept. 10 debate with Kamala Harris. UPDATE (Aug. 26, 2024, 1:24 p.m. ET): This story has been updated to include Donald Trump's comments to NBC News on Monday, saying he believes ABC News should be shut out of the debates and stating he would be OK with keeping microphones unmuted. Keeping up with Donald Trumps positions on presidential debates has been like watching a misshaped ball bounce in unpredictable directions. As the post-convention general election phase begins in earnest, the problem actually seems to be getting worse. The Washington Post reported: Former president Donald Trump suggested Sunday evening that he might skip a Sept. 10 ABC News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris (D), after agreeing to participate as the GOP presidential nominee earlier this month. Before delving into the Republicans latest online tantrum, lets review how we arrived at this point. In mid-May, Trump agreed to a debate schedule, including a Sept. 10 event on ABC News, when the former president assumed his opponent would be President Joe Biden. After the Democratic incumbent passed the torch to Harris, Trump abandoned his anywhere, anyplace chest-thumping and took a variety of clumsy steps to back out of his earlier debate commitments. In fact, three weeks ago, Team Trump made what appeared to be a categorical announcement: The GOP candidate would not participate in ABC News Sept. 10 presidential debate. And then things got even weirder. Seven days after backing out of the debate, Trump reversed course and re-accepted the invitation. Around the same time, the former president held a Mar-a-Lago press conference in which he also announced the dates of other upcoming debates that hadnt been negotiated and therefore might not occur. Two days later, on Aug. 11, Trump published a middle-of-the-night missive to his social media platform, further alerting the public to a made-up debate schedule, pointing to events that no one had agreed to. By and large, much of the political world simply ignored the Republicans odd rambling and remained focused on the Sept. 10 debate that both campaigns had agreed to that is, until Trump published a new rant that put the future of that event in doubt. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? the former president wrote. Trump went on to suggest Donna Brazile (whose name he misspelled) might secretly give Harris the debate questions; the vice president's best friend leads ABC News (I dont know whom Trump was referring to); before concluding, in reference to George Stephanopoulos, Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Obviously, making predictions based on Trumps juvenile rhetoric is folly, but his screeds did not sound like a candidate eager to appear on a debate stage. Complicating matters further, Politico reported that the Harris and Trump campaigns are still negotiating the terms of the scheduled Sept. 10 debate, and one of the sticking points is whether the candidates microphones will be muted when it isnt their turn to speak. According to the reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, members of Team Harris want the microphones to stay on in keeping with modern practices because they assume Trump wont be able to keep his composure for 90 minutes. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast, Brian Fallon, a senior adviser on the Harris campaign, told Politico. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trumps team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they dont think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button. Where does this leave us? With a great deal of uncertainty about whether Trump and Harris will ever share a stage. In case this weren't already complicated, Trump denounced ABC News again on Monday morning, telling NBC News that ABC should be "shut out" of the debates. The Republican, as part of the same comments, said he doesn't care about the microphones issue contradicting his own team adding that his focus is on the networks. Id much rather do it on NBC," he said. "Id much rather do it on CBS. Frankly, I think CBS is very unfair, but the best of the group, and certainly I'd do it on Fox. Id even do it on CNN; I thought CNN treated us very fairly the last time. Trump went on to say that Harris "doesnt want to debate, which was amusing given the circumstances. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Its not exactly a secret that many officials who worked closely with Donald Trump during his presidency are not on board with his bid for a second term. Not only is Trumps former vice president withholding his support for the Republicans 2024 candidacy, and not only is Trumps former White House chief of staff condemning his former boss, but Trumps former White House press secretary and communications director appeared at the Democratic convention last week and explained how and why the GOP nominee lies. Retired Army Gen. H.R. McMaster offers another special case. McMaster became the White House national security adviser in early 2017, shortly after Michael Flynn was fired after two weeks on the job. In the 14 months that followed, the retired general got a first-hand look at how Trump operated, and as he writes in his new book, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, McMaster wasnt altogether impressed. Based on the latest reporting, the blistering book describes Oval Office meetings as exercises in competitive sycophancy, complains of Trumps outlandish national security ideas, and alerts readers to the fact that the GOP nominee was a president who was addicted to adulation and easily manipulated by flattery. But perhaps most notable of all is the books description of McMasters concerns about Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin. The Wall Street Journal published a striking excerpt, which began From the beginning of my time as President Donald Trumps national security adviser, in February 2017, I found that discussions of Vladimir Putin and Russia were difficult to have with the president. [O]ur relationship reached a breaking point after I attended the Munich Security Conference in February 2018. ... [W]hat made news was the response I gave to a question from a member of the Russian Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, who suggested cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the area of cybersecurity. After joking that I doubted there would be any Russian cyber experts available because they were all engaged in subverting our democracies, I described evidence cited in the Mueller investigations indictments of Russians for election interference in 2016 as incontrovertible. Trump, McMaster quickly learned, was furious that his national security adviser had told the truth in public, and his aversion to McMaster soon intensified in part because the retired general was the principal voice telling him that Putin was using him. The excerpt went on to note a nerve-agent attack in England that targeted former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which was easily traced to Moscow. Just a few days after the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, a story appeared in the New York Post with the headline Putin Heaps Praise on Trump, Pans U.S. Politics. When I walked into the Oval Office that evening, on another matter, the president had a copy of the article and was writing a note to the Russian leader across the page with a fat black Sharpie. He asked me to get the clipping to Putin. McMaster ignored the directive, and confided to his wife, After over a year in this job, I cannot understand Putins hold on Trump. This was not an unfamiliar sentiment. As I noted in my new book, retired Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who served for more than two years as Trumps director of national intelligence, has said he believes Putins government had something on Trump, which left him compromised. The former president was so acquiescent toward Russia that, in 2018, former CIA director John Brennan also suggested that the Kremlin may have something on Trump personally. Brennan added, The Russians, I think, have had long experience with Mr. Trump, and may have things that they could expose. Its not just Democrats, in other words, whove expressed concern about Trump, Putin and Russia. Members of the Republican's own team felt the same way. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his presidential campaign on Friday and threw his support behind Donald Trumps Republican candidacy. Time will tell whether this affects the 2024 race in any meaningful way, though at face value, the significance of the developments seemed limited: The independent conspiracy theorist has never held public office. His notoriety comes from being a lawyer with a famous name. Around the same time as Kennedys news, however, some lawyers who lack famous names made a notable endorsement of their own. Fox News reported: A dozen Republican White House lawyers who served in the administrations of then-Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump. We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country, the lawyers wrote in a letter that the signatories shared first with Fox News Digital. The signatories added that we urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris. The same joint statement went on to remind the public, Donald Trumps own Vice President and multiple members of his Administration and White House Staff at the most senior levels as well as former Republican nominees for President and Vice President have already declined to endorse his reelection. Trumps attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after losing the election proved beyond any reasonable doubt his willingness to place his personal interests above the law and values of our constitutional democracy, the Reagan and Bush administration lawyers added. We cannot go along with other former Republican officials who have condemned Trump with these devastating judgments but are still not willing to vote for Harris. We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified. They concluded that the GOP nominee is guilty of grave wrongdoing to our Constitution, democracy, and rule of law, and who remains unfit, dangerous, and detached from reality. The endorsement from Friday came on the heels of Harris also picking up a variety of other Republican endorsements and Democrats including some GOP speakers at the partys convention in Chicago. Indeed, Fridays bookend endorsements were emblematic of the broader message the Harris campaign wants to convey to the electorate: Trump picked up support from a fringe anti-vaccine activist, while the Democratic nominee received support from lawyers from Republican administrations who want to put country over party. For Democrats pushing the normal vs. weird message, the developments were entirely on-message. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Ken Paxton, Texas scandal-plagued attorney general, launched a couple of election-related investigations last week, both of which are controversial for different reasons. Last week, for example, Paxtons office executed search warrants in the San Antonio area, alleging irregularities. Soon after, as a New York Times report explained, a Latino civil rights group asked the U.S. Justice Department to open an investigation into Paxtons efforts, which targeted Latino voting activists and political operatives: The League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the nations oldest Latino civil rights organizations, said that many of those targeted were Democratic leaders and election volunteers, and that some were older residents. Gabriel Rosales, the director of the groups Texas chapter, said that officers conducting the raids took cellphones, computers and documents. He called the raids alarming and said they were an effort to suppress Latino voters. The DOJ hasnt yet said whether itll pursue the matter, and the Texas attorney general has claimed his recent raids had merit, but the simmering controversy is likely to continue. Paxtons other election investigation in the Lone Star State is considerably weirder. The Texas Tribune reported: Officials in a North Texas county debunked claims made by a Fox News host that migrants were registering to vote outside a state drivers license facility west of Fort Worth an unsubstantiated claim that appeared to spark an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxtons office. Evidently, Fox Business Maria Bartiromo whose conspiratorial perspective is difficult to defend published an item to her social media account on Aug. 18, claiming that a friend of hers has a friend whose wife allegedly saw people registering immigrants to vote outside DMV offices. Despite the obviously flimsy nature of the claim, the host peddled the story on the air soon after, telling viewers that the immigrants in question were illegals. The Texas Department of Public Safety wasted little time in debunking Bartiromos claims, explaining that the claims were simply false and kind of racist. The chairman of the Parker County GOP agreed that the reports were erroneous. Nevertheless, three days after Bartiromo published her third-hand rumor online, Paxtons office announced it was opening an investigation into reports that organizations operating in Texas may be unlawfully registering noncitizens to vote. Last week, a statewide poll from the University of Houston Hobby School and Texas Southern Universitys Jordan-Leland School found Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in Texas, but only by about 5 points. The same poll found Republican Sen. Ted Cruz with a two-point lead over Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in the states U.S. Senate race. It was against this backdrop that Gabriel Rosales, Texas state director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, told the Texas Tribune that he viewed Paxtons investigation as an act of intimidation to keep Hispanic voters from voting. Republicans see the writing on the wall, he said. They know that if the Hispanic vote comes out, they lose. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Donald Trumps history of unfortunate money-making schemes took an unsettling turn in March when the former president started peddling the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, offering customers an opportunity to get the only Bible endorsed by President Trump for just $59.99. It was a predictably successful venture: The cash-strapped Republican made $300,000 on the branded Bibles. We know this because of a personal financial disclosure form Team Trump released nearly two weeks ago. A CNN report on the documents added: Trump has consistently bucked the tradition among major party candidates of releasing his tax returns to the public, and the financial disclosure reports offer an incomplete picture because filers are only required to disclose income and assets in broad ranges. All of which left us with a lingering question that regularly goes unasked: Shouldnt Trump release his latest tax returns right about now? To be sure, Im mindful of the larger circumstances. In May 2014 more than a full decade ago Trump promised to release his tax returns if he became a candidate. If I decide to run for office, Ill produce my tax returns, absolutely, the Republican said the year before his ride down the golden escalator. And I would love to do that. In the years that followed, Trump ignored the modern bipartisan tradition, kept his tax returns hidden, broke a variety of promises related to transparency, and fought tooth and nail to keep the information from the public. Eventually, in the wake of leaks and court rulings, Americans learned details that were unflattering to the former president. But now that hes running yet again, and Trump is the GOPs nominee for the third consecutive cycle, shouldnt the question return to the fore? Shouldnt the Republican candidate at least face some questions about whether hell release his tax returns even if we know the answer will be no? Often, questions we know the answers to go unasked, but that doesnt mean the questions themselves lack merit. To simply not ask Trump about his recent tax returns putting him to peddle yet another round of dubious claims about IRS audits that are probably imaginary is to go easy on a major-party nominee for no reason. Indeed, the partisan asymmetry matters. On July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he would end his re-election campaign, and one week later, Vice President Kamala Harris released her tax returns from the previous 20 years. Trump could approach transparency the same way. On several occasions, he has said he would. So where are the documents? Why would he insist on secrecy for his tax returns from the last few years? This article was originally published on MSNBC.com During the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris and her supporters didnt literally describe Donald Trump as an incumbent, but it was a message the party was eager to convey. Over the weekend, the former president added text to the subtext. Kamala and her handlers are trying to make it sound like I am the Incumbent President, the Republican whined early Saturday at 1:15 a.m. Hes not the only one whos noticed. TPMs Josh Marshall summarized: Harris has made Trump into the incumbent with her as the challenger running on a campaign message to turn the page. Whether this is fair or true or any number of other descriptors you might come up with, theres little doubt that it is an accurate description of the campaign we are in the midst of. The Trump campaign itself is telling us this, almost in spite of itself. I can appreciate why this is exasperating to the GOP nominee and his supporters. Harris is, after all, the incumbent vice president. Shes also the candidate offering American voters a breath of fresh air and a new way forward, as the Democrat put it in her convention speech. To a very real degree, Trump brought this on himself, pretending he won the 2020 race, asking that he be described as Mr. President, meeting with foreign officials as a matter of course, banishing the word former from his title, etc. But theres more to it than that. As Off Messages Brian Beutler noted in his latest column: Only in policy-absolutist terms, where a political era is defined by a presidents official acts alone, have we not been stuck in the Trump era the whole way through. Nine years running. And what majorities of Americans keep saying, election after election, is that Trumps America is an unpleasant place to spend time. Quite right. Trump grudgingly exited the White House in January 2021, but in the months and years that followed, he not only retook control of his political party, he also remained a dominant voice in the American discourse, en route to cruising through GOP primaries and caucuses, becoming his partys presidential nominee for the third consecutive cycle. As a legal and official matter, the Republican has no more authority than you or I. He cant sign or veto bills. He cant issue executive orders. He is a private citizen with no powers to speak of. But its hardly unreasonable to conclude that were mired in the Trump era of American politics. And that, in turn, is precisely why Harris has an advantage as the candidate of change. The message to the electorate couldnt be more straightforward: 2024 offers a unique opportunity to bring the Trump era to an end and usher in something new. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com TEXAS TWP., WAYNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) A man is facing charges after state police say he was caught recording and touching a child at Walmart. According to Pennsylvania State Police, on August 24, around 8:30 p.m., troopers were called to Walmart on Old Willow Avenue to investigate the indecent behavior of a man working for a third party at Walmart. Troopers investigate restaurant burglary in Luzerne County Surveillance cameras showed the suspect, later identified as David Hipsman, 30, of White Mills, approach a 9-year-old girl near the DVD section. PSP stated the footage showed Mills placing his phone under her dress, and then touching the victims leg, startling her. Hipsman was arrested and taken to the Wayne County Correctional Facility on a $50,000 monetary bail. He has been charged with indecent assault, corruption of minors, and other related offenses. State police noted that the investigation is 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 PAhomepage.com. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) Jackson police believe collaboration is key when it comes to ending violence in the capital city. Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said the cycle of violence has to stop after a man allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend on Saturday, August 24 in the 5400 block of Marblehead Drive. Jamarion Merritt, 22, has been charged with kidnapping, felony fleeing and possession of a stolen vehicle. According to Wade, Merritt forced his girlfriend into the stolen vehicle and took her to Yazoo City. Questions remain after 12-year-old injured in Jackson shooting Thanks to the collaborative efforts between Jackson police and Yazoo City police, Wade said Merritt was taken into custody. The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment. People cant stand rejection. They dont know how to deal with conflict. So, I dont know what the issue was with him and his girlfriend or what had led him to that. But to get violent, to abuse her, to kidnap her in a stolen, carjacked vehicle that didnt belong to you, which compelled the situation, then, of course, also to not to respond, to adhere to law enforcement attempting to apprehend you. It had to, you know, go all the way up to Yazoo City, said Wade. The police chief said many of the issues begin at home, which created a traumatic pattern for families. He said Jackson police will continue to do what they can to help the community. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (WJTV) Philadelphia police arrested a man who allegedly shot 15 vehicles and injured three people last week. Officers responded to Alford Avenue in the early morning hours of August 24. Investigators said the officers briefly searched the property of a home and recovered a handgun inside the bedroom of an individual. Man arrested after wife shot, killed in Terry Police said Jonathan Salvador, 31, of Mexico, was arrested and is believed to be in the country illegally. During another search of the area, police said they recovered an AR-style rifle in the home where Salvadors room was, as well as ammunition. They also recovered nearly 30 shell casings. Jonathan Salvador (Courtesy: Philadelphia Police Dept.) Philadelphia police arrested a man who allegedly shot 15 vehicles and injured three people last week. (Courtesy: Philadelphia Police Dept.) Further investigation led to Salvador purchasing ammunition at a local gun dealer and also attempting to purchase an AR 15 days prior to these shootings. He was denied purchase of that weapon and only purchased the ammunition. We believe that he had intentions on carrying out more attacks throughout the city if he were allowed to purchase, police said. Salvador faces dozens of felony charges, including attempted murder. He is being held at the Winston-Choctaw Jail. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. On the morning of Monday, August 26, the aggressor country Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine's energy sector. The Office of the President of Ukraine emphasized that the occupiers will not be left unanswered for their aggressive actions. ADVERTISIMENT This was stated by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak. He noted that no attack on the Ukrainian energy system will remain unanswered. Ukraine is ready to defend its energy sector and respond to any attempts to destroy it. "The desire to destroy our energy sector will cost the Russians dearly, as well as their infrastructure," emphasized Yermak. It is worth noting that after the nighttime explosions due to the Shaheda, in the morning they were heard in many cities due to cruise missiles and ballistics: damage and emergency power outages were reported. On the morning of August 26, the Russian terrorist army attacked Poltava region. The aggressor targeted an industrial facility. Five people were injured in the shelling. ADVERTISIMENT As reported by OBOZ.UA, aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynsky pointed out that it is impossible to calculate how many more missiles the enemy can launch at Ukraine, since Russia does not have a clear constant number of missiles that would be produced in a certain period. The aggressor has not established mass production - it has situational work that depends on the receipt of certain components. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! The man behind an NYC club frequented by Taylor Swift and Elon Musk has ticked off an entire village in the Hamptons Scott Sartiano owns the exclusive Manhattan club Zero Bond, known to be frequented by prominent celebrities and tech moguls. Patrick McMullan/Getty The owner of Zero Bond is facing local backlash over a new hospitality venture in East Hampton. A new local law restricts late-night operations, and officials enforce noise and fire regulations. Scott Sartiano operates a restaurant three nights a week in the town's historic site, The Hedges Inn. Hamptons residents are once again pushing back against the arrival of elite social clubs in the luxury beach destination. This time, some local residents and officials are directing their ire against the owner of the exclusive Manhattan social club Zero Bond, according to a report from Wall Street Journal published Friday. The elite Manhattan club is known to be frequented by a variety of public figures, including Taylor Swift, Elon Musk, and even New York City Mayor Eric Adams. When 49-year-old Scott Sartiano tried to bring his business to The Hedges Inn, an 1873 historic bed and breakfast in East Hampton Village, he was met with a storm of backlash from the town's neighbors and local officials, The Journal reported. His new business was supposed to be an extension of Zero Bond but is now positioned and operating as a restaurant after pushback about converting the site to a late-night spot. Sartiano has said there's a "vendetta" against him, a claim the mayor denied, according to The Journal report. Sartiano and the East Hampton Mayor's office did not respond to a request from Business Insider. "Look, no one's invested in this more than me. I live next door, right?" Sartiano said, according to the report. "If it's not a value add, I'll be the most screwed." Earlier this year, village officials proposed new legislation that would prohibit any "eating and drinking establishment" in the historical village from staying open between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to a report from the local publication, The East Hampton Star. The Hedges Inn was already required to stop serving at 10 p.m. due to a previous agreement from 1981. A later report from The East Hampton Star said the proposal was well received, with over 30 letters of endorsement between April and May. Residents expressed concern about how nightlife could disrupt the quiet residential historic district. A local law banning dining at "late-night restaurant clubs" between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the historic district was then passed by late June, the local news report said. That didn't prevent Sartiano from moving on his plans to open an establishment or the locals from resisting it. Prior to the opening of the restaurant, the mayor sent a letter with a number to call if there were any disturbances from the village's historic inns, according to The Journal's report. The mayor's office told The Journal the letter was sent as clarification of the closing time due to confusion. Once the restaurant opened, it became the focal point of complaints. In the middle of one of the opening nights, a building inspector arrived due to a potential fire hazard from a $35,000 floral installation, the report said. Officers have also consistently made appearances during the restaurant's dinner hours because of noise complaints, according to The Journal's report. Locals have also taken an active stance on the business, with the availability of bumper stickers that say "Zero Chance, Neighbors United Against Nightclubs." Despite the rough beginning, Sartiano's restaurant, which operates three nights a week, appears to be doing just fine. In its first month of operating, its already attracted high-profile figures like Meghan Markle. Read the original article on Business Insider PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) On Monday the Panama City Beach Police Department responded to a call for assistance regarding a man exhibiting erratic behavior. Around 7:30 a.m. Panama City Beach Police Department responded to the 12000 block of Hibiscus Street in Panama City Beach in regards to a man exhibiting erratic and manic behavior, suspected to be under the influence of narcotics. When deputies arrived, the suspect refused to comply with the officers demands and attempted to flee on foot, officials said. Officers pursued the suspect into the private gated storage lot at 654 Clara Avenue. When officers attempted to arrest the suspect, he resisted, prompting one of the officers to deploy a taser. After the suspect was in handcuffs he became unresponsive. Traffic stop in Chipley leads to felony drug arrest The officers administered Narcan before beginning CPR. Nearby emergency personnel quickly arrived and initiated life-saving measures. The man was taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Bay Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. As a result of the medical emergency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was requested to investigate the situation. Preliminary findings indicate that the responding officers acted in compliance with department guidelines. However, this is an ongoing investigation, and the cause and manner of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner in conjunction with the FDLEs independent investigation, Panama City Beach Police Department said in a news release. The suspects identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com. OREGON, Ill. (WTVO) A Chicago man is under arrest for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol after police found him parked in the roadway on E. Washington Street. According to the Ogle County Sheriffs Office, deputies were called to investigate after the car was seen parked in the 100 block of E. Washington Street, near a BP gas station, around 8:06 p.m. on Sunday. Rafal Nalepa, 30, was arrested. In addition to the DUI charge, he was also cited for Illegal Parking in the Roadway. Police took him to the Ogle County Jail for processing. He was later released with a notice to appear at a future court date. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. Man killed 3 siblings, niece in murder-suicide in New York suburb after mother's death, police say Man killed 3 siblings, niece in murder-suicide in New York suburb after mother's death, police say A man on Long Island in New York killed his three siblings and his niece Sunday before turning the gun on himself on the front lawn of the home he shared with his recently deceased mother, police said. The man, Joseph DeLucia Jr., 59, believed he would be cut out of his mothers will and displaced, Nassau County Police Detective Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said at a news conference Monday. Police said DeLucia shot his siblings Joanne Kearns, 69; Frank DeLucia, 71, and Tina Hammond, 64 as well as Hammonds daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, on Sunday, two days after his mothers funeral. DeLucias mother, Theresa DeLucia, died Aug. 19 at age 95 and her funeral was Aug. 23, Fitzpatrick said. DeLucia lived in Syosset with his mother, while two of his siblings lived out of state and Hammond and her daughter lived elsewhere on Long Island. Syosset is roughly 35 miles from Manhattan. The family had been gathered at the matriarchs home to meet a realtor to discuss selling it, Fitzpatrick said. The gunmans perception was that he was being cut out of the will and that he would be displaced with nowhere to go, Fitzpatrick said. Because of that perception, he decided that day to get a loaded Mossberg shotgun, 12 gauge, approach them in the rear area of the house and from the kitchen, fired 12 shots, striking all four of them multiple times. He then went on to the lawn and shouted indiscriminately about what had happened and shot himself, Fitzpatrick said. A neighbor heard DeLucia on the lawn and called 911 around noon. All five individuals were pronounced dead at the scene. The entire family is now gone, Fitzpatrick said. According to surviving relatives, DeLucia was being taken care of but he would have to relocate, from the home hed lived in his entire life, Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick described DeLucia, a mechanic who worked for a car dealership, as a hoarder and said the house was packed with tools. So you could see the mindset, where his world is now changing at 59 years old and he was panicking, Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick said that it has been reported to police that DeLucia had mental health issues but that authorities had not yet confirmed those reports. Police had visited the home to perform a wellness check on him in 2022, but Fitzpatrick said he had not displayed any behavior that would have prompted police to take action to take him against his will and he was not believed to be a danger to himself or anyone else at that time. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder described the scene inside as among the worst he has seen in his 41 years in law enforcement. Ryder and Fitzpatrick implored people to come forward if they suspect someone is mentally unwell. Were not saying this incident couldve been averted, but maybe it couldve, Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick said authorities were still looking into the serial number on the pump-action shotgun and where it had been purchased. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Man posing as a rideshare driver arrested after he raped two women in Miami, cops say A man posing as a rideshare driver frequented popular Miami nightclubs on the prowl for intoxicated women he could sexually assault, according to police. Yadir Alejandro Gongora, 39, faces sexual battery and kidnapping charges after he was arrested Saturday in connection to two separate cases. Hes being held at Metrowest Detention Center without bond. In August 2023, a 22-year-old woman walked into the City of Miami Police Department and told investigators she had been sexually assaulted but couldnt remember how it happened. The woman and two of her coworkers had gone out for a night of drinking, taking an Uber to Candela, a bar in Brickell, according to a report. Later during the outing, her phone ran out of battery, and she couldnt find her friends. So she decided to walk outside and remembers ending up in a vehicle, though she couldnt recall how she had got inside, the report states. At one point, a man raped her while another man drove the car. The woman woke up, still inside the vehicle, almost five hours later, per the report. At that point, one of the men instructed her to get out at a Publix, located at 134 SW 13th Street, the report shows. The grocery store was only two minutes away from the bar. In May, police received information redacted in the report filed in court this week that led them to Gongora. When police questioned him on Friday, Gongora maintained that he didnt know the woman and had never seen her before. Gongora did, however, say that he offered people rides from clubs in the Wynwood and downtown Miami areas, specifically mentioning E11EVEN Miami and Club Space, according to the report. Gongora claimed that he worked for a rideshare app between 2017 and 2019, but later started driving around regular customers that contacted him. A pattern of behavior? A month later, in September 2023, a 21-year-old woman came forward after she was sexually assaulted in a similar manner, a second report reveals. The woman said she had been out drinking and was separated from her friends. She had no recollection of the night until she was dropped off near her home on the 16800 block of Northwest 67th Avenue. She didnt recall if she or someone with her had ordered a rideshare but said she last remembered being near 900 South Miami Avenue, about 30 minutes away from her home, according to the report. The woman said she noticed that her underwear was in her purse but her phone, wallet and camera were missing. Gongora fell on polices radar in May, after police received information, which was also redacted on the report. When Gongora was shown a photo of the victim, he told investigators something that was redacted in the report. These rideshare incidents arent the first time Gongora has been accused of sexual assault. In October, Gongora was facing charges of robbery by sudden snatching and sexual battery after police say he posed as an Uber driver and raped a woman he had picked up from a Wynwood nightclub. He was sentenced in May to two years of probation on a robbery charge. The circumstances of the plea deal are unclear as of Monday evening. Man was in SC for a job, but died there instead, coroner says. Heres what happened A man recently drowned to death at a South Carolina lake, according to the Oconee County Coroners Office. Gustavo Ivan Hernandez-Cardenas, a 30-year-old from the San Luis Potosi region of Mexico, is the man who died in what Coroner Karl Addis called an accident. On Aug. 17, Hernandez-Cardenas was with friends during an outing at Devil Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee, Addis said in a news release. Thats in the Upstate region of South Carolina, near the state line with North Carolina. At about 5:30 p.m., emergency responders went to the lake where a drowning had been reported, according to the release. Hernandez-Cardenas had been pulled from the lake by bystanders, some of whom were performing CPR, the coroners office said. When they arrived, emergency responders continued the resuscitation efforts and Hernandez-Cardenas was taken to the emergency department at Prisma Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he died at 10:10 p.m., according to the release. The hospital is about 40 miles from Devils Fork State Park. No other injuries were reported. Information about what happened leading up to the drowning was not available. Hernandez-Cardenas reportedly was in South Carolina to attend training at the BMW plant in Greer, Addis said. Lake Jocassee touches both Oconee and Pickens counties as it covers 7,500 acres with 75 miles of shoreline and has a maximum depth of about 351 feet, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Man sentenced to 20-years in prison for role in London officers death LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) The Tennessee man charged in the death of London police officer Logan Medlock learned his fate on Monday. Casey Byrd, 37, of Oneida, Tennessee, appeared in court for sentencing on Monday after being found guilty of murder of a police officer, DUI, possession of a controlled substance, and two counts of third-degree criminal mischief charges on Aug. 9. RELATED | Man found guilty of murder in DUI crash that killed London officer Logan Medlock According to Tammy Lakes, administration assistant at the Laurel County Circut Clerks Office, Byrd was sentenced to the recommended 20 years in prison. In October 2022, Byrd was charged after speeding and crashing into Medlocks police cruiser in London. Court records show Byrd failed a Breathalyzer test, blowing .294. Medlock was pronounced deceased at the scene. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Medlock served as a London police officer for three years and previously worked at the Laurel County Correctional Center, Keavy Fire Department, and as a firefighter for the City of London 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 FOX 56 News. Man seriously injured after rollover crash in western Kansas KANORADO, Kan. (KSNW) One man was seriously injured after a rollover crash in western Kansas Saturday night. It happened around 8 p.m. at the old U.S. Highway 24 and County Road 5 junction near Kanorado. This embedded content is not available in your region. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a Chrysler Town & Country and a Ford F-550 hauling a trailer were driving westbound on U.S. 24 when the Chrysler rear-ended the Ford. As a result, the Chrysler entered the northern ditch, came back onto the road, and began to roll. It completed a full rotation as it entered the southern ditch and came to rest on its wheels. One person in critical condition after motorcycle crash The Ford was able to maintain control and come to a safe stop. The driver of the Chrysler, a 79-year-old male from Kanorado, received suspected serious injuries. The driver of the Ford, a 23-year-old male from Colorado, was uninjured. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. DENVER (KDVR) The man who Fort Collins police shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire on July 21 has been connected to a 2019 cold case. The incident on July 21 near Grandview Cemetery resulted in a Fort Collins Police Services officer being shot by the suspect, later identified as Clayton Pierce, 42. Pierce had been involved in a single-vehicle rollover at the intersection of Bryan Avenue and Mountain Avenue. The officer has since been released from the hospital. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox However, according to the Larimer County District Attorneys Office, Pierce was also a suspect in a homicide from 2019. That year, Joseph Sonny Brigman, 62, of Fort Collins, was found unresponsive at his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way. Brigman later died at the hospital. Brigmans death had been classified as a homicide, but no investigative leads provided any answers in the case, according to Fort Collins Police Services. Detectives revisited the case in 2023 and found sufficient evidence existed to prove Pierce had killed Brigman. Before the incident at the Grandview Cemetery, detectives were working to finalize charges against Pierce. The Larimer County District Attorneys Office said that if Pierce were not dead, they would have charged him with first-degree murder. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the Russian massive attack that the occupiers launched against Ukraine on August 26, launching about a hundred missiles and hundreds of Shaheds. He called on Western countries to take "strong decisions" to stop this war. ADVERTISIMENT The relevant address was published on the President's Telegram. He emphasized that the consequences of the Russian strike are currently being eliminated across the country. "It was one of the biggest strikes a combined one. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shaheds. And, like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," the President emphasized, expressing condolences to the families of those killed in the shelling. "There is a lot of damage in the energy sector. But wherever there is a power outage, restoration work is already underway. Repair crews will work around the clock. We will restore electricity," the Head of State assured. ADVERTISIMENT At the same time, he said that the Russian army and its dictator can only do what the world allows them to do. "Putin does not betray himself: he is a sick creature everyone has understood this. But it is also clear that he can only do what the world allows him to do. Weakness and insufficiency of decisions in response feed terror. And every leader, every partner of ours knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war, and to end it fairly," the Ukrainian leader said. He called for the lifting of restrictions on Ukraine's long-range aircraft, as Russian terrorists do not have them. "The defenders of life cannot have restrictions on weapons when Russia is using its own weapons of all types, as well as "Shaheds" and ballistic missiles from North Korea. America, Britain, France, and other partners have the power to help us stop terror. We need solutions," the head of state said. ADVERTISIMENT Zelenskyy called on the partners to implement the agreements: air defense systems and missiles for them, as well as joint shooting down of missiles and drones. "Today they had targets in Volyn, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Vinnytsia region, Khmelnytskyi region, our Ternopil region. In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbors worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defense," Zelenskyy emphasized. As reported by OBOZ.UA: On August 26, Russia launched a combined attack on Ukraine, using kamikaze drones and various types of missiles. After the nighttime explosions due to the Shakeda, in the morning they were heard in many cities through cruise missiles and ballistics: damage, casualties, and emergency power outages were reported. ADVERTISIMENT Wreckage of downed Russian missiles began to be found in the Bucha district of Kyiv region. The enemy targets were destroyed by air defense forces during the shelling on Monday, August 26. Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Disclaimer: All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Deputies arrested a man suspected of setting fire to a home with his mother still inside. Officials said Caddo Parish Sheriffs deputies responded to the call on the 10000 block of Buncombe Rd. around 10:53 p.m. The victim told the deputies that her son, Fredrick D. Washington, set fire to their home while she was inside and then stole her vehicle. Fredrick Washington (Source: Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office) Later that night, her vehicle was seen speeding on Westport Ave. Deputies searched the area and found the stolen vehicle at the PETRO Truck Stop at 6910 Bert Kouns Industrial Loop in Shreveport. Although Washington was not inside the vehicle, he was spotted walking between parked tractor-trailers in the back parking lot. Authorities arrested Washington and booked him into the Caddo Correction Center. He is facing a charge of attempted second-degree homicide from the State Fire Marshal and theft of a motor vehicle by the CPSO. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com. 2 arrested after body found in trunk of car at Manatee County nature preserve 2 arrested after body found in trunk of car at Manatee County nature preserve PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) Two men were arrested in connection to the murder of a man found dead in the trunk of a car at a Manatee County nature preserve. Palmetto police found a man, later identified as Manuel Escobar, 32, dead in an abandoned car at Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Freddy Sandoval, 25 (Manatee County Sheriffs Office) Manatee County Sheriffs Office detectives believe Escobar was shot by Idus Murkerson, 20, during a dispute over money. Freddy Sandoval, 25, was arrested in connection to the shooting. Murkerson was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol in Santa Rosa County on Monday. He was charged with second-degree murder. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. MANCHESTER, Mo. The City of Manchester announced police chief Scott Wills resignation following an internal investigation. The City of Manchester announced Wills resignation in a news release on Monday. His resignation will take effect on August 31. According to the city of Manchester, he will receive payment of his salary, health benefits, and compensation for vacation leave through August 31. Despite the resignation details being public record, the news release said the findings of the investigation remain closed and confidential under the Missouri Sunshine Law. Will was placed on administrative leave in July amid the investigation, and Lt. Ed Skaggs was appointed as the citys acting police chief. Woman charged following multi-county, high-speed chase on I-70 The city of Manchester said they are now searching for a new police chief with input from city stakeholders, elected officials, and staff. Residents said theyre concerned with the uncertainty and change. We get bits and pieces, and its like, come on, we should all know so we can make our own judgement, Kyle Weaver said. He noted that whether it is out on the pickleball court or talking with neighbors, the Manchester Police Department is a hot button topic this summer. Ive only had good experience with the police officers that Ive met. Theyve been very positive. Actually, they drove me to Walmart one time when my car stopped. So there is nothing against the police, but it is concerning, the lack of leadership, Weaver added. All we want is leadership and transparency. I should know whats going on. Is there a lack of leadership? Is there something toxic going on? Because it does impact everyone. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. On the evening of August 6, 30-year-old Maria Oropeza, a prominent opposition activist and the coordinator for Vente Venezuela in Portuguesa State, was arrested by agents from Venezuela's General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) while she livestreamed on social media. Vente Venezuela, led by Maria Corina Machado, is a key opposition party advocating for democratic reforms and free market policies. Oropeza's leadership in mobilizing support for the party made her a significant target for Nicolas Maduro's crackdown on opposition figures. The arrest occurred after Oropeza publicly denounced the government's repressive tactics, including the controversial Operacion Tun Tun (Operation Knock Knock), which targets political dissidents in their homes without judicial warrants. In the video before her arrest, Oropeza is heard demanding to see a search warrant as DGCIM agents force their way into her home. According to Agustina Sosa, president of the Argentina chapter of Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) and a close friend of Oropeza, this arrest was not entirely unexpected. "Maria knew she was being targeted. She was very vocal on social media, and that puts you in a dangerous position in a country like Venezuela," Sosa says. Just months earlier, during a LOLA retreat in Uruguay, Oropeza had expressed fears about her safety, requesting that no photos of her be posted online due to concerns that she was being closely watched by the government. Oropeza's activism, particularly her work mobilizing support in rural areas of Portuguesa, made her a prominent target. "Maria has a special talent for attracting people to the cause of liberty," Sosa says. "She chose to stay in Venezuela, even when she had opportunities to leave, because she wanted to fight for freedom in her country." Oropeza's arrest is particularly alarming because of the tactics employed. People close to her confirmed that security forces blocked off the whole street before arresting Oropeza, ensuring that no one could reach her or answer her calls for help. The officers took her mobile phone and shut down the streaming as they abducted her without any legal justification. Following her arrest, the DGCIM released a chilling video of the incident on their social media channels. The video, which showed edited footage from Oropeza's livestream, was dubbed with the eerie music from the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street and included the sing-song lyrics, "One, two, Freddy's coming for you." Its purpose appeared to be twofold: to mock the opposition leader and to further intimidate the Venezuelan public. Human rights organizations and opposition groups have condemned the video as a blatant act of psychological warfare. As of now, no formal charges have been filed against Oropeza, leaving her family and supporters anxious and uncertain. However, there is a growing concern that she may be charged with terrorism, a common tactic used by the Maduro regime to silence dissent. "The modus operandi right now of the Maduro government is that they take their political dissidents, often without charges initially, and after days or weeks in detention, they suddenly accuse them of terrorism or other serious crimes," says Sosa. Since the July 28 election, Venezuelan authorities have charged at least four journalists with terrorism after they were arrested during the country's postelection unrest. The crime of terrorism in Venezuela carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. If charged, Oropeza will not have access to a lawyer of her choice. Ana Karina, a Venezuelan lawyer exiled in Canada and a leader of the LOLA chapter in Canada explained that Oropeza, like so many others, could face a sham trial with no real legal representation. "In Venezuela, political prisoners are not allowed to have private lawyers," says Karina. "The regime appoints a lawyer for them, someone who is loyal to the government and who will not act in the detainee's best interests. It's all part of their strategy to keep control and prevent any real defense from being mounted." Oropeza's arrest is part of a broader pressure by the Maduro regime, which has intensified following the highly contested presidential election. The election, marred by widespread allegations of fraud, saw Maduro declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE), despite independent evidence suggesting that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received the most votes. The U.S. State Department has condemned the election process, stating, "The CNE's rapid declaration of Nicolas Maduro as the winner of the presidential election came with no supporting evidence.It is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's July 28 presidential election." Maduro's government has responded to the growing dissent with increased repression. Over 2,000 people have been detained since the election, and many of these detentions have occurred under Operation Knock Knock. In addition to physical repression, the Maduro dystopian regime has developed a new app that allows Venezuelan citizens to report on their neighbors' activities. "It's a terrifying witch hunt," says Karina. "This app encourages people to spy on each other, turning communities against themselves. If you're reported, the government can arrest you without any cause." The regime has also reportedly blocked the passports of political dissidents, preventing them from fleeing the country. "Some dissidents have even been arrested at the airport as they try to leave Venezuela," Sosa adds. LOLA has taken swift action in response to Oropeza's arrest, working to bring international attention to her case. On August 8, the global organization of libertarian women filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, requesting precautionary measures for Oropeza's release. Samila Monteiro, a Brazilian activist and LOLA leader who led the working group responsible for filing the complaint emphasizes the broader implications of Oropeza's arrest: "This complaint is a response to the systematic repression that Maduro's regime exerts on those who dare to oppose him. Maria Oropeza represents many other activists facing similar conditions. It is essential that the international community protects those who dedicate their lives to defending freedom and democracy." Oropeza's whereabouts remain unknown. "The government often takes political dissidents to torture centers, and we fear that Maria could be in one of the largest in Latin America," says the Leader of the LOLA Chapter in Uruguay, Sabrina Riveiro. Venezuela is home to some of the most notorious torture centers in the region, where detainees are often subjected to extreme conditions, including sexual violence, particularly against women. The U.S. has called for the immediate release of all Venezuelans arrested during the postelection crackdown. "Law enforcement and security forces should not become an instrument of political violence used against citizens exercising their democratic rights," the State Department stated. Despite the growing repression, the opposition in Venezuela remains resilient. "There is still a very active movement led by citizens who want change," Sosa says. "But the terror is real, and people are scared. That's why international support is more important than ever." LOLA members and other activists are urging the international community to take action, not only to support Oropeza but also to shine a light on the broader human rights abuses taking place in Venezuela. "What we're dealing with isn't just a governmentit's a criminal organization running a country," says Karina. "We need to raise awareness and apply as much pressure as possible to stop these atrocities." The post 'Maria Knew She Was Being Targeted': The Arrest of a Venezuelan Activist Exposes Maduro's Brutal Crackdown appeared first on Reason.com. The coal fired Brandon Shores Power Plant, on March 9, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. Critics say that PJM, which is responsible for coordinating the flow of electricity in 13 states and the District of Columbia, should have been prepared for the retirement of Brandon Shores. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) After years of climbing electric prices nationwide, customers in the United States largest power market are about to get squeezed harder. Last month, PJM, which coordinates the flow of electricity for an area that includes all or parts of 13 states, including part of Kentucky, stretching from the Midwest to New Jersey plus the District of Columbia, released capacity auction results that hit a record high. The auction, held by the regional transmission organization to ensure theres enough power generation to meet demand spikes, such as during severe weather and other grid emergencies, produced a price of nearly $270 per megawatt day for much of the footprint (with some areas spiking much higher) compared to nearly $29 per megawatt day during the last auction. That increase, more than 800%, will cost customers across the region of 65 million people nearly $15 billion for the period covered by the auction (June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026) the Maryland Office of Peoples Counsel noted in a report released last week. The costs will not hit equally across the PJM footprint, however, since utilities that own and operate their own power plants, like Virginias Dominion Energy, are both sellers and buyers in the capacity market, which will blunt the impact for their ratepayers. But Exelon, a company that owns six so-called wires-only utilities with 10.5 million customers in PJM states, expects the capacity prices to trigger double-digit rate increases for some customers, Utility Dive reported. What makes the capacity costs tougher to swallow is that much of the increase can be laid at the feet of planning shortcomings, market design failures and governance problems at PJM, the organizations critics contend. The tools to enhance reliability are in PJMs hands, said Clara Summers, campaign manager for Consumers for a Better Grid, a watchdog group that is part of the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois. Instead PJM is dragging its feet on the clean energy transition and doing everything it can to keep fossil fuel plants online and ultimately ratepayers are the ones who suffer from this shortsightedness. All sorts of problems In particular, critics point to PJMs long delayed interconnection queue, which is the waiting list for generation projects looking for permission to connect to the grid. They say that even as PJM complains about fewer power plants entering its capacity auction and the increasing pace of old generating station retirements, it is seeking exemptions to a landmark new federal rule intended to streamline interconnection processes and get new power resources online quickly. PJM is the place with the most acute need for interconnection reform and theyre refusing to do what theyve been told to do on it rather than be proactive on it, said Tom Rutigliano, a senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council who focuses on PJM. Jeff Shields, a PJM spokesman, said the organization has been working hard to fix its interconnection process and clear the backlog. He pointed out that many projects that have cleared the queue still arent getting built because of supply chain, financing or permitting problems that are beyond PJMs control. We are not arguing about whether we need queue reform, we have only taken issue with some details, he said. David Lapp, Marylands peoples counsel, an advocate for the states residential utility customers, said interconnection delays are just part of the problem at PJM. Transmission costs because of a lack of competitive bidding of projects and a failure to plan for the long term, watchdogs argue have also climbed over the past decade. And a deficient process for managing power plant retirements, along with market errors, have also hurt customers, Lapp said. Our customers are bearing the consequences of all sorts of problems at PJM, whether they be problems with the market structure, problems with the interconnection queue, problems related to planning failures or just mistakes, Lapp said in an interview with States Newsroom. PJM really needs to start taking the interest of customers more seriously into account in terms of how it develops its policies. How the retirement of Brandon Shores, a Talen Energy coal-fired power plant southeast of Baltimore, has been handled, exemplifies a lot of whats wrong with PJM, Lapp added. Lapp and others, including members of Marylands congressional delegation, say PJM was caught flat-footed by the plants retirement, which should have been foreseeable given the limited amount it was running, a deal with the Sierra Club to quit burning coal and financial troubles for its operating company. PJM counters that it was told the plant would switch to burning oil and continue running. It is not reasonable to expect PJM to have anticipated the imminent deactivation of the Brandon Shores units when numerous public statements and direct conversations between PJM and Talen all supported the notion that Brandon Shores was on a path to remain online, albeit using a different fuel source, PJM President and CEO Manu Asthana wrote in a December letter to the Sierra Club, How much sense does that make? Regardless, PJM now has pushed for an urgent suite of transmission projects that will cost Maryland ratepayers about $800 million to bring in enough power to make up for the loss of the Brandon Shores station and another nearby Talen plant, Wagner, that is also retiring. PJM will also keep both plants running under what are known asreliability must run arrangements that could cost Maryland ratepayers $629 million through 2028, the Peoples Counsel report says, and comes with no guarantee they will actually be able to produce power when called upon. It also means the plants will exit the capacity market, which is designed to increase prices as energy supply tightens to encourage more generation sources to enter the market. The logic was that you want to treat them as gone to send a price signal for new entry, Rutigliano said. But even if a new generation source wanted to take advantage of the high capacity prices in the zone affected by the plant closure, the interconnection queue delays mean it could be years before it can participate in the auction. With PJMs interconnection process so far behind that simply doesnt work, Rutigliano said. Price signals are worthless if youve got a six-year delay in responding to them. And since PJM has already decided on a transmission solution to make up for the plants retirement, forcing customers to bear the high capacity prices doesnt make sense, Rutigliano said. They exclude them from the market to get a high price signal but build transmission to ease the load pocket. Those are contradictory, he said. The upshot is that Talen gets a windfall (the Office of the Peoples Counsel report found the companys revenues for the 2025-2026 delivery year are $360 million higher than what they would have been had Wagner and Brandon Shores participated in the capacity market) and electric customers in Maryland will be paying extra for plants that may not run much at all. They will also be paying extra for the loss of that plant to the capacity market in order to create a market signal that wont matter because of the transmission solution PJM has already decided upon, which will also be paid by local customers. Lapp called it a triple whammy. We have the illogical situation where customers are paying big dollars for a plant that is not going to run almost all the time, Lapp said. They still have no performance obligation. There are no consequences if PJM says Were hitting a peak time. We need you to run. And Talen says We cant. How much sense does that make? Shields, the PJM spokesman, says PJM will continue working to improve markets, transmission planning and generator interconnection. But he added that, of the PJM states, Maryland has the second-fewest projects in the queue over the next few years. We encourage Maryland policymakers to analyze why and what can be done to encourage development, Shields said. There is no debate Maryland needs energy infrastructure. Maryland needs generation to produce power for and transmission to move power to the customers who need it. The Maryland Office of Peoples Counsel knows all of this to be true, and these critical issues deserve a better discussion than ongoing exercises in finger pointing. Seeking variances Particularly frustrating for PJM reformers are the exemptions it is seeking to a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rule to speed the connection of new power resources to the grid, which seems counterintuitive for an organization that has worried about having enough power to meet demand. PJM did begin its own interconnection reforms prior to the FERC order, and its request for variances indicates it wants to stick to that plan rather than conform completely to the new FERC rules, per a coalition of environmental and consumer organizations that are challenging the request before the commission. The interconnection queue in PJM is among the longest in the nation, whether measured by the number of projects, total electric capacity, or how long projects languish awaiting studies, the groups wrote in a FERC filing, noting that PJM wont review new interconnection applications until 2026 at the earliest. At the same time, PJM is sounding the alarm about a reliability crisis because new generation cannot come online quickly enough to replace retiring power plants. To accelerate interconnection and bring new generation online to avoid reliability challenges from foreseeable retirements, PJM should welcome Order No. 2023s reforms with open arms. Instead, PJM resists reform to its interconnection process. Mainly PJM is seeking permission for increased study timelines and a laxer penalty structure and wants to sidestep reporting requirements on how it evaluates grid-enhancing technologies, which can save time and money over traditional transmission solutions. It also wants to avoid the requirement to realistically consider how energy storage resources will affect peak load. Grid-enhancing technologies have been used for years elsewhere in the world to get more out of existing power systems and in many cases are faster and cheaper than building new transmission lines, but theyve been slow to catch on in the U.S., in part because American utilities make more money by building big, expensive projects rather than more cost-effective solutions, proponents have said. PJM wants out of a requirement to demonstrate that it has considered those technologies, said Katie Siegner, a manager who works on markets and electric grids at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit focused on decarbonization. What theyre saying is, We already consider them but dont make us show you how, she said. The other major exemption PJM wants deals with battery storage resources and what grid upgrades are needed to accommodate them. Some grid operators, including PJM, want to continue to use a worst-case assumption that the batteries will charge at times of peak electric demand. That flies in the face of the economic model for grid-connected batteries, which seek to charge when prices are low and discharge when they spike. Assuming that storage will charge during a time of peak load is one of those worst-case conditions even though its antithetical to the action it will take in the market, Siegner said. And even if PJM was concerned about that happening, it could write a prohibition into an interconnection agreement, rather than requiring storage developers to pay for expensive grid upgrades that might never be needed, she added. Its just a nonsensical way of studying these resources that has to change, Siegner said. The bigger problem, said Summers of the Citizens Utility Board, is that at PJM, fossil fuel generators, big utilities and transmission companies hold a lot of sway. Many of these companies came of age in the fossil fuel era and their incentives are to try to prevent the fossil fuel transition or make it as expensive as possible. PJM has a pattern of dragging its feet on the energy transition, Summers said. Indeed, how PJM is governed and how stakeholders are voting in lower level meetings is drawing increasing scrutiny from state lawmakers. Four blue state governors with decarbonization goals also recently called for a robust process for states to engage with PJM on planning decisions. And for many of PJMs critics, the fact that projects have made it through the queue but havent gotten built doesnt excuse the mess the interconnection process has become. PJM must take responsibility for its role in establishing and maintaining an effective interconnection process, Siegner said. The faster that interconnection requests are processed, the easier it is to get financing and navigate supply chain hurdles. Its a lot harder if youre waiting in the queue for five years and you have no idea what your network upgrade costs will be. Marshals looking for man wanted on warrants for rape YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force is looking for a man wanted on three counts of rape. Read next: Coroners office issues report on death in Realty Building gas explosion A release from the marshals said that the man, Crispin Crago, 40, is believed to be in the Youngstown area. Crago is a white man who is 53 and 145 pounds. The release said he is known to frequent the Youngstown and Western Pennsylvania areas. The release said the warrants were issued by the Mahoning County Sheriffs Office. An indictment was returned on the charges against Crago on July 25. Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call the marshals at 1-866-4-WANTED. Tipsters can remain anonymous and reward money is available. Gerry Ricciutti 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 WKBN.com. Martin Shkreli in 2017. - Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Martin Shkrleli, the convicted pharmaceutical executive, was ordered to hand over any copies he may have made of the one-of-a-kind (at least it was supposed to be) Wu-Tang Clan Album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. The ruling was handed down in the ongoing lawsuit between Shkreli and PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that purchased the album from Shkreli in 2021 after the felon was ordered to fork it over as part of a $7.4 million forfeiture tied to his 2017 fraud conviction. According to the suit, Shkreli violated the terms of both the original purchase agreement and the forfeiture order by allegedly making and retaining a digital copy of the album, playing it during his live streams, and sending it to others. More from Rolling Stone On Monday, Aug. 26, the judge overseeing the case granted PleasrDAOs request for a temporary restraining order (this is not a final ruling, but a preliminary order pending the final outcome of the lawsuit). The judge ruled that Shkreli should be barred from possessing, using, disseminating, or selling any interest in [Once Upon a Time in Shaolin], including its data and files or the contents of the Album, or in any way causing further damage to Plaintiff respecting the Album. The judge also ordered Shkreli to sequester and turn over all of his copies, in any form, of the album by Aug. 30 and sign an affidavit stating hes followed through on those orders. By Sept. 30, Shkreli will have to file another affidavit containing information regarding alleged copies of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, people he mightve given them to, and any money he mightve made from distributing or playing the album. Ed Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in a statement, This Order is merely a preliminary measure entered by the Court to maintain the perceived status quo before any discovery occurs the Order has no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case. Crucially, the Court did not find that PleasrDAO is likely to succeed on the merits or that the DAOs allegations are true, and instead ruled that Mr. Shkrelis forthcoming motion to dismiss should proceed without delay. PleasrDAO filed a lawsuit against Shkreli in June. The original suit outlined numerous occasions where Shkreli seems to admit to playing the album on his live streams or making copies. For instance, on a June 30, 2022, stream just over a month after he was released from prison Shkreli said, Of course I made MP3 copies, theyre like hidden in safes all around the world Im not stupid. I dont buy something for two million dollars just so I can keep one copy. The lawsuit contained more recent statements from Shkreli, like such tweets from earlier this year: LOL I have the mp3s you moron and I literally play it in my discord all the time. The suit also cited a YouTube video from this past May, where Shkreli allegedly said he burned the album and sent it to like, 50 different chicks. Best of Rolling Stone A Massachusetts State Police trooper has been relieved of his duty after he was arrested on assault and strangulation charges in Fitchburg earlier this month, officials said. Dylan A. Knox, a 31-year-old resident of Marshall Street in Fitchburg, is facing charges including two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation or suffocation, witness intimidation, and assault and battery on a household or family member in connection with a domestic violence incident involving a woman who he had been in a substantive dating relationship with, according to a criminal complaint. Knox pushed his partner of six years against a wall and raised his fist in a threatening manner before strangling her by intentionally applying pressure to her throat, causing the victim to experience difficulty breathing and hyperventilating, the complaint stated. Police noted in the complaint that the victim told investigators that Knox tried to strangle her four times and that each attempt lasted about 30 seconds. Knox is also accused of threatening the victim with a kitchen knife and his firearms, allegedly yelling during the altercation, Im going to kill you! At one point, Knox discarded the victims phone when she attempted to activate her iPhone Emergency SOS feature, according to the complaint. State police have opened an internal affairs investigation into Knox and relieved him of his duty, stripping him of all police authority, a department spokesman confirmed in a statement shared with Boston 25. Knoxs Boston-based attorney, Benjamin Megrian, told Boston 25 that his client steadfastly denies the allegations against him. He has dutifully and faithfully served his community for the past five years. Dylan looks forward to putting this case behind him and continuing to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth, Megrian said in a statement. An investigation is ongoing. 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 A Massachusetts town is closing its public parks and fields at night after a horse tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis, a rare but lethal mosquito-borne disease. Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, is a potentially fatal virus that is usually spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The disease is rare, with an average of 11 human cases reported annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New measures in the coastal town of Plymouth, about 40 miles southeast of Boston, come after mosquitoes in the area tested positive for EEE and the state reported its first human case of the virus since 2020. As (the Massachusetts Department of Public Health) has now elevated Plymouths EEE risk status to high, it is important to take extra precautions when outdoors and follow state and local health guidelines to avoid unnecessary risk to exposure to EEE, said Michelle Bratti, Plymouth Commissioner of Health and Human Services. While EEE is rare, roughly 30% of cases end in death, and many survivors have ongoing neurologic issues, according to the CDC, and the virus is most common around Eastern or Gulf Coast states. Researchers have also warned that climate change is giving rise to mosquitoes as they thrive in warm, humid weather. Massachusetts towns ring alarm bells on rare but lethal virus In Plymouth, where mosquitoes have tested positive for EEE, officials announced on Friday it was closing public parks and fields from dusk to dawn when mosquitoes are most active. The town manager also noted public parks, fields, and schools will be sprayed in the coming days. A wave of precautions against the mosquito-borne virus in Massachusetts comes five years after the states most recent outbreak began in 2019, which included 12 cases and six deaths. The states Department of Public Health said the outbreak continued into 2020 which saw five reported cases and one fatality. Massachusetts experiences an outbreak of EEE every 10 to 20 years, and it lasts two to three years, according to the agency. Earlier this month, a man in his 80s tested positive for EEE Massachusetts' first case since 2020 causing the state's health department to raise risk levels for about a dozen nearby towns. Officials did not name the person but said he was infected in Worcester County. In Oxford, a town in Worcester County, the local Board of Health unanimously voted to recommend that outdoor events end at 6 p.m. through September, and 5 p.m. starting in October through the first hard frost. Rike Sterrett, Oxford's director of public health, stressed the move is a recommendation, not a mandate while adding that all town-sponsored activities will follow the curfew. She noted the recommendation has received some pushback from families with children who play school sports as games and practice times could be impacted. A sign outside Oxford Town Hall warns of the dangers of Eastern equine encephalitis Thursday. Officials urge caution after nonhuman cases in other states Officials in New York urge caution against the mosquito-borne disease after two horses in the state tested positive: one in Galen and another in Newburgh. The horse cases usually indicate mosquitoes in the area carry the virus. Sample testing of mosquitoes in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have also turned up positive for EEE, as officials urge residents to schedule outdoor activities outside of dusk to dawn. The CDC has tracked three human cases this year one each in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey. How to protect yourself from EEE Eastern equine encephalitis is spread to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes. The virus can cause a fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes, and drowsiness, according to the CDC. Most people infected with eastern equine encephalitis do not develop symptoms, the CDC said. People of all ages are susceptible to infection, but people over 50 and younger than 15 are at greatest risk. There is no treatment or vaccine for EEE, but people in high-risk areas can protect themselves by preventing mosquito bites, which are most likely to happen from dusk to dawn. Take precautions to avoid mosquito bites and protect against potential exposure to the mosquito-borne illness: Use insect repellent. Wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants. Use air conditioning and window screens to prevent mosquito bites indoors. Dump out containers of water near your home to eliminate breeding grounds. Contributing: Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Henry Schwan, Telegram and Gazette This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mosquito virus leads to nightly closure of Massachusetts town parks On the morning of August 26, Russian terrorist forces fired rockets at an infrastructure facility in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Three civilians were injured. ADVERTISIMENT Also, houses and outbuildings were damaged in the region, and several fires broke out. This was reported by the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk regional military administration Svitlana Onyshchuk on Telegram. The Russian occupiers tried to attack the region from different directions. Some of the enemy missiles were destroyed by air defense forces. "This morning, Russian terrorists carried out another one of the most massive attacks in Ukraine. In some regions, there were power outages. Explosions were also heard in Prykarpattia. The enemy attacked our region from different directions. Air defense forces destroyed several air targets," said the head of the RMA. ADVERTISIMENT At the same time, attacks on an infrastructure facility were recorded in the region. Three people were wounded as a result of the shelling, they were provided with medical assistance. "Unfortunately, there was a hit to an infrastructure facility, three people were injured and are being treated. Specialists from the State Emergency Service, medical, and other relevant services are working to eliminate the consequences of the enemy attacks," Onyshchuk said. The press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region reported that rescuers extinguished the fires caused by falling missile debris. The Rescue Service received a report that in one of the settlements of Ivano-Frankivsk district, the roof of a newly built residential building on an area of 100 square meters caught fire. In another village in the same district, a fire broke out in an outbuilding on the territory of a private household over an area of 5 square meters. Also in this village, a fire of dry grass broke out in an open area over an area of 50 square meters. Rescuers quickly eliminated the fire. ADVERTISIMENT "There are no hits. Air defense is working. The blast wave damaged houses in Radcha. The windows in a local shop were also smashed... Anyone whose home or property was damaged can receive compensation for the damage," said Ruslan Martsinkiv, mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk. Under the procedural supervision of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, a pre-trial investigation into criminal proceedings over violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) has been initiated. Prosecutors and investigators are taking all possible and appropriate measures to document war crimes committed by the aggressor state. ADVERTISIMENT On the morning of August 26, Russian terrorists launched a massive attack on Ukraine with missiles of various types and kamikaze drones. During the attack, powerful explosions were heard in Odesa. Earlier it was reported that on August 26, the Russian terrorist army attacked the Poltava region. The aggressor targeted an industrial facility. Five people were injured in the attack. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! BOSTON (SHNS) Following a groundswell of advocacy from people with disabilities and local service agencies, MassHealth officials are switching gears on a wide-ranging change they had planned to make to the states care delivery system though the agency is still pursuing some reform. MassHealth issued a procurement for an Independent Assessment Entity (IAE) on Feb. 16, which they said would create a single entry point for consumers to access eight programs that provide long-term services and support for the elderly and people with disabilities. Under the current system, more than 400 independent entities provide clinical evaluations for around 240,000 residents who use services covered by the state insurance program. When MassHealth issued the request for response (RFR) in February for companies to bid on a statewide contract to take over these assessments from local providers, it was met with a groundswell of anger from some advocates within the disability community. Following months of back and forth between advocates and MassHealth, representatives said during a forum hosted by Dignity Alliance Massachusetts on Aug. 22 that they are no longer pursuing the single assessment entity model. The Personal Care Attendant Workforce Council began convening meetings soon after the RFR was issued last winter to address the issue, voicing concerns that companies bidding on the job could be from out of state and motivated by profits rather than caring for people. For decades, individuals seeking long-term care in Massachusetts have worked with community-based providers or nonprofit agencies to access services. That local organization assesses and evaluates individuals and works with them to access MassHealth coverage, and also provides referrals to other support programs, works with caregivers, and supports people who need to appeal MassHealth decisions. Ive been a PCA program consumer for over 12 years now. And Ive had the same nurse evaluator for 10 of those 12 years. Her name is Dottie. And when it comes time to decide the care coverage hours that I need, I really have the utmost trust in Dottie to get things done, Diana Hu, who uses a motorized wheelchair, said in June. Hu, chair of the Boston Center for Independent Living and member of the PCA Workforce Council, said Dottie was grounded in independent living principles. This philosophy is rooted in the idea that people with disabilities should have control over their own lives and access to services that help them live in their communities, and not in facilities where they often cannot make their own decisions. Hu and others praised the Independent Living Centers in Massachusetts that conducted their annual assessments, and said they were afraid what their lives could look like if a profit-driven company was in charge of determining their care instead. It reminds me of being on the Mass Pike. Youve got all the lanes open, but all of a sudden everybody has to go through one lane, said Nancy Garr-Colzie, who also uses a wheelchair, during the forum. And if your information is wrong, youve got to get out of the line. Jeni Kaplan, health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said in June that the assessment entity based on the RFR MassHealth issued would have made program-specific changes to eight long-term services: Adult Foster Care, Group Adult Foster Care, Personal Care Management (personal care attendants), Day Habilitation, Adult Day Health, Senior Care Options, Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, and OneCareHome. For the PCA program, certain assessments that currently happen in person and in the home of consumers, could have occurred over the phone or video calls by someone staffed at the IAE, she said. Additionally, nurses would no longer have required the input of an occupational therapist. Individuals who use this program said the in-person component is an important piece of the assessment, as nurses can understand a lot about a persons health and how much help they need by the state and layout of their home. For the PACE program, OneCare and Senior Care Options programs that primarily assist seniors consumers would have had to do an additional evaluation, which Meg Coffin of the Center for Living and Working said would increase the assessment burden on members. MassHealth seems to be prioritizing administrative efficiency at the expense of consumer-driven and consumer-centered planning. And particularly the development of the IAE reflects that profound disregard for the philosophy and principles of independent living, Coffin said. In centering a more uniform, consistent experience, MassHealth is significantly undermining the ability of agencies to provide the careful individualized assessment of a persons unique needs and the development of a service. MassHealth representatives have said for months that the consolidation of assessments was never an effort to save money, but a response to a real issue of long wait times and confusion that people have with so many entry points to try to receive care. In that vein, they are still pursuing an amended RFR to address this issue. According to MassHealth data, the lag time between a referral and when prior authorization is issued is currently exceeding 100 days on average at eight Personal Care Management agencies. Additionally, the department said that if members are screened out by a provider or determined ineligible for a service, that decision is not appealable. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services has no way of knowing what happens to that member or whether they were provided with any alternative service options. In the PCA program alone, MassHealth knows 861 members were screened out in 2023, but they dont know whether they were offered any other support. The process change was meant to address some of these issues, as well as streamline a confusing system for people who participate in multiple programs, they say. Our call center, my office, I personally get multiple complaints a week regarding how long it takes to get an assessment, how confusing it is, and why you need to get an assessment if you already got assessed somewhere else, Mike Levine, assistant secretary at MassHealth, said at a June forum about the issue hosted by the Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights coalition. At that forum, Levine said he and his colleagues were listening closely to advocates feedback and apologized for moving forward with insufficient community support. In addition to sharing concerns about an IAE, disability activists also took issue with the RFR process. They said prominent disability rights groups were not consulted about the idea before the procurement was issued in February with an original bidding deadline of this summer. The Boston Center for Independent Living, PCA Workforce Council and other groups led a number of demonstrations at the State House about the topic over the past months. During many of these protests, advocates chanted Not about us without us, criticizing MassHealth for what they said was a lack of conversation with people with disabilities in the development of the proposal. MassHealth eventually pushed back the RFR bidding date to Sept. 6, and in the meantime issued a Request for Information (RFI), soliciting feedback on the proposal. Levines announcement Wednesday that the agency was no longer pursuing an independent assessment entity came after reviewing the responses to the RFI. I do just want to start out by acknowledging that I think MassHealth started this dialogue in the wrong way. We should have engaged more upfront prior to releasing the RFR. I hope youve noticed that we are trying to do more engagement now through the RFI and conversations with stakeholders. But really, this is only the beginning, Levine said during the virtual forum. He addressed community providers and consumers with personal experiences who spoke at the webinar, saying that they fully agree and hear you that there are ways to reduce administrative burden without an IAE, and weve started some productive conversations on that front. EOHHS plans to significantly amend the RFR to better preserve aspects of the system that members have indicated are working well today, according to the department. The modified RFR will be posted no sooner than October. The amended procurement will include revisited timelines and an additional question period. The original timeline had implementation starting in 2026. I just want to reiterate that we do share everyones commitment to assessments being done by local, community based organizations who know their members, they know their families, they know their communities, and they know the options in their communities, Levine said Wednesday. He continued, I do have to say, at the same time, the number of calls that my office gets about people struggling to get an assessment or struggling to find the right door, having a hard time knowing where their loved one needs to go to get services There are improvements that I think we all agree need to be made, and there are a lot of people waiting a long time to get an assessment. And thats not the level of access and the level of equitable access that we as an agency are committed to providing. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP. Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Matching sets of footprints discovered in Africa and South America reveal that dinosaurs once traveled along a type of highway 120 million years ago before the two continents split apart, according to new research. Paleontologists have found more than 260 dinosaur footprints from the Early Cretaceous Period in Brazil and Cameroon, now more than 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) apart on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The footprints are similar in age, shape and geologic context, said Louis L. Jacobs, a paleontologist at the Southern Methodist University in Texas and lead author of a study describing the tracks published Monday by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. A theropod footprint appears in this image from the Sousa Basin in northeastern Brazil. - Ismar de Souza Carvalho Most of the fossilized prints were created by three-toed theropod dinosaurs, while a few likely belonged to lumbering four-legged sauropods with long necks and tails or ornithischians, which had pelvic structures similar to birds, said study coauthor Diana P. Vineyard, research associate at SMU. The trackways tell a story of how the movements of massive landmasses created ideal conditions for dinosaurs before supercontinents broke apart into the seven continents we know today. Lush basins for life The footprints were preserved in mud and silt along ancient rivers and lakes that once existed on the supercontinent Gondwana, which broke away from the larger landmass of Pangea, Jacobs said. One of the youngest and narrowest geological connections between Africa and South America was the elbow of northeastern Brazil nestled against what is now the coast of Cameroon along the Gulf of Guinea, Jacobs said. The two continents were continuous along that narrow stretch, so that animals on either side of that connection could potentially move across it. Africa and South America began to pull apart from each other about 140 million years ago. The separation created rifts in Earths crust, and as the tectonic plates beneath South America and Africa drifted away, magma in Earths mantle created new oceanic crust. Over time, the South Atlantic Ocean filled the space between the two continents. Red stars within this graphic mark the route once taken by dinosaurs when the South American and African continents were connected. - Southern Methodist University But before this gradual change took place, different types of basins formed as Earths surface pulled apart. Rivers fed into the basins, forming lakes, Jacobs said. The study authors found evidence of whats known as a half-graben basin in northeast Brazils Borborema region and a similar one in the Koum Basin in northern Cameroon. A half graben is an elongate basin formed by pulling apart of the Earths surface with a fault forming on one side such that the bottom of the valley tilts down toward the fault along which movement is occurring, Jacobs said by email. Hold your hand in front of you. Tilt your fingers down, representing movement along the fault. Rivers will flow down the valley and deposit sediments and sediments will be eroded from the high side of the valley. Within both basins, the researchers found dinosaur tracks, ancient river and lake sediments, and fossilized pollen. Plants fed the herbivores and supported a food chain, he said. Muddy sediments left by the rivers and lakes contain dinosaur footprints, including those of meat-eaters, documenting that these river valleys could provide specific avenues for life to travel across the continents 120 million years ago. Footprints belonging to dinosaurs were preserved in floodplain deposits within the Sousa Basin in Brazil. - Ismar de Souza Carvalho While dinosaur fossils can yield unique insights about the types of animals that roamed the planet millions of years ago, their footprints provide other windows into the past. Dinosaur tracks are not rare, but unlike the bones usually found, footprints are the proof of dinosaur behavior, how they walked, ran or otherwise, who they walked with, what environment they walked through, what direction they were going, and where they were when they were doing it, Jacobs said. Its difficult to tell the specific species of dinosaurs that traveled along the basins, but they represent a larger portrait of the ancient climate and how different types of animals thrived in the environment that the continental rifting created. If your dog and a coyote walk across the same mudflat, you might know that two dog critters walked there, that they are very similar, but you may not be able to know if they are different species. Ditto the dinosaur track situation, Jacobs said. All animals have home ranges. All animals expand their ranges. All animals exploit resources as necessary depending on availability, often related to seasonality. Herbivores follow nutritious plants; carnivores follow their herbivorous food. At the time, rainfall levels helped create a tropical rainforest-type environment with abundant vegetation. Animals came to the basins from both present-day Africa and South America, causing their populations to mix. Imagine a lush, open basin with vegetation for the herbivores and carnivores following, said study coauthor Lawrence Flynn, assistant director for the American School of Prehistoric Research and lab safety coordinator within the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. If nobody is there on the new turf, then animals will disperse into it, given no competition. Dinosaur footprints belonging to a theropod are visible in the Sousa Basin. - Ismar de Souza Carvalho Later, once the continents drifted apart, this disruption likely caused a break in genetic continuity, a key driver of evolution, Jacobs said. The dinosaur tracks in Cameroon were first discovered in the late 1980s, and Jacobs reported on them at the First International Symposium on Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, convened by paleontologist Martin Lockley, in 1986. Jacobs then became friends with study author Ismar de Souza Carvalho, now a professor within the department of geology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Jacobs was studying dinosaur movements from the African side, while Carvalho was studying them from the Brazilian side. As research into the basins in Africa and South America has continued in the following decades, Jacobs and Carvalho and their colleagues reviewed existing and new fieldwork and research to analyze the matching aspects. The new study is being published in tribute to Lockley, who devoted his career to studying dinosaur footprints. We wanted to put new and evolving geological and paleontological evidence together to tell a story more specifically of where and why and when dispersals between the continents happened, Jacobs said. One beauty of this Earth is that any of us can see that Africa and South America used to fit together like puzzle pieces. It is easy to conceive that in a connected world, animals, including dinosaurs, could and would be likely to move from place to place. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Matthew Perrys alleged street dealeronce managed a high-end rehab center where a man overdosed, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Now that mans family wants authorities to investigate whether theres a connection. William Cooney died from a mix of fentanyl and other drugs while he was a patient at the Red Door care facility, where Erik Fleming worked as a program director and sober living manager. The facility acknowledged that Fleming, who pled guilty in connection to Perrys death, used to work there but said he was not working the day of Cooneys death in a statement. Red Door and its founders bear no responsibility for [Cooneys] death, said an attorney for the facility, adding that it operates at the highest levels of client care. Fleming, a former film director and TV producer, was a longtime friend of Brooke MuellerCharlie Sheens ex-wife who also struggles with addictionwho was dating Cooney when Perry died, THR reported. Her connection to Fleming reportedly led to her being questioned by authorities in the first reveal of new details in the case. Cooneys ex-wife told the publication that Cooneys unraveling began when he started dating Mueller, who connected him to Fleming and Red Door. [Fleming] had been introduced vaguely as an assistant, best friend, family acquaintance (by Mueller)apparently godfather to one of her children, she told THR. [Fleming] wasnt known for having any real credentials in health services, but had a financial stake in pushing [Cooney] there. A substance abuse consultant who worked with Cooney said shed tried to get authorities to investigate the facilitys role in his death for years, to no avail. Now Fleming, one of its employees, has pleaded guilty to distributing drugs. I now wonder if Matthew Perry would be alive if [Cooneys] case had been given the attention that it deserved, she added. 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. (L-R) Hendrik Wuest, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Tim Kurzbach, Mayor of Solingen, Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz lay white roses at a church near the scene of a knife attack at the 650th anniversary celebrations of the city of Solingen. Thomas Banneyer/dpa The mayor of the western German city of Solingen has appealed for calm, as political debates on deportations and weapons reform raged just three days after a deadly knife attack in the city. "Let's calm down," Tim Kurzbach said after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the premier of the state of North Rhine Wesphalia, Hendrik Wust. "It's not just about Solingen - it's about our country," he added. Kurzbach said residents and emergency services were "still a long way from dealing with the horror of these events," warning that demonstrations in the city could add further strains. "Have the debates, but have them in your cities too," he said. Three people were killed and eight wounded by a knife-wielding attacker during a festival celebrating the city's 650th anniversary on Friday evening. A 26-year-old suspect from Syria was subsequently remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. Hendrik Wuest (C), Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Tim Kurzbach (L), Mayor of Solingen, welcome Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) on his arrival following a knife attack at the Solingen town festival. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Henning Kaiser/dpa-Pool/dpa Medicaid for people leaving jail or prison in NM expected to launch in summer 2025 An "inmate exclusion" rule in Medicaid makes it so when someone gets incarcerated, they lose their access to medical care. (Photo by David McNew / Getty Images) Almost everyone in prison or jail will return home at some point, but for decades, New Mexico and other states have defaulted to kicking them off the rolls for health coverage while theyre incarcerated, which some experts say can lead to more harm in their communities once they get out. But the federal government last month gave New Mexico more leeway with its Medicaid program, so the state will be able to enroll people in Medicaid on their way out of state prisons, local and tribal jails, juvenile detention facilities, and state forensic hospitals like the one in Las Vegas, N.M. Even though many people who get caught up in the criminal legal system are eligible for Medicaid, nearly all incarcerated people enrolled in the program lose coverage when taken into custody because of federal law which established the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy, or inmate exclusion. So when someone gets incarcerated, they not only risk losing their job, their housing or connections to loved ones, they also lose their access to medical care beyond the walls. With the exclusion rule in place now, Corrections Department staff tell people in prison they need to follow up with a doctor once released to keep getting their medications, including for chronic conditions but really, it is difficult for them to go out, get that appointment and show up, said Wence Asonganyi, Health Services administrator for the Corrections Department. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on July 26 approved New Mexicos request for a waiver to the exclusion policy. It may cut the chances of people committing another crime once out, called recidivism, said Haven Scogin, deputy director of reentry for the New Mexico Corrections Department. Studies have shown interventions like medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder during incarceration and after release are important for preventing recidivism. This is a structural way we can address barriers to health care coverage, Scogin said. The waiver also allows people to get a 30-day supply of their meds as they get out. Asonganyi said he hopes the waiver will allow medical providers to meet incarcerated people face-to-face, either virtually or in-person, while theyre still inside, so they know where theyll be going and who theyll be meeting. The waiver requires state governments not only refer people to appointments but also to sit with them in the waiting room, support them through the process, and try to sign them up for other benefits, said Alex Castillo Smith, deputy secretary of the Health Care Authority. The waiver would allow more people held in state prisons to get medication-assisted treatment, as soon as the Corrections Department writes rules, which is expected to happen in September, Asonganyi said. Ten other states recently got the green light for similar changes to their Medicaid programs, with another 13 states still waiting on approval, said Jon Courtney, deputy director of the Legislative Finance Authority. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX State needs to find providers New Mexicos program is not up and running, and will need more work to bring providers on board both inside and outside the walls. The Corrections Department has started discussions with those specializing in behavioral health and mental health in the community, Scogin said. Under the reentry waiver, incarcerated people could get on Medicaid and start getting care between one and three months before release. Under the waiver, a primary care doctor will see their patients inside, assess their needs, and come up with a plan for when they get out. Providers working in the New Mexico prison system also dont bill Medicaid, Asonganyi said, and would need to be set up so they can in order for the waiver to work. Expected to launch July 25 Castillo Smith said the next step for the Health Care Authority and the Corrections Department is to write a more fully fleshed-out plan, which is due to the feds on Jan. 1. In the meantime, theyre writing the rates for providers to charge for incarcerated peoples care, and rewriting contracts with the insurance companies to formalize their eligibility. Between January and June, HCA will then educate and train community members, she said. The waiver services will go live in July next year. The Corrections Departments working group assigned to implement the waiver was expected to meet for the first time on Friday to start talking about timelines, Scogin said. Next summer and fall, the feds will be monitoring the program to determine whether the services under the waiver will remain a permanent part of New Mexico Medicaid, Castillo Smith said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. SpaceXs latest attempt to push the cosmic boundaries is set to kick off this week with a mission called Polaris Dawn: a nail-biting, five-day trek to orbit with a crew of private astronauts traveling into Earths radiation belts and hoping to conduct the first commercial spacewalk. The mission is slated to take off from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida between 3:38 and 7:09 a.m. ET Tuesday after previous attempts to launch in late August were delayed carrying four civilians on the daring excursion. It will mark the second trip to space for Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments platform company Shift4. He made a less risky journey in 2021 on a mission dubbed Inspiration4. Polaris Dawn is one in a series of missions that Isaacman plans to carry out alongside SpaceX three flights aiming to test new technologies that can help advance the Elon Musk-led companys goal of seeing humans live and work on other planets. Joining Isaacman on Polaris Dawn will be two SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, the first from the company to join a mission to orbit. Scott Kidd Poteet, a former United States Air Force pilot and longtime friend of Isaacmans, rounds out the crew. Members of the crew come to the mission with extensive experience piloting jet aircraft a common career before becoming a professional astronaut or have worked with and trained NASA astronauts, as is the case for Menon and Gillis. Risky business After takeoff Tuesday, the four-person team is expected to travel into an oval-shaped orbit that extends as far as 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) from Earth high enough to plunge the vehicle and crew into the Van Allen radiation belts. No human has traveled so far into space or passed through the radiation environment since NASAs Apollo program. The Polaris Dawn mission will also aim to reach the highest orbit around Earth for a crewed mission with eyes on surpassing the 1966 record set by NASAs Gemini 11 by 20 miles (32 kilometers). The latter reached 853 miles (1,373 kilometers) nearly 60 years ago. Menon and Gillis would also become the first women to make such a journey. Almost immediately after launch, the crew will begin preparing for a high-risk spacewalk, making use of Extravehicular Activity, or EVA, suits that SpaceX developed in just 2 years. If successful, the spacewalk, which could take place early Thursday, would mark the first time that civilians (or nongovernment astronauts) have carried out such an endeavor. The quartet is then set to focus on roughly 40 science experiments before the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule steers itself back toward Earth. As with any mission to space, reentry is expected to be dangerous with pressure and friction heating the spacecrafts exterior to more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,649 degrees Celsius) before the spacecraft free-falls toward the ocean and deploys parachutes to slow its descent. The mission is expected to last about five days. Heres a closer look at its four crew members. Jared Isaacman: Ambitious objectives Jared Isaacman, the founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at SpaceX headquarters in California on February 2, 2021. Isaacman's all-civilian Inspiration4 mission raised more than $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. - Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images As one of the instigators of the Polaris Dawn mission, Isaacman had a hand in selecting the crewmates that would travel alongside him. And this team is distinct from the one that accompanied Isaacman on the Inspiration4 mission nearly three years ago. That mission brought along people from all walks of life, including a cancer survivor, an artist, and the beneficiary of a raffle. Inspiration4 the first commercial spaceflight mission for SpaceX sought to prove that humans from various backgrounds could train for and execute a flight in orbit. The four-member crew spent three days in space, lapping planet Earth. But due to the experimental nature and risks associated with Polaris Dawn, Isaacman said this mission required a different approach. I think you build a crew for your mission objectives. The objective for Inspiration4 was to inspire people to do things differently than how it had been historically done at NASA. For what was largely like a random process, everybody so exceeded my expectations, Isaacman told CNN. But Polaris is a test and developmental program and that appeals to my aviation background and things weve done in the past, he added. Its set out (to) have ambitious objectives. So, you assemble the best crew you could for it. Anna Menon: A lifelong dream Polaris Dawn crew member Anna Menon speaks at a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 19, 2024. - Joe Skipper/Reuters Isaacman already knew Menon from the Inspiration4 mission: She was a technical adviser to the family members of that crew, explaining the complexities of spaceflight to loved ones on the ground. Months after Inspiration4 came back to Earth, she learned that Isaacman was planning his return. I found out about it through a meeting that was put on my calendar. I suddenly start to feel like this is not the average meeting (and) very quickly, Jared asked if I would like to go on his next mission, Menon said. I was just completely surprised. Absolutely never would have seen this coming in my entire life. But Menon said she has longed to travel to space, which captured her imagination during a trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston as a fourth grader. I got to experience a day in the life of an astronaut and a mission control and flight controller, she told CNN. And from that time on, I did dream of having that opportunity. Menons passion led to a masters degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University and a seven-year stint at NASA, working as a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station. After switching to a role at SpaceX, she served in mission control during some of the companys highest-profile missions, including 2020s Demo-2 the inaugural crewed flight of SpaceXs Dragon capsule that returned astronaut launches to US soil for the first time in a decade. Still, Menon told CNN, she did not anticipate traveling to space. I think I very much recognized the odds were extremely low, she said. And I probably, if Im honest with myself, had written it off. But spaceflight now appears to run in the family. Just days before Menon learned she would join the Polaris Dawn crew, her husband Anil Menon, who also worked with the Inspiration4 crew as a SpaceX employee was selected as a NASA astronaut. (He has not been assigned to his first mission.) It was an absolute whirlwind of a week in our household, Anna Menon said. I called him up right after I got out of the meeting with Jared, and I just remember his reaction being extreme shock and such excitement over the moon excited. Their two children, now 4 and 6 years old, have watched as their parents trained to take on risky challenges. Menon said her eldest is just beginning to grasp the gravity of the situation. Menon also coauthored a book for them, called Kisses From Space, that she plans to read aloud during the mission as part of a fundraiser for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Menon will be a mission specialist during the Polaris Dawn flight, helping to carry out science experiments during the trip, and shell be the missions medical officer. If space adaptation syndrome a type of severe motion sickness that can strike astronauts hits the crew, it will be up to Menon to administer medication that can alleviate those symptoms. Sarah Gillis: From intern to astronaut Sarah Gillis delivers remarks during a news briefing on August 19 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. - Scott Schilke/Sipa/AP Dealing with and searching for answers to the daunting biological challenges that humans face while floating in a spacecraft is another cornerstone goal of the Polaris Dawn mission. Some of this missions science experiments are geared toward a better understanding of space adaptation syndrome and predicting whom it will affect. As a lead operations engineer at SpaceX, Gillis has taken the reins on training astronauts for crucial missions. Among her trainees were the first astronauts to fly in a Crew Dragon capsule NASAs Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley before the historic Demo-2 mission in 2020. Gillis also trained the Inspiration4 crew for its 2021 mission, and she saw firsthand how spaceflight can take a toll. Isaacman has said two of the crew members on Inspiration4 experienced space adaptation syndrome (about 1 in 2 people do), and there were issues with the Crew Dragon toilet that threatened the teams comfort during its 3-day trip. Im really, really interested to see how (being in microgravity) goes for me and what I learn and bring back to the training program at SpaceX, Gillis told CNN. Like Menon, Gillis was shocked to learn about possible space travel during a meeting that popped up on her calendar in late 2021. It was a pretty wild, random workday, Gillis said, but I think my immediate response was, Hell yes. During her career at SpaceX, where she has worked for nearly a decade, Gillis helped develop the companys Crew Dragon operations process and has been close to the sidelines of human spaceflight. Despite her proximity to those missions, however, Gillis said she never imagined she would fly aboard the capsule to which she has dedicated much of her professional career. I think human spaceflight captivated my imagination, and thats why I tried to pursue things that interested me in that field, she told CNN. (But) I dont think in any of this, I considered it was possible. Gillis did not grow up dreaming of cosmic adventures. Shes a trained violinist who did not seriously consider a career in space until her junior year of high school, when she met NASA astronaut Joe Tanner. He helped her with a senior project and encouraged her to pursue engineering in college. I ultimately applied for aerospace engineering at (the University of Colorado Boulder) because of that, she said, and ended up down this whole journey of becoming an intern at SpaceX, and then, many years later, getting to fly on the spacecraft. Gillis and Menon have spent the last several years splitting time between their day jobs at SpaceX leaving their fingerprints on the hardware that will carry them to space and training for the Polaris Dawn mission. Now, I would say, over the last couple months, weve transitioned to full-time crew members, Gillis added. Scott Kidd Poteet: Zero reservations Scott Poteet stands underneath a wing of his F-16 "Fighting Falcon" on March 29, 2007, during his time as an Air Force major and a member of the Air Force Flight Demonstration team, the Thunderbirds. - Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images Poteet has been along for the ride throughout Isaacmans pursuit of space ambitions. Their friendship stems from experiences in the air: Poteet spent 20 years in the Air Force, racking up about 3,200 hours of jet flight experience. And Isaacman is a passionate pilot with thousands of hours of experience flying jets and experimental aircraft. Poteet went to work for Isaacman after meeting him at an air show. Poteet joined Draken International, a tactical fighter aircraft supplier and contractor for the US military that Isaacman founded in 2012. Draken provided a bad guy service, Poteet said, using jets to role-play as enemies during military training. It commercialized a role that Poteet had also played in the Air Force. That experiencelasted about five years, Poteet said, before Isaacman sold the company. Since Isaacman shifted focus spaceward, he and Poteet have been in lockstep. During Inspiration4, Poteet was the mission director. But Poteet said he did not imagine a ride to space would be within his grasp. I was not the best academic student growing up grade school through high school, Poteet told CNN. But I admired all the astronauts and the NASA programs: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo leading up to the shuttle era. From left: Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis pose during training for the Polaris Dawn mission. - John Kraus/Polaris Program But as a former operational test pilot, Poteet said he understood Isaacmans desire to push boundaries and help SpaceX take ambitious leaps forward in its commercial spaceflight capabilities. Similar to (SpaceX CEO) Elon (Musk), Jared has got visions of: How do we continue to push the envelope and move the needle on space exploration? Poteet said. The end result was the Polaris program. I was a firm believer in what (Isaacman) had envisioned, Poteet added. The Polaris Dawn mission came together in 2 years, breakneck speed as far as aerospace timelines typically go. Poteet said that this mission shows what the SpaceX team can accomplish in a very short few years (and) is a true testament to its professionalism. I have absolutely zero reservations, Poteet said about making his foray into space. I have full faith and confidence that theyve crossed every T and dotted every I in preparation for our mission. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) The City of Grand Junction announced the two finalists for its city manager position on Monday: Fruita City Manager Mike Bennett and Fountain City Manager Scott Trainor. The position is currently filled by Interim City Manager Andrea Phillips after former City Manager Greg Caton stepped down in April. Mike Bennett Mike Bennett has been Fruitas city manager since 2014. Before coming to Fruita, he worked for the City of Hickory, North Carolina as interim transit director from 2006 to 2007, assistant to the city manager from 2007 to 2010 and director of administrative services from 2010 to 2014. In 2023, Bennett taught at Colorado Mesa University as an adjunct professor of public administration. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Utah State University; he also has a Master of Public Administration from Brigham Young University and has served on the programs Executive Advisory Board since 2018. He graduated from the University of Virginias Senior Executive Institute in 2013. Bennett is a credentialed manager through the International City/County Management Association and an active member. He is a board member of the Colorado City/County Management Association (CCCMA) and was awarded Colorado City Manager of the Year in April. Scott Trainor Scott Trainor has been Fountains city manager since 2007. Before taking on the position, Trainor was city manager for Cedar Hills, Utah from 1997 to 2002, then for Ontario, Oregon from 2002 to 2007. Trainor holds a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning and Resource Management and a Master of Public Administration, both from Brigham Young University. Trainor is a credentialed manager through the International City/County Management Association. He previously served as president of CCCMA, served on its board of directors from 2017 to 2023 and was awarded Colorado City Manager of the Year in 2022. He was also a member of the National League of Cities Military Communities Council from 2012 to 2019. My council colleagues and I are very pleased with the caliber of candidates who applied for the city manager position. As we finish up our national search process to select a highly qualified candidate for the city manager position, we wanted to ensure that our community has an opportunity to meet our finalists and offer input. Grand Junction Mayor Abram Herman The city has planned a community meet and greet for the candidates on Thursday, Sept. 5 from 10-11 a.m. The meeting will be at the Grand Junction Convention Center at 159 Main Street. Comment cards will be available at the meeting for attendees to share their feedback with the city council. Once the final candidate is announced, the city can extend an offer of employment after 14 days. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A landslide and its resulting megatsunami in a Greenland fjord in September 2023 were significant enough to send waves around the channel of water for an entire week, newly analyzed data collected from seismic monitors has shown. In what's known as a seiche, a number of smaller oscillations bouncing between shores combined to form standing waves in the partially enclosed body of water. The phenomenon was logged from signals that traveled as far as 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) around the globe. The team behind the new research, from the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences and the University of Potsdam in Germany, says this kind of sensing technology is an important part of monitoring remote areas such as Greenland. "The fact that the signal of a rockslide-triggered sloshing wave in a remote area of Greenland can be observed worldwide and for over a week is exciting, and as seismologists this signal was what mostly caught our attention," says geophysicist Angela Carrillo-Ponce from the GFZ German Research Center for Geoscience. Data was collected from all around the world. (CarrilloPonce et al., The Seismic Record, 2024) Using data obtained from satellites and seismic activity stations measuring shock waves as they reverberate around Earth the researchers were able to identify both a high-energy landslide that triggered the megatsunami in the Dickson Fjord, as well as the subsequent seiche that lasted for days. According to the researchers the tsunami reached some 200 meters (656 feet) above the shore in certain places, sending water as far away as the offshore island of Ella more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the site of the landslide. The evidence of the standing wave came through what's known as a very long period (VLP) signal, which recorded the ongoing impact of the landslide. There were also reports on social media of the after-effects of the event. It's not clear what caused the initial landslide, but we've got a very good idea of what happened next. From the Artic Command Facebook page today; TSUNAMI IN DICKSON FJORD Arctic Command was contacted on 17 September by a person on board the cruise ship OCEAN ALBATROS. The person was previously employed by SIRIUS, and he was therefore able to ascertain quite quickly that pic.twitter.com/QTFuNk9qgI Orla Joelsen (@OJoelsen) September 21, 2023 "The analysis of the seismic signal can give us some answers regarding the processes involved and may even lead to improved monitoring of similar events in the future," says Carrillo-Ponce. "If we had not studied this event seismically, then we would not have known about the seiche produced in the fjord system." As the world warms, detailed monitoring of regions such as Greenland will be increasingly vital higher temperatures mean less stability and greater variation in glaciers, and potentially landslides such as the one recorded here. Even in a remote part of the world such as Greenland, these incidents and subsequent megatsunamis can lead to loss of life, and the hope is that improving technology will give us a better idea of where events like this might happen next. "It is quite impressive to see that we could use good-quality data from stations located as far as Germany, Alaska and North America, and that those records were strong enough for at least one week," says Carrillo-Ponce. The research has been published in The Seismic Record. Related News JEFF DAVIS PARISH, La. (KLFY) A 49-year-old Mermentau man was killed Sunday night in a vehicle-bicycle crash, Louisiana State Police announced. The crash, which occurred around 9 p.m. Sunday near Triangle Shell Road in Jeff Davis Parish, claimed the life of Shawn Maris. State police said Maris was riding a bicycle east on U.S. 90 the same time a 2013 GMC Sierra was also traveling east on that road. Maris turned left in front of the GMC as it passed his location, state police said. The driver of the GMC was unable to avoid a collision and struck the bicycle causing Maris to be ejected, state police said. Investigators said the bicycle was not equipped with reflectors or lights, and Maris was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Maris died at the scene. Latest News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLFY.com. On the night of August 26, Ukraine's Air Defense Forces neutralized 99 Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones. And during a second Russian attack on Monday morning, 102 missiles were shot down. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by the commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk. He noted that the Russian occupiers used various types of air, ground, and sea-based missiles for the massive attack. In total, the Air Force's radio engineering troops detected and tracked 236 enemy air attack vehicles: 127 missiles and 109 attack UAVs. Among them: 3 X-47M2 "Kinzhal" aeroballistic missiles, which were launched from the airspace of the Ryazan and Lipetsk regions of the Russian Federation; 6 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Kursk and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation and Crimea; 77 X-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS aircraft from the airspace of the Volgograd region and the Caspian Sea region; 28 Kalibr cruise missiles from surface/underwater carriers in the eastern part of the Black Sea; ADVERTISIMENT 3 X-22 cruise missiles and from the airspace of the Voronezh region of the Russian Federation 10 X-59/X-69 guided missiles from Su-57 and Su-34 aircraft - from the airspace of the Belgorod region and the area of Mariupol; 109 Shahed-131/136 strike UAVs launch areas of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk, Yeysk Russia, and Chauda Crimea. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! New Mexico man, accused of having sex with teen and hiding age, enters plea NEW MEXICO (KRQE) A man has entered his plea for a case involving sexual abuse. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Jordian Pacheco, 33, of Santa Domingo Pueblo, pleaded guilty. Pacheco is accused of meeting up with a 14-year-old girl from the Navajo Nation in 2021 and not telling her his accurate age. Court documents claimed Pacheco drove to the girls home on January 9, 2021, when her mom wasnt home and had sex with her. At the time, Pacheco was 29. Former New Mexico postal worker sentenced for crime involving out-of-state minor The next day, the girls mom told police a man was hiding in her daughters closet. Officials claimed they found Pacheco there, and he gave a false identity while denying that he committed any crimes. He was taken to a detention center. Police found a vehicle registered to Pacheco outside the house. When confronted, he reportedly confirmed he gave a false name. Later on, officials said he confessed to having sex with the girl. He faces up to 78 months in prison, and afterward, he will have to be supervised from five years to life. He also has to register as a sex offender. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LAS VEGAS, N.M. (KRQE) The New Mexico Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a Las Vegas man who was sentenced for stabbing a disabled elderly man to death in 2019. A jury found Seig Isaac Chavez guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in 2022. The body of 71-year-old William Smith was found with 24 stab wounds in August 2019. A witness saw Smith get in Chavezs truck the night he was murdered and his blood was found inside the truck and on Chavezs jacket. Story continues below During the trial, prosecutors plays a call between Chavez and his son that took place while Chavez was in jail. The Supreme Court ruled that audio recording of the call should not have been admitted as evidence during his trial and the recording significantly affected the verdicts. In the jail phone call, Chavez told his son he was now the man of the house responsible for protecting others and repeatedly instructed the teenager to stab anyone in the throat who got close to him or tried to touch him. He also told the son, Daddys going to prison, according to the Supreme Court. The district court committed plain error by allowing the jury to hear evidence that was relevant only to Defendants propensity for violence. This evidence was highly inflammatory and deprived Defendant of a fair trial, the court wrote in an opinion by Justice C. Shannon Bacon. The court also ruled that Chavez could be retried. To read the decision, 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. FILE - Communal police forest officers walk on seized pine logs they found hidden in the brush along the road while on patrol, on the outskirts of the Indigenous township of Cheran, Michoacan state, Mexico, Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File) TANGAMANDAPIO, Mexico (AP) Mexicos traditional and Indigenous community police forces are coming under increasingly deadly fire from drug cartels, authorities said Monday. Adrian Lopez, the chief prosecutor in the western state of Michoacan, confirmed that gunmen linked to drug cartels shot to death seven members of the community police force in the town of Coahuayana over the weekend. The community guards were killed just days after seven members of an Indigenous community police force were kidnapped, apparently by cartel gunmen, and put through hell in another Michoacan town before they were freed Friday. In the face of cartel turf wars that have emptied towns in the Mexican countryside, many places have turned to community police, who are relatively untrained members of the town who volunteer or are paid a small stipend to protect residents. More common in Indigenous towns which have centuries of experience in organizing and defending themselves the community police are a more established and trusted force than the ephemeral self defense squads that flourished in Michoacan between 2013 and 2014 to fight the cartels but were quickly corrupted. But while they enjoy the trust of their fellow townspeople, the community guards can't match the firepower of the cartels that want their land. Lopez, the state prosecutor, said the attack in Coahuayana Saturday was related to battles by drug cartels to control the coastal area, a main route for landing seaborne shipments of cocaine. This all involves the decision of the members of criminal groups to gain territory and carry out illegal activities, mainly drug smuggling, he said. Coahuayana (koh-why-YAH-nah), which sits on the Pacific coast near the neighboring state of Colima, is particularly attractive for the cartels; go-fast boats transporting cocaine from South America have a straight route here, but often dump floating bales of cocaine at sea with location devices, to be picked up and taken ashore. The area on the coast of Michoacan and Colima has been ideal for picking up packages of cocaine from South America, Lopez said. There have been innumerable seizures of packages of cocaine by the Navy. While nobody in Coahuayana would say which gang carried out the killings, suspicion immediately turned to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which has long been active in the region. The cartel is also suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping of seven community guards six men and one woman who were abducted last Tuesday and released Friday in the Purepecha Indigenous township of Tangamandapio (tahn-gah-man-DAH-pee-oh) Michoacan. Those traditional officers are known as Kuarichas, (KWAH-rich-ahs) in Purepecha. In Indigenous towns, such forces have legal status to handle minor offenses. The seven were abducted Tuesday, and a massive search operation was launched involving helicopters, the military and state police. None would say who kidnapped them or what was done to them, but suspicion once again fell on the Jalisco cartel, based in the neighboring state of that name. One of the officers, Brayan Javier, said after his release, the truth is, it was hell there, because of a lot of things that happened. Another of the rescued guards, Luis Reyes, said their liberation was due to the unity and strength of the Purepecha community that helped in the search effort. Thanks to the entire town, all the Purepecha people, we are strong, Reyes said. While Reyes and the others remain convinced that the Indigenous resilience and community ties can fend off the cartels, that is less than clear. In recent months in the southern state of Chiapas one of the most heavily Indigenous parts of Mexico the area near the border with Guatemala has essentially fallen under the control of warring drug gangs, causing some Chiapas residents to give up and flee into neighboring Guatemala. ___ Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america The Michigan Democratic Party and Michigan GOP held conventions Saturday to nominate candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court, State Board of Education and the three publicly-elected university boards. While political parties in Michigan nominate candidates to serve on the state's high court, the party's picks appear on the nonpartisan section of the ballot. The other candidates nominated at state party conventions will appear on the partisan section of the Nov. 5 ballot. Here's a look at the candidates selected. Michigan Supreme Court Current partisan make-up of the Michigan Supreme Court: Democratic-nominated justices currently hold a 4-3 majority Michigan Democratic Party nominees Kyra Harris Bolden lost her 2022 election to serve on the states high court. But after her defeat, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed her to court to fill a vacancy left by then-Justice Bridget Mary McCormack. Bolden is the first Black woman to serve on the court and shes running again to serve out the remainder of McCormacks term which ends Jan. 1, 2029. Kimberly Ann Thomas is a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan and the director and co-founder of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Michigan Law. Whitmer appointed her to the Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform. Michigan GOP nominees Branch County Circuit Judge Patrick O'Grady was elected to the 15th Circuit Court in 2008 and has served there as chief judge several times. The former member of the U.S. Army Reserve has a 1999 law degree from Thomas Cooley Law School. He is a candidate for the court's partial term of four years. State Rep. Andrew Fink, a Hillsdale Republican, is completing his second two-year term in the state House, where he serves as minority vice-chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The former U.S. Marine has a 2010 law degree from U-M. He will be a candidate for the full eight-year term made vacant by Justice David Viviano's decision not to seek another term. Michigan 2024 GOP convention: Karamo ejected from convention as divisions persist in Michigan Republican Party State Board of Education Current partisan make-up of the State Board of Education: Democrats currently hold a 6-2 majority Michigan Democratic Party nominees Ted Jones previously worked as a central office administrator for Detroit's public school system. He currently works as the Senior Director of Talent Initiatives at Global Detroit. In his acceptance speech, he promised to be "a tireless advocate" to ensure students in Michigan can recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including through tutoring and small student group initiatives. Adam Zemke is a former Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives from Ann Arbor. Upon accepting his nomination, he talked about "extremists targeting our kids" and a "white-washing" of history. He called the upcoming election a moment to "save public education." He also called for more funding for public schools. Michigan GOP nominees Tom McMillin is a former state lawmaker who has been a member of the state board since 2017. He describes himself as a strong advocate of local control, parental choice, and students' rights. McMillin served in the state House from 2009 through 2014 and is a former mayor of Auburn Hills and member of the Oakland County Commission. Nikki Snyder is completing her first term on the board after she was first elected in 2016. The Eastern Michigan University graduate and mother of three served first as a registered nurse and then as a nurse educator at Washtenaw Community College. She also has experience as a disability advocate. Michigan State University Board of Trustees Current partisan make-up of Michigan State University Board of Trustees: Democrats currently hold a 7-1 majority Michigan Democratic Party nominees Rebecca Bahar-Cook is the current CEO of Capitol Fundraising Associates, a Lansing-based fundraising firm, and former Ingham County Commissioner. Tommy Stallworth is a former Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives. Michigan GOP nominees Mike Balow is an MSU parent and military veteran. He says he wants to be a "voice of reason" on a board he considers dysfunctional. Balow pledges to put students first, keep tuition as affordable as possible, build on MSU's core academic strengths, and engage stakeholders so people don't feel ignored. Julie Maday is an economic development committee member and former councilwoman for the city of Novi. She is the spouse of an MSU alum and the mother of two MSU graduates. She says she will stand up for conservative voices on campus and "direct professors to educate students, not indoctrinate them." University of Michigan Board of Regents Current partisan make-up of the University of Michigan Board of Regents: Democrats currently hold a 6-2 majority Michigan Democratic Party nominees Denise Ilitch previously served as the president of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. and was first elected to the Board of Regents in 2008. Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs is a dermatologist who graduated college and medical school at the University of Michigan. Among her campaign priorities, she said she wants to make tuition free for families of four with household incomes below $65,000. Michigan GOP nominees Sevag Vartanian graduated from U-M with a degree in actuarial mathematics and has since worked in various areas of the financial sector, with an emphasis on the credit sector and asset management. He is calling for more fiscal discipline and a campus environment where conservative opinions can be freely expressed by both students and faculty. Carl Meyers is a senior vice president of investments at Raymond James & Associates in Dearborn who has worked more than 30 years in finance. He is a past appointee to the Michigan State Police pension board who now chairs an employee and police pension board for the city of Dearborn. He previously ran for regent in 2004. Michigan 2024 Dem convention: At Michigan Democratic Party convention, U-M regent race takes center stage Wayne State University Board of Governors Current partisan make-up of the Wayne State University Board of Governors: Democrats currently hold a 6-2 majority Michigan Democratic Party nominees Mark Gaffney currently serves on the Wayne State University Board of Governors. He previously served as the President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He was first elected to the board in 2016. He also serves as a part-time faculty member of the university's Employment and Labor Relations program. Rasha Demashkieh was born in Damascus, Syria where she was educated. She was previously appointed to serve on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and currently serves on the board of directors of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services. Michigan GOP nominees Dr. Michael Busuito is a physician and lifelong Detroit resident who earned his medical degree at Wayne State. He practices plastic and reconstructive surgery and serves as a volunteer as a clinical associate professor of surgery at the university's School of Medicine. Sunny Reddy is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who has a master's degree in chemical engineering from Wayne State. He "understands the value of a quality education and is determined to contribute to the ongoing success of his alma mater," according to his campaign website. 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: Michigan Democrats, GOP nominate Nov. ballot candidates A Michigan judge overturned a decision Saturday that blocked independent candidate Cornel West from appearing on the states ballot. Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford said in an order the Michigan Bureau of Elections must qualify West and his running mate for the ballot if theyve submitted enough valid signatures. He wrote that Michigans secretary of state and the director of the Bureau of Elections misapplied the law in finding otherwise. The Michigan Bureau of Elections director notified Wests campaign earlier this month he was disqualified from the ballot due to defects in the notarization of his affidavit of identity (AOI), according to the order. The order said the AOIs filed cannot serve as a mechanism to exclude them from the ballot. West celebrated the courts decision in a statement. This ruling is not just a legal victoryit is a moral victory for everyone who believes in the sanctity of the democratic process, he said. Our campaign submitted over 26,000 signatures, significantly more than required, which the court recognized as a legitimate expression of the peoples will. We are grateful for this affirmation and promise to continue championing the rights of all voters, he added. Wests campaign announced in June it secured enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in Michigan. The recent decision comes as West clears enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in numerous states, including Maine earlier this month. Although he continues to gain ballot access in several states, West still is a long-shot bid for the White House as he struggled to gain much traction. He has received about 1 percent in most polling. The Hill has reached out to Michigans secretary of state 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. CHICAGO - Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson spoke with USA TODAY at the Democratic convention last week, discussing Israels war with Hamas and how Michigan voters are responding. Benson emphasized the fundamental importance of empathetic communication, and a focus on kitchen table issues with a broad appeal for presidential candidates to carry her state. Any leader seeking to lead our state, or receive votes from citizens in Michigan, simply need to show that they hear, they see, peoples pain, and theyre committed to ensuring voices are heard across the spectrum, Benson said. And showing up, listening, trying to solve the everyday, fundamental problems for all citizens in our state, thats the types of things Michigan voters look for. Why is Israel-Hamas important in Michigan? Michigan is home to a large number of Arab American voters, and U.S. military support for Israel has been an important voting issue there. During the Michigan primaries earlier this year, the state had one of the largest turnouts of the uncommitted vote in the race for Democratic presidential nominationa protest vote seeking to pressure President Joe Biden to do more to end the war. A point of contention among many in the Palestinian American community and progressives last week was the fact that no Palestinian speaker was allowed to address the DNC. The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who has been held hostage since Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel, were among the conventions speakers. Vice President Kamala Harris has walked a tightrope between demands from the contingent of the Democratic coalition calling for an immediate cease-fire and the wing that supports continued military aid and support for Israel in its campaign against Hamas. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 40,000 people have died, most of them civilians, in the war thats nearing the one-year mark. On the last day of the convention, during her acceptance speech, the Democratic presidential nominee addressed the issue head-on, saying she would always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7 just before calling what has happened in Gaza since devastating. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination, she said, drawing loud applause. This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Gaza war and elections: Michigan's Benson shares approach (Bloomberg) -- Hours after 100 Israeli warplanes swooped over southern Lebanon, taking out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers in what was called a preemptive strike, the Middle East braced for an expanded conflagration that could involve Iran and its allied militias. Most Read from Bloomberg Tensions deescalated on Monday, but remain high and the risk of a region-wide war is still present. Israels assault on Sunday morning was based, Israeli officials said, on intelligence that Hezbollah was about to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israel as well as drones at a key intelligence center just north of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the killing of its commander in July. Israel declared a 48-hour state of emergency and shut its main airport for several hours, with numerous airlines canceling flights. Hezbollah responded by firing more than 200 projectiles, according to Israel, although officials said very limited damage was caused. One Israeli soldier was killed by falling debris, while three deaths were reported in Lebanon. If Hezbollah had successfully executed an attack on targets in central Israel, the tit-for-tat fighting thats been simmering on the border area for 10 months may have turned into wider warfare. Oil prices rose, with traders concerned about an escalation, especially if Iran became directly involved. Brent climbed almost 1% to just below $80 a barrel by 2:45 p.m. in Singapore. Our hope is that the events of last night do not spill out into an escalation that leads to regional war, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday evening during a visit to Canada. For now, theres relative calm. It was a huge success that we detected the plans and now there is the possibility for both sides not to escalate this very complex situation, said retired Brigadier General Ilan Biton, a former chief of defense for Israels air force. Both Israel and Hezbollah announced that for the moment, their operations were over despite ongoing low-level fighting. Israel soon reopened its airport and eased restrictions on public gatherings. Israels military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said there was no damage to any Israeli military base. The Israeli army didnt reimpose safety restrictions on the population on Sunday night, indicating it didnt expect another attack imminently. Significantly, negotiations in Cairo aimed at establishing a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamas commenced as planned on Sunday. Yet while Israeli officials said there was progress, Hamas, after its delegation left Cairo on Sunday evening, suggested otherwise. Israel has set new conditions for a cease-fire and is still procrastinating, according to a statement citing Osama Hamdan, a spokesman and leader of Hamas. In a dig at US President Joe Bidens administration, he said its planting false hope by talking about an imminent agreement for electoral purposes. The talks are set to continue at lower levels in the coming days in an effort to bridge gaps between the parties, the Associated Press reported, citing a US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official said the recent talks have been constructive and the parties are working to reach an implementable agreement. Underscoring Consequences The Israeli exchange with Hezbollah is more likely to aid than complicate the cease-fire talks, said Mike Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute. By sending a message that Israel is willing and able to escalate, and that Washington will back it when it does so, the US and Israel have underscored the consequences for Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran of continuing to refuse a deal. Hezbollah said its attack on Israel was planned as the start of retaliation for the killing of its commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said it fired more than 320 missiles, followed up by drones, to target 11 army barracks and military sites in northern Israel. The Mossad intelligence services base in Glilot was the main target of the attack, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting Sunday and said he was determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes, and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us we will harm them. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone over the weekend. Israel declined to say whether the US was given advance warning of Sundays attack, with a military spokesman saying: This was an Israeli operation. US Support The US has stepped up its naval and air defense presence in the region as a warning to Iran and its allies not to increase hostilities. Asked if Israel had informed the US in advance of its plans to hit at Hezbollah, Sullivan, the national security adviser, sidestepped the question. I cant speak directly to the conversations that unfolded yesterday, other than to say there was continuous communication, and we have been tracking the threat of Hezbollah attacks against Israel for some time now, he said. But despite fresh US statements Sunday affirming support for Israels right to defense, the attack on Hezbollah is a setback for American diplomacy, which has been laser-focused on de-escalation and on the search for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Merissa Khurma, director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center in Washington. In private, the past ten-plus months have showcased various ebbs and flows in US-Israeli relations, and certainly a significant rise in tensions. She said it raises doubts among regional allies about whether the US still has leverage over Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the border since October, when the Lebanese organization entered the fray in support of Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed at least 500 people since then, most of them Hezbollah fighters. In Israel, roughly 30 soldiers and 18 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah attacks. Preventing the skirmishes from escalating even further has been at the heart of international diplomatic efforts to ease tension across the Middle East. Hours after an Israeli airstrike on July 30 killed Hezbollahs military chief in Beirut, Iran blamed Israel for killing the head of Hamas political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate but it has also said it would do so on its own timetable. Israel has repeatedly warned it not to do so. On Sunday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah and Iran that the latest attack isnt the end of the story, and was another step on the way to changing the situation in the north, and return our residents safely to their homes. Evacuations The US has been trying to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to reach a compromise over border disputes. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been evacuated from the border area due to the fighting, and Israel wants Hezbollah to move its fighters away from the border to allow its citizens to return. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the US, says it will continue hostilities with Israel until the country agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza with Hamas, also designated a terrorist group by the US and others. The war in the Palestinian enclave began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants, supported by Iran, invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted others. Israels retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 40,000 people, according to Hamas health officials in Gaza. --With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak, Omar Tamo, Marissa Newman, Jenny Leonard, Brian Platt and Jon Herskovitz. (Updates with latest on Monday, Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks and oil prices rising.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Despite a day of relative calm in the skies over Israel and Lebanon, tensions remained high Monday over the prospect that a regional war could erupt after Israel mounted what it called a preemptive strike that took out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers. Most Read from Bloomberg Israeli officials said the assault on Sunday morning, which sent more than 100 warplanes over southern Lebanon, was based on intelligence that Hezbollah was about to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israel as well as drones at a key intelligence center just north of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the killing of its commander in July. Israel declared a 48-hour state of emergency and shut its main airport for several hours, with numerous airlines canceling flights. Iran-backed Hezbollah responded by firing more than 200 projectiles, according to Israel, although officials said very limited damage was caused. One Israeli soldier was killed by falling debris, while three deaths were reported in Lebanon. If Hezbollah had successfully executed an attack on targets in central Israel, the tit-for-tat fighting thats been simmering on the border area for 10 months may have turned into wider warfare. Our hope is that the events of last night do not spill out into an escalation that leads to regional war, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday evening during a visit to Canada. Israeli officials argued that their strikes at Hezbollah made a broader war less likely. Israel reopened air travel and eased restrictions on public gatherings. It was a huge success that we detected the plans and now there is the possibility for both sides not to escalate this very complex situation, said retired Brigadier General Ilan Biton, a former chief of defense for Israels air force. Both Israel and Hezbollah announced that, for the moment, their operations were over despite ongoing low-level fighting. Significantly, negotiations in Cairo aimed at establishing a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamas commenced as planned on Sunday. Although Israeli officials said there was progress, Hamas suggested otherwise. Israel has set new conditions for a cease-fire and is still procrastinating, according to a statement citing Osama Hamdan, a spokesman and leader of Hamas. In a dig at US President Joe Bidens administration, he said its planting false hope by talking about an imminent agreement for electoral purposes. The talks continued Monday, with working groups meeting in Cairo, according to White House spokesman John Kirby. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Monday evening and was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The oil-rich kingdom has been expected to play a role helping to rebuild Gaza after the war, although its unclear who will govern the area. Hezbollah Retaliation Hezbollah said its weekend attack on Israel was the start of retaliation for the killing of its commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said it fired more than 320 missiles, followed up by drones, to target 11 army barracks and military sites in northern Israel. The Mossad intelligence services base in Glilot was the main target of the attack, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting Sunday and said he was determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes, and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us we will harm them. US Support The US has stepped up its naval and air defense presence in the region as a warning to Iran and its allies not to increase hostilities. Asked if Israel had informed the US in advance of its plans to hit at Hezbollah, Sullivan, the national security adviser, sidestepped the question. I cant speak directly to the conversations that unfolded yesterday, other than to say there was continuous communication, and we have been tracking the threat of Hezbollah attacks against Israel for some time now, he said. But despite fresh US statements Sunday affirming support for Israels right to defense, the attack on Hezbollah is a setback for American diplomacy, which has been laser-focused on de-escalation and on the search for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Merissa Khurma, director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center in Washington. In private, the past 10-plus months have showcased various ebbs and flows in US-Israeli relations, and certainly a significant rise in tensions. She said it raises doubts among regional allies about whether the US still has leverage over Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the border since October, when the Lebanese organization entered the fray in support of Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed at least 500 people since then, most of them Hezbollah fighters. In Israel, roughly 30 soldiers and 18 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah attacks. Preventing the skirmishes from escalating even further has been at the heart of international diplomatic efforts to ease tension across the Middle East. Hours after an Israeli airstrike on July 30 killed Hezbollahs military chief in Beirut, Iran blamed Israel for killing the head of Hamas political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate but it has also said it would do so on its own timetable. Israel has repeatedly warned it not to do so. On Sunday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah and Iran that the latest attack isnt the end of the story, and was another step on the way to changing the situation in the north, and return our residents safely to their homes. Evacuations The US has been trying to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to reach a compromise over border disputes. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been evacuated from the border area due to the fighting, and Israel wants Hezbollah to move its fighters away from the border to allow its citizens to return. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the US, says it will continue hostilities with Israel until the country agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza with Hamas, also designated a terrorist group by the US and others. The war in the Palestinian enclave began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants, supported by Iran, invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted others. Israels retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 40,000 people, according to Hamas health officials in Gaza. --With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak, Omar Tamo, Marissa Newman, Jenny Leonard, Brian Platt, Jon Herskovitz and Akayla Gardner. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Millions in this country are stranded by flooding. Many blame their neighbor Wading through muddy floodwaters up to chest height, hundreds of people slowly make their way to safety, their belongings held high above their heads to keep them dry. Entering the city of Feni in southeast Bangladesh, it becomes clear why it is described as the epicenter of one of the countrys worst floods in living memory. Since Wednesday night, water has inundated 11 districts, and large swathes of the city of nearly 1.5 million people are now submerged. Bangladesh lives on its rivers and waterways its people relying on the vital life source for fishing and farming rice paddies. The country is also well-acquainted with flooding and cyclones especially in recent years, as scientists say human-caused climate change exacerbates extreme weather events. But this flood took them by surprise and people here blame officials in India. Dozens of people CNN met in Feni which is only a few miles from the India border accused New Delhi of releasing water from the Dumbur dam in neighboring Tripura state with no warning. As we waded past their homes, some people shouted, We hate India and This is Indian water. They opened the gate, but no information was given, said Shoriful Islam, 29, an IT worker who returned to his hometown from the capital Dhaka to volunteer in rescue efforts. India denied the dam release was deliberate and said excessive rain was a factor although it conceded that a power outage and communications breakdown meant they failed to issue the usual warning to neighbors downstream. India used a water weapon, Islam said. India is taking revenge for destroying the last government. Rescuers in orange life vests escort stranded people to higher ground in Bangladesh. - Salman Saeed/CNN I dont know if theyre alive CNN joined two missions run by volunteers to provide relief supplies and rescue vulnerable people in Feni. The only way in or out of the flood zone is by boat all the main roads are completely cut off to vehicles, and rescue efforts are being slowed by the lack of electricity and near-total communications blackout in the city. The army and navy have been mobilized to coordinate relief operations and a nationwide volunteering effort has sprung up in the past few days, with people arriving from Dhaka and other parts of the country to lend a hand with rescues and delivering aid. Some of them are also returning to their hometown to search for their family members. Volunteer Abdus Salam, 35 who usually works as an English teacher in Dhaka said 12 members of his family are stranded in a rural area 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the center of Feni, including his two sisters, brother, and their children. I dont know if they are alive, he told CNN. Im crying lots of the time. Theres no electricity, no gas, no internet, he added, calling for the international community to send assistance. Nearly 5 million people are impacted by the floods in Bangladesh, and at least 18 people have been killed but there are fears that number could rise much higher as the flood waters recede. In neighboring India, officials say at least 26 people have been killed, and more than 64,000 people are seeking shelter in relief camps in the Tripura region. Not an ordinary flood Anger is now rising among the flood victims in Bangladesh about the source of the water that flooded their homes. Pranay Verma, Indias high commissioner to Bangladesh, told Bangladeshs interim government an automatic release occurred at the dam due to high water levels, according to the interim governments press secretary, Shafiqul Alam. But some believe politics played a part. India displayed inhumanity by opening the dam without warning, said Nahid Islam, one of the two student representatives in Bangladeshs interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. Three weeks ago, Bangladesh ejected its long-standing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after a student-led protest movement against job quotas morphed into a nationwide movement to force her out of power when she ordered a bloody crackdown, killing hundreds of people. Hasina fled by helicopter to India on August 5, after tens of thousands of people marched on the capital and her residence. During her 15 years in power, Hasina formed strong ties with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is now serving a rare third term. After her ouster, reports emerged of reprisal attacks against people viewed as loyal to Hasinas party many of them Hindus which sparked major concern in neighboring Hindu-majority India. Indias Ministry of External Affairs said in statement Thursday that it was factually not correct to blame the flooding on water released from Dumbur dam. It said flooding in Bangladesh was primarily due to water flowing from large catchment areas on the Gumti River, downstream from the dam. Floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem inflicting sufferings to people on both sides, and requires close mutual cooperation towards resolving them, the statement said. Theyre very scared As the diplomatic row builds, rescue teams are working around the clock in the flood zone where every rescue operation is a huge logistical challenge. What would usually be a four-hour drive from Dhaka is double that on the gridlocked roads as rescue workers and volunteers try to access the flood region from all over the country. Boats are hard to come by so many families arrive to retrieve their relatives but then have no way to reach them. Im helpless because I dont have a boat, said Yasin Arafat, 24, who came from Dhaka to try to reach his father, mother, grandmother and younger brother. Yasin Arafat came from Dhaka to find his family but couldn't source a boat to rescue them. - Rebecca Wright/CNN He has heard there are 35 families clinging to a rooftop in his village, including two pregnant women. But its a three-hour boat ride from the city and he cant find a rescue boat to take him there. They have no water, no food, and theyre very scared, he said. In the last 48 hours, I havent had any news. Even when people can source a boat, there are sections of the city on higher ground including the railway track where the vessels need to carried manually by dozens of volunteers. The main highway through Feni has now turned into its main waterway and is being used as the central route for people to make it to dry land. Some of the people able to walk out are wading through waist- or chest-high muddy water risking water-borne diseases, snakes or drowning to try to reach safety. Residents of Feni in Bangladesh walk to higher ground after severe flooding. - Salman Saeed/CNN For many others in the deepest parts of the flood, its impossible to try walking so they are stranded in villages several kilometers from the city center. Even the boat journey to these areas is risky navigating through dense trees and marshes risks clogging the engine or hitting underwater obstacles invisible in the murky water. Our boat passes by a government building being used as a rescue center, where an estimated 500 people are sheltering. Other multi-story buildings including a flooded hospital and several schools are being used as a temporary home for those living in single-story shacks that are now underwater. They are physically safe but lacking food, water and medicine. People in Feni, Bangladesh are seeking shelter from flooding in buildings throughout the city. - Rebecca Wright/CNN Peyara Akther, 36, is trying to rescue her sister Tanzina and her sick newborn baby from the rural outskirts of the city. She said the 1-month-old hasnt been eating for the past few days and needs to get to a doctor. Im worried the baby wont make it, Akther told CNN. But after searching for an hour to make it to the school where she believes her sister might be sheltering, theres no sign of them the communications blackout compounding the mounting problems facing these rescue operations. Akther makes her way home, in the hope her sister has found another way there. We head further north with a different boat to witness the next rescue operation. A Feni-born man who works as a security guard at a hospital in Qatar flew back to Bangladesh when he heard what was happening in his hometown. He managed to source a boat in the hope of rescuing his 55-year-old mother, but her location is too remote to reach. Instead, he came to a shelter to retrieve other relatives. The family of four - a mother, child and grandparents - struggle into the boat, clambering up with the help of people on board. They are all exhausted and visibly hungry, devouring snacks of nuts and dried fruits, and gulping down water. We are happy now, said grandfather Mizanur Rahman Khan, 65. We are safe. As the darkness closes in on Friday evening, rescue efforts continue into the night to try to get the families of Feni to safety. The main hope in this city is that the stranded people will survive long enough for aid to come or for the floodwaters to recede. CNNs Esha Mitra contributed reporting from New Delhi. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, spoke about the role of modern technologies in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to him, robotic and unmanned systems play a key role in ensuring the protection of the military and preserving their lives. ADVERTISIMENT He said this on Apostrophe TV. According to him, evolution is happening fast. "There is evolution. There are many robotic systems, unmanned systems aimed at protecting soldiers and saving lives. And this evolution is happening very quickly," Skibitskyi said. He emphasized that high-tech weapons require significant investment. However, the rapid development of military technology also contributes to the emergence of more affordable but effective means of destruction. Skibitskyi also emphasized the use of the full range of available weapons to liberate the occupied territories. "We need to liberate our occupied territories by any means, using the entire range of available weapons, from high-tech modern foreign-made weapons to all the weapons that our defense industry currently produces," the representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said. ADVERTISIMENT Skibitskyi also emphasized that Ukraine only attacks military facilities and infrastructure that supports the war. "Disrupting plans, disrupting the logistics system, disrupting the production of weapons of the Russian Federation is possible only by striking back. Even the Russians themselves admit that we strike only at military facilities and facilities that ensure the conduct of war," he explained. On Saturday, August 24, an exhibition of modern unmanned and robotic equipment opened in the center of Kyiv on St. Sophia Square. The National Police, the National Guard, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine displayed their drones there. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! On the morning of May 8, 1845, residents of Juneautown, the settlement east of the Milwaukee River, woke up to find the Chestnut Street drawbridge which connected the community to the westside Kilbourntown settlement across the river had been destroyed. Much of what remained was now in the river. The bridge, which once stood at present-day Juneau Avenue, "floated in a stately fashion downstream, and the east-siders woke up to find they couldn't get over to the west side," said Milwaukee historian John Gurda. The east-siders knew exactly who was to blame: Kilbourntown. Enraged, the citizens of Juneautown gathered "a small arsenal of weapons," wrote Milwaukee author and historian Matthew Prigge in a "Shepherd Express" feature. The east-siders' arms included an old cannon loaded with clock weights that they planned to fire at the home of Byron Kilbourn, Kilbourntown's ambitious, disagreeable founder and leader. Late 1860s: This is a view from 4th St., looking east along Chestnut St. (now Juneau Ave.). Dirt streets, false fronts and breweries were common. This intersection is now home to Firserv Forum and Good City Brewing. What would cause citizens to wreak havoc on infrastructure within their own neighborhoods? Well, as Gurda puts it, it's a "story of excessive ambition, complete lack of collaboration, selfishness, greed and a cup boiling over into violence." This is the story of Milwaukee's Bridge War how a bitter feud between local founding fathers boiled over into property destruction ... and eventually may have united the city. Milwaukee's founding fathers: Juneau, Martin, Walker and Kilbourn Before Milwaukee was Wisconsin's largest city, it developed as multiple sectional communities, like many early settlements. The first of these, established in 1818, was Solomon Juneau's Juneautown on the east side of the Milwaukee River. Gurda described Juneau, a successful fur trader from Montreal, as more laid-back than his business partner Morgan Martin. Martin, an "aggressive, eastern, Yankee capitalist," had the "skills, political connections and access to capital, but Juneau had the claim" to the land, Gurda said. Solomon Juneau came to Milwaukee in 1818. He was Milwaukee's first mayor and founded the Milwaukee Sentinel (a forerunner of the Journal Sentinel) in 1837. In 1834, George Walker established Walker's Point to the south and Byron Kilbourn founded Kilbourntown west of the river. Because his settlement was smaller and less resourced than the east-west rivals', the jovial Walker was often seen as a "distant third" among Milwaukee's founders. Kilbourn, meanwhile, had "down-turned lips and stern eyes," Gurda said. "He really was not a guy you'd want to play cards with." A land surveyor and canal boss from Ohio, Kilbourn had "delusions of grandeur and becoming the 'King of the Midwest,'" Gurda said. He "vigorously" advocated for a canal that would link the Milwaukee River with the Rock River and eventually the Mississippi. However, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature pulled support for the project. Byron Kilbourn was one of Milwaukee's founders. He dominated the land west of the Milwaukee River and competed fiercely with Solomon Juneau. Kilbourn also sought to dominate the Milwaukee River settlements. When laying out Kilbourntown's street grid in 1835, he disregarded the streets Juneau had already built. "Aligning the roads would have meant acknowledging the viability of Juneautown, something Kilbourn was loath to do," Prigge wrote. Kilbourn's declaration that his settlement was separate from Juneau's is still evident today in the angularity of downtown's Milwaukee River bridges, especially those at present-day Wisconsin Avenue (the site of the former Spring Street bridge) and Wells Street (where the Oneida Street bridge once stood). Kilbourn hoped to direct traffic toward his settlement and away from Juneautown, thereby bolstering Kilbourntown's economy. At the time, the east-siders seemed to have the upper hand; they had a larger population, the post office, the land office and the courthouse. Still, an advertisement map created by Kilbourn portrayed Juneautown as a "barren wasteland," wrote UW-Milwaukee history professor Lex Renda. This embedded content is not available in your region. Tensions rise as bridges are built Despite Kilbourn's disinterest in connection, in 1840, Juneautown succeeded in having the territorial legislature require the construction of the Chestnut Street bridge. This was the only Bridge War-era bridge constructed with public funds, and it was "just downstream from Kilbourn's house," adding insult to injury, Gurda said. Over the next few years, the other bridges were built with funds from local capitalists at Spring Street in 1842 and at Oneida and Water Streets in 1844. Kilbourntown also constructed the Menomonee River bridge, which directly connected their settlement to the road to Chicago, allowing travelers to bypass the ferry service that ran between Walker's Point and Juneautown, Renda wrote. According to Renda's account, Kilbourn attested that the Chestnut, Oneida and Water bridges "interfered with river traffic and his ferry docks." Kilbourntown settlers also disliked paying taxes to build and maintain the poorly constructed Chestnut bridge, despite east-siders actually paying for the bulk of bridge maintenance. Bridge War breaks out and (eventually) unites Milwaukee What came to be known as the "Milwaukee Bridge War" likely started on May 3 nearly a week before Kilbourntowners brought down the Chestnut Street bridge when a schooner rammed into the Spring Street bridge. Rumors swirled in Kilbourntown that the east-siders, angered by the west's opposition to virtually all other bridges, had bribed the captain to damage the west's favored bridge. Four days later, at an emergency meeting of village trustees, Kilbourntown representatives declared the Chestnut Street bridge an "insupportable nuisance" and said they "held the authority to remove such impediments located within their ward," Prigge wrote. However, other trustees rejected this proposal, so the Kilbourntown mob took things into their own hands. On May 8, in addition to destroying the Chestnut Street bridge, the west-siders damaged the Oneida Street bridge. After gathering weapons to strike back, the east-siders decided to hold fire after learning that Kilbourn's young daughter had died. Soon, village trustees passed a resolution imposing a $50 fine on anyone who destroyed a bridge. They also ordered the reconstruction of the Chestnut bridge and the abandonment of the Oneida bridge in order to use its pieces to repair the Spring structure. But Juneautown didn't let Kilbourntown off without retaliating. On May 28, the east-siders destroyed the Spring Street bridge, one of two bridges in town that Kilbourn had not opposed the construction of, since it gave Kilbourntown residents direct access to the post office and courthouse on the river's east side, Renda wrote. Rifle shots "rang out in celebration" as citizens of Juneautown watched the Spring Street bridge fall into the river, Prigge wrote. East-siders also damaged the Menomonee River bridge, which connected Kilbourntown to Walker's Point. By the end of May 1845, the recently established village of Milwaukee was home to just one intact bridge on Water Street, and four that were either damaged or destroyed. Tensions continued to run high. Although there were not believed to be any casualties in the Bridge War, bloody assaults were reported on both sides following the bridge-destroying incidents. By early June, village trustees ordered all bridge work to be done with an armed guard present, according to Prigge's account. As summer turned to fall, people on both sides of the river began to realize that the chaos of the Bridge War was scaring prospective settlers away from the area. Settlements throughout Wisconsin were "on the make," and there was no guarantee Milwaukee would grow to be the largest in the state, Gurda said. "The rivalries were fairly fierce, but the awareness that they were essentially shooting themselves in the foot was a powerful incentive to cooperate," he said. In December, village trustees applied to the legislature for a city charter. They also elected to rebuild an improved Spring Street bridge, erect a new bridge at Cherry Street and update the Water Street bridge. On Jan. 5, 1846, the charter was approved, establishing the City of Milwaukee and uniting Kilbourntown, Juneautown and Walker's Point. But, this didn't mean sectional differences magically melted away. Kilbourntown and Walker's Point voters "almost unanimously favored" the charter, 461 to 8, while east-siders, "who feared bearing the brunt of taxation and remained bitter over bridge conflict," voted against the charter 324 to 182, Renda wrote. Still, the incorporation of the city was finalized on Jan. 31, and, with 9,660 residents, Milwaukee became the largest settlement in Wisconsin Territory, two years before Wisconsin statehood. The downtown Milwaukee skyline is seen including the US Bank building, the Northwestern Mutual building, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the under construction 44-story Couture high-rise apartment project (far left) in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. The Bridge War's lasting legacy Beyond the visually obvious crooked Milwaukee River bridges, the Bridge War had other impacts that far outlived Kilbourn and Juneau. In many ways, joining the city together was a "papered-over marriage," and sectional differences prevailed, Gurda said. When Milwaukee became a city in 1846, it was divided into five wards, which each enjoyed considerable political autonomy, controlling their own public works budgets and school boards, Gurda said. Over time, as the need for a city hall, larger courthouse and other complex projects arose, there was intense disagreement about which side of the river they should be on. The south side remained smaller and, therefore, lacked the votes to achieve much influence, but the east and west sides were fairly evenly matched, especially as the west grew, Gurda said. City Hall was built in 1895 east of the river, and the Milwaukee County Courthouse was completed on the west side in 1931, showing that sectional conflicts were still alive and well nearly a century after the Bridge War. The east side became Milwaukee's "business center," home to its banks and insurance companies, while the west "lagged behind for a long time in terms of property values," Gurda said. However, the west has "enjoyed a renaissance" in recent decades with the opening of the Grand Avenue Mall in 1982 and the Deer District's explosive growth. In 1972, legal changes in Wisconsin required Milwaukee's wards to be transformed into aldermanic districts. However, alderpersons still have "a lot of say" over their districts, Gurda said, a reflection of the city's sectional past. What's What the Wisconsin? Is there something about Milwaukee or Wisconsin that's been puzzling you? We've got experts who know how to find answers to even the smallest (and sometimes the most interesting) questions. When we can, we'll answer with stories. Submit your question at bit.ly/whatthewisconsin. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 1845 Milwaukee 'Bridge War' left mark of crooked bridges, united city Anatoliy Glaz, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, has claimed that Minsk did not receive an "official request" from Ukraine to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Source: European Pravda with reference to Belta Details: Glaz claimed that the official Minsk did not receive any requests from the Ukrainian side regarding the withdrawal of troops "in any form", and that they saw the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine "on the Internet" where "all sorts of things get posted". "So we would be grateful if someone were able to explain the logic of such statements to us. In our opinion, it [the logic] is quite elaborate," he claimed. Glaz repeated Belarusian propaganda about Ukrainian drones allegedly launched near Belarus, and "constant provocation" from the Ukrainian side, which supposedly forced the Belarusian Armed Forces to perform "missions to facilitate security of the territory of Belarus and our citizens". "But this is classic logic, you know. We dont know what the logic of the Ukrainian side is, though. Maybe there is some elaborate scheme, aimed at the Ukrainian population or to receive praise from the West. However, the most important thing in such a game is not to outsmart your own self," he added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, with reference to intelligence agencies, reported earlier that Belarus concentrated "considerable forces" near northern borders in close proximity to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Background: In the middle of August, Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, claimed that he "had to" transfer almost a third of the whole Belarusian army to the border with Ukraine, but that after clarifying their intentions both Kyiv and Minsk had allegedly decreased the size of their groupings from their sides of the border. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine then reported that it had not seen an increase in the number of equipment or personnel of Belarusian troops near the border with Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! Surveillance cameras in San Diego captured this image of a man who allegedly tried to steal from ATM machines using homemade explosives. (U.S. Attorney's Office) A Mira Mesa man used a pair of homemade bombs to try to blow open ATM machines in San Diego, authorities allege, but he didn't make off with any cash. Instead, he came away with federal charges. According to federal authorities, 44-year-old Son Nguyen made two failed attempts to steal cash from ATM machines in the University City and Rancho Bernardo neighborhoods in June. Investigators said they identified Nguyen as the lead suspect after reviewing surveillance video and identifying him through his vehicle registration and facial features. On Friday, authorities arrested Nguyen and charged him with two counts of using explosives to damage property. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. Fortunately, neither of these incidents resulted in injury or successful theft of cash, U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath in San Diego said Friday in a news release. With the discovery of chemicals and equipment in the search today, future attempts were also thwarted. Authorities accused a San Diego man of using explosives to try to steal from ATM machines. (United States Attorney's Office) Both incidents happened in the pre-dawn hours. Authorities allege that Nguyen made his first attempt on June 8 at an ATM outside of a California Coast Credit Union, using a makeshift bomb constructed from a five-gallon blue plastic container with a white spout and black plastic pipe. The device caused an explosion, but no cash was taken, according to the Justice Department. Just a few weeks later, law enforcement allege, Nguyen targeted an ATM at a First Citizen's Bank in Rancho Bernardo about 20 miles north of the initial attempt, using the same technique. This time, the electrical wiring at the ATM caught fire, authorities said, causing smoke but not enabling theft of money. Neither the San Diego Fire Department nor the U.S. Attorney's Office provided an estimate of the property damage that occurred. In a search of Nguyen's residence, investigators found the ingredients needed to make black powder and other equipment and clothing believed to have been used in the attempted robberies, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur, black powder is a type of explosive that can be made simply at home with household products and other chemicals available online. It's not the first time that would-be thieves have tried to blow open an ATM for what they assumed would be a quick smash and grab, only to come away empty-handed. Two years ago, a detonation at a Bank of America ATM in Palmdale was so large, it burst store windows and could be heard a mile away. Even with the strength of the blast, the ATM still did not give up its contents. There have been no arrests in that case. 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. SAN DIEGO (KUSI) A contingent of Mira Mesa residents protested Monday morning against a project that would remove dozens of mature trees from one of the areas community parks. The demonstrators say the bulldozing of the 50 to 75-year-old trees will be a hit towards San Diego officials efforts to build out the urban tree canopy as part of its climate action goals. According to environmental groups, urban tree cover has a host of benefits, ranging from pollution and stormwater capture to cooling that alleviates the urban heat island effect a phenomenon where an urbanized area experiences higher temperatures than outlaying areas. The trees are set to be cut down to make room for improvements at the park, including added parking spaces, a proposed pool and skate park, and other improvements. Rescued wolves are helping to rehabilitate California inmates in reentry program While this project has been in the works for some time now, residents demonstrating Monday said they were in the dark about the fact that 68 mature trees in the area would be torn down and replaced with young saplings. Ive talked to hundreds of residents, those who use the park every day not a single one of them knew that these trees were coming down, Martha Martin, the Mira Mesa resident who organized the protest, told KUSI. The demonstrators say the new saplings, while important, wont be able to provide the same environmental benefits until the trees reach maturation several decades from now, creating short-term pains before the long-term advantages set in. Theres no reason we couldnt design this in a way to keep the benefit of the trees and the benefits of the improvements they want to add, she continued. Theres so much space here. In a statement, city spokesperson Tyler Becker said the project to provide much-needed improvements to the Mira Mesa Community Park plans to feature enhanced landscaping to offset the impact of the tree removals, including the planting of the 75 saplings. Becker noted that 81 mature trees will remain untouched and the project will be completed in the summer of 2026. Watch Ed Lendermans report for KUSI in the player above. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The Atlanta Police Department is asking for the publics help locating a missing 12-year-old who walked away from his home on Sunday evening. Just before 4 p.m., police responded to the area of Lenox Road NE in reference to a missing juvenile. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] When they arrived, police learned 12-year-old Armon Reed left home on foot following a dispute with his siblings and was last seen heading in the direction of the Lenox Road MARTA station. Reed is 5-feet-2 inches tall and weighs around 119 pounds; he also was not wearing a shirt, according to police. TRENDING STORIES: Anyone with information on Reeds whereabouts is asked to contact 911 immediately, the Atlanta Police Departments Special Victims Unit at (404) 546-4260, or Crime Stoppers at (404) 577-TIPS (8477). [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) announced the Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) approved nine broadband expansion projects. These nine projects, which will be funded by the Capital Projects Fund (CPF), will provide $21.6 million of grant funding to expand internet service to approximately 12,300 households in communities across the state. Mississippi SNAP recipients encouraged to protect accounts, PINs Mississippi continues to make incredible progress in expanding broadband access all across our state, said Reeves. Its a critical piece of infrastructure, and were working hard to ensure that every Mississippian has access to it. Well continue doing everything in our power to ensure everyone has connectivity, regardless of their zip code. Approved projects by provider are as follows: ACE Fiber Blue Springs/SE Union County ACE Fiber Blue Mountain to New Albany ACE Fiber Potts Camp to Myrtle AT&T Leake County: Sebastapol/Conway/Bertice areas AT&T Marshall County: Mahon/Waites/Laws Hill areas CSpire Southwest MS: Columbia/Summit/Osyka/Liberty/Gloster CSpire Central MS: Puckett/Magee/Mendenhall/Madison Comcast Statewide Line Extension: Jackson area/Laurel/Hattiesburg areas TVEPA NE Yalobusha County/Water Valley This announcement is in addition to $70.1 million awarded for 24 other CPF projects approved in June of this year to serve approximately 27,000 households. In total, Mississippi was allocated $162 million through CPF. Citizens are encouraged to visit the Mississippi broadband map available at www.broadbandms.com. The map shows available service at each household, as well as locations that already have federal funding for service expansion. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. FILE - Brett McAlpin, one of six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges enters the Rankin County Circuit Court for the state sentencing for his involvement in the 2023 racially motivated torture of two Black men, April 10, 2024, in Brandon, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, file) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A former Mississippi sheriff's deputy is seeking a shorter federal prison sentence for his part in the torture of two Black men, a case that drew condemnation from top U.S. law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland. Brett McAlpin is one of six white former law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking into a home without a warrant and engaging in an hourslong attack that included beatings, repeated use of Tasers, and assaults with a sex toy before one victim was shot in the mouth. The officers were sentenced in March, receiving terms of 10 to 40 years. McAlpin, who was chief investigator for the Rankin County Sheriff's Department, received about 27 years, the second-longest sentence. The length of McAlpin's sentence was unreasonable because he waited in his truck while other officers carried out the torture of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, McAlpin's attorney, Theodore Cooperstein, wrote in arguments filed Friday to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Brett was drawn into the scene as events unfolded and went out of control, but he maintained a peripheral distance as the other officers acted, Cooperstein wrote. Although Brett failed to stop things he saw and knew were wrong, he did not order, initiate, or partake in violent abuse of the two victims. Prosecutors said the terror began Jan. 24, 2023, when a white person phoned McAlpin and complained two Black men were staying with a white woman in the small town of Braxton. McAlpin told deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves The Goon Squad. In the grisly details of the case, local residents saw echoes of Mississippis history of racist atrocities by people in authority. The difference this time is that those who abused their power paid a steep price for their crimes, said attorneys for the victims. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called the former officers actions egregious and despicable and gave sentences near the top of federal guidelines to five of the six men who attacked Jenkins and Parker. The depravity of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated, Garland said after federal sentencing of the six former officers. McAlpin, 53, is in a federal prison in West Virginia. Cooperstein is asking the appeals court to toss out McAlpin's sentence and order a district judge to set a shorter one. Cooperstein wrote that the collective weight of all the bad deeds of the night piled up in the memory and impressions of the court and the public, so that Brett McAlpin, sentenced last, bore the brunt of all that others had done." McAlpin apologized before he was sentenced March 21, but did not look at the victims as he spoke. This was all wrong, very wrong. Its not how people should treat each other and even more so, its not how law enforcement should treat people, McAlpin said. Im really sorry for being a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad. Federal prosecutor Christopher Perras argued for a lengthy sentence, saying McAlpin was not a member of the Goon Squad but molded the men into the goons they became. One of the victims, Parker, told investigators that McAlpin functioned like a mafia don as he instructed officers throughout the evening. Prosecutors said other deputies often tried to impress McAlpin, and the attorney for Daniel Opdyke, one of the other officers, said his client saw McAlpin as a father figure. The six former officers also pleaded guilty to charges in state court and were sentenced in April. ____ Associated Press writer Michael Goldberg contributed to this report. SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL. (WMBB) A Mississippi man is facing serious injuries after a motorcycle crash on Sunday. Florida Highway Patrol officials said the crash happened just after 3:20 p.m. on Interstate 10 mile marker 34 in Santa Rosa County. According to a news release, a 32-year-old man from Gulfport Mississippi was traveling west on a motorcycle in the inside lane of westbound I-10. Troopers confirmed the driver lost control of his motorcycle resulting in the crash. The operator was not endorsed to operate motorcycles, FHP said. The driver was transported from the scene by helicopter with serious injuries. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com. Ukrainian defense forces advanced several kilometers in the Kursk region. Several more Russian settlements have come under the control of the Ukrainian army. ADVERTISIMENT This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his address to Ukrainians and the world at the end of the 914th day of the war with Russia on Sunday, August 25. He noted that he had a conversation with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. According to the President, Ukrainian troops have advanced another one to three kilometers in Kursk region. Two more settlements have been taken under the control of Ukraine. In addition, active actions are underway in another settlement. Ukrainian defenders are also actively capturing soldiers of the enemy Russian army. According to the President, the exchange fund has been replenished. ADVERTISIMENT "We also discussed our Donetsk region separately - our defense actions. Novohrodivka and Vodiane are the most important. Most of the assaults. I am grateful to all our units for their resilience," Zelensky added. As a reminder, as of August 20, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Armed Forces of Ukraine occupied at least 93 settlements during the offensive in the Kursk region. According to him, Ukraine controls more than 1,260 square kilometers of the aggressor country's territory. ADVERTISIMENT The offensive actions of Ukrainian defenders continue, despite the actions of the Russian military and the statements of their propagandists about the halt of the Armed Forces. Zelenskyy said earlier that he does not consider the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operation in Kursk region an invasion, as it was Russia that invaded our territory 10 years ago. He noted that the operation was a preventive step to prevent the aggressor country from occupying other Ukrainian cities. The operation in the Kursk region destroyed the plans of the enemy, who was preparing an offensive on Sumy from the Kursk region and wanted to capture the city of Kharkiv, a city with a population of one million. ADVERTISIMENT As reported by OBOZ.UA, The Washington Post wrote that the strike of Ukrainian troops on Russian defenses in the Kursk region during the first invasion of Russian territory after World War II exposed the Kremlin's illusory "red lines" and showed Putin's passive and muted reaction. This reaction is in stark contrast to his rhetoric at the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Both sides of the debate over whether to enshrine abortion rights in Missouris constitution have filed last-minute legal challenges hoping to influence how, and if, the proposal goes before voters. Missouri banned almost all abortions immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. In response, a campaign to restore abortion access in the state is pushing a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a right to abortion. Courts have until Sept. 10 to make changes to the November ballot, Secretary of State's office spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said. Facing the impending deadline, two Republican state lawmakers and a prominent anti-abortion leader last week sued to have the amendment thrown out. Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin, who is representing the plaintiffs, in a statement said Ashcroft's office should never have allowed the amendment to go on November's ballot. She said the measure does not inform voters on the range of abortion regulations and laws that will be overturned if the amendment passes. "It is a scorched earth campaign, razing our state lawbooks of critical protections for vulnerable women and children, the innocent unborn, parents, and any taxpayer who does not want their money to pay for abortion and other extreme decisions that this Amendment defines as care,'" Martin said. Hearings in the case have not yet been scheduled. The abortion-rights campaign is also suing Ashcroft over how his office is describing the measure. A yes vote will enshrine the right to abortion at any time of a pregnancy in the Missouri Constitution, according to ballot language written by the Secretary of State's office. Additionally, it will prohibit any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women undergoing abortions and prohibit any civil or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women. A lawsuit to rewrite that language argues that the measure allows lawmakers to regulate abortion after fetal viability and allows medical malpractice and wrongful-death lawsuits. Ashcrofts language is intentionally argumentative and is likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure, attorneys wrote in the petition. Chaney said the Secretary of State's office would stand by the measure's current description and that the court can review that information, as often happens. This is not the first time Ashcroft has clashed with the abortion-rights campaign. Last year, Missouri courts rejected a proposed ballot summary for the amendment that was written by Ashcroft, ruling that his description was politically partisan. The lawsuit filed by the abortion-rights campaign is set to go to trial Sept. 4. The Missouri amendment is part of a national push to have voters weigh in on abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Measures to protect access have already qualified to go before voters this year in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nevada and South Dakota, as well as Missouri. Legal fights have sprung up across the country over whether to allow voters to decide these questions and over the exact words used on the ballots and explanatory material. Earlier this week, Arkansas highest court upheld a decision to keep an abortion-rights ballot initiative off the states November ballot, agreeing with election officials that the group behind the measure did not properly submit documentation regarding the signature gatherers it hired. Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions on their ballots since 2022 have sided with abortion-rights supporters. A Missouri law that declares certain federal gun restrictions invalid is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday the second time a federal court has struck down the sweeping state measure. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in a written opinion found that the law the Second Amendment Preservation Act, or SAPA purported to invalidate federal law in violation of the U.S. Constitutions supremacy clause, which ensures federal law trumps state law. The ruling is a blow to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and other Missouri Republicans who have defended the law since the Gov. Mike Parson signed it into law in 2021. Bailey, who will appear on the November ballot and has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, could ask the full appeals court to hear the case or seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The federal gun laws declared invalid by SAPA include statutes covering weapons registration and tracking, and possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders. State and local police are prohibited under the act from helping federal agents enforce any of the invalid laws, or from hiring former federal agents who had enforced them. Under the law, police departments are subject to $50,000 lawsuits from private citizens who believe their Second Amendment rights were violated. Enforcement of the act has been on pause, however, as a challenge to the measure plays out in court. That Missouri may lawfully withhold its assistance from federal law enforcement, however, does not mean that the State may do so by purporting to invalidate federal law, Chief Judge Steven Colloton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in the courts decision. If Missouri wants to stop assisting with the enforcement of valid federal firearms laws, Colloton wrote, then it may do so by other means that are lawful, and assume political accountability for that decision. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Wimes in March 2023 ruled the law unconstitutional, but Missouri appealed. Mondays decision came in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Missouri. The agency has said the law has disrupted longstanding state-federal task forces and information sharing. In at least one instance, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper released a federal fugitive. The DOJ in a court filing said a Highway Patrol trooper in September 2021 released the fugitive rather than risk liability for the state agency. Missouri has many challenges, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement. I hope the Attorney General and other state leaders actually address crime issues to make us safer, rather than undermining efforts of federal agents and local police officers who work each day to keep us safe from gun violence. Baileys office didnt immediately comment on the decision. On social media, he posted: I will always fight for Missourians Second Amendment rights. The Stars Kacen Bayless contributed reporting By Nate Raymond (Reuters) - A federal appeals court delivered a victory on Monday to President Joe Biden's administration by ruling that a state law adopted by Republican-led Missouri, which declared several federal gun laws "invalid," was unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Missouri's bid to reverse a lower-court judge's decision to bar the state from enforcing a 2021 law called the Second Amendment Preservation Act. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Missouri in 2022 to block the law, which was signed the prior year by Republican Governor Mike Parson and was named for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which enshrines the right "to keep and bear arms." The law declared that certain federal regulations governing the sale, taxation and possession of firearms would be deemed by Missouri infringements on the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. The law threatened state and local officials with fines of up to $50,000 for knowingly enforcing federal gun laws considered by the state legislature to violate the amendment. The Biden administration has said the law unconstitutionally impeded the government's ability to enforce federal law. It said the law caused many Missouri state and local law enforcement agencies to stop voluntarily assisting in the enforcement of federal gun laws or providing investigative assistance. Missouri argued the law was constitutional because the state was allowed to withdraw the authority of state officers to enforce federal law, regardless of its reason for doing so. But Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Steven Colloton, writing for Monday's panel, said just because the state could withhold assistance to federal law enforcement "does not mean that the State may do so by purporting to invalidate federal law." The panel included two appointees of Republican presidents, including Colloton, and one Democratic appointee. Both the 8th Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court had previously declined to revive the law while the litigation played out. "We are reviewing the decision," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, said in a statement. "I will always fight for Missourians' Second Amendment rights." The Justice Department declined to comment. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel) ST. LOUIS A western Missouri man appeared in St. Louis Circuit Court on Monday and admitted to gunning down a 14-year-old boy as revenge for his own sons death. The shooting happened around 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in the 5300 block of Northland Avenue, located in the citys Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. Officers found the victim, Jacob Ashford, slumped on the front porch of a home. Ashford was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide detectives eventually arrested Louzell Davis Jr. for the murder. Davis was initially charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Davis own teenage son had been killed the prior evening while with a group of juveniles who attempted to steal a car. The owner of the car, who was in the vehicle at the time of the robbery, shot and killed Davis son. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Davis Jr. and his father, Louzell Davis Sr., went to a home where Ashford was staying with relatives and confronted the 14-year-old about the younger Davis death. The two boys had been friends and grew up together, police said. Prosecutors said there was an argument between Davis Jr. and Ashford, and Davis brought the teenager onto the porch and shot him 12 times. Davis initially admitted being at the house and talking with Ashford but denied shooting him. He was scheduled to face a jury trial when he reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. The firearm possession charge was dropped. The judge overseeing the case agreed with the plea deal and sentenced Davis Jr. to 17 years in prison for the murder and an additional three years for armed criminal action. The killing of this teenaged boy will not bring Daviss son back, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said. It only perpetuates violence and brings heartache to another family. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. To improve test scores among Black youth, Modesto City Schools teamed up with the local NAACP for a tutoring and mentorship program to support students facing academic, social and emotional challenges. This initiative, the NAACP Tutoring and Mentor Program, was born three years ago out of a concern for the academic and emotional well-being of students, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on Black and biracial youth, Khani Gustafson, the NAACP interim president at the time, proposed the program to the school district during the pandemic. She recognized that these students already were facing significant challenges before COVID-19 and were likely to struggle even more during and after the crisis. The invisibility of our students was horrendous, Gustafson said. We dont have a large population of African Americans in Modesto, but its still a significant and valued population, and were so grateful to Modesto City Schools for their willingness to address this issue head-on. Gustafson said Black students had the lowest scores in the district on state tests, with their graduation rates also declining by 10% in the 2022-23 school year compared to the previous year. The NAACP also partnered with LearningQuest - Stanislaus Literacy Centers, making the program more community-driven. Initially, the program was conducted virtually, and then became in-person and embedded within after-school programs at Fremont Elementary School and Roosevelt Junior High. The past 2023-24 school year, the program was expanded to Franklin Elementary. The tutors, from diverse backgrounds, provide one-on-one or small-group support, helping students with homework and offering social-emotional guidance. I know our teaching population doesnt necessarily, at this moment, mirror our student demographics, and so that was an opportunity for students to see someone that looked like them, said Fallon Ferris, human resources director at Modesto City Schools. Ferris previously served as the districts equity and intervention specialist. All 50 students who joined the program two years ago improved their DIBELS scores, which measure early literacy skills like phonemic awareness, fluency and comprehension. Fourteen of those students moved up an entire proficiency level, showing significant progress in their reading abilities. Academic grades have also improved, largely due to students consistently turning in their homework on time, Ferris said. Surveys show that students not only improved academically but also developed a stronger sense of belonging and well-being. They really wanted to come to school, Franklin Elementary Principal Catherine Mullins said. They loved the tutoring program. It was something that they really looked forward to. They knew that they were getting their needs met. She mentioned one fifth-grade student who initially struggled with behavioral issues. By the end of the year, the child expressed a desire to improve her grades and set goals for herself. She even made an appointment with Mullins to discuss ways to succeed on the state test. Thats just one example of the growth our scholars have made, Mullins added. The tutoring and mentorship program has benefited not only Black and biracial students but has expanded to support all students of color in need. Parents have been overwhelmingly supportive. The parents are saying that their children feel more confident. Theyre more serious about school, and theyre already asking if the program is coming back, said Brenda Patton, attendance liaison at Franklin Elementary. At the end of last year, the NAACP began collaborating with Mark Twain Junior High to follow students as they transition into junior high, ensuring they continue to receive the support they need. However, the program faces challenges, particularly in finding qualified tutors to meet the growing demand. Individuals who are interested in working as a tutor can apply at www.naacpmodestostanislaus.org/tutor-job-application. Weve had a longstanding challenge with education in our city and in our county, and so this program really has the potential to help fill in those gaps, said Gustafson. Parents can call 209-896-9196 to learn more about the program and to enroll their children. A mom in Denmark was offered 1 year of paid parental leave but chose to come back to work early. She felt she had to show she was still valuable. Natalia Rogaczewska took nine and a half months of maternity leave and worked a four-day week for a year. jacoblund/Getty Images Natalia Rogaczewska took over nine months of parental leave at full pay for each of her two children. The Danish mother said her company offered her a year of parental leave with full pay. Rogaczewska, who lives in Denmark, said she was ready to return to work seven months into her leave. When Natalia Rogaczewska first started working for a political organization in Denmark, she didn't even think about checking its parental leave policy. But when she was pregnant with her first child in 2014, her employer offered her one year maternity leave with full pay. "My parental leave package was very good. I had a full-year salary," she said. "It was a no-brainer for me to do that." Rogaczewska, who grew up in Denmark, had her first child in May 2015. She ended up taking nine and a half months of maternity leave at full pay. Her partner, who is almost a decade younger than Rogaczewska, was still a university student. The birth of their daughter coincided with his study leave and exams. Rogaczewska told Business Insider they could share childcare in the first three months while her husband was doing his exams and after he finished them, which helped her get some rest when she needed it. "Not being alone with everything from the very start was very important for me," she said. Denmark has progressive parental leave laws As standard in Denmark, working parents are entitled to up to 46 weeks of parental leave. According to the Ministry of Employment in Denmark website, pregnant women are entitled to 4 weeks of leave prior to the birth of their child and 14 weeks of leave after the child is born. Fathers or co-mothers are entitled to 2 weeks of paternity leave within the first 14 weeks of the child's birth. After the first 14 weeks, both parents are entitled to 32 weeks of parental leave, which can be extended up to 46 weeks for working parents. Adoptive parents are also eligible, per the Danish Maternity Leave and Benefit Act. As of August 2022, each parent is entitled to a government allowance for 24 weeks. Of these, 11 are non-transferable if the parent is a worker and must be taken by the parent in the year after the child's birth. Parental leave pay from employers varies. Flexibility to return to work early Rogaczewska told BI her company's maternity leave package was 12 months of full-time pay. After seven months of parental leave, Rogaczewska said she felt an itch to return to the office. "I was missing work," she said. She thought she'd enjoy parental leave more than she did and was glad to have the option to shorten it. When she returned to the workplace after nine and a half months of leave, she used the remainder of her 12-month entitlement to work four days a week for around a year. Rogaczewska found returning to work "smooth and easy" because both she and her partner, who was still studying, had flexible schedules. In the morning, she took her daughter to day care, and her partner picked her up. They took 3 months of leave together for their second child When the couple had their second child in July 2018, Rogaczewska's partner was completing his master's and working part-time so could manage childcare around his flexible schedule. Rogaczewska, still at the same company as when she had her first child, took another nine and a half months of parental leave at full pay, overlapping the first three months with her husband. She told BI having three months of leave together at the start helped the couple manage two kids. "We had our first kid already. For her to become a big sister is a huge change in her life," she said. Being able to prioritize their first child and their newborn son helped ease the family's transition. She found returning to work harder than the first time because she had two kids and told BI she felt her workplace planned her return better the first time. When she returned to work, she said she put pressure on herself to show she was still "valuable." "I started going deeper and I realized, wait a minute, I didn't become worse. I'm actually better. I have different perspectives. I've developed more," she said. She said employers need to reframe parental leave as a positive influence in the workplace. She said the issue is when parents return to work Rogaczewska has since left that job and started a company to help employees and employers manage the transition back to the workplace. She told BI she felt lucky to have had the parental leave time she had. "In Denmark we have a lot of rights, and the level of social security is high," she said."That is also reflected legally in the rights that you have in connection with parental leave." She said, however, that Denmark still needs to make progress in improving parents' experiences in the workplace. Rogaczewska told BI parental leave and how it is distributed isn't the problem. "It's more what happens when you come back and how that is managed in a relationship between the employee and the employer," she said, adding that workplaces should make the transition easier by promoting inclusion and empathy for new parents. Read the original article on Business Insider Money on the table: One in five counties abstain from federal payback for child welfare defense (Getty Images) Indianas counties collectively earn hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from the federal government in child welfare-related public defense reimbursements but could earn more if all 92 chose to take part. Receipts could grow to $1.5 million annually, and eventually beyond that, according to the Indiana Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys. The commission gets the federal money through the Indiana Department of Child Services and delivers it to 73 participating counties. One in five counties abstain. Thats what I dont understand Why are they leaving free federal money on the table? commission spokesman Andrew Cullen told the Capital Chronicle. Its no strings attached. All you have to do is report (data) to get your reimbursement, he added. County officials, however, called the reporting requirements onerous in comments to the Capital Chronicle, and said the money might not be worth the trouble. Others described misunderstandings related to a separate, rule-heavy reimbursement program funded by the commission. But more counties may soon join. Policy change further opens federal coffers The federal reimbursement stems from revisions the U.S. Childrens Bureau made to its Child Welfare Policy Manual, according to the National Center for State Courts. The bureau, housed under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, let states claim administrative costs for attorneys and support staff representing children and parents in welfare proceedings. Those include termination of parental rights cases, and cases involving children the state alleges have been abused or neglected. The money comes from Title IV-E. Its the countrys largest child welfare funding stream, per the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute. Indiana was among the first states to eye up expanded access to the funds. I just happened to notice it in an American Bar Association newsletter in 2019, Cullen said. He told commission Executive Director Derrick Mason: He said, Lets get this started,' Cullen recalled. Mason said the commission took advantage of its existing connections. Derrick Mason (Courtesy Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys) It runs a state-funded program reimbursing counties for 40% of public defense services in most lawsuits; death penalty and misdemeanor cases are excluded. That 30-year-old initiative requires member counties to comply with standards on caseloads, staffing and more in exchange for the money. Sixty-seven member counties already submit data quarterly for the state-funded 40% reimbursement program. Mason said that made it easier to transition them to the Title IV-E reimbursement. Seven non-members also take part. Together, the 73 Title IV-E participants collected $880,000 in 2023 and are on track to earn more in 2024; as of June, theyve already received about $480,000. But nabbing more non-members or member counties with exempted courts has been harder, Mason said. Data desires and concerns The commission says its motivation is data. Its hard for us to say whether, county by county, we think that Hoosiers are being treated fairly from a public defense perspective, because we dont have the data to make that assessment, Cullen said. He identified data on caseloads and compensation as examples. Title IV-E reimbursement could be one way to fill those knowledge gaps, since it doesnt come with the same rules as the commissions 40% reimbursement program. Mason said counties must sign an agreement and update it biannually, then submit their data so the commission knows how much to reimburse quarterly. Title IV-E typically reimburses about 10% of public defense expenses on child welfare cases, he said. Its a potential benefit to cash-strapped counties. But some are leery. Johnson Countys termination of parental rights cases are down, but its child abuse and neglect cases are up slightly, Court Administrator Shena Johnson said. The county is aware of the Title I-VE money, but has chosen not to participate because the system we have now works well. We prefer to maintain local control and often find that reporting requirements for federal reimbursement are onerous, Johnson added, via email. Senior Judge Thomas Stefaniak, of the Lake County Superior Courts Juvenile Division, said hes weighing whether to partake in the Title IV-E program. Judicial staff arent yet sure if the record-keeping changes required are worth the small amount of reimbursement in light of the (seven) courts within our system, Stefaniak wrote, by email. The commissions agreement with the Department of Child Services requires information from all of a countys courts to determine what are eligible expenses, according to Mason. He said thats why judicial interest is critical to obtaining Title IV-E reimbursement. Sometimes you can get county commissioners excited, or the county council excited, or the auditor sometimes comes back really excited about this program, Mason said. But ultimately, because you need to gather data from the courts it requires some level of court buy-in, and that seems to be most often where it is dying. Mason said the commission offers incentive funding to help counties get their data reporting capabilities up to speed and sweeten the deal: $1,000 per court quarterly for the first year. The amount halves to $500 in the second year. Intrigue grows Interest elsewhere has been stymied by misconceptions. Counties often believe the longstanding, state-funded 40% program and the recently available, federal Title IV-E reimbursement are the same. Dubois County has stayed out of both. Circuit Court Judge Nathan Verkamp said county officials himself included understood them to be one initiative. I dont know that I was aware that it was a separate program, Verkamp said of Title IV-E reimbursement. His county doesnt have a dedicated public defender office. Instead, it uses contracts. Verkamp has put together a list of seven or eight attorneys willing to take cases on a rotating basis. But theres precariously little wiggle room, he previously told the Capital Chronicle. Anything that would help the taxpayers in the community would be helpful, Verkamp said. So after we get off this (call), I will be looking into that. Others are further along. Hamilton County Court Administrator Jill Acklin said that the courts have started the work necessary to access Title IV-E reimbursement. Acklin said county officials have met with the commission and are engaging with internal stakeholders and those who would gather and report the data. She didnt know by when reimbursement could begin, or if the county would consider seeking use of the commissions incentive funds. But, she wrote via email, We hope to have that process completed soon, allowing the Courts to stretch local budget resources even further, providing a stronger safety net for families and children in Hamilton County. Several counties have contacted the commission with inquiries since the Capital Chronicle began reporting on the program, according to Mason. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A Monroe County commissioner says he wants to defund the Monroe County Library if it doesnt move LGBTQ+ themed books out of its children and young adult sections, and the issue prompted about 100 people to show up at the countys commission meeting last week. District 3 Commissioner John Ambrose told The Telegraph he is willing to defund the public library in early 2025 if the books arent moved by the time new county chairman-elect Alan Gibbs takes office, who supports the notion. Im hoping theyll move them, but if they dont, Im prepared to do whats necessary, and I wont change my mind, Ambrose said over the phone. All Im asking is that they take any book that is not age appropriate, and get it out of the kids section. District 2 Commissioner Eddie Rowland, who requested that the library discussion be added to the Aug. 20 agenda, underlined the importance of community input in moving LGBTQ+ literature from the librarys childrens and young adult sections to the adult section, according to the countys board commissions summarized post of the meeting. The meeting followed concerns about county officials past threats to defund the public library if relocation changes were not made. Rowland said the discussions have been going on since October 2023. Ambrose said that if the books are not in the right section by Jan. 1, the county officials will temporarily close the library, reorganize the material and convert the building into a private library. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo and Jill Twiss, My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger and The Best Man by Richard Peck are some of the books in the spotlight with LGBTQ themes. Marisha Crowder, assistant branch manager at the Monroe County Library, said its heartbreaking that the library could potentially be closed in less than five months. I think as a public library, it is necessary for us to carry these books. Libraries serve the community that includes many demographics, Crowder said in an email. It is important that all members of society, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community, be able to come to the library and find a book that relates to them emotionally, mentally, physically, etc. Crowder highlighted some of the LGBTQ+ themed books in the childrens department, including A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo and Jill Twiss, My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger and The Best Man by Richard Peck. Based on community feedback, Rowland said he believes about 10 to 15% of Monroe County residents want all LGBTQ+ books removed from the library and are willing to support the librarys funding elimination in an effort to do so, while about 60 to 70% are in favor of moving the controversial books to an alternate location that is not accessible to young children. Rowland said he doesnt want to lose the library as a community service, but if there is a lawful comprise to move those books to their own section, then I think that would be a good idea to do. Twenty Monroe residents made public comments to the board on Aug. 20. Darren Latch questioned how Christians can defend the presence of the books, according to the online post from the commission. Latch also claimed having the books available for youth is a form of grooming and could be risky for the county if deemed pornographic. Monroe resident Libby Robinson said homosexual children exist in Monroe County and that the library should be open to people of all belief systems, citing the suggested relocation as discriminatory. County Attorney Natalie Sundeen said the disagreement is not unique to Monroe County. Its happening in jurisdictions across Georgia. She also warned the commissioners not to discriminate against protected classes. Ambrose told The Telegraph that it is not his intention to ban access to LGBTQ+ books from public libraries. Im not trying to monitor what books the library can and cant have. I think they can have any books they want, as long as theyre in the proper location, he said. I have nothing against the LGBTQ community. Ive got friends like that. Thats their prerogative, but dont put books where children can get to them. Crowder said that the library carries both adult and youth books with LGBTQ+ themes. The library identifies the books with a rainbow sticker. Ambrose alleges the library staff has been removing the stickers in the past few weeks, but he raised concerns about whether theyre doing that to hide them. The cost of pulling funding Alan Gibbs said its time for the Board of Commissioners to take action on the controversial books remaining in the librarys childrens section, according to the boards Facebook post. Gibbs said LGBTQ+ books dont match the beliefs of most Monroe County citizens, and he wants to consider dropping the librarys federal and state funding in order to have Monroe County exclusively fund the library. District 1 Commissioner Lamarcus Davis said defunding the library is not simple and would impact the state and federal funding of the other eight counties that are part of the Flint River Regional Library, according to the Facebook post. Davis said it would also cost Monroe County $750,000 per year for a number of years to reenter the regional library system in the future if it exits the Flint River system. Rowland said the board has to find out what can lawfully be done regarding library closure and the books relocation. If the board can lawfully move the books to another location, then it has to determine who can qualify if a book is age-appropriate, pornographic or if it just has LGBTQ overtones, he added. Crowder said the closure of the library would have a huge impact on the community. We are the only library in Monroe County, she said. The library isnt just a place to check out books, we also provide computers and Wi-Fi for patrons to be able to apply for jobs and do schoolwork. If they close us down, patrons lose access to these resources. The Monroe County Library opened in 1922 with the aid of the Forsyth Womans Club. KENSINGTON, Md. (DC News Now) Students across Montgomery County got a warm welcome as they entered their school doors for the first day of school. Albert Einstein High School students were greeted with sounds from their marching band and performances from their poms team, while kids at Pine Crest Elementary had a block party getting kids pumped up for the first day. It was an exciting moment not only for students but also for their parents. Im really, really excited. Im relieved. You know, its time we were ready, said Abby Davis, mother of two elementary students. We are excited for their return, DC Public Schools welcome students back to class A brand new school year also comes with some new faces within leadership like Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor. Im thrilled as a superintendent to be here to welcome our students and get to know them a little bit better, said Dr. Taylor. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has had many safety challenges over the past years including several bomb threats, on-campus gun possession incidents and ongoing hate graffiti. Most recently anti-Semitic graffiti and other vandalism were found at four schools last Monday. Taylor said safety is a top priority and theyre making some changes. Weve increased the number of security assistance that are going to be on staff with us. We are revising a lot of practices, protocols and systems that we have in place to provide a little bit more continuity between our 211 schools, said Taylor. Montgomery County leaders speak up against bias-related vandalism at schools, places of worship Academics is also a top priority for Taylor that he plans to improve. We need to remind everybody that school should be a great place, a happy place, an engaging place. I think that the bottom line is always going to be academic excellence and achievement. Montgomery County has the capacity for even more academic excellence and achievement. But we also want our kids to grow up to be great adults and thats going to be a really important metric for us moving forward, he added. Albert Einstein Principal Mark Brown Jr. shared hes very excited about the start of the year. Hes focusing on supporting the students, teachers and staff with everything they need to make the school year successful. With the new change in leadership, he says hes optimistic. We had a lot of challenges last school year for me. Im ready to move on and I think Dr. Taylor is ready for us to move on as well. So were just excited about that and following his leadership and his vision, he said. PHOTOS: Montgomery County firefighters, officials welcome students back to school MCPS is introducing a new transportation hotline to help address any concerns for students and parents. In case there are delays or issues that people want to report to us. We want to make sure that somebody answers the phone and can be responsive to them, said Dr. Taylor. This school year the school system also filled all their positions for bus drivers and 99% of positions for teachers. I challenge our students to get engaged, to find something that theyre passionate about and to lean into those passions and join a club, join a sport, find an extracurricular activity to be involved in to support your learning in school, said Dr. Taylor. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The description of the Mediterranean Sea as soup is being mentioned repeatedly this summer on beaches scattered along the coast. Just stand on the shore to tune in and youll hear it. This soupy sensation is confirmed by the data. On August 15, the average surface temperature record for the Med was broken, reaching 28.47C, according to the Copernicus service, the EUs Earth Observation Program, which also said that the longest period of average sea temperature above 28C has been being recorded since August 6. If last year was already extreme, the trend this summer has been even worse. The sea is affected by marine heat waves, which are becoming more recurrent and intense as a result of global warming. While the rise in water surface temperature is drawing particular attention in the Med right now, for much of 2024 the average measurements for the worlds oceans in general have been out of kilter, setting off alarm bells among scientists. Until June, the average ocean surface temperature was setting daily unprecedented records. Scientists consider this to be worrying for a number of reasons, including the fact that this heat on the seas surface is fuel for extreme weather events: storms or DANAs isolated high-level depressions such as those that have occurred recently in the Mediterranean. To explain this, Sergio Henrique Faria, a physicist and expert in atmospheric changes and professor at the BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change, uses a boiling pot as an analogy in his lectures. When you heat it up, the water is still and calm, but as time goes by, it starts to stir and you see more movement, he explains. The increase in sea temperature works as an enhancer of atmospheric phenomena that makes them more damaging. It feeds them with energy. According to the professor, the process is as follows: hot water evaporates more easily and the air becomes more humid and warmer. Thus, when it collides with colder layers of the atmosphere, conditions are created that are conducive to the formation of more sudden and intense storms such as DANAs. The greater the warming of the sea, the greater the concentrated energy and, thus, the greater the strength of atmospheric phenomena. It is an important accelerator, says the spokesman for the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet), Jose Luis Camacho. The capacity of the sea to retain the absorbed heat must also be taken into account, he adds. While the Earth shows a greater oscillation as it warms up more during the day but decreases at night, the sea accumulates and becomes a kind of heat reservoir, he explains. There is nothing new about storms in the Mediterranean. What has changed is the intensity with which they are happening, according to both Camacho and Faria. It is an area where there has always been intense phenomena, but the increase in temperature causes them to have more available energy, says Camacho. In recent days, several storms have rocked the coast. It first happened in the Balearic Islands, producing images of boats tossed by the waves and masts skimming the water. Then it happened in the Catalonia and the Valencia regions, where strong winds and hail caused crops terrible damage after an extended period of drought. There were also extreme weather events in Sicily, which sank the luxury yacht on which the English multimillionaire Mike Lynch was travelling. Although there are no studies that confirm that the increase in sea temperature was the cause of these particular storms, experts warn that it may be a factor in exacerbating them. Camacho flags up an additional problem in the area: the excess numbers of boats that are launched without taking into account Aemets warnings. In the case of the Balearic Islands, the moorings are full and there are a lot of yachts anchoring in exposed areas. We gave the orange alert an hour before the storm struck after already giving the yellow alert, but there are so many people that the weather ends up catching someone, he says. The Sicily scenario, which caused seven fatalities, was similar. Impact on biodiversity Beyond the external impact of rising sea temperatures, experts warn of the risk to marine biodiversity. One danger is acidification, a process by which seawater becomes more acidic due to the excess carbon dioxide it absorbs from the atmosphere. The Mediterranean captures the carbon dioxide more easily, which is why it has a higher volume of it than the global average, explains Faria. Camacho describes the situation on the Med as one of stress. Current trends do not give much grounds for optimism. Camacho argues that, even if we were to suddenly stop emitting greenhouse gases, the sea temperature would continue to rise, because the Earth has an inertia and the surplus of greenhouse gases would only be gradually reduced. On a more positive note, Faria adds, Every half-degree we manage to slow down greatly reduces the impact of extreme phenomena. We cant reverse it, but its never too late to minimize it. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition WASHINGTON More than 200 Republicans who previously worked for either former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in an open letter Monday obtained exclusively by USA TODAY. The letter from alums of the three Republican presidential nominees prior to former President Donald Trump comes on the heels of a Democratic National Convention last week in Chicago that showcased Republican detractors of the GOP nominee. At least five former aides to former President George H.W. Bush also signed the letter, which has 238 signatures in all. A similar group of about 150 anti-Trump former staffers of Bush, McCain and Romney pledged support for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. "We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that were voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November," the letter reads. "Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. Thats to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable." Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivers her acceptance speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. (Read the letter here.) Among those who signed the letter in support of Harris and her running-mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, include: former McCain chiefs of staff Mark Salter and Chris Koch; Joe Donoghue, former legislative director for McCain; Jennifer Lux, press secretary for McCain's 2008 campaign, and Jean Becker, longtime chief of staff for George H.W. Bush. Also backing Harris are David Nierenberg, Romney's 2012 campaign finance chair; David Garman, under secretary of Energy for George W. Bush; and Olivia Troye, a former advisor to both George W. Bush and Vice President Mike Pence. Troye spoke from the stage of the DNC convention last week. Keeping up with Washington? Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter. More: 'Embarrassing': Mitt Romney hits his fellow Republicans for traveling to Donald Trump's hush money trial President George W. Bush speaks during an interview on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at his office in Dallas about his recollections of Sept. 11, 2001. "At home, another four years of Donald Trumps chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions," the letter says, referring to the Heritage Foundation's policy blueprint that the Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from. "Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We cant let that happen." The animosity between the camps of McCain, Romney, and Bush and Trump is well-documented. More: Kamala Harris raised $82 million during the Democratic convention More: Why won't George W. Bush talk publicly about Donald Trump? It's simple. Romney, who voted to impeach Trump as a senator, said he won't support Trump in the 2024 election, but he hasn't endorsed Harris either. Bush, whose family has long been at odds with Trump, did not attend last month's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, though has refrained form criticizing Trump publicly. As a candidate in 2015, Trump said McCain was "not a war hero." Four years ago, McCain's widow, Cindy McCain, endorsed Biden over Trump. Others who signed the letters include: Reed Galen, McCain's deputy campaign manager and co-founder of the Lincoln Project; Jim Swift, a former Republican operative who is now senior editor of The Bulwark, an anti-Trump news and opinion site; and former McCain campaign strategist Mike Murphy. Citing 2020 exit polling and other voter data, the group claims it was "moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states" who were pivotal in Biden's victory that ultimately delivered the presidency Biden Americans who "put country far before party," they write in the letter. The group called on more moderate Republicans and independents to "take a brave stand once more" and support Harris over Trump in the fall. More: Donald Trump lashes out against ABC News, questions whether he'll participate in Sept. 10 debate September 13, 2023: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) announces his intention to not run for reelection. Romney, who is 76, announced in a release, "the next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership.". The Harris campaign has worked to highlight its backing from Republicans who oppose Trump, launching a "Republicans for Harris" group this month and featuring Republican speakers at last week's convention. Republicans who addressed the convention included former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who served on the House panel that investigated Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election; former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham; former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Mesa, Ariz. Mayor John Giles; and Troye, who worked as a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Pence. Pence has said he won't endorse Trump for president. Over the weekend, a dozen prominent Republican attorneys who worked for former President Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush endorsed Harris for president. The group included conservative former federal appellate Judge Michael Luttig, who plans to vote for a Democratic president for the first time. Former Illinois Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: More than 200 Bush, McCain, Romney alums endorse Harris, hit Trump More than 5 pounds of 'liquid ecstasy' found on traveler at Atlanta airport, CPB says More than 5 pounds of a chemical known as "liquid ecstasy" and "coma in a bottle" were sized from a traveler who landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday. Photo courtesy CBP Aug. 26 (UPI) -- More than 5 pounds of a chemical known as "liquid ecstasy" and "coma in a bottle" were seized from a traveler who landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday. On Wednesday, officers stopped a 26-year-old U.S. citizen who had arrived on a flight from Spain. During a search of the traveler's luggage, officials say they found two bottles of clear liquid that together filled about 2 1/2 quarts. The traveler, whose identity has not been released, was turned over to the Clayton County Police Department. Officers used a handheld elemental isotope analysis to determine it was gamma-Butyrolactone, which officials say is an industrial chemical solvent used to make a highly addictive drug. The Schedule 1 drug, known as GBL, can cause respiratory distress, coma and death. Also, it's a precursor chemical to gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, which is used as a date-rape drug, too. "Our CBP officers are highly trained to uncover various methods used to conceal controlled substances," said John Quintana, CBP Atlanta acting area port director, said. "This seizure is a testament to our officers' expertise in detecting illicit substances and the use of technology to identify and stop dangerous substances from making its way into our communities." In 2023, customs officials in Philadelphia intercepted a shipment of six gallons of GBL at a port on its way from France to the Tampa, Fla., area. An average of 2,895 pounds of dangerous drugs are seized daily entry points via air, sea and land, according to CBP. The Criminal Records Review Committee is soliciting public feedback on a number of potential proposals to adjust criminal record sealing eligibility as well as how convictions for conduct that has been decriminalized should be treated by the state, among others. (Photo by Getty Images) More people in Maine gained the ability to seal their criminal histories earlier this month. Two laws took effect on Aug. 9, one removed the age-related prerequisite for sealing criminal history and the other allows people to apply to get their criminal histories for now-legal marijuana crimes sealed. This is a great first step for people to clean the slate in terms of their history for employment, as well as other purposes, said criminal defense attorney Matthew Morgan, a partner at McKee Morgan. However, Morgan noted that it is important for people to understand the fine print of the post-judgement sealing process. There still will be some professional licensing agencies and law enforcement that will be able to access these records, Morgan explained, but otherwise they will be sealed and people are allowed to indicate they do not have a criminal record based on the sealing. Morgans office has started contacting former clients who they believe to be eligible to apply to get their records sealed under these new laws. They cannot yet estimate how many people will take advantage of their newfound ability to seal criminal histories, given that the changes only took effect this month. Barbara Cardone, director of legal affairs and public relations for the Maine Judicial Branch, declined to provide data on the number of people who have requested to have their criminal records sealed under the new parameters. Our data analysts are absorbed with internal projects, and we have been told that they are not available to put together statistics for outside requests until these projects are finished, Cardone wrote in an email. These two changes were based on recommendations from the Criminal Records Review Committee, which Morgan sits on. The Legislature temporarily established the committee to consider ways to limit public access to criminal records specifically related to nonviolent crimes and those involving the use of marijuana. Maine legalized recreational marijuana use in 2017, however, Mainers criminal records for possession and cultivation prior to legalization remain. The committees final meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19 and it is soliciting public feedback on a number of other potential proposals to adjust criminal record sealing eligibility as well as how convictions for conduct that has been decriminalized should be treated by the state, among others. The committee is still meeting, receiving public comments and looking at ways to make people more aware of the existing law, Morgan said, as well as continuing for many years now to discuss ways to improve the sealing laws in Maine, in particular the possibility of an automatic sealing. Last session, legislators also considered a bill that would have automatically sealed criminal record information for marijuana-related crimes that are no longer illegal. Lawmakers voted down that proposal, which had also been recommended by the Criminal Records Review Committee, after objections over cost and potential First Amendment violations. This is a great first step for people to clean the slate in terms of their history for employment, as well as other purposes. Matthew Morgan, criminal defense attorney Julie Finn, a judicial branch analyst, said automatic sealing could not be done without significant additional resources. The change was estimated to cost $633,185 for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with ongoing appropriations needed to pay the salaries of additional employees to review and seal records. In contrast, neither of the laws passed had fiscal notes, as it is assumed that any associated costs can be absorbed within existing appropriations. On the Senate floor during the chamber vote for the bill, Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) said no additional funds are needed because record sealing requests are not common. The sad thing about this process, actually, is that its not used as often, Carney said. The Maine Press Association and other entities had concerns that automatically sealing records would violate the right of the public to access records of criminal proceedings under the First Amendment, in contrast to the two laws that passed that keep some documentation of a conviction in the public domain by requiring a post-judgment motion review process. The Maine Press Association represents about 50 newspapers and digital news outlets in the state, including Maine Morning Star. The committee discussed other state models for automatic sealing during its latest meeting on Aug. 13. Many states have had petition-based record sealing on the books for years, but at least 12 states have laws that allow for automated sealing, otherwise known as clean slate record sealing, said Darlene Shores Lynch, senior legislative researcher for the Office of Policy and Legal Analysis. This generally means that someone from the state reviews records based on eligibility criteria usually misdemeanors, less serious felonies and pardons and determines which are eligible for sealing. Convictions involving violent acts, domestic abuse or that require sex offender registration are generally not eligible for this type of automated sealing, nor petition-based sealing. Pennslyvannia was an early adopter of clean slate record sealing, passing its law in 2018, though it actually took several more years for the process to get underway. New York is the latest state to adopt such a law with its passage in 2023, though that law affords a three-year rollout. Specific eligibility criteria varies from state to state. Most states do what Maines proposal had sought to do: seal criminal histories, meaning generally retaining the record but closing it to public inspection and largely excluding it from use for employment, housing and other purposes. Some states offer complete erasure, but fewer actually destroy records and only do so under very specific eligibility criteria. The destruction of criminal records is only afforded through a petition-based process, however, not automatically, Shores Lynch told the committee. As we continue to think this through, there are quite a few state precedents for clean slate legislation to move forward, said Speaker of the Maine House Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), particularly noting precedent as it relates to concerns about this type of legislation violating constitutional rights. Members of the public also provided input during this latest meeting, urging the committee to again recommend to the Legislature automatic sealing as well as eligibility expansion beyond the lowest level of misdemeanors. Many of you know and understand the disproportionate imprisonment of people of color and marginalized groups and criminal records only further perpetuate this unjust and biased reality, since in many instances serving ones time doesnt mean that they go free at the end but instead looks like a lifetime sentence of stigmatization, said Molly Hoisser, a manager with Restorative Justice Project Maine, which supports people through the process of exiting incarceration. The committee is scheduled to meet two times Sept. 24 and Oct. 8 before its final meeting on Nov. 19. The public can provide public comments during these meetings, or submit written comments via email to CRRC@legislature.maine.gov before 5 p.m. on Nov. 18. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The Mormon Church, known formally as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is becoming increasingly hostile to transgender members, denying baptism even to those who have only transitioned socially and threatening to categorize them with child abusers. The new anti-trans policies are in an updated church handbook, issued last Monday. The church will bar trans people from working with children, becoming clergy members, or teaching. The handbook notes that trans people often face complex challenges and should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, compassion, and Christlike love. However, that doesnt mean theyll be treated equally within the denomination. Church leaders counsel against pursuing surgical, medical, or social transition away from ones biological sex at birth. Leaders advise that taking these actions will result in some Church membership restrictions. These restrictions include receiving or exercising the priesthood, receiving or using a temple recommend, and serving in some Church callings, the handbook continues. The church has never been friendly to trans people, but it first fully spelled out its anti-trans positions in the handbook in 2020. At that time, it said those who have transitioned medically would be denied baptism. Now it has expanded that to include social transition. Only detransitioning will reinstate full membership. Trans members will also face possible annotation on their membership records, grouping them with churchgoers who have committed incest, sexual predatory behavior, sexual violence against children and embezzlement of church funds, NBC News reports. The policies further mean that trans people cannot stay at most youth camps overnight and are urged to use single-occupancy restrooms at church meetinghouses or station a trusted person outside to keep others from entering when they use a restroom that aligns with their personal gender identity, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. This makes the church much more restrictive and much less accommodating than there used to be space for, Taylor Petrey, chair of the religion department at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, told NBC. What you see in this 2024 change is a rolling back of some of those things or some concern that some local church leaders had taken things further than they expected back in 2020 when they put these new policies in, he added. Affirmation, an organization for LGBTQ+ Mormons and their allies, denounced the policies. We mourn with our transgender siblings as we wrestle with the painful impact of recent policy changes and guidelines released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said a statement from the group. With over 45 years of providing support to LGBTQIA+ individuals who are current and former members of the Church, we know first-hand the pain that policies like this cause. We stand with our transgender siblings. We hope that God will yet reveal better for our transgender siblings, the statement continues. Until then, Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends remains committed to creating worldwide communities of safety, love, and hope, fully inclusive and affirming of all sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, and relationships with the Church. We love you. We are here for you. The combat part of a Kh-101 cruise missile removed by the Mobile Rapid Response Rescue Centre after the Russian attack on Kyiv Oblast. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine The 26 August attack on Ukraine has cost Russia about US$1.26 billion. Source: estimates of Ekonmichna Pravda Details: The Ukrainian Air Force reports that as of the beginning of the day on 26 August the Russians have launched on Ukraine: 109 Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs; 77 Kh-101 cruise missiles; 3 Kh-22 cruise missiles; 28 Kalibr submarine-launched cruise missiles; 6 Iskander-M ballistic missiles; 3 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles; 10 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided missiles. The Shahed-136/131 UAV can cost from US$49,000 if produced in Russia and up to US$290,000 if imported from Iran. The price planned for import from Iran, US$193,000, was taken as a basis here. Therefore, 109 attack UAVs Shahed cost Russia about US$21.3 million. The price of a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile is US$10 million, the total cost of the missiles launched is US$30 million. The cost of a Kh-22 missile is estimated to be US$1 million per piece, with a total amount of US$3 million. A Kh-101 missile costs US$13 million per piece, while the total cost of the missiles of this type launched by Russia is US$1 billion. According to Defence Express, the cost of one Kalibr missile is US$6.5 million, so a total amount spent on the missiles used in the attack is US$182 million. The Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles cost US$0.5 million per piece so the total cost of the missiles is US$5 million. The Iskander-M ballistic missile can cost US$3 million, the total cost of all the missiles of this type launched by Russia is US$18 million. Therefore, the total amount spent by Russia on the morning of the 26 August attack on Ukraine is US$1.26 billion. Background: The Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant has not suffered critical damage in the Russian morning attack. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, stated that the morning attack resulted in many damaged power facilities, but the repairs are underway. Support UP or become our patron! Met Police tired of seeing crime at Notting Hill Carnival after four stabbed Police officers at the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on Sunday - Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images The Metropolitan Police has said it is tired of seeing crime scenes at the Notting Hill Carnival after five people were stabbed at the event this weekend. Three stabbing victims were in a life-threatening condition, including a 32-year-old mother who was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries after she was stabbed in front of her child at the festival in west London. There were also two incidents where victims sustained slash wounds and one incident involving a corrosive substance. A total of 35 officers were injured and there had been 230 arrests as of Monday night. Arrests were made for a range of alleged crimes including eight sexual offences, 37 assaults on an emergency worker, theft and drug possession and supply. A Section 60 order, allowing police to stop and search anyone in a specified area, was implemented from 6.05pm on Sunday evening until 2am on Monday, with the second day of the carnival heavily flanked by police officers. Thousands of people crowded the streets of Notting Hill - Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who was in charge of the policing operation, said his officers were tired of seeing crime scenes at Carnival. Yesterday we saw the first day of Carnival marred by unacceptable violence, he said, adding they had very narrowly avoided a fatality. This was supposed to be family day a celebration suitable for all ages. One of those in hospital, a 32-year-old woman whose condition remains critical, was at Carnival with her young child. Police spoke of their exasperation after the carnival - Tim Anderson/PA We are tired of saying the same words every year. We are tired of telling families that their loved ones are seriously injured, or worse. We are tired of seeing crime scenes at Carnival. Carnival is a community event, and the vast majority of people come to celebrate, to dance, to enjoy music and have a fantastic experience. It is the responsibility of all who value this event, who want to see it as the celebration it should be, to speak out and speak up about the violence that continues to overshadow it. Whether it is information about a previous incident now under investigation, or information about someone coming to Carnival today to commit crime, please tell us. If you know anything that could help us, please call the police directly or contact Crimestoppers anonymously. It is no exaggeration to say that you could save a life by doing so. The main parade, described by organisers as the climax of the event with 'party vibes', is held on Monday - Henry Nicholls/Getty Images The main parade, described by organisers as the climax of Carnival with party vibes, was held on Monday. The event is Europes biggest street party and billed by organisers as the greatest community-led event on the planet. Around a million people were expected to have attended over the Bank Holiday weekend, with about 7,000 officers on duty across the celebrations. Rubbish piled up on pavements during the carnival - Hesther Ng / Story Picture Agency A major clean-up operation was under way on Monday night - Hesther Ng / Story Picture Agency The police said the Section 60 order also gave officers the power to demand the removal of face coverings being used to conceal a persons identity, and anyone refusing to do so can be arrested. Earlier on Sunday, the streets of west London came alive with colour, costumes, dancing and music and thousands of revellers enjoyed the celebrations. During Sundays Children and Families Day, youngsters wearing bright and intricate costumes danced in the streets along the parade route. This annual celebration of Caribbean heritage, arts and culture has been running for more than 50 years. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) A motorcyclist is dead after a crash in Rochester Sunday morning. Officers were called to Ridgeway Avenue near Moose Street around 11 a.m. According to police, the driver of a Honda was going South down Lagrange Avenue before attempting to turn down Ridgeway upon receiving a green light. Police said, the motorcyclist then failed to stop at the red light, eventually colliding with the Honda. The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital where he later died. He was identified as a Rochester resident in his 30s. His name has not yet been released. The driver of the Honda was not injured, and remained on scene to assist in the investigation, according to police. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A motorcyclist was killed and his passenger was seriously injured in a Saturday afternoon crash with an SUV in Grantville. A 59-year-old man driving a BMW G310 motorcycle was killed when he collied with a Subaru Outback being driven by a 60-year-old man after police say the driver of the Subaru attempted to make an illegal U-turn across a simulated island median in front of the motorcycle, the San Diego Police Department reports. Driver arrested for DUI after hitting, killing pedestrian in Pacific Beach The accident happened in the 4100 block of Camino Del Rio North in Grantville at 4:13 p.m. Saturday. The motorcycle collided with the drivers side of the Subaru and the driver of the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene. The female passenger on the back of the motorcycle was seriously injured, police say. She suffered a fractured pelvis, fractured leg and a collapsed lung. Authorities say her injuries are considered life-threatening. Man stabbed during group fight with security at Logan Heights hookah lounge: police San Diego Police did confirm alcohol was not a factor in this crash. The SDPD Traffic Division is investigating the fatal accident. Anyone with more information is asked to call the San Diego Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. 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 FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Ido Azulay is not reassured by the display of air power and intelligence information deployed by Israel to launch a surprise raid with 100 aircraft to bomb thousands of Hezbollah missile launcher positions in Lebanon. Rather, he is irritated by it. Low-intensity warfare between the two sides has been ongoing for almost 11 months in the neighborhood of the historic city of Acre, 36 kilometers from the Lebanese border, which was awakened early Sunday morning by anti-aircraft sirens, a direct rocket hit, and the explosion caused by the interception of another projectile that left glass and the remains of shutters on the ground and shrapnel marks on several homes. Like most of the north of Israel, Azulay feels aggrieved. What am I, a second-class citizen? Weve lived in fear all this time, with routine bombings, and they dont care. And now, when the rockets are going to hit Tel Aviv, thats when we launch a pre-emptive strike? Not for us, but for them, yes? he says in the humble hair salon of his friend, Tomer Itaj, which is also slightly damaged by shrapnel. The three 24-year-old friends are now particularly angry at the phrases that are often heard in the area, especially in recent months. One, from Yagin Azulay: The government is selling us out. In the last elections in 2022, all three voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus party, Likud, which has a stronghold in Acre, but now they regret it. Right now, if I had him in front of me, I would ask him: What do you want? That we remain quiet like poor people with all this uncertainty that affects our health and how we earn a living? says Ido Azulay. Acre has not been evacuated as it lies outside the border strip closest to Lebanon. With 50,000 inhabitants, it was in better times one of the most popular tourist cities in Israel, thanks to the Crusader legacy housed in a walled citadel inhabited by Palestinians. They are the descendants of those who stayed during the Nakba (the mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to create the State of Israel in 1948), and today they share the city with the Jewish emigrants that Israel relocated to the new area. Or rather they lead parallel lives, except when they degenerate into ethnic clashes as in 2008 or 2021. It is in these simple residential houses built for Jews without many resources that the rockets launched from nearby Lebanon brought a double feeling of discrimination to the surface on Sunday. As part of the north, that of enduring the threat of dozens of projectiles a day (although Hezbollah did not direct its attack against civilians and Acre has only been targeted in very exceptional circumstances over the past few months) without the Israeli army invading Lebanon as it has done with Gaza. And also because of its Sephardic origin, as compared to Tel Aviv as a stereotype of Ashkenazi privilege Jews originating mainly from central or eastern Europe in a rift of descent that is still to be healed in Israel. Although Netanyahu is a political animal who has regained popularity when everyone had written off his political career, on Sunday he ran up against the feeling that the periphery has been forgotten in relation to the center of the country, where Tel Aviv and the higher salaries are. The prime minister rubbed salt in the wound and earned the ire of regional leaders in the north by christening the Israeli surprise attack Peace for Tel Aviv. It is a play on words with Operation Peace for Galilee, the name of the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, after the failed Palestinian assassination attempt against the Israeli ambassador in the United Kingdom. The choice of such a name for the operation after nearly 11 months of daily attacks concentrated in the north is the culmination of the Israeli governments disconnection from hundreds of thousands of citizens, the heads of the three government councils in the area, Moshe Davidovitz, David Azulai, and Giora Zaltz, said. From now on, we cease communication with all members of the government until we obtain a complete solution for our residents and our children. Prime Minister, ministers, coalition members, government officials and all government employees, wherever they are, we have not been of interest to you for ten and a half months. From now on, we are not interested in you. Do not call, come, or send messages. We have managed on our own until now, they said in a joint statement. Gershon Mate shows the effects of the Hezbollah attack at his house in Acre. Antonio Pita Total war The solution the leaders are asking for is a euphemism for what the three friends in Acre bluntly demand: A total war, in the words of Itaj. War, war, of course, in the words of Ido Azulay. It is better than uncertainty. I myself would put on my uniform tomorrow to enter Lebanon. A political agreement to remove Hezbollahs elite forces from the border, such as the one being negotiated by France and the U.S., or a ceasefire in Gaza to also calm the Lebanese front, as the mediators in Cairo are seeking, is no longer enough for them. Since October 7, it is no longer an option to live with Hezbollah on the other side of the border. Period. On October 6, it was, lets say, acceptable. Not today, says Yagin Azulay. This is the general feeling in northern Israel. Despite the unpredictable consequences for the Middle East and the strength of Hezbollah, only open war will allow people like Gershon Mateh to sleep peacefully, and the tens of thousands of people evacuated since October to return to their homes without fear. Mate, 33, emigrated from India to the Jewish state in 2014, never thinking he would ever find himself in such a situation. Still in shock, he gives a tour of his house while explaining how the attack caught him sleeping with his wife in the room of their two children, aged eight and four. So they would get used to staying in their bed, not ours, he explains. Then the air raid alarms went off. They grabbed the children and ran to the shelter: I didnt even have time to leave the house. We heard the explosion at the front door. He shows the broken glass on the childrens bed on his mobile phone. If we had taken 15 seconds longer, imagine what would have happened to them, he adds, with his wife sweeping up the last pieces of glass from the floor and finishing packing the suitcases with clothes. They will spend the night in a hotel, like all the residents of the building, at the foot of which fallen pieces of shutters and glass can be seen. Neighbours and onlookers have come to comment on the shrapnel marks on the walls and to touch the metal pieces of the interceptor missile, inside the small crater it formed when it fell. Everyone knows that we are on a war footing and that the government is not using all its force, says Mate. But I will return home when everything is settled. I have a rental contract to respect. What is the alternative? Also, is there anywhere [in Israel] we can go where someone can guarantee us 100% that a rocket will not hit us? No. Damage to the home of Gershon Mate, Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition How much more water and power does AI computing demand? Tech firms don't want you to know James Manyika, senior vice president at Google, speaks about AI at an event in Mountain View, Calif., in May. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press) Every time someone uses ChatGPT to write an essay, create an image or advise them on planning their day, the environment pays a price. A query on the chatbot that uses artificial intelligence is estimated to require at least 10 times more electricity than a standard search on Google. If all Google searches similarly used generative AI, they might consume as much electricity as a country the size of Ireland, calculates Alex de Vries , the founder of Digiconomist, a website that aims to expose the unintended consequences of digital trends. Yet someone using ChatGPT or another artificial intelligence application has no way of knowing how much power their questions will consume as they are processed in the tech companies enormous data centers. De Vries said the skyrocketing energy demand of AI technologies will no doubt require the world to burn more climate-warming oil, gas and coal. Even if we manage to feed AI with renewables, we have to realize those are limited in supply, so well be using more fossil fuels elsewhere, he said. The ultimate outcome of this is more carbon emissions. AI is also thirsty for water. ChatGPT gulps roughly a 16-ounce bottle in as few as 10 queries, calculates Shaolei Ren , associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Riverside, and his colleagues. The increasing consumption of energy and water by AI has raised concerns in California and around the globe. Experts have detailed how it could stall the transition to green energy while increasing consumers' electric bills and the risk of blackouts. Read more: Power-hungry AI data centers are raising electric bills and blackout risk To try to prevent those consequences, De Vries, Ren and other experts are calling on the tech companies to disclose to users how much power and water their queries will consume. I think the first step is to have more transparency, Ren said. The AI developers, he said, tend to be secretive about their energy usage and their water consumption. Ren said users should be told on the websites where they are asked to type in their queries how much energy and water their requests will require. He said this would be similar to how Google now tells people searching for airline flights the amount of carbon emissions the trip will generate. If we had that knowledge, he said, then we could make more informed decisions. Data centers enormous warehouses of computer servers that support the internet have long been big power users. But the specialized computer chips required for generative AI use far more electricity because they are designed to read through vast amounts of data. The new chips also generate so much heat that even more power and water are needed to keep them cool. Even though the benefits and risks of AI arent yet fully known, companies are increasingly incorporating the technology into existing products. In May, for example, Google announced that it was adding what it called AI Overviews to its search engine. Now, whenever someone types a question into Google search, the companys AI generates an answer from the search results, which is highlighted at the top. Not all of Googles AI-generated answers have been correct, including when it told a user to add Elmers glue to pizza sauce to keep cheese from sliding off the crust. But searchers who dont want those AI-generated answers or want to avoid the extra use of power and water cant turn off the feature. Right now, the user doesnt have the option to opt out, Ren said. Read more: $10-billion climate bond will go before voters in November Google did not respond to questions from The Times. OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, responded with a prepared statement, but declined to answer specific questions, such as how much power and water the chatbot used. "AI can be energy-intensive and thats why we are constantly working to improve efficiencies, OpenAI said. We carefully consider the best use of our computing power and support our partners efforts to achieve their sustainability goals. We also believe that AI can play a key role in accelerating scientific progress in the discovery of climate solutions." Three years ago, Google vowed to reach net-zero where its emissions of greenhouse gases would be equal to what it removed by 2030. The company isnt making progress toward that goal. In 2023, its total carbon emissions increased by 13%, the company disclosed in a July report . Since 2019, its emissions are up 48%. As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute, the company said in the report. Google added that it expects its emissions to continue to rise before dropping sometime in the future. It did not say when that may be. The company also disclosed that its data centers consumed 6.1 billion gallons of water in 2023 17% more than the year before. Were committed to developing AI responsibly by working to address its environmental footprint, the report said. De Vries said he was disappointed Google had not disclosed in the report how much AI was adding to its power needs. The company said in the report that such a distinction between AI and other workloads would not be meaningful. Without separate data on the power use of AI, he said, it is impossible to calculate just how much more electricity Google search is using with the addition of AI Overviews. While capable of delivering the required info, he said, they are now withholding it. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Voters in the Mukwonago Area School District rejected a $102.3 million referendum on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 aimed at building a new middle school to replace the existing Park View Middle School. In November, district voters will decide on a reduced referendum of $89.1 million focused only on building a new middle school that incorporates part of the existing middle school building into its design. Scott Ash / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel After Mukwonago Area School District voters rejected a $102.3 million facilities referendum that would have primarily funded building a new middle school in April, the district has proposed another referendum to build that school, although at a reduced cost. Mukwonago Area School District voters will decide in November on a $89.1 million referendum that would build a new Park View Middle School while incorporating a section of the existing school into the design. Here's what to know about the referendum. What's different about this referendum compared to April's? The project voters rejected in April would have built a new sixth- through eighth-grade middle school and demolished the current building. It would have also renovated the district's elementary schools to create more space for 4-year-old kindergarten programs, moved sixth-graders from the elementary schools to the middle school and reconfigured Big Bend Elementary School's parking lot and dropoff areas. Now, the district has reduced the scope of the project by eliminating the portions of the plan supporting the elementary schools and revising the plan for the middle school by incorporating the 1993 section of the existing Park View Middle School into the new building and renovating it, according to a district news release. The revised plan also addresses issues with small classrooms, undersized and outdated technical education spaces, as well as antiquated gym spaces. Additionally, it would ensure "a kitchen and cafeteria area that can properly feed the district's middle school students," the district's news release said. The school's kitchen and cafeteria are congested with long serving lines, according to the district's website. The plan also would: provide an enhanced, secure entrance for the school improve pickup/dropoff areas to improve traffic flow and address safety concerns move sixth-graders to the middle school from elementary schools The revised plan calls for creating a school that has the capacity and space to serve 1,200 students in grades six through eight; classrooms and labs for science, technology, engineering and math courses; a flexible space for student performances; a gym and fitness area for students and community use; and practice fields and track, the district's website said. Why does the district want to build a new middle school? A districtwide facility study and analysis found the most pressing needs at the middle school. Park View Middle School was originally built as a high school in 1956, and has not been updated much since then. The building has numerous challenges such as plumbing, heating/ventilation and electrical systems, roof sections, classroom flooring, lighting, ceilings and casework that need replacing; exterior brick requiring maintenance; inefficient windows; small classrooms; narrow and congested hallways; an inefficient building layout; small and outdated technical/hands-education areas, gym and choir and band areas that are too small. What is the estimated tax impact of the referendum? If the referendum passes, taxpayers would pay an additional 24 cents per $1,000 of fair market value. The owner of a home with a fair market value of $400,000 would pay an additional $96 annually in school taxes. The district's 2023-24 school tax rate was $6.20 per $1,000. Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mukwonago voters to decide on $89.1 million schools referendum Disclaimer: All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Two gunshot victims were hospitalized, and two suspects were arrested after a fight escalated violently Sunday morning. Tyshaun Brown (Source: Shreveport Police Office) According to the Shreveport Police Department, officers were called about a fight at 4305 Illinois St. around 2 a.m. While on the scene, officers heard multiple gunshots. Two victims were taken by private vehicle to local hospitals for treatment for gunshot wounds. Although the male victim is expected to make a full recovery, authorities said the female victim suffered life-threatening injuries. She remains in serious condition. SPD Patrol officers captured a suspect reportedly tampering with evidence at the scene. The officers arrested Tyshaun Brown, who is facing charges of obstruction of justice. Man suspected of setting fire to home, attempted homicide Billy Nelson (Source: Shreveport Police Office) According to the SPD, K-9 officers saw a man in a vehicle attempting to flee the main crime scene. Officers were unable to stop the vehicle, and the suspect led them on a short chase before abandoning the vehicle and fleeing on foot. K-9 Eddy managed to find the suspect, Billy Nelson, who was taken into custody and is facing charges of illegal use of a firearm and aggravated flight. After his arrest, the SPD Violent Crimes Unit reportedly linked him to the shooting. The shooting remains under investigation. Authorities urged anyone with information on the case to contact the SPD at (318) 673-7300. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com. Multiple injured during drive-by shooting at party in middle Georgia Police are searching for those responsible for injuring multiple people during a party in middle Georgia. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] On Sunday, around 9:15 p.m., Warner Robins police went to a home on Shirley Drive regarding a drive-by shooting. Officers received reports that multiple victims sustained gunshot wounds. Authorities learned there was a party at the home. Then an unknown vehicle drove past the home and fired several shots from the vehicle at the home. When officers arrived, they found two victims in the front yard of the home. Those two victims were taken to an area hospital for medical treatment. TRENDING STORIES: WRPD learned that two other victims were transported by a personal vehicle to an area hospital. The victims include a 49-year-old man, a 24-year-old woman, a 37-year-old woman, and a 38-year-old woman. The victims identities and current status are being withheld at this time. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Underwood at 478-302-5380 or the Macon Regional Crimestoppers. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will be implementing multiweek closures impacting the Reversible Express Lanes in Norfolk, located between I-264 and I-564. These closures will allow for the completion of the bridge widening construction for the first phase of the Hampton Roads Express Lane (HREL) Norfolk Segment. Estimated to begin as early as 5 a.m. on Sept. 9, traffic will be impacted as follows for approximately 7 weeks: A continuous single lane closure will be in place for both directions of the Reversible Express Lanes between just west of Tidewater Drive (exit 277) and east of I-564/Granby Street (exit 276). Traveling I-64 West: The Reversible Express Lanes westbound exit ramp to the I-64 west mainline will be closed at the I-564 interchange, prohibiting all westbound Express Lanes traffic from exiting to the I-64 west general purpose lanes. As a result, all motorists traveling the westbound Reversible Express Lanes MUST exit to I-564 during this closure. All westbound traffic on I-64 in Norfolk traveling to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) must use the mainline general purpose lanes during this closure. All westbound tolls will be lifted for the Reversible Express Lanes in Norfolk to help mitigate further congestion as a result of this closure for both the Express Lanes and general purpose lanes for this peak travel time. While the dynamic, high occupancy tolling system is typically used to manage traffic flow to ensure a reliable trip in the Express Lanes, proactively lifting tolls during these closures allows more motorists traveling to I-564 to utilize the Express Lanes, helping relieve additional pressure on the general purpose lanes. Although this may increase traffic volume in the Express Lanes and impact travel time reliability, this temporary measure provides motorists an additional route option during this period of construction. Traveling I-64 East: The Reversible Express Lanes entrance from the I-64 east general purpose lanes near Granby Street (exit 276) will be closed. I-564: The Reversible Express Lanes westbound exit ramp to I-564 west will remain open during the morning commute when the reversible lanes are running westbound. The Reversible Express Lanes eastbound entrance ramp from I-564 east will remain open for the afternoon commute when the reversible lanes are open eastbound, with high-occupancy tolling operations in place for solo drivers and toll-free for those traveling with two or more occupants with the E-ZPass Flex transponder. This section of the HREL Norfolk will become a part of an 45-mile high-occupancy toll Express Lanes network on I-64, from west of Denbigh Boulevard in Newport News to the I-264/I-664 Bowers Hill interchange in Chesapeake. For up-to-date information about construction, traffic, incidents and congestion visit 511Virginia.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 WAVY.com. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) The first day of fall is Sept. 22, and with harvest season around the corner, its the perfect time to plan a visit to a pumpkin patch in the Miami Valley. Grab an apple cider slushie and get ready to pick some squash! Katies Pumpkin Barn With a vast selection of farm-grown pumpkins and gourds, this is a must-visit for a quick pumpkin pickup. Items are on display throughout the barn, and are arraigned by price (flat rate, rather than priced per pound). For updates on when their season starts, follow Katies on social media or drive by the farm. Address: 2128 New Germany Trebein Road, Xenia Hours: Weekdays except Wednesday from 1 to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Youngs Jersey Dairy To pick your own pumpkins, head to the Farmstead Cheese Marketplace to purchase a ticket. A wagon will take you out to the field where youll select your pumpkin(s). The cost for the pumpkin and wagon ride is $11 per pumpkin, or 3/$30, 4/$40, 5/$50. Those who do not want to take the wagon ride to the field can choose from those on display next to the dairy store. Prices are as marked, with several small pumpkins and gourds available or $4 or less. Address: 6880 Springfield-Xenia Road, Yellow Springs Hours: Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. LIST: Halloween stores around Dayton Kleathers Pumpkin Patch This family-owned pumpkin patch opens Aug. 31 and features a homegrown selection of pumpkins, plus a fall-themed store, packed with locally-made goods including ceramics, baked treats, and jams. Dont miss the photo-ops throughout the farm including a Cinderalla-style pumpkin carriage. Address: 90 West Central Ave., Springboro Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Toms Maze Opening on Sept. 6, Toms is much more than just a pumpkin patch with a few stalks to trail. Its been a destination for fall fun for 27 years. More than 50 varieties of pumpkins including pastels and Blue Hubbards are grown on the farm. All of them are picked and priced for purchase in their market area. As the name implies, Toms is known for its maze, which sprawls 8 acres and features a puzzle to solve. General admission costs $12 with additional charges for events, services and activities like the pumpkin train. Address: 4881 Germantown-Liberty Road, Germantown Hours: Thursday & Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12 to 10 p.m. Niederman Family Farm Opening Sept. 20, this family farm offers pumpkins in all shapes and sizes. Prices are based on size and look, and each will be color-marked for the price. In addition to the pumpkin patch, Niedermans has corn mazes, a community bonfire and activities for the kids. Pick up treats like funnel cakes, caramel apples and roasted nuts, made fresh daily. Address: 5110 Lesourdsville West Chester Road, Liberty Township Hours: See website for hours Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WBTW) A Myrtle Beach man is facing multiple charges related to sexual crimes involving children, the Charleston County Sheriffs Office said on Monday. Bryant Keith Moorefield, 60, was released from the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center on Sunday after posting a $260,000 bond. He was charged with attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct with minor, first-degree attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and four counts of criminal solicitation with a minor. Authorities say Moorefield traveled from the Myrtle Beach area to Charleston intending to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old child. His arrest stemmed from February, when Moorefield initiated contact with the decoy who was working undercover for the South Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. National Baptist Convention, USA: What to know about largest Black Protestant group in US The National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. (NBCUSA) is gathering in Baltimore for its 2024 annual session and most importantly will decide on new leadership. The Rev. Jerry Young, a Mississippi pastor, has led the Nashville-based denomination as its president for 10 years. Young now looks to cede the reins to someone new, though a smooth succession plan isnt a guarantee this time around. Due to a controversial and unexpected change in the methodology for nominating candidates for the Sept. 5 presidential election, only one candidate has qualified for the ballot. Four additional candidates who didnt qualify are disputing the process that ultimately caused their ineligibility and have been leading a joint campaign to protest the election as its currently set. If that joint campaign is successful at rallying supporters to Baltimore, the denomination may face an unprecedented leadership crisis. Here's what to know about the denomination and its wider significance in American society. NBCUSA President Rev. Jerry Young, a Mississippi pastor, preaching at a March 2020 event featuring President Joe Biden. Young, who has led the nation's largest Black Baptist denomination for 10 years, looks to cede the reins to someone new depending on the outcome of an atypical NBCUSA presidential election at its 2024 annual session in Baltimore between Sept. 2-5. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. members and notable institutions The National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., which often is known as the NBCUSA, is one of four major Black Baptist denominations in the U.S. and is the oldest and largest of the four. Though reports on statistics about the denomination have been inconsistent for the past decade, the NBCUSA says on its website its estimated total membership is 7.5 million. An external reporting citing the most recently available data, which is from 2010, estimates total membership at 5.2 million and total churches is 10,358. Those membership and church estimates have likely fallen since those reports, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate effect on historically Black congregations. Family and church members perform the laying on of hands during installation services of the Rev. Shane B. Scott at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 1, 2024. But the NBCUSA still remains influential, notwithstanding its connections to prominent pastors, community leaders, and civil rights leaders and organizations. In Nashville alone, the denomination is affiliated with churches like First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, a congregation at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Likewise, the denominations flagship school, Nashvilles American Baptist College, was the training ground for many well-known Civil Rights leaders such as the late John Lewis. American Baptist College is next door to the NBCUSA headquarters at the Baptist World Center, where administrative staff and the Sunday School Publishing Board have offices. The publishing board used to work out of the famous Morris Building in downtown Nashville, which the denomination officially sold last year. The NBCUSA is also widely known for its influential and well-resourced Home Mission Board and Foreign Mission Board. The denomination has also been focusing on disaster relief through its office of disaster management. How its top priorities align with similar denominations to bridge historic divisions National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. leaders and many of its churches are slightly more conservative than other Black Protestant denominations on certain socio-cultural issues, such as LGBTQ+ rights and women in ministry. But those differences are minor compared to the denominations top priorities, many of which overlap with sibling groups. Through specific NBCUSA commissions, each with its own board leadership, the denomination has invested significant energy on affordable housing, health disparities and education and criminal justice. Meanwhile, a commission on social justice is largely invested in voter registration and voter rights initiatives, a focus that has gotten the attention of national political leaders. Signaling the important role NBCUSA-affiliated churches play in ensuring voter turnout, largely to support Democratic candidates, President Joe Biden visited Youngs church in 2020 before the Mississippi primaries that year and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the NBCUSA annual session in 2022. Harris is now the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election. Pastor Jerry Young embraces former Vice President Joe Biden during church services at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss. Sunday, March 8, 2020. The other three major Black Baptist denominations the Progressive National Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention of American International, and the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America are focused on many of the same issues as the NBCUSA, a commonality that has helped the four groups find alignment after their historical divisions. The National Baptist Convention of America formed out of a schism in the NBCUSA in 1915 over a dispute about the Sunday School Publishing Boards ownership, while the Progressive National Baptist Convention splintered off the NBCUSA in 1961 due to disagreements about attitudes toward Civil Rights activism. But the four denominations have since found opportunities to come together, convening for the National Baptist Joint Board Session in 2005 and again in 2008. The joint summit held its third-ever meeting in January in Memphis, an event that sparked headlines when the Rev. Gina Stewart became the first woman to preach at a National Baptist Joint Board Session event and reportedly an NBCUSA-sponsored event. HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 08: US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Baptist Convention on September 08, 2022 in Houston, Texas. The National Baptist Convention was formed in 1886, and gathers church members and leaders from around the country in discussing church evangelism, disaster relief, and funding for education. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Why the choice for Youngs successor bears unique uncertainty The decision facing the NBCUSA at its 2024 annual session in Baltimore to vote for a new president has bearing on the denominations administration and its public witness. As president for the past 10 years, Young sought to enhance ministries focused on disaster relief and voter turnout, among others, and he also sought to elevate the denominations profile to a wider audience. In an affirmation of his success with the latter goal, Young delivered an opening benediction for the Democratic National Convention in 2020. The NBCUSA president serves as the denominations chief executive and serves five-year terms. The president, presidential cabinet members, representatives of NBCUSA-affiliated agencies and state conventions, and 37 at-large representatives comprise the NBCUSA Board of Directors, which manages denomination business outside the four-day annual session. The Baptist World Center and its many flags out front at Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, August 20, 2024. The denomination is facing a major and dramatic leadership decision, the outcome of which might impact support for the denomination and its domestic and foreign missions work. In a presidential election when an incumbent isnt running for reelection, there are typically several candidates on the ballot. This year, Connecticut pastor Rev. Boise Kimber is the only candidate on the ballot due to the controversial procedural changes. A majority vote against Kimber would nullify the election and restart the two-year-long nomination and election process. Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: National Baptist Convention, USA: Largest Black Protestant group in US Daniel Sancho says he is prepared for the best and for the worst ahead of the sentencing ruling on August 29 that will determine whether or not he is guilty of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on an island in Thailand last year. Sancho, a Spanish national, faces the death penalty under a request from the prosecution. According to sources familiar with the countrys judicial system, capital punishment is only applied in cases where the victims are members of the security forces or high-ranking government officials, and there are no known recent instances of a foreign national being executed. It is customary for King Maha Vajiralongkorn to take advantage of special dates, such as his birthday, to apply such pardons, as was the case in 2020 when another Spanish citizen, Artur Segarra, sentenced to death in 2017 for murdering and dismembering businessman David Bernat in Bangkok, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. I am prepared for the best and for the worst, Sancho told EFE on August 22 in Samui prison in southern Thailand, when asked how he faces the ruling. The 29-year-old said he was optimistic the judge will rule out Arrietas death being a case of premeditated murder. The element of premeditation is key because, if it is not proven, the death penalty cannot be imposed. Sancho believes that during the trial it was clear that it was an accident, referring to Arrietas death on August 2, 2023 on the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan, citing forensic evidence presented by the defense that, according to him, would prove the death occurred during a fight. The defendant and Arrieta, 44, had arranged to meet that day on Koh Pha-ngan, a popular tourist destination known for hosting the full moon party, when the beaches are filled with revelers dancing until dawn. Sancho arrived a couple of days beforehand and planned to stay in the area for a few weeks. The following day, he reported his friend missing. The Spaniard was formally arrested two days later. Although he initially confessed to the crime, Sancho has since claimed that Arrieta died accidentally as the result of an altercation. In addition to the charges of premeditated murder and destroying the victims passport, which Sancho has pleaded not guilty to, he is accused of dismembering Arrieta and concealing the body, which he has admitted. The trial against Sancho, the son of actor Rodolfo Sancho and grandson of another celebrated performer, the late Sancho Gracia, concluded in May with a closing argument in which the defendant lamented the harm he had caused to the victims family. I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son, Sancho told the court. I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. Im sorry for what I did after the death, he added in a hearing that was held behind closed doors despite an imposing media deployment for an almost-secret trial. The Colombian doctors family oppose a potential death penalty for Sancho, on the basis of religious beliefs, their lawyer said in August 2023. We definitely do not want the death penalty because our family is very religious, Miguel Gonzalez, the familys lawyer, told France Presse at the time. The prosecution, however, insisted during the trial on Sanchos lack of remorse. During the trial they asked him questions that they understood to be unresolved, such as the reasons why he did not ask for help when he found himself in that situation or why he dismembered the victim. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Heat-related mortality is on the rise in the United States, where high temperatures have caused or contributed to the deaths of more than 21,500 people since 1999, new research has found. The last seven years in particular have been marked by a surge in heat-related deaths, including 2,325 deaths in 2023 the planet's hottest year on record, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA. While previous research had not portrayed a clear trend in heat-related mortality in the U.S. and in fact showed a slight downward trend from 1975 to 2018 the latest paper is the first to demonstrate a clear uptick from 2016 to 2023. Researchers said the current trajectory is likely to continue due to climate change. "The trend is what is really striking, and to me it justifies further investigation," said Jeffrey Howard, the study's lead author and an associate professor of public health at the University of Texas at San Antonio. "It justifies further investment in surveillance, better tools, and more effort at trying to understand what underlies these trends." The study analyzed death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that listed "exposure to excessive natural heat," "effects of heat and light," or "environmental hyperthermia of a newborn" as either the underlying cause or a contributing cause of death, Howard said. (Data for 2023 are still provisional.) However, prior research and reporting have found that heat deaths are chronically undercounted, in part because heat isn't always listed on death certificates when it triggers other health issues, such as pulmonary disease. What's more, it's not clear whether the recent uptick in heat-related deaths was solely due to rising temperatures, or whether health departments are also getting better at tracking and reporting heat as a factor, Howard said. "There's probably a little bit of both going on," he said, adding that "the numbers are probably undercounted." Read more: July was California's hottest month ever, as climate warms to dangerous new extremes Still, the findings underscore heat's role as the deadliest of all climate hazards. Heat has killed more Americans on average over the last 30 years than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined, according to the National Weather Service. The study also underscores the urgent need for local and national authorities to take action to prepare for more heat and heat-related deaths each year. Last month saw Earth's two hottest days on record, July 22 and 23. Howard said the vast majority of heat-related deaths occurred in California, Nevada, Texas and Arizona. "Those four states account for a very large percentage of these," he said. Last year, Phoenix experienced 31 consecutive days of temperatures of 110 degrees or hotter, which county officials linked to a record 645 heat deaths in 2023. "Local authorities in high-risk areas should consider investing in the expansion of access to hydration centers and public cooling centers or other buildings with air conditioning," the study says. Read more: The L.A. Times investigation into extreme heat's deadly toll But cooling centers only go so far, according to Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Resolve. In fact, many sit empty during heat waves due to a lack of accessibility, locations or accommodating hours. "The data is overwhelming that people don't want to travel when there's a heat wave they want to stay put," Parfrey said. Instead, it is important for neighbors to check on one another, and for city services to provide people with community-oriented resilience centers that offer more than just A/C or water. Like Howard, Parfrey said the study almost certainly does not reflect the full scope of heat-related mortality. He also said he wished the researchers had been able to quantify how much of the trend was due to improvements in tracking and reporting of the causes of death. The state of California, for example, has been working to roll out a syndromic surveillance system which will enable health officials to capture heat-related mortality data in real time, similar to what was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. "That's a huge improvement over what has previously taken place, because when we do these reports after heat waves, it's always backward-looking, and it could be a year or two [before] somebody goes through the data," he said. "The idea is that the California Department of Public Health realizes that this issue is never going to get attention unless the reporting on death is contemporaneous with the actual event." Parfrey recently participated in a panel with state and federal leaders about other ways California is working to protect residents from intensifying heat. While heat is nothing new to the state, heat waves "are going to become more common, more intense and severe, and longer-lasting" due to climate change, said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. In fact, the Golden State has gotten notably hotter over the last century. In 1895, the average July temperature in California was 72.4 degrees. It increased about 4 degrees over the next 100 years, and then another 4 degrees over the next three decades, Crowfoot said. California's average temperature this July the state's hottest month on record was 81.7 degrees. "We are living in record-breaking extreme temperatures," Crowfoot said. Future projections are similarly grim. Even under a best-case emissions scenario where humanity reduces its use of planet-warming fossil fuels, California will still experience a temperature increase of roughly 5.6 degrees by the end of the century or nearly 9 degrees under a high-emission scenario, Crowfoot said. Read more: I searched hell on Earth for a story. What I found will haunt me forever Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022 unveiled California's extreme heat action plan to increase the state's resilience to soaring temperatures, which includes public awareness campaigns, infrastructure upgrades and nature-based solutions such as trees. The state is also working to roll out CalHeatScore, a tool that will rank and classify heat waves similar to the way weather authorities categorize hurricanes. "Extreme heat events are dangerous," said Christina Curry, chief deputy director of the California Office of Emergency Services, during the panel. "They're becoming more frequent and long-lasting, and they're deadly. And what makes these particularly dangerous is that they're invisible they're not like a fire or a flood where the public can see the danger and react to it." The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, in July approved long-awaited heat standards for indoor workers, following a similar move for outdoor workers in 2006. However, a recent investigation by the Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main found that enforcement of the outdoor rules has been lagging. What's more, heat-related programs took a hit amid this year's state budget cuts, including notable slashes to the extreme-heat action plan and reductions from urban greening programs. Read more: Earth reaches grim milestone: 2023 was the warmest year on record Nationally, the Biden-Harris administration unveiled its own heat strategy earlier this month, which aims to improve the country's preparation and response to high temperatures. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also begun rolling out heat-related programs, including its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which provides funding for state and local areas in advance of disasters, according to Nick Shufro, acting assistant administrator with FEMA's risk management directorate. "My directorate is responsible for conducting assessments of risks ranging from natural risks to man-made and technological hazards, and we're now starting, for the first time, to include extreme heat," Shufro said during the panel. "So that is significant." However, heat experts have been urging FEMA to do more including broadening its definition of "major disasters" to include extreme heat, which they say would open up more avenues of funding for cities and states to prepare for and respond to rising temperatures. Howard, the study's lead author, said it's not only government agencies that should step up in response to rising heat mortality. Physicians, media outlets and community groups can also help spread awareness about the risk. That's partly why the researchers targeted JAMA, a medical journal, for publication of their findings, he said noting that his own doctor in Texas has never mentioned the risk of extreme heat to him. "There's roles at various levels that can potentially be enhanced both at the community level and also at the patient-physician level to keep that awareness up and try to keep it top-of-mind," he said. "Especially in the summer months." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. An Indiana-based philanthropic endowment will give $100 million to the official nonprofit of the National Park Service (NPS), the largest gift the organization has ever received. The National Park Foundation (NPF) announced Monday it has received the award from the Lilly Endowment. The foundation has not yet determined details of how the grant will be applied across the hundreds of national park sites, but foundation CEO Will Shafroth said the group hopes to announce an initial round of grants by the end of the year. For over 50 years, private philanthropy has played a vital role in bridging the gap between park needs and available funding. This grant will allow us to supercharge our efforts to ensure our national parks are for everyone, for generations to come, Shafroth said in a statement. The impact of this gift will be felt in our parks and in surrounding communities for generations to come, NPS Director Chuck Sams said. This is a truly visionary investment, and an example of how the power of philanthropy can amplify this crucial work that we all believe in so much. Our founders were inspired by the beauty and wonders of the natural world and supportive of research and educational programs about archaeology and the cultural history of our nation, said N. Clay Robbins, chair and CEO of Lilly Endowment. We are pleased therefore to further their interests through this grant. We believe the National Park Foundations campaign will enhance the programming in and promote the future vibrancy of our countrys marvelous system of parks, monuments, and historic sites. Congress created the NPF in 1967 to provide a mechanism for private citizens and organizations to financially support the NPS as well as donate land. The Lilly gift comes during the Campaign for National Parks, a major donation drive by the NPF that aims to raise a total of $1 billion. Previous major donations to NPF include the thousands of acres of Maine wilderness that form the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, as well as millions of dollars raised in private donations to create a memorial at the sight of the Flight 93 crash during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. August 25th is a big day in our nations history. It was on this day in 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service. Now, the National Parks oversee 431 sites across the United States, including seven in Missouri. The National Park Service manages 431 individual sites, covering more than 85 million acres. The National Park Service helps in conserving the nations natural and cultural heritage for the benefit of current and future generations. National Parks in Missouri Wilsons Creek National Battlefield 5242 S. State Hwy ZZ, Republic, Mo. 65738 Wilsons Creek was the first major Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi River, fought August 10, 1861. Wilsons Creek was a major victory for the South, focusing greater national attention on the war in Missouri. Wilsons Creek National Battlefield is located 20 miles southwest of Springfield, west of the town of Battlefield. Photo courtesy of National Parks Service / Wilsons Creek National Battlefield George Washington Carver National Monument 5646 Carver Rd., Diamond, Mo. 65840 George Washington Carver was born into slavery around 1864, and grew to be one of the top leaders in agriculture innovation. George Washington Carver National Monument is the first national monument dedicated to an African American. Diamond, Mo. is 70 miles west of Springfield, along I-44. Photo courtesy of National Park Service. George Washington Carver National Monument visitor center. Ozark National Scenic Riverways 404 Watercress Rd, Van Buren, Mo. 63965 The first national park to protect a river system, established on August 24, 1964. The Riverways protects 134 miles of clear, free-flowing, spring-fed waterways. The park covers 80,000 acres and goes through Shannon, Carter, Dent and Texas counties. Van Buren, Mo. is 150 miles east of Springfield, along Highway 60. Photo courtesy of National Park Service. Alley Spring Branch / Ozark National Scenic Riverway. Harry S. Truman National Historic Site 223 N Main St., Independence, Mo. 64050 President Truman once referred to his beloved home as the center of the world. The 33rd president was born, raised, and retired to the small Missouri community where you can now walk the grounds of the Truman family farm. Independence, Mo. is 170 miles northwest of Springfield, and is an eastern suburb of Kansas City. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Gateway Arch National Park -11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, Mo. 63102 The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial commemorates Thomas Jeffersons vision of the continental expansion of the U.S. A part of the Jefferson National Memorial is the Gateway Arch, which is a National Historic Landmark. The Arch is the tallest monument in the U.S., standing at 630 feet. St. Louis, Mo. is located 210 miles northeast of Springfield. Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site 7400 Grant Rd., St. Louis, Mo. 63123 The nearly 10-acre site near downtown St. Louis commemorates the life, military career and presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States. Grant is known as the Civil War General who saved the Union, and then become President. He first met his wife, Julia Dent, at her family home White Haven. Grant lived and farmed for a period of time at this location. St. Louis, Mo. is located 210 miles northeast of Springfield. Ste. Genevieve National Historic Park 339 St. Marys Road, Ste. Genevieve, Mo. 63670 Ste. Genevieve was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri, established by French colonists in the 1750s. The original city was severely damaged by major flooding in 1285. After the flood, the city relocated to its present spot-on higher ground. The park was established in 2020. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) The aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby and other major storms around the country have left The American Red Cross suffering from a diminished blood supply. Severe weather in the past few weeks has forced the cancellation of nearly 60 blood drives around the country. According to The American Red Cross, annually, severe weather such as blizzards, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes impacts about 90,000 blood donations made to the Red Cross. In Georgia, more than 450 blood drives have been canceled due to weather over the last 10 years, including 12 so far this year. This has resulted in about 400 donations going uncollected in the Georgia Region to date in 2024. The Red Cross is reaching out to anyone in unaffected areas who can donate. They ask that those parties please schedule a donation appointment immediately. First-time donors and those who give regularly are critical to blood supply recovery. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). See RedCrossBlood.org/Help for details. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV. NC special deputy attorney general charged with public indecency, intoxication in Raleigh; placed on admin leave RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Special Deputy Attorney General Torrey Dixon is on administrative leave after his weekend arrest in Raleigh on public indecency and intoxication charges. Court records say Dixon had been shouting insults and obscenities at others around him, including threatening assault. Arrest warrants also say Dixon exposed himself on the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Blue Ridge Road in front of other people and cars. Man charged after bringing gun to high school graduation ceremony at NC State, police say According to sources, Dixon was scheduled to participate in the Men Wear Pink Fashion Show at Crabtree Valley Mall for the American Cancer Society. Organizers say they blocked him from entering because he appeared intoxicated. Dixon has been with the North Carolina Attorney Generals Office since 2009, according to his LinkedIn account. The N.C. Department of Justice told CBS 17 that Dixon is now on administrative leave. Dixons next court appearance is Sept. 24. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. That the Supreme Court of North Carolina is little more than a Republican caucus has been clear for more than a year. Still, the courts ruling last week that Justice Philip Berger Jr. can sit in judgment of cases involving his father, state Senate leader Phil Berger, is a stunning display of how the courts independence has curdled into arrogant partisanship. In a vote along party lines, the court voted to reject a request by Gov. Roy Cooper that Justice Berger recuse himself in two cases. The most significant case is a challenge to a law that would strip the governor from controlling the administration of elections. The governors appointment powers for state and local boards of elections would be given to legislative leaders, including Sen. Berger. The challenged law calls for membership of the state and local boards of elections to be evenly split between political parties rather than giving the governors party a majority. The change would invite deadlocks whose resolution would be decided by the legislature. That would effectively put the legislature in charge of elections despite the state constitutions assigning that authority to the governor. Republicans gained a 5-2 majority on the court after the 2022 elections, upending the 4-3 majority Democrats enjoyed on the previous court. Coopers request to have Justice Berger removed was an act of hope over experience. Perhaps the governor thought that a ray of conscience or a clear reading of the law would persuade one of the Republican justices to admit the absurdity of a son sitting in judgment of his father. Berger the younger deferred to his fellow justices to decide the matter, but that hardly brought an independent judgment. Following a tortured line of reasoning, the four remaining Republican justices found, in effect, that Sen. Berger was not Justice Bergers father. Rather, they found that the senator is a disembodied legal entity who has been named in the lawsuit only in his official capacity as the Senates president pro tempore. This argument would be implausible in most cases, but particularly so in this one. Sen. Berger has ruled the state Senate for 13 years and repeatedly imposed his will on his caucus since day one. He has aggressively sought to take power from the executive branch, even when a Republican, Pat McCrory, was governor. Sen. Berger has presided over the most egregious gerrymandering in the nation and is now seeking to have the final word on the administration and perhaps the outcome of elections. He is directly and personally involved in pushing the disputed legislation. The Republican justices assure us that Berger will rule dispassionately on matters involving his father. Were supposed to believe that because in another case Berger said he would do so.. The courts majority opinion says: In his order denying a similar recusal motion in another case, Justice Berger explained that the lawsuit was really against the State, not against his father, and that he was confident in his ability to discharge the duties of his office in a fair and impartial manner. We believe that Justice Berger Jr. can and will execute his responsibilities in this case fairly and impartially. The motion and suggestion of recusal is hereby DENIED. Whats the states top court has actually denied is the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct. And, for good measure, it also ignored the 14th Amendments requirement that legal matters be resolved through a fair process. In a dissent joined by the courts other Democrat, Justice Anita Earls, Justice Allison Riggs noted that the judicial code calls for a judge to disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judges impartiality may reasonably be questioned. The code makes it clear that a case involving a judges relative is such a proceeding. The Code of Judicial Conduct does not exempt a judge from recusal even when their family member is a party in their official capacity, she wrote. Riggs said the code so settles the matter that she didnt need to argue how Bergers failure to step away from the case violates the 14th Amendments guarantee of due process. In refusing to remove Justice Berger, the courts majority has instead removed any appearance of fairness. (Getty Images) LINCOLN Immigrant advocates in Nebraska are gearing up for the possibility of a mass deportation operation, flash workplace raids or other events that would cause upheaval in the states immigrant communities. On Sept. 7, the statewide Las Voces Nebraska organization plans a virtual summit with speaker panels of legal, educational, religious, mental health and other community representatives. The event, open to the public, is to begin at 8:15 a.m. and last about four hours. The goal, said Las Voces co-founder Marty Ramirez, is to discuss and create a rapid response plan for immigrants in crisis as a permanent fixture in Nebraska. Las Voces is a statewide advocacy and civic engagement organization representing Latinos. Ramirez, a retired counseling psychologist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, likened the effort to a fire drill. This is a response strategy to a looming crisis, said Ramirez, a Scottsbluff native who lives in Lincoln. Underlying that drill, he said, is the threat pronounced by former President Donald Trump to launch the largest deportation in U.S. history, targeting millions of undocumented immigrants, if he is elected. Trump has made immigration a central part of his campaign for president. At the Republican National Convention in July, for instance, people waved Mass Deportation Now signs and chanted, Send them back. Las Voces leaders say the Nebraska action plan is a response also to other events that have happened locally and could happen again in the Cornhusker state. They say immigration-related crackdowns have occurred under Democratic administrations, as well. Link to Sept. 7 summit Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87944494530?pwd=mcdNWBioUtQO8cZ1aea51QaC5SWl1W.1 Meeting ID: 879 4449 4530 Passcode: 457145 National and local estimates put the number of undocumented immigrants in Nebraska at between 40,000 and 50,000. But local advocates say that number doesnt fully account for the many Nebraskans who live in families of mixed status, where some members have legal status while others do not. The Las Voces effort harkens to previous years when Nebraska immigrant advocates reacted to high-profile workplace raids. Federal agents in 2018, for example, converged on multiple worksites and private residences in ONeill and other area towns, arresting more than 130 suspected undocumented workers. When such raids occur, families are left in upheaval, Ramirez said. Schools and others scramble in the aftermath. Even though that hasnt been a recent trend, people dont forget the raids, Ramirez said, citing lingering memories of December 2006 enforcement operations at packing plants owned by Swift & Co. in six states. In Grand Island, Nebraska, more than 250 people were detained as helicopters hovered and buses toted away workers. Rebecca Gonzales, co-founder of Las Voces, said that while advocates and others in those earlier years developed community response plans, those plans need updating. Gonzales retired as Nebraska Appleseeds racial justice coordinator. More recently, four adults and three children were injured in a June 28 shooting in Crete, Nebraska, where a man shot at his Latino neighbors. The incident reminded Latino leaders that we must be ever vigilant and continue to update our policies and procedures to be able to quickly and efficiently help our neighbors when tragedy strikes, advocate Ben Salazar of Omaha said in a media release announcing formation of the rapid response plan. Ramirez said that and other events create anxiety in immigrant communities. The action plan seeks to open doors for families to address trauma and mental health issues, as well, he said. With the safety of community in mind, we need to have an active plan in place to move expeditiously in the event of future incidents, Las Voces leaders said in the statement. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Viktoriia Skyba, a 29-year-old mother of two, didn't have the time to reach a bomb shelter when Russia attacked her town during what Ukrainian officials have said is the largest attack on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. She saw a missile flying above her house and a large pillar of smoke rising in the sky following the explosions on Aug. 26 near Kyiv in the town of Vyshhorod, where the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant is located. "It was such a near-death feeling that cannot be conveyed in words," Skyba told the Kyiv Independent, adding that her children were "terrified," too. Shortly after that, an advisor to the presidential office said that the plant was hit in the morning attack, which targeted critical infrastructure facilities across Ukraine, causing civilian casualties and large-scale power outages in the country. Ukraine has been racing to restore a severely damaged energy system that has come under waves of Russian attacks since March. It has continued to implement regular scheduled blackouts to reduce demand on its energy infrastructure. This latest attack took place after the energy situation had somewhat improved and scheduled blackouts introduced earlier in the summer were mostly lifted. Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said 15 of the country's 24 oblasts had been targeted during the attack "primarily targeting critical civilian infrastructure and our energy system." Seven people were killed and 47 were injured, according to the State Emergency Service. A collage of the screenshots from the video showing the aftermath of a Russian strike that hit the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant on Aug. 26, 2024. (Timofiy Mylovanov/X) Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that infrastructure was damaged in a number of regions, and emergency power cuts had been introduced to stabilize the system. A total of 236 aerial targets were recorded by Ukraines military. Ukrainian forces shot down 102 missiles and 99 drones, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said. When Skyba heard that the plant was hit, she immediately thought flooding had started on the east bank of the Dnipro River. Skyba said she felt horrified by the thought that she would not be able to visit her parents in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, anymore. "What to expect next is unknown I'm grateful to our Armed Forces, our defenders. They are the only hope that something can change in our country," Skyba added. Ruslan Kravchenko, the head of the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, reported on national television that the attack had not caused the plant any "critical damage." No significant damage to the plant could be observed from a residential neighborhood located on a hill above the dam as well as from the bridge across it. New emergency blackouts The bridge was closed for drivers and pedestrians from the time of the attack until around 6:15 p.m. local time, forcing residents of neighborhoods and villages across the river to wait for hours to get home. One of them was Vasyl Cherniavskyi, a 52-year-old man who works in Vyshhorod. Cherniavskyi told the Kyiv Independent that he heard the first explosions at his workplace and ran to the nearest bomb shelter when another, even louder explosion rang out. He said it felt like "the ground was shaking" under his feet. "We realized that it hit somewhere near us." When asked if he fears that another potential attack would destroy the dam, Cherniavskyi, a father of three, replied, "of course, we are humans, after all." Despite this fear, Cherniavskyi said, he needs to keep working. "When you are already used to it (the attacks), you don't think about it. You do everything automatically." Energy officials have not yet released their assessments of the damage from Mondays attack, but residents across the country are feeling the effects. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said emergency power shutdowns were in place across Ukraine. In parts of Kyiv, the energy outages also caused disruptions in the water supply, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Residents in some regions of Kyiv reported energy outages in place for most of the day and into the night. The day before the strikes, state energy grid operator Ukrnenergo had said that no outages were scheduled for the following day. After the strikes, DTEK announced rolling blackouts for the following day in Kyiv, Odesa, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts to stabilize the grid. Serhii Kovalenko, chief executive officer at the private energy company Yasno, a subsidiary of DTEK, said that the impact of the attack on the power system is still being determined. According to him, 50-70% of residents in the city of Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast will be without electricity on Aug. 27. Not the last such strike We have received all the necessary reports on the energy sector, the current state of the system, and the possibility of restoring it. The work will continue around the clock, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address. We also thoroughly reviewed the situation regarding protective structures at energy facilities, and several important decisions were made on this matter as well. A representative for the Energy Ministry declined to answer questions, citing security reasons, and referred the Kyiv Independent to Zelenskys public statements. When reached for comment, a representative for Ukrenergo said, At this time, the situation after the attack is being assessed. Unfortunately, we cannot provide additional information yet, due to security reasons. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russias military had attacked critical energy infrastructure facilities using high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons as well as strike drones. The targets of its strike were electric substations in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Odesa oblasts, the statement said. While the Russian Defense Ministry claimed all designated targets were hit and that it had also damaged gas compression stations in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kharkiv regions, Ukraines Air Force said it had shot down over 200 over the 236 missiles and drones launched by Russia at the country. The Kyiv Independent was not able to confirm the accuracy of either statement. The strike is further proof that Russia has not wavered from its plans to destroy Ukraines energy system, said Roman Nitsovych, research director for the Ukrainian energy think tank DiXi Group. I dont think its the last such strike on energy infrastructure, he added. The attacks on Monday once again reinforced the need for Ukraine to build more power generation and for allies to supply additional air defenses, Nitsovych said. If we allow the power system to be destroyed, then the Western governments will face another wave of migration, especially in the wintertime, a very fragile period, said Nitsovych. Already, we understand that we need to reassess the status of the power system and the way it will operate in the wintertime. Read also: Ukraine preparing to respond to Russian mass attack with homemade weapons, Kyiv says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. On a late December afternoon more than 34 years ago, a mother crossed a downtown North Carolina street after shopping with her friend at a department store and was struck by a car, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. A driver in a dark-colored vehicle, which authorities said turned out to be stolen, ran a red light and hit Ruth Buchanan, 52. Her body landed on the opposite side of the intersection and that vehicle, according to witnesses, continued, didnt stop, (the driver) didnt render aid, said Sgt. Gavin Jackson of the police departments major crash investigation unit. Buchanan died in a Charlotte hospital the next day from her injuries, authorities said. Her 1989 hit-and-run death remained unsolved for more than three decades, until police said DNA from a possible marijuana joint helped them find and charge a suspect, according to a news release. Charlotte-Mecklenburg authorities identified Herbert Stanback, 68, as a suspect with the help of DNA evidence obtained from a possible marijuana joint found in the car during the investigation three decades ago. Stanback, who admitted to authorities he was the driver of the vehicle that hit Buchanan, was already serving 22 years in prison for an unrelated crime when authorities tracked him down. On July 17, Stanback was charged with a felony hit-and-run in connection with Buchanans death and sentenced to two years to be served at the same time as his current sentence, North Carolina state court records show. CNN has contacted an attorney listed for Stanback for a comment. Herbert Stanback was charged in connection with Ruth Buchanan's December 1989 death, authorities said. - Mecklenburg County Sheriffs Office Though witnesses provided a license plate number and a vehicle description, and physical evidence was taken in 1990 from the located vehicle, progress in the case stalled until early 2022, when detectives received an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip identifying a man who may have been involved in the accident, according to the police department. Investigators concluded the man mentioned in the tip was not involved. The departments crime lab revisited evidence and analyzed a possible marijuana cigarette taken from the car in 1990, authorities said. The challenge we had is the positive DNA came back to an individual named Herbert Stanback, and at the time this incident occurred, he was shown incarcerated in prison at a place called Charlotte Correctional, which no longer exists, Jackson said. Authorities visited Stanback twice at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg, North Carolina, according to Jackson, and on March 20, Stanback confessed to being the driver who struck Buchanan in December 1989. Interestingly, he was incarcerated at Charlotte Correctional, but he was on a work release program at the time where they would leave in the morning and come back in the evening, Jackson said. Stanback told authorities he was working at a motel in Charlotte a couple of blocks away from where Buchanan was hit, and after driving away from the motel, the vehicle he was driving hit her and he left the scene, according to Jackson. The vehicle was dumped at the motel and he ended up going back to prison that night, Jackson said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Earlier this year, an Eagle woman stood in front of the City Council. Shed seen a widely circulated video showing Latino people at a strip mall in Ada County people she believed were immigrants who lacked legal status in the United States. They turned out to be temporary visa workers, legally allowed to be in and work in the U.S., according to the Ada County Sheriffs Office. But she wasnt alone in her concern. Another woman at the same meeting presented a resolution to the City Council. She wanted officials to express their concerns with immigration and to declare not to authorize taxpayer resources to help those who are undocumented. The next day, May 29, an Eagle couple sent an email to the council listing paragraphs of issues they had with immigration, and citing articles and concerns about what they said could happen in the Treasure Valley. The two attached a resolution related to services for immigrants in the country illegally, based on one enacted in Arizona, that they wanted the city to pass. Over the next days and weeks, dozens of people in this city of roughly 32,000 emailed in support of the resolution, sometimes using the exact same language in their emails, in what apparently was a coordinated campaign. The Idaho Statesman obtained this correspondence through a public records request with the city of Eagle, and wound up with approximately 215 documents, including a transcript of a voicemail. On June 11, City Council President Helen Russell embraced a resolution during that nights council meeting. Your concerns have been heard, Russell wrote on June 12 to another Eagle resident who used the same text as the couples email. We as a City will do what we legally can. Russell did not return a request from the Statesman for comment. But legally, what the city can do isnt much. The resolution as it stands will not have much of an impact, because immigrants without legal status are not eligible for most public programs and make up only 2% of Idahos population, according to previous Statesman reporting. Immigration, both legal and otherwise, has long been a contentious issue in the U.S. Its a hot topic again during this years presidential race, with the parties trading blame for problems at the southern border. Some of the Eagle emails revealed prejudice toward immigrants, half of whom nationwide are Latino, and frustration with what the writers labeled President Joe Bidens border policies. The ACLU of Idaho has already said it expects immigrants of any status and Latinos in Idaho to be grouped together and attacked, according to previous Statesman reporting. I strongly oppose using our taxes dollars to support immigrants in our city, one woman wrote. I vote NO!!!!. The Eagle City Council this summer passed a resolution to be a nonsanctuary city for immigrants without legal status in the U.S. Many residents ran a coordinated campaign to make the move. What drives immigration fears? In March, the mayor and a council member in Bullhead, Arizona, spearheaded a resolution expressing concern about immigrants in the country without permanent legal status. They called on President Biden to do something, according to city documents and local media reports. The Arizona resolution said that many such immigrants create the most unreasonable burdens. It was that resolution that inspired people in Eagle, according to the emails to the city. The City Council finds that those who pay income and other taxes and follow the laws of the land have been unfairly exploited, read the Arizona resolution. The City Council affirms the importance of securing the border and enforcing immigration laws to protect the community. Immigration has always been a complex issue that in many ways cuts across identity lines. For example, there are many Latino voters in the United States who want more to be done both with pathways to legal immigration and protection along the southern border, according to polling reported by CBS News. Some Latinos worry that the subject of immigration and corresponding anti-immigrant rhetoric will impact their own well-being, according to an Axios story in the spring. America is a nation built on immigration, with the foundational idea of a melting pot and the famous lines on the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But immigrants have often faced discrimination in America, if they were even allowed to enter the country, according to the Library of Congress. In immigration discussions now, fear is the central emotion, according to Lisa Meierotto, associate professor in the school of public service at Boise State University. There are three main fears: economic fears that immigrants will take jobs and social services; safety fears that immigrants bring more crime; and a fear of demographic change. The first two are unfounded, she said, pointing to evidence that shows immigrants contribute to a growing workforce, pay taxes, input more into social services than they take out and are less likely to be incarcerated. But the third is more of a misperception the countrys demographics are indeed changing than a genuine fear. Is there some inherent fear of change or fear of strangers? I dont think so. I dont think theres literature to support that, Meierotto said. The things that we are hearing right now, these perceptions of immigrants, are just really bad politically motivated misinformation. The results of politically motivated fear And there are potential harms to that rhetoric including to Latino people who have been in Idaho for generations, Meierotto said. One study found that U.S.-born Latinos feel anxious in response to anti-immigrant rhetoric, according to the Brookings Institute. The action in Eagle was not supported by all residents, including some who recognized what Meierotto and that study alluded to. This decision, based on unfounded rumors, puts our immigrant community in Eagle at risk and sows fear and division among our residents, one man wrote to the Eagle City Council, one of just a few documents opposing the resolution. Anti-sanctuary policies harm not only immigrants but also the broader community. In Bullhead, a local outlet reported that the mayor said the only money hed spend on an undocumented immigrant in the country was bus fare out of town. Eagle residents echoed these sentiments, and much more. One woman said she wouldnt want food, water or housing provided to anyone in the country without legal status. Another woman wrote that she didnt even want refugees coming to Idaho. Please stop the illegal immigration to Eagle, one person wrote. A lot of these people are nefarious and probably will never assimilate into our society. Russell, at the June 11 council meeting, acknowledged the numerous emails and phone calls the city had received about illegal migrants. As we all know, our national security is in shambles and here in the city of Eagle, we must do what we can to protect and provide for our citizens, Russell said at the beginning of the meeting, calling people illegal alien criminals. The citizens have called for action, and for protection of their tax dollars. The crowd applauded. New Eagle Mayor Brad Pike takes the oath of office in January. Whats next The audience sat silently the night of July 9 while the council prepared to go over the nights business. On the agenda was the nonsanctuary city resolution. One Eagle man warned the city that he would be bringing former Ada County sheriff candidate Doug Traubel to the event to make sure Eagle upheld the law. A previous Traubel candidacy raised numerous concerns, as he parroted Nazi propaganda that Jews were the villain class in the Soviet Union because they led the Bolshevik revolution. In an interview with county commissioners, he couldnt back up a previous claim that at least 50% of rape allegations are false. In a letter to the editor of the Statesman, Traubel wrote that liberals were ready to replace the U.S. with a Marxist tyranny run by Godless bureaucratic elites. But the Eagle man didnt have to worry. Both Brad Pike, the mayor, and City Council member Melissa Gindlesperger said in emails to constituents that they supported the measure. Neither returned a request for comment. Eagles council passed the resolution without comment that night. Critics say it puts the immigrant community at risk and creates division, while being a solution in search of a problem. At least one notable local resident, though not an Eagle taxpayer, approved of the move and apparently wants to take it a step further. In a voicemail left with the city on July 20, the Rev. Bill Roscoe, Boise Rescue Mission CEO, told Eagle city officials that they made an outstanding decision. Roscoe, whose organization helped Ukrainian refugees, declined to comment to the Statesman. Absolutely necessary in the times that were living in right now, Roscoe said in the voicemail. We intend to let our Mayor Simison and Meridian know that we think Meridian should follow suit. May 2023. Barely half a year after winning the election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus approval rating is plummetting due to his judicial reforms, which divide Israel and spark mass protests that will go down in history. The polls predict that National Unity, the party of former defense minister Benny Gantz, will triple its seats in the Knesset and replace Netanyahus Likud party which is forecast to lose a third of its support as the leading force. December 2023. Two months earlier, on October 7, Israel experienced the deadliest day in its history, when a militia (Hamas) with few resources, living under a blockade in the walled-in Gaza surprised one of the best intelligence services in the world, which took hours to respond. On the brink of the new year, Netanyahus image as Mr. Security could not be more damaged. The polls show Likud losing half of its voters and barely winning 17 of the 120 seats. Gantz is set to win up to a third of parliament. August 2024. Netanyahu is still in power and the situation is still dire in Israel. The invasion of Gaza is the longest war in the countrys history: 10 months, and there is still no sign of the total victory promised by Netanyahu. Nor have his two objectives been met: completely destroying Hamas (militants have killed Israeli soldiers almost daily, including three last Friday) and bringing back the hostages: 109 remain and the last six have returned in coffins. Only 26% of the population is optimistic about national security (half as many as two years ago) and confidence is falling even in the army: 62% see the situation as bad or very bad. Tens of thousands of citizens still do not know when they will return to their homes, as Hezbollah rockets continue to rain down every day. Instead of a deadline, they have authorities threats to send Lebanon back to the Stone Age plunging Israel into a war with unpredictable consequences. People are hoarding water, flashlights and electric generators in anticipation of Iran and Hezbollahs retaliation, while the Israeli flag linked to the devastation and spiralling death toll in Gaza is booed around the world. The international justice system is considering whether to put Israel on trial for genocide and has requested the arrest of Netanyahu for alleged crimes against humanity. Demonstration against Benjamin Netanyahu and in favor of an agreement to bring back Israeli hostages in Gaza, last June in Tel Aviv. SOPA Images (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett) Netanyahu, however, is surging in the polls, living up to his reputation as a political survivor, capable of coming back even when his political epitaph is being drafted. On August 9 for the first time in more than a year a poll by the daily Maariv placed his party, Likud, as the leading political force and Netanyahu as the favorite to lead the country. It does not seem like this is a one-hit wonder. The momentum has continued ever since. On Friday, the poll increased the gap between the two rival parties to two deputies. But Gideon Rahat, one of the countrys leading political analysts, urges caution. His situation has improved, but I dont think its as good now either, Rahat, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, says by phone. After October 7, he was called a political corpse too soon. He dropped in the polls, but he was still supported by the ultra-Orthodox parties, who dont care how the country fares because they only care about their own affairs, and by the far-right, because Netanyahu allows them to advance their agenda. And the Biblical scholars, who have become a kind of sect, adds Rahat. These sectors are staunch supporters of Netanyahu (nicknamed Bibi): at rallies and demonstrations, they chant slogans that border on a cult of personality, such as Rak Bibi (Bibi only) or Melej Israel (King of Israel). But just as Netanyahus situation was not as bad as it appeared, it is not in great shape either. According to Rahat, his steady rise in the polls is due to a combination of temporary factors: the lack of significant alternatives, the work of a poison machine that discredits his rivals, and the fact that former who turned their backs on him out of anger over October 7 have returned to the fold. Whats more, his improved approval rating has no practical relevance as Israels next election is not scheduled until 2026. The question, therefore, is not how Netanyahu is doing, but how the rest are doing. Gantz is a good example. A respected former minister from the opposition, Gantzs popularity has been in decline since he left the national unity government that Netanyahu created to manage the war. His decision to leave in June pleased no one. The Israelis who considered him a serious ex-soldier concerned only with the country saw it as political move, spurred by the possibility of early elections, which he failed to force. And the Israelis who had been loudly calling for him to step down received the news almost reluctantly, because it was not going to help topple Netanyahus government. So Gantz left and Netanyahu began climbing in the polls. Benny Gantz, at a press conference in which he gave Netanyahu an ultimatum to leave the government, this June in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. Nir Elias (REUTERS) In Fridays poll, the parties in government would only win 52 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, well below the 63 that give them a majority today. But the other 68 seats are far from forming an alternative to power. In Israel, it matters more who can form a coalition than who comes first. The opposition is made up of the centrist Zionist parties that celebrate the devastation of Gaza and most of the parties that represent the Palestinian minority in Israel two groups that will never govern together, no matter how much they dislike Netanyahu. In fact, the Jewish opposition parties would fall three seats short of a majority. Shalom Lipner served seven consecutive Israeli prime ministers in his Jerusalem office, between 1990 and 2006. Among them, Netanyahu. Today, he is a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Councils Middle East program, an international affairs think tank based in Washington. Lipner cautions against overstating Netanyahus rise in the polls, arguing it is largely in response to the absence of a coherent alternative. He suffered a big blow after October 7. I wouldnt say that time has healed him, but it is passing. Added to that are the high-profile assassinations [of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders], with a certain degree of success, and the fact that, despite being a country still in trauma, its inhabitants feel that there are far fewer threats to their security now [...] There is also an entire generation of Israelis who have not known another prime minister, says Lipner by phone. After the Hamas attack, half the country turned on Netanyahu for not resigning. With his documented resilience, he weathered the storm. Knowing how to read situations: when to be pragmatic, when to wait ... These are things you learn in politics. And he has had plenty of time to do it, says Lipner. From obstacle to peace to guest at US Congress The opposition, for example, has been accusing Netanyahu for years of turning Israel into an international pariah and endangering its alliance with Washington. But last July, with more than 30,000 dead in Gaza, Netanyahu was invited to speak to the U.S. Congress. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attended despite previously calling Netanyahu a major obstacle to peace who lost his way and allowed his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel. Inviting Netanyahu to Congress did not exactly send the image that Israel was a pariah. Accoring to Lipner, Netanyahu is also ahead in the polls due to concern about Iran. It is the same conclusion reached by Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst and expert in public opinion, who argued the turning point was April 2024. That month, a bombing of an Iranian consular building in Damascus killed three senior military officers, showing how Israels intelligence services are capable of taking action beyond Israels borders. After that, Netanyahu began to rise in the polls. When Irans retaliation came, Israel had the support of the U.S., the U.K., France and even one Arab country, Jordan, which shot down 99% of the more than 300 missiles and drones launched by Tehran. In Israel, the national news made scant mention of the fact that Iran had designed the attack to limit its damage, focusing instead on Israels defensive might and the support of the international alliance. That month, polls gave Netanyahu his best approval ratings since the start of the war, even though two-thirds of the population still did not believe his claim that total victory in Gaza was within reach. A building destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Hamad City, southern Gaza, on Saturday. Hatem Khaled (REUTERS) In July, a rocket allegedly accidentally fired by Hezbollah killed 12 children in the Golan Heights. Netanyahu upped the ante with two top-level assassinations: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollahs number two, Fuad Shukr. The army then announced the assassination of Mohamed Deif, the head of Hamas armed wing, in Gaza. Netanyahu again gained popularity. In other words, Scheindlin summarizes, for Netanyahu, Iran is a winning issue. Irans promises of retaliation have not prompted Israelis to ask whether the assassination was necessary. The feeling is they deserved it and Israel must remain united in the face of the threat from Tehran and Hezbollah. Netanyahus resilience Netanyahu is Israels longest-serving prime minister: he has been in power 17 years out of Israels 76 years of history: between 1996 and 1999 and since 2009, with a small break. And while hes often needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat, his longevity in politics is testament to the fact that he unites more than he divides. He is a classic populist leader, like [Donald] Trump or [Nicolas] Maduro, who pits half the people against the other half. And if his half is a little bigger, then he wins, says Rahat. This is, in fact, what Netanyahu has done for almost his entire political career. No one imagined, for example, that he would come to power in 1996, when Shimon Peres called early elections after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Netanyahu gained a 20 percentage point lead in the polls. He won 50.5% of the vote, thanks to massive ultra-Orthodox support and the fact that Peres image was damaged by a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks and the failure of Operation Grapes of Wrath in Lebanon. Peres tried to steal Netanyahus tough rhetoric, and ended up causing a massacre and accepting, under pressure, a ceasefire. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu, in 1996 at the White House. New York Daily News Archive (NY Daily News via Getty Images) In 2009, Netanyahu also bounced back to power. The Kadima party won the elections, but its leader, Tzipi Livni, refused to give in to the ultra-Orthodox wings terms, which she described as blackmail. Netanyahu, with fewer scruples, forged a coalition. Six years later, in another election and with the polls against him, he resorted directly to racism, stirring up the fears of the Jewish majority with the argument that Israeli Arabs were voting in droves to oust him from power. The division over Netanyahu plunged the country into a crisis of governability, with four elections in just two years. That came to an end in November 2022, when Likud won and formed an alliance with ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox groups to create the most right-wing government in Israels history. Several ministers support the ethnic cleansing and recolonization of Gaza: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it is just and moral to starve the more than two million Gazans; while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has called for Palestinians holding Molotov cocktails to be shot dead. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition WHO needs some $135 million in next six months to fight mpox An employee vaccinates a man against monkeypox with Bavarian Nordic's vaccine (Imvanex / Jynneos) at Klinikum rechts der Isar. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that it will need $135 million over the next six months to combat the viral disease mpox. Sven Hoppe/dpa The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that it will need $135 million over the next six months to combat the viral disease mpox. This does not include the cost of 2 million vaccine doses, according to a planning paper from the UN health agency in Geneva. The money is to chiefly be invested in diagnostic tests and research, the WHO said in Geneva on Monday. In addition, measures should be financed to prevent transmission from animals to humans and to involve communities in the fight against mpox, the WHO explained. The WHO had recently declared the highest alert level due to the mpox outbreaks in Africa and a new, potentially more dangerous variant. According to the WHO, more than 18,000 suspected cases with 575 deaths have already been registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this year. In addition, there are more than 200 confirmed infections with the new variant 1b in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. 1b cases have already been registered in people in Sweden and Thailand who had travelled to Africa. Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is related to smallpox. It causes skin lesions, fever and muscular aches. There are two vaccines, but they are in short supply in Africa. Experts believe the new variant, which has been spreading rapidly in parts of central Africa, is likely more contagious than previous strains and can cause a more severe infection. However, mpox is generally not easily transmitted, with direct contact needed for spread. Earlier Monday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Berlin is donating 100,000 doses of mpox vaccine to African countries affected by the disease from army stocks. In the medium term, Germany, together with European partners, will also support the African Union in setting up local vaccine production, he said. According to the information provided, the exact method by which the vaccine will reach the affected regions has not yet been finalized. The German government supports the affected countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, through the WHO with money and also brings in expertise from German specialist institutions. It is already known that a mobile laboratory for detecting the virus will be delivered to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Experts are being trained to recognize the symptoms of the disease and educate the population about preventive measures. Negotiations with Ukraine have now lost their relevance, Kremlin says The Kremlin is skeptical about the talks between Russia and Ukraine, given their "loss of relevance," Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported on Aug. 26, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Peskov's statement comes amid an ongoing Ukrainian incursion in Russia's Kursk Oblast, which started in early August. As of Aug. 20, the Ukrainian military said it controlled 1,263 square kilometers (488 square miles) and 93 settlements, including the town of Sudzha. The Washington Post (WP) reported on Aug. 17 that the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Oblast allegedly disrupted plans for secret indirect talks between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by Qatar. The parties planned to discuss ending Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, according to the outlet. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, as well as Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, denied any indirect negotiations between the states. "You know that the subject of negotiations has lost much of its relevance now. There are a lot of reports about various contacts in the media, and not all of them are truthful," Peskov said in response to a question about possible negotiations between the two sides. Kyiv said that rather than capturing Russian territory, the incursion aims to protect Ukrainian lives by preventing cross-border attacks and diverting Russian reinforcements. Kursk Oblast borders Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, an area subjected to daily Russian attacks since parts of it were liberated in April 2022. Russia has also continued to shell border communities in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, including the villages of Porozok and Poznia. Ukrainian authorities are planning to evacuate a total of 45,000 residents from the region amid intensified Russian attacks. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Aug. 14 that Ukraine's military is creating a "security zone" on Russian territory to protect Ukrainian border areas. Read also: Kursk operation: What Ukraine achieved so far and potential future gains Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. 'I never seen a slide of this magnitude': Alaska landslide kills 1, at least 3 injured Mandatory evacuations are underway in a southeastern Alaska city after a landslide leveled homes and businesses, leaving at least one person dead and multiple people injured Sunday. Land detached from a hill side about 4 p.m. local time, significantly damaging roads and knocking out power, officials with the city of Ketchikan, reported. In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude, they city's Mayor Dave Kiffer said in a release. The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes." At least one person died and three people were taken to a hospital to be treated for unspecified injuries, city officials said. Mandatory evacuations were underway in the southeastern Alaska of Ketchikan, after a landslide leveled homes and businesses on Aug. 25, 2024, leaving at least one person dead and multiple people injured Sunday. Early Monday morning, a city emergency dispatcher told USA TODAY no additional injuries had been reported. It was not immediately known how many people were displaced. "A potential secondary landslide area has been identified south of the original landside," the city wrote, adding emergency crews were standing by. This afternoon I verbally declared a disaster declaration for the landslide that struck Ketchikan earlier today. All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed. My thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Ketchikan tonight. Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) August 26, 2024 Alaska's governor issues emergency disaster declaration Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster emergency declaration for Ketchikan on Sunday night. All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed," the governor posted on X. My thoughts and prayers are with residents of Ketchikan tonight." Hurricane Gilma tracker: See latest details, projected path of storm in Pacific Mandatory evacuation in place Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said in a social media post a mandatory evacuation order was in place for the affected area. "My team and I stand ready to help facilitate any federal assistance that may be necessary," Sullivan posted on X. "Ive had constructive discussions with Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and City Mayor Dave Kiffer who are both very focused on recovery efforts... Our prayers are with the families, the injured, those recovering, and the community." An emergency shelter has been set up at a local high school, official said. Power expected to be restored when 'each area is cleared for safety' Early Monday morning it was not immediately known how many homes and businesses were in the dark. Power was expected to be restored over the next few days once each area is cleared for safety, the city said, and the American Red Cross is on scene. As we work through this, please keep the affected families in your prayers and know we will do everything we can to recover from this event as quickly as possible and help those in need. We sincerely appreciate the first responders, medical personnel, volunteers, businesses and others offering assistance, Borough Mayor Rodney Dial said. Where is Ketchikan? The city is north of Pennock Island not far from the Canadian border. Ketchikan faces the Inside Passage, a popular cruise route on a network of waterways snaking through "some of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful wilderness in the world," according to the city's website. Ketchikan, it continues, is known for "feisty salmon, idyllic scenery, and an incredibly rich Alaska Native culture." Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Landslide Ketchikan, Alaska leaves least 1 dead, 3 injured (WFRV) Candidate Emily Tseffos joined Local 5s Tom Zalaski to talk about her history and why she is running for a seat on the State Assembly in this edition of Newsmaker Sunday. Tseffos went into detail on how she got into politics, which started in Nashville, Tennessee. Tune in to Newsmaker Sunday every Sunday at 7:30 a.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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. NHs Republican governor has been friendly to offshore wind. What about his potential replacements? Zachary Jylkka, a renewable energy program specialist at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, gives a presentation in Portsmouth on May 29, 2024. (Claire Sullivan | New Hampshire Bulletin) This article was corrected on Aug. 26 at 8:49 a.m. to use the correct units on the amount of energy the offshore wind projects are projected to generate. This is the third and final story in a series examining how the top gubernatorial candidates, determined by polling data, would lead on energy and the environment. Read part one here and two here. Outside the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth in late May, a peaceful evening dotted with sparse clouds concealed the upheaval inside. Dozens of residents packed into a wood-paneled room lined with posters and rows of chairs to hear officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management explain the federal governments proposal for offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine. Many attendees, especially those tied to the fishing industry, were highly skeptical. They voiced fears that the project would threaten their livelihoods and the marine environment of which they see themselves as stewards. Those concerns drive opposition to the proposal from Kelly Ayotte and Chuck Morse, the Republicans running to replace Gov. Chris Sununu. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington embrace the vast energy potential offered by the ocean winds. The BOEM officials had billed that May night as an open house, where much of the time would be spent with people rotating around the room to have one-on-one conversations with experts stationed around informational posters. But the restless crowd wanted to get straight to business, to hear the plan and get the chance to tell officials exactly how they felt about it. They didnt mince words. At the end of the hourslong public meeting, full of groans and frustration, many appeared unmoved in their opposition to the proposal. A question rang around the room: How can we stop this? Though fishermen have been vocal opponents to offshore wind, the proposed energy auction in eight lease areas near Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire could generate up to 15 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy and power more than 5 million homes, according to BOEMs April announcement of the proposal. Federal officials said, too, they chose areas in the ocean that minimize harm to the environment and stakeholders like the fishing industry. Clean energy advocates have urged the state to take advantage of the opportunity, and Sununu has helped push along the prospect of offshore wind development. Ive been a champion of offshore wind, Sununu said in a 2022 gubernatorial debate. Im the guy that actually not the Hassan administration, it was the Sununu administration that actually started the entire process with the federal government to look at the opportunities of offshore wind. At the start of 2019, Sununu asked BOEM to establish an intergovernmental task force on offshore wind in the federal waters off of New Hampshire. BOEM created a regional task force in the Gulf of Maine that included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and federally recognized tribes. At the end of 2019, Sununu signed an executive order preparing the state for offshore wind development, saying in a statement, its imperative that we go through this process the right way from day one to maximize all the potential benefits of this new industry. New Hampshire recognizes the tremendous potential that offshore wind power has to offer, Sununu said. With todays executive order, New Hampshire will ensure that this is an open and transparent process involving diverse stakeholders to balance existing offshore uses with a new source of clean energy. This will require enhanced coordination between state agencies, new studies, and continuous engagement with the public. Sununu established four advisory committees to help inform the states representatives on the BOEM task force. He also ordered state officials to study the greenhouse gas emission reductions that could come from offshore wind and the port and coastal infrastructure of the state. But the Republicans vying to replace Sununu, who isnt seeking a fifth term, dont share his interest in offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, pointing to the concerns from fishermen. Democrats, on the other hand, see it as a massive renewable energy opportunity for the state. States have authority over waters no more than three nautical miles off their coasts. From there, the federal government has power, which is why BOEM, part of the federal Department of Interior, is leading the proposal. In the Sept. 10 primary, voters will choose a candidate from each party to advance to the Nov. 5 general election. Heres what those prospective leaders think of offshore wind. What candidates say The Republican candidates for governor are deeply skeptical of the offshore wind projects being proposed in the Gulf of Maine, citing cost and the outcry from fishermen. Chuck Morse, a Republican who formerly served as president of the state Senate, is adamantly against offshore wind development, saying he has been involved with the projects with fishermen on the Seacoast. In that particular case, I cant support building wind energy off the coast, he said. I think, number one, the cost is going to be astronomical for the people in New Hampshire. And, number two, I dont think its been well thought out on what its going to do to the environment off of our coast. Kelly Ayotte, the Republican former U.S. senator and state attorney general, said she is open to wind generally but doesnt think whats being proposed in the Gulf of Maine is right for the state. Those proposals that are right now being considered dont make sense to me, she said. She has concerns with the cost and said the return on investment isnt there. She also pointed to the concerns of fishermen. They make their livelihood, certainly, fishing in that area, she said. And theyre very concerned that its going to really interrupt the natural habitat of the fish and will interfere with their livelihood, which is certainly important in terms of just even thinking about the tradition and history of fishing on the Seacoast of New Hampshire. Democrats, on the other hand, embrace the opportunity for clean energy but say they will balance that with concerns of the fishermen. Cinde Warmington, the only Democrat on the states five-person Executive Council, welcomes the development and said the state needs to get more involved in it. New Hampshire needs to be at the table actively engaged in that conversation, she said. There is a great deal of opportunity laying ahead for our state in terms of reduced energy costs but also jobs and opportunities in our state that we need to make sure we are welcoming here in our state. Other states are competing with us, and we dont need to be left behind. She said all stakeholders need to be heard on the topic but stressed the magnitude of this energy opportunity. We need to listen to everyone whos involved at all times, right? No matter what the topic is; we need to make sure we get asked all the stakeholders at the table, she said. But we do see that we have one of the greatest sources of wind energy, maybe in the world, right off of our coast, and we should be taking advantage of that opportunity. Joyce Craig, the former Manchester mayor, said the state needs to take a more active role in the development. We have to take a proactive role in offshore wind development. In the Gulf of Maine, its the regions largest source of new power generation. And right now, New Hampshire is not at the table, and so its really important that New Hampshire be there, she said. And thats what I would be supportive of. We need to be looking at different options, again, to save residents money, and to be at the table for these renewable energy sources. She said fishermen have to be at the table in those conversations, pointing to her time as mayor working with businesses. I would absolutely work with this community to make sure were not impacting their business, she said. At the same time, we need to look into and have a seat at the table on whats going on with offshore wind. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu speaks after his swearing-in ceremony in Abuja ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Bola Tinubu named new homeland security and foreign intelligence chiefs on Monday, a week after their predecessors resigned abruptly, as Africa's most populous nation fights a northeastern insurgency and rampant kidnappings. Mohammed Mohammed, who headed Nigeria's mission to Libya, will lead the National Intelligence Agency. Adeola Ajayi will helm the Department of State Security. The previous agency chiefs, appointed by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018, gave no reason for their resignations. They could have taken the fall for the country's poor security performance, or have been purged along with government personnel from the north to replace with Tinubu's own Yoruba ethnic stock, said Confidence MacHarry, lead security analyst at consultancy SBM Intelligence. Following incessant attacks by armed groups, Tinubu is boosting intelligence gathering to deal with nationwide kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs and a more than decade-old insurgency in the northeast. (Reporting by Ope Adetayo and Felix Onuah; Editing by Chijioke Ohuocha and Richard Chang) Chipotle in Ann Arbor | Laina G. Stebbins Updated at 6:22 p.m. 8/26/24 Several allegations of unfair labor practices against a Chipotle store in the Lansing area have been found to have merit. Thats according to a press release from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which said that Elizabeth Kerwin, the agencys director of Region 7-Detroit, found that there was merit to the allegation that the Delta Township Chipotle location violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by telling employees that Chipotle couldnt provide raises because they were unionized, and that it unlawfully withheld raises because they were unionized. Kerwin also found Chipotle unlawfully disciplined an employee because the employee engaged in union activity and to discourage others from engaging in union activity. In response, Chipotles Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Laurie Schalow, sent Michigan Advance the following statement when asked to comment. We respect our employees rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act and are committed to ensuring a fair, just, and humane work environment that provides opportunities to all. We have been bargaining in good faith on the first union agreement at our Saginaw Highway restaurantas evidenced by the dates of our first proposed terms, however, as was the case with our first offers to sit at the negotiating table after the vote, there have been a long delays in scheduling by the union to meet us at the table, which is occurring yet again and we are now planned to resume negotiations later this fall, said Schalow. While a determination of merit is not a final decision on the charges, it is considered a first step in the NLRBs general counsel litigating the allegations after investigating an unfair labor practice charge. If the parties dont settle and a complaint is issued, a hearing will be scheduled with an NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who can order make-whole remedies, stated the release. The ALJs decision can then be appealed to the Board, which can be appealed to (the) federal appeals court. Kerwin dismissed an allegation claiming that Chipotle unlawfully withheld credit card tips, while an allegation that Chipotle unlawfully surveilled workers is under investigation. There are currently six unfair labor practice charges open against the Delta Township Chipotle, whose workers voted for union representation in 2022, becoming the restaurants first location in the nation to do so. In fact, it remains the only Chipotle store in which the NLRB has conducted an election for union representation. This story was updated to include a statement from Chipotle. WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) The Northern New York Community Foundation has announced that nonprofit organizations serving Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties can apply for up to $20,000 in funding as part of the LEAD Impact grant program. The LEAD Council is an advisory committee of 25 young professionals tasked with making key investments in the tri-county region through community grants and volunteerism. Council members want to learn more about the work of nonprofits and are accepting proposals for Impact Grant Program funding through Friday, September 27. Fayetteville-Manlius High School teacher killed in weekend crash The grant program supports nonprofit programs, projects and initiatives that will make a positive and meaningful impact on an organization and the people it serves. Requests that clearly demonstrate innovative approaches to service, mission and community enhancement, and a substantive impact on the quality of life across the area will be strongly considered. LEAD is an acronym that reflects four important guiding principles tied to the Community Foundations mission and values: Leadership, Engagement, Access and Direction. Harrison Burton wins a wild NASCAR Cup race at Daytona The LEAD Impact Grant Program application must be completed online through the NNYCFs Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM) portal HERE. All 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are invited to apply. Organizations should register as a user in GLM before applying. Contact assistant director Max DelSignore at max@nnycf.org, or 315-782-7110, with questions or to learn more. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) The Northern New York Community Foundation Six Town Community Fund has announced they are accepting proposals for up to $7,500 for non-profit organizations serving southern Jefferson County. This geographic fund provides support for local programs, projects and initiatives that enhance the quality of life in the Six Town area, which encompasses the towns of Adams, Ellisburg, Henderson, Lorraine, Rodman and Worth. Non-profits can go to the grant portal website. Flower Memorial Library announces improvements to toy room & story area All applications must be in by Friday, October 25. Nonprofit organizations with a 501(c)(3) classification are eligible and invited to apply. Funding decisions will be determined in December and announced shortly thereafter. Eligible organizations must actively serve residents in the Six Town area. Requests may focus on assisting with local needs related to health and wellness, families and youth, arts and culture, history, education and more. Interested organizations can contact Max DelSignore, Community Foundation assistant director at 315-782-7110, or max@nnycf.org, to learn more. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. KEITHVILLE, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Deputies are investigating after reports of an active shooter at Keithville Elementary and Middle School turned out to be false. No active shooter found after threat to Keithville Elementary and Middle School (Source: KTAL/KMSS staff) According to the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office, 911 received a call from the school around 7:55 a.m. to report the threat of an active shooter. The school was immediately placed on lockdown. The School Liaison Officer and other responding deputies searched the school but did not find a shooter. Authorities said all students were located and confirmed safe. After further investigation, Detective Ray Saunders identified two students as the suspects who called 911. Authorities took the children, aged 11 and 12, to the Caddo Juvenile Detention Center. They are facing charges of terrorizing. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com. The unexpected twists and turns of politics and life have placed Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia before a disproportionately complex and transcendent personal and political challenge. At the age of 74 he has gone from being an obscure, family-oriented diplomat focused on his academic routines, to finding himself at the center of a serious state crisis in Venezuela as he tries to assert an electoral victory that has unleashed the wrath of the Chavista government. The government accuses him, along with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, of being behind a plan to ignore the election results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner; he is furthermore being accused of unleashing violence in the streets with the aim of deposing the government. Gonzalez Urrutia has been the target of fierce propaganda that portrays him as a dark character with ties to paramilitary and fascist elements of Latin America since the end of the 20th century; he is allegedly linked to extremist processes in Central America during his time as a diplomat. The charges against Gonzalez Urrutia have not been formalized in court, but they are about to be. The Attorney Generals Office has summoned him to provide sworn testimony on Monday for the alleged crimes of usurping state responsibilities, forging public documents, instigating disobedience of the law, computer crimes, criminal association and conspiracy. The president of Venezuelas Supreme Court, Caryslia Rodriguez, announced that she has sent Attorney General Tarek William Saab information of criminal interest about Gonzalez Urrutia and Maria Corina Machado, and added that the former had incurred in contempt before the highest court in the country. The digitalized tally sheets from the presidential election, posted online by the opposition campaign team and reflecting more than 80% of the votes that were counted, confirm a victory for Gonzalez Urrutia with 67% of the votes against 30% for Maduro. The process of collecting and publishing these documents on a website that nobody has been able to take down has been a blow to the Maduro administration on the communication front, reinforcing the idea of the oppositions victory inside and outside Venezuela. All of this has angered the authorities, who are now bringing charges. The Chavista civil-military apparatus, a thousand-headed monster, has lost much of its hold on the population, but it seems to have preserved intact its power within the structures of the State. Gonzalez Urrutia was the only candidate who did not attend the audit of tally sheets organized by the Supreme Court at the request of the government, demanding instead that the National Electoral Council be the agency in charge of auditing the vote. Amid threats of imprisonment and harsh words, Nicolas Maduro has called Gonzalez Urrutia a coward and repeatedly criticized him at public rallies and on television. The Venezuelan president constantly asks why he doesnt show his face. July 30 was the last time that Gonzalez Urrutia was seen in public. He lives under security protection and has only published messages through his social media accounts. According to several sources close to him, the diplomat has dealt with the barrage of insults and threats with great aplomb and serenity. His whereabouts, his contacts and his strategy remain a complete mystery. Testimony from someone very close to Gonzalez Urrutia described the situation: He is surrounded by his family. His team and contacts are at a distance, he does not meet with anyone personally. He is in touch with a very close circle of collaborators in politics, and of course, he is in permanent contact with Maria Corina Machado. He makes inquiries, he talks at length with some politicians that he trusts, years-long friends. We have talked a couple of times, but only when he has decided to. When we have spoken, I feel that he is strong. He is calm. Of course he will not show up for these summons, added another source who spoke on condition of anonymity. To do so would be to acknowledge the legitimacy of these institutions, which are all controlled by the [state party] PSUV, in which there is no notion of justice. In the face of this attack on our freedoms and our popular sovereignty, I call on Venezuelans to unite in their defense, Gonzalez Urrutia said at his most recent speech. What is at stake is no small thing. I call on all organizations, even those that have not supported us in the elections, to unite and enforce the decision of the majority. I ask the nations of the world to remain firm in the defense of our democracy and to continue demanding transparency from the organs of the state. I think they want to pressure him, to make him feel surrounded and force him to leave the country, said a third person close to the candidate, also on condition of anonymity. But it must be said that he is very active, talking a lot with the international community, looking for compromises and parameters to move forward. Venezuelans seem willing enough to respond to the peaceful calls to defend the electoral result made by Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia after the election, but a paralysis of fear is slowly taking hold. Arbitrary arrests and selective police harassment have had an effect, and many people are thinking twice about calling for a demonstration. Although he acknowledges that the governments assault seeks to put Gonzalez Urrutia in the same situation as Juan Guaido, for historian and political analyst Pedro Benitez the circumstances are somewhat different. This time the opposition claims to have won an election and claims to have the evidence to prove it. It is not a conflict between Parliament and the Executive over a constitutional interpretation. Edmundo would have a problem if his victory had been recognized. Now the problem is Maduro, who does not want to accept it. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition No injuries reported after Spencer garage fire; Cause under investigation SPENCER, Iowa (KCAU) More than a dozen firefighters were called to put out a garage fire that spread to other buildings in Spencer on Sunday. According to a release, the Spencer Fire Department was called at 1:50 a.m. to the 700 block of East 3rd Stree,t where they found a detached garage that was on fire. NSP: 1 dead in plane crash near Crofton: Authorities still investigating Firefighters immediately began working to bring the fire under control and called for more units as it continued to spread to another garage and two single-family homes. Firefighters were on scene for more than an hour but no injuries were reported. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. Demonstrators and immigrants protesting with We Are Human sign Demonstrators protest Arizona's crackdown on undocumented immigrants outside the Arizona Capitol building on April 23, 2010. Photo by John Moore | Getty Images Willie Horton is now an immigrant. Youll recall, in 1988 Willie Horton was the Black man weaponized to help defeat Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis. No doubt there were plenty of white predators also, but George H.W. Bush wanted you to know that, under Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis, a scary Black man released from prison on furlough raped a white woman and bound and stabbed her boyfriend. This racially charged story helped the Republican candidate win the presidential election. Stoking white fears about people who dont look like them is a longstanding GOP tactic. In 2024 Horton is back, this time in the form of stories about immigrants who come to this country to murder and rape. Immigrants cherry-picked for the role are featured in ads for Donald Trump. The ads present the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, as weak, dangerous and totally responsible for an immigrant invasion. The consensus is that these ads are false or misleading. The border is not in crisis. Border-crossing numbers are down. Immigrants contribution to crime is negligible. Their contribution to our economy is immense. They come because Americans hire them. Going through the U.S. immigration process is nigh impossible for those who would prefer to come legally. So the claims are bogus but highly effective. Americans cite immigration as one of their top concerns. And ex-prosecutor Harris has reacted by emphasizing her tough-on-crime bona fides. There is a better answer. I listened for it during the Democratic National Convention recently in Chicago. In what was, even with some stumbles, a superb farewell speech, President Joe Biden, came close. Biden said that Trump killed the strongest bipartisan immigration bill ever crafted in the Senate. Importantly, he added, reform ahead must include protections for Dreamers and other immigrants. Great, but Im mindful that Biden earlier this year caved to the GOP rhetoric and issued an executive order on asylum that many believe is both immoral and illegal. I also listened to the words from a daughter of immigrants, Harris. I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenshipand secure our border, she said. I get it. When the other side is scaring the bejesus out of Americans with visions of foreign rapists and murderers, Democrats think they have to sound tough. Hence words like secure when it comes to the border and that word, earned, before pathway to citizenship. These are intended to convey toughness. My fear is that our current moment in immigration will flavor the kind of immigration reform we get. In the interest of compromise to get something anything done, reform will not be enough about the changes that make our policies humane and practical for the economy and immigrants, but about a show of strength that is better politics than policy. Too many have embraced the implication of the Trump ads: These relatively rare instances when immigrants commit crimes represent all brown immigrants. Be afraid. No harm for brown people generally? Ask a Black man how years of pernicious stereotypes have affected him. There is a better way and it must involve fairness above all else. That includes a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have been here for years toiling to prop up the U.S. economy and paying taxes into a social safety net system they can never access, while fearing that deportation will tear them from their families and means of support. Pathway has recently been changed to that fighting word amnesty. OK, lets fight. Amnesty involves forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive. Being compelled to be here by root problems in countries of origin does not require forgiveness. Theres also no doubt that many immigrant workers who have been here for years have already earned a right to that pathway. Id rather Democrats get tough by unabashedly disavowing racist policies that are all about optics but not substance. I did hear some of that kind of pushback at the convention but a lot of it was couched in toughness. Yes, I know that immigration reform is more likely to happen under Democratic leadership. But that it already hasnt is part of the reason that Latinos in particular feel taken for granted. Democrats cannot let our new Willie Horton dictate what reform looks like. Fairness above all. I expect nothing less than from the daughter of immigrants. Botetourt Street in Norfolk, Virginia, looking north. Preliminary plans for a floodwall have the structure running down the street. Other options show the street outside a proposed wall or inside a wall running along the waterfront. (Jim Morrison/For The Virginia Mercury) On a mid-July evening, condominium owners in Norfolks historic Freemason district met to organize against what they saw as a threat to their property values and the enjoyment of the waterfront: a planned floodwall, 11 feet or more high, running through their neighborhood. Theyd been blindsided a month earlier when a resident invited Kyle Spencer, the citys resilience officer, to present a $2.66 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coastal storm risk management plan to protect the city from catastrophic flooding. They watched as Spencer showed options for the wall alignment, including one slicing between two condominium buildings and down a cobblestone street that is a key entryway into the neighborhood. Another option hugged the waterfront and then traversed into the Elizabeth River. They werent told, but specifications would require it to rise about 17 feet above the water. FrontStreetOptions824 Whether intentional or unintentional, there has been no visibility to this process, said Eric Thompson, the president of the Freemason Harbour Condominium Association, who led the meeting. Condominiums there are valued from about $350,000 to more than $500,000. They asked Spencer: Would owners be compensated for any lost property value? They might benefit from lower flood insurance rates, he responded. That incensed Thompson. So well save two grand a year on flood insurance and lose $200,000 (value) on each unit, he told two dozen owners at the July meeting. Thompsons presentation that night included a slide showing the wall at street level, something the city has never included in its presentations. In Miami, similar renderings helped fuel a backlash against walls running through the downtown waterfront leading the city to demand a new plan from the Corps. In an interview, Spencer offered several reasons why similar drawings have not been produced. Its too early in the design, he said. He wants to show the wall as integrated into the neighborhood. And his office has limited resources. Showing a big, ugly, gray wall, he said. It doesnt seem to really show what is going to actually happen. The July meeting concluded with a plan to organize a letter-writing campaign to Virginias congressional delegation detailing their objections and to engage in the historic preservation overview required by the project. This is the beginning, Thompson told the condominium owners. Implementing resilience proves challenging The Freemason group is the latest to complain that the city has failed to adequately inform them about details in the plan, the largest infrastructure project in Norfolks history. Of the threatened waterfront cities in the U.S., Norfolk is ahead with plans to combat rising waters. The City Council approved a partnership agreement with the Army Corps last year, obligating Norfolk to contribute a $931 million local share and move forward with detailed design and eventually construction. The plan will reshape the city, with more than eight miles of walls as high as 16 feet along its wealthiest neighborhoods, and softer solutions such as shorelines planted with grasses in other areas. But implementing those plans is complicated, the city and the Corps are discovering. About 200 utility conflicts have been identified in just the first phase along downtown, slowing progress. Residents of the citys lower-income, largely Black Southside last year challenged the failure to provide them with walls, noting their home values have been depressed by historical redlining. Critics have long said the benefit-cost analysis used by the Corps values property over people and grey infrastructure over green solutions to the detriment of disadvantaged communities and the environment. When Norfolks City Council approved the partnership agreement with the Army Corps last year, obligating the city to contribute a $931 million local share and move forward with construction, it passed a resolution seeking a new study looking at the feasibility of adding walls in Southside. Spencer sent a formal request by letter in July 2023. City representatives including Mayor Kenneth Alexander as well as Col. Brian Hallberg, then the district commander, pledged their support and promised to keep leaders in the loop through regular meetings. The plan protects the city from inundation by major storms, not the increasing flooding from high tides or more intense rainstorms. At the July meeting, Thompson noted flooding takes place further inland from Freemason, but not in the neighborhood. The frustrating thing is that Freemason basically absorbs all of the negative consequences for the 1% chance of a flood that will impact the middle of the city, Thompson said. Without the project, the 2019 Corps plan estimated that all but a sliver of the citys interior would be at risk for flooding from a major storm by 2075. With the project, the feasibility study says Norfolk will reap annual net benefits of $122 million from reduced damage to businesses, homes, and critical infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. Greg Rutledge, an architect at Hanbury Design, historic preservation expert, and a member of Norfolks Architectural Review Board, recently learned about the walls planned for Freemason. He wondered why the review board had not at least been consulted during the feasibility study, completed in 2019, about the effects on Norfolks three historic districts, which include Freemason. The ramifications to the citys interface with the waterfront and the viewshed, both from the water to the city and city to the water, is just unreconcilable, and its going to be permanent, he said. How can anybody even assess this as a benefit except only in economic property terms, which is frustrating. Delays Ahead? A records request revealed the start of construction for the first phase along the waterfront by the citys minor league stadium, Harbor Park, may be delayed by years. Please do not share this, Kristin Mazur, the Corps point person on the project, wrote in an email to Spencer in April. She attached a schedule showing projected construction starts for a pump station and the first part of the wall beginning in 2027 and 2028, at least two years behind the schedule shown on the citys website. The goal is to beat this schedule, she wrote. We are being forced to update the P2 schedule in the system with long timelines, especially for real estate. Spencer declined to say the new schedule is firm. I cant say thats the final date or not, but it might be different than whats shown on the website, Spencer said. Until we have an official change, were going to keep the information (on the website). We were bamboozled The Freemason residents arent the only ones disappointed in the citys lack of communication about the plan. Southside civic league leaders were also angered to learn by reading a news story last month that the study was not funded this year. A day after that July Freemason meeting, Lawrence Brown, president of the Campostella Heights Civic League, got a call from a fellow activist pointing him to a story on the local NPR affiliate WHROs news site reporting that funding had not been approved to reconsider building walls to protect his and other neighborhoods on the citys Southside. Like the Freemason condominium owners, Brown and Southside leaders were blindsided. No one from the city had called or emailed after the Corps learned two months earlier that funding had not been appropriated. When were they gonna notify us? Brown said. A lot of the community is pissed off because they read it in the paper. I dont blame them. In Norfolk, Southside residents say they often feel like afterthoughts; the communication failure fed into that narrative. City and Corps officials were aware of the need to communicate clearly. A summary of a November meeting between Spencer and Corps staffers, obtained through a records request, notes: For Southside, the optics of waiting to begin study for 1-2 years will be (a) communications challenge. Kim Sudderth, a Planning Commission member and Southside activist, said she was trying to remain optimistic. Hallberg, when we first met him, said over and over again that he would be our champion, she said. There were a number of people that wanted to just disregard what he had to say weve heard this before. People say theyre going to advocate for us, and they never do. And my fear is, that pessimistic approach was actually accurate. Brown said last week that the city still has not notified him but has scheduled a Southside Task Force meeting for Sept. 3. The community has the impression, as my grandma used to say, we were bamboozled from the beginning, he added. It could have been easily dealt with by just coming up and saying, Hey, weve run into a snag with funding for this. It may look like its going to be next year. Spencer said he failed to inform Brown and others because he was focused on determining why the money was not appropriated and scheduling conflicts prevented earlier meetings. An Army Corps spokesperson confirmed that the North Atlantic office endorsed the new studys funding in June after learning it didnt need approval from higher-ups, nearly a year after Norfolks request. It will be considered for next years budget. Mayor Kenneth Alexander, in an emailed response, said the city is pursuing an earmark funding the study. Meetings have been held with the Corps, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Congressional delegation. While city officials were not updating Southside residents, they were addressing the concerns of potential developers over preliminary designs showing a wall running along Front Street, adjacent to the Freemason neighborhood. One large waterfront parcel along that street, labeled for future development on city maps, remains undeveloped. The community has the impression, as my grandma used to say, we were bamboozled from the beginning. It could have been easily dealt with by just coming up and saying, Hey, we've run into a snag with funding for this. It may look like it's going to be next year. Lawrence Brown, president of the Campostella Heights Civic League Emails obtained through a public records request show Spencer, City Manager Pat Roberts, and Economic Development Director Sean Washington discussing scheduling a meeting with representatives of Gold Key PHR and Virginia Beach developer Bruce Thompson. An email from Spencer to Kristin Mazur, the point person for the Corps, said he was getting pressure from Roberts and the mayor to arrange a meeting soon. I understand the intent of the July workshop to be to develop design alternatives to the Front Street CSRM (coastal storm risk management) structural alignment, in the context of proposed private investment to take place in Fort Norfolk in this immediate vicinity, Roberts wrote in a June 6 email to Spencer and other city staffers. We will be asking the Corps to consider various design alternatives as well as a schedule that aligns with the private redevelopment. A public records request for July emails about that project is pending. In an emailed response, Spencer wrote that the city shares information with the Corps on proposed projects to work on solutions that allow for both projects to be successful. While at least four media relations firms are consulting on communications, Spencer, who has a degree in geographic information systems, has been the point person communicating the plan. He says he and his staff have attended more than 80 public meetings. The city held four open houses this spring to explain its resilience strategy. A total of 157 people signed into those sessions although its possible more attended. Spencer said the city was doing a better public information campaign for the floodwalls than on any project hed done. Im not sure why they dont know, he said. I think were doing our best to get it out there. Editors note: This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to P2 as Phase 2 in an email by Kristin Mazur, the Corps of Engineers point of contact on the Norfolk floodwall project. P2 refers to the Corps project management system. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Former President Donald Trump (left ) and Vice President Kamala Harris (right) Photos: Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images; Jim Vondruska/Getty Images) In the month since President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have made a combined four campaign stops to North Carolina. Both candidates have focused their visits on the seven battleground states that are crucial for the path to the White House: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Of those seven states, North Carolina was the only one Trump won in 2020 and he did so by a narrow margin of 1.3 percent. Since Bidens withdrawal on July 21, Trump has stumped in Charlotte on July 24, Asheville on Aug. 14, and Asheboro on Aug. 21. Its a sign that the Republican Party is more concerned about winning North Carolina with Biden out of the race. Trump had visited the Tar Heel State only twice earlier this year, in March and May an April rally in Wilmington was canceled because of weather. The Trump campaign did not directly address a request for comment on the increased focus in North Carolina. Harris has made just one trip to North Carolina since officially entering the race, an invite-only event in Raleigh on Aug. 16 where she unveiled her economic agenda. But it marked her eighth visit to the state this year, including two that took place in the weeks preceding Biden's withdrawal in Greensboro on July 11 and Fayetteville on July 18. A scheduled Aug. 8 event in Raleigh that was to include with running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as part of a swing state tour was canceled because of Tropical Storm Debby, as were stops in Raleigh and Oakboro for Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen. JD Vance. Recent polls show a surge toward Democratic candidates with Harris leading or tied in swing states and Attorney General Josh Stein up by 14 percentage points over Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the North Carolina gubernatorial race. Experts say the surge for Harris has put some states that had been thought to be out of reach for Democrats back into play. Last week, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted a strong turnout in November from voters who he said would be motivated to prevent extreme right-wing candidates from winning office. I think theres going to be a rising up that will end up helping Vice President Harris in this race, from some people who may not have gone to the polls even in a presidential year, because these races are so important, he said at a Q&A event at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He specifically referred to Robinson, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, and Michele Morrow, the Republican nominees for governor, attorney general, and superintendent, respectively. Dory MacMillan, North Carolina communications director for the Harris-Walz campaign, said Trump is scrambling in the Tar Heel State. While Trump barely has any organization and shares a ballot with MAGA extremists like Mark Robinson, we have built a campaign to win close races, MacMillan said. The Harris-Walz ticket recently unveiled digital billboards in the state following Harris remarks at the Democratic National Convention. As for the other battleground states, candidates at the top of the ticket have made five stops to Arizona, four each to Nevada and Michigan, and three to Georgia since Biden dropped out. Additional events in Georgia by Harris, Walz, and Vance were canceled due to Tropical Storm Debby. The nominees have made six campaign stops in Wisconsin since Bidens withdrawal, subsequent to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Pennsylvania, with the most electoral votes out of the swing states at 19, is clearly a top priority for both campaigns. Harris announced Walz as her running mate at a rally in Philadelphia on Aug. 6 before the pair kicked off a tour of the swing states and Vance has campaigned in the commonwealths largest city twice since joining the ticket, on Aug. 6 and Aug. 19. All told, Pennsylvania has received a total of eight campaign visits from the top of the Democratic and Republican tickets since July 21. Harris and Trump are set to return to the City of Brotherly Love on Sept. 10 for a debate airing on ABC although the campaigns have reportedly hit an impasse over whether the candidates microphones will be muted when its not their time to speak. The upcoming week features more events in swing states. Trump and Vance are appearing separately in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, while the Harris-Walz ticket embarks on a bus tour of southern Georgia. North GA county commissioner arrested for DUI after driving too slow A county commissioner in north Georgia was arrested and charged with DUI in a neighboring county last weekend. On Aug. 18, Georgia State Patrol troopers pulled over a Toyota truck just after 9:30 p.m. for driving too slow in the left lane and not staying in his lane in Gilmer County. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The driver identified himself as Kurt Sutherland. After a positive result on a preliminary breath test, Sutherland was arrested for DUI. TRENDING STORIES: Sutherland represents District Four on the Gordon County Board of Commissioners. His current term started in 2023 and runs through 2026. Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the chairman of the Gordon County Board of Commissioners for a statement. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: [Source] North Korea is reopening its borders to foreign tourists in December, starting with the northeastern city of Samjiyon. This marks the first time in five years the countrys reclusive ruling regime will allow international visitors beyond Russia. Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based agency, confirmed the news, stating We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and likely the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who visited Samjiyon last month, highlighted plans to develop the area which is located near Mount Paektu, North Koreas tallest peak that is also an active volcano as a key international tourist destination. The decision comes after years of strict COVID-19 border closures that severely limited the regimes international engagement. Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! SEOUL, South Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets, state media said Monday, as the U.S. and South Korea engage in joint military drills. North Korean test photos showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Koreas main K-2 battle tank. Most combat drones stand off from targets and fire missiles. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturdays test involved various types of drones built to fly different ranges to attack enemy targets on land and sea and flew along various routes before accurately hitting test targets. After the test, Kim pledged to spur the development of drones that explode on impact, conduct reconnaissance or attack targets underwater to boost his country's war readiness, saying the Norths military should be equipped with advanced drones as early as possible," KCNA said. Roosevelt carrier arrives in South Korea in show of force to the North The drone test came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries conduct the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which continue through Thursday. The exercises focus on enhancing their readiness against North Korean threats and include computer-simulated war games and live-fire training, with a combined aerial drill involving 60 warplanes that began its three-day run on Monday. South Koreas air force said the drill, which kicked off with precision-bombing demonstrations that included South Korean F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, is aimed at coping with North Korean threats posed by drones, cruise missiles and artillery. The United States and South Korea also began Monday a separate amphibious landing drill involving dozens of aircraft and vessels from their navies and marines, including U.S. F-35 fighters and amphibious assault ship Boxer. South Koreas military said the Ssangyong Exercise, which will continue through Sept. 7, is aimed at sharpening combat interoperability. Lee Chang Hyun, spokesperson of South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that South Koreas military was closely examining North Koreas drone capabilities and that the Souths military is equipped with systems to detect and intercept them, without providing further details. Some analysts suggest the North Korean drones shown in state media photos resemble Russias Zala Lancet-3 drones, and Lee said the South was looking into the possibility Russia had helped North Korea acquire its drone capability. We are aware that during the past exchanges between North Korea and Russia that some (drones) were given (to North Korea) as gifts, Lee said. We would need to analyze various aspects, including whether (North Korea) would have modified to improve their capabilities or other possibilities. North Korea and Russia have been aligning closely in the face of their separate confrontations with the U.S. Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held summits this June and in September last year. Washington and its allies have accused the countries of expanding an alleged arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Putin with badly needed munitions to prolong Russia's fighting in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and technologies to upgrade Kims nuclear-armed military. Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high as Kim uses Russias war against Ukraine as a distraction while he strengthens his nuclear-armed military and issues verbal threats of conflict toward Washington and Seoul. While most of the international attention has been focused on his long-range missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland, Kim has also been expanding weapons targeting rival South Korea, most notably short-range missiles and artillery systems the North has described as nuclear-capable. Earlier this month, Kim staged a huge ceremony in the capital, Pyongyang, to mark the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units and called for a ceaseless expansion of the militarys nuclear program. This added to concerns as he demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the Norths border with South Korea and claimed his military could react with preemptive nuclear strikes if it perceived the leadership was under threat. In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers on Monday, South Koreas spy agency said its unclear whether North Korea is currently capable of producing enough missiles to fill up those launch vehicles, which are each designed to fire multiple missiles with potential range to cover most of South Koreas greater capital area and central regions. The agency said the North has been focusing its manufacturing capacities on producing missiles and other military equipment that are being supplied to Russia, according to the office of lawmaker Park Sun-won, who attended the briefing. Analysts say Kim may seek to dial up pressure in a U.S. election year as he advances his long-term goals of forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. North Korea has revealed two new kamikaze drones that look to be virtual copies, at least externally, of the Israeli-made Harop and Hero-400. North Korea has revealed two new kamikaze drones that look to be virtual copies, at least externally, of the Israeli-made Harop and Hero-400. Though the exact capabilities of the North Korean designs are unclear, munitions like this would be very relevant in any future conflict on the Korean Peninsula and are something that Pyongyang could make available for export, including to Russia. North Korean state media released pictures today of the kamikaze drone designs, also known as loitering munitions, which it does not name, following a visit by the countrys leader Kim Jong Un to the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences on August 24. Though the uncrewed systems are blurred out in the images, their general outward appearance is clear. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (in white) stands in front of examples of two new kamikaze drone designs during a visit to the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences on August 24. North Korean State Media North Korean State Media One of the new North Korean designs is virtually identical visually to the Harop from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) down to its delta-wing platform with canards at the front and vertical stabilizers at the rear. The combat-proven Harop, as well as its predecessor Harpy, was originally designed primarily to seek out enemy air radars in the suppression and destruction of enemy air defense (SEAD/DEAD) role. A comparative look between one of the two newly unveiled North Korean kamikaze drones (at left) and IAIs Harop (at right). North Korean State Media / Julian Herzog via Wikimedia However, Harop has the ability to engage a much wider array of targets than Harpy. It has a small turret under the nose with full-motion cameras coupled with a man-in-the-loop control system that allows a human operator to see what the drone sees right up until the mission ends. Though Harops targeting capabilities are highly automated, the operator can manually make fine course corrections in the terminal stages of flight to further improve accuracy, as well as the ability to abort an attack entirely should circumstances change. Harop can also be directed to attack a specific set of coordinates, but the man-in-the-loop guidance option provides an alternative in the event of heavy jamming of satellite navigation networks like GPS. Harops endurance together with its cameras give it a secondary surveillance and reconnaissance capability. The second of the new North Korean kamikaze drones, with its x-shaped fins along the main body and at the tail, looks extremely similar, if not identical in outward appearance to UVisions Hero-400. All of the members of the Hero series also have man-in-the-loop control systems via nose-mounted camera turrets, as well as more automated targeting modes and the ability to attack designated targets based on a set of coordinates. With its stated range of at least 93 miles (150 kilometers) and a maximum endurance of 120 minutes, Hero-400 can provide limited surveillance and reconnaissance functionality, as well. A comparative look between the other one of the two newly unveiled North Korean kamikaze drones (at left) and Uvisions Hero-400 (at right). North Korean State Media / Uvision With regard to this second North Korean design, comparisons have also been made to members of the Lancet family from Russias ZALA Aero Group. Lancet variants are similar in certain respects to Hero series designs in general form and function, and both have cruciform fins. Russias relationship with North Korea has grown amid the Kremlins international isolation in response to its invasion of Ukraine. This has included North Korean arms deliveries, including short-range ballistic missiles, reportedly in exchange, at least in part, for Russian materiel and other technological assistance. Still, from what can be seen, North Koreas kamikaze drone with the x-shaped fins looks closer overall to the Hero-400, and the presence of the Harop clone further points to Israeli influence. This influence can be seen in other North Korean weapon systems, including the man-in-the-loop controlled missiles used in the Bulsae-4 system, examples of which appear to have been supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine, as you can read more about here. Companies in Israel have been and continue to be pioneers in the development of loitering munitions, as well as man-in-the-loop control systems. Its also interesting to note here that in 2021, Israeli Police announced an investigation into a group of individuals who were alleged to have been illegally designing, producing, and selling kamikaze drones to an unnamed country in Asia. There is no indication one way or the other that the country in question was North Korea, but images Israeli authorities released at the time of the illicit loitering munition work showed designs roughly in line with variants of the Hero family. 1/3 20 , , , , . , pic.twitter.com/LhevCiNocg (@IL_police) February 11, 2021 It is still very plausible that North Korea had some degree of outside assistance in the development of the new kamikaze drones. Beyond Russia, North Korea also has a very close relationship with Iran, which could have recovered examples of the Harop or the Hero series and passed them along to authorities in Pyongyang. Iran itself has unveiled designs that are similar in general appearance to the Israeli types in question in the past. An Iranian Omid kamikaze drone that is similar in some general respects to Harop, as well as Harpy. via PressTV Another unnamed Iranian loitering munition that evokes the general configuration of the Hero-400, but which has also been compared to the Russian Lancet. Iranian State Media North Korea also has a very aggressive espionage program focused on stealing foreign defense technological information, through which details about Israeli kamikaze drones could have been obtained. Just last month, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea put out a new joint alert about the activities of a North Korean state-sponsored cyber group that primarily targets defense, aerospace, nuclear, and engineering entities to obtain sensitive and classified technical information and intellectual property to advance the regimes military and nuclear programs and ambitions. The public debut of North Korean lookalikes of the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, which you can read more about here, prompted similar questions about whether espionage and/or Iranian connections have contributed to their development. Kim Jong Un (in the white shirt) stands next to a drone called the Morning Star-4, which at least has an outward look almost identical to that of the U.S. Global Hawk. North Korean State Media What degree of capabilities either of the newly revealed North Korean kamikaze drones actually have compared to their Israeli counterparts actually is unclear. The drones to be used within different striking ranges are to perform a mission to attack any enemy targets on the ground and in the sea, according to an article about Kims visit to the Drone Institute from the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun. The drones of various types correctly identified and destroyed the designated targets after flying along different preset routes. The latter comment might point to some degree of basic automated target detection and engagement, but this could be limited to detecting radar emissions along a pre-planned route, or some rudimentary form of visual target recognition. The application of artificial intelligence in this will soon proliferate to give these types of drones robust automated target recognition capabilities, but its unlikely North Korea possesses this at this time. North Korean State Media Still, the kamikaze drones could offer North Korean forces a valuable lower-cost option for increasing their overall capacity to attack enemy forces along the front lines and potentially deeper behind them. One of the images from North Korean state media showed the Hero-400-like design diving down on a mock South Korean main battle tank, underscoring one of the main use cases for munitions like this in a frontline tactical setting. As already noted, the Harop was originally designed to help neutralize air defenses, but is also combat-proven against artillery pieces and other enemy forces. Against targets at sea, even smaller kamikaze drones could cause significant damage, especially by targeting radars, communications antennas, and other critical systems, which could even result in mission kills against larger vessels. A stand-in for a South Korean tank explodes, reportedly after being hit by one of North Koreas new loitering munitions. North Korean State Media Even just in the context of line-of-sight tactical operations, both of North Koreas kamikaze munitions would be ideally suited for combat around the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The Harop-like design might also be used to help wreak havoc on fixed installations across South Korea in the open phase of a major conflict on the Peninsula. Developing different types of drones and steadily increasing their combat performance take an important share in preparing for a war in view of the trend of world military science and combat experience on battlefields, Kim Jong Un said, adding that it is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones, per Rodong Sinmuns report. Though kamikaze drones are not new, their value has now been made fully clear by their regular use on both sides in the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as by Iran and its proxies throughout the Middle East, including in attacks on Israel and ships in and around the Red Sea. Various tiers of armed drones, including smaller weaponized types designs to drop munitions, are becoming a more ubiquitous fixture in general in conflicts large and small. Reposting this video showing a Russian T-80BVM tank with a roof screen and deploying smoke surviving multiple FPV hits and misses.https://t.co/nS5v1Vx15F https://t.co/YpwuUrelOT pic.twitter.com/A6ethi6l0O Rob Lee (@RALee85) December 13, 2023 #Ukraine: A Ukrainian battery control post of the Skyguard Aspide air-defense system was destroyed by a Russian Lancet loitering munition near Muzykivka, #Kherson Oblast. This system was originally transferred by Italy and not by Spain as was widely claimed earlier today. pic.twitter.com/gkw6PZPmiY Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 23, 2023 North Koreas own drone incursions over the South in recent years, as well as more recent harassment involving hordes of balloons carrying human waste and other detritus, have further highlighted the very real and diverse threats that large groups of uncrewed aerial systems can pose. Small drones, along with balloons, can be very hard to detect and track, posing additional challenges for defenders. North Korea could well seek to export its new kamikaze drones, especially to countries like Russia that have limited alternative options to purchase those capabilities due to international sanctions. Global demand for munitions like this is only set to grow. North Korean Kim Jong Un laughs with other officials while observing a demonstration of the new loitering munitions. North Korean State Media Overall, the North Korean regime has clear ambitions to continue expanding its capabilities and capacity to develop and produce more advanced weapon systems for its own use and potential sale abroad. The new kamikaze drones are just the latest example of these growing efforts. Contact the author: joe@twz.com (Bloomberg) -- North Korea unveiled new suicide attack drones, with leader Kim Jong Un calling for an increase in the use of technology to carry out strikes and incorporating artificial intelligence into the weapons program. Most Read from Bloomberg Kim Jong Un said that it is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. Photos released by North Koreas state media showed a drone being launched into the air, flying into the top of a tank, which is then seen ablaze. South Koreas Unification Ministry said it was the first time North Korea has unveiled its suicide attack drones. While the level of North Koreas unmanned aerial vehicles and its ability to deploy artificial intelligence may be questionable, Kim has made the development of drones for use in the air and at sea a top priority. South Korea received a wake-up call about threats from drones when Pyongyang sent five UAVs across the border in 2022, including one that flew near President Yoon Suk Yeols office in Seoul. South Koreas military tried and failed to shoot the devices down. One complicating factor was a reluctance to fire munitions in heavily populated areas. Shortly after the episode, South Korea unveiled a plan to spend about 560 billion won ($423 million) over the next five years on drones, including systems to bring down those from adversaries. Last month, the Yoon administration said its looking to develop and deploy laser weapons to destroy North Koreas drones. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. TikTok has become the preferred stage for content creators highlighting the generational differences between boomers, millennials and centennials. Now a study reveals that these TikTok reels reinforce both the negative and positive traits of boomers an ageist prism that, according to the studys authors, directly harms the mental health of its targets. Although one of the aspects that separate members of Generation Z or centennials, born between 1995 and 2010, from millennials, born between 1980 and 1995 at least in the online universe is the length of their socks, with Gen Z favoring calf length, the use of emojis can inject a bittersweet vibe into conversations between people of different ages. The emoji that causes the most grief is, paradoxically, the thumbs-up emoji, which members of Generation Z consider passive aggressive, while older people believe it is used as a sign of affirmation and agreement. Curiously, according to a study launched by Wavemaker Spain, so many of us love the thumbs-up emoji, that those dismissing it as passe are not going to have it easy, even though its use, as revealed by a Perspectus Global survey, makes people between 16 and 19 think of the user as officially old. Apparently, it is enough to show your ankles or put an innocent emoji with a thumbs-up for our anti-wrinkle creams to be rendered redundant. But how has the meaning of a simple thumbs up changed so radically? Linguist Adam Aleksic explains on his social networks: Now it has a new function and is used to stop a conversation, he says. When you use this emoji at the end of a message, it seems somewhat blunt, because it indicates that the conversation is over. That is why some people think that its use is passive aggressive. It was not always like that, because people used to use it with absolute sincerity. A Canadian judge even ruled that the thumbs-up emoji can be recognized as a valid means of sealing a contract, but when a gesture is overused, it becomes insincere and loses its meaning. He adds that this is precisely what happened with the laughing emoji, which ended up having a sarcastic nuance; now it is the turn of the thumbs-up emoji. Despite having an initial meaning established by Unicode, emojis are pictograms that reinforce, complement or soften the text, Pavel Sidorenko Bautista, professor and researcher at the International University of La Rioja, tells EL PAIS. Their meaning adapts according to the context, the audience and the circumstances. For example, eggplant has come to mean penis. Peach, ass. The reason is that the algorithms of many platforms censor these words and there are no explicit emojis to replace them. However, among cooks or housewives, an eggplant or a peach are still an eggplant and a peach. Bautista says that Generation Z wants to break with previous age demographics. The traditional smiley face, as with the thumbs up, has a negative connotation for this group of users, so to express joy, they use the skull! He believes that the reason millennials and centennials actually employ emojis differently is that it was the millennials who were around during their creation and implementation in the digital conversation. They have accompanied the process, and, in many instances, they have been prime movers. However, when Generation Z began to use the internet, social networks were in full expansion. Emojis were already several generations old, and, in that context, there was still no convention about their aesthetics, so each technology and each platform developed its own versions, he says, adding that centennials have no truck with meanings being imposed and use these graphic resources as it suits them. Their use has already been scorned in some specific media, such as WhatsApp, where the sticker a simplification of the meme is better suited to their idiosyncrasies. While it might seem that understanding the meaning of emojis is intuitive, in reality assimilating both what they mean and the subtext may not be so easy. As Jieun Kiaer explains in Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), there is no dictionary that can include all the meanings of emojis in a context and register-sensitive way. Emoji meanings must be carefully considered according to context. While the thumbs-up emoji may be seen as a positive sign of approval in many cultures, it could be interpreted as an offensive gesture in Greece and the Middle East. Therefore, it is useful to have some cultural knowledge when using them, Kiaer points out. Keith Broni, the worlds first emoji translator, explained to the Daily Mail the importance of taking into account people from younger generations. In fact, someone from Generation Z could also see the face that shows a slight smile as highly performative and even as slightly passive aggressive, Broni says. Although he believes that nowadays, using emojis in work emails is appropriate, as he considers that they are indicators of emotional expression and help to generate a sense of camaraderie within a relationship, it is vital to take into account generational differences to avoid a thumbs up becoming a definitive goodbye. If at some point a simpler communication is required, not even a smiley face can escape the communication differences between the generations. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition This photo provided by the North Korean government shows an explosion after it says a drone crashed into a target in a demonstration, as its leader Kim Jong Un was inspecting at an undisclosed location in North Korea, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a ceremonial event to mark the delivery of new tactical ballistic missiles to his country's troops SEOUL (Reuters) - Ballistic missile launchers that North Korea has said it plans to deploy on the border with South Korea are believed to have a range of 110 km (68 miles), allowing them to target Chungcheong Province south of Seoul, the Yonhap news agency reported. North Korean state media reported earlier this month that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the delivery of 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers described as modern tactical weapons personally designed by Kim to be transferred to the border. Experts have said Pyongyang could use them to attack or threaten Seoul. South Korean intelligence officials, however, are sceptical over whether North Korea can supply enough missiles for the 250 missile launchers while it also supplies weapons to Russia as part of bilateral military cooperation, Yonhap reported on Monday, citing lawmakers on the intelligence committee. North Korea and Russia have been accused of conducting arms trade by Seoul and Washington to help replenish Russia's stock of missiles and artillery for its war with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the allegations. (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies) A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 26, 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting a performance test of recently developed drones during a visit to the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences. -/kcna/dpa North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has stressed the need to boost the development and production of "suicide drones," state media reported on Monday. State news agency KCNA reported that Kim observed a performance test of various drones organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences in Pyongyang on Saturday. Official photos showed white drones with X-shaped wings targeting and exploding against mock tanks, which, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, resembled South Korean K-2 tanks. According to KCNA, Kim said that it was necessary to develop and produce more "suicide drones" unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with explosives designed to be flown into enemy targets to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units. The weapons test occurred amidst heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the United States and South Korea are conducting a large-scale military exercise to deter North Korea. The North Korean Foreign Ministry criticized the military exercises as "provocative war exercises" and "a prelude to a nuclear war," while Washington and Seoul rejected Pyongyang's accusations. Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has significantly increased the scope of its weapons tests, including the testing of nuclear-capable missiles, and has stepped up its rhetoric against the US and South Korea, which Pyongyang considers to be enemy states. It has also intensified its military cooperation with Russia. Banking on experience: Button, a Taiwanese immigrant and the second-ever Asian woman to serve in the Texas Legislature, has served eight terms and built a reputation as a bipartisan, no-drama lawmaker. Known for her close ties to Gov. Greg Abbott, Button has championed issues like public school funding and workforce development in the state legislature. Reflecting on her experience, Button said last year, I spent years working in the industry, serving the community, across the board, to learn that kind of experience to propel me to really, really make a difference... You got to have the knowledge and the skills and the relationship to make real things happen. This will be the second time in Texas history that Button is facing off against another Asian candidate for a legislative seat, the first being in 2008 when she defeated Vietnamese American Democrat Sandra Phuong Vu Le. A North Texas school board now requires parents to be notified if a child changes pronouns The Keller school district now must notify parents within 24 hours if a student asks to use a pronoun or name that doesnt correspond to their biological sex on a birth certificate. Students also must have parental permission to use a restroom or changing facility if it is different from their gender at birth. The school board unanimously adopted the new rules during a meeting Thursday night. Other new policies also approved for this year require students to have permission from parents to join clubs at school and prohibit the use of cell phones during the school day. The phone ban is similar to those at other North Texas school districts. Students in Keller will have to keep phones turned off and stored in a bag or backpack. They cannot use their phones during lunch or passing periods, either. The board didnt discuss the policies before voting Thursday, but board president Charles Randklev wrote on Facebook that, We will also consider a parental rights policy that recognizes and protects the fundamental rights of parents to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of their children. Parents matter, and this policy will ensure they have a seat at the table when it comes to their childs education. Parents and students who spoke during public comments called the policies harmful and worried that marginalized children would face hate, bullying and bigotry. Madison Hickman, a senior at Keller Academy said, Im sure that you will find it comforting to know that youve created an environment where fear and anxiety are the norm. Another student, Danny Street, said he was concerned about the boards preoccupation with politics instead of providing a safe place for students. He talked about two suicides during the same week last year. Politics should have no place at our schools, Street said. The ACLU of Texas sent a letter to the Keller school district on Thursday calling the policies harmful to LGBTQ+ students and in violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in school programs that receive funding from the federal government. Remembering Jerrald Gallion, Angela Carr, Anolt "AJ" Laguerre Jr. For the second time in almost a year, mourners gathered Sunday on a small strip of grass in Jacksonville's Grand Park/New Town community and looked out to the Dollar General where three residents were killed in a racist shooting last August. Now, however, the spot is called Kings Road Memorial Park, and community members honored Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion, 29, Angela Michelle Carr, 52, and Anolt Joseph "AJ" Laguerre Jr., 19, through a dedication and soil collection ceremony a longtime tradition continued locally by the Jacksonville Community Remembrance Project through 904WARD to promote racial equity and create public memorials for victims of lynchings. The soil came from in front of the Dollar General building at 2161 Kings Road where they were killed. Attendees of Sundays memorial deposited it into jars with Gallion, Carr and Laguerre Jr.s names, which were then given to their families. We know we are haunted across America and Duval County by our history of racial inequality and hate, Alex Rudnick, a project co-chair, said. We know that we have to tell and name these truths because we cannot fix what we do not name. Today, we acknowledge the lives that were stolen from their families and their loved ones and the survivors who live with that trauma. We dedicate ourselves to making sure that their lives were not lost in vain. Dollar General gunman had manifestos: What we know about the shooter, Ryan Palmeter Family and friends cried for their losses. Speakers repeated the victims names and referenced the impact or lack thereof of policy in the year since. Some community members speculated if things would ever change in New Town. Action, and lack thereof, in the aftermath of the Dollar General shooting Jars of soil from the Dollar General store property were given Sunday to the families of the victims of last August's racially motivated shootings at the Kings Road store in Jacksonville. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting that ended with the 21-year-old shooter taking his own life, local nonprofits began multiple fundraisers to benefit the victims families and the surrounding community. Dollar General Corp. created an employee fund and later renovated the Kings Road store to include fresh food for sale. Legislatively, the response to the shooting has not been as robust as some lawmakers would like. Councilwoman JuCoby Pittman, one of the hosts of the event Sunday, co-sponsored an anti-hate crime bill that would have enhanced penalties for people who commit certain crimes littering, noise, light projections if the intent was to endanger other people or their property. Jimmy Peluso, the councilman for District 7, introduced the bill in April and said it was in response to the residents who asked him to take action following the shooting. We dont want anyone to think, just as that sick gentleman did in Clay County, that Oh, I see swastikas. I see Nazi symbols And so I can march down into a neighborhood and murder and harm, Peluso said when asking the council to vote for the bill. This bill is meant to ensure were not giving anyone the power to think that its OK. The City Council rejected the bill Aug. 14. However, change could come through other avenues. The Jacksonville Transformation Coalition, a group of business, government, nonprofit and academic leaders that formed after the shooting, still meets regularly to develop plans for the city to combat all hatred. Timothy Gallion, the brother of Dollar General shooting victim Jerrald Gallion, takes a turn putting soil from the property into jars to memorialize the three Black residents slain in the hate crime shooting a year ago. Darlene Neal, Grand Park Community Association president, told the Times-Union Sunday that she had not seen any change in the neighborhood since the shooting and she was not overly hopeful it would come in the future. But I keep trying, Neal said. Im going to keep doing what Im supposed to do, and hopefully the new City Council will do what theyre supposed to do. What they're saying: Anger, disbelief and sorrow in aftermath of Dollar General shooting She said she wanted the city to follow through with the memorial, but the neighborhood also needed health care options, a grocery store and better infrastructure. Grand Park has a history, Neal said. It is where people love each other. People care about each other. A lot of the older people are still here. We dont have anything around here We only ask the same thing they get over there [the Westside, Arlington], the same thing going over here. What does Mayor Donna Deegan say a year after Dollar General? From left, Jacksonville City Council President Randy White, the mayor's chief of staff Darnell Smith, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan and her husband Tim Deegan bow during the prayer given by Pastor John Allen Newman during Sunday's memorial ceremony for the victim's of the Aug. 26, 2023, racially motivated Dollar General shooting. Mayor Donna Deegan attended Sundays event but also sat down with the Times-Union Wednesday to discuss city efforts to better the New Town community, as well as the populations left behind after city-county consolidation. She supported the work of the coalition and said a member of her staff attends its meetings. It is broken into sub-groups that will convene together in the fall. If you don't have everybody sort of rowing in the same direction, it's hard to really attack these problems, Deegan said. And obviously there are varied opinions about what we should and shouldn't be doing, so we really have to get down to what are the things that we can do, and what are the things that we can agree to, that we can do together. And move the dial. She aimed to make such investments through the Capital Improvement Plan, the citys five-year roadmap for projects countywide. Over the next five years, the current plan includes 10 projects in District 10 where the shooting occurred, ranging from a new fire station, added sidewalks and pollution remediation. Tyesha Jones, mother of victim Jerrald Gallion's daughter, gets emotional as she listens to Dr. David Jamison, the co-chair of the Jacksonville Community Remembrance Project's presentation during Sunday's ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the Dollar General store shooting. The ceremony was put on by the city of Jacksonville and 904WARD. She also aimed for her countywide initiatives for literacy and health insurance that would also boost the neighborhoods, even if it takes more time to demonstrate the worth. I think it's wonderful that there's help on the short term, but we have to, long term, create policies and have to have our actions actually follow our words that we're going to do something to make life different there, she said. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Dollar General shooting victims honored on anniversary NYC landlord who once spoke out against crime is busted for allegedly beating menacing vagrant The two men were captured on surveillance video scuffling on the Lower East Side on Saturday night. A Chinatown landlord who bitterly spoke out against crime after the high-profile murder of one of his tenants brutally beat an apparent homeless man holding a makeshift weapon Saturday, according to prosecutors and police sources. The landlord, Brian Chin, 32, was charged with felony assault for the late-night attack that left the vagrant hospitalized with injuries so serious that he was unable to tell investigators his own name, sources said Sunday. A police source said the beaten man would be charged with menacing for his role in the fight, which started around 8:30 p.m. near Chrystie and Grand streets in Manhattan. The footage captured the moment the homeless man allegedly swung his makeshift club at the landlord. Obtained by NY Post The homeless man was sleeping on the corner when Chin allegedly slipped on black gloves and then kicked the unidentified victim three times, according to a criminal complaint. The vagrant woke up and picked up several items before Chin and he appeared to go their separate ways. But a few minutes later, both men returned to the same location. Police sources said CCTV video taken from the scene shows the homeless man breaking a wooden chair and then menacingly wielding a piece of the wood at Chin. The makeshift club had a nail at the tip, a police source said. The homeless man then appeared to swing the weapon at Chin in the video. Chin charged the man, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the head over and over again, while also appearing to kick him. He allegedly slugged the homeless mans face and head six times before the man laid on his back, not moving, the complaint states. Landlord Brian Chin appeared to kick the homeless man after knocking him to the ground, according to the footage. Obtained by NY Post Blood gushed from the unidentified mans face as he struggled to get to his feet when authorities arrived, according to the complaint. When the homeless man tried to stand up, he fell backward and hit his head against the subway station railing. The vagrant was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with multiple facial fractures and a skull fracture, the complaint states. He remains intubated and on a ventilator as of Sunday afternoon. Chin, who is cooperating with cops, told police the homeless man had been harassing people before Chin kicked him, according to the source. The source suggested the landlord might be traumatized after one of the tenants at his Chinatown apartment building was fatally stabbed by a random sicko in 2022. In that killing, beloved Chinatown creative producer Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was followed home by Assamad Nash, 27, and stabbed 40 times in her own kitchen. Nash pled guilty last month to the murder. Chin spoke to The Post after a memorial for Lee was vandalized shortly following her murder, saying he and the Asian community are tired of being attacked. The landlord was released on his own recognizance on the assault charge Sunday and is set to next appear in court Oct. 10. NYSP looking for publics help in St. Lawrence Co. burglary investigation OSWEGATCHIE, N.Y. (WWTI) New York State Police are ask for the publics assistance in attempting to identify an individual who allegedly burglarized a garage in St. Lawrence County. On the NYSP Facebook page, authorities are looking for a person that allegedly burglarized a garage on County Route 4 in the town of Oswegatchie around 11:59 pm. on Friday, August 9. If anyone has any information pertaining this incident please contact the state police in Canton 315-379-0012. Here is a picture from the post on the state polices Facebook post. (Courtesy of New York State Police) Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. A Mission Viejo man was arrested for a string of bank robberies while trying to rob yet another bank, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Office. Che Lewis, 30, was arrested Friday while attempting an additional bank robbery in the city of Anaheim, the OCSD said in a news release. That target, a U.S. Bank, was among at least three other banks in Mission Viejo and Ladera Ranch that Lewis allegedly robbed in July and August, officials said. Based off evidence left at the scene and using investigative techniques, Lewis was believed to be responsible for each of these bank robberies as well as an additional attempted bank robbery in Ladera Ranch that occurred on August 7, 2024, the release said. The Orange County Sheriffs Department released this image of a suspected bank robber who hit several locations in July and August 2024. The Orange County Sheriffs Department released this image of a suspected bank robber who hit several locations in July and August 2024. Lewis was booked into the Orange County Jail on a charge of attempted robbery related to Anaheim, while charges for the other incidents are pending. Jail records indicate he has since been transferred to the Theo Lacy Facility. Investigators believe Lewis may have robbed more banks in Orange County and elsewhere. Anyone with information is asked to call 714-647-7000. To report information anonymously, call 855-TIP-OCCS (847-6227) or visit occrimestoppers.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 KTLA. (KRON) An Alaska Airlines flight to Oakland was first to turn around and head back to Seattle due to an engine issue on Sunday. Alaska Air flight 1240 returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at around 1:30 p.m. and landed safely, according to preliminary information from the Federal Aviation Administration. Alameda County firefighter caught making racist rant in TikTok video placed on administrative leave The flight, a Boeing 737-700, was headed for San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport when the crew reported a possible engine issue, the FAA said. According to Alaska Airlines, the flight returned to the airport shortly after takeoff after the number 1 engine on the left side of the aircraft shut down. Credit to the crew for following standard procedures for this situation and landing safely without incident, said the airline in a statement. We worked to take care of our guests and accommodate their travel to Oakland yesterday afternoon, and we apologize for the inconvenience. The FAA said it will investigate the incident. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. While the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet accepted the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicines case against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the high court already has involved itself by temporarily blocking a federal appellate court decision that would restrict the use of the abortion pill mifepristone. (Getty Images) (Getty Images) An Ohio law requiring a 24-hour waiting period before abortion services will not be enforced as a lawsuit seeking to eliminate the law entirely sees its way through court, a judge ruled on Friday. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge David C. Young not only put a temporary pause on the 24-hour waiting period, but also a minimum of two in-person visits and certain information about abortion that the state required doctors to provide before an abortion. That information includes the probable gestational age of the zygote, blastocyte, embryo or fetus and nature and purpose of the particular abortion procedure to be used, according to state law. Young cited the newest amendment to the state constitution as reason to rule in favor of the clinics and physicians. The plain language of the amendment clearly sets forth the applicable legal standard, Young wrote. This language is easily understood and clear. The decision comes following an oral argument hearing last week, in which Young heard from the Ohio Attorney Generals Office representing the state, and an attorney for abortion clinics and a physician party in the case. The state said by legal definition, the status quo should be maintained in a preliminary injunction, and according to the AGs offices arguments, that would leave state law as it is and the regulations in place. The office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issues a release Friday saying they plan to appeal the ruling and that they disagree with the judge that the waiting period and extra appointments constitute a burden. According to Jessie Hill, attorney for the parties attempting to eliminate the laws, the status quo is now the constitutional amendment that placed reproductive rights including abortion into the Ohio Constitution after being passed by 57% of Ohio voters last November. The amendment bars any state laws that burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with or discriminate against abortion care and abortion providers. The state also argued that the Dr. Catharine Romanos didnt have standing to sue because there were no specific patients under Romanos care connected to the lawsuit. Young ruled that the new reproductive rights amendment confers rights to Romanos because she is a person assisting individuals exercising their reproductive rights. The challenged statutes interfere with Dr. Romanoss ability to provide high quality, trauma informed abortion care, they negatively impact Dr. Romanoss relationship with pregnant patients and cause emotional distress, the ruling wrote. The judge also cited Attorney General Dave Yosts legal analysis of the amendment, written before the measures passage as an effort to explain the impact of the amendment on abortion regulation in the state. Prior to the amendment passing, Attorney Yost agreed with Plaintiffs argument as to the applicable legal standard, Young wrote. Now, instead of following the plain language of the amendment, defendants argue that the pre-Dobbs legal standard applies. But Young said the pre-Dobbs standard referring to abortion standards prior to the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to undo national abortion legalization and return the decision to the states is unpersuasive. Defendants attempt to create ambiguity where it does not exist, the judge wrote. The people of Ohio voted to enshrine their reproductive freedom in the constitution through the clear language of the amendment. Doing so followed the path set forth by the (U.S.) Supreme Court in Dobbs. Hill called the Franklin County decision an historic victory for abortion patients and for all Ohio voters who voiced support for the constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. This decision is the first step in removing unnecessary barriers to care, Hill wrote in a statement with the ACLU of Ohio. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST The so-called Boyko towers oil and gas drilling platforms off the coast of Crimea have caught fire in the Black Sea. Source: Crimean Wind monitoring group on Telegram with reference to satellite images Details: Three drilling platforms east of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island were allegedly attacked. "As of 24 August, the middle platform is on fire, and a column of smoke is rising from the third platform," the report said. Ukraine regained control of the Boyko towers in September 2023. Russia occupied them in 2014 and have used them for military purposes since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In particular, as helicopter landing sites and for the deployment of radar equipment. At the end of August 2023, UK intelligence reported that Ukrainian and Russian naval and air forces were fighting for strategically important gas and oil platforms in the Black Sea between Crimea and Odesa. Support UP or become our patron! Costco is more than an American icon it's a worldwide phenomenon. The wholesale corporation has locations in 14 countries including the U.S., and the newest store from this ever-expanding company lands in Okinawa, Japan. The country already has over 30 Costco stores, but this newest addition is a first for the Okinawa Islands. The store is located in Nanjo City and offers a food court, gas station, pharmacy, and more. Before the Okinawa Costco opened, people were already heading to the store to sign up for memberships and get a sneak peek of the warehouse, as seen in a TikTok from user @shibasweets. It's no surprise that on opening day, August 24, there were reports on Reddit of the Costco opening three and a half hours earlier than scheduled, and some customers had a five-hour wait to enter the store. One Instagram post from user @thuglife.westedge shows the store's ceremonial ribbon cutting, as well as a long queue outside the store that even makes Disneyland lines look reasonable. Read more: Mistakes Everyone Makes When Shopping At Costco Okinawa's Costco Will Have Some Good Finds People at Japanese food court - thuglife.westedge / Instagram The Costco experience, to those outside of the U.S., could easily be considered the epitome of American culture. Costco is a vast warehouse with large shopping carts and the biggest boxes of snacks and food in the grocery market. The low-priced food court, filled with American classics like pizza and hot dogs, is the cherry on top. Although a five-hour line is extreme, there's a lot to be excited about for those in Okinawa who've never been to a Costco before. Of course, each new country and city that gets a Costco store has plenty of regional goods that land in the aisles, but many American items show up in international stores, too and people can't wait to try them, if the line in @thuglife.westedge's Instagram post is any indication. Costco Japan's unique products make American fans jealous of the household Japanese ingredients and packaged food items available, like a 50-piece sushi tray. The special items in Costco Japan's food court are another good reason for shoppers to be jealous. One such item, the Bulgogi Bake, is similar to America's Chicken Bake, except it's filled with savory marinated beef instead of chicken. Other items on the new Okinawa food court menu include pizza, hot dogs, chicken and potato sticks, a roast pork sandwich, Portuguese bean soup, and a honey shikuwasa smoothie. Shikuwasa is a lime-like citrus fruit grown in Okinawa. This food court variety sounds like a great blend of American Costco classics and unique regional finds. Read the original article on Mashed. Advocates in Oklahoma's medical marijuana industry are calling out OMMA for a licensing renewal backlog, but OMMA denies any widespread issues. A sign announces that a new medical marijuana dispensary will open soon. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY Kyle King said hes invested $100,000 into Oklahomas medical marijuana industry, hoping to become a licensed grower. After over a year of waiting on the states regulatory agency to approve his ownership, hes now considering taking his business to another state. With a legislatively-imposed moratorium on issuing new licenses, King has to buy an existing license from a business owner looking to sell. He invested in a growing business called GreenSight 2020 in May 2023, but said his ownership and the transfer of the license still has not been made official by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, or OMMA. In the meantime, King cannot earn any money from the business hes invested in. King said hes been checking in with OMMA on a weekly basis, but has been told hell need to continue to wait. While King said hes been able to work other jobs to support himself, others have poured their entire retirement savings into this industry. Im tired of waiting for Oklahoma, he said. Multiple other states have looser residency restrictions, theyre a little cheaper and theyre a lot more supportive than Oklahoma has been. King, along with others within the medical marijuana industry, blame a massive license renewal backlog at OMMA. While state law requires OMMA to approve renewals within 90 business days, cannabis advocates say hundreds of licenses are in limbo, creating a harmful situation for proprietors and prompting concerns that allowing unlicensed operations could put consumers public safety at risk. Tasked with licensing and regulating growers, processors and dispensaries, OMMA pushed back against assertions that it is failing to renew licenses on time and is out of compliance with state law. But the agency was unable to provide Oklahoma Voice with any documentation showing how many licenses are out of date and waiting for renewal. Licensing process at a standstill State law allows businesses to continue to operate while waiting for their licenses to be renewed, but Jed Green, director of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, said allowing the dispensaries, growers and processors to essentially operate without up-to-date licenses while under review has become a crutch for OMMA. Growers have faced the most licensing delays because the state is hoping to reduce the number of marijuana grows, he said. Green said that licensing process has come to a complete standstill. He said that if OMMA cannot keep up with licensing, it wont be able to handle its other responsibilities. The first thing for any state agency is to handle licensure. If you cant handle licensing businesses, you dont have any business moving on to step two, enforcement, or anything else, Green said. In a statement, Porsha Riley, a spokesperson for the OMMA, said the agency has successfully processed 90% of commercial licenses within the required timeframe. Although the review period for each submission is typically 90 business days or less, the law permits us additional time when further review is necessary upon sending a status letter to the applicant, Riley said in a statement. Oklahoma Voice submitted an open records request to OMMA requesting the number of businesses with pending license renewals as well as the date the renewal application was submitted. In response, the agency said it doesnt maintain a record responsive and by law cannot create them to respond to open records requests. Riley said in the statement that OMMA is implementing robotic assistance into its application processing and working to be more efficient while also implementing new statutory requirements following the legislative session. She said the agency does not control changes to the law but must implement those crafted by the legislative branch. Factors outside the need for additional review that have caused delays include implementing new state laws, reviewing multiple applications from a single applicant following applicant errors and the implementation of new statutory requirements leading to a need for mass rejections, Riley said. Backlog has a chilling effect on industry Mike Ervin helped to run the campaign for the state question that legalized medical marijuana. He said OMMA initially had 30 days to renew licenses, which he said was probably too ambitious. Now, OMMAs approval window equates to roughly four to five months. Were seeing license renewals taking a year, so that by the time your license renewal gets approved youre applying for the next license renewal, Ervin said. He said these delays create a chilling effect on the growth of the states medical marijuana industry. When you have uncertainty, businesses dont know how bad it could be. They dont know how to react. They dont know how to move forward, Ervin said. If I have to wait a year, Im going to invest this money, Im going to have to pay a year of lease payments, a year of electric and water. At some point its why would I do that? Felina Rivera, who manages and owns Renaissance Legal Solutions based in Oklahoma City, said lawmakers sent eight bills to the governor that made substantive changes to the medical marijuana industry. Thats in addition to legislation passed in 2023 that the agency is still trying to implement. Rivera, who has worked within the cannabis industry for four years, said shes represented many clients experiencing licensing issues with OMMA. She said that about 30% to 40% of her clients are lucky enough to have license renewals approved within the mandated approval period. Rivera said a major issue is a lack of consistency in responses from OMMA. Rivera said that sometimes a license renewal will be sitting with OMMA under review for the full 90 business days only to be sent back right before the deadline, flagged for small errors. Rivera said she sends OMMA a letter explaining whatever was labeled as errors and resubmits the application. But then the clock for OMMA resets and the agency has the full window of time to review the license renewal application again. I think there has a been a disregard for the fact that, as a state that values small businesses and independent business owners, the constant changes in the legislation and the corresponding rules are having the effect of severely overburdening the people who are small mom and pop shops that are trying to follow the law and do things correctly, she said. Consumer and safety concerns Robert Mikos, professor of law at Vanderbilt University, said that if OMMA were to reject a license renewal and the business has been serving consumers during the review period, there could be a concern for consumers. Licensing really serves as the framework for all state regulation of the cannabis industry it kind of facilitates the enforcement of all these other regulations, Mikos said. He said the causes of a backlog can vary. Sometimes there isnt true support for the industry from executive officials and sometimes the state agency is just understaffed and overwhelmed. In July, OMMA cut 10% of its staff, citing a need for restructuring. If this drags on, that suggests that the state is behind the curve on lots of enforcement issues, then you should be concerned about consumers, Mikos said. As part of a license application, a medical marijuana business undergoes public safety and health checks. Amie Goodin, assistant professor at the University of Floridas Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, said the danger to consumers would grow if these safety checks and inspections are not continuing during the waiting period for a license renewal. While an organization is undergoing the renewal process, the intention is that they will continue to perform those required activities I do not have an understanding of how Oklahoma would be able to verify that during the process so I cant speak to whether or not its being evaluated during the renewal process, Goodin said. Legislative approach Rep. Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, carried one of the pieces of legislation affecting OMMA this past session. He said the law creates an advisory council which will include people from the medical marijuana industry to help OMMA work through issues with an industry perspective. Fetgatter said he works with OMMA and industry members as much as he can when working on legislation related to medical marijuana. I pulled away from working on too much marijuana legislation it was such a toxic issue and nobody really was listening to what the industry needed to be successful, Fetgatter said. We all work really hard with OMMA as well as the industry, to try to bridge the gap between the two. Fetgatter said hes been approached by many people complaining about a licensing backlog at OMMA. I really hope OMMA gets it figured out, Fetgatter said. Because youre causing businesses to be in a very difficult spot because their licenses are not getting renewed timely, and theyre questioning, Am I allowed to do business? It creates a lot of confusion. And the one thing that we know about industries and businesses, people need continuity. They need stability. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Imagine a classroom where creativity has no limit, where students gain valuable skills through music, painting and dance. In such an environment, students can find their unique voice and learn to think, solve problems and relate deeply with others. This is the impact of arts education, a vital yet overlooked component of education in Oklahoma. With the recent passing of House Bill 3278, fine arts courses are no longer a graduation requirement for students in Oklahoma. As we navigate the challenges of the 21st century, it is essential that our communities recognize and advocate for arts education in our state. The benefits of arts education extend far beyond the classroom, fostering creativity, critical thinking and emotional well-being, skills essential for success in life. More: Investing in fine arts education in Oklahoma paints a brighter future for many students Research shows that students engaged in the arts perform better academically. In fact, a recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts found that students involved in the arts have higher graduation rates compared to peers without access to arts curriculum. In Oklahoma, where educational accomplishment can be a challenge and our education system finds itself at the bottom of most rankings, integrating arts education into broader curriculum would most certainly boost student performance. Arts education also encourages students to address complex problems in new ways and to express themselves uniquely. These skills are not merely beneficial for those pursuing careers in the arts; they are invaluable in fields like science and technology. An example of this is found in the work of NASA, which has continuously employed artists and designers to work alongside scientists and engineers. Oklahomas future economy, with its emphasis on technology and innovation, stands to benefit immensely from a workforce that has been nurtured in a creative and innovative educational environment. Involvement in music, theater, visual arts and dance helps students develop self-discipline and collaboration skills, writes Trent Riley, executive director of Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. The arts also play a crucial role in the emotional and social development of children. Involvement in music, theater, visual arts and dance helps students develop self-discipline and collaboration skills. In Oklahoma, where mental health issues among young people are a growing concern (Oklahoma ranks fifth in the nation with students suffering from trauma), arts education serves as a critical component of a comprehensive approach to student well-being. Arts education also enriches students' cultural experiences and promotes a greater appreciation for diversity. With our rich Indigenous heritage and multicultural population, arts education should play a pivotal role in bridging cultural gaps and promoting community cohesion. By investing in arts education today, Oklahoma will improve academic outcomes, support the well-being of its students, enrich its cultural landscape and bolster the economy of tomorrow. Now is the time for all of our communities statewide to advocate for arts education programs and ensure all students in Oklahoma can experience the benefits of educational experiences rooted in the arts. Trent Riley Trent Riley is the executive director of Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Arts education in curriculum would boost Oklahoma student performance Authorities raided an Okmulgee County marijuana grow operation last week, confiscating marijuana, guns and cash. The Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force said that agents raided the grow and found 1,244 pounds of untagged marijuana, more than 3,000 marijuana plants, three firearms and $25,000 in cash. The raid occurred on Aug. 20. No arrests were reported. More: Oklahoma authorities seize more than 17,500 marijuana plants near Watonga We are continuing to send the message to drug cartels and crime syndicates that they need to get out of our state, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a news release. We will continue to crack down on illegal grow facilities until they have all been shut down. Anyone with information about possible illegal marijuana grow activity can report it to the attorney generals tip line at www.oklahoma.gov/oag. Reports can be anonymous. Agencies collaborating with the Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force in the Aug. 20 raid included the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, Okmulgee County Sheriffs Office, the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office, the Oklahoma National Guard Civil Support Team and the Department of Homeland Security. Chinese organized crime linked to black market In recent years, state authorities have aggressively cracked down on black market cannabis, which also has brought violent crime and working conditions that resemble modern-day slavery to Oklahoma. A report by The Frontier and ProPublica showcased the story of Lin, a 44-year-old Chinese national who worked on a marijuana grow farm west of Tulsa. More: Escaping Oklahoma: A workers story from inside an illegal marijuana operation When Lin demanded he be paid his wages, a manager reportedly threatened him with an AK-47 rifle. Authorities believe that Chinese organized crime groups took advantage of Oklahoma's new medical marijuana industry, which was launched without many of the restrictions found in law today. Nevertheless, marijuana is still grown illegally in Oklahoma and shipped to other states. As recently as July, more than 100,000 illegal marijuana plants were seized at a farm near Ardmore. An Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control investigation had revealed that individuals were loading as much as 1,000 pounds of cannabis at a time into refrigerated tractor-trailers, which were then driven to New York, Chicago and Florida. How Oklahoma is fighting back Since Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana in 2018, the laws governing the cannabis industry have changed significantly. Now, businesses are required to track every marijuana plant and product, along with every transaction. There are also safety requirements, including that every grow operation must pass inspection by the state fire marshal. More: Growing pains: Oklahoma's medical marijuana industry struggles to keep up with regulations The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority is also more powerful and now has the ability to shut down businesses that don't comply with strict licensing requirements. These restrictions have led to complaints among legitimate marijuana businesses that have criticized the authority for being inefficient and not transparent. Oklahoma also has placed a moratorium on new grower, processor and dispensary licenses until 2026. While new storefronts can open, the agency won't be approving any new licenses that could expand the industry. Before the moratoriums were set, Oklahoma had issued more marijuana business licenses than any other state in the country. Even California had fewer dispensaries. As of this year, according to Pew Research Center, Oklahoma still has the highest number of dispensaries per capita: About 36 storefronts for every 100,000 residents. The state currently has 3,338 active grow licenses, according to the medical marijuana authority. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma task force seizes thousands of marijuana plants in raid The Old Farmer's Almanac made some bold predictions in the initial reveal of its Winter 2024-2025 forecast, but there were actual pieces to the puzzle missing. Today, August 26th, 2024, The Old Farmer's Almanac has revealed a complete map with a detailed forecast for each region of the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. See below. The Old Farmer's Almanac's Winter 2024-2025 Forecast map. In all its glory. The Old Farmer's Almanac The Old Farmer's Almanac has also released its Winter 2024-2025 forecast for Canada. The annual publication doesn't use explicit details for each region's forecast, but two words can certainly paint a picture. One that some say is missing varying levels of essential information, but a picture, nonetheless. The Old Farmer's Almanac President Carol Connare stated in a press release, that Winter '24/'25 wild be mild. Specifically, the publication believes it will be a Calmer, Gentler Winter for the United States. Anti-Winter folks who lack a skier's love for snowy, stormy, and cold winters will certainly celebrate this prediction. Skiers, on the other hand, are scrambling to make excuses or find reasons to doubt. Areas of potential concern for skiers include Alaska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New England, New York, Idaho, and Wyoming. These areas all fall under The Old Farmer's Almanac's category of 'Mild, Dry'. Not ideal for a long and prosperous ski season. Lake Tahoe skiers are most likely scratching their heads. The region seemingly falls somewhere between 'Mild, Wet', 'Mild, Snowy', and 'Mild, Dry'. Actually, come to think of it, The Old Farmer's Almanac nailed it. Those six words describe most winters in Lake Tahoe. Ask your buddy that spent a season as a lifty. They'll agree. A closer look at The Old Farmer's Almanac Winter 2024-2025 predictions for the West. The Old Farmer's Almanac A closer look at The Old Farmer's Almanac Winter 2024-2025 predictions for the Midwest, South, and East. The Old Farmer's Almanac Utah, Northern Arizona, Western Colorado, and parts of Montana can find solace in the publication's 'Mild, Snowy' forecast. A mild season isn't bad as long as it's interrupted by periods of cold-enough storms. The cycle can be quite fun, actually. The most favorable forecasts, for skiers at least, are Colorado, West Virginia, and the Pacific Northwest. These regions were given an exciting 'Cold, Snowy' forecast from The Old Farmer's Almanac. The imaginations are surely running wild. POWDER has covered a variety of Winter 2024-2025 forecasts including The Farmers' Almanac and NOAA's La Nina Watch. Stay tuned throughout the Summer and Fall as we continue to cover longe-range winter weather forecasts to perhaps, exhaustion. Related: Old Farmer's Almanac Reveals Canada's Winter 2024-2025 Forecast Be the first to read breaking ski news with POWDER. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skiing. From ski resort news to profiles of the worlds best skiers, we are committed to keeping you informed. Submit your best clips for a chance to be featured on POWDER. Tune in and watch handpicked, high-quality ski videos streaming all day long on POWDER TV, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. TOPEKA (KSNT) A new light will appear in the night sky next month above Kansas thanks to an exploding star thousands of light years away from Earth. NASA Solar System Ambassador Brenda Culbertson told 27 News people may see a curious new light in the night sky during the month of September. The light will come from a star, nicknamed the Blaze Star or T CrB, situated about 3,000 light years away from Earth in the Corona Borealis or Northern Crown, according to NASA. This star is due become a nova, not to be confused with a supernova, which will create a large explosion in space which will be visible to the naked eye. The Blaze Star actually consists of two stars: a small white dwarf and an old red giant which is having its hydrogen stripped away by its close neighbor. The hydrogen from the red giant accretes on the surface of the white dwarf, causing a buildup of pressure and heat, Culbertson said, citing a NASA description for the event. Eventually, it triggers a thermonuclear explosion big enough to blast away that accreted material. For T CrB, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years. Biologists track invasive species reaching impressive sizes in Neosho River Given this event occurs on average around every 80 years, it makes it a rarely seen event that people may experience only once or twice in their lives. Culbertson said the exact timing of the event isnt known, but scientists expect the light to be visible sometime in September 2024. Its a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data, said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Itll fuel the next generation of scientists. People wont need any specialized equipment to view this nova. However, a telescope can be used to enhance ones view of it. This nova should be easily visible without any magnification, Culbertson said. People should be able to go out, look up at the constellation Corona Borealis, and see it. It will appear as a bright star where no star was visible before, but it will be very bright for around a week when it happens. Culbertson encourages people who want to see the nova to see out a dark place away from large light sources and look for the constellation Corona Borealis. You can find this constellation by looking for an arc of stars between the bright stars Arcturus and Vega. The corona will appear closer to Arcturus. A conceptual image of how to find Hercules and the Northern Crown in the night sky, created using planetarium software. Look up after sunset during summer months to find Hercules, then scan between Vega and Arcturus, where the distinct pattern of Corona Borealis may be identified. (Photo courtesy/NASA) Kansas ranks as one of the least fun states: WalletHub study While amateur and professional stargazers may seek out this event and get a lot of enjoyment out of it, Culbertson said many others will probably not even notice it happening overhead. People shouldnt expect to see a sudden explosion in space. Instead, a new light will appear before vanishing from sight for another 80 years. Most will not even notice it, unless they are specifically looking for it, Culbertson said. No specific time for the nova to happen is known, but the history of its previous times shows the periods of recurrence and duration. 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. One American man is dead, and an American woman is injured in Iceland following a collapse of the Breiamerkurjokull ice cave, Icelands public broadcaster RUV said Monday. The rescue operation, which started Sunday evening, is now complete, with police saying that no one was trapped under the ice, according to the public broadcaster. A group of 23 tourists from several countries were exploring an ice cave at the Breiamerkurjokull glacier in southeastern Iceland when the incident occurred Sunday, according to the broadcaster. The American couple were rescued on Sunday, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, while the woman sustained injuries of unknown severity and was taken to a hospital in Reykjavik, RUV reported. Authorities initially launched a massive search for two missing people, believing that 25 tourists were on the trip, RUV reported. They ended the search on Monday after realizing the original group held only 23 tourists, all of whom were accounted for. More than 200 responders participated in the operations, and a massive amount of ice has been broken down and moved, almost all by hand, RUV said, citing the police. CNN has reached out to police for details. Rescue teams at the scene after an ice cave partially collapsed, at the Breiamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland. - Vilhelm Gunnarsson/STOD2/AP A US State Department spokesperson confirmed the death of one US citizen and the injury of another, saying that they were ready to provide consular assistance. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones on their loss, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not provide details on the circumstances of the death and injury or information about either of their identities. The State Department typically does not provide personal information about Americans killed or injured abroad. Ice caves are a popular destination for visitors to Iceland, with tour operators offering customers the chance to explore the insides of glaciers and see the blue color and stunning patterns in the ice, according to Associated Press. Glaciers cover about 11% of the territory of Iceland, an island nation in the north Atlantic that sits on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle, AP reports. The largest is Vatnajokull, which covers 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles). Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of Vatnajokull that ends at the Jokulsarlon Lagoon, where icebergs constantly break off from the glacier. The receding Breiamerkurjokull glacier, a portion of it black with volcanic dust and stones, ends at Jokulsarlon lake on August 15, 2021 near Hof, Iceland. - Sean Gallup/Getty Images/File According to the US Geological Survey, the Breiamerkurjokull was growing until the turn of the 19th century, but since about 1930 it has been melting due to planet-warming fossil fuel pollution. Local news site Visir said the group that was at the cave during the collapse was on an organized tour accompanied by a guide. Most people were outside the cave when it collapsed, AP reports. Moving rescue equipment and personnel up to the glacier was difficult due to the rugged terrain, and rescuers had to cut through the ice using chainsaws, says AP. The glacier is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from a volcano that erupted Friday on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland. Iceland has been affected by human-caused climate change and has been warming roughly three times faster than the rest of the planet, according to the Icelandic Met Office. Reporting contributed by CNNs Jennifer Hansler and Angela Fritz For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com One suspect is in custody after an alleged knife attack in downtown Montpelier, but police are still searching for a second suspect. Several people were fighting on Main Street, near City Hall, just after 7:30 Saturday night. Police say one of the people involved in the fight was cut several times on the face and head with a knife. They were treated at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin and released. Investigators say theyve arrested a suspected accessory to the attack; they didnt disclose the names of either the accessory or the alleged victim. The attacker ran away from the scene before officers arrived, and the Montpelier Police Department doesnt know who they are. They ask anyone who might know to call them at (802) 223-3445. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC22 & FOX44. KYODO NEWS - Aug 26, 2024 - 14:48 | All, Japan, World The Japanese government on Monday said it was "regrettable" that a Chinese staffer described the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea as China's territory in unscripted remarks on NHK radio, and urged the public broadcaster to prevent a recurrence. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the reporting during NHK's Chinese-language news program contradicts Japan's stance that the uninhabited islands are the country's "inherent territory" based on history and international law. "We urge NHK to be mindful of its social responsibility as a public broadcaster and prevent a recurrence," Hayashi told a regular press conference. The Chinese contract worker, who was at an NHK-affiliated company and is in his 40s, said the Japanese-controlled islands were China's after he read a story on the radio on Aug. 19 about graffiti found at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. He went off-script for about 20 seconds, according to the broadcaster. NHK said his contract was terminated, and it plans to seek damages from him. Despite some recent thawing in bilateral ties, disagreements remain over the Senkakus, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu, as well as wartime history. The Chinese staffer also said in English during the radio program that people should not forget wartime comfort women or the Nanjing Massacre, according to NHK. The massacre was carried out in 1937 by Japanese troops, while the term comfort women refers to those who were procured for wartime Japanese military brothels. NHK President Nobuo Inaba attended a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday to offer an apology. The broadcaster has shifted to airing prerecorded news in Chinese in response to the incident. Related coverage: Japan, China top diplomats agree to deepen dialogue to solve disputes Hotline not used over Japan SDF ship sailing into Chinese waters Japan destroyer sailed into China territorial waters despite warnings One dead after gang-related shooting in Millcreek, police seek witnesses SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) One person is dead after an allegedly gang-related shooting in Millcreek Sunday afternoon, according to Unified Police. The shooting occurred at Monaco Apartments, located near 4100 S 400 E, at around 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 25. Upon arrival at the scene, police found a male victim on the ground who had been shot. Officers began live-saving efforts until paramedics could arrive. Three Utahns drown in whirlpool during canyoneering trip in Sierra Nevadas The victim was taken to the hospital shortly after, where he died due to his injuries. A suspect has not been identified at this time. Police are asking witnesses, or anyone with home security cameras, to come forward. Anyone with information is asked to call Unified Police at 801-840-4000. Police believe this incident was gang-related. No further information is currently 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. One in eight people diagnosed with dementia may have liver disease instead Hepatic encephalopathy can be treated with medication and the symptoms reversed, scientists say, unlike dementia which progressively worsens One in eight people diagnosed with dementia may actually be suffering symptoms from a liver disease, a study suggests. The cognitive symptoms of dementia are similar to those caused by the condition hepatic encephalopathy (HE) which is caused by liver cirrhosis. Viral infection, heavy alcohol consumption and obesity can all lead to the disease which causes scarring on the organ. The condition can lead to confusion, forgetfulness, shaking and slurred speech as toxins build up in the bloodstream and impact the brain because the liver can not clean them out properly. Scientists analysed the medical records of more than 68,000 patients in a database of American people who were diagnosed with dementia between 2009 and 2019. The average age was 72 and scientists analysed each persons records to calculate how likely it was they actually had undiagnosed HE caused by liver cirrhosis. Cognitive impairment Data show that 12.8 per cent of patients in the cohort were likely suffering from an undiagnosed case of cirrhosis. Risk factors for potential undiagnosed cirrhosis include alcohol use disorder and viral hepatitis, the scientists write. In up to 13 per cent of patients with dementia, treatable hepatic encephalopathy might contribute to the cognitive impairment. The findings are in line with a previous study which found ten per cent of veterans with dementia may have actually had HE caused by cirrhosis. Hepatic encephalopathy can be treated with medication and the symptoms reversed, scientists say, unlike dementia which is a disease that progressively worsens. We need to increase awareness that cirrhosis and related brain complications are common, silent, but treatable when found, said study author Dr Jasmohan Bajaj from Virginia Commonwealth University. Undiagnosed cirrhosis and potential hepatic encephalopathy can be a treatable cause of or contributor towards cognitive impairment in patients diagnosed with dementia. Symptom overlap Data showed that having viral hepatitis more than doubled the likelihood of a person having cirrhosis, while alcohol abuse increased risk by 39 per cent. But while the liver condition and dementia have symptom overlap, according to the study authors, some experts believe that the subtle differences in the conditions would allow a doctor to tell the difference. Dr Rob Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, told the MailOnline: Full-blown hepatic encephalopathy looks different to dementia. The symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy fluctuate in a way that Alzheimers doesnt and anyone working in a memory clinic will be familiar with that. No one should be diagnosed with dementia without physical causes for their confusion being excluded. He added: Simple tests should always be done and these include a liver function test. But I dont think its credible to say people with dementia have been misdiagnosed, based on this evidence. The study is published in The American Journal of Medicine. 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 woman sits on a bed in a room of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) One of Gaza's last functioning hospitals has been emptying out in recent days as Israel has ordered the evacuation of nearby areas and signaled a possible ground operation in a town that has been largely spared throughout the war, officials said Monday. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main hospital serving central Gaza. The Israeli military has not ordered its evacuation, but patients and people sheltering there fear that it may be engulfed in fighting or become the target of a raid. Also on Monday, Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis killed at least 19 people, according to local officials, and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed across the Lebanon border. Israeli forces have invaded several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the 10-month-old war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Israeli evacuation orders now cover around 84% of Gaza's territory, according to the United Nations, which estimates that around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been forced from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times. The evacuation orders have reduced the size of the humanitarian zone declared by Israel at the start of the war while crowding more Palestinians into it. Thousands of Palestinian families have packed into tent camps along the beach where aid groups say food and clean water are scarce and disease spreads quickly. The most recent satellite images available from PlanetLabs and analyzed by The Associated Press show the increase in tent density along the beachfront since July 19. AP reporters saw people fleeing the hospital and surrounding areas on Monday, many on foot. Some pushed patients on stretchers or carried sick children, while others held bags of clothes, mattresses and blankets. Four schools in the area were also being evacuated. "Where will we get medicine?" Adliyeh al-Najjar said as she rested outside the hospital gate. Where will patients like me go? Fatimah al-Attar fought back tears as she left the hospital compound heading in the direction of the tent camps. Our fate is to die, she said. There is no place for us to go. There is no safe place. The U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA said that since Friday the Israeli military has issued three evacuation orders for over 19 neighborhoods in northern Gaza and in Deir al Balah, affecting more than 8,000 people staying in these areas. The order covers an area including or near UN and other humanitarian centers, the Al Aqsa hospital, two clinics, three wells, one water reservoir and one desalination plant, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for OCHA. This effectively upends a whole lifesaving humanitarian hub, Laerke said. Doctors Without Borders, an international charity known by its French acronym MSF, said an explosion around 250 meters (yards) from the hospital on Sunday caused panic, accelerating the exodus. As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment, it said on the platform X. The hospital says it was treating over 600 patients before the evacuation orders, which apply to residential areas about a kilometer (0.6 mile) away. Around 100 patients remain, including seven in intensive care and eight in the children's ward. The Israeli military said it was operating against Hamas in Deir al-Balah and working to dismantle its remaining infrastructure there. It said the evacuation orders were issued to protect civilians, and did not include nearby hospitals or medical facilities. It said it had also informed Palestinian health officials that the facilities did not need to be evacuated. The army has excluded hospitals from past evacuation orders, but patients and others have still fled, fearing for their safety. Israels military said Monday that its forces were expanding operations on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and had discovered weapons in a residential apartment and dismantled an underground Hamas tunnel about 700 meters (765 yards) long. Local health officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a group of people on the seashore in Gaza City, killing at least seven men while they were fishing. Another strike hit a vehicle inside the Israeli-declared humanitarian zone near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, according to a Kuwaiti field hospital, where the bodies were taken. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those attacks. Monday night, a strike hit a house in Maghazi, a refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, and killed at least seven people, including four children and a woman, according to hospital records and AP journalists who counted the bodies. Ambulances recovered the bodies that were taken to Al Aqsa hospital. The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli army bases and farming communities. The militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged around 250 hostages back to Gaza. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and caused heavy destruction across much of the territory. Hamas is still holding around 110 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were freed in a cease-fire last year. Israel has continued carrying out strikes across Gaza as the United States, Egypt and Qatar have tried to broker a lasting cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages. Major gaps remain despite several months of high-level negotiations. Hospitals have repeatedly been turned into battlegrounds, both literally and in the rival narratives surrounding the war. Israel's army has raided a number of medical facilities since the start of the war and has provided some evidence that militants were inside some of them. Medical staff deny the allegations and accuse the army of reckless disregard for civilians. Hospitals can lose their protected status under international law if they are used for military purposes, but any operations against them must be proportional and seek to spare civilians. Only 16 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are even partially functioning, according to the World Health Organization, even as they treat casualties from daily Israeli airstrikes across the territory. The difficulty of importing and distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has contributed to widespread hunger and disease outbreaks, further stressing the health sector. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed. ___ Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) One man was killed following a collision on Interstate 85 Monday morning. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a commuter in a 2015 Toyota sedan was driving south on I-85 near mile marker 75 around 9:47 a.m. when they stopped in the roadway. Another driver in a 2023 BMW SUV then struck the Toyota, killing the driver of the sedan at the scene. The Spartanburg County Coroners Office identified the man that died as Michael Anthony Lorenz, 61, of Fuquay Varina. Lorenz died at 10:06 a.m. The driver of the BMW was taken to Spartanburg Regional Hospital for their injuries. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS. REYDON, Okla. (KFOR) The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced on Monday a man is in custody in connection to a stabbing. According to OSBI, on August 24, deputies responded to a call where a man had been stabbed. Two Oklahoma County Detention Center officers arrested Officials report a fight between the victim and 28-year-old Kody Mabra took place at a residence near State Highway 30 and Second Street. The report states Mabra ran away from the scene and was later found by deputies in a nearby home. OSBI says, Mabra was taken into custody and booked into the Roger Mills County Jail on charges of Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon. The victim is currently listed in stable 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 KFOR.com Oklahoma City. One man crime spree: NC felon gets 15 years after firing gun toward school, leading cops on 118 mph chase WILMINGTON, N.C. (WNCN) A North Carolina Crip gang member who was a felon on probation will now serve 15 years in prison after firing a gun toward an elementary school and leading officers on a 118 mph chase, officials said. Jahmez Tavaughn Jackson was called a one-man crime spree following the incident on Feb. 22, 2023, in Wilmington, according to a Monday news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Jackson was sentenced after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon when he fired a sawed-off rifle at another person about 200 feet from Roger Bacon Douglas Academy, a K-5 charter school, where children were present, officials said. A car parked at Roger Bacon Douglas Academy was hit by one of the bullets. Photo courtesy: U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. A vehicle parked at the school was struck by one of the bullets and four more shell casings were found at the intersection of 6th and Campbell streets. Jackson, who officials said was in the drug trade, was soon found by officers in Pender County who tried to stop his car. CRIME TRACKER Sign up for CBS 17s newsletter with the latest in local crime Jackson fled from law enforcement officers at high rates of speed as fast as 118 mph and tossed the gun out of the car window, the news release said. The sawed-off rifle used to fire shots toward the charter school 200 feet away. Photo courtesy: U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Eventually, Jackson lost control of the car and crashed into a median. Marijuana, oxycodone and drug paraphernalia were found in Jacksons car. Jackson has been convicted of several felony offenses in the past, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, felon in possession of a firearm, attempted first-degree burglary and attempted second-degree kidnapping. He was on state probation and wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the Wilmington incident in February 2023. This Crip gang member was a one-man crime spree, firing shots toward a Wilmington charter school and leading police on a high-speed chase topping 118 miles per hour, U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said in the release. The Wilmington police chief also spoke about the matter. I am glad to see that the man responsible for these dangerous crimes will be heading to prison for a very long time, Chief Donny Williams said in the release. As a felon, the man convicted in this case should have never had a firearm in his possession. Through his involvement with narcotics and violent gun crimes, he has clearly shown that he is not ready to be out on the streets. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. One person dead after weekend crash in St. Lawrence County GOUVERNEUR, N.Y. (WWTI) A 23-year-old Jefferson County man is dead after a weekend crash in the town of Gouverneur. New York State Police said Gianfranco Jones-Ortiz of Philadelphia was traveling on State Route 58 around 5 a.m. Saturday morning when he failed to negotiate a curve. NYSP looking for publics help in St. Lawrence Co. burglary investigation Authorities said Jones-Ortiz went off the road, and hit a tree. He was transported to Gouverneur Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. More than 858,000 Florida seniors are eligible for SNAP but aren't enrolled in the program. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) More than 858,000 Florida seniors could get benefits through the largest federal food assistance program, but only 38% of those eligible participate, according to a report from the National Council on Aging and the Urban Institute. Still, Floridas participation rate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, for people 65 and older is higher than the national rate of 30%, according to the report. The program, meant for low-income people, provides monthly benefits through an Electronic Benefits Transfer card. Miami-Dade, Duval, and Hillsborough counties have the highest enrollment rates. Even though 50% of eligible seniors in Miami-Dade get benefits through SNAP, 108,813 people who are eligible dont participate. Collier, St. Johns, and Charlotte counties have the lowest participation rates in SNAP out of the eligible elderly population. More than 19,000 seniors in Collier could get food assistance. Nationally and in Florida, more people participate in other programs such as Supplemental Security Income, which provides cash assistance for seniors with little to no income, and Medicare Savings Programs. Those two have enrollment rates of nearly 50% among eligible Florida seniors. KYODO NEWS - Aug 26, 2024 - 22:11 | World, Japan, All Japan's Defense Ministry on Monday confirmed for the first time that a plane belonging to the Chinese military violated Japanese airspace, in the latest development that could fuel tensions between the two countries following repeated maritime provocations by China. The Y-9 intelligence plane flew over waters off the Danjo Islands of the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki, in the East China Sea, for about two minutes from 11:29 a.m., prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets, according to the ministry. The aircraft circled above waters southeast of the islands multiple times before and after entering Japan's airspace, eventually heading toward China around 1:15 p.m. The ministry said that ASDF fighters did not use weapons or signal flares. Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned Chinese Charge d'Affaires Shi Yong and lodged an "extremely serious protest" over the airspace intrusion, seeking to ensure a similar flight will never happen again, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. While it was the first airspace violation by a plane belonging to China's military, Japan previously confirmed two similar incidents -- involving a Chinese marine surveillance plane and a drone that had taken off from a China Coast Guard vessel -- above waters near the Japanese-administered, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in 2012 and 2017, respectively. The two countries have long been at odds over the Senkakus, and Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly entered Japanese territorial waters around the uninhabited islets. A senior Defense Ministry official said an analysis is needed to determine whether the incursion was intentional, adding that Japan should not "overreact" as the airspace violation was unlikely intended to escalate the situation. Another Defense Ministry source said China "might be trying to provoke a reaction from Japan," while a government source said the airplane merely grazed the territorial airspace and possibly strayed off course. Related coverage: Japan gov't takes issue with NHK radio's unscripted Senkaku remarks Japan, U.S, South Korea sign document to cement security cooperation Japan, China top diplomats agree to deepen dialogue to solve disputes Republicans have repeatedly tried and failed to win over Jewish Americans, who have historically supported Democrats in overwhelming numbers. One memorable attempt was the campaign by Donald Trump and others on the right to falsely portray Barack Obama as a closeted Muslim who should be feared by those of other faiths. American Jews were not as bigoted as they hoped: Obama won 78% of the Jewish vote in 2008 and 70% in 2012 . This election, however, feels different. Since Oct. 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, was followed by a surge in antisemitic attacks , more Jews have begun to question their safety in this country. With much of the antisemitism emanating from the political left , Republicans seem to think their moment to win the Jewish vote has arrived. Their argument appears to be simple: You may deplore Trumps assault on democratic institutions, reproductive rights and the rule of law, but you cant afford to care about those things anymore not when the future of Jews in America is being threatened by protesters who praise Hamas and Israel is fighting an existential war against Iranian proxies. Read more: Opinion: How will Harris answer the Palestinian question? It is no coincidence that in the days after Vice President Kamala Harris became Trumps presumptive rival for the presidency, Trump began to falsely frame her as an enemy of Israel and Jews. Shes totally against the Jewish people, he declared at a rally in North Carolina on July 24. No. 1, she doesnt like Israel. No. 2, she doesnt like Jewish people, he told a New York radio station on July 30. Setting aside that Harris is the first vice president in history with a Jewish spouse, Trump has repeatedly and recently shown that he is no true friend of Israel or the Jewish people. Just four days after Oct. 7, he criticized Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent Hamas invasion and called Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group that has been firing rockets at Israel since Oct. 8, smart. At a rally in Florida the same day , he said the Israeli military had to step up their game, referred to Israels defense minister as this jerk and reiterated that he considers Hezbollah very smart. Imagine the outrage if a Democrat let alone the partys leader had said any of this just after Hamas massacre. Read more: Opinion: After the war in Gaza, America's relationship with Israel has to change. Here's how Trump was furthermore calling on Israel to finish up your war as long ago as March. It was not until two months later that President Biden delivered his first public call for an end to the war in Gaza one conditioned, unlike Trumps, on a Hamas release of Israeli hostages. Trump repeated his call during Netanyahus July visit to the United States, saying Israel must end the war and get it done quickly. Speaking on Fox News, he added that Israel is not very good at public relations and was getting decimated on that score. Anyone understandably concerned about the Israeli governments far-right turn in recent years should keep in mind that the Trump administration empowered the ultranationalist forces responsible for its increasing international isolation. Trump has also repeatedly insulted Jews in his desperate bid to reimagine Democrats as a party of antisemites, saying Jewish Americans should have their head examined and be ashamed of themselves for supporting Democrats. He recently called Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the countrys highest-ranking Jewish officials and a staunch supporter of Israel, a proud member of Hamas . Its Trumps MAGA camp that is infested with actual antisemites. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump loyalist who famously blamed California wildfires on Jewish space lasers, opposed a bipartisan bill to address antisemitism on the premise that it rejected the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews. Greenes far-right colleague Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) voted against the bill for the same reason. The Holocaust denier Candace Owens was to appear alongside Donald Trump Jr. at a recent campaign event if not for a backlash from the Jewish community. The former president has also fraternized with unabashed antisemites such as Nick Fuentes and Kanye West . Again, try to imagine if personalities like these were connected to Harris or Biden. For all the legitimate fears aroused by violent anti-Israel protests over the last 10 months, lets remember that the bloodiest days for Jews in America were at the hands of the far right, not the far left. The deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history was perpetrated at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 by a white nationalist who believed in the far-right great replacement conspiracy theory that Jews are working to flood the country with illegal immigrants. The previous year, neo-Nazi Trump supporters marched through Charlottesville, Va., chanting, Jews will not replace us. Then-President Trump insisted that some of them were very fine people . Jews have long been overrepresented in social justice movements in this country, which may be one reason for their enduring common cause with Democrats. But Jewish support for the party has never been tested as it has since Oct. 7. Recent surveys showed 89% of American Jews have seen an increase in antisemitism and 60% feel uncomfortable being open about their faith. The backdrop to this sense of insecurity is the extreme rhetoric of some anti-Israel protesters. While most of the protesters have been peaceful, others have called for the deaths of Jews and expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah. One stark recent example of the state of the Democratic Partys relationship with Jews was a conversation on CNN about Kamala Harris potential running mates. Regarding Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, the networks John King told Anderson Cooper, Hes Jewish; there could be some risk in putting him on the ticket, a reference to the partys division over the war in Gaza. That Cooper didnt ask a follow-up or raise an eyebrow at the idea that Shapiros faith presented a problem suggested rightly or not that King was stating a fact of Democratic politics. Although Harris selection of a running mate no doubt depended on a variety of variables, its a troubling perception of the party that has been the political home of most Jewish voters for the better part of a century. Nevertheless, especially after the powerful expressions of support for Israel and the Jewish people at last weeks Democratic National Convention, Trumps quest to paint Harris as their enemy looks absurd. American Jews relationship with Democrats has certainly been complicated, but particularly in light of the alternative its likely to remain strong. Yardena Schwartz is a journalist and the author of Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict. 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. On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, Kaitlyn Joshua, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was one of three women who walked onto the main stage at the United Center and described for the country how she almost lost her life to a miscarriage in 2022. She was getting ready for her daughters fourth birthday party, she said, when something didnt feel right. Two emergency rooms sent me away because of Louisianas abortion ban. Joshua continued: No one would confirm that I was miscarrying. I was in pain, bleeding so much that my husband feared for my life. No woman should experience what I endured. But too many have. They write to me saying, What happened to you happened to me. Sometimes theyre miscarrying and are scared to tell anyone. Even their doctors. Our daughters deserve better. America deserves better. Joshuas story warrants our sympathy, and our outrage, but in response, Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, demonstrating that Republicans are terrified of the consequences of their abortion bans being known, essentially called Joshua a liar. In a post that same night on X, Murrill wrote, Once again, the Democrats have their facts wrong. There is nothing in our bipartisan law that prohibits emergency care for someone having a miscarriage or any emergency situation during pregnancy. Nothing. Hard stop. In a second post, Murrill wrote that doctors are legally required to care for a pregnant woman who suffers an emergent health crisis, whether thats appendicitis or a miscarriage. No matter what Murrill wants the world to believe, the truth is Joshua suffered because of the abortion ban that went into effect in Louisiana after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Its not at all surprising to hear Joshua say two Louisiana hospitals refused to treat her. In fact, its predictable. Doctors and hospital officials across Louisiana have repeatedly confirmed that our vague laws on this life of the mother exception are causing dangerous problems, and medical officials are afraid of providing care for a woman having a miscarriage and then being arrested and charged. The law requires a person to essentially be on her deathbed before allowing the exception. Those doctors should be afraid. In June 2022, five days after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Roe, Murrill, then a chief deputy to Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, drafted a letter for Landry that he sent the Louisiana State Medical Society. A physician who performed an elective abortion, that Murrill/Landry letter said, would risk their liberty and medical license. They said that! Its telling that instead of clarifying the new law, they threatened to arrest doctors and end their careers. After Murrill essentially accused Joshua of lying on X, the Louisiana Right to Life also posted to bring attention to the states life of the mother exception and wrote, Ultimately, the fault for the substandard treatment lies with the practitioners that managed her case. That post accused the DNC of utilizing a tragic story to elicit confusion and disapproval for pro-life laws. One wonders if Murrill would prosecute a physician who did not terminate a pregnancy when the womans life was in danger. Is the worth of a womans life now to be decided by politicians? What women like Joshua know, and what Murrill and the Louisiana Right to Life dont want to admit, is that we have unusable laws, drafted purposely to prevent any abortion, for any reason. Hospitals and doctors are terrified of arrest, so they err on the side of virtually no treatment for miscarriage and complications. So many women have come forward with their painful stories. The Department of Health has publicly referred questions on abortion to Murrill, the highest ranking prosecutor in the state. Those are the facts. A lot has already been said about Right to Life's disingenuous spin about Kaitlyn's experience, but I am still shaking mad. With full knowledge of the risks Louisiana's abortion ban poses to patients, RTL has vehemently opposed every attemptby Rs and Dsto clarify the law. https://t.co/8jc2Bgaf40 chris kaiser (@chris__kaiser) August 24, 2024 If the powerful in the state cared about womens lives, then theyd pass a law to clarify the exceptions related to health and life of the mother and a nonviable fetus. (Soon after the ban went into effect, Nancy Davis, another Baton Rouge woman, found out her fetus was developing without a skull, and had to travel to New York for an abortion because she couldnt get care in Louisiana.) Yet every time legislators have tried to do this, Louisiana Right to Life, which is politically powerful, has crushed those efforts. They think that women and doctors lie. Its easier to punish someone when the law is vague. This demeaning treatment of women is not new, and it certainly is bipartisan. Former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, and his wife ran hard on a campaign of life, judging and punishing women who choose to terminate a pregnancy. Edwards signed every abortion-related law that landed on his desk. He signed the 2022 trigger ban, even though it would have become law without his signature, that did not include a rape and incest exception that he claimed he supported. He noted in an interview that prior to Roe being overturned, the abortion debate in the Louisiana legislature was largely an academic exercise, meaning the cruelty it would inflict upon women was only theoretical and something officials could never be held accountable for. But now were seeing those consequences play out in real life. Louisiana is often described as last in everything. Maybe its because we treat women some women as expendable, political pawns. Dragging Kaitlyn Joshua in the media for telling her truth is how the attorney general, Landry's administration and Louisiana Right to Life think they can defend the indefensible. In response to Louisiana Right to Lifes social media thread blaming the hospitals Joshua visited and not Louisiana law for her suffering, Joshua responded, They are scared yall. Instead of Right to Life using their platform to amplify the issues around the same ban they endorsed, that is STILL comprising basic maternal care in our state, instead of owning the harm they caused and the confusion they created, they do this!!! They are scared. Theyre scared of the public knowing that this is what total abortion bans mean, and scared of Joshua telling women: what happened to me could happen to you. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Three years ago, the U.S. military was at Kabul's international airport frantically organizing evacuation flights out of Afghanistan as the Taliban returned to power in the capital city after a 20-year hiatus. The evacuation mission was rushed, with overwhelmed U.S. forces working to get as many Afghans out of the country as possible. The last U.S. military plane flew out of the airport on Aug. 31, ending a two-decade-long military mission, the longest in U.S. history. The Biden administration received significant criticism both during and after the evacuation. Former national security advisor John Bolton said the Taliban would again provide a safe haven and support to Al Qaeda as it planned attacks against the United States. Retired Gen. David Petraeus, a onetime commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, stated that the withdrawal damaged Americas credibility around the world. Leon Panetta, the CIA director and Defense secretary during the Obama administration, went so far as to suggest that Biden may eventually have to send troops back to Afghanistan as President Obama did in Iraq. Read more: Biden plans to keep Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, but makes contingency plans In the three years since, none of these doomsday predictions have come to pass. Nonetheless, the weeks-long evacuation remains fodder for the campaign trail; former President Trump constantly reminds rallygoers of the Afghanistan catastrophe, hoping to use the chaotic withdrawal as a referendum on the Biden-Harris administrations foreign policies. Let there be no mistake: Afghanistan under the Taliban is a dismal place. The Afghan people have seen a significant reduction in their personal freedoms. Women and girls face severe restrictions, including on their right to education, work and travel. However, the U.S. didnt go into Afghanistan to turn the country into a democratic oasis. Rather, the aim was to hammer Al Qaeda for the 9/11 terrorist attack and hold the Taliban accountable for sheltering terrorists. Those objectives were achieved very early on in the war, only for Washington to foolishly expand the mission toward remaking Afghanistans politics and society root and branch. Read more: Taliban publishes vice laws that ban womens voices and bare faces in public For the U.S., the measure of success going forward should not be how progressive Afghan society is centuries of history have shown that Afghanistan is impervious to foreign designs but whether the U.S. can still defend itself against terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. The U.S. has managed to do that, and the Taliban government seems to understand that harboring terrorists is a recipe for losing the power regained after 20 long years of fighting. Although U.S. intelligence-gathering in Afghanistan is hardly perfect, the U.S. today possesses a far better understanding of the country than it did during the early 1990s, when the Taliban first controlled the country and gave Osama bin Laden a redoubt to plan operations. How do we know? Because Washington was able to exploit technical and human intelligence sources to find and kill the most high-profile terrorist target in Afghanistan, former Al Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri. His death in a drone attack in July 2022 was precisely the kind of operation clean, efficient and specific that detractors of the U.S. withdrawal argued wouldnt be possible if Washington ordered all troops out. Apart from dispatching terrorist leaders, the U.S. has also exhibited a remarkable ability to, if not predict, then anticipate when terrorist attacks from Afghanistan-based groups are about to happen. Most of these concern the Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K. Earlier this year, American intelligence tracked ISIS-K threats in Iran and Russia and notified those countries' governments. In both cases, according to public reports, the U.S. warnings specified the exact target that was about to be hit. Those warnings werent heeded. In Iran, ISIS-K killed 84 people with a bomb; in Moscow, four gunmen claiming ISIS-K affiliation slaughtered more than 140 people at a concert hall. Read more: Islamic State claimed the attack on Russia. Why is Putin accusing Ukraine and the West? And what about the claim, heard so often in the weeks after the August 2021 withdrawal, that the Taliban would revert to its old ways, aiding and abetting Americas terrorist enemies? This, too, hasnt exactly come to pass. Although U.N. monitors say that foreign fighters have indeed traveled to Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power theres no doubt Al Qaeda retains a presence there those fighters dont have unfettered movement. In fact, the same U.N. monitors assess that the Taliban is attempting to restrict the fighters activities, if only to ensure its own power isnt challenged. The Taliban is monitoring some groups and fighting others including ISIS-K which is an improvement, from the U.S. perspective, on its behavior before 9/11. The motivation is self-interest: The Taliban is reluctant to jeopardize its status and power by repeating the past. As far as notions of plummeting U.S. credibility, nothing in the three years since the withdrawal suggests that Petraeus diagnosis is correct. In fact, the opposite is the case. U.S. allies and partners not only remain committed to their strategic relationships with Washington but are seeking to expand them. In June, Japan and South Korea agreed to expand trilateral military exercises with the U.S. as they seek to preserve a favorable balance of power in East Asia. Washingtons NATO allies continue to look to the U.S. to lead the Wests response against Russias invasion of Ukraine. Global approval of U.S. leadership is at 41%, slightly down from 45% in 2021 but the same as it was about a decade ago. Afghanistan is still a dangerous place and hope for a better future for ordinary Afghans is low. But the prediction that the U.S. troop departure would automatically lead to disaster for U.S. security hasnt come to pass. Daniel R. DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities. @DanDePetris 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. Last year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed so-called trans refuge legislation, joining California and several other states in passing measures that harm vulnerable youth. The Washington Post recently came to Walzs defense, claiming that conservatives were falsely accusing him of allowing the state to terminate parental custody if parents prevent their trans children from receiving gender-affirming care. But the reality is theres nothing false about that accusation. This law can indeed separate kids from loving parents custody. Every parent in America should be concerned about it and laws like it. Imagine a teenage girl in Ohio who regularly visits her rather woke aunt in Minnesota. The aunt thinks that her teenage nieces parents arent sufficiently affirming of the girls desire to adopt a male identity. The parents know the devastating and irreversible harm puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones would cause their daughter, and so theyre not about to consent to them. The aunt files a lawsuit in Minnesota to gain custody of the girl and start her on a regime of the drugs. Normally, Minnesota courts would dismiss the suit, recognizing that Ohio is the proper venue for the case. After all, that is where the niece and her mom and dad live, and where the girls pediatrician and counselor (who would have information about the girls physical and mental health) are located. Out-of-state attempts to get custody are usually decided based on the childs home state. And that makes sense. Custody challenges should be heard in the state where the parents, child, and relevant evidence are located. And they should be decided based on the laws of the home state. But the Minnesota law and its ilk throw out this commonsense rule. If anyone a parent, close relative, or even an unrelated adult seeks custody of a child for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming health care, then that person can take the child to Minnesota, where state courts now have exclusive jurisdiction to hear the case. Those courts will decide custody of the child and ultimately whether the child will be put on harmful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones based on Minnesota law. In other words, as soon as the teenage girl crosses the Minnesota state line with her aunt or to visit her aunt, Minnesota courts are now armed to strip custody away from the girls caring parents in Ohio and award it to the aunt, who can immediately start the vulnerable child on dangerous transition drugs. Indeed, in Walzs Minnesota, putting kids on a one-way street toward the irreversible damage caused by puberty blockers, hormones and sterilizing surgeries is the official policy of the state. Lets not forget, just weeks before signing the law, Walz issued an executive order declaring that Minnesota is committed to protecting access to and establishing the state as a refuge for those who seek and provide transition drugs and surgeries that growing international evidence confirms cause irreversible harm to a childs body and brain development. And it isnt just woke relatives that receive a get out of jail free card when they abscond to Minnesota with a child who has been ripped from the arms of her parents, who are her best advocates and defenders. This law will allow Planned Parenthood and other gender clinics to push life-altering transition drugs on children with no meaningful oversight or accountability. Under the Minnesota law, Planned Parenthood could easily encourage and even pay expenses for a teenager to travel to the state for harmful transition drugs. And it would do so with assurances that state law shields it, should the parents try to intervene to save their child from the lifelong consequences of these drugs. What the Minnesota law and others like it really do is deprive our children of the one true shield and refuge against pervasive, damaging gender ideology: namely, parents. Parents love and know their children best. They alone have the right and responsibility to raise their children and protect them from harm. That is why more families are standing up when government officials, schools and even medical providers push dangerous, life-altering gender ideology on their children. Minnesota had the chance to stand with these courageous parents and their children. Instead, it chose to declare them an enemy of the state. Matt Sharp is senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom and director of its Center for Public Policy. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Opinion - The nuclear arms race never ended and the US must not cede the lead The Biden administration is putting at risk strategic stability with China. Last month, China suspended fledgling arms control talks with the U.S., claiming that such engagements could not go on while Washington continues to sell arms to Taiwan. This was unsurprising. Beijing has long made clear its lack of interest in limiting its own arsenal. It also has a history of canceling bilateral security dialogues to punish the U.S. for actions it does not like. Consecutive U.S. administrations have tried to rope China into nuclear negotiations. In June 2020, negotiators in the Donald Trump administration released a staged photo depicting empty seats with Chinese flags ahead of U.S.-Russia talks in Vienna. In June 2023, Jake Sullivan offered to engage China without preconditions. Two years earlier, President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had vaguely agreed to look to begin to carry forward discussion on strategic stability. That discussion formally began in November 2023 and is already defunct. The desire to limit Chinas arsenal is appropriate. At the turn of the decade, the Department of Defense estimated Chinas nuclear warhead stockpile to be in the low-200s. The arsenal has already more than doubled in size and is projected to reach 1,000 by 2030 and 1,500 by 2035. Beijing may be preparing to test new weapon designs. China is also expanding and diversifying its launch platforms, including the recent completion of 300 new missile silos; the fielding of a longer-range, submarine-launched missile; and the development of a fractional orbital bombardment system designed to evade American missile defenses. In Xi Jinpings approach to national security, nuclear weapons are moving from the background to the foreground. All in all, China is in the midst of a historically rapid nuclear buildup. But while the Biden administrations diagnosis of the problem is correct, its prescription is all wrong. If Bidens successor, whether Republican or Democrat, wants to coax China into genuine arms control negotiations, he or she will have to follow Xis lead in adopting a more prominent role for nuclear weapons. Beijing will have to want to restrain the U.S. As of now, there is little to restrain. New START, which the U.S. and Russia renewed in 2021, limits the U.S. to 1,550 deployed warheads. The U.S. is modernizing its delivery vehicles and nuclear command-and-control to ensure reliability, but the scope of the American nuclear threat will remain largely unchanged as its quantitative advantage over China withers away. The U.S. is taking steps that may even encourage China to further expand its own arsenal and to wield it more aggressively. Last year, Jake Sullivan told the Arms Control Association that the U.S. is investing in cutting-edge non-nuclear capabilitiesthat can reach heavily-defended, high-value targets. The Biden administration wants to neutralize Chinese nuclear capabilities, but it is little interested in threatening actual harm. The problem here is twofold. First, the easiest way for China to counter such capabilities is to simply field even more nuclear weapons. Second, shifting the deterrent burden to conventional capabilities will reduce the credibility of Americas nuclear deterrent. It will contribute to enemy (and allied) perceptions that America is gun-shy when it comes to nuclear use and uncomfortable employing what Nobelist Thomas C. Schelling called the threat that leaves something to chance. This is the idea that, to deter a nuclear-armed opponent, one must intentionally act in ways that risk things spinning out of control. The Biden administration instead aims to more finely control escalation, leaving rivals more space to employ brinksmanship and more likely to do so. As for the allies, the Biden approach will further nudge them toward procuring their own nuclear arsenals, especially given the administrations stated desire to shift to sole purpose, in which nuclear weapons are not used to deter conventional attacks. If the allies go nuclear, China may find further reason to accelerate its own buildup. New START, participation in which Russia has already suspended, expires in 2026. The next American president should let it die an unceremonious death. It is time to arms-race again. A nuclear buildup and revamped strategy will put the U.S. in position to bargain with China, Russia and other nuclear rivals and put those rivals in the position of needing to bargain. Michael Mazza is a senior director at the Project 2049 Institute and a senior non-resident fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Only a month ago, it seemed like nothing could stop Donald Trump from becoming president again not even a bullet. However, since then, President Biden has dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Harris. Now Trump is down in the polls. Harris has turned into a fundraising juggernaut, and Republicans are concerned about the effects in down-ballot races for the House and Senate. On the other side of the aisle, the change at the top of the ticket has energized Democrats up and down the ballot. When speaking of the new polls, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the numbers are ominous. The numbers are so good for Democrats that the House Majority PAC is now investing in Iowa and Wisconsin. Chuck Schumer now believes they can outperform like in 2022 and win a majority in Congress. In 2016, Donald Trump was the sail that lifted Republicans to the White House and majorities in the House and Senate. However, with Trump on the ticket since then, he has been more like an anchor, holding Republicans down, leading to disappointing results in 2018 and 2020. Trump isnt making it easy on the GOP today. Hes replaced Biden as the elderly man who cant remember what state hes in and continued his trademark undisciplined messaging of talking about himself and insulting his opponent. Trump fatigue is setting in, and even his die-hard supporters are walking out of the arena. With Harriss campaign gaining momentum and Trump continuing to prove himself unable to pivot and stay on message, what should Mike Johnson and the Republicans do? Johnson should adopt Nikki Haleys approach. Few politicians are savvy enough to walk the tightrope between MAGA and Never-Trump as Haley has done over the past eight years. While challenging Trump in the primaries, the former South Carolina governor built a strong grassroots support network and a healthy fundraising pipeline. She continues to be critical of Trump and his poor politics while maintaining support for his conservative policies. While the emergence of Trump has sent prominent Republican figures like Ted Cruz and Kevin McCarthy into the shadows, Haley has positioned herself as the leading candidate to take the mantle when hes gone, with the potential of uniting the broken factions back into a thriving party. Johnson doesnt need to abandon Trump; he needs to do what Haley is doing, and challenge the former president when he is out of line. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. This would provide cover for congressional candidates in toss-up districts whenever Trump diverts from the teleprompter. Instead of stroking Trumps ego, Johnson should focus on building grassroots support for Republicans. To do that, he should build a coalition with Haley, tapping into her support network. This would ensure Republicans keep the House and provide a check on a possible Harris administration. For his part, Trump is showing his weak hand and stubbornness. One of the presidents primary roles is to hire talent in the executive department. Haley is the most talented politician available, and Trump has hesitated to bring her on board even while his long-time supporters like Lindsay Graham are advocating for her. For her to campaign for Trump, it will likely take the promise of a Cabinet appointment, yet Trump has kept her at arms length. If Trump is serious about winning, he must take a page out of Lincolns playbook and bring in his rivals. Haley, for her part, should play hardball. She is on the rise, and Trump is on the decline. She holds the cards now. Even if Trump wins reelection, he will be a lame-duck president, with his party likely in the minority in Congress. Haley should invest in Mike Johnson and the House races, continuing to build support for her 2028 run. If Trump wants her help, she should name her Cabinet position. If Haley were tapped as secretary of State, it might even sway some Never-Trumpers to hold their noses and vote for him, or at least not to vote for Harris. Trump continues his stranglehold on the Republican Party, but thats not likely enough to win the election for himself or toss-up congressional candidates. Harris may be far left and terrible on policy, but Trump seems incapable of taking advantage. And even if he were able, that might not be enough to stop the injection of optimism Harris has brought into the race. If the GOP is going to win, it needs to take the Haley approach. Jeff Mayhugh is the founding editor of Politics and Parenting and the president of East Coast Operations for No Cap Fund. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Sanctions on Venezuela are more necessary now than ever. In the wake of Venezuelas fraudulent election that resulted in Nicolas Maduros illicit retention of power, hundreds of government-owned businesses continue to generate billions of dollars to fuel Maduros repression and quell dissent. Washington must now aggressively sanction the businesses backing Maduros rule. Since the election, thousands of Venezuelan protestors have stormed the streets in protest of Maduros illegal grip on power. Mass arrests quickly followed, as did a criminal investigation into opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and his partys leader, Maria Corina Machado, for urging the army and police to join the side of the people and abandon Maduro. With the militarys continued support, the countrys dictator shows no sign of stepping down peacefully. Leading up to Venezuelas election last month, I urged the Biden administration to publish a comprehensive list of Venezuelan state-owned companies believed to be major sources of revenue for Maduros regime. It would be a major step in combating Maduros sanctions evasion strategy, which is centered on companies with clear and direct ties to the countrys military that are forming secretive alliances with foreign partners. Despite appearing to operate independently, these companies are clear extensions of Maduros sanctioned government and the U.S. should identify them as such. With Maduro continuing to cling to power, the question remains whether anyone has leverage over the strongman. It would be easy to think that the U.S., with all of its sanctions on Venezuela, may be somewhat limited in what it can do. But that is not true. Full enforcement of the existing sanctions against Maduros regime has never occurred. In August 2019, President Trump issued Executive Order 13884, which prohibits all dealings with the state and Government of Venezuela, any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof. State-owned companies run by Maduros military cronies fall squarely in that camp, but enforcement against dealings with them has been limited at best and seemingly nonexistent at worst. For instance, Venezuelas Corporacion Ecosocialista Ezequiel Zamora, S.A. or CORPOEZ is a government-owned company that focuses primarily on the marketing and export of recycled materials, including scrap metal. Its president, Carlos Ramon Enrique Caravallo Guevara, has been sanctioned by the European Union for his leadership role in a Venezuelan military division that engaged in human rights abuses. Under Guevaras leadership, CORPOEZ became the exclusive entity authorized to export scrap metal from Venezuela. Since then, Venezuelas scrap iron exports increased from just $75 million in 2012 to $570 million in 2022. While the vast majority of Venezuelan scrap metal is exported abroad, at least 329 tons appear to have arrived in the U.S. in 2022. It is possible this was done without the regimes knowledge, but CORPOEZ and therefore Maduros sanctioned regime is more likely to have been a party to the exports and benefited as a result. CORPOEZ is just one of hundreds of companies owned and operated by the Maduro regime that sustain his grip on power. Dealings with these companies are already prohibited, but there are cracks in the system. Fortunately, the path to filling them is easy. The Biden administration should urgently identify every state-owned company that is part of Maduros regime and list them in an annex to Executive Order 13884. Moreover, the military officials who sit atop these companies should be designated for supporting Maduros sanctioned government. Only then will they begin to feel the impact of U.S. sanctions. The stakes in Venezuela have never been higher. As Maduros grip on power tightens, the U.S. cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the businesses that generate billions of dollars and keep a dictators regime afloat. These companies are not just bystanders; they are active participants in the suffering of millions. The Biden administrations lack of comprehensive action against Maduros state-owned enterprises not only undermines U.S. sanctions but emboldens a dictator who thrives on exploiting loopholes. We must stand firm with the Venezuelan people in their struggle for democracy. They are crying out for freedom, and their courage in the face of brutal repression should serve as a rallying cry for all of us. If Washington fails to act decisively now, it will not only betray the Venezuelan people but also signal to other autocratic regimes that the worlds leading democracy is unwilling to stand up for its values. The time for half-measures has passed; the Biden administration must fully enforce existing sanctions and expand them to target every corner of Maduros financial empire. As opposition leader Maria Corina Machado recently proclaimed, Nobody said this would be easy, but let the world be very clear: There is no turning back. This is irreversible and will continue until the end. The U.S. must embrace this resolve and demonstrate that there is no safe haven for those who support tyranny. The fight for Venezuelas future is far from over, but with the necessary actions, it can be won. Max Meizlish is a senior research analyst for the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He previously worked as a sanctions enforcement officer at the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. If you listen to many longtime observers, this years Democratic National Convention offered up something different from previous incarnations: an emphasis on striking a patriotic stance. From Vice President Kamala Harris praising the greatest privilege on Earth: the privilege and pride of being an American in her acceptance speech down to the attendees waving little flags in the audience, Democrats put their love of country front and center. But was this that much of a departure from the past? Osita Nwanevu, a contributing editor for The New Republic and columnist with The Guardian, wasnt so sure Friday. Which Democratic nominee didnt embrace patriotism? he asked in a now-deleted post on X. Biden? Obama? Clinton? Nwanevu is right that there wasnt a time when Democrats explicitly rejected patriotism. What we saw last week, though, was a shift in tone and rhetoric, as Democrats filled the gap Republicans left wide open to define what patriotism means. Rather than mimic the GOP to insist that they are also patriots, for the first time in decades the DNCs attendees instead declared with their whole chests that theirs is the party of real patriots. For longer than Ive been alive, Republicans have been more than happy to accuse anyone to the left of former President Ronald Reagan of harboring anti-American sentiments. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, accelerated that trend as, in the aftermath, conservatives called forth a wave of jingoism and xenophobia that they insisted was the only way to love America. The PATRIOT Act authorized vast powers for the federal government to curtail Americans privacy and freedom of speech. President George W. Bushs warning to other nations Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists was turned inward toward any liberals who might speak out against invading Iraq. Many Democrats, terrified of accusations of not respecting the troops or being soft on terror, embarrassed themselves in their attempts to prove their own love of country. Its impossible to defend how then-Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., began his acceptance speech at the 2004 DNC without cringing. (John Kerry, reporting for duty, he said with a crisp salute, despite having left the military more than 30 years earlier.) In the Obama era, the tea party movements thinly veiled racism was initially framed as a rejection of tyranny, drawing on symbols from the American Revolution, and patriots became a word associated with a certain brand of conservative. Ever focused on branding, former President Donald Trump claimed that visual vocabulary for his own, entwining his MAGA movement with the trappings of the banal, surface-level patriotism that Republicans had already embraced. But while he has embraced the American flag, sometimes literally, he has denigrated the highest ideals that that flag represents. Instead, Trump has called for the termination of the Constitution, and he has already attempted to overturning one presidential election. Trump has called the rioters who attempted to prevent his loss from becoming official on Jan. 6, 2021, patriots and just announced a fundraiser in their honor next month. Republicans, with very few exceptions, have backed his dystopian desire to substitute himself in place of devotion to the national interest. Despite that, as The Washington Posts Philip Bump noted, voters are still more likely to view the GOP as the more patriotic party. Polling has somewhat borne that out in the past. A YouGov poll in 2018 found that Democrats were much less likely to call themselves very or even somewhat patriotic than their Republican counterparts. Its worth noting that this was during the height of the Trump years, a time when Democrats had their faith in America deeply shaken. Its a faith that has yet to recover, though, according to a survey Gallup conducted in June, which found only 34% of Democrats describe themselves as extremely proud to be an American. And yet the flag-waving and chants of U-S-A last week in Chicago would suggest otherwise. It instead speaks to an effort at redefining what love of country means along with reclaiming the concept of freedom. Democrats are celebrating the countrys diversity as a sign of national greatness as opposed to the GOPs picture of a nation of homogeneous, unwavering loyalty. This vision expands on President Joe Bidens framing of the threat to democracy, broadening from a single man to the GOPs fetish for that man. In setting out this new vision of patriotism, Democrats should remember that there must be room for loving criticism. In her opening essay for The 1619 Project, The New York Times Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote about how Black Americans have always been among the most patriotic citizens. This is because despite the indignities we have suffered, weve been the ones most committed to seeing America embrace the better angels of its nature. The same can be said of the protesters gathered outside the arena each day and night to urge the Biden administration to halt the sale of arms to Israel as it continues its war in Gaza. The progressivism Democrats displayed last week can make an awkward fit with the conservative-coded aspects of patriotism, as The Philadelphia Inquirers Will Bunch rightly noted. But I would still argue that the two are more in sync than it would first appear. After all, it is an act of love of country to ask it to live up to its own ideals, to believe that it can still change for the better. The wish to see your home hold itself to the morals that it claims to represent is more patriotic than the desire to see one man ensconced as monarch in the White House. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Ukraines oligarchs, once the nations power brokers, have seen their influence wane dramatically over the past decade. Amid the ongoing war and internal reforms, the oligarchs who once shaped Ukraines post-Soviet trajectory face a new reality. The structural factors that created these powerful figures have largely dissipated, leaving a political landscape that is markedly different from the one they once dominated. But what has happened to Ukraines oligarchs, and what does this mean for the countrys future? KI Insights subscribers can attend an online deep-dive briefing on the current state of Ukraines oligarchs by registering here. The rise of Ukraines oligarchs Ukraines oligarchs emerged from the chaos of the 1990s, a period marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rapid privatization of state assets. These individuals capitalized on the disorder, acquiring vast industrial assets at bargain prices. This accumulation of wealth was not merely an economic success; it translated into substantial political power. Unlike Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin consolidated control over the oligarchs, Ukraines oligarchs operated in a competitive environment, each vying for influence. This competition resulted in a unique form of pluralistic authoritarianism. Oligarchs like Rinat Akhmetov, Viktor Pinchuk, and Ihor Kolomoisky amassed fortunes and used them to exert control over politics, the media, and key industries, centralizing different power sources but providing a checks and balances of sorts over one another. The oligarchs were kingmakers in Ukrainian politics, and no leader could dominate them entirely though former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych came closest. While far from democratic, this environment allowed for a form of political diversity and helped protect Ukraine from falling entirely under the sway of foreign powers, particularly Russia. Despite their self-serving interests, oligarchs played a critical role in defending Ukraine during crises. For instance, Kolomoisky supported battalions like Dnipro-1 when Russias war against Ukraine began in 2014, combining his financial, political, media, and military power. Read also: Opinion: AI complacency is compromising Western defense The decline A major factor in the oligarchs decline is the rise of Ukrainian civil society, which targeted the corruption they fueled during the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution. This eventually led to anti-oligarch laws under President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2021, which created a register of individuals with undue influence on the media, leading many to at least formally relinquish control over their media empires. Ukraines economic transformation (and destruction) also played a role. The war has decimated industries that were once oligarchs financial backbones. Take metallurgy: According to the National Bank of Ukraine, metal exports plummeted by nearly two-thirds from 2021 to 2022, falling from $15.7 billion to just $5.8 billion. Azovstal, the largest steel producer and owned by Ukraines richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, now lies in the ruins of Russian-occupied Mariupol, while the mines of Donbas have flooded due to shelling. Ukraine's wealthiest individuals have seen their fortunes shrink dramatically. Akhmetov's wealth alone dropped from $7.6 billion in 2021 to just over $4 billion in 2023. Investigations suggest he has even put his private jets up for sale. Other oligarchic sectors have also changed for various reasons. Agriculture, which remains a significant industry in Ukraine, is now mostly concerned with protecting its business interests rather than wielding political power. It is navigating export hurdles, manpower shortages, and the loss of vast swathes of its precious black soil, now mined or occupied. The finance sector, previously a playground for oligarchs, is now split between state control and more classical banking businesses, further diluting oligarchs influence over national affairs. New(ish) players in a new era? While the old guard of oligarchs is in decline, new sectors have opened opportunities for a different kind of wealth accumulation. Industries like gambling, e-sports, and cryptocurrency have introduced figures such as Maksym Krippa, who made headlines after his associate Tetiiana Snopko acquired media outlets like Glavcom and Delo.ua, while Krippa himself purchased the prestige Parus business center in central Kyiv. Real estate and construction have also seen new players emerge, including investment bank CEO and former European Business Association President Tomas Fiala, often described as a de facto new oligarch due to his ownership of two major media outlets. However, Fiala typically avoids this label thanks to his Czech citizenship and strong pro-Western stance. The tech sector has also produced multi-millionaires, such as the founders of Grammarly, but many of these individuals are oriented globally and have little interest in the Ukrainian market. With highly mobile wealth, they can easily relocate to more business-friendly environments like Portugal or Dubai, reducing their interest in shaping Ukrainian politics, whether to seize opportunities and counter threats. Perhaps more significant than the emergence of new faces many of whom are deliberately staying out of the spotlight is the rise of former second-row oligarchs. These are figures who previously ranked lower but have since gained prominence, such as Peoples Deputy and retail billionaire Oleksandr Hereha. Read also: Opinion: How historys lessons in Warsaw can secure Ukraines future High stakes ahead Two additional factors have significantly curtailed oligarchic power: the decline of traditional media and the absence of elections. Television, once the primary medium through which oligarchs exerted their influence, has been largely replaced by social media a chaotic, decentralized space where control is much harder to maintain. Meanwhile, the postponement of elections due to martial law has deprived oligarchs of their traditional means of exerting political influence through funding political parties and candidates. The decline of oligarchic power does not necessarily mean the end of corruption in Ukraine, but it does suggest a shift. The upcoming 2025 elections, if they occur, will be a critical test: Will Ukraine turn into a more typical, centralized hybrid regime, will it leapfrog this phase to become a full liberal democracy, or will business interests reassert control? After all, political parties are strapped for cash, and MPs will still need financial support to maintain their offices. As Ukraine moves forward, the role of oligarchs in its political and economic life will likely continue to evolve. The centralized wartime power structure that has replaced the old oligarchic but pluralistic system presents new challenges and opportunities for Ukraine's state-building process. While the decline of oligarchs marks a significant step in this process, it is by no means the final chapter. The legacy of Ukraine's oligarchs will continue to shape the country's future, even as the forces that once empowered them fade into history. KI Insights Visit KI Insights to learn more and subscribe to the insider weekly newsletter visit ki insights Editor's 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. A disqualified candidate for Orange County elections supervisor is suing the political rival who got her removed from the ballot, asking a judge to toss him from the race, too. The lawsuit is the latest development in a contest that has already been upended by litigation. Cynthia Harris is suing Dan Helm, a Democrat in the race, and accusing him of not properly filling out the paperwork to shorten his legal name Daniel to Dan on the ballot. Helm successfully got Harris, a no-party candidate, removed from the ballot through litigation earlier this month. Judge Lisa Munyon agreed with Helm and tossed Harris from the race for not properly paying her qualification fee. That ruling shut down the Aug. 20 Democratic primary for elections chief and made the contest open to all voters in November. But now Harris wants Helm tossed from that November ballot. She said she also intends to appeal the ruling removing her from the race. Daniel Charles Halley Helm is a Florida Bar attorney and should have known whether his own qualification forms were accurate, Harris said in a prepared statement. It is very clear the integrity of the election code has been compromised. But Helm, an Orlando attorney, said he met all of the requirements and will defend himself against what he called a baseless lawsuit. It seems like a spiteful lawsuit, Helm said. I understand she is probably upset with me. This was never personal for me. It was about the rule of law. Orange County judge blows up election supervisor race, kicking contest to November In the lawsuit filed three days after she was disqualified, Harris said Helm did not submit an affidavit of nickname, but Helm said the form wasnt required because he is using a widely used shortened form of his legal name. Even if the process wasnt followed properly, the judicial remedy would be to change the name on the ballot rather than disqualification, Helm said. Munyons bombshell ruling Aug. 16 removing Harris from the contest dramatically changed the races political dynamics because the Democratic field will now need to court Republican and independent voters. The ruling halted voting in the August Democratic primary though votes had already been cast at early voting locations and by mail before Election Day and moved the contest to the Nov. 5 general election. No Republican filed to run for the countys top election job. So with Harris removed, all voters will get to choose from among the four Democrats in the race. The candidates are Helm, Orange County School Board member Karen Castor Dentel, former Orange County Democratic chairman Wes Hodge and real estate broker Sunshine Linda-Marie Grund. The winner will replace Glen Gilzean, a Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis named to temporarily fill the post after longtime Democratic supervisor Bill Cowles retirement in January. Gilzean is also named in Harris lawsuit. A spokesman said the elections office is aware of the suit and will respond through the legal process. A court hearing in Harris lawsuit has been set for Sept. 12. By Moe Kihara, KYODO NEWS - Aug 26, 2024 - 07:25 | Feature, All, Japan In a place described in Japan's ancient chronicle of myths and legends as a boundary between this world and the next, there is a mailbox for sending letters addressed to deceased loved ones. The place -- Yomotsu Hirasaka -- located in Matsue in western Japan's Shimane Prefecture, holds a ceremony every June to ritually dedicate the "Letters to Heaven" to their intended deceased recipients in a bonfire. As many as 12,000 letters were received over the past year at the site in the city's Iya district, said to be the "entrance to the underworld." In Japan, the number of places that accept such letters to the deceased is spreading to various regions of the country, with grief experts explaining that the writing and sending of such letters helps heal bereavement. At Yomotsu Hirasaka, mentioned in the early parts of the "Kojiki," or "Record of Ancient Matters," a handmade mailbox stands in a secluded spot at the top of the hill on a forest road. The idea was conceived by a local resident who often saw people visiting the legendary site to honor their dearly departed loved ones. "I thought we'd be going home as just the two of us again," Yachiyo Hitachi, 65, of Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, said referring to her late husband Minoru after posting a letter in his memory. The couple would drink together and listen to their favorite songs. They would go cherry-blossom viewing on their wedding anniversary and felt happiness, but in June of last year, Minoru was diagnosed with throat cancer. He was in and out of the hospital, lost his voice and became unable to walk before dying in March this year, one day after the doctor had informed Yachiyo that her husband's condition had stabilized. Yachiyo had trouble sleeping, losing joy and motivation in her life. It was then that a concerned friend introduced her to "Letters to Heaven." She wanted to talk with her husband about many things, including trips they had planned but never made. As she wrote down her thoughts, Yachiyo felt happy recalling the time they had spent together. On the day of ritual burning, she smiled, saying, "I want to deliver my letter next year too to let him know how I spent my year." In 2018, director Kento Shimizu made a short film called "The Drifting Post" about a mailbox originally installed in a cafe in Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture three years after the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster that devastated wide areas of the Tohoku northeastern region. Letters began to pour in -- not only as a type of therapy for people who had lost loved ones in the disaster but for anyone suffering from grief due to tragedy and loss. In April, the mailbox was moved to a nearby temple, where letters continue to be posted today. The "Green Post" at the Daishoji Temple in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, was started when a letter addressed to a deceased child was found in the temple box for monetary offerings. During the bonfire ritual, there is an opportunity for participants to share their experiences with each other. The Setouchi International Art Festival on Awashima Island in Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, meanwhile, included an installation in 2013 called the "Missing Post Office" to receive undeliverable letters. An old post office building was renovated and used only for one month during the triennial festival showing contemporary artwork, but letters continued to arrive later, and it continues to operate today. The Missing Post Office receives mail from around the globe. Addressees include deceased individuals, long-lost love interests or even the senders themselves. According to Yoshiko Takaki, director emeritus of the Institute of Grief Care at Sophia University, the number of people who are unable to overcome the grief of bereavement is increasing because the nuclear family has become increasingly common in Japan, allowing fewer occasions to mourn the death of close relatives. Writing letters is an effective way, Takaki said, "to accept grief by reexamining the relationship with that person and realizing new feelings of gratitude and expressions of regret." Related coverage: FEATURE: Japanese companies look to jump on "neurodiversity" bandwagon FEATURE: Foreign students spotlight Utoro history, ethnic Koreans in Japan FEATURE: California sisters' nonprofit carrying on legacy of A-Bomb survivors Rents in Portland have soared in recent years, causing some pushback by residents. (Getty Images) Oregons attorney general has joined other states, the District of Columbia and federal government in an antitrust lawsuit against a company selling property management software that recommends rental prices to landlords. The lawsuit against Texas-based RealPage accused the company of gathering confidential rental data from more than 16 million units nationwide to create software that enables landlords to coordinate prices rather than compete. It said that RealPage has a monopoly in the rental management software, controlling at least 80% of that market. Its dominant position is protected by substantial data advantages due to its massive reservoir of ill-gotten competitively sensitive information from competing landlords, the lawsuit said. RealPage replaces competition with coordination. It substitutes unity for rivalry. It subverts competition and the competitive process. It does so openly and directly and American renters are left paying the price. Filed Friday in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, the lawsuit comes at a time of soaring rents in Oregon, especially in the Portland area. Under normal market conditions, renters would benefit from competition among landlords, who would limit hikes when the economy is booming and reduce rents when the economy is tight to make housing more affordable, the lawsuit said. But it said RealPages software stymies competition, something that Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said was against the law. RealPages use of its AI pricing algorithm effectively acts as a hub for property managers and landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and to engage in a pricing alignment scheme to avoid competition, Rosenblum said in a statement. It undermines a fair rental market and constitutes a violation of Oregon and federal antitrust laws (the Sherman Act). Jennifer Bowcock, a RealPage spokesperson, said in a statement that the company would vigorously defend itself against the allegations. She said its revenue management software was built to be legally compliant and that the company had worked constructively with the Department of Justice for years and that in 2017, the agency had reviewed its software and not found anything objectionable. We believe the claims brought by DOJ are devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable, Bowcock said. The lawsuit names areas in 24 states Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington where at least 30% of property managers use RealPages software. In Oregon, they include 54,000 units in the Aloha-Beaverton area and in central Portland, where a one-bedroom, one-bath unit can cost more than $2,200 a month. Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Rosenblum added that housing is a major concern in Oregon, where rents have soared in recent years. At a time when housing affordability is a top concern for Oregonians and for countless Americans beyond our states borders the issues of fairness and competition could not be more critical, she said. Besides Oregon, attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington joined the lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice joined by Oregon and other states has also filed antitrust lawsuits against Amazon, and Meta, Facebooks owner. In December, Google agreed to pay $700 million to resolve an antitrust suit involving its Play Store, and in March, the U.S. Department of Justice, Oregon and other states sued Apple, also claiming monopolistic behavior to stem competition. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) The New Orleans Police Department has launched Recuit Class 203. On Monday, Aug. 26, 26 individuals began training to become members of the NOPD during an event at the department and Education Academy. According to NOPD officials, Class 203 will be the third class to begin training in 2024, adding to the 35 recruits to graduate from the academy this year. School zone cameras throughout New Orleans re-activated The class is made up of nine New Orleans residents, 18 Louisiana residents as well as residents from Alabama, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, with three having a military background and others being multilingual in Spanish and Vietnamese. Your varied backgrounds and experiences will be a tremendous asset to this department and the communities we serve as New Orleans is a cultural gumbo, Deputy Superintendent Lawrence Dupree told the recruits. Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans John Thomas told recruits that they are joining at an exciting time as crime reduction rates are being recognized locally and nationally. Each of you will play a role in keeping us on this trajectory and ensuring that every resident and visitor feels safe, Thomas said. The recruits will face 26 weeks of instruction and training to learn how to serve and protect as officers and how to be a part of the community. Slidell man found guilty in 2021 sexual, domestic abuse case NOPD officials add that the recruits will assist the department with the upcoming major events including the Super Bowl in 2025 and Mardi Gras. We need you to be prepared for the reality of what it means to protect and serve the citizens of New Orleans. The training will push you, shape you, and give you the tools and skills necessary to do your job effectively. He encouraged the recruits to stay focused, stay committed and to give it you best everyday. 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. Over 100 combat engagements across war zone since day began: Russians mount almost 40 attacks on Pokrovsk front Ukrainian and Russian forces have clashed 103 times across the war zone since the beginning of the day, with the largest number of combat engagements being observed on the Pokrovsk front. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook; information as of 16:00 on 26 August Quote: "The number of combat engagements has increased to 103 as of now. The situation is the hottest on the Pokrovsk front. The [Ukrainian] defence forces are taking the necessary measures to prevent the invaders from advancing deeper into Ukrainian territory." Details: Describing the tense situation on the Pokrovsk front, Ukraine's General Staff noted that the Russians have mounted 38 attempts to storm Ukrainian positions. A significant number of Russian assaults have also been spotted on the Kurakhove and Toretsk fronts. The General Staff also reported that Ukrainian forces are continuing operations in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Since the beginning of the day, Russian aircraft have conducted 26 strikes on Kursk Oblast, launching 44 guided aerial bombs. Support UP or become our patron! Over 15,000 pierogis later Zabawa comes to a close One of Eries famous heritage festivals came to a close on Sunday, giving the community one last celebration until next year. The Zabava Polish Festival at Holy Trinity Catholic Church ended Sunday after a weekend of Polish foods, music, and activities. First responders swing for the fences at annual Guns N Hoses game One event volunteer said the weekend has been a success so far, selling 15,000 pierogis across three days, breaking their record from last year. He says they have also sold almost 5,000 pigs-in-a-blanket and over 14 buckets of potato pancakes. Erie County Fair crowns new fair royalty ahead of day one I feel very tired, very invigorated, very happy and on top of the world, all in one. Its been a wonderful, wonderful three days. The weather has cooperated, and the crowds of people that have shared these three days with us, absolutely incredible, said David Thiemann, a Zabawa volunteer. Thiemann said they are looking for more volunteers to help out at next years festival. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. The Fort Belknap Indian Tribe filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior, alleging that the federal agency is failing to meet its treaty obligations to provide adequate law enforcement services on the reservation in northern Montana. (Photo/File) Opinion. Each year on August 31, International Overdose Awareness Day is observed. It is a global campaign to bring an end to overdose. This years theme is together we can. There are multiple goals of International Overdose Awareness Day, which include to provide the opportunity for people to publicly mourn lost loved ones; tell individuals who struggle with drug use and those in recovery that they are valued; inform people worldwide about the risks of drug overdose; provide information about substance abuse services available; and prevent and reduce drug-related harms by supporting evidence-based practice. Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. On Friday, the White House released a proclamation by President Joe Biden that declared August 25 through August 31, 2024 as "Overdose Awareness Week, 2024." During Overdose Awareness Week, we mourn those who have lost their lives to overdose deaths. We acknowledge the devastating toll the opioid epidemic has taken on individuals, families, and communities across America, President Biden wrote in the proclamation. His proclamation said "even one death is one too many, and far too many Americans continue to lose loved ones to fentanyl." The substance use crisis in America has had a devastating impact on our tribal communities, families, and individuals. A man-made opioid, Fentanyl, in particular, is a serious and deadly problem in Indian Country that has reached epidemic proportions. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, drug overdose death rates for Native Americans increased by 39 percent, the second-highest rate of increase behind African Americans. This is due to several factors, including geographic isolation, lack of access to healthcare, and historical trauma. In Indian Country, overdoses from fentanyl, opioids, and other deadly drugs such as tranq are leading to loss of life as well as a steep decline in the health and well-being of tribal communities. In addition, the epidemic is contributing to the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C. Our people are succumbing to fentanyl overdoses at a rate surpassing any other group in the United States, reflecting a staggering 279% surge between 2016 and 2021. One tribal leader blames the rise of drug cartels on Indian reservations as one major factor for the increase of drug overdoses in tribal communities. On April 10, 2024, Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniih) Nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Community President Jeff Stffarm testified in front of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about the problem of drug cartels on Indian reservations. The drug cartels are specifically targeting Indian Country because of a dangerous combination of rural terrain, history of addiction, under-resourced law enforcement, legal loopholes, sparsely populated communities, and exorbitant profitsProfits for these cartels soar the farther they get away from the southern border. A fentanyl pill that costs less than $1.00 in Mexico and southern states, can go for over $100 on our reservation, Sfiffarm said in his testimony. Stiffarm told the subcommittee members that cartels target Native women and use homes on reservations as safe houses and distribution hubs. He blames the federal government for the drug and cartel crisis. I put the blame on the drug and cartel crisis squarely on the shoulders of the Federal Government. The FBI doesn't do anything on the reservation unless we have a death or serious crime. If that happens then they are only here for a short period collecting evidence! They are reactive--not proactive. The FBI has jurisdiction over non-tribal members, our tribal officers hands are tied because they only have jurisdiction over tribal members. The government knew that cartels were moving onto the reservations but did nothing, Stiffarm testified. Sounds like the same old problem, where the federal government doesnt know what to do about the perceived Indian problem. Stiffarm provided the congressional subcommittee with the source of the problem: the serious underfunding of law enforcement by the federal government. Tribal law enforcement is seriously underfunded by the federal government and by BIA. Officers lack equipment and are untrained to handle this crisis and most importantly underfunded. In the 638-contracting process, the federal government offered $1.2 million dollars to Fort Belknap to administer our own law enforcement in 1997, and 27 years later in 2023 offers $1.3 million, Stiffarm said. President Biden said in his proclamation that his administration has made historic investments in the Tribal Opioid Response programs to improve prevention; expand treatment; and deliver free, life-saving medications. In the closing months of his administration, President Biden should work closely with Congress to secure more funding for law enforcement on Indian reservations to rid the drugs onto tribal lands. Thayek gde nwendemen - We are all related. About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net." Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net (WKBN) Pennsylvania is the recipient of more than $1 million in federal grants to boost the sales and quality of the states specialty crops. The Shapiro Administration announced Monday that Pennsylvania received $915,758 in federal funds for 10 projects to increase the visibility, quality and competitive standing of the states specialty crops, including fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and nuts. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture received an additional $94,363 to administer the program, bringing Pennsylvanias total award to more than $1.01 million. Pennsylvania is a national leader in mushrooms, apples, peaches, flowers and other specialty crops, said Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding in a statement. Investments like this keep our growers at the top of their field, in demand by consumers, and at the cutting edge of technology to stay ahead of disease, pest and climate threats. The grants will fund projects focused on research, marketing, apprenticeships and sustainability for mushrooms, apples, potatoes and other crops for which Pennsylvania ranks among the nations top producers. Grantees, amounts received and project titles are listed below: Rodale Institute, Berks County $122,000 Understanding economic potential for organic hazelnut production systems in Pennsylvania Penn State University, Centre County $89,943 Southern blight: An emerging disease threatening the PA tree fruit industry Penn State University, Centre County $75,000 Characterization and diagnosis of specialty crop pathogens Penn State University, Centre County $80,235 Creating new market opportunities with high-value Italian specialty vegetables Penn State University, Centre County $99,926 Novel spectral robot for early-stage disease detection and treatment in mushroom farms Penn State University, Statewide $81,003 Screening cucurbit varieties for drought tolerance, pest resistance, and pollination efficiency PA Cooperative Potato Growers, Dauphin County $101,000 Optimize cultural management practices for leading potato varieties in Pennsylvania LEAF Project, Perry County $96,606 Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship Program Norris Square Neighborhood Project, Philadelphia County $71,887 Cultivating After-School Leaders Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. HARRISBURG, Pa. (WKBN) Doctors who are licensed to practice in other states will now be able to get licensed faster to treat patients in Pennsylvania. Read next: New stores coming to Grove City Outlets, celebrating 30th anniversary Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced that beginning Monday, out-of-state physicians licensed by a state or territory participating in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) who obtain a corresponding letter of qualification will be permitted to apply to the Pennsylvania state boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine for expedited licensure to practice in the Commonwealth. Right now, there are 40 states and territories in the Compact. The new rules will get health care workers on the job faster at time when Schmidt says qualified workers are critically needed to mitigate the health care provider shortage. Schmidt cited a survey noting the practice areas with the greatest need are anesthesia, behavioral health/psychiatry, emergency medicine, family medicine/primary care, gastroenterology, hospitalists, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedic surgeons, pediatrics, and urology. Among the preconditions is the ability to certify to other compact states that Pennsylvania applicants have undergone an FBI criminal background check, a process that requires FBI authorization. The Department of State has sought this authorization and is awaiting a final response. We are also working to ensure that other technical and regulatory requirements are in place so that the Commonwealth can fully implement the IMLC as quickly as possible once final FBI approval is received, Schmidt added. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. What is the Pacific Islands Forum? How a summit for the world's tiniest nations became a global draw NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (AP) As leaders of Pacific nations were welcomed to their annual meeting in Nukualofa, Tonga, on Monday, they were greeted first by torrential rain and then by an earthquake. The magnitude 6.9 quake was deep enough not to cause damage, but the long shudder and ankle-deep water served as a reminder of the natural vulnerabilities of many of the member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum, who are locked in an existential struggle for economic and environmental survival. It also underscored the tension at the heart of an event that once barely captured the worlds notice and now draws delegations from dozens of countries across the globe the way a fierce skirmish for geopolitical influence in the South Pacific among major powers further afield threatens to overtake local concerns, often to island leaders dismay. We dont want them to fight in our backyard here. Take that elsewhere, Baron Waqa, the forums secretary-general and a former president of Nauru, told reporters last month. Still, there are more than 1,500 delegates from more than 40 countries at this years meeting of Pacific member states, all hoping to further their agendas in a region where oceans, resources and strategic power have grown increasingly contested. Founded in 1971, the Pacific Islands Forum brings together 18 member states to discuss and coordinate responses to the issues confronting a remote and diverse region, who know that their countries with populations as small as 1,500 people attract more notice on the global stage when they speak with one voice. Its leaders from Pacific Island nations, some of them among the worlds most imperiled by rising seas, as well as Australia and New Zealand have long been at the forefront of urging action on climate change. For the first few decades of the forums existence, the annual meetings of its leaders largely escaped wider notice. In recent years that has changed, regular forum-goers say: Chinas campaign of aid, diplomacy and security agreements with leaders across the Pacific has prompted a rapid expansion of the size and scope of the organization and its meetings. This weeks summit features the forums largest ever delegation from China and a sizeable deputation from the United States, led by Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. Both countries are among 21 dialogue partners a group of nations with interest in the region in the forum. There is a waiting list for entry, but applications are currently closed while the forum reviews its structure. Observers said Monday that a tiered system reflecting partners genuine interests and involvement in the Pacific was a possibility. Weve been mindful that our region is of great interest from a geopolitical perspective over the last few years or so, Mark Brown, the Cook Islands prime minister and outgoing chair of the forum, told Islands Business this month. But the security issues that are seen by our bigger development partners are not the same security issues that we consider as important. Where large powers might attend the forum seeking to curry influence while undermining others' sway, the focus of the region's leaders sits squarely where it always has been: the perils of climate change and rapidly rising seas. Reminders are everywhere in the Tongan capital, Nukualofa metal water bottles supplied as keepsakes to delegates are labeled one less plastic bottle, but at each meeting and meal, plastic bottles of water are distributed. Rising seas and natural disasters, as in many Pacific Island nations, have contaminated rainwater and groundwater and made them unsafe to drink. This year, the topic has another champion the United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, who in a speech at Mondays opening ceremony decried humanity treating the sea like a sewer and applauded Pacific leaders and young people for declaring a climate emergency and calling for action. Some leaders tried to bring pressing issues at home to center stage: The Tongan prime minister and incoming forum chair, Siaosi Sovaleni, spoke on Monday of the health and education challenges confronting his country and echoed throughout the Pacific. Other topics include the legacy of nuclear horrors in the region, the cost of living and debt, and regional security including a Pacific police training center scheduled for construction in Brisbane, Australia, that is seen as a direct challenge to China's eagerness to equip the law enforcement agencies of some island nations. Fijis prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, in June referred to the confluence of problems also including transnational drug trafficking in his assessment as a polycrisis, with each challenge exacerbating others. But the Forums most fraught matter is likely to be the ongoing unrest in New Caledonia. Deadly violence flared in the French territory in May over a longstanding independence movement and Paris efforts to quash it. A failed attempt by Pacific leaders to visit the capital, Noumea, ahead of the summit has further inflamed tensions. Longtime forum watchers say the test for major powers at the event is whether their leaders can engage in the Pacific way, a kind of humble consensus politics that centers on relationships and holds at its heart the idea of the so-called Blue Pacific family island nations linked by shared culture and heritage, and distinct from the wider Indo-Pacific, whose interests are seen as more disparate and remote. Raised eyebrows greet summit participants who are loud, pushy, or over-eager in vying for sway. There is a way that Pacific countries do business with each other and it should be something that wed like the rest of the world to acknowledge, Brown, the Cook Islands leader, told Islands Business. But the leaders are pragmatic that global interest in the Pacific is here to stay. It needs to be something the world pays attention to. Its not the way it used to be, New Zealands foreign minister, Winston Peters, told The Associated Press last week. Weve been a lucky people and a lucky theater. We must do our utmost to secure that in the long term. Youre packed, but you probably didnt think of this HONOLULU (KHON2) As summer vacation wraps up and families plan their final trips, ensuring that everyone gets enough rest while traveling can make a big difference in how enjoyable the trip turns out. Traveling with keiki, in particular, can be challenging when it comes to sleep. And with hurricanes a plenty this season, understanding how to ensure you and your family get enough sleep is paramount to a safe experience. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You But according to sleep experts, there are some simple strategies that can help both parents and keiki rest better during journeys, whether by plane, train, or automobile. First and foremost, maintaining a consistent bedtime routine is key for helping keiki sleep during long trips. Bringing along their favorite blanket or bedtime story can provide a sense of comfort and familiarity, making it easier for them to relax and fall asleep. Experts also suggested that scheduling travel during their usual nap or bedtime could make a world of difference. When keiki feel secure, theyre more likely to sleep soundly, even in an unfamiliar environment. Adults, too, can take steps to make their travel experience more comfortable. Loose, comfortable clothing is a must, as tight clothing can restrict circulation and lead to discomfort, especially on long flights. While some travelers swear by compression socks to help with circulation, experts advise against wearing tight shoes, especially when trying to sleep. Loosening your shoelaces, or better yet, opting for slip-on shoes, can help prevent your feet from going numb and promote better circulation, making for a more restful journey. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule is another crucial tip. For those crossing time zones, starting to adjust your sleep pattern a few days before departure can help reduce the effects of jet lag. Limiting screen time before attempting to sleep is also recommended, as the blue light from screens can interfere with your bodys natural sleep-wake cycle. Temperature control is another important factor in getting quality sleep while traveling. Research suggests that the ideal sleep temperature is between 65F and 68F. On a flight, this might mean bringing a blanket or a handheld fan to maintain your comfort level. Choosing the right seat on a plane can also significantly impact your comfort and rest. A window seat is often the best option for those planning to sleep, as it provides something to lean against and allows control over the window shade. On the other hand, if youre someone who needs to stretch or use the restroom frequently, an aisle seat might be a better choice. The experts recommended that investing a bit more to secure your preferred seat is worth it for a more restful trip. Hydration is another often overlooked aspect of comfortable travel. Airplane cabins tend to be very dry, which can lead to dehydration, fatigue, and discomfort. Drinking plenty of water before and during your trip is essential, as is avoiding caffeine, which can contribute to dehydration. Packing healthy snacks like nuts and fruits can also help maintain your energy levels without the sugar crash that often follows less nutritious snacks. Finally, bringing along a travel pillow and blanket can make a significant difference in your ability to sleep, particularly on long flights or road trips. These familiar items, along with noise-canceling headphones, can help create a peaceful environment that encourages rest. If youre sensitive to light and noise, using a sleep mask and earplugs might be a good idea. Bringing something with a familiar scent, like a pillowcase from home, can also provide comfort and make it easier to relax and fall asleep. You can click here for more information on the study. Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8 By following these tips, families can ensure a more comfortable and restful travel experience, helping everyone arrive at their destination ready to enjoy their trip. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2. Farhan Asif is escorted by the members of FIA outside a court in Lahore LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Monday acquitted a local man of cybercrime offences involving the spread of fake online information which fuelled riots in Britain, his lawyer said. The riots began after false information circulated online wrongly blaming an Islamist migrant for the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in the northern English town of Southport in late July. Farhan Asif, who ran a web publication, was arrested in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore and charged last week by the country's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA. "He has been absolved in the investigation," his lawyer Rana Rizwan Akhtar told Reuters TV, saying the investigation agency could not find any basis to prove that his client was involved in any illegal activity. The court acquitted the accused after the agency submitted its report, he said. Asif had provided the agency with all of his social media accounts and access to all of his devices, he said. The accused had posted an article on his X social media account which said that the attacker was a Muslim immigrant, and also shared pictures of the killings, according to the case registered against him. (Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Writing by Asif Shahzad, Editing by William Maclean) KYODO NEWS - Aug 26, 2024 - 13:36 | World, All North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the development and production of more suicide drones to boost war preparedness as he inspected a performance test of various drones over the weekend, the country's state media said Monday. During the test, organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences on Saturday, various types of drones correctly identified and destroyed their designated targets after flying along different preset routes, the official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim stressed the importance of steadily improving their combat performance "in view of the trend of world military science and combat experience on battlefields," KCNA said. He called for more suicide drones to be developed for use in tactical infantry and special operation units, including underwater suicide attack drones, as well as those for strategic reconnaissance and multipurpose attacks. The leader also said the country should proactively introduce artificial intelligence technology into drone development and equip the military units with such assets "as early as possible," according to KCNA. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said a mock target for North Korean suicide attack drones looked like a South Korean K-2 tank, citing photos carried by KCNA. One of the drones appeared to be similar to Israel's Harop unmanned vehicle, while another model looked akin to Russia's Lancet drone, raising the possibility cooperation has occurred between Pyongyang and Moscow in drone development efforts, Yonhap said. Pyongyang's drone test came as South Korea and the United States last week staged their joint annual large-scale military drill, which will last for 11 days, to cope with threats from North Korea. Related coverage: In rare break with China, North Korea objects to telecoms plan by border South Korea, U.S. begin joint military exercise amid North Korea threat Plainclothes police officers escort Farhan Asif, center, a freelance web developer who was arrested and charged with cyber terrorism for his alleged role in spreading misinformation that led to widespread rioting in the U.K. earlier this month, after his court appearance, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary) LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistani judge on Monday acquitted a man who was charged with spreading misinformation that helped spark widespread rioting in the U.K. earlier this month, officials said. The decision came less than a week after Farhan Asif, a 32-year-old web developer, was arrested in a raid on his home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, and charged with cyberterrorism. After a hearing Monday, the judge ordered the release of Asif, who walked free. He told the judge that he deleted his post on social media only six hours after realizing that it was not correct. Federal investigators told the judge that they had no evidence to prove that he was guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation, Rana Rizwan, a defense lawyer, told reporters. The Federal Investigation Agency had accused Asif of spreading misinformation on YouTube and Facebook about the British teenage suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three girls and injured 10 other people on July 29 at a dance class in northwest England. All three people arrested in connection with the overdose death of a Ferndale 5-year-old last year have resolved their criminal cases, and will spend the next several years in prison. Ferndale police responded shortly after 9:15 a.m. on March 8, 2023, to a home in the 2300 block of Douglas Road in Ferndale after 36-year-old Melissa Ann Welch called 911 to report that her 5-year-old daughter was dead. Police found the girl, Olivia R. Doane, dead in her bed in her bedroom. Due to foam in her mouth, police suspected possible drug overdose or poisoning. Drug paraphernalia, including a butane lighter and foils, and suspected narcotics were found in multiple locations around the home. The items, which tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine and methadone, were found in areas accessible to both the 5-year-old and her 8-year-old sister, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records. The Whatcom County Medical Examiners Office ultimately determined the Eagleridge Elementary School student died from acute fentanyl intoxication, and ruled in early May 2023 that her manner of death was undetermined. Undetermined is used as a classification when the information pointing toward a manner of death is no more compelling than any others, such as homicide, accidental or suicide, Deborah Hollis, chief investigator and operations manager with the county medical examiners office, previously told The Bellingham Herald. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged the girls parents, Welch, and Michael Wayne Doane, 34, as well as Welchs boyfriend, Cody Curtis Craig, 33, for the childs death. All three were present at the home the night Olivia died. Her older sister was also present. Ferndale police and Child Protective Services have since relocated the 8-year-old sibling, who is living with other family members, according to court records. It remains unclear how Olivia came into contact with the fentanyl that killed her, but an autopsy found enough of the drug in her system to kill an adult. All three people charged have since been sentenced for their respective roles in the 5-year-olds death. While each will serve time in prison, the emotional sentencing hearings for Olivias parents highlighted the realities and tragedies of drug addiction. Background Prosecutors originally charged Welch, Doane and Craig with one count each of first-degree murder April 7, 2023, in Whatcom County Superior Court for their roles in the childs death. Each were charged under the first-degree murder prong that stated they acted under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life. Each of their murder charges included an aggravating factor that stated Welch, Doane and Craig knew or should have known that the child was particularly vulnerable, according to court records. All three have all been incarcerated in the downtown Whatcom County Jail since their respective arrests in mid-April 2023. Bail was originally set at $1 million each, but court records show Doanes was reduced to $500,000 in early June 2023. Welch and Craig were also charged in separate cases following the 5-year-olds death, in which they were both accused of continuing to sell narcotics five days after the girls death. Craig was accused of being connected to a large-scale drug trafficker, while Welch was alleged to have been the contact person and provided a location for one of the drug deliveries, The Herald previously reported. Prosecutors also filed an additional charge July 8 of this year of first-degree manslaughter against Doane, court documents show. Melissa Welch, right, makes a first appearance by video Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Whatcom County Superior Court in Bellingham, Wash. With her is criminal defense attorney Ryan Swinburnson. Welch, along with Cody Craig and Michael Doane, were booked into the Whatcom County Jail earlier Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her 5-year-old daughter. The child died March 8, 2023, due to a very high and fatal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream, according to police in Ferndale, Wash. Welch sentenced Welch pleaded guilty July 11 to an amended charge of second-degree manslaughter. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss Welchs drug-trafficking case and lower her charges in her murder case in exchange for her guilty plea in the manslaughter case, court records state. During an emotional sentencing hearing Thursday, Aug. 22, Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Bogle, who handled the cases, recommended that Welch spend three years, four months in prison. Bogle explained that the recommendation was agreed between the prosecution and defense, and that it was closer to the lower end of the standard range for Welchs manslaughter charge. This was done in exchange for Welchs cooperation and willingness to testify against Doane at trial, he said. While its unclear how Olivia came into contact with the fentanyl the night of her death, both Welch and Doane consumed the drug and brought the substance into the Ferndale home where Olivia lived, Bogle said. Olivias school counselor, Leslie Tate, who spoke at both Welch and Doanes sentencing hearings, said it is her job to be an advocate for students and families. Three weeks prior to Olivias death, Tate met with Welch during a school conference. Tate said she told Welch both Olivia and her older sister had expressed concerns to her about what had been occurring at home. As a former CPS investigator, Tate said she believed there were things of great concern happening in the Douglas Road residence, but that the girls had not shared enough to trigger Tates mandatory reporting duties. Tate said she told Welch she was available to help in whatever ways the family needed. It wasnt until the morning of Olivias death that Welch reached out, when Tate received a call from a firefighter on Welchs behalf requesting that she come to the scene to support the family, Tate said during court Thursday. I know that she knew that I was available. I will spend the rest of my life with my life being bisected before she died and after she died, and always feeling like I could have done more. Its hard to know that the rest of my career I will always second guess and doubt every choice I make and every effort that I put into a family thats struggling and a kid that comes to me with concern, because Im going to be afraid that Im going to end up with the same situation, Tate said Thursday. Olivias kindergarten teacher, Sam Wood, also spoke at both Welch and Doanes sentencing hearings. Throughout both proceedings and as he addressed the judge, he held a framed photograph of Olivia on her first day of kindergarten. Olivia was loved by her classmates and had so much potential, Wood said through tears in court Thursday. Today is not about Melissa, its about Olivia. And she deserves to have the justice that she brought, because she did nothing. She gave love and happiness, and it was gone in an instant, Wood said. I worry for her sister, because the consequences seem so minimal in my own opinion, and it scares me that one more choice could put her sister in the same position. I know this could have been prevented, and I will forever be changed and second-guessing every time I hear about a potential something in a household, added Wood, who will begin his 22nd year teaching kindergarten in September. Im just hurt and want you to know that she was a real person and she will not be forgotten. Olivia R. Doane, 5, of Ferndale, shown on her first day of kindergarten at Eagleride Elementary School in during the 2022-2023 school year. Doane died March 8, 2023, from a fentanyl overdose. Three people, including her parents, were sentenced to prison for their roles in the girls death. Welch sobbed throughout the entire proceeding, and could be heard at various points saying Im so sorry, and my baby, while she held her hands in her face or wiped tears from her eyes and cheeks. Welchs defense attorney, Ryan Swinburnson, said Welch has known from day one that something tragic has happened. Swinburnson said Welch has earned herself a life sentence, because her daughter is gone. Theres likely an endless array of decisions, second-guessing and what ifs that Welch will contend with for the rest of her life, he said. Theres not a single act that Ms. Welch can point to and say This is what caused the death of my daughter. But what she does understand and is taking responsibility for is the series of choices that put her child in harms way and not protecting (her). As parents, all we can do is protect our children, Swinburnson said. She is taking responsibility for the fact that she didnt protect her child like she should have. In a statement to the court and people present, Welch said her daughters death has been the most devastating, Earth-shattering, tragically and publicly humiliating thing that can ever happen to somebody. She didnt deserve this. This is a nightmare I have to wake up to everyday forever. Welch apologized to Olivia for not keeping her safe. She said the 5-year-old was smart, funny, creative and had the biggest heart ever. Welch explained that her family suffered a series of tragedies, including multiple deaths of immediate family members, that ultimately led to Welch relapsing. She said her drug use was a way for her to escape the pain of losing both her older brother and mother, but that it was where she absolutely failed both her daughters. Her relapse into addiction opened the door to the greatest suffering of her life, she said. Welch said if theres one thing she wants people to take away from the publicity of her prosecution, its her message to other parents struggling with substance use disorder or relapse. No matter how careful you are, no matter how well you think you are managing your double life, no matter how clean your house is, how clean your kids are, no missed doctors or dentist appointments, them doing okay in school, none of that matters when youre dealing with fentanyl. None of it. The tiniest morsel or little flake is all it takes and youll be living my horror, Welch said through tears. Please get help and face your demons. Put yourself in my shoes. Ill never be done grieving. Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Evan Jones said Welch was right that it was her job to keep her daughter safe, and that she failed to do so. Thats the accountability youre facing here in court today. But its not just your accountability. You see how it affected everyone in the community, Jones said. This courts going to give you a sentence thats an example of that accountability. Jones then threw out the recommended sentence for Welch proposed by the prosecution and defense and sentenced her to the maximum time allowed by law. She was given four years in prison, with 1 years of probation. Thats the time thats commensurate with the accountability that you deserve for your failure of your daughter in this circumstance and the effect that thats had on the community, Jones said, before encouraging Welch to be an example in the way she responds to her crime and sentence. At the end of the hearing, Welch looked at both Tate and Wood and through tears, said Thank you, Im so sorry. I should have reached out to you guys. In a statement sent to The Herald, Bogle, the prosecutor said he was surprised by Jones decision to throw out the agreed recommendation, but said he could appreciate the factors Jones took into account in making Welchs sentence similar to that of Doanes. The States recommendation was for less time due to her cooperation, but at the end of the day it was both parents who put Olivia in jeopardy by bringing fentanyl into a home where children were present. I believe the judge took that shared responsibility and subsequent failure into consideration by imposing the sentence that he did, Bogle said. Swinburnson, Welchs defense attorney, declined to comment on Jones ruling, but said that Welch is deeply remorseful for not protecting her daughter, which he said was shown through her emotion and the statement she read in court. Drugs are causing extreme hardships on individuals, families, and society. Ms. Welchs case is an unimaginable tragedy. Losing a child is every parents worst nightmare, and making decisions that contribute to that loss is a pain that will never subside, Swinburnson said. Michael Doane, right, makes a first appearance by video Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Whatcom County Superior Court in Bellingham, Wash. With him is attorney Richard Larson, a public defender with the Whatcom County Public Defenders Office. Doane, Melissa Welch and Cody Craig, were booked into the Whatcom County Jail earlier Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of his 5-year-old daughter. The child died March 8, 2023, due to a very high and fatal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream, according to police in Ferndale, Wash. Doane sentenced Doanes murder and manslaughter charges were reduced July 25 to a single count of second-degree manslaughter, which he pleaded guilty to the same day, as part of an agreed plea deal between the prosecuting and defense attorneys. He was sentenced July 29 to four years in prison, with 1.5 years of probation. As part of his sentence, Doane will not be allowed to consume controlled substances or own or possess weapons or firearms. During his sentencing hearing, Doanes defense attorney, Richard Larson, said Doane is not perfect, and that he has some faults and struggles with addiction. But I want to be clear that he did not disregard his children. They made absolute efforts to shield their children from this use, Larson said. Olivia should not have died. No one disagrees with that. . I wish it was different. I wish Olivia was alive. I wish we werent here and I wish Mr. Doane didnt have to deal with the overwhelming grief that a childs death causes. But we are here. And we are getting closure as best we can, as best as Mr. Doane is going to do. In his statement to the court which was read aloud on his behalf by Larson, Doane said losing his daughter is the worst thing thats happened to him. He said it was a horrible accident caused by Welch. He said he believed it was unfair that Welchs recommended prison sentence was less than his own, and called attention to the fact that his other daughter has lost her sister, mother and father throughout this situation. This time is being taken away from her also, Doane said in referring to Olivias older sister. The sooner I get back into her life and my life, the better. Michael Wayne Doane, 34, of Ferndale, (right) sits silently during his sentencing hearing in Whatcom County Superior Court on July 29, 2024. Doane was sentenced to four years in prison for the March 2023 manslaughter overdose death of his 5-year-old daughter. Jones, the judge, told Doane that the decisions Doane made about how he was going to behave and the behavior he allowed in his home is what led to the death of Olivia. The law punishes you for that behavior, and its deserving of punishment. You need to understand that often decisions that people make are bigger than themselves, bigger than how they might affect you, and in particular when you have dependents and vulnerable people that rely on you, and that was your situation, Jones said. You knew that there was someone that relied on you, and you failed in that regard. And the result of that failure was the death of Olivia. In an interview with The Herald following Doanes sentencing, Tate, the school counselor, said Olivias life was worth more than the prison sentence Doane received. I understand that the judge was bound by the law but the system is flawed when the consequences for Olivia losing her life due to the selfish needs of her parents is less than the time she spent on Earth, Tate said. She was a lovely and bright little girl. I wanted to make sure that the little girl was not forgotten and that she still matters to those who were impacted by her death. Wood, Olivias kindergarten teacher, expressed similar sentiments in carrying on Olivias memory. She was smart, talented, curious and caring, and an important member of his classroom community, Wood said in an interview with The Herald following Doanes sentencing. She made friends easily. She had an infectious smile. She was curious about the world around her and was an excellent student. She cared about her classmates very much and made the lives of those around her better, Wood said. Olivias passing isnt just another fentanyl death statistic. She was a real person with real hopes and dreams, and she was taken too soon. Wood said he hopes Olivias death sparks change so that no other teacher, family, or school community has to go through the pain that he and the friends and family of Olivia have endured. While her death hasnt changed any official policies in the school district, he said it has encouraged stronger bonds between teachers and students. We ensure, to the best of our abilities, our students are fed, have warm clothes, are in a safe environment, are given the best education possible, and most importantly are loved, Wood said. Cody Curtis Craig, 33, appears in Whatcom County Superior Court for a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Craig was arrested in connection with the March 8 overdose death of 5-year-old Olivia R. Doane. Craig pleaded guilty to amended charges of two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. The rest of his charges in the case were dismissed, as well as his murder case that involved Doane. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 12 months probation. Craig sentenced Craig pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. His charges were amended down as part of an agreed plea deal between the prosecution and defense attorneys. Craigs murder case was also dismissed the same day, in exchange for his guilty pleas in the drug-trafficking case. Bogle, the prosecutor, said as they were nearing trial, investigators determined Craig was not at the Douglas Road residence as much as previously believed. The alarming thing to the state was that Mr. Craig continued to sell fentanyl after Olivias demise, Bogle said at the Aug. 1 court hearing. Craigs defense attorney, Paula Plumer, said Craig has had a longstanding drug problem. While Craig has been unable to remain sober in the past, Plumer said he was committed to changing his life. He has resources and has spent extensive time talking about what needs to change and how to do it, she said at the Aug. 1 hearing. In addressing the judge, Craig reiterated that he was trying to change his life. He said while hes been incarcerated, he has done educational programs and planned his re-entry following his release from prison. Im just really trying to change my life, Craig said at the hearing. Cody Curtis Craig, 33, appears with his court-appointed public defense attorney Paula Plumer in Whatcom County Superior Court for a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Craig was arrested in connection with the March 8, 2023, overdose death of 5-year-old Olivia R. Doane. Craig pleaded guilty to amended charges of two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. The rest of his charges in the case were dismissed, as well as his murder case that involved Doane. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 12 months probation. Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Lee Grochmal said it was clear Craig could see firsthand the danger of the opioid epidemic. This is a really stark example of the dangers associated with the use and sale of opioids, Grochmal said. Grochmal sentenced Craig to 2.5 years in prison, with one year of probation. As part of his sentence, Craig will not be allowed to possess or consume controlled substances. He will also be required to pay $172 in restitution to the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorneys Office drug task force fund, according to court records. In a statement sent to The Herald following Craigs sentencing, Bogle, the prosecutor, said they determined this was the best resolution in Craigs cases after additional interviews with trial witnesses were conducted, which allowed investigators to learn more about the habits and routines of all three defendants. It eventually became apparent that it is unlikely the fentanyl that killed Olivia Doane originated from Cody Craig. Based on the information we learned as the case progressed, it would also (have) been very difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a Murder in the First Degree charge at trial, specifically that Mr. Craig had acted with extreme indifference to all human life, Bogle said in his statement. Bogle said Craigs decision to continue selling fentanyl within the community in the weeks following Olivias death significantly influenced the prosecutions approach in resolving Craigs criminal cases. We believe the imposed sentence appropriately holds him accountable for distributing such a dangerous substance, especially given his direct awareness of its lethal consequences, Bogle said in his statement. PICKERINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) Jenny Hanna had no reason to believe her 14-year-old daughter did not have a dedicated one-on-one paraprofessional, so her shock was palpable when she discovered Pickerington schools had not provided one for the past four years. It was a stipulation of her daughter entering the Pickerington Local School District, but Hanna did not know because parents are restricted from entering school buildings. Her daughter, who is nonverbal, could not have told her otherwise. We had it in an IEP. We cannot find any record of it anywhere, Hanna said. And now I have no trust in this district. I have no idea what happened, no proof that it was ever in there. Middle school educator allegedly sent lewd photos to student Hanna is not alone in her frustrations. Multiple families have shared similar stories about the district, and the district recognizes change is needed. Its completing a special education audit this year in a partnership with New Solutions K12 to better meet community needs, said Alesia Gillison, chief academic officer and assistant superintendent. But some parents think it is too little, too late. They keep pushing things down the road further and further, but yet theyre not really taking any action, parent Tyler Martin said. So its like, great, youre doing an audit. What are you doing now? Tyler and Vanessa Martin said their 5-year-old son also needs a one-on-one paraprofessional for his safety, and his team of doctors at Nationwide Childrens agree. However, they said the district opted not to follow letters from five medical professionals strongly recommending he have one, instead telling the family they did not think he needed one without further explanation. The district is almost saying that they have a better understanding of the medical safety issues than the actual professional medical team at Nationwide, Tyler Martin said. And that, to me, is mind-boggling that they would even take that type of a risk. Tyler and Vanessa Martin said it is truly a risk. Their son, who just entered kindergarten, has cerebral palsy and a VP shunt, a surgically inserted thin tube that drains extra fluid in the brain. They said he is prone to falls and seizures and has to be monitored because the damages those could cause to him or to his shunt could be lethal. Teacher resigns after refusing to use student pronouns Hannas daughter also needs a dedicated paraprofessional. She has autism and a rare genetic disorder called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome that makes everyday activities dangerous without supervision. The 14-year-old does not feel pain the same way as most, communicates through images on her iPad and has no sense of danger. Hanna said her daughter also runs away when she is uncomfortable, which has resulted in scary situations. However, the district only added a paraprofessional to her IEP, or Individualized Education Program, after a lengthy discussion last May, and Hanna cannot locate any documentation previously stating her need. However, Hanna said she knew her daughters paraprofessional before COVID-19 and is certain it was discussed. Two days before her daughter was scheduled to start school, she called the district after concerns she had not heard anything from them about her daughters plan for this year. She said after several hours without a clear answer from the district she was told they did not have many of the accommodations she needed. No teacher, no paraprofessional and a classroom that was not (prepared for her daughters needs) and complete panic and fear came over me, Hanna said. What would have happened had I not called? Would the district and school ever notify me or other parents? Prosecutor miffed at sentence in drug-trafficking case After a delayed first day of school for her child, Hannas daughter finally has a dedicated professional for the first time in four years. However, Hanna said this resulted in a different classroom losing its paraprofessional, which she believes is likely placing another family in the position she had been in. Theyre basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. Theyre taking paraprofessionals that arent a legal requirement from one class, and they put one into (my daughters) class, Hanna said. The Martins said instead of their son getting his recommended support, there is one paraprofessional in their kindergarten classroom split among three students with special needs. Another student in the class also needs full-time assistance with a wheelchair, and Tyler said the current plan will hurt everyone because professionals and teachers will be stretched too thin. Its impacting every student in that school, he said. Theres this domino effect thats happening at the school where theyre putting way too much on all of these individuals. Vanessa Martin said with support, Pickerington schools would be best for her son. She said within one year, he was able to decrease his wheelchair use, previously walking less than 20% of the time to now walking around 80% of the time thanks to peer role models. Without proper support, however, the Martins remain worried. They told NBC4 last year he already had one concussion at school after he fell, but the district still did not agree he needed one-on-one support. Taxpayers could claim fetuses as dependents under new Ohio law Gillison said the district is working to address concerns, and they hope the audit will allow more effective special needs services in the district and help with workload for staff. We recognize the challenges of recent staff shortages and resignations. These issues have made recruitment an ongoing priority, Gillison said. We understand the impact this has on students and families, and we want to assure everyone that the district is actively exploring multiple avenues to secure additional staffing to support all students needs. Of 16 job listings for administrative, support or teaching positions on the districts website, 12 are for paraprofessionals or special education. Monday nights Board of Education agenda has two paraprofessional resignations on agenda, as well as three paraprofessional hirings. These newly hired positions are listed at salaries between $23,000 and $26,000. According to the MIT living wage calculator, an adult with no children needs to make $43,593 to be making a living wage in Columbus. Both Hanna and the Martins said multiple times that none of their frustrations are with the teachers and aides in the district. Hanna said she is grateful for the educators who work with her daughter, but now has concerns about what the school is or is not doing. When we send our nonverbal kids to school, how do I know shes getting speech therapy for the full amount of minutes per week? How do I know that shes getting occupational therapy at this point? Hanna said. It just never crossed my mind not to trust my educational 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Who is Pavel Durov? What to know about Russian-born Telegram owner arrested in France Pavel Durov, a Russian-born tech mogul who co-founded the popular social media platform Telegram, was arrested this weekend in France, the French press reported Sunday. Durov's arrest was related to alleged offenses regarding the moderation of Telegram, an app popular in Russia and Ukraine, as well as a lack of cooperation with police, multiple outlets reported. Durov, the chief executive of the messaging service, was reportedly detained at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris, where he was arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan, according to multiple French media reports. His arrest reportedly stems from allegations that his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other criminal activity all of which he is accused of making possible through his hands-off content moderation policy. Here's what to know about Durov and the messaging app he founded in 2013. Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016. Who is Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram? Durov, a 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire, rose to prominence in 2006 when he founded social network VKontakte (VK) often called Russias version of Facebook. In 2013, Durov and his brother, Nikolai, worked together to launch Telegram. A year later, he fled Russia after refusing to turn over encrypted data of VK users to Russian authorities. Now a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates, Durov runs Telegram, a massively popular messaging platform with hundreds of millions of global users, according to estimates. His net worth is now estimated by Forbes to be about $15.5 billion, making him the worlds 121st wealthiest person. Durov took part earlier this year in an interview with American commentator Tucker Carlson, during which he described freedom of speech being among his biggest values as a businessman. Durov is also active on Instagram, where he often posts shirtless photographs of himself showing off his muscular physique. What to know about Durov's arrest Police officers lead activist Vladislav Mazur away on Sunday during a one-person picket protesting against the arrest of Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, near the French embassy in Moscow, Russia. Durov was arrested and detained Saturday after Frances OFMIN, which is responsible for safeguarding minors from violence, issued an arrest warrant. The agency accused Durov of failing to crack down on criminal activity including drug trafficking, the promotion of terrorism and fraud taking place on his platform, news agency AFP reported. The French newspaper Le Monde reported that authorities detained Durov as part of a preliminary investigation into whether he refused to also cooperate with law enforcement on investigations into child pornography, cyberscams, organized crime and other suspected illegal activity on Telegram. Durov remained detained Monday for questioning by French police, Reuters reported, citing local news channel franceinfo. French authorities have not yet confirmed Durov's arrest. A police source told Reuters that Durov was arrested at a private jet airport close to Paris. The investigation is being led by a cybersecurity gendarmerie France's term for a military force with law enforcement duties and the national anti-fraud police. Telegram said Sunday that the company abides by European Union laws and maintains content moderation practices that are aligned with industry standards. "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," Telegram said in its statement. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." The Russian Embassy in France released a statement on social media platform X saying it had asked French authorities for an explanation for Durov's arrest and asked that his rights be protected and consular access be granted. Musk and other free speech advocates take issue with Durov's arrest News of Durov's arrest sparked an outcry from the most vocal proponents of free speech on the internet, including Elon Musk. Musk, who has also made a hands-off content moderation philosophy his calling card since taking over X, posted #FreePavel on his account. In a separate post, he said its 2030 in Europe and youre being executed for liking a meme." Contributing: Reuters Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Pavel Durov? Telegram co-founder arrested in France The French arrest and detention of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov on poorly specified charges related to failures of content moderation and compliance with law enforcement is an outrageand a reminder that, at least on the surface, Europe and the United States have fundamentally different approaches to unregulated speech that go back centuries. Recall that John Milton's world-changing defense of an unlicensed press, Areopagitica, pointedly excluded Catholics while his former Cambridge classmate Roger Williams was living in what would become Rhode Island and defending "soul liberty" for all people, "paganish, Jewish, Turkish, or anti-Christian." Bringing charges against, say, Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk for failure to moderate content? Maybe. But actually putting them in jail, however momentarily, seems unthinkable. But Durov's arrest should also serve as a reminder even to Americans who have yet to jettison governance models that seek to command and control speech. Governments and, in different and usually less effective and invasive ways, corporations and religions are still fighting a battle to control speech, freedom, and innovation despite no possible ultimate victory. If it's not the clear collusion and coercion exposed in the Twitter and Facebook files and the Backpage online advertising case, it's net neutrality and age verification to keep kids safe. Or attacking anonymous speech or false speech or Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for letting too many people talk about too much stuff. Or it's about minimizing the reach of wholly invented categories of speech like misinformation and disinformation. When he first ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump wouldn't stop talking about how he wanted "to open up" our country's libel laws, the better to sue his critics. Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president and a former social studies teacher for crying out loud, wrongly believes that "there's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy." Shutting down speech isn't a single thing pushed by a single person or group; it's a spectrum of many different sorts of actions ranging from the brutish to the barely noticed. To make it more confusing, champions of free speech often reinvent themselves as opponents to it, especially when it becomes something newly urgent or vital, like "election integrity" or "science." Sometimes, the entrepreneurs and innovators who helped enable more speech start to backtrack when it behooves themor their shareholdersto start calling for regulations on the very technology they brought to market. (Hello, Mark Zuckerberg!) In his 2013 book, The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be, Moises Naim outlined the ways in which all different sorts of powerful institutions were surely, if slowly and incompletely, losing control. Naim argued that a world of more and more stuff and more and more literal and figurative mobility culminates in a "mentality" revolution in which even the wretched of the Earth demand participation: "The more contact we have with one another, the greater our aspirations," he wrote for Reason in the same year that brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov launched Telegram. And yet, he cautioned, "By no means is big power dead. The big, established players are fighting back, and in many cases are still prevailing. Dictators, plutocrats, corporate behemoths, and the leaders of the great religions will continue to be the defining factors in the lives of billions of people, even as they slowly lose market share." When it comes to speech, especially speech on the internet, Durov's arrest is merely the latest example. At the time of this writing, he is being held in custody by French authorities, an act troubling enough that French President Emmanuel Macron has taken to X to assert that his country "is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship." Yet the arrest seems more like something the Chinese government would do (and has done, with journalists such as Jimmy Lai, the publisher of the pro-democracy Apple Daily, and with Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba). A refugee from his native Russia, Durov fled to France, where he holds citizenship, after refusing to turn over user data for a social networking platform he built to the Putin regime. If he is truly such a flight risk that he must be held (Durov is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates), it would behoove French authorities to share more than they currently are. Contra Macron's platitudes, France has seen its free-speech status slip over the past year, after it banned TikTok in New Caledonia and its Interior minister called for a ban on pro-Palestinian rallies after the October 7 attacks on Israel. The distance from Julian Assange, who spent well over a decade in various forms of involuntary confinement after publishing government documents, to Durov is shorter than it might appear, and the trend always goes in one direction: The people who want to keep speech and information under lock and key go after the people who want to force transparency and hold space for more discussion. God help you if you create a way to share that information and discuss it without asking permission. One of the great fears post-Gutenberg was the unlicensed press, a world in which all sorts of people could speak however they wanted, often with anonymity and always without permission. It's easy to see why that would freak out monarchies, governments, and the church. But the right to say what you want without asking permission was what Milton, within his limits, was arguing about, and it's still what we are arguing about. Those of us who came of age during the first flush on internet freedom thought for a moment that we had finally kicked free of the rotting husk of the old physical world and launched ourselves into a final destination that would be perfectly free. "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind," wrote John Perry Barlow in his 1996 document, "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace." "You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity." Durov's arrest shows how wrong that sort of thinking is, and probably always will be. The fight for free speechand for freedom in generalwill exist as long as humanity does. The post Is Pavel Durov the Next Julian Assange? appeared first on Reason.com. WALKER, Mich. (WOOD) One person was taken to the hospital after a shooting in Walker Monday afternoon, police say. Walker police said the victim was found around 3:30 p.m. in a vehicle near the intersection of Lake Michigan Drive NW and Maynard Avenue. The victim was taken to the hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, police said. Investigators worked out that the shooting had actually happened nearby at a home on Cassandra Court off Maynard following an altercation. They say they found evidence linked to the shooting when they searched the home. While police did not say anything about a suspect, they did say the shooting was not random and there is not believed to be a threat to the public. This embedded content is not available in your region. Anyone with information about what happened is asked to call the Walker Police Department at 616.791.6788 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Pennsylvania county broke law by refusing to tell voters if it rejected their ballot, judge says FILE - Allegheny County Election Division Deputy Manager Chet Harhut carries a container of mail-in ballots from a secure area at the elections warehouse in Pittsburgh, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A Republican-controlled county in Pennsylvania violated state law when election workers refused to tell voters that their mail-in ballot had been rejected and wouldn't be counted in last April's primary election, a judge ruled. As a result, voters in Washington County were unable to exercise their legal right either to challenge the decision of the county elections board or to cast a provisional ballot in place of the rejected mail-in ballot, the judge said. The decision is one of several election-related lawsuits being fought in Pennsylvania's courts, a hotly contested presidential battleground where November's contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris could be razor close. Its a great day for voters in Washington County, David Gatling Sr., president of the NAACP branch in Washington, Pennsylvania, said in a statement Monday. The NAACP branch sued the county earlier this summer as did seven voters whose ballots had been rejected in the April 23 primary and the Center for Coalfield Justice, accusing Washington County of violating the constitutional due process rights of voters by deliberately concealing whether their ballot had been counted. In his decision Friday, Judge Brandon Neuman ordered Washington County to notify any voter whose mail-in ballot is rejected because of an error such as a missing signature or missing handwritten date so that the voter has an opportunity to challenge the decision. Neuman, elected as a Democrat, also ordered the county to allow those voters to vote by provisional ballot to help ensure they could cast a ballot that would be counted. In the primary, the county rejected 259 mail-in ballots that had been received before polls closed, or 2% of all mail-in ballots received on time, the judge wrote. Roughly three-fourths of mail-in ballots tend to be cast by Democrats in Pennsylvania, possibly the result of Trump baselessly claiming for years that mail-in voting is rife with fraud. Nick Sherman, the chairman of Washington County's commissioners, said he and other county officials hadn't decided whether to appeal. However, Sherman said he believed the county's practices are compliant with state law. Sherman noted that Neuman is a Democrat, and called it a prime example of a judge legislating from the bench. I would question how you would read a law that is that black and white and then make a ruling like that, Sherman said in an interview. Sherman said state law does not allow the county to begin processing mail-in ballots called precanvassing until Election Day starting at 7 a.m. However, Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said county election workers can see right away whether a just-arrived mail-in ballot has mistakes that disqualify it. Most counties check for such mistakes and notify voters immediately or enter the ballot's status into the state's voting database, Walczak said. That helps alert a voter that their ballot was rejected so they can try to make sure they cast a ballot that counts, Walczak said. None of that is precanvassing, Walczak said. Precanvassing is about opening the (ballot) envelopes, Walczak said. Thats not what this is. And if Sherman is right, then 80% of counties are doing it wrong. ___ Follow Marc Levy at https://x.com/timelywriter. HANGZHOU, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- After nightfall on Friday, an open-air film was screened amid the sea breeze and the murmur of the waves on Dongji Island of Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province. Traversing time and space, the light and shadow of history were projected onto the screen, gathering a group of dedicated viewers, most of whom are fishermen on the island. This was the premiere of the documentary film "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" -- which tells the story of a lesser-known WWII tragedy involving Japanese fascists and British prisoners of war (POWs) -- on the island, where it occurred. In October 1942, "Lisbon Maru," a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to transport more than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was hit by the U.S. army off the Zhoushan Islands in China's Zhejiang Province. Local fishermen risked their own lives and rescued over 380 POWs. "Creating this film serves a dual purpose: it's not just about shedding light on this chapter of history to the world, but also about illuminating the heroic deeds of our forebears -- the fishermen of Dongji -- and inspiring pride in their acts of kindness and bravery," expressed Fang Li, the film's producer and director. Fang noted that their story is one of valor and humanity that transcends time, and he hopes the story can resonate with audiences everywhere. The documentary is entirely based on that real historical event. In the film, oral recollections of survivors, POWs families, Chinese fishermen, and relevant Japanese and American personnel piece together the history. The realistic post production effects starkly present the merciless face of war and the bravery of the fishermen, bringing the dark history to life for all to see. Though many Dongji fishermen have heard of the incident, their cognition is blurry. It was not until the documentary was released that they managed to portray a clear picture. When footage of Dongji fishermen appeared on camera recounting the scenes of them paddling their boats into the sea to rescue the prisoners, many became profoundly emotional with tears in their eyes. The film poignantly conveyed the harsh realities of war and the profound impact it has on humanity, serving as a reminder that we must never forget history and should always strive for peace, noted Liang Yindi, a descendant of the rescuers. "Despite the fact that the Dongji fishermen who bravely participated in the rescue mission have now all passed away, their legacy of courage and compassion remains timeless. I am committed to honoring their spirit and ensuring that the story of the Lisbon Maru reaches a wider audience, keeping their memory alive for future generations," Liang stressed. To bring this film to life, Fang, along with the dedicated film crew, embarked on a transoceanic journey that spanned Britain, Canada, the United States and Japan. They met with eyewitnesses and descendants, gathering and curating an extensive collection of invaluable historical documents and visuals. Their efforts were aimed at recreating the dramatic rescue operation with as much authenticity and respect as possible, ensuring that the narrative is both compelling and true to the events that unfolded. "We have tracked down over 380 descendants of the survivors, conducting more than 130 in-depth, face-to-face interviews," Fang shared. "Our team has also amassed an extensive archive of historical photographs. It is our ambition to weave these fragments of personal narratives and visual records into a comprehensive tapestry that authentically represents the full scope of history," he further explained. Prior to that, the valiant acts of the Dongji fishermen had seldom reached the global audience. "During my interviews with the descendants of the fishermen, a common refrain was that their forefathers felt they were merely fulfilling their duty when they spoke of the rescue," Fang remarked. "Conversely, the descendants of the POWs invariably conveyed deep gratitude and reverence for the Dongji fishermen. These fishermen, with their heroism, bravery, and humility, deserve to be honored," Fang noted. The documentary was pre-screened last year in London, Bournemouth, Edinburgh and several other places in Britain, and will be put on public release in China on September 6. "I'm confident that once this film is aired across the country, it will bring to light the story of this small island and shed light on the events that transpired here 82 years ago," Fang expressed with anticipation. Having been bestowed the title of "honored islander" of Dongji, Fang spoke with heartfelt emotion. "This honor is not just a recognition from the residents of Dongji, but also a profound validation of the film's significance," he said. "I hope the audience will be inspired to visit Dongji more often, to really soak up the local culture and the warmth of its people. I'm sure as they explore, they'll feel the weight of the history that this island holds." This undated image provided by the Allentown Art Museum shows "Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony," a portrait by German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop. (Allentown Art Museum via AP) A Pennsylvania museum has agreed to sell a 16th century portrait that once belonged to a Jewish family that was forced to part with it while fleeing Nazi Germany before World War II. The Allentown Art Museum will auction Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony," settling a restitution claim by the heirs of the former owner, museum officials announced Monday. The museum had bought the painting, attributed to German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop, from a New York gallery in 1961 and had displayed it ever since. The portrait was owned by Henry Bromberg, a judge of the magistrate court in Hamburg, Germany, who had inherited a large collection of Old Master paintings from his businessman father. Bromberg and his wife, Hertha Bromberg, endured years of Nazi persecution before leaving Germany in 1938 and emigrating to the United States via Switzerland and France. While being persecuted and on the run from Nazi Germany, Henry and Hertha Bromberg had to part with their artworks by selling them through various art dealers, including the Cranach, said their lawyer, Imke Gielen. The Brombergs settled in New Jersey and later moved to Yardley, Pennsylvania. Two years ago, their descendants approached the museum about the painting, and museum officials entered into settlement talks. Museum officials called the upcoming sale a fair and just resolution given the ethical dimensions of the paintings history in the Bromberg family. This work of art entered the market and eventually found its way to the Museum only because Henry Bromberg had to flee persecution from Nazi Germany. That moral imperative compelled us to act, Max Weintraub, the museums president and CEO, said in a statement. The work, an oil on panel painted around 1534, will be sold in January at Christies Old Master sale in New York. The museum and the family will split the proceeds under a settlement agreement. Exact terms were confidential. One issue that arose during the talks is when and where the painting was sold. The family believed the painting was sold under duress while the Brombergs were still in Germany. The museum said its research was inconclusive, and that it might have been sold after they left. That uncertainty "was the genesis of the compromise, rather than everybody standing their ground and going to court, said the museum's attorney, Nicholas M. ODonnell. Christie's said it would not be ready to provide an estimate of the portrait's value until it could determine attribution. Works by Cranach the official painter for the Saxon court of Wittenberg and a friend of reformer Martin Luther are generally worth more than those attributed to Cranach and his workshop. Cranach's portrait of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, sold for $7.7 million in 2018. Another painting, attributed to Cranach and workshop, sold for about $1.1 million in 2009. Its exciting whenever a work by a rare and important Northern Renaissance master like Lucas Cranach the Elder becomes available, especially as the result of a just restitution. This painting has been publicly known for decades, but weve taken this opportunity to conduct new research, and its leading to a tentative conclusion that this was painted by Cranach with assistance from his workshop, Marc Porter, chairman of Christies Americas, said in a statement. The Bromberg family has secured agreements with the private owners of two other works. The family is still on the hunt for about 80 other works believed to have been lost under Nazi persecution, said Gielen, the family attorney. We are pleased that another painting from our grandparents art collection was identified and are satisfied that the Allentown Art Museum carefully and responsibly checked the provenance of the portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony and the circumstances under which Henry and Hertha Bromberg had to part with it during the Nazi-period, the Bromberg family said in a statement. PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) Peoria police are investigating a mid-day shooting Monday on Peorias East Bluff. According to Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria, the shooting occurred at about 1:15 p.m. near the intersection of Wisconsin and Frye Avenues. One injured in Saturday shooting in Peoria The victim, according to police, was a young adult man. He was conscious and alert at the scene, police said. He was taken to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries, according to police. Later in the day, Semone Roth, a police spokeswoman said two different alerts from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system brought police to the area. One was in the 700 block of East Frye Avenue for 22 rounds while the other one, very shortly after, was for six rounds in the 2100 block of North Wisconsin Avenue. Glen Oak Community Learning Center was operating as normal, according to a district spokeswoman. The districts schools, she said, operate on a normal soft lockdown which means the outside doors are locked and students can move freely within the building. There is currently no suspect information and no arrests have been made, 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 CIProud.com. More than 1,200 people have signed an online petition that demands accountability for a Davenport Police officer who shot and killed a family dog on Aug. 21. Myst (Don Hesseltine) An officer, whose name has not been officially released while an investigation continues, responded to a call in Davenport about four aggressive dogs when the incident happened. The petition says the officers recklessness and lack of effort to deescalate is unacceptable. His actions have caused this Davenport family an immense amount of grief, and endangered innocent children who were present during the incident. Last week, Don Hesseltine told Our Quad Cities News that his son and his sons cousin were returning from the Unpack Your Backpack event before the start of school. They watched the dog die in their back yard after a Davenport Police officer shot him. Now the incident is under investigation, and the family wants answers. So theyre all playing in the alley with the dog, and a police officer comes down the alley and stops and talks to the kids, Hesseltine said., This interaction was in the 2100 block of Telegraph Road. Security videos shared with Our Quad Cities News show the officer and two children with the dog, Myst, nearby. Don Hesseltine (Bryan Bob, OurQuadCities.com) The kids drop their bikes, walk down my sidewalk, up the back porch there, and the cop slowly creeps down the alley, stops his car, and for whatever reason decides to get out, Hesseltine said. A second security video gives a different perspective of what happens next. The cop steps out and the dog starts in the police officers direction, Hesseltine said. With that being said, the dog is barking at the officer. He decides to pull out his sidearm and kill my dog. In a statement released last week, Davenport police say the dog became aggressive. The Davenport Police statement does not address why the officer got back out of the car to go toward the yard. It wasnt even my dog they were looking for, said Hesseltine, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. And your best course of action is to pull out a gun and execute my dog? The dogs behavior became aggressive: Davenport Police respond The statement about the incident says: The Davenport Police Department is aware of a public video showing an incident involving an officer discharging his firearm in an encounter with a dog, as family members are present. On Wednesday, August 21, 2024, at approximately 7:20 PM, Davenport Police responded to the 800 block of North Pine Street in reference to a report of four dogs at large, appearing aggressive. The caller stated the dogs were attempting to get over a fence to reach their dog. While the officer was following-up to the call in the alley of 2100 Telegraph Road, a dog ran out of a yard in the officers direction. The officer is seen on the public video slowly backing up while the dog advances. The dogs behavior became aggressive, resulting in the officer discharging his firearm at the dog. The dog died as a result of its injuries. Standard practice in these circumstances includes a department review of videos from the neighborhood if available, body worn cameras, vehicle cameras, and all other information available at the time. The Davenport Police Department is committed to taking the time to ensure all standards, policies and procedures of the department are followed. Davenport Police are investigating the incident. Additional information will be released as it 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Philadelphia rapper YBC Dul, who went viral for digging up one of his enemys graves, has been shot and killed. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the incident took place on Friday (Aug. 23) on the 5500 block of North Sixth Street in Olney, where Dul was shot multiple times in the chest and his right hand. The rapper, ne Abdul Vicks, 25, was then transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead twenty minutes after the shooting. A white Hyundai SUV, which was spotted at the scene of the crime, is being held by investigators to explore possible connections to the deadly shooting. Authorities considered Vicks the ringleader of a dangerous gang based in West Philadelphia known as the Young Bag Chasers. Vicks, rapping as YBC Dul, went viral for digging up the grave of a deceased foe from a rival gang. YBC had been embroiled in a war with about six other local gangs when his clip caught the attention of the masses. The news publication detailed another incident involving the YBC that went down in early August. Reports recall Quamere Hall, 22, an alleged associate of Vicks and YBC affiliate, being arrested and charged for the death of a 34-year-old man named Sharif King, which transpired in 2023. YBC took another hit in mid-August when member Arshad Curry was sentenced for the murder of three teenagers and wounding two other people in 2021. During the recent hearing, Curry was sentenced to 42 to 85 years in prison. I applaud the excellent prosecution of this case by Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope, District Attorney Krasner expressed in relation to Currys sentencing. Thanks to her work, a significant driver of gun violence has been taken off of the streets. This case is also a testament to the power of modern law enforcement techniques. By improving law enforcements forensic capabilities, we can solve more cases quickly and hopefully prevent more tragedies like this. More from VIBE.com Photography helped Urbana man recover after being shot; now its landed him a major prize Photography helped Urbana man recover after being shot; now its landed him a major prize DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) When Andy Grimms life changed in the blink of an eye in 2017, his former career as a photojournalist fueled his recovery. Now his passion has been rewarded with a major prize. In 2017, a Clark County Sheriffs deputy mistook Grimms camera tripod for a firearm and opened fire. He didnt give me any warning, said Grimm. Like, hed just pop three shots off. I was like, oh my god, Im going to die. Im sitting there like holding a bullet hole. The deputy was cleared of any criminal charges, and Grimm settled a lawsuit with the Clark County Sheriffs Office in 2019. But for Grimm, recovery would take years. I kind of got messed up in the head from that and had to reinvent myself at 40, he said. Thats when i started the photography business, and I decided to do that full time. Andy Grimm took this photo at Buck Creek State Park in Clark County. That photo won this years Grand Prize in the Ohio State Parks photo contest. His love of photography and connection with nature helped him recover from the trauma. Walking around the reservoir or really any of the parks, it just like it helps with the PTSD. Two years after the shooting, Grimm snapped a photo at Buck Creek State Park in Clark County. That photo won this years Grand Prize in the Ohio State Parks photo contest celebrating Ohios 76 state parks and the 75th anniversary of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. I never expected anything like this, said Grimm. Im grateful for the recognition, but I just really wasnt expecting 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 WDTN.com. WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. (WTNH) Bradley International Airport (BDL) celebrated National Dog Day Monday by welcoming four-legged members of its therapy program to the airport to interact with travelers. According to the Connecticut Airport Authority, Bradley Buddies, launched in August 2017, marks its seventh anniversary this month. Share your National Dog Day photos with News 8 Travelers could pet the dogs and take photos for National Dog Day. Breeds included a German shepherd, Australian shepherd, border collie, goldendoodle, golden retriever, and Yorkshire terrier. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTNH.com. PICKERINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) Students at Pickerington North High School were dismissed early Monday after a power outage. The school announced students were dismissed at 1 p.m. after the power outage. Buses did come to school grounds to pick up students for the early dismissal. There is no estimated time for power to be restored at Pick North. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LEALMAN Since 2016, the former firehouse in a historically impoverished area north of St. Petersburg has sat on a list maintained by Pinellas County of public land to be transformed into affordable housing. Earlier this year, the county gave away the property valued at $1.2 million to a nonprofit that works with homeless and low-income people in the community. But it wont go toward housing. The complicated transaction with the Florida Dream Center was made possible thanks to the billions of dollars doled out by the federal government in the name of pandemic relief. The machinations of the deal have no known precedent in Pinellas, according to a report last year by the countys Division of Inspector General. The same report noted a personal relationship between the nonprofits CEO, Steve Cleveland, and Tom Almonte, the assistant county administrator who put the deal in motion. Emails and messages obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show it went forward despite questions and concerns from county employees, including an assistant county attorney. She strongly recommended that, based on state law, the county solicit other offers for the property and consider them competitively based on which would most benefit the community. That never happened. County commissioners approved the sale without a bid process. In interviews with the Times, most of them said they dont recall being briefed on any legal concerns. Almonte and County Administrator Barry Burton, in an interview with the Times, said they were confident in the deal and the way it got done. The Dream Center provides services, such as food access and job training, that the county wouldnt provide in Lealman if the nonprofit didnt exist, Burton said. For that reason, commissioners were determined to give it a permanent home. Once county attorneys learned that the plan to transfer the building to the Dream Center was considered a policy decision, they went back to work. Burton said they furnished a new opinion that put county officials at ease. People can make allegations, God bless them that doesnt carry the weight of, you know, anything, Burton said. We determined that, absolutely, its defensible. Lealman has struggled for decades with blight and institutional neglect that some residents have said has verged on corruption. In 2020, a longtime assistant county administrator retired as concerns were raised over a real estate deal involving an affordable housing development firm where his son worked. He was replaced by Almonte, and after a scathing internal investigation, the county promised greater transparency in its Lealman dealings. But in the year-and-a-half that the county worked on the Dream Center deal, it never brought the plan to the advisory committee that makes recommendations to the county on funding and policy decisions in Lealman. During that time, Cleveland was the committees chairperson. Jeremy Heath, who sits on that county-appointed board, said he worried that its unusual circumstances signaled it wasnt made in the communitys best interest. Its a poor look, he said. I couldnt follow where the money was going When county commissioners approved the sale of the old firehouse last November, they did so with little fanfare. But the sale itself was hardly simple, and it changed shape over time. Under the first plan the county laid out, the Dream Center applied for $1.8 million from the American Rescue Plan Act that the county was distributing to local nonprofits. About two-thirds of the money would cover the purchase, and the Dream Center would use the rest on renovations. After the committee overseeing grant applications approved it, though, the county changed its plan. Only the $595,000 for repairs would come from federal dollars. The county would bank the remaining $1.2 million then give the same amount from its own accounts to the Dream Center. The Dream Center would then hand it back to the county to buy the property. Inspector General Melissa Dondero later reported that she asked if the mechanics of the transaction had any precedent. Employees in the countys Office of Management and Budget said they were not aware of any instances. Burton said county officials changed the plan because, after promising the money, they realized they were unsure whether funding the Dream Center purchase would be an allowable use of Rescue Plan dollars. They decided to put those federal funds toward 911 operations, which was clearly permitted. In turn, they moved the same amount of money out of the 911 fund and gave it to the Dream Center. The transaction was so convoluted that Donderos report included a flowchart to explain it. When staff presented the plan to commissioners in August, Commissioner Dave Eggers was perplexed. He was later one of two commissioners, along with Brian Scott, to vote against the sale. Youve seen those hats that just kind of get shifted around? he said, describing a shell game. I couldnt follow where the money was going. By the time the sale closed in January, others had started raising similar concerns. In December, Lealman resident David Lee appeared at a County Commission meeting, where he urged board members to look more closely at the transaction. My concern is that were going back to the old way of doing business, Lee said. Pinellas and Lealman Wedged between St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park, Lealman has more than 20,000 residents. It is larger than all but six of Pinellas two dozen cities. Because its unincorporated, the county governs it. In the past decade, the county acknowledged that it needed to take better care of the area. In 2016, it made much of Lealman a community redevelopment area, the first in unincorporated Pinellas. This meant that tax dollars generated in Lealman would stay there to improve living standards. It also necessitated the creation of the advisory board, made up of residents and others with ties to the community, that would speak for the citizens. One of the first people appointed to the advisory board was Steve Cleveland, a general contractor who had been a high-ranking volunteer for the Dream Center. In 2016, he became the top executive at the nonprofit, which has done work ranging from food distribution and workforce training to art therapy courses for survivors of sex trafficking. That same year, the county spent $4.6 million on land in Lealman that it intended to use for affordable housing. It included property that had once been a firehouse, which it envisioned as the site of a community center for future residents of a housing complex. Instead, in 2017, it started renting the property to the Dream Center for $2,375 a month. In 2019, it updated the lease and changed the rent: $1 for the entire next five years. Lealman residents were, around the same time, turning their attention to a different piece of land that had been set aside for similar purposes. After an affordable-housing company bought a decrepit mobile home park and sold it to the county for a quick profit, the county leased the property back to the same company. An assistant county administrator, Jacob Stowers, had previously worked for the housing developer, and his son still was the companys vice president. The elder Stowers denied being involved in the plan and retired amid the uproar, and the project, dubbed Oasis Acres, fizzled amid delays and opposition. An Inspector Generals report later validated residents concerns. When the dust settled, the county promised to do better. Almonte, who had been hired to replace Stowers, vowed that all Lealman projects would go before the advisory board. We have increased transparency which was not there, he said in 2021, to make sure we can mitigate something being approved that maybe the community doesnt support. An alleged conflict The Dream Center first floated the idea of buying the firehouse in 2020, according to a later application for federal funding. The county turned it down but offered help finding the nonprofit a permanent home. Over the next year, it looked at 15 properties, but none worked Cleveland and Burton said all were too small, too expensive or too far from Lealman. The idea of the Dream Center buying the property reemerged in 2022. This time, according to Donderos report, it came from the county, with Almonte suggesting the Dream Center buy it with some of the federal money the county was distributing. Almonte said he didnt recall who came up with the idea. With the county struggling to find an affordable housing developer for the land, officials had decided the firehouse property could be put to better use. Someone within the county reported the idea to the Division of Inspector General, alleging a conflict of interest: Almonte, the county official, and Cleveland, who runs the Dream Center, were friendly, the person said. In her report, issued in late 2023, Dondero ruled the conflict-of-interest allegation unfounded, though she made it clear the accusation hadnt come out of thin air. While Almonte told the inspector general that his regular meetings with Cleveland concerned Lealman business, Cleveland said theyd gotten together for family dinners, where each family pays separately for their meals. Because there was no evidence that Almonte would benefit from the land deal, it didnt meet the countys definition of a conflict of interest. Almonte described Cleveland as a friend but said he didnt believe theyd be close if not for the ways their jobs intersect. Hes a friend, just like the other members of the community that I work with, Almonte said. But I met Steve just like I met everyone else through the work that I do for the county. Cleveland said he didnt believe the Dream Center had benefited unduly from his closeness to Almonte or any other county official. We applied for the funding, he said, just like to anything else. A risky sale State law generally allows counties to decide what to do with their property. But in September, Maria C. White, an assistant county attorney, alerted staff of a law specifically governing county-owned land within a community redevelopment area like the Dream Center property. To follow that statute, the county would have to solicit bids for at least 30 days and sell based on those proposals. The county could make an argument for selling without bids under the broader statute, she wrote, but it would be riskier from a legal perspective given recent case law and is not the recommended course of action. Such a case played out just across Tampa Bay in 2020. In a showdown between two Tampa property developers, one alleged that the city had violated law by agreeing to sell property in the Tampa Heights Riverfront Community Redevelopment Area without soliciting bids. Appellate court Judge J. Andrew Atkinson ruled the city had erred: no property that is located in a community redevelopment area can be sold without public notice and the solicitation of proposals, he wrote, underlining the word no. Emails and Microsoft Teams messages obtained by the Times show that the opinion from the assistant county attorney on the Lealman deal came after at least two high-ranking county employees asked about the law. The opinion made its way to Almonte. In a Sept. 19 email, he wrote: Lets proceed with providing the Board (of County Commissioners) with option two the riskier option. In an email later that month, Almonte told Burton that Don Crowell, another assistant county attorney, agreed with Whites assessment. They would brief commissioners about the legal risk. Burton told him to fill them in on the safer option, too. Several commissioners said they remembered meeting individually with Almonte and Crowell. But none recalled being told about a legal risk associated with the sale, or that the county attorneys office had issued a cautionary opinion. At some point after the initial opinion, Burton said in an interview, county attorneys provided a revised recommendation. It is not clear whether that revision appears in any public records or when it was made. In a response by text to follow-up questions, Burton said county attorneys met with staff and myself to understand both available options. He did not answer questions about whether lawyers provided a second opinion in writing, or, if they did so orally, whether anyone took notes. Burton noted that the terms of the sale mean the Dream Center could lose the land if it uses the property for commercial or non-public purposes. He also wrote, incorrectly, that Whites legal opinion did not say that it was risky to sell the land without seeking bids. We dont see the risk, he said in the interview. Anybody can sue anybody, OK? Same way anybody can make allegations, completely unfounded. The county has acknowledged potential risk publicly at least once, though. In March, at a meeting of the Lealman advisory committee, Jeremy Heath suggested the county had opened itself up to a lawsuit. We are going to have consequences from it, he said. Jason Ester, an assistant county attorney who attended the meeting, responded. She didnt say illegal she said risky, he said, referring to Whites email. Happily, illegal and risky are different things. A resignation and unanswered questions Heath joined the advisory committee in 2020 in the wake of the scandal over Oasis Acres, the ill-fated housing project. His professional background is in finance, and he thought having someone on the committee inclined to follow the money might help prevent a rehash. For nearly three years, he said, he prided himself on being the kind of committee member who didnt rock the boat. When he first heard about the Dream Center deal last summer, he was a little surprised but didnt speak up. The more time passed without anyone mentioning the sale to the advisory committee, the more he worried. Cleveland was both the chairperson of the committee and the CEO of the nonprofit benefiting from the sale, which struck Heath as a conflict. And the more he learned about the deal, the more he wondered: Why not run the sale by the committee? Why reroute the money the way the county did? Why run in the opposite direction from the attorneys advice? He badgered county officials, he said, but never got an answer. Was it really absolutely necessary to go this route? he asked. Heath voiced his concerns at a committee meeting in January; the land deal closed days later. At the next meeting, in March, he was more forceful. He noted that the chairperson of a similar committee in St. Petersburg had resigned after city staff worried about the appearance of a conflict of interest. In that instance, the St. Petersburg official had ties to a project that stood to receive funding as part of the deal for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium. I suggest, Jeremy, that if you want me to resign, then you write a letter to your commissioner, Cleveland said. Because you cant vote me out. But at the end of the next committee meeting, on May 22, Cleveland announced he was leaving after a decade. He referred to accusations against himself and the Dream Center and denied any wrongdoing. I dont want to step down, but I am doing it for the better of our community, and thats it, he said. I do not want to hear my name mentioned again. Though the county stands by its handling of the deal, it could have done a better job telling Lealman residents about the plan to transfer the land, Burton said. Frankly, Tom should have taken it to the advisory committee, he said. Asked whether the county had lived up to the standards of transparency and communication it promised, Almonte said it had. Exceeded, in my mind, he said. BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Philippine vessel on Sunday intruded into the adjacent waters of Xianbin Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao and caused a minor collision with a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship. The intrusion of the Philippine vessel No. 3002 was not permitted by the Chinese government and the CCG has taken lawful control measures against it, according to the CCG. At 2:12 p.m., the Philippine vessel ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and deliberately sailed toward the Chinese ship in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, causing the collision, said CCG spokesperson Gan Yu. Responsibility for this incident lies entirely with the Philippine side, Gan added. The CCG monitored the Philippine vessel 3002 in the whole process and drove it away, the spokesperson said, adding that the operations of the CCG have been professional, standard, legitimate and reasonable. Gan added that the Philippines' recent provocations have seriously infringed upon China's territorial sovereignty, violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and harmed regional peace and stability. "We sternly warn that the Philippine side must immediately stop the infringement and provocation, or it must bear all the consequences," Gan said. Reiterating that China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao and its adjacent waters, including Xianbin Jiao, Gan said the CCG will continue to conduct law enforcement activities to safeguard the nation's territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests. PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WKBN) The Pittsburgh Pirates placed pitcher Hunter Stratton on the 60-day injured list with a ruptured left patella tendon. He will miss the rest of the 2024 season. The team also selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Brady Feigl from Triple-A Indianapolis. Stratton was injured in Saturday nights 10-2 loss to the Reds. This season, he posted a record of 2-1 with a 3.58 ERA with one save in 36 appearances. A 16th-round selection for the Pirates in the 2017 draft, Stratton made his Major League debut last season. Feigls first appearance in a game with Pittsburgh will be his Major League debut. The 33-year old previously pitched in the minor leagues with both the Rangers and Braves. He signed with the Pirates on a minor league deal back in January. This season he spent the entire campaign with the Indianapolis Indians. He has appeared in 33 games, posting a record of 7-2 with a 3.83 ERA. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. UPDATE: Pittsburgh police say Donald Champion was found safe overnight. Pittsburgh police are looking for a missing and endangered man with health issues, including dementia. Detectives are looking for Donald Champion, 62, who was last seen around 10 a.m. Sunday while walking away from the 3200 block of Niagara Street. Police say he frequently goes for walks, but this time left his phone at home. Champion stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall and has brown eyes. Champion was last seen wearing a black fedora hat, black and orange construction glasses, a black jacket and black pants. Police say he walks with a limp. Anyone with information on where Champion is should call 412-323-7141 or 911. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Still taking it all in: Washington County man, 70, wins $1M from Pennsylvania Lottery Sheetz holds surprise pop-up concert in Bethel Park Playa Bowls opens in Pittsburghs Strip District VIDEO: Fire Marshal investigating suspicious fire at vacant Duquesne duplex DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts The exterior of a Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center on May 28, 2019 in St Louis (Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images). Missouris Planned Parenthood affiliates are asking the state administrative hearing commission to block a new law that prohibits the organization from being reimbursed for serving Medicaid patients. The law went into effect on Wednesday. Nearly one in five Planned Parenthood patients in Missouri is insured through MO HealthNet, the states Medicaid program that serves low-income and disabled residents and has long banned funding for abortion. The complaint to the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission was filed after Missouris two Planned Parenthood affiliates say they received notifications of their termination from Medicaid, effective Wednesday. Despite an already overburdened health care safety net for Missouri Medicaid patients, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers wrote in a joint press release, lawmakers prioritized the legislative defunding of Planned Parenthood this last session, harming Missourians with low incomes and forcing them to search for other providers. Its the third and Republicans hope final attempt to end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. Planned Parenthood alleges the states new restrictions violate federal Medicaid law, which protects patients right to choose their health care providers. The Missouri Department of Social Services, which oversees the states Medicaid program, said it doesnt comment on pending litigation. Abortion has been banned in Missouri since 2022, but Planned Parenthood clinics in Illinois and Kansas continue to perform the procedure. In Missouri, Planned Parenthood clinics provide services such as contraceptive care, STI testing, cancer screenings and wellness checks. Critics of the law have argued it would primarily harm low-income Missourians who could be forced to find a new provider through the states already strained public health safety net if Planned Parenthood cannot foot the bill for these patients long-term. This could delay critical and potentially life-saving care. In Missouri, women on Medicaid are 10 times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy than those on private insurance, according to an August multi-year report on maternal mortality published by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The impact of defunding efforts will only further destabilize Missouris fragile safety net, said Michelle Trupiano, executive director of Missouri Family Health Council in Mondays press release, by straining providers, extending wait times, and unnecessarily creating additional barriers for people accessing basic healthcare services. Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri have been without Medicaid reimbursements for more than two years as prior attempts by Republicans to pass similar restrictions through the state budget were litigated and struck down in court. Planned Parenthood says it will continue to serve Medicaid patients despite the new law. Some clinics, including Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, have offset the cost of care with private fundraising, according to the press release. Planned Parenthoods doors remain open so patients can get the affordable, accessible care they rely on, said Richard Muniz, interim president & CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, as we challenge the states latest, illegal attempt to exclude us from participating in the Medicaid program. This story was updated Aug. 27 to add the Department of Social Services comment. COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Missouri Planned Parenthoods filed legal challenges Monday against a new law that kicked the organizations off the federal Medicaid health insurance program. Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers said they are filing complaints with the states Administrative Hearing Commission, which functions as a court to hear disputes between Missouri government and private organizations. At issue is a new law banning Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, a move Republicans have tried for years in a state where almost all abortions are banned and the procedure is not covered by Medicaid. The law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson in May, aims to make it illegal for Missouris Medicaid program to reimburse Planned Parenthood for health care services to low-income patients, such as pap smears and cancer screenings. Abortion opponents have said Planned Parenthood should not receive any public funding because clinics in other states provide abortions. Only Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas have successfully blocked Medicaid funding for the organization, according to Planned Parenthood. Missouri has tried for years but has repeatedly been overruled by the courts. A February state Supreme Court ruling found that Missouri lawmakers last attempt at defunding Planned Parenthood was unconstitutional. The state attorney general did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday. Planned Parenthood said Missouri clinics will continue providing health care to Medicaid recipients even though the centers will not be reimbursed by the state. Poland did not shoot down air object flying from Ukraine due to bad atmospheric conditions Maciej Klisz, Commander of the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces. Photo: Facebook Poland has said that it did not shoot down an air object, which flew in from Ukraine during a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine because of atmospheric conditions. Source: Maciej Klisz, Commander of the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, as quoted by Polsat News and European Pravda Details: Klisz said he was ready to give the order to destroy the object and was in contact with Defence Minister Wadysaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, as well as Chief of the General Staff Wiesaw Kukua. Quote: "The object disappeared after [flying] about 25 km [deep into] Polish territory. Due to atmospheric conditions, I was unable to give the command to shoot it down," he added. The general noted that after it disappeared, the object was detected neither by NATO nor Polish aircraft. A search operation has been launched, with troops and helicopters heading to the scene. The general said that the object was probably still on Polish territory, although he also did not rule out the possibility that it could have flown away. Background: Earlier, the Polish army reported about the violation of their countrys airspace during the Russian missile-drone attack against Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. There were reports about disruptions in the power system of Moldova following a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces warned residents on Aug. 26 that Polish and other allied jets were active in the southeastern part of the country amid a massive wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine. As of 10:09 a.m. local time, at least three people were killed in Ukraine, and strikes were reported in Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kryvyi Rih, as well as in Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. "All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been launched, and the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces is constantly monitoring the situation," the Operational Command wrote on X. "Since the early morning hours, there has been intense activity of long-range aviation from (Russia), related to strikes being carried out on targets located, among others, in the western part of Ukraine," it said. The Operational Command said that the last time such "significant activity" of Russian attacks was recorded was on July 8, when at least 42 people were killed across Ukraine and more than 200 were wounded. The Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine's largest children's medical center, was hit by a ballistic missile in the attack, killing two people. Read also: Belarus gathering significant number of troops, weaponry along Ukraines border under guise of exercises, Ukraine says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Poland scrambled its fighter jets due to the threat of Russian missiles on the morning of 26 August, while Ukraine was under a large-scale attack. Source: European Pravda, citing Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces on Twitter (X) Details: The Polish military noted that since "early morning", they have observed intense Russian strikes on targets "located, including, on the western territory of Ukraine". The Polish Armed Forces Operational Command says the last such increase in Russian aircraft activity, during which strikes were carried out on the west of Ukraine, was observed on 8 July. At that time, Russia launched a massive missile strike on Kyiv among the targets was the children's hospital Okhmatdyt, and an entire entrance of a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital was destroyed. On that day, 33 people were killed, and another 121 were injured. The Polish military emphasised that all necessary procedures to secure the country's airspace have been activated. Background: As a result of the Russian missile attack, some districts of Kyiv experienced power outages, and in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, a residential building was damaged. In his speech on Ukraine's Independence Day in Kyiv, Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed confidence that Ukraine will be able to defend its freedom and that "the war will soon end in [Ukraine's] victory." He also emphasised that what unites Ukraine and Poland is stronger than any differences. Additionally, Duda stated that he would ask his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not to shoot at Russian soldiers if they decide to leave Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! The Polish army has reported about the violation of their countrys airspace during the Russian missile-drone attack against Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. Source: RMF24, as reported by European Pravda Details: The operative command of the Armed Forces of Poland stated that during the morning Russian aerial attack on Ukrainian cities, an "aerial object" entered the Polish territory near the Ukrainian city of Chervonohrad, and that this object was a missile. The announcement was made at 13:00 Polish time. General Maciej Klisz reported that it was likely about the drone which was still being searched on Polish territory. He assumed that the drone might have fallen near the town of Tyszowice located on the Polish side, near the Ukrainian settlements of Chervonohrad and Sokol. The town is located about 30 km away from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Background: Poland deployed military aircraft again during a large-scale Russian attack on the morning of 26 August. This is a standard procedure after a Russian missile entered the Polish airspace near the village of Oserdow in the Lublin Voivodeship during a nighttime Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 March. The missile remained there for 39 seconds. The Minister of Defence of Poland later stated that the Polish military would have downed a Russian missile, if there had been signs that it was headed towards a certain target in the Polish territory. Last week, Romania detected the debris of another Shahed drone on its territory near the Danube River. There were reports about disruptions in the power system of Moldova following a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! Police: 4 people shot at Dunham Park, no arrests yet SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A total of four people were shot and a 29-year-old died after a shooting at Dunham Park Sunday that police continue to investigate Monday. Sioux Falls Police Department spokesman Sam Clemens said theres been no arrests made yet as police continue to piece together what happened and who was involved. Developing: Severe weather outbreak likely today Clemens said the call came in around 4:21 p.m. Sunday at Dunham Park. We believe that everybody knew each other, Clemens said. Something happened, and then gunshots happened after that. Clemens said four people were hit and there were multiple shell casings at the scene, but police are still figuring out how many shots were fired. Police are also still figuring out how many people were involved, but Clemens called it a large gathering. The person who died was Joshau Antrell Allen Jr., 29, of Sioux Falls. Clemens said a 27-year-old man from Sioux Falls was hit multiple times in the legs and torso, a 40-year-old was hit in the face and 26-year-old hit in the shoulder. The victims are all hospitalized and a couple of them have life-threatening injuries, said Clemens, who said 2 more victims are facing life threatening injuries. Clemens said police cant yet say whether or not it was gang activity. He said the shell casings were all handgun shell casings. Theres a lot of work to do, Clemens said. The park remains closed. Clemens said the park may reopen later Monday night. He said people should reach out to police or crimestoppers with any information tied to the case. This is the sixth homicide investigation for Sioux Falls police in 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 KELOLAND.com. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A man recently released from prison in California is in custody after a woman called police saying he had pointed a gun and threatened to kill her in Newport, Ore. over the weekend, officials announced Monday. Brandyone Salazar of Crescent City, Calif. was arrested Saturday afternoon after officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance near 536 SW Elizabeth Street. A woman in a nearby hotel lobby told police she had run away from Salazar and gotten help from the hotel staff. Changes for TriMet buses, MAX lines, as MAX Red Line expansion to Hillsboro Airport completed Authorities said Salazar was spotted trying to leave the area by walking toward the beach, where officers lost sight of him and began a search.. Salazar was found fleeing the area and arrested nearly two hours later, according to Newport police. He faces charges of menacing, possession of a firearm as a felon, unlawful use of a weapon, and pointing a firearm at another. Anyone with more information about this case is encouraged to contact police. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. * Several prominent German companies have demonstrated their long-term commitment to China through significant increases in investments. * Behind the sustained increase in German investment in China lies confidence in the country's long-term economic prospects, positive signals emanating from China's high-level opening-up and a continually improving business environment. * Most of the 7.3-billion-euro (8.2-billion-dollar) German investment in China this year consists of reinvested profits earned by German companies in the Chinese market, according to the German media Welt. * "The Chinese market for us becomes a very, very important one," said Norman Goldberg, CEO of Tesa SE, a German manufacturer of adhesive products. by Xinhua writer Li Hanlin BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- German businesses are growing increasingly optimistic about China's innovative vitality and open market benefits, leading to a surge in their investments in the Chinese market. German investments in China have shattered records, reaching an unprecedented 7.3 billion euros (8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2024, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Germany. This momentum continues unabated, highlighting the deepening economic ties between the two countries as they mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Germany comprehensive strategic partnership. An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 20, 2023 shows a view of Volkswagen (Anhui) Automotive Company Limited in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua/Guo Chen) BOOMING INVESTMENT Several prominent German companies have demonstrated their long-term commitment to China through significant increases in investments. Volkswagen is investing 2.5 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) in the Chinese city of Hefei to establish its largest R&D center outside Germany. BMW is boosting its investment in its Shenyang plant in northeast China by 20 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) to upgrade production capacity and boost innovation. Bayer revealed a 600-million-yuan (84.2-million-dollar) investment for a new supply center in Qidong in coastal Jiangsu Province. This consistent increase in investment not only acknowledges China's vast market potential but also reflects confidence in its infrastructure, comprehensive industrial chain and business environment. During the 7th China International Import Expo Germany Roadshow in June, Wu Zhengping, deputy director general of the China International Import Expo Bureau, emphasized the strong participation of German companies in the expo, noting the number of exhibitors and the space they occupied were the highest among European nations. This robust involvement signals the high level of confidence that German businesses have in China's economic prospects. "Over 90 percent of German leading global companies have partnerships with China. Any company aspiring to lead in the global market must collaborate with China," said Walter Doring, chairman of the Academy of German Hidden Champions, adding that German firms embedded in the Chinese market face bright prospects and continued growth opportunities that will enhance competitiveness worldwide. Zhai Qian, minister of economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Germany, noted that Germany's strengths in traditional sectors like machinery, automotive and pharmaceuticals complement China's advances in green development and the digital economy. This synergy injects new dynamism into bilateral economic ties and pushes cooperation to new heights. A staff member of German company Karcher displays a product at the fourth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu) DRIVING FACTORS Behind the sustained increase in German investment in China lies confidence in the country's long-term economic prospects, positive signals emanating from China's high-level opening-up and a continually improving business environment. Tobias Wahl, board chairman of the Hawk brand at Karcher Group, highlighted how his company successfully introduced deep-cleaning concepts to the Chinese market, yielding impressive results. This success further strengthened Karcher's commitment to the Chinese market, with the company now investing 2 billion yuan (280.7 million dollars) to advance its localization strategy. "German companies approach investment decisions with a strong focus on market potential and profitability, carefully analyzing global markets to identify regions with the highest opportunities and growth potential," said Zheng Chunrong, director of the German Studies Center at Tongji University. The sustained growth of German investment in China highlights the market's significant scale and promising prospects. For many German companies, China remains a preferred hub for global supply chain layouts. Michael Schumann, chairman of the Board of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, emphasized that what previously had to be imported from Germany or other parts of Europe is now sourced from China. This shift has led to the creation of production models such as "In China, For China" and "In China, For the World." China's growing innovation leadership is fostering greater synergy between China and Germany. "China's significance surpasses mere consumption; it has become a hub of innovation, leading the transformation across various sectors such as electrification, smart mobility, artificial intelligence, digitalization, and energy efficiency," said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Schumann echoed this sentiment, stating that China's innovation leadership is gradually strengthening, and more German firms are investing strategically in the country to participate in local innovation. In the automotive sector, for instance, German manufacturers are increasingly benefiting from China's expertise in electric vehicles. According to the 2024 Global Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index published by global management consulting firm Kearney, China has risen from seventh place last year to third this year, ranking first among emerging markets. Loosened visa policies have helped facilitate business between China and Germany. "German employees can now easily travel to China for business," said Willi Riester, chief technology officer of Chiron Machine Tool (Taicang) Co., Ltd. "Our German engineers can swiftly travel to China to repair equipment and return to Germany within a week, significantly improving company efficiency." "Over 500 German companies have chosen Taicang as their base in China," noted Wang Xiangyuan, Taicang city's Party chief, citing the strong partnerships between local businesses and German companies as a reason. This photo taken on April 22, 2024 shows the booth of Taicang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, at Hannover Messe 2024 in Hannover, Germany. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) WIN-WIN COOPERATION Most of the 7.3-billion-euro (8.2-billion-dollar) German investment in China this year consists of reinvested profits earned by German companies in the Chinese market, according to the German media Welt. "German entrepreneurs generally have a very clear sense of reality, are guided by facts rather than fiction, and make sober decisions after weighing up all advantages and disadvantages," said Schumann. "Many of them still see their future in China and are not blinded by the ideologically motivated statements of some who are calling for the German economy to withdraw from China. We need more engagement and more cooperation instead of withdrawal and confrontation," he added. Partnerships remain of utmost value for German companies. "In China's dynamic and competitive energy vehicle market, it is of great importance that we continue to strengthen our strategic partnership with SAIC and drive forward the electrification of SAIC Volkswagen's portfolio," said Ralf Brandstaetter, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, referring to one of Volkswagen's partners in China. "The Chinese market for us becomes a very, very important one," said Norman Goldberg, CEO of Tesa SE, a German manufacturer of adhesive products. "We're very glad to have one of the most innovative R&D organizations here, one of the most innovative production sites, and we will continue to invest in the future and the local Chinese set-up." As China deepens its reforms and pushes forward high-level opening-up, new opportunities will emerge for foreign enterprises. The success stories of German companies investing in China are set to continue. "Economic and trade cooperation plays a crucial role in China-Germany relations," said Zhai from the Chinese Embassy in Germany. "It is vital to remove obstacles, enhance collaboration, find common ground, and maximize the benefits of cooperation, allowing both nations to partake in the economic gains from China's growth." (Video reporters: Sun Qing, You Zhixin, Ding Ting, Zhou Rui; Video editors: Zhang Yichi, Luo Hui, Ma Ruxuan.) Police say cellphone use, DUI to blame for Ogle County crash BYRON, Ill. (WTVO) A Sycamore man faces charges after a crash in Byron on Saturday. According to the Ogle County Sheriffs Office, Brandon Rees, 40, was driving a 2013 Lincoln MKX north on Illinois Route 2 while he was both drunk and using a cell phone, causing him to strike a guardrail, spinning the car across both lanes of traffic and coming to rest on the southbound shoulder. Rees was charged with Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and cited for the Use of an Electronic Communication Device on a Roadway and Improper Lane Usage. He was taken to the Ogle County Jail and later released with a notice to appear at a future court date. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) Warren police were called about two separate incidents involving children ingesting THC over the weekend. Read next: Haunted trail canceled after receiving cease and desist The first happened Friday at about 4:15 p.m. when officers were called about a teen lying by the side of the road barely responsive. The caller said the teenagers father took him home, and police followed up at a nearby house where they talked to the father who said that he left to pick up his daughter and came home to find his 14-year-old in that state. The father said he suspected the teen ate a THC edible he had in his bedroom and showed police where he had hidden the package. Officers noted the bright green packaging that could have been mistaken for candy, the report stated. Officers noted there had been no prior calls to the home and due to the age of the teen, determined that this was an isolated incident that didnt require an arrest or further investigation, the report stated. On Saturday at about 1:20 a.m., the Warren Police Department was notified by Akron Childrens Hospitals emergency room that medical staff was treating a 2-year-old child who tested positive for THC. The offense location in the police report was listed as Bennett Avenue NW and Commerce Avenue NW. There have been several reports in the Valley of children ingesting THC from marijuana products, primarily gummies. One case in Sharon was a near fatality. Youngstown police said in May they have seen a substantial increase in children consuming marijuana-laced edibles and getting seriously sick. Law enforcement is urging parents and caregivers to keep edibles far away from children. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. SYOSSET, N.Y. (AP/PIX11) Police on Sunday were investigating the deaths of five people at a home on Long Island. Officers responding to a report of shots fired in Syosset at midday found the body of a man outside a home at Wyoming Court with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The bodies of four other people were found inside the residence, according to the Nassau County Police Department. More Long Island News Neighbors said the owner of the house where the violent act took place passed away on Aug. 19; one of her sons lived with her. I had a terrible feeling because neighbors said he was so distraught because he didnt know where he was going to live, said Wendy Paisner. Shes lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. She described seeing family members traveling from out of state to plan their mothers funeral and to sell her house. He just snapped, I think, because he left the house, and the four siblings were going to sell the house, and he just needed emotional support, Paisner said. Neighbors told PIX11 News the son who lived in the residence was a volunteer firefighter and quit last week after his mom passed away. Those whove lived in the area for a long time describe it as a quaint, family neighborhood with working people. More Local News This is very shocking to be in a community like this. You dont hear about this in the Syosset and Woodbury area, said neighbor Cory Margulefsky. Police said all five victims were pronounced dead by a police medic and that a homicide squad was investigating. Police did not release further information. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. It is a free, 24/7 service that offers support, information, and local resources. You can also click here for additional hotlines within your 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 PIX11. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man is being treated for gunshot wounds at St. Elizabeth Health Center after he was shot about 12 p.m. Monday on the North Side. Read next: Woman arrested in police chase from Austintown to Ravenna Chief of Detectives Capt. Jason Simon said the man was shot in the 100 block of Tod Lane. Simon said he does not have a lot of details yet because the victim has not been very cooperative. He said detectives do have a couple of leads they are pursuing. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. A motorcyclist died Sunday after colliding with a vehicle in midtown Sacramento, Sacramento Police Department officials said. Officers arrived at 24th and J streets just before noon following the report of a collision. The motorcycle rider suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital where they were pronounced dead, according to a news release from the Police Department. The Sacramento County Coroners Office identified the man as Jose Louis Silva, 55, of Sacramento. It was not clear if the driver of the vehicle was injured and while the Coroners Office has indicated the crash was criminal in nature, it has not announced an arrest in connection with the incident. An investigation into the collision is ongoing, officers said. ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WPRI) Police are searching for the suspect who snatched several $100 bills from a man who was making a purchase at a pharmacy. Officers were called to the Walgreens on Pleasant Street Monday afternoon. Police said the victim had placed the cash on the counter and was counting them when a man ran up and swiped them. The suspect ran out of the store with the cash and was last seen behind the nearby Cumberland Farms toward the U-Haul storage facility. The victim chased the suspect out of the store but lost sight of him. No one was injured and the suspect did not threaten the victim with a weapon. The suspect is described as a Black man with long dreadlocks who appeared to be between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing a blue shirt, light-colored pants and a black headwrap. Police said the suspect was accompanied by a Hispanic man with a dark beard who was wearing a Boston Celtics jersey. Investigators believe the men pulled up to the pharmacy in a silver or gray Honda sedan Anyone who can identify the man or his suspected accomplice is asked to contact the Attleboro Police Department Detective Division at (509) 222-1212. (Courtesy: Attleboro Police Department) (Courtesy: Attleboro Police Department) (Courtesy: Attleboro Police Department) Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WPRI.com. A Georgia prosecutor announced Thursday shes dropping charges against six people in three pending murder cases following the indictment of a pair of Savannah police officers accused of misconduct. Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones, whose jurisdiction includes Savannah, said the decision came after her staff reviewed dozens of cases involving the two former officers, who were indicted in May on multiple charges of perjury and violating their oaths of office. Jones said she sympathized with the families of the five total victims slain in the cases being dismissed, but insisted police misconduct had tainted them to a point they were no longer winnable in court. These cases, they likely will not be reopened and reinvestigated, Jones told a news conference. Our offices determination is that they have been compromised. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The fallout comes two months after a Chatham County grand jury indicted Ashley Wood, a former Savannah police detective, and former police Cpl. Darryl Repress in unrelated misconduct cases. Repress was indicted following his firing in 2023, when an internal affairs investigation concluded he had a relationship with an informant who was a convicted felon. His indictment accuses Repress of lying about the relationship to his supervisors and to investigators. Kimberly Copeland, listed in court records as Repress attorney, did not immediately respond to an email message seeing comment Thursday. Woods indictment accuses her of knowingly including false information in search warrant applications in multiple cases. One of her attorneys, Keith Barber, said Wood is completely innocent. Her character is completely beyond reproach, Barber said in a statement. We have always and continue to remain fully confident that she will be fully exonerated of these charges. TRENDING STORIES: Attorneys for Marquis Parrish, who was charged with murder in a 2021 fatal shooting, accused Wood of lying about seeing Parrish in a video recorded by a security camera. Parrish spent two years in jail before Jones office dropped the charges in June. Parrish was among the six defendants whose dismissed cases the district attorney mentioned Thursday. She also dropped charges against two men in a 2016 killing in which a woman was fatally shot after being caught in the crossfire of what police called a shootout between gang members. Murder charges were also dropped against three men accused of fatally shooting two brothers and their cousin who were found dead in a Savannah home in 2015. Jerrell Williams was one of the men who had been charged in the triple killing. His attorney, Jonah Pine, told WTOC-TV: After over three years of fighting and over two years of incarceration, Mr. Williams finally stands vindicated. Jones declined to give specifics on what prompted her to dismiss charges in each of the three murder cases, citing the pending prosecutors of the two former officers. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS Police officers are starting to use AI chatbots to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court? Captain Jason Bussert demonstrates Draft One, an AI powered software that creates police reports from body cam audio, at Oklahoma City police headquarters on Friday, May 31, 2024 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A body camera captured every word and bark uttered as police Sgt. Matt Gilmore and his K-9 dog, Gunner, searched for a group of suspects for nearly an hour. Normally, the Oklahoma City police sergeant would grab his laptop and spend another 30 to 45 minutes writing up a report about the search. But this time he had artificial intelligence write the first draft. Pulling from all the sounds and radio chatter picked up by the microphone attached to Gilmore's body camera, the AI tool churned out a report in eight seconds. It was a better report than I could have ever written, and it was 100% accurate. It flowed better, Gilmore said. It even documented a fact he didn't remember hearing another officer's mention of the color of the car the suspects ran from. Oklahoma City's police department is one of a handful to experiment with AI chatbots to produce the first drafts of incident reports. Police officers who've tried it are enthused about the time-saving technology, while some prosecutors, police watchdogs and legal scholars have concerns about how it could alter a fundamental document in the criminal justice system that plays a role in who gets prosecuted or imprisoned. Built with the same technology as ChatGPT and sold by Axon, best known for developing the Taser and as the dominant U.S. supplier of body cameras, it could become what Gilmore describes as another game changer for police work. They become police officers because they want to do police work, and spending half their day doing data entry is just a tedious part of the job that they hate, said Axon's founder and CEO Rick Smith, describing the new AI product called Draft One as having the most positive reaction of any product the company has introduced. Now, theres certainly concerns," Smith added. In particular, he said district attorneys prosecuting a criminal case want to be sure that police officers not solely an AI chatbot are responsible for authoring their reports because they may have to testify in court about what they witnessed. "They never want to get an officer on the stand who says, well, The AI wrote that, I didnt, Smith said. AI technology is not new to police agencies, which have adopted algorithmic tools to read license plates, recognize suspects faces, detect gunshot sounds and predict where crimes might occur. Many of those applications have come with privacy and civil rights concerns and attempts by legislators to set safeguards. But the introduction of AI-generated police reports is so new that there are few, if any, guardrails guiding their use. Concerns about society's racial biases and prejudices getting built into AI technology are just part of what Oklahoma City community activist aurelius francisco finds deeply troubling about the new tool, which he learned about from The Associated Press. francisco prefers to lowercase his name as a tactic to resist professionalism. The fact that the technology is being used by the same company that provides Tasers to the department is alarming enough, said francisco, a co-founder of the Foundation for Liberating Minds in Oklahoma City. He said automating those reports will "ease the polices ability to harass, surveil and inflict violence on community members. While making the cops job easier, it makes Black and brown peoples lives harder. Before trying out the tool in Oklahoma City, police officials showed it to local prosecutors who advised some caution before using it on high-stakes criminal cases. For now, it's only used for minor incident reports that don't lead to someone getting arrested. So no arrests, no felonies, no violent crimes, said Oklahoma City police Capt. Jason Bussert, who handles information technology for the 1,170-officer department. That's not the case in another city, Lafayette, Indiana, where Police Chief Scott Galloway told the AP that all of his officers can use Draft One on any kind of case and it's been incredibly popular since the pilot began earlier this year. Or in Fort Collins, Colorado, where police Sgt. Robert Younger said officers are free to use it on any type of report, though they discovered it doesn't work well on patrols of the city's downtown bar district because of an overwhelming amount of noise." Along with using AI to analyze and summarize the audio recording, Axon experimented with computer vision to summarize what's seen in the video footage, before quickly realizing that the technology was not ready. Given all the sensitivities around policing, around race and other identities of people involved, thats an area where I think were going to have to do some real work before we would introduce it, said Smith, the Axon CEO, describing some of the tested responses as not overtly racist but insensitive in other ways. Those experiments led Axon to focus squarely on audio in the product unveiled in April during its annual company conference for police officials. The technology relies on the same generative AI model that powers ChatGPT, made by San Francisco-based OpenAI. OpenAI is a close business partner with Microsoft, which is Axon's cloud computing provider. We use the same underlying technology as ChatGPT, but we have access to more knobs and dials than an actual ChatGPT user would have, said Noah Spitzer-Williams, who manages Axon's AI products. Turning down the creativity dial" helps the model stick to facts so that it doesnt embellish or hallucinate in the same ways that you would find if you were just using ChatGPT on its own, he said. Axon won't say how many police departments are using the technology. It's not the only vendor, with startups like Policereports.ai and Truleo pitching similar products. But given Axon's deep relationship with police departments that buy its Tasers and body cameras, experts and police officials expect AI-generated reports to become more ubiquitous in the coming months and years. Before that happens, legal scholar Andrew Ferguson would like to see more of a public discussion about the benefits and potential harms. For one thing, the large language models behind AI chatbots are prone to making up false information, a problem known as hallucination that could add convincing and hard-to-notice falsehoods into a police report. I am concerned that automation and the ease of the technology would cause police officers to be sort of less careful with their writing, said Ferguson, a law professor at American University working on what's expected to be the first law review article on the emerging technology. Ferguson said a police report is important in determining whether an officer's suspicion "justifies someones loss of liberty." It's sometimes the only testimony a judge sees, especially for misdemeanor crimes. Human-generated police reports also have flaws, Ferguson said, but it's an open question as to which is more reliable. For some officers who've tried it, it is already changing how they respond to a reported crime. They're narrating what's happening so the camera better captures what they'd want to put in writing. As the technology catches on, Bussert expects officers will become more and more verbal in describing what's in front of them. After Bussert loaded the video of a traffic stop into the system and pressed a button, the program produced a narrative-style report in conversational language that included dates and times, just like an officer would have typed from his notes, all based on audio from the body camera. It was literally seconds, Gilmore said, and it was done to the point where I was like, I dont have anything to change. At the end of the report, the officer must click a box that indicates it was generated with the use of AI. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of APs text archives. Police who respond to unsolved 01 homicide find witness who was last to see victim alive YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) When police found 23-year-old Scottie Hornbuckle shot to death on the floor of a 733 Parkview Ave. home late Sept. 28, 2001, they found a witness who said he was the last person to see Hornbuckle alive. Read next: Realty Building demolition nears completion The witness told police he had left to go to a nearby store on Glenwood Avenue to get some chicken wings for himself and Hornbuckle. It was a cloudy, cool, early autumn evening when the witness came back about 10:40 p.m. and found Hornbuckle shot to death on the floor. An autopsy revealed he had been shot eight times. Among his wounds was a wound to his left hand, which suggests a defensive wound, as if he had his hand up in front of him just before he was shot. Hornbuckles case was never solved. Of 34 people killed in 2001, 18 of those cases are unsolved. The witness told police that when he returned from the store, another vehicle pulled into the drive and two men inside got out, walked into the house with the witness, then ran outside and drove away when they discovered Hornbuckles body. The witness then drove back to the store where he got the chicken strips and called 911. Another witness told police the next day that she dropped Hornbuckle off at the home about an hour before he was killed, and the witness accused Hornbuckle of stealing marijuana from him. That witness noticed a 9mm handgun inside the home, but police reports do not list any weapons being recovered. However, reports do note that investigators found casings from a 9mm handgun along with casings from a .22-caliber handgun. The witness who told police he discovered Hornbuckles body was questioned by detectives and given a gunshot residue test. The results of the test were not listed in reports obtained by WKBN following a public records request. This story is part of a series of cold cases that WKBN is examining. Do you have a cold case that youd like us to look into further? Submit a cold case to WKBN. Anyone with information on Hornbuckles death can call police at 330-742-8911 or CrimeStoppers Youngstown at 330-746-CLUE. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. Police search for driver involved in deadly hit-and-run crash on Near North Side Police search for driver involved in deadly hit-and-run crash on Near North Side CHICAGO A search is underway for a driver involved in a deadly hit-and-run crash that unfolded on the citys Near North Side earlier this month. According to Chicago police, the crash occurred just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10. in the 1300 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Officers said the victim had initially been struck by a vehicle while in the street, afterward the driver of the car pulled over and reported the crash to police and stayed on the scene. Shortly after the first crash, a second vehicle, which was headed northbound in the right lane, struck the victim a second time but did not stop. According to police, the victim suffered fatal injuries as a result of the second crash. Police search for driver involved in deadly hit-and-run crash on Near North Side On Sunday morning, Chicago police shared a photo of the vehicle involved in the crash, which was captured by surveillance cameras, as the search continues for the driver responsible. Officers say they believe the vehicle was a white four-door sedan with a moon roof and front end damage. Police added that the car may be a 2017-2020 Lincoln Continental. Police said the car was last seen driving in the 400 block of East Grand Avenue and the 300 block of East Grand Avenue. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Anyone with information on the crash, or those who may have witnessed the occupants exiting the vehicle, is asked to call the CPD Major Accident Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521 or dial 911. Those with information can also 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. TEHRAN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday exchanged views on bilateral ties and regional issues of common interest. During their telephone conversation, both sides noted the ongoing Israeli "crimes" in Gaza and the escalating tensions in the West Asia region, stressing the need to halt Israel's "crimes" and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian coastal enclave, said a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Both sides agreed that bilateral relations were on the right track, and called for expanding cooperation in different areas, the statement added. They also urged continued consultations between the two countries, noting that such dialogue aligns with both bilateral and regional interests. In April 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of diplomatic relations in Beijing after years of estrangement. UPDATE: The Winnsboro Police Department said Caviness was found safe at 1:30 p.m. WINNSBORO, Texas (KETK) East Texas officials are asking for the publics help in locating a missing 75-years-old Winnsboro man last seen on Sunday. Body found in Titus County, sheriffs office says The Winnsboro Police Department is searching for Larry Caviness who went missing from his residence on Ebenezer Street at around 9:30 a.m. where he reportedly left his wallet and phone behind. Caviness is described as being 61 and 180 pounds. Picture of Larry Caviness, Courtesy of the Winnsboro Police Department. Picture of Larry Caviness, Courtesy of the Winnsboro Police Department. Officials said Caviness left the residence in his blue 1996 GMC 1500 with Texas license plate AG41525. Picture of Caviness truck, courtesy of the Winnsboro Police Department. Picture of Caviness truck, courtesy of the Winnsboro Police Department. Anyone with information on Caviness whereabouts is asked to contact the Winnsboro Police Department at 903-342-3620. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. After six sewage samples taken in Gaza in late June tested positive for poliovirus, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that it was just a matter of time before the disease reached thousands of Palestinian children. At the time of his warning in late July, cases of acute flaccid paralysis, a symptom of poliovirus infection, had been flagged in the area where the samples were taken. Just weeks later, Gazas first polio case in 25 years was confirmed in an unvaccinated 10-month-old. Now more than 1.2 million oral polio vaccines have arrived in the Gaza Strip, with millions more expected in coming days. The aim is to vaccinate about 640,000 children under the age of 10 with two doses each. A plan is in place to access the territory and distribute them all while keeping the vials in the vital temperature range of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit). Still, there are huge challenges ahead to administer the vaccines. WHO is joined in the vaccination effort by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the United Nations Childrens Fund, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and other partners. Each organization has been assigned a role in the technical and strategic microplan to execute the vaccine campaign. Above all, the organizations have emphasized that a ceasefire what they are calling a polio pause is crucial. Without one, they say, children in Gaza will continue to become paralyzed, and the deadly disease will spread to the broader region and beyond. The Ministry called on international organizations to work and pressure the occupying authorities to stop the continuous aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip so that medical teams can vaccinate children and prevent the spread of the polio virus, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah said on Sunday. The cohort and other aid groups have called for seven days to safely administer the vaccines. Hamas said in a statement August 16 that it supports the polio pause. Israels Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which manages the flow of aid into Gaza, previously said that local and international medical teams would administer vaccines to unvaccinated children in Gaza in the coming days and would coordinate with the Israeli military to use humanitarian pauses that will allow the population to reach the medical centers where the vaccinations will be administered. A medical team from the Palestinian Red Crescent vaccinates a child against poiio as part of a routine campaign at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis on August 22. - Hani Alshaer/Anadolu/Getty Images Discussions around temporary pauses in fighting are still ongoing. The tentative date to begin vaccinations is August 31 if conditions allow it. We are optimistic and getting positive signals that all parties want this campaign done and done well. Everybody agrees that that needs to happen. Thats encouraging, but the details are yet to be worked out, said Dr. Hamid Jafari, WHOs polio director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Meanwhile, broader negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt are also underway, aiming to end 10 months of conflict after Israel launched a war on Hamas following the groups October 7 attack. But progress in the talks does not guarantee a final agreement anytime soon. Clarity and confidence in vaccination Even with humanitarian pauses, the delivery of vaccines to Gaza is just the start of an obstacle-filled campaign. The plan begins with each international organization assigned a role, according to Jonathan Crickx, chief of communications at UNICEF Palestine. WHO is responsible for approving the vaccines, conducting on-the-ground monitoring and testing suspected environmental and human polio cases. UNICEF is procuring and supplying vaccines and refrigeration materials and leading an awareness campaign for civilians. It will share information on who can get vaccinated, where and why through social media, mass media and printed leaflets. Families are making daily decisions whether they go out, risk their lives to get food or water or fuel, Jafari said. And we are now going to be asking them to come out to get vaccinations. What do they do? In order to motivate them, we have to make sure that there is clarity of information and enough confidence and trust that it will be safe. A ceasefire is the only way to ensure this, he said. As the awareness campaign progresses, the vaccines will be distributed to 10 UNRWA health facilities and up to 100 mobile medical points across the Gaza Strip. UNRWA is on the ground to get vaccines into mouths through these health facilities, shelters and mobile units. Those mobile teams go from one shelter to another and in the areas where people have taken refuge that are not inside shelters, UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said. People have taken refuge anywhere: in the open, on the streets, by the beach, wherever they can. Protecting the cold chain For WHO and UNICEF, one of the most crucial responsibilities is protecting the cold chain: The vaccines must be kept within a limited temperature range, or they will spoil. This requires ice boxes, mobile fridges, working generators, solar panels and fuel. The necessary equipment to keep the vaccines cold was already delivered to Gaza last week, according to the Health Ministry in Ramallah. Temperatures in Negba, a few miles north of Gaza, reached 39.4 Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) this summer, according to CNN meteorologists. Its absolutely critical not only that the vaccine is brought into Gaza but that its protected. For them, the chain is a whole operation, Touma said. The campaign will enter a region that has experienced persistent fuel shortages since October, when Israeli authorities cut off the feeder line supply and shut down the local power plant, the UN said. The Deir al-Balah warehouse and UNRWA health facilities need this fleeting supply, and each vaccine pack is equipped with temperature-sensitive stickers to indicate whether the cold chain breaks, according to Crickx. This is a huge challenge, he said. When Im talking about that warehouse in Deir al-Balah and the UNRWA health facilities, we have to realize that this is not much. Its only 25% of the cold chain capacity before the war. The Gaza Strip is exposed to a very serious lack of reliable power supply. Aid organizations have tried to supplement the dwindling supply by bringing in fuel. However, a July Oxfam International report said that, on average, only a fifth of whats required for the functioning of vital services across Gaza has been allowed to cross the border. Even before the seventh of October, Gaza was running on only eight hours of electricity a day. The Israeli government wouldnt allow specific fuel allocations, said Bushra Khalidi, the Oxfam policy lead who worked on the report. As soon as the fuel cut in October, the everything shut. Aid trucks loaded with supplies for Gaza wait in Arish, Egypt, in May. - Ali Moustafa/Getty Images Weve had goods that are just sitting there in the trucks since May, exposed, said Edward Carins, emergency response senior operations manager at humanitarian aid organization Mercy Corps. Access is virtually nonexistent or extremely restricted. On average, only 76 humanitarian trucks entered the Gaza Strip each day from August 1 to 12, an 85% drop from an average of 500 trucks before the crisis, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Israels Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) gave the polio vaccines special permission to access the territory, along with other cold chain items that are typically not allowed inside Gaza. However, the void of existing resources means there is little backup to protect the cold chain if something were to go wrong, according to Carins. Challenges on the ground Even with robust plans in place, the vaccine vials have crossed into an epicenter of disease. The collapse of water, sewage and health-care systems combined with shortages of aid, food and sanitation supplies, overcrowding, flooding and the plummeted vaccination rates has turned the region into an epicenter for various diseases, said Touma, the UNRWA communications director. Polio is a highly contagious viral infection spread mainly through contaminated water or food. The virus attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis, respiratory issues and even death. All the factors that facilitate poliovirus transmission are present in Gaza, according to WHOs Jafari. Beyond polio, the conditions have contributed to surging cases of hepatitis, jaundice, diarrheal illnesses and highly contagious skin rashes, among other infectious and gastrointestinal diseases, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. The whole of Gaza has become one huge refugee camp, Touma added. I saw tens of thousands of people just piling up on top of each other The sewage is overflowing. It was far from clean. I remember a colleague telling us that in community hospitals, after quite a big attack by Israeli forces, he saw staff cleaning the floor with water because they had no disinfectant. With no wastewater treatment plants remaining and only 88% of water wells operational, sewage has filled the streets, and Palestinians are unable to avoid polluted water, the Oxfam report says. Children can be seen drinking from puddles littered with sewage and worms, Palestinians and aid workers in Gaza told CNN. Stagnant wastewater covers streets in Deir el-Balah, the area where the polio samples were identified, in July. - Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images Everybody is sick all the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, Khalidi said. Her own family and friends are always sick. They were in Rafah, and they were sick. They were in Gaza City, they were sick, and now they are in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, and theyre still sick. Its not related to the area they are. Its related to the water. My friend has had bloody diarrhea for the last four months and is unable to get medical care for it, and hes been displaced almost 15 times. Since October, nearly 86% of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. As of Wednesday, 1.9 million people 9 in 10 people across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, the UN said. This constant internal displacement due to mass evacuation orders and unlivable conditions will make it challenging to reach the polio vaccination campaigns goal of at least 90% coverage, according to Jafari. We are starting from two positions of disadvantage, he said. One is that we detected this outbreak quite late, and the virus is already widespread. Weve already failed one child whos been paralyzed by polio now, and more will happen. The second disadvantage is that here we cant go to houses [because of displacement]. We have to convince families to come to the vaccination sites. UNRWA identified the notoriously inaccessible northern territory of Gaza the first area Israel attacked after October 7 as a unique challenge amid the already difficult task of reaching families across the strip. Its impossible from to go from Deir al-Balah to the North. Its too dangerous. The IDF wont let it. Its full of unexploded ordnances and full of bandits. Goods and people generally are not passing between the North and middle area, and most aid agencies have very limited presence there, Carins said. He said he hopes that when the world sees workers attempt to take the polio vaccines into the North, people will also notice the broader issues at hand. We look at the polio vaccinations and are glad that they are going ahead, hopefully under a ceasefire, but are reminded that this campaign is a direct symptom of the fact that this has gone way, way, way too far, Carins added. The conditions that are now present in Gaza are totally unacceptable This week, its polio vaccinations. Next week, it will always be something else. These are scars that Gaza is going to have to deal with for decades to come. Quelling global spread Touma highlighted the urgency of the polio vaccine campaign in Gaza. Polio is vicious. It can spread very quickly. It doesnt know any borders or front lines, and it doesnt need a visa, Touma said. To illustrate the virus capabilities, Jafari pointed to a 2022 incident in which the same strain spread to London, New York and Israel places known for having optimal sanitation and public health infrastructure. Before the war, Gaza had near-universal vaccine coverage, but it has since dropped to just over 80%, a number WHO hopes to raise to 90% to 95% by the end of the new campaign. If we cant [reach 90% to 95% vaccine coverage in Gaza], this outbreak will continue. More children will get paralyzed. This outbreak will spread into Israel and into surrounding countries, Jafari said. It is not only a regional threat, its a global threat. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com After a star-studded Democratic National Convention full of impassioned cries to get out the vote, its hard not to feel like the country is on the verge of electing its first Black female President. But with less than 80 days before we cast our votes, we cant afford to take our feet off the gas. A lot can happen in that short time, so we need to stay engaged and focused on the issues. Photo: SeventyFour (Getty Images) Thats why weve curated a list of books by Black authors that will remind us of the most important issues and the trailblazers whove paved the way for this historic moment. As we prepare to head to the polls in November, these books should be on your reading list. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee Image: Amazon.com While Donald Trump wants to convince us that migrants are stealing Black jobs, Heather McGhee is telling a much different story in The Sum of Us. She writes about her travels around the country speaking with people about their economic woes and opens readers eyes to the reality of how racism impacts everyone. Our country will be better because of this book, said Maryland Governor Wes Moore. The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasnt and How We All Can Move Forward Now by Bakari Sellers Image: Amazon.com Shortly after the George Floyds killing, Bakari Sellers was set to talk about it on CNN, but he became so emotional that it was hard for him to speak. After catching his breath, his comments got us all choked up. That specific moment did not only go viral, it was heard across the world and sets the stage for smart conversations and narratives on why we must stay informed with the past, alert about the present and prepared to create our own future. In the The Moment, Sellers writes about the real impact of government policies and how disparities in everything from healthcare to education to policing affect the Black community. The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto by Charles Blow Image: Amazon.com The COVID pandemic and the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd inspired journalist and author Charles Blow to write The Devil You Know, a book that calls on African Americans to consider another Great Migration from the North to Republican-held states in the South in order to have a greater impact on the countries elections. The book was the inspiration for the HBO documentary, South to Black Power. We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates Image: Amazon.com We Were Eight Years in Power is a collection of essays from Ta-Nehisi Coates in which he shares his personal reflections about the historic nature of Barack Obamas election and the aftermath that gave us a new era of racial prejudice and ultimately the election of Donald Trump. Say it Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives and Saving Our Democracy by Tiffany Cross Photo: Amazon.com In Say it Louder, Tiffany Cross explores the critical impact of the Black vote in Americas elections and the not-so-subtle efforts to suppress it throughout history including those by mainstream media. Kamala and Mayas Big Idea by Meena Harris Image: Amazon.com Written by Vice President Kamala Harris niece Meena Harris, Kamala and Mayas Big Idea, is a beautifully inspiring childrens picture book inspired by the childhoods of sisters Kamala and Maya Harris. The story, which follows the young girls efforts to turn their empty apartment courtyard into a playground for neighborhood children, is meant to teach the lesson that with perseverance, dreams can come true. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called it a must read for little girls around the world. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison Image: Amazon.com Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History is a bestselling childrens picture book written to teach children ages 4 to 9 about some of the most influential Black women in history. From Sojourner Truth to Mae Jemison, these biographies will inspire young readers to reach for the stars. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics by Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry and Minyon Moore Photo: Amazon.com With decades of political experience between them, Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry and Minyon Moore are among the most influential and well-respected Black women in politics. In For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, they give readers an inside look at how they were called to service and how their work with everyone from Presidents to community activists has helped shape the Democratic party. She Was The First: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown Image: Amazon.com Before there was Kamala Harris, there was Shirley Chisholm. She Was The First! is a picture book to help kids ages 6 to 12 learn more about the trailblazing politician and activist who made history as the the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black woman to run for President of the United States. Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney Photo: Amazon.com While many voters will be thinking about the economy as they head to the polls in November, we shouldnt underestimate the importance of environmental issues particularly as they impact the Black community. In Black Faces, White Spaces, Carolyn Finney looks at African Americans relationship with the outdoors throughout history and examines the intersection of racism and our countrys environmental policy decisions. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Love by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo: Harper Collins If you find yourself asking what Dr. King would do during this highly-charged time in political history, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Love is the book for you. Set for an October 22 release, its a compilation of some of the legendary civil rights leaders writings and speeches about the transformative power of love. I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankinds problems, he wrote. Represent: The Unfinished Fight for The Vote by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau Image: Amazon.com Authors Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau tell the story of voting rights in the United States from American Revolution to the present day in Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote, set for a September 10 release date. A must read for every American, Dyson and Favreau introduce readers to some of the unsung heroes who have committed their lives to make democracy work for every citizen. Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams Photo: Amazon.com If anyone knows about voter suppression, its Stacey Abrams, who was targeted by efforts to stop her from becoming the first Black woman governor. In Our Time is Now, she writes about the campaign to disenfranchise people of color across the country and offers solutions to protect one of our inalienable rights. Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood Image: Amazon.com Its never too early to become an activist. Woke is a collection of poetry intended to inspire young readers between age 8 and 12 to join the fight for social justice and make a lasting impact in their communities. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones Image: Amazon.com The 1619 Project is a frequent target of book bans and challenges around the country. But Nikole Hannah-Jones bestselling book should be required reading for every American. The book beautifully weaves together essays, poems and works of fiction that examine the impact of slavery on every aspect of todays America. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 07: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) gives a thumbs down during President Joe Biden's State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on February 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Certain politicians try to dress up their rhetoric about immigration as a concern for national security. But theyre really peddling an old, racist theory that has already fueled several massacres in the United States, an alliance of eight anti-hate groups report. They say a slew of public statements and some legislative and state actions are based on the great replacement theory a belief that shadowy, often-Jewish actors are orchestrating mass immigration by people of color to break the dominance of white people in American society. The theory has been connected to racist massacres in El Paso, Buffalo and Pittsburgh in which Hispanic, Black and Jewish people were targeted, respectively. The anti-hate groups include the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Western States Center, and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. Issued earlier this month, their report documents a disturbing trend among a faction of the 118th Congress: the normalization and amplification of xenophobic great replacement and invasion conspiracy theories. Peddling the notion that immigrants are invading the United States as part of some nefarious plot is to promote a lie. U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has defined invasion as a hostile and organized military force, too powerful to be dealt with by ordinary judicial proceedings. Even when the numbers of undocumented immigrants crossing the border peaked, there was never any evidence that they were part of a military force of any kind. Theres also the fact that claims that immigration is a plot to subsume white power come from the most evidence-free precincts of the conspiracy world. Its also relevant to note that despite the fact that former President Donald Trump relentlessly hypes stories of crimes committed by the undocumented, that group commits crimes at substantially lower rates than the native-born. People who study hate speech say claims of an invasion or a great replacement dehumanize immigrants and people of color and make them targets of violent extremists. Despite their inaccuracy and their toxicity, many in the current Congress have made statements related to those theories. As of publication, the 118th Congress has held more than 30 Congressional hearings where bigoted conspiracies of cultural replacement or an invasion were espoused, and dozens of immigration hardliners, far-right figures, and members of SPLC-designated anti-immigrant hate groups were called to testify, the report said. In total, there have been 1,411 unique social media posts from official congressional accounts promoting the same bigoted conspiracies. The report cited statements made by dozens of lawmakers, including several from Ohio. For example, U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson of Troy on June 27, 2023 posted on X, America welcomes about 1-million new citizens each year. An organized invasion and occupation is not the same thing. Border security is national security and Congress must restore our sovereign southern border with appropriations/impeachment. Impeachment referred to an attempt to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The effort failed, but Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, all but accused him of plotting to destroy the United States. She said Mayorkas has inflicted great damage on our cities and families, the kind you would expect from a hostile foreign adversary looking to destabilize America, the report said. Criminal illegal immigrants are murdering, raping, and beating people in broad daylight. This is the death and destruction of our country and people, not just a policy difference. Never one to be outdone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, took the floor during the impeachment debate and accused the Homeland Security secretary of actively working to take the country down. Mayorkas is guilty of aiding and abetting the complete invasion of our country by gang members, murderers, rapists, and thousands of immigrants, she said. The report also said that conspiracy theories about an invasion and the great replacement have spurred legislation. For example, Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, introduced H.R. 552: No Tax Dollars for the United Nations Immigration Invasion Act, which would prohibit the federal government from making contributions to the United Nations migrant and refugee agencies. The U.S. has given bipartisan support to the UN refugee agency for over 70 years, the report said. It adds that coded versions of replacement-style ideas are manifesting at the state level. Despite Trumps lies about the 2020 election, voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare. So rare that when expressed as a percentage, its usually a number that starts 0.000 Whipping up unfounded fears of fraud to justify measures that reduce minority voting isnt new. But the New York Times in 2022 reported a new trend Republican officials claiming that undocumented immigrants were voting in substantial numbers. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has undertaken several potentially suppressive measures, supposedly to stop undocumented immigrants from voting. Last week, he referred 597 cases of possible non-citizen registration for prosecution, but LaRoses batting average in this arena isnt good. An investigation by the Capital Journal last year found that of the 521 cases of noncitizen voting referred to law enforcement up to that point in LaRoses tenure, just one resulted in prosecution. LaRose has been in office since the start of 2019, and the number of ballots cast in the state since then is well over 10 million. However, LaRose continues to conduct voter purges that opponents say disproportionately target voters of color, and his office has improperly purged citizens from the voting rolls. Yet he was back on X last week, again behaving as if noncitizen voting was a substantial problem in Ohio. It is my sworn-duty to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in Ohios elections, LeRose said. Following the most extensive citizenship verification audit ever conducted, our Public Integrity Division has now formally referred evidence of noncitizen voter registrations to the Ohio AG for potential prosecution. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Former attorney Tom Girardi appears at the U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles earlier this month. He faces federal charges that he pilfered funds from his clients in order to finance his lifestyle. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) A victim of a gas explosion that killed his girlfriend. A client injured by a medical device and fighting bankruptcy. A woman who lost her husband in a boating accident. Another whose 1-year-old son became paraplegic after a drunk driver hit the family car. They had all gone to Tom Girardi's law firm, trusting and believing that he would help them get the settlements they deserved, Assistant U.S. Atty. Ali Moghaddas told jurors in closing arguments Monday. Instead, Moghaddas said, all were further victimized by Girardi once a legal legend who is on trial on four counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors have accused Girardi of stealing more than $15 million from four clients between 2010 and 2020. "He picked these people in the darkest hour of their life and told them what he thought they'd believe," Moghaddas told the jury on the 12th day of the trial. "What you saw in this case is, for years, the defendant was running a Ponzi scheme." For nearly two hours Monday, Deputy Public Defender Charles Snyder pushed back on the government's case, referring to his 85-year-old client as an "elderly man with cognitive decline" and laying the blame for a massive case of fraud at the feet of Chris Kamon, the former chief financial officer for the now-closed law firm, Girardi Keese. The defense lawyers accused Kamon of stealing more than $50 million from the firm. There was a scheme to steal from clients during that 10-year time frame, Snyder said, but it wasn't Girardi's. "This was Mr. Kamon's scheme," Snyder said. "This was absolutely not [Girardi's] fraud." Kamon is also charged with wire fraud in connection with the theft of client money, along with a separate case in which he is accused of embezzling funds from the firm to finance the purchase of homes and a $20,000-per-month payment to his girlfriend. But just because Kamon stole, Assistant U.S. Atty. Scott Paetty said in rebuttal, does not mean Girardi is innocent. "It just makes Girardi Keese a den of thieves, and it makes Girardi the thief-in-chief," Paetty said. The closing arguments capped off an at-times emotional trial that has lasted for weeks and included surprising testimony from Girardi in his own defense, denying that he'd misled clients and saying they got paid every penny they were owed. Read more: Tom Girardi on the witness stand: 'I wasnt going to "go steal money''' Prosecutors called several of the firm's former clients to the stand; they described Girardi as a famous lawyer in whom they had fully placed their trust. There was Joseph Ruigomez, who won a settlement of more than $50 million for burns he suffered in the San Bruno, Calif., gas explosion. Judy Selberg, who got a $500,000 settlement after her husband died in a boating accident. Erika Saldana, for whom the firm secured a $17.5-million settlement after her 1-year-old son had been badly injured when a drunk driver crashed into their car in 2015. Emails presented during trial, from clients to law firm employees, illustrated the difficulties as payments lagged. Selberg said she desperately needed the nearly $300,000 she was owed to pay bills, including property taxes. Josefina Hernandez, who was waiting on settlement funds related to her pelvic mesh lawsuit, said her bank account was in the red. Saldana said her family needed it to buy a new house with more space for her son. Saldana, who at times testified in tears, said in an email to a partner at the law firm that the family had held off on buying a hospital bed their son desperately needed because their apartment was too small. She gave her son baths on his bed because of the struggle to fit him into the shower. "We have already lost so many opportunities to buy a house," Saldana wrote in an April 2020 email to Girardi and another partner at the firm. "It's been almost a year since our case settled and we still haven't received the balance of our settlement." Girardi, she testified, gave varying excuses as to why they could not get the money: Her son's trust wasn't established yet. There was a tax issue with the IRS. A judge didn't want to sign off on the release of the money. The more it stretched out, Saldana testified, it felt like "reopening a wound" they had tried to close. The family never received an outstanding $1 million they were owed. During his trial, Girardi took notes as former clients testified and occasionally appeared to confer with his attorneys. At times, Girardi joked with court staff. "Got a good doorman here," Girardi said to the courtroom clerk, as he held the door open for Girardi after a break one day. Girardi's lawyers contended their client was mentally incompetent, unable to assist his own attorneys let alone retain any short-term memory and in the throes of progressive cognitive decline. A federal judge last year ruled he was fit to stand trial. "Mr. Girardi got old and he got sick and he lost his mind," Snyder told the jury on Monday. Snyder argued that Girardi was running the firm in name only and called it a "Weekend at Bernie's" situation where partners at the firm were "propping him up to keep the party going." During the trial, Girardi's federal public defenders called more than 10 witnesses, including Dr. Helena Chui, who testified that Girardi has dementia; his former housekeeper of about 20 years; and his secretaries at the law firm. Their last witness was Girardi himself, and one of his lawyers, Samuel Cross, seemed to test his client's mental acuity for jurors, asking him if his law firm was still open, to which he answered yes. Tom, whats my name? Cross asked him. I have no idea, Girardi replied. Bad, mean, terrible, its one of those. At times, Girardi testified, funds were withheld from clients because of medical liens, clients going through divorce, or drug issues. Girardi said the holdbacks were not for me to take the money. Snyder told the jury Monday, regarding Girardi's testimony, "The lights were on but nobody was home." Snyder described his client to jurors as a man who time and again "took on Goliath" and prevailed. By the time the alleged fraud scheme began, Snyder said, Girardi had won every award there was to win and "did not have to cheat to win." He told the jury he wasn't saying that Girardi never told lies, but that "a lie alone does not equal fraud." "I think you all understand what's at play here for an 85-year-old man," Snyder told the jury in his closing argument. "Your decision in this case will forever alter the trajectory of Mr. Girardi's life." In his rebuttal, Paetty said Girardi "chose himself again and again," and used client money to underwrite an exorbitant lifestyle. He argued that Kamon stole millions and needed Girardi to do it, but added that Girardi needed Kamon as well. "[Girardi] needed a morally flexible person in that job," Paetty said. Paetty said when new client funds came in, Girardi would use those to pay something to the old clients he still owed. And just like any Ponzi scheme, Paetty said, it came crashing down when the money stopped. "The house of cards that was Girardi Keese crumbled around him because it was built on lies," Paetty said. The jury began deliberating Girardi's fate Monday afternoon. He could face a decades-long prison sentence if convicted. 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. In 2018, when I first began engaging in debates over what is today called postliberalism, more than a few of my fellow academics told me not to waste my time. In their view, it was an especially niche debate among a few mostly obscure and highly placed academic eccentrics. But we should all care because postliberalism is now on the presidential ballot, and many of the same people I spoke to are scrambling to understand why and how. To do so we must understand what postliberalism means, who the major actors are in developing its ideas and influencing political elites, and the next steps for postliberals given that they now have one of their own on the 2024 Republican presidential ticket in Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. Put simply, postliberalism is three things. First, it is an authoritarian ideology adapted from Catholic reactionary movements responding to the French Revolution and, later, World War I. Second, it is a loose international coalition of illiberal, right-wing parties and political actors. Third, it is a set of policy proposals for creating a welfare state for family formation, the government establishment of the Christian religion, and the movement from republican government to administrative despotism. The third point might sound unhinged, but postiberals have come to object to liberalism. While most Americans know the term liberalism as a reference to a left-of-center ideology common among Democrats, the other common use is in reference to a political theory that prioritizes individual rights as a source of political authority and human flourishing. Postliberals believe this classical liberalism to be a disembodied secularizing (even satanic) force that uses the language of liberty of conscience, representative government, and constitutionalism to conceal the true liberal aim of denying the authority of the highest good. In their view, liberalism has presently fallen apart, and there is now no need to conserve classical liberalism as movement conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr. to Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan had argued. On the contrary, postliberals want to end liberalism and entirely replace it with what comes nextwhat is literally postliberal. Given that liberalism entails liberty of conscience, representative government, and a constitution, none of those will be part of a postliberal order. Citizens will become subjects. Personal liberty gives way to bureaucratic discretion. Market economies are replaced by an alliance of corporate and state power. What does that mean in policy terms? If Donald Trump wins the presidency again in November, does that mean we could be one election away from a postliberal America? The answer is, for postliberals, eventually. Postliberals have adopted a long game, believing that they will not secure policy wins all at once but rather one at a time. For example, family policy might wed middle-class voters to postliberalism like tax cuts once united them to movement conservatism. Family policy could thus become the leverage for future postliberal positions, such as giving China and Russia free hands in their spheres of influence. After all, why should America spend money defending Ukraine when the nation could spend that money on rebuilding the American family? This might sound far-fetched, but one should consider that recommendations for a middle-class welfare state and opposition to Ukraine are coming from postliberals, who are repeating messages from Viktor Orban in the process. This is not speculation but their stated position. Much of this is new to many ordinary American conservatives, but these arguments are actually quite old and have unpleasant roots. What are the historical roots of postliberalism? Postliberalism as an ideology has complex origins: medieval papalism, ultramontanism, and continental reactionary thought. Medieval papalism was the school of thought that the popes claim to spiritual authority over Christendom made him the true sovereign over Christian subjects. Hence, the church could authorize a kings subjects to revolt against his rule in favor of a person the church favors.This school of thought reached its zenith under Pope Boniface VIII, who issued the 1302 bull, Unam sanctam, to declare his spiritual sovereignty over Christian kings. The result was that the French king, Philip the Fair, kidnapped him, and Boniface died soon after of an illness and thus ushered in a century-long religious and political crisis called the Babylonian Captivity with its popes and anti-popes. We are not off to a good start. Ultramontanism (based on the Latin meaning beyond the mountains, meaning the Alps) was the successor ideology to papalism after the Reformation and the rise of nation-states. In this case, ultramontanism referred to the deference Catholics should pay to obeying the pope over secular laws when the two were in conflict. Finally, and perhaps most obscure, is the rightwing continental reaction to the French Revolution, which requires more explanation. For post-revolutionary reactionaries on the European continent, liberalismbased on the belief that individual rights informed political authoritywas the effort of radicals to destroy traditional institutions of authority, namely the throne and altar. So continental reactionaries did not engage with liberal ideas as much as they sought to discredit them by attacking their supposed originsJews and Freemasonsand the shadowy agents that inserted them into national political life. Early reactionaries like Louis de Bonald in his 1806 article in the Mercurie Sure le Juifs joined Adam Smiths concept of a commercial society to the prosperity of the Jews, for example, and how their continued freedom would spell their control of France. Later reactionaries, like Louis Veuillot, Henri Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux, and Edouard Drumont, fashioned conspiracy theories joining the Jews to the Freemasons in what became known as the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory. The conspiracy experienced widespread adoption, as Catholic clerics and political operators bought into it for its convenience in exonerating the old Catholic monarchies they hoped to restore. Rather than absolute monarchs being corrupt or incompetent, they became, for reactionaries, innocent victims of Jewish tricks and Masonic treachery. Postliberalism in the 20th century. World War I ended reactionary hopes for the restoration of the monarchies of the past. Many monarchists shifted to becoming integralists or rightwing revolutionaries who hoped to establish modern states with a Catholic dictator overseeing bureaucratic administration. The ideological architect for this project was mid-19th century Spanish monarchist Juan Donoso Cortes, but much of his work had become obscure until Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt resuscitated it in his critique of the Weimar Republic and, eventually, his support of the Third Reich. In 1923, Schmitt saw in the papacy the last remaining example of a person who both represents the church in that he speaks for it but also in that he is the church in his person: The political power of Catholicism rests neither on economic nor on military means but rather on the absolute realization of authority the Church is a concrete personal representation of a concrete personality But it has the power to assume this or any other form only because it has the power of representation. It represents the civitas humana. It represents in every moment the historical connection to the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ. It represents the Person of Christ Himself The Catholic Church is the sole surviving contemporary example of the medieval capacity to create representative figures. This treatment of the papacy echoes his 1921 book Dictatorship, wherein Schmitt affirmed that the dictator requires personal representation. Modern liberal states, in Schmitts view, expose their people to a constant struggle over power that only a dictator could settle. In the same way that the pope speaks as the final authority in the Catholic Church, so does the dictator speak as final authority on national affairs. While initially resistant to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Schmitt warmed to them and found a way to fit Hitler into his own thinking. For this, the Nazis gave him a prominent professorship from which he defended Hitlers extra-judicial killings and the need to purge German law of the Jewish spirit. Though Schmitt ended up on the outs with the Nazis by 1936, he never disavowed them during their control of Germany. Prior to World War II, different combinations of integralists, monarchists, and fascists collaborated to seize control (or attempt to) of national governments in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, and Argentina. During the Second World War, there were postliberal regimes in Slovakia, Croatia, and Franceall three run by Nazi collaborators. Postliberal parties and governments have each been unique but the general conceit was the same: A nation has a corrupt, poorly managed parliamentary regime that governed a population with high levels of illiteracyall held together by a combination of the army, patronage, and political inertia. Once ideological polarization became bad enough for partisans to take to the street in riots, the military often intervened to establish a dictatorship. Among the most radical right-wing parties were the integralists, Catholic nationalists, and monarchists of these nations. Those who supported integralist parties during this period were often middle-class Catholics, much of the Catholic clergy, large landowners, industrialists, and right-wing intellectuals. Given that they believed the only alternatives were continued disorder of liberal parliamentarianism or a socialist takeover, they sided with the integralists, who often themselves were in coalition with monarchist or fascist factions, as well as the army. What does contemporary postliberalism look like? How did postliberalism move from fringe Catholic ideology to the GOP vice presidential nomination in less than a decade in the person of Sen. J.D. Vance? After all, most Americans do not want what historical postliberals have proposed. To explain requires understanding how postliberals aimed to move from developing an ideology to creating an elite movement. On the ideological front, Notre Dame legal scholar Patrick Deneen has done much to break with the old Judeo-Masonic conspiracy by attributing the problems of liberalism not to shadowy conspirators but to the inevitable consequences of adopting liberal principles in law, culture, and economics. Liberalism becomes structural for postliberals the same way racism is for critical race theoriststhe system itself is the source of the problem. That said, not all postliberals have opted for Deneens structural turn, as some stricter integralists, Alan Fimister and Fr. Thomas Crean, for example, have defended denying Jews and Muslims citizenship. Vance has shown much more interest in Deneens position than Fimisters and Creans. That said, there is still plenty of continuity between the older and contemporary postliberals. Legal scholar Adrian Vermeule regularly cites Veuillot and Schmitt. Political theorist Gladden Pappin likes to recommend the pamphlet, Liberalism Is a Sin, by antisemitic integralist priest Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany. Recently, while appearing on Catholic Bishop Robert Barrons Word on Fire program, Deneen even asserted that recent events had proven their anti-liberal positions right. He also included ex-Cardinal Louis Billot, who in 1927 surrendered his position as cardinal after refusing to leave the antisemitic French monarchist party Action Francaise. But contemporary postliberals have not merely held conferences or written essays. They have conceived of a new ideology and political program to implement it. In 2018, Vermeule argued for a 21st century approach to Pope Leo XIIIs 1884 call for French Catholics to participate as citizens in the French Third Republic. He called this integration from within wherein well-positioned Catholic integralists use their academic prestige to mint new integralist elites to influence public policy and run for office. They would then introduce Catholic integralism to the extent possible in a kind of right-wing march across the institutions. Vermeule had a plan, but Pappin had institutional access. As a professor at the University of Dallas Pappin helped build a network of like-minded rightwing illiberals across Europe and the United States before eventually becoming president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs in Budapest. From there he brings American policymakers and academics to Hungary and Hungarian policymakers and academics to America. Pappin has since integrated Hungarian influence into conservative institutions such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and even the leadership of the American Institute for Economic Research. Hungary has become something of a go-between for postliberalism and authoritarian regimes like Russia and China, with postliberals being among the loudest opponents of support for Ukraine and advocates for the Chinese model of economic corporatism and administrative oversight. But the problem for them, at least in America, was always that while Donald Trump was good for demolishing the movement conservatism that had predominated in the GOP since the 1980s, the former president was an imperfect vessel for postliberal ambitions.The only real gain they secured was Vermeules 2020 appointment to the Administrative Conference of the United States, which, according to its website, is an independent federal agency within the executive branch whose statutory mission is to identify ways to improve the procedures by which federal agencies protect the public interest and determine the rights, privileges, and obligations of private persons. For postliberals, this appointment was something, but not much. What they needed was a politician of their own. That politician has turned out to be Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. In a speech in 2022 at a postliberal event held at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, Vance mentioned that he had admired from afar some of those in attendance while others he had gotten to know very well over the last few years. A year later, after winning his Senate seat, Vance admired them up close at the book launch of Deneens Regime Change, where he declared himself a postliberal. Vance has made many public statements backing postliberal public policies, such as granting greater voting power to parents of large families, and he has publicly praised Hungarian President Viktor Orban as a model for effective conservative governance. Even now, Vermeule is training conservative Harvard Law School graduates to adopt his negative view of the U.S. Constitution, as Mark Tooley discovered in a recent interview. The number of these postliberal elites will grow as the class of 2028 begins classes in a few weeks. It is filtering into some Catholic seminaries and has made its way into American Protestantism under the name of Christian nationalism. When my friends advised me to leave this alone in the hope that this nonsense would go away, they were wrong. 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. POWELL, Ohio (WCMH) Powell is taking the first steps to redevelop a 12-acre park as part of a larger project to redesign the citys downtown. The city is spending about $550,000 to research how Village Green Park at 47 Hall St. could be overhauled to best serve as a nucleus to a revitalized downtown, according to a resolution passed by city council on Aug. 20. Officials will collaborate with Pizzuti Solutions to the gather the information and collect feedback from various groups in the community. The 550-acre project that could be coming for a town outside Columbus This is a plan to set the table for potential redevelopment, said Andy White, the city manager of Powell. Were going to take an inventory of the Village Green and come up with concepts that will help us make better informed decision that will strengthen the downtown core. This embedded content is not available in your region. This initial research phase will be a 10-month process that will provide city council with responses from community surveys, an analysis of Powells existing conditions and a summary report with essential data. City council can then use these new tools when deciding where and how much to invest in traffic, infrastructure, facilities and more for the area. White argued Powells population growth during the last decade requires the city to address transportation improvements, parking, amenities and other economic drivers. He said this resolution is the citys green light to begin a conversation with the community about the most important exercise in this communitys history. If we want the downtown area to be enhanced, its up to us to plan and fund it, echoed Tom Counts, the mayor of Powell. Weve seen too many opportunities pass because we didnt have the ability to make a difference. The opportunity is here now, and I dont take that lightly. Multiple central Ohio school districts welcome new superintendents Columbus-based co-working business COhatch has also been recruited to transform a section of Powells downtown district. Plans call for COhatch to demolition of a former office building at 50 E. Olentangy St., a 0.63-acre site where they will construct a 13,900-square-foot location. The three-story building will be home to a rooftop bar, private offices, meeting rooms, an event space and more. A Powell resident, COhatch CEO Matt Davis said the opportunity allows him to collaborate with local businesses to find solutions for decades-old complaints. Davis caught the attention of Powell officials after COhatch unveiled plans to transform 2.85 acres along North Riverview Street near the Scioto River in Dublin. I hope to work with all the small businesses and help them make their jobs easier, help them thrive as well as we do this, Davis said during a meeting with Powells planning commission earlier this year. This citys been unbelievably gracious in working with solutions with some of the landowners. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Power outages in Moldova after Russia's massive attack on Ukraine Moldovan energy operator Moldelectrica has reported power outages following the morning Russian attack on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, but does not expect any serious problems. Source: European Pravda, citing Moldovan news outlet Newsmaker, which quotes the company's press service Details: Moldelectrica has announced disruptions in the power grid of the Ukraine-Moldova joint block as a result of Russia's morning strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. "The situation is now under control. We have enough local generation to cope with minor disruptions," the company said. Background: Poland again scrambled its military aircraft during the massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. As of now, at least 5 people have been killed and 17 wounded across Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! Native Vote 2024. CHICAGO Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council Vice Chairman Zach Pahmahmie and Secretary Lorrie Melchior were on stage last Monday evening at the Democratic National Convention's opening session. Pahmahmie provided a land acknowledgement and welcome to the attendees who gathered that night to hear Preisdent Joe Biden later in the night. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (PBPN) were afforded the main stage because it is the only federally recognized tribe in the state of Illinois. That distrinction came earlier this year for the tribe that is based in Mayetta, Kansas, when the U.S. Department of the Interior placed portions of the historic Shab-eh-nay Reservation into trust for the PBPN. The Shab-eh-nay Reservation is located in suburban Chicago, west of Aurora. Pahmahmie welcomed the DNC delegates with these words: Here we are together on our ancestral homelands of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and our sister Potawatomi nations. We also honor the spirit of the other tribal nations who traveled through this beautiful area. Welcome 2024 Democratic National Convention. From time immemorial, our ancestors lived in the Great Lakes region. However, in 1849 an illegal action by the US government forcibly removed our tribe from our homeland. Since then, we have been working to reclaim it. Finally, this year, the Department of the Interior placed some of our ancestral lands west of Chicago into a trust. Thanks to the resolve of our tribal community and the Biden-Harris administration, we reclaimed a piece of our home. We became the only federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois in 175 years. Pahmahmie and Melchior were joined in Chicago by other tribal council members: William Evans, Raphael Wahwassuck, and Ronald Tony Wahweotten, Jr. Screenshot_2024-08-26_at_7.41.58_PM.png Rep. Sharice Davids and former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) On Tuesday morning, the PBPN, based in Mayetta, Kansas, hosted a breakfast for the Kansas DNC delegates at the Chicago Hilton. The breakfast attendees heard from Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), a tribal citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). Screenshot_2024-08-26_at_7.40.29_PM.png Center for Native Futures co-founder Monica Rickert-Bolter (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) greets PBPN tribal council members Later on Tuesday, the tribal council members took time off from the DNC to pay a visit to the Center for Native Futures, located in the Chicago Loop at 56 West Adams. Co-founder Monica Rickert-Bolter is a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Screenshot_2024-08-26_at_7.25.55_PM.png PBPN Vice Chairman Zach Pahmahmie, Member Raphael Wahwassuck, Secretary Lorrie Melchoir, Member Ronald Tony Wahweotten, Jr., and Member William Evans sit down on the "powwow chairs" at the Center of Native Futures. Rickert-Bolter and co-founder, Debra Pappan (Jemez Pueblo) greeted the PBPN tribal council, along with Forest County Potawatomi Chairman James Crawford, with a welcome and provided an overview of the contemporary Native art gallery that opened in September 2023. About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net." Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) Detectives in Prince William County are asking for the communitys help in locating a 22-year-old man who disappeared months ago. According to the Prince William County Police Department (PWCPD), Caleb Anthony Beer, 22, last contacted his family on April 6. Police said Beers family became concerned after not hearing from him for several days, and he was reported missing on April 19. Multiple train cars derail in Hagerstown, fire officials say Throughout the investigation, detectives received additional information, that has not been released, increasing the concern for Beers well-being. This led to him being considered missing and endangered. Caleb Anthony Beer. (Photo Courtesy: Prince William County Police Department) Police described Beer as around 6 feet tall, with black hair and brown eyes. He weighs about 150 lbs. Police said he is unhoused and known to be in Culpeper, Stafford, Woodbridge, Dumfries and unhoused encampment areas. Deputies: 2 people found dead inside home in Frederick County According to the Virginia State Polices missing person website, Beer, whose nickname is Blitz, requires medication and may need medical attention. Currently, it is undetermined if Caleb is missing due to voluntary reasons, or possible foul play, said the Prince William County police in a release. Anyone who may know his whereabouts is encouraged to call the PWCPD at 703-792-6500. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SYDNEY, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people in the Australian state of Victoria have been left without power following damaging storms. As of Monday morning, there were 24 unplanned outages in the electricity network affecting 2,800 homes and businesses in northern and eastern Victoria after severe weather swept across the state on Sunday evening, according to energy company AusNet Services. The State Emergency Service (SES) reported receiving 471 calls for assistance in the 24 hours to Monday morning, with intense winds causing widespread damage. Of the calls for assistance to the SES, 261 were related to fallen trees, 130 to building damage and 39 to flooding and property damage. A severe thunderstorm alert was issued on Sunday night for Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, warning of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall. Winds exceeding 100 km per hour (kph) were recorded at the Melbourne Airport as the storm hit the city at 6:15 p.m. local time (0815 GMT) and gusts of almost 150 kph were recorded elsewhere in the state. "It's a very dynamic and dangerous situation," SES state duty officer Andrew Feagan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Sunday afternoon. "There's large hail, three to five centimeter hail, that is very, very dangerous and can potentially cause life-threatening injuries." The Bureau of Meteorology said that the worst of the storm would pass through Victoria on Sunday night and at 4:30 a.m. local time on Monday (1830 GMT on Sunday) canceled a severe weather warning that was in place for the state's east. Melbourne is forecast to reach a maximum temperature of 18 degrees Celsius on Monday and 20 on Tuesday with strong winds. Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG Matthew Roman used to be Pennsylvanias top doctor for getting a medical marijuana card. In 2018, the year dispensaries began selling cannabis in the state, Roman was the only doctor to issue more than 3,000 medical marijuana certifications in Pennsylvania, according to health department records obtained by Spotlight PA through a Commonwealth Court decision. Back then, Roman was more than just a prolific certifier. He sued federal officials in 2018, claiming they unconstitutionally blocked people enrolled in state medical cannabis programs from buying a gun. On social media, he showed off his medical marijuana card and offered the chance to win free card consultations. In a late 2017 video viewed by Spotlight PA, he appeared to roll and smoke marijuana while in Delaware. Underneath all the attention, Roman had a drug problem, he later said. And soon it all came crashing down. A state medical board disciplined him in 2019. The consent agreement he entered into said he displayed a problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment and met the criteria for cannabis use disorder. He lost his ability to certify patients for the states medical marijuana program. Roman, by his own account, worked hard to get back on track. In a letter to the health department last year, he described the effort he put into addressing his cannabis use disorder diagnosis, including inpatient rehab, group therapy, individual therapy, as well as drug testing. He wrote that after over four years of sobriety from marijuana and alcohol, his views on medical marijuana have changed, saying that it should be a last resort. But after Romans medical license was reinstated in 2023 and his probation was lifted, the health department denied his application to return to the medical marijuana program. Officials with the agency have since fought to keep him from returning. The health department has rarely blocked practitioners from joining Pennsylvanias medical program based on past discipline, records obtained by Spotlight PA show. And while Roman was denied, several other physicians who are active in the program some of whom have been among the top doctors for issuing certifications also have past disciplinary history. That includes a doctor who received a federal prison sentence in the early 2000s after pleading guilty to charges related to drug distribution. Romans case highlights an under-the-radar debate over who gets to certify patients to use medical marijuana and whether past misbehavior should bar people from the program indefinitely. The case, and a review of certification records, also shows how the program has changed in recent years. State regulators have expanded who is eligible as a patient, including adding anxiety as a qualifying condition in 2019. In 2020, they temporarily eliminated the requirement for patients to meet with a doctor in person for a certification a change lawmakers made permanent in 2021. More doctors now issue thousands of certifications a year. While Roman was the only doctor in Pennsylvanias medical marijuana program to issue more than 3,000 certifications in 2018, 30 physicians reached that number four years later. Roman continued his push to return to the program. From the start of 2017 to at least mid-May, he was the only denied doctor whose appeal reached a hearing, records released by the department show. After his November hearing, a state examiner agreed with him, recommending he be allowed back in. But an attorney for the health department objected, warning that the hearing examiners rationale could give any doctor whos ever been disciplined standing to force their way back into the program once their license is restored. As of July, Roman was still waiting for a decision from the health secretary. At some point, doesnt a human being have a right to restore credibility through hard work? Roman told Spotlight PA. I feel like Ive reached that point. Disciplined doctors rarely denied In Pennsylvania, patients need a physicians approval to legally purchase cannabis from dispensaries. The health department isnt the state agency that decides whether doctors have a medical license, but it does have the power to determine who enters the medical marijuana practitioner registry. Back in 2016, when the legislature and then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, legalized medical marijuana, they created a set of rules for those doctors. In the years that followed, the Department of Health expanded some requirements through regulations. The law requires medical marijuana physicians to complete a four-hour training course, and says the Department of Health must determine that the physician is, by training or experience, qualified to treat a serious medical condition. Under the law, the health department must also review records from the Pennsylvania Department of State showing whether the physician has a valid, unexpired, unrevoked, unsuspended Pennsylvania license to practice medicine and whether the physician has been subject to discipline. The law does not specifically ban physicians who are on probation from being part of the registry, but department regulations go further and prohibit doctors whose license is limited or otherwise restricted by the applicable medical board. Department regulations also allow it to deny physicians who have been the subject of disciplinary action. But those rules dont differentiate between different types of violations or the length of time since the infractions. To better understand the departments practices, Spotlight PA reviewed disciplinary records for the 100 doctors who issued the most certifications in 2022. Of those, at least four had prior discipline on their medical license. Unlike Roman, none of them had to file an appeal to be admitted into the program, records released by the department show. The types of sanctions and alleged offenses varied. The list includes Marcellus Boggs, who health department records say issued more than 9,000 medical marijuana certifications in 2022. He ranked fourth in the state among medical marijuana doctors that year. In 2001, Boggs faced discipline based on allegations that he violated requirements related to prescribing the drug methadone for a patient known as AP who was addicted to heroin. A consent agreement said Boggs maintained the patient on methadone in excess of 14 days and did not complete or maintain patient medical records for Patient AP recording the prescribing, administering or dispensing of the drug methadone for the period from October 1998 until March 2000. As part of the agreement, he was ordered to pay a $1,500 civil penalty and his medical license was suspended for three years all but six months of that suspension was stayed in favor of probation. The State Board of Medicine reinstated his license to an unrestricted, non-probationary status in November 2004. Ron Boyles, CEO of Green Bridge Society, a medical marijuana certification business based in Blair County, responded to a letter sent to Boggs by Spotlight PA. In a statement, Boyles called Boggs an esteemed employee of Green Bridge Society. He referred to the situation that led to Boggs discipline as a singular act of compassion that was resolved by the medical board, after which he continued his career as an emergency room doctor for many years. Boggs told Spotlight PA the discipline was based on him trying to help someone. He also referenced the lack of any other discipline on his record, and said it was appropriate for state regulators to approve him as a practitioner for the medical marijuana program. Im about trying to help patients become healthy, Boggs said. In an interview, Boyles said Boggs and all the other doctors on his staff are paid based on an hourly rate, not on the number certifications they issue. The company also helps patients navigate the health departments system, has a pharmacist follow up with them, and offers comprehensive care, he said. We are the real deal. Im very passionate about the education, Boyles said. The company is popular, he said. As far as Dr. Boggs doing a lot of patients, Boyles added, he does a lot, because I give him a lot. I mean, hes a full-time physician for me, works seven days a week here. We rarely take a break. One of the other top doctors in the program with prior discipline on their medical license is Roxanne Rick, who department records show was the only doctor to issue more than 9,000 certifications in 2020. Her medical license was suspended in 2003, after she pled guilty to two counts related to illegal drug distribution and one conspiracy count, according to an order from the State Board of Medicine and federal court records. She was sentenced to 57 months imprisonment, which was later reduced following sentencing guideline changes, according to a legal filing entered on her behalf. The State Board of Medicine reinstated her medical license to a probationary status in December 2013. The board concluded that she satisfied her burden of establishing that she has made significant progress in personal rehabilitation since her conviction and satisfied her burden of establishing that she is unlikely to reoffend criminally. A little over five years later, in January 2019, the board reinstated her medical license to unrestricted, non-probationary status. Rick sought to join the medical marijuana program afterward, records show, and issued more than 3,100 medical marijuana certifications that year. Bob Scherer, a business owner who helps patients obtain medical marijuana certifications, responded to letters and messages sent to Rick from Spotlight PA, saying that she is contracted to work with him. Dr. Rick has at all times accepted responsibility for any prior disciplinary history, and understands reentry programs for physicians are specific to each case, Scherer said in a statement. The medical marijuana program is unique in that physicians cannot advertise, and only make recommendations, and do not dispense or prescribe. He said, Rick dedicates most of her practice to the medical marijuana program. After the Pennsylvania Department of Health approved anxiety as a qualifying condition in 2019, and then in 2020 made telehealth appointments available in response to the coronavirus pandemic, patients seeking treatment for anxiety soared, and Dr. Rick became one of the top doctors for approving patients for medical marijuana, Scherer said. Who deserves extra scrutiny? Under the Wolf administration, state regulators sent denial letters to four doctors, according to records provided in response to Right-to-Know requests covering the start of the medical marijuana program to mid-May of this year. The cases followed a similar pattern: The department denied the doctor, saying it was because their license was suspended or on probation; the license restrictions were later lifted; and the doctor ultimately joined the program. None of those four doctors ranked high for approving medical marijuana cards in 2022. The number of certifications they issued that year ranged from about a dozen to under 260. The Wolf administration didnt deny any doctors based on prior discipline, according to the letters released by the department. But the administration of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, by contrast, cited prior discipline when it denied Roman and another doctor last year. Both had unrestricted medical licenses at the time of the denials. The other doctor also appealed, but withdrew before his hearing, records show. A third denial letter from January 2024 cited a doctors prior discipline and his failure to submit documentation to allow the department to complete its review. The department denied changing its processes for reviewing which doctors to admit into the program and said it continues to follow the states medical marijuana law and regulations. The agency declined to comment on decisions about specific doctors, citing confidentiality practices. The Bureau of Medical Marijuana may ask physicians with prior disciplinary actions to provide additional information before making a decision, said department spokesperson Mark ONeill. Patrick Nightingale is a criminal defense attorney, Pennsylvania medical marijuana patient and advocate, and supporter of legalizing cannabis for all adults 21 and over. He said he wants as many physicians as possible participating in the program, so that patients have options. But he also thinks its appropriate for state regulators to use discretion when choosing which formerly disciplined doctors can join the program. I think that some additional scrutiny should be applied, Nightingale told Spotlight PA. ... But I would hate to say just across the board if you have any disciplinary actions whatsoever, youre out. Karen OKeefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, described recommending cannabis as one of the more innocuous and low-risk activities for a doctor. In terms of doctors with prior discipline, she doesnt think certifying for cannabis should be treated more strictly than performing surgery or prescribing opioids. If they dont think the doctor is safe to perform duties as a doctor, they shouldnt do any of those duties, said OKeefe, whose group supports cannabis legalization for adults and patients. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has rarely blocked practitioners from joining Pennsylvanias medical marijuana program based on past discipline, records obtained by Spotlight PA show. Seeing the program from two sides Back in 2018, when Roman was Pennsylvanias top doctor for a marijuana card, many things were different about the program. There were fewer qualifying conditions that made patients eligible, doctors could not approve patients over the phone, and there were fewer doctors issuing certifications. Roman also said his use of social media at the time led many patients to him. That really created a snowball effect. So everybody was coming to see me at that time, he said. It wasnt that I was over-certifying patients or anything like that. It was just that the program was so new. Following the disciplinary actions, the State Board of Medicine reinstated his medical license to an unrestricted, non-probationary status in April 2023. The order said that an attorney for the Pennsylvania Department of State did not oppose the reinstatement, and that records indicated Roman successfully completed all the requirements of a prior order for monitoring. One of the central conflicts involved in Romans application to return to the medical marijuana program is how often he intends to issue certifications. In a twist given Romans very vocal support of cannabis in the past the health department has spent a significant portion of its arguments raising concerns that he would deny certifications to patients who have a qualifying medical condition. That could lead to extra costs and delays in access to medication for patients, an attorney for the department said in a legal filing. That part of the dispute is based on statements Roman made when he applied to return to the program. In a July 2023 letter, he suggested many patients today who have cards probably use marijuana for recreational reasons. He described how he would be happy to not certify patients again, and that it went against my morals. But he said he still had ownership over a marijuana certification practice and wanted to be available to certify patients in case of an emergency. By the time of his hearing in November, he testified that he disinvested myself and divorced myself from that business completely and had zero percent interest in it anymore. Still, he said he wanted to return to the program, and called the prior comments about not wanting to certify patients brash he was attempting to address any concerns that he would too easily approve patients. He later told Spotlight PA that he can have a better perspective on whos at risk of cannabis use disorder. Ive seen both sides of it, he told Spotlight PA. Ive seen patients be helped by cannabis. But Ive also seen patients, including myself, who have gotten hurt from cannabis. After a Spotlight PA reporter asked him about videos from 2017 and 2018, including one where he appeared to smoke marijuana, Roman said he appreciated that being brought to his attention and would get them removed; they were no longer available online later that same day. The department has made multiple arguments against him returning to the program, including some that focused on the specifics of prior disciplinary actions and others challenging his credibility as a witness. Joanna Waldron, an attorney representing the department in this case, wrote that when Roman applied to return to the program, he had little track record in practice and professional compliance without extensive monitoring and support. The attorney also said the legislature gave the Bureau of Medical Marijuana substantial discretion for how to run the program and cited its responsibility to determine if doctors are qualified. Some of the departments arguments speak to broader issues in the program, and address the departments power to monitor doctors and whether it thinks patients have access to enough doctors currently. Laura Mentch, director of the Bureau of Medical Marijuana, testified in November that she had not received any complaints that there are not enough certifying practitioners in the program, and said telehealth appointments have increased options for patients. Waldron described limits on the departments power, writing that the states medical marijuana law and regulations dont give the bureau the same investigation resources or authority to require extra requirements to prove compliance that other agencies, including a licensing board, hold. Despite the departments concerns over Roman, hearing examiner Peter Kovach in April recommended he be allowed to return to the program. Kovach cited the State Board of Medicines order reinstating his license as evidence that the reasons for the disciplinary actions have been resolved. Roman credibly testified that he believes he is in a better position now to understand when patients are at risk of cannabis use disorders and that this additional knowledge and experience actually improves his ability to certify patients for cannabis cards, the hearing examiner later added. In May, Waldron urged the health secretary to reject the hearing examiners recommendation. The attorney for the health department argued that under the hearing examiners approach, the Bureau of Medical Marijuana would have to approve every application from a physician who had a valid, unexpired, unrevoked, unsuspended Pennsylvania license to practice medicine, regardless of any prior discipline by the State Board of Medicine. Roman now works as a family doctor in Delaware, he told Spotlight PA in July. During the interview, he said that if he is ultimately allowed to join Pennsylvanias medical marijuana program he might pull himself out of it. Then he took the statement even further. Actually, that is what I plan to do, Roman said. Im going to pull myself out of the program once Im in it. But I want to do it on my own accord not because I was kicked out of the program and prevented from getting back in. BEFORE YOU GO If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. Progress made in Gaza ceasefire talks but still work to do on final details, US official says Negotiators continue to work to strike a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday, following a massive exchange of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over the weekend. Talks had made progress over the weekend, according to a senior US official familiar with the talks in Cairo, where mediators discussed final details of a potential agreement including the names of prisoners that would be exchanged as part of the pact. While such progress does not guarantee a final agreement anytime soon, negotiators in the Egyptian capital are now discussing the nuts and bolts of a deal, the official said. Kirby on Monday noted that all sides, including Hamas, are represented in the talks and that the discussions have been able to move on with more specificity as they work to hammer out a deal. Bassem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, said Hamas was not participating in negotiations on Monday. Speaking to Al Arabi TV, he reiterated Hamass position that it is ready to negotiate what was agreed upon in a July 2 proposal but will not accept the conditions that [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu added. Negotiators have worked for months to bridge demands by Netanyahu and Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza. The remaining sticking points, while significant, are seen as potentially surmountable, the official said. One issue is the Israeli militarys presence on Gazas side of the border with Egypt, an area known as the Philadelphi corridor. Hamas opposes Israels desire to continue to station troops there in the early phase of a ceasefire deal. The US official said the current proposal calls for an Israeli military withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza, and that the current debate is focused on what parts of the Philadelphi corridor qualify as densely-populated versus unpopulated, where the IDF will maintain a presence in the first phase of an agreement. However, the Hamas negotiating delegation left Cairo on Sunday publicly reiterating the groups demand that any agreement must include a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the freedom of return of residents to their areas, relief and reconstruction, and a serious exchange deal. The US official said despite public comments by Hamas, negotiators believe Hamas may be more flexible on an Israeli presence during the first phase of an agreement. Displaced Palestinians walk on a street covered with stagnant wastewater in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on July 19. A ceasefire would allow a moment of relief for Gazans, after nearly a year of Israeli attacks. - Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images The proposed agreement involves a huge surge of humanitarian aid, as well as a commitment to remove rubble and begin reconstruction, which are intended to bring massive relief for Gazans, said the US official. US negotiators expect Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to receive a copy of the latest proposal as soon as the coming days, though the timing is not clear given the difficulty of communications with him. A second US official said talks in Cairo were constructive and were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement, and that lower-level working group talks would continue in the coming days to further address remaining issues and details. On Thursday, the US and Egypt met with Israel to try to narrow remaining gaps and clarify issues in the text of bridging proposal, according to a source familiar with the matter. The US and Egypt met bilaterally on Friday to discuss and prepare for the high-level talks this past weekend. On Saturday, Qatar and Egypt met with senior representatives of Hamas and went through each paragraph of the proposal in detail to identify any remaining issues or questions to clarify, the source said. Backdrop of regional unease The fact that the talks in Cairo went ahead Sunday despite the massive exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend provided some sense of relief. Some US and Israeli officials believe that Hezbollahs strike, which was largely neutralized by Israeli forces, removes leverage which Hamas had hoped would apply pressure on Israel for further concessions. Pressure is mounting to seal a deal against the backdrop of severe starvation, dire water shortages, mass displacement and disease in Gaza, caused by Israels war on Hamas in the strip. Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed at least 40,435 Palestinians and injured another 93,534 people, according to the Ministry of Health there. Israels military on Sunday ordered more evacuations in an area in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza where thousands of Gazans are currently sheltering. A senior UN official says no aid deliveries are happening in Gaza on Monday due to security risks after Israel ordered new evacuations for Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. But the official says the UN is not leaving Gaza because the people need us there, and that it wants to find a new location to operate in. Amid renewed Israeli evacuation orders, the IDF-designated humanitarian zone in the Strip has been steadily shrinking. In the past month alone, the IDF has reduced this zone by 38% with the remaining space making up just over a tenth of Gazas total area, according to a CNN analysis. The Israeli military launched its aerial and ground assault in Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and abducting more than 250, according to Israeli authorities. There are 109 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, including 36 believed to be dead, according to data from the Israeli governments press office. CNNs Sana Noor Haq, Kareem Khadder, Richard Roth, Alex Marquadt and Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta talks about Project 2025 during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 20, 2024 in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Speaker after speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week hauled out an oversized prop copy of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundations guide to creating a more perfect conservative presidential administration. Former president Donald Trump and his presidential campaign have disavowed the plan, saying it doesnt represent his views. But the document was prepared by former members of his administration and overlaps with much of what the candidate has advocated (270 proposals and counting, according to CBS News). If you want to know what a second Trump administration would bring, theres no better guide. And Kansans have gotten the message. I was part of a panel digging into the specifics Tuesday in Lenexa, brought together by the nonprofit Mainstream Coalition. We spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 200 everyday folks who wanted to know all the gory details. What became clear over the hour and a half was how these plans could upend institutions and plans right here in Kansas. Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion on Project 2025 on Aug. 20 at Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. Amii Castle, a professor at the University of Kansas, summarized the myriad ways the document attacks abortion rights. Yes, an overwhelming majority of Kansans turned out to reject an anti-choice state constitutional amendment. But that wouldnt matter if Project 2025 were implemented. It foresees a de facto national ban on the procedure through enforcement of the long-dormant Comstock law and restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services into the Department of Life. You have to really read the document to go through and see all of the different things that they want to do with respect to abortion, Castle told the crowd. But really what it amounts to is absolutely no abortions in the United States and no contraception. Kansas public education advocates have struggled for decades to ensure the state adequately funds schools. The Heritage Foundations plan takes a different approach, to put it mildly. Project 2025 calls for eliminating the Department of Education, ending Head Start and cutting off Title I funding for schools serving low-income students. As you might expect, it also calls for universal school choice, weakening the system that has educated generations of Kansans. Basically the federal government steps out of education entirely and leaves all of this to state and local governments, said Andrea Vieux, an associate professor of political science at Johnson County Community College, at the Mainstream event. Now, if youre in a state that values public education, great. If youre not in a state that values public education, thats going to be a problem. At nearly 1,000 pages, Project 2025 goes on and on. Underlying the bewildering assortment of proposals (which include restructuring the executive branch, overhauling the immigration system, targeting climate spending and banning pornography) lurks something far darker. Heritage has embraced Christian Nationalism, envisioning an America in which the federal government has merged with the most repressive and retrograde form of evangelical Christianity. State Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, emphasized this connection to the crowd. Its the thread that goes through the entire document, she said. And for me, it is the foundation with which they have built everything up. Money, power and local control The evening event in Lenexa could have run far longer. The audience submitted dozens of questions for moderator Laurel Burchfield, Mainstreams advocacy director. Those of us on the panel did our level best to provide context. The discussion focused my thinking on the fringe conservative movement that has wormed itself into the brains of formerly sensible people. Project 2025 has become a flashpoint in the presidential race because it condenses this extremism. Trump can distance himself all he wants and fact checkers can offer him cover but everyone sees the overlap. Everyone understands the subsequent lies for political advantage. It also highlights the blatant hypocrisy of those who bankroll hard-right campaigns and think tanks like Heritage. They dont care about the damage done to reproductive rights or the education system or religious freedom. They care about the taxes they pay, the regulations their companies face, and the lives of privilege they enjoy. The billionaire members of this plutocratic elite dont need a government to protect their rights. Their dollars do that. If their wives or daughters or girlfriends need abortion care, they will receive that abortion, no matter where they are or what the law says. Their children and grandchildren and friends can receive astonishing educational opportunities no matter the quality of public schools. They may be evangelical Christians or not, but their freedom wont be abridged by federal law. They can always head to another country. Those wealthy beyond the dreams of Midas dont have to worry about losing health insurance because they can always pay for whatever treatment they need. They can flee the worst effects of climate change. They can rest easy at night, knowing they wont ever lose their job or require unemployment assistance or food stamps. That leaves them free to bankroll would-be authoritarians. It leaves them free to support the spread of Christian nationalism without the slightest concern for themselves or their families. It leaves them free to threaten everyday Kansans. So what can be done? Kansas voters will likely have little to contribute to the national presidential contest. As a largely red state, albeit less conservative than its reputation suggests, Kansas six electoral votes will likely go to Trump. However, we do have power, and that power can be grasped and employed by engaging with politics at a local level. That means school boards, city councils, county commissions, and state government. That means understanding the roles of advisory boards, volunteer organizations and community institutions. Those funding Project 2025 and sympathetic candidates would like nothing more than seeing our nation degraded into tiny radicalized fortresses, mainlining Fox News and bristling with weaponry. What they dont want to see is a nation where residents actually care for one another and step up to help when the need arises. For all their chatter about honoring family, hard-right extremists attack and demonize young people rather than including them in our nations future. They want power and profit now, damn the consequences. Turning the avaricious tide wont be easy. But last week, I witnessed an audience eager to toss Project 2025 onto the ash heap of history. Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here. Metathe parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApphas just hired Dustin Carmack, a former adviser to Florida Governor Ron DeSantiss doomed presidential campaign and an exProject 2025 employee. Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic instructor and attorney Alejandra Caraballo revealed the news on X (formerly Twitter) Monday afternoon, providing screenshots from Carmacks LinkedIn profile, which he has since deactivated. Meta has hired a former Project 2025 staffer and Ron DeSantis chief of staff as its director of public policy in the South. This coincides with a decline in moderation of anti-LGBTQ hate on Meta while limiting the reach of LGBTQ accounts. He has since deactivated his Linkedin. pic.twitter.com/4c1Br6Xc6w Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) August 26, 2024 Caraballo pointed out that Metas hire was likely made to deflect criticism from conservativesbut its also meant to augment the firms interactions with state governments, as the company has political positions to limit regulation and buy influence. But the move comes amid a period in which Metas treatment of usersspecifically the type of user who runs afoul of much of what Project 2025 wants to do to the United Stateshas been called into question. In recent months, the LGBTQ+ rights group GLAAD has criticized Metas content moderation policies on its platforms, saying that they were effectively encouraging an epidemic of anti-transgender hate on their social media sites. The report showed a significant increase in anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ posts on Metas sites, noting that transgender people were routinely called sexual predators, perverts, and groomers in many of those posts. The Project 2025 manifesto, a conservative playbook for a future Republican presidential administration, has been criticized and derided by Democrats for many of the regressive policies it envisions, especially for those that would dramatically curtail LGBTQ+ and abortion rights. One passage states flat out that Children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries. Carmacks arrival at Meta also coincides with the companys restrictions on political content on Instagram and Threads instituted earlier this year, which limit the reach of accounts that post about politics and social issues. The move sparked protests from journalists, activists, and even meme creators, among others, for discouraging posts about LGBTQ rights, womens rights, and other major social issues, particularly in a presidential election year. Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have tried in vain to distance themselves from Project 2025; its proven to be a daunting task due to their extensive ties to the manifesto and the people who sired it into existence. Vance even wrote the foreword to a new book written by Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts. Meta will likely try to deflect any associations with the far-right policy wishlist soon enough, although that may be in vain considering Carmacks role at Meta will be to reassure right-wing conservatives that their social media platforms are an asset to the cause. Paddling the length of the Fox River, Jenni Kempf was struck by the wildness of it. She marveled at scores of turtles, great blue herons and fish the size of her arm living freely in the morning mist. The river stays wild, she said. To be able to feel that, of being wildlife myself, is hard to come by. On her 200-mile trip in 2022 to promote taking care of the river, Kempf was repeatedly forced to stop and carry her canoe around hazardous dams that halted the flow of water and wildlife. To improve water quality and habitat by restoring the river of its natural state, while lowering the risk of flooding, the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have recommended removing nine dams along the Fox River through the far western suburbs. But residents who want to keep the river the way it is have pushed back against the Army Corps plan. Local officials have raised concerns about how it would affect drinking water, sewage treatment and recreation. Its a terrible thing to be doing, Geneva resident Steve Bertheau said. So now the corps has agreed to further study the impacts of dam removal, including how it would affect water levels and what sediments might be released. The environmental analysis will take longer, but the corps is not stopping its program. Officials aim to make a final decision on most of the dams in 2025 and start removal in 2027. Environmental groups hope the project allows them to realize a decades-long dream, while opponents gear up to preserve what they say is a community asset. The dams dot the river from Carpentersville to Elgin, South Elgin, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora, Aurora and Montgomery. Most were built in the 1800s to run flour mills or sawmills that have long since closed. Such low-head dams, which let water flow over the top, create a dangerous backwash that sucks victims underwater, causing drownings and near-fatal accidents. As a result, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources over recent years has removed about 30 dams on rivers throughout the state, including a dozen on the Des Plaines River. Next, it plans to remove the Carpentersville dam on the Fox River this fall, under a previous agreement with the Kane County Forest Preserve District. The Army Corps would pay up to 65% of the cost of each dam removal on the Fox, with the rest coming from the state. If municipalities oppose fixes, they would be expected to take over ownership, maintenance and liability for the dams. The local program is part of a nationwide movement thats removed some 2,000 dams to restore free-flowing rivers. Studies generally have shown that removing dams improves water quality and increases the number and diversity of fish. Under a directive from Congress to clean up rivers, the Army Corps examined a range of measures to improve water quality in the Fox River, including rock ramps, bypass channels, partial removals and leaving them as they are. Last year, the corps tentatively recommended the full removal of dams as the only way to improve water quality and restore habitat, while requiring little to no maintenance costs. Removing the dams is expected to lower water levels significantly. That would likely make parts of the waterway impassible for large motor boats, pitting boaters against kayakers. Dams in Algonquin and McHenry would remain, keeping the north end of the river and Chain of Lakes intact for power boating. The lower water levels could significantly affect cities like Aurora and Elgin, which get their drinking water from the Fox River. Officials worry that the shrunken river would force the relocation of their water intake systems, at a cost of millions of dollars. In response, Elgin is conducting its own studies of the dam and river. Mayor David Kaptain has called for holding a referendum on the question. I think people have a right to vote, but I want to be sure people have enough information to make a reasonable decision, he said. If were going to do this, lets do it right. In Aurora, officials are studying the Army Corps report and seeking more information before deciding next steps. Aurora officials studying dam removal report Among their concerns are the effect dam removal would have on RiverEdge Park, the citys water intake plant and the planned rehabilitation of the New York Street Bridge. Recently, a group of residents, Guardians of the Fox River, has sprung up to oppose the plan. It has chapters in South Elgin, St. Charles and Geneva. Member Marcia Guereca, who lives on the river in South Elgin, says the group fears that dam removal will unleash possibly toxic sediment from a century of human and industrial waste. Group members note that hundreds of thousands of stocked juvenile salmon died during a large dam removal on the Klamath River in California. The river was filled with sediment, with some deer getting stuck in the mud and having to be euthanized. State officials said the salmon likely died from going through the dam and noted those hydroelectric dams are far bigger than those in Illinois. Guereca said much of the data the proponents are using is old, noting that the river has been getting cleaner, and that the dams support their own ecosystems, including bald eagles. She worried what will happen to a lowered river when droughts occur, fearing that dried sediment will drift into the air. She argued for preserving the dams, which form gathering places for people as the centerpiece of river towns. These are places where people congregate, living together as a community, she said. Bertheau, a retired engineer, said the preliminary Army Corps assessment failed to meet basic requirements, and urged local officials not to agree to anything until more analysis is done. He even offered to pay $400,000 to put in stair steps on the Geneva Dam, saying if it saves any lives, it will be well worth it. In St. Charles, opponents formed the Fox River Preservation Society, which emphasizes that the dams help maintain water flow during droughts, allowing competitive boating, fishing and a thriving ecosystem. Boating is common in the deeper water created by the St. Charles dam, and the suburbs park district rents out kayaks and paddle boats, City Administrator Heather McGuire said. A special committee will study what effects dam removal would have, and an engineering consultant will be hired to report on how water levels would be affected. Everybody has strong opinions on it, she said. It depends on where they fall in terms of the environment versus recreation. And in South Elgin, the city centers on the riverfront near the dam, with concerts at Panton Mill Park. Village Administrator Steve Super said officials expect the Army Corps to come back with better public communication and answers for their questions, including concerns about the impact on sanitary sewer plants upriver. In contrast, in Batavia, where the city owns its dam, City Administrator Laura Newman said officials generally favor removing it. Just last month, police had to rescue a man and his dog from just below the dam. But residents want to preserve a main attraction in their downtown park, a bay beside the dam where people use paddleboats and ice-skate in the winter. The citys master plan calls for building a berm to turn the bay into a pond, with pumps to maintain its water level, and a series of successively lower dams known as rock weirs. The cost was estimated years ago at around $22 million. The dams are favorite fishing spots for anglers. But they typically fish downriver from a dam, where the churn oxygenates the water and attracts fish, not on the upriver side, where stagnant water is low in oxygen and creates algae blooms. Environmental groups including the Fox River Study Group, Izaak Walton League and Sierra Club argue that dam removal is the best solution for restoring the wildlife of the river and protecting people from tragic drownings. Friends of the Fox River President Gary Swick says the data showing improved river habitat from dam removal is on their side. You can design around most of these challenges, he said. You can move on with a healthy river. The Army Corps wont remove dams without the owners approval, Chicago District spokesperson Jacob Zdrojewski said, and will hold more public hearings after further study, in the design phase of the project. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources owns most of the dams, but its officials also say they wont remove them without local approval, and will pay up to 60% of the cost of removal for other options. Alternatives to full removal include putting boulders in behind the dams to reduce the backwash effect, letting water flow through a side channel or putting steps on the backside of the dam, which IDNR says reduces but doesnt eliminate the safety threat. Dam removal is the best way to do that, and were working with communities who agree with that approach, IDNRs Wes Cattoor said. Were not here to dictate what occurs, but to find a solution thats best for everyone. Protest and get arrested? What the new rules at Sacramento State and California campuses mean As nearly 31,000 students return to campus at Sacramento State on Monday, new statewide rules will make more difficult pulling off actions like pro-Palestinian encampments, which made an indelible mark at Sac State and across the country last spring, without risking arrest and expulsion. California State University Chancellor Mildred A. Garcia posted online, the same week the University of California Board of Regents announced similar steps, an announcement that activities including camping, overnight demonstrations, or overnight loitering were banned. Garcia said in a letter that universities must maintain an environment where its work can be conducted without disruption. The new regulations also aim for a practice that was a defining part of many encampments last spring, the use of masks, often keffiyehs wrapped around faces. The new regulations state that no person, while on University Property, may wear a mask, personal disguise, or otherwise conceal their identity with the intent of intimidating and harassing any person or group Sac State President Luke Wood walked a tightrope as he navigated a 10-day-encampment in May. After Wood and the university announced new policies around investments, protesters agreed to voluntarily end the encampment. Students claimed victory, saying that the university had divested from Israel. The university said it had not, rather that it was reiterating its commitment to human rights and that it would explore its investments. Through a spokeswoman, Wood declined a request for an interview about how Sac State would adopt the new policies and how the university would handle protests this year. Spokeswoman Lanaya Lewis said in an email: The new policy is a CSU systemwide policy, meaning it supersedes any existing policy the 23 campuses may have. We will not be providing any comment on this topic at this time. For the moment, the protest rules are being called interim. Each campus has a chance to draw up specific interpretations of the regulations. They also do not yet apply to employees who are union represented. Still, the new policy could face protests and legal challenges. Anne Luna, the president of Sac States chapter of the California Faculty Association said the new rules are draconian and unconstitutional. The sociology professor said they would have unintended consequences including a chilling effect on unions and the rights of others to protest. What the regulations mean Under the new regulations, campuses are broken down into three categories: public areas, limited areas and non-public areas. Luna pointed out that under the new protest policies, protests are banned in many areas of campus and permission must be sought where protests are permitted. And those seeking to put up posters, signs, banners, and chalking must obtain permission, something she said was antithetical to free speech. This wasnt well thought out, she said. Student protesters played a huge role in bringing down Apartheid in South Africa and in so many other historical movements. Now CSUS has set up a system where the administration can determine what is a legitimate protest or what type of poster can be put up and where. Luna said the CFA is discussing with legal counsel, exploring challenging the regulations. But others welcomed the new regulations. Arik Davidyan, a Sac State biology professor from Israel, said he believed last years encampment teetered too often toward intolerance. Im someone who should have felt welcome at the encampment, an Israeli who strongly believes in Palestinian self-determination, hes said. But I felt that my views were not welcome and I felt intimidated to walk across campus at times. Following the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 and the response by the Israeli military which has killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 40,000 Palestinians, students set up encampments all over California, including at Sac State, to protest the war. Protest backlash While the encampments across the country awoke student passion and resulted in increased awareness about the plight of Palestinians the conflict has displaced nearly 2 million people in Gaza the tactics of the encampments also led to considerable backlash. Upset over antisemitism and frustration that administrators could not reel in chaos on campuses led to the resignations of university presidents at Harvard, Columbia University and Sonoma State. A California legal ruling helped accelerate the sweeping new rules. The Aug. 13 court ruling was the result of a federal lawsuit filed by Jewish students at UCLA. In a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi ruled that UCLA had discriminated against Jewish students and had to find new remedies to deal with encampments. In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the state of California, in the city of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith, Scarsi wrote. UCLA does not dispute this. ... Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters. But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion. One student active with UCLAs Hillel, who asked not to be identified because she is still concerned about a volatile atmosphere on campus, and said she was glad for the court ruling and the new UC rules. I think reasonable voices have gotten lost, the student said. The student said she thought both sides had contributed to polarization. A video that helped lead to the court ruling had been made by someone looking for confrontation. I think there is so much hurt on campus and over this issue, especially among students of Middle Eastern background, she said. I care about the Jewish state but I also care about the plight of Palestinians. The encampments were so polarizing. We need to find a way to come together. Legislative action Another key pressure point on UC and CSU administrators was a maneuver by the state Assembly budget committee in July to withhold $25 million in funding unless a system-wide plan to restrict encampments and volatile protests was presented. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, told the Los Angeles Times he pushed for the carrot and stick approach to prevent a repeat of last years violence and chaos.. Another pressure point has been Senate Bill 1287, which cleared several committees after being introduced in March. SB 1287 prohibits violent, harassing, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct that creates a hostile environment on campus. CSU administrators adopted some of the same language and concepts. SB 1287, for example, states universities in the state systems must maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions for public protests and demonstrations on campuses. An introduction to Cal States new regulations states that Sac State is adopting rules that determine the time, place and manner in which activities may be conducted on university property. These regulations ensure that those who participate in lawful expressive activities are protected and do not disrupt university operations or infringe on the rights of others. Luna said one of the things she objects to about the new protest policy is that a one-size-fits-all solution doesnt apply to the entire system. Luna said that the intolerance on display at UCLA was not acceptable, but that, by and large, Sac State managed to coexist with the encampment with more of an atmosphere of tolerance. Luna said ahead of the official announcement by the university, Wood met with her and other faculty leaders Aug. 19 to explain the coming changes and to explain that they do not, as yet, affect employees with collective bargaining agreements. Wood won praise from both sides for listening to the concerns of protesters and Jewish students. The university opened a Jewish Life and Resource Center in May and Wood also pledged to fight Islamophobia and to have more services for Muslim students. In a video statement after the encampment ended, Wood said: I want to be clear about one thing we did not do: We did not sign a treaty or agreement with students to close the encampment. You sign a treaty with your enemies, not with your students. We are proud that our students expressed their concerns peacefully and in accordance with our policies. Luna said she expected that students who took part in protests and felt empowered would start the new semester feeling deflated. The whole experience on our campus was one that was really energizing and very empowering for them, she said. And I think that some of them are probably going to be feeling pretty disappointed and like the wind taken out of their sails. Luna also predicted that the rules could ultimately lead to more protests. I think that some of this is going to take a while to pan out, she said. But I think that ultimately the students involved in Gaza protests are going to find a way to protest within these rules and push back against them, perhaps to challenge them legally. Death penalty opponents stepped up their calls for Gov. Ron DeSantis to halt Thursdays scheduled execution of convicted killer Loran Cole, citing his months of confinement at a notorious Florida reform school in the 1980s. Petitions bearing signatures from more than 7,000 people were dropped off Monday at the Governors Office in the state Capitol as part of an effort to get DeSantis to commute Coles death sentence to life in prison. Cole, now 57, was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of John Edwards, an 18-year-old Florida State University student. He was also convicted of robbing, raping and kidnapping Edwards sister who, with her brother, was camping in the Ocala National Forest. Loran K. Cole Coles execution would be Floridas first in 10 months. DeSantis ordered six executions carried out in 2023, the most in the state in almost a decade. Those six executions also occurred during the time the governor was unsuccessfully seeking the Republican Partys presidential nomination. His leading rival, eventual GOP nominee Donald Trump, had during his term as president conducted the most federal executions of civilian inmates since President Grover Cleveland in 1896. Dozier School history, central to plea But Coles time at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna figures in the push to have him taken off Death Row. According to an appeal rejected last week by the state Supreme Court, Cole was brutalized there by guards, which he says potentially contributed to his murderous behavior. DeSantis in June signed legislation making $20 million available to victims of abuse at Dozier and another state reform school in Okeechobee between 1940 and 1975. Cole was at Dozier as a 17-year-old in 1984, when court documents say he was raped by a guard, beaten twice weekly and had both legs broken after trying to escape. Executions climb in '23 because of Fla.: Executions climb across U.S. because of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, report shows Cole first execution since pause: After a flurry of executions during his presidential campaign, DeSantis now pauses I have to wonder what kind of advice DeSantis is getting, signing a compensation bill for Dozier survivors, then turning around and signing a death warrant for one of them, said Abe Bonowitz, executive director and co-founder of Death Penalty Action, who has fought against capital punishment for more than 30 years in Florida and nationwide. Bonowitz said advocates believe at least three other former Dozier School students are on Floridas Death Row. The state of Florida is complicit in the murders they committed, and now it wants to kill some and compensate others. Incredible, Bonowitz said. DeSantis office didnt immediately respond to a request to comment on the pitch from death penalty opponents. Supreme Court rejects appeal Attorneys for Cole had argued before state justices that his lawyer in 1995 failed to present the Dozier school history as possible grounds for avoiding the death penalty. But justices, in rejecting his latest claim, said Dozier has been raised and rejected in Coles post-conviction appeals. At its core, Coles latest argument related to his time at the Dozier school is only another variation of his claims that were raised and rejected in his first and second successive motions for post-conviction relief, the court unanimously agreed. Among the groups urging DeSantis to commute Coles death sentence to life are Bonowitzs organization, as well as Witness to Innocence, the Catholic Mobilizing Network and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter earlier this month urging DeSantis not to execute Cole. Never having received mental health and trauma treatment until his arrival on death row in his late 20s, Mr. Cole, at age 57, is not the same person who committed the grave crimes for which he was convicted, Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference, wrote in the letter to DeSantis. Previous coverage: Florida Gov. DeSantis signs death warrant in 1994 murder of FSU student John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Networks Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on X at @JKennedyReport. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis urged to spare convicted killer once held at Dozier School Telegram is one of the last (mostly) uncensored frontiers of the internet. The messaging app allows users to message each other through both unencrypted and encrypted chats, and to create "channels" that other users can subscribe to. There's no feed with an algorithm to manipulate, and founder Pavel Durov has committed to never sharing user information with authorities. That has made Durov a lot of enemies. A decade ago, Durov fled Russia after his previous social media company, VKontakte, was taken over by the government. (Since then, he spent most of his time in Dubai and obtained French citizenship in 2021.) Russia banned Durov's newer app Telegram in 2018 but then unblocked the app two years later. Countries like China and Iran have also banned Telegram. Over the weekend, French authorities arrested Durov at the airport for complicity in fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and promotion of terrorism. The French office in charge of combating crimes against children said that it had requested the arrest warrant for Telegram's "lack of moderation and cooperation" in the fight against "pedocriminality." Durov's lawyer called it "absolutely ridiculous" to blame an app's founder for the behavior of users, comparing the arrest of Durov to "blaming a car manufacturer, some giant auto concern, for the fact that its cars are used for criminal purposes." Telegram saidin a statement on its official Telegram channelthat its "moderation is within industry standards" and that Durov has "nothing to hide." The French case against Telegram resembles the U.S. case against Backpage, an online classified ad service that was shut down in 2018. Authorities insinuated that Backpage staff were failing to stop sex traffickers on the platform but never charged any of them with sex trafficking, instead convicting co-founder Michael Lacey with a single banking violation. French President Emmanuel Macron denied that there was any "political decision" behind Durov's arrest. Inside Russia, however, members of both the opposition and the government saw Durov's arrest as an obvious attack on Telegram's independence. Human rights lawyer Dmitry Zair-Bek said that Europe "is declaring war not only on Telegram and its team but also freedom of speech and secrecy of correspondence as a whole." Russian President Vladimir Putin "was a pioneer," Libertarian Party of Russia leader Mikhail Svetov stated sarcastically in an essay on Durov's arrest. "He set an example for the rest of the Western political class with his censorship, destruction of privacy, and surveillance. It turns out that the West was simply trailing behind." Russia attempted to ban Telegram in 2018, then gave up and unblocked the app in 2020. Today, many government supporters in Russia use the app for their own propaganda. While the Russian government accused France of "double standards" around free speech for its targeting of Telegram, former President Dmitry Medvedev gloated that Durov had "miscalculated" by fleeing Russia. "Once, a long time ago, I asked Durov why he wouldn't cooperate with [Russian] law enforcement to solve serious crimes," Medvedev said. "'This is my principled position,' he said. 'In that case, you'll face serious problems in any country,' I told him." Durov's experience with Iran, however, may have taught him that cooperation with governments only invites more censorship. In December 2017, amid unrest in Iran, Telegram agreed to censor an Iranian opposition channel for encouraging protesters to use firebombs against the police. A few months later, the Iranian government banned Telegram anyway. The very nature of the platform had made it hard for Iranian authorities to shut down all the dissident content on Telegram. Instead, the government has tried to push Iranians to use government-made and government-approved knockoff apps. The ban has been ineffective; even Iranian government propagandists themselves still use Telegram. In April 2024, the Chinese government pushed Apple to remove WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from the Chinese version of the App Store. These apps were already blocked by Chinese internet service providers, but Chinese users had found ways around the Great Firewall. Durov claimed that the Apple ban did not affect Chinese use of Telegram, since users could still download the Android version directly. "Chinese people are smartthey like Telegram and find a way to use it," Durov said. Of course, America and France have important differences from Russia, China, and Iran. Along with civil rights laws, most Western countries have a large, independent tech sector wary of government interference. Silicon Valley billionaires David Sacks and Elon Musk both condemned Durov's arrest. Still, even the American tech sector's independence has been weakening in the face of political pressure. Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill forcing Chinese company ByteDance to either sell off the social media app TikTok or face a ban from American app stores. Some opponents of the First Amendment are excited by the possibilities. Former U.S. National Security Council official Alexander Vindman celebrated the defeat of "free speech absolutists weirdos" in a series of social media posts. Durov's arrest "has broader implications for other social media, including Twitter," Vindman wrote. "There's a growing intolerance for platforming disinfo & malign influence & a growing appetite for accountability. Musk should be nervous." The post Putin and the Ayatollah Wanted To Censor This App. Now It's Macron's Turn. appeared first on Reason.com. (Bloomberg) -- Ukraines operation in Russias Kursk region is part of a broader military, political and diplomatic effort aimed at making Russia accept a fair peace, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Most Read from Bloomberg Everything we do is for the purpose of forcing Russia be ready for fair peace, Zelenskiy told Indian journalists in Kyiv on Sunday, according to his Telegram. Ukraine took under its control two more settlements in Kursk region, he said in a daily video statement. Ukraines leader also discussed with the visiting media Ukraines planned second peace summit, his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, and Kyivs hoped-for integration into the European Union. Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russias Kursk region this month. On Saturday, Zelenskiy said the move was done to protect the northeastern Sumy region and to capture Russian soldiers who could be used for prisoner-of-war swaps. Putin on Saturday night received reports from at least five commanders involved in combat missions in Russian territories bordering Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday. Ukrainian forces claim to have control of more than 1,250 square kilometers (483 square miles) of territory in the first foreign military offensive inside Russia since World War II. In an operational update, Russias defense ministry said its troops continue to repel Ukrainian efforts in several settlements in the Kursk region, from which thousands of residents have fled in recent weeks. Reconnaissance and search operations continue to identify and destroy enemy sabotage groups in forested areas that were attempting to penetrate deep into Russian territory, the ministry said. The Kremlin on Saturday released video of Putin meeting with Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff. It was unclear when the meeting took place. Ukrainian intelligence also observed a significant concentration of Belarusian military personnel, artillery and air defense in its Gomel region near Ukraines northern border under the disguise of military drill, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in emailed statement. Ukraine urged Belarus to avoid tragic mistakes under Moscows pressure and withdraw the forces to a distance unreachable for Belarusian systems. (Updates with recent advances in Kursk in second paragraph and Foreign Ministrys comments about military drills in Belarus in last paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. In October 2022, in the dead of night, specialist troops and officials from Moscow slipped into St Catherines Cathedral in Kherson and exhumed the bones of famed 18th-century Russian commander Grigory Potemkin. He was a favourite of Empress Catherine the Great and played a critical role in the annexation of Crimea in 1783. No one knows where they have gone. Perhaps Moscow or Crimea. But the removal was on the orders of Vladimir Putin. If you have ever wondered what drives the Russian president, this single act should give a strong indication. It is history, and Russias place in it. One of the battles I had with the national security establishment in the years up to February 2022 was to persuade them that, despite the intelligence reports and the wise heads, Putin was not driven by logic, nor a passion to turn his country into a modern, outward-looking power. He was motivated by revenge, legacy and romance. He and his Siloviki (past and present securocrats from the KGB and FSB) do not accept that they were the culprits behind the Soviet Union they inflicted on the Russian people. They believe they were the victims of a Western plot. Were it not for the Wests version of history, Russia would be considered to have won the Second World War single-handedly. The Cold War would never have needed to happen because Eastern Europe, including East Germany and Poland, would have wanted to remain pressed to Moscows bosom. The bizarre essay Putin personally wrote in June 2021, entitled The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II, desperately twists facts, ignores events and casts Russia as the saviour of the world. He claims that the NaziSoviet pact that led to the invasion and dismembering of Poland was to the UKs benefit. In trying to recast Russias role in Second World War, Putin lays blame squarely with Britain and France, and completely distorts the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. He makes no mention of the massacre of 20,000 Poles at Katyn by the Red Army and secret police in 1940, nor the fact that before the invasion of Poland, Russia trained with the Wehrmacht and sold tanks to them. His essay is worth a read, if only to get a sense of the man. But dont expect reality. Expect excuses. Almost a year later, Putin penned another essay: On the Historical Unity of Russia and Ukrainians. It reads like a mix of Mein Kampf and a Walter Scott novel: destiny, ethnic nationalism and romance combined into an essay. It would be too easy to discard, but it is an essay that held all the clues about what was to happen next. How sad that so many Russian experts in the Foreign Office, Quai dOrsay or Foggy Bottom missed it. The aftermath of the Iraq war left intelligence services too cautious to make judgment calls without their product being washed through matrixes and seniors. Often the middle ranking intelligence officer who has lived and breathed the enemy for 20 years is kept so far in the background that ministers dont get the instinct or judgment they really need. Sir John Chilcot produced intelligence analysis that was thorough but it also regularly removed the human factor. Too often we assess intelligence through a lens that is a reflection of our own motivations and behaviours rather than those of our adversaries. But it is also the job of politicians to understand people and their motives. Politicians who cannot read a room make lousy politicians. Leaders who cannot feel the currents in international relations shouldnt be leaders. When I went to Moscow, barely 10 days before the invasion, to meet the Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, I didnt go to read a script, I went to read my adversaries. I went to see how deep the lies went, how big the egos were, what motivated them and the behaviour of the subordinates around them. As I left I remember commenting to General Gerasimov that I was struck by how his military doctrine had swapped mass for readiness and mobilisation. At that moment another General leaned over to add: and ruthless intimidation. The mask had slipped. Most telling of all was the comment from General Gerasimov to me in the hallway. Never again will we be humiliated. We used to be the fourth army in the world, now we are the first or second. It is us and the Americans. These men at the top of Russia see themselves as rewriting history, by correcting the humiliation they felt at the end of the Cold War and settling scores for hundreds of years. While Russia is doing a very good job of, yet again, humiliating itself through its own actions, we should realise that in Putins version of history it is Britain, not the US, which is at the heart of Russias failures. In Putins warped worldview, we were behind the Crimean war and defeat of the Czars, we were behind the rise of Hitler, we were behind the counter-revolution and our espionage was behind the end of the Soviet Union. Britain is in Putins crosshairs. One of the most senior members of the Russian Siloviki recently commented: We know Britain is behind the invasion of Kursk. We werent. Make no mistake, Putin is coming for us. We must be prepared for the inevitable. Rt Hon Ben Wallace is a former secretary of state for defence 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. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili extended heartfelt congratulations to the Ukrainians in a video address on the occasion of Ukraine Independence Day on August 24.In her message, President Zourabichvili expressed her solidarity with Ukraine, emphasizing the shared aspirations of both nations in striving for liberation, peace, and sovereignty."Dear Ukrainian friends, on behalf of the Georgian people and from the bottom of my heart, I extend my warmest congratulations on this Independence Day," she stated.The Georgian leader highlighted the common challenges faced by Ukraine and Georgia, both of which are dealing with territorial conflicts and aspirations for full sovereignty. Zourabichvili emphasized that the goal of liberating occupied territories and restoring peace is not just a national endeavor for Ukraine but also a shared aspiration for Georgia."I wish you continued progress toward your ultimate goal, which we share-a goal of liberating your country from occupation, restoring peace, and achieving full sovereignty and territorial integrity," she continued.The President also expressed hope for a European future for both countries, reinforcing the shared desire to align more closely with European values and institutions."This is my wish for Ukraine, for Georgia, and for the European future of both our nations," she concluded.In a campaign speech, Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the Georgian Dream party, urged the ban of the United National Movement (UNM) from Georgian politics."It is vitally important for Georgia to improve its political system, which will be impossible without removing the United National Movement from Georgian politics," Ivanishvili said.He also pledged that if the Georgian Dream party gains a constitutional majority, they will seek legal action against those responsible for crimes during the August 2008 war. "When we get the constitutional majority, it will be our public duty to give a legal assessment to the criminal actions of our country's enemies, especially the worst crimes committed during the August 2008 war," he added.Ivanishvili promised that after the elections, the Georgian Dream party would work to convict and punish the responsible individuals. "We take responsibility that after the elections are over and receiving a high level of legitimacy from Georgian people, a process will begin, which will end with the conviction and severe punishment of the criminals," he said. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after offloading them from several vehicles on Monday, official sources told Xinhua. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has stated that negotiations with Ukraine have "lost their relevance". Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti, citing Peskov Quote from Peskov: "You know, the topic of negotiations has largely lost its relevance now. There are many reports about various communications [between the warring parties] in the media, and not all of them are actually true." Details: This was Peskov's response to a question about potential talks between Ukraine and Russia, the possibility of which was reported by The Washington Post on 17 August. Journalists claimed that Ukraine and Russia were to send delegations to Doha, Qatar, in August to negotiate a historic agreement that would end the attacks on energy and energy infrastructure on both sides. On 26 August, Russia launched a large missile attack on Ukraine, dealing even more damage to already severely affected energy facilities. Support UP or become our patron! Qantas accidentally sold first-class airfares to hundreds of customers at a steep discount, a bargain that turned out to be too good to be true. The Australian airline on Monday told CBS MoneyWatch that it sold 300 first-class tickets between Australia and the U.S. for 85% off their usual price an unheard of discount. Qantas said the deal was not a genuine offer and that the blunder was due to a coding flaw in its booking system that lasted for several hours on August 22. It has since been fixed, the airline said. "Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true," Qantas said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. The carrier mistakenly sold the first-class return fares for roughly $3,390 that compares with their usual cost of $13,000 to $20,000, according to Qantas' website. Customers who snagged the cheap tickets during the system disruption will still get to travel, but they'll be reassigned to business class, the airline told CBS MoneyWatch. "As a gesture of goodwill, we're rebooking customers in Business Class at no additional cost," Qantas said. Customers can also ask for refunds instead, according to the airline. Those who choose to travel in business class will still see savings, but won't get all the perks first-class customers enjoy. Qantas states in its terms and conditions on its website that "Sometimes mistakes are made and incorrect fares can be displayed." The airline says it reserves the right to cancel tickets or bookings when "there is an error or mistake that is reasonably obvious in the fare price." Alternatively, Qantas can give customers a refund or sell the same ticket at the correct fare, according to the carrier's terms. In 2023, the airline agreed to pay nearly $70 million to passengers who had purchased tickets on roughly 8,000 flights Qantas had already decided to cancel, but continued to advertise. Harris, Trump chase union workers in 2024 election battleground states Texas Attorney General Paxton accused of targeting voter registration efforts Breaking down what Kamala Harris, Donald Trump need to accomplish at debate Qantas has blamed a coding error for drastically reduced first-class fares. About 300 travelers bought tickets with discounts of up to 85% off. Qantas said it's rebooking affected customers in business class or offering full refunds. The Australian airline Qantas has blamed a coding error for vastly reduced pricing on hundreds of first-class flights sold last week. About 300 travelers nabbed the tickets, priced at discounts of up to 85% on the usual fare rate for flights between Australia and the US. A first-class journey between Sydney and New York costs about 15,000 Australian dollars, or about $10,000. "Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true," a spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement on Monday. Qantas' terms and conditions say it's allowed to rescind an offer if there's "an error or mistake that is reasonably obvious." "As a gesture of goodwill, we're rebooking customers in Business Class at no additional cost," the statement added. "Customers also have the option of a full refund." One of the first-class suites set to take to the skies with Qantas in 2026. Qantas Last year, Qantas unveiled new first- and business-class suites for its longest routes. These suites feature fully enclosed sleeping spaces, lie-flat beds, and customizable lighting. The nonstop flights were initially set to be launched in early 2025 but were pushed to 2026. They are expected to be the world's longest, connecting Sydney to New York and London. Such journeys usually involve a stopover in places such as San Francisco, Singapore, or Dubai, but passengers will spend up to 21 hours in the air on these trips. In May, the airline agreed to pay nearly 8,000 would-be passengers up to about $300 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accused it of selling tickets for flights that it knew were canceled. The company did not respond to a request for comment at the time. In a press release published in October, it said "mistakes were made" but that it "did not delay communicating with our passengers for commercial gain." Correction: August 26, 2024 This story has been corrected to reflect that Qantas' initial launch date for its longest-ever flights was pushed from 2025 to 2026. Read the original article on Business Insider Qantas is offering refunds or business-class seats after hundreds of passengers were mistakenly sold first-class flights that were significantly reduced in price due to an apparent coding error. The airline had flights between Australia and the US displayed on its website on Thursday, but instead of advertising the usual rate for these journeys, an error made the flights appear to be up to 85 per cent less than the usual first-class prices. Around 300 people were able to book the return flights between Australia and the US while the unusually low prices were on display for around eight hours. Many travellers believed they had found a golden opportunity to snap up a Qantas first-class ticket for less. These tickets include access to airport lounges, champagne recommended by a somelier, a large seat and bedding on the aircraft, a chance to peruse a pillow menu, and other amenities. However, the cheap first class tickets ended up being a mistake. A spokesperson for the Australian airline said: Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true. The airline cited a coding error, but it is unclear what the details were and what led to the mistake. Qantas terms and conditions state on their website that if mistakes are made and incorrect fares are displayed that are reasonably obvious, they can cancel the booking, provide the customer with a refund or offer a new ticket at the correct fare price. In this case, Qantas said they would give customers the option to still fly in a higher class, but just not at the first-class level they were hoping for. "As a gesture of goodwill, were rebooking customers in business-class at no additional cost. Customers also have the option of a full refund," Qantas said in a statement. The passengers who will now be flying business-class instead of the first-class tickets they thought they bagged would still be paying 65 per cent less than usual for their ticket, the airline said. The mistake gained traction after a post started to circle on OzBargain, an online bargain-hunting community forum, which speculated it was likely an error but might be worth a try. One customer, William Fowler, heard from a friend about the supposed deal and said he is happy that he managed to end up with a business-class flight for less. Im excited. Its a great price for business; it would have been an unbelievable price for first class, he told news.com.au. Qantas was this year forced to pay a penalty of AUD$100 million (52.7 mliion) to settle a legal battle with an Australian competition watchdog for selling thousands of tickets for flights they had already decided to cancel. The airline was accused of advertising and selling more than 8,000 flight tickets that it had already cancelled in its internal system. The airline apologised to its affected customers in May and said it was focused on making the remediation process as quick and seamless as possible for customers. The airline also agreed to pay around AUD$20 million (10.5 million) in compensation to nearly the 87,000 victims of its so-called ghost flights policy. The Independent has contacted Qantas for comment. For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calders podcast Quentin Tarantino urged Kamala Harris to continue on with avoiding sit-down interviews with the press until its time for Americans to submit their ballots in November, adding that he feels both political parties are in war mode and sometimes its just about winning. Im going to vote for her fking anyway no matter what she says in the stupid fking interview, so dont fk st up, the legendary filmmaker told Bill Maher on the comedian and hosts YouTube show Club Random. At the time, the pair were discussing Vice President Harris entry into the race and what appears to be her decision to avoid media interviews so far. While Maher felt it would be good for Harris to chat with him and reach the independent voters who watch his platform, Tarantino said this election season is different given the Democratic Partys sudden change in candidates. Quentin Tarantino endorses Kamala Harris for president pic.twitter.com/ncxRa45EZs Ben (@BenBartlettt) August 25, 2024 Theres nothing you said that isnt right. Theres definitely nothing you said that isnt right in a normal election cycle. Irrefutably right in a normal election cycle where you have a year to set your case, Tarantino said, who added that at this point, the Dems and the GOP are simply concerned about solidifying a W. I think, its all about winning the fking election. The easiest path to winning the election is Look, you can talk about maybe she should have had more guts about this or that or the other, but were the fking president, Tarantino said. And Trumps not the president, and were the fking president, and now its going to be about this. This is about fking winning. What most people dont give the Democrats enough credit for, but we give the Republicans credit for, is like, no, sometimes its just about fking winning. And it doesnt matter how we look at this moment. Its about fking winning. This is about fking winning. Its a mad fking dash and she is running and shes not stopping to stumble. Harris and her evasion of interviews has been a talking point for her opponent Donald Trump over the past couple of weeks. And for Democrats, the Party says to just be patient. Lets give some time, Indiana delegate Heather Pirowski told Fox News. I think just be patient, because its all going to come. However, Harris has said that shed like to get an interview scheduled before September. Ive talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month, Harris told reporters while on her way to a campaign event in Arizona. The post Quentin Tarantino Urges Kamala Harris Against Doing Interviews Until She Wins: Dont Fk St Up! | Video appeared first on TheWrap. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) Jackson police are searching for a suspect after a 12-year-old was shot in the back this weekend. The shooting happened late Saturday night near Woodrow Wilson and Powers Avenue. According to Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade, the 12-year-old boy was with his uncle at the time of the shooting. The police chief said more must be done to protect the youth in the capital city, but the community and police must work together. Man arrested after wife shot, killed in Terry After the incident, Wade said the 12-year-old was taken home to his mother by his uncle instead of the hospital. The police chief said the situation was odd and raised several red flags. Its not clear whether the uncle was the intended target, but Wade said theyre conducting a deep dive into what happened. We are yet to get a formal statement from the uncle. We hope to get that today. My team has been reaching out to him, and hopefully, he can shed some light on what happened to this child because no 12-year-old should have to deal with the trauma of being shot. And this child was not by himself. He was with an adult, but that adult, we hope that he can shed some light on this. As I stated, he didnt immediately seek medical help for his nephew. He took him home, the police chief said. Anyone with information about the shooting can contact the Jackson Police Department (JPD) at 601-960-1234 or Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS (8477). Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. The issue of race permeates Donald Trumps Georgia state election interference case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Trumps latest court filing in a pretrial appeal seeking Willis disqualification reminds us that it surfaces in a legal claim, specifically. At least, the former president who has harnessed racism for his political ends wants it to be an issue that kicks Willis off the case or even gets it dismissed. Recall that, back in March, Judge Scott McAfee declined to force Willis removal. The defense had alleged a conflict of interest stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. McAfee didnt find an actual conflict but said the appearance of impropriety required Willis or Wade to step down, and the latter did. Responding to a separate defense claim, relevant to Trumps new court filing on Monday, McAfee criticized a speech that Willis gave at an Atlanta church whose effect, the judge wrote in his March ruling, was to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendants decision to file this pretrial motion. Yet the trial judge concluded that Willis didnt cross the line to the point of denying a fair trial or requiring her disqualification. The state criminal case, in which Trump has pleaded not guilty, has been on hold pending the appeal, where this issue is the focus of the GOP presidential nominees latest filing to Georgias state appeals court. Willis falsely declared that allegations against her stemmed from racism to hide the fact that they were true, his lawyers wrote of the prosecutor, who is Black. She obviously intended that every potential Fulton County juror who heard or read Willis racist speech should label the defendants as racists, the lawyers added. While McAfee criticized Willis in his ruling, Trumps lawyers argued in their appellate filing that the mere verbal rebuke of Willis by the trial judge was utterly insufficient it demanded disqualification. In rejecting the defense claim, McAfee wrote that Georgia law on so-called forensic misconduct is unclear in terms of the relevant standard for determining disqualification. That could make it more of an open question how the courts resolve the appeal, which has been set for oral argument in December. If Willis and her office are disqualified, that would raise questions of when or even whether the case could go forward with a new prosecutors office. Defending McAfees bottom line in keeping her on the case, Willis office wrote earlier this month that the judge didnt abuse his discretion in finding that none of the District Attorneys statements were capable of permanently impairing the fundamental fairness of any future trial and that, as a result, disqualification was not appropriate. To be sure, this disqualification issue is separate from the underlying substance of the case, in which Trump and others were charged a year ago for their alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election in the state. And there are other issues to resolve before the case can proceed to trial, including the effect of the Supreme Courts July 1 immunity ruling. If Trump is elected in November, more attention may be drawn to his state criminal cases, which presidents dont have the power to pardon or dismiss, as Trumps lawyers try to overturn his New York state guilty verdicts based on the immunity ruling. But whether Trump wins or loses in November, the fate of the Georgia case may not become clear for some time. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for updates and expert analysis on the top legal stories. The newsletter will return to its regular weekly schedule when the Supreme Courts next term kicks off in October. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com How Raleigh once demolished a Black neighborhood and displaced more than 1,000 people In 1971, Raleigh began destroying one of its oldest and largest Black neighborhoods when Mayor Seby Jones smacked the first house with a gold-plated sledgehammer. By the time it finished, Raleigh had wiped out roughly 600 homes and 60 businesses just south of downtown, toppling Church of Christ and mowing down the Blue Front Grocery. Battle Street, Grape Street, Jamaica Street and Cuba Street all disappeared. An estimated 1,600 people, nearly all of them Black, packed up and left the century-old community known as Fourth Ward the disowned child of Oak City history. Raleigh Mayor Seby Jones takes sledgehammer to the first house demolished in Fourth Ward urban renewal project on Feb. 19, 1971. Remembering Fourth Ward But starting Monday, those who remember Fourth Ward and experienced its shotgun houses and dirt streets that turned to mud in the rain will hold a week-long celebration aimed at restoring it to Raleighs memory and map. The families still scattered around the city will collect and demand some formal recognition even a sign to recall the people uprooted in the name of urban renewal. I want it to come back as an official name, said Octavia Rainey, organizer, so when youre planning in that area, you say Uh oh. Youre in Fourth Ward. Dont nobody talk about Fourth Ward, so that tells me they dont even know. Fourth Ward/Southside residents sit on porches, January 22, 1970. A safe haven Before the bulldozers, the neighborhood stretched roughly from Memorial Auditorium and Red Hat Amphitheater south to the gates of Mt. Hope Cemetery, forming a tight grid of streets few of them paved. Just last week, when residents fought to keep the city from closing South Street for the sake of new Red Hat construction, they were fighting on old Fourth Ward territory. By the time Raleigh chose it for urban renewal a federally funded program that, at the time, called for leveling blighted neighborhoods it had already cleared out Smoky Hollow around Peace Street, displacing 165 families. Fourth Ward had largely become a neighborhood of tenants rather than the homeowners who occupied it during early segregated decades, and many still resisted the idea that their streets were as crime-ridden and dilapidated as city officials portrayed. I remember all the people there, said Rosa Rand, who lived on Cannon Street until she was a teenager. It wasnt just working class people. There were educators. There were ministers. There were railroad workers, so there were people with varying incomes. We were right there together. We were a village. I remember when maybe we were short of cash, she continued, we could always go to Mr. M.H. He would let us have everything we need. If we didnt go to Mr. M.H., we would go to Mr. Swindell. He would give us anything that we needed to keep us warm or to feed us. If we were out of sugar, we would go to our neighbor. Mama said, could we have some sugar? Those were the days. We were dirt poor, but we didnt know it. Those people who said we were dilapidated, no good, they could have learned a thing or two. A little girl who was a member of the Bessie McDaniel family living at 208 Battle Street in the Fourth Ward/Southside neighborhood photographed January 22, 1970 for a News and Observer story on poor living conditions in the area. Theyre moving us out Raleigh offered the promise of a fresh, improved neighborhood as its official reason for knocking down Fourth Ward. As he swung the hammer, Jones announced, I am hopeful this will be the end to substandard housing in Raleigh. Standing next to him, Clarence Lightner, who would soon become Raleighs first Black mayor, agreed. Its fantastic, he said. Just fantastic. But residents rejected Raleighs first plan, which involved clearing out an even larger area, forcing the city to include more public input. Even then, the people of Fourth Ward suspected the true motive behind urban renewal was building wider, faster routes out of the city. The only people who come down there are either policemen or salesmen, said Lawrence Wilson in 1968. Theyre moving us out to build a highway so white people can get to the beach faster. Lots of us dont want to get moved out. Meanwhile, while the bureaucratic wheels turned, the housing the city called substandard got even worse. In the freezing winter of 1970, Raleigh opened an emergency center to help families who ran out of coal for the stoves and food for their pantries. Ninety percent of the houses arent fit to live in, said the Rev. Henry Peace at the time. Its beyond rehabilitation. The landlords are waiting on urban renewal to buy their property and arent going to spend anything in the meantime. Homes in the Fourth Ward/Southside neighborhood of Raleigh photographed for a story on poor living conditions in the area, January 21, 1970. I dont know who needs help Raleigh finally sold residents on the relocation idea by promising to rebuild within the Fourth Ward boundaries. But that never happened. Raleigh bought houses from the 87 residents who were homeowners and paid them $15,000 in relocation fees. Another 222 people went into public housing, notably Heritage Park. More than 200 others moved into rentals around Raleigh, about 50 of them federally subsidized. But the federal government mixed large-scale housing on the site of Fourth Ward, noting it would constitute noise pollution to have so many people near big roads that existed then and those planned for the future. This is most absurd, Peace told The N&O. I personally lived at the noisiest part ... where every truck coming up South Street shifted gears to get up the hill and also where every truck going down the same street backfired. I can truthfully say that it had no effect on my family or my children. Longtime residents who returned only four years later found no trace of their old neighborhoods, with the street signs removed and the houses hauled away. The worst thing is you had to leave the neighborhood you learned to love, Doris Whitaker told The N&O in 1975. It was a very close neighborhood, but were so scattered now I dont know whos sick and I dont know who needs help. Fourth Ward streets before urban renewal in the early 1970s. A very unhappy situation That same year, Mayor Clarence Lightner, who once trumpeted urban renewals beginnings by calling them just fantastic, changed his tune. He said Raleigh would be unlikely to ever try such widespread teardowns again, focusing instead on removing a few distressed houses and working to preserve the rest. He called the whole experiment a very unhappy situation. The few remaining voices of Fourth Ward look around Raleigh today and ask how well that promise has been kept if at all. A week of celebration for Fourth Ward Monday : A Celebration of Mt. Hope Cemetery, 120 Prospect Ave., 6 p.m. Wednesday : Fourth Ward Kickoff, City of Raleigh Museum, 220 Fayetteville St., 6 p.m. Thursday : Fourth Ward Meet and Greet, Raleigh Pathways Center, 900 S. Wilmington St., 6 p.m. Friday : Restricted Covenants and Black Land Loss lecture, Dorothea Dix Chapel, 1030 Richardson Drive, 6 p.m. Saturday : Fourth Ward Cookout, Roberts Park, 1300 E. Martin St., 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday: Gospel Extravaganza, Fletcher Hall, 2 E. South St., 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Community leader Gordon Leon stands near a growing fissure near a road in the Abalone Cove neighborhood in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes on May 29. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) For the record: 9:07 a.m. Aug. 26, 2024: An earlier version of this story said that removing groundwater reduces friction. Removing groundwater does not reduce friction it increases it. The forces behind the relentless land movement plaguing Rancho Palos Verdes appear to be more complicated, and possibly more widespread, than originally thought forcing the city to once again rethink how it can limit some of the mounting damage. Officials confirmed a very deep and active landslide plane previously considered dormant during exploratory drilling this summer, a discovery that has upended emergency efforts aimed at stabilizing the Portuguese Bend area. "This is an unprecedented new scenario for the city, which means we have to change our strategy," Ramzi Awwad, Rancho Palos Verdes' public works director, said during a City Council meeting last week. Again. Officials also characterized the situation as unprecedented this winter, when, after back-to-back years of extremely wet rain seasons, land movement accelerated and expanded in ways never before seen: splitting homes' walls, ruining roadways and repeatedly bursting underground utility lines. Read more: The landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes is getting worse. This man is fighting back The alarming situation prompted the city to shelve a long-term stabilization plan and pursue emergency efforts to slow the land movement. But the recent discovery of this active, deeper slip plane, which sits at roughly twice the depth of the previously tracked landslides, further muddles any possible solution to the growing disaster. Geologists believe the deeper activity is the ancient Altamira landslide complex, for which movement has never before been recorded, Awwad said. The shallower slide does have fast movement, but the deeper slide is moving much faster, Awwad said. "The priority becomes that deeper slip plane. The discovery only exacerbates the sense of urgency. In the last few weeks, Southern California Gas Co. shut off service to 135 homes in the landslide area, citing safety concerns from the worsening land movement. Soon after, Southern California Edison warned electricity could follow "if conditions warrant." Read more: Danger signs were present before Palos Verdes landslide destroyed homes, new study finds Many Rancho Palos Verdes residents are facing existential threats to their homes cracked foundations, leaking roofs, shifting floors and the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which serves the Palos Verdes Peninsula, has warned it could take first responders more than six minutes to access some homes due to challenging road conditions. This week, a group of residents filed a lawsuit in state court alleging local officials including the homeowners' association, the area's water provider, the city, the county and landslide abatement district failed to properly act, leading to an oversaturation of nearby hillsides that triggered the recent landslide movement. Our city is doing everything, but the problem is, the problem is bigger than our city," said Mayor John Cruikshank. City officials last week voted to move ahead with a pilot plan to drill vertical wells into the deeper landslide, with the aim of pumping out groundwater known to be the impetus for the land movement while continuing to study the extent and characteristics of the deeper slip plane. Much about this deeper, ancient landslide remains unknown, but it's clear it at one point encompassed a much larger area, meaning it could potentially warp even more land, infrastructure and homes. Land movement exacerbated by storms caused large cracks in the pavement and damaged nearby homes on Dauntless Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The boring program, thus far, has confirmed there is a much deeper landslide ... probably the ancient Altamira landslide," said Mike Phipps, the city's contracted geologist. "What we dont know is whether that deeper landslide extends under the entire complex." Historical maps of the ancient landslide complex, including one from the California Geological Survey, documented the slide's boundary to be well north of the Portuguese Bend Reserve, almost reaching Crest Road which would include some neighborhoods off Oceanaire Drive and Valley View Road. Other mapping does not include those areas, however, and Phipps noted that recent movement, or other factors, could have shifted the ancient perimeter. His team recently installed additional monitoring sites in the neighborhoods south of Crest Road, hoping to better understand the scope of current and potential movement. There's also been some new land movement northeast of the landslide complex along Cinchring and Quail Ridge roads in Rolling Hills, an area that has never been included as part of any mapped landslide area. "It could be related, but it could be a separate landslide," Phipps said. "We really dont know." Read more: Rancho Palos Verdes landslide is creating new coastline. 'It's unreal' He encouraged collaboration between the cities of Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes to figure out what's happening, and whether the movement is related. In the future, this could be a public safety issue for Rolling Hills, Phipps said. Rolling Hills City Manager Karina Banales said city officials have been "engaged in ongoing conversations" about the "regional land movement," but noted that the areas probably affected are on private property. Boring tests that uncovered the deeper geologic formation have so far been completed along only one edge of the Portuguese Bend landslide, which is one of four smaller slides in the area along with Abalone Cove, Klondike Canyon and Beach Club that probably sit atop the Altamira Complex, according to the latest report from city officials. The failure surface of the Portuguese Bend landslide, previously the largest of the group, was recorded around 80 to 180 feet below ground level. The deeper slip plane associated with the ancient Altamira slide was measured around 245 to 345 feet below ground, the report said. The prevailing thought has been to respond to each of these smaller slides separately, but Awwad and Phipps said a more unified approach is now warranted, given the deeper, faster and more widespread Altamira slip plane that spans the other slides. Despite the onslaught of concerning news, Phipps said there is a bright spot. For the first time in months, recent measurements from across the landslide area from July 1 to Aug. 1 showed the overall rate of land movement had decelerated, by about 1%. "The general rate of land movement has actually leveled off," Phipps said. "This doesnt mean the movement has stopped. ... The landslide is still moving three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half feet per month but its not accelerating anymore. Movement is still slightly accelerating in some areas, but at much lower rates than previously reported. However, Phipps notes that the area is still shifting about 88 times faster than it was in October 2022, when he was measuring movement on the order of inches per year, not per week. "Landslide movement continues to manifest at the ground surface in the form of scarps, fissures, grabens/sinkholes, tensional cracking, shear zones and thrust features," the city's latest report said. "Due to the continued movement of the landslide, the ground movement features have continued to enlarge, expand, widen, or grow depending on the type of feature and location." And that means the problem is still a long way from being solved. Read more: Rancho Palos Verdes bans bikes, motorcycles from road as landslide causes it to shift and crack Cruikshank appeared almost exasperated by the situation last week, questioning how anyone can ignore the growing crisis, noting that many people living in this area are seniors on fixed incomes. Earlier this month, the city requested again for the state to declare an emergency given the recent gas shutoffs, and Cruikshank even appealed for help from Elon Musk. Officials said they've yet to get a response from either. We do need that help, but honestly I dont know if I expect it anymore, Cruikshank said at the City Council meeting. Quit looking at us like as a rich community that doesnt need help we need help." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The real reason you keep getting rejected by airport e-gates If you travelled back to Britain recently, theres a good chance you used an e-gate when you arrived these now ubiquitous machines facilitate some 90 million arrivals each year. There are over 270 e-gates in the UK across 15 different airports and railway stations, including St Pancras International. Provided the system doesnt fail like it did earlier this year, e-gates usually make the border process quicker and smoother. Yet browse travel forums and youll find a sizable minority of users saying they have had issues with the technology. Some even claim their passport is always rejected, forcing them to join a separate (and often long) line to have their document checked by a Border Force officer. So what is the truth? Are e-gates rejecting passports for strange reasons? We spoke to insiders about how the system really works. How do e-gates work? Unlike some European biometric systems which also use fingerprints, British e-gates work solely on facial recognition meaning that everything depends on your photo. When you press your passport on the pad, it scans the chevrons at the bottom of the page in order to unlock the information contained in your chip. The computer then compares your passport photo with a live recording of your face. UK e-gates are notoriously finicky, so having a clean picture page and ensuring the right level of pressure (gentle but not too much) can be important, says Gilbert Ott, founder of travel website God Save the Points. So if youre rejected, it might be a simple case of not holding your passport properly. Can my photo be too old? A lot can happen in 10 years and dont most of us know it. But is it possible to age so much you cant use an e-gate anymore? While the government guidance is cautiously vague recommending you order a new document if you cannot be recognised from your passport photo the experts are less worried. The technology behind e-gates has come on massively in the past 20 years, says Mike Franklin, a biometrics expert with security specialists C-Clarity. These days the cameras assess thousands of different features like the shape of the corner of your eyes. Whats more, he says, the power of artificial intelligence means that the system can take into account the date on your passport and work out how much your face and features might have changed in that time. While the Home Office hasnt officially confirmed that its e-gates use artificial intelligence, such capabilities are widespread when it comes to facial recognition. What if I wear too much make-up? While grey hairs or extra pounds might not confuse the e-gates, could a heavy makeover cause issues? Thats a claim made on TikTok, where a number of Gen Z content creators suggest that wearing too much make-up has stopped them from passing swiftly through passport control. Despite their videos going viral, those who know the systems best are dismissive of the idea that any cosmetic change would make someone unrecognisable to the camera including shaving your head entirely. Most TikTok-related travel content is as useful as the dancing videos, adds Ott. What if Im very hungover? Could a boozy weekend stop you in your tracks? That was the bombshell claim made some years ago by a company claiming to have studied the shortfalls in facial recognition systems. While many of us can spot the telltale signs of a heavy night, the e-gate experts remain highly dubious that even a night on the tiles with Oliver Reed and Ernest Hemingway would change your face enough to fool a camera. Maybe that would happen on a very old and unsophisticated algorithm in the early 2000s, but not with the kind of technology we see at modern airports, says Franklin. Don't worry about being hungover - even a night out with Oliver Reed couldn't befuddle an e-gate. Just don't spill beer on your passport, as liquid can ruin the chip - Moment RF What if Ive had plastic surgery? The government guidance does offer one reason why you may choose to consider a new passport photo: plastic surgery. From Harley Street to Istanbul, the array of procedures on offer is bigger than ever. But has anyone ever found themselves unable to use an e-gate after tinkering with their face? In my 20 years as a specialist plastic surgeon, no patient has had to change their passport, says Dr Dirk Kremer of Harley St Aesthetics. Biometric data usually maps fixed points in the face that are difficult to reshape. Filler and botox treatments have little impact on face recognition unless there are extreme alterations. In general, patients dont ask for such dramatic surgery which would give them an almost freakish look. What if my chip is broken? Passports are designed to be sturdy enough to withstand the wear and tear that comes with being hauled around on your travels. That said, it is possible to damage the small chip through which the e-gate can access your biometric and biological data particularly if your passport gets wet. Modern technology means that (with the right app) most smartphones can confirm whether your chip is broken, using something called an NFC (or near-field communication) chip. Can my name be an issue? Regular travellers will have heard the rumours of passengers held at the e-gates because they share a name with someone on a mysterious watchlist. Naturally, those affected are usually kept in the dark. Though one traveller contacted The Telegraph after being told they couldnt use e-gates due to having a common name. When I phoned the Passport Office to discuss the problem, an officer said that perhaps I should consider changing my name, he added. But what is the truth? Conversations with insiders suggest that such a watchlist does exist, meaning those whose name and age matches a person of interest will be directed to a human border agent instead. Usually, say our sources, the issue can be solved with a few basic questions but not without causing an inevitable delay for the poor soul involved. 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. TEHRAN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on Sunday called for greater dynamism in bilateral relations and expansion of cooperation. In a phone call, they discussed bilateral ties, development in the Caucasus region as well as some other international issues of common interest, said Iran's foreign ministry in a statement. The two sides also highlighted the necessity to continue the exchange of high-ranking delegations, consultations between the two foreign ministries, and cooperation between the Iranian and Azerbaijani missions in international and regional organizations. Extreme heat killed more Americans in 2023 than any other year over nearly a quarter century of records, according to research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. At least 2,325 people died from the heat last year, according to the study, which included deaths with heat as both an underlying and contributing factor. The study, which used records dating back to 1999, found that annual deaths mostly remained steady, including a low point in 2004, until the mid-2010s, when an upward trend began. The increases culminated with the last year, which was also the hottest year on record. The researchers also found that the age-adjusted rate of heat deaths per capita was on the rise during the same period. While they found an adjusted rate of 0.47 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, the rate increased to 0.63 last year. These results align with site-specific data analyzed in a global study that suggest increases in heat-related mortality, the authors wrote. As temperatures continue to rise because of climate change, the recent increasing trend is likely to continue. The study comes as the Biden administration has introduced the first-ever proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration protections from extreme heat for workers, which include mandatory breaks and shaded or indoor rest areas. However, at least two states, Texas and Florida, have passed legislation barring local and municipal governments from imposing their own heat protections. Earlier this month, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), the Democratic nominee for his states open Senate seat, called on the administration to take further action, including for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to add extreme heat to the list of qualifying events for major disaster declarations. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra recently called extreme heat a public health emergency during a visit to Arizona in August. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. TOPEKA (KSNT) The American Red Cross in Kansas said it has been experiencing a blood emergency following Hurricane Debby and other severe weather events. On Monday, the American Red Cross out of Wichita said weather has complicated its efforts to rebuild the nations blood supply. Weather in recent weeks has added to the summer shortfall in donations by forcing the cancellation of nearly 60 blood drives throughout the country, many of which were caused by Debby, causing approximately 1,500 lifesaving blood products to go uncollected, the American Red Cross wrote in a press release. The Red Cross said it had canceled 167 blood drives over the last 10 years due to weather conditions. They said it caused over 650 donations to be uncollected in the Kansas and Oklahoma regions. School bus crash southwest of Topeka This has resulted in over 650 donations going uncollected in the Kansas-Oklahoma region to date in 2024, the American Red Cross wrote. Because blood has a short shelf life and can only come from volunteer blood donors, any disruptions in the ability to collect lifesaving blood can have serious consequences for hospitals and patients. 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. Red Lobster to close more locations, including two additional sites in NY. Find out where Three months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Red Lobster is set to close 23 additional locations nationwide. These closures bring the total number of shut-down restaurants to at least 129 across the U.S. The new closures include three locations each in Florida, Illinois, and Virginia; two in Minnesota and New York; and one each in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina. The company will reject the leases for these 23 locations by Saturday, August 31, as detailed in a 23-page court document filed on August 22 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. Background on Red Lobster's bankruptcy Red Lobster, which filed for bankruptcy on May 19, has been struggling with significant debt, frequent CEO changes, a controversial all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion, and a 30% decline in customer visits since 2019. The bankruptcy filing follows the closure of dozens of locations and an ongoing effort to streamline operations. Latest closure details Here are the locations set to close in the latest wave: Arizona : Yuma (1521 S. Yuma Palms Parkway) Arkansas : Little Rock (8407 W. Markham Street) California : La Mesa (8703 Murray Drive) Colorado : Colorado Springs (4925 N. Academy Boulevard) Florida : Fort Walton Beach (326 Miracle Strip Parkway S.W.), Pensacola (5110 N. 9th Avenue), and Port Richey (8909 US Highway 19) Georgia : Jonesboro (6550 Tara Boulevard) Illinois : Bourbonnais (1604 N. State Road Route 50), Geneva (902 Commons Drive), and Peoria (4625 N. Sterling Avenue) Indiana : Michigan City (4353 Franklin Street) Minnesota : Golden Valley (8900 Golden Valley Road) and Maple Grove (12515 Elm Creek Boulevard N.) Missouri : Maplewood (2381 Maplewood Commons Drive) New York : Bronx (925 Hunts Point Avenue), Queensbury (750 Upper Glen Street) North Carolina : Jacksonville (304 A Western Boulevard) Ohio : Strongsville (17227 Southpark Center) South Carolina : Cayce (1270 Knox Abbott Drive) Virginia: Alexandria (555 S. Van Dorn Street), Richmond (4415 S. Laburnum Avenue), Virginia Beach (709 Independence Boulevard) Previous closures In June, Red Lobster revealed it was rejecting 228 leases, which included some locations that had already closed. This wave of closures follows the shutdown of 106 restaurants earlier this summer. For more information For a detailed list of previously closed Red Lobster locations, see our comprehensive list by state. This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Red Lobster to close two more locations in NY. Find out where Restoration experts are helping damaged coral reefs in Indonesia rapidly recover and thrive thanks to a six-legged contraption known as a "reef star." As detailed by Grist, the nonprofit Mars Coral Reef Restoration Program backed by none other than the maker of iconic treats such as Snickers and M&M's is working with local organizations and communities to promote the growth of reefs devastated by blast fishing, a practice that is just as explosive as it sounds. According to the Coral Reef Alliance, blast fishing which is now illegal in many parts of the world, including Indonesia uses dynamite or homemade bombs to kill fish in bulk so they can be collected in large numbers. This and other destructive fishing practices have threatened nearly 60% of reefs in Southeast Asia, endangering the food supply chain and long-term economic gains for people who depend on fish for their livelihoods. Coral reefs also help protect against storm surges, which island nations have become more vulnerable to as sea levels rise and extreme weather events have increased in frequency and severity because of a warming planet. In the past, Mars Corporation has come under scrutiny for allegedly misleading consumers about the impact its practices actually have on the environment a practice known as greenwashing. Notably, in October 2020, the Rainforest Action Network called into question whether the candymaker was living up to its claims of using deforestation-free palm oil. However, the corporation's program in South Sulawesi, part of the biodiverse Coral Triangle, appears to be making a meaningful impact. A study published in the journal Current Biology discovered that the reef stars could help reefs regain full health in as little as four years. According to the nonprofit, the stars provide a strong base for transplanted coral to grow on, allowing the organisms to eventually overgrow them and integrate into the reef structure. "The Mars project has set the bar really high for how you can do evidence-based reef restoration," University of Exeter coral reef ecologist Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson told Grist. Perhaps most importantly, as Bostrom-Einarsson pointed out, local involvement in the initiative trumps the practice of well-funded researchers dipping in to collect data before leaving to formulate an action plan from afar. Instead, local residents and universities are involved every step of the way, from building the reef stars to installing them and maintaining restoration areas. The nonprofit notes that Bontosua Island off the coast of Sulawesi has 100 community members working at a restoration site, and hundreds of thousands of corals have been reintroduced to once lifeless areas destroyed by blast fishing. Coral reef ecologist Ines Lange, the study's lead author, highlighted how the restoration project does have limitations. Pollution and rising ocean temperatures are among the other threats to coral reefs, for example. Yet she still spoke to the promising developments. "We're not saying we can repair all the coral reefs in the world with this method," Lange told Grist. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do something on the scale that we can to change something for a local community, because it makes a huge difference for them." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Traffic waits on Highway 1804 at the Marley Crossing near Trenton, North Dakota, on May 10, 2024. The North Dakota Department of Transportation has requested federal grants to help build an overpass over the tracks but so far has been unsuccessful. (Photo courtesy of Williams County) A North Dakota utility regulator says a railroad overpass should get built on a key road before construction begins on a multi-billion dollar natural gas processing facility. I dont know if its within our jurisdiction or even whether its fair and reasonable to require something like that, Randy Christmann, chair of the Public Service Commission, said during a work session last week. Christmann cited a letter from the head of the North Dakota Department of Transportation that said the DOT has been trying for three years to get a federal grant to build an overpass at Marley Crossing on North Dakota Highway 1804. A railroad track crosses Highway 1804 west of Trenton in Williams County, near the proposed site of the Cerilon natural gas processing facility. Trains cause traffic to back up on 1804, which is expected to handle a lot of truck and employee traffic from the Cerilon plant. Cerilon is proposing to build two gas-to-liquids plants to convert natural gas into useful products, such as diesel fuel and lubricants, and also generate electricity. Each Cerilon GTL ND facility would cost an estimated $3.2 billion and has received support from the state government and Williams and McKenzie counties. This embedded content is not available in your region. Christmann said he fears the traffic will be even worse during construction of the plant and the overpass is needed before construction begins. There was a need without this, Christmann said during the PSC work session, referring to the Cerilon plant. Clearly when this is added, an overpass is needed as a whole starting point. He said it should be built before the construction phase, when traffic will likely be at its worst. Why not build it before you put people through a year or two of misery? he asked. Traffic was one of the main concerns of area residents when the PSC held a public hearing on the Cerilon project in June. The letter from Department of Transportation Director Ronald Henke says his agency has partnered with BNSF Railway in looking for grant funding for an overpass. Chad Orn, deputy director of planning for the Department of Transportation, said the department is working on another grant application due in September similar to previous grants. The grant would provide $2.4 million just for the planning phase of an overpass. The DOT is requesting $1.92 million with the state and BNSF each contributing $240,000. Orn said the planning phase would take two to three years and then construction also would take multiple years and cost about $50 million. The department would likely need to seek more grant funding for construction, he said. Cerilon said in an email to the North Dakota Monitor that it has provided letters of support for grant applications. Commissioner Julie Fedorchak said she still senses frustration from residents in western North Dakota that they still have to deal with infrastructure issues such as roads while the oil and gas industry generates huge amounts of tax revenue for the state. They dont feel like a fair amount is reinvested in the area to deal with the problems, Fedorchak said. I think this is another example of that. She suggested the state could fund the project. Maybe we dont need grants from the broke federal government, Fedorchak said. Take it from the tax dollars being generated by this industry. Christmann also suggested that Cerilon could contribute to the overpass project. He cited cases where the coal industry has paid for underpasses and bridges near Beulah needed to handle heavy loads. Thats a cost of doing business, he said. In its email, Cerilon said, This project would be the responsibility of the state and Cerilon would not be involved in the design and implementation. Orn said he could not recall the coal industry contributing to a state road project but the industry may have helped with local projects. He said an oil company was allowed to hire a contractor to improve a stretch of a state highway but that was a much smaller project than building an overpass. Marley Crossing is not the only area of concern for traffic near the plant. Henkes letter says a report on traffic problems and possible solutions will be completed by the end of August. A left turn lane at the intersection of 1804 and 147th Avenue Northwest is expected to be added in 2025, the letter says. One possible solution is a bypass around the town of Trenton, which Highway 1804 runs through. A bypass still doesnt deal with the problem of what about when the road is blocked by the train, backing up all the traffic, Christmann said. The company says phase one would create about 100 jobs. Christmann said employees going to and from the plant would just add to the traffic and suggested the company could bus in workers to mitigate the impact. There is no timeline for when the PSC will make a decision on the Cerilon siting application. Commissioners indicated another work session may be needed before a vote. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) State Rep. Paul Takac (D-Centre) is hosting two events this week to get different viewpoints on matters for residents of the 82nd district. The first event scheduled is a Tele Town Hall scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29. Those interested in attending can call ahead to Takacs office at 814-308-0569 to provide the best number to be connected to the event. There will be a recording posted online afterward. The second event is scheduled will be an in-person Walk and Talk on Aug. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Arboretum on Penn States campus. Those interested can RSVP online. Community engagement is essential in my efforts to best represent everyone in the 82nd Legislative District, Takac said. That is why it is important to be available and to create opportunities for open communication and dialogue. This weeks Tele Town Hall and Walk & Talk events are great opportunities for us to come together, share and celebrate our achievements, and talk about what we want for the future of our community. Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters. Residents seeking more information about this weeks events can contact Takacs district office at 814-308-0569 or email RepTakac@pahouse.net. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) Police were called to investigate the reported theft of a motorcycle from a locked garage on Friday. A woman called police around 6:45 p.m. to report that someone had taken her motorcycle from her garage in the 2900 block of E. Market Street. According to a police report, the garage was locked at the time of the theft, however, the keys were left in the motorcycle. The woman told police that her 11-year-old son was at home at the time of the theft, and he heard a noise, but he thought it was just her returning home. Police were working to find any surveillance video from the area. The stolen motorcycle was a 2018 Kawasaki ER650 that was black and lime green in color, with a pink clutch handle, the report noted. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. BOSTON (SHNS) Gov. Maura Healeys plan to rescue five bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals could cost Massachusetts taxpayers $700 million by 2027, the Boston Globe reported Saturday, citing people with direct knowledge of the bailout plan. Nine days ago, Healey held a press conference where she announced a financing plan was vetted with legislative leaders and would help save several hospitals as they transition to potential new buyers. The governors office at the time said the plan involved cash advances, capital supports and maximizing federal matches, but didnt offer many additional details. Those are the three sources and were working with the acquirers to make sure they have the funds available so they can meet their bids, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh said on Aug. 16, adding that the state funds involved would continue for three years to help with staffing and capital investments. While Healey publicly disclosed the plan and said it was a win for Massachusetts and closed the book on Steward, her team since then has declined to elaborate on taxpayer costs or estimate the sum of the aid package. Healey was asked Aug. 16 about where the money was coming from for the hospital deals and she said she was working that out with her finance team. Walsh also said the administration was working on sources of funds and neither Walsh nor Healey estimated a total. None of the hospital deals have been approved in federal bankruptcy court, with the next court hearing date coming up on Tuesday. At this time, we cannot comment on financial terms or discussions due to ongoing negotiations, Olivia James, spokeswoman for Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, told the News Service on Friday, Aug. 23, a statement that suggests terms may be evolving. Healeys office and Walsh on Saturday did not directly address a request to confirm or deny the reported $700 million cost of the plan, and its unclear how hospital rescue plan costs will impact other health care spending in Massachusetts. The details here are really going to matter, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said Saturday afternoon. Howgate said he could imagine that some of the funding could be secured within the MassHealth system but also that some might require statutory action from the Legislature. Understanding the components of the plan sooner rather than later, he said, will be helpful and enable people to understand state versus federal funding splits, for instance, or short-term versus long-term costs. Until we see more of that, its hard to really assess what the plan really is, said Howgate. In a Saturday afternoon statement to the News Service, Walsh didnt confirm an estimate of the states funding plans, and repeated some of the points the administration previously made about their behind the scenes efforts to keep Steward hospitals running into the future. The state has been working to support the bidders as they seek to acquire the right to continue operating these hospitals, Walsh said. To have a smooth transition of ownership at these hospitals and ensure that patients continue to access care, the state will provide some financial assistance, including advancing some of the funds the hospitals would receive anyway by caring for MassHealth patients. The net additional cost to the state will be significantly lower than the total package. The states financial assistance will not require additional legislative appropriation. Details of any state commitments will be made available when the deal is completed. Gov. Healey on Aug. 16 announced deals were in place to sell St. Elizabeths Medical Center in Brighton and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton to Boston Medical Center, for Lawrence General Hospital to buy the Holy Family Hospital facilities in Methuen and Haverhill, and for Lifespan to take over Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Annes Hospital in Fall River, as long as the deals were finalized and approved. The St. Elizabeths deal also involves the state state seizing land through eminent domain proceedings. The bankruptcy court has approved Stewards plans to close Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer by Aug. 31 and barring a surprise intervention, those two facilities appear to be entering their final week of operations. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP. Republican Group Says Kamala Can't Be President Because This 170-Year-Old Supreme Court Decision Likens Her to a Slave Former president Donald Trump set the tone in his numerous attempts to disparage Vice President Kamala Harris to keep her from the White House this November. However, his allies have taken things a wildly racist step further. The 90-year-old National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) cited the 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court decision to state Harris cannot run for president per the Constitution of the United States, according to The Independent. A reminder: Dred Scott v. Sanford declared that slaves werent U.S. citizens and thus not protected by the federal government; its wildly considered one of the most reviled decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. According to the platform and policy document from the NFRA, the way that the Constitution describes presidential requirements disqualifies Harris entirely. The group also questioned the validity of Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy running for president based on citizen requirements which state that only natural-born citizens can hold the position. The documents argued that Harris, Haley and Ramaswamy had parents who were not American citizens at the time of their birth. Problem is, the Dred Scott ruling (which was overturned, by the way) has nothing to do with Harris, Haley or Ramaswamy, and the NFRA cited it for no good reason except to...maybe call Harris a slave...? The NFRAs true complaint is its interpretation of natural-born citizen as a person born on American soil of parents who are both citizens of the United States at the time of the childs birth. The constitution states that only natural-born citizens can be president, and Harris was born and raised in Oakland, Calif. Under their own reasoning, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers wouldnt be eligible since they were born of parents from British colonies. So...conversation over. The tactics of the NFRA serve as justanother excuse to endorse Trump, which the group officially did back in October. In a statement to The Independent, the groups president Alex Johnson doubled down on his attack on Harris. We firmly believe that faux Democrat Ms. Harris should never hold office for any of the many reasons people choose to highlight, including her partys tactics on dividing people by race and class, which mirror those that have led nations like Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea into totalitarian regimes, he stated. These policies have historically resulted in widespread suffering, economic collapse, and the erosion of individual freedoms. The Democrat Party preys on the ignorance of voters. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. YANGON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar police seized 1.25 million stimulant tablets in eastern Shan State, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC). Acting on a tip-off, the joint anti-narcotic task force inspected a house in Kengtung Township of Shan State on Aug. 22 and confiscated 1.25 million stimulant tablets and 427 kg of ketamine from a vehicle parked in the house compound. The seized drugs had a street value of over 4.1 billion kyats (about 1.95 million U.S. dollars). A suspect was arrested. The suspect has been charged under the Southeast Asian country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, and further investigations were underway, the CCDAC said. Displaced Palestinians evacuate the Faculty of Da'wa affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate the faculty, claiming that it is located in a combat zone. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa Thousands of residents of the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah are fleeing the area following a new Israeli evacuation order. Reports from Gaza suggest the order included the Al-Aqsa Hospital, one of the few health facilities still functioning in the territory. Israel's evacuation notice said on Sunday that its military would "take strong action against Hamas and terrorist organizations" in the area, which it labelled a "dangerous combat zone." The military said Israeli troops had "eliminated dozens of terrorists and found large quantities of weapons" in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. In response, the UN's Palestinian agency - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) - said only three of 18 wells are still functioning in Deir al-Balah, causing serious water shortages. "Not only are people in [Gaza] in constant fear for their lives, but they struggle to meet even their most basic needs," the agency said on the social media platform X, calling again for an immediate ceasefire. The conflict in Gaza was triggered by the unprecedented October 7 attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken to Gaza. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, at least 40,435 people have been killed and more than 93,500 injured in the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza. Displaced Palestinians evacuate the Faculty of Da'wa affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate the faculty, claiming that it is located in a combat zone. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa Some residents in Sherman Oaks, Encino and Van Nuys believe they are victims of the same burglary crew, with homeowners posting videos of look-alike thieves, all of whom appear to flee in a Toyota Camry. Surveillance footage from an Aug. 8 attempted break-in at one of the homes, owned by a woman identified only as Sofia, shows two masked men in hoodies on her property. I actually saw one guy running down the side of my home, she explained. My heart dropped and right away, I called 911. The suspects, who might have gotten spooked, were on her property for less than two minutes before they turned around and were seen rushing down the side of her home and out the way they came. Sofia, who said it took police about 20 minutes to arrive, believes she was targeted because she wasnt at home. Just days later, on Aug. 15, there was another break-in in the same area, followed by one more on the night of Aug. 17. Surveillance footage of burglary crew on a homeowners property in the San Fernando Valley on Aug. 8, 2024. (TNLA) Surveillance footage of burglary crew on a homeowners property in the San Fernando Valley on Aug. 8, 2024. (TNLA) Surveillance footage of burglary crew on a homeowners property in 2024 in the San Fernando Valley. (2024) Surveillance footage of burglary crew on a homeowners property in 2024 in the San Fernando Valley. (2024) Damage seen to a sliding door caused by burglars in the San Fernando Valley. (TNLA) They go through the back sliding doors, Sofia said. Theyll check to see if the sliding door is open. If its not open, theyll break the glass, but they are going in from the back. According to Sofia, about 30 minutes after the attempted break-in at home, she thinks the same Toyota Camry came back and then sped off when the suspects saw police at the scene. Its not uncommon for thieves to return to the scene of a break-in. A home in the Pacific Palisades had two break-ins in one night. According to Crosstown L.A., an independent news organization, burglaries are up by 4% in the first half of 2024 compared to that time last year. Most of the burglaries occur between 6 p.m. and midnight, Interim Los Angeles Police Department Chief Dominic Choi told the L.A. Police Commision in July. Choi added, Some of these are when residents are actually home, what we consider a hot prowl, which becomes much more serious. Bomb squad disarms Russian grenades found in Southern California tree Sofias advice to others is to invest in an alarm system and security cameras for the home. If youre not home, you need to leave your lights on, you need to give the illusion that there is someone home, she said. Something needs to be done because my heart goes out to people who have to go through this and its getting out of line. I know we can do something, we can do better. Neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley have been hit particularly hard this year, with at least eight burglaries reported in the Valley in July alone. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Residents says their lives are in danger trying to turn in and out of their Smyrna neighborhood People in one community say it is risky turning into and leaving their neighborhood because they dont have a dedicated turn lane. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Its like Lord, please. Let today not be the day, homeowner Roxy Lourido told Channel 2s Tom Jones. She lives in the Brookside Manor Lane subdivision and says its a matter of life or death turning into and getting out of their community. Her neighbors agree. Oh yeah. Its very dangerous. Im afraid people are going to hit me all the time, homeowner Elizabeth Hyer said. Their community is hidden off Veterans Memorial Highway near Oakdale in Smyrna. Traffic is increasing on the highway. Were standing right here and you can see all these cars are flying by, homeowner Kirk Willabus said. TRENDING STORIES: They say the problem is they have no dedicated turn lane to get into their neighborhood. So, when they slow down to turn in, drivers behind them on the highway ready to speed up become frustrated. We experience cars honking at us. Flashing their lights, homeowner Kristen Anderson said. Anderson got behind the wheel and showed Jones what they were dealing with. She explained how she turns on her right turn signal extra early to let drivers know shes slowing down. Anderson says sometimes it doesnt help. Look how all these cars behind me have to slow down again. Im down to 11 mph. Thats ridiculous, she says of the cars who follow closely because theyre ready to speed up. They say the worst is when large trucks get behind them. It can really end up bad for someone, Willabus said. I think a turn lane would help a lot, Hyer pointed out, along with several of her neighbors. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] They say so would more signage and better lighting. They have no idea why were slowing down because you cannot see our subdivision, Anderson mentioned. Jones spoke with the county commission and councilmember for the area. He also talked to Smyrna city officials and GDOT. All are trying to figure out how to resolve this issue, and who is responsible. IN OTHER NEWS: TROTWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) On Sunday, the second day of searching for a missing swimmer concluded. Trotwood Fire and Rescue, as well as dive teams from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base were at Madison Lakes all day Sunday, searching for a young man from Columbus who reportedly went missing after taking a swim in the lakes on Saturday. The recovery effort is scheduled to continue today. In the meantime, 2 NEWS spoke with residents and first responders who were quick to reiterate the dangers associated with swimming at Madison Lakes. When they finished drilling the limestone out of here, they made the third lake, and thats the most dangerous one. But the kids still come and go swimming, says Marti Wasmuth, a Trotwood resident who lives across the street from the lakes. Wasmuth has seen numerous efforts like this one and implores people to respect the signs posted. Fellow resident Julie Wikle is new to the area, but has already noted the frequency of incidents like this, becoming familiar to the sirens that blare near the lakes. Everytime you hear the sirens, you kinda hope and pray its not what you think it is, Wikle says. Underneath the lakes lies a bevy of hazards, nearly all of them invisible below the surface. Underwater currents threaten to pull swimmers down into the depths, while dense and tall growing vegetation can snag swimmers as well. Trotwood Fire Department Public Information Officer Ralph Bowman says that dive teams were surprised at the dangers the lakes presented during their search on Sunday. They said its very surprising to get down and start searching and feel the currents push you. They said that theres heavy currents, theres caves underwater that you can get pushed into. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing oversees restaurant inspections in Iowa. (Photo via Getty Images; DIAL logo courtesy of Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing) The state of Iowa has shut down food service and suspended the license of a Clayton County eatery and convenience store that has been repeatedly cited for extreme unsanitary conditions. The license suspension at Fast Trak in Elkader is the result of a recent food-safety inspection one of hundreds conducted over the past month at Iowa stores and restaurants. The inspections at a number of businesses have resulted in citations for rodent infestations, moldy food, month-old pasta and kitchens that were soiled with trash, food debris and standing water. The findings are among those reported by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, which handles food-establishment inspections at the state level. Listed below are some of the more serious findings that stem from inspections at Iowa restaurants, cafeterias and stores over the past four weeks. The state inspections department reminds the public that their reports are a snapshot in time, and violations are often corrected on the spot before the inspector leaves the establishment. For a more complete list of all inspections, along with additional details on each of the inspections listed below, visit the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing website. Crab House of Davenport, 1235 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport During a July 25 visit, a Scott County inspector reported that roaches were observed in the kitchen and there were several areas in the facility that were soiled and in poor condition. Several food products stored in coolers, freezers, and storage areas were left uncovered, creating a risk of contamination. Also, a container of crabs was stored in direct contact with crayfish inside a prep cooler, creating a risk of cross-contamination. Multiple food products inside the prep coolers had no date markings as to when they were prepared, and multiple coolers, fryers and food containers were marred by debris and gunk, the inspector reported. Some roaches and numerous gnats and flies were observed in the facility, he added. The inspector also observed that various bowls, some of which were soiled and in poor condition, were being used by the staff used to disperse food products, and the floors, walls, oven trays, fryer cabinet and bar area were marred by what the inspector called dust, debris and gunk. The visit was in response to a complaint pertaining to pest issues and poor sanitation. The complaint was deemed verified. Baileys Convenience Tri View, 1203 Tri View Ave., Sioux City During an Aug. 23 inspection by the Siouxland Health District, this establishment was cited for 11 risk-factor violations, an unusually high number for a convenience store. The inspector observed that mozzarella sticks were left sitting out at room temperature (70 degrees), and that other fried food items offered for sale in the stores hot-holding unit ranged from 117 to 124 degrees, which was not hot enough to ensure their safety. The staff agreed to discard all of the items. The inspector also noted that pizza toppings in the food-prep cooler were not marked with any dates to ensure freshness and safety, and the ice machine chute was visibly soiled with a black and pink substance of some kind. In addition, the staff reported it was washing the food equipment used for preparing time- and temperature-controlled items only once per day, and that none of equipment was being sanitized after washing. The inspector also reported that the staff was using the handwashing sink, which was visibly soiled, to clean and dump dishes. Several flies present in establishment, the inspector reported, adding that there was a discussion with the owner concerning repeat violations, the improper storage of chemicals, proper dishwashing, the frequency of cleaning and the necessity of date-marking the food. The store was last inspected in August 2021, according to state records. Teds Coney Island West, 2667 86th St., Urbandale During an Aug. 22 visit, a state inspector cited the establishment for failing to employ a certified food protection manager; for holding chili made the previous day at 135 degrees, rather than 165 degrees; for a salad cooler that was failing to keep food items at 41 degrees or colder; for two cold-holding units on the cook line that werent keeping food at 41 degrees or colder, resulting in the food being discarded; for giving the prepared chili a discard date eight days from the date of preparation, rather than seven days; and for a meat slicer that was marred by visible food debris on the food-contact surfaces. The inspector also noted that the handwashing sink in the food-prep area was out of service, and that multiple cold-holding units had no ambient air thermometers so the staff could check holding temperatures. In addition, the floors and equipment were marred by a buildup of what appeared to be grease and food debris. According to state records, the state last inspected the establishment in May 2019, more than four years prior. Waffle & Pancake House, 303 E. 2nd St., Muscatine During an Aug. 22 visit, a state inspector cited this establishment for the person in charge not being a certified food protection manager, and for numerous handwashing violations. The inspector also made note of a soiled ice machine, soiled dishes that were stacked in the sink designated for handwashing, and a lack of hand soap. In addition, frozen food was left to thaw on a table, the restaurants food thermometer was not working, a moderate amount of live insect activity was seen in the dishwashing area, dead insects had accumulated in the light fixtures, and a linen cloth was being used to cover cooked bacon and then to blot grease from fried eggs. Also, grease and food debris had accumulated on the sides and backs of the cooking equipment, the stove grates were soiled with encrusted food debris, and a large pot of old grease was found sitting uncovered in the kitchen. The inspector also observed that there was a moderate accumulation of water on the floor, and that grease had accumulated on the floors, walls and vent hood around the cooking equipment. Hanging, sticky fly traps heavily loaded with dead flies were observed throughout the establishment. Mouse droppings observed ... There is an infestation of flying insects observed throughout the facility ... The garbage has started to decompose, attracting proliferating flies. Inspector visiting the Fast Trak store and eastery in Elkader Fast Trak, 24687 Highway 13, Elkader Since mid-May, this restaurant and convenience store has been inspected four times by the state and in each instance it has been cited for several major violations. On August 21, an inspector cited the establishment for 14 risk-factor violations and made note of an additional 25 good practices violations an extraordinarily large number. The inspector noted that the business was operating without a designated person in charge and that employees on site could not answer basic questions regarding food establishment operations. The inspector observed that frost had built up inside the customer-facing reach-in freezer, saturating the racks with frost and adulterating the packaged ice cream, frozen pizzas and bagged ice. In addition, the refrigeration unit inside the walk-in freezer was dripping condensation onto packaged food items, and the freezers all had food items such as precooked eggs, sausage, hamburger and desserts that sat uncovered. Also, multiple packages of cheese in the retail cooler were measured at 67 to 69 degrees and had to be discarded. The ambient air temperature inside one cooler was 75 degrees, two large pots of vegetable soup in a cooler were not marked with any preparation or discard dates, and utensils that were stored in a drawer were so soiled they left residue on the drawer liner. For the fourth time in four months, the inspector noted that the soda fountains ice dispenser chute had green material growing in it. The inspector also reported that the food-prep tables had an accumulation of food residue on them, the soft-serve ice cream machine was visibly soiled inside and out, the reach-in cooler had accumulated food residue and stagnant water on the bottom shelf, the interior and exterior of the microwave over displayed an accumulation of some unidentified form of residue, and the stove was marred by an accumulation of debris and burned food. Also, several of the customer reach-in coolers in the retail side of the business were not operating and it appeared the store didnt have enough working coolers to support the sale of temperature-controlled items such as cheese, eggs and store-packaged deli salads. Hanging, sticky fly traps heavily loaded with dead flies were observed throughout the establishment, the inspector reported. Mouse droppings observed near baited mouse trap in kitchen area, and in storage area There is an infestation of flying insects observed throughout the facility, including food prep areas, garbage cans, and shelved products. The inspector also reported an excess amount of soiled linen cloth that sat in the kitchen, unwashed, and observed that multiple flies were hovering in the area. In addition, the dishwashing area and the three-compartment sink for sanitizing dishes were marred by food residue and there was a strong odor emanating from the pipes. Numerous flying insects flies were observed in the area, the inspector reported. The inspector also observed that the walls were visibly soiled with accumulated food debris as were portions of the floor and shelving inside a reach-in freezer. Trash bins were surrounded by garbage on the ground, and the bins were not covered with lids, attracting insects. The garbage has started to decompose, attracting proliferating flies, the inspector noted. The kitchen ceiling tiles were heavily stained with grease and smoke, the walls and floors in both the back and front kitchens were visibly soiled, and the retail-store shelves showed an accumulation of dust and debris. The inspector also reported finding several dead insects in the heavily soiled retail case where cheese was displayed. At the conclusion of the inspection, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing took the highly unusual step of ordering Fast Trak to halt all food preparation and halt the sale of all temperature-controlled retail food items due to the gross unsanitary conditions of food-contact surfaces and ware-washing facilities, soiled cooking equipment and utensils, and excessive refuse in kitchen and storage areas contributing to a pest infestation throughout the facility. Citing severe unsanitary conditions and the imminent health hazards present in the facility, the states order suspending the establishments food license took effect immediately and remained in place as of Aug. 26, 2024. Fast Trak had been visited by a state inspector on May 17, at which time the inspector concluded the person in charge was not fulfilling their duties as evidenced by the number of risk-factor violations found at that time. The inspector found several containers of milk dated April 3, 2024 six weeks prior to the inspection inside a cooler, and juice that was dated Aug. 6, 2023. Coke machine ice dispenser chute in lobby has green, slimy material growing in it, the inspector reported. The inspector returned on June 12 and again noted that the person in charge was not fulfilling their duties as evidenced by the number of risk-factor violations that were found. A container of shredded cheese, a block of white cheese, a block of cheddar cheese and a container of black olives were each adulterated with a mold-like substance, the inspector reported, adding that one of the three-tiered, open-air display coolers was storing meat and cheese at 44 to 46 degrees, which was too warm to ensure safety. The inspector also reported finding expired mashed potatoes, cheese and olives. Coke machine ice dispenser chute in lobby has green, slimy material growing in it, the inspector reported for the second time. On July 19, the inspector returned and reported that employees on site could not answer basic questions regarding food establishment operations. Again, the inspector concluded the person in charge was not fulfilling their duties as evidenced by the number of risk-factor violations that were found. A zucchini, a bulk package of raw bacon, two large containers of gravy, and a block of cheddar cheese that was dated April 12, 2023 a full year before the inspection were each adulterated with mold-like substances. Coke machine ice dispenser chute in lobby has green, slimy material growing in it, the inspector reported for the third time. Many live and dead flies and gnats were observed in lobby, kitchen, back prep area and ware-washing areas. Hanging, sticky fly traps heavily loaded with dead flies were observed throughout the establishment. Holiday Inn Downtown, 1050 6th Ave., Des Moines During an Aug. 21 visit, a state inspector found numerous food items in kitchen coolers including sliced melon, pineapple, sliced cheese, cubed cheese, prepared omelet ingredients, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced turkey, prepared deli sandwiches, and an assortment of dressings that had no date-markings to indicate when they were prepared or had to be discarded. The inspector also found two gallons of milk and one container of heavy cream that were expired and had to be discarded. In the bar and dining area, the inspector observed an abundance of gnat/fruit fly-type pests. Several trays of ready-to-eat bakery items were stored uncovered in an area where they could be contaminated, and a walk-in cooler was marred by a build-up of mold-like debris. Facility does not have most recent inspection report posted, the inspector reported. Facility does not have licenses posted. The visit was in response to a non-illness complaint that was deemed unverified. Davenport Country Club, 25500 Valley Drive, Pleasant Valley During an Aug. 20 visit, a Scott County inspector noted that the food-prep cooler in the main kitchen was holding food at 50 to 52 degrees rather than 41 degrees or colder. All of the food in the cooler was discarded. In addition, a small food-prep cooler used to hold deli meats and dressings was holding items at 48 to 50 degrees, resulting in all of the items inside being discarded. In addition, the refrigerated drawers located beneath a flat-top grill were holding food at 43 to 50 degrees, while a residential-style refrigerator was holding food at 45 degrees. Also, multiple time- and temperature-controlled food products throughout the establishment had been held for longer than the maximum of seven days. The inspector reported finding creme brulee dated Aug. 9, plantation dressing dated Aug. 11, pork navy bean soup dated Aug. 8, bearnaise aioli dated July 29, lime crema sauce dated July 28, and lemon remoulade dated July 23, which was almost a full month prior to the inspection. The inspector also found expired guacamole, cantaloupe and honeydew melon. In addition, all three of the food-prep coolers in the main kitchens cook line had a buildup of food debris and were in need of additional cleaning. Both the ice machine in the main kitchen and the ice machine in the downstairs kitchen for Mulligans had an accumulation of grime along the interior deflector shields and required additional cleaning. Mouse-like droppings were observed along the edges of the wall in the rear storage area of the concession stand, the inspector reported. India Cafe, 50 W. Burlington St., Fairfield During an Aug. 16 visit, a state inspector found that not all employees designated as the person in charge were certified food protection managers as required. Also, the inspector concluded the person in charge was not fulfilling their duties related to food safety as evidenced by the violations related to improper cold- and hot-holding of food items, date markings, bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, lack of temperature monitoring, and the production of yogurt at room temperature without regulatory approval. Facility is processing their own yogurt and cheese, the inspector reported. The process has not been approved by the department. Cooked lentil soup, cooked lamb and cooked chicken were being held outside acceptable temperature ranges and had to be discarded. On the food buffet, a lettuce and tomato mix that was measured at 53 degrees had to be discarded. The inspector also reported finding cooked chicken, spinach, vegetable gravy, baked potatoes, cooked eggplant and rice pudding with no date markings to ensure freshness and safety. Several mice droppings observed on the storage racks next to the hand sink, the inspector reported. R & C Brazilian Steakhouse, 320 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport During an Aug. 16 visit, a Scott County inspector reported two cartons of heavy cream in the bars reach-in freezer that had been held beyond their best by date. The inspector also noted that drink mix, ketchup and a package of blueberries in the walk-in cooler had an accumulation of a mold-like substance on them. In addition, some house-made items such as marinade were held beyond their expiration dates, and the interior of the stainless-steel freezer had an excess buildup of meat juices and ice accumulation. Mouse-like droppings were spotted behind dry storage racks, near the back entrance, and along the bar area, the inspector reported. Caseys General Store, 1691 53rd St., Davenport During an Aug. 20 visit, a Scott County inspector found that a cooler in the front of the store was storing food products at 45 to 50 degrees, rather than 41 degrees or colder. All of the food items were discarded. Also, several food items in coolers throughout both kitchens were not dated or properly labeled to ensure freshness and safety. Several other food items, such as half-gallon containers of milk and cooked chicken, had expired two days before, on Aug. 18. Shelving throughout the pizza- and sandwich-prep kitchens, and the shelving inside the coolers, were marred by excess food debris, and the soda dispensers were marred by an excess buildup of syrup. The store was also thawing pulled pork on the counter at room temperature, resulting in the product being discarded. Also, there was no toilet tissue in one of the bathrooms and access to a staff handwashing sink was obstructed by food cases. Holiday Inn River Rock Kitchen & Tap, 450 Main St., Dubuque During an Aug. 7 visit, a City of Dubuque inspector noted that one of the food-preparation refrigerators was running warm and was holding diced ham at 51 degrees, cooked sausage at 53 degrees and sliced ham at 47 degrees. The food items were discarded and the refrigerator was taken out of service. The inspector also found cooked pasta dated July 4, a full month prior to the inspection, cooked clam chowder dated July 27, and cooked chicken wings dated July 29. All of the items were discarded. Also, the interior of the banquet halls ice maker was visibly soiled, and the interior of the walk-in freezer required a more though cleaning to eliminate ice buildup. In addition, the banquet hall floor and the River Rock bar floor required a thorough cleaning. Hy-Vee Foods, 2200 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport During an Aug. 7 visit, a Scott County inspector found three small sauce cups filled with shredded cheese inside the food-prep cooler of the Market Grille area. The cheese had a mold-like substance on them a repeat violation. In addition, macaroni and cheese in the Market Grille hot-holding unit was measured at 122 degrees and had to be reheated to 165 degrees and then held at a minimum of 135 degrees. This, too, was a repeat violation. The inspector also observed that several products in the Market Grilles walk-in cooler were above the 41-degree maximum, including pulled chicken, pulled pork, sour cream, chicken salad and mashed potatoes. All of the items had to be discarded. In addition, the store was holding diced tomatoes, diced ham, pre-cooked sausage, and sliced ham for longer than the maximum of seven days. The inspector reported finding meat sauce in the pizza area that was dated July 23 another repeat violation. Also, the sanitizing solution used in the Hy-Chi and Bakery areas didnt have the minimum amount of sanitizing concentrate, knives in the bakery area were marred by left-over food debris, the walk-in coolers had an excess of dust and debris, and the three-compartment sink used in the Hy-Chi area had a buildup of grease or grime, as did the self-service soda machine in the Market Grille area. Dutchfix, 621 Franklin St., Pella During an Aug. 6 visit, a state inspector cited the establishment for placing cheesecake directly in standing liquid that had accumulated in the basin of a cooler. The inspector also reported finding beef balls that had been prepared on July 20 and which had to be discarded. In addition, the dishwashing machine was operating with no detectable level of sanitizing solution, and the soda nozzles on the self-serve soda fountain were marred by a buildup of debris. When you don't like the rulesor rulerswhere you live, and trying to change things isn't worth the time, effort, or danger, one good response is to get the hell out. Find someplace that's more to your taste by voting for something different with your feet. But what if the local powers-that-be don't want dissidents to go and limit paths to exit? A new report says that's exactly what many governments around the world are doing with restrictions on freedom of movement used as tools of political repression. 55 Governments Punish Critics by Restricting Movement "The governments of at least 55 countries around the world, including India, Nicaragua, and Saudi Arabia, restrict freedom of movement to punish, coerce, or control people whom they view as political threats or opponents," Freedom House announced last week about a report documenting such controls. "The four main tactics for restricting mobility are revoking citizenship, controlling access to key documents, denying consular services, and imposing travel bans." That report, No Way In or Out: Authoritarian Controls on the Freedom of Movement, by Amy Slipowitz, Jessica White, and Yana Gorokhovskaia, points out that travel restrictions often fly below the radar since they can be informally imposed and passed off as bureaucratic inefficiency that just happened to target opponents of the regime. They can also be imposed on those who flee overseas, leaving them stranded, separated from families, and stateless in their places of refuge. Stripped of Passports "They can apply to individual dissidents, like the six UK-based Hong Kong prodemocracy activists living in exile who recently had their passports canceled, as well as to groups, like Eritreans abroad who must sign a 'regret and repentance' form admitting to leaving the country illegally or failing to fulfill their national service in order to receive consular services," write the authors. In a statement in June revoking their passports and banning Hong Kong residents from providing them with funds, authorities in Chinese-run Hong Kong insisted the six dissidents "continue to blatantly engage in activities that endanger national security" and charged them with making "scaremongering remarks to smear and slander the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region." Freedom House puts such mobility restrictions in the context of an 18-year decline in global freedom documented in its separate Freedom in the World report, and of exercises in transnational repression, including surveillance, harassment, kidnapping, and assassination that seek to extend the reach of governments to anywhere their dissenters might flee. Weeks before the Hong Kong dissidents were stripped of passports and of funding from friends at home, British police arrested three men for monitoring UK-based dissidents on behalf of China's spy services. Restrictions can be imposed in a slow-motion fashion. Last year, Belarus ended overseas renewal of passports. Belarusians seeking to extend sojourns outside the country must return home when their passports expire to get them renewed. There, they might face prosecution for anything they've said or done in freer countries against the Belarusian government. "Apart from their passports, Belarusians living in exile are running into other problems stemming from a lack of consular services including not being able to register babies born abroad, receive paperwork necessary to get married, or have access to legal control of their property in Belarus," notes the report. In other cases, controls are imposed on those still living under the jurisdiction of an authoritarian regime. After July's election in Venezuela resulted in a dubious victory for incumbent President Nicolas Maduro despite strong evidence of a win for the opposition, authorities detained thousands and restricted the mobility of those who might flee the country and challenge the regime from exile. "The BBC has been told about dozens of people, including journalists and activists, whose passports have been revoked," the news service reported. Locked Within Borders or Stranded Outside Them Other countries try to keep dissidents outside their borders. India's government has stripped both passports and Indian citizenship from those considered politically suspect, making it difficult for them to enter the country. Nicaragua's authoritarian rulers went a step further, expelling hundreds of political opponents, including potential presidential candidates, from the country to the U.S. and depriving them of their citizenship. "The United States is imposing sanctions on the Nicaraguan judges who played a role in stripping over 300 Nicaraguans of their citizenship, leaving many of these individuals stateless," the U.S. State Department protested last year. The most common restrictions, according to Freedom House, are travel bansofficial and unofficialwhich forbid people from exiting or entering a country. "At least 40 countries use this tactic, which is being applied not only to perceived government critics but also their families." These bans can be hard to challenge, such as India's reliance on unofficial no-fly lists to immobilize journalists and activists. Making Permission To Travel a Tool of Repression Restrictions on movement vary widely in whether they're targeted at keeping dissidents trapped at home or stranded outside depending on the desires of the authoritarian governments in question. But they're all meant to isolate and inconvenience anybody who annoys the powers-that-be by leveraging bureaucracy and the permission regime of modern travel credentials. By revoking a passport, citizenship, or some other "privilege" of the world of red tape, governments can punish opponents without the muss, fuss, and bad P.R. of overt repression. Not that authoritarians are above imprisoning, beating, and killing their critics; they still frequently do so. But they now have another tool to wield as they seek to maintain control. "The mobility controls described in this report are applied for political reasons and lack due process. For people targeted in this way, as well as their families, mobility controls produce a sense of powerlessness. Without paperwork or an official reason for why they cannot enter or leave a country or have documents renewed, people are left without legal recourse to challenge these human rights violations," the Freedom House authors caution. True, canceled passports and lost citizenship are better than bullets in the head. But a world in which people need the permission of bureaucrats to come and go creates dangerous tools for authoritarians. The post Restricting Freedom of Movement Is a Favorite Tool for Repressive Regimes appeared first on Reason.com. Reuters camera operator Ivan Lubysh-Kirdey is unconscious after sustaining serious injuries from Russia's Aug. 24 strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk, his wife, Mariia Semenchenko, said on Aug. 26. The strike on the Safir (Sapphire) Hotel in Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast killed British national Ryan Evans, a security adviser for Reuters, and injured six others, including two local female residents. As well as Lubysh-Kirdey, one other journalist for Reuters was among the injured. In a statement, Reuters said a six-person team had been staying at the hotel when it was hit. The city of Kramatorsk is currently located around 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the front line. The hotel was hit at around 10:35 p.m. on Aug. 24. Lubysh-Kirdey "was not far from the epicenter of the explosion, so he has numerous injuries" and is now unconscious, Semenchenko said in a Facebook post, adding that he is being treated in Dnipro. "The best doctors take care of him, they do everything possible and impossible." Semenchenko said she is "very grateful to everyone" who has provided support, including Reuters. "I believe that Ivan also feels this support," she said. "I was afraid of such news since 2014, when Ivan started traveling and filming on the front line," Semenchenko said. Lubysh-Kirdey is an experienced camera operator who covered the EuroMaidan Revolution as well as the Battle of Ilovaisk in 2014, when Ukrainian soldiers who had been promised safe passage by Russian-backed proxies through a pre-agreed corridor came under attack. Read also: Russia attacks Ukraine with over 100 missiles, about 100 drones, Zelensky says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Reward offered for information on Franklin County man wanted nearly five years for rape CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) A reward is being offered for information regarding the whereabouts of a Franklin County man wanted for nearly five years. Pennsylvania State Police say Jose Ricardo Rodriguez-Preciado has been wanted since 2019 on charges including rape and sexual assault for allegedly engaging in intercourse with an individual without their consent. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now WHTM Morning Weather Rodriguez-Preciados last known address is in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, and hes believed to be 58 weighing approximately 200 lbs. State Police said he was last seen wearing blue jeans and a dark blue zip-up hoodie. Anyone with information is asked to contact PSP Chambersburg Station at 717-263-5161 or contact PSP Tips Toll-Free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or online. State Police say all callers to PSP Tips are eligible for a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest, the solving of a crime, or the location of a wanted person. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Kerry Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s sister, has rebuked her brother for endorsing former President Donald Trump, characterizing the latter as an "inexplicable effort" to undermine their father's legacy. Im outraged and disgusted by my brothers gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump. And I completely get out and separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. in this flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my fathers memory," Kennedy said on MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki" on Sunday, reiterating that she is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Her father, Kennedy said, "would have detested almost everything Donald Trump represents' if he was alive today." Trump is "a threat to most basic freedoms that are core to who we are as Americans, the right for women to control our bodies, the right to live in communities safe from gun violence, to love who you love." Robert F. Kennedy, her and RFK Jr.'s father, served as U.S. Attorney General in former President John F. Kennedy's administration and nearly clinched the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination before his assassination that June. While he took actions to fight poverty and support civil rights for Black Americans, Kennedy faced accusations of political opportunism, particularly over his late opposition to the Vietnam War when running for president. When RFK Jr. ended his presidential bid last Friday, the former presidential candidate was polling in the mid-single digits. In dropping out, he cited his worry that staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris, who reportedly rejected an offer from him for an endorsement in exchange for a cabinet position. RFK Jr. said that he had several phone conversations with Trump prior to his endorsement; his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, suggested that he could join a Trump administration as Secretary of Health and Human Services. While RFK Jr. was running, Kerry Kennedy repeatedly criticized his campaign as dangerous for the country. After he dropped out, she and other members of RFK Jr.'s family released a statement that criticized him for his endorsement of Trump, calling it a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, center, served as chair of the State Election Board until former President Donald Trumps allies in the Georgia Legislature responded to the 2020 election by removing the Republican from the oversight panel. (File photo) In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Donald Trump mounted a concerted effort to defy the voters verdict and remain in office, even if it meant fomenting violence and blocking the peaceful transfer of power. Yes, he failed, but failure is a very good teacher. Trump and his allies had tested the integrity of our election system in a way that no one in American history had dared, and in the process they discovered where it was weak and where it was strong. They learned how and where to strike the next time, and here in Georgia they have been diligent in putting those lessons to work. In 2020, for example, Trump and his co-conspirators learned that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was more loyal to the Constitution, fairness and the facts than he was to Trump. They also realized that if they couldnt remove Raffensperger as secretary of state, they could at least strip him of some of his power. So thats what theyve done. Back in 2020, for example, Raffensperger served as chair of the state election board, the appointed body entrusted to help conduct fair, legal and orderly elections. He and other members of the board at that time, Republican and Democratic alike, were sane, responsible, fact-based citizens who took the mission of honest elections seriously. No longer. Thanks to laws passed by Trump allies in the state Legislature, Raffensperger has been removed from the election board. Other members were removed as well, eventually handing control of the board to a three-member MAGA majority that is dedicated not to free and fair elections but to elections that Trump can win. Trump himself, at a recent rally in Georgia, celebrated those three members, by name, as his pitbulls for victory. In 2020, Trump and his allies also learned the legal significance of certifying an election. Their plot to steal that election by creating fake presidential electors failed because Joe Bidens victory had already been officially certified. Their plot to get Congress to invalidate Georgias election through false claims of fraud was thwarted for the same reason. So this time, using their pitbull majority on the state election board, they are trying to ensure that a potential victory for Kamala Harris could not be easily or quickly certified. They are doing so by a two-step process. First, they are passing a series of last-minute, unnecessary, unrealistic and in some cases illegal rule changes in how elections are conducted. They have done so despite clear warnings from local election officials that they are setting up 159 counties for failure. According to the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, those changes will create unnecessary confusion among both the public and the dedicated poll workers and election officials who are critical to ensuring a smooth and efficient voting process. If those warnings prove valid, if county election officials have indeed been set up for failure through rules they cannot realistically honor, then Trump will have the excuse he needs to challenge the election outcome and delay or halt certification. Step Two is a direct assault on that process of certification. Back in 2020, county election boards in Georgia had no authority to block final certification of elections. If conservative-dominated county boards were unhappy with an elections outcome, they had no legal power to challenge, overturn or delay it. All they could do was certify the numbers by the deadline required by law. State law hasnt changed in that regard, but the unelected members of the state election board are trying to rewrite it on their own, bureaucratically. Through their rule-making power, they are telling local boards that if they doubt the validity of an election, for reasons real or imagined, they are now free to refuse to certify the results. If an election cant be certified, then there is no official winner. If there is no official winner, then alternate electors can come into play, or the state Legislature or Congress can be pressured to declare a winner on its own, in effect silencing the voice of Georgia voters. The door to election shenanigans swings wide open. This is not a tolerable state of affairs. An important state entity has gone rogue, claiming powers it does not legally have, breaking laws that it finds inconvenient, and consciously, intentionally undermining public faith in elections that are the basis of self-government. And so far, the Georgia Republican leadership that handed control of the state election board to Trumps pitbulls have been too intimidated by their far-right base to take that control away and put it back in responsible hands. This commentary was first published by the Georgia Recorder, which like NC Newsline, is part of the national States Newsroom network. DHAKA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese enterprises in Bangladesh have donated over 4.13 million taka to the flood-affected areas, and provided supplies worth about 6.19 million taka, totaling approximately 10.32 million taka (86,940 U.S. dollars) as of Sunday, and donations are still ongoing. Recently, parts of Bangladesh have been severely affected by flooding, impacting millions of people. Chinese companies have stepped forward to donate relief supplies to the flood-hit people, demonstrating the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Bangladesh. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) launched a relief distribution program in the Feni, Noakhali, and Cumilla districts on Sunday. A total of 600 affected families have benefited from this donation, which includes food, drinking water, and other necessities. "The CCECC, as a long-established Chinese company in the Bangladeshi market, has always paid close attention to local livelihoods and actively fulfills its social responsibilities," said Ke Changliang, chairman of CCECC Bangladesh Limited. "In the face of this disaster, the CCECC will continue to uphold the spirit of 'solidarity in adversity' and stand with the people of Bangladesh to overcome these challenges, further strengthening the bond of friendship between China and Bangladesh," he added. Since the flood occurred, many Chinese companies and personnel in Bangladesh have given their hands. The donation program has been widely praised by both the Bangladeshi government and the local people. "Chinese companies extended a helping hand during our most difficult time, and we will always remember this kindness," a local person who lives in Cumilla said. Bangladesh has experienced its worst flooding in years, and the death toll from the floods has risen to 18 and nearly 5 million people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts, the authorities said Saturday. (1 U.S. dollar equals about 120 taka) The Armys first Black three-star general died Thursday. Retired Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg was 96. Gregg was the first living namesake of an Army post, and his service extended from war-torn Germany to the post-Vietnam, all-volunteer era. He retired in 1981 after having led a supply and support battalion in Vietnam. Gregg was also a key player in building the Army and Air Force Exchange System, or AAFES, and was the first Black general in the quartermaster corps and the first Black deputy chief of staff for Army logistics. For those accomplishments and others, the Army honored Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams in April 2023, when the service renamed Fort Lee in Virginia to Fort Gregg-Adams. I hope that this community will look with pride on the name Fort Gregg-Adams, and that the name will instill pride in every Soldier entering our mighty gates, Gregg said at the renaming ceremony. Adams, who died in 2022, served as the highest-ranking Black female officer during World War II, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Army. She deployed to Europe in 1944 to lead the first Black Womens Auxiliary Corps unit, the 6888th Postal Directory Battalion. With Eisenhower renaming Army's 100 years honoring Confederates ends Lt. Gen. Greggs love and commitment for this installation and for this community is forever part of our identity part of our character, Col. Richard Bendelewski, the garrison commander, said after Greggs death. The Fort Lee name change was part of a three-year process to rename installations previously named for Confederate leaders. Lee had been named for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Retired Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg poses with photos of Lt. Col. Charity Adams and himself. (Ryan Sharp/Army) A 17-year-old Gregg left his native Florence, South Carolina, in 1946 to enlist in the Army, and he soon deployed to Germany for support supply operations. In 1949, he attended Officer Candidate School on Camp Lee, which was renamed Fort Lee the following year, the same base that would later be named after him. The Army officially desegregated in 1949, while Gregg attended officer training. He was present last year when the Fort Lee officers club, which was for whites officer only while he was stationed there, was renamed the Gregg-Adams Club. Gregg ran a supply depot in Japan after donning lieutenants bars and, as a lieutenant colonel, commanded a supply and support battalion in Vietnam, one of the assignments he was most proud of in his career, he said. We became a battalion of 18 companies, eight detachments, 3,600 officers and men, Gregg said in 2023. It was four-times the normal battalion size, and Ill tell you, those young people worked their fannies off to build a logistical base and provide logistical support to our forces in Vietnam. I was so proud of them. Retired Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg thanks all those responsible for the the renaming efforts following a sign unveiling at the newly renamed Gregg-Adams Club. (Terrance Bell/Army) He became the first Black officer in the Army Quartermaster Corps promoted to the rank of general and the first Black general to wear three stars in 1977. Before retiring in 1981, Adams would serve as deputy chief of staff for Army logistics. In 2016, the Army established an award in his honor for logistics innovation and excellence, dubbing it the Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg Sustainment Leadership Award. But it was a lower-level leadership billet that he most fondly remembered. Ive had big jobs, but I still look upon the command of that battalion in Vietnam as the most significant point in my career, he said. RIPTA is on a mission to catalog each of its 3,600 bus stops across the state Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Long Range Transit Planner Julia Evelyn, left, and intern Avery Kolenski inspect a sheltered bus stop on Benefit Street in Pawtucket on Aug. 21, 2024. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) PAWTUCKET Walking along Central Avenue Wednesday, a quartet wearing reflective vests paused in front of the bus stop to take a photo of its sign. It is positioned exactly as a bus stop sign should be visible to both passengers and approaching drivers. The sidewalk itself has a few superficial cracks, but is easily walkable. Is it accessible for riders with wheelchairs or scooters? Well, theyd likely have to navigate through a nearby parking lot to get to the stop. There was a larger issue: An SUV was parked directly near the stop despite an additional sign stating passenger vehicles are banned from that spot between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. When vehicles park there, a bus cant pull up squarely to the curb and deploy its wheelchair ramp, and passengers might try to flag down the bus along one of the nearby driveways. And thats not safe for anybody really with vehicles trying to get in and out, said Julia Evelyn, who works as a long range transit planner for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority or RIPTA. So Evelyn and her team noted in their phones to immediately flag it as RIPTA continues to catalog its more than 3,600 bus stops across the state (along with a couple in neighboring Massachusetts). The $77,000 project began last summer as RIPTA looks to improve the look and comfort of the stops for those waiting at them, agency spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry said in an email Thursday. There are a lot of factors that go into determining what is going to be prioritized, Ella Ackerman, another long range planner on the project, said during the teams walk through Pawtucket. This process is just to make sure that we have high-quality data to inform those decisions. But some issues, such as when a sign is missing or vandalized, can be immediately addressed, Evelyn said. Every week we send that information to our service planning team, she said. Since the survey kicked off last August, RIPTA planners and interns have cataloged roughly 70% of the agencys bus stops. Evelyn said the four usually split into teams of two to cover more ground when cataloging locations across Rhode Islands urban core and even those duos might splinter off a bit to get stops on opposite sides of the street. I think we conquer pretty well, said planning intern Avery Kolenski. Some days we do close to 100 stops maybe 150 if were all going out. How are stops cataloged? Bus stops are cataloged through an internal app utilizing a mapping database. Those that have not been cataloged are marked as red, while completed ones are blue. Surveyors first take a photo of the entire bus stop then run through a checklist including signage type, curb access, quality of the post its attached to, and if theres a crosswalk near. There are also questions about shelter seating and nearby amenities, but Kolenski said the team usually puts down none, as approximately 10% of all RIPTA bus stops have a shelter. So you see why this [process] can be used to inform the kind of amenities we have and dont have, along with what we can invest in for the future, Kolenski said. Once all the information is put in, the stop turns from red to blue. If theres missing data, the circle appears yellow which is what happened when Evelyn and Kolenski cataloged a RIPTA sign posted at a turnout at the intersection of Benefit and Thurber streets. The app advertised the spot as a bus stop, but the sign posted was simply a notice of the states diesel idling restrictions, which mandates vehicles must not idle for longer than five consecutive minutes. Huh, I dont think Ive ever seen that before, Evelyn said when she approached the intersection. Seeing the state Taking inventory certainly isnt for those who have lapsed on their cardio workout, as the team covered nearly four miles worth of stops in less than two hours. But Kolenski said the tired legs at the end of the day are worth it. Ive been seeing some really cool places here, said Kolenski, who is originally from central Massachusetts and attends UMass Amherst. You get to engage with the community and really get to know the land youre on. Some treks are easier than others and somewhat pre-planned. Kolesnki said on a particularly hot day this summer, the team decided to survey stops in Westerly in order to keep cool by the coast. As of late August, Ackerman said the team has surveyed stops in the East Bay, Aquidneck Island, Cranston, and most of Providence. Still remaining: North Providence, Pawtucket, Southeast Providence, the bulk of Warwick, and parts of Cumberland. But how long it will take to complete cataloging the remaining stops is still up in the air. We will continue to inventory bus stops statewide until completion, Raposo Perry said. Once we complete the inventory, we will analyze all factors including ridership to guide us in making improvements, such as adding bus shelters. The team of RIPTA planners and interns cross Central Avenue in Pawtucket to inspect a bus stop on Aug. 21, 2024. From left to right: interns Morgan Dethlefsen, Avery Kolenski, and planner Ella Ackerman. In the middle of the street: Long Range Transit Planner Julia Evelyn. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Julia Evelyn, a long range planner for RIPTA, adjusts her backpack as she walks toward a bus stop on Cottage Street in Pawtucket. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) This RIPTA sign posted at a turnout at the intersection of Benefit and Thurber streets was tagged as a bus stop. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Intern Avery Kolenski takes a photo of a RIPTA bus stop on Central Avenue in Pawtucket. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A bus stop at the intersection of Bradley and Benefit streets in Pawtucket. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX ROBERTSON COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) The Robertson County Sheriff was arrested on Sunday by Kentucky State Police (KSP) after allegedly driving his tractor while under the influence of alcohol. Troopers told FOX 56 that Sheriff Terry Gray was driving his farm tractor on Sunday evening when he ran off the road. RELATED: Robertson County Sheriff arrested after alleged drunken incident outside area school KSP said Sheriff Gray was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, and was being transported by troopers to the Bourbon County Jail. Victim, driver in connection with Scott County bicycle crash investigation identified An investigation into the alleged tractor incident remains ongoing. In Dec. 2023, Sheriff Gray was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after an alleged drunken disagreement outside of a Robertson County school. In court documents from that arrest, a breath test reportedly found that Grays blood alcohol level was approximately two times over the legal limit at .206. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Sunday marked the start of Black Breastfeeding Week. The national initiative runs through Aug. 31 and was created to address the disparities facing black families when it comes to improving infant and maternal health through breastfeeding. In Rochester, one local nonprofit organization kicked things off by taking part in a ceremony seen in communities across the U.S. All across the country at 3 p.m., families are lifting their babies in support of breast feeding, said Sherita Bullock, the executive director of the Healthy Baby Network in Rochester. According to the CDC, black babies are breastfeeding the least (about 75%) in comparison with Asian (about 98%), White (about 86%) and Hispanic (about 83%) babies. Officials with the Healthy Baby Network in Rochester said, theres a painful history associated with breastfeeding in the black community, leading to a drop in the number of breastfeeding mothers. Events like Sundays, they said, help broaden the education out there, and general awareness surrounding the topic. Officials emphasized, the health benefits of breastfeeding are important and lifesaving for a mom and her baby, but a lack of access to related support services for people of color has been troublesome. Here in Rochester, we experience disparities, both in maternal and infant health, three to four times the rate that our white counterparts do, Bullock said. So, its really important to have agencies focus in on that. Focus in on the special supports, the special services and the special care thats needed to reduce and then eliminate that preventable disparity. Back in a 2018 interview on News 8 at noon, Jacqueline Lindsey, who now works with the Healthy Baby Network, said black mothers in particular might face a lack of support at home and within the community. She also said theres a growing need for people knowledgeable in this field who also understand the challenges black people might face, making it even harder for black mothers to ask for help. Maternal mortality rates increasing The Healthy Baby Network, the host of Sundays event, works with families in the community at all stages of childbirth, including in pregnancy, at-birth, and in the aftermath. With a range of partnerships, the organization also offers its services free of charge. We provide doulas free of charge, thats not happening anywhere else in our community. Bullock said. We provide black doulas as cultural parity and responsiveness to the needs and supports that mothers and families need. As Bullock explained, it has programs through which it offers a variety of support for mothers and fathers. And then we have a re-entry program to help fathers who have histories that include criminal incarceration or activity with the criminal justice system to reconnect with their children and their families. This nationwide initiative is an annual endeavor that was sparked in 2013. Locally, Bullock said theyre hoping to take events like this onward and upward. This is a sign of a healthy community on a real small scale. What we hope to do is just make that scale even bigger. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst. RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (WSAV) The Richmond Hill community gathered Sunday for the Rock n Rise fundraiser, raising money for those affected by flooding from Debby. We all worked hard when all of this was first happening, said organizer Teresa Cowart. It just became a much bigger problem than anyone knew it was going to be. Its a free event, taking donations for those living in neighborhoods that were put underwater during and after the storm. What people dont understand is theres still people that are displaced and still people that cant get to their homes, said Cowart. The money will go to the Rotary Club and the United Way to be distributed. Everybody knows everybody so its just its teamwork, its the community getting together and making things happen for the less fortunate, said Carl Pitts, a local at the event. The afternoon featured live music and a variety of local food trucks to show the crowd a good time. Its super important to do and its something we should do with everything, not just this one thing. We should reach out all the time for the less fortunate, said Pitts. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV. Rockcastle County Schools start year with new resources to keep students from e-cigarettes and vaping MOUNT VERNON, Ky. (FOX 56) The challenge of preventing students from using vaping devices has been a years-long battle for school districts everywhere, including those in central Kentucky. Rockcastle County School district leaders are rolling out new resources to keep the health of students a top priority. Over the past couple of years, Rockcastle County Schools have seen a dramatic increase in students using vape devices, and its likely this district isnt alone on this. Marcus Reppert is the districts director of student services. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: A lot of folks think its just water vapor, but thats not the case. Vapes do contain chemicals that are harmful to your health, according to the FDA. We want everybody to be aware of that, and that theyre addictive, Reppert said. This district started back Monday, meaning staff are ready to roll out the new resources coming from House Bill 142. House Bill 142 was passed by this years general assembly, and that does require school districts to confiscate a device if its found on school grounds, and also provide cessation materials for students, Reppert said. With the goal of keeping the students from forming unhealthy habits, the process is meant to educate them on why turning away from e-cigarettes is the best choice. Our students will go to the school counselor, and the school counselor will provide them with cessation materials. Well give a call to the parents and let them know what happened, Reppert said. LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS: While the district is working to make the change, Reppert said parents can also help in a big way. Ask them, Have you noticed this at school? Have you noticed other people doing that? Start a conversation with them; thats the first step is to start that conversation. Then, help them to understand that this is a product that can be very addictive. If it contains other chemicals, it can be very dangerous, Reppert 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 FOX 56 News. ROME, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) Rome Police are asking for the publics help in their investigation into a shots-fired incident on Saturday morning. Officers were called to the 400 block of East Bloomfield Street at approximately 4 am on Saturday, August 24 for the shots-fired incident. Further investigation found several spent shell casings and a parked vehicle in the area that had taken damage. No injuries had been reported in the incident. However, the case remains under investigation. The Rome Police Departments Detective Division and Forensic Unit are currently investigating the case. Rome Police are asking anyone in the neighborhood with surveillance systems to review their footage and contact the Rome Police Department with anything suspicious. If anyone has any information regarding the incident, you are asked to contact Rome Police Department TIP Line at 315-339-7744. You may also submit a fully anonymous tip online through the Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers website, over the phone at 1-866-730-8477 (TIPS), or by using the P3 Tips 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 WUTR/WFXV - CNYhomepage.com. Q: At what point does speeding go from an infraction to a crime? 20 over? 30 over? Double the posted speed limit? A: Are you ready for a Latin lesson? Dont worry; I dont know Latin either, except for a few terms in the Revised Code of Washington. And were only going to look at one: prima facie. It means, at first sight or based on first impression. If youre a fan of TV legal dramas, you may have heard a character talk about prima facie evidence as if it means they have a slam-dunk case. And if thats your understanding of prima facie evidence, youd be forgiven for being concerned about a particular Washington law about speeding. This law, called Exceeding speed limit evidence of reckless driving states, as you might expect from the title (and edited for brevity), The unlawful operation of a vehicle in excess of the maximum lawful speeds shall be prima facie evidence of the operation of a motor vehicle in a reckless manner. That makes it sound like speeding automatically makes you guilty of reckless driving, a serious criminal violation. But legal experts would say that prima facie evidence doesnt have to be conclusive or irrefutable. It should be understood as something that appears true when first examined but could be disproved. If you walk into the kitchen to find an empty Oreo cookies tray and see a dusting of chocolate crumbles on your spouses lips, you have prima facie evidence that they finished off the cookies. If your spouse says the dog ate the cookies and then licked their face, and the dog has even more cookie crumbles on its mouth, well, now you have to weigh the veracity of the testimony. (If I were your lawyer, Id argue that your spouse shared one cookie with the dog to misdirect the blame. Also, you dont want me for your lawyer.) And in a real court case (Schwendeman v. Wallenstein), evidence indicated that in addition to speeding, Schwendeman drove impaired, swerved to hit potholes, and disregarded the pounding on the window and shouts from one of the four passengers in the bed of his pickup begging him to slow down. He crashed into a telephone pole, seriously injuring one of the passengers. The jury was instructed that speed alone was sufficient to convict Schwendeman of reckless driving. The US Court of Appeals disagreed, saying that while there was plenty of other evidence to reach that conclusion, it couldnt be reached from speeding alone. Speeding is a high-risk behavior. It decreases time to react, increases stopping distances, and makes collisions more deadly. About a third of traffic fatalities in Washington include speed as a factor. But speeding itself isnt proof of reckless driving. While it often contributes to reckless driving, its possible that a driver could engage in high-risk behavior without reaching the threshold of recklessness. To meet that threshold a person must drive with willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. Recklessness requires intent. if you were driving ten over the speed limit and, with no other contributing factors, were arrested for reckless driving (and I cant imagine that would ever happen) your defense might be that you didnt realize you were speeding because you hadnt looked at your speedometer in a few miles. That doesnt make it right, but without willful disregard it doesnt meet the definition of reckless driving. Ultimately though, physics doesnt care if youre speeding because youre reckless or youre oblivious. Impact force is the same either way. So take it easy out there. (Bloomberg) -- Indonesias election commission issued new rules that effectively end any remaining chance for President Joko Widodos youngest son to run in Novembers regional elections, the prospect of which contributed to widespread protests last week. Most Read from Bloomberg The regulations, published late Sunday, are in line with an Aug. 20 Constitutional Court ruling that rejected a petition to ease a rule that candidates be aged at least 30 at the time of nomination. They also ensure smaller parties can run in the regional election. Jakarta and other major cities were rocked by protests last Thursday after lawmakers tried to overturn the Constitutional Court ruling, in an apparent bid to let Jokowis youngest son seek office this year. Legislators retreated after tens of thousands of people took to the streets, but there were smaller demonstrations outside the election commission on Friday and Sunday. The protests showed Indonesians are becoming uncomfortable with the revival of political dynasties. Jokowis oldest son will become vice president in November thanks to a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling, overseen by the presidents brother-in-law, that eased age requirements and allowed him to be President-elect Prabowo Subiantos running mate. Prabowo, who was himself the son-in-law of former dictator Suharto, on Saturday denounced politicians with an endless thirst for power, the Jakarta Post reported, citing a speech in Jakarta. The president-elect didnt name anyone, and also guaranteed he would not intervene in the regional elections. Sundays rules, announced after the commission secured approval from parliament, effectively block Kaesang Pangarep, Jokowis youngest son, from joining the regional election when candidate registration begins on Tuesday. He had been expected to run for deputy governor of Central Java, one of the countrys most populous provinces. The rules potentially also allow Anies Baswedan, a prominent critic of the president, to seek the governorship of Jakarta. Some critics argued that parliaments move to revise election laws last week were also aimed at preventing Anies, the citys former governor and a front-runner in opinion polls, from running. (Corrects spelling of Jokowis name in the seventh paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. People check a destroyed building after an Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Aug. 25, 2024. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,405, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. (Photo by Marwan Dawood/Xinhua) GAZA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,405, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 71 people and wounded 112 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,405 and injuries to 93,468 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out, it added. A number of victims remain trapped under rubble and scattered on roads, as ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them, it said. The authorities said in a separate statement that despite resource scarcity and operational difficulty, the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, resumed operations on Sunday after being closed for 50 days. The hospital is now offering round-the-clock services in surgery, pediatrics, and internal medicine, said the statement. Israel has been conducting 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 around 250 others taken hostage. A man checks a destroyed building after an Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Aug. 25, 2024. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,405, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. (Photo by Marwan Dawood/Xinhua) People walk next to a destroyed building after an Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Aug. 25, 2024. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,405, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. (Photo by Marwan Dawood/Xinhua) The last eight or so weeks in the United States have been a whirlwind, one that is both frightening and exhilarating. In so many ways the American people have been on an amusement park ride that is being controlled by a sadistic madman. This is especially so for the countrys news media and responsible political class. These weeks from President Biden being demolished by Donald Trump at their first and only debate, to an assassination attempt on Trumps life and then his coronation as a fascist god-king at the Republican National Convention (in less than a weeks time), President Biden stepping aside and handing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris and her ascent at this weeks DNC in Chicago where she formally became the partys presidential nominee, and now being tied with or ahead of Donald Trump in the polls has been one of the most eventful in modern American history. The Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention were two different political and moral universes (if not realities) and visions of Americas past, present, and future. Kamala Harris, her vice-presidential running mate Gov. Tim Walz, and the Democrats presented a multiracial, pluralistic, America that is stronger and enriched by its diversity. Trump and his vice-presidential choice JD Vance and the Republican fascists want to Make America Great Again by restoring Americas herrenvolk regime and a White Mans Republic fueled by White rage, White grievance mongering, and White revenge against the Other. Kamala Harris and the Democrats are, at least for now, happy warriors who appear to have finally realized that they must directly confront Trump and his MAGAfied Republican Party personality cult if they are to have any chance of victory in Novemberand most importantly saving American democracy from the global neofascist tide. Trump and the Republicans are driven by rage, conspiracism, and willful ignorance and lies. Collectively, Donald Trumps many obvious and apparent emotional, mental, and intellectual pathologies and shortcomings are now theirs as well. As compared to the Democrats, their convention was oddly low energy and deflating. Like other political observers, I was expecting some version of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will and Donald Trump to even more fully channel Hitler and the Nazis in Milwaukee. Instead, it was aspiring Dictator Trump, his cultists wearing a patch on their ear like the Dear Leader, and professional wrestler Hulk Hogan (who last week echoed Donald Trumps racist attacks on Kamala Harris), musician Kid Rock, and CEO and president of the UFC Dana White. Last weeks Democratic National Convention in Chicago was also a reminder of how deep their political bench is, from Kamala Harris who is only 59 years old to the various speakers and celebrity guests. With President Biden having made the selfless and wise decision to step aside as the partys nominee, it is now energized and looking to the future. The Republicans by comparison look and feel, for lack of a better description, old and tired. As Salons Brian Karem described it, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was like a political Woodstock where the attendees and speakers made joyful noise. The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was something else entirely. Salons executive editor Andrew OHerir described it as an anti-party in a ghost town. To make better sense of this weeks Democratic National Convention, the political terrain and momentum going forward, our emotions in this tumultuous time, and what may happen next with the 2024 election and Harris-Walz versus Trump-Vance, I recently spoke to a range of experts. Steven Beschloss is a journalist and author of several books, including "The Gunman and His Mother." His website is America, America. Kamala Harris fierce and authoritative speech Thursday night was a powerful exclamation point to four days of uplift and optimism, sober assessments of the opposition and touching assertions of shared values like community and caring, decency, kindness and dignity for all people. This was a clear, joyful and direct rejoinder to the darkness and cruelty that drives the Republicans and their nominees. I believe it did the hard and necessary work to expand the pool of voters and continue the momentum for the vice president and her utterly likable running mate, Tim Walz. For all those not compelled by the joyfulness and exuberance of the last month, Harris serious speech addressing national security, the dangers of a felonious nominee who prefers autocrats and dictators, the responsibility of this generation to democracy, and the privilege of being American made the idea of Madam President thoroughly real. She made clear that shes more than ready to assume the presidency. Now will come a new torrent of lies and vicious assaults intended to damage the Democratic ticket. But Im encouraged by the fact that Trumps efforts to paint Harris and Walz as dangerous, wild-eyed radicals have failed thus far. The more serious danger is Trump saying out loud that he doesnt need to get more votes, the Republicans just need to stop Democrats from cheating. This plan to deny the elections outcome once again could not be more clear. Its why massive turnout and an overwhelming defeat of Trump and Vance is so critical. The growing enthusiasm reflected in rising poll numbers aided by Michelle Obamas command to all Democrats to not stay on the sidelines and do something gives me real optimism that a Democratic victory and the eventual demise of MAGA is achievable. David Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, and former elected official. His new book is "Saving Democracy: A User's Manual for Every American." Given where things were in late June, and the chaos of July, what those who planned and executed the DNC pulled off is truly impressive. The convention showed America a united party, effectively introduced Kamala Harris to a national audience, contrasted her vision to the dark and toxic vision of Trump, Vance and Project 2025, and spoke directly to undecided and swing voters. I have always felt optimistic about the multi-year winning streak for democracy and freedom that has taken place since Dobbs. Ever since the decision, Democrats and pro-democracy allies have scored victory after victory up and down the ballot, and in red states and blue. The challenges Biden faced, which were accentuated by the debate performance, threatened to interrupt that streak. But with the handoff of the baton to Kamala Harris, and the selection of Tim Walz, the momentum that had already been growing at the grassroots level has only grown stronger. The hope is that more than two years of pro-democracy and pro-freedom momentum keeps building. That is happening at the moment. At the same time, we know that Trump fears that an election loss means that he will lose his freedom due to his actions around January 6 and stolen documents. If he was willing to break laws to overturn an election result in 2020, he has even more incentive to behave badly this time. I dont fear this as much as I accept that it is the reality we face. Which means two things for those who care about democracy and freedom: 1) be prepared and vigilant in every way, knowing that there is likely nothing Trump wont do to avoid his fate if he loses; and 2) set a goal of winning decisively, so that states are sufficiently out of reach that any attempt to thwart the results is in vain before it even begins. Put another way: I have no doubt he will be calling around looking for votes this time as well. But force him to ask for 100,000 votes as opposed to 11,000. In short, run up the score. Dr. Jennifer Mercieca is a historian of American political rhetoric. She is a professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University and author of several books including "Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump." I've been impressed with a lot of things about the Democratic National Convention and the Harris-Walz campaign, but the way they've defined "America" unapologetically and in Democratic terms and with Democratic policy has been outstanding. This campaign has reclaimed "freedom" and "patriotism" and the rule of law and placed them alongside an ethics of care. They speak about the American Dream with conviction, and we've seen the Democratic Party proudly and joyfully waving the American flag. Harris and Walz have urged us to care for our neighbors and they've promised that they care for people like us, not the rich corporations. The joy and enthusiasm have been inspiring. This message marks a crucial shift in American political discourse since 9/11 when the Republican Party laid claim to "patriotism" and the flag and used it to define Democrats out of the national imagination. The extreme right has been defining what "America" is and which policies are and are not "American" for decades. Allowing Republicans to define what is and is not "America" and "American" has essentially allowed them to lay claim to the nation. Democrats hadn't engaged in the battle to define "America" because they've been ambivalent about what "America" is, what it means, what practices are or not American. That has been a weakness. While the right has claimed the power to define "America," they've also claimed that the nation has been taken from them. It has done this by appealing to "tradition" or "real America" or "heartland" or similar essentialist claims. Democrats are now finally laying claim to "America" and "American values" and the "American Dream" and explaining how they and their policies are American and will help all Americans and will help America to become even more American. This is a very exciting shift in national identity. I feel much more confident about the state of democracy in America than I have in months. The Harris-Walz ticket seems to be the right fit for the moment, and they've got enthusiasm on their side as well as an army of volunteers. They're incredibly organized to defend democracy and their operation so far has been nearly flawless. My fear is that Trump supporters are not open to changing their mind about him and believe his conspiracy lies about the election. I'm very concerned that his state-level plot to disenfranchise voters (through voter purges, election lawfare, and refusing to certify results) will reverse the will of the people and install the Trump regime back to power. Most authoritarian regimes use what scholars call "competitive authoritarianism" to retain powerthey offer the appearance of competitive elections, but the outcome is always pre-determined. It's a little hard when Trump doesn't control the federal apparatus of power, but he does control enough states to do an authoritarian coup through the legal system. Hal Brown is a clinical social worker and was one of the first members of the Duty to Warn group. He has extensive expertise in working with multiple personality disorder (now called dissociative identity disorder) and police stress. I feel far better about the Democrats not only winning the presidency and both houses of Congress today than I did before Kamala Harris took the torch and ran with it. Shes won the drag race but now she shows every sign of winning the Indianapolis 500. Having watched the entire Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, I was struck by how it was it was a masterful tour de force display of diversity and American democracy at its best. This was in stark contrast to the RNC vanilla malevolent milkshake noise machine. Trump can pretend to be a real person who is relatable to his base. However, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are truly sincere and do not perform like Trump. They dont have to tell lies and fictions like the Republicans do to portray Trump as having genuine positive feelings for his supportersa group he clearly has contempt for. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz not only feel empathy for their supporters, but they feel it for all people. I was pleased to see that Fox News was carrying the Democratic National Convention and can only hope for those who watched it that the Democratic National Convention opened the minds of at least some of the racists, bigots, antisemites, LGBTQ bashers, and the other haters out there so they would get the message that their abhorrence and fear of people not like them is wrong. It may be aspirational wishful thinking on my part, but perhaps some of them would realize these others are their fellow Americans and brethren. All this inspires hope for me. What I fear is that the Republicans will open a Pandoras Box of dirty tricks to try to overturn a Democratic win. This of course includes using the right-wing extremist justices on the Supreme Court to overturn the will of the American people and put Trump back in office. Russia launches largest attack on Ukraine since start of full-scale invasion, Air Force reports Russia has launched the largest attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine's Air Force reported on Aug. 26. Seven people were killed and 47 were injured, according to the State Emergency Service. Russian forces carried out an attack targeting 15 oblasts, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 drones, while Ukraine downed 102 missiles and 99 drones, according to the Air Force. Russian strikes hit several civilian, energy, and fuel facilities, including a dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant. Ukrainian forces intercepted one Kinzhal ballistic missile, one Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missile, one Kh-22 cruise missile, 99 Kh-101, Kalibr, and Kh-59/69 cruise missiles, as well as 99 Shahed-type drones. A few drones disappeared from location radars and were lost in the Ukrainian territory. Two unmanned aerial vehicles crossed the border with Belarus. Ukraine deployed all available resources to repel the attack, including jets, anti-aircraft missile forces, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units, the Air Force said. Read also: Russia attacks Ukraine with over 100 missiles, around 100 drones, Zelensky says Following the mass Russian attack against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, and Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of state grid operator Ukrenergo. The group discussed the efficiency of air defense and electronic warfare systems and mobile fire groups in each region, among other issues. Demining operations are underway at the sites affected by Russian attacks. In some areas, Russian forces attacked civilian facilities with cluster munitions. Sappers must check the locations before power engineers can start repairing, according to Zelensky. Read also: Belarus gathering significant number of troops, weaponry along Ukraines border under guise of exercises, Ukraine says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack aimed at energy infrastructure across Ukraine at the start of the week, marking the biggest air assault since the war began, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow has since followed that with a second wave of strikes early Tuesday morning. Mondays onslaught, which killed at least seven people and caused power outages in several cities, marked Russias most massive air attack in more than two-and-a-half years of conflict, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk. The nationwide strikes used more than 100 missiles of various types and around 100 Shahed drones, Zelensky said. Ukraine shot down 102 of the missiles and 99 attack drones, Oleshchuk said. At least 15 regions were targeted by a combination of drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, officials said, from the frontline eastern regions of Kharkiv and Dnipro to the southern port city of Odesa, as well as the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky vowed to retaliate against Russia for the attack during a daily address as he implored allies to lift restrictions on using Western weapons for long-range strikes inside Russian territory. Long-range strikes are instrumental in destroying Russian forces exactly in the areas from where they launch strikes on Ukraine, Zelensky said. This is the optimal counter-terrorism tactic, he added. Russias Tuesday strikes killed at least five people and injured more than 10 across Ukraine, according to officials. Of those, two died after a missile attack on a hotel in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, and three were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region. Zelensky said those strikes used more than 90 aerial weapons, including 81 Shahed drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles. Rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, August 27, 2024. - Reuters Ukraine had been bracing for a major Russian attack for weeks, in response to Kyivs shock incursion into the border region of Kursk the first foreign invasion of Russia since World War II. Ahead of Ukraines Independence Day on Saturday, the US Embassy in Kyiv had warned of an increased risk of Russian drone and missile attacks. Mondays overnight assault came hours after Ukraines foreign ministry called on Belarus to withdraw what it described as a significant buildup of Belarusian forces and equipment at their shared border. Kyiv also reported that former Wagner mercenaries were among the troops at the border and urged Minsk not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscows pressure. Throughout the conflict, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraines energy infrastructure, attempting to plunge its citizens into darkness and use freezing winter temperatures as a weapon of war. After Mondays attack, Ukraines Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said the energy sector is in the crosshairs and the extent of the damage was being investigated. Russian terrorists have once again targeted energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram Monday. Ukraines national energy company, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilize the system, Shmyhal said. Power outages have been recorded in several cities, including Kyiv and Dnipro, according to Serhii Kovalenko, chief executive of the Yasno energy company. People take shelter in the Tealtralna metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. - Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images Later Monday, Russias Defense Ministry confirmed it had launched a massive strike with long-range precision air and sea-based weapons against Ukraines power grid and rail lines, which it said disrupted the transport of weapons and ammunition to the frontlines. All designated targets were hit, the ministry said. Deaths from Mondays strikes were reported in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Volyn, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions, according to Ukrainian authorities. At least 47 people were injured in the attacks, including four children, Ukraines State Emergency Service said. CNN teams in Kyiv and Dnipro heard several explosions overnight into Monday. In Kyiv, the head of the city military administration said air defenses were working in the region and the outskirts of the capital and advised people to stay in shelters. In Kharkiv, emergency services were working at an undisclosed number of sites targeted in the attacks, according to its regional military head. Although Kyivs Western allies have provided Ukraine with vast amounts of military equipment, they have placed strict conditions on how this can be used. Fearing Russian escalation, Western countries have prohibited Ukraine from using the weapons it has been given to strike missile and drone launch sites deep inside Russia, meaning Kyiv has to rely mostly on its air defenses to stem Moscows attacks. Following Mondays strikes, Ukrainian officials once again asked their allies to allow them to strike deeper into Russia. Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly. Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations, Zelensky said. Ukraines Foreign Ministry, Dmytro Kuleba, also made two requests of Kyivs allies: First, affirming Ukraines long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets on Russian territory. Second, agreeing to use partners air defense capabilities to shoot down missiles and drones close to their airspace. West of Ukraine, Polands military said it is searching for what is believed to be a drone that likely entered its territory during Russias overnight assault, according to Polish state media. The Polish armed forces were ready for a possible shooting down of this object, which was not a rocket, that crossed the border on Monday morning but weather conditions did not allow for visual identification, a spokesperson for the Polish armys operational command Jacek Goryszewski said Monday. He added that no explosions were recorded. The widespread aerial assault comes two days after a Russian strike on a hotel in the Donetsk region killed a British safety adviser and wounded two journalists over the weekend. Ryan Evans, a former soldier, had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics, the news agency said. Residents without power When Kyiv experiences blackouts, a constant, deep roar can be heard over the city the sound of generators humming in front of shops, as business owners try to minimize the impact of the latest attack. Maksym Holubchenko a 25-year old barista in Kyiv, was still at home when Russia launched Mondays early-morning barrage, but he said he went to work anyway. This is the reality for us, its been nearly three years. Everyone is used to it. Just a normal day, well its not normal this shouldnt be happening in the 21st century, he told CNN. While the generator keeps the cafe running, it adds extra cost and work. Holubchenko said at the moment, power cuts like the one on Monday happen roughly once a month. You need to change oil, the barista has to start it, service it, when we come to work we just want to make coffee and work with people but have to get busy with other things, he said. With the generator needing some 3.5 liters of fuel every hour, fuel canisters are lined up at the back of the cafe, ready to top it up. Maksym Holubchenko makes coffee at a Kyiv cafe that was running on a generator on Monday. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN Lights were out in many parts of Kyiv on Monday, with residents saying they lost power after hearing several loud explosions. There is nowhere to go and to hide, Katerina, 35, told CNN by phone on Monday. She had recently left the city with her child to avoid shelling and is now living without power or water on the capitals outskirts. The explosions were so powerful that the house was shaking and the windows were shaking, she said. After four or five explosions, my husband and I decided to wake up the baby and go outside. Since the house was not new and there was no shelter or cellar to hide in, it was not safe to stay inside, because of the shrapnel from the windows. Anna, who lives on the right bank of Kyiv, woke up to an air-raid alarm followed by explosions. The bulk of the missiles were shot down in the region, but even from there I could hear the sounds of explosions and the work of the air defense. My friends from other parts of the city wrote that their electricity and water were cut off, she said. In Kyiv metro station, which has been used throughout the war as an air-raid shelter, residents told CNN how they had woken in fear to the sound of sirens. I woke up from explosions and immediately came to the subway, Dmytro, 18, told CNN. It was scary to hear the sound of explosions. Kyiv hasnt been shelled for a long period. CNNs Mariya Knight, Michelle Velez, Chris Liakos, Anna Chernova and Antonia Mortensen contributed reporting. This story has been updated with additional details. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Pavel Polityuk, Tom Balmforth and Yuliia Dysa KYIV (Reuters) -Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 200 missiles and drones on Monday, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide, Kyiv said, while neighbouring NATO member Poland reported a drone had probably entered its airspace. Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in many areas, including parts of Kyiv, as officials said the attack - 2-1/2 years since the full-scale invasion - targeted power or other critical infrastructure across the country. Russia stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looked like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of next winter when people need electricity and heating most. The air force downed 102 out of 127 incoming missiles and 99 out of 109 drones, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, describing the attack from the air, ground and sea as "the most massive" of the war. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 regions sustained damage. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there was "a lot of damage in the energy sector". U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russia's strikes as "outrageous." In a statement on Monday, he added that Washington will continue surging energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and to support Ukraine's energy grid. Zelenskiy said he had discussed Ukraine's response to the attack with his top commander: "We are preparing it." Russia's defence ministry said its forces used high precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine which it said supported the military-industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons. Ukraine has claimed new ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russia's western Kursk region while Russian forces steadily have inched forward in Ukraine's east, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk. After meeting top officials, Zelenskiy said a decision had been taken "further strengthen" the Pokrovsk front, which saw at least 56 combat clashes on Monday, according to the military. POLISH AIRSPACE Poland said a search was underway after an "object" entered its airspace and possibly landed on Polish territory. "Most likely it was a drone and we assume so, because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile," Jacek Goryszewski, spokesperson for the Polish army's operational command, told Reuters. Two Russian drones crossed the border into Belarus, Ukraine's air force commander said. Top Kyiv officials again urged their allies and arms suppliers to allow long-range strikes into Russia. Zelenskiy also redoubled his call for allies to join the country in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drone and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields. Over the weekend, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had developed a new "drone missile" that had been used to attack Russia and was more powerful and faster than other hardware in Kyiv's arsenal. DAMAGED FACILITIES At least 47 people were injured, including four children, emergency services said. The regions that reported strikes on power or critical infrastructure included Volyn and Rivne in the northwest, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west, Zhytomyr in the north, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast and Odesa in the south. Zelenskiy said some civilian facilities were attacked with cluster munitions. Neighbouring Moldova, whose grid is linked to that of Ukraine, reported small disruptions to its power network. Ukraine's foreign ministry official said a hydropower plant in the Kyiv region had been targeted. A video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a damaged dam and a fire after an apparent strike at a plant. A separate clip, also verified, showed a missile hitting a water reservoir. In the northeastern Sumy region, from where Ukraine launched its incursion into Russia on Aug. 6, authorities said a railway infrastructure facility had been struck, but did not say which one or give further details. A 69-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a farmer in the Zaporizhzhia region were among at least seven people confirmed dead, local officials said. The others were in the regions of Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Volyn. In Lutsk, an apartment block was damaged, the mayor said after reporting explosions. Blasts also shook central Kyiv and air defences engaged incoming targets on the outskirts. At least 11 TU-95 strategic bombers were used during the attack, the air force said. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure critical to the other's war effort. (Additional reporting by Gleb Garanich and Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv and Barbara Erling in Warsaw; writing by Tom Balmforth and Lidia Kelly; editing by Mark Heinrich, Angus MacSwan, Ros Russell and David Gregorio) Smoke rises over Kiev after one of the biggest Russian missile attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war. Andreas Stroh/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Russia carried out massive airstrikes on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday morning, launching rockets, cruise missiles and drones. Observers in Kiev described it as one of the heaviest air attacks in two and a half years of war. Explosions were reported in the suburbs of the capital and the regions of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil and Lviv, according to the official air-raid alert app. Kiev is experiencing power supply issues, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on Telegram. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian army deployed up to 11 Tu-95 long-range bombers, which are carriers of cruise missiles. Additionally, Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles were reportedly fired at Ukraine. The country was also attacked from the Black Sea. There was no overview of casualties and damage. One death each was reported from Lutsk and the Dnipropetrovsk region. Initial information indicated that Ukraine's energy system was once again a main target of the attack. The energy provider Ukrenergo imposed emergency shutdowns. The air-raid alert was still ongoing at 10 am (0700 GMT). Due to the proximity of Russian attacks to the Polish border, the Polish military scrambled interceptors, the news agency PAP reported on Monday. Aircraft from other allies were also involved in the operation. Ukraine has been repelling a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022. On Saturday, Ukraine, the second-largest country in Europe, celebrated its 33rd Independence Day. Reuters confirms death of British employee in Ukraine A British man working for the news agency Reuters as a safety adviser was killed in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the agency has confirmed. Reuters reported that Ryan Evans, "a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine," was killed in an overnight strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk on Sunday. His body was only recovered from under the rubble after several hours, according to the authorities. Four people were recovered from under the debris with injuries, Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said on Telegram. He had initially reported two dead. The four injured were German, Ukrainian, Latvian and US nationals working for Reuters, according to Filashkin. Reuters said that a team of six of its staff had been staying at the hotel when it was hit by the strike. Two of its journalists were being treated in hospital, with one in serious condition, the agency said. The remaining three team members were safe, it said. According to the agency, Evans was 38 and a former British soldier who had been working with Reuters since 2022. He advised the agency's journalists "on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics." According to Ukrainian prosecutors, the hotel was hit by a Iskander-M missile. Pro-Russian military bloggers confirmed the attack but said heavy-duty FAB-1500 glide bombs had been used in the strike which hit a manufacturing plant and several military objects. Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine late Sunday and into Monday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Zelensky said in his daily address that more than 100 missiles of various types and about 100 Shahed drones targeted his country in one of Russias heaviest strikes. He said some people were killed and dozens of others were injured, but he did not provide specific numbers. Like most previous Russian strikes, this one was just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. Most of our regions from the Kharkiv region and Kyiv to Odesa and our western regions, Zelensky said. He also said there was a lot of damage in Ukraines energy sector but noted restoration is already underway for areas that have power outages. He added there should be no restrictions on the weapons for Ukraine. There should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine, while terrorists have no such restrictions. Defenders of life should face no restrictions on weapons, while Russia uses all kinds of its own weapons, as well as Shahed drones and ballistic missiles from North Korea, he said. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, and other partners have the power to help us stop terror. We need decisions. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russia fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles targeting 15 Ukrainian regions, The Associated Press reported. He also called on Ukraines allies to send them long-range weapons and grant them permission to use them in Russia. In order to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the place from which the Russian missiles are launched, Shmyhal said. The AP reported the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it used long-range precision air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones against critical energy infrastructure facilities that support the operation of Ukraines military-industrial complex, adding all of its targets were hit. Local officials said that at least three people were killed in the barrage and at least 13 people were injured, according to the AP. Ukraine has been pushing to lift a policy that restricts Kyiv from using American-made weapons to strike deep into Russian territory. This comes as Ukraine has launched an offensive into the Russian region of Kursk in recent weeks. The Associated Press contributed. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it had conducted a massive strike on Ukraine which it said had disrupted the electricity supply and the transport by rail of arms and ammunition to the front line. Ukrainian officials said earlier on Monday that Russia had launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine during the morning rush hour, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities nationwide. Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement it had fired missiles from the air and sea and that it had struck electricity substations in nine Ukrainian regions and gas compressor stations in three regions. "This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range air- and sea-based precision weapons, and with operational and tactical aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles against critical energy infrastructure facilities supporting the work of Ukraine's military-industrial complex," the ministry said. In an apparent reference to F-16 jets supplied by the West, it said Russia had also struck storage facilities holding aircraft ammunition transferred to Kyiv by Western countries at two airfields. "All designated targets were hit, resulting in disruption to the electricity supply and to the transport - by rail - of weapons and ammunition to the line of contact," the statement said. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge) A satellite image shows a pontoon bridge over the Seym River before it was destroyed, following an incursion of Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, near Glushkovo MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it had struck Ukrainian forces at more than a dozen places along the front in the Kursk region of western Russia where Ukraine has carved out a slice of territory after smashing through the Russian border 20 days ago. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers punched through the border on Aug. 6 in a surprise attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the front. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that his forces had advanced up to 3 kilometres (1.86 miles) in Russia's Kursk region, taking control of two more settlements there. Russia said it had struck Ukraine's 22nd and 115th Mechanized Brigades, the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade, and a Guard and Support Brigade in at least 12 different places with air strikes, artillery and infantry. Moscow said it had also repelled attacks at seven additional places in Kursk and had struck Ukrainian forces at 16 other locations in Ukraine's neighbouring Sumy region. "Units of the northern group of forces, with the support of army aviation and artillery fire, repelled attacks by enemy assault groups in the direction of the settlements of Kremyanoye, Malaya Loknya and Nechayev," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement. It said Russian forces had also "thwarted attempts to attack in the direction of Komarovka, Spalnoye, Korenevo, Pogrebky and Olgovka." The ministry said it was seeking to identify and destroy Ukrainian sabotage units which had hidden in the forests in an attempt to penetrate deeper into Russian sovereign territory. While the Kursk incursion has grabbed headlines, Russian officials say the attack will fail to draw Russian forces away from the east of Ukraine where they are still advancing. They also say it will ensnare thousands of Ukrainian troops in a new front which has little strategic or tactical importance. The Kremlin said on Monday that there would have to be a Russian response to Ukraine's incursion, and that the idea of ceasefire talks with Kyiv was no longer relevant. Putin has said that Ukraine will receive a "worthy response" but has yet to set out in public what that response is. Since the incursion, Russia said that Ukraine had lost 73 tanks, 61 armoured personnel carriers and 404 armoured combat vehicles in the Kursk region. Reuters was unable to verify battlefield reports from either side. Russia also gave estimates for Ukrainian losses in Kursk, but Reuters does not publish combatant estimates from either side. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Toby Chopra) Russia seizes more than $100M from Google to fund war propaganda campaign: report Russia seized more than $100 million from Google and used the money to fund its propaganda campaign in support of President Vladimir Putins ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a report. Court documents obtained by the British newspaper Telegraph show that Googles bank accounts in Russia were emptied out shortly after the invasion two years ago, leading to the bankruptcy of the tech giants Russian division. The confiscated cash was transferred to state-owned Russian channels including RT and Tsargrad, a network that pledged to use the money to back the war effort. Russian President Vladimir Putins government has reportedly seized $100 million from Google. via REUTERS Last week, Google filed suit against RT, Tsargrad and another Russia-based broadcaster, NFPT, in both US and UK courts. Russian courts ordered Google to pay the three television channels large sums as compensation for the companys decision to remove them from YouTube and deleting their Google accounts to comply with sanctions against Moscow. In court filings from last week, Google said that Russia levied unprecedented fines and arbitrary legal penalties against Google in an attempt to limit access to information on our services and as a punishment for our compliance with international sanctions against Russian individuals and organizations. The bailiffs seized more than $100 (million) of Google Russias assets, even though the amount purportedly due under the judgment at the time was less than $12.5 (million), Google said in one of the court filings. Tsargrad received one billion rubles from the seizure, which it said it would use to support Russias war in Ukraine. Google wants courts to prevent the three Russian broadcast entities from pursuing its assets in South Africa, Turkey and Serbia. Googles Russia-based operations filed for bankruptcy shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. AFP via Getty Images Tsargrad has sued Google in Turkey claiming that the US-based tech giant owes it $360 million. Russian court rulings doubled the penalty every 24 hours meaning the sum could exceed Googles market capitalization. As of Monday, Googles parent company had a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion making it the fourth most valuable company in the world behind Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft. The money is being used to support propaganda efforts backing the Russian war effort in Ukraine. AFP via Getty Images The Post has sought comment from Google and the Russian government. SYDNEY, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Police said that more than one gunman is on the run after a man with links to organized crime was shot dead in Sydney's west in the early hours of Monday morning. Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) on Monday morning identified Tarek Ayoub, a 29-year-old underworld identity nicknamed the "angel of death", as the victim of a fatal shooting in Sydney's western suburbs in the early hours of Monday. Emergency services were called to a unit complex in the major suburb of Parramatta, approximately 20 km west of Sydney's central business district. Upon arrival at the scene, ambulance crews found Ayoub in the car park of the property with multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics administered treatment but he died at the scene. Speaking at a press conference, NSW Police Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Ayoub was visiting an associate when he was killed in an "execution-style" targeted attack carried out by more than one gunman. "He was shot down in a hail of bullets in the car park," he said. Doherty said that Ayoub was a well-known organized crime identity with a long history of violence. Shortly after the shooting, emergency services were called to a car fire approximately five km from the scene of the shooting where officers found a car, which had been reported stolen, engulfed in flames. Police said that two men were seen leaving the scene in another car and that investigations are underway into whether the two incidents are connected. Russia targets Ukraine energy sector in one of worst assaults to date An elderly woman stands outside a house after the owner was killed by the Russian missile attack. -/Ukrinform/dpa Russia has pounded Ukraine with a massive barrage of missiles, cruise missiles and drones in what officials said was one of the heaviest air attacks in two and a half years of war. Fifteen of Ukraine's 24 regions were hit in the assault which was directed against Ukraine's energy sector, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram on Monday. Authorities put the death toll at seven, with 47 people said to have been injured across the country. Power outages and emergency power cuts were reported from Kiev and other regions. Kiev said Russia fired 127 rockets and cruise missiles and 109 drones. The air force said that 201 of the 236 drones and missiles were destroyed by its aerial defence. Hydroelectric power station hit in Kiev In the capital region, the hydroelectric power station at Kiev's reservoir was damaged by a Russian airstrike, Ukrainian media reports said. The news agency UNIAN in Kiev reported the strike after a video of the damage appeared on Russian Telegram channels. According to the report, there was a fire in the turbine room of the hydroelectric power station. Following the airstrike, the military administration of the Kiev region only officially confirmed damage to two unspecified energy infrastructure facilities. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities tried to allay fears of a possible destruction of the dam. "There is no threat to the dam of the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Station. It is impossible to destroy it with missiles," Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Combating Disinformation, wrote on Telegram. Zelensky calls for 'decisive action' In a brief video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to global partners for "decisive action." He called for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons supplied by Western partners, which currently prevent Ukraine from striking deep into Russian territory. "Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations," Zelensky said. "America, Britain, France and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now," the president said, listing some of the country's most important and powerful allies. Zelensky's Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made similar appeals. The attacks came after people returned to work following celebrations at the weekend to mark 33 years since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union. Air-raid alarms in Kiev sounded until 1:45 pm (1045 GMT) due to swarms of combat drones still being registered in the city's airspace. Videos circulating online showed crowds of people taking refuge in the city's underground stations. According to the Ukrainian air force, the Russian army temporarily deployed 11 Tu-95 long-range bombers, which serve as launching pads for cruise missiles. Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles were also fired at Ukraine, the army said, while Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from the Black Sea. Ukraine did not disclose whether any military targets were hit. Poland says unidentified object violated airspace The Polish Armed Forces said an unidentified "aerial object" flew into Polish air space on Monday morning. General Maciej Klisz, operational commander of the armed forces, said at least three radar stations had registered the presumably unmanned object. The army was in "full control" of the situation and was ready to shoot the object down if necessary, Poland's PAP news agency quoted Klisz as saying. The object had crossed the Polish border near the Ukrainian town of Chervonohrad at 6:43 am (0343 GMT). By Monday afternoon the army said it was still not clear if it had crashed or turned back toward Ukraine. Reuters confirms death of British employee in Ukraine A British man working for the news agency Reuters as a safety adviser was killed in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the agency has confirmed. Reuters reported that Ryan Evans, "a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine," was killed in an overnight strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk on Sunday. His body was only recovered from under the rubble after several hours, according to the authorities. Four people were recovered from under the debris with injuries, Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said on Telegram. He had initially reported two dead. The four injured were German, Ukrainian, Latvian and US nationals working for Reuters, according to Filashkin. Reuters said that a team of six of its staff had been staying at the hotel when it was hit by the strike. Two of its journalists were being treated in hospital, with one in serious condition, the agency said. The remaining three team members were safe. According to the agency, Evans was 38 and a former British soldier who had been working with Reuters since 2022. According to Ukrainian prosecutors, the hotel was hit by a Iskander-M missile. Pro-Russian military bloggers confirmed the attack but said heavy-duty FAB-1500 glide bombs had been used in the strike. IAEA chief to visit Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said he will lead a team visiting the the Kursk nuclear power plant in western Russia on Tuesday. The facility is about 30 kilometres away from the fighting that erupted nearly three weeks ago when Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russian territory. "Given the serious situation, I am personally leading the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in the Russian Federation," Rafael Grossi said in a statement. "The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA." The nuclear power plant is located on the Seym river near the town of Kurchatov. Last week, Russia told the IAEA that a drone had been intercepted near the plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of an attempted attack on the site, without offering any evidence. Donetsk region orders further evacuations The Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations in light of the Russian advance in the eastern Donetsk region. Due to the deteriorating security situation, the zone for forced evacuations has been expanded and children and their parents or guardians must leave their homes, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin announced on Monday evening. A total of 27 localities in the Kostiantynivka and Selydove area were listed. An evacuation of villages had already been ordered in the Pokrovsk region due to the advance of Russian troops there. Russian troops have captured a string of villages in the Donetsk region in recent months. One of Moscow's war aims is to bring Donetsk under complete Russian control. People wait out an air raid alarm at the Khreshchatyk metro station during a massive Russian drone and missile attack. -/ukrin/dpa People wait out an air raid alarm at the Osokorky metro station during a massive Russian drone and missile attack. -/ukrin/dpa KHARKIV, Ukraine The text message was brief and straight to the point. Strategic bombers in the air go to the shelter when missiles come, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News read the text that went out at around 7 a.m. local time (midnight ET). Within minutes, the air raid sirens started blaring and people out in the streets rushed into shelters amid loud explosions, as Russian rockets and drones started to rain down. At first the explosions were far apart and distant, but over five successive bursts they got closer and closer to Kharkiv, Ukraines second largest city in the countrys northeast. The final one was quite loud. A man stands next to a damaged house and car on a site following an air attack, in the Odesa region, on Monday. Similar scenes took place in the capital, Kyiv, the southern city of Odesa and other cities across the country, Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram. It was Moscow's most intense strike in weeks. More than 100 rockets of various types were used along with about 100 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the statement read. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure, it added. Meanwhile, Ukraines air force said Russia used 11 TU-95 strategic bombers, which can carry six cruise missiles depending on the type. A 69-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a man in the Zaporizhzhia region were among the at least five people confirmed dead, local officials said. Other three fatalities were reported in the regions of Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Volyn. Inside a Kharkiv shelter, it gradually became clear from online chatter that it was a massive attack, with drones and missiles making their way from multiple directions following routes programmed by Russian mission commanders in far-off bunkers, winding and weaving to try to fool Ukrainian air defenses. Videos on social media showed real-time sightings of the missiles flying, falling and exploding. Others showed people flocking into the metro stations to wait it out. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a later statement that 15 Ukrainian regions sustained damage from the barrage. Russias defense ministry, meanwhile, said its forces used high-precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure that it said supported the military industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons. Separately, Poland said an object had entered its airspace and may have landed on Polish territory, and that searches were underway. After more than two years of war, Ukrainians seem to have grown resilient to this type of attack, which came two days after citizens in Kharkiv and other cities took to the streets to celebrate Independence Day and mark the 33 years since the country gained its autonomy from the Soviet Union. Many flooded social media with messages of gratitude, support and thanks for the Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines. Some praised their surprise incursion into Russias Kursk region. Since the incursion started on Aug. 6, Ukraine has seized a considerable amount of territory, including scores of small towns, and has captured hundreds of Russian soldiers. As soon as the air raid alert was lifted after an hour or so, Kharkiv quickly returned to normal Monday. The cafes were packed again, some serving food with a gen label on, meaning it can be prepared on a generator. Life carried on. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Aftermath of Russian attack on Odesa region on 26 August. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine A woman has been killed in Zhytomyr Oblast, and seven people, including two children, have been wounded in Odesa Oblast as a result of a large-scale Russian attack. In total, the latest reports mention that five people have been killed by the invaders. The other fatalities were one each in the city of Lutsk, and in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv oblasts. Source: Vitalii Bunechko, Head of Zhytomyr Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote from Bunechko: "Residential buildings and critical infrastructure have been damaged by a large-scale missile attack in Zhytomyr Oblast. Unfortunately, early reports indicate a woman has been killed as a result of the Russian regime's terrorist actions." Details: Bunechko added that due to the challenging situation in the energy system, emergency rolling blackouts have been implemented. Rescue teams and repair crews are working at the scene. Kiper reported that four people were injured in Odesa Oblast, including a child. The Russians struck energy and civilian infrastructure facilities. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine Quote from Kiper: "Four people have been injured, including a 10-year-old boy, as a result of the attack. Three of the injured, including the child, have been taken to hospital in a moderate condition. They are receiving all the necessary medical care." Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine Details: He added that falling missile wreckage had damaged houses and numerous vehicles. "There are also power outages in the Odesa district. All the appropriate services are working to deal with the aftermath of the Russian attack," Kiper concluded. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine As of 11:00, a total of four people had been killed in the Russian attack one each in the town of Lutsk and in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr oblasts. Update: Kiper said later that the number of people who had sustained injuries in the Russian attack on Odesa Oblast had risen to seven. He noted that a 60-year-old woman had been taken to hospital in a moderate condition. Moreover, two children, aged 10 and 8, had sustained bruises. In addition, it became known that one person had been killed and two more had been wounded in a Russian attack on Izium district, Kharkiv Oblast. Background: Earlier, Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were responding to the Russian attack on Kyiv and Lutsk, and explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and other cities. An apartment building and an infrastructure facility in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, were damaged as a result of a Russian combined strike on Ukraine. One person was killed. Russian forces also attacked an industrial facility in Poltava Oblast, injuring five people. Reportedly, one person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and another in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The large-scale Russian aerial attack resulted in damage to infrastructure and one civilian casualty in Kyiv Oblast. Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that 15 Ukrainian oblasts had been affected by the Russian attack on 26 August. Support UP or become our patron! An infrastructure facility has been hit in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraines west, during the latest large-scale Russian attack, leaving three people injured. Source: Svitlana Onyshchuk, Head of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Military Administration, in a video message on Telegram Quote: "The enemy has attacked the region from different directions. Air defence units destroyed several aerial targets. Sadly, an infrastructure facility has been hit, leaving three people injured; they are now being provided with medical care." Details: Onyshchuk added that information about the damage caused by the attack is being gathered. Relevant services are working to deal with the aftermath of the strike. Firefighters report that they have extinguished the fires caused by the fall of missile wreckage in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. A fire erupted on the roof of a newly constructed residential building over an area of 100 sq. m in one of the settlements of the Ivano-Frankivsk district. An outbuilding on the territory of a house caught fire in another settlement of the same district. Support UP or become our patron! Aftermath of Russian attacks on Kyiv Oblast on 26 August. Photo: State Emergency Service The latest Russian missile attack has damaged two energy facilities in Kyiv Oblast. Source: press service for Kyiv City Military Administration Details: "Two energy facilities have been damaged in Kyiv Oblast," the press service stated. In addition, 22 houses have been damaged by falling wreckage from downed Russian targets. "One house has been completely destroyed and another one severely damaged. A warehouse building, garages, and three cars have also been affected," the press service added. Background: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that the Russian attack on Ukraine had caused a lot of damage to the energy sector but that repairs were underway. Ukrenergo, Ukraine's national energy transmission system operator, has ordered the introduction of rolling blackouts. Power outages have been reported in some parts of Kyiv, with the city authorities saying this is due to the overall situation in the national grid. Kyiv is setting up invincibility centres across the city in response to the complicated situation in the power grid. [an invincibility centre is a heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts ed.] The Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine's energy sector, and the situation is challenging. Support UP or become our patron! Russian attack on hotel in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast: Reuters cameraman remains in serious condition in hospital Ivan Liubysh-Kirdei, a Ukrainian cameraman working for Reuters, remains in a serious condition in hospital after a Russian attack on the Sapfir (Sapphire) Hotel in the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on 24 August. Source: Institute of Mass Information, citing its own sources Details: A source reported that Liubysh-Kirdei has been severely injured and is in a critical condition at a hospital in Dnipro. He has undergone surgery and is currently on artificial lung ventilation. Background: On the night of 24-25 August, Russian forces struck a hotel in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast. The Donetsk Oblast Military Administration reported that two civilians had been injured and one person trapped under the rubble. All three are journalists and citizens of Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the body of British citizen Ryan Evans, who was killed in a Russian missile attack, had been retrieved from under the rubble of the destroyed hotel building in Kramatorsk. Law enforcement officers reported that four Reuters journalists, citizens of Ukraine, the United States, Latvia and Germany, had been injured in the attack. Support UP or become our patron! One person has been killed as a result of a Russian attack in Lutsk. Source: Ihor Polishchuk, mayor of Lutsk, on Telegram Quote from Polishchuk: "An infrastructure facility in Lutsk was damaged as a result of an enemy attack. Currently, there is information that one man has been killed." Previously: Earlier, Polishchuk reported that an apartment building in Lutsk had been damaged as a result of a Russian combined strike on Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. Background: Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions had reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were deployed in Kyiv and Lutsk, while explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and other cities. Support UP or become our patron! The Russian Federation's 26 August attack on Ukraine killed 7 people and injured 47 others, including 4 children. Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) Quote from SES: "The SES units have completed work at all locations after the morning's large-scale enemy strike. The dismantling of the damaged five-storey residential building in Lutsk has also been completed." Photo: SES Details: It is noted that 7 people were killed and 47 injured as a result of the Russian attack, including 3 children aged 10, 7, and a less than a year old baby. Rescue workers also extinguished 22 fires. Photo: SES Background: On 26 August Russia launched 236 aerial weapons on Ukraine. Ukraine's air defence downed 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. A woman was killed in Zhytomyr Oblast, and seven people, including two children, were wounded in Odesa Oblast as a result of the large-scale Russian attack. In total, the latest reports mention that five people have been killed by the invaders. The other fatalities were one each in the city of Lutsk, and in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv oblasts. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that 15 oblasts of Ukraine suffered in the Russian attack on 26 August. Support UP or become our patron! On the night and morning of 26 August, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure with over 100 missiles and approximately 100 Shahed-type UAVs. Source: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Telegram Quote: "It was one of the most devastating attacks a combined one. More than a hundred different types of missiles, as well as approximately 100 Shahed UAVs. And, like most previous Russian strikes, this one is equally despicable, as it targets critical civilian infrastructure in the majority of our regions, from Kharkiv and Kyiv to Odesa and western regions. Unfortunately, there are fatalities. My condolences to all of the families and friends. There are dozens of wounded people, and everyone is getting the help they need." Details: According to the president, there is significant damage done to the energy sector. At the same time, he emphasised that restoration efforts are already underway everywhere: repair crews will work around the clock to restore power to residents. "Putin stays true to himself: this is a sick creature, as everyone has long known. However, it goes without saying that he can only accomplish what the world allows him to. [He has been demonstrating] weakness and insufficient decision-making in response to fuel terror," the president stressed. Zelenskyy added that "every leader, every partner knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war, and to end it fairly." "There can be no [weapon] range restrictions in Ukraine because terrorists do not have them. The defenders [...] cannot be subjected to weapon [range] restrictions when Russia uses its own weapons of all types, as well as Shahed UAVs and North Korean ballistic missiles. America, the United Kingdom, France, and other allies can help us put an end to the terror. We need solutions," Zelenskyy concluded. Background: Earlier, Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were responding to the Russian attack on Kyiv and Lutsk, and explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and other cities. Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that 15 Ukrainian oblasts had been affected by the Russian attack on 26 August. Five people were killed as a result of the attacks in various regions, and at least 17 others were injured, including children. Support UP or become our patron! The Russian cities of Saratov and Engels were attacked by drones on the morning of 26 August. Engels is home to an airfield where TU-95 strategic bombers are based, and 11 of them took off [to presumably launch cruise missiles at Ukraine ed.] at the time. Source: Baza, Mash and Astra, Russian Telegram channels Details: The tallest building in Saratov, a 38-storey building, was damaged after a UAV attack. The drone attack was confirmed on the morning of 26 August by Roman Busargin, the governor of Russias Saratov Oblast. He said that the "debris" fell on a building in the Volga Sky residential complex. The website of the residential complex states that it is not only the tallest building in the city, but also "the tallest building in the Volga region (128.6 metres high)". The distance from the building that was damaged to the military unit and military airfield in Engels is 12 kilometres. - 38-. pic.twitter.com/LnOQUXJY8l (@ukrpravda_news) August 26, 2024 Quote from Busargin: "Early in the morning, air defence systems destroyed the UAVs. There are reports of debris hitting residential buildings in Saratov and Engels. All emergency services are working in high-alert mode." Astra Map Astra More details: The cities of Saratov and Engels are located opposite each other on the right and left banks of the Volga River. Support UP or become our patron! BANGKOK, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's employment dropped 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, accelerating from a 0.1 percent dip in the previous quarter due to a decline in agricultural jobs, the country's economic planning agency said on Monday. The Southeast Asian country's labor force shrank to 39.5 million individuals in the April-June period as employment in the agricultural sector fell 5 percent year-on-year, despite an expansion in the non-farm sectors by 1.5 percent, according to the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC). Employment in the hotel and restaurant sector continued to grow at 4.9 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, driven by the tourism boom during the traditional Thai New Year festival, while manufacturing jobs increased by 2.2 percent owing to the upsurge in exports, the NESDC said in a statement. The kingdom's unemployment rate was registered at 1.07 percent in the second quarter, edging up from 1.01 percent in the previous three months, the agency said. Employment prospects are anticipated to improve in line with the Thai economy's recovery, which saw 2.3 percent growth in the second quarter of this year, NESDC Secretary-General Danucha Pichayanan told a news conference. Russian forces close in on key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. But fleeing is hard even for those who can afford it The empty boxes are piling up on the floor as Halyna goes through her medical kit, taking out packs of pills and discarding any unnecessary packaging. She cant afford to waste space. Shes running away and the journey ahead is long and risky. Halyna, 59, and her husband Olexey, 61, are from Selydove, a town just south of Pokrovsk thats near the current epicenter of the war in eastern Ukraine. They delayed leaving for as long as they could, staying even after all their friends were gone, hoping things would take a turn for the better. But a few days ago, everything changed. The bombing was everywhere around us, all night. Our house is still intact, but it wont be for long. Everything else has been damaged, Halyna told CNN. Our soldiers came and took us away, she added. A nurse and a miner, the couple are among tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Pokrovsk and the surrounding towns as it becomes more and more likely that the city could become the next key battleground of the war in Ukraine. Russian forces have been inching toward the city for weeks, but the situation has become critical in recent days. Moscow has been pushing hard to capture Pokrovsk even as it struggles to contain the Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk border region. Pokrovsk is a strategic target for Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear that his goal is to seize all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Pokrovsk sits on a key supply road that connects it with other military hubs, and forms the backbone of Ukrainian defenses in the part of Donetsk region that is still under Kyivs control. The front line is now so close that the fighting is audible in the city center. The unmistakable deep thuds of explosions can be heard coming from the suburbs. Every now and then, theres the whizz of Ukrainian counter strikes, fired from farther inland, going over the city trying to strike Russian positions to the east. Serhiy Dobryak, the head of Pokrovsks military-civilian administration, has been working non-stop in recent days, desperately trying to convince people to evacuate before it becomes too dangerous or even impossible to do so. Most people leave voluntarily, some we have to persuade. We started mandatory evacuation for families with kids this week, he said, adding that about 1,000 people are leaving every day. But fleeing isnt easy even for people who can afford it. Arina, 31, desperately wants to leave Pokrovsk. She and her husband worked as dentists in Selydove, which is now too dangerous to go to. They are struggling to find a place to live. The problem seems to be their son David, a toddler. We started packing a week before they declared the mandatory evacuation (and) we are looking for an apartment, but nobody wants to let an apartment to people with kids, to refugees, she told CNN. Arina and her son David spend time at a playground in Pokrovsk on Saturday, August 24. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN It feels like kids are considered animals, especially if they are younger than three. The landlords only allow children older than six or seven or they offer horrible apartments for any price they want, she said, sitting on a swing at a deserted playground in Pokrovsk. David was playing in the sandbox, oblivious to what was happening around him. He ditched his sandals and was running around barefoot, looking overjoyed to have all the toys to himself. Arina took him to the playground to shield him from the chaos at home, pretending everything was as it should be. On a sunny summer Saturday, the playground would normally be bursting with families with kids. But nothing is normal in Pokrovsk now. David is almost 3 years old, born just a few months before the start of the full-scale invasion. He knows nothing but the war. He only started to react to the explosions two months ago. I tell him its fireworks, I dont want to tell him what is happening. But Ive written There is a war in his baby album, she said, tears flooding her eyes. Arina quickly wiped them away, not wanting David to see her cry. People have to keep living, she said. Like for many others in the area, the war didnt start two and half years ago for Arina. She was in medical school in Donetsk in 2014, when Russia forcibly annexed Crimea and Russian-sponsored separatists took over large swathes of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Some 2 million people, including Arina, were forced to flee their homes. You get used (to running away). And its horrible that you can get used to such a thing. You have to adapt to a new reality all the time. First you fall into depression and panic. Try to start a life in a new place. You live and live and then you wake up at five in the morning from (missiles and rockets) flying over your head, she said. Donetsk regions police officer Pavlo Dyachenko, has spent the past few weeks coordinating evacuations from Pokrovsk and other towns in the area. He said his main problem is that to many people, it still doesnt seem that bad. Compared with images from other cities under attack, Pokrovsk is still relatively calm. People here have a routine. They are out and about in the mornings, getting supplies and running errands. By mid-afternoon, the streets are deserted. Everybody here knows that drones are most likely to strike later in the day. Most big supermarkets and shops have now closed, but smaller businesses remain open including a small restaurant popular with the locals that is owned by Yulia, 34. She and her family a husband and a daughter are all packed up and ready to leave. Theyve shut their other restaurant in Pokrovsk but kept the one in the city center open. We keep working. We work, we have clients, our employees who live here, so we will stay for some time, of course we will not stay to the very end. We wont wait till the horrible shelling. But for now its possible, she told CNN. This is not what Dyachenko wants to hear though. We explain to people that the situation can change very quickly. I try to tell them personal stories of people we had to evacuate after they got trapped in Bakhmut or Avdiivka, Dyachenko told CNN. In Selydove, it felt absolutely fine one day and then the glide bombs started coming, he said. People from Pokrovsk and surrounding areas board an evacuation train amid continuing Russian advances towards the city. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN Dyachenko told CNN his men wont drag anyone out by force. But the operation gets riskier each day. Leaving Pokrovsk is easy, people can just drive or take an evacuation train. But just a few miles down the road, those who hesitated to leave are now being extracted by the police in armored vehicles, sometimes under fire. It gets more and more dangerous, Dyachenko added. Dobryak, the head of Pokrovsk military-civilian administration, said that previous experience from the region suggests about 10% of people tend to stay no matter what, so the city will continue providing critical services for as long as it can. But given the fast advances of Russian forces toward the city in recent days, it seems more than likely that the fighting will get worse and could reach the heart of the city soon. An officer from one of the Ukrainian brigades fighting in the area said they have been outnumbered and outgunned by Russian troops, some of whom are from the separatist Donetsk Peoples Republic and know the area well. But there are other problems too. The officer said that communication between the different brigades hasnt been ideal and most of the defenses built in the area were not effective. Dobryak said the city and regional administrations have been told by the military where and how to build defenses and fortifications a process that started when Moscow launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022. He said he is hoping Pokrovsks defenses can withstand the attack but he knows its a tall order. Whatever fortification we have, they have 10 times more men and vehicles. Same with artillery rounds. We lost the momentum in the winter when we were not receiving the (US) aid package. But our heroic men fight with what they have, he said. Oksana (center, in black) and Oleh (second from the right) decided to take their family out of Pokrovsk once the explosions became too frequent. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN Refugees not welcome? Among the hundreds of anxious people crowding the citys train station on Saturday afternoon, a few looked like they wanted to leave. Many were visibly exhausted and heartbroken, Pokrovsk being the only home theyve ever known. As the evacuation train prepared to pull out, many were crying, waving their last goodbyes to loved ones staying behind. Every day, every night, explosions. It was building up slowly, but getting louder and louder every day, Oksana, 37, told CNN while waiting on the platform. She looked nervous, keeping one eye on her two daughters and the other on her mother Liubov. Oksanas husband Oleh, 34, was going to travel with them on the train, making sure they were safe. But he would then go straight back home. A miner, he needs to keep working money is tight, and he cant afford to leave his job. Ill go if the mine shuts down and they tell us to go, he said. The family were hesitant to leave Pokrovsk because Liubov, 70, recently suffered a stroke and is now unable to speak or walk. When three police officers in body armor and helmets carried her up into the train, she looked completely stoic, her face showing no sign of emotion. Liubov, 70, is being lifted onto the evacuation train by Pokrovsk police. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN It just became too dangerous here. The authorities and the girls school were convincing us to go, most of our friends are also going, Oksana said, adding that at the end, she wanted her children Hanna, 14, and Dasha, 9 to be settled in a new place by the time they go back to school in a weeks time. Like most children in the region, the two have been attending online classes during the war. In-person education is too dangerous around here. Earlier this month, a school in Pokrovsk that had been turned into a shelter was hit by two Russian rockets. It now stands in ruins. Dasha is about to start fourth grade and between the war and the Covid pandemic before that, she has never experienced normal schooling. Yet her desires are just the same as those of any youngster anywhere. When we have our own house, we will get a dog and a cat, she said, pointing to the promise her parents have made for after the war. The dog will be a poodle, Dasha said. The name will depend on the color, she added. But even as the front line rolls closer and closer, some are still not convinced they will leave. Many dont have anywhere to go; some feel unwelcome in the rest of Ukraine. At a butcher shop near the Pokrovsk train station, Oksana, the shopkeeper, says she doesnt think shed be able to leave. I have two dogs and I am feeding all of the dogs around here, I have my work, my mother who is over 80 years old and can barely walk, I cant leave, she told CNN. Of course the authorities are asking us to leave, but where can we go? We dont have any friends or family that we could stay with, and nobody wants to let an apartment to people with animals, she said. Oksana, 47, and several other women in the shop said they felt abandoned. Donbas, the area that spans the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, has always been culturally different compared to the rest of the country, its economy powered by mining and heavy industry. Flourishing before the events of 2014, the region took a hit when the war started. Many Ukrainians blamed the people in the Donbas region for the war especially since some local residents did initially welcome the pro-Russian separatists with joy. We were only united when it was Kyiv. Kyiv is crying the whole country is crying. When Donbas is being pounded and we are being pounded for a long time, there is no word about united Ukraine, she said. Like most people in Donbas, Oksana is a Russian speaker another thing that sets her apart from western Ukrainians. They say its Putins language. I am Ukrainian and I speak Russian, its my language and I speak it, even though I understand Ukrainian too, Oksana said, adding that she cannot imagine leaving Pokrovsk, her home for 25 years. Sitting on a bench surrounded by bags and suitcases, Halyna and Olexey said they didnt have a choice. Not leaving was not an option. There is no power, no water, the gas was disconnected a long time ago. There were explosions everywhere, everything was destroyed, Olexey said, waiting for a car to pick him and Halyna up. Halyna and Olexey wait for volunteers to pick them up and drive them to Dnipro. - Ivana Kottasova/CNN They are determined to return. They are going to Italy to join their daughter, who has been living there since 2022. They havent seen their granddaughter in over two years and are afraid she wont understand them, as she now goes to an Italian school. Halyna said she was looking forward to seeing her daughter and granddaughter again, of course, but is categorically opposed to living in Italy forever. I dont want to live in Italy. I want to live in the country that I was born in. I want to live here, in my home, in Ukraine, Halyna said. I dont know Italian, I dont know English, when we get there, I wont be able to go anywhere without my daughter. I dont want that, Olexey added. The next morning, just 24 hours after fleeing their home, Olexey and Halyna found themselves lost in Dnipro. Used to their lives in a small town, the couple was trying to navigate the big city, looking for a cash machine. They were struggling to come to terms with their new reality. They are refugees now. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Russia launched a deadly large-scale attack across Ukraine on Monday, sending drones and cruise and ballistic missiles toward at least 15 regions, Ukrainian officials said. The strikes were among the largest such aerial attacks since the war began in 2022, with Russia using at least 127 missiles and 109 drones in an attack that lasted over eight hours, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "And like most previous Russia strikes, this one is just as dastardly, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian, adding later that Russian President Vladimir Putin "can only do what the world allows him to do." PHOTO: This photograph shows a damaged children's playground following an air attack, in the Odesa region, on Aug. 26, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images) Critical infrastructure, the energy sector and railroads were targeted in the attack, Zelenskyy said. "What is happening now in Kyiv is unbelievable horror. Pray for us," Kira Rudick, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, said on social media. She later added, "What happened today? Nightmare." At least seven people were killed and at least 47 others injured as a result of the attacks across Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said in a post on Telegram on Monday. Out of the 47 people injured, four of them were children, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said. Following the large-scale attack, additional casualties were reported late Monday night after local officials said a missile struck civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. A woman was killed and four people injured in the strike, according to city officials, as the rescue operation was underway. MORE: Massive drone attacks exchanged between Moscow, Kyiv: Officials Some residents in Kyiv, the capital, took shelter in the city's subways as Russia launched its "massive" attack across the country, Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister, said on social media. She included a local news video that appeared to show throngs of people standing along a train platform. Kyiv was among the 15 areas throughout Ukraine struck in the attack, which began early in the morning and continued into the afternoon, lasting for at least 12 hours, officials said. "Attack UAVs are attacking Kyiv from various directions right now," the Kyiv City Military Administration said, referring to uncrewed aerial vehicles, or drones. The administration added, "Air defense soldiers have already destroyed a total of about one-and-a-half dozen enemy drones that were headed for the capital. The air alert in Kyiv has been going on for more than 6 hours." In a statement on Monday, President Joe Biden condemned the attacks. "I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Russias continued war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness. Let me be clear: Russia will never succeed in Ukraine, and the spirit of the Ukrainian people will never be broken," he said in his statement. Biden said he is "surging energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and strengthen the resilience of Ukraines energy grid." PHOTO: This photograph shows damaged houses on a site following an air attack, in the Odesa region, on Aug. 26, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images) The strikes followed Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. Russia had on Saturday struck several pieces of Ukrainian infrastructure, knocking out power for many. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv was helping restore power on Sunday after Russia's "barbaric attacks," according to the U.S. State Department's official Russian social media accounts. Russia in its Monday attack also targeted energy infrastructure in an attempt to "terrorize all of Ukraine" and to "deprive Ukrainians of electricity," the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the country's parliament, said. Engineers were working midmorning to restore power to many, the parliament said. "The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly -- their infrastructure," Andrii Yermak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said in Ukrainian on the messaging app Telegram on Monday. The White House condemned Russia's massive assault, calling it a "classic play" by Vladimir Putin. MORE: Former US soldier explains why he volunteered to fight with Ukraine "This is a classic play out of the playbook for Vladimir Putin to go after energy infrastructure, particularly as he knows the weather's about to turn, and people are going to need heat and power a lot more as things get colder in Ukraine," National Security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters Monday afternoon. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms, Russia's continued war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness as the fall here sits upon us, and as winter approaches," Kirby added. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday it had carried out a "massive strike with long-range precision weapons," including some that were launched from the sea. Russian drones were sent to strike "critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement. "All designated targets were hit," the ministry said. PHOTO: Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a fire on a site following an air attack, in the Odesa region, on Aug. 26, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images) Several fatalities were reported after strikes hit homes in the Dnipropetrovsk region and an apartment block in the Lutsk city center, officials said. Rescue services extinguished 22 fires across the country, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service. MORE: Russian supply bridges destroyed by Ukraine amid Kursk incursion, Kyiv says After the strikes, blackouts started in multiple regions in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Volyn, Rivne, Odesa and Chernihiv, among others, according to local authorities. In the Zhytomyr region, water supply has stopped due to power outages, local media reported. Public electric transportation operations stopped in Odesa due to power supply disruptions, local authorities said. There were "no significant damages" at the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, which was targeted in Russia's attack, the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, said. ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Oleksiy Pshemyskyi contributed to this report. Russia launches 'nightmare' deadly drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, Kyiv says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com An unidentified aerial object that flew into Poland from Ukraine on Monday morning and remained in the country's airspace for at least 33 minutes was most likely a Russian Shahed drone. The object disappeared from the radar at around 07:16 above the Tyszowce gmina. A search area has been established there. Source: European Pravda citing Polish news agency RMF FM Details: It is reported that Poland has not yet officially announced what type of aerial object flew into its territory on Monday morning as Russia was carrying out a massive missile attack on Ukraine. According to RMF FM, however, the military are unofficially claiming that it was most likely a Russian Shahed kamikaze drone. Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski explained that the Polish airspace monitoring systems tracked the target for an extended period of time. Throughout the time it was in Polish airspace, both standby aircraft and helicopters were airborne to conduct the final identification of the target. "This identification was supposed to occur before a decision was made to destroy the target... However, this final identification did not take place due to weather conditions," he stated without specifying what conditions hindered the interception. The target crossed the border at 06:43 and remained over Poland for 33 minutes before disappearing from radar. "Records from our radio stations, including flight altitude, speed, and trajectory, indicate that it was an unmanned aerial vehicle because we rule out the possibility that it was a missile or some guided missile, considering the speed," Goryszewski said. The target disappeared from radar at around 07:16 over the Tyszowce gmina, where a search zone was established. "It can be assumed that either it fell somewhere or its flight altitude was at a level where our radar systems could no longer [track it]. It [the target] could just as easily have turned around and descended to an altitude where it was no longer visible to our radar systems," the lieutenant colonel remarked. The decision on whether to shoot down the target was made with the involvement of the Ministry of National Defence leadership. "So far, there are no reports of any damage on the ground. We do not have such information; we havent received it. We are in contact with local authorities, the police as well as services working on the ground, and none of the residents have reported or observed any anomalies. Therefore, we are not sure if anything could have fallen at this point. There is also a densely forested area, so it could have happened there," Goryszewski emphasised. "This target could have also returned to Ukrainian territory, so we must explore every possibility to ensure that its potential presence does not pose a threat to local residents," he noted. Background: The Polish army reported a violation of Polands airspace during Russias missile and drone attack against Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. Maciej Klisz, Commander of the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, said the aerial object that flew in from Ukraine was not shot down because of atmospheric conditions. Support UP or become our patron! Russians attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast: one killed, one rescued from rubble photos Russian forces launched a large-scale attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the morning of 26 August, resulting in one confirmed death as of now. Source: Serhii Lysak, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "The aggressor launched a large-scale attack on the oblast in the morning. Explosions were heard in the Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih districts Early reports indicate that a 69-year-old man has been killed." Details: Lysak said several fires have also broken out, including one involving a holiday home Aftermath of Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on 26 August Stock photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine on Telegram Update: Later, Lysak added that a man had been rescued alive from the rubble of a holiday home in the Dnipro district and is receiving the necessary medical care. Resque operation Stock photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine on Telegram Early reports indicate that two houses have been destroyed and about 10 buildings and outbuildings have been damaged in the oblast. Aftermath of Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on 26 August Stock photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine on Telegram Background: Earlier, Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were responding to the Russian attack on Kyiv and Lutsk, and explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and other cities. An apartment building and an infrastructure facility in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, were damaged as a result of a Russian combined strike on Ukraine. One person was killed. Russian forces also attacked an industrial facility in Poltava Oblast, injuring five people. Support UP or become our patron! Russian forces launched a massive attack on Ukraine on the morning of 26 August, striking an energy infrastructure facility in Rivne Oblast. Source: Oleksandr Koval, Head of Rivne Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "This morning Rivne Oblast was attacked by the enemy. The target was an energy infrastructure facility... The settlements in Rivne district are without electricity." Details: Windows in a residential building were damaged. The appropriate services are currently working to deal with the aftermath of the strike. Koval stressed that there were no casualties. Background: Russia attacked energy facilities in Lviv Oblast, causing power outages. Energy Minister of Ukraine Herman Galushchenko said that the situation in the energy sector is difficult. Ukrenergo, Ukraine's national energy transmission system operator, has ordered the introduction of rolling blackouts. Support UP or become our patron! Russian forces launched missiles and drones on the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) during the 26 August attack on Ukraine. Source: a senior manager of a Ukrainian state-owned energy company told so to Forbes Ukraine on condition of anonymity Details: The magazine says the Russians attempted to destroy the Kyiv HPP with various types of missiles and drones on the morning of 26 August. The attack resulted in hits and damage, the manager told Forbes. He stressed that there is no threat of a dam breach or critical damage to the plant. Andrii Kovalenko, Director of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, stated on his Telegram channel that the situation at Kyiv HPP does not pose a threat, though he did not provide details about any potential damage. Ukrhydroenergo, the operator of Ukrainian hydroelectric and pumped-storage hydroelectric plants, has not yet commented on the information. Background: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that the Russian attack on Ukraine had caused a lot of damage to the energy sector but that repairs were underway. Ukrenergo, Ukraine's national energy transmission system operator, has ordered the introduction of rolling blackouts. Power outages have been reported in some parts of Kyiv, with the city authorities saying this is due to the overall situation in the national power grid. Kyiv is setting up invincibility centres across the city in response to the complicated situation in the power grid. [an invincibility centre is a heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts ed.] The Russian missile attack affected Ukraine's energy sector, which already took severe damage due to previous large-scale combined attacks, and the situation is challenging. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraines Air Force has reported that the Russians have launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers have taken off in Russia. Explosions have reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Source: Ukraines Air Force; Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov; Ivan Fedorov, Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote from the Air Force: "There are six Tu-22M3 aircraft in the air!" Details: Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that explosions had been heard in Kharkiv and urged residents to take shelter. Ivan Fedorov, Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, said that "due to the security situation, the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant dam will be closed to traffic for some time". Support UP or become our patron! Russia's largest attack: Ukraine's defence forces destroy over 200 out of 236 Russian missiles and drones Russia launched 236 aerial weapons on Ukraine on Monday, 26 August. Ukraine's air defence downed 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. Source: Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of Ukraines Air Force, on social media Details: On the night of 25 August and on the morning of 26 August 2024, the Russians launched a large-scale combined attack on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, in particular on the country's fuel and energy sector, using various types of air-, land- and sea-based missiles. A total of 236 Russian air attack weapons were detected and tracked by the Air Force's radio engineering troops: 127 missiles and 109 attack UAVs, namely: - 3 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles launched from the airspace of Ryazan and Lipetsk oblasts, Russia; - 6 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Russias Kursk and Voronezh oblasts, and Crimea; - 77 Kh-101 cruise missiles launched with Tu-95MS aircraft from the airspace of Volgograd Oblast and the Caspian Sea; - 28 Kalibr cruise missiles from surface/underwater vessels in the eastern Black Sea; - 3 Kh-22 cruise missiles from the airspace of Voronezh Oblast, Russia; - 10 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided missiles launched with Su-57 and Su-34 aircraft from the airspace of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, and from temporarily occupied Mariupol; - 109 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs from the launch areas of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk and Yeysk, Russia, and Chauda in Crimea. All available weapons and equipment were used to repel the air attack: aircraft, anti-aircraft missile troops of the Air Force, mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian defence forces, and electronic warfare units. A total of 201 air targets were shot down in the air combat: 102 missiles and 99 attack UAVs: - 1 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile; - 1 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missile; - 1 Kh-22 cruise missile; - 99 Kh-101, Kalibr cruise missiles, and Kh-59/69 guided missiles; - 99 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs. In addition, several UAVs were lost on the territory of Ukraine, and two more crossed the state border with the Republic of Belarus. Support UP or become our patron! Ryan Evans: Everything we know about British national killed in Ukraine Ryan Evans, a British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, has been identified as the man killed in a missile strike on Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The incident occurred while Evans was staying at the hotel as part of a six-person team covering the Ukraine war. Reuters said Evans, 38, was a former British soldier who had been with the agency since 2022. He died when a suspected Russian Iskander missile struck the hotel on Saturday. The attack also injured two Reuters journalists, one of whom sustained serious injuries. The US State Department confirmed that an American citizen was among those injured in the Russian strike on the hotel. Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans stands in a field while working with a news reporting team in an undated photo taken in Ukraine (Reuters) We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families, Reuters said. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryans family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly. Evans had extensive experience advising journalists on safety in conflict zones, including Ukraine and Israel. He also worked on coverage of the Paris Olympics. He had previously worked as an operations manager for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in Libya for nine years. According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was originally from Cheshire in the UK. Reuters cameraman Herbert Villarraga, Reuters producer Asya Shtefan, Reuters safety advisor Steve Kelly, Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans and Reuters photographer Clodagh Kilcoyne have dinner cooked by Ryan Evans on Christmas Day at the Sapphire hotel, in Kramatrosk Ukraine, 25 December 2022 (Reuters) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the missile strike as deliberate and calculated, condemning the targeting of a hotel used by civilians. An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by the Russian Iskander [missile], he said in his evening address on Sunday, adding the strike was absolutely purposeful, thought out. My condolences to family and friends, he said. This is the daily Russian terror that continues. Reuters cameraman Herbert Villarraga, Reuters safety advisor Steve Kelly, Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans, Reuters producer Asia Shtefan and Reuters photographer Clodagh Kilcoyne on Christmas eve during a news reporting assignment on the front line, in Bakhmut, Ukraine, 24 December 2022 (Reuters) The Donetsk regional prosecutors office confirmed the body of a British citizen was found in the rubble, and Ukrainian authorities reported additional injuries among other foreign journalists in the attack. All other members of the Reuters team members who were not injured or killed in the attack have been accounted for and are reportedly safe. GAZA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Monday condemned Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's remarks about building a synagogue inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Palestinian people will not accept any harm to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a red line that cannot be allowed to be tampered with at all, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency, said in a press statement released by the official news agency WAFA. Abu Rudeineh said that Ben-Gvir attempted to drag the region into "a religious war that will burn everyone," calling on the international community, especially the U.S. administration, to take immediate action to rein in the right-wing Israeli government and force it to abide by the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, holds sacred significance for both Muslims and Jews and has long been a flashpoint for deadly violence between the two sides. Under the status quo, non-Muslim worshippers may visit the site in the heart of the Old City but are not allowed to pray there. In remarks to Israeli Army Radio earlier on Monday, Ben-Gvir said that "Jews can pray on the Temple Mount," adding that under his term as the Minister of National Security, there will be no discrimination between Jews and Muslims. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a press statement that "there is no change in the status quo in the Temple Mount." Political scientist Larry Sabato dismissed a potential boost for former President Trump after independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed him last week. Sabato, the director of the University of Virginias Center for Politics and editor-in-chief for election forecaster Sabatos Crystal Ball, suggested Friday that not all of Kennedys supporters will vote for Trump. Kennedy announced Friday he would suspend his campaign and endorse the former president. Sabato noted in an appearance on MSNBC that Kennedy has been losing traction since Vice President Harris launched her bid for the White House last month. He has been dropping like a rock ever since Kamala Harris got in, Sabato said of Kennedy. When he started, he was in the upper teens. In some polls, he was in the low 20s, and now at best, hes at 5 or 6 percent in some of the states, and those polls are outdated, he continued. You know, weve had a Democratic Convention. One network poll just a few days ago had him at 2 percent. Harris has been gaining momentum across national and swing state polls as she closes the gap with former President Trump. Sabato said it was not guaranteed that Kennedys supporters would move to Trump and that some voters could vote for someone other than Trump or Harris. For people who think that, because hes endorsing Trump, he can just move that 2 percent into Trumps column, Sabato said. They dont know much about politics. It doesnt work that way. Its not going to work that way. Sabato also suggested that RFK Jr. failed to cash in on the Kennedy name. His comments also come after the Trump campaign released a memo from its pollster, Tony Fabrizio, that suggested Trump would gain the majority of Kennedys supporters in a head-to-head match-up with Harris. In a three-way race with Kennedy, Trump and Harris, the vice president has a 5.6 percentage point lead over Trump, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQs national polling average. Kennedy has about 2.8 percent of support, according to the average. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Sacramentos Camp Resolution residents dont know where to go as city clears camp. I will die A tight-knit group of homeless people who have lived on the city-owned land they call Camp Resolution were scrambling to make plans Sunday afternoon as the hours ticked down until the city of Sacramento has warned that they will be considered trespassers. Nearly 50 people, including many seniors with disabilities, have been living at the encampment in city-issued trailers vacant lot on Colfax Street and Arden Way since 2022. The citys eviction notice orders all residents to leave by midnight Monday. But in the final hours before a possible sweep, many residents were still trying to figure out their next steps. By Sunday afternoon, two residents had already suffered seizures from extreme stress as eviction loomed, Crystal Sanchez of the Sacramento Homeless Union said. Jeanne Gillis, 53, was one of them. She suffers from the autoimmune disease lupus, which affects her kidneys, lungs and brain, and causes seizures, she said in an interview with the Sacramento Bee Friday. At the time, Gillis said she feared she would die if she was evicted from her home at Camp Resolution. Im being forced out of it into a tent, she said Friday. If my illness doesnt kill me, the streets will because I cant lock a tent. The city has offered shelter beds to all 48 residents at city shelters located on Roseville Road and Auburn Boulevard. Both shelters usually allow guests to only have one dog, meaning many Camp Resolution guests would have to part with their pets. In addition, the Roseville Road trailers and tiny homes do not have electricity or generators, creating issues for Camp Resolution residents on medical devices including oxygen machines. Gillis said she had no intention of going to the shelter at Roseville Road because she relies on her generator to stabilize her health issues. Without proper air conditioning, she said the heat and stress would cause her seizures to worsen. On Sunday, as she was attempting to move her stuff to a secure storage unit, she experienced a seizure. Sanchez, who helped Gillis recover, said overwhelming stress had caused it. This camp is a little bit in shambles right now because everybodys in urgency to try to figure out what were doing, Sanchez said. Jeanne Gillis walks through Camp Resolution distraught on Friday. She said she has lupus and it affects her kidneys, lungs and brain and she suffers seizures. She said that the Sacramento Department of Community Services took her information and said they would get back to her. She said she can't go to the Roseville Road shelter because, without electricity to cool her space, her seizures will get worse. "I will die," she said. Preparing for possible eviction According to the citys eviction notice, people who choose to remain at Camp Resolution past midnight may be considered in violation of various state laws or city ordinances, including trespassing and occupying a trailer outside of permitted area. If you remain on the property after Aug. 26, further enforcement action will be taken, the notices state. Shelter space has been reserved for you. But many people living at Camp Resolution are planning to stay put. Residents released a Call to Action flyer asking the public to gather at the Camp from 8 a.m. to noon Monday to pray, support, witness, learn. The flier also asked people to bring food, water and supplies to donate to the site. Resident Twana James, 55, said she was cooking more than 100 tacos for people still at the camp Sunday night. She decided not to take a shelter bed at Roseville Road because she was determined to help out others at Camp Resolution as long as she could. I havent packed a thing, not one thing, James said. I dont know where Im going to go. I dont want to go out there. Its dangerous out there, and then you go to jail. Twana James, a resident of Camp Resolution, breaks down in tears not knowing the fate of the puppy or the disabled residents on Sunday. I cant keep it, she said. She said she hasnt had any time to pack her belongings because she has been trying to help the most vulnerable residents with disabilities before Sacramento City homeless sweep on Monday. I dont know where Im going to go, its dangerous out there, she said. The residents who live at the camp rely on community members and organizations for food, clothing and supplies. The camp is self-governing with the homeless residents making their own rules and key decisions. Although they are not in permanent housing, residents feel they are in an environment thats safer than the streets while they wait for housing. They have doors and gates that lock, bathrooms, water, and a sense of community. The camp had a waitlist of over 800 people, and mostly admitted people with chronic physical disabilities. Although those people collect disability and Social Security checks, they have said those payments are too little to afford market rate rent in Sacramento, where a studio often costs more than $1,500 a month. There are thousands of people on the waitlist for affordable permanent housing in Sacramento. Some report waiting years for a spot. Sanchez has been attempting to find permanent housing for a few of the camps most vulnerable residents, but said she had been unsuccessful so far because she has been unable to connect with the city. She said the two shelter options offered to residents are band-aid solutions that will not provide people adequate medical and mental health resources. By her count, Camp Resolution on Sunday still had 30 residents. The rest had decided to leave, but she did not know whether they were back on the streets or in shelter beds. Calls for city to halt shutdown The Sacramento Homeless Union has filed a motion for a temporary restraining order requiring the city to hold off on closing Camp Resolution. The court hearing will be held 11 a.m. Friday at the Sacramento Superior Court. On Saturday, Disability Rights California also called on the city of Sacramento to halt the planned shutdown of Camp Resolution until after the court hearing, in light of the high risk of grave bodily harm or death facing these residents. Daniel Mayberry gathers two of her six cats as she kisses her dog Panda on Friday to house in a crate in precaution for the Sacramento City sweep on Sunday. She also had two dogs so she could not go to any of the city shelters that the city was offering. The crate was being loaned by the Homeless Outreach and Assistance Program in partnership with Front Street shelter. Andrea Henson, co-counsel for the union, said she planned to sleep in the camp overnight in case the city began eviction procedures immediately. Historically, in Sacramento and in other jurisdictions, sweeps are violent, theyre hostile, theyre unforgiving, and theyre certainly not empathetic, Henson said. So Im not leaving because these individuals deserve that. Why is the camp closing? Due to vapor contamination, a state agency allowed people to live in the site in trailers, but not in tents on the ground. The type of contamination thats present is not harmful to people in vehicles because theyre raised off the ground, the California State Water Resources Control Board has said. In an April letter, the city said there were people sleeping in tents and that the camp would close in May. The city then backed off on that plan after residents begged the City Council for more time, and people stopped camping on the dirt. On May 15, the homeless union sued the city, seeking a judge order barring the city from closing the camp until all residents are in permanent housing. The judge has so far ruled in the citys favor on that case, but it is still active. Meanwhile, in July civil rights attorney Mark Merin, whose nonprofit Safe Ground Sacramento had held lease with the city, sent a notice of plans for lease termination, which is effective Monday. Merin has said that although the lease is ending, it is up to the city whether to clear the residents off the site. The lease states, upon the expiration or termination of this lease, lessee shall peaceably vacate the premises and deliver the premises, vacant of all guests to city. However since its a city property and city trailers, the city could have let the camp stay. The council discussed the situation behind closed doors Tuesday, but the high-profile decision to close the camp did not get a vote or discussion in an open session of a City Council meeting. Neither City Manager Howard Chan nor Mayor Darrell Steinberg were present at Tuesdays open meeting, where several Camp Resolution residents spoke. Shonn Adams, 55, who wears an oxygen tube connected from a generator inside her trailer, hugs her dog alongside her friend Steven Goble, at Camp Resolution on Friday. Sacramento put up notices they will sweep the encampment on Monday. Adams suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease said they still havent found her a place to live. (BCN) Bus service in San Mateo County may be disrupted by a work stoppage Monday and Tuesday after the union representing workers rejected a contract proposal, SamTrans said Friday. Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1574 rejected a three-year contract proposal, potentially resulting in a work stoppage that could lead to service disruptions for SamTrans customers as early as next week, the transit system said in a press release. Alameda County firefighter goes on racist rant against community member in TikTok video The union, which represents almost 400 bus operators and other workers, turned down the districts offer after Aug. 14. It rejected the first proposal on July 5, SamTrans said. We are deeply disappointed that members of ATU Local 1574 are considering taking this severe action, said April Chan, SamTrans chief executive officer and general manager. Our contract offer was fair, competitive and equitable for union members. We put this proposal forth in good faith and it was endorsed by the union leadership team. SamTrans said customers should seek alternative transportation options on Monday and possibly Tuesday. The agency said it will prioritize school service. The contract rejected by union members on Aug. 14 called for a wage increase of 4% this fiscal year, followed by 3.5% increases the following two fiscal years, plus targeted equity adjustments for operators and maintenance, the agency said. Copyright 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) The San Diego International Airport will get slightly easier to find parking ahead of the busy Labor Day weekend as the first feature of the multi-billion-dollar Terminal 1 renovation is set to open. The new Terminal 1 Parking Plaza will debuted on Tuesday, and with its opening came an additional 2,834 parking spaces for drivers to use something that will hopefully alleviate a modicum of the congestion around the airport during a busy travel weekend. On top of the additional general parking spaces, the new garage will also house dozens of parking stalls designated for clean vehicles and for EV charging, as well a handful of spots for short-duration parking. San Diego airports new Terminal 1 gets additional $23.5M in federal funds According to airport officials, it will cost $2.50 for 15 minutes in each of the one-hour spots, while full days are $38. There will be a 10-minute payment grace period for those who accidentally turn into the lot or use it for a quick drop off. For those who like to plan ahead, online reservations will be available to save a parking space at the plaza. However, airport authority officials urge travelers to remain mindful of peak traffic hours 4 a.m. to 6:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 8 p.m. to midnight and plan their trips accordingly. As with other parts of the airport, drivers will need to head west on North Harbor Drive to access the Terminal 1 Parking Plaza. Once near the airport, drivers will want to get in the right lane to reach the terminal before going left when it splits traffic to parking and curbside drop-off. While the Terminal 1 parking structure will be open for business, it is not the end of the construction work for the garage quite yet. Crews will now be shifting to the second stage of the Terminal 1 Parking Plaza build out, which includes adding an additional 2,396 parking spaces, over 100 EV charging ports, hundreds of bicycle parking spots, and additional Clean Vehicle spaces. The stage two work is expected to be completed alongside the first phase of the Terminal 1 building, which is the christening of 19 new gates, in late summer 2025. The remainder of the renovation is expected to take until mid-2028 at the earliest. The total cost of all improvements, including the new parking structure, is upwards of $3.8 billion, according to the airport authority. Construction is being funded from federal grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as airline operating and lease agreements. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) Santa Fe Police arrested 56-year-old Ernesto Zamora accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on August 24, 2024. Woman accused of ramming into Albuquerque Police Department vehicles Officers were called to the 2900 block of Cerrillos Rd to a report of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Officers arrived located the victim, who was an employee at local business. Police say the victim told them he confronted the suspect and asked him to leave the property/ The suspect refused to leave and retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and confronted the victim while holding the gun. The suspect eventually returned to his vehicle and left the area. Police got a description of the vehicle and located it in the area. Zamora was detained and arrested on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge. A female passenger was also arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Police say the case is under active 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. Nursing students walk out of Lexington Medical Center's new nurse training facility Monday, Aug. 26. 2024. The University of South Carolina and Lexington Medical cut the ribbon Aug. 12, 2024 on the new $20 million training center near the Lexington County-based hospitals campus. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA The Legislature has pumped $30 million into collegiate nursing programs in South Carolina over the past three years in an effort to stem a potential health care crisis. By 2036, the Palmetto State could have the seventh-largest shortage of registered nurses in the nation with a predicted 13,600 vacancies, leaving more than 1 in 5 positions unfilled due to a retiring workforce and already low staffing levels, according to a March report by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Shortages of registered nurses A look at where the 10 worst shortages are expected by 2036, by percentage of vacancies: Georgia: 29% California: 26% Washington: 26% New Jersey: 25% North Carolina: 23% New Hampshire: 23% South Carolina: 21% Maryland: 20% Michigan: 19% Oregon: 16% Source: U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, March 2024 Meanwhile, South Carolinas growing population of people 65 and older adds to the need for more nurses. By 2035, more than 1.5 million South Carolinians will be at least 65, according to the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. In response, legislators have set aside $10 million annually in the last three state budgets, including the one that took effect last month: $5 million to boost the salaries of nursing professors and $5 million in loan forgiveness for nurses who go back to school to become nursing professors. Its all about building up the pool of instructors needed to educate the next generation of nurses at a higher rate. I think were starting to make a dent, Jeannette Andrews, the dean for the University of South Carolinas nursing program, recently told the SC Daily Gazette. The state money, combined with several private partnerships, means USCs Columbia campus is now admitting 300 nursing students in its bachelors degree program, up from 200 students previously. Within the next five years, the school hopes to train and graduate 400 nurses per year in the Midlands. Theres momentum Graduates of the states largest university system account for more than 40% of registered nurses with a bachelors degree entering the workforce in South Carolina annually for the past five years. They include graduates of USCs campuses in Aiken, Spartanburg and Beaufort, in addition to the flagship campus in Columbia, Andrews said. To increase its enrollment in Columbia, Andrews said USC turned to Lexington Medical Center, which just cut the ribbon on a new $20 million training center near the Lexington County-based hospitals campus. The building gives USC the extra classroom space and hospital placements for clinicals it needs to take on more students. A grant from insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina a few years back also allowed USC to create a pipeline for new faculty. Andrews said she now has eight doctoral students who have either completed or are in their final years of study. They are earning a full salary and will become professors upon completing their degrees. The first three started in their faculty positions this fall. Those former students are now among 10 new faculty hired by the university for this school year, Andrews said. Those new hires include an oncology nursing professor, a family nurse practitioner and a midwife. From the state, USCs Columbia campus has received about $810,000 the last two years, allowing it to give professors an $8,000 to $10,000 salary boost. Nursing faculty, especially with doctoral degrees or masters degrees, would make more in a practice setting than in an academic setting, Andrews said, so the extra money makes those professorships more enticing. For example, the average salary for a nurse practitioner in South Carolina is $117,000, according to the latest data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant professors who have similar degrees within the nursing school make about $10,000 less, according to the state employee salary database. In 2022, 670 nurses were working in academics specifically within nursing programs, which is similar to numbers in 2018 before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data provided by the S.C. Office for Healthcare Workforce. Legislators approved the spending using one-time surplus revenue, rather than as recurring funding that continues indefinitely, meaning those pay bumps arent guaranteed to continue. Students that have pursued these advanced degrees since 2022 also will be able to apply for loan forgiveness in a couple years, up to $90,000 for each year of schooling. Those paybacks are available on a first-come-first-served basis until the $15 million set aside to date runs out, according to the state Commission on Higher Education. So, theres momentum, Andrews said We are investing in our future, and I think thats enticing to potential nursing faculty who want to join our colleges of nursing in the state. Funding split USC had something of a head start thanks to its private partnerships. It may be a couple years before the state sees enrollment jumps at its other public nursing schools. Even if they can increase nurse faculty salary, it doesnt automatically translate into the ability to accept more students, said Katie Gaul, director of the S.C. Office for Healthcare Workforce. Not only do they have to worry about faculty, they have to worry about facilities; they have to worry about clinical placements; they have all this stuff that is more than just being able to admit more students. Lexington Medical Centers new nurse training facility as seen on Monday, Aug. 26. 2024. The University of South Carolina and Lexington Medical cut the ribbon Aug. 12, 2024 on the new $20 million training center near the Lexington County-based hospitals campus. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) The Legislature may also want to reconsider how it doles out the funding for salary stipends. Both Gaul and Andrews said some of the smaller or rural nursing programs would likely benefit more from the assistance. But thats not how the state calculates the funding. The Legislature instead directed it be based on enrollment, according to the Commission on Higher Education. As a college system, USC has received about $1.6 million annually across four campuses, based on last years numbers. The technical college system has split $2 million across 13 campuses, with allocations ranging from about $46,000 at Spartanburg Technical College to $379,000 at Trident Technical College. Programs at the Medical University of South Carolina, Lander University, Clemson University and Francis Marion each received between $280,000 and $394,000. Gathering more data Gaul said her office also is taking a closer look at the states forecasted nursing shortage and how it might be best addressed. We can always use more nurses, but I feel like sometimes the conversations may be a little one-sided, Gauls said. For one, Gaul said, data analyzed by her office shows a supply of nurses thats actually growing faster than the state population. Its just that maybe they dont want to go work in the hospitals where theyre needed, she said, choosing instead to work in clinics where schedules are less erratic. About 54% of registered nurses in South Carolina work in hospital settings, Gaul said. To address this, Gaul and her staff are working with several agencies and associations to try to get better answers on what is driving nurses career decisions. For example, the National Academy of Medicine has encouraged states to consider nurses job satisfaction such as their stress levels, mental health and ability to take time off and how it might be contributing to turnover. We do have a lot who get licensed, but how long are they really staying? Thats a big question mark, said Melissa Fluharty, a research associate on Gauls team. Gaul and Fluharty said theyre working with the state Hospital Association to analyze what specialty areas may have the most demand in the future, which units have the highest rate of turnover and why nurses are choosing to leave their positions. Scholz wants Germany to step up deportations after Solingen attack Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (C), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday said he wants to step up deportations of unauthorized migrants, days after a deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen. Deportations should be accelerated "with legal regulations if necessary," Scholz said on a visit to Solingen. The chancellor also called for "consistent, practical enforcement" of existing laws, including for migrants applying for asylum in Germany - and not in the first European Union country where they arrived - in contravention of the Dublin Regulation. "It will certainly make sense to establish a task force to study this," Scholz added. Three people were killed and eight others injured in the attack on Friday at a market square in Solingen's city centre. The 26-year-old suspect, who is originally from Syria, was subsequently remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. The man, who is suspected of membership of the Islamic State terror group, was reportedly due to be deported to Bulgaria after arriving in Germany in 2022, but police were unable to locate him. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the western German city of Solingen, three days after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three people. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Henning Kaiser/dpa-Pool/dpa Although cocaine use became widespread in the 19th century once it was synthesized into cocaine hydrochloride salts, Europeans knew of the coca plants stimulating effects since the early 15th century. A new study of 17th-century remains from a crypt in Milan shows traces of an active component of the coca plant in the subjects brain tissue. This suggests Europeans used coca leaves earlier than previously thought and is the earliest evidence of such drug use on the European continent. Of the approximately 200 members in the genus Erythroxylum, most species contain the central nervous system stimulant tropane alkaloid, known more commonly as cocaine. Because the plant is endemic to South America, indigenous groups throughout the continent chewed the leaves of these plants to reach the high that eventually sparked a lucrative, deadly drug trade in the here and now. Some of the earliest evidence of the drugs can be found in tissue samples of Chilean mummies, dated to around 1,000 BCE, though the practice is likely even older than that. However, theres much less evidence pointing to when this natural narcotic made its way to Europe. Spanish conquistadors first encountered the plant in the late 15th century, and their writings at the time describe natives carry[ing] these leaves in their mouths without eating them, but simply between their teeth and that it kept them from feeling hungry, giving them great vigor and strength. Although they tried to ban the practice in the Americas, the plant made its way to Europe around the late 16th century, and now a new study shows that the continent wasted little time partaking in the natural stimulant of the New World. According to a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, an analysis of brain tissue from human remains located at the Ca Granda crypt in Milan, Italy, shows evidence of active components of the coca plant. The crypt was used as a burial place for the Ospedale Maggiorea world-class hospital in the 17th centuryand the studys lead author, University of Milans Gaia Giordano, previously found evidence of opium use among the cadavers of this crypt. But this new study extends that the eras drug list by also including cocaine. Toxicological analyses were performed on preserved human brains revealing the first evidence of Erythroxylum spp. use in Europe before the 19th century, the paper reads, backdating our understanding of the presence of the plant by almost two centuries. Given that the plant was not listed inside the detailed hospital pharmacopeia, it may not have been given as a medicinal remedy but may have been used for other purposes. Most historians believe cocaine use didnt proliferate throughout Europe until the 19th century when the drug was synthesized as cocaine hydrochloride salts. However, Spaniards certainly knew of the plants effects centuries earlier, and some conquistadors, including a Spanish doctor named Nicholas Monardes, were known to grow plants from the Americas in Spain. By the 17th century, when those buried in the crypt would have lived, Milan (then a possession of Spain) was a major importer of exotic plants, especially from the Americas, so cocaine couldve taken hold there earlier than the rest of Europe. Also these people likely werent well-off, meaning that coca leaves mightve been more easily available even during its early introduction to the continent. To the authors knowledge, this is the earliest evidence of a detection of compounds derived from the Erythroxylum spp in continental Europe. However, its not the first detection in the Old World. In 1992 a study purported the existence of cocaine in Egyptian mummies, a surprising anachronism since no evidence suggests contact existed between this ancient Nile civilization and the Americas. Although those results remain disputed, Giordanos surprising discovery doesnt require such a fantastical leap, and suggests that cocaine useat least in the form of coca leavesmay have taken hold in Europe sooner than previously believed. Of course, this perplexing answer leads to the next logical question: Just how far did cocas influence reach in 17th century Europe? You Might Also Like Members of the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter detector team in the LZ water tank after the outer detector installation. (Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility) Members of the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter detector team in the LZ water tank after the outer detector installation. (Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility) Scientists at a deep underground lab in South Dakota say theyve made an advancement in their quest to understand dark matter. The invisible substance is estimated to make up 85% of the mass in the universe, but its never been directly detected. A leading dark matter candidate is weakly interacting massive particles, known as WIMPs. Scientists conducting an experiment in the Sanford Underground Research Facility said Monday in a news release that they have results limiting what WIMPs could be. If you think of the search for dark matter like looking for buried treasure, weve dug almost five times deeper than anyone else has in the past, said Scott Kravitz, the deputy physics coordinator for the experiment and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads the experiment. The project is in a cavern nearly a mile underground at the former Homestake Gold Mine in Lead. The centerpiece of the experiment is the worlds most sensitive dark matter detector, the LUX-ZEPLIN, which is a tank filled with 10 metric tons of liquid xenon. Scientists hope to detect light produced from a WIMP colliding with a xenon nucleus in the tank. Deep underground, the detector is shielded from cosmic rays coming from space. Scientists participating in the experiment say theyve found no evidence of WIMPs above a mass of 9 gigaelectronvolts/c2 (for comparison, the mass of a proton is slightly less than 1 GeV/c2.) The experiments sensitivity to faint interactions helps researchers reject potential WIMP dark matter models that dont fit the data, leaving fewer places for WIMPs to hide. If WIMPs had been within the region we searched, wed have been able to robustly say something about them, said Chamkaur Ghag, spokesperson for the detector project and a professor at University College London. The new results were presented at two physics conferences Monday: TeV Particle Astrophysics 2024 in Chicago, and LIDINE 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A scientific paper will be published in the coming weeks. The detector is a collaboration of roughly 250 scientists from 38 institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Switzerland, South Korea and Australia. Earlier this month, a separate project also located in the Sanford Underground Research Facility celebrated a milestone of its own. Excavation was completed in a cavern that will house massive argon detectors for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Studying neutrinos could help scientists learn why matter exists, how black holes form, and if neutrinos are connected to dark matter or other undiscovered particles. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Jia Xiang checks the condition of Thuja koraiensis at a seedling base of the Changbai Mountain scientific research institute in northeast China's Jilin Province, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xu Chang) CHANGCHUN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- As dawn light casts a glow over Changbai Mountain, Jia Xiang and his team begin another demanding day of fieldwork. They meticulously document each tree's growth and analyze the dynamic changes of the diverse plant life. "It is like monitoring the pulse of plants. Every piece of data is vital for understanding the health of the forest," said Jia, an engineer at the Changbai Mountain scientific research institute. Changbai Mountain, located in northeast China's Jilin Province, stands as one of the country's most intact natural ecosystems, featuring a rich diversity of climate types and biological communities. Established in 1960, the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve now hosts 2,639 wild plant species and 1,586 wild animal species. The mountain's pristine wilderness and impressive biodiversity have revealed vast potential for scientific discovery, attracting numerous researchers, including Jia. After graduating from the Institute of Applied Ecology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jia chose to build his career in Jilin, far from his hometown in north China's Shanxi Province. "The mysterious and vibrant Changbai Mountain, with its expansive and untouched forests, has always fascinated me," Jia explained. For eight years, Jia and his colleagues have dedicated themselves to monitoring plant resources and protecting and propagating rare and endangered species. "Mosquito bites have become routine, and we've learned to handle encounters with black bears and wild boars calmly," he said. Jia has seen significant advancements in their tools over the years. They are now equipped with calipers that measure growth rings to the millimeter and environmental sensors that provide real-time updates on temperature, humidity and light intensity every 30 minutes. "Changbai Mountain is like a living laboratory," he said. "Every day, it reveals something new about the delicate balance of nature." Zhao Lufu, Jia's partner on the field survey, was formerly a logger. When the province banned commercial logging in its major forests in 2015, Zhao transitioned to his new role as a field researcher. "It was a turning point," Zhao recalled. The mountain, once a source of timber, has since become a beacon of sustainable forestry and ecological conservation. According to a 2017 baseline survey by the research institute, forest coverage in the reserve had exceeded 95 percent. With the implementation of protection measures by the local government, seven hectares of Thuja koraiensis -- a species listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, have been successfully restored on the mountain. "We once scoured the entire mountain in search of this plant and found only 6,600 individuals. Now, there are more than 10,000," Jia said. In June this year, the Changbai Mountain global geopark was officially unveiled, drawing international attention to both the natural wonders and dedicated conservation efforts led by Jia's team. The protection work still faces ongoing challenges due to climate change and human activity, but Jia remains hopeful, believing that continued research and committed conservation efforts will better preserve the mountain's unique ecosystem for future generations. "We're fighting for the future," he concluded. Jia Xiang (L) and Zhao Lufu record tree growth data at the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Jilin Province, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xu Chang) Jia Xiang (R) and Zhao Lufu conduct the field survey at the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Jilin Province, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xu Chang) Black holes hiding in the middle of ancient galaxies make them look bigger and brighter than they really are, astronomers have found. The oldest galaxies had long been thought to only be able to host a small amount of stars and therefore would not be particularly big or bright. However, when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most powerful telescope ever built, first started imaging the most distant and ancient galaxies in the universe it instead found seemingly enormous galaxies far exceeding what the theories had predicted. Scientists scrambled around for an answer to this paradox as the observations contradicted decades of dogma. Now, scientists from Nasa and the University of Texas have solved the riddle after discovering that hidden black holes were making the primitive galaxies seem much larger than they really are. The black hole is invisible to the telescope but the matter and gas it devours leads to friction that produces heat and light, which the apparatus on JWST can capture and gives the artificial impression of more galaxies and stars than are actually present. Scientists have exhaled a deep sigh of relief at the finding, which found the anomalously gargantuan galaxies were actually an optical illusion caused by ravenous black holes, and the laws of physics did not need rewriting. Prof Steven Finkelstein, a professor of astronomy at University of Texas at Austin and study co-author, said: The bottom line is there is no crisis in terms of the standard model of cosmology. Any time you have a theory that has stood the test of time for so long, you have to have overwhelming evidence to really throw it out. And thats simply not the case. Click here to view this content. Katherine Chworowsky, the studys lead author and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, added: We are still seeing more galaxies than predicted, although none of them are so massive that they break the universe. JWST has revolutionised space exploration since it was launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and started analysis of the cosmos from a million miles away, permanently sheltered from the suns rays by Earth itself. Spectacular images have allowed astronomers to peer further back in time than was previously possible with objects now visible that were created soon after the Big Bang. For example, academics at the University of Cambridge earlier this year found evidence in data gathered by the JWST of a black hole that existed more than 13 billion years ago, and about 400 million years after the Big Bang. Click here to view this content. Scientists are now grappling with another unexpected anomaly revealed by the telescope: which is that there were twice as many galaxies in the early stages of the universe than science predicts. One possibility, according to Ms Chworowsky, is that galaxies were formed more efficiently in the early aeons of the universe, and this rate slowed down as the universe expanded over billions of years. Not everything is fully understood, she added. Thats what makes doing this kind of science fun, because itd be a terribly boring field if one paper figured everything out, or there were no more questions to answer. The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal. 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 Rio Grande sign at Isleta Blvd. and Interstate 25 on Sept. 7, 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court appointed a new special master to oversee the case, after their June ruling blocking a proposed deal. (Photo by Anna Padilla for Source New Mexico) The U.S. Supreme Court appointed a new judge to oversee the Rio Grande water dispute between Texas and New Mexico. The case will continue on after the high courts June ruling dismissed a deal between New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, as five justices sided with objections from the federal government to the deal. Justices appointed Judge D. Brooks Smith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from Duncansville, Pennsylvania, to replace federal appeals Judge Michael Melloy as the special master in the case in July. A special master acts as a trial judge, decides on issues in the case and prepares reports to inform the U.S. Supreme Courts ultimate opinions in the case. Smith, 72, has a long career in law, first starting in private practice and as a prosecutor. He donned the robes in 1984 as both a Court of Common Pleas judge in Blair County, Pennsylvania, and an administrative law judge. In 1988, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed to a federal position for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In 2002, the Senate confirmed his appointment by the Bush administration to the federal appeals court, where hes served since. This is the third special master for the case, called Original No. 141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado. In a complaint filed in 2013, Texas alleged that pumping in New Mexico below Elephant Butte Reservoir was taking Rio Grande water owed to Texas under a compact from 1939. That 85-year old document governs the Rio Grandes use between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, and also includes provisions for sending water to Mexico under 1906 treaty obligations and acknowledges regional irrigation districts. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled to allow the federal government to join the case, accepting the arguments that New Mexicos groundwater pumping threatened federal obligations to deliver water to Mexico and two irrigation districts. After months of negotiations and a partial trial, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico proposed a deal to end the yearslong litigation. The federal government and regional irrigation districts objected to the deal, saying that it imposed unfair obligations and was negotiated without their agreement. Melloy recommended the court ignore the federal governments objections and approve the states proposed deal. In June, the high court released a narrow 5-4 ruling siding with the federal governments objections and blocking the states deal. Its unclear what comes next in the case under the new special master, but the parties could return to the negotiation table to hammer out another deal or return to the courtroom. This article was first published by Source NM. Visit sourcenm.com to read more. The U.S. Supreme Court appointed a new judge to oversee the Rio Grande water dispute between Texas and New Mexico. The case will continue on after the high courts June ruling dismissed a deal between New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, as five justices sided with objections from the federal government to the deal. Justices appointed Judge D. Brooks Smith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from Duncansville, Pennsylvania, to replace federal appeals Judge Michael Melloy as the special master in the case in July. A special master acts as a trial judge, decides on issues in the case and prepares reports to inform the U.S. Supreme Courts ultimate opinions in the case. Smith, 72, has a long career in law, first starting in private practice and as a prosecutor. He donned the robes in 1984 as both a Court of Common Pleas judge in Blair County, Pennsylvania, and an administrative law judge. In 1988, he was appointed by President Ronald Regan and confirmed to a federal position for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In 2002, the Senate confirmed his appointment by the Bush administration to the federal appeals court, where hes served since. This is the third special master for the case, called Original No. 141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado. In a complaint filed in 2013, Texas alleged that pumping in New Mexico below Elephant Butte Reservoir was taking Rio Grande water owed to Texas under a compact from 1939. That 85-year old document governs the Rio Grandes use between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, and also includes provisions for sending water to Mexico under 1906 treaty obligations and acknowledges regional irrigation districts. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled to allow the federal government to join the case, accepting the arguments that New Mexicos groundwater pumping threatened federal obligations to deliver water to Mexico and two irrigation districts. After months of negotiations and a partial trial, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico proposed a deal to end the yearslong litigation. The federal government and regional irrigation districts objected to the deal, saying that it imposed unfair obligations and was negotiated without their agreement. Melloy recommended the court ignore the federal governments objections and approve the states proposed deal. In June, the high court released a narrow 5-4 ruling siding with the federal governments objections and blocking the states deal. Its unclear what comes next in the case under the new special master, but the parties could return to the negotiation table to hammer out another deal or return to the courtroom. Danielle Prokop covers the environment and local government in Southern New Mexico for Source NM. This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: SCOTUS appoints new special master in Texas v. NM Rio Grande case Sean Diddy Combs is seeking to toss out a civil lawsuit from Rodney Jones a producer known as Lil Rod who, earlier this year, sued the embattled businessman and musician for sexual assault, sexual harassment, and grooming. In a motion to dismiss, filed Monday in federal court in the Southern District of New York, Combs claims that Jones lawsuit has no merit and is designed to reach a monetary settlement and garner media attention. Jones, a music producer and videographer, said in his lawsuit that he worked with Combs in 2022 and 2023 on his most recent album, Love. Among other allegations, Jones claims that Combs did not compensate him for his music producing work, forced him to procure and interact with sex workers, threatened him and served alcoholic beverages laced with drugs to guests at parties at his homes. Jones is seeking $30 million in his suit against Combs. He initially filed the complaint in February 2024. Jones moved to voluntarily dismiss some of the defendants, which the judge granted in May. According to Combs motion to dismiss, Jones complaint is replete with legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods. Despite hyperbole and lurid theatrics, the new court documents state, Jones lawsuit fails to state a single viable claim against Combs and his business entities, which are named as additional defendants. Aside from denying Jones claims, Combs also accuses Jones of using serious allegations against him to promote his personal brand and profit from exposure, citing a recent social media post where Jones spoke about his lawsuit against Combs and was laughing and smiling in the video. A source close to Combs told CNN that Jones and his attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, received a cease and desist related to the social media video Jones attorney, Blackburn, told CNN that Combs motion to dismiss is a delay tactic and nothing more than a billing exercise by Combs latest set of attorneys who are clearly attempting to fill their pockets. Blackburn said that his clients lawsuit is full of evidence. Combs attorneys state in the motion that Jones sexual assault claim against Mr. Combs must be dismissed because Jones fails to plead the most basic facts, such as where and when any purported instance of assault occurred or what allegedly transpired. The motion also seeks to toss out other claims, including Combs alleged pattern of racketeering activity, liability for sexual advances from third parties and Jones suffering from emotional distress. Ongoing federal investigation Jones complaint is among nine against Combs since last November and the eighth directly accusing him of sexual assault. One of the eight lawsuits, filed by former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, has been settled. Another lawsuit accused his son Christian Combs of sexual assault, and Sean Combs is accused of aiding and abetting. Combs and his son have denied the allegations against them. After denying claims against him by Ventura, CNN published a video of Combs physically abusing her, which resulted in Combs issuing an apology his first admission of any wrongdoing, though he still maintains that he is not responsible of most of the accusations against him. This is Combs fifth pending motion to dismiss portions of a lawsuit or complaints in their entirety. The lawsuits Combs is facing are civil cases, but CNN reported in May that federal investigators were prepared to utilize a grand jury, according to sources familiar with the probe, signaling that the US Justice Department is moving toward potentially seeking an indictment of Combs. A source familiar with the current state of the investigation told CNN that Combs has been informed that he is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, but to date, has not received a target letter from authorities. While the investigation is ongoing, there is no indication as to if or when Combs may be indicted. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Sean Combs is still awaiting the next move by the Department of Justice after the feds raided the much accused and now scorned Missing You performers LA and Miamis homes earlier this year. However, Combs went on the offensive Monday in the hopes of having his former Love Album producer Lil Rods $30 million sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit dismissed. Jones Second Amended Complaint is his third attempt to dress up a run of the mill commercial disagreement as a salacious RICO conspiracy, declares Combs Sher Tremonte LLPs lawyers in a memorandum of law supporting the motion to toss the action first filed by Rodney Jones Jr., AKA Lil Rod, in February 2024. More from Deadline Read Sean Combs filing to have Lil Rods $30 million sexual assault case dismissed here Running to nearly 100 pages, it includes countless tall tales, shameless celebrity namedrops, and irrelevant images, the document adds. Yet, despite all its hyperbole and lurid theatrics, the SAC fails to state a single viable claim against any of the Combs Defendants. Replete with legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods, the SACs true purpose is to generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlementno surprise, given that Jones attorney was recently referred to this Courts Grievance Committee for engaging in a pattern of improperly fil[ing] cases in federal court to garner media attention, embarrass defendants with salacious allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly.' Represented by Brooklyn-based attorney Tyrone Blackburn, Jones alleged in his initial complaint that during the long recording of theTop 20 debuting The Love Album: Off The Grid, Combs tried to groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship a normal practice in the music industry. Cuba Gooding Jr is also a defendant in the case along with Combs. Various music executives such as Universal Music Group boss Lucian Grainge and the likes of Motown Records were defendants too, but they have been terminated from the case several months ago. Still, Jones also claimed that the forceful and demanding Combs, who still goes by Diddy, made him have sex with prostitutes, and submit to constant groping of his genitals. Citing a a RICO enterprise exists that repeatedly failed to adequately monitor, warn, or supervise Combs, the producer says he suffered being possibly drugged, raped, ritual humiliation, and still unpaid more than $50,000 for his work on the September 15, 2023 released Love record. Already hit by numerous other sexual assault claims, including one quickly settled by long time ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura late last year, Combs lawyers here are pushing back hard on the more sordid parts of Jones allegations. Jones baseless attempt to hold Mr. Combs liable for alleged sexual advances of third parties (which Jones alleges he rebuffed) on a premises liability theory must be dismissed because he fails to allege facts showing that any claimed assault was foreseeable by Mr. Combs, that Plaintiff suffered any injury, or that Mr. Combs exercised control over the alleged perpetrator or premises, the performers filing today asserts. Taking a swipe at Combs losing powerhouse defense attorney Shawn Holley and others from his team in recent months, Joness lawyer Blackburn sets up todays dismissal motion as a ruse, at best. This is nothing more than a billing exercise by Sean Combs latest set of lawyers, Blackburn told Deadline Monday. It is a weak attempt to fill their pockets before he is indicted, and they decide to haul ass, just like his five previous lawyers did. Regarding Cotes opinion, if their client does not engage in salacious behavior, I would not have anything salacious to file. I pick my clients; I do not pick their facts. To that end, as the DOJs sword of Damocles hangs over Combs, Jones and Blackburn have until September 9 to respond to todays motion to dismiss. It should be noted, Combs has denied all claims against him in the various lawsuits though he later corrected himself and the record with a widely criticized apology once the video of his beating of Ventura in an LA hotel in 2016 went wide in Many. As for that raid by the feds back in the spring, the government hasnt offered much more info, even though talk of indictments galore has been heard from various sources. Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners, a spokesperson for Homeland Security said on March 26 as federal agents were still in Combs California and Florida residences on the coordinated raids on both coasts. We will provide further information as it becomes available. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The legal team of Sean Grayson, the former deputy charged with fatally shooting Illinois mother Sonya Massey in her home, notified the court Monday during his first pretrial hearing that they filed a request for an appeal with the Illinois Appellate Court last week following a lower court's decision to deny Grayson's pretrial release, according to Grayson's lawyer. Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey's death after she called 911 to report a prowler. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody. A review by Illinois State Police found Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force. He was fired from his position with the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office on July 17, the same day the charges were filed against him. Grayson's defense team requested his pretrial release from jail twice. In their latest request, the team argues in a motion filed earlier this month that he is currently under cancer treatment and will not receive adequate care in the Menyard County Jail, where Grayson is currently being held. They also stated that he does not pose a threat to Massey's family. Judge Ryan Cadagin denied the requests on July 18 and Aug. 9, according to the circuit court. "Mr. Grayson is not being treated any differently than any other defendant that walks into the courthouse this morning, or is in custody, as well for a felony and they're detained," Mark Wykoff, Grayson's attorney, told reporters at the circuit court after the hearing. Wykoff said it could take up to three to four months for a decision to come out of the appellate court. If the appellate court approves the appeal, the defense can then petition the Illinois Supreme Court to review the appellate court's decision, according to the Illinois Courts website. In Monday's hearing, the defense requested more time for discovery -- the exchange of information between the prosecution and defense about witnesses and evidence they'll present at trial, according to the court. Cadagin granted their request and ordered a status hearing for Oct. 21. PHOTO: Sonya Massey was shot and killed by former deputy Sean Grayson on July 6, 2024. (Courtesy Ben Crump) Grayson's job with Sangamon County was one of six different police jobs he held over the past four years. Prior to his employment with Sangamon, Grayson worked at the Logan County Sheriff's Office for just under a year. According to audio files obtained by ABC News, Grayson's then-boss, Logan County Chief Deputy Nathan Miller, expressed concerns over Grayson violating department policy and submitting inaccurate reports while discussing his mishandling of a traffic case. Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who announced he will retire at the end of August in connection to hiring Grayson, previously told ABC News that Sangamon County was not aware of this incident when Grayson was hired. Without knowledge of his disciplinary issues at Logan County, Campbell said that Grayson presented no red flags. "Some individuals would rather see our community divided and in turmoil, than allow me to continue serving as Sheriff," he said. "The health of me and my family, the Sheriff's Office, and our community has to be my priority." MORE: 'She called for help and we failed': Sheriff asks forgiveness for Sonya Massey shooting Prior to Graysons time in public law enforcement, he was discharged from the U.S. Army for unspecified "misconduct (serious offense)," according to documents obtained by ABC News. ABC News also learned that Grayson was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents. PHOTO: Sean Grayson fatally shot Sonya Massey while responding to her 911 call for help. (Sangamon County Sheriff's Office) Grayson, 30, and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey's 911 call on July 6 reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home. Body camera footage shows Massey, who was unarmed, telling the two responding deputies, "Please, don't hurt me," once she answered their knocks on her door. Grayson responded, "I don't want to hurt you, you called us." Later in the video, while inside Massey's home as she searches for her ID, Grayson points to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, "We don't need a fire while we're in here." Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." MORE: New details about Sonya Massey shooting Grayson then shouts at Massey and threatens to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rises, at which time Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows. Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office in August. "While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon," Grayson wrote in his field case report. The Menard County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that Grayson "is not receiving any preferential treatment, nor being afforded any privileges or benefits not afforded to other inmates of the Menard County Jail." ABC News' Meredith Deliso contributed to this report. Sean Grayson, ex-deputy charged in Sonya Massey killing, fighting for pretrial release originally appeared on abcnews.go.com GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) Sean Williams newly appointed attorney told the judge in Williams federal child pornography case he can be ready for trial Oct. 22, despite just receiving case files a week ago. Im going to do what the court asks me to do, Knoxville attorney Mark Brown told U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer, who opened a Monday status hearing by saying Oct. 22 is in the courts mind a firm trial date. Complete Coverage of the Sean Williams Case Brown is the fifth attorney whos been appointed for the 52-year-old Williams, who represented himself in a recent escape trial in which he was convicted on one count and acquitted on a second. A series of previously appointed attorneys have withdrawn, citing issues with Williams that made it essentially impossible to represent him. Much of the delay in this case has been attributable to Mr. Williams, Greer said during the relatively uneventful hearing that lasted just 13 minutes. Williams was indicted almost a year ago on three counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of manufacturing child pornography. Each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. His trial was initially set for early 2024 and has been pushed back by the successive changes of attorney as well as by a dramatic Oct. 18 escape from a prison transport van after which Williams was on the run for almost five weeks. Greer said he will personally handle decisions on any pre-trial motions, rather than handing them off to a magistrate judge, to expedite the remainder of the pre-trial process. Only once did Greer feel the need to chastise Williams, who was a frequent target of the judges admonitions during his escape trial. Mondays moment came as Greer was explaining to Brown his strong desire to keep the Oct. 22 deadline and Williams began talking to the attorney. Its hard for him to listen to me when hes listening to you, Greer said. Right now, Im talking. The brief interjection quieted Williams and the rest of the hearing went smoothly. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Swecker told Greer prosecutors had provided Brown with all of their evidence with the exception of photos and/or video that allegedly show Williams committing the crimes for which he faces trial. Brown will have to view those, which authorities allegedly discovered on digital devices seized from Williams when he was arrested April 29, 2023, in the presence of FBI agents. Brown told Greer he has not yet had a one-on-one meeting with Williams. The judge did inform Williams, who has filed a number of motions himself during his period as a pro se defendant representing himself, that he cant continue filing his own motions now that he has counsel. Greer said the only exception would be if Williams ended up at loggerheads with Brown as he has with his previous four lawyers. I dont see any reason youll have any difficulty getting along with him, but please listen to his advice, Greer encouraged Williams. So far so good, Williams replied. Brown said hes set to meet Friday with an expert witness assigned to the case who has the training to review the digital evidence against Williams. He told Greer the witness said they will only serve in the case if Williams is represented, not if he ends up being pro se again. Greer said he expects to hold fairly frequent status updates in order to quickly identify and address any potential problems that could jeopardize the Oct. 22 trial date. He asked both sides to communicate frequently and civilly, though he left open a slight possibility the trial could be delayed. Brown had earlier noted an additional month would be helpful. As the hearing wrapped up, Greer said he was not going to address the possibility of a delay yet but would deal with any such request if necessary at some point. Until then I want to consider (Oct. 22) a firm trial date, he said, adding that his agenda today was to set the process up to make that a reality. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The Associated Press reported that authorities in Iceland have called off their search for two missing tourists following the sudden collapse of an ice cave during a guided tour. Following the tragic event on Sunday, one person was reported dead at the scene while two others were believed to be missing. Another seriously injured victim was taken to a local hospital where they are now reportedly in stable condition. On August 25, Icelandic police force Logreglan a Suurlandi reported in a Facebook post (via BBC) that a group of 25 tourists from various countries had been touring the Breidamerkurjokull glacier when an ice cave suddenly collapsed just before 3 p.m. local time. Following the collapse, authorities confirmed that 21 members of the group were accounted for in addition to the deceased victim and injured party. They began searching for the two tourists believed to be missing, but on Monday called off their efforts. After law enforcement examined the tour operators records, it was discovered that there had been only 23 people on the tour as opposed to 25. The Logreglan a Suurlandis statement noted that the other 21 members of the party were uninjured and being taken to a mass aid center. Authorities searched for the two phantom party members well into Sunday evening, when they announced they were halting operations until Monday morning due to very difficult weather conditions at the scene. "It's hard to get equipment thereIt's bad. Everything is being done by hand," local police chief Sveinn Kristjan Runarsson told BBC. He added that weather conditions on Sunday morning were fair, and that there was no indication the tour should have been canceled. "Ice cave tours happen almost the whole year," Runarsson explained. "These are experienced and powerful mountain guides who run these trips. It's always possible to be unlucky. I trust these people to assess the situationwhen it's safe or not safe to go, and good work has been done there over time. This is a living land, so anything can happen. As of Monday at around 9:30 a.m. local time, there were about 50 or 60 people helping to search by hand, as machinery cannot be used" due to the terrain. A few hours later, after reviewing passenger records, the search was called off. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the tip of the Breiamerkurjokull glacier is "one of the largest in Iceland. It flows from Vatnajokull, the country's "largest glacier." MOAB, Utah (ABC4) National Park Services has started the search for a 76-year-old French national who has been presumed missing in Utahs Arches National Park for nearly two weeks. Francis Userovici is described as having short gray hair with a slender build and a height of 56. He wears glasses and may be wearing size 8.5 sneakers. Park Rangers also said he may have a small red Nikon camera with him. Userovici was reportedly last seen by family on Tuesday, Aug. 13. A rental vehicle believed to be driven by Userovici was found abandoned near the Sand Dune Arch trailhead on Friday, Aug. 23. Rangers believe Userovici entered the park in the rental car just a week earlier. According to a press release issued by Arches National Park officials, rangers began a ground search for Userovici on Saturday, Aug. 24. The search has now expanded into a multi-agency effort with teams from the National Park Service and Grand County Search and Rescue. The Moab Interagency Fire Center is providing air support with Bureau of Land Management helicopters. Anyone who may have relevant information on Userovicis whereabouts or may have seen an individual who fits his description is encouraged to contact the National Park Service Tip Line by calling 888-653-0009. Tips may also be submitted online at go.nps.gov/submitatip or by emailing the National Park Service. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen security personnel and 21 terrorists were killed in operations in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, the Pakistan army said on Monday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan army, said that the terrorists attempted to conduct numerous heinous activities in Balochistan aimed at disrupting the peaceful environment and development of the province by targeting mainly innocent civilians. The terrorists have launched attacks in various areas of Balochistan, especially in Musa Khel, Kalat, and Las Bela districts, killing and injuring many, said the ISPR statement. The terrorists stopped a bus in Musa Khel district and targeted innocent citizens working in Balochistan, killing 23 passengers, it said. In the following clearance operations, security forces and law enforcement agencies killed 21 terrorists. However, during the operations, ten security forces' soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies also lost their lives, said the ISPR. Clearance operations are being conducted and the perpetrators and facilitators of the heinous acts targeting innocent civilians will be brought to justice, it added. Security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan remained determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Balochistan, said the Pakistani military. New seat of fire emerges on 8th day of fire at oil depot in Russia's Rostov Oblast A new, fourth seat of fire broke out at the Proletarsk oil depot in Russia on 25 August, spreading to tanks in the western part of the base. Source: Russian service of Radio Liberty Details: Radio Liberty analysed a satellite image taken at 14:41 local time on Sunday. The fire had reached the fourth row of tanks on the left-hand side. According to one version of Russian Telegram channels, explosive kerosene may be stored in this part of the tank farm. The Kavkaz oil depot near the town of Proletarsk, Rostov Oblast, was attacked by Ukrainian drones on 18 August. Another strike, according to unconfirmed reports, was carried out after the fire had started, on 23 August. Russian media stated that dozens of firefighters had been injured while trying to extinguish the fire. The smoke from the fire stretches for more than 60 kilometres in the sky, but Rostov Oblast authorities say there is no threat to human health or deterioration in air quality. Support UP or become our patron! WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Several students at Sowers Alternative High School had to be checked after security officers used pepper spray on them Monday over the noon hour. Wichita Police Department Captain Aaron Moses said police officers were sent to assist Wichita Public School staff with a fight at the school around 12:15 p.m. This embedded content is not available in your region. Susan Arensman, Wichita Public Schools spokesperson, provided a little more information. There was a fight where security officers had to use pepper spray after repeated attempts to de-escalate the situation, she said. Kansas sees increase in mental health care access Arensman said the school nurse checked the students, and none of them required an 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 KSN-TV. See photos as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students head back to class for 2024-25 year More than 141,000 students started class Monday in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which was joined by most of the rest of the state. CMS debuted three new facilities Monday along with 663 new teachers. Superintendent Crystal Hill met with students at Idlewild Elementary School and told them to focus on being 1% better every day, during a first day in which she traveled to different schools around the district. In the 2024-25 school year, the district will be focused on balance and equity when it comes to school performance by providing targeted support and increased resources, CMS Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight told reporters at a back-to-school briefing last week. Students walk between classes at Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences during the first day on Monday, August 26, 2024 Three new facilities opened their doors Monday, including Ballantyne Ridge High School and Knights View Elementary School in south Charlotte, as well as a new building for Bruns Avenue Elementary. The districts first three electric school buses also took to the roads. New CMS Chief Operations Officer Tim Ivey last week also announced all students will be eligible to receive free breakfast at school this year. Otherwise, meal prices will remain unchanged. CMS still faces a teacher shortage, with 293 remaining vacancies. The district also has $190 million less in federal funding this year after the expiration of COVID relief funds. As a result, CMS cut approximately 500 guest teacher positions ahead of the 2024-25 school year. However, Hill says district leaders prepared for the change well in advance and factored it into the budget adopted earlier this year. A great deal of work has gone into the 2024-25 school year, Hill said. We know the number one thing to impact student achievement is to have permanent teachers in the classroom, so weve really spent a lot of time sourcing and training those teachers and making sure theyre ready the first day, which will help us retain them. Students walk between classes at Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences during the first day on Monday, August 26, 2024 Idlewild Elementary School Principal Trish Stewart smiles at students as they walk down the hall during the first day of school on Monday, August 26, 2024. Literacy teacher Caitlyn Westbrook, right, leads fifth graders in a would you rather... exercise during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. CMS Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill speaks with third grade students during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. Third grade students work on a partner exercise during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. Thurs grade teacher Paul Michael Williams works with students on an exercise during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. Thurs grade teacher Paul Michael Williams works with students on an exercise during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. Classroom supplies sit at the ready for students during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. CMS Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill greets third-grade students during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. Third grade students work on a partner exercise during the first day of school at Idlewild Elementary School in Charlotte, NC on Monday, August 26, 2024. UPDATE: As of 8 a.m. on Monday the closure remained in effect due to the crash. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Nevada State Police advise drivers to avoid I-11 southbound after a semi-truck carrying motor oil rolled over and crashed. It happened around 3 p.m. on Monday along the I-11 as a result, exit 2 off-ramp will be closed for the next three to four hours, according to NSP. The oil spill is not a public safety hazard but will take time to clean up, police added. The semi-truck driver was not injured in the crash and no other vehicles were involved, police stated. Drivers are advised to use alternate routes. Nevada State Police posted the traffic alert on its X account shortly after 3 p.m. Police released no other information. This is a developing story, check back for 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 KLAS. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, both Democrats, spoke to a few hundred supporters in Croydon, Pa., on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Nick Field for Capital-Star) CROYDON, Pa. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled alongside U.S. Sen. Bob Casey to Lower Bucks County Monday to make the case why the states senior senator should be reelected to a fourth term. The two Democratic statewide officials spoke to a couple hundred supporters at Neshaminy Creek Brewing in Croydon, just about a mile from the Delaware River. Under the hot August sun, standing in front of one of his famous maps of the Commonwealth, Casey ran through a list of recent legislative accomplishments in his stump speech, including: $72 million in American Rescue Plan funding for Bucks County schools, the national $35 per month cap on insulin, the ABLE Program, a federal savings account for people with disabilities, and the PACT Act, which provides health care to veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxins. Casey contrasted his positions with his Republican opponent Dave McCormick, pledging to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Womens Health Protection Act, which would provide and protect access to abortion care, and the PRO Act, which would protect workers rights to unionize. On all those issues, Im on one side, my opponents on the other, Casey declared. He will never vote to support any of those bills to protect voting rights, womens rights and workers rights. Croydons been particularly good to Casey, supporting him by 21 percentage points (59% to 38%) during his last contest in 2018. Just two years later, though, Joe Biden, who won Pennsylvania in the presidential race, lost the town 48% to 50% to then President Donald Trump. Trump also carried Croydon in 2016 by a razor-thin margin (47.98% to 47.80%), a far cry from President Barack Obamas 25-percentage point victory (61% to 36%) in 2012. Moreover, anecdotally, State Road running through Croydon is currently peppered with Trump campaign signs. Casey said for Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic nominee for president, to win places like Croydon the key is visiting every area of Pennsylvania. I think what the Harris campaign will do is what Ive tried to do as a candidate, and I know Governor Shapiros done, is to make sure you go to every region of our state, Casey told the Capital-Star. You make the case about whats at stake for the country, and I think when they do that, theyre gonna be successful too. Just two years ago, Shapiro won Croydon by over 15 percentage points (56% to 41%), strikingly similar to his statewide margin. Add to that his 52% approval rating which according to Franklin & Marshall, is higher than any of his four previous predecessors at this point in their first term then Shapiro makes a natural choice as a campaign surrogate. The reason why I think Bob Casey is so effective is because he still shows up in places like Croydon, Shapiro said. He still gets in his car and he shows up in communities big and small. Places where youve got tall buildings lining the streets and places where youve got one-story buildings lining our main streets. Urban, rural, suburban communities. Bob Casey shows up, he is authentically Pennsylvania. When he shows up, he does something that most elected officials dont do: He listens, Shapiro continued. He hears your concerns, he understands what youre dealing with in your communities and he gets stuff done for all of us. Casey and Shapiro both urged the crowd to support Democratic candidate Ashley Ehasz, who is running against U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in PAs 1st Congressional District. In 2022 on the same ticket as Shapiro Ehasz lost to Fitzpatrick in Croydon 57% to 43%. Bucks County is not only the swingiest of all the swing counties, in the swingiest of all the swing states and I mean that only in the political sense but its also the county that is going to determine who is in the leadership of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, Shapiro said. I ask all of you, Bucks County, not just to think of yourselves as agents for Bob Casey, but to think of yourselves as agents of democracy and freedom the governor said. To understand the critical role that you play in our nation, the critical role that you play here in this Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the birthplace of freedom and democracy. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In a recent episode of his aptly named podcast, Please Call Me Crazy, GOP Senate candidate Royce White went on a chauvinistic rant demeaning women who live in the suburbs, and labeling Republican politicians who seek these womens votes as losers who have a cucked mentality. He doesnt seem to have gotten the memo that Donald Trump and his campaign are trying however haplessly to soften their image with women voters. Or maybe White is outright defying it. The Minnesota Republican, whos currently looking to unseat Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, is known for launching bigoted attacks via social media and his podcasts. In July 2023, for example, White told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon that women these days are too mouthy. That remark came up again during a podcast episode released on Thursday, when White doubled down on his mouthy remark, claimed Republicans who try to win over suburban women voters are delusional," said these Republicans would be better off caucusing with Democrats, and accused these Republicans of living in a cucked mentality. (The term "cuck," in right-wing parlance, is another word for a man perceived as weak particularly in their interactions with women). Its worth noting, here, that just last week Trump publicly tried to woo suburban women during a speech that focused on crime. Awkward. According to White: Lets talk about the paths to victory. It aint coming through suburban women thats out. Any one of you Republicans out there who thinks suburban women are gonna be the path to victory I dont know what to say about you. Just go caucus with the Democrats. We dont have time to play around with you people. Youre living in a youre living in a delusion. Youre living in a cucked mentality. White said his too mouthy comments from last year pale in comparison to the things women are allowed to say about men these days. And then he truly went off the deep end with a chauvinistic rant claiming suburban women can come along with the hypermasculine MAGA movement only if they disabuse themselves of what he calls their strange psychology. Like many of Whites rants, this one descended into nonsensical schlock invoking geopolitics. He said: Now, if suburban women want to come along because they go to the grocery store and their bread is up 300% good. But theres this strange sort of psychology of suburban women where theyve justified why they should pay more because some little Black kid some little African kid, uhh, you know, on the Ivory Coast, or lets say in the Congo or wherever needs mosquito nets. Were gonna give money extra money so the social programs can extend to a global community, that includes NGOs, where we get mosquito nets to the poor kids in Africa but were not gonna stop doing deals with China and all these other big tech companies that steal the natural resources of the Congolese by sending those same African children down into the cobalt mines to pull the cobalt with their bare hands. No need to strain yourself trying to make sense of all of that. These are the ramblings of a man who seems to borrow his putrid takes from the darkest and most conspiracy theory-ridden bowels of the internet. And this contrived image of a suburban woman who purportedly tends to overspend on goods simply because they benefit children in Africa is a product of that delusion. But White wasnt finished. He continued: If you think we can convince suburban women that that worldview is so contradictory [that its] a non-starter if you think that, youre a loser. Youre a loser. And that was my point about [Whites defeated Minnesota primary opponent] Joe Fraser hes a loser. Hes got a loser mentality. Perhaps, now, its starting to make sense why I suspected Whites candidacy might prove disastrous for Minnesota Republicans. Hes never won a general election himself, yet he seems oddly confident the way to do so in a state with a popular incumbent senator, no less is to publicly demean suburban women, whose aversion to the GOPs anti-abortion extremism and its Trumpian character more broadly already seems to be causing trouble for the partys election hopes. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Tim Green's family on Aug. 22, 2024. (Leslie Cushman on behalf of Green family) A settlement with the family of Tim Green, a 37-year-old Black man fatally shot by an Olympia law enforcement officer in August 2022, will require the citys police to complete crisis intervention training within two years. We have been forever impacted by the death of a son, a brother, a father, an uncle. Tim did not deserve to die this way. And we do not want this to happen to anyone else, Greens family said in a statement. The training officers will undergo is already required under Washington law due to a sweeping police reform ballot measure passed by the states voters in 2018. However, the states entire police force is not required to undergo training until 2028, the deadline set by state lawmakers. As of July 2023, less than a third of the states law enforcement had undergone the 40 hours of mental health and deescalation training mandated for officers every three years or the 200 hours of training for new hires. According to the city of Olympia, nearly all of its officers have already completed the 40 hour course, except for the newest officers hired since April. Olympia Police Department has required this certification for more than 20 years, the city said in a statement. Green had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, according to his family, and was in crisis when Officer Jordan Anderson shot him three times near a Starbucks drive-through on Aug. 22, 2022. Green died in a hospital, succumbing to his injuries. As a mother I will never forget that day. And nor does any other mother forget the day their child was taken because of a mental health crisis, said Millie Green, mother of Tim Green. Greens family called 911 three days before the shooting to ask for assistance related to Greens behavior and both Anderson and Sergeant Joseph Bellamy, the on-scene commander, recognized Green from that call and knew his diagnosis. Green was holding a folding knife and a Bible, retrieved from his backpack, when he was shot, and police said afterward that it was too dangerous to call the Olympia Crisis Response Unit, a community response team staffed with outreach specialists, according to the familys release. The Clark County prosecutor ruled the shooting lawful on Dec. 1, 2023 after a review of an independent investigation teams report on the incident by request of the Thurston County prosecutor. The city of Olympia has also agreed to require patrol officers to take an additional eight-hour crisis intervention training class designed to teach appropriate force options when dealing with someone in a behavioral health crisis. The settlement further mandates Olympia police chief Rich Allen, his deputy chiefs and officers who were at the scene when Green was killed to complete the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commissions training on the historical intersection of race and policing within a year, another requirement from the 2018 law. The city of Olympia said its police department is committed to completing both course requirements and is on track to meet the Legislatures 2028 deadline for race and policing training. But the city said there are currently no classes available for the course focused on use-of-force options during crisis interventions. The city said its law enforcement will work with the training commission to ensure patrol officers will have this training or comparable training within two years. Anderson provided first aid to Green at the scene while wearing gloves with a thin blue line American flag. The flag is a symbol of police pride. But it has also become controversial due to how its been displayed in defiance of police reform efforts and the Black Lives Matter movement, and in some cases embraced by white supremacists. As part of the settlement, Olympias police department will adopt a policy prohibiting employees from personalizing the agencys equipment. Greens family will also receive $600,000 as part of the settlement. Police reform advocate and Green family friend Leslie Cushman filed a complaint on July 22 to the Criminal Justice Training Commission against each of the four officers at the scene, calling for an investigation. Cushman also requested on Aug. 23 that the Thurston County prosecutor reevaluate the decision to not file any criminal charges. Throughout this process, the City of Olympia and the Olympia Police Department have remained supportive of and committed to a thorough and transparent investigation of the shooting, the city of Olympia said in its statement, referencing the out-of-county review. While this settlement agreement aims to bring some closure for those affected by this tragedy, we ask the community to hold the Green family, who are grieving a lost loved one, in their thoughts and give them your continued support, the citys statement continued. The Olympia Police Department is expected to release an internal review of the shooting next month, the city of Olympia said. This story has been updated with additional information and a statement from the city of Olympia. Seven South Mississippi restaurants fail their health inspections, 2 after complaints Seven South Mississippi restaurants failed their kitchen inspections last week, two after the health department received complaints about conditions. Those cited between Aug. 16 and 23 are: Alpha 24 service station at 6318 Mississippi 613, Moss Point, was inspected Aug. 19 following a complaint. It was cited for: Inadequate hand washing facilities supplied and accessible Food not separated and protected Corrected during the inspection was: Food in good condition, safe and unadulterated The only other inspection in May resulted in an A. Subway, 2316 Market St., Pascagoula, was inspected Aug. 21 following a complaint. It was cited for: No certified manager No person in charge present who demonstrates knowledge and performs duty Corrected during the inspection was: Proper hot holding temperatures This was the third C dating back to 2011. The most recent C was in 2017. Mississippi Health Department requires restaurants and kitchens to have the owner or manager take a course in food safety procedures. Coco Loco Mexican restaurant at 6900 Mississippi 613, Moss Point, was inspected Aug. 19 for a permit renewal. It was cited for: No certified manager Improper cooling time and temperatures This was the first C dating back to 2013. Subway, 3100 Bienville Blvd., Ocean Springs, was inspected Aug. 22 for a permit renewal. It was cited for: No certified manager, a repeat offense The is the first C dating back to 2012. Wayne Lees grocery store, 12109 Mississippi 63, Lucedale, had a scheduled inspection Aug. 20. It was cited for: Improper date marking and disposition, a repeat violation Corrected during the inspection were: Proper eating, tasting, drinking or tobacco use Food contact surface cleaned and sanitized Time as public health control procedures, records This is the fifth C since 2009. The most recent was in July 2023. Sonic of 17th Street, 2505 17th St., Gulfport, had a scheduled inspection Aug. 23. It was cited for: Inadequate hand washing facilities supplied and accessible. This is the first C dating back to 2018. New York Pizza, 1449 U.S. 90, Gautier, was inspected Aug. 22 for a permit renewal. It was cited for: Improper cold holding temperatures. This was the first C dating back to 2022. Restaurants and kitchens 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. The health inspection grade must be displayed in all restaurants, in kitchens such as school cafeterias, day care centers, and cafes and bars where food is sold. From Aug. 1-22, the inspectors have given 209 kitchens in South Mississippi scored a A with no violations, 36 a B and 11 a C. Cell phone use in the classroom is a controversial topic among teachers, students and parents. In Texas, some districts have implemented policies to limit cell phone use during lessons or even outright ban it. Some policies require students to turn off their phones during class or give them to administrators during the school day. According to the PEW Research Center, 82% of K-12 teachers in the U.S. say their school or district has a cellphone policy, broken down by 94% of middle school teachers, 84% of elementary and 7% of high school teachers. Here is what some Texas school districts are trying. Why are schools looking to prohibit cell phone use? While phones are crucial for parents to stay connected with their children, they also pose distractions in classrooms and cafeterias when those students attend. School districts are increasingly banning cell phone use during the school day due to several concerns: Distraction: Phones often disrupt the learning environment by diverting students' attention away from their studies and class activities. Impact on social interaction: Administrators believe that excessive phone use prevents students from engaging in face-to-face interactions, which are vital for developing social skills. This issue is particularly noticeable during lunch periods when students might opt to use their phones instead of talking with peers. Cyberbullying: Schools are concerned about the role phones play in enabling cyberbullying, which can occur during the school day and negatively impact the mental health and safety of students. Mental Health: There's a growing awareness that too much screen time contributes to mental health challenges among students, such as anxiety and depression. By limiting phone use, schools hope to create a healthier and more focused learning environment. Improving Engagement: Schools aim to enhance student engagement and participation in class by minimizing the distractions that phones can cause. Which Texas school districts have cell phone bans? Several school districts in Texas have recently implemented bans on cell phone use during the school day: Grapevine-Colleyville ISD : This district has banned cell phones in classrooms across all grade levels. Elementary students are not allowed to use phones during the school day, while middle and high school students can only use them during lunch or between classes. Keller ISD : This district requires students to keep their phones turned off and stored away in bags for the entire school day. Lake Travis ISD : According to Austin American-Statesman reporter Keri Heath, students in pre-K through eighth grade must keep their phones turned off and out of sight during the entire school day. The ban was introduced to reduce distractions and address mental health concerns linked to excessive screen time. Richardson ISD : The district implemented a policy that requires students to keep their phones locked in secure pouches throughout the school day, with strict penalties for any unauthorized use before dismissal. Houston ISD: According to their student resources guide, students must leave their cell phones at home or in their backpacks. Should a teacher or administrator see a cell phone on a students person (even if it is in a pocket, but visible) or being used by a student, the teacher or administrator will: 1. Ask the student to hand over the mobile phone. 2. Put the students name on the phone (as with a sticky note), and 3. Take it to the office or give it to a learning coach or teacher apprentice to take to the office. Austin ISD: To help high school students stay connected with their families, the district permits them to have electronic devices on school grounds; however, using these devices during the school day is strictly prohibited. HAPPENING NOW: at least 2 dozen students have walked out of class and are protesting outside Madison High School in SW #Houston following a controversial no cell phone ban which went into effect this morning. HISD officers are present. @KHOU pic.twitter.com/H5ibQRrEA4 Michelle Choi (@MichelleKHOU) February 5, 2024 Cell phone ban in classrooms a challenge for teachers While educators might agree on banning devices in the classroom, the process isn't always smooth. Some feel enforcing cellphone bans in the classroom is a lose-lose. They express frustration over losing valuable instructional time, repeatedly reminding students to put their devices away, while others struggle to recapture the attention of distracted students. Teachers say cellphone policies are hard to enforce. Are students addicted to smartphones? A 2022 study by the Pew Research Center revealed that 98% of teens aged 15-17 and 91% of those aged 13-14 have access to a smartphone. The study also found that 46% of teens are online almost constantly, with 36% admitting they spend too much time on social media. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Several Texas school districts enforce cell phone bans in classrooms JAKARTA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's National Cyber and Crypto Polytechnic (Poltek SSN), an institution under the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), and Chinese tech giant Huawei successfully hosted the WRECK IT 5.0 cybersecurity competition to strengthen cybersecurity capabilities in the country by developing the skills of digital talents. The event gathered a diverse group of participants, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals, lecturers, students, with the aim of enhancing community cybersecurity awareness. By fostering early detection of risks and proactive measures against cyber threats, the competition contributed to improving the nation's cyber defenses. The competition was officiated by Poltek SSN Director First Marshal TNI R. Tjahjo Khurniawan and Huawei Indonesia's Cyber Security and Privacy Officer Syarbeni. It attracted 239 teams in the general category and 74 teams in the junior category. The final round, held at the Huawei Innovation Center in Jakarta, featured 15 teams competing in a challenging Capture the Flag (CTF) event. "Strengthening the competence of digital talents is one of the key aspects in building digital trust," said Syarbeni. "This competition is expected to solidify trust in Indonesia's digital ecosystem, with skilled talents driving the nation's progress. Huawei is committed to providing full support for these initiatives." Khurniawan echoed this sentiment, expressing gratitude for Huawei's partnership. "We appreciate Huawei's support and contribution to this competition. As a means of cultivating digital talents, we hope this activity can create a positive impact on the future of the digital ecosystem," he said. In parallel with the competition, a cybersecurity workshop and seminar were held to further foster the development of digital skills and strengthen Indonesia's cybersecurity posture. The WRECK IT 5.0 cybersecurity competition is part of the broader BSSN-Huawei partnership, which focuses on ensuring cybersecurity in Indonesia through the development of digital talent and enhanced collaboration. BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) Community members are urged to give blood after Hurricane Debby cancelled several blood drives nationwide. The American red Cross is experiencing a national blood emergency and is looking to rebuild the blood supply. Weather in recent weeks forced the cancelation of 60 blood drives throughout the country, adding to the summer shortfall in donations and causing approximately 1,500 lifesaving blood products to go uncollected. Annually, severe weather such as blizzards, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes, impacts about 90,000 blood donations made to the Red Cross. The Red Cross says first-time donors as well as those who give regularly are critical to blood supply recovery. As a way to say thank you, those who come to give blood through August 31 will receive a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. Additionally, those who come to give between September 1 and September 15 will receive an exclusive Red Cross raglan T-shirt, while supplies last. September is National Preparedness Month. A strong blood supply is key to preparedness for disasters and medical emergencies. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor, visit redcrossblood.org, or call 1(800)733-2767. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WIVT - News 34. A lonely dolphin acting out of sexual frustration is believed to be the culprit behind a spate of attacks on swimmers in Japan this summer. Since July this year, 18 people have been hurt in dolphin attacks near the seaside town of Mihama, with some requiring dozens of stitches. Posters warning beachgoers of the menace feature an open-mouthed dolphin baring razor-like teeth. It says that the mammals are known to be dangerous to humans and to get out of the water if they are seen nearby. Stressed by crowds of bathers Wild dolphins rarely attack humans but have been known to bite or pull people underwater if they feel threatened or harassed. This was reportedly the case when one man was killed in 1994 in Sao Sebastiao, Brazil, after an initially friendly dolphin called Tiao reportedly became stressed by the attention of crowds of bathers who wanted to play with or even torment him. Like Tiao, Japans problematic mammal is believed to be a solitary male bottlenose dolphin, who may also be responsible for injuring swimmers in 2022 and 2023, and trying to press his genitals against them. Putu Mustika, a lecturer and marine researcher at James Cook University in Australia, told The New York Times that dolphins can inadvertently harm humans by dint of their sheer strength when acting out mating behaviours. Dolphins, when they are mating, can be very wild, she said, adding that the act of lunging on top of a human could be seen as a sexual act and a sign that the dolphin was horny, lonely. This dolphin could also be naturally aggressive or aggravated by humans trying to touch it, she said. Broken ribs and bites At least six people were also injured in the same area last year, with one man in his 60s suffering broken ribs and bites to his hand after he was rammed by a dolphin. Giovanni Bearzi, a zoologist and president of the Dolphin Biology Conservation in Italy, told Live Science at the time that humans tended to see dolphins as invariably nice animals, overlooking the fact that they are extremely powerful. Our unaware or overly friendly behaviour may trigger aggression, he said. The Japanese authorities have tried a number of measures to try to stop the attacks, including installing dozens of underwater acoustic devices designed to deter dolphins or limiting swimming hours on some beaches. 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. Shein has long been scrutinized for sketchy standards, be it in form of accusations of using forced labor or reports of dangerous toxins in some of its products. Since these allegations started intensifying in 2021, Shein has consistently denied any and all wrongdoing. The most-mentioned brand on TikTok has emphasized its commitment to ethical labor practiceseven taking some influencers behind the curtain. The Singapore-based shopping platform also released a Supplier Code of Conduct in response to the climbing claims in 2021, outlining its expectations on exploitation. More from Sourcing Journal Its latest sustainability report gives some more ammunition to its critics. Shein admittedly found two cases of child labor in its supply chain last year, as revealed in juggernauts 2023 sustainability and social impact report. The findings were unearthed as the London IPO hopeful attempted to assuage the criticism of its business model by way of amping up the audits of its Chinese manufacturers. The two child labor cases were uncovered during audits at two different suppliers, each involving one underage workerdefined as under the age of 16 by Chinas local labor lawsa Shein spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. Per the report, Shein suspended orders from these errant suppliers, but gave them 30 days to make adjustments. Both cases were resolved swiftly, with remediation steps including terminating contracts with underage employees, ensuring the payment of any outstanding wages, arranging medical checkups and facilitating repatriation to parents/legal guardians as needed, the report reads. Following appropriate remediation, the contract manufacturers were permitted to resume business. The Forever 21 stakeholder tightened its supplier policy last October in light of these findings. Moving forward, the most severe violations are now called Immediate Termination Violations (ITVs) and result in immediate terminationinstead of the 30-day grace period. But Immediate Remediation Violations (IRVs), defined as serious violations that warrant urgent rectification and covering labor violations, workplace health and safety issues, still have a month to rehabilitate. Previously, IRV offenders had 90 days before being axed. We previously focused on educating our suppliers and giving them an opportunity for remediation before termination, the Chinese e-tailer said in the report. As suppliers are generally not exclusively contracted by Shein, this benefits the wider fashion ecosystem by instilling standards and best practices across the supply chain. It also helps to protect workers and their livelihoods. This is so patheticSHEIN is has child labor laws and many horrendous shit and youre saying you dont care? Fuck you. FUCK YOU. And by the way, I was friends with this mutual until I finally blocked her last year. pic.twitter.com/EU4NJ8Ol0c glory | blue era (@glolokisdottir) August 23, 2024 As our supply chain and suppliers have matured over time, we believe that we should now take a stricter stance on severe violations, the (alleged) infringer said in the report. Nevertheless, even for suppliers that Shein has decided to terminate, we send them action plans with guidance on how to remediate their identified ITVs/IRVs, so as to educate and empower the suppliers to take steps to improve conditions in their facilities. The Gen Z favorite hadnt previously quantified the number of child labor cases, opting instead for providing the percentage of audits that found children on the clock. That violation was found in 1.8 percent of supplier audits in 2021, 0.3 percent of audits in 2022, and 0.1 percent in 2023, per the report. Nearly 4,000 on-site audits were conducted on China-based suppliers in 2023. The Shein Responsible Sourcing (SRS) policy audits conducted on the 2,796 contract manufacturers represent approximately 95 percent of Shein-branded products by procurement value in 2023. Interestingly, suppliers do have the right to refuse SRS audit, as 0.2 percent did in 2022, and 0.1 percent did in 2023. However, Shein said that refusing to undergo an audit results in an immediate termination violation. Shein has racked up lawsuits from Adidas, Dr. Martens, H&M Group, Levi Strauss & Co. and Ralph Lauren on the basis of assorted antics ranging from anti-competitive behavior and data scraping to mafia-style intimidation and detention scare tactics and copycat violations tantamount to racketeering. Its no secret that the brand, parodied on SNL as Xiemu, wants to go public, namely on the London Stock Exchange (perhaps because the millions spent on lobbying Washington appear to have been in vain). Shein is actively seeking backing for a potential 50-billion-pound (about $65.9 billion) UK stock market flotation, as originally reported by the BBC. Former Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas Say No to Shein campaign as well as human rights group Stop Uyghur Genocide are calling on the government to block Sheins application. But shein specifically is known for their child labor Just because everyone else, especially mainstream brands are doing it doesnt mean its ethical, its tiring seeing white folk like you exploit these children just because everyone else does it is so tiring like (@DAMlANRBLX) August 20, 2024 On supply chain governance, we have continued to strengthen programs for both enforcement and empowerment, Sheins founder and CEO Xu Yangitan, also known as Sky Xu, penned in the report. As signatories of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), we support the Ten Principles focused on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and expect our suppliers to share our commitment to such principles. The Chinese e-tail behemoth also addressed emissions in the report. Our absolute emissions grew from 9.17 million metric tons of CO2e in 2022 to 16.88 million metric tons of CO2e. In 2023, our business continued to experience strong growth, and our operations diversified with the introduction of Shein Marketplace, the report reads. We recognize that we still have much more work to do on our climate mitigation journey and are committed to driving progress. As Shein has said in the past, 99 percent of its emissions are Scope 3, meaning they stem from outside its owned or operated facilities. To address these, the fast-fashion purveyor collaborated with industry experts in pursuit of reducing emissions by 25 percent by 2030. This includes working with Intertek as well as building partnerships with suppliers in Brazil and Turkey to bring production close to key consumer regions and expand the number of warehousing facilities globally in countries such as the USA and Poland. In partnership with Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), Shein initiated Clean by Design (CbD) projects that focus on improving process efficiencies to reduce energy, water and chemical usage as well as waste generated in the manufacturing process. Per the report, these projects were implemented across 28 supplier sites and collectively introduced 217 improvement actions, saving 14,046 MWh of electricity and nearly 46,000 metrics of CO2e per year. On the social side, Shein committed $155 million over the next five years toward the Equitable Empowerment pillar of the evoluSHEIN roadmap. Roughly 2,000 global artists and designers launched products and collaborations through the Shein x Designer Incubator program in 2023 as well. We are committed to getting better every day and will remain anchored by the fundamentals in our evoluSHEIN roadmap, Xu said in the report. Our goal is to build a resilient business that contributes to a more equitable and sustainable future for all. MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WFXR) On Friday, August 23, the Henry County Sheriffs Office SWAT Team arrested a man for allegedly possessing meth after serving a warrant in Fieldale. During the search at Dillons Fork Road, investigators say they found and seized what is believed to be methamphetamine and fentanyl. The sheriff said that 36-year-old Christopher Brian Wright Jr. has been arrested and charged with the following: Possession Schedule I/II Drug (suspected methamphetamine) Possession Schedule I/II Drug (suspected fentanyl) Former South Boston PD Lieutenant convicted for Embezzling Public Funds Investigators said the items have been sent to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science for further analysis. Wright is currently being held at Henry County Adult Detention Center without bond. Anyone who has further information regarding the ongoing investigation is asked to contact the Henry County Sheriffs Office at 276-638-8751 or Crimestoppers at 63-CRIME (276-632-7463). Crimestoppers are offering $2,500 for information related to the 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 WFXRtv. WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) Investigators found stolen property and methamphetamine at a Glade Spring home on Thursday, according to the Washington County Virginia Sheriffs Office. A news release from the sheriffs office states investigators and members of the Glade Spring Police Department executed a search warrant at the home as part of an ongoing larceny investigation. Sean Williams Oct. 22 trial date still firm as new lawyer appears on scene While authorities searched the home, they reportedly found an unspecified quantity of methamphetamine, stolen property and a firearm. Kenneth Clayton Wilson, 38, was arrested and charged with the following: Grand larceny Possession of Schedule I or II controlled substance, methamphetamine Possession of firearms while in possession of controlled substances, methamphetamine Possession of firearms by convicted felons Wilson was transported and later released from the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority after posting a $2,500 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. She's the sitting vice president. She's the candidate of change. How Harris is having it both ways WASHINGTON (AP) Shes the sitting vice president who has been in office for 3 1/2 years. Shes also the presidential candidate of just five weeks promising a new way forward. Kamala Harris is having it both ways as she hits the campaign trail after the Democratic National Convention, taking credit for parts of President Joe Biden's record in rallies staged in front of Air Force Two while casting herself as a new leader who rails against the politics of the past." In every presidential cycle candidates run on experience or freshness, but Harris so far appears to be successfully harmonizing two seemingly competing messages, much to the frustration of former President Donald Trump and his allies. She has this powerful and unique and interesting advantage that we have never seen before in our politics, said Patrick Gaspard, CEO of the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund and a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee under President Barack Obama. She is both an incumbent, he said, and shes been able to seize the change banner away from Donald Trump. Harris vision for the country has leaned heavily on Biden plans, to the point of not rewriting those plans even after Biden dropped out. The platform approved by the DNC was passed last week with frequent and outdated mentions of a Biden second term. Her presentation as someone offering a new way forward relies in large part on being someone different from the norm. The 59-year-old daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants replaced an 81-year-old white man who first ran for president 36 years ago. She is running to become the nation's first female president and first Black woman or person of South Asian descent to serve. Two-thirds of Democrats wanted Biden to drop out after his debate performance against Trump, which crystallized longstanding concerns among the public and many prominent Democrats in private about his readiness. Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, said Harris ability to embody change has a lot more to do with her age, her race and her gender, than it has to do with any policy positions that shes articulated. He added, That shouts change. In the view of her aides, Harris is offering what voters seem to have been craving all year: a new messenger, but one thus far offering modest evolution of the Biden-Harris record. She is her own leader, of course, Brian Nelson, her senior campaign policy adviser, told reporters at a Bloomberg event at the DNC. But shes a leader who has been a partner to President Biden for these last three and a half years, adding, they have shared values and principles. The Trump campaign has attacked her lack of policy specifics and tried to portray her as someone far more liberal than shes letting on. Perhaps trying to set expectations before new polls emerge, the campaign predicted on Saturday that Harris would see a post-convention bump in her polling and blamed what it called the Harris Honeymoon. "Weve certainly had a front row seat to the honeymoon," wrote Trump pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis. In fact, the Media decided to extend the honeymoon for over 4 weeks now. Harris' campaign announced Sunday that it raised $82 million during the week of the Democratic National Convention and a staggering $540 million since Biden quit the race and endorsed her on July 21. Harris has sought to take credit for parts of Biden's foreign policy record. In her convention address, she said she had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to warn him about Russia's plan to invade five days before Russia launched its full-scale attack. They met at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, at a time when the U.S. had been warning publicly and privately for months about an invasion and already working with Ukrainian forces to prepare. Trump will continue trying to stick Harris with the less rosy parts of the Biden record. On Monday, he is expected to visit Arlington National Cemetery to pay his respects to service members killed in the bombing outside Kabul airport three years ago during the calamitous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump will then go to Michigan to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference. Harris confirmed to CNN in August 2021 that she was the so-called last person in the room when Biden made his decision to withdraw. This is a president who has an extraordinary amount of courage, she told the network then. I wish that the American public can see sometimes what I see, because ultimately and the decision always rests with him but I have seen him over and over again make decisions based exactly on what he believes is right. Regardless of what maybe the political people tell him is in his best self-interest. Implicit in Harris' messaging now is the argument that Biden was also part of the politics of the past even as she takes credit for his record and lauds him publicly. Harris first national ad after the convention aims to lean into the generational contrast with Trump. Instead of being focused on the politics of the past, we need to be thinking about the future. Voters, said former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer, "are thirsting for a new, more hopeful politics. If she can prove to people that she can turn the page, then Kamala Harris will win, she said. HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) A longtime Harlem resident witnessed the aftermath of a police-involved shooting at George Washington Houses early Sunday morning. The shooting happened near 103rd Street and Third Avenue, resulting in a heavy police presence. Haydee Feliciano, a 50-year resident of George Washington Houses in East Harlem, was startled by gunshots while watching TV in her apartment. More Manhattan News I never seen so many cops, Feliciano remarked, noting that while she occasionally hears loud noises in the area, this time was different. The shooting, which took place around 12:30 a.m., involved a 62-year-old man who was reportedly armed and did not comply with police commands to drop his weapon. The two officers discharged their firearms, striking the man. The officers immediately requested EMS and performed CPR. The man was removed to an area hospital and was pronounced deceased, NYPD Chief of Housing Martine Materasso said. Authorities recovered a gun from the scene and confirmed that there are no other suspects at large. However, the incident has left residents concerned about neighborhood safety. Im an elderly, I dont go down there anymore because Im scared, Feliciano expressed. More Local News Despite the unsettling events, Feliciano remains hopeful and plans to seek solace in her faith. Im going to church to pray for everybody for peace, she said. Police assure that there is no immediate threat in the area and no additional suspects. The investigation is ongoing, and updates are expected as more information becomes available. Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Shooting outside popular festival in eastern Pennsylvania under investigation Police are investigating a shooting at a festival in eastern Pennsylvania. According to NBC News affiliate WCAU, no one was hurt in a chaotic exchange of gunfire outside the popular Dominican Festival in Allentown. The Lehigh County District Attorney said two groups fired on each other, and police also got involved in firing shots. No officers were hurt. Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk says there is no ongoing danger to the public. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Pittsburgh police looking for missing, endangered man with dementia 40% of staff within a Pitt School of Pharmacy research center laid off Playa Bowls opens in Pittsburghs Strip District VIDEO: Yellow Piano installation in Pittsburgh pays tribute to hostages in Gaza through music DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Shots fired in Sandy road rage, one man taken into custody SANDY, Utah (ABC4) Sandy police took a man into custody after he allegedly fired a gun at another driver in what police are calling a road rage incident on Sunday night, Aug. 25. Tony Larod Robinson, 33, was booked into jail on one charge of third-degree felony aggravated assault. He also faces two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment and misdemeanor illegal discharge of a firearm. A spokesperson with the Sandy Police Department told ABC4.com the incident happened around 8 p.m. near the intersection of Harrison Street and Monroe. Utah man accused of assaulting two victims he thought stole his phone at TRAX station Robinson got into a verbal argument with another driver. During that argument, Ribson allegedly retrieved his handgun and fired several rounds toward the other driver. The victim attempted to drive away, according to court documents, but Robinson allegedly chased after them. Robinson continued to fire his gun through his front windshield as [the victim[ attempted to flee from the shots being fired, Court documents state. Both vehicles were located and found to have several bullet holes. Two of Robinsons children, aged 3 and 6 years old, were reportedly in the car at the time. Police say the 6-year-old had complained to officers that his hearing hurt. Sandy Police confirmed no one was seriously injured in the shooting. When speaking with detectives, Robinson allegedly admitted to shooting at the victim and not in self-defense. He reportedly described the incident as a lapse in judgment, according to court documents. Harrison Street was closed for several hours on Sunday night as detectives investigated the scene. The investigation is still currently ongoing and being actively worked by detectives, according to Sandy Police. A Sandy PD spokesperson told ABC4.com that the case will be presented to the Salt Lake County District Attorney for formal charges once the investigation is completed. 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. Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. isnt too pleased with what Donald Trump said about Kamala Harris recent visit to its biennial gathering. Sigma Gamma Rhos Biennial Boule event is a time of the year when members worldwide come together to connect, fellowship and discuss their national community initiatives, including maternal health, voting rights and food disparities. Over 100,000 members gathered at Houstons George R. Brown Convention Center, NewsOne reported. The public meeting was an opportunity to commemorate the philanthropic efforts of our sisterhood, Marica T. Harris, the sororitys 26th International Grand Basileus, said in an interview with NewsOne. Vice President Kamala Harris brought forth greetings to an audience of ten thousand community leaders, entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and corporate partners. Sigma Gamma Rho is part of the Divine Nine, which includes other Black sororities. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority, Inc. Each organization came to be in the early 1900s when racial tension prevented Black college students from participating in Greek life. These groups quickly emerged as a safe space for Black youth across college and university campuses. Harris, who is a Howard University grad and proud Alpha Kappa Alpha member, stopped by Sigma Gamma Rhos event while she was in town to deliver a eulogy at the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lees funeral service. A couple of weeks later during an interview with political commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump alluded to the Biennial Boule as something minuscule and called it a party, which minimized the importance of the occasion. She went to a sorority party and a very unimportant one, Trump told Hewitt, per Bossip. They have them numerous times during the year. Its a shame. Trump attacks Kamala Harris for attending a Black sorority event: A very unimportant one pic.twitter.com/jEOBtxKiX5 Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 21, 2024 In response, Marica T. Harris addressed Trumps inaccurate comments via Instagram. In part, her statement read: Our Public Meeting was an opportunity to commemorate the philanthropic efforts of our sisterhood. Vice President Kamala Harris brought forth greetings to an audience of community leaders, entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and corporate partners. This historic occasion was broadcast via hundreds of media outlets globally, which amplified the reach of the event to an at home audience. Her message aligned with the critical issues that Sigma Gamma Rho sought to address during the Boule such as education, womens rights, maternal health, mental health, general wellness, voting rights, food disparities, and financial support for underrepresented populations and youth. She added, The event was not a party or unimportant as referenced by former President Donald Trump, but an opportunity to highlight our organizations achievements and reaffirm our commitment to service. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (@sgrhoupdates) As Blavity reported, Kamala Harris recently made history as the first Black woman and first South Asian woman to lead a major party nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22. Nearly 29 million people tuned into Harris speech on Thursday night. If she wins, shell become the first female president of the U.S. People watch TV as Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Nasrallah said on Sunday that his group will continue supporting Gaza from Lebanon. Hezbollah has launched a large-scale drone attack against Israel Sunday morning, the militant group announced in a statement. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) CAIRO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in intense exchanges of fire early Sunday along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a dramatic escalation in their protracted conflict. Hezbollah revealed that it had unleashed hundreds of missiles against Israel in vengeance for the killing of its top military commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. Also on Sunday, Israel reported conducting a series of "preemptive airstrikes" targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The long-anticipated retaliation by Hezbollah, following Shokor's death on July 30, has heightened global apprehension that these intensifying hostilities could ignite a broader conflict, drawing in regional and international players such as the United States and Iran. Additionally, the violence threatens to derail ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been embroiled in a prolonged struggle with Hamas for over 10 months. TIT-FOR-TAT ATTACKS During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets in a "preemptive attack." "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that approximately 100 fighter jets carried out strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported the firing of over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon. Some were intercepted, while others caused damage and injuries. In a video speech on Sunday afternoon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denied that Israel had destroyed thousands of rocket launchers, stating that the attacks had only hit two missile launch pads. The Israeli media reported that an Israeli soldier was killed, and a civilian sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel. Meanwhile, Lebanese sources said that four militants were killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. Lebanese state media reported significant damage to homes, crops, and infrastructure in the southern part of the country, and to power and water systems in particular. In response to the escalating tensions, Israel's Home Front Command issued defense guidelines for Tel Aviv and northern areas. Educational and work activities may continue if safe shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Several airlines have announced the suspension of flights to and from Israel and Lebanon due to the escalating situation. RESTRAINT URGED International calls for restraint followed Sunday's escalation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern, urging both sides to return to a cessation of hostilities. His call was echoed by officials in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Jordan's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Sufian Qudah warned that the violence in southern Lebanon could trigger a broader regional conflict and criticized ongoing "Israeli aggression" in Gaza. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty cautioned that the Israel-Hezbollah escalation threatens regional stability, calling for all parties to work towards de-escalation. Yemen's Houthi group and Hamas, both allies of Hezbollah, praised the Lebanese group's actions, with the Houthis commending Hezbollah for what they described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. The U.S. National Security Council said that President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situation and is in contact with his national security team. Biden has instructed U.S. officials to coordinate with Israel and reaffirmed support for Israel's "right to self-defense." FULL-SCALE CONFLICT "UNLIKELY" Regional analysts view the likelihood of Sunday's escalation evolving into a full-scale conflict as low but caution that ongoing attrition could lead to unforeseen incidents. Refaat Badawi, a political analyst and former adviser to the Lebanese prime minister, noted that Hezbollah's retaliation was within the "engagement rules" and that Israel's decision to highlight its success with Sunday's preemptive strikes while refraining from further escalation indicates a desire to avoid additional conflict. Despite the intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon, with both sides mainly targeting military sites. Nasrallah said that the missiles were aimed primarily at military targets. "The target should not be a civilian enemy or infrastructure," he said in the aforementioned televised speech. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Israel's strikes on Lebanon were defensive measures against Hezbollah's planned large-scale attack and that Israel is not seeking a full-scale war. Eyal Zisser, vice rector at Tel Aviv University and expert on Middle Eastern affairs, observed that neither side aims for an all-out war but warned that the risk of unintended incidents could escalate the situation dramatically. Netanyahu reiterated Israel's commitment to retaliating against those who attack it. "We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, destructive force," Netanyahu said. "This is a step towards changing the situation in the north and bringing people safely back to their homes. I reiterate, this is not the end of the story," he warned. CHICAGO Despite much of the press carrying Donald Trumps water by accepting his feeble attempts to pretend to be moderate on abortion, he showed his true colors again last week. In an interview with CBS News, the GOP candidate insisted he had no regrets about ending abortion rights by appointing three justices hand-picked by the Federalist Society to overturn Roe v. Wade. Vice President Kamala Harris immediately pounced. Trump declared this without even a moments hesitation, Harris told the crowd Tuesday night at her raucous Milwaukee rally, which was piped into the equally exuberant Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago. Harris continued the theme in her nomination acceptance speech Thursday night in Chicago. "And get this. Get this. He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator, and force states to report on womens miscarriages and abortions," Harris said of her GOP opponents. "Simply put, they are out of their minds." It's not news that the Harris campaign is going hard on the reproductive rights issue this election, forefronting both the ongoing health crisis caused by abortion bans and warning the public the Republicans are just getting started. It's also not a mystery why the issue is still at the forefront of voter minds, especially of those Democratic base voters Harris needs to energize. Even during the state roll call, delegation leaders spoke repeatedly about the need to protect women's rights. Texas brought forward Kate Cox, who was denied care for a failing pregnancy, to announce joyfully that she is expecting again. In Salon's conversations with delegates at the DNC, abortion and other reproductive rights were the issues people brought up more than any other. Multiple people cited the hostility Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has expressed publicly over a dozen times towards childless women, who he's deemed "miserable cat ladies" and "sociopaths." But it's also true that, as with the accusation that MAGA leaders are "weird," highlighting Republican extremism on reproductive rights works as excellent bait. Republicans keep trying to deny the accusation, whining and insisting that it's the Democrats who are "radical." But in the process, Republicans act so weird that it just underscores how obsessed they are with controlling women's bodies. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only. To highlight their efforts to extend reproductive health services even as Republicans criminalize such care, Planned Parenthood parked a mobile clinic outside the United Center in Chicago during the convention. It's part of a larger effort to relieve abortion access networks helping patients traveling from states where it's banned. The clinic provided eight abortions and nine vasectomies over the two days it was parked there. Unsurprisingly, Republicans reacted with levels of hysteria that evoked 17th-century Puritan witch-hunters. "25 babies lost their lives so far this week thanks the DNC's sponsoring of a Planned Parenthood abortion van," lied Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA on Twitter. He accused Democrats of having a "depopulation agenda" that is "Sick. Cruel. Evil." In reality, zero babies were killed, the DNC did not "sponsor" the clinic, and as the many speeches exalting how reproductive health care helps people build happy families shows Democrats love children. They just want babies born to parents who are prepared to care for them. But perhaps the biggest lie is the one implied: Patients were tricked by Democrats into abortion. In reality, of course, women make the decision on their own and then reach out to clinics. Kirk also ignored the nine vasectomies, as his "women are idiots" argument falls apart in the face of proof that men also make reproductive health care decisions. Kirk's lies are just a hint of how much Republicans were melting down during the DNC over women asserting their rights. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted the lie that Harris "will make abortion up to the day of birth the law." (Medical experts say this is not a real procedure.) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, denied that Republicans are out to restrict contraception or that abortion bans have hurt patients experiencing miscarriages. Both are true and well-documented. Women who have been denied emergency treatment of miscarriages told their stories from the DNC stage, which means that Lee was falsely accusing these innocent women of lying. Trump ally Laura Loomer tweeted that "Democrats are doing human sacrifice." All just proving, over and over, that Republican leaders are exactly the weird, obsessed liars that Harris and Walz say they are. Trump's meltdown is perhaps the weirdest. He's been frantically posting, in his incoherent way, on Truth Social. During his extended tantrum, he wrote, falsely, "Everybody, Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, and Conservatives, wanted Roe v. Wade TERMINATED." He also wrote, "I TRUST WOMEN, ALSO, AND I WILL KEEP WOMEN SAFE!" (As a reminder, Trump was found liable in court for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll. Two separate juries found he was lying when he denied his violent crime against a woman.) When the fish are eager to bite, it's wise to keep re-baiting the hook. At the DNC, Democratic politicians spoke with Salon about efforts to protect contraception and to create a record of Republicans voting against birth control access. "We will not stand idly by as our fundamental rights are threatened," Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., explained to Salon that she continues to push the Right to Contraception Act. It's necessary because, as she pointed out, Justice Clarence Thomas openly invited far-right Christian groups to challenge legal birth control in court, hinting that the GOP-dominated Supreme Court is open to destroying that basic right as well. By bringing up this bill, Baldwin proved that a misogynist fringe controls Republicans. Given the chance to affirm that Americans have a right "to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception," all but two Republicans voted against it. During the DNC, Democratic state senator Ghazala Hashimi recounted her battle to enshrine the basic right to prevent pregnancy Virginia. She introduced a state-level version of the Right to Contraception Act, only to see Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin who often pretends to be a moderate veto it in May. "It really is very misogynistic," Hashimi told Salon. "They have a clear perception of women as second-class citizens" she added, saying the MAGA right is "taking us in a very extreme and very dangerous direction." Hashimi said she's spoken in private with Republican members of the state legislature who "want to support this bill," but "they are terrified at the prospect of being primaried from the right." They should be worried. As much as Sen. Mike Lee may deny Republicans are coming after birth control, the pattern is clear. Democrats offer Republicans one chance after another to vote for birth control rights, and every time, Republicans vote against it. Increasingly, major MAGA leaders are admitting out loud that they are coming for birth control. Kirk, lying as usual, claimed the birth control pill "screws up female brains." Peter Thiel, the far-right billionaire who bankrolled Vance's political career, has been heavily funding propaganda networks to spread disinformation about contraception. Elon Musk has also been spreading lies meant to discourage women from using birth control or at least justify the anger that his incel-tinged audience has towards women. Vance's comments about "cat ladies" must be understood through this anti-contraception lens. One in 4 women will have an abortion at some point in life, but contraception use is near-universal. Over 99% of sexually experienced women have used birth control. This is why Republicans want to keep quiet about their war on birth control access. They're already getting hammered politically over the abortion bans, which are opposed by 85% of Americans. Contraception is even more popular, with only 6% of Americans saying it's morally wrong. Yet, as all these examples show, many of the most famous faces of MAGA can't help themselves. When provoked, they say what they think, which is that no method women use to control their childbearing is acceptable. It's smart that Harris is baiting them. She'll keep setting her trap until November. The Sioux Falls School District, and its partners at Click Rain and Lemonly, have come up with a new campaign to increase attendance at schools across the city: Show Up. Its a simple message district officials say they hope will show results across all its schools this year, and inspire community members to take part in solutions to help children show up to school. You might see a student who is not in school, but you know that its during the school day. What can we as a community do in order to show up for those kids? Might we roll down our window and say, Hey, can I help you show up today? district community relations coordinator DeeAnn Konrad said. Sioux Falls School District community relations coordinator DeeAnn Konrad announces the "Show Up" campaign to increase attendance at schools at Click Rain and Lemonly offices in downtown Sioux Falls on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. The campaign is part of the $1.5 million three-year grant from the South Dakota Department of Education to address chronic absenteeism in the district. In one year of the grant, the district reported earlier this month that its seen an almost 2% increase in good attenders 121 students who are absent less than 5% of days enrolled and a 2.26% reduction in chronic absenteeism from last year. More: Sioux Falls schools have a problem with chronic absenteeism. There's no perfect solution The SDDOE counts attendance three different ways: regular attendance, full academic year (FAY) attendance, and chronic absenteeism. In the 2021-2022 school year, for example, regular attendance was at 76%; FAY, which is based on the percentage of students attending school for 90% or more of enrolled days during the full academic year, was at 86% for the Sioux Falls School District. And chronic absenteeism, which measures the percentage of students who have attended 10 or more days of school, but who have also missed more than 10% of the other days in the school year, was at 24% for the district. Cause is close to interns hearts Click Rain partner James Krueger said Konrad reached out to him to work on a marketing campaign earlier this spring as part of the grant. Then, throughout the summer, two interns with Click Rain (Joey Gellerman, from the University of South Dakota, and Matt Scott, from South Dakota State University) and two interns from Lemonly (Deirdre Nuebel, from the University of Cincinnati, and Alex Munce, from Southeast Technical College) met with the district to discuss and work on the campaign together. Both companies donated their time to the district to work on the campaign. The only cost going forward will be $10,000 from each year of the grant to advertise, print and market the campaigns Show Up message, Konrad said. More: How the Sioux Falls School District is using a $1.5M grant to address chronic absenteeism Gellerman, who is from Sioux Falls, said it was close to his heart to solve this problem and to be part of the solution. The Show Up message is for students, parents, the districts six attendance liaisons (who were hired as part of the grant and work at Garfield, Hawthorne, Hayward and Terry Redlin elementary schools and George McGovern and Whittier middle schools) staff and the community, Assistant Superintendent Jamie Nold said. Community wide, the Show Up campaign truly can hit every part and just tailor it to that group, Nold said. It has to be a whole community effort to be able to have this be a successful campaign. Sioux Falls School District assistant superintendent Jamie Nold (left) announces the "Show Up" campaign to increase attendance at schools at Click Rain and Lemonly offices in downtown Sioux Falls on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. How attendance liaisons have empowered students to Show Up to school Terry Redlin Elementary School attendance liaison Rochelle Holloway and Whittier Middle School attendance liaison Suzannah Chap work together closely to make sure students in their neighborhoods can make it to their schools. Our job is to be helpful and to build a relationship with them to understand what the familys needs are to get to school, Holloway said. Every day is a new day to get them to school. They both said transportation and parents work schedules can be barriers to students making it to school each day. Some parents might get home from work at 6 a.m. and then accidentally fall back to sleep before getting their children to school. Students might have a hard time adjusting to back-to-school schedules after the summer; or, they might have a hard time crossing Cliff Avenue, Holloway and Chap explained. Nobody is working against the families in Sioux Falls schools. All that we want is for the children in this community to go to school, Chap said. When you break down these barriers and can have these face-to-face conversations, it makes a huge impact, and its really wonderful to see that happen. George McGovern Middle School attendance liaison Kristal Shoffeitt said shes seen poverty, and new populations who might not know how American school works, as barriers to some of her students showing up. Solutions these liaisons have implemented include Holloway and Chap providing working alarm clocks to families, Shoffeitt purchasing students the school supplies they needed to not feel embarrassed to show up without them, communicating with families in a variety of ways and empowering them. Really being that kind voice that parents feel like Im on their side, and not somebody thats just going to tell them, Hey, You did this wrong, Shoffeitt said. "(Its) helping empower parents to empower their kids. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District launches Show Up attendance campaign SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) The sound of music echoed through the Betty Strong Encounter Center this afternoon, as a local fiddler took center stage. Bill Peterson has been playing the fiddle for many years now and travels across the pond frequently to countries like Norway, Sweden, and most recently Ireland to learn more about the different kinds of fiddle music. Peterson shared what he learned overseas by playing his instrument and explaining the different variations of the music from culture to culture. Sioux City Geek Convention brings comic-con fun to Siouxland Peterson says he loves sharing his passion and hopefully inspiring the next generation. Its something you dont want to see die. Even though people dont hear it a lot in commercial radio and stuff, its out there and its like a lot of things. Different, different hobbies people have. Whether theyre Civil War reenactors or theyre, you know, bikers or whatever they are, they get into their own little culture and the fiddling, its kind of the same way, said Peterson. If you were unable to attend Sundays fiddle concert, Peterson says he frequents the Betty Strong Encounter Center so folks can expect him back on stage in the near future. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. NORTH SIOUX CITY, South Dakota (KCAU) A local non-profit hit the road this afternoon, on a quest to raise money for local organizations. For the past 33 years, the Independent Riders For Children And Charities has held their annual Toy Run, where a group of bikers ride from North Sioux City making pit stops in several different towns. WITCC receives $131K for commercial drivers license training This year the pack of cyclists destination was Brunsville, Iowa, where they held a raffle drawing. All funds raised go towards five local nonprofits dedicated to helping siouxland children. The IRCCs president says its a cause he holds close to his heart. Were very passionate about taking care of children, so this is why we started this and this is why we want to keep this organization going. We collect whatever we can on this, and then we disperse it out to these local organizations, said Randy Luschen, the president of Independent Riders for Children and Charities. Luschen will step down from his presidential position after this years Toy Run and Blaine Foreman will pick up the torch. So far IRCC has raised $175,000 for children in need. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) After a 5.25% base rate increase was approved by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Bristol Virginia Utility (BVU) customers are expected to see a slight change in rates. BVU Customer Operations and I.T. Director Christopher Hall told News Channel 11 that most customers will see a dollar or less per week on the monthly increase. This particular rate increase, while it is going to result in probably a dollar or less per week on the monthly increase for our customers, were obviously sensitive to any rate change no matter what the size, Hall said. And so BVU, back in 2017, we actually started reducing our local revenue requirements and have implemented seven rate reductions to make sure that our power costs are the lowest in Virginia. Sean Williams Oct. 22 trial date still firm as new lawyer appears on scene Hall said the rate increase customers will see ultimately depends on usage. This particular rate increase is going to be applied on the power cost components within our rate structure, Hall said. So it is a variable change that could impact customers differently based on their volumetric usage. Customers who use slightly more electricity than average could expect an increase of 3.8%, whereas customers on the lower end of the scale could expect about 3.1%, according to Hall. Hall said BVU partners with local organizations to help those needing power bill assistance. We partner with local nonprofit organizations, specifically Bristol Faith in Action, as well as Salvation Army are available to assist customers in the local area, Hall said. There are a number of other nonprofits that we work with and were happy to provide a list of those to customers if they reach out to our customer service department. Anyone with questions is asked to contact BVUs customer service by calling 276-669-4112 or on its website. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Theres an investigation at Smithfield Foods after a worker was injured in Sioux Falls. Police: 4 people shot at Dunham Park, no arrests yet A representative of the U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation into the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls. An active complaint on the OSHA website is dated August 20, 2024. Smithfields spokesman, Ray Atkinson, said an employee at the Sioux Falls facility was injured in a work-related incident. We are investigating and are cooperating with local authorities and OSHA, Atkinson said. According to the Dept. of Labor spokesman, OSHA has a 6-month window to complete its investigation. No additional information will come from them until that point. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com. Smooth con. Two charged with using forged names to steal from Kentucky housing agency Two people used forged signatures to steal more then $70,000 from a Kentucky public housing agency, a federal grand jury has charged. One of those charged, Karen Arlene Beverly, listed her employer as Smooth Con on one bank account where she allegedly deposited stolen money, according to the indictment. A grand jury charged Beverly and Jock Angelo Wormack on Aug. 22. The two listed addresses in Harlan County and Louisville on bank accounts they opened. They are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and identity theft. Beverly, 46, was a client from November 2021 to June 2023 of the Cumberland Valley Regional Housing Authority, which helps people find and pay for rental housing. According to the indictment, someone involved in the conspiracy wrote 73 checks to Beverly from the housing authoritys account, for a total of $35,731. Wormack, 55, received 71 checks on the housing agencys account for a total of $36,084. The signatures of housing authority employees were forged on the checks, the indictment charges. The indictment also charges Wormack with listing a fake employer in Harlan County called Smoove Touch in order to get $36,548 in unemployment payments in 2020 and 2021, when Congress enhanced unemployment benefits to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The wire fraud charges against the two are punishable by up to 20 years in prison. FILE - Computer monitors and a laptop display the X, formerly known as Twitter, sign-in page, July 24, 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File) CHICAGO (AP) The social media platform X has made a change to its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state warned it was spreading election misinformation. Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter this month to Elon Musk complaining that the platforms AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. The secretaries of state requested that the chatbot instead direct users who ask election-related questions to CanIVote.org, a voting information website run by the National Association of Secretaries of State. Before listing responses to election-related questions, the chatbot now says, For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit Vote.gov. Both websites are trustworthy resources that can connect voters with their local election officials, the five secretaries of state said in a shared statement. We appreciate Xs action to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements that will ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources in this critical election year, they said. Grok is available only to subscribers of the premium versions of X. But the five secretaries of state who signed the letter said election misinformation from Grok has been shared across multiple social media platforms, reaching millions of people. Grok continued to repeat the false information for 10 days before it was corrected, the secretaries said. The platform did not respond to a request for comment. The change promoting a link to an official voting website does not seem to address Groks ability to create misleading AI-generated images related to elections. People have been using the tool to flood the platform with fake images of candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Grok debuted last year for X premium and premium plus subscribers and was touted by Musk as a rebellious AI chatbot that will answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems. Social media platforms have faced mounting scrutiny for their role in spreading misinformation, including about elections. The letter also warned that inaccuracies are to be expected for AI products, especially chatbots such as Grok that are based on large language models. Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it to X, watchdog groups have raised concerns over a surge in hate speech and misinformation being amplified on the platform, as well as cuts to the staff that had been moderating content. Experts say the moves represent a regression from progress made by social media platforms attempting to better combat political disinformation after the 2016 U.S. presidential contest and could precipitate a worsening misinformation landscape ahead of this years November elections. ___ 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. Soldier who fled to North Korea expected to plead guilty to desertion and assault at court martial The US soldier who ran across the border from South to North Korea is expected to plead guilty to desertion and assault among other charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, according to his lawyer. US Army Private Travis King will take responsibility for his conduct and enter a guilty plea. He was charged by the Army with fourteen offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a statement from Kings attorney, Frank Rosenblatt, said Monday. He will plead guilty to five of those, including desertion. In addition to desertion, King is pleading guilty to disobeying an officer, and assaulting a noncommissioned officer, according to Rosenblatt. He is expected to plead not guilty to other charges, including possession of child pornography, which Rosenblatt said he expects the Army to withdraw. Kings court martial hearing, during which he will plead guilty, explain what he did, and receive his sentence, is scheduled for September 20 at Fort Bliss, Texas, according to Rosenblatt. Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all outside of his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations, Rosenblatt said. CNN previously reported that Kings legal team was in plea negotiations with military prosecutors. King was facing 14 counts of eight total charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, possession of child pornography, assaulting a noncommissioned officer, and disobeying a superior officer. His case was taken over by the Armys Office of Special Trial Counsel in July, a spokesperson from the office, Michelle McCaskill, previously told CNN. CNN previously reported that Kings legal team was in plea negotiations with military prosecutors. McCaskill confirmed that the Office of Special Trial Counsel and Kings defense team have negotiated a plea agreement and confirmed he will remain in pretrial confinement. If Pvt. Kings guilty plea is accepted, the judge will sentence King pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, McCaskill said. If the judge does not accept the guilty plea, the judge can rule that the case be litigated in a contested court-martial. Military officials previously said that King, a cavalry scout, willfully and without authorization crossed into North Korea in July 2023 roughly a week after he was released from a detention facility in South Korea where hed been held over an October 2022 incident when he allegedly pushed and punched a victim at a club in Seoul. The day he crossed into North Korea, he was taken to the airport by Army escorts who left him at a security checkpoint. Instead of boarding his flight, however, King left the airport and the next day joined a tour of the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. A US official previously said King bolted across the demarcation line and originally attempted to enter a facility on the North Korean side of the line, but the door was locked. He then ran to the back of the building where he was put into a van and driven away. North Korea claimed at the time that King confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK (North Korea) as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society. CNN could not verify if those were Kings own words. The US received word that North Korea wanted to return King last September, CNN previously reported. The day of his return to US custody, a Swedish convoy took King to the border between North Korea and China where he was handed off to the US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, and US Defense Attache to China Brig. Gen. Patrick Teague. King was flown to Shenyang, China, and then to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, before he departed for the US. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Solingen attack was 'terrorism against us all,' Scholz says Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (C), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has branded the fatal stabbing in the western city of Solingen as a terrorist attack directed against the entirety of German society. "That was terrorism. Terrorism against us all, threatening our lives, our sense of community, the way we live," Scholz said on Monday during a visit to the scene of the attack. "We will not allow our community spirit to be destroyed by evil criminals who pursue the worst ideologies, and we will take action against them with the utmost rigour and severity," the German leader said, lashing out at Islamists who "threaten peaceful coexistence." Three people were killed and eight wounded by a knife-wielding attacker during a festival celebrating the city's 650th anniversary on Friday evening. A 26-year-old suspect from Syria was subsequently remanded in custody by order of an investigating judge. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the case and is investigating the suspect for murder and suspected membership of the Islamic State terrorist group. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President Hendrik Wuest (C), and Deputy Minister President Mona Neubaur (L) hold a press conference after meeting with emergency services during his visit to Solingen following a knife attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa (L-R) Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wuest, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Tim Kurzbach, Mayor of Solingen, and Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, stand with folded hands in front of flowers laid in memory of the victims of a knife attack at the 650th anniversary celebrations of the city of Solingen. Thomas Banneyer/dpa (L-R) Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wuest, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Tim Kurzbach, Mayor of Solingen, and Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, stand with folded hands in front of flowers laid in memory of the victims of a knife attack at the 650th anniversary celebrations of the city of Solingen. Thomas Banneyer/dpa Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the western German city of Solingen, three days after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three people. Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Henning Kaiser/dpa-Pool/dpa This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. CAIRO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a woman standing in a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was "successful." In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows." After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have canceled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollah's main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollah's actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt "the Israeli aggression." Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and de-escalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanon's stability and prevent a state of "comprehensive instability" in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt's chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wuest (R) speaks at a press conference Alongside German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (2nd R) and Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul (3rd R) following the knife attack at the Solingen city festival. Several people were killed and injured in an attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa Following the fatal knife attack in Germany's Solingen, the interior minister for the state of North Rhine Westphalia, where the city is located, has advocated for stricter checks at Germany's borders and for the rejection of refugees. "I believe there is no other way," Herbert Reul said on public radio Deutschlandfunk. The conservative politician said the most important step would be to limit immigration. He asserted that deportations to Afghanistan and Syria - where the main suspect is from - are correct. On Friday evening, three people were killed with a knife at a city festival in Solingen. Eight people were injured, four of them seriously. The alleged perpetrator is a 26-year-old Syrian. The Federal Prosecutor's Office is investigating him for murder and on suspicion of membership in the terrorist militia Islamic State. Regarding refugee policy, Reul said there has been a political loss of trust among the population. He said this also lies in the fact that problems are ignored for too long. In connection with possible errors in the deportation process of the Solingen suspect, the regional interior minister does not see himself as politically responsible. He referred to the North Rhine Westphalian Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refuge and Integration and the responsible Minister Josefine Paul. "There are open questions that my colleague Paul is now also addressing." Reul called for a cross-party initiative and a round table. "Former president [Joachim] Gauck said months ago: We cannot take everyone in and we are overstretching ourselves and our society." Reul said that limiting immigration is now indisputable. Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wuest (R), and Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul (L) and German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser arrive to the scene after the knife attack at the Solingen city festival. Several people were killed and injured in an attack at the city's 650th anniversary celebrations. Henning Kaiser/dpa South Burlington woman charged in the fatal shooting outside Red Square appears in court Aaliyah Johnson pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge for the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Stowe resident Teville Williams over the weekend. Johnson, a 22-year-old from South Burlington, was charged with shooting Williams outside Red Square at the Church Street Marketplace early Saturday morning. She was apprehended at the scene, according to the police report. Court files from the Monday morning arraignment stated Johnson would be held without bail "until a weight of the evidence hearing and a bail review." No date for those court appearances has been set, and more information is expected later this week. More: 'Altercation' inside Red Square causes fatal shooting in Burlington: What police say Burlington Police Department building at 1 North Ave on Nov. 13, 2023. What was the timeline around the Burlington shooting Johnson and Williams were removed from Red Square early Saturday morning after Johnson claimed Williams had assaulted her inside the venue, according to court documents and the police report. Police said that once the two were outside, Johnson approached Williams on Church Street and shot him in front of the bar. A Community Service Officer, who was on patrol in City Hall Park, heard the gunshots and called dispatch. Officers responded and located Williams who had been struck by gunfire. They immediately began CPR. An off-duty officer who was nearby also assisted. The officers were hampered by the large crowd that had gathered at the scene. Police said they had to push back the crowd to preserve the crime scene, which included shell casings, bullets and blood evidence. Another officer encountered and apprehended Johnson and recovered a .45 caliber pistol. Williams was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center and declared dead there. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak released a statement Saturday thanking the first responders and giving condolences to the victim's family. Red Square also released a statement announcing their closure Saturday to let their staff "relax and heal." Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Suspect in Church Street shooting in court on murder charge GA man pleads guilty after crashing into fire station, being found with stolen gun, drugs A Georgia man who crashed his car into a fire station and was found with a stolen pistol, high-capacity magazine and illegal drugs has pleaded guilty. Joseph Harold Taylor, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He faces a minimum of five years up to a maximum of life in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] According to court documents, Taylor crashed the car he was driving into Fire Station 11 in Columbus, Georgia on March 15, 2023, just before 2 a.m. Taylor was uninjured and was alone in his car at the time of the crash. In addition to hitting the fire station, he also crashed into one of the department employees trucks. Officers saw what appeared to be a bullet hole in his car and smelled marijuana coming from it. They found a stolen 9mm semiautomatic pistol with an extended 21-round magazine attached to the front floorboard of the drivers side. TRENDING STORIES: They also found a satchel inside the car containing cocaine and suspected marijuana, plus other commonly used drug distribution items. Taylor has two previous state felony drug convictions. His sentencing date has not yet been announced. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: South Korea Sees US by Its Side Regardless of Who Is in White House (Bloomberg) -- South Koreas government isnt worried about which candidate wins the US presidential election since it expects to work with whoever takes the White House to confront the nuclear threat from North Korea, according to a senior official in Seoul. Most Read from Bloomberg Vice Unification Minister Kim Soo Kyung added in an interview with Bloomberg that while it has gotten far harder for North Koreans to escape the repressive state, there has been a jump in the flow of elites defecting to South Korea under Kim Jong Uns regime. Ahead of the US vote, some South Koreans have been worried about what they see as an omission in the Democratic Partys platform when it comes to seeking North Koreas denuclearization, she said, adding that the alliance between Washington and Seoul is stronger than ever. We are not that worried about what happens after the US election, Kim said Friday, just hours after the Democrats concluded their national convention. Regardless of the outcome, we are going to deter North Koreas threat of nuclear weapons based on the strong alliance between two countries, she said. North Korea has refused talks with the US since 2019, after three in-person meetings between Kim Jong Un and then-President Donald Trump failed to curb Pyongyangs atomic ambitions. It then shunned offers from President Joe Bidens government for talks, while further bolstering its nuclear arsenal to counter what it saw as the hostile intent of the US and its political puppets in Seoul. Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have since taken trilateral cooperation to new levels and enhanced joint training on scenarios such as defending against North Koreas ballistic missiles and hunting for its submarines. Earlier this month, Yoon made fresh approaches to North Korea, offering aid, dialogue and a path to unification to Pyongyang. But Kims regime has remained silent on the proposal. North Koreas state media has also rebuffed comments Trump made during the Republican National Convention touting his relationship with leader Kim, saying we do not care and warning that its nuclear arsenal stands ready for any US president. Pyongyang sees US policy toward it as remaining hostile regardless of who is in the White House, according to state media. Kim Jong Uns regime has also seen far more of its elite defect to South Korea during his 12 years in power compared to that of the rule of his father, Kim Jong Il, who ran the state for about 17 years, the vice unification minister said. The number of these elite group defectors is now increasing fast, she said, adding there were about 10 last year to total around 150 under Kim Jong Un. These include diplomats, business executives and students able to leave the country and then seeking asylum. The most recent case that came to light was the defection of a senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba. The total number of defectors to South Korea has dropped sharply from a peak of 2,914 in 2009 after China and North Korea clamped down on the border and Kim sealed off the country during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through June this year, 105 people defected to South Korea, according to data from the Unification Ministry. This means that there is a high demand for defection, but it is really hard, hard to cross the border because North Korea is tightening control, the vice minister said, referring to the typical route of crossing the border into China and seeking passage to a third country. The brokerage fee is skyrocketing because its almost impossible to cross, she said. Kim Jong Un is also facing a rare test of his rule after flooding in late July devastated a northwest area near the border with China, likely leading to numerous casualties. North Korea has been silent on the death toll, instead focusing on imagery of Kim at the forefront of relief efforts. We believe that there is critical damage to the North Korean society and the North Korean authorities are much concerned about it, the vice minister said. --With assistance from Shinhye Kang, Katria Alampay, Andy Hung and Rika Yoshida. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. CHICAGO A pastor from Chicagos South Side with a reputation for speaking out against gun violence on Monday spoke through heartbreak after learning his godson was among six people gunned down in weekend violence. Christion Tucker, 21, was killed Saturday on the 7200 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, in the citys Chicago Lawn neighborhood. I know Christion was in the neighborhood. Its a diverse neighborhood. He was in his car apparently looking down at his phone and someone came up and shot him 12 times. What we dont know is why, said Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church. Brooks said his godson was easy going, was deeply loved and had a bright future ahead. We know Christion wasnt in a gang. Theres no gang affiliations. He was not a bad kid. This is a really good kid who for whatever reason somebody decided to take his life, Brooks said. Im really heartbroken but at the same time it motivated me to continue to fight and thats the reason we are building the center across the street so we can impact the lives of a lot of young people. Chicago police data indicates the recent weekend was a violent one in the city. A total of 35 people were shot between Friday evening and Monday morning. Six people, Tucker among them, were killed. Brooks said he and his family are in the process of arranging funeral services. Theyve offered a reward to find and convict Tuckers killer. We have a $10,000 reward for anyone who gives us information or police information that leads to the arrest and conviction of this individual or individuals, Brooks said. We want to make sure the perpetrator is caught. Chicago police said their investigation continues. Anyone with information may submit anonymous tips via CPDtip.com. In an email from his organization, Project HOOD, Brooks requested donations to the group in lieu of flowers. Those donating should enter the name Chris when asked if the gift is to honor someone. Your donation will help us continue the critical work that is needed to prevent further tragedies like this one, Brooks 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 WGN-TV. HENDERSON, N.Y. (WWTI) A Sunday morning fire in the town of Henderson has displaced three people. Fire crews were called to County Route 71 in the town of Henderson just after 10:10 a.m. according to the Adams Fire Department. Crews from Adams, Smithville, Adams Center and Sackets Harbor tried to deal with the blaze. Ellisburg, Rodman and Town of Watertown Fire Departments were called with tanker help due to the heavy volume of the fire. Mannsville-Manor Fire Department also helped provide coverage for the area. The Jefferson County Office of Fire and Emergency Management, the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control and the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office also responded. Officials said crews were on scene until just before 6 p.m. for overhaul operations. The American Red Cross is providing aide to three people that were displaced in wake of the fire. Courtesy of Adams Fire 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 WWTI - InformNNY.com. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) As soon as spring of next year, Southwest Airlines passengers will be able to take flights directly to and from Music City and South Florida. On Monday, Southwest Airlines announced that it will be offering a daily nonstop service between Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and Nashville International Airport (BNA). Flights are expected to start taking off on March 6, 2025. Southwest Airlines launching flights from Nashville to 3 new destinations in March In a news release, officials said the new service is aimed at giving passengers a seamless travel experience on their way to Nashville one of the nations most popular travel destinations or to the coastal city of West Palm Beach. The new route also highlights an effort to keep meeting travelers evolving needs, including expanded access to key destinations across the country, the release said. PBI reportedly serves more than eight million passengers per year. We are thrilled to add Nashville as a nonstop route from PBI, which has been a request from passengers for some time, PBI Director of Airports Laura Beebe said. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Three other nonstop routes are also being added to BNA next year. Travelers flying out of Music City will be able to take direct services to Indianapolis, Cabo San Lucas and Punta Cana on Southwest in March 2025. Travelers can visit Southwests website to book their flights. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Embarking on a new chapter of private space exploration, the Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history by launching four private citizens into ultrahigh orbit and attempting the first civilian spacewalk. The mission, however, has faced a series of delays due to a ground-side helium leak and weather conditions, according to SpaceX. Led by billionaire Jared Isaacman and in collaboration with SpaceX, the crew aims to reach as far as 870 miles above Earth, the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission in more than a half-century since the Apollo program. On Thursday, SpaceX announced the mission will remain on pause due to "unfavorable weather conditions in the areas along Floridas coast where Dragon would splash down upon returning from space." "Once teams identify the next best opportunity for launch and return of the Polaris Dawn mission, well provide an update. Falcon 9 and Dragon remain healthy and vertical on the pad at 39A," the company said. This marks the latest in a series of weather and technical delays that have kept the mission grounded this week. The mission was previously delayed due to a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical, SpaceX said Monday. Umbilical systems employ fluid connectors known as quick disconnects to transfer fluids into a vehicle, according to NASA. "Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit," the company added. PHOTO: This photo taken on Feb. 11, 2022 shows the SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew (from L) Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander, Anna Menon, Mission Specialist and Medical Officer, Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist, and Scott Poteet, Mission pilot. (John Kraus/Polaris Program/AFP via Getty Images, FILE) Isaacman, the CEO of the payment-processing company Shift4, will be joined by former Air Force pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. During the historic mission, which is set to span five days under normal conditions, two of the crew members will exit the spacecraft in the first commercial spacewalk at an altitude of 435 miles above Earth. MORE: NASA says Boeing's Starliner astronauts will return to Earth on different spacecraft in February During a press briefing last week, Isaacman shared details on the ambitious mission, which will see all four crew members exposed to the vacuum of space due to the absence of an airlock on the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The spacewalk will also serve as a critical test for SpaceX's new Extravehicular Activity spacesuits, an evolution of the intravehicular activity suit. PHOTO: Astronauts, from left, commander Jared Isaacman, mission specialist Anna Menon, pilot Scott Poteet and mission specialist Sarah Gillis take part in a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 19, 2024. (John Raoux/AP) This new design includes a heads-up display, helmet camera and enhanced joint mobility. It also features thermal insulation, solar protection and a suspension system that allows you to pressurize the suit, put on a harness and actually go through operations as if you are weightless. The Dragon spacecraft has undergone significant modifications, including upgrades to the life support systems to supply more oxygen during spacewalks, according to the Polaris Program. Environmental sensing has been improved, and a new nitrogen repressurization system has been installed. PHOTO: Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, commander Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, crew members of Polaris Dawn, a private human spaceflight mission, attend a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 19, 2024. (Joe Skipper/Reuters) The Polaris Dawn mission will be Isaacman's second journey to space. In 2021, he funded his first mission to orbit Earth. The project was billed as a childhood cancer fundraiser, garnering $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and marked the first all-civilian mission to orbit. MORE: SpaceX launches Starship rocket in explosive 2nd test flight Looking to the future, Isaacman believes the SpaceX vehicles could unlock a new frontier in commercial space travel. "It could very well be the 737 for human space flight someday," he said of the company's Starship vehicle. "But it'll certainly be the vehicle that will return humans to the moon and then on to Mars and beyond," he added. ABC News' Ayesha Ali contributed to this report. Polaris Dawn mission remains delayed due to weather conditions, SpaceX says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com By Belen Carreno and Corina Pons MADRID/SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE (Reuters) -Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts his second visit this year to West Africa on Tuesday, aiming to curb migration to the Canary Islands and to counter the Russian presence in the Sahel region. The West African migration route has seen a 154% surge this year, with 21,620 people crossing to the Canary Islands in the first seven months, according to data from the European Union border agency Frontex. The wave has stretched resources on the Spanish archipelago, with local authorities saying they may have to house migrants in military camps or even in tents ahead of an expected rise in arrivals due to calmer conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Spanish authorities fear that as many as 150,000 more migrants from Africa may be set to make the perilous crossing in the coming months. According to Frontex data, nearly half of the new arrivals are Malians, forced out of their country by a conflict and economic crisis in which the Russian mercenary group Wagner is involved. Sanchez is focusing on strengthening relations with Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats. The first two share land borders with Mali. Spanish police have long operated in West Africa to strengthen border control as part of Madrid's strategy to give financial and security aid to departure points for migrant boats. During this trip, Spain will sign circular migration agreements with Gambia and Mauritania - it already has one with Senegal - allowing workers from these countries to come to Spain for short periods to meet labour needs and then return to their countries of origin, a government source said. RETURN TO MALI Spain is also planning a return to Mali following the closure of the EU military mission there last May. While France advocated for the mission's termination, Spain is engaged in discussions with Bamako over bilateral military aid, according to a senior Spanish military officer. "We cannot leave the ground empty for Russian forces to occupy. It is important to maintain a presence in the region," the officer, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. The Spanish mission could continue the training of the previous European mission, the source said. Spain's Defence Ministry confirmed that it was in talks over collaboration with Mali without providing further details. Spain is advocating at the EU and NATO for a stronger focus on the global south, especially the Sahel, in light of the migration surge. Jesus Nunez Villaverde, co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies and Humanitarian Action, said that to resolve the Sahel's problems, poverty and the effects of climate change need to be addressed. "The solution is not military aid, which is a repetition of a failed model. A different kind of aid is needed," he said. Years of Islamist conflict in the Sahel have fuelled a humanitarian crisis with more than 3.1 million people displaced from their homes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as of July, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In Mali, economic troubles have also worsened since the ruling junta seized power in 2020. The conflict, unemployment and the impact of climate change on farming communities are the main drivers behind Malians' motivations to migrate, said Ousmane Diarre, head of a Malian NGO that defends migrant rights. Moussa Diaby Wage, a 20-year-old from Mali, arrived in the Canaries in 2020 in a boat from Mauritania. Having secured Spanish nationality, his dream is to join the army. Meanwhile, he helps other migrant children in a centre for minors in Tenerife. Of the 50 teenagers living there, 30 came from Mali. "We came here because Mali is at war, there is a lot of fighting in the north and many people have to make the decision to leave," he told Reuters. "Most of those who come are young, very young, because it's the only way to get a chance (in life)". (Reporting by Corina Pons in Canary Islands; Fadimata Kontao in Bamako; Belen Carreno in Madrid and Joan Faus in Barcelona; editing by Charlie Devereux, Angus MacSwan and Toby Chopra) Speaker Johnson: Harris is only person US adversaries fear less than Biden Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took aim Monday at Vice President Harriss foreign policy chops, saying Harris does not elicit fear in the countrys adversaries overseas. The only person that our adversaries fear less than Joe Biden is Kamala Harris, Johnson said in an interview on Fox & Friends with Brian Kilmeade, saying thats true whether youre talking about domestic affairs or foreign affairs. Imagine her as the commander in chief of the U.S. military in these dangerous times, Johnson continued. This is the most dangerous time since World War II, Brian. We cannot afford to do that. Johnson made the case that former President Trump, on the other hand, is feared on the global stage and is therefore fit to lead the country. Youve got to have Donald Trump in the White House, Johnson said. Hes the one they fear and respect. The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for a response. Trump and his allies have frequently touted Trumps aggressive and sometimes unpredictable approach to foreign policy. They say U.S. adversaries fear the consequences of crossing him. Trump in the past has asserted Russia would not have invaded Ukraine had he been president, and he has also signaled the conflict in the Middle East could have been avoided with him at the helm. Democrats, however, have repeatedly hit Trump for at times cozying up to autocratic leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he hosted at Mar-a-Lago last month. U.S. allies have also expressed concerns about the former presidents embrace of isolationist policies. Trump has threatened to not defend European allies who dont pay enough in defense spending, a point of contention in the Western security alliance NATO. He has also pledged to end the war in Ukraine before he takes office, sparking fear about how that could be accomplished without ceding territory to Russia. Recently, he said Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Chinese Premier Li Qiang presides over a study session held by the State Council in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 26, 2024. Li emphasized the need to actively respond to population aging and promote the high-quality development of elderly care services. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei) BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday emphasized the need to actively respond to population aging and promote the high-quality development of elderly care services. Li made the remarks at a study session held by the State Council. Noting that population aging will be a basic part of the Chinese situation for quite some time to come, Li said it is not only necessary to attach great importance to the challenges brought about by aging, but also to recognize the new development opportunities that aging presents. Li stressed the need to develop home and community-based elderly care services, improve the rural elderly care services network, and support local governments in providing mutual-aid elderly care based on actual local conditions. To respond to the care needs of elderly people with disabilities, Li called for efforts to promote the integration of medical and health care with elderly care, increase the supply of nursing home beds, and develop long-term care services. The government will strengthen financial security to support the elderly, improve the unified national management system for basic old-age insurance funds, and develop a multi-tiered and multi-pillar old-age insurance system, he said. He called for active efforts to tap into elderly human resources and create diverse jobs that are tailored to the population group. He also stressed the importance of expanding and improving the silver economy to meet the needs of the elderly in an improved manner. Wu Yushao, a professor at Fudan University, gave a lecture at the session. Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, State Councilor Wang Xiaohong and State Councilor Shen Yiqin participated in discussions. China, like many other nations, is undergoing a demographic shift. By the end of 2023, the population aged 60 or above had reached 297 million, including 217 million people aged 65 or above, which accounted for 15.4 percent of the total population. Special counsel Jack Smith Monday appealed Judge Aileen Cannons dismissal of the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. The prosecutor argued in a filing to the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that his appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland was legal, countering Cannons ruling that the special counsel law is unconstitutional. Smith argued that Cannons decision is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. The appeal is the latest twist in the case that many legal experts had considered the strongest and most straightforward of the four criminal cases Trump faced, including the New York State hush money case that led to his conviction on 34 felony counts. Cannon, a right-wing Trump appointee with little courtroom experience, has derailed the case with months of delays and odd rulings. Her order dismissing the case last month brought all proceedings to a halt, at least for now. It not known how long it will take for the Atlanta-based appeals court to decide the matter. Even if it overturns Cannons dismissal and revives the case, theres no chance of a trial before the November presidential election. Trump, if elected, could force the case to be dropped along with any other federal criminal prosecutions he faces. Trump was indicted on charges he improperly took classified documents from his presidency to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and defied the governments efforts to get them back. Two Trump workers also face charges for allegedly helping him obstruct the high-stakes probe. All three have pleaded not guilty. Smith, a one-time Brooklyn prosecutor, was appointed special counsel in November 2022 to investigate Trumps handling of the documents as well as his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he named Smith to avoid any perception of political bias after Trump announced he would run for president in 2024. Once the case ramped up, Trump defense lawyers argued that Smiths appointment violated the Constitutions Appointments Clause, a motion that prompted Cannon to hold a multiday hearing in June. ______ Special prosecutor in Marion raid: More details will surface, no other charges without new evidence Police raided the Marion County Record office on Aug 11, 2023, after Magistrate Judge Laura Viar authorized search warrants without regard for federal and state law that prohibit the search and seizure of journalists' materials. The newspaper office is seen here on July 25, 2024. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA One of the special prosecutors tasked with reviewing the actions of law enforcement officers who raided the Marion County Record says more details will become public as criminal and civil cases proceed. But for now, Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson would prefer to let the report that he and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett released earlier this month speak for itself. Their report cleared former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody and other officers of criminal wrongdoing in planning or carrying out the raid, even though the officers had imagined a nonexistent crime, and ignored state and federal laws and constitutional protections. But Wilkerson charged Cody with obstruction of justice, accusing the chief of telling a woman to delete text messages the two had exchanged. In his first interview since that report was released, Wilkerson answered questions about the special prosecutors conversations with Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey immediately after the raid, the decision to present evidence against Cody through testimony from a Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent rather than an affidavit, and the public interest in more transparency surrounding the case. But he was cautious about saying anything that could affect his criminal case or any of the five federal civil lawsuits that have been filed. Wilkerson said he doesnt expect to reexamine the evidence or bring other charges unless new evidence surfaces, or something that was brought to our attention. Following is a Q&A from the interview with Wilkerson, which has been edited for length and clarity. Bennett declined to speak with Kansas Reflector. I imagine that your life has been a lot more interesting in the past couple of weeks and past year. Im not sure Id call it exciting, you know? Ive got to keep doing my regular job here, and then for some reason, I agreed to take on another task that I probably wont do again. But I did it this time. Here we are. Why did you take this case? Well, I got involved early on. Somebody told me about what was going on down in Marion County. Mark and I talked that Saturday somehow, and then he got ahold of Joel Ensey. We had both been active on the state level, wed both been members of the (Kansas County and District Attorneys Association). And so thats kind of how it all started. Do you think theres any conflict of interest in having had those conversations with Ensey initially and then being the ones to take over the investigation? I dont think so. Its mentioned in the report, and it was so minimal. Are there things that you would hope that the public would learn or take away from reading this report? We tried to do the best we could to condense a lot of information and just relay what we were able to glean from all the reports and all the witness statements and apply it to the law. Are there things we as Kansas Reflector or just the media in general have gotten wrong or overlooked or havent included that you think are important? No, not really. Obviously, weve got a charge pending, criminal matter, and we dont want to say anything at this point that could taint that process. And there may be more information that will come out in that proceeding that will shed a little more light on it. Thats really about all I can say. I think therell be more information, or at least different information, will come out. Are you talking about the Oct. 7 first appearance? If there are evidentiary hearings in this case, then perhaps more information will come out. Im being really vague, but I just I cant disclose matters that are likely to come out in court that could in any way interfere or impede a trial. Im respectful of that process. One of the things that has occurred to me is that if theres a diversion agreement or something along those lines, a plea thats entered that resolves this quickly, its possible that that evidence wouldnt necessarily be disclosed in a court hearing. Right? (Eighteen-second pause.) You know, maybe. There are civil suits that are involved as well. The civil suits are going to shed light on this as much as the criminal case will. Are you able to say whether theres consideration for a diversion in this case? We cant talk about any of that at this point. Its not that Im withholding anything from you. We just havent had any discussion. So I cant talk about that at all. I cant comment on it. I am curious if there was a message that you would hope that law enforcement would take away from the report that you produced? I guess the message I would say for everybody is: Proceed with caution. You know, I better be careful. I better stay away from that for now. Kind of let the report speak for itself. Would you say theres a need for legislative reform regarding any of the laws that are referenced in that report? I dont want to comment on that at this time either. Is that something you would anticipate, you know, having some thoughts on after this is all resolved? Yes. And its not that Im trying to withhold things. Ill be a lot more open to discussions on this when these cases, and not just our case, but even I dont want to impact any civil cases either with what I would say to the press. So when theyre all resolved, I would certainly be able to provide more insight, perhaps, ideas, suggestions, moving forward. Is there any consideration for reexamining the evidence or recommending criminal charges, or is this a closed deal at this point? If evidence continues to come in, I would never say never. But it would have to be new evidence? New evidence, or something that was brought to our attention. Can you talk about how the charging information was presented in this case the decision to do it through testimony and not an affidavit? Statute allows us to do it either through a written statement or testimony. I know that youre allowed to do it, but you have a choice of how you were going to do it. And Im curious why you chose this path. Because the officer was from Colorado, and he had not been trained on Kansas. So thats why we did it. The testimony that he gave is available just as an affidavit would be available to the press or the public. But the exhibits with an affidavit would be made available to the public. And in this case theyre not. The court said the exhibit that you presented during the hearing was returned to you, and so the court doesnt even have a copy of it to provide, according to the court clerk. If it were something that were presented with an affidavit, it wouldnt be either. Typically, Ive gotten that with an affidavit request. We dont always attach them to affidavits. Would you have any objection to the court releasing that? Its not up to me. You know, Im probably about done. Theres not a whole lot I can say, OK? I mean, Im trying to be as upfront with you as I can and not get myself in a jam. Im interested in the transparency of this, in the public interest in the case, and Im just wondering whether the person who actually has the information is going to present any hurdles to releasing it. You mean the court? I mean are you going to object to the public seeing these texts? Or is there any assurance that this is going to come out through hearings? I think there is an overwhelming public interest in knowing what the charge is based on? I understand your question. Its going to come out as evidence. I cant talk about it until court. I mean, the rule is something thats going to be admitted as evidence is what Im prohibited from disclosing. Do you have anything that you want to say or clarify or add here? I said I really wouldnt talk about this case because we have to be theres gonna be a lot of scrutiny on this case, from everybody. And I just dont want to make a misstep and taint a case. I appreciate giving me a call and having this conversation. Im not gonna say that I wasnt a little nervous, but you know, its just kind of the times were living in right now. And I also understand whats at stake, and Im trying to be very mindful. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) A man from Springfield has been found guilty in connection with sexually exploiting a child on social media. West Springfield man must register as sex offender after sexual assault of minor According to the Hampden District Attorneys Office, 28-year-old Wesley Bowleg of Springfield was found guilty on August 20th of distribution of material of a child in a sexual act and furnishing liquor to a person under 21. The investigation by the Springfield Police Departments Special Victims Unit, Massachusetts State Police, and the Hampden District Attorneys Offices Special Victims Unit stemmed from an incident in August of 2019 when a video was circulating on social media depicting two underage girls being sexually assaulted by Bowleg. Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni stated, I hope that this verdict brings some degree of justice to the courageous victims involved in this case who were underage when these despicable offenses occurred. I thank Detective Denise Toledo from the Springfield Police Departments Special Victims Unit and Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Pellegrino for their thoroughness and hard work in this investigation. I also thank my team, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Vasiliades and Victim Witness Advocate Danielle Hultgren for all their hard work on this case. A sentencing hearing will be held for Bowleg on August 29th in Hampden County Superior Court. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. A St. Clair County judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the county that alleged the sheriff's department conspired with a telecommunications company to force jail inmates to use costly video conference and phone calls to visit with family by banning in-person contact visits. In dismissing the lawsuit against the county, Sheriff Mat King, the county jail's telecommunications company and other parties, Circuit Judge Michael West ruled "no constitutional rights are implicated in this case, fundamental or otherwise." Meanwhile, a Genesee County circuit judge has yet to decide on a similar lawsuit in that county, where in June Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson announced the reinstatement of in-person contact visits at the county lockup. "The judge in St. Clair County decided that children and parents have no constitutional right to visit each other. We plan to appeal this cruel decision because we think it is plainly wrong," Cody Cutting, an attorney with Civil Rights Corps in Washington, D.C., one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs in the cases, wrote in an email to the Free Press. Cutting said the plaintiffs intend to appeal the St. Clair County decision, but had not done so as of Friday. The St. Clair County Jail photographed on Friday, March 15, 2024. The crux of the lawsuits, reported by the Free Press in March, is the plaintiffs alleged the defendants conspired to prohibit in-person family contact as part of a scheme for the counties and the companies to make money, which the plaintiffs claimed violates Michigan law. They alleged St. Clair County allowed in-person visits until 2017 and Genesee County allowed them until 2014. The lawsuits requested class-action status for all individuals with a parent or child detained in jails in St. Clair and Genesee counties at any point since March 15, 2021. The St. Clair County lawsuit named the county; Sheriff King; Securus Technologies LLC and Platinum Equity LLC, a private equity firm that purchased Securus, of which Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores is chairman and CEO. The complaint also named Gores as well as Mark Barnhill, a partner at Platinum Equity, and David Abel, president and CEO of Securus and Aventiv Technologies, Securus' parent company. It alleged Securus pays St. Clair County 50% of the $12.99 price tag for every 20-minute video call and 78% of the 21 cents per minute cost of every phone call. The lawsuit stated the contract promised the county a revenue stream as well as a minimum guaranteed annual payment of $190,000 paid up front. The 21 cents per phone call is the maximum allowed under law, according to the lawsuit. It alleged Securus paid the county $154,130 in 2017 in phone call commissions and the next year, with the addition of the new guaranteed payment, video call revenue, and the elimination of in-person visitation, "that number almost tripled as it climbed to $404,752. Those gains have steadily continued, reaching nearly $500,000 in 2022." Attorney Richmond Moore released a statement Saturday on behalf of Platinum Equity LLC. "Although the litigation in this case is without merit, Platinum wholeheartedly supports efforts to reform business practices in the corrections services industry and has invested heavily in making connections more affordable and accessible through its investment in Securus and its parent company Aventiv," it read. "Platinum believes that the company's telephone and video products provide an important connection between the incarcerated and their friends and families, but those products are not intended as a replacement for in-person visitation." Securus Technologies responded in a statement that it "creates connections and is committed to bridging the digital divide in correctional facilities, ensuring incarcerated individuals stay in touch with loved ones while providing law enforcement with the tools to uphold their commitment to public safety." "The court's dismissal of the case against us in Michigan affirms it was without merit. Our focus remains creating meaningful and positive outcomes for the consumers we serve," the Securus response said. "We will continue to tailor our services to the requirements of each correctional facility, offering phone and video calling services, text connections, and access to education, training, and reentry support, to encourage better outcomes for families and communities when incarcerated individuals come home." Todd Shoudy, an attorney representing St. Clair County and King, wrote in an email Friday: "The claim that inmates or their families have a Constitutional right to contact visits has been rejected by the United States Supreme Court and Michigan Courts for the past 30 to 40 years, and the Circuit Court Judges ruling was an obvious one given this legal precedent. The arguments of Plaintiffs in this case are really seeking changes in the law that are better directed to the legislative branch of government." The St. Clair County Jail photographed on Friday, March 15, 2024. Shoudy stated it was "ironic" the plaintiffs brought the lawsuit this year "at a time where the St. Clair County Jail offers, through the use of modern technology more means of communication for inmates and friends and family outside of the jail than ever before. "Today, not only can inmates communicate with individuals outside of the jail by traditional means such as written letters and telephone calls, but inmates of the St. Clair County Jail are also given an electronic tablet upon entry into the jail," Shoudy wrote. "Inmates can use that tablet to communicate with jail correctional officers and jail medical staff, as well as access jail policies and the law library, and rent movies and music. Those same tablets also permit inmates and those outside of the jail to communicate by text message and emails. Inmates can also receive photographs and videos of their family members to store on their tablet." Shoudy wrote video visitation "actually offers an easier and more reliable means of conducting free onsite visits than the old system of visits previously conducted through a glass partition." Under the old system, he stated, visits were limited to one visit per week supervised by a jail visitation officer, and many were cancelled because a visitor was a no-show or arrived too late. Under the new system, Shoudy wrote, the number of missed visitations has dropped dramatically. The technology allows "an unlimited number of remote visits, for a fee, where visitors can conduct the visits literally from anywhere," he wrote, adding inmates can remotely attend birthday parties or visit loved ones in the hospital. Shoudy wrote the new technology also "increases the safety of inmates by restricting the flow of contraband into the jail at a time where the threat of deadly fentanyl is higher than ever before." The lawsuits alleged the in-person contact prohibition ensured parents and children couldn't hug each other or look each other in the eyes and the phone and video calls cost high rates and were low quality. Judges in the circuit courts in St. Clair and Genesee counties previously heard arguments by the plaintiffs for preliminary injunctions and motions by defendants to dismiss the lawsuits. "In this Court's view, no constitutional rights are implicated in this case, fundamental or otherwise. There is no liberty interest or family integrity right to association in a penal institution under the Michigan Constitution," Judge West wrote in a July 19 opinion, adding "even if such a right were to exist and because Plaintiffs have claimed it exits, this court finds there is still no violation of Plaintiffs' alleged constitutional rights because the jail's policy is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests." The Genesee County circuit judge had not issued an opinion in that case as of Friday. A motion hearing is set for Oct. 7 in that case. In Genesee County, Swanson announced the jail would resume in-person contact visits in July, starting with inmates and their children who were age 12 and younger, then expand to older children and adults. He also announced that he was going to look to reduce the cost of telephone calls and video visitation. Swanson, in June, said the telephone revenue was $15,000 a month, or $180,000 a year, and was a flat revenue. For video visitation, he had said, it was around $400,000, including a tech grant. Swanson previously said the jail had been doing in-person visits through various programs, but years ago "the in-person visits were ended and video visitations were the new norm." He said "the family connection and the family unification is vital" and the lawsuit got his attention to move quicker. Swanson said video visitation would continue as it is a good supplement for people who are homebound, out of state or have transportation concerns to be able to visit with their loves ones in the jail. Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge dismisses lawsuit over lack of contact visits in jail GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) Forty-three. Thats the number of residents who died from drug overdose in Mesa County in 2023. They may be gone, but they are not forgotten. Intermountain St. Marys Regional Hospital, along with Mesa County Opioid Response Group (MCORG), will hold a memorial flag display to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day on Wednesday at Lincoln Park, 910 N. 12th St. In total, there will be 1,865 flags to remember the Coloradoans who died from drug overdose last year. Among the 1,800-plus purple flags, there will be 43 white ones dedicated to the Mesa County residents. The county saw a 26% increase in overdose deaths from 2022 to last year while Colorado had a 5% increase. Of those overdoses in the state, 72% of them were opioid-related. Overdose numbers continue to fluctuate from year to year and remain one of the leading causes of death in our country, particularly for our younger generations, Ryan Jackman, St. Marys Integrated Addiction Medicine Clinic medical director, said in a press release. Locally, fentanyl continues to be a concern, particularly given how quickly it can cause an overdose or accidental poisoning. We need to continue to protect against this through education and naloxone or Narcan distribution. At the flag display, various community organization representatives will be onsite to provide information and resources to help residents and families who might be affected by drug dependence. The actual awareness day is on Aug. 31, but since it falls on Saturday this year, it was determined to host the display on Wednesday. For those seeking help with substance use, contact St. Marys Integrated Addiction Medicine at 970-298-3801 or visit intermountainhealth.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 WesternSlopeNow.com. DHAKA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The floods in parts of Bangladesh have left 23 people dead, affected nearly 6 million people, and displaced hundreds of thousands of families. According to the daily disaster situation report by the country's National Disaster Response Coordination Center (NDRCC) under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, 57,01,204 people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts as of Monday afternoon. The report published on the ministry website said 23 people died in flooding in the country while 12,38,048 families remained marooned in the 11 districts. Two people were also reported missing. TV reports showed that wide areas of land are underwater in parts of Bangladesh as major rivers overflowed since last week. Floods also reportedly caused widespread damage to habitation, crops, roads and highways across vast swathes of the country. Bangladeshi interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus Sunday asked all concerned to continue their robust efforts in rescuing stranded people, providing emergency healthcare and extending all-out cooperation for the flood victims. Authorities have rushed teams of disaster response forces to carry out rescue operations, distribute relief materials, and supervise centers where around half a million flood-affected people have taken shelter. In the face of the significant challenges posed by the flooding in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh donated ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, and essential living supplies to the hardest-hit area of Feni on Sunday. Apart from this, the Red Cross Society of China donated to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society 100,000 U.S. dollars for emergency humanitarian assistance. Also, the Chinese Embassy here announced to donate 20,000 U.S. dollars to the Chief Adviser's Relief and Welfare Fund. The British love a good puzzle. An English journalist invented the crossword. Murder mystery blockbuster franchises are one of our biggest cultural exports; every evening, millions of people from Lagos to Lahore settle down to watch the likes of Poirot or Inspector Barnaby tie up some intractable mystery into an impeccable ribbon. And yet our interest in the most fascinating, infuriating national puzzle ever British stagnation has evaporated. As we hunker down for another dark winter of rising fuel bills, immigration tensions, and high grocery prices, Keir Starmer is vowing to tackle the rot set deep in the heart of the foundations of our country. But there is something suspiciously overwrought about his tone. It is as if our new leader is more preoccupied with dramatising the countrys crisis than offering solutions. Whereas the Johnson government was often mocked for its prosecco optimism all cheap foam and no substance Starmerism is turning out to be the opposite, concealing its lack of ideas under torrents of pessimism. In his speech this week, Keir Starmer will claim that 14 years of Tory rule have left a social black hole as well as an economic black hole, and that things are worse than we ever imagined. The Conservatives are intent on savagely mocking the PM for his melancholy given that the economy is showing new signs of life. But they miss the big picture. GDP growth is by the by. As long as wages remain flat, and innovation fitful, the country will remain in a rut. Which is why the PM is determined to hammer home the idea that it is the Tories, not Labour, who have blown up the country. The PM must calm down, stop fixating on the narrative and reopen the stagnation cold case file that has been mouldering in the Whitehall basement since the Brexit wars. As we have neglected it over the years, the stagnation puzzle has grown more fiendish and intriguing. It is, quite literally, a mystery wrapped in an enigma: on the one hand, we have fallen behind peers in our productivity due to a knot of eccentrically British problems from a phenomenon of flailing, Machiavellian, David Brent corporate managers to the chronic inability of promising companies to fully scale. On top of this, Western progress is grinding to a collective halt, as the golden era of innovation, which brought us everything from anaesthetics to the kitchen fridge, peters out. Even hubris in the world of bits is fading; Moores Law the golden standard of doubling the components of a semiconductor chip every two years has crumbled. Silicon Valley is starting to whisper that the AI dream may have been botched, with techies unschooled in neuroscience rushing to build machines based on an absurdly simplistic view of human intelligence. All this presents a mind-boggling challenge for any new government. For a mediocre one like Labour, it is an impossible nightmare. Number 10 is betting the farm on a house building spree. But while loosening planning restrictions may slightly boost productivity, making it easier for universities to build science labs and Millennials to slog it out with banking jobs in London, it is no panacea. Sadly, that seems to be the gist of Labours grand vision. When it comes to the stagnation mysterys esoteric sub-plots, such as Britains management car crash and the slowness of firms to take up new tech, it only regurgitates lines spoon-fed by the Blob. Blinded by its obsession with forging a closer relationship with the EU, Labour appears oblivious to the potential of divergence from regulations in the life sciences. Its views on AI are inane and it appears to have shrunk its pot for new projects. Where Labour is more strident, it completely misses the point. The new science and technology minister Patrick Vallance is keen to boost funding for basic science. Yet breakthroughs are often born of retrospective bids to explain innovations produced by tinkering entrepreneurs. Thermodynamics came 100 years after the steam engine. Germ theory did not emerge until almost a century after the first (smallpox) vaccine. It would make more sense for Britain to focus on why innovators are not fulfilling their potential. The hardest thing to forgive about Labour is that it ought to be better placed than the Right to tackle this very conundrum. But after 14 years of thinking time in opposition, it has nothing to say. This is ridiculous because the answers are right under their noses. After several years of trial and error, we know that R&D tax credits are a waste of time, but helping startups to land consulting contracts, including with the state, can help them to scale through sweat equity, rather than ceding large chunks of their firm to foreign investors. Yet Labour is leaving the current broken regime intact. We also know that part of the answer to Britains management woes is likely to be found in a new form of corporate capitalism, one which keenly incentivises innovational risk-taking over short-termism or office politics. Of course, its ultimately up to businesses whether they take a longer-term view over hitting quarterly and yearly targets. But the Government can make an eloquent and detailed case for it, as it has previously with both shareholder and stakeholder capitalism. It is also well-established that innovation has collapsed in part because in the mid-1990s, the West decisively shifted from Thatcher-Reagan free market capitalism to monopoly Blob capitalism not only due to the rise of too big to fail banks amid financial deregulation, but more importantly the ushering in of a new liberal order of intellectual property protectionism, aided by the WTO. That big business can make billions merely by collecting the rent on existing intellectual and financial assets goes a long way towards explaining why some cannot be bothered with innovation. For all its sanctimony about sensible multilateral solutions to problems like immigration, apparently the urgent need to work with other governments, including in the US, to reverse this catastrophe has not occurred to Labour. Milton Friedman once said: When crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. The strange thing is that there are plenty of ideas that Starmer could run with to solve the riddle of British decline, and is choosing not to. Instead he seems capable only of sticking-plaster solutions and spin. What a tragedy for the country. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. PARIS TWP. The fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman during a 'violent encounter' is being investigated as a homicide. Christopher W. Short apparently shot Ashley R. Shumaker once following a domestic dispute, according to Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier . In a 911 call released through a public records request, Short told a dispatcher he shot at his fiancee after she came at him with a knife. The call was placed at 10:29 p.m. Sunday from 16455 Coldale St. NE. Maier said investigating deputies found "there was a violent encounter between the couple." "This remains under investigation at this time," the sheriff said. "We'll have to wait and see what comes back from the coroner, and the next steps for us are to put information together to ... review with the county prosecutor." He said the investigators are trying to determine whether Short's statement was factual. Short is cooperating with the investigation. Harry Campbell, chief investigator of the Stark County Coroner's Office, pronounced Shumaker dead at the home at 1:12 a.m. Monday. Domestic violence: Judge sets $1 million bond for Sean Goe in Raychel Sheridan murder case What happened to Ashley Shumaker? In a call with an emergency dispatcher, Short disclosed that he shot Shumaker in the chest while in the kitchen. After 13 seconds on the call with a dispatcher, he said, "She came at me with a knife and I shot her." Later, he repeated the sequence of events, adding, "Oh my God, she's dead." Short can be heard sobbing throughout the call. Prior convictions Shumaker pleaded guilty in July 2019 to felony charges of domestic violence and disrupting public services in Stark County Common Pleas Court. She was sentenced to three years on probation. The Canton police complaint that formed the basis for the criminal case said she hit a man in the face with a closed fist and took his phone when he tried to call 911. She threw the phone, causing damage. The domestic violence charge was a felony because Shumaker had a previous misdemeanor conviction for the same crime in 2015 in South Carolina. Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriffs office at 330-430-3800 or via the anonymous tip line at (330) 451-3937. Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR. This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ashley Shumaker dead in Paris Township home of homicide Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft speaks before the Ohio Controlling Board on Aug. 19. Screenshot via The Ohio Channel/Ideastream Ohios State Board of Education will still be living lean on a bare-bones budget, but an influx of cash from the state will keep it going through the fiscal year. The Ohio Controlling Board, which directs appropriations and funding to state agencies, approved a $4.66 million emergency funding request last week for the board of education, to avoid having to raise teacher licensure fees and to cover a $3 million shortfall that may have impacted school staff background checks. 4.66 (million) is a number that gets us through this fiscal year, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft told the Capital Journal. Were still going to have some tough times. The controlling board approval was amended from the original request made by the states Office of Budget and Management, which asked for only $1.85 million after working with the board of education on service sharing and funding cuts to get them through the year. We completely were supportive of what OBM was doing, Craft said. That certainly keeps us where we are right now, which is extremely tight. The SBOE has been warning of increasing and imminent shortfalls in their funding since they were separated from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, and left with only the teacher licensure fund to pay for all operating expenses. The funding they receive from the licensure fund isnt year-round revenue, causing blocks of time during the year when the board has to sustain itself on very little incoming funds. While we continue to strive for operational savings, because the majority of the revenue for this fund is received in the spring, the fund is projected to run a deficit starting this fall and continue until spring, when it will be back in a positive position, the request to the controlling board stated. The split from the ODEW caused the board to reduce staffing by almost 20%, which included payroll and budget personnel, Craft told the Controlling Board at their Aug. 19 meeting to consider the emergency funds. (Payroll and budget) are now being done as shared services through the Office of Budget and Management, Craft said. None of the money we requested brings back any of those staff. The SBOE has also reduced board meetings to one day, instituted freezes on travel expenses and out-of-state conference costs. But the emergency funding is still needed to make sure teacher licensure fees can stay at their current rates, and the contract for Retained Applicant Fingerprint Database (RAPBACK) background checks can be paid. Ill tell you, Ive never seen an agency in my 35 years in state government and military thats running as lean as we are, Craft said. Im so proud of what our staff has done in terms of making sure that Ohios 1.6 million kids interact with educators every day who are well-qualified and who show good moral character and judgment. Some legislators on the controlling board expressed hesitation in using the funds from the controlling boards emergency purpose fund, with state Sen. Shane Wilkins, R-Hillsboro, worrying that approving the emergency funds could cause the agency to come back next year for a request of the same amount. For me, I would feel better if I knew, hey, we really gave this a shot, the $1.8 (million original request) is not going to cut it, he said at the controlling board meeting. State Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London, questioned the need to push the funds specifically for the background checks, when Craft said the background checks would continue with or without the funding, and with the SBOE in contact with the Ohio Attorney General to find a solution to the funding shortage impacting the background check service. It doesnt really change our day-to-day at all, Craft told Hackett and the controlling board. On the other hand, Ive signed (memorandums of understanding) with these agencies, and it would make me sleep better at night knowing that I agreed to these and theyre being made whole. In offering the amendment that raised the funding provided for the SBOE to $4.66 million, state Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, said discussions have been going on for months about a solution to the SBOE funding issues. With the work the SBOE has already done to make cuts, the proposed funding number went from $10 million down to the $4.66 million that was eventually approved. He said it was incumbent upon state leaders make sure the funds were there to hold teacher licensure fees at current levels and maintain background checks. The people that have been part of the discussion have heard that we will figure out how to pay for the background checks later, Edwards said. I dont think its responsible of the people who hold the purse strings to allow the background checks to be figured out later. He said the mistake that was done during the budget of the transfer to the Department of Education and Workforce, should be corrected, not to mention he didnt want to be hearing from angry school teachers if licensure fees increased. Were a conservative legislature that is constantly trying to cut taxes and cut fees and cut regulations for people out there, Edwards said. I dont think teachers are getting rich in our state, I dont want to see us raising teacher licensure fees. Ohio House Democrats, including controlling board member state Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, said the funding is a crucial lifeline that staves off a potential 75% increase in mandatory licensure fees. I look forward to addressing the remaining SBOE budget uncertainty on a more permanent basis in the next budget, Piccolantonio said in a statement. Craft said the funding approval now allows the SBOE and the OBM to work together over the course of the fall to put together a plan for next year, as they await the governors executive budget plan and the state operating budget numbers. Its pretty early in the process and were looking at some other approaches, but this should get us through, Craft told the Capital Journal. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Paramedics carry a patient in an ambulance at night. (Getty Images) The South Dakota 911 Coordination Board commissioned a study Monday into the feasibility of consolidation among the 32 separately managed dispatch centers in the state. Some state senators pressed the issue of consolidation during the 2024 legislative session, hoping to encourage regionalization in exchange for an increase in the phone-customer surcharge that funds 911 operations. The Legislature and Gov. Kristi Noem approved a 911 surcharge increase of 75 cents, from $1.25 to $2, with a 2026 sunset clause in order to review the increase. The projected annual revenue from the $2 per line monthly surcharge is about $19.95 million, which public safety officials said was needed to sustain adequate 911 responses statewide. The surcharge is collected by phone companies, which then give the revenue to the state, which keeps some to fund its statewide 911 coordination efforts and gives the rest to local governments for their 911 call centers. The study will be conducted by 911 Authority, which has worked with the state for years on South Dakotas Next Generation 911 system, which is meant to keep redundancies in place in case 911 systems are disrupted. 911 outages have happened twice in 2024. A map of South Dakota dispatch center locations and their coverage area. (Courtesy of South Dakota Department of Public Safety) Jim Lockard, senior project consultant for 911 Authority, told 911 board members the study would be completed by the end of this year. The company will charge the state $70,000 for the study, according to a written proposal. The study will analyze call data and volume, technology use, staffing and facility needs, as well as costs. Lockard said 911 Authority would suggest another model to increase efficiency if its findings suggest consolidation is not the best option. Some could be factors for consolidation, some could be reasons not to consolidate, Lockard said. Sitting here today, I cant tell you that its going to be a necessary and a good thing for South Dakota. Board member Duane Sutton, a Brown County commissioner, said the study would be a valuable tool when presenting needs and proposing legislation to make the $2 surcharge permanent next session. House Speaker Hugh Bartels, R-Watertown, introduced the surcharge legislation last winter. I think this study might help, Bartels said. I think there are some areas of the state that should consolidate. While some dispatch centers cover several counties (Bartels local dispatch center in Watertown spans five counties), some dispatch centers cover one county. Although the 911 board authorized the study, the board does not have the authority to consolidate dispatch centers. Thatll likely take legislative action, said Bartels, who is not seeking reelection in November. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Attorney General Todd Rokita calls for property tax relief. (Screenshot from video) Even Attorney General Todd Rokita wants state lawmakers to tackle rising property taxes. The states chief legal officer released a video Monday on the matter, which has become a key issue in the governors race and will be debated in the 2025 legislative session. Youve given me the privilege to travel to every corner of the state, and our neighbors, family members and friends are all calling for property tax relief. Me too, he said. They cannot be ignored, especially not by those elected to serve them right here in the Statehouse. Property taxes have increased statewide the last several years, partly due to growing assessed values on homes. According to an analysis by the Association of Indiana Counties and Policy Analytics, the gross assessed value of homes jumped 16.5% on average between 2022 and 2023 and property tax bills increased by 18.2% on average. Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun and Democrat nominee Jennifer McCormick have released tax plans to try to lower the burden, and so has Libertarian Donald Rainwater. A legislative panel has been studying tax reform the last two years and several property tax bills are expected to be filed. Rokita said part of his job is to work with lawmakers to ensure any language is constitutional. My office is looking forward to working with any lawmaker of any party who is attempting to craft legislation to lower property taxes and the overall tax burden on Hoosiers, he said in the video. Its critical to get this right, and we are ready to work with legislators to get it right now. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A Georgia Senate subcommittee, led by Republicans Sens. Randy Robertson, left, and John Albers, right, released its recommendations for improving problems at the troubled Fulton County jail. Following the media briefing, the two legislators held the first panel hearing examining conditions in state prisons that have been plagued by violence. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder Georgias state prisons and Fulton Countys jail took center stage Friday before legislative committees tasked with making recommendations on how to deal with troubles arising from overcrowded and outdated detention facilities. The Georgia Senates Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee held its first hearing this month when it heard from the states top agency officials about the challenges of running a large prison system where severe understaffing, deteriorating buildings, smuggling of contraband have led to more violence among inmates, correctional officers and other prison staff. State corrections officials told lawmakers at the Friday hearing the agency needs to upgrade aging prisons with more one-bed cells to resolve a typical underlying cause of violent attacks between inmates. They also discussed the need to eliminate a complex system of drones that deliver cell phones and other illegal contraband to inmates and stop the spread of violent street gangs across the state that have a presence in Georgia prisons. Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver said that theres plenty of evidence that there are less violent conflicts amongst inmates who live in single-bed cells. He referenced fewer incidents reported at Smith State Prison in Glennville since recently moving more of the population to single-occupancy cells, which makes it easier to manage the tensions that can lead to conflict with a bunkmate, Oliver said. When you look at our violence and most of our homicides we have it is occurring in double-man cells, Oliver said. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Aug. 15 that its analysis of 2024 data uncovered that the Georgia agency that oversees the states prisons is on track to have its deadliest year ever, with at least 24 homicides and a total of 156 deaths being reported in the first six months. A couple of days prior to the prison hearing, federal prosecutors announced criminal indictments against two dozen current and former Georgia inmates accused of operating a network of drones to deliver drugs, cell phones and other contraband into state prisons. The cost of building a new, state-of-the-art, secure facility can be high if Georgias aging prison complexes are to be replaced or renovated. The Department of Corrections reported data from June that the overall population level is approaching pre-pandemic levels with approximately 35,000 state prison inmates and nearly 50,000 inmates across several private prisons, transitional centers, and other corrections department facilities. Oliver said hes optimistic safety and other problems will be improved with the ongoing construction for building a 1,500-bed complex that will be located next to the existing Washington County state prison. The new facility will fill some of the void left by the 2022 closing of the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. Several high-ranking Republican state lawmakers have taken a more keen interest over the last several months into the problems plaguing the state prisons system and local jails. In June, GOP Gov. Brian Kemp announced the states partnership with Guidehouse Inc. for a year-long probe of the Georgia corrections department. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, announced in July a House budget subcommittee that will evaluate the financial commitment needed to make Georgias correctional facilities safer and more secure. In the state Senate, the Department of Corrections study committee is headed by Republican senators John Albers and Randy Robertson, a retired law enforcement officer for the Muscogee County Sheriffs Office, both of whom wielded great power in recent years passing criminal justice legislation. The two of them agreed that single-bed cells are the safest way to house prison inmates in facilities, especially ones with a high level of serious offenders. We have a lot of kumbaya groups when we talk about the safety of single-man cells, they nod their heads and say this is the best thing in the world, we love it, Robertson said. And then when we tell them in order to build these we have to defund some of these feel-good wraparound programs and redirect the state funding into our Department of Corrections so we can build safe facilities for their neighbors, for their friends, for their families for their loved ones. Criminal justice reform advocates such as the Southern Center for Human Rights, the ACLU of Georgia and others have criticized lawmakers in the Republican majority for supporting increased bail bond restrictions and stiffer mandatory criminal penalties. They argue the recent laws are a trend of reversing reforms that emphasize rehabilitation over incarceration championed by former GOP Gov. Nathan Deal. Albers and Robertson released a draft report from a Fulton jail subcommittee that gave recommendations on how local officials can improve conditions of the detention center and reform criminal justice system. Fulton County Jails subcommittee released a report highlighting 17 recommendations for improving a system that left too many inmates languishing indefinitely inside the jail. The subcommittee was formed following a rash of inmate stabbings and the confiscation of a cache of weapons taken from inmates that offer a glimpse into the harrowing conditions inside a west Atlanta jail that is consistently overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded. Albers said county officials are making progress by reducing Fultons overcrowded jail population by about 1,000 people. He credited Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, Fulton prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and other officials with offering programs like night court that expedite the processing of accused offenders. They described a dysfunctional relationship between Fultons law enforcement, the county commission, and criminal justice officials that has hindered the timely processing of people who are detained at the Rice Street jail. The report recommended that Atlanta officials should transfer control of its detention center over to Fulton so it can be used to protect detainees from potentially unsafe conditions. The report also encouraged Fulton commissioners to consider allocating several hundred million dollars to build a new jail that replaces the outmoded Rice Street facility. Additionally, it was recommended that the Fulton County District Attorneys Office work with the public defenders office to expedite the release of people who are arrested on non-violent, non-sexually related criminal charges. The report also suggests that a new jail advisory board be formed, and that the county hire a maintenance crew to tackle the vast repairs at the Rice jail. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX LEHI, Utah (ABC4) Authorities in Lehi are advising residents to take caution on Monday morning, Aug. 26, after a mountain lion was spotted prowling a neighborhood. The Lehi Police Department shared a video captured on a local home security camera showing the mountain lion walking through the front yard. Another video shows the mountain lion trotting back the other way before disappearing out of frame. The mountain lion has reportedly been spotted near Woods Drive and then found again at near 800 West and 900 North. Please stay alert and keep an eye on your children while they walk to school, Lehi Police said in a statement on social media. If possible, drive your children to school until the situation is resolved. Residents are also advised to bring any outdoor pets inside as well. Lehi Police said its officers will be doing extra patrols in the area until the mountain lion is safely captured and relocated. The Division of Wildlife Resources has been notified and is in the area attempting to find the mountain lion. In the meantime, the public is advised not to approach or run from the mountain lion should it cross their path. What to do if you encounter a mountain lion If you find yourself face-to-face with a mountain lion, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources advises you not to run as it could trigger its natural instinct to chase. Instead, you should stand up tall, make yourself appear threatening, and talk loudly. If you have any children or pets with you, hold them close. Next, back away slowly while keeping eye contact with the mountain lion. If it pounces toward you, fight back. DWR previously told ABC4.com to use whatever you have near you to aid in fending off the mountain lion, such as sticks or rocks. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Bags of prepared food wait for collection at The Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock on June 3, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) This story is part of a series about Arkansans who work hard but struggle to survive, people who are part of the asset limited, income constrained and employed (ALICE) population. Todays story deals with issues of food access. Previous stories in this series can be found here, here and here. As a Fayetteville food pantry volunteer and someone who supplements trips to the grocery store with local assistance methods, the way Jen Cole experiences the struggle for food access is twofold. While Cole, 55, forfeits her favorites of fresh mushrooms, pomegranates and herbal teas at the grocery store, she also helps serve people she said she wouldnt expect to see at the food pantry: nurses and firefighters. Jen Cole If a car breaks down, if you have an illness thats it. Youre in the food pantry line, Cole said. But youre working poor, so you cant afford to miss your job to get in that line. Thats a huge problem. When the Advocate first interviewed her in July, Cole earned a minimal monthly income as a part-time chef for a local homelessness-assistance organization in addition to funds she received for her disability, a heart defect that restricts her ability to work. In total, Cole stretched about $1,600 each month among medical costs, rent, her phone bill and groceries. Cole became unemployed on July 26, about two weeks after her initial interview with the Advocate. After receiving a letter from the Arkansas Department of Human Services that said she would lose her Medicaid insurance because of the income she made at her $11/hour, part-time job, Cole chose to prioritize her health and leave. Cole later told the Advocate she was heartbroken to leave her job, but there was no way she could give up her health insurance with her disability. Now, instead of spending a portion of her income at the grocery store, Cole said she will rely on government assistance and her local food pantry. About the ALICE population A growing number of workers struggle to keep their households from financial ruin while keeping their communities running. These families earn above the federal poverty level, but are often unable to afford the basics of housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and technology, according to United for ALICE, a nonprofit coalition dedicated to research and solutions about poverty. In Arkansas, 31% of the states 1.2 million households comprise the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) population. Add in the 16% of Arkansans who live below the federal poverty line, and nearly half of households in the state earn less than the ALICE threshold of financial survival the average income a household needs to afford the basics. In 2022, the number of Arkansas households below the threshold stood at 562,879, which includes families and individuals who earn below the ALICE household survival budget. Im barely going to be able to shop, she said. Cole, who lives alone in Fayetteville, was one of approximately 560,000 Arkansas households that live below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold of financial survival, according to United for ALICE, a nonprofit composed of United Way organizations and other groups dedicated to research and solutions about poverty. Nearly one in three households in Washington County, where Cole lives, are considered ALICE and struggle to afford basic needs like food, according to United for ALICE. Statewide, 47% of Arkansas 1.2 million households fell below the ALICE threshold. The ALICE populations ability to access food is also likely connected to Arkansas high rate of food insecurity. Ranked second in the nation, more than 567,000 Arkansans experienced food insecurity and struggled to find access to healthy food in 2022, according to Feeding America data released in May. This combination of factors, as well as rising housing costs, has led Sylvia Blain, CEO of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, to believe more people are falling into the ALICE designation. When it comes to food insecurity, if you cant raise your income, then youre going to have to limit the amount of food youre purchasing, Blain said. The ALICE population may buy in bulk, use pick-up grocery services to avoid in-store impulse buys and steer clear of name brands to keep their bills affordable. They may also favor inexpensive ready-to-eat meals, though these often have a higher starch content and can lead to health problems, Blain said. Time is money A persons grocery budget can often be the first place where changes are made when money gets tight, said Grant Williams, executive director of Potluck Food Rescue. I think [food] is the only budget item thats relatively within your control, Williams said. The reason people have cars is because they need transportation; gas is something out of their control. Rent is something as well mostly out of their control. When you stack up everything you have, you cant really negotiate on food. Other contributing factors, like transportation costs to travel out of a food desert for nutritious food and the time it takes to do so can keep grocery budgets somewhat rigid, Blain said. You can buy beans and rice instead of steak and carrots, but you have to have access to beans and rice, Blain said. So if youre living in a food desert and youre having to travel to purchase those foods, then youre adding to the bottom line. Time is money. Our ALICE folks work two and three jobs. The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance in 2022 found that 62 of the states 75 counties have an identified food desert, which means residents have to travel more than one mile to access fresh, nutritious food in an urban setting and more than 10 miles in a rural setting. Blain, who said she was once considered part of the ALICE population as a single mom juggling two jobs and college coursework, remembers the stress of staying up late to plan meals and work through her budget. It took a lot of time, it took the whole family and even putting responsibilities on children, Blain said. I wasnt necessarily proud of the fact that [my oldest son] was making us dinner. Cole said she scours the local free refrigerator program for fresh vegetables, receives a few options a week from Meals on Wheels and hits her preferred food pantry once a month. Cole often scores discarded vegetables like eggplants and zucchini that, as a trained chef, she knows how to incorporate into her meals easily. When the food pantries provide Cole with more food than she can eat, like when they supplied her with a gigantic rack of ribs, she cooks for her neighbors in Hillcrest Towers, a public housing apartment complex. Jen Cole Were going to spread the love, and I will share with my food-insecure neighbors, Cole said. Its a share-the-love thing. Theres no way Im eating all those ribs, but Im going to cook them because they were given to me. Cole doesnt own a car, and she said she will occasionally accrue additional expenses by using ride-share services, like Uber, to get around. She said she uses public transportation often and is lucky to have access to a route that gets to her food pantry. But not everybodys going to be on that route, Cole said. We need more bus routes, and I feel like that would help us get [access] to some of the food. Stigma When members of the ALICE population make it to the food pantry, they can be plagued by a stigma that leads them to believe their request means taking food away from someone else, Blain said. While Blain said this is a misconception, Cole said shes experienced these thoughts herself. I almost feel bad using [the pantry] because their need has gone up so bad, but they remind me Im a human too, and I need food too, Cole said. The same thoughts are true for some members of the ALICE population who visit the faith-based organization The Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock, said executive director Gayle Priddy. Priddy runs a team of volunteers and a small paid staff who help residents in Pulaski County in Central Arkansas receive food. Each month, anyone with a valid ID can visit the organization in exchange for a bag of groceries. During a trip to the operation in June, bags were bursting with bread, cereal, proteins and produce. We have a few people who are embarrassed by it and dont want to admit it, Priddy said. I would say its less than 1% when you start asking them about their income and how theyre doing, theyd rather not take the food than answer those questions. Fears of rejection and the unknown are also strong for people within the ALICE population, Blain said. If you apply for food stamps, and youre turned down because you have more than $2,000 in the bank, then you might not ask again because that was hard enough and then you got turned down, Blain said. A lot of people we would define as ALICE are not accustomed to asking for help at pantries. They dont understand the systemand that lack of knowledge would keep them away. Room for improvement Arkansas has hundreds of food-assistance programs statewide, including regional food banks and local food pantries. The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance works in partnership with these organizations, as well as advocating for better access. In March 2023, state Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, brought forward legislation to raise the resource limit for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), commonly known as food stamps. Dismang argued the existing asset limits discouraged poor Arkansans from saving enough money to become financially stable because they might lose reliable access to food in the process. While Dismangs initial proposal sought to raise the resource limit to $12,500, the bill was amended to $5,500, up from its previous $2,250 for most families. The bill is now Act 675 of 2023. Blain said raising the limit further would be key to helping the ALICE population because they are often the ones who do not qualify for assistance. Feeding kids at school is another important factor to the multi-pronged effort of solving hunger, Blain said. Free at-school meals take some pressure off families who struggle financially. This summer, Arkansas was one of three dozen states to participate in a federally funded meal program called the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer. Focused on feeding children while school is out, eligible students received $120 on a card that can be used at participating grocery stores and farmers market booths. Blain also called on state officials to incentivize local farmers to grow and sell produce locally, year around. Were missing a whole section of our food system, Blain said. One of the things that at the state level we could do is incentivize that level of economic development. It will only strengthen our agriculture industry." Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Summertime sizzle will continue this afternoon across Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley, as a ridge of high pressure dominates our weather pattern early this week! High temperatures will once again be hot in the middle-upper 90s, with tropical dewpoints generally in the 60s and 70s along the I-40 corridor. Make sure youre packing the water if you have those outdoor activities planned and keep your furry friends off the pavement during the afternoon hours this week! Thankfully, this push of hot air is expected to wind down by this weekend, as a strong cold front brings widespread chances of showers and storms and MUCH cooler temperatures to our entire weather coverage area! See the latest forecast to get you ready for this week by tuning into KNWA Today or FOX24 News at 7 this 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 KNWA FOX24. Audience members, including pro-Palestine protesters, and speakers attend the Board of Regents meeting at the UNM Valencia campus on Thursday, Aug. 22. (Photo by Ella Daniel/ Daily Lobo) University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes disclosed UNM Foundation holdings in her Presidents Weekly Perspective email on Monday, Aug. 19. The 83-page document lists the funds the UNM Foundation invests in, but only lists the individual investments within 25 out of 84 of those funds . This story was originally published by The Daily Lobo. It is republished here with permission. The investments within a fund are known as securities. This comes ahead of the first Board of Regents meeting of the academic year on Thursday, Aug. 22. The meeting took place at the UNM Valencia campus. Neither Stokes nor the Regents mentioned the Universitys investments or the recent disclosure. A group of pro-Palestine protesters sat in the audience with signs and Palestinian flags. In May, following a meeting with the UNM Divestment Coalition , Stokes committed to the University researching and disclosing information from its investment portfolio over the summer. The Divestment Coalition calls for UNM to divest from companies based in Israel or companies that indirectly aid the Israeli military. The UNM Foundation is a nonprofit separate from UNM that manages the Universitys investments. The UNM Foundations total investments, named the Consolidated Investment Fund, were detailed in the newly released document. The portfolios market value totals about $806 million, which is diversified across multiple asset classes, including U.S. equity and international equity UNMs two largest investment classes. In July, the Daily Lobo revealed details of the Universitys holdings gained through public records requests. This included shares in funds that invest in Israeli companies. All of the funds UNM invests in are included in the released CIF holdings. Only the securities within 25 of these funds are included, according to the CIF holdings, such as for Axiom International Small Cap Equity Fund and Arrowstreet Emerging Market Trust Fund. Axiom owns shares in Nice Ltd . an Israeli technology company as the Daily Lobo reported in July. Nice is Axioms fifth most heavily-weighted company, according to the released CIF holdings. UNMs largest international index fund investment, BlackRock ACWI ex USA Index, equals around 15% of UNMs total investment portfolio. UNM did not release the securities within BlackRock on Aug. 19, though they were detailed by the Daily Lobo in July. BlackRock owns shares in 14 Israeli companies. Securities are considered proprietary information, meaning fund managers may oppose disclosing details of the funds to the public, according to the released CIF holdings. UNM reached out to each fund manager to request approval to release securities within specific investments, the released CIF holdings read. Proprietary information is confidential information that is not generally known by the public, according to Cornell Law . We will continue to provide relevant updates as available, understanding that some information is protected by nondisclosure agreements or other legal constraints, Stokes email reads. Update 08/23/2024 At the Aug. 22 Regents meeting, neither Stokes nor the Regents mentioned the Universitys investments or the recent disclosure. A group of pro-Palestine protesters sat in the audience with signs and Palestinian flags. For public comment, the Regents allotted 15 total minutes each consistent with the previous Regents meeting in May, during which protesters called for divestment to the pro-divestment and anti-divestment perspectives, as described by the Regents. The meeting marked the first time a regular Regents meeting has been held outside Albuquerque since June 2018, when one was held at the UNM Gallup campus, according to the Regents website . New Mexico Rep. Eleanor Chavez (D-Albuquerque) attended the meeting and spoke alongside the pro-divestment group during public comment. To her, it seemed like the Aug. 19 disclosure was incomplete, she said. If (UNM enters) into these contracts with these investment companies that allow them to refuse disclosure, then we shouldnt be entering into those kinds of contracts. We should not be investing in those kinds of companies, because obviously they have something to hide, Chavez said. DHAKA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen met with Chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society M U Kabir Chowdhury and donated 100,000 U.S. dollars on behalf of the Red Cross Society of China to assist flood victims in Bangladesh here Monday. During a ceremony, Yao said that the Chinese government and people are deeply concerned and empathize with the people of Bangladesh. As a country that also frequently suffers from natural disasters, China extends its sincere sympathies to the interim government and the people of Bangladesh. In the face of the floods, the Red Cross Society of China promptly provided humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh. Yao believed that under the leadership of the interim government, the people of Bangladesh would surely overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes soon. "China is willing to continue providing assistance according to Bangladesh's needs to help in disaster relief and reconstruction efforts, further consolidating and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Bangladesh," he added. "A friend in need is a friend indeed, and China is a true friend of Bangladesh," Chowdhury said, adding whenever the people of Bangladesh face natural disasters, China always extends a helping hand in a timely manner. "The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society sincerely thanks the Red Cross Society of China for its timely and valuable assistance, believing that the aid from China will play a positive role in the flood relief and reconstruction efforts in the affected areas," he added. CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) Stop and Shop announced Monday that it will stop selling tobacco products in all stores. This includes Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, as part of their commitment to community wellness. They also plan to host cigarette buyback events at two of its stores in eastern Massachusetts and New York. All tobacco sales are expected to end on August 31st. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. On strike: Sacramento Countys criminal attorneys walk off the job. What are their demands? Hundreds of Sacramento Countys criminal attorneys walked off the job at one of the states busiest courthouses Monday morning, 10 days after telling county leaders they would take their demands to the picket line. Hoisting bold black-and-white signs declaring Sacramento County unfair, and chanting Overworked and underpaid/County better get that raise, county deputy prosecutors and public defenders crowded the steps outside the Gordon D. Schaber Courthouse in downtown Sacramento. We fight for victims and for public safety. It makes us sick being here on the street instead of the courtroom, Matt Chisholm, president of the Sacramento County Attorneys Association, and a lead trial attorney in the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office, said, surrounded by striking attorneys. Put us back in the courtroom working on our vital mission. Sacramento public sector attorneys about 150 criminal prosecutors, 100 deputy public defenders and a handful of attorneys in child support services said they have been working without a contract since their last labor pact ended in 2022. Their walkout will go through Friday, Chisholm said. Sacramento County says a December 2022 memorandum of understanding signed by the county and the attorneys union extended the contract through June 2025, according to Janna Hayes, a Sacramento County spokesperson. Meantime, the sides were to continue to hash out equity pay increases and retroactive pay, the 2022 memo read. We dedicate our lives to defend the most vulnerable among us: the indigent, the marginalized and those who are often left without a voice in our legal system, said Quoc To, union leader and a senior Sacramento County deputy public defender. Today, we are forced to stand up for our own rights. The contract dispute that led to the walkout is months in the making. Rank-and-file prosecutors and public defenders want at least a 5.5% pay increase plus retroactive pay to make up for the months lost in approving a prior contract. They say low pay has turned their overworked offices into revolving doors. Mid-level and senior attorneys are increasingly heading to neighboring counties with higher pay and lighter caseloads, they said, leaving work to less-experienced lawyers. But advocates for Sacramentos incarcerated and indigent want assurances that inmates rights arent being lost in the demands for better pay, saying that with the stoppage, peoples lives are being used as leverage. The advocacy estimates more than 80% of Sacramento Countys jail population is awaiting trial in Sacramento Superior Court. Little attention has been paid to the strikes impact on mostly low-income Black and Brown people incarcerated in Sacramento Countys jails who are awaiting their constitutional rights, said the advocacy group Decarcerate Sacramento. We are long-time advocates for increased funding to the Public Defenders Office, but not at the expense of someone elses life, liberty and constitutional rights, Decarcerate Sacramento officials said in the statement. It is not reasonable to ask fellow defense attorneys to sacrifice peoples lives as a form of solidarity. Decarcerate Sacramento said the countys conflict criminal attorneys those who take on public defenders cases when conflicts of interest arise are picking up cases while the county prosecutors and defenders are on the picket line. Looking on at the morning protest was Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho. The countys top prosecutor has publicly supported the attorneys demands for higher pay. What the work stoppage will mean for court operations in the near term has yet to be tested, but both Ho and leaders at the Sacramento County Attorneys Association, the union that represents the public sector attorneys, said contingencies are in place to keep operations moving. What I can tell the community is this: Public safety will not be impacted during this week, Ho said, adding he and other attorneys will be handling matters in the downtown courthouse throughout the week during the expected walkout, to make sure the fair administration of justice continues forward and that the public is protected. Attorneys engaged in jury trials and preliminary hearings hearings to determine whether cases move to trial will stay on the job. Lawyers assigned to state hospital and other conservatorship cases will also continue to work. Attorneys will also continue to staff juvenile court hearings, said To. Ho, a decorated prosecutor in the Sacramento office before his election to D.A. in late 2022, and a veteran of the last attorneys strike in 2006, said he and his counterpart public defenders are losing seasoned professionals to other counties. I do support the district attorneys and the public defenders obtaining fair wages, Ho said. I have an issue with retaining and recruiting experienced attorneys and Im losing them to other jurisdictions, he added, calling on Sacramento County chief executive David Villanueva to step forward and help resolve this situation. But Sacramento County officials say the two sides had a deal in place through June 2025 that met the attorneys demands that included significant increases in compensation ranging from 14% to 15% raises and back pay. Attorneys loudly disputed that on the courthouse steps Monday, but Sacramento County officials held firm, calling its compensation packages for attorneys competitive and generous. With top-step annual salaries for our attorneys reaching $247,000 for principal attorneys, $225,000 for Level V, and $204,000 for Level IV well above market averages, even when considering higher-cost areas our compensation packages, including pensions and benefits, are competitive and generous, county officials said. County officials said the attorneys want the 5.5% raise on top of the offered increases. Officials who had reacted with deep disappointment at the news of a pending walkout, called the additional proposed pay raises counterintuitive. A 19.5 to 20.5% compensation increase, as opposed to the 14-15% provided as part of the current extension, for one of the countys highest-paid staff, who also have the lowest vacancy rate, appears counterintuitive given that market data does not support such a raise, the county said. A student at Avon Intermediate School East caught with a gun on a bus this morning has been "removed" from the school and no threats were made to students, a spokesperson said. Avon Schools said Monday morning that the fifth-grade student was "showing off" the gun to other students on the bus. Hours later, after reviewing footage from the bus, the district said the only other student who saw the firearm was the one who reported it to a teacher. Avon Schools communication coordinator Kevin Carr said school administrators and Avon School Police intervened, confiscated a handgun and removed the student. More School news: Indiana law bans cellphone use in class. Indy-area schools wrote exceptions into policies Carr also said no threats were made and the district will continue to investigate the incident and follow up with "appropriate discipline." In an email to parents whose children were on the affected bus, superintendent Scott Wyndham said that once the gun was reported to a teacher, school administrators found the firearm inside the student's backpack, which was locked inside their locker. The district later confirmed the gun was not loaded but that there was ammunition in the backpack. The district is working with the Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office on appropriate discipline measures. Avon's discipline policy states a student who brings a gun to school could be suspended for up to 10 days and expelled from the campus for the rest of the school year. The superintendent may reduce the length of the expulsion at their discretion. Avon Intermediate School East principal Stephane Bordelon told parents in an email Monday afternoon that students were not told about the gun being found during the school day but social workers would be made available in the school on Tuesday. The school leaders continue to remind students that if they ever see anything concerning they should always report it to a trusted adult. Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Avon student found with handgun on bus. District says no threats made (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The percentage of incoming kindergarten students who are not vaccinated due to personal belief exemptions has increased slightly in North Dakota, but one health official said many families are getting caught up on vaccines as students get older. About 6% of incoming kindergarten students did not have the required immunizations last fall, with personal beliefs accounting for 4.5% of the exemptions, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services immunization dashboard. Vaccine exemptions for personal or religious beliefs have trended upward for kindergarten students over the past decade, the state data shows, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott Faul, superintendent for Minot Public Schools, said he believed exemptions increased in Minot after the pandemic because parents thought they were going to require COVID-19 vaccinations, which the state doesnt require. He also said prior to the pandemic the school used to have students register to have the required 11th grade meningitis booster administered through a community health partner on campus, but he thinks those days have passed due to the perceived controversial nature of vaccines. After COVID, theres no way we wanted to get into that, Faul said. In North Dakota, five vaccinations are required for a student to attend kindergarten. Those vaccinations are: measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP), chickenpox, hepatitis B and polio. Additional vaccinations are required for those entering into seventh grade and 11th grade. Danni Pinnick, immunization surveillance coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services, said its important not to shame people who dont vaccinate themselves or their children. They are not going to have their minds changed by that, Pinnick said. In North Dakota, parents must list one of three possible reasons for their child to be exempted from the statewide vaccine requirements. First, a parent may cite a personal or religious belief exemption, which means they object due to a sincerely held philosophical, moral or religious belief. Second, a parent may submit a certificate from a doctor that cites a medical exemption. Lastly, an exemption may be granted based on a history of disease with the student. Faul also served as a high school principal in Minot and said he knows some seniors who were exempted during their K-12 education who were scrambling to catch up on vaccinations to complete their college admission processes. The data showed vaccination rates increase as students progress through school with about 3% of seventh graders and about 2% of 11th graders exempted from vaccine requirements last year. If you think about the fact that they are going to the doctor every year, theres more opportunities for the family to talk to the doctor and kind of get comfortable with the idea of getting caught up on some of the vaccines they had missed, Pinnick said. She also said that some parents have been waiting to vaccinate their children until they are 4 or 5 years old so they can hit certain developmental milestones before they are vaccinated. However, Pinnick said that strategy can become an issue because more than 136,000 deaths were caused by measles worldwide last year with many occurring in children under age 5. Its really scary for us because we know the most vulnerable people are young children, she said. We really dont want families to be delaying (the MMR) vaccine, but they are delaying them with a plan without really considering the consequences if they got that disease. Rupak Gandhi, superintendent for Fargo Public Schools, said vaccinations are essential for maintaining a safe and healthy school environment. They prevent the spread of contagious diseases, protecting not only those who are vaccinated but also those who cannot be vaccinated due to medical reasons, Gandhi said in a statement. Fargo Public Schools reported a more than 96% vaccination compliance rate across its schools last year. Vaccination data is collected by the Department of Health and Human Services from schools each October through a statewide survey. North Dakota participates in the national Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which helps provide vaccines to children from newborn to 18 years old who may not have health insurance, Pinnick said. Providers are available around the state. More information on the vaccination program can be found on the HHS website. Its similar to, kind of like a free lunch program, Pinnick said. The kid doesnt have to know if they are getting a free vaccine or an insurance-provided vaccine, its the same thing. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) It is a big day for kids in western Massachusetts as they will be returning to the classroom on Monday. Faded Barber Lounge hosts back to school community celebration It is the first day of school, and even though we dont see many people or students now, schools will be full of students later. Almost 50 million students around the country are going back to school and in the state of Massachusetts, just under one million students are getting ready to head back into the classrooms. There are several districts in our area going back on Monday, including the following: Springfield Public Schools August 26th for all students in grades 1-12. Amherst Pelham Regional Schools August 26th for students in grades 1-12. Holyoke Public Schools August 26th for all students in grades 1-12. Granby Public Schools August 26th for students in Grades 1-12 Ware Public Schools August 26th for all students in grades 1-12. Lee Public Schools August 26th for all students. For many of these schools, it will just be the older students going back to the classrooms, as many kindergarten and pre-k classes start in September after Labor Day. After a nice and hot summer, kids will be hopping on buses, getting in a car, or walking to school. Besides the students going back to school, new Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Sonia Dinall is preparing for her first day of school in her role. Back in May, the Springfield Public Schools announced Dinall would be their new superintendent following the retirement of former superintendent Daniel Warwick. Dinall was previously a teacher, and principal, and also helped high schoolers with college and career readiness. A product of Springfield Public Schools herself, Dinall said her goal is to break barriers and level the playing field. It is important to keep the students safe on their way to and home from school. Make sure to keep an eye out for walkers and when a bus flashes red and stops, traffic in both directions needs to stop. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.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 WWLP. Study: Trans kids often seek help from teachers, not parents Troubled transgender students are more likely to turn to school staff than their own parents for support, a new study finds. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News Troubled transgender students are more likely to turn to school staff than their own parents for support, a new study finds. Trans teens feeling depressed and anxious are 74% less likely to seek help from parents than from adults at school, compared to cisgender kids, researchers reported Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Transgender high school students also are 25% less likely to seek support from friends and 48% less likely to ask siblings for help, researchers found. "We know schools are often sites of shame, victimization and bullying for transgender students -- but now we also know of their potential to serve as vital sites for support," said lead researcher Mollie McQuillan, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Like all students, trans and nonbinary students need support from multiple sources," McQuillan added in a university news release. "Our results point to the critical role of PK-12 school staff in affirming and supporting trans and nonbinary students, especially when mental health concerns emerge." For the study, researchers analyzed risk behavior survey data on more than 92,000 Wisconsin high school students, including nearly 4,000 who identified as transgender. Results show that trans teenagers do indeed often suffer at school. They had twice the risk of bullying, 2.4 times the risk of skipping school because they felt unsafe and 2.7 times the risk of feeling they don't belong at school as cisgender students do, results show. Transgender teens also were two to three times more likely to suffer from depression, self-harming behavior and suicidal thoughts and actions, compared to their cisgender peers, researchers found. However, the study found that schools also offer sources of support for these kids, in the form of teachers and staff. These results highlight the danger of laws that target transgender children, McQuillan said. "In the last five years, anti-LGBTQ+ state bills have dramatically expanded in number," McQuillan said. "These bills dissolve and prevent school environments in which transgender students can seek and receive support that could save their lives." More information Harvard Medical School has more about care for transgender children. Copyright 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved. The captain of the doomed Bayesian superyacht is reportedly being placed under investigation by Italian prosecutors after the 184-foot vessel sank amid strong storms off the coast of Sicily last week. Seven of the 22 passengers and crew were killed in the accident, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch. Reuters confirmed Italian media reports on Monday that 51-year old James Cutfield, a New Zealand national, was being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck. However, an investigation in Italy does not necessarily imply guilt and does not determine whether formal charges will ultimately be brought forth. Notices must first be sent to those under investigation before victim autopsies can be conducted. Cutfield was reportedly interrogated twice before a decision was made to place him under investigation. It's also presently unclear if any crew members would likewise be investigated as part of a possible criminal probe. The Bayesian sunk within minutes early on the morning of Monday, Aug. 19 when it was said to have encountered a tornado-like waterspout. Despite the weather-related elements, Ambrogio Cartosio, head of the public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, said it was still possible that negligence had contributed to the sinking. Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, the firm that owns the manufacturer of the ship, said in an interview with Italian media last week that an "endless chain of errors" had contributed to the vessel's downfall. Among the precautions that Costantino claimed had been ignored was moving the passengers to the ship's emergency meeting point from their cabins and securing the hull and deck by closing all doors and hatches. Franco Romani, a nautical architect who was part of the team that designed the ship likewise said in an interview on Monday that "the Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather." Romani also theorized that the yacht may have taken on water from a side hatch that was left open. If egregious mistakes were in fact found to have been made, as Reuters points out, maritime law holds a ship's captain fully responsible for the ship, crew, and all passengers on board. Neither Cutfield or any of the surviving crew members have publicly commented on the investigation. Georgias Republican Governor Brian Kemp may actually be preparing to take action against three members of the state election board who have been at the center of claims of ethics violations. Kemp responded Monday to an ethics complaint filed by Democratic state Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes alleging that Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King, who have been touted by Donald Trump as pitbulls for victory, broke rules to impose last-minute changes to Georgias election procedures. The accusations stem from a July 12 meeting where the trio passed two new election rules, but failed to provide adequate notice about the meeting to the public or the two Democratic board membersa possible violation of the Open Meetings Act. The first rule required county election boards to post daily ballot counts online, and the second increased the number of partisan monitors during the vote-counting process. After the group approved the new rules, they were cheered on by one of Trumps election-denying allies. Earlier this month, the Georgia State Election Board voted 32 in favor of yet another new rule, which required a reasonable inquiry into any discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters, before certifying election results. This would make it significantly easier for county election officials to delay or refuse certification of election results in populous areas such as Fulton or DeKalb counties in November. Last week, Islam Parkes filed a complaint with the state, alleging the group had violated the state ethics code in addition to the Open Meetings Act. The election board is supposed to certify election results and so passing illegal rules to undermine the integrity of our elections is extremely concerning, Islam Parkes told local outlet Fox 5. She said that the trio should be removed from the board immediately. In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday, Kemps office said they were looking into the complaints against the trio. This office has received Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes and others letters alleging ethics violations by members of the State Elections Board. Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the Attorney Generals advice regarding the application of statute to the letters, the statement said. We will respond following receipt of the advice and further evaluation of the letters. Kemps offices statement signals a positive direction for the Republican governor, who may take action to undo the trios handiwork or even unseat them. But its unclear just how concerned Kemp is about the threat the group poses, given the fact that he formally endorsed Trump just last week, even after Trump has made several digs at Kemp over the last month for refusing to overturn Georgias election results in 2020. We gotta win from the top of the ticket on down, Kemp said. Ive been saying consistently for a long time we cannot afford another four years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and I think Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are to be even worse. So we need to send Donald Trump back to the White House. A group of Georgia officials gathered at the state capitol Monday, urging Kemp to take action. Representative Lucy McBath called on Kemp to hold the State Elections Board accountable, and called the states election board an equal co-conspirator in the effort to suppress our votes. Before Islam Parkes filed her complaint, the former chair of the Fulton County Board of Elections also filed a similar ethics complaint earlier this month. In July, government ethics watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the board, accusing the trio of violating Georgias Open Meetings Act. Georgias Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger has also criticized the last-minute rule changes. Activists seeking to impose last-minute changes in election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers, he said earlier this month. Raffensperger refused to help overturn his states 2020 election results, and he has held firm against Trump ever since. Raffensperger has yet to endorse anyone in the 2024 presidential election. Since 2020, Georgia has had the highest number of certification refusals of anywhere in the countryand remains the likely epicenter for Trumps claims of election fraud in 2024. A report from American Doom found that at least 22 people whod pushed election-denying conspiracy theories were employed as election officials in Georgiaincluding two on its board of elections. One of the supposed upsides of a career in education is the long holidays. Thats proved a forlorn hope for many this summer. Headteachers, bursars and governors are having to cut short their time off in order to deal with the fall-out from the Governments announcement that it will introduce VAT on private school fees in January. Theres a huge amount of work and a lot of modelling going on to ensure that we can limit the impact of this policy on parents while also ensuring we can maintain a sustainable business, says Samantha Price, the new head of Cranleigh School in Surrey. Nor is the frantic activity confined to private schools. In parts of the country, state places are limited, sparking fears that the system could be overloaded by a surge of children newly priced-out of their fee-paying schools. Labour says there is nothing to worry about, pointing to a falling birth rate in the UK that is leading to lower pupil numbers. Total pupil numbers in state-funded primary and secondary schools are projected to decline by 430,000 between the 2022/23 academic year and 2028/29, according to recent research by the Education Policy Institute, a think tank. Many primary and secondary schools face a loss of funding and possible closure as a result. Seen in this light, an influx of private school pupils into the state sector is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Some state heads, who have long struggled to recruit teachers, say they are hopeful too about being able to hire staff if private schools start closing in large numbers. The problem is that averages hide local variations. So while the Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that the state system will absorb up to 40,000 pupils as private schools rise, these numbers are unlikely to be evenly distributed around the country. State schools in certain areas will find it harder to weather the coming disruption. State teachers and civil servants in some areas are growing concerned that the Government is effectively flying blind given the lack of impact assessments and the speed with which the policy is being implemented. Earlier this month, headteachers, bursars and chairs of governors from around 50 schools sent a letter to the Treasury warning that state schools risk being overwhelmed by a mid-year surge in demand for school places that has not been forecasted. The general feeling among those involved in state education is that the net impact of this policy across the country wont be a problem, says one civil servant who until recently worked for the Department of Education. However, Ive spoken to heads of state schools in specific areas who are worried that theyll be up against it. The suburban school meltdown Top of the list of potential trouble spots are the leafy suburbs, commuter towns and rolling countryside of Surrey. This is one of the most affluent areas in the UK. But precisely for that reason, it has a high concentration of private school children and very few free state school places. Analysis by The Telegraph shows that if Labours policy does, as many have warned, result in unintended consequences, this is where they are most likely to be unleashed. Its not just the relative paucity of state school places; this is an area with an unusually high percentage of students with special educational needs, often catered to in the private sector. I hope Labour is thinking about how to scale up capacity in the state sector, says Steve Chalke, chair of Oasis Academies. They cant do one move add VAT to private schools without in tandem researching and understanding what the knock-on effect will be to state schools. We know in many areas there is not the capacity for extra children. Steve Chalke, chair of Oasis Academies, hopes that Labour has a plan to 'scale up' state sector education capacity - Felix Clay/Guardian News & Media/eyevine Academies like those run by Chalke are funded by the state but not overseen by the local council. He is worried that the VAT policy appears not to have been properly modelled, the fact that it is being brought in in the middle of the school year and that there is no other funding earmarked for the state sector mean that many are worried maintained schools in the area could be overwhelmed. Georgina Lynton*, 47, a mother of two teenagers at a private school in Surrey, says that towards the end of last term she received a letter informing her that fees were going up by another 6pc for the coming academic year starting in September. A few days after that, the new government announced VAT would be introduced from January 1 2025, not September 2025 as had widely been assumed. Its true that private schools have slowly been cranking up the fees over many years so I do get why politicians assume parents can absorb further increases given weve had to suck it up for a while now, says Lynton. Schools certainly havent helped themselves with this debate and they will have to do all they can do to help out hard-pressed parents. Id personally be happier to see fewer new buildings going up at my kids school. However, Lynton argues that there are two key differences with the addition of VAT compared to past increases in fees. The first is that this is not a slow ratcheting up but likely a big leap in the middle of the school year. The second is that it is happening after a huge increase in the cost of living. Parents paying for private school education say they feel like frogs in beakers of water whose temperature has increased in careful calibrations to ensure they dont hop out. They now face being flash-fried. Lynton points out that, although those living in Surrey may be more affluent than in other parts of the country, house prices in the area are astronomical and plenty of people she knows are now paying twice or even three times as much as elsewhere to cover their mortgages. We have the old government to thank for the rise in mortgage rates and the new government to thank for the rise in school fees, she says. But, either way, its a two-punch combination. Plenty of people I know are rich enough to take it on the chin but plenty arent. Lynton says she and her husband are lucky to have the savings to pay for their kids fees until their next big exams. Beyond that, Ive already submitted an application for my elder child to the local sixth form college, she says. Talking to other parents, Im not the only one. There are 200,710 pupils in Surrey of whom 41,121, or 20.49pc, are privately educated, according to Department for Education data from 2022-23. This is by far the highest overall number of any county in the south of the country, outside of London, and almost double that of Hertfordshire. Nationally around 7pc of children are privately educated. There have been a range of estimates as to the percentage of privately-educated pupils who might leave their current school and move to the state sector following the introduction of VAT on school fees. In the middle of the pack is the Adam Smith Institute which has suggested it could be 25pc. If a quarter of the pupils in private schools in Surrey moved to the state sector, local schools would need to find room for 10,280 new students. They would be hard pressed to do so given that many schools in the area are already close to capacity. Four of the top ten constituencies across the country most likely to be overwhelmed by a potential exodus of private school pupils are in Surrey, according to analysis by The Telegraph: Runnymede and Weybridge, Godalming and Ash, Epsom and Ewell and East Surrey. That doesnt surprise me at all, says Ben Spencer, the Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge. Ive been contacted by loads of parents who are already applying to get their kids into state school. Spencer tabled an amendment to the Kings Speech to criticise Labour for their plan to tax education. I just dont think this policy has been thought through properly and introducing it half way through the school year will undoubtedly make the disruption all the worse, he says. Many of the London constituencies likely to be hard hit are in South London, neighbouring Surrey. At a meeting in June, officials at Merton Council, in south-west London, discussed the possibility of up to 20pc of private school pupils being forced out as a result of the new tax. A briefing note obtained by The Telegraph showed councillors had identified two secondary academy schools that have more physical space than their intake number and could provide more places. The Government has argued the 1.5bn it hopes to raise from the levy will fund 6,500 new teachers. This figure equates to one new teacher for every three state schools. Critics of the plan point out that it will take time to hire and train the new teachers. Labours plans also dont appear to take into account that the pressure on state schools may well be focussed on specific parts of the country. There are 398 state schools in Surrey. This would suggest the county is in line for just 133 new teachers. If more than 10,000 children do move from private schools to state there will be one new teacher for every 77 new pupils. Labours Emily Thornberry has admitted the Governments plans could lead to larger state school class sizes. Speaking on GB News, she said: Certainly, some schools that have vacancies [may take ex-private pupils]. My primary schools and my secondary schools have space, and theyre very welcome. I mean, its fine and if we have to, in the short term, have larger classes, we have larger classes. Surrey County Council received 582 email queries from private school parents in just the fortnight after Labour won the general election, according to a Freedom of Information request by The Telegraph. The local authority admitted the actual figure could be far higher as requests could relate to more than one child and the figure does not include telephone queries. In the six months prior to the election, the parents of at least 227 private school pupils in Surrey had applied for an in-year transfer to a state school. Surrey County Council has received queries from more than 580 private school parents since Labour won the general election - Mick Sinclair/Alamy Stock Photo The council said the actual figure is likely to be much higher as it only records applications to change schools outside the normal admissions window, for example between year seven and year eight, rather than a traditional point such as between year six and year seven. This will not be the big private schools that will shut or lose pupils, such as Eton, says Chalke, of Oasis Academies. It will be the smaller ones, often with children with special education needs. And if those parents do move into the state sector, they will be looking for bespoke care, so this means more teachers, and with the right training. It would be irresponsible to not do the research and evaluation around this. The SEN surge Surrey has a particular high number of pupils with special education needs. The number of statutory Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in the county in 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, was approximately 12,700, according to figures from the Surrey County Council. This constituted approximately 4.6pc of the school population, compared to 4pc as the England average. Nearly 12pc of Surrey pupils with an EHCP are educated in independent or non-maintained specialist schools, which is much higher than the national average. However, these figures likely only represent the tip of the iceberg. Research by the Independent Schools Council suggests there are 110,600 children in private schools across the country with special needs of whom only 7,600 have an EHCP. (Labour has promised that children with an EHCP will be exempt from the tax hike.) Adrian Floyd, the head of The Hawthorns, an independent co-educational preparatory school in Bletchingley, says that of the 500 local children at his school, 60 have special needs and two have an EHCP. He believes this is a fairly typical ratio among private schools in the area. There are a number of theories about why there are so many children with special education needs in Surrey none of them conclusive. These include the fact that older parents (which correlates to affluence), especially older fathers, are more likely to have children with special needs. Premature babies, which can be linked to fertility treatment for older and more affluent parents, are also more likely to develop educational problems. Its likely that better informed parents may also be more likely to seek a diagnosis for their children. Most education experts believe that some combination of all these factors is at play. There are lots of families who have moved to the area so they can send their children to schools that can cater to their needs in ways that state schools cant, says Rebecca Paul, the Conservative MP for Reigate. Im really concerned that there will be a rush of parents applying for an EHCP which will put significant pressure on the local authorities. Michelle Catterson, the head teacher at Moon Hall School in Reigate, a specialist school for children aged 7 to 16 with special needs, says many parents have chosen to send children to her school because state schools cannot meet their needs. The children often arrive at my school a little bit traumatised where their educational needs have not been met, she says. While its good Labour want to increase the number of teachers in state schools, they also need to be able to meet these childrens special education needs. Michelle Catterson, head teacher at Moon Hall School in Reigate, believes it is important that state schools are able to meet children's special education needs - Julian Simmonds Catterson adds that Surrey will not be able to cope with the new demand from privately-educated children: I know state schools in Surrey have had 600 applicants in two weeks alone. There are many areas in Surrey and inner London where there are just no spaces [in state schools] and huge waiting lists. The local authorities will end up having to send these kids on buses out of the catchment just to access a school. And how is a child with extra needs meant to do that? Schools in the danger zone Critics of the new tax on fees argue that private schools tend to all be bracketed together with the Etons and Harrows of the world where in fact there is a wide spectrum of schools offering different services at a range of different price points. The larger and better established public schools, especially those with an international reputation that can attract students from overseas will be those that can best cope with the new policy while the smaller outfits are more likely to struggle. Schools like mine will be ok although it will make things tricky, says Samantha Price, who is starting as the new head of Cranleigh School, which has 695 students, charging fees of 48,795 a year for boarders and 39,795 a year for day pupils. It is the smaller independent day schools with fewer than 300 hundred pupils that will really struggle. Some will undoubtedly close. There are lots of schools which fit that description in Surrey. Samantha Price, head teacher at Cranleigh School in Surrey, says the tax hike will hit smaller independent day schools in the area hardest - PA Floyd, the head of The Hawthorns, agrees: Ten years ago it was said that running a school with fewer than 100 pupils was dangerous. Nowadays you really need to have more than 300 pupils to be viable. There are lots of independent schools in Surrey that are in the danger zone. Floyds school has just under 500 students. He estimates that around 60pc go on to either Caterham or Reigate Grammar School, Sir Keir Starmers old school. He says private schools like his have been preparing for the coming tax raid by attempting to keep costs down. When his schools last head of HR left, Floyd took on those responsibilities himself. The idea that all independent schools have huge reserves or operate on wide enough margins to absorb this hit is bonkers and the belief that all parents can just suck it up is fanciful, he says. Over 75pc of our parents are double-income working households. Thats who this tax will hit. My school, and others like it, will become the preserve of the very rich. Floyd argues the exodus wont be immediate. Parents will be reluctant to pull their children out mid-year and most will want to keep them where they are until their next major exams if at all possible. Nevertheless, there are already signs that the new rule is having an impact even before it has been implemented. Talking to other heads, they are already seeing dips in applications for their reception classes, says Floyd. Younger parents, who arent earning as much, are already taking the view that private education is out of their reach. Union worries too The heads of private schools argue that the introduction of VAT on fees will also have both a direct and indirect impact on state schools. Price argues that many private schools do an enormous amount of work with the state sector, including sponsoring academies; providing mentorships; collaborating on teaching resources (especially with support for maths and science); helping with university applications and preparation for Oxbridge interviews; and running joint Combined Cadet Force training. One of the biggest misconceptions is that the independent and maintained sectors are entirely separate, says Price. In fact, theres a huge amount of partnership work. If youre going to introduce VAT why not plough the money raised into that. You could then give tax breaks to schools based on who much they are helping other schools in their area. The state heads that I have talked to are not overly enthusiastic about this policy, adds Price. The money that will be raised from introducing VAT on school fees is the only new funding that has been promised to the education sector by the new government. If that is offset by an influx of new pupils there appears to be no alternative plan. She argues that high performing state schools are also worried theyll be swamped by middle class families with the means to move into their catchment areas and that will squeeze out the lower income families. This is a concern that appears to be shared by some teaching unions. Its important to remember that this policy is not itself going to address the funding crisis facing schools and colleges, says Sara Tanton, deputy director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), a trade union covering both the private and public sector. That is going to require a substantial increase in core funding. Floyd says the heads of the local primary schools in his areas are similarly concerned. The last thing they need is extra pressure on their capacity to provide the best possible education for their students, he says. Even the unions are saying that the introduction of VAT in January is, err, somewhat hasty. Tanton from the ASCL says: Its imperative that this policy is fully modelled and consulted upon to understand the implications, and there is not long to do this before January. There are also concerns that introducing this change during the middle of an academic year is going to cause additional disruption. Ian Cook, a financial advisor from Farnham, Surrey, says local state school children will suffer from increased class sizes as private school children leave due to Labours VAT raid. Cook, a single parent, pays 22,000 a year for his son, Gabriel, 10, to attend St Edmunds School in Hindhead, Surrey. He insists he will sacrifice other expenditures to make sure his son can continue his private education as he thrives from it. Financial advisor Ian Cook intends to cut down expenditure elsewhere in order to continue his son's private education - Christopher Pledger Cook is already paying less into his pension pot to cope with the extra 400 a month payment. But he says he knows other parents will have to withdraw their children, sending them into the state sector. Cook, a former army sergeant, says: One school has already closed due to this VAT raid Alton School just over the border in Hampshire. And I know those children have already put pressure on the local state schools, such as Weydon Secondary School in Farnham. If I was a parent of a state school child in the area, I would be very worried about class sizes increasing from say 30 to 35 children. This is not good for anyone. And I think it will backfire, ultimately. Many parents will be simply priced out of sending their kids to private school down the line. It will just end up with state schools having to educate more children. 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. Liu Ning, secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, delivers a speech at a meeting held by the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor (BGEC) Joint Cooperation Committee in Brunei, on Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Meng) BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor (BGEC) Joint Cooperation Committee held its 4th meeting in Brunei on Sunday to enhance coordination and further promote the industrial collaboration between China and the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA). Haji Mohd Amin Liew, minister at the prime minister's office and second minister of finance and economy of Brunei, said at the meeting that the BGEC has played a pivotal role in fostering a dynamic supply value chain between Brunei, China, and other ASEAN countries since its establishment in 2014. "Brunei Darussalam is continuously working to diversify its economy and welcome quality FDI from China to invest in sectors such as food, downstream oil and gas, tourism, services, and ICT," the minister said. "The growing industrial cooperation between Guangxi and Brunei highlights the substantial potential for cross-sector collaboration, particularly in developing industry chains through shared resources and strategic alignment," he added. During the meeting, Liu Ning, secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, highlighted the achievements of the BGEC over the past decade, indicating that Guangxi aspires to actively engage in the sub-regional cooperation between China and the EAGA. Nearly 100 representatives from the governmental and business sector of Guangxi and Brunei attended the meeting, including a sideline trade and investment promotion event. Representatives from the business sector of China's Guangxi and Brunei attend a signing ceremony during a meeting held by the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor (BGEC) Joint Cooperation Committee in Brunei, on Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Meng) Haji Mohd Amin Liew, minister at the prime minister's office and second minister of finance and economy of Brunei, delivers a speech at a meeting held by the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor (BGEC) Joint Cooperation Committee in Brunei, on Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Meng) Suspects in murder of rapper Julio Foolio appear in Hillsborough County court Read more: Another suspect sought in murder case of Florida rapper Julio Foolio TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) Three suspects in the murder of Florida rapper Julio Foolio pleaded not guilty in a Monday hearing. The suspects Sean Gathright, Isaiah Chance, and Alicia Andrews appeared in a Hillsborough County courtroom for an arraignment hearing on Monday. Isaiah Chance appears in Hillsborough County court for an arraignment hearing in the shooting death of Florida rapper Julio Foolio. Credit: Hillsborough County State Attorneys Office, 13th Judicial Circuit Alicia Andrews appears in Hillsborough County court for an arraignment hearing in the shooting death of Florida rapper Julio Foolio. Credit: Hillsborough County State Attorneys Office, 13th Judicial Circuit Sean Gathright appears in Hillsborough County court for an arraignment hearing in the shooting death of Florida rapper Julio Foolio. Credit: Hillsborough County State Attorneys Office, 13th Judicial Circuit A fourth subject, Rashad Murphy, will have an arraignment hearing next month after he is transferred from another county where he is incarcerated, according to the Hillsborough County State Attorneys Office, 13th Judicial Circuit. A fifth suspect, Davion Murphy, is still at large. Ken Jefferson is a crime and safety expert with First Coast News in Jacksonville. He shed light on if police can use the three suspects in court Monday to help bring in Davion. Sometimes theyll cooperate. But, you know, gang members are tough cookies. You know theyll do some time and come out and get and take it as a badge of honor, Jefferson said. Foolio was killed in June during a shooting at a Tampa Holiday Inn. The shooting took place just before 5 a.m. when multiple assailants were caught on surveillance video approaching the vehicle the Florida rapper was inside. Shots were fired, and the vehicle sped off, but Foolio, whose legal name is Charles Jones, was pronounced dead following the shooting. Gathright, Chance, and Andrews who allegedly planned the murder of Jones with Davion and Rashad Murphy were arrested in Jacksonville in late July and charged with premeditated first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Jefferson said agencies across the state and elsewhere have eyes out for Davion. Without a gang, hes nothing. Hes just an individual, and hes on the run, so he is scared, Jefferson said. Hes scared because he knows that everybody in the world basically is looking for him. They know what he looks like, so he has to lay low. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Sweden fascinates policy scholars, and with good reason. While ostensibly part of the club of advanced, progressive Scandinavian democracies, Sweden does not walk in lock-step with its neighbors. Not only is the country quite willing to go its own way, it is also willing to make comparatively swift U-turns when it decides a policy needs to be dropped. Sweden famously went its own way during the COVID-19 pandemic, refusing to lock down when all of its European neighbors did. Masks were mandatory only in health care settings; children continued to attend school. Distancing and working from home were voluntary, and there were no arrests of persons choosing to be outdoors or choosing to go without masks, as happened in several other countries. The Swedish government chose the path of developing herd immunity, a strategy rejected by experts in other countries. Of course, the Swedish approach was, in retrospect, roundly vindicated. Sweden experienced fewer deaths per population than other high-income countries during the pandemic. In addition, unlike other countries that chose lockdowns, Sweden did not experience spikes in death due to increased domestic violence, lack of needed medical care for other conditions, and increased suicide and substance abuse. Their children also did not lose two years of schooling. Sweden was also the first advanced democracy to make a comparatively swift U-turn on transgender medical care for children. Though in years past, Sweden permitted the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even surgery on minor children suffering from gender dysphoria, in 2022 the government renounced that approach due to the lack of evidence that these measures improve outcomes for children, as well as increasing evidence that physical, even irreversible, harm may result from these measures. The first line of treatment in Sweden is now mental health support. Several nations have followed Swedens lead, including neighbors such as Norway and Denmark, and non-Scandinavian nations such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The Swedish propensity to go their own way was also on full display this week when the Swedish government announced that for the first time in 50 years, there was net negative immigration in the country, meaning that more people emigrated from Sweden than immigrated to Sweden. The Ministry of Justice attributed this trend to a decline in the number of asylum-seekers to the country, coupled with a decline in residence permits issued. Indeed, the government asserted that Sweden is on track to have the lowest number of asylum seekers since 1997, which stands out as rather extraordinary in the context of western Europe. The U.K., for example, sees 500-700 asylum-seekers arriving per day, typically on cross-channel dinghies. Also interesting is that the government noted, emigration increased among people born in countries such as Iraq, Somalia and Syria. That same year, net migration numbers for people born in these countries were negative. These countries are highly unstable, and yet people in Sweden from those countries are choosing to emigrate in greater numbers than those who are arriving from those same countries. This is a major reversal for Sweden. In 2015, the government opened its doors to any asylum-seekers that could reach Sweden. But the costs to Sweden from that generous offer have been brutal, and voters opted for a moderate-right coalition in 2022 that would listen to their concerns. Sweden, once with an enviably low crime rate, has seen crime surge since 2015. The country now has the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita gun death rate in the European Union. Gang violence is such that neighboring countries have come together to battle spillover of that violence from Sweden into their own lands. There are now frequent grenade and bomb strikes in Sweden, strikes that would have been unheard of only a few years ago. An interesting element is that this is a Scandinavian country with impeccable progressive credentials. Sweden is a welfare state par excellence; it has one of the highest rates of gender equality in the world and is a leader on environmental issues. And yet Sweden has been willing to depart from what might be seen as the progressive consensus when it is not working. Sweden is the foremost example of progressive realism to be found in the world today. While the term progressive realism was coined by Robert Wright to refer to a more humble, less interventionist, liberal foreign policy, the term makes much more sense when applied to the pragmatic path Sweden has chosen. If your ideals lead you to implement policy that would harm your citizens, dont do it. Or if you have started in that direction, then reverse course as soon as you see the harm being done. Dont be proud, dont be rigid just reject doing harm to your people in the name of idealism. This type of progressive realism is also much more in line with our understanding of democratic governance. Many scholars have lamented the vast chasm between the attitudes and opinions of ordinary people and ruling elites within advanced democracies, and how this dissociation undermines democratic governance. Swedish progressive realism is one antidote to that malady, because the sure-fire way to know if harm is being done is to listen to ones people. Sweden listened, and has been vindicated every time it has. Theres a lesson in that for our own country. Valerie M. Hudson is a university distinguished professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and a Deseret News contributor. Her views are her own. A BGM-71A anti-tank missile is fired from a M41A7 TOW ITAS (Improved Target Acquisition System) on a M1167 HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) anti-tank missile carriers during military drills in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Taiwan drilled Monday with anti-amphibious landing missiles as part of strategy to remain mobile and deadly in an attempt to deter an attack from China, which claims the democratically ruled island as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) PINGTING, Taiwan (AP) Taiwan drilled Monday with anti-amphibious landing missiles as part of strategy to remain mobile and deadly in an attempt to deter an attack from China, which claims the democratically ruled island as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Troops fired tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles known as TOW 2A missiles mounted on M1167 Humvees at floating targets off a beach in Pingtung County during the two days of exercises. The area on Taiwan's southern tip faces both toward the Taiwan Strait and China, and toward the Pacific Ocean. The missiles are among the most effective and popular anti-tank weapons in the world and a key component in what some experts say is Taiwans best strategy to resist a potential Chinese invasion. China has ramped up its military threat in recent years based on its vast edge in numbers of warplanes, ships and missiles. Taiwan bought 1,700 units of the newer TOW 2B system from the U.S., the last of which are due to be delivered by the end of the year. The two days of testing will also gauge the more sophisticated TOW 2B's interoperability with the TOW 2A and its ability to acquire targets at night, the Defense Ministry said. Advocates of such weaponry argue that these more mobile systems stand the best chance in an asymmetric battle against a much larger Chinese force. China has the world's largest standing military, but most of Taiwan is composed of steep mountains, mud flats and heavily built-up urban areas poorly suited to such a conventional force. Others have argued Taiwan needs more warplanes and surface ships. China sends warplanes and warships near Taiwan on a near-daily basis in an attempt to intimidate its citizens and degrade the island's defenses. In response, Taiwan has extended the period of national military service to one year, building its own submarines and importing sophisticated new equipment from the U.S. The vast majority of Taiwanese favor the current status of de-facto independence for their island, which separated from mainland China amid civil war in 1949. FILE - Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 23, 2023. The Taliban Virtue and Vice Ministry had on May 7, 2022 ,said women in public must wear all-encompassing robes and cover their faces except for their eyes. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File) ISLAMABAD (AP) The Taliban on Monday rejected concerns and criticism raised by the United Nations over new vice and virtue laws that ban women in Afghanistan from baring their faces and speaking in public places. Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the U.N. mission in the country, UNAMA, said Sunday that the laws provided a distressing vision for Afghanistans future. She said the laws extend the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesman for the Talibans government, issued a statement warning against arrogance from those who he said may not be familiar with Islamic law, particularly non-Muslims who might express reservations or objections. We urge a thorough understanding of these laws and a respectful acknowledgment of Islamic values. To reject these laws without such understanding is, in our view, an expression of arrogance, he said. Afghanistans Taliban rulers on Wednesday issued the countrys first set of laws to discourage vice and promote virtue. They include a requirement for a woman to conceal her face, body and voice outside the home. They also ban images of living beings, such as photographs. After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one, Otunbayeva said. In response to the UNAMA statement, Mujahid added, We must stress that the concerns raised by various parties will not sway the Islamic Emirate from its commitment to upholding and enforcing Islamic law." In rare public criticism of Afghanistan's rulers, the Japanese Embassy in Kabul expressed its deep concern about the continuing restrictions on women and girls as announced in the laws. The embassy said Monday on the social platform X that it would keep urging authorities to listen to the voice of Afghan women and girls for education, employment, and freedom of movement for the future of the country. Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber requests all state park meetings to be cancelled ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber is requesting all meetings in regards to the changes to state parks to be cancelled. The proposal to add the changes have caused widespread concern among the community. Meetings over controversial Florida state park plans rescheduled due to demand The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber believes that any changes to the parks would hurt the environment and the tourism industry. The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber is urging the community to contact local representatives and sign a petition about the changes. The Florida State Parks Foundation, who is in charge of preserving and protecting the parks, are opposed to the proposal, according to the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 Bay jails are over capacity. Is a change in bail law the reason? The Pinellas County jail has become so crowded in recent months that deputies have run out of regular beds and been forced to provide hundreds of mattresses held a few inches from the ground by plastic frames. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he hasnt seen crowding like this in more than a decade. He pointed to a state bail reform law, saying the jail population has climbed steadily since January after the bill went into effect. The law tightens rules to release someone before trial and makes it more costly in some instances for defendants to get out on bond. Were walking a tightrope with the population this high, Gualtieri said, noting that limited space has increased tension among the incarcerated people and put a strain on staffing and resources. The law is the right concept, but we have to find a way to level this out. The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office also said its jail population has increased since January and that the law was partially responsible. Pasco County acknowledged its jail was over capacity but did not talk about why. House Bill 1627 was touted by lawmakers as a way to make bail procedure uniform across the state and to limit violent criminals from being released before seeing a judge. The law, passed in 2023, required the Florida Supreme Court to create statewide uniform bond recommendations. Previously, each of Floridas judicial circuits could decide on bail amounts independently. Under the law, judges can increase the amount of bail beyond what the Supreme Court recommends. But to reduce it, a jurisdiction would have to petition for the courts approval. The law also made it more difficult for people arrested for misdemeanors who cant afford bail to be released until their court dates. The number of people in the Pinellas County jail fluctuates from week to week but has been above capacity since January. The jail has 2,915 beds and is meant to hold up to 3,000 incarcerated people. On Aug. 8, it held 3,200. Those sleeping on floor beds are set up in large holding cells. During a recent visit, some men read while lying on the low-slung cots. Others put rags over their faces and tried to rest. When jail guards need to lock down a unit, the men cram into cells meant for two. Gualtieri said he supported the law initially because its good to have consistency across the state in how bail works. But he said the law should be tweaked to address the growing number of low-level offenders waiting in jail for weeks or months until trial. Col. Paul Carey, who oversees the Pinellas County jail, said more people are being held longer for minor crimes. A man facing a criminal mischief charge was in custody for more than 195 days in late July, a sheriffs office report says. A woman arrested for a DUI: more than 83 days. A man charged with trespassing had served over 183 days. Carey said that before the law changed, if a person committed a low-level crime, the sheriffs office would evaluate them at booking. If they didnt seem like a threat to society, they would be released with a judges approval and a promise to show up at their court date. Carey said the law eliminated the jail staffs discretion. Now, only judges can make that decision. From January to June 2023, 1,865 people were released under such conditions, Carey said. In the same time frame this year, 414 were released. Carey said deputies are working more overtime with this many people in jail. And he said he worries about what the jail will do if a hurricane heads this way. The jail is in Flood Zone A, and officials are supposed to evacuate people to higher levels in the jail, Carey said. But he said space would be tight with such a high population. Theres just nowhere for them to go, Carey said. The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office reported a 12% increase in the inmate population at its two jails between the beginning of the year and July 29. The office said the bail reform law is a contributing factor to the increase but added that requests for mental health competency hearings have led to people being held longer than usual. The Pasco County jail went over capacity earlier this year while also seeing a rise in population since January. A spokesperson said the county cannot provide assumptions as to whether the bail law is the reason. Rocky Brancato, chief operations officer for the Hillsborough County public defenders office, said in an email that HB 1627s impact is tremendous. He said rather than create uniformity, the law has given more power to judges to set bond higher. Bonds now have greater variance by judge or courtroom, wrote Brancato, who lost a bid for public defender in this months election to Lisa McLean, a private defense lawyer. Brancato said the previous bond rules were not perfect, but they gave steady guidance to the courts. The consistency with bonds that the county saw in the past has diminished he said. Spokespeople for Hillsborough and Pinellas courts declined to comment for this story. State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, co-sponsored the law and said low-level offenders getting stuck in jail might be an unintended consequence. She said it was designed to protect victims and the public from violent criminals. But perhaps we need to take another look at the law, she said. A geyser of water opened up in northeast Fort Worth on Monday, damaging trees and at least five homes near 8597 Trinity Boulevard. Workers from a major telecommunications company hit a city of Fort Worth water main, which sent a stream of high-pressure water into the air, and left 20 homes without water Monday afternoon, said Fort Worth Water Department spokesperson Mary Gugliuzza. Susie Clark, who has lived at 8604 Trinity Vista Trail for 23 years, showed the Star-Telegram the damage to her living room. Clark said she came home to a Yellowstone geyser shooting onto her house. Susie Clark, who has lived at 8604 Trinity Vista Trail for 23 years, showed the Star-Telegram the damage to her living room. Clark said she came home to a Yellowstone geyser shooting onto her house. Clark came home from work Monday to find more than a foot of water in her home, and the ceiling in her bedroom completely collapsed. She had to wait for roughly an hour at the end of her street while city crews worked to shut the water off. Its devastating. Thats the only word I can think of, devastating, Clark said. She felt lucky her family heirlooms were spared, but said her entire home will need to be remodeled. The city is putting her up in a hotel until Sept. 2, but Clark said shell probably be out of her home longer than that. Clarks home appeared to suffer the worst of the damage, while some of her neighbors had flooding. Water damaged homes in the Lakes of River Trails North neighborhood on Monday. The break had been isolated Monday afternoon, but the city needed to clear debris around a damaged valve before water service could be restored to the affected houses, Gugliuzza said about 3 p.m. Monday. Work contained Tuesday morning to repair the main line. Shortly before 7 a.m., Gugliuzza said it likely would be several more hours before the line is back in service. Work contained Tuesday morning to repair a main water line that broke in a Fort Worth neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Gugliuzza wouldnt say which telecommunications company was doing work in the area. The city received a request through 811 in early August to help locate its water lines; however, the city requested that the telecom company hold off on doing the work, she said. Texas 811 requests are only valid for 14 days, and the city did not receive a followup request, Gugliuzza said. The line that broke supplies the majority of the water for the city of Hurst, city officials said in a Facebook post about 3:30 p.m. In order to maintain adequate water system pressure, the City of Hurst is asking everyone to refrain from using outdoor watering/irrigation for the next 24 hours. We are also asking that you please limit water usage to essential business and personal needs. The City will provide an update within the next 24 hours. Susie Clark, who has lived at 8604 Trinity Vista Trail for 23 years, showed the Star-Telegram the damage to her living room. Clark said she came home to a Yellowstone geyser shooting onto her house. This is a developing story. For the latest updates, sign up for breaking news alerts. This embedded content is not available in your region. Prosecutors in France said Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in connection with a cybercrime and anti-fraud investigation into illegal activity on the platform and refusing to cooperate with law enforcement. Durovs arrest, according to prosecutor Laure Beccuau, was part of an inquiry opened on July 8 against person unnamed involving potential charges such as aiding in the distribution of child sexual abuse material, money laundering, and selling illegal drugs. The messaging app said its founder has nothing to hide following his arrest in France on Saturday. The 39-year-old billionaire CEO of the company was detained after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris over the weekend. Arrested Russian Billionaire Had Sperm Donation Side Hustle In a statement, Telegram said it abides by European Union laws including the Digital Services Act, legislation that aims to crack down on illegal online activities and the spread of disinformation. Telegram also said its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, the statement read. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. The company added that it is awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement Monday that Durovs arrest was not political. The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation, he said. This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide. Durov is a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates, according to Telegram, but he was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in the former Soviet Union. His family moved to Italy when he was 4, he told Tucker Carlson in an interview in April, but returned to Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Hes been dubbed Russias Mark Zuckerberg for creating VK, the countrys answer to Facebook. In 2014, he left Russia after refusing government requests to shut down opposition accounts and hand over data belonging to people involved in a pro-democracy protest movement in Ukraine. After selling VK, Durov now lives in Dubai and commands an estimated $15.5 billion fortune, according to Forbes. Its not clear if hes renounced his Russian citizenship, but Russias embassy in France said it is attempting to clarify the reasons for the detention and to provide for the protection of Mr Durovs rights and facilitate consular access. On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow does not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of. With what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov? Without [knowing], it would probably be wrong to make any statements, Peskov added. Experts say Telegrams lax content moderation allows the platform to potentially be used in illegal activities including money laundering, drug trafficking, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material, according to the Associated Press. 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. PARIS (WJET/WFXP) The Paris Prosecutors Office has confirmed the arrest of Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of the popular messaging platform Telegram. The arrest took place at the Le Bourget airport, which is on the outskirts of Paris, on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 8 p.m. Durovs custody period was extended Sunday, meaning he can remain in custody until August 28th, 2024. The arrest follows a month-long investigation that began on July 8 initiated by Section J3 JUNALCO (Fight against Cybercrime) of the Paris Public Prosecutors Office. The investigation was opened against Durov on the charges of: Complicity web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in an organized group, Refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law, Complicity possessing pornographic images of minors, Complicity distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in organized group, Complicity acquiring, transporting, possessing, offering or selling narcotic substances, Complicity offering, selling or making available, without legitimate reason, equipment, tools, programs or data designed for or adapted to get access to and to damage the operation of an automated data processing system, Complicity organized fraud, Criminal association with a view to committing a crime or an offense punishable by 5 or more years of imprisonment, Laundering of the proceeds derived from organized groups offences and crimes, Providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration, Providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration. Importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration. Telegram released a statement saying that Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Actits moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. They continue to say that Durov has nothing to hide and state that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took to Telegram, saying that the Russian Embassy has immediately started working on Durovs detention, as it supposed to in a case, when information comes that the receiving side has detained a Russian citizen. In an interview, she said that for France, he is first and foremost a citizen of their country. Durov has maintained that, despite pressures from outside sources, Telegram should remain a neutral platform and not a player in geopolitics. What is Telegram? Telegram is an encrypted messaging service that is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed. The platform was founded by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai in the fall of 2013. As of 2024, the app has almost 1 billion active users, making it one of the largest messaging apps behind WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. The app largely bypasses the governments oversight of content, with its central privacy feature being its end-to-end encryption in secret chats and calls. This essentially prevents third parties from seeing what is being sent or said in the conversation. According to Telegrams FAQ page, the company has historically been funded by Durov, meaning your data is not sold to generate revenue. To help with funding, Telegram has implemented several ways to monetize the platform. In 2021, they added minimalist, privacy-conscious advertisements that can appear in certain public channels. The following year, they introduced a premium subscription to support the app and unlock premium features. The app has become a major source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic and misleading content by both Ukraine and Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The app is used heavily by both Ukraine officials and the Russian government. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com. BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The prices of aortic stent grafts developed by a Shanghai-based company have been lowered after China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) launched an open inquiry into the firm, the NHSA said on Monday. The Shanghai MicroPort Endovascular MedTech (Group) Co., Ltd., or Endovastec, has reduced the prices of its Castor branched aortic stent graft, which is available in different sizes, to about 70,000 yuan (about 9,800 U.S. dollars). Before the adjustment, the selling price of its (200 mm long) Castor branched aortic stent graft was above 120,000 yuan. After receiving public complaints concerning the abnormal prices of aortic stent grafts, the NHSA consulted with Endovastec and 11 other enterprises that produce or import aortic stent grafts, aiming to regulate overcharging for medical products, ensure the well-being of patients and safeguard the country's health care funds. Endovastec proposed a price adjustment plan following its talks with the NHSA, but its failure to reduce the price to a reasonable level resulted in the launch of an open inquiry into the company. The prices of relevant products from the other 11 enterprises have also been cut to below 80,000 yuan, according to the NHSA. Telegram has become known for its strict privacy settings and lax approach to content moderation, which, French authorities say, has allowed criminals and terrorists to operate freely. Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, who was arrested on Saturday, reportedly has been charged by French authorities with enabling criminal transactions. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 ($555,750 USD), NBC News reported. Durov's arrest stems from the French governments investigation into whether Telegram has encouraged criminal behavior on its platform. The news initially prompted some backlash from those who claim the CEOs arrest violates free speech. Authorities are arguing that the platform failed to moderate posts and conversations involving drug trafficking, fraud, child pornography and the promotion of terrorism. Heres what you need to know about Telegram, Durov and his recent arrest. What is Telegram? Telegram is an encrypted messaging app launched by Durov and his brother, Nikolai, in 2013. Since then it has exploded into one of the worlds largest online communities and is considered to be a central social media, news and messaging platform for people in Russia, Ukraine and India. Telegram now reportedly has 900 million users, and Forbes estimates Durovs net worth at $15 billion. A big draw for Telegram users is the apps custom security settings, which allow users to have Secret Chats end-to-end encrypted messages that can self-destruct or delete anywhere from one second to a week after the recipient opens the message, based on a timer set by the sender. End-to-end encryption is a security method that keeps all communication between users private, eliminating the option to commercially exploit users personal data, which has been an issue in the U.S. (Its noteworthy that only Secret Chats have end-to-end encryption, unlike with Signal or WhatsApp, where encrypted messages are the default.) In a 2020 post on Telegram, right before the app reached 500 million active users, Durov reassured users that the company would not be sold to a larger media conglomerate (which is what happened with WhatsApp) and that the majority of features would stay free and ad-free. Durov told the Financial Times in March that Telegram makes money through in-app purchases, advertising and subscriptions and that it was nearing profitability. But the freedom from advertising or membership fees can come at a price: Because Telegrams messaging and public posts are not moderated as strictly as those of other platforms, it ends up allowing a lot of content like that of extremist right-wing groups and organized crime that would be banned elsewhere. At one point, it was the go-to space for militant groups like the Islamic State to market their beliefs. (Telegram did shut down channels associated with the Islamic State group after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.) A Washington Post investigation from March also found that children and teenagers were victims of intense cyberbullying on Telegram, with some adults allegedly blackmailing young users into harming themselves on camera. (The Post investigation also noted that this behavior was not limited to Telegram, but was also happening on popular online spaces such as Roblox and Discord.) Who is Pavel Durov? Durov, 39, spent his childhood between Italy and Russia, where he was born. In an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Durov described how he and Nikolai excelled at coding and were creating websites for fun by the time they were in college. Durov was dubbed the Russian Mark Zuckerberg after launching a social media company similar to Facebook called VKontakte or VK in 2006. In 2013 he and Nikolai launched Telegram, an instant messaging service. Telegram describes itself as a combination of social media, SMS and email. Why was he arrested? Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested following a preliminary investigation by French police focusing on the lack of content moderation on Telegram, French publication Le Monde reported. The investigation alleges that Telegram encouraged criminal activity, such as drug trafficking, cyber fraud, child pornography and terrorism, by emphasizing the apps privacy. Police also accused Durov of failing to take action against criminal activity on his platform and said that Telegram has failed to cooperate with law enforcement. Durov has claimed in the past that Telegram removes any and all inappropriate images and calls for violence, but the platform still remains largely unmoderated, especially compared to others. In 2014, one year after founding Telegram, Durov fled Russia after refusing to hand over data to the government on Ukrainian users of his first social media company, VKontakte. Its not clear whether he renounced his Russian citizenship after fleeing in 2014. Backlash to the arrest The majority of the backlash to Durovs arrest has been about freedom of speech. X owner Elon Musk, Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of Rumble, a right-wing version of YouTube, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who just suspended his independent presidential campaign, all publicly criticized the decision on free speech grounds. Whistleblower Edward Snowden called the arrest an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. And Tucker Carlson described the situation as a warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth. There is not a lot of precedent for an arrest like this. The European Union and the U.S. government have both tried to crack down on social media when it comes to misinformation and criminal activity, and while tech leaders have appeared in court to defend their platforms, no executive has been arrested and held personally responsible for what takes place on their app. Here in the United States, social media platform owners are largely protected from illegal activities of users on their platforms thanks to provisions in Section 230 of the Communications Act, said Walter Scheirer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame and the author of A History of Fake Things on the Internet. In an interview with Yahoo News, Scheirer noted that while Telegram remains operational as of Monday, the future of that platform and Durovs fate may be inseparable at this point. It is an open question as to what impact all of this will have for speech on the internet, he said. Brian Fishman, former counterterrorism policy manager at Meta, argued that those defending Telegram for free speech reasons should not downplay the platforms problems as an issue of insufficient or light content moderation. In a post on Threads, Fishman emphasized Telegrams decade-long reputation as a safe haven for terrorist groups, child predators and hate groups thanks to its laissez-faire rules. Should we watch here for dangerous precedent? Yes, he said, referring to Durovs arrest. But we should also acknowledge how brazenly Telegram has flouted norms adopted by nearly everyone else. Its not just another platform. Its been far worse. In reaction to the backlash and suggestions that Durovs arrest violates free speech, French President Emmanual Macron said in an X post on Monday that France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication but that freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights. Has Telegram responded to the arrest? In a statement issued on Sunday, Telegram said that it abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act and that its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegrams CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, the statement said. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. What is Telegram and why was its CEO arrested in Paris? FILE - The logo for the Telegram messaging app is seen on a notebook screen in Munich, Germany, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File) Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in Paris over the weekend over allegations that his platform is being used for illicit activity including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images. Durov, who was born in Russia, spent much of his childhood in Italy and is a citizen of France, Russia, the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and the United Arab Emirates. He was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport in France on Saturday after arriving from Azerbaijan and released Wednesday after four days of questioning. He was ordered to pay 5 million euros for bail and directed to report to a police station twice a week, according to the Paris prosecutors office. In a statement posted to its platform, Telegram said it abides by EU laws and its content moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Durov, the company added, has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. Here are some details on Telegram, the app at the center of Durov's arrest. What is Telegram? Telegram is an app that allows for one-on-one conversations, group chats and large channels that let people broadcast messages to subscribers. Unlike rivals such as Meta's WhatsApp, Telegram's group chats allow as many as 200,000 people, compared to a maximum of 1,024 for WhatsApp. Experts have raised concerns that misinformation spreads easily in group chats of that size. Telegram offers users end-to-end encryption for their communications, but contrary to a popular misconception this feature is not on by default. Users have to switch on the option. It also doesn't work with group chats. That contrasts with rival Signal and Facebook Messenger, where chats are encrypted end-to-end by default. Popular Telegram features like group chats and channels are not end-to-end encrypted. That means that Telegram can access their contents, said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the University of Torontos Citizenlab. Similarly, messages between users are not end-to-end encrypted by default, which means that Telegram could also access these messages. Only Telegrams opt-in secret chat feature is end-to-end encrypted, which would prevent Telegram from accessing the chat contents. Telegram says it has more than 950 million active users. It is widely used in France as a messaging tool, including by some officials in the presidential palace and in the ministry behind the investigation into Durov. But French investigators have also found the app has been used by Islamic extremists and drug traffickers. Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai. According to Telegram, Pavel Durov supports the app financially and ideologically while Nikolais input is technological." Before Telegram, Durov founded VKontakte, Russia's largest social network. The company came under pressure amid the Russian governments crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012. Durov said government authorities demanded that the VKontakte take down the online communities of Russian opposition activists. It later asked the platform to hand over the personal data of users who took part in the 2013 uprising in Ukraine, which eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president. But Durov sold his stake in VKontakte after pressure from Russian authorities in 2014. He also left the country. Today, Telegram is based in Dubai, which Durov called the best place for a neutral platform like ours to be in if we want to make sure we can defend our users privacy and freedom of speech" in an April interview with conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson. Why was Durov arrested? On Wednesday, French authorities handed preliminary charges to Durov for allowing alleged criminal activity on Telegram and barred him from leaving France pending further investigation. Allegations against Durov include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. The first preliminary charge against him was for complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group, a crime that can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and 500,000 euro fine, the prosecutors office said. Preliminary charges under French law mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for further investigation. What has been the response? There was no immediate comment from Durov or Telegram to the charges. In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on reports of Durovs arrest in France. We still dont know what exactly Durov is being accused of, Peskov said Monday during his daily media conference call. We havent heard any official statements on that matter. Lets wait until the charges are announced if they are announced, Peskov said. Russian government officials have expressed outrage at Durovs detention, with some calling it politically motivated and proof of the Wests double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics: In 2018 Russian authorities themselves tried to block Telegram but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020. Elsewhere, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X who has called himself a free speech absolutist, has been speaking out in support of Durov and posted #freePavel following the arrest. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, Telegrams post after the arrest said. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of vital information. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all. Does Telegram moderate content? Western governments have often criticized Telegram for a lack of content moderation, which experts say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of material linked to the sexual exploitation of minors. Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is less secure (and) more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content, said David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher, who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation, at its Internet Observatory. In addition, Telegram appears basically unresponsive to law enforcement," Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none. In 2022, Germany issued fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million at the time) against the operators of Telegram for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said that Telegram FZ-LLC hasnt established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms. Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram over its failure to surrender data on neo-Nazi activity related to a police inquiry into school shootings in November. ___ Associated Press Writers Barbara Surk in Nice, France, and Daria Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia contributed to this story. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Extreme, dangerous heat will grip the Midsouth for the next few days with high temperatures expected to reach into the triple digits. The Shelby County Health Department says so far, this summers data shows that most Memphians have been staying safe, but dont let the numbers fool you. So far this year we have had no reported heat-related deaths, but Shelby County Health Department says deaths would not necessarily be reported until lab results are in, and that can take several weeks or months. Check the latest forecasts from WREG Weather More heat leads to more warnings from the Shelby County Health Department that dangerous heat can be deadly. A chart shows two heat-related deaths in the past five years. Shelby County Health Department explains the law does not require that they are reported to the Health Department, so they rely on ER data. Le Bonheur emergency room doctors say water is key to beating the heat. Doctors warn of dangerously hot temperatures ahead The body has a marvelous way of cooling itself through perspiration and things like that. But if you dont give it enough liquid, the body cant do its job, said Dr. Rudy Kink. As the heat index surpassed 100 back in July, heat-related illnesses skyrocketed in the ER. Data from last year compared to this summer show ER visits have increased drastically. Doctors are now warning to prepare for these warmer days ahead. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken phoned in to KELOLAND News Monday afternoon to discuss some of the issues facing the growing city, including alcohol abuse and violent crime. This conversation comes as the citys police pursue their sixth homicide investigation of the year, and follows just weeks after TenHaken highlighted the role of cheap alcohol in the issues facing the citys homeless population. Rosebud woman joins small list of female tribal leaders Following a Sunday afternoon shooting in a local park that left one dead and others injured, TenHaken was asked to address citizens of the city who are growing increasingly concerned about the apparent growth in violent crime. In looking at this matter, TenHaken wanted to focus on per capita numbers. When weve grown by 30,000 people in the last five or six years, youre going to have more violent crime. Because when we average five, six violent crimes per 1000 residents and you had 30,000 people, thats 180, 250 more violent crimes, reasoned TenHaken. The mayor also noted that many of those committing violent crimes are not new to the system, as he put it. In a lot of cases, weve arrested them many, many times, he said. This, said TenHaken, is a big frustration. This is why Ive been preaching mentorship for six years, TenHaken said. Some of our toughest criminals in this community are kids that are under the age of 18. Okay? And so I dont know how our police department is going to fix a 16-year-old that isnt getting the resources, the programming, the nuclear family attention that he needs to ensure that hes not out on a Friday night jacking someones gun out of an unlocked car. What TenHaken did want people to focus on, in addition to per capita numbers, is the citys close rate, or how often the citys police solve a violent crime. Its higher than most cities our size in the country, he said. The police departments doing an incredible job at solving the crimes when they happen. On the subject of alcohol, TenHaken recently stated that he would like to see local businesses stop selling bottom-shelf liquor. Asked about a recent (failed) proposal in Rapid City to limit the hours in which off-sale liquor could be sold in the morning, TenHaken indicated a similar fate would likely meet such a proposal in Sioux Falls. I was watching very closely what Rapid was doing, said TenHaken. I would expect something like that to fail in Sioux Falls if we did it citywide to, you know, to say, hey, the entire city of Sioux Falls, we dont trust you to buy liquor before 10 a.m.' This being said, TenHaken did leave the door open for a more limited measure. I would never propose something like that. But I would say, you know, in a downtown district do we need to sell off-sale [liquor] before 10 a.m. right in our downtown? I dont know, speculated TenHaken. Its worth looking at and I plan to talk to some of the [city] councilors, he said. When it comes to stemming the availability of alcohol, TenHaken voiced a preference for a more collaborative approach. I dont like it when government mandates things that we can maybe solve with a conversation, he said. Were having those conversations with some of our downtown retailers and people in our downtown who sell liquor and who sell some of the cheaper stuff they want to be part of the solution, you know, they dont want to look to just make a few extra bucks off people suffering from the disease. From the issue of alcoholism, TenHaken looked to widen the view to addiction as a whole. were dealing with just the disease of addiction. So I want to start with that context and that kind of baseline of that addiction is a disease. And so were trying to, at a government level, deal with a disease that permeates all of our country, he said. TenHaken pointed to The Link a community triage center in Sioux Falls. The link is creating a place where those suffering from this disease of addiction can go and get linked to the right resources. You know, some of those people do choose to get linked to the right resources, he said. Some people do not or cannot make that choice, TenHaken acknowledged and raised the question of what can be done about the accessibility of alcohol, short of banning sales. Police: 4 people shot at Dunham Park, no arrests yet The example Ill use in this is if a one-liter thing of vodka is $7 and a business stop selling that they may say, well, its fine. Theyll just go up a shelf and buy the $12 liter. Its only five more bucks, TenHaken said, speaking of a hypothetical buyer, but its five more bucks that you have to either panhandle or try and get. It makes it harder to obtain that. While its his hope that businesses may make the choice on their own to reduce sales of certain types of alcohol, he did acknowledge a more heavy-handed approach the city has used. In a handful of occasions most recently in the case of businesses such as the Lucky Lady Casino and the Mercado store at Plaza 600 near downtown the city council has chosen to deny the renewal of off-sale liquor licenses to businesses. They have to look at if that license is being used at whats called a suitable location, said TenHaken of these scenarios. Another example of this approach was that of Walia, a convenience store along E. 10th St. in Sioux Falls which did not have its liquor license renewed in 2019. In the case of Walia thats less than a block from Bishop Dudley (a local shelter), said TenHaken. It was creating a real challenge for that whole neighborhood. During his previous discussion of the issues of alcohol and what he calls the citys nuisance population, TenHaken held up the removal of licenses at the Plaza 600 building as a success, noting that calls for service in the area decreased substantially. The flip side of that action was that the businesses in the building closed. It appears that a new tenant may soon be filling that space, with an effort to bring in Southeaster Behavioral Health in the works. This swift repurposing has not occurred for Walia, however, which has sat as an empty corner along a busy street in recent years. We asked TenHaken about whether in his eyes it was better that a location sit vacant than be a contributor to a problem. For sure, answered TenHaken. Id rather have it be empty than have it be a high crime block If I had a choice to say, hey, could a block be high crime or be underutilized, Id rather have it be underutilized while we figure out what the best long term use of it is. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com. Tennessee's legislative Republican leadership on Monday threatened to create a new state law to withhold state sales tax from Memphis and Shelby County, an unprecedented move to enact a heavy financial penalty if the city goes through with a ballot referendum on gun-related issues. House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, issued a joint statement threatening the hefty financial penalty on Monday, the latest salvo in an ongoing power struggle between GOP and Memphis and Shelby County leaders over criminal justice policy. The threat comes as Memphis voters will face three referendums that city leaders say are not intended to restrict gun ownership but enact safer gun handling policies. The ballot measures conflict with state law amid a Republican effort in recent years to relax gun access measures, in addition to clashing with a new law blocking local governments from passing any sort of "red flag" law to block dangerous individuals from owning or purchasing a gun. Leadership made the threat in a news release from Sexton's office, which said the legislature will "not tolerate any attempts to go rogue and perform political sideshows." House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, left, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, say they will work to withhold state sales tax revenue from cities and counties that push politically motivated ordinances and ballot measures. In the statement, Sexton criticized the Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy and the Memphis City Council for what he called "continued efforts to override state law with local measures" and said leadership felt it "necessary to take action and protect all Tennesseans' rights and liberties." "We hope they will change course immediately," Sexton said. Memphis Mayor Paul Young said in a statement: "Guns are at the center of the theft and violent crime issues in Memphis - we also appreciate and honor the importance of our state laws and the Tennessee Constitution. Guns pose a different risk for residents of Memphis than they do for some other municipalities, but we understand that we need to work with our state to determine a set of tools to restore peace in our community. "What happens next is up to the voters and the legislative branches. We are hopeful that we can all work together for the best possible outcome to reduce gun violence in our community. The Memphis gun-related measures are not yet officially on the ballot. The Shelby County Election Commission has received the measures and is processing them. The latest salvo from Republican leadership also comes as GOP lawmakers have been increasingly willing to jump into matters impacting Tennessee's largest Democratic-leaning cities. Republicans passed legislation targeting the size of Nashville's Metro Council as well as who makes appointments to Music City's airport and sports authority boards. Meanwhile, in Memphis, voters are expected to vote in November whether to change the city charter to block handgun carry within the city without a permit and to block unpermitted handguns from being carried or stored inside a vehicle. A second ballot question would make it illegal to carry assault rifles within Memphis, with the exception of those with valid handgun permits on privately owned property or a shooting range, and would ban the commercial sale of assault rifles. Law enforcement and armed forces would be exempt from the ordinance. Related: Memphis voters will face these ballot questions in November |The Week in Politics The third question would create a "red flag" law, or extreme order of protection, that could block the purchase of a firearm if probable cause was found that the purchase posed "a significant danger or extreme risk of personal injury or death to the respondent or another person." It's unclear how exactly the Tennessee General Assembly could withhold sales tax from one of the state's largest local governments, but the leadership announcement said if a city does "not want to participate within the state and state laws, then they do not need to participate in the states successes." "The Tennessee Constitution clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the state and local governments," McNally said. "Shelby County needs to understand that despite their hopes and wishes to the contrary, they are constrained by these explicit constitutional guardrails." The unusual statement from both leaders comes amid ongoing debates over gun reform in Tennessee, but it also comes as campaign season ramps up in one of the most competitive districts in the state. Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis, faces Democrat Jesse Huseth in November. Democrats were critical of the threat by the two Republican leaders. "The people of Memphis, like those in other large cities across Tennessee, are desperate for solutions to reduce gun violence," Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, said in a statement. "What we need now is a good faith partnership with the state, not threats that jeopardize our already scant funding resources.The current one-size-fits-all, top-down approach to gun violence isnt working," she said. "Our communities need more tools to address the unique challenges we face, and these ballot reforms are a step in that direction. Rather than imposing punitive measures, I urge my colleagues at the state level to work with us to ensure the safety and well-being of all Tennesseans." This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN GOP leadership threatens tax revenue over Memphis ballot measures Gov. Bill Lee's administration is plagued by ethics issues, as Lee refuses to repay a conservative Christian organization that funded his travel to a Florida beach resort to speak to the group. (Photo: John Partipilo) Gov. Bill Lee's administration is plagued by ethics issues, as Lee refuses to repay a conservative Christian organization that funded his travel to a Florida beach resort to speak to the group. (Photo: John Partipilo) As the Department of Justice starts a civil rights investigation into a privately-run state prison in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee contends steps have been taken to improve operations at the facility operated by what he calls an important partner. Lee said the state reduced the number of inmates at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center and increased pay for the states correctional officers. The inmate population was cut to 2,068 over the last year from 2,480 in October 2023, according to the Department of Correction. It is unclear whether state pay increases translated into higher salaries for CoreCivics prison guards. CoreCivic declined to answer questions from the Lookout about officer pay. Changes Lee identified have been slow coming after a series of bad audits by the state comptroller. The state hit CoreCivic with millions of dollars in civil penalties over several years for failure to meet contractual requirements. Yet the Republican governor leans toward defending the company, which runs four state prisons, instead of taking a hard line against the Brentwood-based, publicly-traded corporation. Several Democratic lawmakers, in contrast, have said it is wrong for a company to make a profit on prisoners. CoreCivics been a very important partner to the state in operating the prisons that they operate, the governor said last week, a day after the federal investigation was announced. The prison operator has given $69,000 to Lees campaign, including funds to hold an inauguration. CoreCivic is one of the 25 top political spenders according to database of campaign finance and lobbying reports maintained by the Lookout. Since 2009, the company has spent $3.7 million, about three-fourths of that on lobbying. CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger has also become a Republican political player, speaking and giving out gifts at a yearly GOP gathering and broaching the idea of a gubernatorial run. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who has said he is satisfied with CoreCivics efforts in spite of poor audits, has spent quite a bit of time visiting the facility to deal with potential deficiencies, the governor said. The state paid CoreCivic $233 million last year to operate four state prisons, $77.7 million of which went to Trousdale Turner. Three of those contracts run through local governments because of a state law that limits Tennessee to only one prison contract with a private operator. The Department of Correction also increased its payout to CoreCivic even though the company sustained a 146% turnover rate in 2023 and had a 48% vacancy rate at critical posts, according to a comptrollers report. In announcing the civil rights investigation last week, U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis said public information suggests Trousdale Turner has suffered serious problems since it opened, including reports of staffing shortages, physical and sexual assaults, murders and a 188% turnover rate among guards last year. Federal prosecutors said the state holds ultimate responsibility for prisoners. Because of those types of failures, CoreCivic paid $20 million in liquidated damages in recent years, although the fines really amount to reductions in the amount the state pays the company. As recently as late July, a CoreCivic spokesman called the partnership with the state a success and said the company is proud of the innovative solutions provided for inmates to help them on release, in addition to saving tax dollars. A different company spokesman said last week CoreCivic has worked closely with the state to improve safety and security and provide programs to help inmates re-enter society. Gov. Lee did acknowledge the importance of the states audits and CoreCivics responsibility to meet contractual requirements. We want to know where the shortcomings are. And we want to take steps moving forward, and I believe that we will see we have taken steps, he said. But its a never-ending process. FAMM, a national criminal justice advocacy group formerly known as Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said last week it supports the federal probe, noting prisoners should not be subjected to stabbings, sexual and physical abuse, deadly overdoses, medical neglect and gang extortion, all caused in part by under-investment. And yet, that is what people imprisoned at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center face on a daily basis. A prison sentence should never include the experience of living daily in fear of death, said FAMM general counsel Mary Price. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee's top Republican leaders on Monday threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding from left-leaning Memphis should leaders continue with plans to place three local gun control initiatives on the November ballot. Earlier this year, Memphis' city council approved asking voters in November if they wanted to tweak the city charter to require permits to carry a handgun, ban the possession of AR-15 style rifles and implement a so-called red flag ordinance, which allows law enforcement officials to remove firearms from those found to be an imminent danger to themselves or others. The city council had been discussing the ballot measures for more than a year, acknowledging at times that they were potentially risking the ire of the Republican-dominant Legislature since the measures likely conflict with Tennessee's lax gun laws. Regardless, city council members representing the state's most populous and Black-majority region said they were willing to roll the dice. This is an opportunity for citizens in Memphis to speak, Councilman Chase Carlisle said during a committee meeting in 2023 when the measures were first being considered. Whether its enforceable by the constitution or not, I think, is moot. I think its an opportunity for the General Assembly, whether they choose to listen or not, to understand where we are as a municipality. And to give voice to the people. Well roll the dice. If the General Assembly wants to punish us and punish our citizens for asking for their help, we will deal with that accordingly but that would be absolutely heartbreaking," Carlisle added. In 2021, the Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Bill Lee signed off on permitless carry for handguns and then in May of this year banned local cities and counties from implementing their own red flag laws. Meanwhile, many inside that same Republican supermajority have rebuffed calls to place limits on firearms, an effort that has only increased after a gunman shot and killed three adults and three 9-year-olds in a Nashville private school last year. With Election Day less than three months away, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally issued a statement Monday warning Memphis about the consequences of advancing ballot measures that go against the wishes of the Statehouse. The Tennessee Constitution clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the state and local governments," McNally, a Republican from Oak Ridge, said in the statement. Shelby County needs to understand that despite their hopes and wishes to the contrary, they are constrained by these explicit constitutional guardrails. After the statement was released, Secretary of State Tre Hargett warned that his office would not approve Memphis' ballot if it included the gun initiatives. Common sense says local governments cant override state law to give a 12-year-old a drivers license, and they cant override other state laws either. Memphis has no authority to circumvent state law. Our office will not approve a ballot with items already preempted by state law. Last year, Memphis received nearly $78 million from the state's sales tax revenue. The city currently operates an $858 million budget. Guns pose a different risk for residents of Memphis than they do for some other municipalities, but we understand that we need to work with our state to determine a set of tools to restore peace in our community, said Mayor Paul Young in a statement responding to the Legislature's ultimatum. What happens next is up to the voters and the legislative branches. Members inside Tennessee's white-majority Legislature have long criticized Memphis, particularly management of its crime rates and expressed distrust over the response from Black city leaders. In 2023, the city saw a record-breaking 398 homicides and burglaries jumped to more than 14,000. However, according to preliminary figures from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, the rate of reported crime in Memphis for the first half of 2024 remained below the first half of 2023 in almost all major categories, including the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The violent crime rate declined 5.1% in the first half of the year compared with 2023, with all four categories showing reductions. The commission did not go into specifics on why the rates went down. Trust only further broke down this year when Republican lawmakers and the governor signed off on legislation designed to undo police traffic stop reforms set in place after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers last year. The Legislature remained steadfast that it would overturn an ordinance adopted by the Memphis city council, which included outlawing so-called pretextual traffic stops for minor violations like a broken taillight, despite emotional pleas to abandon the measure from Nichols' family. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Tensions are high in the Middle East, where Israel and Hezbollah traded fire early Sunday. The fighting has since calmed down, but the region is on high alert. The Pentagon says its closely monitoring the situation but the exchange has raised concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East. Israel launched airstrikes on Hezbollah Sunday calling it a preemptive move to avoid a larger attack from the Lebanese militant group. Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets into Israel. Its perhaps the biggest exchange weve had since the start of this conflict, said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). New Jersey Senator Cory Booker told CNN the news was worrisome. he said the U.S. is working to prevent escalation. The most urgent issue right now is ending this awful conflict in the Middle East, Booker said. Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily since the war in Gaza started, but this marked the most intense exchange in months. This just underscores the emergency, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Meet the Press the Israel-Hamas war has to end. Stop all the bombing, get the hostages back home, spend real resources on humanitarian relief in Gaza, Warren said. The cross-border attacks come as ceasefire talks continue. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN negotiators need to get tough on Iran. Thats the only way youre ever going to get the hostages released is to put pressure on Iran, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Hezbollahs leader said the attack was in retaliation to Israels killing of a top commander last month. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BYRAM, Miss. (WJTV) Byram police, along with assistance from Richland police, arrested an 18-year-old after a chase. In the early morning hours of August 24, investigators said Byram police responded to an active business burglary. When officers arrived, the suspect fled from the scene. Byram police pursued the suspect and then stopped to set up a perimeter, before requested assistance from the Richland Police Department K9 Unit. Man arrested after wife shot, killed in Terry A Richland police officer and a K9 were able to locate an article of clothing belonging to the suspect, 18-year-old Jalen Tramon Jordan, of Terry. Police said Jordan was found hiding in the woods and attempted to flee by climbing a wooden privacy fence. The K9 tried to stop Jordan, who was eventually able to make it over the privacy fence. However, Byram officers were able to take Jordan into custody without incident. Jordan was charged with business burglary and resisting arrest. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. THE HAGUE, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) imposed a fine of 290 million euros (324 million U.S. dollars) on Monday on ride-hailing service provider Uber for transferring personal data of European drivers to the United States. The DPA determined that Uber failed to adequately protect this data, constituting a severe violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the European Union in 2016. "GDPR safeguards the fundamental rights of individuals in Europe by requiring companies and governments to handle personal data with care," said DPA Chairman Aleid Wolfsen in a press release. Companies are generally required to take extra measures when storing European personal data outside the EU, he said. "Uber failed to ensure the required level of protection for drivers' data during its transfer to the U.S., which is extremely serious." The DPA launched an investigation into Uber following a complaint from over 170 French drivers. Uber's European headquarters is in the Netherlands. The DPA said that Uber collected sensitive information from European drivers, including account details, taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment information, identity documents, and, in some cases, even criminal records and medical data. This information was transferred to Uber's headquarters in the U.S. for over two years without using an appropriate transfer mechanism, leaving the data inadequately protected, it said. Across Europe, privacy regulators calculate fines for companies in the same way, with penalties reaching up to 4 percent of a company's global annual revenue. Uber has announced its intention to appeal the fine. This marks the third fine the DPA has imposed on Uber. In 2018, it fined Uber 600,000 euros, and in 2023, a 10-million-euro fine was issued, which Uber has also contested. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollar) How can you get a Texas ID, and how to vote in the 2024 election without it? Texans face months-long waits and often a drive to another city to get an appointment for a state ID or driver's license from the Department of Public Safety. After state Rep. Erin Zwiener recently told the Statesman, I couldnt find anything closer than Seguin before January, the floodgates opened on social media with other Central Texans sharing stories of driving as far as Cuero or Corpus Christi to get their IDs. This problem has even greater urgency in an election year: Texas requires voters to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls. But there is a way for people to vote if they can't get a photo ID in time. Here's what you need to know. What forms of ID are accepted for voting in Texas? Registered voters can use any of the following forms of ID at the polls: Texas driver's license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS State ID card issued by DPS Texas Handgun License issued by DPS U.S. Military Identification Card containing the persons photograph U.S. Citizenship Certificate containing the persons photograph U.S. passport (book or card) University of Texas students walk into an early voting site in 2020. Voters are having difficulty getting appointments for state IDs, but there is another process to cast a vote with different documentation. Can I register to vote if I don't have an ID? Yes! On the voter registration form, you have the option to put your driver's license/state ID number OR the last four digits of your Social Security number. You can choose the latter option. What if my ID is expired? You can still vote with any of the IDs listed above for up to four years after the expiration date, if you are 69 or younger. Voters over 70 can vote with an expired ID, regardless of how long it has been expired. What if my ID shows an old address? You can still vote with a Texas ID showing a previous address. The purpose of showing ID at the polls is to establish your identity, not prove your residency. OK, but what if I can't get a Texas ID before the election? You can still vote! You just have to take the extra step of bringing another piece of documentation and filling out a form at the polling place. Ask for the "Reasonable Impediment Declaration" form when you check in at the voting site. On the form see what it looks like here you will check off the box that explains why you do not have a photo ID. Options include lack of transportation, ID was lost or stolen, or work or family responsibilities. If the only available ID appointments are far from where you live, transportation issues or your work or family responsibilities could affect your ability to get to a far-away DPS office. No ID? No problem: How to vote in the 2024 election without a photo ID in Texas What documentation do you need with a 'reasonable impediment' form? You must bring a "supporting form of ID." The best option: Bring your voter registration certificate, a postcard mailed to you from your local voter registrar's office. It looks like this: A sample Voter Registration Certificate from El Paso County. Voters in Texas receive a similar certificate in the mail from their county registrar every even-numbered year. A new one can be mailed to you upon request. Your voter registration certificate will be accepted with the "reasonable impediment" form because it is a government document with your name and address on it. Or you can bring any one of the following: Your birth certificate A recent utility bill or bank statement with your name on it A government check or a paycheck, or Another government document with your name and address on it What if I can't find my voter registration certificate? Don't worry: You can get a new one mailed to you! Just contact your local voter registrar's office and ask for a replacement voter registration certificate. In Travis County, call the Tax Collector and Voter Registrar's Office at 512-854-9473; email tax_voters@traviscountytx.gov; or visit the main tax office at 2433 Ridgepoint Drive to receive a replacement certificate in person. In Williamson County, call 512-943-1630 or email VoterRegistration@wilco.org. In Hays County, call 512-393-7310 or email elections@co.hays.tx.us. In Bastrop County, call 512-581-7160 or email elections@co.bastrop.tx.us. Look up the contact information here for other county elections office in Texas. What kind of ballot do I get after filling out the 'reasonable impediment' form? You will vote on a regular ballot, not a provisional ballot. Once you cast your regular ballot, it will count. You will not need to take any further steps. What if I have a photo ID but I forget to bring it to the polls? You will cast a provisional ballot. In order for that ballot to be counted, you must return to your county elections office within six days and present your photo ID. What if I run into difficulty at the polls? Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), a hotline administered by nonpartisan voting advocates, to speak with a trained volunteer who can explain the law and your options. Apart from voting, I still need a Texas ID. How do I get one? You need to schedule an appointment with the Department of Public Safety at public.txdpsscheduler.com. But it's not unusual for the next available appointment to be months and miles away. Some strategies that can help: Check the public.txdpsscheduler.com website around 7:30 a.m. any weekday and keep refreshing, as appointments that other people have canceled for that day are reposted for others to take. Look for appointments in other towns. They may have openings sooner if you're able to make the drive. Try a third-party scheduling app, such as DriveIt, developed by Frisco teen Sowmya Nandyala, which may be able to help you find new appointments sooner. If all else fails, show up to the DPS office in person, but come early. People start lining up before 5 a.m. for the few same-day appointments that are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Additionally, a limited number of people will be offered the chance to wait at the office on a standby list that will be served by the end of that day. What should I know about renewing my driver's license or Texas ID? Most Texans are eligible to renew their license up to two years before it expires. And in many cases, licenses can be renewed online without needing an appointment. Check your eligibility for online renewal here. DPS notifies Texans by mail when their license or ID is set to expire in six months. If you aren't eligible for online renewal, start looking for a DPS appointment as soon as you get that notification. And if you end up with an extra appointment you don't need or can't use... Please go back into the public.txdpsscheduler.com website and cancel any appointment you don't need! In June 2024, 27% of the scheduled appointments at DPS offices 173,417 appointments statewide ended up being no-shows. Making those appointments available to other customers would make a big difference. Why is it so hard to get a Texas driver's license appointment? The Texas Department of Public Safety launched an online scheduling system in May 2020 so that people would no longer need to wait for hours at the office for their turn to get a license or ID card. But the decrease in services during the COVID-19 pandemic created a backlog of people needing to obtain or renew their IDs. And since then, the influx of new residents has added to the demand for services while DPS struggles to hire the staffers it needs. In the current job climate, we face challenges finding qualified applicants to fill open positions at (drivers license) offices around the state, DPS press secretary Sheridan Nolen told the Statesman. Staffing is greatly reducing the number of appointments offices can offer. Some Central Texas lawmakers are looking at potential remedies. Zwiener, a Democrat from Hays County, has suggested boosting pay for DPS staffers in Central Texas, where the cost of living is higher and the staffing shortage is greater than many other parts of the state. State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said on social media that people facing such long waits to get IDs "is unacceptable and needs to be addressed before next session. Looking into whether some funds/staffing can be shifted to provide necessary services immediately." Questions or comments? Contact Metro columnist Bridget Grumet at bgrumet@statesman.com. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How to get Texas ID and how to vote in the 2024 election without one Cecilia Castellano speaks at a League of United Latin American Citizens news conference on Monday to discuss a series of raids conducted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Castellano is the Democratic candidate for state House District 80. Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune HOUSTON A Democratic candidate for the Texas House on Monday dismissed as nonsense a state vote harvesting investigation that led authorities to confiscate her phone and search the homes of a legislative aide and elderly Latino election volunteers. Cecilia Castellano, who is running to succeed state Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, made the remarks during a news conference that featured some of the South Texans who were served search warrants last week. Latino civil rights leaders and state lawmakers also said on Monday they will ask the federal government and Texas Senate to investigate the raids. League of United Latin American Citizens leaders have said authorities searched the homes of elderly Latino election volunteers pre-dawn with guns drawn and scant information about their probe. They have blasted the raids executed by Attorney General Ken Paxtons office as an effort to intimidate Latino voters. Without naming him, Castellano said the states top Republicans had publicly endorsed her opponent, former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. Do not get distracted by this nonsense, Castellano said. Despite the challenges, I refuse to be silenced. McLaughlin, in an interview with The Texas Tribune, denied that the investigation was politically motivated to help him win, adding that he did not know about the probe until Saturday when he learned about it through a press release. "I have not had any conversation with the Attorney General's Office or the attorney general," he said. "To point fingers at me? I don't play that way. I didn't play that way when I was mayor and I won't play that way now." McLaughlin said that Castellano is innocent until proven guilty but he doesn't believe a judge would allow a warrant to be issued haphazardly. "Usually, where there's smoke, there's fire," he said. [Warrants detail allegations that led to search of Democratic candidate for Texas House] Paxtons office has said little about its investigation aside from an announcement last week about the search warrants that his investigators executed in Frio, Atascosa and Bexar Counties. However, affidavits for search warrants obtained by The Texas Tribune show that agents were investigating allegations that a longtime Frio County political operator had illegally harvested votes for multiple local races. They do not include the warrants for Castellanos phone or for the home of one of her aides, Manuel Medina, a former chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party and chief of staff to state Rep. Elizabeth "Liz" Campos, D-San Antonio. Among the races was Castellanos, according to the documents. An investigator from Paxtons office claimed in the sworn affidavit that Medina was recorded discussing a scheme to collect votes for Castellano with the operator during the 2024 primary. Republicans hope to flip the South Texas seat Castellano is running for as they aim to secure enough votes to pass a school voucher bill next legislative session. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott carried the House district by 6 percentage points in 2022. King, one of the most moderate members of the House, ran unopposed. Both Medina and Castellano have previously condemned the probe as a politically-motivated attack. At Mondays news conference, Castellano did not directly address the allegation in the affidavits and Medina did not speak. Paxtons office did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment. LULAC officials plan to file formal complaints with the U.S. Justice Department, seeking a federal review of the states investigation and raids, said Gabriel Rosales, LULACs Texas state director. We didn't break any law, Rosales said. All we did was go out there to increase the political participation of the Latino community. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, said he and another lawmaker planned to request a state inquiry from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Such a review is unlikely to be granted by Patrick, a staunch Republican who presides over the Senate. James Barragan contributed. TribFest Keynotes Announced! Be there when Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin take the keynote stage at The Texas Tribune Festival! Whitmer will talk with Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith about her memoir, her key victories in Michigan and the importance of every vote. Youngkin and Smith will close out TribFest with a conversation about his record, the state of his party and a conservative policy agenda for America. Explore the full program of 300+ speakers and 100+ events. Get tickets today. Third young man found dead in New York City creek in the last year Third young man found dead in New York City creek in the last year A 30-year-old man was discovered dead in New York Citys Newton Creek just one year after two other young partygoers were also found dead in the same polluted waterway, which is near several nightlife venues. Damani Alexander, 30, was found in the creek, which straddles Brooklyn and Queens, on July 30. The circumstances of Alexanders death bear a striking resemblance to the two other young men Karl Clemente and John Castic who were found dead in Newton Creek last summer after leaving the Brooklyn Mirage night club. Alexanders body was discovered at around 12:15 a.m. on July 30 after someone called 911 for a water rescue, the NYPD said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother, Desiree Nicholson, told Pix11 that Alexander had gone to the Knockdown Center, an event venue in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens, on July 28. The venue was hosting a Tiki Disco from 2 to 10 p.m. that day. At some point on July 28, Alexander told his friend that he was in danger, Nicholson told the outlet. Its not clear what happened in the two days between when he attended the Tiki Disco and when his body was found in the creek. Investigators located his wallet but not his phone, Nicholson noted. There were also no signs of trauma and investigators believed it is unlikely that he drowned, she said. Police are investigating the incident. The Independent has emailed the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which will determine the cause of death. Damani loved life, his mother told Pix11. Damani Alexander was found in Newton Creek on July 30, marking the third tragedy of its kind in the past year (Harmony Funeral Home) Following the tragedy, Council Member Robert Holden, who represents the area encompassing the Knockdown Center, told The Independent in a statement: My heart goes out to the family of Damani Alexander during this difficult time, and more must be done to prevent future tragedies. Holdens office reached out to the NYPD, which said they do not suspect foul play in this particular case nor in the deaths of the two individuals last year, a spokesperson for Holden said. Police also acknowledged that there are insufficient safety measures in the area. When establishments serving liquor are located near a body of water, the risk of tragedy increases, as weve unfortunately witnessed, the spokesperson said. This information hopefully puts to rest online theories that there is a serial killer prowling the area. Alexanders death marks the third young man who was found in the waterway in the past year. Although none of the three deaths have been formally linked, they bear undeniable similarities. On June 11, 2023, Karl Clemente, 27, went to the East Williamsburg nightclub The Brooklyn Mirage, a 20-minute walk from the Knockdown Center. He was turned away around 10 p.m. because staff said he had been drinking, his father told Fox News at the time. Video surveillance obtained by the outlet showed Clemente running around the area before his disappearance. Why was he running? his father told the outlet. Someone was chasing him. Theres something fishy here. His body was found days later, on June 16, but his wallet and phone were not recovered. The medical examiner determined Clemente died from drowning and ruled the manner of death an accident. Two months later, John Castic, also 27, suffered a similar fate. Castic was last seen leaving the venue around 3 a.m. on July 29, 2023. Around 11 a.m. on August 1, someone called 911 after seeing a bloated, shirtless body floating face-down in a branch of the East River tributary, the New York Post reported at the time. Both his wallet and phone were recovered with his body. The medical examiners office confirmed that Castic drowned but marked the manner of death as undetermined. His father noted at the time that there were no signs of foul play. While theories swirled online that the deaths were connected, given their similar circumstances, city officials insist that the tragedies are indicative of a larger problem: a lack of proper safety measures in the area. The area around the waterway has become a hot spot for nightlife in recent years, with the Knockdown Center, Brooklyn Mirage, Basement, Elsewhere, and other nightclubs all within walking distance from Newton Creek. The Newtown Creek, on both the Brooklyn and Queens sides, is far too accessible to the public, and we urgently need security and safety improvements not just around the creek but also at the various clubs nearby that serve as party spots, Council Member Holden said in the statement. Last year, the remarkable similarities sparked a local outcry for safety improvements in the area. An online letter campaign to Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez, who represents the area encompassing the venue, circulated last summer, underscoring the safety concerns of the nightclub. The letter noted capacity by significant numbers, lack of security surrounding the venue, an absence of well-lit pathways on the way to train stations, unpermitted drivers posing as rideshares, and aggressive club and venue promoters surrounding the area. Gutierrez told The Independent last year that the area was a manufacturing zone, not set up for nightlife. She warned of the areas lack of lighting and scarce cell phone service. The heartbreaking and preventable deaths of Karl Clemente and John Castic highlight the need for basic public safety measures and street infrastructure in the East Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone, the council member said last August. Although having nightlife in an industrial area is not ideal, Gutierrez said: If people are here, we need to figure out how to make it safer for folks. Since 2023, the Office of Nightlife worked in the East Williamsburg area to curb unlicensed taxi pickups, improve lighting, and boost cell service. Its not immediately clear what safety measures have been implemented in the area since the 2023 deaths. The Independent has reached out to the Knockdown Center for comment. The father of Donald Trumps would-be assassin appears to be feeling the heat. Matthew Crooks, the 52-year-old dad of Thomas Matthew Crooks, recently hired a pair of powerhouse attorneys to represent him and his wife as the FBI probes his household, the Daily Mail reported Monday. John Quinn and Matthew Logue, who practice law out of nearby Pittsburgh, were reportedly hired to represent Matthew Crooks and his 53-year-old wife, Mary. Their area of practice includes personal injury, wrongful death, and legal malpractice, according to their website. An anonymous loved one of the elder Crooks told the Mail the FBI still very much has questions about how much he knew about his sons plans to assassinate a former U.S. president. Federal investigators have given no indication the father knew of his sons murderous intentions. Theres still been plenty of public scrutiny for the elder Crooks, however, because it was his old AR-15 style rifle that was used to open fire at Trump on July 13. The home where Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, lived with his parents in western Pennsylvania. Carlos Osorio/Reuters Those close to the Crooks household told the Mail that guns were prevalent in the family, with Matthew Crooks often selling firearms to loved ones and frequenting the Clairton Sportsmens Club to use its firing range. That source added that Mary and Matthew Crooks, both social workers, did not appear at family holidays. Authorities said previously that the younger Crooks, 20, also frequented the shooting range. There, he reportedly practiced hitting targets as far as 561 feet away, which is more than 100 feet farther than he was from Trump when he rattled off three shots in the ex-presidents direction. A definitive motive behind Crooks attack has not been released by the FBI, but Google searches suggested he was intrigued by previous killers like Lee Harvey Oswald and the Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley. Other searches suggested he may have suffered from major depressive disorder. Thomas Crooks worked at a nursing home and lived with his parents in western Pennsylvania, about 40 miles away from where the deadly rally was held in Butler. He didnt go to a four-year college, despite investigators revealing he scored high enough on the SAT to be accepted into Ivy League schools. FBI: Thomas Matthew Crooks Had SAT Score High Enough for Harvard The FBI descended on the Crooks family home shortly after the attack, where agents said they recovered 14 firearms, explosives, and a phone, laptop, and hard drive that belonged to the gunman. Thomas Crooks parents have been largely mum since the shooting but were spotted outside a grocery store and confronted by Fox News reporters last month. Matthew, why would your son want to kill the president? a reporter said during the interaction, which was recorded. Trump Gunman Thomas Crooks Dad Speaks Out for the First Time The elder Crooks responded, No comment. Simultaneously, a woman wearing a medical mask next to him yelled, Back off! and no comment. After the reporters continued pressing, Matthew Crooks said his family would release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so. No statement had been released by the family as of Monday morning. We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now, Matthew Crooks said. So please, just give us our space. 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. I thought I wanted kids, but moving to Europe with my husband changed my mind Helene Sula and her husband moved from the US to Germany and later to the UK. Sula started a travel blog in 2011, which enabled their move abroad and travel lifestyle. She realized she didn't want children, embracing a different life path focused on travel. This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Helene Sula , a travel blogger and author of "Two O'Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain: A Search for an Unconventional Life Abroad." It has been edited for length and clarity. My husband, Michael, and I were high-school sweethearts. We met at a party when we were 17. We both went to Catholic schools; I attended an all-girls school, and he went to an all-boys school. They were brother and sister schools, so they would pair up for dances and things like that. I still have the emails that we sent back and forth talking about our future lives. I always thought I would be married with two kids in a house with a white picket fence. I remember thinking: "That is the American dream, and that's what I want." I found a new dream in travel Having kids is one of the most incredible and selfless things you can possibly do. All of my best friends have children, and I love them and think they have beautiful, wonderful lives. It's something I always thought I would do. But as Michael and I started traveling and living life a little bit differently, I realized that my passions and what I wanted out of life weren't necessarily kids. We dated for six years before getting married in 2011. That same year, I started a travel blog called Helene In Between . It gave my husband and me the freedom to move abroad, and in 2016 we moved to Heidelberg, Germany. Helene and her husband moved from Dallas to Germany before relocating to the UK. Helene Sula By 2017, the blog was growing, and I needed a lot of help. Michael was working online jobs and he was really not liking them so we started working together. It took us time to figure out what worked, and our relationship always came first. I do a lot of the content creation, and he plans the trips and does the business side. We have been able to see more of the world because both of our schedules are flexible. After three years in Germany, we returned to the US and bought an RV . We traveled the country for four years before moving to Oxford, England. Moving abroad helped me realize I didn't want kids I was in my late 20s when we first moved abroad, and at that time I always thought I would have children but later. I never had that strong desire or motherly gene. But I ended up making friends with people who didn't have kids, and it made me realize that there were other options and that I didn't have to do it just because other people did. I took a step back and asked myself: "Wait a minute, do I even want that? Do I want kids?" It should be something that you really want to do because it is so selfless and very difficult. It requires a lot of work and effort. I think it's absolutely miraculous and beautiful but so are some of the things that I want to do. Some of my desires are worthy, too. It doesn't mean I'm bad or weird. It just means I might want something a little bit different. It doesn't mean you have to stop the friendships you have. I'm still close with all my friends that have kids. People always wonder, "Well, OK, but are you going to be OK when you get old?" That's not the right question to ask. You shouldn't rely on kids to take care of you when that might not be the case. So, I've made sure to set up my life, and we have savings to ensure that something is there for us when we're older. I'm really satisfied and excited about the path that I'm on, and kids are not part of that. And that's OK. Read the original article on Business Insider SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) Three Utahns died after being caught in a whirlpool during a canyoneering trip in the Sierra Nevada mountain range on Friday, according to the Tulare County Fire Dept. Fire officials responded to a possible drowning at Seven Teacups, a hiking area in Tulare County, Calif., just before 5:20 p.m. on Friday. Upon arrival on scene, fire personnel found three people deceased. The three victims have been identified as David Bell, Jeannine Skinner, and Peter On. Candlelight vigil to honor Jordan High student killed in tragic stabbing incident According to David Bells sister Cyndi Bell the three were rappelling in the area, and on their last rappel, they went down into a pool of water. Jeannine went first, according to Cyndi, and got caught in a whirlpool. Just after, Peter jumped in to save her and became caught as well. David then jumped in to save them both, but all three drowned as a result. They were able to get their bodies out in about seven minutes and they did CPR on them immediately and kept doing CPR for about 20 minutes but they were not able to revive any of them, Cyndi wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday. The bodies will go to the coroner and then Im not sure how we get the bodies back to UTAH. A GoFundMe has been created in Davids memory. An obituary for Peter has been posted here. A Facebook group has been created in memory of all three victims here. An event called Dancing Through Life is being hosted at the Classic Fun Center in Sandy on Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 10 p.m. as a tribute to the lives of Bell, On, and Skinner. The venue is located at 9151 S 255 W, Sandy, Utah. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. JERUSALEM, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Defense Ministry said on Monday that since the beginning of its military operations in Gaza, the country has received more than 50,000 tons of military equipment and ammunition. "The equipment procured and transported includes armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment," the ministry said. The military transports have been "crucial for sustaining the Israel Defense Forces' operational capabilities during the ongoing war" in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border, it added. The ministry did not specify from which countries the arms were purchased, though Israeli government officials had previously said that the majority of its weapons and ammunition were procured from the United States and Europe. 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 about 250 others taken hostage. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 40,400, according to Gaza-based health authorities. The hotly contested Montana Senate race is shining a spotlight on the public safety concerns of the Native American communities in the state, who were a critical voting bloc in the 2018 reelection of Sen. Jon Tester (D). The Montana Democrat is no stranger to tight races. He won his first reelection in 2012 by around 18,700 votes and narrowly beat out now-Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) by just more than 17,900 votes in 2018. A surge in Native American voters helped deliver him that victory, according to the Char-Koosta News. These voters are again poised to play a pivotal role in the Montana Senate race between Tester and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, who won the Republican primary in June. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest a toss up, and former President Trump won the state by more than 16 points, or nearly 99,000 votes, in 2020. Crime has been a hot-button issue in the 2024 election, and public safety concerns including missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP), fentanyl and law enforcement shortages are top issues for tribal leaders. Weve got fentanyl, opiates, other things that are on the increase and so the increase in law enforcements even more critical, William Snell Jr., executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, told The Hill. Tester, a longtime member and former chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, last week pressed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review unacceptable public safety efforts by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Montana. He expressed concern with an extreme lack of trained law enforcement and insufficient detention facilities and officers raised during direct conversations with Montana tribal leaders. Asked about the timing of the letter, Jeff Stiffarm, president of the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, responded, Its an election year. Hes running for reelection; he needs votes. But it should have been done years ago, said Stiffarm, who added hes been working on this issue since he was elected president three years ago. There are eight federally recognized Native tribes living on seven reservations in Montana, according to the BIA. Native Americans made up 6.4 percent of Montanas more than 1.1 million residents in 2023, according to the Census Bureau, a sizable pool of voters roughly four times Testers previous margins of victory. Snell, a former BIA police officer, said Tester has always supported and made an effort to make something happen regarding addressing the issue. I dont think its just because of the race, Snell said. Both sides have made overtures to Native Americans in Montana. This spring, Montana Democrats launched a seven-figure outreach campaign to mobilize Native American voters. While the Montana GOP did not respond to questions about whether it had launched a similar outreach effort, Sheehy appealed directly to Native American voters during a rally earlier this month with Trump, who has endorsed Sheehy. To our Native American brothers and sisters, what have the Democrats ever done for you? Sheehy asked at the rally. In a statement to The Hill, Sheehy said, Montana communities, especially tribal communities, are being devastated by drugs and crime because Jon Tester rubber-stamped Joe Biden and Kamala Harris radical open border, pro-amnesty, pro-illegal immigration agenda. Its disgraceful that Jon Tester and the America Last Democrats prioritize sending billions to illegal immigrants and foreign countries before securing our communities here at home, he continued. As Senator, Ill do what it takes to secure the border, stop the invasion, ensure our tribal neighbors have the resources they need to keep their communities safe, and put America First. Sheehy in May attacked the sham bipartisan border bill that was killed by Senate Republicans after Trump labeled the proposal as meaningless and a gift for the Democrats reelection chances. He also criticized Testers support for the bill as Democrats sought to underscore Republican resistance to a proposal to tackle one of the GOPs biggest concerns ahead of the election. Senator Tester has led the charge to make sure Congress upholds its treaty and trust responsibilities to Indian Country, Tester press secretary Eli Cousin said. Testers record delivering on behalf of Montana Tribes is extensive. The first piece of legislation Tester introduced as a senator in 2007 was a bill for federal recognition of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, which went from state to federal recognition as part of the 2020 Defense authorization bill. He also applauded the nomination of Montana Attorney Danna Jackson to be a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Native American to serve as a federal judge in the state. Tester helped negotiate the bipartisan infrastructure law with five Republicans, securing hundreds of millions of dollars for tribal water rights settlements, $3.5 billion for Indian Health Service Sanitation Construction Program, $2 billion to support the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and $3 billion for the Tribal Transportation Program. Public safety issues and law enforcement shortages in Native American communities in Montana have also been a priority for Tester, who has notably kept the Harris-Walz ticket at arms length. In his letter to the GAO last week, he said he was working through his seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that the BIA has sufficient resources to hire officers and bolster other public safety activities, but wanted to ensure it was being used appropriately. I will keep fighting for these critical funds, but it is clear that more oversight is required to make sure these funds are being used effectively, Tester wrote. Snell said the issue was not only the ability to hire and retain officers, but also increase their ranks. The BIA is always willing to listen and hear but then the issue is implementation, Snell said. Its not just a matter of awareness and knowledge, but action thats needed to be able to address the issue effectively. And I think thats just kind of where it gets stuck. During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in May on the presidents budget request, Assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland told the panel the U.S. only funds the departments public safety and justice programs at 13 percent of the total need even with recent increases. Newland had raised the same figure the day before at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on public safety, saying, Its clear there is a massive gap between present funding levels and our present obligation to public safety in Indian Country. When Newland testified again the following day before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tester pressed him on underfunding tribal law enforcement. You know better than anybody, law enforcement in Indian Country is not so good, Tester said, noting the challenges of covering large areas of land with only a few officers. Newland agreed that we need more officers, we need more funding for law enforcement officers in Indian Country. Tester told Newland he needs the assistant secretary to be more vocal about the funds needed to do so. Joshua Barnett, a BIA spokesperson, said the bureau is grateful to work with members of Congress who recognize the chronic underfunding of public safety in Indian Country. We similarly value Tribal involvement and input to effectively combat crime throughout Indian Country, Barnett added. The BIA provides direct law enforcement services to two tribes, with 14 officers currently at the Crow Agency and seven officers at Northern Cheyenne Agency. Other tribes have elected to take over the management and operation of programs including law enforcement through self-determination contracts and self-governance compacts. Tester also raised concerns earlier this year that hed heard from tribal leaders that local law enforcement personnel funded through federal contracts were paid less than BIA officers for comparable positions. The Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana raised similar allegations when it sued the BIA, including Newland, in 2022. In an amended complaint filed last November, the tribe says the current funding is insufficient to provide the most basic law enforcement services to the Tribe and alleges the bureau arbitrarily and capriciously appropriated the Tribes 638 contract funds over the years, referring to the contracts through the federal government to provide specific services such as law enforcement. As a result, the Tribe experiences a chronic shortage of patrol officers and dispatch personnel and it experiences chronic, high levels of violent crimes, property crimes, and substance abuse, according to the complaint. The BIA denied both allegations in its response to the complaint, filed in March after the judge denied its motion to dismiss the case. Barnett, the BIA spokesperson, declined to comment on ongoing litigation. Stiffarm said success for him would be not only for Fort Belknap to be able to increase their funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but other tribes that are in the same boat we are. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) With the flu season approaching and new strains of COVID-19 circulating, a Sioux Falls-based group is trying to raise public awareness. Immunize South Dakota held a teleconference for people in health care on Monday about vaccines that help fight RSV, flu and COVID. Andrea Polkinghorn is president of the group and an immunization strategy leader with Sanford Health. She said 97% of children born in the U.S. contract respiratory syncytial virus in the first two years of life. Police: 4 people shot at Dunham Park, no arrests yet There is an RSV vaccine that can help protect them, according to Polkinghorn, and an RSV vaccine for mothers-to-be that is administered late in pregnancy. The typical season for RSV runs October through March. Polkinghorn also showed data on COVID-19 indicating hospitalizations are on the upswing again nationally. She said everyone who is six months or older should receive the 2024-25 COVID vaccine, with children and immuno-compromised individuals possibly needing more than one dose. Statistics indicated that 50% of people age 17 and younger who were hospitalized for COVID had no underlying conditions. It does impact completely healthy children as well, Polkinghorn said. Only 5% of the hospitalized 17 and younger had the 2023-24 COVID vaccine, according to data she presented, and a nationwide survey found that 14.4% of children had received the 2023-24 COVID vaccine. Deaths from COVID exceeded flu in people younger than 19 and COVID was more deadly than other childhood diseases, Polkinghorn said. A national survey of parents found that 88% of them worried that their children might suffer from side effects of COVID vaccines. Mike Owens from global healthcare company Sanofi spoke about the importance of influenza vaccines in helping boost protection. He said adults age 65-plus are at the biggest risk from flu, as well as adults who have chronic health conditions, children younger than age 2, and females who are pregnant. An annual flu shot is a good way for people to help prevent the spread to others, according to Owens. The 2024-25 vaccine is designed to fight two strains of type A and one strain of type B in everyone at least six months old, and the best times to get the shot are September and October. Currently, 50% of U.S. residents report they had received an annual flu shot. Immunize South Dakota would like to see that rate increase to 70% by 2030. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) slammed the Democratic National Convention for not featuring a Palestinian American speaker, stating it is hard not to feel invisible. Its hard not to feel invisible as a Palestinian American. Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties. One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us wont stop the genocide, Tlaib said in an interview published Monday with Zeteo, the news organization founded by former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan. Tlaib was among a group of Democrats, specifically progressive lawmakers, to publicly criticize the convention for not having a Palestinian speak or be represented at the event last week in Chicago. For weeks ahead of the convention, the Uncommitted National Movement called for a Palestinian convention speaker, stating it would send a clear message that Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Harris was shifting away from President Bidens stances on the Israel-Hamas war. When this did not happen, the uncommitted delegates and their pro-Palestinian allies said they were deeply upset, with some particularly angered after the parents of an American hostage held by Hamas were given time to speak at the convention. Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, told Zeteo the convention made it clear with their speakers that they value Israeli children more than Palestinian children. It follows progressive colleague Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who said Sunday the convention missed an opportunity by denying a Palestinian American speaker. Lee said she feels some think it is taboo to discuss Palestinians and their experiences, even before Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel, killing more than 1,100 people and taking about 250 others hostage in Gaza. I think that, like all people, when you are experiencing something, you want to be able to tell your own story. And a lot of the people who [are] Palestinian, Palestinian American, Arabs and Muslims, were asking for that opportunity, she said. During her speech, Harris pledged the U.S. would always defend Israel and help it defend itself, saying Israel must never again face the horror that Hamas brought in its Oct. 7 attacks. But she also expressed her concern about the death toll in Gaza, where more than 40,000 people have been killed in Israels response. What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating, she said to a round of applause. The scale of suffering heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security and freedom to self-determination. Some pro-Palestinian activists, however, said they wished for a more direct condemnation of the conflict from Harris, along with a more nuanced perspective than Biden has given. While there was no Palestinian speaker during the DNCs primetime event, the convention offered a forum last week where panelists could discuss the situation in Gaza and the continued discontent over the partys handling of the war, the Associated Press reported. The forum came after negotiations between the Harris campaign and members of the Uncommitted movement, the news wire added. The DNC also allowed access to space for a vigil for delegates to honor those killed both Israeli and Palestinian since the Oct. 7 attacks. The Democratic Party 2024 platform, approved by the delegates last week, states Israels right to defend itself is ironclad while endorsing the Biden administrations efforts to hammer out a cease-fire deal that could temporarily pause fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and initiate the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. This story was updated at 5:24 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. TOPEKA (KSNT) The City of Topeka has picked up almost 28,000 cubic yards of debris from a recent storm. A severe storm rolled through the capital city Aug. 14, leaving debris strewed across town. The city announced that crews started cleaning up debris in Oakland, north Topeka and Potwin Aug. 19, and cleaned throughout the week. A spokesman with the City of Topeka announced in a news release that so far, contractors have picked up and hauled away 27,748 cubic yards of debris. Topeka BBQ restaurant closes after 24 years Crews are still working to clean up debris city-wide from the storm. The City of Topeka said in the news release a live map is now available to show the debris clean-up progress. The city notes that crews will not go back to roads that have been cleared of debris. The news release said as a reminder to residents, only tree and bush debris will be picked up from contractors. No garbage, appliances or household goods will be picked up by the city. 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. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the leaders of National Rally, said they would refuse to work with the four-party Left-wing coalition - Bertrand Guay/AFP Marine Le Pen has warned Emmanuel Macron she will topple any Left-wing prime minister installed to end the current period of political deadlock. France entered its eighth week without a prime minister and government on Monday after the president called snap legislative elections last month. France is still without a prime minister and government, eight weeks after Emmanuel Macron called snap elections - Teresa Suarez/Reuters On Friday leaders of the Left-wing coalition, which won the most seats in the July vote, said they were extremely satisfied with the first round of the presidents consultations to form a new government. Their choice for leader, Lucie Castets, said she was ready to govern. Lucie Castets, the Left-wing coalition's candidate for prime minister says she is 'ready' to govern - Emmanuel Dunand/AFP On Monday it was the hard-Right National Rallys turn to hold talks with Mr Macron. Though Mr Macron has since ruled out Ms Castets as a prime ministerial candidate, Ms Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the leaders of National Rally (RN), said they would still refuse to work with the four-party Left-wing coalition. A danger to public order The New Popular Front, with its program, movements and the personalities who embody it, today represents a danger to public order, to civil peace and, of course, to the countrys economic life, Jordan Bardella, the president of the RN, said. Not only do we want our voters to be heard and respected, we also want to protect the country from a government that is fracturing French society. Vote of no confidence Speaking to a crowd of reporters outside the Elysee, Ms Le Pen and Mr Bardella threatened to submit a vote of no confidence should the president name a prime minister from the Left, which they deemed a danger to public order. Over the weekend, Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the radical Left party France Unbowed (LFI), which along with the Greens, Socialists and Communists, make up the New Popular Front (NFP), proposed withdrawing from the coalition if it meant the NFP assuming power. Mr Melenchon is seen as too radical and unpalatable by many of those in the Centre and on the Right. Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has threatened to collapse the Left-wing coalition, is seen as too radical by many in the Centre and on the Right - Emmanuel Dunand/AFP But Ms Le Pen said her party would oppose a Leftist government, with or without the LFI, whom she described as the groups puppetmaster. It doesnt change a thing, she said on Monday. The New Popular Front is led by France Unbowed, and the most brutal, the most violent, the most excessive, the most outrageous, is the one who imposes the law its France Unbowed, its Jean-Luc Melenchon whos really in charge of this party. In a letter sent to members of Mr Macrons Ensemble grouping after the presidents meeting with the RN, outgoing prime minister Gabriel Attal also criticised Mr Melenchons proposal for an NFP government without France Unbowed, calling it an attempted coup de force masquerading as a sham of openness. What Jean-Luc Melenchon is proposing is to remove a name from the store front, but change nothing inside. We cannot accept this, Mr Attal wrote. A motion of censure would therefore be inevitable, and it would be the direct responsibility of a camp that considers it can govern alone, and does not wish to compromise. He then called for a meeting with presidents of parliamentary parties, without France Unbowed and RN. Mr Melenchon responded by turning the accusation round on Mr Attal. Attal accuses me of a coup de force. But Im not fooled. Im just a pretext for another operation, he tweeted. ... In short: Attal pushes Macron out the door. If ever there was a coup de force, this is 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. After a recurrence of ovarian cancer in 2023, Francine Milano of Pennsylvania has made the hours-long drive to Vermont twice as part of a multistep process to arrange medical aid in dying. Legislation to allow medical aid in dying in Pennsylvania hasnt been approved. (Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News) After a recurrence of ovarian cancer in 2023, Francine Milano of Pennsylvania has made the hours-long drive to Vermont twice as part of a multistep process to arrange medical aid in dying. Legislation to allow medical aid in dying in Pennsylvania hasnt been approved. (Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News) In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought shed beaten 20 years ago, she traveled twice from her home in Pennsylvania to Vermont. She went not to ski, hike, or leaf-peep, but to arrange to die. I really wanted to take control over how I left this world, said the 61-year-old who lives in Lancaster. I decided that this was an option for me. Dying with medical assistance wasnt an option when Milano learned in early 2023 that her disease was incurable. At that point, she would have had to travel to Switzerland or live in the District of Columbia or one of the 10 states where medical aid in dying was legal. But Vermont lifted its residency requirement in May 2023, followed by Oregon two months later. (Montana effectively allows aid in dying through a 2009 court decision, but that ruling doesnt spell out rules around residency. And though New York and California recently considered legislation that would allow out-of-staters to secure aid in dying, neither provision passed.) Despite the limited options and the challenges such as finding doctors in a new state, figuring out where to die, and traveling when too sick to walk to the next room, let alone climb into a car dozens have made the trek to the two states that have opened their doors to terminally ill nonresidents seeking aid in dying. At least 26 people have traveled to Vermont to die, representing nearly 25% of the reported assisted deaths in the state from May 2023 through this June, according to the Vermont Department of Health. In Oregon, 23 out-of-state residents died using medical assistance in 2023, just over 6% of the state total, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Oncologist Charles Blanke, whose clinic in Portland is devoted to end-of-life care, said he thinks that Oregons total is likely an undercount and he expects the numbers to grow. Over the past year, he said, hes seen two to four out-of-state patients a week about one-quarter of his practice and fielded calls from across the U.S., including New York, the Carolinas, Florida, and tons from Texas. But just because patients are willing to travel doesnt mean its easy or that they get their desired outcome. The law is pretty strict about what has to be done, Blanke said. As in other states that allow what some call physician-assisted death or assisted suicide, Oregon and Vermont require patients to be assessed by two doctors. Patients must have less than six months to live, be mentally and cognitively sound, and be physically able to ingest the drugs to end their lives. Charts and records must be reviewed in the state; neglecting to do so constitutes practicing medicine out of state, which violates medical licensing requirements. For the same reason, the patients must be in the state for the initial exam, when they request the drugs, and when they ingest them. State legislatures impose those restrictions as safeguards to balance the rights of patients seeking aid in dying with a legislative imperative not to pass laws that are harmful to anyone, said Peg Sandeen, CEO of the group Death With Dignity. Like many aid-in-dying advocates, however, she said such rules create undue burdens for people who are already suffering. Diana Barnard, a Vermont palliative care physician, said some patients cannot even come for their appointments. They end up being sick or not feeling like traveling, so theres rescheduling involved, she said. Its asking people to use a significant part of their energy to come here when they really deserve to have the option closer to home. Those opposed to aid in dying include religious groups that say taking a life is immoral, and medical practitioners who argue their job is to make people more comfortable at the end of life, not to end the life itself. Anthropologist Anita Hannig, who interviewed dozens of terminally ill patients while researching her 2022 book, The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America, said she doesnt expect federal legislation to settle the issue anytime soon. As the Supreme Court did with abortion in 2022, it ruled assisted dying to be a states rights issue in 1997. During the 2023-24 legislative sessions, 19 states (including Milanos home state of Pennsylvania) considered aid-in-dying legislation, according to the advocacy group Compassion & Choices. Delaware was the sole state to pass it, but the governor has yet to act on it. Francine Milano with her husband, Kris Brackin. (Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News) Sandeen said that many states initially pass restrictive laws requiring 21-day wait times and psychiatric evaluations, for instance only to eventually repeal provisions that prove unduly onerous. That makes her optimistic that more states will eventually follow Vermont and Oregon, she said. Milano would have preferred to travel to neighboring New Jersey, where aid in dying has been legal since 2019, but its residency requirement made that a nonstarter. And though Oregon has more providers than the largely rural state of Vermont, Milano opted for the nine-hour car ride to Burlington because it was less physically and financially draining than a cross-country trip. The logistics were key because Milano knew shed have to return. When she traveled to Vermont in May 2023 with her husband and her brother, she wasnt near death. She figured that the next time she was in Vermont, it would be to request the medication. Then shed have to wait 15 days to receive it. The waiting period is standard to ensure that a person has what Barnard calls thoughtful time to contemplate the decision, although she said most have done that long before. Some states have shortened the period or, like Oregon, have a waiver option. That waiting period can be hard on patients, on top of being away from their health care team, home, and family. Blanke said he has seen as many as 25 relatives attend the death of an Oregon resident, but out-of-staters usually bring only one person. And while finding a place to die can be a problem for Oregonians who are in care homes or hospitals that prohibit aid in dying, its especially challenging for nonresidents. When Oregon lifted its residency requirement, Blanke advertised on Craigslist and used the results to compile a list of short-term accommodations, including Airbnbs, willing to allow patients to die there. Nonprofits in states with aid-in-dying laws also maintain such lists, Sandeen said. Milano hasnt gotten to the point where she needs to find a place to take the meds and end her life. In fact, because she had a relatively healthy year after her first trip to Vermont, she let her six-month approval period lapse. In June, though, she headed back to open another six-month window. This time, she went with a girlfriend who has a camper van. They drove six hours to cross the state border, stopping at a playground and gift shop before sitting in a parking lot where Milano had a Zoom appointment with her doctors rather than driving three more hours to Burlington to meet in person. I dont know if they do GPS tracking or IP address kind of stuff, but I would have been afraid not to be honest, she said. Thats not all that scares her. She worries shell be too sick to return to Vermont when she is ready to die. And, even if she can get there, she wonders whether shell have the courage to take the medication. About one-third of people approved for assisted death dont follow through, Blanke said. For them, its often enough to know they have the meds the control to end their lives when they want. Milano said she is grateful she has that power now while shes still healthy enough to travel and enjoy life. I just wish more people had the option, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) Benjamin Reed will stand trial Monday afternoon. He was charged with the murder of Deidre Silas back in 2022. Silas, 36, was a social worker with DCFS. In January of 2022, she went on a home visit in Thayer, Illinois. It was there that she was stabbed and killed. Legislators, union push for house visit reform on anniversary of fatal DCFS caseworker stabbing Authorities later arrested Benjamin Reed at a Decatur Hospital. He was charged with the murder of Silas. Reeds trial will be a bench trial, which means the judge will decide the case from the bench instead of a jury. This is a developing story. We will provide updates as we learn more. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. By Keith Coffman and Steve Gorman DENVER (Reuters) -Jury selection began on Monday in the long-delayed trial of a man charged with murdering 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021, a case in which the suspect was ruled mentally unfit to face prosecution before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. The outcome hinges on whether the defense can convince jurors that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 25, was so mentally ill at the time of the mass shooting that he failed to comprehend the difference between right and wrong and thus should not be held legally responsible for the killings. The basic facts of the case are not in dispute. Alissa stormed a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, about 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Denver, on March 22, 2021, armed with a legally purchased Ruger AR-556 pistol, which resembles an AR-15-style rifle. Police say he killed two people in the store's parking lot before shooting eight others to death inside the supermarket. Among those killed were a police officer responding to the scene. The shooting spree ended when a police officer shot Alissa in the leg, leading the gunman, wearing only his underwear, to surrender. He has remained in custody since the day of the shooting. Alissa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, in addition to dozens of counts of attempted murder, assault and weapons offenses stemming from the rampage. A conviction would carry an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. There is no death penalty in Colorado. The trial officially got under way on Monday morning with the judge and attorneys for both sides beginning the process of choosing jurors to hear the case, a court spokesperson said. Jury selection is expected to wrap up by week's end, with opening statements possible as early as Friday, or on Tuesday following the U.S. Labor Day holiday. The case against Alissa stalled after he underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in late 2021. Boulder District Court Judge Ingrid Bakke, relying on the conclusions of state psychologists, then deemed him incompetent to stand trial. In November 2023, Bakke found that the defendant's mental condition had improved sufficiently under psychiatric treatment to rule him restored to competency, allowing the prosecution to move forward. Competence is a legal determination that weighs whether criminal defendants understand the charges against them and can meaningfully assist in their own defense. An insanity plea relates instead to the defendant's mental status at the time of the alleged crime. Grim details of the killings emerged during his plea hearing last year, when a Boulder homicide detective testified that Alissa shot one man in the back, then pursued the victim as he tried to crawl away and fatally shot him again. The detective also testified the suspect shot and wounded a woman, then fired multiple additional rounds at her as she curled up in a fetal position, killing her. All the victims struck by gunfire died of their wounds, authorities said. A precise motive for the killing spree has not been suggested by prosecutors, though according to a psychologist who treated the gunman at a state mental hospital, Alissa had said he wanted to "commit suicide by cop." (Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot) Trio of Democratic socialist NYC lawmakers brag of wins in budget they voted against: Hilarious hypocrisy Democratic socialist City Council members have been bragging about big budget wins even though they voted against the spending plan and now some sources are calling the misplaced bluster hilarious hypocrisy. Council members Tiffany Caban, Alex Aviles and Shahana Hanif were the sole dissenting Big Apple lawmakers who complained that too much was being spent on the NYPD in the $112.4 billion 2025 budget, which was hammered out by City Hall and council leadership at the 11th hour at the end of June. But that didnt stop Hanif from emailing her Brooklyn constituents twice in the following weeks touting the nearly $14 million in capital budget wins that she claimed to have secured for District 39 and her incredible partnership with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, according to emails obtained by The Post. We are beyond grateful for her close collaboration, Hanif wrote about the speaker. Shahana Hanif was one of only three council members to vote against the budget. Gabriella Bass Hanifs no vote though went against Adams, leading to the council member losing out on any shot at the discretionary funds doled out by the speaker in each budget. For her part, Aviles took credit for helping to land a permanent home for a Sunset Park community organization that assists immigrants. Im proud to have played a key role in securing $1 mil for @MixtecaOrg to move into a better space, she wrote on X. The same day, Caban shot off a district email taking credit for restored library funding in the battle with Mayor Eric Adams, who is not related to the speaker. My colleagues and I at the City Council fought back against these cuts alongside the Queens Public Library. And thanks to everyone who showed up to rallies, called the Mayors office, and organized for our libraries, we WON! the email said. Alexa Aviles bragged of helping community org land funding in the latest budget, but she voted down the spending plan. Gabriella Bass None of the left-leaning lawmakers noted though that they had actually voted against the spending deal that made the funding possible. These three knuckleheads played politics, which is easy, but didnt want to do the actual hard work when it came to the budget, one council source said. They voted no, then ran to their constituents to claim credit for it, putting their districts at a disadvantage just to virtue signal and appease a fringe group of anarchist leftists its hilarious hypocrisy. Another council source railed, Theres a long history of politicians decrying pork unless its for their district, but politicians taking a victory lap for funding they voted against is exactly the sort of hypocritical behavior that the public hates. Sources at the time said the Democratic Socialists of America members had floated trying to put forward their own budget, which never materialized. A spokesperson for Hanif told The Post that she voted against the budget since it would pass regardless but did not address boasting of financial wins. I voted against it because my constituents strongly opposed the Mayors substantial cuts to early childhood education, K-12 public schools, CUNY, and parks, Hanif said in a statement issued through the spokesperson. Tiffany Caban told voters about her big win in getting back library funding, but failed to note she voted against the budget with the restorations. Michael M. Santiago Representatives for Aviles and Caban did not respond to a request for comment. Constituents in Hanifs district were taken aback by the unhanded politicking. Its extremist political behavior thats unprincipled and thats consistent with how Hanif does everything, said one voter, who asked not to be named due to his job. It doesnt surprise me at all that shes speaking out of both sides of her mouth. Stella Belenkaya told The Post she wasnt surprised at all by Hanif, who she claimed has ignored the 64-year-olds request to clean up offensive graffiti in the neighborhood. The fact that shes unresponsive and she didnt vote for the budget and she argued for zero police, its all part of why I dont want to vote for her, Belenkaya said. Nazrin Abdul AzerEnergy OJSC has made significant progress in constructing Azerbaijan's largest power plant in Mingachevir, with the arrival of another set of turbines and generators from Italy, Azernews reports. Each turbine and generator, weighing over 300 tons, was transported to Baku and then to Mingachevir using specialized heavy-duty equipment and trailers. Due to the substantial height of the cargo, which was 6 meters, infrastructure adjustments were necessary, including bridge excavations and road restorations, to ensure safe transportation. Installation of these critical components has commenced at the new facility, which boasts a total capacity of 1,880 megawatts. Of the planned four turbine-generator sets, three have now been delivered, with the final set expected to arrive next month. Additional equipment includes eight transformers from China, already delivered to Baku, and components for the waste boiler, which will soon arrive at Poti port and be transported to Mingachevir. This new power plant is designed to address several key issues: balancing the integration of renewable energy sources, reducing natural gas consumption in power generation, mitigating climate change impacts, and enhancing environmental protection. The plant's advanced design will cut conventional fuel consumption to 225 grams per kilowatt-hour120 grams less than previous unitssaving 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2 million tons. The power plant aligns with UN climate change directives, emphasizing "green energy" and energy efficiency, making it a pivotal development in Azerbaijans commitment to sustainable energy practices. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- A bomb went off in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, leaving at least four people killed and ten others injured, rescue and police officials said. According to the police in the area, the blast occurred when explosives planted on a motorcycle exploded in a market in Razmak area of North Waziristan district of the province, killing four people on the spot. Following the incident, a heavy contingent of police, along with rescue teams, reached the area and shifted the wounded people to a nearby hospital, where at least three persons are said to be in critical condition. Security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation in the surrounding areas. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the blast yet. Tropical Storm Hone moves past Hawaii; 2 other cyclones active in the Pacific Three tropical cyclones swirled over the Pacific Ocean on Monday, including Tropical Storm Hone which brought heavy rain to Hawaii, Hurricane Gilma which was gaining strength and Tropical Storm Hector which was churning westward, far off the coast of southern tip of Baja California. The biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Hone were rainfall and flash floods that resulted in road closures, downed power lines and damaged trees in some areas of the Big Island, said William Ahue, a forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. By midday Monday, Hone was 280 miles west-southwest of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. It was moving west at 13 mph. No major damage that we know of yet, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said. No injuries that we know of at this point. PREVIOUS: Huge mess: Debby leaves extensive damage One family had to be evacuated Sunday because of flooding, Roth said. Four Big Island schools were closed because of power outages and flooded roads from Hone. Hawaiian Electric said the utility restored power to most customers who experienced outages. And state transportation officials warned Monday that the Hilo airport may be busier because of added flights to make up for weekend cancelations. Julia Neal, the owner of a bed-and-breakfast located on a former sugar plantation in Pahala, on the Big Island, said she and some guests were experiencing tropical storm winds and heavy pounding rain through the night. She added that Hone was also a gift in a way because we have been experiencing a lot of drought. On Sunday, floods closed Highway 11 between Kona and Hilo, and a higher-altitude alternative, the Cane Road, was closed by flooding as well, isolating properties like the Aikane Plantation Coffee Co. outside Pahala, where owner Phil Becker said his 10-inch rain gauge overflowed in the deluge. Weve got quite a lot of flood damage, the gulches are running full speed ahead and theyre overflowing the bridges, so were trapped down here, we cant get in or out, Becker said. Becker said his plantation is off the grid, powered with batteries charged by solar electricity, and his family is safe, so they have no reason to evacuate. The weather may even prove beneficial: Weve been in a drought situation so the coffee is probably loving all this rain, he said. Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for sweet and soft, poked at memories still fresh of last years deadly blazes on Maui, which were fueled by hurricane-force winds. Red flag alerts are issued when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire. The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but its possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds. The states two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, were prepared to shut off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires, but they later said the safety measures would not be necessary as Hone blew past the islands. In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Gilma intensified Monday into a strong Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 110 mph. Gilma was located about 1,160 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west at 8 mph. Gilma was forecast to increase in forward speed, but decrease in intensity, the National Hurricane Center said. It was still expected to be a hurricane when it reaches the central Pacific basin on Tuesday. Farther to the east, Tropical Storm Hector also gained strength Monday. Hector had top sustained winds of 50 mph. It was centered about 1,125 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexicos Baja peninsula and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph. Roth, the Big Islands mayor, said residents should still be concerned about these storms. With the ground already saturated, additional rain could be problematic, he said. Its never too early to start protecting your house, he said. (WATCH BELOW: Hurricane Ernesto impacts Carolina coast) TROY, Ohio (WDTN) Students in the Troy City School District will be going home a bit sooner a few days this week due to expected heat. And dont look for the district to push back the start date for its year. Troy City Schools has announced the district will dismiss all students two hours early on Tuesday, Aug. 27, and Wednesday, Aug. 28. Disheartened: Senior parking spaces vandalized at Wayne HS In its announcement, the district cited dangerous heat forecasted by the National Weather Service in Wilmington. In a Hazardous Weather Outlook issued Monday morning, the weather service said heat indices could approach 100 degrees both days. District students who attend Upper Valley Career Center will also be impacted. According to Troy Schools, UVCC students who are also Troy students will be transported from UVCC to Troy High School two hours early. In a later social media post Monday, the district responded to calls to change its academic calendar so that the year doesnt begin until after Labor Day (which falls on Sept. 2 this year), under the misconception that it would make heat less of an issue. Since 2019, we have had to dismiss early eight times prior to tomorrow and Wednesday. Four of those early dismissals were prior to Labor Day that year. Four of those early dismissals were after Labor Day. This includes 2021, when we dismissed early Oct. 19 because of heat! Unfortunately, starting school after Labor Day isnt a cure-all, but we absolutely understand everyones thought process. Troy Schools The district ended its follow-up post by pointing out that thanks to Troy voters passing a levy in November 2023, all of its buildings will be air conditioned when the school year opens in 2027. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. Arizona judge sets 2026 trial date for Trump allies accused of trying to subvert the 2020 election An Arizona judge has set a trial date of January 5, 2026, for allies of former President Donald Trump charged for a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. If that date holds, it means the Arizona case will go to trial close to five years after the alleged crimes were committed and take place six months later than the timeframe originally proposed by prosecutors. At the same time, the Arizona case is now the only criminal case related to the 2020 election at either the state or federal level to currently have a trial date on the calendar as other separate efforts to similarly prosecute Trump and his allies in other jurisdictions all face uncertain futures. Several defendants, including conservative attorney John Eastman and multiple Arizona Republicans who served as fake electors, were present in the courtroom for a hearing Monday. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Christina Bobb, who serves as the top lawyer for the RNC on election integrity, joined the hearing virtually. This is the first high-stakes hearing since a grand jury handed up criminal charges against the fake electors from Arizona. Trump himself was not charged. Lawyers for Trump allies and the Arizona Republicans who served as fake electors from that state have argued that the actions detailed in charging documents do not amount to crimes and accused prosecutors of pursuing a politically motivated case against them. Arizonas attorney general has charged the Trump allies with committing multiple felonies on the same occasion a designation under state law that means a conviction would likely carry prison sentences rather than a lesser penalty afforded to first-time offenders. Some defendants have argued in court filings that prosecutors are seeking to use the prospect of an overly harsh punishment to coerce cooperation from some of those charged. Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who was appointed in 2005 by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, acknowledged that the trial date is a moving target. Cohen also said Monday that he wants to set a trial date that appropriately takes into account concerns about the amount of time defense attorneys need to review discovery and interview roughly 80 witnesses prosecutors plan to call. The pivotal hearing comes just days after Trump, who has not been charged in the Arizona case but is described in court documents as unindicted co-conspirator 1, held a rally in the key swing state as part of his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump has avoided having to stand trial in either of the two criminal cases where he was charged for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, but Mondays hearing in Arizona underscores how many of those who sought to help the former president remain in power still face significant legal exposure as a result. Most members of the grand jury in Arizona that indicted the 18 Trump allies for their alleged roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election had also expressed interest in charging the former president. The interest was strong enough that it prompted the states lead prosecutor to request that the grand jury not indict the former president and give a PowerPoint presentation to explain his reasoning, according to court documents. Trump has been charged at the federal level for his efforts to upend Joe Bidens legitimate 2020 election victory by special counsel Jack Smith and in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Prosecutors will point to their request that the grand jury not indict Trump during Mondays hearing in an effort to push back on claims by defense attorneys that the case is politically motivated and should be dismissed. While Trump has not been charged in the Arizona election subversion case, the investigation remains ongoing and prosecutors have not closed the door on potentially indicting more people, including the former president, should evidence emerge to support making that decision, sources tell CNN. In the meantime, prosecutors in Arizona are forging ahead with their case against the 18 others who have been charged and are eying a potential trial date in early 2025. Arizona prosecutors secured their first victory earlier this month when former Trump 2020 campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis agreed to cooperate in exchange for the charges against her being dropped. Ellis is expected to testify against other defendants in the criminal case as part of her deal. She was originally charged with multiple felony counts related to her alleged role in the effort to put forward fake slates of electors as part of a broader conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results on Trumps behalf. One of the Arizona fake electors facing state level criminal charges also reached a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this month. Loraine Pellegrino, who signed the fraudulent document at the center of the state attorney generals case, agreed to plead guilty to the false document charge against her and the rest of her charges were dismissed. Like the other Arizona fake electors and Trump allies charged in the case, Pellegrino was facing multiple felonies for her alleged role in the alleged conspiracy. The other defendants in the Arizona case, including several prominent state Republican party members and Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trumps closest advisers, have pleaded not guilty. Meadows hearing next month Separately, attorneys for Trumps former chief of staff Mark Meadows say the Arizona indictment squarely relates to Meadows official conduct as Trumps last chief of staff and therefore his case should be moved to federal court. Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se. Rather, it consists of allegations that he received (and occasionally responded to) messages from people who were trying to get ideas in front of President Trump or seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the Presidents campaign, they wrote in a federal court filing. This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal officials duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits, and that the removal statute shields from adjudication in a state court, the attorneys argued. US District Judge John Tuchi scheduled a hearing for September 5. Tuchi was a nominee of then-President Barack Obama. Meadows is no stranger to the legal gambit. Last year, he mounted a similar effort in Georgia after he was indicted in Fulton County on similar 2020 election subversion state charges. This story has been updated with additional developments. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com BUTLER, Pa. (KDKA) - Members of the task force on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump are in Butler County assessing the Butler Farm Show grounds. The task force, along with several members of Congress including U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Butler and Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, are speaking at the Butler Farm Show grounds regarding the findings of today's tour. Latest on the Trump assassination attempt investigation Following the U.S. Secret Services' investigation into the attempted assassination during a campaign rally on July 13, five people were put on leave as disciplinary action. This includes the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office, three other officials from the Pittsburgh office and one agent within Trump's detail. "We are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure. The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated," a U.S. Secret Service spokesperson told KDKA. Report says Butler SWAT operator's shot delayed gunman A new report was filed on Aug. 12 by Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana detailing the events right after the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired shots, injuring Trump when a bullet grazed his ear. A Butler SWAT operator shot the gunman's gun from around 100 yards away, hitting his rifle stock. Fragments struck his face, neck and right shoulder area. That delayed the gunman long enough for a United States Secret Service sniper to take the fatal shot. Task force members visit scene of Trump assassination attempt Harris and Trump campaigns in debate dispute over muting microphones Seattle-Tacoma Airport hit by suspected cyberattack Foo Fighters say they didn't authorize the use of "My Hero" at a Trump rally. The campaign says otherwise. - Credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images; Rebecca Noble/Getty Images Many artists have objected to hearing their songs used to soundtrack Trump rallies. On Friday, that included Foo Fighters, whose 1997 hit My Hero played at an Arizona campaign stop to welcome Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage. RFK Jr. had announced that he was suspending his campaign for the presidency and supporting Trump in the November election. Foo Fighters denounced the usage of their song and said they did not give their permission. But on Monday, a Trump spokesperson claimed the opposite. We have a license to play the song, Stephen Cheung wrote in an email to political site The Hill. He also tweeted at the band, using their song titles to poke at Dave Grohl and co.: Its Times Like These facts matter, dont be a Pretender, he wrote, tagging Foo Fighters and linking to an article in the Independent about the licensing issue. More from Rolling Stone Since the campaigns rebuttal, the band reiterated that they did not authorize the use of My Hero. Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and again, even if they had been, they would not have granted it, a rep for the group said in a statement. Last week, Foo Fighters said they would be taking appropriate action to stop the campaign from using their music in the future, and pledged to donate any royalties they received from My Hero being played at the Arizona rally to the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign. This is far from the Trump campaigns first issue with allegedly unauthorized music usage. Last week, Beyonce threatened a cease-and-desist against the campaign after her song Freedom was used by Cheung in Trump video on Twitter. Harris has been using Freedom as her unofficial campaign song. Best of Rolling Stone Early Monday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement commemorating the deaths of 13 US service members in Afghanistan. Those service members died in a terror attack during the US withdrawal from the country. It was a clear pre-emptive strike against Republicans. During the RNC, Republicans made a point of highlighting those deaths. They even invited loved ones of the fallen onstage to publicly blame Biden. I will never forget meeting many of them on a trip to Afghanistan as a US Senator, Harris said in her Monday statement, during which she also listed the names of the dead. These American service members possessed extraordinary skill, discipline, and dedication. I had then, and will always have, immense pride in their service and in the strength, courage, and excellence of the US military, the greatest fighting force the world has ever known. Donald Trumps campaign is reportedly disagreeing with Kamala Harriss campaign over having muted microphones during the presidential debate (Getty Images) Former president Donald Trumps campaign released a video about the service members deaths. To this day, Kamala Harris has never mentioned these fallen soldiers' names, the video stated an out-of-date proclamation, considering Harriss earlier words. The video concluded on the message: President Trump will never forget them. The former president himself visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath on the graves of fallen service members later that morning. At the same time, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Congress will posthumously award the 13 service members the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award Congress can bestow. Certainly recognizing US service members who died while getting Americans and their allies out of a war zone as the Taliban took over is the least the US can do to honor their memories. But tellingly, Senator Steve Daines, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, passed the legislation in the Senate. Thats a sign they see this as a chance to exploit Democrats weaknesses and to tie Harris to one of the low points of the Biden administration, arguably one from which he never fully recovered. In recent weeks, Harris has sought to burnish her credibility as a potential future commander-in-chief. During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, she said she would ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. Her selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a veteran of the National Guard, is also supposed to show that she takes national security seriously. Admittedly, Harris lacks sufficient national security experience on the level that Biden had. Whereas Biden had served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was Barack Obamas chief emissary (given that Obama lacked foreign policy experience), Harris only spent a brief amount of time in the Senate. It makes some amount of sense, then, that Republicans intend to attack her on national security as a large part of their electoral campaign tactics. When Trump spoke to US National Guard officers on Tuesday, he accused her of being weak on terrorism as well. Kamala Harris is letting terrorists come into our country at record numbers and letting jihadists pour into our homeland by the thousands and thousands and thousands, he said. Cant do that. The conventions have now wrapped up and the final stretch of the election is here. Trump has found himself increasingly on defense against Harris. The Harris campaign wants to keep microphones on during their set debate on ABC News during September 10; Trump seems extremely unwilling to agree to that. Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network? he said on Truth Social on Monday, implying that he may still pull out. Were thinking about it, he later told reporters who asked whether that was a possibility. They also want to change the rules. You know, the deal was we keep the same rules. Now, all of a sudden they want to make a change in the rules because she cant answer questions. For the past month, Trump has failed to define Harris as a candidate, despite the fact that she has been vice president for almost two years and she ran a presidential campaign in 2019 that didnt even make it to the primary contests. Despite the fact that voters trust Trump more on immigration, he has not been able to capitalize on this strength, either. This new angle shows that they hope that Harris can be weakened on another front. Trump Campaign Trolls Foo Fighters Over Use Of My Hero Song At Rally: Its Times Like These Facts Matter This is a call from Donald Trump to Foo Fighters. A spokesman for the ex-POTUS and current GOP presidential nominee hit back at the multiplatinum band today after Dave Grohl and company complained about their hit My Hero being played at a weekend rally without the bands consent. More from Deadline Its Times Like These facts matter, dont be a Pretender, Trumps rep Steven Cheung wrote on X, copping the titles of two Foo tracks. My Hero blared on the PA during a rally with new endorsee Robert Kennedy Jr. in the swing state of Arizona on Friday, and the band made its distaste and lack of approval known soon afterward. Only trouble is, the Trump camp said it has licensed use of that song and so many others from performing-rights company BMI. Cheung included a quote from a UK newspaper backing his point. The Independent had tweeted, or Xd, on Saturday that it has seen documents appearing to confirm that the campaign had indeed licensed the song from BMIs Songview service. We have a license to play the song, Cheung said in a statement. There is a long history of campaigns, primarily Republican, facing artists ire over the use of their music at rallies. At certain times over the years, campaigns have obtained blanket licenses from rights groups like ASCAP, either directly or via the venue where a rally or event takes place. But an artist can exclude certain works from the blanket license. Artists also may object to the use of a work on other grounds, including that it violates right of publicity and trademark laws. RELATED: Classic Rockers & Current Stars Demand Clearance For Campaign Music Still, numerous artists have griped about Trump using their music at his rallies in recent weeks and months and years. Two weeks ago, Celine Dions management and record company objected to the candidates use of her Titanic smash My Heart Will Go On at a rally. And the family of the late soul legend Isaac Hayes threatened a copyright suit this month over the use at rallies of the Sam & Dave classic Hold On, Im Coming, which Hayes wrote. And the list goes on for all three of Trump presidential runs. In fact, its been a running theme, so to speak, of Trumps campaign since he descended that escalator to announce his White House candidacy in June 2015. Neil Youngs decidedly not-jingoistic Rockin in the Free World was played as the then-Apprentice host took that stage to reveal his run. The politically hip Canadian rocker decried its use the next day, saying in a statement Donald Trump was not authorized to use Rockin In The Free World in his presidential candidacy announcement. RELATED: I Accept: Donald Trump Falsely Claims Taylor Swift Election Endorsement Back in 2020, The Rolling Stones threatened to sue Trump for using their timeless track You Cant Always Get What You Want at his events. They later were joined by both BMI and ASCAP in decrying use of the bands music. That led to a throng of musicians teaming with the Artist Rights Alliance penning an open letter that called on major U.S. political parties to establish clear policies requiring campaigns to seek consent of featured recording artists, songwriters and copyright owners before publicly using their music in a political or campaign setting. Signatories of that letter included the Stones, Elton John, Aerosmith, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Green Day, Jason Isbell, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Linkin Park, Train, Lionel Richie, Lorde, Sia,Lykke Li and Regina Spektor. The rally-music ruckus goes all the way back at least to when then-POTUS and former SAG President Ronald Reagan told a crowd in 1984: Americas future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jerseys own Bruce Springsteen. The Boss, who was rising the Born in the U.S.A. wave and among the worlds top acts at the time, made it quite clear he didnt dig that. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The classified documents case against Donald Trump is not dead yet, as special counsel Jack Smith is asking a federal appeals court to reinstate it. In July, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the 42 felony charges against the former president and convicted felon, ruling that Smiths appointment to the case was unconstitutional. On Monday, Smith appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the dismissal is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. Trump allegedly broke the law by retaining classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and then refusing to return them to the federal government. Cannon was criticized for her handling of the classified documents case, bogging down proceedings by entertaining questionable motions from Trumps defense and seemingly favoring the Republican presidential nominee. Her experience was called into question by legal experts including one of Trumps former lawyers, Ty Cobb. A ruling in Smiths favor could result in a new judge taking over the case, though notably Smith did not ask for Cannons removal in his brief to the 11th circuit. Cannons dismissal came after the Supreme Court ruled that American presidents have immunity for their official acts while in office, throwing the cases future into doubt. And even if the appeals court overturns Cannons ruling, there is no timeframe on when a new trial would take place, meaning that it would almost certainly come several months after the November elections. This raises the possibility that Trump could return to the White House with the case underway, and then would simply ask his new attorney general to drop the charges. Trump still faces federal charges for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in connection with the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The Supreme Courts ruling has also put that case in limbo, with a hearing to determine the next steps postponed until September. The former president also faces criminal charges in Georgia for attempting to overturn the states presidential election results, but that case is stalled over attempts by Trumps legal team to have its prosecutor, Fani Willis, thrown off of the case. Right now, the only criminal case against Trump to proceed to a trial verdict is his hush-money case in New York, where the Republican presidential nominee was convicted on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. If Smith has his way, Trump may one day face a criminal trial again. Former President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 service members. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is expected to visit Arlington National Cemetery to pay his respects to the service members killed in the bombing outside the Kabul airport. Trump will then go to Michigan to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference. Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He specifically highlights the vice presidents statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan. Taliban fighters carry rocket launchers as they celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southwestern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq) Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Afghans attend a ceremony to celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai) Taliban fighters carry dummy yellow canisters intended to represent homemade explosives, as they celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southwestern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq) She bragged that she would be the last person in the room, and she was. She was the last person in the room with Biden when the two of them decided to pull the troops out of Afghanistan, he said last week in a North Carolina rally. She had the final vote. She had the final say, and she was all for it. The relatives of some of the 13 American service members who were killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month, saying Biden had never publicly named their loved ones. The display was an implicit response to allegations that Trump doesnt respect veterans and had previously referred to slain World War II soldiers as suckers and losers accusations denied by Trump. Under Trump, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that was aimed at ending Americas longest war and bringing U.S. troops home. Biden later pointed to that agreement as he sought to deflect blame for the Taliban overrunning Afghanistan, saying it bound him to withdraw troops and set the stage for the chaos that engulfed the country. A Biden administration review of the withdrawal acknowledged that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but attributed the delays to the Afghan government and military, and to U.S. military and intelligence community assessments. The top two U.S. generals who oversaw the evacuation said the administration inadequately planned for the withdrawal. The nations top-ranking military officer at the time, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, told lawmakers earlier this year he had urged Biden to keep a residual force of 2,500 forces to give backup. Instead, Biden decided to keep a much smaller force of 650 that would be limited to securing the U.S. embassy. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. by Xinhua writers Lyu Qiuping, Jiang Fan and Huang Yaoman LHASA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Champa uses a portrait of his idol Elon Musk as his WeChat avatar. He said the Tesla CEO is never constrained by traditional mindsets and never stops exploring, which he admires very much. Such characteristics are evident in Champa himself. The Tibetan has traveled thousands of kilometers from his hometown in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region to the Bohai Sea to work as an offshore oilman. Thirty years ago, the central government made a major decision to rally national support for Xizang. Under the pairing-up assistance policy, some central state organs, provincial-level regions and centrally-administered state-owned enterprises were designated to assist in specific areas in the region. As part of efforts to help develop the region, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has offered jobs to more than 100 young people from Xizang, including Champa. "The world is so big. I want to explore it myself," Champa said. A DREAM TAKING ROOT ON PLATEAU Champa was born in 1995 in the pastoral area of Nyima County with an average altitude of more than 4,800 meters. Unlike many of his peers who were reluctant to leave their grassland homes on the plateau, he was desperate to see the outside world. His desire originated from a few photos of his father taken in Beijing. In 2012, his father took Champa's little brother, who had been diagnosed with congenital heart disease, to Beijing for free treatment, thanks to a national scheme to assist locals in Xizang. "During that trip, my father had several photos taken, where I could see Tian'anmen Square and other scenes outside the plateau," Champa recalled, adding that this sparked a dream of leaving the grassland. In 2014, he was admitted to the Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, where he saw the sea for the first time. It was during his time at university that he first got a taste for seafood and other exotic dishes different from the traditional Tibetan food of yak beef and buttered tea. In 2020, two years into a road construction job in Lhasa he got following graduation, he was recruited by the CNOOC as part of the company's pairing-up assistance efforts. Wang Sheng, superintendent of the oilfield, said that Champa's previous study and work experience showed that Champa was diligent and adaptable -- important criteria for the job. "His later performance proved that we made the right choice," Wang said. SPREAD WINGS AT SEA As a production operator, Champa is tasked with monitoring the facilities and meters of the crude oil processing and sewage treatment systems. Any negligence may affect production and even lead to oil leakage and, therefore, environmental pollution. In the beginning, Champa had to learn from scratch, as his major in university -- business administration -- was not directly linked to his job. While working, the Tibetan had to shift between Tibetan, Mandarin and English to communicate with his colleagues and read the English brochures and manuals. Loneliness and homesickness were also obstacles at that time. When he first arrived at Bohai Shiji (Bohai Century), a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility roughly the size of an aircraft carrier in the Bohai Sea, there was no mobile or internet signal coverage. "After losing contact with my family for three consecutive days, I became so homesick that I said I wanted to go home," Champa recalled. "Luckily, my supervisors were very understanding and gave me some days off to adjust myself." Later in the same year, the FPSO was equipped with telecommunication signals, and Champa was able to video call his family every day. During his first year onboard, he spent most of his spare time studying to improve his professional skills and catch up with his colleagues. Now, he prefers reading. "Now, I'm reading 'Before Dawn in Harvard,' an inspirational book that has been translated into Tibetan," he said, adding that he also works out at the gym onboard. Qin Yongjun, a colleague of Champa, said Champa was shy when he first arrived, and his Mandarin was patchy. His diligence and sincerity have made him adapt to this job and become a good friend to many. "Both of us are hot pot fans, so I have brought him hot pot seasonings from my hometown," said Qin, from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province known for its hot pot. "And I have enjoyed the dried yak beef he gifted in return." ROLE MODEL BACK HOME Offshore work is rotated on a 28-day basis. During breaks, Champa traveled to many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Wuhan. When he returns home, many people like to talk to him and listen to his stories at sea and in the outside world. "Inspired by my experience, some people in my community have found rewarding jobs outside the plateau," Champa said. According to a white paper issued in 2021, more than 10 percent of college students in Xizang take jobs outside the autonomous region every year. The region's government work report showed that over 3,600 fresh college graduates were employed outside Xizang in 2023 alone. As the eldest of six children in his family, Champa bought a sport utility vehicle for his younger brother back home. Two of his siblings are still in school. "I hope they can enter university and step out of the plateau and see the world," he said. Donald Trump was photographed smiling and giving an awkward thumbs up Monday at the graves of fallen Marines in Arlington National Cemetery. The former presidents demeanor was criticized online as many were puzzledand others outright offendedthat hed give his signature smirk and hand gesture at such a sensitive site. Smiling thumbs up at the grave is unusual to say the least, posted Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker whos a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. Trump was in Virginia to lay a wreath that commemorated the third anniversary of 13 American soldiers being killed at the Abbey Gate of Kabul Airport during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Taliban members took to the streets to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Militarys withdrawl from Afghanistan in 2022. Ali Khara/Reuters Defenders of the Republican nominee praised Trump for making the trip to Arlington at all, while others fingered Trumps actions as being merely habit after months on the campaign trail. Trump appeared to be surrounded by loved ones of the fallen Marines in the photos, some of whom smiled and gave a thumbs up themselves. The most widely circulated photos showed him behind the tombstones of Nicole Gee, a sergeant, and Darin Taylor Hoover, a staff sergeant. Trump today with thumbs up at the grave of a soldier. Disgraceful. pic.twitter.com/scwq6bVhFF The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 26, 2024 Joining Trump in Virginia was Tulsi Gabbard, the ex-Democratic lawmaker who endorsed him later that day. Utahs Republican governor Spencer J. Cox also attended, sharing photos from the event. Neither Joe Biden or Kamala Harris attended. Trumps campaign has recently tried to pin the U.S. militarys bloody exit from Afghanistan as an attack line on Harris. This is despite Trump being the president who struck the deal that led to the withdrawal, with him going as far as planning to host members of the Taliban at Camp David on Sept. 11, 2019, to finalize it. Arlington National Cemetery has strict rules about partisan events on its grounds and denies entry to anyone who tries to gain publicity or engender support for any cause, but presidents and politicians regularly attend memorials there that are typically covered by the press. Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee was killed in Afghanistan in 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Reuters Trump has a checkered past with the military and veterans. He was accused by those formerly close to him of dodging the Vietnam War draft by making up an injury. Hes also disparaged the intelligence of service members and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, The Atlantic reported during his presidency. Among the most damning alleged comments revealed in that report was that Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wooda deadly WWI battleas suckers for getting killed. In a separate conversation on the matter, he reportedly referred to soldiers killed in action as losers. Why should I go to that cemetery? he was accused of saying. Its filled with losers. Trump has claimed the allegations made in the bombshell report arent true. Those once close to him confirmed the quotes veracity, however. That included the retired four-star Marine general John Kelly, who was Trumps longest-serving chief of staff. 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. Vice President Kamala Harris hasnt just caught up to Donald Trumpshes actually taking some small leads. According to an NPR analysis of FiveThirtyEight aggregated polling data published Monday, the Democratic presidential nominee has increased her advantage in battleground states. Several states that were previously reported to vote likely Republican in the upcoming electionincluding Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizonaare now all considered toss-ups. Other states that were assured to vote Republican, such as Florida, now seem slightly less enthused by the Republican ticket. Two states that served as tipping points in the 2016 election, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, have transitioned from toss-up status to likely Democratic supporters. Harris holds an average lead of about three points in Wisconsin, as well as Michigan, while she has just a one-point lead in Pennsylvania. Of course, now is not the time to assume that Harris has the election in the bag. The Democrats leads are mostly within the polls margin of error, and besides that, pre-election polling in the last two cycles has failed to capture the quiet zeitgeist in favor of Trump. As such, Democratic pollsters have warned voters not to get too cozy ahead of November. Our numbers are much less rosy than what youre seeing in the public, president of pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward Chauncey McLean, who rarely talks publicly, told Reuters last week. Margie Omero, a partner at the Democratic polling firm GBAO Strategies, expressed a similar sentiment to Politico. Its still a very tough race, and that feels consistent with everything we know, Omero said. Still, former Trump administration officials were quick to celebrate the shifting tide. On Friday, former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham shared a Trump tweet bragging that a Rasmussen poll had placed him five percentage points ahead of Harris. Rasmussen was the only poll he asked about/we told him about because it was always in his favor, Grisham posted with a laugh emoji. There could have been 35 polls saying he was losing & all he cared about was Rasmussen. We used it as a way to keep him happy. #TheEmperorHasNoClothes (The Hill) The Trump and Harris campaigns are in disagreement about whether microphones should be muted during a scheduled upcoming debate, prompting former President Donald Trump to raise questions about his participation. The Trump campaign has argued each candidate should have their microphone muted when its not their turn to speak, similar to the rules used during Trumps June debate on CNN with President Joe Biden. The Harris campaign, however, has noted it was not the party that agreed to those rules and has pushed for microphones to be left open throughout the event. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast, Brian Fallon, spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, said in a statement. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trumps team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they dont think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button, he added. The Vice President is ready to deal with Trumps constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button. Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said in a statement that the former presidents team had rejected any changes to the rules agreed upon for the CNN debate. This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign, Miller said in a statement. They wont allow Harris to do interviews, they wont allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat sheet for the debate. My guess is that theyre looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump. Questioning the vice presidents motives, Miller pointed to an Aug. 15 statement in which the Harris campaign asserted the debate about debates was over. Clearly, theyre seeing something they dont like, Miller said. Miller claimed the Harris campaign had asked for a seated debate with notes and opening statements, something the Harris campaign has denied. Trump himself made similar claims about Bidens request for a seated debate with CNN. Politico first reported on the disagreement over the microphone muting. Trump was asked during a stop at a restaurant in Virginia about the latest hang-up over microphones. The former president was adamant that the two sides agreed to the same rules that covered his June debate with Biden before conceding he would be fine if the microphones were left unmuted. We agreed to the same rules. I dont know, doesnt matter to me. Id rather have it probably on, Trump said. The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. Harris leading Trump by 7 points: Poll Some Biden allies have suggested that muting the microphones during the June debate aided Trump, as viewers were unable to hear the kinds of interruptions that have hindered his past debate performances. The issue over the microphones has prompted fresh discussion over whether the Sept. 10 debate will take place after the two sides had appeared to come to terms on a debate. Trump had previously agreed to an ABC News-hosted debate with Biden for Sept. 10. After Biden was replaced atop the Democratic ticket by Harris, Trump initially withdrew from the ABC debate and cast doubt on whether he would debate Harris at all. The two sides eventually agreed to hold the debate with ABC News. While Trump had pushed for additional debates on Fox News and NBC News in September, the Harris campaign said it would only agree to the ABC News event before discussing a potential second presidential debate. But Trump late Sunday raged over the networks broadcast of This Week, which included critical panelists and an interview between host Jonathan Karl and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that Trump deemed biased. Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Trump asked on Truth Social. The debate is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, and will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, the network 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. Trump Just Voted In Florida. Here's How Other People With Felony Convictions Can, Too. Only months after being convicted of 34 felonies in the state of New York, former President Donald Trump exercised his right to vote at a Palm Beach, Florida, polling location on Aug. 14. Florida voters overwhelmingly supported a 2018 constitutional amendment restoring the voting rights of people with felony convictions after theyve finished their sentences, except for those convicted of murder or a felony sex crime. But in the years since, Florida Republicans have worked to place obstacles in the way. So when the most prominent Republican in the state cast his ballot in Floridas primary elections, felony conviction and all, some voting rights advocates celebrated. Trump is an example of some of the challenges that exist, but also the opportunities that exist to create a better system a process that works better for everybody, said Neil Volz, deputy director of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a group promoting voting rights for formerly incarcerated people. Volz said that in recent months, hes noticed an uptick in speaking requests from conservative groups who have a new interest in how the criminal-legal system interacts with voting rights. Every move that he makes is being looked at, Volz said of Trump. And thats an educational opportunity for us. Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after casting his ballot at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections on Aug. 14, 2024, as part of early voting for the state's upcoming down-ballot primary. Eva Marie Uzcategui via Getty Images Just months after nearly 65% of Floridians voted in 2018 to re-enfranchise people with past felony convictions, Florida Republicans made it harder for that same group to vote. In June 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7066 into law, requiring people with past felony convictions to not just finish their prison sentences, probation and parole before regaining their rights but also to pay financial obligations like court fines, fees, costs or restitution. Some voting rights groups have called the law a poverty penalty and akin to a poll tax. Florida lacks a reliable system to actually track who owes these sorts of penalties, meaning that even county officials sometimes dont have a clear answer on whether people with past felony convictions are eligible to vote. The legal-financial obligations are really complicated to understand, and weve even seen instances where [county databases] dont go far enough back in time to be useful for people with older convictions, and weve seen them show on the county database that they dont owe any financial obligations, and then the clerk will pull something out of nowhere that shows that they do, said Blair Bowie, director of the Campaign Legal Centers Restore Your Vote program. So its still a huge problem. Theres also the issue of voter intimidation: In 2022, DeSantis held a high-profile press conference in a Broward County courtroom to announce illegal voting charges against 20 Floridians with prior convictions for murder or felony sex offenses. DeSantis did not present any evidence that any of them had actually intended to vote illegally, and some defendants later said theyd been told by authority figures, including election officials, a probation officer and even a sheriffs deputy that they were eligible to vote. But due to the arrests, many eligible voters with past felony convictions felt discouraged from registering to vote. There are programs and legal resources, including at FRRC, to help people with past convictions determine, one way or the other, whether they have any outstanding fines or fees to pay before they can register to vote again. Floridas Division of Elections can also provide advisory opinions for individuals who are unsure about their eligibility. (You can read redacted examples of advisory letters to potential voters here.) And soon, the process will get easier, as the state just proposed a handy form Floridians will be able to fill out to streamline the process and provide a clear answer on voter eligibility within 90 days. Trumps circumstances differ from those of many other Floridians with felony convictions. For one thing, hes got friends in high places: After Trumps conviction for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, DeSantis said that given the absurd nature of the prosecution against Trump, the governor would be willing to restore his right to vote via the Florida Clemency Board if there were any issue. The board is an alternate route to restoring voting rights. Also, Trump was convicted in New York, not Florida. Though Florida law doesnt explicitly mention state-by-state differences depending on where a conviction takes place, the Florida Division of Elections has made clear that, according to its interpretation, A felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted. And according to New York law, Trumps voting rights would only be affected if he is actively in prison for a felony. Trumps sentencing hearing for his New York conviction is set for Sept. 18, though that may change. Theres one more interesting question in Trumps case: When, exactly, in someones criminal justice journey does the Florida law actually take effect? Florida law is unclear on when a felon loses the right to vote, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told HuffPost in a statement, noting two dueling legal opinions. One, from the state attorney general in 1977, says a conviction thats being appealed does not become final, for purposes of voting rights, until the judgment of the lower court has been finally affirmed by the appellate courts. (Trump has moved to appeal his conviction.) The other opinion cited by Aronberg came from the Division of Elections in 1995: A conviction of a felony at a trial court immediately suspends the civil rights of the defendant with respect to registering to vote and voting. In any event, according to Aronberg, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections hasnt received any notice from the state regarding Trumps eligibility due to an out-of-state conviction; the supervisor, Wendy Sartory Link, actually welcomed Trump when he showed up to vote early on Aug. 14. Related... Former President Donald Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday morning to mark the third anniversary of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members. Trump later addressed the National Guard Association at the group's annual conference in battleground Michigan, where he received an endorsement from former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves who was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. The chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 continues to be a focal point of conservative criticism of the Biden administration. MORE: Video Gold Star families reflect on the Afghanistan withdrawal PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Guard Association of the United States' 146th General Conference, Aug. 26, 2024, in Detroit. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) Trump has long decried President Joe Biden's handling of what he said on Monday was a "botched" exit and "embarrassing" moment for the nation, though recently has included Vice President Kamala Harris -- his new 2024 rival -- in his denunciation of the event. "Caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world," Trump said at the National Guard Association, claiming he would have overseen the withdrawal differently. "We will never forget those brave warriors who made the supreme sacrifice for our country. They will live in our hearts forever," Trump said of the 13 service members killed. He added, "We will honor their memory by restoring a government that puts the American people first." Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, later held a press call in which he was asked about the contrast between Trump's visit and Biden not being in Washington on Monday. First of all, Joe Biden probably doesn't know where he is," he said. "And so the contrast, I think really, is between Kamala Harris and President Trump. Vance was joined on the call by members of Gold Star families of those killed in the Kabul attack who claimed the White House hasn't been in contact with them and they're angry about the lack of accountability. Kamala Harris is no different. She supported [Biden] this entire time," said Cheryl Jules, the aunt of Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee. "The only person who has reached out to our family over and over again and all 13 families is Trump." Harris on Monday released a statement honoring the 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where evacuation efforts were centered after the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan. At least 170 Afghan civilians were also killed in the bombing and dozens of others wounded. PHOTO: Bill Barnett, left, grandfather of Darin Taylor Hoover, and Donald Trump place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in honor of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover at Arlington National Cemetery, Aug. 26, 2024, in Arlington, Va. (Alex Brandon/AP) The vice president said the fallen soldiers "represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe." "I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families and I will always honor their service and sacrifice," she said. Harris went on to defend Biden's decision to end "America's longest war." "Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones," she said in the statement. "I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland." Harris has previously spoken about being in the room with Biden for important decisions, including his decision to carry out a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan -- which Trump reportedly tried to launch in his final days as president. The Trump administration's negotiated peace plan with the Taliban included a date of May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal of troops -- which Biden then continued to carry out with a September deadline. MORE: Top US generals testify about chaos of Afghanistan exit: 'We could not forge a nation' Top officials have testified before Congress on the tumultuous withdrawal, some of whom have detailed regrets about how it was handled. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday announced he will present the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously on Sep. 10 to honor the 13 service members who were killed in Kabul. The medals, Congress' highest civilian honor, will be presented to their families. Biden, in his own statement on Monday, said the 13 Americans killed at Abbey Gate embodied "the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill." Biden said "we must never forget the immense price that was paid for our freedom. We must never forget that each beloved service member we lost was a human being, who left behind entire families and communities. And together, we must never stop striving to be worthy of their ultimate sacrifice." Trump criticizes Harris, Biden over Afghanistan withdrawal on 3-year anniversary originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Trump: Musk probably too busy to serve in Cabinet, but could consult Former President Trump said Tesla CEO Elon Musk would probably be too busy to serve in his Cabinet if he wins the election in November but suggested the billionaire tech mogul could consult. He wants to be involved. Now, look, hes running big businesses and all that, so, he cant really I dont think hed be [free] for the Cabinet, Trump said in an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show. Id put him in the Cabinet, absolutely, but I dont know how he could do that with all the things hes got going, he continued. But he could sort of, as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas. Trump pointed to Musks knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI). Musk owns the AI startup xAI and has sought to incorporate the technology at Tesla. The former president previously suggested that he would consider the Tesla CEO for a role in his Cabinet. Musk, who also owns the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, endorsed Trump in the presidential race and backed a super PAC supporting the former presidents bid. Hes a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. Hes a brilliant guy, Trump said of Musk in an interview with Reuters last week, when asked about appointing him to a potential Cabinet or similar role. During a two-hour conversation between Trump and Musk on X earlier this month, Musk also said he would be willing to serve on a government commission to study the national debt and congressional spending. I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that looks at these things to make sure taxpayer money is spent in a good way, he told the former president. Id be happy to help out on such a commission. Trump is currently trailing Vice President Harris by 3.7 percent in the 2024 race, according to The Hill-Decision Desk HQ polling average. Harris became the Democratic nominee after President Biden dropped out of the race last month. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. WELLINGTON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- A new weather radar project was launched on Monday for Tonga to improve forecasting and early warnings for communities during hazardous weather events. The project was built under New Zealand's 4 million NZ dollar (2.49 million U.S. dollars) funding in partnership with the Tonga Meteorological Service and New Zealand MetService, according to a New Zealand government statement. The radar, situated at the Fua'amotu Airport in Tonga, was launched at an event by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with New Zealand and Tonga officials. The project, part of the Weather Ready Pacific Program, will assist the Pacific region in contributing to the United Nations' "Early Warnings for All" initiative, the statement said. Eight years of insults, incitement and affronts to the rule of law have proved that Donald Trump wont be tamed. Yet some of his supporters are still pleading for the criminally convicted and twice-impeached ex-president to rein in his wildest impulses or risk losing the 2024 election. Hoping to sharpen Trumps focus, his campaign is setting him up with a new menu of policy speeches, town halls and rallies in battleground states as he struggles to find traction in the transformed race against Kamala Harris, CNN has reported. This week, Trump will swing through Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the critical blue wall states that hold the key to Novembers election. The adjusted strategy follows the success of the Democratic National Convention last week and Harris disciplined start to her optimistic campaign, which threatens Trumps White House comeback bid more than the one President Joe Biden shelved amid concerns about his age. Trumps stepped-up pace reflects the new urgency of the compressed sprint until Novembers election and is designed to reposition the ex-president before his debate showdown with Harris on September 10. The real world versus Democratic joy Trumps campaign team and closest supporters are trying to convince him that his hopes lie in a more serious approach. One of Trumps top congressional allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham, warned Sunday on State of the Union that the new upbeat Democratic message of hopeful change offered an opening for Trump. This whole joy, love fest doesnt exist in the real world, Graham told CNNs Jake Tapper, following up with a snappier electoral argument than Trump has yet managed. The world is on fire. Your grocery bill is up. Your gas bill is up. Your mortgage payments are up. And the worst is yet to come if you reelect these people yet again. The South Carolina Republican, perhaps hoping Trump was watching, added: Compare what you did as president to the life were leading now and offer people some hope that change is coming. Grahams commentary illustrated the political purgatory long endured by many top Republicans. To remain politically viable, they must pay homage to the ex-president because of his grip on the partys base. But they also often fret that his outlandish behavior hurts the Republican case and brand, as well as Trumps own chances of victory. Republicans who want Trump to moderate are always disappointed. The ex-president has littered his near-decade in presidential politics with lies and falsehoods. The only thing to which hes been consistently true is himself. Vengeance, bluster, self-promotion and threats have been his engines of notoriety for decades. This approach helped get him elected in 2016, as he tapped into resentment against political, media, cultural and business elites and rocked Washington. So when Trumps backers beseech him to behave in a more temperate way by avoiding raging social media screeds or personal attacks, they are not only asking him to suppress part of himself. They are also seeking to neuter some of his core political tactics. GOP campaign experts are frustrated because the path to victory against a vice president of an unpopular administration seems obvious talk about the issues that voters care about most and on which Republicans are favored, including high grocery prices and concerns about the southern border. Its not that the ex-president cannot talk policy. But his policy points get drowned out by his histrionics and unhinged social media posts. I am going to do my best Trump has heard the critiques. But he didnt seem convinced at a boisterous event in Arizona on Friday. As usual at a rally, he tried out attacks and slights, then monitored his crowd for their response like a jazz musician improvising around a familiar tune. He complained bitterly about the attacks on his character by Harris, the Obamas and others at the Democratic convention last week, then polled his supporters on whether he should accept his advisers advice to turn the other cheek. In a mocking voice, Trump said, They say to me, Sir please stick to policy, dont stick to personality. You should be nice to people, sir. He went on, I call them up, my geniuses, they get paid a fortune actually not that much but I call up my people and say, They are knocking the hell out of me and you say I shouldnt get personal. But I am going to do my best. One reason those advisers are concerned is that the former president is walking into a trap. Sure, Trumps rage and revolt helped him win the 2016 election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But his cultivation of chaos contributed to his disastrous management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which contributed to his being booted out of office after a single term. Harris last week made a significant tactical adjustment to her partys anti-Trump strategy after months of Biden making the more abstract case that the Republican nominee is a threat to the nations soul and democracy. Her tone shift involved former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lampooning their fellow ex-president as a figure of ridicule. Then Harris closed the trap with a line in her convention speech: Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. In hindsight, the ex-presidents seemed to be goading Trump into a reaction that would validate the second part of Harris statement. And as usual, he delivered, with his frantic social media posts during her speech and extreme improvisations to his remarks in Arizona. Harris bets optimism can beat Trumps rage Harris overarching campaign theme is We wont go back to the anger and the pandemonium and the self-obsession of the Trump White House years. So when Trump ignites in an outburst, he reminds voters of those days. The vice president is betting that the nation is ready to move forward. Harris said in her convention speech Thursday that our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is, while offering an alternative path of freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities. Contrary to Grahams argument about the country not being ready for joy, Harris senses that America is primed for optimism after a period marked by Trumps constant jarring of the national psyche, the pandemic, and economic challenges that have eroded a sense of security for many working- and middle-class citizens. Like many other American leaders through history, shes offering herself as a vessel for peoples hopes, seeking to galvanize a bottom-up movement for change. But despite delighting Democrats, Harris is under pressure to keep her largely error-free rollout on track to prolong her political honeymoon. I know we are going to have bad days. Campaigns have bad days. But the fact that we havent had one in 30 days is nuts, Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said Friday. Only the paranoid survive in politics. And so, my own judgment is that we have to turn that momentum into action over the next couple of weeks. That will become harder as Harris moves from the scripted safety of her convention and rallies to the debate with Trump on September 10, now looming as the most critical moment in a public career that has sometimes been hindered by her inability to nimbly respond to policy questions. While the Trump campaign warned this weekend that it expected Harris, who has erased Bidens polling deficits in swing states and nationally, to get a further bounce coming out of the convention, the race remains very tight. The election is developing into a grind for every single vote in the decisive swing states. While this will test Harriss capacity to prolong her political honeymoon, it will also raise the heat on her opponent to show he can concentrate and deliver a disciplined message. The coming weeks will show whether Trumps hunch about how to win in November is correct, or whether the divisive showmanship that landed him in the White House eight years ago could be his downfall this time. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Former President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to create a Space National Guard if he is elected commander-in-chief again in November, calling it a critical step in ensuring that America continues to strengthen its military defenses in space. The remarks, which came at the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit, add another layer of complication to an issue being fought over by military leaders, members of Congress and state governors. But Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president, vowed to settle the issue and push ahead with the idea. The time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force, he told about 4,000 group members during a wide-ranging speech. So as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a space National Guard. Congress approves Space Force part-timers, but still no Space Guard In April, the governors of 48 states and five U.S. territories wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opposing plans to shift thousands of Air National Guard members into the Space Force. They argued the move, proposed by President Joe Bidens administration as an alternative to creating a stand-alone Space National Guard, reduces governors authority within their states and territories, and undermines longstanding partnerships, precedence, military readiness and operational efficacy. Among the signers of the letter was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to win the White House instead of Trump. NGAUS officials have supported creating a stand-alone Space National Guard and applauded Trumps promise. They have noted that roughly 10% of current Space Force manpower for operations come from Air National Guard units, and said the lack of a separate Space Force Guard structure ends up disconnecting troops from work. Pentagon officials have opposed the idea, saying a one-time transfer of some Guard missions to the Space Force would be less expensive and complicated than standing up a new reserve force. In the past, House lawmakers have included provisions creating a Space National Guard in its drafts of the annual defense authorization bill. But this year, the chambers lawmakers included language blocking the Air National Guard shift, while Senate lawmakers opted for a new study on force requirements, punting a final decision into the future. The two chambers are expected to settle on compromise language in coming weeks, with no clear resolution on the issue. In his speech, Trump called the creation of the Space Force one of my proudest achievements in my first term and claimed that because of that move, now were leading in space throughout the armed forces. Space Force officials have requested an end strength of 9,800 personnel for fiscal 2025, less than 6% of the total personnel of the Marine Corps, the next smallest Defense Department branch in terms of manpower. Delegates hold signs reading "Mass Deportation Now" on the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July. Former President Donald Trump, the party's 2024 nominee, has made mass deportations part of his campaign. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images WASHINGTON Mass deportation now! is a catchphrase for the Trump presidential campaign, as the Republican nominee proposes a crackdown on immigration that would oust untold numbers of undocumented people. Often citing a deportation operation enacted by former President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed in campaign rallies that he plans to not only go back to the tough immigration policies of his first term in office, but expand them greatly. Were going to have the largest deportation, Trump said at a June campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin. We have no choice. The crowd responded with a chant: Send them back. Send them back. Send them back. Mass deportation would be a broad, multipronged effort under Trumps vision. The plan includes invoking an 18th-century law; reshuffling law enforcement at federal agencies; transferring funds within programs in the Department of Homeland Security; and forcing greater enforcement of immigration laws. But whether a Trump administration could accomplish a mass deportation is doubtful. Historians, lawyers and immigration and economic experts interviewed by States Newsroom said removal of the more than 11 million undocumented people in the country would require enormous amounts of resources and overcoming legal hurdles. The effects on the U.S. economic and social fabric would be profound, they said. I dont think it will happen, Donald Kerwin, a senior researcher on migration at the University of Notre Dame, said of mass deportations. But what it can do is it can make the lives of the undocumented and their families miserable. GOP support Trump repeatedly has pledged mass deportation. At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, delegates waved Mass Deportation Now signs as Trump said to keep our families safe, the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. In a March rally in Dayton, Ohio, Trump said some undocumented immigrants were not people. I dont know if you call them people, Trump said. In some cases theyre not people, in my opinion, but Im not allowed to say that because the radical left says thats a terrible thing to say. Trumps campaign message comes as the Biden administration has dealt with the largest number of migrant encounters at the southern border in 20 years and immigration remains a top issue for voters. However, since President Joe Biden signed a recent executive order, border crossings have fallen to their lowest level since he took office. The GOP and Trump have now set their sights on the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. House Republicans already led a resolution disapproving of Harris handling of the southern border and labeling her the Border Czar, a title she was given by the media. Her campaign has argued she never had such a title officially and that her involvement with immigration has been focused on root causes of migration in Central and South America, rather than domestic immigration. Even though Biden is no longer in the race, and has undertaken his own crackdown on immigration, he warned in mid-June, during an announcement of protections offered for the spouses of long-term undocumented people, that Trump would undertake mass deportations. Now hes proposing to rip spouses and children from their families and homes and communities and place them in detention camps, Biden said of Trump. Hes actually saying these things out loud, and its outrageous. How does the public feel? Polls have found Americans are split on the idea of mass deportations but Republicans are more supportive. A recent CBS News poll that found nearly 6 in 10 voters favor a new government agency that would deport all undocumented immigrants. Of those voters, one-third were Democrats and 9 in 10 were Republicans. The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests from States Newsroom for comment on the specifics of how a second Trump administration would plan to carry out mass deportations. The massive deportation campaign that Trump often cites in his campaign rallies was conducted under the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954. Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, Trump said at a September rally last year in Ankeny, Iowa. But what the Trump campaign is proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown, said Michael Clemens, a professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. That policy was instituted hand-in-hand with a crucial other arm of the policy, he said, which was that lawful work pathways for Mexicans to the U.S. were nearly tripled at the same time as the mass deportations. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Weve heard zero about substantial increases in lawful migration pathways from the people who are now talking about an Eisenhower-style crackdown, Clemens said. What theyre proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown it is something that the Eisenhower administration understood would not work and therefore it did not do. Additionally, the Eisenhower program was not as successful as thought. The Eisenhower administration claimed that it deported 1 million people back to Mexico, but the real number is a couple hundred thousand, said Eladio Bobadilla, an assistant history professor at the University of Pittsburgh. It wasnt really about getting rid of immigrants in any real sense, he said. It was a way to sell to the American public that the problem had been solved. While one agency of the Eisenhower administration was deporting Mexicans and often U.S. citizens of Mexican descent another agency was sometimes bringing those same workers back in through the so-called Bracero program, which was created through an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. States and local governments also worked in tandem with the 1950s deportation operation, something unlikely to happen under a second Trump administration, said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. You also had the cooperation of the employers in those areas, because the Eisenhower administration was totally explicit that all the people that were deporting, youre going to get workers back legally through the Bracero guest worker program, said Bier. Obama deportation The most recent mass deportation campaign came during the Obama administration, said Clemens, who studies the economic effects of migration. That was the Secure Communities program, which was a set of agreements between local law enforcement and federal level immigration enforcement officials such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Localities shared information about noncitizens who were encountered by local law enforcement, such as at traffic stops. Our most recent experience with mass deportation at the federal level, mostly under the Obama administration, directly harmed U.S. workers, Clemens said. The program was slowly rolled out, from 2008 to 2014, but over those six years nearly half a million workers were deported. For every 10 workers who were deported, one U.S. job was eliminated, Clemens said. The net effect is that Secure Communities cost jobs for Americans across the country, he said. In a recent paper for the Center for Migration Studies of New York, Kerwin and Robert Warren found that mass deportations would financially harm U.S. families, especially the more than 3 million mixed-status families. The household income in those households plunges, and drops all of these families, or a high percentage of them, into poverty, Kerwin said. Of those mixed-status families, meaning some family members have different citizenship or immigration status, about 6.6 million members are U.S. citizens, said Warren, a senior visiting fellow at the center, a think tank that studies domestic and international migration patterns. So you say, We took out one undocumented immigrant, but you damaged a family of U.S. citizens, Warren said. Expanded executive authority The early architects of the Trump administrations immigration policies such as Stephen Miller and Ken Cuccinelli have laid out a second term that would expand the use of executive authority to carry out mass deportations and curtail legal immigration. Such policies include limiting humanitarian visas and parole and moving to end Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, said ManoLasya Perepa, policy and practice counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. As in the first Trump administration, Perepa anticipates that there will be a slew of lawsuits to file injunctions, such as preventing the ending of TPS. The Trump administration dealt with a flurry of lawsuits over an order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects a little over half a million undocumented people brought into the United States as children without authorization. The Supreme Court eventually blocked it and kept the program, but DACA is still at risk of being deemed unlawful in a separate suit that is likely to head again to the high court. I think anybody with a status that keeps getting renewed is really, really at risk, she said. All youre doing is driving people into the shadows. With the courts likely to get involved, Trump has said he wants to go back to his policy that expanded expedited removals, which means if an undocumented person is in the country for two years without a court hearing or any type of authorization, they can be deported without a hearing before a judge. That type of removal is limited to residents living within 100 miles of a border, but the Trump administration expanded that to the rest of the country. The reality is, if the (Trump) administration increases interior enforcement, technically, all of these people could be detained, Perepa said. The Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that researches migration, has estimated that the expansion of expedited removal to the U.S. interior could apply to as many as 288,000 people. Because of the logistical challenges involved in removing ... you would need to build an extremely large holding area for illegal immigrants that at any given points in time, you know, could hold upwards of 50, 60, 70,000 illegal aliens while you are waiting to send them someplace, somewhere that would be willing to accept them Stephen Miller, Trump White House aide Miller, a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, said on the right-wing podcast The Charlie Kirk Show in November 2023 that the U.S. military would need to be involved for those mass deportations to Mexico, which is why Trump has talked about invoking the Alien Enemies Act. Because of the logistical challenges involved in removing you would need to build an extremely large holding area for illegal immigrants that at any given points in time, you know, could hold upwards of 50, 60, 70,000 illegal aliens while you are waiting to send them someplace, somewhere that would be willing to accept them, Miller said. The Alien and Sedition Act, an 18th-century wartime law, allows the executive branch to deport any noncitizen from a country that the U.S. is at war with and deport any noncitizen deemed dangerous. The law can also be used for extraordinary measures that are not deportation, including the last time it was invoked after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It led to the internment camps where more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, more than half of whom were U.S. citizens, as well as German and Italian nationals were imprisoned, during World War II. Trump has vowed to use a title within the Alien and Sedition Acts to target drug dealers, gang members and cartel members. I will invoke the Alien Enemy Act, to remove all known or suspected gang members from the United States ending the scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all, Trump said at a campaign stop in Reno, Nevada. Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump administration, wrote the policy section for the Department of Homeland Security for the Heritage Foundations Project 2025 a conservative battle plan for the next Republican president. In that section, he laid out recommendations for an incoming Republican administration to curtail the use of temporary work visas for workers in agriculture, construction and hospitality; prevent U.S. citizens from qualifying for federal housing subsidies if they live with someone who is a noncitizen; and require drivers license information to be shared with federal authorities; among other policies. The Heritage Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Punishing states In a lengthy interview Trump conducted with Time magazine, he said he would withhold federal funding from states and local governments that dont cooperate in deportation proceedings. That could violate the 10th Amendment in the Constitution, said Mae Ngai, a historian and Asian American studies professor at Columbia University. States and municipalities cannot be coerced to enforcing federal laws, she said, adding that immigration law is a federal matter. You cannot force the police department or sheriffs to pick up immigrants. State and local cooperation in detaining immigrants could be a challenge, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. Legal challenges make it costly for local law enforcement to detain people solely to wait for immigration proceedings, and many local governments have decided not to hold people beyond their criminal detentions. Funding issues Deploying the military for immigration enforcement and constructing detention camps would also come with a large price tag. Those large expenses would have to be approved by Congress, which may not be a willing partner. There are ways to get around the legislative branch, such as reshuffling money within the Department of Homeland Security, but they come with downsides, Bier of the Cato Institute said. Thats politically risky because if theres any kind of natural disaster, and youre using money to deport people that can have some big blowbacks in the affected areas, he said. The Trump administration did this in 2019, when it transferred $271 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also transferred $23.8 million from the Transportation Security Administration to ICE. Trump could also reassign law enforcement agencies to tackle immigration enforcement, Bier said, but he would face pushback from affected agencies that have their own priorities. Theyre not going to want to cooperate with just giving up on everything theyre trying to do, Bier said. A person holds a sign that reads Mass Deportation Now on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) WASHINGTON Mass deportation now! is a catchphrase for the Trump presidential campaign, as the Republican nominee proposes a crackdown on immigration that would oust thousands of undocumented people. Often citing a deportation operation enacted by former President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed in campaign rallies that he plans to not only go back to the tough immigration policies of his first term in office, but expand them greatly. Were going to have the largest deportation, Trump said at a June campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin. We have no choice. The crowd responded with a chant: Send them back. Send them back. Send them back. Mass deportation would be a broad, multipronged effort under Trumps vision. The plan includes invoking an 18th-century law; reshuffling law enforcement at federal agencies; transferring funds within programs in the Department of Homeland Security; and forcing greater enforcement of immigration laws. But whether a Trump administration could accomplish a mass deportation is doubtful. Historians, lawyers and immigration and economic experts interviewed by States Newsroom said removal of the more than 11 million undocumented people in the country would require enormous amounts of resources and overcoming legal hurdles. The effects on the U.S. economic and social fabric would be profound, they said. I dont think it will happen, Donald Kerwin, a senior researcher on migration at the University of Notre Dame, said of mass deportations. But what it can do is it can make the lives of the undocumented and their families miserable. GOP support Trump repeatedly has pledged mass deportation. At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, delegates waved Mass Deportation Now signs as Trump said to keep our families safe, the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. In a March rally in Dayton, Ohio, Trump said some undocumented immigrants were not people. I dont know if you call them people, Trump said. In some cases theyre not people, in my opinion, but Im not allowed to say that because the radical left says thats a terrible thing to say. Trumps campaign message comes as the Biden administration has dealt with the largest number of migrant encounters at the southern border in 20 years and immigration remains a top issue for voters. However, since President Joe Biden signed a recent executive order, border crossings have fallen to their lowest level since he took office. The GOP and Trump have now set their sights on the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. House Republicans already led a resolution disapproving of Harris handling of the southern border and labeling her the Border Czar, a title she was given by the media. Her campaign has argued she never had such an official title and her involvement with immigration has been focused on root causes of migration in Central and South America, rather than domestic immigration. Even though Biden is no longer in the race, and has undertaken his own crackdown on immigration, he warned in mid-June, during an announcement of protections offered for the spouses of long-term undocumented people, that Trump would undertake mass deportations. Now hes proposing to rip spouses and children from their families and homes and communities and place them in detention camps, Biden said of Trump. Hes actually saying these things out loud, and its outrageous. How does the public feel? Polls have found Americans are split on the idea of mass deportations but Republicans are more supportive. A recent CBS News poll that found nearly 6 in 10 voters favor a new government agency that would deport all undocumented immigrants. Of those voters, one-third were Democrats and 9 in 10 were Republicans. The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests from States Newsroom for comment on the specifics of how a second Trump administration would plan to carry out mass deportations. The massive deportation campaign that Trump often cites in his campaign rallies was conducted under the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954, with a pejorative, racist name attached to it. Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, Trump said at a September rally last year in Ankeny, Iowa. But what the Trump campaign is proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown, said Michael Clemens, a professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. That policy was instituted hand-in-hand with a crucial other arm of the policy, he said which was that lawful work pathways for Mexicans to the U.S. were nearly tripled at the same time as the mass deportations. Weve heard zero about substantial increases in lawful migration pathways from the people who are now talking about an Eisenhower-style crackdown, Clemens said. What theyre proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown it is something that the Eisenhower administration understood would not work and therefore it did not do. Additionally, the Eisenhower program was not as successful as thought. The Einshower administration claimed that it deported 1 million people back to Mexico, but the real number is a couple hundred thousand, said Eladio Bobadilla, an assistant history professor at the University of Pittsburgh. It wasnt really about getting rid of immigrants in any real sense, he said. It was a way to sell to the American public that the problem had been solved. While one agency of the Eisenhower administration was deporting Mexicans and often U.S. citizens of Mexican descent another agency was sometimes bringing those same workers back in through the so-called Bracero program, which was created through an executive order by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942. States and local governments also worked in tandem with the 1950s deportation operation, something unlikely to happen under a second Trump administration, said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. You also had the cooperation of the employers in those areas, because the Eisenhower administration was totally explicit that all the people that were deporting, youre gonna get workers back legally through the Bracero guest worker program, said Bier. Obama deportation The most recent mass deportation campaign came during the Obama administration, said Clemens, who studies the economic effects of migration. That was the Secure Communities program, which was a set of agreements between local law enforcement and federal level immigration enforcement officials such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Localities shared information about noncitizens who were encountered by local law enforcement, such as at traffic stops. Our most recent experience with mass deportation at the federal level, mostly under the Obama administration, directly harmed U.S. workers, Clemens said. The program was slowly rolled out, from 2008 to 2014, but over those six years nearly half a million workers were deported. For every 10 workers who were deported, one U.S. job was eliminated, Clemens said. The net effect is that Secure Communities cost jobs for Americans across the country, he said. In a recent paper for the Center for Migration Studies of New York, Kerwin and Robert Warren found that mass deportations would financially harm U.S. families, especially the more than 3 million mixed-status families. The household income in those households plunges, and drops all of these families, or a high percentage of them, into poverty, Kerwin said. Of those mixed-status families, meaning some family members have different citizenship or immigration status, about 6.6 million members are U.S. citizens, said Warren, a senior visiting fellow at the center, a think tank that studies domestic and international migration patterns. So you say, We took out one undocumented immigrant, but you damaged a family of U.S. citizens, Warren said. Expanded executive authority The early architects of the Trump administrations immigration policies such as Steven Miller and Ken Cuccinelli have laid out a second term that would expand the use of executive authority to carry out mass deportations and curtail legal immigration. Such policies include limiting humanitarian visas and parole and moving to end Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, said ManoLasya Perepa, policy and practice counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Like the first Trump administration, Perepa anticipates that there will be a slew of lawsuits to file injunctions, such as preventing the ending of TPS. The Trump administration dealt with a flurry of lawsuits over an order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects a little over half a million undocumented people brought into the United States as children without authorization. The Supreme Court eventually blocked it and kept the program, but DACA is still at risk of being deemed unlawful in a separate suit that is likely to head again to the high court. I think anybody with a status that keeps getting renewed is really, really at risk, she said. All youre doing is driving people into the shadows. With the courts likely to get involved, Trump has said he wants to go back to his policy that expanded expedited removals, which means if an undocumented person is in the country for two years without a court hearing or any type of authorization, they can be deported without a hearing before a judge. That type of removal is limited to 100 miles from a border zone, but the Trump administration expanded that to the rest of the country. The reality is, if the (Trump) administration increases interior enforcement, technically, all of these people could be detained, Perepa said. The Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that researches migration, has estimated that the expansion of expedited removal to the U.S. interior could apply to as many as 288,000 people. Miller, a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, said on the right-wing podcast The Charlie Kirk Show in November 2023 that the U.S. military would need to be involved for those mass deportations to Mexico, which is why Trump has talked about invoking the Alien Enemies Act. Because of the logistical challenges involved in removingyou would need to build an extremely large holding area for illegal immigrants that at any given points in time, you know, could hold upwards of 50, 60, 70,000 illegal aliens while you are waiting to send them someplace, somewhere that would be willing to accept them, Miller said. The Alien and Sedition Act, an 18th-century wartime law, allows the executive branch to deport any noncitizen from a country that the U.S. is at war with and deport any noncitizen deemed dangerous. The law can also be used for extraordinary measures that are not deportation, including the last time it was invoked after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It led to the internment camps of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, more than half of whom were U.S. citizens, as well as German and Italian nationals, during World War II. Trump has vowed to use a title within the Alien and Sedition Acts to target drug dealers, gang members and cartel members. I will invoke the Alien Enemy Act, to remove all known or suspected gang members from the United States ending the scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all, Trump said at a campaign stop in Reno, Nevada. Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump administration, wrote the policy section for the Department of Homeland Security for the Heritage Foundations Project 2025 a conservative battle plan for the next Republican president. In that section, he laid out recommendations for an incoming Republican administration to curtail the use of temporary work visas for workers in agriculture, construction and hospitality; prevent U.S. citizens from qualifying for federal housing subsidies if they live with someone who is a noncitizen; and require drivers license information to be shared with federal authorities; among other policies. The Heritage Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Punishing states In a lengthy interview Trump conducted with Time magazine, he said he would withhold federal funding from states and local governments that dont cooperate in deportation proceedings. That could violate the 10th Amendment in the Constitution, said Mae Ngai, a historian and Asian American studies professor at Columbia University. States and municipalities cannot be coerced to enforcing federal laws, she said, adding that immigration law is a federal matter. You cannot force the police department or sheriffs to pick up immigrants. State and local cooperation in detaining immigrants could be a challenge, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. Legal challenges make it costly for local law enforcement to detain people solely to wait for immigration proceedings, and many local governments have decided not to hold people beyond their criminal detentions. Funding issues Deploying the military for immigration enforcement and constructing detention camps would also come with a large price tag. Those large expenses would have to be approved by Congress, which may not be a willing partner. There are ways to get around the legislative branch, such as reshuffling money within the Department of Homeland Security, but they come with downsides, Bier of the Cato Institute said. Thats politically risky because if theres any kind of natural disaster, and youre using money to deport people that can have some big blowbacks in the affected areas, he said. The Trump administration did this in 2019, when it transferred $271 million from the Federal Emergency Management Association to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also transferred $23.8 million from the Transportation Security Administration to ICE. Trump could also reassign law enforcement agencies to tackle immigration enforcement, Bier said, but he would face pushback from affected agencies that have their own priorities. Theyre not going to want to cooperate with just giving up on everything theyre trying to do, Bier said. A person holds a sign that reads "Mass Deportation Now" on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) WASHINGTON Mass deportation now! is a catchphrase for the Trump presidential campaign, as the Republican nominee proposes a crackdown on immigration that would oust thousands of undocumented people. Often citing a deportation operation enacted by former President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed in campaign rallies that he plans to not only go back to the tough immigration policies of his first term in office, but expand them greatly. Were going to have the largest deportation, Trump said at a June campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin. We have no choice. The crowd responded with a chant: Send them back. Send them back. Send them back. Mass deportation would be a broad, multipronged effort under Trumps vision. The plan includes invoking an 18th-century law; reshuffling law enforcement at federal agencies; transferring funds within programs in the Department of Homeland Security; and forcing greater enforcement of immigration laws. But whether a Trump administration could accomplish a mass deportation is doubtful. Historians, lawyers and immigration and economic experts interviewed by States Newsroom said removal of the more than 11 million undocumented people in the country would require enormous amounts of resources and overcoming legal hurdles. The effects on the U.S. economic and social fabric would be profound, they said. I dont think it will happen, Donald Kerwin, a senior researcher on migration at the University of Notre Dame, said of mass deportations. But what it can do is it can make the lives of the undocumented and their families miserable. GOP support Trump repeatedly has pledged mass deportation. At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, delegates waved Mass Deportation Now signs as Trump said to keep our families safe, the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. Trumps campaign message comes as the Biden administration has dealt with the largest number of migrant encounters at the southern border in 20 years and immigration remains a top issue for voters. However, since President Joe Biden signed a recent executive order, border crossings have fallen to their lowest level since he took office. The GOP and Trump have now set their sights on the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. House Republicans already led a resolution disapproving of Harris handling of the southern border and labeling her the Border Czar, a title she was given by the media. Her campaign has argued she never had such an official title and her involvement with immigration has been focused on root causes of migration in Central and South America, rather than domestic immigration. Even though Biden is no longer in the race, and has undertaken his own crackdown on immigration, he warned in mid-June, during an announcement of protections offered for the spouses of long-term undocumented people, that Trump would undertake mass deportations. Now hes proposing to rip spouses and children from their families and homes and communities and place them in detention camps, Biden said of Trump. Hes actually saying these things out loud, and its outrageous. How does the public feel? Polls have found Americans are split on the idea of mass deportations, but Republicans are more supportive. A recent CBS News poll that found nearly 6 in 10 voters favor a new government agency that would deport all undocumented immigrants. Of those voters, one-third were Democrats and 9 in 10 were Republicans. The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests from States Newsroom for comment on the specifics of how a second Trump administration would plan to carry out mass deportations. The massive deportation campaign that Trump often cites in his campaign rallies was conducted under the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954, with a pejorative, racist name attached to it. Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, Trump said at a September rally last year in Ankeny, Iowa. But what the Trump campaign is proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown, said Michael Clemens, a professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. That policy was instituted hand-in-hand with a crucial other arm of the policy, he said which was that lawful work pathways for Mexicans to the U.S. were nearly tripled at the same time as the mass deportations. Weve heard zero about substantial increases in lawful migration pathways from the people who are now talking about an Eisenhower-style crackdown, Clemens said. What theyre proposing is not an Eisenhower-style crackdown. It is something that the Eisenhower administration understood would not work and therefore it did not do. Additionally, the Eisenhower program was not as successful as thought. The Eisenhower administration claimed that it deported 1 million people back to Mexico, but the real number is a couple hundred thousand, said Eladio Bobadilla, an assistant history professor at the University of Pittsburgh. It wasnt really about getting rid of immigrants in any real sense, he said. It was a way to sell to the American public that the problem had been solved. While one agency of the Eisenhower administration was deporting Mexicans and often U.S. citizens of Mexican descent another agency was sometimes bringing those same workers back in through the so-called Bracero program, which was created through an executive order by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942. States and local governments also worked in tandem with the 1950s deportation operation, something unlikely to happen under a second Trump administration, said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. You also had the cooperation of the employers in those areas, because the Eisenhower administration was totally explicit that all the people that were deporting, youre gonna get workers back legally through the Bracero guest worker program, said Bier. Obama deportation The most recent mass deportation campaign came during the Obama administration, said Clemens, who studies the economic effects of migration. That was the Secure Communities program, which was a set of agreements between local law enforcement and federal level immigration enforcement officials such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Localities shared information about noncitizens who were encountered by local law enforcement, such as at traffic stops. Our most recent experience with mass deportation at the federal level, mostly under the Obama administration, directly harmed U.S. workers, Clemens said. The program was slowly rolled out, from 2008 to 2014, but over those six years nearly half a million workers were deported. For every 10 workers who were deported, one U.S. job was eliminated, Clemens said. The net effect is that Secure Communities cost jobs for Americans across the country, he said. In a recent paper for the Center for Migration Studies of New York, Kerwin and Robert Warren found that mass deportations would financially harm U.S. families, especially the more than 3 million mixed-status families. The household income in those households plunges, and drops all of these families, or a high percentage of them, into poverty, Kerwin said. Of those mixed-status families, meaning some family members have different citizenship or immigration status, about 6.6 million members are U.S. citizens, said Warren, a senior visiting fellow at the center, a think tank that studies domestic and international migration patterns. So you say, We took out one undocumented immigrant, but you damaged a family of U.S. citizens, Warren said. Expanded executive authority The early architects of the Trump administrations immigration policies such as Stephen Miller and Ken Cuccinelli have laid out a second term that would expand the use of executive authority to carry out mass deportations and curtail legal immigration. Such policies include limiting humanitarian visas and parole and moving to end Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, said ManoLasya Perepa, policy and practice counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Like the first Trump administration, Perepa anticipates that there will be a slew of lawsuits to file injunctions, such as preventing the ending of TPS. The Trump administration dealt with a flurry of lawsuits over an order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects a little over half a million undocumented people brought into the United States as children without authorization. The Supreme Court eventually blocked it and kept the program, but DACA is still at risk of being deemed unlawful in a separate suit that is likely to head again to the high court. I think anybody with a status that keeps getting renewed is really, really at risk, she said. All youre doing is driving people into the shadows. With the courts likely to get involved, Trump has said he wants to go back to his policy that expanded expedited removals, which means if an undocumented person is in the country for two years without a court hearing or any type of authorization, they can be deported without a hearing before a judge. That type of removal is limited to 100 miles from a border zone, but the Trump administration expanded that to the rest of the country. The reality is, if the (Trump) administration increases interior enforcement, technically, all of these people could be detained, Perepa said. The Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that researches migration, has estimated that the expansion of expedited removal to the U.S. interior could apply to as many as 288,000 people. Miller, a senior White House adviser during the Trump administration, said on the right-wing podcast The Charlie Kirk Show in November 2023 that the U.S. military would need to be involved for those mass deportations to Mexico, which is why Trump has talked about invoking the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien and Sedition Act, an 18th-century wartime law, allows the executive branch to deport any noncitizen from a country that the U.S. is at war with and deport any noncitizen deemed dangerous. The law can also be used for extraordinary measures that are not deportation, including the last time it was invoked after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It led to the internment camps of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, more than half of whom were U.S. citizens, as well as German and Italian nationals, during World War II. Trump has vowed to use a title within the Alien and Sedition Acts to target drug dealers, gang members and cartel members. I will invoke the Alien Enemy Act, to remove all known or suspected gang members from the United States ending the scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all, Trump said at a campaign stop in Reno, Nevada. Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump administration, wrote the policy section for the Department of Homeland Security for the Heritage Foundations Project 2025 a conservative battle plan for the next Republican president, which Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from. In that section, Cuccinelli laid out recommendations for an incoming Republican administration to curtail the use of temporary work visas for workers in agriculture, construction and hospitality; prevent U.S. citizens from qualifying for federal housing subsidies if they live with someone who is a noncitizen; and require drivers license information to be shared with federal authorities; among other policies. The Heritage Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Punishing states In a lengthy interview Trump conducted with Time magazine, he said he would withhold federal funding from states and local governments that dont cooperate in deportation proceedings. That could violate the 10th Amendment in the Constitution, said Mae Ngai, a historian and Asian American studies professor at Columbia University. States and municipalities cannot be coerced to enforcing federal laws, she said, adding that immigration law is a federal matter. You cannot force the police department or sheriffs to pick up immigrants. State and local cooperation in detaining immigrants could be a challenge, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. Legal challenges make it costly for local law enforcement to detain people solely to wait for immigration proceedings, and many local governments have decided not to hold people beyond their criminal detentions. Funding issues Deploying the military for immigration enforcement and constructing detention camps would also come with a large price tag. Those large expenses would have to be approved by Congress, which may not be a willing partner. There are ways to get around the legislative branch, such as reshuffling money within the Department of Homeland Security, but they come with downsides, Bier of the Cato Institute said. Thats politically risky because if theres any kind of natural disaster, and youre using money to deport people that can have some big blowbacks in the affected areas, he said. The Trump administration did this in 2019, when it transferred $271 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also transferred $23.8 million from the Transportation Security Administration to ICE. Trump could also reassign law enforcement agencies to tackle immigration enforcement, Bier said, but he would face pushback from affected agencies that have their own priorities. Theyre not going to want to cooperate with just giving up on everything theyre trying to do, Bier said. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Former President Donald Trump returned to Michigan just over 10 weeks before the presidential election, early voting will start even sooner in this battleground must-win state for both major party candidates. The former president spoke to the National Guard Conference in Detroit where he talked about the importance of the guard and thanked family members for their sacrifice when members are deployed. He also had this dire assessment of the countrys military posture. Right at this moment in my opinion our countrys at the most dangerous level weve ever been, and I hate to say this but weve got a President who went on vacation a week ago and now he came back and went on vacation again. And we have people that are fighting all over the place and threatening our country as we speak I dont think weve ever been closer to World War III than where we are right now, he said. Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump in 2024 presidential race In a slight surprise move, Trump also introduced veteran and former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard who endorsed the former president and urged fellow military members to support him too. The Trump-Vance team has been focusing on Michigan as well as other battleground states though Mondays event wasnt Michigan-specific, Tuesdays visit by VP candidate Senator J.D. Vance in the Big Rapids area certainly will be as we expect to hear much conversation about the proposed Gotion battery plant in the area which has caused a lot of controversy and pitted those for and against in an intense struggle. News 8 will be there on Tuesday to cover the event. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. On Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a show of selectively exiting the presidential race and throwing his support behind Donald Trump, hailing the former president as a champion of free speech. Less than a week later, Trump is already promising to crush First Amendment protections if elected in November. On Monday, Trump complained about pushback to a proposal to sentence people to a year in jail for burning the American flag. I wanna get a law passed [] You burn an American flag, you go to jail for one year. Gotta do it you gotta do it, Trump said. They say, Sir, thats unconstitutional. Well make it constitutional. Donald Trump proposes making burning an American flag punishable by 1-year in prison. In 1989, the Supreme Court upheld the right for protesters to burn flags after Gregory Lee Johnson did so at the RNC in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/qi87KUCWis FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) August 26, 2024 People may tell Trump that jailing anyone who burns the flag is unconstitutional because burning the flag is protected by the First Amendment. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson that while the desecration of the flag may be objectionable, If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. RFK Jr. has long claimed that the government is censoring him in various ways, and on Friday blamed his failed attempt at a viable run for the presidency on 16 months of censorship, of not being able to get on any network really except for Fox. Kennedy added that the Democratic Party had become the party of the war, censorship, corruption, Big Pharma, Big Tech, big money. He cited Trumps stances on free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on children as his justification for endorsing the former president. These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump, he said. The endorsement may have also had something to do with Trumps receptiveness to bringing Kennedy into his administration if he wins. Earlier this month The Washington Post reported that Kennedys campaign had attempted to secure meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris campaign to discuss a potential role for him in her administration should she win the White House to no avail. Kennedy held similar discussions with the Trump campaign in the time period surrounding the Republican National Convention. He invited me to form a unity government. We agreed that wed be able to continue to criticize each other on the issues where we dont agree, Kennedy said on Friday of his conversations with Trump on Friday. Trump donor Omeed Malik told NBC News that same day that while Kennedy had not been explicitly promised a cabinet-level position, should they be successful, there are plenty of roles, where Kennedy might be placed. I think the area of health is one, Malik added of the vaccine conspiracy theorist. Trump has said publicly that he would consider inviting Kennedy into his administration. I like him a lot. I respect him a lot, Trump said when asked ahead of Kennedys endorsement last week if he would consider appointing Kennedy to a role in his administration if he won. I probably would, if something like that would happen. Hes a very different kind of a guy a very smart guy. And, yeah, I would be honored by that endorsement, certainly. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for Rollingstone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Former President Trump on Monday slammed President Biden and Vice President Harris for overseeing a collapse of American credibility and respect in Afghanistan on the three-year anniversary of a bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans. Trump, speaking at a National Guard Association of the U.S. conference in Detroit, said the Afghanistan withdrawal was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country and has ignited conflict across the globe. It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect. Were not respected, Trump said. Trump made the comments following a stop at Arlington National Cemetery to meet with the family members of some service members killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber at the Kabul airports Abbey Gate exactly three years ago. We will never forget those brave warriors who made the supreme sacrifice for our country, Trump said of the 13 troops who died. They will live in our hearts forever. The chaotic 2021 Afghanistan exit, a stain on the Biden administrations record, has pushed some Gold Star families of the troops killed at Abbey Gate to join Republican criticism, including in July at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The GOP is seeking to tie Harris to the chaotic exit after Biden decided not to seek reelection and instead endorsed his vice president, who formally accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week. Republicans argue Harris was central to the decisionmaking behind Afghanistan, pointing out she was the last in the room when Biden made the exit plans. Trump was joined onstage Monday by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), an ex-Democrat and retired Army Reserve officer who became an independent and leaned more conservative after running for president in the Democratic primaries in 2020. Gabbard, who formally endorsed Trump at the event, said she joined Trump at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday and felt and saw his sincere appreciation for these servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price, and their loved ones who continue to grieve to this day. She also said Trump would prevent global conflicts from spreading further out of control. This [Biden] administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts and regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before, she said. I am confident that [Trumps] first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war. Trump spent most of the speech talking about the U.S.-Mexico border, vowing to seal it off and stop the flow of migration into the U.S., but he also talked about military policy priorities, including creating a national guard for the Space Force, ending the war in Ukraine and preventing what he claims is a possible World War III. Trump also pledged there would be consequences for those responsible for the Afghanistan withdrawal. Well get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity to be on my desk at noon on inauguration day, he said. You know you have to fire people. You have to fire people when they do a bad job. During the withdrawal, fleeing Afghans were seen clinging to the backs of transport planes in widely shared photographs, and as the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban swept to power within days, displacing the American-backed Afghan government and military largely unopposed. While the Biden administration did not hold any public events, it still marked the three-year anniversary of the Kabul airport bombing. In a statement, Biden called the fallen service members patriots in the highest sense and said that we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday there were many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abbey Gate. Mr. Trump was invited by at least one, I think maybe several of the families, to lay a wreath at Arlington and that is certainly a way to recognize the sacrifice and the loss, but it was a personal invitation by families, he said. Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, Kirby added, to make sure the families of those of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20 some odd years in Afghanistan, have the support that they need. While the Biden administration has sought to pin the blame on the Trump administration, arguing it inherited conditions and a deadline to leave the country, both the Biden and Trump administrations were blamed in a 2023 State Department report. Trump claimed Monday that he would have ordered evacuations out of Bagram Airfield instead of Kabuls airport, a point that some former U.S. generals have raised. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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) -- Donald Trump has said abortion is an issue best left to the states, complained about Republican messaging and avoided mentioning it in a speech accepting his partys nomination. Most Read from Bloomberg The GOP presidential nominee is now taking a new tack: Positioning himself as a leader on womens reproductive rights, much to the outrage of Democrats who say the pivot is an insincere ploy to win over voters and some of his allies who think hes abandoned them. In recent days, Trump has said on his social media platform Truth Social that his administration would be great for women and their reproductive rights. Hes pledged to not enforce a 150-year-old law that bans mail delivery of contraceptives, and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, said Trump would absolutely veto any federal abortion ban passed by Congress. Trumps comments come as the Republican ticket struggles with how to talk about the reproductive rights restrictions theyve championed for years, without turning off the key swing state voters theyll need in November. Earlier this month, Trump said he was open to restricting access to mifepristone, a pill used in medical abortions. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said in a statement that the former president has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House. Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added that Trump also supports universal access to contraception and in vitro fertilization. Trump had a hand in creating the quandary hes now mired in. Conservative justices he appointed to the Supreme Court overturned in 2022 the federal abortion protections enshrined in Roe v. Wade. Trump has said hes proud of his role in that decision, which led to Republican states quickly imposing abortions bans, some as short as six weeks after pregnancy, and creating a patchwork of laws across the country with the availability of reproductive care varying widely based on the politics of a given state. For more: See {ELEC GO} on the Bloomberg Terminal for US election news A lot of voters, since the election in 2016, believe Trump is not anti-abortion in his heart, but he was in his deeds. You can make all of the statements you want but you cannot overcome what the Supreme Court did when it overturned Roe v. Wade, said longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. The softer approach to abortion messaging coincides with Kamala Harris cementing herself as a formidable candidate in the race. The vice president has been an unapologetic voice for Democrats on abortion access, an issue she is far more comfortable discussing with voters than her predecessor on the ticket, President Joe Biden, an 81-year-old Irish Catholic. Harris made it a cornerstone of her portfolio as vice president and visited an abortion clinic in Minnesota, a first for someone in her role. Trumps Pivot For Trump, his position on abortion can shift based on whom hes talking to. In front of evangelical Christians, Trump touts his success at appointing conservative justices who helped overturn abortion protections. On the national stage, hes spent much of the 2024 campaign downplaying the topic that polls show is one where he is least trusted by voters. Hes carefully calibrated his remarks to both keep his base of evangelical Christians happy, while also avoiding embracing wide-reaching abortion restrictions hes said in interviews he thinks are politically damaging to Republicans. Still, the former president has generally shied away from the topic of abortion, only taking stances which are at times sometimes contradictory with prior statements when pressed in interviews. Itll be impossible, however, for Trump to avoid talking about the issue, as many liberal voters and some moderates are motivated to vote to protect reproductive rights. As many as 10 states could have abortion-related ballot measures on Election Day, including the swing states of Arizona and Nevada. Those measures are likely to spur turnout among the suburban women that have been turned off by Trumps rhetoric. Earlier: The State-by-State Battle Over Abortion in the US: QuickTake Vances comments on Sunday in an interview with NBCs Meet the Press that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban prompted swift backlash from the anti-abortion community. Its like they are giving a class on how to lose a Presidential election, Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, said on X. Cowardly, immoral, and politically stupid. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, wrote: God have mercy on this nation if this is now the position of what was the Pro-Life Party. Vances comments were also condemned by the left. On Sunday Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, bashed her Senate colleague and Trump. American women are not stupid, Warren said. We are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- US prosecutors are seeking to reinstate the criminal case charging Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents and obstruction, arguing a Florida judge was wrong to toss out the indictment this summer. Most Read from Bloomberg Less than three months before US voters decide if Trump should win a second term as president, Special Counsel Jack Smiths office on Monday asked an appeals court to reverse US District Judge Aileen Cannons July order. Prosecutors say Cannon erred in finding Smiths appointment was unconstitutional. Cannon, who was appointed to the federal court in south Florida by Trump in 2020, held that Congress hadnt clearly given Attorney General Merrick Garland the authority to appoint Smith, which meant the entire prosecution was unlawful. She also found that the use of federal funds to pay for Smiths work violated the US Constitution. Cannons contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government, prosecutors argued. The filing from Smiths office warned that Cannons reasoning could cast doubt on the lawfulness of hundreds of officials across the executive branch. His staff also argued that the judge failed to account for the long history of special counsels and gave too much weight to how they had been named in the past. Any subtle, non-semantic difference between a special counsel, a special prosecutor, a special attorney, and a special assistant to the Attorney General has no bearing on whether Congress has vested the Attorney General with the power to make such appointments, prosecutors wrote. Smiths office hasnt asked to fast-track the appeal ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential contest. Trump is due to respond to the governments brief in a month, and then the government will get another three weeks to reply. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals hasnt set a hearing date. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Steven Cheung, a Trump Campaign spokesman, said in a statement that the appeals court should affirm Cannons dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in the secret documents case, in addition to other actions brought by the Justice Department. Cannons 93-page opinion came more than a year after Trump was originally indicted. The former president was charged with willfully holding onto documents containing sensitive national defense information after he left the White House in January 2021, as well as attempting to obstruct government efforts to investigate and recover the documents. A trial was set for May 20 but Cannon postponed it indefinitely, citing the ongoing fights over evidence and the questionable lawfulness of the indictment. The Florida case is one of two prosecutions that Smith brought against Trump. In Washington, where Trump is charged with conspiring to obstruct the 2020 presidential election, the special counsels office is mulling its next move after the US Supreme Court ruled this summer that he is immune from charges related to his official acts as president. The Florida case also included charges against Trumps personal aide and former White House valet Waltine Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. (Updates with Trump campaign comment.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. LANZHOU, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Gansu Province has introduced its first support policy system for the Lanzhou beef noodles industry, aiming to establish over 10,000 physical stores, including more than 1,000 overseas, by the end of 2026. By then, Gansu is expected to have over 50 pre-packaged enterprises in the industry, the provincial government announced at a press conference on Monday. The comprehensive policy system, which covers the entire industry chain from storefronts to pre-packaging and related sectors, includes detailed plans for raw material supply, market expansion, enterprise development, scientific and technological innovation, standardization, branding, taxation and human resource support. Lanzhou, the provincial capital, plans to cultivate and introduce a total of 1,000 marketing and management professionals for the beef noodles industry by the end of 2026. The city has also prepared financial support such as startup guarantee loans ranging from 300,000 yuan (about 42,170 U.S. dollars) to 10 million yuan for enterprises that meet its policy requirements. With a history of about 200 years, Lanzhou beef noodles consist of a flavorful, clear broth, shaved beef, tender radish slices and chewy handmade noodles. In 2021, the craftsmanship of making Lanzhou beef noodles was listed as China's national intangible cultural heritage. (Bloomberg) -- Republican nominee Donald Trump cast fresh doubt over whether he would attend the only agreed-to debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which is slated to take place in about two weeks. Most Read from Bloomberg Trump in a post late Sunday on his Truth Social platform criticized ABC News the host of the Sept. 10 debate suggesting it was biased in favor of Harris, and asking why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Theyve got a lot of questions to answer!!!, he added. Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS and even CNN? Stay tuned!!! In a statement Monday, Harris team said the campaigns were in a dispute over whether the microphones at the forum should be muted when the other candidate is speaking. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast, Brian Fallon, a Harris spokesperson, said in a statement. Trumps remarks and the clash over the debate rules threaten to jeopardize the only debate the two major party candidates have agreed to so far, with just over two months until Election Day. Trump originally agreed to the ABC News debate with President Joe Biden, then the Democratic nominee. Trump and Biden held one debate a calamitous performance for the sitting president that saw him pushed out of the 2024 race by members of his own Democratic party. In that debate, the candidates microphones were muted when they were not answering questions. Debate Rules Asked Monday whether he wanted the microphones muted during the debate with Harris, Trump said his team had agreed to the same rules as the event with Biden, adding I dont know, it doesnt matter to me. Id rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was the last time. In that case, it was muted. I didnt like it the last time, but it worked out fine, he added. Fallon shared a video clip of Trump, seizing on the part of the former presidents answer that indicated indifference to the rules on the microphones, and saying the debate should go on without muting. Trump said unmuting the mics doesnt matter to me. Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally, Fallon wrote on X, insisting that with this resolved, everything is now set for Sept. 10th. Trump has repeatedly expressed reluctance over the ABC News debate with Harris. He initially declined to commit to the forum after Bidens exit. Trump assailed ABC News and its hosts and floated other venues, including a debate hosted by Fox News, a conservative outlet more friendly to his campaign. Trump eventually agreed to attend the ABC News debate as he sought to counter the media attention on Harris, whose entry into the race has galvanized key parts of the Democratic base and seen her rise in national and swing-state polls. Harris campaign has proposed a second debate with Trump with the details to be determined if he attended the ABC News forum. The Harris campaign has ruled out participating in a Fox News debate. Trump and Harris running mates, Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are slated to hold their own debate on Oct. 1 with CBS News. (Updates with Trump, Fallon comments in paragraphs 8-11) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris clashed on Monday over next month's U.S. presidential debate, with the vice president's team seeking a return to open microphones while her Republican rival threatened to pull out entirely, suggesting the previously agreed-upon ABC network was biased. "Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" Trump, who is making his third bid for the White House, wrote in a social media post late Sunday night that also accused the network of bias. "Stay tuned!!!" Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon said on Monday the vice president's campaign wanted the broadcaster to keep the candidates' microphones on throughout the event, not muted when their opponent was speaking as in the last presidential debate. So-called "hot mics" can help or hurt political candidates, catching off-hand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public. "The Vice President is ready to deal with Trumps constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button," Fallon said in a statement. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement they had already agreed to the same terms as CNN's June debate, which had muted microphones, adding: "We said no changes to the agreed-upon rules." But Trump later told reporters that he preferred to have his microphone kept on, adding that he did not like it muted last time and that he was not preparing much for the face-off against his new rival. "Doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it, probably, on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time," Trump said. "I'm not spending a lot of time on it. I think my whole life I've been preparing for a debate," Trump added. "You can't cram knowledge into your head, for you know, 30 years of knowledge in one week. So, you know, there's a little debate prep, but I've always done it more or less the same way." Representatives for ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris secured the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden stepped aside last month, and had said they would do the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News previously agreed to by Biden and Trump. Biden had pushed for earlier debates, hoping to boost his campaign and cast a brighter light on Trump. But his own halting performance at the June 27 face-off triggered alarm within his party, with him ending his reelection bid weeks later. Trump had floated another debate hosted by Fox News on Sept. 4, which he later said would be a televised town hall with just himself and host Sean Hannity. The Harris campaign said no. The vice presidential candidates, Republican U.S. Senator JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are scheduled to debate Oct. 1 on CBS News. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Heather Timmons and Rod Nickel) Donald Trump tore into ABC News on Sunday night and indicated he might be about to walk away from his Sept. 10 debate with Kamala Harris on the network, so far the only debate to which both campaigns have agreed. I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carls(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump Fuming Because Harris Will NOT Do Fox News Debate The former president continued by referencing the scandal involving ABC News contributor Donna Brazile, who tipped off Hillary Clintons campaign about questions ahead of a CNN debate and town hall during the 2016 election. Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Trump wrote. He also questioned if George Stephanopoulos would be involved in the debate. Where is Liddle George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Trump asked. In March, Trump filed a lawsuit against ABC News and Stephanopoulos after the host said on air that Trump had been found liable for raping E. Jean Carrolla civil jury did not find Trump liable for rape as defined in New York State law, though the judge in the case later clarified that doesnt mean Carroll failed to prove that Mr. Trump raped her as many people commonly understand the word rape. Trump, who was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming Caroll, said in a Fox News interview earlier this month that his litigation against ABC could create conflict of interest issues for the scheduled debate. The Republican nominee did not say in his Truth Social post that he would no longer participate, saying instead that ABC News has a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? his post ended. Stay tuned!!! According to Politico, the Trump and Harris campaigns have hit an impasse over whether candidates microphones at the ABC News debate will be muted when theyre not speaking, as was the case in Trumps debate against President Joe Biden on CNN in June. This time, however, its the Democratic side of the stage reportedly pushing for both candidates mics to remain hot throughout the entire broadcast in the belief they can get Trump to lose his cool and say something impolitic on mic, Politico reports. Trump has previously said he wouldnt do the ABC News event. On August 3, Trump said the ABC News eventto which hed originally agreed while believing Biden would be the Democratic nomineehad been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant. Instead, he said hed agreed to do a debate on Fox News on Sept. 4. He later indicated that he wouldnt agree to any debates with Harris if she didnt do the Fox News event, writing: Ill see her on September 4th or, I wont see her at all. Just days later, Trump confirmed during a rambling news conference hed recommitted to the ABC News debate against Harris. He also used the event to pressure Harris to agree to the Fox News debate and said hed also agreed to a third debate on NBC News later in September. Last week, Trump claimed Harris just informed us she wouldnt take part in a presidential debate on Fox News which was under consideration for Sept. 4, though Harris campaign never confirmed it had agreed to the event. Michael Tyler, the communications director for the Harris-Walz campaign, said earlier this month that more debates between Harris and Trump would be contingent on Trump taking part in the ABC News showdown. Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October, Tyler said in a 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. Former President Donald Trump headed to Michigan Monday and planned a weeklong series of events in Rust Belt swing states as Vice President Kamala Harris announced an end-of-the-week Georgia campaign swing. Trump is stepping up his campaign schedule in hopes of blunting Democratic political momentum that has seen Harris grab narrow edges in the so-called blue wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania during and after last weeks successful Democratic National Convention. Trump gave a low-energy address to a National Guard banquet in Detroit Monday. We need new leadership, Trump said. Nov. 5 is the most important day in the history of our nation. The Republican candidate will return to the Wolverine State, which he famously won in 2016, for a stop at a central Michigan factory on Thursday. Trump also plans a town hall meeting with voters in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, another key battleground state, on Thursday evening before heading to Pennsylvania for a rally on Friday. Harris, on the other hand, is heading south on Wednesday for a bus tour through battleground Georgia along with vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. They will also address a rally in Savannah, a heavily Democratic portion of the Peach State that helped deliver a razor-thin margin of victory to Biden over Trump in 2020. The travel plans of the two campaigns reflect their shifting strategies after Harris pulled even with Trump and even has taken a narrow lead in many national and swing state polls. Trump is seeking to raise the energy and tempo of his campaign schedule after a low-key couple of weeks before and during last weeks DNC in Chicago, which dominated political coverage. Both campaigns are awaiting more polling data this week now that the DNC is done, which will show the extent of an expected further bounce for Harris after the convention. One Trump adviser told CNN to expect the high tempo to continue straight through the November election. Think Trump on steroids, the aide said. Itll be all hands on deck. That approach suggests that Trumps team is taking very seriously Harris impressive rise in polls and favorability in recent weeks, which has seen her take the lead in all the blue wall states. Trump and running mate JD Vance are scrambling to prevent that lead from ballooning in coming days and weeks. Harris is seeking to go on political offense in the Sun Belt states where Biden had fallen far behind Trump. Her campaign hopes to put Georgia and North Carolina in play along with Arizona and Nevada in the Southwest, a move that opens up another path for her to reach the needed 270 electoral votes to win the White House. Its all about the Electoral College, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist whose Sabatos Crystal Ball forecast model recently moved North Carolina into the toss-up category. The Harris campaign also says the vice president is also spending a significant amount of time preparing for the debate with Trump scheduled for Sept. 10. Trump isnt planning to devote the same amount of time to the debate, noting that he spanked President Joe Biden in their only debate, a debacle that eventually forced Biden to drop out of the race. The two campaigns sparred Monday over the rules for the clash, with Harris suggesting the microphones be kept live for both candidates, a shift from the previous deal hammered out between Trump and Biden. Trump also won the official endorsement of ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii who has already been helping Trump with debate prep. I am committed to doing all I can to send President Trump back to the White House, said Gabbard, who sparred with Harris during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary contest. ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) Saturday afternoon, cars formed a trail across the Key City expressing their preferred candidates for the upcoming presidential election in November. The event, organized by the Taylor County Republican Party, started at the Taylor County Courthouse parking lot two weeks after the initial Trump Train. Darla Avery, with the organization, says the train is on the first step to a bigger plan, getting more voters in the county. Its time to vote. Its time to vote Republican. Faith, family, and freedom. This is all about creating awareness and interest in this upcoming general election, Avery said. Were trying to bump up the turnout from like 55,000. Wed like another ten or so thousand. Really, what Im hoping is we start to engage with people. The Trump Train paraded around Abilene on a set route, hitting significant roadways and intersections and ending at the Get Out the Vote Headquarters on Danville Drive. Republican candidate signs and infographics were available at the headquarters. Diana Hartmann, president of Abilene Republican Women, said she hopes to restore faith in voting integrity in Taylor County after the 2020 election, giving residents confidence their vote matters. In the last 2020 election, West Texas and East Texas held the red state, making us red. We overrode the metropolitan blue areas, thats what were working on is to hold the red line, Hartmann said. They think that there was some fraud in the election and that there wont matter anymore. And so thats sad because were still fighting to keep our election integrity in place. And that is something that they, you know, we just dont know until we put the votes in there. The TCRP will be door-knocking every Saturday at 9 a.m. starting Aug. 31 until the voter registration deadline. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Guard of the United States NGAUS General Conference in Detroit, Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Guard of the United States NGAUS General Conference in Detroit, By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used the third anniversary on Monday of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to try to pin the chaotic pullout on his Democratic rival for the White House, Kamala Harris. Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the 13 servicemembers killed during the U.S. exit, then later in Detroit blamed Harris, the vice president, and President Joe Biden for what he termed a "catastrophic" withdrawal. "Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all over the world," Trump said in an address to the National Guard Association of the United States. It was the latest attempt by Trump and his campaign to raise doubts about Harris' fitness to serve as commander-in-chief as the Nov. 5 election draws near and comes after Harris last week proclaimed herself ready to lead the nation's armed forces. The U.S. troop pullout and evacuation of U.S. and allied officials, citizens and Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution saw crowds of desperate Afghans trying to enter Kabul airport and men clinging to aircraft as they taxied down runways in August 2021. An Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and more than 150 Afghans outside an airport gate. Harris' campaign said the fault lay with Trump's tenure as president. "The Biden-Harris administration inherited a mess from Donald Trump," said Ammar Moussa, a Harris spokesperson. "Trump wants America to forget that he had four years to get out of Afghanistan, but failed to do it." A review released by the U.S. State Department in 2023 found fault with both the Trump and Biden administrations in the run-up to the withdrawal. In recent weeks, Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, also have sought to turn Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's decades of service into a political vulnerability. Former military service is often a key selling point for candidates in U.S. political campaigns. The Republicans have accused Walz of exaggerating his rank in the Army National Guard, where he served for 24 years. Walz has described himself as a retired command sergeant major, one of the highest noncommissioned officer positions in the Army. While he achieved that rank, he did not meet the requirements to retire with that title. The Harris campaign deleted a reference this month to Walz's rank as a "command sergeant major" on its website. The campaign also now says Walz "misspoke" in 2018 during his gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota when he referred to "weapons of war, that I carried in war." Walz was never deployed to a war zone. Trump, 78, never served in the military. Though he was of draft age during the Vietnam War, he received four student deferments and a health-related one after he received a diagnosis for bone spurs in his feet. Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years as a combat correspondent and was deployed to Iraq for roughly seven months. His position mainly involved writing reports of military activity for public dissemination and at times interacting with the media. The Harris campaign has zeroed in on remarks Trump made this month at a press conference in which he stated the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian award, is superior to the Medal of Honor, which is given to the military by Congress. Everyone (who) gets the congressional Medal of Honor, theyre soldiers," Trump said. "Theyre either in very bad shape because theyve been hit so many times by bullets or theyre dead. A spokesperson for Harris said the remarks by Trump, who has a history of statements casting doubt on the valor of soldiers killed, wounded or captured in action, were an insult to the recipients of the award. Harris told CNN in 2021 that she was the last person in the room with Biden when he decided to pull U.S. forces from Afghanistan and end America's longest war. She also said that she was comfortable with Biden's decision, but it remains unclear what role she played in the discussion. Both Biden and Harris released statements marking the anniversary on Monday. "These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe," Harris said. During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, Harris said she was ready to assume the role of commander-in-chief. I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world, Harris said. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Andrea Shalal and Gram Slattery; Editing by Rod Nickel and Stephen Coates) Trump And Vance Pretend To Moderate On Abortion After DNC Highlighted Horrors Of Their Agenda Former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) attempted to downplay the Trump campaign and the far-rights extreme positioning on abortion over the weekend, after Democrats spent the past week of the Democratic National Convention highlighting the GOPs attacks on reproductive freedoms. In an interview that aired on Sunday, Vance said Trump would veto a federal abortion ban as president should a bill like that make it to the Oval Office, something Trump himself has said in recent months in an attempt to moderate his partys extreme rhetoric on the issue and appeal to voters outside his base of anti-abortion Christian voters. I think he would. He said that explicitly that he would, Vance told NBC News Kristen Welker during a Meet the Press interview. On Friday, Trump posted on his bootleg social media platform Truth Social that his administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights, in remarks that reportedly have anti-abortion activists, who have been on edge about supporting him, in a tailspin. Trump and Vances remarks are a desperate attempt to reset the narrative around the former president and his campaign. It goes without saying that the Republican duo have long held extreme views on banning the procedure Trump only recently began being vocal about supporting exceptions when, post-Dobbs, it became clear just how electorally energizing the issue would become for Democrats. The Trump-Vance campaign and its allies have also been flailing since President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. And last week, during the DNC, Democrats made a concerted effort to paint Trump and a second Trump presidency as a clear threat to not just abortion rights but also a threat to the popular fertility procedure in vitro fertilization and birth control. He and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congress, Harris said in her Thursday speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) also issued stark warnings on how dangerous a second Trump term would be to reproductive rights. How dare a convicted felon like Donald Trump treat women seeking health care like theyre the ones breaking the law, Duckworth said during her Tuesday speech. How dare JD Vance criticize childless women on cable news then vote against legislation that wouldve actually helped Americans to start families. How dare the GOP endanger the dreams of countless veterans whos combat wounds prevent them from having kids without IVF. We believe that a patients room is too small and cramped a space for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government, Warnock said on Monday. Thats too many people in the room. When asked about the Ohio senators comments, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Welker she doesnt buy it in a separate Meet The Press interview that aired on Sunday. American women are not stupid, Warren told Welker. We are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country. Trump vs Harris: Who is leading in the US presidential election polls? Trump vs Harris: Who is leading in the US presidential election polls? On 5 November, US citizens will head to the polls to choose their next president in what has been a tense and dramatic race. In late July, incumbent US President Joe Biden dropped his 2024 bid after weeks of pressure following a disastrous debate performance and increasing questions over his health. Instead, Biden backed his vice president, setting the stage for a Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris matchup. So who is in the lead, and who is predicted to win? According to the latest national polling averages and historical polling data for Biden and Trump gathered by Euronews, the trends indicate a recent surge of support for Harris, with little over two months left for the two candidates to campaign and amp up the voters' support, especially in key US states. The charts illustrate how the polling margin has evolved throughout the candidates' campaigns for Biden vs Trump and Harris vs Trump. Since Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Harris has managed to make up the lost ground for the Democrats. By August, Harris started leading in the polls for the first time in the race, despite some analysts believing that an assassination attempt on the former president in mid-July meant his election was almost guaranteed. Harris' standings further improved after her supporters embraced Walz, who was initially seen as a surprise choice and a relative unknown. Meanwhile, Trump's campaign has suffered from harsh criticism over its hardline conservative talking points and backers, including Project 2025, a far-right plan that some see as a direct threat against the government in Washington and its democratic checks and balances. JD Vance has also been a target of disapproval following his less-than-impressive public appearances. After independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr dropped out of the race and publicly endorsed Trump on Saturday, some pundits believed this would result in a surge of support for the Republican candidate however, the polls are showing otherwise for now. Yet, the current numbers predict no clear winner, as the difference remains within the margin of error. Our polling averages will be updated at least once a day. Donald Trumps latest attempt to pivot his campaign towards policy-oriented attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris saw him fall back into a familiar pattern of offering concessions to Vladimir Putin and Russia as he attempted to paint Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as pushing America towards a third world war. The ex-president, who was speaking to members of the National Guard Association of the United States in in Detroit, appeared to take a stance against the recent Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory near Kursk. The gaining of ground by Ukrainian troops, which analysts have said is meant to relieve pressure for Ukrainian troops elsewhere in the theater of war, Trump argued was actually another sign that World War 3 was closer than ever. Donald Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to honor thirteen service members killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he blamed on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris later in the day (Getty Images) Look at whats happening in Ukraine. Theyre surging into Russia. Youre going to have World War 3, he said. Trump made his remarks just hours after he attended a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery for 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic pullout of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021. There, the ex-president linked Bidens management of that withdrawal which Trump himself had initiated under a much-accelerated timeline to the ongoing instability around the world. The argument is one he has made in a less concise manner before, but he explained it again Monday before the members of the Guard. Trump further argued that the messy Afghanistan withdrawal from Kabul and the Abbey Gate attack gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the October 7 attack in Israel. The ex-presidents remarks targeted his opponent and Joe Biden over the ongoing conflicts in the world, and also led to him taking credit for starting no new major conflicts during his presidency. He did not mention his provocative threat to engulf North Korea in fire and fury in a Twitter post, nor his administrations brush with direct conflict against Iran (including the targeted assassination of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader). Mondays event, which was centered around presenting Trump as a pro-peace candidate, was aided by an appearance by Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 presidential contender. Gabbard, who has made a career for herself since leaving Congress as a critic of Democrats who regularly appears on Fox News and in other right-wing media, famously clashed with Kamala Harris onstage in 2020 during a debate over Harriss record as a prosecutor. The ex-congresswoman, who is a serving National Guard officer, appeared onstage to say that she would be endorsing and supporting Trump ahead of November. She added that shed do all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House." Gabbards defection is one that Democrats have seen coming for a while. But the Trump campaigns sudden focus on presenting their candidate as the only one who will end global conflicts comes as the Harris campaign faces new criticism from the left after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The DNCs multi-day speaker list included family members of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. It did not feature any Palestinian-American speakers including several put forth by the Uncommitted movement ahead of and during the convention. Delegates and supporters of that movement held a protest outside of the convention hall last week and a number of Democratic electeds issued statements supporting their request for a speaking slot on the main convention stage. Elsewhere on Monday, other members of the former presidents campaign were seeking to hammer home the same argument portraying Biden and Harris as unable to responsibly lead Americas armed forces. JD Vance, on a Trump campaign press call, accused Harris and her boss in the White House of committing a betrayal by not calling for accountability and instituting changes after the withdrawal from Kabul and the Abbey Gate attack. Why has nobody been fired? asked Vance on the call. Why has nobody suffered any consequences for doing what happened, and again, squandering our most precious resource in this country, the lives of the people who are willing to give it all for public service? The fact that the Harris administration has stonewalled at every step of the way, the fact that no one has been fired, suggests that we have a real crisis of leadership in this country, the Ohio senator continued. Donald Trump and JD Vance opened up a multi-pronged assault against Kamala Harris on foreign policy as America noted the third anniversary of the killing of thirteen servicemembers in Afghanistan (Getty Images) There are many factors of the Afghanistan pullout which have been targeted for criticism in the wake of the Talibans seizure of the country. Horrifiying scenes played out on the airstrip at Hamid Karzai International Airport as US forces failed to secure the runway and terrified Afghans tried to cling to massive cargo planes as they took off. Several died in the attempt. The Abbey Gate attack itself was one of the largest single losses of US servicemembers in Afghanistan in years. It also led to the deaths and injuries of dozens of Afghan civilians who were hoping to enter the airstrip where planes were departing. A US strike in response, which sought to hit an Isis-aligned terrorist target, resulted instead in the deaths of an Afghan aid worker and nine members of his family, including seven children. As Vice President Harris has said, it was the courageous and right decision to end Americas longest war and bring our brave servicemembers home. The Biden-Harris Administration inherited a mess from Donald Trump. Trump wants America to forget that he had four years to get out of Afghanistan, but failed to do it. All he did was continue our longest war, Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa told The Independent on Monday when asked about their rivals latest criticisms. Trump cannot be trusted to keep us safe, but Vice President Harris is a proven leader on the world stage and will use her expertise to ensure Americas security, defeat our adversaries, and stand with our allies around the world. Ryan Zinke, the Trump administrations former Interior secretary, was another Trumpworld figure who tied the mismanagement of Afghanistan to the Biden administrations larger foreign policy Monday on that press call. Donald Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to honor thirteen service members killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he blamed on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris later in the day. (Getty Images) You know, our country faces a very distinct change, or just a distinct choice, and that choice is weak leadership, globalist leadership that weve seen in Afghanistan to Ukraine, which has led to the Pacific, which has led to Venezuela. Were facing four major regional conflicts as a result of the Harris-Biden administration, argued Zinke. Trump himself went on at his event Monday to echo a familiar claim: that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine within months of being elected president. The Republican candidate has been accused by his Democratic opponents of planning to bully Ukraine into giving up territory to achieve that goal. He himself has not laid out a specific plan for ending the war or preventing it from spreading to NATO-aligned countries in Eastern Europe. During his presidency, Trump met with Russias president, Vladimir Putin, at a major summit in 2018 between the two global powers. That summit ended with Trump publicly taking a stance against his own nations intelligence community regarding Russian hacking and interference efforts in the 2016 presidential election while Russias president stood beside him. Donald Trump is returning to one of his favorite subjects: outer space. The former president on Monday said if elected, hell push to establish a Space National Guard, throwing his support behind a new proposal for part-time space personnel that the Biden administration opposes. The surprise move by Trump puts the campaign spotlight on an issue that has governors of both parties and National Guard leaders at odds with the Pentagon and has divided Congress. The pledge came during a speech at the National Guard Association of the United States annual conference in Detroit, in the battleground state of Michigan, where the Republican nominee attacked outgoing President Joe Biden and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on a host of foreign policy and domestic issues chief among them the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and border security. During his address, the former president trumpeted the creation of the Space Force during his administration as one of my proudest achievements and argued the newest service now needs its own branch of the Guard. Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership. You want this very badly, but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force, Trump told the crowd to applause. As president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard, Trump added. During his first term, Trump endorsed a proposal to spin off troops that perform space-related missions such as protecting U.S. satellites and missile detection into the Space Force, the first new branch of the military in seven decades that became a go-to line for Trump at his rallies. By endorsing a new National Guard component specifically for the Space Force, Trump is siding with Guard leaders and executives from space-heavy states against Pentagon brass and the Biden administration in a contentious turf war over military assets. Advocates argue the highly technical missions of the Space Force will draw heavily on part-time personnel with technical experience from their day jobs, but who dont want to sign up full-time for the Space Force. Most of those personnel are now part of the Air National Guard, an arrangement proponents contend undermines the training, recruiting and funding for space personnel that could be fixed by giving the Space Force its own Guard outfit. The approach is supported by top National Guard leaders, lawmakers and top leaders in both parties from states with space missions. Colorado Reps. Jason Crow, a Democrat, and Doug Lamborn, a Republican Trump supporter, sponsored the measure in the House while Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler from Harris home state of California are backing it in the upper chamber. Still, the Biden administration opposes it. The White House has argued creating a separate National Guard for just a few hundred space personnel would be costly and bureaucratic. National Guard Association of the United States President Frank McGinn praised Trump's commitment to a Space National Guard, which the advocacy group supports, following the former president's speech. "I am grateful for President Trumps pledge to establish a Space National Guard should he be elected for another term. NGAUS has maintained for several years that a Space National Guard is the ideal supplement for the US Space Force," McGinn said in a statement. Like the Space Force before it, House lawmakers have passed bipartisan legislation to create a Space National Guard several times in recent years, but the proposals have never cleared the Senate, which has sided with Biden to quash it. But just as with the Space Force, the backing of a potential Trump administration could put the proposal over the top. Trump said he spoke to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee who the former president considered to be his running mate, about the proposal. Rubio is the sponsor of legislation in the Senate to create a Space National Guard. Space Force has been very important, Trump said. When I did that, other people came in, they wanted to end it, and they were just hammered, because people realized how important. We were getting just destroyed in space, and now we're leading. The Pentagon instead is pushing an alternative proposal to shift Air National Guard units that perform space missions into the Space Force without creating a new part-time organization, a move that brass hope will save money and keep the fledgling service lean. That effort has been opposed by all 50 state governors and was significantly watered down by the House, though the Senate has again sided with the Biden administration. Trumps backing of the plan came as part of the broader barrage of attacks the Republican nominee and his campaign launched Monday against Biden and Harris over their administrations military oversight. It was an attempt to use the anniversary of the attack outside Kabuls airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and dozens more Afghans as a campaign cudgel. Trump, who also moved to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the waning days of his presidency, claimed he would have done so with dignity and strength unlike Biden. "Our country will never be safe again until we have fired those responsible for this disaster," Trump said. It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us [the] Oct. 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect. We're not respected. We were respected very much four years ago. We're not respected now. "The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope," he added. "And when I take office, we'll ask for the resignations of every single official. We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity." As Trump spoke in Michigan, his campaign was simultaneously holding a call with reporters in which his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a former U.S. Marine who served a tour in Iraq, members of Congress and a handful of Gold Star family members whose loved ones were killed in the Kabul attack, criticized the Biden administrations withdrawal from Afghanistan and demanded accountability from Harris. Nobody expects perfection from our government, Vance said. But we do expect accountability. Gold Star family members claimed they have not had any direct outreach from Harris, particularly since she launched her campaign in late July. The Biden-Harris administration theres never even been condolences. They just want to pretend it didnt happen. They want to take credit for ending the war, but they dont want to take any responsibility for the way it all went down, said Cheryl Jules, whose niece, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, was killed in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Our servicemen and women deserve better than that, said Jules, who was one of the Gold Star family members to address the Republican National Convention last month. They deserve to know that there's a commander in chief, like President Trump, who's going to respect them and protect them. Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement through the White House, Harris said she mourns the servicemembers who were killed at the airport. I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families and I will always honor their service and sacrifice, Harris said, in an echo of her remarks at the Democratic National Convention just days ago. Harris also defended the Biden administrations Afghanistan withdrawal, saying the president made the courageous and right decision to end Americas longest war. And she herself vowed to never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland. Other Democrats leaped to the administrations defense by blasting Trumps own dealings in Afghanistan and with American troops. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued on X that Trump owns the Afghanistan withdrawal. He cut a bad deal with the Taliban forcing Biden to clean it up. BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China is always a staunch supporter in Africa's exploration of new paths to modernization and an important contributor to Africa's effort to find new ways of poverty alleviation, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said here on Monday. Spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to a query regarding China-Africa poverty reduction cooperation, which African media and scholars think brings new hope to Africa for realizing food self-sufficiency, poverty reduction and better life. Noting eliminating poverty is the common mission of mankind and common aspiration of the African people, Lin said that poverty reduction has always been an important part of China-Africa cooperation. "Over the years, under the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests, we have taken active effort to implement the Program for Strengthening Cooperation on Poverty Reduction between China and the African Union, and carried out poverty reduction exchanges and cooperation under the framework of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which produced remarkable results," Lin said. He mentioned that China has set up and implemented 47 poverty reduction and agricultural projects, trained close to 9,000 agricultural personnel, shared over 300 advanced and applicable technologies, and benefited over 1 million smallholders in Africa under the poverty reduction and agricultural development program. Taking China's juncao technology as an example, Lin pointed out that this technology has enabled hundreds of thousands of local people to increase their income. Moreover, China's hybrid rice has helped increase the rice yields in many African countries from an average of 2 tonnes to 7.5 tonnes per hectare. Chinese experts are setting up demonstration villages of rice cultivation for poverty alleviation to help realize the dream that "every mouth has food and every pocket money". Lin said that the agricultural cooperation parks and agricultural products processing plants set up by Chinese companies added much value to local agricultural products. China also opened "green lanes" for African agricultural products which allowed the import of a number of quality African agricultural products to China. Under the initiative of "100 Companies in 1,000 Villages", Chinese companies in Africa rolled out 320 corporate social responsibility projects, benefiting over 10,000 villages and communities. China has also held several seminars on poverty reduction and development for African officials to share experience in poverty reduction, Lin said. China-Africa cooperation also helps countries in the African continent advance the industrialization process and better stand on their own feet in economic growth, he said, adding that Nigeria's Lekki Free Trade Zone, the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, and other cooperation zones, which have the investment from China, make African countries a much stronger magnet for foreign investment, and formed industry clusters that took "made in Africa" worldwide. China has also set up 17 Luban Workshops in 15 African countries, which improved local employment, Lin added. "We stand ready to continue working with Africa at the upcoming 2024 FOCAC Summit to advance poverty alleviation and create a brighter future for the African people," said Lin. President Trump meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019 in New York. (Evan Vucci/AP) When El Salvadors autocratic president, Nayib Bukele, celebrated his inauguration this summer, guests of honor included Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson and Rep. Matt Gaetz, the firebrand Republican from Florida. The right-wing celebrities attended the swearing-in ceremony at the Salvadoran National Palace, joined in the sumptuous black-tie dinner that followed and posed for numerous photos with Bukele, who wore a gold-embroidered black suit somewhere between a military uniform and a Nehru jacket. I came because something remarkable is happening here, Carlson later gushed to Bukele during an interview for the former Fox News host's podcast. Youre the most popular elected official in the world provable fact, Carlson added as the two sat amid elephant ear plants on Bukele's verdant patio. "Honored to be at @nayibbukele 's inauguration to support a leader willing to fight the globalist for the benefit of his people," Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter, now known as X, after emerging from a one-on-one meeting at the palace with Bukele. "We need more like him." El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele and first lady Gabriela Roberta Rodriguez wave from a balcony after he was sworn in for a second term in San Salvador, El Salvador, on June 1. (Salvador Melendez / Associated Press) That Bukeles June 1 assumption of a second term was unconstitutional until he had loyalists craft an exception did not seem to bother these guests. Nor apparently did Bukeles record of human rights abuses, repression of dissent and tinkering with democracy. The high-profile support for Bukele fits a broader effort by former President Trump to build a network of like-minded allies across the globe in preparation for what he hopes will be a second term. It's in many ways a continuation of the precedent-breaking, Western-world-order-busting policies that Trump pursued in his first. As president, Trump heaped scorn on faithful U.S. allies, like Germany's Angela Merkel, and embraced autocrats, like Russias Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Honduras' Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is now serving a 45-year sentence in U.S. federal prison for drug trafficking. Since losing the 2020 presidential race, Trump and his allies have continued to court such foreign leaders, including several who would likely not get red-carpet treatment in a Democratic-controlled White House. There's the proudly illiberal Hungarian President Viktor Orban, who has met with the elder Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in southern Florida on a number of occasions. Orban, who has governed Hungary for nearly a quarter-century, has empowered himself to rule by decree, ignore parliament and use taxpayers' money to spread disinformation, especially about migrants, LGBTQ people and other democracies. He is alone in the 27-nation European Union to openly admire and endorse Trump, and it's mutual. Trump has repeatedly praised Orban as "a great man, a strong man." Along with Bukele, both controversial leaders as well as Argentinas president, Javier Milei spoke at this years convention of the U.S. Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, an annual must-do event for the right, now largely seen as an arm of the Trump campaign. Argentina's President Javier Milei gestures to the audience after giving a speech at CPAC Brasil 2024, a conservative event, in Balneario Camboriu, Brazil, on July 7. (Heuler Andrey / Associated Press) By contrast, the Biden administration sent only a medium-level delegation to the Bukele inauguration. Members of the Biden administration have accused Bukele of undermining El Salvador's key democratic institutions, including the judiciary and legislature. Bukele has ruled using emergency powers that allow for arbitrary detention and indefinite suspension of numerous civil rights. Foreign policy experts say cozying up to autocrats helps legitimize them, and robs the U.S. of moral authority on the world stage. "Every time we embrace a dictator, it makes it much more difficult the next time we try to support democracy," said Benjamin Gedan, a former National Security Council official now at the Wilson Center. Trump and his envoys say they are finding common ground with many foreign leaders who have been frustrated by Biden administration efforts to impose liberal values in their countries, such as gay, transgender and reproductive rights, said Matt Schlapp, chairman of CPAC. "These are other countries that are facing some of the same challenges ... we are fighting in America," Schlapp said. These include a "wholesale attack on the family and traditional understanding of gender." Schlapp, who also attended the Bukele inauguration, added, "When I heard his themes, I thought it was beautiful: family. God." Schlapp says there is high demand overseas these days for Trump appearances. "We're being asked for videos of Trump, for others close to Trump to come," he said. Another key figure in keeping Trump's global flame alive has been Richard Grenell, whom Trump has continued to call "my envoy" long after both were out of office. Best remembered as Trump's ambassador to Germany, he is often mentioned as a possible secretary of State if Trump is elected. Earlier this year Grenell was in Guatemala following that country's presidential election. Guatemalan voters had chosen a leftist anti-corruption crusader, Bernardo Arevalo, over the establishment's more conservative candidate. Right-wing forces were trying to prevent Arevalo from taking office. Grenell openly and assertively supported efforts to block Arevalo, even as the Biden administration and much of the international community fought for a peaceful transfer of power. Many of the foreign leaders Trump is courting are equally interested in ties with the GOP presidential nominee. Bukele paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through an Argentine PR/lobbying firm listed by the Foreign Agents Registration Act to attract Trump acolytes to El Salvador and to present a positive image of himself in support of Trump in the U.S., according to the Salvadoran news site El Faro. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 22. (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) On July 4, Bukele used social media to congratulate the American people on Independence Day. But his message appeared tailored to a conservative U.S. audience, hearkening to previous times. "We are inspired by you," Bukele wrote, "not by the ideals you hold now, but by the ideals you had in 1776 when you gained your freedom and built the foundations of your great country." But alliances with autocrats can be problematic for both sides as Bukele has since found out. For all the effort Trump, his family and his advisors put into courting Bukele, the former president publicly mocked the Salvadoran leader last month during a speech at the Republican Party convention. Trump dismissed Bukele's claim to have lowered El Salvador's murder rate through careful policy, saying El Salvador is simply sending its worst criminals into the U.S. Bukele shrugged it off: "Taking the high road," he tweeted. 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. Tuition-free school opens doors to new building thanks to community donations LAUREL, Miss. (WHLT) For this weeks Cool Schools, we head over to the Pine Belt. Known as the school without halls, Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center in Laurel welcomed 117 students to its new location at the old Glory House on North Second Avenue. Founder Amanda Cooley says she and her mother, Brendalyn Campbell saw a need to help kids who were struggling with reading. Thats where Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center was born, in August 2020. We realized that there were children that were still illiterate in the fourth and fifth grade, and we knew that was a problem, said Cooley. The accredited private school for grades K-12 offers free tuition for all who attend. The new location sits just a house apart from its old location, equipped with a library, a quiet room including a cafeteria. Jackson Public School music teacher retires after 42 years The mother and daughter duo say they are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community since they launched their dream school four years ago. I didnt know how to feel. I was just shocked. Im still in shock of it all but we know were doing the right thing, said Cooley. The new Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center is located on 803 North Second Avenue in Laurel. Click on this link if youd like to donate to the school. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV. Tulsi Gabbard, the one-time Democratic presidential hopeful who had hoped to run against Donald Trump in 2020, completed an astonishing reversal Monday by warmly endorsing the former president. Gabbard quit her safe Hawaii House district in 2019 to join the packed 2020 Democratic presidential field. After dropping out of the race, she endorsed Joe Biden as the best man to heal the divisiveness that has been tearing our country apart. But on Monday she spoke at a meeting of the National Guard Association in Detroit, Michigan, which was also addressed by Trumpand called for the country to vote for him. "I am committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, she said. Gabbard served in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, where she was decorated for her service. She is now an officer in the Army Reserve and framed her military credentials as part of her justification for now backing Trump. I know what I mean when I share with you that President Trump understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander-in-chief bears for every single one of our lives, she said. He keeps us in his heart in the decisions that he makes, she added. We saw this through his first term in the presidency when he not only didnt start any new wars, he took action to de-escalate and prevent wars. The same cannot be said about Kamala Harris. In fact the opposite is true. Tulsi Gabbard (second left) is pictured at a debate in November 2019 when she was fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination, which would have set her up to go head-to-head with Donald Trump. Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters Gabbards political transformation has taken her from the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party to the inner MAGA circle. She has been helping Trump prepare for his debate with Vice President (and current presidential candidate) Kamala Harris, having been seen as landing critical blows on Harris during a July 2019 Democratic debate, when they sparred over the then-California senators record as a prosecutor. She has also touted herself as a potential running mate for Trump, saying just before he was convicted of 34 felony counts of false record keeping that she would be honored to be on the ticket. Her embrace of the conservative movement has seen her take a Fox News contributorship and speak at the Conservative Political Action Committees CPAC gathering; her book For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind, uses the term Democrat rather than Democratic as a dig against the party. She had once been a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. The 43-year-old lives with Abraham Williams, her second husband, in California and Texas. Dont Silence Me! Trump On Steroids Fights With Aides Over Debate Mics The timing of her endorsement was not accidental. Gabbard, a member of the Hawaii National Guard, had earlier gone to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with Trump to lay a wreath marking the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 American servicemen at the Abbey Gate of Kabul Airport during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trumps campaign hopes to make the bloody exit from Afghanistan an attack line on Harris, who has said she was the last person in the room as President Joe Biden ordered the complete withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump himself had struck the deal which led to the withdrawal and had planned to host members of the Taliban at Camp David on Sept. 11, 2019, to finalize it. The Democratic National Committees rapid response director Alex Floyd compared Gabbard to another Democrat with presidential ambitions-turned-Trump backer. Donald Trumps MAGA brand is so toxic that hes resorted to touting support from off-putting extremists like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, Floyd said in a 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. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Monday endorsed Donald Trump for president, a striking turn for someone who just five years ago called him corrupt, unqualified to serve, and Saudi Arabias bitch. Gabbard made the comments in the run-up to her unsuccessful 2020 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, where she didnt shy away from criticizing Trumps performance. In 2018, the National Guard veteran was sharply critical of Trumps decision to stand by Saudi Arabia despite U.S. intelligence linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Hey [Donald Trump], she tweeted at the President. Being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First. Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First. Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 21, 2018 Less than a year later, Gabbard supported the 2019 impeachment inquiry into Trump regarding his attempt to extort Ukraine in exchange for badly needed American aid. Look, Donald Trump is corrupt he is unfit to serve our country as president, she told The Hill. He is unqualified to serve our country as commander-in-chief, Im running for president to defeat him. At a 2019 appearance at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Gabbard sharply criticized Trumps decision to deploy U.S. troops to protect Saudi oil facilities. Trump claimed Saudi Arabia paid upwards of $1 billion for the deployment, but never clarified who paid what to whom. Hes essentially pimping out our men and women in uniform to a foreign power whos the highest bidder and saying very blatantly and directly, Hey, theyre paying us for them, Gabbard said at the time. He is unfit to be our commander-in-chief. When her 2020 presidential bid failed to gain meaningful traction, Gabbard dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden. Gabbard left the Democratic party in 2022, calling it an elitist cabal of warmongers, and has since spent an increasing amount of time on Fox as a paid contributor, once even sitting in for Tucker Carlson. Prior to todays endorsement news, Gabbard campaigned to be Trumps running mate and has been helping prep Trump for next months Sept. 10 presidential debate. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that Joe Biden was a senator in 2020 when Tulsi Gabbard endorsed him. Biden was not in public office at the time. Related... Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump: Why the former Hawaii Democrat is backing him Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who ran for president as a Democrat just four years ago, endorsed former President Donald Trumps bid for the White House on Monday at the National Guard Associations annual meeting in Michigan. Gabbard, a National Guard veteran who has served in two tours of duty in the Middle East, made the announcement on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at the main airport outside of Kabul in Afghanistan, killing 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans. This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts and regions around the world, and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before, Gabbard said. This is one of the main reasons why Im committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House. Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump listens as former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard speaks at the National Guard of the United States General Conference in Detroit, Michigan U.S., August 26, 2024. Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the 13 servicemembers killed during the U.S. exit, then later in Detroit blamed Kamala Harris, the vice president, and President Joe Biden for what he termed a catastrophic withdrawal. Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all over the world, Trump said in an address to the National Guard Association of the United States. Flag-draped coffins of service members killed in action are loaded onto a transport aircraft during a ramp ceremony at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 27, 2021. A review released by the U.S. State Department in 2023 found fault with both the Trump and Biden administrations in the run-up to the withdrawal, according to Reuters. Trump praised Gabbards military service while speaking before the National Guard annual meeting, highlighting her rank as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and her multiple overseas deployments. Every time she ran, she was good. She did well. She decided to leave, she couldnt take it anymore. But she is very special, Trump said. And I didnt know this, but she is a lieutenant colonel. Thats not bad. Lieutenant colonel? Not bad. I didnt know that, you know? I just found out. I said, put it down. You gotta put that down [in his speech]. Thats better than all the other stuff I read. More: Tulsi Gabbard has shed her old Democratic policy stances. Is it a push to serve with Donald Trump? Gabbards foreign policy views have long been shaped by her experiences as a combat veteran and consistently reflect her anti-interventionist stance. She has been a vocal critic of U.S. involvement in conflicts like those in Syria and Afghanistan and has also opposed military aid to Ukraine. Gabbard has also reportedly been helping Trump prepare for an upcoming debate against Harris. The two women famously clashed during the 2020 Democratic primary before both ultimately dropped out and endorsed Biden.Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story. Jeremy Yurow is a politics reporting fellow based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at JYurow@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter @JeremyYurow This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump for president, cites foreign policy Not surprisingly, former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbardsendorsement of Donald Trump attracted a lot of attention on social media and a lot of Vladimir Putin jokes. Gabbard officially endorsed Trumps presidential campaign on Monday at the National Guard Association of the United States event in Detroit, saying the former president understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander in chief bears for every single one of our lives. I was a Democrat for over 20 years. Today, I endorsed Donald Trump for President. WATCH to hear why: pic.twitter.com/lwA8FYFx8h Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) August 26, 2024 Gabbard previously represented Hawaii as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021 and briefly ran for the partys presidential nomination in 2020 before leaving the party in 2022 to become an independent. However, earlier this year, she made no secret about her desire to be Trumps running mate, telling Donald Trump Jr. that shed be honored to actually be in a position to help President Trump execute his policies. This was a switch from 2019, when she called him corrupt. But many people on X, formerly Twitter, seemed more interested in how Russian President Vladimir Putin might feel about the endorsement. In 2019, Gabbard sued former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for suggesting that she was a Russian asset. Gabbard has also been criticized for refusing to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying that the accused war criminal is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States. Gabbards endorsement of Trump brought out major snark from various people on X. Tulsi Gabbard endorses Donald Trump. And somewhere Vladimir Putin is beaming with pride. pic.twitter.com/MOTrA3egsh Andrew McGill (@AndrewMcGIsMe) August 26, 2024 BREAKING: Useful idiot, tulsi gabbard endorses trump. pic.twitter.com/bJoaDTjGhw GAZETTE (@FrancisWegner) August 26, 2024 Im shocked I tell you SHOCKED!!! Shes probably holding a state room party at the Kremlin as we speak. pic.twitter.com/njh4PYLWOp Adam L (Certified Cajun) (@ACL80GFYS) August 26, 2024 BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump* *accuracy of captions not guaranteed#Tulskipic.twitter.com/X5ryjUtURz Jim Stewartson, Counterinsurgent (@jimstewartson) August 26, 2024 Let me guess. This is the big get Jr. RFK was talking about when he said, Big Democrats were going to endorse Trump this week. I hate to break the news, but Tulsi Gabbard isn't a Democrat and never was. Looking at her work with Putin and Assad. She barely qualifies as a citizen. https://t.co/7MvPVnLX9q I'MYOURHUCKLEBERRY (@PLSgetserious) August 26, 2024 Others werent impressed for other reasons. Its official: black flies endorse dog turds. sharks (@Sharks2K20) August 26, 2024 Just think for a second and consider that RFK Jr ending his campaign and endorsing Trump on Friday was such a flop.....They had to trot Tulsi out today in Michigan to endorse Trump to try and keep the news cycle. Who's next? BigTeezy (@TNSouthernlib) August 26, 2024 This is a better endorsement than Tulsi Gabbard. https://t.co/vjhbcRPfRM Bobby Paulk (@PaulkBobby) August 26, 2024 Remember when Kamala Harris DRAGGED Tulsi Gabbard? Kamala is the aunt of EVERY family you dont want to piss off Reminds me of my Aunt Debra pic.twitter.com/3ObthdD57e Michael (@americanmikey_) August 26, 2024 Only ppl who live online think RFK and Tulsi Gabbard are endorsements that matter. Not a singular Harris Campaign strategy will change. Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) August 26, 2024 CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Tulsi Gabbard had traveled to Russia in 2022. The article has been amended to remove that statement and more accurately characterize the nature of allegations about Gabbard being a Russian asset. Related... SYRACUSE N.Y. (WSYR-TV) A New York State Fair food truck is serving more than flavorful and meaty grilled cheeses this year. The Massachusetts food truck turns comfort food into conservation. When buying a sandwich at Bees and Thank You, you can help the decline of honey bees. From day one we didnt want to sell food, we wanted to have a mission behind what we do. From the beginning, its always that. Its been family and for educating the kids. We really want to teach the importance of the pollinators, said Nick Laorenza, Co-Owner of Bees and Thank You. Latest local news With an active plan, theyre always engaging and educating as many people as possible. We go out there and educate the kids about the bees a couple times a year. Another thing we do is called seeds for the bees. We have little pollinator seed packets that we give out at all the events we go to and theyre native pollinator seeds that you can plant in your backyard, said Laorenza. Laorenza says people do not realize how important bees are, 75 percent of the food we eat requires pollination. We actually lose 40 to 60 percent of all bee colonies annually every year. Without the bees, humans would go extinct 5 to 10 years max, said Laorenza. About 10 years ago, Laorenza traveled from Boston all the way to the fair ensuring that their food truck would have to visit too. The energy is really good around here. People have been talking about the truck. We already have a bunch of people coming back and were getting some regulars at the fair here. I think were really welcomed here and people are trying it and theyre down with it, said Laorenza. A simple sandwich that turns into a powerful change. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSYR. DANVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) A 39-year-old Lancaster man was booked on several charges after running from a Danville emergency room. The Danville Police Department (DPD) said it happened around 4 a.m. on Sunday. A DPD officer was leaving the Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center when he noticed a man being held by a security guard in the parking lot. Read more of the latest Lexington & central Kentucky news According to an arrest citation, the security guard said that the man, Victorino Gonzalez-Zapata, was tweaking. Gonzalez-Zapata then took off, running toward Main Street. As officers gained on him, Gonzalez-Zapata reportedly jumped through the front glass window of the Sherwin Williams paint store, breaking the glass. But as officers got closer, Gonzalez-Zapata jumped back through the broken window to the sidewalk. Thats when authorities attempted to move Gonzalez-Zapata to the ground, per court documents. An arrest citation reports that he was taken back to the emergency room to treat the injuries he got from breaking the window. There, he allegedly told officers he was on meth. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: He was arrested and charged with the following: Public intoxication (controlled substance) Third-degree fleeing or evading police First-degree criminal mischief Second-degree trespassing Resisting arrest Gonzalez-Zapata is due to be arraigned on Oct. 1. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 56 News. Two charged with murder in connection to Topeka mans death Two charged with murder in connection to Topeka mans death TOPEKA (KSNT) The Shawnee County District Attorney has officially charged two men in connection to a recent homicide case. Katie Garceran with the Shawnee County DAs office said in a press release on Monday, Aug. 26 that Rammelo H. Boatwright, 24, and Lorenzo A. Pattmon III, 21, are being charged in connection to the death of 37-year-old Kyle Higgins. Their charges include: Pattmons charges Murder in the first degree; inherently dangerous felony. Aggravated robbery; bodily harm. Kidnapping; flight or the commission of any crime. Robbery Fleeing or attempting to elude police officer. Aggravated endangering a child. Criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Interference of a law enforcement; official duty. Boatwrights charges Murder in the first degree; premeditation. Murder in the first degree; inherently dangerous felony. Aggravated robbery; bodily harm. Kidnapping; flight or the commission of any crime. Robbery Criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Aggravated endangering of a child. Interference with law enforcement; official duty. Interference with law enforcement; evidence. Man accused of setting house fire that killed a Topeka mom, two kids pleads no contest to murder Lorenzo A. Pattmon III (left) and Rammelo H. Boatwright (right) have been arrested in connection to a Topeka mans death (Photo Courtesy/Shawnee County Department of Corrections) Police were called around 4:15 a.m. on Aug. 20 in regards to a reported aggravated robbery near the intersection of Southwest 29th Street and MacVicar Avenue. A vehicle was stolen while a child was allegedly still inside. Police were able to find the child and the vehicle which they tried to pull over. The vehicle did not stop and later crashed at Southeast 29th Street and Minnesota Avenue. Police then arrested Boatwright and Pattmon. Kansas school employee paid $630,000, heres why Garceran said other officers around 8:30 a.m. on the same day found a man, later identified as Higgins, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a local hospital and declared dead. For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SPRING VALLEY, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) Two people are dead after a van crashed into a light pole in Spring Valley Friday evening, according to California Highway Patrol. On Friday around 6:13 p.m., a man from Perris, California was driving a silver Nissan Quest on the off-ramp of State Route 94 to Bancroft Drive, CHP said Monday. Woman, 89, dies in East County crash For reasons still under investigation, the driver lost control of the van and veered off the roadway, causing the vehicle to crash into a light pole, authorities said. The driver and front passenger, a 63-year-old woman, died as a result of the crash, according to CHP. Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl who was seated in the back of the van was taken to the hospital with major injuries. Both passengers were also from Perris, authorities said. Anyone who witnessed the crash is encouraged to contact the CHP El Cajon office. The crash is still being investigated by authorities. It does not appear that alcohol and/or drugs were a factor in the fatal crash, according to CHP. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. This photo taken with a mobile phone shows vehicles near a militant attack site in Musa Khel district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Str/Xinhua) ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. The incident happened in Musa Khel district of the province where the terrorists offloaded the passengers from the vehicles after checking their identities, the sources told Xinhua. "The terrorists entered the vehicles and checked the identity cards of the passengers, following which they offloaded those coming from east Punjab province and shot them dead," the sources added. The road connecting Punjab to Balochistan was blocked between 12:00 a.m. (GMT 1900 Sunday) to 3:00 a.m. local time (GMT 2200 Sunday), the source said. The terrorists also torched several vehicles during the roadblock. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. However, in a message on social media, the proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army claimed to have blocked several roads across the province. This photo taken with a mobile phone shows a burnt vehicle at a militant attack site in Musa Khel district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Str/Xinhua) This photo taken with a mobile phone shows a burnt truck at a militant attack site in Musa Khel district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Str/Xinhua) This photo taken with a mobile phone shows burnt vehicles at a militant attack site in Musa Khel district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Str/Xinhua) A man (L) mourns over the death of his relative at a hospital following a militant attack, in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Photo by Asad/Xinhua) A man mourns as he identifies the body of a relative who was killed in a militant attack, in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Aug. 26, 2024. Militants in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province killed 23 passengers after blocking a highway for several hours, officials said. (Photo by Asad/Xinhua) Two US aircraft carriers to stay in Middle East after Hezbollah attack The Pentagon has extended the deployment of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group after a largely failed attack by the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah on Israel over the weekend. Choosing to keep the second carrier in the Middle East means there will now be two carriers and their warships available for U.S. Central Command amid the threat of a full regional war erupting. The TR arrived in the Middle East in early July, while fellow carrier Abraham Lincoln steamed into the region last week. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the decision in a statement over the weekend. Theodore Roosevelt replaced the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose deployment to the region had itself been extended multiple times, earlier this summer. The extensions are part of Americas surge in forces to the region this month in an attempt to avert a larger conflict between Israel and Iran and its proxies. USS Abraham Lincoln arrives in Middle East In addition to Lincoln, another fighter jet squadron, and other assets have also been rushed to the region. The Georgia, a ballistic missile submarine, is still on its way to CENTCOM, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday. Ryder didnt say how long the Roosevelt would be extended or exactly when the decision was made, only saying Austin chose to do so over the weekend. The surge seeks to provide some gray-hull deterrence after Israel launched two strikes in late July that heightened regional tensions one in Lebanons capital that came in retaliation for an earlier strike from Hezbollah, and another in Tehran, killing the political leader of Hamas. Since then, the U.S. and its partners in the region have been bracing for return strikes from Hezbollah and Iran. The first came this weekend in an attack involving more than 230 rockets fired from Lebanon, according to the Israeli military. Preemptive strikes from Israel mainly thwarted the salvo, and both sides signaled that they were deescalating afterward. When asked in a morning press conference with reporters Monday whether Americas surge in forces to the region had worked as intended, Ryder agreed. I think that the additional forces in the theater send a very clear message to all actors in the region that were serious when it comes to supporting the defense of Israel, he said. Ryder said the U.S. had helped Israel spot incoming rockets from Hezbollah but hadnt participated in Israels preemptive strikes in Lebanon. Israel didnt need kinetic support, Ryder said, but the U.S. is prepared to aid in its defense going forward. We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack from Iran, Ryder said. TEXAS (KXAN) The Texas Department of Transportation will host an in-person and virtual public meeting later this week about a proposed improvement project for State Hwy. 21. The state agency is evaluating possible safety and mobility enhancements along SH 21 between SH 80 and SH 130. TxDOT is studying 17.7 miles of the highway, with specific considerations including expanded capacity in both directions and added bicycle and pedestrian upgrades. While configurations vary along the roadway, TxDOT documents note SH 21 primarily features one lane in each direction and alternating passing lanes along with the occasional center-turn lanes and dedicated left-turn lanes. The intended goal of the project is to help expand traffic capacity and safety amid rapid growth in both Hays and Caldwell counties. From 2010 to 2022, Hays and Caldwell counties grew 70.3% and 25.6%, per TxDOT documents and analysis. This embedded content is not available in your region. TxDOT is currently in the environmental process and schematic design phases, which are estimated to run into 2025. Future finalized design work, right-of-way acquisition, utility adjustments and construction timeframes have yet to be determined. Thursdays in-person meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Uhland Elementary School, located at 2331 High Road in Uhland. The virtual meeting will be published by 5 p.m. Thursday online, and the meeting will be available in both English and Spanish. TxDOT is collecting public comments on the proposal through Sept. 13. Those interested in sharing comments can do so the following ways: In person at the meeting via a public comment form Online at txdot.gov after searching SH 21 Hays and Caldwell Via emailing AUS_SH21WEST@txdot.gov Leaving a voicemail at 512-342-3400 Via mailing a comment to the following address: TxDOT Project Manager TxDOT Austin District 7901 N. I-35 Austin, TX 78753 More details are available online. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Multiple U.S. Air Force Airmen were honored with a coining ceremony on base Monday morning for their heroic rescue of a pregnant woman and others at a national park near Nevada. According to Nellis Air Force Base, seven U.S. Air Force Airmen rescued four people, including a pregnant woman, during a flash flood that occurred while they were hiking at Zion National Park earlier in Aug. While the airmen were walking along a popular trail at Zion, Airman Will Martin noticed the river rapidly rising, signaling an imminent flash flood. As the group quickly moved to higher ground, they spotted a woman floating in the water, appearing battered, blue, and lifeless, according to the Nellis Air Force news release. Airman Demarcus Norman entered the water and pulled back the woman to the shore. She remained unresponsive for nearly an hour while assistance was on its way. The airmen were honored during a coining ceremony on Aug. 26. (Nellis Air Force Base) The airmen were honored during a coining ceremony on Aug. 26. (Nellis Air Force Base) The airmen were honored during a coining ceremony on Aug. 26. (Nellis Air Force Base) The airmen were honored during a coining ceremony on Aug. 26. (Nellis Air Force Base) Rescue personnel then instructed the group to move down the canyon to a location where air evacuation could be arranged. On their way, the woman revealed that she was pregnant and had been visiting Zion with three other individuals. One of the other individuals was stranded on the opposite side of the river with a knee injury. Recognizing that the injured man couldnt cross the current on his own, the airmen formed a human chain, linking arms to help him safely cross the river. The team successfully brought the injured man across the river and reunited with the other individuals along the way. The airmen were honored on Aug. 26, for exemplifying the Air Forces core values of Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Anthony Downs and Staff Sgt. Derek Bolton, staff weather officers assigned to one of the AIr Force's Combat Weather Squadrons, return to an Alaska National Guard helicopter during training on Aug. 25 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage The new White House Arctic Strategy emphasizes national defense and the threats posed by Russian aggression. (Photo by Senior Airman Patrick Sullivan/U.S. AIr Force) U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Anthony Downs and Staff Sgt. Derek Bolton, staff weather officers assigned to one of the Air Force's Combat Weather Squadrons, return to an Alaska National Guard helicopter during training on Aug. 25, 2023 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. (Photo by Senior Airman Patrick Sullivan/U.S. AIr Force) The federal government is reversing course on pending changes to the Alaska Air National Guard after staff and the states congressional delegation warned that the modifications could decimate the force. On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, acting director of the Air National Guard, sent a letter to Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, stating that the Fulltime Leveling program will not be applied in Alaska. The program was intended to standardize pay and benefits across the country, but members of the Alaska Air National Guard said it would result in cuts to their paycheck, and many said they were likely to quit if the changes took place. Pirak said the program did not fully consider the requirements of Alaska Air National Guard duties and that the envisioned changes were incompatible with the Guards work. The changes had been set to take effect Oct. 1. This weeks letter comes three weeks after Sullivan placed a hold on Piraks promotion to lieutenant general, saying that the hold would be lifted only when Alaska was exempted from the Fulltime Leveling program. The exceptional men and women of the Alaska Air National Guard and the families who support them can rest a bit easier today now that weve successfully removed the threat of cuts from D.C. that wouldve negatively impacted their unique mission and their ability to defend our nation, he said in a written statement. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, also praised the National Guards decision. This will fully restore the 80 Active Guard Reserve positions to Eielson AFB, Clear SFS, and JBER. The recent encroachment of Chinese and Russian bombers off the coast of Alaska made clear the United States cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to our homeland defense mission, Murkowski said. Our ability to respond that day was made possible by the professionalism exhibited by the many Airmen involved, and the seamless integration of our active duty, guard, and reserve forces. The ANGs recent decision is a win not only for Alaska, but for the United States of America. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The U.S. military has turned its focus from fighting terrorism to achieving integrated deterrence and preventing a conflict with Russia or China. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI President Joe Biden's recent approval of a major shift in U.S. nuclear weapons strategy highlights the attention the country's national security officials are paying to Chinese ambitions for influence in the world. As changes emerge in the types of threats facing the United States, the American military adjusts its strategic focus, budgets and planning. For instance, after 9/11, the U.S. military refocused away from its Cold War emphasis on preparing for combat against a powerful nation -- the Soviet Union -- and toward fighting small terrorist and insurgent groups instead. Over the past decade, the Pentagon's efforts have shifted back to preparing for what officials call "great power competition" among the United States, Russia and China. The most important strategic shift that's evident in planning for great power competition is a focus on deterrence. In classic military strategy, deterrence focuses on making an adversary believe they can never achieve their goals by military force, because the response would be overwhelming and decisive. The National Defense Strategy released in October 2022 -- the document that articulates the nation's goals, objectives and resource allocation for the next two years -- explicitly recognizes the potential risk of tensions and open conflict with Russia or China, and it calls for "integrated deterrence" to prevent it. That means combined efforts from the military, intelligence and diplomatic agencies across the U.S. government. The National Military Strategy -- the military's section of the overarching National Defense Strategy -- lays out how the U.S. armed forces will contribute to that effort. As a former assistant secretary of defense and Pentagon chief of staff, I see that the military is focusing on three main goals to achieve integrated deterrence and prevent a conflict with Russia or China. New operational plans For the military, integrated deterrence means the armed forces will depend both on where forces are located and what they can do once they're in action to influence adversaries' decisions about when, where, how -- and whether -- to use military force against the United States or its interests. In the shift away from counterterrorism toward preparation for a great power conflict, the Defense Department has developed new ways to deal with the fact that Russia and China, unlike small terrorist groups, can fight in the air, on land and at sea anywhere around the world -- and online and in space, too. First among those methods is what the Pentagon calls "dynamic force employment," in which U.S. military forces are deployed rapidly around the world, without predictable rotation schedules. This approach can reassure allies facing threats from Russia or China. For example, the United States has, at times, deployed as many as 10,000 troops to Poland. The troops are not permanently stationed there, but a continuous presence of U.S. forces keeps Russia guessing about the size and capabilities of the force and demonstrates a commitment to support nervous NATO allies in Eastern Europe. Second is a shift of personnel and capabilities to what is called "multi-domain operations," in which units with different missions across air, land, sea, space and cyberspace plan and train together. That way, they can be prepared to work closely together in actual conflicts. This level of collaboration allows the nation to respond to threats in a variety of ways. For instance, challenges to American naval power on the high seas do not have to be met directly with corresponding naval action, but instead could be answered with cyberattacks or from space. This approach might make the Chinese People's Liberation Army think twice about launching military operations against Taiwan. Not only would the Chinese potentially face a fierce direct conflict, but U.S. cyber and space operations could also disrupt or destroy Chinese military communications, hindering their attack. Investments in modernization Recent research has shown that China's investments in its military personnel and capabilities -- particularly in air, naval and nuclear forces -- have grown exponentially over the past two decades, to a level estimated at near parity with the United States. This has prompted the United States to modernize its own military's corresponding capabilities. For the 2024 budget, the Department of Defense allocated a whopping $234.9 billion for programs to support integrated deterrence, which likely represents a 10% increase over previous spending plans. Some of this money will go to developing and acquiring F-35 fighter jets and building Columbia-class, nuclear-powered submarines. When the United States and its allies in the Pacific region, such as Japan, South Korea and Australia, deploy these planes and submarines, they will remind potential adversaries of American military power -- which is itself a deterrent against foreign aggression. Over the past 10 years, China's rapid expansion of its nuclear weapon supply has alarmed senior policymakers in the United States. Although then-President Barack Obama pushed countries to envision a world free of nuclear weapons, he approved the most expensive and significant upgrade ever to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. In 2022, the Biden administration renewed a financial commitment to "field a modern, resilient nuclear triad" consisting of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and long-range nuclear bombers. Advancing technology In 2019, the Space Force was established as a separate branch of the armed forces and tasked with defending American space-based assets and upholding international law. Because of the importance of satellite communications to military operations and civilian life -- including internet connectivity -- the Space Force works closely with Cyber Command, the military organization charged with defending the nation against cyberattacks, to prevent malicious hackers from disrupting systems vital to the world, such as the Global Positioning System, widely known as GPS. Recent intelligence indicates that China plans to conduct destructive cyberattacks against U.S. domestic critical infrastructure, including the electric grid, during any conflict. To counter those plans, Cyber Command continues to enhance its abilities to defend U.S. systems and companies against cyberattacks, as well as to conduct attacks against systems in other countries. The Pentagon is also seeking to counterbalance China's rapidly expanding military forces by using artificial intelligence software in a program called the Replicator Initiative. The effort seeks to build thousands of low-cost, AI-directed autonomous aircraft and boats that can be used in combat to "counter the (Chinese military)'s mass with mass of our own," in the words of Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. Integration with allies and partners The U.S. military has also sought to strengthen alliances with other countries, especially over the past four years of the Biden administration. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine led NATO to expand its membership as well as the numbers and capabilities of troops available to the organization. The United States has reinforced its commitment to NATO, increasing troop deployments in Eastern Europe and support for European defense initiatives by committing nearly $3 billion in funding for additional fighter aircraft, air-defense batteries and munitions. In Asia, around the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, a vast region that the government often calls "the Indo-Pacific," the United States has strengthened alliances with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines by conducting numerous military exercises and increasing military assistance. Efforts like the annual Marine Aviation Support exercise are aimed at countering Chinese military and political influence. The United States has also sought to strengthen its alliances with Britain and Australia, with a commitment to sell up to five conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to the Australian navy by 2030. Collectively, the United States has combined all of these efforts into a coordinated approach seeking to avoid open conflict with China and Russia. But the work is not yet done: The global political and military landscape is ever-changing, and new security challenges are always emerging. Grace Jones, a master's student in public policy and research assistant at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, contributed research to this article. Eric Rosenbach is a senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. 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. Health officials in Massachusetts are warning about the risk of contracting Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEE) after a person developed the mosquito-borne disease earlier this month. Officials plan to spray for mosquitos in 10 communities, and at least one town has closed its public parks and fields between dusk and dawn to try to lower the risk that local residents will be bitten. In case youre not familiar with it, EEE is a rare and potentially disease spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, per to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It can cause anything from zero symptoms to deadly brain infections in people who are infected. But how is EEE treated and is there an outbreak happening now? Heres what you need to know. Meet the expert: William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Is there an EEE outbreak? No, there is not an EEE outbreak happening at the moment. However, health officials in Massachusetts are urging residents and visitors to practice mosquito bite prevention after a man in his 80s was infected in the state in mid-August. That was the first case of EEE that the state had seen since 2020, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Since then, there have not been additional cases detected in the state, but the local government is taking action to try to lower the risk that more people will be infected. EEE isnt just in Massachusetts, though. Cases have also been detected in Vermont and New Jersey this year, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What is the prognosis for EEE? EEE can be deadly. It has a mortality rate of 30 percent, with people dying from the condition within two to 10 days after developing symptoms, per the CDC. For those who have severe cases, the consequences could be dire. EEE causes long-term physical or neurological issues in more than half of people who recover from severe cases. Many of those require long-term care and die within a few years after theyre infected, according to the CDC. However, most people infected with EEE do not develop symptoms, the organization says. Those who do can result in febrile illness (a fever that typically resolves in one to two weeks) or neurologic disease. What is the treatment for EEE? If you develop symptoms of EEE and live in an area where it's been detected, it's a good idea to contact your doctor, says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "They can do a blood test," he says. But EEE treatment is just supportive care, Dr. Schaffner says. Meaning, people may take OTC medications to help control the fever and aches and pains. Those who develop a brain infection will be closely monitored in the hospital and given pain medication to help, he says. "We don't have a specific anti-EEE antiviral drug, so it's just taking care of them as theywe hopeget better," Dr. Schaffner says. How do I avoid getting EEE? The best way to avoid EEE is to do your best to avoid mosquito bites. According to the CDC, that includes: Using insect repellent Wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants Treating your clothing and gear Trying to control mosquitoes indoors and outdoors While EEE isnt all over the U.S. right now, there are plenty of other mosquito-borne infections that areand can make you sick. Its a good idea for all of us to be aware of them, Dr. Schaffner says. You Might Also Like (WTVO) Kevin Gotinsky, who oversees the United Auto Workers Stellantis department, has called for the resignation of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares over the companys decision to postpone the reopening of the Belvidere Assembly Plant. I think he either needs to go or get someone close by him to work side by side with him to manage the company because I dont think he knows what hes doing, Gotinsky said during a rally, according to automotive news outlet CBT News. The UAW says it may authorize a strike at assembly plants in Toledo, Ohio; Warren, Michigan; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Detroit, Michigan; and Kokomo, Indiana. The UAW claims that would violate a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the automaker made last year, claiming Stellantis has gone back on its product commitments at Belvidere and has been unreceptive in talks with the union. The automaker said market conditions were the reason for the delay, saying that to ensure the companys future competitiveness and sustainability, which are necessary to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs, it is critical that the business case for all investments is aligned with market conditions and our ability to accommodate a wide range of consumer demands. Therefore, the company confirms it has notified the UAW that plans for Belvidere will be delayed, but firmly stands by its commitment. In October 2022, Stellantis agreed to build a $3.2 billion battery plant in Belvidere and invest $1.5 billion to retool the factory for an all-new mid-sized truck, as part of a new union contract. Last Thursday, UAW President Shawn Fain and Local 1268 President Matt Frantzen led a union rally calling on automaker Stellantis to honor its commitments to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. A man gets into a rental car with a sign from the mobility service provider and ride broker Uber. Sebastian Gollnow/dpa Uber Technologies Inc has been fined 290 million in the Netherlands for breaching data protection rules, the Dutch Data Protection Authority reported on Monday. The authority announced on Monday that it imposed the fine over the transferring of the personal data of European taxi drivers to the United States, which it said is a serious violation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The US multinational transportation company that provides ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery and freight transport failed to appropriately safeguard the data with regard to these transfers, the authority added. It further noted that Uber has objected to this fine. Aleid Wolfsen, Dutch Data Protection Authority chairman, said: "In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care. "But sadly, this is not self-evident outside Europe. "Uber did not meet the requirements of the GDPR to ensure the level of protection to the data with regard to transfers to the US. "That is very serious." For a period of two years, the sensitive information that had been transferred to the US included account details, taxi licences, location data, photos, payment details, identity documents and others. The Dutch authority started the probe on Uber after over 170 French drivers complained to the French human rights interest group LDH, which subsequently submitted a complaint to the French Data Protection Authority. This is the third fine that the Dutch Data Protection Authority has imposed on Uber after it fined it 600,000 in 2018, followed by a fine of 10 million in 2023. Uber has received its largest fine to date, with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) issuing a 290 million ($324 million) penalty to the rideshare company. The regulatory body announced it had issued the fine in response to Uber transferring the personal data of European taxi drivers into the United States without properly safeguarding the information. The complaint came from France, but the case was moved to Holland, where Uber's EU headquarters are located. The Dutch DPA found that Uber took account details, taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment details, identity documents and more from European drivers and transferred them to servers at their US headquarters for over two years. During this period, Uber didn't use any transfer tools, a decision the Dutch DPA has deemed caused insufficient protection. "In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care," Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement. "Uber did not meet the requirements of the GDPR to ensure the level of protection to the data with regard to transfers to the US. That is very serious." The Dutch DPA has fined Uber twice before, first imposing a 600,000 ($670,000) fine in 2018 after the company failed to report a data breach that occurred two years earlier within a 72-hour timeframe. In 2023, the Dutch DPA fined Uber 10 million ($11.2 million) for not fully detailing its data retention periods (regarding information about European drivers) or the non-European countries where it shares data. Uber objected to the latter fine and has made its intentions clear to fight the 290 million. A boy shows Hilsa fish in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, Aug. 24, 2024. Bangladeshi fishermen in Patuakhali has become busy with hilsa recently after a 65-day fishing ban period. (Xinhua) Workers process Hilsa fish at a fish landing station in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, Aug. 24, 2024. Bangladeshi fishermen in Patuakhali has become busy with hilsa recently after a 65-day fishing ban period. (Xinhua) Workers process Hilsa fish at a fish landing station in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, Aug. 24, 2024. Bangladeshi fishermen in Patuakhali has become busy with hilsa recently after a 65-day fishing ban period. (Xinhua) UK Ambassador says Russian airstrikes will not succeed against Ukrainians' iron will UK Ambassador Martin Harris believes that Russia's tactic of destroying Ukraine's civilian infrastructure will not succeed against the "iron will of the Ukrainian people". Source: Harris on X (Twitter) on Monday afternoon, as reported by European Pravda Harris noted that on 26 August, Russia had carried out cowardly airstrikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure all day long. All day Russia has launched its cowardly air strikes on civilian infrastructure. But they will not succeed against the iron will of the Ukrainian people. My thoughts are with those killed and injured in todays attacks. The perpetrators must be defeated and brought to justice. Martin Harris (@MartinHarrisOBE) August 26, 2024 Quote: "But they will not succeed against the iron will of the Ukrainian people. My thoughts are with those killed and injured in todays attacks. The perpetrators must be defeated and brought to justice." Background: On the night and morning of 26 August, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure with over 100 missiles and approximately 100 Shahed-type UAVs. Commenting on Russia's massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities, Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said it only strengthened his motivation to continue supporting Ukraine. Meanwhile, Poland reported a violation of its airspace during Russia's missile and drone attack against Ukraine on the morning of 26 August. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraine has apparently captured at least 247 Russian soldiers since its incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast began on Aug. 6, according to the Washington Post (WP) analysis of visual evidence. The outlet reviewed over 130 photos and videos, mostly filmed by Ukrainian soldiers and shared on social media, along with images taken by a WP photographer at a prison in Ukraine housing Russian prisoners of war. The verified footage supports Ukrainian claims of mass captures during the incursion. The Kursk region lies on the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, which has been experiencing daily attacks since Russian troops were pushed out of the oblast and back across the border in April 2022. Some captured troops identified themselves as conscripts, which presents a politically sensitive issue for Russian President Vladimir Putin, analysts suggest. "Its been a long time since Ive seen a video of Russian soldiers surrendering en masse like that," Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the WP. She added that the soldiers appeared to be inexperienced conscripts rather than battle-hardened troops. The visuals depict prisoners being taken across locations spanning more than 22 kilometers (14 miles) on Russias side of the border with Ukraine. In seven videos verified by the WP, the captured soldiers identify themselves as conscriptsmen aged 18 to 30 serving a mandatory year of military service. These conscripts are unpaid, poorly trained, and while Putin has promised they wouldn't be sent into combat, Russian law does allow it if theyve completed four months of basic training. "Having conscripts in combat undermines the social contract between Russian families and the government that has held under Putins leadership since 1999," said Massicot. Several videos, filmed just half a mile inside Russia in the village of Sverdlikovo, show at least 29 captured Russian soldiers. Surrounded by armed Ukrainian soldiers, they march north along a small road, their arms raised above their heads. A drone captures the scene as they walk, flanked by trees and residential buildings on one side. Near the Sudzha border crossing, multiple videos document the capture of at least 40 Russian soldiers. Sudzha, a village with a population of around 5,000 people is located less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border with Ukraine. The Ukrainian military, which shared the footage on its official channels, said that the operation was carried out by its 80th Air Assault Brigade, with support from artillery and heavy armored vehicles. Neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian government has disclosed the number of Russian soldiers captured so far during the Kursk offensive. Read also: Ukraine advances another 1-3 km, captures 2 more settlements in Russias Kursk Oblast, Zelensky says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. KYIV, Ukraine Ukraine says it has a new long-range weapon to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies a homegrown combination of missile and drone that the defense minister vowed Monday would provide answers to a wave of Russian bombings. The Palianytsia was created due to urgent necessity, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 and Ukraines Western allies have placed conditions on use of their long-range missiles in Russia. On Monday, a wave of Russian missiles and drones targeted Ukraines electrical infrastructure in the largest such attack in weeks. Defenders of life should have no restrictions on weapons, as long as Russia uses all kinds of its own weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram message following the attacks. In a world of drones, Ukraines artillerymen rushed to defend Kharkiv Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday the existence of the Palianytsia, named after a type of Ukrainian bread and a word so notoriously difficult to pronounce correctly that it was used to unmask suspected spies early in the war. The Ukrainian president called it a new class of weapon. Saturday, which marked Ukraines 33rd anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union, also saw the first use of the new weapon, targeting a Russian military installation in the occupied territory, officials said without providing details. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov promised Monday the weapon would be used again soon in response to the overnight attack on Ukraine. Ukraine is preparing its response. Weapons of its own production, he wrote on his Facebook page. This once again proves that for victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes on the enemys military facilities. A Ukrainian military video hinted that its range is up to 430 miles on par with the U.S.-supplied ATACMS. It showed a map with various airfields, including Russias Savasleyka air base, which lies within that range, adding that the Palianytsia can reach at least 20 Russian airfields. The United States and other Western allies provide long-range weapons to Ukraine but restrict it from launching them deep into Russia for fear of escalating the war. Ukraine can target the border regions but wants to go deeper to attack Russias military infrastructure. The Institute for the Study of War said Russia was leveraging sanctuary space in deep rear areas. It estimated at least 250 militarily significant targets in Russia were within range of the ATACMS missiles, but current restrictions allow Ukraine to strike only 20 of them. Ukraines technology minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, told The Associated Press in his first interview about the new weapon that the next step was to scale up the production. I think this will be a game changer because we will be able to strike where Russia doesnt expect it today, he said. Fedorov declined to elaborate on the range or current supply, citing security reasons, but said that he has been involved in the projects for developing domestic missiles since the end of 2022. US to send $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, officials say Ukraines battlefields have become a deadly testing lab for new weapons and new adaptations of old ones. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have rigged off-the-shelf equipment with explosives and military-grade infrared cameras; Russia has retrofitted Soviet-era unguided bombs with GPS harnesses; and Ukraines underwater drones have crippled Russias Black Sea fleet. But the new weapon has been a long-term goal of Ukraine. One of the specialists involved in the long-range missile project said it was a completely new development, from scratch that began about 18 months ago. This is not an extension of an old Soviet project, said the specialist, speaking on condition of anonymity to safeguard the projects secrecy. The missile has a solid-fuel booster that accelerates it, followed by a jet engine, the specialist said. Ukraine says its inability to fight back against Russian long-range weapons has deadly consequences. Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia has launched 9,627 long-range missiles and Ukraines defense shot down only a quarter of them, and that more than half the Russian targets were civilian. The specialist and Fedorov said each missile costs less than $1 million, and the military is turning to the private sector to bring down production costs further. The private market generates solutions incredibly quickly, the minister said. As of this year, private companies have become the main suppliers of drones for the Ukrainian army, including those now striking inside Russia and the underwater ones that have repeatedly struck the Russian Black Sea fleet, said Fedorov. All types of missiles will be available in Ukraine, he said. If we have our own weapons like this, we will feel more independent and confident. Fedorov added that he believed Russias vast size could also be its vulnerability. Its impossible to produce enough air defense systems to protect such a large territory, he said. For us, this opens up the possibility of operating deep behind enemy lines. Associated Press writer Illia Novikov contributed from Kyiv. Ukraine has not officially requested withdrawal of Belarusian troops from border, Minsk claims Kyiv has not yet made an official request for Minsk to withdraw Belarusian troops from the border with Ukraine, Belarus' Foreign Ministry claimed on Aug. 26, a day after Ukraine urged Belarus to withdraw its forces "to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus' systems." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Aug. 25 that Belarus is "concentrating a significant number" of weaponry and personnel at the border with Ukraine, including some former Wagner Group mercenaries. The Foreign Ministry warned that "in case of a violation of Ukraine's state border by Belarus, our state will take all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN Charter." "We have not received any official requests from the Ukrainian side in any form," Anatoly Glaz, the spokesperson for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, claimed on Aug. 26. "We only saw this message on the internet," Glaz told state news outlet Belta. "We would be grateful if someone could explain to us the logic of such statements." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that Minsk is concentrating Special Operation Forces, as well as weaponry, including tanks, artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), air defense systems, and engineering equipment near Gomel. The city of Gomel lies in southeastern Belarus, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast. "Conducting exercises in the border area and in close proximity to the nuclear power facility, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, poses a threat to the national security of Ukraine and global security in general. Subscribe to the Newsletter Belarus Weekly Join us The Foreign Ministry warned Belarus "not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure," and to immediately withdraw forces away from Ukraine's border. Minsk is Moscow's closest ally and hosts Russian troops and missiles, but is not currently directly involved in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on Aug. 15 that Belarus moved a third of its army to the border with Ukraine earlier in the summer. Speaking to the Rossiya TV channel, Lukashenko claimed it was in response to a build-up of Ukrainian troops that had been prompted by a misinterpretation of preparations for Belarus's Independence Day celebrations on July 3. He claimed that Ukraine keeps 120,000 troops on the border with Belarus which were then "boosted" with even more troops. "In response, I had to redeploy almost a third of the army to reinforce the border," he added. Lukashenko claimed that he later managed to speak to Ukrainian officials through special channels and the situation was resolved through diplomatic means, and both sides withdrew forces. Read also: Wagner Group claims to no longer be fighting in Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine preparing to respond to Russian mass attack with homemade weapons, Kyiv says Ukraine is preparing a response with weapons of its own production to the Russian mass attack on Aug. 26, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov wrote on Facebook. Russia on Aug. 26 launched its largest attack on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, using 127 missiles and 109 drones. Russian forces targeted 15 oblasts, damaging civilian and energy infrastructure. At least seven people were killed, and 47 suffered injuries, including four children, according to the State Emergency Service. "This once again proves that for victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes on the enemy's military facilities," Umerov said. "Ukraine is preparing its own response. Weapons of its own production." Shortly before, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that Ukraine has developed a domestic-made missile-drone, Palianytsia. He said it has already been used against Russia. Read also: Ukraines new Palianytsia missile-drone pictured for first time Zelensky said in his evening address that he had discussed with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi the repelling of the recent Russian mass attack, as well as Ukraine's potential response to it. "Each such strike brings us all back to the problem of long-range capability, to the need for our defense forces to have enough long-range weapons that can destroy terrorists from where they strike," Zelensky said. "This is the best anti-terrorism tactic that each of our partners is entitled to and would use to protect themselves. Partners from whom we expect solutions," Zelensky added. Kyiv has long argued that restrictions on the use of long-range weapons are stifling its war effort, while Western partners believe that allowing Ukraine to hit deep into Russian territory with the weapons they provide could be a cause for escalation. In May, the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, GMLRS rockets, and artillery against Russian territory near the Ukrainian border. But the U.S. and U.K. still prohibit Ukraine from using U.S.-made ATACMS missiles and British-made Storm Shadow missiles for strikes deeper inside Russia. Ukraine has dismissed these arguments and has amped up pressure to lift the ban in recent weeks following the Kursk incursion on Aug. 6. Read also: Russia attacks Ukraine with over 100 missiles, around 100 drones, Zelensky says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia has claimed it destroyed weapons depots, including at least one containing ammunition for Western F-16 jets, in dozens of strikes across Ukraine. The defence ministry in Moscow said Russia launched more than 100 missiles and 100 attack drones in the onslaught across half of Ukraine early on Monday. This morning, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range air and sea-based precision weapons, and with operational and tactical aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles against critical energy infrastructure facilities supporting the work of Ukraines military-industrial complex, the ministry said. In an apparent reference to the F-16 jets supplied by the West, it said Russia had also hit storage facilities holding aircraft ammunition transferred to Kyiv by Western countries at two airfields. All designated targets were hit, resulting in disruption to the electricity supply and to the transport by rail of weapons and ammunition to the line of contact, the statement added. Burnt-out trucks at the site of one of the Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's Odesa region - Ukrainian Emergency Service/AFP via Getty Images The attacks were launched as Ukraine pushes forward with its high-stakes cross-border offensive into Russias Kursk region, where troops have been fighting for almost three weeks. Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, said 15 regions sustained damage from the missile and drone barrage. At least seven people were killed and Ukraines energy infrastructure was crippled. It was one of the biggest combined strikes. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shahed drones, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president said on the Telegram messaging app. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. Joe Biden, the US President, called the Russian attack on energy infrastructure outrageous and said he had re-prioritised US air defence exports so they are sent to Ukraine first. The US was surging energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and strengthen the resilience of Ukraines energy grid, Mr Biden said. Click here to view this content. Residents rushed to take shelter in metro stations in Kyiv as the sound of explosions rang out across the capital. Local officials reported that at least seven people were confirmed dead, including a 69-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a man in the Zaporizhzhia region. The other fatalities occurred in the Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, and Volyn regions. At least 13 other people were seriously wounded. People take shelter in Kyiv's Teatralna metro station during a Russian air strike - Roman Pilipey/AFP Energy facilities across the country were targeted, including the southern Odesa region, the wider Kyiv region and the region of Lviv in the west of the country, the authorities said. The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of regions, said Mr Shmyhal. Emergency services fight fires after missile strikes in Odesa - Ukrainian Emergency Service/Anadolu via Getty Images Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence teams claimed some successes in shooting down Russian missiles, including at least one on the border between the western Zakarpattia and Lviv regions. Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelenskys chief of staff, said the attack showed Kyiv needed permission from the West to strike deep into the territory of Russia with Western weapons. Click here to view this content. On Saturday, a British safety adviser working in eastern Ukraine was killed in a missile strike on a hotel. Ryan Evans, part of a six-person Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, died and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on the Hotel Sapphire in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, the news agency said on Sunday. Click here to view this content. Meanwhile, Russia claimed it had downed 20 drones launched by Ukraine overnight. Nine were destroyed over the Saratov region, three over the Kursk region and two each over the Belgorod, Bryansk and Tula regions, the ministry said on Telegram. One Ukrainian drone hit a 38-storey residential tower block in the city of Saratov, damaging a number of apartments. Click here to view this content. 05:00 PM BST Todays live coverage has ended Todays live coverage of the main events in Ukraine has ended. Thank you for following. 04:55 PM BST Watch: Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant hit by Russian strike A Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kyiv was hit by a Russian strike on Monday. Click here to view this content. 04:51 PM BST Russian attacks cripple infrastructure Russias attacks on Monday crippled Ukraines energy infrastructure, leading to emergency power blackouts. The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of regions, Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. Sumy in the east, the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, and the region of Rivne in the west, each reported blackouts, as well as damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings. In Sumy, a province in the east that borders Russia, local administration said that 194 settlements were in a full power blackout, while 19 others had a partial blackout. Ukraines private energy company, DTEK, introduced emergency blackouts, saying in an online statement that energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians. In the wake of the barrage and the power cuts, regional officials all across Ukraine were ordered to open points of invincibility - shelter-type places where people can charge their devices and get refreshments during energy blackouts. 04:41 PM BST No political motivation for arrest of Russian billionaire France has claimed that there was no political motivation behind the arrest of Russian billionaire and Telegram founder Pavel Durov. French President Macron said on Monday that he had read false information here regarding France following the arrest of Pavel Durov, adding France was deeply committed to free speech. The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation, Mr Macron wrote. This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide. Mr Macrons statement on X was the first official confirmation of Durovs arrest, nearly two days since he was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. The lack of official confirmation had led to speculation about the reasons behind his detention. We do not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing. Tensions between France and Russia have been mounting for months, with French authorities accusing Russia of trying to destabilise it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war - claims Russia denies. 04:23 PM BST Pictured: Destruction in wake of Russian attacks Here are the latest photographs from Ukraine, showing the impact of heavy Russian attacks on Monday. Local residents embrace each other at the site of a Russian missile strike - STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE Ukrainian recuers take a break during a search and rescue operation among the rubble of a destroyed hotel after a strike in the town of Kramatorsk - GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images Rescuers working at the site of a missile attack at an undisclosed location in Dnipro region - UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images 04:01 PM BST Intrusion to Polish airspace highly likely Russian Shahed-type drone Poland has commented on the entry of a suspected drone into its airspace that we reported on earlier today. Army command spokesman Jacek Goryszewski said it is highly likely that it could have been a Shahed-type drone of Iranian design, used by the Russian army. But this has to be verified, he told AFP, adding that it remains unclear whether the drone has already left Polish territory. Mr Goryszewski added that there was full readiness to neutralise this object. According to reports, the army is conducting searches for the vehicle around 30 kilometres (18 miles) into Polish territory from the Ukrainian border. We are probably dealing with the entry of an object on Polish territory. The object was confirmed by at least three radiolocation stations, Operational Commander of the Armed Forces General Maciej Klisz told reporters. It is clear from its characteristics that the object is not a missile, it is not a hypersonic, ballistic or guided missile, Mr Klisz added. 03:42 PM BST Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paralympics The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Monday that 88 Russian athletes and eight Belarusians will compete under a neutral banner at the Paris Paralympics, which begin on Wednesday. The athletes were barred from competing under their national flags due to Russias invasion of Ukraine, but have been allowed to participate after passing a rigorous vetting process. A third-party agency verified that they had no links to their countries militaries or support for the war. This approach was also used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the recent Olympic Games, where 32 neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus competed. 03:21 PM BST Photos show destruction in Russia This photo released by the governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, on his official Telegram channel on Monday, shows municipal employees working at the side of a damaged building after a drone attack on the city of Saratov, Russia. A damaged building in Saratov, Russia! - Saratov region governor Roman Busargin official Telegram channel via AP 03:04 PM BST International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Kursk plant A mission to inspect the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia will be led personally by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)s Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday. Given the serious situation, Im personally leading tomorrows IAEA mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia, Mr Grossi said in a post on X. I reiterate that the safety and security of nuclear facilities must, under no circumstances, be endangered. 02:43 PM BST Ukraine targeted Russian oil refinery Moscow has claimed that a Ukrainian drone attempted to attack an oil refinery in a Russian city early Monday morning. Mikhail Yevrayev, the regional governor of Yaroslavl, located north of Moscow, reported that there were no casualties and no damage from the incident. 02:21 PM BST Watch: Moment Ukrainian air defences down Russian missile in front of gun team This is the moment Ukrainian air defences shot down a Russian missile in front of a gun team. Click here to view this content. 02:01 PM BST Russia confirms attacks on Ukraine Russias defence ministry has confirmed that it launched air and sea missiles on Monday, targeting electricity substations in nine Ukrainian regions and gas compressor stations in three regions. This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range air- and sea-based precision weapons, and with operational and tactical aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles against critical energy infrastructure facilities supporting the work of Ukraines military-industrial complex, the ministry said. It added: All designated targets were hit, resulting in disruption to the electricity supply and to the transport - by rail - of weapons and ammunition to the line of contact. 01:40 PM BST Russian attack targeted hydropower plant in Kyiv region A Ukraine foreign ministry official said that a Russian attack on Monday had targeted a hydropower plant in the Kyiv region. Todays Russian attack ... targeted Ukraines civilian infrastructure, including Kyiv HPP, Andriy Sybiha said on X. 01:15 PM BST Pictured: Drones in action In this photograph, Ukrainian soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade fly a first-person view (FPV) exploding drone over Russian positions in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers of 3rd assault brigade fly an FPV exploding drone over Russian positions in Kharkiv region, Ukraine - AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka 01:01 PM BST Polands airspace violated Polands airspace was violated, on Monday, likely by a drone, the countrys army claimed. We are probably dealing with the entry of an object on Polish territory, Operational Commander of the Armed Forces General Maciej Klisz told reporters. The object was confirmed by at least three radiolocation stations. He added that it was probably an unmanned aerial vehicle. 12:45 PM BST Russias Wagner not fighting in Ukraine Russias Wagner mercenary group announced on Monday that it currently operates only in Africa and Belarus and that its fighters are no longer involved in the war in Ukraine. There are no company units within the Russian National Guard, the Russian Ministry of Defence, or anywhere else, the group said in a rare statement. Wagner also emphasised that it is not involved in the Special Military Operation, the Kremlins term for the war in Ukraine, at this time. Reuters could not independently verify this claim. If the situation changes, an announcement will be made, Wagner added. On Sunday, Ukraine urged Belarus to withdraw what it described as a substantial military presence along their shared border, which included Belarusian special forces and former Wagner mercenaries. 12:29 PM BST Watch: Russian building in Saratov hit A building in Saratov, southwestern Russia, was struck in a Ukrainian attack. Click here to view this content. 12:14 PM BST Alert at Nato base in Germany due to drone threat Last weeks alert at a Nato base in Germany housing the Western alliances fleet of AWACS surveillance planes was due to a potential drone threat, a security source said on Monday. Geilenkirchen air base in western Germany raised its security level to Charlie - the second highest of four - during most of Friday. German news agency dpa, citing security sources, said there had been a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service about a possible Russian act of sabotage. But the security source told Reuters no drones had been seen and could not confirm any evidence of a Russian role. The word Russia was never mentioned. We talked about a threat caused by drones, added a Nato spokesperson at Geilenkirchen. 11:53 AM BST Russia destroys 20 Ukrainian drones Russia downed 20 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, Moscows defence ministry has claimed. Nine of the drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, three over the Kursk region and two each over the Belgorod, Bryansk and Tula regions, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. It added that single drones were destroyed over the Oryol and Ryazan regions. 11:38 AM BST Zelensky urges Europe to help down Russian attacks President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged European warplanes to help down drones and missiles over Ukraine as Russia stepped up its attacks on Monday morning. In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence, he said on X. Currently, across the country, efforts are underway to eliminate the consequences of the Russian strike. This was one of the largest attacks a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred "Shaheds." Like most Russian strikes before, pic.twitter.com/0qNTGR98rR Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) August 26, 2024 11:22 AM BST Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones in Mondays strike on Ukraine. A lot of damage in the energy sector, he said on Telegram. Mr Zelensky called on allies to stick to agreements to supply air defence systems and missiles. He also said that Ukraine and its partners should make a joint air defence agreement to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. 11:04 AM BST Kremlin vows response to Kursk incursion Russia will respond to Ukraines Kursk invasion as ceasefire talks with Kyiv are no longer relevant, the Kremlin said on Monday. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that such hostile actions could not go without a response. Mr Peskov said that Moscow and Kyiv had held no ceasefire talks as the topic of negotiations has pretty much lost its relevance. 10:47 AM BST Civilians shelter in Kyiv Civilians were photographed taking shelter in metro stations during Russias attack across the country. People take shelter in the Teatralna metro station - ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images People take cover inside a metro station - REUTERS/Yurii Kovalenko 10:32 AM BST Almost 250 Russian soldiers captured in Kursk Almost 250 Russians have been captured by Russia since the Kursk invasion began on Aug 6. Many captured troops identified themselves as conscripts, according to footage obtained by the Washington Post. The report raises political issues for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as these men have often been promised non-combat roles and are young and untrained. In some videos, at least 40 soldiers at a time can be seen being led away, with a total of 247 captured. Its been a long time since Ive seen a video of Russian soldiers surrendering en masse like that, Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Washington Post. Having conscripts in combat undermines the social contract between Russian families and the government that has held under Putins leadership since 1999, Ms Massicot added. 10:20 AM BST Kyiv urges allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia Ukraines top presidential official called on Kyivs allies to allow long-range attacks on Russia with Western-supplied weapons after Moscow staged a massive strike on Ukraine on Monday morning. Such a decision will accelerate the end of Russian terror, Andriy Yermak, the presidents chief of staff, said on Telegram messenger. 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. Key developments on Aug. 26: Russia launches over 200 missiles, drones in largest attack on Ukraine since start of invasion Negotiations with Ukraine have now lost their relevance, Kremlin says Russian authorities claim Saratov Oblast attacked by drones Wagner Group claims to no longer be fighting in Ukraine Ukraine has not officially requested withdrawal of Belarusian troops from border, Minsk claims The mass missile and drone attack on the morning Aug. 26 was the largest Russian attack against Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine's Air Force reported. Seven people were killed and 47 were injured, including four children, according to the State Emergency Service. Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 drones, with Ukraine downing 102 missiles and 99 drones, the Air Force said. Ukrainian forces intercepted one Kinzhal ballistic missile, one Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missile, one Kh-22 cruise missile, 99 Kh-101, Kalibr, and Kh-59/69 cruise missiles, as well as 99 Shahed-type drones. Russian strikes hit several civilian, energy, and fuel facilities, including a dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant. Explosions were also reported in Kharkiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kryvyi Rih, as well as in Lviv, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. Polish military officials said that an unidentified airborne object, likely a drone, probably flew into Polish territory during the attack. Polish and other allied jets were scrambled in the southeast of Poland during the attack as missiles and drones flew toward Ukraine's western border. Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said 15 of the country's 24 oblasts had been targeted during the attack "primarily targeting critical civilian infrastructure and our energy system." Shortly after 9 a.m., DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said emergency power shutdowns were in place across Ukraine. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were power outages in "several districts" of the capital, and later added there were problems with the water supply on the right bank of the city. Following the attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, and Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of state grid operator Ukrenergo. The meeting addressed the efficiency of air defense and electronic warfare systems and mobile fire groups in each region, among other issues, Zelensky said. Read also: Ukraine preparing to respond to Russian mass attack with homemade weapons, Kyiv says Negotiations with Ukraine have now 'lost their relevance,' Kremlin claims The Kremlin is skeptical about the talks between Russia and Ukraine, given their "loss of relevance," Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported on Aug. 26, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Peskov's statement comes amid an ongoing Ukrainian incursion in Russia's Kursk Oblast, which started in early August. As of Aug. 20, the Ukrainian military said it controlled 1,263 square kilometers (488 square miles) and 93 settlements, including the town of Sudzha. The Washington Post (WP) reported on Aug. 17 that the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Oblast allegedly disrupted plans for secret indirect talks between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by Qatar. The parties planned to discuss ending Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, according to the outlet. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, as well as Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, denied any indirect negotiations between the states. "You know that the subject of negotiations has lost much of its relevance now. There are a lot of reports about various contacts in the media, and not all of them are truthful," Peskov said in response to a question about possible negotiations between the two sides. Kyiv said that rather than capturing Russian territory, the incursion aims to protect Ukrainian lives by preventing cross-border attacks and diverting Russian reinforcements. Kursk Oblast borders Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, an area subjected to daily Russian attacks since parts of it were liberated in April 2022. Russia has also continued to attack border communities in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, including the villages of Porozok and Poznia. Ukrainian authorities are planning to evacuate a total of 45,000 residents from the region amid intensified Russian attacks. Read also: IAEA chief to visit Russias Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on Aug. 27 Russian authorities claim Saratov Oblast attacked by drones Drones reportedly struck Russia's Saratov Oblast overnight on Aug. 26, Russian authorities reported in the morning. At least four civilians were allegedly injured in the attack that caused damage to buildings and led to flight restrictions in the region. The drones reportedly targeted Saratov and Engels, home to a Russian air force base. There was no immediate information on damage at the base, which is often used by Russia to attack Ukraine. "A woman was hospitalized in serious condition," Saratov Oblast Governor Roman Busargin said on his Telegram channel. "Doctors are fighting for her life." Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defense systems destroyed nine drones over the Saratov region, which lies some 900 kilometers (560 miles) away from the border with Ukraine. Three more drones were allegedly downed over Kursk region, and several over Belgorod, Bryansk, Tula, Orel, and Ryazan oblasts. The Kyiv Independent couldn't immediately verify this information. Read also: Explosion at oil refinery in Russian city of Omsk injures 2 Wagner Group claims to no longer be fighting in Ukraine Wagner mercenaries are operating only in Belarus and Africa, and are not fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, the Wagner Group claimed in a statement on Telegram on Aug. 26. The statement, which was posted on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel, claimed that "there are no subordinates of the company either in Rosgvardia (Russia's National Guard), or in the ranks of the Russian Defense Ministry, or anywhere else." Wagner fighters are not taking part in Russia's invasion of Ukraine "at this stage," the group said, claiming that "if the situation changes, it will be announced." Wagner units were key to Russia's seizure of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast in May 2023. Estimates suggest that nearly 20,000 mercenaries, many of whom were former convicts recruited from Russian prisoners in late 2022, died in the battle for the city. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the then-leader of Wagner, died in a mysterious plane crash in Russia on Aug. 23, 2023. The crash came two months after Prigozhin led Wagner troops in a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin. Wagner units were then reportedly incorporated into official Russian military structures, such as Rosgvardia. The Chechen Akhmat unit claimed in October 2023 that a "massive" number of Wagner mercenaries had joined its ranks. According to a U.K. Defense Ministry intelligence report on Aug. 23, just 5,000 Wagner troops are currently deployed in Africa and Belarus, a fraction compared to its peak of 50,000 in 2023. Read also: Ukraine has captured over 240 Russian soldiers during its Kursk incursion, WP reports Ukraine has not officially requested withdrawal of Belarusian troops from border, Minsk claims Kyiv has not yet made an official request for Minsk to withdraw Belarusian troops from the border with Ukraine, Belarus' Foreign Ministry claimed on Aug. 26, a day after Ukraine urged Belarus to withdraw its forces "to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus' systems." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Aug. 25 that Belarus is "concentrating a significant number" of weaponry and personnel at the border with Ukraine, including some former Wagner Group mercenaries. The Foreign Ministry warned that "in case of a violation of Ukraine's state border by Belarus, our state will take all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN Charter." "We have not received any official requests from the Ukrainian side in any form," Anatoly Glaz, the spokesperson for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, claimed on Aug. 26. "We only saw this message on the internet," Glaz told state news outlet Belta. "We would be grateful if someone could explain to us the logic of such statements." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that Minsk is concentrating Special Operation Forces, as well as weaponry, including tanks, artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), air defense systems, and engineering equipment near Gomel. The city of Gomel lies in southeastern Belarus, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast. "Conducting exercises in the border area and in close proximity to the nuclear power facility, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, poses a threat to the national security of Ukraine and global security in general. The Foreign Ministry warned Belarus "not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure," and to immediately withdraw forces away from Ukraine's border. Minsk is Moscow's closest ally and hosts Russian troops and missiles, but is not currently directly involved in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on Aug. 15 that Belarus moved a third of its army to the border with Ukraine earlier in the summer. Speaking to the Rossiya TV channel, Lukashenko claimed it was in response to a build-up of Ukrainian troops that had been prompted by a misinterpretation of preparations for Belarus's Independence Day celebrations on July 3. He claimed that Ukraine keeps 120,000 troops on the border with Belarus which were then "boosted" with even more troops. "In response, I had to redeploy almost a third of the army to reinforce the border," he added. Lukashenko claimed that he later managed to speak to Ukrainian officials through special channels and the situation was resolved through diplomatic means, and both sides withdrew forces. Read also: Reuters journalist injured in Kramatorsk hotel strike in serious condition Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. When I was elected to the House of Commons in 1987, the post-war generation were very much in charge. Denis Healey, the Labour MP and former beachmaster at Anzio for the allies amphibious landing in the Second World War, sat on the other side of the House, while on our side Bob Boscowan and Carol Mather both decorated with the Military Cross for bravery were deeply respected government whips. Mrs Thatcher as Prime Minister had rejected the advice of her early War Cabinet and determined to retake the Falklands by military force. She said in Parliament that military aggression must never pay. On the night the Berlin Wall came down I was in the smoking room in the House of Commons respectfully listening to Julian Amery and Bob Boscowan talking about international affairs. They pointed out that their fathers generation had perished on the western front and their own had delivered Europe from the Nazis and helped set up the international rules-based system and the Bretton Woods institutions. Now it was the end of the Soviet Union. Drinks were ordered. We realised that my generation might be the first not to have to go to war in Europe nor send our children into battle. Roll the clock on nearly 35 years and the ghosts of that generation are watching the reaction of Britain and Europe to Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine. They will have seen the admirable leadership of Ben Wallace, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, their parliamentary successors. They will also have seen the uncertainty and dithering response of some of our allies, and they will undoubtedly have heard on the BBC flagship current affairs programme Any Questions recently the well-articulated but hideous and fearful sound of appeasement. They will have winced. We have been here before. At the Munich conference in 1938, the British and French leaders who agreed to hand Hitler part of Czechoslovakia believed they were securing peace. But the most catastrophic conflict of the twentieth century followed. The lesson that should have been learned is that bullies cannot be pacified. Give them an inch, and the tanks will roll in before long. No one here in Britain, or indeed in the wider world, should be in any doubt: this is vital not just for Ukraine, whose determination to fight for its freedom is undimmed, but for us in Britain and beyond. The war has brought with it the greatest atrocities on our continent in a generation: the death, rape, torture and deportation of civilians on a massive scale. We see the wars impact spread across Europe, even to our own shores, with espionage, cyber-attacks, disinformation and suspected arson activity. At stake in Ukraine are vital principles. These are not just words found in the United Nations charter a charter signed by Russia but which she now flagrantly breaks and dishonours; they are essential foundations for the security and prosperity of the entire world. Sovereignty. Territorial integrity. Right, not might. If Russia were to win in Ukraine, we would be back in a world where the most fundamental international rule that countries must not seize land from others or resolve disputes by force was in shreds. Let no one believe that if Putin succeeded in his illegal invasion and conquered Ukraine, he would stop there. His distaste for Baltic states membership of Nato with their sizeable Russian populations is well known. An attack on them would cross a red line. Article 5 of Natos constitution says that an attack on one is an attack on all and we would be treaty-bound to respond. It is said that when the Oxford Union passed the motion that this House would not fight for King and country, Adolf Hitler took note. Putin also is watching, buoyed by the memory of Natos silence in the face of Russias chemical attacks in Syria, which crossed Obamas red lines. We must never send the signal that the West is weak and indecisive again. Ukraine can and will win, provided that we support it enough, fast enough and for long enough. That is why we must use every sinew of our superb global diplomatic capability to lobby and persuade all those who care about freedom and liberty that Ukraines fight is our fight, that Russian victory would be unconscionable and we must supply all the weaponry and authorise all the use of it, in any way, that contributes to Ukraines plucky and brave defence against aggression and complies with international law and the rules-based system. The people of Ukraine have shown extraordinary bravery and determination in resisting Putins vile war machine. We should support them in their smart move to turn the tables on Putin and show up Russias vulnerability to a determined counter-attack. David is beating back Goliath in ways no one would have imagined when the war started. We must help them fight the war none of us can afford to lose. History has warned us. As Aneurin Bevan said you dont have to gaze into a crystal ball when you can read an open book. The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP is the shadow foreign secretary Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has discussed combat action in different areas of the combat zone and the strengthening of Ukrainian air defence with General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of the United Armed Forces of NATO in Europe and the United States European Command. Source: European Pravda with reference Syrskyis statement on Telegram Details: Syrskyi informed Cavoli about the situation and the course of combat action on different fronts. He also thanked him for the military aid and listed Ukraines priority needs, specifically in terms of ammunition, military equipment and other armament. "We discussed the issue of strengthening our air defence. The protection of our cities and critical infrastructure from constant terrorist attacks of the Russian Federation is one of the key priorities," Syrskyi stressed. Background: On 26 August Russia launched 236 aerial weapons on Ukraine. Ukraine's air defence downed 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. Ruben Brekelmans, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands, commenting on the large-scale Russian attack on Ukrainian cities, noted that it only strengthens his motivation to keep supporting Ukraine. Katarina Maternova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, urged the international community to provide more air defence means for Ukraine following the Russian attack on 26 August. Support UP or become our patron! An air defence mobile firing group. Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ukrainian air defence responded to a Russian drone attack on the night of 25-26 August in Kyiv Oblast. Source: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration Quote: "The movement of enemy UAVs has been detected! Air defence units are responding to the attack in the oblast." Details: Local authorities reiterated that it is not allowed to take photos or film the work of the military. Update: Serhii Popko, Head of Kyiv City Military Administration, also said that air defence was responding to the Russian drones in the oblast and on the outskirts of Kyiv. He asked civilians to stay in shelters until the all-clear was given. The all-clear was given at 03:33. Support UP or become our patron! GUANGZHOU, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command on Monday deployed army units to the border areas of Ruili and Zhenkang in southwest China for armed patrols and joint air-ground alert patrols. The operation aims to test the rapid mobility, multi-dimensional control and joint strike capabilities of the Southern Theater Command forces and maintain security and stability in the border region, according to the PLA Southern Theater Command. Ukrainian Foreign Minister says partners can make two crucial decisions to help after Russian missile attack Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said after the Russian large-scale attack on 26 August that Ukraine's partners could help put an end to Russian terror by making two decisions. Source: European Pravda with reference to Kuleba on X (Twitter) Quote: "There are two specific decisions that our partners can make to help us put an end to Russian terror sooner. First, affirming Ukraine's long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets on Russian territory. Second, agreeing to use partners' air defence capabilities to shoot down missiles and drones close to their airspace." Details: Kuleba stressed that neither of these decisions would lead to an escalation of war. "On the contrary, they will deter Russia, help reduce terror and the number of Russian attacks, as well as the resulting casualties. Act now, not later. Help us save lives," he added. Background: Earlier, Ukraines Air Force reported that the Russians had launched missiles to attack Ukraine. Moreover, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers had taken off in Russia. Explosions reportedly rocked the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia. Air defence systems were responding to the Russian attack on Kyiv and Lutsk, and explosions were heard in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and other cities. Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that 15 Ukrainian oblasts had been affected by the Russian attack on 26 August. As a result of the attack, five people have been killed and at least 17 injured, including children, in different oblasts. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that on the night of 25-26 August and on the morning of 26 August, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure, using more than 100 missiles and about 100 Shahed-type attack drones, and called on partners to take tough decisions. Support UP or become our patron! Ukrainian soldiers down Russian cruise missile with anti-air missile in Zakarpattia Oblast Editor's note: This item was updated to include comments from former Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, who said that the Russian cruise missile had also been targeted by an anti-air missile. Current Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash declined to comment. Ukrainian soldiers from an air defense unit in western Zakarpattia Oblast shot at a Russian cruise missile with a truck-mounted machine gun, according to a video shared by Governor Viktor Mykyta on Aug. 26. The Russian cruise missile was downed by an anti-air missile, said former Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat. Mykyta had claimed earlier that the machine-gun fire downed the missile. In comments to the Kyiv Independent, Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash reiterated that Ihnat had refuted the claim and declined to comment further. The shoot-down occurred amid a large-scale Russian attack across Ukraine. As of 10:31 a.m. local time, at least three people have been killed. 0:00 / 1 Mykyta said the missile was heading toward Zakarpattia Oblast from neighboring Lviv Oblast, and was shot at by the 650th separate anti-aircraft machine gun battalion. Zakarpattia is located in the far western part of Ukraine, bordering Slovakia and Hungary to the west and Romania to the south. Read also: Poland says jets scrambled amid massive Russian strikes across Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders on Sunday for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where the U.N. operations center was located, said a senior U.N. official. The evacuation order came as the U.N. prepares to begin on Saturday a campaign to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, where the World Health Organization (WHO) said a 10-month-old baby had been paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. "We're unable to deliver today with the conditions that we're in," said the senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "As of this morning, we're not operating in Gaza." The United Nations had relocated its main operations center for the Gaza Strip and most U.N. personnel to Deir Al-Balah, the official said, after Israel ordered the evacuation of Rafah in the south of Gaza several months ago. "Where do we move now?" said the official, adding that U.N. staff had to be moved so quickly that equipment was left behind. The Israeli military's humanitarian unit (COGAT) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The senior U.N. official said U.N. staff on the ground had been directed to try and find a way to keep operating. He said U.N. operations had not been formally suspended. "We're not leaving (Gaza) because the people need us there," the official said. "We're trying to balance the need of the population with the need for safety and security of the U.N. personnel." Sam Rose, a senior field director for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said UNRWA was still managing to deliver health and other services on Monday, but noted that while UNRWA operated differently to the rest of the U.N. system it still faced the same challenges. "We are being squeezed into ever smaller areas of Gaza," he told reporters on Monday. "The humanitarian zone declared by Israel has shrunk. It's now about 11% of the entire Gaza Strip. But this isn't 11% of land that is fit for habitation, fit for services, fit for life." FOOD AID HALVED The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. "The humanitarian response here is being completely strangled and limiting our ability of what we can do," said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for UNRWA in Gaza, on Monday. The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza - Israel inspects and approves all trucks - and says it is also struggling to distribute aid amid "total lawlessness" within the enclave of 2.3 million people, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine. The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said on Monday that in the past two months it "managed to bring in only half of the 24,000 metric tonnes of food aid required for operations serving 1.1 million people." WFP said it was hampered by worsening conflict, a limited number of border crossings and damaged roads. Rose said that more than 3,000 people would work on the polio vaccination campaign that is due to start on Saturday. "Over 1,000 of them drawn from UNRWA, which is essentially the largest primary health care provider left in the Gaza Strip. The vaccines have come in. We're calling for calm. We're calling for humanitarian pauses," he said. (This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous word in paragraph 18) (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Rami Ayyub and Nick Zieminski) NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (AP) Highlighting seas that are rising at an accelerating rate, especially in the far more vulnerable Pacific island nations, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued yet another climate SOS to the world. This time he said those initials stand for save our seas. The United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization Monday issued reports on worsening sea level rise, turbocharged by a warming Earth and melting ice sheets and glaciers. They highlight how the Southwestern Pacific is not only hurt by the rising oceans, but by other climate change effects of ocean acidification and marine heat waves. Guterres toured Samoa and Tonga and made his climate plea from Tonga's capital on Tuesday at a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, whose member countries are among those most imperiled by climate change. Next month the United Nations General Assembly holds a special session to discuss rising seas. This is a crazy situation, Guterres said. Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity's making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety. A worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril, he said. The ocean is overflowing. A report that Guterres' office commissioned found that sea level lapping against Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa had risen 21 centimeters (8.3 inches) between 1990 and 2020, twice the global average of 10 centimeters (3.9 inches). Apia, Samoa, has seen 31 centimeters (1 foot) of rising seas, while Suva-B, Fiji has had 29 centimeters (11.4 inches). This puts Pacific Island nations in grave danger, Guterres said. About 90% of the region's people live within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the rising oceans, he said. Since 1980, coastal flooding in Guam has jumped from twice a year to 22 times a year. It's gone from five times a year to 43 times a year in the Cook Islands. In Pago Pago, American Samoa, coastal flooding went from zero to 102 times a year, according to the WMO State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 report. Because of sea level rise, the ocean is transforming from being a lifelong friend into a growing threat, Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Nukualofa on Tuesday. While the western edges of the Pacific are seeing sea level rise about twice the global average, the central Pacific is closer to the global average, the WMO said. Sea levels are rising faster in the western tropical Pacific because of where the melting ice from western Antarctica heads, warmer waters and ocean currents, UN officials said. Guterres said he can see changes since the last time he was in the region in May 2019. While he met in Nuku'alofa on Tuesday with Pacific nations on the environment at their leaders' annual summit, a hundred local high school students and activists from across the Pacific marched for climate justice a few blocks away. One of the marchers was Itinterunga Rae of the Barnaban Human Rights Defenders Network, whose people were forced generations ago to relocate to Fiji from their Kiribati island home due to environmental degradation. Rae said abandoning Pacific islands should not be seen as a solution to rising seas. We promote climate mobility as a solution to be safe from your island thats been destroyed by climate change, but its not the safest option, he said. Barnabans have been cut off from the source of their culture and heritage, he said. The alarm is justified, said S. Jeffress Williams, a retired U.S. Geological Survey sea level scientist. He said it's especially bad for the Pacific islands because most of the islands are at low elevations, so people are more likely to get hurt. Three outside experts said the sea level reports accurately reflect what's happening. The Pacific is getting hit hard despite only producing 0.2% of heat-trapping gases causing climate change and expanding oceans, the UN said. The largest chunk of the sea rise is from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. Melting land glaciers add to that, and warmer water also expands based on the laws of physics. Antarctic and Greenland melting has greatly accelerated over the past three to four decades due to high rate of warming at the poles, Williams, who was not part of the reports, said in an email. About 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans, the UN said. Globally, sea level rise has been accelerating, the UN report said, echoing peer-reviewed studies. The rate is now the fastest it has been in 3,000 years, Guterres said. Between 1901 and 1971, the global average sea rise was 1.3 centimeters a decade, according to the UN report. Between 1971 and 2006 it jumped to 1.9 centimeters per decade, then between 2006 and 2018 it was up to 3.7 centimeters a decade. The last decade, seas have risen 4.8 centimeters (1.9 inches). The UN report also highlighted cities in the richest 20 nations, which account for 80% of the heat-trapping gases, where rising seas are lapping at large population centers. Those cities where sea level rise in the past 30 years has been at least 50% higher than the global average include Shanghai; Perth, Australia; London; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Boston; Miami; and New Orleans. New Orleans topped the list with 10.2 inches (26 centimeters) of sea level rise between 1990 and 2020. UN officials highlighted the flooding in New York City during 2012's Superstorm Sandy as worsened by rising seas. A 2021 study said climate-driven sea level rise added $8 billion to the storm's costs. Guterres is amping up his rhetoric on what he calls climate chaos and urged richer nations to step up efforts to reduce carbon emissions, end fossil fuel use and help poorer nations. Yet countries' energy plans show them producing double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than the amount that would limit warming to internationally agreed upon levels, a 2023 UN report found. Guterres said he expects Pacific island nations to speak loud and clear in the next General Assembly, and because they contribute so little to climate change, they have a moral authority to ask those that are creating accelerating the sea level rise to reverse these trends. ___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein and Charlotte Graham-McLay on X at @borenbears and @CGrahamMcLay ___ Read more of APs climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment ___ The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. UNION COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Union County Public Schools is one of the fastest-growing districts in the greater Charlotte area. Census data shows that Union County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, and its population grew about 19% from 2010 to 2020. It is predicted to grow by about another 20% in the next 10 years. The district superintendent says the expansion has leveled off a bit over the past four or five years, but theyre starting to see the demographics change rapidly including many new families from Ukraine and Russia. The changes are still coming. You look around this county and developments are being built all over the place. Our facilities team is doing a really good job of proactively identifying where we need to move families before homes are built in terms of relocating their attendance zone, but again, we welcome all of our families to Union County, and were glad that theyve chosen to be in our great school system. Construction crews are currently building two new schools set to open next fall: East Elementary and Forest Hills High. They were part of a $134 million bond referendum in 2022. MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS Back to 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 Queen City News. Rodney Bennett, priority candidate for chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, addresses the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska at Omaha have closed key diversity and inclusion offices in the past year, leaving some student leaders worried that the work will fall to them. UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett on Aug. 20 announced the dissolution of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which came on top of $800,000 in related cuts in 2023. UNO similarly closed its Gender and Sexuality Resource Center this summer after shuttering its Office of Multicultural Affairs last fall, moving those services to other offices on campus. Bennett, in his second year as chancellor, said in an email to faculty and staff that he made the decision after considerable reflection and a thorough review of both the national landscape and the specific needs of our institution, which he did not specify. UNL Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion Marco Barkers position will also be cut. We will reimagine how we approach this work at UNL, Bennett wrote. I fully grasp the weight of this decision and its implications, but a centralized approach to this work is no longer right for our institution. Student leaders raise concerns Zein Saleh, internal vice president of UNLs student government, said he was one of many surprised by the news. He said students understood the national and local pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion but thought UNL administrators were still supportive. Saleh, a junior double majoring in political science and psychology, said the closure came without warning to students, who didnt receive a similar email from Bennett or a chance to weigh in. The notion that this work can be decentralized, generally stripped of its funding, raises a lot of concern about the way in which it can be executed, not only across colleges but across divisions and units at the university, Saleh said. He said certain UNL departments have more resources than others, which could introduce disparities into the services that some students need. Saleh noted the Office of Diversity and Inclusion also helped with data and record keeping to keep UNL accountable. Decisions seem surface level Ishani Adidam, a senior business administration major and student body president at UNO, said some of the concern comes in classifying the changes as reorganizations. She said a large part of belonging is physical space, so closing offices leaves some services more inaccessible. All these decisions seem surface level, but the more you dig into it, the more you realize that these resources dont support just 100 students, they support 15,000 of us, Adidam said. Adidam pointed to the NU Board of Regents meeting in June when Regent Rob Schafer of Beatrice, the board chair, questioned funding for DEI programs and offices while other degree opportunities and employment positions were being cut. UNO Chancellor Joanne Li confirmed at the time that her campus has such funding, which includes support for first-generation students and veterans. Adidam said those students are often not thought of as being DEI, in the way that race, gender and sexuality often are. NUs $1.1 billion state-aided budget was ultimately approved 5-2, of which about $1 million goes toward DEI. Schafer said last week that NU must continue to evaluate how it conducts business and delivers its services. He supported Bennetts decision as necessary and said that restructuring is necessary to better allocate scarce resources. If we truly want to eliminate all racism and sexism in our society then we should remove race and gender as factors in any and all decisions and actions that are made and taken, Schafer said in a text. No stranger to controversy The University of Nebraska system has been no stranger to controversy around DEI in recent years, including criticism from Gov. Jim Pillen and multiple state senators: Pillens past positions State lawmakers weigh in State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, the Legislatures Education Committee chair, described the closure of UNLs Office of Diversity and Inclusion as a great move following similar actions by several colleges nationwide. He said NU should remain inclusive and welcoming for all but had heard from professors and students that race and gender were being used over merit in interviews or evaluations. He said he was grateful for Chancellor Rodney Bennetts leadership and boldness. When I am on the operating table or riding in an airplane, I want the best physician or pilot in control regardless of gender or skin color, Murman said in a text. State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, a former executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, who is serving in her third term as a state senator, said it was disappointing that campuses would bow to the chilling political efforts nationwide and locally. Conrad, whose district includes the heart of UNL, noted that many recent proposals had been defeated among the regents and in the Legislature, including in 2021 when she rallied with students against a resolution to ban critical race theory. To have the university surrender their commitment voluntarily is disheartening to say the least, Conrad said in a text. Pillen said in a statement last week that he was pleased with Bennetts decision but that the work of eliminating DEI and critical race theory wouldnt be complete with eliminating one office. Although that office should never have been established in the first place, it takes courage for a leader to recognize a mistake and chart a new direction, Pillen said. In December 2018, among the eight elected regents, Pillen was one of seven to vote for Barkers hiring, as were Schafer and Regent Paul Kenney of Amherst who later supported Pillens CRT resolution. Former Regent Hal Daub of Omaha abstained from the vote on Barker. Pillen represented the regents on UNLs N|150 Commission in 2018 as well that sought to articulate UNLs mission and values from its first 150 years into the next 25. The commissions work included a subcommittee for diversity and inclusion that culminated into a final report of which Barker celebrated when he was hired. He said it was evident how much Nebraska saw diversity and inclusion as a growing priority. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion was also borne from those 2018 efforts, which included community input, a national study, workgroups and committees identifying UNLs needs and a five-year NU-wide effort to address DEI in Nebraska, Barker wrote in a 2019 special report. Regent Barbara Weitz of Omaha, who taught at UNO for 16 years and ousted Daub from the Board of Regents in 2019, said DEI is a complex issue that hasnt been fully discussed among the board. However, she said, making NU a place for all wont change no matter what NU does or how it describes that work. I know my work as a regent is keeping the university inclusive and welcoming of all students, staff and faculty, Weitz told the Nebraska Examiner. There is much work to be done to create a culture that embraces the imperative of being an open place for all. The mission of the university Ashley Rae Turner, a 2012 UNL alumna with a degree in fashion communications, said she didnt have an ideal experience or feel as welcome as she could have during her time as a student. She said the exception was the Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services, or OASIS, which a spokesperson said wont be impacted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusions closure. Turner said that was why she was excited, however, when ODI was created, because it would have been great to have had when she was a student. Following that, when we reactivated the [Nebraska Alumni Associations] Alumni of Color Network [Advisory Council], I raised my hand and said I really wanted to be involved, Turner said. The office was the best way to help support alumni and current students while on the ground every day, she said, so she is disheartened and hurt by the Office of Diversity and Inclusions closure. She questioned what the message is to future and current Huskers. Associate professor of practice Stephanie Bondi, who researches DEI structures in education, said the move signals to her that DEI isnt valued and that academic leaders either ignorantly believe theyve addressed community concerns or dont want to address them. I dont know how they achieve their mission, and why are we here if were not trying to achieve our mission? Bondi said. Turner said some alumni have already reached out and called for the alumni network to ask students not to come to NU or to leave, including Husker student-athletes. Turner said while shes not making that call, she can understand where theyre coming from. We give money back to the university, Turner said of alumni through the network. I want to think that my dollars are actually going toward supporting students on campus who look like me, and this is not sending that message. Other restructuring shifts Other parts of Bennetts restructuring plan include elevating UNLs student regent and the respective presidents of the Faculty Senate and Staff Senate to his cabinet. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dee Dee Anderson, who came to UNL from the University of Southern Mississippi, like Bennett, is now the vice chancellor for student life and reports directly to Bennett. Bennett said three offices will share the role of respectively supporting and building a sense of community and belonging for faculty, staff and students. They are the Offices of the Executive Vice Chancellor (faculty), Business & Finance (staff) and Office of Student Life (students). The existing UNL National Diversity Advisory Board will be renamed and elevated to become the Chancellors Advisory Board on Community and Belonging. It is incumbent on each of us to foster a welcoming environment for all members of our community, Bennett said. Faculty Senate President Peter Eklund and Staff Senate President Jordan Gonzales both said they were in favor of their own elevation. Gonzales said most changes were positive, and it was one of the first times that staff would have a formal seat at the table. Eklund said he believes dissolving the diversity and inclusion office wasnt something Bennett wanted to do. No one in higher academia has a clear crystal ball, Eklund said in an email. But, if I was a betting person, I would bet that the other campuses in the NU system follow suit, and not because they want to. Gonzales said hes glad that UNLs motto of every person and every interaction matters will remain and said his top priority will be ensuring all staff feel a sense of community and belonging. Nebraska needs to attract top talent if we want to increase the states economic competitiveness and development, Gonzales wrote in an email to fellow staff. The university and by extension our staff will be a critical component to solving this grand challenge. Students dont really want a lot Adidam said some of the classes shes most resonated with have been related to DEI or access, including one during her sophomore year about how businesses implement the concepts. Thats whats missing, or thats what I think people are misinterpreting, Adidam said. Its not just about race or its not just about gender and sexuality. Its about taking an all-encompassing approach to education. Not giving that to students is definitely, I think, what is holding us back as a university, but then also as the NU system. Saleh said the changes will place a bigger burden on students, particularly minority students and leaders, who often do larger amounts of labor and work in maintaining DEI commitments in colleges and universities. Turner said its often people who have the luxury of speaking from a place of privilege who question DEI and who usually have the chance to talk with others who look like them or be generally supported. Adidam said getting discouraged is something everyone faces, but along with Saleh and Turner, she said students need to be resilient and turn that into resiliency. All three said it will be up to the NU community to spotlight the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Students dont really want a lot, Adidam said. We just want to be supported and feel like we belong. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST The start of the fall semester at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or UNLV, is here, and in addition to tons of new students and enhanced security and safety measures, Frank and Estella Beam Hall has reopened for classes. Also known as just Beam Hall, the building reopened on Monday about eight months after the fatal campus shooting that took the lives of three professors and wounded another. UNLV's Beam Hall Has Reopened Eight Months After Shooting NBA on TNT - YouTube On December 6, 2023, an active shooter took the lives of three professors and seriously wounded another in Beam Hall. The building was then closed for repairs and to help make students and staff feel safer and avoid retraumatizing anyone. On Monday morning at the start of the Fall 2024 semester, the building reopened with $2.5 million in enhanced safety measures. According to The Nevada Independent and shared by the Associated Press, 160 classes will be taught in Beam Hall, which is about half the number it would typically be. Each of the classes taught in Beam Hall will also be offered in another building on campus for any student who's not comfortable with being in the building. Upgrades to the building include: surveillance cameras outside elevators on each floor, armed security officers on the first and second floors, new telephones with enhanced emergency notification capabilities, and the third, fourth, and fifth floors, where faculty offices are, will only be accessible via stairwells or elevators using an access card or key. UNLV Returned To Campus For The Spring 2024 Semester Melanie VanDerveer Students, faculty, and staff returned to the Las Vegas-based campus after the tragedy in early 2024 at the start of the spring semester. A week before returning to campus, University President Keith E. Whitfield released information about how the semester, "unlike any we've experienced," will be different from previous semesters. "Next week, as we begin the spring semester, many of you will return to the UNLV campus for the first time since Dec. 6. I know that this semester will be unlike any weve experienced as a university, as we individually and collectively process last months tragedy and continue our recovery together," Whitfield wrote in an online statement. "I also understand that this process is different for everyone. We will heal as individuals and as a university, but its going to take time, and we wont rush it. As you continue your Rebel journey with us this spring, be assured that UNLV remains fully committed to the safety and wellness of our students, faculty, and staff." Mental Health And Wellness Was A Focus As Students And Staff Returned To UNLV's Campus View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNLV (@unlv) UNLV made sure to let students know that there are a variety of resources to help mental and emotional wellness with events, drop-in and group-based trauma therapy sessions, and more. "The road to recovery will be focused, inclusive, compassionate, and driven by the notion that the safety, security, and well-being of the UNLV family - our employees and students - is our priority. This program will be an ongoing and evolving effort," an Instagram Story shared earlier this year read. "We're committed to giving students a voice in our campus recovery, and we'll host a series of student-focused events, focus groups, and activities throughout the semester." UNLV's Fall 2024 Semester Has Record-Breaking Number Of Students Melanie VanDerveer The fall semester has more students than ever on campus. The number is record-breaking for the university. It's been reported that 32,000 students are enrolled in classes and about one-third of that number represents new students to the campus. According to KLAS, there are more than 1,700 students moving onto campus, which is also a record number of students in UNLV's residential housing. Rebel Ready Week Introduced New Students To Campus View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNLV (@unlv) Last week, the university held its Rebel Ready Week to introduce new students to campus. "It's all about helping our students create a sense of belongingness and helping them connect to each other and our campus," Barb Roberts, associate vice president of Enrollment Management said. "It's leading us right into the beginning of classes next week and we're really excited to have everyone here." Rebel Ready Week took place from Monday, August 19 through Friday, August 23, and included a "collection of activities and events to help students connect with their new campus community," according to an Instagram post. The week's exciting events concluded with #UNLVCreates, an academic welcome ceremony for all new students. The World Health Organization (WHO) released a six-month plan to help stop outbreaks of human-to-human transmission of mpox, which includes adding staff in affected countries, increasing surveillance and ramping up prevention and response strategies. WHO officials expect the plan will begin in September and end in February and require $135 million in new funding to build off standing recommendations like to advance access to diagnostic tests and vaccines and to help communities participate in outbreak prevention and control. Vaccination efforts will work to interrupt transmission chains by focusing on people at the highest risk of contracting the virus, such as close contacts to recent cases and health care workers, the agency said in a statement. The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Doing so requires a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our Member States. Mpox is a disease caused by the formerly named monkeypox virus and is part of the same family as smallpox. People with mpox often develop a rash, fever, headache and muscle aches. Germany announced Monday that it will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help mitigate the outbreak of the disease in Africa, according to Reuters. The German government will also give WHO flexible financial resources to fight mpox outbreaks and help the organizations public health partners in Africa through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a spokesperson told Reuters. WHO declared the recent surge of mpox cases a public health emergency earlier this month, in part, due to rapidly increasing cases in Congo. As of Aug. 22, there have been a total of 3,326 confirmed and 17,979 suspected cases of mpox, along with 590 deaths from the disease across 12 African countries so far this year, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 39 people, including security personnel, were killed in multiple terrorist attacks in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, officials said on Monday. In Musa Khel district of the province, armed men blocked a highway connecting Punjab to Balochistan and offloaded passengers from several buses, later shot them dead after checking their identities, Assistant Commissioner of Musa Khel Najeeb Kakar told Xinhua. The official added that the militants also torched 10 to 12 vehicles in the district. In another incident, at least 10 people, including five security personnel, were killed when terrorists stormed a toll plaza, a hospital and a house of a tribal elder in Kalat district of Balochistan province, police sources confirmed to Xinhua. Four security personnel and an assistant commissioner of Kalat were also injured during clashes in Kalat, said police. Separately, insurgents blew up a railway track in the Bolan area of the province, leaving at least six people dead, Dost Muhammad Bugti, a senior police official in the area said. The railway track was destroyed in the explosion, which resulted in the suspension of train service between Balochistan and eastern Punjab province. After the attacks, security forces launched search operations across Balochistan and killed 12 terrorists, according to the official Radio Pakistan. Taking notice of the terror incidents, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attacks, directing an immediate probe to take the perpetrators of the attack to justice. "The nation stood by the security forces in the war against terrorism ... Terrorists' nefarious designs to spoil the country's peace would never succeed," the prime minister said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, in a message on social media, the proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army claimed to have blocked several roads across the province. A Poughkeepsie man has been charged with gunning down well-known sneaker reseller Upscale Cracc, who was shot multiple times during a robbery in June, cops said. Alleged gun man Jayquan Straker, 35, was taken into custody Saturday morning in the murder of Upscale, whose real name is Javier Osorio-Mejia, 31, according to police. Osorio-Mejia, a Bayonne, New Jersey, resident, was shot three times in his right leg in front of a clothing store at 41 Greene St. in Soho at 5:15 a.m. on June 25, authorities said. A clothing store called Stone Island is located at the address of the shooting, though it was not clear what Osorio-Mejia was doing there at that time. Javier Osorio-Mejia, known as Upscale Crocc was shot three times in his right leg during the June shooting. upscalecracc/Instagram Authorities found Osorio-Mejia unconscious at the scene with a wound to his right thigh, police said. EMS rushed Osorio-Mejia to Bellevue Hospital where he died from his injuries, police said. Osorio-Mejia was remembered as a beloved father who brought laughter and smiles with him wherever he went, according to his obituary. The shooting took place outside a clothing store on Greene Street in Soho, police said. Robert Mecea Osorio-Mejia was shot three times in front of the store. Robert Mecea Javier was full of light and a humble heart always trying to help others. A well-known shoe reseller who made it to the top through hard work and sleepless nights, the obituary read. He was also an amazing father to his little girl who he lived for, and loved to spend time with his family, according to his obituary. Straker was charged with murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said. Urban wildfires disrupt streams and their tiny inhabitants losing these insects is a warning of bigger water problems A tiny, vibrant world thrives along the rocky bottom of most streams. As sunlight filters through the water, mayfly nymphs, no larger than your fingernail, cling to algae-coated cobbles. Their brushlike mouthparts scrape the greenish coating, leaving faint trails as they feed. Six spindly legs anchor them against the current, while feathery gills wave gently, drawing oxygen from the flowing water. This scene is common in well-maintained creeks and streams that flow through populated areas. But when wildfires sweep through, the toxic materials left behind can devastate this ecosystem. When you think of urban wildfires, you might picture charred trees and houses. But beneath the surface of nearby streams, fires can also cause a silent upheaval one that affects populations of creatures that are important indicators of the waters health. Images of some of the benthic invertebrates that help keep streams healthy, and whose disappearance can be a sign of trouble: an amphipod and a mayfly, shown under 10x magnification, and a crayfish. Camryn Miller Wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems. They rejuvenate landscapes by clearing out dead brush and releasing nutrients from vegetation and soils. When fires move from nature into neighborhoods, however, they encounter a drastically different set of fuels. Urban conflagrations consume a mix of synthetic and natural materials, including homes, vehicles, electronics and household chemicals. This creates a unique set of problems that can have far-reaching consequences for waterways and the creatures that call them home. The 2018 Camp Fire burned through homes, cars, power lines and other sources of hazardous chemicals in Paradise, Calif. Water washed those chemicals into the soil and into creeks. AP Photo/Noah Berger As an environmental engineer, I study how human actions on land affect the chemistry and ecology of surface water systems, including an important group of stream dwellers: benthic macroinvertebrates. These tiny creatures, which include mayflies, stone flies and caddis flies, are not only food sources for fish and other stream life but also serve as natures own water quality monitors. 2018s Camp Fire was a wake-up call In November 2018, the Camp Fire devastated the town of Paradise, California, destroying over 18,000 homes and other structures. In the aftermath of this tragic event, my colleagues and I examined the effects of large-scale urban burning on the chemistry of nearby watersheds. The results were alarming: Metal concentrations in affected watersheds increased dramatically up to two-hundredfold compared with prefire levels. Concentrations of these metals exceeded EPA aquatic habitat acute criteria, recommended levels that indicate when a metal has reached the threshold of toxic for organisms in the water. Total concentrations of copper, nickel and lead, measured in micrograms per liter, in Clear Creek and Dry Creek before and after the 2018 Camp Fire. Lauren Magliozzi These elevated metal levels can pose risks to both ecosystems and human health. For humans, contaminated watersheds can compromise drinking water sources by requiring extensive water treatment or even making some water supplies temporarily unusable. Wildlife, particularly sensitive aquatic species such as fish and amphibians, face immediate threats from these pollutants. The toxic metals can disrupt their reproductive cycles, impair growth and destabilize ecosystems. Tiny benthic macroinvertebrates provide early warnings of the harm. Silent witnesses: Benthic macroinvertebrates In their larval stages, benthic macroinvertebrates live on the benthos, or bottom, of the stream, where they are constantly exposed to the water, making them sensitive to changes in stream chemistry. Fly-fishing enthusiasts might recognize these creatures as the inspiration for the flies they tie. They are food for other aquatic life, but their presence, diversity and abundance also provide insight into both short-term pollution events and long-term environmental changes that chemical tests alone might miss. Many species have short life cycles, allowing scientists to observe changes quickly. Different species also have varying tolerances for pollution, providing a nuanced picture of water quality. Marshall Fire dramatically altered water quality Just as we were finishing up our analysis of the Camp Fire samples, on Dec. 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire devastated communities in my home state of Colorado, destroying over 1,000 homes in Boulder Countys Coal Creek watershed. For two years following the fire, I worked with a team at the University of Colorado Boulder to monitor water chemistry, benthic macroinvertebrate populations and algae in Coal Creek. We found that the runoff from fire debris dramatically altered both water quality and the ecological balance at fire-affected sites. When vehicles burn, like this one did in the Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colo., their seats, wiring and many other components can release toxic chemicals. Lauren Magliozzi, CC BY-ND Our findings showed persistently elevated toxic metal levels and declines in sensitive aquatic species, indicating potential long-term risks to human activities, such as fishing and irrigation. They also showed that recovery would likely take many years. Urban wildfires create a toxic cocktail for streams Similar to after the Camp Fire, at Boulder Countys urban, fire-affected sites, we observed elevated concentrations of nutrients and metals, including copper, nickel, lead and zinc. By measuring stormwater, we were able to show that these pollutants were conveyed by concrete drainage systems that quickly funneled the water into the creek. We noted 84 instances where metal concentrations exceeded EPA aquatic life criteria limits in the first year. We also measured significant changes in the types and numbers of benthic macroinvertebrates present. One of the most striking findings was the impact on algae-eating mayflies, which are particularly sensitive to changes in water quality. In the burned urban stretch of the stream, we observed an interesting phenomenon: abundant algae growth, but fewer algae-eating mayflies. This suggests that fire runoff is having a dual effect on the stream ecosystem: Nutrients from burned vegetation are likely stimulating algae growth, while toxic metals from the urban fire debris seem to be negatively affecting sensitive organisms such as mayflies. The algae, while plentiful, may be accumulating toxic metals from the water. When other organisms consume this algae, they could potentially ingest these metals as well. This process, known as bioaccumulation, can lead to increasing concentrations of toxic materials moving up the food chain. What does the evidence mean? Its important to note that the full impacts of urban wildfires on stream life are still being studied. We cant yet say definitively whether organism numbers are low because those organisms are dying or if they are experiencing subtler effects, such as reduced reproduction. The decrease in mayfly populations, however, is a concerning indicator of ecosystem stress. Heavy rainfall atop burn scars can wash the ash and debris into rivers and streams. AP Photo/Brennan Linsley For humans, the implications are nuanced. While Coal Creek isnt a source of drinking water, it is used for irrigation and recreation. Metal-contaminated water could accumulate in stream sediments and continue to affect sensitive organisms long term. The creeks overall health also affects its ability to filter water and support biodiversity. Protecting streams and their ecosystems The story told by these streams and their tiny inhabitants is clear: Urban wildfires pose a serious threat to water quality and aquatic life. To protect streams, communities need to reduce fire risk and runoff afterward. Improving urban planning, management of stormwater and watershed monitoring can help safeguard water resources. The health of streams affects the health of communities. Everyone can benefit by listening to the mayflies warning. 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: Lauren Magliozzi, University of Colorado Boulder Read more: Lauren Magliozzi has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), and the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP). US Army takes new look at training aviators with decisions coming soon The U.S. Army is taking a deep dive into a new institutional training model for aviators as its helicopter fleet evolves into a complex network of manned and unmanned platforms, the services former Aviation Center of Excellence commander told Defense News in a recent interview. Army aviation is not cheap; it costs a lot of money to train aviators, so from a cost perspective, from a fundamentals of flight perspective and then that all being influenced by bringing in a future aircraft with a tiltrotor, were doing a lot of analysis right now on what is the optimal way forward, Maj. Gen. Mac McCurry, who is now the Army Futures Command chief of staff, said in an interview just prior to the change of command at Fort Novosel, Alabama, last month. The Army selected Textron Bells next-generation tiltrotor design for its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, in December 2022. Earlier this year, the service decided to cancel the development competition of another manned helicopter for attack and reconnaissance missions in favor of using more unmanned aircraft for the role. I think that there will be some decisions made within the next year primarily centered on the branch chief down here and having to look at what is the institutional training model before we get into the operational force, McCurry said. One consideration is whether the service has the right basic training aircraft. The Army retired its Bell-manufactured TH-67 single-engine training helicopter following a decision to restructure its aviation fleet in late 2013. The service replaced the trainer with roughly 200 dual-engine LUH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters, a move met with some controversy over the aircrafts operational cost and complexity. Nothing has been excluded. Everything is on the table as far as what kind of aircraft does that look like and what does the training look like, McCurry said. Additionally, with the improvement of simulation technology, the aviation training curriculum relies more on simulator hours than ever before. With the increase in virtual reality, augmented reality, where can we gain efficiencies in training with that kind of thing where you dont have to be in either an aircraft or full motion simulator? What parts of flight training can really be assisted and optimized using those technologies? McCurry questioned. The pressure to get basic aviator skills training right is high as the Army aviation branch continues to experience frequent Class A mishaps, which the service defines as incidents involving the loss of life or loss of equipment totaling more than $2.5 million. Earlier this month, an AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed during a routine flight training on Fort Novosel, killing the flight instructor and injuring the student. The circumstances of the crash are still under investigation. In the first half of fiscal 2023, more than a dozen Army aviators died in helicopter crashes, a startling number that prompted an aviation-wide stand-down in April 2023. The Army lifted the stand-down after a thorough review, but five months later, an MH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter belonging to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment crashed during a training mission, killing five on board. The accidents kept coming, with fiscal 2023 logging the highest death rate for Army soldiers since the U.S. withdrew from Iraq in 2011, with a total of 14 dead across 10 Class A mishaps. In an average year, Army aviation mishaps typically kill six crew members, with the average Class A mishap rate hovering just under one accident per 100,000 flight hours. The current rate as of this spring was 3.22, more than double the highest rate of any fiscal year in more than a decade, according to Army Combat Readiness Center data. The branch is constantly keeping our finger on the pulse of accident rates and causal factors, McCurry said. We have definitely taken a look over the last two years at specifically formation flying, flying aircraft in close proximity to each other and evaluating those tasks and adding some conditions upon those tasks and then, most recently, focusing on how our aviators respond to changes in tail rotor effectiveness based on environmental conditions. Earlier this year, the Army unveiled more training enhancement efforts to get back to the basics that it called an aviation standup. Anytime we break the momentum on accidents and focus on fundamentals, it tends to have some effect, McCurry said. This is leading the branch to consider encouraging or requiring every aviation unit to dedicate time each year to focus on aviation safety awareness, regardless of their accident rate. Do you just do it routinely, once a year to kind of call everybodys attention to it, rather than waiting for spikes in rates, so were, were considering that, McCurry added. Updated Aug 27, 2024, 8:27am EDT security East Asia The News The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with top Chinese officials where he is expected to discuss growing tensions in Taiwan and the South China Sea. Sullivans meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be their fifth since February and mark his first visit to China since he was appointed the US security chief. Washington will highlight Chinas destabilizing military and economic actions against Taiwan, while Beijing will focus on clarifying its stern position on the island, which it views as a breakaway province. The US and China need to ensure competition without conflict and find ways to work together where our interests align, Sullivan said before heading into the bilateral talks. SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. US-China strategic channel has provided a shock absorber Sources: NBC News, Financial Times Sullivan wants to expand military-to-military talks with the aim of preventing conflict in areas like the Taiwan Strait, NBC News reported. The strategic channel between the two officials established through a spate of secret meetings across the world has been a shock absorber that has helped cut the risk of a miscalculation by both superpowers, the Financial Times wrote, especially at a time of heightened tensions. The same fundamental issues remain, but the backchannel has helped to shift the dynamic toward greater stability, Sullivan told the outlet. Rising tensions in East and Southeast Asia Sources: BBC, South China Morning Post, CBS News, The New York Times The meeting comes amid rising tensions in East and Southeast Asia as Tokyo protests a Chinese spy plane incursion into its airspace and Manila accuses Beijing of repeated aggression in the South China Sea. On Tuesday the Philippine defense chief told a conference of the US Indo-Pacific Command that China was the biggest disrupter of peace in Southeast Asia, CBS News reported. But any misstep that prompts the Philippines to trigger its mutual defense treaty with the US could spell a nightmare war between the US and China, according to The New York Times: That pact means the Philippines represents an exception to Beijings preference for sorting out disputes with its neighbors directly and quietly, the outlet added. China sees Harris and Trump as two bowls of poison Sources: BBC, Financial Times Its hard to ignore the timing of Sullivans visit, which comes just three months before the US presidential election. The trip will likely be used by Beijing as an opportunity to clarify its priorities to any party (and future administration) that might be listening, the BBC wrote. But even as Beijing looks ahead, the sense is that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ultimately represent two bowls of poison for Xi Jinpings interests, a politics expert at Fudan University told the Financial Times: Trump is the devil Beijing knows, whereas Harris who only mentioned China once in her recent convention address, and has never visited the country remains something of a mystery, though her policies are still more predictable, another added. US did not directly defend Israel in Hezbollah attack, Pentagon says US did not directly defend Israel in Hezbollah attack, Pentagon says The U.S. did not shoot down incoming rockets or drones when Hezbollah launched a major attack on Israel over the weekend, but American officials did provide intelligence support, the Pentagon said Monday. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters the U.S. provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to track incoming Hezbollah attacks but did not conduct any kinetic operations, as they were not required. The U.S. is prepared, as weve demonstrated in the past, to to use force in order to support the defense of Israel, he said. In this particular situation, given the threat that was launched from Lebanese Hezbollah, there was no requirement for the U.S. to employ any of our munitions or capabilities to help defend. In other words, Israel was able to do that with its own organic capabilities and systems, Ryder told reporters. The U.S. and regional allies helped defend Israel when Iran launched some 300 missiles and drones at Israel in a massive April attack. Some 100 Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of targets in Lebanon early Sunday morning in what Israel called a preemptive strike ahead of a major Hezbollah attack. While the U.S. provided intelligence support to track incoming Hezbollah attacks, the U.S. did not provide intelligence for the advance strike by Israel, Ryder said. That was an Israeli decision to conduct those preemptive strikes based on information that they clearly had, he said. The U.S. was not a part of that. But American and Israeli forces continue to maintain very frequent and close communication as the Middle East remains tense, he added. Despite the Israeli strikes, Hezbollah still managed to fire some 300 rockets and drones toward what it claimed were Israels military sites. Israel said one of its soldiers died from shrapnel or an Israeli interceptor, while two Hezbollah fighters and one allied fighter were killed in the Israeli attacks. Both sides have not sought to escalate tensions any further after the deadly round of attacks, which saw the heaviest exchange of fire yet since fighting erupted between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel following the outbreak of the Gaza war last October. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah asserted Sunday that his militia group was successful in retaliating for Israels killing of top military commander Fuad Shukr, though Nasrallah did not rule out another attack. Iran has also vowed to respond to Israel for the death of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, and the Houthis are expecting to take revenge for Israels deadly bombing of Yemen. Ryder said the U.S. continues to take all those threats seriously, and noted the Pentagon has extended the deployment of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which is in the region along with the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and other assets. We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, he said, and we again remain well postured to be able to support Israels defense. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 families of those abducted to Gaza on October 7th hold placards during a demonstration demanding action to free the Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. Israel Hadari/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip are continuing at the working-group level in Cairo, despite Israel and Hezbollah's heavy exchange of fire, a senior US official said on Monday. "There continues to be progress, and our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. Kirby said Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's top Middle East advisor, stayed on in the Egyptian capital for another day to help "kick off" the lower-level consultations. "All parties will be represented, including Hamas, in those working group discussions, and as for how long they'll take, I think that remains to be seen," Kirby said. He said there was "no truth at all" to suggestions that the on-again off-again ceasefire and hostage negotiations, which have been going on for months, had broken down. The talks were also "not affected" by the major eruption of violence between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon at the weekend, Kirby said. The latest round of talks in Cairo by senior officials representing the sides failed to achieve a breakthrough and ended on Sunday. The 13-strong Israeli delegation has left Egypt, as has Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Hamas representatives who had travelled from Doha to be briefed on the progress of the talks. As Hamas and Israel are not negotiating directly with each other, the US, Qatar and Egypt are acting as mediators. Dpa sources report that the question of whether Israeli troops may remain stationed along the Gaza-Egypt border in the event of a ceasefire remains a point of contention. Residents of Gaza's Deir al-Balah flee fresh evacuation order Thousands of residents of the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah are fleeing the area following a new Israeli evacuation order. Reports from Gaza suggest the order included the Al-Aqsa Hospital, one of the few health facilities still functioning in the territory. Israel's evacuation notice said on Sunday that its military would "take strong action against Hamas and terrorist organizations" in the area, which it labelled a "dangerous combat zone." The military said Israeli troops had "eliminated dozens of terrorists and found large quantities of weapons" in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. In response, the UN's Palestinian agency - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) - said only three of 18 wells are still functioning in Deir al-Balah, causing serious water shortages. "Not only are people in [Gaza] in constant fear for their lives, but they struggle to meet even their most basic needs," the agency said on the social media platform X, calling again for an immediate ceasefire. The conflict in Gaza was triggered by the unprecedented October 7 attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken to Gaza. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, at least 40,435 people have been killed and more than 93,500 injured in the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israeli police minister provokes with new comments on religious site Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has made provocative statements regarding a contested Jerusalem religious site, asserting that Jews are allowed to pray there, in an interview on Monday with the Israeli army radio station. The far-right minister's statement contradicts the declared policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a longstanding agreement with Muslim authorities, Jews are allowed to visit the site known to them as the Temple Mount but to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary but not to pray there. However, there are repeated violations of this agreement. Netanyahu's office reaffirmed that the status quo of the site remains unchanged. The site houses the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam. It is also sacred to Jews because two Jewish temples once stood there. The site in the Old City of Jerusalem is under Muslim administration while Israel is responsible for security. Ben-Gvir described the government's current policy as a "submission" to the Palestinian Islamist terrorist organization Hamas and the Muslim authorities at the site. He stated that Arabs are allowed to pray everywhere and therefore Jews should not be prevented to either. He said he was against "racism and discrimination." Ben-Gvir also told the radio station that if he had his way, the Israeli flag would have been flying on the Temple Mount long ago. When asked if he would build a synagogue there, he answered, "Yes." Defence Minister Yoav Gallant criticized Ben-Gvir's behaviour, stating that tampering with the status quo at the religious site is a dangerous, unnecessary and irresponsible act. Gallant added that Ben-Gvir's actions endanger the national security of the state of Israel and its international status. A general view of a road inscribed in Hebrew with the names of the hostages during a demonstration demanding action to free the Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. Israel Hadari/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Displaced Palestinians evacuate the Faculty of Da'wa affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate the faculty, claiming that it is located in a combat zone. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa How US military planning has shifted away from fighting terrorism to readying for tensions and conflict with China and Russia President Joe Bidens recent approval of a major shift in U.S. nuclear weapons strategy highlights the attention the countrys national security officials are paying to Chinese ambitions for influence in the world. As changes emerge in the types of threats facing the U.S., the American military adjusts its strategic focus, budgets and planning. For instance, after 9/11, the U.S. military refocused away from its Cold War emphasis on preparing for combat against a powerful nation the Soviet Union and toward fighting small terrorist and insurgent groups instead. Over the past decade, the Pentagons efforts have shifted back to preparing for what officials call great power competition among the U.S., Russia and China. The most important strategic shift thats evident in planning for great power competition is a focus on deterrence. In classic military strategy, deterrence focuses on making an adversary believe they can never achieve their goals by military force, because the response would be overwhelming and decisive. The National Defense Strategy released in October 2022 the document that articulates the nations goals, objectives and resource allocation for the next two years explicitly recognizes the potential risk of tensions and open conflict with Russia or China, and it calls for integrated deterrence to prevent it. That means combined efforts from the military, intelligence and diplomatic agencies across the U.S. government. The National Military Strategy the militarys section of the overarching National Defense Strategy lays out how the U.S. armed forces will contribute to that effort. As a former assistant secretary of defense and Pentagon chief of staff, I see that the military is focusing on three main goals to achieve integrated deterrence and prevent a conflict with Russia or China. New operational plans For the military, integrated deterrence means the armed forces will depend both on where forces are located and what they can do once theyre in action to influence adversaries decisions about when, where, how and whether to use military force against the U.S. or its interests. In the shift away from counterterrorism toward preparation for a great power conflict, the Defense Department has developed new ways to deal with the fact that Russia and China, unlike small terrorist groups, can fight in the air, on land and at sea anywhere around the world and online and in space, too. First among those methods is what the Pentagon calls dynamic force employment, in which U.S. military forces are deployed rapidly around the world, without predictable rotation schedules. This approach can reassure allies facing threats from Russia or China. For example, the U.S. has, at times, deployed as many as 10,000 troops to Poland. The troops are not permanently stationed there, but a continuous presence of U.S. forces keeps Russia guessing about the size and capabilities of the force and demonstrates a commitment to support nervous NATO allies in Eastern Europe. Second is a shift of personnel and capabilities to what is called multi-domain operations, in which units with different missions across air, land, sea, space and cyberspace plan and train together. That way, they can be prepared to work closely together in actual conflicts. This level of collaboration allows the nation to respond to threats in a variety of ways. For instance, challenges to American naval power on the high seas do not have to be met directly with corresponding naval action, but instead could be answered with cyberattacks or from space. This approach might make the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army think twice about launching military operations against Taiwan. Not only would the Chinese potentially face a fierce direct conflict, but U.S. cyber and space operations could also disrupt or destroy Chinese military communications, hindering their attack. China has been boosting military spending in recent years. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Investments in modernization Recent research has shown that Chinas investments in its military personnel and capabilities particularly in air, naval and nuclear forces have grown exponentially over the past two decades, to a level estimated at near parity with the United States. This has prompted the U.S. to modernize its own militarys corresponding capabilities. For the 2024 budget, the Department of Defense allocated a whopping US$234.9 billion for programs to support integrated deterrence, which likely represents a 10% increase over previous spending plans. Some of this money will go to developing and acquiring F-35 fighter jets and building Columbia-class, nuclear-powered submarines. When the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific region, such as Japan, South Korea and Australia, deploy these planes and submarines, they will remind potential adversaries of American military power which is itself a deterrent against foreign aggression. Over the past 10 years, Chinas rapid expansion of its nuclear weapon supply has alarmed senior policymakers in the U.S. Although then-President Barack Obama pushed countries to envision a world free of nuclear weapons, he approved the most expensive and significant upgrade ever to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. In 2022, the Biden administration renewed a financial commitment to field a modern, resilient nuclear triad consisting of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and long-range nuclear bombers. Advancing technology In 2019, the Space Force was established as a separate branch of the armed forces and tasked with defending American space-based assets and upholding international law. Because of the importance of satellite communications to military operations and civilian life including internet connectivity the Space Force works closely with Cyber Command, the military organization charged with defending the nation against cyberattacks, to prevent malicious hackers from disrupting systems vital to the world, such as the Global Positioning System, widely known as GPS. Recent intelligence indicates that China plans to conduct destructive cyberattacks against U.S. domestic critical infrastructure, including the electric grid, during any conflict. To counter those plans, Cyber Command continues to enhance its abilities to defend U.S. systems and companies against cyberattacks, as well as to conduct attacks against systems in other countries. The Pentagon is also seeking to counterbalance Chinas rapidly expanding military forces by using artificial intelligence software in a program called the Replicator Initiative. The effort seeks to build thousands of low-cost, AI-directed autonomous aircraft and boats that can be used in combat to counter the (Chinese military)s mass with mass of our own, in the words of Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. The U.S. military has conducted joint exercises with European nations to help strengthen alliances. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Integration with allies and partners The U.S. military has also sought to strengthen alliances with other countries, especially over the past four years of the Biden administration. Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine led NATO to expand its membership as well as the numbers and capabilities of troops available to the organization. The U.S. has reinforced its commitment to NATO, increasing troop deployments in Eastern Europe and support for European defense initiatives by committing nearly $3 billion in funding for additional fighter aircraft, air-defense batteries and munitions. In Asia, around the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, a vast region that the government often calls the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. has strengthened alliances with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines by conducting numerous military exercises and increasing military assistance. Efforts like the annual Marine Aviation Support exercise are aimed at countering Chinese military and political influence. The U.S. has also sought to strengthen its alliances with the U.K. and Australia, with a commitment to sell up to five conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to the Australian navy by 2030. Collectively, the U.S. has combined all of these efforts into a coordinated approach seeking to avoid open conflict with China and Russia. But the work is not yet done: The global political and military landscape is ever-changing, and new security challenges are always emerging. Grace Jones, a masters student in public policy and research assistant at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, contributed research to this article. 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: Eric Rosenbach, Harvard Kennedy School Read more: Eric Rosenbach received funding from the United States government to develop executive education programs. US will talk to Ukraine about lifting restrictions on strikes on Russia, but in private White House John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, emphasised at an online briefing on Monday, 26 August that the US is aware of Ukraine's calls for an expansion of permission for Western weapons to be used to attack Russian territory, and that discussions with its Ukrainian counterparts will continue. Source: European Pravda Details: Kirby noted that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly both publicly and privately asked for permission to strike more Russian military targets with US-supplied weapons. Kirby acknowledged that it was understandable why Zelenskyy is doing this, as his country is under attack, but reiterated that the US would continue to talk to the Ukrainians in private. More details: The White House spokesperson said that as of now, there are no changes in the policy on the use of US weapons by Ukraine. Background: Some Western countries, primarily the US, have allowed Ukraine to use their weapons to strike Russia, but only in a limited geographical area. Last month, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was gradually changing the West's position on strikes on military targets in Russia's rear and was already receiving "positive signals" regarding the expansion of permission to use weapons provided by Western allies. He recently said the Ukrainian Armed Forces operation in Kursk Oblast might not have happened if the West had not imposed restrictions on strikes on military targets in Russia. Support UP or become our patron! Utah Boy, 5, Dies After Shooting Himself with Gun He Found in Parent's Bedroom: 'Our Hearts are Shattered' "This heartbreaking incident has taught us difficult lessons," the boy's family reportedly said in a statement Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret News via AP Law enforcement responders stand near the home where a 5-year-old boy shot himself with a handgun A Utah family is mourning the loss of a 5-year-old boy after he accidentally shot himself with a handgun he found at home. On Thursday, Aug. 22, the boy found a 9 mm handgun in his parents' bedroom before firing a single shot to the head, Santaquin Police Department lieutenant Mike Wall confirmed, per the Associated Press. Police, who have not identified the boy, stated he died at the scene despite his father's efforts to save him after hearing the gunshot and rushing to his aide. Per the AP, the boy's parents and possibly one of his siblings were home at the time of the tragedy. Wall and the Santaquin Police Department didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE. Related: 3-Year-Old Boy Fatally Shoots Himself in the Head After Finding Gun in Home The boy's family released a statement, per KUTV, where they described the incident as "an unimaginable tragedy." "Losing a cherished member who will be deeply missed. However, through our faith in Jesus Christ, we will get through this trial, as we feel his love so abundantly," they said. "We extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who responded and to the community for their overwhelming support and compassion," the family continued. "This heartbreaking incident has taught us difficult lessons, and we deeply regret that it unfolded this way." "Our hearts are shattered, and we hope that our family's loss serves as a poignant reminder of how quickly life can change," the family added. They continued, "We hope this tragedy serves as a reminder for others to take every precaution to ensure the safety of their children. As we come together to grieve, we kindly ask for privacy during this difficult time as we mourn the loss of our beloved little boy." 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. Per the AP, authorities don't suspect foul play and the parents aren't currently facing charges following the incident. Wall also declined to comment on how the weapon was stored while the investigation is ongoing. Utah isn't listed under the states with child access prevention (CAP) and safe storage laws, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "Utahs law generally does not make adults liable for making firearms accessible to minors but for failing to remove firearms from minors who have violated minimum age laws," a message on the site stated, adding that a minor is defined as "a person under the age of 21 for handguns" in the U.S. state. The AP added that the state doesn't "require unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way or require a locking device to be sold with a firearm." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. SAO PAULO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government announced Sunday that it is sending military aircraft to combat wildfires ravaging Brazil's southeastern state of Sao Paulo. "We have asked the Defense Ministry to mobilize aircraft to combat the areas reached by the fire," said Waldez Goes, Minister of Integration and Regional Development. Goes attributed the fires to the "complicated climate emergency situation," adding that the Air Force is set to assist Sao Paulo in fighting the fires, including deploying a KC-390 cargo aircraft. The governor of Sao Paulo decreed a state of emergency in 45 municipalities on Sunday. The country's wealthiest and most populous state has been affected by a combination of high temperatures and low humidity. However, authorities suspect that some of the fires in sugar cane fields were caused by arson. 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 Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool) PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Detectives on Monday described in court how they zeroed in on a Utah mother known for penning a childrens book about grief as the main suspect in her husbands fatal poisoning. The multiday hearing will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence against her to proceed with a trial. Kouri Richins, 34, faces several felony charges for allegedly killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their home in a small mountain town near Park City. Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail that Eric Richins, 39, drank. Additional charges filed in March accuse her of an earlier attempt to kill her husband with a spiked sandwich on Valentines Day. She has been adamant in maintaining she is innocent. Detective Jeff ODriscoll with the Summit County Sheriffs Office was called to the stand Monday to describe his interactions with the state's key witness, a housekeeper who claims to have sold fentanyl to Kouri Richins on three occasions. He said police first linked housekeeper Carmen Lauber to Kouri Richins through a series of text messages and later arrested Lauber, saying drugs and other illegal items were found at her home. Lauber, 52, originally denied any knowledge of how Eric Richins died, but she later opened up in an interview with O'Driscoll after he told her the drug charges against her might be reduced or eliminated in exchange for helpful information, the detective said. The housekeeper went back and forth on what happened, what didnt happen and in what order things happened, ODriscoll explained in court. He said Lauber told him she had sold Kouri Richins up to 90 blue-green fentanyl pills, and her supplier later confirmed to detectives that he had sold her the fentanyl she requested. Officers did not find any fentanyl pills in the Richins home, the detective said. Lauber has received a letter of immunity from the U.S. Attorneys Office and is not currently in custody, O'Driscoll said. She is among the witnesses who could be called to testify later in the hearing or during a possible trial. Other witnesses may include relatives of the defendant and her late husband, and friends of Eric Richins who have recounted phone conversations from the day prosecutors say he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years. In the months before her arrest in May 2023, the mother of three self-published the childrens book Are You with Me? about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after passing away. The book could eventually play a key role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt. Prosecutors have accused Kouri Richins of making secret financial arrangements and buying the illegal drug as her husband began to harbor suspicions about her. Utah state Judge Richard Mrazik is expected to decide as early as Tuesday whether the state has presented sufficient evidence to go forward with a trial. Mrazik had delayed the hearing in May after prosecutors said they would need three consecutive days to present their evidence. The case was further slowed when Kouri Richins' team of private attorneys withdrew from representing her. The judge determined she was unable to continue paying for private representation, and he appointed attorneys Wendy Lewis and Kathy Nester to take over her case. The two attorneys used the first day of the hearing to build upon arguments presented by Kouri Richins' former lead attorney, Skye Lazaro. They insinuated that the housekeeper Lauber had motivation to lie as she sought leniency in the face of drug charges. Lazaro also argued that Eric Richins sisters had a clear bias against her former client amid a battle over his estate and a concurrent assault case. Similar arguments could arise if family members are called to the stand. A petition filed by the victim's sister, Katie Richins, alleges Kouri Richins had financial motives for killing her husband as prosecutors say she had opened life insurance policies totaling nearly $2 million without his knowledge and mistakenly believed she would inherit his estate under terms of their prenuptial agreement. Court records indicate Eric Richins had consulted an attorney in October 2020 to discuss the possibility of filing for divorce and to quietly cut his wife out of his will. Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington said transcripts from that meeting indicate Eric Richins knew his wife was making major financial decisions without consulting him, but he never went through with ending the marriage. In May, Kouri Richins was found guilty on misdemeanor charges of assaulting her other sister-in-law shortly after her husbands death. Amy Richins told the judge that Kouri Richins had punched her in the face during an argument over access to her brothers safe. In addition to aggravated murder, assault and drug charges, Kouri Richins has been charged with mortgage fraud, forgery and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husbands death. Utah man accused of assaulting two victims he thought stole his phone at TRAX station SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A Utah man was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail over the weekend after assaulting two victims he accused of stealing his phone at a TRAX Station. Devon de Shawn Gibson, 30, faces two first-degree felony charges of aggravated robbery, according to court documents. Both charges are punishable by a minimum of five years up to life in prison. Police say Gibson had approached the two victims, who have not been identified, asking to look inside their backpacks for his lost phone. Gibson allegedly admitted to assaulting both victims when they refused his request. Three Utahns drown in whirlpool during canyoneering trip in Sierra Nevadas According to a probable cause statement, surveillance video at the unspecified TRAX station showed Gibson hitting and kicking both victims multiple times even after they had fallen to the ground. Police say one victims teeth were knocked out and then later lost consciousness. They were later transported to the hospital in an unknown condition. The second victim reportedly suffered a cut above their right eye, requiring stitches. After the assault, Gibson allegedly went through both the victims pants and pockets. According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, Gibsons phone was later located by detectives on the TRAX platform where Gibson had set it down before walking away. Gibson has been ordered to be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail, pending a pretrial hearing. 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. UTICA, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) A larceny at the Hannaford Plaza on Mohawk Street on Friday has left one person in jail and one officer injured, according to Utica Police. Officers were called to the Hannaford Plaza at approximately 5:30 pm on Friday, August 24 regarding an individual who had just committed larceny at one of the stores. The suspect 38-year-old Kevin Robinson of Utica was also reported to have an outstanding warrant at the time. After conducting a canvas of the area, police found Robinson riding a bicycle on James Street near Miller Street. Police attempted to stop Robinson, but he allegedly continued riding away on the bicycle until he reached Tracy Street. When Robinson got to Tracy Street, he allegedly ran into another officer, causing both to fall to the ground. Robinson was subsequently taken into custody. The officer was transported to the Wynn Hospital for injuries to their hand, as well as contact with bodily fluids from Robinson. Robinson was transported to the Utica Police Department. Robinson is currently being charged with: Second-degree Assault, a Class D Violent Felony, Resisting Arrest, a Class A Misdemeanor, Petit Larceny, a Class A Misdemeanor, charges stemming from his outstanding warrant, and multiple New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law Violations. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WUTR/WFXV - CNYhomepage.com. Vance to attend fundraisers in Kentucky, Tennessee as Trump travels to swing states Republican vice presidential dandidate Sen. J.D. Vance speaks during a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Aug. 6, 2024. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) As former Republican President Donald Trump makes his case to swing state voters, his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, is heading to the red state of Kentucky to raise money. Trump was scheduled to be in Michigan Monday to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference. Trump held rallies in Pennsylvania and Arizona last week while his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, was in the spotlight during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Vance is attending a reception in Lexington Monday for donors with tickets beginning at $2,500 per person, according to the invitation. A campaign spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Andy Barr confirmed that the fundraiser was taking place Monday as scheduled, but had changed locations from Pikeville to Lexington. Barr, a Republican representing Kentuckys 6th Congressional District, is listed as a host of the event. Other hosts listed include former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft and her husband, coal executive Joe Craft, and Forcht Group Founder and CEO Terry Forcht and his wife, Marion Forcht. The post said host committees slots cost $100,000, co-chairs positions $50,000 or a roundtable $25,000, all per couple. Photo opportunities were listed at $15,000 per couple. On Tuesday, Vance is slated to be at a Nashville fundraiser, the Tennessee Lookout reported. Trump won both Kentucky and Tennessee in 2016 and 2020. Colmon Elridge, the chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, called Vance in a Monday statement an out-of-touch phony who called Eastern Kentuckians lazy ahead of the fundraiser. JD Vance can try to keep pretending to be an Appalachian, but a ritzy fundraiser moved out of Pikeville to Lexington isnt doing his charade any justice. To put it bluntly, he aint from here, Elridge said. The chairmans last line refers to criticisms voiced by Gov. Andy Beshear while he was being considered as a possible running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance has some family ties to Eastern Kentucky, which he highlighted in his book, Hillbilly Elegy. He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, north of Cincinnati, where Vances grandparents had migrated. The family returned often to Breathitt County in southeastern Kentucky where Vance also spent time during summers and owns land. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX FILE PHOTO: Anti-Maduro protests spread as Venezuelan opposition says he stole vote, in Caracas CARACAS (Reuters) -The office of Venezuela's top prosecutor issued a second summons on Monday for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez to be questioned about an opposition website that published detailed results of last month's disputed presidential election. The summons mark the latest efforts by domestic allies of socialist President Nicolas Maduro to fend off challenges to the leader's proclaimed reelection which critics say was not transparent. Some Western countries, nearly all democracies in the Americas and international bodies like a United Nations panel of experts have called for the government to release detailed vote tallies, with some accusing it of seeking to steal the election. So far, the electoral authority and Maduro have refused to do so. Also on Monday, Nicaragua's president, one of the Venezuelan leader's few international backers, offered fresh support. Opposition leader Gonzalez, 74-year-old former diplomat and presidential hopeful, was issued the first summons over the weekend to appear on Monday morning, but he had not appeared by around midday, according to Reuters witnesses. The second summons, posted on social media by the attorney general's office, calls for him to appear on Tuesday morning to testify about alleged usurpation of functions of the electoral authority, falsification of official documents, incitement of illegal activity and other crimes. Gonzalez took to social media on Sunday to assert he was being called for the interview "without precision about the condition under which I will testify and pre-accused of crimes that were not committed." Venezuelan law allows the issuance of an arrest warrant when someone violates a summons three times. 'YOU'RE DEGRADING YOURSELF' In a speech to a regional group that backs Maduro, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega lashed out at Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, dismissing his calls that full results from Venezuela's election be released. Lula has been joined by his fellow leftist presidents in Colombia and Mexico in calling for election transparency, though he has gone further in suggesting new elections could potentially solve the deadlock. Ortega argued Maduro should be recognized as the winner, saving his harshest criticism for Brazil's president. "You're degrading yourself Lula," said Ortega, calling him "servile" and a fake progressive. Venezuela's national electoral authority and its top court have named Maduro the victor of the July 28 election, citing just over half of the votes. But the scanned copies of over 20,000 voting machine receipts posted on the opposition website just days after the election show a resounding victory for Gonzalez. The opposition says its tally covers more than 80% of the vote. Ruling party officials have accused the opposition of stoking violence and Attorney General Tarek Saab has launched criminal probes into opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, Gonzalez and the website earlier this month. Protests since the vote have led to at least 27 deaths and 2,400 arrests. Detentions of opposition figures and protesters have continued in the weeks since, as the ruling party-controlled national assembly passed a law tightening rules on NGOs and unions denounced alleged forced resignations of state employees espousing pro-opposition views. (Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Marguerita Choy, David Alire Garcia and Richard Chang) (Bloomberg) -- Vietnams National Assembly dismissed another deputy prime minister for violating anti-corruption rules, continuing an anti-graft campaign spearheaded by the late Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Most Read from Bloomberg The parliament accepted the resignation of Le Minh Khai, as the Party Central Committee had earlier this month, according to a TV broadcast of the meeting on Monday. Khai oversaw the economy, and in June urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to grant Vietnam market economy status. The Biden administration rejected the change in classification in early August. Khai was punished for violations linked to an investigation into the Dai Ninh resort-residential complex project in Lam Dong province, according to information on the governments website. Mai Tien Dung, the former head of the Government Office, was detained by police in May in relation to the probe. Vietnams party secretariat ruled that the party unit of the government inspectorate violated regulations by approving the Dai Ninh projects extension, according to an Aug. 13 statement on the governments website. Khai was head of the unit from 2018 to April, 2021, the government said. Representatives of Khai were not immediately available for comment. The National Assembly also dismissed Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, who becomes leader of the partys central economic commission. The parliament appointed three new deputy prime ministers Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc and Nguyen Hoa Binh, who was dismissed from his position as chief justice of the Supreme Peoples Court of Vietnam. The anti-corruption campaign has led to the detention of scores of senior officials and business executives in Vietnam, where two presidents, two additional deputy prime ministers and other party officials previously quit office. President To Lam, officially installed as the new head of the party on Aug. 3, said he would resolutely continue an aggressive push to stamp out graft while working to ease bureaucratic bottlenecks to help the economy. The blazing furnace campaign, as Trong called it, remains popular among Vietnamese, many of whom express admiration for Lam on social media, said Giang Nguyen, a visiting senior fellow with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. Vietnams anti-corruption drive has helped lift its ranking from 113th in 2016 to 83rd last year in Transparency Internationals corruption perceptions index. However, non-stop investigations have slowed the gears of government. Vietnamese businesspeople have shared a view on social media that parts of the government are paralyzed by a fear of being caught up in the anti-corruption investigations, Giang Nguyen said ahead of todays parliamentary decision. Vietnams wide-ranging yet non-transparent anti-corruption campaign is viewed by some observers as a way to also remove political rivals amid behind-the-scenes power struggles. Foreign investors, Giang Nguyen said, dont know who is up and who is down in the power struggle that has been going on for over a year now. This is creating anxiety that Vietnams crackdowns could result in a socialist-inspired nationalism that has occurred in China under President Xi Jinping, resulting in a less-friendly attitude toward foreign investors, Giang Nguyen said. But Lam, he added, is known as a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, valuing foreign investors and their role in taking the Vietnamese economy to the next level of development. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Wagner Group claims to no longer be fighting in Ukraine Wagner mercenaries are operating only in Belarus and Africa, and are not fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, the Wagner Group claimed in a statement on Telegram on Aug. 26. The statement, which was posted on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel, claimed that "there are no subordinates of the company either in Rosgvardia (Russia's National Guard), or in the ranks of the Russian Defense Ministry, or anywhere else." Wagner fighters are not taking part in Russia's invasion of Ukraine "at this stage," the group said, claiming that "if the situation changes, it will be announced." Wagner units were key to Russia's seizure of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast in May 2023. Estimates suggest that nearly 20,000 mercenaries, many of whom were former convicts recruited from Russian prisoners in late 2022, died in the battle for the city. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the then-leader of Wagner, died in a mysterious plane crash in Russia on Aug. 23, 2023. The crash came two months after Prigozhin led Wagner troops in a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin. Wagner units were then reportedly incorporated into official Russian military structures, such as Rosgvardia. The Chechen Akhmat unit claimed in October 2023 that a "massive" number of Wagner mercenaries had joined its ranks. According to a U.K. Defense Ministry intelligence report on Aug. 23, just 5,000 Wagner troops are currently deployed in Africa and Belarus, a fraction compared to its peak of 50,000 in 2023. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry warned on Aug. 25 that Belarus is "concentrating a significant number" of weaponry and personnel at the border with Ukraine, including some former Wagner troops. Minsk is Moscow's closest ally and hosts Russian troops and missiles, but is not currently directly involved in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Read also: Belarus moved third of its army to Ukraine border due to what Lukashenko claims was misunderstanding Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Fatima Latifova The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, expressed his gratitude to the people of Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev for their support in combating the forest fires, Azernews reports, citing AZERTAC. Speaking in Bitlis province, the Turkish head of state remarked that Azerbaijan's leader, Ilham Aliyev, once again exemplified the spirit of brotherhood and demonstrated his commitment to the principle of "One nation, two states." Recep Tayyip Erdo?an stated: "My brother Ilham Aliyev did not just settle for a phone call; he sent an amphibious plane, which provided strong support in extinguishing the forest fires in our country. Azerbaijan has always come to Turkey's aid, and likewise, we assist our brotherly country in difficult times. This will continue in the future." He also recalled that the President of Russia had previously taken a similar step by sending a plane to assist in extinguishing the forest fires in Turkey. Erdo?an noted: "Thanks to these two planes, we are able to extinguish the fires in our country at a faster pace." JAKARTA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has recorded 88 cases of monkeypox (mpox) since it was first detected in August 2022, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Monday. In 2024 alone, the number of mpox cases has reached 14. "The cases in Indonesia are still under control, with a higher prevalence of the Clade IIB variant, which is recoverable and has a low fatality rate. All those who were sick have recovered," Sadikin told reporters in Jakarta. Jakarta has reported the highest number of mpox cases at 59, followed by West Java with 13, Banten with nine, East Java and Yogyakarta each with three cases, and Riau with one case. The government is readying 4,450 vaccine doses for 2,225 individuals, with each person slated to receive two doses to curb further spread. In 2023, 495 individuals were vaccinated. WAIKIKI, Hawaii (KHON2) Waikiki residents are banding together in an effort to make the streets of Waikiki just a little bit safer. Check out whats going on around the nation on our National News page On Saturday, the Honolulu Police Department announced the relaunch of Waikikis Citizen Patrol program, where residents and volunteers gathered with their bright yellow shirts. DLE collected hundreds of guns at buyback event Though the program has been around for quite some time, a lack of community participation stalled its advancement. HPD partnered with the Waikiki Business Improvement District to bring the program back to life with an even bigger push. Really theres a lot more to it. Weve got hotels, weve got businesses, weve got public officials. So the whole idea is to get as many people from our community as many components to come together and do these community walks, explained Maj. James Slayter, HPD District 6. Officials said walks like these help send a message to the community and to those who are causing trouble. It sends a message to the people that are causing the trouble that Hey, knock it off, and this is a safe community. So were really excited to bring it back in Waikiki, said Trevor Abarzua, President and Executive Director of the Waikiki Business Improvement District. Crime in Waikiki is down overall, but organizers hope to continue the momentum of safety by holding walks every other week and overnight twice a 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 KHON2. Following grueling overtime work through Tropical Storm Debby, representatives of the Sarasota Police Union and the city of Sarasota have reached an impasse on wage negotiations for the law enforcement agency. The International Union of Police Associations Local 6045 and 6043 bargaining units declared an impasse with the city after failing to come to a resolution at previous meetings on August 8 and August 16. During union negotiations, an impasse is called if the two parties are unable to meet a resolution and need mediation from a third party or special magistrate. The city has inched toward a percent wage increase for lieutenants, sergeants, officers and criminal scene investigators, but the starting salaries the city is offering remain lower than other nearby competing agencies, namely the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. The department has lost two additional officers since the impasse was declared, Union President Eric Urbain said. Communications General Manager Jan Thornburg said that the city of Sarasota will adhere to Florida State Statute 447 to resolve the impasse. "Public safety remains the citys top priority," Thornburg said in an email. "The community will continue to be safeguarded with the highest professional standards during the impasse resolution process." Previous coverage: Sarasota police union asks for 'competitive' wages, anti-discrimination protection in contract Negotiation meetings have been clouded with a dissonance of comparisons from SPD union leaders and the city. Union representatives are asking for parity salary with SCSO, who officers often work alongside. However, the city has made it clear during negotiations that it will not consider salaries from the sheriffs office to be comparable to SPD, arguing that officers who work for the city can't be compared to deputies who work at a county level. The starting salary for an SPD officer is $68,181, and the starting salary for an SCSO deputy is $75,457. Its been a frustrating point for representatives of the union who do the same work as SCSO personnel, said Brian Keisacker, the union's legal representative, during a negotiation meeting. We are working with the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office more than anyone else, Urbain said during a negotiation meeting. The numbers were offering the justification is we just want to be treated the same as those folks that are doing the same job, and we all want to be treated fairly. In case you missed it: Sarasota deputy was found to have misled the court. What's the impact on other cases? Keisacker argued that size comparison is just one factor that should be considered, citing Florida Statute 447.405 in regard to labor organization settlements between public employees and public employers. The statue calls for the consideration of two types of annual income comparisons, the interest and the welfare of the public, peculiarities of employment and availability of funds. He said the city hasnt even approached offering competitive compensation for SPD officers. The city of Sarasota is still going to be paying less than everybody else, when you look at the major people you're fighting with to put boots on the ground," Keisacker said. Negotiations must conclude by August or September for a wage increase to be included at the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. Should negotiations extend past that date, retroactive pay will not be provided. Thornburg said that the city is committed to building a partnership to advance productive talks with the IUPA, and public safety continues to comprise the largest portion of the citys general fund expenditures at 50%. SPD has 190 sworn officer positions budgeted with very competitive salaries based on comparable departments, Thornburg added. SPD recruitment has been successful and continues with just one sworn officer vacancy, Thornburg said in a statement. The retention rate for SPD new recruits is above the standard rate. Officers want to work in our beautiful coastal community where public safety is the highest priority, and all City of Sarasota employees are honored and respected. However, leaders of the SPD union have found that in the last five years, the police department has hired 105 police officers, and of those hired, the department has lost 95. Union representatives are hoping that the city will prioritize investment in nurturing the departments current and future personnel, but they have met a wall in the city of Sarasota and City Manager Marlon Brown, who is recognized as the collective bargaining representative for the city. While SPDs union has seen verbal support from city commissioners on the unions wage demands, the support hasnt resulted in any meaningful shift in contract negotiations. The process has been riddled with frustration from union leaders who are disappointed with the city refusing to offer parity salaries to officers who want to make the same amount as SCSO. Union leaders are concerned that the agency will have a dwindling talent pool, as other nearby agencies, like SCSO, continue to offer higher salaries. Lt. Jeff Steiner has been with the agency for 25 years, and he said that he has become one of the few SPD personnel that has been able to afford to live in Sarasota. While he was able to purchase a home in the area during his early years with the agency, he wouldnt be able to afford a home based off his current income, Steiner added. It was the premier agency to work for, Steiner said about SPD losing talent to competing agencies who offer higher starting salaries. It blows my mind that were here. This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 'Want to be treated fairly': Sarasota Police union at impasse MARJAAYOUN, LebanonFor a few hours it looked like war, a real war that could escalate into the all-out Middle Eastern conflict the world has been dreading. Early Sunday morning, around a hundred Israeli warplanes launched missile strikes in what it called preemptive action to take out Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. Shortly afterward, the Iranian-backed militia group launched hundreds of drones and missiles, including Katyusha rockets, into northern Israel and the Golan Heights in what it said was a planned retaliation for the assassination last month of one of its leaders, Fuad Shukr. Both sides then stepped back from the brink Sunday night, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned it was not the end of the story. Threat of Mutually Assured Destruction Right on Israels Doorstep It was the most intense exchange of fire in 10 months of low-level, but consistent conflict to have roiled southern Lebanon since Hezbollah sided with Hamas after the brutal attacks of Oct. 7. And nobody is quite sure when, or even if, a real war will come. We think hopefully it will not happen, but everything may happen, said Rami Majzoub Said, a security guard at the ruins of the Sea Castle, a landmark built in the Mediterranean port city of Sidon by 13th century crusaders. Israel, they are very harsh, very aggressive. They kill people. They threaten us. They make bomb sounds in the air, he said. As Said spoke, the Muezzin call the faithful to prayer. Seconds later an Israeli fighter jet broke through the sound barrier, its sonic boom prompting residents to look up in fear, if only out of instinct. It is a routine repeated several times every day, either a warning of whats to come oras many see it on the ground belowa form of psychological warfare. The United Nations has warned of catastrophe is full war breaks out. Peacekeepers here seen in Bourj al Moulouk. Vasily Krestyaninov / The Daily Beast The threat of war has loomed ever larger since the Islamic militant group Hamas sent its fighters into Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing more than 1,100 civilians and taking more than 250 hostages. Hamas says 40,000 Palestinians, half of them women and children, have been killed in the subsequent Israeli invasion. From its bases in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah began firing rockets, mortars, and drones at the Israel-Lebanon border in solidarity with Hamas and in retaliation for the Palestinian dead. Tensions have reached new heights, however, since the assassination of Shukr and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last month. After the assassination of another Hezbollah leader in Lebanon on Wednesday, a rank-and-file Hezbollah member warned the Daily Beast that the conflict will only get worse. Arrogance & Bullshit: Top Insiders on Netanyahus Catastrophic Oct. 7 and Gaza War On a global scale, world leaders have been scrambling to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and to stop the war in Gaza from escalating. On Aug. 15, a new round of ceasefire talks began between Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. as mediators for Israel and Hamas with the plan to call for the release of all Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the reconstruction of Gaza. However, Hamas did not directly participate in the peace talks and rejected the new conditions in the ceasefire agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth trip to the region since Oct. 7 last Wednesday, with an agreement tantalizingly out of reach. The Israel Defense Forces insists that its attacks over the border into Lebanon are only targeting Hezbollah bases and soldiers. It claims to have killed over 400 Hezbollah members over the past 10 months. On Aug. 19, the IDF killed Ali Hussein Soleiman, a prominent member of Hezbollah, in a drone strike on a warehouse in Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria, further ratcheting up tensions. However, Israel has also killed at least 130 civilians, according to Lebanese officials. On Aug 14, Israel targeted a car in Marjaayoun, a small town near the Israeli-Lebanese border, in a drone attack, killing two Hezbollah soldiers in the process. That attack also wounded a 6-year-old boy who was standing in a corner store nearby and shattered the glass windows of a restaurant. Employees from the restaurant washed away the blood with water hoses and silently swept up the glass with brooms. One resident said she was still traumatized by the explosion. Funeral of Hezbollah fighter Majdal Silim last week. Vasily Krestyaninov / The Daily Beast Over the next few days, came more attacks, with the IDF and Hezbollah disputing whether the targets were civilian or not. On Aug 15, the IDF launched an airstrike on a factory in Toul, a small town in southern Lebanon that the IDF said was being used as a weapons warehouse. The Daily Beast visited the factory and an adjacent building where Syrian refugee workers lived with their families. Both buildings had been destroyed and at least 10 Syrian refugees were killed. There was no sign of any weapons being stored at the site, just a stuffed bear torn apart in the bombing and blood on a mattress in the building next door. This enemy does not differentiate between stone or human, said Touls mayor, Saeed Mahmoud, at the site of the attack. This is criminality. Every day, it proves to us more and more that this is their nature, the nature of criminality. The stones in front of you, the martyrs who passed away here, we offer our condolences to all the families of the martyrs who were present here. We want to prove to the whole world our resilience. We are people who love life, but they are not letting us live the life we want. Life with martyrs, there is no one that comes before the other. If you dont sacrifice yourself and your family, how can you live with your head held high? said Mahmoud. 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. QUICK WEATHER FORECAST: Tonight: Mostly clear , low 70 Monday: Hot & humid, high 96 (73) Tuesday: Very hot, high 98 (75) Wednesday: Isolated t-storms, high 97 (72) Thursday: Pop-up storms, high 93 (71) Friday: Chance t-storms, high 93 (67) FORECAST DISCUSSION: Tonight the calm condition will continue. Wind speeds will stay very light. Lows in the city will only drop to around 70 degrees. It will be slightly cool out in the rural areas. Tomorrow bumps up the mercury across central Ohio. Highs will be in the mid 90s. The humidity will also increase ever so slightly. Skies will be partly cloudy. The humidity and the temperatures will really increase as the week goes on. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to see both highs in the upper 90s and a heat index in the low 100s. While this hot week goes on, we are tracking a chance in rain chances. From Wednesday through Saturday there will be a few chanced for scattered thunderstorms moving into central Ohio. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Arrested Developers French authorities arrested Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov shortly after landing in his private jet in Paris. The highly unusual incident led to plenty of speculation online, with news reports suggesting the Russian-born billionaire was arrested for failing to moderate illegal activities on the social media platform. Now, a new statement posted by Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the secretary general of Ofmin a French agency focused on combating violence against children has shed new light on the matter. "At the heart of the case is the absence of moderation and cooperation on the part of the platform," Bernigaud wrote in a LinkedIn post, "especially in the fight against child sex crimes." Needless to say, these are very serious allegations and plenty of questions remain. How long will Durov remain in custody? What exactly is he being charged with? Given the already hotly debated subject of content moderation and whether social media companies should be held responsible for what their users post, it'll be a fascinating story to watch unfold. On the one hand, tech companies have claimed that content moderation should be a matter of freedom of speech and expression. On the other, regulators say that companies are doing far too little to keep offending content especially when it comes to child sexual abuse material off their platforms. Free for All In the US, Section 230 of the Communications Act gives online services immunity for user-generated content. In the EU, however, things are significantly different, with the Digital Services Act forcing companies like Facebook and X-formerly-Twitter to follow strict content moderation rules. Telegram has just shy of one billion users worldwide, making it one of the most popular messaging apps. It has become a vital source of information for both sides of the Ukraine conflict and has been flooded with a barrage of disinformation as well. Now that French authorities believe Telegram has crossed a line by allowing the dissemination of child pornography and cyberbullying, as French newspaper Le Monde reports, the company could soon be forced to change its ways. How exactly that will play out remains anybody's guess. In an emoji-laden Sunday post, Telegram maintained that it "abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act" and that Durov "has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe." "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform," the post reads. Whether the EU and French law enforcement will agree with that sentiment, though, remains to be seen. More on Telegram: Governments Keep Trying To Shut Down Messaging Apps, But It Never Works The Way They Hope WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) Bond was set Monday at $50,000 for a city man accused of stabbing another man Saturday evening. Tony Hadden, 68, was arraigned in municipal court via hookup from the Trumbull County jail on a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony. He is due back in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing. Hadden was arrested after police were called about 9:20 p.m. to a home in the 1500 block of Mahoning Avenue NW for a man trying to stab someone. When officers arrived, they found a man outside the home bleeding heavily from a stab wound to the arm. Reports said the victim told police the man who stabbed him, later identified as Hadden, was inside passed out on a couch. Police looked inside and saw Hadden asleep on a couch with a knife behind the couch, reports said. Officers went inside, took the knife, and arrested Hadden after waking him up. Reports said Hadden told police he stabbed the victim because he did not leave the house when asked to. Another witness told police Hadden stabbed the victim during an argument, reports said. The victim was taken to St. Joseph Health Center to be treated for his injuries. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) Prison officials at Wasco State Prison are investigating the death of an inmate on Saturday as a homicide after he was allegedly attacked by two other inmates. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials identified the inmate who died as David Dominguez, 29. According to a release, Dominguez was seen being helped by other inmates in one of the prisons dayrooms at around 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 24. Dominguez told staff that had suffered a seizure and fell. He was treated at the prison and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators at the prison reviewed video surveillance of the incident and saw two other inmates, identified as Jose Landeros, 27, and Michael S. Padilla, 37, enter Dominguezs cell and began to fight. Man fatally shot early Sunday on Lloyd St: Bakersfield police No other details of the incident were released. The Kern County Coroners Office will determine a cause and manner of death. The Kern County District Attorneys Office and prison officials are investigating the homicide. Dominguez was serving a three-year sentence for extortion by means of force or threat, assault in relation to street gang activity. Padilla, is serving a 22-year sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with an enhancement for fleeing the scene. Landeros is serving a 16-year sentence for second degree robbery with an enhancement for using a firearm during the crime. Wasco State Prison houses approximately 3,300 inmates, officials said. The prison opened in 1991. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Election workers process ballots at the Arapahoe County Elections Facility in Littleton, Colorado. (Carl Payne, for Colorado Newsline) Election officials in Washington County must provide voters who vote by mail notice if their ballot will not be counted because of a paperwork error and allow them to cast a provisional ballot on election day, a county judge has ruled. Washington County Judge Brandon P. Neuman granted an injunction sought by voting rights groups to block a policy of not informing voters if their ballot was rejected because of an error that the county Board of Elections adopted just before the April primary. The groups claimed the policy disenfranchised voters by effectively hiding from them the fact that their votes would not be counted and denying them the opportunity to cast provisional ballots. It should be a no-brainer that voters are notified if they make a mistake on their mail-in ballot packet and have the option to cast a provisional ballot. This decision helps to ensure that every voter understands their rights and has the opportunity to correct any errors, said Sarah Martik, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, a plaintiff in the case. Washington County Board of Commissioners Chairman Nick Sherman said in a statement that Neumans decision was the most egregious case of legislating from the bench Sherman had ever seen. He added that state law precludes the handling or canvassing of mail-in ballots before 7 a.m. on election day. This is a page out of the national Democratic Party handbook. When they dont agree with a state law, they weaponize the ACLU and find a liberal judge to rule in their favor. Its unconstitutional and un-American, Sherman, a Republican, said in the statement. He said county officials are considering their next steps. Whether mail-in ballots should be counted with mistakes on the declaration that voters must complete on the outside of the return envelope has been a perennial issue in Pennsylvania elections since the state first allowed no-excuse voting by mail in 2020. In a series of challenges and decisions in state and federal court, jurists have found that the law, known as Act 77, is clear that voters must sign and date their ballots. A federal district court judge found last year that the date requirement violated the Civil Rights Acts ban on denying anyone from voting because of an immaterial paperwork error. The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down that decision, ruling that provision only applies when the state is determining who may vote, and not to rules that govern how a ballot must be cast to be counted. The ACLU earlier this month filed an appeal in Pennsylvanias Commonwealth Court asserting that the date requirement violates the state constitution. In his 28-page opinion Friday, Neuman found that the Pennsylvania Legislature included in the state Election Code the ability for voters to challenge a decision by the canvass board that determines whether mail-in ballots can be counted. The policy adopted by the Washington County Board of Elections clearly did not give notice to any elector whose mail-in packet had an error and that their ballot would not be counted, Neuman wrote. The elector has a statutory right to challenge the decision of the canvass board. This challenge may not ultimately be successful; however, the elector still has a right to be heard by a fair and impartial tribunal. Neumans order directs the Board of Elections to notify voters whose mail ballots are set aside for disqualifying errors so that they have a chance to challenge the canvass boards decision. The order also directs the county to accurately enter the status of mail-in ballots returned to the county in the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) and inform the voter of the status if they inquire. The Election Code also allows voters who request a mail-in ballot but are listed as having not voted in the register at their polling place to cast a provisional ballot, Neumans decision notes. While the legislature and the law do not define the word voted, Neuman said based on the information provided to the court, he found that a person whose mail-in ballot is set aside has not voted. The Washington County Board of Elections shall indicate in each district poll register a person whose mail-in packet is being segregated as a person who has not voted, allowing the individual to submit a provisional ballot at the polls, Neuman wrote. The ruling stems from a complaint filed in July by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania on behalf of seven voters and local advocacy groups the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Washington Branch NAACP. The suit alleged that the countys policy had disenfranchised 249 voters whose mail-in ballots had been rejected for errors on the ballots outer declaration envelope, such as for writing an incomplete date, or failing to sign and date the envelope in the correct place. Had county officials correctly coded the rejected mail-in ballots into the states SURE ballot tracking database, the suit alleges, the voters would have been notified their ballots had been rejected, and could have voted by provisional ballot. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) DC Fire and EMS (DCFD) crews were at the scene of a fire in Northeast, which started just before 3 p.m. on Monday. Crews responded to a two-story building in the 2500 block of Bladensburg Road NE. There, units found a fire in the basement and first floor. EMS units evaluated one person at the scene, who declined further treatment. The basement fire proved difficult to control, so firefighters were removed from the structure and prepared using a cellar pipe to attack the fire. Husband of missing Manassas Park mom Mamta Kafle Bhatt denied bond Two engines and another truck were requested to help at the scene. Eventually, the fire broke through to the first floor, leading crews to conduct an exterior defensive attack. Just after 4:40 p.m., DCFD said they were using a variety of large water streams to attack the fire from outside. They breached the walls to the basement and applied water through those holes to tackle the fire in the lower level. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. GEDDES, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) As part of Law Enforcement Day at the New York State Fair, a ceremony honoring the fallen Law Enforcement heroes was held. The ceremony took place at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Horticulture Building. Among the officers honored were Syracuse Police Officer Michael Jensen and Lieutenant Michael Hoosock from the Onondaga County Sheriffs Office who were killed in the line of duty in April 2024. That shooting from April 14th is just a wound thats not going to heal. Not now, not ever, said Sheriff Toby Shelley, Onondaga County Sheriffs Office. It was an emotional day for local law enforcement leaders as they remember their own. The public should really be grateful that men like Hoosock and Michael Jensen continue to raise their hands and take the oath to protect and serve because if they stop doing that there will be complete chaos and crime, said Chief Joe Cecile, Syracuse Police Department. Lt. Hoosock and officer Jensen are now amongst the hundreds of names at the veterans memorial, a permanent reminder of their service and sacrifice. Watch the entire ceremony below Fallen Heroes Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSYR. COLOMBO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Hambantota International Port (HIP) has recorded a substantial increase in its operational volumes, achieving a 40 percent growth so far in 2024, Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) said in a press statement on Monday. This figure could reach 50 percent by the end of the year, it said. Lance Zuo, general manager of commercial and marketing, said this demonstrates HIPG's expertise in networking and marketing, managing port operations, and HIP's ability to efficiently handle rising volumes. This achievement not only showcases the port's effectiveness but HIPG's commitment to its continuous development, in terms of increased efficiencies, and strategic investments in infrastructure and services, he said. HIPG said significant growth has been noted in Bulk/Break-bulk, gas, marine services, and container segments, solidifying Hambantota Port's position as a key player in the maritime market. The port is increasingly recognized for its strategic location and efficient services, making it a preferred destination for transshipment and logistical services, said HIPG. Former President Trump will address the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) Monday afternoon at the organizations conference, currently underway in Detroit. Officers from each states Army and Air National Guard, Defense Department officials and policy makers attend this annual gathering of the NGAUS, a nonprofit lobby group. Earlier today, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives on Aug. 26, 2021, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. The former president has blamed President Biden for their deaths. Both Biden and Vice President Harris on Monday mourned the fallen service members on the anniversary of the deadly suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Watch the video replay above. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Mike Thurston submitted his resignation on Aug. 16, three days after losing a heated race for the county's top prosecutor job. Voters supported Leslie Boese, also a deputy DA in Waukesha and Thurston's coworker, to be the Republican nominee for district attorney during the Aug. 13 partisan primary. Boese earned 52% of the vote to Thurston's 48%. Boese will be the lone candidate on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election, as Boese and Thurston, both Republicans, were the only ones vying for the position. In his resignation letter, Thurston said, "With new leadership comes a new vision for the Office. That vision must be implemented now. I respect that fact and dont want to hinder it in any way." Thurston has been with the office for nine years, most recently leading the sensitive crimes unit, which prosecutes domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault cases. He previously worked as a prosecutor in Milwaukee County as well as Rockford, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia. "Its been an honor to serve the residents of Waukesha County these past nine years," Thurston wrote. "We have fought so hard for our victims and our law enforcement partners, and have achieved many meaningful results." Thurston's last day in the office will be Tuesday, Aug. 27. "Thanks for the opportunity. I will always wish the best for this Office," he wrote. Boese, a lifelong county resident, has been with the county's District Attorney's Office for 29 years, leading the drug unit for the past eight years. She could not be reached for comment on Tuesday evening. Waukesha County's DA race was one of four competitive district attorney races out of 71 in the state this year, according to the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. Both Thurston and Boese's campaigns centered on crime from Milwaukee. A Journal Sentinel Analysis dug deeper. Both Thurston and Boese had similar campaign messaging about the need to fight rising crime in Waukesha County caused by people from Milwaukee. At a June 19 debate held by the Republican Party of Waukesha County, the two candidates tried to outdo one another over who would be tougher on crime from Milwaukee, saying it was the biggest concern facing Waukesha County. A Journal Sentinel analysis of five years of Waukesha County court data found more Waukesha County residents were charged with felony and misdemeanor cases than Milwaukee County residents. Three-quarters of the court cases in Waukesha County involving Milwaukee County residents were for lower-level traffic and misdemeanor offenses. Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Waukesha County Deputy DA Mike Thurston resigns after primary loss WCBS 880 radio will send its final transmission at midnight after 57 years of delivering breaking crime news, political happenings and subway delays to New Yorkers, many of whom now rely on apps. Marla [Diamond] and Sean [Adams] tell compelling stories in less time than most people spend ordering their coffee, reflected former 880 Newsradio journalist Peter Haskell in an X post Saturday. Tom [Kaminski] has been calm and descriptive, reporting on countless big stories from the chopper, including 9/11. Whenever I covered someone or something, I wanted to do the story justice. To tell it in a way that people could relate to and care about. When done well, thats the magic of radio, Haskell said. WCBS 880 radio will end its transmission and retire its iconic call letters Sunday. @wcbs880/X WCBSs Marla Diamond and Steve Scott helped bring the news to millions of New Yorkers. @wcbs880/X Kaminski spent nearly 36 years at the station reporting traffic delays from an iconic news chopper and not without the occasional Bruce Springsteen reference from thousands of feet in the air. All I can say is thank you, Kaminski said in a statement. Its been a privilege to try to get you from point A to point B as quickly as possible. I have never taken that responsibility lightly, I have never taken that privilege for granted, and Im grateful for every minute weve spent together. The station will relaunch as WHSQ-AM ESPN New York on Aug. 26 leaving 1010 WINS as the New York markets remaining all-news format station. Both WCBS and WINS are owned by Audacy. ESPN will air New York Mets games on WHSQ. David Seifman, former City Hall Bureau chief for The Post, said WCBS 880 was a driving force in covering the mayor and city council. That coverage included 880 journalist Rich Lambs weekly Ask the Mayor radio program, which started under former Mayor Rudy Giuiani and continued through Mike Bloombergs tenure. Rich Lamb was a major player, Seifman said. The station will relaunch as WHSQ-AM, ESPN New York on Aug. 26. @wcbs880/X Lamb told The Post that when the stations former chief political reporter, Steve Flanders, suggested he audition for a job there, I thought it was a ridiculous idea. But It worked out, and I walked away 43 years later, Lamb said in an email. [I] did nightsides for 12 years, covered murders, fires, plane crashes, newspaper strikes, subway strikes, cop and firefighter funerals, court cases, budget crises and of course Nathans hot dog eating contests, but actually ate Grays Papaya dogs at night, Lamb quipped. I met con men, comedians, brilliant scientists, PR geniuses, authors, bodega owners, restaurateurs, presidents, politicians, ordinary New Yorkers and other saints. I froze at winter stakeouts, baked on summer subway platforms, had rain run down my back, and was held up at gunpoint once, he recalled. I mourn the passing of this greatest of all news radio stations, for those who have lost their journalism jobs, but also for the American public, which is facing a critical time of judgment hinging on fair and accurate delivery of information which WCBS always strove to deliver. The station held a three-hour special Thursday eulogizing its impact on countless listeners in New York and beyond. As I was growing up in Long Island, I couldnt read the newspaper because Im legally blind, and the television had not embraced the news the way it has today, former New York Gov. David Paterson said during the retrospective. I just thought that the coverage was more extensive, Paterson said, noting he heard the news of Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination from the station. The stations passing will mark the end of a golden era of news radio in the Big Apple. @SteveScottNEWS / X [It was] big moments, where my first understanding of it came from listening to this station. Im really sorry that this is going away. During its announcement, Audacy cited headwinds facing local journalism nationwide as the reason behind the stations closure. More than 20 staff members were laid off as a result, the Writers Guild of America East told the New York Times. Seifman said that before major media cutbacks, there would be reporters from six different radio stations attending City Hall press conferences. They were part of the culture, he said. Not so much now. The announcement of the stations closure came days after the WNYC newsroom announced an 8% reduction in staff all part of a larger landscape of consolidating local newspapers and downsizing newsrooms across the US. In a statement, the Writers Guild of America East which represents WCBS journalists denounced WCBS 880s closure as another example of consolidation by a major media conglomerate, which ultimately deprives the public of critical local news stories with different perspectives. Audacys decision is even more egregious given that this is a critical election year, the guild added. This is a giant loss for New York City and the news industry at large. GRAY, Tenn. (WJHL) A man who allegedly grabbed a victim by the throat and threatened to kill two people was arrested in Gray, the Washington County, Tennessee Sheriffs Office (WCSO) reports. According to a news release from the WCSO, Kishon Marqeise Skinner, 24, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated domestic assault following the Aug. 23 arrest. The release said deputies responded to a call on Old Stage Road at around 8:30 p.m. that night. Victims told police that Skinner had arrived at the residence and after an argument on the porch, grabbed one victim by the throat. JCPD: Alleged carjacker apprehended after wrong-way crash on Bristol Highway The victim reportedly retreated inside and locked the front door, to which Skinner went around to another exterior door and entered the home, according to the release. Skinner then pointed a handgun and threatened to kill two occupants of the residence, the release states. The sheriffs office said the victims were able to get Skinner to leave the residence, but he continued to threaten them and kick vehicles in the driveway. The release said deputies then arrived on the scene and began searching the area for Skinner. The release said Skinner returned to the residence and allegedly threatened a third person in the driveway with a handgun, and that person managed to grab the firearm from him. The sheriffs office said deputies secured the firearm and transported Skinner to the Washington County Detention Center, where he was held without bond until his Monday court appearance. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) After a weekend filled with OVI checkpoints and saturation patrols, the results are in for the two checkpoints held in Austintown. Members of the Mahoning County OVI Task Force in collaboration with Ohio State Highway Patrol held checkpoints in the 4500 block of New Road and the 1000 block of S. Racoon Road Friday night through early Saturday morning. The task force reported a total of 307 vehicles passing through the checkpoints with seven directed into a diversion area for further investigation. The following enforcement was a result: 2 OVI arrests 1 summons for driving under suspension 2 summons for no operators license 1 arrest on a failure to appear warrant 1 citation for improper backing 1 citation for marked lanes 1 citation for reckless operation 1 summons for curfew 1 summons for obstruction The Ohio State Highway Patrol also held an OVI checkpoint in on Parkman Road in Warren Township Saturday night, which resulted in one arrest for OVI. That checkpoint resulted in contact with 179 drivers, OSHP reported. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. A Welshman spearheading a campaign to limit tourism to Tenerife has dismissed accusations he is a hypocrite. Brian Harrison is the secretary general of Salvar La Tejita, which campaigns to limit the number of tourists allowed to visit Tenerife, one of Spains largest Canary Islands. What started out in 2016 as a protest against a new hotel being built in south Tenerife near where Brian lives, Salvar La Tejita has become a wider cog in the anti-tourism movement that has swept across Spain. Residents have turned out in their thousands this summer to protest against the current intake of tourists. At the most extreme demonstrations, tourists in Barcelona were sprayed with water pistols as protesters chanted no tourists here. Dont you think its a bit hypocritical? is the main question Im asked, Mr Harrison said with a strong Welsh accent. The 57-year-old engineer was born and raised in Bridgend, South Wales, and moved to Spain after university. Ive never really felt like I belonged anywhere, he said. I didnt just go on holiday to Spain and stay there, I made a plan to move here when I was in my early twenties and Ive lived here for most of my life, he said. Mr Harrison understands the irony of his involvement in the anti-tourism movement but believes he is entitled to take part given the number of years he has lived in Spain. Why wouldnt anyone want to take care of a place theyve lived in for over 30 years? Mr Harrison said. Brian Harrison has denied accusations his campaign group is 'anti-tourist' Tourism data shows 11 million international passengers visited Spain in July, with 2.6 million of those coming from the United Kingdom - a 4.6 per cent increase on the year before. Mr Harrison denies accusations his group is expressly anti-tourist. Daniel Duque, 46, the spokesman for Salvar La Tejita, said the movement is aimed at politicians who he claims have allowed visitor levels to reach breaking point. We know we owe a lot to tourists but it has to change. We have to leave behind the tourism of quantity and replace it with the tourism of quality, he said. While he doesnt condone the actions of activists in places like Barcelona, who have gone so far as to publicly identify tourists and douse them with water pistols, Mr Harrison said he understands how the movement has turned extreme. He points to some of the main issues, such as the lack of affordable housing and rising cost of living, which locals say are a direct result of mass tourism. One report said that nine in 10 adults under 30 in Andalusia cannot afford to move out of their parents home. If politicians carry on ignoring what the public are demanding, theres going to be a public uprising, he said. But Mr Duque does not think the movement is undermined by having a Welshman as one of the faces of the campaign. Brian is one of the most active members of the association. Its better for us that he is British because it dispels the myth that all British people want more tourists, said Mr Duque. Mr Harrison has learnt to brush off the criticism that comes his way and is braced for more to come. Ive got no plans to leave here, and whilst Im here, Ill fit in with the culture, but I dont feel obliged to do it. I dont feel obliged to be British either. If I was in Australia, if I was in Bali, Id do the same, he said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. West Allis police are seen approaching two men after a police pursuit which resulted in the vehicle crashing through a fence and falling off the Lincoln Avenue bridge over Interstate 894. A vehicle being pursued by West Allis police crashed through a fence and plunged off of the Lincoln Avenue bridge, landing on the interstate below. The driver of the vehicle was arrested and two police officers were injured in the incident. At 11:58 p.m. Sunday, West Allis police saw a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed near the 6700 block of West Greenfield Avenue and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver fled and entered Interstate 894 southbound at West Greenfield Avenue, according to the West Allis Police Department. The vehicle exited I-894 at West Lincoln Avenue, attempted to make a left turn to go east, and lost control, crashing through the overpass fence, launching off the bridge and landing on the highway. The bridge's height is 22 feet, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. More: A pickup truck fell 70 feet off Milwaukee's Zoo Interchange. The driver survived. The crash prompted the Milwaukee County Sherriff's Office to shut down all lanes on I-894, according to a sheriff's office post on X, formerly Twitter. The incident was cleared at 12:43 a.m., according to WisDOT traffic notifications. FULL FREEWAY CLOSURE UNDERWAY I-894 @ LINCOLN AVE: West Allis PD was involved in a pursuit w/ a vehicle on the freeway, vehicle exited to go EB on Lincoln but crashed into the overpass fence, rolling & landing on the freeway. All traffic is being diverted off 894, WB on Lincoln. Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office (@MilwCoSheriff) August 26, 2024 Both suspects, two men, were tasered prior to the crash, according to police. The driver, a 24-year-old man from Milwaukee, was arrested on suspicion of OWI-causing an injury, fleeing police, second-degree reckless endangerment and possession of THC. The passenger, an 18-year-old Milwaukee man, was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries from the crash. He was not arrested, but was given a citation for possession of THC. The two injured officers were also taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries following the incident. One officer was injured while attempting to get to the crashed vehicle on foot and the other was injured assisting the first officer. Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Car crashes through overpass fence in West Allis and lands on I-894 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The Howard R. Levine Foundation continues its efforts to support a west Charlotte community. The Renaissance West Community Initiative announced Monday a $1 million gift from the Levine Foundation, which will be directed to the new Educational Pipeline Initiative. It aims to advance RenWests mission with a focus on quality education, housing stability, health and wellness and increased social mobility in the former Boulevard Homes Apartments. West Charlotte school floods ahead of fall semester, classes relocated for 8 weeks: CMS For many years, the Howard R. Levine Foundation has been a dedicated partner in our community, said William H. Mack McDonald, RenWests chief executive officer. They believe in our multigenerational, neighborhood-based work, steeped in opportunity. This gift continues their strong legacy of commitment to our neighbors success. The Howard R. Levine Foundation was established in 2010 as a donor-advised fund held at Foundation for the Carolinas. RenWest says the gift will bolster efforts to provide reliable childcare, recruit and retain high-performance teachers, and provide out-of-school-time academic support for residents of the Renaissance and Little Rock neighborhoods along West Boulevard. The 334-unit Renaissance homes were redeveloped in 2016 by Laurel Street and Inlivian. The organization ensures the areas youngest students begin at the Renaissance West PreK-8 school, thus eliminating learning gaps, providing a stable childcare environment for working parents and reducing stress for families striving to improve their socioeconomic status. Previously, another $1 million donation underwrote the $15 million comprehensive campaign that funded the construction and operating costs of the Howard Levine Child Development Center (HLCDC) at the front of the community, as well as additional programs and services for families within Renaissance West. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) Heres a look at todays top stories with KELOLAND On the Go. The Sioux Falls Police Department is investigating a homicide that occurred at Dunham Park. More information is expected at police briefing, which will be livestreamed on keloland.com. Sioux Falls Police investigate homicide at Dunham Park We now know the name of the 64-year-old man from Wagner who died in a crash Wednesday morning near Pukwana. A man was driving a truck west on I-90 when the car behind him hit the back of his truck causing him to lose control. Names released in Pukwana fatal crash A Sioux Falls teenager put out a call for help for his Eagle Scout project this weekend, and the community responded in a big way. Cooper Rey wants to create an online database for veterans buried in Sioux Falls. How you can help document veteran headstones There is a war on drugs underway in KELOLAND. Even the nations top law enforcement official, the Attorney General of the United States, knows it is a growing problem in South Dakota. Merrick Garland met with state and local law enforcement officers in mid-August and told them the U.S. Attorneys office in South Dakota was well aware of the problem. Supply of dangerous Fentanyl on the rise in KELOLAND For the latest top stories from KELOLAND This Morning, download our news 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 KELOLAND.com. WELLINGTON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government has moved to address the serious risk to energy security and affordability, "New Zealand currently has an energy shortage. The lakes are low, the sun hasn't been shining, the wind hasn't been blowing, and we have an inadequate supply of natural gas to meet demand," Energy Minister Simeon Brown said on Monday. That has led to New Zealand currently having the highest wholesale electricity prices of any of the countries New Zealand normally compared itself to, Brown said, adding that it is devastating for New Zealand's manufacturing and export sectors. The cabinet has committed to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, with legislation passed by the end of 2024, and remove regulatory barriers to the construction of critically needed facilities to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a stop gap. Other measures include easing restrictions on electricity lines companies owning generation, ensuring access for generator-retailers to hydro contingency, and improving electricity market regulation. Brown said New Zealand's natural gas production dropped by 12.5 percent in 2023 and by a further 27.8 percent for the first three months of 2024, creating a nationwide shortage and resulting in reductions in manufacturing output, and electricity generators resorting to more coal and diesel to power the country's electricity system. Where Columbus stands after data leak: what you should know Where Columbus stands after data leak: what you should know View a previous report on the search for patient zero in the video player above. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) After Columbus residents were hammered with the revelation they could be affected by discoveries on the dark web, thousands have taken the city up on an offer of protection. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginthers office confirmed that as of Monday, 8,924 people had signed up for the free credit monitoring offered by the city. The sign-ups come after the Rhysida ransomware group leaked over three terabytes of stolen data from city servers onto the dark web, including files with personal information of employees and residents alike. A spokeswoman did not specify if that number was just citizens, workers or a mixture of both. The city originally rolled out credit monitoring for just employees as a precaution, after Columbus police officers came forward with claims their bank accounts had been hacked. But once cybersecurity expert Connor Goodwolf provided NBC4 with a sample of leaked data from the dark web, it became clear the damage extended to residents as well. Columbus, in turn, extended their offer of credit monitoring to anyone affected. The city and Experian the credit bureau providing the monitoring have both assured that taking up the offer doesnt exclude anyone from taking legal action over the leak. Meanwhile, two class-action lawsuits have piled on the city over its handling of the ransomware attack, inviting anyone affected to join their cause. Where did it start? Through the course of the ransomware attacks aftermath, NBC4 has asked the mayors office if investigators have found patient zero, or the originating device where hackers first gained entry. SecureCyber CEO Shawn Waldman called this a necessity in stopping hacks, because if the original hole isnt plugged, the group could start the attack over again. Ginther and his team have given three answers to that question: On Aug. 13, Ginther said, No, I think that all comes about throughout the investigation. On Aug. 17, Ginther replied, I dont know if we have yet as part of the ongoing investigation and probably not know that for some time. On Aug. 19, the mayors office said, The patient zero question is still under investigation. When Ginther first shared that the citys July 18 cybersecurity incident was a ransomware attack, he mentioned that the Rhysida ransomware group first gained access when someone downloaded a .zip file from a website. But the mayor has never named the person responsible, nor has he shared their title or department they were in, or what access they had. Who is affected? The full scope of the leaked data remains unknown, partially because of the sheer size of what was uploaded by Rhysida, as well as the fact that some of the data is encrypted. But Goodwolf has told NBC4 he is downloading more portions of the leak and that there are keys to unencrypt certain files in the dump as well. From the data that Goodwolf has parsed so far, anyones information could potentially have been leaked if they meet one of the conditions below: Anyone who went within the past two decades to Columbus City Hall for something like a city council meeting. Some residents have found their data was leaked from visiting certain other city buildings as well. Anyone who may have been a victim or suspect in a case involving City Attorney Zach Klein, as his offices database was found in the leak. This part of the breach contains records for at least 215,372 defendants cases. City employees and their emergency contacts who used the Attendance Enterprise employee portal from from 2004 to 2016, since its database was recovered as well. Anyone who was a victim including if they died of an arson fire, since records from 2014 to 2023 from the Columbus Division of Fires Firehouse database were found in the leak. Anyone who filed for a civil protection order in Columbus, since information on 5,700 protective orders was included in the leak. Anyone who was a witness or suspect in a case involving juveniles, since unsealed records from those incidents contained 12,000 to 13,000 names. What actions can be taken? Ginther has shared a deadline of Nov. 29 to sign up for the free credit monitoring offered by the city. Since the leak has also been confirmed to affect minors, a link for them has also been added to the citys webpage for getting the deal from Experian. Waldman has said one of the worst outcomes of a data breach can include when a bad actor takes a line of credit out in a victims name. He stressed the importance of taking an immediate precaution to help prevent that from happening. I would contact all three credit bureaus and do whats called freezing your credit, Waldman said. Now, that should be done regardless. Even if youre not part of an incident, everyone should have their credit frozen. If you go to like, buy a new car or buy a house or something, it really just takes minutes to thaw your credit. Contact each of the three major credit reporting agencies at the following links: Waldman added that watching bank account activity is another helpful step. If youve got notifications that you can turn on, like your credit cards and your bank accounts, have them start notifying you about every transaction, Waldman said. That way you get a heads-up. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Made in Naples since the first half of the 19th century, the margherita pizza represents the city's culinary past, present and future. Photograph by Francesco Lastrucci This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). According to the Neapolitan proverb meglio muri sazzio ca campa diuno, its better to die full than live hungry. Eating and drinking here is a ritual thats been linking the citys neighbourhoods for centuries in the streets in the form of pizza al portafoglio, on the tables of trattorias as a plate of pasta, potatoes and provola cheese and at the counter of bars serving espresso all day long. Neapolitan food is part of the vitality of the city, and one of its defining aspects. Naples is also the Italian city thats evolved most in recent decades, notably when it comes to its food and drink. Diners enjoy an endless array of options, including fusion food, fine dining and Neapolitan street food the latter a smorgasbord spanning such delicacies as the panino napoletano (a soft-bread sandwich filled with cured meats and cheeses), parigina (stuffed pizza) and fried pizza from restaurants such as of La Masardona on Piazza Vittoria. The city street of Naples are teeming with cafe courtyards, Neapolitan street food stalls and fine dining experiences. Photograph by Awl Images Many of the avant-garde dishes served at Sustanza are inspired by Naples' culinary history for a fine dining experience. Photograph by Salvatore Attanasio Neapolitan chefs who flexed their muscles overseas are returning. Among them are Marco Ambrosino, whose Mediterranean restaurant, Sustanza, opened last May, and Gianluca DAgostino previously of Londons Locanda Locatelli with his fun new restaurant and tapas bar, Joca. Nothing, of course, will usurp pizza as the traditional soul of Naples, but new chefs are doing their best to aid its evolution. At Bro Pizzeria, a family of pizzaioli (pizza makers) has spent five generations perfecting the crispest crust. Standout varieties include cosacca (topped with tomato sauce and pecorino) and seasonal pizzas such as the assoluto di zucca, topped with pumpkin cooked four ways. Neapolitan cuisine began as a blend of ideas and ingredients, the result of centuries of interchange between people coming and going from this once-powerful port city. It was here that the South American tomato became the most Italian of fruits. Today, Chinese and Japanese cuisines are being grafted with Neapolitan dishes to produce, perhaps surprisingly, perfect fusion food. For example, Mimi Alla Ferrovia, one of Naples historic trattorias, serves ragu alla Genovese in a bao bun filled with five-hour-stewed beef, topped with a mustard- and basil-infused caesar sauce. Yes, this is the gateway to the Amalfi Coast and the archeological site of Pompeii, but Naples is also a city thats fast transforming into one of the worlds most intriguing gastronomic destinations, a place to be discovered bite by bite while orderly chaos and baroque wonders unfold around you. How to spend a day in Sanita and the historic centre On the northern fringes of the citys historic centre, Sanita once a run-down district has experienced a renaissance through food. Over the past 10 years, new restaurants, such as Ciro Olivas Pasticceria Poppella pizzeria and Isabella De Cham Pizza Fritta, have started to bring in Neapolitans and tourists, reshaping Sanitas character, while pizza place Concettina ai Tre Santi began a policy of only employing from the immediate area and funding cookery classes for underprivileged local children. Breakfast is a must at Pasticceria Poppella, which sells a modern classic of Neapolitan pastries, the fiocco di neve (snowflake), icing sugar-dusted dough balls filled with ricotta. Arguably Naples' most famed street food desert, the ricotta-filled snowflake pastry, was developed by Pasticceria Poppella in 2015. Photograph by Francesco Lastrucci Using recipes dating back to the 17th century, Sfogliatelle Attansio is one of the few places you can find a classic sfogliatelle pastry in Naples. Photograph by Letizia Cigliutti Explore busy streets and alleys including Via San Gregorio Armeno, where you can buy a cornetto, the Neapolitan chilli-shaped good luck charm which adorns everything from keyrings to jewellery. Walk towards the Duomo di Napoli, which houses the revered relic of San Gennaro. Across the street youll find Januarius, a trattoria that recently earned its first Michelin star. Its noted for its traditional Campania-style cuisine, including zito spezzato alla genovese (pasta in a rich beef and onion ragu) and baccala con scarola (salt cod with Neapolitan-style chicory). Before you leave, stock up on charcuterie and cheese at the restaurants delicatessen. On Spaccanapoli, the street that cuts the city in two, Cornogelato sells excellent gelato. Or head for an aperitif at Hotel Piazza Bellinis pretty courtyard bar; nearby La Fesseria Street Bar does a great pummarola (a bloody mary made with tequila and mezcal instead of vodka). On buzzy Piazza San Domenico, Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria sells small fried pizzas, including a perfect marinara with organic tomato, basil, oregano and garlic. How to spend a day on the stairs and the subway Naples is woven with more than 200 staircases and stairways, linking various areas of this hilly city. Fuel up for a day exploring them at Ventimetriquadri, which, as its name suggests, is an intimate, 20-by-four-metre space. Order one of its excellent speciality espresso or pour-over coffees, and linger here in the affluent hilltop district of Vomero where you can gaze across the city, as far as the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, then explore the medieval fortress Castel SantElmo. From here, it takes 20 minutes to descend via the Pedamentina, a system of 414 steps to Corso Vittorio Emanuele to visit its high-end boutiques and specialist shops, including bakery Antica Forneria Molettieri, whose puff pastry prussiane biscuits are the standout. Ride the funicular back up to Vomero to wander through the parkland surrounding Villa Floridiana, one of Naples few remaining neo-classical residences. Then order pasta with lentils at nearby Trattoria Buatta, which also has a great wine list and a cosy setting in an authentic Neapolitan basso (a small, ground-floor apartment). Many locals purchase fresh produce from Pignasecca, Naples' largest food market. Photograph by Enrico Della Pietra, Getty Images Take the metro from nearby Piazza Vanvitelli directly to Toledo: one of the worlds most theatrical underground stations, whose psychedelic walls and ceilings mean it resembles a giant, ethereal swimming pool. This is the jumping-off point for Pignasecca, the citys largest market, whose Neapolitan smells and colours unfold through narrow alleys full of locals shopping for fish, fruit and vegetables (dont miss the Amalfi Coast lemons). At Friggitoria Fiorenzano, sample fritto misto (fried seafood) and offal dishes such as o per e o musso, a salad of pigs feet, calfs snout and tripe seasoned with plenty of salt and lemon one of Italys oldest dishes. For dinner, opt for fine dining at Michelasso, near the Galleria Umberto I shopping arcade. The restaurant reinterprets classics like ziti spezzati alla genovese, done here with a touch of cinnamon. Or hop in a taxi to another pizza pilgrimage spot, Diego Vitagliano, next to the port, where the so-called king of dough perfects pizzas, including specials topped with ragu. Where to find the best pizza in Naples Reflected in their five different types of margherita, Concettina ai Tre Santi uses dough made from wheats and grains for more digestible qualities. Photograph by Francesco Lastrucci Arguably the worlds best-known pizza, the margherita has been made in Naples since the first half of the 19th century. The mastunicola, which is topped with oregano, lard and basil, dates back even further, as far as 1600. Innovations made over time are more tweaks than reinventions, and pizza represents the citys culinary past, present and future. Masters of the art dedicate years to working out just how much water works best, changing flour types and cooking times to create different doughs. Current innovators, the Salvo brothers, make classic varieties at Pizzeria Salvo in the Chiaia district, but use two types of flour and seasonal ingredients. Six different varieties of regional tomato top its Pizza ai 6 Pomodori, while the Dream Meat has fior di latte dAgerola cheese, baby onion, minced Angus beef, grated lemon peel, Sarawak pepper and basil. Ciro Olivas pizzeria, Concettina ai Tre Santi, uses dough made with wheats and grains selected for their more digestible qualities. And Ciros deep dive into dough specifics has resulted in no fewer than five different types of margherita on the menu. Another meeting of science and art is found at Ciro Salvos 50 Kalo, whose generous use of water in the dough makes for an extremely light crust. Published in Issue 24 (summer 2024) of Food by National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only). The welcome screen for the OpenAI ChatGPT app is displayed on a laptop screen in a photo illustration. In the absence of federal action, states are increasingly striking out on their own to regulate artificial intelligence and other automated systems. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) The desire for artificial intelligence skills in new hires has exploded over the last five years, and continues to be a priority for hiring managers across nearly every industry, data from Stanford Universitys annual AI Index Report found. In 2023, 1.6% of all United States-based jobs required AI skills, a slight dip from the 2% posted in 2022. The decrease comes after many years of growing interest in artificial intelligence, and is likely attributed to hiring slowdowns, freezes or layoffs at major tech companies like Amazon, Deloitte and Capital One in 2023, the report said. The numbers are still greatly up from just a few years ago, and in 2023, thousands of jobs across every industry required AI skills. What do those AI jobs look like? And where are they based, exactly? Generative AI skills, or the ability to build algorithms that produce text, images or other data when prompted, were sought after most, with nearly 60% of AI-related jobs requiring those skills. Large language modeling, or building technology that can generate and translate text, was second in demand, with 18% of AI jobs citing the need for those skills. Those skills were followed by ChatGPT knowledge, prompt engineering, or training AI, and two other specific machine learning skills. The industries that require these skills run the gamut the information industry ranked first with 4.63% of jobs while professional, scientific and technical services came in second with 3.33%. The financial and insurance industries followed with 2.94%, and manufacturing came in fourth with 2.48%. Public administration jobs, education jobs, management and utilities jobs all sought AI skills in 1- 2% of their open roles, while agriculture, mining, wholesale trade, real estate, transportation, warehousing, retail trade and waste management sought AI skills in 0.4-0.85% of their jobs. Though AI jobs are concentrated in some areas of the country, nearly every U.S. state had thousands of AI-specific jobs in 2023, the report found. California home to Silicon Valley had 15.3%, or 70,630 of the countrys AI-related jobs posted in 2023. It was followed by Texas at 7.9%, or 36,413 jobs. Virginia was third, with 5.3%, or 24,417 of AI jobs. Based on population, Washington state had the highest percentage of people in AI jobs, with California in second, and New York in third. Montana, Wyoming and West Virginia were the only states with fewer than 1,000 open roles requiring AI, but because of population sizes, AI jobs still made up 0.75%, 0.95% and 0.46% of all of the states open roles last year. Though the number of jobs dipped from 2022 to 2023, the adoption of AI technologies across business operations has not. In 2017, 20% of businesses reported that they had begun using AI for at least one function of their work. In 2022, 50% of businesses said they had, and that number reached 55% in 2023. For those that have incorporated AI tools into their businesses, its making their workers more productive, the report found. The report said studies have shown that AI tools have allowed workers to complete tasks more quickly and have improved the quality of their work. The research suggested that AI could be also capable of increasings workers skills called upskilling the report found. The report acknowledges that with all the technological advances that the AI industry has seen in the last five years, there are still many unknowns. The U.S. is still awaiting federal AI legislation, while states make their own regulations and laws. The Stanford report predicts two futures for the trajectory of the technology one in which the technology continues to develop and increase productivity, but theres a possibility that its used for good and bad uses. In another future, without proper research and development, the adoption of AI technologies could be constrained, researchers said. They are stepping in to encourage the upside, the report said of government bodies. Such as funding university R&D and incentivizing private investment. Governments are also aiming to manage the potential downsides, such as impacts on employment, privacy concerns, misinformation, and intellectual property rights. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The White House National Security Council's Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby emphasised at an online briefing on Monday, 26 August, that the United States will continue to help Ukraine strengthen its air defence and energy system after Russia's large-scale attack on Ukraine, and called the attack a "classic move in the strategy" of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Source: European Pravda Details: Kirby said that the Russians are targeting energy infrastructure, especially since it's going to get colder soon and the people of Ukraine will need heat. According to Kirby, the latest Russian attack is a classic move in Vladimir Putin's strategy. The White House official added that the United States is focused on further strengthening Ukrainian air defence. The government is focused on finding interceptors and systems not only from the United States, but also from allies and partners, Kirby said, recalling the delivery of five Patriot air defence systems that was announced at the NATO summit. He also said that the United States is working with Ukraine to strengthen its energy infrastructure. The spokesperson said that although that's a big part of this process, this is not just about protecting certain locations, and elaborated that the US needs to guarantee that Ukraine has a safety margin, a reserve, and supply chains, so that the countrys energy infrastructure continues to operate even if it suffers attacks. Background: On 26 August Russia launched 236 aerial weapons on Ukraine. Ukraine's air defence downed 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. The large-scale Russian attack was followed by EU diplomat Josep Borrell once again calling for the lifting of all existing restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons to strike Russian military targets. Support UP or become our patron! In her recent remarks at the Democratic National Convention, Broward U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz painted a dire picture of Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis leadership. She claimed that the policies implemented in Florida are a cautionary tale and warned that similar policies should not be adopted nationwide. As a Floridian and a staunch supporter of conservative principles, I strongly disagree with her assessment. In fact, I believe that America would greatly benefit from adopting more of the policies that have made Florida a beacon of freedom, economic growth, and personal responsibility. First and foremost, Rep. Wasserman Schultzs portrayal of Florida as a state in decline is simply not accurate. Florida has experienced tremendous growth and prosperity under Gov. DeSantis leadership. The state has become a magnet for individuals and businesses fleeing high-tax, high-regulation states in search of economic freedom and a better quality of life. Floridas business-friendly environment, with low taxes and minimal regulations, has created jobs, spurred innovation, and boosted our states economy. If anything, these are the kinds of policies that should be emulated across the nation. Rep. Wasserman Schultzs critique of Floridas educational policies also misses the mark. The Parental Rights in Education law is about empowering parents and ensuring that education remains focused on core academic subjects rather than social engineering. Parents have the right to know what their children are being taught and to have a say in their education. This policy is not about discrimination; it is about transparency and parental involvementvalues that should be championed, not condemned. On the issue of abortion, Rep. Wasserman Schultz cited a tragic story to argue against Floridas pro-life laws. While her empathy for the woman in this story is understandable, it is important to recognize that Floridas laws reflect the deeply held beliefs of many Floridians who value the sanctity of life. According to Florida law, after six weeks of pregnancy, abortions are generally not allowed unless certain conditions are met. These include situations where the mothers life is in danger, there is a serious risk to her health, or if two doctors agree that the fetus has a fatal condition. These policies are not about cruelty; they are about upholding moral principles that many Americans share. Moreover, Rep. Wasserman Schultzs comments about climate change and environmental policies in Florida fail to acknowledge the significant efforts that have been made to protect our states unique ecosystems. Gov. DeSantis has invested heavily in Everglades restoration, water quality improvements, and other environmental initiatives. Floridas approach to environmental stewardship is a model of how to balance economic growth with the need to preserve our natural resources. What Rep. Wasserman Schultz fails to grasp is that the policies she decries as dangerous are actually working for Florida. Our state is thriving because we have embraced principles that prioritize individual liberty, economic freedom and the rule of law. These are the very principles that have made America the greatest nation on earth, and they are exactly what is needed to restore our countrys greatness on a national scale. In conclusion, America needs more of Floridas policies, not less. We should look to Florida as an example of what is possible when we prioritize freedom, responsibility and common sense. If we do, I have no doubt that our nation will continue to thrive for generations to come. Republican Florida State Rep. Tom Fabricio represents District 110 Why Does CNN Keep Featuring Undecided Voters Who Are Anything But? CNNs recent undecided voter panel, meant to capture reactions to Kamala Harriss speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, has morphed into a full-blown media debacle. What should have been a straightforward segment has instead unleashed a flood of questions about voter representation, journalistic integrity, and the blurry line between informing the public and potentially pulling a fast one on viewers. At the center of this is Bryant Rosado, introduced by CNN as an undecided voter who, after hearing Harris speak, suddenly declared he was Team Trump. Plot twist: MeidasTouch dug up Rosados social media history, revealing a long-standing love affair with all things MAGA that didnt exactly scream undecided voter. As the story gained traction, we got treated to a round of he said, they said. Rosados version of events, CNNs on-air presentation, and the networks official statement all seem to be pulling in different directions. This snafu isnt just about one voter or one segment gone awry. Its raising questions about how big news networks handle political coverage. Are undecided voter panels worth the trouble? And in an age where everyones got a mile-long digital footprint, how do we make sure what we see on TV reflects reality? The segment On August 22, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, CNNs Gary Tuchman introduced viewers to eight undecided voters from the Lehigh Valley. The segment, airing just after Kamala Harriss DNC speech, was meant to capture the pulse of this crucial battleground state. Among these supposedly open-minded citizens sat Rosado, described by Tuchman as a nice guy in real estate. As the panel graded Harriss performance, Rosado stood out, giving the speech a C while others doled out As and Bs. His explanation? Harris wasnt clear enough on the policies and he didnt want to personally vote for someone that is a backup. Fair enough for an undecided voter, right? But then came the plot twist. When asked if anyone was ready to commit, Rosado raised his handfor Trump. Tuchman, seemingly surprised, noted that Rosado was undecided when they met last week. Enter the liberal group MeidasTouch. Their dive into Rosados social media history revealed a trove of pro-Trump content stretching back years: retweets of Trumps mug shot, pleas to Bring Back Trump on Twitter, and even an SMH reaction to Mike Pence refusing to overturn the 2020 election. Not exactly the social media footprint of someone struggling to pick a candidate. As the story gained traction, Rosado took to X (formerly Twitter) with his version of events. He claimed CNN knew he was a Trump supporter all along, saying they approached him at a restaurant where he openly declared his Trump allegiance. According to Rosado, CNN asked him to keep an open mind and give Harris a chance. This should go without saying, but if youre looking for undecided voters, you should probably exclude someone who outright states hes a supporter of one of the candidates rather than asking him if hes willing to keep an open mind about the other candidate. CNN, caught in the cross fire, issued a statement to me that only muddied the waters further. Asked if there was anything about Rosados version of events that they dispute, a CNN spokesperson wrote back: When building the panel of voters who havent decided on a candidate, all participants made it clear that they indeed hadnt made a final determination. This particular individual, who said he had supported Donald Trump in the past, expressed to us that after President Biden dropped out of the race, his mind became open, and he hadnt made a final decision on a candidate. CNN also pointed me to this tweet of Rosados, sent after the backlash began: I definitely wasnt voting for Biden but I do like Kamala I just feel she needs to say more something that sticks not just because shes a woman and shes black I should vote for herI have a choice. So, were left with three conflicting narratives: CNNs on-air presentation of Rosado as undecided, Rosados claim of upfront Trump support, and CNNs post-facto explanation of a voter who hadnt yet made up his mind. I want to be clear that I dont believe Rosado did anything wrong. It was CNNs job to make sure its group of undecided voters were as advertised. Its a mess that leaves us wondering: Did CNN cross an ethical line? Or is this simply a case of miscommunication blown out of proportion? The pattern The Rosado incident isnt an isolated case of questionable representation in CNNs voter panels. In fact, it appears to be part of a troubling pattern stretching back years. In December 2015, CNN aired a focus group of supposed Trump supporters, featuring a woman named Susan DeLemus. Her unhinged rant about President Obama went viral, but CNN failed to disclose a crucial detail: DeLemus was a sitting New Hampshire State Representative, having served two terms as a Republican. This detail makes it clear that she wasnt just your average Republican voter, but that fact was left out of the segment. This wasnt even the first time CNN had featured DeLemus without proper context. In July of the same year, she appeared in another Trump-focused focus group, again presented as just an average voter rather than a birther who once tried to keep Obama off the New Hampshire ballot. In September 2018, during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, CNNs Anderson Cooper 360 featured five conservative women from Florida discussing sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh. Their dismissive attitudes shocked viewers, but journalist James Surowiecki soon revealed that at least three of these women were GOP political operatives or former Republican candidates. Now, in 2024, we have the Rosado case. This pattern raises some questions: Is CNN deliberately misrepresenting its voter focus groups? How much can viewers trust these focus groups and voter panels? Is the network prioritizing sensationalism over accurate representation? What effect does this have on public discourse and voter perceptions? CNNs repeated failures to properly vet or disclose participants backgrounds suggest a systemic issue in their approach to focus groups and how theyre presented. Its not just about honest mistakes; its about a potential willingness to mislead viewers for the sake of compelling television. The Rosado case must be viewed not as an isolated incident, but as the latest in a series of misrepresentations that demand accountability and substantive change in how news networks construct these focus groups. The question is: Will CNN finally address this issue, or will we be having this same conversation again in another election cycle? A lot has changed since 1984 but politicians are still talking about Bruce Springsteen. - Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images Just over 40 years ago, Ronald Reagan became the first American president to name-drop Bruce Springsteen. Americas future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts, he told a crowd at a New Jersey campaign stop in September 1984. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire New Jerseys own, Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen was, of course, at a pop-cultural peak in that moment, fresh from the release of the world-conquering blockbuster Born in the U.S.A., with a flag on the cover and an easy-to-misconstrue title track. In the decades since, hes made his left-leaning political views quite clear, campaigning for Democratic candidates and even partnering with Barack Obama for a podcast series and book. And even in the far-flung political era of 2024, where Beyonces Freedom scores Kamala Harris campaign, Springsteens name and music keep popping up Donald Trump has him on his mind, Tim Walz is a vocal fan, and Born in the U.S.A. played at the Democratic National Convention. More from Rolling Stone Steven Hydens excellent new book, There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteens Born in the U.S.A. and the End of the Heartland, traces the pop-cultural and political impact of that album. He recently sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss Springsteens continuing political relevance and more. (To hear more from Hyden on his book, check out the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast his segment begins around the 42-minute mark of the Katy Perry episode above. Go here for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.) The first big Springsteen moment of this campaign was when Donald Trump started musing onstage, pretty much out of nowhere, about the fact that Bruce doesnt like him. What did you make of that, especially in the context of your book? Trumps relationship with classic rock is really interesting. Hes obviously a big fan of Sixties and Seventies rock music, as a lot of people his age are, and its an awkward situation because its not reciprocated from any of these people Springsteen among them. These are his heroes, in some respects, at least musically speaking, and yet they view him unanimously as being bad for the country. Theres so many musicians who dont like Trump, but he keeps zeroing in on Springsteen. The fact that Bruce doesnt like him called him a moron, specifically, when I talked to him for Rolling Stone in 2016 really bothers him. And I think thats connected to the way Bruce carries some sort of American weight that other rock stars dont. Yeah, I think there is something with Bruce where that felt true 40 years ago, and its probably even more true now. Hes not seen totally as a political figure, but he feels more like a political figure than any other rock star. But he also has the populist thing going with him. Theres probably a part of Trump that feels like these are the people that Im speaking to Bruce should respond to me as well because hes the middle-American-type guy, speaking up for average Americans. Now, of course, Trump isnt actually doing that, but I think that there is some delusional thing in his mind, thinking that he and Springsteen in some ways are on the same side. So there probably is a little extra sting there, to not get that acceptance from Bruce. As you mentioned in your book, in 2016 The New York Times tracked down an actual mill worker Bruce wrote about in the song Youngstown, and that guy said he was voting for Trump. There is that sense that Springsteen and Trump have been trying to speak to and for some of the same people in some ways. It says something about how the politics of rural middle America have shifted over time. In the Eighties, it was much easier to find a blue-collar worker who worked in a factory who was also a Democrat. There was that sort of hard-hat Democrat who existed 40 years ago that you dont see as much now, and it feels like a lot of that just has to do with culture-war type stuff, things like how people on the left and right present themselves to people in the middle of the country. So yeah, if youre looking for a metaphor for how America has changed, the idea of characters in Bruce Springsteen songs who become Trump voters, obviously that was something that attracted me. Thats such a convenient metaphor for how the country has changed in the last 40 years. And then Tim Walz came along. Hes a big music guy in general, but hes definitely a huge Springsteen fan theres this video where he discusses his musical tastes with Harris and the first thing he mentions is The River. Yeah, I think with Walz, his music taste has been one of the ways in which hes presented himself as a normal guy, which becomes a big part of this campaign stigmatizing Republicans as the weird ones. But I think when he talks about Bruce Springsteen, people read that as, Oh, he reminds me of my dad, or he reminds me of my uncle, and it humanizes him in a very quick shorthand kind of way. I think that also just speaks to Springsteens place in the culture. When Obama was elected, Bruce was in his late fifties, so there was still something about Bruce that was a little younger, maybe. But now were at a point where when you think about Springsteen, it is something that your dad or maybe even your granddad likes. But its a positive thing. He is part of that all-American package, but also progressive at the same time. Its like what we were saying before, it is almost like a throwback to that idea that you can be blue collar, but you can also believe in trans rights and defend abortion rights, and those things dont have to be incompatible. I think its fair to say that while Bruce is definitely associated with an older fanbase, there are also a good number of younger serious music fans and certainly younger artists who love him. Hes been cool on an indie level for maybe 20 years now, since Arcade Fire and the Killers first embraced him. I feel like he took up the mantle that Johnny Cash used to have. He was like the older guy that younger generations always discover as, like, a beacon of integrity. Or like Neil Young in the Nineties. And Neil still to a degree, but with Johnny Cash and Springsteen, theres also something very American about both of them. They are very masculine tough guys, yet theres also a sensitivity to them. They are progressive politically. It balances a lot of the things that people value in America that individualism, that toughness, but also a thoughtfulness. Its like the positive side of people chanting U.S.A. in a crowd. Not the jingoistic, stupid, reactionary aspects, but the righteous side. For people of my generation, Johnny Cash was that person. And then Johnny Cash passes away. And thats around the time that Springsteen, I think, takes up that mantle, around the mid-2000s, and hes had it since then. its interesting to see Bruce pop up in other peoples songs, where I feel like hes a symbol of that. Zach Bryan being the most recent example. I love that the song is called Sandpaper, by the way, because Bruce is super-raspy, even raspier than usual. in that song. He feels very totemistic to me, like putting a bald eagle into your song, or something like that. And the Killers rerecorded A Dustland Fairytale and Bruce sang on it. That kind of reminds me of when U2 had Johnny Cash show up on a song. Theres a power to him as a symbol he might as well be a bald eagle or an American flag or an apple pie or any other symbol of America you could think of. Which again is why it bothers Trump so much that he doesnt like him. As weve discussed, if there wasnt that 1984 to 1985 period, where he used the title Born in the U.S.A., shot an album cover with the flag on it, and had a flag onstage, this might all be seen slightly differently. Yeah, exactly. That definitely put a fine point on it. Clearly he was already writing about working-class Americans before that, but the symbolism of Born in the U.S.A. and the success of it, the fact that it was so ubiquitous, is still so burned into peoples consciousness. In my first book, I wrote about Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen and how weird it must be for Chris Christie to be this huge Bruce Springsteen fan and to know that Bruce, at least politically, does not like him at all. And I think that does speak to how, and this might be true of Trump as well, even though we know where Bruce stands politically, its still possible to take different things out of his songs, depending on where you fall. Theres a lot of things in his music that if you are conservative, you can relate to. And it just requires the mental jujitsu to block out the other stuff, which people do with songs all the time. We always disregard things that dont align with our own experiences. Well latch on to one lyric or something and make the whole song about that. Because clearly theres a lot of Republicans who love Bruce Springsteen. I think thats been true forever. If you are conservative, there are things you can take from him that align with how you see America. it just forces you to disregard a lot of other things that are inconvenient. I also think that was easier to say, frankly, pre-MAGA. I feel like its hard to be like, Im a MAGA Republican and these are the five things I hear in Bruces music that will support my MAGA-ness. I do think that theres a lot of people who vote for Trump who are not like the people that we see talking online. I know people like this in my life who vote for Trump. Because they just always vote for Republicans. I mean, when Springsteen plays Jersey, I dont think all the people in that stadium are Democrats. I think its probably more even than it would seem, but, we dont know that for sure. Wed have to do a poll. Thats fair. Finally, we heard Born in the U.S.A. at least twice during the DNC. This was a case of Democrats using, or misusing the song, the way Republicans more traditionally do as a rousing, patriotic anthem. But is the pained, betrayed, angry patriotism of Born in the U.S.A. actually OK in this DNC context, given that we know this is the party its creator supports, or is it still weird? Its a little weird! But that song in an arena environment always takes on a whole other character that transcends the lyrics. The music is so rousing; the chorus compels you to sing along. And if you get into that group-mind situation, its very easy to ignore the nuances in the lyrics. If youre in a crowd of 20,000 people and you try to say, This is actually a critique of America, not a celebration, youre going to get drowned out by people shouting Born in the U.S.A. Its just how that goes. And its part of the power and the problematic nature of that song Its funny that the New Jersey delegation used it as their theme song. The song is clearly set in New Jersey, based on the gas fires and the refinery and whatnot. And so the dead mans town in the first line is a town in New Jersey. It would be even funnier if it was Born to Run because that song arguably paints an even bleaker picture of New Jersey. Hes not really writing about it being this sort of paradise where everything works out great. Thats not the Jersey of Bruce Springsteen songs. Best of Rolling Stone A federal judge recently dismissed two felony charges against two former Louisville, Kentucky, police officers who were involved in obtaining the search warrant for the 2020 drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor. In a ruling issued last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III concluded that the Justice Department had failed to allege facts sufficient to support two felony counts against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany under 18 USC 242, which makes it a crime to "willfully" deprive someone of his constitutional rights "under color of any law." But Simpson left in place several other misdemeanor and felony charges stemming from the no-knock warrant, which prosecutors say was not supported by probable cause. Despite their no-knock warrant, the three plainclothes officers who approached Taylor's door around 12:40 a.m. on March 13, 2020, banged on the door before smashing it open with a battering ram. They said they also announced themselves, although that claim was contradicted by nearly all of Taylor's neighbors. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was in bed with her at the time. He later said he heard no announcement and had no idea that the men breaking into the apartment were police officers. Alarmed by the banging and the ensuing crash, he grabbed a handgun and fired a single shot at the intruders, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the thigh. The three officers responded with a hail of 32 bullets, including six fired by Mattingly, 16 fired by Detective Myles Cosgrove, and 10 fired by Detective Brett Hankison, who was standing outside the apartment. Hankison fired blindly through a bedroom window and a sliding glass door, both of which were covered by blinds or curtains. Six of the rounds struck Taylor, who was unarmed and standing near Walker in a dark hallway. Investigators later concluded that Cosgrove had fired the bullet that killed Taylor. Neither Jaynes nor Meany was involved in the raid itself. But Jaynes wrote the affidavit supporting the search warrant, and Meany, who was fired after his federal indictment, approved it. Jaynes, who was fired in December 2020 for lying in that affidavit, falsely claimed he had confirmed with a U.S. postal inspector that Taylor's former boyfriend, suspected drug dealer Jamarcus Glover, was receiving packages at her apartment. Jaynes later contradicted that account, saying Mattingly had "nonchalantly" mentioned that Glover "just gets Amazon or mail packages there." The packages reportedly contained shoes and clothing, consistent with what Jaynes knew about them a month before the raid. But in his affidavit, Jaynes intimated that the packages might have contained drugs or drug money. And although he was seeking a no-knock warrant, he failed to cite any evidence specific to Taylor that would have justified dispensing with the knock-and-announce rule. An August 2022 federal indictment alleged that Jaynes and Meany "knew that the affidavit used to obtain the warrant to search Taylor's home contained information that was false, misleading, and out-of-date; that the affidavit omitted material information; and that the officers lacked probable cause for the search." It added that they knew "the execution of the search warrant would be carried out by armed [Louisville] officers" and "could create a dangerous situation both for those officers and for anyone who happened to be in Taylor's home." Based on those allegations, the indictment charged Jaynes and Meany with "aiding and abetting" a violation of Taylor's Fourth Amendment rights, which by itself is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year of incarceration. But the indictment added that "the offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon," which increases the maximum sentence to 10 years, and "resulted in Taylor's death," making it punishable by up to life in prison or the death penalty. The indictment also alleged that Jaynes and Meany tried to cover up the lack of probable cause for the warrant by "submitting a false Investigative Letter" and "making false statements to criminal investigators." Based on those allegations, it charged them with conspiring to violate 18 USC 1519, which makes it a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, to obstruct an FBI investigation. Jaynes and Meany also were charged with violating 18 USC 1512(b)(3). That statute makes it a felony, likewise punishable by a maximum 20-year sentence, to knowingly "engage in misleading conduct toward another person" with the intent to "hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal offense." Based on the investigative letter, Jaynes was charged with falsifying records in a federal investigation, which under Section 1519 is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Meany was charged with "knowingly and willfully" making a false statement to federal investigators when he told an FBI agent that the Louisville Metro Police Department's SWAT division had "asked for no-knock authority" in executing the search of Taylor's apartment. That is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison under 18 USC 1001. Simpson left nearly all of these charges in place. But he concluded that the alleged facts did not support the claim that Jaynes and Meany had aided and abetted a Section 242 violation involving the "use" of "a dangerous weapon," which would turn a misdemeanor into a felony. The indictment "alleges that Taylor was subjected to a deprivation of her Fourth Amendment right to be free from an unreasonable search," Simpson writes. "Thus, to convict Jaynes and Meany of aiding and abetting the use of a dangerous weapon to commit this crime, the Government must prove that the Execution Team used their firearms for the purpose of subjecting Taylor to the search. The Indictment does not do so. Instead, the Indictment does no more than allege that Jaynes and Meany knew the Execution Team would be armed. Simply possessing a firearm, however, is not 'use' under 242.38. Instead, 'use' means actively employing a weapon. The only active employment of a weapon alleged in the Indictment is 'use' for self-defense, i.e., returning [Walker's] fire. There are no allegations which suggest that the Execution Team used their guns to subject Taylor to the search. The Use Charge will be dismissed for this reason." Simpson also rejected the claim that the alleged Fourth Amendment violation resulted in Taylor's death. Even if the search warrant had been valid, he reasons, the outcome would have been the same. Walker "did not respond to the act of entry without probable cause," Simpson writes. "He responded to the manner of entry." The judge notes that "a midday, announced entry" would not have caused Walker "to believe he needed to fend off intruders." In fact, he says, "the Government takes pains to stress that [Walker] fired only because he believed the police were intruders.That is, but-for [Walker's] being frightened into opening fire, Taylor would still be alive. Assuming it was warrantless, the entry constituted a Fourth Amendment violation, but, standing alone, the fact that the entry was invalid was not the actual cause of Taylor's death." Nor was the allegedly invalid search warrant the "proximate cause" of Taylor's death, Simpson concludes. "To state a case for the death-results penalty enhancement, the Government must allege facts which, if true, would permit the conclusion that Taylor's death was the natural and probable consequence of the lack of probable cause to enter her apartment," he writes. "It has not done so." The government "has not explained how the lack of probable cause to enter created a foreseeable risk of a gunfire exchange," Simpson writes. It "does not explain how the gunfire was the natural and probable consequence of lacking a valid warrant." Instead, he says, "the Government argues that the gunfire exchange was a foreseeable result of the late-night, surprise manner of entry.The key here is the 'late night' surprise, according to the Government. That manner of executing the warrant created the risk of death, not the lack of a valid warrant. The Government's argument fails to recognize the distinction, conflating manner-of-entry issues with invalid entries." Jaynes and Meany still face the misdemeanor Section 242 charge, which hinges on the alleged Fourth Amendment violation. And they still face all of the felony charges under the other statutes. Detective Kelly Goodlett, who was accused of "conspiring with Jaynes to falsify the search warrant for Taylor's home and to cover up their actions afterward," pleaded guilty a few weeks later. She said Jaynes had never verified that Glover was receiving "suspicious packages" at Taylor's apartment. Walker initially was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but local prosecutors dropped that charge two months later, implicitly conceding that he had a strong self-defense claim. In September 2020, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron rejected criminal charges against Mattingly and Cosgrove after concluding that they also had acted in self-defense. Louisville's interim police chief, Yvette Gentry, dismissed Cosgrove three months later, saying he fired "in three distinctly different directions," which indicated he "did not identify a target" and instead "fired in a manner consistent with suppressive fire, which is in direct contradiction to our training, values and policy." Hankison, who was fired three months after Taylor's death because of his reckless shooting, was the only officer to face state criminal charges in connection with the raid. He was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in September 2020 but acquitted by a state jury in March 2022. On the same day it announced the federal charges against Jaynes and Meany, the Justice Department unveiled an indictment charging Hankison with willfully violating the Fourth Amendment under color of law by blindly firing 10 rounds through "a covered window and covered glass door," thereby endangering Taylor, Walker, and three neighbors in an adjoining apartment. Hankison's federal prosecution ended with a mistrial in November 2023 because the jury could not reach a verdict. Prosecutors plan to try him again. The post Why a Federal Judge Dismissed 2 Felony Charges Stemming From the Drug Raid That Killed Breonna Taylor appeared first on Reason.com. Why do some Pierce County homeowners have to pay for septic inspections and others dont? Out of sight, out of mind? If your home has a private septic system in Pierce County, you might receive a letter saying you need to get it inspected even if youre not seeing any problems with it. Its been a state requirement for at least 24 years that owners of septic systems receive regular inspections. Currently, the requirement is yearly or every three years depending on the type of system, and to have them pumped and fixed as needed. But not all homeowners get the inspection notices. The state tasks local health departments with enforcement. The goal is to identify and fix faulty, aging tanks that can pollute local waters. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department began enforcing yearly inspections for alternative septic systems, which are more complex than a septic tank and drainfield for the average home, across Pierce County in 2000. Limited staffing and funding kept the health department from widely enforcing inspections of the simpler non-alternative systems until several years ago. That means more and more residents have been getting those notices, and having to pay for inspections, for the first time in recent years. Hemleys Septic Service owner Jerry Hemley (left) and maintenance specialist William Schmidt inspect and clean out a septic tank at a home on the Key Peninsula on Aug. 13. According to TPCHD spokesperson Kenny Via, the health department now sends around 1,500 to 1,800 notifications a month to Pierce County residents due for a septic inspection. There are consequences if you dont get an inspection when youre due for one. The health department may record a certificate of non-compliance on your property title, which can make it more difficult to sell, refinance, or develop your property in the future, according to the health department website. The fee to remove that recording is $841 as of this year. The local health departments goal is to send everyone with a septic system a reminder when its time for an inspection, though theres no timeline for going countywide. For now, they send notices to those in environmentally sensitive areas, and to owners of alternative systems and any new systems installed since 2001. Its an arrangement that has tested their relationship with some residents of the Key Peninsula. The health department began sending letters to Key Peninsula homeowners requiring them to get their systems inspected in 2021, The News Tribune reported, as water quality there became an issue. Some Key Peninsula residents told The News Tribune they feel such frequent inspections seem unnecessary and that theyre concerned about their ability to pay professional service companies to do the inspections, which typically cost a few hundred dollars each time. Others said its unfair that only some areas of the county are currently subject to the requirements. Meanwhile, the local health department is pursuing a waiver from the state that officials hope will make inspections less frequent for residents. Hemleys Septic Service owner Jerry Hemley (left) and maintenance specialist William Schmidt inspect and clean out a septic tank at a home on the Key Peninsula on Aug. 13. What is a septic system? Septic systems process wastewater from homes and businesses not served by public sewer systems. There are approximately 950,000 small on-site sewage systems in the state, according to the Washington State Department of Health. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department website encourages people to think of septic systems like a sewage treatment plant, only much smaller. Whatever you drain or flush can end up in your septic system, including wastewater from your bathrooms, laundry, kitchen sinks and showers. More than one in five U.S. households rely on these underground systems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. There are different types of septic systems, but a conventional or non-alternative system usually includes a storage tank, which is where solids entering the tank settle, according to Septic Solutions Northwest. The liquid wastewater then exits the tank into the drainfield and is slowly filtered through the soil. Gravity septic systems are a type of conventional system that rely on gravity to draw the wastewater into the drainfield. Pressure distribution systems are similar but use a pump to drain the wastewater, according to Septic Solutions Northwest. Both require three-year inspections, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department website. More complex septic systems include community, aerobic treatment or proprietary systems, and require annual inspections, the website says. Do septic systems really need to be checked that frequently? Jerry Hemley is the owner of Hemleys Septic Service based in Gig Harbor, and has been working in the septic service industry for over three decades. His company serves customers in Pierce, Kitsap and Mason counties. According to Hemley, he and his colleagues check the amount of sludge at the bottom of the septic tank, the amount of solid waste floating on top and the color of the water in the tank during an inspection, as well as many other factors. A full list of parts checked in an inspection is available on the health department website and in their environmental health code. The process is also a conversation. Hemley said helping customers understand what potential risks their systems might face later on is a big part of doing inspections. For example, their experts might flag a tree or bush planted near or on top of the septic system that could cause problems in the future. Some customers say theyre rarely at home, but overlook the fact that they do laundry there, Hemley said. Other systems are abused when renters live there and allow grease to go down the sinks. Those factors can directly impact a persons septic system without them knowing. He emphasized the importance of understanding a customers habits and then educating them accordingly. People got to trust you, and you have to give them correct information, Hemley said. How much do septic system inspections cost and how are those fees impacting homeowners? According to Tacoma-Pierce County Health Departments website, the price of a typical routine inspection ranges from about $250 to $350, including a $54 mandatory filing fee that goes to the health department. That doesnt include the cost of pumping or repairs, if an inspector finds thats necessary. Jessica Gehle, TPCHD division director for environmental health, said all fees collected go back into the program, which is formally called their Septic System Operation & Maintenance Program. The health department has no influence over costs set by the septic service providers, according to Gehle. Theres also a $3.50 fee septic companies must pay to onlineRME to file a report there, visible to health department staff and inspectors so they can track a systems service history. Anyone can view inspection reports for a specific address by clicking Report Search at onlineRME.com. One of Hemleys Key Peninsula customers, Dan Van Antwerp, has used Hemleys Septic Service every time to get it inspected and pumped. He told The News Tribune Aug. 13 that he trusts the company and appreciates their service. At the same time, he said he has heard of others who are at risk of being priced out of their homes because of increasing property taxes and believes the cost to get inspections could be an additional burden for some. He said he would have no problem getting an inspection every three years at a nominal cost, say $50, when hes getting it pumped anyway. The $195 quote Hemleys Septic Service provided for inspecting Van Antwerps septic system was before adding the mandatory filing fees. The team also pumped his system during their visit. The quote for that was an additional $475. Julia Christman, the septic office manager for Hemleys, provided those numbers. Pierce County Council Member Robyn Denson told The News Tribune via email she has heard concerns from her constituents about the required frequency of inspections and the costs, but she doesnt think theres a pervasive feeling that these inspection costs are driving residents out of their homes. She does hear concerns about property taxes and wrote that she tries her best to remind residents that state law limits property tax increases to 1% each year unless a majority of voters approve further increases, as stated on the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurers website. I believe that people are feeling the cost of everything right now groceries, gas, property taxes, dramatically increasing insurance rates and yes, obligations like septic inspections (which we need to remember is also part of regular home maintenance), etc, she wrote. Its just a lot and I understand people are overwhelmed. Denson encourages residents who are financially struggling to reach out to TPCHD or to email her directly at robyn.denson@piercecountywa.gov for help finding resources from Pierce County if theyre worried about being priced out of their homes. She also said the countys Property Tax Exemption Program can help reduce property taxes for eligible senior citizens and people with disabilities. Hemleys Septic Service maintenance specialist William Schmidt prepares to clean out a septic tank at a home on the Key Peninsula on Aug. 13. What resources exist for residents to get help paying for their inspections? The health department offers discounts for septic system inspections and other maintenance to residents who qualify based on their income and where they live, including on the Key Peninsula. The discount for a routine inspection is $125. Eligible residents can fill out a financial assistance form and have it verified by the health department, then give that form to a certified service provider participating in the program to receive the discount. Residents at 80% of the area median income or below qualify. For example, that means a household of four with an income of $92,650 or below would qualify, according to the financial assistance form. You can also request up to a 1-year extension to get your inspection by emailing OMSeptic@tpchd.org, according to the health department website. The health department also has a list of additional resources available through nonprofits and local governments, including loans from a community development nonprofit called Craft3 and the Pierce County Home Repair Program. Another avenue of relief may become available soon. Inspections may be required less often soon Gehle confirmed that TPCHD submitted a waiver application to the Washington State Department of Health on Aug. 2 requesting that the frequency of required inspections for gravity systems be extended from every three years to every five. Its a decision that only the state can make. Were really excited and hopeful that well be able to share that little bit of relief to homeowners who may have a gravity system in less sensitive areas, Gehle said. The state Department of Health told TPCHD they hoped to review the request over the next couple of weeks, she told The News Tribune Aug. 8. Gehle told The News Tribune the point of regular inspections is to help homeowners learn about minor issues and get them repaired before they blow up into major and even more expensive problems. According to TPCHDs website, the price to repair or replace a failing septic system can vary, but on average costs thousands. Hemleys Septic Service owner Jerry Hemley (center) talks with homeowner Dan Van Antwerp as maintenance specialist William Schmidt inspects and cleans out the septic tank at Van Antwerps home on the Key Peninsula on Aug. 13. What about DIY inspections? Could owners be allowed to inspect their systems themselves? Its not off the table, according to Gehle, but Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has researched the idea and found it wanting. They havent seen enough evidence that self-inspections are effective based on data provided by other counties that have implemented it. Clallam County, Thurston County and Jefferson County are among those that offer training to homeowners to do self-inspections. TPCHD environmental health specialist Niels Nicolaisen said he has attended two classes designed to educate homeowners on how to do self-inspections and talked with almost every county in the region that offers a self-inspection option. He doesnt want to assume people arent being truthful, but the data suggest inaccuracies in the self-inspections people report, he said. He also said professional inspectors are required to complete extensive training and continuing education to keep their license, which makes him feel more confident in their abilities to check a system than a homeowner who has only taken a two-hour class. If it was up to Key Peninsula resident Rick Harrison, hed take care of his own system. Hes lived on the peninsula since 2014 and owned homes for over 30 years. He has a septic system on his 2.5-acre property. Four months after he got it pumped in June 2021, the local health department sent him a notice that it was due for an inspection. He said he requested a one-year extension and continued to wait until finally getting an inspection for $380 last month, after he was warned he would get a recording of non-compliance that would act as a lien on his property if he didnt comply. He passed the inspection without any problems. Harrison sees himself as a responsible homeowner capable of inspecting his own septic system and getting it pumped when needed. To him, the health department is forcing him to get inspections when it isnt necessary. He also believes its unfair that the statewide requirement is only being enforced in certain parts of Pierce County at this time. Im all for public health, Im all for not having failed septic systems, but Im also all for equal protection of the law, he said. Harrison filed a civil rights complaint with the state Department of Health via email Aug. 1, alleging Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is selectively enforcing the WA State WAC for septic tank inspections on the Key Peninsula, according to the email he forwarded to The News Tribune. He said he believes the health department is violating Key Peninsula residents Fourteenth Amendment rights. According to an email Harrison forwarded to The News Tribune, he received a response from the Department of Health Aug. 16 that said the issues he raised dont fall under the scope of the Civil Rights & Americans with Disabilities Act Program, and that their public health advisors would follow up with him. Hemleys Septic Service owner Jerry Hemley drives to the Key Peninsula to perform a septic tank inspection and cleaning on Aug. 13. Why do some areas of the county receive letters about inspections and others dont? Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department began sending required inspection notices to owners of non-alternative septic systems in areas deemed environmentally sensitive and prone to water pollution in 2019, according to TPCHD spokesperson Brett Cihon. They include: Alderton Creek Key Peninsula Lake Tapps Lynch Creek Minter Bay North Fork Ohop Creek Salmon Creek Spiketon Ditch Swan Creek Spokesperson Via said Lake Tapps was the first of these areas to begin receiving notices. The area has had concerning water quality reports in the past, including in 2016 when some swimmers in Lake Tapps got sick because of toxic algae blooms, The News Tribune reported. Since implementing the mandatory septic inspections, the health department hasnt had to issue any algae warnings for Lake Tapps, according to TPCHD environmental health specialist Nicolaisen. The Key Peninsula was also targeted because its considered a Marine Recovery Area, an area next to Puget Sound that has pollution due to on-site sewage systems, according to the state Department of Health. Per state code, local health jurisdictions must create plans to perform inspections of these systems and ensure appropriate repairs are made to any that are failing. The code doesnt stop counties from permitting self-inspections if a person is certified by the county. Water pollution on the Key Peninsula can impact shellfish, an industry and food source the health department pays close attention to, Gehle said. Between Feb. 1, 2021 and Aug. 21, 2024, the health department found that over 1,300 septic systems inspected on the Key Peninsula had high priority deficiencies, that could impact human or environmental health if not addressed, according to TPCHD spokesperson Cihon. Thats about 12% of the peninsulas more than 8,500 septic systems. They also identified over 900 low-priority deficiencies, about 8% of all inspections. Gehle said TPCHD doesnt have the funds or staffing necessary to run the program countywide, though thats their ultimate goal. Besides sending letters to residents due for an inspection, the program also requires staff to be available to answer questions and run the financial assistance program for those who need help paying for inspections. The health department has some funding streams that only apply to certain areas. Gehle said that Cascade Water Alliance has partnered with the health department to help fund septic maintenance and operations work around Lake Tapps. According to Via, the countys operation and maintenance program has an annual budget of about $490,000, which includes about $60,000 for financial assistance. Pierce County contributes about $173,000, the state Department of Health contributes $156,000 and the Cascade Water Alliance helps with $80,000 of that total, he wrote. The remainder comes from fees and the state Department of Ecology. There isnt an exact timeline yet for rolling out the program to the rest of the county, but Gehle emphasized that all new septic systems that have gone through the health departments permitting process since 2001 are automatically enrolled. How to learn more Gehle said health department staff are available to answer questions, especially from residents on the Key Peninsula. Residents can talk to the health department in-person at their Key Center Corral office at 9013 Key Peninsula Highway North in Lakebay, or connect via phone or video call, she said. Residents can contact Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department at ehsepticsystems@tpchd.org or (253) 649-1925. This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) Regional analysts view the likelihood of Sunday's escalation evolving into a full-scale conflict as low but caution that ongoing attrition could lead to unforeseen incidents. CAIRO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in intense exchanges of fire early Sunday along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a dramatic escalation in their protracted conflict. Hezbollah revealed that it had unleashed hundreds of missiles against Israel in vengeance for the killing of its top military commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. Also on Sunday, Israel reported conducting a series of "preemptive airstrikes" targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The long-anticipated retaliation by Hezbollah, following Shokor's death on July 30, has heightened global apprehension that these intensifying hostilities could ignite a broader conflict, drawing in regional and international players such as the United States and Iran. Additionally, the violence threatens to derail ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been embroiled in a prolonged struggle with Hamas for over 10 months. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a woman standing in a building hit directly by a rocket fired from Lebanon overnight, in the northern Israeli city of Acre. (JINI via Xinhua) TIT-FOR-TAT ATTACKS During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets in a "preemptive attack." "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that approximately 100 fighter jets carried out strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported the firing of over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon. Some were intercepted, while others caused damage and injuries. In a video speech on Sunday afternoon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denied that Israel had destroyed thousands of rocket launchers, stating that the attacks had only hit two missile launch pads. The Israeli media reported that an Israeli soldier was killed, and a civilian sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel. Meanwhile, Lebanese sources said that four militants were killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. Lebanese state media reported significant damage to homes, crops, and infrastructure in the southern part of the country, and to power and water systems in particular. In response to the escalating tensions, Israel's Home Front Command issued defense guidelines for Tel Aviv and northern areas. Educational and work activities may continue if safe shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Several airlines have announced the suspension of flights to and from Israel and Lebanon due to the escalating situation. People check a vehicle destroyed by missiles from an Israeli drone in Sidon, Lebanon, on Aug. 21, 2024. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) RESTRAINT URGED International calls for restraint followed Sunday's escalation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern, urging both sides to return to a cessation of hostilities. His call was echoed by officials in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Jordan's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Sufian Qudah warned that the violence in southern Lebanon could trigger a broader regional conflict and criticized ongoing "Israeli aggression" in Gaza. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty cautioned that the Israel-Hezbollah escalation threatens regional stability, calling for all parties to work towards de-escalation. Yemen's Houthi group and Hamas, both allies of Hezbollah, praised the Lebanese group's actions, with the Houthis commending Hezbollah for what they described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. The U.S. National Security Council said that President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situation and is in contact with his national security team. Biden has instructed U.S. officials to coordinate with Israel and reaffirmed support for Israel's "right to self-defense." Firefighters extinguish the fire after an attack by Hezbollah in Galilee, northern Israel, Aug. 25, 2024 (Israel's Fire and Rescue Service/Handout via Xinhua) FULL-SCALE CONFLICT "UNLIKELY" Regional analysts view the likelihood of Sunday's escalation evolving into a full-scale conflict as low but caution that ongoing attrition could lead to unforeseen incidents. Refaat Badawi, a political analyst and former adviser to the Lebanese prime minister, noted that Hezbollah's retaliation was within the "engagement rules" and that Israel's decision to highlight its success with Sunday's preemptive strikes while refraining from further escalation indicates a desire to avoid additional conflict. Despite the intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon, with both sides mainly targeting military sites. Nasrallah said that the missiles were aimed primarily at military targets. "The target should not be a civilian enemy or infrastructure," he said in the aforementioned televised speech. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Israel's strikes on Lebanon were defensive measures against Hezbollah's planned large-scale attack and that Israel is not seeking a full-scale war. Eyal Zisser, vice rector at Tel Aviv University and expert on Middle Eastern affairs, observed that neither side aims for an all-out war but warned that the risk of unintended incidents could escalate the situation dramatically. Netanyahu reiterated Israel's commitment to retaliating against those who attack it. "We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, destructive force," Netanyahu said. "This is a step towards changing the situation in the north and bringing people safely back to their homes. I reiterate, this is not the end of the story," he warned. Heres why Scotty McCreery stopped his show at the Colorado State Fair Watch the moment from the State Fair in the video player above. Video courtesy of FOX21 News viewer Jessica R. (PUEBLO, Colo.) Country music artist and former American Idol winner Scotty McCreery briefly stopped his concert at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo on Saturday evening, Aug. 24 after a man in the crowd allegedly assaulted a woman. According to Olga Robak, the Director of Communications and Public Awareness for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, security with the Colorado State Fair assisted with crowd control after the incident. This incident is still under investigation and we cannot comment further, wrote Robak. Robak said that anyone who has video or other images of the incident is encouraged to share them with Colorado State Fair Security at csf.security@state.co.us. According to the State Fair website, the Scotty McCreery concert took place at the Big R Arena and began at 8 p.m. on Saturday. FOX21 News will update this article with new information as it 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 FOX21 News Colorado. The alleged perpetrator of the knife attack in Solingen is taken by a helicopter after being brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Several people were killed and injured in a knife attack on Friday evening at the city festival celebrating the 650th birthday of the city of Solingen. Uli Deck/dpa The main suspect in the fatal attack that took place in the western German city of Solingen last week appears to have deliberately evaded his transfer to Bulgaria, the authorities said on Monday, and succeeded in doing so. The 26-year-old Syrian arrived in Germany on December 25, 2022. According to the European Union's Dublin Regulation, Bulgaria was responsible for his asylum procedure. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Monday that Bulgaria had very quickly agreed to his return. A first attempt to send the man back to Bulgaria failed on June 3, 2023, when authorities could not find him at his accommodation in the city of Paderborn in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . Normally, further attempts should follow and the immigration office should try to determine if someone may have gone into hiding. An arrest warrant could also be issued. Once it is officially established that someone has gone into hiding, the usual six-month period for a Dublin transfer that is, the deportation to another responsible European Union country can be extended by an additional 12 months. However, this did not happen in the case of the Syrian. The six-month period expired on August 20, according to the information provided by the authorities. Four days later, the man reappeared. This, it was said, indicated that he was well-informed about the deadlines and his rights. Later, he moved from the refugee accommodation in Paderborn to Solingen. The ministry responsible for refugees and integration in North Rhine-Westphalia initially gave no information about the case in response to a dpa enquiry. Details of the incident had also previously been reported by Der Spiegel news magazine and the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wust also commented on the failed deportation: "We need to see if everything was done correctly. If something went wrong, it must be clearly identified," the conservative politician said in a statement in Solingen. He said the case showed how incredibly complicated the process is for the responsible authorities. Wichitas emergency winter shelter aims to open around Thanksgiving, which will be the first project of three for a fully developed multi-agency center, according to announcements during last weeks Homelessness Task Force meeting. Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson said the development of the former Park Elementary school site is being planned as three sequential projects: the emergency winter shelter, the multi-agency center, or MAC, and then the build of low-income housing. Anderson also announced that the state legislature didnt act on their first right of refusal of the Wichita USD 259 property, meaning that negotiations are officially underway between the school district and the city on the purchase agreement. It should go in front of the city council in the very near future, he said. In addition, Anderson said that a request for proposals will soon be posted for who will run daily operations of the emergency shelter from Thanksgiving through the end of March. (Its) probably a whole other conversation around the multi-agency center and the ultimate operator of that, he said. Misty Bruckner, a project director with Wichita State Universitys Public Policy and Management Center, said the intention is to develop the MAC as a 501(c)(3), granting it nonprofit status. Homelessness and people experiencing housing insecurity is a community issue. Its going to be a community development, so thinking from that governance perspective, the intention is to create a 501(c)(3), she said at the meeting. Thats part of the effort that we provide a governance structure with representatives of the community engaged in helping provide direction, policy efforts and make a connected effort to make this map a reality. Robyn Chadwick, chair of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Coalition, presented a draft plan of the MACs daily operations. Intake at the MAC will screen each individual for weapons or drugs, she said, with plans to transport someone that could present a safety concern for other shelter clients. They can be high or drunk, but if they are incapacitated and unable to participate in the services, then we will get them to (the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas) or to the hospital, depending on the level of severity, she said. If theyre in a psychiatric crisis, well be transporting them. The most recent MAC plans also include an onsite pharmacy, laundry and pet kennels. Case management will be onsite, available in the day center. Stefania Lugli writes for the KLC Journal , published by the Kansas Leadership Center. with a primary focus on homelessness issues in Wichita and Kansas. The Kansas Leadership Center Journal is a member of the Wichita Journalism Collaborative, a coalition of 11 newsrooms and community groups, including The Wichita Eagle. She can be reached via email slugli@kansasleadershipcenter.org (WFRV) The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles will transition to the American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrators Modernized Testing System on November 4, 2024. Wisconsins CDL examiners will follow the new guidelines for testing Vehicle Inspections and Basic Control Skills authorized by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Wisconsin businesses encouraged to apply for 2025 NFL Draft Source Program According to a release, this updated testing model incorporates small changes to the vehicle inspection portion of the test by eliminating redundancy of questions about the vehicle components. Additionally, the changes will focus on safety-critical items while describing how to inspect them and why they are essential. The basic control skills portion of the test has also been changed to allow it to be completed on a smaller course, focusing on real-world driving maneuvers. The new model does not change the road test portion of the exam. The Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles uses third-party examiners across the state to conduct CDL instruction and perform testing for CDL licensure. Examiner training began in June on the new vehicle inspections and basic control skills that meet the Modernized Testing System requirements. However, examiners will not use the updated testing model until November 4, 2024. Beja Shriners of Green Bay holds annual car show fundraiser at the Brown County Fairgrounds CDL students are being offered training information that meets both standards. If a student passes only a portion (but not all) of the skills test before November 4, all prior tests must be retaken using the Modernized Testing System. Wisconsin DMV encourages CDL students to contact their CDL testing agency before scheduling their test to determine which test model to prepare for. A current list of examiners by county 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. (WFRV) A 34-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision after he was convicted of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, sex trafficking a child, and ten other related charges. According to a release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Montae D. Jacobs, 34, from Milwaukee, will serve 20 years behind bars after being convicted following a bench trial. Wisconsin implementing new CDL testing guidelines starting early November Court records show that Jacobss offenses, which he was convicted of, began in 2019 and continued through 2023. They also include conduct after his arrest and indictment in this case while he served a state prison sentence. Throughout his time in custody, Jacobs continuously attempted to recruit new victims for his sex trafficking scheme, including at least one minor. Jacobs reportedly solicited, and in some cases, paid, his fellow inmates for the contact information of women and girls they thought might be susceptible to Jacobs pitch, which was that they could quickly become wealthy by prostituting and live-streaming pornographic content if they followed his detailed instruction. Jacobs instructed women to pay him part of their earnings. He also sent letters, emails, and calls multiple times a day to any woman who responded to him, exhorting them to call him daddy and king and bow down to him and to recruit other victims. In the sentencing, United States District Judge Lynn Adelman emphasized that while Jacobs may not have been as financially successful or as violent as some other traffickers previously sentenced in this district, his unusual degree of persistence and total lack of remorse required a severe sentence, both to protect the community from future crimes by Jacobs and to deter others who would engage in similar conduct. Judge Adelman also noted that the varied and nefarious means by which Jacobs controlled his victims, including false promises, physical violence, threats to have the victims arrested or evicted, and manipulation of their drug addictions, influenced the courts sentencing decision. The sentence in this case reflects the fact that human trafficking is a brutal offense involving victimizing individuals day after day, said U.S. Attorney Haanstad. In this case, Mr. Jacobs not only engaged in this conduct while in the community, but he also continued to seek to victimize vulnerable individuals even after being placed in custody. I commend the hard work of all involved in seeking justice for and giving a voice to the individuals exploited by Mr. Jacobs. Nine juveniles in Wisconsin cited for harassing behavior toward members of the Amish Community Human trafficking is a heinous crime that has no place in Wisconsin or anywhere else, said Attorney General Josh Kaul. Thank you to everyone who collaborated to make this investigation and prosecution successful. The Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, investigated this case with support from the South Milwaukee Police Department and the Federal Bureau of 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner) The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee challenging Green Party presidential candidate Jill Steins placement on the ballot in November. With just one day before the Wisconsin Elections Commission decides which candidates will be allowed on the ballot this fall, the Court moved quickly in the case, asking parties late last week to file briefs in response to the Democrats petition to the Court before the Green Party of Wisconsin even had a lawyer. The Democrats had previously filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) against the Green Partys candidate for president, Jill Stein, alleging she should not be placed on the states presidential ballot because the Green Party of Wisconsin does not have official state officers who can serve as presidential electors. The WEC denied the Democrats complaint on a technicality, prompting the party to bring the lawsuit to the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, the WEC voted to allow the Green Party onto the ballot because it got at least 1% of the vote in a statewide election in 2022. But the Democrats argued that the party cant nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin and without electors, the party cant be on the ballot. State law requires that presidential electors nominated in October be state officers, which includes members of the Legislature, judges and others. Legislative candidates can also be electors. The statute states that presidential electors must be candidates for the senate and assembly nominated by each political party at the primary, the state officers of each political party and the holdover state senators of each political party. The Green Party was represented by Brookfield attorney Michael Dean, who regularly works with Wisconsin Republicans. The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing for the Green Partys inclusion on the ballot. The Democrat Party by their Petition is attempting to use this Court to irradiate the voice of its erstwhile ally, and to silence the voice of Wisconsin voters, Dean wrote in a motion to dismiss the case. In light of the Democrat Party declaring war on the Green Party, the Green Party has no objection to the Republican Party joining the fight to protect the First Amendment rights of all Wisconsin voters. Dr. Michael White, chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, previously told the Wisconsin Examiner that the move by Democrats was an effort to stifle dissenting voices. With just more than two months before the election, the two major political parties are wrangling over the existence of third party candidates on the ballot. On Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. Despite Kennedy initially entering the race as a Democrat, polling showed his continued participation in the race was largely pulling support from Trump. Democrats also partially blame Stein for Trumps victory in Wisconsin in 2016. The multi-time candidate got more votes in Wisconsin than Trumps margin of victory. Earlier this month, White said that belief was false, saying its unlikely all of those votes would have gone to Hillary Clinton if Stein wasnt on the ballot. In 2020, the Green Partys presidential candidates werent on the ballot in Wisconsin because of administrative errors on their filing paperwork. In a statement, Stein celebrated the lawsuits end. This is a big win against the anti-Democratic Partys war on democracy and voter choice, Stein said. The Democrats constantly preach about saving democracy, when in reality theyve been doing everything they can to crush democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot. Today justice prevailed, we beat back the DNCs attack, and voters in Wisconsin will still have an anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate action choice in this election. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) A woman allegedly tried to tell Sheetz employees she worked for the Altoona Police Department, but she was busted when Altoona police showed up. Samantha Winter, 41 (Blair County Prison) Samantha Winter, 41, of Altoona, was arrested Friday morning, Aug. 23, when police were called to Sheetz on 7th Avenue, near the Altoona Junior/Senior high schools. According to a criminal complaint, police arrived at Sheetz just after 8 a.m. and found Winter still in the store. She claimed she worked for Altoona police and was promptly told by their own officers that she did not. Winter alleged she was just hired and insisted she was just grabbing something to eat before her shift. Police noted that she took them to a table she was at and there were powdered doughnuts and a root beer. While speaking to a manager at the store, police discovered that Winter showed up, placed the items on the counter, asked for a pack of cigarettes, and then told them to put it on the APD tab, the charges show. When told by the employee there was no APD tab, she allegedly started to argue with the worker then grabbed the items and walked to a table without paying. Police said they took Winter into custody and back to the station where she allegedly became uncooperative and belligerent. According to the complaint, Winter began using force and resisting being put in a cell. Later, when trying to take Winter out of the cell to be arraigned, police said in the complaint that she was aggressively hitting the cell door and screaming. She moved back into a fighting stance and began to resist being placed in cuffs. Police noted that she had kicked an officer and another officer had to come into the cell to help get her into handcuffs. Stay up to date with the latest news in the palm of your hand. Click here to download the WTAJ app for Apple and Android devices. Winter has been charged with felony aggravated assault impersonating a public servant as well as seven counts of misdemeanor resisting arrest and impersonating a public servant. She was placed in Blair County Prison with bail set at $20,000. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) A woman is facing charges after police said she injured a detective after ramming into several Albuquerque Police Department (APD) vehicles. According to the criminal complaint, APD approached the driver of a Tesla at the Hilton Hotel in Downtown on Friday night. VIDEO: Smokestacks demolished at northwest New Mexico power plant Police said the driver, later identified as Leann Aragon, drove around one police car, crashing into a second head-on. APD said the impact of that crash forced the second vehicle to hit a third. Police stated a detective who was inside the second car sustained head and neck injuries. Aragon is currently being held in MDC and is facing an aggravated battery upon a peace officer resulting in a great bodily harm charge. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply concerned" over the exchanges of fire across the Blue Line -- the Lebanon-Israel frontier, his spokesman said on Sunday. "The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the significant increase in the exchanges of fire across the Blue Line," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief, said in a statement. "These actions put both the Lebanese and Israeli populations at risk, as well as threatening regional security and stability," the statement said. Guterres called for immediate de-escalation and on the parties to "urgently and immediately" return to a cessation of hostilities and fully implement UN Security Council resolution 1701, it added. In a joint statement posted on social media platform X on Sunday, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) urged Israel and Hezbollah to "refrain from further escalatory action." "In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action," the statement said. "A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward," it added. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Resolution 1701, issued by the UN Security Council in August 2006, calls for a cessation of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the establishment of a demilitarized zone. AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A woman from the Columbus area is facing charges after investigators say she led them on a chase that started in Canfield and ended on Interstate 76 in Portage County. And a woman who was with her admitted to driving during another police chase earlier that day in Ashland County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP). Read next: Haunted trail canceled after receiving cease and desist Jayla Dunlap, 18, of Whitehall, Ohio, is charged with failure to comply, possession of drugs or drug abuse, and was cited for no tail lights. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a trooper saw a 2013 Nissan Sentra with just one headlight and no taillights on Interstate 80 heading west in Austintown at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. When the trooper tried to stop the driver, later identified as Dunlap, she took off, troopers said. A chase ensued and troopers deployed spike strips on I-76 in Ravenna. Dunlap hit the spikes, which slowed her down, but she continued driving until troopers used a vehicle maneuver to stop her and she spun out, hitting a cable in the median, according to OSHP. Dunlap was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint and arrested at the scene. I was behind you the whole time, you were doing 100 100 plus, a trooper tells Dunlap during the stop. I wasnt driving the whole timeI was just scared, Dunlap said. Troopers said Dunlaps 19-year-old passenger admitted to driving the car during a chase in Ashland County earlier that same day that was called off, and that charges are pending against that passenger. The trooper spotted the vehicle traveling approximately 100 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone on Interstate 71, said Sgt. Bridgett Matt. No plea was entered at Dunlaps arraignment on Monday. Bond was set at $8,000. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) A woman was attacked by a man with a knife at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Sunday, authorities said. The incident happened at the Terminal A departures level at the airport around 5 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. More Local News Police witnessed a man attacking a woman with a knife on the right side of her face and quickly arrested him, authorities said. The woman was taken to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Authorities identified the suspect as Jin Xiong, a 54-year-old homeless man. He faces charges of aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. 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. A woman died on Burning Man's opening day. The cause is under investigation Just hours after Burning Man kicked off Sunday in Nevada, organizers announced the death of a female attendee. Kendra Frazer, 39, was found dead hours after the opening of the desert festival. The cause of Frazer's death is under investigation; festival organizers did not provide additional information. "Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss," Burning Man organizers said in a news release. The yearly event in Nevada's remote Black Rock Desert draws tens of thousands of participants to a makeshift community replete with art and music. Shortly before 11:30 a.m., emergency services with the festival responded to reports of an unresponsive female and immediately began lifesaving measures but were unable to revive her, festival organizers said. The Pershing County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene at 11:37 a.m. for a possible death. Deputies confirmed Frazer's death when they arrived, the Sheriff's Department said in a news release posted to Facebook. Read more: Rain, mud cause upheaval at Burning Man festival The cause and manner of her death remain at the center of an investigation and will be determined after an autopsy is performed, authorities announced. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kendras family and friends," Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement. 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. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss, festival organizers said in a statement Andy Barron/Reno Gazette-Journal, File via AP An image from the 2013 Burning Man festival The opening of this years Burning Man took a tragic turn when a woman died at the annual festival in Nevadas Black Rock Desert. Emergency services personnel at Burning Man responded to a report that someone was unresponsive at the grounds on Sunday, Aug. 25, at 11:29 a.m. local time, at which time they attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful, Burning Man organizers said in a statement. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss, the statement continued. The safety and well-being of our staff and community are paramount. We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident. The Pershing County Sheriffs Office, which identified the female victim, is investigating the incident in Black Rock City and will not release the victims name until next of kin are notified. PEOPLE reached out to the sheriffs office for comment about the death and subsequent investigation but did not immediately hear back. Getty An image taken at a past Burning Man in Nevada's Black Rock Desert Related: Death Investigated at Burning Man During Storms That Have Left Thousands Stuck in Desert The sheriffs office told SFGate that the death is under investigation until a cause and manner can be determined with an autopsy. This death comes one year after a 32-year-old Burning Man participant died in September 2023, when heavy rains trapped thousands of people in thick mud for days. 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. Last year, Leon Reece was found unresponsive on Sept. 1, Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said in a statement at the time, per The Daily Beast, The New York Post and The Reno Gazette-Journal. JULIE JAMMOT/AFP via Getty Burning Man attendees in 2023 Related: Burning Man Victim Identified as 32-Year-Old Man as Festival 'Exodus' Delayed by Massive Traffic Jam In a statement shared with PEOPLE in October 2023, the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiners Office said the manner of Reeces death was an accident due to drug intoxication: His cause of death was acute cocaine, ethanol and 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine [also known as ecstasy, MDMA or molly] toxicity. Burning Man started in 1986. This year, the festival started Aug. 25 and began Sept. 2. The Burning Man website describes the city as a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance that attracts tens of thousands of festival-goers every year. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The post Woman Dies During First Day of Burning Man appeared first on Consequence. Police are investigating the cause of death of a woman who was found unresponsive during the first day of Burning Man 2024, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. According to the events organizers, the unnamed woman was found unresponsive on Sunday (August 25th) at 11:29 a.m in Nevadas Black Rock Desert. Emergency services personnels attempts at life-saving measures were unsuccessful. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen told the Reno Gazette-Journal that his deputies were notified of the death at 11:37 a.m. An investigation will be conducted until a cause and manner of death can be determined. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the decedent, the Pershing County Sheriffs Office said. This is the first reported death on the playa this year and unfortunately it has happened on day one. In a similar statement, Burning Man said they would not be providing further details out of respect for the grieving familys privacy and offered counseling services to attendees. During last years Burning Man, a man was found unresponsive amid record rains that forced upwards of 70,000 to shelter in place though the weather conditions were not believed to be a contributing factor to his death. Burning Man 2024 is slated to run through September 2nd. Around 70,000 people are expected to attend. Woman Dies During First Day of Burning Man Eddie Fu 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. View of the Grand Canyon with rainbow. A 33-year-old woman who had been reported missing following a flash flood in the Grand Canyon National Park in the US state of Arizona was confirmed dead, rangers said on Sunday. Rebecca Krizak/dpa A 33-year-old woman who had been reported missing following a flash flood in the Grand Canyon National Park in the US state of Arizona was confirmed dead, rangers said on Sunday. The body of the woman was found on Sunday morning near the Colorado River amid a multi-day search and rescue operation. The woman had been reported missing on Thursday following a flash flood that struck Havasu Canyon, about 30 kilometres upstream, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a statement. "An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner," the NPS said. The northern Arizona park drew 4.7 million visitors in 2023 and comprises some 500,000 hectares along 400 kilometres of the Colorado river. ST. LOUIS A woman is recovering at the hospital after being shot during an apparent game of Russian roulette in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. A St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson said the 26-year-old victim and others were hanging out at a home in the 2600 block of Selber Court when a 21-year-old man brought out a revolver and asked if anyone wanted to play the dangerous game. The man with the revolver fired a shot and struck the victim. Police said the man is 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 FOX 2. DES MOINES, Iowa Police are investigating after a woman was shot at a homeless camp in Des Moines early Monday morning. It happened shortly after 1:00 a.m. in the woods in the 1600 block of Harriett Street, according to a post on X from the Des Moines Police Department. The woman was transported to the hospital in serious condition. Sgt. Paul Parizek of the DMPD said the woman has had surgery and is expected to survive. Local nonprofit researching cause of food insecurity using new model There is an increased police presence in the area as police investigate the incident. Sgt. Parizek said a K-9 and a drone were also deployed to search for the suspect, but so far no one has been taken into custody. Check back to www.who13.com for more information 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 who13.com. WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) Many students will head back to the classroom on Wednesday in Woonsocket. 12 News sat down with Superintendent Patrick McGee ahead of the start of school, who shared some changes that students and parents can expect this year. We have been very busy with upgrades at some of our schools. For example, at our high school, we put in new science labs throughout the building, said McGee. When do RI, Mass. students go back to school? There will also be upgrades to the gymnasium and auditorium at Woonsocket High School, along with updates to gymnasiums at some of the Elementary schools. Were really excited about those capital projects that I think our families, our students and our staff are going to be really excited when they come back to see that work, McGee said. Some of that work will not be completed, however, well be working on it throughout the course of the fall and the winter. One big change happening this year is that some students at Pothier Citizens Elementary School will be relocated due to a decrease in enrollment. This will impact about 90 students who will now be going to Savoie Elementary School. RELATED: Smithfield making some new changes this school year Our goal is always to have a low, student, teacher ratio. However, in Woonsocket and across the country and certainly across the state, weve seen unfortunately a decrease in funding, McGee explained. So, we did not have the funding this year to maintain smaller size classrooms, which we have been able to do in the past. The district also hopes to break ground on its new elementary school, which will hold a little more than 1,000 students and is expected to be completed by 2027. Wednesday, August 28 is the first day for students in Grades 1 through 9 and Kindergarten Students with their last names beginning A-L. Thursday, August 29 is first day for students in Grades 10 through 12 and Kindergarten Students with their last names beginning M-Z. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WPRI.com. An under-construction estate has entered the market with a staggering $95 million price tag in Manalapan, the wealthy town south of Palm Beach. The ocean-to-lake property at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. is among the most expensive ever marketed for sale in the town. Developer Joseph Farrell of Farrell Building Co. and Farrell Cos. is completely rebuilding a 1990s-era mansion and its separate guesthouse on the ocean-to-lake site, which measures 1.6 acres. The speculative project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025, according to the sales listing. Plans call for the main house to have 19,000 square feet with a 4,000-square-foot guesthouse. In all there will be 13 bedrooms. The project is changing the architectural style from Mediterranean to contemporary. A rendering shows a contemporary-style house that is under construction as a speculative project at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd in Manalapan near Palm Beach. The estate has an asking price of $95 million. With a home of his own in Manalapan, Farrell is well known for building luxury homes in the Hamptons on Long Island in New York. He has also carried out real estate projects in South Florida. The estate in Manalpan has 150 feet of waterfront on the ocean and about the same amount on a narrow strip of land fronting the Intracoastal Waterway and separated from the beachfront parcel by the coastal road. The property lies about a mile north of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, the luxury hotel that just sold to billionaire and Manalapan homeowner Larry Ellison for about $277.4 million. In January, a company affiliated with Farrell paid a recorded $32.5 million for the estate, where a down-to-the-studs renovation and addition project had been underway for several years. By the time deed recorded for the January sale, Farrell Building Co. had already filed a notice of construction with Palm Beach County that said the work would involve interior and exterior renovations at the property. Farrell could not be reached for comment for this story. Agent Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties represented Farrells interests in his January purchase and has returned to list the property for sale. This masterfully configured residence has the most stunning ocean and Intracoastal views at the highest elevation in Manalapan, says Brandts listing, which entered the multiple listing service Aug. 13. Plans for the estate call for two swimming pools with whirlpool spas, a pool cabana with a summer kitchen, a pickleball court and garage parking for eight cars. A house being extensively renovated for resale at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan near Palm Beach has entered the market with an asking price of $95 million. Improvements on the west side of the property will include a new lakefront dock and seawall. The mansions layout will include a great room, a media room and a den-and-office. Farrells limited liability company bought the estate from entrepreneur Mark Sherman, who with his ex-wife, Isabella Sherman, paid $8 million for the original house in December 2000 before their divorce. He had been the sole owner since 2012 and had embarked on the first renovation project after being issued a building permit in 2017, property records show. But the project dragged on for years to the frustration of town commissioners, meeting records show. In the sale early this year, Mark Shermans interests were represented by Douglas Elliman Real Estate listing agents Pier Paolo Visconti and Claudia Llanes. Although sales in Manalapan have slowed over the past year, asking prices for premium properties remain far higher than before the coronavirus pandemic-sparked the real estate boom that arrived in the area in early 2021, real estate observers say. The boom and the escalating prices came, in part, because some homebuyers bought in Manalapan after they couldnt find waterfront estates in Palm Beach, where housing inventory shrank dramatically during the first years of the pandemic. The housing boom also was fueled by the work-at-home trend and Floridas favorable tax climate. The most expensive property ever listed in Manalapan was a massive estate on the far south end of town that is today owned by Ellison, who co-founded Oracle software. That estate at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. was initially priced in 2017 with part of an island nearby for a total of about 22 acres at $165 million. But the price had dropped to $115 million when the property finally sold in 2021 to Netscape billionaire Jim Clark for a recorded $94 million. In 2022, Ellison paid a recorded $173 million for the property in an off-market deal. Before developer Farrell Cos. bought the ocean-to-lake estate at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan in January 2024, a renovation-and-addition project was already underway on the property. That project, seen in this rendering, included a guesthouse, foreground, and the oceanfront mansion in the rear. This story was updated to correct the sale price of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. This is a developing story. Check back for any updates. Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly Beyond the Hedges column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Subscribe today to support our journalism. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida spec house in construction asks $95 million near Palm Beach BEIRUT, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah claimed on Monday evening that it targeted Israeli "spy equipment" at the Ramyah site in northern Israel with a suicide drone, achieving a direct hit. "In support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their resistance, our fighters targeted the spy equipment at the Ramyah site with a suicide drone, hitting it directly," the Shiite group stated. Military sources in Lebanon, speaking anonymously, told Xinhua that Israeli drones and warplanes carried out 12 airstrikes on border towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Monday. The strikes targeted a car and two motorcycles, causing only material damage. They added that an Israeli drone fired two air-to-ground missiles at a vehicle traveling on the main road in the Abra area, setting the car on fire. The driver, reportedly a leader of a Palestinian faction, survived the attack. Israeli artillery shelled 16 border towns in southern Lebanon, destroying 11 homes and damaging around 24 others, with no casualties reported. Since early Sunday morning, Israeli and Hezbollah forces have engaged in extensive exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their conflict. Hezbollah has announced it launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have intensified since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. A man convicted of three counts of first-degree assault for spraying bullets into an apartment at a supportive housing development in Lakewood, injuring a 3-month-old boy in a baby swing, was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison. Earnest Lee Hamilton was found guilty July 11 in a jury trial for the March 24, 2023 shooting at Prairie Oaks, 8956 Gravelly Lake Drive, an apartment complex operated by Living Access Support Alliance, which serves families who are chronically homeless and have disabilities. Hamilton, 42, had been a resident there for at least a year when he used a rifle to fire more than 20 rounds into the front door and exterior wall of a neighbors apartment, according to court records. A sitter was looking after the baby and an 18-month-old toddler inside at the time, and a bullet fragment struck the younger child while he sat in a play swing. Lakewood Police Department officers responded at about 5:40 p.m. that day for a report of an active shooter. Officers systematically cleared the building but a gunman wasnt located inside. Surveillance video later showed that Hamilton was the last to leave the building about 10 minutes after the shooting, and he was driven away by another apartment resident. He was arrested later that night. On Friday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Sabrina Ahrens told Hamilton that every day of his lengthy sentence was justified by the impact his actions had on the community. She recalled the fear she saw on the babysitters face in an image presented at trial and blood she saw on one of the victims. I cant imagine the trauma that they went through, and its only but for, probably just, not centimeters but just a hair difference that there wasnt a casualty, Ahrens said. Many people were evacuated and displaced as a result of the shooting, Ahrens said. She added that families living there were already in dire circumstances. None of the victims or their relatives attended Fridays hearing. Ahrens said her understanding from the end of the trial was that the baby boy who was injured was now thriving. The long sentence Ahrens imposed on Hamilton was due in part to the way the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged him. Although only the 3-month old baby was injured by gunfire, Hamilton was hit with separate assault charges for all three people in the apartment and jurors convicted him of each count. Ahrens said in court that Hamiltons defense attorney had conceded that the judge didnt have the ability to determine that the victims were shot in the course of the same criminal conduct, thus requiring her to hand Hamilton three consecutive sentences for the crimes. Ahrens sentenced Hamilton to 123 months for the assault on the 3-month old baby and 93 months each for the other two assaults. Additionally, each of the three counts carried a 60-month firearm sentencing enhancement, totaling 486 months. Aside from the three assault charges, jurors also convicted Hamilton of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. According to court records, he had previously been convicted in 2001 of second-degree robbery in San Diego County, California. He was twice convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm in California in 2008 and 2016, and he was arrested for that same crime in Texas in 2021. Hamiltons defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, Travis Currie, requested that his client be sentenced to about 25 years in prison, arguing that the standard-range sentence prosecutors had recommended, 40 years, was excessive. Currie said his client had maintained that his charges were not consistent. He asked Ahrens to look at the injuries that resulted from Hamiltons actions and the fact that this wasnt multiple actions over any significant period of time. When it was Hamiltons turn to speak, he told the court he would like more time to study his case, and he felt like he had been let down by the system. Theres a lot of inconsistencies, a lot of lies, things of that nature that werent exposed during the trial, Hamilton said. Im just ready to be more proactive in my fight for freedom and fight for justice and my fight for liberty. Before the judge handed down the sentence, she told Hamilton that she believed he had received a fair trial, recounting various pieces of testimony, video evidence and cross-examination of witnesses. But she said it was difficult for her to compare Hamiltons calm and obedient behavior at trial with video that displayed the damage he had caused to the apartment complex. Ahrens said she hoped that what happened on the day of the shooting was completely outside of Hamiltons normal character. I hope that you use this time to do something thats really positive for you and advances you, Ahrens said. Its unclear why Hamilton carried out the shooting. Police noted after his arrest he appeared paranoid and was thought to be having mental health issues or on drugs. He reportedly told detectives that he believed he was being watched by his neighbors and thought his life was in danger. According to the probable cause document, he said he had heard neighbors on both sides of his apartment cocking guns. Lakewood Police Department officers found a Wilson Combat rifle behind a couch in Hamiltons living room and a nearby ammunition magazine loaded with four .223-caliber bullets. They were consistent with shell casings found outside the victims apartment. Hamiltons ability to get housing at the apartment complex despite his criminal record was the subject of a lawsuit brought against Living Access Support Alliance, Spinnaker Property Management, and the Tacoma and Pierce County housing authorities. The suit alleged that Hamilton was negligently permitted to live there and that the defendants failed to act on his history of violent behavior toward other tenants prior to the shooting. About a year prior, according to charging papers in the shooting, an apartment complex staff member saw Hamilton walking around the building carrying what appeared to be a rifle concealed in a pillowcase. The suit also alleged Hamilton had committed domestic violence against his girlfriend and threatened other tenants with a gun. The case against Living Access Support Alliance, Spinnaker and the Tacoma Housing Authority was settled confidentially in January, and the matter against the Pierce County Housing Authority was dismissed June 7. (Getty Images) As the dog days of late August drag on, seemingly beyond their allotted 24 hours, Nebraskans know what to expect in the lethargy brought on by endless heat and humidity. School starts. While asking young minds to focus in the swelter may seem counterintuitive to the learning process, air-conditioning and some inexplicable wont to dismiss the younguns well before Memorial Day have teamed up to push the first day of school further from the traditional end of summer, Labor Day. (Those of a certain demographic will recall school always starting the Tuesday after the first Monday in September.) Even as the 2024-2025 school year unfolds in the midst of a presidential election campaign, ongoing wars and, in Nebraska, a special session of the Legislature, public schools remain ground zero in the culture wars, where hearts and minds and a childs education are at stake. This space has made that point when protesters disrupted school board meetings and threatened board members, when districts removed books from public school classrooms and libraries and when teachers were forced to delete part of American history but post the Ten Commandments and weave the Bible into lesson plans. Theres more: While the Nebraska Legislatures special session ostensibly was about property tax relief, in reality senators were deciding how we were going to pay for public schools. Add to that a ballot measure in November that will determine if the state will go ahead with a voucher system to fund students education in private or parochial schools. Recent news from Arizona presents a cautionary tale on that front. Pro Publica reported the state, once considered the gold standard for voucher programs, has a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which is being attributed to its voucher system. Those are just details. The public school picture is bigger, much bigger. When one combines the push for narrower, insular books and curricula with biblical underpinnings with systems using tax money from public coffers to pay for private education, the entire future of our public schools is at stake. In a state where weve etched into the Capitol the idea of citizen watchfulness the result of a good public education red flags should be flying. Speaking of curriculum, two recents events further convinced me that schools should require courses on crap detection, giving students both the skills to call out a lie when they see it and an understanding of the damage that can be done when such deceit carries the day. Heres the first writing assignment: Explain and analyze the overuse of falsely claimed, the euphemistic phrase now-common among news reports that reads, feels and sounds like a 36-grit sandpaper shiatsu. For the record: Falsely claimed as in She falsely claimed the sky is falling means she lied, as in She lied about the sky falling. Students should read a morning news report or watch an evening news broadcast to see its (and other substitutes for lying) use in the media. Those expecting a good grade will discuss in their paper why the use of euphemisms to soften or otherwise deflect the stridency of some political language usually morphs into a debate over the demerits of political correctness. While taking into account the reality that journalists simply run out of ways to describe something without being overly repetitious, students should also discuss the consequences of failing to call out lies in news reports or employing words or phrases that deflect or distort reality. As a resource, read a transcript of a recent press conference when fact checkers determined the GOP candidate for president falsely claimed 162 times in just over an hour. Then, assess the impact of the PBS NewsHour later choosing to describe the press conference as scattershot, rather than 64 minutes of lies. For background, students should read two credible sources reporting on the riots across England that exploded after an online post misidentified the person who attacked and killed three young girls. An online onslaught misidentified him as a Syrian refugee seeking asylum and a Muslim. Social media posts even made up the name of the attacker. What followed were days of violence as protesteors attacked refugee housing and refugees themselves. Finally, after assessing how we treat misinformation, how we choose to report and identify it, and what are its consequences are, explain how the problem should be solved. Yes, its a tough assignment: reading, writing, arithmetic, research, crap detection and problem solving. Ironically, just whats needed to keep public schools any schools- on top of their game, even in the dog days of summer. STAR CITY, W.Va. (WBOY) The Star City-Morgantown area saw West Virginias largest vintage market return in full force, with more than 60 vendors and thousands of articles of clothing to choose from. This year the WV Vintage Fest was held at the Edith Barill Riverfront Park in Star City, and was overwhelmingly attended by college students looking for unique pieces of clothing to wear for the upcoming school year. Nattie Hart, the founder of WV Vintage Fest and co-owner of Gallery 304, said holding the event after the first few days of class at WVU was very much a conscious decision. In Morgantown, you cant really do anything without keeping the students in mind, Hart told 12 News. Thats a lot of who shops here, so its kind of important that theyre able to make it. One of the things that makes Vintage Fest unique is the sheer amount of variety found on the racks. Instead of shoppers feeling like they are simply going thrifting, different vendors curate what they have on sale and often times fall into similar styles of clothing, making it fairly easy for almost anyone to find something they like. Cryptid mural added to Morgantown pizza joint I like that people come from different places because you see different stuff, Hart said. Its not like, all West Virginia and like Steelers stuff you know? Theres like a little bit of everything. Theres womens wear, mens wear, so I think thats nice, [I] like the diversity of it all. If you missed Sundays Vintage Fest, Hart said another event is likely to happen sometime in November of this year, although no specific date has been set. You can follow WV Vintage Fest on Instagram for the most up-to-date information on future events. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown and other city leaders gathered Monday at the DoubleTree Hotel to give an update on the downtown area following the demolition of the Realty Building. Read next: Coroners office issues report on death in Realty Building gas explosion The building was damaged in an explosion on May 28 following a gas leak, and it has since been torn down. Crews have been working to take down the last pieces of the building. Brown thanked everyone involved in helping the residents of the Realty Building and International Towers. He said the time now has come to celebrate the reopening of downtown and for everyone to reconnect with the businesses. This is a time where we can all come together and say we can all decide on we want that to be a central focal point, Brown said. Part of that hinges on what becomes of the site of the Realty Building as demolition crews are expected to begin removing debris and trucking it away from the site this week. Hes not really committed to anything yet. He said something great that youre going to be proud of, Mayor,' Brown said. The other avenue involves reopening downtown streets that have been closed off since the explosion, allowing the public to move about freely. Brown talked about opening Commerce Street as soon as possible and other areas. We want to get the flow of downtown open, and as we get an opportunity to do so, well do that as well. Boardman, theyre moving, progress is really moving on Boardman Street. Market Street is open, Brown said. Brown said they have put out bid documents so Market Street and Federal Street can be reestablished once the construction site is clear. Almost everyone living at International Towers, the neighboring apartment building, has since returned home after the evacuation order was lifted. In my time at United Way, this is one of the proudest things Ive been involved with, said Bob Hannon, president of United Way for Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. City officials say they are planning a series of events to drive people back downtown and theyre also focusing on the future of development in the citys center. We want everyone coming downtown with their friends and their family and enjoying everything from Oh Wow! to the Covelli Center to the Amphitheater, said Councilman Julius Oliver. There is an eye toward economic development, making sure the road to recovery is clear for all of the downtown businesses that were impacted by the explosion. We want everybody to think about those nostalgic moments. Those back in the day moments. When you came downtown and you wanted to have a good time and downtown was the place to be. We want to reimagine downtown and take it back to that era, Oliver said. Brown said a downtown celebration is planned for fall and more information about that will be revealed at a later date. Monday morning, WKBN also learned that the Mahoning County coroner has ruled the death of Akil Drake as an accident. Drake, who was working in the Chase Bank building at the time of the explosion, was killed in the blast. Gerry Ricciutti, Patty Coller and Chelsea Simeon 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 WKBN.com. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Many kids are headed back to school next week. Thats why the Latino Youth and Development Center on N. Clinton Avenue played host to a Back-To-School Bash Sunday. When is the first day of school in your district? Grassroots organization, Dezio & Gingello Foundation, worked fast to secure a new host location after a planned picnic at Maplewood Park was not able to come to fruition. The goal was to create a safe space, where the community could come together in the aftermath of the deadly double shooting there just weeks prior. We did suffer a small stutter-step by not being able to have it at Maplewood, Jake Bishop, the executive director of Dezio & Gingello Foundation began. Obviously we want people to come out and feel safe in a neighborhood like that at the park after the tragedy that happened shout-out to the families but we believe its more important the obligations to the people morally than it is politically, that some people might have asked us to leave. That goal remained the same Sunday at the Latino Youth and Development Center, as the organizations gathered the community together, while also helping out kids ahead of the schoolyear. With the economy so high, were having problems people buying bookbags, et cetera for their kids and this is a joy to be here with the community, said Carlos Vargas, a volunteer with the Latino Youth and Development Center. The event also featured free pizza from Capones Italian Eatery. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst. YWCA York hosting annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes next month YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) YWCA York is hosting the annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event on September 6 to raise awareness of sexual violence against women. According to YWCA York, the event will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 6, at North Pershing Avenue and West Philadelphia Street in York. The walk is meant to honor all survivors and victims and to encourage men to experience the perspective of female sexual violence survivors, said YWCA York. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now WHTM Daily Digest The focus of the annual event is to encourage our community to come together in solidarity to end mens sexualized violence towards women and fem presenting folx, states CEO C. Kim Bracey. All proceeds from the event will go to supporting YWCA Yorks Victim Services programming for survivors and victims of sexual violence in York County, said YWCA York. Participants can register for the mile-long walk online as individuals or as teams. YWCA York is a nonprofit organization aiming to eliminate racism and empower women in the York community, according to YWCA York. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 25 that negotiations are ongoing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Switzerland to organize a second peace summit. In a conversation shared on his social media on Aug. 25 with Indian journalists, Zelensky revealed that he had informed India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his support for India hosting the summit. Kyiv is looking for a host among the countries in the Global South. The inaugural Peace Summit for Ukraine took place on June 15-16 in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock. The summit, jointly organized by Ukraine and Switzerland, marked a significant step in Ukraine's pursuit of a peaceful resolution to the ongoing war. The event drew delegations from 92 countries and eight global organizations converging to discuss key aspects of Zelensky's "Peace Formula." The summit focused on three critical points from this 10-point plan: nuclear and energy security, food security, and the release of Ukrainian prisoners and deportees. The summit culminated in a final communique signed by almost 80 countries, including Ukraine, along with four European institutions. "But I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India, but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit. We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique," Zelensky emphasized during the Aug. 25th meeting. The Ukrainian president also said that during his meeting with Modi, they discussed all the points from the communique and the previous peace summit. Modi arrived in Kyiv early on Aug. 23. He became the first time an Indian prime minister set foot in Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established over 30 years ago. Read also: Modi to visit Kyiv after hugging it out with Putin. Can Ukraine crack their alliance? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Smoke rises over Kiev after one of the biggest Russian missile attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war. Andreas Stroh/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to global partners for "decisive action" following the latest Russian assault on Ukraine which he says involved more than 100 missiles and some 100 drones. "Weakness and inadequate responses fuel terror," Zelensky said in a brief video message posted on social media platform X on Monday. "Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly." He again appealed for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons supplied by Western partners, which currently prevent Ukraine from striking deep into Russian territory. "Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations," Zelensky said. "America, Britain, France, and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now," the president said, listing some of the country's most important and powerful allies. Russia carried out massive airstrikes on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday morning, in what Zelensky described as one of the heaviest air attacks in two and a half years of war. Russian forces fired more than 100 missiles of various types and around 100 Shahed drones at targets across Ukraine, causing "signficant damage" to the country's energy sector, Zelensky said. Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, pictured at a press conference at the Ukraine Conference. Kay Nietfeld/dpa KHARTOUM, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ahmed Al-Nour Al-Haj, a resident from Omdurman, a populous city north of Sudan's capital Khartoum, turned his home into a small farm where he grows vegetables, fruits, and other agricultural products. "I grow essential vegetables such as onions, okra, eggplant, mallow, and pumpkin, along with fruits such as lemon and mango, and various types of dates," Al-Haj told Xinhua. "The war has pushed us to resort to this means to obtain food and achieve self-sufficiency," he added. Since April 15, 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, resulting in the loss of at least 16,650 lives. An estimated 10.7 million people are now internally displaced in Sudan, with approximately 2.2 million others seeking refuge in neighboring countries, according to the latest UN data. A recent report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that about 25.6 million people -- more than half of the population of Sudan -- face acute hunger, including more than 755,000 people on the brink of famine. The risk of famine is particularly severe in 14 areas across the country, including some hotspots in Khartoum, the OCHA report showed. Al-Haj was not the only one in adapting to the challenges of life in the State of Khartoum. The war has led to severe food shortages and high commodity prices, forcing thousands of families in the state to turn to home farming, or indoor farming, to secure their food supply. "I sought a way to help my family and decided to farm inside our home in Omdurman," said Nadia Ezz El-Din, a university student from Omdurman. "I cultivate various crops and vegetables that we need on a daily basis, including tomatoes, peppers, and hot peppers," she said. In Ezz El-Din's view, home farming has enabled thousands of families to provide their daily sustenance under harsh conditions of the war. For others, it has become a livelihood source, with families earning income by selling their homegrown agricultural products. Zahra Saleh, who runs a small greengrocer near her home in Omdurman's Karari neighborhood, views home farming as "a job opportunity and a daily source of income." "All the vegetables I sell were grown at home," Saleh told Xinhua. Salahuddin Idris, a Sudanese agricultural expert, explained that home farming was possible for Khartoum residents due to the area's fertile lands, favorable climate, and abundant water resources. With home farming gaining popularity in the State of Khartoum, the local government plans to offer support to productive families. "We are seeking to localize vegetable production in Khartoum State and working to provide certain types of seeds," Acting Minister of Social Development of Khartoum State Siddiq Hassan Freini told Xinhua. The News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked European neighbors for their support in striking down Russian drones and missiles after a major attack across the country that left at least five people dead. We could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbors operated in concert with our F-16s and air defense systems, he said in a post on X. The Russian strikes in the early hours of Monday which Kyiv said involved more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones also targeted Ukrainian energy and water supplies, the BBC reported. The onslaught came two days after a Russian missile strike on a hotel in the city of Kramatorsk killed a British safety adviser working with Reuters news agency. Zelenskyy holds meeting of Staff of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, discusses restoration of power system after Russian attack Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, in which the efficiency of air defence systems of Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraines energy system after one of the biggest Russian attacks were discussed. Source: Zelenskyy on Telegram Quote: "Reports were made by Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Ihor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Herman Halushchenko, Minister of Energy of Ukraine, and Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukrenergo [Ukrainian state power company ed.]. We have analysed the efficiency of air defence systems and radio-electronic warfare systems, mobile firing groups, and the engineering protection of every region in detail. Corresponding decisions were adopted." Details: Zelenskyy noted that Russia launched at least 127 missiles and 109 drones on Ukraine in the aforementioned attack. He added that the power facilities are dealing with the consequences of the Russian attack, conducting repair works and demining efforts. "The terrorist state [Russia ed.] attacked some civilian facilities with cluster munitions. Bomb disposal experts must work before power engineers start the repair works," Zelenskyy said. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, also gave a report on the operational situation, mainly the defence of the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. The decision to further strengthen the Pokrovsk front was adopted. Support UP or become our patron! Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine infiltrated the territory of Kursk Oblast in Russia, among other things, in order to compensate for the deficit of long-range missiles. Source: the evening address by Zelenskyy Quote: "The physical presence of our Forces in Kursk Oblast and our active efforts to eliminate the Russian threat on its own territory are also a way to compensate for the deficit of long-range capabilities." Details: Zelenskyy noted that the areas Russia uses to launch missile attacks on Ukraine are mainly the airspace of Kursk and Belgorod oblasts, other border regions of Russia, the waters of the Black Sea, and the territory of occupied Crimea. "Each of these strikes repeatedly brings us back to the task of long-range capabilities the need to provide our Defense Forces with enough long-range weapons that can destroy terrorists [the Russians ed.] exactly in the areas of their strikes. This is the optimal counter-terrorism tactic, one that every partner of ours has the right to and would undoubtedly use to protect themselves. And we expect decisions from them decisions on our long-range capabilities," Zelenskyy noted. Support UP or become our patron! Zest for life: New Hampshire community mourning death of 17-year-old girl killed in crash on I-93 A New Hampshire community is mourning the death of a beloved high school student and athlete who was killed in a crash on Interstate 93 on Friday. Lillianna Cawthron, 17, of Londonderry died after the car she was driving went off the interstate and crashed into several trees on Friday afternoon, state police said. Cawthron was an ambitious student and dedicated track and field athlete at Londonderry High School, according to a post on the Facebook page for Londonderry High Schools Alternative Education Programs. She would have started a new school year on Tuesday, when classes resume for the fall. Our program and Lancer Nation lost the sweetest, spunkiest soul, school officials said in their Facebook post. Lillianna was an incredible student with a glowing personality that could light up any room she entered, school officials said. As a member of Lancer Nation, she was a dedicated athlete in our Cross Country and Track and Field programs as well as a talented Alto Sax player in our marching band. Her infectious laugh and spirited personality drove her ability to maintain impactful relationships with friends and her family, whom she loved fiercely, school officials said. She was a strong self-advocate for her needs and the needs of others which was apparent in her job working with children at The Learning Tree. 17-year-old Lillianna Cawthron, left, died after the car she was driving went off Interstate 93 and crashed into several trees in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Friday afternoon, Aug. 23, 2024, state police said. Ever ambitious, Lilianna was slated to graduate a semester early from The Adult Education Program in January of 2025, school officials said. Lancer Nation will forever treasure the memories of her contagious smile, whit, and zest for life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her entire family. At 2:47 p.m. Friday, state troopers were dispatched to a crash near mile maker 14 on Interstate 93 southbound. When troopers arrived, and after speaking with witnesses, they determined a gray 2008 Mercury Milan was traveling southbound when it went off the interstate to the right-hand side and struck several trees. Cawthron was taken by ambulance to Elliott Hospital in Manchester, where she later died, state police said. It is with heartbreak, extereme (sic) sorrow and sadness I share this post, Margaret Healey, Cawthrons great aunt, said in a post on Facebook on Sunday. My great niece Lillianna Cawthron 17 years old tragically lost her life due to injuries sustained in a car accident on Friday. A young life was taken from us way to soon. Several people paid tribute to Cawthron in posts on Facebook. Im in absolute disbelief. This girl lit up the room whenever she walked into it. She always made an effort to say goodbye to me before she left work, and was always one of the first people to greet me when I came in, Allyson Elise wrote. My heart and soul goes out to her family, Elise wrote. I am broken for everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her. Lillianna Cawthron was too young and will be forever missed. A wonderful young person gone way too soon, wrote Erica Miethner Harlow. Siobhan Smith wrote, A devastating loss to anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her. Lillianas laughter was contagious and her smile lit up every room she walked into. Countless times her quick sarcasm and chats while she stole a treat (or 2) made my day more than she knew, Smith wrote. You will be so missed Lilliana. 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 Elon Musk to X Employees: Tell Me Why You Deserve Your Stock Options If you're an X employee and want your stock options, you better be a good writer. Elon Musk sent an email to X staff this week that says stock options will be granted "based on the anticipated impact of employees," The Verge reports. Staff must submit a one-page write-up that details how they've contributed to the company. The move is similar to what Musk did at Tesla before laying off 10% of its staff. There, he asked managers at the company to determine which employees were "crucial" to its success. At X, the request for employee one-pagers comes after the company delayed its promotions process without explanation, The Verge says, which suggests layoffs could be on the horizon. X hasn't exactly been thriving under Musk's ownership. In October 2023, the company was valued at $19 billion, about a year after Musk paid $44 billion for the platform. User growth has also stalled. In July, the Financial Times reported that X only saw 1.6% daily active user growth in the previous year to 251 million daily active users. Rival Threads recently topped 200 million monthly active users; when it was at 175 million earlier in the summer, Sensor Tower estimated its daily active users at 38 million, Business Insider reports. Plus, X has been sparring with advertisers. After Musk told them to "go fuck yourself" in late 2023, the company sued an advertising group earlier this month for encouraging members to avoid doing business with X. The Temple of Justice, which houses the Washington state Supreme Court, at the Capitol in Olympia. (Brandon Garcia / The Seattle Times) CAIRO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and seven others wounded in a multi-vehicle crash in Fayoum province, south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, the provincial authorities said in a statement on Monday. Civil protection forces rushed to the scene to evacuate the bodies, and ambulances transferred the wounded to Fayoum Public Hospital, the statement said. Initial investigations revealed that a speedy trailer collided with several pickup trucks and private cars, and the trailer driver has been detained and will undergo a drug test, according to reports by the state-run Nile TV. Road accidents claim thousands of lives in Egypt every year, mainly due to speeding, negligence of traffic laws, and poor road maintenance. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Russia sold natural gas to Hungary at a 9% premium compared to the benchmark price on the Dutch gas exchange (TTF) in June, Nepszava writes, citing Eurostat data. Russia sold gas to Hungary at Ft 117 per cubic metre compared to a going rate of Ft 107 on the TTF in April. Under the gas agreement between the two countries, prices are linked to the TTF with a two-month lag, the newspaper adds. Had Hungary paid the TTF price, it would have saved Ft 6 billion in June alone and Ft 12 billion this year. Based on this methodology, Nepszava adds, the state has paid Ft 246 billion in excess of market prices since October 2021, when the long-term agreement entered into force. Hungary imported more gas from Russia via pipeline than any other EU member state in June, totalling 651 million cubic metres, a 44% rise, year-on-year, or one-third of the total EU imports of 2 billion cubic metres. During the January-June period, Hungary received a total of 3.8 billion cubic metres of Russian gas, 51% more than last year. The surge in imports came as domestic demand contracted during the period, which raises the possibility of reimports, Nepszava adds. ********************************* 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! Fare dodgers paid fines in excess of Ft 15 million in total to the account of MAV-Start in July, the highest-ever monthly total, the state-owned passenger railway operator MAV-Start said. In the first half, revenue from fines amounted to Ft 80 million, up by 40% from a year earlier. The earlier monthly record of Ft 13.3 million was recorded in March, 2020. The highest individual fine paid last month was Ft 148,000. MAV said its team responsible for collecting fines had stepped up its performance and the efficiency of collecting fines to a considerable extent. As compared to the former Ft 8,000 fine, those who do not settle the debt on the train must pay Ft 25,000. This sum increases to Ft 50,000 if somebody fails to pay up within 30 days. MTI Stock Photo - for illustrative purposes only ********************************* 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 has to prepare for serious attacks against its sovereign foreign policy in the coming years, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said at the Tranzit Festival in Tihany, at Lake Balaton, on Saturday. Protecting Hungarys sovereignty is not a question of political ideology, but a matter of life and death, Szijjarto said. He said Hungarys insistence on protecting its sovereignty had become the antithesis of the liberal mainstream and pointed to the range of means the liberal mainstream had adopted to squeeze out any other way of thinking, including political, legal and economic tools, and most recently physical destruction as in the case of the assassination attempts against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and the candidate for president of the United States Donald Trump. Szijjarto said Hungary had been able to keep its foreign policy focused on serving the interests of the Hungarian nation in recent years, while preventing the validation of external interests in Hungary, but he warned that the country needed to be ready for attacks on its political, physical, energy and economic security in the coming years. He pointed to the international media and financing for NGOs, as well as procedures launched by Brussels and, most recently, an attack on new rules concerning Hungarys National Card scheme providing residency for non-EU nationals. He noted that just 7,000 Russian nationals were residing in Hungary, while 20 times that number were in the Baltic states and the total for the whole EU stood over 1 million. He said the recently established Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament could act as a line of defence for Hungarys political security. In spite of the Wests pressure on Hungary to deliver weapons to Ukraine and train troops, the country has become the last obstacle for wartime psychosis, he said, adding that Hungarys pro-peace stand would come under extraordinary pressure in September and October. Szijjarto called out other countries hypocrisy for finding ways to buy Russian energy on the sly, while treating energy policy as a matter of ideology rather than physical reality. Addressing the EUs reaction to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, Szijjarto said that, if a state had been involved, it should be treated as state-sponsored terrorism and was deserving of a proportionate response. Touching on economic security, he said Hungary was open and honest about what other countries tried to do in secret, adding that attempts to isolate the economies of the West from those of the East were a total failure. He urged Hungarys Polish brothers to lay off the criticism when the countrys oil company was still buying Russian crude, via circuitous routes, lifting bilateral trade between the two countries to 6 billion euros last year. Lanczi: Hungary's Sovereignty Under Attack Hungary is under attack from outside forces that are trying to undermine and call into question the countrys sovereignty, Tamas Lanczi, the head of the Sovereignty Protection Office, said at the Tranzit Festival in Tihany, at Lake Balaton. Lanczi pointed to the establishment of grey zones in which organisations that do not define themselves as political, work against national sovereignty. He said information platforms run by multinational companies also presented a serious challenge. He noted that countries had legislated sovereignty protection acts one after the other, with France passing a law most recently that was stricter than the one in Hungary. Miklos Ligeti, the legal director of Transparency International Magyarorszag, highlighted the importance of the internal dimension of sovereignty, affecting citizens. He posed the question of whether a nation or its citizens were sovereign if their own elected government didnt view them as partners. The current government in power in Hungary does not see the Hungarian people as a partner, and that is why the Hungarian people dont possess the authority, the sovereignty necessary to call their own government to account regarding where the money is going and if its good for them, he added. Hungarian society isnt in a position to get the information necessary to decide whether Hungary has become a better place since 2010, he said. ********************************* 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! HANOI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's economy is forecast to grow 6.1 percent in 2024 and 6.5 percent in both 2025 and 2026, up from 5 percent in 2023, the World Bank said on Monday. The Southeast Asian country's economic growth is expected to pick up in 2024, driven by a rebound in manufactured exports and tourism and recovering consumption and business investment, Vietnam News Agency cited the bank's latest Talking Stock report. The development of capital markets will provide a vital source of long-term funding for Vietnam's economy and help the country achieve its goal of becoming a high-income nation by 2045, said the report. Dorsati Madani, senior country economist at the World Bank Vietnam, said the country's economic prospects were positive with broadly balanced risks. The focus should be on speeding up the disbursement of public investment to promote economic growth, she said. Vietnam recorded year-on-year gross domestic product growth of 6.42 percent in the first half of this year, the second-highest H1 growth in the past five years, according to the country's General Statistics Office. Each year on August 26, dog enthusiasts worldwide unite to observe International Dog Day. This day is devoted to celebrating our beloved canine friends, highlighting the challenges they face, and promoting their welfare. With its deep-rooted history and purposeful message, International Dog Day is cherished by pet owners across the globe. Founded on principles of compassion and advocacy, this day emphasizes the significance of responsible pet care, adoption, and animal welfare. As we celebrate our canine friends, lets also pledge to work towards a better future for all dogsone where they are cherished, appreciated, and treated with the dignity they rightfully deserve. International Dog Day 2023: History International Dog Day was established in 2004 by Colleen Paige, an animal advocate and pet lifestyle expert. Paige aimed to raise awareness about the many dogs in need of rescue and adoption, while also acknowledging the vital role dogs play in our lives. This day is a celebration of the love and connection between people and their dogs, and a reminder of the numerous breeds and mixed-breed dogs in shelters waiting for permanent homes. International Dog Day 2023: Significance International Dog Day isn't solely about spoiling our pets with treats and affection. Its a time to reflect on the companionship, loyalty, and unconditional love that dogs offer us. Beyond honoring our own pets, this day highlights the importance of advocating for the well-being of all dogs. It urges people to think about adopting from shelters and rescues, giving abandoned or neglected dogs the opportunity for a better life. Why Is International Dog Day Important? International Dog Day acts as a platform for animal organizations, shelters, and rescue groups to come together and launch awareness campaigns. These initiatives emphasize the advantages of pet adoption, the need for responsible ownership, and the importance of tackling issues like animal cruelty and overpopulation. By joining forces on this day, advocates aim to make a positive impact on the lives of dogs around the world. In a world where dogs still face neglect, abuse, and homelessness, International Dog Day serves as a powerful reminder that these animals deserve compassion, care, and protection. It's a chance for individuals and communities to create positive changewhether by volunteering, donating to shelters, or raising awareness on social media. (This article is intended for your general information only. Zee News does not vouch for its accuracy or reliability.) Janmashtami is a significant Hindu festival that commemorates the birth of Lord Krishna, marking His 5251st birth anniversary this year. Celebrated with immense enthusiasm across India, Krishna Janmashtami will take place on August 26, 2024. The occasion is observed with various rituals and festivities to honour Shri Krishna. Let's check out beautiful greetings and images you can share with friends and family. Janmashtami 2024: Warm Greetings For Loved Ones 1. May His flute music enchant your heart and guide you towards a path of happiness, peace, and spiritual enlightenment. Wishing you and your loved ones a joyous and auspicious Krishna Janmashtami. 2. On this auspicious occasion, let's celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna with devotion and gratitude. May His teachings guide you towards a life filled with wisdom and compassion. 3. May Lord Krishna bestow his choicest blessings on you today and always. A very happy Krishna Janmashtami to you and your family. 4. I hope Lord Krishna fills your and your loved one's lives with love, joy, tranquillity and prosperity. Have a joyous Janmashtami. 5. May Lord Krishna show you the right path as he showed the way to Arjuna in the battle of Mahabharata at Kurukshetra. Happy Janmashtami. 6. This Krishna Janmashtami, eliminate the Kansa within you to restore Dharma. May only goodness prevail. Happy Krishna Janmashtami to you and your family. 7. May the Lords flute invite the melody of love into your life. Wishing you all a very Happy Janmashtami! 8. Wishing you and your family a very Happy Krishna Janmashtami. May the blessings of Lord Krishna always be with you. 9. As long as we have Kanha in our hearts, we have nothing to fear. Happy Krishna Janmashtami. 10. May we all remember what Lord Krishna taught in the Gita - let's always follow Dharma and do good Karma. Happy Janmashtami. 11. As we celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, may your life be as colourful and as joyful as his divine play. Happy Janmashtami. 12. Happy Janmashtami! May Kanha come into your house and steal all your makkhan, along with your sorrows. 13. Celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna who enchants with his playful mischiefs. Happy Krishna Janmashtami. 14. May Lord Krishna steal all your tensions and worries on this Janmashtami and give you all the love, peace and happiness. Happy Janmashtami to all. 15. May Murli Manohar continue to shower health and happiness on your family, and may you always remain in his list of favourites. Happy Janmashtami! Krishna Janmashtami 2024: Images to share (Pic Credit: Freepik) Karnataka SSLC Results 2024: The Karnataka School Examinations and Assessments Board (KSEAB) has announced the Class 10th final results based on the best scores from Karnataka SSLC Exam 1, 2, and 3. Students who took these exams can check and download their results from the official website, karresults.nic.in. To view their scorecards, candidates must enter their registration number and date of birth as listed on their admit card. You can find the Kar Results 2024 link and instructions to access the scorecard below. Under the revised SSLC exam format, instead of holding a revaluation exam, KSEAB conducted Exam 2 and Exam 3 for students who did not pass the main exam (Exam 1). The highest score from all three exams will be considered the final result for each student. The Karnataka SSLC Exam 3 took place from August 2 to August 9, 2024. Following the Karnataka School Examinations and Assessments Board's (KSEAB) trend of quick result releases, the results were declared promptly. Previously, the results for Karnataka SSLC Exam 2, also called the Supplementary Examination, were announced just 19 days after the exam ended. Exam 2 was held from June 14 to June 21, and the results were released on July 10. Out of 2,23,293 students who appeared for the SSLC Exam 2, 69,275 students passed, achieving a pass percentage of 31.02%. Karnataka SSLC Result 2024: Seps to download here Visit the official website, karresults.nic.in. Click on the notification that says, ".... 2024 - 1 , 2 3 / SSLC 2024 BEST OF EXAM 1, 2 & 3 RESULT ANNOUNCED ON 26/08/2024." A new login page will open. Enter your application number and date of birth. View your result and download it. Print a copy for future reference. The Karnataka SSLC Result 2024 was released in May, and out of the 8,59,967 students who took the exam, only 6,31,204 passed. According to the Karnataka government, the revised exam pattern contributed to the low pass percentage. As a result, the government decided to lower the qualifying marks from the current 35 percent to 25 percent and increase the grace marks from 10 percent to 20 percent. In a significant security breach, authorities have uncovered that Al-Qaeda, the notorious terrorist organization once led by Osama bin Laden, has established training camps within India. This alarming development has sent shockwaves through Indian security agencies. The Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested six suspected terrorists in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. According to intelligence reports, these individuals were receiving weapons and attack training deep within the forests of Bhiwadi. A detailed setup was created to ensure the training camps remained hidden from public view. The most concerning aspect is the proximity of this Al-Qaeda camp to an Indian Air Force research center, posing a severe threat to national security. In today's episode of DNA, Zee News showcases key findings from the arrest. Watch Full Episode Key Findings from the Arrest: The suspects were found in possession of weapons, ammunition, and a dummy AK-47. Additionally, they were carrying literature promoting extremist ideologies and other suspicious materials. The training at this camp reportedly focused on specialized skills, such as handling weapons and conducting reconnaissance of specific areas. Intelligence agencies are now working to determine how long these suspects had been hiding in the area. They are also investigating the nature of the attacks these individuals were being trained for and why this particular location was chosen for the camp. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been making vocal statements with regard to the Bangladesh violence. Now, the Chief Minister has warned Hindus against getting divided. Speaking at an event in Agra, CM Adityanath urged the people to remain united in their pursuit of prosperity, emphasizing that India must avoid repeating the mistakes made in Bangladesh. "Batenge toh katenge (if divided, we will be cut up)," he said. Bangladesh recently experienced massive anti-government protests, resulting in the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Even after the fall of the Hasina-led government, the country has continued to witness violence, including targeted attacks on the Hindu minority community. However, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP leader for the comment. "The job of responsible people is to protect from fear, not to spread fear. If these are someone's personal views then they are wrong and if they are those of his party then they are even more wrong. In this atmosphere of fear created by BJP rule, has the double engine hidden itself somewhere? Disgraceful statement," said Yadav. Adityanath also said that there can be nothing bigger than the nation, and a nation becomes strong only if people are united. "Aap dekh rahe hain Bangladesh mein kya ho raha hai? Wo galatiyan yahan nahi honi chahiye. Batenge toh katenge! Ek rahenge to nek rahenge, surakshit rahenge aur samriddhi ki parakashtha ko pahuchenge," the chief minister said. Earlier this month, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a scathing attack at the opposition INDIA bloc and alleged that they are silent to appease their vote bank. CM Yogi Adityanath said, "We want to thank PM Modi for lifting the cover from these dark chapters of our history and opening the eyes of the people. The horrors that took place partition can be seen even now. 1.5 crores of Hindus in Bangladesh are screaming to save themselves but the world is silent. All the secularists in India are silent. In India also they (the opposition) are silent because they are scared that if they raise their voice, their vote bank will be affected." THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fallout from the Justice K Hema Committee report on harassment and abuse in the Malayalam film industry intensified on Monday as a case was charged against well-known filmmaker Ranjith, and several female actors stepped forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts. The case was charged against Ranjith after a Bengali actress filed a complaint on Monday with the Kochi City Police Commissioner. The complaint, sent via email, alleged that Ranjith had touched her inappropriately with sexual intent after inviting her to act in the movie Paleri Manikyam in 2009. Kochi Police Commissioner S Syamsundar said a case under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty) has been registered against Ranjith. Another actress, Minu Muneer, who has appeared in a handful of movies, levelled sexual abuse allegations against prominent actors M Mukesh, who is also an MLA, Jayasurya and Maniyanpilla Raju, as well as small-time actor Idavela Babu who has a prominent role in the actors' association. A more well-known actress from the 1990s also came forward on Monday with allegations of misconduct from years ago against a noted filmmaker. She has expressed willingness to provide a statement to the police. The filmmaker has denied the charges. In a Facebook post, Minu Muneer said, "I am writing to report a series of incidents of physical and verbal abuse I suffered at the hands of 1 Mukesh 2 Maniyan Pilla Raju, 3 Idavela Babu, 4 Jayasoorya (Jayasurya), 5 adv Chandrasekaran, 6 production controller Noble and Vichu, in the Malayalam film industry." "In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable," the actress, who signed as Minu Kurian in her Facebook post, alleged. With the exception of Maniyanpilla Raju, none of the actors have reacted. On the same day, a junior artist accused actor Baburaj, known for villain roles, of sexual assault. Rejecting the allegations, Baburaj, an office bearer in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A), claimed it was an attempt by vested interests in the film industry to prevent him from becoming A.M.M.A general secretary, replacing Siddique, who resigned on Sunday amid similar charges. Meanwhile, the serious and elaborate revelations of sexual harassment charges against two-time CPI(M) legislator M Mukesh brought embarrassment to the state government. Though the opposition parties have accused the Left government of protecting the predators, its leaders put up a defence, saying a special investigation team has been formed to probe the allegations. Yet, the continuing charges against Mukesh, who represents Kollam constituency in the assembly, have put the CPI (M)-led government under pressure. A harassment allegation levelled by a woman against Mukesh years ago also resurfaced on Sunday. Hours after Minu Muneer's allegations against Mukesh on Monday, workers from Yuva Morcha and Mahila Congress organised separate marches towards his residence in Kollam, demanding that a case be registered against him and that he resign as a legislator. Opposition leader V D Satheesan said he expects that, like Ranjith and Siddique, Mukesh will also step down. Reacting to the revelations against Mukesh, Higher Education Minister R Bindhu said any accusation against any person should be examined on factual grounds. "The wrongdoers should be punished. Innocent people should not be penalised," she told the media here. Eminent writer Sara Joseph and Kerala Chalachitra Academy Vice-Chairman Premkumar raised objections against the reported inclusion of Mukesh in the film policy committee of the upcoming cinema conclave of the state government. "The inclusion of Mukesh on the panel is ridiculous. He should resign as MLA if he has any self pride," Joseph said. Mukesh has claimed he is being deliberately targeted by vested interests as he is a CPI(M) MLA. The female actor who accused him has also levelled sexual abuse allegations against three other prominent Malayalam actors. Actor Maniyanpilla Raju has called for an overall investigation. "Some people will try to capitalise on the situation," he opined. "Among those accused, there will be both innocent and guilty parties. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation is necessary." Meanwhile, leading actor Prithviraj has called for corrective actions from A.M.M.A and a comprehensive investigation into the various allegations. It came a day after director Ranjith and actor Siddique stepped down from their leadership roles in the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and A.M.M.A respectively, following sexual abuse allegations against them. Amid mounting pressure on the government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team for the probe into the allegations made in the wake of the Hema Committee report being published. There is however no move to conduct investigations on revelations made by women victims in the Hema Committee report. The report by the Justice Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case has revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry. The Congress party has deployed its top leaders to Srinagar for negotiations with the National Conference (NC) regarding seat-sharing, as the two parties have yet to reach a consensus. According to IANS, Congress representatives, including K.C. Venugopal and Salman Khurshid, are scheduled to meet with NC President Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Monday to resolve the deadlock. Congress is reportedly seeking a larger share of Assembly seats in the Kashmir region, offering in exchange a greater number of seats to the NC in the Jammu division. The Congress holds significant sway in the Jammu division, whereas the NC has a strong foothold in the Muslim-majority Valley. The Congress has historically secured a few seats in the Valley, such as Dooru and Shangus in Anantnag, and Sopore and Uri in Baramulla district. Tariq Hameed Karra, the chief of the JKPCC, hails from the Batmaloo area in Srinagar city, and the Congress anticipates that the NC will yield this seat to them to accommodate Karra. The Congress's position is bolstered by statements from Rahul Gandhi, the senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, during his recent visit to J&K. Post discussions with Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah at their Gupkar residence in Srinagar, Gandhi emphasized that the honor and broader interests of Congress workers would not be undermined in the seat-sharing process with the NC for the forthcoming Assembly elections. The NC leadership expects the Congress to acknowledge the NC's deep-rooted presence in the Valley and in the Muslim-majority Assembly constituencies of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda districts, and other areas in the Jammu division. Both parties aim to secure a favorable outcome in the seat-sharing negotiations, reflecting the complex political dynamics of J&K. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at multiple locations on Sunday adding to over 12-Hour search operation at RG Kar Hospitals former Principal Sandip Ghosh, ex-medical superintendent Sanjay Vashisth and 13 others. The probing team left Ghoshs premises with numerous documents. The anti-corruption branch of the CBI was assigned to look into alleged financial misconduct at the state-run institute that occurred during the tenure of the former principal. When questioned about the evidence, a CBI official responded to reporters, "Bahut kuch hai (There is a lot)." The CBI team, backed by a large contingent of central forces, arrived at Ghosh's residence around 6 am. However, according to officials, they had to wait for nearly an hour and a half before he finally opened the doors. The Court has given the CBI three weeks to file a progress report on their investigation, with a deadline set for September 17. Earlier on Sunday, CBI officials administered a polygraph test to Sanjay Roy, the arrested suspect, as part of their probe into the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata. The hospital financial irregularity case stems from the rape and murder of a female postgraduate trainee doctor on August 9, leading to the arrest of a Kolkata Police civic volunteer. This shocking crime sparked widespread protests from doctors and the public across the country. Following orders from the Calcutta High Court, the CBI has launched investigations into both the murder and claims of financial wrongdoing at the hospital. Assam's Chief Minister and BJP's Jharkhand in-charge, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said on Monday that former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren, along with Jharkhand's current Chief Minister Hemant Soren, should join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He highlighted that Jharkhand's most pressing issue is the influx of intruders and affirmed BJP's willingness to discuss this matter with Hemant Soren. "I want Champai Soren to join BJP and give us strength but he is a big leader, I don't think it is right to comment on him...I want Hemant Soren to also join the BJP. BJP means patriotism...We are also ready to talk to Hemant Soren ji to stop intruders in Jharkhand. We have to save Jharkhand...For us, the country comes first...Today the biggest problem facing Jharkhand is the intruders...Our party's only aim is that you fulfil the promises you made during the elections and free Jharkhand from intruders...We have only these 2 demands..." news agency ANI quoted the Assam CM as saying. "Champai Soren has 3 options, he is in Delhi right now, the way for talks with him is open, let's see what happens in future... If he (Hemant Soren) gives 5 lakh jobs before September, we are with him. If he stands against the infiltrators, we are with him. If he stands against the treatment meted out to Hindus during Muharram, we are with him. For us, the nation comes first... JMM should support us, we also support JMM, we have to throw the infiltrators out of Jharkhand," he added further. Criticizing the Congress party for withholding the caste census data in Karnataka, the Assam Chief Minister stated, "The BJP has conducted a caste census in Bihar. The Congress has also carried out a caste census in Karnataka and should release its data. Avoid double standards. Janata Dal mentioned that Congress was absent during the caste census meeting. The BJP has supported the caste census in Bihar. The opposition to the caste census is not a concern for the BJP. We stand firm in support of justice for SC, ST, and OBC communities." The Congress and the National Conference have finalized the seat-sharing deal after the initial hurdle and as expected, it has agreed to play second fiddle in Jammu and Kashmir to keep the BJP out of power. There are a total of 90 assembly seats in the UT out of which, 43 are in Jammu and 47 in Kashmir. The majority mark is 46. Speaking about the seat sharing between Congress and the National Conference, the state Congress chief, Tariq Hameed Karra said that the NC would contest on 51 seats while the Congress on 32 seats. The both parties have agreed to have a friendly contest on five seats. "Over and above these 88 seats, we have left 1 seat for CPI (M) and 1 seat for Panthers Party," said Karra. This means, the Congress will be contesting on 37 (32+5) seats and the NC on 56 (51+5) seats. Reacting to the seat-sharing deal, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said, "It is a matter of great happiness that we started this campaign that both of us will fight together against those forces who are trying to divide people here. The whole country and INDIA alliance was formed so that we can fight those forces who want to communalize, divide and break the country. Today we have completed the negotiations and have coordinated in a very good cordial atmosphere." Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the BJP is trying to destroy the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. "INDIA bloc's main objective is to save the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. That is why Congress and National Conference are coming together to make a government in Jammu & Kashmir which is totally friendly with the people of J&K. We have had a discussion in accordance and we entered into a formula." Tuesday marks the final day for filing nominations for the first phase of the Assembly Elections. While the National Conference (NC) has already submitted nominations for two candidates in D. H. Pora and Doda, the remaining seats are still up for grabs. The Jammu and Kashmir elections will be conducted in three phases, starting on September 18. In the first phase, 24 seats will be contested17 in Kashmir and 7 in the Chenab Valley of Jammu. The vote counting is scheduled for October 4. by Misbah Saba Malik ISLAMABAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 53 people including security personnel were killed and scores of others injured in a series of attacks in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Monday, officials said. The proscribed organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the offensive, launched attacks shortly before midnight, continuing their assault into the morning with gunfire, grenades, suicide bombings, and bomb attacks. The major attack was launched in Musa Khel district in which 23 passengers were killed at close range, Assistant Commissioner of the area Najeeb Kakar told Xinhua. He said that the terrorists blocked the highway connecting Balochistan with the east Punjab province in Musa Khel district, stopping several vehicles and checking the identities of the passengers. "The 23 victims, all from Punjab and traveling to Balochistan for work, were forcibly removed from their vehicles, lined up near the highway, and shot dead. The militants also damaged 24 vehicles during the blockade," he added. In a separate attack in Las Bela district, about five troops were killed when terrorists rammed their explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of an army camp, police sources told Xinhua. Eight members of a soldier's family residing inside the camp were also killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up near it. In a separate incident, ten people, including five security personnel, were killed when terrorists stormed a toll plaza, a hospital and the house of a tribal elder in Kalat district of Balochistan province, police sources confirmed to Xinhua. Separately, insurgents blew up a railway track in the Bolan area of the province, leaving at least six people dead, Dost Muhammad Bugti, a senior police official in the area said. Tensions were also high in Mastung district, where terrorists briefly took control of a paramilitary check post. The troops later regained control, but one civilian was killed in the exchange of gunfire, official sources told Xinhua. In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military wing of the country's army said that they killed 21 terrorists by taking prompt action to thwart the attacks successfully. The Pakistan army claimed that 14 security personnel, including ten security forces soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies, were killed during the counter-terrorism operations. The railway track was destroyed in the explosion, which resulted in the suspension of train service between Balochistan and eastern Punjab province. Gwadar district also came under attack by the terrorists who torched a police station. "A large number of armed men were seen searching vehicles along the coastal highway and firing at trucks carrying minerals," the sources said. After the night-long militancy, the situation in most of the areas is under control while tension prevails in some, the sources added. Taking notice of the terror incidents, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attacks, directing an immediate probe to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. "The nation stood by the security forces in the war against terrorism...Terrorists' nefarious designs to spoil the country's peace would never succeed," the prime minister said. The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) to combat mpox outbreaks through a coordinated approach at global, regional, and national levels. The plan, announced today, aims to halt human-to-human transmission of mpox and is the next step following the WHO Director-General's declaration of a public health emergency of international concern on August 14, 2024 Funding and International Collaboration Critical to Success The six-month plan, covering the period from September 2024 to February 2025, requires an estimated US$135 million to support the response efforts of WHO, Member States, Africa CDC, communities, and other partners. WHO will soon launch a funding appeal to secure the necessary resources. Member States were briefed on the plan on August 23, and their inputs are expected to refine the strategy. Focus on Surveillance, Prevention, and Vaccination The SPRP focuses on several key areas, including comprehensive surveillance, prevention, and response strategies; research and equitable access to medical countermeasures such as diagnostic tests and vaccines; minimizing animal-to-human transmission; and community engagement in outbreak prevention. Strategic vaccination efforts will prioritize high-risk groups, such as close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers, to interrupt transmission chains. Global and Regional Coordination Efforts WHO is collaborating with a wide range of international, regional, national, and local partners to enhance coordination in key preparedness and response areas. This includes engaging with the ACT-Accelerator Principals group, the Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and other relevant networks. Within the Africa Region, where the need is greatest, WHO AFRO and Africa CDC will jointly lead the coordination of response efforts under the Africa Continental Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. A new controversy has erupted in Karnataka over a land allocation, with the BJP accusing the Congress of favoritism in the allotment of a Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) site to a trust led by the family of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The site was granted to the Siddhartha Vihara Education Trust, which is headed by Kharges son, Rahul Kharge, in March 2024. Karnataka Industries Minister M.B. Patil confirmed the allocation, noting that the land was provided at the prescribed price, without any discounts, and that no rules were violated. The 5-acre plot is part of 45.94 acres designated for civic amenities at the aerospace park and was allocated under the Scheduled Caste quota. Priyank Kharge, Karnataka's IT/BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister and another son of Mallikarjun Kharge, dismissed the allegations, asserting that the land is intended for educational purposes, specifically for establishing a multi-skill development center. He emphasized that the site was not an industrial or commercial plot and that no special concessions were granted to the trust. Priyank, who is also a trustee of the Siddhartha Vihara Education Trust, added that the KIADB followed standard procedures in the allocation. The trust, formed in July 1994, includes other trustees such as Rahul Kharge and Kharges son-in-law, MP Radhakrishna. The controversy was first brought to light by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Lahar Singh Siroya, who questioned whether the allocation involved misuse of power, nepotism, and conflict of interest. Siroya criticized the Industries Minister for approving the allocation and raised concerns about the Kharge familys eligibility for the land. "Is this about misuse of power, nepotism, and conflict of interest? How did the Industries Minister, MB Patil consent to this allocation in March 2024? When did the Kharge family become aerospace entrepreneurs to be eligible for KIADB land? The matter of this alleged illegal allocation has also reached the Honble Governors office," questioned BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya. Responding to it, Priyank Kharge said, "The site allotted is NOT an industrial plot meant for industrial or commercial purposes. It is for educational purposes. The intention of the trust is to set up a multi skill development center in the CA site. Is it wrong? KIADB has not provided any subsidy to the trust for the CA site or reduced the cost of the site or provided any relaxation of payment terms." Little knowledge is dangerous Sri @LaharSingh_MP avare. Firstly, the site allotted is NOT an industrial plot meant for industrial or commercial purposes. It is for educational purposes. The intention of the trust is to set up a multi skill development center in the CA site. Is https://t.co/6xD8nf0mio Priyank Kharge / (@PriyankKharge) August 26, 2024 In response to the allegations, Minister Patil reiterated that the allocation was made according to KIADB norms, with the land intended for setting up a research and development (R&D) center. He clarified that such plots could be used for various purposes, including educational and technical institutes, under KIADB regulations. Meanwhile, BJP leaders demanded Priyank Kharges resignation, accusing him of abusing his position. The allegations against the Kharge family have surfaced amid ongoing scrutiny over a separate land allocation controversy involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today engaged in a detailed phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden, where they discussed a range of regional and global issues, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the situation in Bangladesh. In a post on X, PM Modi shared insights from their discussion, emphasizing India's unwavering support for the early return of peace and stability in Ukraine. The leaders exchanged views on how to address the conflict and its global implications, reaffirming their commitment to collaborative efforts aimed at resolving the crisis. The conversation also touched on the recent unrest in Bangladesh, with both leaders expressing concern over the situation. PM Modi and President Biden stressed the importance of restoring normalcy in Bangladesh at the earliest and ensuring the safety and security of minority communities, particularly Hindus, in the country. Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated Indias full support for early return of peace and stability. We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 26, 2024 This discussion underscores the shared commitment of India and the United States to promoting peace and stability across the globe, while also focusing on the protection of vulnerable communities in regions experiencing turmoil. Hindu community in Bangladesh has been under attack lately after the student protest turned violent and took a radical aproach. Despite the formaton of an interim government in Bangladesh, normalcy is yet to return in the country. The conversation with regards to Ukraine took place after PM Modi's recent visit to Kyiv where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the last two months, PM Modi visited both - Russia and Ukraine where he emphasised on the need for talks to resolve the ongoing conflict. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed shocking details in the ongoing case of the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The primary accused, Sanjay Roy, reportedly confessed to the crime during a polygraph test conducted on Sunday. Confession During Polygraph Test During the lie-detector test, Sanjay Roy admitted to visiting a red-light area with a friend just hours before the tragic incident. Although he claimed not to have engaged in sexual activities there, he did confess to molesting another woman on the street later that night. According to reports, Roy also video-called his girlfriend, asking her for nude photographs during the same period. On the night of the crime, Roy and his friend consumed alcohol before heading to two red-light areasone in North Kolkata and another in Chetla, South Kolkata. It was on their way to Chetla that they allegedly molested a woman on the street. After returning to the hospital, Roy went to the corridor near the seminar hall at around 4:03 AM, where he allegedly raped and murdered the doctor. Post-Crime Actions and Misleading Polygraph Results After committing the alleged crime, Sanjay Roy reportedly went to the home of his friend, Anupam Dutta, a police officer. During the polygraph test, the machine flagged several of Roy's responses as misleading, raising further suspicions about his involvement. The CBI has also developed a psychoanalytic profile of Roy, revealing a severe addiction to pornography, with numerous explicit clips found on his phone. Ongoing Investigation Last week, the Supreme Court raised concerns about the Kolkata Police's delayed response, questioning why it took over 12 hours to register the FIR. The Court also noted Dr. Ghosh's alleged attempts to cover up the crime as a suicide. Additionally, the CBI is investigating financial irregularities involving Dr. Ghosh. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday said those who want to live in Bharat will have to hail Hindu Gods Ram and Krishna. He asserted citizens are free to practice their respective religions, but they have to be patriotic as they can survive only when India remains intact as a country. Yadav was participating in a programme organised to mark Shri Krishna Janmashtami in Chanderi town of Ashok Nagar district. The BJP leader insisted the country doesn't distinguish between Hindus and Muslims, it but needs people who understand God, its creation, universe, and pointed out that Rahim and Raskhan (celebrated medieval Muslim poets who admired Hindu deities) were born here. "If we connect ourselves to the soil, we remember them (like Rahim and Raskhan) for centuries, but be careful, those who eat here, but have faith elsewhere (jo yaha ka khata hai, kahi aur ka bajata hai)... This will not work. "If you want to live in Bharat, you will have to hail Lord Ram and Lord Krishna (Bharat me rahna hoga to Ram, Krishna ki jai kahna hoga). There is nothing outside them. We want to respect everyone in our country, we do not insult anyone," Yadav told the gathering. The CM maintained Hindus and Muslims have been working together in Handloom Park in Chanderi and weaving sarees. He told the gathering to clap for workers of both the communities employed in Handloom Park. "We believe in the philosophy of 'Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Nirayamaya (may all be happy and free from diseases). We have a sense of purity for all. Whatever be your method of worship, whatever religion you follow, you are free to do anything. But first of all, you have to be patriotic. Nothing can happen without patriotism. We all will survive only if the country survives," Yadav noted. Raja Medini Rai of Chanderi was martyred in a battle with Mughal emperor Babar and more than 1,600 queens consigned themselves to fire and showed their power, he said. The chief minister took part in various programmes and also held a roadshow in Chanderi, which is famous for its heritage buildings and handloom sarees. Steel Bridge For Bullet Train Project: Another steel bridge of 100 m length has been launched for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project on August 25 near Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, a press release stated. This 1464 MT of steel bridge of 14.6 m in height and 14.3 m in width has been fabricated at the workshop in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and was transported on trailers to the site for installation. A temporary launching nose spanning 84 meters and weighing 600 MT was connected with the main bridge for launching, to avoid any intermediate support. Additional temporary members were also installed to strengthen the bridge during launching. A total of 27,500 nos. of HSFG (High-strength friction grip) bolts were utilised to connect the components of the launching nose and approximately 55,250 nos. of Tor-Shear Type High Strength (TTHS) bolts with C5 system painting and elastomeric bearings, were utilized for the main bridge. The steel bridge along with the launching nose was assembled near the site at a height of 14.5 m from the ground on temporary trestles and was pulled with an automatic mechanism of 2 semi-automatic jacks, each of capacity of 250 tons using mac-alloy bars. The Bullet Train project is being executed meticulously, maintaining the utmost standards of safety and engineering excellence. Leveraging Japanese expertise, India is increasingly utilizing its own technical and material resources to build infrastructure under the "Make in India" initiative. The steel bridge for the Bullet Train Project is a major example of this effort. This is the fourth out of the 28 steel bridges, completed for the Bullet Train corridor. There are a total of 24 river bridges in the project, 20 are in Gujarat and 4 in Maharashtra. Out of 20 bridges in Gujarat, 10 have been completed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then-Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched the project in Ahmedabad on September 14, 2017. National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) was incorporated on February 12, 2016, under the Companies Act, 2013 with the object of financing, constructing, maintaining and managing the High-Speed Rail Corridor in India. The Company has been modeled as a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' in the joint sector with equity participation by the Central Government through the Ministry of Railways and two State Governments -- Government of Gujarat and Government of Maharashtra. New Delhi: Actors Amy Jackson and Ed Westwick have officially tied the knot, marking the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. The couple delighted their fans by sharing the first official pictures from their picturesque wedding held in Italy, offering a glimpse into their magical day. Amy Jackson looked absolutely radiant in a classic white gown that featured an ethereal veil cascading elegantly to the floor. She carried a delicate bouquet of white roses, complementing the serene and sophisticated ambience of the ceremony. Ed Westwick matched her grace in a white suit. Their joint Instagram post included a pair of photos from the event, capturing both the splendid decor and their tender moments. The first image showcased the wedding venue, adorned with an abundance of white flowers, creating a dreamy and romantic setting. Ed was seen holding Amy close, their love palpable in the intimate shot. The second image presented the couple gazing directly at the camera, exuding joy and excitement. The caption read, "The journey has just begun." The couple's engagement in January was equally charming, with Ed's surprise proposal leaving Amy overjoyed. They also hosted an engagement dinner party in London, where Amy was seen arriving with her son Andreas, from her previous relationship with George Panayiotou. Amy Jackson made her relationship with 'Gossip Girl' actor Ed Westwick Instagram official in 2022. New Delhi: Actor Minu Muneer has made shocking allegations of sexual abuse against co-stars Mukesh, Jayasurya, Idavela Babu, and Maniyanpilla Raju. In a detailed Facebook post, she claimed that these actors physically and verbally abused her on the set of a 2013 movie project. The allegations come just a day after director Ranjith and actor Siddique resigned from their positions in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists following similar accusations against them. In her Facebook post, Minu Muneer wrote, ''I am writing to report a series of incidents of physical and verbal abuse I suffered at the hands of 1,Mukesh 2,Maniyan pilla raju 3,idavela Babu 4,Jayasoorya 5,adv Chandrasekaran, 6,production controller noble and vichu, in the Malayalam film industry," Minu also detailed the project where the incident occurred, she wrote, "In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable. The actress also revealed why she left the industry, stating, ''As a result, I was forced to leave the Malayalam film industry and relocate to Chennai.'' Minu concluded her post, "I had spoken out against the abuse in an article published in Kerala Kaumudi, titled "Minu Left Malayalam Industry for Unable to Cooperate with Adjustment." I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured. I request your assistance in taking action against for their heinous actions. Thank you for your attention to this matter," Minu Muneer had previously made these accusations and recently brought them back into the spotlight following the Hema Committee Report. She had earlier alleged that Idavela Babu made sexual advances in exchange for an Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) membership. Earlier Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra accused Malayalam filmmaker Ranjith of sexual harassment. Last week, a redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report was made public which revealed several instances of sexual harassment of female actors in the Malayalam film Industry. Hamas has rejected the new conditions put forth by Israel for the ceasefire deal; it made clear that it is willing to agree only upon the deal established on July 2, according to CNN. A Hamas delegation departed Cairo on Sunday evening following discussions with mediators aimed at renewing peace talks. The move has further dimmed hopes for a resolution in the U.S.-backed efforts to end the ongoing 10-month conflict. What Is Hamas Stance On The Ceasefire Deal Hamas demanded that Israel "be bound by what was agreed upon on July 2, based on what was stated in Biden's speech and the Security Council resolution," as per the statement of Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau cited by ANI. Emphasising Hamas position Al-Rishq said that any agreement must include "a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the freedom of return of residents to their areas, relief and reconstruction, and a serious exchange deal." Hamas has further blamed Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the stalled talks, accusing Netanyahu of introducing new demands and not being committed to a ceasefire, according to Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has declared that the war in Gaza will continue until Hamas is completely defeated, even if a deal is reached. This stance has been met with scepticism from top Israeli officials, including his defence minister, and the families of those held captive by Hamas. What Are New Conditions Proposed By Israel According to senior Hamas official Osama Hamdans statement to Al Aqsa TV, Israels new set of conditions is a complete 'retraction from what it had previously agreed to. Hamdan mentioned that the new conditions involved repositioning Israeli troops in the Philadelphi corridor, a crucial area along the Egypt border, and placing the Rafah crossing under non-Palestinian management. (With inputs from ANI) Unidentified gunmen ambushed buses, offloaded passengers, and shot dead at least 23 people from Pakistan's Punjab province in restive Balochistan province's Musakhel district on Monday. The attack, which has sparked widespread condemnation, is the latest in a string of targeted killings in the restive region, as per the media reports on Monday. According to Assistant Commissioner Musakhail Najeeb Kakar, armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in Rarasham district, forced passengers off buses, and checked their identities before opening fire. The victims, all from Punjab, were brutally killed in the attack. The gunmen also set 10 vehicles ablaze, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti has vowed to pursue the terrorists and their facilitators. "The terrorists will not be able to escape an exemplary end," he said, expressing heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims. This incident comes just months after a similar attack in April, where nine passengers from Punjab were offloaded from a bus and shot dead near Noshki. In October last year, six laborers from Punjab were also fatally shot in Turbat, highlighting a disturbing pattern of targeted killings based on ethnic background. The Balochistan government has faced criticism for its handling of the region's security, with many calling for greater action to protect citizens from such attacks. As the investigation unfolds, one thing is clear - the people of Balochistan and Punjab demand justice and an end to the senseless bloodshed. Fatima Latifova The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has extended his congratulations to Azerbaijan's First Vice-President, Mehriban Aliyeva, on the occasion of her birthday, Azernews reports. The congratulatory message states: "Your multifaceted state and socio-political activities are directed towards the well-being of the people, and your professionalism, organizational talent, boundless energy, and charm have rightfully earned you respect both in the Republic of Azerbaijan and beyond its borders. I value the high level of mutual trust, close contacts in various fields, and the strategically significant partnership between Minsk and Baku." A. Lukashenko also expressed confidence that the implementation of extensive plans for the development of Belarus-Azerbaijan relations fully serves the interests of the brotherly peoples. "Dear Mehriban Arif gizi, I sincerely wish you and your loved ones robust health, happiness, and success in your future endeavors. May joy, love, and harmony always reign in your family," the message concluded. CANBERRA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia's right-to-disconnect laws have come into effect, granting workers the entitlement to refuse contact outside of their working hours. From Monday, employees in Australia will have the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to work communication outside their paid hours under laws passed by parliament in February. A report published by the independent think tank the Australia Institute in 2023 found that Australian workers do an average of 5.4 hours per week of unpaid work, equating to 131 billion Australian dollars (88.9 billion U.S. dollars) worth of unpaid work across the country every year. Workers aged 18-29 do the most unpaid work, the report found, at 7.4 hours per week on average. Murray Watt, the minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, said on Sunday that the right to disconnect ensures that the law keeps up with technology. "What's not acceptable is for people to be taking constant calls or constant emails with an expectation that they're going to be monitoring and responding, when they're not getting paid to do it," he told reporters. However, the right to disconnect does not apply to emergencies and the new laws have exceptions for cases where an employee's refusal to be contacted is considered unreasonable, depending on their role, the reason for the contact, how contact is made and other factors. The legislation drew criticism from business groups as it moved through parliament and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) on Monday said it risks holding Australia's historically low productivity back even further. "These laws put Australia's competitiveness at risk by adding more cost and complexity to the challenge of doing business, and that means less investment and fewer job opportunities," BCA chief executive Bran Black said in a statement. The new laws apply to workers at companies with more than 15 employees from Monday and will take effect for those at small businesses from August 22, 2025. An Iranian minister has vowed to punish Israel over the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in a telephone call with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani on Sunday night said that "Iran's reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive and will be measured and calculated", news outlet IRNA reported. "We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it-unlike Israel", Araghchi wrote on his X social media post, detailing his conversation with Tajani. Tajani also expressed concern over the spread of insecurity in the region and urged all parties to practice self-restraint and Iran to help in reducing tensions, the country's state media reported. On August 25 morning, Israel Defence Forces said that the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had fired more than 200 rockets and drones at Israel's northern border claiming retaliation for the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut. This prompted a retaliation from Israel who bombed sites across South Lebanon. Israel said it took out some 1,000 Hezbollah rocket launchers in a coordinated sortie of 100 Israeli fighter jets early Sunday to thwart much of the planned assault, as per a report in the Times of Israel. Meanwhile, the Times of Israel today reported that senior Israeli negotiators were heading to the Egyptian capital city Cairo to resume talks aimed at wrapping up a hostage release and truce deal in Gaza. "I don't think Iran wants to find itself in escalation, especially when the US presence in the region is (now) in staggering numbers," an Israeli official was cited as saying by CNN news outlet. The ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are being mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for Haniyeh's killing in Tehran on July 31. However, the Israeli government has not made any statement on Haniyeh's killing. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on July 31 that Haniyeh had been killed in an attack in Tehran. In a statement, the IRGC said that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when their house was hit in Tehran. The IDF has also announced that top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in the Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on July 30, which came in retaliation to the rocket attack at Golan Heights that killed 12 children, The Times of Israel reported HAIKOU, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Flight HU765 departed from Haikou Meilan International Airport in Haikou City, south China's Hainan Province, at 2:38 a.m. on Monday, marking the launch of a new air route linking the Chinese city with Moscow, Russia. Operated by Hainan Airlines, the new air route is served every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The outbound flight will depart from Haikou at 2:30 a.m. and arrive at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport at 7:40 a.m. (local time). The return flight is scheduled to leave Moscow at 2:25 p.m. (local time) and land in Haikou at 5 a.m. the following day (Beijing time), said the route's operator. In recent years, Hainan has ramped up efforts to resume and launch international air routes. As of May this year, the province had 46 overseas passenger routes in operation, with the number expected to reach 62 by the end of this year. Stranded passengers wait at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Some major European airlines, including Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, suspended their flights to and from Israel and Lebanon on Sunday, with some extending the suspension until Wednesday. BRUSSELS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Several major airlines in European countries announced the suspension of flights to and from Israel and Lebanon Sunday following escalating hostilities between the two Mideast countries. According to French news channel BFMTV, Air France has decided to suspend its flights to Israel's Tel Aviv and Lebanon's Beirut until at least Monday due to growing tensions in the region. "Today's and tomorrow's flights are canceled," an Air France spokesperson said, noting that the suspension could be extended after the company conducts a new assessment on Monday. Similarly, British Airways announced a suspension of flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv until Wednesday. "Due to the escalating situation in the region, Wizz Air is temporarily suspending flights to and from Israel on the 25th of August," Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air also posted on its website. This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. Three Hezbollah members and one member of the Amal Movement were killed, with six others wounded on Sunday following Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua) Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines canceled several flights to Israel and Beirut on Sunday. Its official website listed three flights to Tel Aviv and two flights to Beirut, including one scheduled for Monday, as canceled. German airline giant Lufthansa extended its suspension of flights to Beirut until Sept. 30, and to Tel Aviv and Tehran until Sept. 2. Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah claimed that it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows the building of the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing) Following the most severe exchange of fire between the two sides in the Middle East, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey both called their respective counterparts in Israel on Sunday, urging for an immediate ceasefire in the region, according to their posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. In early August, as tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border began to mount, many European countries urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Meanwhile, some European carriers, including Air France and Romania's national airline TAROM, suspended their flights, although they later resumed services before this latest escalation. BRUSSELS, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission's plan to impose tariffs of up to 36.3 percent on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) has sparked concerns among industry experts and business insiders across Europe. Critics argue that the move may worsen the competitiveness issues of the European Union (EU), hinder the region's green transition and escalate trade tensions with China rather than protect the European auto industry as intended. STRONG OPPOSITION Michael Schumann, chairman of the Board of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, condemned the EU's proposal as "erroneous," emphasizing the association's strong opposition. "The Chinese EV industry has become, and will continue to be, a global innovation benchmark," Schumann said, adding that Chinese automakers have made significant strides in smart technology, enhanced their research and development (R&D) capabilities, and actively invested in Europe's auto industry, contributing to the sector's evolution. Tadas Povilauskas, an economist at SEB Bank in Lithuania, described the EU's investigations into Chinese auto industry subsidies as a "political move." He noted that the influx of Chinese EV imports will intensify competition for European automakers, driving them to seek ways to remain competitive. Zoltan Kiszelly, director of the Center of Political Analyses at Hungary's Szazadveg Institute, labeled the EU's plan as "shortsighted," noting that it comes as European manufacturers struggle with declining EV sales in their core market, Europe. Kiszelly argued that the root of Europe's competitiveness challenges lies within the EU rather than in China's subsidies. "The best course of action would be to encourage competition to drive down prices and push European car manufacturers to innovate further," Kiszelly said. "Improvement is better achieved through competition than through isolation and decoupling." Kiszelly pointed out that Western companies have benefited from their presence in China for decades and urged them to face competition from Chinese EV manufacturers rather than attempt to limit or ban them. HINDERING EUROPE'S GREEN TRANSITION Experts and officials also expressed concerns about the potential contradiction between the EU's green ambitions and its tariff policies. "The EU's temporary anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese EVs hinder mutually beneficial cooperation and obstruct the green and low-carbon transition," Schumann warned. Luigi Gambardella, president of the Brussels-based international digital association ChinaEU, criticized the EU's protectionist measures, stating that they "risk stifling future advancements in mobility technologies." He encouraged efforts to advance mutual investment, foster mutual growth and ensure that the benefits of EV technology are shared more widely. "EVs are crucial for Europe's transition to a low-carbon economy," Gambardella said, pointing out that high costs already pose a significant barrier to widespread EV adoption. He argued that the proposed tariffs could further slow consumer adoption of electric vehicles, undermining Europe's climate goals and delaying the shift away from fossil fuels. "We hope to see a greater variety of EV brands on the market, particularly cost-effective Chinese models, to accelerate Germany's green and low-carbon transition," Schumann said, highlighting China's role in the global green transformation of the transportation sector. Croatian political analyst Mladen Plese said that the Europeans are returning to classic outdated technologies in the auto industry because of the high prices of EVs. "If the prices of EVs continue to be high, this will certainly continue, and this will threaten the green transition in Europe." "THREAT TO CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS" Experts are concerned about the potential long-term impact on the EU's auto industry and broader trade relations with China brought by the tariffs. Triinu Prits, head of the foreign trade policy and international economic organizations' division at Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that while Estonia lacks an automotive industry, the EU's tariff measures would still affect the country's subcontractors, importers, car maintenance providers and consumers. "Tariffs could make the European market less attractive to Chinese firms looking to collaborate or enter the European market," Gambardella warned. He said that protectionist measures are clearly "a threat to current market conditions" and could have far-reaching consequences for the future of mobility in Europe. "Any political or economic measures, including potential countermeasures, could lead to unpredictable consequences," Prits said. MOSCOW/KIEV, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russian military launched a massive strike on Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. "This morning, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons, striking unmanned aerial vehicles at critical energy infrastructure facilities that ensured the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. All the assigned targets were hit," it said in a statement. The ministry added that two electronic warfare stations and four field ammunition depots were destroyed over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday on Telegram that Russia launched more than 100 missiles of various types and about 100 drones, calling it "one of the largest attacks -- a combined strike." Zelensky said the attack had caused extensive damage to the energy sector, but facilities are currently being restored. Ukraine's government-run Ukrinform news agency said that explosions struck the Ukrainian capital, the cities of Dnipro, Kropyvnytsky, Vinnytsia and Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine and the eastern city of Kharkiv. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired at Ukraine several groups of combat drones and cruise missiles. Eleven Russian Tu-95MC strategic bombers and six Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic bombers were airborne during the attack. Colorful facades of houses alongside river Neckar in Tubingen, Germany (dudlajzov (123RF)) Less than 40 minutes from USAG Stuttgart is the small city of Tubingen. Filled with beautiful architecture and quaint strollable streets, it has its own castle filled with history and museums plus plenty of places to eat. Tubingen is big enough that there are tons of things for everyone to do, but it is small enough to not feel overwhelming or tiring. Tubingen market square filled with stall (Tamala Malerk) Unlike Burg Hohenzollern, which was a 30-minute up-hill-the-entire-way walk, Schloss Hohentubingen is easy to get to by foot from the city center. The palace is filled with ancient artifacts dating back tens of thousands of years: small animal sculptures, fractured pieces of old flutes, Egyptian artifacts and jewelry. Science fans will love the castle laboratory where you can learn about 19th-century discoveries and enjoy the interactive exhibit using your smartphone as a microscope. You can visit this palace any day of the week. Walkable wall area at Schloss Hohentubingen (Tamala Malerk) My favorite place to go is the Stadtmuseum Tubingen (city museum). The interactive exhibit on the history of the towns market square is fun and fascinating, especially with the market happening almost right outside the door. I love the exhibits on shadow theater (no German language skills required to enjoy) and the portrait series by Wilhem F. Gugel. Entrance to the museum is free and saved us from being rained on when an afternoon storm appeared a couple of hours earlier than expected. Entrance photo to Gugel photo exhibit (Stadtmuseum Tubingen ) For some pop culture fun, Fantasy Empire has a large collection of new manga to purchase as well as enough collectibles to make me grateful that I only have two arms to carry things out of the store. As I walked around, I saw their gaming area in the back where a couple of people were playing a tabletop game. Kino Blaue Brucke offers occasional showings in English (unfortunately, nothing was playing when I was there). Gasthausbrauerei Neckarmuller provides a unique take on Swabian fare. While, yes, they offer a delicious Kasespaetzle that I highly recommend, they also offer a Swabian-style Ceasar salad featuring pumpkin seeds and Maultaschen (aka Swabian ravioli pieces), plus a beer goulash. They also have great seating on the river that kept us dry until the heaviest of rain storms hit and we were quickly able to move to indoor seating. Swabian Ceasar Salad (Tamala Malerk) The Public Pub & Bar, inside the Ibis Styles Tubingen, fed me the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten. And, no, I am not exaggerating. They were served with a chicken Ceasar burger which was also quite delectable. They have an extensive virgin drinks menu which made watching the Olympics on the big screen TV extra sweet without the need to imbibe alcohol. In this article, we are going to discuss the 20 best-selling wine brands in the US. You can skip our detailed analysis of the global wine market, the state of the American wine industry, and wine tourism in the United States, and go directly to the 5 Best-Selling Wine Brands in the US. Wine has often been perceived as a foreign beverage in the United States, and prior to 1850, it was true that the vast majority of vino was shipped into America from the Old World. However, things took a turn after the California Gold Rush, which caused a huge influx of people from all over into the Golden State. These thirsty settlers soon realized that Northern California was an excellent place to grow Vitis vinifera a species of wine grapes native to the Mediterranean region, often used to make the delectable European wines that they deeply revered. What followed was an unsurprising surge of massive investments into the regions local viniculture and only in a few decades, there was already a well-established and booming wine industry in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Sutter County, and El Dorado. It didnt take long for these enticing offerings from the West to take over the inexpensive table wine market across America, and by the 1900s, the Californian vintners were already exporting wine bottles, in their tens of thousands, to England, Australia, Asia, and Central America. READ ALSO: 10 Best Alternatives to Champagne and 20 Best Wine Brands in the World. Global Wine Market: Wine is one of the Most Consumed Alcohols in the World. As we mentioned in our article 15 Biggest Wine Companies in the US the global wine market size was valued at $441.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach a value of $698.54 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 5.9% over the forecast period. Wine is gaining huge popularity among millennials and youngsters, owing to its refreshing appeal and low ABV offerings. The rising demand for premium and luxury wines, increasing consumer awareness about the health benefits of wine, and the growing popularity of wine tourism are some of the key factors driving the growth of the wine market. According to the 2024 BMO Wine Market Report, the actual dollar sales of all wine sold in the U.S. market reached $107 billion in 2023 an all-time high. Considering that wine dollar sales in the country were just over $73 billion in 2018, the market has witnessed a staggering increase of 46% in the last few years. The report also indicates that the largest U.S. wine companies account for more than 80% of the overall wine production in the country. Here are the U.S. States that Drink the Most Wine. Story continues State of the American Wine Industry: The American wine industry has always assumed that younger generations would naturally increase their consumption of wine as they grew older, but the truth is that its not happening. A report by the Silicon Valley Bank shows how wine hasnt gained the same traction among those under 60 as it has for baby boomers. Of survey respondents aged 35 to 44, 29% said they were more likely to bring beer to a party, while 28% said they would bring wine. Even younger drinkers, aged 21 to 34, were more likely to bring beer, spirits, a flavored malt beverage, or hard seltzer over wine. But ask a 65-year-old what he or she plans to bring to a party and 49% are likely to grab a bottle of wine. Winemakers and advertisers are missing out on younger consumers by failing to produce wines that fit their budgets and neglecting to reach out to them with targeted marketing campaigns. The notions of health, sustainability, and responsibility are essential to buying decisions for Gen Z and millennials, and although many wineries are already addressing this, their messaging is only sometimes connecting to these young drinkers. In order to appeal to these whole new demographics of consumers, the wine industry as a whole has to take steps to inspire curiosity and intrigue about wine and to highlight the aspects that would appeal to them. Wine Tourism in the United States: People travel around the world for different reasons. Some travel to explore new cultures, learn new languages, admire unique locations, and some to drink wine. Among several types of modern travels, wine tourism is a new concept with a focus on exploring wine cultures around the world. The U.S. wine industry is a major magnet for tourists and tourism-driven expenses. According to WineAmerica, the countrys wine country regions generated 49.18 million tourist visits and $16.69 billion in tourism expenditures in 2022, benefiting local economies and tax bases. Based in California, The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. (NYSE:NAPA) makes wines and calls itself a manufacturing company, agricultural company, and marketing company all rolled into one. In addition to its wineries or brands, the company owns approximately 1,100 vineyard acres (15+ unique sites ranging in size from 5-acre parcels up to 75 acres) with a total annual production of over 900,000 cases. For those who love great Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay, a trip to Duckhorn Vineyards has long been recognized as one of the preeminent Napa Valley tasting experiences. With its vibrant gardens and sophisticated tableside wine service, The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. (NYSE:NAPA)s classically beautiful Estate House sets the standard for attentiveness and refinement. One of the Largest Publicly Traded Liquor Companies in the US, The Duckhorn Portfolio is a one-stop luxury wine shop and the largest pure-play luxury wine company in the U.S. The California-based winemaker posted a revenue of $93.53 million in its Q3 ending April 30th 2024, an increase of 1.4% from the same quarter last year and surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.37%. This marked the first time that NAPA has surpassed consensus revenue estimates in the last four quarters. On the 30th of April 2024, The Duckhorn Portfolio announced the completion of its acquisition of Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, one of the largest and fastest-growing luxury Chardonnay brands in America, from the Brown-Forman Corporation. Moreover, the company is also investing in revamping its distribution network by focusing on wholesale distributors. However, Duckhorns dependence on luxury wines is proving to be a problem in current times as consumers are watching their wallets. As a result, the company witnessed a volume decline of 4.6% in the last quarter, and now the revamped distribution channel also leaves it vulnerable to a significant channel glut in case of demand slowdown. Merion Road Capital Management stated the following regarding The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. (NYSE:NAPA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter: During the quarter I exited our position in The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. (NYSE:NAPA) at a loss. Fundamentals came in worse than I expected and I ultimately realized that because the upside was less than my prior expectations, it did not justify current uncertainty. While we acknowledge the potential of NAPA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NAPA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. With that said, here are the Most Popular Wine Brands in the US. 20 Best-Selling Wine Brands in the US racorn/Shutterstock.com Methodology: To collect data for this article, we have referred to the Wine Handbook 2022 by the Beverage Information Group, looking for the Top-Selling Wine Brands in America. The following brands have been ranked by their number of 9-liter cases sold in the U.S. in 2021. At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). 20. Charles Shaw 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 3.02 million Owned by the Bronco Wine Company, Charles Shaw is known for their bargain-priced wine. When Trader Joes introduced the brand in 2002, it sold for $1.99, thus giving it the nickname Two Buck Chuck. Although prices have risen since then, Charles Shaw remains a go-to choice for many Americans. 19. Chateau Ste. Michelle 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 3.173 million Combining Old World winemaking traditions with New World innovation, Chateau Ste. Michelle has spent decades investing in quality vineyards throughout the Columbia Valley, the finest winemaking equipment, and world-class winemaking talent. The wine estate was acquired by Sycamore Partners in 2021, in a deal worth $1.2 billion. 18. Kendall-Jackson 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 3.225 million One of the largest wine producers in California, Kendall Jackson boasts an impressive portfolio of wines covering various styles and price ranges. As America's Best-Selling Chardonnay for almost 28 years, the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay is trusted for its quality and craftsmanship. 17. Beringer 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 3.48 million Beringer introduced its first wine in 1876 and has since then been crafting some of the most exquisite reds and whites in Napa Valley. The oldest continuously operating winery in California was acquired by the Melbourne-based Treasury Wine Estates in 2011. 16. Cavit 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 3.94 million Now celebrated as one of the Most Popular Italian Wine Brands in America, Cavit first became popular among American wine enthusiasts in the 1970s as a pioneer of the then-little-known Pinot Grigio. Hailing from the Trentino region in northern Italy, the winery pays special attention to staying sustainable and thus powers 100% of its production by solar panels. 15. Josh Cellars 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 4.491 million The Josh Cellars wine brand includes eleven varietals and a Reserve collection of wines that come from some of the Golden States most prestigious appellations, the North Coast and Paso Robles. Josh was at about 25,000 cases a year when Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits took it on in 2011, with nearly all its volume in the Northeast. The brand hit 150,000 cases in its first full year with Deutsch and then began to double each year. Deutsch bought out the remaining 50% ownership in 2014 as growth began to explode, and now Josh Cellars ranks among the Largest Selling Wine Brands in the US. 14. Apothic 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 4.51 million From a dark red blend to a light rose, the California-based Apothic brand offers wines unique in style and taste. Owned by the famed E. and J. Gallo Winery, Apothic is known for bringing together grapes from diverse regions and combining them in unique and exciting ways. The Apothic Red Blend is one of the Best Wines To Buy At Costco According to Reddit. 13. Liberty Creek 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 4.835 million Working with the philosophy that quality wines should be accessible to all, Liberty Creek has a long tradition of winemaking deeply rooted In the rich soils of California. Classic varieties like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay define the brand, though they've expanded to also include a fruity pink Moscato and a dark, woody red blend. 12. Livingston Cellars 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 5.425 million While merging the old-time with the high-end, Livingston Cellars produces versatile, fruit-forward wines that are perfect for bringing together friends and family to cherish the best moments in life. Well-balanced and easy to enjoy, Livingston Cellars offers affordable, award-winning wines that consistently exceed expectations. 11. Yellow Tail 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 6.176 million Founded in 2001 by the Casella family, this Australian wine brand produces a wide array of wines, perfect for all tastes and occasions. Over the years, Yellow Tail has positioned itself to identify and appeal to casual drinkers overlooked by major wine brands. 10. Peter Vella 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 7.205 million Another popular American wine brand owned by E. & J. Gallo, Peter Vella wines have adorned family dinner tables, holiday celebrations, and casual evenings at home for over 20 years now. The brand helped launch the popular boxed wine trend and since then, has developed techniques to maintain the wine's freshness and improve the spout. 9. Stella Rosa 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 7.205 million A top Wine Brand Popular Among Young Consumers, Stella Rosa offers fresh flavors and 100% natural grapes in every bottle. The brand is known and respected for making affordable but high-quality, low-calorie, low-sugar, low-alcohol, deliciously drinkable, and flavorful wines. With over 7.2 million cases sold in the US in 2021, this wonderful Italian selection is the number 1 imported wine in the USA in terms of sales. 8. Black Box 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 8.25 million One of the most awarded brands in the boxed wine category, Black Box is made from grapes harvested in some of the Best Wine Producing Regions in the World. Shatterproof and resealable, the boxes have the ability to store four bottles of premium wine for up to six weeks at 50% less than the cost of comparable bottles. 7. Gallo Twin Valley 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 9.09 million Whether you enjoy hearty red wines, sweeter-styled blush wines, or crisp white wines, Gallo Twin Valley has something for everyone. Gallo Family Vineyards is still guided by three generations of Gallo family members, working actively in the business. 6. Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 9.39 million Next up in our list of the Top 10 Selling Wine brands is Woodbridge, founded by Robert Mondavi in 1979 to produce daily fruit-focused wines that could be savored on any occasion. The affordable and approachable brand is on a mission to bring quality wine to the tables of everyday consumers. Robert Mondavi was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2004, in a deal worth $1.03 billion. 5. Sutter Home 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 10.191 million A brand generations of wine lovers trust to deliver consistent, award-winning quality, Sutter Home offers more than 25 crowd-pleasing varietals ranging from traditional types like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot to the more casual ones like Moscato and Fruit Infusions. The wines are typically made in very large quantities and contain grapes from many locations mostly throughout California. 4. Carlo Rossi 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 10.48 million Famous for its jug wines, which are larger than a standard bottle and have become iconic to the brand, Carlo Rossi is a California-based value wine brand established and owned by the beverage giant E. & J. Gallo. CR makes all its wines using the most delicious grapes from California's Central Valley, making sure that its delivering the best quality and the best value to its many consumers. 3. Bota Box 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 10.9 million Bota Box was launched by Dalicato Family Wines in 2003, taking inspiration from traditional Spanish wine skins known as botas. With four bottles of wine inside every eco-friendly, three-liter box and three glasses inside every Mini, Bota Box offers everything from the boldest of reds to the lightest of whites. The popular American wine brand boasted sales of $314.4 million in the US in 2023. 2. Barefoot 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 20.41 million Barefoot is a California-based wine brand dedicated to making delicious wines that are fun, flavorful, and approachable. The popular cheap wine brand was purchased by E. & J. Gallo Winery in 2005. Thanks to Gallo's billions of dollars worth of marketing muscle, Barefoot is available throughout the country, especially in the crucial grocery store market. 1. Franzia 9-Liter Cases Sold in 2021: 22 million For 27 consecutive years, Franzia has been the Most Popular Wine Brand in the World by sales volume. The brand created history in 1985 by becoming the first brand in America to package its wine in a box, and today, its almost impossible to think of bag-in-box wine without thinking about Franzia, a budget-friendly brand notoriously carried by convenience stores and carried to college parties. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. 20 Best-Selling Wine Brands in the US is originally published on Insider Monkey. rodclementphotography / iStock.com Looking for a vacation home thats as nice as it is inexpensive? Youre in luck. GOBankingRates spoke with experts who shared the most affordable, up-and-coming locations across the U.S. that could make for smart vacation property investments. Check Out: 5 Worst Florida Cities To Buy Property in the Next 5 Years, According to Real Estate Agents For You: 7 Reasons You Must Speak To a Financial Advisor Before Spending $50,000 or More From lakeside retreats to mountain getaways, these spots offer a mix of affordability, growth potential and lifestyle perks. All you have to do is pack your bags! Here are seven affordable and up-and-coming spots to buy vacation property in 2024. Earning passive income doesn't need to be difficult. You can start this week. Finger Lakes, New York: A Hidden Gem If youre after lakefront property without the hefty price tag, consider the Finger Lakes region of New York. It is a more affordable option to the likes of Montauk and the Hamptons, and many people outside of New York know nothing about it, said Seamus Nally, CEO of TurboTenant. It is the ideal lakefront location, if a lake house is what you are looking for in a vacation rental. Nally pointed out that while there are certainly expensive properties in the area, there are also many more affordable options. Trending: 3 Places To Travel That Are Like Hawaii but Way Cheaper Mount Dora, Florida: Southern Charm on a Budget If you wanna be in the Sunshine State, Mount Dora is a pretty attractive place to buy in 2024. Mount Dora is turning heads with its attractive median home price of $393,000, which is a steal compared to its surrounding markets, said Dutch Mendenhall, author and founder of RADD Companies. With 723 properties sold over the past year and a vibrant community atmosphere, Mount Dora offers a solid investment opportunity. The city has also seen stable growth, which makes it an attractive spot for investors. All of this adds up to it being the perfect place to buy your dream vacation home. St. Petersburg, Florida: Waterfront Living Without the Miami Price Tag If youre set on coastal Florida but want to avoid Miamis sky-high prices, St. Petersburg could be your answer. With median home prices around $425,000, its significantly more affordable than Miamis $600,000, said Yawar Charlie, director of Luxury Estates Division at Aaron Kirman Group, CHRISTIES International. Plus, its packed with charm, from its vibrant arts scene to its easy access to Tampa Bay. And with home values in the area rising 8% year over year, its not just a fun place to visitits a smart investment, too. Story continues Asheville, North Carolina: Mountain Views and Cultural Vibes For those who prefer mountains to beaches, Asheville offers a beautiful blend of natural beauty and urban amenities. Not only do you get stunning views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but the median home price here is a reasonable $465,000, Charlie said. Tourism is booming up 10% year-over-year so if youre thinking about renting out your property, its a strong bet. Laughlin, Nevada: Desert Oasis on a Budget If youre drawn to the desert, Laughlin offers an affordable entry point for vacation property ownership. With a median home price of just $325,000, this city offers one of the lowest entry points for vacation properties in this list, Mendenhall said. Its got a dynamic market with a 20% increase in homes sold over the past year and a low foreclosure rate. Savannah, Georgia: Southern Charm and Rental Potential For a taste of the Old South with modern investment potential, consider Savannah. Savannahs got all the charm youd expect, and the prices are still reasonable with a median home price of $375,000, Charlie explained. Its not only one of the most walkable and picturesque cities in the country, but its also attracting over 14 million tourists annually. That creates a solid demand for short-term vacation rentals. Kissimmee, Florida: Theme Park Proximity at a Fraction of the Cost If youre a fan of Mickey Mouse and all his theme park friends, Kissimmee might be right for you. Kissimmees market is buzzing with activity, boasting a median home price of $377,000, said Mendenhall. Its a prime location due to its proximity to major attractions and a large inventory of residential properties. Mendenhall pointed out that despite some market fluctuations, Kissimmee remains a strong choice for investors. Despite a slight drop in home sales and some foreclosure activity, the overall market remains strong, with a substantial 37% of homes being equity-rich, he said. For those considering the rental potential of their vacation property, Kissimmee could be a great place to (theme!) park your cash. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Affordable Up-and-Coming US Locations To Buy Vacation Property in 2024 (Bloomberg) -- Apollo Global Management Inc. and BlackRock Inc. are in talks to provide new debt financing for the merger of two Amazon aggregators, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg The proposed deal continues an ongoing consolidation of such companies, which raised billions of dollars and snapped up brands sold on Amazon.com Inc., only to watch the pandemic-era e-commerce boom fizzle. In the latest merger, Paris-based Branded is in talks to acquire San Francisco-based Heyday in exchange for $521 million in equity in a new company to be named Essor, which means take flight in French, the people said. The new company would be worth more than $1 billion, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. The deal would include an undetermined round of new debt from BlackRock, Apollo and Apollo-backed Victory Park Capital to help Essor make acquisitions in the distressed direct-to-consumer e-commerce market, the people said. BlackRock declined to comment, while Apollo declined to immediately comment. Branded and Heyday were among dozens of aggregators with audacious plans to become Digital Age consumer conglomerates. Many are now saddled with debt, and Thrasio, which raised the most of any aggregator, filed for bankruptcy protection in February. Branded Chief Executive Officer Pierre Poignant will run the new company, the people said. He previously co-founded the Southeast Asia-focused online marketplace Lazada, in which Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has a controlling stake. Branded raised $140 million from investors including Berlin venture firm Target Global and sells such products as the Puracy line of plant-based cleaners. Heyday founder Sebastian Rymarz will become president of the new company, which is expected to generate annual revenue of $400 million, the people said. Heyday raised more than $250 million from such investors as Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, as well as debt from Victory Park Capital. Heydays brands include the acne treatment Zitsticka, now sold in Target, and the flouride-free toothpaste brand Boka. The newly formed company will use a new round of debt to buy promising online brands and try to boost their sales and exposure by getting them into big-box retailers, the people said. More than 80% of consumer spending occurs in physical stores, according to EMarketer Inc., making shelf placement a promising strategy to boost sales of brands that began online. Story continues Apollo in 2021 committed to invest up to $500 million in senior secured credit facilities originated by Victory Park Capital, which has bet on multiple aggregators. BlackRock also made loans to Amazon aggregators, some of which the firm recently moved to non-accrual status, as borrowers began failing to make payments. (Updates with context in last paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (Reuters) -Tech giant Apple on Monday named insider Kevan Parekh as its chief financial officer, replacing company veteran Luca Maestri who will transition from the role on Jan. 1, 2025. The leadership change comes ahead of Apple's multiple product launch this fall season, which analysts have called the biggest software upgrade for the iPhone. It includes artificial intelligence features, which are crucial for Apple as it looks to reverse a slowdown in global sales, particularly in China, and better compete with rivals who have rolled out AI upgrades. Parekh, who has been with Apple for more than a decade and will join the company's executive committee, most recently served as vice president of financial planning and analysis. "It appears that the transition to the new CFO is planned and orderly, which is the most important question. Maestri staying on with Apple is also very important, as it removes the risk of financial questions," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. "(Parekh) will need to continue the prudent capital management, but may also be tasked with restarting Apple's exploration of complimentary acquisitions." Before Apple, Parekh held senior leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and General Motors. Apple said Maestri will continue to lead the corporate services teams, including information systems and technology, information security and real estate and development, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. During Maestri's tenure, Apple more than doubled its revenue, with services revenue growing more than five times. "Apple filling the role with an internal candidate should make the transition a bit smoother... any change of this magnitude does create some level of uncertainty, especially given the consistency and the history of execution from Maestri," Piper Sandler analysts said in a note. Earlier this month, Apple said its third-quarter iPhone sales were better than expected and forecast more gains as it bets on artificial intelligence to attract buyers, even as its overall China business disappointed. In recent years, iPhone sales have slowed due to a lack of significant upgrades in newer models and competition from Android-based smartphone brands offering high-end specifications at lower prices. At its developers conference in June, Apple announced a slew of AI features under the umbrella "Apple Intelligence", including a revamped Siri and an integration with ChatGPT. The iPhone maker's shares were last down nearly 1% in extended trading. (Reporting by Manya Saini and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur) Nazrin Abdul Pakistan and Azerbaijan are advancing their economic and trade relations, focusing on expanding bilateral and multilateral cooperation across various sectors. During a recent meeting at the residence of Pakistans Deputy Chairman of the Senate, Syedaal Khan, Azerbaijani Ambassador Khazar Farhadov and Khan discussed strategies to strengthen economic ties and address regional issues, Azernews reports, citing Pakistani media. Khan highlighted Pakistans commitment to deepening cooperation with Azerbaijan in sectors such as trade, investment, energy, defense, agriculture, and natural resources. He stressed the importance of overcoming existing obstacles to enhance trade and investment and suggested that parliamentary and institutional collaboration could further bolster public relations between the two countries. The Deputy Chairman emphasized the potential of Balochistans mineral wealth in transforming the region's economic landscape and urged global investors to seize opportunities in Pakistan. He also underlined the shared cultural and religious values that underpin the Pakistan-Azerbaijan relationship and the crucial role of parliamentary efforts in promoting peace and development. In response, Ambassador Farhadov expressed Azerbaijans eagerness to advance its partnership with Pakistan. Both leaders agreed on the necessity of an early action plan to facilitate the exchange of business delegations and enhance institutional cooperation. Khan also condemned human rights violations in Kashmir and called for international action against ongoing brutality in Palestine, advocating for a unified Islamic response to support Palestinian freedom. He reaffirmed the commitment of Pakistani leadership, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N Leader Nawaz Sharif, to the nations development and prosperity. (Reuters) -Apple will host its fall event on Sept. 9 at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, according to an invite on Monday, where it will likely unveil a series of new iPhones and updates to other devices and apps. The upcoming launches are crucial for Apple as it looks to reverse a global sales slowdown, particularly in China, and lay out its artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap. At its developers conference in June, Apple announced a slew of AI features under the umbrella "Apple Intelligence", including a revamped Siri and an integration with ChatGPT. However, these features will be available only on the latest Apple devices and will be rolled out gradually starting later this year. Apple faces increasing pressure from competitors such as Samsung and Alphabet's Google, who have recently announced AI functionality alongside their new Galaxy and Pixel smartphones, respectively. While Apple's event invite teases "It's Glowtime," no further details have been provided. The company typically announces new iPhones and watches at the fall event, its biggest product showcase every year. In recent years, iPhone sales have slowed due to a lack of significant upgrades in newer models and competition from Android-based smartphone brands offering high-end specifications at lower prices. Apple has said its third-quarter sales were better than expected on the back of iPhone 15, its latest series, which is set to receive the new AI features. Overall sales in China dropped more than expected at 6.5%, pressured by Chinese smartphone brands, chiefly Huawei. (Reporting by Yuvraj Malik and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Tasim Zahid) (Bloomberg) -- Applied Materials Inc. said the US Department of Justice has requested information on its applications for federal grants, adding another layer to government investigations into its operations. Most Read from Bloomberg The maker of chip equipment received a subpoena from the DOJ and is cooperating fully with the government, according to a regulatory filing last week. The request pertained to certain federal award applications and information submitted to the federal government, the company said. Applied Materials had requested government support for a planned research center under the US Chips and Science Act, a program adopted to support domestic chip facilities. The company was ultimately denied a request for funding, dealing a below to the $4 billion research site, which has been planned for Sunnyvale, California. Applied Materials dealings with China had already come under government scrutiny. Earlier this year, it disclosed requests from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts on its product shipments to China. Those came on top of other inquiries dating back to 2022. The US has been clamping down on Chinas access to cutting-edge chip technology as part of a clash with its geopolitical rival. China is the largest market for semiconductors and is attempting to build more advanced chips on its soil a move the US sees as a potential threat to American national security. Applied Materials, based in Santa Clara, California, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. By Allison Lampert and Maki Shiraki MONTREAL/TOKYO (Reuters) - Aviation officials from Asia are making a case for global action to reduce injuries from turbulence, with recent high-profile incidents driving calls to improve forecasting across borders at a Montreal gathering of regulators starting Monday. While turbulence does not frequently cause fatalities, it is the leading cause of accidents, according to data from the U.N.'s aviation agency, and severe weather patterns brought about by climate change could lead to more incidents, experts say. It's one of several issues being tackled by global regulators at the International Civil Aviation Organization's air navigation conference which runs through Sept 6. Concerns about turbulence on planes have heightened since a Singapore Airlines flight from London in May encountered a severe incident leading to one death and dozens of injuries. Countries like Japan, Korea and Singapore want turbulence added as a category in ICAO's 2026 Global Aviation Safety Plan, which outlines industry priorities, according to event working papers. ICAO said a decision will be taken by its 193 member states at its triennial assembly next year. Japan and other countries would like ICAO to improve real time coordination of weather and turbulence data sharing across borders as countries take steps to make alerts more user friendly for pilots, an official with the country's civil aviation bureau said. Some countries in Asia are taking early steps to make that information, now usually sent in text format, more visually accessible. Turbulence accounted last year for around 40% of all accidents involving large aircraft in scheduled commercial operations, according to ICAO's 2024 Annual Safety Report. Although is not currently mandated by Japan, carrier All Nippon Airways now voluntarily airs a safety video at the start of and during flights to prevent turbulence-related accidents. Korean Air said in August it would stop serving instant cup noodles, a popular snack in Korea known as ramyeon that requires boiling water, on its long-haul flights, part of changes in response to increased turbulence incidents. (Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Maki Shiraki in Tokyo. Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington in Seoul, Editing by William Maclean) By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -A federal judge on Monday rejected a banking industry-backed challenge to a rule adopted by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that requires lenders to gather demographic data on small business borrowers. U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen, Texas, had blocked the agency from enforcing the rule nationwide after a federal appeals court in a separate case declared the bureau's funding structure unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court in May reversed the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling and upheld the CFPB's funding structure. At that point the injunction Crane issued was slated to end. But industry groups including the American Bankers Association and Texas Bankers Association argued the judge should still block the rule on other grounds, leading to Monday's ruling. The regulation requires lenders to gather and report to the agency data on small business loan applications, including whether the firms are owned by women or racial minorities. The CFPB adopted the rule in March 2023 to implement a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 that created a system for collecting and reporting data on loan applications for women-owned, minority-owned and small businesses. That data would be used to facilitate the CFPB's enforcement of fair lending laws to prevent discrimination. The banking groups, along with Texas-based Rio Bank, argued the CFPB violated federal administrative law by adopting a rule whose data collection method was so flawed that the rule could undercut the statute's purpose and increase loan costs for small businesses. But Crane said the groups' arguments boiled down to a disagreement with the agency's determinations rather than a dispute over its statutory authority to adopt it at all. "It may well be that the final rule proves ill-advised as a policy matter, but that possibility does not itself make the final rule unlawful," wrote Crane, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush. The banking industry plaintiffs said in a statement they would appeal, noting that the rule would expose small businesses and financial institutions to "significant harm." The CFPB declined to comment. The bureau in June extended the deadlines for lenders to comply with the rule. Those with the highest volume of small business loans are now required to collect data by July 2025. Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden in December vetoed a congressional resolution to reverse the CFPB's rule, saying it would hinder the government's ability to conduct oversight of predatory lenders. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Richard Chang) Bedford Metals Corp. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bedford Metals Corp. (TSX-V: BFM, FWB: O8D, ISIN: CA0762301012) (the Company or Bedford) is pleased to announce the Company has sent a total of 60 samples from its recent exploration program at the Ubiquity Lake Uranium Project, Athabasca, Canada for Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. This advanced analytical technique is considered the 'gold standard' for uranium analysis. It provides precise and sensitive measurements of trace elements across a wide range of samples, helping to confirm the promising on-site results. Peter Born, President of Bedford , commented, The results from our recent exploration program at the Ubiquity Lake Project have been very encouraging. We are eager to see the outcomes from the ICP-MS analysis, as we anticipate that the lab results will confirm our initial findings. These results will be crucial in guiding our next steps as we outline the upcoming exploration program at Ubiquity Lake. The Company is using an innovative mineral analysis approach, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). This advanced analytical technique stands at the forefront of modern scientific exploration, offering unparalleled precision and sensitivity in measuring trace elements. ICP-MS first converts the sample into an ionized state within a high-temperature plasma torch. This plasma generates temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius, effectively breaking down the sample into its elemental components. These ions are then extracted into the mass spectrometer, where they are separated based on their mass-to-charge ratios and quantified with exceptional accuracy. The Company will incorporate the results from this lab analysis into the planning and execution of the next exploration phase at the Ubiquity Lake Uranium Project. The data will be critical in refining our understanding of the mineralization potential and identifying high-priority targets for further investigation. Bedford remains committed to conducting all exploration activities with the utmost respect for environmental stewardship. The company is dedicated to minimizing its environmental footprint and ensuring that all operations are sustainable and responsible. Additionally, Bedford values its relationships with local communities and indigenous groups and is dedicated to working collaboratively with these stakeholders to ensure its activities bring positive benefits to the region. Dr. Peter Born, P.Geo., is the designated qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and the President of the Company and is responsible for and has approved the technical information in this release. Story continues 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. 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 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 done through a network of roads and trails. image2.png The Ubiquity Lake Uranium Project, covering 1382 hectares, lies just south of the bottom lip of the Athabasca Basin, adjacent to ALX Uraniums Carpenter Lake Project to the east. Situated near the Cable Bay Shear Zone, parallel to the Virgin River Shear Zone, which hosts Camecos Centennial uranium deposit, the project holds immense potential. Furthermore, it is located 100 km west of Camecos past-producing Key Lake uranium mine, underscoring the strategic significance of its location. The Sheppard Lake Uranium Project covers an area of approximately 2250 hectares and adjoins the Ubiquity Lake Project to the southeast. The project area is characterized by rocks of the Mudjatik domain, where uranium mineralization is typically basement-hosted, situated within shears or faults, and formed through hydrothermal redistributions of dissolved metals and subsequent redox reactions. image3.png For further information, please contact the Company at info@bedfordmetals.com or 604-622-1199 or visit the Companys 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 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/59f81db2-e48c-4b26-a8aa-05bf887248cc https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/087c2089-b01d-4626-96d5-cc86528bc621 The Beijing municipal government has launched an Artificial Intelligence Standardisation Academy, with the goal of setting up rules and standards for AI products and their applications in the robotics industry. The institute was an initiative that came out of the five-day World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing that ended Sunday, as Chinese robotics makers rush to adopt AI to foster innovation in manufacturing. The academy said it will conduct research into AI applications, as well as study AI governance to promote standard solutions to common problems in applying AI. In robotics, the academy aims to build up an open and collaborative system for further research. According to the International Federation of Robotics, China accounted for more than half of the world's industrial robot installations in 2022, and that share is growing. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Intelligent robotic hands are seen during the World Robot Conference in Beijing, August 21, 2024. Photo: Xinhua alt=Intelligent robotic hands are seen during the World Robot Conference in Beijing, August 21, 2024. Photo: Xinhua> China's embrace of robotics was visible at the Beijing event. From traditional industrial robot makers to humanoid robot developers, local firms demonstrated products that benefited from large language models (LLMs) - the technology that underpins services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. Applying LLMs to robotics equipment for factories can increase efficiency, according to Tian Zhongsheng, head of algorithms at the AI Research Institute of Siasun Robotics, a robotics maker based in Shenyang, the capital of China's northeastern Liaoning province. Industrial robotics apparatus, coupled with AI models, will be able to understand sophisticated voice commands, Tian said, making it possible to operate such equipment through verbal instructions. Siasun was one the many robotics firms at WRC 2024, showcasing how a combination of AI and traditional robotics can transform traditional industries. The event attracted 400 industry experts and academics, while more than 160 domestic and overseas robotics firms exhibited more than 600 products, according to the organisers. Humanoid robot firms launched 27 products at the event, deploying advanced AI models that "enable a lot of new concepts and possibilities for robots", said Hu Jingping, an employee at Agibot, a Shanghai-based humanoid robot start-up. China's robotics sector has attracted 155 investment deals worth a total of nearly 24 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion), according to start-up database service itjuzi.com. Story continues A display at the World Robot Conference in Beijing, August 22, 2024. Photo: Luna Sun alt=A display at the World Robot Conference in Beijing, August 22, 2024. Photo: Luna Sun> Highlighting the significance the Chinese government places on the sector, Premier Li Qiang was seen touring the event on Sunday, according to a report by state-backed Xinhua News Agency. Robots are an important hallmark of technological innovation and advanced manufacturing, Li said during his tour, as he called for breakthroughs in key components and software and the establishment of relevant standards, while stressing the importance of more real-world applications. Robots are permeating society at unprecedented levels, Li said, adding that China should ramp up its pace of popularising the use of robots in diverse applications, including industry, agriculture, and the service sector. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Energy helps keep global economies going, and demand for it will only go up from here. One growing sector of the economy that is expected to need more energy, according to a recent study from Goldman Sachs, involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. The study says demand for data center power is expected to grow 160% by 2030. There are plenty of options for where that energy can come from. One source that could help meet the sizeable demand while also decarbonizing the economy is hydrogen. Some see hydrogen as the "new oil" because it burns cleaner and could help companies meet their long-term carbon reduction goals. Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) is developing technology for low-carbon and grid-independent power generation to position itself as a key player in meeting data center energy demands over the next decade. With the hydrogen energy industry projected to grow into an $11 trillion market, is now a good time to scoop up Bloom Energy? Bloom Energy hopes to meet AI's growing energy demand Hydrogen-fueled energy generation offers a versatile, clean, and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. The chemical reaction that turns hydrogen into energy produces only water and heat as byproducts, making it extremely appealing for entities looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Another added benefit of hydrogen is that it can be stored, transported, and deployed when and where needed. The conversion process that creates the hydrogen fuel has historically been too expensive to be practical, but Bloom has developed technology to fix this problem. Over the past two decades, Bloom Energy has refined its technology so it now creates hydrogen with less energy. Its Bloom Energy Server uses its proprietary solid oxide technology to convert fuel, such as hydrogen, natural gas, and biogas, through an electrochemical process without combustion. What makes Bloom's technology appealing is that its modular servers can be clustered together to provide customers with hundreds of kilowatts to hundreds of megawatts of energy based on their needs. It's also designed to stay online to provide energy that is resilient against weather events, cybersecurity attacks, or other grid outages, and it can be installed faster than traditional energy sources. Image source: Bloom Energy. Bloom's cleaner-burning, grid-independent power generation platform makes it an appealing option for data center operators, who have seen power demand explode thanks to the AI revolution. In May, the company announced a power capacity agreement with Intel to install additional megawatts of its fuel cell-based Energy Server at Intel's high-performance computing data center in Santa Clara, California. Last month, it partnered with the Nvidia-backed AI hyperscaler CoreWeave to generate on-site power for its high-performance data center in Illinois. Story continues Here's the latest look at Bloom's financial picture Much of Bloom's revenue comes from energy server sales. This requires a significant amount of capital upfront, and Bloom provides financing or pay-as-you-go plans to help customers. Revenue growth has been solid, but this year, the company is seeing a slowdown in sales. Bloom's total revenue was $571 million in six months, down 1% from last year. Because of the nature of its product, sales can be a bit uneven for the company. Despite this, management expects second-half revenue to pick up and projects revenue of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion this year, or a 12% growth from last year at the midpoint. One thing investors should keep a close eye on is Bloom's profitability. Last year, the company posted a net loss of $308 million and another $119 million through the first half of this year. The company still hasn't turned a profit and has work to do to achieve this goal. BE Revenue (TTM) Chart It's making progress on its non-GAAP operating income, which excludes things like stock-based compensation and restructuring charges. Since last year, it reduced its non-GAAP operating loss from $26 million to $3.2 million this year. It projects a non-GAAP operating income of $75 million to $100 million by the end of this year. Is Bloom Energy stock for you? Bloom Energy is making solid progress in expanding its business and has signed key agreements over the past several months that validate its product. The company is positioned to play a key role in data centers' growing demand for power, and its resilient power solutions could be an important part of helping companies reduce their carbon footprints. If you already own the stock, it still has potential, and holding on to it is still the best option at this point. Investors looking to capitalize on the clean hydrogen trend may find Bloom Energy's stock compelling despite its lack of profitability. However, I'd like to see the company make further progress in expanding its data center footprint and improving its bottom line before scooping up shares of the stock. Should you invest $1,000 in Bloom Energy right now? Before you buy stock in Bloom Energy, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now and Bloom Energy wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $792,725!* 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 August 22, 2024 Courtney Carlsen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Bloom Energy Stock: Buy, Sell, or Hold? was originally published by The Motley Fool Boeing's Former CEO Dennis Muilenburg Said In 2017 His Company Will Beat Elon Musk To Mars. This Is What Happened Instead 7 Years Later In December 2017, Boeings (NYSE:BA) then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg said that the first person who set foot on Mars would get there on a Boeing rocket, beating Elon Musks SpaceX. But nearly seven years later, NASA is turning to SpaceX to return the astronauts who went to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeings Starliner spacecraft. Don't Miss: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are bullish on one city that could dethrone New York and become the new financial capital of the US. Investing in its booming real estate market has never been more accessible. Amid the ongoing EV revolution, previously overlooked low-income communities now harbor a huge investment opportunity at just $500. 7 Years Ago: "Eventually we're going to go to Mars and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket," Muilenburg told CNBC host Jim Cramer in December 2017, as reported by Fortune. Musk responded to the comment on X and said, Do it. Boeing accepted the challenge, responding to the rival CEO with a short, Game on! Game on! The Boeing Company (@Boeing) December 7, 2017 Trending: Dont miss out on the next Nvidia you can invest in the future of AI for only $10. Fast Forward To 2024: On Saturday, NASA announced that it would return the two astronauts who went to space via Boeing's Starliner spacecraft Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore via a SpaceX vehicle in February. The Starliner spacecraft would return to Earth autonomously in early September, the agency said, citing its commitment to safety. Williams and Wilmore launched into space on June 5 aboard Boeings Starliner spacecraft. Though the two were supposed to return in about eight days, technical issues identified with the spacecraft while docking delayed the return journey, and now the agency has decided to scrap bringing the astronauts back on the Boeing spacecraft altogether. Trending: If you invested $100 in DOGE when Elon Musk first tweeted about it in 2019, heres how much youd have today. Musk Reacts: Musk on Saturday expressed optimism for the future of Boeing despite the setback. The new Boeing CEO is spending time in the factories. That is the right thing to do, Musk said. The new Boeing CEO, Kelly Ortberg, took the reins of the company from Dave Calhoun earlier this month. Had SpaceX not been around, NASA might have turned to Russia to bring the astronauts back home, Musk said in another post. The billionaire also opined that aircraft companies will not dominate the space industry. Story continues Russia is the only other option Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024 Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Read More: "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Boeing's Former CEO Dennis Muilenburg Said In 2017 His Company Will Beat Elon Musk To Mars. This Is What Happened Instead 7 Years Later originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. China allocates disaster relief funds for Liaoning Province Xinhua) 15:44, August 24, 2024 BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management have allocated 50 million yuan (about 7 million U.S. dollars) to support flood relief efforts in northeast China's Liaoning Province. The funds will be used for key emergency measures, including search and rescue operations, the relocation and resettlement of affected residents, and the mitigation of flood-related risks. In addition, the relief funds will support efforts to identify potential secondary disaster risks and repair damaged homes to minimize losses caused by the floods. China has activated a level-IV disaster relief emergency response in Liaoning Province following rain-triggered floods. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning) German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has returned to Manchester City, Azernews reports citing the Anadolu Agency. Gundogan has signed a one-year contract with an option for a second year, according to the club's statement. Reflecting on his return, Gundogan said, "My seven years at Manchester City were a time of pure contentment for me, both on and off the pitch. I grew as a person and a player, developed a special relationship with the City fans, and enjoyed amazing success. It was an exceptional period in my life. To have the opportunity to return here means so much." The 33-year-old midfielder rejoined the Sky Blues after spending one season with Spanish giants Barcelona. During his previous tenure with Manchester City, Gundogan achieved significant success, including winning the 2023 UEFA Champions League, five Premier League titles, and two FA Cups. From Chipotle To Starbucks: Brian Niccol's $113M Pay Package And Its Implications For The Coffee Chain Brian Niccol is stepping away as CEO of Chipotle and shaking things up as the new chairman and CEO of Starbucks. He will receive a history-making pay package of $113 million, four times that of his predecessor. Niccol will assume his role on Sept. 9, with Starbucks' chief financial officer serving as interim CEO until then. Don't Miss: Niccol's package includes a $10 million sign-on bonus, $75 million of extra stock options to compensate for lost shares from Chipotle, and a remote office near his California home, with access to a company jet for travel to Seattle headquarters when needed. This transition for Niccol marks a significant leadership change for the global coffee giant, which has seen three CEOs in less than three years. He succeeds Laxman Narasimhan, who stepped down after just 17 months. The substantial pay package demonstrates Starbucks confidence in Niccols ability to steer the company through current challenges and drive future growth. Trending: Amid the ongoing EV revolution, previously overlooked low-income communities now harbor a huge investment opportunity at just $500. Mellody Hobson, Starbucks lead independent director, expressed enthusiasm about the new appointment, stating, We are thrilled to welcome Brian to Starbucks. His phenomenal career speaks for itself. Brian is a culture carrier who brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of driving innovation and growth. During his time at Chipotle, Niccol drove a significant turnaround for the restaurant chain. He emphasized the importance of enhancing people and culture, innovating the menu, and embracing digital transformation. Niccol also prioritized his employees by increasing wages and improving benefits. Eric Gonzalez, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, noted, His track record speaks for itself. That just shows you the confidence that [Starbucks] has in him. Trending: A billion-dollar investment strategy with minimums as low as $10 you can become part of the next big real estate boom today. Niccol steps into his new role at a pivotal time for Starbucks. The company currently faces several challenges that his experience and fresh perspectives can help overcome. With declining demand in key markets like the U.S. and China, operational inefficiencies, and pressure from active investors to improve performance, observers anticipate that Niccol's role will reinvigorate the company's growth trajectory. Story continues Niccol's appointment has been largely well-received, but it does come with some scrutiny, particularly regarding labor relations. The company was criticized for responding to unionization efforts during his time at Chipotle. Starbucks is in the thrall of its unionization fight, with negotiations across more than 370 locations. As this continues, there's no doubt that Niccol's approach to this issue will be closely watched. Trending: This startup aims to convince the FDA that Cannabis and Psilocybin can be a better alternative to synthetic pharmaceuticals on the market. Right now you can can invest in while its still less than $2/share. As Niccol prepares to take the helm at Starbucks, stakeholders eagerly await to see how his leadership will shape the future of this iconic coffee chain. Niccol has expressed that he has "long admired Starbucks' iconic brand, unique culture, and commitment to enhancing human connections around the globe." He adds, "As I embark upon this journey, I am energized by the tremendous potential to drive growth and further enhance the Starbucks experience for our customers and partners while staying true to our mission and values." Investors and enthusiasts alike should stay informed about key changes in company leadership. Since the announcement of Niccol's appointment, Starbucks Corp stock has jumped by about 21% and remained up. Keeping a close watch on how Niccol's strategies unfold will be key to evaluating the long-term impact of his leadership on Starbucks' performance and shareholder value. Read Next: This billion-dollar fund has invested in the next big real estate boom, here's how you can join for $10. Miami is expected to take New York's place as the U.S. Financial Capital. Here's how you can invest in the city before that happens. "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article From Chipotle To Starbucks: Brian Niccol's $113M Pay Package And Its Implications For The Coffee Chain originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Merko Ehitus AS On 26 August 2024, AS Merko Ehitus Eesti, part of AS Merko Ehitus group, and GRK Eesti AS signed a design and construction contract with OU Rail Baltic Estonia for the construction of the fourth stage of Rail Baltica Harjumaa main line railway infrastructure on Saku-Harjumaa border section. The contract includes the construction of approximately 10.5 kilometres of railway embankment, together with accompanying facilities, noise barriers, maintenance and access roads. In carrying out the works, AS Merko Ehitus Eesti is the leading partner with a 51:49 ratio. The contract value is approximately EUR 59.9 million, plus value added tax. The duration of the construction works is 48 months. AS Merko Ehitus Eesti ( merko.ee ) is a recognised Estonian construction company, which offers construction services in general construction, civil engineering and residential construction. Additional information: AS Merko Ehitus Eesti, Director of the Civil Engineering Division, Mr. Arvo Keller, phone: +372 680 5105. Urmas Somelar Head of Finance AS Merko Ehitus +372 650 1250 urmas.somelar@merko.ee AS Merko Ehitus ( group.merko.ee ) group companies construct buildings and infrastructure and develop real estate. We create a better living environment and build the future. We operate in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. As at the end of 2023, the group employed 635 people, and the groups revenue for 2023 was EUR 466 million. Duravant, a provider of engineered equipment and automation solutions, has acquired US-headquartered high-speed packaging machinery manufacturer T-TEK Material Handling. This strategic move bolsters Duravant's presence in the packaging sector, particularly within the food, beverage, and consumer products industries. T-TEK specialises in designing and developing end-of-line equipment, including palletisers, depalletisers, conveyors, and custom automated lines. The company serves blue chip producers of packaged beverage, food and consumer products. It also offers customised solutions that address small, non-standard packages that are fragile and difficult to palletise. Duravant chairman and CEO Mike Kachmer said: "Were excited to welcome T-TEK to Duravant. T-TEK has an impressive history of fostering strong customer relationships through a differentiated service delivery model. Their technical sales and consultation process is key to their longstanding partnerships with brand owners, facility operators, engineering firms, and integrators." T-TEK's product portfolio complements Duravant's existing brands, including nVenia, Mespack, and Wulftec, all of which are part of Duravant's packaging segment. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Duravant offers equipment and automation solutions to the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors. T-TEK president Michael Traff said: "We are excited to join forces with Duravant and to collaborate across their family of Operating Companies. Duravants established infrastructure and extensive aftermarket network through Duravant Lifecycle Services will help us accelerate our growth with new customers and invest in resources and new technologies that will enable us to better serve our existing customer base." "Duravant acquires T-TEK for packaging automation expansion" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, 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. BEIRUT (AP) The ferocious exchange of fire by Hezbollah and the Israeli military is raising fears of a regional war beyond the tense border. The risks for Lebanon are far greater than in 2006, when a monthlong war with Israel ended in a draw. Lebanon has struggled with years of political and economic crises that left it indebted, without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and with rampant poverty. And with Hezbollahs military power significantly greater, there are concerns that a new war would be far more destructive and prolonged. Can Lebanon afford any of it? Planning for a 2006 war repeat or worse Since Hezbollah and Israel began firing rockets and drones at each other a day after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, the conflict has been mostly limited to border towns. But with the threat of a wider war, Lebanon has scrambled to equip hospitals with supplies and prepare public schools to open up to people seeking shelter. A rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander set off a flurry of meetings between humanitarian organizations and the Lebanese government, said Laila Al Amine, who heads the Beirut office of international relief organization Mercy Corps. It's one of some 60 organizations helping the government with its relief efforts. The government and U.N. agencies prepared a comprehensive response plan this month outlining two possible scenarios: a limited escalation that would resemble the 2006 war, with an estimated 250,000 people displaced, and a worst-case scenario of uncontrolled conflict that would displaced at least 1 million people. The U.N.-drafted plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, projects a monthly cost of $50 million in case of a limited escalation and $100 million if an all-out war breaks out. The Lebanese government said that funding for the emergency will come from creditors and humanitarian aid organizations. But the authorities have struggled to find money to care for 100,000 currently displaced and an estimated 60,000 people living in conflict areas, which is costing about $24 million a month. Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is spearheading relief operations, told reporters after an emergency government meeting Sunday that the morning attacks won't change the plan. It already presents scenarios of all the possibilities that could happen, among them is an expansion of the hostilities, said Yassin. Indebted and cash-strapped Lebanon desperate for aid money Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanons banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. Public service institutions rely on aid groups and international donors to function at a barebones level. Lebanese who once lived in relative comfort are receiving food and financial aid to survive. Story continues In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion flattened several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. Lebanons banks and the ruling elite have resisted painful reforms as a condition for an International Monetary Fund bailout while the infrastructure continued to wither and living conditions worsened. Tourism, which officials had relied on to help rebuild the economy, has also taken a hit since the border conflict with Israel. And unlike in 2006, Lebanon is hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their country. Health Minister Firas Abiad told the AP earlier this month that the Lebanese health system is ill-equipped to treat the additional population in the event of an all-out war, as international funding for Syrian refugees continues to decline. In April, Yassin said the country had only half the money needed to respond to the conflict and ensuing humanitarian needs. Lebanon faces tougher logistics In 2006, Israel bombed the runways of Lebanons only airport, putting it largely out of commission, and imposed an air and sea blockade. Its bombardment crippled critical infrastructure and flattened neighborhoods, with damage and losses worth $3.1 billion, according to the World Bank. But aid groups eventually were able to send supplies through the countrys ports and at times through the airport using the remaining limited runway space. In their assessment of the war, the U.N. said that their relief efforts was not in response to a humanitarian crisis. People did not die from poor sanitation, hunger or disease. They died from bombs and shells, U.N. OCHA said in a report a month after the war. Many Lebanese were able to flee to neighboring Syria, where an uprising in 2011 plunged the country into a civil war. It's unclear how easy crossing the border would be this time, both for civilians and aid groups. It is also unclear whether the Beirut port, still not fully rebuilt after the devastating blast in 2020, would have sufficient capacity in case of a wider war. Its damaged grain silos collapsed in 2022, and the country relies on minimal food storage due to the financial crisis. Lebanon apparently has stocks of food and fuel for two-three months, but what happens beyond this duration? Al Amine said. We only have one airport and we cant transport things through our land borders. It would be difficult to bring items into the country. An empowered Hezbollah In 2006, Hezbollah reportedly had some 15,000 rockets in its arsenal, but more recent unofficial estimates suggest this number has multiplied by almost 10 times, said Dina Arakji, associate analyst at U.K.-based risk consultancy firm Control Risks. The group has also acquired more advanced weaponry, including precision missiles and variants of Iranian arms, as well as Chinese and Russian weaponry, she said. Hezbollah, which relies on a network of Iran-backed allied groups that could enter the conflict, has also substantially expanded its drone arsenal and capabilities, against which Israeli air defenses are less effective. Lebanese officials and international diplomats hope that an elusive cease-fire agreement in Gaza will bring to calm in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. ___ Associated Press videographer Ali Sharafeddine contributed to this report. By Sabrina Valle HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil said on Monday it expects crude demand to stay above 100 million barrels per day (bpd) through 2050, similar to today's levels, a forecast 25% higher than top European rival BP. The stronger demand projected by the largest U.S. oil company in its latest global oil outlook underpins Exxon's production growth plans, the most ambitious among Western oil majors. It did not have a 2050 demand figure in its previous outlook released in 2023. The company also painted a more somber view on global carbon emissions reductions than BP. Advancements in technology will allow for emissions reductions after 2029, compared to the middle of this decade according to BP. Exxon plans to pump 4.3 million barrels of oil and gas per day this year, 30% more than U.S. top rival Chevron's current output. BP is cutting production to about 2 million barrels per day by 2030. "Oil and gas demand have a very, very long runway and will continue to grow over the next few years," Exxon Economics, Energy and Strategic Planning Director Chris Birdsall told Reuters. Exxon estimates electric vehicles will not significantly alter long-term global oil demand, as the world's population is expected to increase from 8 billion today to nearly 10 billion in 2050, adding to demand for energy. If every new car sold in the world in 2035 were electric, crude oil demand would still be 85 million bpd, the same it was in 2010, it said. BP projects oil consumption will peak in 2025 and decline to 75 million bpd in 2050. The estimates are more than triple the 24 million bpd of crude the International Energy Agency (IEA) says would allow the world to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Exxon projects 67% of the global energy mix in 2050 will be supplied by oil, natural gas and coal, down from 68% last year. The company said more investments in oil than are currently anticipated will be necessary as the world transitions to unconventional resources. Wells in these geological formations, such as U.S. shale, have a shorter production lifespan and exhibit a more pronounced natural decline, it said. Exxon projects that without new investments, output would decrease by about 15% per year, a steeper decline compared to IEA's 2018 estimates of about 8% per year. This rate of decline could cause oil prices to quintuple, with global supply plummeting to 30 million bpd as early as 2030, according to Birdsall. "Global oil and natural gas supplies would virtually disappear without continued investments," Birdsall said. "The biggest reason for the change is the shift to more short-cycle unconventional assets." (Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Jamie Freed) By Klaus Lauer and Miranda Murray BERLIN (Reuters) -German business morale fell for a third consecutive month in August, a survey showed on Monday, pushing back recovery hopes for Europe's largest economy. The Ifo institute said its business climate index fell to 86.6 in August from 87.0 in July, though it came in above a forecast by analysts polled by Reuters for a reading of 86.0. "The German economy is increasingly falling into crisis," said Ifo president Clemens Fuest. Companies were both more pessimistic and assessed their current situation as worse, Ifo found in its survey of around 9,000 managers. The mood in industry, in particular, has noticeably deteriorated, while service providers also saw a dip, Ifo found. "The German economy has settled into stagnation," said Ifo economist Klaus Wohlrabe, citing a lack of orders across all sectors and weak investment and adding that consumers were reluctant to spend due to uncertainty over inflation. Wohlrabe predicted that the third quarter could bring a further decline in German gross domestic product (GDP), which unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter. The index measuring current conditions fell to 86.5 from 87.1 the month before, while expectations were down only slightly, at 86.8 from a slightly upwardly adjusted 87.0. NO GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM "There are not too many reasons for optimism at the moment," said LBBW bank's Elmar Voelker. He listed a bumpy global economy, geopolitical risks and the looming U.S. presidential election in November as factors likely to dampen hopes of any improvement before the end of the year at the earliest. VP Bank chief economist Thomas Gitzel also saw no economic recovery happening "for the time being". "The German economy continues to ride on a razor edge between recession and minimal growth," Gitzel said. The Ifo survey is in line with the latest purchasing managers' index (PMI) data, which saw business activity contract in August for a second month in a row and by more than expected. Together they are part of a raft of indicators that so far this quarter point to anaemic expansion for the economy. Germany's Bundesbank said last week that a recession was unlikely, though the overall outlook remained muted. (Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Rene Wagner, Miranda Murray and Rachel More, Editing by Friederike Heine and Toby Chopra) I want to imagine a long, happy life together, but I was raised to expect the best and plan for the worst. (Photo subjects are models.) - Getty Images/iStockphoto Dear Quentin, My girlfriend and I dont plan to get legally married nor married in the eyes of the church. Were simply having a wedding to celebrate our love, but we are not signing any paperwork. I am concerned that my significant other would lose her state health insurance because she doesnt work. To cut a long story short, I feel terrible that shes utilizing a program for low-income people, but she has serious mental-health issues that are completely treatable but expensive. I make too much money for her to qualify for medical assistance if we marry, but not enough to absorb what Ive calculated to be $35,000 a year in additional expenses. We want kids eventually and Im concerned that, given that I live in a state famous for treating men poorly in divorces, shell end up with at least half of everything I own despite the fact that I accumulated quite a bit in assets before we ever met. Im also likely to accumulate quite a bit more in assets before we have a child, and its actually necessary or helpful that she stays home to care for said child. We agreed several years ago that it was best she stop working because she was in an extremely high-stress environment as a pharmacy tech that was exacerbating her mental-health issues. Most Read from MarketWatch My fear is that this will be construed as my girlfriend giving up a career to be a homemaker, which is patently false but could also feasibly be used as a reason for her to believe she is entitled to my assets (or more of my assets). I want to imagine a long, happy life together, but I was raised to expect the best and plan for the worst. I have this gnawing feeling that Im setting myself up for disaster. Connecticut is an equitable-distribution state. I have already purchased my condo and formed my business, so I expect that they would be exempt from division in a divorce. Could she make a claim on my condo and business if we live together? Unmarried Man Related: I want so badly to help her: My girlfriend made a $60,000 error of judgment at work. Should I take out a HELOC or dip into my 401(k) to bail her out? You have no reason to be concerned about your girlfriend making a claim on your assets. - MarketWatch illustration Dear Unmarried, Your symbolic wedding will have more long-term negative implications for your girlfriend. As you say, you have no plans to marry your girlfriend for a variety of legal and financial reasons. Assuming you stick to those plans, she will not benefit from community property, or the rise in value of your community property during your cohabiting relationship given that you are not signing an actual wedding contract. You have no reason to be concerned about your girlfriend making a claim on your assets because while Connecticut is an equitable-distribution state where assets are divided fairly, if not always equally, in a divorce your state does not recognize common-law marriage. (Those states are Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and D.C.) Now lets turn to your soon-to-be nonwife, and her own marital and medical predicaments. She is, as you suggest, stuck between the proverbial rock (health benefits) and a hard place (voluntary unemployment). If your wife did get a job with health insurance, with the right practical support she would be unlikely to face $35,000 out-of-pocket costs for her mental-health services. Insurance claimants are more likely to go out of network for mental-health services than other services. But recent analysis shows that, while those who seek treatment for depression and/or anxiety pay almost double in out-of-pocket costs compared to other enrollees, they still pay $1,501 out of pocket vs. $863 for physical illnesses. Federal law protects enrollees who require mental-health treatment from being discriminated against. The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is geared to stop group health plans and health-insurance providers that offer mental-health and/or substance-use-disorder benefits from leveling more restrictive limitations on those benefits than on medical or surgical treatments. While this law does not apply directly to small group health plans, its requirements are applied indirectly in connection with the Affordable Care Acts essential health benefit, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. How insurers manage mental-health services can vary, says the Center for American Progress, a left-of-center think tank. Insurers often offer providers low payment rates, limiting willingness of an already insufficient workforce to join networks and impeding compliance with network adequacy standards. Insurers can also set treatment limits to manage care; these plans often do not offer as much treatment as a patient or provider may find beneficial or clinically significant. Moreover, insurance companies may require prior authorization or medical-necessity forms that can slow or prevent access to care. While these limitations impede parity in principle, they are often more challenging to enforce and may proceed undetected by regulating bodies. Should you live together and have a family, she would remain financially dependent on you and have no ability to save for retirement, nor would she be entitled to 50% of your community property in the event that you did actually marry and divorce. If she becomes a stay-at-home mom, she would lose those Social Security contributions and would not benefit from spousal benefits. If you did split up after having a family, you would be obliged to pay child support. Connecticut follows the income-shares model, which means that courts will estimate the amount parents would spend on children when both parents and children live together in one household, according to Maya Murphy, a Connecticut- and New York-based attorney. Connecticut does not, in theory, treat men differently than women in divorce. But that is, of course, a moot point. More columns from Quentin Fottrell: I have a dirty secret: When I fly, I erase basic economy on my ticket to skip the boarding line. My friend says its cheating. Whos right? My husband inherited his parents home and didnt put my name on the deed. What can I do? Were still paid less: What have Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton done for working women like me? Most Read from MarketWatch By Azernews Elnur Enveroglu Almost 30 years ago, when Azerbaijan needed support during the former Garabagh conflict, the US enacted Section 907, banning all direct aid to Baku. Instead of recognizing the rights of a country whose territories were under occupation, putting pressure on it was a clear example of hypocrisy and double standards. This theory of the West has always existed and continues to this day. For example, let us take the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) attitude towards the nuclear crisis in the world. About two weeks ago, a fire broke out at the Nuclear Power Station in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine as a result of a shootout between the parties (Russia-Ukraine). The seriousness of the incident is obvious, and if it is a nuclear threat, there is no need to make any comments or arguments about it. Although a message of protest came from Rafael Grossi, the IAEA head regarding the incident, the cause of the fire was not identified and the matter remained as it was. The United States has been talking about the danger of Iran's nuclear reactors for years and tries to explain the situation in such a way that all regional states neighboring Iran should be evacuated from their territories. The seriousness of the nuclear threat cannot be doubted, but if there is prejudice, it leads to some misunderstanding... The United States is reviewing Armenia's application to join the 123 Agreement, which would allow Armenia to access American civilian nuclear technology, according to the State Department. The information states that, under US federal law, the US government must sign Section 123 of the United States Atomic Energy Act, which sets out the terms of the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to other countries. According to the State Department's 2022 update, the US has such agreements with 48 countries and territories. If Armenia joins the 123 Agreement, it could pave the way for the development and construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia using US technology, replacing the Soviet-era Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. It is very interesting that this station, which was put into operation for the first time in the South Caucasus in 1976 during the time of the Soviet Union, after being unused for a long time, was put on the agenda again based on the interests of the United States. The nuclear complex, which consists of two units, was stopped by the decision of the former Soviet government after the impact caused by the earthquake in Spitak (Hamamli / historically was part of Western Azerbaijan) in 1988. After the fall of the USSR, Armenia had a period of energy scarcity and the government decided to reopen the plant, and subsequently unit 2 restarted on 5 November 1995, six years after being shut down. The location of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in a seismic area of ??approximately 10 points is not discussed today either in the IAEA or in the US State Department. Here, it is a clear fact that Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia and other states close to the region face danger. In addition to all these dangers, nobody cares if the station opens the door to illegal nuclear trade. There are more than 200 radioactive sources in the territory of Armenia. These sources include various types of isotopes. There have also been cases of smuggling of radioactive isotopes in Armenia. This increases the possibility of using radionuclides for terrorist purposes. Ecologically, the damage caused by this station to the environment is without exception. Liquid waste from the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is ultimately discharged into the Araz, a trans-boundary river. The plant is located in a water-scarce area, drawing water from deep wells to cool its aging reactor. During earthquakes, it is possible to change the level of underground water and the direction of flows, which is a clear evidence of the unreliability of the cooling system. Thus, the West, which uses Armenia as a dangerous weapon in the South Caucasus, caused serious concern in the region with its next weird decision. With this decision, the United States demonstrated that its interests are more important than any certain security procedure. We recently compiled a list of the 7 Best Digital Currency and Payments Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) stands against the other digital currency and payment stocks. Digital currencies, particularly Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), are revolutionizing the way payment systems operate, drawing significant interest from governments and institutions worldwide. Unlike traditional currencies, CBDCs are digital versions of a nations currency issued and regulated by central banks, offering the potential to enhance the efficiency of payment transactions, reduce costs, and accelerate settlement times. These digital currencies utilize distributed ledger technology or a central database, ensuring that every transaction is recorded, providing a transparent and secure system. Over the past decade, CBDCs have gained traction as a solution to improve cross-border payments, a key area where traditional banking systems often fall short due to high costs, lengthy processing times, and complex intermediaries. CBDCs aim to streamline these processes by reducing payment chains and facilitating faster, more efficient transactions between countries. For example, countries like the Bahamas and China have already launched their own CBDCs, with several others, including the United States, actively piloting or researching their implementation. These initiatives are not only focused on enhancing wholesale cross-border interbank transactions but also on retail CBDCs, which could significantly improve financial inclusion by making financial services more accessible to the general public. However, the adoption of CBDCs is not without challenges. There are concerns about the potential impact on the stability of financial systems, particularly regarding the roles of financial intermediaries, which could be drastically altered or diminished. Additionally, issues related to privacy, security, and the need for robust regulatory frameworks remain critical as governments explore the broader implementation of CBDCs. As global interest in digital currencies continues to grow, CBDCs are positioned to play a pivotal role in reshaping the global payments landscape, offering a promising future for faster, more efficient, and inclusive financial systems. McKinseys 2023 Digital Payments Consumer Survey reveals that digital payments have become deeply ingrained in consumer behavior, with over 90% of respondents using digital payment methods within the past year. The survey shows that online purchasing remains the most popular form of digital payment, while in-app and in-store payments are growing, particularly among younger consumers. Notably, the trend toward consolidating digital wallets has intensified, with a significant drop in the number of consumers using multiple wallets. Security and trust are critical factors in wallet selection, with many consumers now favoring providers with robust security measures. Story continues The global digital payment market is poised for remarkable growth, with projections indicating it will reach $361.3 billion by 2030, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.1% from 2024 to 2030 (according to industry data by Research and Markets). This rapid expansion is largely fueled by the increasing shift toward non-cash transactions, driven by both consumer preference and the technological advancements occurring within the financial technology (fintech) sector. As consumer behaviors evolve, fintech companies and traditional banks are under pressure to enhance and innovate their digital services to keep up with these changes. The market is also seeing significant contributions from the adoption of biometric authentication methods, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. According to Payments Industry Intelligence, these advanced security measures are expected to protect an estimated $2.5 trillion in mobile payment transactions by 2024, underscoring the critical role of security in the digital payments landscape. Within this growing market, several segments are expected to maintain or achieve dominance due to various factors. The payment processing segment, for example, is anticipated to retain its leadership position throughout the forecast period. This is largely due to the widespread introduction and expansion of payment networks like Mastercard, Visa, and Rupay across multiple countries, which are helping to drive growth in this area. Additionally, the point-of-sale (POS) segment, which dominated the market in 2023, is projected to experience substantial growth. This growth is being driven by the increasing preference for digital wallets, particularly for e-commerce transactions and online purchases, as consumers seek more convenient and secure payment options. On-premise deployment of digital payment solutions continues to be a popular choice, especially among large enterprises that require secure and efficient transaction processing. These companies are increasingly adopting digital payment systems to streamline their operations, enhance the visibility of transactions, and improve the overall customer experience by reducing the time required to complete payments. Geographically, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness significant growth from 2024 to 2030, with a notable increase in the adoption of digital payment solutions in emerging economies such as China and India. This regional growth is likely to create new opportunities in the market as these economies continue to embrace digital technologies and move away from traditional cash-based transactions. The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector, in particular, is expected to play a crucial role in driving the markets expansion, as the continued digitalization of banks and financial institutions enhances the adoption of digital payment methods. This trend is not only fostering growth within the region but is also contributing to the global shift towards a more digitally-driven economy. For investors looking to capitalize on this rapidly expanding sector, the article offers insights into some of the top-performing stocks in the digital currency and payments space. Our Methodology We started off our list by compiling a list of all companies that offer digital payments by sifting through ETFs, running screens on Finviz, and reading articles published online. We compiled a list of 15 stocks and selected the 7 that were the most popular among elite hedge funds. The hedge fund sentiment was sourced from Insider Monkeys database of over 900 hedge funds and is dated as of Q2 2024. At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). A payment terminal in action with customers apart of the experience. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) is a key player in the payment technology and software solutions industry, operating through its Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business & Consumer Solutions segments. The companys Q2 2024 earnings beat expectations, reporting an EPS of $2.93, slightly above the anticipated $2.91, reflecting strong operational performance across its diverse portfolio. The Merchant Solutions segment remains a standout, delivering high single-digit organic growth driven by robust demand for integrated software and point-of-sale (POS) solutions. The successful integration of EVO Payments has enhanced the companys capabilities, particularly in embedded payments and commerce enablement solutions, which are seeing accelerated adoption. The segment also benefits from innovative offerings like the PROFAC solution, which has shown substantial growth in active merchants and merchant volumes. Issuer Solutions also performed well, with a notable increase in accounts on file and strong execution in cross-selling value-added services like fraud prevention and virtual card solutions. The segments ability to manage and simplify card portfolios for financial institutions positions Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) as a leader in the sector, particularly as it continues to expand its addressable market through modernization efforts. Furthermore, Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) is strategically expanding its international presence, with significant progress in the European market, including key partnerships in the EV charging sector and acquisitions aimed at strengthening its distribution capabilities in the UK. The companys diversified revenue streams, ongoing investment in technology, and global expansion efforts underscore its robust fundamentals, making it a compelling investment in the payment technology space. In the second quarter of 2024, there were 66 hedge funds holding positions in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN), as compared to 52 in the previous quarter according to Insider Monkeys database. The total value of these holdings is approximately $3.67 billion. Richard S. Pzenas Pzena Investment Management held the largest stake among these hedge funds during this period. Weitz Investment Management Partners III Opportunity Fund stated the following regarding Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter: Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) reversed its first-quarter gains, becoming the Funds top detractor for the quarter and second leading detractor year-to-date. Investor skepticism remains entrenched despite consistent operational execution. Current results are partially muddied by the moving parts of divestitures and positive synergies from the acquisition of former competitor EVO Payments that have yet to develop, leading many investors to adopt a wait and see approach in advance of an expected Investor Day later this year. Overall GPN ranks 5th on our list of the best digital currency and payments stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of GPN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GPN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. David Ramos / Getty Images KEY TAKEAWAYS IBM reportedly is closing its China research and development (R&D) department and moving those functions overseas. The Wall Street Journal said IBM executive Jack Hergenrother informed employees of the move in a virtual meeting Monday. In a statement to Investopedia, an IBM spokesperson said, IBM adapts its operations as needed to best serve our clients." IBM (IBM) reportedly is closing its China research and development (R&D) department and moving those functions overseas. The Wall Street Journal said IBM executive Jack Hergenrother informed employees of the move in a virtual meeting Monday. In a statement to Investopedia, an IBM spokesperson said, "IBM adapts its operations as needed to best serve our clients, and these changes will not impact our ability to support clients across Greater China region." Beijing Pushing Chinese Firms To Buy Homegrown Tech The closure comes amid Beijing's push to get domestic purchasers to buy more from homegrown technology suppliers and as American firms face tighter scrutiny on their China operations by U.S. lawmakers in strategic areas like artificial intelligence (AI). IBM's closure would affect more than 1,000 people and mark the latest retreat from China by a top U.S. firm. In May, the Journal reported that Microsoft (MSFT) asked local employees to consider transferring outside the country. IBM shares edged higher to $196.74 as of 10 a.m. ET Monday. They are up 20% this year. Read the original article on Investopedia. Ingka Group, the principal franchisee of the IKEA brand, has announced an 11m ($12m) investment in IKEA South Korea to integrate automated fulfilment systems. The investment forms part of a broader 300m commitment announced by Ingka Group to the Korean market over the next three years. IKEA South Korea deployed the automation solutions in the IKEA Giheung store to address the increasing delivery demands propelled by the e-commerce growth. By transforming existing stores into primary fulfilment centres, the brand aims to deliver a superior omnichannel shopping experience with swifter and more precise delivery services. The automated warehouse system at IKEA Giheung employs wireless-controlled robots that strategically store products. When an order is placed, these robots select the items and convey them to collection points for staff. This system reduces the physical strain on employees, allowing them to concentrate on quality control and other tasks. The products are then directed to an automated packaging system, which utilises a 3D scanner to create perfectly sized boxes, automating the cutting, taping, weighing, and labelling processes. With these technological advancements, IKEA Korea intends to significantly boost the shopping experience by enhancing operational efficiency and providing better ergonomic support for its workforce. The new system is capable of handling approximately 2,000 orders daily, increasing picking efficiency eightfold and packing 300 boxes per hour. The solutions also align with IKEA's sustainability goals by optimising energy usage and leveraging existing store infrastructure. Remarkably, just ten robots consume the same amount of power as a single vacuum cleaner. Moreover, the automated packing system uses FSC-certified cardboard to produce custom-sized boxes, reducing excess packaging and resource consumption. Ingka Group fulfilment & services global head Marcus Baumgartner said: This is a great milestone in our omnichannel journey both for IKEA South Korea and globally. By revamping our stores and embracing new technology, we are able to support our co-workers while still providing inspiration for our customers and being closer to meeting their needs. "IKEA South Korea invests in automated fulfilment technology" was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. KINGSTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Monday named Jamaican Finance Minister Nigel Clarke to a top post at the agency, after the official spearheaded fiscal reforms in the Caribbean nation. Clarke, nominated by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, is set to replace Antoinette Sayeh as one of the IMF's three deputy managing directors at the end of October. Clarke "is an exceptional public servant and policymaker," Georgieva said in a statement, adding he had "stewarded his country's economy to a stronger and more sustainable position." Clarke had been key in negotiating credit lines with the IMF, starting in 2016 as ambassador of economic affairs before being appointed finance minister two years later. During his tenure, Jamaica's central bank became an autonomous body and an independent fiscal commission was created. He also spearheaded policy coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the nation's economy to recover quickly. Last year, Moody's Ratings upgraded the government's rating to B1 and changed its outlook to "positive." In June, the island was removed from the watchdog Financial Action Task Force's so-called "gray list" of countries deemed to be doing too little to combat money laundering, one of Clarke's signature achievements as minister. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a release that he had already drawn up a shortlist of potential successors to Clarke as both finance minister and parliamentarian. (Reporting by Zahra Burton; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Aurora Ellis) We recently compiled a list of the 8 Best Wind Power and Solar Stocks to Buy. In this article, we are going to take a look at where JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) stands against the other wind power and solar stocks. It is arguably one of the best times to pursue investment opportunities around wind power and solar stocks as the United States moves to achieve 100% clean energy use by 2035 and reduce emissions by 50 to 52% by 2030. As the US advocates for various initiatives to help tackle the climate crisis and keep a 1.5 C limit on warming, the case for the best wind power and solar stocks to buy is becoming clear. The US wind power and solar capacity were more significant than ever last year as part of the countrys long growth trend for renewable energy. A total of 425,235 gigawatts hours of electricity were generated from Wind power, accounting for more than 12% of the countrys grid. Wind power has been the countrys largest renewable energy source since 2019. READ ALSO: 10 Best Chinese Stocks to Buy Right Now and 10 Best Oilfield Services Stocks to Buy Now. On the other hand, solar energy accounted for less than 4% of all the US power generation, affirming plenty of room for growth in the coming years. Likewise, solar power generation is projected to grow by 75%, from 163 billion kWh in 2023 to 286 billion kWh by 2025. Wind power is projected to increase by 11%. Nevertheless, clean energy stocks had one of the worst runs in 2023 as they posted an average annual return of -10.5%, slightly improving from an average return of -11% a year ago. The underperformance of 2022 was attributed to the high inflation levels that saw investors sentiments take a significant hit. Likewise, the underperformance of wind and solar energy stocks persisted in 2023 owing to the rising interest rates as the US Federal Reserve tried to tame runaway inflation. Given that most solar and wind companies must rely on the debt markets to raise capital, most have faced significant challenges amid the high interest rate environment. The situation was further exacerbated by supply chain problems amid difficulties obtaining renewable energy equipment like wind turbines and solar panels over the past two years. Matthew Donen, equity analyst at Morningstar, said: We see several challenges for participants in the wind energy sector. Wind turbine manufacturers have struggled to restore profitability from unprecedented cost inflation in 2021, and developers of wind projects have recorded billions in impairments due to higher equipment costs and an increase in interest rates. Story continues Fast forward, clean energy stocks are on the move as investors take note of their depressed valuations. The growing demand for wind and solar energy for use in electric vehicles, building heating, and use in industrial settings like data centers are some of the catalysts driving growth in the sector. In the aftermath of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates, the best wind power and solar stocks again started seeing increase in investor positioning. However, there are growing concerns that clean energy companies could come under pressure amid uncertainty around the US presidential election. The prospect of Republicans taking over the Whitehouse and Congress, raises the prospects of tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) being affected. Nevertheless equity analyst Donen believes it would be difficult for a Trump administration to get rid of all favorable tax policies that have bolstered sentiments around wind and solar stocks. Heres what Donen said: We think it would be difficult for Trump to roll back favorable tax policy for renewable energy enjoyed from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. A Trump administration might be able to slow implementation of the Act, but that is unlikely to slow renewable energy growth in the short-run. With the world focused more than ever on combating the effects of global warming, including a shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, tremendous opportunities are cropping up. With the COP26 targeting net zero emissions by 2050, an investment of $4 trillion would be needed by 2030. This is one of the reasons investors should start paying attention to the best wind power and solar stocks to buy now, and lets take a look at them now. Our Methodology To compile the list of the best wind power and solar stocks to buy, we scoured different solar and wind energy ETFs and picked 8 of the top companies with tremendous upside potential. Once we had consolidated the list, we ranked the stocks based on the number of hedge funds that owned it. At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). A photovoltaic solar module array with a clear blue sky overhead and a hint of green foliage in the backdrop. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 7 Stock Upside Potential: 16.52% JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) is one of the best wind power and solar stocks to acquire exposure to Chinas burgeoning clean energy landscape. It designs, develops, and sells photovoltaic products, including solar modules, silicon wafers, and solar cells. The company serves various power generation projects and energy storage systems while boasting a vast clientele list in the US, Australia, the Middle East, and China. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) offers exposure to the Chinese solar energy market, which is one of the fastest growing, thanks to support from policies and subsidies. Backed by one of the fastest-growing markets, Jincos revenues grew from $33.6 billion in 2020 to $118.7 billion in 2023. Its net profit also increased by 618% over the same period. The robust growth stems from the company leveraging its outstanding N-type technology, extensive global operation network, and advanced integrated capacity structure. The company boasts the largest overseas integrated solar capacity of 12GW, backed by an effective supply chain traceability system. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) has also sought to expand its footprint in the Middle East by forming a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to produce 10GW of solar cells and modules. The investment, expected to cost $1 billion, marks an important step in the companys globalization plan. According to the Insider Monkey database, the number of hedge funds holding stakes in JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) dropped to 7 in Q2 2024 from 10 at the end of Q1 2024. Paul Marshall And Ian Waces Marshall Wace LLP is the most significant shareholder of the company, with shares worth $9.28 million. Based on 2 Wall Street analysts, JinkoSolar is rated as a Buy with an average price target of $22.50, representing a 16.52% change from current levels. Overall JKS ranks 8th on our list of the best wind power and solar stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of JKS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than JKS, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Chinese Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE) stands against the other Chinese stocks. Nearly every major equity market is up for the year owing to improved investor sentiments. However, it is an exception for Chinese equity markets that continue to underperform while hovering near the zero-COVID lockdown valuations of three years ago. Over the past three years, about $6 trillion has been wiped off the value of Chinese stocks. The global index compiler MSCI has already announced plans to remove up to 60 Chinese stocks from its gauges as it responds to the underperformance of recent years. The cut will signify the waning need and demand for some of the countrys equities to overseas investors portfolios. Amid the cuts, the index will still keep hold of some of the best Chinese stocks to buy now. READ ALSO: 10 Best Oilfield Services Stocks to Buy Now and 7 Best Debt Free Stocks To Buy. The underperformance comes amid growing concerns about the Chinese economy, which continues to send jitters to the investment community. The Chinese economy has always outperformed the US economy, increasing by 123% between 2012 and 2022, compared to 58% for the US. Nevertheless, the Chinese economy has struggled in recent years amid a myriad of problems, including a downturn in the real estate sector, deflation, high debt levels, and a shift in ideology-driven policies that are scaring away foreign firms from the economy. While the economy grew by 5.2% last year, much higher than 2.5% for the US, it was the lowest pace of growth since 1990, with the exception of the pandemic period. While economists expected the economy to slow even further in 2024, with growth averaging 4.5%, it has started showing signs of recovery. The Chinese economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter and 4.7% in the second quarter. Nevertheless, the 4.7% growth in the second quarter, while reasonable, is far below the countrys double-digit growth rates in the past decades, which is a major point of concern in the equity markets. On the other hand, the slowdown in economic growth is not the only headwind that scares investors from the Chinese economy. Deteriorating US-China relations has always rattled investors sentiments. With the US hitting Chinese firms with trade tariffs and restricting access to some key technologies, China has also hit back with its fair share of tariffs. The tariff hike on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100% and the imposition of trade tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports underline the ever-deteriorating relations between the two economic powerhouses. Story continues Amid the deteriorating macroeconomics, Chinese stocks have started showing signs of recovering in the second half of the year. Some of the promising sectors include the fixed asset investments sector, which is driven by faster manufacturing and infrastructure investment. Additionally, industrial production and services are also on the rise while playing host to some of the best Chinese stocks to buy. In July, global hedge funds added holdings of some of the best Chinese stocks to buy now as most took advantage of their depressed valuations after steep pullbacks. Nevertheless, the hedge fund positions holdings remain near a five year low. Additionally, analysts at BCA Research believe Chinese equities could insulate fund managers from deep losses as global risk assets face fresh dangers. The firm has already upgraded Chinese onshore equities to overweight from neutral. We expect Chinese stocks to fall by less than or as much as their global and EM peers in a bear market, analysts, including chief China strategist Arthur Budaghyan, said in the report. Potential market support from Chinese state-owned funds could temper potential declines, he added. As the economic situation in China improves and sentiments in the equity market improve, now could be the best time to pay close watch to the best Chinese stocks to buy, likely to outperform heading into year-end. Our Methodology To compile the list of the 10 best Chinese stocks to buy now, we scanned through the top 50 companies listed on the US stock exchange from the iShares MSCI China ETF. Analysts believe these companies have significant upside potential. Once we had a consolidated list, we ranked the best Chinese stocks in ascending order of their upside potential, as of August 17. At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). Aerial shot of a modern real estate development with residential homes. KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE) Hedge Funds Holding Stakes: 43 Stock Upside Potential: 52.16% Headquartered in Beijing, China, KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE) operates an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services. The company operates Beike, an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services, and Lianjia, a real estate brokerage branded store. It also owns the Deyou brand for connected brokerage stores and other brands. KE Holdings (NYSE: BEKE) operates 8,000 offices in China and manages over 500,000 rental apartments. Despite a severe real estate downturn, it has increased market share in both existing and new homes markets. This success is due to its Agent Cooperation Network (ACN), which standardized transactions and promotes agent cooperation, and its trusted brand, Lianjia, known for authentic property listings. The Chinese digital and brick-and-mortar real estate marketplace reported revised earnings per share of $2.28, far exceeding the market's average forecast of $1.60 in the second quarter. Its income rose 19.9% compared to the previous year, reaching RMB23.4 billion ($3.2 billion), surpassing the market's prediction of RMB22.04 billion. KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE)'s impressive performance was fueled by an increase in its current home transaction services and the growth of its home renovation and rental divisions. The income from current home transactions saw a 14.3% year-over-year increase to RMB7.3 billion ($1.0 billion), while the income from home renovation and furnishing services jumped by 53.9% to RMB4.0 billion ($0.6 billion). While trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 16, KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE) is one of the best Chinese stocks to buy for gaining exposure in the Chinese real estate sector. Analysts hold an average price target of $22.52 on the stock, implying a 52.16% upside potential from current levels. As of the end of the second quarter, 43 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in the company. Overall BEKE ranks 6th on our list of the best Chinese stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of BEKE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BEKE, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) On the day a federal district court judge in Portland will consider both sides and decide whether to grant the Federal Trade Commissions request for a preliminary injunction to stop the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons. The FTC argues that a merger that leaves fewer grocery companies would lead to higher prices, but attorneys for Kroger and Albertsons told the judge their prices would drop allowing them to compete better with megastores Costco, Walmart and Amazon. Kroger and Albertsons hope to merge but must face a skeptical US government in court first The United Food and Commercial Workers union from locals in Colorado, Wyoming, California, Idaho and Oregon is part of the Stop the Merger Coalition, which opposes the deal on grounds it will lead to store closures, areas without enough food and pharmacy outlets, laid-off workers and higher prices. The Federal Trade Commission also opposes the merger, joined in their efforts by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Oregon and the District of Columbia. Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smiths and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaws. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people. The hearing in Portland is expected to last until September 13. 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. Medical Properties Trust Shaves Its Dividend By 47%: What Investors Need To Know Now Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Investors searching for high yields may have had Medical Properties Trust, also known as MPT (NYSE:MPW), on their watchlists. That may have shifted after the company announced a major chop to its quarterly dividend, cutting it from $0.15 to $0.08, a cut of 47%. The dividend was $0.29 at the start of 2023, representing a 73% drop. A dividend drop is often a negative signal that a company is having trouble satisfying its obligations and that its income is falling. The market reacted to the news by sending the stock price down. Those holding the stock will want to know if leadership can get things back on track. Trending Now: A billion-dollar investment strategy with minimums as low as $10 you can become part of the next big real estate boom today . This is a paid advertisement. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fundrise Flagship Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's prospectus. Read them carefully before investing. This billion-dollar fund has invested in the next big real estate boom, here's how you can join for $10. This is a paid advertisement. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fundrise Flagship Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's prospectus. Read them carefully before investing. MPT is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and develops net-leased hospital facilities. Despite recent sales, it is still one of the largest hospital owners with 435 facilities as of June 30, 2024. Those recent sales might be one reason to stick with the company. It is freeing up as much capital as possible to satisfy debt. Big Sales To Pay Off Debt Earlier this month, it sold 11 free-standing emergency department, primary care, imaging and urgent care facilities in Colorado to University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) for $86 million. Construction of the eleven facilities was funded by MPT for Adeptus Health between 2015 and 2017 for $64 million. Adeptus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017, and UChealth has leased the facilities from MPT ever since. In July, it sold the 50-bed Arizona General Hospital in Mesa, AZ, and seven free-standing emergency department facilities in the Phoenix metropolitan area to Dignity Health for $160 million. The sale price and current cash rents imply a capitalization rate of less than 7.5%. MPT also funded these facilities for Adeptus Health at an initial cost of $92 million. Dignity Health rented the facilities after Adeptus declared bankruptcy. Story continues April brought more significant transactions. MPT sold its interests in five Utah hospitals for $1.1 billion in immediate cash proceeds. During April, it also completed a previously announced sale of five facilities in California and New Jersey to Prime Healthcare for $350 million, $250 million in cash and a $100 million interest-bearing mortgage note due to MPT in nine months. Together, these transactions have brought a lot of cash into MPT, but that hasn't been enough to boost the market's confidence in the company. Short interest is over 50%, and the stock price has fallen by over 75% in the last five years. The stock is still a consensus Hold but has had two downgrades within several months. Read Now: When todays AI startups go public, most of the rapid growth will be behind them heres how not to get left out . This is a paid advertisement. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fundrise Innovation Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's prospectus. Read them carefully before investing. Commercial real estate has historically outperformed the stock market. This platform allows accredited investors to invest in commercial real estate, invest today for a 1% boost. Even more telling is that in May, S&P Global lowered its issuer credit rating on Medical Properties Trust to B from B+. The company cited MPTs struggling tenants, looming debt maturities and limited access to capital as reasons for the shift. It also lowered the issue-level rating on MPTs senior unsecured notes to B from BB. In December, Moody downgraded MPTs Corporate Family Rating to Ba2 from Ba1, citing similar concerns. A company in trouble can sometimes be an attractive investment, and MPT is taking steps to right the ship even as it deals with the fallout from the bankruptcy of one of its major tenants, Steward Healthcare. At this point, it will take a lot of effort and possibly more sales for MPT to get to a place where it can raise its dividend. Those looking for a return to higher yields will have a long wait ahead. On the second-quarter earnings call, CEO Edward Aldag told analysts that the company has generated $2.5 billion in total liquidity and repaid all debt scheduled to mature in 2024. We remain focused on accelerating debt paydown and have several available levers to create additional liquidity, comfortably satisfying our expected maturities in 2025 and beyond, said Aldag. Better Yields Than Some REITs? The current high-interest-rate environment has created an incredible opportunity for income-seeking investors to earn massive yields, but not through REITs. Arrived Homes, the Jeff Bezos-backed investment platform has launched its Private Credit Fund, which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with a target 7% to 9% net annual yield paid to investors monthly. It paid 8.1% in July. The best part? Unlike other private credit funds, this one has a minimum investment of only $100. As long-term rates go down and short-term rates stay high, theres a unique chance to invest in fix & flip loans before yields drop. Check out Benzinga's favorite high-yield offerings. This article Medical Properties Trust Shaves Its Dividend By 47%: What Investors Need To Know Now originally appeared on Benzinga.com Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (KLSE:PCHEM) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's shares on or after the 30th of August, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 12th of September. The company's next dividend payment will be RM00.10 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed RM0.10 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad has a trailing yield of 1.8% on the current share price of RM05.71. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing. View our latest analysis for PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad paid out 61% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Dividends consumed 59% of the company's free cash flow last year, which is within a normal range for most dividend-paying organisations. It's positive to see that PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're discomforted by PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's 16% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks. Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad has seen its dividend decline 6.7% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see. It's never nice to see earnings and dividends falling, but at least management has cut the dividend rather than potentially risk the company's health in an attempt to maintain it. Final Takeaway Has PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? While earnings per share are shrinking, it's encouraging to see that at least PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's dividend appears sustainable, with earnings and cashflow payout ratios that are within reasonable bounds. It's not the most attractive proposition from a dividend perspective, and we'd probably give this one a miss for now. With that in mind though, if the poor dividend characteristics of PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad don't faze you, it's worth being mindful of the risks involved with this business. Our analysis shows 1 warning sign for PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and you should be aware of it before buying any shares. Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Norfolk Southern C44-9W No. 9936 couples on to the first string of train 255s RoadRailers on track 15 in the Triple Crown terminal in Oakwood Yard in Melvindale, Mich., on Aug. 25, 2024. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) This story originally aired on Trains.com. MELVINDALE, Mich. Norfolk Southern hotshot 255 has a 2:20 a.m. date with destiny. Its the last departure ever of a Triple Crown RoadRailer train. In the Detroit terminal at Oakwood Yard, crews have 95 of the bimodal trailers staged on three tracks, ready to be assembled for the 715-mile run to Kansas City, Missouri. At half past midnight on this warm Sunday, however, its looking like destiny may have to wait. Things started off well enough. On terminal Track 18, the last trailer is mounted and pinned onto its bogie at 11:40 p.m., an occasion that prompts fist bumps and handshakes among the terminal crew. Fifteen minutes later, nearly 24-year-old NS C44-9W No. 9936 couples onto the lead cut of 33 trailers on Track 15. At 12:31 a.m., the old warhorse pulls forward to double the train over to Track 17. Crews position the final trailer added to the last RoadRailer train. The trailer will be mounted and pinned to its bogie on Track 18. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) But theres a problem on the shove move and the 255 comes to a stop. The loud hiss coming from beneath TCSZ No. 468883 is a telltale sign of an air leak. The terminal crew swarms the trailer, inspects the line and tightens a connection with a wrench but to no avail. Its still leaking. They swap out the offending section of rubber hose. Nope, that doesnt work either. Inspecting a problem brake line are, from left, Road & Rail Services crew members Saemos Hancock, Dave Greene and Manuel Torres. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) No one wants a late departure. Not for the RoadRailer finale. And certainly not for the loads in those 95 trailers, which are scheduled to arrive at the Kansas City terminal at 2:45 a.m. Monday. Among them: auto parts bound for the Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant that builds F-150s and Transit Connect vans. In nearly 39 years of building RoadRailer trains, the Road & Rail Services terminal crew has seen this before. They scramble off in their orange Kubota utility vehicle and return with the prize: a bypass hose. In the span of six minutes, its unspooled, zip-tied to the bottom of the trailer and snugly connected to air lines at either end of TCSZ No. 468883. The air flows again, pressure holds and the train is deemed good to go at 1:05 a.m. Norfolk Southern conductor N.A. Noftsger lines the switch to Track 18. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) Engineer P.G. Green pulls the 255 into the clear and waits for conductor N.A. Noftsger to line the switch to Track 18, where the last cut of 26 RoadRailers awaits. The hitch is made at 1:27 a.m., bringing the 255 to 5,176 feet and 2,817 tons. The brake test is a success. And the 255 inches forward at 1:49 a.m., with its official departure time recorded as 1:50 p.m. precisely 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Current and former terminal employees quietly watch 255 ease out of the yard, with some using their phones to record the event for posterity. Mike Theisen, Triple Crowns director of terminal operations in Detroit, takes a video as Norfolk Southern train 255 departs for the last time. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) Mike Theisen, Triple Crowns director of terminal operations in Detroit, joined the company in 1992 and says the final RoadRailer departure was a bittersweet event. But the newest piece of RoadRailer equipment dates to 2010, and he says the air hose drama is an example of why the equipment needs to be retired. Story continues The age of the equipment and its increasing maintenance needs prompted NS to pull the pin on RoadRailer before service reliability became an issue. As if to prove this point, the final 255 encountered brake issues en route at Bluffs, Illinois. The train arrived in Kansas City four hours, 19 minutes behind schedule. This week, and just in time, Norfolk Southern debuts new Triple Crown domestic container service to handle the freight previously carried in RoadRailers. The Eastern terminal shifts to Toledo, Ohio. Trains 255 and 256 will operate on the same schedules but using conventional intermodal well cars and Triple Crown boxes double-stack service. For a few days or weeks, some Triple Crown RoadRailer trailers may ride along TOFC-style. Retaining the RoadRailer freight is a turnabout. In 2015, NS decided not to update the RoadRailer fleet. The Triple Crown network was pruned from 13 terminals to just the two serving the Detroit-Kansas City lane. And nearly all of the RoadRailer freight in the closed lanes went back to the highway. Now a growth-minded NS will not only hang on to the RoadRailer business it aims to use Triple Crown to attract door-to-door auto parts business in other lanes. With great appreciation for the historical role that RoadRailers played in expanding our network, Norfolk Southern is planning to retire the equipment and launch a new service product with more utility that will enable growth for our railroad and our customers, spokeswoman Katie Byrd says. We will shift Triple Crown business into its TCZU 53-foot container fleet, unlock capacity on existing trains and pave the way to expand Crown services across North America. Norfolk Southerns final RoadRailer, train 255, rolls through CP Arnold, just east of Jacksonville, Illinois, on Sunday. (Photo: Steve Smedley/Trains.com) Norfolk Southerns final RoadRailer, train 255, rolls through CP Arnold, just east of Jacksonville, Illinois, on Sunday. (Photo: Steve Smedley)The Road & Rail Services terminal crew poses with the final RoadRailer trailer added to the final Norfolk Southern train 255. From left are Curtis Ellis, Donovan Hancock, Greg Reynolds, Saemos Hancock, Mike Williams, Austin St. Pierre, Ismail Siddique, Dave Greene and Triple Crowns Mike Theisen. (Photo: Bill Stephens/Trains.com) The post Norfolk Southerns RoadRailer trains ride off into history appeared first on FreightWaves. By Alimat Aliyeva Indonesian and United States military personnel have launched the annual Super Garuda Shield military exercises, during which the focus will be on developing cybersecurity skills, Azernews reports. According to the publication, the exercises started at the naval base in Surabaya in the eastern part of the island of Java. Military personnel from nine other countries, including Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and France, are taking part in them, and 12 countries have joined them as observers. The newspaper quotes a statement by a representative of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, according to which the purpose of the maneuvers is to "work out concepts for ensuring cybersecurity in offensive and defensive operations." As Nikkei Asia notes, the idea of holding such exercises is due to the growth of cyber threats in the region. So, in June of this year, a cyberattack on a government data center affected the work of 44 Indonesian institutions, including the Ministry of Immigration Supervision. The maneuvers will last until September 6. By Arsheeya Bajwa (Reuters) - Nvidia is likely to report on Wednesday that its second-quarter revenue more than doubled. But investors used to its blockbuster results will be expecting even more from the artificial intelligence chip giant. A beat or a miss on Wall Street expectations could either stoke or shatter an AI rally on Thursday, a day after Nvidia reports earnings for the May-July period. The company's stock has surged more than 150% this year, adding $1.82 trillion to its market value and lifting the S&P 500 to new highs. On Monday, it was down 2.2% in afternoon trading, weighing on the index. The stock is valued at about 37 times its forward earnings, compared with an average of around 29 for the top six tech companies on the benchmark index that includes the chipmaker. Tech heavyweights, including Microsoft, which are spending heavily to build out their AI infrastructure, have been buying Nvidia's powerful graphic processing units that allow large amounts of computing quickly. These chips are difficult to replace in present-day datacenters, which has sharply boosted Nvidia's fortunes. Nvidia is expected to have recorded a year-over-year jump of about 112% in second-quarter revenue to $28.68 billion, according to LSEG data as of Aug. 23. But its adjusted gross margin likely dropped more than 3 percentage points to 75.8% from the first quarter, burdened by the cost of a production ramp-up to meet growing demand. "They're not only a benchmark for chips, but they're also a benchmark for AI as a whole," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, which owns shares in big U.S. tech firms, including Nvidia. "If Nvidia misses, (investors are) going to sell off every company in AI." Some investors are concerned about the company's ability to meet lofty expectations and have questioned the pace of spending on AI by Nvidia's largest customers. These worries led to a 20% slump in Nvidia's stock through much of July and early August, though a recent recovery has left the stock just about 5% below its record high in June. There may be more trouble brewing around potential production delays of Nvidia's next generation Blackwell AI chips. CEO Jensen Huang said in May the chips would ship in the second quarter, but analysts have flagged design hurdles that could push the timeline. This means revenue growth might take a hit in the first half of next year, research group SemiAnalysis said. Margins could also get squeezed if Nvidia's chip contractor TSMC raises fees, a possibility that the Taiwanese firm hinted at recently. Story continues Nvidia is likely to forecast a 75% surge in third-quarter revenue to $31.69 billion, LSEG data showed, ending its five-quarter run of triple-digit growth and reflecting tough comparisons from a year ago when it surged about 206% to $18.12 billion. For the past three quarters, Nvidia's growth exceeded 200%. "We're reaching the law of large numbers here, once a company gets to a certain size, it just physically can't keep up the same growth," said Michael Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital. Some analysts said Nvidia could offset much of the hit from the delay in Blackwell chips by substituting those orders with its prior generation Hopper chips. The Hopper family of processors is not as powerful or lucrative as Blackwell, but it is sufficient for most AI-related applications. Investors will also seek updates on AI processors for the China market, where sales of its most advanced chips are barred by the U.S. government. Nvidia's China-focused processors, reportedly called H20 and less powerful than its best chips, could help the company gain business over the next few quarters in a major market where domestic champion Huawei has emerged as a competitor. There are also mounting antitrust concerns about the company's practices. US regulators are probing whether Nvidia pressured cloud providers to buy multiple products, and if it is trying to bundle its networking equipment with their sought-after AI chips. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh) Shares of AI juggernaut Nvidia (NVDA) sank more than 1% in early trading on Thursday, despite posting better than anticipated second quarter earnings Wednesday. The company also said it expects Q3 revenue ahead of guidance. Nvidia reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.68 on revenue of $30 billion in its fiscal second quarter. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.64 and revenue of $28.8 billion. That marks a 122% increase on the top line from a year ago; earnings rose 168% from the same quarter last year. The company also provided third quarter revenue guidance of $32.5 billion plus or minus 2%. Analysts were looking for $31.9 billion. The stock fell as much as 6% in immediate reaction to the numbers. The bulk of that revenue came from Nvidias all-important data center business, which brought in $26.3 billion in the quarter versus Wall Street's expectations of $25 billion in revenue. That's a 154% increase from the same period last year when the segment brought in $10.3 billion. In a statement, CEO Jensen Huang said anticipation for the company's next-generation Blackwell chip is "incredible." CFO Colette Kress said in a statement, "Blackwell production ramp is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and continue into fiscal 2026. In the fourth quarter, we expect to ship several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue." Kress's statement added that the company "executed a change to the Blackwell GPU mask to improve production yield." The company expects shipments of its current Hopper chips to "increase" in the second half of the year. Nvidia also announced Wednesday a $50 billion increase in its share buyback authorization. The company had $7.5 billion remaining on its existing authorization at the end of the quarter. Nvidia's gaming division, which used to stand as the company's breadwinner, saw revenue of $2.8 billion, up 16% year over year. Nvidia is the world leader in AI chip design and software, controlling between 80% and 95% of the market, according to Reuters. The company has also been key to the current AI trade on Wall Street, with almost half of its revenue tied directly to tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta. Nvidias rivals arent resting on their laurels. Earlier this month, AMD announced it is acquiring ZT Systems in a deal valued at $4.9 billion. The move gives AMD more firepower to build out AI system servers, something thats been a major catalyst for Nvidias own sales. And while it could provide AMD with a boost in sales, it doesnt mean Nvidia will face any major threats to its reign as the AI king anytime soon. Story continues "There are emerging competitors like AMD that are starting to take a little bit of market share," Stifel managing director Ruben Roy told Yahoo Finance Monday. "But when you look at the overall infrastructure spend cycle which we think is going to continue to increase, Nvidia appears to us as the best positioned to benefit from [spending]." Subscribe to the Yahoo Finance Tech newsletter. (Yahoo Finance) Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. For the latest earnings reports and analysis, earnings whispers and expectations, and company earnings news, click here Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance. We recently compiled a list of the Warren Buffett Dividend Stocks by Sectors and Industries. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) stands against the other Warren Buffet-approved dividend stocks. Warren Buffett is a well-known figure in the investment community, and his reputation requires no introduction. He is one of those rare investors whose strategies are closely emulated by countless newcomers to the field. This widespread admiration stems from the fact that Buffett operates in a class of his own. He remains committed to the investment principles he has relied on throughout his career, particularly value investing. The Oracle of Omahas lack of enthusiasm for the current AI trend highlights his steadfast dedication to the strategies that have guided his investment approach for decades. At the Berkshire annual shareholder meeting in May, Buffett was asked about AI's potential impact on traditional industries. He responded by acknowledging that he was not knowledgeable about the technology but emphasized that this lack of understanding did not imply he dismissed its existence, importance, or significance in any way. That said, Buffett is also enthusiastic about several other strategies beyond value investing. Also read: Warren Buffett Disciple Guy Spiers 10 High Conviction Stock Picks Dividend stocks have been a staple in Berkshire's portfolio for a long time, with nearly 93% of the holdings focused on them. The media has often highlighted Buffett's affinity for dividend stocks, particularly because Berkshire Hathaway, his own company, does not pay a dividend. His approach has proven successful, as the investment portfolio managed by Buffett and his team is projected to generate around $6 billion in annual dividend income. Remarkably, $4.36 billion of that income from common and preferred stock dividends comes from just five companies. Buffetts approach to dividend investing isnt driven by chasing the highest yield. Instead, he prioritizes identifying outstanding companies that can maintain and grow their dividends over the long term. He prefers a moderate yield from a stable, successful company over a higher yield from a less reliable and weaker one. If Warren Buffett has a preference for dividends, its clear hes on the right track, given how significantly these stocks have contributed to overall market returns. His love for dividend stocks reflects the significant role these equities have played in contributing to the market's overall returns over the years. Between 1993 and the end of 2022, the S&P 500 grew by 777%. However, when dividends were factored in, the S&P 500 saw an increase of over 1,400% during the same period. This indicates that dividends accounted for more than 20% of the markets total return during those years. Buffett carefully monitors the sectors and industries he invests in, which is a core aspect of his investment strategy. By the end of Q2 2024, the finance sector was the largest portion of his portfolio, followed closely by technology, with substantial investments also in basic materials and consumer goods. This article will explore some of the best Warren Buffett dividend stock selections across these different sectors and industries. Our Methodology: For this article, we analyzed Berkshire Hathaway's 13F portfolio as of the second quarter of 2024 and picked dividend stocks from the portfolio. We mentioned the sectors and industries these stocks belong to and ranked them in ascending order of the hedge fund's stake in them during Q2 2024. We also measured hedge fund sentiment around each stock according to Insider Monkeys database of 912 funds as of Q2 2024. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). Oil derricks in the background with a few workers in the foreground, emphasizing the companys oil and gas production activities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) Berkshire Hathaways Stake Value: $16,090,394,458 Sector: Energy Industry: Oil & Gas E&P Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is an American energy company that is engaged in the exploration of hydrocarbon and is also involved in the manufacturing of petrochemicals. In contrast to Chevron, OXY is primarily focused on domestic operations, with 80% of its production projected to come from the US in 2022. The strength of the company's operational performance led to strong financial results for the second quarter of 2024. The company is enthusiastic about maintaining this positive momentum through its extensive and varied asset portfolio, now enhanced by the addition of CrownRock. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is optimistic about its recent acquisition. The company has set a goal to reduce its debt principal by at least $4.5 billion within a year of completing the CrownRock acquisition. To achieve this, the company plans to use a mix of excess free cash flow and funds from asset sales. Occidental anticipates that CrownRock will increase its free cash flow by $1 billion per year at an oil price of $70 (with current crude oil prices around $75) and aims to sell between $4.5 billion and $6 billion in assets in the future. In the second quarter of 2024, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) reported an operating cash flow of $2.4 billion and its free cash flow before working capital amounted to $1.3 billion. The company currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share for a dividend yield of 1.57%, as of August 21. It is among the best Warren Buffett dividend stocks on our list. Warren Buffett initially invested in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in 2019, during the company's search for financing to acquire Anadarko Petroleum. Since then, Berkshire has significantly increased its stake in OXY, leading some to speculate that Buffett might aim to acquire the entire company. During the second quarter of 2024, the hedge fund increased its stake in the company by 3% and now owns over 255 million OXY shares, worth over $16 billion. The company constituted 5.74% of the firm's 13F portfolio. At the end of the second quarter of 2024, 62 hedge funds held stakes in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY), up from 61 in the previous quarter. These stakes are collectively valued at over $18.5 billion. Overall OXY ranks 6th on our list of the best dividend stocks to buy according to Warren Buffett. While we acknowledge the potential of OXY as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than OXY but that trades at less than 7 times its earnings and yields nearly 10%, check out our report about the dirt cheap dividend stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. By Anna Tong SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - ChatGPT developer OpenAI is supporting a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content, which can range from harmless memes to deepfakes aimed at spreading misinformation about political candidates. The bill, called AB 3211, has so far been overshadowed by attention on another California state artificial intelligence (AI) bill, SB 1047, which mandates that AI developers conduct safety testing on some of their own models. That bill has faced a backlash from the tech industry, including OpenAI, which has Microsoft as a backer. California state lawmakers attempted to introduce 65 bills touching on AI this legislative season, according to the states legislative database, including measures to ensure all algorithmic decisions are proven unbiased and protect the intellectual property of deceased individuals from exploitation by AI companies. Many of the bills are already dead. San Francisco-based OpenAI believes that for AI-generated content, transparency and requirements around provenance such as watermarking are important, especially in an election year, according to a letter sent to California State Assembly member Buffy Wicks, who authored the bill. With countries representing a third of the world's population having polls this year, experts are concerned about the role AI-generated content will play, and it has already been prominent in some elections, such as in Indonesia. "New technology and standards can help people understand the origin of content they find online, and avoid confusion between human-generated and photorealistic AI-generated content," OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. AB 3211 has already passed the state Assembly by a 62-0 vote. Earlier this month it passed the senate appropriations committee, setting it up for a vote by the full state Senate. If it passes by the end of the legislative session on Aug. 31, it would advance to Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto by Sept. 30. (Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) (Bloomberg) -- Paytm shares fell Monday on news that Indias markets watchdog has sent its founder notices over alleged misrepresentation, a move the fintech pioneer said was not a new development. Most Read from Bloomberg The stock dropped as much as 8.9%, the most since February, after Moneycontrol reported that the Securities and Exchange Board of India issued a so-called show cause notice to founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and some board members who served when the company was going public. The regulator was looking into whether Paytm classified Sharma as an employee rather than founder during the initial public offer 2 1/2 years ago, making him eligible for stock options, Moneycontrol said, citing people it didnt identify. Paytm previously disclosed that it granted 21 million employee stock options to Chief Executive Officer Sharma during the year ended March 31, 2022, during which the IPO took place. In the quarter to March 2024, the fintech received a show cause notice from SEBI related to Sharmas ESOPs and their compliance with regulations. Paytm has already made relevant disclosures on this matter in its financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2024, as well as the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the company said in a public disclosure after market hours. It is in regular touch with the SEBI, and is making representations in the matter, the filing said. Representatives of Sebi didnt respond to requests for comment. Any new regulatory scrutiny will add to Paytms headaches as the company is still coping with actions taken by the Reserve Bank of India earlier this year. The stock has plunged about 30% since an RBI order hit its banking affiliate, and charismatic founder Sharma has been working to rebuild the business around digital payments and distribution of financial services like loans and cashbacks. Last week, Paytm agreed to sell its movie and events ticketing business to Zomato Ltd. for $244 million in cash to focus on its core businesses. Sharma pioneered fintech in India with Paytm mobile wallets, and then QR codes. His company, once Indias most valuable startup, won the backing of some of the words biggest business executives including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma, SoftBank Group Corp. boss Masayoshi Son and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett. A disastrous capital markets debut in 2021 was perhaps Sharmas first public speed bump, one from which Paytm is yet to recover the stock is still down about 75% from its listing price. Story continues Paytm competes with Walmart Inc.s PhonePe, Alphabet Inc.s Google and billionaire Mukesh Ambanis Jio Financial Services Ltd. in Indias crowded digital payments space. Paytm stock recovered some losses to close 4.4% lower in Mumbai. --With assistance from Chiranjivi Chakraborty and Devidutta Tripathy. (Updates with Paytms response in fourth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Peter Thiel tells Joe Rogan why California is 'kind of like Saudi Arabia' and hasnt self-destructed despite wokeism' Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan has been vocal about his discontent with California he left the Golden State for Texas after just one visit in 2020. However, in a recent episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan discovered something surprising about his former home state during a conversation with billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Don't miss Commercial real estate has beaten the stock market for 25 years but only the super rich could buy in. Here's how even ordinary investors can become the landlord of Walmart, Whole Foods or Kroger Car insurance premiums in America are through the roof and only getting worse. But 5 minutes could have you paying as little as $29/month These 5 magic money moves will boost you up America's net worth ladder in 2024 and you can complete each step within minutes. Here's how Rogan noted that California has raised its top income tax rate to 14.4% and observed that people are leaving. Thiel, who has lived in California since 1977, brushed off this issue. The crazy thing about California is there's always sort of a right-wing or libertarian critique of California that it's such a ridiculous place, it should just collapse under its own ridiculousness and it doesn't quite happen, Thiel said. The macroeconomics of it are pretty good, you know, 40 million people, the GDP is around $4 trillion. It's about the same as Germany with 80 million, or Japan with 125 million. Japan has three times the population of California same GDP means one third the per capita GDP. Massive economy California indeed boasts a massive economy. Its not only the largest in the U.S. by GDP but also ranks among the largest in the world. California is the fifth largest economy in the world for the seventh consecutive year, with a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023 and a growth rate of 6.1% since the year prior, Governor Gavin Newsoms office announced earlier this year, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Newsom commented that his state continues to punch above its weight, overperforming all but a handful of the largest countries in the world. While Thiel commended the overall macroeconomic strength of his home state, he acknowledged that not everyone shares in its prosperity. There's some level on which California as a whole is working, even though it doesn't work from a governance point of view, doesn't work for a lot of the people who live there, he stated. Critics have noted that the state still grapples with significant challenges, such as stubbornly high unemployment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California had an unemployment rate of 5.2% in July 2024 tied for the third highest in the U.S. Story continues Compounding the issue is the states high cost of living. Housing prices, in particular, have skyrocketed, making affordability a critical concern for many Californians. According to data from real estate brokerage Redfin, the median sales price of homes in California escalated to $838,200 in July 2024, marking a 6.9% increase from the previous year. This figure starkly contrasts with the national median home sale price of $439,455, underscoring the affordability crisis many Californians face. Read more: Car insurance rates have spiked in the US to a stunning $2,150/year but you can be smarter than that. Here's how you can save yourself as much as $820 annually in minutes (it's 100% free) Cali vs Saudi While Thiel has compared California's economy, GDP-wise, to powerhouses like Germany and Japan, his most striking comparison involves a different country altogether. The rough model I have for how to think of California is that it's kind of like Saudi Arabia, she said. And you have a crazy religion: wokeism in California, Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. You know, not that many people believe it, but it distorts everything. Thiel went on to explain why both California and Saudi Arabia continue to thrive despite their respective criticisms. You have, like, oil fields in Saudi Arabia, and you have the big tech companies in California, and the oil pays for everything. And then you have a completely bloated, inefficient government sector. And you have all sorts of distortions in the real estate market, where people also make lots of money the government and real estate are ways you redistribute the oil wealth, or the big tech money in California. It's not the way you might want to design a system from scratch, but it's, it's pretty stable, he elaborated. California's vibrant tech sector is something Thiel knows well. He co-founded PayPal, was the first outside investor in Facebook, and provided early funding for LinkedIn, Yelp, and numerous other tech startups. Thiel emphasized that some of the biggest players in the tech world are headquartered in the Golden State. I think it's something like four of the eight or nine companies with market capitalizations over a trillion dollars are based in California. So its Google, Apple, now Nvidia, Meta, he noted. Indeed, California is home to these tech giants. Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL), headquartered in Mountain View, boasts a market cap of $2.05 trillion. Cupertino-based Apple (AAPL) commands a staggering $3.44 trillion. Santa Clara-based Nvidia has seen a massive rally thanks to the AI boom, boosting its market cap to $3.14 trillion. Meanwhile, Meta, the company that significantly contributed to Thiels wealth, is headquartered in Menlo Park with a market cap of $1.34 trillion. Thiel observed that people have been predicting Saudi Arabia's collapse for "40 or 50 years," but with its vast oil reserves, the country can "pay for a lot of ridiculousness." He argues that this is a similar situation in California: There are things about it that are ridiculous, but theres something about it that, you know, it doesnt naturally self-destruct overnight. What to read next Unlock access to 4,700+ hand-picked, single-family homes across America and the juicy rental cash they can generate. Here's how to start with as little as $10 You didnt want to risk it: 80-year-old woman from South Carolina is looking for the safest place for her familys $250,000 savings. Here's Dave Ramsey's response Rich young Americans have lost confidence in the stock market and are betting on these assets instead. Get in now for strong long-term tailwinds This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. A post-DNC bump has yet to be priced into the betting market in the presidential race as Vice President Kamala Harris is either a narrow favorite or in a tie with former President Donald Trump at the betting windows. The gap between the candidates at bookmakers is variable as offshore bookmakers Bovada and BetOnline have Harris as a clear but narrow favorite while U.K. bookmakers Bet365 and Betfair have the odds at a tie. The equivalent of over $5.125 million was wagered at U.K. bookmaker Betfair Exchange during the week of the DNC. The action, which U.S. bookmakers cannot take part in legally, moved definitively toward the vice president during the Harris-Walz ticket's honeymoon but has cooled in recent weeks. Keeping up with Election 2024? Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter. Presidential election odds timeline Presidential election odds as of August 26 Betfair Exchange Kamala Harris : +102 Donald Trump: +105 Bet 365 Kamala Harris : -110 Donald Trump: -110 via Covers.com Bovada Kamala Harris : -115 Donald Trump: -105 BetOnline Kamala Harris : -120 Donald Trump: EVEN Oddschecker Kamala Harris : +102 Donald Trump: +106 How accurate have election odds been in past presidential elections? The betting favorite has only lost twice since 1866, according to the Conversation, a nonprofit news organization. Harris held the narrowest lead over Trump of any recent Democratic nominee at the 75-day mark, sitting at -102 at U.K. bookmaker Betfair Exchange. By contrast Hillary Clinton's odds stood at -323, but Clinton went on to lose the election in one of the two times the betting underdog won on election night. The other upset came in 1948, when Harry Truman (D) beat eight-to-one odds to defeat Thomas Dewey (R). Bettors did not put their money on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz when the market opened for Harris' vice-presidential pick. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly were the punter's favorite through most of the veep-stakes, with Walz shooting up the odds boards in the final days. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post-DNC presidential election odds: Harris, Trump tied Ramsey Show Hosts To Caller: Financing An $8,000 Watch Will Lead To Bigger Money Mistakes In a recent episode of The Ramsey Show, hosts George Kamel and Jade Warshaw responded to a caller named Jacob from Detroit, Michigan, who was considering financing an $8,900 Rolex watch. Jacob, a 20-year-old full-time worker, was looking to make his dream of owning a luxury watch a reality, but the advice he received was a stark reminder of the potential financial pitfalls of such a decision. Don't Miss: Jacob explained his situation: "I'm employed, working full-time and overtime. I'm single, so I'm debating on doing it." He mentioned that he already has a car payment and rent to manage, which raised immediate concerns from the hosts. Kamel quickly honed in on the issue. "You have a car payment? So, you want to add another payment. That's going to help you win financially?" Jacob admitted that financing the watch might help him build his credit, but the hosts quickly challenged this idea. See Also: The number of 401(k)' Millionaires is up 43% from last year Here are three ways to join the club. Warshaw shared a cautionary tale about a previous caller overwhelmed by debt after seemingly small purchases snowballed into over $100,000 of financial obligations. She warned Jacob, "What you're about to embark on feels like the beginning of that same series of events." The message was clear: financing luxury items like a Rolex, especially at a young age and with existing debt, could lead to bigger financial mistakes. The conversation then turned to the motivations behind Jacob's desire for the watch. Kamel asked what caused Jacob to feel like he needed a watch he couldn't afford. "Was it friends, Instagram, or are you just into watches?" Jacob responded that he was a watch enthusiast, but Kamel wasn't convinced this was a wise financial move. Trending: Founder of Personal Capital and ex-CEO of PayPal re-engineers traditional banking with this new high-yield account start saving better today "You are not in a place financially to buy this watch," Kamel stated plainly. He encouraged Jacob to prioritize financial goals like paying off debt and saving for a home rather than indulging in luxury items. "Even if you had the money, I would tell you not to do this because you have other debt. I assume you have financial goals in life. Do you want to own a home one day?" Story continues After learning that Jacob makes about $40,000 a year, Warshaw did some quick math and helped him understand that the watch would cost him 25% of his annual income when factoring in taxes an expense that she pointed out doesn't make sense given his current financial situation. She urged Jacob to reconsider his priorities, stating, "You're just getting started. The truth is, like George said, you don't make enough to buy this watch. You really don't." Trending: This Jeff Bezos-backed startup will allow you to become a landlord in just 10 minutes, and you only need $100. The conversation emphasized a key principle of financial success: living within your means. Kamel shared his experience of wanting nice things when he was young, only to realize that financing those desires can lead to a life burdened by debt. "Do you want to look wealthy or do you want to be wealthy?" he asked Jacob, stressing that the latter should be the ultimate goal. The luxury goods market is thriving in the U.S. In 2023, the market was estimated at $253.7 billion, expected to increase to $369.8 billion by 2030. Jacob isn't the only person contemplating financing a luxury item. The average American credit card debt in Q3 of 2023 was $6,501. What's more, the total average debt for Americans strongly correlates with their credit scores. The higher the credit score, the higher the debt highlighting Jacob's desire to build credit, but will it help him in the long run? The take-away from this episode is clear: financing luxury items, especially when you're young and still establishing your financial foundation, can lead to bigger money mistakes. For those considering similar decisions, thinking long-term and prioritizing financial stability over short-term desires is essential. Read Next: Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Heres how you can earn passive income with just $100. Can you guess how many Americans successfully retire with $1,000,000 saved? The percentage may shock you. "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Ramsey Show Hosts To Caller: Financing An $8,000 Watch Will Lead To Bigger Money Mistakes originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Pavel Durov is a lot of things to a lot of people. Programming prodigy. Billionaire entrepreneur. Kremlin stooge. Free-speech fighter. Biological father to at least 100 kids. Durov, the elusive founder of Telegram who was detained in France over the weekend, cuts the figure of a mysterious, globe-trotting tech bro with Mark Zuckerbergs prodigiousness, Jack Dorseys bizarre lifestyle habits and Elon Musks libertarian streak plus a similar obsession with pronatalism and fathering children. Durov said in July that he had fathered more than 100 children thanks to sperm donations he had made over the past 15 years. Worth an estimated $9.15 billion according to Bloomberg and armed with an array of passports and residences, Durov has for a decade lived a life without borders, a man on an often-shirtless journey to secure the freedom of communication from the prying eyes of governments, democratically elected or otherwise. Now, Durovs legal trouble is drudging up an old debate, pitting Telegrams end-to-end encryption, which keeps communications between users secure even from the companys employees, against the security concerns of various governments and the European Unions campaign to rein in big tech. A pair of prodigies Durov was born in 1984 in the Soviet Union but moved to Italy when he was a 4-year-old, the tech entrepreneur told right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson in a rare interview earlier this year. The family moved back to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, after Durovs father received an offer to work at St. Petersburg State University. Durov said he and his older brother, Nikolai, were math prodigies from an early age. The elder Durov was the bigger star when the duo were children. Durov said his brother went on Italian TV to solve cubic equations in real time as a child and won repeated gold medals at the International Math Olympiad. The younger Durov was the best student at his school and competed locally. We were both very passionate about coding and designing stuff, Durov said. He said that when the family returned to Russia, they brought back from Italy an IBM PC XT computer, meaning they were in the early 90s, one of the few families in Russia who could actually teach ourselves how to program. Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in 2016. - Albert Gea/Reuters Russias Zuck Durovs coding prowess and entrepreneurial spirit led him to build Vkontakte (VK), a social media site, in 2006, when he was a 21-year-old fresh out of university. VK quickly became known as the Facebook of Russia, and Durov the countrys answer to Mark Zuckerberg. But Durovs relationship with the Kremlin turned adversarial much quicker than Zuckerbergs did with Washington. Story continues When protesters began using VK to organize demonstrations in Kyiv against Ukraines pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2013, Durov said the Kremlin asked the site to hand over private data of Ukrainian users. We decided to refuse, and that didnt go too well with the Russian government, Durov told Carlson. That decision sealed Durovs fate at the company. Durov would later resign as CEO, opening the door for people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to take over. The entrepreneur sold all his shares for millions and then left Russia. Today, VK is under state control. For me, it was never about becoming rich. Everything in my life was about becoming free. To the extent that is possible, my mission in life is to allow other people to become free, Durov said. I dont want to take orders from anyone. All of them suck While Zuckerberg bought WhatsApp in his bid to build the social media empire now known as Meta, Durov chose to build his own messaging app despite an already crowded marketplace for such platforms. He didnt think anything out there was good enough. It doesnt matter how many messaging apps are out there if all of them suck, Durov told TechCrunch in 2015. Durov said that his experience with the Kremlin was a key motivator in creating Telegram, which is now based in Dubai. He and his brother wanted to build something that would be free from the prying eyes of government. The companys strong end-to-end encryption and much-hyped commitment to privacy proved attractive to the hundreds of millions of users who flocked to Telegram including, eventually, the terrorists who planned the Paris terror attacks in November 2015. The revelation prompted the normally private Durov to go on a public relations blitz, conducting a bevy of interviews, including one with CNN, to assure a wary public that Telegram was not becoming WhatsApp for terrorists. Telegram, according to Durov, was simply the most secure messaging platform on the market and compromising by creating a back door for governments would undermine the apps appeal and the companys commitment to privacy. You cannot make it safe against criminals and open for governments, Durov told CNN in 2016. Its either secure or not secure. Kremlin questions Telegrams refusal to budge on decryption put it at loggerheads with governments around the world including Russia, at least initially. Moscow in 2018 attempted to ban Telegram for refusing to supply Russian security services with decryption keys. Durov vowed to defy the ban. Another showdown between the tech entrepreneur and the Kremlin appeared to be on the horizon, but nothing came of it. The ban was lifted in 2020. In the years that followed, Telegram became one of the few foreign social media platforms operating in Russia without restrictions. It is now the preferred means of official communication for many officials in the Russian government. Durovs critics have long questioned whether Telegram could operate so freely in Russia without having made some sort of concession to the Kremlin, allegations Durov has repeatedly batted down often pointing to his spat in the early 2010s that led him to leave Russia. In a statement sent to CNN, Telegram denied any arrangements were made with the Kremlin to encourage the apps unbanning in Russia. Before he was detained in Paris, Durov was in Azerbaijan at the same time as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the country on an official two-day visit. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the two did not meet. And though Durov has publicly turned his back on Russia, the government was quick to begin working on Durovs behalf after his detention. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Russian Embassy in Paris immediately got down to work after getting word of Durovs legal troubles. The issue of Telegrams abuse by money launderers, drug traffickers and people spreading pedophilia has continued to unsettle Western governments. Durovs detention in France was connected to a warrant related to Telegrams lack of moderation, according to CNN-affiliate BFMTV. Telegram responded in a statement that it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. The statement added that Telegram abides by EU laws and that Durov had nothing to hide. CNNs Nathan Hodge contributed to this report This story has been updated with additional details. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan National Library has opened a virtual and traditional exhibition called "August 26 - Lachin City Day", Azernews reports. The exhibition features official documents, photos, books, articles, etc., about the city of Lachin, as well as books, articles, etc. preserved in the collection of the National Library, which reflect the 44-day Patriotic War and Azerbaijan's Victory. Materials are displayed in Azerbaijani, Russian and English languages. The traditional exhibition will last one week. You can get acquainted with the virtual exhibition using the link. This year's celebrations mark the second anniversary of Lachin's resurgence and carry special significance following Azerbaijan's restored sovereignty over all its territories, particularly after the anti-terrorist operations conducted on September 19-20, 2023, which saw the nation's flag raised in Garabagh. It's noteworthy that last year, August 26 was officially recognized as Lachin City Day, established by President Ilham Aliyev's decree dated July 31, 2023, "On the establishment of city days in the liberated territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan". Siemens Healthineers is planning to purchase the diagnostic arm of Novartis Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), for a sum exceeding 200m ($224m), reported Financial Times (FT). Novartis had received Siemens Healthineers binding offer in this regard. This acquisition is expected to strengthen Siemens Healthineers' position in the medical imaging sector, particularly in the production of radioactive chemicals essential for PET scans used in cancer detection. Subject to regulatory approval and negotiations with Novartis's works council, the deal is anticipated to conclude in the final quarter of the year. The acquisition will enable Siemens Healthineers to expand its reach into the European market. AAA, acquired by Novartis in 2017 for $3.9bn, has Europe's second-largest cyclotron network, crucial for manufacturing the radioactive compounds used in PET scans to detect various diseases. Siemens Healthineers, separated from Siemens in 2017, views this transaction as a significant step in securing a steady supply of critical materials for its imaging equipment business. Novartis's acquisition of AAA was initially aimed at gaining access to radiopharma drugs. AAA's flagship drug, Lutathera, approved in 2018 for treating neuroendocrine tumours, is projected to achieve sales of $704m this year. However, Novartis decided to divest AAA's diagnostics division, the smaller segment of the business, to focus on molecular imaging growth under a dedicated diagnostics entity. Furthermore, as part of the agreement, Siemens Healthineers and Novartis will collaborate to enhance the supply of nuclear isotopes used in radiopharma drugs like Lutathera. Siemens Healthineers will remain a partner in the Novartis radioligand therapy (RLT) business, reported Reuters. In a separate announcement, Siemens Healthineers company Varian has launched HyperSight imaging solution for its TrueBeam and Edge systems in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China). HyperSight is designed to optimise workflows across Varians entire suite of linear accelerators. This allows more tailored treatment for each patient. "Siemens Healthineers to acquire Novartis diagnostics arm" was originally created and published by Medical Device Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. (Bloomberg) -- A digital asset from a blockchain project linked to Telegram Messenger LLP has lost about $2.7 billion in market value, reflecting the uncertainty sparked by the detention of the messaging apps co-founder. Most Read from Bloomberg Toncoin, the token of The Open Network, slid more than 20% after Pavel Durov was reportedly taken into custody at a Paris airport on Saturday on suspicion of failing to take steps to prevent criminal use of Telegram. The 10th largest cryptoasset pared some of the drop to trade at $5.58 as of 2:11 p.m. Monday in London, but is still down over 16% as a result of the drama involving 39-year-old Durov, according to data complied by Bloomberg. The Open Network or TON blockchain has access to Telegrams 900 million monthly users via a partnership and seeks to enable services such as in-app payments and games. TONs rise spurred speculation that Telegram has a shot at becoming a super-app in the style of Chinese giants like WeChat. Venture Backing The three-year-old foundation behind the project says its separate from Telegram. But the ties between Telegram and TON turned the latter into one of cryptos most-hyped initiatives. Pantera Capital Management LP in May described a purchase of Toncoin as the firms largest-ever investment. Billionaire Durov is also Telegrams chief executive officer. The Dubai-based company issued a statement saying it abides by European laws, including the Digital Services Act, and that Durov has nothing to hide. Its too early to tell what impact Durovs detention will have on Telegram longer term, said Richard Galvin, co-founder of hedge fund DACM, which purchased TON tokens in a private round in early 2023. The weekend market reaction factored this uncertainty into the TON price for now, he added. Galvin said the key appeal of the TON-Telegram relationship is the ability to introduce Telegrams vast user base to crypto functionality, and that anything that weakens the competitive position of Telegram is negative for TON. Free-Speech Debate Governments have faulted Telegrams relatively light-touch approach to content moderation for encouraging criminality, while free-speech proponents praise the platform as a venue for open discussion. Telegram is popular with the crypto community, for instance for sharing investment tips. Story continues While there are some communities who utilize Discord, Signal and X for group communications, the crypto ecosystem does have a disproportionate dependency on Telegram, said Stephany Zoo, head of ecosystem at market maker Caladan. If Telegram is affected, there will be reverberating consequences. TON on its X social-media account joined the likes of Elon Musk in expressing backing for Durov, reposting the hashtags #FreePavel and #FREEDUROV and changing its logo to the Resistance Dog in a further show of support. The value of assets locked on the TON blockchain surged this year to a peak of $1.1 billion last month but the figure has now retreated to $667 million, data from DefiLlama show. Toncoins price more than tripled in the past year and the token has a current market value of about $14.4 billion, according to CoinGecko. --With assistance from Ryan Weeks. (Updates price in third paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Telegram on Sunday questioned the grounds for Frances detention of Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov, the messaging apps billionaire co-founder who was taken into custody at a Paris airport over the weekend. Most Read from Bloomberg Durov, 39, was detained at Le Bourget on Saturday on suspicion of failing to take steps to prevent criminal use of Telegram, according to Agence France-Presse. His original detention was extended by 24 hours late Sunday, a judicial official said. Telegram issued a statement on its platform and on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying the Dubai-based company abides by European laws, including the Digital Services Act, and that Durov has nothing to hide. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, according to the statement. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Durov lives in Dubai and is a citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Telegram website. He hasnt previously commented on whether he has renounced his Russian citizenship. Russias embassy in Paris said it asked French authorities for an explanation of the reasons and demanded that they ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access. Embassy officials are in touch with Durovs lawyer, according to the statement. Frances Ofmin, an agency set up to combat violence against minors, issued an arrest warrant for Durov, AFP reported. Ofmin is the coordinating agency in a preliminary probe into alleged offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism, according to AFP. Toncoin, a cryptocurrency linked to Telegram, sank as much as 23% on news that Durov was in custody. Telegram was created by Durov and his brother Nikolai, a programmer and mathematician. It has about 900 million active users and is one of the most popular messaging apps. Its relatively light-touch approach to content moderation has led to allegations that its frequently used for criminal activity and extremist material. The Durov brothers made their fortune from creating the Russia-based social network VKontakte in 2006. That platform quickly became popular among Russians, making it a target for a billionaire with ties to the Kremlin. Story continues Durov fled the country in 2014 and sold his stake in VKontakte. He has a net worth of more than $9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April, Durov discussed the pressure he faced from Russian authorities while running VKontakte and the scrutiny of Telegram by law enforcement agencies around the world. I would rather be free, I wouldnt want to take orders from anyone, Durov said during the interview. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. PARIS (Reuters) - Russia-born billionaire and Telegram owner Pavel Durov was still being detained for questioning by French police on Monday, local news channel franceinfo reported, after he was arrested and taken into custody at the weekend. "The police custody is continuing on Monday, ...and may last up to four days", the report said. The Paris public prosecution office did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. French authorities have not yet confirmed Durov's arrest. A police source told Reuters Durov was arrested at the weekend at a private jet airport close to Paris because he was the subject of an arrest warrant. A cybersecurity gendarmerie unit and the national anti-fraud police unit are leading the investigation, the source said. "Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," Telegram said in a statement on Sunday, adding: "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." (Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Toby Chopra) (Bloomberg) -- PDD Holdings Inc.s shares fell the most on record after Temus owner warned that revenue growth will inevitably dwindle, highlighting the challenges of sustaining its pace of expansion against aggressive rivals like ByteDance Ltd. Most Read from Bloomberg Co-founder Chen Lei repeatedly stressed that PDDs current trajectory wasnt sustainable, at a time competitors such as ByteDances TikTok and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are vying for budget-conscious shoppers. PDDs US depositary receipts tumbled 29% in New York, the stocks worst loss since its initial public offering in 2018. The company has spent big on e-commerce business Temu to drive its global presence and escape an ailing Chinese economy. But executives have kept a lid on the overseas units performance as competition turns cutthroat. On Monday, Chen said PDD needed to invest more in supporting merchants at a time rivals are trying to woo them away. Competition is here to stay and is expected to intensify in our industry, Chen told analysts during a post-results briefing. High revenue growth is not sustainable, and a downward trend in profitability is inevitable. Read: Jack Mas Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart The Chinese-owned e-commerce platform reported revenue of 97.1 billion yuan ($13.6 billion) for the June quarter, missing the average estimate of 100 billion yuan. Net income came to 32 billion yuan, compared to a projected 27.5 billion yuan. In China, PDD has gained ground in recent years against traditional retailers like Alibaba and JD.com Inc. with its low-pricing strategy, while adopting aggressive promotional campaigns to fend off upstarts such as Kuaishou Technology. That had made founder Colin Huang the richest person in China with a $49.3 billion fortune but he lost that title after 18 days with the stocks plunge, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. PDD faced a backlash in July when hundreds of merchants staged a rally outside its offices in southern China. They protested what they called unfair penalties that Temus owner was increasingly levying. Going forward, PDD will face fierce competition in China, with merchants going through a hard time, said Wang Xiaoyan, a Shanghai-based analyst with 86Research. PDD will likely invest more in China, and that means well see downside for the group in the Chinese market. Story continues Temu is also encountering growing regulatory scrutiny following its meteoric rise. The European Union is working on a proposal to close an import tax loophole for cheap goods bought online, a move that would primarily target Chinese retailers including Temu, Bloomberg News has reported. Still, PDDs global expansion strategy has started to pay off in some ways. Temu has quickly become one of the most downloaded US apps after a splashy debut in 2022. Its since begun to challenge fellow Chinese online shopping giant Shein, and even Amazon.com Inc. in certain segments. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says PDDs indication on Aug. 26 of lower profitability as the company boosts spending to tackle increased global competition suggests downside to 2H earnings consensus, which was projecting higher margins into 2025. This, along with PDDs first revenue miss in 10 quarters for the three months ended June, looks set to dampen the growth outlook for the next 12 months. Catherine Lim and Trini Tan, analysts Click here for the research. Read: Temu Owners Billionaire Founder Becomes Chinas Richest Person --With assistance from Ryan Vlastelica and Peter Elstrom. (Updates with share move from first paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Latinas contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2021, up from $661 billion in 2010 and at a growth rate nearly triple that of non-Latinos during the same time period, according to a new report funded by Bank of America and conducted by professors at California Lutheran University and UCLA. The report was compiled using publicly available economic and demographic data from U.S. agencies and shows that Latinas are drivers of economic vitality in the United States, giving life to the U.S. economy, said economist Matthew Fienup, one of the study's authors and executive director of California Lutheran University's Center for Economic Research & Forecasting during a Zoom briefing presenting the findings on Monday. Latinas outpace their gender and ethnic peers in key economic measures, including record levels of Latina workforce participation, educational attainment, and income growth, he added in a press release. The $1.3 trillion economic contribution by Latinas is about as much as the GDP of Florida, and only surpassed by California, Texas and New York, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Fienup says that Latinas' increased economic output and labor force growth nine times faster than that of non-Latinos is translating to higher earnings and economic mobility for Latinas. We are moving in the right direction. And that wage gap is closing, despite Latinas facing certain disadvantages relative to non-Latinos in the United States, Fienup said, adding that Latinas are outpacing other groups in investments toward starting businesses and homeownership, despite having less access to capital. Women overall have made vast gains in C-suite and high-earning industry representation. But wage gap improvement has stalled for about 20 years, including for Latinas. Black and Latina workers experience the largest pay gap of any group. Titled Dando Vida a la Economia," meaning Giving Life to the Economy in Spanish, the new study builds upon six previous U.S. Latino GDP Reports written in partnership with Bank of America to examine the rapidly growing economic contributions of Latinos living in the U.S. Several factors are behind Latinas' fast-paced economic growth, according to David Hayes-Bautista, a report co-author and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA's School of Medicine. Older immigrant Latinas are starting to age out of the workforce, and their shoes are being filled by their U.S.-born daughters and granddaughters, Hayes-Bautista explained during Monday's Zoom briefing. Latina workers today are entering the workforce as functionally bilingual professionals with much higher levels of education than their predecessors, creating a slingshot effect, he added. Story continues These daughters and granddaughters of immigrants are combining the extraordinary and selfless work ethic of their elders with rapid growth of human capital, Hayes Bautista said. ____ The Associated Press women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best American Stocks To Buy For Foreign Investors. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) stands against the other American stocks. With August Ending, What Can We Expect From US Markets? Historically, September is considered to be the worst month for stocks. The S&P 500 index has generally averaged a decline in the month of September for decades, which has resulted in many financial news reporters, such as the Wall Street Journal, dubbing September as a weak month for US stocks. So with August coming to an end, many investors in the US and abroad may be wondering whether now is a good time to pick up US stocks for their portfolios. While history can often be an accurate indicator of stock performance, this is not always the case. This year may very well be an outlier in the historical trend outlined above, seeing as many financial analysts are expecting the US Federal Reserve to move ahead with a rate cut this September. CNBC's "Power Lunch" on August 21 highlighted that according to the Fed's recent meeting minutes, it is quite probable that we will be seeing a rate cut this September, which will probably result in stock prices rising and the markets performing better. This is because when a rate cut is announced, consumers and businesses tend to increase their spending and investment, which has a direct and positive impact on stock prices, causing them to rise. As such, if we do see a rate cut next month, investors may actually benefit from investing in American stocks. How Would a Potential Rate Cut Impact The Markets? On August 22, Tom Lee, Fundstrat Global Advisors Managing Partner, joined CNBC's "Squawk Box" to discuss the status of the US markets at present. Here's what he had to say: "The FMOC minutes that came out yesterday showed the Fed staff saying this is a strong labor market, while that jobs report that came out Friday and the revisions that just came out show a lot of jobs disappearing. It's not a stronger market, and I think it gives more ammunition for the Fed to start a cutting cycle, and that's gonna give a lot of life to the economy and to the markets. Especially cyclical stocks and small-cap stocks." According to Lee, investors looking to buy into US equities right now would benefit greatly from a rate cut if it does come about in September. A major beneficiary of such a cut would actually be the tech sector. In this regard, Lee said the following: Story continues "I think tech is still in a good place because of AI, and NVIDIA should reinforce that. It's not a demanding multiple, maybe 28x forward earnings, which is, for the best, one of the most important companies in the world, not a high multiple. So, if tech is in a good place, and then we get fed cuts, I think it allows the whole overall market to expand." Considering the above, US markets may actually be a good place to invest for foreign investors at present, and within these markets, tech may be a good place to start. This is why we've compiled a list of the best American stocks to buy for foreign investors, comprising most tech companies. Our list includes some of the best American tech stocks to buy, alongside some of the top US stocks for foreigners. Our Methodology We selected the most popular American stocks among major hedge funds to compile our list, by using Insider Monkey's hedge fund data for the second quarter of 2024. These companies are considered to be the best US stocks to invest in today according to major institutional investors, and should thus be considered by foreign investors looking to buy into American equities. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). A close up view of a hand holding a smartphone, using a ride sharing app. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 145 Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is a San Francisco-based company well known for its ride-hailing app. We believe it is one of the best American stocks for foreign investors to buy right now because of its stellar consistent growth and ability to continue this growth even in a difficult economy. According to the company's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, in Uber Technologies, Inc.'s (NYSE:UBER) second-quarter earnings call, the main challenges that may arise for the company are the strength of its consumer and the possibility of a recession impacting its growth. To alleviate these concerns, Khosrowshahi noted that, first off, the Uber consumer seems to be in great shape, with the company's audience being larger than ever, resulting in its services continuing to be used consistently on a large scale. Since ride-hailing apps offer expensive transport relative to public transport, the Uber consumer generally tends to have a higher income, and according to Uber Technologies, Inc.'s (NYSE:UBER) current analysis, there doesn't seem to be any trading down across its consumers' income cohort. With consumer strength out of the way, the bigger issue of performance in a time of economic difficulty comes up. However, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) has developed a mechanism to ensure its consistent growth because it is uniquely positioned to offer immense value for autonomous vehicle (AV) players looking to publicize their tech at scale. Many AV players are currently facing the issue of their vehicles being too costly for the average consumer. In this regard, passenger ground transportation providers such as Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) can act as a valuable partner for AV players, and the company is presently in talks with many AV companies to encourage them to join its platform for mutual benefit. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) had 145 hedge funds long its stock in the second quarter, with a total stake value of $8.7 billion. Overall UBER ranks 8th on our list of the best American stocks to buy for foreign investors. While we acknowledge the potential of UBER as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UBER but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden-Harris administration this week is expected to announce final implementation plans for steep tariff increases on certain Chinese imports, and if U.S. industry gets its way, many of the planned duties would be softened. Manufacturers from electric vehicles to electric utility equipment have asked for the higher tariff rates to be reduced, delayed or abandoned, and for potential exclusions to be greatly expanded. President Joe Biden in May announced a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%, a doubling of duties on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, as well as new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic goods including steel to shield U.S. firms from Chinese excess production. The White House had said initially the new tariffs would take effect on Aug. 1 but that was delayed until some time in September as the U.S. Trade Representative's office studied more than 1,100 public comments. A final determination is due by the end of August. Whether to ease the tariffs is the administration's first major trade decision since Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee after Biden stepped aside in late July. The decision is politically tricky. Dialing back the duties could draw criticism from Republicans that Harris will take a softer stand on China trade in a campaign where Trump has vowed to hit Chinese imports with hefty tariffs. Proceeding with the original hikes would draw complaints about higher costs, even from some Democrats in Congress. China has vowed retaliation against the "bullying" tariff hikes and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said they showed that some in the U.S. may be "losing their minds." The U.S. decision will come in the same week that U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with Wang in a visit aimed at keeping U.S.-China tensions in check with the November U.S. election fast approaching. CRANES AND SYRINGES The Biden-Harris tariffs include a new 25% levy on Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes, a China-dominated sector with no U.S. producers. The Port of New York and New Jersey said it has eight cranes on order from China's state-owned ZPMC at $18 million apiece, and a 25% tariff would boost the cost of each by $4.5 million, "causing a significant strain on the Port's critical and limited resources." Democratic senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner from Virginia and Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff from Georgia also raised concerns about the impact on ports in their states, calling for existing orders for Chinese cranes to be exempted. Story continues Warnock and Ossoff also urged USTR to reconsider the planned 50% tariff on syringes, saying they could disrupt supplies for those used to feed newborn infants. Ford Motor asked USTR to reduce proposed tariffs on artificial graphite, a key material used in the production of anodes for electric vehicle batteries. Ford said it still "almost exclusively" uses Chinese secondary-particle graphite, Autos Drive America, a group representing foreign-brand automakers, called for tariff rates on batteries, modules, cells, and critical minerals to be kept stable through at least 2027 to allow automakers to "fulfill investments in U.S. production and to bolster consumer adoption" of EVs. EXTEND STEEL DUTIES There were some companies that urged more extensive Section 301 tariffs, including for Chinese made steel, which Biden proposed to increase to 25% from 7.5%. Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu, which operates a mill in Alabama, said it supported the increase and wants it extended to all steel products melted and poured in China and processed in other countries, such as Vietnam, to curb tariff circumvention. The steelmaker also said the higher tariffs should extend to other stainless steel categories, such cutlery and refrigeration and brewery equipment. (Reporting by David Lawder, with additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lincoln Feast.) (Reuters) - U.S. railroads Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway on Monday said all embargoes associated with the potential Canadian work stoppage stand canceled and affected rail traffic has resumed, putting an end to an unprecedented service disruption in the movement of goods across the border. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City previously issued embargoes on goods moving to the U.S. as part of an orderly shutdown before a potential work stoppage. The railroads also locked out more than 9,000 unionized workers at midnight of August 22, triggering a simultaneous rail stoppage. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered a halt to work stoppages on Saturday, issuing binding arbitration, while ruling a continuation of existing contracts. Both CN and CPKC have previously highlighted that it might take several weeks for them to fully recover from this work stoppage. Freight forwarder C.H. Robinson's Canada VP Scott Shannon in a statement to Reuters said, "We expect it to take up to a week for each railroad to be fully reset and running smoothly again. It will take much longer to catch up with shipments that have gotten backlogged." (Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore) Readers hoping to buy Venture Corporation Limited (SGX:V03) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. This means that investors who purchase Venture's shares on or after the 30th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 12th of September. The company's next dividend payment will be S$0.25 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of S$0.75 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Venture has a trailing yield of 5.3% on the current share price of S$14.16. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing. Check out our latest analysis for Venture Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. It paid out 86% of its earnings as dividends last year, which is not unreasonable, but limits reinvestment in the business and leaves the dividend vulnerable to a business downturn. We'd be worried about the risk of a drop in earnings. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 43% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio. It's positive to see that Venture's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Venture's earnings per share have dropped 7.4% a year over the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend. Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, Venture has increased its dividend at approximately 4.1% a year on average. That's intriguing, but the combination of growing dividends despite declining earnings can typically only be achieved by paying out a larger percentage of profits. Venture is already paying out a high percentage of its income, so without earnings growth, we're doubtful of whether this dividend will grow much in the future. The Bottom Line Is Venture worth buying for its dividend? The payout ratios are within a reasonable range, implying the dividend may be sustainable. Declining earnings are a serious concern, however, and could pose a threat to the dividend in future. It might be worth researching if the company is reinvesting in growth projects that could grow earnings and dividends in the future, but for now we're not all that optimistic on its dividend prospects. With that being said, if dividends aren't your biggest concern with Venture, you should know about the other risks facing this business. For example - Venture has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of. If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Chinese Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC) stands against the other Chinese stocks. Nearly every major equity market is up for the year owing to improved investor sentiments. However, it is an exception for Chinese equity markets that continue to underperform while hovering near the zero-COVID lockdown valuations of three years ago. Over the past three years, about $6 trillion has been wiped off the value of Chinese stocks. The global index compiler MSCI has already announced plans to remove up to 60 Chinese stocks from its gauges as it responds to the underperformance of recent years. The cut will signify the waning need and demand for some of the countrys equities to overseas investors portfolios. Amid the cuts, the index will still keep hold of some of the best Chinese stocks to buy now. READ ALSO: 10 Best Oilfield Services Stocks to Buy Now and 7 Best Debt Free Stocks To Buy. The underperformance comes amid growing concerns about the Chinese economy, which continues to send jitters to the investment community. The Chinese economy has always outperformed the US economy, increasing by 123% between 2012 and 2022, compared to 58% for the US. Nevertheless, the Chinese economy has struggled in recent years amid a myriad of problems, including a downturn in the real estate sector, deflation, high debt levels, and a shift in ideology-driven policies that are scaring away foreign firms from the economy. While the economy grew by 5.2% last year, much higher than 2.5% for the US, it was the lowest pace of growth since 1990, with the exception of the pandemic period. While economists expected the economy to slow even further in 2024, with growth averaging 4.5%, it has started showing signs of recovery. The Chinese economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter and 4.7% in the second quarter. Nevertheless, the 4.7% growth in the second quarter, while reasonable, is far below the countrys double-digit growth rates in the past decades, which is a major point of concern in the equity markets. On the other hand, the slowdown in economic growth is not the only headwind that scares investors from the Chinese economy. Deteriorating US-China relations has always rattled investors sentiments. With the US hitting Chinese firms with trade tariffs and restricting access to some key technologies, China has also hit back with its fair share of tariffs. The tariff hike on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100% and the imposition of trade tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports underline the ever-deteriorating relations between the two economic powerhouses. Story continues Amid the deteriorating macroeconomics, Chinese stocks have started showing signs of recovering in the second half of the year. Some of the promising sectors include the fixed asset investments sector, which is driven by faster manufacturing and infrastructure investment. Additionally, industrial production and services are also on the rise while playing host to some of the best Chinese stocks to buy. In July, global hedge funds added holdings of some of the best Chinese stocks to buy now as most took advantage of their depressed valuations after steep pullbacks. Nevertheless, the hedge fund positions holdings remain near a five year low. Additionally, analysts at BCA Research believe Chinese equities could insulate fund managers from deep losses as global risk assets face fresh dangers. The firm has already upgraded Chinese onshore equities to overweight from neutral. We expect Chinese stocks to fall by less than or as much as their global and EM peers in a bear market, analysts, including chief China strategist Arthur Budaghyan, said in the report. Potential market support from Chinese state-owned funds could temper potential declines, he added. As the economic situation in China improves and sentiments in the equity market improve, now could be the best time to pay close watch to the best Chinese stocks to buy, likely to outperform heading into year-end. Our Methodology To compile the list of the 10 best Chinese stocks to buy now, we scanned through the top 50 companies listed on the US stock exchange from the iShares MSCI China ETF. Analysts believe these companies have significant upside potential. Once we had a consolidated list, we ranked the best Chinese stocks in ascending order of their upside potential, as of August 17. At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). The iconic yellow and red roof of a franchise restaurant in the bustling streets of a city. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Hedge Funds Holding Stakes: 24 Stock Upside Potential: 41.11% Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) is a premier restaurant chain that owns, operates, and franchises restaurants in China. It generates revenues through direct restaurant operations, licensing fees, and additional services associated with its brands. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) has been firing on all cylinders, going by the record revenue in Q2 2024 due to same-store transaction growth and new unit growth. Revenues in the quarter were up by 1% to a record high of $2.68 billion, as same-store sales reached 96% of last years levels. Diluted earnings per share were up 17% to $0.55, a record level. The record revenues and earnings can be attributed to, among other things, a sharp focus on value for money and innovative products that continue to drive robust same-store transaction growth. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) has taken proactive steps to improve operational efficiency, stabilize restaurant margins, and generate more shareholder value. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) is also investing significantly towards innovation, such as launching new menu items and marketing initiatives, which continue to attract customers and boost sales. Another positive aspect was the seamless internal transition in the C-suite, with CFO Andy Yeung set to step down in September and current CIO Adrian Ding taking over as acting CFO. While the average price-to-earnings multiple for consumer cyclical stocks is 23, Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) is currently trading at a forward P/E of 15. What this means is that the stock might be undervalued. Additionally, as one of the best Chinese stocks to buy, the stock rewards investors with a dividend yield of 1.91% for generating some passive income on the side. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) remains a top pick for investors, as Wall Street analysts have rated the stock as a Buy. With an average price target of $48.26, this rating implies a significant 41.11% upside potential from the current levels, making it a promising investment opportunity. Insider Monkey database indicates that 24 hedge funds held stakes in the company as of the end of Q2 2024. Baron Funds discussed the reasons behind Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)s decline in its Q4 2023 investor letter. Heres what the firm mentioned: Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) is the master franchisee for the YUM brands in China and operator of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant networks in that market. Shares detracted after the company reported a negative surprise on margins for the third quarter and hinted that increased competition and cost-consciousness among Chinese consumers could cause that margin compression to continue through the first quarter of 2024. Although in-year margins are volatile at Yum China, its pristine balance sheet, cumulative investments in technology, unmatched scale, and successful pivot to higher-ROI, smaller footprint stores in recent years should drive continued 8% to 10% store growth at attractive returns. Further, given its strong free-cash-flow generation and strong balance sheet, we believe the company is likely to offer capital returns to shareholders in excess of earnings over the next several years. We remain shareholders. Overall YUMC ranks 5th on our list of the best Chinese stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of YUMC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than YUMC, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA Has Become A Wasteland. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Milkio Foods, a New Zealand-based dairy company, has incurred a $420,000 fine for misleading consumers with false claims on its packaging. The company falsely promoted its products as "100% pure New Zealand," despite importing a key ingredient from India. This misrepresentation has raised significant concerns about the potential harm to New Zealand's dairy industry and its global reputation for quality. The penalty, determined by Judge Ingram, reflects the serious implications of such misrepresentations not only for consumers but also for other producers who depend on the "brand New Zealand" for selling dairy products. Commerce Commission Fair Trading general manager Vanessa Horne said: "New Zealand has built an international reputation for high-quality dairy products, which underpins the value of our dairy industry and exports. Milkio took advantage of this reputation to promote their own products through the use of descriptions like from the clean green pasture-based dairy farms in New Zealand, and produced and manufactured in pristine New Zealand despite some of their products using imported butter from India. Milkio's deceptive practices extended to retaining approval to use the FernMark logo and licence number, a symbol signifying New Zealand-made products. Judge Ingram described the misuse of FernMark as part of Milkio's brand strategy, which was meant to add a layer of quality assurance for consumers. "This conviction should serve as a warning to others who may be looking to falsely claim the New Zealand brand," Horne added. Milkio admitted to 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act, including making false country-of-origin representations about the butter in their ghee products and unauthorised use of the FernMark logo and licence number. The Ministry of Primary Industries had referred the case to the commission. "New Zealands Milkio Foods fined for false claims on packaging " was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, 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. Zijin Mining Reports Surging Net Income, Acknowledges Growing M&A Threats Zijin Mining Group (OTC:ZIJMF), a Chinese copper and gold producer, is encountering increasing obstacles to its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ambitions due to geopolitical tensions, a slowing global economy, and a rise in resource nationalism. These challenges have raised concerns over the company's ability to expand its international footprint, particularly in strategic mining jurisdictions like Canada. Despite these headwinds, Zijin reported a robust financial performance in the first half of 2024, with net income surging 46% to $2.1 billion. Higher commodity prices and effective cost management drove this growth; however, management acknowledged the impact of commodity price fluctuations, geopolitical risks, and policy changes on their future operations. As one of China's most acquisitive metals companies, Zijin has a history of acquiring copper and gold mines worldwide, including in Canada and Africa. It has also ventured into lithium, aiming to become a significant player in the battery materials market. Now read: Canadian Government Intervenes To Avoid Economic Crisis, Orders Railways Back To Work Still, the growing effort by the U.S., EU, and their allies to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains is restricting Zijin's expansion plans. These efforts have increased regulatory hurdles for Chinese companies, particularly in mining. View more earnings on PAAS Earlier this month, Zijin's subsidiary, Jinteng Mining, hit a regulatory hurdle after Canada's Industry Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, indicated that he might order a formal review of an asset acquisition. Jinteng made a $295 million deal to acquire Pan American Silver Corp's (NYSE:PAAS) La Arena mine in Peru. Jinteng filed a judicial review application quoting lacking jurisdiction. "The targets are Peruvian entities. They do not have a place of operations in Canada or otherwise carry on operations in Canada, they do not have individuals in Canada who are employed or self-employed in connection with their operations, and they do not have assets in Canada used in carrying on their operations," they noted, per Financial Post. Recent changes to the Investment Canada Act that tighten control over foreign investments in sectors have created obstacles, given that many junior mining companiespotential takeover targets for Zijinare listed in Canada. Despite these issues, Zijin remains focused on expanding its global footprint in copper, gold, and lithium. Management also offered its outlook for these metals. Story continues "The copper market will go into a deficit in the medium to long term due to the metal's use in the global green transition, artificial intelligence and booming demand from emerging economies. Gold will fluctuate at high levels, with geopolitical uncertainty raising haven demand, while the lithium price downturn may continue as supply and demand rebalances," the statement said, Bloomberg reported. Also read: Benzinga Mining is the bridge between mining companies and retail investors. Reach out to licensing@benzinga.com to get started! Photo via Shutterstock "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Zijin Mining Reports Surging Net Income, Acknowledges Growing M&A Threats originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Colorado economic development officials have big plans for expanding the semiconductor industry, fueled by federal funding from legislation en A Canadian woman who bought a trip designed to gain personal revelation through a multiday wilderness fast is lucky to be alive after she spent nearly a week lost in the Uncompahgre National Forest without food. On a beautiful late-summer morning, Gina Chases 10-minute nature walk became a five-day slog for survival when she took a wrong turn and got disoriented. All she had with her was a bottle of water, a whistle, a raincoat and an old cellphone, according to searchers who found her. Inside her day pack were a sleeping bag and tarp the same color green as the woods, according to the San Miguel County Sheriffs Office. The 53-year-old was on a reflective backcountry solo outdoor experience, part of a group brought into the forest by a Durango New Age guide company. The Animas Institute advertises soul initiation through nature-based journeys. It offers soul initiation trips like the one Chase was endeavoring led by soul guides that cost anywhere from $800 to $6,725 depending on the length of time and destination of each planned adventure. I was shocked when I got to the site and found out that these people are instructed not to interact with one another, said Miguel County Sheriffs Sgt. Lane Masters, whose childhood in Telluride and Naval Survival School taught him the hazards of what he called the unforgiving wilderness. Admittedly relieved, but unhappy with the circumstances, Masters gave the Animas Institute leaders a lecture once Chase was found alive. What they do by design is going to get somebody killed. No GPS and no maps While Chase was lost, she was within reach. But her nature groups maps and communication were handwritten, with no GPS and no maps, according to Masters. Further, the groups plan to keep up with each other was a method they refer to as a proof of life stone technique. They had no GPS and no topographical map, said Masters, who took a 48-hour shift of his own worried that a bear or mountain lion met Chase on the trail. Masters said that the institute recommends the color green for their sleeping bags and tarps. They do it to be at one with nature, he said. If it sounds ridiculous, its because it is. Masters said that from above, the foliage is so dense and thick, Chases equipment was actually a hinder to the search operation because it provided camouflage and kept her hidden. Do you know how hard it is to find a green tarp in the woods at 9,000 feet? said Masters, who is San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters son. Ecopsychology In a YouTube program, Las Animas Institute founder Bill Plotkin explained that the foundation uses ecopsychology to help people find meaning in their lives. He explains the philosophy this way. It is the job of Animus Valley (sic) Institute to prepare people to transition out of the cocoon stage by a series of intense spiritual experiences that get them in touch with their inner spirit world. In 43 years guiding thousands of campers, no one has never died on any of their trips. In an email, the Animas Institute had a different version from Masters account of how Chase was outfitted. We want to clarify that Gina was not without food or communication tools, said a woman who only identified as Laura. Laura emphasized that the group gives participants the option to fast, but that the practice is only voluntary and supported by medical screen protocols. She (Chase) carried a fully functional cell phone with satellite capabilities and activated the SOS function when necessary, the institute wrote. In addition to her phone, she was also carrying a pack that contained; rain jacket and pants, insulated jacket, emergency blankets, knife, fire starting supplies, a whistle, laminated emergency instructions, water, personal first aid kit, a flashlight and ground insulation. Sheriff Masters said that if Chase had a satellite phone and attempted to contact the department, they never got the signal. Chase, who was one of a group of 11, was last seen taking off for the Lone Cone Trail on Aug. 13. Through extensive interviews, Masters deduced that Chase was about a mile away from the designated area where 64 searchers from nine agencies and half of San Miguel County Sheriffs active duty deputies combed the tangled terrain. Featured Local Savings In a photo taken at the start of the multi-layered search, exhausted crews in head lamps and binoculars rode out the night in the incident command post, a package of Chips Ahoy and coffee on a nearby table for fuel. By the weekend, a catering company from nearby Norwood was bringing food for the crews. Deputies who interviewed Chase said that she built a shelter against a tree and filtered her water from streams, a survival trick she told him that she learned from watching YouTube videos. This was not like a kid who wandered from a campground, said Sheriff Masters. Chase declined a request for an interview, but in a joyful post on his Facebook page, her brother, Ben Chase, said that his sister had been found and was eating. Gina We love you!!!!! Thank you for coming back !!! Deputies said that the first thing Chase ate was a breakfast burrito. The cost of a search Sheriff Masters estimated that Chases four-day search and rescue cost around $60,000 for aircraft with high-tech equipment and hundreds of volunteer and staff hours. The Animas Valley Institute promised him they would make a donation to help cover the costs. Though he considered charging the institute, Masters said, Its debatable whether anyone could be held legally required to pay. By Colorado state statute, sheriffs departments are responsible for search and rescue in their counties. Colorados all-volunteer search and rescue teams do not charge for rescues because when people are afraid of getting billed, they delay calling and that can make things more dangerous for them and more difficult for the rescuers. It gets late, it gets dark, it gets colder, and perhaps injuries worsen, said Anna DeBattiste of Colorado Search and Rescue. Instead, Colorado has been creative with finding funds to pay for rescue operations. The latest method is the new Keep Colorado Wild Pass, the states annual state park pass which is now included in annual vehicle registration fees. A portion of each $29 fee goes toward Colorado Search and Rescue volunteers. Normally, an annual state park pass costs $80. A year in, its a plan which shows promise. Last week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that more than 1.5 million Colorado residents purchased the pass while registering their vehicles, providing $39.7 million of revenue for state parks and outdoor first responders. The first $32.5 million will go toward park maintenance and development, the next $2.5 million toward search-and-rescue teams and $1 million will go to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Hope fading On Aug. 16, Chases backcountry solo group left their campsite. That night, a violent thunderstorm lowered Chases odds for survival. Sunday, weary rescue teams brought cadaver dogs into the dense timber expecting to find a body. Instead, just as the final hopeful hours got short, a live person appeared in a clearing. Her soul-search abandoned in a desperate fight to survive, Chase followed the sun and found herself near the Lone Cone Trailhead south of Norwood. The Animas Institutes Plotkin describes the work they do as exciting and terrifying, but, in her email, Laura said that the program will conduct a thorough and independent review of the Chase incident. Relieved that Chase was found, the institute thanked searchers and said that they will continue to work closely with all relevant authorities to maintain the trust and safety of our community. On its Facebook page, the San Miguel County Sheriffs Office announced that Chase was found Aug. 17. Nearly 600 people shared the post. Lane Masters had to gather himself as he offered a soul reflection of his own. Its always humbling for me to see people dedicating their lives to a stranger. Theyre absolute heroes, he said. This cant happen again. Amid a homeless crisis plaguing Colorados most populated city, a county just south of Denver claims to have found an effective solution to curbing homelessness in its communities. In a campaign to mitigate homelessness, Douglas County officials emphasized one simple message: Handouts dont help. They urged residents, for example, against giving money to homeless people on roadways or sidewalks. From 2022 to 2024, Douglas County witnessed a steep drop in homeless people living on the streets, from 43 to six, according to a recent point-in-time count report conducted by several local third party nonprofits. That homeless count, which Douglas County conducted on July 29, illustrates a one-time glimpse into homeless. Douglas County officials said they conduct a homeless count in the summer to calculate homelessness when people are most likely outside. It's a separate count from the one conducted nationwide, in which counties in Metro Denver, including Douglas County, also participate. That separate, bigger survey is done in January. With its count, Douglas County reported there were no homeless encampments or panhandlers on that one July day. From 2022 to 2023, the number of homeless people living on the streets in Douglas County dropped from 43 to 11, the count said. Today, between those living on the streets, in cars or in shelters, the countys homeless count reached a low of 69 homeless people, compared to the 93 counted last year. Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon, the founder and chairman of the Douglas County Homeless Initiative, attributed the drop in homelessness to residents' contributions, the sheriffs office and a team of behavioral health experts. The magic of whats happening here is that the numbers were so small to start with, so that we could really nip it in the bud, he told The Denver Gazette. The point, Laydon said, was to get on top of that before it became such a bad problem, adding that two years ago, it started by reclaiming our public spaces. Douglas County had created a team of experts, known as the Homeless Engagement, Assistance and Resource Team," to help tackle the issue. The HEART team, as county officials call it, is made up of experts in behavioral health and who are deployed in branded vehicles to help people living on the streets. Here's how the county handles it. When a report is made about a panhandler or a homeless person, a HEART vehicle is deployed to the area and make an assessment. Laydon called Douglas Countys approach housing plus, which, he said, is a balanced approach to trauma-informed practices. We recognize that shelter is a critical component to self-reliance and self-sufficiency to start moving in that direction, the commissioner said. In Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston's overriding approach to the citys still-growing homeless crisis is called housing first, in which the primary consideration is getting people out of the streets without preconditions or requirements. Under Johnston's model, the city sweeps encampments and moves people into temporary, non-congregate shelters. Denver, which is on track to spend nearly $155 million on the mayor's homelessness campaign, saw its total number of homeless people balloon from 5,818 last year to 6,539 this year, based on the January point-in-time count. And the city saw only 150 fewer "unsheltered" homeless people when compared to last year's count data that puzzled one councilmember and led another to accuse the Johnston administration of having a "spend first, ask questions later mindset." Featured Local Savings We're part of the Denver Metro area in Douglas County, Laydon said of Denvers strategy. We want to continue to work closely with our elected colleagues to address this problem. And we think we have a program that works really well. For us, Laydon added, 'housing plus' means wraparound. So, it is housing, but it is also food, shelter, job counseling, mental health counseling. It's treating those substance abuse issues that we know often come hand in hand with a lot of the issues that the unhoused face. Douglas County's homeless initiative, largely supported by federal and state grants, has cost a total $3.2 million since 2022, according to Douglas County officials. The Douglas County Sheriffs Office has, so far, assigned four deputies to the full-time HEART initiative, according to Sheriff Darren Weekly. Between 2022 and 2024, the salaries of deputies, paid for by taxpayers, cost a combined $1.3 million, according to the county. Between by American Rescue Plan Act funding, state grants and deputy salaries Douglas County's homeless initiative cost the county $1.8 million in 2024. In Douglas County, roughly 20% of homeless people accept the help, while some of the 80% who dont accept either are struggling with drug addiction or have warrants out for their arrest. Since HEART has launched, the county has engaged with roughly 215 people on the street, according to the commissioner. Douglas Countys homeless initiative is largely supported by federal funding and local donations, according to county officials. Douglas County also contributed $1.4 million to the Aurora Homeless Navigation Campus; thus, designating five beds for the county to use, according to Laydon. Douglas County also partnered with Step Denver and Ready to Work, two nonprofits addressing addiction needs and job support. One of the battles Douglas County fought was to reduce panhandlers to zero. When you allow people and encourage people to give out money at intersections, it just increases the problem, Laydon said. The commissioner said HEART began when he first noticed two encampments near the intersection of Interstate 25 and Lincoln in Lone Tree, once a hotspot for panhandlers. In Lone Tree, we reaffirm our commitment to working with Douglas County and other neighboring cities to address homelessness in the Denver metro area, Lone Tree Mayor Marissa Harmon said in a statement. Every person we can help transition from homelessness to stability represents a significant step forward. Homelessness is not a political issue. It's a public safety issue, said Weekly, the sheriff. We do everything that we can to keep Douglas County safe. We've added homeless navigators, civilian professionals that can help navigate and connect these folks with services that they need. The Douglas County sheriff said officers respond to every panhandling call it receives. Throughout the country, there are 70 signs with a barcode to report homeless panhandling or donate to the Douglas County Community Foundation Homeless Relief Fund, which supports the HEART team and county homeless initiatives. We dont want to arrest, Weekly said. We want to get them those resources that they need. I think the real key and success of this program is just to be proactive, the sheriff added. To go out, be out there and look for these individuals who are panhandling or who are homeless that may need some assistance. Happy Monday. What comes to mind when someone mentions public school? For the nostalgic, maybe its a fidgety little kid headed to the bus stop. Or a packed stadium on a Friday night. A favorite teacher, perhaps. Others might think about long waits at that bus stop due to driver shortages, metal detectors and pregame bag searches or how much that favorite teacher isnt being paid. Some those with a daughter at Chapel Hill or a son in Boone, say might go to in-state tuition. Few, if any, would think about community colleges. Thats a shame. And perhaps it explains how the Legislature managed to slip out of town earlier this summer with a $1.4 billion budget surplus and still leave the states 58 community colleges Guilford Tech, Forsyth Tech and Davidson-Davie CC to name three eyeballing deficits. Out of sight, out of mind. Howd that happen? Community college budgets are set based on enrollment the previous year, a system that has worked pretty well. Until this year. Per Public Ed Works, an organization that advocates for public education in North Carolina, the State Board of Community Colleges in the annual budget dance asked the Legislature for $69 million to account for 4.6% growth in 2023-24. So far, so good. But when the honorables actually got around to budget matters this season, they veered into the weeds over a false debate over whether (or how much) to increase pay for teachers and state employees, then left town without updating the second year of the two-year budget cycle. And for community colleges, that meant stretching last years dollars to cover more students. The deficit is so much more than weve ever encountered, community college system president Jeff Cox told state board members. On paper (and in real life, too) $69 million is a lot of money. But with North Carolina's $1.4 billion surplus the community college budget is $1.57 billion out of the states $31 billion annual budget its an impulse purchase. An easy fix. For whatever reason, be that spite, stubbornness, forgetfulness or some combination, the community colleges are left to their own devices. In practical terms, college leaders dont know yet exactly how theyll be affected. Scott Ralls, the president of Wake Technical Community College, has a pretty good idea: course offerings will be cut. Which means fewer choices for students, many of whom schedule around work and/or family obligations. The classes will not be offered that theyre looking for in the volume that theyre looking for, in the short term, Ralls told Public Ed Works. You cant outrun your budget. That means for this year, GTCC is looking at a 7.4% budget deficit and Forsyth Tech at 6%. 'Here Comes the Bus' GREENSBORO Guilford County welcomes back its 69,000 students for the 2024-25 school year today. This we know. First-day jitters for some students, blessed relief for parents and an abrupt return to reality for teachers constantly being asked (or forced) to do more with less. And maybe, just maybe, there could be chaos and mayhem in the transportation system. Anyone remember the last time the first day didnt have a few blips? To help deal with disruption or anxiety officials cant hand Prozac to parents Guilford County Schools has rolled out a free app theyre calling Here Comes the Bus. Assuming it works as billed, the app will show bus numbers, pick up and drop-off times and the location of your kids bus. A push notice should alert parents (or grandparents) when the bus is nearby or if a substitute bus has been used. Those things break, you know. The Montana State Parks and Recreation Board has adopted a new lottery system to reallocate permitted launch days for outfitters on the Smith River once they become available. The board with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks amended the proposed lottery to include all commercial fishing and floating operators licensed in Montana. Originally, the proposal would have only made abandoned or revoked launch days available to outfitters already providing those services on the Smith River. The rule relates only to guides and outfitters, and has no bearing on the public permit process. The amendment came after a few of the board members and a number of public commenters questioned why only the seven existing Smith River outfitters should have a chance at guiding the storied waterway. The lottery itself has been a source of some controversy. The agency proposed the rule after a dispute with one Smith River outfitter, Mike Geary, over the language in the sale of his business to two incoming owners who are at the moment not licensed to offer those services. Geary had, he said, planned to stay with the business until they gained that licensure. FWP was on course to offer Geary's launch days to other outfitters via lottery until he sued the agency over the dispute with the language. In April, a District Court judge in Helena blocked FWP from revoking and reallocating Geary's launch days while the lawsuit played out. The agency has asserted the proposed rule change is not related to, and would have no bearing on, Geary's lawsuit. Geary told the Montana State News Bureau he is confident the new system adopted by the State Parks and Recreation board last week won't affect his business. Jeff Hindoien, an attorney for FWP, likewise reiterated to the board last week the rule would have no effect on the litigation. "There's nothing about this administrative rule that has anything to do with the lawsuit," Hindoien said. Historically, launch days have become available when an outfitter retires. That outfitter would sell their business to an existing outfitter, who would notify FWP of the sale and then receive their launch days. Today, only seven outfitting businesses have commercial use permits for the Smith River. Several outfitters who provided public comment on the rule change opposed the agency's included reasons for why a permit would be reallocated, namely the death of an outfitter. Many said regulations already exist for reallocation of such permits, such as allowing a family member to designate an eligible successor in the event that a permit holder dies. The agency, however, said previously those regulations deal in outfitter licensing, not commercial use permits. Last week's board discussion centered mainly on whether or not to advance the lottery mechanism. Jody Loomis, considering the original language to only allow existing Smith River outfitters in the lottery, suggested waiting until the outfitters and FWP could hammer out a system together. Other board members, however, were ready to move forward, ensuring a system would be in place next year. The motion to adopt a lottery system, open to all commercial fishing and floating outfitters, passed 3-2. Whether a highway passes through purple mountains majesty or takes you from sea to shining sea, it has to be seriously long to land on this list. 1. U.S. Route 20 (3,365 Miles From Boston to Newport) The heavyweight champion of highways builds on the Lincoln Highway the first route to stretch from the East Coast to the West with some added stops along the way. Advertisement A trip down Route 20 will take you through Boston, South Bend, Boise and beyond. This road spans a whopping 3,365 miles, with an eastern terminus in Massachusetts and its last West Coast stop in Newport, Oregon. Along the way, you'll encounter a panorama of America's natural beauty, from the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains to the expansive Great Plains and majestic Rocky Mountains. One of the gems along this route is Yellowstone National Park. As you drive through the east entrance, you'll witness geysers, hot springs and wildlife that make this UNESCO World Heritage Site a bucket-list destination. Route 20 may be the longest highway in the country, but it's far from the only continent-spanning route. The longest highways in the U.S. are more than just roads; they're conduits of exploration and connection. 2. U.S. Route 6 (3,205 Miles From Provincetown to Bishop) U.S. Route 6 takes the silver medal as the second-longest highway in the U.S., spanning 3,205 miles from Massachusetts to California. This cross-country journey leads you through 14 states, each with its own unique flavor. From the historical charm of Massachusetts to the golden shores of California, Route 6 is a road trippers dream. 3. U.S. Route 30 (3,073 Miles from Atlantic City to Astoria) U.S. Route 30 stretches from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Astoria, Oregon. This highway guides you through beautiful countrysides and stunning urban landscapes alike. Whether you're cruising through the bustling cities of the East Coast or the tranquil beauty of the West, Route 30 offers an unforgettable adventure. 4. U.S. Route 50: (3,073 Miles from Ocean City to San Francisco) U.S. Route 50 is in a photo finish with Route 30 when it comes to claiming the bronze medal for longest highway in the United States. It also spans 3,073 miles, but this time from Ocean City, Maryland, to San Francisco, California. As you travel westward, you'll encounter landmarks such as the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin. 5. Interstate 90: (3,021 Miles from Boston to Seattle) U.S. Route 90 connects the east coast to the west coast, starting in Massachusetts and ending in Washington state. This highway is a lifeline for road trips and scenic drives, offering a front-row seat to the beauty of the American landscape. With its west entrance near the Pacific Ocean, Route 90 invites travelers to explore the coastal wonders of the western United States. 6. Interstate 80: (2,901 Miles from Teaneck to San Francisco) Interstate 80 is a major east-west route that passes through 11 states, starting from Teaneck, New Jersey, and terminating in San Francisco. With its diverse terrain and endless opportunities for exploration, Route 80 is a traveler's delight. Salt Lake City, nestled along this route, offers a vibrant urban experience amidst a backdrop of stunning natural beauty. 7. U.S. Route 60: (2,665 Miles from Virginia Beach to Brenda) U.S. Route 60 is a scenic marvel, winding its way through the Appalachian Mountains, a range that stretches from Canada to Alabama. This highway offers breathtaking views of the mountains and the landscapes that surround them. The route passes from the southern states all the way out to the painted deserts of the Southwest. 8. U.S. Route 66: (2,448 Miles from Chicago to Los Angeles) No list of America's longest highways would be complete without a nod to the iconic U.S. Route 66. Spanning 2,448 miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, this road is an inspiring symbol of freedom and adventure. It passes through eight states and is a favorite for road trips and scenic drives. The historic route deserves its title as the "Main Street of America." Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson made campaign stops at several Triad restaurants Monday as he looks to close the gap with his Democratic opponent, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein. Robinsons first stop of the day was at the Olympic Family Restaurant in Colfax, the community where he resides. The Republican candidate met with enthusiastic supporters in the restaurant as he walked around speaking and taking photos with patrons. Robinson also was scheduled to appear at restaurants in Winston-Salem, King and Reidsville on Monday. These campaign stops come as polls show Robinson trailing Stein. A High Point University poll released last week put the lieutenant governor 14 points behind Stein among registered voters. Even with the bad polling, Robinson said Monday he still sees a path to victory in November. Were not looking at numbers. Were looking at people, and were going after votes," Robinson said, "and we know we can still win this race, and we know we still are going to win this race. Robinson said success in the campaign will come down to reaching voters with their message and bringing out less engaged residents. Whats going to make the difference is making sure we continue to connect with the people and go after those voters last time that did not vote. Weve got to get those folks out to vote, he said. In his time in public life, Robinson has often been identified with his statements on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights. Though he did not refer to those issues specifically while taking questions from media, he did say he wanted to move on and emphasize the economy and education. Were pushing all the other stuff behind us, Robinsons said. We are getting laser-focused on making sure that North Carolina reaches its next great height. That is being done by working on the substantive issues. Robinson did release an ad addressing his views on abortion a few weeks ago. The ad featured Robinson and his wife Yolanda discussing their decision to have an abortion in the 1980s. In the ad, Robinson spoke in support of the abortion policy enacted by the N.C. General Assembly last year which put a 12-week limit on elective abortions while allowing some exceptions for rape, incest and cases where the womens life is in jeopardy. In the past, Robinson had called for stricter limits on abortion. During a 2023 interview, he said: If I had all the power right now lets say I was the governor, I had a willing legislature we could pass a bill that say you cant have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason. Robinson said Monday that his preference would have been for starting the limitation on elective abortions at six weeks while allowing exceptions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the womans life. However, he said he can come to terms with the 12-week limit adopted by the legislature. Theres no sense in arguing about that, Robinson said. Consensus is the will of the people. So now were at 12 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. We can still do the work that we believe we can do to help save lives in the womb but more importantly to make those lives better once theyre here and thats what we intend to do. Greensboro resident Sheri Celona said being able to meet Robinson and have him sign her Women for Trump cap was the highlight of her day. Celona said Robinson is a Godly man who wants to make great things happen in North Carolina. Celona said education was an important issue for her and that she is concerned about recovering learning loss among students from the COVID-19 pandemic. Greensboro resident Lynn Salsi echoed those sentiments and said there needs to be a change in priorities when it comes to education. The Democrats just want to focus on having sex education in classrooms, Salsi said, adding that schools needed to focus on subjects and skills needed to ensure "our children to be successful in life. Other supporters pointed to Robinsons personal qualities. Clay Gourley of Rockingham County said he likes the lieutenant governors personable, down-to-earth demeanor. Greensboro resident Tina Peterson said she sees Robinson as a man of the people. He understands what we need and what we want and hes ready to stand up for that, Peterson said, adding that she likes Robinsons stances on taxes, election security and womens rights. Not all who turned out Monday were supportive of Robinson, however. A small group of protestors with signs stood by West Market Street to show their opposition to his candidacy. I think his positions are awful for women, for our schools, for all of the hateful comments hes made. I see him as sort of a Mini-Trump, who I also oppose, Greensboro resident A.J. Tschupp said. Another protestor, Melissa Zacharias of High Point, agreed. I think that it would be a step toward rolling back a lot of rights for some folks who have been historically excluded women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, anybody who doesnt fit this cookie cutter mold of what we think Americans are, she said. From Left to Right: Brett Morgan, Managing Director and CEO - MyState Bank; Joel Thirgood, Product Owner - MyState Bank; and Anand Venkatachalam, Customer Success Director - Backbase COMPANY NEWS: Backbase , the global leader in engagement banking, has successfully delivered a new digital banking platform for MyState Bank (MyState) to support future growth. The platform represents a significant leap forward in delivering seamless, customer-centric digital experiences to MyState customers. MyState has partnered with Backbase to modernise its digital banking offering, aiming to simplify money management with an easier, more user-friendly, and secure platform for customers. Backbase has developed a proven engagement banking suite, combined with a robust delivery methodology. Backbase's powerful, flexible, and modular platform enables seamless integration with other leading technologies that the bank has invested in. Brett Morgan, Managing Director and CEO, MyState Bank. To support our growth ambitions, we have chosen to invest in best-of-suite technology to provide the best possible digital and people backed experience for our customers, said Brett Morgan, Managing Director and CEO, MyState Bank. The implementation has been smooth and customers have reacted positively to the new highly rated app and digital experience, Mr Morgan said. The Backbase Engagement Banking Platform now supports MyStates range of personal digital banking capabilities, including advanced personal finance management (PFM), payments (including Pay ID and digital wallets), deeply embedded threat/fraud protection and a sophisticated limits/notifications capability across all channels. Iman Ghodosi, Managing Director - Australia and New Zealand at Backbase Australia Iman Ghodosi, Managing Director - Australia and New Zealand at Backbase Australia, said, We are excited to support MyStates growth ambitions, with the Backbase platform as a key enabler. MyState is now well positioned to respond to the rapidly evolving needs of banking customers in Tasmania and as well as targeting growth on the east coast of Australia as a challenger brand. Anand Venkatachalam, Director for Customer Success at Backbase Australia Anand Venkatachalam, Director for Customer Success at Backbase Australia, said, "We are thrilled to see MyStates implementation go live and deliver a truly world-class tailored customer experience. To date, over 250 production releases have taken place in the lead up to launch. Ultimately, MyState Bank now has the machinery in place to continue innovation plans. "Since our partnership began, we've fostered a collaborate-to-win, success driven mindset and Backbase is eager to see this continue to flourish in the years to come." About Backbase Backbase is on a mission to re-architect banking around the customer. We are the creators of the Engagement Banking Platform a composable platform that empowers banks to accelerate their digital transformation through progressively modernizing their main customer journeys. From onboarding, to servicing, lending and investing, our platform streamlines every aspect of the customer and employee journey. Pre-integrated with leading core systems and cutting-edge fintechs, it enables institutions to unlock innovation at scale, driving instant value creation. Industry analysts Forrester, Gartner, Celent, Omdia and IDC continuously recognize Backbases category leadership. Over 150 financials around the world have embraced the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform including AIB, Banorte, BIAT, Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO, Banque Saudi Fransi, Everbank, BRD, Discovery Bank, Banco Bineo, First National Bank, HDFC, Ila Bank, National Bank of Canada, KeyBank, Judo Bank, OCB, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, I&M Bank Kenya, Navy Federal Credit Union, OTP Group, Raiffeisen, Techcombank, Standard Bank, Saudi National Bank, Societe Generale, and TPBank. Backbase is a private fintech company, founded in 2003 in Amsterdam (Global HQ), with regional offices in Atlanta (Americas HQ), Cardiff, Dubai, Hyderabad, Krakow, London, Mexico City, Singapore (Asia HQ), Sydney, and Toronto. Discover more here. About MyState Bank MyState Limited is the ASX-listed (MYS) non-operating holding company of the diversified financial services Group consisting of MyState Bank and TPT Wealth, a trustee and wealth management company. MyState Bank is regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority. MyState Bank and TPT Wealth hold Australian Financial Services Licences issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. "With AI and deepfakes enabling increasingly convincing scams - from fake job ads and celebrity-driven investment schemes to bogus event tickets - we're entering a zero-trust world where it's essential to question every request for personal details or money. Consumers must stay vigilant and follow best practices to minimise their cyber risk. Increasingly, businesses are prime targets due to their vast collections of personally identifiable information (PII) and have a critical responsibility to safeguard this data. With scams being so convincing it isn't a matter of if they or their customers fall foul, but when. Implementing robust security measures and ensuring ongoing education isn't just a priority - it's a necessity to protect both their customers and their own operations, Qualys ANZ managing director Sam Salehi says. "Initiatives like National Scam Awareness Week are especially important as education and prevention is critical to combating increasingly sophisticated scams. But while educating individuals to spot and report scams is essential, we must also recognise that even the most vigilant among us can fall prey to evolving threats. While we need to ensure individuals understand and implement measures to mitigate their own risks, organisations play a critical role in protecting consumers and their personal data, says SailPoint managing director ANZ Nam Lam. "Embracing a modern cybersecurity architecture and robust identity security measures is the strongest defence mechanism for CISOs, who most often hold the burden of blame when a breach (inevitably) occurs. Cybersecurity is a team sport; it touches every individual and is equally the responsibility of all leaders across an organisation. By fostering a collaborative approach and investing in advanced identity security capabilities, we can protect digital identities, build resilience against scams and safeguard both consumers and businesses alike." Scams and cybercrime are becoming increasingly linked, underscoring the urgent need for robust digital identity protections - and the Digital Identity Bill is a critical step in this direction. While many are familiar with scam calls and SMS, weak authentication methods like SMS one-time passcodes are still widely used for securing sensitive information - leaving organisations vulnerable. Corporate leaders must recognise that personal scams can directly impact their businesss cybersecurity posture, leading to threats such as blackmail, password compromise through reuse and impersonation fraud. Companies must tighten their authentication controls and educate their employees on the potential risks to safeguard personal and corporate security," says CyberArk senior security strategy advisor Olly Stimpson. The Nebraska Center for the Book announced the Nebraska Book Award winners Friday, all of whom will be celebrated at an October literary festival. The ceremony will take place Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus Union during the Nebraska Celebration of Books literary festival. This year's winners are: * Childrens picture book: Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder by Carla Ketner, illustrated by Paula Wallace and published by University of Nebraska Press. * Childrens novel: The Adventures of Pearl and Monty: The Bait and Switch by E. Adams, published by Jade Forest Publishing. * Teen novel: The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom by Allison L. Bitz, published by HarperTeen. * Cover and design: Feisty Righty: A Cancer Survivor's Journey by Jennifer D. James, with cover art by Courtney Keller and self-published. * Design honor: Horizons by Julie S. Paschold, published by Atmosphere Press. * Fiction: The War Begins in Paris: A Novel by Theodore Wheeler, published by Little, Brown and Company. * Nonfiction Nebraska as place: Field Guide to a Hybrid Landscape by Dana Fritz, published by Bison Books. * Nonfiction history: The First Migrants by Richard Edwards and Jacob K. Friefeld, published by Bison Books. * Poetry: The Gathering of Bastards by Romeo Oriogun, published by University of Nebraska Press. * Poetry honor: The Book Eaters by Carolina Hotchandani, published by Perugia Press. The award ceremony will also include readings by some winning authors, designers and illustrators of books with a Nebraska connection published in 2023. 150 Notable Nebraskans 1. Willa Cather 2. Standing Bear 3. Johnny Carson 4. George Norris 5. William Jennings Bryan 6. John Neihardt 7. Warren Buffett 8. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody 9. Charles Dawes 10. Ted Sorensen 11. J. Sterling Morton 12. Tom Osborne 13. John J. Pershing 14. Harold Edgerton 15. Loren Eiseley 16. Dick Cavett 17. Bob Kerrey 18. Henry Fonda 19. Roscoe Pound 20. Ernie Chambers 21. Bob Devaney 22. Crazy Horse 23. Susan La Flesche Picotte 24. Bob Gibson 25. Peter Kiewit 26. Marlon Brando 27. Charles Bessey 28. Louise Pound 29. George Beadle 30. Hartley Burr Alexander 31. Solomon Butcher 32. Bess Streeter Aldrich 33. Joyce Hall 34. Ted Kooser 35. Mari Sandoz 36. Robert Henri 37. Grover Cleveland Alexander 38. J.J. Exon 39. Alexander Payne 40. Daniel Freeman 41. Fred Astaire 42. Edith Abbott 43. Red Cloud 44. Darryl Zanuck 45. Chuck Hagel 46. Walter Behlen 47. Roger Welsch 48. Cliff Hillegass 49. Kay Orr 50. Ernst Lied 51. Grace Abbott 52. Terry Carpenter 53. Paul Johnsgard 54. Malcolm X 55. Robert Taylor 56. Harold Lloyd 57. Johnny Rodgers 58. Rose Blumkin 59. Harold Warp 60. Mike Johanns 61. Sandy Dennis 62. Chip Davis 63. Larry the Cable Guy 64. Walter Scott Jr. 65. Wright Morris 66. Gerald Ford 67. Gale Sayers 68. Virginia Smith 69. Clayton Anderson 70. Edwin Perkins 71. Matthew Sweet 72. Bob Boozer 73. Susette La Flesche Tibbles 74. Alvin Johnson 75. Father Edward Flanagan 76. Moses Kinkaid 77. Robert Furnas 78. Jeff Raikes 79. Joel Sartore 80. Donald Clifton 81. Sarah and George Joslyn 82. Robert Daugherty 83. Dwight Griswold 84. Nathan Gold 85. Ben Kuroki 86. William Petersen 87. Terry Pettit 88. Preston Love 89. Evelyn Brodstone Vestey 90. The Creightons 91. Grenville Dodge 92. Norman Geske 93. Frank Woods 94. J. Lee Rankin 95. Gordon MacRae 96. Montgomery Clift 97. Mabel Lee 98. Weldon Kees 99. Howard Hanson 100. William 'Speedy Bill' Smith 101. Keith Jacobshagen 102. Mary Pipher 103. Andrew Higgins 104. Gilbert Hitchcock 105. Charles Gere 106. Jordan Larson 107. Ed Zorinsky 108. Dick Cheney 109. Roman Hruska 110. Gutzon Borglum 111. Dave Rimington 112. Thomas Rogers Kimball 113. Logan Fontenelle 114. Nick Nolte 115. James Coburn 116. Randy Meisner 117. Max Baer 118. Magic Slim 119. Carl Curtis 120. Seacrest Family 121. Gabrielle Union 122. Paul Revere 123. Jonas Brandeis 124. Herman Cain 125. Paul Williams 126. Nicholas Sparks 127. Edward Ruscha 128. "Wahoo" Sam Crawford 129. Neal Hefti 130. Marg Helgenberger 131. Charlie Greene 132. Lee Simmons 133. Zager and Evans 134. James Valentine 135. Fred Seaton 136. John Falter 137. Aaron Douglas 138. Guy Chamberlin 139. Johnny Goodman 140. Norbert Tiemann 141. Victor Lewis 142. Reinhold Marxhausen 143. Michael Forsberg 144. Buddy Miles 145. "Gorgeous" George Wagner 146. Jack Van Berg 147. Mike Hill 148. Wynonie Harris 149. Swoosie Kurtz 150. Charles Starkweather The Nebraska State Patrol arrested a Tennessee man after finding 40 pounds of meth during a traffic stop Friday near Gretna, officials said. Jose Mojica Ortiz, 42, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was arrested after a trooper discovered dozens of packages of suspected meth in the Ford F-150 pickup truck Ortiz was driving, the State Patrol said in a news release Sunday. The trooper conducted a traffic stop after noticing the truck going into the shoulder of Interstate 80 near mile marker 432 near Gretna. During the stop, the trooper noticed that Ortiz appeared to be under the influence of drugs, the release said. A Ralston Police Department K-9 unit was called and detected a controlled substance in the truck, the State Patrol said. The vehicle was then searched. Troopers arrested Ortiz on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, according to the release. He was lodged in the Sarpy County Jail. Top Journal Star photos for August 2024 BURLINGTON A 31-year-old Burlington man has been accused of having child pornography on his cellphone. Shawn Downs was charged with 17 counts of possessing child pornography; one count of the possession of THC; and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. The child pornography charges are felonies, and each carries a fine up to $100,000, a prison sentence of 25 years, or both. The court can also impose a $500 surcharge for each pornographic image. According to a criminal complaint, the Burlington Police Department received tips from the Internet Crimes Against Children division of the Wisconsin Department of Justice in December 2023 and March 2024 regarding uploads from Downs cellphone. In June, detectives obtained two search warrants and reportedly found numerous depictions of child pornography stored on the phone. On Aug. 16, detectives searched his residence on East Jefferson Street. Downs reportedly denied knowledge of any items that depicted child pornography, according to the complaint. Downs cash bond was set at $25,000 on Aug. 20, and he is scheduled to appear Aug. 29 in Racine County Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing. New quality productive forces lead new trend of foreign investment in China Xinhua) 08:01, August 26, 2024 BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- With the help of Insilico Medicine's research and development team in Shanghai, the globally leading AI-driven biotech company has condensed preclinical drug development from multiple years into just 18 months. "Shanghai is our first choice to design new medicine, as it's the center of biopharmaceutical innovation," said Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico. "What's more, there are so many contract research organizations, talent and vibrant communities." Headquartered in New York and Hong Kong, Insilico built a drug research and development center in Shanghai in 2019. It has now become the largest and most talent-intensive among the company's centers and offices globally. Insilico is just one of the many foreign companies expanding investment in China, in order to tap broader market opportunities and cooperation space in new quality productive forces. With innovation playing the leading role, new quality productive forces mean advanced productivity freed from traditional economic growth modes and productivity development paths. They feature high-tech, high efficiency, and high quality in line with the new development philosophy. In the first seven months of 2024, the actual use of foreign investment in the high-tech manufacturing amounted to 69.58 billion yuan (about 9.75 billion U.S. dollar), which accounted for 12.9 percent of the nation's total actual use of foreign capital, marking a 2.6 percentage points increase compared to the same period last year. Foreign direct investment in the medical instrument industry, technique service industry, as well as computer and office facilities manufacturing surged 87 percent, 41.3 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively. Green development is the base of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are inherently green, and plenty of foreign-funded companies are embracing ecological transformation following the trend of carbon neutrality in China. A Tianjin factory of Danfoss, a Danish energy efficiency solution company, has achieved 100 percent green energy usage and plans to reduce 28,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Airbus' Tianjin campus has reduced nearly 2,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions through green electricity since the beginning of this year. According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China will foster 5,095 green factories, 371 green industry parks, 605 supply chain management enterprises and about 35,000 green products. "The cultivation of new quality productive forces provides broad marketing opportunities and new growth points", said President and CEO of Siemens China Xiao Song, adding that Siemens tends to combine digitalization and low-carbon trends to achieve high quality development. China is continuing to ramp up efforts to attract foreign firms and further expand its high-level opening up. An executive meeting of the State Council held Monday reviewed and approved the 2024 edition of a set of special administrative measures -- a negative list -- for foreign investment access. According to the negative list, China will further relax restrictions on foreign investment by completely abolishing entry barriers in the manufacturing sector, while accelerating the opening up of sectors such as telecommunication, education and health care services. "The dynamism of the Chinese market, coupled with the government's move to expand domestic demand and attract foreign investment, provides us with a broader space for development," said Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A rural Gays Mills teenager was injured in a two-vehicle crash in in the town of Bergen, rural Stoddard. The crash happened Tuesday, Aug. 20, at about 6:30 p.m., according to a press release from Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson. Nicholas Lance Liedtke, 16, of rural Gays Mills, was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Impala on Cedar Valley Road. Liedtke was traveling west, lost control in a downhill curve to the right, and struck an eastbound 2011 Dodge Ram 3500 driven by Theodore L. Kirven, 46, of rural Stoddard. Liedtke had minor injuries and was taken to Gundersen Heath System in La Crosse by private vehicle. Kirven did not report any injuries. The Stoddard-Bergen Fire Department and First Responders, and Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance responded to the scene. The crash remains under investigation by the sheriffs office. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip One of Gaza's last functioning hospitals has been emptying out in recent days as Israel ordered the evacuation of nearby areas and signaled a possible ground operation in a town that was largely spared throughout the war, officials said Monday. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main hospital serving central Gaza. The Israeli military did not order its evacuation, but patients and people sheltering there fear it could be engulfed in fighting or become the target of a raid. Also on Monday, Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis killed at least 19 people, according to local officials, and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed across the Lebanon border. Israeli forces invaded several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the 10-month-old war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Israeli evacuation orders now cover about 84% of Gaza's territory, according to the United Nations, which estimates that about 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million were forced from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times. The evacuation orders reduced the size of the humanitarian zone declared by Israel at the start of the war while crowding more Palestinians into it. Thousands of Palestinian families have packed into tent camps along the beach where aid groups say food and clean water are scarce and disease spreads quickly. The most recent satellite images available from PlanetLabs analyzed by The Associated Press show the increase in tent density along the beachfront since July 19. AP reporters saw people fleeing the hospital and surrounding areas on Monday, many on foot. Some pushed patients on stretchers or carried sick children, while others held bags of clothes, mattresses and blankets. Four schools in the area were also evacuated. "Where will we get medicine?" Adliyeh al-Najjar said as she rested outside the hospital gate. "Where will patients like me go?" Fatimah al-Attar fought back tears as she left the hospital compound heading in the direction of the tent camps. "Our fate is to die," she said. "There is no place for us to go. There is no safe place." The U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA said since Friday the Israeli military issued three evacuation orders for more than 19 neighborhoods in northern Gaza and in Deir al Balah, affecting more than 8,000 people staying in these areas. The order covers an area including or near UN and other humanitarian centers, the Al Aqsa hospital, two clinics, three wells, one water reservoir and one desalination plant, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for OCHA. "This effectively upends a whole lifesaving humanitarian hub," Laerke said. Doctors Without Borders, an international charity known by its French acronym MSF, said an explosion about 250 yards from the hospital on Sunday caused panic, accelerating the exodus. "As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment," it said on social media. The hospital said it was treating more than 600 patients before the evacuation orders, which apply to residential areas less than a mile away. About 100 patients remain, including seven in intensive care and eight in the children's ward. Israel's military said Monday its forces expanded operations on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah. Officials claimed to discover weapons in a residential apartment and dismantle an underground Hamas tunnel more than 700 yards long long. Local health officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a group of people on the seashore in Gaza City, killing at least seven men while they were fishing. Another strike hit a vehicle inside the Israeli-declared humanitarian zone near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, according to a Kuwaiti field hospital, where the bodies were taken. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those attacks. Monday night, a strike hit a house in Maghazi, a refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, and killed at least seven people, including four children and a woman, according to hospital records and AP journalists who counted the bodies. Ambulances recovered the bodies that were taken to Al Aqsa hospital. The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The fighting killed about 1,200 people and militants took about 250 hostages. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and caused heavy destruction across much of the territory. Hamas is still holding about 110 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were freed in a cease-fire last year. Israel has continued carrying out strikes across Gaza as the United States, Egypt and Qatar have tried to broker a lasting cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages. Major gaps remain despite several months of high-level negotiations. U.S. Troops Face Mounting Threats from Predatory Debt Collectors U.S. Troops Face Mounting Threats from Predatory Debt Collectors Most Menacing Loan Messengers Loan Harassment Hotspots Billionaire Bets on Bad Credit Lenders Try to Shutter CFPB Holidays, Interest Rates Not to Blame Mary Meng, a busy worker at a Chinese technology company in Shanghai, says she cannot imagine having a second child. "The work pressure is such that you don't even have any time to spend with your child," she said. "How can I think about taking care of two children? I have no idea." Urban residents in many places might agree with Meng's statement. But researchers say the speed of population decrease and aging in China means the government should consider with more urgency the effect of this fast-moving, costly city life on birth rates. At a recent top political gathering, China announced an effort to build a "birth-friendly society." It seeks to establish measures long-called for by population experts, such as lowering childcare and education costs. But, the same experts are concerned that Chinas new effort also promises to try to get more people into urban areas. The plan aims to increase housing demand to support the property sector. It also aims for economic growth through increased productivity and consumption. Urban residents generally produce and buy higher value-added goods and services than people in rural areas. But critics say the governments urbanization plan overlooks basic ideas about how populations operate in different places. In the cities, people have fewer children due to high housing costs, limited space, costly education, and because they spend most of their day at work. Infertility rates among couples in China have risen from 2 percent in the 1980s to 18 percent. The international rate is around 15 percent. Doctors blame Chinas infertility rise partly on stress related to urban jobs and industrial pollution. China's top economic planner says recent data shows the 2020 fertility rate was 1.54 in China's rural areas. The nationwide rate was lower at 1.3. The data also showed Shanghai's fertility rate in 2023 was 0.6. The national rate was 1.1. To have a stable population, experts say countries need fertility rates of about 2.1. Yi Fuxian is a doctor and top scientist with the School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. He says Chinese officials are "foolishly" driving young people to what he called the most birth-unfriendly big cities. This, he argues, will lead to continued decreases in fertility and worsen Chinas aging crisis. The expert said, "The suppression of fertility rates by population density is a biological law." There is evidence to support this argument already in East Asia. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all urbanized and industrialized faster than most other economies following World War Two. They also have the lowest fertility rates worldwide. While China's birth rates are also very low after many years of a strict one-child policy, not all is lost. At 65 percent, its urbanization rate is lower than the 80 to 90 percent rates in Japan or South Korea. This reality could give China ways to make valuable changes, population experts say. Improving rural living standards with better public services or more liberal land rights would support long-term economic growth better than urbanization, researchers say. "The population size is always a multiplier" in the economy, said Samir KC of the Asian Demographic Research Institute at Shanghai University. Poppy Yu, 21, who works at a film production company in Beijing six to seven days a week, wants no children. "I dont have the money or energy," Yu said. China's "birth-friendly society" effort includes bringing down costs of parenting and education and lengthening parental leave from work. It also proposes expanding medical care for mothers and children, and increasing tax forgiveness for parents. Many countries offer such support. But those with successful birth policies - such as France or Sweden - stand out for their greater gender equality, better labor rights and strong social welfare. Reducing childcare costs does not work on its own, said Yun Zhou, a social demographer at the University of Michigan in the United States. Instead, she argues, the policy pushes a set of family values that demand women take domestic responsibilities. Mary Meng, the tech worker, believes no policy can work until Chinese people start hoping again for a better life, financially. "Now everyone thinks there is no prospect at all," she said. "No matter how hard you work, it is just survival." Im John Russell. Farah Master and Laurie Chen reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. _______________________________________________ Words in This Story urban adj. of, relating to, characteristic of a city consumption n. the use of goods and services fertility rate -- n. the average number of children born to women during their reproductive years suppress v. to restrain from a usual course or action; to inhibit the growth or development of prospect n. possibility; something that is awaited or expected Hundreds of California sea lions have taken over San Carlos Beach in Monterey, California, causing officials to close the area to people. Drawn to the animals, people still gather to take photos as they rest and play on the sand and in the water. While sea lions, or eared seals, are often seen at certain beaches up and down the California coast, locals say they have never seen so many of them in Monterey. Lisa Uttal is a marine biologist with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. She said it was unclear exactly why the sea lions chose San Carlos Beach, but they may be attracted to the food supply in nearby waters. Almost all the seals gathered on the beach were male, she said. Uttal explained that the seals move to the northern coast from Ventura and the Channel Islands. They are incredibly mobile. They're usually chasing the food. She noted that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has many different kinds of sea life. Uttal expects the sea lions to remain on San Carlos Beach for three to four weeks. Marge Brigadier is a volunteer with Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Bay Net program. She said people should not get too close to the sea lions or try to make them move away. The U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 is the law that prevents people from harming them. "People just need to think about how they would feel if they were resting on their bed taking a nap and something big kept coming and chasing them out of the house," Brigadier said. Im Andrew Smith. Dylan Bouscher reported this story for Reuters. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English. ______________________________________________ Words in This Story sea lion n. an eared seal occurring mainly on Pacific coasts, the large male of which has a mane on the neck and shoulders. marine adj. of or relating to the sea or the plants and animals that live in the sea mammal n. a type of animal that feeds milk to its young and that usually has hair or fur covering most of its skin attract v. to cause (someone) to choose to do or be involved in something nap n. a short period of sleep especially during the day What do you think of this story? Write to us in the Comments Section. The founder and chief executive of the Telegram messaging service, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France over the weekend. The reports said police detained Durov Saturday night at Le Bourget airport in Paris. Durov holds citizenship in both France and Russia. He landed in France after a flight from Azerbaijan, French broadcasters LCI and TF1 reported. French media reported on Monday that Durovs arrest was linked to a French investigation that found evidence that Telegram had failed to reduce the spread of illegal material on its service. French President Emmanuel Macron said the arrest was in no way a political decision. He said on the social media service X that France is deeply committed to freedom of expression. But he added, Freedoms are upheld with in a legal framework. The arrest of the 39-year-old Durov was reportedly sought by a French investigative agency that examines crimes against minors. The French media says officials are investigating crimes including money laundering, drug trafficking and other offenses. In a statement issued Monday, Telegram said the company obeys all European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act. It added that Telegrams moderation methods operate within industry standards and are always being improved. Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe, the company said. The statement added, It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform." Representatives for Durov could not be immediately reached for comment. French law enforcement officials also offered no comment because the investigation is ongoing. Durov founded Telegram with his brother in reaction to Russian government efforts to crush large pro-democracy protests that took place in Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012. The demonstrations led the Russian government to introduce new restrictions on internet operations in the country. Durov left Russia in 2014. Russias agency that governs technology companies at one time tried to block Telegram but was unsuccessful in fully restricting the service. In March, the government said it was working with Telegram to remove content that violated Russian laws. The messaging service is currently a popular source of news in Ukraine, The Associated Press (AP) reports. Telegram is reportedly used by both government officials and the media to share information on Ukraines war with Russia. It has also been used to send missile and air raid warnings to citizens during the conflict. Western governments have criticized Telegram for having weak moderation policies that are supposed to identify and remove illegal material. Experts say the lack of enforcement makes it easier for individuals to commit crimes such as money laundering and drug trafficking on the service. David Thiel is a researcher at Stanford University in California. He has investigated the use of online services to carry out child exploitation. Thiel told the AP that compared to other messaging services, Telegram is less secure (and) more lax in identifying and removing illegal content. In addition, Telegram appears basically unresponsive to law enforcement, he added. As an example, Thiel said that while the messaging service WhatsApp registered 1.3 million reports of possible child exploitation in 2023, Telegram did not send any. In a statement to the AP earlier this month, Telegram said it actively works to fight the misuse of its service. The company said it uses a combination of monitoring methods and user reports in order to remove banned content. Each day, millions of pieces of harmful content are removed, it added. Im Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. __________________________________________ Words in This Story framework n. the supporting structure of something money laundering n. the crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally through banks and other businesses in order to make it seem like the money operations are legal moderate v. to make sure the rules of an internet discussion are not broken absurd adj. unreasonable or outrageous platform n. a company or service that permits someone to tell a large number of people about ideas or products exploit v. to use someone or something unfairly for your own advantage lax adj. without much care, attention or control unresponsive adj. not reacting in a quick or positive way monitor v. to carefully watch something Even a simple product like an egg can be cooked incorrectly. Cracks, uneven consistency, and an unpleasant odor are the reasons for many mistakes that we make very often. An egg cooked for five or six minutes looks completely different from an egg cooked for 10 minutes. Therefore, we need to find out what is right. ADVERTISIMENT Today, FoodOboz editorial team will tell you about the most common mistakes that spoil the taste of boiled eggs and how to make this product delicious. Mistakes that can ruin boiled eggs Dipping raw eggs into hot water. This can cause the product to crack. Cooking very cold eggs directly from the refrigerator. Bringing eggs to an active boil. It is best to boil eggs at room temperature. Taste of Home recommends bringing eggs to room temperature before boiling them. To prevent cracking, they should be placed in a pot of cold water and cooked for about eight minutes. On the other hand, Australian chef Peter Gilmore told the Sydney Morning Herald that he prefers to heat the water directly to a boiling point and then add the eggs. ADVERTISIMENT Most experts agree that it's best to use room-temperature eggs and immerse them in cold or warm water. What to do if eggs are difficult to peel Hold the product under running cold water for a few seconds Chef Peter Doyle recommends immersing eggs in ice water after they are cooked. This way, the yolk will contain a small amount of moisture and will not turn out dry. How to combine eggs correctly We're used to eating this product in a salad with mayonnaise and other stomach-heavy ingredients. But eggs can also be used to make a light dish. Japanese salad "Kyoto" Ingredients: Chinese cabbage - 200 g Cucumbers - 100 g Boiled chicken fillet - 120 g ADVERTISIMENT Eggs - 2 pcs Hot pepper - 1 pc Green onions - 4 pcs Salt to taste Ingredients for the dressing Soy sauce -2 tbsp Lemon juice - 2 tbsp Sesame oil - 2 tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Roasted sesame seeds - 1 tbsp Method of preparation: Prepare a Japanese Tamago omelet: put a frying pan on the fire to heat up. Grease it with vegetable oil. Beat an egg in a cup with salt. Fry it in the pan on both sides. It will look like a thin pancake. Fry the rest of the eggs in the same way. Chop the Chinese cabbage and put it in a large cup. Rinse the cucumbers and cut them into thin strips, add them to the cabbage. Cut the onion into thin, long pieces. Peel the chili peppers from the seeds and cut them into small pieces. Cut the chicken into strips. Put the prepared products to the cabbage to the cabbage. Roll the omelet into a tube and cut into thin strips. Add to the rest of the ingredients. Prepare the dressing: mix all the prepared ingredients except sesame seeds. Pour the dressing over the salad. Sprinkle the dish with sesame seeds and mix. On Being Assyrian in America "Iranian Leopard" by Esther Elia, 2024. In last month's "From the Vault" column, I wrote about the paintings, prints and sculptures by Jane Abrams, currently on display in the exhibition "Fire on the Water." This month, I would like to focus on the work of emerging contemporary artist Esther Elia in the upcoming exhibition "Khosh min Lakha." Esther Elia's work includes ceramics, painting, sculpture, and wearable art. Her work reflects her identity, stemming from her mixed Assyrian and Irish background. Originally from a section of the Middle East stretching across part of what is now Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, those in the Assyrian diaspora are now all over the world. Her ancestors fled Iran between 1915 and 1920 as a result of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides and eventually settled in the United States. Born and raised in Turlock, California, Elia has been collecting oral histories from family members as a way to connect with and better understand her culture despite assimilation. "I grew up in a mixed household that no longer spoke Assyrian," Elia is quoted by Yasmine Mosimann in a 2020 article by the media network Rudaw. "Though I was born in America, raised to speak English, and was a mix of two ethnicities -- effectively the American dream incarnate, completely assimilated -- there was something I felt that I was still missing ... . There is a lot of fear from immigrant communities that their cultures will be lost, that their kids won't care about the traditions associated with ethnicity. My work explores the reality of that and transforms fearful speculation to relaying stories of an actual lived experience that talks about my pursuit of being Assyrian in America." The exhibition title "Khosh min Lakha" is a term in the Assyrian language that roughly translates to "go from here." While there are a number of ways to interpret this directive statement, it is understood by those in the Assyrian diaspora that they are no longer welcome in their homeland and must leave if they want to survive. About this, Elia wrote in an email to me, "For me, it has the association that we were told to leave a place suddenly and rudely -- by a group that no longer liked us, and that became a large part of our identity and cultural history. We carry it with us, and are prepared if it is said to us again, while also recognizing that just because we were told to go -- that doesn't mean that we can't uproot and thrive again somewhere else." Elia's hybrid identity is reflected in her recent monumental sculptures. In a statement on her website, Elia says, "I draw from the grid of a rug and practices of tiling to create blocky sculptures ... (that) are contemporary representations of Assyrian deities -- hybrid creatures, lamassus, chimeras with eagle wings and lion tails, bull bodies, ancient symbols and talismans. I am examining where ancient culture and ritual can continue to show up in our contemporary lives." In the 2023 interview with Mosimann, Elia adds, "As a region, it's been really difficult for me to find concrete, unbiased histories, which is why I have been relying on oral histories to be the foundational research for my work on being Assyrian. As a minority group within the Middle East, finding any sort of history becomes even more of a challenge, which I think is why so many Assyrian artists use ancient works as a jumping-off point to talk about being Assyrian." The artist is also quoted in a June 2023 article on the website of ArteEast, a New York-based arts collective and a global platform for Middle East arts. "I was drawing 'Assyrian bodybuilder deities' -- figures that reflected elements from the ancient Assyrian pantheon, while also speaking to a very real trend I was seeing and experiencing through Instagram of Assyrian women from my community bodybuilding and powerlifting," it reads. As an artist building bridges between communities, Elia spearheaded the 2023 initiative Native Soil, which brought Indigenous potters based in the United States to northern Iraq, where they participated in harvesting both clay and cultural exchange with Assyrian potters. In the 2023 ArteEast article, Elia said, "There is an Assyrian organization called Gishru: Bridge to Assyria, which takes Assyrians from the diaspora to visit a piece of our homeland and make connections there." In a 2023 article on the website of The Word (an independent news platform dedicated to serving the Assyrian community), Yasmeen Altaji wrote, "She (Elia) had developed a keen eye for clay deposits as an art student in New Mexico, harvesting clay with Native American instructors. She noticed the deposits on her first trip to Iraq in 2022, which would lay the groundwork for Native Soil, an initiative launched this month bringing together indigenous potters from the US and Iraq in a first-of-its-kind exchange of native cultural knowledge." Based in Albuquerque, Esther Elia received her Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration from California College of the Arts in 2019 and her Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of New Mexico in 2023. She has exhibited her work at venues in Arizona, California, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia, as well as in Iraq. Elia has been an artist-in-residence at Facebook and Minnesota Street Project in California and has received a number of awards from the Guggenheim Summer College Workshop, the San Francisco State University's Iranian Diaspora Studies Program and SITE Santa Fe, among others. "Esther Elia: Khosh min Lakha" at the Roswell Museum is the artist's first solo exhibition at a museum since receiving her MFA. The artist will deliver an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by an opening reception, both free and open to the public. The exhibition is on display in the museum's entry gallery from Aug. 31 to Nov. 17. For more information about the artist, visit estherestheresther.com and her Instagram page, @malikta.esther. For more information about the Roswell Museum, visit roswellmuseum.org. Hundreds of police officers backed by riot squads raided a vast religious compound in a southern Philippine city Saturday in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking, police officials said. A supporter of the group, called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, reportedly died due to a heart attack during the massive police raid that started at dawn in the groups compound in Davao city, livestreamed online by a local TV network owned by the group, police said, adding that the death was not related to the police operations. Officers brought equipment that could detect people behind cement walls. But by mid-afternoon, they found no sign of Apollo Quiboloy in the compound some 30 hectares that includes a cathedral, a school, a living area, a hangar and a taxiway leading to Davao International Airport. Quiboloy and his lawyer have denied the criminal allegations against him and his religious group, saying these were fabricated by critics and former members, who were removed from the religious group after committing irregularities. Quiboloys followers, many filming the police raid with their cellphones, yelled at the police, questioning the legality of the raid and pronouncing the innocence of Quiboloy, who was a close supporter and spiritual adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte had criticized previous attempts by large numbers of police to arrest Quiboloy as overkill. Quiboloy claims to be the appointed son of God. In 2019, he claimed he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines. Police Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, who led the raid, said officers wanted to serve warrants for the arrest of Quiboloy for various criminal cases, including child abuse and human trafficking. He justified the large deployment, saying there were more than 40 buildings and structures to be searched in the religious compound, where large numbers of Quiboloys followers heckled and opposed the raid noisily. We wont leave here until we get him, Torre told reporters as sirens blared in the background. We have no-bail warrants for Quiboloy and four others for very grave crimes, including human trafficking, child abuse and other cases. In 2021, United States federal prosecutors announced the indictment of Quiboloy for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and eternal damnation unless they catered to the self-proclaimed son of God. Quiboloy and two of his top administrators were among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury and unsealed in November 2021. The superseding indictment contained a raft of charges, including conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling and visa fraud. Quiboloys group said then that he was ready to face the charges in court, but he went into hiding after a Philippine court ordered his arrest and several others for child and sexual abuse. The Philippine Senate has separately ordered Quiboloys arrest for refusing to appear in committee hearings that was looking into criminal allegations against him. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has urged Quiboloy to surrender and assured him of fair treatment by authorities. When he was mayor of Davao city and later as president, Duterte appeared in Quiboloys news program to promote his police-enforced drug crackdowns, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. Duterte and his police officials have denied authorizing extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, but he openly threatened drug dealers with death when he was in office. The International Criminal Court has been investigating the widespread killings under Dutertes campaign against illegal drugs as a possible crime against humanity. JIM GOMEZ, MANILA, MDT/AP The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) has reported a concerning rise in the number of people seeking help for gambling disorders. In the first half of the year, the central registration system for those with gambling problems received 108 cases, marking an upward trend year-on-year. The bureaus Problem Gambling Prevention and Treatment division head, Wu I Mui, said the majority of those seeking help are between the ages of 30 and 39, with 40% being tourists. In response, the bureau plans to strengthen the promotion of responsible gambling messages, particularly in tourist areas, and cooperate with local merchants to raise awareness of gambling help services. Additionally, the bureau has been working closely with schools to address the issue. Parent groups have been established in junior and primary grades, as it was found that many families lack financial education and money management skills. Wu said the bureau aims to cultivate healthy financial values from an early age through home-school collaboration, with plans to expand the program to upper primary grades. The bureaus smart financial management promotion program, implemented in partnership with private organizations and schools, has already attracted nearly 49 schools and 50,000 students to participate. Last year, the IAS reported 119 individuals were using drugs. This figure indicates a 40% increase from the previous year, but a 65% decrease compared to 2019. In June, the bureau announced plans to improve the central registration system for drug abusers. The goal is to finalize a comprehensive report by the end of this year and move forward with the next phase of the project. IAS revealed over 80% of drug users reported using drugs either at home or in hotels last year, adding there has been a rise in drug abuse among Macau residents in the mainland and Hong Kong. * On a Roll GDP expands 15.7% y-o-y to MOP204b in H1, surpassing 2019 levels; region sets tourist traffic record * Caught in the lens World Press Photo withdraws from China, the Times learned The Social Welfare Bureau reported a concerning rise in the number of people seeking help for gambling disorders * Wai Hung clears names surrounding controversial fraud arrest * China opposes US sanctions on firms over alleged ties to Russias war efforts DOWNLOAD PDF Monday, August 26, 2024 edition no. 4553 A Philippine fisheries bureau plane was threatened by flares fired from a Chinese island base while conducting a routine patrol in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said Saturday, the latest territorial spat between Beijing and Manila over one of the worlds busiest trade routes, with confrontations spreading from the disputed waters to the airspace above. China has been at odds with several other countries in the Asia-Pacific for years over its sweeping maritime claims, including almost all of the South China Sea. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Cessna 208B Grand Caravan plane was flying near Subi Reef last Thursday when it spotted flares being fired from the fishing atoll, which China has transformed into a militarized island base, a Philippine government interagency task force said in a statement. No other details were provided, including the distance of the flares from the Philippine plane and if it proceeded with its patrol to monitor for poachers in the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. The same Philippine fisheries plane was subjected to harassment on Aug. 19 when a Chinese air force fighter jet engaged in irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers, deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 meters near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine task force said. The Chinese fighter jet was not provoked, yet its actions demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardized the safety of the personnel onboard the BFAR aircraft, according to the task force, which includes the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine coast guard. Chinese officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but they have previously accused Philippine ships and aircraft of encroaching into what they said was Chinese territory in the sea passage. We firmly reiterate our call on the government of the Peoples Republic of China to immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities within Philippine territory and exclusive economic zone, the Philippine task force said. Such actions undermine regional peace and security and further erode the image of the PRC with the international community. The United States, Manilas longtime treaty ally, also condemned China over the firing of flares at Philippine aircraft over the two shoals. We call on the PRC to cease provocative and dangerous actions that undermine a free and open Indo-Pacific, U.S. Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson said in a statement posted on X. In a separate Aug. 8 dispute over the Scarborough Shoal, Philippine officials said two Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane. It was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea began heating up in 2023. Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. did not report any injuries or damage then, but condemned the Chinese actions, which he said could have had tragic consequences. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila eventually filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing. If the flares came into contact with our aircraft, these could have been blown into the propeller or the intake or burned our plane, Brawner told reporters. It was very dangerous. The Southern Theater Command of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army said that a Philippine air force aircraft illegally entered the airspace above the Scarborough, which China also claims, disrupting its combat training activities at the time. The command said it sent jets and ships to identify, track and drive away the Philippine aircraft, and warned the Philippines to stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hyping-up. The United States, Australia and Canada have reported similar actions by Chinese air force aircraft in the South China Sea, where those nations have deployed forces to promote freedom of navigation and overflight. China has bristled at military deployments by the U.S. and its allies in the disputed region, calling it a danger to regional security. JIM GOMEZ, MANILA, MDT/AP Disputably the best regarded and most famous international annual photojournalism and documentary photography contest World Press Photo (WPP) has scaled back its exhibitions in China, citing strict government regulations and the risks involved for the local organizers, Babette Warendorf, director of Exhibitions & Partnerships of the World Press Photo Foundation, has told the Times. In response to a Times inquiry on the shrinking to almost zero of the number of exhibitions from this years event in most of Asia and China, including Macau and Hong Kong, Warendorf said, World Press Photo is feeling the consequences of declining press freedom worldwide, as reported by Reporters without Borders. In recent years, weve seen several incidents of governments restricting access or canceling exhibition[s], [such as] in Hanoi in 2022 and Budapest in 2023. While noting that carrying out the annual exhibition in most locations in China carries the same risks, the same official explained, As World Press Photo is considered controversial in China and due to strict government regulations, it is a challenge to find venues and partners who are willing to collaborate. We are still committed to finding a partner to organize the annual show, but we also realize there are risks involved for local organizers. Nonetheless, WPP also said that in China as well as Mongolia, the organization is counting on the support of the Dutch embassy to carry out the Resilience exhibition, a separate thing from the WPP annual contest. This exhibition focuses on stories of women inspiring change, presenting a selection of stories, awarded in the annual WPP contest from 2000 to 2021, highlighting the resilience and challenges of women, girls, and communities around the world. According to Warendorf, this exhibition will be held this year, following the partnership with the Dutch embassies, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia). The same official also noted that for the usual 2024 WPP Contest exhibition, the only location confirmed so far is Taipei, Taiwan, which is scheduled to take place from Oct. 19 to Nov. 10 at Studio94, an art studio in Taiwan. This year marks the 67th WPP Contest which has selected the winning works from more than 61,000 entries from all over the world. Held in Macau since 2008, the last WPP exhibition in Macau which counted on the organizational support of the Casa de Portugal em Macau (Portuguese Association in Macau) was held in 2020 and came to an unexpected close in early October after just a few days. Macau was, at that time, the only city in Chinese territory to host such an exhibition which was considered particularly sensitive by some because it portrayed a story related to the social unrest in the region of Hong Kong. As the Times also reported at the time, earlier speculation hinted that the Macau exhibition would not display these images, which was later proven false. Over the years, many cities in China have held this exhibition including, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Nanjing. The exhibition has also counted, over the years, with numerous Chinese award winners. This years winner of the World Press Photo of the Year was Mohammed Salem, representing the Reuters news agency in Palestine. The winning work portrays a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her niece, killed in the ongoing conflict with Israel. The World Press Photo Story of the Year award was attributed to Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa, for GEO Magazine, for the work titled Valim-babena. 2024 World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award, was awarded to Alejandro Cegarra, Venezuela, The New York Times/Bloomberg with the work The Two Walls. Last but not least, the World Press Photo Open Format Award was granted to Julia Kochetova, Ukraine for the work War Is Personal. This article has been updated to reflect changes regarding the reduction of exhibitions in China. Todofresco, a takeout, delivery and catering business that opened last September, has closed its counter-service restaurant on Capitol Square. A sign on the door said the business is closed and directed customers to visit its website or call for more information. In a text, owner Josh Berkson said the restaurant is moving to catering only. We are working out specifics in the next few weeks. Berkson is majority owner of Lucille and co-founder of Rule No. One Hospitality Group, which also runs Merchant and had Amara at Hilldale until it closed last month. Todofresco, a combination of everything fresh in Spanish, was a modern, Latin-influenced carryout restaurant that specialized in warm bowls, salads, breakfast burritos and pressed juices. Jon Nodler, Rule No. Ones culinary director, created most of Todofrescos opening menu. Nodler was a James Beard Award semifinalist for best new mid-Atlantic chef while working in Philadelphia. Berkson said in May that Rule No. One has a juicing program thats built around Todofresco and the massive industrial juicer underneath the restaurant. That juice is sold not only to Merchant, Lucille and Amara for mixers, but to other bars, restaurants and retailers in the area. Todofresco didnt have seating inside the restaurant, but customers could enter the historic Tenney buildings lobby atrium from the restaurant and use the three tables there. The Baraboo police K-9 handler has resigned amid an investigation into alleged involvement with an accused drug dealer, while two other officers were cleared of misconduct, according to a Baraboo Police Department statement Monday. Officer Derek Burch, who handled K-9 Riggs for the Baraboo Police Department, resigned last week, according to the unsigned statement, which did not say why or whether he had been accused of any wrongdoing. Officers Nick Burch and Mike Pichler were found not to have violated any laws, the statement said. A Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation probe is ongoing. Burch resigned prior to the departments completion of an internal investigation into the officers alleged affiliation with William Deppe, 37, of Baraboo, who faces 17 felony charges, mostly related to narcotics and firearms. Deppe faces numerous charges of narcotics possession with intent to deliver, maintaining a drug trafficking place, firearm-related counts and child neglect. He was ordered not to have contact with the three officers as a condition of his bond, according to court records. The most serious charge Deppe faces is possession with intent to deliver more than 40 grams of cocaine, which could result in a prison sentence up to 40 years. A criminal complaint against Deppe did not name Derek or Nick Burch, or Pichler, nor detail Deppes alleged involvement with any Baraboo police officers. According to the criminal complaint, Sauk County deputies executed a warrant to search three properties associated with Deppe, including his home in town of Fairfield, on Aug. 13. Sheriff Chip Meister said in a news release that the other two locations were a commercial property and storage facility in the City of Baraboo and town of Baraboo, respectively. According to the criminal complaint: Investigators also searched Deppes vehicle on Aug. 13, after arresting him on the east side of Baraboo, and discovered drug paraphernalia and a loaded handgun. Over the next three days, investigators discovered prescription bottles containing various narcotics, numerous small bags of cocaine, pills containing fentanyl, digital scales and 63 more firearms, many of which were easily accessible to Deppes two children. In total, roughly 64 grams of cocaine were discovered during the investigation, as well as 75 pills, including 60 hydrocodone tablets. The department announced on Aug. 16 that three officers were allegedly affiliated with Deppe. One of the officers was placed on leave, but the department has not said which one. Despite a Baraboo property being searched, the Baraboo Police Department was not listed in a news release by Meister as assisting with the search. Lake Delton, Wisconsin Dells and Reedsburg Police departments, along with the Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted the Sauk County Sheriffs Office in the investigation. More than two out of three UW-Madison students pay more for housing than they can afford, according to a first-ever study conducted by the city and the university. The study confirmed what is largely already known through reams of anecdotal evidence: Nearly 70% of rentals are too expensive, costing individual students $1,000 or more in rent each month per student, often hundreds of dollars above what the students consider affordable; the cheapest apartments are often farthest from campus and more run down; and UW-Madison is one of the most expensive off-campus housing markets in the Big Ten conference. In many campus markets, even across the Universities of Wisconsin, opting to stay in the dorms is the more expensive option. But UW-Madisons off-campus housing market flips that conventional wisdom on its head: On-campus housing at UW-Madison averages about $869 a month per bed, about $400 less per month than the average off-campus price per student. For a quarter of students, reaching their affordable price point of about $980 a month requires them to share bedrooms, not just their apartment, with roommates. The average off-campus apartment rents for $1,273 a month per student bed, while newer apartments tend to go for about $1,575 per bed. The nearly 3,600 students surveyed reported paying an average of $903 in spring 2024. Those students reported getting savvier as the years went on: More time in the housing market allowed them time to find cheaper rents. On the flip side, students newer to the area are at a significant disadvantage. Leases often open in early October, giving first-year students just a handful of weeks to find roommates and scout out where to live the following year before all of the good options are snatched up. Theres also just not enough housing to go around, the study finds. The occupancy rate of off-campus student housing is 98%. That 2% vacancy rate is far below whats considered healthy: 5% to 8%. Thousands more off-campus housing units are set to come online in the coming years, but like the rest of Madison, many of those new units are considered unaffordable to the population theyre meant to serve. Other studies of student housing stock have been taken in the past, but this is the first that gathered student feedback. UW-Madison and the city of Madison funded the survey after a rental frenzy in the fall of 2022, when rents jumped hundreds of dollars a year and students scrambled to find somewhere cheaper to live even sleeping overnight to be first in line when rental offices opened leases for the next year. The study was championed by Ald. Juliana Bennett, District 2. That same year, UW-Madisons on-campus housing suffered its own serious crunch the largest freshman class in history squeezed University Housing to the point that it paid returning students with residence hall contracts to leave. Applications to be a housefellow, what UW-Madison calls its resident assistants in dorms, skyrocketed as students saw that as a way to escape the increasingly costly off-campus housing market. Madisons geography, with UW-Madisons placement near Downtown, complicates the housing challenges. UW-Madisons students compete with young professionals and employees who also want to work and live Downtown in ways their Big Ten university peers dont. Madisons Downtown is also on an isthmus, meaning it has more room to grow up than out, leaving inherently cheaper older properties vulnerable to being razed to make way for larger developments. More student housing is expected in the coming years. About 1,700 units are under construction and another 4,000 units have been proposed. A case for new dorms While UW-Madison cant do anything about the private housing market, it can lobby the state Legislature for a new residence hall to relieve some of the pressure on housing prices. One of the recommendations by Chicago-based consultant Jones Lang LaSalle, hired as part of the study, was that the campus invest in more residence halls. UW-Madison hasnt opened a new dorm in more than a decade, when enrollment was just shy of 43,000 students. Since 2010, first-year student enrollment has grown 34%. UW-Madison cracked 50,000 students last fall. UW-Madison has been eyeing a $293 million new dorm for years and added it to its wish list for capital spending last fall. Just last week, Universities of Wisconsin leaders approved adding it to a short list of major projects it hopes to see approved in the states next two-year budget. But even adding those 2,000 beds wouldnt get UW-Madison as far as it needs to go. Much of that capacity would be used to ease congestion in UW-Madisons other dorms, where some larger double rooms now house three people and lounges have been converted to rooms. This shows the continuing demand for a UW-Madison education, the pressures on our current residence halls, designed for about 7,700 students, were counting about 8,800 this year, UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer said Monday. While borrowing for UW system residence halls has to be approved by state lawmakers, it doesnt cost the taxpayers any money. The money to pay off those loans comes from students who pay room and board fees to their respective universities. Partnering with landlords Jones Lang LaSalle, the consultant, also recommends UW-Madison work with private landlords to extend the time for signing leases to give students more time to research housing and develop public-private partnerships to create more student housing. The city also should encourage building more higher-density apartments with more three-, four- and five-bedroom apartments, and encourage developers to build units that are more affordable, the consultant said. While the market appears to cater to student renters because of the sheer number of beds available about 60,000 in a 2.5-mile radius of campus the layout of the units does not cater to students, the consultant said. Most of the rental units available for students are either one- or two-bedroom units, layouts aligned more with a multifamily housing market, not one for students. Why Syria Will Always Be the Heartland of Eastern Christianity Assyrians attend a Palm Sunday mass at the Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, on 9 April 2023. ( Delil Souleiman/AFP) Earlier this year, conservative US television host Tucker Carlson raised the ire of the Israel lobby and Christian Zionists by questioning Washington's support for an Israel that is intent on killing and persecuting Palestinian Christians. Carlson interviewed Reverend Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church, a pastor from Bethlehem, and chronicled a consistent lack of awareness in the US about the treatment of Christians in the Holy Land. It was Carlson who, back in 2018 as a Fox News host, launched a debate in US mainstream media on the widespread killing of Syrian Christians, and he regularly questioned US support for groups that were targeting Christians in the Middle East. It could be argued that the war in Syria brought to the foreground the persecution of Eastern Christianity as a whole, from North Africa to South Asia. A recent book by Eugene Rogan, The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World, highlights the spiritual and geopolitical importance of the massacre of Syrian Christians in 1860, which upset the former inter-faith hierarchy of the Ottoman states. Just as then, Damascus has again caught the attention of Christians worldwide for its importance as the heartland of Eastern Christianity. As in 1860, interference from outside powers - France, the UK and the US - imperilled rather than protected the centuries-long coexistence of Christians and Muslims, as did US support for militant groups in Syria as they began targeting the most prosperous Christians (ie Syrians) of the Middle East. Foreign influence The Damascus Events focuses on a key event, the 1860 massacre of thousands of Christians in Damascus - when a mob, fuelled by rumours that Christians were about to take revenge on the Druze, entered the city - and the outbreak of disorder across the Levant. These events forever changed the course of the Middle East, in terms of increased western interference in Levantine affairs. The book also looks at how the previous harmony of different faiths in the Ottoman hinterland of greater Syria could degenerate into inter-communal violence at the provocation of foreigners and rumours. Rogan, a professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Oxford, points out how increased trade in greater Syria during Ottoman times led to major European powers favouring local Christians as their commercial partners and diplomats on the ground in cities such as Aleppo, Damascus, Beirut, Tarsus, and Antakya. European pressure on the Ottomans with regards to giving Christians equal rights, and placing Christian affairs in European hands, led to tensions in what was an otherwise peaceful coexistence. Weak Ottoman governance - Constantinople was broke and too consumed by its European territories in the Balkans - coupled with foreign pressure, raised local tensions. It is ironic that Rogan calls these occurrences "the Damascus events", as they followed violence between the Druze and Maronites in Mount Lebanon, far away from Damascus. But fear, insecurity and rumours eventually led to the massacre in Damascus. Rogan goes to some lengths to describe the written and oral history from Druze, Muslims and Christians, explaining how rumours that started in Mount Lebanon made their way to Damascus via Homs and Aleppo. He places more blame on outside forces, whether real or perceived, for influencing or playing on the insecurities of Damascenes, leading to the attacks on prosperous Christian merchants. Lesson in coexistence Rogan ends on a positive note, noting that the very same Damascene Muslims hell-bent on killing innocent Christians eventually came to the rescue of the persecuted against the frenzied mob incited by outsiders. Many of those who first attacked the ancient Christian quarter of Bab Touma were not actually from Damascus. Rather, they were Druze from Lebanon and further south, along with Bedouin Arabs and others living on the outskirts of Damascus. Yet whatever the origins of the violent events in Damascus, they hastened the influence of European capitals in Ottoman affairs and put more pressure on the declining governance of Ottoman officials in far-off provinces, from the Balkans to the Levant. They also catapulted Damascus back into the imagination of Western Christianity as a key bastion of Eastern Christianity. In 2001, the late Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Damascus and spoke at length of the importance of Syria for all Christians, including the roots of the Vatican and the Catholic church, thanks to St Paul's vision in the old quarter of Damascus. The pope also spoke of complete harmony between Muslims and Christians in Syria, how it was hard to find anywhere else in the world and how this ought to be a lesson in coexistence. Bearing the brunt The war in Syria has had a profound impact on the lives of all Syrians. But just as in neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon, Christians in Syria have borne a heavy burden after being targeted by extremist groups simply because of their faith. In 2016, the war in Syria elicited the first meeting in 1,000 years between the Russian Orthodox Patriarch and a pope, Francis, spurred on by the killings of Christians in Syria and the Middle East. The Russian Orthodox Church had blessed the Russian intervention in Syria as being a Holy War, given the importance of Syria to Christians. Similarly, multiple British Christian delegations have visited Syria and sounded the alarm over the dwindling Syrian Christian population. Carlson has led the rallying cry among conservatives in the US by highlighting the importance of Syrian Christians. Brad Hoff and Zachary Wingerd co-authored Syria Crucified, which chronicled the plight of Syrian Christians and the impact on Eastern Christianity, while also detailing how American Christians have started taking notice, especially of the atrocities carried out by US-supported militants. Rogan's book, while a reminder of dark events, is also a reminder that today, just as in the 1860s, it is not the locals driven to a killing frenzy. There is an optimism that Syrians can rebuild society, since most Syrian Muslims do not see Syrian Christians as distinct or different from themselves. Outside interference is driving events on the ground, just as it did in the mid-19th century - and therefore there is hope that Syria shall continue to be the heartland of Eastern Christianity. The Janesville Police Department is investigating after receiving a report early Sunday of shots fired at the city of Janesville's Masonic Center. At 2:47 a.m. on Sunday, Janesville police officers arrived at the intersection of East Milwaukee Street and North Sumac Drive, and eventually located several windows with bullet holes at the Masonic Center, 2322 W. Milwaukee St. Officers also recovered bullets, said Rogelio Carrasco, Janesville Police Department sergeant. The person filing the report told police they heard "multiple" sets of rounds being fired 15 minutes prior to calling authorities, he said. The reporting person also told Janesville police they saw a man at the aforementioned intersection who was around six feet tall with a thin build. The man was reportedly wearing a dark long-sleeved top and dark-colored pants, Carrasco said. No one was injured during the incident, he said. The investigation remains ongoing. Carrasco said if anyone has information about the incident, they should call the Janesville Police Department at 608-755-3100, the Rock County Communications Center at 608-755-3100 or the Janesville Area Crime Stoppers at 608-756-3636. Callers can remain anonymous, he said. The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Monday said dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is still in Indonesia, while her brother Wesley reportedly attempted to enter Hong Kong last week. We got in touch with our Indonesian counterparts and according to their info, Guo Hua Ping (Alice) is still in Batam, PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in an interview with Balitanghali. - Advertisement - On Wesley Guo, we received information that he tried to fly to Hong Kong or attempted to go to Hong Kong last Monday (August 19). Were checking if he made it, he added. Casio said the Philippine government is talking with the Hong Kong government if Wesley was able to enter the latter. According to him, the PAOCC has a lead on those assisting the Guo siblings and is currently verifying the information and photos they have received. Casio added the PAOCC is coordinating with the international government to monitor the people allegedly helping the siblings on their flights abroad. QUETTA, PakistanSeparatist gunmen shot and killed at least 22 people in southwest Pakistan on Monday in an attack that singled out ethnic Punjabis, government officials said. Dozens of militants carried out the shootings early Monday in the district of Musakhail in impoverished Balochistan province, where security forces are battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence. - Advertisement - The Baloch Liberation Army, the most active militant separatist group in the province, claimed responsibility for the attack one of the worst shootings in the region in the past several years. The perpetrators stopped buses, vans and trucks one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, told AFP. The numbers of the militants were between 30 to 40. They stopped 22 vehicles, he said. Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot. He said 22 people were killed, mostly Punjabi laborers, as well as two paramilitary soldiers. Hameed Zehri, another senior official in the district, confirmed the death toll to AFP. Balochistan is Pakistans poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development. Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on Pakistanis from neighboring provinces working in the region, as well as foreign energy firms they believe are exploiting its riches. Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan, and are perceived as dominating the ranks of the military, which is locked in a battle to quash Balochistans armed factions. In a statement to AFP, the BLA said without providing evidence that those shot were military servicemen in civilian clothes who were identified and subsequently killed by BLA fighters. An earlier statement by the group published just after midnight on Monday warned the Baloch public to stay away from the highway, adding that their fight is against the occupying Pakistani military. We have taken full control of all major highways across Balochistan, blocking them completely, it added. The BLA mostly targets security forces, and attacks on civilians often go unclaimed. In a similar attack in April, 11 Punjabi laborers were killed when they were abducted from a bus in the city of Naushki, and six Punjabis working as barbers were shot in May. In February, on the eve of national elections, twin blasts in the province killed 28 people and were claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group. The Coca-Cola Foundation, the global philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Co., and Conservation International Ventures announced the launch of a new, innovative climate resilience project in Southeast Asia to protect and restore mangrove areas. Globally, protecting mangrove areas against coastal flooding is estimated to help save more than US$80 billion in losses annually, and could impact around 18 million people worldwide. They play a critical role in guarding against the impact of climate change. Southeast Asia is a critical region for mangrove ecosystems, including Indonesia, which is home to 3.63 million hectares, representing a significant amount of the worlds remaining mangroves. Mangroves contribute to coastal resilience, especially in the Philippines, which experiences the devastation of multiple typhoons yearly. - Advertisement - Through a US$1.5-million grant, the project will create a dedicated investment pool in Conservation Internationals Venture philanthropy fund, financing up to three to four small- and medium-sized enterprises. Investment will go toward businesses that support local communities and mangrove protection, such as crab cultivation or wild shellfish harvesting. This financing initiative delivers on The Coca-Cola Foundations continued focus to help support climate resilience and enable vulnerable communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change, said The Coca-Cola Foundation president Carlos Pagoaga. While this is just the first step, we envision that this project will help improve the lives of thousands of people living in vulnerable shoreline communities by restoring and protecting mangrove coastlines across Indonesia and the Philippines, he added. Gracie White, Conservation International Ventures Director of Global Ocean Investments, said marine and coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes play a significant role in global climate mitigation and adaptation. Mangroves are climate superstarsa single square kilometer of mangroves can lock away as much climate-warming carbon as the annual emissions of 35,000 cars, said White. This new innovative climate resilience project is the latest to transform the way we approach climate protection and support businesses that are focused on the growth and protection of vital mangrove ecosystems. We are excited for the support of The Coca Cola Foundation on this effort, she added. On Friday, August 24, a Chinese company signed an agreement with South Sudans state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet) to build modern oil refinery and storage facilities in South Sudan, according to Xinhua. Wu Song, President of Shengli Oilfield Keer Engineering and Construction Company (SOKEC), and Muhammad Lino Benjamin, Managing Director of Nilepet, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that marks the beginning of Chinese investment in South Sudan. Benjamin praised SOKEC for its role in South Sudans development. With this MoU, we look forward to turning it into tangible agreements and projects together, he said during the signing ceremony in Juba. Wu committed to moving forward with the investment, focusing on improving production capabilities and operational efficiency. We will commence preparation work on the refinery and storage facilities as soon as possible, he stated. A high-level delegation from the Chinese firm starts a two-day visit this Monday to the Tharjiath oil fields in Unity State to inspect the facilities and evaluate the current state of refinery operations. On Sunday August 25, Kenyas military announced that its troops have departed for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to join a United Nations peacekeeping force aimed at addressing deadly tensions caused by armed groups. The Kenya Defense Force (KDF) reported that the first batch of the fourth contingent of the Kenya Quick Reaction Force (KENQRF 4) was officially sent off on Saturday, August 24 marking the start of their peacekeeping mission. Stephen Kapkory, the base commander of Embakasi Air Base, emphasized that the KENQRF 4 will integrate with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), which focuses on stabilizing the eastern regions of the DRC where armed groups continue to create instability. I am confident in your training and professionalism. Represent Kenya well by maintaining high standards of professionalism and discipline, and build on the exemplary performance of your predecessors, Kapkory stated in a message from Nairobi. He highlighted the troops readiness, professional training, and understanding of their mission, expressing confidence in their ability to handle the task effectively. The KDF noted that this deployment coincides with MONUSCOs increased efforts to protect civilians, reform the security sector, and oversee the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants. The Kenyan troops will be involved in operations against armed groups, safeguarding civilians, supporting humanitarian efforts, and assisting with disarmament and reintegration tasks previously undertaken by past contingents. Kenya has a strong record of contributing to international peacekeeping missions in countries such as Somalia, South Sudan, Namibia, Croatia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, reflecting its commitment to regional and global peace and security. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine, neighboring Poland has been working to significantly increase its ammunition stockpiles to both defend itself and support Kyiv. However, a recent order for ammunition from a South African factory has been blocked by Pretorias Conventional Arms Control Committee, which is concerned that the ammunition might be used against Russia. Polands order for thousands of 155 mm artillery rounds, placed with Rheinmetalls South African facility, has been on hold for over a year, casting doubt on whether the 44 million euro contract will ever be fulfilled. The South African body that suspended the contract has not provided a specific reason, but it is widely believed that South Africa, a Russian ally, is wary of the ammunition falling into the hands of Russias adversaries. This development is a setback for Poland, which has been striving to boost its ammunition reserves through increased purchases and domestic production. In response to the suspension of the South African order, Warsaw has secured a 2.5 billion euro deal with its main armaments manufacturer to significantly enhance its ammunition production capabilities. Since the war began, Polands annual shell production capacity has more than doubled, with a goal of producing 100,000 shells annually by 2029. Tunisias president Kais Saied has made yet another government reshuffle that affected most cabinet members ahead of a presidential election set for October 6. The overhaul, which introduced new economy, defense and foreign affairs ministers, took place following a wave of arrests targeting political opponents and presidential hopefuls. The reshuffle was also made against the backdrop of a worsening economic crisis, following a standoff in talks with the IMF over a bailout deal conditioned on subsidy cuts. Saied has fostered his power grab over the Tunisian state apparatus, destroying checks and balances and controlling the judiciary, which has been accused of setting arbitrary restrictions to exclude opposition figures from the presidential race. Many credible presidential hopefuls have either been disqualified or jailed under bogus charges. Saied is running for elections against two less-known candidates: Ayachi Zammel and Zouhair Magzhaoui, who are expected to play the role of pacemakers in the electoral one-man show. At least 21 people, including 11 children, have been killed in drone airstrikes on a Saharan rural commune of Tinzaouaten in the far northeast of Mali on the Algerian border, according to a spokesman for a coalition of Tuareg-majority groups that fight for Azawad independence. The deadly attack on Tinzaouatine on Sunday (25 August), which was later confirmed by Malis army, marks the largest number of civilians killed by drones since the countrys junta ended a 2015 peace deal with Tuareg separatist rebels last year in a move that observers warned could further destabilize the West African nation. The first strikes targeted a pharmacy, and were then followed by other strikes targeting people gathering in the vicinity of the initial damage, said the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad, a coalition of Tuareg-majority groups fighting for the independence of northern Mali, which they call Azawad. Malis army justified the attack by claiming in a statement that these precision strikes targeted terrorists. Tinzaouaten was the location were the Tuareg-led groups claimed in July to have killed at least 47 Malian soldiers and their 84 of their allied Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, though the army did not confirm that death toll. After the attack, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscows firm support for Malis junta and its army, which has insisted to use the Wagner mercenaries stationed in the country only as instructors. Since the military coup in 2020, Malis army has been fighting the ongoing Tuareg-led rebellion in the north of the country. 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: Yan Krukau from Pexels A new Nature Human Behaviour study, jointly led by Dr. Margherita Malanchini at Queen Mary University of London and Dr. Andrea Allegrini at University College London, has revealed that non-cognitive skills, such as motivation and self-regulation, are as important as intelligence in determining academic success. These skills become increasingly influential throughout a child's education, with genetic factors playing a significant role. The research, conducted in collaboration with an international team of experts, suggests that fostering non-cognitive skills alongside cognitive abilities could significantly improve educational outcomes. "Our research challenges the long-held assumption that intelligence is the primary driver of academic achievement," says Dr. Malanchini, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Queen Mary University of London. "We've found compelling evidence that non-cognitive skillssuch as grit, perseverance, academic interest, and value attributed to learningare not only significant predictors of success but that their influence grows stronger over time." The study, which followed over 10,000 children from age 7 to 16 in England and Wales, employed a combination of twin studies and DNA-based analyses to examine the complex interplay between genes, environment, and academic performance. The power of non-cognitive genetics One of the most striking findings is the increasing role of genetics in shaping non-cognitive skills and their impact on academic achievement. By analyzing DNA, researchers constructed a "polygenic score" for non-cognitive skills, essentially a genetic snapshot of a child's predisposition towards these skills. "We discovered that genetic effects associated with non-cognitive skills become increasingly predictive of academic achievement over the school years. In fact, their effect nearly doubles between the ages of 7 and 16," explained Dr. Allegrini, Research Fellow at University College London. "By the end of compulsory education, genetic dispositions towards non-cognitive skills were equally as important as those related to cognitive abilities in predicting academic success." This finding challenges the traditional view of educational achievement as determined largely by intelligence. Instead, the study suggests that a child's emotional and behavioral makeup, influenced by both genes and environment, plays a crucial role in their educational journey. The role of environment While genetics undoubtedly contributes to non-cognitive skills, the study also emphasizes the importance of environment. By comparing siblings, researchers were able to isolate the impact of shared family environment from genetic factors. "We found that while family-wide processes play a significant role, the increasing influence of non-cognitive genetics on academic achievement remained evident even within families," said Dr. Allegrini. "This suggests that children may actively shape their own learning experiences based on their personality, dispositions, and abilities, creating a feedback loop that reinforces their strengths." Implications for education The findings of this study have profound implications for education. By recognizing the critical role of non-cognitive skills, schools can develop targeted interventions to support students' emotional and social development alongside their academic learning. "Our education system has traditionally focused on cognitive development," said Dr. Malanchini. "It's time to rebalance that focus and give equal importance to nurturing non-cognitive skills. By doing so, we can create a more inclusive and effective learning environment for all students." The study also highlights the need for further research into the complex interplay between genes, environment, and education. By understanding these factors, educators and policymakers can develop more effective strategies to support students' overall development and achieve better educational outcomes. Dr. Malanchini concluded, "This study is just the beginning. We hope it will inspire further research and lead to a transformation in how we approach education." More information: Genetic associations between noncognitive skills and academic achievement over development, Nature Human Behaviour (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01967-9 Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour 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 care of people seriously harmed by spinal cord injury can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a new analysis suggests that ability to pay influences how long a patient remains on life support. In a study of more than 8,400 U.S. adults with severe spinal cord injury, "uninsured patients had greater odds of withdrawal of life-supporting treatment," compared to those who had private insurance, researchers said. The findings were published in the journal JAMA Surgery. According to background information in the study, an estimated 1.3 million people in North America have been affected by a spinal cord injury, which can often result in irreversible paralysis. Other medical issues, such as trouble with respiration, can also occur. Caring for these individuals can require a large staff and complex, expensive technologies. All of that can mean big medical bills: "In the U.S., the cost of acute care for spinal cord injury has been estimated to be between $92,220 and $337,400, with the higher end of the range reported to correspond to higher neurologic levels of injury." The new study was led by Dr. Christopher Witiw, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Toronto. His team wondered if time spent on life support was affected by the level and type of insurance coverage a U.S. patient might have. To find out, they looked at 20132020 data from the American College of Surgeons. It covered patient outcomes and insurance status for 8,421 people aged 16 and older, all of who were treated for a spinal cord injury. Data came from 498 different trauma centers. Most of the patients (80%) were male and they averaged 49 years of age. Over the course of the study, patients who had no insurance coverage were 49% more likely to be taken off life support compared with the privately insured, Witiw's team found. Patients who had no insurance coverage were also 98% more likely to die over the study period compared with the privately insured, the research showed. Put another way, of 940 patients without insurance, just over 22% were taken off of life support and just under 34% died. For the privately insured, those numbers were 14.3% and 21.5%, respectively. Rates for people on public insurance (Medicaid, Medicare) lay somewhere between those of the privately insured and the uninsured, the study found. The privately insured fared significantly better than the publicly insured in terms of lower rates of complications while in hospital, as well as longer hospital stays. All of these findings "highlight potential insurance-related disparities in outcomes after complete cervical spinal cord injury," Witiw's group concluded. Decisions to withdraw life support are, of course, heart-wrenching and of life-or-death importance, since "97.5% of patients who had withdrawal from life support ultimately died," the researchers noted. "The decision for withdrawal from life support is complex and requires shared decision-making between patients, families and practitioners, with respect for patient autonomy being paramount," the authors said. Does the ability to pay mounting medical bills play a role in these decisions? The researchers noted that it was difficult to untangle economic barriers from other factors that might influence decisions around life support, such as the cultural or religious beliefs of patients and their doctors and "expectations about recovery." Still, Witiw's group said, "future work is needed to incorporate patient perspectives and identify strategies to close the quality gap [in spinal cord injury care] for the large number of patients without private insurance." More information: Husain Shakil et al, Insurance-Related Disparities in Withdrawal of Life Support and Mortality After Spinal Cord Injury, JAMA Surgery (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2024.2967 Journal information: JAMA Surgery 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: Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped millions of Americans navigate the health challenges of the pandemic, is recovering at home after being hospitalized for a West Nile infection. Fauci should make a full recovery, a spokesperson told the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns. In a post on the social media platform X, Dr. Jonathan LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News, said he spoke Saturday with Fauci, who believes he was likely infected from a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard. "Dr. Fauci was hospitalized about ten days ago after developing fever, chills and severe fatigue," the post said, adding that Fauci spent a week in the hospital. There are no vaccines or medications for West Nile infection. As of Aug. 20, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recorded 216 cases in 33 states this year. West Nile virus is commonly spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. While most people don't experience symptoms, about 1 in 5 can develop a fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or rash, according to the CDC. Roughly 1 in 150 patients can develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness. Fauci first joined the U.S. National Institutes of Health in 1968 and rose to prominence within the agency during the 1980s AIDS crisis. As an HIV/AIDS researcher, Fauci conducted pivotal studies that formed the basis of medicine's current understanding of the disease and continues to inform the therapies used to treat and prevent AIDS. Fauci became NIAID director in 1984, and advised every U.S. president on infectious disease emergencies from Ronald Reagan onward. During the pandemic, Fauci was the public face of the U.S. government, serving as chief medical advisor to the White House. The role made him a hero to some and a villain to others. He stepped down from that role in 2022, but joined the faculty at Georgetown University last summer as a distinguished professor. More information: The CDC has more on West Nile virus. 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: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Chagas disease, once thought to be confined to South and Central America, is now an emerging public health threat in the United States, making it more important than ever for local physicians to understand the history of the disease and how to recognize it when caring for patients. In a historical review of Chagas, Mario Grijalva, Ph.D., director of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine's Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute, and a team of international experts shed light on current challenges and future directions for global health efforts in the fight against Chagas. The review, titled "Chagas Disease across the Ages: A Historical View and Commentary on Navigating Future Challenges," is published in the journal Microorganisms. Their work not only advances scientific knowledge but provides insights into potential improvements to patient care and how the international public health community can address the often neglected disease, ultimately contributing to efforts to eradicate it. "Chagas disease is not just a problem for Latin America," Grijalva said. "With global travel and migration, the disease has spread to non-endemic regions, including the U.S. People in Ohio and across the country need to be aware of this disease to improve diagnosis and treatment." Chagas disease is a life-threatening illness primarily transmitted by insects known as "kissing bugs." The disease affects approximately 8 million people worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a potentially life-threatening parasitic infection that can be acute or chronic, and, if left untreated, lead to severe heart or digestive health complications. Today, it is estimated that over 288,000 people are living with Chagas in the U.S. Both the parasiteTrypanosoma cruziand the insects that transmit it are now present in southern portions of the country, presenting an increased risk for transmission beyond endemic regions, primarily located in rural parts of Latin America. In the recently published historical review, Grijalva explains that advancements in diagnosing have evolved, with current techniques such as rapid diagnostic tests making detection more accessible. However, the chronic phase of the disease remains challenging to treat, with current drugs presenting limitations and severe side effects. Additionally, social and political barriers still exist, due in part to the primarily marginalized population Chagas affectsthose living in rural regions of South and Central America with high poverty rates and limited access to health carewhich limit the uptake of treatment and diagnostic resources. In the U.S. specifically, limited awareness by health care providers and the general public is the biggest barrier to addressing Chagas, according to a 2019 review of the disease. The work of Grijalva and his collaborators is critical for ensuring the disease remains at the forefront of conversations surrounding global public health. "What this really highlights is the importance of taking a multidisciplinary approach to tackling Chagas disease," Grijalva said. "Enhanced diagnostics, improved treatment accessibility, sustained control efforts, and global collaboration are all crucial if we want to work toward reducing the disease's impact and, hopefully, see its eventual eradication." Based on more than two decades of focused research and fieldwork, Grijalva is an internationally recognized expert on the spread of infectious diseases and is perhaps one of the world's premier experts on Chagas disease. Chagas has been prevalent for decades in his native country of Ecuador, where he pursues an ongoing campaign to prevent the spread of the potentially lethal disease with support from agencies including the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Pan American Health Organization and the European Union's Chagas Disease Epidemiological Network. In June 2016, Grijalva visited Ecuador with a delegation from Ohio University for the opening of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador's Center for Research in Health in Latin America, which he directed until 2023 when Ohio University graduate Jaime Costales, Ph.D., took over the position. The center is one of the most advanced research facilities in Latin America, providing opportunities and resources for faculty and students from both universities to collaborate in studying the prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of Chagas and other diseases. In addition to Grijalva, the review was conducted in collaboration with two researchers from the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in Montpellier, France, lead author Denis Sereno, Ph.D., and co-author Bruno Oury, Ph.D. Those interested in learning more about Chagas, can also watch the video series "Jaguarundi Moto Adventure," which seeks to raise awareness about Chagas. In each episode, Grijalva travels by motorcycle across Ecuador and other regions, visiting communities affected by the disease and talking about the spread of Chagas and preventative measures that can be taken. More information: Denis Sereno et al, Chagas Disease across the Ages: A Historical View and Commentary on Navigating Future Challenges, Microorganisms (2024). DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12061153 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: Loss of G13 in ER+ breast cancer cells leads to increased cell growth and tumour development, suggesting that G13 may suppress tumours in this subtype of cancer. Credit: Liao Pei-Ju, Duke-NUS Medical School In looking for new ways to fight breast cancer, scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School have unmasked a surprising role of a protein generally associated with cancer growth. They have discovered that in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, this protein acts as a tumor suppressor instead. ER+ breast cancer constitutes about 80% of all breast cancer diagnoses, yet nearly 50% of women diagnosed with it experience a relapse after initial treatment. The unexpected finding counters long-held views that the protein, known as G13, acts as an accelerator of cancer cell growth, as seen with similar G-proteins. This latest discovery, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, is the first study to identify G13 as a tumor suppressor in solid tumors. This could lead to new personalized approaches to breast cancer treatment involving examining levels of G13 and other proteins. Dr. Lalitha Subramanyan, a Ph.D. graduate from Duke-NUS and now a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University's Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, who is the first author of the paper, said, "Our findings challenge the previous notion that G13 universally promotes cancer growth across different tumor types. Instead, we found evidence suggesting that G13 may help disrupt harmful pathways in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, potentially slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells. "This makes the discovery of a protective role of G13 even more significant, as it addresses a critical gap in understanding how different molecular pathways contribute to cancer progression." The study's findings hold implications for a new direction in treatment strategies. Associate Professor Yap Yoon Sim, Department of Breast & Gynecological Medical Oncology of National Cancer Center Singapore, who was not involved in the research, said, "It is interesting that the effects of the GNA13 protein differ in different types of breast cancer cells. "These findings highlight the complexity of cancer biology and the need to understand the role of different molecules and pathways in various settings. It is hoped that this knowledge can facilitate the development of novel strategies to treat breast cancer in the near future." Despite various advances in treatment, breast cancer remains the most diagnosed cancer worldwide and is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women, causing roughly 685,000 deaths in 2020. In Singapore, breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer among women, accounting for almost one in three cancer diagnoses in women, according to the Singapore Cancer Society. This highlights the profound impact of the disease on women's health, as well as the urgent need for more effective treatments. Breast cancer is a complex disease, comprising varying types that respond differently to treatments. The treatment approach varies depending on the molecular subtype. G13 acts as a messenger within cells, transporting signals from the cell surface to the inside of the cell, activating a cascade of reactions that influence the cell's behavior, including how it grows, divides, and responds to its environment. The study's findings reveal a previously unknown connection between G13 signaling and that of the hormone estrogen, an important determinant in breast cancer. Together, they control a prominent oncogene, MYC, and cancer cell growth. Associate Professor Mei Wang from Duke-NUS' Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program and co-corresponding author of the study, commented, "Apart from expanding our understanding of G13 and related proteins in cancer formation, our findings also offer a fresh perspective on targeting recurrent ER+ cancers. "While treatments for ER+ breast cancers primarily target ER signaling, nearly half of these patients develop resistance to such therapy over time. The discovery of G13 control of estrogen signaling, and of MYC function, offers new ways to counter resistant ER+ breast cancers." During the study, a correlation between lower levels of G13 and poorer patient survival outcomes in ER+ breast cancer patients was also observed, further supporting the protective role of G13 against ER+ breast cancer. The researchers plan to expand their study to explore G13's role in other hormone-sensitive cancers, and by applying these principles to other solid cancers. Professor Patrick Tan, Senior Vice-Dean for Research at Duke-NUS, added, "This study marks a defined and significant advance, with potential implications for cancer treatment strategies. Understanding these molecular mechanisms paves the way for targeted drug development, which could enhance the efficacy of breast cancer treatments and ultimately improve survival rates and quality of life for those affected by this devastating disease." More information: Lalitha Vaishnavi Subramanyan, et al. GNA13 suppresses proliferation of ER+ breast cancer cells via ER dependent upregulation of the MYC oncogene. Breast Cancer Research (2024). DOI: 10.1186/s13058-024-01866-x Journal information: Breast Cancer Research 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 Barely over a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that mpox was no longer a public health issue of international concern, it is back in the news. This time with a diversity of variants, new modes of transmission and new populations infected. In this interview, Oyewale Tomori, a professor of virology, explains why the declaration of mpox as a global public health emergency is connected with the failure of African governments to properly fund disease surveillance activities and create an environment for their deeply experienced health workers to function. He also sheds light on what it takes to stop a disease outbreak. What's the advice of WHO on managing mpox? The WHO strategic framework for enhancing prevention and control of mpox 20242027 highlights the need for countries to take immediate action to ensure that surveillance, testing, treatment and vaccination responses are established and integrated with other health programs. This includes disease surveillance, sexual health services, risk communication and community engagement, primary health care, immunization and other clinical services. The control and containment of the 20222023 multi-country outbreak within a year in non-endemic countries outside Africa was achieved through a combination of: surveillance (detection and laboratory confirmation of cases, contact tracing) isolation of cases infection protection and control targeted vaccination of high-risk individuals. African health workers have battled various disease outbreaks for more than half a century. What lessons have been learned? African health workers have over 50 years of experience dealing with different and various outbreaks of yellow fever, Ebola, mpox and COVID-19. They have acquired the relevant expertise and skills to prevent the spread of epidemics. There are at least four instances in African countries where outbreaks were contained before they escalated to emergencies of concern. These successes were achieved through enhanced surveillance, rapid laboratory confirmation of cases, contact tracing, isolation of cases, as well as awareness campaigns on avoiding contacts with cases. Infection protection and control measures were taken. In mid-2014, west Africa was in the grip of the largest epidemic of Ebola the world had ever seen. On 20 July 2014, a man infected with Ebola landed in Lagos, Nigeria, a city of 21 million. Infections began to spread immediately. By the end of the month, the first patient had died, an infected individual had flown to another city and one thousand contacts had been exposed to the virus. And yet, in Nigeria, the outbreak was over in less than three months. Nigeria stopped Ebola from spreading nationally, and potentially regionally, with effective communication, coordinated response activities and dedicated leadership. In 2018, Ebola crossed into Uganda through its busy border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda rapidly mobilized its response teams and activated its health emergency response system, which stopped Ebola from spreading into the country. Again in 2018, in a rural area of Kenya, a deadly anthrax outbreak was identified and brought under control thanks to a community-based surveillance system and a trained volunteer who acted quickly. Health officials in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria quickly contained, within a month, an outbreak of mpox in 2021. They did this through strong collaboration with national rapid response teams, identifying and correcting weaknesses in the response and providing education and recommendations to improve future responses. In all these instances, no vaccine was used to contain these outbreaks. Successful containment resulted from the rapid institution of disease surveillance to detect, diagnose, isolate and treat cases, and contact tracing among engaged, involved and aware communities. Why aren't these lessons being applied? There are two main reasons that African governments have not taken advantage of their skillful human resources with relevant disease control experience. Firstly, they have not provided adequate and sustained funding for an efficient disease surveillance system. Such a system needs to be backed by reliable diagnostic laboratory service for timely detection and confirmation of yellow fever, Ebola, Lassa fever, cholera and other diseases. These diseases often start as sporadic cases, later spreading and becoming large outbreaks. Secondly, they have not created an enabling environment to carry out disease surveillance activities, such as contact tracing and isolation of cases. Disease surveillance is needed to contain the sporadic cases. For instance, in the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, which primarily affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, it took months to identify the disease after a first cluster of cases in December 2013. It took almost three years to contain, and claimed thousands of lives. The epidemic exposed the dire consequences of weak health systems, poor disease surveillance, an initially lethargic response, and inadequate community engagement. It would be far cheaper and more cost effective to provide funds for such a system than to respond to an epidemic with fatal consequences. A neglected disease outbreak can become the catalyst for gross domestic poverty. What is the role of vaccines in preventing diseases? Vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to recognize and mount a response against specific pathogens, such as viruses or bacteria. They are designed to mimic the infection without causing the disease itself, allowing the body to develop immunity against the targeted pathogen. Vaccines play a critical role in controlling and preventing epidemic diseases by boosting immunity and reducing the spread of infectious agents. Great as they are, vaccines cannot take the place of rapid institution of disease surveillance to detect, diagnose, isolate and treat cases. Prevention has always been better than cure. Are different responses needed for the different variants of mpox? Not really. However, the mode of transmissionanimal-human or human-human (sexual or non-sexual)will determine the process to prevent or halt transmission and spread of the disease. These are two clades with variants. Clade Ia: This is endemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It primarily affects children, with a case fatality rate of 3.6% in 2024. Other African countries reporting Clade Ia outbreaks in 2024 include the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. Clade Ia has historically been characterized by more severe disease than that associated with Clade II. Clade Ib: This emerged after September 2023. It is spread through human-to-human transmission. It has spread rapidly in the eastern part of the DRC. The outbreak has primarily affected adults. It is sustained, but not exclusively, through transmission linked to sexual contact and amplified in networks associated with commercial sex and sex workers. Since July 2024, cases of Clade Ib, linked (in the way it emerged and spread) to the outbreak in the eastern provinces of DRC, have been detected in four countries neighboring the DRC which had not reported cases of mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Clade IIa: Reported cases in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa are linked to Clade IIa. Clade IIb: This virus caused the multi-country outbreak from July 2022 to May 2023. In 2022, mpox entered a new phase when the first case of the disease not associated with travel from Africa was reported in the UK. This triggered the multi-country outbreak which the WHO declared a global public health emergency of international concern in July 2022. By the time it was declared over in May 2023, 118 countries (7 mpox endemic and 111 mpox non-endemic) had reported a total of 87,377 cases (1,587 in endemic and 87,377 in non-endemic countries). 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: When parents have knowledge of their child's family health history, they can take steps to reduce their child's risk, experts say. Credit: Sara Schultz, University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health Among things many families don't wish to pass down to their children and grandchildren: medical issues. One in five parents say their child has been diagnosed with a hereditary condition, while nearly half expressed concerns about their child potentially developing such a condition, a new national poll suggests. And two thirds of parents want their health care provider to suggest ways to prevent their child from developing a health problem that runs in the family, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. "This report reflects the need for parents to be equipped with accurate information about their family health history," said Mott Poll co-director Sarah Clark, M.P.H. "Parents play a key role in understanding and addressing their child's health concerns, including those related to hereditary conditions." The nationally representative report is based on 2,057 responses of parents of children ages one to 18 years surveyed in February 2024. Health history knowledge may help reduce risk A quarter of parents say they have asked health care providers to test or examine their child for conditions based on their family history, and 7% say they sought genetic testing for their child. Parents polled think family history puts their child at higher risk for allergies (41%), mental health conditions (33%), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (23%), obesity (22%), heart disease (20%), cancer (20%), alcoholism (18%), autoimmune conditions (13%), autism (6%), or other chronic conditions (29%). But a quarter of parents think that they can prevent their child from developing a condition that runs in the family. Family health history may help identify children with a higher-than-usual chance of having common medical disorders, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. But these are complex disorders influenced by a combination of genetic factors, environmental conditions, and lifestyle choices, Clark says. When parents have knowledge of their child's family health history, she says, they can take steps to reduce their child's risk, such as early screenings, genetic counseling, encouraging healthy eating and exercise habits, and being aware of possible signs and symptoms. "Having a hereditary predisposition to an illness may prompt parents to be more careful with certain choices," Clark said. "A child's pediatrician can be a resource to help optimize their health and avoid some of the illnesses experienced by their family members." Parents less confident about mental health history Although many mental health conditions have a genetic component, parents polled feel slightly more knowledgeable about their child's family health history for medical conditions than mental health. Additionally, parents of older children report talking about family medical history more often than family mental health history with their child. "Reluctance to openly discuss a family's mental health history may reflect the stigma represented across generations and cultures," Clark said. "Parents can normalize discussions about mental health by integrating them into everyday conversations and encourage open and honest communication within the family about mental health." Empowering young people to take the lead Many parents polled believe their child ages 1218 could fill out a form about their family health history with their help. As children near adulthood and get ready to move out on their own, Clark notes, it becomes more important for them to be knowledgeable about their family health history. "Family history may be crucial for health care providers to make informed decisions about treatment options," Clark said. "Encouraging adolescents to learn about their family health history early on can also empower them to take control of their health and make informed decisions throughout their lives." More information: University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health: mottpoll.org/reports/using-fam improve-child-health 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 Ed Whitehouse stood alongside a state highway in rural Butts County, Georgia, and surveyed acres of rolling fields and forests near Interstate 75. Instead of farmland and trees, he envisioned a hospital. Whitehouse, a consultant for a local health care company that wants to build a hospital there with at least 150 beds, said the group could break ground within a year. The idea, he said, is to provide medical services beyond those currently provided by Wellstar Sylvan Grove Medical Center, an aging, nonprofit "critical access" hospital that offers limited services, including emergency care, rehabilitation, wound care, and imaging. But it took a new law, pushed by the state's powerful Republican lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, to clear the way for construction. The land is partly owned by his father, Bill Jones, a successful businessman whose interest in developing a hospital in his home county drew attention from state Democrats and the hospital industry. The situation has been portrayed as "this billionaire entrepreneur, Bill Jones, exploiting the legal system through his son, imposing his will on people and trying to cash in," Whitehouse said. "Nothing could be further from the truth." Woven through the drama in Butts County are arcane but consequential rules that require state approval for hospital construction and expansion. The rules, used nearly nationwide until the 1980s, require potential builders to apply for permission for new projects. State officials evaluate need based on criteria such as population growth and existing hospital capacity. This year, Georgia lawmakers joined several other states in targeting those "certificate of need," or CON, regulations for dramatic change. Some states have exempted certain medical providers from the process; others have been more dramatic, including South Carolina, which is sunsetting most of its rules. Attempts to pave the way for a new hospital in Butts County show how debate over certificate of need laws can intensify as legislatures try to reconcile the often conflicting priorities of politicians, the health care industry, and communities. The laws have been criticized for limiting competition, and some health care analysts, like Matthew Mitchell, a senior research fellow at West Virginia University, feel everyday people may get the short end of the stick. "This kind of a regulation is often there because powerful businesses want them," Mitchell said, "not because they protect consumers." Bill Jones, a 79-year-old former state legislator, supported a 2022 legislative push to open a new hospital in Butts County. But the effort ran into formidable opposition from Wellstar Health System, which operates Sylvan Grove and 10 other hospitals in Georgia. "As a nonprofit health system, we are always exploring partnerships that expand our mission of enhancing well-being in the communities we serve," said Matthew O'Connor, a Wellstar spokesperson. "Our analysis indicates that another hospital in this area is not needed at this time." This year, Georgia Democrats thought they could leverage Republicans' interest in loosening the rules to gain support for Medicaid expansion. But Democrats were outnumbered in the legislature, and lawmakers eased several rules without that trade-off. For example, certain hospital projects in rural counties are now exempt. Jones' project and his home county look likely to benefit. Burt Jones, Georgia's lieutenant governor, who is being investigated for his role as a fake elector for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, maintains his push for changes to the rules isn't about helping his father. "It will give people access to health care in a reasonable travel time and convenience for them as well," Burt Jones said. Bill Jones has used Butts County as the home base to build his business network, which includes petroleum distribution, retail convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants. In a recent interview, he complained about media coverage of his son's legislative connection to the hospital project. He said his interest in opening another local hospital is about community need and, at least in part, stems from his personal experience. His wife gets medical services at Emory Healthcare, more than 40 miles away in Atlanta. "You're not going to get the attention you need medically" at the 25-bed Sylvan Grove hospital in Jackson, he said. "Health care ought not to be about politics." But the lieutenant governor had to be somewhat aware that legislation he was pushing could be seen as financially benefiting a close family member, said Josh McLaurin, a Democratic state senator whose district runs from Atlanta into its northern suburbs. Fellow members of the Democratic Party were encouraged to support the certificate of need bill, even though the GOP has a majority in the Georgia Legislature, he said. "If they want Democrats on board on a bill they could probably pass without our votes, that tends to suggest that there's a concern about the narrative," McLaurin said. Hospital industry lobbyists, aware of the Jones-Butts County connection, watched the debate with fear of wholesale repeal of the certificate of need laws, which ultimately didn't happen. The final bill doesn't name Butts County specifically. But it does exempt "a new general acute care hospital in a rural county" from having to obtain a certificate of need. With a population of about 27,000, Butts County meets the definition of "rural" outlined in Georgia law. Now, the small local company for which Whitehouse worksInterstate Health Systems, which is partly owned by Bill Jonesis moving forward. Land is being cleared for medical office buildings, potentially to lure providers to the area. Whitehouse said major hospital systems already operating in Georgia are interested in partnering on construction and operation of a new facility. Members of the Butts County Hospital Authority, which oversees Sylvan Grove, declined to comment. But last year, county commissioners passed a resolution encouraging the hospital authority to pursue a new facility. Byrd Garland, a retired attorney and former hospital authority member, said he'd appreciate any project that gives people local access to health care, "so they don't have to drive an hour or two hours to get to it." Garland said he's received both good and bad care at Sylvan Grove, and sometimes would rather make the trek to Atlanta to a better-resourced hospital. "You get that kind of mindset when you've grown up out here in this medical desert that we're in now," he said. 2024 KFF Health 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: Graphical abstract. Credit: iScience (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110413 Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a fast-growing and highly malignant subtype of lung cancer. One of the biggest challenges doctors face is the cancer's resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy, the standard treatment for SCLC patients. Recently, a research group led by Prof. Hong Bo from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, identified a novel prognostic biomarker that could help predict chemotherapy resistance in SCLC by multi-omics integrative analysis. This finding, published in iScience, could improve treatments for this aggressive form of cancer. In this study, researchers conducted an integrative analysis of transcriptome and methylome data, revealing a strong correlation between high expression of PCDHB4 gene and poor survival in chemotherapy-treated SCLC patients. Further investigations using clinical samples and cell lines confirmed that the PCDHB4 gene exhibited lower levels of methylation and was more active in SCLC, which contributed to the cancer's resistance to chemotherapy. Analysis of data from both bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing indicated that SCLC tumors with high PCDHB4 expression were associated with lower immune infiltration and higher scores of stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This study highlighted PCDHB4 as a key biomarker that could help predict which patients are more likely to develop resistance to chemotherapy, according to the team. More information: Qizhi Zhu et al, Cisplatin resistance-related transcriptome and methylome integration identifies PCDHB4 as a novel prognostic biomarker in small cell lung cancer, iScience (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110413 Journal information: iScience 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: Redwoods. Credit: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (2024). DOI: 10.15288/jsad.24-00208 After years of being seen as dangerous "party drugs," psychedelic substances are receiving renewed attention as therapies for addictionbut far more research is needed, according to a new special series of articles in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (JSAD), published at Rutgers University. Psychedelics are substances that essentially alter users' perceptions and thoughts about their surroundings and themselves. For millennia, indigenous cultures have used plants with psychedelic properties in traditional medicine and spiritual rituals. And for a time in the mid-20th century, Western researchers became interested in the potential for psychedelics to help treat a range of psychiatric conditions, including substance use disorders. That research ground to a halt not long after it began, partly due to recreational use of drugs such as LSD ("acid") and psilocybin ("magic mushrooms") as well as the U.S. federal government's so-called war on drugs. Things have shifted in more recent years. Drugs such as psilocybin, ketamine and MDMA ("ecstasy") are under study again, in what researchers call psychedelic-assisted therapy: In a nutshell, small doses of the drugs are given under medical supervision, in combination with conventional talk therapy. As the JSAD series highlights, a collection of small clinical trials have tested psychedelic-assisted therapy for helping people with alcohol dependence, opioid addiction and certain other substance-use disorders. There have been promising results, suggesting the approach can lead to higher abstinence rates than conventional therapy alone. What really stands out is how fast psychedelic-assisted therapy can work versus the standard approach: Lasting benefits have been seen after just one to three treatment sessions. "It really flips conventional substance use disorder treatment on its head," said Dominique Morisano, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health. On the surface, it might seem counterintuitive to treat addiction with a psychedelic drug, according to Morisano, who co-authored an editorial published with the series. But, she said, people with substance-use disorders typically use drugs to "hide" from their troubling thoughts and feelings. Psychedelic-assisted therapy, by contrast, seems to help "lift the veil" and allow people to have insights"lightbulb moments"that aid in their recovery, Morisano explained. Patients may, for example, have renewed feelings of self-efficacy that make it easier to adopt healthier behaviors and coping skills. No one knows exactly how psychedelics do this. One theory, Morisano said, is that they act via "neuroplasticity"the brain's ability to reorganize its wiring. It's clear that much more research is needed, according to Morisano. There are still basic questions, such as, which psychedelics are effective for substance-use disorders? Which protocols work best? That will take funding, she noted, which until now has mainly come from private sources, but government funding is just starting to open up more. For now, Morisano stressed, people should understand that psychedelics are not a do-it-yourself treatment for substance abuse or mental health disorders: The psychotherapy component is crucial. "A lot of people have been misled into thinking they can 'microdose' on their own," Morisano said. "But you can't wipe the psychotherapy out of this." More information: Dominique Morisano et al, From Research to Reality: Crafting an Image of the Current State of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapies for Substance Use Disorders, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (2024). DOI: 10.15288/jsad.24-00208 Journal information: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 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: Neural activity gives information about how fruit flies respond to various sensory stimuli, revealing insights into how they process and encode these experiences into short-term and long-term memories. Credit: Cheng Huang. Fly image credit: https://prints.sciencesource.com/featured/6-fruit-fly-drosophila-melanogaster-oliver-meckes-eye-of-science.html. In a recent study published in Nature, researchers from Stanford University and Yale University have explored the interplay between short-term and long-term memory in animals. Learning and memory in insects are controlled by a structure known as the mushroom body, analogous to the hippocampus in mammals. While previous studies have explored this in insects, the researchers wanted to understand how pre-existing, innate responses to stimuli influence learning new associations and how these memories are formed and maintained over time. Medical Xpress spoke to the study's first author, Cheng Huang, Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine. Speaking of what drove him to pursue this research, he said, "Since childhood, I have been fascinated by how vivid our memories can be and how they can shape an individual's behavior and personality." The researchers focused on the Drosophila (fruit fly) brain. Using a combination of experimental imaging techniques and computational modeling, the researchers observed neural activity in the fruit flies as they underwent olfactory associative conditioning experiments. Dopamine and memory Dopamine release has been linked to rewarding experiences, reinforcing the memory of that experience. Essentially, dopamine acts as a signal that something good has happened, making it easier to remember. This helps with encoding new memories and reinforcing learned behaviors, playing a role in short-term and long-term memory formation. It also aids in memory storage and retrieval, stabilizing memories over time. Prof. Huang and his colleagues propose that dopamine neurons in the fruit fly brain integrate information from innate responses and learned experiences with sensory stimuli. In other words, dopamine helps to process and unify information obtained from the two sources, influencing how the brain responds to sensory stimuli. "Our work introduces a new conception of the interactions between the brain's short-term and long-term memory storage areas," Prof. Huang explains. "Traditional conceptions focused on systems consolidation, in which memories residing in short-term storage areas are passed during offline activity to long-term storage areas. Here, we uncover a different interaction between short- and long-term memory compartments." Voltage imaging to study neural spiking For the experimental part of the study, the researchers used 500 fruit flies, exposing them to different odors. These fruit flies were genetically modified to target specific neurons and manipulate their activity. Some of the odors were paired with positive or negative stimuli (like a reward or punishment). This tests how well the flies can learn and remember the association between an odor and the outcome. Explaining why the Drosophila was used, Prof. Huang said, "The Drosophila brain provides an excellent model for understanding the fundamental logic and mechanisms underlying dopamine-mediated learning and memory." "Despite having a significantly smaller number of dopamine neurons compared to mammals, the Drosophila dopamine system demonstrates more conserved functions in learning and memory processes." To measure the flies' response to various stimuli, the researchers measured the neural spiking activity (communication between neurons) using voltage imaging. This method captures electrical signals by measuring changes in voltage across the neuron's membrane. When a neuron fires, there's a shift in voltage, which can be imaged using special sensors or dyes. For the computational part of their work, the researchers created a model of the mushroom body circuit, constrained by both the fly brain's wiring and their experimental spiking data, to explain and predict memory dynamics. Gating, feedback, and dopamine's role The researchers found that dopamine neurons in the fruit fly brain encode innate and learned responses to rewards, punishments, and odors, heterogeneously. These signals regulate how memories are stored and forgotten in the brain. When short-term memories form, it triggers a process that opens the gate for certain connections between brain cells to weaken, allowing dopamine neurons to better process both innate and learned cues, which in turn helps form long-term memories. "This gating occurs via a feedback interaction, whereby signals output from a short-term memory unit influence activity that is input to a long-term memory unit." "After a short-term memory has been created, this feedback interaction allows a long-term memory to be rapidly formed during additional presentations of the same association that led to the initial short-term memory," explained Prof. Huang. They also found that the strength of this gating depends on a linear sum of the innate and previously learned responses of the sensory cues. Further, the computational model revealed how dopamine mediates the interaction between short- and long-term memory. The researchers found that the timing of memory extinction training and the natural significance of odors influence the strength and persistence of these memories. Looking ahead The findings of the study reveal how different parts of the mushroom body work together to form short-term and long-term memory. They provide a mechanistic understanding of how innate and learned information interact in the brain to shape behavior. Additionally, the role of dopamine in mediating the interplay between short-term and long-term memory is also revealed. "This mechanism could provide insights for identifying similar circuits in mammals. Ultimately, our findings may benefit the development of interventions or treatments for dementia-associated diseases in humans," said Prof. Huang. Speaking of how their study might impact the field of neuroscience as a whole, Dr. Huang concluded by saying, "The biological implications of our data and modeling results are far-reaching and may offer important computational insights into the dynamic memory system and inspire new designs of learning algorithms and network architectures in artificial intelligence." More information: Cheng Huang et al, Dopamine-mediated interactions between short- and long-term memory dynamics, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07819-w Journal information: Nature 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: In 2023, vaccination coverage for adolescents with all routine vaccines was similar to coverage in 2022, according to research published in the Aug. 22 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Cassandra Pingali, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from the 2023 National Immunization Survey-Teen for 16,658 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years to examine vaccination coverage in 2023, recent trends in coverage by birth year, and trends in coverage by Vaccine for Children (VFC) program eligibility. The researchers found that coverage with all routine vaccines recommended for adolescents was similar in 2023 and 2022. Among VFC-eligible adolescents, vaccination coverage was generally stable during the COVID-19 pandemic, except for a decrease in the percentage who were up to date with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination by age 13 years among those born in 2010 versus 2007. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were differences in coverage between VFC-eligible and non-VFC-eligible adolescents, but in the most recent birth years in the survey, coverage was similar. "Health care providers should strongly recommend all routine vaccines and confirm adolescents are fully vaccinated," the authors write. "Parents of adolescents should schedule a well-child visit as the school year begins to verify that adolescents receive all recommended vaccines, such as the HPV vaccine, which prevents 92 percent of HPV-attributable cancers." More information: Cassandra Pingali et al, National Vaccination Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 1317 YearsNational Immunization Survey-Teen, United States, 2023, MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2024). DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7333a1 Journal information: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 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: The operating room at the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. On the screen in the centre you can see the live link to Zurich. Credit: ETH Zurich Researchers at ETH Zurich and The Chinese University of Hong Kong have succeeded for the first time in using remote control to perform a magnetic endoscopy on a live pig. The researchers controlled the probe from Zurich while the animal was on the operating table in Hong Kong. It's three o'clock in the morning, and Alexandre Mesot is in a room in Zurich operating an endoscope. The doctoral student in ETH's Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, headed by Professor Bradley Nelson, looks at a screen displaying live images of the endoscopy as he manipulates the joystick of a PlayStation controller. The operating theater, however, is in Hong Kongmore than 9,300 kilometers away. With a delay of only around 300 milliseconds, a 4-millimeter-thick probe responds to the signals from Zurich as it moves around the stomach of a live (anesthetized) pig in the operating theater in Hong Kong. Mesot guides a camera to examine the animal's stomach wall and takes tissue samples with a tiny gripper arm. This procedure is the first ever remote-controlled magnetic endoscopy. Details have just been published in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems. Two things were crucial for this breakthrough: a magnetic navigation system developed at ETH Zurich with a magnetically operated endoscope, and a secure, fast internet connection to the operating theater. Credit: Nicole Davidson / ETH Zurich Safety first In the operating theater, the remote-controlled procedure was supported and monitored by surgeons from the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before Mesot took over the navigation of the probe in Zurich, it was tested in the operating theater by a team from the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab and by the Hong Kong surgeons. The latter also inserted the magnetic endoscope through the pig's mouth into its stomach. The endoscope is controlled by a magnetic field generated by Navion, a surgical navigation system that ETH Professor Nelson and his team developed. "Not only can the endoscope be bent in any direction thanks to its magnetic head; it's also smaller and easier to maneuver than conventional devices," Mesot explains. Magnetic endoscopies are less stressful Thanks to the superb flexibility of the magnetic endoscope, Mesot was able to carry out a maneuver called a retroflexion in the animal's stomach without any problems: after entering the stomach cavity, the endoscope is bent backwards 180 degrees to inspect the stomach's entrance. This complex procedure shows that magnetic endoscopes can be manipulated remotely at least as flexibly as standard devices. In addition, the smaller endoscope can also be inserted via the nose in humans rather than via the esophagus, as is usual with conventional endoscopies. This is less stressful, as patients don't have to be fully sedated and can stay awake during the procedure to provide feedback. The magnetic endoscope is also potentially suitable for use in children, for whom the usual probes are too large. This illustration shows how a remote-controlled endoscopy works. Credit: Advanced Intelligent Systems (2024). DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202400522 A magnetic head makes the endoscope particularly manoeuvrable. Credit: Advanced Intelligent Systems (2024). DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202400522 Minimally invasive cancer screening and better care in remote areas Professor Nelson from the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich is already thinking ahead. "In the next step of our research, we hope to carry out a teleoperated endoscopy on a human stomach. There's a lot of potential in this technology. Here I'm thinking of minimally invasive procedures in the gastrointestinal tract, such as cancer screening." Dr. Shannon Melissa Chan, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, also points out, "Teleoperated endoscopy can be used not only for training surgeons, but also for providing diagnostic and surgical care in remote areas, especially in places where there's a lack of local expertise. We could even provide trained nurses with instructions from a distance on how to carry out the procedures." More information: Alexandre Mesot et al, Teleoperated Magnetic Endoscopy: A Case Study and Perspective, Advanced Intelligent Systems (2024). DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202400522 The Sharrott Creek fire in the Bitterroot Mountains west of Stevensville maintained size at just over 1,000 acres through the weekend after having rampaged through timber for hours after ignition on Friday afternoon. But strong winds Tuesday and Wednesday could cause further fire growth and test firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze. The lightning-sparked fire was originally estimated to have burned about 1,600 acres in just a few hours by sunset Friday, after starting around 3:45 p.m. A subsequent infrared mapping flight determined the fire to be 1,048 acres. It's burning on the east face of St. Mary's Peak, about 3 miles west of U.S. Highway 93 and little over 4 miles west of historic downtown Stevensville. On Friday night, Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton ordered evacuations for areas near the base of St. Mary's Peak, on the west side of U.S. Highway 93. The evacuation order remained in effect as of midday Monday. The Red Cross established an evacuation center in Stevensville at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 100 Middle Burnt Fork Road. The center offered lodging and food, as well as medical and mental health resources, but no showers. There was also room for campers but no camper utility hookups. The evacuation order covered "Kootenai Creek, west of the intersection of Timber Trail, to include residences on Timber Trail; west of the west side of Sharrott Hill Loop, to include residences on Blue Grouse Lane, Redtail Hawk Lane, and Porcupine Lane; Marmot Lane west of St. Mary's Road; (and) St. Mary's Lookout Road, west of the intersection of St. Mary's Road." By Monday, according to local fire managers from the Bitterroot National Forest, a national-level complex incident management team was set to take over command of firefighting efforts at 6 a.m. Tuesday. More than 250 personnel were working the fire Monday. And a public information meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Stevensville High School gym. The meeting will be broadcast live online at facebook.com/events/527120729692919/. Fire managers stated that firefighters would conduct a burnout, or back-burn, operation Monday in an attempt to reduce fuels in a controlled fashion between intended containment lines and the active fire front. Such operations generally involve establishing a fire line some distance out from the active fire front and then intentionally burning fuels from that line back toward the fire to create a buffer of fuel-devoid land that could stop the fire's progression. Increased smoke would likely be visible coming from around St. Mary's Peak Road on the southeast side of the fire due to the burnout. An operations map for Monday showed plans to construct a mixture of hand- and bulldozer-line north from the lowest switchback on the St. Mary's Peak Road inside the national forest boundary. That line would tie in to an existing road that would serve as containment line near Timber Trail, at the west end of Kootenai Creek Road. Mixed-construction line could continue from there to North Kootenai Creek Road. As of Monday morning, a small amount of dozer-line and hand-line had been completed around the northeast corner of the fire, up the mountain from Timber Trail and on the ridge between Sharrott and Larson creeks' drainages. And helicopters and tanker aircraft dropped 48,000 gallons of fire retardant around the fire and 52,000 gallon of water on the fire during Saturday's air operations. But fire managers cautioned that a cold front arriving Tuesday would likely bring gusty winds that aggravate fire behavior. As of early afternoon Monday, the National Weather Service predicted the area of the fire would experience high temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday amid sunny skies with sustained winds from the southwest around 8-15 mph and gusts up to 36 mph. Tuesday night and Wednesday were also set to being strong winds and gusts. Photos: Inside the Sharrott Creek fire on Aug. 23-24 After almost five years of work, UNC Health Blue Ridge leaders cut the ribbon Wednesday on the new patient tower on the hospitals Morganton campus. The eight-story tower more than triples the size of the emergency department, nearly doubles the number of ICU beds and moves the hospitals helipad to the roof. But this is not just a building, said Kathy Bailey, CEO of UNC Health Blue Ridge. Its our commitment along with UNC Health to the future of you, to the future of Burke County and to the future of western North Carolina. Mac McCrary, chairman of the UNC Health Blue Ridge board of directors, said hospital staff input was key in designing the new facility. Here are some of the features in the new facility hospital leaders have pointed out: Emergency department: More than tripling the size of the current emergency department floor, the new emergency department has 29 exam rooms with four trauma rooms, three negative pressure rooms, two rooms for bariatric patients and five additional stretcher alcoves. X-ray and CT will both be located within the department. Special ambulance entrance: Ambulances will enter from the back of the hospital instead of the front, keeping the front entrance of the emergency department clear for patients. Intensive care unit: In its first update since 1989, the new ICU will have 30 beds nearly double the current amount and rooms are much larger. People visiting loved ones can make use of the reclining chair in the room or the couch that folds down into a bed. Three ICU rooms are specially designed for bariatric patients. Rooms are equipped with screens that show patients care team, medical status and plan for the day ahead. Different shades of flooring make clear what space is for patients, their loved ones and the nurses, keeping the nurses close to the patient while allowing family the time and space to be involved in their care. Pandemic protocols: Ten rooms are outfitted as isolation rooms for airborne infections and the entire floor can be used in the event of a pandemic. Room to grow: If the hospital needs to expand in the future, three of the floors of the new tower are shells ready to be designed for whatever needs arise. The new building brings technology, larger elevators and enhanced ICU bed capabilities, said Jamie Adams, a nursing administrative supervisor. It makes it easier, as a nurse, to care for these patients when you have these facilities available, Adams said. More than that, it makes the staff proud to work there, said Ashley Carpenter, another nursing administrative supervisor for UNC Health Blue Ridge. Were proud to say look at what UNC Health Blue Ridge here in Morganton has done, Carpenter said. This tower symbolizes growth and now, in our role, we are not patient-facing roles, were support roles to the team, I can now help the teams provide the best care because we have up-to-date technology, we have up-to-date equipment, we have bigger rooms. We have a facility we are proud of, and we want to show off like we have today. Bailey said the new facility will allow the hospital to keep patients in Burke County it previously would have had to transfer to different facilities, usually an hour or more away. The facility (we) have here is unmatched in the state of North Carolina, and weve got it right here in Burke County, Bailey said. We have the facilities, the expertise and the equipment to take care of people that used to have to travel to the big city, and now they dont have to leave home. And thats whats its all about, is taking care of our community. The new emergency department will open in September. The intensive care unit will open in the spring once a bridge is built to connect the new building to the original wing of the hospital. Charles Mwangi, a bisexual man living in Canada, was granted a one-year temporary residency just a day before his scheduled deportation to Kenya. Mwangi, 48, faced deportation on Sunday, August 25, due to his undocumented status after his refugee claim was denied in 2021 and subsequent appeals were unsuccessful. Mwangi had actively sought support by launching multiple petitions, organizing protests, and filing an emergency application with the United Nations Human Rights Committee, with backing from the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. The UN application revealed that the adjudicator denied Mwangis refugee claim, citing doubts about his credibility as a bisexual man. The adjudicator also highlighted that Mwangi is married with two children. Despite this, Mwangi had submitted a sworn testimony and the testimony of a man he was reportedly dating in Toronto. Mwangi claimed he fled Kenya in 2019 due to death threats and abuse related to his sexuality. Mwangi explained that Kenya criminalizes same-sex relationships, and human rights groups have reported extensive discrimination, harassment, and violence against LGBTQ individuals, with police frequently identified as perpetrators. Before coming to Canada, I was told that people like me would be safe. Now, my life is at risk again due to the impending deportation on August 25, 2024less than two weeks away, Mwangi stated in his petition. He added, Kenya is considering laws similar to those in Uganda, which could lead to executions of people like me. The media is full of reports about the targeting of gay individuals. Upon arriving in Canada, Mwangi worked on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic as a personal support worker. I cared for elderly people when no one else would. I now work as a housekeeper and personal support worker at two shelters for youth and adults in Toronto, he said in a past interview. In response to his situation, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change has announced that Mwangi will lead a demonstration in Toronto on September 15. The protest will be part of a nationwide effort against racism and in support of immigrant justice. The organization highlighted that Mwangi continues his work at two Toronto shelters and previously contributed to long-term care homes during the pandemic, emphasizing that he came to Canada believing it was a safe haven for LGBTQ+ individuals. The High Court has temporarily blocked the governments plan to introduce a Road Tolling Policy that would impose charges on major highways, including the Thika Superhighway, Mombasa Southern Bypass, and Dongo Kundu Bypass. Milimani High Court Judge Chacha Mwita issued the injunction following a petition from the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK). This policy, if implemented, would require Kenyans to pay for using these major roads. In the meantime, a conservatory order is issued to restrain the respondents, their agents, and servants from implementing the proposed tolling on the Nairobi Southern Bypass, Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit, or any other public road constructed with public funds until October 8, Judge Mwita stated. The order also halts the tolling policy on Kenol-Sagana-Maua Road, Mombasa Southern Bypass, and Dongo Kundu Bypass. The judge instructed that all pleadings be served on the involved parties and that responses to the application and petition be filed and served within seven days of receiving the service. Furthermore, the order requires the petitioner to file and serve a supplementary affidavit within seven days after service, if necessary, along with written submissions to the application and petition, not exceeding 10 pages. The respondents and interested parties will then have seven days after service to file and serve their written submissions, also not exceeding 10 pages each, the judge added. COFEK has sued the National Assembly, Kenya Urban Roads Authority, and eight other entities. This petition followed the governments proposed legislation that would require Kenyans to pay tolls on certain highways under construction. The plan has sparked widespread condemnation, with many Kenyans accusing the government of imposing additional taxes. In response, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has committed to conducting thorough public consultations before implementing the tolling policy KeNHA has indicated that the policy will specify which roads will be tolled once finalized and explained that the new tolling policy could enable the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) to be allocated to new road projects, as toll roads might not qualify for RMLF funding. Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has announced that he will not comply with the summons issued by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which link him to bribery allegations. Speaking on Sunday after news of the EACC summons emerged, Barasa maintained that the matter is a civil issue, not a criminal one, and should not fall under the EACCs jurisdiction. During a press conference yesterday, Barasa accused a former gubernatorial candidate of orchestrating the allegations against him. He claimed that the accusations stemmed from a dispute over a debt repayment. According to Barasa, he had lent the former candidate Kes.4 million to support a campaign. However, he says this amount remains unpaid. Barasa clarified the situation by saying, I borrowed Ksh2 million from the former candidate as a soft loan. When the time came for repayment, I reminded the candidate, You borrowed Ksh4 million from me during the campaigns and you havent paid it back. Thats why I didnt pay the loan. Barasa claimed that the former candidate initially took him to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), but the case was dismissed since it was deemed a civil matter, not a criminal one. He alleged that after this, the same individual approached the EACC, filing a complaint that led to the first set of summons against him. I told the EACC that I would not honour the summon because the EACC cannot be used as a debt collection centre. If I have not fulfilled the financial obligation, it is because of the disagreement between me and the person, Barasa stated. Barasa alleged that the accusations against him had shifted, with claims now being made that he was involved in corruption. He expressed his discontent with the EACCs involvement, saying, I must remind the EACC that they have a serious mandate according to our constitution. They have no role in assisting this individual in recovering the loan given to me. The documents show why the loan was deposited into my account. Let the person take the matter to a civil court, and we will resolve it there. He reiterated, I will not comply with your summons because this issue is beyond your jurisdiction. In a letter dated August 21, the EACC requested that Barasa appear before them on Tuesday, August 27, for the recording of his statement. The Commission stated that it is investigating bribery allegations against him and emphasized that this was the second opportunity being offered to the MP to address the charges. The letter from the EACC reads, The Commission gives you a second chance to respond to the bribery allegations against you. Therefore, you are required to appear at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commissions offices at Integrity Centre, Nairobi, on August 27, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. The EACC also issued a warning to Barasa, cautioning him about the consequences of not complying with the summons. Please be aware that if you do not show up to respond to these allegations, this inquiry will proceed to its conclusion, and appropriate recommendations will be made without further reference to you, the letter stated. The governments crackdown on illicit brews and drug abuse is showing positive results due to stringent measures and effective coordination by the National Government Administration Officers. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua announced on Saturday that, despite these successes, the fight against these issues will continue, and the government will not tolerate a resurgence of the vices. Speaking in Thika, Kiambu County, Gachagua highlighted that the governments efforts have led to the reintegration of broken families and the reform of addicted youth as significant achievements in the nationwide crackdown. The families that had broken apart because of alcoholism have been reintegrated, and youths affected by illicit drug and alcohol abuse have reformed. Young men and women are now marrying and starting families. However, we must continue this fight, he said. Gachagua stressed that the menace had severely impacted the countrys productive population and reiterated that the crackdown on the production and sale of illicit liquor would persist. He made these remarks during the wedding ceremony of Muranga Deputy Governor Stephen Munania and Charity Mbinya, where he was accompanied by his spouse, Pastor Dorcas, and other leaders. The Deputy President commended the National Government Administration Officers in Kiambu and Muranga counties for their effective work in combating illicit alcohol and drug abuse. He noted a significant decrease in the presence of these vices in the region. We commend the Administration Officers in Kiambu and Muranga counties for their efforts in eradicating illicit brews and drug abuse. Without the Presidents and the Governments intervention, this regions population was heading towards extinction, he said. Gachagua pointed out that the widespread manufacture, distribution, sale, and consumption of illicit brews, along with the resulting deaths, required decisive government action. He emphasized the governments commitment to ending the dangers and incapacitation caused by lethal brews in Kenya. Gachagua also urged Kenyans to reject tribalism and support the unity and inclusive government established by President William Ruto. What the President has introduced is transformative, and we appreciate his decision. Let us learn to love and work together, he stated. Furthermore, the Deputy President addressed critics of his decision to unify the Mt. Kenya region following the divisive 2022 elections. He explained that the unity aimed to foster socio-economic and political development for the region. We are uniting to strengthen our position in national politics and enhance our relevance, he said. Our unity is not against anyone but is meant to improve our role in national discussions. We want to build relationships with everyone and approach future elections without biases or animosities. We have no issues with anyone. The government has welcomed the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) decision to cancel a planned nationwide strike scheduled for today(Monday, August 26, 2024). Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba expressed gratitude to KNUT officials and members for their decision to call off the strike. He assured that the government would work to meet the teachers demands. We assure our teachers of the governments genuine commitment to addressing all their legitimate concerns, despite the limited fiscal space within which we are operating as a country, Ogamba stated. CS Ogamba also urged parents and guardians to ensure their children report to their respective schools as planned. As previously notified, the ministry has already disbursed Ksh.21.8 billion as capitation to all basic education institutions to ensure a smooth resumption of school operations, he added. Ogamba further promised that the government would use a consultative approach with all stakeholders to resolve outstanding issues and create a favorable working environment for teachers. KNUTs decision to cancel the strike followed a day-long meeting by its National Executive Council (NEC) on Sunday. KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu announced that the National Executive Council presented five key demands. First, they called for the immediate implementation of the second phase of the 2021/2025 amended CBA, which the Teachers Service Commission and Knut signed. The Union also demanded the immediate remittance of third-party deductions accrued to their respective organizations. Additionally, they requested the immediate conversion of 46,000 Junior School teachers to Permanent and Pensionable Terms and the hiring of 20,000 new teachers. The union sought the promotion of 130,000 teachers who have been stagnant in various job grades. Finally, they demanded the prompt remittance of capitation to the Medical Insurer to enable service providers to offer medical services to sick teachers and their families. The NEC decided to withdraw the strike notice, which was set to expire at midnight on August 25, 2024, after the government and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) began addressing the remaining issues administratively. In light of these developments, we direct our teachers to resume duty effective Monday, August 26, 2024, KNUT announced in a statement signed by Secretary General Collins Henry Oyuu. The union explained that it made this decision after evaluating all options and considering the commitment levels of the government, TSC, and the teachers role in advancing the education agenda. KNUT acknowledged that while it remained unconvinced by some of the steps taken by the government and TSC, it believed there was goodwill to address the unions concerns. Chinese premier calls for strengthening global cooperation to boost robot industry Xinhua) 08:07, August 26, 2024 Chinese Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pays a field survey visit to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang has emphasized the need to foster an open environment for technical innovation and support foreign firms and research institutions to invest in China, when talking about advancing the robot industry through closer global collaboration. Li made the remarks while on a field survey visit on Sunday to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing. He said it is necessary to establish and make good use of cooperation platforms for industrial exchanges, maintain the stability and smoothness of industrial and supply chains, and facilitate technical innovation of the robot industry worldwide. Li toured the expo's exhibition hall and inquired about the performance, technological advantages, and in particular the applications of some robots on display. The expo was part of the five-day World Robot Conference which opened on Wednesday and was themed "Co-fostering New Quality Productive Forces for a Shared Intelligent Future." Li called for strengthened efforts to boost technical innovation and industrial development to cultivate new growth engines and continuously improve people's well-being. Referring to robots as an "important yardstick for technical innovation and high-end manufacturing strength," Li said relevant innovation should target industrial upgrading, consumption upgrading demand and world-leading industrial frontiers. Li added that China's advantages, ranging from a super-sized domestic market to abundant innovation scenarios, should be put to full use, while applications of robot-related technological innovation in sectors such as manufacturing, farming and services should be accelerated. To boost the robot industry, he also underlined the need for engaging more venture capital investment, incubating more unicorn firms and more "little giant" firms, which are small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market and boast cutting-edge technologies, as well as fostering industrial clusters with specialties and advantages. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) 09:34 The programmes will be held across the state between August 28 and September 4, said Majumdar, also a Union minister. Demanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's resignation for her alleged failure to address the issue of women's safety, Majumdar said the party will begin a sit-in in Esplanade area of Kolkata from August 28 while the party's women's wing will lock the gates of the state women's commission office. "The state women's commission seems to have gone into a stupor," Majumdar told reporters on the sidelines of a demonstration by BJP in Shyambazar area of the city. The BJP leader said that on August 29, party activists will gherao the district magistrate's office in every district at noon while protests will be held outside the administrative offices in every block on September 2. On September 4, a 'chakka jam' will be observed everywhere in the state stalling the movement of traffic for one hour, he said. Majumdar claimed the ongoing CBI probe into the alleged financial irregularities in R G Kar Medical College and Hospital showed the nexus between the state and the corrupt hospital lobby. The chief minister is shielding "big fishes involved in the shady deals amounting to crores," he alleged. "We demand the phone conversation between the CM and a powerful official of the hospital be brought under the ambit of investigation by CBI," the Union Minister of State for Education said. Responding to BJP's planned programmes, TMC state spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar said, "To divert the focus from the delay by CBI in tracking the perpetrators of the crime, the BJP is trying to foment trouble in the state and disrupt normal life." "While the entire West Bengal is asking the CBI to ensure justice is done to the victim doctor, the BJP's only demand is resignation of the CM who has expressed solidarity with the victim's family and stood by them. She also reiterated her government and party's stance about zero tolerance to incidents like rape," he added. Another TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said the main demand of every citizen of the state centres around the punishment of all those involved in the rape and murder of the doctor, but the BJP is talking about so-called financial irregularities in the hospital. -- PTI Stepping up the attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar has announced a series of programmes to protest the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run hospital in Kolkata over two weeks back. PNN Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], August 26: Brand Torque proudly announces AISL Edition II, an exclusive, invite-only event scheduled for September 20th, 2024, at the esteemed Sheraton Hotel in Bangalore. This premier forum will gather a distinguished delegation of industry leaders, CEOs, and influencers to engage in discussions that shape the future of business. A Showcase of Prestige and Excellence! AISL Edition II is not just an event; it's a convergence of the most influential minds across various industries. Delegates can expect in-depth discussions on real estate, financial services, alternative investments, lifestyle, sustainability, and artificial intelligence. The day will feature two power-packed sessions, each moderated by leading experts: * Morning Session: Focus on leadership, innovation, and emerging trends across key sectors. * Evening Session: Exploration of sustainable business practices and the evolving global economy. Panel Discussions and Speakers Panel 1: Family Office Rethink on AIF & Real Estate Investments * Moderator: Pallavi Joshi Bakhru, Partner & Leader, Private Client Services, India-UK Corridor Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP * Panelists: * Shridhar N, Group Director & CEO, Hiranandani Group * Sanjay Tagra, Managing Partner, JSW Ventures * Ganesh KC, President, Pratithi Investments * Sree Priya NS, Co-Founder & Director, Entrust Family Office Panel 2: Real Estate & Alternative Investments Panel * Moderator: Shabala D. Shinde, Partner and Real Estate & REITs Industry Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP * Panelists: * Vimalendra Singh, Chief Business Officer - Residential, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. * Vishal Gupta, Principal Investments, ICICI Prudential AMC * Ashish Dhami, Chief - sales, marketing & product design, K Raheja Corp Panel 3: Thought Leaders in Lifestyle and Sustainability * Moderator: Khushroo Panthaky, Chartered Accountant * Panelists: Renowned thought leaders and industry experts will discuss business trends, the future of India, artificial intelligence, lifestyle, and sustainability. Keynote Speakers and Moderators Renowned experts will headline the sessions, bringing unparalleled insights into new-age business strategies. Each session will be moderated by industry veterans, ensuring a rich and engaging dialogue. Brand Partners: The Powerhouses Behind AISL Edition II AISL Edition II is supported by an array of prestigious partners: * Grant Thornton Bharat: Knowledge and Award Tabulation Partner, providing expertise in navigating the evolving business landscape. * CEO Club India: Our Esteemed Association that brings together CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders from various industries to share knowledge, ideas, and resources. * ICICI Prudential Alternative Investments: Our Presenting Partner, continuing its legacy of empowering leaders with insights into alternative investments. * K Raheja Corp and Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.: Platinum Partners exemplifying excellence in real estate and sustainable living. * Titan Nebula: Lifestyle Partner blending tradition with luxury. * Sumadhura Group and Starworth Infrastructure & Construction Ltd.: Highlighting innovation and craftsmanship in real estate. Statements from the Curators and Partners Madhushree Dutta, Founder & CEO of Brand Torque LLP, shares, "The AISL project is poised to become a transformative force in India, uniting stakeholders and disseminating valuable information and opportunities. It offers an unbiased platform for exploring new possibilities and supports business owners and financial experts in evaluating growth opportunities. We anticipate the AISL (Alternative Investments & Sustainable Lifestyles) and Lumiere Awards growing significantly each year, fulfilling our vision of a platform rich in research, content, and connections." Khushroo Panthaky, Chartered Accountant, shared his enthusiasm: "I am excited to moderate the Thought Leaders Panel at AISL 2024 - Edition II in Bangalore this year! We'll explore a range of captivating topics, from Leadership and Artificial Intelligence to Lifestyle and Sustainability. I look forward to an engaging discussion that promises fresh insights and valuable perspectives for business leaders, industry stalwarts, and subject matter experts." Shabala D. Shinde, Partner and Real Estate & REITs Industry Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP shares:" The real estate sector has moved beyond just bricks and mortar, now embracing innovation, sustainability, and varied investment strategies. I look forward to facilitate the "Real Estate and Alternative Investments" panel at AISL-2024 - Edition II in Bangalore where our distinguished panelists will share valuable insights to propel growth and successfully navigate the challenges of this transforming landscape". Mahindra Patwari, Director, MIPL Global | President, CEO Clubs India, Bangalore Chapter, emphasized the importance of innovation in today's business climate: "As the global business landscape transforms, CEOs must pivot towards sustainable growth. Our partnership with AISL provides a catalyst for innovation, empowering leaders to harness alternative investments and drive positive change." Vishal Gupta, Principal Investments - Real Estate ICICI Prudential AMC, highlighted the event's relevance: "AISL Edition II is a pivotal platform where industry experts converge to explore the potential of alternative investments. Our aim is to empower attendees with knowledge and strategies that foster potential growth and resilience in a rapidly changing world." Vimalendra Singh, Chief Business Officer (Residential), Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd., remarked: "Investing in the future is crucial, and sustainable living plays a key role in this vision. Mahindra Lifespaces has launched the country's first three Net Zero residential developments. As a pioneer in Net Zero homes in India, Mahindra Lifespaces is committed to exclusively building Net Zero homes from 2030 onwards. Our 100% green portfolio and our goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 underscore our dedication to sustainability and innovation. As we shape the future of luxury living by making it sustainable and responsible, I look forward to exploring new ideas that will drive our field forward. This event is a great opportunity to connect with industry leaders, engage in meaningful discussions, and share valuable insights." Ashish Dhami, Chief - sales, marketing & product design - K Raheja Corp Homes further adds, "At K Raheja Corp Homes, we pride ourselves on being a leading real estate conglomerate, redefining luxury and lifestyle with every endeavor. Our mission is to create unparalleled experiences for our customers and investors. The AISL platform serves as an ideal venue where we can collaborate and unlock exceptional growth opportunities" Lumiere Awards: Celebrating Brilliance Across Industries The Lumiere Awards Night will be a glittering ceremony, celebrating excellence across various sectors, including innovation, business excellence, technology, and the arts. Esteemed jury members will recognize those who have made significant contributions to their industries purely on merit. A Platform for Networking and Growth AISL Edition II offers a unique opportunity for delegates to network with peers, industry leaders, and innovators. Attendees will leave with actionable insights and connections that drive growth and success. Join Us Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to be part of a forum that promises to be both intellectually stimulating and strategically significant. We look forward to welcoming our esteemed guests to an unforgettable event where excellence and innovation converge. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) PRNewswire Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 26: Microland, India's networking pioneer and India's largest specialized IT infrastructure services and consulting company, is celebrating 35 years of providing technological innovation to global business leaders. Established in 1989, Microland was the first company in India to introduce global networking giants and other technology leaders--such as Novell NetWare, Cisco, Compaq, and Netscape--to the country. Today, with its industry-leading growth and specialization in next-generation technologies such as AI, automated operations, and platform-driven solutions, Microland drives operational excellence, agility, resilience, and productivity for enterprises worldwide. Over 4,600 Microlanders deliver services in more than 100 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, offering cutting-edge solutions in networks, cloud, data centers, cybersecurity, services management, applications, and automation. Microland has continuously evolved over the last 35 years, staying ahead of technology developments to reshape itself and build on its global recognition. Today, as the company marks its 35th anniversary, it returns to its roots as a networking pioneer, shifting its focus from 'Make digital happen' to 'Connect with the best.' Microland realizes that organizations are well on their way to realizing digital adoption. They know that networks underpin the functionality and efficiency of modern digital systems, supporting productivity and innovation at the most fundamental level. To aid the journey of its clients across a business landscape that demands continuous innovation, Microland has embraced AI. Its latest AI-powered Intelligeni platform represents a groundbreaking shift in IT service operations. At its core, Intelligeni embodies Microland's commitment to innovation, efficiency, and client-centricity. It empowers client organizations with unprecedented insights, proactive problem-solving, unique experience, and autonomous decision-making capabilities. With seven modules, Intelligeni delivers 10x more resilient and efficient digital infrastructure. The Intelligeni platform has been recognized as an Innovator in Avasant's RadarView ITOps Services for 2023-24. Engineered and perfected over the last decade, the platform harnesses AI, leading the way to a first-of-its-kind IT services administrator. Microland has firmly placed itself on the radar of several leading industry bodies and analysts. It has been recognized globally as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services for four years in a row (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). Based on rigorous, fact-based analysis, Gartner's Magic Quadrant allows technology users to assess the market and its technology providers, understand their differentiators, and narrow their buying choices. In early August 2024, Microland was awarded the prestigious World Class 5-star rating by the Service Desk Institute (SDI) for the quality of IT service and support operations. Microland is the third company globally and the first company in India to attain this accolade. Microland has also achieved a gold rating from EcoVadis, underscoring its exceptional performance in Environment and Sustainable Procurement, reflecting its commitment to high Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards. At Microland, cutting-edge AI technology is integrated into every facet of its operations and customer solutions. It is complemented by a focus on embedding sustainability principles throughout all practices, from innovation to implementation. The gold rating from EcoVadis places Microland in the top 5 percent of over 125,000 assessed companies globally. Microland has sharpened its approach to ESG with the Microland Foundation. This dedicated social development arm forges meaningful partnerships to conceptualize and implement projects that solve society's most pressing problems around education, environment, employability, and health in a measurable, scalable, and sustainable manner. The Foundation uses Microland's technological capabilities to deliver, monitor, and scale its programs. In a message to Microland on its 35th anniversary, Peter Bendor-Samuel, Founder of Everest Group, said, "Microland excels at integrating technology with services. Where others would use labor, it uses the platforms it has invested in and developed in-house to deliver the services. Result: They are able to deliver robust, high-quality services at lower costs. This pushes them forward as a leader in the technology services space and ensures they can compete with much bigger firms." Speaking on the occasion of Microland's 35th anniversary, Pradeep Kar, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director, said, "Microland has evolved and matured over the last 35 years. Today, we are renewing our commitment to our clients, ensuring they connect with the best of tomorrow's networking innovations today." About Microland Microland is a pioneering IT Infrastructure services and consulting company headquartered in Bengaluru, India, with a proven track record of delivering tangible business outcomes for 35 years. Today, as enterprises recognize that networks underpin the functionality and efficiency of modern digital systems and support innovation, we provide next-generation technologies such as AI, automated operations, and platform-driven solutions - which drive operational excellence, agility, and productivity for organizations worldwide. Our team of over 4,600 experts delivers services in over 100 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, offering cutting-edge solutions in networks, cloud, data centers, cybersecurity, services management, applications, and automation. Recognized by leading industry analysts for our innovative strategies, Microland is committed to strong governance, environmental sustainability, and fostering an inclusive workplace where diverse talent thrives. When businesses work with Microland, they connect with the best talent, technologies, and solutions to create unparalleled value. For more information, visit www.microland.com Contact: sobia.sahar@microland.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2488252/Microland_35_years_Logo.jpg (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) PRNewswire Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 26: Hettich, one of the world's largest manufacturers of furniture fittings gets BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Certification for its Onsys Hinges and KA Ball Bearing Drawer Runners. BIS certification is a pinnacle of trust & authenticity and it further validates the exceptional quality of these products. Commenting on this new development, Andre Eckholt, Managing Director of Hettich India said, "It is a matter of great pride to have received BIS Certification for two of our highest-selling products. With this certification, we continue to set industry benchmarks, demonstrating our unwavering dedication to quality and compliance." He added, "Achieving BIS certification after a thorough audit of our manufacturing processes and successful sample testing underscores the superlative quality of our products, inspiring trust among our customers and partners." Hettich manufactures its indigenous products at state-of-the-art plants located in Indore and Vadodara, utilising the latest fully automated machinery from Germany. This advanced technology ensures flawless production of furniture fittings, right from raw materials to finished goods, while stringent quality checks guarantee consistency. It is a testament towards their commitment to 'Make in India. Make for the World' philosophy under the Government of India's clarion call for Atmanirbhar Bharat. Currently, the Onsys Hinges and KA Ball Bearing Drawer Runners have been BIS certified with other products to follow soon. About Hettich: Hettich is a 136-year-old family-owned German lifestyle brand, being one of the world's largest manufacturers of Furniture Fittings with a global turnover exceeding 1.5 billion euros. In India, Hettich started operations at the dawn of the new millennium and within a short span of time gained an undisputed leadership position in the Indian furniture fittings and hardware industry. Hettich's product portfolio comprises a repertoire of Furniture Fittings & Door Hardware made with cutting-edge German quality complemented by Wire Products, Aluminum Profiles, Shelving Systems, Built-in Appliances and Furniture Lights, thereby providing holistic fitting solutions for all residential and commercial spaces. It is also the recipient of 'Best Brands 2022 & 2023' by the Economic Times and the 'Most Trusted Brands of India 2023 & 2024' by Marksmen Daily recognitions for its unwavering customer trust and strong brand equity. Visit: https://www.hettichindiaonline.com/ Media Contact:Samina ZaidiMob: +91 8655706940Email: samina.zaidi@hettich.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2489197/Hettich_India.jpgLogo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2437651/Hettich_Logo.jpg (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) The decline in loan-to-deposit ratios (LDR) within the banking system has been attributed to lower money creation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and higher profits accrued by banks over the past two years, according to Nomura report. One of the contributors to the decline in systemic LDR is the lower net money creation by the RBI over the fiscal year 2023-24. Cumulative net fresh money creation during this period amounted to only Rs 0.6 trillion, a contrast to approximately Rs 20 trillion created in the three fiscal years preceding it (FY20-22). This represents a drop in money supply compared to previous years. In the fiscal year 2023-24, the net money creation by the RBI was virtually neutral, recording -1 per cent in FY23 and +1 per cent in FY24, against a 20-year average of +3 per cent and a higher +4-5 per cent in the earlier three years. This moderation in money supply, a discretionary move by the RBI, has had a notable impact on the LDR, limiting the ability of banks to expand their lending relative to deposits. Another crucial factor influencing the decline in LDR is the substantial increase in bank profits over the last two years. In FY24, the total profit of banks was 1.8 per cent of the previous year's deposits, a rise from the average of 0.1 per cent observed between FY16-20. This increase in profitability, while indicative of strong financial performance, has led to a reduction in deposits as banks appropriate a larger portion of these profits. The relationship between bank profits and deposits is intrinsic; banks generate profits from their operations, which are ultimately derived from depositors' funds. As banks' profits rise, the balance sheet needs to be adjusted accordingly, often leading to a reduction in deposits. Consequently, higher profits can result in a diminished deposit base, further impacting the LDR. The elevated LDR, driven by these factors, should be viewed as a cyclical phenomenon rather than a systemic issue. The argument that banks are failing to mobilize deposits or that money is being diverted elsewhere is misplaced. Instead, flows into capital markets and the muted growth in currency in circulation over the past two years do not directly impact system deposits. Banks have continued to create deposits through credit expansion, and the factors leading to the higher LDR are beyond their control. The lower money creation by the RBI is a cyclical issue that is expected to correct over time, while the higher bank profits reflect a positive trend rather than a problem. (ANI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led a high-level meeting with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong comprising Union Miniter Piyush Goyal, S Jaishankar and Ashwini vaishnaw ahead of the second round of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) in Singapore on Monday. The discussions focused on deepening collaboration in critical areas such as digitalization, green initiatives, and skill development. The Ministry of Finance posted on X, "The leaders discussed boosting India-Singapore Strategic Partnership by focusing on key areas like #digitalisation, #GreenInitiatives, and #SkillDevelopment. FM Smt. @nsitharaman appreciated President Mr. @Tharman_S for being a strong proponent of multilateralism through his seminal contribution to developing far-reaching reforms that can enable governments and institutions to deal with 21st-century challenges. The Union Finance Minister expressed gratitude to President Mr. @Tharman_S for his invaluable contributions as a member of the #G20 Expert Group on Strengthening MDBs during #G20India Presidency in 2023." https://x.com/finminindia/status/1827979378023670095?s=48&t=CSE0glwGSDCXRHUtG7cLjw During the discussions, the leaders emphasized the importance of strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Singapore by concentrating on key areas that are central to the future growth of both nations. Finance Minister Sitharaman expressed her appreciation for President Tharman's unwavering support for multilateralism. She commended his significant contributions to reforming global institutions to better address the challenges of the 21st century. The Finance Minister also conveyed her gratitude for President Tharman's invaluable input as a member of the G20 Expert Group on Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) during India's G20 Presidency in 2023. Ministry of Finance posted on X, "Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman led a delegation of her Cabinet colleagues, including Dr. @DrSJaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs; Shri @PiyushGoyal , Union Minister for Commerce and Industry; Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways @RailMinIndia, Ministry of Electronics & IT @GoI_MeitY and I&B @MIB_India, and called on Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. @LawrenceWongST , in Singapore, today. During the interactions, the leaders discussed the need to strengthen #partnership and broaden #cooperation between the two countries." https://x.com/finminindia/status/1827976263379632253?s=48&t=CSE0glwGSDCXRHUtG7cLjw The Ministry of Finance highlighted the delegation's meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong. The discussions focused on the need to further strengthen the partnership between India and Singapore and to explore new avenues for cooperation. The leaders recognized the growing importance of collaboration in areas such as digital transformation and green initiatives, which are crucial for the sustainable development of both nations. (ANI) PNN New Delhi [India], August 26: On August 24, 2024, the International Youth Development Foundation (IYDF) collaborated with Nitika Makeover to organize a meaningful charity event at D.H. United Public School in Badyal-Quzian. This event, led by Nitika Mahajan, saw the active participation of volunteers Deepak Kumar, Harsh Bhagat, Parshotam Sonu, and Lucky Baddan, who came together to provide substantial help and care to 30 children. The event officially began at 5:00 PM, with full support from the beneficiary unit's leader, ensuring the smooth distribution of essential supplies. The donated items included notebooks, pencils, scales, erasers, sharpeners, paint sets, diaries, snacks, and juices--resources that not only met the children's educational and daily needs but also brought them joy and motivation. Throughout the event, volunteers engaged in meaningful interactions with the children, distributing the supplies and discussing potential challenges they may face as they grow. These conversations not only boosted the children's confidence but also made them feel the care and support of the community. Reflecting on the event, Nitika Mahajan shared her thoughts: "Today's event brought me immense happiness. Helping these children is the greatest satisfaction I could ask for. I am grateful to IYDF for giving me this opportunity and trusting me to organize this event." Her words underscored her unwavering commitment to continuing support for these children. The International Youth Development Foundation (IYDF) remains dedicated to helping children and youth worldwide through actionable initiatives. This partnership with Nitika Makeover further demonstrated IYDF's active role in promoting children's education and social care. Through this event, IYDF and Nitika Makeover not only provided the children with practical supplies but also instilled confidence and hope for their future. This event not only improved the children's learning environment but also empowered them with knowledge and understanding through discussion and interaction. Looking ahead, IYDF will continue to collaborate with various partners to extend help to more children in need, ensuring they grow up in an environment filled with care and support. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) Amidst an increasing number of unscrupulous persons or entities trying to provide unrealistic investment tips, stock exchanges in India have come together with an advisory to sensitize investors about its consequences. In a joint advisory on Monday, leading stock exchanges, BSE, NSE, NCDEX, MCX, and MSE advised investors to exercise due caution and refrain from joining any social media groups where stock recommendations are given along with market analysis or downloading any App offering investment opportunities. Joining such groups or downloading such fake apps could make investors victims of "transnational financial fraud promising unrealistic returns," the joint advisory said. It has been brought to the notice of the Exchanges that some unscrupulous persons or entities operating through Indian and international mobile numbers, through social media platforms, are falsely claiming to offer trading opportunities through Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) or Foreign Institutional Investor (FII), impersonating reputed financial institutions. The joint advisory accused those entities of showcasing fake certificates purportedly issued by SEBI/ Exchanges. "These operations often use mobile numbers registered under false names to orchestrate their schemes," the joint advisory read. The activities of such unscrupulous entities include claims of being associated with organizations/individuals of repute, promising guaranteed or high returns without the need for a demat account, offering to handle trading accounts by asking investors to share their login credentials, facilitating pre-IPO subscriptions with false promises of assured profits, among many others. Hence, the exchanges came together and cautioned investors to be skeptical of any social media claim of high returns from trading in the securities market through fictitious institutional accounts and not fall for stock market advice/analysis. Victims can report such suspected fraud communications at the Chakshu facility on www.sancharsaathi.gov.in and in case one has already lost money, they can report the same on cybercrime helpline number 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in. Investors are also advised to refer to webpage links of stock exchanges to verify the genuine trading App, websites, and bank accounts of recognized stockbrokers. Investors must understand that investments offering high returns usually involve high risk, including fraud risk, and there can be no guarantees of assured returns in the securities market. (ANI) PNN New Delhi [India], August 26: On August 24, 2024, the International Youth Development Foundation (IYDF) teamed up with Khalsa Key Maker to organize a heartwarming charitable event in Aurangabad, Uttar Pradesh (Aurangabad Gadana, Modi Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, 201204). This event aimed to provide much-needed care and support to local underprivileged children. The initiative was led by Mohan Singh, who was joined by dedicated volunteers Gurmeet Singh, Rahul Singh, Hardyal Singh, and Harmeet Singh. Together, they brought tangible assistance to 25 children, making a significant impact on their lives. Darshan Singh, the beneficiary unit's head, played a crucial role in ensuring the smooth distribution of supplies. The aid included a variety of essential items such as pens, pencils, school bags, clothing, food, fruits, and refreshments. These supplies not only fulfilled the children's immediate needs but also uplifted their spirits, offering them much-needed encouragement. The atmosphere at the event was filled with joy and laughter as the volunteers engaged the children in interactive games, creating a bond of trust and warmth. These simple yet meaningful interactions sparked a sense of hope within the children, making them feel the care and support of the wider community. Reflecting on the event, Mohan Singh expressed, "This experience has deepened my understanding of the necessity of helping these children. I am committed to continuing to support and assist them in the days ahead. I am especially grateful to IYDF for their support; it is through such international collaborations that we have the opportunity to participate in these noble endeavors." IYDF, a global organization dedicated to youth development, consistently partners with local charitable institutions to fulfill its mission of "ensuring a brighter future for every child." This collaboration with Khalsa Key Maker further highlights IYDF's commitment to caring for vulnerable communities and taking on social responsibilities. Through this event, IYDF and Khalsa Key Maker not only assisted 25 underprivileged children but also infused their future with hope. As Mohan Singh aptly noted, "The time spent with these children not only enriched our lives but also revealed their potential and the hope they carry for the future." IYDF remains committed to working with partners worldwide to bring hope and light to children in need. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) A sculpture titled "Marco Polo" is on display at "Marco Polo in China" exhibition at the Academy of the Arts of Drawing (Accademia delle Arti del Disegno) in Florence, Italy, on July 23, 2024. (Photo by Fu Xiao/Xinhua) Inspired by Marco Polo, who traveled to China along the ancient Silk Road more than 700 years ago, Italian traveler Vienna Cammarota set off from the legendary explorer's hometown Venice on April 26, 2022, to retrace the route on foot. With a simple backpack and two trekking poles, 74-year-old Cammarota has covered over 20,000 km and passed through dozens of countries. Before entering China, the last stop of her journey to the East, she returned to her southern Italian hometown of Paestum in August for a short break. The journey is more than just a personal challenge, Cammarota told Xinhua in a recent interview. It is a mission to witness firsthand the impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and to share the experiences with the world, she added. Cammarota's fascination with China began over two decades ago when a Chinese student stayed in her home, igniting her interest in the country's rich cultural heritage. Throughout her trip, Cammarota said she witnessed the transformation of the ancient trade route into a corridor of economic and cultural exchange. "I have seen the bridges, highways, and railways built under the BRI, which connect countries in a way that echoes the Silk Road's historic role in facilitating trade and cultural exchange." Marveled at the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, a project built by a Chinese consortium, led by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, Cammarota said the bridge not only connected the country's southern and northern regions but also shortened the distance between the island of Korcula, where Marco Polo once lived, to the land. "What an amazing work," Cammarota posted on Facebook. In October 2023, Cammarota reached Tajikistan, where she visited the China-Tajikistan highway project. The infrastructure project, once completed, is expected to enhance regional connectivity and bring new opportunities. Cammarota noted that she observed how this project embodies the spirit of the BRI --"bringing hope and development to the communities along its path." Cammarota said she plans to spend two years in China, visiting key stops along the ancient Silk Road, including Kashgar, Kuqa and Turpan in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Dunhuang, Zhangye and Jiayuguan in Gansu Province; and the historic city of Xi'an. She is particularly eager to visit Suzhou, the "Venice of the East," as described by Marco Polo. For Cammarota, this journey is more than retracing Marco Polo's footsteps. She said she hopes her travels will help people in Italy and the West see the true beauty and greatness of China. "People in the West often view China through political lens, without truly understanding its cultural richness and modern achievements," she said in the interview. "The real China is a land filled with numerous UNESCO heritage sites, cutting-edge technology, and a harmonious balance between urban development and natural preservation." "The BRI reflects the idea that one should not only strive for personal gain but also work for the benefit of society as a whole," a concept deeply rooted in Chinese culture, she noted. "This spirit of mutual support has long been forgotten in the West." Describing herself as an ambassador of cultural exchange and modern-day Marco Polo, Cammarota noted that "I want people to know about Marco Polo and the Silk Road, but I also want to send a message to women of my age -- it's never too late to pursue your dreams." PNN New Delhi [India], August 26: On the afternoon of August 22, 2024, the International Youth Development Foundation (IYDF) partnered with Unani Dawakhana to host a heartwarming charity event at the Children's Home in Ghutrapara Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India. The event, organized and led by Mohammed Wasif, the owner of Unani Dawakhana, brought together 15 dedicated volunteers who delivered much-needed educational supplies to 36 children. The event also provided emotional support through meaningful interactions, leaving a lasting impact on the children's hearts. Organizing Team and Beneficiaries The volunteer team, led by Mohammed Wasif, included Nushrat Parween, Sebi Jafar, Murad Ali, Iqbaal Hasan, Zeba Irfana, Neda Sultana, Mohammad Akram, Santi Nag, Farida Khatoon, Raiyan Jafar, Warisa Jafar, Mohammad Ali Hasan, and Mohammad Adil. Although they came from diverse backgrounds, they all shared a common goal: to make a positive difference in the lives of vulnerable children. The volunteers provided the children with notebooks, English books, math books, science books, erasers, sharpeners, pencils, and other educational supplies. Through their conversations with the children, the volunteers gained insight into their needs and aspirations, laying the groundwork for future support. Event Highlights and Interaction The event unfolded in a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with the children eagerly receiving their new educational materials--essential tools for their academic success. The volunteers did more than just distribute supplies; they engaged with the children on a personal level, offering emotional support and encouragement. Mohammed Wasif led the volunteers in meaningful conversations with the children, learning about the challenges they faced in their education and daily lives, and providing words of encouragement. Despite coming from impoverished backgrounds with limited access to educational resources, the children's eyes still shone with a thirst for knowledge and hope for a brighter future. Through playful interactions and quiz games, the volunteers not only sparked the children's interest in learning but also taught them how to face life's challenges with resilience. Feedback and Future Outlook The event left a deep impression on everyone involved. Reflecting on the experience, Mohammed Wasif said, "Seeing the smiles on the children's faces brought us immense joy and satisfaction. This event not only helped these children but also reminded us of the fulfillment and sense of purpose that comes from helping others. I look forward to more opportunities to participate in and organize such events, so more children can benefit." The volunteers echoed his sentiments, expressing how meaningful it was to take part in the event. Their efforts provided the children with tangible support and showed them that they are cared for and valued by society. This kind of care plays a crucial role in the children's development, motivating them to pursue their dreams with greater determination. The Impact of IYDF and Unani Dawakhana's Partnership This event showcased the commitment of IYDF and Unani Dawakhana to social responsibility. IYDF has long been dedicated to helping vulnerable groups worldwide, with a particular focus on children's education and development. Unani Dawakhana, a local charitable business, consistently contributes to social welfare initiatives. Looking ahead, IYDF plans to deepen its collaboration with local businesses and individuals, expanding the reach of its charitable activities to provide more children with the resources and support they need. Through these efforts, IYDF aims to create a brighter future for these children, giving them the opportunity to realize their dreams and overcome the challenges they face. This event was undoubtedly a success, bringing much-needed support to the children and raising awareness of the importance of education. With the continued efforts of IYDF and Unani Dawakhana, we can expect more initiatives that will bring positive change and hope to society. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) NewsVoir Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 26: Jana Small Finance Bank has once again cemented its status as a frontrunner in the Indian banking industry. The bank's commitment to excellence and innovation was recognized at the prestigious 2nd ICC Emerging Asia Banking Conclave & Awards, where it clinched four coveted awards. Jana Small Finance Bank was honoured with the titles of Best Small Finance Bank, India, Best Performance on Profitability (Runners-up), Best Performance on Asset Quality, and Best Performance on Risk Management. This quadruple win underscores the bank's exceptional performance across key metrics and its dedication to providing innovative financial solutions. Commenting on the achievement, Ajay Kanwal, MD and CEO of Jana Small Finance Bank, said, "We are thrilled to receive these awards, which validate our team's hard work and dedication. On behalf of our 22,000+ strong employee base, I would like to thank ICC for conferring us with these awards. Such felicitations motivate us to work harder for aspirational India. Our success is a testament to the trust and support of our customers, stakeholders, and employees. We are committed to continuing our journey of innovation and growth." The awards ceremony was attended by Gopal Tripathi, Head - Treasury and Capital Markets. Jana Small Finance Bank's continued success is a testament to its unwavering focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving positive change in the financial landscape. Jana Small Finance Bank, a scheduled commercial bank, is the 4th largest Small Finance Bank in India with an experience of over 16 years in lending and serving more than 12 million customers. The Bank was launched in March 2018, is a solid combination of a digital institution and national presence across 22 states and 2 union territories, spread across 808 branches. From its origin of being a NBFC-MFI, the bank has transformed steadily over the years, leading to 60% of its lending book being secured, mostly backed by mortgages. The Bank has created a fast growing retail deposit franchise with a strong brand presence and high standards of customer service. The bank's management team has an average experience of 24 years with a reputed and well-rounded Board. We have been awarded the National Best Employer and Dream company to work For By World HRD Congress 2023. Additionally, we were also recognized as Best Data Quality Award By TransUnion CIBIL in 2023 and Best Fintech & DPI Adoption by IBA (Indian Banking Association) in 2023. Furthermore, in the year 2024 we were awarded with Regional Winners: Asia by IBS Intelligence. For more details, please visit - www.janabank.com. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) PRNewswire Pune (Maharashtra) [India], August 26: iMocha, leading skills intelligence platform, released their third report in their series with EY titled, 'Driving economic impact and realizing value with skills intelligence'. The report highlights that 63 per cent of HR leaders observed a positive impact on talent retention, and a notable 83 per cent of employees believe they are more likely to stay with companies that adopt a skills-first approach. The report reveals some pivotal insights: 1. Typical accuracy rates for current hiring, training, and attrition processes are at 70-80%, which can be further improved by 10-20% through skills intelligence. 2. Regardless of the transformation type, an uplift in accuracy rates with skills intelligence can deliver 1.5 to 5 times higher transformation efficiency. 3. Realizing the value from skills intelligence starts with a unified business case and requires collaboration across HR, business, and finance leaders. Amit Mishra, CEO of iMocha, said, "As organizations face an accelerating pace of change, driven by AI and digital transformation, the ability to harness skills intelligence has become a decisive factor in achieving sustainable growth. Our latest report demonstrates that a skills-first approach not only addresses the pressing challenge of the skills gap but also unlocks significant economic value by improving the accuracy and efficiency of workforce transformations." Reflecting on the report findings, Priyanka Gupta, Partner, People Advisory Services, EY India said, "As skills intelligence gains traction, leaders need concrete data on its impact to move beyond initial trials. Companies should monitor their accuracy rates in hiring, training, and attrition to gauge their true costs and the improvements possible with skills-first transformation (SFT). As more organizations embrace SFT 2.0, we'll see industry benchmarks emerge, reflecting the real-world impact of skills intelligence." The report concludes that to address the global skills gap affecting ~80 million job roles by 2030, companies worldwide must enhance their workforce transformation efficiency. About iMocha iMocha, a leading Skills Intelligence Platform, empowers organizations with a skills-first approach. Since 2015, iMocha has led skills management, offering AI-powered solutions for skills validation, skill matching, and skill inference. With over 300 global customers, including 15 Fortune 500 companies, iMocha helps streamline talent acquisition, optimize skill development, and drive performance. www.imocha.io About EY EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets. 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. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2489439/iMocha_Report.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2209786/iMocha_NEW_Logo.jpg (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) Veteran Malayalam actor Siddique has lodged a complaint with Kerala police against actress Revathy Sampath after she accused him of sexual misconduct, officials said on Monday. According to an official with Kerala Police, actor Siddique has lodged a complaint against actress Revathy Sampath, who had earlier accused him of sexual harassment. "The complaint has been submitted to Director General of Police," he said. This comes after actress Revathy Sampath accused Siddique, who is general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), of sexual misconduct. In a media interaction, the actress had alleged that the incident happened when she was 21 years old. She stated that Siddique initially contacted her on Facebook, addressing her as "Mole," a term often used in Kerala to refer to a young girl or daughter. "After completing my Plus Two, I had a terrible experience. Siddique sent me messages on Facebook. I had come to discuss a film. This incident occurred when I was 21 years old. He first approached me by calling me 'Mole.' There was abuse from Siddique's side. During the discussion, he sexually abused me. The face he shows now is not the one I saw back then," Revanthy said. Alleging that Siddique sexually abused her, both physically and mentally, the actress said, "He assaulted me, both physically and mentally. Siddique is a criminal. I went through severe mental trauma. It even affected my professional life. No system stood by me. It took me a long time to speak out. After the assault, Siddique acted as if nothing had happened and stood before me like it was normal. Everyone responded as if it was a common occurrence. It felt like they all did it knowingly." Speaking on how she managed to escape the situation, the actress added, "I ran away to escape. I responded as best as I could at that age. He said there was nothing I could do. I fled, managed to get into an auto, and escaped." Siddique is a popular actor who has appeared in over 300 Malayalam movies. He has also acted in Tamil films such as Jana and Bhaskar Oru Rascal. (ANI) Veteran actors Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher have completed 39 years of their blissful marriage. Mark this occasion, Anupam Kher took to his Instagram handle to wish his better half. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_H4NWliVXh/ Sharing the video with wedding pictures, Kher wrote, "Dearest Kirron! Happy 39th anniversary to both of us. We need to take some fresh pics. I have been posting almost the same ones for the last so many years. But I think that is what happens with a marriage that lasts for a long time. Pics can get old but emotions are the same. May God give you long and healthy life. May you continue to be the same person that you are. Vibrant and real. Love and prayers always. #MarriageAnniversary @kirronkhermp." As soon as the post was shared, the couple's friends and industry members chimed in the comment section. Rakesh Roshan wrote, "Kiron & Anupam anniversary greetings & happiness always." Anupam and Kirron's son Sikandar Kher commented, "Happy anniversary Maa and Dad ! To love." Kirron Kher lovingly responded to her husband's post. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_IF6QuSAi5/ She shared a stunning picture of herself and Anupam Kher along with a message, that read, "Thank you so much dearest @anupampkher. Happy Anniversary. God bless you always. Thank you so much for all the wonderful years. Lots of love." Anupam and Kirron tied the knot in 1985. She was previously married to Gautam Berry and had a son Sikandar Kher in 1981. Meanwhile, on the work front, Anupam Kher has wrapped up his upcoming film, 'Tanvi The Great'. Recently, Kher officially announced that Iain Glen, known for his role in 'Game of Thrones', will be starring in his film. The announcement has been met with enthusiasm from both actors, marking a notable collaboration in the film industry. 'Tanvi The Great' will feature music composed by MM Keeravani, the acclaimed Oscar-winning composer known for his work on 'RRR'. Additionally, the film's sound design will be handled by Resul Pookutty, an Academy Award winner recognised for his work on 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The project is being directed and produced by Anupam Kher Studio. Apart from this, Kher has 'The Signature', 'Emergency', 'Vijay 69', and the Curse of Damyaan' and a few other films in his kitty. (ANI) Actor Jennifer Garner, who is best known for her roles in films including 13 Going on 30, has shared some "nerdy farm facts" with her followers. Taking to her Instagram account on Sunday, the 52-year-old actor posted a video of herself in her pumpkin patch, offering tips and insights on how to grow pumpkins. In the video, Garner is seen wearing dungarees over a T-shirt, holding a yellow flower as she explains a fascinating fact about it. "This flower is both male and female," she said. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_HIaxLSKIu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== "There's a pistil inside, and it needs the pollen. Do you know who takes care of that? Bees! Thank you for the bees!" "Once the pollen falls onto the pistil in the middle, the miracle continues. It can start to grow," she said, likening the process to receiving an email saying, 'Congratulations, Mama Pumpkin. Your baby is the size of a large grape.'" Garner then walked viewers through the growth process, showing how the flower develops into a pumpkin. "It keeps growing and growing and growing," she explained, showing the camera the flower's stem. "This curls and dries off. Sometimes, it doesn't. It's like a little umbilical cord, it's crazy." As she held up two small, unripe pumpkins, Garner humorously added, " 'Dear Mama, congratulations,' Today your pumpkins are a nice size B. And they keep growing and growing until they grow into big beautiful pumpkins.' " She ended the video by sitting among several large, ripe pumpkins, concluding her educational session with the caption, "Nerdy Farm Facts: Pumpkins." Garner's charming farm tips follow her recent trip to Japan, where she overcame a personal fear. In another Instagram post, she shared a moment of triumph as she, a former picky eater, enjoyed abalone during her visit. The post included a clip of an oyster farmer catching shellfish, with Garner honouring the food with the caption, "Honor the life forces that feed us." (ANI) Malayalam film actor Minu Muneer has made sexual harassment allegations against some of her co-stars in the Malayalam film industry. Minu accused actors M Mukesh, Jayasurya, Maniyanpilla Raju, and Idavela Babu of subjecting her to verbal and physical abuse in the process of filming movies. In a conversation with ANI, Minu spoke about her experiences, difficulties and tribulations, including for AMMA membership, and her being denied roles and being described as "worthless". "Once, as I was coming out from the toilet, Jayasurya hugged me from behind and even kissed me forcefully... After that, Idavela Babu expressed his interest in a sexual relationship with me," she alleged. "Once when I was driving to a new shoot location, Maniyanpilla Raju sat with me in the car and started asking questions about my husband and how I would manage without him here. I told him that he had misunderstood me. Maniyanpilla Raju once told me that I should keep my hotel door open at night but I refused. After this, I wasn't given films," she further alleged. The allegations come a day after the resignation of director Ranjith and actor Siddique from their positions in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) following accusations made against them. Earlier in the day, Minu said on her Facebook account that during the filming of a movie in 2013, she faced verbal and physical harassment, which became unbearable despite her efforts to cooperate and move forward. "I am writing to report a series of incidents of physical and verbal abuse I suffered at the hands of Mukesh, Maniyanpilla Raju, Idavela Babu, Jayasoorya, Advocate Chandrasekharan, production controller Noble and Vichu, in the Malayalam film industry," she wrote. "In 2013, I was subjected to physical and verbal abuse by these individuals while working on a project. I tried to cooperate and continue working, but the abuse became unbearable. As a result, I was forced to leave the Malayalam film industry and relocate to Chennai," she added. Minu said in the post that she had spoken against the abuse in an article published in Kerala Kaumudi titled "Minu Left Malayalam Industry for Unable to Cooperate with Adjustment." "I am now seeking justice and accountability for the trauma and suffering I endured. I request your assistance in taking action against for their heinous actions," Minu wrote on her Facebook account. Earlier this month, a redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report on harassment faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry was made public. It contains shocking accounts alleging harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment of women professionals. The 235-page report, published after redacting the names of witnesses and the accused, notes that the Malayalam film industry is controlled by about 10 to 15 male producers, directors, and actors who dominate and exert control over the industry. The report of the three-member panel headed by a former judge of the Kerala High Court and set up by the state government in 2017, was submitted to the Pinrayi-led Kerala government in December 2019 and made public only this month. Kerala government on Sunday said that it has decided to form a special investigation team, led by a senior police officer, to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry. "In light of recent interviews and statements from several women in the Malayalam film industry detailing the hardships they have faced, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a meeting with senior police officials here on Sunday," said an official release from the Chief Minister's Office. (ANI) As per the information shared by the PR team of the film, the shooting will commence in 2025. The film is based on the book MoneyRam, co-authored by Preeti Aggarwal and Chetan Unniyal. Speaking about the project, Srinath said, "Cinema today transcends borders and languages. I am thrilled to embark on this new journey in Hindi cinema. Dhani Ram Mittal, or 'MoneyRam,' is arguably the most fascinating conman in modern Indian history, and I can't wait to bring his story to the big screen." The screenplay for the film is currently under development. The film, produced by Insomnia Media and Content Services Limited, in association with Pretty Pictures, will be shot in Hindi and released in Hindi, Malayalam, and Telugu, aiming to captivate a Pan-Indian audience. Dhani Ram Mittal was involved in over 130 vehicle theft cases. He passed away at the age of 85 in April 2024. He was known as 'Super Natwarlal' and 'Indian Charles Sobhraj'. (ANI) Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra on Monday filed a complaint with the Kochi City Police against film director Ranjith, a day after he resigned as the chairman of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy. The complaint follows allegations of sexual misconduct that Mitra made public recently. In an email sent to the Kochi City Police Commissioner, Mitra detailed an incident from 2009 when she was in Kochi for discussions about a role in the movie Palerimanikkam, which Ranjith was directing. Mitra claimed that during the discussion, Ranjith "clutched" her hand and attempted to touch other parts of her body with sexual intent. "I was invited to act in a film 'Palerimanikkam' directed by Ranjith. As part of discussion I was called to the flat in which Sri Ranjith was staying at Kaloor Kadavanthra, Kochi. During the course of discussion, he clutch hold of my hand and later on attempted to spread his hand to other parts of my body with sexual intention. Realizing that his intentions are not the discussion regarding the film and with sexual intent, I had to escape from the flat and returned to the hotel where I was staying. My bitter experience was shared on the next day to a script writer Sri Joshy Joseph. As I was not given the traveling ticket for my return journey, I was compelled to seek the help of Sri Joshy Joseph," the actress wrote in her complaint. Mitra also added that she initially did not pursue legal action since she was from Kolkata and unfamiliar with the local legal process but has now come forward. "As a person hailing from Kolkatha, West Bengal, I was unable to pursue this matter any further to prosecute Sri Ranjith for the offence attracting section 354 & 354 B of the Indian Penal Code at the time of commission of crime." Mitra also requested the Kochi Police to treat her email as a formal complaint and to take appropriate legal action against Ranjith. "Certain comments from the public functionaries also were brought to my notice and the response would show that a written complaint is necessary to register a crime. As the conduct of Sri Ranjith constitute the commission of a cognizable offence, a written complaint is not a prerequisite, as I am told, following the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. In view of the public stand taken by the public functionaries in the State of Kerala, that a written complaint is a prerequisite, I am lodging this complaint by way of e-mail addressed your goodself as the offence has been committed within your territorial limits at DD Flats, Kadavanthra, Kochi. This may be treated as a complaint and set the law in motion, as insisted by the State functionaries to initiate criminal action against an offender," she added in her complaint. Earlier this month, a redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report on harassment faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry was made public. It contains shocking accounts alleging harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment of women professionals. The 235-page report, published after redacting the names of witnesses and the accused, notes that the Malayalam film industry is controlled by about 10 to 15 male producers, directors, and actors who dominate and exert control over the industry. The report of the three-member panel headed by a former judge of the Kerala High Court and set up by the state government in 2017, was submitted to the Pinrayi-led Kerala government in December 2019 and made public only this month. Kerala government on Sunday said that it has decided to form a special investigation team, led by a senior police officer, to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry. "In light of recent interviews and statements from several women in the Malayalam film industry detailing the hardships they have faced, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a meeting with senior police officials here on Sunday," said an official release from the Chief Minister's Office. (ANI) Prepare for a cinematic treat as Raj Kapoor's iconic film 'Awara' returns to the spotlight in an extraordinary 4K restoration! The official account of the National Film Development Corporation announced the news. The world premiere of this restored classic will unfold at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024, specifically within the esteemed TIFF Classics section. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_Ia0J3J7cW/?g=5&img_index=1 This impressive restoration effort has been spearheaded by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and the National Film Archive of India, breathing new life into the beloved film. The restoration project, part of the National Film Heritage Mission, boasts enhanced colour grading skillfully overseen by Kunal Kapoor. This meticulous process ensures that while 'Awara' embraces a fresh, modern look, it remains true to the essence of Raj Kapoor's original vision. Funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India, this project underscores a celebration of Kapoor's centenary, which will be marked in December 2024. Movie enthusiasts will have the chance to experience 'Awara' in all its 4K glory on September 13, 2024, at TIFF. Raj Kapoor, often hailed as one of the greatest icons in Indian cinema, left an indelible mark on the film industry through his remarkable career as an actor, director, and producer. Known as the "Showman of Indian Cinema," Kapoor's contributions to the world of film are both extensive and profound. His films not only entertained but also carried deep social messages, reflecting his visionary approach to storytelling. Kapoor's legacy is inextricably linked to his innovative style and his ability to portray the struggles and dreams of the common man. His films often tackled social issues, making them both relatable and revolutionary. With a career spanning over five decades, Kapoor became a symbol of the golden era of Bollywood, influencing countless filmmakers and actors who followed in his footsteps. One of Kapoor's most celebrated films is 'Awara' (1951), a quintessential example of his cinematic brilliance. Directed and produced by Kapoor himself, 'Awara' is a classic film whose story follows the life of Raj, a young man who turns to crime after facing societal rejection and personal tragedies. The film is a poignant exploration of fate, social injustice, and redemption. What makes 'Awara' truly remarkable is its blend of melodrama and music, elements that Kapoor mastered. The film features unforgettable songs such as 'Awara Hoon,' which has become an anthem of sorts, capturing the essence of the protagonist's troubled yet hopeful spirit. Kapoor's performance as Raj, with his characteristic charm and depth, garnered widespread acclaim and cemented his status as a leading figure in Indian cinema. (ANI) The Rite of Springis a great piece of classical music. [Photo/Xinhua] Accompanied by the music of composer Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, nearly 20 Hong Kong dancers showcased the charm of the "shared origin of martial arts and dance" through Chinese martial arts including Tai Chi, Tuishou and Sanda. The Rite of Spring is a great piece of classical music. Miranda Chin, artistic director of Hong Kong-based Miranda Chin Dance Company, said that countless artists around the world have interpreted this work through their own cultures, inspiring her to create a dance drama that integrates Chinese elements and oriental aesthetics. After more than 20 years of creation and refinement, Chin's team's He and The Rite of Spring ("He" means "harmony" in Chinese) made its debut at French May, a large-scale art and cultural event in Hong Kong, in June 2023. The dance drama was one of 12 arts projects in Hong Kong selected and awarded by the China National Arts Fund 2024. The funding enables Chin's dance company to go on a tour in various places throughout the year. Later this year, Chin's team will bring the dance drama to France. Chin looks forward to seeing foreign audiences appreciate Chinese culture which values harmony and peace through familiar music. The dance drama is a successful attempt to blend East and West. In 2002, Chin began creating the dance drama when she was passionate about learning Tai Chi and martial arts. Based on ancient Chinese sacrificial rites, Chin incorporated Tai Chi, Tuishou and Sanda in her initial creation. "Being able to interpret new connotations for the classic work The Rite of Spring from a unique Chinese aesthetic perspective and modern dance style not only reflects the charm of traditional Chinese culture, but also shows the innovation of contemporary artistic creation," said Chin, who will continue to explore more possibilities for the integration of Eastern and Western cultures in the future. In the 1960s, as a dancer, Chin had the opportunity to be exposed to a diverse range of dance styles, including ballet and jazz. Among all dances, she was most passionate about Chinese dance. "The costumes, music and movements of Chinese dance are very unique and rich, which fascinates me," Chin said, adding that she had always hoped to understand her own culture through dance. Over the past decades, Chin has choreographed and directed nearly 100 dance works, many of which were rooted in Chinese culture. "I hope these dances will serve as ambassadors of cultural exchange, spreading Chinese culture more widely," she said. People associated with the TV industry took out a candle march on Sunday against the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder incident. The brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor on the hospital premises sparked outrage all over the country. The incident shook the entire nation, since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. Earlier, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) held a protest on Sunday in the Bhangar region of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, demanding justice in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case. The protesters called for the punishment of the culprits and demanded the resignation of West Bengal's Health Minister. ISF chief and Bhangar MLA, Pirzada Mohammad Naushad Siddiqui, stated, "We want the culprit to be punished as soon as possible... There is corruption in the health department, and the health system has collapsed... We demand that the health minister resign... If the State government cooperates with the CBI, justice will prevail soon. So we want the Bengal government to cooperate with the CBI... The police are not doing their duty... We are protesting across all constituencies, and we only want her family to get justice... All of Bengal wants justice in the RG Kar case." Earlier, CBI officials conducted a polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata. In a related development, Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar in West Bengal who was honoured with the Banga Ratna award by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, has decided to return the award in protest against the state government's handling of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. (ANI) Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that her party is willing to support a Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections, provided they are ready to accept the PDP's agenda. "The people of Jammu and Kashmir have given an answer to the BJP government from the Lok Sabha polls that there are issues in Jammu and Kasmir and by removing Article 370, it has become more complicated...Whenever we allied with any party we had a motive, an agenda---what we have to do...That's why I said that if they (Congress) are ready to accept our agenda, we are ready to support them," Mufti told reporters. Earlier, on August 24, Mehbooba Mufti remarked that for her, the upcoming assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir is not about statehood or seat sharing but a "bigger goal." During a press conference to launch the PDP manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls, Mufti said, "For me, this election (upcoming Assembly elections in J-K) is not about statehood or seat sharing... We have a bigger goal... We are fighting for dignity, for resolution." She further noted that alliances and seat sharing "are distant considerations" and indicated that if the National Conference and Congress are willing to adopt her agenda, she would support them, as "solving the problem of Kashmir is more important than anything else." In their election manifesto, the PDP promised efforts to restore Articles 370 and 35A, initiate diplomatic dialogues between India and Pakistan, and ensure the dignified return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley. Notably, in the 2014 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference won 15, and the Congress won 12. The PDP and BJP formed a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. However, in 2018, the BJP withdrew its support from the alliance after Mehbooba Mufti took over following Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's demise. Polling in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, according to the Election Commission of India. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. These are the first assembly elections to be held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. (ANI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Sunday urged its social media volunteers to counter with resolve and precision the "misinformation spread by the Bharatiya Janata Party." At the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) National Social Media Meet held n the national capital, senior leaders highlighted the crucial role of social media volunteers in combating misinformation and ensuring the public receives accurate information. Emphasizing the need for a calm and strategic approach, they called for continued efforts to counter the BJP's panic-spreading tactics and 'divide and rule' strategy. Leaders also highlighted the importance of using social media to challenge falsehoods, promote development work, and advance CM Arvind Kejriwal's agenda of providing quality health and education for all. During this meeting, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, Cabinet Minister Atishi, Senior Leader Jasmine Shah, Chief AAP Spokesperson (National) Priyanka Kakkar, and MLA Somnath Bharti met the party volunteers and addressed them. During this event, Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh highlighted the crucial role of social media in combating misinformation and promoting truth. He praised AAP's social media workers for their dedication in challenging the lies spread by the BJP, which he referred to as the 'Bharatiya Jooth Party'. Singh emphasized, "We built a powerful movement with 'Anna Andolan and AAP' through social media, and to sustain this, we must continue to counter the BJP's actions with both strategy and resolve." The AAP MP highlighted the importance of staying vigilant in using social media to expose the BJP's failures and divisive tactics. He criticized the BJP's 11-year rule, pointing out unfulfilled promises such as job creation, doubling farmers' income, and eradicating black money. He condemned the government for targeting AAP leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, attempting to demoralize the party without any evidence. The BJP employs a 'divide and rule' strategy while failing to address the real needs of the people, including Hindus who have suffered the most under BJP rule. Sanjay Singh added, "The BJP excels at spreading panic, but we must stay calm, take calculated steps, and persist in asking tough questions. The rampant corruption and propaganda from the BJP and RSS require ongoing efforts to expose their misdeeds. Journalists and media professionals must speak truth to power and continuously question the government's actions. The AAP and its supporters need to remain calm and strategic, using social media to counter false narratives. Everyone should continue their fight for the truth, as it is crucial for the country's future." Senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister in Delhi Government Atishi stated that the Social Media team should recognize that their role extends beyond merely responding on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp. They need to understand that, in today's world, most people consume information through social media. However, misinformation, including fake news and inciting speeches, is more prevalent than accurate information. The BJP has exploited this by spreading falsehoods and hate speech because they lack substantive achievements or genuine work for the people. Unlike the AAP, which can showcase schools and Mohalla Clinics, the BJP relies on disseminating misleading and hateful content via social media. Atishi further added that in the era of rampant misinformation, social media volunteers play a crucial role in disseminating accurate information. If falsehoods and lies are being spread, it is essential to provide an alternative perspective so that people can make informed choices. The daily efforts of social media volunteers are vital because, while in a democracy we elect our representatives every five years, governments often come and go without truly serving the public's interests. "Before entering politics, I often wondered why people vote for leaders who do nothing for years and then return seeking votes. One reason is that when no one works, one leader can seem as bad as another. Another reason is that people lack access to information needed to make an informed choice. In a democracy, voters must have accurate information to make the right decision. Without this, they cannot make the best choice. Therefore, the role of social media is extremely important. While our job is to carry out development work, it's equally important to ensure people are aware of these efforts," she shared. Thanking the participants at the Aam Aadmi Party's social media team meeting who had come from various parts of the country, senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah said I salute your spirit, your courage and your passion. He said when the party was formed, we all started as volunteers in the party, since then I knew that the biggest strength of the party, its backbone, was the social media team of the party. "It is due to the work of social media volunteers that even in some villages of Assam, at the tea stall, people know that the Aam Aadmi Party has done good work in the field of education. And when I asked them where they came to know about it, they said it is available on their mobile. So, this is your power," said Jasmine Shah. He said even after our spectacular second victory in 2020 in Delhi, the biggest victory for the party was winning Punjab in 2022, there was such a good performance in Goa and Gujarat, that the party became a national party. You always come forward to contribute. But the social media team, as someone said, your work is 24/7 for 365 days a year. It is a very hardworking task for you," said Jasmine Shah, addressing the social media team. He said but the last two years have been as difficult as it has been for the party. Our four to five leaders were arrested. "We never believed that a party (BJP) could stoop to this level. But you have seen the quality of this party, so now think in your mind that if even a topmost leader of any other party goes to jail, what happens to the party? But this is the speciality of the Aam Aadmi Party that even if four big leaders are put in jail, we have not broken, we have come out stronger," he said. During this, Chief AAP Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar stated that despite spending the least on social media platforms, the party has more than 14 crore subscribers on YouTube and 7 crore subscribers on X (previously known as Twitter). Your selfless energy drives the AAP. We are the ones who introduced social media to the political space, now everyone has captured it. Talking about the Chief Minister's fraudulent arrest, the AAP National Spokesperson stated, "It is because of our popularity that Arvind Kejriwal was arrested right before the elections. PM Modi himself says that not even a penny has been recovered yet. Our leaders are being arrested under strict laws and all the efforts are being made to spoil our image amongst the public." Priyanka Kakkar also emphasized on the importance of increasing the presence of the AAP on social media by using technologies like AI and even meme content. We must stick to Arvind Kejriwal's agenda of providing good health and education to everyone and ensure that this agenda reaches everyone through creativity. (ANI) According to the police, the accused, identified as Raghav Rajesh Agarwal, allegedly raped the woman several times between January last year and August 2024. The victim and the accused had met at an exhibition in Delhi, Khar police station officials said. Upon investigation, the police discovered that the man was in Ludhiana. A Mumbai police team reached Ludhiana and arrested the accused, after which he was brought back to Mumbai, officials said. Earlier on July 29, in a similar incident, Nalasopara police in the Palghar district arrested a man who allegedly used to rob women under the pretext of marriage. The accused had deceived more than 20 women by luring them into marriage. The accused Firoz Niyazi Sheikh robbed women of their money and jewellery, police said. He created fake online profiles and ensnared over 20 women. According to information received from Vijay Singh Bagal, an officer at the Nalasopara police station, the accused targeted widowed women. He met these women through online websites and disappeared after extracting large amounts of money from them. One of the victimized women lodged a complaint against the accused at the Nalasopara police station. To catch the accused, the police created a woman's profile on an online platform and contacted him. After conversing, they called him to Kalyan for a meeting and apprehended him there, officials said. (ANI) President Droupadi Murmu on Monday extended greetings on the occasion of Janmashtami and said that we must imbibe the teachings of Lord Krishna and work for the nation's progress. In a post on X, President Murmu wrote, "I greet all my countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. This festival inspires us to be dedicated to the divine ideals of Lord Shri Krishna. On this occasion, let us imbibe the teachings of Lord Shri Krishna and pledge to work for the progress and prosperity of the country." Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his wishes to the people on Janmashtami. On X, PM Modi wrote, "Wishing you all a very Happy Janmashtami. Jai Shri Krishna!" Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi also extended wishes and posted on X, "Hearty wishes and congratulations to everyone on Shri Krishna Janmashtami. I hope that this festival of joy and happiness fills the life of all of you with new enthusiasm and excitement." On the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, devotees flocked to various temples across the country to celebrate Lord Krishna's birthday with full pomp and show on Monday. The sound of bells, mridangs, and conch shells echoed across the temples in the country. The entire nation is immersed in the celebration of the birth of Lord Krishna, with temples decorated with colourful lights and flowers on the festive occasion. Devotees gathered in huge numbers for the Darshan of Lord Krishna at Ahmedabad's ISKCON Temple on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami. In Mathura, morning aarti was performed at the Shri Krishna Janmasthan temple on this occasion. Women devotees at Shri Krishna Janmasthan temple expressed joy on the occasion chanting songs dedicated to Lord Krishna. On the security arrangements for the Krishna Janmashtami in Mathura's Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple, Mathura Superintendent (Security) Bajrang Bali Chaurasia informed that more than 2000 security personnel have been deployed in the region. Krishna Janmashtami will be celebrated on August 26 this year across the country. Devotees traditionally fast and decorate temples and homes with flowers, diyas, and lights. The occasion is particularly grand in Mathura and Vrindavan, where it is believed that Krishna spent his youth and childhood. (ANI) The 114th birth anniversary of Mother Teresa was celebrated at the Mother House, Missionaries Of Charity on Monday. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee paid homage to the Mother on the occasion. In a post on X Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee said, "Spread love everywhere you go... My homage to Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa of Calcutta) on her birth anniversary. Mother was the apostle of peace, brotherhood, and service to humanity. I feel blessed to have met and worked with this great soul." Archbishop Thomas D'Souza said, "Today is the birthday of the mother so we celebrate it as an act of giving thanks. The life of Mother was a blessing for her as well as the people. Lord Jesus came to the world to spread love and enlightenment and Mother followed the same path. The message is the safety of life as today there is too much violence and wars taking place. God gave us life to help others and make life more beautiful. Mother did the same thing. He further said that Mother Teresa used to help others especially the poor. "The message is to provide help and service right from the birth of the child till death," he said. Sister Christeen said that today is the 114th birth anniversary of Mother. "People of Kolkata still remember her with such great love. Mother is praying for the beloved city of Kolkata and the people," she added. Missionaries of Charity is a religious community in the Catholic Church, founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata (now St. Teresa of Kolkata) in 1950. The community is dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor, irrespective of social class, creed or colour. It is known for its contribution to the well-being of some of the marginalised members of society including orphans, abandoned children elderly people, and people with disabilities. Members of the Missionaries of Charity lighted candles and chanted prayers on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Mother. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha on August 26, 1910. Her family was from Albania. In October 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Vatican to start "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those who had been abandoned by others. The order started its operations in Kolkata. The Society of Missionaries of Charity then spread all over the world. They provide help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods and epidemics, and work for refugees. Mother Teresa was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She asked the jury to contribute the prize money towards helping the poor in India. In September 2017, Mother Teresa was declared Patron Saint of the Archdiocese of Kolkata (then Calcutta) by the Pope for her selfless service towards helping the underprivileged. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 was accorded a state funeral by the government in recognition of her services to the poor. (ANI) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge paid his heartfelt condolences on the passing away of Vasantrao Chavan, Congress MP of Nanded, Maharashtra. The Congress MP passed away in Hyderabad on Monday, with his last rites set to be performed in Nanded. The Congress president recalled the political journey of the veteran Congress leader in a post on X. Talking about how the leader served as a gram panchayat member at the grassroots level. Later, he also served as an MLA for multiple terms in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Vasantrao Chavan joined Congress in September of 2014. The Congress President praised the ex-MP for serving the people in various elected positions and protecting the Congress ideology in the Maharashtra region. "A senior leader, who started his politics from the grassroots as a Gram Panchayat member and served the people on various elected positions, he protected the Congress ideology in his region till his last breath.", said the post on X. https://x.com/kharge/status/1827920250098061773 The President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Nana Patole also paid his tributes to the Congress leader on X. "The news of the demise of a senior leader of Congress party, MP of Nanded Lok Sabha Constituency Vasantraoji Chavan is very shocking", read the post. Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar also consoled the death of the Congress leader. "The news of the demise of Nanded Lok Sabha Constituency MP Vasantraoji Chavan is very sad. Being loyal to the Congress ideology, he supported the Congress party during difficult times and maintained the party organization in the Nanded district." Wadttiwar posted on X. Former Maharashtra CM and BJP Rajya Sabha member recounted the strong relationship he had with Congress veteran Vasantrao Chavan, on how they had worked together in politics and cooperatives. "Our fathers worked together, we also stayed together for many years in politics and cooperatives. As an MP from Nanded, he got the opportunity to work at the central level for the first time. However, with his demise, a moderate, modest and experienced leader who knew the pulse of the countryside well has passed away. A heartfelt tribute to Vasantrao Chavan," Ashok Chavan said in a post on X. (ANI) As various low-lying areas have been inundated due to heavy rains in Gujarat for the last two days, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday spoke with the state Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, assuring them of Central assistance. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Shah reached out to both the Chief Minister and the Home Minister of Gujarat through telephone conversation. During their conversation, Shah expressed his concern and assured them that the central government would provide all necessary support to address the crisis. Shah's prompt response aimed to ensure that the affected areas received help on time. "Due to the heavy rains causing flood-like conditions in some areas of Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with the Chief Minister and Home Minister of Gujarat and assured them of any assistance needed from the central government," an official source told ANI. Amid heavy rainfall over the past two days, parts of Gujarat have been inundated, displacing hundreds of affected residents to safer locations. Navsari, in particular, faced severe flooding, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue a "red alert" for the district on Monday. Gujarat Chief Minister directed officials on Sunday to evacuate people from low-lying areas to safer locations. The chief minister's office said that Valsad, Tapi, Navsari, Surat, Narmada, and Panchmahal districts in South Gujarat have been the most impacted by the downpour. (ANI) India's first civilian space tourist Gopichand Thotakura received a warm welcome on his arrival in Delhi on Monday. He travelled to space as part of the crew for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin's New Shephard-25 (NS-25) mission. Gopichand Thotakura said, "The feeling has been awaited for a long time. I am very happy to be back home. It is a very proud moment for India as well. I am honoured to be representing the country and very excited for everyone else to go and do something in the space with Origin or any other organisation. I am leaving to meet my parents and grandparents at home. People around me are more excited." Gopichand Thotakura created history by becoming the second Indian citizen to travel to space. Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, was the first Indian citizen to travel to space in 1984. Earlier, in an exclusive interview with ANI, Thotakura spoke about his dream and passion for flying and how the mission is working towards protecting Mother Earth. He further talked about space tourism and how it can open avenues and make it affordable and accessible for civilians. Elucidating his feelings, he said, "I can't express my feelings right now because it is something that is not in the urban dictionary. It is something I take with me. I always tell people that right from when you are born till the time you leave, you wake up and want to see the sky, want to take a breath, but I want to have this opportunity to do the reverse, to go up there and see down here. Movies do a fantastic job but (to see) what the naked eye can see, you have to do that yourself. The whole excitement is about to look back and see what's going on, without being documented or without someone else's eye." He further emphasised Blue Origin's tagline, 'For the benefit of Earth' and added that he also feels that protecting Mother Earth is important. "It is for them to protect Mother Earth that they are seeking life and adventure outside the planet," he said. When asked about space tourism, he said, "The mission for Blue Origin or any other company is to make it affordable. What the affordable number is, we still don't know but to make it affordable, it has to start somewhere." He further said that Blue Origin has tied up with NASA to open a private international space station to grow space tourism and get into that sector. "I believe that space tourism is where the future is," he added. Gopichand puts great emphasis on how one can fulfil his or her dreams and suggests to the upcoming generations... that if someone sticks to it and forms his or her path, it will happen. The club's mission is to inspire and mobilise future generations to pursue careers in STEAM for the benefit of Earth. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin announced the six-person crew for its NS-25 mission, which included Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight. Notably, Ed Dwight was selected by President John F Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first black astronaut candidate. Unfortunately, he was never given the opportunity to fly to space. (ANI) Police have arrested a man for allegedly duping the relatives of jailed inmates in Mumbai by posing as the PA of BJP MLA Ashish Shelar and allegedly extorting money from relatives by promising aid from the state government, Bandra Police said on Monday. The accused, identified as Amin Irfan Bendrekar had allegedly contacted lawyers and obtained information about various clients on the pretext of being the PA of the BJP MLA. He claimed to the various relatives of inmates that the Maharashtra State government was planning to release prisoners to decongest the jails. According to the police, the 24-year-old accused had imitated the voice of BJP MLA Ashish Shelar's PA and introduced himself as 'Sharma' to the lawyers and relatives of the jailed inmates. Following an investigation into the matter, it was also revealed that the accused also imitated the voice of the BJP MLA. The accused is a resident of Nala Sopara in the Palghar district. Multiple Cases have been registered against him in various police stations in Mumbai. He allegedly took the lawyers into confidence and told the various families that the amount would be refunded once the government approved the release of the prisoners. The accused also allegedly extorted money from the relatives by citing various reasons, including claiming to the relatives that the money would be used for the payment of the medical expenses of prisoners. Following a complaint into the matter, the Bandra police tracked down and arrested the accused. The police are reportedly questioning the accused and an investigation into the matter is still underway. (ANI) In an informal settlement about 10 km from the city center of Windhoek, the Namibian capital, a local woman entrepreneur is leveraging traditional food to transform the business scene in the area and has achieved success via catering business. Saima Mukwiilongo, the owner of Sai's Kitchen, said she established the eatery in 2017 in the informal settlement popularly known as Havana, to redefine the often overlooked local cuisine and create employment, which is a challenge in Namibia. According to the Namibia Statistics Agency, the country's unemployment rate stands at 33.4 percent. The food outlet, which is named after the first three letters of the founder's name, offers traditional meals using indigenous ingredients. The menu includes dishes made with spinach, peas, tripe, marula oil, chicken, mahangu (pearl millet), maize porridge, and various types of meat. It provides a range of services, including sit-down dining, takeout, delivery, and event catering. "It is also about taking people back to their cultural roots and making traditional food easily accessible in an urban setting," she said in a recent interview. Mukwiilongo developed her culinary skills while working at a restaurant in Windhoek during her second year of studies at the International University of Management, where she was pursuing a degree in HIV/AIDS management. "While I wanted to earn money to offset costs, it sparked my interest in food, something I was not really good at. Growing up here, I played more with my boy siblings as I am the only girl child," she said. According to the 30-year-old mother, her other goal was to redefine business models in informal settlements, which are dominated by informal and unregistered businesses. "While the outlet architecture is still corrugated iron to create an essence of belonging, the business model is formal and friendly, which is our niche," she said. Over the years, Mukwiilongo has managed to attract new clientele by highlighting the value of tradition through aggressive social media marketing. According to her, many people are surprised to find a food enterprise like hers in an informal settlement. Eight years on, the establishment has served nearly 10,000 clients who seek to immerse themselves in traditional food. Sai's Kitchen has also become a hub for socialization. "Therefore, we have not only attracted people to dine but also to visit Havana's informal settlement for the first time, promoting diversity and exposure," she said. To sustain the business, proceeds are reinvested along with continued robust marketing strategies. From initially starting as a one-person operation, the outlet now employs ten staff members. Meanwhile, Sai's Kitchen has made a significant impact on the local community since its opening. The catering enterprise also sources ingredients from local vendors and entrepreneurs, positively aiding the local economy. "I grew up here in Havana, and I'm a firm believer in starting where you are, which, in my case, is at home," Mukwiilongo said. For Windhoek-based vendors like Selma David, this creates a value chain that aids the growth of informal trade at the grassroots. In addition, locals have resonated with the eatery's meals and broader contribution to shifting business norms in informal settlements. Apollo Shigwedha, 34, who works at a government agency, has lived in Windhoek for over 11 years. He said he learned about Sai's Kitchen from social media, where he got the chance to immerse himself more by socializing in informal settlements. The visits broadened his perspective and helped him embrace multiculturalism through the cuisine offered at the catering outlet. The outlet is also a popular spot for those seeking natural options and the health benefits of traditional foods. "We have also received tourists keen for a true township experience," Mukwiilongo said. As part of its business growth strategy, the enterprise has expanded, opening another branch in the Windhoek Ausspannplatz suburb, a walking distance from the Windhoek city center. Despite this, some challenges persist. These include scaling the business in the face of uncertain client numbers and the high cost of living affecting ingredient prices, according to Mukwiilongo. Mukwiilongo said she hopes to diversify the food menu of her catering business by including other African cuisines. It has also tailored the menu to incorporate traditional food with contemporary drinks to meet the demand for inclusivity. "While expanding to open similar branches is also on the horizon, our primary focus remains on bringing hope to our community," she said. Amid the outrage over the alleged Badlapur sexual assault case, Maharashtra Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday said that just like CCTVs in schools, panic buttons can also be installed to ensure women's safety. "...Just like CCTVs in schools, panic buttons can also be installed...A panic button can also be installed in the hostels...It is an advanced technology..." said Kesarkar while addressing a press conference in Mumbai. "Under the leadership of the deputy director of the Mumbai region, the investigation team probed the Badlapur incident. People from various departments were involved in the investigation. The police will decide under which sections the cases will be filed. The people who have been found negligent have been identified as co-accused. They also have to face consequences," said the Maharashtra Education Minister. Lashing out at the opposition, he said, "The people who are criticising now have not done anything during their regime. We are initiating many actions." Notably, a report prepared by the Women and Child Welfare Department and the Education Ministry in the sexual abuse case of Badlapur was handed over to Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday. Earlier, the special investigation team (SIT) for Badlapur sexual assault against minors registered an FIR against the school authorities, for not complying with the provisions of Section 19 of the POCSO Act, which mandates that every authority, when they come to know about any such kind of sexual assault against minors, are obligated to report this to police authorities for further action. The alleged sexual assault of two fourth-grade girls at a school in Maharashtra's Badlapur has sparked outrage. On August 17, police arrested an attendant of the school for allegedly abusing the girls. Earlier on August 23, the special investigation team (SIT) for Badlapur sexual assault against minors registered an FIR against the school authorities, for not complying with the provisions of section 19 of the POCSO Act which mandates that every authority when they come to know about any such kind of sexual assault against minors are obligated to report this to police authorities for further action, said SIT. The police were not informed by the school authorities and that is why the school authorities have been booked under section 21 of the POCSO Act which is punishment for violation of section 19 of the same Act, stated SIT. The SIT also recorded the statements of both the minor victims along their parents. (ANI) BJP Central Election Committee's next meeting is to be held on Thursday, (August 29) in the national capital. Candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections will be discussed in the meeting. The Central Election Committee meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National President JP Nadda. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, State President Mohanlal Badoli and other members will also participate in the meeting. In the Central Election Committee meeting, brainstorming will be done on 90 seats of the Haryana Assembly elections. According to sources, the names of the candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections are almost finalised. This time new faces as well as the winning candidate can also get an opportunity to fight in the elections. The names of candidates with a clean image can also be approved. Voting for 90 seats of the Haryana Assembly elections will be held on October, 1. The results will be declared on October, 4. Earlier in the day, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini inaugurated the BJP election office in Rohtak. He said that the people will support the BJP in forming a government in Haryana for the third consecutive term. "The people of Haryana are enthusiastic for the government of BJP. As PM Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister for the third time, the people of Haryana will make the BJP form its government in Haryana for the third time," said the Chief Minister while addressing a press conference in Haryana's Rohtak. Lashing out at the Congress over allying with the National Conference to fight for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, CM Saini said, "I want to ask the leaders of the Congress whether they support the National Conference's anti-national ideology of reintroducing Article 370 and Article 35A by forming an alliance with them in J&K?..." The Chief Minister further said that the BJP will prepare a Sankalp document for the next five years to accelerate the process of progress in the state of Haryana. Earlier, BJP held a two-day brainstorming session in Gurugram to finalise its candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana. During this meeting, discussions were held on potential candidates for all 90 assembly seats. According to sources, the names finalised during this meeting will be further discussed in the Central Election Committee meeting. (ANI) The MP was airlifted to Hyderabad 12 days ago from Nanded and diagnosed with multiple health issues, including Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, a type of brain dysfunction that occurs when the brain experiences a decrease in oxygen or blood flow. KIMS Hospital released a condolence statement following the death of the MP. "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved MP Shri. VasantRao BalwantRao Chauhan from Nanded, who breathed his last today at 4:00 AM. Despite the best efforts of the medical team at KIMS Gachibowli, Hyderabad, he succumbed to his critical condition." read the press release. The hospital said that the MP was also diagnosed also suffered cardiac arrest due to respiratory failure and end-stage renal disease. A multidisciplinary team of doctors provided comprehensive treatment to the MP and he was on ventilator support too. The press release adds that his condition worsened, leading to a complete heart block and subsequent cardiac arrest in the early hours of Monday. "We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and constituents. His passing leaves a void in our lives and the lives of those he served. May his soul rest in peace.", the press release adds. The Congress veteran leader had been elected from the Nanded constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Several party leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Nana Patole also paid their condolences to the late MP. "The news of the demise of senior Congress leader, Nanded Lok Sabha MP Shri Vasantrao Chavan ji is extremely sad. While paying my heartfelt tribute to him, I express my deep condolences to the bereaved family. A popular grassroots leader, Shri Chavan supported and expanded the ideology of Congress throughout his life. His demise is an irreparable loss for the Congress family.", said Rahul Gandhi in a post on X. (ANI) The India Meteorological Department (IMD) highlighted that the "deep depression" over East Rajasthan and adjoining West Madhya Pradesh is likely to move westward to reach the Saurashtra region and the adjoining areas of Pakistan, North East Arabian Sea by August 29. The IMD also mentioned the likelihood of 'high flash flood risk' over a few watersheds and neighbourhoods in the Met Sub-divisions of East Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in the next 24 hours. According to IMD, surface runoff and inundation may occur in some fully saturated soils and low-lying areas due to the rainfall. Various low-lying areas have been inundated due to heavy rains in Gujarat for the last two days, with multiple regions experiencing extremely heavy to very heavy rainfall. Recognising the gravity of the situation Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached out to State Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi through a telephone conversation During their conversation, Shah expressed his concern and assured them that the central government would provide all necessary support to address the crisis. Shah's prompt response aimed to ensure that the affected areas received help on time. "Due to the heavy rains causing flood-like conditions in some areas of Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with the Chief Minister and Home Minister of Gujarat and assured them of any assistance needed from the central government," an official source told ANI. Gujarat Chief Minister directed officials on Sunday to evacuate people from low-lying areas to safer locations. The chief minister's office said that Valsad, Tapi, Navsari, Surat, Narmada, and Panchmahal districts in South Gujarat have been the most impacted by the downpour. The IMD has also issued an orange warning for the northeastern districts of Odisha, including Mayurbhanj and Kendujhar, as well as Dhenkanal, Angul, Jajapur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, and Jagatsinghpur. (ANI) Responding to former Haryana Deputy CM and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala's remark against BJP, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said that Congress wants to end JJP. "Congress wants to end JJP that's why I am taking Congress' name. I would like to tell him (Dushyant Chautala) to be strong. Last time, his party won 10 seats. This time also, they should win several seats..." said the Haryana CM. He further added that Chautala must not get inclined to Deepender Hooda and the Congress party. "BJP will win with full majority in the state assembly election. I just want Chautala ji to stay strong and not incline towards Hooda ji," he said. "...Haryana's public has decided to form the BJP's government for the third time in the state. Under the leadership of PM Modi, the Haryana government is taking forward the state without any biases...The faith of people has increased in the BJP government. This government has empowered the women. Our government is taking the decisions in the favour of women's rights," said CM Saini. Earlier in an exclusive interview with the ANI on Sunday, Chautala said, "I can on record assure you that I won't go to the BJP." When asked about their rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Chautala said, "I don't take it as a crisis now. What had happened, happened. I see that as an opportunity now...last time also, our party was a kingmaker...you can see the coming days as well; JJP will be the most important political party of the state (Haryana)." After the last assembly polls in Haryana, the BJP formed the government with the support of the 10 JJP MLAS. In the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, JJP got only 0.87 per cent of the vote share, with none of its candidates winning any seat in the state. When asked if he would ally with the INDIA alliance, he said, "Let's see if we have the numbers and yes, if our party is taken as a priority, then why not? Sharing his experience on when JJP was a part of the NDA alliance, Chautala said, "I have stayed with the NDA alliance... I have never changed my stance on them despite the wrestlers' issue and the farmers' issue. But if they don't give respect, then in the coming days who will give assurance?" (ANI) On the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, several devotees gathered for darshan at the ISKCON temple in Hyderabad on Monday. The ISKCON temple manager Shambhu Vaishnav Das welcomed all the devotees to this festival, celebrated as the birth of Lord Krishna. "We welcome you all on this grand and auspicious festival of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Shri Krishna," Das told ANI. There have been elaborate preparations for the devotees who have come in, with two queues being made, one for the general population and another for coupon holders or lifetime members of ISKCON. The temple expects to have around 1.5 lakh devotees to visit the temple today. "We have made elaborate arrangements for all the devotees who are coming in. We have made two queue lines, one is for the general queue, and the other is for the special queue, that is for coupon holders and life members and the police are also very cooperative in the sense that they have deployed their forces and we are expecting around 1.5 lakhs of devotees today." added the temple manager. Speaking on the significance of the temple in Abids, Hyderabad, the temple manager said that out of the 4 ISKCON temples in India, this one had been inaugurated almost 50 years ago and that the deities had been installed by the founder of ISKCON, Acharya A.C. Bhaktivedanta. The organization has a total of 108 temples across the world, out of which 4 of them are in India. The temple plans to have programs throughout the day and night. With an Abhishekam planned at midnight and a Maha Aarti commemorating the birth of Lord Krishna. "We are conducting this festival for three days, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Today is Janmashtami, and tomorrow is Nandotsava. The reason it is known as Nandotsava is Nand Maharaj was born at midnight, he could not hold the feast for all the vrajvasis so he said the next day of Janmashtami no one should cook in their houses, so there is a feast for all." explained the temple manager. The devotees in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh also thronged the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi temple to offer their prayers to Lord Krishna on this occasion. President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also extended their greetings on the occasion of Janmashtami. (ANI) The scuffle broke out between the members of both parties in front of the Rama Hotel where Shiv Sena (UBT) Aditya Thackeray was staying. The police had to resort to mild lathi charge to bring the situation under control. Aditya Thackeray has come to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on a 2 day tour. Earlier, Aditya Thackeray supporters had protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Maharashtra's Aurangabad. BJP workers retorted against Aditya Thackeray with loud sloganeering. However, Shiv Sena (UBT) workers also responded in a similar manner that led to a scuffle between the workers of both political parties. Aditya Thackeray has been actively campaigning for the Maharashtra General Assembly elections. On Monday he visited Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. In the recent Lok Sabha Election, Aditya Thackeray, fighting from, the Mumbai North West constituency, suffered a narrow loss against Shiv Sena's Ravinder Waikar by only 48 votes. Maharashtra legislative assembly elections will be held on 288 constituencies. The Election Commision of India has yet to announce the dates for the election. The upcoming Maharashtra election will see a contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the UBT Shiv Sena, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress, and the Maha Yuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction). Recent Lok Sabha Election has given a boost to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, with the Shiv Sena (UBT) winning nine seats, the Congress 13, and the NCP-SP winning eight, bringing the total tally of the alliance to 30. On the other hand, the Mahayuti alliance suffered a major blow with BJP winning only nine seats, Shiv Sena winning seven and NCP folded with one seat, bringing the total tally of alliance to 17. (ANI) Another steel bridge of 100 m length has been launched for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project on August 25 near Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, a press release stated.This 1464 MT of steel bridge of 14.6 m in height and 14.3 m in width has been fabricated at the workshop in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and was transported on trailers to the site for installation. A temporary launching nose spanning 84 meters and weighing 600 MT was connected with the main bridge for launching, to avoid any intermediate support. Additional temporary members were also installed to strengthen the bridge during launching. A total of 27,500 nos. of HSFG (High-strength friction grip) bolts were utilised to connect the components of the launching nose and approximately 55,250 nos. of Tor-Shear Type High Strength (TTHS) bolts with C5 system painting and elastomeric bearings, were utilized for the main bridge. The steel bridge along with the launching nose was assembled near the site at a height of 14.5 m from the ground on temporary trestles and was pulled with an automatic mechanism of 2 semi-automatic jacks, each of capacity of 250 tons using mac-alloy bars. The Bullet Train project is being executed meticulously, maintaining the utmost standards of safety and engineering excellence. Leveraging Japanese expertise, India is increasingly utilizing its own technical and material resources to build infrastructure under the "Make in India" initiative. The steel bridge for the Bullet Train Project is a major example of this effort. This is the fourth out of the 28 steel bridges, completed for the Bullet Train corridor. There are a total of 24 river bridges in the project, 20 are in Gujarat and 4 in Maharashtra. Out of 20 bridges in Gujarat, 10 have been completed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then-Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched the project in Ahmedabad on September 14, 2017. National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) was incorporated on February 12, 2016, under the Companies Act, 2013 with the object of financing, constructing, maintaining and managing the High-Speed Rail Corridor in India. The Company has been modeled as a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' in the joint sector with equity participation by the Central Government through the Ministry of Railways and two State Governments -- Government of Gujarat and Government of Maharashtra. (ANI) West Bengal ADG Police (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Verma called the Nabanna Abhijan Rally scheduled for August 27 to reach the Nabanna or State Secretariat illegal and an attempt to incite widespread unrest in Kolkata. He said, "Nabanna is a restricted area. If any programme is organised here then the organisers should put a request to the police officials and the police will decide after considering the case. So far, no organisation has applied to hold a protest near Nabanna. This is a restricted zone and if anyone needs to organise a protest then they first need to apply for permission from the police...We have very specific inputs that some miscreants might try to create a situation of unrest there (near Nabanna). Tomorrow, an exam is being conducted by NTA, we will ensure that neither aspirants nor the general public are inconvenienced." He further said that the general public should not fall into the trap and they should avoid it. Additional Deputy General, South Bengal Supratim Sarkar said, "In the name of West Bengal Students' Society, a Nabanna Abhijan' rally was called. We have never heard any existence of any name of West Bengal Students' Association. Many committees exist but there is no organisation in this name. Tomorrow there is the UGC NET exam. Such a rally could obstruct the conduct of the exam. One of the organisers met with a political leader yesterday in a 5-star hotel." He said that there is speculation that during the Nabanna Abhijan rally, some miscreants could attempt to sabotage the rally. "There are reports that women and children would be kept in front and unrest would be created from the back so that there is violence and police are forced to is force. We are trying to find out the vested interests in it. In social media lot of provoking videos are circulating. The safety of the common man is our priority. The organisers have not followed any guidelines. The details were not provided such as how many people would be present and from where they would come as prescribed by the High Court," he further said. He said that police had already directed that many areas have been allowed in Kolkata to conduct peaceful protests over what happened at RG Kar Medical College but Nabanna is a restricted area. "Here Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 144 of the CrPC) is in place. But no information has been given. This is illegal. SC had allowed peaceful protests but the court has not injuncted the state from exercising such lawful powers as entrusted in terms of law," he added. The brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor on the hospital premises sparked outrage all over the country. The incident shook the entire nation, and since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. Earlier, CBI officials conducted a polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata. In a related development, Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar in West Bengal who was honoured with the Banga Ratna award by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, has decided to return the award in protest against the state government's handling of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. (ANI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on August 26 that the "nation will be empowered only when we stay united" while warning, "if we are divided, we will be destroyed." His comments came in the aftermath of the political crisis in the neighbouring country Bangladesh where Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister, was forced to flee the country following weeks of deadly protests. The remarks were made at a rally in Agra on August 26 after unveiling the statue of Rashtraveer Durgadas Rathore. "Nothing can be above the nation. And the nation will be empowered only when we are united. 'Batenge to Katenge'. You are seeing what is happening in Bangladesh. Those mistakes should not be repeated here... 'Batenge to Katenge, Ek Rahenge to Nek Rahenge'...," CM Yogi said while addressing a gathering. Earlier in the day, CM Yogi inaugurated Shri Krishna Janmotsav in Mathura. He, then, offered prayers at Banke Bihari Temple. "I congratulate the people of the state on Shri Krishna Janmashtami and pray to the Lord for happiness and prosperity...I pray to the Lord to give you so much strength that your personal life, family life and social life are prosperous and all of you together can be ready to make your best contribution to realize the vision of a developed India" said the Chief Minister. In a post on X, CM Yogi wrote, "Hail Kanhaiya Lal! Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the devotees and residents of the state on the auspicious birth anniversary of Kripasindhu, Shri Banke Bihari Ji, 'Shri Krishna Janmashtami'! It is my wish that Yashodanandan, Bhuvan Mohan Kanhaiya, the protector of the entire world, who establishes religion and eliminates unrighteousness, injustice and oppression, may we do good to the animate and inanimate world. Long live Shri Krishna!" Earlier in the day, the CM participated in the plantation drive at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go-Anusandhan Sansthan in Mathura. (ANI) Wang Li, a Tibetan tour guide, poses for a photo in Taoping Qiang Village, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Aug. 25, 2024.(Photo by Fang Zitian/Xinhua) After watching a film set in southwest China's enchanting Taoping Qiang Village, college student Chen Xuan decided to explore the unique architecture captivating audiences for himself. "The stone-walled houses are truly incredible. They look even more ancient and mystical than in the film," he said, marveling at the ingenuity of the Qiang people while wandering through the village's alleys. The Qiang ethnic group is one of China's oldest ethnic minority groups. The film that inspired his trip was "Design of Death," a suspenseful 2012 comedy about uncovering a secret hidden in a mountainside village. In recent years, several movies and TV series have been filmed in the village, igniting enthusiasm to travel to this once-unsung village among viewers. Wang Li, a Tibetan tour guide in the village, has welcomed international tourists looking to revisit scenes from "Forbidden Kiss," a romantic drama co-directed by Chinese and U.S. filmmakers. The movie tells the story of a young American architect who accidentally poisons himself and is saved miraculously by a woman from the Qiang ethnic group. Wang said the rich tapestry of Qiang culture portrayed in the film has inspired audiences to seek out firsthand experiences. Thanks to these film and TV works, Taoping Qiang Village has been experiencing a tourism boom over the past few years. It saw an influx of 109,700 tourists in the first eight months of 2023, generating a total revenue of over 84 million yuan (about 12 million U.S. dollars). Nestled in a gorge near the upper reaches of the Minjiang River in Sichuan Province, the village has existed for over two millennia. It is primarily inhabited by people of the Qiang ethnic group, which has a nationwide population exceeding 310,000. The village stands as a living testament to the enduring beauty and resilience of the Qiang culture. Often called the "ethereal dwellers," the Qiang people are known to be exceptionally skilled at building homes with stones and wood. These sturdy residences can withstand harsh weather and seismic activity. Imposing watchtowers -- serving as both lookout posts and defensive fortifications -- rise above these homes, and they have become a prominent symbol of the Qiang culture in the film industry. To cater to its tourist surge, the village has opened a special area to display stills of film and TV works, and offers guided tours of filming locations. Taoping Qiang Village is among many tourist destinations in China that are capitalizing on this film-trail trend to attract more visitors. "Her Name is Xilan" has ignited tourism in Tujia ethnic group areas, and "Journey to the South" has boosted tourism in Xizang. "Films and TV dramas set in areas populated by ethnic minority groups directly stimulate their audiences' curiosity and interest in cultures different from their own," said Zhang Li, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication. Zhang noted that related cultural productions not only enhance the popularity of tourist attractions, but also contribute to preserving the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities in China. Looking ahead, Wang envisions a future in which Taoping Qiang Village will leverage new technologies like VR and AR to re-create scenes from films and offer a more immersive experience for tourists. Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday offered prayers at the Radha Krishna temple in Lucknow on the occasion of Janmashtami. The SP Chief participated in the aarti at the temple, marking the auspicious occasion with traditional fervour. Akhilesh Yadav extended heartfelt Janmashtami greetings to fellow Indians through a poetic post on X. In his message, Yadav shared a verse and wrote, "Wishing everyone a very Happy Krishna Janmashtami and Krishna-filled wishes!" Earlier today, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also offered prayers at the Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura. "I congratulate the people of the state on Shri Krishna Janmashtami and pray to the Lord for happiness and prosperity... I pray to the Lord to give you so much strength that your personal life, family life, and social life are prosperous and that all of you together can be ready to make your best contribution to realise the vision of a developed India," said the Chief Minister. In a post on X, CM Yogi wrote, "Hail Kanhaiya Lal! Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the devotees and residents of the state on the auspicious birth anniversary of Kripasindhu, Shri Banke Bihari Ji, 'Shri Krishna Janmashtami'! It is my wish that Yashodanandan, Bhuvan Mohan Kanhaiya, the protector of the entire world, who establishes religion and eliminates unrighteousness, injustice and oppression, does good to the animate and inanimate world. Long live Shri Krishna!" Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav performed 'Gau-Seva' in Bhopal on the auspicious occasion. "On the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, my best wishes to the people of the state and the country... The life of Lord Shri Krishna is exemplary for all of us. May this holy festival bring only good fortune into everyone's life; this is my prayer," Yadav wrote on X. President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also extended greetings on the occasion of Janmashtami. In a post on X, President Murmu wrote, "I greet all my countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. This festival inspires us to be dedicated to the divine ideals of Lord Shri Krishna. On this occasion, let us imbibe the teachings of Lord Shri Krishna and pledge to work for the progress and prosperity of the country." "Wishing you all a very Happy Janmashtami. Jai Shri Krishna!" PM Modi posted on X. "Hearty wishes and congratulations to everyone on Shri Krishna Janmashtami. I hope that this festival of joy and happiness fills all your lives with new enthusiasm and excitement," said Rahul Gandhi on X. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced on Monday that financial assistance of Rs 20 crore each would be provided to the states of Kerala and Tripura, both of which are currently facing natural calamities. "We extend our sympathies to those affected by these disasters, and the Madhya Pradesh government stands with both states during this difficult time. We pray to Lord Krishna for a swift recovery from this crisis," CM Yadav told reporters at the Kushabhau Thackeray Auditorium in Bhopal on Monday. "Several states across the country, including Madhya Pradesh, have been impacted by heavy rains, floods, and landslides. In recent days, there have been severe natural disasters in Tripura and Kerala, and it is deeply saddening that many lives have been lost," CM Yadav expressed. Additionally, in a post on X, CM Yadav wrote, "Various states across the country, including Madhya Pradesh, are affected by heavy rains, floods, and landslides. Recently, the states of Tripura and Kerala have experienced severe natural disasters, leading to significant loss of life and property, which is very distressing. On the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, I have decided, on behalf of the Madhya Pradesh government, to allocate Rs 20 crore each to the state governments of Tripura and Kerala to provide relief in this severe disaster." "In this hour of crisis, the Madhya Pradesh government stands in solidarity with both states. My sympathies are with those affected by these disasters. I pray to Lord Shri Krishna for a quick resolution of this crisis," he added. Earlier in the day, CM Mohan Yadav extended his greetings on the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami and performed 'Gau-Seva' to mark the occasion at the cow shed located within the CM's residence in Bhopal. CM Yadav told ANI, "On the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, I extend my greetings to the people of our state and the entire nation. May this Janmashtami, celebrated on auspicious dates, bring joy to all our lives... The entire life of Lord Krishna serves as an example for us. We should not fear anyone in life, always follow the path of righteousness, be brave, and be kind." (ANI) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) distanced itself from Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut's statement about the farmers' agitation and also asked the actor-turned-politician to refrain from giving such statements in the future. "The statement made by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut in the context of the farmers' movement is not the opinion of the party. Bharatiya Janata Party expresses disagreement with the statement made by Kangana Ranaut. On behalf of the party, Kangana Ranaut is neither permitted nor authorized to make statements on party policy issues," the party said in a release. "On behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kangana Ranaut has been directed not to make any such statements in future. Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to following the principles of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas' and social harmony," it added. Earlier Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala attacked the BJP over Kangana's remarks on farmers and said that the BJP has always lied, deceived, conspired and oppressed the farmers. "Get well soon Kangana! After all, why do BJP people hate the country's food providers so much? BJP has always lied, deceived, conspired and oppressed our farmers. And once again a BJP MP has made baseless allegations against our food providers. Now the question is, has Kangana made this cheap allegation about the farmer as per BJP's election strategy? Were these just Kangana's words or did someone else copy them? If not, then why are the Prime Minister of the country, the Chief Minister of Haryana and all the BJP MPs and MLAs silent on this issue?" the Congress leader posted on X. Surjewala also attached a news report in his post. According to the media report, Kangana stirred controversy by suggesting that the farmers' protests could have led to a Bangladesh-like situation if strong measures had not been taken by the government. (ANI) The Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, has strongly criticised the state government for a five-year delay in publicising the Hema Committee report, which exposed rampant sexual exploitation, illegal bans, and inhumane working conditions in the Malayalam film industry. Satheesan alleged that the government has been "hiding" the report for nearly five years and accused the state administration of attempting to "protect the culprits." Speaking to ANI about the report, Satheesan said, "The government has been concealing the report for nearly five years. Many actresses working in the Malayalam film industry have lodged complaints with the committee, and their testimonies are documented. The report, along with a pen drive containing the evidence and WhatsApp messages, has been with the government for nearly five years." The Opposition Leader stated that the report clearly shows a series of offences have been committed and criticised the government for delaying action based on the victims' testimonies. "Unfortunately, the government has long been aware that a series of offences have occurred. This report, prepared on the basis of the victims' testimonies, is accurate and authentic. Now, after nearly five years, the report has surfaced. We demand that the government constitute an investigation team comprising senior women IPS officers. Yesterday, the government did form a team, but the press note from the Chief Minister's Office of Kerala does not mention the Hema Committee by name. Instead, it vaguely refers to women giving interviews and statements about the abuse they suffered in the film industry. This needs thorough investigation," he said. Satheesan further alleged that the government is unwilling to investigate the allegations in the report. "It is evident that the government is trying to protect the culprits. When the report was disclosed, the government tampered with it by omitting nearly 120-117 paragraphs. They are clearly trying to shield the perpetrators in this case," he added. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan declined to comment on the report but expressed his support for the state government's stance. He mentioned that the Chief Minister has assured action if victims come forward with specific complaints. "The Chief Minister has publicly stated that if victims come forward with specific complaints, the legal process will be initiated. I trust what the Chief Minister has said and refrain from further comment since this matter does not fall under my purview. However, I believe that if the victims file complaints against the perpetrators, the process of law will indeed be set in motion," he said. The Kerala government has constituted a special investigation team, led by senior police officer IGP G Sparjan Kumar, to probe the allegations of sexual exploitation mentioned in the Hema Committee report. The team includes four women IPS officers and two senior police officials and will operate under the supervision of Crime Branch ADGP H Venkatesh. Last week, a redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report on the harassment faced by women in the Malayalam film industry was made public. It contains shocking accounts of harassment, exploitation, and mistreatment of women professionals. The 235-page report, published after redacting the names of the witnesses and the accused, notes that the Malayalam film industry is controlled by about 10 to 15 male producers, directors, and actors who dominate and influence the industry. (ANI) Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, along with his family, visited the ISKCON temple in Vasantpur, Bengaluru, on Monday to celebrate Sri Krishna Janmashtami. "Happy Shri Krishna Janmashtami to all. I pray that Lord Krishna bestows health, happiness, peace, and prosperity on everyone," Kumaraswamy wrote in a post on X. BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj also offered prayers at the ISKCON temple in Delhi on this auspicious occasion. Expressing her happiness, Swaraj thanked the Prime Minister for initiating the Unified Pension Scheme. "I feel really happy after visiting the ISKCON temple... I congratulate everyone on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami... On this auspicious occasion, PM Modi gave a huge relief to employees by approving the Unified Pension Scheme," she said. ISKCON National Communications Director and Vice President of the East of Kailash ISKCON Temple in Delhi confirmed that the Maha Arti will be held at midnight today. Devotees gathered at the ISKCON Temple in East of Kailash to celebrate Lord Krishna's birthday with great enthusiasm and devotion. An aarti was performed at Dwarka's ISKCON Temple on this occasion. Vrajendra Nandan Das, speaking to ANI, said, "I congratulate everyone on the occasion of Janmashtami. ISKCON is celebrating this festival worldwide. Today, when the doors of ISKCON Delhi were opened at 4:30 am, thousands of devotees came to offer their prayers. The 'Maha Abhishek' will begin at 9:30 pm, and at 11 pm 'Chhappan Bhog' will be offered to Lord Krishna. The 'Maha Arti' will be held at midnight... I hope more than 5 lakh devotees will offer their prayers today." Regarding the security arrangements for Krishna Janmashtami at Mathura's Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple, Mathura Superintendent of Security, Bajrang Bali Chaurasia, informed that more than 2,000 security personnel have been deployed in the region. Speaking to ANI, he detailed the security arrangements, stating that drones are being used to ensure safety. "More than 2,000 security personnel have been deployed, and the entire region has been divided into three zones. In each zone, an additional SP has been deployed... Proper parking arrangements have been made... Gate No. 3 is the entry point for devotees... UP CM Yogi Adityanath will also be arriving... Teams of ATS, commandos, and fire services are also deployed... Drones are being used to ensure security and safety," said Mathura Superintendent of Security, Bajrang Bali Chaurasia. Krishna Janmashtami celebrated on the eighth day of the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, marks the birth of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. This vibrant festival is observed with great devotion and enthusiasm across India. (ANI) Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that there is a lot of excitement for the upcoming Regional Industry Conclave which is scheduled to be held in Gwalior on August 28 and expressed his confidence that some good decisions will be taken for the entire Gwalior-Chambal division on that day. "Regional Industry Conclave is going to be held here the day after tomorrow (on August 28). CM Mohan Yadav visited Gwalior regarding the conclave and we had a conference meeting over Zoom call. There is a lot of excitement and I am sure that some good decisions will be made on that day for the entire Gwalior-Chambal division. There will also be some good announcements for the division. There are a lot of possibilities in our division," Scindia told reporters. The Gwalior-Chambal division can be a counter magnet of Delhi. The possibilities that this division has, are probably not found in any other division in the state. There are possibilities not only in the industrial or manufacturing sector but also in Information Technology (IT), agriculture, food procession, tourists sectors etc, the union minister said. "I believe that this Regional Industry Conclave will lead us to achieve those targets at a fast pace under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav," he added. The Regional Industry Conclaves are being held as a pre-event of the "Invest Madhya Pradesh-Global Investor Summit-2025". GIS-2025 is proposed to be organised in Bhopal on February 7 and 8 next year. The main objective of the GIS-2025 Summit is to establish Madhya Pradesh as a favourable investment destination and to include it among the leading states of the country by highlighting the capabilities, abundant resources and favourable industrial environment of the state. The first event in the series of Regional Industry Conclave was organised in Ujjain on March 1 and 2 this year. Later, the regional industry conclave was held in Jabalpur last month on July 20. Besides, an Interactive Session on Investment Opportunities in MP events has also been held simultaneously outside the state as part of the pre-event of 'Invest Madhya Pradesh-Global Investor Summit-2025'. (ANI) The unauthorised construction of shops in a temple in Karol Bagh area has been stopped after the Delhi High Court called for a report from MCD. The Civic agency informed the court that unauthorised construction has been stopped. After Noting the submissions and considering the status report filed by the MCD, Delhi High court disposed of the petition moved by Advocate Kunal Khatumaria. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said that, in view of the aforesaid, the Court is satisfied that no further directions are required to be passed. The respondent-Corporation hasalready taken necessary steps to ensure that the further construction is stopped. " The respondent-Corporation is bound by the stand taken in the status report," Justice Kaurav said in the order passed on August 21. MCD filed a status report and stated that the property at Shiv Mandir Block No. 6, Dev Nagar, Karol Bagh, New Delhi had been inspected by the area Junior Engineer (Bldg.) alongwith the petitioner and his counsel on February 8, 2024. The property comprises only ground floor. Deities are installed in the premises. " However, construction in the shape of kiosks without shutters had been found to be in progress at the premises. The construction had been stopped. The Mandir Prabandhak had been requested to remove the said construction," the status report said. The SHO, P.S. Prasad Nagar, New Delhi, requested on February 7, 2024, that the MCD stop the construction and remove the workmen to avoid any further unauthorized construction at the site. The site has been re-inspected by the area Junior engineer (Bldg.) on16.02.2024. No further construction has been seen, it added. The petitioner had alleged unauthorised/illegal construction on theland of Shiv Mandir Ratia Wali Piyaau, by Delhi Prantiya Raigar Mandir Prabandhak Committee. It was contended that the land of the aforesaid temple has been converted into a commercial complex by Delhi Prantiya Raigar MandirPrabandhak Committee. On February 5, Delhi High Court issued notice to the MCD and directed to inspect the site. It was also directed to file a status report in two weeks. (ANI) The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday rescued 11 crew members from the distressed MV ITT Puma during a challenging night-time search and rescue operation, a press release said. According to the release, the Mumbai-registered general cargo vessel was en route from Kolkata to Port Blair when it reportedly sank about 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island (West Bengal). The Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Chennai initially received a distress signal late in the evening on August 25, 2024. The ICG's Regional Headquarters (North East) in Kolkata promptly mobilised two ICG vessels and a Dornier aircraft to the site. The Dornier aircraft, equipped with advanced night-capable sensors detected adrift life rafts and sighted survival red flares from the distressed crew. Guided by the aircraft, the ICG ship reached the coordinates where two life rafts were found tied together, housing the survivors. Despite challenging weather conditions, the ICG ships Sarang and Amogh, alongside the Dornier aircraft, executed a coordinated sea-air rescue, ensuring the safety of the crew during the late hours of 25 August and the early hours of 26 August. Earlier on August 24, the Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft detected IFB Angel adrift due to an engine defect, about 70 km southeast of Diu on the evening of August 24. The information was relayed to the ICG Maritime Rescue Coordination Sub Centre (MRCSC) at Pipavav. ICG Ship Rajratan was diverted to assist the distressed IFB with 09 crew amid rough seas. The boat was safely towed to Jafarabad. On August 18, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the newly constructed state-of-the-art Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre building in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He also virtually launched the Regional Marine Pollution Response Centre, located at the Chennai Port premises, and the Coast Guard Air Enclave in Puducherry. The buildings have been established to ensure robust maritime security and provide efficient responses to emergencies, reinforcing the country's commitment to maritime safety and environmental protection. This state-of-the-art facility aims to significantly enhance the coordination and effectiveness of maritime rescue operations for mariners & fishermen in distress at sea. It underscores the Government's resolve to protect lives and ensure a swift response in critical situations, added the statement. The Centre is installed with the latest equipment for distress monitoring through terrestrial & satellite systems and equipped with advanced communication systems for real-time management of alerts by highly-trained personnel of ICG specialising in Search & Rescue procedures, with the rescue aircraft, ships and other facilities. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Monday criticised the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate sexual harassment allegations against several actors in Malayalam cinema. He argued that the SIT lacks the authority to register FIRs, suggesting that the move was intended to protect the perpetrators. "The victims of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry have spoken out... But I am surprised that the state government has decided not to take any legal action... It's been more than 48 hours since these statements were made public, yet no FIR has been registered," Muraleedharan told ANI. He further added, "The SIT does not have the authority to register an FIR, which implies a deliberate attempt to divert public attention from the real issue and create a facade that the government is taking action, when in fact, it has decided not to." The Kerala government has formed a Special Investigation Team, led by senior police officer IGP G Sparjan Kumar, to probe the allegations of sexual exploitation highlighted in the Hema Committee report. The team includes four women IPS officers and two senior police officials and will operate under the supervision of Crime Branch ADGP H Venkatesh. Last week, a redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report on harassment faced by women in the Malayalam film industry was made public. The report contains shocking accounts of harassment, exploitation, and mistreatment of female professionals. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, strongly criticised the state government for delaying the release of the Hema Committee report by five years. Satheesan accused the government of "hiding" the report and attempting to "protect the culprits." Speaking to ANI, Satheesan said, "The government has been concealing the report for nearly five years. Many actresses working in the Malayalam film industry lodged complaints with the committee, and their testimonies are documented. The report, along with a pen drive containing evidence and WhatsApp messages, has been in the government's possession for nearly five years." (ANI) The incident occurred on August 24, 2024, when the young girl was abducted while playing in the street. The police received a PCR call reporting the kidnapping and immediately registered a case at PS Begumpur under Section 137(2) BNS. Given the sensitivity of the case, a special investigation team was quickly assembled to ensure the safe recovery of the child. The team employed local informers and scrutinized CCTV footage from the surrounding area to track down the suspect. Their efforts led to the identification and subsequent arrest of the accused, a resident of Begum Vihar, Begumpur. The kidnapped girl, was rescued safely within four hours of the incident. The accused, who works as a plumber and whitewasher, is currently in police custody as the investigation continues. (ANI) It's a story about pursuing one's dream, a story of collaboration between China and the United Kingdom, and a story of cultural exchanges and mutual learning all contained within the new documentary film In the Footstep of Marco Polo, which had its world premiere in London earlier in July. Marco Polo was an Italian merchant and explorer who traveled through Asia along the ancient Silk Road in the 13th century, ending his journey in Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), which is present-day Beijing. His observations and details about his route were recorded in the book The Travels of Marco Polo, which was later translated into many European languages and that inspired generations of Western travelers to go East. Stanley Johnson was one such follower of Marco Polo. An author, environmentalist, and former member of the European Parliament, he is also the father of the former United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson. Last year, Stanley and his youngest son, Max Johnson, participated in a China-UK documentary project that showcased the country's astonishing landscapes while featuring engaging interviews with locals and capturing the hilarious banter between the 84-year-old father and his 39-year-old son. Following part of the ancient route, their journey covered more than 5,000 kilometers, starting from a land port 5,100 meters above sea level on the China-Pakistan border at the Khunjerab Pass and crossing the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, through the Taklamakan Desert, through Gansu province to the Mogao Caves, traversing the highlands of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and concluding in Beijing. Start of the dream As an undergraduate at the University of Oxford in 1961, Stanley Johnson, along with two friends, Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti, embarked on an ambitious adventure through Turkiye, Iran, and Afghanistan as they inched closer to the Chinese border. The trio was traveling on motorcycles and found they could not cross the Pamir Plateau between Central and South Asia on two wheels. Forced to give up, they vowed to return and complete the journey together one day, but the dream did not come true for de Larrabeiti and Severin, who passed away in 2008 and 2020 respectively. In 2023, accompanied this time by his son, Stanley picked up the unfinished journey he began six decades earlier and continued. "This is the realization of quite a long-held ambition. I've been to China a lot of times, but I'd never done the whole route that I wanted to do," Stanley said at the premiere of the documentary film about his journey. "Sixty-two years ago, I first set out to try to follow Macro Polo's way to Beijing and didn't succeed. Sixty-two years later, we got there, we made it!" Ref lecting on the seven-week journey, Stanley's son Max said: "It was Confucius who said 'a good son is an obedient son'. I am neither one nor the other, but I do try. And it was just great fun." He added that the journey meant he got to spend cherished time with his father. Max has also been to China before, and the first city he visited back when he was 20 happened to be Kashgar, in Xinjiang, which he got to visit again during the filming of the documentary last year. "This time, I went back and to see the development was just incredible. And then obviously, I've been to Beijing. I live in Hong Kong. But to me, to see how much China developed, how quickly China developed, is very fascinating," said Max, who had previously studied in Beijing and who can speak fluent Mandarin. "When you watch this film, just remember it was something in the spirit of let's do something. Let's make a film, go to China, and see what it's like for yourself," he told the audience at the premiere. Nature, culture and people In the documentary, Stanley and Max take the audience to see some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Northwest China. Driving a 4x4 SUV, the two slowly descended 1,000 meters by going around more than 600 turns on a mountain highway called pan long road, or twisting dragon road, near Kashgar. They also board an overnight sleeper train from Hotan to Ruoqiang, the latest leg of the world's first railway loop line circling a desert that opened in 2022, which crosses China's largest desert, Taklamakan, with ease. "This is the modern version of the Silk Road," Stanley exclaimed in the film. Standing on a hot-air balloon, they catch the morning rays shining over the Zhangye National Geopark, creating the sight of a "rainbow mountain" out of the unique petrographic landform in China. In addition to seeing magnificent scenery, the Johnsons meet various people along the way. They watch a performance of Xinjiang Uygur Muqam, which includes songs, dances, and folk and classical music and that UNESCO put on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. During their journey, they also learned with a master chef how to make Lanzhou lamian, or the hand-pulled noodle that originated in Lanzhou, Gansu province, which was arguably China's most widespread noodle dish across the vast country and abroad. And they got to grapple with Mongolian bokh wrestlers, try archery, and listen to khoomei, an ancient throat singing performed by ethnic Mongolians. They also had the chance to talk to historians at sites in Xanadu, the northern capital of the Mongol Empire, and in the Forbidden City, which was built during the Yuan Dynasty, tracing Marco Polo to the places he must have been, and the things he could have seen. "We've met people, and we've been entertained by people, and we've had experiences which I will never forget," Stanley said at the end of the documentary. UK-China collaboration The journey and the film would not have been possible without a team from both China and the United Kingdom and support from the Chinese embassy and local authorities, which the Johnsons thanked and praised at the premiere. "Macro Polo became the great bridge-builder between the East and the West, and he is still very much appreciated in China. To me, I hope this film will also help in a symbolic bridge-building," said Stanley, adding that he was so impressed to see that there was a statue of Marco Polo in the center of the city of Zhangye. Dale Templar, the documentary's director, said: "We worked for seven weeks straight, the journey was filmed as a continuous journey. And I cannot underestimate just how hard the 30 or 40-strong team of English and Chinese crew worked." The film was a joint production by One Tribe TV, a UK television and radio production company, and CCTV Documentary International Media Co, was distributed by Blue Ant International, and was supported by the education group English Path. "I'm gonna give a quick shout-out to everyone in the UK and China," said Templar. "They are producers, directors, researchers, translators, production management teams, cameras and locations, sound, post-production, including editing, coloring, dubbing, graphic design, script writing, and so many more. "I believe this film is a celebration of cultural diversity and most importantly, it shows we all share a basic humanity as individuals. We are, after all, just human, sharing the same hopes, fears and dreams." Sherard Cowper-Coles, chair of the China-Britain Business Council, said after watching the premiere: "Stanley's film was just wonderful. (It is) a powerful evocation of Chinese civilization, ancient and modern, delivered with taste, humanity, humor, and brilliant cinematography." Zheng Zeguang, China's ambassador to the UK, told the audience at the premiere: "This is a story about pursuing dreams It's a story about China-UK collaboration This is also a story about cultural exchanges and mutual learning. "I hope all of you, and people in the UK, will be following the footsteps of Marco Polo and also the footsteps of Stanley Johnson. Travel to China, see the culture, and meet the people." As heavy rain continues across Gujarat, all primary schools in the state will remain closed tomorrow, Tuesday, according to State Education Minister Praful Pansheriya. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday predicted that Gujarat would experience heavy to extremely heavy rain over the next 2-3 days. The state has been witnessing heavy rainfall over the past two days, leading to parts of Gujarat being inundated and displacing hundreds of residents to safer locations. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has conducted relief and rescue operations in Valsad, where heavy rains have caused flood-like situations. The NDRF team rescued a pregnant woman in Valsad. "The water level increased in the morning, causing water to enter the Hanuman Bhagda and Valsad area, disrupting road connectivity. We rescued a pregnant woman and are distributing food and relief material," NDRF inspector Ramesh Kumar told ANI. Meanwhile, the water level of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada has risen due to continuous rains, officials said. The state's Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a high-level meeting at the State Emergency Operation Center in Gandhinagar on Monday to assess the impact of the heavy rains. The Chief Minister arrived at the State Emergency Operation Center on Monday afternoon and held a video conference with collectors, municipal commissioners, and district officials of the rain-affected districts to gather pertinent details. During the meeting, Chief Minister Patel urged for the safe evacuation of people from low-lying areas. He instructed District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners that the government's first priority should be to prevent the loss of life and livestock. "He instructed the Collectors that special vigilance should be taken to ensure that no one crosses or enters river channels or roads when rainwater is flowing dangerously. If necessary, police should be deployed to enforce this strictly," according to a press release. He also emphasised the priority of rescuing people trapped in water and received updates on evacuation operations. "So far, 17,827 people have been evacuated, and 1,653 people have been rescued in the state. Thirteen NDRF teams and twenty-two SDRF teams have been deployed in the affected districts, assisting in rescue and relief operations," the release stated. CM Patel also received updates on the heavy and widespread rainfall across the state in the last 24 hours. Rainfall has been recorded in 244 talukas across 33 districts, with an average of 63.36 mm of rain during this period. (ANI) Captain Gopichand Thotakura, India's first civilian space tourist, met Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday. He recently travelled to space as part of the crew for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin's New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission. Earlier in the day, Thotakura received a warm welcome upon his arrival in Delhi. He said, "The feeling has been awaited for a long time. I am very happy to be back home. It is a very proud moment for India as well. I am honoured to be representing the country and very excited for everyone else to go and do something in space with Origin or any other organisation. I am leaving to meet my parents and grandparents at home. People around me are more excited." Gopichand Thotakura made history by becoming the second Indian citizen to travel to space. Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, was the first Indian citizen to travel to space in 1984. Earlier, in an exclusive interview with ANI, Thotakura spoke about his dream and passion for flying and how the mission is working towards protecting Mother Earth. He also discussed space tourism and its potential to open new avenues, making it affordable and accessible for civilians. Elaborating on his experience, he said, "I can't express my feelings right now because it's something that isn't in the urban dictionary. It's something I take with me. I always tell people that right from when you're born until the time you leave, you wake up and want to see the sky, want to take a breath, but I wanted to have this opportunity to do the reverse, to go up there and see down here. Movies do a fantastic job, but what the naked eye can see, you have to experience yourself. The whole excitement is about looking back and seeing what's going on, without it being documented or seen through someone else's eyes." He further emphasised Blue Origin's tagline, 'For the benefit of Earth,' and added that he believes protecting Mother Earth is vital. "It is for the protection of Mother Earth that they are seeking life and adventure outside the planet," he said. When asked about space tourism, he said, "The mission for Blue Origin or any other company is to make it affordable. What the affordable number is, we still don't know, but to make it affordable, it has to start somewhere." He also mentioned that Blue Origin has partnered with NASA to open a private international space station to expand space tourism and grow the sector. "I believe that space tourism is where the future lies," he added. Gopichand stressed the importance of pursuing one's dreams and advised the younger generation that with dedication and determination, they can achieve their goals. The mission of the club is to inspire and mobilise future generations to pursue careers in STEAM for the benefit of Earth. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin announced the six-person crew for its NS-25 mission, which included Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight. Notably, Ed Dwight was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first black astronaut candidate. Unfortunately, he was never given the opportunity to fly to space. (ANI) Ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday assigned national spokespersons RP Singh and Shazia Ilmi to coordinate media efforts in the Union Territory. Punjab State Media Convenor Vineet Joshi will also be part of the media coordination team for the J-K assembly polls. RP Singh, a national spokesperson for the BJP, was a member of the Fifth Delhi Legislative Assembly representing Rajinder Nagar. Shazia Ilmi, also a national spokesperson for the BJP, joined the party in 2015 after leaving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Before entering politics, Ilmi was a journalist. This announcement follows the BJP's release of its first list of 15 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in J-K. The party has fielded Syed Showkat Andrabi from Pampore, Arshad Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Qari from Shopian, Mohd. Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, Syed Wazahat from Anantnag, Sofi Yousuf from Bijbehar, Veer Saraf from Shangus-Anantnag East, Tariq Keen from Inderwal, Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar, Sunil Sharma from Padder-Naseni, Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah, Gajay Rana from Doda, Shakti Parihar from Doda, Rakesh Thakur from Ramban, and Salim Bhat to contest from Banihal constituency. Meanwhile, the National Conference (NC) and Congress are holding discussions to resolve differences over seat-sharing for the upcoming assembly elections in the Union Territory. August 27 is the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of the J-K assembly election. On Monday, the Congress rushed KC Venugopal and senior leader Salman Khurshid to work out the details of the seat-sharing arrangement. According to top Congress sources, the party is demanding to contest at least 8 seats out of the 24 seats in the first phase. Sources further added that the NC is offering 35 seats to the Congress against its demand for 37, out of a total of 90 seats. It is learnt that the NC is talking about "friendly contests" on some seats, a suggestion to which the Congress is not ready. As per the Election Commission of India, polling in J-K will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with the counting of votes scheduled for October 4. There are a total of 90 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, of which 7 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 9 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). According to official data, Jammu and Kashmir has 88.06 lakh eligible electors. These are the first Assembly elections to be held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. (ANI) The Tripura government has requested the central government to send an advance Inter-Ministerial Central Team to Tripura for an on-site assessment of the damage caused by recent floods in the state, according to a press release. The Tripura disaster department stated on Monday that the interministerial central team would assist the state government in submitting a memorandum for additional support from the central government for restoration works. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall for the next two days, starting on Monday, in one or two places over South Tripura District, issuing a yellow alert. There has been comparatively less rainfall in the last three days. In the last 24 hours, the state received its highest rainfall of 38 mm at Panisagar. However, the water level of the Gomati River at Sonamura remains above the danger level, according to the press release. Furthermore, the release stated that the situation is being closely monitored at the highest level. Three teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are working on relief operations in the Gomati and Sepahijala Districts. About 500 volunteers from Civil Defence and Aapda Mitra continue to be engaged in relief efforts. A total of 471 relief camps are operational, providing shelter to over 70,000 people in the state. The District Administration continues to provide necessary relief, including food, drinking water, and medical aid, in the relief camps. Clothes have also been distributed to about 150 needy people in the Amarpur Karbook Sub-Division, the press release added. Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 26, with one person missing and two injured. According to reports, extensive damage has been inflicted on physical infrastructure, including roads, buildings, power lines, embankments, agricultural crops, houses, and livestock. The District Disaster Management Authority, led by District Magistrates & Collectors, has been instructed to conduct a detailed and comprehensive damage assessment due to the recent floods. Earlier today, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha thanked the Uttar Pradesh government for providing financial assistance of ten crore rupees to Tripura in response to the floods. Thanking Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he said on X: "On behalf of the people of Tripura, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to you & the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh for your support during these challenging times. Though we've suffered significant losses in the floods, with your cooperation, we'll rebound stronger & faster than ever, @myogiadityanath." Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also announced that financial assistance of Rs 20 crore each would be provided to the states of Kerala and Tripura, both of which are currently facing natural calamities. "We extend our sympathies to those affected by these disasters, and the Madhya Pradesh government stands with both states during this difficult time. We pray to Lord Krishna for a swift recovery from this crisis," CM Yadav told reporters at the Kushabhau Thackeray Auditorium in Bhopal on Monday. "Several states across the country, including Madhya Pradesh, have been impacted by heavy rains, floods, and landslides. In recent days, there have been severe natural disasters in Tripura and Kerala, and it is deeply saddening that many lives have been lost," CM Yadav expressed. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has made headlines for stating, "Bharat mein rehna hoga toh Ram, Krishna ki jai kehna hoga" (If one wishes to live in India, they must say 'Hail Ram and Krishna'). "Be it Rahim or Raskhan, they remained connected to this land, and that's why we remember them today. But be warned, 'jo yahan ka khata hai aur kahin aur ka bajata hai, yeh nahi chalega. Bharat mein rehna hoga toh Ram, Krishna ki jai kehna hoga; inke bahar kuch nahi hai' (Those who benefit from this land but serve elsewhere, this will not be tolerated. If one wishes to live in India, they must say 'Hail Ram and Krishna'; there is nothing beyond them)," CM Yadav remarked while addressing a program in Ashoknagar district on Monday. He further added, "We wish to respect everyone in the country. We never disrespect anyone here. Today, I visited Handloom Park in Chanderi, Ashoknagar, where both Hindus and Muslims are working hard. Applause to all of them. We maintain a sense of purity towards everyone. You have the freedom to practise any religion, but patriotism should be the priority." Meanwhile, Congress leader Kunal Choudhary responded to CM Yadav's remarks, stating that the Chief Minister and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should understand that the essence of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna is love. "First and foremost, the CM himself and the BJP leaders should understand that the essence of Ram and Krishna is love. There was no conflict with caste, religion, or sect; if there was a fight, it was against those who destroyed humanity and worked against it, be it Ravana or Kansa," Choudhary told ANI. The Chief Minister should strive to explain the essence of Ram, which teaches how to live life within bounds, and the essence of Krishna, who, despite being the Lord of Dwarka, maintained a close friendship with Sudama. This is the sentiment that should be understood, the Congress leader said. (ANI) National Conference will contest 51 of 90 seats and Congress 32 according to the seat-sharing pact reached by the two parties for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The two parties will also have "friendly contest" on five seats. The two parties have left one seat each for CPI(M) and Panthers Party. Making the announcement, Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said the two parties have reached the seat-sharing agreement by understanding "sensitivities of each other". He said there was difficulty on some seats and they will have "friendly contest in a disciplined manner". The seat-sharing pact was declared a day before the last day of filing nominations for the first phase of elections on September 18 for 24 seats. "National Conference will contest on 51 seats, Congress on 32 and we have agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 seats. Over and above these 88 seats, we have left 1 seat for CPI (M) and 1 seat for Panthers Party," Karra said at a press conference. Congress leader KC Venugopal, who was also present, said they will fight together and "form the government" in Jammu and Kashmir. "BJP is trying to destroy the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. Our INDIA alliance's main objective is to save the soul of Jammu and Kashmir so that is why Congress and National Conference are coming together to make a government in Jammu and Kashmir which will be totally friendly with the people of J-K. We have done a discussion and entered into a formula which our leaders will share now. We will fight together, we will win J-K. We will form the government in Jammu and Kashmir," he said. Meanwhile, BJP on Monday released its first list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir elections. The initial list includes 15 candidates, with the party aiming to represent various communities and castes. The list features candidates from both the Jammu and Kashmir regions. The party subsequently announced its candidate for the Kokernag seat as well. Sources indicate that the BJP has sought to reflect the region's diverse demographic composition and strengthen its outreach to different communities. The party has fielded Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from Pampore, Arshid Bhat from Rajpora, Javed Ahmad Qadri from Shopian, Mohammad Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West, and Syed Wazahat from Anantnag. Veer Saraf is the candidate from Shangus-Anantnag East. The party has also fielded Sofi Yousuf from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Tariq Keen from Inderwal, and Salim Bhat from Banihal. Shagun Parihar, the only woman on the list, will contest from Kishtwar. Additionally, the BJP has fielded Sunil Sharma from Padder-Nagseni, Daleep Singh Parihar from Bhadarwah, Gajay Singh Rana from Doda, Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West, and Rakesh Thakur from Ramban. Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar will contest from Kokernag. Polling in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. Voting will be held for 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Election Commission, the Union Territory has 88.06 lakh electors. (ANI) The Mahila Congress is set to hold a protest in Shimla to highlight three major demands concerning women's issues. The protest will coincide with the first day of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, during which Mahila Congress members will march to the Assembly, pressing their own government to arrest a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA over an alleged molestation case involving a girl in Chamba district. On Monday, All India Mahila Congress Chief Alka Lamba held a meeting with the state executive of the Himachal Pradesh Mahila Congress in Shimla. During the meeting, resolutions were passed addressing three critical demands as part of the "Mahila Nyaya Andolan," a movement for women's justice. Speaking to the media in Shimla, Alka Lamba said, "We held an executive committee meeting of the Mahila Congress, and we are going to restructure the executive bodies of the Mahila Congress. We are launching the 'Nari Nyay Andolan' from tomorrow, starting with a protest in the state. I am thankful to the state government for initiating a 1,500-rupee honorarium for women, despite the lack of support from the Union government during disasters." She emphasised the need for women's safety and security across the country, citing several high-profile cases. "We want the safety and security of women in the country, whether in cases like the rape and murder of a doctor or the molestation of a young girl in Maharashtra. The BJP has been protecting individuals like Braj Bhushan Saran Singh in the Ankita Bhandari case, Prajjwal Rawanna, and many others." Lamba expressed her gratitude to the Himachal Pradesh government for filing an FIR against BJP MLA Hansraj, saying, "We have passed a resolution in the Mahila Congress meeting to march to the Vidhan Sabha in Himachal Pradesh and demand the arrest of the BJP MLA. We want safety and security for women in the state." She criticised the BJP and MLA Hansraj for attempting to downplay the issue as a "family and party matter," asserting, "This is not a family matter; it is an issue of women's safety and security. We have resolved that our women representatives will push for reservations for women." As part of the "Nari Nyay Andolan," the Mahila Congress plans to meet with state governors across India to press for their demands. Lamba also highlighted the lack of a Mahila Aayog (Women's Commission) in the state and called for the establishment of Mahila Thanas (women police stations) in all 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. "So far, there has been no Mahila Aayog constituted in the state. We shall also demand that the state government build Mahila Thanas in all 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh," she said. (ANI) Three more people have been arrested in connection with the shooting of a US-based non-resident Indian (NRI) in Punjab's Amritsar, officials said on Monday. The NRI, identified as Sukhchain Singh, was shot by two assailants at his residence in the Daburji area of Amritsar. Amritsar Commissioner of Police Ranjit Singh Dhillon with his team launched a search operation to recover the weapons that were used in the shooting incident. "The police launched an operation to recover the weapons which were used in the shooting incident...They tried to fire at the police but in self-defence, we fired at them and we have been able to arrest them...Sukhwinder alias Sukha and Gurkirat alias Gopi have been arrested by the police...They were involved in the incident of shooting," he said. Earlier, five people were arrested in connection with the shooting of a US-based NRI in Punjab's Amritsar, officials said on Sunday. Dhillon said that the incident stemmed from a rivalry between two families, both residing in the US, who hired shooters from India. "The firing incident occurred due to mutual rivalry between two families. Both families live in the US and they hired Indian shooters for the task. The family who orchestrated the attack knew that the victim was in Punjab. It is only a matter of time till the shooters are arrested. Five people have been arrested so far," he said. Dhillon added that investigations are ongoing into the financial transactions from the US to India related to the case. According to Additional DCP Harpal Singh, the assailants arrived on a bike and entered Singh's home around 7 am on Saturday under the pretence of enquiring about the registration papers of his luxury car. "They fired three shots, two of which hit Singh. The attackers fled when the weapon jammed," the officer said. Singh's wife, Amandeep Kaur, recounted that the family, including two children and an elderly mother, was present at home during the attack. "The children kept pleading to leave their father, but they came with an intention to kill him. They fled only when the weapon got jammed after three shots," she said. Amritsar CP Ranjit Singh Dhillon confirmed that Sukhchain Singh, who had been living in the US, had recently returned to Punjab. "Two men entered Singh's residence on the pretext of enquiring about his car's registration certificate and then started firing at him. A total of three men arrived at the residence. Two of them entered the residence and they fired at Sukchain. Sukhchain Singh lives in America and he arrived in Punjab a month ago," the CP said. Sukhchain Singh was taken to the hospital immediately, where he was treated for his injuries, and is now out of danger. The CP further said that the family suspects the involvement of Singh's ex-wife's relatives and has filed an FIR against five of them. Singh's father-in-law, Sukhdev Singh, expressed concerns about the involvement of his ex-wife's family and said, "They entered our residence and took Sukchain Singh inside at gunpoint... We have doubts regarding the involvement of Sukchain Singh's ex-wife's family members in this incident. Justice should be served." Dr Krishnan Srinivasan, who treated Sukhchain Singh, said that he was admitted with severe bleeding but is now stable with injuries to his face and hand. (ANI) On Janmashtami, Union Minister and West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar visited the family of the Kolkata rape and murder victim and lit a candle in her memory. During his visit, he also met with the victims' parents. He told ANI that he had earlier asked the people of the state to light a candle on Janmashtami in memory of the rape and murder incident victim to bring peace to the departed soul and ensure justice for the deceased. "I said it from the protesting site yesterday to light a candle in her name, our party workers will do this. I have started this at her home with her family for the peace of the departed soul and justice for the deceased," Majumdar told ANI. Addressing concerns about the delay in justice in the case, Majumdar said that the CBI is taking time to investigate as the evidence has been tampered with. "The video that has come up today, shows how the crime scene has been trampled... I don't think any evidence would be there. A case should be registered against those who can be seen in that video for tampering with evidence. CBI is taking time and it has to conduct polygraph tests and all as the evidence has been tampered with," Majumdar told ANI. The brutal rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor on the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital premises sparked outrage all over the country. The incident shook the entire nation, and since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. Earlier, CBI officials conducted a polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata. On August 25, Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar in West Bengal who was honoured with the Banga Ratna award by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, decided to return the award in protest against the state government's handling of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. (ANI) Additional Commissioner of Police Kolkata, Supratim Sarkar on Monday said that they have rejected an application by 'Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj' to hold a rally called 'Nabanna Abhiyaan' on August 27. He added that the police rejected their application because the group did not seek formal permission and provided insufficient details. The rally aimed to protest the recent rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor in Kolkata. Additional Commissioner of Police Kolkata, Supratim Sarkar said, "They had announced through social media and the press that they will be undertaking a program called Nabanno Abhiyaan on 27th August, but they did not seek permission, which is a mandatory requirement as far as the High Court directives." "We have received two emails from two different organisations, the email that we have received from Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj is an intimation. It's not a formal permission letter. They have just intimated that we are going to do that program and in this mail also, they have not revealed the details that are required to be shared with the police for peaceful conducting of the program. Hence, their application has been rejected...Tomorrow there's a UGC net national level exam. Many candidates from the state will write that exam. Allowing any such congregation will invariably result in traffic disruption which will cause serious inconvenience to the candidates," ACP Sarkar added. The brutal rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor on the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital premises sparked outrage all over the country. The incident shook the entire nation, and since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. Earlier, CBI officials conducted a polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata. On August 25, Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar in West Bengal who was honoured with the Banga Ratna award by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, has decided to return the award in protest against the state government's handling of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. (ANI) This photo taken on Aug. 24, 2024 shows a view of HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, capital of China. [Photo/Xinhua] HICOOL, a startup ecosystem established in Beijing in 2020 to support entrepreneurial talent, has seen its initial vision become a reality. Over the past five years, HICOOL has nurtured 16 unicorn companies and 127 enterprises that use specialized and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products. Meanwhile, it has attracted 32,000 entrepreneurial individuals and 24,000 projects from 145 countries and regions worldwide. By doing so, HICOOL has extended an invitation to global entrepreneurs to convene in Beijing, showcasing the Chinese capital's efforts to become an international science and technology innovation center as well as a high-level talent hub. As one of the unicorn enterprises that emerged from HICOOL, Agile Robots from Munich, Germany, participated in the HICOOL 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Competition and secured an award. With the support of various levels of government agencies in Beijing, the company has set up a state-of-the-art factory spanning nearly 5,300 square meters in the suburban area of Shunyi District. "We have evolved from a small team of just over 10 individuals to a globally recognized high-tech enterprise with a workforce exceeding 2,800 employees, realizing a market valuation of more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars and annual sales surpassing 1 billion yuan (about 140 million U.S. dollars)," noted Chen Wei, the company's deputy general manager. Chen added that the company currently holds over 100 patents and has essentially achieved independent research and development of core technologies. A highlight of this year's HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit, held from Aug. 23 to 25, is its focus on new quality productive forces, creating a platform to empower technology-based startups and encouraging innovation through value creation. This year's session has drawn extensive attention from Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs. A total of 9,700 outstanding players and 7,406 entrepreneurship projects from 124 countries and regions participated in this year's global entrepreneurship competition during the summit, with overseas projects accounting for 63 percent of the total. "Beijing is vibrant and brimming with innovation," remarked Zhang Xujia, founder of QL Biopharm and a first prize winner at this year's competition. Specializing in the production of recombinant protein drugs using Escherichia coli, Zhang said the enterprise has taken root in the Zhongguancun Life Science Park, where it has pioneered innovative biopharmaceuticals for chronic metabolic diseases. The company has also constructed a pivotal platform for independent innovation, with multiple technologies, including long-acting technology and fusion protein technology, all achieving a leading position on the global stage, Zhang added. Rafael Suchan, a German entrepreneur and founder of Vastalta Circular Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., held the trophy in his hands as a third prize winner at this year's competition, acclaiming China's inclusive and open innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs. "Establishing our company in Beijing has provided us with a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between German engineering excellence and China's vast market potential. We are committed to contributing to the development of Beijing's circular economy and are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead," he said. Wang Xiaodong, founder of BeiGene, a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes cancer drugs, explains why entrepreneurship is important at the summit by using a set of data. "Only around 10,000 people in China could afford a particular cancer drug in the past. But thanks to the rise of our homegrown companies, that number has soared to 1 million. That's what entrepreneurship is all about," Wang noted. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is set to launch a nationwide membership drive from September 2. Party sources said that Sadasyata Abhiyan 2024 will be launched in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 2, in the national capital. Sources said that under the guidance of the party's national president and Union Cabinet Minister, JP Nadda, a national workshop was conducted on August 17, 2024. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also attended the workshop. In the workshop, many activities were discussed as part of Sadasyata Abhiyan 2024. As per the sources, primary membership would be done through missed calls (8800002024), the NaMo App, QR codes, and traditional application forms, ensuring that people in areas with limited mobile coverage or those without mobile phones can participate. A National Team, under the convenorship of Vinod Tawde, National General Secretary, has been formed to oversee the campaign. State, District and Mandal teams, along with Morchas and Cells, will also be established, with a focus on media, social media and IT coordination. The membership drive will be conducted in two phases--September 2 to September 25 and October 1 to October 15. Each phase will target specific milestones, ensuring a comprehensive reach across the country. The campaign will set membership targets for each unit, from Booth to State levels, based on the party's performance in recent elections. Notably, State workshops were conducted on August 19 to 21 and district workshops on August 22 to 24, whereas, Mandal workshops have to be conducted on August 25 to 27. On August 31, a meeting of Page Pramukhs is also to be held at all booths to prepare for the campaign. Sources informed that after the inauguration on 2nd September, Abhiyan has to be inaugurated in all States on the 3rd or 4th of September & Districts on the 5th or 6th September. A "Sadasyata Sahayogi" (Membership Assistant) will be appointed for every Shakti Kendra, responsible for overseeing the "Mahasampark" (Grand Outreach) phase from September 10 to September 17. Also, the first 15 days of the campaign will focus on door-to-door outreach at every booth before moving on to larger public activities. The party has decided that periodic review meetings will be held to boost the campaign's effectiveness, with a significant emphasis on media and social media outreach. Sources said that a national team formed for the campaign includes Vinod Tawde as the convenor, with Rekha Verma, Dushyant Gautam, Atul Garg and D Purandeswari appointed as co-convenors. Whereas, Rituraj Sinha, Arvind Menon, Vijaya Rahatkar and Rajdeep Roy YY. Sources said that BJP's Sadasyata Abhiyan - 2024 is poised to be a landmark effort in expanding the party's base and galvanizing its supporters. The party aims to consolidate its position as a dominant force in Indian politics. It is pertinent to note that the BJP has historically formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre for three consecutive terms under PM Modi's leadership. The party attributes this success to its commitment to inclusive growth, focusing on the welfare of the marginalized through initiatives like GYAN (Gareeb, Yuva, Annadata, Nari), which remains central to the Prime Minister's vision for Bharat's forward march. Over the last decade, the BJP has seen significant growth in its organizational footprint nationwide. It has become the world's largest political party by membership, with booth-level committees operating in the majority of the country's 10.5 lakh polling booths. The party boasts the largest number of elected representatives, from Members of Parliament to Panchayat members. The guiding principle of "Seva hi Sangathan" (Service is Organization), as emphasized by PM Modi, continues to inspire party workers to fulfil their political and social duties with unwavering dedication. (ANI) Hamas said it has rejected the "new conditions" put up by Israel for the ceasefire deal, and is only ready for the deal it agreed to on July 2, CNN reported. The Hamas delegation reportedly left Cairo on Sunday evening (local time) after meeting with mediators for the renewed talks. The development has cast further doubt on the chances of a breakthrough in the US-backed effort to end the 10-month-old war. Hamas demanded that Israel "be bound by what was agreed upon on July 2, based on what was stated in Biden's speech and the Security Council resolution," Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement. Al-Rishq further stressed Hamas' position that any agreement must include "a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the freedom of return of residents to their areas, relief and reconstruction, and a serious exchange deal." Last week, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Aqsa TV that Israel has "set new conditions for accepting the agreement and has retracted what it had previously agreed to." According to Hamdan, those new conditions included Israeli troops repositioning in the Philadelphi corridor, a key strip of land along the border with Egypt, and non-Palestinian management of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Hamas has been blaming Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the "lack of progress" during the talks. The group has accused Netanyahu of imposing "new demands" and "not being serious" about reaching a ceasefire, as reported by Al Jazeera. Netanyahu has insisted that the war in Gaza will continue until a "total victory" against Hamas has been won, even if a deal is reached. That objective has been questioned by many top Israeli officials, including his own defence minister, and family members of captives held by Hamas. Hamas launched a massive terror attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1200 people and holding over 250 hostages, out of which over 100 are still in captivity. In response, Israel launched a strong counteroffensive targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli operation, however, has been criticised for civilian casualties. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli operation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that around 100 of its fighter jets "struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, aimed for immediate fire toward northern and central Israel." "More than 40 launch areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes," it said. Prior to this, Israel on Saturday, declared an emergency for the next 48 hours amid the country's escalating tensions with Lebanon. (ANI) He made this statement during a meeting today with a delegation from the UAE General Authority of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, and Zakat, led by Omar Habtoor Al Darei, Chairman of the Authority. Al-Tayeb stressed the importance of muftis and religious scholars addressing women's issues with care, ensuring that cultural practices and traditions do not overshadow accurate religious texts and rulings. The Chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, and Zakat expressed his appreciation for the significant global efforts of the Grand Imam in promoting Islamic knowledge and fostering a culture of dialogue and human fraternity. (ANI/WAM) Speaking at the opening session of the 35th International Conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, held in Cairo, under the theme "The Role of Women in Building Awareness", Omar Al Darei said that Sheikh Zayed believed in the potential of women and supported them, alongside Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (The Mother of the Nation), Chairwoman of the General Women's Union (GWU), President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC), and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation (FDF). Al Darei emphasised that women are the stronghold against extremist ideologies and play a fundamental role in strengthening the sense of national identity in future generations and promoting values of moderation, tolerance, and education. He explained that women, as the first educators, are the foundation of upbringing and ethics. Al Darei underscored the importance of addressing women's issues such as education, employment, and involvement in decision-making. He called for renewing religious discourse and supporting women's participation in this field. (ANI/WAM) The Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a US-based think tank, has warned Taiwan against China's "anaconda strategy," under which Beijing might resort to cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns, the Taipei Times reported. The Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD) held a tabletop exercise in Taipei, earlier this month focusing on Beijing's use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported, citing outcome of the tabletop exercise. The FDD mentioned an "anaconda strategy," in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempt an invasion. A large-scale cyberattack would be far costlier to defend against than to launch, thereby giving China the advantage, it added. "This asymmetry allows China to exert considerable pressure on Taiwan without triggering a direct US military response," it said, adding that China would use covert cyberwarfare operations that provide it with "just enough cover to maintain plausible deniability," as reported by the Taipei Times. Former US Navy rear admiral Mark Montgomery, who is the senior director of the FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, said that Taiwan faces severe challenges in sustaining its economy in the event of an attack on its critical infrastructure by China. "How do you keep things going during a series of interlaced critical infrastructure failures, where electrical power drives a problem with financial services, things like that?" he asked. The report further suggested that, in addition to cyberattacks, China might also attempt to affect the morale of Taiwanese by spreading misinformation. Researcher Dean Karalekas has said in the report that while the Russia-Ukraine conflict has spurred preparation in Taiwan, that preparation might not be particularly useful. Rather than kinetic warfare such as the one in Ukraine, Taiwan was more likely to face being cut off from its supplies of energy, food and other imports, he said. According to FDD, Taiwan's reserve troops are "poorly trained" and lack sufficient equipment to effectively support the regular army in wartime. Taiwan is also highly dependent on imported liquefied natural gas and has limited energy reserves, it added. "Once key routes are blocked, it may fall into an energy shortage crisis, and although Taiwan actively develops green energy, such as wind power generation, these facilities can easily become targets of enemy attacks during wartime, making it difficult to provide a stable power supply," the think tank stated. The think tank has recommended Taiwan to actively demonstrate to the international community its determination to defend itself and resolve through specific actions; including increasing its defence budget, strengthening reserve force training and diversifying energy sources, the Taipei Times reported. (ANI) Ryan Evans, a British safety adviser who was working for the Reuters news agency, was killed and two other journalists were injured in a Russian strike at a hotel in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday night, CNN reported. Reuters had a six-person crew staying at the Hotel Sapphire as part of its team covering the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the news agency identified the killed safety adviser as Ryan Evans, a British citizen who was assigned to its reporting team in Ukraine. The news agency added that two of its journalists were being treated in hospital, one for serious injuries. "We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan's family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terrible," the statement on Sunday afternoon read. Evans, 38, a former British soldier, had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world, including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics, CNN reported, citing the news agency. Three other colleagues have been accounted for and suffered mild injuries, it added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in his daily address on Sunday that British and American citizens were in the Kramatorsk hotel, adding, "My condolences go out to the family and friends. This is a daily Russian terror that continues, because Russia has the ability to continue." A spokesperson for the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said, "We are aware of reports of a British national missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities." The US State Department has also confirmed that an American citizen was among those injured but has not identified the person. The head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said the injured journalists include "citizens of Ukraine, the United States, Latvia and Germany." He confirmed on Telegram Sunday morning that the deceased was a British citizen. Notably, Kramatorsk has often been the target of Russian shelling since the start of the conflict in February 2022. It remains one of the largest cities under Ukrainian control in the country's besieged east, as reported by CNN. In April last year, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk that was being used to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting. Over 50 people, including several children, died in that one attack, which Human Rights Watch and SITU Research termed as "an apparent war crime." (ANI) The Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajiran Pakistan, a body of traders, has clarified that no negotiations have taken place with Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the strike against the 'Tajir Dost Scheme' will proceed as planned, ARY News reported. Notably, the traders announced a nationwide shutter-down strike on August 28, in protest against the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) Tajir Dost Scheme. Kashif Chaudhry, President of The Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajiran Pakistan, stated that the government's "false promises" cannot appease the traders. He said that the strike is essential to save businesses and the economy. Chaudhry further reiterated that the traders are determined to go ahead with the strike, regardless of any government attempts to negotiate at this stage. He criticised the government's tax policies, which he claims have placed an unbearable burden on the business community, as reported by ARY News. The traders' grievances include the imposition of advance taxes through so-called "Tajir Dost Scheme" and the overall economic mismanagement, which they argue has led to skyrocketing costs of doing business. The strike aims to draw attention to these issues and push for immediate relief from the government. The outcome of this strike will be closely watched, as it could have significant implications for the country's economic stability and the relationship between the government and the trading community. Earlier, the traders had urged that the decision to put high tariffs on the export sector be reversed and that the scheme be removed immediately. The retailers further urged that the higher income tax brackets for business owners and salaried individuals be removed. The merchants had earlier said that they would not be paying their August electricity bills and that the government should examine its contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), reported ARY News. Notably, Pakistan's FBR extended the new Tajir Dost scheme to 42 cities. (ANI) Former US President Donald Trump said that he would like to keep Tesla CEO Elon Musk in his cabinet if he's elected as President. In an interview with Shawn Ryan, which is yet to be broadcasted, the host of US-based 'The Shawn Ryan Show', Trump said that he would keep Musk in his cabinet but doubted if Musk could do it with so many things already on his plate. Ryan asked Trump if keeping Musk in the cabinet would require him to do something with artificial intelligence. https://x.com/ShawnRyan762/status/1827719384674038209 "He wants to be involved now. Look, he's running big businesses and all that, so he can't really. I don't think he'd be [able to handle the work of cabinet]. I'd put him in the cabinet, absolutely. But I don't know how he could do that with all the things he's got going," Trump said. Trump said that Musk can consult with the country and produce ideas, especially on AI. "But he can sort of, as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas, like on AI. There's nobody knows more about it than Elon. It's a big thing," he said. Trump said that if the US doesn't focus on building AI, somebody else--most likely China--will do it. "It's very important for the country. If we don't do it, China is going to do it or somebody else. But most likely China. And China is working right now to develop a massive flood of electricity. And we don't, because we have people that are not even thinking about that," he said. Trump said that Musk is an 'unusual character'. He said that Musk was a genius and we must cherish him. "We have a great relationship. He's [Musk is] great. He is a totally unusual character. He's great, and he's smart, and we have to cherish our geniuses. You know, we don't have too many of them. He is a brilliant guy, and what he really would like to do is get involved in cutting some of the fat. And he does know how to do it, and he loves the country. You know, it's just an amazing thing." Trump said that if this election doesn't go the right way, the country will be doomed. "We have to win this election. This election is going. November 5 will be the most important day, in my opinion, in the history of our country, because if our country goes the wrong way with this election, I think this country is doomed," he said. Trump said that the fact that his podcast with Musk on August 13 was viewed by millions was 'crazy'. "We had a conversation the other day... I hear it had hundreds of millions of people. I heard it had the biggest audience that there's ever been. I mean, would you say that's a correct statement? There's never been anything even close. I heard 750 million people. I mean, numbers that are crazy," he said. (ANI) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for development and production of more "suicide drones" to enhance war preparedness, amid tensions brewing in the Korean peninsula. South Korean news outlet Yonhap reported Monday that Kim had on August 24 overseen a performance test of various drones. It cited a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) about the North Korean Supreme Leader supervising test organised by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences. During the testing, the drones flown along preset courses destroyed designated targets. The drones have the ability to attack enemy targets on the ground in air and in the sea. Kim was quoted by KNCA as saying that it was necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones "to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones." The North Korean leader also raised the need for proactively introducing artificial intelligence technology into the development of drones. Yonhap published photos carried by the KCNA showed two white suicide attack drones hitting and destroying mock targets of what look like K-2 tanks stating that North Korea has unveiled photos of such weapons for the first time. Earlier this month, 250 new tactical nuclear capable ballistic missile launchers, which serve as "pivot military hardware" were unveiled by Kim Jong Un to the country's forces. In his speech to military troops at the event, Kim said the US-led alliance has changed into a military bloc based on nuclear power and that Pyongyang will have enhanced nuclear readiness to deter nuclear threats and protect itself to respond to any challenges. As per a report by Yonhap news outlet, North Korea has recently been ramping up weapons tests, as Seoul and Washington are stepping up efforts to bolster America's extended deterrence commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally. It said that North Korea has fired more than 100 ballistic missiles since last year, including Hwasong-18 ICBMs. The solid-fuel ICBM type is among the high-tech weapons that the North has vowed to develop, which also includes a military spy satellite and a nuclear-powered submarine. At a key party meeting held in December 2023, the North's leader called for an "exponential" increase in its nuclear arsenal and the development of tactical nuclear weapons that target its "undoubted enemy" of South Korea. A New York Times report recently said that US President Joe Biden had in March this year approved a classified document ordering US forces to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea. Also in July this year the foreign ministers of Quad-a diplomatic partnership between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States- criticised North Korea for using ballistic missile technology and continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs), and urged the country to comply with all UNSCRs. (ANI) As part of security precautions, the service in Hyderabad and Karachi will be completely shut down. Furthermore, several other districts, including Dadu, Thatta, Sajawal, Khairpur, and Larkana, would not have access to mobile phone service, ARY News reported on Sunday. However, services will still be available in Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, and Mirpurkhas. The goal behind the decision is to guarantee security and safety for Chehlum procession and gatherings honouring Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) in Karachi and other parts of Sindh. On Sunday, some unidentified opened fire on an Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) rally, resulting in the deaths of two individuals. Nine others sustained injuries in the incident. The incident has intensified tensions in the area, prompting a large-scale police response to restore order. The shooting incident took place while an ASWJ demonstration was passing through Golimar. Police officials said that the attackers, whose identities are still unknown, ambushed the demonstration and threw stones at the attendees, causing confusion and mayhem. After a short while, there were violent altercations between two local religious organisations, reported ARY News. The news report, citing the Police Surgeon Dr. Sumiya confirmed that two bodies from the Golimar firing incident were transported to different hospitals. The injured were rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they are currently receiving medical treatment. (ANI) Chinese Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pays a field survey visit to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) Chinese Premier Li Qiang has emphasized the need to foster an open environment for technical innovation and support foreign firms and research institutions to invest in China, when talking about advancing the robot industry through closer global collaboration. Li made the remarks while on a field survey visit on Sunday to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing. He said it is necessary to establish and make good use of cooperation platforms for industrial exchanges, maintain the stability and smoothness of industrial and supply chains, and facilitate technical innovation of the robot industry worldwide. Li toured the expo's exhibition hall and inquired about the performance, technological advantages, and in particular the applications of some robots on display. The expo was part of the five-day World Robot Conference which opened on Wednesday and was themed "Co-fostering New Quality Productive Forces for a Shared Intelligent Future." Li called for strengthened efforts to boost technical innovation and industrial development to cultivate new growth engines and continuously improve people's well-being. Referring to robots as an "important yardstick for technical innovation and high-end manufacturing strength," Li said relevant innovation should target industrial upgrading, consumption upgrading demand and world-leading industrial frontiers. Li added that China's advantages, ranging from a super-sized domestic market to abundant innovation scenarios, should be put to full use, while applications of robot-related technological innovation in sectors such as manufacturing, farming and services should be accelerated. To boost the robot industry, he also underlined the need for engaging more venture capital investment, incubating more unicorn firms and more "little giant" firms, which are small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market and boast cutting-edge technologies, as well as fostering industrial clusters with specialties and advantages. Armed men killed at least 23 people from Pakistan's Punjab in Balochistan's Musakhel after blocking an inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham district on Monday, Pakistan-based daily, Dawn reported. Assistant Commissioner Musakhail Najeeb Kakar told Dawn that those men set 10 vehicles ablaze. The men stopped trucks and buses, evacuated them and killed those people after checking their identities, Dawn reported. Kakar said that the police and the Levies officials and the police took a recce of the spot, Dawn reported. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti expressed sympathy and condolences to the families of the deceased. He condemned this act of 'terrorism', Dawn stated, quoting his statement issued by his office. The terrorists and their facilitators will not be able to escape an exemplary end, he said, adding that the Balochistan government will pursue the terrorists, Dawn reported. Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also condemned the incident. In a post on X, he said, "Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar strongly condemned the brutality of terrorists near Quetta Musa Khel Federal Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar expressed deep sorrow and regret over the death of 23 people. Terrorists showed brutality by targeting innocent passengers near Musa Khel. Attaullah Tarr The terrorists involved in this incident and the facilitators will not be able to escape from the terrible end. Ataullah Tarr The government expresses its heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families and sympathizes with the bereaved families". https://x.com/PMLNDigital/status/1827935200724087251 This incident came after a similar act targeted people from Punjab in April this year. Nine passengers were killed in the same way after armed men offloaded them from a bus after checking their IDs near Noshki, Dawn stated. In another incident, unidentified armed men shot six labourers who belonged to Punjab in Turbat in Balochistan's Kech district. Police said these were targeted killings and these people were killed because of their ethnic background, Dawn reported. (ANI) 25 passengers travelling from Rawalpindi to PoJK's Pallandri died after their bus plunged in a gorge near Kahuta, a district official told Dawn. Rescue 1122 Punjab official Usman Gujjar told Dawn that the accident happened as the coaster's brakes failed, Dawn stated. "The accident was caused due to the coaster's failed brakes. The tragic accident occurred near Garrari Bridge on Azad Pattan Road in Kahuta," Gujjar told Dawn. The road is located 24km from the tehsil headquarters and 7km from the PoJK border. The rescue official initially told Dawn that there were 24 victims- 20 men, four women and a child. He said that they were taken to Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital. Samina Khan Bhatty, medical superintendent of the THQ hospital told Dawn that 23 bodies were handed over their kin, one body was still lying in the hospital and one was identified as Fareed Muhammad Kareem -- was shifted directly to Pallandri. Pakistan People's Party President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased. "President Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep grief over the loss of precious lives in the Azad Patan bus accident near Kahota. The President expressed his condolences to the families of those who died in the incident My sympathies are with the bereaved families in this hour of sorrow, President President's emphasis on the need to speed up relief activities The president of the country offered prayers for the bereaved family members." https://x.com/MediaCellPPP/status/1827599938907210238 Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on X, "I am deeply saddened by the loss of 29 precious lives in the incident of the bus falling into the ditch at Kahota. May Allah exalt the ranks of those who died in this tragedy and grant patience to their loved ones." https://x.com/MaryamNSharif/status/1827610227577123058 Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq expressed regret over the accident. https://x.com/NAofPakistan/status/1827629005647781912 "Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq expressed regret over the accident that happened to the coaster going from Rawalpindi to Rawalakot. The speaker expressed deep sorrow and grief over the loss of life of more than 22 passengers as a result of the accident. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq is heartbroken to hear the news of the death of more than 22 people in the tragic accident The speaker prayed for the speedy recovery of the passengers injured in the accident. I express my heartfelt condolences and solidarity with the families of those who died in the accident, Speaker National Assembly. I am an equal participant in the grief and sorrow of the families of the deceased, Speaker National Assembly The concerned authorities should ensure the provision of immediate medical aid to the injured persons in the accident, Speaker National Assembly The speaker prayed to Allah Almighty to raise the ranks of the people who died in the accident and for the families of Sabr Jameel," he said. (ANI) Amid the ongoing atrocities and enforced disappearances in Balochistan, Pakistani security forces have recently targeted Baloch activists and leaders who speak out against these human rights violations, resorting to abductions and killings. Recently, a young man who had been released after reportedly being forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces was injured in a shooting incident in Turbat, Kech district of Balochistan, according to the Balochistan Post. The report details that unknown armed assailants opened fire and seriously wounded the victim near Mehr-e-Hotel in the Aapsar area of Turbat. The injured individual was identified as Abid, the son of Washdil. Abid, a resident of Aapsar and a worker at a puncture repair shop had been abducted by Pakistani forces in March 2023 and was held in captivity for ten months before his release. This attack has raised serious concerns about a potential new strategy targeting individuals who have previously been subjected to enforced disappearance. Last month, a similar incident occurred in Singani Sar, where the intended victim narrowly escaped harm. On August 17, 2024, another person, Imtiaz Iqbal, was targeted in Aapsar. Imtiaz had forcibly disappeared earlier on May 17, 2024. Renowned Baloch activist Dr Mahrang Baloch condemned the violence on X, stating, "Abid Baloch, who was recently released after being forcibly disappeared, was shot and critically injured in Turbat. This marks the third attack of its kind in two months. We call for immediate action to stop this violence in Balochistan." https://x.com/MahrangBaloch_/status/1827730371670413768 The Baloch National Movement's human rights wing, Paank, also expressed concern over the incident, highlighting the ongoing pattern of violence and intimidation against those who have been forcibly disappeared and later released, as well as against social activists in Balochistan. The organization pointed out that this is the third such incident in Kech over the past two months. https://x.com/paank_bnm/status/1827690155982918037 In a statement on X, Paank urged Pakistani authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack and hold those responsible accountable. The organization emphasized the need for immediate action to protect the lives and rights of all citizens, particularly those who have been victims of enforced disappearances. "The continuing impunity for such attacks only perpetuates the cycle of violence and fear in the region," the statement added. (ANI) Australian officials are optimistic about finalizing an ambitious Pacific-wide policing pact during this week's Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, hoping it will help contain China's expanding security presence in the region, Global Times reported. The proposed agreement aims to establish a regional policing body similar to EUROPOL and AMERIPOL, designed to combat cross-border crimes. A former COVID-19 quarantine centre at Pinkenba near Brisbane airport is set to be repurposed into a regional training facility under the Australian Federal Police once it is handed over. Despite the optimism, critics argue that the pact reveals Australia's underlying motive to interfere in the security decisions of regional countries. They suggest that the agreement prioritizes U.S. strategic interests rather than addressing the genuine needs of Australia or the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Observers noted on Sunday that such an approach could undermine regional autonomy and cooperation, Zhang stated. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the policing initiative would create a Pacific organization aimed at addressing transnational criminal activities. However, the initiative has faced criticism for potentially extending Australia's influence over regional security matters. Officials, who spoke anonymously, expressed confidence that the initiative would receive broad support, although they acknowledged the possibility of resistance from some Pacific leaders with close ties to China. The Australian report indicated that the pact if implemented, could grant Australia significant veto power over any future security agreements between China and the PICs. Chen Hong, executive director at the Asia Pacific Studies Center of East China Normal University, told the Global Times that while Australia criticizes external forces like China, it would likely welcome U.S. or allied involvement in the South Pacific, Zhang says for Global Times. Chen argued that the proposed policing pact not only breaches international relations principles but also infringes on the sovereignty of the PICs to choose their cooperation partners. He highlighted that China's police cooperation with the Solomon Islands has been beneficial for local safety and economic development, contrasting this with Canberra's strategy, which Chen views as driven more by geopolitical competition than genuine regional cooperation. (ANI) To mark the seventh anniversary of the military crackdown in Myanmar, tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh held rallies in camps, demanding their safe return to Myanmar, according to Al Jazeera. In the camps in Cox's Bazar on Sunday, refugees of all ages held signs and chanted slogans calling for an end to the violence and their safe return to Myanmar. Many of them donned ribbons that said "Rohingya Genocide Remembrance." "Hope is home" and "We Rohingya are the citizens of Myanmar," their placards read, according to Al Jazeera. The Rohingyas, a mostly Muslim minority in Myanmar, have long been the focus of prejudice and interethnic conflict. The military crackdown in Myanmar had notably forced the Rohingyas to flee. After the Myanmar military began a crackdown in 2017, at least 750,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. This crackdown is currently the focus of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Al Jazeera reported. Thousands more Rohingyas, according to reports have reportedly fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks from the Rakhine state in western Myanmar as combat between the military dictatorship and the Arakan Army, a formidable ethnic armed group that recruits among the majority Buddhist population, has escalated. When Aung San Suu Ky's elected government was overthrown by the military in February 2021, Myanmar was thrown into chaos. Mass protests against military rule were sparked by the power grab, and when the military retaliated with force, the protests turned into an armed insurrection. Earlier on August 22, Human Rights Watch claimed that Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are facing the gravest threats since 2017. According to HRW in recent months, the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson, and unlawful recruitment against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State. (ANI) An Iranian minister has vowed to punish Israel over the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in a telephone call with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani on Sunday night said that "Iran's reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive and will be measured and calculated", news outlet IRNA reported. "We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it-unlike Israel", Araghchi wrote on his X social media post, detailing his conversation with Tajani. Tajani also expressed concern over the spread of insecurity in the region and urged all parties to practice self-restraint and Iran to help in reducing tensions, the country's state media reported. On August 25 morning, Israel Defence Forces said that the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had fired more than 200 rockets and drones at Israel's northern border claiming retaliation for the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut. This prompted a retaliation from Israel who bombed sites across South Lebanon. Israel said it took out some 1,000 Hezbollah rocket launchers in a coordinated sortie of 100 Israeli fighter jets early Sunday to thwart much of the planned assault, as per a report in the Times of Israel. Meanwhile, the Times of Israel today reported that senior Israeli negotiators were heading to the Egyptian capital city Cairo to resume talks aimed at wrapping up a hostage release and truce deal in Gaza. "I don't think Iran wants to find itself in escalation, especially when the US presence in the region is (now) in staggering numbers," an Israeli official was cited as saying by CNN news outlet. The ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are being mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for Haniyeh's killing in Tehran on July 31. However, the Israeli government has not made any statement on Haniyeh's killing. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on July 31 that Haniyeh had been killed in an attack in Tehran. In a statement, the IRGC said that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when their house was hit in Tehran. The IDF has also announced that top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in the Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on July 30, which came in retaliation to the rocket attack at Golan Heights that killed 12 children, The Times of Israel reported. (ANI) A recent study published in the Med journal by Cell Press has revealed a troubling trend in China: the incidence of obesity-related cancers has been increasing annually by 3.6 percent from 2007 to 2021, Global News reported. The study highlights an even sharper rise among younger individuals aged 25 to 29, where the rate of such cancers grew by more than 15 percent each year. The researchers predict that, without substantial public health interventions, the incidence of obesity-related cancers in China could potentially double over the next decade. Yang Jinkui, the corresponding author of the paper and an endocrinologist at Capital Medical University in Beijing, emphasized the critical need to address the obesity epidemic to stem the rising cancer rates. He warned that if the obesity trend continues unchecked, the resulting increase in obesity-related cancers will impose a significant burden on China's economy and healthcare system. Yang suggested that strategies such as the use of medications and calorie labeling could be effective in tackling the growing obesity problem in the country, reported Global News. The research team conducted an analysis of over 651,000 newly diagnosed cancer cases in China between 2007 and 2021. Of these cases, approximately 48 percent were linked to the 12 types of obesity-related cancers recognized by the World Health Organization. In contrast, the incidence of cancers not associated with obesity, such as lung and bladder cancer, remained stable throughout the study period. The study found that colorectal cancer, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, and uterine cancer are the fastest-growing types of obesity-related cancers among young people. It attributes this rise to changes in lifestyle, including increased consumption of meat and alcohol, which have been linked to the growing rates of obesity in China. The findings underscore the urgent need for effective public health strategies to address these issues and curb the alarming rise in obesity-related cancers. (ANI) The Baloch National Movement (BNM) plays a significant role in the Baloch resistance against the Pakistani government. Founded in the early 1990s, it has been a key organisation advocating for the protection of Baloch rights. Recently, Naseem Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), delivered a poignant address during a gathering of party members on the death anniversary of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Reflecting on Bugti's life, legacy, and ideals, Baloch emphasized the enduring impact of Bugti's sacrifices and the Baloch nation's responsibility to honour his memory. https://x.com/BNMovement_/status/1827791541185687640 Naseem stated, "We are the political heirs of Shaheed Akbar Khan Bugti. Our struggle will persist until his sacrifices bear fruit. The true heirs of the martyrs are not just their families, but the entire Baloch nation. It is hoped that those whom Shaheed Akbar Khan declared as his successors will honour the decision of this great leader." He noted that Akbar Khan Bugti was a politically astute leader with profound insight into critical issues. Bugti championed the introduction of Balochi as a primary language of instruction to advance the education of the Baloch people and preserve their language. Additionally, he developed a unified script for Balochi, standardizing the spelling across its diverse dialects. "He was a history maker. During Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's rule, he accepted the governorship of Balochistan, a time when the Baloch nation faced military aggression, for which he was criticized. Though this remains a part of history, he later redeemed himself and removed that stain from his legacy. History records both the strengths and flaws of individuals, and we draw our conclusions from them. Similarly, Shaheed Akbar Khan Bugti is recognized today as a national leader," Naseem said. Naseem emphasized that Akbar Khan Bugti chose a definitive and unwavering path. He staunchly advocated for Baloch national rights and control over Balochistan's coast and resources. "The sacrifices made by Baloch martyrs continue to drive our resolve in this struggle, and Bugti's own sacrifice inspired the Baloch nation to rise and fight. It is crucial that we adhere to the course he charted. Any deviation from this path, whether by his family or others, does not undermine Bugti's struggle but reflects on the individual's commitment. While failures or mistakes in the struggle can be scrutinized and critiqued, abandoning the cause amounts to a betrayal of the martyrs' sacrifices. Our dedication to this cause remains unshakable," he added. Akbar Khan Bugti (1927-2006) was a prominent Baloch nationalist leader and a key figure in the Baloch resistance movement. He was born into the influential Bugti tribe, which has historically played a significant role in Balochistan, a region in southwestern Pakistan. In August 2006, Bugti was killed in a military operation conducted by the Pakistani government. His death was widely viewed as a significant and tragic event, intensifying Baloch nationalist sentiments and protests. (ANI) Abu Dhabi [UAE], August 26 (ANI/WAM): The UAE's national carriers are expanding their destinations, driven by the country's strong global tourism and business reputation and the resurgence in travel demand. The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) projects passenger traffic to reach 140 million, reflecting the ongoing growth and competitiveness of UAE airlines. Official data indicates that UAE national carriers now serve approximately 606 destinations worldwide, including joint and cargo routes, marking a 3.4 percent increase from the 586 destinations served at the end of 2023. The breakdown of destinations by carrier is as follows: Emirates with over 144 destinations, Etihad Airways with 79 destinations, flydubai with 125 destinations, Air Arabia with 218 destinations, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi with 40 destinations. Etihad Airways, in particular, has been expanding its route network with the goal of reaching 125 destinations by 2030. The airline aims to leverage its strategic location between Asia and Europe and increase its annual passenger count to 33 million. Etihad Airways has been strengthening its network since the beginning of this year, with plans to expand to over 125 destinations by 2030. This expansion strategy leverages its strategic location between Asia and Europe, aiming to increase its annual passenger count to over 33 million. The airline expects to introduce several new destinations this year after launching 15 new routes last year, including Lisbon, Copenhagen, Calcutta, and Osaka. Additionally, Etihad will increase its flights to Thailand to 41 per week starting in October and will resume flights to Nairobi on 15th December. In the first seven months of 2024, Etihad Airways carried 10.4 million passengers and expanded its fleet to 93 aircraft by the end of July, compared to 78 aircraft in July 2023. The airline also added 10 new destinations to its network this year. In the first half of 2024, Etihad recorded a net profit after tax of AED 851 million, a 48 percent year-on-year increase, with revenues growing by 21 percent to AED 11.7 billion. Emirates currently operates a network covering 144 passenger and cargo destinations across six continents, continually working to increase seat capacity to meet rising travel demand and provide flexibility and choice for travellers passing through Dubai. Emirates Airlines is set to fly its upgraded Boeing 777 aircraft to Zurich and Riyadh in early October and will add the same aircraft to its operations in Geneva and Brussels. Emirates is completing the modernisation of 80 more Boeing 777 aircraft as part of its more than USD 3 billion programme to deliver the best products and services in the industry and elevate the passenger experience in the skies to unprecedented levels. (ANI/WAM) Abu Dhabi [UAE], August 26 (ANI/WAM): The UAE has strongly condemned the stabbing attack in Solingen, Germany, during a festival which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries to innocent people. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) affirmed that the UAE expresses its strong condemnation of these criminal acts and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of international law. The Ministry expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to the government and people of Germany, and to the families of the victims of this heinous crime, as well as its wishes for a speedy recovery for all the injured. (ANI/WAM) A Philippine vessel on Sunday intruded into the adjacent waters of Xianbin Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao and caused a minor collision with a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship. The intrusion of the Philippine vessel No. 3002 was not permitted by the Chinese government and the CCG has taken lawful control measures against it, according to the CCG. At 2:12 p.m., the Philippine vessel ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and deliberately sailed toward the Chinese ship in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, causing the collision, said CCG spokesperson Gan Yu. Responsibility for this incident lies entirely with the Philippine side, Gan added. The CCG monitored the Philippine vessel 3002 in the whole process and drove it away, the spokesperson said, adding that the operations of the CCG have been professional, standard, legitimate and reasonable. Gan added that the Philippines' recent provocations have seriously infringed upon China's territorial sovereignty, violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and harmed regional peace and stability. "We sternly warn that the Philippine side must immediately stop the infringement and provocation, or it must bear all the consequences," Gan said. Reiterating that China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao and its adjacent waters, including Xianbin Jiao, Gan said the CCG will continue to conduct law enforcement activities to safeguard the nation's territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests. Separately, ANF officials at Lahore Airport intercepted a passenger bound for Jeddah and found 783 grams of ice in their possession. In another incident, 1.140 kilograms of ice and 50 grams of heroin were discovered in a parcel destined for Australia at a Karachi courier office, as per ARY News. Further, in another operation, 190 kg heroin were recovered from the Chaman area. 100 kg hashish and 22 kg opium were recovered from Pasni and Gwadar areas. 31.2 kg hashish and 1.2 kg opium were recovered from a vehicle intercepted on M-1 Motorway Islamabad and an accused was arrested during the operation. According to AEY News, 12 kg hashish was recovered from two suspects netted near a restaurant in Quetta. 6 kg hashish was recovered from the possession of an accused arrested on Peshawar Road Rawalpindi. Six kg hashish was recovered from three suspects in RCD Road Hub. 2.6 kg hashish and 260 grams opium were recovered from two suspects rounded up near a university in Lahore. Cases under the Anti-Narcotics Act have been registered against the arrested accused and further investigations are under process. In a recent operation in the month of June, the Airport Security Forces (ASF) intercepted and apprehended a passenger attempting to smuggle drugs at Karachi airport. The ASF spokesperson disclosed that a significant quantity of 5.7 kg of hashish was seized from the individual in question. According to ASF officials, the suspect, identified as Arman and bound for Doha, had ingeniously concealed the drugs within containers, ARY News reported. Despite the passenger's efforts to conceal the illicit substances, ASF personnel discovered the contraband during a routine inspection of the cargo. (ANI) Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday issued another plea to Western partners to step up their assistance and stated, "The time for decisive action is now," after Russia launched a "massive" missile and drone attack aimed at energy infrastructure across Ukraine overnight into Monday, CNN reported, citing Ukrainian officials statements. The massive attack killed at least four people and caused power outages in several cities. https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1828013542089408517 Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a video on X and described the attack as "one of the largest attacks - a combined strike, involving over a hundred missiles of various types and around a hundred 'Shaheds.'" "Across Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours operated in concert with our F-16s and air defence systems. If such unity has proven effective in the Middle East, it must work in Europe too," the Ukrainian leader stressed. "Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations," he said, adding, "America, Britain, France, and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror. The time for decisive action is now." Further, Zelenskyy also slams Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated, "Putin can only act within the limits the world sets for him." According to CNN, Ukraine's air force said it detected dozens of missiles and drones targeting almost all regions of the country, from the frontline eastern regions of Kharkiv and Dnipro to the southern port city of Odesa, as well as the capital, Kyiv. "Russian terrorists have once again targeted energy infrastructure," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote Monday on Telegram. At least 15 regions were targeted by a combination of drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, he said. Ukraine's national energy company, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilise the system, Shmyhal said, as per CNN. Power outages have been recorded in several cities, including Kyiv and Dnipro, according to Serhii Kovalenko, chief executive of the Yasno energy company. Ukraine had been bracing for a major Russian attack for weeks, in response to Kyiv's shock incursion into the border region of Kursk - the first foreign invasion of Russia since World War II. Ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, the US Embassy in Kyiv had warned of an increased risk of Russian drone and missile attacks. The overnight assault came hours after Ukraine's foreign ministry called on Belarus to withdraw what it described as a "significant" buildup of Belarusian forces and equipment at their shared border. Kyiv also reported that former Wagner mercenaries were among the troops at the border and urged Minsk "not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure." Over two-and-a-half years of war, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, attempting to plunge its citizens into darkness and use freezing winter temperatures as a weapon of war. After Monday's attack, Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said "the energy sector is in the crosshairs" and the extent of the damage was being investigated. Deaths have been reported in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Volyn and Zhytomyr regions, according to Ukrainian authorities. At least five people were injured in the central Poltava region when an industrial facility was hit, according to its regional military chief. CNN teams in Kyiv and Dnipro heard several explosions overnight. (ANI) Amnesty International has urged Pakistani authorities to provide greater transparency on the internet disruption and the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. The rights group's demand comes as Internet speeds in Pakistan have witnessed a decline over the past few weeks and users are facing problems in sending or downloading media and voice notes on WhatsApp when they are using mobile data, Dawn reported. People even experience slow internet speeds while using broadband. In a statement, the rights group said, "Amnesty International urges the Pakistani authorities to be transparent about the cause of these internet disruptions and ensure that they do not deploy monitoring and surveillance systems that are unnecessary, disproportionate, and in violation of international human rights law." It expressed concern over the opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down, and control Internet speeds. Amnesty International stated, "The opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down, and control internet speeds is an alarming concern." "Time and again, the use of such technologies, including national firewalls, has proven to be incompatible with human rights," it said. The rights group stated that these pervasive tools undermine online freedom of expression and access to information. It called the internet necessary for the people's right to be informed, citizen self-expression, e-commerce, and the digital economy. It further said that internet disruption causes anxiety among Pakistani people who live outside the country as they are unable to communicate with their loved ones, according to a Dawn report. Last week, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that people have been experiencing slow internet due to "faulty submarine cable" and clarified that no firewalls were being installed, after facing criticism from lawmakers and the public. During a meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on IT, PTA Chairman Retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman said, "The internet slowdown in the country is due to a faulty submarine cable, which is expected to be repaired by August 28. He said that the government's web management system -- and not a firewall -- was being upgraded. He mentioned, "In my opinion, the internet should not slow down due to an upgrade." He said, "The telecom [sector] has suffered a loss of [Rs] 300 million." The Islamabad High Court had directed the government and the PTA to respond by August 26 over senior journalist Hamid Mir's petition against the nationwide internet slowdown, Dawn reported. The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the government's efforts to monitor internet traffic -- including a so-called 'firewall' -- had created a slowdown of digital services loss, leading to economic losses. Meanwhile, social media users and freelancers have been facing difficulties in Pakistan due to disruption in Internet services, Pakistan-based ARY News reported. The Internet disruption has caused mental stress for many, especially youth who depend on the Internet for their livelihood. A significant number of Pakistani youth have been impacted by the slow internet speed, which has affected their work and resulted in clients not coming to them for work. In Karachi, a school student Ezhaan, who works online after school, is struggling to cope with the loss of his online clients due to slow internet speed, ARY News reported. He was working on a large project with 60 orders. However, he is now facing numerous hurdles due to the slow internet, according to ARY News report. According to the report, several firms that provide work to freelancers have stopped functioning in Pakistan due to the slow internet speed. In addition, Pakistan's reputation in the international market has been affected due to slow internet. Moreover, taxpayers are facing difficulty in filing their income tax returns due to slow internet, with many complaining that the FBR's online form was not opening and documents could not be uploaded. (ANI) Federal prosecutors in New York have filed criminal charges against a Chinese dissident living in the US, accusing him of secretly working for China's Ministry of State Security and spying on pro-democracy activist groups, CBS News reported. The CBS report states that Yuanjun Tang, who had previously protested against the Chinese Communist Party during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and later sought refuge in Taiwan and the US, is accused by prosecutors of agreeing to work for China's intelligence agency decades later. Court documents reveal that Tang's motivation was to facilitate his family's relocation to mainland China. The report further reveals that Yuanjun Tang is charged with relaying details about events in New York intended to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2021. Additionally, a year later, he allegedly provided the Chinese intelligence officer with information about the campaign team and fundraising efforts of a Congressional candidate who was also a Chinese dissident and human rights advocate. According to court records, Tang also assisted the Chinese agent in monitoring a group chat among Chinese dissidents living in the United States. He faces three charges: acting as an agent of a foreign government, providing false statements to investigators, and another unspecified count. Earlier this month, a jury in New York found a naturalized US citizen of Chinese descent, who led a pro-democracy organization, guilty of covertly collaborating with Chinese intelligence officers to monitor dissidents. Chinese espionage in the United States has a complex and evolving history, marked by a series of high-profile cases and ongoing concerns about intelligence and cyber activities. During the Cold War, early instances of Chinese espionage included efforts to infiltrate US scientific and military research. The 2010s brought increased scrutiny, highlighted by the indictment of former CIA officer Kevin Mallory in 2017, who was charged with spying for China. This case was also reported by US-based newspaper The Washington Post. Current concerns involve technological theft, intellectual property theft, and political influence operations. The US government has responded with heightened counterintelligence measures to address these challenges. (ANI) The Baloch community in Pakistan and across the globe paid tribute to Shaheed Nawab Akbar Bugti, the revered leader and chieftain of the Bugti tribe, on his 18th death anniversary. Nawab Akbar Bugti, a Pakistani politician and staunch advocate for Balochistan's rights, was killed on August 26, 2006, in the mountains of Balochistan under the orders of then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf. Bugti's grandson, Brahumdagh Bugti, took to the social media platform X to honour his grandfather's enduring legacy. He wrote, "On the martyrdom anniversary of father of the nation #ShaheedNawabAkbarBugti today, we remember and pay tribute to his legacy and renew our vow to continue walking in his footsteps for a bright future for the Baloch nation." In a heartfelt tribute, Brahumdagh added, "Legends like #ShaheedNawabAkbarBugti are born in centuries, and the Baloch nation is lucky to have had him as their leader. His life, struggle, and ultimate sacrifice have shown us how to confront tyranny, and it continue to guide us in our quest for our rights. We can never forget the sacrifices you made." Tara Chand, President of the Baloch American Congress and former Cabinet Minister of Balochistan, also commemorated Nawab Bugti's sacrifice. He posted on X, "Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, former Governor and Chief Minister of Balochistan, was a fearless Baloch nationalist leader tragically killed by Pakistan's cowardly army. On this anniversary, we honor his profound sacrifice for the Baloch nation. He dedicated his life to the freedom, honor, and bright future of his people. His legacy as a heroic figure in Baloch history will endure." Political activist Abdul Nawab Bugti shared a powerful message, stating, "You can kill a man, but not his ideology. Father of the nation #ShaheedNawabAkbarBugti martyred 18 years ago. His ideology continues to lead us." Nawab Akbar Bugti is remembered for his fearless opposition to the exploitation of Balochistan's resources by the Pakistani state and his unwavering commitment to the rights and dignity of the Baloch people. His martyrdom has become a symbol of resistance and continues to inspire the Baloch community in their ongoing struggle for justice and self-determination. As the Baloch nation reflects on his life and sacrifice, they reaffirm their commitment to preserving his legacy and pursuing a future where the rights and aspirations of the Baloch people are realised. (ANI) People in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan have been frustrated over what they perceive as baseless terrorism charges against them. This discontent has sparked widespread protests, with locals actively voicing their anger and dissatisfaction with the local administration. During these protests, the people raised slogans that reflected deep-seated grievances and a sense of injustice, highlighting the tension between the community and the authorities. In a video posted by WTV, protesters at Chilas market were seen raising slogans against what they call "ATS culture." One of the protesters said, "If they don't take back the ATS cases against our people, then they will have to see what we can do. We are ready to die, and whatever it costs, we will make sure that our people are soon released from jail. Shame on the Pakistani government for filing false cases against our people. We request the government to intervene in this matter and release our people immediately." Another protester added, "The people who are filing cases against us are from Punjab and Sindh. The administration in the region is behind sending these people over here." The protesters urged residents to join the demonstrations. Historically, Punjab has had a significant presence in Pakistan's military and bureaucracy due to its large population and historical factors. It contributes a substantial proportion of military officers and enlisted personnel, with major training and recruitment centres located in the province. Punjab also holds a dominant role in the civil bureaucracy, with many senior administrative positions filled by individuals from the province. Sindh also plays a notable role in the military and bureaucracy, with Karachi serving as a key recruitment hub and administrative centre. The province contributes significantly to both sectors, though its influence is generally less dominant compared to Punjab. Both provinces are essential in shaping Pakistan's military and administrative landscape. The situation in Gilgit-Baltistan involves various human rights issues, including restrictions on freedom of expression, concerns about political representation, religious and ethnic discrimination, harassment of activists, and displacement related to development projects. The region faces numerous challenges such as economic underdevelopment, political and administrative issues, social and cultural diversity, environmental concerns, and human rights violations. (ANI) Dubai [UAE], August 26 (ANI/WAM): The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has organised a series of training workshops to develop the skills of school health staff and enhance their cognitive abilities to ensure the accuracy and reliability of students' health data, thereby supporting the National Programme to Combat Obesity among Children and Adolescents. Held at the Ministry's headquarters in Dubai, the Teacher Training Institute in Ajman, and Sharjah, the workshops focused on training school nurses and physical education support staff on recording anthropometric measurements for students aged 5 to 17. The workshops are aimed to develop standardised protocols for collecting and analysing data related to early obesity indicators, thereby improving preventive health policies, and enabling more informed decision-making based on precise scientific evidence. The four-day training workshops featured several sub-sessions, as part of the Ministry's strategy to manage preventive and community health programmes, improve quality of life nationwide, and ensure accurate data collection for the National Programme to Combat Obesity among Children and Adolescents. They also aimed to promote public health among community members, especially school students. They focused on training participants to fill out the student data record forms correctly and completely, a necessary step for maintaining high-quality data in the National Programme to Combat Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Dr. Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Public Health Sector, emphasised that this training workshop is part of the Ministry's ongoing efforts to promote community health and achieve the objectives of the National Programme to Combat Obesity in Children and Adolescents. It is one of several initiatives aimed at equipping school health staff with the latest knowledge and skills necessary to provide exceptional health care for children. (ANI/WAM) Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, the son of slain Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, alleged that US authorities informed Pakistani officials of his father's location while he was hiding in the mountains as he was using an American satellite phone for communication, the Dawn reported. According to a report by a Pakistani media outlet, Jamil made this claim during a media briefing at his residence in Bugti Bolak, near Quetta, on the eve of his father's 18th death anniversary on Sunday. Akbar Khan Bugti was killed on August 26, 2006, during a Pakistani military operation aimed at suppressing the Baloch insurgency. His death occurred in the mountainous terrain of Balochistan, which was the centre of the military operations against his forces. Further, Jamil Akbar suggested that thew US' information led to a military operation in the mountainous region, which resulted in Akbar Bugti's death, as per Dawn. Jamil Bugti also mentioned that his father's movement for Baloch rights had gained significant traction, not only among the Baloch in Balochistan but also among those in Punjab and Sindh. He emphasised that, despite the lack of effective leadership within parliamentary parties, his father's mission continues to advance. Jamil also highlighted that Baloch women are now playing a crucial role in furthering the movement that his father started. Earlier, Naseem Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), delivered a poignant address during a gathering of party members on the death anniversary of Baloch leader Nawab Bugti. Reflecting on Bugti's life, legacy, and ideals, Baloch emphasised the enduring impact of Bugti's sacrifices and the Baloch nation's responsibility to honour his memory. Akbar Khan Bugti (1927-2006) was a Baloch nationalist leader and a key figure in the Baloch resistance movement. He was born into the influential Bugti tribe, which has historically played a significant role in Balochistan, a region in southwestern Pakistan. Bugti's killing sparked nationwide protests and further fuelled an armed insurgency that began in 2004 in Balochistan. Balochistan nationalists have accused Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, of exploiting their natural resources. Bugti's legacy continues to influence the Baloch nationalist movement. His efforts to achieve greater autonomy for Balochistan and his resistance against perceived oppression have become central themes in the ongoing discourse surrounding Balochistan's political status. (ANI) Abu Dhabi [UAE], August 26 (ANI/WAM): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in coordination with the National Guard - National Search and Rescue Centre (NSRC), has conducted an air ambulance operation for a critically injured person following a severe traffic accident while being with her family in the Sultanate of Oman that resulted in serious injuries. This is the fourth such air ambulance mission by the UAE from Oman recently. In cooperation and support of the Omani authorities, an air ambulance operation was carried out to transfer the injured patient from the Sultanate of Oman, after receiving initial treatment at Nizwa Hospital in Oman, to the Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City in the UAE. The injured was accompanied by her family aboard an NSRC aircraft to complete her continued treatment. In this regard, MoFA commends the efforts of the Omani authorities and their prominent role in providing support to the UAE Embassy in Muscat to ensure the success of the medical evacuation. MoFA urges all travelers to exercise caution and vigilance while traveling by land; to adhere to laws, regulations, and traffic rules; and to abide by speed limits to avoid endangering their own lives and the lives of others. (ANI/WAM) Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden on Monday and discussed views on regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in the country. The conversation took place days after PM Modi's visit to Poland and Ukraine. PM Modi reiterated India's full support for the early return of peace and stability. "Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on phone today. We had a detailed exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I reiterated India's full support for early return of peace and stability," PM Modi said in a post on X. "We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh," he added. PM Modi visited Ukraine on Friday last, the first by an Indian PM to the European nation. During the bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, PM Modi emphasised India's position of peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. "India was never neutral, we have always been on the side of peace," PM Modi told Zelenskyy. He said that India was ready to play an active role in the path to peace and progress. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in war since 2022. India has always advocated "peace and diplomacy" for resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Prime Minister Modi and President Zelenskyy reiterated their readiness for further cooperation in upholding principles of international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states. They agreed on the desirability of closer bilateral dialogue in this regard. Ukraine's President expressed confidence that India had a role in bringing peace to the conflict-ridden region. PM had visited Russia in July this year and in his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he raised the issue of killings of children during conflicts and said it is "heart-wrenching" when innocent children die. The Prime Minister said that everyone who believes in humanity is hurt when there is a loss of lives. (ANI) You are here: China This photo taken on Aug. 25, 2024 shows a rotation ceremony of the Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Hong Kong, south China. [Photo/Xinhua] The Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Sunday completed the 27th rotation since it began garrisoning Hong Kong in 1997. Approved by the Central Military Commission, the move is a routine annual rotation in line with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Garrisoning the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The officers and soldiers leaving Hong Kong on rotation had successfully completed all tasks centered on defense during their garrisoning in Hong Kong. On their departure, through the garrison's information office, they thanked all sectors of Hong Kong society and the public for their support during their stay in Hong Kong. The new personnel, before arriving at the garrison barracks, underwent solid training and carried out studies to master the skills necessary to fulfill the defense duty for Hong Kong. A high-level delegation from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) visited the Maldives to assess the progress of ongoing development cooperation projects, the High Commission of India in Maldives said on Monday. The delegation met with Maldivian Ministers and senior government officials and also visited project sites. According to the High Commission of India in Maldives, the meetings were productive, and India will continue to work with the Maldivian government to implement people-centric projects in the country. https://x.com/hcimaldives/status/1828101631088730276?s=46&t=TbrKHKgG29uXA1CMFN38Pw High Commission of India in Maldives shared some pictures on X and stated, "A high-level delegation from @meaindia is visiting Maldives to review the progress of development cooperation projects. The delegation had productive engagements with Ministers and senior functionaries of Government of Maldives, and also undertook site visits." https://x.com/hcimaldives/status/1828101642186862948?s=46&t=TbrKHKgG29uXA1CMFN38Pw "Government of India will continue to work together with the Government of Maldives for implementation of its people-centric projects in the Maldives," it added. Recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Maldives from August 9 to 11 where he was received by Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer at the airport. Jaishankar and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Moosa Zameer jointly inaugurated 6 High Impact Projects in areas of street lighting, mental health, children's speech therapy and special education. In a post on X, the EAM said, "Held productive discussions today with Foreign Minister @MoosaZameer in Male. The agenda covered our engagement in development partnership, capacity building, bilateral and regional security, trade and digital cooperation. Jointly inaugurated 6 High Impact Projects in areas of street lighting, mental health, children's speech therapy and special education. Witnessed signing of MoU between the National Payments Corporation of India and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Maldives on the introduction of a digital payment system in the Maldives." "Welcome renewal of MoU between the National Centre for Good Governance and Civil Services Commission on the training of an additional 1,000 civil services officers. Look forward to my meetings and discussions tomorrow," he added. Following this, Jaishankar handed over a major water and sanitation project worth USD 110 million to the Maldives, funded by India. The project spans 28 islands. (ANI) Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has called the India-Singapore Ministerial Dialogue an important platform for strengthening bilateral ties. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has thanked Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for meeting her and other union ministers in Singapore. She stated that talks with Lawrence Wong clearly show that ties between India and Singapore are on sound footing. Nirmala Sitharaman led a high-level meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong comprising Union Ministers - Piyush Goyal, S Jaishankar and Ashwini Vaishnaw in Singapore on the sidelines of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) on Monday. Taking to X, Sitharaman stated, "Thank you Prime Minister, for giving us your time. Conversation with you shows clearly that India-Singapore relations are on sound footing. Together, we shall work to strengthen the relationship for the benefit of our people." Her statement came in response to a post shared by Lawrence Wong on X. Wong called ISMR an important platform to strengthen cooperation between two nations. In a post on X, Lawrence Wong stated, "Welcomed Indian Ministers @nsitharaman, @DrSJaishankar, @PiyushGoyal, @AshwiniVaishnaw to Singapore for the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR). The ISMR is an important platform to strengthen bilateral cooperation between our two countries." During the meeting, the leaders discussed the need to strengthen bilateral ties. In a post on X, the Ministry of Finance stated, "Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman led a delegation of her Cabinet colleagues, including Dr. @DrSJaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs; Shri @PiyushGoyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry; Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways @RailMinIndia, Ministry of Electronics & IT @GoI_MeitY and I&B @MIB_India, and called on Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. @LawrenceWongST, in Singapore, today. During the interactions, the leaders discussed the need to strengthen #partnership and broaden #cooperation between the two countries." Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw participated in the second India-Singapore Ministerial Dialogue (ISMR) on Monday. The two nations explored cooperation in digital, skill development, sustainability, healthcare, connectivity and advanced manufacturing. Jaishankar thanked Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Foreign Minister Vivian Bala, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam SC and Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng and Minister for Trade Chee Hong Tat for their commitment to deepen ties between two nations. Taking to X, Jaishankar stated, "A productive 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable today. We explored cooperation in digital, skill development, sustainability, healthcare, connectivity and advanced manufacturing. Thank DPM Gan Kim Yong, FM @VivianBala, Home Affairs & Law Minister @kshanmugam, Digital Development and Information Minister @joteo_ylm, Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng and Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat for their commitment to deepening our relationship. ISMR enables the emergence of a more contemporary partnership." Earlier in a press release, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, "ISMR is a unique mechanism established to set a new agenda for India-Singapore bilateral relations. Its inaugural meeting was held in New Delhi in September 2022." (ANI) Special counsel Jack Smith is arguing to revive his office's classified documents case against former President Donald Trump in the first formal filing since the criminal case was dismissed last month by Judge Aileen Cannon. In a brief filed with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Monday, Smith argued that Cannon's decision to end the Trump case because the prosecutors' office lacked constitutional authority was "novel" and "lack[ed] merit." Cannon had ruled the Justice Department didn't have the ability to appoint or fund special counsels like Smith. Smith's team also cast the decision from Cannon as not just affecting other special counsel prosecutions - of which there are several ongoing in other courts, against Trump and Hunter Biden, among others - but also as potentially affecting the power of leaders across the federal government, as reported by CNN. "If the Attorney General lacks the power to appoint inferior officers, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of every member of the Department who exercises significant authority and occupies a continuing office, other than the few that are specifically identified by statute," Smith's office wrote in the 81-page filing. "The district court's rationale would likewise raise questions about hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch, including in the Departments of Defence, State, Treasury, and Labor," the prosecutors added. Trump was charged last summer with several counts of mishandling sensitive government documents taken from his White House at the end of the presidency. The Republican presidential nominee also faces several obstruction charges for alleged efforts to hinder the federal probe into the materials. The former president and his two co-defendants - Trump employees also accused of obstruction - have pleaded not guilty. The 11th Circuit is reviewing the determinations by Cannon that Smith's appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and that his office was being unlawfully funded, as reported by CNN. Notably, though other courts have upheld the use of special counsels, Cannon said that Congress had not given the Justice Department the authority to make such an appointment, while also concluding that the funding for Smith's office had not been properly appropriated by lawmakers. (ANI) Amid political deadlock following July elections, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out naming a left-wing government saying it would be a threat to "institutional stability," Al Jazeera reported. Macron has been searching for a new prime minister in successive rounds of talks since elections in July gave a left-wing alliance the most seats in parliament but not enough to govern. The president rejected left-wing claims to govern after talks with far-right politician Marine Le Pen and other political leaders. Since Friday, Macron has invited party leaders to talks hoping to find a consensus candidate who would not immediately be ousted in a no-confidence vote. "My responsibility is that the country is not blocked nor weakened," Macron said in a statement. The July election left the 577-seat National Assembly divided between the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance with over 190 seats, followed by Macron's centrist alliance at around 160 and Le Pen's National Rally at 140. The NFP, particularly the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), has demanded their 'right' to form a government. The party argued that since it won the most seats, it should pick the new prime minister. It has chosen Lucie Castets, 37, as its candidate, as reported by Al Jazeera. However, Macron's party, along with the conservatives and the far right, have promised to vote no confidence in a left-wing government. A left-wing government "would be immediately censored by all the other groups represented in the National Assembly" and "the institutional stability of our country therefore requires us not to choose this option," Macron said on Monday. He added that he would hold talks with party leaders and "personalities distinguished by experience in the service of the state and the Republic." The hard-left LFI reacted to the decision with fury. Party coordinator Manuel Bompard has called Macron's comments an "unacceptable anti-democratic coup." LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon posted on X that Macron had created "a situation of exceptional gravity" and called for a "firm and strong response" by the public and politicians. Earlier on Saturday, Melenchon had announced that his party would support a left-wing government run by Castets but without any LFI ministers. Macron has previously equated the far-left group with the far-right National Rally, and even called the LFI an "extreme movement." French news outlet Le Monde wrote that after Melenchon's offer, Macron would now find it harder to justify why he was ruling out the NFP. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party chief, Olivier Faure, has said it did not want to "participate in a show where the dice are loaded" against the left. Macron has currently left Gabriel Attal as caretaker government leader for a post-war record time since the two-round election as he seeks a figure with enough broad support to survive a confidence vote. However, with the deadline to present a draft 2025 budget a little more than a month away, Macron, who has stalled in choosing a candidate, must now decide on who to nominate, according to Al Jazeera. (ANI) NEOSHO COUNTY (KSNT) A man from Fiji drowned in the Neosho River on Sunday, the Neosho County Sheriffs Office reported. At 6 p.m. the Neosho County Sheriffs Office, Chanute Fire Department and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks were called to 207th Road and Grady at the Detners Dam for a drowning. Responders found a 21-year-old international student from Fiji whod been attending Neosho County Community College had drowned. According to the sheriffs office, he had been swimming with friends. Witnesses stated the man jumped off of the dam and became caught in the current and drowned, the sheriffs office wrote. The victims body has been recovered and sent for an autopsy. Can Built for Zero work in Topeka? The sheriffs office said the name of the man is being withheld until the family is notified. 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. A Colombian councilman has accused the vice president of squandering public money on vanity in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan Markles quasi royal tour of the country. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ended their four-day trip in the former cartel city of Cali with a jubilant evening of cheering and dancing, but not everyone was enthralled by their visit. The security chief of the city council took to social media to criticise the event, claiming billions of pesos had been used to host them which could have been used to expand coverage of childrens canteens, pay salaries of community mothers, seed capital for Afro communities or adapt sports venues practically in ruins. Andres Escobar also accused the vice president Francia Marquez, who travelled with Meghan and Harry across the country, of squandering public money on her vanity and added that taxes have been on photo opportunities and social media. While it has not been confirmed how much the trip cost overall, it is understood the cost of security was shouldered by the vice presidents office. Upon arrival in the country on Thursday, the pair were whisked to Marquezs private residence, where it was revealed their invitation had been prompted by Marquez enjoying their Netflix documentary. (Colombian Vice President's Offic) During the trip, the duke and duchess met with Invictus athletes, sat on panels to discuss online safety, and female empowerment. Upon arrival in the country on Thursday, the pair were whisked to Marquezs private residence, where it was revealed their invitation had been prompted by Marquez enjoying their Netflix documentary. Escobar expressed his disbelief at the comment, as he told the MailOnline: The vice president asked them here because she saw them on Netflix, can you believe that? How ridiculous, I cant believe she said that. This country could have used the money to invest in our own infrastructure, we are in a bad way and money is wasted for this. The Sussexes team has not confirmed how much the trip had cost and how it had been funded, whether privately, through Harry and Meghans Archewell Foundation, by the Colombian government or other means. (EPA) Colombia ranks second after Brazil in Latin America for economic inequality with 16,708,153, people declared to be living in a situation of monetary poverty in 2023, according to Oxfam and DANE (Colombias National Administrative Department of Statistics). The country also faces significant inequality between urban and rural areas with 30.6 per cent of people living in poverty in urban areas in 2023, compared to 41.2 per cent in rural zones. Mr Escobar added: There are many, many Colombians who are hungry and have a lack of basic needs. They invested this money because the vice president wanted to meet two high profile public figures and brush aside criticism and problems that we have here. We are in an economic crisis and eight billion pesos have been spent for the visit of Harry and Meghan, Colombian military planes and helicopters have been used and the money could have been better spent. The duke and duchess spent four days visiting Colombia last week as they met with Invictus athletes and local people. The couple sat on panels to discuss online safety, misinformation and female empowerment. (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Before this current government came to power they campaigned that they would save money and not waste it but they have done just the opposite with this visit. Critics have dubbed the tour as a distraction from the countrys problems as locals claimed they were being used as political pawns. Ahead of their visit, a colombian lawyer told the Mail on Sunday: Im sure Meghan and Harry mean well, but everyone here is talking about how obviously they are being manipulated. The Independent has contacted the Sussexes and vice president Marquezs office for comment. Human brain samples collected at autopsy in early 2024 contained more tiny shards of plastic than samples collected eight years prior, according to a preprint posted online in May. A preprint is a study which has not yet been peer-reviewed and published in a journal. The concentrations we saw in the brain tissue of normal individuals, who had an average age of around 45 or 50 years old, were 4,800 micrograms per gram, or 0.5% by weight, said lead study author Matthew Campen, a regents professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Compared to autopsy brain samples from 2016, thats about 50% higher, Campen said. That would mean that our brains today are 99.5% brain and the rest is plastic. That increase, however, only shows exposure and does not provide information about brain damage, said Phoebe Stapleton, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, who was not involved in the preprint. It is unclear if, in life, these particles are fluid, entering and leaving the brain, or if they collect in neurological tissues and promote disease, she said in an email. Further research is needed to understand how the particles may be interacting with the cells and if this has a toxicological consequence. The brain samples contained 7 to 30 times more tiny shards of plastic than samples from the cadavers kidneys and liver, according to the preprint. Studies have found these plastics in the human heart, the great blood vessels, the lungs, the liver, the testes, the gastrointestinal tract and the placenta, said pediatrician and biology professor Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good and the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College. Its important not to scare the hell out of people, because the science in this space is still evolving, and nobody in the year 2024 is going to live without plastic, said Landrigan, who was not involved with the preprint. I say to people, Listen, there are some plastics that you cant escape. Youre not going to get a cell phone or a computer that doesnt contain plastic. But do try to minimize your exposure to the plastic that you can avoid, such as plastic bags and bottles. The American Chemistry Council, an industry association, told CNN that while some studies on microplastics have recently garnered headlines, just last month the FDA noted, Current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health. Research underway not only helps address current data gaps in our understanding of exposure to microplastics but it also aims to develop improved tools to measure the toxicity of microplastics to humans, said Kimberly Wise White, the councils vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs. This work is important given the unvalidated methods often applied by researchers which can lead to unreliable or misleading outcomes, the complex nature of microplastics, and the many variables that can affect human health, she said. Nanoplastics hijack their way into the brain For the study, researchers examined brain, kidney and liver tissues from 92 people who underwent a forensic autopsy to verify cause of death in both 2016 and 2024. Brain tissue samples were gathered from the frontal cortex, the area of the brain associated with thinking and reasoning, and which is most affected by frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and later stages of Alzheimers disease. Based on our observations, we think the brain is pulling in the very smallest nanostructures, like 100 to 200 nanometers in length, whereas some of the larger particles that are a micrometer to five micrometers go into the liver and kidneys, Campen said. Microplastics are fragments that can range from less than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or about the size of a pencil eraser, to 1 nanometer. A strand of human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Anything smaller is a nanoplastic that must be measured in billionths of a meter. Nanoplastics are the most worrisome plastics for human health, experts say, because the minuscule pieces can take up residence inside individual cells. Somehow these nanoplastics hijack their way through the body and get to the brain, crossing the blood-brain barrier, Campen said. Plastics love fats, or lipids, so one theory is that plastics are hijacking their way with the fats we eat which are then delivered to the organs that really like lipids the brain is top among those. The human brain is about 60% fat by weight, far more than any other organ. Essential fatty acids, such as omega 3s, are key to the strength and performance of the brains cells. Since the human body cant produce essential fatty acids on its own, they must come from food or supplements. Diet is the main route of exposure for micro- and nanoplastics, said Landrigan, who is the lead author of a March 2023 report from the Minderoo Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, a global consortium of scientists, health-care workers and policy analysts charged with following plastics from creation to final product. In that report, the consortium determined plastics are associated with harms to human health at every single stage of the plastic lifecycle. Some microplastics are also airborne, Landrigan said. For example, when people are driving down the highway and their tires are abrading on the surface of the highway, a certain amount of microplastic particles are thrown into the air. If you live near the coast, some of the microplastic particles that are in the ocean get kicked into the air through wave action, he said. So ingestion is probably the dominant route, but inhalation is also an important route. Plastics with ties to cancer Polyethylene, which is used in plastic bags, films and bottles and is not biodegradable, was the predominant type of plastic found in tissue samples. It was found in greater quantities in the brain than in the liver or kidney, according to the preprint. Polyethylene was also the predominant type of polymer found in human and dog testicles, according to an August 2024 study by Campen and his team. The production of various forms of polyethylene, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics, are the biggest contributor to the release of the solvent 1,4-dioxane into the environment, according to industry data collected by Defend our Health, an environmental advocacy group. The US National Toxicity Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer considers 1,4-dioxane to be possibly carcinogenic to humans. In 2023, the EPA released a draft report saying that the solvent poses an unreasonable risk of injury to health for plastics workers and community residents whose drinking water has been polluted by discharges from PET plastics factories. The biggest question is, OK, what are these particles doing to us? Honestly theres a lot we still dont know, Landrigan said. What we do know with real certainty is that these microplastic particles are like Trojan horses they carry with them all the thousands of chemicals that are in plastics and some are very bad actors. By invading individual cells and tissues in major organs, nanoplastics can potentially interrupt cellular processes and deposit endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenols, phthalates, flame retardants, heavy metals and per- and polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS. Endocrine disruptors interfere with the human reproductive system, leading to genital and reproductive malformations as well as female infertility and a decline in sperm count, according to the Endocrine Society. We have some pretty good indications that microplastics and nanoplastics cause harm, even though we are a long way from knowing the full extent of that harm, Landrigan said. I would say we have enough information here that we need to start taking protective action. Microplastics can sometimes be seen with the naked eye. Nanoplastics cannot. - Svetlozar Hristov/iStockphoto/Getty Images Learn to use less plastic There are many steps individuals can take to reduce their exposure to plastics and their plastic footprint, experts say. Its hard to avoid foods wrapped in plastic film but be sure to take the food out of the plastic wrapping before you cook it or put it in the microwave, Landrigan said. When you heat plastic, that accelerates the movement of the microplastics out of the wrapping into the food. Invest in a zippered fabric bag and ask the dry cleaner to return your clothes in that instead of those thin sheets of plastic, suggested the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. Bring a travel mug to the local coffee store for takeout and silverware to the office to cut back on plastic cups and utensils. Dont use plastic bags when you go shopping. Use a cloth bag or a paper bag or a recycle bag. Try to avoid plastic water bottles, if you can possibly do so, Landrigan said. A March 2024 study found 1 liter of bottled water the equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters typically purchased by consumers contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics. Some 90% of those were nanoplastics. Use a metal or glass drinking cup instead of a plastic cup. Store your food in glass containers instead of in plastic ones, Landrigan said. Work in your local community to ban plastic bags, as many communities around the United States have now done. There is a lot you can do. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Worker Mike Friley removes a table during an eviction near Columbus, Ohio, in 2021. Maryland, like other states, recently voted to seal court records of eviction cases if the tenant wins. Photo by Stephen Zenner/Getty Images When pandemic-era tenant protections expired, rents immediately soared, and eviction filings surged last year more than 50% over pre-pandemic levels in some U.S. cities. These filings can cast long shadows. Simply being named in an eviction complaint, regardless of the outcome, can severely limit future housing options and prolong housing insecurity, according to a recent University of Michigan study. The situation underscores a growing debate across the country: Should eviction records be shielded from public access to offer tenants a cleaner shot at finding another home? In recent years, more states are saying, yes at least in some cases. Eviction filings are public court records. Landlords and property owners can buy databases of the records to screen potential tenants. Property owners argue that sealing data on eviction filings most of which are for nonpayment of rent eliminates crucial insights into rental history. Housing advocates, however, warn that any filing can unfairly block renters from future housing because the outcome may not be an eviction. An eviction filing doesnt provide enough information to determine a tenants ability to honor their next lease, said Katie Fallon, a principal policy associate with the Urban Institute, a research and advocacy think tank focusing on urban policies. Given the low quality of this eviction filing data and the lack of outcomes in the filings themselves, it is a very open question of how accurate these filings are and what information they really provide to landlords, she said. This year, Idaho, Maryland and Massachusetts enacted laws to seal certain eviction records from public scrutiny and from tenant screening companies. Last year, Connecticut and Rhode Island also enacted laws that allow for the sealing of certain eviction cases. Arizona, meanwhile, enacted a law in 2022 requiring courts to seal eviction records if cases are dismissed, dropped or adjudicated in the tenants favor. In total, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have measures sealing at least some eviction records, according to PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy group with a focus on housing. Zafar Shah, assistant director of advocacy for Maryland Legal Aid, said lawmakers are starting to understand how eviction records can prevent tenants from finding another home. We have clients that know they will lose their eviction case, but they want us to shield the information so that the next potential housing provider is not going to use it against them, Shah said. That has really been the impetus for shielding and sealing across the country. These filings dont tell us a lot, but they carry so much weight in the search for housing. An eviction filing could be resolved in a number of ways: A case might be dismissed if the landlord and tenant reach an agreement. The judge might rule in favor of the tenant, allowing them to stay in their home. Or the judge could side with the landlord, evicting the tenant. Regardless of the outcome, the records live on in online court databases. Third-party tenant screening companies scan court records for eviction cases, then sell the data to landlords to use in their leasing decisions. Our members are getting evictions that have merit and werent erroneously filed. Alexandra Alvarado, American Apartment Owners Association Housing advocates say the data is often inaccurate and misleading. In one state Illinois fewer than half of eviction filings led to actual evictions, according to a 2019 review by Housing Action Illinois, an advocacy group. Alexandra Alvarado, director of education and marketing at the American Apartment Owners Association, a tenant screening provider, told Stateline that the groups database only displays eviction records with a completed judgment that were filed within the past seven years, which is the time limit set by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. It can be a monetary or nonmonetary judgment, but there must be a judgment. So, if an eviction case is filed, but the parties settled outside of court or the tenant won, then it wouldnt show up in our reports, even though technically it is public record, Alvarado said. Our members are getting evictions that have merit and werent erroneously filed. A scarlet E According to researchers at the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, of the 3.6 million eviction court records in the 12 states they tracked from 2011 to 2015, more than 1 in 5 contained little information on the resolution of a case. Ambiguous data can also falsely represent a tenants eviction history, affecting both renters and scholarly researchers, according to a 2020 study by the group. While many people think an eviction filing is evidence of late rent payment, nonpayment of rent or a violation of the lease terms, this is not necessarily true, said Fallon, of the Urban Institute. Filings can include inaccurate data, such as the parties named in the eviction filing and inaccurate name spellings. Alvarado, of the American Apartment Owners Association, said landlords have mixed views about laws that allow courts to seal cases that have been dismissed or ruled in a tenants favor. Whats more important to landlords, she said, is that their screening process can look back the full seven years for problem evictions. Laws that limit the lookback period such as in Oregons, where tenants can request an expungement after five years affect the tenant screening process more, she said. The system is problematic Eviction Lab found, in a 2020 study of eviction cases filed between 2012 and 2016 in 39 states. In addition to inaccurate information, Black households are overrepresented in eviction filings, Eviction Lab found, as are women especially Black and Latina women. When landlords say they need to use eviction filings, which we know arent the most reliable information, to make housing decisions, we need to push back on that, said Jasmine Rangel, senior housing associate for PolicyLink. She and other advocates want eviction court records to be sealed as soon as a landlord files an eviction notice. Otherwise, she said, third-party services can still scrape that eviction record from online databases and into their tenant screening algorithms. Advocates point out that eviction records could be made public later if a judge rules in the landlords favor. Its a Scarlet E. You have this record, you have this thing on your file of an eviction, but theres no understanding of the context or circumstances behind it. Shuntera Brown, an Arizona resident whose eviction record hurt her housing search But Shuntera Brown, who lost her home in Phoenix in 2021, said in an interview that any eviction record hurts single moms like herself. Brown, who has three children, has struggled to pay rent even with a full-time job. In December 2020, a bout of COVID-19 caused her to miss work shifts, a paycheck disruption that eventually put her over the edge months later. Its a Scarlet E. You have this record, you have this thing on your file of an eviction, but theres no understanding of the context or circumstances behind it, Brown said. I remember pleading with the judge that Ive usually paid on time and that my kids need a home, but he sided with the landlord in, like, seven minutes, and the eviction immediately was on my credit. Sealing the records State by state, the laws differ on the details: Many states allow for eviction records to be sealed almost immediately if the case was dismissed or dropped, or if the tenant won the case. Other states have a waiting period, often several years, during which the tenant must demonstrate good behavior before a record is sealed. Under Marylands new law, which takes effect in October, courts must shield records within 60 days of a resolution that doesnt end in a tenant losing possession of their home. The state also will increase the eviction filing fee from $8 to $43. Maryland landlords filed roughly 400,000 failure to pay rent cases in the states 2023 fiscal year, according to housing advocates who testified in favor of the new law. In some cases, landlords would file monthly failure to pay rent cases against tenants prematurely and tack on illegal fees on top of the back rent, according to a report from the Maryland-based advocacy group Public Justice Center. The low cost and low barrier to entry have driven the massive quantity of filings, with many cases simply being leveraged to get rent money out of tenants quickly, said Shah, of Maryland Legal Aid. I think that the court overall has become more receptive to shielding these cases, recognizing that if a case was dismissed or settled, theres no reason to hold it against the renter. This attitude has shifted significantly over the past decade, he said. In California and Colorado, as in Maryland, an eviction lawsuit can be automatically sealed as soon as its been filed unless the landlord wins the case within 60 days. Indiana and Minnesota require a tenant to formally petition for sealing once a court reaches judgment. Idahos new law shields dismissed eviction cases after three years. And in Massachusetts, tenants can request their case be sealed for a variety of reasons, no matter the outcome, after a period of time ranging from a few months to several years. In Rhode Island, a tenant can only make a request once every five years. Researchers at Eviction Lab told Stateline that state laws should still allow data access for scientists. The 2022 eviction-sealing law in Washington, D.C., for example, specifies that records can be unsealed for scholarly, educational, journalistic or governmental purposes. There is an important public right to know what is going on in the housing market, and this is one of our data points into the eviction crisis, said Carl Gershenson, lab director at Eviction Lab. There is a balance that can be achieved that is in the best interest of tenants and how these filings can be used as datapoints to understand the housing crisis. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Monday requiring all state government agencies to make it clear to those applying for benefits or state IDs and driver's licenses that only citizens are allowed to vote in Louisiana elections. Most government agencies are required to provide anyone who applies for benefits with a voter registration form. Landry's order requires the voter registration forms to be accompanied with a written declaration emphasizing only citizens can vote. It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in any Louisiana election or any other state or federal election, but Landry said his order will add an extra layer of election integrity. "The right to vote is a privilege reserved for American citizens," Landry said in Monday's news conference, where he was joined by Republican Secretary of State Nancy Landry and Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill. "In Louisiana election integrity is a top priority." There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Louisiana, which is ranked No. 10 for election integrity by the conservative Heritage Foundation and was No. 1 in the South by the Election Integrity Project for the 2020 presidential election. Nancy Landry, the state's chief elections officer, said 48 noncitizens have been removed from Louisiana's voter rolls during the past three years. "I'm confident in our policies and procedures... but I won't let confidence turn into complacency," she said. "This represents an extra layer of protection to make sure only (citizens) vote in Louisiana elections. I won't be satisfied until we're No. 1 in election integrity." Murrill echoed Landry, agreeing that Louisiana's elections have been overwhelmingly free and fair. "Louisiana elections are secure, and we plan to keep it that way," Murrill said in support of the governor's executive order. Gov. Landry also touted a new state law, Senate Bill 436, that requires proof of citizenship to be allowed to vote in Louisiana. It's a theme Republicans in the U.S. House, led by Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport, elevated this year leading up to the presidential election. House Republicans passed a bill this summer that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Johnson said the SAFE Act passed by the House in July, which isn't expected to be taken up in the Senate and is opposed by President Biden, makes a preemptive strike for election integrity. Would we prefer to wait for fraud to happen and only do something after elections are finalized?," Johnson said on the House floor. "No, we have to catch the fraud on the front end so theres no question about the integrity of our votes. In a statement, the Biden administration said the "alleged justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods. States already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters eligibility and maintain the accuracy of voter rolls. This bill would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls. More: Louisiana Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc resigns Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Gov. Jeff Landry order aims to block noncitizen voting in Louisiana PROVIDENCE Two major players in the Rhode Island health insurance arena are protesting the award of a five-year Medicaid contract worth upwards of $15 billion to provide managed-care services to roughly a third of the state's population. On July 16, the McKee administration announced the award of the massive contract to two of the three companies that hold the current contract: Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island (NHPRI) and UnitedHealthcare of New England (UHC). The new managed care contract will provide better services for Rhode Islanders who rely on Medicaid for their health care and stronger transparency and oversight of its vendors," Gov. Dan McKee said on the day of the announcement. But Blue Cross & Blue Shield called the solicitation-and-award process "fatally flawed" on multiple grounds. Tufts which is one of three healthcare plans with a current state contract also objected, as first reported by WPRI. ("The protests are currently under review by the Department of Administration. When completed, we will issue a written determination,'' an agency spokeswoman told The Journal.) "Given the magnitude of the State's Medicaid Program serving a third of the State's total population and resulting in the expenditure of billions of dollars of public funds it is essential that the State get this procurement right,'' but it did not, wrote BCBS's lawyers at Pierce Atwood. Conflict of interest raised Among the many alleged "defects," BCBS alleged that United and Neighborhood Health omitted required information from their responses, "which should have disqualified them from receiving an award," including past sanctions and corrective actions required of them or their affiliates. The July 29 BCBS protest letter also alleged potential conflicts of interest in that every member of the bid review team is a member of the "same managed care team" within the Executive Office of Health & Human Services; in other words, people who "currently work with UHC and NHP on a day-to-day basis and have ongoing relationships with employees at both of those plans, creating at least the perception of bias." BCBS alleged one unnamed person on the review committee "worked for one of the winning bidders within the past two years, opening the door to conflicts of interest, bias, and favoritism." As a result of these and other alleged defects, "the intended contract determination unfairly and arbitrarily limits options for the [states] low-income families, adults, children with special needs, and those that are aged, blind, and disabled that depend on the State for their health needs," BCBS alleged. BCBS also asked for more time to respond to the disputed award, based on the fact the state has not responded to the "Access To Public Records Act (APRA)" request it made for documents related to the bid solicitation on July 17. Among the issues Tufts Health raised in its protest letter: "If the award is not overturned, [TUFTS] will be forced to exit the Medicaid managed care program in the state as of July 2025, and its thousands of members will be required to find a new health plan for their coverage." Tufts also questioned the methodology for scoring the bids and, in the end, both asked the state to rescind the awards and go out to bid again. Benefits of new Medicaid contracts Among the touted benefits of the two new Medicaid contracts, scheduled to start on July 1, 2025, according to the McKee administration. Reducing unnecessary prior authorizations (PAs), particularly for behavioral health services. Requiring more "executive level compensation transparency," to ensure the appropriate use of Medicaid funds; Increasing oversight and accountability for the use of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM), including the prohibition on "the practice of charging more for a product or service than the cost to obtain it." Increasing financial sanctions and publication of corrective actions. The designation of "a childrens health coordinator to ensure all enrolled children receive "appropriate care, required vaccinations and lead testing." Karen Greco, the new spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, told The Journal: "We dont have a total estimated cost of the whole 5-year contract,'' but it is expected to cost an estimated $3.1 billion in the year beginning on July 1, 2025, and $3.4 billion the following year, The new contract, which will begin on July 1, 2025, and run through June 30, 2030, contains an option to extend for up to 5 additional years. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Blue Cross,Tufts protest awarding of $15B RI Medicaid contract MFA official's briefing on U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit to China Xinhua) 08:09, August 26, 2024 BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on Saturday that Assistant to the U.S. President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) Jake Sullivan will visit China from August 27 to 29 at the invitation of Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, to hold a new round of China-U.S. strategic communication. In a press briefing on Sunday, the leading official of MFA's Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs gave further information and took questions from the media. The leading official said that holding strategic communication between the Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office and the National Security Advisor to the U.S. President was an important consensus reached between the Chinese and U.S. presidents at their Bali meeting in November 2022. Since the meeting, Director Wang Yi and NSA Sullivan have held three rounds of strategic communication in Vienna, Malta and Bangkok respectively, all of which were substantive and constructive, and produced good results. Both sides agreed to continue making good use of this channel of strategic communication. The upcoming visit will also be the first visit to China by a National Security Advisor to the U.S. President after eight years, and the first visit to China by NSA Sullivan. It is an important step for the two sides to implement the common understandings the two presidents reached at their San Francisco meeting. After San Francisco, the diplomatic, financial, law enforcement and climate teams and the militaries of the two sides have maintained communication, and the exchanges between the two peoples have increased. Meanwhile, the United States has kept containing and suppressing China. And China has taken resolute countermeasures. The China-U.S. relationship is still at a critical juncture of being stabilized. Against this backdrop, Director Wang Yi will have an in-depth exchange of views with NSA Sullivan on China-U.S. relations, sensitive issues, and major international and regional hotspots. The two sides will jointly take stock of the progress made by the two countries in implementing the common understandings of the two presidents in San Francisco, give full play to the 20-plus dialogue and communication mechanisms that have been established or resumed, and continue to discuss the issue of strategic perception and the boundary between national security and economic activities. The Chinese side will focus on raising serious concerns, articulating its position and laying out serious demands on issues related to the Taiwan question, the right to development and China's strategic security. The Taiwan question is the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations, and "Taiwan independence" is the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. side must abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and honor its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence." The U.S. side's continuous arbitrary measures against China in the areas of tariffs, export control, investment review and unilateral sanctions seriously undermine China's legitimate rights and interests. China demands that the U.S. side stop turning economic and trade issues into political and security issues. As the foundation of the China-U.S. relationship lies in grassroots connections, the United States should work in the same direction with China and take more measures to facilitate the flow of people between the two countries. China will also urge the United States to fulfill its responsibilities as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and play a constructive role for the political settlement of major, salient international and regional issues, not the contrary. The leading official emphasized that China's U.S. policy is consistent, which is underpinned by the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by China. These principles are the lessons learned from the 50-plus years of China-U.S. relations as well as the conflicts between major countries in history. China and the United States should put in a lot of efforts to follow them. China has all along believed that major-country competition is not the solution to the problems facing the United States or the world. The leading official also took questions from the media. On Ukraine, the official said that China's position is aboveboard, and it will continue to promote peace talks, work for political settlement and carry out mediation diplomacy. The United States should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and stop smearing, framing, pressuring and blackmailing China. China will continue to take strong and resolute measures to safeguard its major interests and legitimate rights. On the South China Sea issue, the leading official emphasized that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the region have sufficient historical and legal basis, and that countries in the region have full confidence, wisdom and capability to properly handle the issue. Countries outside the region should not do things that provoke confrontation or increase tensions. The leading official pointed out that on the Middle East issue, China is committed to promoting peace and justice and supports all parties in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, especially the restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine. The immediate priority is that all parties to the conflict must earnestly implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and create conditions for an early comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The international community should pool their efforts to this end. It is hoped that the United States will heed the voices of the majority of the international community and adopt a responsible position. Responding to the U.S.'s unwarranted accusation that China is a threat to the international order, the leading official said that China's development is an important part of human progress and an inevitable trend in the evolution of history. China does not follow the old path of Western colonization and plundering, nor the wrong path of seeking hegemony with growing strength. Nor does it seek to export its ideology. China is committed to peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and is a firm defender of the U.N.-Centered international system and international order, which contributes to the force for peace and the stabilizing factors in today's world. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) You are here: China The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command on Monday deployed army units to the border areas of Ruili and Zhenkang in southwest China for armed patrols and joint air-ground alert patrols. The operation aims to test the rapid mobility, multi-dimensional control and joint strike capabilities of the Southern Theater Command forces and maintain security and stability in the border region, according to the PLA Southern Theater Command. Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble, Getty Images). Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday he is suspending his campaign and threw his support behind former President Donald Trump the GOP presidential nominee. The announcement from the environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, who has held on to a long-shot presidential bid, comes just a day after Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted her partys nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Its with a sense of victory and not defeat that Im suspending my campaign activities, Kennedy said in Phoenix, Arizona, during a lengthy news conference. Not only did we do the impossible by collecting a million signatures, but we changed the national political conversation forever, he said, adding that I can say to all who have worked so hard the last year-and-a-half thank you for a job well done. Kennedy acknowledged that he cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House. He clarified that he is not terminating his campaign and that his name will remain on the ballot in most states. The third-party candidate said he would remove his name from the ballot in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler. He did not specify the states. He said voters who live in a blue state can vote for him without harming or helping (former) President Trump or Vice President Harris. In response, Trump thanked Kennedy during a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada. That was very nice, the former president said, adding that Kennedy is a great guy and respected by everybody. Kennedy drew speculation about withdrawing his candidacy and backing Trump in the days leading up to the Friday announcement. On Thursday, he filed the paperwork to withdraw his name from Arizonas ballot, per Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in a post on X. Kennedy has faced dwindling polling numbers and financial trouble for his campaign while undertaking a monumental task in getting on states ballots as an independent candidate. He initially ran as a Democrat but switched to an independent ticket in October 2023. Kennedy son of Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of John F. Kennedy is part of one of the most storied families in Democratic politics. Throughout his campaign, he amplified anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and was seen as a possible spoiler candidate. Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen OMalley Dillon said for any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you, per a Friday statement in response to Kennedy suspending his campaign. In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart. Vice President Harris wants to earn your support. Meanwhile, Trump is set to speak in Glendale, Arizona, later Friday. His campaign said Thursday that a special guest would join him at the rally. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST Pavel Durov was once hailed as Russias answer to Mark Zuckerberg. Now, he is facing prison in France. The billionaire co-founder of Telegram an ultra-secure messaging app that boasts over 900 million users is feted by some as an anti-authoritarian hero and champion of free speech who took on the might of Vladimir Putin. For others, he is a nefarious and negligent tech tycoon responsible for creating a platform where criminal activity goes unchecked. French authorities, it seems, are in the latter camp. On Saturday, Durov was arrested on arrival at Le Bourget airport, near Paris, after travelling by private jet from Baku, Azerbaijan. The 39-year-old stands accused of failing to tackle crime on Telegram as part of an inquiry into alleged fraud, drug trafficking and the promotion of terrorism on the platform dubbed the new dark web by critics. His detention marks the most prominent example of a social media executive being brought to heel yet, raising profound questions for the future of networks used by billions of people, their owners and the regulators and authorities struggling to get to grips with our digital world. But it has also been cast by some as the latest flashpoint in what they say is a new cold war between Russia and the West fuelled, in part, by speculation that Durov had sought a meeting with Putin while in Baku. French President Emmanuel Macron has been quick to reject that, saying Durovs arrest is in no way a political decision. Moscow, meanwhile, has denied any meeting between the Telegram founder and Putin took place. However, it does appear willing to entertain the possibility of his apprehension being politically-motivated, with lawmakers suggesting Durovs detention signals freedom of speech in Europe is dead. For the West, there is no such thing any more as good Russians, popular tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda pronounced. Another, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, declared the blow to Telegram threatens to be a blow to Russia. The story of the platform stretches back to its founding in 2013, when Durov and his elder brother, Nikolai, set out to create an app capable of offering total security and anonymity to its users. To this day, it describes itself as politically neutral and collects no user data apart from a phone number not even a name, email or date or birth. Light-touch moderation remains part of its appeal. Telegram founder Pavel Durov, 39, is facing prison in France as part of a cyber-criminality investigation - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg It is securely encrypted and sells no data to third parties Durov, who is worth a reported $15 billion, is so confident in its security that its website offers a $300,000 reward to anyone who proves Telegram messages can be deciphered. In little over a decade, it has risen to become one of the top five most downloaded apps in the world. Its success is intimately tied to Durovs own history. His grandparents were among the tens of millions of Russians who were persecuted by Joseph Stalin, with his grandfather sent to one of the autocrats infamous gulags. Durov himself was born in 1984 in Leningrad, in then Soviet Russia, to Russian and Ukrainian parents, and spent most of his childhood in Turin, Italy, where his father worked. He and his sibling, Nikolai, were both maths prodigies, Durov told American broadcaster Tucker Carlson in an interview earlier this year. Nikolai won several gold medals at the International Math Olympiad and was shown on Italian television solving cubic equations in real time. The family returned to Russia when Durovs father a scholar in Ancient Roman literature received an offer to run a department at St Petersburg State University, by which point the Iron Curtain had come down. After finishing school, Durov himself enrolled as a liberal arts student at the same university. While there, he began to draw inspiration from Silicon Valley, and the success of Facebook in particular, teaching himself how to code. Durov, whose grandparents were persecuted by Joseph Stalin, was born in 1984 in Leningrad Upon graduation, he created VKontakte, a social media network similar to the one dreamed up by Mark Zuckerberg and four of his fellow Harvard students in the US. Indeed, Durov himself has often been described as his countrys answer to the Meta CEO. VKontakte flourished and quickly became the countrys most popular social platform. Durov has since described it as a libertarians paradise in the unregulated internet market that existed in Russia at the time. But in 2011, the tide turned. Putin, then-prime minister, made clear he was seeking to return to the presidency and Durov fell foul of the Kremlin for refusing to adhere to requests to block opposition activity on VKontakte amid mass protests over disputed parliamentary elections. Instead, he made fun of the situation, posting a meme of a dog in a hoodie with its tongue hanging out as well as scans revealing Moscows requests. Relations continued to sour in the years that followed. Armed police raided his apartment in St Petersburg and, in 2014, he was forced to leave Russia altogether having been fired as VKontaktes CEO after publically refusing to hand over users data to Russian security agencies and block the late opposition leader Alexei Navalnys account. Demonstrators with a painting depicting Telegram's founder Durov protest against the blocking of the popular messaging app in Russia in 2018 - Getty Shortly before fleeing, he was reportedly granted citizenship by St. Kitts and Nevis after investing $250,000 in the Caribbean nations sugar industry. I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone, he has since said of his exit from Russia. In 2021, he was controversially granted French citizenship and, prior to his arrest, predominantly resided in Dubai having obtained a United Arab Emirates passport too. It is not clear whether he has renounced his Russian citizenship. As is the case with a number of other tech bosses, Durov is said to lead an ascetic lifestyle, eschewing meat, alcohol, caffeine and sugar and has studied more than eight languages, including Arabic, Ukrainian, German, Spanish and Latin. In 2019, he told his Telegram followers he had been experimenting with consuming no food at all, undertaking extreme fasts to improve his clarity of thought. He has also said that being mindful about what kind of information we consume is just as important for our wellbeing as what food we eat, so avoids horror movies and prefers films that show uplifting success stories. The Roald Dahl adaptation Wonka, featuring Hugh Grant and Timothee Chalamet, was his favourite release last year. Durov is said to begin each day with mid-20th century songs that express joy, such as Oh, What a Beautiful Morning or What a Wonderful World, and avoids lyrics that conjure undesirable scenarios. Curiously, while he is single and has said he prefers to live alone, Durov revealed in another Telegram post that he believes he has fathered more than 100 children through sperm donation. He said that fifteen years ago, he had been approached by a friend who was struggling to have children. The friend asked Durov to donate his sperm so that he and his partner could have a baby, and Durov duly obliged. The boss of the clinic told me that high quality donor material was in short supply and that it was my civic duty to donate more sperm to anonymously help more couples, he said. Fast forward to 2024, my past donating activity has helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids Now I plan to open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily. On Instagram, where he has 1.5 million followers, Durov regularly posts pictures of exotic destinations, although he says he doesnt take holidays and instead works remotely. In one recent post, he quotes the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius: A man must stand upright, not be kept upright by others. The billionaire does not drink alcohol or caffeine, and is understood to live an 'ascetic' lifestyle It is difficult to tell anything about who Durov actually is from his online footprint, and he rarely gives interviews, but then inscrutability is in Telegrams DNA. The app is run via a complicated network of international servers and shell companies to insulate it from regulation and governmental interference. In 2018, he confirmed on X, then Twitter, that Telegram is headquartered in Dubai, but is unlikely to ever consider any location [its] permanent base. In March this year, it was reported that Telegram was nearing profitability and was considering an IPO. Privacy is paramount it offers users secure messaging and calls, as well as the ability to create groups to communicate with up to 200,000 people or channels to broadcast to an unlimited number. It also has a self-destructing Secret Chat function. In 2015, Durov said that since Telegram was founded, we havent disclosed a single byte of user data to third parties, including government officials. The apps protections have made it a useful news source in parts of the world where censorship is rife and a critical tool for pro-democracy activists living under oppressive regimes such as in Iran and Belarus. It is especially popular in former Soviet countries, and used extensively by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russian citizens who want to access uncensored information about the Russia-Ukraine war. While Telegram was blocked in Russian in 2018 owing to its privacy rules, the ban was lifted two years later as the government began using the platform to spread public health information related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, seemingly holding no grudge, the Kremlin has an official channel on the app, with more than 200,000 followers, and so do several other high-profile Russian officials. On Monday, a Russian Telegram channel thought to be close to the countrys intelligence agencies, Baza, reported that security officials had received a directive to delete the app in the wake of Durovs arrest. Everyone who got accustomed to using Telegram for sensitive conversations and chats must immediately delete them, and dont do it in the future, Margarita Simonyan, the editor of Kremlin propaganda channel RT, said on Sunday. But it has a dark side, too, with the privacy and anonymity features making the platform a safe haven for criminals. Researchers have warned that Telegram is a sprawling ecosystem of illegal and violent content relating to far-right conspiracy theories, extremism, terrorism and child abuse. Use of the app surged in the UK after the killing of three schoolgirls in Southport last month, and it was widely linked to the violent unrest that followed on streets across the country, having been used by far-Right agitators to fuel and organise the disorder. The platform acts to remove illegal and harmful content on public channels, but its website says that: All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them. The 'dark side' of Durov's Telegram app has been linked to terrorism and criminality Before the app took a stronger stance against content linked to terrorism, in particular, in 2019 following the deadly terror attack on London Bridge, it was the favoured platform of Islamic State groups. But experts warn it remains a hotbed for propaganda. In the wake of Hamas October 7 attack on Israel, it has repeatedly been used by the group to disseminate content. In mid-October last year, Durov appeared to defend Hamas use of Telegram in a post on the app, he wrote: Every day, Telegrams moderators and AI tools remove millions of obviously harmful content from our public platform. However, tackling war-related coverage is seldom obvious. Earlier this week, Hamas used Telegram to warn civilians in Ashkelon to leave the area ahead of their missile strikes. Would shutting down their channel help save lives or would it endanger more lives? Soldiers in the Israel Defence Forces were also found to be running a graphic, unauthorised Telegram channel. Propaganda, disinformation and violence are rife. Channels on the app reportedly sell weapons, drugs and illegally cloned bank cards. Telegram then, perhaps more than any other major app, has seemingly become a digital battlefield one on which authorities, criminals and Durov himself are engaged in a high-stakes showdown. Certainly, his arrest has been met with both outrage and relief. Russian lawmaker Maria Butina said Durov was a victim of a witch hunt by the West, adding his arrest means freedom of speech in Europe is dead. Durov does not give public interviews often, but likes to show off his toned physique on social media and post quotes by philosopher Marcus Aurelius - Pavel Durov Elon Musk, a fellow tech tycoon and free speech advocate, meanwhile used his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to call on French police to FreePavel. I dont think that we should be policing people in the way they express themselvesOtherwise, we can quickly degrade into authoritarianism, Durov himself told the Financial Times in March. Clearly, others take a different view. Durov may see his app as the product of a cast-iron commitment to privacy and freedom of expression, but critics argue it has effectively become an online wild west, acting a magnet for bad actors keen on evading tighter restrictions on rival platforms. Enough of Telegrams impunity, said one French investigator on Sunday. As Durov awaits an appearance in court, it appears that might just be the case yet. But in a defiant statement issued late on Sunday, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, adding its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform, the statement said. Were awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Former President Trump took to social media early Saturday to continue his attacks on Vice President Harris, targeting the vice president on immigration policies put in place under the Biden administration. Kamala Harris is the Weakest Presidential Candidate in History on Crime, Trump posted to his Truth Social platform. Shes allowed millions of people to pour through our Borders, many from prisons, mental institutions and, indeed, terrorists, coming in at levels never seen before, he added, claims that have not been substantiated. The latest hits come as the Trump campaign has often criticized President Bidens immigration policies and tried to paint Harris as the administrations failed border czar. The term is in reference to the vice presidents work addressing the root causes of migration in the Northern Triangle region El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Harriss momentum has picked up in recent weeks, after she rose to the top of the ticket following Bidens exit from the race. Since joining the fray, the vice president has broken fundraising records, soared in the polls, packed rallies across the country and secured key endorsements. Earlier this week, Harris officially accepted the Democratic Partys presidential nomination at the convention in Chicago. The former president has had to grapple with that enthusiasm, though hes largely brushed off concerns. Trump slammed Harris who ran against Biden in 2020 in his late-night rant, arguing that voters casted their primary ballots for Biden, not her. What gives her the right to run for President? She got no votes to Bidens 14 Million, the former president said. She failed in her previous attempt, was the first one out of 22 people to quit, never made it to Iowa, and now shes a Presidential Candidate? This is a threat to Democracy! he added. In a separate post, the GOP nominee weighed in on the unusual circumstances of the race. Trump, who was the incumbent during the 2020 race, said Harriss campaign was attempting to deflect what he called failures of the Biden administration onto him. Kamala and her handlers are trying to make it sound like I am the Incumbent President, so that they can blame me for the failure of the past four years, he said. No, it was their failure! It is one of the worst Presidencies in History, and she is definitely the Worst Vice President, he added. The criticism comes as Republicans have pressed Trump to focus less on personal insults and more on policy with the election less than three months away. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PLEASANT HILL, Iowa Pleasant Hill PD reported a water buffalo wandering through Pleasant Hill Saturday morning. Around 10 a.m. on Saturday Pleasant Hill Police Officers were called to 2060 NE 56th Street on reports of an animal in the roadway. The animal was identified as a water buffalo that had escaped its owners property. During their attempts to apprehend the water buffalo the animal became aggressive and fled the area. The buffalo headed south towards Hickory Boulevard, venturing closer to the city. Pleasant Hill PD fired one shotgun round, striking and injuring the animal. Alpacas, Butterflies and a Soiree: Whats happening at Blank Park Zoo The buffalo continued traveling south and was last seen in Little Fourmile creek near Scott Avenue and Oakwood Boulevard. For their safety, if anyone sees the water buffalo they should not approach it. If you have any information, please call the Pleasant Hill Police Department at 515-265-1444. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to who13.com. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has announced that Western Iowa Tech is among four colleges to receive federal grants to expand their commercial drivers license (CDL) training programs. According to a release, a total of $509,775 was awarded to four community colleges across Iowa, with WITCC receiving $131,000. 2nd controlled blast of Big Sioux River rail bridge to take place next month Improving pathways for eligible individuals to secure commercial drivers licenses is a simple way we can boost the economy, Grassley said. These resources will unlock good-paying jobs, address labor shortages in the trucking industry, and streamline supply chain operations. Ive seen firsthand the efficacy of commercial drivers license programs in Iowa and am confident our community colleges will use this federal investment to build on their proven successes. The release noted that this comes after Grassley met with Hawkeye Community College students who were earning their commercial driving credentials in 2021. Grassley set out to bolster the Iowa trucking workforce by encouraging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to allow individuals 18 or older to qualify for CDLs. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. TOKYO, Aug 26 (News On Japan) - A 29-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in her 40s after following her on a motorcycle as she disembarked from a bus in Hachioji City, Tokyo. The suspect, Rikiya Naito, an executive at a construction company in Hachioji City, was taken into custody on suspicion of causing injury during an indecent act without consent. Naito is accused of chasing the woman for several meters after she got off the bus late at night on July 4th, pushing her down, and causing injuries such as bruises to her right elbow. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Naito had no prior acquaintance with the woman. He allegedly followed the bus on his motorcycle for several minutes, waited for the woman to disembark alone, and then attacked her in a back alley. Naito has partially denied the allegations, claiming that his intent was not indecent. In a separate incident in Hachioji City, another woman was also attacked after getting off a bus. The police are investigating a possible connection between the two cases. Source: TBS By Lucky Obewho-Isawode The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has overturned the judgement of a Federal High Court which ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to allow the participation of 381 ad-hoc delegates in its February 22 primary election in Edo State. The primary election produced Asue Ighodalo as the candidate of the party in the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state. A three-man panel of the appellate court set aside the judgement of Justice Inyang Ekwo delivered on the 4th of July, 2024, on the grounds that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit of the aggrieved delegates in the first place, having lacked the necessary legal rights to initiate the suit. In a unanimous decision, the court held that it cannot interfere with how the PDP select its candidate for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State. In a similar suit filed by eight other delegates, the Court of Appeal held that a political party is like a club and members who join such parties must abide by the rules and having freely joined such parties, the court cannot intervene in the internal issues of the party. The court further held that candidates who did not participate in an election lack the locus to challenge the outcome of the election and as such, ad-hoc delegates lack the locus to challenge the outcome of the PDP primary election in Edo State. Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in July voided the PDP governorship election in Edo State on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the primary election were unlawfully excluded by the party. The suit was instituted by one Kelvin Mohammed in a representative capacity. Justice Ekwo held that both the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the PDP guidelines were violated in the conduct of the primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital. Justice Ekwo, who said that Exhibit PDP 1 tendered by the party was bereft of evidence, held that the plaintiffs, through the exhibits tendered, were able to establish their case against the defendants. The judge said that from the exhibit presented by the PDP, he found that the returning officers who prepared the result sheets only sat down in a place to manufacture the outcome of the poll. He said the exclusion of the 381 delegates, including the plaintiffs, was against the provisions of the law. Justice Ekwo held that, though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 1st defendant, filed a memorandum of appearance in the suit, it was unfortunate that the Commission did not file any process in the case. According to the judge, the 1st defendants counsel only said it would be bound by the decision of the court. I found that the case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit, he had said. The three aggrieved ad-hoc delegates, on behalf of the 378 others, had sued INEC, the PDP, its national secretary, and the vice chairman, South-South as 1st to 4th defendants respectively. In the suit, the plaintiffs sought two orders. These include an order for the defendants or their agents not to act but to show cause why the reliefs of the plaintiffs in their originating summons should not be granted concerning the plan of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants to exclude them and 378 other delegates, whose names and election results are contained in Exhibits BID 8A to 8L, from participating in the primaries of Feb. 22 in Edo. The plaintiffs, which include Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa, and Ederaho Osagie, on behalf of others in 12 local government areas and 127 wards, averred that it would be in the interest of justice for their reliefs to be granted. The 381 delegates are those loyal to the embattled Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu. Resident Doctors in UATH during a solidarity walk in Abuja on Friday, to seek the release of their kidnapped, Ganiyat Popoola on August 17, 2024. By Sola Ogundipe The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has embarked on a seven-day warning strike over the abduction of their colleague, Dr Ganiyat Popoola, who has been in kidnappers den for eight months. The President of NARD, Dr Dele Abdullahi, announced the strike during a virtual emergency meeting of the National Executive Council held Sunday. Abdullahi said the strike, which commenced at midnight on Monday, August 26, 2024, is a warning but total in effect. The strike is total, and there will be no concessions or emergency care during this period. All centres, both federal and state, should ensure full compliance, even as proper handover of patients to consultants should be done. Any centre found to have defaulted on the decision of NARD would be fined heavily and denied participation in the forthcoming NARD AGM. A registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, Popoola, was abducted on December 27, 2023, along with her husband and nephew. Her husband was released in March, while Popoola and her nephew remain in captivity. Members of NARD had earlier protested in all tertiary hospitals across the nation to demand Popoolas release. By Musliudeen Adebayo The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Akinloye Olakulehin Ige Olakulehin 1 has said Ibadan has told investors that the city has arable land suitable for agricultural production. The traditional ruler said this when he received the Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Pieter Leenknegt who paid him a courtesy visit at the new Olubadan Palace, on Monday. Olakulehin who spoke through the Otun Balogun of Ibadanland, Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, noted that there are vast hectares of arable land in Ibadan suitable and available for agricultural production which require international partnership, funding and support to boost food production in the nation. He listed some locations of arable land including Egbeda, Ona Ara, Oluyole, Ido, Lagelu and Akinyele local government areas where potentials for large-scale production of agricultural products abound in Ibadan land. He said, Kabiesi is happy to receive you and your team this morning. Ibadan is one of the largest cities in Africa. We have major resources here in Ibadan. We have vast arable land in Ibadan that is suitable for agricultural production in large scale quantity. Land is available abundantly in Oluyole, Egbeda, Ona Ara, Ido, Lagelu and Akinyele that are suitable for agricultural production. We want you to tap from the opportunity to boost food production, especially at this point in our nation. Leenknegt in his address, said his visit was to tap from the experiences of the Olubadan and the council for a successful foray in Nigerias agricultural sector during his tenure in Nigeria. The Belgian Ambassador who was accompanied by the Advisor in Economic Diplomacy for Nigeria, Kingdom of Belgium, Genco Sanli and Manager, Resource Mobilisation, Protocol and External Liaison of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Florence Oluwatoyin Oke had earlier disclosed the Belgian Governments activities and interventions within Nigerias agricultural sector. He added that his visit was also aimed at enhancing agricultural production, trade and finance between Nigeria and Belgium. We have spent some days at IITA. Agriculture is one of the areas we are working on which is in line with the agenda of the current administration in the country. Cocoa production. We have CRIN in Ibadan. Oyo state has been a major producer of cocoa. We want to see how we can boost cocoa production in Nigeria and through this we will enhance trade and finance. This brought me to Oyo State. So, I am very glad to be here and I will also be glad to have words of wisdom from you that will guide me for a successful tenure in the office. By Shina Abubakar, Osogbo Osun State Government on Monday the outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) in Ilesa-West local government area of the state. The Commissioner for Health, Barr. Jola Akintola who made the confirmation, in a statement in the Ministry of Information bulletin, also urged residents of Ilesa and the State not to panic, as the state is managing the situation effectively. He added that the State Government has activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC), to curtail the spread of the disease. His words, We successfully managed COVID-19 and prevented a cholera outbreak. Now, with two confirmed M-pox cases, the EOC has been activated, and stakeholders will meet every Monday to strategize on preventing the spread of the virus. Details later . Kevin Virgil, who unsuccessfully ran against Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Republican 4th Congressional District primary, is asking western Iowans to consider voting for the Democrat this November. Virgil, who lost to Feenstra by 20 points in the June primary, posted an article on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday to explain why he supports a split ticket in 4th District this year. At the top of the ticket, Virgil, who attempted to run to Feenstra's right in the primary, told voters to back former President Donald Trump. For the House of Representatives though, he said residents should consider Democratic Party candidate Ryan Melton who previously ran against Feenstra in 2022. "Obviously this is not a typical endorsement as today's politicians are expected to place party loyalty above all," Virgil wrote. "My phone has thus been ringing off the hook for the past 24 hours. Many people are support, more than a few are upset, and I'm sure that a silent majority have questions as to why I would make such an unusual proposal." Virgil went on to say voters in the 4th District, which Feenstra has represented for two terms, are holding their noses and voting for the congressman from Hull because Republicans have such a massive advantage in the district. "For most of them, voting any other way would be unthinkable regardless of how bad their party's candidate might be," Virgil wrote. "But that blind party loyalty hasn't helped our state and brought forth serious problems." What Virgil considered serious problems for the state includes a dip in Iowa's public education ranking, an uptick in cancer diagnoses (Iowa ranks second in the country) and a child poverty rate of 12%. Virgil, who was supported in the primary by former Republican Rep. Steve King, said because of party loyalty too many voters are tolerant of "bad leaders" and said things won't change unless voters send a message. "That's why I am proposing a vote for Ryan Melton this November," he said. "Ryan and I disagree on many issues right to life, taxation, etc. But he's pragmatic and knows that Western Iowa is a highly conservative district. I believe that he has good character and will represent us well certainly better than our current congressman." Melton welcomed the news and took to X to say, "I appreciate Kevin's bravery here in highlighting the backslide we are seeing in so many vital quality of life indicators in the state under Republican control. I agree with him that it's a matter of leadership. Many Democrats speak fondly of a Republican leader that once ran this state, Gov. Bob Ray. The modern Republican Party needs to get back to being true stewards of the state instead of extractors of our wealth to their donors." Feenstra's campaign slammed the announcement from Virgil. In a text message, campaign spokesman Billy Fuerst said the news about Virgil wasn't a shock, calling him a "New York liberal." Virgil was pursuing a career on Wall Street until 9/11, after which he joined the CIA as a case officer and served overseas. "It's no surprise that New York liberal Kevin Virgil has endorsed anti-Trump liberal Ryan Melton," Fuerst said. "Virgil is an east coast liberal and chose to endorse a Democrat that would block the Trump agenda at every opportunity. This November, Iowans will reject the radical Virgil-Melton agenda and elect conservative champion Randy Feenstra." The 4th District GOP primary was marked by a number of attacks lobbed by both candidates. Virgil and King called a Feenstra ad a "montage of lies." In a conversation with the Sioux City Journal, Feenstra called it the act of "desperate people." The Feenstra campaign also hit Virgil for not being sufficiently supportive of Israel and for calling whistleblower Edward Snowden a patriot. In a possible third term, Feenstra said he would want to focus on stricter immigration measures and tax cuts. Feenstra has called for the building of a border wall and pushed for extending the 2017 tax cuts. Among other issues, Melton's campaign has prioritized addressing: health care and prescription drug prices, the cost of child care, public school funding and a federally-mandated living wage. Virgil intends to run again in the 2026 Republican primary for the 4th District. At the conclusion of its meeting in Sirte on Sunday, the 5+5 Joint Military Commission reassured all Libyans of the ceasefires stability, referencing the agreement signed in October 2020 under UN auspices in Geneva. The Commission emphasized that all Committees responsible for implementing and monitoring the agreement continue their work with dedication and sincerity. The meeting was attended by military and security leaders from both the General Staff of the Libyan Army in Tripoli and Khalifa Haftars forces, as well as Stephanie Koury, the Acting Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, and other UN mission officials. In its statement, the Commission addressed concerns about the security and political situation affecting the ceasefire agreement and the implementation of its provisions. It denied claims that it had abandoned its role, asserting that such reports are mere fabrication. The Commission clarified that its mandate is focused on overseeing the ceasefire and its implementation, not on unifying the military institution, expelling mercenaries, or organizing armed groupstasks which fall under the jurisdiction of the states executive bodies. The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to operate from its headquarters in Sirte and to limit meetings there until its mission is complete. It acknowledged the impact of political division on the implementation of the ceasefire and national security and stated that it will update Libyans on its position in the coming days. A devastating attack in central Burkina Faso has left the nation in shock, with reports suggesting up to 200 people dead and at least 140 injured. The assault, which targeted civilians engaged in digging defensive trenches, marks a terrifying escalation in the ongoing conflict that has plagued the country for years. The brazen attack took place near the strategic town of Kaya, sparking fear into the hearts of those who see it as the last line of defense before the capital. In a cruel twist of fate, the very trenches meant to protect became mass graves for innocent victims, including men, women, and children. This tragic event underscores the dire security situation in Burkina Faso, where armed groups have gained control over vast swathes of territory. The governments desperate measures, including enlisting civilian support for defensive efforts, highlight the mounting pressure on a nation struggling to maintain order. The attack has reignited debates about Burkina Fasos recent shift in alliances, having severed ties with Western partners in favor of new supporters. Yet, despite these changes, the security situation appears to be deteriorating rapidly, with violence edging ever closer to the heart of the country. As Burkina Faso grapples with this latest tragedy, the international community is forced to confront the harsh realities of a crisis that has displaced millions and claimed thousands of lives. The road ahead remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the people of Burkina Faso are crying out for peace in a land torn apart by conflict. In a proactive move to safeguard public health, Malawi has launched comprehensive screening measures for mpox at all its entry points. This decisive action comes in the wake of the countrys first two suspected cases, sending ripples of concern through the nation and putting health authorities on high alert. The threat of mpox looms large over Africa, with a particularly virulent strain wreaking havoc in neighboring countries. As the virus continues its march across the continent, Malawi finds itself in a race against time to prevent a full-blown outbreak within its borders. Health officials are adopting a multi-pronged approach to tackle the potential crisis. While mass vaccination isnt on the cards, the country prioritizing high-risk individuals for immunization. Simultaneously, a massive awareness campaign is underway, leveraging community health networks to educate the public about the virus and its prevention. In the capital city of Lilongwe, a state-of-the-art mobile diagnostic unit stands ready to detect and respond to potential cases swiftly. Community health workers are at the forefront of this battle, tirelessly working to spread crucial information and promote safe practices among the population. As one of the few Southern African nations yet to face an mpox outbreak, Malawi stands at a critical juncture. The coming days and weeks will test the countrys preparedness and resilience in the face of this emerging threat. For now, the nation holds its breath, hoping that swift action and vigilance will keep the virus at bay. Means to further expand defense cooperation between Morocco and Ethiopia were discussed at separate meetings in Rabat between Moroccan military officials and Field Marshal Birhanu Jula Gelalcha, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, who is on an official visit to the Kingdom at the head of a large military delegation this August 25 through 29. Field Marshal Gelalcha first reviewed with Minister in charge of National Defence Administration Abdellatif Loudiyi bilateral cooperation in the field of defense and opportunities to further strengthen this cooperation.The two officials expressed satisfaction with the excellent level of friendship and cooperation relations between the two countries, as well as their shared willingness to consolidate these exemplary ties in the future, the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces said in a press release. The Ethiopian Official later on held a meeting with Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of the South Zone, the Lieutenant General Mohammed Berrid to discuss the various aspects of bilateral cooperation, and ways of strengthening this cooperation and extending it to other areas of common interest, the press release said. The two sides welcomed the level of relations between the two armies. Relations between Morocco and Ethiopia, rooted in a rich and deep history, have been revitalized since the historic visit King Mohammed VI paid to Addis Ababa in 2016. These relations are gearing towards a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening the two countries common objectives while actively contributing to the development and stability of the African continent, the press release said. Germanys state-owned media, DW, published a detailed article highlighting the success of Moroccos diplomacy in defending the Kingdoms sovereignty over the Sahara territory, while framing the dispute as opposing Morocco to Algeria through its Polisario proxies. Moroccos strategy on the Western Sahara has paid off, was the headline of the article which enumerates the diplomatic gains made by Morocco in recent years, notably after France joined a long list of countries that back the Kingdoms sovereignty over the Sahara. The conflict is on its way to the end wrote DW, saying Over the past years, Morocco has gained more and more support for its claim on the region and this summer, France changed its diplomatic stance, too. French President Emmanuel Macron had expressed Paris position regarding the Sahara issue in a letter to King Mohammed VI on the Throne Day last month, stating that France considers the Sahara as part of Moroccos past, present and future sovereignty and that his country will act accordingly. France also made it clear that the autonomy plan is the only political solution to the conflict. The US has preceded France in recognizing Moroccos full sovereignty over the Sahara, followed by a Spanish position that recognizes autonomy under Moroccos sovereignty as the only solution to the conflict. Germany has backed the autonomy plan, while 28 countries have already opened consulates in the Sahara territory, bringing their support for Moroccos territorial integrity to a tangible level. The DW report echoes recent analyses in international Think Tanks, such as the US Institute of Peace, which published a paper stating that the conflict opposing Morocco to Algeria and its Polisario proxies is over, with global heavyweights backing Moroccos territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Sahara. The DW paper also frames the Sahara conflict as opposing Morocco to Algeria, which has been using its Polisario proxies for decades to no avail. However, the DW lacked fact checking with regards to the number of Sahrawis held in the Polisario-run camps in Algerias Tindouf. DW puts the number at 173,000 although the UN has repeatedly called on Algerian authorities and the Polisario militias to allow a census. DW also claimed that the UN backs the referendum option, which had been agreed by the parties in 1991 but failed to materialize due to disagreements. Since 2007, the UN Security council has been calling the parties- including Algeria- to seek a politically feasible solution based on compromise, while considering the autonomy option as serious as credible. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images While the entire media and political worlds were focused on the Democratic Partys historic presidential nomination of Kamala Harris in Chicago last week, we nearly overlooked this great moment in the annals of prosecutorial fortitude: The Manhattan District Attorneys Office bravely declared that it would defer to the Court on whether Donald Trump should be sentenced before the election, or after, or maybe never. Thats right, folks. Prosecutors who, by vocational definition, must defer to the judge announced that they had no view on the matter and would, in fact, defer to the judge. Its the old We take no position cop-out. (Ill admit Ive done it myself when convenient a time or two.) Were talking here, of course, about Trumps sentencing following his conviction by a Manhattan jury for 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to 2016 hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. After the jury returned its verdict, Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July, following the normal timeline. But then, almost exactly a month after the verdict came down, the U.S. Supreme Court dropped a whopper of its own in the presidential-immunity ruling. That decision arose from a different case, Jack Smiths federal prosecution of Trump for 2020 election subversion but its repercussions hit the Manhattan case first. How on earth, you might reasonably wonder, could Trump have any kind of presidential immunity when the hush-money payments happened before he became president? The (undeniably obscure) answer is that, while the vast majority of the prosecutions evidence did focus on Trumps pre-presidential conduct, certain pieces of the case did relate to his time in office. For example, he spoke with White House communications director Hope Hicks about how to respond publicly to media accounts of the hush-money payments. The DA also introduced testimony from White House aide Madeleine Westerhout about how Trump conducted his daily business reviewing memos, taking phone calls in the Oval Office. And prosecutors used evidence of statements made by Trump through official White House communications channels (including Twitter) while he was president. Its a thin foothold for the defense, but its not nothing, and its not utterly ridiculous. And so, just 11 days after the Supreme Courts ruling dropped, Trumps lawyers asked Judge Merchan to toss out the conviction. Some of the evidence used at the Manhattan trial should have been barred based on newly announced immunity principles, Trumps team argued, and therefore the jurys verdict was tainted and should be vacated. The DA objected. They argued that the evidence of Trumps conduct while he was president had nothing to do with his actual presidential duties and therefore is not entitled to immunity. And even if the evidence was improperly admitted, prosecutors claimed, it was what lawyers call harmless error no big deal, essentially, because there was plenty of other evidence to support the conviction, and the tainted evidence was minor anyway. The problem here is that the prosecution boasted to the jury during closing arguments that the Hicks and Westerhout testimony was utterly devastating and critical pieces of the puzzle. Im fairly confident Judge Merchan will side with the DA here and rule against Trump. If so, Trump will get to appeal on the immunity issue, and others to the midlevel New York Appellate Division and then, potentially, to New Yorks top state court, the Court of Appeals. After that, the U.S. Supreme Court itself might choose to take a look. The big question, as it is so often when it comes to the Trump prosecutions, is simply: When? More precisely as to the instant dilemma: Should the Judge impose sentence before or after Trump takes up that immunity appeal? And heres where the Manhattan DAs Office took a pass rather than an actual position. Up to you, judge; we dont care, they told him this week. If Judge Merchan chooses to let Trump appeal the immunity issue first, then were looking at months, and maybe more than a year, of delay before sentencing. If not, then sentencing can go forward as soon as September 18, as currently scheduled just six weeks before Election Day. This is where politics collide with the criminal-justice process. If Judge Merchan were to sentence Trump to anything short of prison time probation, fines, and other lightweight penalties then itll be widely seen to lend credence to Trumps claim that the entire prosecution was a big whoop about nothing. If, however, the judge does impose a prison sentence, that could directly impact the election. On one hand, a prison sentence would further tarnish Trump in a tangible way. How can we elect a guy whos not only a convicted felon but is also actually going to prison (though not right away, as the judge almost certainly would let Trump finish his appeals before serving any time)? On the other hand, a prison sentence would certainly rally (and, lets be real, enrage) Trumps core supporters and, more importantly, perhaps moderate voters who view the Manhattan DAs case as an unjustified use of prosecutorial power for political means. Even folks who dislike Trump could well be uneasy with him losing his liberty, actually getting thrown in a prison jumper and locked up and separated from his family, for this case. (The January 6 and classified-documents cases are far less likely to move moderates, given the obvious gravity of those charges.) But now, with Trumps new request to delay sentencing pending his immunity appeal and the Manhattan DAs passive non-position an off-ramp suddenly opens up before Judge Merchan. He can rule in Trumps favor, without opposition from the DA, and put off the whole hot mess until after the appeal and, in effect, until way after the election. I dont know what Judge Merchan will decide on this timing issue or have much of an inclination either way. But judges are human beings in black robes and, like the rest of us, theyre naturally drawn to paths of least resistance. If Judge Merchan does grant a postponement pending appeal, then Trump wont face sentencing until (far) after the election and, if he wins either that election or his appeal, perhaps ever. This article also appeared in the free CAFE Brief newsletter. You can find more analysis of law and politics from Elie Honig, Preet Bharara, Joyce Vance, and other CAFE contributors at CAFE.com Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images Just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris seemed to do the impossible: They agreed on something. Their teams officially came to terms on a September 10 presidential debate, an ABC Newshosted forum that was initially agreed to by President Joe Biden back in May. But the Trump and Harris campaigns are now reportedly at odds over the terms of the debate, particularly surrounding the potential use of a mute button by the moderators. The first indication of trouble came from Trump, who floated the possibility of skipping the ABC News debate altogether on Truth Social. In a post on Sunday, Trump denounced a morning interview on the network with Senator Tom Cotton as containing a so-called Panel of Trump Haters, writing, I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? On Monday, Politico reported that the two campaigns had reached a stalemate over whether the candidates microphones could be muted. When Trump and Biden consented to this face-off and the ill-fated June debate, their camps had agreed to allow moderators to turn off their mics whenever they werent responding in an effort to prevent noisy cross talk. However, Harris, who wasnt part of those negotiations at the time, is in favor of keeping the microphones live. The vice-president is likely hoping to capitalize on Trumps tendency to go off-script, especially as he continues to adapt to the last-minute shift in candidates from Biden to Harris. We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates mics should be live throughout the full broadcast. Our understanding is that Trumps handlers prefer the muted microphone because they dont think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own, Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon said in a statement to the outlet. But the Trump campaign sees this as a change to the debate parameters that had already been set. In a statement, campaign spokesman Jason Miller wrote that they said No changes to the agreed upon rules after the two camps agreed on the September 10 debate. My guess is that theyre looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump, he said. Trump weighed in on the subject during a campaign stop in Virginia on Monday. The New York Times reports that Trump said he and his team were still considering whether he should take part in the ABC debate. On the microphones situation, he did appear open to having them live. We agreed to the same rules. I dont know, doesnt matter to me. Id rather have it probably on, Trump said. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. .@jake__traylor: "Would you want the microphones muted in the debate whenever you're not speaking?" Donald Trump: "We agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me. ... The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted." pic.twitter.com/l7d7Odd7cb NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) August 26, 2024 After Trumps comments, Fallon responded on X, saying that the September meeting should still be on. Trump said unmuting the mics doesnt matter to me. Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally. With this resolved, everything is now set for Sept 10th, he wrote. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that ABC News had provided the official ground rules for the September 10 debate both campaigns. Trump and Harris will be barred from having written notes, the candidatess microphones will be muted when theyre not speaking and there will be no live audience, the same rules as the June debate between Biden and Trump. However, Fallon said on X that the Harris campaign and ABC remain in discussions about the rules, indicating that they still opposed having muted mics. There are also still questions about a second potential meeting between the candidates. Earlier this month, Trump urged Harris on social media to accept a Fox News debate in September with a FULL ARENA AUDIENCE. That would be a shift from the June debate against Biden, which happened without a live audience conditions agreed upon by both campaigns. A rescue boat last week searches the waters of Sicily where Mike Lynchs super yacht Bayesian sank in a freak storm. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images The sinking of tech billionaire Mike Lynchs yacht in a freak storm off the Sicilian coast last week certainly has to rank among the most bizarre fatal celebrity accidents in years. There was the weird coincidence that Lynch had just gotten acquitted after a yearslong legal battle over a multibillion-dollar fraud; the eerie synchrony of the same-day death of his co-defendant after being struck by car while jogging; the fact that the $40 million vessel had been described as virtually unsinkable; the fact no vessel that size had been sunk by a waterspout in centuries; and the fact that the area where it struck is not known for waterspouts. But perhaps the wildest thing about the whole saga is the yachts name, Bayesian. It refers to a method of statistical calculation that was originally devised by an 18th-century Presbyterian minister, Thomas Bayes. Lynch named his yacht after Bayess method in recognition of its role in building his fortune. In short, he had honored a method of calculating probabilities only to be killed aboard its namesake by an accumulation of wildly off-the-chart improbabilities. The irony is tragic, says British science journalist Tom Chivers, who writes for Semafor and published a book this year on Bayesian statistics called Everything Is Predictable. Its not a subtle irony. Bayes is the maths of prediction. This sequence of events is just spectacularly unlikely. Its as if Charles Kane had been crushed to death under a giant rosebud. How did we get here? In statistics, total probability is calculated by multiplying together all the component probabilities. So lets look at the individual parts of the case. The name Mike Lynch was something of a black-swan event in himself. Until he came along, the U.K. had never before had a software billionaire. The son of a fireman and a nurse who had immigrated from Ireland, Lynch grew up in England, then rose above his humble roots by attending Cambridge University. After graduating, he returned to Cambridge to earn a Ph.D. in signal processing, then stayed on to conduct postdoctoral research in neural networks, the data-processing technology that underlies machine learning. In 1990, while still a student, he founded his first company at the age of 25 with a loan of 2,000 from an eccentric acquaintance he made in a bar. His research had led him to understand that by using neural networks computers could sift through unstructured data to find information that a user wanted. To do this, a program needed to assemble a vast number of interrelated probabilities and then update these probabilities as new information came in using Bayess formula. In 1996, he founded a separate company, Autonomy, to do just that. Lynch was way ahead of the curve in seeing the technologys commercial potential. At the time, the field was struggling through a so-called AI winter: Research had stalled, and the processors hadnt yet been developed that would allow for the creation of the large language models of today. But Lynchs foresight served him well. By 2000, the company was worth more than a billion dollars and Lynch was being lauded as the U.K.s answer to Bill Gates. In 2011, he sold Autonomy to Hewlett Packard for $11 billion. It was a tremendous coup for a former scholarship boy. He used some of the money to buy a 184-foot long yacht named Salute from a Dutch property developer named John Groenewoud, who had bought it new for nearly $40 million in 2008. At the time it was built, the yachts 237-foot-high aluminum mast was the tallest in the world. Lynch renamed it after the kind of statistics that had made his fortune: Bayesian. The rap Lynchs luck soon turned. After the deal closed, HP realized that Autonomys revenues were largely fictitious and that the deal it had staked so much on was in fact a dog what one analyst later dubbed the worst, most value-destroying deal in the history of corporate America. HP wrote down the investment by $8.8 billion. The company fired its CEO, and the company broke up into two parts. A lot of people were pissed. HP blamed willful effort on behalf of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company in order to mislead investors. These suspicions were the basis for a series of legal actions, and in 2019 U.S. prosecutors indicted Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomys former vice-president of finance, on fraud charges that carried a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Lynchs own lawyers called it one of Silicon Valleys biggest-ever fraud cases. The trial took a long time to unfold in part because Lynch waged a yearslong battle against extradition from the U.K. to the United States, a battle he finally lost in 2023. This past March, his trial began in San Francisco. The New York Times noted that Mr. Lynchs odds do not look good. (Former Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain had already been convicted on similar charges and sentenced to five years in prison.) But Lynch and Chamberlain beat the odds. On June 6, a jury found both men not guilty on all counts. Lynchs win is extremely unusual in federal criminal cases, as the New York Post reported. In fact, only less than 1% of federal cases ended in acquittal in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. The sinking Lynch decided to celebrate with a Mediterranean cruise aboard Bayesian. The yacht was to carry its full complement of ten crew and 12 guests. Invited along with Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were several people who had helped secure his freedom, including lawyer Christopher Morvillo of the firm Clifford Chance and Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, who had testified to Lynchs good character at his trial. Not on the guest list was his co-defendant. Three days after Bayesian set sail, Chamberlain was back in England and jogging near Cambridge when he was struck by a car. Severely injured, he was taken to the hospital and put on life support. Bayesian was off on a meandering course through the Tyrrhenian Sea. It wandered among the Aeolian Islands of Pecorini, Malfa, and Lipari, then stopped at the port of Milazzo on August 14. From there, it sailed westward along the northern coast of Sicily toward Palermo. On the evening of Sunday, August 18, it anchored about 300 yards from the harbor of Porticello, where severe thunderstorms had been forecast. We all knew that a storm was coming and that during that night it was better to keep the boats inside the port, a local fisherman later told the BBC. Under certain very specific conditions, thunderstorms can yield tornadoes. When these occur over water, they are called waterspouts, but in every other regard the phenomena are identical, says Wade Szilagi, director of the International Centre for Waterspout Research. Tornadoes are measured according to the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with EF5 being the strongest with winds of up to 300 miles per hour. Like tornadoes, waterspouts are more likely to be found in areas where the meteorological conditions are favorable for their development, such as the Florida Keys and Lake Erie. As for the region where the Bayesian sank, I wouldnt say that this is a hot spot for waterspouts, says Szilagi. Shortly before dawn the vessel was apparently struck by a waterspout of unknown size and intensity while it was riding at anchor. Violent gusts slammed the yacht from side to side, forward and back, before ripping it from its anchorage. Bayesian tipped on its side, filled with water, and sank below the waves just 15 minutes after the storm began. While nine of the crew and four of the passengers escaped, six of the passengers remained trapped in the hull, including Mike and Hannah Lynch, Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, and Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda. Their bodies were later recovered by divers. The body of the yachts cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found floating on the surface. Even given the intensity of the storm, the speed with which Bayesian sank was shocking, nearly incomprehensible, to the yachting community. I have never seen a vessel of this size go down so quickly, Karsten Borner, the captain of a sailing ship that came to the survivors aid, told the Guardian. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left. In interviews with Italian media, Giovanni Costantino, chairman of the company that built the Bayesian, said that his firms sailing yachts are unsinkable and among the safest boats in the world. It wont be entirely clear what happened until Italian authorities are able to complete their inquiry, but many, including Costantino, have speculated that the crew failed to prepare the yacht for the storm, for example by remaining at anchor and leaving hatches open to the weather. Italian prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation into the captain, James Cutfield, who survived. Even assuming gross negligence on the part of the crew, the sinking of a vessel as large and robust as the Bayesian by a waterspout is vanishingly improbable. Such events are simply exceedingly rare, and none has been so deadly in centuries. In 2004, a waterspout in Greece picked up a boat and flung it onto a 10-year-old boy, killing him. And last year, a waterspout struck a 50-foot boat on Italys Lake Maggiore, killing four. The last reported time a waterspout claimed as many victims as died on the Bayesian was back in the 16th century, when one struck a crowded harbor in Malta, killing hundreds. The same day that the Bayesian sank, U.K. police reported that Chamberlain had died in hospital of his injuries. He became one of the 165 pedestrians between the age of 25 and 59, out of a U.K. population of 42 million, to be killed each year by vehicles. The bizarreness of this string of unlikelihoods has been lost on no one. This sequence of events is just spectacularly unlikely, Chivers notes. There is this Bayesian-probability aspect to it, this building of unlikeliness upon unlikeliness. Flash This photo shows smoke caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Qusayr, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Israeli and Hezbollah forces engaged in extensive exchanges of fire early Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their longstanding conflict. Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon. The intensification of hostilities raises the risk of a broader conflict involving regional and international actors, including the United States and Iran, and threatens to undermine ongoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a protracted conflict with Hamas for over 10 months. During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. "This morning we detected Hezbollah's preparations to attack Israel," Netanyahu said. "In consultation with the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, we instructed the IDF to act proactively to remove the threat." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that around 100 Air Force fighter jets carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers. However, these attacks did not prevent Hezbollah from launching a large-scale assault on Israeli targets. Hezbollah reported firing over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel, while the IDF confirmed that about 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others causing damage and injuries. The Lebanon-based group also dismissed Israeli claims that the preemptive strikes disrupted its retaliation operations, claiming that the first round of its operations was "successful." In Acre, a coastal city in northern Israel, a woman sustained light injuries from Hezbollah shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first aid service. Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids. Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows." After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv experienced delays and flight redirections but reopened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the Israel Airports Authority. Airlines including Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, and Air France have canceled flights to Beirut due to the escalating situation. The situation remains tense as Iran and its allies threaten further retaliation for the deaths of Shokor and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has warned of a strong response if the conflict escalates, potentially targeting critical infrastructure in southern Beirut and Lebanon, where Hezbollah's main bases are located. The Houthi group in Yemen and Hamas have both praised Hezbollah's actions on Sunday. The Houthi group, which has launched many attacks against Israeli targets, congratulated Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah for what it described as a "significant and courageous attack" against Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened on Sunday morning an emergency meeting to assess the situation and called for international intervention to halt "the Israeli aggression." Egypt has cautioned about the risks of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, calling for calm and deescalation. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to maintain Lebanon's stability and prevent a state of "comprehensive instability" in the region. Egypt is hosting high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and discussing the release of hostages held by Hamas. The talks are expected to include U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt's chief intelligence official, Abbas Kamel. Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea is also anticipated. Hamas has sent a delegation to Cairo for briefings but is not participating directly in the negotiations. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty One of Joe Bidens many electoral problems before he dropped out of the presidential race was his waning popularity with Latino voters. In 2020, Republicans had made surprising inroads among this large and complex group in some states, and while Democrats had reversed many of those gains in the 2022 midterms, Bidens unpopularity threatened the fragile status quo. Then came Kamala Harris, whose entry into the race has moved the needle among many voting blocs, but Latinos in particular. To figure out why, I spoke with Carlos Odio, a co-founder of Equis Research, a data and research firm focusing on the Latino electorate that conducts well-respected polls. Before that, Odio worked at a progressive nonprofit and in the Obama White House. We discussed why Harris has turned the tide, at least for now, among Latino voters, the effect of RFK Jr.s exit from the race, and how Democrats abandoned Duolingo politics. Equiss most recent findings showed Kamala Harris dramatically outperforming Joe Bidens recent results among Latino voters while still not quite matching his final 2020 numbers. This may be a basic question, but why do you think Harris is doing so well among this bloc suddenly? Is it more that Biden was just so personally unpopular, or that younger people in general across the country are breaking for her? What do you think is the dominant reason? When you look at who Kamala Harris picked up almost immediately, it was Democratic-leaning Latinos. Almost 60 percent of them had voted for Biden in 2020, and the rest had not voted in 2020. It was a younger voter: 60 percent of those she picked up were under the age of 40. And so youre talking about voters who simply were not happy with the choices in front of them. A third of them were double haters they disliked both Biden and Trump. They didnt like the choices in front of them. It felt like a Sophies choice. They had been beleaguered by crisis over the previous two years, right? You come out of the pandemic, and its high prices, its school shootings, its wars, and its a border situation thats moving into the cities. And so they werent happy with the status quo and didnt feel confident that the president was the person who could lead them out of that crisis. At the same time, they had Trump, who they had major concerns about still do but could say, Well, in comparison, at least I had more money in my pocket when he was president. There was real cross-pressure, which meant that many of them were simply on the sidelines. Others were Trump-curious. Some of them moved all the way to Trump. But when you offer option C, which is Lets turn the page, lets have a new generation of leadership, it is an outlet, right? It is an escape. And one that brings a great relief and excitement for someone who was already more inclined to vote for Democrats. Youre talking about turning the page, but of course Kamala Harris has been Joe Bidens vice-president for three and a half years and helped preside over many of the issues that you just mentioned that were bugging Latino voters. So Im trying to figure out if theres any concrete policy points shes putting out that are winning over these voters. Or is it more, for lack of a better word, vibes? Yeah, look, it is vibes, but I dont demean vibes. The dirty secret of democracy is that voters including swing voters, including swing Latinos are not sitting down and considering two policy agendas, and then opting for the one that they prefer the most. The reality is that youre thinking, Who cares more about people like me? Who, when it comes time to make decisions, has me in mind? Which is something that Biden polled well on in 2020. But by now, he may be seen as too old to care properly. Anytime you have a crisis, the natural instinct, especially among voters who are not especially partisan, is to punish the incumbent. If they werent doing it to a greater extent, its because of concerns about Trump. But thats a natural instinct. Punish the incumbent. In fact, a lot of what youre seeing globally has been a movement to punish the incumbent regardless of ideology. And in addition, you had a leader who it wasnt just age, it was a sense of a lack of energy or vitality to be able to actually steer us out of the ditch. He was particularly flagging among certain blocs of voters, younger voters generally, but younger Black and Latino voters especially. Yeah, I would say it was a kind of voter who was never especially partisan. Not the core base. Right. It was people who did not grow up hard-core Democrats. And I think this is a misunderstanding, perhaps, that some have about what a swing Latino is. A swing Latino is someone who, all things being equal, tends to break for Democrats, but who is open to individual Republicans because they dont have that hard-core allegiance to the party. Its not central to their identity. And these voters care most about the issues general voters care most about, like the economy and immigration, I imagine? One hundred percent. The main thing is the economy. Of course, the economys never just the economy. The economy is also cultural. The economy is, Do you understand where me and my family are coming from? Do you fight for people like me? And so the basic snapshot that this kind of voter who doesnt pay close attention to politics has is of the Democrats being more caring and welcoming to people like them and Republicans looking out more for the rich and powerful. But, of course, circumstances can toggle that a little bit. Is this shift youre seeing more concentrated in certain states than others, and among people who hail from particular countries more than others? Like more among Mexican Americans than Cuban Americans, for example? We are foremost evangelists of the idea that Latinos are not a monolith. There are so many different divisions, whether its country of origin, whether its generation, whether its language, that divide the communitys attitudes. But we are still a group. The Latino identity still carries a lot of weight as you are making decisions in American politics. And the kind of movement we have been seeing in the Trump era cuts across the traditional lines of the traditional divisions. Similarly, the movement for Harris right now has cut across the demographic subgroups. It is not specific to any one place. In fact, we even see it in Florida, which is the one state where the Democratic decline continued after 2020 whereas it had been halted in the more competitive states of Nevada and Arizona, even Pennsylvania or Georgia. Shifts right now are fairly uniform across states, across country of origin, and so on. RFK Jr. dropped out of the presidential race on Friday. His fairly strong numbers in places like Nevada and Arizona, at least a few months ago, were one reason why Bidens numbers in those places were so tepid. He has been declining in polls recently, and the Harris team doesnt seem very worried about him dropping out. But do you think its a problem for them that he has endorsed Trump? Where do you think his support will go? Kennedy was polling well with Latinos at a certain point at the height of discontent. With Harris, we saw him polling at his lowest numbers this cycle. Which is still 9 percent in your latest poll. Hes at 9 percent, thats right. At some point, he was as high as 19. Nine percent is his lowest, but still fairly high. And he just added another element of unpredictability. In our latest poll, he was, for the first time, pulling more from Trump than Harris. But overall, if you are Democrats, you are happy to have him off the ticket because you already have enough dynamism. It was adding another element of dynamism that you didnt quite need. You need people to understand this as a two-way choice. Is it fair to say his popularity when he was polling at his highest had more to do with people hating the other two candidates than it did about his own appeal? Youre absolutely right. Kennedy was an option for people who didnt like the Sophies choice, with a name that felt like it was creating a permission structure for someone who is more inclined toward Democrats. As long as they didnt Google him. Thats right. And, in fact, once they learned more information about him, it shifted, and what was left behind was a more Trumpian vote. Democrats have taken a lot of flack for not doing enough to reach Latino voters over the years. What have you made of what youve seen so far from the Harris campaign in terms of outreach so far? Theyve created a bilingual WhatsApp channel for Latino voters, I read. So much of this is not rocket science so much of this is getting back to basics. Winning voters is about showing up, showing up physically, something that the Harris campaign is able to do because shes out there on the trail morning to night in a way that her predecessor could not be. She is showing up virtually and meeting people where theyre at in terms of where they get news, where theyre sharing information, whether thats WhatsApp, whether thats YouTube actually, a plurality of Latinos get their news and information from YouTube more than they get it from TV. So I would say the Harris campaign is off to a very strong start. Theyve also understood that when it comes to Latino voters, Latinos do not assume theyre invited to the party. When you put out a message, Latinos have enough of a history to know that its not always addressed to them. So you invite them to the party. But Latinos dont want to be invited to a separate party, they want to be invited to the same one as everybody else. They want to be included within the larger American story. They want to lean into their Americanness. And I think thats been one of the strengths of the Harris campaign out of the gate, and even in the speeches you saw in the convention. And even in her first Latino-focused ad, an ad that ran not just in Spanish but in English and never used the word Latino, but was clearly an invitation to Latinos while not being othering or exclusionary of others. Its not Tim Kaine speaking Spanish at rallies anymore. Yeah, its not Duolingo politics. Its speaking with cultural fluency. Harris has been tarred by Republicans for being the border czar under Biden. Do you think that could do major damage to her campaign? Views on immigration run the gamut among Latinos, as they do everyone else. Look, I wouldve said it was one of her greatest liabilities, if not her main liability, and yet Trump handed her a way out. Incumbents across the western world have had to deal with migration crises. Its part of what swept the Conservatives out in the U.K. But Trump gave her the gift of shooting down a bipartisan border bill. We heard a lot about that border bill during the convention, because what it allowed Harris to say is that Democrats want solutions at the border Maybe we always havent taken the right steps, but we have shown that were willing to reach across the aisle and do things even that anger our base in order to bring order at the border, something that all Americans, including Latinos, want. And Donald Trump torpedoed it because he wants chaos at the border because he thinks it benefits him politically. Its always hard to figure out how much that congressional stuff resonates or whether its just noise to people. Yeah, I will say weve tested immigration messaging, and youd be surprised. It is her most effective counterargument to this. Listen, at the end of the day, Democrats dont want this to be a debate about the border. If its a debate simply about the border, its a debate about law and order. And thats not the main conversation Democrats want to be having. But what they do want to do is not just walk away from the issue, but actually punch back, stop the bleeding on it, and be able to pivot to other debates, even within immigration. Part of what Trump has also done, I think, is overreached on this issue by starting to talk about the mass deportation of people whove been living and working here for decades. That is incredibly unpopular among Latinos. And among everyone. I was going to say among Latinos and everyone else. If youre saying, Lets staunch the bleeding on our current issue, lets help cities that are currently overwhelmed yeah, people have a different tack. But the moment you start saying, Lets take someone whos been in this country working for 15 years, is married to an American, has American children lets rip them out of their community and send them out of the country, theres very little support for that. Trump is taking things that, in the hands of a more disciplined and capable campaign, might have worked, but because he empowers people like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon and the Heritage Foundation, hes coming out with these wild kinds of extreme out-of-touch ideas that are helping strengthen the Democratic case. You said Democrats didnt want this to be a conversation about law and order, but they leaned into the theme at the convention, which felt like an attempt to neutralize that issue. Campaigns are about picking the right fights. When the other side punches, you punch back. But then every chance you get, you then try to pivot and pick the fight you want to have, whether thats on health care, abortion, social security, prescription-drug prices, what have you. Whens your next poll coming out? Were in the field right now. Id say whats interesting for all of the movement, Kamala Harris still is not fully defined. What makes you say that? Well, shes only burst into the scene in the last few weeks in a real way. Shes already captured a lot of the vote, as weve said. The voters who are left just simply havent heard that much about her. They havent got an opportunity, really, because theyre not the ones who are going to tune in to 12 hours of a Democratic convention. But they might see two minutes on YouTube. They might see clips, especially if shared by those around them. There are voters who overwhelmingly take their cues from people around them because theyre not especially political. This is why Harriss new social-media dominance actually is important, because it helps shape impressions of her. Shes still lagging behind where Biden was in 2020 among Latino voters, but it seems like theres an opportunity to match those numbers. Shes got running room. Oh, she still has running room for sure. And 15 percent of Latinos are in one of our persuadable categories, right? Theres still a lot of unknowns, like the fact that at least 30 percent of Latinos who vote in 2024 wont have voted in 2020. That segment is a hard segment to pin down, especially because many of them are deciding whether to vote at the same time theyre deciding who to vote for as much as we try to put up this false wall between mobilization and persuasion. And so you dont know which of them are going to turn out. And they are the swingiest element of the electorate more broadly, are these low-propensity irregular voters who dont have fully formed partisan identities. And theyre hardest to poll as well. For sure. So there are lots of unknowns. I think so much of what youre seeing now from her campaign really is about reassurance, because at the end of the day, voters want to be, especially swing voters at this point, want to be on the side of the feel-good campaign, of the hopeful campaign, of the joyful campaign, but they need to be reassured that the kind of change theyre voting for is not a bad kind of change. Its the good kind of change. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times/Redux On Saturday night, French police arrested Pavel Durov, the CEO of the encrypted chat program Telegram, which has more than 900 million users worldwide. He has been charged after refusing to hire content moderators to police the app for its use in criminal enterprises, including the dissemination of child sexual-abuse material, money laundering, and selling drugs, according to French law enforcement. His arrest has set off a global debate about free speech, particularly on the right, which claims Durov is being used as a scapegoat by countries that want to abuse their surveillance powers. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform, a Telegram spokesman said. French president Emmanuel Macron has sought to distance himself from the arrest, saying it was made by prosecutors with complete independence and that this is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide. Who is Pavel Durov? For almost two decades, Durov, 39, has been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia, a comparison that the normally press-averse tech founder has seemed uncomfortable with. He spent his childhood growing up in both Russia and Turin, Italy, where his father moved the family for his work as a scholar in Roman literature. Coming back to St. Petersburg, the Durovs brought with them an IBM computer, on which Pavel and his older brother learned to build programs. According to an early profile on him in Bloomberg Businessweek, he was a prodigious coder who created a social-media network for St. Petersburg State University. He always likes to be the architect who controls the whole system, Nikolai Kononov told Businessweek. Hes an individualist, an egoist he works only for himself, plays only his game. He first came to global prominence as a prodigious coder in 2006 when the 21-year-old founded VKontakte, Russias answer to Facebook. It was a hit there, as well as many of the other former Soviet countries, and would be the source of his early wealth. For years, Bloomberg reported, Vladimir Putins regime left the site alone as it focused on controlling broadcast and other traditional forms of media. Durov would later defy the state when it tried to shut down anti-Putin protest groups, which he refused to do. It was about us defending freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, he would later tell Tucker Carlson. In 2013, he said, the Russian government ordered him to either hand over information on protesters in Ukraine opposing Russias stooge in Kyiv or sell his stake in the platform and flee the country. The next year, he left. By that time, Durov had already started Telegram with his brother, Nikolai, a mathematician. Its original offices were based in Berlin but later moved to Dubai. Why is Telegram so controversial? Like many other chat apps, Telegram allows people to message one another and create large groups to communicate. In part because of Durovs history of defying governments, it has flourished as an app for not only everyday online communities but also criminals. (This has not always been the case: In 2022, Telegram deleted 60 channels associated with far-right nationalist groups at the request of the German government.) The company has also been blocked in countries such as Brazil, China, and Iran. In his interview with Carlson, Durov claimed that the FBI tried to convince Telegram engineers to allow some kind of backdoor access into the app. Why was he arrested? Telegram has been under investigation by OFMIN, a French law-enforcement agency that started in November to protect minors. In a LinkedIn post, Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the agencys chief, wrote that the heart of this issue is the lack of moderation and cooperation of the platform (which has nearly 1 billion users), particularly in the fight against paedophilia. He then linked an investigative report by ARTE, a French-German broadcaster, about how predators take advantage of Facebook and Instagram to target children. It is unclear if Durov will be charged and with what. Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said in a press release that Durovs arrest was part of a broader probe looking into complicity by an online platform on several alleged crimes including disseminating CSAM, selling drugs, and hosting organized gang activity as well as money laundering and failing to provide information to government authorities. Durov had apparently known that he was a wanted man in France and was aware of investigators attempts to hold him accountable making his flight to Paris something of a surprise, an unnamed investigator told German outlet Deutsche Welle. Enough of Telegrams impunity, the person said. What has been the response to Durovs arrest? Outside France, Durovs arrest has been cast as a blow to freedom of speech. Pavel Durov is in a French prison tonight, it is a warning to all platforms that refuse to censor the truth at the request of governments, Carlson wrote on X. Elon Musk has also called for Durov to be freed. Russian politicians have painted the arrest as political, despite the countrys rocky history with Durov. He miscalculated, said Dmitry Medvedev, the countrys former president and the current deputy head of the Russian Security Council. For all our common enemies now, he is Russian and therefore unpredictable and dangerous. Why are authorities targeting Telegram? Unlike iMessage or Signal, Telegram does not automatically use end-to-end encryption, a privacy measure that shields a company from accessing its own users messages. (An option is available for users to enable this.) This means that, if it wanted to, Telegram could hand over messages that arent private to government authorities. This has made it a target for governments that are looking to get information for investigations. What law is Telegram accused of breaking? French prosecutors have not cited a law that Durov and Telegram are alleged to have broken. However, there is a broader regulatory law that enables investigators to hold Telegram accountable for what appears on its networks. France abides by the European Unions Digital Services Act, a 2022 law that requires social-media companies to police the content on their platforms and to hand over any data on alleged criminal activities. Unlike in the U.S. where social-media companies are shielded from such liability by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act companies in Europe can be held accountable for the content that appears on their platforms and breaks their own rules. Is there precedent for this? Not really, but there are some close parallels, particularly for the money-laundering charges. In 2022, authorities in the Netherlands, which is an E.U. member state, arrested Alexey Pertsev, another Russian national, for programming Tornado Cash, a program that anonymizes crypto transactions. Tornado Cash had allegedly been used by North Korea to launder stolen cryptocurrency, and he was held responsible for that, despite not being involved in the actual transactions. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to five years in prison for aiding $1.2 billion in money laundering. it's out where i live and i've seen it so i can review it! Yes, the pitch is VERY wtf ( a musical about transitioning, the drugs cartel in Mexico and the desaparecidos, what even), but it's a compelling story. It's very camp, very original in the way that it is filmed, and the music is great. The transition/transitioning character is never treated like a joke and we understand and relate to her well. She's not sexualized and both her relationship to her children and her love life are really moving. All the actresses are great : if you like films about women this is for you because there are basically no men in this lmao I didn't love the ending and it does bring an unfortunate trope about LGBT characters that I wish they'd skipped. I can put it under a spoiler cut if anyone would rather know before seeing it. all in all i would recommend it, i found it very entertaining and very moving Edited at 2024-08-27 11:03 am (UTC) Baku's warming ties with Beijing are driven by a desire for economic diversification, increased trade, and a shifting geopolitical landscape in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan and China have upgraded their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership, focusing on economic, military, and political cooperation. Azerbaijan is laying the groundwork to boost its ambitions in the South Caucasus and is looking to China for help. In just two months, Baku's ties with Beijing have quickly moved forward as the oil-rich country has inched closer politically and economically through a series of agreements that could boost China's presence in the region and open the door to newfound Chinese investment into Azerbaijan. The series of recent moves began on July 3 when Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana and declared they had upgraded bilateral ties through a new strategic partnership that calls for them to work closer together economically, militarily, and politically. A few weeks later, Baku applied to upgrade its status within the SCO from dialogue partner to observer, setting the stage to potentially become a full member. And then on August 20, Azerbaijan announced it had applied to join the BRICS group of emerging economies led by China and Russia that also includes Brazil, India, and South Africa as founding members. Taken together, the collection of moves is part of China's growing momentum in the region as an investor and trade partner since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which has left governments and shipping companies looking for alternatives due to sanctions on Russia that have left its vast rail network -- previously the main route between China and Europe for overland trade -- less viable. For Azerbaijan, which is at a crossroads for trade on the Caspian Sea, this has led to new energy for the so-called Middle Corridor, the alternative trade route that bypasses Russia by cutting through Central Asia and the South Caucasus to connect to the European Union, and seen new investment worth billions of dollars. "The Middle Corridor is a key issue and Baku needs Beijing's support, Zaur Shiriyev, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told RFE/RL. "The immediate concern is that the success of the Middle Corridor depends on a steady flow of goods from China to establish a strong China-Europe route in the long term. A Series Of New Deals And Beyond Attracting more Chinese interest and investment in the Middle Corridor is a main priority for Azerbaijan and is at the center of the strategic partnership agreement signed in July. China pledged in the document to help develop and use the trade route and Baku is hoping that it will lead to more Chinese investment in infrastructure, which would make the route more competitive and strengthen Azerbaijan's role as a central hub in the region. But Baku's "cooperation menu with Beijing is extensive, says Shiriyev, with Azerbaijan eyeing further deals in green energy, advanced technology, and military purchases. The Azerbaijani government has also expressed a desire for Chinese companies to set up a regional manufacturing hub for electric vehicles in the country and has been actively calling for more Chinese investment. Bilateral trade between the two countries is also on the rise, although heavily slanted in Beijing's favor, with China overtaking Turkey as Azerbaijan's second-largest source of imports (behind Russia) with $3.1 billion worth of goods in 2023, a 40 percent rise from the previous year. "Chinese companies are already participating in the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy, but we expect more, Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyev's foreign policy adviser, told the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN during a March interview in Beijing. Increased trade and investment appear to be motivating the recent moves by Baku as the country looks to diversify away from the hydrocarbon wealth that has underpinned its economy for decades. Another part of the strategic partnership agreement calls for China's support for Azerbaijan's full membership in the World Trade Organization and the application for BRICS membership could also open new markets. While there is no clear procedure for admitting new members or an application timeline for joining BRICS, it expanded in January to also include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt -- and has a long list of other countries who have expressed an interest in applying. "Membership could offer Baku the opportunity to expand access to the large and rapidly growing markets of the BRICS countries, potentially creating new opportunities for bilateral trade agreements and investments in Azerbaijan's economy, Shiriyev said. A New Balance Of Power The appeal of closer ties with Beijing isn't limited to trade and investment, says Vadim Dubnov, a regional expert at RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus, who notes that China is also an increasingly important partner for Baku to lean on in the region's fast-changing geopolitical environment. A decreasing footprint from Western powers combined with Russia being weakened and distracted by its war in Ukraine has given Azerbaijan more room to maneuver in foreign affairs. This has led to Baku deepening ties with Turkey and Iran and inviting China in to play a larger role. "Aliyev is trying to reposition himself and find a new balance with all the major players in the South Caucasus, said Dubnov. "Stronger ties with China allow Baku to not sit totally in any one camp. But the warming ties between Baku and Beijing are not a one-sided process. Since Azerbaijan's success in its 2020 war with Armenia, China's interest in the South Caucasus has grown and Beijing hopes that Baku's stronger regional standing will lead to more stability and opportunities for more Chinese investment and influence in the region, such as additional trade routes connecting Azerbaijan to Turkey through Armenia. Azerbaijan is also eyeing other opportunities to use its geographic position to its advantage. While the Middle Corridor makes up an East-West trade route that bypasses Russia, the shake up to global trade brought by the war in Ukraine has also created new interest in other alternatives, including those that look to cut out the West. As the Middle Corridor has grown, Moscow has looked to drum up investment in the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor that flows south from Russia to Azerbaijan and then aims to connect to Iran and India. China, which has strong trade ties with Central Asia and the EU as well as Russia and Iran, has expressed support for both the Middle Corridor and the North-South route, which Azerbaijan is looking to capitalize on given its central position in both. "If Baku previously was able to use its energy resources [as leverage] in its relations with the West, international trade corridors are also now tools with strategic importance in Azerbaijan's foreign policy, Nurlan Aliyev, a lecturer at the University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, told RFE/RL. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com A series of intense military exchanges between Iranian-backed terrorist organisation Hezbollah and Israel over the weekend align with the Islamic Republics intention to keep pressure on Israel and its key Western allies through multiple indirect mechanisms rather than by direct action from Iran, a senior source in the European Unions (E.U.) energy security complex exclusively told OilPrice.com. The incidents on Sunday [25 August] involving Hezbollah and of the previous weeks involving the Houthis stepping up attacks in the Red Sea signal the principal way in which Iran intends to retaliate for recent Israeli attacks on it and its proxies, he said. Using Hezbollah and Houthi to carry out such strikes puts some distance between Iran and Israel in order not to directly provoke Israels key sponsor, the U.S., he added. However, despite the attacks coming from Irans proxies rather than the sponsor itself, it may well be that the situation spirals from here, and Hezbollah has already said that its recent attacks [on Sunday] are just the first phase of its response to the assassination of its senior commander Fouad Shukr [in a strike in Beirut on 30 July] that it believes was done by Israeli forces, he underlined. The scale of Israels pre-emptive attack on Hezbollahs Lebanese bases is the largest seen since the all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and a further escalation would pose much bigger problems for Tel Aviv than its ongoing war with another Iranian proxy terrorist group, Hamas. Hezbollah is on another level entirely, with around 100,000 in its fighting force, a huge arsenal of weapons including up to 200,000 rockets and missiles, and all of this positioned directly to Israels north. It is also a key beneficiary of help from Iran in the training of its fighters and in the supply short-, intermediate, and long-range unguided ballistic missiles and short-range guided ballistic missiles capable of hitting all of Israels major population centres. Its history of warfare against Israel stands out as uniquely successful among its Middle Eastern neighbours, having driven Israeli forces out of Lebanon in 2000 and having fought them again in 2006, that time to a stalemate. A full mobilisation of Hezbollah against Israel, at the same time as ongoing conflict on another front against Hamas could significantly stretch Israels defence capabilities even more so if augmented by aerial attacks on Israel by Iran, or by additional forces from Syria to Israels northeast supported by the Iranian military and its proxies. It is another element of threat thrown into the mix, as another war with Hezbollah could draw in other anti-Israeli fighters from across the region, encouraged by Iran or not, with all the potential for increasing involvement by the superpowers that this involves, said the E.U. security source. Related: Oil Prices Soar as Geopolitical Risk Rises Rapidly At the same time as this, it is likely that attacks against oil shipping in and around the Red Sea area are further stepped up, he thinks. Less than a week ago, the Greek tanker Sounion and another as-yet unnamed vessel were attacked, mirroring actions undertaken by naval elements of Irans own Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that preceded the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. At the beginning of May 2023 in and around the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian forces seized two oil tankers in a week, although neither the Niovi nor the Advantage Sweet were anything directly to do with Israel. Instead, the E.U. source exclusively told OilPrice.com at the time, it was done to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic still had control over the key transit route that sees around 30 percent of the worlds oil transported through it. As a result of those two seizures, oil and shipping insurance prices did rise, albeit temporarily, as also happened after the 19 November 2023 hijacking of the Galaxy Leader by the Houthis. However, it was interesting to note even back then that the follow-through in the oil price was limited, despite threats from the Houthis spokesman, Alameed Yahya Saree, at that time that the group intended to sink Israeli ships in the Red Sea. The same can be said for the 21 August 2024 attacks on shipping. Partly this was due to the avoidance of the area by many major oil companies that decided to use the longer Cape of Good Hope route instead. Partly as well it can be attributed by the ramping up of security in the regions waters by the U.S. and its allies towards the end of last year in the shape of Operation Prosperity Guardian. This multilateral naval task force was designed precisely to guard against such future Iranian or Houthi attacks on oil shipping in the Red Sea region. Indeed, IMF PortWatch data shows average daily ship transits via the Red Sea routes Bab al-Mandab Strait stood at 23 in the week ended 11 August 2024 against 70 on the same day last year. Alongside this came Chinas efforts to dampen down a sustained escalation of attacks in the region either directly by Iran or by its Houthi proxies. Following the Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, as first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, Beijing exercises enormous influence over Tehran. Through this and other similar deals in the region, China has a hold over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which crude oil is shipped upwards through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal before moving into the Mediterranean and then westwards. Crucially in the oil market, the U.S. and China share the desire to keep prices at the historically lower end. As analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, prices over US$75-80 per barrel significantly increase the chance of the U.S. economy slipping into recession. Historical precedent has been that every US$10 per barrel change in the crude oil price results in a 25-30 cent change in the price of a gallon of gasoline, and for every 1 cent that the average price per gallon of gasoline rises, more than US$1 billion per year in consumer spending is lost. And if the U.S. economy is in recession two years out from a major election (presidential or mid-terms) then the chances of the incumbent party in power winning are dramatically reduced. Since the end of World War I in 2018, the sitting U.S. president has won re-election only once out of seven such occasions (and even the one is debatable). Meanwhile, China since 2017 has been the worlds largest gross importer of crude oil, which remains key to powering its still-stuttering economic recovery from the devastating Covid period. Additionally important to Beijing is that the economies of the West remain its key export bloc. According to the E.U. source, the economic damage to China directly through its own energy imports and indirectly through damage to the economies of its key export markets in the West would dangerously increase if the Brent oil price remained over US$90-95 per barrel for more than one quarter of a year. However, it may be that Iran believes a further escalation by its proxies is the optimal way for it to respond to the recent series of Israeli attacks on it, regardless of pressure from China. Backing Hezbollah into bigger attacks against Israel would be one such method of doing this, as would increasing Houthi-led aggression against Western vessels in and around the Red Sea. Another would be to use the Houthis to launch attacks on Saudi Arabias key oil installations. The last time the Houthis launched major coordinated attacks against the Saudi Arabian mainland - on 14 September 2019 against the Abqaiq oil processing facility and Khurais oil field - Saudi Arabias oil production was halved, causing the biggest intra-day jump in U.S. dollar terms since 1988, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. Exactly what such actions might mean for the oil price was delineated by the World Bank shortly after the 7 October Hamas attacks. It stated that a small disruption with the global oil supply being reduced by 500,000 to 2 million bpd (roughly the same as the decrease seen during the Libyan civil war in 2011) would see the oil price initially rise 3-13 percent. A medium disruption involving a 3 million to 5 million bpd loss of supply (roughly equivalent to the Iraq war in 2003) would drive the oil price up by 21-35 percent. And a large disruption featuring a supply fall of 6 million to 8 million bpd (like the drop seen in the 1973 Oil Crisis) would push the oil price up 56-75 percent. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Oil prices jumped by nearly 3% early on Monday, buoyed by fears of escalating conflict in the Middle East and Libyas rival government in the east announcing the closure of all oilfields, production, and exports. The Benghazi-based government in eastern Libya, which is a rival to the Tripoli-based government in the politically divided North African OPEC producer, said on Monday it would shut down all crude oil output and exports. The threat to Libyan oil production and exports follows the move from the Tripoli-based government to replace the leadership of the countrys Central Bank in an escalating row about who should oversee Libyas oil revenues. The force majeure on Libyan oil production will apply to all oilfields, oil facilities, and export terminals, according to a Facebook post by the eastern authorities cited by Bloomberg. The east-based government backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar is not internationally recognized, but Haftar and his people control most of the countrys oilfields. However, as of Monday midday local time, Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC), the company controlling the countrys oil resources, had not confirmed any information about a halt to production. Over the past weeks, the situation in Libya has deteriorated with the east-west rivalry flaring up again and centered on the leadership of the Central Bank of Libyathe guardian of Libyas wealth and income from oil exports and the only internationally recognized depository for these revenues. The internationally recognized government in the capital city in the west, Tripoli, is trying to replace Sadiq Al-Kabir, the governor of the Central Bank of Libya. This has led to the latest controversy between the eastern and western governments and political factions, threatening again to reduce Libyas oil production and exports. Last week, the Central Bank resumed operations, after the kidnapping of one of its employees and a rival government attempt to oust its head, as the battle to control the financial institution intensifies. Tripoli has attempted to force eastern-aligned Central Bank governor Al-Kabir out and replace him with Mohamed Shukri. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Qatar will supply LNG to Kuwait under a new long-term deal as the OPEC producer is looking to import more natural gas to meet soaring power demand in the summer. QatarEnergy, the state firm of one of the worlds top LNG exporters, signed on Monday an agreement to supply 3 million tons of LNG to Kuwait per year in a 15-year deal with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). Qatar, which has a similar LNG supply deal with Kuwait from 2020, will begin deliveries from the new contract in 2025, KPCs chief executive officer, Sheikh Nawaf al-Sabah, said in remarks carried by Reuters. The LNG will be shipped to the Al Zour port in Kuwait and will come from both existing and future projects of QatarEnergy, which plans a massive expansion of its LNG export capacity this decade. Some of the LNG in the new deal will be supplied to Kuwait from the planned expansion of the North Field in Qatar, while the other part will come from currently producing LNG trains, said Saad al-Kaabi, chief executive of QatarEnergy and Qatars Minister of State for Energy Affairs. As Kuwait is looking to boost its natural gas supply to meet air conditioning demand in the scorching summers in the Middle East, another major hydrocarbon producer in the region, Qatar, wants to continue to be a major player on the global LNG export market. Qatar is backing up its massive LNG expansion plans with new orders to charter dozens of new ships as the tiny Gulf gas producer aims to solidify its dominance in the global LNG export market. Last year, the United States overtook Qatar as the worlds largest LNG exporter, but Qatar has a huge expansion program underway to boost its export capacity by a whopping 85% from current levels by 2030. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Russia on Monday launched some 200 missiles at Ukraine, targeting energy installations, while Polish media report that Warsaw has deployed aircraft to defend Polish airspace against the onslaught, and a U.S. airbase in Germany remains on full alert in a state of preparedness. Parts of Kyiv have been rendered without power and water, according to Reuters. "The desire to destroy our energy sector will cost the Russians dearly for their infrastructure," the Kyiv Post quoted Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, as saying. According to the Kyiv Post, at least four people have been killed and authorities across the country have been forced to introduce emergency blackouts, with 15 regions targeted in one of the biggest assaults Moscow has launched in weeks in retaliation for Ukraine's brazen ground offensive on the Russian region of Kursk. Ukraines Kursk offensive has carried on now for nearly three weeks, with military authorities claiming that the advance continues. Russian forces are now attempting to advance in Ukraines east, hoping to take the transport hub of Pokrovsk, according to the Kyiv Post. Also on Monday, Ukrainian forces reportedly targeted Russias Engels airfield, home to military aircraft, in the Saratov region, though it remains unclear what the extent of the damage from that attack was. The Russian Defense Ministry reported on its Telegram channel on Monday that it shot down Ukrainian UAVs over Saratov overnight, the BBC reported. According to Ukraine's UA wire, citing German intelligence sources, Germany has thwarted an alleged Russian plan to target a NATO air base in Geilenkirchen last week. The base was rendered combat ready following U.S. Secret Service warnings of a potential attack last week, and then the level of preparedness was reduced after it was determined that Moscow had withdrawn its plans. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Remember the packaging. Other brands are not as good. (Japan Travel) Every now and then, business takes my husband to lovely Okinawa. My kids and I always ask him to bring two things back: Orion Beer Nuts and Yukishio (snow salt) Chinsuko. These are two of the most seriously addicting Okinawan snacks we could not get enough of and here's why: 1. Orion Beer Nuts share the same brand as Okinawa's most popular beer. Orion prides itself in using mountain spring water to brew their beer. Sixty percent of Okinawans prefer the distinctive navy blue logo of Orion to other beer brands. Since nuts and beer is such a classic pairing, someone came up with the brilliant idea of peanuts covered in a crunchy batter made from beer yeast and blended with tasty sounding flavors that remind you of the tropical islands like almond cheese, tacos island chili pepper, and turmeric curry. You can find all these yummy flavors in one mixed bag and eat your way through while guessing which is which. My husband always gets a big bag of 20 small snack-sized packets. It takes a lot self-restraint to stop at one packet. There's no alcohol in it so kids and non-drinkers can enjoy it with their beverage of choice. 2. Chinsuko are exquisite melt-in-your-mouth biscuits very similar to buttery shortbread. You may find different brands and flavors of chinsuko in Okinawan souvenir shops but there's really just one you need to look for: Nanpudo's Miyakojima Yukishio Chinsuko with its signature beach photo on the box. Yukishio is powder soft salt harvested from Miyako Island. Its super fine texture is a result of salt water being filtered through limestones. Trust me, other flavors and brands are not as refined. Chinsuko probably originated from the royal kitchens of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Though now widely availble, chinsuko still has an aristocratic quality to it. Orion Beer Nuts and Nanpudo Miyakojima Yukishio Chinsuko can easily be found in most souvenir shops. Pop some into your bag. Once you get home, you will quickly realize that whatever amount you bought is not enough because these are seriously good. Thankfully, they're available on Amazon Japan and Rakuten. Japan Travel (en.japantravel.com) Japan Travel Okinawa Peace Memorial Park (Photo by Steph Pawelski) All throughout Okinawa youll find remnants of the Battle of Okinawa, a major World War II campaign fought over the course of three months in 1945. Today, many battle sites have become parks and museums. Some have many-in-one attractions for the whole family to enjoy, including playgrounds and picnic areas intermixed with battle-related sites, others are in Naha and surrounded by city life and adventures. As always, be careful! Okinawa is home to a variety of poisonous snakes, spiders, and insects. 1. United States Landing Beaches The Americans landed on Okinawas central west coast to begin the battle for Okinawa. The U.S. Marines landed to the north at Toguchi Beach, Yomitan. Four miles south, in Sunabe Baba Park, Chatan is a landing monument for the U.S. Army. Today, Toguchi Beach and Sunabe Baba Park have picturesque ocean-front parks. The coastal water can be calm and shallow during low tide, but precautions still need to be made when exploring these areas. Toguchi Beach - landing monument (U.S. Marine Corps). (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Top: MARINES LANDED ON OKINAWA AGAINST MILD RESISTANCE. Photo and Caption Credit: US Archives Bottom: Present day: Toguchi Beach, Yomitan Comparison (photo by Steph Pawelski) () Chatan Landing (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Toguchi Beach, Yomitan - World War II U.S. Military Landing Monument GPS (monument) 26.3634965, 127.7393802 GPS (parking): 26.3642484, 127.7386859 Chatan Beach - World War II US Army Landing Monument GPS: 26.3339899, 127.7454675 (monument) GPS (parking): 26.3334139, 127.7453981 2. Kakazu Ridge The hilly area known as Kakazu Ridge is 7.5 miles south of the U.S. Army Landing Monument. The fight for this ridge began on April 9, 1945, and continued for about two weeks until the Japanese abandoned this area and withdrew less than a mile south to Hacksaw Ridge, according to an Urasoe City guide on area battle sites. Kakazu Ridge was the first of Japans numerous outer defense positions, called the Shuri Defense Zone created to protect the Shuri Castle. It was here that Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima, Commander of the Japanese Forces on Okinawa, stayed for most of the battle. According to an article titled Shuri Castle and Japanese Castles: A Controversial Heritage, the headquarters location, close to Shuri Castle, ultimately made the castle a target for the Americans. These days, Kakazutakadai Park is a beautiful outdoor attraction with a great picnic area and a newer playground. This area is well-maintained, and several battle-related sites include an observation deck, a pill box, an underground bunker, and a portion of a wall with bullet damage. All these sites saw action during the fight for Kakazu Ridge. Kakazu Ridge (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Kakazu Ridge GPS (parking): 26.2580599, 127.7367010 Climb the staircase and follow the posted signs to each site. 3. Hacksaw Ridge Hacksaw Ridge is one the most important battlefields during the Battle of Okinawa. After the United States gained control of Kakazu Ridge, it marked the fall of the first Shuri Defense Zone, according to the book Okinawa: The Last Battle - United States Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific. The Japanese military then withdrew to Hacksaw Ridge to defend the second ring of protection for the Japanese headquarters. By May 6, the book details, Hacksaw Ridge was captured by the U.S. military, marking the fall to the second Shuri Defense Zone. Each site along Hacksaw Ridge is more than just a location, its a piece of history. Exploring the ridge, enjoying nature, and appreciating the views from the top gains a deeper understanding of the events that happened here. Hacksaw Ridge (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Hacksaw Ridge (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Hacksaw Ridge (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Hacksaw Ridge (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Hacksaw Ridge (Needle Rock) (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): 26.2454012, 127.7299241 For Desmond Doss point: This spot is named after Desmond Doss, a combat medic who refused to carry a weapon due to his religious beliefs and saved the lives of many troops while still under enemy fire. A signboard here describes Doss and his actions during the battle which led to a Medal of Honor, as well as how American troops were killed or wounded when attempting to retreat at this very spot. GPS: 26.2467418, 127.7323642 Needle Rock This 42.7 foot-tall rock marks the U.S. militarys approach there as described in a previous Stripes Okinawa article. GPS: 26.2452551, 127.7342552 Kanpan Underground Position According to a signboard at this location, this tunnel that was used to store food and medical supplies for the Japanese military. GPS: 26.2453002, 127.7324383 4. Sugar Loaf Hill From Hacksaw Ridge, hop back in your car and drive three miles southwest to Sugar Loaf Hill. The fight for Sugar Loaf Hill began on May 12, 1945. Sugar Loaf was a strong defensive position designed to protect the 32nd Japanese Imperial Armys Headquarters, about a mile away. A signboard on top of the hill reads: The Americans prevailed on May 18, with 2,662 casualties, and another 1,289 suffered battle fatigue. There is also a monument and an observation tower near the signboard and can be viewed by the public. TeamLab Future Park Okinawa, a popular interactive digital art experience for children, is across the street. Marines pinned down on ridge approaching Sugar Loaf Hill. (Photo and Caption Credit: Okinawa Prefectural Archives) The signboard at Sugar Loaf Hill describes the fight there on where over 2,662 lost their lives. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) My kids, William, 12 and Hannah, 14 at teamLab Future Park Okinawa across from Sugar Loaf Hill (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): Must find appropriate parking GPS (Sugar Loaf Hill): 26.2226300, 127.6959140 5. Japanese Imperial Army Headquarters (Shuri Castle) The former Japanese Imperial Army Headquarters is located on the premises of the Shuri Castle, two miles east from Sugar Loaf Hill. A pamphlet from the Center for the Tokyo Raids and War Damage details how the hill was used by the 32nd Japanese Imperial Armys headquarters and was the living quarters for Lt. Gen. Ushijima, commander of the Japanese forces at the time. By the end of May, the defenses around the castle were weak, most areas were deserted. The U.S. only experienced minor confrontations. The perimeter was surrounded, the high grounds were occupied, and U.S. troops entered the castle. Shuri Castle is one of Okinawas most familiar buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a long and devoted history and is a must-see stop for every tourist. It is one of the highest points on the island and the view from here is fantastic. Shuri Castle is one of Okinawas most familiar buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Shuri Castle is one of Okinawas most familiar buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) The former Japanese Imperial Army Headquarters is located on the premises of the Shuri Castle, two miles east from Sugar Loaf Hill. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): Must find appropriate parking GPS (headquarters): 26.2182709, 127.7178877 6. Kibogaoka Park Heading two miles west of the Shuri Castle are several tunnel entrances around the base of the park used, they are now closed to the public. Today, it is a recreational park run by the City of Naha with a fun playground and a tug-of-war air museum. Kibogaoka Park (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Kibogaoka Park is a recreational park run by the City of Naha with a fun playground and a tug-of-war air museum. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): Must find appropriate parking GPS (park): 26.2154946, 127.6895143 7. Tabaru Park, Navy Underground Headquarters Continuing your journey, take an unforgettable trip through downtown Naha for about two-and-a-half miles to Tabaru Park. There is a playground, a cement slide, and a beautiful area to picnic. Its a great place to spend an afternoon. Tabaru Park is also great for those interested in discovering more sites related to the Battle of Okinawa. Stroll around the outer ring of the park where youll see gated entrances to tunnels that served as the headquarters for the Japanese Naval Base Forces. The tunnels are not open to the public. Tabaru Park, Navy Underground Headquarters (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Tabaru Park, Navy Underground Headquarters (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): Must find appropriate parking GPS (park): 26.1964480, 127.6689160 8. Okinawa Army Hospital From Naha, head east for about five miles to the Okinawa Army Hospital. There is an underground tunnel used to treat wounded Japanese forces during the battle, according to a museum pamphlet. Visitors are allowed to tour the tunnel, by reservation, where it still stands in present-day Kogane Forest in Haebaru. The Haebaru Cultural Center (museum) is also on the grounds of park and has various displays of artifacts, flags, clothing, and personal items relating to the history of the hospital. A life-size display of the tunnel with makeshift bunkbeds used when accommodating patients and hospital staff, can be walked through. Kogane Forest Park also has a hill to hike, trails to follow, and signboards to read along the way (with Google Translate). Okinawa Army Hospital (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Okinawa Army Hospital (Photo by Steph Pawelski) The museum features a child-friendly room with age-appropriate activities. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (museum/parking): 26.1872465, 127.7307703 Hours: 9 a.m. noon, 1 p.m. 5 p.m. *Closed on Wed. plus Dec. 29 Jan. 3 For reservations, contact Haebaru Town Cultural Center (museum) at 098-889-7399 or H8897399@town.haebaru.okinawa.jp *Reservation required for tunnel tours. The exhibition at the cultural center (museum) doesnt require reservations. For tunnel tours, there is a 30-minute or one-hour course available. While the 30-minute course covers the tunnel only, the one-hour one covers surrounding areas as well. You will be accompanied by a tour guide on both courses. Each tour is limited to a group of eight or less. 9. Former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters The Former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters is in Tomigusuku and is a five-mile drive from the Haebaru Field Hospital. There is a visitors center and museum. Give yourself time to wander through the underground maze-like tunnels where Japanese navy personnel stayed and hid weapons and supplies during the battle. Former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (headquarters and parking): 26.1863451, 127.6769247 10. Santenmo Park, Itoman Next, you can head five miles south from the Japanese Naval Headquarters to Santenmo Park in Itoman. It is fun for the whole family! Even though it is an attractive park with a colorful playground, a signboard states that there are relics, located throughout the park, damaged by the United States military prior to the battle. There is an observation deck overlooking the Itoman Rotary. It is sometimes hard to develop a sense of how tragic the battle really was when an area is so beautifully maintained. Santenmo Park, Itoman (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Santenmo Park, Itoman (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): 26.1302098, 127.6704951 GPS (park): 26.1299356, 127.6702543 11. Himeyuri Peace Museum Go for a four-mile trip from Santenmo Park, through old Okinawa villages and the lush hills of Okinawa, to the Himeyuri Peace Museum. It is on the grounds of the former Ihara Third Clinic Cave. The cave was used as a field hospital to treat wounded Japanese soldiers throughout the battle, according to the Himeyuri Peace Museum. As Lt. Gen. Ushijima began to realize the end of the battle was near, he ordered the end of the student corps and then committed suicide. Instead of negotiating with the Americans to protect the islands civilians, these girls were left to fend for themselves. Information at the museum indicates that over 100 of the original 222 nurses were killed after their corps were deactivated. The museum remembers the girls and teachers that were forced to become nurses. Photos of the nurses and written stories of their personal experiences during the battle are available to read (in Japanese). Interviews of some survivors are replayed to watch along with a life-size replica of the cave that can be walked through. Pictures, mannequins, and descriptions explain the nurses involvements throughout the battle and while working inside the cave. The cave itself is off-limits. Himeyuri Peace Museum (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Himeyuri Peace Museum (Photo by Steph Pawelski) I had the honor of meeting seven Himeyuri student nurses that survived during the Battle of Okinawa. One nurse, Yasuko Onaga, 97, spoke about her experiences for an hour and a half and rarely hesitated, paused, or thought about what to say next. The session was almost finished, and she said she still had an hour left of things to say. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): 26.09608, 127.689909 GPS (museum): 26.0958909, 127.6907478 Hours: 9 a.m. 5:25 p.m. (last admission at 5 p.m.) 12. Okinawa Peace Memorial Park Finish your adventures two-and-a-half miles to the southern tip of Okinawa. Peace Memorial Park has many monuments and a museum relating to the Battle of Okinawa. The largest is Cornerstone of Peace, which is dedicated to those who perished during the battle. Their names are engraved into granite slabs placed on an open court, regardless of nationality and are positioned so the ray of the sun shines directly down the center on the morning of every June 23, the last day to the Battle of Okinawa. June 23 is known as War Memorial Day, or Irei-no-hi in Japanese, and is a public holiday on Okinawa. Peace Memorial Park is one of the most beautiful parks on the island. Okinawa Peace Memorial Park (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Granite Slabs at Cornerstone with the names of those who perished. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Okinawa Peace Memorial Park (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Final headquarters for the Japanese Imperial Army, where Lt. Gen. Ushijima and Gen. Cho committed seppuku. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) Kids playground at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park. (Photo by Steph Pawelski) GPS (parking): 26.0962507, 127.7221323 Peace Memorial Park Museum honors the Okinawans people and their experiences before, during, and after the battle and what life was/is like having their homeland being overshowed by two opposing military forces. There are exhibits with personal items including books, papers, diaries, and pictures. GPS: 26.0962642, 127.7252765 Hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (last admission at 4:30 p.m.) *Closed on Dec. 29 Jan. 3 An air museum, outside of the Peace Memorial Park Museum, is on permanent display and includes numerous field artillery pieces from the Battle of Okinawa. GPS: 26.0962907, 127.72566684 Peace Memorial Park has many monuments relating to the Battle of Okinawa. The largest is Cornerstone of Peace which is dedicated to those who perished during the battle. Their names are engraved into granite slabs placed on an open court, regardless of nationality and are positioned so the ray of the sun shines directly down the center on the morning of every June 23, the last day to the Battle of Okinawa. June 23 is known as War Memorial Day or Irei-no-hi, in Japanese, and is a public holiday on Okinawa. GPS: 26.0951664, 127.7256896 The United States forces cornered the last of many Japanese soldiers and Okinawan civilians on the cliffs of Mabuni in the closing days to the Battle of Okinawa. It was difficult for the Okinawans to believe the enemy would rescue them; instead, they threw themselves over the edge of these cliffs to their deaths. GPS: 26.0951710, 127.7259226 Mabuni Hill was the last of the 32nd Japanese Imperial Army Headquarters during the final days to the Battle of Okinawa. It was here that General Mitsuru Ushijima and Lieutenant General Isamu Cho committed hara-kiri. By the morning of June 22, 1945, organized resistance ended for the Japanese Imperial Army, Okinawa was captured, and an American flag was raised over the island. GPS: 26.0927862, 127.7207107 (coordinates are for at the bottom of the stairs, follow the signs to the entrance of the tunnel) For more on the battle sites in Okinawa, follow Okinawa Battle Sites on Facebook. The group was started by the author in 2021 to share information about the sites on Okinawa and her familys adventures exploring them. Stripes Okinawa writer Shoji Kudaka contributed to this story. Flash The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on Saturday that Assistant to the U.S. President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) Jake Sullivan will visit China from August 27 to 29 at the invitation of Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, to hold a new round of China-U.S. strategic communication. In a press briefing on Sunday, the leading official of MFA's Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs gave further information and took questions from the media. The leading official said that holding strategic communication between the Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office and the National Security Advisor to the U.S. President was an important consensus reached between the Chinese and U.S. presidents at their Bali meeting in November 2022. Since the meeting, Director Wang Yi and NSA Sullivan have held three rounds of strategic communication in Vienna, Malta and Bangkok respectively, all of which were substantive and constructive, and produced good results. Both sides agreed to continue making good use of this channel of strategic communication. The upcoming visit will also be the first visit to China by a National Security Advisor to the U.S. President after eight years, and the first visit to China by NSA Sullivan. It is an important step for the two sides to implement the common understandings the two presidents reached at their San Francisco meeting. After San Francisco, the diplomatic, financial, law enforcement and climate teams and the militaries of the two sides have maintained communication, and the exchanges between the two peoples have increased. Meanwhile, the United States has kept containing and suppressing China. And China has taken resolute countermeasures. The China-U.S. relationship is still at a critical juncture of being stabilized. Against this backdrop, Director Wang Yi will have an in-depth exchange of views with NSA Sullivan on China-U.S. relations, sensitive issues, and major international and regional hotspots. The two sides will jointly take stock of the progress made by the two countries in implementing the common understandings of the two presidents in San Francisco, give full play to the 20-plus dialogue and communication mechanisms that have been established or resumed, and continue to discuss the issue of strategic perception and the boundary between national security and economic activities. The Chinese side will focus on raising serious concerns, articulating its position and laying out serious demands on issues related to the Taiwan question, the right to development and China's strategic security. The Taiwan question is the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations, and "Taiwan independence" is the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. side must abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and honor its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence." The U.S. side's continuous arbitrary measures against China in the areas of tariffs, export control, investment review and unilateral sanctions seriously undermine China's legitimate rights and interests. China demands that the U.S. side stop turning economic and trade issues into political and security issues. As the foundation of the China-U.S. relationship lies in grassroots connections, the United States should work in the same direction with China and take more measures to facilitate the flow of people between the two countries. China will also urge the United States to fulfill its responsibilities as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and play a constructive role for the political settlement of major, salient international and regional issues, not the contrary. The leading official emphasized that China's U.S. policy is consistent, which is underpinned by the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by China. These principles are the lessons learned from the 50-plus years of China-U.S. relations as well as the conflicts between major countries in history. China and the United States should put in a lot of efforts to follow them. China has all along believed that major-country competition is not the solution to the problems facing the United States or the world. The leading official also took questions from the media. On Ukraine, the official said that China's position is aboveboard, and it will continue to promote peace talks, work for political settlement and carry out mediation diplomacy. The United States should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and stop smearing, framing, pressuring and blackmailing China. China will continue to take strong and resolute measures to safeguard its major interests and legitimate rights. On the South China Sea issue, the leading official emphasized that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the region have sufficient historical and legal basis, and that countries in the region have full confidence, wisdom and capability to properly handle the issue. Countries outside the region should not do things that provoke confrontation or increase tensions. The leading official pointed out that on the Middle East issue, China is committed to promoting peace and justice and supports all parties in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, especially the restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine. The immediate priority is that all parties to the conflict must earnestly implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and create conditions for an early comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The international community should pool their efforts to this end. It is hoped that the United States will heed the voices of the majority of the international community and adopt a responsible position. Responding to the U.S.'s unwarranted accusation that China is a threat to the international order, the leading official said that China's development is an important part of human progress and an inevitable trend in the evolution of history. China does not follow the old path of Western colonization and plundering, nor the wrong path of seeking hegemony with growing strength. Nor does it seek to export its ideology. China is committed to peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and is a firm defender of the U.N.-Centered international system and international order, which contributes to the force for peace and the stabilizing factors in today's world. Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, Nebraska Cancer Specialists (NCS) shines as a beacon of hope and a commitment to making a meaningful impact in the lives of cancer patients and their families. Supporting the mind, body and spirit, the organization demonstrates the importance of community in the journey toward healing. The power of personalized care At Nebraska Cancer Specialists, it is the belief that each patient is unique and their treatment should be, too. The providers, care teams and support staff at NCS work diligently to create individualized treatment plans. This personalized care helps to create a sense of community for patients and tends to enhance their quality of life. Emotional support and well-being A cancer diagnosis can seem isolating and intimidating to many patients. At NCS, the compassionate staff recognizes the importance of mental well-being in the healing process. To address this, NCS offers a range of emotional support services including counseling, support groups and peer mentoring programs. These resources provide patients and their families with a safe space to share their experiences, fears and hopes, fostering a sense of community and solidarity. Integrative services The integrative services department at NCS offers occupational therapy, nutrition services, palliative care, genetic counseling, fitness classes, a lung screening program and an on-site pharmacy. These services aim to provide whole-person care before, during and after cancer treatment. A full list of integrative services can be found at nebraskacancer.com/programs. Patient education and empowerment The NCS medical oncology care team provides educational resources to help patients understand their diagnosis, navigate their treatment journey and make informed decisions. This emphasis on education fosters a sense of control and confidence for patients, which can lead to a positive impact on their well-being. Family and caregiver support Cancer affects not only the patient but also their loved ones. Recognizing this, NCS extends their support services to families and caregivers, offering counseling, peer mentorship, caregiver support groups, and education and resources tailored to their needs. They are committed to building lasting relationships built on trust and strengthening them by creating strong support networks among patients, families and caregivers. Making strides in cancer research NCS is at the forefront of cancer research, and the leading research program aims to pioneer new treatments and therapies with the potential to revolutionize cancer care. Their commitment to research ensures that patients right here in the Midwest have access to the latest advancements in cancer care. By involving the community in these efforts, NCS fosters a sense of shared purpose and hope, demonstrating that together, people can make significant strides in cancer research. Not only does their commitment to innovation improve outcomes for current patients, but it also paves the way for future breakthroughs that will benefit generations to come. A sense of community The importance of community in cancer care cannot be overstated. It is through the collective efforts of dedicated medical oncology care teams, supportive families and an engaged community that NCS can provide the comprehensive care that cancer patients deserve. Together, NCS can make a difference in the lives of those facing cancer, offering not just treatment, but hope, strength and a sense of belonging. For more information, visit nebraskacancer.com. Community involvement and support One of the best parts about the culture at NCS is their deep-rooted connection to the community. They support and encourage collaboration with local businesses, volunteers and organizations to provide resources and assistance for patients and their families. One of the primary ways in which they give back is through the NCS Hope Foundation. Founded in 2018, NCS Hope Foundation supports cancer patients and their families through financial assistance, free health screenings, health and wellness classes, and a holiday giving drive. This past year, NCS Hope Foundation granted assistance to 496 patients and families from hospitals, clinics and practices across the state of Nebraska. For more information on how to support the foundation, visit ncshopefoundation.org. This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com. The Omaha Housing Authority is taking steps toward complying with some provisions of a new state law, aimed at greater accountability for the agency, that took effect this summer. The law, part of Legislative Bill 840, requires the Housing Authority to increase the representation of its residents on the agencys governing board. Nebraska State Sen. Terrell McKinney, whose District 11 includes several OHA properties and hundreds of OHA residents, pressed for the provisions regarding urban housing agencies amid a raft of complaints from residents, their families and community advocates about living conditions. OHA and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, who appoints Housing Authority Board members, must add two more residents to the one already required on its board. That will increase the size of the board from seven to nine members. That provision, along with others regarding OHA board composition and operations, took effect in July. The agency is working on those additions. A one-page letter explaining that we are seeking applicants for resident commissioner along with an application (front and back) will be mailed to every household served by OHA both public housing and voucher tenants, Housing Authority CEO Joanie Poore said by email. The letter could go out next week, she said Friday. Once OHA has completed our review processes, we provide all applications and our recommendations to the mayor for review and recommendation to City Council, Poore wrote. A new way to complain The agency is also creating the detailed process for receiving and handling resident complaints the law requires. We are considering software options to ensure full compliance with the federal regulations governing our organization, as well as the arbitrary process outlined in LB 840, Poore wrote. Additional software includes additional cost. OHA is subject to procurement regulations, and we will follow those regulations when considering software solutions for the complaint portion of LB 840. The new law also requires the OHA board meet once each quarter in one of the agencys public housing apartment towers. The legislation doesnt set a timetable for when the additional residents must be appointed or when the complaint process must be instituted. McKinney said complying with some of the provisions may take some time. But we finished the session in April, so I think theyve had a decent amount of time to start preparing to implement these changes, he said. Avoiding conflicts of interest OHA officials and McKinney apparently differ over another provision in the bill, one that added a stringent conflict of interest rule for OHA board members. The rule prohibits people from serving on the board if they own or work for an entity that does business with the Housing Authority. David Levy, chair of the OHA board, is a partner at Baird Holm, a law firm with which the agency contracts for legal services. Levy remains on the board. He did not respond to emails or calls seeking comment. Poore did not address the question of Levys status directly. But she said by email, All commissioners were in full compliance with all laws governing the Housing Authority of the City of Omaha at the time of appointment. Our counsel and the citys counsel agree that new legislation cannot be enforced retroactively. Stothert reappointed Levy in April to another five-year term. The City Council confirmed the appointment. City Attorney Matt Kuhse sent a letter to Poore saying current board members, even if they do not meet the new qualifications in LB 840, do not have to resign. The passage of a new law cannot be applied retroactively to board members who were legally qualified and appointed previously, Kuhse wrote in the letter, a copy of which was provided by the Mayors Office. However, moving forward, all new board appointments or reappointments must meet these qualifications. McKinney, however, said the law should apply now, not at the end of Levys term in 2029. He should be automatically disqualified, McKinney said. The only way I could see him still being able to stay on is if his employment or partnership with the law firm changed. While he was aware of Levys position with Baird Holm and the firms contract with OHA, McKinney said the law wasnt aimed at any particular individual. It was really just centered around trying to do right by the residents, he said. My colleagues and I agreed that you shouldnt be able to sit on the board and make money off the contracts, I dont care who you are. Gavin Geis, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Nebraska, said the new rule seems pretty simple. Its more stringent than many conflict of interest provisions regulating Nebraska boards and commissions, and should be adopted for other government entities, he said. The provision itself is good because its clear; theres no beating around the bush, Geis said. Asked whether it should apply to current OHA board members, Geis said it isnt clear because of the citys contention it only applies at the time of appointment. But it should raise questions for the (OHA) commissioners themselves, he said. Whether or not the provision applies to them legally because of the timing of the law, he said, they should ask themselves if they can continue to serve on the board if they are in conflict with the new rules. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of August 2024 Arkansas highest court upheld a decision to keep an abortion rights ballot initiative off the states November ballot, agreeing with election officials that the group behind the measure did not properly submit documentation regarding the signature gatherers it hired. The move is the latest development in the ongoing fight to put abortion on the ballot in states across the country in 2024. Measures to protect access have already qualified to go before voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and South Dakota. New York also has a ballot measures that proponents say would protect abortion rights, though theres a dispute about its impact. Yet there have also been legal fights across the country on whether to allow voters to decide these questions and the exact words used on the ballots and explanatory material. Most Republican-controlled states have passed abortion restrictions since then, including 14 that ban it at every stage of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect access. Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions before voters since 2022 California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont have sided with abortion rights supporters. What is on 2024 ballots? ARIZONA Voters in Arizona will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to add the right to an abortion up to about 24 weeks into pregnancy. The Arizona secretary of states office said on Aug. 12 that it had certified enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. The states top court has weighed in on the details multiple times this month. It ruled that an informational pamphlet can refer to an embryo or fetus as an unborn human being even though this language isnt in the amendment and wont appear on the ballot itself. The courts latest ruling, on Tuesday, keeps the measure on the ballot, rejecting Arizona Right to Lifes argument that the petition summary was misleading. The amendment would prevent Arizona from banning abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb, and would allow later abortions to protect a womans physical or mental health. Opponents say this goes too far and could lead to unlimited and unregulated abortions in Arizona. Supporters say it would keep abortion access free from political interference. Abortion is currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona. COLORADO Colorados top election official confirmed in May that a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, along with requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover abortion, made the ballot for the fall election. Supporters said they gathered nearly double the required number of signatures needed. Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of voters. Abortion is already legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado. FLORIDA The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a measure to legalize abortion until viability could go on the ballot despite a legal challenge from the state. Attorney General Ashley Moody had argued that there are differing views on the meaning of viability and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined. To pass, the measure needs support from at least 60% of voters, a high threshold that supporters hope to reach after collecting nearly a million signatures on the petition to get it on the ballot. 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. Abortion is already allowed in Maryland until viability. MISSOURI Missouri voters will decide whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the states near-total ban. The secretary of states office certified on Aug. 13 that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify. It will need approval from a majority of voters to become enshrined in the state constitution. The Missouri ballot measure would create a right to abortion until there is a significant likelihood of the fetuss sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures. The ballot measure would allow abortions after fetal viability if a health care professional determines its necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. MONTANA Montanas secretary of state announced Tuesday that an abortion question had qualified for its ballot. If it passes, it would amend the state constitution to bar the government from denying the right to abortion before viability generally considered to be about 23 or 24 weeks gestational age or when it is 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 if enough valid signatures were certified. Required to submit about 60,000 signatures by June 21, sponsors turned in nearly twice that many about 117,000 and said counties validated more than enough signatures. Abortion is already legal until viability in the state under a 1999 Montana Supreme Court opinion. NEVADA The Nevada Secretary of States office announced in June that a ballot question to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution met all the requirements to appear in front of voters in November. This amendment would ensure abortion access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman. To change the constitution, voters would need to approve it in 2024 and again in 2026. Abortion up until viability is already allowed in Nevada under a law passed in 1990. SOUTH DAKOTA South Dakota voters will decide this fall on a constitutional amendment that would prevent any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The measure 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. Abortion could be prohibited in the third trimester, provided there are exceptions for the life and health of the woman. Opponents have sued to try to take the initiative off the ballot or block results from being counted. A trial on the challenge could be held in September. Whats on the ballot in New York? While not preserving a right to abortion by name, a reproductive rights question is on the ballot in New York. The measure would bar discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare, along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. Proponents say it would protect abortion access, which is currently allowed in New York until fetal viability. And Democrats have sued to have the word abortion added to the ballot measure. Its unclear when a ruling might come, but the Board of Elections must certify whats on the ballot by Sept. 11. There have been twists and turns to get the question before voters. It was on the ballot, then removed in May by a judge who found lawmakers missed a procedural step when they put it there. An appeals court reinstated it in June. Where else could abortion possibly be on the ballot in 2024? NEBRASKA Competing abortion measures could be decided by Nebraska voters in November after supporters turned in far more than the required 123,000 signatures. One would enshrine the right to abortion until viability. Supporters said they submitted more than 207,000 signatures. The other would write into the constitution the current law, which bans abortions after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Its backers said they submitted more than 205,000 signatures. If both measures are certified for the ballot, the one that gets more votes will become part of the state constitution so long as it also has more yes than no votes. The deaths of at least two inmates who died by suicide at Nebraska prisons in recent years may have been avoided if the Department of Correctional Services had followed through on recommended policy changes years ago, a new report from the Legislatures prison watchdog suggests. Nebraskas inspector general of the states troubled prison system reviewed the deaths of three incarcerated men who died by suicide in state prisons from December 2021 to June 2023, detailing findings in a 28-page report made public Wednesday. All three of the men whose deaths were reviewed by Inspector General Doug Koebernicks office died after hanging themselves with bed sheets tied either to the top bunks of their beds or, in one case, to a locker in the mans cell, according to the report. Two of the three men 45-year-old death row inmate Patrick Schroeder, who died in August 2022, and Michael Becker, a 25-year-old who died at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in December 2021 hanged themselves while locked in special management unit cells, according to the report, which does not identify any of the three inmates by name. Corrections staff had long ago recommended that administrators remove the second bunk and cabinets from special management cells at the Tecumseh prison after an internal review of a prior suicide there in 2016 in which the inmate also hanged himself by tying a bed sheet to a wall cabinet. But the department never followed through on the recommendation, according to Koebernicks report, which calls for the prison system to revisit its own 2016 report and review four other policies surrounding suicide response and prevention within the states prisons. A spokeswoman for Nebraskas prison system did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. The report takes a particularly close look at the death of Schroeder, who was on death row after he strangled his cellmate to death in 2017, when Schroeder was 11 years into a life sentence for the killing of a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer. Sixteen days before his suicide, Schroeder had used a razor blade to cut his wrist but survived the injury, telling medical staff he was not suicidal but had harmed himself due to the effects of using K2, a form of synthetic marijuana often smuggled into prisons. That claim was undercut by an apparent suicide note prison staff found in Schroeders death row cell among the type of cells considered a special management unit cell following the cutting. After a hospital stay, Schroeder was placed on suicide watch at the Tecumseh prison for a period of time before his status was downgraded to Plan B status, a step down from suicide watch. Three days later, he was returned to his cell on death row. Schroeder hanged himself there, with a bed sheet tied to the top bunk of the bed, in the early morning hours of Aug. 29, 2022. He hadnt met with the prisons behavioral health team for around 10 days, according to Koebernicks report. An internal department review of Schroeders death determined nothing was discovered to suggest (his) death could have been prevented at the time of occurrence since Schroeder did not disclose his suicidal thoughts to prison staff. A grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing in Schroeders death. Internal investigators who came to that conclusion did not review Schroeders prior self harm, interview nearby inmates nor make any inquiries into why Schroeder was removed from suicide watch, according to Koebernicks report. A similar internal probe in 2016 had yielded the recommendation that Nebraskas prison system remove the top bunks of beds in special management units at the Tecumseh prison, including death row. Prison policies require the department to complete a psychological autopsy for all suicides and some suicide attempts in Nebraska prisons. The reports are supposed to include background information, circumstances or events that preceded the incident, clues of suicide, conclusions, recommendations and a list of documents examined. Koebernicks office asked the Department of Correctional Services for a copy of Schroeders psychological autopsy, but it was not provided, the inspector general wrote. Nebraskas prison system in 2018 established a work group to look at suicides, which have typically been a leading and rising cause of death in American prisons, where the number of suicides increased 85% in state prisons and 61% in federal prisons from 2001 to 2019. The working group, led by the departments medical director at the time, recommended the department create a brochure on suicide to be distributed to inmates and family, make changes to the staff training manual, stream a suicide prevention video in all facilities, use an additional screening tool at transfer times and intake, and advertise a phone number that people could call when they are concerned about a loved one who is incarcerated in Nebraska to prompt a welfare check. Koebernicks office in 2019 found that the prison system had only implemented one of the groups recommendations: the phone line. But the inspector generals office called it several times (and) it did not work. It eventually ceased to exist, Koebernick wrote. In his latest report, the inspector general encouraged prison administrators to review the 2018 working groups findings and determine whether a special team should be established to focus on deaths by suicide and attempts. Koebernick also recommended the prison system review its requirement regarding psychological autopsies and revisit the prior recommendation regarding the removal of top bunks and cabinets in restrictive housing cells. His office also suggested Nebraskas prison system examine its own internal investigation process to determine whether interviews with individuals other than prison staff should be included in the probes, which are meant to be comprehensive and meticulous, according to department policies. In a June emailed response to a draft of Koebernicks offices report, Rob Jeffreys, the director of Nebraskas prison system, said he had received the report and will consider the recommendations. A day later, Jeffreys issued a policy directive requiring psychological autopsies for all suicides and, when appropriate, for suicide attempts, according to the report. The directive closely resembles what was already the departments written policy. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has mocked the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. The ruling party said Atiku is suffering from post-election depression following his claim that he that he defeated Buhari with 1,615,302 votes. The PDP presidential candidate, in a petition filed at the election tribunal claims that data from the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows that Atiku polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari who scored 16,741,430 votes. APCs response In its response, APCs spokesman, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said Nigerians voted massively as a show of confidence for President Buhari. Vanguard also reports that Issa-Onilu issued a statement saying: While the APC is not oblivious of the PDPs antics to discredit the credible presidential electoral process, acknowledged by local and international observers, we sympathise with Atiku for the crushing defeat handed him by President Buhari through the votes of Nigerians. After weeks of dilly-dallying, the PDP has woken up to the stark reality of its electoral defeat and decided to follow the constitutional path of filing a petition at the Election Tribunal. However, of all the prayers of Atiku before the Election Tribunal, which are at best hollow, the most ridiculous is his claim that the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated he won the Presidential Election by 1.6million votes. A few questions would suffice: Is this phantom figure of 1.6million votes Dubai-invented? Was the result sold to Atiku by his numerous marabouts, who we understand, had assured him that the last election was a done deal for him? Most importantly, we note Atikus consistent reference to the INEC server as if he is the custodian of that platform. Indeed, Atikus constant reference to the INEC server should raise concerns as it is becoming apparent that he and the PDP are up for some dastard activities that are targeted at jeopardizing the INEC database and internal storage system. We recall the widespread reported cases of several programmed card readers that were retrieved from some PDP agents and their failed attempt to hack the INEC database in the lead up to the then postponed presidential election. Share this: You are here: World Flash People mourn victims killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on Aug. 12, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,405, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 71 people and wounded 112 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,405 and injuries to 93,468 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out, it added. A number of victims remain trapped under rubble and scattered on roads, as ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them, it said. The authorities said in a separate statement that despite resource scarcity and operational difficulty, the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, resumed operations on Sunday after being closed for 50 days. The hospital is now offering round-the-clock services in surgery, pediatrics, and internal medicine, said the statement. Israel has been conducting 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 around 250 others taken hostage. Contrary to a statement by the police, the three abducted students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, were not rescued but released by their abductors after the payment of hefty ransom. PREMIUM TIMES gathered from family sources that the families of the three students came together to negotiate with their kids abductors, who agreed to a N5 million deal. Maryam Bello, Fatima Jalingo and Umar Sagir, all final year Law students of the university were abducted along with other travellers on their way from Abuja to Zaria. The Command wishes to state that, on the said date, August 26, at about 18:50hrs, armed men in military uniform intercepted some commuters near Masari Village along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, opened fire on the vehicles, in the process kidnapped six persons, a police statement stated. The Kaduna State police spokesperson, Yakubu Sabo, who issued a press statement on Wednesday in Kaduna, said the police reunited the victims with their families. But the account of the incident by family members and graphic evidence show that the police had no hand in the release of the victims and their reunion with their families. When the claim first came out, as shared by an aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, a member of one of the families, Sagir Ango, debunked it Bashir Ahmad, Mr Buharis personal assistant on New Media shared a story of the police claim by The Nation newspaper Wednesday evening. But Mr Ango replied promptly, to deny the involvement of the police. LiesIt took us 48 long hours of negotiation with the kidnappers to secure the release of our sister to us, NOT the police. Ransom was paid in full and negotiated with the three families involved, he tweeted. One of the abducted students, Ms Bello, also took to Twitter to disclaim the hands of the police in the rescue effort. Later, Mr Ahmad took down the tweet with an apology, explaining that his earlier tweet was reliant on reports in the media from the police statement. I have taken down the tweet. Relatives and one of the victims confirmed that theres no police involvement in the process that lead to their release, he tweeted Thursday morning. The convener of #OurMumuDonDo movement, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy or Area Fada has taken to his social media page to launch a scathing attack on Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano. On his Instagram page, Charly Boy accused Governor Obiano of being too pompous and braggadocios about his achievements. The Area Fada recounted how he approached the governor a couple of time with a proposal on youth oriented programs. But, according to him, the governor was more interested in his female workers than the proposal he brought before him for the youths of Anambra. Willy like nyash no be here, Charly Boy said. Read the full post below: Willy is loud, most times pompous and braggadocios. His own possen no be here. I went to him a few times since he became governor to know what we can do with the youths in Anambra state and Infact Igbo land, but Willy wasnt so intrested in working with us. He bragged of how he has all areas covered and seemed more intrested in my female workers than the buisness of the youths. Willy like nyash no be here. I stopped calling or reaching out to him, because our meetings no dey yield any action for the street people. So I just give am long rope, as an Emperor concern. You can imagine my surprise when I was called by Willy all the way from Rome. As usual, e no waste time to start to blow his trumpet again. He was excited as he bored me shitless with the story of his knighthood by the Pope. In his words, it is to be the highest honor bestowed on an African he claimed. Haba, Willy, which kin lie be dat naa? Justice Oputa received his knighthood from the Pope too, and guess what? the gentleman didnt lobby for it sam sam. I GET MANY JIST ABOUT WILLY. ALSO READ: Pope Francis Honours Anambra Governor, Willie Obiano With Knight Title In Vatican City [Photos] The Eastern Regional Minister, Hon. Seth Kwame Achaempong has touted the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) as a significant milestone that will improve the road infrastructure within the region and improve the lives of its people. "Our roads are the lifeblood of communities which the government has today given a significant boost. They connect our towns and villages, facilitate the movement of people, goods and services, and are vital to the economic and social development of our region", he indicated He made these statements at the commissioning of road construction equipment which were delivered to the region under the DRIP initiative to help improve road networks within the districts in the Eastern Region. He said, "Some of our roads have been in deplorable conditions for some time hindering access to markets, schools, healthcare facilities and other essential services, especially in our rural areas". The Minister pointed out that the handing over of the equipments which include motor graders, bulldozers, backhoes, tipper trucks among other machines will empower the assemblies to maintain and improve the road network within their respective jurisdictions. He tasked the assemblies to ensure that the machines are utilized efficiently as its success depends on collective commitment, proper planning, diligent maintenance and accountability in their use while urging the assemblies to engage with the communities to understand the needs and prioritise road projects that will have the most impact. In a speech read on behalf of J. A Plant Pool Ghana Limited by the Chief Communications Officer of the Jospong Group of Companies, Madam Sophia Kudjordji, pointed out that the equipment aside from improving the road network within the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) will provide employment opportunities to over 5,000 individuals including drivers, operators, mechanics, welders, sprayers, janitors among others. She said the Key stakeholders that will ensure the successful implementation of DRIP include the Ministry of Roads, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Common Fund Secretariat, the Ghana Armed Forces and J.A Plant Pool Ghana Limited. Madam Sophia Kudjordji mentioned that J.A Plant Pool as a service provider will train and build capacities of persons engaged in the programme, fuel the machines, supply materials required for road maintenance and provide comprehensive after-sales services. 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 Professor Smart Sarpong, a Senior Researcher at the Kumasi Technical University, has expressed shock at the number of indpendent candidates contesting this year's Presidential elections. According to his research, twenty-two (22) people, of which two are women, have popped up to go independent, hence awaiting to file their nomination. Prof. Smart Sarpong, disclosing this on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show, found the number outrageous wondering the adverse impact this could have on the December 7 polls. "Assuming they all pass the process, we are going to have 34 presidential candidates on the ballot paper. Is this not ridiculous? Are we serious?" To Prof. Sarpong, this number needs to be cut down, stating before one's name appears on the ballot paper, it should be part of the requirements for such an individual to have proof of service to his or her community. "He who wants to lead must first serve, must be seen to have served. So, serve in your own small way...to the presidential independent candidates who want to lead, they must demonstrate to us the level of service they have engaged in relative to their constituents." "It is not the numbers we want but those who have demonstrable willingness or qualities to serve their people. If that is there, then we must see clear evidence of the developmental projects you have made in your community," he exclaimed. 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 Professor Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City University, Accra, has cautioned the State, particularly the security apparatus, against the deployment of the military to voting and collation centres in the upcoming 2024 General Election. He said that was the only way to avoid voter intimidation and minimise political tensions during the polls. "I think people just need to understand that voting is a civil responsibility. We all need to go out there and do it, but nobody should riot. We don't need to deploy the military to our polls to intimidate anyone. I just think it needs to be civil and it needs to be civilised," Prof. McBagonluri said. He gave the advice in an interview with the media over the weekend during the 10th anniversary conference of the Mandela Washington Fellowship in Accra. The Fellowship is a flagship programme of the United States (US) Department of State's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which brings together young African leaders from various sectors to develop leadership skills, foster cross-cultural understanding, and create a network of future leaders committed to creating change on the continent. The conference was held on the theme: "A Decade of Excellence: Empowering African Leaders for Sustainable Change." At least eight people died, while several others were injured during the 2020 elections. Prof. McBagonluri said voting to elect people to occupy leadership positions was a civic duty that must not lead to chaos and death. He expressed concern over the violence that had characterised the country's recent elections, cautioning Ghanaians against repeating the same in the upcoming election. "I'm worried about what I saw in Ejura in the last elections. I think that the civil duty of casting a ballot to elect who our leaders ought to be should not result in anybody dying in that process. "Any form of death in exercising this democratic dispensation is a sad one, and we should not allow that to happen. Nobody needs to die for anybody to be a parliamentarian or president for that matter," he stressed. He also called on leadership to be more selfless and prioritise the people's interests to ensure development. Since its inception in 2014, the Mandela Washington Fellowship has empowered over 7,000 emerging leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with tools to drive social, economic, and political progress in their communities. Dr. Laud Anthony Basing, President of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, said over the past decade, the Fellowship had empowered a new generation of African leaders who were passionate about driving and making a tangible impact in their communities and beyond the borders of Ghana. "We have had impact projects in Kpando, we are going to project our impact projects in Sunyani, Wa, Tamale, Accra, and Kumasi. We're also impacting young girls, women, female entrepreneurs, and we are also impacting young leaders, including senior high school students," he said. Going forward, he said, the Fellowship would expand its outreach to other areas of the country to ensure that no one was left behind. To achieve that, he said, the Fellowship would partner with other relevant stakeholders, including the US Embassy in Ghana, to build the capacities of members and individuals to enable them to make the required impact in their communities. Madam Virginia Evelyn Palmer, US Ambassador to Ghana, commended the Fellowship for the successes achieved over the past decade. She urged the youth, especially the Mandela Washington Fellows, to adopt a servant leadership style, prioritise the needs of the many over their personal interests, and achieve the development goals of the country and the continent at large. She also assured that the United States would strengthen the 17 different programmes it was currently undertaking in the country to make them more impactful and ensure that they achieved the targets for which they were established. Source: GNA 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 Founder of the All People's Party (APC), Hassan Ayariga, has blamed Ghanaians of empowering the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to engage in more corrupt activities. According to him, the attitude of vote buying is causing more harm than good, as the right people will not be given the chance to lead if they do not succumb to the 'no money, no vote' policy. In a yet-to-be-aired interview on GhanaWeb TV's Election Desk, on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, Hassan Ayariga entreated Ghanaians to refrain from corruption and its related activities by the NPP and NDC ahead of the December polls. "Now, we are saying we understand your pain, we understand the hardship, we understand the difficulties but if I have to pay for you to vote for me, I am equally going to be like NDC, NPP and I dont want to be corrupt. "You ask them, where did they get the money to pay you? Where are they getting the money to pay you? Why will you want me to give you a job and you have to pay me for me to give you the job? That is corruption in the highest order. "And we the citizens, we are encouraging the corruption that the NDC and NPP are doing because we do not ask them hard questions. When you want to buy a mobile phone, you examine the phone before we buy. Do we do same when we are voting for either NDC or NPP?" Hassan Ayariga quizzed. Source: ghanaweb.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 Running mate for the New Patriotic Party, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh and the Parliamentary Candidate of Kpone Katamanso William Ofosu Asante paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Kpone Nii Tetteh Otu II, the Traditional Council and the people. They were led by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Titus Glover, the NPP Greater Accra Regional Secretary Odailail Parker, the regional Womens Organizer Grace Acheampong with the Constituency Chairman and Executives of Kpone Katamanso. Mr Joe Ghartey, the 1st Vice Chairman of the NPP, Chairman Danquah Smith and National Organiser, Lawyer Nana Boakye were also in attendance. Dr Prempeh took the opportunity to plead with the Chiefs and people of Kpone to vote for the NPP in the upcoming elections. He reminded them that President Akufo-Addo promised them a hospital and the promise had been fulfilled. Napo said the NPP was committed to developing the whole country and urged the people of Kpone to vote for the NPP in 2024. He also took the opportunity to present to the Kpone Traditional Council their son, William Ofosu Asante, the Parliamentary Candidate of the NPP for Kpone Kantamanso. On his part, Hon Joe Ghartey who accompanied Napo, described Napo as a doer. He said Napo was an excellent partner for Dr Bawumia. Joe Ghartey said that he joined the NPP in 1992 because he was convinced that it presented Ghana with the best opportunity for governance. He said several years later his view on the matter had not changed. He also urged the people to vote for the Parliamentary Candidate who he described as an eloquent and enterprising young man, who would put Kpone firmly on the map of Ghana. The Chiefs thanked the delegation for the visit and wished them well. 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 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: Google DeepMind from Pexels Researchers are expanding the possibilities of 3D printing to create miniature human organs and a variety of products made from living tissue, including food. 3D printing has come a long way since its early days in the 1980s and is considered an essential tool in many manufacturing processes. Now, however, researchers like Italian bioengineer Dr. Riccardo Levato, are taking the technique in a new and exciting direction. What if, as well as car parts and designer furniture, we could print human organs or regenerate human tissue by bioprinting living cells? Levato, an associate professor of biofabrication and regenerative medicine at the University Medical Center Utrecht and at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, leads a team of researchers from Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland to do just that. As part of a research initiative called ENLIGHT which runs from 2021 to 2025, they are developing a miniature 3D-printed pancreas made of human cells. This, they hope, could improve the reliability and accuracy of testing of new therapies to treat diabetes and, perhaps, even one day lead to the possibility of lab-grown organs for human transplants. Living blueprint One of the key working materials of this research is stem cells. These are cells that have the potential to grow into many different types of human tissuemuscle cells, blood cells, brain cellsdepending on the signals they receive. Initial experiments, aimed at supporting patients with diabetes, have been carried out using insulin-producing cells grown in a lab from stem cells. Simply transplanting these cells into an ailing pancreas provides only short-term relief, however. According to Levato, this is because the cells lack proper support. "When you deliver these cells without structure, without vasculature, without protective material around them, they will die over time," he said. "The procedure lasts only a few years and then you have to repeat it." Levato and the ENLIGHT team are trying to fix this by 3D printing human tissue, living cells, to form three-dimensional implants complete with vessels. This is challenging because living cells are fragile and will not survive a normal 3D printing process. The researchers have tackled this by using water-rich gels, called bioinks, that carry and nurture the cells during the printing process. They then need to be able to guide the process of cell differentiation so that the organ develops in line with its genetic "blueprint." They do this using light. Light touch The ENLIGHT researchers have developed a novel 3D printing technique that uses light to shape the cell-containing bioink, instead of squeezing it through a nozzle like in a conventional 3D printer, which would damage the cells. "We essentially create a sort of light hologram of the object we want to print in the middle of this medium," Levato said. "Where you have this 3D light structure, the medium becomes solid and everywhere else it remains liquid so you can just wash it out. The cells are entrapped in the gelatine-like form, which is similar to the extra-cellular matrix in a living tissue." The researchers then nudge the cells to mature into insulin-producing cells by exposing them to light of specific wavelengths. The team is currently testing their implants in the laboratory and researchers hope such 3D printed organoids can become part of standard drug development procedures before the end of the decade. Levato cautioned, however, that it would take quite a bit longer to make the bioprinted organoids suitable for transplantation into human patients. Cruelty-free One of the advantages of the ENLIGHT team's work is that it could greatly reduce the need for animal testing. Being able to print life-like human organoids would not only improve the accuracy of drug testing, but would mean that the suffering of millions of laboratory animals could be avoided. Dr. Massimo Vassalli, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Glasgow in the UK, is taking the concept of 3D printing of living tissue in a slightly different direction, but one that could also potentially relieve animal suffering. He leads a multi-country research initiative called PRISM-LT which aims to develop cost-effective 3D printing of a variety of living tissues. Their work, which will run until 2027, could have relevant applications in both biomedicine and food production. "The aim of the project is to create a platform technology to address the manufacturing of a diverse range of living tissues for application in the health care and food industries," said Vassalli. "In fact, beyond the more obvious medical uses, we see a big role for 3D bioprinting in sustainable and clean food production," he said. The challenge, according to Vassalli, is to create complex heterogeneous tissues that truthfully mimic the texture of living materials. For example, meat contains muscle cells and fat cells, but also cells that form the connective tissues. To create meat that feels like the real thing, the researchers need to find ways to instruct stem cells to produce exactly the required type of tissue within a pre-defined structureand then sustain the process over time. Refining differentiation The researchers are exploring an approach that mimics symbiotic processes in nature. They are mixing bacteria or yeastswhich Vassalli calls worker or helper cellswith the stem cells in a 3D printing bioink to help guide the differentiation process. "These cells are either bacteria or yeast that can sense the direction in which the cells are going and start producing chemicals to help them differentiate further," he said. The team expect to be able to create centimeter-scale tissue cubes by the end of the project, focusing first on 3D-printed bone marrow for medical applications and a sample of marbled cultured meat. "Bioprinting technology offers improved flexibility in the design of the final composition of the tissue. This meets the needs of personalized health care applications," said Vassalli. "Food will take longer because the scale-up of the technology will take a lot of energy. A 3D printer we use in a lab wouldn't be suitable to produce meat for a population. There is a technological gap that needs to be closed." This article was originally published in Horizon the EU Research and Innovation Magazine. 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 tumultuous 2024 U.S. presidential election season is fraught with partisan battles over contentious issues such as abortion, immigration, racial violence and climate change. In a national political culture so heated and discordant that expressing differing views is often met with attacks on the speaker's motives, patriotism and intelligence, is there a path forward to healing and civility? A new book titled "The Certainty Trap: Why We Need to Question Ourselves Moreand How We Can Judge Others Less," by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sociology professor Ilana Redstone says that much of the divisiveness in today's political discourse springs from certainty's toxic influence on our thinking and the assumptions we make about those who disagree with us. The book is scheduled for release on September 2 by Pitchstone Publishing. Oftentimes, it's our lack of humility about our core values, beliefs, principles and goalsand our refusal to see how, in many cases, other perspectives and solutions exist and are equally validthat does the most damage, Redstone says. Correcting the destructive course that the U.S. is currently on demands that we stop, take a breathor perhaps two or threeand be open to critically examining our thinking, including our tendencies to label opposing arguments about prickly societal issues as right or wrong before defining the terms that we are supposedly arguing about. For example, how do we define the "costs" or "benefits" of the solutions that we are debating? And what others might there be that we haven't yet considered? Redstone writes that "the challenge before us is to continually find the doubt and uncertainty, interrogate and clarify our thinkingeach and every time we think the solution to a complex problem is obvious or easy." "When it comes to the provisional nature of our knowledgebut also in terms of being clear about what we thinkwe need to make an additional commitment. We need to understand that no ideas are exempt from criticism, questioning or examination. I would also say no idea is off the table or untouchable. And that can be very freeing," she said. Certainty that we are right cultivates the conviction that our knowledge is definitive and distorts our thinkingan error in judgment that Redstone calls the "settled question fallacy." That is, we behave as though the reasons behind our position or judgment are conclusive, the path forward is obvious and the right decision is clear, failing to recognize that there is often a multiplicity of potential causes and that almost any solution has a combination of costs and benefits. Redstone explains that the pitfall of blinded certainty is that it prompts us to shut down our thinking and close off inquiry and dialogue, particularly when we are confronted with those difficult, hot-button issues where we feel most threatened by disagreement. Throughout the book, she examines numerous examples of these issuesincluding biological sex and gender, wage inequality and gun controlthat are flash points in today's culture wars as she discusses the need to broaden our thinking, begin asking more questions and be open to others asking them, too. For example, the author points to the polarized media coverage and heated public discourse surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic safety mandates in early 2020. News stories either featured those who favored business closures and stay-at-home mandates to flatten the curve, slow transmission of the disease and prevent hospitals and health care agencies from being overwhelmedor depicted those who questioned these measures as callous and indifferent to the potential loss of human life. "(A)n uncertain response might have led us to a different set of questions," she wrote. "How should we think about the economic and human costs of closing businesses? What's the right way to evaluate the mental health consequences that might come from the social isolation of being housebound?" On this and other contentious, complex issues, "our deep need to simplify and have clarity often precludes us from a more complete understanding of the world we live in and the interactions in which we engage," Redstone observed. Along with the political polarization dividing Democrats and Republicans, as well as other political groups, the ripple effects of the certainty trap include the erosion of our social trust, as well as an increase in extremism and violence, according to the author. When we live in a world awash with information, misinformation and ambiguity, where we feel pressured to be "right," respond quickly and stridently defend our beliefs, how do we then avoid the certainty trap and its counterproductive and destructive outcomes, including ruptures in our personal relationships? And, better yet, how do we prepare today's young people and future generations to listen to the better angels of their nature? How might we encourage them to think clearly and to carefully weigh all the potential causes and ramifications of a decisionbefore hitting "send" or, worse still, firing the first shot of that second civil war that growing numbers of Democrats and Republicans believe is "imminent?" The good news, Redstone said, is that these skills can be taught, learned and practiced, and she describes several guidelines that can help people of all ages question and clarify their thinking. This can, in turn, lead us to have richer, more productive discussions than many of those that are currently contaminating our public discourse and fraying our social bonds. The author advocates teaching these skills from elementary school through college, so that interrogating and clarifying their thinking becomes natural for young people. By encouraging them to see nuance and complexity, and to be comfortable with uncertainty, Redstone says they may be less apt to judge or condemn those with whom they disagree. According to the author, certainty and democracy are incompatible. And the risks of doing nothing as our conversational airspace shrinks into a no-fly-zone are greatand could cost us democracy itself. However, surrendering our certainty can be difficult, Redstone acknowledges. "But leaving it behind doesn't require anyone to admit to being wrongand maybe you're not wrong at all. It means just being a little less sure you're right." 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 boat in Sydney Harbour on August 20, where many residents welcomed new legislation that allows them to "disconnect" from work when off duty. Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to "disconnect" on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours calls, emails and texts from their bosses. People can now refuse to monitor, read, or respond to their employers' attempts to contact them outside work hoursunless that refusal is deemed "unreasonable". Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance. "Today is a historic day for working people," said Michele O'Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. "Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work," she said. In the streets of Sydney, people appeared to welcome the change. "I have a very hard time disconnecting and even though I may not necessarily be logged on, my brain is constantly working overtime," not-for-profit worker Karolina Joseski told AFP. "So getting that after-hour call from my boss doesn't necessarily help." 'Deeply confusing' But the reform got a cool welcome from Australia's top industry body. "The 'right to disconnect' laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing," the Australian Industry Group said in a statement. "At the very least, employers and employees will now be uncertain about whether they can take or make a call out of hours to offer an extra shift," it said. The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries. Research indicates that the right to disconnect benefits employees, said University of Sydney associate professor Chris Wright. More than 70 percent of workers in European Union companies with a right to disconnect policy considered its impact to be positive, according to a November 2023 study by the EU work-related agency Eurofound. Employees are experiencing "availability creep" as smartphones and other digital devices put them in reach of their employers, Wright told AFP. "Having a measure that restores to some extent the boundary between people's work and non-work lives is a positive thing, certainly for employees but also for employers," he said, particularly in industries trying to lure new workers. 'Commonsense' The Australian law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday. Smaller firms with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025. The head of Australia's workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, said people should take a "commonsense approach" to applying the new law. Under the legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond, the regulator said. The question of what is reasonable will "depend on the circumstances", the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement. Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee's role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform, which was pushed through by his centre-left Labor government. "We want to make sure that just as people don't get paid 24 hours a day, they don't have to work for 24 hours a day," he told national broadcaster ABC. "It's a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life." 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: Baobabs reach extraordinarily old ages. Some have been found to be thousands of years old. During these life spans, elder baobabs have survived erratic climate conditions. As an ecologist who has spent the last 17 years studying baobab, I decided to look specifically at the health of adult baobabs in Southern Africa and then in Africa as a whole, to establish if more recent human-induced climate change has started having an effect on these magnificent trees. Over the course of 2023, I traveled across Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe visiting baobabs located in the area as well as 13 other particularly old and large specimens, including Sagole (named after a local hot spring), the largest baobab in the world. As I traveled, I became increasingly impressed by baobabs' fortitude. Not only is the cohort of southern Africa's oldest and largest baobabs enduring, but most baobab populations in Africa are healthy and stable, with very low mortality rates. Indeed, nothing I saw supported the notion that Africa's baobabs are dying as a result of climate change. This is important because baobabs have been a source of food, fiber and medicine for centuries. Over 300 uses of baobabs have been described. In the last decade, the growing trade in baobab fruit products has supported thousands of rural communities, especially marginalized women who are able to collect fruit from the trees around their homesteads and sell it for much needed income. The possible demise of baobabs would have devastating consequences for many people and local economies. Climate change is not new for millennial trees Baobabs are originally from Africa, where they occur in 32 countries. It is well-known that baobabs reach extraordinary old ages. Radio-carbon dating has repeatedly found baobabs well over 1,000 years old, with the oldest among them reaching 2,500 years in age. Over their life spans, baobabs have survived erratic climate conditions including droughts and floods. Researchers used carbon isotopes recovered from the pith of nine baobabs to recreate rainfall patterns for the last 1,000 years. These records show that the southern part of Africa experienced numerous successive droughts, one of which was even severe enough to cause the abandonment of the Mapungubwe capital, a significant archaeological settlement, in the early 14th century. My observations on the general good health of baobabs do not stand alone. Several surveys across many parts of Africa also show stable baobab populations. It is estimated that there are up to four million baobab trees in Zimbabwe alone, and this only represents a fraction of Africa's population. Adult tree mortality is negligible, except for where elephants are found. Elephants rely on eating baobab bark in the dry season, and when elephant numbers get too high, baobab trees become over utilized, which can lead to population decline. However, where there are no elephants, adult baobab trees have a very high survival rate. Baobabs are not immortal, so what are the threats? There are, of course, several threats to baobabsthe most devastating of which is herbivory (the act of eating plants). Studies across Africa have shown that young trees are under high browsing pressures from domestic animals and wildlife. While browsing is not as much of a threat to adult baobabs, elephants are. These animals were responsible for the dramatic decline and almost extinction of baobabs in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya) in the 1970s. They were responsible for a mortality rate of 8% in Mapungubwe National Park (South Africa) between 2009 and 2019. This rapid loss of adult trees is doubly alarming as baobabs rely on a storage effect for episodic recruitment (meaning that the long-lived nature of the tree allows them to keep producing seed for hundreds of years). Without adult trees, these areas will not easily be populated again. While major drought events of the mid 1960s and early 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s certainly caused the death of several baobabs in the region, too much water appears to be more of a threat to baobabs than too little. Baobabs are vulnerable to too much water in the dry season (winter) when leafless, as leaves act as a pump for water that comes from the roots. Without leaves, baobabs have no way of getting rid of excess water and develop root and stem rot, leading to collapse or death. This may be why baobabs in high rainfall areas do not achieve the same longevity as those in drier areas. It is also interesting to note that only one baobab named in previous studies which described the collapse and death of a number of large baobabs in southern Africa died during a drought period while two collapsed from too much water due to artificial watering over multiple winter seasons. Symbols of resilience As global temperatures continue to rise, millions of life-forms around the globe are under threat. Plants and animals differ in their ability to cope with variable climate conditions. Many are sensitive to the slightest change and thus may be the first to die. In contrast, baobabs are well adapted to changes in temperature and rainfall, as can be seen by their wide geographic distribution and extreme longevity. Baobabs, like any life-form, are not immortal, but they may well be the "last tree standing." Far from victims of climate change, as punted by social media, they can be symbols of resilience. 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: With dense smoke drifting across a wide swath of Brazil, several flights have been canceled and travel on some roads has been halted. Brazil was deploying military aircraft as part of a "war" against wildfires ravaging the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, with authorities warning on Sunday that arsonists were setting blazes. Following a crisis meeting of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's cabinet, Environment Minister Marina Silva announced a "war against the fire" and said federal police were investigating the "atypical situation" that has caused extensive damage. "So far we have not detected any fire caused by lightning, which means there are people starting fires," Lula said in a video that he posted on X after meeting with Silva. Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of Sao Paulo, by far the country's most populous state with some 44 million residents, decreed a state of emergency in 45 municipalities and said two people suspected of starting fires had been arrested. The president promised federal assistance to the states in fighting the blazes, saying there were already 3,000 firefighters working nationwide. With dense smoke drifting across a wide swath of Brazil -- even reaching capital city Brasilia 720 kilometers (450 miles) to the north -- several flights have been canceled and travel on some roads has been halted. "I stuck my nose out last night around 7:00 pm and I had a lot of trouble breathing," 66-year-old retiree Carlos Rodrigues told AFP. "I've lived here 32 years and I've never seen anything like it." Videos posted on social media showed the city plunged into near-darkness by a dense layer of smoke. Two factory workers died Friday in Urupes, in the northern part of the state, while fighting a fire, officials said. The military aircraft being deployed include a KC-390 Embraer, a converted troop transport craft that can drop up to 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water on fire zones. The Embraer was sent to one of the communities most threatened, Ribeirao Preto, a city of 700,000 inhabitants about 300 kilometers from Sao Paulo. But Silva said the plane "was unable to operate because of the amount of smoke," adding: "That gives you an idea of the problem." Videos posted on social media showed the city plunged into near-darkness by a dense layer of smoke. Some residents have had to evacuate. "It's apocalyptic," a person is heard saying in one video. Authorities were hoping rains that fell Sunday would help alleviate the crisis. The dense smoke drifted across Brazil, reaching as far as capital city Brasilia about 720 kilometers away. Around the region, farm fields have burned and scores of cattle have died. Governor de Freitas said 10 million reais (around $1.8 million) were being allocated to help farmers who lose crops or livestock. Amid prolonged drought, Sao Paulo state is experiencing its worst month for fires in decades, with 3,480 separate blazes identified, according to INPE, the National Institute for Space Research. The government directly linked the situation to climate change. "Even the deniers can no longer deny the climate crisis," Lula said on X. "We have to fight climate change with a lot of intelligence, and with financing from the richest countries that have already destroyed their forests." 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: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Starting primary school is a momentous and exciting time for children. A positive start to school has been linked to children's social and academic success in their first year at school. Children generally adjust well to new environments, routines and structure. However, the transition to school can be a nerve-racking time for parents and caregivers, who are often worried about whether their child will make new friends, understand the rules and make academic progress. Lots of children look forward to starting school, but many will also feel apprehensive. Their worries may become apparent through behavior such as becoming clingy and finding it tricky to separate from parents and caregivers, becoming more emotional and having larger responses than expected. They may refuse to follow instructions or directions like they usually would. After the first few weeks of term, they may be reluctant to go to school, feel sick or show negative attitudes towards school. These are all typical ways in which children express their feelings about change and uncertainty. It's likely that they will decrease over time as a child adapts to the new routine of school. But knowing this doesn't necessarily make life any easier for parents. Here are a few tips to help your child start and settle in to school, drawn from my experience as a child and educational psychologist. Build optimism and joy Children want to know about their new school and the new people they will meet. Creating excitement about school is important. In the buildup to the first day, walk past your child's new school with them and help them try on the school uniform, talking positively as you do so. If your child tells you about any anxieties or worries, don't dismiss them or avoid the subject, but listen and reassure them that you will help them overcome any difficulties. Encourage curiosity Encourage your child's curiosity about school by asking them what they enjoyed about nursery or pre-school and talking with them about what they might be looking forward to at school. You could link daily experiences to schoolperhaps wondering aloud about what play equipment is on the school playground while at the local park. You could discuss what your child might learn at school, and explore related activities at home. For example, when reading your child's favorite book, you could talk about whether other children might have read the same one. Focus on relationships When your child starts school, focus on making time to connect with them during your morning and bedtime routines. Think about ways to remind your child that you are thinking about them: you could give them something of yours to keep in their bag, or draw a small heart on their hand to remind them of you. Reconnect with your child at the end of the day with a big smile and snacks for the journey home. A common worry for parents is that their child will not make friends. You can help your child meet the social demands of school by modeling key social skills, such as saying hello to their classmates and other parents at school drop-off and pick-up. Positive relationships between families and schools are also important. Speak to your child's teacher: they will likely have supported lots of children through this transition and they will be happy to talk to you. Understand the demands of schooland celebrate the wins Expect your child to be more tired than usual and their behavior may also feel more challenging at times as they adjust. Reduce all expectations after school and don't worry if you don't make it to their usual club or swimming lesson in the first few weeks. Although you will be keen to find out about their day, limit your questions on pick-up and give them the opportunity to offer information in their own time. Also, accept that bedtimes might be tricky as your child processes their new experiences. Celebrate your child's successes at school by offering praise and positive feedback. Focus on what they have achieved and what they have enjoyed in the first few days of term. Remember your own well-being Importantly, look after yourself. Children are remarkably resilient to change when they have the support and guidance of trusted adults around them. Schedule time to focus on your own well-being in the first few weeks of school. Connect with friends, speak to other parents and remain hopeful and optimistic about your child's first year at school. Take the time to get to know other new parents in your child's class. The chances are they will be feeling similarly to you. 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: Datasets and spatial coverage used in Switzerland. Credit: Journal of Remote Sensing (2024). DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0158 Scientists have developed a method to measure forest heights using advanced satellite technology, significantly reducing the need for labor-intensive fieldwork. A study published on July 29 in the Journal of Remote Sensing by a team of international researchers leverages high-resolution satellite imagery from China's Gaofen-7 (GF-7) satellite and historical images from Google Earth to achieve highly precise forest height measurements. The GF-7 satellite, known for its very high-resolution (VHR) stereoscopic images, can capture detailed images of the Earth's surface, including forests. Traditionally, accurate measurement of forest heights using such images required ground control points (GCPs), which had to be collected through time-consuming and costly fieldwork. This presented significant challenges, especially in remote or mountainous areas. To address this, researchers introduced a novel method called Multi-temporal Averaging of Google Earth (MAGE). This technique uses Google Earth's multi-temporal historical imagery to gather GCPs without the need for extensive field surveys. By averaging coordinates from multiple historical images, MAGE improves accuracy and simplifies the process. The study demonstrated this approach in Switzerland, northeast and south China. Using GF-7 stereoscopic images alongside MAGE-derived GCPs, the researchers created a digital surface model (DSM) from the GF-7 images and subtracted the ground surface elevations to extract forest heights. The results were impressive: The average errors in the coordinates from the MAGE method were less than 2.0 meters. Initially, the forest height measurements had an average error of 12.3 meters, but this improved significantly to just 1.5 meters using the optimized MAGE method. Additionally, the accuracy of the height prediction model improved dramatically, with the correlation between predicted and actual heights increasing from 0.72 to 0.95. These findings highlight the effectiveness of the MAGE method in improving the geometric processing of VHR imagery, leading to more accurate forest height estimations. "This advancement holds significant potential for various environmental and forestry applications. It enables more efficient monitoring and management of forest resources, which is crucial for understanding ecological health, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation," says Ni Wenjian from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, the reduction in the need for fieldwork makes it feasible to conduct large-scale forest height assessments even in hard-to-reach areas, promoting better forest management practices globally, he adds. The study represents a major step forward in remote sensing technology, demonstrating how innovative use of existing data can overcome traditional challenges in environmental monitoring. The research was conducted by institutions including the AIRCAS, Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the University of Maryland. More information: Wenjian Ni et al, Forest Height Extraction Using GF-7 Very High-Resolution Stereoscopic Imagery and Google Earth Multi-Temporal Historical Imagery, Journal of Remote Sensing (2024). DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0158 Provided by Journal of Remote Sensing 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 green turtle swims in waters of Ribbon Reef No 10 near Cairns, Australia, in January 2019. The reef has experienced widespread coral bleaching over the years because of climate change and rising ocean temperatures. Credit: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Each year, temperature records are broken and extreme weather events strike. July 22, 2024 now marks the hottest day on record, surpassing the previous heat records set in 2023. Extreme weather events are impacting many tourism hotspots, such as the recent Jasper wildfire, the April 2024 flooding of Dubai airport and the 2023 Maui wildfires. Yet tourism continues to grow, and travel levels are expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels shortly. Climate change is an inseparable aspect of modern tourism. On the one hand, the key components of tourismtransportation, aviation in particular, as well as accommodationare major contributors to carbon emissions. Aviation emissions alone account for an estimated 810% of overall greenhouse gas emissions. But, in turn, climate change also poses increasing and severe risks to tourism businesses. Beach holidays are threatened by rising sea levels, ski resorts can no longer depend on snowfall and some tourism businesses risk becoming uninsurable. Until recently, the response to the climate crisis has focused largely on climate action. This includes addressing the impact of carbon emissions through mitigation (using technologies to prevent emissions) and adaptation (adjusting to climate change) in impacted areas. However, our new report from "The Travel Foundation" argues the tourism industry needs to consider climate justice before undertaking any climate actions. We conducted in-depth interviews with a wide range of tourism experts to determine how the industry can play a role in a just transition. Climate justice The tourism industry's engagement with climate justice is well overdue. The concept of climate justice first gained international recognition in 2000 when the first climate justice summit was held alongside COP 6 at the Hague. Climate justice is an inclusive approach to climate action that centers the voices and needs of communities most impacted by climate change. Indigenous, Black and other marginalized communities are particularly vulnerable to the severe impacts of climate change. As, Daniela Subtil, the network co-ordinator for Stay Grounded, a network of organizations promoting alternatives to aviation to address climate change, said, "The impacts of the climate crisis that aviation contributes to are being felt by marginalized, historically and systematically marginalized peoples. Yet there is a very tiny percentage of the world's population flying." Climate justice recognizes that these communities often lack the resources needed to deal with the impacts of climate extremes. Despite contributing the least to the climate crisis, both historically and in the present, many of these communitiesparticularly across the Global Southare bearing the brunt of its consequences. Our report highlights that low-income countries account for less than one percent of travel and tourism emissions, but will suffer the most from climate change. Tourism emissions are disproportionately caused by a small percentage of the population that are primarily in the Global North. A 2020 study, for instance, found that a small group of "super-emitters"just one percent of the populationwere responsible for half of aviation's carbon emissions in 2018. A better approach to travel Demands for climate justice are just as relevant to travelers as they are to the tourism industry. Whether it's the need to better prepare for climate disasters at destinations or the potential increase in levies that the industry will pass onto consumers, travelers are not shielded from the effects of climate change. Our report encourages a responsible approach to travel planning that urges travelers to take into account not only their carbon footprints, but also their broader impact on social justice. This begins with recognizing the communities and environments impacted by tourists' travel choices. Tourists should be aware that their presence may not be welcomed in communities dealing with climate change-related disasters. A climate justice approach also normalizes the idea that tourism businesses can act as first responders in climate emergencies, bringing their skills and resources into action. Climate justice tourism There are already existing examples of tourism that better aligns with the principles of climate justice. Often it is Indigenous communities leading the way, from Traditional Owner communities in Australia to Indian Country in the United States. For instance, Dreamtime Dive and Snorkel in Australia educates about the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage site, the impacts it faces from climate change and the Traditional Owners connected to the site. Canada is also fortunate to be home to some unique examples of this type of tourism in action, including the Haida Gwaii archipelago off of the coast of British Columbia, which has always been home to the Haida Nation. Given the islands' distinctive natural and cultural beauties, Haida Gwaii has become a popular tourist destination. In an attempt to assert control over tourism to their homelands and ensure visitors are following a path of responsible tourism, the citizens of Haida Gwaii have initiated the Haida Gwaii Pledge. The pledge asks tourists to understand the responsibility of care that Haida have for their place and people. It invites visitors to join them in this care and be respectful guests during their visit. This is one example of transforming tourism relations for justice. It will become increasingly needed as climate change impacts hit harder and harder. Ultimately, climate justice is a critical issue for all of us. Recent events prompt us all to commit to climate action with concern for more just outcomes. This may also transform tourism for the better. 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: Northeasterns Gabriela Garcia researches a pattern of fruit and nut trees producing high yields one year, followed by years of low yields. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University Northeastern University professor Gabriela Garcia studies the relationship between people and plants. And it's an often misunderstood relationship. She's especially interested in how decisions are made by farmers on small farms, which often operate on shoestring budgets with limited resources. Why is she interested? Because, Garcia says, more than 80% of the world's farms are small, operating on one to five acres. So the global food supply depends on them. But, she says, outside the United States, most small farms don't have agricultural insurance that protects them during low-yield years when revenues can drop by 70%. "There's all sorts of uncertainty," Garcia says. One phenomenon that contributes to low yields and has been largely overlooked, Garcia says, is something called "alternate bearing"a pattern of fruit and nut trees producing high yields one year, followed by years of low yields. In research published in One Earth, Garcia and her collaboratorsincluding Northeastern's Laura Kuhldeveloped a framework for how to better understand the impact of alternate bearing, which they say is often overlooked in discussions of resilient farming. They hope the research encourages others to join them in exploring the ecosystems of farms. And help study trees that produce things like apples, avocados, olives, pistachios and coffee. "I'm really interested in, especially with the changing climate and environment, how we can align synergies between ecosystem function and farmers' well-being for resilience," Garcia says. So what exactly causes alternate bearing? "The plants overinvest their resources during the high-yielding years, and then they're basically exhausted and depleted," Garcia says. "Until they can recover, they won't reproduce again." This can occur in one set of trees, but it can also spread to other trees, and eventually other farms, an entire growing region or even a whole country, which Garcia showed in her 2021 research. As part of her research, Gabriela Garcia, assistant professor of marine and environmental sciences and public policy, compares samples of crops grown on farms with similar plants in nature. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University "There is a really widespread assumption that we should just be able to manage it away, like it's totally under a farmer's control, and if you haven't eliminated these fluctuations, it's just poor management," she says. The evidence suggests, Garcia says, that it's not easy to control alternate bearing. "Therefore we should have better strategies to support their resilience, instead of just having farmers kind of weather these fluctuations of low-yielding years," she says. Environmental disturbances like droughts, pest outbreaks, warm winters and hurricaneswhich are growing in frequency and intensitycan compound the impact of alternate bearing. For example, if a tropical storm hits during a high-yield year and destroys a crop, a farm could experience several low-yield years in a row. And that could affect the cost of goods, Garcia says, like it did for Brazilian coffee when low-production years led to prices spiking across the globe. The goal of her research, Garcia says, is to raise awareness of the alternate bearing issue and to encourage more research on it. "There is a pretty big knowledge gap," she says. "We're calling on folks to pay more attention to it and to advance a lot of these open questions." For instance, it is not clear how many consecutive crop failures a farmer can withstand before abandoning a farm. In her research, Garcia offers several strategies that could help farmers mitigate alternate bearing, including the diversification of crops. By planting high-value annual cropssuch as tomatoes and legumesalongside perennials, a farm could subsidize and stabilize its revenues, she says. Developing insurance policies for farmers in countries that don't offer them would be another important step, Garcia says. In the end, she says, just accepting alternate bearing as a serious issue is an important step in pushing for things like government assistance, subsidies and incentives. "Recognition that synchronous (alternate bearing) often persists despite farmer efforts to limit itand that its interactions with extrinsic environmental shocks may be devastating for farmer livelihoodsis critical to supporting more just and resilient perennial crop systems," she says. More information: Gabriela M. Garcia et al, Intrinsic yield fluctuations interact with environmental shocks to threaten the socio-ecological resilience of perennial crop systems, One Earth (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2024.07.007 Journal information: One Earth This story is republished courtesy of Northeastern Global News news.northeastern.edu. 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: LZ's central detector, the time projection chamber, in a surface lab clean room before delivery underground. Credit: Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities for one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. LZ, led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), hunts for dark matter from a cavern nearly one mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. The experiment's new results explore weaker dark matter interactions than ever researched before and further limit what WIMPs could be. "These are new world-leading constraints by a sizable margin on dark matter and WIMPs," said Chamkaur Ghag, spokesperson for LZ and a professor at University College London (UCL). He noted that the detector and analysis techniques are performing even better than the collaboration expected. "If WIMPs had been within the region we searched, we'd have been able to robustly say something about them. We know we have the sensitivity and tools to see whether they're there as we search lower energies and accrue the bulk of this experiment's lifetime." The collaboration found no evidence of WIMPs above a mass of 9 gigaelectronvolts/c2 (GeV/c2). (For comparison, the mass of a proton is slightly less than 1 GeV/c2.) The experiment's sensitivity to faint interactions helps researchers reject potential WIMP dark matter models that don't fit the data, leaving significantly fewer places for WIMPs to hide. The new results were presented at two physics conferences on August 26: TeV Particle Astrophysics 2024 in Chicago, Illinois, and LIDINE 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A paper will be published in the coming weeks. An array of photomultiplier tubes that are designed to detect signals from particle interactions occurring within LZ's liquid xenon detector. Credit: Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility The results analyze 280 days' worth of data: a new set of 220 days (collected between March 2023 and April 2024) combined with 60 earlier days from LZ's first run. The experiment plans to collect 1,000 days' worth of data before it ends in 2028. "If you think of the search for dark matter like looking for buried treasure, we've dug almost five times deeper than anyone else has in the past," said Scott Kravitz, LZ's deputy physics coordinator and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "That's something you don't do with a million shovelsyou do it by inventing a new tool." LZ's sensitivity comes from the myriad ways the detector can reduce backgrounds, the false signals that can impersonate or hide a dark matter interaction. Deep underground, the detector is shielded from cosmic rays coming from space. To reduce natural radiation from everyday objects, LZ was built from thousands of ultraclean, low-radiation parts. The detector is built like an onion, with each layer either blocking outside radiation or tracking particle interactions to rule out dark matter mimics. And sophisticated new analysis techniques help rule out background interactions, particularly those from the most common culprit: radon. This result is also the first time that LZ has applied "salting"a technique that adds fake WIMP signals during data collection. By camouflaging the real data until "unsalting" at the very end, researchers can avoid unconscious bias and keep from overly interpreting or changing their analysis. Members of the LZ team in the LZ water tank after the outer detector installation. Credit: Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility "We're pushing the boundary into a regime where people have not looked for dark matter before," said Scott Haselschwardt, the LZ physics coordinator and a recent Chamberlain Fellow at Berkeley Lab who is now an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. "There's a human tendency to want to see patterns in data, so it's really important when you enter this new regime that no bias wanders in. If you make a discovery, you want to get it right." Dark matter, so named because it does not emit, reflect, or absorb light, is estimated to make up 85% of the mass in the universe but has never been directly detected, though it has left its fingerprints on multiple astronomical observations. We wouldn't exist without this mysterious yet fundamental piece of the universe; dark matter's mass contributes to the gravitational attraction that helps galaxies form and stay together. LZ uses 10 tons of liquid xenon to provide a dense, transparent material for dark matter particles to potentially bump into. The hope is for a WIMP to knock into a xenon nucleus, causing it to move, much like a hit from a cue ball in a game of pool. By collecting the light and electrons emitted during interactions, LZ captures potential WIMP signals alongside other data. "We've demonstrated how strong we are as a WIMP search machine, and we're going to keep running and getting even betterbut there's lots of other things we can do with this detector," said Amy Cottle, lead on the WIMP search effort and an assistant professor at UCL. "The next stage is using these data to look at other interesting and rare physics processes, like rare decays of xenon atoms, neutrinoless double beta decay, boron-8 neutrinos from the sun, and other beyond-the-Standard-Model physics. And this is in addition to probing some of the most interesting and previously inaccessible dark matter models from the last 20 years." Members of the LZ collaboration gather at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in June 2023, shortly after the experiment began the recent science run. Credit: Stephen Kenny/Sanford Underground Research Facility LZ is a collaboration of roughly 250 scientists from 38 institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Switzerland, South Korea, and Australia; much of the work building, operating, and analyzing the record-setting experiment is done by early career researchers. The collaboration is already looking forward to analyzing the next data set and using new analysis tricks to look for even lower-mass dark matter. Scientists are also thinking through potential upgrades to further improve LZ, and planning for a next-generation dark matter detector called XLZD. "Our ability to search for dark matter is improving at a rate faster than Moore's Law," Kravitz said. "If you look at an exponential curve, everything before now is nothing. Just wait until you see what comes next." 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 outcome of simulating carbonate platforms in the stratigraphic domain. A Scenario A: deposition based on a fictional sea-level curve. B Scenario B: deposition based on the sea-level curve from Miller et al. for the last 2.58 Myr. Graphs represent the position in the middle of the simulated grid along the strike. Credit: BMC Ecology and Evolution (2024). DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02287-2 Fossils are used to reconstruct evolutionary history, but not all animals and plants become fossils and many fossils are destroyed before we can find them (e.g., the rocks that contain the fossils are destroyed by erosion). As a result, the fossil record has gaps and is incomplete, and we're missing data that we need to reconstruct evolutionary history. Now, a team of sedimentologists and stratigraphers from the Netherlands and the UK have examined how this incompleteness influences the reconstruction of evolutionary history. To their surprise, they found that the incompleteness itself is actually not such a big issue. "It's as if you are missing half of a movie. If you are missing the second half, you can't understand the story, but if you are missing every second frame, you can still follow the plot without problems. "The regularity of the gaps, rather than the incompleteness itself, is what determines the reconstruction of evolutionary history," explains Niklas Hohmann of Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences, who led the study. "If a lot of data is missing, but the gaps are regular, we could still reconstruct evolutionary history without major problems, but if the gaps get too long and irregular, results are strongly biased." The study is published in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution. Since Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, the incompleteness of the fossil record has been considered problematic for reconstructing evolutionary history from fossils. Darwin feared that the gradual change that his theory predicted would not be recognizable in the fossil record due to all the gaps. "Our results show that this fear is unjustified. We have a good understanding of where the gaps are, how long they are and what causes them. With this geological knowledge, we can reconstruct evolution hundreds of millions of years ago at an unprecedented temporal resolution," says Hohmann. Computer simulations of geological processes at timescales longer than any historical records can be used to examine the effects of the incompleteness. To that end, Hohmann and his team combined simulations of different modes of evolution with depositions of carbonate strata to examine how well the mode of evolution can be recovered from fossil time series, and how test results vary between different positions in the carbonate platform and multiple stratigraphic architectures generated by different sea level curves. "If Darwin could read the article, he would certainly be relieved: his theory has proven robust to the vagaries of the rock record. Deep-time fossil datahowever incompletesupports our understanding of the mode and tempo of evolution," adds Hohmann. More information: Niklas Hohmann et al, Identification of the mode of evolution in incomplete carbonate successions, BMC Ecology and Evolution (2024). DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02287-2 Journal information: BMC Ecology and Evolution 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: CSE and QED-CCSD energies for the three fermion Tavis-Cummings model with increasing coupling. The Hamiltonian parameters from Eq. (14) were fixed as (,)=(2,0.5), while is varied as shown along the axis. The QED-CCSD- methods are named according to the convention used in Ref. [41].Credit: Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.080202 A study coordinated by the University of Trento with the University of Chicago proposes a generalized approach to the interactions between electrons and light. In the future, it may contribute to the development of quantum technologies as well as to the discovery of new states of matter. The study is published in Physical Review Letters Understanding the interaction between quantum particles is crucial in the discovery of new molecules or materials that can be used for novel technological or medical applications. For instance, when molecules or chemical compounds interact with light, their physical properties can change substantially. Bearing this in mind, the new field of polaritonic chemistry aims to trigger new chemical reactions using light as a catalyst. More generally, controlling light-matter interactions provides a way to manipulate and synthesize new quantum matter. The research work, as always, progresses by making hypotheses that must be verified. But when the object of study is a quantum system involving a multitude of different elements, i.e. electrons, photons, phonons, the situation can be even more complicated. It is difficult to accurately calculate the wave function of such a system, that is, a function that contains the relevant physical information to make accurate predictions about the behavior of many quantum particles of more than one type. A group of researchers from the University of Chicago, coordinated by Carlos Leonardo Benavides-Riveros, a research fellow at the Department of Physics of the University of Trento, and David A. Mazziotti from the University of Chicago, made a contribution to this topic. They started with an "ansatz," a theoretical prescription, that can help them predict the interactions among the particles in a many-body quantum system on a quantum computer. Then they generalized this ansatz to treat systems that contain more than one type of quantum particle, e.g., systems that contain not only electrons but also photons and/or phonons. To demonstrate, the researchers have simulated a universal quantum algorithm on an IBM quantum computer, with zero theoretical error. And that is the novelty of this study: the researchers have developed a single approach that can be used to generate exponential prescriptions (ansatzes) for many-body quantum systems with more than one type of particle that, when implemented on quantum devices, produces exact wave functions. According to physicists, this solution also opens up new perspectives in the study of the states of matter. "Quantum systems as molecules or solids, as we find them in nature, never contain only electrons. Many fascinating properties can be created or suppressed when light interacts with them," explains Benavides-Riveros. "What we did," he continues, "was to introduce other quantum particles beyond electrons such as particles of light, commonly known as photons. And by following our universal formulation of the problem we can understand the structure of its wave function and hence, its physical properties." "Because the ansatz is particularly suitable for quantum computers, the advance opens new possibilities for using quantum computers to model important molecular problems in light-matter interaction, such as occur in polaritonic chemistry," Mazziotti says. 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 More companies are embracing remote work, and with that comes a need for more frequent communication. Teamwork through a screen isn't always the same as having a group in the same room, so how are companies cultivating leaders in these virtual settings? New research involving a collaboration between Binghamton University schools and research centersthe School of Management (SOM), Bass Center for Leadership Studies, School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering (SSIE) at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Center of Complex Systemsshows how, in virtual teams where nonverbal cues are limited, a person's engagement and influence in conversations can significantly shape whether they're perceived as a leader. The study, "Leader Emergence in the Digital Realm: Exploring Communication Dynamics via Machine Learning," is published in the Academy of Management Proceedings. But taking charge of the conversation isn't enough, the study found; for leadership to be effective and teamwork to be successful, all the group's participants must also speak up. The study's findings could guide the development of new training programs to strengthen verbal communication skills in virtual workspaces and help organizations improve the structure of virtual teams. "Emerging leadership is really important in a virtual environment because we have to rely more on the effectiveness of our communication since we cannot observe formal leaders directly or as easily," said Fuhe Jin, Ph.D., now an assistant professor of management at The College of New Jersey, who worked on the study while a doctoral student in SOM. "If you want to be recognized as a leader in a virtual group, you need to pay closer attention to how the audience responds to what you're saying and support others' ideas so you can better facilitate communication." In the study, researchers based their findings on data gathered from 51 participants in 12 virtual teams at universities in Tokyo between 2021 and 2022. They found virtual team members whose contributions received inspiring or affirming responses from others in the group were more likely to be viewed as emergent leaders because their central role in team communications was being highlighted. Using a machine-learning program to gain a detailed look into the virtual teams' verbal dynamics, researchers tracked affirmative responses such as "You are correct," "Indeed it is," and "I agree with you." Next, they followed each team member's level of engagement and responsiveness. One important takeaway from analyzing the data was that just because someone dominated a team discussion, that didn't necessarily make them a better leader, said SOM Osterhout Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai, who worked on the study. "We found speaking in Zoom becomes quite important for everyone because, in these virtual settings, you cannot capture many nonverbal backchannel behaviors that would indicate whether people agree with or understand you in the same way as if you were meeting in person," Tsai said. "This work reminds us that the audience matters as much as the person speaking, so both should have some common ground. That will enhance the perception of leadership, making you more effective in that role." This study represents a promising direction in artificial intelligence research because it shows how AI can be used to better understand and possibly improve human collaborative teams instead of seeking ways to replace them, said SUNY Distinguished SSIE Professor Hiroki Sayama, who was on the research team. Researchers also noted in the study that if companies focused more on developing a person's ability to engage in verbal interactions while also fostering team socioemotional support, virtual teams could more effectively nurture potential leaders. "Regarding the scientific value of the key findings, we learn how leadership emerges from the complex interactions among people," Sayama said of the study. "A classic, traditional view would attribute leadership to individual traits (vision, determination, charisma, etc.), but our study clearly showed that leadership is more relational." More information: FUHE JIN et al, Leader Emergence in the Digital Realm: Exploring Communication Dynamics via Machine Learning, Academy of Management Proceedings (2024). DOI: 10.5465/AMPROC.2024.17615abstract 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: Experimental setup for computational temporal ghost imaging based on frequency downconversion. Credit: Light: Science & Applications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01426-0 Ghost imaging in the time domain allows for reconstructing fast temporal objects using a slow photodetector. The technique involves correlating random or pre-programmed probing temporal intensity patterns with the integrated signal measured after modulation by the temporal object. However, the implementation of temporal ghost imaging necessitates ultrafast detectors or modulators for measuring or pre-programming the probing intensity patterns, which are not available in all spectral regions especially in the mid-infrared region. In a new paper published in Light: Science & Application, a team of scientists, led by Prof. Houkun Liang from Sichuan University, China and Prof. Goery Genty from Tampere University, Finland, and co-workers have developed a frequency downconversion temporal ghost imaging (TGI) scheme that enables extending the operation regime to arbitrary wavelengths regions where fast modulators and detectors are not available. The approach modulates a signal with temporal intensity patterns in the near-infrared and transfers the patterns to an idler via difference-frequency generation in a nonlinear crystal at a wavelength where the temporal object can be retrieved. As a proof-of-concept, scientists demonstrated a computational temporal ghost imaging in the mid-infrared with operating wavelength that can be tuned from 3.2 to 4.3 m. The scheme is flexible and can be extended to other regimes. The results introduce new possibilities for scan-free pump-probe imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamics in spectral regions where ultrafast modulation or detection is challenging, such as the mid-infrared and THz regions. Transfer the preprogrammed temporal probing patterns from the near- to mid-infrared spectral region. (a) Comparison of time-resolved intensity profiles of 1542 nm light modulated by the pre-programmed randomly selected binary patterns (red) and 3.4 m idler temporal intensity after the PPLN crystal (black). (b) Time-to-time intensity fluctuations cross-correlation between the 1542 nm signal and 3.4 m idler calculated over 250 temporal windows containing different probing patterns. Credit: Light: Science & Applications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01426-0 Mid-infrared TGI results using pre-programmed, randomly selected probing patterns. (a) Experimental ghost image (cyan solid line) of a temporal object with a modulation speed of 625 kbps retrieved from 250 distinct temporal probing patterns. (b) Experimental ghost image of a temporal object with a modulation speed of 5 Mbps. In (a) and (b) the blue dashed line corresponds to direct detection with a 1 MHz bandwidth mid-infrared photodetector. (c) and (d) shows additional TGI results of other examples of 5 Mbps temporal objects. The orange and purple dashed lines represent the corresponding bit sequences measured at the output of the AWG. Credit: Light: Science & Applications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01426-0 These scientists summarize the operational principle of mid-infrared temporal ghost imaging, saying, "The absence of suitable instrumentation, such as ultrafast mid-infrared electro-optic modulators for pre-programming temporal patterns at mid-infrared light sources, has been a bottleneck in the direct implementation of computational TGI in the mid-infrared. In the proposed new scheme, instead of directly pre-programming temporal patterns at mid-infrared wavelengths, we modulate pre-programmed temporal patterns at near-infrared wavelengths using a conventional telecom modulator and, subsequently, these modulated patterns are transferred to a mid-infrared idler via difference-frequency generation using a temporally stable continuous-wave near-infrared pump light source. "The wide availability of tunable lasers in the near-infrared allows for flexible and versatile operation of the downconversion TGI scheme, enabling to extend TGI to wavelength regimes where there is a lack of fast detectors and modulators. Using this approach, we have experimentally demonstrated computational TGI in the wavelength range from 3.2 to 4.3 m. Besides, orthogonal temporal patterns can be used in computational downconversion TGI to reduce the number of distinct probing measurements. "The presented technique can provide new possibilities for the study of ultrafast dynamics in the mid-infrared spectral region and high-speed free-space optical communications in atmospheric transmission windows even in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. We emphasize that the concept of frequency downconversion ghost imaging is generic, and it can also be applied in the spatial and spectral domains, which could open a new venue for single-pixel imaging and spectroscopy in the mid-infrared and THz regions." Provided by Light Publishing Center, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics And Physics, CAS 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 After his heartfelt reaction to his father's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention thrust him into the spotlight, 17-year-old Gus Walz has become one of the most high-profile people with nonverbal learning disorder. The condition doesn't mean Gus can't speakhe does. After hearing his dad, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, describe his family as "my entire world" Wednesday night, the tearful teenager rose to his feet, pointed toward the stage and said, "That's my dad!" Gus is one of millions of Americans with nonverbal learning disorder. A 2020 study in JAMA Network Open estimated that 3% to 4% of children and adolescents in the U.S. may have the condition, and another study this year in Scientific Reports concluded that the prevalence in children may be as high as 8%. The condition, known as NVLD, was first recognized in 1967 and doesn't yet have a formal clinical definition. It is characterized by a significant gap between verbal abilitieswhich are just fineand nonverbal kinds of learning that involve visual-spacial processing, such as telling time on an analog clock, reading a map and balancing a budget. Those challenges with spacial awareness can give children trouble with motor skills. That can make them clumsy or cause problems with tasks like tying shoes, using silverware and writing by hand, according to the NVLD Project, a nonprofit that aims to have the condition added to the American Psychiatric Assn.'s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In a way, having NVLD is like the opposite of having dyslexia, according to Scott Bezsylko, who works with neurodivergent students as executive director of Winston Preparatory School. Reading is not a problem for kids with NVLD, who often have a large vocabulary. They're also able to recall facts and memorize things like multiplication tables. School becomes more challenging toward the end of elementary school, when learning becomes more about noticing patterns and applying concepts. That can cause problems with reading comprehension and more advanced kinds of math problems. NLVD also affects higher-order thinking, which is used to organize our thoughts and plan a project that requires multiple steps. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen told People magazine that they noticed differences between Gus and his classmates from an early age, and that those differences "became increasingly clear" as he grew older. The couple, both teachers, didn't specify what those differences were. Gus was recognized as having NVLD "when he was becoming a teenager," the Walzes said, adding that he also has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and an anxiety disorder. It's not uncommon for people with NVLD to have an ADHD diagnosis as well, according to the Child Mind Institute. Both conditions can make a child seem disorganized or inattentive; in the case of NVLD, it's because they don't understand the assignment being discussed. Some features of NVLD also overlap with those of autism spectrum disorder. People with NVLD may be socially awkward because they don't recognize the meaning behind facial expressions, body language and other nonverbal forms of communication. They may compensate by asking a lot of questions, which can come off as annoying. Difficulty with visual-spacial processing can make it hard for those with NVLD to respect other people's personal space. Plus, their challenges with pattern recognition give them trouble relating past experiences to new situations. Traits like these can make it hard to make friends, experts say. That tracks with the Walzes' experience. "Gus preferred video games and spending more time by himself," his parents told People. Comedian Chris Rock said that when he learned as an adult that he had NVLD, it explained a lot of things from his past. Although he's great with words, "I kind of have a hard time with nonverbal cues with people. I always have," Rock said in a 2021 interview with Extra. "They say 70% of communication is nonverbal. So my relationships, even with my family or women I dated or whatever, there was always something a little off, and I couldn't put my finger on it." The causes of NVLD are not clear. Although the deficits associated with the condition involve processes that occur in the right hemisphere of the brain, studies sponsored by the NVLD Project that compared brain scans of people with and without the disorder found differences in both hemispheres. Regardless, the condition does not affect intelligence, and people can learn strategies to compensate for their shortcomings. Successful interventions can include practice taking a problem and breaking it up into manageable pieces, or looking for patterns in complicated texts. As their skills improve, they develop a library of "scripts" that can help them in new situations, according to the Child Mind Institute. If they don't have a suitable script on hand, they'll have experience with creating a new one. The same approach may help people with NVLD get better at navigating social situations as well, experts say. It seems the Walzes have taken this advice to heart. "It took us time to figure out how to make sure we did everything we could to make sure Gus would be set up for success as he was growing up," they told People. Being neurodivergent means Gus "is brilliant [and] hyper-aware of details that many of us pass by," the Walzes added. "What became so immediately clear to us was that Gus' condition is not a setbackit's his secret power." 2024 Los Angeles Times. 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: Credit: cottonbro studio from Pexels Transgender students are more likely to seek support from school staff and less likely to seek support from their parents when compared to their cisgender peers, according to a study from researchers at the University of WisconsinMadison and New York University. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found among students who felt depressed or anxious, transgender students were 74% less likely than their cisgender peers to seek help from parents than from adults in schools. It also found transgender students were 25% less likely than cisgender students to seek support from friends compared to adults in schools, and 48% less likely to seek support from siblings than from adults in schools. The study evaluated data from the 2021 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a survey of 92,316 high school students backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In that survey, 3,957 students identified themselves as transgender. Mollie McQuillan, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at UWMadison and lead author of the study, says the findings show the urgent need for adequate training for school staff on how to best support transgender youth. "We know schools are often sites of shame, victimization, and bullying for transgender studentsbut now we also know of their potential to serve as vital sites for support," she says. "Like all students, trans and nonbinary students need support from multiple sources. Our results point to the critical role of PK-12 school staff in affirming and supporting trans and nonbinary students, especially when mental health concerns emerge." McQuillan says the findings also highlight the danger of restrictive education laws related to transgender students. "In the last five years, anti-LGBTQ+ state bills have dramatically expanded in number," says McQuillan, who co-authored a study on the proliferation of such bills earlier this year. "These bills dissolve and prevent school environments in which transgender students can seek and receive support that could save their lives." McQuillan co-authored the new study with Joseph Cimpian, professor of economics and education policy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and UW-Madison School of Education doctoral students Erin Gill and Benjamin Lebovitz. Cimpian says the study breaks new ground in understanding transgender students' well-being. "Our study confirms the higher rates of victimization for trans youth that we suspected from prior work, but our study also shows how trans youth are turning to teachers and other school staff for support, which is new," he says. In addition to its findings about social support, the analysis found transgender students reported over twice the risk of bullying, skipping school due to feeling unsafe, and feelings of not belonging at school compared to their cisgender peers. Transgender students also faced greater risk of anxiety and reported two to three times the risk of depression, self-harming behavior, considering suicide, planning suicide, and attempting suicide compared to cisgender students. 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: Artist's interpretation of one of the Skeiet mortuary houses. The burial mound is indicated by the conjectured lines. Credit: Sauvage and Macphail 2024; illustration by Arkikon, NTNU University Museum Recent work published by Dr. Raymond Sauvage and Dr. Richard Macphail in Medieval Archaeology describes the excavation and interpretation of three Iron- and Viking-Age mortuary houses in central Norway, Skeiet, in the village of Vinjera. The three structures date to between AD 500 and AD 950 and were likely part of funerary rituals that enabled the living to repeatedly visit and interact with the dead. Between 2019 and 2020, the planned construction of a road necessitated excavations, which confirmed the existence of a pre-Christian cemetery, partially excavated in a test pit back in 1996. Surprisingly, alongside flattened burial mounds, three mortuary houses were discovered. Mortuary houses, usually found within funerary contexts such as cemeteries, are multifaceted and could contain graves, tombs, or even be used to store the deceased's cremated remains. Some were also used as places where the living could leave offerings for the departed or worship their dead. The mortuary houses found around Scandinavia may have served a similar purpose. However, unlike other mortuary houses, including 12 others from Norway and one in Sweden, those from Vinjera are unique in that they do not feature a permanent interment. "I think that the most surprising thing was that we did not find any evidence of a permanent tomb or a buried person inside the houses. Also, the fact that they had doors and entrances that may have led into the mortuary house and burial mound was something I had not thought of prior to the analysis," says Dr. Sauvage. The existence of doors and entrances suggested that the mortuary houses were permanently open so that the living could revisit the insides. The trampled soil that made up the entrance confirmed this, suggesting frequent visitation by the living. These entrances were low, and individuals would have had to crouch to reach the inside. According to Dr. Sauvage this was not unusual, "Based on the relationship between the size of the mound and the plan of the house, we must assume that one would have to crouch. The room inside must have been quite small and dark, while the door must have let in some light that illuminated parts of the interior. Most of the mortuary houses that I know of are of similar size." Based on the dates obtained from the mortuary houses, the first structure had been erected in AD 450600, during the Iron Age. During this time, cemetery practice used cremation as the primary form of interment. Later, a second structure was built, around AD 600800, just as the cemetery began transitioning to more frequent inhumations. Finally, the third mortuary house was constructed between AD 800 to mid or late AD 900 after cemetery practice had fully changed from cremation to inhumation. Each structure was used for almost 100200 years, suggesting that while the burial practices surrounding them may have changed, the mortuary houses remained a vital component of the rituals. Dr. Sauvage elaborates on these changes as follows, "It seems to me that the burial practices seem to have been affected by a number of factors, such as influences from travel and contact and changing motivation behind what to amplify in the more public displays seen in burial rituals. "The mortuary houses show a more stable continuity in use, probably related to the families' own tradition of venerating their deceased and ancestors. These rituals could have been more private and may have been more stable over time." While no burials were recovered from the mortuary houses, other finds, such as fragments of bone, arrowheads, and nails, may help illuminate the structures' intended use. The remains of a horse were identified among the bones. These may have been the result of a sacrificial killing akin to blot, a sacrificial ritual central to many Norse religious practices. The practice was often mentioned in both later and contemporary accounts of the old Norse religion and was usually linked to burial feasts and rituals. Although evidence for the actual act of sacrificing does not exist, all the other animal bones found in the wall trenches do have evidence of burning. This may indicate they were cooked, perhaps as part of ritual meals linked to the dead or funerary rites. This could harken back to the pre-modern tradition in Norway in which food and drink were left at burial mounds to be shared with the dead. Similarly, the mortuary houses' construction akin to contemporary dwellings may link back to the idea that the deceased lived on in burial mounds. However, because no burials were found within these mortuary houses, perhaps they could have stored the body as it was prepared for burial. This is similar to how 10th-century traveler Ibn Fadlan described the Norse burial ritual he witnessed in Rus territory. The body had to be stored in a wooden burial chamber for 10 days as food and grave goods were prepared. The mortuary houses of Norway are still very enigmatic and more research will be needed to truly understand their function. "Future studies should focus more on the interior to get better data about their use. Our evidence was fragmented, and there are several unanswered questions such as how the interior looked, whether there was a designated space to lay out the body, and how the entrances looked. "Also, we should try to get a better understanding about their relationship to the burial mounds. Can we recover stratigraphic evidence that proves they were covered by the mound, or was the mound built as a later installment?" More information: Raymond Sauvage et al, Ritual Practice at Late Iron-Age and Viking-Age Cemeteries in Norway: The Mortuary Houses From Skeiet, Vinjera, Medieval Archaeology (2024). DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2024.2347753 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: The study by Charles Darwin shows widespread culling of crocodiles is not an effective way to stop attacks on humans. Credit: Cameron Baker Education and community awareness, removal of problem animals and exclusion areas are significantly more effective in reducing saltwater crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory than a widespread culling program to reduce crocodile numbers, according to a new study published in the journal People and Nature. The study outlined why culling the reptiles to reduce density was not a cost-effective, or efficient solution, in reducing crocodile attacks. The research led by Charles Darwin University (CDU) assessed how well crocodile and human density correlates with the frequency of saltwater crocodile attacks on humans in the Northern Territory over the past 50 years. Data analysis showed that between 1979 and 2022, there were 76 crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory, of which 30% were fatal. The rates of attacks stabilized from 2009 despite crocodile density and human population continuing to rise, with a 10% decrease in the frequency of attacks over the following decade. Lead author Dr. Cameron Baker, who is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CDU's Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, said the decrease in attacks corresponds to NT residents and tourists changing their behavior around waterways as crocodile numbers increased, and government education strategies and programs to removing problem crocodiles. Dr. Baker said the result of these actions proved awareness and problem crocodile removal was more effective at reducing attacks than any widespread culling program could achieve, which has been discussed intermittently in the Northern Territory. "Our models predicted that the NT crocodile population would have to be reduced by as much as 90% to reduce the crocodile attack frequency by one attack per year," Dr. Baker said. "If widespread culling to reduce density was the prime strategy to reduce crocodile attacks, then the population would need to be driven to very low levels to see any significant reduction. This is because the risk of attacks on humans only decreases once large crocodiles are completely extirpated from an area." Dr. Baker said culling to such an extent would push the species back into the critically endangered category and was also not cost-effective. Based on the current NT crocodile management budget, culling crocodiles humanely would cost $975 per crocodile. "Assuming these operational costs remained constant throughout the culling period, it would cost $87,750,000 to cull 90% of the NT crocodile population humanely, achieving a 48% reduction in crocodile attack frequency," he said. "In comparison, between 2013 and 2016, the Northern Territory Government spent AUD$250,000 on the 'Be Crocwise' educational campaign. "Since the campaign's implementation in 2009, there has been a 10% decrease in the frequency of crocodile attacks." Dr. Baker said the data indicated attacks were driven by a combination of human complacency and human activities in and around the water. "Between 2011 and 2021, humans were 363 times more likely to be severely injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident than by a crocodile in the NT," he said. "Most victims of crocodile attacks, 90%, were local to the NT. "This highlights the importance of modifying human behavior to reduce the risks of attacks by large predators such as crocodiles." Professor Hamish Campbell, who led the study, said it was critical we maintain an evidence-based approach to crocodile management. "Crocodiles are a danger to humans in North Australia, and this risk needs to be managed. The funds available for crocodile management are limited, and we need to spend these in the most effective manner to reduce crocodile attacks upon humans, and the evidence shows that widespread culling is not a cost-effective nor efficient means of doing this," Professor Campbell said. "Alternative management methods currently used by the Northern Territory government seem to be working and effective." Dr. Vinay Udyawer from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, who assisted with the research, said the results could be applied to other predator mitigation strategies. "The results of this study can be expanded beyond just the management of crocodiles in the Northern Territory," Dr. Udyawer said. "It highlights the general ineffectiveness of culling as a primary mitigation tool and the importance of alternative strategies like public education campaigns for managing the risks posed by other large marine predators such as sharks." More information: Cameron J. Baker et al, The influence of crocodile density on the prevalence of human attacks, People and Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10693 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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Wildfires and the pain they cause to people, property and the planet are here to stay. And if Western management practices don't change to anticipate more and more record fire years, that pain may spread and worsen. "It's no longer about living with fire," said Stephen Pyne, an Arizona State University professor who has written more than 30 books about fire and related environmental history. "It's about living with a fire age." That was the message of the Desert Research Institute's inaugural Adaptable World Environment summit at Encore Las Vegas, focused entirely on how leaders can better prepare communities for the growing danger of fire in a warming world. It brought together utility regulators, water managers and fire scientists to share solutions. The conference was well situated in Nevada, the state with the country's two fastest-warming cities that are experiencing more days with wildfire weather than ever before, according to science communications firm Climate Central. Perhaps the most life-threatening Nevada fire so far of 2024 was the nearly 700-acre Gold Ranch Fire that could have burned hundreds of homes near Verdi, a small town in Washoe County. Southern Nevada's fires have been small and quickly contained. It's still nothing compared with California's Park Fire, the state's fourth-largest fire ever recorded that had burned 670 square miles and destroyed more than 630 buildings in Northern California as of Thursday. And there isn't an end in sightfor the Park Fire and the West's fire problem in generalin the face of climate change, conference panelists said. "We are the fire creature. Fire is our ecological signature. It's always been our identity," Pyne said. "We can do this. Good fire made us. Bad fire may break us. But, really, that choice is ours." Prevention, not reactions To Sarah McCaffrey, a retired and widely published U.S. Forest Service social scientist, much of what agencies need to "thoroughly rethink" about management is what happens before fire catches at all. The missing aspect is social, she said. Historically, federal agencies have invested in fire response after the fact rather than investing in community education, McCaffrey said. There needs to be more study of how to best reach as many homeowners as possible when agencies ask them to take action against fires, she said, though it's impossible to reach every single one. It's hard to define a "fire-adapted" community, she said. "That's never going to happen," McCaffrey said. "You're never going to get 100 percent. So what is it? What is herd immunity for a community?" The Nevada energy picture In the Silver State, NV Energy's grid can either stoke or take away steam from fires. Doug Cannon, CEO of NV Energy, said infrastructure such as below-ground energy lines that promote wildfire prevention are often a luxury rate-payers don't want to reach into their wallets for every month. But if investments aren't made now, it'll cost taxpayers money later on in utility lawsuits and insurance costs, he said. "There's a disconnect between what society wants and what society is willing to pay for that want," Cannon said. "We, at some point, have to make a connection there." He said utilities need an insurance solution similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the federal solution that helped insurance companies trust banks after the Great Depression. It's affecting homes, too: This month, Nevada's top insurance official told lawmakers that insurance companies are canceling more home insurance policies than ever solely because of wildfire risk. "Do we set up a similar national insurance fund that becomes the backstop for these wildfire costs across the country, so that insurers and lenders can still have confidence that the electric system can continue to grow?" Cannon asked. In the past few years, the process of "de-energization," or shutting off service, has become NV Energy's most prominent response to wildfire. Jesse Murray, vice president of energy delivery and natural disaster protection for NV Energy, said the priority has always been to keep service on, but studies have shown it is effective in fighting fire. A former California Public Utilities president pushed back on de-energization, pointing out that it can cut off medical devices and water service. "It can be an adjustment period," Murray said in response. "I'm the one, personally, that's pushed the button 20 times for NV Energy to de-energize customers now, and it still feels weird." Wildfires wreck water, too Water managers in Las Vegas and Reno must pay close attention, too, to whether fires will worsen water quality in the rivers on which their cities rely to drink. Kara Steeland, a hydrologist with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority in Northern Nevada, said the Gold Ranch Fire in Verdi occurred immediately upstream of one of the region's biggest reservoirs. Though there was no decline in water quality on the Truckee River, fires have become a wider concern for water managers across the West. The Martis Fire in 2001 was an example where water was affected, she said. Steeland said the water authority is one of many that are working with the Forest Service to improve forest management upstream of their reservoirs. The project is anticipated to cost $140 million in funding that hasn't been secured yet. "We don't have alternative supplies, so the river is essential to our community," Steeland said. "If a similar incident occurs, we're thinking about what we can do both proactively and then potentially reactively in terms of erosion control." 2024 Las Vegas Review-Journal. 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: Members of the Nicomen Indian Band discuss how their land and water supply has been negatively affected by post-wildfire debris flows with representatives from the Ministry of Forests and UBC Okanagan. Credit: Dwayne Tannant. It took more than 25 years for Rhonda MacDonald and her family to transform their 41-hectare property on the Shackan Indian Band Lands, south of Merritt, BC, into a vibrant business and homesteadbut a massive 2022 debris flow changed everything in just 25 minutes. "It was too fast to even comprehend," explains MacDonald, who runs a ranching and hay business on the property with her husband, Wayne. "I remember when it was over, I was futilely trying to save our yard with the bobcat, and then I just stopped and looked at what used to be our hay field. My mouth dropped open. I couldn't wrap my head around the devastation." After the mudslide, eight hectares of land were covered in several feet of mud, rock, debris and garbage. Cleaning the property has been a massive, years-long undertaking for MacDonald and her husband. "I think one of the hardest things for me to accept is that my property isn't the beautiful, pristine piece of land it once was," MacDonald muses sadly. Turning devastation into data "Stories like Rhonda's don't make the news because these types of debris flows rarely impact large urban populations. But they disproportionately impact First Nations communities and rural residents, especially in southern British Columbia," says Kaushal Gnyawali, a civil engineering doctoral student at UBC Okanagan. He adds that as climate change becomes more intense, it will undoubtedly continue creating more powerful weather systems causing widespread wildfires and subsequent post-wildfire debris flows. "Every year, we pass the previous year's record for total area burned. These fires have scarred the landscape and pre-conditioned it to debris flows, which not only impact people living in rural areas, but also highways, railways, pipelines, water supply and aquatic ecosystems." Credit: UBC Okanagan That's where Gnyawali and his doctoral supervisor, Dr. Dwayne Tannantan industry leader in mitigation strategiesare involved. They study how to manage smallbut no less damagingdebris flows in BC's interior; their methods can eventually be applied to debris flows globally. Over the past 10 years, approximately 407,000 hectares have been burned by wildfires in British Columbia. While Gnyawali's research primarily encapsulates three biogeoclimatic zones of bunchgrass, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, which are common in the Okanagan, his research results also apply to other areas of steep terrain in western Alberta and the Yukon. Crucial to Gnyawali and Dr. Tannant's work are the partnerships with First Nations communities in the BC Interior and Okanagan Valley, rural residents like the MacDonalds, the BC Ministry of Forests, and engineering service companies Clarke Geoscience Ltd. and Stantec. Whether providing video or oral accounts of debris flows or offering physical access to impacted areas, the partnerships ensure Gnyawali has the data he needs to devise long-term solutions. "Through photos and videos from residents experiencing these landslides, I'm able to conduct a forensic analysis of what happened in the area," explains Gnyawali. "When someone calls me about a mudslide, I visit as soon as I can to map the topography with my drone, which helps me create 3D models of the area." Crucial to his work is understanding the mitigation strategies of First Nations communities in response to post-wildfire debris flows. These include cleaning small streams that flow only briefly during and after a rainfall, and constructing simple ditches and berms. Based on the various pieces of information captured about the debris flows, Gnyawali eventually recreates flow simulations on a computer using high-resolution topography data and rainfall intensities. He trains his computer model to understand what happened in the past so it can better predict what might happen in a future influenced by climate change. These efforts culminate in developing a rationale to design effective mitigations in these environments and simple guidelines to increase public safety. "Growing up in Nepal, I understand how devastating a landslide can be. I've been stranded for days on a highway because of multiple large mudslides; I've seen them sweeping villages and blocking rivers." Student Kaushal Gnyawali and Dr. Tannant can be seen standing on top of a one-meter-high deflection berm constructed to protect property on Okanagan Indian Band land. Understanding if the berm is thick enough, high enough and constructed with the right soil material to resist the debris flow forces and volumes are key questions to be answered in the context of climate change. Credit: Kaushal Gnyawali It was ultimately the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, which triggered more than 20,000 landslides and uncountable cascading disasters, that ignited Gnyawali's passion for studying geohazards. "I need to do something to solve this problem by focusing on solutions, and outside of Nepal, the Okanagan is the best place to live and to study these events." Public Scholars Initiative enables community-based research Aside from generating a first-of-its-kind data set about debris flows for the Okanagan region, Gnyawali's doctorate is unique as part of UBC Okanagan's Public Scholars Initiative. Starting in 2015 at UBC Vancouver and launched in 2022 in the Okanagan, Public Scholars Initiative research has a tangible impact on the public good through collaborative, action-oriented forms of scholarship. In Gnyawali's case, while various partners provide him with invaluable information to advance his research, he's also able to provide them with his own expansive data and analysis which can help plan for future debris flows. "My main motivation is to help people like the MacDonalds, and those who have faced repeated mudslides on their properties year after year. After the trauma of wildfire evacuation, there's the possibility of a double blow from debris flows. We know that once a watershed or area is burned, these post-wildfire debris flows can happen for a decade, maybe even longer," Gnyawali explains. "These risks need to be mitigated as early as possible before life for these vulnerable populations returns to normal. That's why it's critical to devise solutions that are not only functional in the long term, but are built to withstand future climate events. "Our landscape has changed. I want to do what I can to make a difference in the face of climate change, while educating others about the dangers of these debris flows." This story originally appeared in The Press in August 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic City Pop Festival. Ask people between the ages of 65 and 75 to name the music event that defined their tie-dyed generation, and most will answer, Woodstock. Not everyone, however. Fifty years ago, two weeks before Woodstock happened in August 1969, a sellout crowd of more than 120,000 showed up at Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing for the three-day Atlantic City Pop Festival. On Aug. 1-3, Philadelphia-based Electric Factory Concerts staged an event that featured 30 acts ranging from A (Airplane, Jefferson) to Z (Zappa, Frank). In between, fans watched artists like Janis Joplin, Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joe Cocker and Iron Butterfly. It was a pretty amazing scene, with hippies and everyone else, said Ocean Citys Mike Monk Monroe, 67, who was at the concert. And the music was incredible. The concert happened in part because Herb Spivak decided to take a trip to the shore one winter day. Spivak, who had created Electric Factory a year earlier with brothers Jerry and Allen, Shelley Kaplan and Larry Magid, was cruising on the Black Horse Pike toward his vacation home in Ventnor in early February 1969 in a white Cadillac convertible he had bought for his wife. Magid, who owns a home in Longport, had come up with the idea of an outdoor festival for South Jersey. When the racetrack appeared off to the side, Spivak veered off the road. I had no intention of going there when I started driving, said Spivak, 87. But there had been an outdoor festival at a racetrack in Miami, and that was on my mind when I saw the race course. I said to myself, You know what? Let me pull in and talk to some people. Track owner Robert Levy happened to be there that day, and Spivak pitched the idea of a three-day music festival. Levy initially turned him down, thinking the track had no open dates that summer, but another track official walked by and mentioned the track would be closed for the first weekend in August as it started to prepare for a harness-racing meet. Mr. Levy asked me how much they would get and I told him 17.5% (of the gross), Spivak said. He said, You got a deal! I told him my lawyer would get in touch with his lawyer to work out the details, and he said, I dont need any lawyer. Lets just shake hands on it. So thats what we did. We didnt have much of a budget back then. I borrowed money from my attorneys father and started rolling. It was a very grassroots kind of promotion. A woman who was a spectator at several Electric Factory Concerts served as the model for a poster, which has since become a collectors item. Manager David Kasanow and another employee grabbed some posters and tickets and traveled up and down the East Coast in his mothers Volkswagen Beetle, hanging posters in windows and giving away tickets on radio stations. Atlantic City Pop Festival The Atlantic City Pop Festival took place over three days in August 1969. A concert promoter driving to the shore passed Atlantic City Race Co Spivak said he booked Joplin, paying her $20,000 and two cases of Southern Comfort. Magid went to work on booking the rest of the acts. He filled the schedule with an interesting variety of music that included jazz drummer Buddy Rich; blues guitarist B.B. King; folk artists Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash; pop artists like Creedence and 3 Dog Night; and rockers such as Cocker and Little Richard. We had the idea of having a festival that was different than any other, said Magid, 76. We had a few different genres. And we tried to keep the flow going, so it would be compelling and the people would want to see every act. To accomplish the feat, organizers used a revolving stage. One performer would play while the other set up behind them. When one was done, the stages were rotated by hand so there was only a 15-minute break between acts. The strategy worked. Lured by the list of performers and low ticket prices $15 for all three days or $6 for one day fans poured into Hamilton Township from all over the country. Traffic on the Black Horse Pike was crammed. Hotels, motels and nearby campgrounds were filled. In Ocean City, almost a dozen surfers skipped the waves on 16th Street, piled into Monroes red van, relaxed on the shag carpet interior and took off for the racetrack. I was only 14 years old and my mother was livid, but she let me go because my brother, Pete, was going, said Sandy Ordille, 64, who lives in San Diego. I remember Barbie (Belyea) and I were sitting on the grass inside the gate at one point, and this big school bus with a hippie flower pulls up. People were climbing onto the roof and then jumping the fence to crash the festival. Some guys were trying to pick us up, and we took off. I ran down the dirt horse track and wound up behind a bunch of huge trucks. Jefferson Airplane was on the stage and one of the guards pulled me up and let me stand to the side. I was 15 feet away from Grace Slick and just stood there in awe. The organizers sold 120,000 tickets 40,000 for each day but more than 5,000 people found a way to get inside without paying. They found a camping area on the far reaches of the track. In the morning, they would jump the fence and run down to the infield. Because of the heat and humidity, they would also jump into the lake on the infield to cool off. Track workers helped out by spraying water from fire hoses into the crowd. We called the area where they were staying Ripple Hill because thats what those kids were drinking, Magid said with a laugh at his Longport home. Local fans got their first experience with the hippie culture. Atlantic City resident Barbara Brown, who was 15 at the time and getting ready for her sophomore year at Oakcrest High School, attended the first day of the festival Friday and quickly realized she had to make some wardrobe changes before she returned Sunday. On Friday, I felt too straight and looked too clean and out of place with so many hippies around me, Brown said on Facebook. On Sunday, I wore scruffier bell bottom jeans and a wrinkled flower-child looking top. I walked around our yard barefoot before we left so I would have dirty feet. My hair was long and straight, and I purposely didnt wash it. I added some beads and a headband. I felt less out of place, and I had more fun. GALLERY: Look back at the Atlantic City Pop Festival Close Chicago Transit Authority later shortened to Chicago was among the many acts at the festival. Procol Harum Tim Buckley Byrds Gary Booker (Procol Harum) Robin Trower (Procol Harum) John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) at Atlantic City Race Course. The Atlantic City Pop Festival took place over three days in August 1969. A concert promoter driving to the shore passed Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing and thought it would be the perfect place for a music festival. Organizers ended up selling 120,000 tickets, or 40,000 per day. Procol Harum BB King Procol Harum Tim Buckley It's bumper-to-bumper traffic along the Black Horse Pike as concertgoers travel to the Atlantic City Race Course for the A.C. Pop Festival. Emcee, singer-songwriter, Biff Rose B.J. Wilson (Procol Harum) Jefferson Airplane at Atlantic City Race Course. Traffic backed up on the Black Horse Pike past Zaberers Restaurant in Egg Harbor Township en route to Atlantic City Race Course for the Atlantic City Pop Festival in August 1969. Chicago Transit Authority at Atlantic City Race Course. Gary Booker (Procol Harum) Byrds Chicago Transit Authority at Atlantic City Race Course. John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) at Atlantic City Race Course. Hugh Masekela at Atlantic City Race Course. Procol Harum Hugh Masekela at Atlantic City Race Course. Tim Buckley A woman who was a spectator at several Electric Factory concerts served as the model for the A.C. Pop Festival poster, which is now a collectors item. Chicago Transit Authority at Atlantic City Race Course. Chicago Transit Authority at Atlantic City Race Course. Creedence Clearwater Revival at Atlantic City Race Course. BB King at Atlantic City Race Course. Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 +69 Organizers had to adjust to some problems over the weekend. The festival was to be a coming-out party of sorts for Carlos Santana and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Santana blew the crowd away during his set, but CSN did not perform because they didnt think they were ready for such a large crowd. Instead, they made their debut at Woodstock, though they returned to ACRC in 1974 for a one-day concert with Santana. Joni Mitchell didnt sing for long. She was into her fourth song Friday, got angry and frustrated that the crowd wasnt paying attention, and walked off in tears. We wanted to get her on and let her sing her hits before things got too crazy, Magid said. We told her that this was not a concert, that it was a festival, but she didnt listen. The same thing happened to her at another festival later. Rock guitarist Johnny Winter was another act who never performed. He was booked to play at 3 p.m. the final day but showed up much later. According to Magid, it was because Winter, who died in 2014, was an albino and couldnt be in the sun for very long. Magid was also pressed into service as one of the emcees because the person scheduled to perform that duty on at least one of the days had indulged himself to the point where he was unable to take the stage. Something good came out of it, however. Barbara Mickey Moran was in the crowd and took notice of Magid, who was living in her apartment building in Philadelphia. They will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary next month. My only regret was I didnt get to see Janis Joplin, Mickey Magid said. I went to the festival with my friends Ben and Connie Cohen. Ben had converted an old ice cream truck into a camper, and I stayed with them at Mays Landing Campground. We were supposed to be there the whole time, but Connie was nine months pregnant and went into labor on Saturday and we had to leave. Their daughter (Rachel) was born on Sunday. Joplin, who died 14 months later of a heroin overdose, was the main star of the event. She took the stage at 8 p.m. Sunday and dazzled the crowd. There was time for one more act before the 10 p.m. deadline. Magid had to choose between Winter and Little Richard and had a feeling Little Richard would come through. He did. It had started to rain, and the crowd began to trudge through the mud toward the exits. Little Richard strolled out wearing a sparkly vest and made them stop in their tracks. He absolutely tore it up, Spivak said. He sounded better than ever. Sadly, there are no audio/video recordings of the festival, save for a grainy, 20-second clip on YouTube of Joplin singing. In a way, that makes it even more special for the people who were there. It adds to the mystique of what was a magical weekend at Atlantic City Race Course 50 years ago. To borrow a phrase from the era, Monroe said, the whole thing was mind-blowing. GALLERY: Look back at the Atlantic City Pop Festival Editor's note: This is Part 6 of a 10-part series, "The Last Rung," that tells the stories of people in the Quad-Cities living in the margins. Part 7 will be published on Tuesday. Guy Pidde walked out of the Scott County Courthouse on May 24 a free man. The 47-year-old was free from drugs, free from prison, free from having to spend his Fridays in drug court, and free to enjoy his job and his family. After years of meth addiction, Pidde can call himself a graduate of Scott Countys drug court. He was one of four people to graduate from the program that day. Scott County District Court Judge Jeffrey Bert even had some gifts lined up for the graduates, including a fishing pole. Pidde said it took all his determination as well as support from his family and fellow drug court participants to get it done. During the approximately 18 months Pidde spent in the program, he got a job paying an annual salary of $50,000. He has paid all his fines, he has gotten his drivers license, he has a house. Most importantly, he is clean and has his family. He grew up in Fulton, just across the river from Clinton, and has spent his entire life in the area. I was doing meth when I was 15, he said. Meth is what destroyed my life." He did a 35-day inpatient treatment for rehabilitation when he was 15 as well. At that age its all fun and games. But, later in life when you try to stop, you realize you cant, and you realize its a struggle," he said. Pidde said his first trip to prison was for 14 years. My oldest daughter was 6 when I went in, and the day I was transferred to 605 (Work Release Center at 605 Main St., Davenport) she handed me my 10-day-old grandson, he said. There wasnt even texting on phones yet when I went in. When I was released, my son was 15. He made me my first Facebook page and I was just amazed. Addiction is hard to explain, Pidde added. I did all that time in federal prison and wasnt clean 90 days before I relapsed. Prison is not about rehabilitation, its about warehousing. They put me in prison for 168 months and in 2014 I had exactly what I had when I went to prison, which was nothing. Pidde was arrested on meth charges in January of 2021 by Clinton police. He had sold meth to undercover agents with the Blackhawk Area Task Force, a specialized investigative unit led by the Illinois State Police. Knowing that prison would offer no help to get off the meth, he asked for drug court and was accepted into the program. Drug court has become a kind of last chance for those grasping the last rung of addiction. It offers a structured way out of prison and drug use for hundreds of people across the Quad-Cities region. Staying positive and encouraging Since Scott County began holding drug court in July of 2002, 121 people have graduated from the program. That includes Pidde and the three people who graduated with him. Bert oversees the drug court for the 7th Judicial District, which currently has about 32 participants from four of the five counties that make up the Judicial District. Only Cedar County does not have anyone enrolled in the program. My role is to be involved with the people and be updated on where they are in the program, Bert said. They tell me how theyre doing, if theyre staying sober, did they make any progress on their job search. The team for drug court includes people from the County Attorneys Office, the Department of Corrections, the Public Defenders Office, law enforcement, and treatment professionals. Bert said his message to them is 90% positive and 10% negative, even when they relapse. He starts those conversations with a positive message, asking to hear from them how to address it and why it happened. Its important to reinforce a positive and encouraging message to your participants, Bert said. Most of the folks have underlying psychological or mental health issues. One of the huge things we face are those who have underlying criminal thinking mentalities so were trying to address honesty, so Ill say to them 'truthfulness will get you treatment, manipulation and fraud will get you punishment.' Were trying to encourage them if they mess up, if they relapse, tell somebody and well get them treatment, he added. If you come in and deny it, and we give a person a urinalysis and its positive I may make them do community service or write an essay on honesty. Were trying to get them past a substance use disorder and change the way they approach their lives in terms of being honest with people. Bert said drug court follows a high-risk formula there is a high risk some of the clients will reoffend. But that risk is worth it, he added. He also said relapses are a fact of life for people with long-term substance abuse disorder. "We start with telling them, If you relapse just be honest and well get you treatment. If you hide and try to manipulate the urine test, then were not going to be happy with you, Bert said. A chance to get clean and stay clean Clinton County is relatively new to the drug court scene, despite being part of Iowa's 7th Judicial District, which is made up of Scott, Clinton, Cedar, Jackson and Muscatine counties. Scott Countys drug court started in July 2002. Rock Island County started its drug court in July of 2000. Clinton County started its drug court three or four years ago, County Attorney Mike Wolf said. As soon as they started it in Scott County, we wanted to do it, he said. The acorn was planted in Scott County and as that tree grew, we knew we had to do it. Wolf said it was District Judge Patrick McElyea who got the ball rolling in Clinton County and worked the extra hours for drug court. One of the early obstacles to the program was the rural nature of the county. Wolf said his office recognized that something more had to be done to combat the growing addictions and deaths related to methamphetamine, heroin and the more potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl that have hit the streets in recent years. Technology made it possible for Clinton County to launch its drug court program. We are able to hold hearings remotely through Zoom, which we didnt have 10 years ago, Wolf said. Wolf said that drug court is not used to let offenders off the hook. There are drug offenders who do belong in prison, he said. But there are drug addicts and offenders who deserve the chance to get clean and stay clean, and drug court gives them that. There are a high number of crimes associated with drug addiction, Wolf said, including burglary, theft, robbery. Imprisoning people does not stop the addiction, he added. The treatment aspect of drug court has been very efficacious and so the investment of the money we put into it is far cheaper than incarceration. It not only saves money, it saves quality of life, Wolf said. It reduces crime, it reduces homelessness, it reduces trips to the emergency room and all of the medical problems that are associated with substance abuse and addiction. A last chance before prison Pidde said that when he was in prison, he could lift weights and run five miles a day. But there were no real programs to get off and stay off drugs, or to prepare a person for when they got out of prison and tried to return to society. I was 24 when I went to prison, and when I was released at age 38, I was so far out of touch with society, Pidde said. All the friends I remembered, all the places I used to go, it had all changed. The friends I had whod changed their lives all went on to have careers and families and houses. I thought to myself, where do I fit into this picture? It is a recipe for relapse, he said. Drug addicts will welcome you with open arms, Pidde said. Thats just one more person to share the bag. There would be four, five, or six of us and wed hang out together. Weve got a bag and all of us are getting high. Addicts never judge anybody. While there are drug programs in prison, Pidde said they differ from treatment outside. Its hard to compare a drug program in prison to a drug program you go through outside of prison, he said. Its so much easier to live a certain way in prison. And there are drugs in prison, such as meth. Theres nothing on the street that isnt inside a prison. Theyre just way more expensive. When Pidde was last arrested by Clinton police, he knew drug court was his last chance. Prison would not get him where he wanted to be, which was clean and with a future. Meth addiction drives drug court Rock Island County Circuit Judge Peter Church said that when he became the drug court judge about 10 years ago, we hardly knew what meth was in terms of people that were coming into the program. Most of the people that were coming in were addicted to opioids, specifically heroin, but also just about anything people were getting their hands on, Church said. Many of those addictions started as pain medicines, but then people would move to heroin when prescriptions ran out, he said. The drugs they are seeing in the program have changed, though. It has morphed into almost exclusively meth cases, Church said. Rock Island began its drug court on July 31, 2000. In the 24 years since, 2,863 people have been screened for the program, according to data supplied by Tracey Adair, chief adult probation officer for Rock Island County Court Services. An average of 10 candidates are screened per month for the program. As of May 2024, 735 candidates have started the drug program, and 251 participants have graduated from the program, a 34% graduation rate. Church said drug court is far more demanding than standard probation. Its meeting with a probation officer weekly, its testing two to three times a week, its going to sober support group meetings, he said. There is a high level of accountability. Church said some of the clients in drug court lack basic life skills. They often don't have a bank account, have never held a job, never learned from their parents what it is to be accountable for bills or shopping for children. Accountability is what we teach, Church said. We try to make them have some form of meaningful income. Granted, not every person is capable of working. But we do make them establish some form of reliable income before they are done with the program. We want them to have reliable housing, he added. We teach them how to handle money, and how to budget for bills and necessities. For many drug court clients, the drug and alcohol addictions that have kept them chained to their dependency are generational issues, Church said. Parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters are often facing addiction themselves. Do this job for a while, Church said of his role as drug court judge, and youll appreciate the job that your parents did. Keep looking ahead On the day Pidde graduated from drug court, Bert said Pidde was one of the first people I had the pleasure of admitting to drug court. We all know your history and youve really run an almost flawless program, and Im totally impressed with how committed you were to sobriety," Bert added. "Its amazing to me that you go back into the county jail to help guys struggling with addiction." Pidde said its dangerous for addicts to look back, and an addict must always keep looking ahead to keep the fight going. My advice is to take this opportunity and really put in the work to change your life, Pidde told the crowd. Its a great opportunity, but youve got to want it. It aint just going to happen for you just because youre in drug court. Its not going to just be a miracle, like youre all done and thats it. Youve got to put in some hard work. Youve got to be dedicated. Pidde said that one of the toughest things he had to do was let past friends go. Giving up on people youve been running with your whole life, its hard, he said. Ive got a lot of love for a lot of those people, but were just on different paths in life now. A 72-year-old man died after being struck in traffic while on his moped in the early hours of Saturday. Henrico County Police said the man, identified as Billy Chestnut of Hanover County, was traveling northbound on Mechanicsville Turnpike when his moped became disabled and he was struck by a sedan. The sedans driver had apparently been changing lanes to avoid another slow-moving vehicle, police said. The collision occurred near Mechanicsville Turnpike and Springdale Road. Police said officers responded to the incident at 12:06 a.m. Police do not believe speed or alcohol were involved in the crash. Anyone with further information about this crash is asked to call crash team investigator L.C. Jones at (804) 501-5000. You can also submit tips via Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000 or by using P3tips.com; both Crime Stopper methods are anonymous. Criminal hitman wanted in at least 14 Tulum murders captured Tulum, Q.R. The suspect in at least 14 murders in the town of Tulum has been captured. Jesus N, who local authorities refer to as a hitman and driver for a criminal group, was arrested over the weekend on Gama Oriente Street in central Tulum. According to an Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) statement, Jesus N, alias Fiscalito, is alleged involved in at least 14 Tulum murders. Initial investigations indicate that the suspect is likely involved in events that occurred on May 6 of this year outside a home in the Maya neighborhood of Tulum where three people lost their lives and one more was injured by a firearm projectile, the FGE (State Attorney General) reported Sunday. In addition, he is accused of the events that occurred on February 9 of this year at a beach club in Tulum where two people of foreign origin, an alleged male drug dealer identified by the alias Belize, and a female, lost their lives. Suspect in 14 Tulum murders arrested in town over weekend. Photo: FGE August 25, 2024. Similarly, investigations reveal that Jesus N would have participated in the murder of a security guard committed on March 15 of this year, the state agency added. The capture of Jesus N took place on Gama Oriente Street in Tulum along with four other people identified as Jacinto N, Heberto N, Leonardo N and Jorge Oliver N. Jesus N, black shirt, was arrested with four others from Gama Oriente Street in Tulum. Photo: FGE August 25, 2024. All four were arrested on drug and weapon charges. The group were picked up by Investigative Police with small bags of narcotics believed to be marijuana, crystal meth and crack cocaine as well as a 9 mm firearm, a loaded magazine and a green tactical vest, among other items. Since his arrest, an investigation into Jesus N established that he currently works as a hitman and driver for a criminal group that generates violence in Tulum dedicated to the sale and distribution of drugs in the area, local authorities reported. Jose Maria Morelos corn farmers affected by arrival of fall armyworm Jose Maria Morelos, Q.R. Corn farmers in Jose Maria Morelos are receiving support from the municipality after crop damage. The states southwestern farmers have been dealing with fall armyworms this year, a caterpillar pest that has damaged hectares of rainfed corn stalks. Due to ongoing farmer reports of crop damage, Mayor Erik Borges Yam coordinated a technical advice visit with state authorities. Personnel from Agricultural, Rural and Fisheries Development, the State Committee for Plant Health of Quintana Roo and the General Directorate of Economic, and Agricultural Development, among others, visited planted plots to address the problem. A tour was made of the affected areas of damaged stalks where the fall armyworms have been gnawing away at the green leafy part of the plants. Borges Yam said the goal in working with state officials is to design a strategy for the prevention, management and timely control of the fall armyworm. Abel de los Santos Lopez of Agriculture mentioned that the fall armyworm is a pest that is present nationwide. He said one way to prevent it is with actions that include timely training, assistance and technical support for producers. Armyworms are causing damage to local corn plants. Photos: Ayuntamiento de Jose Maria Morelos August 16, 2024. Linda Saray Cobos Castro, the Secretariat of Agricultural, Rural and Fisheries Development, explained that this atypical year has consisted of weather conditions of excessive rain and high temperatures. These conditions created forest fires that caused producers to modify their planting dates and therefore the stages of management of the corn crop, making the plants more vulnerable to this pest. While armyworms feed mostly on leaves, they will feed on stems, resulting in a loss of the plant. The change in food choice is caused by a depletion of leaf material. In times of food depletion, armyworms will march out in search of food.